Oh so many things to be thankful for. The Psalms tell us to "give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever."
1. Brandy's uncle Don gave his life to the Jesus. He has been in the hospital and they did not think he would make it out of surgery. He did make it. An old friend came and witnessed to him. Praise God.
2. We are having cash flow problems. Our outflow is greater than our inflow. I talked to our pastor...He refered me to the ministry guy....the ministry guy helped us pay what we needed.
3. I've been looking for a new job. Schwan's is a great company. They have great integrety, care about their employees, and the possibility to make money is there. However, 14 hours a day, weather outside, not a lot of mental challenge. Sprint called and made me an offer and I start on Dec. 10th in the ADvanced Tech Support division.
4. What do you do when you are having problems with your child?? Have Elaine Bynum sit down and talk with her for an hour. Oh what a difference. Julia has been a wonderful girl.
Yes I am Thanksful. Everything is not perfect, but many things are coming together.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Saturday, September 29, 2007
My New Favorite Song
The Revelation Song
See It Here.....
The Lyrics can be seen Here: http://www.lyricsdir.com/kari-jobe-revelation-song-lyrics.html
See It Here.....
The Lyrics can be seen Here: http://www.lyricsdir.com/kari-jobe-revelation-song-lyrics.html
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Grace (part 2)
So I really started to think about TWOTM and what I put in my last post. There are the 4 questions they have asked people on the street. Here is how a born-again disciple of Jesus Christ will answer them and how they differ from the person who has not experienced salvation.
1. Do you think you are a good person? Yes. I am good compared to many and not as good as some, but overall a good person.
2. What do the commandments say? That I am a lier, thief, and adulterer. If I have broken one I have broken all.
3. Are you guilty or innocent? Based on the 10 commandments, I am guilty and I deserve to go to Hell for all of eternity. Because of my sins, I am not worthy to stand before the perfect risen Lord.
4. Are you going to Heaven or Hell? I am going to Heaven. I have been washed (interesting word scripture uses....dunked, covered, immersed they all work) in the blood of the Holy Lamb Jesus Christ when I accepted him as my Lord and Savior and he died for my sins, past-present-future, when he died on the cross. Because of His sacrifice and the amazing grace He gives to me, I am free.
You know I like to give music as illustrations of what I have posted. Casting Crowns has a great song out right now called East to West. Here are selections...
You can feel this way:
I start the day, the war begins, endless reminding of my sin Time and time again Your truth is drowned out by the storm I'm in Today I feel like I'm just one mistake away from You leaving me this way. But today I feel like I'm just one mistake away from You leaving me this way.
The truth is here:
I know You've cast my sin as far as the east is from the west And I stand before You now as though I've never sinned.
1. Do you think you are a good person? Yes. I am good compared to many and not as good as some, but overall a good person.
2. What do the commandments say? That I am a lier, thief, and adulterer. If I have broken one I have broken all.
3. Are you guilty or innocent? Based on the 10 commandments, I am guilty and I deserve to go to Hell for all of eternity. Because of my sins, I am not worthy to stand before the perfect risen Lord.
4. Are you going to Heaven or Hell? I am going to Heaven. I have been washed (interesting word scripture uses....dunked, covered, immersed they all work) in the blood of the Holy Lamb Jesus Christ when I accepted him as my Lord and Savior and he died for my sins, past-present-future, when he died on the cross. Because of His sacrifice and the amazing grace He gives to me, I am free.
You know I like to give music as illustrations of what I have posted. Casting Crowns has a great song out right now called East to West. Here are selections...
You can feel this way:
I start the day, the war begins, endless reminding of my sin Time and time again Your truth is drowned out by the storm I'm in Today I feel like I'm just one mistake away from You leaving me this way. But today I feel like I'm just one mistake away from You leaving me this way.
The truth is here:
I know You've cast my sin as far as the east is from the west And I stand before You now as though I've never sinned.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Grace
What is Grace? And how does it relate to The Law? Today a good friend and I went to see The Way of The Master in Plano. If you have not ever seen any of the videos of Ray Comfort or Kirk Cameron doing street ministry, they are great. They are up front and in your face about the truth, but with compassion.
If you look at a building being built and you see the elevator coming down. In the bottom of the elevator shaft there are a couple small children playing in the sand. You don't ignore them thinking "oh they are not my children" or "well they look happy doing what they are doing". No you go and save them from the impeding destruction. That is what THe Way Of The Master is about. THe destruction is Hell. Hell is real. Your goal is to save them.
They focused on the Law. My church (a Bible Church) focuses on grace. Many people have been hurt in the church in their past and this church wants to heal that hurt.
How do the two work together...grace and the law??
TWOTM goes thru 4 steps.
1. do you think you are a good person?
2. What do the commandments say?
3. Are you guilty or innocent?
4. are you going to heven or hell?
Grace says you are "saved by grace thru faith in Jesus Christ". You will sin because you are not perfect and will not be perfect until you die and go to heaven. But even though you sin, your salvation is still intact. You don't have to "prove you are saved" by doing good works. You will do good works because you are saved. Besides....how many good works can you do to prove you are saved and how many 'bad' things can you do to prove you are not saved?
On the other hand, what does grace save us from? We are "saved by grace...". We are saved from Hell. This is thru the death of Jesus Christ. Why did he die? All my sins, past-present-future, he took on as his own and was brutally killed. He was sacrificed. When he died, I was set free.
The problem I have with TWOTM is I am always a sinner, even though I am a born again Christian. BUT, Christ took my guilt away when I accepted him as my Lord and Savior.
Third Day says it right. I am Innocent.
It seemed like I had run out of second chances
And they sentenced me to die
And I was just like a dead man walking
I was running out of time
But you came to me and opened my eyes
You gave me a brand new life
I am innocent and I have been set free
I no longer have chains around my feet
And no matter where I go or what they say
I am innocent
Many years have passed since the day that I met you
But your words are still the same
And every time I find myself with joy or sadness
I am calling out your name'
Cause you came to me and opened my eyes
You gave to me a brand new life
If you look at a building being built and you see the elevator coming down. In the bottom of the elevator shaft there are a couple small children playing in the sand. You don't ignore them thinking "oh they are not my children" or "well they look happy doing what they are doing". No you go and save them from the impeding destruction. That is what THe Way Of The Master is about. THe destruction is Hell. Hell is real. Your goal is to save them.
They focused on the Law. My church (a Bible Church) focuses on grace. Many people have been hurt in the church in their past and this church wants to heal that hurt.
How do the two work together...grace and the law??
TWOTM goes thru 4 steps.
1. do you think you are a good person?
2. What do the commandments say?
3. Are you guilty or innocent?
4. are you going to heven or hell?
Grace says you are "saved by grace thru faith in Jesus Christ". You will sin because you are not perfect and will not be perfect until you die and go to heaven. But even though you sin, your salvation is still intact. You don't have to "prove you are saved" by doing good works. You will do good works because you are saved. Besides....how many good works can you do to prove you are saved and how many 'bad' things can you do to prove you are not saved?
On the other hand, what does grace save us from? We are "saved by grace...". We are saved from Hell. This is thru the death of Jesus Christ. Why did he die? All my sins, past-present-future, he took on as his own and was brutally killed. He was sacrificed. When he died, I was set free.
The problem I have with TWOTM is I am always a sinner, even though I am a born again Christian. BUT, Christ took my guilt away when I accepted him as my Lord and Savior.
Third Day says it right. I am Innocent.
It seemed like I had run out of second chances
And they sentenced me to die
And I was just like a dead man walking
I was running out of time
But you came to me and opened my eyes
You gave me a brand new life
I am innocent and I have been set free
I no longer have chains around my feet
And no matter where I go or what they say
I am innocent
Many years have passed since the day that I met you
But your words are still the same
And every time I find myself with joy or sadness
I am calling out your name'
Cause you came to me and opened my eyes
You gave to me a brand new life
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Actions follow thoughts follow actions follow thoughts sermon Philippians 4:4-
Actions follow thoughts follow actions follow thoughts sermon Philippians 4:4-9
4 Rejoice* in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.* 5Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, beloved,* whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about* these things. 9Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
I’ve been thinking about thought lately. Does that make sense? Have you ever realized how your thought life can affect the rest of your life? It can really affect your spiritual life. Let’s think about it for a minute.
Starting in verse 4, “Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS”. The Greek word for rejoice is chairo which means “to be full of cheer.” All of you should always be full of cheer. What does ‘all’ mean? All means all and that’s all all means. Who is Paul talking to in these verses? He is talking to each of us. He is giving an example of two women from verse 2 (Euodia and Syntyche). The suggestion here is these two women were fighting. Who knows what they were bickering about, but whatever it was, they were not bringing glory to God. Because of their actions (the bickering), God was being removed from their thoughts.
The main breadwinner in the family can have this happen quickly to him. One of the members of my last church was exactly like that. Before I got there, he worked many long hours to support the family he was ignoring. He moved to another job where he was around people who did not have a relationship with God and his thoughts started to suffer. Then he started at a new job where he could excel. He was a people person. He could talk to anybody. But then in his quest to ensure he supported his family, he started back with the long hours. He lost out on time with his family, lost out on time with his church, and his thoughts and actions were focused on work.
Eratic talk can make us lose our focus for God. The tongue can deceive and be sinful. Proverbs 10:19 says “when worlds are many, sin is not absent.” ON the other hand, Psalm 71 says “may my tongue tell of your righteousness.”
In vs. 5 Paul says to “let your gentleness be evident to all.” He is still talking to the women specifically and generally to the entire house church. Be gentle, slow to anger, quick to think. At Schwan’s we have warehouse guys load the trucks overnight. Yesterday the lead came to me complaining about the way my truck looked when I got in the night before. Out of spite, the guys loading it the next day did a poor job.
We as humans do this every day. We take it all personally. Instead of assuming the best of people, we assume the worst, and on top of that, assume it is against us. I had no clue they wanted me to straighten up my truck each night. The loaders could have asked and the miscommunication could have been avoided. But instead of doing that, they automatically assume I don’t care. Can we be gentle and can we give the benefit of the doubt?? I pray we can start to do that more and more.
“Do not be anxious about anything…” Does being anxious (take thought/worry) actually help any? If I worry about a situation will that make the outcome better than if I do not worry about that same situation? Matthew 6:25-34 “Do not worry…Look at the birds of the air. Are you not much more valuable than they? Your heavenly Father knows you need them. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”
So do not worry, but in ALL situations…what does all mean? All means all and that’s all all means. In all situations (not just those that make you anxious) present your requests to God. How do we come to God? With thanksgiving, by prayer and petition. Prayer is the communication between the created (us) and the creator (God). Why do we pray? Because God tells us to in the bible. As pastor Bill Lee tells me, “The point is that we are not so much directing God's activity, but participating in it when we pray according to His will.
John makes that point in 1 John 5:13-15 that if we abide in Him and therefore pray in accordance with His will He will answer our prayers. That is the point Jesus makes in John 14:13&14, asking in Jesus' name implies asking as His representative. So, in these cases we are not moving the hand of God so much as we are aligning with it.”
As we pray, and we pray in the will of God, God acts. With thanksgiving we pray. Psalm 100 says to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. His love endures and his faithfulness continues forever. So, vs 6 could be written as at all times pray and talk to God, and be thankful at all times, that you are able to be in His will, and ask what you want of him. If your will lines up with his and you ask in the name of Jesus, your request will be granted because it is God’s will.
If our thoughts line up with the will of God, then the actions which follow will be good. If our thoughts (which can be prayers in themselves) do not line up with God and His word, our actions will trail off into the rabbit hole after Alice.
Now what do we think about??? Look at vs 7. Whatever is true (not concealing), whatever is right (honest), whatever is pure (innocent, modest, clean), whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable…if there be any virtue and praise in the things you want think about, think about these things.
