Tommy Mann

I remember watching a Florida Gators football game on TV when I was a child, and the running back broke through the line and was headed for the end zone. He blew right through the defense, and there was no one in between him and six points. As he was sprinting forward one of the defenders was closing the gap. My dad began to yell at the television (because that's what we do when we watch sports), "Don't look back! Don't look back! Don't look back!" Sure enough, the ball carrier looked over his shoulder to see where the defensive player was, and he stumbled ever so slightly, allowing himself to be tackled just shy of scoring a touchdown.  There is no reason for a player to look back. He had already passed everyone, so he only needed to worry about what was in front of him. Paul used a similar analogy in his instructions to the church at Philippi. In Philippians 3:13-14 he spoke about someone running a race: "...But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behi...

There is a greeting in the Bible that gives me goosebumps every time I read it. It is found in Acts 9 during the conversion of Saul of Tarsus (also known as the Apostle Paul). Saul had been blinded by the light when the Lord appeared to him, and he was led to a certain house in Damascus. While that was unfolding, God spoke to a man named Ananias and told him to go to that house and pray over Saul. In v.17 we read the greeting: "So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.'” Brother Saul? This gives me goosebumps when I remember who Saul was. Essentially a terrorist, Saul gave his approval for the martyrdom of Stephen. This same Saul obtained letters from the high priest to round up and imprison anyone who followed Jesus. Acts 8:1 says he was "ravaging" the church, and 9...

Ulysses S Grant was not really the 18th President of the United States.  No, I'm not talking about a rigged election, or denying the results of the 1868 election. I'm talking about his name. His parents named him Hiram Ulysses Grant, and that was his name throughout his childhood and teenage years. But when Hiram (who actually preferred his middle name) received his appointment to West Point, a clerical error had him enlisted under the name Ulysses S Grant. There is no record of Grant objecting to the mistake, and he embraced his new name. He went by the initials U.S. for a time, but since those letters also stood for Uncle Sam, his military friends dubbed him "Sam." So Grant went by a variety of names over the course of his life, but history remembers him for a name that was not truly his--Ulysses S Grant. The war hero-turned-President and eventual author brought fame to a name that did not belong to him.  That is what Christians are called to do. We are tasked with ...

To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a Super Bowl-winning football team that played their home games in a dome on artificial turf. There have been champions that played in domes, and some that played on turf, but never both. All the other champions have played under the elements on real grass.  Maybe that is a coincidence, or maybe it points to a true concept, that the teams that spend the season sheltering themselves from discomfort are hindering their growth as a team. Who wouldn't prefer to play under a dome? Too hot? Too cold? Snowing? Raining? No problem; we'll just close the dome. The kick returner never loses the ball in the sun. The quarterback never has a wet ball slip out of his hand. It seems great (and the fans have to appreciate it as well).  But the teams that play through it all may not enjoy it, but they are conditioning themselves to play through adversity. When you make it to the big game, and it starts to rain, and there is no dome to close, one...

This time of year I can't take a step in our driveway without crushing about a hundred acorns. We are surrounded by oak trees, so the acorns are innumerable. I like the sound of the crunching under my feet, and I also like that the sight of dead acorns reminds me of the words of Jesus. When speaking to His disciples in John 12, Jesus didn't mention acorns, but rather grains of wheat. In the 24th verse Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."  This was spoken in response to a group of people who requested an audience with Jesus. Surprisingly, Jesus turned down this request, telling Philip and Andrew "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified (v.23)."  We would expect Jesus to drop what He was doing and speak to the people who wanted to see Him, but for the first time in His ministry, He announced that the hour had come. Jesus was making Hi...

Although I do not have them very often, I like root beer floats (you may prefer a Coke or Dr. Pepper float). I think I have perfected the art of the perfect float. It starts with a good amount of vanilla ice cream (preferably Blue Bell). But there is room for more ice cream if you take the spoon and smush it down, so do that and add even more ice cream. Then comes the root beer. Pour in as much as you can fit and wait for the fizz to die down. Once that happens, you can give the glass a little shake and the ice cream will settle, allowing the soda to fill in the cracks and make room for even more root beer. Add just enough to reach the top, and a little fizz will run down the sides of the mug. That is a well-executed float, getting as much out of the drink as possible. Interestingly, God follows that same formula when it comes to how He blesses us. Speaking in Luke 6:38, Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be p...

