LESBIAN METHODIST MINISTER REINSTATED

This morning a United Methodist Church panel ruled in favor of Beth Stroud in her appeal of the earlier decision to remove her ministerial credentials because she was a self-avowed practicing homosexual. The panel voted resoundingly in Stroud's favor with a vote of 8-1 because of a legal error.

In the earlier trial held on December 2nd, Stroud was found guilty of violating denomination law, which "forbids the ordination and appointment" of homosexual clergy [Click link for United Methodist News Service article].

Here's a couple of articles on the trial:

MSNBC
ABC News

Barefoot Christians

In Ephesians 6:10-18, the Apostle Paul tells us about the armor of God. In verses 10-11, he says, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes."

As I reflected on this familiar passage today, one word stood out to me -- "full." Paul says to put on the "full" armor of God. All of the armor, not just part of it. Which gave me pause. What was Paul implying in this passage? Given the opportunity to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power, were Christians failing to take advantage of all that was offered to them?

As I reflected on this prompting by the Holy Spirit, I came to the conclusion that, "Yes, we have failed to put on the full armor of God." Oh, we put it on, but from time to time we leave part of our armor laying on the shelf, discarded and unused.

Two of the main pieces of armor that I think we are failing to always put on are: 1) our sandals -- "feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace;" and, 2) our sword -- "take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God."

Surveys by the Barna Research Group and others have demonstrated that we live in an era of unprecedented biblical illiteracy. People simply do not know the Scriptures or the great stories of faith because they are not taking the time to read and study God's word. While 9 out of 10 homes have at least one Bible in them, only about 42% of people report reading the Bible outside of church during a given week. Biblical illiteracy is also a concern for our nation's educators. How are we supposed to communicate the truths of God's word to others if we don't even know it ourself?

Paul's descriptions of these two pieces of armor point to a warrior taking the battle to the streets, proactively going forth to conquer. Paul says that we should have the word as part of us so that we would be ready to share the gospel of peace with all we come into contact with. Likewise, by having a firm understanding and knowledge of Scripture, we will be able to confront false teachings and false doctrines whenever we see them.

We need to become more disciplined in our spiritual lives and be intentional in making time to read our Bibles daily, studying them and using them in our daily lives. If we don't fit our feet with the readiness that comes from having a working knowledge of the Scriptures, we'll find ourselves going around barefooted and without protection. We need to make sure that we put on the armor of God -- the FULL armor of God -- and take it with us where we go.

2 Timothy 3:14. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15. and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17. so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

CSI -- JERUSALEM
24 April 2005

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Luke 23
Luke 23: 50. Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man,
51. who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God.
52. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body.
53. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.
54. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
55. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it.
56. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.
Luke 24:1. On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.
2. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
3. but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.
5. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?
6. He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:
7. `The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'"
8. Then they remembered his words.

-- the title of my message this morning is "CSI -- Jerusalem" -- continuing in our series on favorite t.v. shows
-- show CSI -- came out several years ago and spawned a couple of other shows -- basically a twist on the traditional murder mystery -- rather than being shown from the detective's point of view -- this time, it's taken from the point of view of the crime scene investigators who use forensic evidence to determine what actually happened and who the killer really is
-- graphic show -- definitely only for adults because of the violence and the graphic scenes of autopsies and other crime scene photos
-- I think I really like CSI because I have always been a fan of mysteries -- grew up reading the Sherlock Holmes series and the Young Detectives Club -- when I was in middle school, I knew who Hercule Poirot was and who Agatha Christie was and who Ms. Marple was
-- I was always attracted to mysteries -- but it wasn't until recently that I discovered one reason why -- in an article in World Magazine, a writer pointed out that mysteries were the one genre of fiction that was based on a biblical world view

-- whenever we're talking about a world view, we're basically talking about how a person views the world based on their core beliefs -- these beliefs shape what they think and what they understand and they form the basis for how a person makes judgements about the world and about their experiences in the world
-- all of us have a world view -- because of who we are -- where we grew up -- what we've been taught -- and what we believe in our heart of hearts -- we view life from a certain perspective
-- for instance, because you are from the south, you tend to look at life differently than a person who was born and raised in the north would look at life -- your experiences growing up in the south have shaped how you view things and how you experience things around you -- you bring with you a certain bias to everything that you say and think and believe -- all because you grew up here in the south
-- there are many, many types and subtypes of world views -- but the major ones are the various religious world views -- such as the Christian world view or Judaism world view or Muslim world view -- and the secular humanist world view, which shapes how atheists and other unbelievers view the world
-- people with a biblical or Christian world view see things from a biblical perspective -- in other words, the doctrines of their faith and their beliefs in God shape how they view life and the events of life
-- mysteries are supposedly built on a biblical world view because they hinge on original sin -- anyone might be guilty because all are sinners at heart -- mysteries also presuppose the existence of objective truth -- in other words, there is one and only one truth that exists and it can be discovered by the investigators -- and, finally, mysteries point to the final judgement for wrong-doing
-- so, this morning, I want to spend some time looking at a famous mystery that has captivated the world for over 2000 years

II. What Happened?
-- imagine that you are a crime scene investigator in first century Jerusalem and that you are called out on the strangest case of your career -- as we just read in the passage from Luke, a man called Jesus had been put to death by the Romans on the cross -- and after His death, He was taken from Golgotha by Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Jewish ruling council, wrapped in linen burial cloths and buried in a tomb
-- the other gospels tell us that after Joseph placed Jesus in the tomb, Mary Magdelene and the other women watched as he rolled a large rock in front of the tomb to seal it shut
-- so that's what happened on Friday, right before the Sabbath began
-- then, on Sunday morning, an amazing thing happened -- Mary Magdelene and the other women went to the tomb to finish annointing the body of Jesus for final burial -- when they got there, the stone had been rolled away from the opening and the tomb was empty -- the body of Jesus was gone
-- and now, as a crime scene investigator, you've been called in to find out what happened and to recover Jesus' body, if possible
-- you've got the basic facts down, so now you start your investigation

-- the first thing you do is go to talk to Pilate, the Roman governor who sentenced Jesus to die in the first place -- from him you learn that after Jesus had been buried in the tomb by Joseph, the chief priests and the Pharisees had come to him with a concern
-- Jesus had predicted that He would rise from the dead in three days -- so, they were worried that Jesus' followers might steal the body from the tomb to make it look like Jesus had been resurrected
-- so Pilate agreed to send guards to watch over the tomb until the three days was over and to make sure that no one would tamper with the body, Pilate had the official Roman seal put over the stone that blocked the entrance to the tomb

