424 results for tag: blog

Take Away the Religious Rocks – by Greg Albrecht

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "Take away the stone," he said. —John 11:38-39 Religious rocks create barriers in our relationship with God. Notice the "red letter" words in our passage in John 11:39, the four words in this verse that Jesus actually spoke. Take away the stone.... The background for our passage begins in the first verse of chapter 11 of the book of John. Lazarus was sick. As the chapter unfolds we discover that Lazarus eventually died. His sisters Mary and Martha were overcome with shock and grief. Our message begins at the house of mourning, in a place where ...

You Ain’t Got No Easter Clothes – by Greg Albrecht

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."—John 11:43-44 Welcome to the party! Easter is the annual celebration Christians around the world anticipate and long for. Once again we savor victory in Christ. As Christians we are celebrating the most triumphant and victorious day in all history.Let's begin with the words of Peter, who tells us, in 1 Peter 1:3-4: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new ...

I Am Making Everything New – by Greg Albrecht

He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"—Revelation 21:5 God making old things new is one of the great themes of the Bible—and is one of the powerful themes of the gospel.In the Bible we learn:• God gives us a new name.• God gives us new wine.• We sing a new song.• God gives us a new heart.• Jesus gives us a new commandment.• We become new men and women in Christ.• God makes a new covenant with us.• God gives us new life—life that never ages or wears out—eternal life. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 …if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new ...

A Jesus Kind of Church — by Greg Albrecht

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." —Luke 4: 18-19 No Country for Old Men Out in the endless, desolate desert of west Texas, a hunter looking for antelope stumbles on a crime scene. Abandoned cars and trucks are pock marked with bullet holes, and a half dozen or so dead bodies are scattered around.   In that odd and somewhat glib euphemism used by the media, it's apparently a drug deal "gone wrong" (if indeed there was ...

Trimming the Roses – by Laura Urista

A person who is good at reviving dead plants (or keeping plants healthy and vibrant) is often known as a “green thumb.” If there is such a nickname for someone who’s not very good at taking care of plants, I suppose it might be a “brown thumb.” That would come closer to describing my ability (or rather, inability) to take care of plants, bushes and flowers. My husband teases me that I have trouble just keeping silk plants alive!      But here in Southern California even a “brown thumb” like me can somehow manage to keep rose bushes alive, so that each spring we enjoy beautiful, vibrant rose blooms in front of ...

Bitterness and Resentment – by Greg Albrecht

Remember the older brother, the third major character of the parable of the prodigal son? As he witnessed the extravagant love and forgiveness of his father, lavished on his younger brother when he came home from wasting his inheritance, the older brother was eaten alive by jealously, envy and bitterness. The older, unforgiving brother refused to join in the festivities and celebration. The older, responsible, hard-working brother felt that he was a faithful and diligent son, always trying to earn his father's favor. But the celebration and festivities—the barbecue, the music and the dancing—were not in honor of all his hard work. ...

No Carry-on Baggage Allowed – by Greg Albrecht

Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low; their idols are born by beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for the weary. They stoop and bow down together; unable to rescue the burden, they themselves go off into captivity. "Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." —Isaiah 46:1-4 If you have flown commercially lately, for business or pleasure, you know ...

What’s So Bad About Cults? – by Greg Albrecht

If PTM.org wants to get lots of letters from readers, all we need to do is publish an article explaining and defending Christ-centered-Christianity against some wrong teaching or biblical misinterpretation.  Defending and explaining biblical doctrines is called apologetics. An apologetic article in The Plain Truth or CWR magazine usually results in a tidal wave of letters and emails, pro and con. The cons often go something like this:  "Why are you so critical of other Christians? Why don't you just leave other people alone and let them believe what they want?" Most Christian denominations were originally formed because they disagreed ...

Religiosity is Adapting – Brad Jersak

In our long-term quest to pursue Christianity Without the Religion, we’ve noticed that Christless religion can adjust itself to shifts in popular culture. In other words, religiosity is quite capable of adapting to new forms and expressions, while continuing to wander far from the Jesus Way.

Grace at Church – by Greg Albrecht

KEYNOTE SCRIPTURE:  To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.   But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner."  I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home ...

God Really LIKES You! – by Greg Albrecht

"We desire to connect with God; we desire to know God and be known by God. God has created us with a desire for connectivity." - Greg Albrecht Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There ...

