Jesus

...now browsing by category

Quitter

Monday, May 20th, 2013

Have you ever had one of those days where you just wanted to bury your head under the pillow and never get out of bed? It isn’t a depression thing I’m talking about. It’s about making mistakes that we have to face.

Sometimes we find ourselves in over our heads and can’t face the fact we ~~don’t~~ can’t measure up (in our minds) so we just “take our ball and go home.”

You have probably seen the same information I have, but if not, then I’d like to use it to make a point.

Michael Jordan once said, “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

Babe Ruth struck out almost twice the number of times he hit a home run, yet he is still considered one of the greats. Abraham Lincoln lost almost every political race he entered, until he was finally elected president.

Thomas Edison went through thousand of experiments before inventing the light bulb. He was reported to have said, “Well, we know one more way it won’t work.”

When things happen to us that aren’t exactly “scripted” or the way we had hoped, it is easy to want to give up. But that is only one way to respond! There are other ways!!

I performed a wedding Sunday afternoon for a couple who has been together for five years and is now expecting a baby. (Spare the judgments that could rain down). I had a good initial visit with them and the door is now open for further dialogue. But the point I want to make is I talked to them during the ceremony about the permanence of marriage. About not giving up. About not being quitters. About loving as Christ loved the church.

I think we all need a good swift kick in the seat from time to time. We all get discouraged. We all feel like burying our head from time to time. But the one thing modeled for us in the Scriptures is

DON’T QUIT!

When the tough times hit, men and women of God didn’t quit. Even when they felt like it (take Elijah after Mt. Carmel) God said, “Oh no you don’t.” Example after example. None better than Jesus Himself.

SO DON’T YOU QUIT!!

Any thoughts? Is there a Bible or historical character who embodies not quitting to you? Do you know anyone who needs a word of encouragement today?

Posted in Christian living, Jesus, Pick me Up | 20 Responses »

Sight

Tuesday, May 14th, 2013

This is a continuation of my last post that was getting too long. I had so much more to say, but word limit was working against me. Sort of like preaching on Sunday, you know? Anyway…

I was thrilled Jane came Sunday and found a welcome reception. She also said some things to her friend that leads me to believe she will want to talk to me some day. That will totally cool! I look forward to that day, even though I know she has some tough questions. Yes, prayers would be appreciated.

BACK. TO. TOPIC.

In all honesty, I don’t know why people want to have piercings and tats. The piercings look like they hurt and like most people I am not into that kind of pain. I can’t say I desire a tat, especially at my age. My one comment is what happens when the guppy becomes a whale? BUT WHO AM I TO JUDGE WHAT THEY CHOOSE TO DO, WHICH IN MY MIND, INVOLVES A GRAY AREA. Now granted “cutting” is something totally different, and I do care about that. What I do want people to know is this:

WITH. OR. WITHOUT. ‘BODY. DESIGNS.” THEY. ARE. WORTH. A. LOT. IN. GOD’S. EYES.

I read a story recently in Mud and the Masterpiece by John Burke about pro baseball player Matt White. He had an aunt who struggled to make ends meet for years, living on 50 acres of property in Massachusetts. Due to failing health, she was forced to sell. As an act of kindness he bought her property for the appraised value of $50,000. While exploring the land to see about building a house, he discovered some outcroppings of stone ledges.

Matt contacted a geologist, who surveyed the land and informed Matt this stone had commercial value for patios and landscapes and could actually be sold for $100 a ton…and he had about 24 million tons on the land. Appraised surface value=$50,000; beneath the surface = over $2 billion! (pp.64-65)

I think that is called “Unless I really like baseball I think I’ll retire.” Sort of reminds me of Jesus’ story about the man who found a hidden treasure and sold all he had to buy the land. Or the parable of the pearl of great price.

The point of this story and the point of this post and the last one is this: Jesus looked out at the masses of people and looked beneath the surface. He saw something of great value. If we are going to be like Jesus to others, we must see what Jesus sees beneath the surface that’s of infinite worth to God. We need to see the hidden treasure and pearl of great price, whether “doctored” in piercings and tats; multi-layered makeup and multi-colored hair; physically fit or overweight; or any other outward appearance.

SEE PEOPLE AS JESUS SEES THEM!!

