Will Vaus

Listen for God’s word to you from Mark 3:20-35… Then he [Jesus] went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered. “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit c...

A church board was interviewing a young man for the position of pastor. One old hard-working Irishman, who was on the board, looked at the young man sternly and asked, “Young man, is God calling you here? The young minister replied, “Well, I don’t know if God is calling me here. I am here trying to find the will of God and find out if you would like me for your next pastor.” The board member replied, “Young man, is God calling you here?” The young minister was somewhat at a loss for words and said again, “Well, I just stopped by to talk with the board and…” The board member interrupted again and said, “Young man, is God calling you here?” Finally, the young man screwed up enough courage to say, “Well, I guess God isn’t calling me here. I just stopped by to see whether we could get together.” The old board member leaned back in his seat and said, “That’s good. The last four ministers we had said that God had called them here, and we had nothing but trouble with all four of them!” That s...

  As you probably know, Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. The album appeared first in 1970, followed by a live musical performed on Broadway in 1971, and a film version in 1973. It was very much a work of the times, building off the enthusiasm of the hippie and Jesus movements. I can remember my brother playing the album in his room; the catchy tunes and lyrics were hard to resist. In the title song, Judas sings: Every time I look at you I don’t understand Why you let the things you did get so out of hand You’d have managed better if you’d had it planned Why’d you choose such a backward time and such a strange land? If you’d come today you would have reached a whole nation Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication Don’t you get me wrong - I only wanna know Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ Who are you? What have you sacrificed? Jesus Christ Superstar Do you think you’re what they say you are? The song has some great questions. ...