Selected Teachings/Sermons/Retreats

Jesus: Lord of Mercy  (a sermon which focuses on blind Bartimaeus, and his cry that Jesus have mercy on him; the sermon details how Jesus’s humanity and divinity express the nature of mercy and the special way Jesus models for us to do and feel the same way)

Mercy Never Blinks (a sermon which focuses on the 6 things Jesus needed as he struggled through Gethsemane; the sermon makes the case that the 6 things Jesus needed from his disciples are the same things each and every person needs who comes for counseling)

Christ’s Mercy: Touching Pain, Transforming Lives (a retreat which combines teaching on Voices of mercy, Seasons of mercy, Windows of mercy, Mirrors of mercy, and the transformational power of mercy along with exercises which explore this power in a personal and practical way)

Contentment In Christ: God’s Way Out Of Anxiety (a series of classes which examines anxiety and empowers people to find contentment in Christ; journaling, in-class discussion, role playing, and meditational exercises are used to make the teachings practical)

Overflowing With Love (a retreat which focuses on the Holy Spirit as the Living water who is both the agent and the presence of God’s love flowing through us; a meditational exercise grounded in Scripture is the capstone to the retreat)

Humility, Forgiveness, and the Cross (a series of classes which unfold in detail how humility, forgiveness, and the Cross, taken together, release people into new freedom; emphasis is on Philippians 2)

Walking in the Forgiveness of Christ: The Blood, and The Cross (a series of classes which uses Ephesians 1:7-8 as a starting-point to learn how redemption through Christ’s blood, forgiveness of sins, and grace must be seen as a dynamic whole to gain full access to the Lord’s presence)

The Crucified Old Man: An Exercise in Redemption (a class that shows through an in-class exercise how the Savior, the Hero, the Donor, and the Intellectual are four types of responses to the truth presented in Romans 6; only the Savior is the viable choice)

Christ Pierced (a sermon that shows how the four piercings in Christ body are answers to the questions: What am I thinking? Where am I going? What am I doing? From whom do I draw my strength?)

A Place To Lay Your Head (a sermon which shows that the only time Jesus had a place to lay his head was on the Cross, and that we can lay our heads there and find the same rest that he did when he said that what he did was finished forever)

Friends In Christ (a series of classes based on F.R.I.E.N.D.S, each letter represents a quality of what it means to be a friend; Ruth, Naomi, Boaz, and Jesus are the focus)

Jesus, Paul, and You: Grace, Grit, and Glory (a series which explores how shame is overcome though grace, grit, and glory as they are manifested in a fresh way of looking at the Crucified Christ and his despising shame in Hebrews 12)

In The Hug Zone With Jesus: Deepening Your Intimacy With The Living Christ (a retreat which focuses on compassion that is connecting, Grace that is empowering, Beauty that is affirming, Peace that is safeguarding⎯all in relation to Christ)

Your World View and Ethics At the Bedside (a 3–hour DVD filmed at Azusa Pacific University for an ethics class for nurses; the focus was on what inner resources a Christian must draw on in order to remain steadfast as a healing vessel in the presence of the agonies of a suffering person)

Following Jesus: Formula or Freedom? (a sermon focusing on the differences between faith as a formula and faith as freedom-releasing action, using the man born blind from Chapter Nine of John as a framework)

With Open Arms: How To Accept Your Worth In Christ (a series of classes showing how our worth as Christians is accessible, available, affirming, and full of affection⎯all through inwardly receiving the presence and power of Christ through the indwelling Holy Spirit)

Longing: The Second Skin of Love (a sermon detailing how the Body of Christ is like our “second skin,” holding us together while we long for face-to-face fellowship with one another through the Christ who is in all, and who fills all).

Walking In The Peace of Christ (a series of classes exploring how sinful anger and injustice arose from the fall, and how the violence done to Christ frees us from being either perpetrators of violence or victims of violence; journaling outside class and exercises inside class supplement the Scriptural teaching)

Hostility, Peace, and the Cross (a sermon using Ephesians 2 to show how to discern righteous from unrighteous anger, and to demonstrate that when all hostility was killed on the Cross, space opened up inside and outside us to be new in Christ, to be reconciled to one another through the Cross, and to be at peace with one another and with God)

Windows On Belonging (a class that teaches how to create acceptance for new members in a group as well as to solidify the bonds with people already in a group; the difference between looking at someone one’s pain and looking through someone’s pain is emphasized)

Building Your Life With Jesus (a series of classes using Second Peter, Chapter One as a framework in the shape of a wheel; “Peter’s Wheel” can be used to explain, understand, and “diagnose” how people experience Jesus in a dynamic, interactive way) 

Glory: Living the Resurrecting Power of Jesus (a class and retreat which focuses on Jesus’s proclaiming that the glory that the Father gave him, Jesus is giving to us; so it is glory that binds us together as Christians; the Father of glory, the Lord of glory, and the Spirit of glory are explored, and how they frame and free our lives)

