A Call to Worship

 Psalm 19


Psalm 19 shows us that there is a continuous and abundant revelation of God in the universe.  It is a reminder that all we have to do is look and the more we look, the more; as James Montgomery Boice says, "heaven gushes forth knowledge" of God!


Psalm 19:1-3

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.  There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

Grace and Peace!

The Amazingness of Grace

Tony Reinke has written a book on John Newton and his view of the Christian life. So far, I am...well amazed. He has pulled together Newton’s 40 years as a pastor and letter writer and provides great insight into life in Christ. 

Starting in the first chapter there is so much to soak in concerning grace. To quote Reinke; “When Newton speaks of grace, he is speaking of Christ in union with the believer. Newton’s grace is ever ‘my grace,’ a sovereign, all- sufficient, alone-sufficient grace that flows freely and fully from the person of Jesus Christ.” 

Reinke then uses a part of Newton’s sermon on Matthew 11:27 to describe this union:

“The great God is pleased to manifest himself in Christ, as the God of grace. This grace is manifold, pardoning, converting, restoring, persevering grace, bestowed upon the miserable and worthless. Grace finds the sinner in a hopeless, helpless state, sitting in darkness, and in the shadow of death. Grace pardons the guilt, cleanses the pollution, and subdues the power of sin. Grace sustains the bruised reed, binds up the broken heart, and cherishes the smoking flax into a flame. Grace restores the soul when wandering, revives it when fainting, heals it when wounded, upholds it when ready to fall, teaches it to fight, goes before it in the battle, and at last makes it more than conqueror over all opposition, and then bestows a crown of everlasting life. But all this grace is established and displayed by the covenant in the man Christ Jesus, and without respect to him as living, dying, rising, reigning, and interceding in the behalf of sinners, would never have been known.” 

So thankful for this book, the research and writing of Reinke, the ministry and letters of Newton, but I am beyond thankful for Christ Jesus... 

Grace and Peace!

Success

Recently during a sermon our Pastor said something like ‘success is not always good for you’. You really have to stop and think about that for a while. This gave me pause and I have been dwelling on that for a bit. I was always one striving for my next best whatever...car, job, victory and I think I can really relate to what he was saying. 

I was reading Tim Keller’s commentary on Judges and in it he says, “Success can easily cause us to forget God’s grace, because our hearts are desperate to believe we can save ourselves.” I find that to be so true and part of our culture.  

The American way is to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, to compete, to win at all costs. So to me, it is very easy to think we have done it all ourselves, but when we really stop, when we are really thinking clearly we know that we have in many cases done it despite ourselves. 

Now there is certainly nothing wrong with striving for more and better things, to be good, even great at things, but it needs to be accompanied by perspective. It needs to be grounded in a faith that everything under the sun is Gods; created, supplied, granted, given by God. And as long as that is our perspective and we achieve with thankful and humble hearts, then achieve away. 

Keller concluded by saying, “We need to remember that we are saved by grace when we fail. But we need to remember it much more when we succeed. 

2 Chronicles 26:5

He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success. 

Father, thank you for saving us by your amazing grace; may we seek you all of our days and may we see that as true success! 

Grace and Peace!

Prayer of Comfort

Father God, 

As we read in 2 Corinthians we come with praise this morning, praise for the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 

So we come this morning with thankful hearts, thankful that we can come together and worship, thankful for the blessing of you in our lives and yet we come with troubled hearts. Troubled by the tragedy in Charleston, but encouraged by the response we have seen, a response of prayer, a response of forgiveness, and a response of support and love. 

Father, this morning we pray for the people of Charleston, we pray specifically for our brothers and sisters in Christ at Emmanuel Church...praying that they would be surrounded by your love, we pray for your healing, your comfort and for your peace that surpasses all understanding. 

Father, this morning we also pray for our local AME churches – St. Stephan, Ward Temple and Turner Chapel that they would feel and know the love and support of this community, that the love and peace of Christ will be with them.

Lord, we come this morning to joyfully worship, help us joyfully worship this morning, help us worship knowing that while there will be trouble in this world we can take heart as you have overcome the world, Father, help us praise you as you are our security, you are our safety, you are our strength and comfort. Lord, you are our hope. 

Father, to close this morning I borrow from the Book of Common Prayer a prayer attributed to St. Francis... 

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where this is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

On The Mend In So Many Ways

Had a great visit with my Doctor today and I am now sling free and moving forward with Physical Therapy.  So happy and thankful.  Had a good break, read a bunch, prayed a bunch and started working/walking down two different paths...one is a study on the Book of Mark which our community group is using to dig deep.  Great group with great discussion and we pray to know and love Jesus better and better, see transformation, see sharing and as a result to love our neighbors more and more.

