Foothills Church

10/03/2024

02/15/2024

“Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.”
-G.K. Chesterson

01/21/2024

Consumerism turned the Church into a service provider:

"I want good preaching"

"I want amazing worship"

"I want great kid's programs"

Would we go to Church if it was just a bunch of ragamuffin Jesus- followers gathering around a table, trying to love God and love neighbors?

Dan White

12/25/2023

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=897508808411509&id=100044571933306&mibextid=9R9pXO

12/14/2023

A while back, when on a flight from Dallas to San Antonio, I noticed one of the other passengers was reading a book, entitled, Don’t Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table.

I had no idea what the book was about, but I couldn’t help but smile at the irony. My eyes spotted the title immediately after I had just finished reading Luke 14, where Jesus said, “None of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner” (v. 24).

I suppose we could say that they didn’t get a seat at Jesus’ table.

The sad part of that parable, however, is the reason they did not get a seat at the table. It was not because they were enemies of the host. They were neither uninvited nor hated.

Quite the opposite. He had invited them. But when the servant arrived to say, “Come, for everything is now ready,” each made excuses (flimsy ones!) as to why they could not come. One had to check on some land, another had to try out some oxen, and still another had just married.

In the end, they had no seat at the table because they refused the seat offered them by the host. Each one prioritized something over the host, the meal, the invitation. What had been theirs for free, they did not want.

In short, they unseated themselves.

The feast of forgiveness, life, salvation, and peace in Jesus the Messiah is ready. The table is packed with all of God’s gifts. He wants none to starve in the outer darkness, none to perish. It’s all gratis, too. No charge. Take a seat, eat, and relish the gifts of Jesus.

The only ones who do not get a seat at the table are those who refuse, who unseat themselves, who want nothing to do with God’s gifts in Jesus.

So, my friends, take the seat of faith at the banquet of Jesus. It’s all yours, all prepared by our Lord, all because of his deep and abiding love for you.

12/09/2023

📸 Look at this post on Facebook
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=891801492315574&id=100044571933306&sfnsn=mo&mibextid=K8Wfd2

The Elijah Chapter of Luke’s Gospel

Not once, not twice, not even thrice, but FOUR times, Elijah pops up in Luke 9. Three are explicit, and one implicit. We might call Luke 9 the “Elijah Chapter” of this Gospel.

First, when Jesus was preaching and healing, Herod was perplexed because some were saying that Jesus was Elijah, appearing and working these wonders (v. 8 ).

Second, when Jesus asked his disciples who the crowds thought he was, they answered that some said he was Elijah (v. 19).

Third, on the Mount of Transfiguration, both Moses and Elijah appeared, talking to Jesus (v. 30-31).

Fourth, when a Samaritan village rejected Jesus, James and John wanted to go full bore Elijah on the inhabitants, calling down fire from heaven to consume them, as the prophet had done to the king’s messengers (2 Kings 1; Luke 9:54).

So, why so much Elijah?

Elijah was not just your run-of-the-mill prophet in the Old Testament. He was a major figure who preached, worked miracles, and bodily ascended into heaven. His name was also connected with the advent of the Messiah in Malachi 4.

One could see how people, though wrong, could easily assume Jesus was Elijah come down from heaven to work these signs and wonders.

But, of course, he was not. Jesus was indeed an Elijah-like prophet but much more. Both men preached and worked miracles, to be sure, and Jesus too would bodily ascend into heaven after his resurrection.

But our Lord Jesus was the very one who sent Elijah to preach, for he is the Son of the Father. And he came to do what Elijah could never have done: he set his face to go to Jerusalem to suffer, be killed, and on the third day rise, that we might have life and forgiveness in his name.

Jesus did not come to call fire down from heaven, but to reconcile heaven to earth, his Father to humanity, that we might have peace with God through him.

Elijah was the shadow of which Jesus is the light.

12/01/2023

I came across an idea recently that I thought I would pass along to you.

Since tomorrow is December 1, in 24 days we will find ourselves at Christmas Eve. The Gospel of Luke has 24 chapters. So, if you read a chapter a day from Luke, beginning tomorrow, by the time we get to the celebration of our Lord’s birth, not only will you have finished the entire Gospel, but you will have the big picture of who Jesus is, why he came, and everything that he has done for you.

I hope you’ll join me.

Chad Bird

11/23/2023

Happy Thanksgiving!!

11/06/2023

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. - Ephesians 2:13-15