Matthew 5:14-16 – “A Vision for Living in the Light” “You are the light of the world…let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” I invite you to take … Read More
In about 2000 I was teaching an adult Sunday School Class. We did a series on spiritual gifts and took a spiritual gifts inventory. My primary gifts were faith and teaching. I was not particularly comfortable with the gift of … Read More
Discipleship, mentoring, and attending church services and Bible studies can teach one the knowledge of faith and the practice of faith, but only a personal encounter with the living Christ can authenticate one’s faith. And then, only if one accepts … Read More
Bible Study on the Book of James: “Straight Talk” (CBByrd November 2014) In the introduction to James in the Wesley Study Bible it is noted that Martin Luther held the book of James in low regard, calling it … Read More
I’ve observed something interesting in Scripture….God’s penchant for balancing events in the Old Testament with others in the New Testament…..Like the idolatry of the Hebrews worshipping the golden calf in the desert while Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the … Read More
Latin admonere “bring to mind, remind, suggest;” also “warn, advise, urge,” from ad- “to” + monere “advise, warn” Admonish: to caution, advise, or counsel against something; to reprove or scold. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, … Read More
Things I have learned and am required to address regularly: With women in recovery, I find that they have a very “loose” definition of “lie”. Lying by omission appears to never be considered a lie to them. Being presumptuous in … Read More
Recently, I was driving on one of those overcast on-again-off-again rainy days and came upon a scene near the road of a marshy swamp of cypress trees….It was a dreary scene… dark, still, ominous, and hardly inviting. Yet, I saw … Read More
I have been reading “Jesus and the Land: The New Testament Challenge to Holy Land Theology ” by Gary Burge. I have to take it in small bites and read it side by side with Scripture. The notion of “the … Read More
A heretical bishop in the United Methodist Church had written that this story, told in Matthew 15:21-28 and in Mark 7:24-30, is an example of Jesus’ bigotry and misogyny, that he would ignore a Gentile woman’s pleading for help. But as … Read More