There was a cowboy who was going to take a stagecoach west. When he went up to the ticket agent, the agent said, "Do you want a first-class, second-class, or a third-class ticket?" The cowboy said, "All the seats are the same, why should I buy a first-class ticket?" The agent said, "You'll find out later on. I would advise you to buy a first-class ticket." The cowboy did. When they reached a muddy hill, the driver called out, "All second-class ticket holders get out and walk." He then said, "All third- ...
I want to confess that I am a Tarzan movie buff. I love all of the old Tarzan movies, especially the ones with Johnny Weismuller. Even though I have seen every alligator he has ever killed, every elephant he has ever called, and every vine he has ever swung from, I never get tired of watching his movies. I guess that's why this story is both so funny and so meaningful to me. It seems as if Tarzan was not himself, and Jane was very worried. It was apparent that Tarzan was developing a problem, a very ...
The most radical words in the Apostles Creed are the first four- “I believe in God.” But you might respond, “Wait a minute, brother Bill. I thought that all cultures, past and present, have believed in some kind of god. So, what’s so radical about that?” Well, that’s true. But in those first four words of the Creed, we are saying much more than just that we believe God exists. We are declaring that he is the central truth around which our lives revolve. He is our Sovereign, our supreme commander. Notice ...
And the story of Easter day continues. John says, "On the evening of that day, the first day of the week..." Imagine...just hours later, really, it is the evening of the day of Resurrection, the evening of the day which began in a garden, the evening of the day when Mary saw the Lord, the evening of the first day of the week. The doors are shut. The disciples are scared to death, and Jesus comes and stands among them and he says, "Peace be with you." He says it three times here, you notice. My guess is ...
"HELP!!! I'VE LOST MY FOCUS!" That's the title of an article in the January Time Magazine with the subtitle: "E-mail and cell phones help us multitask, but they also drive us to distraction." The authors begin: "Spend a few hours with Hollywood producer Jennifer Klein and you might want to pop a valium. Or slip her one. From the moment she rises at 7:00 a.m., she's a fidgety, demanding, chattering whirling dervish of a task juggler. Motto: never do just two things at once if you can possibly do four or ...
Thankfully, most of us do not deal on a daily basis with the most profound issues of morality and ethics. What we do face every day, however, are small matters of manners (should I keep my word? should I honor my commitments.) Caught up in the big newsmaking issues (murder, abortion, war) of ethics, these small matters sometimes go by the wayside. The church needs to be aware that its role is as the one "hosting the Host," and act accordingly. Post-modern society moves at an incredible pace. It bombards ...
What is "valuable" in life? Is it the wisdom from below (we teach our children the "value of a dollar") or the wisdom from above (values as virtues)? Can we reclaim the word "value" when we attach dollar tags to everything? What people deem as "valuable" today are bargain-basement "values," real "buys," cheap "specials." Christians need to reclaim the spiritual meaning of this word, which once had a moral, not monetary or commercial connotation to it. The valuables we are to protect are listed in James 3: ...
The Bible teaches us to praise God for everything. For everything? Really everything? Yes, everything! We are to praise and thank God constantly, "in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5:18), "at all times and for everything" (Ephesians 5:20), "always asking God with a thankful heart (Philippians 4:6,TEV). During the height of one of Cyprus' political crises, Sir Hugh Foot became governor of the country. He exchanged telegrams with his father, the Rt. Hon. Isaac Foot. The first, from England, read: "Foot ...
Acts 9:1-20 recounts one of the church's all-time favorite stories: how Saul of Tarsus, perhaps the most vehement persecutor of Jesus' followers, was transformed into Paul the apostle, the Lord's own voice to the Gentiles. The famous Damascus Road theophany has been held up to all generations of the church as one of the most stirring and miraculous transformations ever recorded. Luke's sense of drama and gift for storytelling skillfully places this first of three accounts of Saul's conversion as a ...
Acts 9:1-20 recounts one of the church's all-time favorite stories: how Saul of Tarsus, perhaps the most vehement persecutor of Jesus' followers, was transformed into Paul the apostle, the Lord's own voice to the Gentiles. The famous Damascus Road theophany has been held up to all generations of the church as one of the most stirring and miraculous transformations ever recorded. Luke's sense of drama and gift for storytelling skillfully places this first of three accounts of Saul's conversion as a ...
The significance of Paul's conversion experience along the Damascus road is evident by the fact that it is described in three separate places in Acts (9:1-22;22:3-16;26:4-18). Both the remarkable, miraculous nature of this event and the personal transformation of Saul the persecutor into Paul the apostle that results from this encounter make it a tale worth telling and retelling. This first and most succinct version of the event that changed Saul into Paul reveals more than the identity of the voice and ...
It took place during that first Holy Week. For about three years Jesus had been teaching and healing and living among his followers. He had been preparing the disciples for the time when he would no longer be with them. He sensed that they were ready, so he went to Jerusalem to confront those who opposed him. On Sunday he made his entry into Jerusalem – that was Palm Sunday which we will celebrate next week. He did it in such a way that his claim to be the Messiah was unmistakable. He had ridden on a ...
