During the past three weeks I’ve enjoyed reading one chapter a day in the gospel according to John and sharing with you some of my thoughts. Today is chapter 21, the final chapter in this book written by the disciple whom Jesus loved. What strikes me is the conversation between and Peter and Jesus. After… Read More »
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter 18 describes Jesus’ arrest and His trials before the Jewish religious leaders and the Roman authorities. A lot happens in these 40 verses, but I was struck by something Jesus did and why He did it. In verse 4 we’re told that Jesus “went forth” or “went out” to meet those who had come… Read More »
Chapter Thirteen
Several things caught my attention as I read this chapter. For instance in verses 3-4 Jesus was fully aware or conscious of who He was when He was washing the disciples’ feet. Often we struggle to serve others when we are too conscious of our status. Knowing how submit our pride to the needs of… Read More »
Chapter Twelve
I want to briefly discuss three things that stood out to me as I read this chapter. 1) The damage that occurs when we are selfish: The hostility of the religious leaders toward Jesus we saw in the last chapter has turned into pure evil in chapter twelve. In verses 10-11 they were plotting to… Read More »
Chapter Seven
I can’t help but think about modern Americans when I read chapter seven in John’s gospel. It seems that the common people were becoming divided in their opinion of Jesus. Some believed He was the Christ (promised Messiah) or at least a great prophet, while others thought he was crazy. This division is clearly seen… Read More »
Jordan’s Story
I spent Thursday and Friday with four others from our staff at the Double14 Conference at NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC. NewSpring is one of the five largest churches in America, averaging about 30,000 each Sunday on their nine campuses in our state. We were challenged and encouraged. We learned and had lots of discussion… Read More »
Lost Toys
Our four year old grandson, Liam, recently lost the privilege of playing with his toys. He chose to disobey his parents and it’s now costing him. They had purchased a birthday gift for one of Liam’s friends from school and put it up high out of his reach for safe keeping. They also told Liam… Read More »
Today and Tomorrow
I became a believer and follower of Jesus as a teenager. It was an exciting time and dramatic changes to how I viewed my life were taking place. What I didn’t know then was how much those changes were setting the course for my future. Looking back I now realize that without those changes, I… Read More »
Faith and Obedience
Read the following Bible verse several times: Hebrews 11:8 “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.” Having read this verse several times, what is God saying to you? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________… Read More »
The Holy Spirit and Preaching
Nehemiah 9 the record of a special worship service during which the people of God repented and renewed their commitment to God. Their ancestors had sinned and rebelled against God, resulting in the destruction of the nation by the Babylonians and much of the population being taken to Babylon as slaves. The land had been… Read More »