Have you ever seen a bread tree? It would be nice if loaves of bread grew right on their branches, and all we had to do was pluck them and eat. In their book The Shaping of Things to Come , Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch address the question of why God didn't just create a bread tree. They wrote, "He prefers to offer us a grain and invite us to buy a field and plant the seed. He prefers that we till the soil while He sends the rain. He prefers that we harvest the crop while He sends sunshine. He prefers that we grind the crop and knead it and bake it while He gives us air in our lungs and strength in our arms. Why? Because He would rather that we become partners with Him in creation."  I agree with those authors, and believe we can apply that same way of thinking to our money. Most churches probably have a wish list, things they would love to do if only they could afford it. We dream about doing things, and say, "If someone gave us a million dollars, I would use the m...

Is Jesus really God? I often hear people say that Jesus never actually claimed to be God, and that Christians are mistaken to say that He is. But that is not true; Jesus often equated Himself with God, saying things like, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9)," and "I and the Father are one (John 10:30)."  But even beyond those claims He made are the things He did. Yes, Jesus performed miracles, healed the sick, and cast out demons, but He also did something quite noteworthy: He forgave sin. In Mark 2 Jesus healed a paralytic and then told him his sins were forgiven. Those words enraged the Pharisees, who angrily said, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone? (v.7)” That may seem like a poor litmus test, because how can any of us know whether or not the paralytic's sins were truly forgiven? Just because Jesus declared them to be doesn't prove that they were. How can we verify that statement? We...

Most people are familiar with the first public miracle of Jesus, at a wedding reception, where He turned water into wine. This act averted a disaster, as running out of wine was a societal faux pas that the family would never live down. So Jesus intervened.  John 2:7-8 tells us: Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” When the master of the feast (something akin to our wedding planners) tasted the wine, he was amazed at how good it tasted. As any wine aficionado knows, the best wine is aged wine, but this wine was only water two seconds ago. Jesus didn't just make wine out of water, He made it as if it had been around for years.  This miracle was so much more than just some sleight of hand trick; Jesus genuinely made something incredible out of something ordinary. It also shows us that God's relationship to time is different than ours. When He c...

The great writer and humorist Mark Twain once quipped, "The two most important days in your life are the day you were born, and the day you find out why." Of course by finding out why he meant finding out what we were born to do--why God put us on this planet.  I agree with Twain, so long as we agree that the "why" is found in Christ. Specifically, we were born to be in a relationship with the God who made us. The problem is, because we are sinners by nature, we are disconnected from the God we are supposed to be in a relationship with. A holy God cannot associate with sinful people. That is where Jesus comes in. He satisfied the law's demands, paying the penalty our sin deserved. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross allowed the Father to punish sin while allowing the sinner to go free. God can be just and the justifier. God can deal severely with sin while allowing the sinner to go free. God can be full of fury and full of mercy. God can hate sin and love the si...

The writer of Psalm 137 was singing the blues. This is a sad song, a melancholy tune from a man who was missing the good old days. His country had been defeated, and the survivors were rounded up and taken from their homes. At the beginning of his song he says they sat down and wept by the river in Babylon, and there they hung their instruments in the trees. He may have been one of the temple musicians, the ones who played all the festive worship music. He didn’t see the need in hanging onto his lyre, because, as he put it, “How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land (v.4)?” It wasn’t just that they were in a different place, but that they were no longer in the Promised Land. The symbol of God’s blessing was that His people would dwell in safety in their land, but God said if they chose to worship other gods, He would ensure they were defeated and kicked out of the land. Now that has happened, so our author wasn’t in the mood for signing. Picking up on this, his captors mocked...

  In Galatians 5:19-21 Paul lists what he called “the works of the flesh,” and among these common sins is idolatry. Obviously in the civilized world we do not see many people bowing down to idols, but I believe recent events demonstrate that politics is a form of American idolatry.   Politics has become a religion. We have made it our idol. We worship at Red or Blue altars. We no longer have a Golden Calf, but we have a Golden Elephant and a Golden Donkey. They are gods to some people, the party platforms are their holy writ, and their followers have waged jihad on those who belong to the other side.   There was a time when two people could have a civilized debate, even when holding very different beliefs. Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes were great friends, yet they debated fiercely on TV. Tip O’Neill and Ronald Reagan used to spar by day, but hang out by night. O’Neill was famous for saying, “Politics ends at 5PM.”   We have to get back to a place where we see the othe...

