IF PAUL WROTE A LETTER TO THE CHURCH TODAY…

If the apostle Paul wrote a letter to the modern church, I wonder if it might sound something like this:

“Grace and peace to you. I thank God for the ways the gospel is spread among you. Your generosity has reached far and wide; your worship is passionate; your ministries are impressive; and your influence is real. In many ways, your faith has been made visible to the world.

Brothers and sisters, I must speak plainly. You have learned how to gather crowds but you're forgetting how to carry crosses. You've become skilled at branding the gospel but less patient in baring one another in love. You speak often of freedom, yet many of you remain enslaved to comfort and endless distraction. You quarrel about leaders, ideologies, and tribes as though Christ were divided. Did Christ die for a party? Is anyone baptized into the name of a camp? Some of you are exhausted because you have mistaken activity for faithfulness. Others are confident because you have confused proximity to Christian things with obedience to Jesus.

Do you not remember that the Kingdom of God does not advance through spectacle but through surrender; not through dominance but through cruciform love; through repentance, confession, and obedience to the way of Jesus. You have many teachers but fewer are mothers and fathers in the faith. You consume teaching yet neglect the slow work of becoming like Christ.

Return again to the simple things: break bread together, carry one another's burdens, pray without ceasing, speak the truth in love, care for the vulnerable, welcome the outcast, love your neighbors and your enemies. Remember that the wisdom of the cross will always look like foolishness to the world but it is the power of God.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.” 

-- Ian Simkins

#6485

THE GAME OF LIFE – Part 2 of 2

Monopoly often rewards aggressive acquisition, but in real life, unchecked greed can destroy relationships and peace. Jesus warned, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15). The game can be a playful reminder of how easily our hearts can be drawn toward “more” instead of “enough.”

Monopoly may be a game of strategy and competition, but it can also be a mirror for our spiritual lives. The real “victory” isn’t measured in property deeds or stacks of cash, but in a life lived with open hands, a generous heart, and an eternal perspective.

In Monopoly, one player’s gain is often another’s loss. But the Kingdom of God operates differently -- it’s not a zero-sum game. In Christ, we are called to generosity, lifting others up rather than bankrupting them. Imagine if we played life more like that -- offering mercy, forgiveness, and help instead of just trying to “win.” 

-- Mark A. Brady, from his blog

#6472

THE PATTERN OF THE CROSS – Part 2 of 2

“So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know Him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ.”  (2 Corinthians 5:16-18 NLT)

This upside-down pattern of the cross so contradicts the thinking and practice of the world that it creates an “alternate kingdom,” an alternate reality, a counterculture among those who have been transformed by it. In this peaceable kingdom there is a reversal of the values of the world with regard to power, recognition, status, and wealth. In this new counterculture, Christians look at money as something to give away. They look at power as something to use strictly for service. Racial and class superiority, accrual of money and power at the expense of others, yearning for popularity and recognition, these normal marks of human life, are the opposite of the mindset of those who have understood and experienced the Cross. Christ creates a whole new order of life. Those who are shaped by the great reversal of the Cross no longer need self-justification through money, status, career, or pride of race and class. So the Cross creates a counterculture in which sex, money, and power cease to control us and are used in life-giving and community-building rather than destructive ways. 

-- Timothy Keller (1950-2023) in “The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism”  

#6422

THE PATTERN OF THE CROSS – Part 1 of 2

Jesus said, “The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life -- only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”  (John 10:17-18 NIV)

The pattern of the Cross means that the world’s glorification of power, might, and status is exposed and defeated. On the cross Christ wins through losing, triumphs through defeat, achieves power through weakness and service, comes to wealth via giving it all away. Jesus Christ turns the values of the world upside down. As N. T. Wright, in his book “Simply Christian,” says: “The real enemy after all, was not Rome but the powers of evil that stood behind human arrogance and violence… [On the cross] the kingdom of God triumphed over the kingdoms of the world by refusing to join in their spirit of violence. [On the cross, Jesus] would love His enemies, turn the other cheek, go the second mile.”  

