Thinking...

I have watched, with many, the coverage on the news of the death of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.  Many people are mourning the passing of someone they never knew personally and yet impacted their world.

 

Today I am thinking about the millions of girls that hate themselves because they don't view themselves as "beautiful," today I think of the millions of young people who dream of little else than being rich and famous.

 

I never dated Farrah (in high school I claimed I did… but I really didn't.  She asked me once but I was too busy [lie]) and I never worked on a project with Michael, but I don't honor them as icons of looks and fame.  Talent, generosity, beauty, personality, achievements and money will not change either of their eternal destinies. 

 

Today my heart breaks because we Christians get caught in the waves of someone else's popularity and find ourselves trapped in hype and clichés.  I wonder if it would be a good time to think not about the music or the appearance, but the soul.  Both of them have one thing in common with you and I – we will stand in the same spot before God.  Today I think about what is eternal.   

 

In my spirit I found myself standing with a crowd of people.  We all were human enough to get envious of each other and normal enough to idolize what doesn't last.  Jesus walked in the center of the group and asked us two questions we could not answer.  He asked us, "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?  Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul (Mark 8:36-37)?  

 

Thankful for Today, Trusting In Forever,

 

Pastor Dave

Walk

I went for a walk yesterday and prayed for my church.  I was joined by the One I was praying to.  He asked me if I knew what His desire was for the people who make up the Body of Christ.  I wasn't sure, so I continued to ask Him to move in the lives of people and to help us be obedient to the call.  I asked Him to heal marriages and give single people a pure heart and ability to hear through the lies of what culture says makes a person valuable.  I talked a lot.  He listened. 

 

As we walked He asked me again if I knew what His desire was for the church .  I really didn't know how to answer.  I talked to Him about money and how we have so little faith when surplus is gone and a unique passion to be good stewards (cheap) when there is more cushion.  I talked to Him about the work that needs to be done and the gifts that need to be used.  I told him about direction, vision, and heart. 

 

He didn't ask me the question again.  He didn't say anything.  I continued talking to Him about pettiness, how there are things we need, there are programs that we must engage, and people we must assimilate.  Words and thoughts morphed from requests to whining… the difference between the two is often paper thin.

 

I waited for the question that I was trying to avoid hoping that I had accidentally stumbled across the answer, or at least hit something close.  I heard nothing.

 

I turned around to find Him two houses behind me standing on the sidewalk pointing to a teenage girl He was standing next to – she didn't know He was there.  She had just fallen and was trying to secure her hockey stick to a rack on her bike.  It wasn't going well.

 

I walked back to where she and my missing walking Partner were standing.  He smiled.  She fought with her bike, a bungee cord, and a hockey stick.  He told me to help her.  He told me to be nice to her.  He told me to stop ignoring her.  He told me to be a servant.  She didn't hear Him.  I did.

 

She and I talked about the street hockey game she was going to as I secured the stick on her bike rack so it wouldn't fall off or get twisted in her legs as she peddled.  She thanked me and rode off.  He thanked me for being kind to one of His favorite daughters (He has a lot of them and most don't even know it).     

 

We started to walk again and He asked me the question.  He asked me if I knew what His desire was for His people.  I looked to Him with a myriad of possible answers running through my mind.  All of them seemed either too religious or too weak to be the right answer.  He asked me to think about it.

 

Colossians 1:9-12
…we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

 

 

Walking,

 

Pastor Dave

The Word

Are you engaged in the Word?

200 years ago Charles Finney wrote: "What are our Bibles good for if we do not lay hold on their precious promises, and use them as the ground of our faith when we pray for the blessing of God? You had better send your Bibles to the heathen, where they will do some good, if you are not going to believe and use them"

We seem to have many different styles of Bible use in the faith.

There are the people who use it to prove their point but have no intention of living its commands. These people love to quote things like, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone." They ignore the fact that in the same story Jesus also said, Go and leave your life of sin." Point provers have a weapon they have not been trained to use. A scalpel should not be used as a hammer.

There are the people who scrapbook the Bible. They want to dress up their favorite parts as they skim through the Word like they were looking for a photo of their favorite memory. They know how to avoid the photos they don't agree with or wish were never taken. They're looking for the parts that make them smile and feel good about being a "believer."