The second path is that I have started jotting down some thoughts about something I am going to call "Finding Joy in the Midst of Stuff."  I can't honestly tell you that I have been through this season with a happy, happy, happy attitude, but I have learned a great deal and I have been able to find joy.  Not sure where this will go, but excited to see. 

I found something recently and it just resonated with me.  It is from Tony Reinke's book on Newton:

"So God brings into our Christian lives repeated disappointments, trials and losses, not because he wants to grieve and weary us, but because these are necessary lessons teaching us to treasure Christ above ourselves...This is  God's way, you are not called to buy; but to beg; not to be strong in yourself, but in the grace that is in Christ Jesus."

Some of the things I learned (am learning) - to treasure Christ, to beg out of my weakness and to trust in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Glad to be back...

Grace and Peace!

Blog Break - No Pun Intended

Had a little accident, but all is well!  Going to take a short vacation from blogging, but will be back soon.  Plenty to express from this season; things like humility, learning to be less self centered, and that my suffering is nothing compared to the suffering of Christ for me.

Grace and Peace!

Thoughts About Dad

My Father recently passed away.  We had plenty of people telling stories  and sharing good thoughts about him, but we wanted to honor him with something a little deeper. 

My Dad was quite a character and I am sure almost everyone present could have told a story about Dad, in fact we were quite encouraged to hear many stories during the visitation. We actually thought about letting people come up and tell stories, but we quickly realized it would have taken several weeks. 

I’ve got to tell you we will really miss our Dad and there is so much we could say about him, but if I might I would like to share something about Dad from a unique perspective, from the perspective of his Children. 

To do that I am going to have to confess just a bit and I am quite sure that you will all find this hard to believe, but as I was growing up I was a bit of trouble. In fact, on several occasions I would find myself in trouble. I would know I was in trouble, but there was also something else that Dad made sure we knew. Something that we knew with all our heart and that was that we could always count on him to be there, to help, to catch us when we fell, and that he loved us – no matter what. 

It reminds me of a short passage from the book of Luke; the parable of the prodigal son. It is a story of a son that find himself in great trouble, who lived a little recklessly, a desperate son, but that is not the point of the story. The point of the story is the Father’s reaction. 

Let’s pick up the story where the son that is desperate and in trouble is turning to his father...let’s see the father’s reaction. 

20 So he got up and went to his father.  But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 
 
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.  

24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 

Did you see how as soon as the father saw his son, knowing his son was in trouble – he ran to his son filled with compassion and love. That was the example we had with our Dad, but even more that is the example we all have with our Father in Heaven. 

I am a blessed man – I have a great family, good friends, a great Mom and Dad, I have a wonderful wife and two beautiful daughters, I have a son-in-law proudly serving in the United States Marine Corp, I have a beautiful niece and fantastic nephew; I could not have picked a better brother in law and there is one more thing I have and that is an amazing sister. And Lisa was with Dad as he passed away – she described it to me as very peaceful and hopeful and at the end there were these expressions of going home.

 And that is where we are confident Dad is today...finally home!

While all this was going on Lisa also found an article written by Henri Nouwen, a catholic priest and great spiritual writer. It is an article about dying, it is an article about faith, and most importantly it is an article about trust – It is an article built on Nouwen’s relationship with a circus trapeze troupe and we would like to share it. 

One day, I was sitting with Rodleigh, the leader of the troupe, in his caravan, talking about flying. He said, "As a flyer, I must have complete trust in my catcher, the public might think that I am the greatest star of the trapeze, but the real star is Joe, my catcher. He has to be there for me with split-second precision and grab me out of the air as I come to him in the long jump." 

"How does it work?" I asked. 

"The secret," Rodleigh said, "is that the flyer does nothing and the catcher does everything: when I fly to Joe, I have simply to stretch out my arms and hands and wait for him to catch me and pull me safely over the apron behind the catchbar." 

"You do nothing!" I said, surprised. 

"Nothing," Rodleigh repeated. "A flyer must fly, and a catcher must catch, and the flyer must trust, with outstretched arms, that his catcher will be there for him." 

When Rodleigh said this with so much conviction, the words of Jesus flashed through my mind: "Father into your hands I commend my Spirit." Dying is trusting in the catcher. To care for the dying is to say, "Don't be afraid. Remember that you are the beloved child of God. He will be there when you make your long jump. Don't try to grab him; he will grab you. Just stretch out your arms and hands and trust, trust, trust." 

Just as we trusted that no matter what; our Dad was there to catch us, we also trust that we have a Good, Good Father in Heaven that was there to Catch Dad and will be there to catch each of us. Trust, Trust, Trust...

We will miss you Dad!

Grace and Peace!

Trying Times

I think we all go through difficulties of one type or another. You know the kind where time just seems to stand still. During these trying times, we get all kinds of encouragement from family and friends, we get helpful advice and well wishes, but lately during one of the most trying times in my life, I am getting comfort from scripture. 

