June 1, 2011

This Sunday I will begin my "Summer In the Psalms" sermon series. I am really looking forward to it! What a better place to begin a series on the Psalms that Psalm 23. It is perhaps the most beloved chapter in the Bible.

In truth, I could preach an entire Summer series just on Psalm 23! I have before!

But, I will hit the highlights in this message entitled "The Future Is You Friend". I am sure you will understand why I say that by the time I am finished with this message. When the Lord is your shepherd the future is your friend because He is a personal shepherd, and He is a powerful shepherd and He is a promising shepherd.

Let me show you what I mean when I say He is a personal shepherd. A good shepherd developed a strong personal attachment to and affection for his sheep. That is borne out by the fact that there are 17 personal pronouns in these six verses. Count them:

"The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."  Psalm 23

See what I mean?

Let me make it even more personal:

"The LORD is BRAD'S shepherd, BRAD will lack nothing. He makes BRAD to lie down in green pastures, he leads BRAD beside quiet waters, he refreshes BRAD'S soul. He guides BRAD along the right paths for his name’s sake  Even though Brad walks through the darkest valley, BRAD will fear no evil, for you are with BRAD; your rod and your staff, they comfort BRAD. You prepare a table before BRAD in the presence of BRAD'S enemies. You anoint BRAD'S head with oil; BRAD'S cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow BRAD all the days of BRAD'S life and BRAD will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."

You can understand why I say God is a personal shepherd! Try plugging your name in those pronouns and see how that works for you.  I bet you will like it!
The future can be your friend if you know Jesus as your personal Savior. He is a GOOD shpherd! As the Apostle John affirmed:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. John 10 \:11-15

We need a shepherd! We are hopeless and helpless without a shepherd. But, through the grace of God, you can have a wonderful a personal shepherd Who loves you and cares for you.

Are you unceratin about your future? Are you prone to wander off and become wolf food? There is a Shepherd Who knows your name! There is a shepherd Who laid down His life for your sins! He wants to be your Shepherd! Will you be his sheep? Will you join His flock? Will you follow Him?

May 31, 2011

"The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing." Psalm 23:1 

When the Psalmist identifies God as a Shepherd He is, at the same time, implying that we are sheep. In fact, He is and we are.

You don't have to know much about sheep to know you wouldn't want to be one. Sheep are dumb, dirty, and defenseless. The fate of a sheep depends upon his shepherd. If he has a good shepherd the future is his friend. If  not, his future is not so bright.

The 23rd Psalm is an amazing Psalm. It is the favorite of many many people. This Psalm is a sheep bragging about his shepherd. And it begins with the words, "The Lord is my Shepherd." In the Hebrew it is "Jehovah-Rohi." The Eternal God is my shepherd.

He is our guide. He leads us. He feeds us. He comforts us. No other name of God carries the tenderness and intimacy of "Jehovah-Rohi".

When we need to be reminded that the Lord is taking care of us, we can come to the 23rd Psalm and praise Him as "Jehovah-Rohi".

The second part of that verse should be translated, "I shall not have needs." Actually, you're wants aren't even discussed here, except in the translators' choice of words. The whole point is that taking care of our needs is God's responsibility. That's His job. He's volunteering for it. He's good at it. We need to let God do His job without needless harassment.

Herein is the inspiring point of this Psalm. If you are a sheep, and you are. And if a sheep is only as good as its shepherd, and he is. And if the Lord is your shepherd, which He is. Then you are one blessed sheep! And as long as you keep following "Jehovah-Rohi", your future is your friend!

May 30, 2011

"After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.  On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.” David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate. His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!” He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”  II Samuel 12:15-23

The Psalms have been a source of comfort and strength for countless believers for thousands of years and there is a good reason. In the Psalms you have the total gamut of emotions from unbearable pain to unbelievable pleasure. No matter what life circumstance you are experiencing you can find a Psalm or two that will identify with your pain and offer real comfort and wisdom. In otherwords, the Psalms are filled with hope!

King David was able to identify so well with all these emotions because had known everything that life can bring to a king with all its privilege and perks but also  the struggles of being a shepherd - and everything in between.

Here, though he has to bear the most unthinkable agony any parent can imagine. The loss of a child. In this case it is the loss of a newborn son just a week old. His reaction to the loss of his child is quite interesting and insightful. For nearly a week, King David fasted and poured out his heart to God interceeding for the life of his child. But, the child did not survive. The illness he had contracted proved to be fatal.

David's servants were afraid to bear the dreadful news to the King that his child had died. However, he surmised from their behavior that the news was bad. Once he realized his son was gone, he reacted in a curious manner. He ended his fast, ceased his praying, cleaned himself up and ate a good meal.

Why did David do this? What was he thinking?

Prior to the death of his child, David was hoping that his child would survive this illness and be restored to health. David was aware that the child had become ill because God had stricken the child to punish David for his grievous sins of adultery and murder. He had hoped the child would have to bear the judgment for his sins. But despite his desparate petitons to God, the child passed away. So, David shifted into a new mode. He went from hoping to having hope. His hope was in the Lord's grace and goodness. David knew the child was with the Lord and there was nothing more he could do. So, the prayers ceased and the praising began! He stopped hoping and clung to hope.