-- now you find that pretty interesting -- according to the women, when they got there, the stone had been rolled away from the door -- but who would have done that? -- first, they would have had to get past the guards in some way, and Roman guards weren't that easy to defeat -- and secondly, they would have to break the seal on the stone -- and everyone knew that breaking the seal would mean an instant death penalty for the person who did it -- surely the cowardly disciples of Jesus who fled from the temple guards in the Garden of Gethsemene wouldn't be brave enough now to take on several Roman soldiers and then break the seal, signing their own death warrant
-- with that in mind, you track down the Roman soldiers who had guarded the tomb and find out that early on Sunday morning there was a great earthquake at the tomb site -- and immediately after the earthquake, they had seen a vision of an angel descending from heaven -- the angel rolled the stone away from the door, breaking the seal -- when the guards saw the angel, they were terrified and fled back into Jerusalem
-- so you ask them, "If that was true, then why didn't you report it to anyone?" -- "We did," they said, "but the chief priests gave us a large sum of money and told us not to tell anyone what we saw. -- They told us to say that we fell asleep while on guard duty, and that while we were asleep, the followers of Jesus came and broke the seal and stole the body. -- We figured that no one would believe the real story anyway, so we took the money and ran."
-- the guard's story backed up what the women had said earlier -- when they got there, not only was the stone rolled away, but they saw two angels inside the tomb where the body had been laid
-- that explains how the stone got moved -- but where did the body go?
-- you decide it's time to talk to the chief priests -- when you get there, they are abuzz with the news of the empty tomb -- but they don't know where the body of Jesus is either
-- so they offer up some possible explanations
-- first, they try to tell you that Jesus didn't really die in the first place -- He only "swooned" -- He only fainted from exhaustion and loss of blood from the whipping and the crucifixion -- and then, when He was put in the tomb by Joseph, the cool temperature in the tomb revived Him and He simply walked out
-- so, you consider that for a moment but tell them you don't think it's possible -- think about it this way -- how could a man who was beaten half to death, nailed to a cross for over six hours, and who fainted from exhaustion and loss of blood, been strong enough to get up, unwrap Himself from His grave cloths, push the heavy stone away from the door, and walk off? -- that seems highly unlikely
-- o.k., they say, what about this -- His disciples went to the tomb on Saturday while the guards slept, rolled the stone away, and stole the body, just like we warned Pilate -- now, you know that isn't true -- you've just talked to the guards who told you an angel had moved the stone, so you tell the priests, "try again"
-- one group stands up and says the answer is quite simple -- the tomb is not really empty -- the women simply went to the wrong tomb -- they thought they had gone to the tomb where Jesus was, but they went to the wrong one -- that's why the one they went to was empty
-- o.k., you say, then let's go to the real tomb and we can end all of this nonsense right now -- all you have to do is show me the body of Jesus and we can stop all these claims of an empty tomb and the resurrection once and for all -- so they go off with you and they lead you right to the Garden tomb where Jesus was buried and it's just like the women said -- they hadn't gone to the wrong tomb -- they had gone to the right tomb after all and it was empty just like they had said -- the stone was laying there on the ground and when you look in, you see the graveclothes laying on the bench where the body had been laid, just like the women had said

III. Resurrection Appearances
-- so, what does that leave you with -- it leaves you with the same facts that you had when you started -- there is an empty tomb with a pile of grave clothes arranged just like a body used to be in them -- a stone that has been rolled away -- and an official Roman seal that has been broken
-- no one can produce the body -- the Romans can't -- the chief priests can't -- the Pharisees can't -- the body has simply vanished
-- the only other possible hypothesis, then, is what the women reported the angels had told them -- "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!"
-- but, if Jesus had actually risen from the dead as He said He would, then shouldn't someone have seen Him? -- you set off to question the disciples in the Upper Room -- and when you get there you get your ears filled with stories of them having seen Jesus alive and walking around
-- first, they said, Jesus appeared to the women who had visited the tomb -- Mary had even spoken with Him and hugged Him so tight He told her to let Him go -- then He had appeared to Peter and to two disciples on the way to Emmaus -- finally, He appeared to all of the disciples in the Upper Room on two different occasions -- the first time without Thomas being there and the second when Thomas was present

IV. Final Thoughts
-- you leave the Upper Room and the excited disciples with your thoughts in turmoil -- there's no doubt that something has happened to the body of Jesus
-- the tomb is empty -- everyone agrees to that -- the disciples -- the women -- the chief priests -- the Pharisees -- even the Romans -- in fact, years later, as you read history books written by Jewish scholars, they all state that the tomb was empty -- of course, they maintain that the disciples had stolen the body, which you know could not have happened
-- but what about the appearances by Jesus after His death -- was He really raised from the dead? -- reports of Him appearing to disciples continued to come in for a period of 40 days, including one report of Him being seen by over 500 disciples at one time -- when you asked the Apostle Paul about that sighting, he told you that most of the 500 disciples were still alive -- just go ask them what they saw -- they would confirm it
-- Paul told you that he himself had seen Jesus on the road to Damascus, and that he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that Jesus was alive
-- how to explain this? -- mass hallucination? -- that doesn't really make sense -- if the disciples were going to have a vision of a risen Savior, then they probably would envision Jesus enthroned in Heaven -- wearing a crown and robes -- not eating fish with them next to the Sea of Gallilee
-- and what about the fact that Thomas and Mary had actually touched Him? -- how can you touch a hallucination? -- finally, how can you explain the fact that all of the hallucinations ended at the same time -- right before the Feast of Pentecost -- surely, if the visions of Jesus were hallucinations, someone would have kept seeing Him after Pentecost, wouldn't they

-- so that leaves only one possible explanation -- it was all true -- the tomb was empty because Jesus had risen from the dead just like He said -- the resurrection appearances and the testimony of the disciples would seem to bear that out -- just look at the changed lives of the disciples from that Friday when Jesus was killed to Sunday when He supposedly rose from the dead
-- they were no longer cowering in the Upper Room in fear for their lives -- they were in the streets, boldly proclaiming a risen Christ to all the people and to the chief priests and Pharisees as well -- and think about what happened on Pentecost, when Peter -- the very one who denied Jesus three times -- preached and 3000 people were convicted of their sins, saved, and filled with the Holy Spirit
-- there simply is no other way to explain it -- the tomb was empty because Jesus was alive

V. Closing
-- so, a final question remains -- as you file your report to CSI headquarters and tell them what you think really happened to the body of Jesus -- that He was raised from the dead -- what are you going to do about it? -- what are you going to do about all the evidence from your investigation?
-- What difference does it make whether or not you believe that Jesus actually rose from the dead and died for your sins on the cross? -- Can't you just file your report and go home?
-- but then you think about what Jesus once told the Apostle Thomas -- "I am the way and the truth and the life -- no one comes to the Father but through Me" -- on the basis of all the evidence of Christ's resurrection and considering the fact that Jesus offers forgiveness of sin and an eternal relationship with God, who would be so foolhardy as to reject Him?
-- you know that Jesus is alive -- and so that means that you have a choice to make -- you have to choose whether to accept Him as your Lord and Savior or to continue to reject Him -- the choice is up to you
-- let us pray

Pope choice fulfills ancient prophecy?

[Note: This was an interesting article that was sent to me by e-mail from Prophecy News Watch -- to subscribe write to: prophecynewswatch-subscribe@MyInJesus.com". While I am not one to put much stock in extra-biblical prophecies, such as those by Nostradamus or others, I found this one intriguing. I firmly believe that we are in the end days, the last days before Christ will return. As I understand the prophetic books of the Bible, it appears that the signs of the times are pointing to the imminent return of Christ, whether it will be with a pretribulational rapture prior to the Second Coming or simply Christ coming to establish His kingdom. Either way, I'm happy. All I can say is be watchful, for you do not know when Christ is coming back, and be wary, testing all the spirits and all the prophecies against God's word. Regardless, enjoy the article. Maybe it will interest you. Greg]

A prophecy by a 12th-century Catholic saint that predicted characteristics of the last 112 popes appears to have been strengthened by the election of the new pontiff.

The prophecy labels the new pope "the Glory of the Olive." The Benedictine Order known as the Olivetans has as its symbol the olive branch. The new pope, though not of that order, chose as his name Benedict XVI.

St. Malachy, an Irish Catholic bishop, was known as a gifted prophet, even predicting the date of his own death in 1148. He was canonized in 1190 by Pope Clement III.

According to his biographer, the bishop was visiting Rome in 1139 when he went into a trance and received a vision. Malachy wrote down this extraordinary vision in which he claims to have foreseen all of the popes from the death of Innocent II until the destruction of the church and the return of Christ. He named exactly 112 popes from that time until the end.

