Starting Sunday night at 10 PM, in the UK free speech area, we began with “in the beginning.” UCF will be continuing from there, non-stop, until we reach the “amen” in Revelation. We expect that this will take about three days and we will be able to end before UCF on Wednesday night. We are all taking turns with the reading, and some people are camping out over night. I am excited that we are proclaiming the word of God over UK’s campus and declaring the truth in a secular environment. All of this is to say, that over the past week I have had much bigger ministry activities than this site to worry about. Hopefully, once I get settled in with this semester I will be able to take up regular writing again. For the time being, there are plenty of articles to read back over. Come join us out in the free speech area even if it is not your slot to read. We have a table where we are handing out free bibles and talking to people so your presence is always useful.

As many of you know, this is not the only site that I am in charge of running. I have been a bit sluggish on posting to this site over the past week, because I have been putting most of my time into the UCF site. Several people have written wonderful articles for The University Christian, which is a campus newspaper that we publish annually. Rather than write something new, I thought, for now, I would refer you over to the UCF site. Take a look around the whole site, but especially check out the “press” section.

Things are once again starting up here on UK’s campus. Fall semester is always fun, and I am looking forward to the classes that I am taking. It is interesting to see thousands of freshmen pouring in to campus trying to figure out what is “cool” in their new environment. They wear their best Abercrombie for the first couple of weeks, but this is soon overcome by laziness and the sweatpants come out. I was a freshmen only two years ago, but it seems like a lifetime. God has done so much in those two short years and everything has changed. I vividly remember that first day, though. I couldn’t wait for my parents to finally leave. I couldn’t wait to be on my own so that I could do what I wanted with my life. Little did I know that a week later Jesus Christ himself would demand it from me. As we start our campus outreach, I thought I would share a bit of my story and also give some details and suggestions about what is going on around campus where students can be reached. (more…)

I picked up the Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence, yesterday after a few months break. It is a rather inspiring book and I recommend it to anyone. I like it because it is short and can be finished in an afternoon. I also like it because it takes a very practical approach (as the title implies) to something that is often handled mystically. I don’t like it when a book gives you a bunch of theory but then does not tell you how to actually live it out. This book is quite the opposite. Brother Lawrence’s suggestions are very encouraging, because he shares how he was personally able to grow closer to God. Brother Lawrence died in 1691 and this book was compiled from his own writings and accounts of his friends shortly after. It has remained a Christian classic for the last 300 years and has been quite helpful to me. (more…)

I realize that I can often give a rather unbalanced view of God on this site. I often portray the holiness of God and his expectations of us much more than I talk about his grace and mercy. This is largely reactionary. What I see in the culture around me is an unbalanced perspective on the side of God’s love and forgiveness. However, my reactionary unbalance can be just as harmful as the other extreme. In my life I cherish the mercy and grace of my father. Without his forgiveness I have nothing. I am constantly amazed when I come into the presence and God and commune with him. I am amazed when he blesses me, rather than destroying me. Based on the things that I have done against him, he has every right to condemn me, but shockingly I find forgiveness. (more…)

Judgment is a common theme in the Bible, but one that we are hesitant to talk about today. When judgment is brought up in conversation people end up feeling awkward. They generally feel, well… judged. The fact is that we will all be judged one day by a perfect Judge. We try to ignore this fact or rework it to make us feel more comfortable, but sooner or later we must stop and face this truth. When Paul preached the gospel in Athens he told them, “the times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.” If this is the case, then it is important for us to know how we will be judged. (more…)

Whenever we talk about sin we also need to talk about righteousness. It doesn’t help someone very much when you tell them what they shouldn’t do if you don’t give them an alternative course of action. Yesterday, I looked at the nature of sin a bit. To summarize, sin is an addiction to the self and only Jesus Christ can set us free. We talk about this side of things a lot, but the natural question to ask is, “great, what now?” We must live for something other than ourselves. The purpose and drive behind our actions must be a love for Jesus Christ rather than our flesh. Christ’s version of righteousness is pretty simple. He told us to love God and love other people. (more…)

The bible says that the Holy Spirit is in the world now convicting people of sin, righteousness and judgment. Guilt is undeniable. I know a lot of people who try to fight it or create complex systems so that they can deal with it. However, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t felt it. Sometimes when we are sharing the gospel with people you run across someone who claims that they live their life without regrets or that they simply don’t feel guilty for their actions. Usually we find out later in the conversation that the person needed to be able to say that so that they could support whatever philosophical position they were trying to use. When you dig into their real lives instead of the life they put up for the purpose of debate, you find that most people are deeply hurting inside. Usually this is because they are addicted in some form or another. This is the basic problem of the human condition: sin. (more…)

I thought it would be a good idea to follow up the last post about fatherhood by talking about the story of the prodigal son. I like this story because Jesus uses it to show a lot of things about fatherhood all at once. First he uses the first son to show us how we can be rebellious and try to do things our own way. Then he shows us how we can be rebellious but make it look like we are doing things God’s way with the second son.  Finally he shows how the father really desires to know both his sons and have a relationship with them. I’ve heard quite a few sermons on this particular parable and they usually try to stress one son or the other. I think this is a bit of a mistake, because both sons clearly don’t understand the father’s heart for them and are simply walking in different kinds of rebellion. I think we can often fall into the same mistakes that these two sons make and miss the relationship with the father that is there for us. (more…)

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” -1 John 3:1

One of the things that we like to talk about the most in our church is the fatherhood of God. This aspect of his character is central to who he is. The more I come to know God and walk through my life with him, the more I know him as Father. From the beginning God wanted children. Ever since, we have been rebellious sons. He is hungry to know us and care for us, but we don’t trust him, and we want to do life our own way. I enjoy spending time with families in the church who have young children. You can learn a lot about yourself and your own immaturities with God by watching how young children interact with their fathers. I thought it would be a good idea to share a few of these lessons that I have picked up. (more…)