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How a small Church can make a big difference

March 16, 2009 at 10:01 pm · Filed under church, evangelism, friendship, prayer and tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Many churches live in a state of defeat.  We mumble and grumble about our size about what we can and cannot do.  Sadly we miss out on opportunities to make an impact for the kingdom.  We have believed the lie that we can do effective ministry when we get to a certain point or size.  Yet God calls us to simply be faithful where we are at with what we have.  So with that said let me share with you how God is moving in an incredible way in our missions program.

Last year myself along with several other members from our church went to Liberia Africa.  At the time this was my third trip to Liberia.  On this trip we visited with Danny Buegar who was the pastor of the United Christian Church of Monrovia.  This is a church of 200 members.  Their church building was simply made of some bamboo and thatched roof.  During the rainy season the members would get wet during the service.  But really to know more about this church you need to know more about Liberia.

Liberia ended a 14 year civil war just a few years ago.  The war devastated the country.  Unemployment is a staggering 85%.  And even those who work do not make much.  A doctor makes about 5 dollars a day.  To say there is a health crisis would be an understatement.  Nearly the whole population struggles with Malaria.  Children under 5 have a 50/50 chance of survival.  To compound health issues most Liberians do not have access to clean drinking water.  Could things be worse?  The answer is yes.  Besides all the health problems, Liberia is a society of uneducated people.  Nearly 3/4 of the children do not attend school.  Spiritually Liberia has great needs.  In a country where brutality has been the norm there is a great need for the peace that can only come from Christ.  So that is some of the bad, but let me share some good.

For several years our church has helped out with some teaching and training teams and also have sent some supplies to Liberia to help the Liberian people.  A year ago  God was calling us to do more.  And so we went to prayer and asked God to use us.   And this is how He used us.

Our children had a VBS program in which they raised $8,000 to purchase three water systems to help clean water for Liberians.  Shortly after this event we decided that we wanted to send a team to Liberia that would be more than a few teachers.   We had been told by the Liberians that churches would send money to help them but very rarely would they send people.  And of those people who came they only sent a few men.  So we put together a team of 26 people.  Half of that group was women.  Knowing that the needs were great we decided first that we wanted to make sure that the Monrovia church would have a place where they could worship without getting wet.  We also wanted to build a building that could be used as a school for children and we wanted this building to be a place where training could take place for other churches throughout Liberia.  Besides the building we wanted to do more to help the people of Liberia.  We wanted to get more water systems that could go to different places around Liberia and bring a medical team to this desperate country.

So that is a little of what we wanted to do.  Let me share in just a nutshell what God provided and what He continues to do.  Over this last year God provided over $150,000 in money and supplies.   5 water systems were purchased.  Over $15,000 worth of tools were donated to help in the construction part of the church.  Literally thousands of dollars of medical supplies were given to help towards a medical clinic.  $30,000 was donated by individuals and churches to help towards the building project.  Thousands of dollars worth  of clothing, food, school books, VBS supplies, Bibles and Christian materials were donated and shipped to Liberia.  A shipping container was purchased to send all these supplies.

Besides all of these funds and supplies going to Liberia the team of 26 people had to raise $3,000 each to make this trip.  The team raised all their funds(some time when I have a chance I need to share how God provided in amazing ways.)  But let me share with you what the team was able to accomplish.  First we set up a medical clinic and saw in just 4 days over 600 Liberian people.  We  held a VBS which  had 400 children attend.  We held a woman’s conference that had over 100 women in attendance.  During our visit we set up 5 water systems plus trained those who would be providing the water.  Let me say that God was incredible.  And we thank and praise him for all he has done.

So where does this leave us?  Well we are still trying to finish the church/school building.  We believe that with $45,000 more we will have this building up and serving the people of Monrovia.  Right now all the foundation work is done.  Our trip has also left us with a hunger to do more for the kingdom of God.  We plan to send more medical teams in the future.  We also want to help with the local churches to plant more churches and to provide more water systems.  We believe that God has called us to be faithful and so we plan to dream big and see what God does.  We would love for others to team up with us and do something incredible for the Lord.    We would love to hear from you.   Maybe God has you reading this post for the very reason of going to Liberia with us or helping us financially finish the building.  Who knows but God has His plans.  All we have to do is be faithful and He will do the rest.