In Ezekiel 33:7 the Lord appeared to the prophet and told him, “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.” In an analogous way, Ezekiel was to serve as a watchman for Israel. Watchmen were a common sight in cities that had walls for protection; they were stationed high atop the wall with a great vantage point to see any would-be intruders. Their job was simple: if they saw any invaders, sound the alarm by blasting the trumpet. Give an alert to everyone inside the city walls. As the Lord’s watchman on the wall, Ezekiel had to decide if he was going to sound the alarm or not. But we couldn’t blame him if he didn’t want to. Who wants to be the bearer of bad news? The message was that the people had sinned so much for so long that God was sending an invading army. The people would be receiving the wages of their sin, and yet Ezekiel would be the one to blame if he did not speak the messag...

  The Lord gave the prophet Ezekiel many interesting visions, including one contained in the tenth chapter of the book that bears his name. In this vision Ezekiel saw the Lord inside the temple, which was where God’s invisible presence resided in Israel. The timing of this was shortly before the Southern Kingdom was defeated and exiled.   After describing the four angels around the throne, the prophet described what he saw next: “Then the glory of the LORD went out from the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth before my eyes as they went out, with the wheels beside them. And they stood at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the LORD, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them (v.18-19).” In a shocking scene, the Lord left the temple. The vision was meant as a warning that the Israelites would not be able to go into the temple for worship because they would not be in their homel...

There is an interesting figure mentioned in the book of Jeremiah. In 7:18 we learn, “The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven.” Who is this queen of heaven? She is only mentioned here and three times in chapter 44, where the Israelites insist they will continue to worship her instead of the Lord.   Most scholars believe this was Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of war and fertility. Archaeologists have discovered statues and other images of her in ancient Israel, a place where Ishtar never should have been, but King Manasseh imported idol worship during his reign. This was a silly primitive practice.  But today there is a modern queen of heaven that is just as silly to worship. Roman Catholics use this title for Mary, the human mother of Jesus. They pray to her, asking her to ask her Son to do things for them, not realizing they can talk directly to her Son and enter “boldly before the throne of grace (He...

The Jews didn’t think God loved them anymore. It certainly didn’t look like He did. The nation split into two, and both North and South had been defeated. Not only were they decimated by their enemies, the survivors were rounded up and marched out of their land. No, it certainly didn’t look like God still loved them.  That is why His message through the prophet Jeremiah in chapter 31 were welcomed words. In the third verse we read, “The LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” “From far away” reminds us they were in Babylon, far away from the Promised Land, and far away from the temple where they went to meet with the Lord. That He would appear to them at all, and especially from far away, was in itself wonderful news.  But notice what He said when He appeared. He loved them with an everlasting love. Their idolatry was not enough to break the love of the Lord. Their being conquered and di...

In Jeremiah 13 God asked an interesting question through His prophet: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots (v.23)?” This question is rhetorical because we know the answer to both halves of that question is no. The Ethiopian cannot change the color of his skin, nor can the leopard get rid of his trademark pattern.   But why did God ask such an obvious question? He was making a point, as the second half of the verse tells us: “Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.” The things about the Ethiopian and the leopard is not that they do not have the ability to change, but that they have no desire to change. Why would the Ethiopian want to change his dark skin? Why would the leopard want to remove his spots? They are proud of the way they look; that is part of their distinguishing characteristic.  The point was the stubborn people of Israel’s Southern Kingdom had even less desire to change their behavior. Their identifying mark was their idolat...

  Where we sit says a lot about us. Or I should say, who we sit with says a lot about us. Do you prefer the company of the wicked or the righteous?   In Psalm 26 David prayed for God to vindicate him because he was being falsely accused of something. To David, the problem wasn’t just that he was accused of something he didn’t do, but that he was accused of something he wouldn’t do because he hated it.  (Although we don’t know for sure, this psalm may be in reference to the assassination of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul who installed himself as king even though David had been anointed as successor. People likely accused David of ordering the hit, and he didn’t want people think he condoned the murder.) In v.4-5 of the psalm the king said, “I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites. I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked.” If hate seems like a strong word, to David it wasn’t strong enough. What else could he say? He loa...