-- Timothy Keller (1950-2023) in “The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism” 

#6421

A CHILD-LIKE SPIRIT

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."  (Matthew 19:14 NIV)

Faith is sometimes equated with credulity, but it can be so equated only when the profound mistake is made of thinking of faith as primarily a matter of intellectual assent.  As the New Testament uses the word, faith is trust, acceptance, commitment, vision.  It is not a belief in this or that creed, it is a quality which lies rather in the realm of intuition than the intellect. Faith has indeed an element of true simplicity; it is one of the qualities -- perhaps the fundamental quality -- of the child-like spirit without which no one can enter the Kingdom of God. 

-- Anonymous, attributed to Charles Wesley, from “Christian Quotation of the Day” 

#6413

JESUS IS THE GOOD NEWS

“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ He said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’”  (Mark 1:14–15 NIV)

From the very beginning of His public ministry, Jesus didn’t merely announce the Gospel -- He embodied it. The “good news of God” wasn’t a distant promise or a future hope. It was standing in Galilee, speaking with authority, healing the broken, and calling hearts to repentance. Jesus is not just the messenger; He is the message.

When Jesus said, “The time has come,” He was declaring that the long-awaited fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan had arrived -- not in a scroll, not in a temple ritual, but in a person -- in Him. The kingdom of God was no longer a concept -- it was present, active, and accessible through the Lord of the Kingdom Himself.

Bishop Kenneth L. Carder wrote, “The Gospel is a person, not an abstract argument. That person, Jesus Christ, confronts our sin and suffering by entering our guilt and pain and death. He extends an outstretched, pierced hand of forgiveness and love.”

To “repent and believe the good news” is to turn from self and sin, and to turn toward Jesus. It’s not just believing a set of doctrines -- it’s trusting a Savior and Lord. The Gospel is not merely about what Jesus did; it’s about who Jesus is. His life, death, and resurrection are the heartbeat of the Gospel; His presence is its pulse. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry™, compiled from a variety of sources 

#6229

MOVING BEYOND THE ENTRANCE

“[Christ’s] divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire… For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”  (2 Peter 1:3,4,11 ESV)

We come to Jesus Christ and He does for us what He promised; and the thing works out. To our amazement, it works out. And then we settle down. We have had our own first-hand and irrefutable experience. But, instead of opening the windows to the glory of the sunshine so evidently there, instead of being incited to a hugeness of faith by what Christ has already done for us, we can't believe that there can be anything more, or that even He can work, for us, anything better. That first foretaste satisfies us. And so we camp for life out on the confines of the Kingdom, and never press on to inherit what is there and meant for us. 

-- A. J. Gossip (1873-1954) in “Experience Worketh Hope” [1944] 

#6208

CHILD-LIKE, TRUSTING FAITH

“People were bringing little children to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, He was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ And He took the children in His arms, placed His hands on them and blessed them.”  (Mark 10:13-16 NIV)

Faith is sometimes equated with credulity, but it can be so equated only when the profound mistake is made of thinking of faith as primarily a matter of intellectual assent.  As the New Testament uses the word, faith is trust, acceptance, commitment, vision.  It is not a belief in this or that creed, it is a quality which lies rather in the realm of intuition than the intellect.  Faith has indeed an element of true simplicity; it is one of the qualities -- perhaps the fundamental quality -- of the child-like spirit without which no one can enter the Kingdom of God. 

-- Author Unknown

#6178

A COLONY OF HEAVEN

“Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.”  (Philippians 1:27 NLT)

Paul exhorts the church at Philippi to live as a colony of heaven. The ancient city of Philippi, filled with retired Roman soldiers from the imperial capital, trying hard to be a little Rome far from Rome, knew what it was to be a colony of a great city.