How are you at this? Do you have trouble getting past the obvious outward signs to see inside?

Posted in Christian living, Church, Jesus, Just Wondering, Miscellaneous, Scripture look | 18 Responses »

Plan

Sunday, April 21st, 2013

“Plan your work, then work your plan.”

If I have been told that once, I have been told that a thousand times. And for a thousand times I tended to kick against that plan. After all, plans were made to be broken. Right?

The basketball coach wants to run a play/plan, but would often applaud spontaneous action.

Financial plan? All well and good until life got in the way and spending for now became the modus operandi. Worry about consequences later.

After all, “the best laid plans of mice and men are all for naught.” My translation of that is “The best laid plans of mice and men go down the tubes.”

We saw a good example of the first quote “Plan your work and work your plan” this past week. After the horrendous moment at Monday’s Boston Marathon, a plan was put in place to find out and capture the cowards. An almost methodical approach was taken that included viewing footage, pictures, and then implementing the plan to capture them. I have to admit the old man in me has one regret: the older brother died way too quickly.

But I must admit I was impressed by the working of the plan by all involved. It would have been easy to have been rattled beyond rational thinking and action. It would have been easy to go off half-cocked with eyes afire and guns a-blazin’. There was a unity that was necessary for all departments to work together. Unlike the scene in The Fugitive where the Chicago police are working their own agenda that was against the agenda of the US Marshals. Not in this scenario. They worked together. In tandem. The plan ended in the death and the arrest of the cowards, oops I mean, perpetrators.

Reminds me of another Plan that was hatched in ages past. From the dawn of creation. The Plan for redemption, the rescue of man from his sin. “Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb.12:2) And let’s not forget the verse in Phil.2:8: “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.”

The Plan for man’s salvation was hatched from the beginning. But I, for one, also believe Jesus had the free will given to all and could have chosen not to die. I once heard it put: “The Plan was predestined, not the man.” I believe that. But I am sooooo thankful for Jesus’ willingness to be obedient and to carry out the plan for salvation-to die on a cross.

This is one plan for which I am glad the person involved did not go His own way. Any thoughts? Disagreement allowed. Just be kind.

Posted in Christian living, Doctrine, Jesus, Sunday Meanderings | 29 Responses »

Advice

Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013

While working on a sermon on Paul for my sermon series Reclaimed, it really hit me how Paul was not anything like his former self. My mind went to this scene from Lord of the Rings with Aragorn. For those who can’t take the time or are unable to view the video, it is where Aragorn is told by Elrond, “Put aside the Ranger. Become who you were meant to be.”

That’s good advice for all of us.

Charles Spurgeon, the late British preacher, is quoted as saying, “Don’t rely too much on labels, for too often they are fables.”

Again…good advice.

Pastor Craig Groeschel, in his new book Altar Ego wrote this:

To learn who I am, I’ve had to learn who I am not.

You are not what others think about you.

You are not your past.

Your are not what you did.

You are who God says you are. (p.11)

In another place he writes, “Rather than defining our worth by who we are in the opinions of others, we’ll live from the truth of who we are in Christ.” (p.9)

Again…good advice.

One of the principles of Wild at Heart is that God gives us a new name. No longer should we hang on to the old baggage that someone has passed down to us. When God gives us a new name, He also gives a new purpose. All you gotta do to see that truth is look at what Jesus did for His followers. Peter. John. Matthew. Zacchaeus. Mary Magdalene. The woman caught in adultery. Saul/Paul. To name just a few. Oh…one more…

BILL

I am learning, and Pastor Craig is teaching, that my past may be a part of who I am, but it certainly doesn’t have to define my future.

Again…good advice. Good advice for a lifetime. For me. For you.

And the sooner we all realize that, the better off we will all be.

And the better off those closest to us will be.

And the better off those we come in contact will be.

And the better off our relationship to Jesus will be. He can use anyone, but He can really use someone who is willing and ready to be used. Someone not tied down by the past. Lose the chains. Run free! Don’t allow the enemy of your soul to define who you are.

Live free. So…how do you plan to live today?

Posted in Christian living, God, Jesus, Just Wondering, Miscellaneous, Pick me Up | 23 Responses »

Empathy

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013

Bill’s definition: Empathy is the willingness to crawl into and see life through another’s skin.

