Wonders in the Night Sky

Okay, I confess, I am a “wonderholic.” Call it what you will, mushy sentimentalism, hopeless romanticism, mindless preoccupation...I prefer to call it child-like wonder. Long ago, I made a choice to put my faith and trust in the Word of God as the basis for all truth. I accept it at face value and it shapes my world view and my outlook on life. I don’t need proof in the physical realm, because God has done his greatest work in my heart and soul. I know He is real because He is at work in my life on a daily basis. But when He puts on a show like He did last night, I am struck with wonder, just like a child in awe of His amazing artistic power and prowess. A couple of days ago, I heard that there was going to be a total lunar eclipse, a fairly rare event, but the fact that it was going to fall on the Winter Solstice made it a first in the last 372 years. The fact that it would be visible over most of the northern hemisphere was also something that intrigued me. On my way home from a hospital visit in Joplin, I saw the full moon rise in all of its splendor and I was struck with its beauty. I decided that I wanted to see the eclipse, so when I got home, I looked up the timing of the event. It was to begin at 12:35 AM…..OK, did I really want to see it that bad? So I made one concession to the fact that I am no longer a teenager. I went to bed at the regular time and set my alarm for 12:20 AM. When it went off, I got up and got dressed and made my way down to the Honey Creek Landing so that I could get a good view of the moon over the lake. It was a gorgeous night. The lake was calm and the temperature was in the mid 50’s. The sky was clear and as the moon progressed into darkness, the stars shone even more brightly. I was struck by the beauty of the scene; The lights of the bridge reflecting off the water, Christmas lights from the houses on the shore twinkling in the distance, and the mist rising up off the lake in the cool darkness. Even though I was alone, it struck me that others all over the country were looking at the same spectacle that I was. We were sharing a moment of wonder over God’s majestic handiwork. I stood there for an hour and a half in awe of what I was seeing and experiencing. As the light of the moon came close to being completely eclipsed, another image began to appear, a brownish, red reflection of the earth that became more evident as the sunlight reflecting off the moon was blocked from view. It was a beautiful sight, but looking back on it this morning, I can see a faith lesson to be learned from last night’s majestic show in the heavens. When Jesus proclaimed that we are the light of the world, the light that He spoke of was very similar to the radiant light of the full moon. The moon itself produces no light. The light that we see is simply a reflection of the light from the sun. In the same way, the light that shines from the life of a believer is light that is simply the reflection of the Light of Christ. An eclipse happens when the earth in it’s rotation around the sun, passes between the Sun and the moon. The eclipse gives us a pretty clear picture of what takes place when a Christian allows the world to come between him and Christ. Before long, the Light of Christ is completely covered up and what becomes visible in the life of the Christian is a reflection of the world. These rare but spectacular events should be taken as a reminder from God not to let the world get in the way of our testimony for Christ. Fortunately, the eclipse doesn’t last for long. After only a few minutes of darkness, the light became visible again and progressed slowly, but deliberately back to its full strength. Ultimately, the message of Ps. 19:1 was confirmed to be true. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork,” and like a child, I still look on in wonder.

Christmas Is...

Christmas Is…

Christmas is a time for memories,

Christmas is a time for joy,

Christmas is a time awaited

by all little girls and boys,

Christmas is a happy season

Filled with tiny sparkling lights

We look forward to the time

Of snowy days and silent nights.

But let us not forget the reason

For this time of joy and mirth

Is the coming in this season

Of our blessed Savior’s birth.

For without Him all the glitter

Of this holiday refrain

Would be nothing more than ashes

And our lives would be in vain.

By Marty Hughes

Christmas Angels

These little angels, depicted in a frescoe by Rafael in the Sistine Chapel, look bored and impatient with whatever it is that they are witnessing in heaven.  After what I saw yesterday morning, I am sure that Rafael must have used children performing in a Christmas program as the inspiration for his masterpiece.

These little cherubs put on quite a show for us yesterday morning.  The church was full of visitors, mostly family members, who had come to see their "little angel" perform.  The young ones timidly sang their songs and recited their verses and then impatiently waited while the rest of the program continued on to its conlusion.  The antics of the children is always one of the most memorable aspects of any Christmas program; the stumbles, the mumbles, and the missteps that cause us to giggle just a bit as the old familiar story is told.  Children are notorious for their short attention span and their delightfully innocent ignorance of what is appropriate at such austere occasions. 

This adorable picture of our little cherubs, brought a lesson to my mind about how we must look to God at times.  Our Father has set in motion an elaborate presentation of His eternal plan of redemption.  The stage upon which this story is set is much larger than we can imagine.  He has chosen to give us a starring role, but our part is only a small piece of the whole.  It is an epic story, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son to die for those who had turned their backs on Him.  He sent that Son into this world through a virgin birth in a lowly place with a lofty goal of changing lives for eternity.  Those of us who have received this amazing gift are then called upon to be His messengers, proclaiming this magnificent story to the whole world.  Yet in the middle of this amazing spectacle, we are often found, pouting and disinterested. 

I know that Christmas in the 21st century lays a heavy layer of demands on most of us.  I know that the commercialized version of Christmas in America strays far from its original intent.  But I'd like to challenge you to remember what it really means, what its all about.  And never forget that you are His "little angel" entrusted with the task of proclaiming good tidings of great joy that shall be to all people. Stand up straight, let His light twinkle in your eyes, and speak up so everyone can hear you.  Your Father is watching.

Christmas's Cast of Characters

The story of Christmas is a wonderful revelation of God’s eternal plan of redemption illustrated in the lives of the cast of characters in this cosmic drama. The Virgin Mary, a young innocent, who willingly offers herself to be the vessel that God will use to bring hope to mankind. Her hopes and dreams, her character and reputation, all must be laid upon the altar of service to the Lord. Joseph, a man whose faith is tested by the unusual nature of God’s plan. He didn’t insist on personal vindication, but simply responded to the message of the angel to take Mary to be his wife, even though she was already with child. Sure, he had an encounter with an angel, but he knew that his story of how she had come to be in her condition would be greeted by most with derision and ridicule. Still, he responded lovingly and faithfully to the role that God had chosen him to play. The humble shepherds represent the meek and lowly of the world, the common man to whom God revealed His plan with pomp and circumstance. It was to these humble laborers that God’s message offered forgiveness and redemption. Their front row seats to this grand entrance show that God’s love truly does embrace all mankind. The wise men from the east remind us that God reveals himself to those who seek Him. Wherever He finds an enquiring heart, His light shines forth to lead the way to Christ. The magi observed the message written in the stars, the handiwork of God that leaves all mankind without excuse. They doggedly pursued an encounter with the Messiah and God rewarded them with a one on one audience with the infant King. But there were others whose response to the blessed event left something to be desired. The inquiry by the wise men filled Herod with suspicion and jealousy. He saw the Promised One as a threat to his position as a ruler. He would rather destroy the long-awaited Messiah than give up his station in life.

The scribes and Pharisees displayed a knowledge of God’s promises, but a level of faith that was insufficient to carry them the short distance from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Their indifference caused them to miss the event that they had waited all their lives hoping to witness. Even the innkeeper has a lesson to share. The torrid pace of everyday life, the overwhelming stress of the rat race, caused him to lose sight of what was really important. When Jesus came knocking on his door, he had nothing to offer but the leftovers of an overly busy life. As a result, he continued to wait tables only a few yards from the pivotal event in human history, and he never knew it. The Christmas story is played out again and again in lives all around the globe every day. When some souls are confronted with the Savior, they respond with submission and faith and the result is miraculous. The angels rejoice and their lives are changed forever . Others spend their lives seeking Him and their efforts are rewarded with a personal encounter with the God who made the stars and set the world in motion. And yes, there are those whose pride and position cause them to reject and oppose Him to their own detriment. Some let their indifference sap their religious ritual of all meaning and efficacy while others are simply too busy to consider the claims of a Child whose life journey led Him from a manger to a cross to an empty tomb. So this Christmas, when you see the stars twinkling in the midnight sky and feel the brush of angels’ wings, don’t miss your chance to celebrate the coming of the newborn King.