So Paul appealed to the church there to do the same -- to live as a colony of heaven. That’s a timely word for the church today. We live under the reign of a different king -- Jesus the Lord. Our ultimate allegiance is to a different kingdom -- the kingdom of heaven. We are ultimately bound by the laws of our true homeland. In the meantime, we must represent that land well until the Lord comes again and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we bless others in the name of Christ, may we catch a glimpse of a better land and a more lasting kingdom. By the grace of God and the Spirit’s power, may they be wooed through our lives and our corporate witness into joining us on our journey. 

-- Donald W. Sweeting and George Sweeting in “How to Finish the Christian Life: Following Jesus in the Second Half” 

#6162

WHO’S ON FIRST?

SPECIAL NOTE: March 29, 2025 marked the 26^th anniversary of this SOUND BITES Ministry in memory of our son, Dustin, who had died on that date the previous year (1998) from a brain tumor at the age of 16. Dustin had developmental and physical disabilities, but one of the many things his life taught us was the importance of putting God first. And that is what SOUND BITES has been about for these 26 years – reminding subscribers to start the day by putting God first. So, as today’s quote asks, “Who’s on first?”

SOUND BITES began in 1999 and since then 6,083 quotes, including today’s, have been sent out to our e-mail subscribers or Facebook followers or Blog readers around the world. As we continue through Lent, Easter and beyond, let today’s SOUND BITES quote speak to you first thing in the morning, and then let it overflow to others everywhere. Please freely share with family and friends; with school and work mates; with neighbors; and with your pastor, staff and fellow church members. We would love to hear from you. Simply send an e-mail to SOUNDBITESMinistry@gmail.com with where you live and how God is using SOUND BITES to minister to you or through you to others. You are welcome to comment below as well.

As one subscriber recently wrote: “Good morning. Thank you for your due diligence in continuing the Sound Bites Ministry.  Know that you have so many grateful souls who cherish your effort. My bookcases are full of reading material that I use to support my love for Jesus and grow in faith because I know my journey to be closer will not end until I have left earth. I am blessed to have a fire inside and never ending enthusiasm that keeps me excited to grow a deeper relationship with a living God. Your ministry is one of the valuable resources I can depend on and I have purchased many of the books from authors you reference in Sound Bites. Wishing you many blessings and smiles!”

Thank you for your continued support of this ministry!  -- DW

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 WHO’S ON FIRST?

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  (Matthew 6:33–34 NIV)

In the 1930s, the famous comedian duo Abbott and Costello entertained audiences with a sketch called, “Who’s on First?” It’s a funny example of miscommunication, but it’s also a great question to ask ourselves. In your life, who’s on first? When you wake up, what first comes to your mind? Do your worries come first or your blessings? What do you fill your mind with first? The world news? Social media? Scripture? Let me ask you again, do your worries come first to your mind or your blessings?

In the Matthew passage, Jesus is teaching the gathered crowd who is to be first in their lives and what should be of first importance. Prior to this passage, Jesus told them not to store up their treasures on earth, but to put the kingdom of God first. This does not mean that God will give earthly riches, but it will mean that their trust won’t be found in those earthly riches. If they seek the kingdom first, their minds won’t be consumed by the anxieties of the world.

Let’s think again about our mornings and who is on first. Jesus tells us that if we seek first the news of the world, our minds will focus on the turbulent waters of politics and the economy. If we seek first the social media posts of our friends, our minds will focus on what other people have or have done. But if we seek first the kingdom and His righteousness, our minds will be grounded in the promises of our Savior. 

-- Excerpted from “Altar’d: The Transforming Power of Surrender” by Susan O. Kent

#6083

KINGDOM PROMISES: STUFF THAT LASTS

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  (Matthew 6:33 NIV)

If God were teaching us in a classroom setting, He might draw a line down the center of the chalkboard and put these headings at the top of each column -- "Stuff that doesn't last" and "Stuff that does last." And He says to not get too attached to earth-stuff because it "passes away." Our great love, our great passion, and our great pursuit should be for the "will of God" things that we cannot lose. The rest is "just stuff." It's all part of Jesus' command to "seek first the kingdom of God," even though we're surrounded by people who are totally consumed with getting possessions, getting promotions, getting prosperity, or getting prominence.

