Rick Nier...Woo!

The leadership had discussed, deliberated and decided. There had certainly been debate. People felt strongly on both sides.  ‘If we allow this to happen, everything we stand for will mean nothing.’ Honestly, both sides were saying it and both felt it was a matter of salvation. ‘Agree with me or I don’t know how you could possibly be a Christian.’ After all, all the facts support my view. If you choose to believe otherwise, it is only because of  your preconceived or ill-conceived view of matters. I cannot possibly be judged for considering you to be less intelligent, less caring, or less than Christ-like if you oppose my view.  That’s what everyone, on both sides of the argument, was saying. The issue at hand was, of course, circumcision. I’m sorry, did you assume I was talking about something else?   The Council in Jerusalem had just met. It’s recorded in Acts 15 if you’d like to review it. Everyone who was anyone was there and they made certain their voice was hear...

Acts 13 lists a guy by the name of Manaen and we are told he was a childhood friend of a Herod who would be King. Manaen is listed in Acts 13 among the prophets and teachers of the church in Antioch. If these two facts combined don’t raise some eyebrows, then maybe you’re not familiar with the name Herod. From the Bible, we’re not given anything more about the life of Manaen. He was a leader in church and he used to play tag with Herod, who was decidedly not a leader of the church. Can you imagine the background of Manaen? Did he go over to play at Herod’s house? What was that like? What did he overhear? Did he know about some baby Messiah? Were there rumors? What did this guy grow up believing about the world? About Judaism? About John the Baptist? About Jesus? Using other ancient texts, some believe Manaen’s family and Herod’s family had been connected for a few generations. Manaen was likely educated by private tutors along with Herod and his brother. What brought...

I continue my year-long series with preschoolers, telling them stories of Jesus. We're memorizing John 3:16, because the reason Jesus had any of these conversations and performed any of these miracles is love.  What did you pack for lunch? What is your favorite food to pack for lunch? A long time ago there was a young boy who heard about a great crowd going out to see a famous person. You might have heard about this crowd. And you have undoubtedly heard about the famous person. The crowd was an unnamed mass that you know by number. 5,000. This young boy was just following the crowd to see this famous person. This famous person was Someone who did miracles. He healed people. He walked on water. He told great stories. Do you know who He is? Of course, it’s Jesus! But this young boy did what nobody else thought to do. He packed a lunch. This was smart, because back in those days, you could not simply go to a grocery store or stop at a McDonald’s. This young boy was listening to Jesu...

This is the next part of a series of lessons I'm doing with preschoolers. For this one, I showed them an old phone. When you hear 'old phone', you might assume I mean the original iPhone. But no, this bad boy had a cord, something which used to be the norm. They looked at me as if I was from another world. ~Does it have any apps? No. ~Does it have any games? No. ~Can it talk to you like my mom's phone? No, but my mom used phones like this. How many of you have seen a phone that was attached to a wall? When I was a kid, all of our phones were attached to walls. They had cords that kept them in place. If you wanted to use a phone, you had to stay in one place. When I wanted to talk to my friends, I would have to stay in one place as I talked to them. In the Bible, we read stories of Jesus ‘calling’ His friends. Do you think He used a phone? Nope. They didn't even have phones back then. Maybe Jesus had to use two cans and some string? Nope. When it says Jesus ‘c...

I shared with you previously that I am doing a series of stories with preschoolers about Jesus. I can't imagine anything more important to talk with kids about. What if I told you I was friends with the most important person in the entire world?  It’s not your mom or your dad. It’s not me. It’s not even the president of the United States. It’s Jesus, but many people don’t know that. What if I told you that I knew the most important facts in the entire world?  This is a little bit harder because there are lots of important facts in the world, like how long to bake a cookie so it doesn’t get burned. Or how to learn how to ride a bike so you don’t fall down and get hurt. Or how to treat one another. That’s important, but it’s not the most important. The most important fact is that God sent His Son Jesus to the Earth. What if I told you I had the biggest and best news…ever? Have you ever had really good news that you couldn’t wait to tell someone? I have a really hard time...

I don't know if this is an actual post, or simply a post about a series of upcoming posts this school year. See, every so often I lead a chapel time for the preschool ministry at our church. Little kids are not my forte, but it's usually 10-15 minutes of me hanging out with them, asking questions, and attempting to share a story from the Bible. Last year I worked with them on the Fruit of the Spirit, even helping them to memorize Galatians 5:22-23. There is nothing better than hearing 70 3,4 & 5 year olds quoting scripture. So now I'm trying to plan for this year. I'm going to tell them a new story about Jesus each time and I think I will share it with you, for whatever it's worth. I'll call them Jesus & . Why? Because you never get too old to hear a story of Jesus. And the truths we teach our youngest never change. They are the foundation upon which we build our lives. And a good reminder never hurt anyone. Now, I am wondering how to approach te...