L.O.V.E.: Communicating God’s Way (a series of classes which teaches that Godly communication flows from Listening, Openness, Validation, and Expressing; a “communication diamond” is presented and exercises are used to show how to practice what is on the diamond)

A Breath Away From Jesus (a series of classes that focus on the fact that the Holy Spirit is the breath of God, and that breath carries voice, voice carries words, and words carry power⎯a life living in and through the Word breathing in us)

Bringing Your Pain To God (a dramatic enactment of Job, showing that that there is body-pain, soul-pain, and spirit-pain, and how each one can be healed through our connection to the Trinity)

Being Loved By Jesus (a series of classes showing that no one can love anyone unless that person is continually allowing the Holy Spirit to bathe, soak, and energize him/her with and in the love of Jesus; how that unfolds in practice is shown through Biblical characters and through exercises done by attendees inside and outside of class, and then discussed in subsequent classes)

The Peace of His Wounds, The Joy of His Scars: Overcoming Fear Through The Risen Christ (a two-part class focusing on Jesus showing his wounds in John 20:19-22, and how his scars ignite joy in us, and how that joy is infused with his peace and presence, thus overcoming fear; Thomas is studied as a special case of the defiant fear we experience when we resist the power of the scarred Jesus)

Mars, Venus, or The Sun? (a sermon/class showing the illusion of reality presented in dichotomies such as men are from Mars, and women are from Venus, then offering through a study of New Testament passages a fresh view that men and women are both from the Sun of Righteousness; ways to be freed from the false dichotomies and live a new married life in Christ are shown in detail)

Beloved and Chosen (a four-part series on what it means to be chosen in the Beloved by the Father)

Apollos (a class which highlights the fact that Apollos is the only person in the New Testament described as being fervent in his spirit, and how important it is for all Christians to be fervent in spirit, as Paul states in Romans 12) 

Rhoda (a class emphasizing inclusion in prayer, by using Rhoda⎯a girl, a slave, and an adolescent, all of which in her society at that time would exclude her, but she is included in praying for Peter when he is in prison; her capacity for concentrated listening is stressed)

Tabitha/Dorcas (a sermon/class on the only woman in the New Testament named “a certain disciple.” Her name means  “gazelle,” a meaning that expresses the grace-filled life she lived; her life is explored, along with the four stages she went through when she was being raised from the dead, showing that healing sometimes occurs in stages and not all at once)

Lydia (a three-part study of a woman who moved from unbelief to becoming someone who had a reverence for the God of Israel to believing in Jesus; she had a home church, became the head of her own household, and was a successful businesswoman⎯all virtually unprecedented at that time in history)

Sergius Paulus (a study of a brilliant man, of high social status and authority⎯a proconsul⎯who was in the company of a deceiver, but in spite of the deceiver’s influence and the man’s penetrating, reflective, deeply-questioning intellect, and high position, Paul and Barnabas were able to lead him to Christ)

Power Surge (a series of classes which focuses on exploring the nature of divine power, and the special way that the power of Christ is inwardly alive and active in us; Biblical characters are studied in the context of this power in their lives, and how this power transforms us is studied in detail)

Priscilla and Aquila (a series of classes and a retreat which highlight their marriage as one of equality, service, and acceptance)

Paul and Barnabas (a three-part series which details their differences and similarities in Christ, and how each one’s personality was so gifted by the Holy Spirit that they worked as a holy team for the purposes of Jesus; their angry dispute is studied as an example of how the tension between unresolved conflict and divided loyalties can erupt in sinful responses from even those most gifted by God)

Communion and Addiction (a class showing how all addictions have their roots in the fall, and how the Lord’s Supper⎯and its intimate connection with the Cross⎯points toward the healing of all addictions)

The Beauty of Faith (a study of how holding ourselves back from Jesus constricts our lives, but when we pour our lives out on him, we⎯in the very act of doing that⎯are affirmed by him that our faith is beautiful to him)

Living With The Holy Spirit (a series of classes exploring Paul’s statement in Second Corinthians 13:14:  “. . . the fellowship of the Holy Spirit . . . be with you all.” The Holy Spirit as the Spirit of the truth, the Spirit of grace, and the Spirit of glory are emphasized along with what Jesus meant when he named the Holy Spirit Parakleitos, a name the meaning of which greatly enhances and empowers our lives when we allow the Holy Spirit to move in us in his special ways)

Hope (a class detailing the four kinds of hope stated in the New Testament, and how the embracing of those four hopes deeply enriches our lives)

Courage (a class that shows that courage is fueled by the Holy Spirit’s fire, and that fire, when flaming up from the peace of Christ, provide both the sustaining passion and enduring peace to keep courage alive in people and moving them forward)

Mary and Authentic Mothering (a class delivered at M.O.P.S., focusing on “bonding factors,” Mary’s experience of the grace of God, her being filled with the Holy Spirit, and her interactions with her family and the church are integrated into a framework to understand the foundation of all Christian mothering) 

Safe To Let Go (a two-part class studying the relationship between Mary, Martha, and Jesus around the theme of abandonment anxiety; practical solutions are offered as so that it is “safe to let go” of anxiety and become free in and through the presence of Christ)