I am working (translated: very slowly) my way through Al Mohler’s book, The Conviction to Lead. It is not a quick read. In his chapter on “Leaders are Speakers” he tells the following story. It is verbatim:

One of the greatest speeches of all time was given by another English monarch, Queen Elizabeth I. She spoke to her assembled troops gathered at Tilbury in 1588 as the nation anticipated the disaster of invasion by the Spanish Armada. Elizabeth knew that her troops were horribly outnumbered, and so did they. The army also believed it was weakened by the fact that the monarch was a woman, and there were fears for Elizabeth’s personal safety. The queen ignored those warnings and rode to the front of her troops on a warhorse, wearing armor. To the army she declared:

I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which rather than any dishonor shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field.

A strong wind later blew the Spanish armada to bits on Europe’s rocky coastlines, and Elizabeth’s army never had to fight the Spanish on British soil. But Elizabeth won the hearts of her people forever with the speech. It was an exquisite display of leadership and was undoubtedly the greatest speech of Elizabeth’s long reign. (pp 125-126)

I couldn’t help but picture the scene of William Wallace at the field of Banockburn from the movie Braveheart, or Aragorn’s speech at the Black Gate of Mordor as I read that scene/speech.

And while it is obviously used by Mr. Mohler to bring “flesh” to his chapter, I would like to take another angle…the angle of empathy. The queen literally dons armor and rides a warhorse to the front of the lines to indicate to her troops that she is with them and will fight alongside them. ‘Course she doesn’t belong there, but who notices? Who cares? She identified with her troops/her people in a moment of great need.

That, of course, is what people need. They need flesh and blood identifying with them in their need. Not turning away. Not ignoring them. Not pretending they don’t exist. In other words, they need us to be Jesus to them. Now, there is a novel thought! Not talking; but acting. Not preaching; but reaching.

Do you find it hard to empathize? Who can you do so with today?

Posted in Christian living, Church, Jesus, Just Wondering, Leadership | 14 Responses »

Victory!

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

QUESTION: What do you say that no one has either said before or won’t say this weekend?

ANSWER: Not a thing. Not one new thing.

I’m not even going to pretend to have any original thought for this post. I would be lying to myself and trying to fake you out, so it isn’t worth it. However, I will lay claim to this one unquestionable truth:

EASTER BRINGS HOPE

My sermon for Sunday is from John 11, the story of Jesus, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. When Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die,” He was offering hope. To them, the death of Lazarus was devastating and could have been prevented. To Jesus, it was another chance to glorify His Father. To them death seemed cruel, harsh, and final. To Him it was another opportunity for God’s power to be shown. Hint: He won.

Easter…Resurrection Sunday…whatever you want to call it, is just one more way to be made aware of the power of God displayed in the Resurrection of Jesus from the grave. We live with an undying hope of a forever future…courtesy of the Risen One.

Enjoy celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus this weekend. We have two services this Sunday: 9:00 and 10:45. I would appreciate your prayers for both services- for me as I bring a message of hope, and the folks as they listen. Thanks.

This is an older song but well worth being repeated.

Posted in Easter, Jesus, Preaching, Sermon Series/Topic | 18 Responses »

Perfection

Wednesday, March 13th, 2013

First a disclaimer: I have no intention of offending any of my readers. I know there are some religious groups/denominations who believe in obtaining sinless perfection here on earth. While I disagree, I am not writing this post to incite hard or harsh feelings toward me or anyone who comments.

If you read this post, you will know I am in the process of reading Mud and the Masterpiece by John Burke. It is blowing me away! Case in point: I went to bed Tuesday night at 9:30 (I get up at 4) and got back out of bed to read until after 11. Yeah, I questioned my sanity when the alarm went off, but I have been captured by his book. But it is not the first time John has written a book that has done that to me. If you were to look at our website you will find that OVCF is a

“Come as you are church where No Perfect People are Allowed.”

While I have wanted to pastor a church with that focus, I could never articulate it. Until I read John’s book No Perfect People Allowed shortly after I moved here in 2005. I didn’t just read it once. I read it three times and then preached a sermon series based on the idea, plus we offered small groups. It ~~drove~~ brought the point home, and it became our moniker and motive for ministry.

