We are studying the book of Joshua in our SS class each Sunday morning (at 9:45 AM if you want to come!) As we read the last couple of weeks, we noticed how joyous and amazing the story of Jericho is. In truth, we spend a lot of time talking about Joshua. We started learning the story back when we were kids in Sunday School. We sang songs about Joshua and the "battle" of Jericho. We know the walls come down from walking around and the people go in.
I think that there is still much we can learn and appreciate from the story of Jericho, even as adults. But the chapter that immediately follows we often overlook. We talk and think about Jericho but think that is where the story ends. We forget that in the narrative of Jericho God records a command that is disobeyed. One man ignores the commands of God and a whole nation feels the brunt of the punishment of sin. God simply removes his presence from being with His people. He cannot stand sin and the sin of Achan was an affront to His holiness and could not be tolerated. It was more than just taking something that he should not have taken, he stole something from God Himself. And so God withholds his presence.
This translates into losing a battle against a small town that had only a few people to defend it. The contrast as Joshua records it is stunning. Win when impossible, lose when you don't need much help and the point that it makes is that it is not about the size of the obstacle at all, but the power of God being with you or not dependent upon obedience. God is immensely powerful and promises His power and presence for those who follow Him. But when we do our own thing and decide we do not need God, God simply allows us the freedom to do things our own way, without His power and presence and often the results are disastrous. God tells us to put our spouse first. When we do this we are blessed and can see His good results. When we put ourselves first we usually wind up fighting! God tells us to grow the church through the personal sharing of the gospel. When we think it is the pastor and deacons job to grow the church God simply allows us our choice and we move forward without the power and presence of God! This leads to stagnant churches and hollow Christianity at home. I could go on and on. Do you want the power and presence of God to be active in your life? Of course we all do. But we often forget that we see the power and presence of God when we choose to obey and follow his path for our lives. Sometimes we need to stop telling God things and listen instead.
Will you listen?
Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
VBS Update
We are in the second day of VBS 2019 - Missions Adventure Preparation School and are learning about different parts of the world and what it takes to be a missionary. We are learning stories of missionaries who have gone before and most importantly we are passing on the message of the good news of Jesus to a great group of kids. We are already hearing of the fruit of the labor and how the gospel is creating questions in the hearts of some of the kids.
I wanted to let you know that i am most pleased that we have a great group of over 20 helpers who are here today to help in some capacity. Some are helping check the kids in, some are helping in crafts, some are teaching, some are helping get snacks for the kids - some are helping in games. We are so glad for all of the help and the multitude of help makes serving the 78 kids and their families much easier. We also thank all of you who are praying for your ongoing prayers for our VBS. We are so blessed to be able to serve the community and so grateful for all your prayer.
As we continue to serve in VBS, please keep praying and there is still opportunity to help this week, so stop on by and we will find a place for you to help!
I wanted to let you know that i am most pleased that we have a great group of over 20 helpers who are here today to help in some capacity. Some are helping check the kids in, some are helping in crafts, some are teaching, some are helping get snacks for the kids - some are helping in games. We are so glad for all of the help and the multitude of help makes serving the 78 kids and their families much easier. We also thank all of you who are praying for your ongoing prayers for our VBS. We are so blessed to be able to serve the community and so grateful for all your prayer.
As we continue to serve in VBS, please keep praying and there is still opportunity to help this week, so stop on by and we will find a place for you to help!
Tuesday, June 11, 2019
You are Here for the Benefit of the Church
"And He gave some as apostles and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ."
Ephesians 4:11-13 (NASB)
We have an interesting way of looking at things in our culture that is sometimes wrong and even against Scripture. I have been a pastor in some capacity now for over 15 years (only a few years compared to some) and I have noticed in that time that people tend to treat church like it is a fast food restaurant. They will go regularly and call it their favorite place until they stop serving the food they like. Or they have a bad experience with one of the staff and they decide to go elsewhere. Or someone is not as friendly greeting them as they think they should be and they go elsewhere. Or they drop their kids programming and they decide they have to leave. The problem with this view is that they are the consumer of church and the church is simply there to provide goods and services for them to consume. Even people who are serving in the church can succumb to this idea. The problem is that this view that the church is something that is to provide for my needs is flat out wrong.
These verses in Ephesians (alongside many other Scriptures) remind us that the church is not for us - instead, we are for the church. God has gifted each believer with a gift that is to be used to the benefit of others in the context of the church. And if you are not using your gift for the benefit of others, you are missing a major part of your calling as a Christian. In other words, church is not something that exists solely to benefit you, but it exists for you to benefit the people who exist as the church. You exist to benefit God's people!
