Walking and Wondering

One thing I love to do is spend time talking to my kids at night before they go to bed.  I love those moments when life slows down enough to communicate at a deeper level than the hectic pace of life normally allows.  And it's in those moments where my kids amaze me with the wisdom they possess and the purity of faith that they walk in. Recently, as I was talking with my 10 year old and my 12 year old sons, I asked the question.  "If  evolution was in fact true, what does that mean about the bible and about who we are as humans."  Okay, not your normal bedtime conversation, but I love to challenge them to think deeper.  The reality is that, as students in public school, they are going to be presented with blatant anti-Christian beliefs.  Our job then is to help them spot the lie, discern the truth, and understand the implications on what they believe.  And as always, my sons answers amazed me.  You don't have to look any farther than Genesi...

Whenever you see the word therefore, go back and see what the therefore is there for.  Before we can get to the "going", we need to have a good understanding of the conditions in which we are called to go.  Let's back up to verse 18 in Matthew 28.  There Jesus said ... And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." This statement by Jesus is huge.  How often are we guilty of running off to accomplish something without seeing the full picture?  Jesus didn't call us to go in our own might.  He didn't call us to go in our own wisdom.  He didn't call us to go in our own authority.  He called us to go with His!   Authority is defined as 'the power to determine, adjudicate or otherwise settle issues, the right to control, command or determine.'  Our movement for the kingdom is driven by the authority of God Himself.  We are no longer under the authority of Satan, the en...

Ever have one of those days where every time you turn around, you keep hearing the same thing over and over.  Every conversation makes its way to the same subject somehow or another.  That's what happened to me this week.  In fact, in one day, I had 4 conversations and 1 dream all about the same thing.  Okay Lord ... I think I got it!  But the tricky part is acting on it. In the end of the gospel of Matthew, Jesus leaves the disciples (and us) with this statement: And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.   Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Go ... Make ... Baptize ... Teach!  Pretty clear instructions for the disciples wouldn't you think.  The problem comes ...