Jesus’ Example of Servanthood and Humility Jesus knew his time had come. He had loved the disciples throughout his ministry. Now, before he went to the cross, he wanted to help them comprehend the full extent of his love. John says, “Now, He loved them to the very end.” (John 13:1b NLT) “So he got up from the table, took
Psalms is probably the most read book in the Bible. Though not my most read book, I’m with it a lot, and Psalms 8 is one of my favorites. Two of the best-known verses of Scripture are in this psalm. “O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth” (v. 1), “What is man that You
In the economy of the Kingdom of God, many of the ways the followers of Jesus are invited to live are counter intuitive. For example, Jesus taught his students strange things like, “If you want to be first, then be last” and “If you want to be great, then serve.” We also see this counter-intuitive way of living in Jesus’
Shalom, the Hebrew word of greeting and parting, carries more weight than many imagine. Often translated as peace, many take it to simply mean ‘no fighting.’ In reality, shalom encompasses a set of values that extend beyond a mere absence of conflict. It’s a state of harmony within and without, something we all strive for in our work, daily life,
There are many connections and complementary images in Scripture. When I reflect on the meaning of following Christ and being his disciple, Jesus’s word comes clear, “If any wants to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). I wonder if this word was not clear in Paul’s mind when he
Last year, the headlines again pulled our attention to a way too common tragedy. Five policemen were involved in the beating and death of Tyre Nichols and were subsequently fired. Much of the story is told in the cameras of the policemen and the public camera at the scene of the arrest and beating. Even so, the legal battle which
Few things can bring animated conversation to the church like one which highlights spiritual gifts (charismata). Do we really get supernatural powers? Does the pastor have to have all of these? What about tongues? In Seamless, Chase Stancle offers us an accessible book steeped in years of practice. In writing this, he deftly reframes the conversation about spiritual gifts around
The Psalms is probably the most popular part of the Bible. Numerous religious and secular documents quote from it. It has been a significant part of literature and movies in our Western culture. It is a huge resource in Christian-Jewish worship. Know that the Lord is God indeed, without our aid he did us make. What kind of sentence is
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Matthew 5:6 In the Inspire Movement, the ministry that my wife and I share as Missioners, we teach four core values of discipleship that can be found as we look at the life of Jesus in the Gospels: – Seeking growth in our love for God
Let’s keep it clear. As Chrstians we are to be like our Father. I can’t leave that claim without at least a bit more reflection on who God is. The story of Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Isaac is one of the most powerful, profound, and disturbing stories in the Bible. It is a story of promise…promise made, promise fulfilled.
The Methodist Wesleyan family is alive and well in East Africa! God is calling young women and men to minister through word, deed and sign – evangelists, church planters, teachers, pastors, doctors, lawyers, government officials – all Holy Spirit-inspired and ready to go where God leads them.
How many lay people do you know who exhibit vision for the inbreaking Kingdom of God?
A couple of generations ago in North America, camp meetings and revivals were not uncommon in many Wesleyan Methodist traditions, flourishing in part from their popularity in the 19th century across frontiers. Outdoor meetings or camp meetings or week-long revival series held in local churches perhaps helped to pave the way for Billy Graham’s famous evangelistic crusades that inhabited tents
Compassion, in the Jesus way, is active – it steers toward the pain, joins folks in the valley of the shadow of death and finds some way to point to the hope of the resurrection.
When you look closely at the first few verses of Philippians, something quite unique stands out fairly quickly:
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons.
You’ll notice that Paul does not refer to himself as an apostle.
We have a hungry prophet (Elijah) on assignment to stretch the faith of a widow woman on welfare and to add insult to injury she has just lost her son.
I stop by to tell somebody when you are dealing with a dead situation you have to expect the unexpected, process your pain, and trust the process.
What would you give your life for? Your kids? Your spouse? Your family? Would you give your life for people you don’t know? People forced into prostitution in Bangalore, or unborn babies? Would you give your life for the Church? Paul tells us Jesus gave his life for just this thing. Jesus gave his life for the Church. More precisely, Jesus
Here’s a news flash – the word “evangelism” is emotionally, historically, and theologically charged.
Cognitive dissonance is especially challenging in evangelism. We’re tempted to find ways to reduce the divergences between the Gospel and our culture, to change our message so it’s more palatable to the society in which we live, to accommodate it to the “wisdom of the world.”
The more I read those words and reflected on Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 25 the more it struck me that the Seven Works of Corporal Mercy are not an anachronistic relic of the Medieval church but constitute a very effective evaluation tool for the contemporary church.
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