Beginning of More Than Gold 2010

I am going on a mission trip in February. I will be joining 34 other Coloradoans on a trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, to minister during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games there. I will be posting more about that as the day gets closer. I will probably have a series of post about my trip. However, I was very excited to get my passport today. That was really the last piece I needed in order to go. So I am ready...really I am not ready at all but at least I have my passport. So my first post regarding my More Than Gold 2010 Mission Trip is that I...

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Who is the Holy Spirit?

My first sermon of the series on the Holy Spirit was about who the Holy Spirit is. This was a general introduction of the Holy Spirit. It was by no means exhaustive but it was the basics of introducing someone to the Holy Spirit. Here is the basic outline I used. I. The Holy Spirit is a person.          A. He has a mind (Rom. 8:26-27)          B. He has a will (1 Cor. 12:11)          C. He has emotions (Eph. 4:30).          D. He communicates (Acts...

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Summary of the Work of the Holy Spirit

OK. So I took a "brief" break from blogging and during that time have preached through a series on the Holy Spirit. I think it was really good for me to preach through that series and I think it was good for our body at Summit as well. In teaching about the Spirit, I truly think He worked in the hearts of many in our congregation. I really enjoyed it and grew through the process. What spurred my thoughts on doing this series is something with which I challenged my students at Pikes Peak Bible Institute. During our Christian Theology class, we...

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Matthew Section 8: The Great Commission

In our overview of Matthew, some scholars see a final section of Matthew in 28:11-20. Personally, I believe this should actually be part of the seventh section for several reason. First, I think being a good Jew, Matthew may have made seven sections for his gospel, much like there are seven days to the week. This would be interesting in that the last day of the week was the Sabbath, the rest, and Matthew's seventh section is about the true Sabbath,...

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Matthew Section 7: The Passion of Christ

The pinnacle of Matthew's gospel his recording the last week of Christ's life on earth. In this section, he does not spend time detailing the whole week as the other evangelists do. Instead, he focuses in on the night before the crucifixion, the crucifixion, and briefly on the resurrection. Therefore, we have a short story about Judas' betrayal and the institution of the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. An interesting characteristic found in this...

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Matthew Section 6: Conflicts

Matthew strategically places the sixth section of his Gospel. After talking about Jesus' authority and purpose, Matthew draws the reading into the conflicts Jesus had with those who doubted Jesus' claims and the other trouble Jesus experienced near His crucifixion. Many of the stories in this section start with the religious leaders asking Jesus a question to test him (19:3), 22:15-16, 22:34-35) or the disciples (or their mothers) asking questions...

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Matthew Section 5: Purpose Revealed

After showing Jesus' authority (Section 3) and explaining why Jesus came (Section 4), Matthew then shows that Jesus began to declare His purpose for coming. This section begins, interestingly, with examples of people misunderstanding Jesus' purpose. First, the people in His home town reject Him simply because they knew Him as he grew up (Matt. 13:55). Then, Matthew tells how Herod misunderstood Jesus as well. Herod saw Jesus as John the Baptist reincarnated...

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Matthew Section 4: The Parables

After a couple of days of graduation obligations, a holiday, and a couple of days of conferences, I am trying to get back on track with my overview of Matthew. The forth section of Matthew is a little hard to summarize. The title (not original with me) is "The Program of the Messiah Explained." This is not real helpful when reading just the title. However, this section starts with John sending his disciples to ask Jesus if He is the one they had...

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Our New Backyard and Neighbors

Here is a picture of our new backyard (click image for larger picture):My daughter took this picture from our back porch. I kind of miss the mountains found in Colorado Springs, but this view is still really nice. Here is a picture of our neighbors to the east (click image for larger picture):The five horses in this field go out every day and graze. They romp around and have a good time. We will go over and talk to them and give them grass sometimes....

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Matthew Section 3: Jesus' Authority

As section two closes there is a mention that the people are impressed with Jesus' authority (Matt. 7:28-29). As section 3 opens, Matthew gives story after story which shows that the people were right on track. In each of the narratives found in section three of this gospel, Jesus displays His authority over sickness, the physical world, the spiritual world, and even death. However, the authority is linked to the theme of people placing their faith...

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Matthew Section 2: Jesus' Teaching

The second section of Matthew begins with Jesus calling the first of His disciples and beginning actual ministry. The majority of this section is what is known as The Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is essentially setting the religious establishment on its ear with this sermon. Matthew shows that Jesus, being the Messiah, has the authority to preach in such a manner. In fact, that is how the section ends (7:28-29). The major discourse for this section...

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Matthew Section 1: Messianic Fulfillment

The first section of Matthew is the story of Jesus' preparation for ministry. It is Matthew's genealogy, birth narratives, some discussion of John, and Jesus' baptism and temptation. The major discourse of this section is John's preaching, which makes sense because Jesus' ministry had not started yet. But it also helps Matthew show that John is the "voice in the wilderness" (Matt 3:3) which Isaiah wrote about. In fact, Matthew uses six Old Testament...