In vs. 9, Paul gets a little conceited (I think). He says that “whatever you have seen me do or whatever you have learned from me, do that same thing. This is how he wraps it up. Do as I do AND do as I say. He is not saying he is perfect, but he is saying he is following Jesus Christ and his actions model that. Since his actions model the second person of God, his thoughts also will model the thoughts of God. As his thoughts are on God, the God of peace is with him (and with us).
Did the egg or the chicken come first? God came first and made everything perfect. Do actions create thoughts or thoughts create actions? Think only things that are good in God’s eyes and your actions will follow.
4 Rejoice* in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.* 5Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, beloved,* whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about* these things. 9Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
I’ve been thinking about thought lately. Does that make sense? Have you ever realized how your thought life can affect the rest of your life? It can really affect your spiritual life. Let’s think about it for a minute.
Starting in verse 4, “Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS”. The Greek word for rejoice is chairo which means “to be full of cheer.” All of you should always be full of cheer. What does ‘all’ mean? All means all and that’s all all means. Who is Paul talking to in these verses? He is talking to each of us. He is giving an example of two women from verse 2 (Euodia and Syntyche). The suggestion here is these two women were fighting. Who knows what they were bickering about, but whatever it was, they were not bringing glory to God. Because of their actions (the bickering), God was being removed from their thoughts.
The main breadwinner in the family can have this happen quickly to him. One of the members of my last church was exactly like that. Before I got there, he worked many long hours to support the family he was ignoring. He moved to another job where he was around people who did not have a relationship with God and his thoughts started to suffer. Then he started at a new job where he could excel. He was a people person. He could talk to anybody. But then in his quest to ensure he supported his family, he started back with the long hours. He lost out on time with his family, lost out on time with his church, and his thoughts and actions were focused on work.
Eratic talk can make us lose our focus for God. The tongue can deceive and be sinful. Proverbs 10:19 says “when worlds are many, sin is not absent.” ON the other hand, Psalm 71 says “may my tongue tell of your righteousness.”
In vs. 5 Paul says to “let your gentleness be evident to all.” He is still talking to the women specifically and generally to the entire house church. Be gentle, slow to anger, quick to think. At Schwan’s we have warehouse guys load the trucks overnight. Yesterday the lead came to me complaining about the way my truck looked when I got in the night before. Out of spite, the guys loading it the next day did a poor job.
We as humans do this every day. We take it all personally. Instead of assuming the best of people, we assume the worst, and on top of that, assume it is against us. I had no clue they wanted me to straighten up my truck each night. The loaders could have asked and the miscommunication could have been avoided. But instead of doing that, they automatically assume I don’t care. Can we be gentle and can we give the benefit of the doubt?? I pray we can start to do that more and more.
“Do not be anxious about anything…” Does being anxious (take thought/worry) actually help any? If I worry about a situation will that make the outcome better than if I do not worry about that same situation? Matthew 6:25-34 “Do not worry…Look at the birds of the air. Are you not much more valuable than they? Your heavenly Father knows you need them. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”
So do not worry, but in ALL situations…what does all mean? All means all and that’s all all means. In all situations (not just those that make you anxious) present your requests to God. How do we come to God? With thanksgiving, by prayer and petition. Prayer is the communication between the created (us) and the creator (God). Why do we pray? Because God tells us to in the bible. As pastor Bill Lee tells me, “The point is that we are not so much directing God's activity, but participating in it when we pray according to His will.
John makes that point in 1 John 5:13-15 that if we abide in Him and therefore pray in accordance with His will He will answer our prayers. That is the point Jesus makes in John 14:13&14, asking in Jesus' name implies asking as His representative. So, in these cases we are not moving the hand of God so much as we are aligning with it.”
As we pray, and we pray in the will of God, God acts. With thanksgiving we pray. Psalm 100 says to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. His love endures and his faithfulness continues forever. So, vs 6 could be written as at all times pray and talk to God, and be thankful at all times, that you are able to be in His will, and ask what you want of him. If your will lines up with his and you ask in the name of Jesus, your request will be granted because it is God’s will.
If our thoughts line up with the will of God, then the actions which follow will be good. If our thoughts (which can be prayers in themselves) do not line up with God and His word, our actions will trail off into the rabbit hole after Alice.
Now what do we think about??? Look at vs 7. Whatever is true (not concealing), whatever is right (honest), whatever is pure (innocent, modest, clean), whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable…if there be any virtue and praise in the things you want think about, think about these things.
In vs. 9, Paul gets a little conceited (I think). He says that “whatever you have seen me do or whatever you have learned from me, do that same thing. This is how he wraps it up. Do as I do AND do as I say. He is not saying he is perfect, but he is saying he is following Jesus Christ and his actions model that. Since his actions model the second person of God, his thoughts also will model the thoughts of God. As his thoughts are on God, the God of peace is with him (and with us).
Did the egg or the chicken come first? God came first and made everything perfect. Do actions create thoughts or thoughts create actions? Think only things that are good in God’s eyes and your actions will follow.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
American Idol
What is idolotry??
As I hinted at in my last posting, I think idolotry is focusing on anything that takes your attention away from God. Those things I listed from Romans 1 can be odolotry.......
greed-the desire for greater wealth, power, attention. gossip - The desire to know something another person does not know and then have that "power" over them. boastful - making yourself better than others. heartless - God is love; without heart you are without God.
Colossians 3:5 has 5 sins we must put to death....fornication, impurity, lust, coveting, and greed. That is four sexual sins and then greed. Was life int he 1st century focused on sex as much as life in the 21st century. Now we can get any kind of fantasy fulfilled 24hrs a day. In the Left Behind books, one of the last books had a character turning on the TV in the middle of the day. There was graphic sex right there. His comment was interesting..."I guess since all the kids are gone, there is no reason for them to be sensored."
I guess if we ask the question "what's best for our kids?" we are on the right path to get "what is most God-like (and therefore not idolotry)". BUt I think our kids have become scapegoats for politicians (and others) to push thru agendas. "we have to raise taxes to pay for better teachers and schools for our children." "We have to clean up the CO2 (that's the air you exhale) so our kids will have a better future." "more green space and less building for our kids for the future." OK...off the soapbox. The better question would be "what would Jesus do" (or any variation there of). Jesus would want us to teach our kids the best we can and the whole time to focus on the Father who created the heavens and earth. Jesus would want us to take care of the environment (because we are called to have dominion over it), but not to the detriment of God's children whom he loves more than anything else.
Do you notice how each one comes back to God?? You are (God's) light to the world - Matt. 5. I think Jesus talks about everyone at least once in the Beatitudes (I like the way The Message puts some of these....
3"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
4"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
5"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.
6"You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.
7"You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.
8"You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
9"You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.
10"You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.
In vs. 6 he says "you are blessed when you are content with just who you are". MercyMe has a great song called No More, No Less that really hits this on the head.
I'm not trying to hide anything
I wear it on my sleeve
I wear it on my sleeve
I'm not trying to be something I'm not
This is all I've got
This is all I've got
I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel
Just trying to be real
Trying to be real
I'm not trying to say follow me
I'm not the one who leads
I'm not the one who leads
Let me introduce myself to you
This is who I am
No more, no less
I am just a man who understands
Because of You I'm blessed
No more, no less
I'm not trying to prove anything
It's all about the change
It's all about the change
I hope you stare just long enough to see
The heart that's beating here inside of me
Beyond all the things you may think you know
I'm just a kid trying to make it home, that's it
No more, no less
Lord, I want to go home
Nothing more, nothing less
God has a special plan for each of us, but we cannot sit around waiting for it to happen. Your life has a purpose, but your purpose is in God. Are you trying to lead? Are you trying to make it home? Who is your American Idol? Keep your sight on the light of God.
As I hinted at in my last posting, I think idolotry is focusing on anything that takes your attention away from God. Those things I listed from Romans 1 can be odolotry.......
greed-the desire for greater wealth, power, attention. gossip - The desire to know something another person does not know and then have that "power" over them. boastful - making yourself better than others. heartless - God is love; without heart you are without God.
Colossians 3:5 has 5 sins we must put to death....fornication, impurity, lust, coveting, and greed. That is four sexual sins and then greed. Was life int he 1st century focused on sex as much as life in the 21st century. Now we can get any kind of fantasy fulfilled 24hrs a day. In the Left Behind books, one of the last books had a character turning on the TV in the middle of the day. There was graphic sex right there. His comment was interesting..."I guess since all the kids are gone, there is no reason for them to be sensored."
I guess if we ask the question "what's best for our kids?" we are on the right path to get "what is most God-like (and therefore not idolotry)". BUt I think our kids have become scapegoats for politicians (and others) to push thru agendas. "we have to raise taxes to pay for better teachers and schools for our children." "We have to clean up the CO2 (that's the air you exhale) so our kids will have a better future." "more green space and less building for our kids for the future." OK...off the soapbox. The better question would be "what would Jesus do" (or any variation there of). Jesus would want us to teach our kids the best we can and the whole time to focus on the Father who created the heavens and earth. Jesus would want us to take care of the environment (because we are called to have dominion over it), but not to the detriment of God's children whom he loves more than anything else.
Do you notice how each one comes back to God?? You are (God's) light to the world - Matt. 5. I think Jesus talks about everyone at least once in the Beatitudes (I like the way The Message puts some of these....
3"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
4"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
5"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.
6"You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.
7"You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.
8"You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
9"You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.
10"You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.
In vs. 6 he says "you are blessed when you are content with just who you are". MercyMe has a great song called No More, No Less that really hits this on the head.
I'm not trying to hide anything
I wear it on my sleeve
I wear it on my sleeve
I'm not trying to be something I'm not
This is all I've got
This is all I've got
I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel
Just trying to be real
Trying to be real
I'm not trying to say follow me
I'm not the one who leads
I'm not the one who leads
Let me introduce myself to you
This is who I am
No more, no less
I am just a man who understands
Because of You I'm blessed
No more, no less
I'm not trying to prove anything
It's all about the change
It's all about the change
I hope you stare just long enough to see
The heart that's beating here inside of me
Beyond all the things you may think you know
I'm just a kid trying to make it home, that's it
No more, no less
Lord, I want to go home
Nothing more, nothing less
God has a special plan for each of us, but we cannot sit around waiting for it to happen. Your life has a purpose, but your purpose is in God. Are you trying to lead? Are you trying to make it home? Who is your American Idol? Keep your sight on the light of God.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Romans and my new road
I've decided to do a study on Romans. Brandy just walked in and asked if I was writing my sermon. Maybe I am and maybe I'm not. Who knows......
Romans 1-3 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Paul is very systematic in his thought and he makes sure every T is crossed and every i is dotted. In Romans 3:23 he says that "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Jews and Gentiles are alike. No one gets special treatment in the kingdom. The Jews are under the Law but Gentiles are not. But everyone knows about God.
There are 3 ways to know about God.
Romans 1:20 - We can know God by His creation of the world.
Romans 2:14-15 - We can know God by our consciences, our thoughts either condemning us or comending us.
Romans 3:21-22 - We can know God by Jesus Christ, that is, the faith OF Jesus Christ (KJV).
Paul talks about God's wrath in Romans 1. the wrath of God is being revealed against the godless and the wicked. Who are these "godless and wicked" people??
a. vs. 23...they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images makde to look like man and animals. (check out Psalm 106:20, Jeremiah 2:11, Acts 17:29, and the big story in Exodus 32).
Therefore God gave them over to their sinful desires:
b. sexual sin - he spends a lot more time on this one than the others; and it's first. A man lies with a man and woman with a woman.
Vs 28...since they did not bother to know God, God let them do what they wanted, although what they wanted was wrong. They were:
c. wicked
d. evil
e. greedy
f. depravity (badness)
g. envy
h. murderous
i. strife (arguing)
j. deceit
k. malice
l. gossips
m. slanderers (back-biter)
n. insolent
o. God hater
p. arrogant
q.r.s.t.u.v. w. boastful; invent ways of doing evil; disobey their parents; senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
I think if we broke down a. and b. we could have one for every letter of the alphabet. Do any of these look familiar in the people you know? Do you hear arguing, slander, or gossip in your church?
