I was reading here this morning and came across the following quote:
We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount…Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.
That quote is from 1948 and is credited to General Omar Bradley. It has sort of a prophetic ring to it doesn’t it? To my way of thinking there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of difference between 1948 and 2010. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that we have gone downhill ethically in so many ways. Whether we are talking the corporate world, the political scene, athletics (just read about the Florida State scandal), or the church world, ethics seem to have bitten the dust in myriads of ways. The writer of this devotion today, Greg Laurie, also made this point: “Today, with so many naming the name of Christ, our impact on the world seems to be null and void. And that is my point. Christians are allowing secular attitudes to find their way into the church and into their lives. It seems like our culture is affecting us more than we are affecting our culture.” He has said a mouthful, don’t you think? AND he hit the nail on the head at the same time!
The world needs to see genuine men and women who are sold out to the Lordship of Jesus. I certainly include myself in that assessment. What about you? Any thoughts on the quote or on what Greg has said or what I have written? Please feel free to agree or disagree. I would like to hear your thoughts.
I showed a clip from “It’s a Wonderful Life” in worship today (I am writing this early Sunday evening). I am going to include it here just in case you don’t remember or have never seen this scene. Here it is (if you already know it or don’t have the time to watch it then please skip past it):
George found himself in a predicament. Someone said “a predicament occurs when an attorney who specializes in medical malpractice suits finds himself in need of major surgery.”
Americans use all sorts of phrases to basically say the same thing: “I’m in a jam right now” or “I’m in a real bind” or “I’m between a rock and a hard place” or “I’m up a creek without a paddle” or “That’s a Catch-22.” Either way you look at, no matter what you call it, it is a tough place to be.
When Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt they must have thought their tough life of slavery was over and Easy Street awaited them. Wrong! They eventually found themselves hemmed in by the Red Sea in front of them and the swiftly approaching army of Pharaoh behind them. Quite a predicament in their eyes. But Moses was so cool. He told them, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today.” Oh man, did he ever! That same message over 4000 years ago is still the same message we hear today. Why? Because we have a God who has never changed one iota from Who He was then to Who He is today.
Where do you find yourself today? Filled with fear and scared of what tomorrow may bring? I hope you will trust the One Moses spoke about who will bring about your “salvation.” Do you care to share where you are? Any story of God’s faithfulness you can bless us with? I would like to hear it.
As a pastor I look forward to Sunday. (I mean, I only work one day a week you know?) I can honestly say that except for a short stretch in the early 80s when I pastored a church that was dead with a capital “D,” I can count on one hand the number of times I dreaded Sundays. I may be the exception to the rule but I love what I do. The question, of course, is this: do the people feel the same way? More pointedly…do you? The reason I ask this is because I read something recently that stayed with me. Click here to read the article.
Some observations:
I realize that the article was in the UK and in some ways their (church) culture is somewhat different than ours. Except for a few exceptions, they are more of the “high church” variety.
It would be interesting to see what the stats/percentages would be for the US. I wonder if a study has been done on that recently. Anyone??
I agree with what Katie Bruce said: “People don’t want to be preached at.” That really isn’t earth-shattering if you ask me. That has been somewhat of a “staple” for years. In my mind, only those who are comfortable and only hear what they already know, enjoy being preached at. They just shut their “hearing aid” off. Why listen when you know what is coming or when someone acts like an arrogant know-it-all who wants people to think he has it all together?
I realize that with any survey there is a margin of error and some people can read into them whatever they want to. I found the survey interesting to remind myself why what I do is so important and also to make sure I am connecting to people. What does bother me though is the stat that says only 17% think preaching changed the way they lived. If preaching is not bringing the life-changing message of Christ to the people, then it is not preaching. What isn’t surveyed (and is equally important) is how many prepared themselves to listen to the message. People simply cannot wait until Sunday morning when they sit down in their seat to say, “Okay God. Here I am. Hit me with your best shot. (Fire away).”
Question: what stuck out to you in the survey? More importantly: how do you prepare yourself for Sunday morning? I would like to hear what you think. Have a great worship experience this weekend.
“I promise you I will do it.” “A promise is a promise.” “My word is my bond.” Or one that I really dislike: “I swear.” Life is full of promises-some kept and some broken. I have done both in my days. I am old enough to remember when deals were sealed by a handshake and no sheet of paper was needed. Come to think of it there wasn’t much need for lawyers back then either. A man’s word meant something back then…and should still mean something today. If I give my word to someone-whether it be my wife, my children, the leaders of the church, a neighbor, a cycling buddy, or whomever- it ought to be enough.
Even greater should be my promise to God-to love Him with all my heart, soul, strength and mind. I try. I don’t. Good thing though that He is not a fickle God whose love for me is determined by my faithfulness to Him. He is a God of promise. He kept it with Abraham. He kept it with Noah and the rainbow. He kept it throughout the Old Testament as He led us to Christ as the ultimate sacrifice. I certainly see God’s faithfulness to His promises with the children of Israel after being led out of Egypt into the wilderness. Complaining about the oncoming Egyptian army. Complaining about bitter water. Complaining about the lack of food. Complaining about the lack of water period. Each time God provided. He kept His promises. I could go on but that is sufficient.
