Many thanks to everyone who shared feedback about the Gospel of John series. I'm excited to announce the five winners!
AND, I have another big announcement: the next online Bible study! We start Monday 4/16...
Read More
Thanks for reading the Gospel of John with me! We’ve come to the end of our journey, walking with John, through his Gospel about his best friend, Jesus. I tried picturing myself in the various scenes John described, thinking about what his reaction might have been. I imagined his jaw dropping as he watched his friend Jesus, who he thought was a mere mortal, do things only a god could do.
Read More
Responsibility—yikes! I am not sure how many of us wake up in the morning saying, “I can’t wait to be super-responsible today!” However, I want to suggest that from our relationships flow responsibilities. I am a dad. I have father-son relationships. As a dad, I have responsibilities. Those responsibilities are not random, they have an aim, a purpose.
Read More
Fishing has an interesting hold on many people—they love it. Today, at the end of John’s Gospel we hear Peter saying, “I’m going fishin’” (verse 3), and the gang joins in. I don’t believe recreational fishing is what Peter and the gang were aiming for, when they went fishing. They were returning to their livelihood. They knew that Jesus had risen from the dead, but they did not understand their role in the plan.
Read More
When something doesn’t make sense, we often analyze and re-analyze the situation. There are times we must dig and dig in order to understand. There are other times however, that all our digging is because we are rejecting what we have been told over and over again. Or we dig because while we say we “just need a little more” information, the reality is, we’re delaying decision time.
Read More
How a situation impacts us is affected by our distance from it: our physical, chronological, and relational distance.
Take war for example. How we remember it is affected by whether or not it happened in our back yard. How we feel about it is changed by how long ago it took place. And if that event happened to someone we are close to, then no time or distance will lessen its impact upon us.
So how do you think Jesus’ best friend felt and reacted to and remembered Jesus’ crucifixion?
Read More
Have you ever been out with some friends, at a place you all very comfortable, and yet you have this feeling that the conversation you are involved in, is it really about something else? Or maybe you didn’t have that feeling at all, but it became abundantly clear after the whole mood of the evening shifted. Now envision this is happening with your best friend. That is John’s situation. How close are John and Jesus? Just a few hours earlier, Jesus confided in John who would betray him. Now, in the garden, this BFF is bewildered.
Read More
We live in a sex-crazed world. We have traded intimacy for something much shallower. Please don’t misunderstand, God created sex. It is good when enjoyed within God’s design. It has a very special and unique place in the world. It just isn’t the whole of intimacy.
Intimacy is very special, very rare. We knit our hearts, our beings, to few people. It has to be that way. In fact, God has designed specific biblical relationships to house intimacy.
However, to stay with the text we are reading, let me ask a question: for those people with whom you are intimate, what is the most intimate thing you do together?
Read More
In the 1984 classic “The Karate Kid”, Daniel suffers at the hands of bullies—that is, until Mr. Miyagi enters the scene. Who wouldn’t want a strong friend standing at your side?
Do you have such a friend? Someone who not only wants you to become all you can be, but someone who walks with you through life.
As we've been reading John together, Jesus has more than hinted at someone who is going to help. In John 3, 4 & 7 he talked about the Spirit, and in chapters 14-17 he has talked about the Helper. I haven't said much...
Read More
The company you keep deeply affects your life. It does. Countless experts advise us to specifically surround ourselves with the “right kind" of people. I like the phrase like-valued people. Do you consciously put this advice into practice? Or are you more of a “go with the flow” sort of person, choosing along the way those you will spend time with? Jesus has just said, “I call you friends” (verses 14-15), and now he says, “And because you are my friends, the world will hate you!” Choose your friends wisely.
Read More
Layers: they are everywhere. We look at something, take a new car for example. It is shinny and clean. It looks great. Underneath the hood is a wildly complex machine. There are days we, or an expert, need to get under that hood. However, most days, we simply enjoy driving it. In each of our lives, there are things we are the experts at. Our jobs, a hobby, maybe cooking, or something else. When necessary, we can “get under the hood”, but most days, we simply enjoy the drive. Where can you “get under the hood”?
Read More
Jack, aka Humphrey Bogart, chides his longtime friend and piano player: “Play it again, Sam.” Sam resists. He knows hearing that melody, hearing those notes, will conjure up old feelings in Jack. But sometimes it is good to conjure up earlier thoughts. I spent 7 Blog Posts going through Chapter 14. Before we jump into chapter 15 today, let me ask you to “play it again”. Here are the points I was trying to invite you to see in Chapter 14...
Read More
Living in a flesh and blood world, laboring each day, conscious of our health, finances, and more—naturally results in a “this world” focus. Jesus, while on earth, was very immersed in the physical world. And yet, reading the Gospels leaves a person with the sense that he was also deeply connected to something bigger. Are we Spiritual OR Physical, or Spiritual AND Physical?
Read More
Obey? Why? Obey what? Today the idea of obeying something “outside of yourself” might be an antiquated notion. Yet how are you with conforming your actions (those things you do) with your will (those things you know you should do)? Are you a “try harder” kind of person? Or perhaps you take your cues from Yoda: “For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is.”
Read More
Perhaps you think I have fallen down the Rabbit Hole of John 14:12-14. Hang in there. I am wrapping them up today. I have put us in this Rabbit Hole because I believe finding our way through these verses just might unlock your understanding of Jesus’ hope for you.
Read More
“I am the greatest.” So announced Muhammed Ali in 1963. He was a remarkable boxer and an even more remarkable showman. He knew how to attract an audience. Beyond ego, there is something about that phrase. It yells “control”. More than knowing the outcome of a situation, our desire is to control the outcome. In fact, many of us have jobs where that is exactly what we strive to do.
Read More
"You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." (John 14:14) We know what this does not mean; it does not mean if I believe in Jesus, and ask for whatever I want, then Presto-Change-O, I get it. Okay, so what does it mean?
Read More
We live in a fast-moving world. For you to move fast, what does it take? What I mean is, “For you to move fast, do you simply start out that way, or is there a process to gain speed?” For me, I can move fast, once I really learn something. We need to slow down through this part of John’s Gospel.
Read More
“Home is where the heart is.” Where is home for you? That is an awfully personal question. The idea of home brings memories to our minds. For some of us good memories, and for others of us, not so good. This chapter of John is packed. Jesus is on his way back home—and he is excited to bring us!
Read More
Desire can make us crazy. It comes upon us like a roaring lion. Our craving for affection, or attention, or stuff, or a person... well, what is it for you? Have you ever thought you'd do just about anything for the object of your desire? We (at times, when we desire something) will say, “I will do anything… I promise!” but then we don’t follow through. Even the disciples did! But it's not so for God.
Read More