Transformed Mind

1 John 1:5-2:10 5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6  If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to...

13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.   Let me stop right there. What was wrong with their eyes? They didn’t recognize him? Seriously? These were two of Jesus’ disciples. Theologians have many explanations, but as I was thinking about it I thought, “How many times do I tune out that which is right in front of me?” I’m particularly good at filtering out crying babies, which is pretty handy on flights. Or maybe think back to your school days where your mind drifts into a long day dream and you completely miss the entire content of the class. Deeper though, think about a time when there’s been suffering in your life, in that gut-wrenching place of grief, disillusionment, and darkn...

  Valentines Day & Ash Wednesday (Feb 14), an interesting combo of holydays this year. Valentines Day of course we think of love and romance, a time to express emotions, hand out little cards, boxes of chocolates, and for some reason a fat baby with wings and a bow and arrow. Love in scripture goes deeper than some of the superficiality we get on the commercialized day of Valentine, for it proclaims, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, a time of self denial, fasting, prayer, and the giving of oneself to contemplate God’s ultimate act of love that culminates on Good Friday. It’s a time to think of our own mortality. During the imposition of ashes whereby a person makes the sign of the cross on the recipients forehead you may hear the words, “All are from dust, and to dust all return.” It’s a sobering thought. And working in a hospital I really think about this quite a bit, deat...

"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life." - John 5:39-40  Book of Kells image Jesus here is talking to the Pharisees, the religious folk of his time and isn't too happy with their arrogant blindness. It's the equivalent of being a PhD in political science, writing articles for professional journals about current political affairs, pouring into students the knowledge you've obtained and then one day a living US president walks in and you have no idea who they are. He says, "Don't you know who I am I'm the one you've been writing articles about, those economic policies were my doing, everything that's right with this country has my fingerprints on it. My staff have been pushing my agenda for years to get things done." And nothing, you're clueless. You actually think this guy is pulling your chain ...

"It is not the thing we spend the most time on that moulds us most; the greatest element is the thing that exerts most power." - Oswald Chambers Chambers here is talking about the Atonement of Christ. That what Jesus did on the cross is the single most powerful thing in the history of humanity and that event should be the driving force in our lives.   I think of St. Paul who spent a great portion of his life studying, learning, and growing to become this great Jewish teacher, to be the absolute best. As he says, "If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless." All of this time and energy trying to prove himself, trying to be someone, something. His passion was there, his dedication was there, but as Thomas Merton state...

As Paul writes this letter to the church in Ephesus, things are not going well in that metropolis of trade and shipping. The church there is experiencing fear AND hostility. Culturally, Ephesus was a strong city that had many marks of a bustling metropolis of the ancient world. Its harbor provided shipping and trading opportunities and its former claim to fame, the Temple of Artemis, still provided opportunity for local artisans to profit by making idols, little silver and wood statues. Paul’s teaching about Jesus though turned people from and against idol worship and therefore deprived these artisans from their source of income. In the Book of Acts one of these artisans, Demetrius, states,  Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. So things are bleak as persecution persists against the ...

  So true story, I was writing this sermon, typing away on my MacBook Air on a long flight. I had my Logos Bible Software open on Ephesians 3 reading what some of the commentaries said, looking at different translations, and just trying to immerse myself in what the Apostle Paul was saying. And then… splash ! The flight attendant spilled an entire glass of water on me AND my laptop. The keyboard was soaked as well as my shirt and pants. The laptop immediately shut down. Frustrating right, when things don’t turn out the way we expect or a curve ball is thrown out of nowhere, like a glass of water falling on you. And I know for a fact I’m not  alone when it comes to being overwhelmed, stressed out, and stuck. Even among fellow Christians there is this sense of dissatisfaction,even fear; fear of the future, the unknown. There’s ISIS, the Zika Virus, politicians, racial strife, and the list goes on. Even if these  things didn’t exist I thi...

“Everywhere things are troubling and uneasy - wars and rumours of war: perhaps not the final hour but certainly times most evil. Nevertheless, the Apostle again and again bids us "Rejoice." Nature herself bids us to do so, the very face of the earth being now renewed, after its own manner, at the start of Spring. I believe the men of this age think too much about the state of nations and the situation of the world…We are not kings, we are not senators. Let us beware lest, while we torture ourselves in vain about the state of Europe, we neglect either Verona or Oxford. In the poor man who knocks at my door, in my ailing mother, in the young man who seeks my advice, the Lord Himself is present: therefore let us wash His feet." This was a quote from famed author of The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, Mere Christianity, and of course the Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis. Though in this quote he was reflecting about the state of the world in 1947, Lewis had also fough...

1 Kings 13  (Read First!) Introduction How easily do those we see as leaders, experts, and colleagues deceive us? How many of you remember back in 2011 when Harold Camping predicted the end of the world and many of his followers and others sold all of their possessions actually thinking the end was coming. Or how many of you have heard that God will not give you more than you can handle? The thing is, intentions and sincerity do not necessitate or require truth. Both the above examples were and are false. We are to live by God’s word and His truth alone. But I’ll come back to that. Let’s delve into this story… Original Meaning So in this passage we have a king named Jeroboam and a couple of prophets. To give you a little background Jeroboam was a servant of King Solomon who oversaw the forced labor that built the Temple and other buildings in Jerusalem. What happened prior to this passage was that Solomon had greatly sinned by whoring after his wives’, yes wives, as in more t...

I just want to express how awesome it is to be a part of this corps, to be able to speak truth in love into Soldiers lives and to see God's kingdom grow for His glory... Heavenly Father, I pray that You continue to watch over the men and women in uniform that serve You above all else and that through their service to country, Your name is glorified and Your will is done. Surround them with Your divine protection from both the physical and spiritual enemies of this day. Thank You for Your unconditional love, unmerited mercy, and bountiful grace that You have shown in Your Son...for "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life..." In THIS name I pray. Amen! Chaplain Corps' 240Th Anniversary by  Representative Doug Collins  Posted on 2015-07-27 ...

New Testament Persecution: The Stage is Set As seen in the cross of Christ, God uses the example of suffering again and again through His Son, the martyrs, and various persecutions of His children to show and point to the Way and to strengthen the body of his church.   Since both Jesus and his followers were of the Jewish faith, “Jewish religious authorities considered the new group (Christianity) to be their responsibility, and the Roman authorities generally agreed.” [1]   Because of this situation, the persecution of Christians from the time of Jesus’ death to the fire in Rome in 64 A.D. came primarily from the Jewish population. [2]   It was in a sense their problem and priority to crush this heretical blasphemous sect so that the Jews could continue to live in relative peace.   Fortunately for Christianity, persecution was a badge of honor and a necessary obstacle to overcome. As George Whitefield remarks, those “that live godly in Christ Jesus, must expec...