Colossians 3 starting at vs 5 says what you need to do. "put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature...which is idolatry. You must rid yourselves of such things as these." Everything you do that is not God-like is idolatry. You must have no other God (that's in the 10 Commandments). Ephesians 5 says to be "imitators of God and live a life of love just as Christ loved us."
I'll pick this up again in chapter 2 in a couple days. In closing, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...but all are justified by his grace if they accept his grace thru the redeption that is in Jesus Christ. God sent him to be a propitiation (an atoning victim) to declare his righteousness, and thru his blood, the righteousness of all who believe on the faith of Jesus Christ.
Romans 1-3 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Paul is very systematic in his thought and he makes sure every T is crossed and every i is dotted. In Romans 3:23 he says that "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Jews and Gentiles are alike. No one gets special treatment in the kingdom. The Jews are under the Law but Gentiles are not. But everyone knows about God.
There are 3 ways to know about God.
Romans 1:20 - We can know God by His creation of the world.
Romans 2:14-15 - We can know God by our consciences, our thoughts either condemning us or comending us.
Romans 3:21-22 - We can know God by Jesus Christ, that is, the faith OF Jesus Christ (KJV).
Paul talks about God's wrath in Romans 1. the wrath of God is being revealed against the godless and the wicked. Who are these "godless and wicked" people??
a. vs. 23...they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images makde to look like man and animals. (check out Psalm 106:20, Jeremiah 2:11, Acts 17:29, and the big story in Exodus 32).
Therefore God gave them over to their sinful desires:
b. sexual sin - he spends a lot more time on this one than the others; and it's first. A man lies with a man and woman with a woman.
Vs 28...since they did not bother to know God, God let them do what they wanted, although what they wanted was wrong. They were:
c. wicked
d. evil
e. greedy
f. depravity (badness)
g. envy
h. murderous
i. strife (arguing)
j. deceit
k. malice
l. gossips
m. slanderers (back-biter)
n. insolent
o. God hater
p. arrogant
q.r.s.t.u.v. w. boastful; invent ways of doing evil; disobey their parents; senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
I think if we broke down a. and b. we could have one for every letter of the alphabet. Do any of these look familiar in the people you know? Do you hear arguing, slander, or gossip in your church?
Colossians 3 starting at vs 5 says what you need to do. "put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature...which is idolatry. You must rid yourselves of such things as these." Everything you do that is not God-like is idolatry. You must have no other God (that's in the 10 Commandments). Ephesians 5 says to be "imitators of God and live a life of love just as Christ loved us."
I'll pick this up again in chapter 2 in a couple days. In closing, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...but all are justified by his grace if they accept his grace thru the redeption that is in Jesus Christ. God sent him to be a propitiation (an atoning victim) to declare his righteousness, and thru his blood, the righteousness of all who believe on the faith of Jesus Christ.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
May 27th sermon Pentecost
May 27th sermon Pentecost
Acts 2:1-15
Have you ever been moved or had an experience with God? I mean have you ever felt the presence of God in your midst as if he was standing right before you or (as our scripture says today) been filled with the Holy Spirit? If you answered yes, what was it like? Was it the best high you have ever felt or was it the most terrifying experience you have ever been thru? I ask you these questions because I want to know this…….do you have that feeling now?
I mean, this is God’s church, God’s house. And if this is God’s house than He is here in our midst right now, and He has been here every Sunday you have gathered in this church for the past 100 years. It doesn’t matter if Sean is pastor, Rod is pastor, Elmer is pastor, Chip is pastor or anyone else. This is still God’s house and he still rules the roost; if you ask him to be, God is here all the time. If you don’t experience him, that is if you have not felt him around you, maybe you are the one who has moved away from him.
The day of Pentecost came and all the disciples were in one place. A better translation is they were together and were all in agreement. They were all focused on the same thing.
While they were sitting there together, a VIOLENT wind came and shook the whole place. This was not a breeze blowing thru the windows. This was an F5 hurricane wind shaking the entire house as if it would tear the house off the foundation. But they had no time to think about that. Suddenly fire was above them. It breaks up and individually stops above each of them.
The fire descends and surrounds them yet instead of engulfing them in flames, that flicker inside of them becomes the burning flame of the Holy Spirit. As they felt God’s power and spirit fill them, they were overjoyed and called out praises to God. But instead of the words coming out in their native language, they were speaking in languages they had not known before.
A crowd of Jews from many other nations gathered around and heard these Galileans speaking in foreign languages. Some were amazed, but scripture tells us “some made fun of them saying they had too much wine.” Even before the disciples’ ministry started, they were bad mouthed and ridiculed.
Why would they say that? What would possess a group of people to be so mean spirited and hateful to chastise the disciples and discount the truth they preached. But Peter jumped up and defended the rest. All the disciples didn’t need to argue about what was true and what wasn’t. Peter took care of them all.
Here is what he said: These men are not drunk. Just because they don’t look like you but they sound like you, don’t discount the message. They might be young. They might be different. But they are speaking the truth.
Many years ago, God revealed himself to Abraham and told him to leave his country and go to the place God said. And he did. But Abraham did not get the inheritance. God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision and that was how a people were born.
Soon these people became slaves and for hundreds of years Abraham’s descendants were slaves to the nations, but God brought them out of that slavery. God revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush and Moses led the people. For 40 years they walked in the wilderness. While Moses was on Mt. Sinai the Israelites rejected Moses and desired to turn back to Egypt.
They didn’t want spiritual growth. Even though they were dying under the old system, that was what they knew and it was familiar. When given a chance, the people will always reject their leader and return to Egypt. We hate change. We hate new things.
So they turned to Aaron and said “We had a little meeting. Make us a God we can see and touch. We don’t like the way Moses looks or what he wears. And besides, Moses’ ideas sounded kind of crazy and he’s not here.” They rejected God and it went down thru the ages. Then King David wanted to build a grand church for God, but it was Solomon his son who built it. But there is a problem here. God is bigger than any church. He does not live in houses built by man. The prophet Isaiah says “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house can you make for me that is worthy?”
Stephen cuts right to the heart of the issue. He said, “And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, You’re just like your ancestors. Was there ever a preacher that you did not persecute? Your ancestors crucified anyone who talked about the truth. And you’ve kept up the family tradition….traitors and murderers all of you. You had it all spoon fed to you yet you squandered it all.”
Why do we not like the truth? Do you think we would have done better all these years if the message was just watered down so it was easier to swallow? I mean, come on. If we take the bible seriously we have to be different. We have to change. We won’t be like everyone else. We will be counter-cultural. We will have people mock us, yell at us, fight us, lie about us, crucify us. If you’re not being persecuted, you’re not doing what you are supposed to do.
Peter stood up and told the truth. He didn’t have to defend himself. The 12 disciples went and preached just as they were told to do. Because of the truth, because of the message, because of the name of Jesus they were battered and beaten and bruised.
I got an email the other day. It was a hate filled email and I closed it after reading thru about a third of it. It got me to thinking. This person was complaining about how I had said “dog crap” in one of my sermons. It was sad because I didn’t say “dog crap”, but “dog turd”.
The other sad part is how words are taken and how they are heard today in our church and in our society. One lady not too long ago told me a story about how the DS was in our church here and she said “damn” to the DS. Another person came up and said “you can’t say that in church.” Why not? Is it OK to say certain words outside of those doors, but not inside?
Look at Psalm 139 “You know when I sit and when I rise. You know my thoughts from afar. Before a word is on my tongue Lord you know it completely.” I praise God here on Sunday morning when I’m all dressed up, but I also praise God when I get out of the shower completely naked or when I am wearing shorts and T-shirt on the back porch.
Another person was so worried that about an article I wrote about marriage between a man and woman and in the marriage they have sex. Yet, Song of Solomon in the OT gives detailed description of how Solomon and his bride are making love and what her breast and the rest of her body mean to Solomon.
One person wrote in their 8 page letter to the DS that they “don’t think I should preach at Sardis Methodist Church or any other Methodist church.” They got exactly what they wanted. This is my last sermon in a Methodist church. Although I have offers to be ordained in other denominations, I have not heard from God on where he wants me to go.
If you are wondering, there was nothing else. The district completely dropped me because of this church. That was there choice. But I hold to what one preacher prophesied over me just a few weeks ago…”you will soon lead a church many times bigger than this one.”
And so our life goes on. You have a choice to make too. The new pastor comes in a couple weeks. You can tell him the same thing I heard… “we are here to train you.” Or you can seek out God together. If he does act “less than professional” around you, assume he really likes you and is comfortable around you instead of assuming he is doing something wrong. Love him and his wife because they are here to guide you on your journey.
You have a choice. You can fulfill the words in Revelation 3 or you can write your own destiny. Read Revelation 3 when you get home. I pray you will write your own destiny. Everyone stand and we will pray….
Acts 2:1-15
Ac 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
Ac 2:2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Ac 2:3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
Ac 2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Ac 2:5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
Ac 2:6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
Ac 2:7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?
Ac 2:8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?
Ac 2:9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
Ac 2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome
Ac 2:11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
Ac 2:12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Ac 2:13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.’”
Ac 2:14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.
Ac 2:15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!
Acts 2:1-15
Have you ever been moved or had an experience with God? I mean have you ever felt the presence of God in your midst as if he was standing right before you or (as our scripture says today) been filled with the Holy Spirit? If you answered yes, what was it like? Was it the best high you have ever felt or was it the most terrifying experience you have ever been thru? I ask you these questions because I want to know this…….do you have that feeling now?
I mean, this is God’s church, God’s house. And if this is God’s house than He is here in our midst right now, and He has been here every Sunday you have gathered in this church for the past 100 years. It doesn’t matter if Sean is pastor, Rod is pastor, Elmer is pastor, Chip is pastor or anyone else. This is still God’s house and he still rules the roost; if you ask him to be, God is here all the time. If you don’t experience him, that is if you have not felt him around you, maybe you are the one who has moved away from him.
The day of Pentecost came and all the disciples were in one place. A better translation is they were together and were all in agreement. They were all focused on the same thing.
While they were sitting there together, a VIOLENT wind came and shook the whole place. This was not a breeze blowing thru the windows. This was an F5 hurricane wind shaking the entire house as if it would tear the house off the foundation. But they had no time to think about that. Suddenly fire was above them. It breaks up and individually stops above each of them.
The fire descends and surrounds them yet instead of engulfing them in flames, that flicker inside of them becomes the burning flame of the Holy Spirit. As they felt God’s power and spirit fill them, they were overjoyed and called out praises to God. But instead of the words coming out in their native language, they were speaking in languages they had not known before.
A crowd of Jews from many other nations gathered around and heard these Galileans speaking in foreign languages. Some were amazed, but scripture tells us “some made fun of them saying they had too much wine.” Even before the disciples’ ministry started, they were bad mouthed and ridiculed.
Why would they say that? What would possess a group of people to be so mean spirited and hateful to chastise the disciples and discount the truth they preached. But Peter jumped up and defended the rest. All the disciples didn’t need to argue about what was true and what wasn’t. Peter took care of them all.
Here is what he said: These men are not drunk. Just because they don’t look like you but they sound like you, don’t discount the message. They might be young. They might be different. But they are speaking the truth.
Many years ago, God revealed himself to Abraham and told him to leave his country and go to the place God said. And he did. But Abraham did not get the inheritance. God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision and that was how a people were born.
Soon these people became slaves and for hundreds of years Abraham’s descendants were slaves to the nations, but God brought them out of that slavery. God revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush and Moses led the people. For 40 years they walked in the wilderness. While Moses was on Mt. Sinai the Israelites rejected Moses and desired to turn back to Egypt.
They didn’t want spiritual growth. Even though they were dying under the old system, that was what they knew and it was familiar. When given a chance, the people will always reject their leader and return to Egypt. We hate change. We hate new things.