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Devotional: Colossians 1:10: A Life that Pleases God!

February 13, 2009 at 10:52 pm · Filed under Scripture, devotional, prayer and tagged: , , , ,

This is a re-post from Life Under the Blue Sky, a blog you should visit often. It is part of a longer series of blog posts that will cover the entire letter to the Colossian church. This post deals with prayer and I thought it would work well at the Prayer Journal. I hope to begin updating the prayer journal again with prayer thoughts for your journey. Thanks for stopping by.-jerry

Day 9, Colossians 1:10: A Life that Pleases God!

“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.”

“Christian living is that which, through the knowledge of God, is constantly bearing fruit and increasing in good deeds. Here, the emphasis is on the essential link between right beliefs and righteous conduct. In the end, false teaching is known by its fruits, or rather lack of them, for observation does not discover a clear link between claims to possess gnosis and actual goodness: whereas an awareness of God’s gracious acts towards us should lead to many gracious acts from us towards others.”—RC Lucas, Colossians, 39

Prayers have a point. We are not merely whispering into the wind and hoping that our prayers land somewhere or near someone. Nor, for that matter, was the apostle content to pray prayers that were the mindless ramblings and incoherent mutterings of someone who has no knowledge of the true God. Everything Paul did was to an end; prayer was no different.

I take the two phrases, ‘live a life worthy of the Lord’ and ‘please him in every way’ to be parallel ways of saying the same thing. I might also say this: How does one please the Lord? How does one live a life worthy of the Lord? Then he goes on: Bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. Let me take each one at a time.

First, live a life worthy of the Lord. I don’t think this is terribly complicated, but I think we make it terribly complicated. We seem to forget, for some reason, that we are not being asked to do something we have not been empowered to do. In other words: We can live a life worthy of the Lord! We are expected to continue living, but now the manner in which we are living is different. It used to not matter if we lived a life that was worthy of the Lord; we used to have no power to do so. But now things are different: Now we should because we can. We don’t quit living once we find ourselves in Christ. There’s a lot living to be done and those in Christ must do so in a way that is worthy of the Lord. I’ll leave it at that. ‘Worthy’ is a loaded word. Doing something now that was once simply beyond our imagination, capability or desire still strikes fear in many. Nevertheless, as we shall see, the longer we walk with the Lord, the more we know Him, the more we will understand what ‘worthy’ means.

Second, we are to please him in every way. Pleasing. Not only are we living, but we are to be pleasing him also. Here is what Jesus said concerning this: “By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me” (John 5:30). Jesus’ ambition, his goal, was to please the Father who sent Him. I think what this means is that Jesus would never do any such thing that might notplease the Father. This means he was perfectly fair, just, and reasonable. It meant that it pleased the Father for Jesus to die; Jesus died. It meant that Jesus did not seek to go about satisfying his own ambition or desire, but only that of God. It means that Jesus was the first to ‘take up his cross and deny himself.’ Well, I won’t argue with you if you say that it is not always easy to ‘please God in every way.’ On the contrary, we wage war against the flesh because there are pockets of resistance. We still, even after we find ourselves in Christ, want to please ourselves. So he expects us, too, to reflect God’s character too in all that we do. It means the often difficult and terrible work of self-denial. It means that disturbing work of not pleasing the self. It means the complicated work of learning when it is appropriate to do so.

Third, we are to be bearing fruit. The New and Old Testaments are filled with this idea that a good tree will bear good fruit and a bad tree bad fruit. It is also consistent that fruit will be born in some way, and that by our fruit we will be identifiable. The Fruit we bear is a strong indication of our identity and to whom we belong. Jesus expressed it this way in Matthew 7:

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”

I wonder if Paul is making this statement, ‘bearing fruit in every good work’ because it is possible that some Christians might just get lazy and forget that we are called to living, that once we have been raised up from the grave, we are not to find ourselves slumbering therein any longer. If false prophets then are recognized by their fruit, how much more will the Christian be recognized by hers?

