“So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons” (2 Samuel 9:11 NIV).

Who in the world is Mephibosheth and what possessed his momma to give him such a name?  Well, I can’t answer the second question, but I can shed some light on the first. Mephibosheth was a man who was living way below his potential.  He was the grandson of King Saul and the son of Prince Jonathan, but he lived like a pauper.  When he was a boy, his nurse dropped him while fleeing from their enemies.  As a result, he was crippled in both feet (2 Samuel 9). Read the rest of this entry

Every day, every moment in a Christian’s life is soaked in spiritual warfare. Whether we’re aware of it or not. I know I struggle with stuff all the time with the attitude that it’s just sort of generic “struggling”; often, I don’t consider the spiritual fight-what’s really taking place. These battles are usually launched by yet another encounter with my sin nature, and they typically begin with a self-demeaning thought.
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Luke 13:25 (NLT)…Then you will stand outside knocking and pleading, “Lord, open the door for us!” But he will reply, “I do not know you.” 26 You will say, “But we ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.” 27 And he will reply, “I tell you, I don’t know you…”

If you are a fan of the National Football League (NFL), you might be impressed if I told you that I know Jerome Bettis of the Pittsburgh Steelers. You may be even more impressed to know that I once ate dinner next to Bettis. I have even had a meaningful conversation with him. I really like Jerome Bettis, his values that he seems to have. As the commercials say, “I am a BIG FAN!” If you were to run into him and ask, “Hey Jerome, do you know that girl Nicole in Pennsylvania, who writes The MAD Christian Blog?” he would have no idea whom you are talking about. The real question is “does he know me?” No, he does not know me, but I do know him well. But I am a fan, not a friend. Read the rest of this entry

John 8:10-11 And straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” 11 And she said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more.” (NAS)

The charger for my cell phone died. Fortunately, I had a spare charger unit and switched to it. I looked at the old one and wondered briefly if it could be fixed. It seemed somehow to be a waste to just toss it in the garbage. But the parts and the effort to fix it would probably be far more expensive than the cost of a new charger. The simple conclusion is that the old unit was indeed useless and beyond reasonable repair. Read the rest of this entry

The topic of this text and this message is confessing sin. Or in other words, it’s about agreeing with God that we have done something wrong; that we’ve either done something he says we shouldn’t do, or failed to do something he says we should do.

We are addressing this topic because sin affects our fellowship, especially unconfessed sin, so this is a matter of importance to us. Read the rest of this entry