Gather up a sundry batch of sinners (Nehemiah 8:1). Read them the Bible (Nehemiah 8:3). Everyone is super attentive (see Acts 17:11; Nehemiah 8:5). Everyone begs for the soul food of Scripture (see Matthew 4:4; Nehemiah 8:6). Utilize people like Eugene Peterson, Fred Buechner, C.S. Lewis, Robert Farrar Capon, Dr. Steve Brown, J.R.R. Tolkien, Flannery […]
The Ninevites were really bad! They were steeped in dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and their men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for […]
Once upon a time the LORD stirred up the spirit of the Persian potentate. The President of Persia (a distant predecessor of Sayyid Ebrahim Raisolsadati) zealously decided to wholistically finance and endorse the agenda of the Maker whose ways are radically different than our ways. The Persian President delightedly deferred to the only true & […]
Amaziah was the king. He assumed the throne at the age of 25, and he was in power for 29 years. He wasn’t wholehearted, but he wasn’t horrible. His dad had been assassinated by a couple of dudes named Zabad and Jehozabad (let the reader observe …both names end in “bad”). When Amaziah became king, […]
I’m reading through 1 & 2 Chronicles these days, and concomitantly I found myself listening to an audiobook entitled “The Last Godfather: The Rise and Fall of Joey Massino” by Simon Crittle. And I realized something… This macabre book about the mafia is thoroughly helping me understand the dynamics, and emphatic ghastliness, displayed by God […]
Some theologians will lead you in the right direction, and some theologians will lead you in the wrong direction. And here’s the catch …Jesus of Nazareth/Jesus the Samaritan lover/Jesus the temple wrecker is the one who absolutely and ultimately defines and dictates what THE RIGHT DIRECTION is. So, “Where do you want to go?” Do […]
The Holy Spirit told me, “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” And then the Holy Spirit said, ““Behold, I […]
The church is a dysfunctional family. There is no escaping some degree of drama. Drama and dysfunction are like bad weather. You can build houses and structures that keep the elements out, but the weather is still battering the house, and you yourself cannot always avoid it (e.g. like when you are coming home from […]
The best sermon ever preached didn’t happen in a sanctuary …it happened on a mountainside (Matthew 5:1). Jesus loved being on mountains (Matthew 14:23; 15:29: 17:1; 28:16). Mountains are metaphors for the most edifying experiences of life. The rigors of acclimatizing to altitude, the perseverance required to hike, the problem solving required to climb, the […]
What makes someone truly great? What is the zenith of wisdom and maturity? Who should we esteem and celebrate as the most distinguished and exemplary people on the planet? Or to put it another way… what if God Himself were to appoint a group of people to positions of prominence and authority? What should they […]