Finally, and here is where everything comes together, Paul writes that we are to be growing in the knowledge of God. This growing seems to be the catalyst by which all of our living, pleasing and bearing get their start and get their energy to continue on day after day. Growing in the knowledge of God. Here’s what else Paul wrote about this:

33Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34″Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35″Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?”
36For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

What better way to live our lives? Living, pleasing, bearing and growing. It sounds like quite a remarkable manifesto for living the Resurrection life, doesn’t it? As we grow in our knowledge of God, won’t our living a life worthy of him become much less complicated? As we grow in our knowledge of God, won’t our pleasing him in every way become far more important? As we grow in our knowledge of Him, won’t our bearing of fruit become far more productive? Yet also, as we do these things—living, pleasing, and bearing—won’t these things lead us to a greater understanding of God?

And these are the things that Paul never stops praying about for the Colossian Christians. It sort of puts a new perspective on the nature of prayer and on what our priorities ought to be during prayer. These things give meaning to our prayer that is far greater than the mere stringing together of words that some prayers are. Here’s what he prayed:

“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”

Does this, in any way, resemble our prayers? Is this, in any way, the content of our own conversations with the Lord? Perhaps if we find ourselves struggling with living a worthy live, pleasing the Lord, bearing fruit, and growing in knowledge of God—perhaps, it has something to do with the content of our prayers, the intent of our prayers, and the purpose of our prayers. Perhaps the apostle ought to be our guide in these matters.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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Developing the Language of Prayer, part 2

October 28, 2008 at 4:02 pm · Filed under Scripture, prayer and tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Friends,

Developing the Language of Prayer, pt 2

In this ongoing, periodic, series of posts on prayer, I am learning how to develop the language of prayer by praying the Scriptures. In this post, I would like to look at some of the simpler prayers that are being offered in the Scripture. These prayers are often only two or three lines. Sometimes one sentence. Sometimes they are quotations of Scripture. In all cases, they express a very human side of prayer. This means, the fear, the needs, the ambition, the sorrow, the pain. It means, whatever experience the person was having, that became their prayer. Furthermore, their prayers became, for us, Scripture.

Eugene Peterson writes, in his newest book Tell It Slant that prayer is one of the most fundamental aspects of our humanity and that when we lose that aspect of our lives, we are actually depriving God of something: “Prayer may well be the single aspect of our language most in danger of losing touch with the sheer grittiness of our humanity.” He goes on to write, “A realization and embrace of our basic neediness, our poverty, is a necessary precondition for the employment of the imperatives in the prayer and parable [in Luke 11:1-13]…We do not become less needy, less dependent when we pray; we become more needy, more dependent-which is to say, more human. When we pray we dive ever more deeply into the very human condition from which sin alienates us and Christ saves us” (54, 55).

We cannot, then, escape prayer. We will and must pray. It defines us. We are, in effect, beggars who are constantly in need of someone’s help. But Peterson’s point is not that prayers somehow always satisfy the needs we have or get us the help we need. It’s not that our prayers are or (ever) should be designed to get us wealthy or otherwise less dependent. No our prayers teach us to become more dependent. The more we pray, the more we realize we are needy, the more we realize we lack.

What I’d like to do in this post is show you some of the shorter prayers in Scripture that are often overlooked or simply skimmed over by the reader. We must not forget, however, that these are prayers that were prayed. What is amazing about them is that they are prayed in the midst of everyday life and living. It’s almost like the people who prayed them are just walking down the road, thinking about this or that or the other, and they offer up a short, what we might call, one-liner. Often, God honors their prayers and answers them well. I’ll post a few of these and then perhaps make a comment or two about them and their context.

Prayer 1

1 Chronicles 4:9-10

“Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” 10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.”

Probably no prayer has been more abused or misunderstood than the so-called prayer of Jabez. I don’t believe for a minute that this prayer is meant to be a thesis for those preachers who hawk a certain prosperity-gospel which is no gospel at all. What we can say, however, is that this is a man who was not going to make a name for himself. He asked the Lord God to remove the reproach of his family. He was asking the Lord to guard him against what he inherited from his family, what is signified by his name: pain. Many in our world try to make names for themselves; Jabez asked the Lord to make his name.

Prayer 2

2 Samuel 24:10

“David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men and he said to the Lord, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a foolish thing.”

David had made a major error in judgment by ordering a census of the fighting men of Israel and he was rebuked by the Lord. What is amazing about David is that he sinned a lot-and every time he did he repented before the Lord. I was thinking last night about how tough David was and about his mighty men, and The Three. These were not men you wanted to fight in a bar on Saturday night. But there’s that other side of David-the side that weeps before the Lord because of sin, or cries out to God in repentance, or begs the Lord like a simple child. David here shows us that the mightiest among us, the greatest of kings, are held responsible before the Lord when it comes to sin. There is a remarkable aspect to this prayer: David’s humility. It is a feature that the Kings of Israel and Judah would sufficiently lack. David teaches us here about the connection between prayer and repentance.