So they turned to Aaron and said “We had a little meeting. Make us a God we can see and touch. We don’t like the way Moses looks or what he wears. And besides, Moses’ ideas sounded kind of crazy and he’s not here.” They rejected God and it went down thru the ages. Then King David wanted to build a grand church for God, but it was Solomon his son who built it. But there is a problem here. God is bigger than any church. He does not live in houses built by man. The prophet Isaiah says “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house can you make for me that is worthy?”
Stephen cuts right to the heart of the issue. He said, “And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, You’re just like your ancestors. Was there ever a preacher that you did not persecute? Your ancestors crucified anyone who talked about the truth. And you’ve kept up the family tradition….traitors and murderers all of you. You had it all spoon fed to you yet you squandered it all.”
Why do we not like the truth? Do you think we would have done better all these years if the message was just watered down so it was easier to swallow? I mean, come on. If we take the bible seriously we have to be different. We have to change. We won’t be like everyone else. We will be counter-cultural. We will have people mock us, yell at us, fight us, lie about us, crucify us. If you’re not being persecuted, you’re not doing what you are supposed to do.
Peter stood up and told the truth. He didn’t have to defend himself. The 12 disciples went and preached just as they were told to do. Because of the truth, because of the message, because of the name of Jesus they were battered and beaten and bruised.
I got an email the other day. It was a hate filled email and I closed it after reading thru about a third of it. It got me to thinking. This person was complaining about how I had said “dog crap” in one of my sermons. It was sad because I didn’t say “dog crap”, but “dog turd”.
The other sad part is how words are taken and how they are heard today in our church and in our society. One lady not too long ago told me a story about how the DS was in our church here and she said “damn” to the DS. Another person came up and said “you can’t say that in church.” Why not? Is it OK to say certain words outside of those doors, but not inside?
Look at Psalm 139 “You know when I sit and when I rise. You know my thoughts from afar. Before a word is on my tongue Lord you know it completely.” I praise God here on Sunday morning when I’m all dressed up, but I also praise God when I get out of the shower completely naked or when I am wearing shorts and T-shirt on the back porch.
Another person was so worried that about an article I wrote about marriage between a man and woman and in the marriage they have sex. Yet, Song of Solomon in the OT gives detailed description of how Solomon and his bride are making love and what her breast and the rest of her body mean to Solomon.
One person wrote in their 8 page letter to the DS that they “don’t think I should preach at Sardis Methodist Church or any other Methodist church.” They got exactly what they wanted. This is my last sermon in a Methodist church. Although I have offers to be ordained in other denominations, I have not heard from God on where he wants me to go.
If you are wondering, there was nothing else. The district completely dropped me because of this church. That was there choice. But I hold to what one preacher prophesied over me just a few weeks ago…”you will soon lead a church many times bigger than this one.”
And so our life goes on. You have a choice to make too. The new pastor comes in a couple weeks. You can tell him the same thing I heard… “we are here to train you.” Or you can seek out God together. If he does act “less than professional” around you, assume he really likes you and is comfortable around you instead of assuming he is doing something wrong. Love him and his wife because they are here to guide you on your journey.
You have a choice. You can fulfill the words in Revelation 3 or you can write your own destiny. Read Revelation 3 when you get home. I pray you will write your own destiny. Everyone stand and we will pray….
Acts 2:1-15
Ac 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
Ac 2:2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Ac 2:3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
Ac 2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Ac 2:5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
Ac 2:6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
Ac 2:7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?
Ac 2:8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?
Ac 2:9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
Ac 2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome
Ac 2:11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
Ac 2:12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Ac 2:13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.’”
Ac 2:14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.
Ac 2:15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!
Saturday, May 19, 2007
May 20 2007 sermon - Freedom Acts 16:16-40
May 20 Sermon Freedom
Acts 16: 16-40
You hear this story about Paul and Silas and it has to make you wonder some times. There is a little girl walking behind them yelling out the truth. Why in the world would Paul want to shut her up? Well with a cursory reading, you would think the obvious. This little kid is bugging the heck out of him and he wants her to stop.
That could very well be true. Even though she is telling the truth about the two men, she could just be annoying them so much, Paul wants it to stop. Another option is that maybe they did not want all the attention brought on them immediately. Christianity is a great faith to pass on one-on-one. Stadium conversions do happen and Billy Graham is one of the greatest evangelists of our time.
A great illustration of this is the movie Pay It Forward. Young Trevor McKinney is caught up by an intriguing assignment from his new social studies teacher. The assignment: Think up something to change the world and put it into action. Trevor conjures up the notion of paying a favor not back, but forward…repaying good deeds not with payback, but with new good deeds done to three other people.
Trevor’s effort to make good on his idea brings a revolution not only in the lives of himself, his mother and his teacher, but in the ever widening circle of people completely unknown to him.
One person affecting 3 other people who each affect 3 other people, so on and so forth. Let me ask you a question. How many people have you shared your faith with in the last 6 months? 1 Peter 3:15 says to “Always be ready to give a reason for the hope that lies within you, and do it with gentleness and respect.” If you said (in your heart) zero, do you really have the hope within you that Peter is talking about?
But let’s look at it another way. There are approximately 300,000 churches in America. Now let’s say that every one of these churches took Jesus serious when he said “Go and make disciples”. This isn’t a “maybe people from other churches will start coming to our church” or “yeah, we send out post card invitations to our church every year.”
It’s a “This person is an unbeliever and they come to believe the truth because we share it with them.” Each one of these 300,000 churches reaches just 3 people in 2007. Holy Cow. The Holy Spirit just moved 900,000 people to join the kingdom of God. Since the average church in America has 100 people in it, it’s like adding 9000 churches to America.
85% of the people in America say they are Christian. But let’s be honest. There are many people in that 85% that have never had a transforming experience for Christ; just like there are people in this church today that have never had a transforming experience. Our total population is 300 million. Let’s say 60% are real Christians.
Each of those new converts shared their faith with 3 people. The church still does what it’s supposed to do, making 3 other disciples. Do you see what an awesome impact the church and the transformed Christians could make in America by sharing their faith??
Back to Paul and the slave girl. Paul was not looking for some cultural catch-phrases that, while true, did not convey the gospel in a way it would be heard by (as Jesus said) “people who had ears to hear”. This girl was yelling out “these men are servants of the Most High God. They are showing the way of salvation.”
The statement was true, but it was disruptive. There was no message. There was no depth. It was a catch phrase. “God is Good. All the Time. All the Time. God is Good.” Having the sign out front of our church that says “Sardis United Methodist Church” tells everyone around that we are a congregation meeting to worship the one and only Triune God based on Christian scriptures and beliefs.
The building/the sign/the cross outside are not the message. It’s the surface. It can be a distraction or it can be a help.
The slave girl was a distraction. Paul’s discourses were well thought out and flowed where everyone who heard could understand, but this girl made that a problem. To free her, Paul went up to the girl and said “In the name of Jesus Christ, come out of the girl.” And the demon did.
Did you hear the 6 most important words known to humans and angels. IN-THE-NAME-OF-JESUS-CHRIST. We flippantly throw these words around without thinking about them. We add them to the end of our prayers thinking “well in scripture it says to pray in the name of Jesus so if I say that at the end of my prayers then I know God will act on them.”
Or we add it to the end of letters and other correspondence. It doesn’t matter if the letters have no reference to God or even if the letters go against everything God would want, we still add those 6 words in our desire to speak the “Christianeze” and sound like some one else we want to emulate. These 6 words are the most powerful words we can ever use.
In our scripture today, these words call a demon out of a girl and free her from that burden. Unfortunately, not everyone wants to see freedom. Not everyone desires the light. Those in the darkness like the darkness. It’s comfortable there. There is no truth, but there is no responsibility either. Ignorance is bliss and those in the darkness are some of the most ignorant people you will ever meet.
Verse 19 - “But when the slave girl’s masters saw their hope of profit gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.” The darkness loves money doesn’t it? It’s not “Praise God our slave girl is free from the torture she has endured for so many years.” What is more important?? Money or freedom? Slavery or salvation? Status Quo or Transformation? Death or life thru Jesus Christ?
PAUSE
Paul and Silas are thrown into jail where the hardened criminals are kept and locked up real tight. Then they do what anyone would do when locked up like this…they sing hymns. OK…maybe that’s not a normal thing to do. But when things look bleak and its dark all around and you’re shackled to a stank dungeon of hopelessness, you must go back to what you know.
Prisoners of War would sing hymns and say the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s Prayer to keep them going and keep them sane when all else looked bad. Paul and Silas praised God that they were able to be an example to those around them even in this dank dark prison. They were more interested in pleasing God than pleasing men, and God gave them great boldness and confidence even in that awful place.
Paul actually remarks about this same experience in 1 Thessalonians 2. He says:
“You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News boldly, in spite of great opposition. So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery. For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.”
Imagine the impact of these things Paul and Silas said on the jailer and other inmates. It was a far cry from the oaths, threats, and curses usually heard in these places. The message had its effect on the listeners…… it always does. The kind of effect depends on each individual heart, but it is always there.
Marilyn Oden tells in her book Abundance about a prison in the Czech Republic. She says that “Though hardened criminals are sent there, the prison does not harden them further. They are treated with respect, many for the first time in their lives. As we entered, I noticed that neither the guards nor the warden wore guns. There were no “prison” haircuts, uniforms or cells.
They lived in unlocked dorm style rooms that opened onto a large locked hall where they were free to socialize. Capital punishment is illegal in the Czech Republic and the warden took Marilyn and her husband into the murderer’s section. The 3 mingled with murderers. The only guard, unarmed, was at the entrance. It was amazing that she did not feel afraid. These men respected the warden and engaged in easy conversation with him.” Through the Christian warden and some Czech United Methodists, these men experienced the healing presence of God’s love.
Have you been a healing presence to anyone this week? Each day offers us an opportunity to journey in compassion with our sisters and brothers and, through God’s grace, to be windows thru which others can see God’s love. When we experience God’s transforming love and our lives reflect it, we see with our souls.
PAUSE
It was midnight, and an earthquake shook the jail, and all the cells opened and chains fell off. When the jailer woke up and saw what happened, he did what was expected of him. He had failed his job and in this heathen society he was expected to do the ‘honorable’ thing and take his own life.
The tables turned. Paul and Silas were freed and the jailer was under the law, even if it was ignorant law. Paul stopped him from killing himself. And the jailer knowing this could only be by the power of God, fell at the feet of Paul and said what any one of us would say “What must I do to be saved?”
That is a proper question to ask. There is something we must do to be saved. The Word of God tells us what to do. The jailer needed to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s more than knowledge about Jesus. A lot of smart people (and those who think they are smart) get it wrong. Even the devil knows Jesus is the Son of God – the 2nd person of the trinity – God himself.
To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ means to give your entire life over to Jesus as your Lord and Savior. It means total submission and obedience. Transformation has to happen. Turning from your old crabby pain in the butt self and being transformed into what God wants you to become. God loves you just the way you are, but he loves you too much to leave you that way. PAUSE
Who do you identify with in this scripture today? The slave girl and Paul and Silas are in chains. The slave’s master and the jailer hold the keys and are free. But is this really the truth, or is it just a front? Thanks to Paul and the power of the name of Jesus, the slave girl becomes free. Yet she is not free in society. She is a piece of property. And instead of her “free” owners rejoicing in her healing, they desire to lock up the apostles.
When Paul and Silas are beaten and bloody and locked up in a dark cell, they are strangely free to sing. But the jailer is not free. When the chains come off, he decides suicide will be the best way to die if his prisoners have escaped. Having a key to someone else’s cell does not make you free. By the end of the story, everyone who appeared to be free, the slave master and jailer, is a slave. And everyone who first appeared to be enslaved, the girl, Paul and Silas, is free.
