“It’s by RECEIVING the Body of Christ, that we BECOME the Body of Christ. “
We wrapped up our series After the Resurrection this week where our topic was the pinnacle of all sacraments: the Eucharist. Check out the video above and see what communion is both what He came for and what we were made for.
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In case you missed it, Lent is here. That’s right. Bye bye to hamburgers, chicken wings and ice cream; hello to veggie burgers, bean burritos and fruit salads.
As you’ve probably heard before, Lent is the most sacred time of year. It’s a time during which Orthodox Christians prepare to celebrate and relive Christ’s death on the cross, His burial in a tomb, and ultimately His resurrection from the dead.
But what does that have to do with fasting? Why do we fast for Lent? I mean really…why do we really fast? Why is fasting such a big deal in our church and we do place SOOO much emphasis on it?
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“If a person is wrong about being right with God, then ultimately it really doesn’t matter what he is right about.”
About 15 years ago, a friend of mine and I set out on a road trip to visit another friend who lived about three hours away. The route to get there was fairly simple; it was one highway the entire way. Neither of us owned a GPS at the time, but we didn’t need one. We had something just as good… MAPQUEST!
The directions were clear and straightforward: take Route 50 for 140 miles, then once you hit a city called Westover, MD, the destination will be on your right after ½ mile.
Simple. Straightforward. A piece of cake. What could go wrong?
Well… to make a long story short…SOMETHING WENT WRONG!
Read MoreIt’s part 2 in the series ST & SA: Who Are They? And this week we looked at the life of one of the truly great figures in Christian history: ST. ATHANASIUS.
This man was a true giant of the faith and in this week’s message we see what lessons we can learn from his life and his legacy. You’ll also hear the story of how I almost ended up with his name as well :)
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Reality checks – where would we be without them? We all get a little ahead of ourselves sometimes and need someone or something to bring us back down to earth. One such reality check happened to me during the summer after I finished 8th grade and was preparing for high school.
Up through that year, I had been playing football in my local town youth league. I loved playing football and not too toot my own horn, but I think I was pretty good (toot toot). There were three teams in each weight class – an “A” team and two “C” teams. The “A” team was comprised of the top 30-40 players in each weight class and the rest of the kids were divided equally amongst the two “C” teams.
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“His divinity parted not from His humanity for a single moment nor a twinkling of an eye…”
Excerpt from the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil
Temper tantrums – a parent’s worst nightmare. If you have children, temper tantrums are unfortunately an inevitable part of life. You don’t have to teach a child how to throw a temper tantrum; there is something instinctual within them that tells them what to do when they don’t get what they want.
Cry…kick…scream…yell…roll around on the floor…call as much attention as you can to yourself and your extremely embarrassed dad who just wants to know where the cereal aisle is so he can get his Lucky Charms and get back home as quickly as he can.
Temper tantrums are something that all children know how to do.
But you know what? It’s not just children; we adults do the same thing. We may not be so obvious about it, but if we’re honest, we often find ourselves throwing temper tantrums with our heavenly Father when He doesn’t give us what we want or when He asks us to do something that we don’t want to do.
Read More“For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do... Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” Romans 7:15, 20
Part 2 in our latest series, WanderLOST, and this week we're looking at the fundamental problem of all humanity: Due to sin, what we naturally want is in conflict with what we ultimately want.
What does that mean and how do we solve it? Check out the message above and see for yourself.
Read More“People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.” Blaise Pascal
In this week's message - the Clear the Air finale - I presented what I believe is the REAL reason people walk away from God. And it isn't what people usually say/think it is. I believe there is something much deeper going on.
Don't believe me? Check out the message above and see for yourself.
Read More“Are you saved?” A simple question with a relatively simple answer that has unfortunately become a lot more complicated in today’s world. Is it because we (Orthodox Christians) don’t know if we’re saved? Or is it because maybe our definition of salvation isn’t the same as everyone else’s?
That’s the final topic in the Ancient Faith in a Modern World series where we talk about what salvation really means and what the Church’s view is towards it. You might be surprised to discover that the definition of “saved” has changed quite a bit over the years. It might not mean what you think it means.
"The Christian life may not be MISTAKE-free, but it can be GUILT-free."
The finale in the Fighting Failure series brought us face to face with the greatest enemy of them all...DESPAIR! And specifically, we talked about the despair that comes from guilt and shame - feeling like I've gone too far and messed up too badly.
If you struggle with guilt and have a hard time forgiving yourself after you've repented, YOU MUST LISTEN TO THIS MESSAGE and see for yourself what God has to say about your guilt and your sin.
I have this friend that has the same debate with me often. It typically goes like this, “What’s the point of it all? Why can’t Jesus just end it all now so we can go to heaven?”
It’s a hard question to answer when you think about it because… I mean, life is hard, many people are suffering – wouldn’t we all prefer to be in heaven? This begs the question of whether life is meant to be “just surviving.”
Read More“There are two ways, one of life and one of death;
but a great difference between the two ways.”
Didache 1:1
ETHICS VS OBEDIENCE. One is how we look at right vs wrong; the other is how God does. One is relative and ever changing; the other is fixed. One focuses solely on actions and behavior; the other focuses on a mindset. One talks about sin as a line you can't cross; the other looks at sin as a slope you shouldn't mess with.
