Baptized for the Dead

"The only boy who could ever reach me was the son of a preacher man." These words were first sung by Dusty Springfield and recorded in 1968 on her album "Dusty in Memphis." The song invokes a romantic relationship,but the words are representative of many people's understanding of religious hierarchy. That is to say that many people look exclusively to preachers, priests, and clergy for their spiritual growth. But is this really what God intends? The history of spiritual leadership throughout the bible evidences the great blessings that can come through spiritual leadership. However spiritual leadership can and should come in different forms and capacities. This is perhaps exampled by the advice given to Moses by his father-in-law Jethro. After witnessing how Moses micromanaged all of Israel's problems Jethro counseled Moses to create a hierarchy among the people to distribute the leadership. The hierarchy reflected their circle of influence. Moses along with...

Just today I was explaining to some students the apparent contradictions that exist on the earth. At times we see the beauty of the earth and the blessings of healthy relationships. However we also see natural disasters that wreak havoc and relationships that do more damage than the most deadly storms. There is certainly a mixed revelation. How are we to understand these events? Unaided observation leads us to confusing answers. However with the aid of divine revelation we can see what is happening and that restoration is possible. Peering into scripture and the annals of history we can see God's intervention: Jesus Christ. Yes there continues to be a struggle with all of the fall out conflict brings. But Jesus began the process of piecing back together the parts that can still be saved. Like a giant needle and thread He pierces both God and man to sew us back into conformity with His will. He is the Repairer of the Breach. This is such an illustrative title. Like a diligent worker...

Have you ever tried to figure out how something works? Perhaps as a child you pulled apart a watch to see what made it tick. Maybe you dismantled a radio to see how sound could travel out of such a small space. Discovering the mechanism behind an invention provides fascination for many people. Many people throughout the years have also tried to find out how living things work. Unfortunately living things cannot be put back together after they've been taken apart. There's really no way around this. In fact if we truly take apart something that is living the organism will have to sacrifice its life in order to satisfy our curiosity. Strangely enough God has taken apart something that is very real and living in order for us to be able to understand how it works. He has dismantled His everlasting covenant so that we might understand the parts of a loving relationship. Carefully exposing each part He has pulled back the covering to label each piece for our benefit. God's disclos...

I want to be ambitious. Ambition is a gift from God. It drives people to varying degrees of success. It enabled weary, tired and barefoot soldiers to overcome dismal odds to establish a nation with unparalleled freedoms and opportunity. Ambition has been the engine of prosperity in this country for hundreds of years. Ambition is a very important component of success, but many people limit it's use in their life. They use it to further their careers. Some people use it to corral more possessions: i.e., houses, cars, and even relationships. Often people utilize ambition to simply further their influence or agenda. None of the aforementioned uses of ambition are inherently wrong. We should be ambitious and earnest in our careers. How else will we succeed unless we try to be our best? In addition enlarging our world can be beneficial if we are good stewards of our resources. Furthermore advancing a worthy idea or cause is always precipitated and carried out with ambition. However ambit...