The Gift

Well, the Christmas season has officially begun.  No not the Christmas shopping season, Walmart has been pushing Christmas ever since they put away the Halloween decorations.  No not the Christmas music season, Shelley never misses a chance to play a little Christmas music, even if it is 70 degrees, sunny, and the middle of September.  For me the real Christmas season begins with preparations for the first Sunday in December.  That is when we start singing Christmas carols in church and I start preaching about the starry night that changed the world forever.  Christmas time is a busy time around a church.  Parties, programs, and presentations fill every waking moment.  Add to the frenzy of the holiday the fact that final preparations for the New Year are also being made, and you have a somewhat chaotic time.  Just as the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping has a tendency to exhaust rather than fuel our Christmas spirit, the full calendar of Christmas events around the church can distract us from the most important point of this and every other season.  God loved this world soooo much that He gave us a very special gift, His Son.  This gift was a costly one.  God gave that which was most precious to Him, in order to pay the price for our rebellion and denial of His love.  Wow! Hard to understand, isn't it?  The details of the story, the manger, the shepherds, the inn that was full to overflowing, all serve to illustrate the wonderful plan of redemption that God established.  Anyone who is foolish enough to believe that their good works are sufficient to win them favor with God, just doesn't get the underlying story of Christmas.  Christmas is all about a loving God's response to fallen man's desperate need.  Man's inherent sinfulness had condemned our race to judgment and death, but God "so loved the world" that He made the only provision possible for our dilemma. He sent His Son to be the very first Christmas Gift.  He came into the world that the world might be saved.  Through his birth, life, death, and resurrection, He offered us the gift of eternal life, something that we were incapable of earning.  That is the true meaning of this hectic season.  So over the next few weeks, as you prepare for the time that you will spend celebrating the holiday with your family and friends, don't forget that the reason for the season is the gift, God's gift to you.

Accumulated Grace

On Tuesday of this week, I celebrated my 51st birthday.  Shelley wasn't feeling well and went to bed early that evening, so I sat up for a while and thumbed through the old photo albums and reminisced about my life.  It was fun seeing all of the pictures of my childhood and early adult years.  It reminded me of all that I have to be thankful for in my life.  Each picture brought back memories about the stories that surrounded that particular event.  People that have played such a big part of my life that now have moved on, either to heaven or down the path that their own journeys have taken them on, others who still have a daily impact on my life, all were gifts of God's grace to me at a time when I needed them most.   That stroll down memory lane helped me to realize that what I am today is the product of the accumulated grace of God over these many years.  His creative nature has continued to mold me and shape me through the interaction that I have had with the poeple that He has brought into my life.  Some experiences have been soft and sweet, feeding my spirit and helping me to grow.  Others have been tough and abrasive and God has used them like sandpaper to knock off the rough edges. The influence of some has come in a few, occasional short doses, while others have been a constant, faithful, abiding presence upon which I have been able to rely, but now I see that each was sent from the hand of God to make me into what I am today.  This seasoned, rugged, 51-year-old body and soul has stood the test of time.  It has a few scars and a few constant aches and pains, but for the most part it is still strong and capable.  I know that I still have a job to do and that in order to do it, I still need a daily dose of God's grace and mercy.  I am thankful that He has given me a goodly number of friends and loved ones to continue the process of building, molding, shaping, and, yes, sanding me into a more representative likeness of His Son.  And after all, you're only as old as you feel, right? :0)

Bring Your Umbrella!

I once heard a story about a town that was experiencing a devastating drought.  In spite of everything that they had done and all of the prayers that had gone up, it appeared that rain was nowhere in the forecast.  The Christians in the community had gotten together and one man said, "I have heard that a famous evangelist will be coming through town soon.  He has a reputation of being a man of prayer.  God has done some amazing things at his meetings in response to his simple prayers.  Let's ask him to pray for rain."  So on the day the evangelist arrived in town, they sent four men from the community to his hotel room to see him.  When they asked him if he would pray with them that the drought would be broken, he told them that the most common cause of unanswered prayer was unbelief and until they came to him believing that God would answer their prayers, he would not pray with them.  He then showed them to the door.  They were flabbergasted.  How could he know whether they believed in prayer or not?  The next day they returned, only to have him meet them at the door, take one look at them, and say, "You still don't believe that God will answer your prayers" and promptly shut the door in their face.  On the third day, when they knocked on the door, he opened it once more, took a quick glance and said to the young man standing at the back, "You can come in, the rest of you go home and find your faith."  When the young man entered the room, the evangelist said, "OK, let's get down to praying."  They knelt beside the bed and in very simple words the evangelist asked God to show mercy and spare the community of any further judgment.  He asked God to extend His grace and send the rain to break the drought and show himself mighty to the people of the area.  After only a few moments in prayer, the evangelist got up and said to the young man, "Now you had better hurry home.  The rain is coming."  As the young man prepared to leave, he asked the evangelist why he had allowed the young man in on this day when he had not on the days before and why him and not the others.  The evangelist said, "For three days you have been coming to ask me to pray for rain and today was the first day that you brought your umbrella."
Tomorrow at noon, we will begin a prayer vigil with the purpose in mind of seeing God shake our nation, save the lost, heal the sick, and provide our needs.  As we pray, we must be prepared for God's answer.  We must come with humble hearts.  We must be willing to be obedient.  We must put feet to our prayers and do what He calls for us to do in response to this special time with Him.
We will spend time in prayer for Revival.  Will we be willing to allow God to revive our hearts?  Will we be willing to lay down our pride, repent of our sins, and walk in obedience?
We will spend time in prayer for the nations.  Will we be willing to be a witness to the lost?  Will we be willing to give so that others can go?  Will we be willing to go where He sends us?
We will spend time in prayer for our country.  Will we be willing to fulfill our responsibilities as a Christian citizen?  Will we be willing to stand up in the public arena for what is true and right?  Will we be willing to face persecution and ridicule for the name of Christ?
We will spend time in prayer for the family.  Will we be willing to submit our will to His will and follow His plan for our lives?  Will we be willing to fulfill our God-given roles and be true and faithful to our vows?  Will we raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?
We will spend time in prayer for the sick.  Will we be willing to confess our faults one to another?  Will we believe that God is able and willing to heal?  Will we put our lives in His hands and believe that His way is best?
We will spend time in prayer for our needs.  Will we be willing to let go of the controls and trust God to provide?  Will we release the worry and fear that often accompany our needs and trust God's ability to handle the situation?
We will spend time in prayer for our church.  Will we be willing to submit ourselves, our personal interests, and our preferences to God's will and way for our church?  Will we be willing to take the first step in resolving conflicts with our brothers and sisters in Christ? Will we confess our rebellious and  divisive attitudes that bring dishonor to the name of Christ?
Our willingness to take action on these things will be the evidence of our faith in God to answer our prayers.  I hope that you will be a part of our Prayer Vigil.  I hope that you will allow God to do a work in you that will change you forever. 
Oh, and don't forget to bring your umbrella!

Can Ye Not Watch With Me One Hour?