St. Malachy wrote a few prophetically descriptive words in Latin about each one of the popes. He then gave the manuscript to Pope Innocent II and it was deposited in the Vatican Archives where it was forgotten for several centuries. Then in 1590, it was rediscovered and published.

Scholars have matched up the descriptions with each pope since that time. "Though they are a bit obscure, they have fit the general profile of each of the popes".

According to St. Malachy, there will be only two more popes before the destruction of Rome, including newly elected Benedict XVI.

Prophecy expert Hal Lindsey recently commented on these prophecies saying, "Whatever inspired St. Malachy's predictions, they continue to be right on". "The pope's impact will be very great in setting up the world for the coming Antichrist."

Lindsey told Joseph Farah on his nationally syndicated radio show today: " If St. Malachy is right, the glory of the olive will be imprinted on what he [the new pope] does, and secondly, he won't live very long – because we're at an advanced stage in Bible prophecy, so he couldn't live very long. We have to go to the last pope very soon in order to stay current with this prophetic scenario that's already in place."

In his column, Lindsey points out that the pope who takes office after Benedict XVI will be, according to Malachy's prophecy, the final pope before Rome is destroyed.

"I don't believe [Benedict XVI] will live long, probably about five years," Lindsey told a caller on Farah's show. "But he will have an enormous impact. … He will extend the power and influence of the church before he dies. "

And then the 112th pope, who is called 'Peter the Roman,' he is the one who is going to play a very clear role in the End Times scenario."

The SpiritDaily analysis also points to St. Malachy's prophecy:

"In the true way that prophecy operates, many expected that, to fulfill Malachy's prophecy, the next pope would have to be a Benedictine – when in fact it turned out to be a cardinal who meditated in Benedictine monasteries and took the name Benedict!"

Snakes in the Grass

Last night I had a dream that has stayed with me throughout the entire day. In this dream, I am walking through the grass in my front yard, in a place that I know quite well, secure and safe and just walking in the sunlight. But then, something hit my leg, and I fell, and as I looked down, a rattlesnake had struck at me and had actually tangled his fang in my blue jeans. I knew I had been bitten, so I carefully tried to move my leg to shake the snake loose while trying to avoid getting bitten again. As I dragged myself cautiously and carefully towards the house, the snake continued to come with me, striking me repeatedly until I started to succumb to it's venom. I remember thinking in my dream that I never knew the snake was there until he struck. In fact, I never heard him rattle until he had already bitten me.

As I thought about that dream all day, I was led to the apostle Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 10:12, "If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!" I think it was significant that the snake in the grass was hidden right in my own front yard. You see, sin is like that. It crouches at our door and stalks us in our living rooms and in our bedrooms and in our workplaces. I think Christians do pretty good at avoiding known places of sin, but we can find ourselves easily tripped up by the sins laying in wait in our own front yard. We worry and worry about keeping ourselves free from the "big" sins, and we congratulate ourselves on the fact that we are not giving into these "big" sins, but then we find ourselves struck down by the small sins hiding in the grass of our lives.

Think about it like this. I doubt anyone reading this has ever been hurt by an elephant. I doubt anyone reading this has ever been bitten by a hippopotamous. But, everyone has been bitten by a gnat or by a mosquito. It's the small things that trip us up. It's those little sins that are laying hidden in the grass that threaten to strike at the very moment we think we are safe -- at the very moment we think we are immune from temptation and sin.

So, what can we do about the sins that are laying hidden in the grass of our lives? By keeping the grass cut low. By staying close to God through the Means of Grace we can cut our grass. The primary means of grace that we are familiar with include Bible study, prayer, participation in the Sacraments, participation in corporate worship, sharing with accountability partners and small groups. By constantly being aware that dangers can come into our own front yard and by not becoming lax with things of danger, we can keep our grass cut low so we can see and turn away from the snakes in the grass before they can strike out at us.

Be careful then, how you are living and how you are standing, because there is always danger in the grass to the unwary.

THE AMAZING RACE
17 April 2005

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 2 Tim 4:7 "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
-- starting a new series of sermons this week based on my favorite television shows -- you know, we always say that life imitates art -- but in a very real way, that is not true -- life always comes before art because all life -- all thoughts -- all ideas -- all creations -- originally came from the Author of Life -- our God
-- so what that means for us is that in everything in this world -- whether we're talking about nature or science or human culture or even our entertainment -- we can see the hand of God in the background -- that is something that we should be looking for in every place we go -- every person we meet -- and every thing that we see
-- now, that doesn't mean that everything that we see is from God or is God-ordained -- we have taken many of God's original plans and desires and purposes for our lives -- and Satan has taken many of them -- and twisted them into something that is not pleasing to God
-- but the principles -- the original desire or the original purpose behind it -- was from God and was designed by God for us
-- take marriage for example -- God put in us a desire to marry -- a desire to seek out a mate and to enter into a covenant with them for the rest of our lives -- but we have twisted that desire and tried to make it happen on our own terms and in our own way -- and as a result we have more people living together without being married than ever before -- as a result we are debating same-sex marriages -- but, if you look back at the original desire, you can see God's hand

-- my goal in this series is two-fold -- first, to present to you some solid biblical principles based either on the title or the premise of the shows I am going to discuss -- and secondly, to encourage you to start looking for God's hand in the world around you outside of church and outside of these walls
-- in the midst of our culture -- even in the midst of the desires and purposes and plans that we have twisted -- God is there and His prevenient grace is working -- seeking to save that which is lost and seeking to draw to Him all those who are in desperate need of a Savior
-- as Christians, we have to be careful of how we live -- we can't isolate ourselves from the world in our safe little Christian communes -- but, at the same time, we shouldn't conform to the world
-- my goal is to help us fulfill what Jesus said in John 17 -- He tells us there that we are not of this world -- we are strangers in this land -- but He is sending us to this world so that we might help them believe in Him through our message
-- by being able to see God's hand in the world around us, we will be able to point Him out to the world and share with them in a new way the message of salvation through Jesus
-- that said, let's start our journey together by considering "The Amazing Race"

II. The Amazing Race
-- The Amazing Race is one of my favorite shows -- it starts out with 11 teams of two people who are in some kind of a relationship with each other -- they start out somewhere in the United States and then they are given a clue that tells them where to go next -- and along the way they face challenges and road blocks and detours that they have to solve -- the ultimate reward for winning the race is one million dollars
-- in this season's race, the teams started out in California and flew to Lima, Peru -- since then, they have traveled to Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Botswana, and now they are in India

-- I think one of the reasons I love this show is that I can live vicariously through the teams as they travel from place to place having great and grand adventures -- I know it is doubtful I will ever travel to Peru or Chile or Argentina or Africa -- so I have to live it out through them and imagine what I would do in their place
-- at the same time, watching the Amazing Race makes me kind of sad -- I want to travel like them -- I want to do what they're doing -- I keep telling Kim, "we should try out -- we should sign up for the next race" -- I have this desire to go to new places and meet new people and have adventures in distant lands -- to be on a quest
-- I felt the same way when I first read the Lord of the Rings and then I felt it again as I watched the movie version -- as Frodo and Sam set out from the Shire on their quest to bring the one ring to Rivendell, I so much wanted to go with them -- I just wanted to step out and to do something that mattered -- do you know what I'm talking about?
-- I believe that God has put this desire in our hearts -- a desire for adventure -- a desire to step out of our humdrum, everyday lives and to be part of a grand adventure -- a great quest -- filled with excitement and danger and with the promise of a great reward at the end

