Category Archives: BMMC

YES & NO

yes noYes and No– two powerful words.  Both say a lot.  But use them together and you have ambiguity.  Use them together in a courtroom and you have trouble.

Several years ago I was subpoenaed to testify in court for a simple custody case.  A fine couple in our church were hoping to get custody of their young niece, who’s mother had been arrested for drug possession several times and hospitalized in a mental institution.  It seemed like an easy case to me.  As their pastor, they needed me to be a simple “character” witness, testifying about their family stability, moral character, and suitability to be loving guardians for the child.

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MORTALITY ON THE VIA VENETO

Via VenetoI remember it like it was yesterday.  I was in Rome, Italy.  January 20, 1977.  The day Jimmy Carter was inaugurated President.  I was a 2o year old college student studying abroad.  That may sound a bit Ivy League, but it really wasn’t all that.  I signed up for a Jan-Term archaeology course at Samford University that included a three week trip to Israel and Italy.  “Studying abroad” just sounds cooler.

Our class spent two weeks in Israel seeing the sights and visiting archaeological digs .(Basically, we visited what other people had dug.  Interesting, but not really National Geographic material. We were, however, housed in the cold attic of a three hundred year old church.  That was cool.)  I enjoyed the trip very much.  Just being in the land that Abraham claimed, that David ruled, and that Jesus walked was inspiring enough.  But we got to visit places that regular tourists couldn’t even see.  It was an exhilarating adventure.  I thought about Jesus every single day.  It was quite a spiritual romp for a twenty year old.

One day in Jerusalem was especially memorable. We were strolling through the Valley of Hinnom, on the southeastern side of Jerusalem, just outside the ancient wall. It is a beautiful municipal park now, but in the time of Jesus it was Jerusalem’s garbage dump.  No kidding.  In Jesus’ day it was called Gehenna, where there was always garbage burning and dead animals smouldering and swelling in the hot sun.  Imagine the stench!

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IT’S ALL ABOUT YOUR $20

Version 2Jesus is Lord. Lord of All  Period. Settled. Done. Nothing will ever change that.  But the question is, “Is He Lord of You?”

This, of course, is a statement that I have heard preached and taught since I was knee high to a grasshopper.  I heard it at least once at every youth camp, every youth revival, and every retreat that I ever attended, and I have taught it at least a thousand times myself since I have been in ministry.

But don’t become deaf to it.  There’s no place for jaded disciples.  It must be an important truth for so many to have made it a priority all these years.  In the English New Testament the word “Lord” appears 618 times– of which Jesus is personally addressed as “Lord” or “my Lord” 249 times.  It’s a big word and a big concept.  It’s synonyms are master, ruler, commander, and “one who exercises absolute ownership rights.”  Absolute ownership.  That’s big.

Doesn’t it seem odd to claim that He is Lord of ALL, without being MY Lord?   How does that make any sense?   Follow my logic.

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3 THINGS THAT ONLY GOD CAN DO

Screen-Shot-2016-02-04-at-11.14.53-PMWorship music is powerful. When I first heard Vertical Church Band’s “Spirit of the Living God” a few months ago, I knew immediately that it had made a permanent impact on me. There are a few worship songs in the past that have done that—songs like Chris Tomlin’s “Good, Good, Father” and Kari Jobe’s “You Are For Me.”  Earlier it was Hillsong’s “Shout to the Lord” that held the top spot. Before that it was Keith Green’s “Make My Life A Prayer to You,” and Chuck Girard’s “Abba Father.” I even remember the impact “Oh My Jesus” by Ron Salisbury had on me as a teen.

Those were songs that I would listen to over and over, and sing in my mind all day long. I let them push me and move me toward a deeper personal relationship with Jesus. Everything in my life was touched by them—my prayers, my thoughts, my ideas, and even my vocabulary. “Spirit of the Living God” did that to me when I heard it.  As the wellspring of this blog post, it is echoing in my soul. I am especially fond of these lyrics in the chorus:

‘Cause when You speak. and when You move

When You do what only You can do

It changes us, it changes what we see, and what we seek.

I have mulled over the full meaning of those lyrics for some time now, and here is my take.  God, and God alone, is “placed above” and “set apart” from anyone or anything else, because there are some things that “only He can do.”

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SPEAKING IN CURSIVE

Last week I spent some time in a retail tire store waiting to get a new set of tires on my truck.  Using the down time to check my email on my smart phone, I found myself totally distracted by a meltdown that was occurring on the other end of the waiting area.  Some guy was not happy about his tires, and was letting the store employee know about it something fierce!cursing  Whoa!  I quickly looked around to make sure there were no women and children in earshot of his verbal tirade.  Although I was interested in what the tire guy had done wrong in case I needed to beware of buyers remorse, it was totally impossible to follow his logic since every other word made me cringe.  Fortunately, the two took it outside and I was spared the full performance.  Later I got a text from a co-worker who asked, “Are you busy?”  My response was, “No. Just listening to a guy speak cursive.”  On the other end I read, “What??”

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