Rise and Walk

So I’ve been living in Acts 3 all  this week for Sunday’s sermon. It’s one of my favorite stories in the entire book. mainly because it’s written on so many levels. It’s a story about years of suffering, and sudden joy. It’s about loss and restoration. But it’s really about a person.

And that’s one of the main points of the whole story.

See, there’s a beggar, he’s lame, and begging is his only income. He’s not allowed in the Temple, but he can be outside of it. And that’s where this story picks up. He’s outside the Temple at rush hour, just hoping to get enough to live off for a few days, but instead…

The Disciples don’t give a handout, instead they tell the man that they don’t have Silver and Gold, but they’ve got something better. Life. And with a word, that’s exactly what they give him.

The man stands up and starts walking for the first time ever. And he goes into the Temple, probably for the first time in his life.

But Luke’s writing this story in a certain way. In John’s Gospel, Jesus is the Light of the World, and in John’s Gospel, one of the central stories in John is Jesus healing a blind man. Luke and Acts is about Jesus the Way (or the Road), and so here, somebody needs to walk.

But think about that for a second, part of the point is that Jesus restores us to be able to join Him.

One scholar, named Dennis Hamm, made a point recently that I really liked. He noticed that when Peter said, “Silver and Gold we don’t have” that actually is a loaded phrase. There are several times in the Hebrew Scriptures that the phrase “Silver and Gold” is directly tied into Israel’s idolatry. And part of Hamm’s point is that this isn’t just a story about a lame man. There’s a reason that Luke tells this. READ MORE

Faith Like a Child

I ‘d like to get this girl to start praying for me.  READ MORE

It Happens

So last night I went, for the first time, to Grace Fellowship, a community ministry of the Highland Church.  Grace is in a lower socio-economic area of town, and it’s primary goal is to take church to the people. One of my favorite aspects of Grace, is that across the street there is a community garden, where the neighbors can go plant, harvest and eat their own fruit and vegetables.

But that got me thinking. READ MORE

Believing is Seeing

Mark Batterson, in his book Primal, writes about a fascinating study that was done a few years ago. It involved a group of Mexican people who had never been to America and a group of Americans who had never been to Mexico. The researchers gave both groups basically a ViewFinder, it was a machine they could look through that had two different images. READ MORE

Kenosis

When I was in college, I had a Bible professor bring this idea up to me over lunch one day. And I initially thought that he was a heretic. To be fair, I actually assumed that a lot my first two years at Harding. I didn’t understand the tradition that God had given us of being able to wrestle with and question Him. So my first couple of years in school,  my major was Witch Hunting. READ MORE

You Are Not Alone

So yesterday was my first sermon to preach as the Highland Preaching minister. It was a day I’ll never forget as both exciting and terrifying,, On many levels, this was a moment that had been a long time in the making.

I remember growing up in my tiny church, Brother Foy used to take me to different churches that he was going to guest speak at. Then at the last moment, right after the  last song before he got up, he’d stand up and announce to the congregation that he had brought someone else to speak that morning.

And that speaker was me. READ MORE