-- John Eldredge pointed out that our favorite stories all revolve around three eternal truths that God has made a desire of our heart and that we have translated into our art -- we just need to learn to see them with our spiritual eyes -- the eyes of our heart -- rather than our physical eyes

-- the first eternal truth is that things are not what they seem -- there is more going on than meets the eye
-- the hero of the story is always living just an ordinary life -- just caught up in day-to-day living of life -- totally unaware of anything but simply making it through their day
-- but, then, the second eternal truth comes into play -- the heroes are made aware that there is some great battle or quest or struggle underway
-- and then they are told of the third eternal truth -- they have a crucial role to play -- not only are things not what they seem, but the heroes themself are not what they seem -- they are part of something greater than themselves and they have to step out and take up the battle or the quest in order to save the world -- they never knew because the truth had been hidden from them

-- let me give you a couple of examples of how we see this played out in a couple of the most popular movies of recent years
-- think about the movie Star Wars -- there was Luke Skywalker living his life on this little back-woods planet as a farmer, completely unaware of the bigger things going on around him -- but then he bought bought a robot that projected an image of Princess Leia telling him about the great struggle of the rebels against the evil Empire and Darth Vader -- and finally, Obi Wan Kenobi comes to Luke and tells him the truth -- he is not a farmer but the son of a valiant Jedi Knight and he must go forth and help fight against the evil empire on the side of good
-- think about the movie, "The Matrix" -- Thomas Anderson worked a boring day job as a computer programmer in a cubicle-filled office -- but then Thomas meets a strange man named Morpheus who informs him that things are not as they actually seem -- Thomas is actually living in a virtual dreamworld called the Matrix which is an illusion perpetrated by a network of artifical intelligence and its agents -- Morpheus is convinced that Thomas is the person that holds the key to bringing the Matrix and it´s ruthless agents down -- and that he must enter the fight against evil in order to save the world

-- I think that's one of the reasons why we like these great stories of adventure and quests -- it's because these three eternal truths have been put in our hearts by God to help us see the truth of our situation
-- in the middle of the Lord of the Rings, as the hobbits are on their quest -- Sam Gamgee asks Frodo, "What sort of tale have we fallen into?" -- Sam has begun to see with the eyes of his heart and he's starting to recognize that their is more to life than just the ordinary
-- I think God put these truths in our hearts to help us recognize that we are in a tale -- we are in the middle of a grand adventure that is bigger than us and we do have an important role to play

III. Paul and the Amazing Race of Life
-- the Apostle Paul certainly knew this well -- he recognized these three eternal truths in his life -- and in almost every one of his epistles, he tried to help the churches and the saints to recognize these truths in their own lives
-- Paul used the metaphor of a "race" to describe the great quest of life that God had put in our hearts -- if you would, turn over to Acts 20 -- in this passage, Paul is on his way to Jerusalem for the last time and has stopped in Miletus, where he speaks to a group of elders from Ephesus
-- listen as Paul sums up his life -- his mission and his quest -- for these elders -- look at verse 17

17. From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.
18. When they arrived, he said to them: "You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia.
19. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews.
20. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.
21. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
22. "And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.
23. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.
24. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

-- Paul looked at his Christian life as a race -- an amazing race -- a race that was run with a purpose -- to serve the Lord with humility and to preach repentance of sins and faith in Jesus -- a race that was filled with adventure and danger and trials and hardships -- Paul tells us in his epistles that he faced plots from the Jews -- that he had been flogged and whipped at their hands -- that he had been stoned -- that he had been shipwrecked three times -- that he had been in danger and been without food and had been cold and naked
-- but through it all, Paul continued to run the race -- because he was led by God -- because he recognized his purpose in life -- because he knew that he was running for and fighting for and suffering for something more important than his own safety and security and comfort -- eternal life and eternal reward in heaven with Jesus
-- and now, looking back on the life that he had lived, Paul was able to tell Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:7 "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

IV. Our Race
-- now here's the take-home message from what Paul was saying -- here's the take-home message from God that he speaks to your heart everytime you get caught up in the adventure of any of our favorite fairy tales or Star Wars or the Matrix or the Amazing Race
-- you may think that you are just living an ordinary humdrum life -- but things are not what they seem -- you are in the middle of a great quest -- a grand epic battle -- a struggle between good and evil -- that is being played out around you every single day
-- and you are part of the story -- you have a role to play -- you have a purpose -- you are to go out into the world and to help them see the truth -- to show them the light -- and to point them to the life that can come only through Jesus
-- but, it won't be easy -- there will be trials and struggles along the way -- roadblocks and detours and danger mixed in with the joy and the happiness
-- you know that waitress who was so busy she couldn't bring you a refill when you asked? -- you know that cashier who was rude to you the other day in the store? -- you know that person who cut you off while driving to work? -- you know that student that looks to you for help and support? -- you know that lady who comes up to you in the parking lot asking for money to buy gas?
-- they're all part of this story, too -- they're the reason for the story -- an evil enemy is after them -- to steal away their joy -- to destroy their hope -- to kill their eternal life -- and he will do whatever he can to keep you from pointing them to the truth -- from pointing them to life -- from pointing them to Jesus

-- we don't have any idea where our particular race will carry us -- we don't have any idea who we will meet along the way or what adventures we will have
-- but we know our mission -- we know our calling -- we know why we are running the race -- we are called to love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind -- we are called to love our neighbor as ourself -- and we are called to go and make disciples of the whole world, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus taught us
-- and we know what our reward is at the end of the race -- eternal life with Jesus in Heaven

V. Closing
-- Stephen Curtis Chapman has a song about our Christian life called, "The Great Adventure" that I think sums up this concept of our life as an amazing race quite well -- listen to his lyrics as I read them to you

"Started out this morning in the usual way
Chasing thoughts inside my head of all I had to do today
Another time around the circle try to make it better than the last

But I opened up the Bible and I read about me
Said I'd been a prisoner and God's grace had set me free
And somewhere between the pages it hit me like a lightning bolt
I saw a big frontier in front of me and I heard somebody say "let's go"!

Saddle up your horses we've got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace
Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown
This is a life like no other - this is The Great Adventure

Come on get ready for the ride of your life
Gonna leave long faced religion in a cloud of dust behind
And discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored
This is what we were created for

We'll travel over, over mountains so high
We'll go through valleys below
Still through it all we'll find that
This is the greatest journey that the human heart will ever see
The love of God will take us far beyond our wildest dreams
So saddle up your horses... come on get ready to ride"

-- we ARE in a great adventure far beyond our wildest dreams -- we just need to open the eyes of our hearts and see the truth of the matter and start living a life of adventure as God intended

-- I want to close by sharing with you a few thoughts from a great literary genius -- I am, of course, talking about Dr. Seuss -- in his book, "And to think I saw it on Mulberry Street," a father tells his son to keep his eyes open when he walks to school and back, because there are great and grand things going on around him every single day
-- but the son doesn't see with the eyes of his heart -- he only sees the ordinary things of life -- all he saw was a horse and wagon on the street -- so on the way back, he makes up this great imaginary tale of what he could have seen
-- but at the end of the book, when he comes face-to-face with his father, he has to tell him the truth of what he saw on Mulberry Street -- listen to the close of the story

-- "Dad said quite calmly, "Just draw up your stool, and tell me the sights on the way home from school"
-- "There was so much to tell, I just couldn't begin! -- Dad looked at me sharply and pulled at his chin. -- He frowned at me sternly from there in his seat, "Was there nothing to look at..no people to greet? -- did nothing excite you or make your heart beat?"
-- "Nothing," I said, growing red as a beet. "But a plain horse and wagon on Mulberry Street."

