Category Archives: General

The Bible knows nothing of the solitary saint—the “holy hermit” who seeks the quiet solitude of the monastic life. To be sure, we are all saved individually, but we are saved to community. Christianity is a team sport!

Let’s see what Scripture has to say on the subject.

Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.    (Ephesians 2:12-13, 19-22)

When God said it is not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18), He was not speaking only of marriage; God is instructing us as to the importance of community and fellowship in the family of faith. As my friend Steve Brown says, “Everyone who belongs to Jesus belongs to everyone who belongs to Jesus.” Because “the church” is a body and not a building, we need to stay connected to each other if we are truly going to be the church Christ died to form.

As a pastor, I have noticed that one of the very first symptoms of spiritual deficiency and decline is the inconsistency of attendance at worship services and other church gatherings. And what starts as an infection (missing an occasional worship service), winds up a disease (missing months at a time). We must keep the truth before us that we have been called by Christ to do more than believe; we have been called to belong to His body. When we withhold ourselves from His body, the entire body is diminished.

We need each other! One of the best ways to discover your personal role to play in the body of Christ is through relationships with others already serving in the church. Remember, the church is God’s Almighty Agenda for the world. We have been saved for service; as a community of believers, we are to be influencing and impacting the community around us. Holy hermits hold no hope for making this happen!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

This is my first Mother’s Day without my mom. I miss her! Our children miss her tremendously also. Mother’s Day was also called “Bunka’s day” in the Boland home, Bunka being the pet name the kids had for Mom. Every Mother’s Day, as soon as church was over, our family would make the 20-mile pilgrimage to Hollywood to surprise her with some goodies. Mostly Mom just wanted to see her four grandkids again.

Our Lord brought Mom home last December, only 6 weeks after she was diagnosed with Stage IV liver cancer. As much as it was a blessing for her to go quickly, it was hard on the kids, who never expected her to be gone so quickly. I remember sitting on the couch with Kim after school and telling our children that Bunka had died that day. It’s amazing how God makes our children so different! Same mom and dad . . . but very different kids. Brock just stared off into the distance. Jenna and Katie cried. And after thinking about it for several minutes, the Tank said, “It’s OK Dad, Bunka is with Jesus!” I am writing this through a veil of my own tears.

So many memories flood my mind. I remember that I never came home from school to an empty house. You see, Mom held the most important job in the world: being a stay-at-home mother. She was always waiting for my brothers and sisters and me to come through the door. I couldn’t wait for that afternoon snack of cookies and milk! I loved to dip the cookies in the milk before shoveling them in. Then I was out the door to play until supper time. When I was late coming home for dinner I always had a great story for her. Mom would always respond with, “Someday, my son, you will be either a politician or a preacher!” Well, we all know how that turned out!

I must confess that my memories of supper are not quite as fond as my after-school memories. It’s because of those dreaded peas! I didn’t like peas back then and I don’t like them now. I never could figure out why peas seemed to go with just about everything we ate! Mom would always say two things: “There are starving children in Africa who would love to eat those peas,” to which I would think—but never say—“Then why don’t you send these peas to those starving children so I don’t have to eat them!”

When the distress in Africa failed to motivate, she would follow up with these words: “If you don’t eat your peas, you won’t get dessert.” This was serious, because I loved dessert! I would take a deep breath, shovel them in and wash them down with my milk. Yuck! But dessert always made me forget the taste of peas and milk. Mom made the absolute best homemade desserts . . . from pies to cookies to puddings to Jello with fruit in it.

Once I started playing sports—and I played most of them—Mom never missed a game. She always on the sidelines, cheering me on. Looking back, it seems like Mom always knew just how to cheer me up after a loss. Instead of the usual snack at home, she would have Dad stop at a 7-Eleven to get one of those “Slurpee’s” (a flavored frozen drink), which was my favorite drink in the world at the time. When I went away to Florida State, Mom never missed an opportunity to call and check in on me. On every return trip home I was greeted with a handshake from Dad and a huge hug and kiss from Mom.

The next fifteen years after college is a blur. Mom was so proud of me when I was hired by the Hollywood Fire Rescue Department in 1982 and just as proud when I walked away after 9 ½ years to follow my dream and open the Total Wellness Fitness Center in 1991.

Kim and I started dating in 1990. Shortly after I brought her to meet my parents, Mom told me, “My son, it seems like you are robbing the cradle!” (Kim is 9 years younger than I am.) After we got past that hurdle, Mom was excited to hear that we wanted to get married and start a family.

Mom became my hero in 1991. After a stroke left my father paralyzed on his left side, confined to a bed and wheel chair, Mom refused to let him stay in the nursing home; she brought Dad home to care for him. The next four years nearly killed my mom, caring for Dad with help from my younger brother, Bobby, who moved back home.