Reading through the Psalms and many other places in the Bible have just been so soothing for me and I love that we can turn there any time we are in need. Recently as I was really and seriously worrying about something that is beyond my control my pastor sent this passage to me. 

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

Praise to the God of All Comfort 

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 

It really helped me focus and truly rely upon our great and loving God; our Father of compassion, the God of all Comfort. I hope it might help you as well. 

Grace and Peace!

Endurance

I’ve got a lot going on right now both personally and professionally. I guess you could say at times I experience stress on steroids. At times it can be overwhelming, it can seem never-ending, it can seem to be everything. Still I know that the things that I am going through are nothing, even mild compared to some. I think at times we all go through these stress-filled trials. It is just part of the recipe of life in a broken world. I was thinking about this and it occurred to me that during these times we all need a little something called endurance. 

Endurance is the ability to withstand; to sustain; to embrace challenges; working hard without stopping (or giving up) in the face of challenging and difficult circumstances. As Christians we have a place to turn in these times, we have an example in Christ who endured all for each of us, so that we have the promise of all eternity, resting in His mighty arms, loved as only he can love.

In Colossians we are reminded that as Christians we are; “strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience” and that through Christ we have been already and completely qualified “to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” 

Oh my, through Christ, through our faith we can patiently endure strengthened by our great God. I read somewhere that “endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.” 

That is my hope and prayer for us all that we will be strengthened, that we will patiently endure all for the Glory of God. 

Press on!

Grace and Peace!

Gospel Encouragement

There is such encouragement in the Gospel; in the good news of Jesus Christ. Recently Ray Ortlund posted this and it help to lift my spirits during a trying time...

Whoever comes to me I will never cast out. John 6:37 

“But I am a great sinner, you say. ‘But I will never cast you out,’ says Christ. But I am an old sinner, you say. ‘But I will never cast you out,’ says Christ. But I am a hard-hearted sinner, you say. ‘But I will never cast you out,’ says Christ. But I am a backsliding sinner, you say. ‘But I will never cast you out,’ says Christ. But I have served Satan all my days, you say. ‘But I will never cast you out,’ says Christ. But I have sinned against light, you say. ‘But I will never cast you out,’ says Christ. But I have sinned against mercy, you say. ‘But I will never cast you out,’ says Christ. But I have nothing good to bring with me, you say. ‘But I will never cast you out,’ says Christ.” 

John Bunyan, Works (London, 1861), I:279-280. Style updated. 

Thank you Jesus and may many come to you! 

Grace and Peace!

YIPS???

I recently read that golf great Tiger Woods has a case of the Yips. I am not much of a golfer, but I guess I have heard of this thing called Yips before and I know it is used in reference to other sports as well. 

Well, whatever comes over me at times came over me and I had to dig a little more on this thing called Yips. I found many descriptions and definitions; I found it even listed on the Mayo Clinic Website, but there were a couple of descriptions that made the most sense to me. 

The first was from Urban Dictionary (not a site I recommend too often so be careful); anyway, according to the Urban Dictionary the Yips are over thinking something so much you become unable to do it. The other was from the Free Dictionary and they define the Yips as nervousness or tension that causes one to fail to perform effectively. 

So bear with me, but if I combine the two I come up with, overthinking something so much that nervousness and tension overcome our ability to do, act or accomplish.  So, where am I headed with all this? I am taking the long way around, but it would seem to me that even in our Christian Walk we may come down with the Yips...especially when it comes to sharing the Gospel, the Good News with others. 

There is a cure...in Luke 12 we read:

11 “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” 

So if we trust, so if we truly believe we can as they say “just do it!” If we can prevent our overthinking about how others might react or how we might be viewed or how we might sound or...well you get the picture. And if we can trust in the amazing grace of God Almighty, if we rest in the incredible love of Christ, if we walk in the comforting power of the Holy Spirit we can overcome the Yips. 

Trust, Rest, Walk - Philippians 4:13 

I can do all this through him who gives me strength. 

Grace and Peace!

In the Word

Being “in the Word” has been on my mind lately. Not sure I really care for the jargon, but it is descriptive. Spurgeon said we should immerse ourselves in God’s Word. The older I get the more I agree...If we believe (and we do) that God is our sovereign over all creation; if he is our heavenly Father, maker of Heaven and Earth, shouldn't we desire, crave, need to read every word He has written?

Recently I had a couple of encouragements. I am using a devotional guide to prayer that my daughter gave me and our weekly topic was the Authority of the Word. On the first day of this weekly devotional, I was led to Genesis 1 and 6 times in 24 verses (if I counted correctly) we see “And God Said,” followed by “And it was so.” This of course is the creation account and it is so easy to see the importance, the power, the wonder of God’s very Word. 

Later in the week I was reading Acts 27:25 where Paul says: 

"So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me." 