Those who are free, live for the truth. Those who are in slavery (and maybe don’t know it) live for the lie. Are you in bondage right now? Do you go thru your day and sometimes saying “This is wrong. What I am doing is wrong. What we are doing is wrong”? The transformation Christ calls us into is counter-cultural. It’s not normal, in the worldly sense of the word.
Would an outsider walking into a group of people be able to pick you out of the crowd as a Christian? Has the transformation happened in your life? Are you counter-cultural or do you look and act like everyone else in society yet go to church on Sunday morning?? Are you free?
If true freedom and transformation has occurred in your life, YOU ARE DIFFERENT. Otherwise, you are a slave? “Well I’m not a slave to anyone pastor.” If you’re not free (and therefore a slave to God), then you are a slave to this world and all the seduction it has on you……and you have no part in the Kingdom of God.
If you desire to be free….that is, if like the jailer you see the state your in and want to yell out “How can I be saved”, you can today. If you recognize your bondage and slavery and want to be free and you want to be transformed, come up to the alter rail during our last hymn. No I didn’t bring my baptism water gun, but even if you have been baptized before, transformation and freedom can still come today.
Everyone stand up and we will sing this last hymn.
Acts 16:16-40
One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, ‘These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.’ She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour.
But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, ‘These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.’ The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, ‘Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.’ The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They answered, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.
When morning came, the magistrates sent the police, saying, ‘Let those men go.’ And the jailer reported the message to Paul, saying, ‘The magistrates sent word to let you go; therefore come out now and go in peace.’ But Paul replied, ‘They have beaten us in public, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they going to discharge us in secret? Certainly not! Let them come and take us out themselves.’ The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens; so they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. After leaving the prison they went to Lydia’s home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.
Acts 16: 16-40
You hear this story about Paul and Silas and it has to make you wonder some times. There is a little girl walking behind them yelling out the truth. Why in the world would Paul want to shut her up? Well with a cursory reading, you would think the obvious. This little kid is bugging the heck out of him and he wants her to stop.
That could very well be true. Even though she is telling the truth about the two men, she could just be annoying them so much, Paul wants it to stop. Another option is that maybe they did not want all the attention brought on them immediately. Christianity is a great faith to pass on one-on-one. Stadium conversions do happen and Billy Graham is one of the greatest evangelists of our time.
A great illustration of this is the movie Pay It Forward. Young Trevor McKinney is caught up by an intriguing assignment from his new social studies teacher. The assignment: Think up something to change the world and put it into action. Trevor conjures up the notion of paying a favor not back, but forward…repaying good deeds not with payback, but with new good deeds done to three other people.
Trevor’s effort to make good on his idea brings a revolution not only in the lives of himself, his mother and his teacher, but in the ever widening circle of people completely unknown to him.
One person affecting 3 other people who each affect 3 other people, so on and so forth. Let me ask you a question. How many people have you shared your faith with in the last 6 months? 1 Peter 3:15 says to “Always be ready to give a reason for the hope that lies within you, and do it with gentleness and respect.” If you said (in your heart) zero, do you really have the hope within you that Peter is talking about?
But let’s look at it another way. There are approximately 300,000 churches in America. Now let’s say that every one of these churches took Jesus serious when he said “Go and make disciples”. This isn’t a “maybe people from other churches will start coming to our church” or “yeah, we send out post card invitations to our church every year.”
It’s a “This person is an unbeliever and they come to believe the truth because we share it with them.” Each one of these 300,000 churches reaches just 3 people in 2007. Holy Cow. The Holy Spirit just moved 900,000 people to join the kingdom of God. Since the average church in America has 100 people in it, it’s like adding 9000 churches to America.
85% of the people in America say they are Christian. But let’s be honest. There are many people in that 85% that have never had a transforming experience for Christ; just like there are people in this church today that have never had a transforming experience. Our total population is 300 million. Let’s say 60% are real Christians.
Each of those new converts shared their faith with 3 people. The church still does what it’s supposed to do, making 3 other disciples. Do you see what an awesome impact the church and the transformed Christians could make in America by sharing their faith??
Back to Paul and the slave girl. Paul was not looking for some cultural catch-phrases that, while true, did not convey the gospel in a way it would be heard by (as Jesus said) “people who had ears to hear”. This girl was yelling out “these men are servants of the Most High God. They are showing the way of salvation.”
The statement was true, but it was disruptive. There was no message. There was no depth. It was a catch phrase. “God is Good. All the Time. All the Time. God is Good.” Having the sign out front of our church that says “Sardis United Methodist Church” tells everyone around that we are a congregation meeting to worship the one and only Triune God based on Christian scriptures and beliefs.
The building/the sign/the cross outside are not the message. It’s the surface. It can be a distraction or it can be a help.
The slave girl was a distraction. Paul’s discourses were well thought out and flowed where everyone who heard could understand, but this girl made that a problem. To free her, Paul went up to the girl and said “In the name of Jesus Christ, come out of the girl.” And the demon did.
Did you hear the 6 most important words known to humans and angels. IN-THE-NAME-OF-JESUS-CHRIST. We flippantly throw these words around without thinking about them. We add them to the end of our prayers thinking “well in scripture it says to pray in the name of Jesus so if I say that at the end of my prayers then I know God will act on them.”
Or we add it to the end of letters and other correspondence. It doesn’t matter if the letters have no reference to God or even if the letters go against everything God would want, we still add those 6 words in our desire to speak the “Christianeze” and sound like some one else we want to emulate. These 6 words are the most powerful words we can ever use.
In our scripture today, these words call a demon out of a girl and free her from that burden. Unfortunately, not everyone wants to see freedom. Not everyone desires the light. Those in the darkness like the darkness. It’s comfortable there. There is no truth, but there is no responsibility either. Ignorance is bliss and those in the darkness are some of the most ignorant people you will ever meet.
Verse 19 - “But when the slave girl’s masters saw their hope of profit gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.” The darkness loves money doesn’t it? It’s not “Praise God our slave girl is free from the torture she has endured for so many years.” What is more important?? Money or freedom? Slavery or salvation? Status Quo or Transformation? Death or life thru Jesus Christ?
PAUSE
Paul and Silas are thrown into jail where the hardened criminals are kept and locked up real tight. Then they do what anyone would do when locked up like this…they sing hymns. OK…maybe that’s not a normal thing to do. But when things look bleak and its dark all around and you’re shackled to a stank dungeon of hopelessness, you must go back to what you know.
Prisoners of War would sing hymns and say the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s Prayer to keep them going and keep them sane when all else looked bad. Paul and Silas praised God that they were able to be an example to those around them even in this dank dark prison. They were more interested in pleasing God than pleasing men, and God gave them great boldness and confidence even in that awful place.
Paul actually remarks about this same experience in 1 Thessalonians 2. He says:
“You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News boldly, in spite of great opposition. So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery. For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.”
Imagine the impact of these things Paul and Silas said on the jailer and other inmates. It was a far cry from the oaths, threats, and curses usually heard in these places. The message had its effect on the listeners…… it always does. The kind of effect depends on each individual heart, but it is always there.
Marilyn Oden tells in her book Abundance about a prison in the Czech Republic. She says that “Though hardened criminals are sent there, the prison does not harden them further. They are treated with respect, many for the first time in their lives. As we entered, I noticed that neither the guards nor the warden wore guns. There were no “prison” haircuts, uniforms or cells.
They lived in unlocked dorm style rooms that opened onto a large locked hall where they were free to socialize. Capital punishment is illegal in the Czech Republic and the warden took Marilyn and her husband into the murderer’s section. The 3 mingled with murderers. The only guard, unarmed, was at the entrance. It was amazing that she did not feel afraid. These men respected the warden and engaged in easy conversation with him.” Through the Christian warden and some Czech United Methodists, these men experienced the healing presence of God’s love.
Have you been a healing presence to anyone this week? Each day offers us an opportunity to journey in compassion with our sisters and brothers and, through God’s grace, to be windows thru which others can see God’s love. When we experience God’s transforming love and our lives reflect it, we see with our souls.
PAUSE
It was midnight, and an earthquake shook the jail, and all the cells opened and chains fell off. When the jailer woke up and saw what happened, he did what was expected of him. He had failed his job and in this heathen society he was expected to do the ‘honorable’ thing and take his own life.
The tables turned. Paul and Silas were freed and the jailer was under the law, even if it was ignorant law. Paul stopped him from killing himself. And the jailer knowing this could only be by the power of God, fell at the feet of Paul and said what any one of us would say “What must I do to be saved?”
That is a proper question to ask. There is something we must do to be saved. The Word of God tells us what to do. The jailer needed to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s more than knowledge about Jesus. A lot of smart people (and those who think they are smart) get it wrong. Even the devil knows Jesus is the Son of God – the 2nd person of the trinity – God himself.
To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ means to give your entire life over to Jesus as your Lord and Savior. It means total submission and obedience. Transformation has to happen. Turning from your old crabby pain in the butt self and being transformed into what God wants you to become. God loves you just the way you are, but he loves you too much to leave you that way. PAUSE
Who do you identify with in this scripture today? The slave girl and Paul and Silas are in chains. The slave’s master and the jailer hold the keys and are free. But is this really the truth, or is it just a front? Thanks to Paul and the power of the name of Jesus, the slave girl becomes free. Yet she is not free in society. She is a piece of property. And instead of her “free” owners rejoicing in her healing, they desire to lock up the apostles.
When Paul and Silas are beaten and bloody and locked up in a dark cell, they are strangely free to sing. But the jailer is not free. When the chains come off, he decides suicide will be the best way to die if his prisoners have escaped. Having a key to someone else’s cell does not make you free. By the end of the story, everyone who appeared to be free, the slave master and jailer, is a slave. And everyone who first appeared to be enslaved, the girl, Paul and Silas, is free.
Those who are free, live for the truth. Those who are in slavery (and maybe don’t know it) live for the lie. Are you in bondage right now? Do you go thru your day and sometimes saying “This is wrong. What I am doing is wrong. What we are doing is wrong”? The transformation Christ calls us into is counter-cultural. It’s not normal, in the worldly sense of the word.
Would an outsider walking into a group of people be able to pick you out of the crowd as a Christian? Has the transformation happened in your life? Are you counter-cultural or do you look and act like everyone else in society yet go to church on Sunday morning?? Are you free?
If true freedom and transformation has occurred in your life, YOU ARE DIFFERENT. Otherwise, you are a slave? “Well I’m not a slave to anyone pastor.” If you’re not free (and therefore a slave to God), then you are a slave to this world and all the seduction it has on you……and you have no part in the Kingdom of God.
If you desire to be free….that is, if like the jailer you see the state your in and want to yell out “How can I be saved”, you can today. If you recognize your bondage and slavery and want to be free and you want to be transformed, come up to the alter rail during our last hymn. No I didn’t bring my baptism water gun, but even if you have been baptized before, transformation and freedom can still come today.
Everyone stand up and we will sing this last hymn.
Acts 16:16-40
One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, ‘These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.’ She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour.
But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, ‘These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.’ The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, ‘Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.’ The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They answered, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.
When morning came, the magistrates sent the police, saying, ‘Let those men go.’ And the jailer reported the message to Paul, saying, ‘The magistrates sent word to let you go; therefore come out now and go in peace.’ But Paul replied, ‘They have beaten us in public, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they going to discharge us in secret? Certainly not! Let them come and take us out themselves.’ The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens; so they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. After leaving the prison they went to Lydia’s home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Forgiveness According to Jesus
Keith Giles has a great article on his blog about forgiveness. Here is an excerpt and a link to the article.......
