“He is the Head of the body made up of his people – that is, his Church – which he began.” (TLB, Colossians 1:18) A group of pastors from the community in which I live organizes two community-wide prayer services each year. They don’t all come from any one denomination. Ironically, denominations don’t seem to separate them as much as they seem to distance their members from other denominations. These are men of God – Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Charismatics, Pentecostals, all of whom realize that a belief in […]

“When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, ‘Surely he was the Son of God!’ ” (Matthew 27:54) When you stop and think about it, there is a wonderful salvation story here because that Roman Centurion was the first man to believe that Jesus died on the Cross to save him. I am sure he felt the shame that many of us felt when our eyes were first opened to the sin […]

“Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews.” (John 19:19) Courts have long acknowledged that there is no greater truth than the last words of a dying man. They are rarely second-guessed by judges or juries. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, it took nearly six hours for him to die. During that time, he made seven statements. I find it interesting that the number seven in the Bible is associated with […]

“When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished’. With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30) Next Friday is Good Friday. Have you ever thought about the irony of that name? We call it, “Good” Friday, even though it commemorates the darkest day in history. In fact, the Bible records that when Jesus died, “darkness came over the whole land”. (Luke 23:44) I guess that’s God’s reminder to us all about what sin does in our world. It separates us […]