Send me a Text Message!

Imagine you had a chance to be there in the upper room on Pentecost when the Spirit of God came...but you missed it.  Imagine you missed it. You weren't there. You didn't join the group. Got distracted. Got scared. Other things were more important. You missed it. What did they have to do in order to receive the promise? Just wait. Be there. 120 men and women waited. They prayed. They didn't have to earn it. They just had to be there, they just had to join in. I know there are times when we are called to wrestle in prayer,  to travail and battle in prayer, but what if sometimes we just need to be there. 

I read the book of Acts and I envision extraordinary events.  Things that make me go, wow! And then I look around me and I see spaces filled with ordinary people.  I look within me and so often I feel like I'm even less than ordinary. There's extra-ordinary and there's ordinary and then there's Dan. 120 people were in that room that day; each and every one of them...ordinary. But what God can do through ordinary people submitted to the Spirit of God...now that's extraordinary!

Don't miss it!  

Send me a Text Message!

When God asks us to wait, it's always a word of hope. When God says, WAIT, He's  promising you that there will be a tomorrow.  Wait is a word of hope. God's Wait is  always tied to a promise, which simply means there is still more to come.

Some of you have been waiting on promises you believe God gave you years ago, maybe decades ago. God put something in your heart and then you waited. And as you waited, and waited, you began to wonder why, you even began to doubt the outcome. But God's waiting room is not like a hospital waiting room. When God asks us to wait, the outcome is never in doubt. It's simply the timing that's unknown.

 So let's keep asking Him for more, even when He tells us to wait!

Send me a Text Message!

"The Holy Spirit will come upon you," Jesus said.  "And you will be baptized, immersed in the Holy Spirit.  You will receive power and you will be my witnesses everywhere you go." I love my church. I see God at work here. But if there's anything that I know we need more of, it is the power of God.  So if we want to turn the world upside down, we have to change the preposition.  Change the preposition and you will change the world.  

What do you mean by that Dan? I mean that in the case of the disciples before Jesus death and resurrection, they were doing life "with Christ."  They were expanding the Kingdom "with God."  And when you read the gospels we see what amazing stuff, a group of people can do "with God, with Christ."  But Jesus said, just wait...there's more, there's more than "with God." Wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, wait to be immersed in the Holy Spirit. Why? Because you cannot even imagine what it's like when you stop doing life with God, and start doing life in Christ.

The promise worth waiting for is that we can change the preposition from "with" to "in" and find the power to turn the world upside down.

Send me a Text Message!

Before I recorded this episode, I was listening to a playlist that I put together and the title of the playlist is simply "Jesus." The song that was playing before I recorded is a song by Terrian entitled, "Honestly We Just Need Jesus." I would add it to the episode if I was better at editing. But instead, click the song and listen to it. It will set up this episode better than the words I had planned to write.

Honestly, I think we just need Jesus.

Send me a Text Message!

We want to live in an upside down world because what we have come to experience as right-side-up is all wrong. So let's start with that moment when we were first called, "those who turned the world upside down." It happened a few years after the resurrection, and it's recorded in Acts 17:1-6. That's why every time I read the book of Acts, I'm praying, "Lord would you do it again?"

But here's the reality, we can't turn the world upside-down, if we are desperately striving to keep our feet on the ground.  And many of us are; we're trying to keep our feet on the ground, because being turned upside down feels so out of control. It sounds so uncomfortable and not very safe. It sounds like a carnival ride without seat-belts that has no red-stop button.

But what if, that’s what it takes to turn the world upside down? 

Send me a Text Message!

This is an utterly simple reality. Jesus does not have my heart if  He does not get my time. I am not an apprentice of Jesus loving like Jesus, and sent like Jesus if I do not long to be with Jesus. And it’s a journey, not a curriculum; it’s a journey. 

This journey you are on, of apprenticing Jesus, is a life-long journey. It’s not a two-day retreat, or a semester long curriculum or even a one-year course, it’s a life-long journey that involves like Paul said, finishing well. I want my life to count. That's why we do what we do, we want our lives to count. It's not enough to count our lives. We want our lives to count. And it all begins be being with Jesus!

Send me a Text Message!

The ascension tells us who Jesus is today and where Jesus is today.  The ascension tells us what Jesus is doing today.  Who is he? He is the Lord of heaven & earth; ruler of all the nations, King of the Universe, and the Head of the Church.  Where is he?  Jesus is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, a position of authority and power.  What is he doing?  Besides ruling, Paul in Romans and the author of Hebrews both say that that Jesus is interceding for us. He is praying, speaking to the Father on our behalf.  

Jesus -- ascended -- holds the answer to all our prayers and the fulfillment of all God's promises. Jesus.  King.  Christ.  Messiah.  All power and authority has been given to him.  He has the name that is above all other names.  Right now at this very moment, Jesus is King over all the earth's presidents, prime ministers, kings, military leaders and tribal chiefs.  And in his time, through his means, by his strategies, he is leading the events of my life, AND the events of the world toward his glorious purposes.

And so we prayer, "Father of Heaven, through Jesus would you make it down here, like it is up there!"

Send me a Text Message!

This may be a difficult episode for some of us to love. It's all about the ascension of Jesus. The ascension is that moment described in the gospels and the book of Acts when Jesus went up to heaven. But the language of ascension is not just a “going up” language. That language is used, Jesus going up, coming up, ascending. But it’s not just directional, it’s primarily positional.  Ascension is the language of Jesus becoming King. He ascended to His throne. King of Heaven and Earth, head of the Church.  He is the King of the Kingdom of God. God has delivered to Jesus, through his death and resurrection, all authority and all power. 

Here is the part that might be hard to love. If He’s not your King, He’s not your Savior. Is He your King? Have you bowed your knee to Him. Have you surrendered your heart to him? He’s not your savior if he’s not your King. If he’s not your king, you’re not following Jesus. You're just going to church. It's not the same thing.

Send me a Text Message!

In this episode we will ponder two different groups (and two specific people) who interacted with the resurrected Jesus, women and family; specifically Mary Magdalene and James. If there was anyone there for Jesus in the hardest moments of his life it was Mary. If there was anyone's change of mind that proves (at least for me) the  resurrection, it was James the brother of Jesus.

I am desperately convicted of how much today we need courageous, stick-with-it women like Mary Magdalene and men like James the brother of Jesus, the skeptic turned believer who would spend so much time on his knees, that he gained the nickname, "Old Camel Knees." We would do well to aim our lives in the direction of either one!

Send me a Text Message!

Do you believe? When you look around you at the state of the world, or maybe the state of your family, or your life, do you ever wonder who is driving this thing we call "the world" and can that someone be trusted? Can I place my life in his hands? Does he care about me? Can I trust his character and his competence?  I call it the "Quest to Believe." Over and over again, the writers of scripture, Jesus himself connects an uncommon life, a life that thrives, with faith, with believing.

It seems like it should be an easy thing, it's so easy even a child can do it. In fact we often hold that up as the standard, a child-like faith. But then we grow up...and sometimes this quest for faith seems so difficult. Can I tell you something? You aren't alone. It's always been difficult.  Can I tell you something even more important? Jesus can handle your doubt with deep compassion! Come to him and let him help you in the struggle!