What song consumes your mind?   When you wake up…what tune plays in your head?   When you lay down to go to sleep and the quietness of the room begins to be filled with a melody…what song begins to fill the emptiness?   Music has such an influence in our lives.   From the beginning of time we see God give the gift of music.   In Genesis 4:20-22 it reads, “Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes . Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of [ bronze and iron.”               The gift of music is powerful and such a blessing to our lives.   It expresses feelings.   Joy.   Pain. Anger. Love.   The emotions that can be stirred by one song can lift us up and make the day memorable!   Whenever I hear L...

Why worship?   We do it every Sunday or the gathering of the believers.   We enter church.   The music plays.   Pastor comes up for announcement.   Offering and then special number.   Pastor speaks.   Close in prayer, go home.   Sound familiar?   In recent years I have stepped back in service or my high school chapel to watch people.   My heart breaks as I see arms folded.   Hands in pockets.   Lips barely moving as to show, “I’m singing, but I do not want anybody to hear me”.   Talking to neighbors.   Not engaged.   I’m not talking about style of worship.   I’m not talking about a tingly feeling that comes and go’s.   I’m not talking about lights off and the candles lit.   I’m not even talking about the “go to a station, draw a picture and let God know how you feel” moment! I’m talking about attitude.   Worship IS important, not only in church, but in your personal life!   And that my ...

Matthew 4:8-11   Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.  “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”  Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”  Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him." Connecting with God is perhaps the most important outcome facilitated by churches. Most people (66%) feel they have had “a real and personal connection” with God while attending church. However, that means one-third of those who have attended a church in the past have never felt God’s presence while in a congregational setting. Also, when asked about frequency, most of those who have attended church describe these encounters as rare. One-third of all adults in the country report connecting with God at least monthly (35%) via a congregational setting. Among those who attend church ev...

After thirty years of ministry Paul was in the process of passing the baton to the likes of Timothy. Paul’s instruction to Timothy was not only based on the importance of running a church. Throughout 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, Paul is reminding Timothy of his worldview, that with which he had been equipped earlier as he served as a travel companion/disciple. “All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them great numbers of teachers to say wh...

A student goes out and interviews a stranger on the street, “How do you see human beings?” For the last ten years I have been assigning this project I have heard so many answers to this question. I have heard the science guy compare human life to that of a machine destined, to one day find themselves as a super human being! I heard a young man say that human life was a higher evolved animal with the sole purpose to procreate. In the midst of these various worldviews when the Christian is asked the same question, we get the same answer, “Created in the image of God.” Yet what does that mean? Emil Brunner explains it this way in his book, Man in Revolt: A Christian Anthropology. Brunner uses the Bible as his foundation to come up with two senses of the image of God. This includes the formal image which distinguishes man from an animal. In the formal image, man is able to have free choice and be rational. So the formal image may say that when God created Adam and Eve (mankind) they were h...

Peter was asked this question, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15, NIV) Peter’s answer defined Jesus. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Those few words have turned a culture upside down. Peter’s answer set the stage for a debate that has lasted for centuries. Today the challenge is more evident as culture tries to take the divinity out of Christ and make him into an ordinary man who happened to be holy. The answer brings us to fork in the road, either Christ is the Son of God, the Messiah or he is not. The church must rise up and provide an answer in this age of information, for if we do not, someone will deconstruct the very figure of Jesus Christ. What a great opportunity we have to share the hope of Christ. We live in a time where everything is relative, even in the areas of faith. The doors of opportunity are opening and if we do not have the answer to the “why’s” and the “what’s”, we will miss that chance to be used by God. Our culture cries for all religio...