Consider this

                I do not like funerals.   However, as I stood out at the city cemetery this past week, I was reminded that I love what happens around funerals.   In short, people slow down and show up.   Days ahead of time, several folks were cleaning the church building and making sure that the facility was ready.   Then the food started showing up.   Even with the large crowd that came, we had more food than we needed.   People travelled hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometres to be here.   They hugged one another and, when they spoke, their conversations often centred on topics that were deeper and more important than the weather, or whatever else we often discuss.   There was a lot of laughter, a lot of tears and a lot care for one another.                 Unfortunately, those pictures and words are not the ones that normally

                Believer is a popular word these days.   Any time I meet someone who is a believer in anything, I am happy, because that is a good starting point.   However, believer is not the word that describes the Christian life.   Believer is not our word.   What is that word?   I will tell you in a moment, but first a look at why believer not enough.                 In Acts 8, Phillip, one of the most trusted teachers in the early church, went to the city of Samaria and preached the word of God.   Many of the people responded, including a well-known sorcerer named Simon.   He became a believer and was baptized in the name of Christ (verse 13).                   Later, when he saw Peter and others healing people, he offered them money in an attempt to purchase that ability.   What follows is one of the most harsh a