Tag Archives: Jesus

Lessons from the Prodigal Son

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Luke 15:11-24

The Parable of the Prodigal Son. It’s an old favorite. Beginning with chapter 10 and going all the way through 20, Luke basically recalls one parable after another. There’s a lot of good stuff in there, but this story is perhaps the best known; and most frequently taught. There are still good lessons we can learn from it.

Let’s begin by looking at the father in this story. He’s not your typical Jewish father. When the younger son asks for his inheritance, he’s saying in essence that he is tired of waiting for the old man to die. It would have been an appropriate response to take the young man to the gates of the city and stone him to death. Continue reading →

Should Christians fight the culture war?

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This is what the ancient ruins of Corinth look like today. Special thanks to Joe for the image, who had the chance to visit this site last year.

The Apostle Paul spent most of his ministry in places like Greece and Rome, far away from the church at Jerusalem and God’s chosen people, the Hebrews. The Grecco-Roman world was populated by a pantheon of pagan gods and goddesses, whose stories of jelousy and betrayal make our soap operas look like children’s stories. It is probably safe to say most Greek adult men were bisexual (I was actually taught they all were.) A skilled craftsmen, for instance, would have had a wife and children at home, but also have been having sex with a younger apprentice who was studying the master’s trade. This was typical in the culture. The public bath houses were “meeting places” for leaders of the city and merchants to meet daily. The original Olympic games were held nude; and only men were allowed.

Paul would have been surrounded by it. There’s no way he missed the decadent and sinful way of life going on all around him. But we don’t see Paul marching through the streets of Corinth or Ephesus wearing a sandwich board sign declaring that “God hates fags,” Fred Phelps style. Continue reading →

The Cross of Christ?

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You need to see the image for this to work.  If you’re getting this from a reader, you may want to stop in for a minute.

This is a real product.  I jokingly refer to it as i-Cross.  The question is, does this help promote the gospel message?  Does this help the believer give the cross of Christ the right place in our lives?  Or is this making the Father’s house a den of thieves rather than a house of prayer?

I read and enjoyed the prayer of Jabez.  Whatever you thought of the book, it started a whole phenomenon.  There were Jabez t-shirts, prayer journals, desk calendars, study Bibles, the list goes on.  Remember WWJD?  It had all of the above, plus children’s items like backpacks and bracelets.  Christian bookstores are supercenters for a mass of products besides books anymore.  Publishers of books and music are running a business, and are looking for products to sell.  If i-Cross sells a million units, you can bet they’ll quickly make a million more.  Is this product God honoring and Christ centered, or just more Jesus junk?  Let me know what you think.

Jesus has left my building…

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…and I’m leaving with him.

UPDATE: Internet Monk has deleted the original article this post references.

Many of my readers are already familiar with the internetmonk. His latest blog post is the best thing he’s written in a long time in my opinion. If you’re a fan of his, you know he’s been going through some kind of “funk” for while. If you’re not already reading internetmonk, I want Jesus has left my building…and I’m leaving with him to be the first thing of his you read. It’s way more than just a reminder that denominations are the creation of man.

This link is to a post I wrote in March about the ecumenical and international nature of the ministry I’m a part of. If you stand in a room with people from many different nations, or perhaps many different types of Christians – or both – then you get a glimpse of what Heaven is going to be like. The gospel message is even now being carried to every tribe, every tongue, every nation. Heaven is not going to be divided by denominational differences; all people from all the ages will gather together in praising God. Jesus will be the firstborn of a large family; a family made up of Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopals, Roman Catholics, Messianic Jews and a host of others. There are over 30 Protestant denominations, plus Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, non-denominationals, and God only knows – literally – how many others. But there is one God, one faith, and one baptism.

We will sit down as God’s children some day; we should live like we believe that.

Looking for God?

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“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” Colossians 1:15-20 (ESV)

The image of the invisible God; I’ve always loved that verse. To put it simply, God cannot be seen. At least not by man. His glory is more than we can handle. He said so. That’s the beauty of Jesus: he is God. Continue reading →

The Words of Jesus

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I haven’t read The Words of Jesus, a Gospel of the Sayings of our Lord so this is not a book review; yet. I plan to as soon as possible. Why? I just found out that Phyllis Tickle graduated from Shorter College in 1955. What do you mean “So what?” I graduated from Shorter a few years later myself (1998). As a matter of fact, my 10 year class reunion will be this fall. I found out the hard way that many of the people I graduated from high school with, well, we no longer have a great deal in common. I’ve already been to a 5 year college reunion, and that was much better. Shorter College is a private liberal arts college, so my cohorts and I have a basis of Christian/Baptist background, and many education majors to boot. Phyllis Tickle is an alumnus of my own Alma Mater, so I plan to read the book and get back to you. I do know the book takes the words and teachings of Jesus and puts them together to form narrative. She’s very humble about not knowing if the idea will catch on or not. It sounds promising. (I said the same thing about “Expelled,” but this should be different.)

Pray Without Ceasing (part 4 of 4)

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Pray without ceasing means that we are continually in a spirit of communion with our Heavenly Father. It means to pray frequently, about everything, until it becomes our nature to be in prayer, not something we have to be reminded of.

Jesus not only taught his disciples to pray, but we see in the gospels how important pray was in Jesus’ own life. On one occasion, we read that Jesus gets up early in the morning, while it is still night, and goes off by himself to pray. Another time, we find that Jesus has stayed up the entire night in prayer. Even Jesus, who was God incarnate, spent time alone with God in prayer. There is no way we can be so close to God that prayer isn’t necessary. The night before his arrest, Jesus prayed in agony until his sweat became as great drops of blood. Jesus was passionate about a lot of things, but he never did anything else until it nearly killed him the way he spent this evening in prayer. Continue reading →

Teach Us to Pray (part 3 of 4)

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I found out that I couldn’t make just one post and say everything I wanted about prayer. I was afraid of that. On this occasion, let’s look at what we commonly call The Lord’s Prayer as Jesus’ example of how we are to pray. This is the prayer he taught his followers.

“Our Father which art in heaven,” addresses the Father to let him know we are speaking to him, and reminds us who it is we pray to. The relationship is constantly before us; he is our father, and we are his children. We are children of the adoption, having been bought with a price and redeemed. “Hallowed be thy name,” since his name is holy and above all names. If we daily pray this prayer, not using God’s name in vain is almost guaranteed. “Thy kingdom come,” is both a request that God come quickly into this world, and reminds us that the kingdom of God is presently being built. We are a part of that. Continue reading →

Word of God Speak (part 2 of 4)

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“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

The Word of God, according to Psalm 119:105, lights our way through this dark world. It gives us direction, lights our way, and guides our steps. The Bible, God’s Word, provides us with instruction on how to live: how to treat the people we meet, how to find a godly spouse and raise a family, how to treat the people we work for and those that work for us, how to be honest in business, how to select church leaders, and a myriad of other tasks in life. More importantly, it is the story of how a holy God interacts with fallen people. That story is worth not only reading, but learning, studying and memorizing. The entire Bible is about we relate to God, and the intersecting point between fallen man and Holy Almighty God is Jesus. Coming to God through faith in Jesus Christ is the only hope we have, and the Bible is that story. Continue reading →

Read the Bible and pray (part 1 of 4)

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Weren’t we all told this as children? Perhaps as a new believer the pastor shook your hand and encouraged you to read the Bible every day. As basic as it sounds, as obvious as it seems to any believer, these two activities are the cornerstones of a close walk and fellowship with our Heavenly Father. But do we practice them?

This is an introduction to a series on reading the scriptures and praying. Continue reading →