Category Archives: Spiritual Life

The Struggle Religious People Have with Jesus

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I read the New Testament through for the first time when I was in college. My favorite sections were the parts with Jesus in them. Don’t get me wrong — I loved the writings of Paul. I enjoyed the Revelation. Hebrews was great. I enjoyed Peter, James, and John. But my favorite parts were Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — the books that told the story of Jesus.

What I liked best was how Jesus spoke. He told it like it was — cutting through the fat, addressing issues with clarity. He silenced his critics. No one could stand up to him.

When I graduated and went into pastoral ministry, I couldn’t wait to preach on the life of Jesus. But through the years, I’ve noticed that preachers don’t do that a lot.

There are many reasons for this, but one is that Jesus is tough. Jesus says tough things. He is offensive. The most troubles I’ve had in ministry have been times I have been telling the people what Jesus says. Jesus speaks of something that lives deep inside our hearts. Something called sin. And religious people hate to be told about their sin.

This podcast explains some reasons that people resist Jesus and practical counsel on how to avoid doing so.

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Words of Encouragement…

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Today, while preparing for a counseling session, I was reading The Hidden Value of a Man, where Smalley and Trent identify a “Gold Sword” of compassion and encouragement men need to use. The “Silver Sword” is the one men use to battle through life. The “Gold Sword” is the one they use to nurture, protect, and encourage others.

The authors wrote:

Men tend to remember for decades specific words of encouragement their fathers spoke to them. When a man makes an effort to pick up the gold sword and use it under God’s control, the world takes note. Women and children certainly take note. And the more we pick it up, the more we will shape those who love us and look to us to help define their lives. ~Smalley and Trent in The Hidden Value of a Man, p.93.

That’s truth.

I can tell you it’s truth because a memory I tend to savor is one where my father said after church one Sunday morning, “Steve, your a good preacher.”

Now, the question becomes, “How can I wield the Gold Sword in a similar way to help those around me become the men and women God wants them to be?”

How to Get Back on Track…

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Did you have a model railroad set when you were a kid?

When I was a little boy my parents bought me a railroad set. It was neat to put the track together and see the train go around the figure eight — over the train trestles that came in the box. One of the most frustrating things about a model train is how easy it is for it to become derailed. It’s easy for it to get off the track.

In that way, a model train is a lot like human beings. It’s easy for us to get off track. Even Christians have trouble staying on the tracks that Jesus laid down for his followers. Let me give you a couple examples: The Spanish Inquisition. The Crusades. Neither of those embody true Christianity. They are examples of a people – people who professed to follow Jesus — getting off track. OK — that’s an understatement. They are examples of complete derailments of Christianity. Total train-wrecks.

We can say with certainty that these kinds of things are not in keeping with Jesus’ teaching and example. And you can find evidence for that many places — including our text today. We pick up the story in verse 50, where Judas is standing before Jesus, ready to betray him.

This podcast examines Jesus’ behavior in the Garden of Gethsemane — at his arrest — and helps us stay on track with what he desires.

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