-- Ron Hutchcraft 

#5983

KINGDOM PROMISES: DIVINE PURPOSE AND DIRECTION

“The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.”  (Psalm 103:19 NIV)

The Kingdom of God is unlike any earthly government we know. It doesn’t operate on democracy where we have rights and can cast votes. Instead, it’s a divine monarchy, where Jesus is King and Lord. In His Kingdom, we don’t have rights; we have responsibilities. As citizens of His Kingdom, we’re called to live in obedience to His righteous and gracious decrees.

This isn’t about losing our freedom but embracing a life filled with divine purpose and direction. Our King’s decrees are not burdensome; they are life-giving and rooted in love. When we submit to His rule, we align ourselves with His will, which is ultimately for our good and His glory.

In God's Kingdom, our responsibilities are privileges in disguise. We’re tasked with loving one another, serving the needy, and spreading the gospel. These responsibilities transform our lives and the lives of those around us, reflecting the love and grace of our King. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry, compiled from a variety of sources 

#5981

KINGDOM PROMISES: LIKE SHEEP AMONG WOLVES

Jesus said, "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.” (Matthew 10:16 NIV)

The church is always at its best when it goes into the world humbly, like sheep among wolves. Ironically, a few centuries after Jesus, when the church did get some political and financial power, it lost much of its spiritual power. One Christ follower, John Chrysostom, was reflecting on this verse about being sent by Jesus like sheep among wolves and how the concept was getting lost as the church gained power. He said, “Let us then be ashamed, who do the contrary, who set out like wolves upon our enemies. For so long as we are sheep, we conquer… But if we become wolves, we are worsted, for help of our Shepherd departs from us: for He feeds not wolves, but sheep.” 

-- John Ortberg in “All the Places to Go: How Will You Know?”

#5978

KINGDOM PROMISES: ALREADY BUT NOT YET

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.”  (Philippians 3:20-21 NIV)

When we think of kingdom, we often think of place, but the kingdom of God is not a place: it refers to the reign of God, or God's in-breaking, saving activity. Eschatological living means envisioning life in light of the saving activity of God in our midst -- not only what He has already done, but also what He promises to do in the future. God's kingdom is not fully manifest yet; we live between the beginning and the completion. 

-- Ben Witherington III in “Christianity Today,” October 15, 2012 

#5977

KINGDOM PROMISES: WHAT LIFE SHOULD BE

“Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”  (Mark 1:14b-15 ESV)

Jesus spoke a lot about the kingdom of God. In one sense that kingdom is all of creation, and God is the "King of the Universes," a phrase my Jewish friends use to address God. But human existence has been marked by rebellions against God. From Adam and Eve on, people have regularly turned aside from God's will (a practice we call sin), with the result that human history is littered with wars, acts of inhumanity, and injustice. As we say in the prayer of confession that often accompanies the Eucharist, "We have not loved You with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves." So when Jesus speaks about the kingdom of God, He is usually articulating a vision not of what life is, but what it should be. Through new birth [in Christ] and the sanctifying work of the Spirit, we seek to reflect that kingdom in our lives. 

-- Adam Hamilton in “Revival: Faith as Wesley Lived It”

#5976

KINGDOM PROMISES: OUR PAST AND FUTURE

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.”  (Hebrews 12:28 NIV)

Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. 

-- Oswald Chambers in “My Utmost for His Highest”

#5975

RIGHTS… AND RESPONSIBILITIES

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”  (Ephesians 4:1-3 NIV)

Many today are quick to seize upon their rights, but are far less eager to embrace their responsibilities. Certainly, Jesus died to make available certain rights and privileges to us, but what about our Kingdom responsibilities?