I firmly believe the church ought to be the one place people feel safe. Comfortable (in a good way). Covered in love and acceptance. Now… please understand I am not saying sin ought to be sugar-coated and the gospel (good news) of Jesus should be compromised. But the love of Jesus can be shared and the conviction of sin can be shared with a heart of love. No, let me restate that: the love of Jesus and the conviction of sin MUST be shared with a heart of love. We can’t expect a secular culture like the one we live in to embrace our “Christianese” and our strong condemnation of ~~sin~~ them. Why should they? Heck, I know churches and “followers of Jesus” who don’t even do that. A few years ago I read a book called “They Love Jesus but Not the Church.” With our screaming judgmentalism and wall-building sectarianism why should they? They certainly don’t “feel the love” emanating from us. Sadly, in today’s world, the message and the messenger are almost inseparable.

Here’s what I am advocating: The church is to be like Jesus and be His representative. Take the woman at the well or the woman caught in adultery or the woman who anointed his feet. How did Jesus approach each of them? He didn’t judge and castigate, but He also didn’t pooh-pooh their sin. “Go, call your husband, and come here.” “Go, and sin no more.” “Your sins are forgiven.” He loved them, but didn’t excuse them.

What a difference we would make if we approached people as Jesus did. Do you struggle with this? How are you doing? How does your church do? Any thoughts?

Posted in Christian living, Church, Doctrine, Jesus, Leadership, Legalism, Scripture look, Sin | 30 Responses »

Unshockable

Monday, March 11th, 2013

They walk in hand in hand. You don’t give it a second thought until you look a little closer and realize they are a same-sex couple. What do you do?

You thought you recognized the face. In fact, you are almost sure you were staring at it just this past week in the newspaper. Then it dawns on you! Of course. He/she was plastered across the front of the paper for a DWI.

The shame written across the face was evident. The downtrodden and down-looking eyes were another piece of evidence. Something about them said, “I don’t belong here. Please judge me so I can agree and never come back.” You realize they were in the paper for a child porn case.

The young woman can’t look you in the eye. You try to welcome her, but her guilt is too great. After all, what would you think if you knew she had just had an abortion? Or was a teenager who had had a sexual encounter and now the consequence is weighing on her. She is scum and everyone else will think so too.

All scenarios. But all scenarios that we probably have faced in the past or may face in the future. I gotta tell you, in all honesty, I would not have given a rip about these people several years ago. I could preach God would forgive, but that didn’t mean I had to have a part in it. Plainly put, I was a Pharisee. Lock, stock, and barrel.

I’m not going to presume how you would handle these or similar situations. As a pastor I have a unique view of things in many ways. That was how I got to be a Pharisee. But you can’t be one when God ~~slaps~~ slams you upside the head with a 2×4. Slam He did and it was not a pretty sight.

I’ve been reading Mud and the Masterpiece by John Burke. WOW!! I’m hooked! It’s not the first time John has done that. Later on that. Read this passage please. Substitute the above examples in the place of the woman. Jesus’ response would have been what? While the above examples are mine, the reference to Luke 7 that I am about to give is John’s.

Jesus looks beyond the mud to the masterpiece this woman is. He doesn’t ignore her sin (“Go and sin no more”), but His parable shows the debt she (and the Pharisees) owe could not be paid. John makes this statement:

The reason I believe Jesus wants His followers to be unshockable has nothing to do with hating sin or not hating sin. It has to do with seeing sin for what it is-it’s foreign matter. Sin is not our true identity-that’s the whole problem. We need to help people identify with God’s image in them. (The masterpiece under the mud-my note)

That is not sugarcoating sin. It is about not allowing it to be their/my identity. This post is getting long so I will continue it later this week. Till then, what are your thoughts? How would you react to the above scenarios? And if you get a chance, please listen to this.

