Servant Series (Lent 2009)
« Previous EntriesWhen All Seems Lost
Monday, April 13th, 2009Luke 24:4 “He is not here. He has risen!”
I cannot imagine the deep dread and abhorrence the women must have felt that day to go embalm Jesus. He would have been dead for three days because of the Passover. Bluntly, in that warm climate, rigor mortis would have set in and he would have smelled […]
The Death of a King
Saturday, April 11th, 2009Mark 15:37 “With a loud cry he breathed his last.”
Pilate had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified. The Roman soldiers were bored and always looked for someone new to torture. There was a large crowd of soldiers in the Praetorium that day. They stripped Jesus, made fun of him. They found an […]
Nobility, Cowardness, and Malice
Friday, April 10th, 2009Matthew 27:22 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Christ? Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify him!”
One of the really hard things is to not defend ourselves when people don’t tell the truth about us. Naturally, we want to tell our truth. We want to say how wrong they are. […]
The Whole Truth
Thursday, April 9th, 2009Job 27:4 “My lips do not speak wickedness and my tongue will utter no deceit.”
One of the things that drove me crazy about raising my daughters was that occasionally they would tell partial truths. In what they said there was some truth; it was just not the whole truth.
My first experience was with Caroline, our […]
The Broken Vase
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009Luke 22:4 “And Judas went to the chief priest and the officer of the temple and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus.”
Matt Jones was the Youth Minister and then Executive Pastor for our church for about eight years. Matt wrote, in a recent email, about all the challenges that he and I […]
Violating God’s Will
Tuesday, April 7th, 20091 Samuel 8:7 “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for it is me they are rejecting, not you.”
There is much about God’s will that I cannot understand. The will of God is complex in that it seems from the Garden of Eden forward, human beings have circumvented God’s will. I believe […]
We Are More Than An Image
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 1 Samuel 16:7 “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
I am popular as a painter because I […]
An Un-Hoped For Miracle
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009Mark 6:31 “….He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”
There are many times that we personally feel that Jesus does not care for us or that he has deserted us. Perhaps the actions of Christ are best seen at a distance or with the passage of time. Jesus cares […]
The Legions of Satan
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009Mark 5:9 “My name is Legion” he replied “For we are many.”
As Jesus finished the journey across the lake after the calming of the storm, he and his disciples came to the territory known as the Gerasenes. Jesus immediately stepped out of the boat and he was confronted with a human storm.
This story happened […]
Faith in the Storm
Monday, March 30th, 2009Mark 4:38 “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
Storms were a way of life on the huge lake we call the Sea of Galilee. One moment everything would be beautiful. The next minute could bring a horrendous storm. This lake could go from calm as glass to mountainous waves without warning. The sky could […]