How about you? Have you recently found God faithful to His promises? How so? I would love to hear from you. By the way: I will be finishing out my series on Digging in Dirt with a message this Sunday based on this very theme. Thanks ahead of time for praying.
It has been awhile since I did a link love and since I have recently read some excellent posts I thought I would take the time to encourage you to visit a few of them. So…I hope you will take the time to do that.
Blogging can be seen as narcissistic (and some are). But blogging also can enrich your life, especially the life of the blogger. I have “met” people from coast to coast, north and south, who have either popped in a time or two on my blog or have become regular visitors. By their visits and by reading their blogs my life has become richer. Lately a blogger went to a Spiritual Leadership Conference by Henry Blackaby (of Experiencing God fame). He blogged about some of his “take-aways” from that experience. Please go here and here to catch the heart of HB and also the blogger. Another blogger who has “link loved” me and also has some good things to say of his own is here.
There has been a lot of flack over the Tim Tebow ad that is to show this Sunday during the Super Bowl. Personally (and please don’t stone me), I really don’t care who wins. I live in Colts Country (Indiana) but really, honestly have no plans to spend a whole afternoon/evening watching people drone on. This lady had some good thoughts about the commercial Tim & his mom are in. While you are at it check our her husband’s blog. Bernard has some good things to say as he opens up here about the Social Gospel (it is not what you think).
I was deeply affected by this post. I am currently reading his book Do I Know God? This young man (at least to me) just recently performed the graduation ceremony for his father (you can read about that also).
Several ladies are writing some good blogs-different styles to be sure-but worthy of your reading. Check them out here and here. Go here for a mixture of drool (yours) and some good heartfelt blogs. I would really encourage you to read today’s (Wednesday) entry here. Comment and tell her I sent you (for what that is worth).
I continue to be impressed by this man’s heart. His blogs so far this week have been out of this world in relevance to me. Go here and read them…please!
I want to save some links for another time but I do have one more. My mother had four boys (actually five but one died a day after he was born). I am the oldest, a pastor here. My next brother, Rob, is a pastor here. I have another brother who lives in PA and is a husband and father. My youngest brother is a pastor of this church in SanDiego. Rob is currently teaching at the Windward Islands School of Evangelism for three weeks. I am uber-proud of him. You can follow him here if you are interested.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post and if you took the time to look up some of the blogs…thank you even more. I am blessed because God has brought so many different people into my life to teach me and expand my outlook. Thanks to all of you.
I hope you took the time to read the previous post (yeah, I know, shameless promotion). If you did then this one will make more sense. As a pastor who loves to preach and takes that calling seriously, I struggle with preparing and then delivering messages that have GOD stamped all over them. One would think it would should be easy preparing sermons that speak God’s words but it isn’t always that easy or convenient. There is not a pastor alive, who if he is honest, would not say that he likes/wants to be liked. Given our current church culture, that seems to come to the forefront even more. Instead of concentrating on the main thing in the Scripture, on getting the intent of the Scripture right, we often opt for a more “relevant” approach. By that I am not saying we can’t make the Scripture come alive but I am afraid that at times we bypass the true meaning of the Scripture passage for something we want it to say.
Os Guinness once wrote: “The seductive promise of relevance is, in reality, the road to irrelevance.”
I am thinking out loud because I am still trying to figure things out but let me ask some questions. Have we marketed the church so much like the world that the message and the power of the gospel has lost its distinctiveness? Is the entertainment value so high and attracting crowds so strong the we have lost the eternal value we are supposed to focus on? Do people leave our auditoriums and head home unchallenged by the power of conviction from God’s Word? Have we grabbed onto social causes and political correctness so much that we have lost sight of what we are here for to begin with?
Consider this in your thoughts: When the Apostle Paul told Timothy to “preach the Word, in season and out of season,” he was not telling Timothy how to be successful or to pursue prosperity, power, prominence, popularity, relevance or any other notion of success. He was encouraging Timothy to follow the divine standard-to be biblical-regardless of the consequences, regardless of the following. Frankly, that is hard for me to stomach sometimes. I want to be liked, to be the pastor of a growing & vibrant church that is relevant and reaching people of all age groups. But at what cost?
I realize that if you are not a pastor you may not “click” with these last two posts. I am sorry if you felt left out. I did not mean to because, as a pastor/preacher, I value the thoughts and ideas of others. Do you have concerns about what you are hearing? If so, pray first and ask for God’s direction and then take biblical action by going to him and expressing your thoughts. If he is a faithful communicator of God’s Word, let him know. If you are a pastor, reflect & evaluate where you are. I would like to hear from either of you. As for me…it is time to go. I have some reflection and evaluation to take care of.