Posted in Christian living, Church, Friendship, Jesus, Just Wondering, Leadership, Sin, Story | 26 Responses »

Messy

Sunday, March 10th, 2013

As I was growing up, the comic strip options were not as varied as they are today. We had our Blondie (and Dagwood). We had Dick Tracy. And of course, there were others. But probably the most popular at the time was the Peanuts gang by Charles M. Shultz. (There was even a bestseller called The Gospel According to Peanuts, in which the author connected Peanuts to the Bible). Each day Shultz would come up with a new “adventure” for his gang- Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy, Pigpen, Beethoven, and others. He would often feature Lucy at her five-cent psychology booth, where Charlie Brown would stop for “advice.” I had issues with Lucy anyway, particularly with her insistence on getting Charlie Brown to trust her, and then pulling the football away at the last minute. So having a “pop” psychology stand rubbed me wrong.

In this one particular strip, Lucy waxes “wisely” to Charlie. “Life is like a deck chair, Charlie. On the cruise ship of life, some people place their deck chair at the rear of the ship so they can see where they’ve been. Others place their deck chair at the front of the ship so they can see where they’re going.”

She looks at her puzzled client and asks, “Which way is your deck chair facing?”

Without hesitating, Charlie replies, “I can’t even get my deck chair unfolded.”

Been there done that??? I’m not ashamed to admit there have been times I have not had it all together. I have been unable to get my deck chair unfolded. Charlie and I have been soul mates from time to time.

But you know what? I’m okay with that. And I believe Jesus is okay with that as well. Nowhere in the Bible does it say, “Every Christ-follower must have it all together, all the time.” The Christian life has its ups and downs just like a life lived outside of Jesus’ influence. Nobody (except some whack jobs) says life will be all peaches and cream. The truth is that life is like a batch of roses, because even with roses there are thorns.

I made a point this past Sunday to say this several times:

JESUS IS NOT IN THE BUSINESS TO REFORM LIVES. HE IS IN THE BUSINESS TO TRANSFORM LIVES.

Mary Magdalene. The Gadarene demoniac. Saul/Paul. Me. You. Thousands, maybe millions of others. Not reformed, but transformed. Still deck chair-challenged from time to time, but working on getting them to stay open. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take that!

Is your deck chair open? What direction is it facing in? Are you trying to reform or have you been transformed?

Posted in Christian living, Jesus, Miscellaneous, Scripture look, Sermon Series/Topic, Story | 37 Responses »

Possessed

Thursday, March 7th, 2013

According to the online dictionary, possessed has three definitions:

Owning or mastering something. He possessed great wealth.
Controlled by or as if by a spirit or other force; obsessed. That person is possessed by a demon.
Calm; collected. He remained possessed during the trial.

For the purpose of this post (and the message Sunday), I am using the second: “controlled by or as if by a spirit or other force.” My theme over the next two months is dealing with the change in people as a result of contact with Jesus. I like the following quote:

When we sin and mess up our lives, we find that God doesn’t go off and leave us-He enters into our trouble and saves us. Quote by Eugene Peterson used in Messy Spirituality by Mike Yaconelli

Many of us live, or know people who live messy lives. Lives filled with divorce, death, drugs, drinking, an addiction of some kind. Really messy, messy lives. Some wrote us off. Some are still writing us off. Some have written others off as “incorrigible.” “He/she will never change.”

Good thing nobody told Jesus that about Mary Magdalene. We aren’t given a whole lot of background information about her except what Mark 16:9 tells us: “Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.” Whoa! Back the truck up!! Seven demons??? Like I said, good thing they didn’t tell Jesus MM was beyond saving. Truth be known: I may not have been possessed by seven demons (I wasn’t); I may not have done some dastardly deed worthy of imprisonment; I may not have driven drunk and almost taken someone’s life; I may not have snorted something up my nose; but I am still no better off than MM. I have my own sin that needs taken care of.

MM became an avid follower of Jesus (and don’t believe those cockeyed stories different media want to present about their relationship). But her coup de grace is found in John 20: 11-18. Imagine the honor given her by being the first to see Jesus alive. They had come to the tomb and it was empty. The angel had appeared to the Mary’s; Peter and John had already made their appearance. They had all left…except MM. It was then Jesus rewarded her patience and devotion with His appearance.

We will not see the risen Lord as MM did. But He does come to us in our brokenness. No one can take that away from MM. No one can take that away from us. Enjoy your weekend. Enjoy your worship. Enjoy knowing you matter to Jesus no matter what.

Thanks to Dan for the banner.

Posted in Church, Jesus, Preaching, Scripture look, Sermon Series/Topic, Sin | 24 Responses »