Prayer 3

Luke 23:34

“Father, Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Jesus actually prays several prayers from the cross and I will mention those as well. But this one-oh my!-this one takes the cake. Nails are being shoved through his skin and bones and muscles. His flesh is being ripped and torn. Blood is pouring out him. His back is flayed. Blood is streaming down his face from the crown of thorns. There, the King, and he has the audacity to pray, “Father, forgive them!” I have to be honest when I say this is one of the most difficult prayers in Scripture to understand and one of the most difficult prayers in our mouths to pray. But it demonstrates for us that it can be prayed. Dare I go so far as to suggest that it must be prayed? Here in the midst of something as horrible as death, Jesus prays for forgiveness for others-while those very ones he prays for are the very ones doing the killing. If this prayer doesn’t cause you great consternation then I don’t suppose anything will

Prayer 4

Luke 23:46

“Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit.”

This is an 8 word prayer. 8 words! Often we think that in order for our prayers to be effective or meaningful they have to be full of words, stuffed full with language, and sounds, and syllables, and mighty paragraphs, well crafted sentences. Jesus sums up our neediness in 8 words while he hang there dying. 8 words to demonstrate to the world, to all who would hear, that his trust was place in only one place: His Father. He entrusted himself to no one else but His Father. Only His Father was worthy of his Spirit. Only His Father was capable of keeping His Spirit safe. 8 words. I wonder if, in times of great difficulty, we have the courage to pray these same 8 words. Jesus prayed them while dying, can we pray them while living?

Prayer 5

Matthew 27:46

“Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachtani?” (or, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?”

Sometimes this is called the ‘cry of dereliction.’ Actually, it is a quote from the Psalm-#22. The problem I have with this is that too many people try to simply rationalize away this cry. There are times in life when we truly are alone-set free to roam the wilderness. There are scary times when God feels miles and miles away. But what else are we supposed to cry out? This is from the same David who once prayed, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you are with me.” What sort of highs and lows are there that we have to contend with in life? And why shouldn’t we pray exactly the way we feel? I love that Jesus had the Scripture on his mind and his heart and his lips while he prayed: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?” When Jesus prayed this Psalm on the cross, he legitimized using it for prayer and he legitimized David’s ‘feeling’ of abandonment. Sometimes we are dreadfully alone and we must tell the Father how that is.

Prayer 6

Luke 22:42

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.”

I wonder what is harder to pray: Father forgive them? Or Father, your will be done? Yet this was Jesus’ prayer. I suspect, and I have no proof, but I suspect that Jesus learned this prayer from his mother Mary. Remember in Luke 1 Mary prayed, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38). That is no easy prayer to pray, but there it is. These prayers we pray must be grounded in this fundamental idea that we do not first belong to ourselves, but that we first belong to the Lord Jesus. Can we do his will? No. Are we afraid to do His will? Yes. Will doing his will always mean that life is pleasant and accomplished? No. But what is the bottom line to doing God’s will instead of our own because it is certainly not so that we ourselves will look good or feel good or win friends and influence people. It think it is some far grander than that: “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your Name!” And that, my friends, is the essence and purpose of submitting ourselves to the will of God. Your will be done.

There are six short prayers then. These prayers help us develop the language of prayer by turning our thoughts back to God. The Lord teaches us to pray through difficulties, through abandonment, through sin, through trust issues, through issues of submission to the Lord’s will. It’s not necessarily that it is that simple or that prayer can be neatly packaged or that words can be so tidy. Rather these are examples of the sort of language that might be used or, better, of what language is capable of. These prayers come from different people in different situations and circumstances. We do well to remember that prayer is not confined to the church building or to the closet. Pray is offered in a garden, on the cross, in a field, or along the road. Wherever we are, then, we are free to pray. Whatever we feel, we are free to offer as prayer. Whenever it is, we must pray. Not a minute goes by nor a circumstance arises that our hearts should not be tuned to prayer.

