2013

Wow! Y2K was a long time ago. The Mayan calendar didn't mean a thing. The predictions of the May date a year ago came and went. We are slow learners. We can't figure God's story out at the end of a pencil or with a fancy calculator. We can't figure God's story out by checking the pulse of Israel every ten minutes. We can't figure it out by forecasting the place of Iran, Iraq, the USSR (that's dated) or any other earthly kingdom. There is a great difference between God's timetable and mine. Understanding that God is not slow, that He is patient and His patience always has a redemptive purpose, is a key to my own trust in His Almighty power (2 Pet 3:9). About a decade into pastoral ministry it was 88 reasons why the rapture is in 1988. The Christian bookstores couldn't keep the book in stock. Then it became 89 reasons why the rapture is in 89. Rapture what? Christ is coming again is our message. Live like you are dying, because we are. Live like Christ is coming again and we are accountable-He is and we are! Christ said to pray, watch, stay awake. When He comes He expects me to be about the Master's business. He expects me to be holy in my behavior. He expects me to be expecting Him! A popular book/movie some time ago was "eat, pray, love." Let's reframe the challenge. Let's commit ourselves to pray, watch, and love. I am grateful for a new year. There can be a freshness about another January 1...then I remember April 15 is just around the corner :). For His glory let us live. E. Stanley Jones states, "If my Redeemer is alive, then I, the redeemed, must live as though I were alive." We are! In Him! Forever!
-Let's make it count for Him...Have a blessed year!

Christmas Hope

If your family is like ours, your Christmas celebration has already started. Trying to get it all in can be a scheduling challenge. How rewarding to be with family and friends. Last night we shared some time with a group at a friend's home, eating and exchanging surprise gifts. I was the last one to pick or steal, depending on the mood at the moment. I made the choice to steal and allow someone else to select the last package. I went with what I knew was available, it was a sure choice. My sure choice is Jesus Christ. Born a child and yet a King. He is the King of kings. He is the Light of the world. He is the Great I Am come in the flesh. He is Life. He is the only One who can bring hope into this world filled with darkness and despair. Not much has changed about the condition of mankind since the birth of Christ and today. We have smart phones, and magic tablets. We have high speed Internet, and a host of other gadgets. In the middle of it all, mankind is still searching for identity and direction. Jesus Christ is for all mankind the source of identity and direction.  At this Christmas, I am sure of what I have chosen, Jesus is my Lord and Savior. At mid life I still have a lot of questions, ask a lot of questions, know only a portion of what I need to know. But I know Whom I have believed and am convinced that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until He comes again (2 Tim. 1:12). Thank you Jesus for the hope I know at this Christmas.

America's Hypocrisy & Sandy Hook

Christmas Greetings. The emotions of this season took an intense hit with the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. We mourn the tragedy that strikes at the heart of parents, siblings, grandparents, etc. This tragedy awakens anger and anxiety in the heart of America. The President sheds tears and pledges to 'do something about it'. In our arrogance we suppose we can 'fix' the problem with more government control and fail to admit that the sinfulness of the human heart is beyond any set of rules and regulations.

The great hypocrisy of this tragedy and the American voice is that on the same day those precious children and adults were murdered, over 3000 children were 'terminated' in America. Their death came at the hand of a doctor acting for a 'woman's heatlh'. Our hypocrisy was voiced by the President's carefully crafted words following Sandy Hook. Every word spoken can be applied to the 3000 aborted in America on that day. Our hypocrisy is that the President sheds no tears for the 3000, and embraces their termination. Our hypocrisy is that America's leaders are talking about 'new laws' to protect but sit in compliance with a great holocaust. Our hypocrisy is to say that we care about the most vulnerable, but thousands of lives have been silenced. Most of it coming for convenience and other selfish purposes.

I apologize to myself and others for deviating from the Christmas spirit and message, but as I listen to the ongoing verbiage the hypocrisy intensifies and my heart is dismayed by America's lack of conscience and concern for the most innocent and vulnerable.

The President mocks life with his tears for the precious ones at Sandy Hook but no concern for the masses murdered during his presidency (Over 4.3 million during his first term @ 3000 per day).

God have mercy on us-our hypocrisy is replusive.

