There is an old saying that is Christianity were a lie, they would have made up a better lie.
Think about it. The basic tenants of the Christian faith are that a carpenter from a small town in Israel was crucified by the Roman Empire, buried, rose again from the dead, and that faith in these events is what gets one into heaven. These are just the basics. We could make a long list. To be a faithful Christian, one must believe: Continue reading
Thank you Noel Heikkinen for sharing this video. Noel is doing a series on the Old Testament, and reminds us that each time Jesus resisted Satan he quoted from (what we call) the Old Testament scripture.
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday occurs 46 days before Easter, 40 days if you don’t count Sundays. This year it fell on February 25th. This marks the beginning of Lent, a time of preparation for Holy Week. At an Ash Wednesday service, part of the ceremony is placing ashes on the forehead as an outward symbol that you will be observing Lent. During the 40 day period something is given up, anything typically important to the individual, and more time spent in prayer, worship and meditation. Lent is about preparing ourselves spiritually to observe Holy Week, the days between Palm Sunday and Easter. Continue reading
I have to thank Challies Dot Com for sharing this link, so that I can share it with my audience.
Faith By Hearing is the first 4 column blog I’ve ever seen. Digital Etiquette for MP3 Creators gives some tips on how to do a better job of turning sermons and lectures in MP3’s that are both easy to find and of a manageable size. I appreciate the advice, and perhaps many of us would do well to heed it.
Faith By Hearing has an extensive catalog of sermons and teachings by many well known speakers, some of whom may surprise you. Their site will be added under the Useful Resources links, and I highly recommend spending some quality time there.
Hindsight is 20/20 means that anything you look back on is easier to understand that it was at the time. We make decisions in the now, then sometimes realize later we acted too quickly, neglected certain facts, or else were simply uninformed. Hindsight being 20/20, we would have done things differently if we could just have seen the big picture. Continue reading
Not just Jesus Christ. Jesus is Christ.
I’m not sure if it’s the title or what. On March 1st I posted the sermon I preached that morning Peter Confesses Jesus is the Christ. I’m not hung up on stats, but that particular post has only been viewed 3 times in the past 10 days. Personally, I feel it’s one of the better sermons I’ve preached in quite a while, yet almost no one read the blog post.
Like I said, maybe it’s the title. The post has little to do with Peter, and more to do with our understanding of what Christ means. It is particularly appropriate with Easter approaching. So may I politely suggest giving this post another try. No pressure.
In Exodus 16 the Hebrews wandered into the Wilderness of Sin. My Bible teacher and preacher friends shouldn’t even need me to make this analogy. There it is. They literally entered the wilderness in the region of Sin.
It could have been the Mountain of Sin, the Valley of Sin, the Municipality of Sin, but no. The place was known to people in the region as the Wilderness of Sin. How often do we willingly wander through the Wilderness of Sin knowing full where we are and how to avoid it? What an illustration, and the Bible has already made it for us.
And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” -Mark 8:27-29
I want to unpack Peter’s statement here that Jesus is the Christ. There are two questions we need to answer; 1) What does Peter mean by saying that Jesus is Christ, and 2) What does it mean to us that Jesus is the Christ. Continue reading
What is Jesus Shaped Spirituality? That is precisely the question that the InternetMonk tried to answer earlier this week. In short, it is about making sure that our Christianity is modeled after the teachings and examples given to us by the Jesus of the Bible.
If you’re a regular at this site, you know that I have written several posts on the examples given by Jesus. Click “Jesus’ Examples” in the Categories list at right for a complete listing. Each post is a specific lesson (or lessons) that we are to learn from something Jesus did himself, and in many cases encouraged his followers to go on doing. Jesus didn’t lecture on how to be a Christian; he went around ministering to people’s needs and told his followers to keep doing the same things they had witnessed him doing.
iMonk explains what a Jesus Shaped Spirituality looks like when we read the Scriptures and are challenged to conform to the image of Christ. It’s not about denomination, emerging or church tradition. It’s about each of us taking up our cross and following Jesus Christ. Check it out.
John chapter 4 tells the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well. It just so happens I’ve written on this passage before. This post describes everything “weird” about the conversation Jesus had with her, namely that a religious leader, or any Jewish man for that matter, would not have been talking to such a person.
John chapter 8 recounts the story of the woman caught in adultery. In this situation the woman is clearly guilty of a sin punishable by death. When she is left with no accusers (“Let he that is without sin…”) Jesus tells her that he will not condemn her either. She is told to go, and sin no more. How can he not condemn her, having been caught in the very act of adultery? Continue reading
The Master's Table 