I hope this helps you develop your prayer language.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Developing the Language of Prayer, pt 1

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Life Under the Blue Sky

October 16, 2008 at 2:30 pm · Filed under Scripture, devotional, discipleship, prayer and tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Friends,

I feel like it has been forever since I had a meaningful post here. I need to write this morning, but in a non-connected sort of way. I have some rumblings I’d like to share with you from the past week or so.

First, I learned something interesting about ‘church’ this week. Tuesday night I went to visit a young couple who have been worshiping with our congregation. I was feeling rather pleased with myself when the husband said, “I really enjoy your preaching. It really gets deep and feeds me spiritually.” He’s a Catholic and he and his wife have been worshiping at what might be called a ‘PD’ Church and they are in their 20’s. Wow. Then Wednesday morning I went to FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) at the local Middle School where I work. We were doing sort of a survey of the kids and one of the questions was, “So when you think of church, what word comes to mind?” My 7th grade PK spoke up, “Boring.”

I guess that just goes to show that no matter what sort of congregation one has or worships with not everyone will be pleased.

Second, I watched the latest installment of Rambo this week, Rambo. It was an interesting movie. It featured some Christian missionaries who hearts were bigger than their brains and, of course, a lot–I mean a lot–of bullets. Stallone raised some important questions about war, violence, justice, peace, and, I think, Christianity. The film was unbelievably violent. I didn’t know that the human body could be shredded in so many ways (I thought once I had seen “Saw” I had seen it all.) Stallone took it to a ‘whole nover level.’ The film wasn’t the best Rambo I have ever seen: the dialogue was full of cliche, too fast, too predictable. Furthermore, I tend to disagree with the idea that nothing changes–even though I have argued otherwise here and elsewhere in the past. But the violence and horror and blood: Oh, it was glorious!

I guess it just goes to show that no matter what the plot or how bad the dialogue I will tune in to a film where the bad guys get eaten up by .50 caliber machine gun bullets, in a variety of ways, and the hero lives (Oh, and where a once pacifist Christian grows a set and bashes in the head of a child of Babylon).

Third, it has been a long week. Last night, I had a huge ‘family discussion’ with my youngest son, who is in 5th grade, because he just refuses to do his homework. Then his teacher, a 20 something just out of college who knows all about raising recalcitrant and stubborn children and what is the best way to educate them, sends me email informing me of how my son is ’still not turning in his homework’ as if to say, “You freaking moron, why won’t you make your son do his homework. I have been over this with you a hundred times now. Are you dense.” I want to respond to her e-mail, but I let my wife instead. My son simply does not see the point of doing ridiculous math problems where he has to, and I quote, ‘interpret the remainder.’ What does that mean? I can’t blame him; I hate math too. He says, in an all too eerie imitation of his father, “I can add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Why do I need to do story problems?” Oooooohhh. I get it. I really do.

I guess it just goes to show that no matter ‘important’ the work to be done, there will always be someone who refuses to see its value or significance.

Fourth, I can’t pray this week. I don’t know why. I have prayed a little. I have been reading my bible.  But I just cannot seem to find the energy to pray. My dad lost his job again. My brother had to be evacuated from his house in CA due to fires. My mother, I am convinced, hates me. I fought with my sons yesterday and hurt my oldest son’s feelings. I go to bed early and can’t get up. My wife and I were getting along and then I snapped at her again this morning. One of the ladies wants me to, get this, hang curtains at the church building this afternoon. What? Is that why I’m around here? Is that what my degree prepared me for? To hang curtains? You’ve got to be kidding me. I can’t pray this week. I’m stuck in a funk. Plus, on top of that, I just finished reading Joshua. And for the first time in my life, the book of Joshua frightened and confused me.

I guess it just goes to show that no matter how much is going right in a person’s life there will always be enough wrong to sap the strength, the joy, and the communion. Rich Mullins said it best, “It’s hard, yes it’s hard. You know it’s hard to be like Jesus.”