Most importantly, one leads to life; the other leads to death.
Which one are you using as you walk through life???
Check out Part 1 in our newest series at The Well called GOD'S ETHICS: REALIGNING YOUR MORAL COMPASS to help you see the difference and answer this extremely important question for yourself.
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” (Genesis 9:12-16)
I read this promise and I see grace and mercy. I see kindness and love. I see a Maker so desperate to save His creation. When Noah built an altar and sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord after the flood the Bible says:
"The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done." (Genesis 8:21)
Read that verse again. Close your eyes and see it. Visualize your Maker smelling the pleasing aroma of your prayer… look at the expression on His face as He looks at you full of pride, compassion and love.
Read More"Your words were found, and I ate them,and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart" Jeremiah 15:16
Do you ENJOY reading the Bible? Be honest. I know that you probably force yourself to do it, but how often do you actually find JOY when you read God's Word?
That's our topic in this week's message in the You Are What You Eat series. The title of the message is FINDING JOY IN THE BIBLE and it's a topic that I'll bet most people don't think applies to them. We know it is "good" to read to Bible and we know it is "beneficial" to read the Bible and we know that we are "supposed" to read the Bible.
But did you ever know that it can be ENJOYABLE to read the Bible?
Well, now you do. Check out the message above and see for yourself.
"He took what is ours so that He could give us what is His."
That's what Christmas is all about and that's what yesterday's message - Part 2 in the ALL YE FAITHFUL series - was all about as well.
Why did Jesus come to earth? What was His aim? What was He trying to accomplish? Check out the video below as we discuss that and much much more in this week's message - a perfect message to prepare us all to celebrate Christmas.
“Not exactly Michael. That’s good, but I want you to watch me again and then do what I’m doing. Here goes.” Drive by my house on a sunny afternoon these days and that’s what you’ll hear. Assuming that the temperature cooperates and gets to at least 40 degrees, you’ll see me and my son Michael out in the driveway – shooting some hoops.
Yeah it’s cold, and yeah there are still piles of snow on the grass, and yeah we know we’re going to get in trouble for not wearing our jackets (shhhh….don’t tell Marianne), but we still do it anyway. He loves playing and I absolutely love coaching him up and helping him get better – that’s what being a dad is all about!
In the process of teaching him, I’ve learned quite a bit about what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to teaching something new. Obviously, any kid can pick up a ball and throw it towards the rim. The concept isn’t difficult.
But I don’t want him to just shoot the ball; I want him shoot the ball THE RIGHT WAY. Shooting the right way isn’t easy or natural. It takes understanding and practice. But if he can learn the right way at a young age, it’ll increase his chances of success (and my chances of retiring early because my kid plays in the NBA) significantly.
So what's the best way to teach someone something new?
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That’s an easy question isn’t it? We all know the answer to that – or least we think we do. If I took a survey of Bible-believing and church-going Christians in America today, what response do you think I’d hear most? Or better, how would you yourself answer that question?
I think the vast majority would say “Jesus came to die for us and save us from our sins.” And we’d point to some of the most famous verses in the Bible that speak about God’s desire for our salvation to validate our answer – such as John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
That’s a good answer. Nothing wrong with it at all. Perfectly accurate and 100% in line with Scripture. God did send His Son into the world to save us from everlasting death out of His great love for us and no one can deny that.
But is that it? Is that all Jesus came to do? To give us salvation and take us to heaven with Him after we die? Or might there be more???
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We recently asked our college Sunday school class where they think they would go if they died today and why. All of them, 100%, said they would go to hell because they're not worthy of heaven.
There's something very wrong here that made me want to fire myself from any kind of church teaching that I've done in the past 10 years. I shared a discussion of this incident in a post on my blog. Thousands of views later, it seems clear that there's a real issue here.
It’s been said that half-truths are more dangerous than lies...and we've been victims of a terrible half-truth, "We are not worthy of salvation." But there’s gotta be more to the story.
Read MoreWe wrapped up the I AM series yesterday with a final message on Jesus' most politically incorrect statement ever:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)
How could Jesus say such a statement? Doesn't He know that it's offensive to say that your religion is better than someone else's? And isn't this somewhat arrogant - to believe that your way is the ONLY WAY to heaven?
When I was a child, I used to love getting asked the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I loved it because the answer to that question was never the same. Like most kids, I was constantly changing my mind about what I wanted to be one day (and believe me, I still haven’t figured it out what I’m going to be when all is said and done).
But I remember that there was a long period where I really wanted to be a lawyer. That was my dream. Coincidentally, this happened to be right around the time of A FEW GOOD MEN – the Hollywood hit starring Tom Cruise, Demi Moore and Jack Nicholson. Man I loved that movie!
(even more coincidental was the fact that I also wanted to be an Navy pilot after seeing TOP GUN – the original Tom Cruise classic – where Maverick and Goose stole all of our hearts. “I feel the need…for speed. Whoa!” What can I say. We all have our little quirks. Mine is Tom Cruise movies. Judge not, lest ye be judged.)
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