Advent Hope

Christmas is upon us again. As Christ followers, this season is one filled with great hope. Not being pessimistic, but our selfish culture, our hedonistic world is fast coming apart at the seams. Gross selfishness abounds on every front. Greed, prejudice, lying, injustice, hatred-the kingdom of man is full of darkness and as Christ said, the last days will be marked by an increase of lawlessness. The last days continue as we move toward the great coming of Christ. Hope. Not in government, United Nations, supreme court, or any effort of man. Hope in the fact that Christ has come and is coming again. He came, not in selfishness, but in servanthood. He came not in greed but in graciousness. He came not in prejudice but in compassion for all. He came not in hatred but in sacrificial love. Because Christ came, there is hope for whosoever will. The kingdom of man offers no hope. The audacity of hope is not rooted in the resiliance of man, or the wisdom of man, but in the activity of the true and living God as revealed in Jesus Christ. We sing at this season of the year because there is hope. Reach up believer and take hold of the Holy One who is our HOPE. Come Thou long expected Jesus...we look forward with hope.

HIM

It seems so simple, but we are so distracted. It seems so easy but we are so worldly. Our one possession is Christ-his presence in us and with us. All else is chaff that will be burned up or blown away. When we circle the grave of a loved one we should know that the only thing that matters is the relationship with Christ and the relationships with family and friends. All the stuff is just that-we know it but the stuff is attractive, distracting. Achan picked up the spoils of Jericho and it only brought death to his family and others. When we pocket anything from this world, it will only bring death to us. Nothing in this world gives life, only Christ can and does. All the glory and luxury of the world system will be gone in one hour (Rev. 18). It is all gone in the moment we breathe our last breath. The church flounders in desperate need of His Presence. Our sin is that we have substituted programs, personalities and anything else we can come up with to replace His Presence. Getting His Presence back into the picture requires repentance, prayer, seeking His face. It invovles an energy and effort that we will not find entertaining or comforting. I believe Christ is standing at the door of His church, knocking, wanting to pour His glory on His body in America again. Who is going to get up and answer the door?

The Gap

The Old Testament prophet was notified by Almighty God that someone was needed to 'stand in the gap". A place to stand on behalf of God's holiness, seeking the face of God so God would be free to work His will in the midst of His people. Centuries rolled by and God Almighty stood in the gap himself through the life of Jesus Christ. Christ stood in that gap, hung in that gap on a cross, stands in that gap as the King of kings and the redeemer of the world. In other O.T. language, 'God's arm was not too short to save'. God was able and is able and Christ lives to bring a broken world and holy God together. While Christ was standing in the gap, He showed the method for this redeeming work and called His disciples to 'follow me.' Today the body of Christ, the church, stands in the gap. We are His presence on planet earth. We are the ones who have been given the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5). We are God's arm in this world today. The gap is the church's responsiblity. The gap is our mission field, where we follow Christ and illustrate to the broken world that Christ is the answer. While we stand in the gap we proclaim a message of hope and victory, of freedom and fullness in and through Jesus Christ. Are we standing in the gap or sitting in the pew? Are we standing in the gap or looking for a church to meet our needs? Are we standing in the gap or drifting along with the world? Church, we must stand in the gap. We are His Presence on planet earth to proclaim the Great News. Let us stand strong in the strength of the Lord.

Christ Central

In a culture that has lost its 'moral knowledge', that has abandoned the Rock of Ages for the sand of men's wisdom, Christ still stands as the eternal One. Desire in our culture rules over truth, fact, reality. We have run hard after what makes us 'feel good.' This is an expensive choice, for our own eternal distiny, but also for the world that we leave our children and grandchildren. What we 'feel' outweighs what God says is right or wrong. No longer do our legal pundits look to the foundation of Christian ethics and morality to determine what is right or wrong. What the masses say, the broad way that leads to destruction, is the yellow brick road that our culture is travelling. God's voice is not only silenced and ignored, but rejected. Reality is, God is still God. Man comes and goes-like a vapor, another generation is gone and what we reject only stands to mock us for our ignorant selfishness. Truth may be trampled in the street as the Old Testament prophet proclaimed, but it is still truth. In this day of increasing darkness, may the body of Jesus Christ awaken from her slumber, repent, and begin to live and move in the power of the Holy Spirit. He will guide Christ's people in true holiness and righteousness so that we may shine like stars in this universe.