FORGIVENESS ACCORDING TO JESUS by Keith Giles One of the things I love most about Jesus is that he rarely says things that we expect him to say. He is more dangerous, more scandalous, more radical than our Sunday School teachers would have us believe. He speaks with such authority and a shocking sense of raw audacity that sometimes we are tempted to water down his words at times. Thankfully the writers of the Gospel felt no such need to pull any punches when it came to quoting our Lord. In Matthew, right off the bat, Jesus gets things started with a teaching on forgiveness that seems overly harsh to our ears. He says, "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." - JESUS (Matthew 6:14-15) I don't know about you.....More here
FORGIVENESS ACCORDING TO JESUS by Keith Giles One of the things I love most about Jesus is that he rarely says things that we expect him to say. He is more dangerous, more scandalous, more radical than our Sunday School teachers would have us believe. He speaks with such authority and a shocking sense of raw audacity that sometimes we are tempted to water down his words at times. Thankfully the writers of the Gospel felt no such need to pull any punches when it came to quoting our Lord. In Matthew, right off the bat, Jesus gets things started with a teaching on forgiveness that seems overly harsh to our ears. He says, "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." - JESUS (Matthew 6:14-15) I don't know about you.....More here
Sunday, May 13, 2007
May 13th sermon Prevenient Grace Acts 16:9-15
Acts 16: 9-15
Title: grace
May 13, 2007
I grew up in the small town of Sonora Texas, population 3000. My mom took me to a typical Methodist Church and when I was in Jr. High, I started in the Youth Group. It seemed like the right thing to do, being at church an extra time each week, and the popular kids were doing it, so I went.
A year later I was baptized at the same time as 5 other kids. It seemed like the popular thing to do so I did it. I couldn’t tell you what we did in youth group. I think I got some blessings from God by osmosis. You know, I was in church more than just on Sunday. I did all the right stuff. I was a good kid.
Then I got into High School and church was an after thought. I graduated and went to college. I thought about going to church sometimes, but after a Saturday of partying (or just sleeping late on Sunday morning), I had no interest in it.
Anyway, I saw the kids who were part of the Student Fellowship at my small college and didn’t think they were really holding up a good example of what a Christian was. Later I got married and had a baby (well not me but my wife), and we bought a house.
All this time, something was tugging at me. In the back of my mind I could hear a small voice saying “Sean, your journey needs to take you to Jesus. Look for him.”
Today I am talking about grace.
The root meaning of the word “grace” is gift. Christ Jesus, who is God, offers us a gift. It’s the gift of a relationship with him. It’s not any normal relationship, but one that includes salvation, reconciliation, and eternal life.
This grace, this gift from God, has many facets. John Wesley describes grace as prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying. Each of these relate to a particular time in our spiritual journey. The term prevenient means “to come before”.
For a Christian, it is the grace that comes before we make any decision for God. This is the grace that is at work before we are even aware of it. It is the love of God wooing us. It is the will of God drawing us. Maybe my mom taking me to church and praying with me was a form of prevenient grace.
Prevenient grace is present with us from the very beginning. It is at work in us from conception until the moment we accept the relationship God offers us through Christ. In the bible, God says “I knew you before you were born. I even knew you before you were conceived.”
PAUSE
Now, picture in your mind a big block of black ice. You know what black ice is right. When it rains in the winter time, the water on the road mixed with a little oil and other nasty stuff and freezes. It looks like the regular road, but is actually ice.
Picture a big block of ice as completely black. You can’t see thru it at all. This ice is so hard and so cold it doesn’t melt. That is your life, and my life, and the life of everyone we know and don’t know. But God’s grace is at work. It’s a big ice pick. And it starts chipping away at the cold blackness in our lives. Each time God’s prevenient grace nudges us, another chip of ice comes off.
For all of us, the sizes of the chips are different. For Bob the chips might be small. For Billy they might be huge. But God’s grace is working every day to break thru that wall of ice around our soul.
PAUSE
In the beginning, God created the universe, the world, and everything in it and saw that it was good. God created humans in his own image and likeness. The relationship between humans and God was deep and meaningful. When he created us, God gave us some of his attributes. He gave us love, so each of us has the capacity to love and be loved.
He gave us a spirit, and it’s that spirit that makes us who we are. You could say we are ‘hard wired for God’ from the beginning.
Because we were created in the image and likeness of God, all of us long for a deeper and better relationship with Him. It’s that relationship some of us had with our mothers. The theologian Augustine said “Our hearts will not find rest until they find rest in Thee O God.” The good news is we are made in the image of God. The bad news is……human sin.
Adam and Eve made wrong choices that got them kicked out of the Garden, yet God still provided for them. Each of us has made wrong choices in our past that separates us from God and diminishes our spiritual lives. That is the black ice surrounding our soul. Yet God provides for us. God’s love and grace are greater than all our wrong choices.
The good news is God desires a relationship with us even more than we desire to have a relationship with Him. The relationship is that of covenant love. In the OT, the prophets continually called the Hebrew people back to a genuine relationship of love and obedience to God. They proclaimed God’s promise to make a new covenant with the people. And no matter how many times they turned away, God always called them back.
Jesus offers us a new covenant and a new relationship with God. It’s a relationship of love and grace. The love is that of divine love coming straight from the heart of God, a seeking love (that searches for us at all times), and an everlasting love that will never ever diminish. It is a gift (that grace we talked about earlier), a gift, that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God takes the initiative to seek us out. It’s not up to us to seek God (and in actuality, without his grace and him seeking us first, we would never find him). This prevenient grace helps us to overcome our brokenness and alienation from God.
You wonder now…how do we experience God’s prevenient grace?
That grace had been chipping at the black ice around my soul for years, and even after Brandy and I got married. And then I went on a spiritual retreat in Boerne, TX, called the Walk to Emmaus. Every chance I got, or better yet every chance He got, God sent me out into the “wilderness” outside the building to pray. Just like the Israelites in the OT, I was in a spiritual desert, searching for some nourishment, but not finding any.
I was not sure what I was praying for, what I was looking for, or exactly what God wanted from me, but I still prayed. And then on Sunday morning, God’s grace broke thru that black ice and his light was shining into my soul, blowing on that flicker of a flame to build it into a roaring fire.
I didn’t know what had gotten a hold of me. Instead of just believing, I accepted. No, I KNEW the truth, the truth of Jesus Christ and transformation. That roaring fire got so hot so fast, the black ice exploded and I was finally free from its grip.
Christianity…my life with Christ at the helm, was now a reality. It was only thru the Holy Spirit chipping away at the ice on my soul that I finally got free.
PAUSE
The Holy Spirit can speak to us in many ways throughout our lives. Looking back over that time before Grace broke thru, I can see events happening and people around me that God was using to touch my life. For example: God used my mom to guide me thru the waters of life.
The Holy Spirit can speak to our minds and hearts thru the struggles, frustrations, difficulties, and pain… of unemployment, divorce, tension in your house or church, or the loss of a loved one.
We can experience God’s grace thru the care and sacrifice of others who embody God’s love toward us, such as parents, relatives and friends.
Our church can help us to experience God’s grace and presence thru family worship, prayer, communion, and small groups. The Holy Spirit can awaken our conscience and convince us we can never reform ourselves or earn a place in God’s family without his grace and love in our lives. And God can work thru OUR words, attitudes, and actions to help others open their hearts and lives to the prevenient grace of God.
The critical question for you today is will you open your heart to God and accept the relationship God offers you in Jesus Christ?? Don’t wait another minute and miss the opportunity of a lifetime.
Acts 16:9-15
During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.
We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.
Title: grace
May 13, 2007
I grew up in the small town of Sonora Texas, population 3000. My mom took me to a typical Methodist Church and when I was in Jr. High, I started in the Youth Group. It seemed like the right thing to do, being at church an extra time each week, and the popular kids were doing it, so I went.
A year later I was baptized at the same time as 5 other kids. It seemed like the popular thing to do so I did it. I couldn’t tell you what we did in youth group. I think I got some blessings from God by osmosis. You know, I was in church more than just on Sunday. I did all the right stuff. I was a good kid.
Then I got into High School and church was an after thought. I graduated and went to college. I thought about going to church sometimes, but after a Saturday of partying (or just sleeping late on Sunday morning), I had no interest in it.
Anyway, I saw the kids who were part of the Student Fellowship at my small college and didn’t think they were really holding up a good example of what a Christian was. Later I got married and had a baby (well not me but my wife), and we bought a house.
All this time, something was tugging at me. In the back of my mind I could hear a small voice saying “Sean, your journey needs to take you to Jesus. Look for him.”
Today I am talking about grace.
The root meaning of the word “grace” is gift. Christ Jesus, who is God, offers us a gift. It’s the gift of a relationship with him. It’s not any normal relationship, but one that includes salvation, reconciliation, and eternal life.
This grace, this gift from God, has many facets. John Wesley describes grace as prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying. Each of these relate to a particular time in our spiritual journey. The term prevenient means “to come before”.
For a Christian, it is the grace that comes before we make any decision for God. This is the grace that is at work before we are even aware of it. It is the love of God wooing us. It is the will of God drawing us. Maybe my mom taking me to church and praying with me was a form of prevenient grace.
Prevenient grace is present with us from the very beginning. It is at work in us from conception until the moment we accept the relationship God offers us through Christ. In the bible, God says “I knew you before you were born. I even knew you before you were conceived.”
PAUSE
Now, picture in your mind a big block of black ice. You know what black ice is right. When it rains in the winter time, the water on the road mixed with a little oil and other nasty stuff and freezes. It looks like the regular road, but is actually ice.
Picture a big block of ice as completely black. You can’t see thru it at all. This ice is so hard and so cold it doesn’t melt. That is your life, and my life, and the life of everyone we know and don’t know. But God’s grace is at work. It’s a big ice pick. And it starts chipping away at the cold blackness in our lives. Each time God’s prevenient grace nudges us, another chip of ice comes off.
For all of us, the sizes of the chips are different. For Bob the chips might be small. For Billy they might be huge. But God’s grace is working every day to break thru that wall of ice around our soul.
PAUSE
In the beginning, God created the universe, the world, and everything in it and saw that it was good. God created humans in his own image and likeness. The relationship between humans and God was deep and meaningful. When he created us, God gave us some of his attributes. He gave us love, so each of us has the capacity to love and be loved.
He gave us a spirit, and it’s that spirit that makes us who we are. You could say we are ‘hard wired for God’ from the beginning.
Because we were created in the image and likeness of God, all of us long for a deeper and better relationship with Him. It’s that relationship some of us had with our mothers. The theologian Augustine said “Our hearts will not find rest until they find rest in Thee O God.” The good news is we are made in the image of God. The bad news is……human sin.
Adam and Eve made wrong choices that got them kicked out of the Garden, yet God still provided for them. Each of us has made wrong choices in our past that separates us from God and diminishes our spiritual lives. That is the black ice surrounding our soul. Yet God provides for us. God’s love and grace are greater than all our wrong choices.
The good news is God desires a relationship with us even more than we desire to have a relationship with Him. The relationship is that of covenant love. In the OT, the prophets continually called the Hebrew people back to a genuine relationship of love and obedience to God. They proclaimed God’s promise to make a new covenant with the people. And no matter how many times they turned away, God always called them back.
Jesus offers us a new covenant and a new relationship with God. It’s a relationship of love and grace. The love is that of divine love coming straight from the heart of God, a seeking love (that searches for us at all times), and an everlasting love that will never ever diminish. It is a gift (that grace we talked about earlier), a gift, that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God takes the initiative to seek us out. It’s not up to us to seek God (and in actuality, without his grace and him seeking us first, we would never find him). This prevenient grace helps us to overcome our brokenness and alienation from God.
You wonder now…how do we experience God’s prevenient grace?
That grace had been chipping at the black ice around my soul for years, and even after Brandy and I got married. And then I went on a spiritual retreat in Boerne, TX, called the Walk to Emmaus. Every chance I got, or better yet every chance He got, God sent me out into the “wilderness” outside the building to pray. Just like the Israelites in the OT, I was in a spiritual desert, searching for some nourishment, but not finding any.
I was not sure what I was praying for, what I was looking for, or exactly what God wanted from me, but I still prayed. And then on Sunday morning, God’s grace broke thru that black ice and his light was shining into my soul, blowing on that flicker of a flame to build it into a roaring fire.