I was reminded again as I crossed Honey Creek this morning what an amazing artist our God is.  The sunrise was a brilliant display of colors shining through the clouds, reflecting off the water, on an otherwise gray morning.  The beauty of Grand Lake at that early hour has never lost its impact on me.  But this morning, a question crowded its way into my mind.  Is my awe and wonder at the beauty of the sunrise just worship of the Creation rather than the Creator?  Now clearly, the passage in Romans 1 that warns us against this speaks of those who have denied God and turned to perversion and idolatry, but the thought that came to my heart this morning was something different.  If, in the beauty of the sunrise, God is inviting me into an intimate conversation with Him, have I responded as I should?  If God is passionately pursuing an opportunity to show Himself to me, is it not incumbent on me to give Him the time to do it?  I know that I have so structured my time with the Lord, that sometimes I crowd Him out and silence Him by all the things that I try to do in order to hear from Him.  I try to cram my prayer, Bible reading, and journaling into 30 or 45 minutes in the morning and often by the end of that time, my mind has already wandered off to the myriad of tasks that I am going to have to get done today.  I am reminded of the last night that Jesus spent with His disciples before the crucifixion.  He was dealing with the weight of the sins of mankind bearing down on His shoulders.  He welcomed His disciples to join Him in the Garden, but rather than minister to his needs, they kept falling asleep.  His question to them, sometimes haunts me as well, "Could ye not watch with me one hour?" 
I rarely spend an entire hour in prayer and intimate fellowship with Him.  I read the stories of great men of God from centuries past who rose up early and spent several hours on their faces before God before ever starting their day, and I wonder, how did they do it?  I believe that I have found the answer.  They didn't look at prayer like a shopping list, rather they saw it as a conversation.  They recognized that prayer involves several elements, many of which we neglect all together.  We have so compartmentalized our walk with God that we lose sight of the fact that it is all worship and needs to be seen from that perspective.  If we are going to spend sigificant time with the Lord in prayer, then may I suggest a few things that will help. 
Worshipful music to prepare your heart and soul for communion with Him.  In our discussions(battles) over church music in the past few years, I believe that we have lost sight of an important fact, music is a tool that the Holy Spirit uses to open us to His promptings. We should not let it become stale and ritualistic so that it loses its impact on our spirit.  Neither should we allow it to become a performance that becomes the center of attention and takes the focus off of God.  Music that draws us into worship will allow God to direct our prayers rather than having to follow the path that we have chosen for Him.
Read a few Scriptures about praise and thanksgiving and pray them back to God.  Take the time to look up verses that refer to the glory and splendor of our God and the marvelous things that He has done for us.  In the process, seek His face.  Ask God to reveal Himself to you in new and deeper ways.  Don't be satisfied with the snapshots of His glory that You have stored away in the past.  Look for something new and fresh. 
Be sensitive to His conviction of sin that needs to be dealt with in your life.  As we become aware of God's presence and as we see His glory, it will make us more aware of our own sinfulness.  Confession of sin is a vital part of prevailing prayer.  Sin that is harbored in our lives robs us of power and hinders our prayers.  Early on in our times of prayer, God will bring conviction of our sin so that we can deal with it immediately and have victory through His forgiveness.  This is a matter of humbling, a test to see if we will submit our will to His will.  Don't move on in your prayer time until you have dealt with the sin that God is dealing with you about.
Ask God to direct your heart toward the needs of others.  Genuine worship will result in godly love for others.  When we are humbled by God, it seems to put our needs and the needs of those around us into proper perspective.  When we submit to His Spirit, the very first fruit of the Spirit is love.  When we genuinely love others, their burdens become our burdens.  It is only then that we can genuinely pray as fervently for their needs as we do for our own. 
Make a conscious choice to rejoice in the Lord.  Even in the hour of our greatest need, there are things that we can rejoice about.  By exhibiting a joyful spirit, we acknowledge that God is in control and that He holds our future.  Such rejoicing can very easily lead us back into a time of worship as we acknowledge God's exalted place in our lives. 
Pour out your heart to God about your deepest needs and most pressing concerns.  The elements that we have already discussed will help to put these things in perspective.  Never be afraid to tell God what is on your heart.  Christians often bottle up hurt, anger, or frustration, because they think it would be disrespectful, or worse, sinful, to aim these at God.  But God already knows our heart and He wants us to be honest with Him.  If we minimize the pain, deny the anger, or ignore the frustration, we only make the problem worse and we don't give God the opportunity to intervene.  Remember, Jesus said, "Ask."  He has welcomed you into His presence and He wants to hear from you.
Take the time to listen for an answer.  God will speak to your heart if you will listen for His voice. Reserve a portion of your time to listen for God's answer to your prayers.  The Bible tells us to "Be still..."  God will not shout over the noise that we have allowed to crowd our hearts and minds.  He will speak to us in a still small voice and the only way that we will hear it is if we shut out all of the other voices for a while.  This is really the most important part of our prayer time.  It is the part that gives us direction for our next step.  It connects our time of prayer with the rest of our day and sets the tone for how we will approach everything that we will face. 
If we will learn to include these elements in our time with the Lord, it won't be hard to spend significant time with Him.  Our prayer life will cease to be the recitation of a shopping list and will become an active conversation with God that brings us joy and peace and fulfillment.  As a result, we will never have to hear Him say, "Could you not watch with me one hour?"

Pursuit

Wow!  It's been a while.  As a matter of fact, it's been so long since I posted to my blog that the website address dropped off my recently used URL's .  The truth is, I have been working on a long list of procrastinated items and preparing for my favorite time of the year.  The ministry opportunities and demands of this time of year are extraordinary and I love it.  We have some of our most fruitful and memorable events during this season of the year and with the holidays approaching, there is excitement in the air.  To be honest, you know that I love to write, and when I am doing my updates consistently I often spend the entire morning getting the devotional right.  That means that I sometimes put other things off, but the morning devotionals are almost always the direct result of something that the Lord is saying to me in my personal time with Him.  I never want to get so busy working for Him that I neglect to spend time with Him. 
The thing that God has been impressing upon me in recent days is the concept of pursuing Him.  It comes from the myriad of passages that speak of seeking the Lord, following after Him, searching for Him. At first sight, it appears from these scriptures as though God hides Himself or seeks to avoid intimate contact with His people.  But the overriding indication from the New Testament is that this is not true.  In reality, the natural tendency of human nature is to move away from God, therefore an intimate relationship with Him demands that we maintain an attitude of passionate desire for closeness that will drive us to match Him step for step.  The rushing wind of the world flying by in the opposite direction makes our walk with God seem frantic.  So this idea of pursuit really is more of a decisive attitude to move in God's direction than a high speed chase of a God who is leaving us behind.  We must choose, moment by moment to follow God rather than conform to the world around us.  When we do, God promises to make Himself available to us in an intimate way.  One of Chelsea's favorite quotes is, "You will never possess that which you do not pursue.  Lord, help me to chase what really matters, YOU!"  May each of us passionately pursue an intimate relationship with God on a consistent basis.

Things I Never Want To Forget

The mind is an amazing thing.  God has created us with the amazing ability to think, learn, remember and imagine, all in vivid detail and in full technecolor.  I was reminded how precious this gift is the other day when I visited one of our long-time members in the nursing home.  Gary is suffering from an inoperable brain tumor and the combination of the tumor placing pressure on his brain and the effects of radiation therapy have had a profound impact on his ability to think, speak, and remember.  My short visit with him has stuck with me for the last week; seeing the frustration on his face when he couldn't gather his thoughts enough to express what was on his heart, hearing the confusion in his voice as he tried to remember how long he had been going through treatments, and seeing the tears in his eyes as he apologized for being weak and emotional.  I began to think about all that I would lose if I could no longer remember the things that God has done in my life.  There are so many memories that I treasure, a joyous childhood marked by love, acceptance, and the godly example of my parents, a unique adolescent and high school experience that set me apart from my peers.  I had the opportunity to go to BBC at the zenith of its fruitfulness and experience the excitement and challenge of college life.  I would hate to lose the memory of the first night that I laid eyes on Shelley, and the near-stalkeresque pursuit of her that followed.  I treasure my memories of my days on the back side of the desert in Spokane, WA and the magical moments and hard lessons that I experienced there.  I can't imagine losing my grip on every little detail of the night I asked Shelley to marry me or the vision that she was as she walked down the aisle to become my bride.  I couldn't bear to lose my sense of wonder at the birth of my children and at each stage of their development.  I would hate to forget what my heart felt like the first time I stepped into the pulpit as the pastor, the rush of excitement and the utter terror at the awesome responsibility that God had laid on my shoulders.  How could I ever lose sight of the hundreds of couples that I have counseled with and then presided over their weddings?  How could I forget the blessed peace that God has given, even in the darkest hours, when I held beloved church members in my arms and sought to bring them comfort in the hour of tragedy and loss.  It would be a tragedy to lose sight of the hundreds of people over the years that I have been given the privilege of leading to Christ, and the look of relief and gratitude to God that radiated from their faces.  Victories and defeats, championships and near-misses, joys and trials, every one of these memories is precious to me.  As I have struggled this week to process the emotions that I felt after my visit with Gary, I have come to this conclusion.  First, I need to be thankful every day for the blessings that God has given me. Second, I need to tell the people that I love that I love them at every opportunity and the ones that are not so lovely, I need to make things right with before it's too late.  And finally, I need to write these things down so that when my memory begins to fade, I can look back with thanksgiving on what God has done.  I do not doubt that the day will come when I find myself in a similar situation to Gary's, whether it be because of illness or longevity.  So while I still can, I plan to hold fast to the memories that I treasure and be thankful to God every day.

Hope for a Nation

This morning I was able to participate in an event that I find very encourgaing.  I stood in front of Grove Middle School with a group of sixth through eighth graders and prayed for our community, our nation, our leaders and the lost.  The entire event was led by the students themselves and it offered hope for what the future holds for our country.  There are, among the upcoming generation, a few young people who are passionately in love with the Lord and His Word.  They understand their responsibility to be a witness and they are not ashamed to make a public stand for Christ out in front of their school.  Another group met at Grove High School and still another at the Community Center, all with the common purpose of standing up for Christ and acknowledging that the first and best remedy for our schools, our community, and our nation is prayer.  I look forward to seeing what God is going to do with some of these young prayer warriors.  I believe that He can use them to shake their world!