Because Dad was a WWII veteran, he would spend two weeks a year at the VA Hospital. So for 50 weeks each year, Mom was his personal nurse 24/7. She told me early on that it was like caring for a 185 pound baby. But that would change dramatically over the next four years, as Dad withered away. When our Lord took him home in 1995 on Christmas Day, he only weighed about 85 pounds.

Kim and I married on March 6, 1993; Mom was so happy! That mother/son dance at our wedding . . . what a powerful memory! The year after Dad died, our first child, Brock, was born. As happy as Kim and I were, Mom might have been even happier. We would bring Brock to “Bunka’s house” a couple of times each week. She absolutely loved taking care of him. Brock seemed to bring life back into Mom after the toll that the years of caring for Dad had taken on her. Mom would be angry with me if we missed a scheduled time to bring Brock to visit her!

Man, I miss my mom! Two years after Brock, God gave us Jenna. Four years later, we were blessed with Katie; two years after that the Tank (Zack) arrived. Mom was in her glory, rotating from one grandchild to the next. From December 28, 1996 to December 12, 2013, Bunka could not get enough of our kids and they could not get enough of her.

I have so many memories of “firsts” with the kids and Bunka . . . their first step . . . their first birthday . . . their first sleepover . . . their first Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. . . . the first (well, only) broken bone, when Brock fell out of the high chair at Bunka’s, who never could forgive herself (I still have the cast!) . . . . their first grandparents day at Westminster Academy . . . their first ballgame . . . the first tooth that came out for “the tooth fairy” (Bunka) to reward. I could go on and on. We were all hoping for the first graduation with Brock, but God had other plans. But as Tank said so well, “It’s OK Dad, Bunka is with Jesus.”

Wow! This was medicinal for me to write out some of my memories on this first Mother’s Day without Mom and share them with you. It is my prayer that this will be an encouragement and a comfort to all of you who are spending Mother’s Day without your Mom.

If Mom were still here today, we would have driven down to Hollywood after church. When she finished greeted the kids coming through her front door with “You are all growing up so fast,” I would have paused—instead of racing to the refrigerator to get a snack as I most often did—and looked deeply into her eyes. And I’d tell her one more time, “Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! I love you with all my heart and I thank God for giving me such a godly mom.”

Man, I miss my mom! But Tank is right. Job said, “I know that my Redeemer lives” (Job 19:25) . . . and I know that Mom is with Him now. She had placed her trust in His atoning death on her behalf—she place her faith in Christ and Christ alone—and I know that Kim, my children, and I will see Bunka again. So I grieve, but I do not grieve as one who has no hope.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

When all is said and done in your life, what would you like to have said about all that you have done? In other words, what kind of legacy do you want to leave behind? Here is one recounting I am sure would not be on your list:

Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. (2 Chronicles 21:20)

What a terrible testimony that is! Jehoram passed away . . . to no one’s regret! Why? Because he did not follow the Lord when he became king. Instead, Jehoram followed the example of the wicked kings of Israel and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He built pagan shrines and led the people of God into the worship of pagan gods. In essence, he was more focused on building his pathetic kingdom of one, rather than building the magnificent Kingdom of the One. And therein lies the truth of Jehoram’s terrible testimony: no one was sorry when he died because Jehoram had shrunk the size of his life down to the size of his life.

But this is not for you! Every Christian is called and equipped to leave a lasting legacy under the lordship of Jesus Christ. We simply need to keep the main thing the main thing . . . and that main thing is Jesus Christ. We are to live for the glory of our King; and as much as it is within our power, we should be doing whatever is true, noble, right, and pure in the sight of the Lord (Philippians 4:8).

Will our lives be marked by failing and falling short along the way? Of course; but that’s not the point! The point is to keep pressing on toward our Prince with a heart that beats after the things of God. When we do that, we will glorify God and do good to others—all others. And when we live in this way, it will never be said of us that we passed away . . . to no one’s regret!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN! 

Only two letters in this small word “my,” but it carries a message of the greatest importance when it is connected with this tremendous encouragement from the Book of Job:

I know that MY Redeemer lives. (Job 19:25)

If you’re familiar with the story of Job, you will remember the incredible, almost unimaginable, loss he suffered. He lost his wealth. He lost his health. He lost his ten children. He even lost the support of his wife, who was so devastated that she urged her husband to “Curse God and die!”

Yet, through it all, that little two-letter word—MY—gave Job the strength he needed in the midst of his crucible of crisis. Here was a man who didn’t need a theological proposition as he journeyed through a season of suffering; he needed a Redeemer, and he needed to know that the Redeemer was his.

To know that a Redeemer lives is a good thing. To know that MY Redeemer lives is the ultimate thing. Job could endure what he was going through because he knew his Redeemer lived. This was a truth that empowered, encouraged, and equipped Job to rise out of the ashes of desperation, doubt, and defeat.