-- at the end of our life, we are going to stand before our Father and He is going to ask us what we saw on our way home to heaven -- the people we met -- the places we went to -- the adventures that we had
-- He's going to ask us what we did with our life -- and we're going to have to answer Him truthfully
-- He has called us to be part of a great adventure -- a great quest -- an amazing race -- He has called us to see through our ordinary lives -- through our day-to-day living -- to the great adventure of life all around us
-- He has called us to fight the good fight -- to finish the race -- and to keep the faith

-- at the end of your life, when you stand before God, what will you say you saw along the Amazing Race -- what will you say you did with your life?
-- every single day of our lives should be an adventure with Christ -- but we have to choose to make it so

When to Keep Your Mouth Shut

Don't open your mouth:

1. In the heat of anger (Proverbs 14:17)
2. When you don't have all the facts (Proverbs 18:13)
3. If your words will offend a weaker brother (1 Corinthians 8:11)
4. When you have not verified the story (Deuteronomy 17:6)
5. If your words will be a poor reflection of the Lord or friends or family (1 Peter 2:21-23)
6. When you are tempted to make light of Holy things (Ecclesiastes 5:2)
7. When you are tempted to joke about sin (Proverbs 14:9)
8. If you would be ashamed of your words later (Proberbs 8:8)
9. If you words would convey a wrong impression (Proverbs 17:27)
10. If the issue is none of your business (Proverbs 14:10)
11. When you are tempted to tell an outright lie (Proverbs 4:24)
12. If your words will damage someone's reputation (Proverbs 16:27)
13. If your words would destroy a friendship (Proverbs 16:28)
14. When you are feeling critical (James 3:9)
15. If you can't speak without yelling (Proverbs 25:28)
16. When it is time to listen (Proverbs 13:1)
17. If you may have to eat your words later (Proverbs 18:21)
18. If you've already said it more than once (then it becomes nagging) (Proverbs 19:13)
19. When you are tempted to flatter a wicked person (Proverbs 24:24)
20. When you are supposed to be working instead (Proverbs 14:23)

Proverbs 21:23 -- "Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from trouble"

WORSHIP WAYS
10 April 2005

I. Introduction
-- if you have your Bibles with you, please turn over to Hebrews 12
28. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
29. for our "God is a consuming fire."
-- a little boy attended church with his father one Sunday morning -- that night, as he kneeled by his bed to say his prayers, he prayed to God, "Dear God, we had a good time at church today, but I wish you had been there"
-- have you ever come to a worship service and left feeling just like this little boy? -- I think a lot of the time in our churches today -- even in this church -- we end up exchanging true worship with a man-made program that sometimes leaves us longing for a touch from God
-- we sometimes start to understand what God meant in Isaiah 29:13 when He said, "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men."
-- as Rick Warren pointed out in the Purpose Driven Life, worship is one of the primary purposes for which God made us -- He made us to be in a relationship with Him and to worship Him and to bring Him pleasure -- but a lot of times the way we worship is more designed to please men than it is to please God
-- in the passage I opened with from Hebrews 12, the author told us that we need to worship God with reverence and awe -- to reverence God means that you lift Him up -- that you regard Him with respect -- that you find Him worthy of praise and honor
-- to show God awe means that you recognize that He is God and you are not -- that you recognize the mighty works that He has done and you know that you must approach Him with affection mingled with fear of His mighty power
-- I think we sometimes forget what it means to worship God with reverence and awe -- I remember as a child that when I entered a church, it felt like I was entering into the presence of the sacred -- there was a sense of place -- a sense of power -- a sense of mystery and sacredness -- very few people spoke in the santuary prior to the service -- and those that did speak did so with a whisper -- there was a sense of being in the presence of God, and everyone entered the sanctuary with reverence and awe
-- this morning I want to spend some time talking about what it means to worship and how worship should be conducted so that maybe we can recapture some of that reverence and awe that seems to be missing from a lot of services today

II. What is Worship?
-- so, let's start by asking the simple question, "what is worship?"
-- worship is nothing more than bringing pleasure to God -- giving glory to God -- giving praise and honor to God -- Rick Warren said that "we enjoy what God has done for us, and when we express that enjoyment to God, it not only brings Him joy, but it increases our joy"
-- anything that we do with God and for God is a means of worship and a means of strengthening our relationship with Him -- worship is more than just gathering on Sunday morning -- worship goes far beyond that
-- worship should be the daily recognition of God's presence in our lives and in all creation and the daily offering of praise and thanksgiving to God for His presence in our lives
-- worship should be a lifestyle -- where every moment of every day we bring glory to God by enjoying Him and expressing our enjoyment of Him -- by living our lives as He commanded -- and by giving Him all the honor and glory and praise for everything that goes on
-- when we get back to the heart of worship -- when we adopt a lifestyle of worship -- then we are truly starting to worship God with reverence and awe it says in Hebrews 12
-- now even though we know that worship should be a way of life for us -- I want to focus this morning on the times that we traditionally think of as worship services -- the times that we gather together corporately -- as the body of Christ -- to worship and to praise God for who He is and for what He has done in our lives
-- as we talk about our corporate worship services, we need to keep in mind that worship does not mean just singing songs of praise -- every part of a church service is an act of worship -- however, traditionally, we have experienced worship in our church services in three main ways -- through singing -- through prayer -- and through the proclamation and interpretation of scripture
-- if you would, turn over to 1 Corinthians 14 and let's see what the Apostle Paul had to say about worship
26. What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.
27. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two--or at the most three--should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret.
28. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.
29. Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.
30. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop.
31. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.
32. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.
33. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.
-- in these verses you can see exactly what I just pointed out -- our early worship services had several elements or experiences of worship as Paul described here
-- I want to spend just a couple of minutes and talk about each of these briefly in regards to how we should worship

Singing -- Ephesians 5:19-20
19. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,
20. always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
-- these verses say that when we gather together for worship that we should sing and make music in our hearts to the Lord -- and that we should speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
-- last week I told you that we were at war and that our enemy would use anything to steal, kill, and destroy our hearts and our relationship with God -- well, the use of music in our churches today is one of the ways that Satan is trying to destroy and divide our churches today -- we even have a term for it -- we call it "worship wars"
-- a lot of people don't like the modern praise songs and the contemporary Christian music and feel like we should be singing only hymns in our worship services -- while a lot of our youth don't like the hymns and think we should be singing only contemporary music -- this has led to a lot of division in our churches
-- some churches have tried to fix this problem by having two worship services -- one contemporary with modern music and one traditional, with hymns -- I don't believe that this approach is biblical and I think it just perpetuates the problem of dividing the church -- if you look at what Paul wrote here, he tells us that we are to sing with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs -- in other words, there should be a place for all three types of music in our churches during the same service
-- even if you don't like the contemporary songs, you can appreciate the way they are trying to bring the focus of worship to a different level by singing directly to God instead of about God -- and even if you don't like the traditional hymns, you can appreciate the way great biblical truths and important doctrines are taught through the words of these songs
-- I feel the best biblical stance is to have a single service where both hymns and spiritual songs are sung

Prayer -- the next major way we experience worship corporately is through prayer -- through the times when we attempt to draw close to God by speaking directly to Him -- by giving Him praise and honor and thanksgiving with our words and with our heart -- and by asking for His presence in our lives and in the lives of those around us through sharing our needs and our intercessions
-- traditionally, prayer in a worship service is both corporate and private -- there should be times where we come together as one and where we listen to and actively affirm the prayers of a leader -- whether that is me as the pastor or someone else who may lead a prayer
-- but, there should also be times for private prayer as well -- some churches have a moment of silent prayer before corporate prayer -- while others, like us, allow a time for private prayer and response to the word at the end of the service

