I should state at the outset of my review that I am a white, 46 year-old, educated, public special education teacher who happens also to be a man. I am a Christian and I have bachelors degree in theology and bible teaching and a masters degree in education. I am a public school teacher as… Continue reading Book Review: The Very Good Gospel
Category: Bible
Matthew 13: Kingdom of God (a sermon text)
I preached a couple of weeks ago (again!) and I decided to use Matthew 13 as my text. I had been doing some light research on the chapter and taught a little of it in my Sunday school class so I took the next logical step and went ahead with a full blown manuscript. It… Continue reading Matthew 13: Kingdom of God (a sermon text)
Some Thoughts on Mark 1, The Church, and Preaching
Part 2 of 3: What the Church Needs to be Preaching. Now. In part one of this short series of posts, I talked about what I think the church needs to be doing now, namely, preparing the way for the coming of Jesus. By preparing the way, I mean: calling people to repentance. It may… Continue reading Some Thoughts on Mark 1, The Church, and Preaching
Advent Day 10: Matthew 10: Following Jesus is an Upside Down Business
Eugene Peterson wrote, in his book Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, "Jesus' imagery, to be followed soon by his sacrifice, is totally counter to our culture of more, more. Could Jesus have made it any clearer? We don't become more, we become less. Instead of grasping more tightly to whatever we value, we let… Continue reading Advent Day 10: Matthew 10: Following Jesus is an Upside Down Business
Advent Day 8: Matthew 8: The Jesus We Follow
The eight chapter of Matthew, close on the heels of the Sermon on the Mount, is a spectacular introduction to the Jesus we follow. What is probably most amazing is the variety of people that Jesus meets along the way after he came down from teaching. This is probably significant. It probably means something amazing… Continue reading Advent Day 8: Matthew 8: The Jesus We Follow
Advent Day 7: Matthew 7: The Kingdom of Love
If you have to force something, you really need to ask if it is love. If it isn’t love, you really need to ask yourself if you are of Messiah.
Advent Day 3: Matthew 3: Things to Come
Read: Matthew 3; Psalm 2; Isaiah 42; Genesis 22; 1 Peter 1:1-12 It is quite impossible for me to overstate how important it is for us to see the big picture in the Bible. We are so accustomed to reading the Bible to find either how to be saved (in some way that we usually… Continue reading Advent Day 3: Matthew 3: Things to Come
Advent Day 2: Matthew 2: The Real King of Israel
Read: Matthew 2; Psalm 2; Revelation 12; Genesis 12 I thought a little more about that genealogy from Matthew chapter 1: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham." So, in some way, Jesus is related to David and Abraham. OK. And the Lord made promises to… Continue reading Advent Day 2: Matthew 2: The Real King of Israel
What the Bible is Telling Us
In his book Simply Jesus, professor Tom Wright lays out for his readers his case that the Bible is, ultimately, a book about Jesus. “So if, as the Jewish people believed, they were the key element in God’s global rescue operation, it was doubly frustrating, doubly puzzling, and doubly challenging that the Jews’ own national… Continue reading What the Bible is Telling Us
Book Review: Agents of Babylon
This book, Agents of Babylon, contains thirteen different chapters, an epilogue, an appendix, and a couple of other book sections. Each chapter is divided into roughly two sections. In the first section, Jeremiah offers his readers a 'fictional narrative about the subject of the chapter' (x) and in the second section he gives his readers… Continue reading Book Review: Agents of Babylon
Book Review: The Kingdom according to Luke and Acts
Every now and then I come across a book that hooks me with the title. Sometimes after turning the cover and reading the first couple pages I find the old adage to be true that I should not judge a book by its cover or, as in this case, the title. This was not one… Continue reading Book Review: The Kingdom according to Luke and Acts
New Web Site: Studies in the Bible as Literature
For those of you who visit, I'd like to direct your attention to a new project I am working on: Studies in the Bible as Literature. This is a google site that I am building where I will post my teachings on the books of the Bible. There is a lot to do and there… Continue reading New Web Site: Studies in the Bible as Literature
Book Review: Jesus Outside the Lines
Title: Jesus Outside the Lines Author: Scott Sauls Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers Year: 2015 Pages: 210 Disclaimer: Happily I was provided a free copy of Jesus Outside the Lines via Tyndale Blog Network in exchange for my free and unbiased review of the book. Joyfully, I present to you my review–free of additives, preservatives, and… Continue reading Book Review: Jesus Outside the Lines
Book Review: Permission Granted
Title: Permission Granted Author: Jennifer Grace Bird Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press Year: 2015 Pages: 176 "To the Church, then, has been given the charge of proclaiming the Word of God. This revelatory Word is not a concatenation of human opinions and ideas but rather is God's own proclamation, the very means by which he… Continue reading Book Review: Permission Granted
Book Review: Think, Act, Be(lieve) Like Jesus
Title: Think, Act, Be(lieve) Like Jesus Author: Randy Frazee Publisher: Zondervan Year: 2014 Pages: 263 Additional links: Believe the Story [Disclaimer: I was provided a free copy of this book by Zondervan Publishers in exchange for my fair and unbiased review.] The problem with this book is that there is nothing necessarily wrong with it.… Continue reading Book Review: Think, Act, Be(lieve) Like Jesus
Life Under the Blue Sky: The View From Below 