Fifth, I’ve been lurking this week; reading; watching; listening. The world of the blog is a complex place. One day I think, “I’m done with blogging.” The next day, I get 200 hits on my blog and change my mind. What amazes me is the depths that people are willing to go to in order to be right. (It was my oldest son who confronted me with this hard truth last night. I won’t tell him, but he was right.) I have trouble living with myself just because I am, so I don’t know how some bloggers live with themselves when their sole purpose in life and writing is to destroy everything that is not of themselves. I have to admit that sometimes I wish I had never started blogging. It’s a terribly depressing place at times. I think I’ll start praying for a worldwide crash of the blogosphere. Nah. I’m too vain for that. Someone said to me the other day, “The problem is that some bloggers are more in love with theology than they are with Jesus.” Gawd, I hope that is never me. I love theology, but not at the expense of The person.

I guess it just goes to show that everything that is a blessing is also a curse. If we find some joy while we are here, perhaps there will be distress from some place else. Thankfully, Jesus can be found.

Sixth, and finally, the world is uh, messed up. I am frustrated because there is so much hate, so much greed, so much violence, so much fear, so much disaster, so much death. Really, this place is too much. I hate it here most of the time and yet I lack the necessary courage to constantly pray ‘maranatha!’ Really, this place needs some serious help because I’m just pessimistic enough to believe that it is not going to get better before it gets worse and with presidential elections looming, taxes likely to go up, the ever-present concern of when the next terrorist strike will come, the growing concern about how all the financial stuff will affect my salary (since it depends upon donations to the church)–well, that and more, my concern about the Steelers winning every Sunday and my disappointment with Jeff Gordon’s terrible, terrible year in NASCAR. Well, the world is messed up and I have just been thinking about whether or not I am doing enough one one hand, and on the other lamenting that I can only do so much, that I feel so helpless.

I guess it just goes to show that the world is in much bigger need of someone much bigger than I to solve the problems that this world is faced with just now. (I also seriously doubt that either presidential candidate is going lessen my anxiety.)

It’s only Thursday. I have band practice and a board meeting tonight. I have a wedding rehearsal tomorrow. I have prayer meeting and a wedding on Saturday. Somewhere in the midst of all this I have to write two sermons. I don’t know if I can write sermons this week. Maybe I’ll just watch some more baseball and hope that the Red Sox get clobbered again. One can dream, can’t he? Happily, on Sunday, I can worship with my friends. In the meantime, I’m glad to know you and happy you stopped by for a visit today. Perhaps some of my angst can touch you and point you to Jesus. I’m sticking with Jesus today. I hope you are too.

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)

I think I’m getting back into prayer shape. I hope you will join with me.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Reprinted courtesy of CRN.info

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Advertising our Faith

February 17, 2008 at 11:16 pm · Filed under discipleship, prayer and tagged: , , , , , , ,

Friends,

What is the best advertisement campaign ever? Take Nike for example. Every year they spend millions of dollars on advertising their product. The ads are fancy. They are video. They are audio. They are paper. The ads are on television, radio, the internet and on billboards.

The product is marketed by professional athletes who are given access to as many shoes as they need. (It is hard to imagine buying a product from someone who doesn’t have to buy it himself, but that’s another point altogether.) Go to a ball game and see the wall signs. See the ads on players hats, shirts, pants, socks, and on the gloves and bats they use. Nike places their logo in just about any place they or anyone can imagine.

I suppose some of their best advertising comes in the form of spectacular television spots that are designed to stimulate the senses. But is this really where the best advertising comes from? Is this the best Nike can do? Is the television the place where Nike sells the most shoes? I don’t think so. Let me tell you how I discovered this.

I was walking through the snow one day in my pair of Nike’s that I managed to find at the bargain price of $25 or so on the sale rack at a local sports store. The snow was fresh, clean, and no one else had dared to walk where I was walking. It is one of the small pleasures in life being the first person to walk on a fresh blanket of snow. I don’t know why, but there is something rather thrilling about being the first person to leave a trail across a yard covered in beautiful gleaming white snow. I was doing this one day.

I happened to look down and I noticed that I had left a perfectly formed footprint in the fresh snow. You know what I could see? That’s right. There in the snow, in the center of my footprint, clear as day, plain as sky, was the outline of a perfectly shaped Nike Swoosh.

This got me to thinking about advertising. I don’t care how many Nike golf balls Tiger Woods hits into a green or how many Witnesses there are to Lebron James’ mastery of the basketball. The best advertising that Nike gets is every single step that ordinary folks like myself take in a pair of their shoes. Why? Because we leave a Nike Swoosh everywhere we go. It is stamped into the mud, the dust, the grass, the concrete, snow, slush, and hardwood floors. That image, that Swoosh, left in a billion footprints every day is the best advertising that Nike will ever get.

