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Who or what you worship determines who or what you are. In his book, The Source, James Michener tells the story of a man named Urbaal, who was a farmer living about 2200 B.C. He worshiped two gods, one a god of death, the other a goddess of fertility. One day, the temple priests told Urbaal to bring his young son to the temple for sacrifice––if he wanted good crops. Urbaal obeyed, and on the appointed day drags his wife and boy to the scene of the boy's "religious execution"

Who are you rooting for in the upcoming presidential election? Well, don’t tell me, at least, not in this forum. And I’m not going to tell you here, either. But I can tell you this…I’ve eliminated a number of names from my list just because of their lack of civility. I know, politics is nasty and all of them, or at least their campaigns, eventually feel the need to go negative. But I long for true statesmen. Men and women of integrity who debate the issues, point out policy a

Philosopher Walter Kaufmann wrote a book ironically titled, The Faith of a Heretic. After explaining our cosmic insignificance, he concluded: “What I want to do and would advise others to do is to make the most of life: put into it all you have got, and live, and, if possible, die with some measure of nobility.”I cannot help but to say that to tell us to die with nobility when there is no hope beyond the grave is farcical at best.Compare Kaufmann’s philosophy to Jesus’ words:

When you read the title, you might respond, “You don’t.” After all, we can’t force our faith on others.I have learned, however, that those we think are not interested are often the most responsive to the Gospel, if approached correctly.Understand why many are not interested, or appear not to be. Some have been witnessed to before by people they want nothing to do with or be like. Many have seen hypocrisy among professing Christians and it has turned them off. Others just assu

I get it. I’m one of you. I need my time alone. I have to work at being social…and I’m better at being friends with a couple of people rather than lots. I enjoy studying for sermons, and the growth in people as the result, but I don’t particularly enjoy delivering them.So I’m one of you. But I have a caution.I’ve read all the blogs and the articles that introverts post insisting that everyone understand them. I’ve resonated with many of those lists. But I can’t help but think

"The very moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back;

A friend of mine was looking at commercial real estate property he was interested in buying. The seller walked him through the building, which was in pretty bad shape, pointing out many of the needed areas of repairs, promising to fix them, and even offering to include renovation in the sale.Finally my friend said, “Never mind renovation or repairs. I’m not interested in this building. I’m interested in the site. This building is coming down. I’m planning to build something a

I think the reason most people rarely, if ever, attend church is because too many churches are not worth attending. Church can be incredibly boring.I also believe that it’s a sin for church leaders to let things go that way. But sadly, too many do.We aren’t often accused of being boring at The Bridge. Actually, we work hard at bringing music that reflects the excitement and depth of the Gospel. And those who teach spend a lot of time preparing, not just so that we teach the t

Timanthes was an aspiring Greek artist in the Roman era. While studying under a well respected tutor, he was nearing completion of a major painting. Upon arriving in the morning, he found the canvas blotted out with paint. Enraged, he confronted his teacher who admitted destroying his work. He said, “You were spending so much time admiring what you had done that you were no longer improving. This was a great painting for some, but not for you. You can do much better.”Timanthe

My wife was talking with an older woman in our church who has been here for decades. The woman said, “Look at all these stains,” and pointed around the lobby carpeting. Linda acknowledged what was obvious (we have a hard time keeping up on it), and then the woman said, “And I love it!"“What?” my wife asked."It means this place is full of people and it’s being used. I remember when we didn’t have to clean the carpeting very often. I like it better this way."Proverbs 14:4 says,

My wife is the creative one. Every Christmas she brings to our family a new and often creative idea for focusing on Jesus at Christmas in a special way. We do many of the traditional Christmas practices. We decorate a tree (often the day after Thanksgiving), put up a some lights outside and greenery inside. We wrap a few and simple gifts and exchange them Christmas Eve. Because Christmas Eve is an all day work day for me, We have Christmas Eve brunch and later have light but

Some of you are really stressed out.Some of you admit it…and maybe your family, friends and coworkers are even tired of hearing about it. Some of you don’t really admit it. But your sleepless nights, stomach issues, and high blood pressure reveal what’s really going on.Stress is deadly. Mayo clinic claims that it is the chief cause of early onset heart disease, along with a myriad of other health issues. Stress inhibits our bodies' immune systems, complicates autoimmune disea