Podcast #4: Leviticus and the Cost of Sacrifice (2 of 6 in the series)

Friends, The Life Under the Blue Sky podcast is now available for download. In this episode, I discuss the important issue of the cost of the sacrifices we make for Christ. The Cost of Sacrifice. This is part 2 in the six part series based on Leviticus. Thanks for stopping by, and don’t forget to…

Podcast #3: Colossians 2:16-23: The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ’s Judgment

Friends, This is part 5 of my current sermon series based on Colossians. In this sermon, I am dealing with the issue of people who want to pile rule upon rule upon rule as requirements for salvation. The apostle says, “don’t let anyone judge you.” Sound words in our age of internet ‘discernment’ (read: judgment)…

Mark Labberton on God’s People

Friends, For quite a while now I have been reading a book by Mark Labberton called The Dangerous Act of Worship. It has been a hard read because I had a few other projects going at the same time. I am just about finished wit it now and I came across this section that I…

DA Carson on: The Fate of the World

Friends, Carson is one of my favorite authors and I read as much of his stuff as I can find. I happened to come across this in his commentary on Matthew in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary, p 520 commenting on Matthew 25: The fate of the nations will be determined by how they respond to…

Dunn on Passing Judgment

Friends, The following is from James D.G. Dunn’s commentary on Colossians in The new International Greek Testament Commentary, Eerdmans1996. Dunn is commenting on Colossians 2:16: “Therefore, do not let anyone pass judgment on you over food and drink or in the matter of festival, new moon, or Sabbaths.” “More noteworthy still is the use of…

Book Review & Recommendation: The Shack

Friends, I have just finished reading a book that literally has the power to change your mind, your heart, your entire life. I cannot tell you how valuable this book is and why you should read it. I do not think I have words that can properly describe it. I’m not even going to review…

Scientology: The Jason Beghe Interviews

Friends, I don’t know who Jason Beghe is. I think he might be on some television program or something. Nevertheless, for those of you who are interested, here are a series of interviews with Jason Beghe concerning Scientology. *WARNING* for those of you easily offended by salty language, there are plenty of f-bombs. If this…

Podcast #2: Jesus in the Old Testament:Leviticus & Sacrifice

Friends, I am happy to bring you my second podcast. This is part 1 of a six part series from the Old Testament book of Leviticus. The six parts come from a sermon I did about two years ago. Part 1 is the introductory material. The sound isn’t too bad considering I do not have…

Oprah: Maker of Religion?? Duh!

Friends, I mentioned in my Sunday sermon last week, almost tongue in cheek, that we need to be aware of the religion of Oprah. Well, turns out I was not too far off. Roger Friedman has written an insightful essay at Foxnews.com concerning this very point: Is Oprah Starting Her Own Cult? I might suggest that…

90 Days with Jesus, Day 5: Colossians 1:5: Faith, Hope, and Love in the Truth

Day 5, Colossians 1:5: Faith, Hope, and Love in the Truth “…the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel [that has come to you]…” “ ‘The Gospel’ for Paul, is an announcement,…

Podcast #1: The Resurrection Driven Life, pt 1

Friends, This is a new adventure for Life Under the Blue Sky: Podcasting of sunday’s sermons.  This is a trial run from a sermon I preached about 2 years ago. The sermon is called Now is the Time to Fast and Pray and is part 1 of a 5 part series called The Resurrection Driven…

New Features to Life Under the Blue Sky

Friends, I have made a couple of changes to the blog. First, you may notice a meebo interface on the sidebar. If you stop by and I’m online, let’s chat. It could be fun and provide for more meaningful conversation when there are debates about a particular post. Also, I am in the process of…

Suffering & God & The Cross

Friends, Aaron W Calhoun, MD, has a rather brilliant, if short, essay in the most recent issue of Touchstone titled “Jesus Wept.” In the short essay he touches on some of the objections that atheists and others come up with for why there almost certainly is not a god.  This part of the essay has been rehearsed…

Book Review: Healing Grace, by David Seamands

Friends, I wrote this review as part of my requirements for my latest seminary class. The paper was meant to be 1200-1500 words and I ended up with over 3000. So before I could turn in the review I had to pare it down by 1200 words. The final count was 2023 or so. Anyhow,…

What Will Christians Be Known For?

What should the Church be known for? What should Christians be known for? Here is an examination of some comments made by Brian MacLaren in a book titled UnChristian.