I find that so amazing; amazing faith, amazing grace, amazing Word!

It just struck me that our God speaks and it is so; our God speaks and it is just as he tells us...how can we not read his Mighty, Amazing, Powerful, Wonderful, Loving Word? 

Father, grant us a ready spirit, provide us uncluttered minds, give us hearts to comprehend and feel the majesty, power, love, and grace of your Redemptive Word... 

Grace and Peace!

Reactions

Came across this story on Fox News about the persecution of Christian Missionaries...and while that in and of itself is newsworthy the thing that touched me most, the thing that humbled me most was the reactions of the Christians. It doesn’t really matter who did what in this, just look at the reactions of the missionaries. Oh, to be more and more like Christ! 

A portion of the story by Todd Starnes is below...

Could you imagine the international outcry if Christians had burned 45 mosques? 

But that’s not what happened in Niger. The Christian community did not retaliate. They did not respond with angry voices. 

“That’s because we are people of mercy and grace and faith,” Neal told me. “We don’t react in the flesh and we don’t react out of anger.” 

Indeed, Christian leaders in Niger held a press conference and announced they forgave those who burned down their churches. 

“The church is recognizing this is something to be joyful over — the church and their faith have been proven,” Neal said. “Jesus said rejoice and be exceedingly glad when men persecute you, for great is your reward in heaven.” 

The Muslim mobs may return, but that’s OK with Neal. 

“We are preaching the Gospel and living as an example before the people,” he said. “It was demonstrated in our response. It is not our nature to be aggressive or violent. We forgive those that attack.” 

Good words spoken by a man with a deep and abiding faith in our Lord. 

And yet I still can’t seem to get over the image of that charred Bible found in the ashes of that church house. I’m reminded of a passage of Scripture from the Old Testament. 

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” 

Grace and Peace!

Safe Harbor

Our Church is doing a series on true community and we have spent several weeks looking at what true community looks like; community focused on studying and learning from God’s Word, focused on fellowship (more than a potluck dinner), focused on eating and sharing meals – both the Lord’s Supper and in homes, and focused on prayer.

We recently had a passage from Nehemiah 8 as our call to worship and as I dove into this passage a bit I could see even more true community: 

Nehemiah 8:9-12

“This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn nor weep.” For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law.  10 Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”  11 So the Levites quieted all the people, saying, “Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved.” 12 And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that were declared to them.

This passage is about a scattered people brought back together and restored into relationship with God and with each other, which to me is key and vital for true community. And if you dig into this a bit you can see that as they were in relationship with each other and as they started to understand God’s word they found true joy. Joy in the Word, joy in grace and forgiveness and even joy in a troubled world. Can’t we all relate to that? 

Then as they found this true joy, it became their strength – the Joy in the Lord is their (our) strength. I had to keep digging so I looked up the Hebrew for strength and this word has in its essence this feeling of a safe harbor. So Joy in the Lord found through His Word and through relationships with Him and each other is our safe harbor. It is our literal safe harbor, our safe place for rest, for relationships, for peace and for love. 

It is a safe harbor like no other!!! 

Grace and Peace!

Sit Back and Relax

Jeremiah 29:11 

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 

A new year, a fresh start...perhaps a new attitude? I believe many Christians would list Jeremiah 29:11 among their favorites and no doubt this is a very hopeful verse. I have seen it on plaques, signs, etc. It is a verse that tells us we have a God that we can trust – Amen. 

There is more to consider, if you look at verse 10 the Lord says after 70 years He will fulfill His promise. So there is thing called God’s timing and don’t get me wrong here, I believe it is also His perfect timing. But, if we truly believe we have a God that we can trust there will be times when we must wait, we must experience ups and downs, we must persevere and to me that is a key aspect of trusting God. 

And during these periods of time where we have to trust God what is our attitude? Should we be angry, should we be negative or should we be confident and joyful? I know this is hard to do at times and Lord knows when it comes to this I slip – I forget – maybe I find it easier to trust myself? Ouch! But, if we can truly center and focus on Jesus and all He has done – His finished work, His love for each of us, then perhaps we can get through life with a humble confidence, trusting God and His plans for us. 

I recently had the opportunity to travel on a particular airline and have you noticed one of the requirements of a flight crew these days is comedy? Anyway, the Captain comes on and welcomes us aboard his flight, he tells us the weather conditions, the temperatures and the time we can expect to arrive. He concludes by telling us that we can either sit back and enjoy the flight or we can lean forward, tense up and be miserable. Everyone laughed, but that stuck with me. 

Couldn’t the same be said about our Christian walk? Most days shouldn’t we be humbly confident, trusting, joyful people. I know it will be tough and there are circumstances where we won’t always just be happy smiling people, but in general as we trudge through life may we all sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. 

Grace and Peace!