The question then should move from, "What is my church doing for me?" to , "What am I doing for my church?" It is a major shift in focus. This is not to say that you get nothing from the church, but these verses also define what we ought to look for when we are being church together. It lists three benefits that we should receive from service. We should attain unity with our fellow believers, we should attain a greater knowledge of the Son of God and we should attain maturity. May I suggest that we use these things as the mark of considering churches - will I be unified with the believers, will I attain a greater knowledge of the Son of God and am I going to be matured here?
It is interesting that musical styles and children's programming are not mentioned here.
So, how are you doing? Are you serving? Are you seeking to be a benefit to the body of Christ that develops unity, knowledge and maturity? If not, perhaps it is not the church that is doing it wrong!
Ephesians 4:11-13 (NASB)
We have an interesting way of looking at things in our culture that is sometimes wrong and even against Scripture. I have been a pastor in some capacity now for over 15 years (only a few years compared to some) and I have noticed in that time that people tend to treat church like it is a fast food restaurant. They will go regularly and call it their favorite place until they stop serving the food they like. Or they have a bad experience with one of the staff and they decide to go elsewhere. Or someone is not as friendly greeting them as they think they should be and they go elsewhere. Or they drop their kids programming and they decide they have to leave. The problem with this view is that they are the consumer of church and the church is simply there to provide goods and services for them to consume. Even people who are serving in the church can succumb to this idea. The problem is that this view that the church is something that is to provide for my needs is flat out wrong.
These verses in Ephesians (alongside many other Scriptures) remind us that the church is not for us - instead, we are for the church. God has gifted each believer with a gift that is to be used to the benefit of others in the context of the church. And if you are not using your gift for the benefit of others, you are missing a major part of your calling as a Christian. In other words, church is not something that exists solely to benefit you, but it exists for you to benefit the people who exist as the church. You exist to benefit God's people!
The question then should move from, "What is my church doing for me?" to , "What am I doing for my church?" It is a major shift in focus. This is not to say that you get nothing from the church, but these verses also define what we ought to look for when we are being church together. It lists three benefits that we should receive from service. We should attain unity with our fellow believers, we should attain a greater knowledge of the Son of God and we should attain maturity. May I suggest that we use these things as the mark of considering churches - will I be unified with the believers, will I attain a greater knowledge of the Son of God and am I going to be matured here?
It is interesting that musical styles and children's programming are not mentioned here.
So, how are you doing? Are you serving? Are you seeking to be a benefit to the body of Christ that develops unity, knowledge and maturity? If not, perhaps it is not the church that is doing it wrong!
Monday, May 20, 2019
Far More Abundantly Beyond
Ephesians 3 reminds us that God can do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. I want to revisit that this week. Over and over again I want to come back to that singular thought and remind myself that God can do. He is able. When something does not happen that is good, or when bad stuff happens it is NEVER a deficiency in the ability of God.
Sometimes I think we weaken God out of a desire to make sure that He is understood by the masses. Bad stuff happens in our lives and in the lives of people and in our haste to make sure people know it is not God's fault we diminish the power of God. Paul has no place for this. His God can do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. This means that the problem is not in the power of God. For most of us the problem lies in where we understand the primary purpose of our lives to be.
When we make ourselves, or even humanity in general the main point of creation and think that God is for us in the sense that we are here to tell God what to do. When we believe that God is obligated in some way to bring about only things that we like, we have misunderstood what God has said to a horrible degree. This world is not about me and it is not even about us. This is a story about God and what God is doing for the glory of God. In this story He promises my good in the long view and has already secured it. I have good coming to me and there is nothing that anyone or anything can do to separate me from this good that God has promised. But that does not mean that everything that I face or everything my friends face will be good. In fact God promises trouble and trials and pain. And when we face these we cry to God and ask why and we do this because we deep down know He had the power to prevent it. But He is not in this for our glory, He is in this for His glory and we are in this for His glory.
So yes, God could have prevented the tragedy. God is bigger than sin and bigger than death and bigger than pain and sorrow. But in the great Plan of God He uses our pain and our sorrow and our death and our life and all of who we are for a far bigger purpose -His glory. And knowing that He will accomplish His glory even through my pain makes this life ok. Even when it hurts.
Sometimes I think we weaken God out of a desire to make sure that He is understood by the masses. Bad stuff happens in our lives and in the lives of people and in our haste to make sure people know it is not God's fault we diminish the power of God. Paul has no place for this. His God can do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. This means that the problem is not in the power of God. For most of us the problem lies in where we understand the primary purpose of our lives to be.