I didn’t know what had gotten a hold of me. Instead of just believing, I accepted. No, I KNEW the truth, the truth of Jesus Christ and transformation. That roaring fire got so hot so fast, the black ice exploded and I was finally free from its grip.
Christianity…my life with Christ at the helm, was now a reality. It was only thru the Holy Spirit chipping away at the ice on my soul that I finally got free.
PAUSE
The Holy Spirit can speak to us in many ways throughout our lives. Looking back over that time before Grace broke thru, I can see events happening and people around me that God was using to touch my life. For example: God used my mom to guide me thru the waters of life.
The Holy Spirit can speak to our minds and hearts thru the struggles, frustrations, difficulties, and pain… of unemployment, divorce, tension in your house or church, or the loss of a loved one.
We can experience God’s grace thru the care and sacrifice of others who embody God’s love toward us, such as parents, relatives and friends.
Our church can help us to experience God’s grace and presence thru family worship, prayer, communion, and small groups. The Holy Spirit can awaken our conscience and convince us we can never reform ourselves or earn a place in God’s family without his grace and love in our lives. And God can work thru OUR words, attitudes, and actions to help others open their hearts and lives to the prevenient grace of God.
The critical question for you today is will you open your heart to God and accept the relationship God offers you in Jesus Christ?? Don’t wait another minute and miss the opportunity of a lifetime.
Acts 16:9-15
During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.
We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
April 22 sermon The Problem with Evil
April 22 sermon The problem with evil
Psalm 23
Revelation 21:1-8
32 people shot dead at Virginia Tech last week. A teenager in
In a world where the economy has been so strong for so long that it’s calling into question the very idea of any type of economic cycles;
In a world where we have more ways to distract ourselves (Ipods, internet, TV, PlayStations);
In a world where we get up at 5am, get to work (usually doing the same thing we did last week), get home and pull out our home-work, wondering what’s for dinner when you realize little Tommy had a baseball game tonight. You throw on your casual “let’s go out to the ball game” clothes and rush out the door. You get to the park just in time to catch the last inning. You grab snowcones on the way home for the family. Get back to get the kids in bed.
You kiss your spouse on the way to bed and (maybe) tell them you love them. Roll over on your side of the bed with your back to the rest of the world. Finally you fall asleep between 11 and 12 to start the day all over again the next morning.
In that sort of world we easily become insulated from what’s really real (or what really matters). The padding of all this “stuff” muffles the sounds and softens the edges.
What happened in the last week and all the things that happened in the past year, are life. Real life. This is the real thing. There is nothing like the sudden death of the young child to punch a hole in our paper-mache reality. When things like these do happen, it makes us yell out questions.
What is this world coming to? How could something like this happen? Could it have been stopped? God, why do bad things happen to good people? It’s enough to make you want Jesus to come back on his white horse, wipe out all evil in the world, and reign as king.
There are so many questions swirling around in our heads, and so many questions we won’t have answers to; ever. I’ve heard more about this kid with the guns in
Evil can permeate our lives so much it’s not really noticeable. He didn’t talk to anyone. Didn’t have any friends. Just a few years ago when he was in school and the teacher forced him to read, the kids in his class laughed at the way he talked.
Why do humans who have the capacity to do so much good commit such wicked acts? The Apostle Paul says it really well in his letter to the Romans. “I need something more. If the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway.
My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something (and this is important) something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?”
Then Paul in his own unique way answers his own question, “The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.”
Paul says he desires to do good. He wants to follow the way of our Lord. Paul says that his “flesh”, that is not his earthly body but his earthly human self, desires everything opposed to the Spirit. In Galatians he holds up a mirror to us and says “Look at yourselves. See if any of these works of the flesh are in you.”
In a modern translation, they are loveless cheap sex, an accumulation of mental and emotional garbage, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, small-mindedness, the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival, uncontrolled addictions, I could go on (he says).
He goes on to bring in the “fruit test”. Do you know what the fruit test is? When you go to buy peaches or cantelope, you smell the fruit to see if it’s good. That’s kind of what the fruit test is. Paul says we can look at your Spirit and see what fruit you produce. If it’s rotten, we will be able to smell it a mile away.
Paul tells us the fruit of the Spirit is love (love of others and love of yourself), joy (joy to be alive and to serve to risen Lord), peace (peace and reconciliation with others), patience (not jumping to conclusions based on perceptions), kindness, generosity (not just monetary, but also with your time and love), faithfulness (faith and reliance upon Christ), gentleness (excellence in character and demeanor), and self-control. There is no law against these things. God wants you to do these always.
Paul tells us that those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap what we sow (Galatians 5-6).
Evil permeates our lives and the world around us. Sometimes it comes in like a flash of lightning shocking us back to reality. Other times though it comes in silently creeping. Have you ever heard of Kudzu?
………Kudzu is a creeping vine brought in from
It takes over everything in your life. It kills. And all conventional means of trying to get rid of it don’t work very well. Snakes and other creatures like to hide in the cover of darkness it creates so they can strike out.
Evil feeds on ignorance. Nobody knew the Kudzu would take over like this….or more likely they believed they would be able to control it.
The Apostle Paul was the same way. When he died he was know as a gentle affectionate man who unselfishly was in service to his Christian brothers and sisters.
But earlier in his life, when he was known as Saul, he was “breathing threats and murder” against the same group”. Why would Paul have perpetrated such evil in his past? He says he had a “zeal for God; but not according to accurate knowledge.” “He was ignorant.” Many sincere people today do evil acts believing they are doing God’s will, but they are ignorant.
But these school shootings, the road rage, the insults, the twisting of the truth…these are not a misrepresentation of God’s will. Jesus told the religious leaders who were intent on killing him “You are from your father the devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father.”
Satan whispered in the ears of Adam and Eve to eat the apple and disobey God. Satan whispered in King David’s ear to take Bathsheba. Everything was his to own. Cain killed Abel. The Nazis killed the Jews. Saddam Hussein killed his own people. This kid at Virginia Tech. Was this kid deranged and need psychological help? Yes of course.
Could anything have been done differently to stop what happened? Recently I don’t think there is much that could have been done. The school could have gone on lock down, and that was a decision they made not to do. But this kid has had problems for years. It’s unfortunate we as parents have to do this, but we have to toughen up our kids.
This shooter was harassed and made fun of for many years. In the last couple years, I saw kids in Julia’s school and living around us being mean kids. It would not be hard to describe it as evil. I’m sure Shara Backus being Assistant Principle can tell us many horrible, many sad stories in her school.
I’m not saying all these kids are evil. However, mankind has experience a surge of evil in this world because of human imperfection, human ignorance, and also the result of Satan.
If you have not read C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, I highly recommend it. It’s a book of correspondence between a chief demon and a trainee. The trainee, Wormwood, is assigned to a man to urge him, nudge him, to keep him from becoming (or staying) a Christian.
In the beginning of the book, the chief demon is talking about how he almost lost his patient to the other side. Knowing that an argument about Truth (you know, like scripture) would not work for his side, the demon moved the man from reading about God to thinking about lunch, then the bus then traffic; And that God stuff was all gone in just a few moments.
Where does Free Will come into all this? Free Will is our choice. It’s our choice to do good or our choice to do evil. Free Will is our choice to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior or to accept ourselves as our Lord and Savior. Free Will is our choice to love other people as Jesus loves us, or to reject others. That is our freedom.
And it comes into play with God. You see, God gave us the Free Will to make a choice. We can choose him or reject him. God will not drag someone kicking and screaming into heaven. He will always be a perfect gentleman.
But sometimes in His infinite wisdom, when bad things happen to us, he will act. Lee Stroebel describes it this way in his book. Let’s say a hunter comes upon a bear caught in a trap. Suddenly he gets a conscience and decides to let the bear go. He tries to communicate with the bear, he tries to reason with the bear, and he tries to make nice with the bear all to no avail.
Then he starts to shoot the bear full of tranquilizers. The bear, thinking he is being attacked again, starts to fight back. The bear doesn’t understand that what is painful now and what seems like an attack is, in the long run going to help him.
Does that mean God caused the kid to shoot others at Virginia Tech? No. God doesn’t cause trials like that. Will he use what happened to bring people closer to him? Yes he will. It’s times like this your paper mache reality will be shredded and you wonder if God is real and if he cares about the world, about the kids, about you.
You think to yourself, “What am I supposed to do to try and stop this from happening again?” Tragedy happens when good people stay quiet and do nothing. First, like I said before, we need to toughen up our kids. Teach them to not let other kids push them off their mountain. 2nd, remember that Kudzu I talked about before? Do you know what the best environmental solution was to get rid of it?....sheep! Sheep will eat the stuff and take it all the way down to the ground.
Who are we as Christians? “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” We can cut through all the evil in this world to make it a better place. We are here on earth for a reason. The salvation we have is not only salvation from the Hell after death, but also the hell on this earth. When that reality is totally blown away and there is no bedrock foundation to land on, it will be like going over the hill on a rollercoaster and realizing the track is not finished. By ourselves, we will never be able to conquer evil or Satan. But when we walk through the darkest valley, we will fear no evil, for God is with us.
Then, like the John, we will see a new heaven and a new earth. And the holy city coming down from heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And a loud voice cried out “…he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more, morning and crying and pain will be no more.” And Jesus will say, “see I am making all things new. To the thirsty I will give water from the well of life. Those who conquer, those who triumph over evil and resist the temptation, will inherit these things.”
He says, “I will give the Fruit Test. If your fruit is fresh, you will stay and I will be your God. But if your fruit stinks, your place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.”
I can’t tell you why this kid went shooting at Virginia Tech or why the Columbine shooting happened. It is evil in this world. I can’t tell you why the bonfire tower collapsed or why there was a car roll over on I35 the other day that killed a family. Bad stuff happens in this world.
But we are Christians…we are the sheep of the Shepherd and must do what we can. Last Monday there was a call @ the church. A family was stranded in
They pulled out the
I went and picked them up and brought them back to the church to eat bar-b-que with the men. Then I took them to the Best Western in
I have a friend in
We can’t help everybody, but we can help those who are presented before us. We can make sure our Fruit is nice and fresh. The love of Jesus can do great things and a helping hand might break a heart of stone to bring out the tender child of God that has desperately wanted to be seen.
In your time this week, don’t look past the outcast and the others. Don’t ignore a silent cry for help. Show love to those you feel are unlovable. At one time in your life, you were unlovable too.
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.
revelation 21:1-8
The New Heaven and the New Earth
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
‘See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’
And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.’
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
April 15 sermon Proclaiming the Word
April 15 sermon Proclaim the Word
Acts 5:27-32
Psalm 118: 14-29
"An incredible new technology enables the transmission of text on a worldwide basis. It rapidly reduces production and distribution costs and for the first time allows large numbers of people to access text and pictures in their own homes." Can anyone guess what this is referring too?? It refers to the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in 1450. It transformed education, communication, and evangelism. It has shaped the world as we know it.
The computer revolution and the internet are now changing Christian evangelism in ways we can only imagine. Around the world today, over 1 billion people use the internet. 70% of North America has internet access. What a wonderful tool to use to evangelize the world. What a tool that can be manipulated and used for the wrong purposes.
A recent polled said 30% of teenage girls were sexually harassed on the internet. 90% would not tell their parents for fear of being banned from the internet. 1% of the over 8 billion pages are triple X. What about the rest? Most are corporate websites. There are millions of Christian websites (including church websites). That’s a great thing. Then there are many personal websites.
The company MySpace lets you create a personal website you can call your “virtual home away from home.” My best friend has one. He lists his favorite music and movies as well as links to friend’s websites. I was on there the other day and doing some surfing around MySpace. Unfortunately, I found more than one site where the owner said they were Christian but the pictures on there were not what I would consider Christian material.
April 29th is Internet Evangelism Day. It’s a day that Christian websites are using to recognize the potential of the internet and just how wonderful a tool it is. Although the MySpace pages I saw would not be appropriate for any true Christian to be associated with, those involved in the Internet Evangelism Day are seeking ways to reach more people with all the tools available to them.