Radical

I have been reading a lot of things over the past few months that have challenged the status quo in my own Christian life.  I have begun to realize that I have settled into a comfortable pattern of worship, service to God, and witness that doesn't really demand too much of me.  Don't get me wrong, I work hard.  Many Saturday nights, I am in my office until 10:30 or 11:00 PM putting the finishing touches on the plans for Sunday's services. I have a steady routine wherein, I spend Monday seeking the Lord about what the sermon should be the following week, deal with any bookkeeping that needs to be done as a result of visitors or decisions the day before, and settle in to study for the next Sunday's sermon.  Despite what it looks like in my office, I have a fairly organized routine that allows me to prepare my sermon, create the study guide for the bulletin, create the PowerPoint, do the bulletin, prepare the order of service, set up the computer for projecting the song lyrics and sermon notes, and get all of the soundtracks and videos in place and ready to go.  I love to write, so the daily blog and email updates that sometimes take up my morning, are a fun and exciting part of my day.  They also serve as a natural outflow from my personal devotional time.  The pastoral tasks of visitation and counseling fall where they may during the week, giving every day a little variety and adding a personal touch to ministry that I love. Salt in the daily times of personal and long-term planning and putting out the little fires that arise from time to time and you have a basic picture of what my life and ministry have become.  I like it.  It's comfortable.  It's a challenge, but I generally know what to expect.  When I compare that to the example that I see in the New Testament and some of the basic statements of Christ about following Him, I am beginning to see that maybe He is calling me to something more. 
We have developed a brand of Christianity that we can easily align with the American way of life.  Blessing equals affluence.  Obedience is simply the avoidance of the big sins.  Charity has its limits and its boundaries.  But what if Jesus really did mean for us to give it all away and follow Him?  Or what if He simply meant for us to live within our means, simply and frugally, and give everything else to reach the lost, to feed the hungry, and to change the world?  What if He really intends for us to genuinely redeem the time? What if the waste of our resources, time, energy, and emotions on things of this world like sports, reality TV, and leisure activities really do grieve the heart of God and quench His Spirit in us?  What if "Sunday Morning Christianity" only makes us accountable to Him for "Monday Morning Witness?"  I'm not sure of all of the answers yet, but one thing I do know, God wants to speak and have us to listen.  He is tired of us assuming that we know what He wants us to do.  So I guess the first step, for me and possibly for you, is to be still....just pull over for a few minutes.  Just turn off the TV, pull out of traffic, give your mind a minute or an hour to stop racing about what is next on the agenda.  Find a quiet place and pray with Samuel, "Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth."  Wait....wait....don't get in a hurry.  Just stay there until He speaks to your heart.  Listen for one thing that you can do to turn things around and begin to follow His plan for your walk with Him rather than your own.  Be prepared.  It may shake you up a bit.  He may ask you to do something that upsets your orderly, cleanly manicured, fine-tuned ritual.  But whatever it is, it will draw you closer to Him.  And one by one, maybe we can set aside the "golden calves" that keep getting in our way and begin to see His Spirit move in us in a powerful way. 

I Wonder...

I had a conversation yesterday that made me wonder what it would have been like to talk to a young William Carey.  How would a young Amy Carmichael have looked at the world, before she went off to change her world for Christ?  How did a young Bob Hughes wrestle with the calling of God on his life?  What did those missionary greats that we have come to know look like, act like, think like, before they hit the field for the first time?  I have a unique vantage point right now on the workings of the Holy Spirit on the heart and life of a young missionary, because there is one who counts me as her confidant and sounding board.  Who knows whether she will become one of those few whose exploits for God turn them into household names stirring the hearts of future generations to greater heights for God.  Odds are that she will become one of the nameless multitude who faithfully serve in some darkened corner of the world known only to God, until the day when we all stand before Him to receive our crowns.  However the future turns out, today I am standing in awe of the work that God is doing in the heart of His young servant, my daughter, Chelsea.  It seems that every time we speak now, it doesn't take long for the tears to start flowing.  Most of you know that she is preparing for an 11-month,11-country, missions trip that will take her into the heart of darkness in the most poverty-stricken and gospel-starved corners of the earth.  But few of you have the window into her heart that she and God have afforded me.  A year ago May, I moved Chelsea from Springfield, MO to Amarillo, TX.  I packed most of what she owned in the back of our Suburban and a 6'x8'x12' U-Haul trailer and stored the rest in our storage space here in Grove.  In only a matter of days, she would graduate from Baptist Bible College with a degree in business and she hoped to start her own business one day. But first, she planned to take a little missions trip to the Philippines and China.  While there, God began a slow but deliberate process of pruning, shaping, and refining her into someone that He could use. Since her return, He has continued to chip away at the things that would hold her back.  And she has willingly (sometimes) allowed Him to do so, until her life and heart are now refined to their most basic essence.  In a few weeks, she will move back home for a short time before leaving on her journey.  When she does, she will bring with her four plastic bins that contain what remains of her earthly possessions.  She will, for the most part, have sold everything that she has in order to be used up for God.  Which brings us to the conversation that we had yesterday afternoon.  She said, "Dad, I'm sending you a list of all of my books.  See if there are any that you want before I sell the rest.  God has made it clear that He wants it all.  At first, it wasn't too hard.  He wanted me to simplify my life, make a few sacrifices, get rid of some of my excess.  But now, He is carving away some flesh and bone.  He is asking me to give up a part of my identity.  I'm the girl who always has five books in her backpack, whose house is like a library to her friends, who almost any time you see her has a book in her hands.  This is getting hard.  My friends keep telling me, you are coming home someday and you will need some of this stuff, but God keeps saying, "If I can provide for you over the next year, why would you think I wouldn't provide for you later."" All I could think of while I listened to her speak of the running dialogue between her and God, was, "Who is this woman that she has become?  How did she emerge from that defiant little girl with a rapier wit and a fiery temper?  And with a heart of passion like this who knows what God will be able to do through her life?"   I have always been proud of my children.  I tend to brag about there athletic accomplishments a little to loudly and a little too often. But the feelings that I am having these days about both of my kids tend more toward awe and wonder than fatherly pride.  Because what I see in their lives today is not the imitation of the Godly example that I have tried to live before them, but the passionate pursuit of an intimate relationship with God that goes far beyond what they have ever seen in me.  I see in Chelsea a radically different level of commitment to the Gospel than has ever been true of me.  I see in her an example to follow as I press toward the mark in the waning years of my life.  I have no idea what the future holds, but I do know that she is ready to be used by God wherever He chooses and when someone is willing to lay themselves in the hands of God, He has a tendency to do great things through them.

Where Are The People of God?

In this daily devotional, I often write of the beauty of the world that God has created and especially the splendor of the place that He has allowed me to live.  I love Grand Lake.  I love Grove, Oklahoma. I love my home and the people that God has called me to minister to.  But this morning, as I have been studying for an upcoming sermon series, I have come across some very disturbing statistics that remind me that this physically beautiful world is a spiritually dark and forboding place.  The numbers tell us that almost a third of teenagers have been drunk twenty times or more and 35% have experimented with illegal drugs.  Every year 3 million young people--about 1 in 4 sexually experienced teens--acquire a sexually transmitted disease.  Children as young as six are cutting themsleves. The average self-harmer is aged eleven, and 1 in 10 adolescents are thought to have cut themselves deliberately at least once.  AIDS has now killed more people than the Black Death.  In Africa alone, 400,000 children have been orphaned to this terrible epidemic.  And even in America one in five children is living in poverty while more than half of adults in the richest nation on earth did nothing in the past year to help the poor.  Such self-absorption in the midst of such crisis begs the question, "Where are the people of God?" 
It seems to me that we have fallen into a comfortable Christianity that demands padded pews, temperature-controlled sanctuaries and finely managed production values for our orderly and high-impact worship services and we've forgotten that Jesus said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
It's time that we stepped outside our comfort zone and do something that we couldn't normally do.  It's time to make a sacrifice for someone else, to go to those who are in need, and to make a difference in our world.  The darkness around us is caused primarily by the fact that those who are called to be the light of the world are hiding their candles under a bushel.  So let's go!  Let it shine, people of God, before it's too late!