  The old prophets rarely used years to date their work, and instead chose to tie their writings to events in history. In the Old Testament Amos said he wrote, “in the days of Uzziah…two years before the earthquake.” (1:1) His fellow minor prophet Zechariah mentioned this same earthquake, saying that on that future day of the Lord (a time of judgment), “you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah.” (14:5) Uzziah’s story is found in both 2 Kings 15 and 2 Chronicles 26, but neither account mentions an earthquake. But since two prophets later referenced it, it must have been a doozy. The fact that the narratives about Uzziah do not cite this earthquake has given scoffers some ammunition to say the Bible is not credible.  But not anymore. Archaeologists now believe a massive earthquake rocked the Middle East in 760 BC, during the reign of Uzziah. They estimate that the quake would register a staggering 8.2 on today’s Richter scale, which mea...

  One of the most quoted New Testament verses has to be Acts 1:8. This is a go-to text for missions conferences or sermons on sharing the gospel. If you are not familiar, it says: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Because of the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit, Christians have a supernatural boldness to tell others about Jesus—to be His witnesses, to use the biblical phrase. I would like to point out that the word “and” is found three times among the final thirteen words of the verse. Nowhere in the text do we see the word “or,” but too many of us act like that is what it says.  The disciples were not told to pick a place. Jesus did not say, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, or maybe Judea or Samaria, or possibly to the ends of the earth.” He repeatedly said and, not or.  Because we are not in the Middle East we might not understand...

  It is hard to read about the calamity that befell ancient Israel. The Assyrian and Babylonian captivity seem like severe punishment. How could a loving God allow His people to be defeated and captured, exiled and enslaved?   We need to remember that these things did not come without warning. In 2 Kings 17:13 we read, “Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, ‘Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.’”  That same chapter tells us Israel was stubborn, they turned to idolatry, and they despised the words of Yahweh their God. Yet God was patient. This was not a one strike and you’re out situation, or even three strikes and you’re out. The Lord sent prophet after prophet, warning the people that they were in violation of the covenant made with Moses and the rest of the nation. Have no other gods, have...

In 1572 an engraver named Philips Galle created a series of works that would become known as the Seven Wonders of the World. Among the scenes highlighted were the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Over time many different natural and manmade locations have been canonized as so-called Wonders of the World.  But long before Galle compiled a list of wonders in the world, the writer of Psalm 119 referred to the Wonders of the Word. In verse 18 of the psalm he prays, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Few of us would think any law is wondrous. Has anyone ever trembled in anticipation of reading the latest bill being debated in Congress? Man’s law is rarely wonderful, but God’s law is only wonderful.  We also need to keep in mind that the author is using a figure of speech (called synecdoche) in which a part of something is used to speak of the whole. He isn’t just talking about the law, but all of God’...

Thanks to social media there is a word we are hearing more and more: influencers. People who amass a large following online get paid to promote products, as companies have learned that people will purchase what their favorite trending celebrity tells them to buy. In recent election cycles politicians have paid influencers to rave about them to their followers. These influencers get paid to make people do something they probably would not have done on their own.   But influencers have always been around, even if they weren’t paid for their influence. Human nature shows that some people are leaders and others are followers; leaders influence while followers follow the lead. We see a clear example of that in 2 Chronicles 23-24 with the unlikely king named Joash.  His father died as a result of a battle wound, so the queen mother assumed the throne and murdered all the male relatives that could challenge her for the crown. But she missed one. Her grandson Joash was hidden away by ...

In Psalm 21 David is praising God for delivering him from his enemies in battle. In the ninth verse he says, “You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.”   That is terrifying imagery, as the previous verse said God would “find out” all His enemies. I know some people do not believe in a literal hell, and while it is true that word does not appear in this psalm, the idea of unbelievers in the afterlife is always associated with fire, as they are depicted here in a blazing oven. When I hear this phrase, blazing oven, I can’t help but think of the three bold young men Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden idol. But they were not harmed by the fire because there was a Fourth Man in the furnace with them, none other than Jesus, the Son of God. They were protected from the flames, even though they technically deserved it for br...

  Two famous men lived at the same time in the mid 19 th   Century. One was Charles Spurgeon, one of the most beloved men to ever stand in the pulpit. The other man was Karl Marx, the communist leader whose ideals resulted in the death of millions of people around the world.     Part of Marx’s strategy was to supplant Christianity because he viewed it as the greatest obstacle to his goals. Recognizing this, Spurgeon was an outspoken critic of both Marx and his socialist ideals. This was more than just political disagreements, but was Christianity vs. atheism. Marx was successful in turning many pastors towards socialism, but it was a Godless religion, one that minimized the cross and the sacrifice of Jesus.   Marx wrote  The Communist Manifesto,  but he didn’t write alone. He had a coauthor named Friedrich Engels. Engels was asked near the end of his life who was the one person he disliked most in the world, and he replied with one word: Spurgeon. The ...