Not too long ago a listener called a disc jockey while he was on the air at a local radio station to ask about an upcoming lunar eclipse. “The eclipse can be seen at 1:30 in the morning,” the DJ told the caller. “That late?” the caller snapped. “Why can’t they schedule these things earlier so kids can enjoy them too?” (1) I wonder who at the station she thought was in charge of scheduling lunar eclipses? A mother tells about her precocious six-year-old in his first day of parochial school. His teacher made ...
The salvation God offers us in Jesus Christ entails being saved from our sense of worthlessness, of not being good enough, of being good for nothing, of not deserving to be loved for who we are. On Mother’s Day I observed that each of us has been created with a God-hole. In that God-hole lies all our self-doubt and shame. It remains there until God fills that hole. We try to fill the hole with God-substitutes. We try to overcome the self-doubt by proving ourselves. The world gives us a cafeteria line to ...
Question - What do King David, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton have in common? They all at one time entered "THE SPIN ZONE." What is "The Spin Zone"? The "Spin Zone" is when you enter into God's "No Sin Zone" out of a lust for power, sex, influence or money which causes you to sin which you then try to cover up. In the Garden of Eden God warned Adam and Eve about His "No Sin Zone" and they refused to listen, they entered into "The Spin Zone" and you know the rest of the story. Nixon had his Watergate, ...
One of the most fun trips I have ever taken in my life was years ago when my wife and three sons went out west to Colorado, and spent a week in a part of the country we had never been in before. We did everything from horseback riding to white water rafting, to just exploring the great outdoors. But one of the highlights for me, strangely enough, was driving up to a top of one of the Rocky Mountains and standing on what is called by some, "The Continental Divide," and others "The Great Divide." Geologists ...
Some years ago, Newsweek magazine reported a fortune tellers' convention in Dublin, Ireland. Palm readers, crystal ball gazers and astrologers from all over the world gathered for a week to compare notes, learn techniques, and make new predictions. While they were all together in one of the convention meetings, a thief broke into their hotel rooms and stole all of their crystal balls and tarot cards. When the police investigated the crime, they asked the fortune tellers the obvious question: "Why didn't ...
It's a question you've probably not thought much about, but were any parts of the Bible written by women? We count about forty different writers in scripture, and according to the usual assumption, all of them were men. Among the reasons for that conclusion is the fact that the dominant culture of the ancient Middle East was patriarchal. Men were in charge, and women had few rights of their own, not unlike in some of the stricter Muslim countries today. Also, in those times, literacy rates for women were ...
Every year at this particular season, I am amazed all over again at the impact that the old, old story of Christmas has on people. In light of how "fad-conscious" we tend to be in this country, it is a wonder to me that we have not grown weary of this ancient story and the figures of the babe and the manger and the shepherds and all the rest. After 2,000 years of exhaustive repetition, why do you suppose the events of Bethlehem still lay hold of our depths and continue to intrigue us? Is this simply the ...
"With Jesus in your heart, you just can't hate anybody." That is our destination, but sometimes the journey is just as important as the destination. I want to take you on a journey through the text for today. As we continue to preach on the life of our Lord Jesus, we will basically arrive at the same destination: "With Jesus in your heart, you just can't hate anybody." This is a wonderful text, a dense text that is chock full. It's almost like a good hamburger with all that good stuff hanging over the ...
Don't you find this passage filled to overflowing with delightful descriptions? Only in the Gospel of Saint John do we discover such an appealing and even worshipful relationship between Simon Peter and his Savior and Lord. A feast is set before us and its attraction will last a lifetime for all those who profess the Christ. As usual, the Master relates his will and ways through common and ordinary means. Who didn't know what a fish was? Yes, and who didn't know a sheep when he/she saw one? Additionally, ...
Those bidding good-bye are around us all of our lives. Sometimes there are almost unbearable feelings and other times merely a shrug of the shoulders. We may sense terrible lostness. Occasionally, it may be a matter of saying under our breaths that it is good riddance. Perhaps most of us have been there and done all of that. In the case of our dear Lord's ascension, we discover quickly that this is not a usual parting which is common to our experience. There is something very different here! We weren't ...
What can faith do? It can part a raging sea and allow a nation to walk through. What can faith do? It can knock down the walls of a fortified city so that God can prove a point. What can faith do? It can single out a woman who follows God's lead and protect her from certain death. Today many people are into "reality" television shows where individuals are put to extreme tests. We watch them because we like to see others battle against great odds and come out victorious. When an underdog comes out on top, ...
If you've traveled with small children in a car, you've probably heard this conversation more than once. Sooner or later, whether the journey is half an hour or half a day, someone asks, "When do we get there?" "Soon." "How much longer?" "A few minutes." How long do we have to wait? It is an essential question asked in scripture. Job, the psalmist, and God's people wonder over time how long they will have to wait until God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven. We pray that phrase in the Lord's Prayer ...
"Stupid is as stupid does." So says the now-famous quote from the movie, Forrest Gump. Nowadays, it would seem stupidity is an epidemic. Just type the words "stupid people dot com" into your internet search engine and you can find loads of websites where people share their tales, like the man who wrote: "My ex-wife once called me at a bar and asked, 'Where are you?' " Another favorite story is told about a high school teacher who assigned her class a paper on World War Two. On the date it was due, one boy ...