Present Reality

Once upon a time..... or Someday when I..... These are two statements that rob us of the blessings of God in our lives.  We spend so much time reminiscing about the past or longing for the future that we forget to live in the moment and rejoice in what God is doing right now.  The past is a trap because we can either get caught up in anger, bitterness, or regret or we can romanticize the "good ol' days" so much that we long to return to them rather than moving forward.  The future also has the potential of harm in that we often are so focused on some future blissful circumstance that we don't do what needs to be done today.  While we wait for things to be "just right" we sacrifice the opportunities that God is giving us right now.  Paul challenged us to "press toward the mark..." by forgetting those things that are behind.  Jesus challenged us to "take no thought for tomorrow..." but to live by faith today.  The answer is to look at the past with thanksgiving, to address the present with faithful determination, and to approach the future with hope.  God is in control of all three.  Nothing you do can change the past.  The future will be what it is when it gets here.  All you can affect is how you live today.  So let's live it for the glory of God!

The Value of Your Christianity

I've been reading a lot lately about "radical Christianity."  Francis Chan and David Platt, among other authors, are challenging Christians to move beyond the luke-warm, dead-dog ritualism that has become the modern Christian experience into an exciting and passionate pursuit of genuine Holy Spirit-filled, "take up your cross" commitment that Jesus demanded of those who would be called His disciples.  The ideas in these books stir my heart and move me forward toward attitudes and actions that I once may have thought were extreme, just because they were out of the ordinary, contrary to the status quo.  But as I read Church history, I find that the men and women who have had the most impact on our world for Christ in centuries past have been the ones who gave Him everything that they had.  People who burned their candles at both ends and in the middle so that they could be a shining light in a cold, dark world.  These were men and women who rose early and spent hours in prayer and in the Word so that they would be prepared to face giants in the power of His might.  They were people who looked beyond the circumstances that surrounded them and saw the need of people in dark, dangerous places and offered no excuses as to why they shouldn't be the ones to carry the light to them.  These were people who actually took seriously the admonition of Christ to sell all that they had and come and follow Him.   The common element in the testimonies of the great heroes of our faith is that they had entered into a deep personal relationship with their Savior that meant more than the world to them.  Following through with the implications of that relationship was more important to them than life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness.  His pleasure meant more to them than their pleasure.  That relationship, that mission, that life of faith was something worth dying for.
What has come to my mind this morning is this question, Is the level of Christianity that so many of us live, what we believe and practice as our Christian faith, something that we value enough to die for?  Are we so convinced of the truth of the Gospel that we would lay down our lives to share it with others?  Are we so committed to our Savior that we would follow Him to the cross, or to the firing squad, or to the jail cell?  We have so easily interpreted away the call of Christ to abandon all and follow Him and we've changed Christianity into something intended to make us happy and comfortable.  This mutant, cheap imitation of Biblical Christianity has led to a consumer mentality in the church that results in a loss of vision, passion, and power.  The only hope for this world is a revival of the kind of Christianity that Jesus called His disciples to embrace.  "They that live godly WILL suffer persecution...." "Men will kill you and think they are doing God a service...." "Take up your cross..." It's time we committed ourselves to a walk with God that demands something of us, but offers us something worth dying for.  The world is in need of radical followers of Christ who will live what He taught regardless of the cost.  If not you, then who?  If not now, then when?

Rainy Days and Mondays

Isn't it amazing how we let outward appearances and circumstances affect our moods and feelings?  When I stepped out of my front door this morning, the rain was pouring down.  As I crossed Honey Creek, the sky was gray and it was almost as if a cloud had settled on the lake.  In my mind, the old song started playing, "Rainy days and Monday's always get me down..."  And for a moment, I believed it.  Thoughts flashed through my mind about how tired I feel, how much I miss loved ones who are far away, how much work I have to do, and the pile of clutter laying on my desk crying out to be dealt with.  A McDonald's breakfast and a cup of less than stellar coffee later, I sat in my office listening to the rain fall outside the window, wondering where to begin.  Then it hit me.  Why am I feeling this way?  Because it's raining?  We need the rain.  It is cool and refreshing and the A/C hasn't kicked on once since I've been sitting here.  Because I am tired? I got 8 hours of sleep last night and any residual fatigue is just the result of an awesome day of ministry yesterday.  I am more rested today than most days, let alone most Monday mornings.  Disappointments, struggles, conflicts, tests, trials????  These are all part of life and evidence that God is actively working in me to refine me for His purposes.  They are not a reason to be down or discouraged.  As a matter of fact, James encourages us to "count it all joy..."  Despite the common theme of Monday morning FaceBook statuses, Monday offers a new beginning, another opportunity to get it right, a chance to be the salt and the light wherever God has placed us.  So, I have decided that the best way to deal with rainy days and Mondays is to count my blessings.  I have so much to be thankful for, a loving family, great people to work with and minister to, a comfortable home in a town that I love, and most of all a God who loves me in spite of myself and blesses me even when I don't deserve it.  So I think I'm going to write a new Monday morning song...When it's raining Monday morning and the sky is dark and gray, I'll remember all God's blessings as I journey on my way. When I'm lonely I'll remember all the loved ones far and near, that He's given me to care for and my priceless friends so dear.  When I'm facing trials and struggles that put me to the test, I'll remember that He cares for me and knows just what is best. With the love that God has given me and the blessings that abound, rainy days and Mondays should never get me down.

Trusting in His Promises

J. Hudson Taylor, pioneer missionary to China said, “There is a living God. He has spoken His word. He means just what He says, and will do all that He has promised.”  It is sad how often we need to be reminded of these simple facts.  God is alive! He is powerful! His Word is true! And He is faithful!  We often fall into the same mindset with those few believers in the house of John Mark's mother.  Peter was in prison under the threat of beheading.  They gathered to pray all night long.  God answered their prayers and released Peter, but when he arrived at the door, they didn't believe that it was him.  They didn't expect God to answer their prayers.  Most of the time we resist stepping out on faith, doing big things for God, because while we give lip-service to the efficacy of prayer, we don't genuinely put our trust in God fulfilling His promises.  In the Book of Hebrews, Paul tells us how we can be pleasing to God.  He explains that in order to come to God, we must first believe that He is.  Sadly many Christians live their lives like "practical atheists."  We proclaim that we know God, but we live our lives as if He didn't exist.  If we genuinely believe that "He is," then we will live each moment with an awareness of His presence, His interest in our daily lives, and our responsibility to live for Him. Secondly, Hebrews tells us that in order to please God we must believe that He is "a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."  How would you show that you believe this?  By living as though you are confident in His faithfulness to fulfill the promises that He has made.  I Cor. 10 speaks of the wilderness that believers are journeying through on their way to heaven.  It warns us not to follow in the footsteps of the children of Israel who, while trekking through their wilderness, became self-absorbed, idolatrous, sexually obsessed, negative and rebellious.  Paul encourages us to remember that God is faithful and that He will bring us through the fiery tests that this life inflicts upon us.  With every trial, there is an escape hatch.  With every temptation, there is a way to overcome it.
So let me encourage you today.  Whatever you are facing in life, never forget that God is faithful.  Remind yourself that His promises are true.  The first of those promises is that He will never leave you or forsake you.  You are not alone.  He answers prayers, so maybe you need to go see who is at the door.

This Is Church!