I can still remember my coach’s old mantra, “How you practice is how you’ll play.” If you goof off in practice, you will goof off in the game; but if you take practice seriously and treat it as if it is the game, then when the whistle blows you will do what has become second nature. How you practice is how you will play.   John would agree with my coach, but he was more concerned with how Christians practice in the game of life. In 1 John 3:7 the Apostle wrote, “Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.” Let no one deceive you. This is common sense stuff, so don’t listen to the false teachers that will tell you otherwise. You must practice righteousness if you want to be righteous. You must make a habit of doing the right thing, every time, even when no one is looking. Day in and day out we must do the right thing because Jesus is righteous, and we should be as well. What you practice is how you’ll live. In v.8 John c...

At next week's Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, messengers will vote on a resolution stating that we favor banning pornography, and this is a measure that I will support.   As Christians we should oppose any form of pornography because of God’s Word. In Matthew 5:27-28 Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” That is right before He said to pluck out one’s eye if it causes him to sin. John warned the church of the things in the world we should shun, which include the lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the eyes (I John 2:16). Job made a covenant with his eyes that he would not look at a woman in a lustful way (31:1). Plenty more examples can be cited from both Testaments.  But even if we could not make a plain case from the Bible, we should still oppose pornography for other reasons. Those who view porno...

  When teaching people how to read and apply the Bible, we often focus vertically and within. By vertically I mean our relationship with God in heaven. We ask questions of the passage like, “What does this teach me about God?” or “What promise from God can I claim in my life.” By focusing within I mean introspection. We ask questions of the passage like, “How can I demonstrate this positive trait in my life?” or “Am I guilty of making the same mistake this person made?” But in his book  Seven Arrows: Aiming Bible Readers in the Right Direction,  Matt Rogers mentions a horizontal element of application. By horizontal he means our relationship with other people, specifically, the church. He wrote: “The result of sin is that mankind is separated from one another, living in tension, division, and strife. The result of the Gospel is that all of those who are in Christ can be united to one another by virtue of the fact that they have all been made part of God’s family. This fac...

  In 1 Kings 3 we read about King Solomon and his famous demonstration of wisdom. When two women came to him, both claiming to be the rightful mother of an infant, Solomon asked for a sword to be brought to him so he could divide the child in two and give each woman half.   The rightful mom said she would rather give the baby to the other woman than to see her son hurt, and thus revealed herself to be the true mother. But in that same chapter, before the king is threatening to divide a baby, he shows us that he was divided within himself. Here is what the third verse says: “Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places.” How is it possible to love the Lord and offer sacrifices at the high places? That means he brought offerings to other gods, the ones worshipped by his many wives. Solomon followed the practice of political polygamy, marrying the daughters of other heads of state to form alliances. ...

One of the great gifts God has given humanity is the ability to hear. Hearing and deciphering sound really is quite remarkable when you study the workings of our inner ear. If given the choice between being deaf or being able to hear, no person would opt for not hearing.   Except for David. In Psalm 38 that was the choice he made. In fact, he went even further, choosing also to not be able to speak. In verse 13-14 said, “But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear, like a mute man who does not open his mouth. I have become like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth are no rebukes.” Why would he choose to be deaf and mute? It was in response to what his enemies were saying about him. The preceding verse says, “Those who seek my life lay their snares; those who seek my hurt speak of ruin and meditate treachery all day long.” The king’s adversaries were speaking of his ruin, plotting ways in which to remove him from power. So David chose not to listen. He acted as if he were deaf. H...

Falling in love with someone often feels out of our control, something that just happens to us. I’ll never forget the first time I met Alicia. It was like a scene from a Hallmark movie when she tripped over my foot and turned around to apologize. We hit it off right away as if we were struck by Cupid’s arrow.   Similarly, I’ll never forget the birth of our children, especially our firstborn. Reagan (who somehow turns 16 this week!) came via an emergency C-section, so we were in the OR when the nurses handed us this tiny baby that made us parents. I was instantly smitten with a kind of parental love I didn’t know before. Those things just happen to us. These were not choices we made. Loving my kids was not a wait and see thing where I chose to love them if they were well behaved or made good grades. It was almost out of my control.  When the New Testament speaks of Christians showing love, it uses that famous word  agape  that describes a choice we make to put the nee...