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Tag: sin

But if Jesus is Raised

April 5, 2018 /

He is Risen

Dear Friends,

A few days ago many of us gathered in our churches for Easter celebrations and the retelling of the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. At my church we enjoyed a tremendous breakfast prepared by the men of the church, the children made and launched rockets (yes, you read that correctly) and our church family and many guests joined together for a great Easter worship service.

Of all the holidays and festivals in the church, for Christians, none is more important than Easter. Without Easter Christmas is nothing more than a weird and tragic story of a child being born. It is impossible to overstate the importance and significance of the resurrection of Jesus to Christians and human history. As Paul says, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17 NIV). But if Christ is raised, well then that changes everything.

While it is helpful to speak in generalities and say that “everything” has changed but what is the specific significance of the resurrection? Many of us would answer that Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sin so that we might have eternal life and get to go to heaven when we die.

This answer is basically accurate, but it is also significantly inadequate. The resurrection of Jesus means so much more. Over the next several weeks, with the help of a book by Dr. Stephen Seamands, Give Them Christ: Preaching His Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension and Return, we are going to dive deeper into the meaning and significance of the resurrection.

Before we get there, I want to ask you a question: What would you say is the significance of the resurrection of Jesus?

Please feel free to send an e-mail or post a comment. I would love to hear what you have to say.

Blessings,
Stephen

When our heros are watching

November 1, 2016 /

crowd of fans cheering you on

What would it be like to be the quarterback of the high school football team? The ball is on the fifteen-yard line. Unfortunately, it is your fifteen-yard line. Your team is down by four points. There is a 1:47 left in the game. You have to get in the end zone to win. Your coach calls a timeout to regroup the team. And as you approach the sideline the person standing there, waiting for you is Payton Manning. He looks at you, tells you he believes in you and what you have to do to win this game and as you are walking back on the field to the huddle you can hear his cheering for you.
It’s great to have your parents on the sideline to see you at the moment. Your coach’s confidence in you means a lot. Even your teammates telling you they have confidence in you iwonderful. All of these are more special than can be described, but there is something extra special about having your hero, the best of the best, saying you can do it. Someone who has been there and knows what it is like. Who knows how many hundreds of times Manning has been in this place where the game came down to his ability to execute and lead his team down the field. He knows what the pressure is like. He knows the hunger of the defense and seen the fire in their eyes. Every profession has its unique challenges, and we all know, despite people telling us they know what it is like, they really don’t. If they have not been where you are, they really don’t understand. So it means something extra special to have a person who has been there, who understands the pressures and challenges encouraging you on.
Hebrews 12:1-3 says to us:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
This comes at the end of a long list of great heroes of faith from the Bible. These men and women who comprise the “great cloud of witnesses” are not only witness of us but they are witnesses to us. Witnesses of the character and faithfulness of God. They are heroes who have been where we are, and they call us through the cloud of our temporal perspective to press on with perseverance. They cheer for us to put aside our doubts, fears, and struggles to grasp hold of the promises God has given to us. They have been there and understand.
Think about this. You might be saying to yourself that you have screwed up. You have disqualified yourself from every achieving your hopes and dreams. Your failure is too great. But let me ask you:
When was the last time you committed adultery?
But not only that, when was the last time that adultery led to a child being conceived?
But not only that, when was the last time that you used your power and authority to try to cover-up up what you had done by having the women’s husband killed?
But not only that, you take the women to be your wife in hopes of covering the whole thing up?
But not only that, when was the last time child conceived because of your failure dies because of your sin, and you have to live the rest of your life with this burden?
Hopefully, not of us has screwed up this badly. But even if you have there is a man standing before you as a witness of God’s faithfulness and forgiveness, David, saying to you today to put aside your sin and experiences God’s love.
When was the last time you faced an utterly impossible situation? You didn’t know what to do and even if you did you lacked the resources to make it happen? Two men call you to step into the impossible. Moses and Joshua, men well acquainted with impossible barriers, whether they are a sea, a river, or a walled city, they witness to you of God’s deliverance in the face of the impossible and they call to you to put aside that which entangles you, all those doubting thoughts, and step out in faith.
The list could go on and on. I would even challenge you to sometimes read the stories in the Bible and ask yourself what these men and women would say to you if there were on your sideline coaching you through whatever situation you are facing in life.
For we are surrounded by a great cloud of witness to God’s grace, forgiveness, and character and they call us to step up.
Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

In the spring, when kings go off to war

April 19, 2016 /

canons on the battlefield

Dear Friends,

One of the most loaded verses in the Bible is also one easily missed. Found at the very beginning of 2 Samuel 11, we read, “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.”

What follows is the disastrous story of David, King of Israel, stealing another man’s wife. A man who was off fighting David’s battles. The woman, Bathsheba, becomes pregnant and David contrives to hide his sin ultimately killing her husband, Uriah, and other innocent men, all in an effort to hide a “moment of pleasure.”

In the story of David’s sin we find three questions, that, depending on how we answer them, can serve as a test to help us avoid the opportunity to sin. They are:

Am I where I should be?