This Sunday, September 12th has been designated National Back To Church Sunday.  It is an attempt to get people who have wandered away from regular church attendance to reconsider church for all of its benefits to them and to their family.  Some of the major reasons that people stop attending church are disillusionment with church leaders, conflicts with or disappointment in other Christians, or just a shift in priorities that has left little time for public worship.  There are many misconceptions out there about what church ought to be, and there is a certain level of misunderstanding about the motivation behind what the church does. Today, I'd like to encourage people to take another look by defining what church is and is not.
First of all, the church is not a museum for displaying how righteous and spiritual Christians can become.  A personal relationship with Jesus Christ will change you from the inside out and there are people in church at every stage of that change, encouraging and helping each other move from the place where Jesus found them to the place of spiritual maturity and fruitfulness.  It's not a fashion show or a mutual admiration society.  It is a place for spiritual growth and development.
The church is not a social club designed to prop up a person's standing in the community.  It is, however, a wonderful place for genuine fellowship where people learn to live in community with each other and how to depend upon God and each other.  It is a body of believers who, working together become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the world around them.
The church is also not entertainment.  God did not intend for worship to be a stage performance, but an act of congregate adoration of the God being worshipped.  He didn't call for pre-packaged mini-messages based on man's opinions without the authority of Scripture.  He gave us His Word and it is profitable and relevant in every situation, "for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness." 
The church is not a political forum.  Although, in a democratic society, Christians have a responsibility to vote based upon their convictions and do their best to use the freedoms that God has granted them to make a difference, political activism is not the solution for the moral problems of our society.  The only real answer to the problems that we face in our nation is a genuine Holy Spirit filled revival.  And the only way for that to happen is for the church to get back to being the church.
Finally, and this may sound strange, but the church is not a charity. I know that this is a radical statement, but think with me just for a moment.  Many people only think of the church as a place to go when they need gas, or their electric bill paid, or some groceries on the table.  God has called us to give unselfishly to meet people's needs, but if we meet those needs without addressing their deepest need, a personal relationship with Christ, we have done little more than rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.  When people come into a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ, they begin to take on His character.  Compassion, love, a giving spirit, and a willingness to sacrifice to meet people's needs are the natural result.  So the focus of the church is not how can we alleviate hunger or poverty in our community, but how can we more effectively communicate the love of Christ to people who need Him.  When we accomplish that purpose, we will naturally become a loving, giving body of believers.
So I've spent most of my time this morning talking about what the church is not.  Let me use one analogy to show you what the church is.  I once lived in San Antonio, close to the army post Fort Sam Houston.  That facility is the closest thing that I have ever seen to a perfect picture of a church. It had an Induction Center that was focused on recruiting people into the Army and giving them the basic tools that they would need to become soldiers.  They had an extensive Training Facility where those recruits would learn how to fight and how to survive the rigors of the battle.  They had a Family Support Unit that provided housing and schools for the family of the soldiers.  There was a Commissary where all of their food and household needs were supplied.  There was an Armory where they were equipped and armed for the battle.  There was a War Room where the plans and strategies for victory were developed, and there was a Parade Ground, where the trained and fully equipped soldiers were sent out to the fight with great ceremony. 
The church is a place where people are brought face to face with their need for a Savior.  When they accept Christ, they become a part of something far greater than themselves and they enter the battle of the ages.  Our main task is to draw them to the awareness of their need for Christ, just like that recruiter seeks to draw them into military service.  Once saved, the new believer must be trained, fed, equipped, supported, and sent out into the battlefield with the confidence of victory in Christ.  It is the church that is tasked with this important mission.
Many people have become disillusioned with life, because they have lost sight of their purpose.  Back to Church Sunday is an opportunity to reconnect with a reason for living and a cause worth dying for. Join us this Sunday and invite your friends and family to do the same.

New Things

One of the great blessings in life is when you begin to learn things from your children.  Shelley and I are spending the weekend with Chelsea in Amarillo and getting a taste of what her life is like these days.  We spent part of the day yesterday getting a taste of Texas "culture," at the Cadillac Ranch and the Two Calves in a Field sculpture.  Ummmm, I thought I had a strange sense of humor, but this place is seriously random.

   Visiting Chelsea's office let us put her description of her daily work in perspective.  It is a very interesting place, filled with trophy animals that have been shot and mounted by her boss, a lion, a wild hog, a hyena, and 50 deer heads scattered throughout the building.  I'm not sure that I would want to visit that place at night. 
But the best part of the day and where I actually learned something from my daughter was going to the places that she spends time with the Lord.  Chelsea's life has taken a radical turn since coming home from China.  She has a deep and sincere desire to know God and to serve Him faithfully and her passion for following His will has led her to spend an awful lot of her time in His presence.  One of the places that she does this is a place called Pray Amarillo or the Amarillo House of Prayer.  It is a church building that has been renovated into a place for 24/7 prayer.  They have worship music playing at all times and encouraging scriptures on the wall and a wonderful atmosphere for entering into God's presence and genuinely seeking His face.  While I was there, I just kept thinking, why couldn't our church be a place like this, a house of prayer for all nations, as the Scriptures say?  I'm sure that God isn't through working in my heart about that possibility.
Then, yesterday afternoon, we attended one of the churches where Chelsea is actively involved, Family Fellowship.  The service was exciting and moving and they had the Lord's Supper in an interesting way that I had not seen before.  There was a common piece of unleavened bread and a large cup of grape juice and the people passed in front of the servers and received a piece broken off from the bread then they dipped it in the cup and partook of it.  It was a moving depiction of the broken body of Christ and the blood that He shed for us. 
Pastor Dale Travis preached on Stewardship and spoke of responsibility and accountability.  As he shared from Psalm 24:1 about the fact that everything belongs to the Lord and that one day, He will ask us to give back what He has given to us, one thing came to my mind.  On July 21st, 1985, just six days after Chelsea was born, we stood before the congregation at Bethesda Baptist Church in San Antonio and dedicated her to the Lord.  We committed on that day to raise her according to His Word and to prepare her for the things that He might want from her.  God had given her to us to keep and to care for, but only for a while.  In January of this coming year, He will ask us to give her back to Him as He takes her to the uttermost parts of the earth in service to Him.  It won't be the first time that He has asked us to give her to Him.  But it will be the longest and the farthest that He has taken her away.  But God never asks us to sacrifice for Him without promising great blessings in return.  We look forward to seeing what God does with the surrendered life that Chelsea has offered to Him.
This morning, we will attend Chelsea's other church, Arden Road Baptist Church.  Arden Road is a conservative, independent Baptist congregation that rounds out Chelsea's overall worship experience.  It provides solid biblical preaching and teaching and opportunities for Chelsea to minister to a group of teenage girls. 
It is exciting to see your children grow up, and even more exciting to see them mature in the Lord.  I am thankful for the opportunity that God has given me this weekend to see Chelsea in her natural environment and understand her heart just a little more.
Oh, and one more thing she taught me.  Shelley can be beaten at board games.  I don't remember having seen that before. :0)

The Joy of Children

Isn't it amazing the sheer joy and the unbounded energy that is contained in the heart of a child!  What a blessing!  Our church has recently enjoyed an increase in the number of young families with children that are attending our services.  There is an added level of excitement that comes with children running around your feet.  We have a tendency as we get older to lose that and it is a shame.  While the Bible encourages us to grow up in the things of the Lord, there are some qualities of a child's nature that we should try to hang on to.  The first of these is the sheer joy of being alive.  A child hasn't been beaten down by the trials of life, so they can often look at life from a much brighter perspective.  That little four-year-old doesn't know enough about the dangers of our world to spend his time worrying.  As a result, he is just thankful for being alive and his thankful heart is expressed in sheer joy.  Secondly, a child is full of energy, continually wanting to run a little faster to get on to the next thing.  One of the difficulties of old age is that our bodies start to slow down and it is harder to go where we need to go.  We have to overcome aches and pains in order to accomplish what we need to accomplish.  A child will run hard all day and then fall dead asleep the minute his head hits the pillow because his mind is free of the worries of this life.  Our tendency is to worry so much during the day that we can't shut it off when we go to bed at night and we toss and turn, struggling for the rest that we so desparately need. Finally, a child is trusting.  He just trusts his parents to take care of things and spends his time learning and playing and growing.  It may be that we need to trust our Father just a little more with the dangers of this old world and we might be able to look at life more joyfully.
As a Pastor, there is nothing that I enjoy more than having one of these children see me and run up and give me a big hug.  I hope that just a little of that joy and energy and ability to trust God will rub off on me.  Now if you will excuse me, I think I'm going to go out to the playground and swing for just a few minutes. :0)

