Knowing & Being Known

Listen Historically the greatest ransom paid was that paid for Atahualpa, the last emperor of the Incas, to the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1532-1533 at Cajamarca, Peru, which constituted a hall full of gold and silver, worth in modern money some $1.5 billion. You might be familiar with Patty Hearst, who along with John Paul Getty III is probably the most famous American kidnapping victim in recent history. History reports that Hearst, a member of the famed…

Listen Author and theologian Russell Moore described noticing the eerie silence in the Russian orphanage where he adopted his boys. Someone later explained that the babies had stopped crying because they learned that no one would respond to their cries. Attachment theory helps bring an understanding of how critical our early childhood experiences form how we relate to others. According to psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby, a child’s early relationship with…

Listen When the religious (spirit) is operating, knowing about God substitutes for knowing God. And therefore, teaching is exalted. Church feels like a seminar—could be intellectual, could be motivational. Good content is what matters. Doctrine is fiercely defended. Members can explain to you theories of the atonement, or seven steps to success, but can’t name one intimate encounter they’ve had with Jesus. Not once in their lives have they heard him speak…

Listen I don’t think we’ve admitted to ourselves just how much belief is a choice. Some mornings you wake and feel God is near; the day looks hopeful. Next morning God seems far; the day has no color to it. For years I wrote this experience off to the ins and outs of the spiritual life, clouded by the weather of my emotions. Then Jesus began to show me something. Innumerable times in the past several years, I’d be in a time of prayer, asking God’s…

Listen ‘Transcendence’ and ‘immanence’ describe the almost paradoxical nature of our relationship with God. The ‘transcendence’ of God means that God exists apart from, and is not subject to the limitations of, the material universe. He is above and beyond, surpassing and excelling, greatly superior to us. On the other hand, the ‘immanence’ of God means that it is possible to experience his immediate friendship. In the Old…

Listen I saw a photo recently where a banana was standing in front of a mirror. From the cameras perspective the real banana was beautifully ripe and perfectly yellow, just the way you want it to look before peeling. The banana reflected in the mirror was brown, bruised and battered. The image reflected back to my banana friend looked a whole lot different than the reality of what this inanimate object looked like from mine or anyone else’s perspective. In the…

Listen The kingdom of God will not advance as it needs to advance without girls rising up and playing their role. Guys will not become the men they are meant to be without godly women and girls pouring into their lives. The transformation and healing of a guy requires the presence, strength, and mercy of women and girls. Girls will not become who they are meant to be without the strength, encouragement, and wisdom of other women and girls nurturing their lives. Yes, it will…

No one escapes the lies the enemy perpetrates in our life. It’s not possible. Whether from well-intentioned individuals like the Pastor, or ill-intentioned people that are dead set against us. Most of those people have wounds of their own that need attention. Lies are commonplace in the world where we reside. The enemy has been telling them since the beginning and continues to do so because they’re an effective tool to take us out of the battle. To sideline us…

Listen William Shatner played Captain Kirk on the television series Star Trek, but he was unprepared for a real trip into space. He called his eleven-minute sub-orbital flight “the most profound experience I can imagine.” He stepped out of his rocket and marveled, “To see the blue color go right by you and now you’re staring into blackness, that’s the thing.” You “look down and there’s the blue down there and the black up there.;…