David was the warrior king of Israel. The place he should have been was on the battlefield with the army. Had he been there, instead of on a rooftop at the palace, the possibility of his being tempted to sin would not have existed.

Am I with who I should be with?

David should have been, needed to be, with his men. With Joab his commander. With his army. These were his support community. These were the men who had the ability to tell the king, “No!” In the palace were only the servants who had to follow the king’s orders.

Am I doing what I should be doing?

As has already been said, David was a warrior king. His place was alongside Joab planning battlefield strategy. Instead, he was stuck in the palace in Jerusalem. Even if he was attending to the affairs of the growing city of Jerusalem it was not his role. He was the king, the management of the city should have been left to another. Had he been doing what he should have been doing likely his soul would not have been so restless he would seek to appease it with a one-night-stand.

When we sin we can come up with all kinds of excuses and justifications. The temptation was too great. I deserve a little pleasure. My spouse is not meeting my needs. If God had not wanted it to happen, he would not have opened the door.

But in the dark recesses our souls, if we are willing to be honest with ourselves, we know the reason for our sin and temptation is because of the answer to one or more of the questions above. We are not in the place we should be. We are not with the people we should be with. We are not doing what we should be doing. And because of this we are open and exposed to temptation. Failure is lurking at our doorstep.

Stephen

Praying as a Nation and a Church

May 5, 2015 /

Old Church Sanctuary

This Thursday, May 7th, is the 2015 National Day of Prayer. On this day, Christians in my community, and all across our country will gather together for National Day of Prayer events. In years past, I have intentionally avoided participation in these events. The reason being, in previous communities I served, these events were more of a political rally for a very narrow political ideology than they were about praying of our nation. If I want to go to political rally I will, but I have little time for one shamefully veiled as a prayer meeting.

So it was, when I when I came to our community, I kept my distance from this event. That was until a colleague, whom I respect greatly, asked me to participate in last year’s event. I told him that I would not and gave him my reason. He assured me our community’s event was very different from my past experience. Based on his assurance and my respect for him I said I would still not participate but I would attend the event and observe. And this is what I did last year. I was happy to experience an event centered on prayer rather than political ideologies.

Now here I am a year later and a few days away from this year’s event. Once again, I have been asked to participate in our community’s National Day of Prayer service. This time I have accepted and because I am a pastor I have been asked to lead the group in praying for the church.

So I have been pondering what it means to pray for the church on a day like this. Particularly  in light of what has happened in our nation and world the past year. What kind of prayer should I be praying?

Only one kind of prayer seems appropriate. A prayer of confession of our sin and repentance. It is the only one I can pray, with any integrity, as one who represents the church. Scripture calls the people of God, the church, to welcome the stranger, to care for the poor, to cross racial and ethnic barriers, to be a place where there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963) Dr. King has much to say about the role of the church in society:

There was a time when the church was very powerful–in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.” But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be “astronomically intimidated.” By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent–and often even vocal–sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.

By the church’s example, we can bring and end to the racism and violence in our society. By living the example of scripture, the stranger can find rest in the shelter of the church. By our example the deaf will hear, the lame will walk, the oppressed will be released, the blind will see, the prisoner will go free, and good news will be proclaimed to the poor (Luke 4:18). The poor in money and the poor in spirit. This I truly believe.

That path forward begins with the confession of our sin as a church. So this National Day of Prayer will you join me in a prayer of confession and a commitment, by the power of God’s Spirit, to be a different church?

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

Again

April 16, 2014 /

ShadowsWell it has happened again. Another pastor has fallen from their ministry position because of an extramarital affair and apparent struggle with pornography. This time it was Bob Coy from the Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale Church.

I want to say right up front that I have never met Bob Coy and know very, very little about the details of his situation. Since he lives in Florida, and I have never been there, I cannot even say with certainty that he and I have ever been in the same state at the same time.

Mr. Coy is certainly not the first, nor will he likely be the last, leader to be caught in this trap.  It does leave us wondering why did this happen? Why didn’t he seek help before everything fell apart? How could he throw away everything so easily? Much has been written in books on why men engage in extramarital affairs and I will not attempt to enter into the psychology of it all here but I do want to drill down one issue.  Maybe one reason he failed is because the church became too big, too big for him to fail.  At least that is perhaps how it felt. And to some degree it is probably a true statement.

Now before you think this is a statement against large churches, it is not. We all have something in our lives we say is “too big” to risk if we let light shine into our darkness. Don’t we? Our job, marriage, kids, community involvement, reputation, self-esteem, mortgage payment, car payment, vacation plans, career plans, building program, and on and on it goes.

There will always be something. It is part of the lie that satan tells us and we believe. The truth is, it is never as bad as we think and the sooner we deal with things the better. The issues will be bigger tomorrow, today is the day to let light shine into our darkness.

Here are some questions to ponder:

  • What steps have I taken in my life to put up boundaries to protect myself against temptation?
  • Do I have someone in my life (other than my spouse) that I trust and am accountable to?
  • If someone was to come to me with their struggles and darkness, could I be trusted to love them and walk with them or would I tear them down and betray the trust?

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

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