Slow Soaking Rain

The old joke is, "It's been so dry in Grove lately that the Baptists have started sprinkling and the Methodists are giving rainchecks."  The ground is parched and every living thing is struggling for a drop of rain.  Last night, we got a welcome little shower.  Huge drops of rain fell for about five minutes, cooling off the landscape and teasing the ground with the promise of relief.  But for the most part, it passed without having a major impact on the condition of the ground.  What we really need is a slow soaking rain that lasts for about 24 hours and softens the ground and sinks in deep rather than just running off of the hardened surface.
The Bible likens our heart and soul to the ground under our feet.  It is there that the Spirit plants its seed and seeks to bring forth life and fruit.  Often, for any number of reasons, we begin to get parched and dry.  Somehow our hearts get hardened by the circumstances of life or the pain of relating with fallen people and we begin to wander away from the wellspring of living water that the Holy Spirit has promised to provide.  We hear the preaching, but it doesn't sink in.  We read our Bibles, but the truth of the Word just seems to run right off, never penetrating our hardened hearts. Before long, we are spiritually dying of thirst.
What we need more than anything else is a slow infusion of God's Word that sinks in deep and softens those areas of our heart that we have allowed to become dry and crusty.  You can see the impact of what I am talking about when we send our teens off to camp or our men go to a retreat or we have an extended revival meeting. People receive a steady diet of biblical truth for an extended period of time and it is able to soak through the hardness that continual exposure to the world and its negative influences causes.  The result is a new awareness of the still, small voice of God speaking to their heart and a new willingness to listen and follow.
If you have found that your heart has become dry and crusty, then I would have a few words of encouragement for you this morning.  First, take a new approach to God's Word.  Determine to read it every day, but begin with a prayer that God would show you something that He put there just for you and then don't stop reading until you find it.  Second, recommit yourself to living your life in community with other believers.  While being in relationship with others is often hard and sometimes painful, it is also one of the best ways for God to teach you to walk with Him.  And third, seek out new and effective ways to get a continual flow of God's Word into your life, whether it is through listening to Christian radio, praise and worship music on your iPod, or cassette tapes of Scripture reading or preaching, find a way to get a daily infusion of His Word.  Then sit back and watch what God can do in good soil that has been softened by the rain.
Yes, it's been dry, but showers of blessing are in the forecast.

Bridges, Not Walls

As I was thinking about my devotion this morning, I realized that most of the beautiful pictures of sunrises and sunsets that I post on my blog have been taken from the same place, crossing Honey Creek Bridge.  I have already expressed my love for this beautiful place and the joy that it brings to my heart each morning as I head into town and each evening as I make my way home.  But what is on my heart this morning is the significance of that 400-yard long expanse of concrete and steel that makes it possible for me to get from my side of the lake to town without getting wet.  A bridge is a device that carries you across a divide, whether it be water or canyon and connects the two sides, making it easy to pass from one to the other.  The tendency of the human heart is to protect itself against being hurt, so rather than building bridges that span the relational chasms between us, we generally build walls to keep others out.  But God didn't create us to live in isolation.  He intended for us to function in concert with others.  Our sin had created a gaping chasm between us and God and between us and others around us, but Jesus came and suffered and died to become the bridge by which we could make our way to God.  Our relationship to Him also leads us to build bridges to those around us so that we can relate properly with them.  A few months ago, I wrote a little poem about this subject so I thought I would share it with you this morning.  I hope that it is a blessing to you and I hope it challenges you to reach out to those around you with the love of Jesus.

Bridges, Not Walls

It seems at times our lives are filled

With conflicts great and small

And so we build around our hearts

A high foreboding wall

We set a watch and keep our hearts

From venturing outside

And chase all others from the gates

With spears of foolish pride.

But such is not the way that God

Created us to live,

He built in us an innate need

To nurture and to give.

It’s hidden and it’s oft denied,

But there down deep inside,

And when its given room to breathe,

Our hearts are satisfied.

The world may scoff and scurry on

In pursuit of their selfish goals

But all who find God’s way of peace

Find treasures half untold

For bitter hearts and selfish ways

Lead to a lonely life,

But open hearts and loving ways

Reflect the face of Christ.

And so instead of building walls

To keep the world at bay,

Let’s build a bridge of Jesus’ love

And show the world His way.

Let's go out and build a bridge to someone today!

Peaceful, Easy Feeling

The air was cold for a late August morning.  The sky was just starting to lose its star-freckled darkness as the light of the sun that was still hidden behind the Ozark foothills began to illuminate the morning.  Thick wisps of mist floated up off the lake giving the scene an eery appearance as we left shore and began our journey to the fishy coves and rock bluffs of Lake of the Ozarks.  The morning stillness, interrupted only by the high-pitched hum of the 250 HP motor, gave the entire scene an ethereal quality. 

This was the way that I started each morning at our Men's Retreat last week, a couple hours of peaceful tranquility with a couple of our men before breakfast and the sessions of the day.  I am not that much of an outdoorsman.  I love to fish and hunt, but just haven't taken the opportunity to do it very much.  This retreat gave me the chance to get out there with a couple of patient young guys who showed me the ropes a little bit and we had a great time of fellowship together. I enjoyed the playful, competitive banter and the stories of their lives, but I think the thing that I enjoyed the most was the quiet peacefulness of the whole thing. 

One of the songs that the praise band sang at the retreat was a rendition of the old Eagles' song, Peaceful, Easy Feelin' that had been merged with Amazing Grace and adapted a little bit on the chorus.  It really is a beautiful song and it expressed the way that I felt each morning out on that lake.  My everyday life is a little bit frantic on occasion.  It seems that I never have quite enough time to get everything done that I am trying to accomplish, so I run to and fro and sometimes get a little frustrated.  But this weekend, the thought came to me.  In the Gospels, I never see Jesus running anywhere and yet the Bible tells us that He fulfilled everything that His Father sent Him to do.  He never seemed rushed or stressed.

I'm sure that Brent and James would tell me that I just ought to go fishing more often, and they might be right, but more likely the Lord is trying to get me to listen to the Apostle Paul in Phillippians 4:4-9.  Rejoice! Don't worry.  Pray.  Be thankful. Let God keep your heart and mind at peace.  Choose your thoughts wisely and follow the example of godly men and women that your Father has placed in your life.  The result will be a peaceful easy feeling that is beyond our human understanding.

It doesn't hurt to close your eyes every once in a while and find yourself skimming across that water, through the mist in the dawn's early light.  Just be sure you make it back for breakfast. :0)

Having a World Vision

Isn't it amazing how small our world is becoming?  Just this morning, while checking my Facebook, I corresponded with friends on three different continents.  These days, I am able to schedule missionaries while they are still on the field and could, should I so desire, even have them speak to the church from the other side of the world through Skype.  With the rapid development of communication technologies, more and more people are immediately accessible, and with the translation software available through Google and others, websites and blogs are available from every nation, tribe, and tongue.  At least two of our missionaries send out weekly emails to their supporting churches, allowing for immediate response to their praises and prayer requests.  Where once, monthly prayer letters arrived in churches weeks after they were sent and cost hundreds of dollars to produce and mail, today, we have the technology for more, better, and more responsive interaction with our missionaries.

But like many of the other opportunities that modern life offers, it seems that we are not taking full advantage of what God has made available to us.  This morning, I want to spur you on just a little bit.  I'd like to challenge you to develop a vision for the world.  One of the elements of our church's mission statement is that we are a church that sees the world as its mission field.  But what about you?  Do you see that mission field as your own?  Do you read the Great Commission and say, "That doesn't apply to me."   What is your thought process when you hear a missionary share his burden for the people of the country to which he is being called?  I hear people all the time saying, "I would love to go to the mission field, but..." Well, let me tell you, there will always be a 'but....'  The natural human tendency is to look at a problem in the big picture and see it as impossible to solve.  "I can't change the world..."  But in reality, no one is asking you to solve the entire problem.  God has commanded us to do our part.  You may not be able to change the world, but you can change the world for one child, one family, one village.  You may not be able to pack up your life and move to the other side of the world to be a missionary, but there are any number of things that you can do to make a difference.  Begin by honestly opening your heart to God and asking Him to give you a broader vision and a deeper burden.  Then begin to investigate ways to get involved right from your home.  Check out http://www.bbfimissions.org/ or http://www.adventuresinmissions.org/ and follow some of the blogs for ideas.  Begin by giving to missions through our church and take a deep hard look at ways that you can redirect some of your resources to be able to give more.  Giving up some of those daily guilty pleasures like a cappacino or a donut or four Dr. Peppers and giving the money you spent to missions can add up quickly.  Going out to eat one less time a week would make a lot of difference.  Just ask God to show you the impact of those little decisions on souls around the world.  Then, ask God to open your eyes to missions opportunities all around you.  The mission field doesn't start on the other side of the ocean, it begins right at your front door, so keep your eyes open.  And more than anything commit yourself to prayer for our missionaries and the people that they are ministering to.

These are just a starting point.  As you open your heart to missions and ask God for a greater world vision, He may begin speaking to you in other ways.  He may call for more direct action.  He may reveal ways that you can have a greater impact.  Just don't hold back.  Let Him show you how to reach your world for Him. The time is short and the task is daunting, but if we obey, we can still see the Great Commission fulfilled in our lifetime.