There are the people who doorstop the Bible. They would never use it for an actual doorstop, but it receives about the same amount of attention. It has a function and serves a purpose but largely remains an untouched reality. The fact that it could do something more and serve a much large purpose remains an uninvestigated truth.

There are the yo-yo people. These people go through extreme spurts. At one point the Word seems to be their very life blood… soon it is an unopened guilt dispenser. The intention to be in the Word is cut off by their priorities. What was a passion to hear from God turns into a mild interest and then morphs into a temporary distaste. The distaste is interrupted by a mini-revival that causes a new attempt at being an eager student. Yo-yo.

There are the toxic material people. They suit up when they look into the Word with the big yellow suit, gas mask and gloves. They will look into it but they will protect themselves from any real contact with their spirit. They know the danger of really listening to the Words of Christ. They know the stuff in their life that the Word will call them out on. They know the power – but they protect themselves from it.

Then, oh, thank God, let heaven rejoice and let all of nature be in awe- there are those who have found that the words are more than ink on a page. There are those who know that God's letter is somehow divinely empowered to crawl into the crevasses of their soul and bring conviction, cleansing, and healing. There are those know that it contains thoughts that will never be fully understood on this side of eternity, and it also contains simple missiles of truth that instantly find a place to explode the love of God. They want to read it, think on it, live it, hear it preached, sing songs to the Author, and feel its washing power over their mind.

If it is an addiction – it is one the builds what is eternal and tears down what is temporal.

If it is a crutch – it is for those who know they are lame and long to stop crawling.

If it is a hoax – it is only one that is eternal and the only one that is powerful enough to draw a dividing line through humanity. And, one that I will give my very life for because it is an account of One who gave his life for me.

May everything not contained in the Bible receive none of my attention and what is contained in the Bible receive every ounce of my being!

My friends, there is no revival, corporate or personal without the Word of God! This summer may we find its pages in front of us often, may we see its anointing changing our life, may we surrender to its Author without hesitation, and may it be obvious to others our diet includes manna from above!

And God's People Said…

Pastor Dave

7 Words

Right now I am sitting behind piles of about 15 commentaries and books I'm studying for the message on Sunday.  It started earlier this week with a word from the New Testament that I wanted to go deeper with - those are the books on the bottom of the piles. 

I have gone down a few "rabbit trails" that were kind of fun, but no real fruit was found.  I've read about the same passages from different authors and commentators, I learned stuff, but no real sense of "striking gold."

The study process is one that I enjoy and receive energy from.  But, as I reflect on the literary piles, the lessons learned, the historical and linguistic lessons, and the theology that is there… ya, not quite enough.

I find myself still thinking over that phrase from the Word of God that started all of the digging.  No author or theologian and no commentator or Greek scholar can touch the power of the Holy Spirit taking 7 familiar words and tilling up the soil of my soul and planting those 7 words in my own spirit.

Bruce, Bauer, Carson, Hendrickson, Earle, Michaels, Robertson, Barclay, Brown, and the Dictionary of New Testament Theology have been asked to find their chair in the classroom of my soul.  They have said what they needed to say and what they were equipped to say, they have done the study and shared the wisdom, I have listened and looked at their investment, but they have been asked to take a seat a again. The Teacher, the Author of the words, the Word, the Counselor, the Lover of our souls, the Greatest Theologian, and the Eternal 'I Am,'  has taken his place at the head of the class and it is our role to sit and listen.  I wanted a chair in the front row.

As always the Spirit of God has better insight to the Word of God then the followers of God.  Tools about the Teacher can never take the place of submission to the Teacher!

Do you ever try to impress God with what you have learned about Him?  Do you ever take a pass from obedience because you think you don't "know" enough?  Both questions should have a "no" answer to them.  

All our efforts at being "good," all our attempts at being "right," all our shots at being "religious" fall to the floor when the Spirit of God is given the podium of our life. 

So, I'm listening to the Spirit about the 7 words and using the tools to support what He says.  May I challenge you to do the same with your life sermon?  Use the tools and listen to The Author (by the way we are quite adept at switching that around).

If you use what is human and listen to Who isn't it'll be "the best summer ever!"

Excited About 7 Words,

Pastor Dave

p.s. If you don't attend our church or won't be here Sunday check out the podcast to find out what the 7 words are.