So . . . do you know this truth today? Can you put the word “my” in front of Redeemer? If this is true for you, then you have been given everything you need to weather any storm that comes your way.

Remember that whatever you are going through right now, you are going through it. Jesus told His disciples to get into a boat and that they would go to the other side of the lake. But they forgot that truth when the storm winds began to blow; they thought they were going to sink and cried out to Jesus, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (Mark 4:35-40). All they needed to remember was the fact that Jesus had said they were going to the other side of the lake, which meant that not even the most violent storm could keep them from their destination.

This is a truth to be trusted by everyone who can say along with Job, “I know that MY Redeemer lives.” Jesus is MY . . . MY . . . MY Redeemer; and if you have placed your trust in Christ’s atoning death on the cross to fully and freely pay the penalty for your sins, then He is YOUR Redeemer too!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN! 

“No pain, no gain” is an old exercise motto I often used to hear (and use) throughout my youth and years of coaching. It is a saying that promises increased performance as a reward for hard, pain-producing effort.

What is true in athletics is also true in the life of the Christian. We have been promised pain (trial, trouble, tribulation), but on the other side of that pain is great and eternal gain.

The Promise of Pain –

It has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him. (Philippians 1:29)

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Timothy 3:12)

Jesus told us, “In this world you will have trouble,” but He did not stop there. He went on to say, “But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He was telling us that the Christian is to expect pain and endure it on this side of the grave.

The Purpose in Pain –

Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:17)

Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. (2 Corinthians 4:17)

As I like to say, “No cross . . . no glory!” We have been promised a cross to bear in the name of our Lord; on the other side of it is great gain. We share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.

What a wonderful purpose in our pain! Keeping both the promise of pain and the purpose in pain in view, we can walk by faith and not by sight, knowing that along the way to our Celestial City, the pain we endure for the cause of the Kingdom will return to us glorious gain.

NO PAIN . . . NO GAIN!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

The Bible speaks often about joy and how it is to be the mark of the Christian. So the question we must ask and answer is, “Am I marked by joy?”

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Philippians 4:4

Be joyful always. 1 Thessalonians 5:15

The Bible makes it crystal clear that joy is the mark of the child of God. In fact, a joyless Christian is an OXYMORON. Now the reason we say that joy is an “inside job” is simply because it is not based on the circumstances of life. It is based on our right relationship to God. Here is a powerful example of this truth from the Old Testament.

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. Habakkuk 3:17-18

What we need to keep in view here is in an agricultural economy, this is what we could call a complete disaster. Yet in the middle of this mess, the prophet kept his eyes on God and did not let his circumstance rob him of his joy. Let’s take a look at another powerful example of this truth from the New Testament.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4

James is making it perfectly clear that there is purpose in our pain and that purpose is to grow us up into Christ. Clearly Christian joy is an “inside job” unrelated to what is going on around us because of Who we have within us…The Holy Spirit. Here is the best definition I have ever seen of joy.

J           =          JESUS

O         =          OTHERS

Y         =          YOU

You see, the Gospel changes the orientation of our hearts. Vertically it orients us toward God and horizontally it orients us toward others. When we are working from this kind of “other-orientation” the joy of the Lord which is our strength flows both to us and through us.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.  (Psalm 84:7)

That seems like a strange statement in sacred Scripture, doesn’t it? We know from both history and personal experience that we all go from whatever strength we have to weakness . . .  and ultimately to death.

The comfort in Psalm 84:7 is not found in our physical strength, but rather in our spiritual strength. In our pilgrimage toward the Celestial City, we actually find ourselves going from weakness to weakness physically. All the valleys, deserts, and wilderness experiences we encounter in this lifetime take their physical toll on us over the years, until one day we pass through the valley of the shadow.

But through every physical challenge we face on this side of heaven, we are strengthened by sipping from the wells of our salvation that God has set before us. You see, we have been promised every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3), so as we weaken in our physical nature we are strengthened in our spiritual nature, which is being perfected as we progress toward our promised land.

Going from strength to strength is simply a matter of growing in God’s grace. We know where we are ultimately going and we know we have been given everything we need to get there. We also know that we don’t go alone . . . and that, beloved, is a source of increasing strength in the lives of the saints of God.

We can go from strength to strength because we know that He who began a good work in us will carry that work on to completion (Philippians 1:6). Nothing—not even our own failures or faithlessness—can stop God from finishing what He started in us and that truth allows us to tap into the streams of strength that flow from our Savior. One day soon, we shall all appear before God in the heavenly Zion. And on that day, we will fully realize the truth that we did indeed go from strength to strength on our way to spending eternity with our Savior.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Did you know that faith leaves footprints? So do doubt and fear. The difference is found in the one making the footprint. The footprints of doubt and fear are the ones we make; the footprints of faith are made by the Faithful One . . . and these are the ones that we are to walk in.