The Christian Citizen

It is surprising to me how many Christians acknowledge their responsibility to be the hands and feet of Jesus, yet shirk their duty to be His voice.  I am focusing this morning on our duty as citizens of a nation that allows its people to determine its direction through the electoral process.  There is no doubt that the political system of our once-great nation has degenerated over the last 50 years or so into little more than a shouting match, refereed by an increasing biased press and observed by an increasingly skeptical and uninformed electorate.  However, I believe that our nation and our system of government are a gift to us from God, a gift that brings with it a great responsibility.  Let me elaborate.  Our nation was established on biblical principles and served for almost 200 years as a banner to the world of what could happen when a people acknowledged God as their resource and guide.  When the Scriptures say, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord," all you had to do was look at the USA to see that it was true.  The liberties that our system of government granted us allowed for unheard of prosperity, but also, open doors for ministry to the lost, the oppressed, and the needy around the world.  It didn't take long for America to outpace Britain as the number one missionary sending nation in the world.  The testimony of our nation was clearly displayed on our currency, In God We Trust!
As we all know, the climate in America has changed drastically in our lifetime.  We are seeing the fulfillment of Isaiah 5:20, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"  With the ascendance of relativistic thought, anyone who would dare call anything a sin is characterized as an intolerant bigot.  The result is that many Christians have either been shouted down or discouraged into silence.  And now, with the spectre of Islam on the horizon, our lack of a spiritual backbone has robbed us of any moral high ground from which to defend our way of life, as exemplified by the fact that there is even a debate about allowing a mosque at Ground Zero.
I hear some of my Christian brothers saying, "That is all the world system.  As Christians, why should we even be concerned about it? Why should I lower myself to be involved in an obviously corrupt process?"
Well, let me give you my answer. First, God has called us to be watchmen on the wall.  Throughout the Bible, God's people had to stand up to wicked government officials and try to turn them to the right.  Moses, Nathan, Elijah, and many others in the Old Testament.  John, the Baptist, Jesus, Peter, and Paul, in the New Testament.  All confronted the wickedness of those who governed them in an attempt to turn their nation back to God.  We have been given the unique blessing of having a say in our nation's decisions.  To shirk our responsibility as citizens is to give tacet approval to the direction that we are going and to allow those who deny Christ a greater voice.
As your pastor, I won't step over the bounds and tell you who to vote for, but I will tell you that God will hold you accountable for being His voice in the affairs of your community and nation.  For those of you in Delaware County, you have an opportunity today to make a difference.  As a Christian who loves his God and his country, I would like to encourage you to cast your vote and let God's voice be heard.

Storing Up Treasures

Wow! Where does all of the clutter come from?  This morning, I decided to get into the church early and start on the process of cleaning the old school room upstairs in our Sunday School building.  We are having a big youth event here on September 25th and one of the things that we are going to do is take the kids up there and simulate an underground church service like they have to have in Muslim countries.  But, in order to do that, we have to clean up 40 years of clutter in a room that has become our church's prime location for "out of sight, out of mind."  Old records, remnants of school curriculum, used decorations, and a myriad of things that, for some reason, we have never been able to bring ourselves to throw away. I spent an hour this morning and barely made a dent. 
It reminded me of two conversations that I had this past week. Yesterday, I was discussing with Steve, our focus on material things and he asked if God had not commanded us not to store things up down here.  He was referring to Matt. 6:19,20, where it tells us not to lay up for ourselves treasures on earth, but to lay them up in heaven.  I have always looked at that verse as a comparison, a statement of priority, rather than a direct command, but there is some validity to Steve's argument.  For most of us, the reason that we store things up is so that we will have it, just in case we are ever in need.  Most of the things in that upstairs room have past their time of usefulness, but you never know, someday we just might find ourselves in need of a 20 year old computer. :0)  Storing up things here on earth often serves to relieve our need for dependence upon God, so it is a response to fear rather than faith.  The other reason that we store things up is a response to our human tendency toward materialism, our desire to have stuff.  Either of these reasons has its roots in a spiritual problem.
The other conversation that I was reminded of was one that I had with Chelsea the other day.  She is knee-deep in the long process of preparing to set out on her journey of faith as she follows the Lord's leading to be a missionary.  While many of us would look at her 11-month adventure as a parenthesis from which she will learn and grow and then return to normal life, Chelsea is looking at is as simply the beginning of a missionary life, a first step in a life-long pursuit.  Last week, she wrote, "One of the lessons God is teaching me is to ask myself, 'In the light of eternity, does it really matter' and the funny thing is: not much makes the cut, save Christ and his cross." When she moved to Amarillo last fall, we rented a 6x8x12 U-haul trailer and packed the Suburban full of her stuff for the move. As we were discussing her move back to Grove this November in preparation for her departure, I asked if we would need a trailer again.  Her answer was, "No, I'm selling everything except a few keep-sakes and everything that I am moving home will fit in four bins." God has been working to simplify her life so that she is able to respond to His leading at a moment's notice.
Most of us have to deal with the clutter that we have accumulated over the years.  This applies to our spirit as much as it does to our closets.  Too often, we have stored away old hurts and habits, lies and liabilities, pride and prejudices, until it is difficult to function without tripping over something in our past.  The secret to getting rid of the clutter boils down to four simple steps: First, we must recognize things for what they are. Clutter is the result of placing an unrealistic importance on things of questionable value.  We need to examine our hearts and the things that we are holding onto and ask Chelsea's question, "In light of eternity, does it really matter?" Second, we must repent.  Much of the clutter in our lives is the result of sin that we just won't let go of.  When we turn from sin to God, the path becomes much clearer.  Third, we must release those things that hold us in chains, those people who have hurt us, and those ties to the past that keep us from going forward.  Forgiveness is freeing a prisoner and then finding out that the prisoner was you.  The final step to uncluttering our spirit is to rejoice in what God is accomplishing in your life.  The grateful heart is much more able to let go of the things that hurt it than a heart that is focused on itself.  Gratitude results in joy and God blesses the grateful heart.
Cleaning the upstairs room, at first glance, is a huge undertaking, so I have decided that I am going to work on it a little at a time, an hour in the cool of the morning every day until I get it done.  Uncluttering our private world is much the same.  If we will simply determine in our hearts to purposely deal with those things that stand in the way of our freedom in Christ, God will bless us along the way.  Can I encourage you to get started today? 

Distributing the Lightning

Mark Twain said, "The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right."  Apparently, Twain was convinced that he would do a better job than God at weeding out the idiots among us.  But aren't you glad that God has reserved the task of lightning distribution for Himself and has allowed it to be tempered by His grace, His mercy, and His love rather than determined by His righteousness and justice.  I find that people, in general, and Christians, with great regularity, jump to conclusions about other people and are ready to fire the lightning bolts, often before the whole story has come to light.  Comedian Bill Engvold has made a very good living pointing out people's stupidity, as he sees it, based on statements that they make without thinking them through. He says that he wishes stupid people had to wear a sign so you would know what you were dealing with right up front. He tells about a time when he and his buddy went fishing together.  As they pulled back into the dock with a big stringer of fish, a guy on the dock asked them, "Did ya'll catch all those fish?"  Engvold replied, "Nope, talked 'em into giving up."  "Here's your sign."  The problem with this line of thinking is that we all say stupid things every once in a while.  I was having lunch at the Lazy Parrot the other day with Shelley and Steve and we were talking about the location of the restaurant and the fact that their sign sort of blends into the surroundings, making it hard to see.  I said, "You know, if I didn't know that this restaurant was here, I wouldn't know that it was here."  Now there is an intelligent statement!  If Mark Twain was distributing the lightning, I would have been zapped right there.  But God is merciful and I am thankful for that.  The one area where foolishness becomes the most dangerous is when a person begins to live his life as if there is no God.  The Bible calls that man a fool,(Ps. 14:1; 53:1) and the path that he follows will ultimately lead to his destruction. 
The warning for us in all of this is found in Matthew 5.  Jesus warned against premature judgment and open rebuke of fools, saying that God is the righteous Judge and that we should keep our accounts current with the people around us.  If we would spend a little more time showing the love of Christ to people in need and a little less time comparing them to our standard of intelligence or perfection, we would see why God withholds the lightning.  We serve a God of righteousness, justice, and power, but all of those attributes are ruled by the fact that God is, in very essence, love.  So, I'm pretty sure there's not going to be any lightning today. :0)