So I am wondering, how do YOU proclaim your faith in Jesus Christ? In our scripture from Acts, Peter and some other apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin. “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have been filling Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.”
The apostles had miraculously gotten out of jail and were back in the temple preaching about the resurrection of Jesus. The apostles had spread a doctrine different than the one being taught in the temple. This was against Jewish law.
The apostles have therefore disturbed the public peace the high priests worked so hard to establish. Here is where those who are so high and mighty, the religious authority, who will do an evil thing (that is to crucify an innocent man), yet cannot bear to hear of it afterwards, nor have the truth presented back to them. Back in Matthew 27 before Jesus was crucified, the high priest yelled out “this man’s blood will be on us and our children”, but now they don’t want to hear of it.
But Peter stands up and gives one of the shortest and one of the best sermons in scripture. “We must obey God, not man. You crucified Jesus. God raised up Jesus for repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. We saw this and so did the Holy Spirit.” In the face of persecution and in the face of being beaten and killed, the apostles still preached. That is what you and I must do. In the face of persecution… even when those who are against you try to silence you, you must continue to preach.
Here is what Jesus said to those first listeners (and now says to you) in the Sermon on the Mount. “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can the saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.” That is if you stop growing in Christ, if you stop praying, if you stop seeking new Christian knowledge, your effectiveness will disappear. Then he goes on.
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
I heard a story the other day from a man recalling his Boy Scout days. The Scout leader took the boys to an inner room without windows, sat everyone down, and turned the lights off. He said it was pitch black and although it was only a minute in the dark, it felt like an eternity. Then the Scout Master struck a match and lit a single candle in the middle of the room. The boys could then make out all the faces of their friends and could see who was who.
The same is true for Christians and Christianity. You are the light. The world is in darkness, and there are many who will hurl the grenades of insults, lies, insinuations, and manipulations from the darkness outside trying to put your light out. God desires your Christian light to be put on a hill for all to see and for the light to penetrate more of the darkness in other’s hearts.
Unfortunately, to penetrate that darkness, you will have to get closer to those who are lost. Then those grenades will fall upon you faster and harder than ever before. You could stay under the bushel of contentment and tolerance. Your light will start to fade and soon you will be indistinguishable from the surrounding darkness. But that’s not what Christ desires. He says to “let your light shine before others.” Thinking back to the Boy Scout story, we could say, “You are God’s candle.”
So Peter said “We were witnesses to the things that happened to Jesus and when he came back, we saw him.” Why would Jesus show up again to a motley crew of fishermen and other lowly people? Why would he reveal himself to the two travelers on the road to Emmaus? Do you remember that story?
After Jesus was resurrected, he walked along with two men on their way to Emmaus. When they got there, he broke bread and revealed himself to them. Why the fishermen? Why the Emmaus guys? Jesus appeared to them because they were not afraid to share Christ. These apostles justified themselves before the Sanhedrin. “We have done nothing wrong.” Although the Religious Right had told the apostles what to do, they said they must only follow God. Instead of making excuses, they continued to shout out the truth.
How is your light shining? How are you proclaiming Jesus Christ. St. Francis said to “proclaim Jesus Christ and use words if necessary.” When we moved here to Sardis, a friend of ours needed a place to stay for a few weeks. She lived with us. In Nashville during the winter months our church took in homeless men to stay for the night and get out of the cold. Our church bought Christmas for a family in Midlothian.
A friend I used to work with saw a girl with an astrology sign necklace. Knowing full well what she was going to say, he told her “that’s a nice necklace.” She said “Oh thanks, this is my astrology sign. I follow the stars and moon.” To which he said “My God, created the stars and moon and everything in the universe.” That’s one way to get an opening.
What happens at the end of our scripture? The high priests have the apostles beaten. They have no foundation on which to attack the apostles so they beat them and let them go to fight another day. And what do the apostles do? They rejoice in the suffering. Jesus said (and they took it to heart) to “rejoice when you are beaten and battered for my name.” And then vs. 42…every day in the temple and at home they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.
What day must you proclaim Jesus? Only on the days ending in Y. How should you proclaim Jesus? With words and actions and deeds. As the Psalmist sings “Do you hear the shouts and the triumph song in the camp of the saved? The hand of God has turned the tide. The hand of God is raised in victory. I lived and now I am telling the world what God did. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.”
As Christians, we are victorious. As Christians we must share our faith…whether by word, action, deed, or internet. The tools are there for you to use. The fields are ripe. Spirituality is at an all time high. The workers are few. Go and make disciples. Don’t sit on the sideline. It’s 4th and long and the game is on the line. Faith is action, based upon belief, sustained by confidence in God’s Word and his promise to perform it.
Jesus said “I’ll build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” We are not on the defensive, we are on the offensive. I pray your faith leads you to that action. And now it’s time to go.
Psalm 118:14-29
The Lord is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.
There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;
the right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.”
I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.
The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not give me over to death.
Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord.
The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.
You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you.
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
Acts 5:27-41
When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.
But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time. Then he said to them, “Fellow Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men. For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him; but he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and disappeared. After him Judas the Galilean rose up at the time of the census and got people to follow him; he also perished, and all who followed him were scattered.
So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!” They were convinced by him, and when they had called in the apostles, they had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. As they left the council, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.
Acts 5:27-32
Psalm 118: 14-29
"An incredible new technology enables the transmission of text on a worldwide basis. It rapidly reduces production and distribution costs and for the first time allows large numbers of people to access text and pictures in their own homes." Can anyone guess what this is referring too?? It refers to the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in 1450. It transformed education, communication, and evangelism. It has shaped the world as we know it.
The computer revolution and the internet are now changing Christian evangelism in ways we can only imagine. Around the world today, over 1 billion people use the internet. 70% of North America has internet access. What a wonderful tool to use to evangelize the world. What a tool that can be manipulated and used for the wrong purposes.
A recent polled said 30% of teenage girls were sexually harassed on the internet. 90% would not tell their parents for fear of being banned from the internet. 1% of the over 8 billion pages are triple X. What about the rest? Most are corporate websites. There are millions of Christian websites (including church websites). That’s a great thing. Then there are many personal websites.
The company MySpace lets you create a personal website you can call your “virtual home away from home.” My best friend has one. He lists his favorite music and movies as well as links to friend’s websites. I was on there the other day and doing some surfing around MySpace. Unfortunately, I found more than one site where the owner said they were Christian but the pictures on there were not what I would consider Christian material.
April 29th is Internet Evangelism Day. It’s a day that Christian websites are using to recognize the potential of the internet and just how wonderful a tool it is. Although the MySpace pages I saw would not be appropriate for any true Christian to be associated with, those involved in the Internet Evangelism Day are seeking ways to reach more people with all the tools available to them.
So I am wondering, how do YOU proclaim your faith in Jesus Christ? In our scripture from Acts, Peter and some other apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin. “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have been filling Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.”
The apostles had miraculously gotten out of jail and were back in the temple preaching about the resurrection of Jesus. The apostles had spread a doctrine different than the one being taught in the temple. This was against Jewish law.
The apostles have therefore disturbed the public peace the high priests worked so hard to establish. Here is where those who are so high and mighty, the religious authority, who will do an evil thing (that is to crucify an innocent man), yet cannot bear to hear of it afterwards, nor have the truth presented back to them. Back in Matthew 27 before Jesus was crucified, the high priest yelled out “this man’s blood will be on us and our children”, but now they don’t want to hear of it.
But Peter stands up and gives one of the shortest and one of the best sermons in scripture. “We must obey God, not man. You crucified Jesus. God raised up Jesus for repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. We saw this and so did the Holy Spirit.” In the face of persecution and in the face of being beaten and killed, the apostles still preached. That is what you and I must do. In the face of persecution… even when those who are against you try to silence you, you must continue to preach.
Here is what Jesus said to those first listeners (and now says to you) in the Sermon on the Mount. “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can the saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.” That is if you stop growing in Christ, if you stop praying, if you stop seeking new Christian knowledge, your effectiveness will disappear. Then he goes on.
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
I heard a story the other day from a man recalling his Boy Scout days. The Scout leader took the boys to an inner room without windows, sat everyone down, and turned the lights off. He said it was pitch black and although it was only a minute in the dark, it felt like an eternity. Then the Scout Master struck a match and lit a single candle in the middle of the room. The boys could then make out all the faces of their friends and could see who was who.
The same is true for Christians and Christianity. You are the light. The world is in darkness, and there are many who will hurl the grenades of insults, lies, insinuations, and manipulations from the darkness outside trying to put your light out. God desires your Christian light to be put on a hill for all to see and for the light to penetrate more of the darkness in other’s hearts.
Unfortunately, to penetrate that darkness, you will have to get closer to those who are lost. Then those grenades will fall upon you faster and harder than ever before. You could stay under the bushel of contentment and tolerance. Your light will start to fade and soon you will be indistinguishable from the surrounding darkness. But that’s not what Christ desires. He says to “let your light shine before others.” Thinking back to the Boy Scout story, we could say, “You are God’s candle.”
So Peter said “We were witnesses to the things that happened to Jesus and when he came back, we saw him.” Why would Jesus show up again to a motley crew of fishermen and other lowly people? Why would he reveal himself to the two travelers on the road to Emmaus? Do you remember that story?
After Jesus was resurrected, he walked along with two men on their way to Emmaus. When they got there, he broke bread and revealed himself to them. Why the fishermen? Why the Emmaus guys? Jesus appeared to them because they were not afraid to share Christ. These apostles justified themselves before the Sanhedrin. “We have done nothing wrong.” Although the Religious Right had told the apostles what to do, they said they must only follow God. Instead of making excuses, they continued to shout out the truth.
How is your light shining? How are you proclaiming Jesus Christ. St. Francis said to “proclaim Jesus Christ and use words if necessary.” When we moved here to Sardis, a friend of ours needed a place to stay for a few weeks. She lived with us. In Nashville during the winter months our church took in homeless men to stay for the night and get out of the cold. Our church bought Christmas for a family in Midlothian.
A friend I used to work with saw a girl with an astrology sign necklace. Knowing full well what she was going to say, he told her “that’s a nice necklace.” She said “Oh thanks, this is my astrology sign. I follow the stars and moon.” To which he said “My God, created the stars and moon and everything in the universe.” That’s one way to get an opening.
What happens at the end of our scripture? The high priests have the apostles beaten. They have no foundation on which to attack the apostles so they beat them and let them go to fight another day. And what do the apostles do? They rejoice in the suffering. Jesus said (and they took it to heart) to “rejoice when you are beaten and battered for my name.” And then vs. 42…every day in the temple and at home they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.
What day must you proclaim Jesus? Only on the days ending in Y. How should you proclaim Jesus? With words and actions and deeds. As the Psalmist sings “Do you hear the shouts and the triumph song in the camp of the saved? The hand of God has turned the tide. The hand of God is raised in victory. I lived and now I am telling the world what God did. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.”
As Christians, we are victorious. As Christians we must share our faith…whether by word, action, deed, or internet. The tools are there for you to use. The fields are ripe. Spirituality is at an all time high. The workers are few. Go and make disciples. Don’t sit on the sideline. It’s 4th and long and the game is on the line. Faith is action, based upon belief, sustained by confidence in God’s Word and his promise to perform it.
Jesus said “I’ll build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” We are not on the defensive, we are on the offensive. I pray your faith leads you to that action. And now it’s time to go.
Psalm 118:14-29
The Lord is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.
There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;
the right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.”
I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.
The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not give me over to death.
Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord.
The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.
You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you.
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
Acts 5:27-41
When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.
But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time. Then he said to them, “Fellow Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men. For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him; but he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and disappeared. After him Judas the Galilean rose up at the time of the census and got people to follow him; he also perished, and all who followed him were scattered.
So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!” They were convinced by him, and when they had called in the apostles, they had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. As they left the council, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.
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