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Category Archives: Bible
The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation (Part II)
You’re reading a novel in which the main character has a fantastical experience which changes him. From that time on, whenever he shakes hands with someone, he can see what that person will be in twenty, thirty, even forty years.
He meets a handsome young man who is brilliantly successful – straight A’s in college, captain of the basketball team, with acceptance letters from Harvard Business and other top graduate schools. But when he shakes his hand, he can see that alcoholism will destroy his life, his wife will leave him at 35, take the kids, and he’ll be dead by 50.
He is amazed to see how people’s lives turn out, some beautifully and some tragically. Then he meets and shakes hands with … you. Continue reading
Posted in Bible, From the Pulpit, Prayer, Sermons
Tagged Christian view of wealth, church, Ephesians 3:18, glory in the Bible, inheritance, Prayer
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Where is Heaven? (Clue: It’s Closer Than You Think)
In 1869, The Scientific American ran a short (and sardonic) piece on Dr. D. Mortimer, a medical doctor who believed he had found the location of heaven. His suggestion, if I understand it correctly, was a fascinating one. According to Dr. Mortimer, heaven lay within the sun as a vast globe, “at least 500,000 miles in diameter.”
Apparently, Dr. Mortimer believed that the blessed occupants of heaven were either shielded from its heat or transformed physiologically (an idea based on the Apostle Paul’s writings) so they might flourish there. This location also offers the added convenience of close proximity to a large “lake of fire” for those who are not blessed. Continue reading
Posted in Bible, Christianity, Theology
Tagged Dallas Willard on heaven, kolob, N.T. Wright, Where is Heaven?, Where is Heaven? Kolob
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Was Shakespeare Right: Is Love Blind?
Okay, so someone is bound to tell me it wasn’t Shakespeare but Chaucer who coined the phrase that love is blind. I’ll give you that, but Shakespeare popularized the phrase by his repeated use of it: The Merchant of Venice, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Henry V all include it.
Before someone has the chance to object that some Persian poet who predated Chaucer really composed the line, I’ll concede the point, but the question remains. Was Chaucer and Shakespeare (and whoever else) right? Is love blind?
The answer depends on what one means by love. Eros, I think, is often blind. Friends and family watch the lover as he ignores glaring signals and stands poised to fall into a deep ditch. Love has made him blind to his situation and deaf to his friends. Continue reading
Posted in Bible, relationships, Spiritual life
Tagged Chaucer, Love is blind, Shakespeare
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I AM the Vine
But what is our part?
It can be stated in three words: Abide in Jesus. That’s job one. If we do that, we will be okay, no matter what else happens. We will produce abundant fruit. Christ’s life will be apparent in the fruit that grows from us. Our greatest danger doesn’t arise from trials but from failing to abide.
Jesus says in verse 4: “Remain” – that’s how the NIV translates the word the King James has as abide – “in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
To abide is to stay or remain or reside. According to Jesus, this is the key to being fruitful – that is, the key to experiencing fulfillment. Verse 5: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit…”
Is abiding something mystical? Not really. I abide in my home. When I go somewhere – whether to town or across the country – I come back to my home. My life is oriented around my home. That’s where I eat meals, where I sleep, where I work, where I communicate, where I relax. I know how long it takes to get from my home to most all the places I go. I know how long it takes to get back. I plan my life around my home.
To be homeless is an enormous trial. It disorients a person. It throws everything off. Some people are spiritually homeless. They are disoriented in their spirits. They are not abiding – not residing – in Christ and so everything for them is unsettled. Continue reading
Posted in Bible, Spiritual life, Theology
Tagged Abiding in Jesus, How do I abide, John 15:1-8
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“Allow Me to Introduce Myself” – Jesus
Imagine you are an actor, who has moved to Los Angeles, is sharing an apartment with four other people, working odd jobs, and waiting for your big break. One day your agent calls. A famous director is looking for someone to play a role in his new major motion picture. The audition is at 3:00.
So, you call your part-time employer, tell him you’re going to miss work today, and you go in for the audition. You’re given a script with the lines: “Don’t even think about it. Please. Please. You’ll ruin everything.”
You ask, “So what is this scene about?” and are told, “The Director isn’t telling anyone. Just do your best.”
You don’t know if your character is a scientist, working in a lab with highly explosive material or a spouse whose partner has threatened to file for divorce. How can you know how to act if you don’t know the story?
That is the same kind of problem many people have in trying to live as a Jesus-follower: They don’t know what story they’re in. This text will help us understand our story. This message is based on John 1:1-18, and is meant to open the new series, “Allow Me to Introduce Myself” -Jesus. Each week of the series, we will be introduced to a truth about Jesus from the Gospel of John, revealed in Jesus’s fascinating “I Am” statements. Continue reading
Jesus Stories
Kevin Looper preaches from Mark 4 and 5, with insights into who Jesus is and what he is like. In the heart-pounding adventure of the turbulent night at sea and in the heart-stopping horror story centered around the tombs, Kevin points out the startling insight that the disciples (in the first story) and the demons (in the second) were afraid of Jesus and that Jesus was afraid of nothing! Continue reading
Posted in Bible, Sermons, Theology
Tagged Anxiety, Jesus and demons, Jesus rules the sea
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Take Advantage of Second Chance Opportunities
He is not merely the God of the second chance, but of the third and fourth and hundredth and thousandth. Continue reading
Plan-A, Plan Only
God had a plan to undo the consequences of the Fall, to heal and restore humanity, and that plan began with one man: Abraham. His line would lead to a point: the Point-of-it-All. And God would get from Abraham to … Continue reading
Posted in Bible, Broken Pieces, Faith
Tagged Abraham and Isaac, biblical theology, Sacrifice of Isaac
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The Point of it All
What is God going to do to fix things? … Will God do anything? And, if so, what will he do? The rest of the Bible is the answer to that question … but it starts here. It starts with one man. It starts with Abraham. Continue reading
Posted in Bible, Broken Pieces, Theology
Tagged biblical theology, Blessing of Abraham, Call of Abraham
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Blackmail-proof: A Life Without Secrets
My wife Karen got an email from a scammer this week, blackmailing her and demanding a payment of $1,000 in bitcoin. The scammer claimed to be a hacker who had accessed her email account, embedded a keylogger and had taken … Continue reading