And so too it is with the church. It is not the great big campaigns that advertise Christianity the best. It is not the Billy Graham crusades. It is not 40 Days of Purpose. It is not Your Best Life Now (not that Best Life is an ad for Christianity). None of these things: Not the biggest mega-church or the most charismatic evangelist nor the preacher with the most miracles under his belt. The best advertising the Christians do is found in every single step we take. Trillions of steps taken each day in the Name of Jesus are the best advertising we can do.

With each step of perseverance, with each step taken despite opposition and persecution, with each step taken in spite of suffering, with each step we take in the race marked out for us we ‘advertise’ Jesus. This is because Christians, like Nike, leave an imprint on this world with each step we take. This is why we press on, ahead, and are commanded not to look back. If we look back we run the risk of gloating over our victory or grousing over our failure. Instead, we look straight ahead to Jesus who also had a path to walk (Hebrews 12).

And that path is hard to walk. Oh so hard to walk.

Lord, I’m too weak to walk. Too stupid to understand. Too ungracious to be graceful. Too unlovely to be lovable. Lord, I, like you, see all the ugliness inside of my heart. I see all that which is despiseable–all that which you suffered for. And yet you chose me to be an ad campaign for Jesus. You chose me to carry his marks, his wounds, in my life. Those wounds…Lord can wounds save even me? Help me walk the path marked out for me…sketched by your finger…traced by your eye…trod by your feet…mark the place in my heart Lord that is lonely and afraid on this journey…mark it with your grace. And I–I–carry the marks of Christ?

Soli Deo Gloria!

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“It is Finished” & Pastoral Visits

January 15, 2008 at 5:24 pm · Filed under Pastor, grace, worship and tagged: , , , ,

Friends,

I have been working on my 90 Days with Jesus series at my other blog. I have 5 more to go. I have been thinking about Jesus’ words: “It is Finished!” in John 19.

It seems that our life goes from one ache to the next. My brother in law has a brain tumor and we have no idea what will be the outcome of that. He’s taking treatments, but who knows how those will end. Strangely enough, he called us last night to see how we were doing. Doesn’t make sense to me; but it does. You see, the Lord Jesus got a hold of Bob the first time around with brain tumors. I remember baptizing Bob and his wife and later conducting their wedding. Bob realizes that Jesus has finished the work, begun something new, and that He will not fail to bring to completion that which he began in us. Bob can call us (my wife and me) for precisely that reason. 

And I complain about my aches and pains! The weather in NE Ohio changed again: We went from walking around with no coats in the 60’s to full blown blizzard the last two days. So of course my sinuses are clogged, draining, clogged, draining. And all the while I am complaining! Bobby called us to see how we were doing.

I went to visit a member last week. Her son was there. We were talking and having a nice conversation. He said he had a beef with me. He came to church one Sunday last year or the year before and it happened to be a day when I was asking my congregation to pray for me because I had been having some difficulties with my health. He launched into a rant about how I ‘don’t know what pain is’ how he’s ‘on morphine.’ I didn’t disagree, but I did tell him it wasn’t a contest. I thought of several other things I would like to have said–I did say, “Well, if you had been in worship on the other 51 Sundays you wouldn’t have heard a word from me about my pain.” He was quiet afterwards. I left 2 minutes later. I somewhat regretted the conversation.

A member of the Church recently had surgery to replace a hip. She’s already turning summer-saults and kart-wheels down main street! She hasn’t complained a bit and was happy to see me when I went to visit her. She didn’t accuse me of not knowing pain. She and her husband were glad to see me after her surgery too and when I went to their house: You guessed it, tea and donuts. They served me!

I’m not very good at the pastoral aspect of my work. Sometimes it is so frustrating I don’t even try. But I know that in the midst of all this complaining about sermons we don’t listen to, and all this surgery, and all this cancer there is work being done–not at all by me. No I see in all these things the different ways that people respond to the grace of God. I hear all the ways that people accept the words of Jesus, “It is finished.” I think this strong sense of completion is exactly what makes Christians different. We know what does and does not matter. We not only can serve when we are dying, but we will serve even though we are hobbled by this life’s pains and aches.

