Monday Message

This is a repeat of a poem I wrote for last Easter. It tries to capture the scene on the hill from the view of Jesus, and the crowd. Crucifixion: The echoes of the hammer have fallen away Now just heard are the moans of those hung from the trees Three have a view over the crowd And one, the innocent His view is of eternity seen through a veil Of blood and pain From a body battered and torn Thorn crown on his head mocks His station before the crowd And His gaze settles on each one Both then and now Not eyes that accuse, condemn or show vengeance Only love and forgiveness are shown thos...

Luke 12:6-7 “What is the price of five sparrows—two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. I like to think I'm making God's job a little easier everyday. As I loose my hair, He can count a little faster and have more time for others. I know that's not how God works, but it makes me more comfortable with inevitable baldness. Bad jokes aside, sparrows were about the cheapest thing you could buy to be sacrificed at the temple. Pretty much even the poorest people could offer a sparrow or two when needed. The most basic of gifts to be given to God. A sparrow sacrificed before God was pleasing to Him. Some days it's easy to think we shouldn't present ourselves before God. We've done or said something that we're ashamed of. At the very time we most need God, we seem to be most likely to turn from Him. To th...

Last Sunday, I presented the message at church. The topic was 'Why did Jesus die?' and the verses were Mark 8:22-33. I struggled a lot in writing the message, but in the end was able to marry the topic and the verses together. The title of the message is: Nothing, Something, Everything. I present the original version below and also provide a link to the audio of the actual delivered message as well because, as we probably all know, what we write and what we say are often a little different. Audio version hosted on West Baptist website. At the end of Monty Python's The Life of Brian, Eric Idle proclaims: "You know, you come from nothing; You're going back to nothing. What have you lost? Nothing!" Today I want to look at why that statement just isn't true! Mark 8:22-25 When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out...