For we walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

You see, it’s the difference between walking by sight (focusing on the natural) and walking by faith (focusing on the supernatural). The Bible is full of both examples. Let’s take a look at both extremes in one passage:

During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. (Matthew 14:25-32)

When you think about it, it was really no big deal for Jesus to be walking on water. He is the One who created the water and who sustains all things by His powerful word (Hebrews 1:3). But for Peter to do it was another thing altogether. For Peter to get out of the boat and walk on the water required that he walk by faith and not by sight. He needed to trust in Jesus and not himself. And this biblical account tells us that is exactly what happened . . . at least at first.

But Peter turned his focus away from Jesus and locked on to his circumstances—the winds and the waves. He began to sink as soon as he started walking by sight. What a wonderful example we have of the difference between walking by faith and by sight!

The footprints of faith are only found when we are walking in Christ’s footprints. In the natural, Peter could never have walked on the top of the water. But when he trusted totally in Jesus, he was able to rise above the natural and walk in the supernatural.

So . . . where in your life do you need to shift your focus away from your circumstances—the winds and waves of challenge—and put them back on Christ? What boat of unbelief do you need to step out of today so that you can walk in the footprints of your faithful Savior? Take that step by faith, and take it now. You’ll be glad you did.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN! 

In order to understand what the Bible means when it tells us we are “more than conquerors,” we must first understand what a conqueror is. Here is the basic definition:

• To overcome or surmount by physical, mental, or moral force
• To gain or secure control of by or as if by force of arms
• To be victorious, a winner

So . . . what does it mean to be more than a conqueror? Let’s take a look at the phrase in its context and see if we can find a deeper meaning.

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39)

To be more than a conqueror is to be in Christ. Those who know not the Christ know nothing of this biblical truth. To be sure, they can be conquerors (as even a cursory reading of history will attest) and overcome by physical, mental, or moral force. But they cannot be more than a conqueror without Christ.

For the Christian, being more than a conqueror is their mark in this life. Regardless of the problems or obstacles they face, Christians can know that they can and already have overcome through Christ. Christians live confidently in Christ, knowing that regardless of what obstacle or enemy we face on this side of the grave, we are eternally loved and secure and can never be separated from “the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

You see, when this truth of being more than a conqueror rules our hearts, it shapes our lives. It’s not that we won’t have to face storms and sorrows; we will! But even in the midst of these trials, we know we will get through them all because of the One who loves us and laid His life down for us. So regardless of what you are going through, remember that Jesus is with you every step of the way and will bring you safely through to the other side.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Today’s message from the letter to the Hebrews offers a word of comfort for anyone who has been dealing with a bit of “holy heat” in any area of life.

You have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” (Hebrews 12:5-6)

In the very same way, Peter encourages us:

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. (1 Peter 4:12-13 ESV)

Far too often Christians perceive adversity from the Almighty as a sign of His displeasure, not His loving, fatherly discipline. Whatever “fire” you might be facing today, know this: God loves you and is using that trial to conform you into the image and likeness of His beloved Son. God is forging us in the fire of affliction, and He will not stop short of finishing what He started. Yes, as Paul said, we can be “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

Notice that in the Hebrews passage above that there are two opposite odious responses to the Almighty’s fiery furnace of affliction. The first is to “make light of it.” At first glance that idea might seem a bit strange; who in their right mind makes light of affliction? Well, we can do this in two ways:

1. We miss seeing God’s hand in every storm we are facing.

2. We miss seeing the value in every storm, because we think of them as something simply to be endured.

Scripture tells us that nothing happens in our lives that does not first pass through our Lord’s nail-scarred-hands. There is no such thing as “karma” and there is no “bad luck.” There is no such thing as “luck,” period! “For from him and through him and to him are all things,” Scripture assures. “To him be the glory forever! Amen” (Romans 11:36). We are most definitely not, as Tom Hanks said in Forrest Gump, “floating around accidental-like on a breeze.” Jesus told us that not a bird falls to the ground apart from the will of the Father (Matthew 10:29). Therefore, even in the midst of the most fiery trials, we can and must trust our Master’s assurance that it is all working toward our ultimate good (Romans 8:28).

The second odious response to being forged in the fire of Omnipotence is to “lose heart.” We lose heart when we believe that God is disciplining us out of punitive anger rather than profound love. And the difference between these two motives makes all the difference in the world! If God was simply exacting His “pound of flesh” from you, all you would want to do is simply endure the storm and try to get through it as quickly as possible. But if you understand that your storm has been delivered to you from a God who loved you enough to die for you, then you won’t shrink back from the storm. Rather, you will be strengthened by it . . . which is exactly God’s purpose in sending it!

Remember, every pain has a divine purpose, which ultimately leads to the completion of what God started in you: conformity to the likeness of Christ!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!