Holy Rambo

  Luke 15:1-7 Is there someone who really gets under your skin with bad behavior, or a lousy attitude? Do they strike you as being beyond "saving?" Can you imagine yourself sitting next to them at church? Can you imagine them coming because you invited them? In today's reading, Jesus is being criticized for making friends and hanging out with "sinners." In today's reading, Jesus responds in typical fashion. He tells a story. In the first of three parables He tells in answer to the Pharisee's complaints, he talks about who leaves everything to go looking for one lost sheep. The thing is, we are "those people." At least we were, and some of us still are, even if you've been going to church your whole life. The simple truth is, there is no one beyond the reach of God's love, and we do not have the luxury of deciding they are.  Lord, help us to see "those people" the same way You do. Help us to remember that we were once them, and...

DDG, Unit 25,  Session 1, Day 2 - Matthew 13:10-17 Well, I don't necessarily agree with Travis Tritt about what that looks like, but it truly is a great day to be alive. Go back and read verses 16-17 again. Moses wanted to hear what Jesus would teach. So did Abraham, David, Elijah. Heck, even John the Baptist wanted to hear it. I know people sometimes get frustrated with this passage. It somehow seems unfair that Jesus should teach and not make his meaning clear. Well, beyond fulfilling prophecy, I don't really know what that was all about. This I do know. We came along after that, and Jesus wants us to understand. We are servants of a Kingdom, with a capital "K." He is in control He stands before the Father who created it all, and rules over it all. How are we processing that into our thinking and feeling? What distracts us from the Kingdom and its work. Are we trusting people to accomplish the things only God can accomplish? More importantly, are we giving allegianc...

DDG, Unit 21, Session 2, Day 1 – Isaiah 61:1-7             In Luke chapter 4, Jesus takes a stop in the early days of his preaching earthly ministry to return to Nazareth. He is in the synagogue on the Sabbath and, as is customary, he is offered a scroll from which to read; in this case Isaiah. Jesus turns to what we call chapter 61 (the chapter and verse designations in scripture were not added until the mid-16 th century). It is part of a beautiful section of Isaiah’s prophecy. The chapters leading up to chapter 60 are a lament of the sins of Israel and God’s silence in response to their cries for relief. Chapter 59 ends with God’s promise that He maintains His covenant with Israel, His Spirit is on them, and His words are in their mouths. Out of that promise, begins a description of how God will bless Israel and restore her glory. It is from this section that Jesus read: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, ...

DDG, Unit 20, Session 4, Day 1 – John 1:19-34             Today’s Gospel Project Daily Study makes an incredibly profound point. Once we become acquainted with the basics of Christian doctrine and practice, we often want to move on to the “deeper” things. I think there has been a limitation in the way we have prepared Christians for their walk with Jesus when we can say that we understand the core of Christianity and are ready for “more,” whatever “more” means. One of the most challenging days I had as a believer came when I realized that the deepest truth of Christianity was encapsulated in the words of a hymn we relegate to children. “Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so.” It is one thing to say that we have heard this truth and accepted it. It is something else entirely to say I have experienced it in its fullness and have learned to live it out in all its particulars.       ...

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves."                           Matthew 10:16 (NASB)     Pastors generally are a decent group of people who have difficult jobs working with people who are hurting and needy. It breeds a certain special kind of compassion. It also sometimes leaves them open to the occasional scam artist. We generally have the tools to keep ourselves out of trouble with people coming in person (thank you church boards), but it seems like once or twice each year, we get an email from some pastor or another on our district warning us that their email has been hacked and not to respond to requests for financial assistance. Most pastors are not noted for their tech savvy.     As a pastor and an IT professional, I always cringe a little when those emails come. Many of our pastors have the "innocent as doves" part down (med...

DDG, Unit 20, Session 2, Day 5 – 1 Corinthians 1:1-14             Temptation can be a tricky thing. It often starts off subtle. Something seen out of the corner of your eye, or a thought that pops up out of nowhere. We may even dismiss it out of hand the first time we encounter it. If we’re not careful, though, before long we have pulled that thing out and we’re contemplating it. Toying with it. Play with it too long, and it feels like we simply cannot escape it.             God’s promise in today’s scripture reading says differently. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (NASB)         ...

DDG, Unit 20, Session 2, Day 4 – Mark 1:12-13             “Why?” may actually be a very important question to ask when we face times of difficulty, but it may also be intensely difficult to answer.   If you find yourself in a bad spot because of something you did, you need to address that. Nothing in our walk with Jesus in designed to protect us from the consequences of our own actions. Sometimes life just happens. This is not to suggest that God doesn’t care or is caught unaware, but we are not exempt from the normal ebb and flow of life either. Sometimes, bad things happen. We get sick. Accidents happen. Economies rise and fall. Pandemics happen. And sometimes the path to God’s best for us leads us into unpleasant places. Once we are certain that we have not caused our own problem, I think the question of “why” becomes not so easy or important to answer.             A...