Sunday (today, yesterday, or whenever you read this) is over. Well, at least the preaching part of it is. So, I have a question I want to ask you:
WHAT DID YOU HEAR?
I spent some time Saturday morning working on a sermon on the Holy Spirit that I plan to preach in about a month. While researching for it I came across this thought by Francis Chan in his book Forgotten God: (When writing about being stunned by God and being in awe of His power and truly experiencing that power) Francis writes: “Is that what happens at the Christian gatherings you attend? Or does it feel more like what the prophets of Baal experienced before Elijah prayed? We can have a great time singing and dancing ourselves into a frenzy. But at the end of it, fire doesn’t come down from heaven. People leave talking about the people who led rather than the power of God.” (p.144)
Holy mackerel did he hit the nail on the head or what? Here I am in the office getting ready to study the message I (and hopefully God) have prepared, and he has to throw that at me? I would have been totally happy without that little reminder…thank you very much Francis. Made me stop and think for sure.
Lest this post become too long I want to continue it tomorrow so let me stop right here and just ask the question I asked earlier:
WHAT DID YOU HEAR?
Did you hear God’s voice speaking to your spirit? Did you hear the Word of God preached? Did you hear resounding gongs and clanging cymbals or the voice of God speaking in love to your heart? If you are a pastor reading this what did you preach and whose word was it? If you are not a pastor and he preached the message of truth, did you thank him for being faithful? Pray for him as he prepares and studies so that he has a word from God every week. I would like to hear your thoughts and comments.
Saturday was Jo’s 39th birthday. We have two daughters (34 & 30) so I will let you do the math. Do you really think I am stupid enough to write her real age (5) down here (9) for all to see? I am taking her to Ohio Sunday afternoon to see her grandson (I get the residual affect of getting to see him also) so I am not sure about responding immediately to any comments. I will get to them though.
Go ahead. Admit it. You have heard it. May have even used it. “That’s not fair!” We hear it often-from young and old, believer and non-believer, parent or child. That phrase is no respecter of persons. So…what is the common answer? “Life’s not fair. Get over it.” Or “Life’s not fair. Deal with it.” Real sympathetic you know? But true. Oswald Chambers once wrote:
Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God, whose ways you may not understand at the time.
And that, as it they say, says it all. When life seems all out of whack and we see no sense in what is/is not happening, faith clings to the character of God. If there is anyone in the Bible who best represents this principle (other than Jesus) it would have to be Joseph. Have you ever taken the time to really look closely at all the junk he went through? If anyone had a reason to throw in the towel and call it quits, it would be him. But he refused to do that and I believe the reason can be found in the words to his brothers in Genesis 50. Following their father’s death, they became fearful that Joseph would get revenge. His words show his character as well as why he stands out in the OT as a standard: “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” [verse 20] When life wasn’t fair to Joseph he didn’t kick himself bemoaning that fact. He trusted, as Chambers stated, in the character of God. Understand the why and wherefore? Not a chance. But what a powerful testimony Joseph had!
So, I am hit between the eyes. What about you? Going through a tough time when life seems unfair? Been through one recently? Life isn’t fair but God never changes. Let me hear your thoughts. Joseph will be my focus Sunday in my series “Digging in Dirt.” I would appreciate your prayers.
So…before you go getting upset and thinking that I have just used astericks to block out a cuss word…relax! I don’t use those words and unless I am quoting someone will not write with them either. Actually, I have something else in mind. (I bet you holding your breath just waiting!) I just started reading a book that was recommended reading (but can’t remember who it was), a book totally out of my comfort zone of what I normally read. The book is Why You Think The Way You Do by Glenn Sunshine. Mr. Sunshine said something that made me think:
Whether you think life has meaning and purpose is evident in the ways you spend your time, treat yourself, express your attitudes, and live out your priorities. ..This is how worldviews operate-below the radar, behind the scenes, guiding our thoughts, words, and actions and only rarely being examined or analyzed.
Our worldview shapes how we live. That makes sense to me and also helps clarify something else. Have you ever gotten disgusted with someone and how they act or talk? I have for sure. Stop now and consider that they may be are actually acting according to their worldview. Consider the current political climate (which I will not get into) or even the current religious climate of alternate lifestyles, taking an unborn’s life, etc. Can you see how the worldview is influencing their choice(s)? Tell me the flack over the Tim Tebow ad for the Super Bowl is not a result of a skewed worldview by those protesting it! What people believe determines how someone thinks and acts.
You can probably see where this is going. Which worldview influences your choice(s)? If you claim to have a biblical worldview, do your actions and does your speech reflect that? The saddest of all people are not those who do not claim a biblical worldview but those who do claim it but it is discounted because of its lack of influence upon their daily lives. Where do you fit? Does your behavior and words accurately depict your worldview? I would like to hear your thoughts.
