Off to be killed…

…and then raised again.
Not going to receive any special instructions. Not going to find out any secrets for spiritual living.
Not going to get prodded with the stick of how I should be feeding the poor and helping the sick, and visiting the lonely…(all of which I should be doing).
I am going to receive the Word [...]

Death of the Old Adam, Death of the Old Eve

Jesus said that if you would gain your life in this world… you must lose it.
Is there any dying going on in your church? Are people losing their lives on a regular basis?
It’s supposed to happen, you know.
St. Paul tells us that “the law brings death.”
 There is no life in it.    Life… the authentic, genuine [...]

Which will do what?

” He must increase, I must decrease.”
  Well, that’s what John the Baptist said.  Do you believe it? Does this only apply to John the Baptist, or to each of us as well?
 If we buy into that statement, then what can bring this about?
 In preaching and teaching what would be more apt to bring about [...]

No More Dying?

Once we become Christians (however you think that happens) the dying is supossed to stop…right? From that point on in our life with Christ, it is upward and onward…right? We will have an immunity from the trials and tribulations that plague other people (non-Christians), and we will not have to deal with the little deaths [...]

‘Sin’ vs. ‘Sins’ , and the ’spiritual muscle building’ game

Many folks in the Church really like to keep busy by pumping their ’spiritual muscles’. They’ve substituted the Charles Atlas (I’m dating myself) poster on the wall, for a poster of Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount.
I believe that Jesus’ sermon was a re-presenting of God’s perfect Law, wherein no one would be [...]

In a Nutshell…

My last post was probably a bit convoluted. The examples maybe were not the best.
What I was trying to get across is that so much of today’s preaching and teaching regarding the Christian faith is nothing more than ‘law’ . St. Paul  tells us that there in no life in the law…only death.
So when a [...]

‘Thank you Lord, that I am not like other men.’

A friend of mine recently told me that he was doing a lot better now at not sinning than he was doing before he became a Christian.
This struck me as an odd thing to say. What would possess a Christian, who’s been freed from sin by the blood of Christ, to say something along those [...]

‘ Shouldn’t I be Getting Better? ‘

I’ve been a Christian now for about 50 years or so.
 So you would think that by now I would really be exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit, doing all kinds of great things, large and small, and sinning less and less all the time.
But that is not the case. Actually, I don’t think I’m doing very [...]

We just don’t want to die…I know I don’t.

Jesus said, “If you would gain your life in this world you must lose it.”
 What?! I must lose my life? That’s right. You must lose your life.
But I just told you that I don’t want to die!
Then you’ll need some help. No….that’s wrong. You don’t even want to participate,  so someone will have to kill [...]