When we make ourselves, or even humanity in general the main point of creation and think that God is for us in the sense that we are here to tell God what to do. When we believe that God is obligated in some way to bring about only things that we like, we have misunderstood what God has said to a horrible degree. This world is not about me and it is not even about us. This is a story about God and what God is doing for the glory of God. In this story He promises my good in the long view and has already secured it. I have good coming to me and there is nothing that anyone or anything can do to separate me from this good that God has promised. But that does not mean that everything that I face or everything my friends face will be good. In fact God promises trouble and trials and pain. And when we face these we cry to God and ask why and we do this because we deep down know He had the power to prevent it. But He is not in this for our glory, He is in this for His glory and we are in this for His glory.
So yes, God could have prevented the tragedy. God is bigger than sin and bigger than death and bigger than pain and sorrow. But in the great Plan of God He uses our pain and our sorrow and our death and our life and all of who we are for a far bigger purpose -His glory. And knowing that He will accomplish His glory even through my pain makes this life ok. Even when it hurts.
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Death
Death is an interesting concept. It is one of those words that we measure not by itself, but by the absence of something. Like darkness is the absence of light and cold is the absence of warmth, death is the absence of life. Biblically this makes sense. We were created with life. We were made for life, and death only enters into the picture because of sin.
One thing that I am grateful for is that Jesus came to conquer death. Jesus did not just come to die to pay the penalty for sin, but He through His perfect life, and his Resurrection conquered death. In other words, death, for those who believe in Jesus, is no longer a reality in the most crucial sense. It is sadly true enough that until Christ returns our physical bodies will still perish. And in this there is still sorrow and hurt and pain. But in deepest reality those who die in Christ do not really die. They really live. Jesus said, "I am the Resurrection and the Life; he who believes in me will live even if he dies." (John 11:25-26)
So that if I am in Christ death has been conquered. So to live is Christ and to die is gain. It is the reason I do not have to fear. It is the reason for my hope in the face of tremendous loss and pain. I will not ever, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, cease to live. I have eternal life. We often think we are waiting for eternal life - we place it in what comes next, but I have eternal life now! Earlier in John, in chapter 10 Jesus says, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10) We have eternal life now and forever. And may we remember that all those who have gone on before us are very much alive in the presence of Christ. We WILL be reunited with them because we have the same eternal life in Christ. We will all be bound to Christ and His life for eternity!
So death has already lost. It has no power. It has lost its sting. Praise be to Jesus who gives us the victory!
For the record, I write this through tears as this past weekend I lost a friend and our church has been grieving the loss of a young husband and father and friend, a son, a brother. This message is for me too and I must grieve, but we grieve with the hope of knowing the truth about death. And so we say again and again, over and over until the return of Christ. . .
So death has already lost. It has no power. It has lost its sting. Praise be to Jesus who gives us the victory!
One thing that I am grateful for is that Jesus came to conquer death. Jesus did not just come to die to pay the penalty for sin, but He through His perfect life, and his Resurrection conquered death. In other words, death, for those who believe in Jesus, is no longer a reality in the most crucial sense. It is sadly true enough that until Christ returns our physical bodies will still perish. And in this there is still sorrow and hurt and pain. But in deepest reality those who die in Christ do not really die. They really live. Jesus said, "I am the Resurrection and the Life; he who believes in me will live even if he dies." (John 11:25-26)
So that if I am in Christ death has been conquered. So to live is Christ and to die is gain. It is the reason I do not have to fear. It is the reason for my hope in the face of tremendous loss and pain. I will not ever, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, cease to live. I have eternal life. We often think we are waiting for eternal life - we place it in what comes next, but I have eternal life now! Earlier in John, in chapter 10 Jesus says, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10) We have eternal life now and forever. And may we remember that all those who have gone on before us are very much alive in the presence of Christ. We WILL be reunited with them because we have the same eternal life in Christ. We will all be bound to Christ and His life for eternity!
So death has already lost. It has no power. It has lost its sting. Praise be to Jesus who gives us the victory!
For the record, I write this through tears as this past weekend I lost a friend and our church has been grieving the loss of a young husband and father and friend, a son, a brother. This message is for me too and I must grieve, but we grieve with the hope of knowing the truth about death. And so we say again and again, over and over until the return of Christ. . .
So death has already lost. It has no power. It has lost its sting. Praise be to Jesus who gives us the victory!
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Life
Life. Such a simple word. A word loaded with complexity and meaning and yet so very simple.
Life. It is immediately recognizable and immediately evident when it is absent. It is often taken for granted and overlooked, but its absence brings reminders of all of its glory. Life.
We fight for the right to life. We consider it precious. We want it and pursue keeping it at all costs. Life.