Scripture -- the final way that we traditionally experience corporate worship is through the proclamation and interpretation of Scripture -- 1 Tim 4:13 says "devote yourself to public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching"
-- all the way back to the early days of the first church, there has always been a time for the proclamation of God's word and the interpretation of God's word -- in the earliest days, the pastor was not the only person who did this -- the Bible tells us that others would stand and speak of their interpretations of Scripture or their experiences with God -- sort of like we do when we have praises or testimonies shared in the church
-- the sharing and interpretation of scripture was an important part of the worship service -- but it was only a part -- a complete worship service had to also include singing and praying

III. Hindrances to Worship
-- so, what are some of our hindrances to authentic worship -- to worshiping with reverence and awe
-- the main hindrance has to do with our focus -- we need to keep in mind Who we are gathered to worship -- are we focusing our attention on God or are we distracted?
-- this past week at Echols County revival I was sitting in the service -- I was doing the right things -- I was singing the songs -- I was listening as the preachers prayed -- I was listening as the sermons were preached -- but my mind and my heart were elsewhere -- I was distracted and I was not honoring God with my worship and praise
-- it's easy to get distracted in a service -- especially in a service with people outside your normal crowd -- we can get distracted by paying too much attention to others in the congregation -- whether that is children or the person behind us singing off-key or the person who keeps shouting "Amen" during a sermon
-- we can get distracted by worrying too much about what others are thinking -- if I raise my hand, are they going to think I'm a fanatic? -- what if I sing off-key -- what will they think? -- what if I close my eyes to focus on the song -- will they think I'm asleep?
-- we can get distracted by thinking about things outside of the worship service -- what we're going to have for lunch -- where's the race at today? -- why did she wear that dress? -- did anyone notice I got a new car? -- what am I going to do at work today?
-- all of these distractions are thrown at us by Satan because he is trying to keep us from focusing our attention on God and giving God the honor and glory that He deserves
-- what distracts us isn't nearly as important as what it distracts us from -- when we enter into worship -- we are to leave all life's distractions -- big and little -- and give Him our undivided attention
-- we are to be fully engaged -- both emotionally and intellectually -- our whole personality is to be involved in the worship experience
-- Samaritan woman at the well -- worship in spirit and truth -- worship with our heart and our mind -- focusing on Him with our whole being
-- Crawford Loritts said that worship that comes from a divided, distracted heart isn't true worship at all -- when we do that, we are worshiping with our lips but our hearts are far from Him
-- in this passage in 1 Corinthians, Paul says here that our worship services must be orderly -- not to set up rules about what we can and can't do when we worship God -- but to help prevent outside distractions -- our worship services should be orderly to help usher us into the presence of God
-- distractions in worship was a big problem in the church at Corinth
-- most of the members of the church in Corinth were Gentiles and came from a pagan background -- when they were pagans, they did not approach worship in the same way that the Christian church approached worship -- pagan worship was ecstatic -- it was emotional -- it was basically out-of-control -- a lot of the times it involved sacrifices and the ritualistic cutting of one's body and sexual orgies as the pagans would allow themselves to be filled and controlled by mind-altering drugs and evil spirits -- -- pagan worship was disorderly and distracting -- it was reckless abandon -- not worshiping with their heart and mind
-- a great example of a pagan worship experience can be found in Exodus 32 -- story of Aaron and the golden calf -- Bible says they were eating and drinking and dancing and indulging in revelry -- they were in total abandonment in front of an idol -- and God almost destroyed the nation of Israel as a result
-- but Paul is reminding them here that the worship of God was not to be like that -- it was to be orderly and not out-of-control, because God is a God of order and not disorder -- he points out here that everything that is done in a worship service should be done to help build up and strengthen the church -- in other words, our services should be orderly so we do not cause distractions or division or disunity among the members
-- the rules of orderly worship that Paul was giving us in this passage were not to tell us step by step how to worship, but to help keep us focused on worshiping God with our heart and our mind
-- Bible tells us we are to fully enter into worship -- David dancing before ark of covenant -- he fully gave himself over to worshiping God with heart and mind -- he was not distracted by what others thought about him or by outside things
-- his wife Michal complained about the worship of David -- which does bring up a good point -- we need to always consider the context of our worship services -- what is acceptable expressions of worship in one place may not be acceptable expressions in another place
-- this is one reason why we have different denominations -- worship differently -- Methodists vs. Baptists vs. Pentecostals
-- all are acceptable and pleasing expressions of worship to God, provided they are done with the right focus and the right purposes -- to worship God with reverence and awe and to worship Him with all our heart and our mind and our strength
-- however, when we are worshiping with believers outside our local body, we should be mindful of these differences in worship experiences and conform to their method of worshiping -- in other words, we should not do things that would distract from the service -- Paul says that we should be mindful of our weaker brothers and that we should not do things that would cause them to stumble
Crawford Lorritts -- worship is a privilege -- one we should take very seriously -- let's approach worship with a pure and undistracted heart
-- let's pray

