The Advocate
There is a proverbial old tale about three blind men describing an elephant. One describes the elephant as a tree trunk because of its massive legs. Another describes it as…
Category: Series
Jesus Says Repay Evil with Good
A basic life lesson is that life isn’t fair. We’d like it to be and try to create laws to make it that way. But to date no one has…
Jesus Says – Shine!
It’s not often that we receive positive confirmation that our light is shining. Several years ago, I was visiting my dad at work. At that time he worked at Caterpillar’s…
The Intersection of Faith and World – John 15:18 – 16:4
Perhaps the murkiest area of our new life in Christ is at the intersection of faith and the world. How we navigate that intersection speaks volumes. And in those places,…
Broken Rules
On February 2nd, 1960 four black men peaceably sat down for lunch. In so doing they broke the rules and changed an injustice that diminished their humanity and dignity. The…
Love One Another – John 15:12-17
Jesus’ disciples were a contentious and mixed-up bunch of folks. The variety of their education, social status, political views, and temperaments is huge. For instance, I marvel at how the…
An Overlooked Aspect of Faith
There is an aspect of faith we often overlook. That aspect is time. We live in a moment of history that has an air of immediacy. Information at our fingertips.…
Walking Through 1st Peter – Like a Straying Lamb
Why do sheep stray? It may not be the most cosmically important question to ask, but knowing why sheep stray tells us something about ourselves. The long and short of…
The Tapestry of John 14
We have taken several weeks in John 14. This week we are going to step back to see the tapestry Jesus was revealing to His disciples. For the sake of…
Greater Works Part 2 – John 14:14-17
Continuing His conversation with the disciples, Jesus provides three gigantic insights. Those insights further underscore the interconnectedness of our faith in Christ. In previous verses, Jesus declared, “Believe Me that…
Work Matters
One of my first jobs outside of the family farm was laboring for a landscape contractor. It was a summer job between my Junior and Senior year of High School.…
Greater Works – John 14:8-14
This past Sunday, I was honored to give the morning message at the Vineyard Church Peoria. That is our home church, and we are blessed that they financially support our…