Someone once said, “I am tired of hearing about our rights. The time has come to hear about our responsibilities.”  While that statement was probably made as a secular observation of society, there is no doubt a great need for believers to make sure our own focus, attitude, and perspective is healthy.  If we are so preoccupied trying to secure our rights that we are not focusing on serving the needs of others, then we may have some significant adjustments to make…

I encourage you to learn all that you can about your rights and privileges in Christ Jesus, and enjoy them fully. However, let’s also remember that this whole thing we call Christianity isn’t just about what we can get; it’s about what we can give. It is about rights AND responsibilities.  

-- Excerpted from an article entitled “Rights and Responsibilities” by Tony Cooke 

#5931

A LEADERSHIP IMPASSE

“I have also sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, ‘Turn now everyone from his evil way, amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them; then you will dwell in the land which I have given you and your fathers.’ But you have not inclined your ear, nor obeyed Me.”  (Jeremiah 35:15 NKJV)

There are numerous definitions of sin that have, at best, a partial basis in Scripture. A church that has an incomplete understanding of sin won’t understand sin to be a leadership or kingdom issue. Without the prophets’ perspective on sin as intentional rebellion and disobedience [of God’s leadership], the kingdom message of Jesus doesn’t make sense. And without the kingdom message, repentance doesn’t make sense.

This is where the leadership issue is so clearly visible. If there is something in my life that I feel I must maintain control over, I won’t give the helm of my heart to God. Take, for example, the person who refuses to forgive. Jesus knew that this kind of leadership impasse holds many outside His kingdom. He specifically said, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins“ (Matthew 6:14-15). Refusing to trust God with justice and judgment means that I think I can do a better job of it than He can. 

-- Jan David Hettinga in “Follow Me: Experience the Loving Leadership of Jesus”

#5924

 

FINISHING WELL – Part 2 of 2

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day -- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.”  (2 Timothy 4:7-8 NIV)

The Christian life is a long-distance journey. We need to finish well. Here is the second thing we need to say about that.

As you encounter people and culture around you, “give ‘em heaven.” You’ve heard the opposite phrase. That’s what many people give us. It is so easy to imitate them and do the same. But Jesus calls us to a better way. So give ‘em heaven!

It was sometimes said in the past that Christians were so “heavenly minded that they were no earthly good.” The story of church history has actually proved opposite. It is only when we have perspective, when we have the big story in mind, that we are so heavenly minded that we are most earthly good! Why? Because we know what values stand at the center of the universe and what really matters to God…

As we bless others in the name of Christ, may they catch a glimpse of a better land and a more lasting kingdom. By the grace of God and the Spirit’s power, may they be wooed through our lives and our corporate witness into joining us on this journey. Yes, yes… give ‘em heaven! Give ‘em heaven!

-- Adapted from “How to Finish the Christian Life: Following Jesus in the Second Half” by Donald W. Sweeting & George Sweeting

#5905

LIGHT OF THE WORLD

Jesus said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit,… those who mourn,… the meek,… those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,… the merciful,… the pure in heart,… the peacemakers,… those who are persecuted because of righteousness… Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me… You are the light of the world… Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. ”  (Excerpts from Matthew 5:3-15 NIV)

These blessed people really are the light of the world! They may only be one insignificant candle, but they give light to an entire house. When people in a dark world see the work of these citizens of the kingdom, the people give glory to God because they know there is still hope for this world!

This is who we are called to be as citizens of the kingdom of God. We may be amazed or surprised – that is exactly the response [Jesus] intended! The Beatitudes are not placid statements spoken softly. They are exclamations. We step out into the morning sun after a foggy night and exclaim, “Wow! Look at that sunshine!” We hear a great piece of music and come away exclaiming, “Wow! That’s really Beethoven!” The Beatitudes are similar exclamations. They exclaim “Wow! Look at the happiness of those who are citizens of the kingdom of God! This is really living; we just never saw it before!” 

-- James A. Harnish in “What Will You Do with King Jesus?”

#5879