RESURRECTION REVERBERATIONS
3 April 2005

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
-- this morning is the first Sunday following Easter -- the celebration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ -- historically, following the resurrection, the Bible tells us that Jesus stayed with His disciples for forty days -- discipling them and teaching them the meaning of His death and His resurrection in light of the Hebrew Scriptures
-- the New Testament reflects what the Apostles learned from Christ and from their own experiences about what the death and resurrection of Christ meant and why it should matter to us
-- so, now that we have had the Bible for almost 2000 years and we have had almost 2000 years of interpretation and study of the Bible, let me ask you a simple question: Why did Jesus come? -- Why did God send His Son to earth?
-- the most obvious answer, of course, is that Jesus came to forgive our sins -- we should all know that we were born sinners and that we all have need for the forgiveness of our sins -- Romans 3:23 says as much, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" -- so, in order for us to come to God, we have to have our sins forgiven -- that is one purpose for which Christ came
-- when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to the Jordan River to be baptized, John cried out, "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" -- and it was through the blood of Christ that we were given forgiveness of our sins -- during the last supper, when Jesus took the cup of wine and passed it among His disciples, He pointed this out to them -- He told them to take and drink it, it was the blood of the covenant, being poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins
-- but, that's only part of the answer -- Jesus did come to offer forgiveness of sin, but what else did He come for?
-- Jesus also came to bring us life -- Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin are death but that the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ -- through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead on the third day, Jesus overcame the power of death and brought us life
-- Jesus tells us that Himself in John 10:10 -- "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" -- the King James version says, "I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly"
-- the forgiveness of sins comes through the blood of Christ, but eternal and abundant life comes through the cross of Christ -- through dying to self and being raised to new life in Christ
-- it is this new life that I want to talk about a little more this morning -- it is the next step in our Christian experience following salvation -- but it is a step that very few Christians seem to be taking
-- you see, we tend to get lost at the cross -- we understand the meaning of the forgiveness of sins -- we understand what it means to have our sins forgiven -- we know what it takes to get to that point
-- but, we don't seem to understand how to move past the cross and into the eternal and abundant life that Jesus offered -- we don't fully understand and appreciate just what the cross and the resurrection mean to us -- that is why our churches are full on Easter and back to normal on the Sunday after
-- St. Irenaeus said "the glory of God is a man fully alive" -- that is what a normal Christian looks like -- that is the picture we see of Christians in the Bible -- but that is not what we see when we look around our churches and our communities today
-- the cross is more than just a symbol of our faith -- it was the tool by which Christ destroyed our sin nature
-- as the great Chinese Evangelist, Watchman Nee, said, "The Blood deals with what we have done, whereas the Cross deals with what we are. The Blood disposes of our sins, while the Cross strikes at the root of our capacity for sin."
-- in other words, because of the cross we have been given the capacity to live eternal, abundant, and sin-free lives -- because of the cross we are not who were were -- we are new creations -- we have been transformed and set free and been restored to the image of God -- as it says in 2 Cor 5:17, "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
-- the cross should be a passageway for us into a new life -- into an abundant life -- that was why Christ came
-- Watchman Nee said that "Our old history ends with the Cross; our new history begins with the resurrection. The Cross terminates the first creation, and out of death there is brought a new creation in Christ, the second Man"
-- this second Man -- this new creation that Watchman Nee and the Bible talk about -- is a man or woman fully alive in Christ -- forgiven of their sins and living an abundant, eternal, and sin-free life through the power of Christ
-- but, we have a problem believing and understanding this concept for a couple of reasons
-- first, we look at this as a future blessing -- when the Bible tells us that Christ died to bring us eternal life, we generally assume that this means that we will receive eternal life after we die
-- but in his book, Waking the Dead, John Eldredge pointed out that when the Bible says that Christ died to bring us eternal life, it didn't mean that this life would begin after we die -- the word "eternal" doesn't mean that -- it means "never-ending" -- it means "continuing forever"
-- eternal life should begin at the cross after our sins are forgiven and after we die to self and are raised with Christ -- in John 10:10, when Christ talks about living life to the full or living the abundant life, He is not talking about in the future after we die, but here and now
-- look with me now at Romans 6 -- in the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul deals with the two purposes of Christ -- in the first five chapters of the book of Romans, Paul has built the case for the need for the forgiveness of sins and he has shown that we all have this sin nature within us that causes us to sin
-- now, in Romans 6, he begins a new section showing how the cross destroyed our old sin nature and made possible the new and abundant life that Christ offered
-- look at verse 1 1. What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
2. By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
3. Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. -- some people in Rome were living lives just like most of the Christians here in America -- they had come to the cross and been forgiven of their sins, but they were not living the abundant lives that Christ had come to offer -- they were still living lives of sin -- so Paul dramatically says that they should stop sinning -- that they had died to sin so that they might live a new life with Christ -- then he goes on to tell us how that happened
-- verse 5 -- 5. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
6. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin--
7. because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
8. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
9. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.
10. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. -- we are dead to sin but alive to Christ -- notice that Paul is saying the same thing here as Watchman Nee and John Eldredge and others -- this life in Christ -- this abundant and eternal life is not to be lived in the future, but in the here and now
-- this is one reason why we are not seeing more Christians living the victorious life -- we simply are not taking hold of the promise of Christ -- we think that this eternal and abundant life is in the future, so why try now?
-- the second reason why we are not seeing more Christians living the victorious life is because we are at war -- listen as I read John 10:10 to you once more [read John 10:10] -- Jesus came that we might have life -- but the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy
-- the cross and the resurrection made the abundant, eternal life available to us -- but, one reason we don't realize this and live this out is because of Satan's deceptions
-- look at verse 12
12. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
13. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.
14. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
15. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
16. Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
17. But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.
18. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
-- before the blood -- before the cross and the resurrection -- we were under bondage to Satan and to our old sin nature -- he controlled us -- he controlled our actions -- he controlled our movements -- he threw temptation after temptation at us and because of our sin nature, we fell for it hook, line, and sinker time and time again
-- and now, even though our sins have been forgiven and we've been offered new life in Christ, the devil keeps the truth hidden from us -- he continues to deceive us by making us think that we are still under his control -- he knows that old habits are hard to break -- and he uses that to keep us in bondage
-- during the Vietnam War, our troops went in and liberated a POW camp -- we killed the guards and we broke the chains and we opened up the doors to the cells where our men were being held captive -- but, do you know what happened? -- a lot of the men refused to leave their cells, even though the door was open -- they couldn't believe they were free -- they were so used to being held captive that they couldn't step out into the freedom
-- in the same way, Satan holds us captive by telling us that we're really not free -- he whispers things in our ears like, "you might be forgiven, but you know how you are -- you always give in to this sin -- you can't help yourself" -- or "you know you're going to sin again -- it's just who you are -- you can't help yourself"
-- he uses lies and deceptions to keep us from moving into the life that Jesus offers us through the cross -- he uses lies and deceptions to steal, kill and destroy
-- and if we listen to his lies long enough, we'll start to believe them with our whole heart and we'll start to live them out in our life -- you can let yourself be controlled through his words of lies and deceptions
-- let me give you an example from my own life -- when I was young, I loved baseball -- baseball was my favorite sport -- Daddy wanted me to be a football player, but I wanted to play baseball
-- so, I went out for little league and I was put on a team -- and from the very first day, my love of baseball started to leave me -- you see, the coach was very hard and very critical to me -- I don't know if he meant it as motivation, but his words started destroying my spirit
-- if we were running laps, he'd tell me how slow I was -- if I missed a catch, he'd tell me it was because I was slapping at the ball and that I couldn't catch anything -- when they were looking for someone to try out as a pitcher, he told me I couldn't try because I was too weak to get the ball across the plate
-- and, as I continued to listen to his criticisms over the course of that season, I started to believe them -- I wasn't any good at baseball -- I never would be any good -- I never would be any good at anything
-- I didn't quit the team -- that wasn't something you did -- but I can tell you it wasn't fun anymore -- the excitement and the thrill of baseball were taken away from me by this coach
-- the next year, when I tried out for little league baseball again, I did it with a completely different outlook -- I had been taught by this coach that I was no good -- I had been taught I couldn't play baseball -- and, as a result, I couldn't -- his words controlled my life -- and I didn't make the team -- I had been cut from little league
-- but something amazing happened -- several weeks after the season had started, I was in the grocery store with my mother and someone came up from behind and covered my eyes -- I heard a voice saying, "I'm looking for a good baseball player -- anyone here want to play baseball?" -- I turned around and saw a friend of our family -- he coached one of the little league teams -- the winningnest team in the county, in fact
-- he said, "I need someone to play first base -- I think you can do it -- do you want to play?"
-- and I played -- badly at first, but this coach was different -- instead of criticizing, he encouraged -- when I did something wrong, he'd show me how to do it better -- and when I did something right, he'd get excited with me -- and in the process, I quit listening to the lies and the hurtful comments of my first coach and started listening to what the new coach had to tell me
-- and, do you know what, it turns out that my old coach was wrong -- I wan't a terrible baseball player -- I may not have been a super star, but I was good enough to play and good enough to contribute to the team as a starting player -- a fact I'm still proud of since three of the boys on that team ended up getting drafted into the pros
-- our team went on to win the little league title for the county that year -- but that wasn't the victory that I celebrated at the end of the season -- I celebrated the fact that I loved the game of baseball once again -- I celebrated the fact that the lies and deceptions -- that everything that the old coach had done to steal, kill, and destroy my love of baseball was gone -- I was free
Closing
-- so, what's the take home message from today -- I think it's verse 18 "You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness."
-- we have been set free from the bondage of sin and from the lies and deceptions of the enemy -- we have been set free to enjoy and to live the abundant, eternal, and sin-free life that Jesus offered us through His death and resurrection
-- we need to remember that we have been more than forgiven -- we have been set free and delivered from our sin natures so that we can live the abundant life now -- not in the future -- but now
-- and we need to remember that we are not in bondage to satan or to sin any longer -- his lies and his deceptions can only keep us in our cell if we let them -- the door has been opened and a new voice is calling -- a voice that encourages and that calls us to freedom and to life
-- this morning you may find yourself lost at the cross -- you might have had your sins forgiven, but you know that you are not living the abundant and victorious life that in the Christians in the Bible -- ask yourself this question right now, "Are you living as though death has been conquered and that eternal life is available here and now?"
-- maybe you didn't realize that you could have this life now -- maybe you have been kept in chains in an open cell because you listened to the lies of the deceiver -- what ever the reason, Christ is calling you into life with Him -- all you have to do is step forward and receive it by doing what it says in this passage
-- first, if you have not already done so, by receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior and letting His blood cleanse you and forgive you of your sins
-- secondly, by counting yourself dead to sin and alive in Christ
-- thirdly, by trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross and in the life He offers and not in the lies and deceptions of the enemy
-- and, finally, by offering yourself to God as a living and holy sacrifice -- being obedient to His word and to His call on your life
-- as the last hymn is played, I would invite you to respond to God's word as you feel led
-- let us pray

What's the Point?

