A Prayer to Prepare for Easter
This is a guest post from my good friend and colleague Dr. Randy Millwood, Church Services Consultant for the Maryland/Delaware Baptist Convention, FBC Frederick member, and best Real-Beard Santa Claus in the world. He wrote it as an email to the ministers of BCMD for Maundy Thursday, but it speaks to our situation on this Holy Weekend and so I offer it to you, with the necessary alterations, to help you in your preparation for Resurrection Day. In the Christian calendar, the Thursday of Holy Week is...
A Maundy Thursday Prayer (Psalm 88)
Despair is difficult when the Resurrection hovers nearby. For two millennia the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection have been told and retold, celebrated and feted. Everyone knows how the story ends. It doesn’t end with “It is finished.” Rather, with “”Why do you look for the living among the dead? He isn’t here, but has been raised.” It’s difficult, therefore, to read the Passion–the betrayal, the arrest, the beating, the mocking, the...
The Relevant Temptation
The other day our son Austin asked Pam and me if we had ever gone through anything like the COVID-19 pandemic before. The answer, of course, was no. These are unprecedented times. People are fearful, anxious. Angry. Some are complacent. Some are in denial. We are isolating ourselves from each other. If ever we needed a word from God, it is now. As one who weekly speaks to people about God, on behalf of God, and maybe, every once in awhile, delivers a word from God, I feel the weight of that need to hear...
You Don’t Learn Wisdom From a Book Like Proverbs
Let’s talk about the Book of Proverbs. Hey, wait, where are you going? Get back here! Sheesh, hear me out for a second. I know it doesn’t sound very exciting, but hang on, I’m gonna bring on the excitement in a minute. Well, no, probably not, but hang with me for a second anyway. The Book of Proverbs has been called “God’s Instruction Book for Life,” which sounds awesome. Not content with that pithy title, another person said, “Proverbs is actually a book of instructions on how to live a life pleasing...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Jul 26, 2015 | 0 comments
It’s maddening when a person answers a question with another question. A time or two is all right, but it’s frustrating when they do it all the time. Add this to the reasons that Jesus can be quite frustrating. I read somewhere that in the gospels Jesus was asked 183 questions and only gave 3 answers while asking 307 questions himself? I’m not going to take the time to check the math, but I have a feeling...
How to Know that you Reall...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Jul 21, 2015 | 0 comments
Walter Brueggeman, in The Prophetic Imagination, points out that the defining characteristic of the biblical prophets was not the ability to predict the future, especially not in the Nostradamus-type way that we tend to think of it in modern times. Neither was their role primarily that of acting as the social conscience for ancient Israel, though they certainly did play this role. The defining...
Pursuing an Impossible Fut...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Jul 12, 2015 | 0 comments
We’ve made the Gospel all about life after death, and in doing so we’ve cheapened the Gospel. The Gospel is cheapened when we make the stakes very low. Think about it: if the Gospel is right, believing in Jesus means we avoid Hell and get to live in Heaven for the rest of our lives. If the Gospel is wrong, we die and it’s all over. We just fade into nothingness. Which really isn’t so bad when you think...
Cheapening the Gospel
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Jul 9, 2015 | 0 comments
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” –Philippians 4:13. This is one of those Bible verses you find on those little daily flip calendars with pretty pictures and a different Scripture each day to inspire us to face our day with courage, optimism, and a go-get-‘em attitude. I doubt there is a daily Scripture calendar anywhere that doesn’t include this verse. But we have to be...
Strength for Whatever
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Jul 8, 2015 | 2 comments
Theologians like to use sophisticated words like “transcendence” and “immanence” when talking about the fact that God is outside of the world yet continually active in it. The ancient Jewish writers of Scripture, however, talked about the same things by painting word pictures. Word pictures are much cooler than sophisticated words. Much cooler. The first word picture we encounter is in Genesis 1:2—“Now...
Brooding Spirit of Creatio...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Jun 30, 2015 | 2 comments
Note: I wrote this article just before the Charleston shootings but waited to post it until after it was due to be printed in my church’s bulletin this past Sunday. I considered revising it in the wake of the shootings but decided to print it as written. There have always been signs telling us that the problem of racial prejudice is deeply rooted in our culture; it shouldn’t have taken nine people losing...
Racism’s Persistent ...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Jun 29, 2015 | 0 comments
The is the last of a four-part series on the parable of the Prodigal Son. Read Luke 15:11-25 We have now concluded the fun part of this story. This is the part we like, the part about being found after having been lost, about becoming alive again after having been given up for dead. The part about coming home after having run away. The part about salvation, redemption, renewal, reconciliation,...
Like A Slave
recent from Blog
recent from Blog
Welcome!
I am a lifelong student of the Bible, and have been a pastor for over twenty-five years. My desire through this blog is to help people see things in the intersection of Scripture and real life that they might have missed. The careless handling of the Bible is causing a lot of problems in our churches and our culture--and is literally turning people away from the church, and, sometimes, God. I hope to treat Scripture with the respect it deserves, and, even if you don't agree with what I say, give you some insight.
Feel free to leave a comment. I promise to respond to you. All I ask is that you be respectful in your comments. 
Connect with Me