How to Keep God First

January 26, 2025
Jesus is back from the wilderness, tested, steeled with the Spirit, with purpose, devotion, zeal, focus.  People notice.  People gather.  So many bump through life wishy-washy, pale, bruised.  Oh, why…
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Waiting Wisdom

December 29, 2024
Though Luke is a Gentile, a Christian, and one of Paul’s key helpers, and, as such, probably not very concerned with the details of Jewish law, he nonetheless is careful…
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There For Us

November 24, 2024
Those who have spent a long time studying Mark bracket verses 9-20.  The scholarly consensus is that Mark’s own original account ends with verse 8.  At some later time—not necessarily…
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Expectation, Not Resignation

November 10, 2024
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (13:32).  Which doesn’t stop people from speculating or…
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The Lord sets a limit.  We’ve all had acquaintance with suffering, pain, sorrow, grief.  Some of us have been there for what felt like a long time.  Maybe a few…
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Of Blood and Obedience

October 6, 2024
Mark presents what’s happening over these Sundays as a consecutive series of encounters, sharp arguments and stunning responses, all in the Temple, in the course of a single day, just…
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Seeing Blindness

August 25, 2024
Wasn’t it Kenny Rogers, bless his heart, who sang about someone believing in him?  Then there’s that even older song about the paper moon: “It’s a Barnum and Bailey world…
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You’re Really Here

June 30, 2024
There are those who are convinced, those who will remain unconvinced, and others who just don’t know.  What’s the necessary element, the catalyst, for conviction, for belief?  In science, it’s…
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While my residence for many years was elsewhere, my hometown was Portland, Oregon.  Should I say my hometown is Portland?  I prefer was.  The novelist wrote you can’t go home…
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The Unwanted Gift

April 28, 2024
Scottish pastor and biblical scholar of the previous century W. Graham Scroggie points here to one of the key, constant questions about Jesus: from where is he getting this authority? …
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