As I was catching up on some reading this week, I read with interest an article in the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, our voice for Georgia Methodism. This article proudly proclaimed that giving was up in the United Methodist Church this year, even though our membership had continued to decline. The point of the article was that more of our members are giving and tithing and more of our churches are meeting their apportionments. But, that begs the question -- What's the Point?

What's the point of our existence as a denomination? Or to bring it more closely home, what's the point of our existence as local bodies of believers? Yes, I think obedience in giving and tithing -- I think obedience to stewardship principles -- are important. They show that we are being good disciples of Christ and that we are trying to be faithful to His calling. But, I think it misses the larger point. We are not called to be a fund raiser. Christ did not die on the cross for tithes and offerings or apportionments. He died on the cross to make possible the forgiveness of sins, the destruction of our sin nature, and the possibility of eternal life with Him. He died on the cross so that we would live transformed lives and have an abundant and full life here on earth by living in Him.

When Christ established His church, He gave us a mission -- to go forth and make disciples, to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to teach them to obey everything that He taught us. The bigger question, then, for the United Methodist Church is not "how are our apportionments?" but, "how are we doing meeting the purposes for which we were called?" We can have 100% of our churches meeting their apportionments, we can have 100% of our members tithing every week, and still be out of God's will.

It's time for us to get back to the basics. Back to the cross. Back to the empty tomb. Back to our original purposes of making disciples and bringing lost souls to the Savior. And until we get our focus back on what is really important, we are going to continue to see membership declines in the Methodist Church.

I would encourage all of you to pray for a revival in our churches and in our denomination. I would encourage you to pray for Christ to touch our hearts and our lives and to revive and renew in us a burning desire to reach others for Him first, before we do anything else.

Thoughts on the Passing of Pope John Paul II

As everyone knows by now, Pope John Paul II passed away in his residence at the Vatican on Saturday, and his funeral is scheduled for this Friday. Pope John Paul II was elected Pope when I was around 12 years old, so for most of my formative years, he has been the voice and the symbol of Catholicism for me. While I do confess that I have some concerns with the workings and doctrines of the Catholic Church, I must say that I have admired and respected their leader for many years.

Pope John Paul II seemed to speak for all Christianity through his words and through his actions, and on retrospect, he appeared to do more to foster good ecumenical relations with Protestants than any other Pope in recent history. The majority of his speeches and his talks appealed to me and appeared to share my own concerns in regards to religiousity and false piety in the church and a general lack of holiness or obedience among the followers of Christ. Additionally, he remained very concerned with the downward spiral of our culture and our morals, and was the voice of sanity in a Europe that is rapidly becoming even more and more secular. His ultimate legacy as the leader of the Catholic Church will not be known for several years, but his successor has some mighty big shoes to fill.

So, during this time of mourning and grieving over the passing of a great spiritual leader, I would like to express my condolences to my Catholic brothers and sisters and let them know that I am praying for them and their church in this time.

Spring in Spokane, Washington

While we in South Georgia have been enjoying a spring day filled with rain, rain, and more rain, I thought I'd share with you a picture of spring in Spokane to brighten your day. We can always rejoice in the fact that rain never lasts, and that in the spring, flowers are sure to follow such soaking rain storms.

In the church we talk a lot about the storms of life. We bemoan the fact that we have storms and valleys that we must enter into from time to time. But these storms also produce flowers in our lives, once the Lord allows His rain to soften the hardened ground of our heart. So, even though we are experiencing rain today in south Georgia, keep your head up and look for the sun and the flowers to follow.

Waking the Dead?

Perhaps it was the beginning of spring, perhaps it was something in the air, but the other day I was in our local library and noticed a copy of John Eldredge's book, "Waking the Dead," on the shelf with their new arrivals. I didn't know much about John Eldredge, but from what little I had heard, I figured he was really not someone whose books I would enjoy reading. I first heard about Eldredge when his book "Wild at Heart" was making the round of the Christian's mens groups, and some of the criticism of that book and the direction it was taking men seemed a little too "new-agey" for me. But, I had not read the book so I didn't pass judgement on him or his work, but I surely didn't rush out to get it, either. [I try not to jump on either side of a bandwagon when it rolls past without first examining the book/movie/cultural event/etc. for myself, hearing both sides, and forming my own opinion based on my understanding of scripture.]

So, whatever the reason, when I saw "Waking the Dead" on the shelf, I just felt like I should get it, give it a try, and see whether his theology and direction was really in a different area than where mine lays. The book laid on my coffee table for three weeks -- actually had to renew it at the library to avoid late fees -- before I ever picked it up. I threw it into my bag when I left for the airport for a week-long trip to D.C. Mid-way to D.C. I finally resolved myself and picked up the book and was totally and thoroughly engrossed from the beginning page. I devoured the book and completed it in just four days, all while still attending a conference and reading another book at the same time. In my humble opinion, it was outstanding!

There was nothing really new in the book. But Eldredge, much like Rick Warren, has the knack of taking accepted Biblical understandings and repackaging them and rewriting them in a way that reaches new generations of people. The basic premise of his book is that the church is the walking dead. That although we have been saved by the blood of Christ, we are not living the victorious life that Christ intended us to live here on earth. We are living out dreary days on earth, trudging through the muck and slime, and waiting for the day when we will finally enter into our Heavenly abode. But, as Eldredge points out, Christ did say that He came so that we might have abundant life, not just in the future after death, but here and now. I have preached on this concept several times, but thought Eldredge's treatment of it was great.

Eldredge's book described three essential and eternal truths that we need to understand in order to live the life Christ intended:

1. Things are not what they seem.
2. This is a world at war.
3. Each of us has a crucial role to play.

Without going into a lot of detail about this section, let me do say that this was the best part of the book in my opinion. Eldredge pointed out that we needed to learn to see with the eyes of our heart -- to see mythically -- as in a story -- in order to understand what is going on in our lives. He then related how our great stories of faith and the myths that we enjoy are all related back to these three truths. All of the major movies and books that inspire the human heart incorporate these three elements because they are a part of us. For example, the recent trilogy of the Lord of the Rings was a wonderful example of how these three truths were played out in the life of the characters. This direction calls us into the realization that we are in the middle of a story -- in the middle of a great tale -- and that we have a role to play and that others are watching (as the Bible points out).

In the book, Eldredge introduces Christians to the four "streams" of their lives -- discipleship, counseling, healing and spiritual warfare -- as a means of restoring ourselves to the life that Christ called us to live.

Overall, I would have to say that this is an excellent book and resource for those seeking to move past the mundane and into the life that God called us to live here on earth as we seek to do His will. While it does have some slight problems with verses out of context and some leaps in theology, overall it is a really sound book with sound principles that we can easily apply to our lives and our churches.