How Sorry Are We? – Greg Albrecht

A SIGN OF WEAKNESS? Were we to take our cues from Hollywood on the topic of being sorry, apologizing and seeking forgiveness, we might remember the message from a 1949 Western movie titled “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” in which John Wayne’s character says, “Never apologize and never explain—it’s a sign of weakness.” Or, if we persist in consulting movie “wisdom,” we might remember the line, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry,” from the classic 1970 tale “Love Story.” With “apologies” to John Wayne, the gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us that making amends is incredibly important. As Christ-followers ...

The Commands of God and the Traditions of Men – by Greg Albrecht

So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?" He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.' You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions." —Mark 7:5-8 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, widely regarded as a 20th century martyr, put to death by the Nazis just before the end of World War 2 because of his faith in ...

Timeless Treasures from the Psalms – Greg Albrecht

  It's just a little pocket Bible, small enough so my father could carry it with him as he served in the U.S. Navy during World War 2. My father was killed when I was only fifteen months old, and while I don't have memories of him, I do have mementos that have been given to me. I have some faded photographs, his old cigarette lighter, the flag that draped his casket when he was buried, some copies of the newspaper describing the tragedy of his death—and I have that little New Testament Bible, which also includes the Old Testament book of Psalms.     I don't know how much he read that little pocket Bible, but when ...

When Your Dreams Wind Up in the Pit – by Greg Albrecht

Keynote Scripture: GENESIS 37:19-36 "Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. "Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams."  The background to our story involves a 17-year-old boy named Joseph. He lived with his father Jacob and his ten brothers in the land of Canaan. Joseph was Jacob's favorite son. Showing favoritism to one child is a huge mistake for any parent, but it is the stuff of real life, is it not? The ongoing story of the family of Abraham given to us in the book of Genesis reads like a soap opera. This specific ...

Son of a Preacher Man – by Greg Albrecht

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" —Matthew 16:24-26  The passage in Matthew that forms the basis of our message talks about losing your life so that you might gain it. At first it may seem to you that Jesus' assertion amounts to little more than theological double-talk. But this teaching begins to make profound spiritual sense ...

Chaos or Community? by Greg Albrecht

Martin Luther King Jr. set out to redeem the soul of America from the triple evils of racism, war and poverty. MLK Jr. loved Isaiah 40:4-5: Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind will see it. Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? (published in 1967), was the fourth and last book written by Martin Luther King Jr. before his assassination in 1968. In Chaos or Community? Dr. King pleaded for an end to violence, because violence always gives birth to the chaos of more violence—he ...

The Pearl of Great Value – by Greg Albrecht

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.—Matthew 13:45-46 We turn our attention to one of Jesus' parables about the kingdom of heaven. In the Authorized King James Version the parable is called The Pearl of Great Price. As I normally use the New International Version, we'll refer to it by the title given to it in that translation, The Pearl of Great Value. Here's the widely accepted Christian interpretation of this parable: The merchant is you or me. We decide to look for Christ, and finally, after much effort, we find ...

Stop Trying To Get Saved -Greg Albrecht

Are you saved, brother?” the earnest young man asked me. He continued, “If you’re not saved, you need to get saved.” I responded to him, “Before I reply, may I ask you what it is you believe I need to be saved from?” The young man didn’t miss a beat (as I suspected he wouldn’t) and immediately rattled off the stock answer he’d been taught. The young evangelist wanted me to get saved so he could save another soul from the eternal torment of the fires of hell. He told me I needed to get saved from my sins so I would not go to hell. So I asked, “Let me get this straight. I need to get saved from my sins so I won’t go to ...

The Gate of the New Year – by Greg Albrecht

On Christmas Eve 1939, King George VI of England gave a BBC radio broadcast to the British Empire heard around the world. During his message, he quoted the preamble to a poem given to him by his daughter, Princess Elizabeth, written by Minnie Louise Haskins (1875-1957). Then titled “God Knows,” the poem later became known as “The Gate of the Year.”  Upon the death of King George VI in 1952, Princess Elizabeth became Queen of England – she was the longest living monarch in the world. She had “The Gate of the Year” engraved on brass plaques at Windsor Castle, where her father is interred. In 2002, when her mother, the Queen ...