I wonder if you have considered the enormous gift of life. I say it is a gift because apart from the work of another you would not have it. I am not here referring to your mother without whose work you also would not be here, but I am speaking more importantly of the life giving work of the Son of God. Without his work none of us would have even the possibility of life. We might breathe, we might work, we might exist, but we would be dead in our trespasses and sin apart from His glorious Life.
And His Life he freely offers as a gift to all those who would believe that He is not only the Author of Life but that He gave His own Life to be a substitute for my own. So that the Life I now live is not my own but lived by faith in Him! The eternal Life that I receive as a free gift through the faith He enables starts now and continues for. . . you guessed it - eternity! Life. Never-ending Life.
And we owe it all to the man who was crucified. Who died. But death could not hold him. Life cannot be undone in this ultimate sense. Life can only continue. So come to the fount of Living Water. And Live. Life.
Life. It is immediately recognizable and immediately evident when it is absent. It is often taken for granted and overlooked, but its absence brings reminders of all of its glory. Life.
We fight for the right to life. We consider it precious. We want it and pursue keeping it at all costs. Life.
I wonder if you have considered the enormous gift of life. I say it is a gift because apart from the work of another you would not have it. I am not here referring to your mother without whose work you also would not be here, but I am speaking more importantly of the life giving work of the Son of God. Without his work none of us would have even the possibility of life. We might breathe, we might work, we might exist, but we would be dead in our trespasses and sin apart from His glorious Life.
And His Life he freely offers as a gift to all those who would believe that He is not only the Author of Life but that He gave His own Life to be a substitute for my own. So that the Life I now live is not my own but lived by faith in Him! The eternal Life that I receive as a free gift through the faith He enables starts now and continues for. . . you guessed it - eternity! Life. Never-ending Life.
And we owe it all to the man who was crucified. Who died. But death could not hold him. Life cannot be undone in this ultimate sense. Life can only continue. So come to the fount of Living Water. And Live. Life.
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Grace
As I reflect on the opportunity to preach last Sunday, I think it is always good to remind ourselves that there is more that could have been said. Or at least to remind ourselves of the truth that was spoken. It is really easy to wake up on any given morning and forget that without Christ I am nothing more than a rotten, stinky, filthy corpse.
We go through our days and we see a world filled with merit. Your promotions at work have never been about grace. Your bank does not show grace when you miss a payment on your loan. Even the library does not show grace when you hold a book for an extra week. Our whole world runs on merit. You have to work hard. You have to pay money. You have to accomplish and earn. If you do not, you will not have the things that you want. Grace is something that is foreign to us and so we go to bed in a world that does not exemplify grace and we wake up in a world that seems to hate it.
And yet here I am. I am a rotten, stinky, filthy corpse that has been saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone! What a glorious truth. And this truth drives me to reach out to other corpses who have not yet found themselves alive in Christ! This truth drives me to a humility that binds me to the one who raised me to life. This truth drives me to a better understanding of the life God has called me to live, to a better knowledge of the God who raised me. In one sense, the fact that I was dead must be a foundational truth of my faith. It must be a part of my understanding of myself and the world in which I live. If it is not, my theology will go awry.
If I fail to maintain proper focus on my "corpsliness" (I know this is not a word), I might start to think God owes me something. If I fail to keep perspective, I might think of myself more highly than I ought and I might start to think that church is all about me! SO always remember that you were dead in your trespasses and sin and that you were made alive by God in Christ (you were even passive in the process!) And it is all because of GRACE!
We go through our days and we see a world filled with merit. Your promotions at work have never been about grace. Your bank does not show grace when you miss a payment on your loan. Even the library does not show grace when you hold a book for an extra week. Our whole world runs on merit. You have to work hard. You have to pay money. You have to accomplish and earn. If you do not, you will not have the things that you want. Grace is something that is foreign to us and so we go to bed in a world that does not exemplify grace and we wake up in a world that seems to hate it.
And yet here I am. I am a rotten, stinky, filthy corpse that has been saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone! What a glorious truth. And this truth drives me to reach out to other corpses who have not yet found themselves alive in Christ! This truth drives me to a humility that binds me to the one who raised me to life. This truth drives me to a better understanding of the life God has called me to live, to a better knowledge of the God who raised me. In one sense, the fact that I was dead must be a foundational truth of my faith. It must be a part of my understanding of myself and the world in which I live. If it is not, my theology will go awry.
If I fail to maintain proper focus on my "corpsliness" (I know this is not a word), I might start to think God owes me something. If I fail to keep perspective, I might think of myself more highly than I ought and I might start to think that church is all about me! SO always remember that you were dead in your trespasses and sin and that you were made alive by God in Christ (you were even passive in the process!) And it is all because of GRACE!
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