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New Cool Feature

I found a neat new feature for my blog. I am sure many of you have already found it. It is called RefTagger. By adding a brief bit of HTML in the footer of my blog, I can automatically have verses pop up in a little window when the mouse has rolled over the verse. For example, I type 2 Timothy 2:2 and it should provide a link to the verse so it is easily read.I can type a whole chapter (Psalm 63), I can type several chapters (Matthew 5-7), or a couple of verses (Eph. 2:8-9). I will try this to see if it is easier for me then typing the HTML for...

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Overview of Matthew: Addendum

I wanted to make a brief addition to the introduction discussion on Matthew. Specifically, I mentioned in the previous post that I identified eight sections through the book. I would like to make a few comments on this. First, these eight sections are probably more like seven. As I will show in the upcoming posts, the last section I identified is probably more like the tail end of the seventh section. So it may be more accurate if I said I see seven sections throughout the book. Nevertheless, I am going to post eight. Also, I have read more than...

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Overview of Matthew

As I begin to look at the study of Matthew, I want to take several posts to gain a bird's eye view of the entire book. This post I will give some introductory thought and then the next few posts will reveal the main sections throughout Matthew. To begin with, I hold to the traditional view which says the disciple Matthew is the author of this Gospel. This disciple was also called Levi and who was the son of Alphaeus (Mark 2:14) It is interesting to me to note that the call of Matthew (found in the previous verse) is the only call of a disciple...

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Buy My House...Please

Buy our house...Please! If you are reading this, you are a potential candidate. Who wouldn't want to live here?Click Here to see a video of our house.After watching the movie, click on the "More Photos" to see...um...more phot...

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The Beginning of the Beginning of the New Testament

I have been doing some preliminary work for studying through the book of Matthew. The more I study it and the more I talk to others about it, the more I look forward to preaching through the first gospel. I will be posting my thoughts throughout the study on and off. I am not sure my posts will be a complete representation of the entire book. We will have to see. Nevertheless, posting helps me communicate my thoughts and maybe they will be an encouragement to you, too. This first post I want to address the approach I will take to the book of Matthew....

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Quote of the Day - 2.25.09

All originality and no plagiarism makes for dull preaching.Charles H. Spurg...

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A Personal God - Prime Reality, Part 4

In our discussion of the Prime Reality of life, the first issue one must address is the question of the existence of God. But the discussion does not stop there. If one comes to the understanding that there is indeed a God who exists somewhere outside of our time-space continuum, then the discussion must turn to the question of what that God is like. As a review, Hebrews 11:6 says,And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is rewarder of those who seek Him. (NASB)To come to God,...

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Finding Eureka Kansas in Houston Texas

I was in Houston, Texas this last weekend for my brother-in-law's wedding (Congratulations Sean and Sonya). My wife, my daughter, and I were driving around and we got a little lost. However, we found someplace a little familiar. Here is the picture: You may not be able to see it (it is a poor picture) but it is the corner of Eureka and Kansas. My parents and brother live in Eureka, Kansas so the street signs at this corner gave me a chuckle and I...

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The Funniest Thing I Heard Today - 1.23.09

MY PANTS!Rhonda, my wife, while running across a major street in Houston, ...

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The Intelligence Behind DNA - Prime Reality, Part 3

The discussion of Prime Reality begins with the discussion of whether or not there is a God. As a believer in Jesus Christ as the incarnate God, and a believer in the Bible being the inspire Word of God, it is not hard for me to answer in the affirmative. However, I understand that there are those out there who find the question hard and struggle to find an intellectually satisfying answer. So they would probably ask me, "Why do you believe in God?" and that is a fair question. I do not believe one can prove the existence of God. I believe one...

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Giving the Masses What They Want - Prime Reality, Part 2

Over a year ago, I posted on topic which I not only enjoy talking about but I think is critical for everyone to discuss: the topic of Prime Reality (click here to read that post). Since then, there have been many hits to my site accessing that particular post. In fact, of the last 289 keywords which users have entered into search engines to access my blog, 132 specifically referenced "prime reality" in some sense. This means 45.7% of people who have saw my blog (and hopefully have read something on it) have done so because they were looking up...

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Ten Moments of 2008

Last year, I posted ten memorable moments of 2007. This year I thought I would do the same. It is just a nice exercise for me to look back over the year and see how God has worked and enjoy the memories my family and I have made. So without further ado, here are my ten memorable moments of 2008.1. Summit Baptist Church of Wiggins, Colorado calling me as their pastor (December). Without a doubt, this is the most defining event of the year. Even though it occurred in the last two weeks of the year, the last five years have been building toward this...

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