Stopping to Think

The Backdrop Yesterday I was preaching from John 21:1-14. I was going without notes, which used to be my typical modus operandi, but is something I hadn't attempted in a long time. For the most part I felt pretty good about how it went-until I afterward remembered that I had teased a later point in the sermon (twice!) and then neglected to make that point. Maybe there is more wisdom to taking a full manuscript to the pulpit than I accounted for. In any case, in case you haven't followed the above link and listened to the whole sermon, the thrust of the sermon was this: In the first half of John 21 , we are meant to see Jesus revealing himself to the disciples. I argued that Jesus was revealed in at least three ways, namely:     1) Jesus has perfect knowledge     2) Jesus is the source of true provision     3) Jesus is Lord The Missed Point The case of negligence, or at least of failure to follow through, took place under point two. It might be an exagge...

Throwback Thursday is a series of posts, wherein I will on (some) Thursdays post a piece of writing from back in the day. Generally not from this blog. I will edit lightly for readability, but my intention is to allow each piece to stand basically as written. Over the years my mind has shifted on many things, as my knowledge of life, the Scriptures, and myself has grown. I'm not in the business of hiding this fact, so these will probably (at least on occasion) contain some things which even I think are crazy. Originally posted on Facebook as, "Night of the Mighty Men", April 24, 2010 So tonight a bunch of us guys had an ultimate guy's night. We dressed in ridiculous outfits, some in kilts, some in torn shirts, some in things not fit to be mentioned in polite company. We had jousting, caber tossing, ax throwing, and hand to hand combat. We ate meat off the bone, cooked beans over a fire, ate them without silverware, and put our root beer in a wash tub to dip our cu...

In Matthew 13:44 Jesus says, " The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."  What is the kingdom of heaven?  Jesus many times refers to it as His kingdom, essentially it is where believers dwell with God.  And Jesus says that this is so valuable that he compares it to a treasure we would sell all of our possessions to obtain.   Is this how we value our relationship with God?  Are we so caught with Him that we would consider Him our highest treasure?  Would we be willing to forsake our jobs, our money, our lives, our reputations, our friends, our family, our popularity, etc for the sake of gaining Christ?  Can we say with Paul in Philippians 3:7-8, " But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.   Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his ...