Choosing The Best Seat (a sermon and a weekend retreat showing that we have three seats to choose to sit in, seats  that “back us up” and determine what we “stand up for” in our lives⎯the chair of the Pharisees, the judgment seat of Pilate, and the heavenly throne of Jesus)

Legalist, Carnalist, or Saint? (a series of classes which use the image of a triangle to demonstrate the cluster of qualities that form three kinds of possible lives⎯a triangle picturing each kind of life⎯each respective cluster determining how we experience ourselves, other people, and God) 

Wisdom and The Apostle James (a class focusing on James 3:17, and claims that James offers us four dimensions of wisdom⎯each dimension with an inner quality and an outer one; these qualities, taken together, constitute wisdom and provide us with a way to discern whether our thoughts and actions are based on Godly wisdom)

The Stoning of Stephen: Wisdom, Grace, and Power (a class applying wisdom as detailed in James 3:17 to the way Stephen responded to those who persecuted and martyred him)

Compassion (a meditational CD focusing on Jesus’s words of compassion)

Five Circles of Protection (meditational CD focusing the 5 ways that we are encircled by the embracing protection of God)

Ephesians: A Conflict Resolution Model (an in-depth model for conflict resolution between persons, groups, and staffs, complete with diagrams providing a step-by-step process that moves toward and defines forgiveness and reconciliation)

Resting In Christ: Meditation Stories (meditational CD focusing on resting through Scriptures that speak of water and other aspects of God’s Creation)

Come, and See (a series of classes studying the Gospel of John though the lens of Jesus’s words “come, and you will see.”

From Bitterness To Love: The Apostle Peter (a class using an imagined letter written by the apostle Peter describing how he overcame bitterness; used as a way for people to process bitterness, its causes and effects, and a step-by-step way to let bitterness be put away from them; Peter’s letters, Peter’s “denial passages” in the Gospels, and John 21:15-23 are the Scriptural base for the study)

Growing Up Without Growing Apart: Jesus, His Parents, and You (a twenty-hour seminar that teaches people to separate from their parents and become adults, the same way Jesus had to separate from his parents and become fully open as an adult to following the call of God in his life and not yielding to the temptation to view his parents as idols⎯as we are so prone to do)

A Sanctified Way of Living (a class and a diagram showing how to move into living in a sanctified way by laying things aside on the Cross, by receiving being renewed through the Holy Spirit, and then putting on the new self made in the likeness of God)

Be Opened! (a class on the deaf-mute man in the Gospel of Mark, outlining through a diagram a framework for being opened and near to Jesus and to others⎯hearing and speaking in love and in truth)

Helping Jesus Heal: The Case of Lazarus (a sermon and a class which offers a 

seven-step process showing how anyone who is trying to help someone in pain can draw valuable lessons from how Jesus called people to help him when he healed Lazarus)

The Holy Spirit: The Advocate For Advocates (presented to the San Diego Christian Legal Society; emphasis was on the Holy Spirit as Parakleitos⎯the name Jesus gives the Spirit⎯and how Parakleitos makes it possible to embrace the Spirit in a fresh way as Advocate for lawyers who are advocating for their clients)

Lawyers, Substance Abuse, and Jesus (presented to the San Diego Christian Legal Society; emphasis is on a critique of current views of causes and solutions for substance abuse, and then offering a new paradigm to understand the cause of substance abuse, a paradigm grounded in Scripture and the living Christ)

Renewing Minds Through Romans (An 86-page Manual complete with journal exercises and prayers on using Romans as the basis for renewing your mind in Christ)

Called To Freedom (a series of classes showing how to overcome depression using 2 Corinthians 4 as the framework)

Yes! (a class using Mary’s engagement with Gabriel to show what six qualities a person must have in order to say Yes to God’s calling on your life, and what are the four qualities, which prevent our saying Yes to God)

Conviction Versus Condemnation (a class with a conceptual grid to show how to discern the difference between condemnation and conviction in anyone’s life)

Identity and Violence: Who’s Nursing The Nurses? (an in-service presented to Kaiser Hospital nurses, providing a framework and solutions for overcoming the increasing problem of nurse-on-nurse violence)

Patient Violence and The Workplace (an in-service presented to Kaiser Hospital nurses, providing a framework and solutions for the nonviolent engaging of aggressive patients)

Working With Adolescents (an in-service presented to Kaiser Hospital nurses, stressing a way to frame and to interact with special developmental needs manifested in adolescence)

Pastoring And Spiritual Health (a seminar showing how the Crucified Christ is the foundation from which arises the spiritual health necessary to pastor the hurting and the helpless)

Counseling The Shepherd’s Way (a manual to teach pastor’s and clergy how to counsel those who are suffering, exploring Jesus as Wonderful Counselor)

Peter: Denied Christ, Restored By Christ (a class unpacking the grace and mercy Christ shows Peter after Peter’s denials of Christ; emphasis is on how the severity of the denials is overridden and absorbed by the depth of the empowering grace and mercy poured out on Peter)