For Bobby–done deal! For the member with hip surgery–done deal! For others, Christ hasn’t suffered enough yet; his work is not yet done because theyare not satisfied. Those who understand, serve. Those who don’t, complain. I have found this to be true in nearly every visit I have ever made pastorally. Some people really understand what Jesus meant when he said: “It is finished!” and they live their lives accordingly. They are joyful servants. There is a profound difference between Christians who understand that ‘it is finished,’ and those who do not.

I told the story this past Sunday about a woman who belonged to the last church I served. I’ll never forget this woman, dying of cancer. Couldn’t even get out of bed and had to be cared for around the clock. I’ll never forget the day that she, for all intents and purposes dead already, had her husband and son roll her into the church building so she could worship the Lord before she died. I’ll never forget it.

She got it. She understood, “It is finished.”

Lord, I thank you for finishing the work on the Cross. I’m glad that I don’t need to perform to the end that I add something to your work. I’m glad that you have accomplished all that needs to be done. I’m thankful for your grace. I’m thankful that even though our bodies and lives fall apart, yet because of your work we are being renewed day by day. I pray that more and more and more will understand that the end was merely the beginning. Lord I pray you have mercy on us all as we learn to live, as we learn to accept that “It is Finished!”

jerry

PS–I just started reading Jesus’ Blood and Righteousness by Brian Vickers. I can’t believe I read this not two hours after making this post. He wrote of his father who had been diagnosed with cancer: “Yet he did not fight in desperation, even though the prognosis never got better than a hope of a slight prolonging of weeks, perhaps months. After the initial shock, he faced cancer with confidence–not confidence that he would ‘beat it,’ but confidence that came from resting, as he put it, ‘only in Jesus and all he has done for me.’ My dad was resting in the imputation of Christ’s righteousness in the face of a disease that was quickly ending his life…I was working on the topic that sustained him and gave him hope and confidence in the face of the last enemy; the defeated enemy.” (14) That’s exactly what I am talking about in this post.

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Send the Light; Scatter the Darkness

December 13, 2007 at 10:00 pm · Filed under Shepherding, prayer and tagged: , , , , , ,

Friends,

It’s been a long day. It is still raining and snowing here in Ohio. It is still cold and wet.

I spent the day fasting. I broke it at around 6 PM this evening. I needed some clarity and I wanted to spend a day trusting in the Lord to strengthen me. The burdens were loaded on early. I carried them only in the strength of the Lord.

A friend told me about a young man of 10 years old that has had thoughts of suicide.

Another friend told me about a young man who was recently found to be in possession of illegal drugs.

Both conversations were accompanied by tears. It is a dark world all around us.

I contrast this with a post I made at Life Under the Blue Sky about another ‘Nationwide Church Growth Campaign‘ the brochure of which was filled with smiling people who had all the answers to all the problems in one handy read-in-thirty-days-book. If only life were so simple! Unfortunately, life is not as black and white Monday-Saturday as it is in Sunday mornings from behind a pulpit. If only life were really about growing a big church where everyone is happy.

But this is not reality now, is it? There are hurting people, carrying real burdens. We come along side them and pray in Jesus’ Name for strength, comfort, healing, and grace. We come along side and help them carry their burdens.

The kids at school were particularly wound-up today. Amidst the noise I tried to pray and lift up these wounded souls, these wounded people.

Lord, I pray for these children; their parents. I pray Lord in Jesus’ Name that you scatter the darkness. I pray a hedge of protection around them. I pray You will protect them from the Enemy who prowls about like a lion waiting to pounce on a victim.

I pray for them Father that you shine the light of truth in their hearts. I pray you give them a Spirit of wisdom and revelation. I pray Lord that you will heal their brokenness. Lord here is our reality. This is what we have done with the freedom you have given us and now our children suffer, hurt, and are taken captive.

Lord in Jesus’ Name, I lift these dear ones to you and ask that you protect them from the devil’s schemes. There are others Lord. Others I don’t know who are hurting. There are other children who are being tricked by the Enemy. Lord, protect them. Jesus didn’t pray to take us out of this world, but He did pray that you would protect us from the evil one. I repeat that prayer: Protect these ones from the evil one.

Shine light. Lord, we cast our burdens on you because you care for us.

We pray in Jesus’ Name, in the Power of the Spirit, to our Holy Father in Heaven,

Amen. Amen.

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