What a time we have had over the last several weeks! Since the middle of August, American territory has been hit by not one but three of the worst hurricanes of all time… Harvey, Irma and Maria. As I write, Maria has blasted through Puerto Rica. It and much of the Caribbean has been decimated. Meanwhile, Mexico has suffered two major earthquakes… one, two days ago, which resulted in hundreds of deaths. I watched television this morning as rescuers were desperately trying to dig out a little girl from the rubble.
What, as Christians are we to make of all this? As I google ministerial responses I find no shortage of preachers who think that they know exactly what all this means. First: there are those who are sure it is God’s judgment because of something or another. Back when Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012 various ministers blamed it on the gay community, or Obama, or Mitt Romney. This time, while no one seems to be blaming Trump, the same sorts of response are out there. Second: many are saying we may be seeing signs of the end times.
Continue reading »
When the Apostle Paul looks back on his ministry, he sums it up with these words:
“My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” 1 Corinthians 2:4-5.
When Paul sums up what the kingdom of God is about, he says this:
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.” 1 Corinthians 4:20.
When Paul sums up the Christian life, he says this:
“Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.” Romans 8:8-9.
It seems to me that there is a huge gap between what we read in scripture and what we find in contemporary religious culture in North America today. If you read the Bible on its own terms and not with modern secular bias, you cannot help but come to the conclusion that Christianity is about the power and presence of God working in us. You cannot help but see that God does powerful amazing things in us and through us when we surrender to Him. And you cannot help but see that the Holy Spirit is as essential to the believer’s existence as the air that we breathe.
Continue reading »
Ezekiel 37 must surely be one of the most vivid and bizarre experiences in all of scripture. The Lord took Ezekiel out “in the Spirit” and set him down in the middle of a valley full of bones” (vs. 1). There were many, and they were very dry. Bleached from the sun. And he asked him a question: “Son of man, can these bones live?”
Ezekiel said: “O Lord God, you know.”
Verse 11 says, that the bones represented the whole house of Israel. Israel to the North, Judah to the South.
The bones spoke and said: “Our bones are dried up and our hope is lost.”
But God you see is in the business of restoring and reanimating dead things. So, God told Ezekiel to prophesy over the bones. What a weird preaching experience that must be. Although, I must say, as a preacher, I’ve had a few preaching experiences that have felt like that… though never at Singing Oaks!
Continue reading »
On the night that Jesus was betrayed, in the room where He and His disciples shared a last meal, Jesus closed out their time with a prayer… the prayer recorded in John 17. He first prayed for Himself and what God was about to do through Him. Then He prayed for His disciples. And finally, He prayed for you and me.
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
Continue reading »
Sunday school teacher was talking to a little girl who had recently been given a children’s Bible. The two of them were talking about the different books. And the teacher asked the girl, “What is the last book in the Bible?” The little girl responded, “The last book in the Bible is the Book of Revolutions!”
You know, that’s not a bad answer. Not just regarding the book of Revelation, but regarding the entire Bible. We serve another king and another kingdom. Our final loyalties are not in this world. And we are not here to preserve any kind of status quo.
Continue reading »
