Sharing Life and Christ

Which adjective in the title more closely aligns with your predisposed way of thinking about and speaking the gospel to yourself and others?   Are you more likely to present a gospel that is heavy on the convicting realities of sin, righteousness and judgment?   Or do you find yourself more readily appealing to the benefits of following Jesus?   If you think about it, neither adjective fully encapsulates the message of Jesus.   It’s right to compel people using the promises of God and the joy filled benefits of a life submitted to Jesus.   But it’s also right to warn of the consequences of rejecting Him.   Since we’re all naturally inclined to emphasize one, we need to allow the other to constrain us, to balance us from taking our natural disposition to the extreme, which may confuse the gospel and the Jesus we wish to present.   Let me attempt to illustrate one example of an unconstrained leaning toward each in turn.   A compelling gospel that is...

It doesn’t take much effort to see that we are engaged in a war for truth.   Precious ideals, traditions, morality, and the like seem to be slipping away or are being molded into new renditions of right and wrong.   The communication of current events varies dramatically depending on the source of the news.   To some, the very foundations of our beloved country are being threatened.   And regardless of what side of the political aisle you’re on, it’s likely that you see the other side as an enemy who is looking to rip open the underbelly of the truth you hold near and dear.   Far from this being some sort of political appeal, I am writing to the Church, to brothers and sisters in Christ, in hopes of winning some to a way forward that is constructive and compelling and so adorns the gospel of Jesus Christ in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation (see Phil. 2:14-16).   My concern is that some individuals and some churches are presenting truth more in ...

God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27 “ The kingdom of God is like this,” he said.   “A man scatters seed on the ground.   He sleeps and rises night and day; the seed sprouts and grows, although he doesn’t know how…” Mark 4:26-27 These verses remind us that at the core of the Christian faith is mystery.   In one sense, mystery in Scripture speaks of something that God chose to keep hidden and has since made clear.   That’s Colossians 1:27.   Christ was revealed, and until He was revealed, no one would know and understand and experience the hope of glory.   But even since King Jesus has been revealed, there is still much about Him that is veiled, that remains mysterious.   This is simply because Jesus is infinite and eternal and holy, and we are not.   Imperfect, finite creatures simply cannot fully comprehend the One in whom the fullness of God wa...

“I’ve been to the mountaintop.”   I hope Dr. King would approve of me borrowing his famous line to share an update.   It’s a very appropriate statement for this season that has been simmering in my mind for a few weeks now.   I’d like to try and share why with you. How do I stay focussed on the dream of planting and pastoring a multiethnic church among the disadvantaged when everything is slapped with a big To-Be-Determined sticker?   The answer is becoming clear: because I’ve been to the mountaintop.   For the past number of years, the Lord has had me on a journey of discovery.   I’ve come to be in close contact with people who are dramatically different than me, and I’ve learned their stories.   My eyes have been opened to realities that have irrevocably altered my theological framework and my understanding of what it means to follow Jesus.   And I worship God for this journey.   The situations many friends find themselves in is clos...

    It’s been awhile since we updated everyone on things, and this seems like a particularly pivotal time to do so.   June 14th is my last day of service as associate pastor of Christ The King Church, Kenosha, WI, where I’ve been privileged to serve for the past three years on staff, and where, more importantly, Elyse and I have been built up into Jesus for the past 7 years.   Our relationships and experiences at Christ The King have been instrumental in both our personal sanctification and in our sense of call toward church planting, specifically a multiethnic church, and ministering to the poor and marginalized.   I’ve become a little bit better at preaching, a little bit better at leading, and I hope both spring from being a little bit better learner of Jesus, my King.   I’m fully aware of my deficiencies as His student, but nonetheless there is an unwavering commitment to keep at it since where else could I go to find the words of eternal life? ...

What do Joseph, Jonah, Paul, Naomi, David, and Job have in common?   Besides all of these folks’ lives being recorded for us in Scripture, they also all suffered serious trials for God’s good purposes.   Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery.   Jonah got a sunburn (it was worse than it sounds!).   Paul was shipwrecked, bitten by a viper, stoned, beaten.   David was chased by a spear-chuckin’ king for years.   Job lost all of his wealth and all of his children.   Naomi lost her husband and two sons from famine. Amazing things resulted from many of these situations.   Joseph saved God’s people from famine when he rose from a slave to second in command in Egypt.   Paul planted who knows how many churches and saved countless people after evangelizing the entire known world in the first century.   Naomi’s lineage eventually brings us Jesus the Savior.   Job’s sufferings shamed satan by showcasing why a man would worship God despit...

I’ve been camped out in Acts 10-11 for almost a week now, which is pretty rare for me to spend more than a couple of days on a particular text before moving on.   But it’s been so rich that I’ve wanted to linger.   It’s God’s heart for all people that has provided the savory reflections on Acts 10-11.   These chapters reveal, in narrative form, God’s heart for all people, and there is something particularly compelling to me seeing Peter’s perspective change and align with God’s.   To provide a short recap, Ch. 10 begins with this Roman centurion named Cornelius, a God-fearing man, receiving a vision that commands him to send for the Apostle Peter to hear what this man is proclaiming (about Jesus).   The story then moves to Peter receiving a vision of a sheet carrying all kinds of “unclean” (to the Jew) animals descending from heaven.   God commands Peter to “rise, kill, and eat” to which Peter, as a devout Jew, refuses to do.   This t...