April 2011 Blog Posts (20)

I cannot get my mind to settle this morning, to stay focused and move on. It drifts here and there, running in circles, trying to pull me away from what I'm intent on doing. Those of you who've had a dog may know the type of behaviour I'm talking about. Not playfulness, not mischeivious, but the "come, come, let me show you" - darting off, coming back, circling, darting, coming back - that leads you eventually where it wants you to be. It's always, to see, or to do.

Today, my mind…

We are prayerfully working to encourage and equip the churches in Metrolina Baptist Association and other churches in the Charlotte NC area toward a more biblical, obedient model of discipleship and disciple-making.  To follow what is happening in these efforts, visit our new blog: Metrolina Discipleship

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I have just begun journaling.  I read an article on journaling as you read scripture.  I am trying this.  If you have any other suggestions on how to journal, please let me know.

I read the first chapter of First Timothy (NLT).  I observed "accountabilty:"  to have a pure heart, clear conscience and sincere fath and live as God intended us to.  My favorite verse out of the chapter was:  "How…

The Lord has taken me back to review the story of the twelve spies surveying the land God was giving them. I'm sure you remember the salient details - the land was awesome, the spies came back, and 10/12 made up stories about the residents being Nephilim and recommend against going forward. Only Caleb and Joshua brought the true report and recommended going forward.

As I meditated on this message I had two immediate questions:

1. WHY? Why did God even send the scouts? Why…

I had decided earlier this year that I'd work through the New Testament for my quiet time, and this morning arrived at the beginning of Luke. A nice, orderly account, complied so Theophilus, and then of course we, would know exactly what went down. Maybe that introduction helped focus my attention as I started reading, but for some reason two little words stood out in Luke "can" and "will". They've got me thinking about imagineering.

We think of imagineering with Disney in front of it…

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in YESHUA the Messiah…” (Phil 2:5)

ADONAI ELOHIM created man in the image and likeness of GOD. When…

When I started, several weeks back, to write about creation, I was pondering the darkness of the abyss before God spoke His first word of creation and sent Light to our shrouded world.  I was questioning just how long the darkness lasted, as the Spirit brooded our egg of an earth.  Walking through Holy Week, especially the Maundy Thursday service,  I was struck by Jesus' "descent into darkness" as we celebrated the Service of Shadows.  As Jesus hung on the cross, the world once more plunged…

Lemmings have been on my mind lately. It seems that I use to hear more about lemmings years ago. I remember my favorite teacher, Mr. T.F. Davies, telling us not to be like lemmings, blindly following a leader to our own peril and death. I could digress here and dwell on lemmings but that's not really where my mind is at this morning, it's on lemming like behavior and Joshua (1:8), another of my favorite teachers.

I've been making my way through the gospels this month…

So, there I was in Mark, Chapter 4 this morning, all nice and comfortable - smug even because unlike the disciples I knew what the parables meant - even as I was about to move on to Chapter 5 I was still feeling a little superior because I could answer the question. You know the one, "Who then is this? Even the wind and sea obey him!" (Mk 4:41). Silly disciples, isn't it obvious that this is God's Son with all the power and authority of God.

But then, this little voice is…

Saturday, I attended a family reunion with members of my dad's side of the family. My dad died in 1982 at the age of 55. When his mom died a few years later, we lost contact with that side of the family. It may be something about aging, but the older I get, the more I desire to reconnect with family members from my past. Saturday was one of those days.

Several family members, including my sister, have been doing a lot of research on our ancestral lineage. You know the saying,…

Any thoughts on what might be the best computer tablet for ministry work?

“For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters….if you are led by the SPIRIT…” (Gal 5:13, 18)

                Where the SPIRIT is, there is freedom!  The LORD YESHUA himself said, “You will recognize them by their fruit” (Matt 7:16).  The free man does things that are godly while the unborn does things that are worldly; things that appeal to the flesh.  For the free man bears the fruit of the SPIRIT, that which is of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,…

I fell in love with the game of golf in 1992 when Fred Couples' ball hung up in the hill between the bunker and the water on the par 3 4th at Augusta National. As I remember, he holed the ball from the bank for a birdie and went on to win the tournament. I was amazed. He was even older than I was at the time. I thought if someone that old could do something so amazing, I could learn to play the game. I did and I'll forever be a fan of Couples for being the one who encouraged me, unknowingly,…

I have heard the creation story so many times I have lost the sheer wonder of everything springing from nothing at the WORD of God.  So, I am going all the way back to the dark, watery sphere of earth before....anything we know.  From The Message Bible: First this: God created the Heavens and the Earth-all you see, all you don't see.  Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness.  God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery…

As my to-do list was screaming at me for attention this morning I got to thinking about how and why its voice has gotten so loud in my life. No, no, I know that at my age I should be doing a little less and shouldn't have a to-do list. But, I'm not slowing down and it often seems more gets added to the list than gets cleared from it.

None of that changes the fact that the thing was screaming for attention. Then I noticed a mind-map I'd been doodling the other week and saw…

As we approach another celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday, the  timing of the death of Christ always kind of bothered me.

Matthew 12:40 states:

^“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” 

Even a casual student of scripture then should [must?] contrast the statement in Matt 12:40 with our…

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

Freedom is a divine prerogative.  Freedom comes from GOD and it was given by GOD to Adam.  When Adam sinned, he lost his freedom.  Adam became a slave of sin.  For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved (2 Peter 2:19b).  So, starting from Adam and through all of man’s generations, they all became slaves of sin. 

Since Adam…

The Law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves.

-          Hebrews 10:1

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

                The LORD commanded all Israel to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread from Passover which was the fourteenth day of the first month, Abib, until the 21^st, (seven days).  On the first day, they were to remove all the yeast from the houses.  They were to bake…

This is the second part of the discussion on adopting and the theological basis for it:

In your book, you talk about the call to care for orphans going hand in hand with the Great Commission. Tell us a bit about how orphan care is part of God’s call to reach the world.

Paul says that as Christians we are adopted into the family of God. We were once orphans who were estranged and without hope, but God redeemed us and provided for us.…