Matthew 17:24-27 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” 25He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take…

Spiritual warfare is not a metaphor; it is what is raging all around us. The enemy is cunning, powerful, stealthy, and set on our destruction. He will afflict a man’s son and cause him to have seizures. He will sneer with perverse joy when the boy falls into the fire or into the water. He…

When I was in college I had a mini-debate about faith with my friend Jerry. I told him that if I had faith enough (all hypothetical, of course) I could stand in front of a semi truck on the Interstate and it would not hurt me. He wisely denied the idea. He wasn’t worried that…

Faith is a wonderful thing. On the one hand it is childishly simple. On the other hand Jesus chides his disciples for their lack of it.   Matthew 17:14-20 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15″Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and…

Sometimes it is difficult to keep Jesus in his proper place in my life. I try, though sometimes I fail. The truest part of me, however, created by his gracious power at work in my heart, loves Jesus. I delight in seeing his name glorified. I so want to see his kingdom come. And here…

“I know the answer is Jesus,” says the little boy during the children’s message, “but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me.” If you’ve heard the joke, you’ll recognize the punchline. If you haven’t heard it, you can read it at the end of this post. As a Christian, I know the answer is…

Photography is the art of capturing a moment in time. That is one of the unique characteristics of a still photograph as opposed to a movie. Movies take a person through time. A photograph freezes a moment in time. A photograph can help you relive the moment. But Peter wanted to do even more. He…

There are those who try to peddle an easy Christianity in an effort to gain followers, and in hopes that some of those followers will eventually be willing to buy in further to more challenging Christian teaching and lifestyle. There are those who never get around to the higher calling of Christ and offer a…

Jesus didn’t make it a habit of calling people names. But he would on occasion call people names: “Rock Man” (Peter), Elijah (of John the Baptist), as well as “whitewashed tombs,” or in this case, “Satan.” Matthew 16:21-28 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer…

I wonder if we miss more about God’s promises than we realize. We are so zoned in to our own understanding of how things work, what is good, and what blessings are supposed to look like. We define these things. We think we know good and evil. We believe that we can determine what are…