Later today I will be holding a memorial service for a couple who just lost their newborn twin sons. The little guys were born late last at twenty-weeks into their development. They lived for about 20 minutes and died in their parent's arms. This had been a troubled pregnancy for the whole period leading up to their premature bithday. These precious young people, like David, had been hoping their babies would defy the odds and survive. But they did not. And now they have to switch from hoping to hope. I will hope to help them with that process. I am asking God to direct me to Scriptures and give me words that will help them grab ahold of hope again. They have the hope that David had that they will see their boys again.

In the meantime they can rejoice in the hope that their little boys will never know anything other than the face of Jesus! These tiny fellows will never behold anything other than the glory of God! The only home they will ever know is the mansion Jesus has prepared for them! They will know nothing of pain or pollution or political corruption or poverty or plagues - only peace and perfection in the presence of God!

Do you possess that hope that sustains you even when what you are hoping doesn't happen? Can you trust the heart of God even when you cannot trace His hand?

David did! You can! I pray these parents will.

May 29, 2011

“The Foundations of Freedom”

Psalms 11:3 -  "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

These are but three stories of the more than 2.5 millions who have died in wars. What motivates these brave men and women to put themselves in harms way? What is there about America that young people volunteer to go to foreign land to fight for their nation?

ONE WORD – FREEDOM!

The American spirit is portrayed in Patrick Henry declaring, “Give me liberty or give me death!

It was resident in the hearts and minds of the Founding Fathers who pledged to one another “their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor in order to create a nation God could bless its inhabitants with freedom. And they won freedom but most of them lost their fortunes and died penniless – But Free!

True freedom never comes apart from God. Our Forefathers understood and acknowledged that vital truth. That is why when they establish this land they made sure that America was build on solid foundations from the Word of God.

As you read through these principles I want you to do a couple of things. First, try to capture the heart and mind of the Founding Fathers and ask yourself where we might be as a nation if we still had leaders like them. Second, compare this standard of excellence and prescription for greatness to the standards and expectations of our day.

I. THE FOUNDATIONS OF OUR FREEDOM.
John 8:32 - "And ye shall know the Truth, and the truth shall make you free."

It is important to know that we are living for the same principles that millions of brave Americans have and are – dying for. And what better day to do that than Memorial Day?

A clear understanding of the truths of life, morality, honesty and social order are best found in the Holy Bible. The teachings of no other document more plainly describe the principles upon which nations build a civilized society.

These Biblical principles have come to be known as the Judeo-Christian Ethic. And although they are numerous and found throughout the Bible, we will look at seven of the most basic ones that have undoubtedly served as foundations for our great nation.

SEVEN PRINCIPLES:


1. THE DIGNITY OF HUMAN LIFE.

Genesis 2:7 - “The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

Exodus 20:13 - "You shall not murder"

Matthew 22:39 - "...You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Our very Founding Document guarantees every person: "the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness..."

2. THE TRADITIONAL FAMILY.

Genesis 2:23-24 - The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”

God instituted the traditional family defined as one man and one woman. If this marriage is blessed with children, those children have the rights to a godly and secure home with a Dad and Mom.

3. THE NATIONAL WORK ETHIC.

2 Thessalonians 3:10 - “For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “Anyone who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

Meaning that people should work for their own livelihood and the welfare of others. We are not to be dependant upon the government for our livelihood.

 4. THE RIGHT TO A GOD-CENTERED EDUCATION.

Ephesians 6:4 – “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

Our forefathers knew this was right so they established institutions like Harvard...Princeton....Yale as religious schools of learning. This does not mean that all school should be Christian, but it does mean the recognition of the Creator God.

5. THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT.

Genesis 12:1-3 – “The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Meaning that a Nation under God was a nation which was especially blessed above all the nations of the world. The Founders believed that God would bless the nation that would serve and obey Him.


6. THE PRINCIPLE OF COMMON DECENCY.

Matthew 22:39 - "And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Americans have been known as a people who do the decent thing. Our Statue of Liberty has upon it the Words of Emma Lazarus:

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

7. OUR PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY TO GOD.

Hebrews 9:27 – “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment”

The Bible clearly teaches that people and nations are accountable to God! He Who blesses also judges!

It is said that the brilliant statesman Daniel Webster was once asked,

"Mr. Webster what greatest thought ever passed your mind?" To which he replied, "My personal accountability to God."

The Founding Fathers knew that these and other principles of Scripture are essential for the preservation of our national freedom. Ask yourself where we would be today as a nation if we still honored and observed these prinicples.

II. THE FATHER OF FREEDOM

“Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan.” Leviticus 25:10

This phrase, “proclaim liberty throughout the land” is inscribed on the Liberty Bell at Freedom Hall in Philadelphia.

Upon our coinage is stamped these words: "E PLURIBUS UNUM" It is Latin meaning: "From Many -- One" America is nation of ones. For the Land to be free, the people must be free!

Our Constitution declares we were established:

"To secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and those who would follow."

Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg address declared our nation to have been, "conceived in liberty".

“Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.” Alexis de Tocqueville. He also said, “America is great because America is good. When America ceases to be good she will cease to be great.”

I would substitute the word “godly” for the word “good” and whole-heartedly agree.

When Francis Scott Key wrote the second verse to the Star-Spangled Banner, he knew what he was writing.

"Oh, thus be it ever, when free men shall stand,

Between their loved homes and wars desolation;

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land,

Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when because it is just;

And this be our motto: "In God is our Trust."

And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave.

O’re the land of the free and the home of the brave."

That is the message of the Gospel. Jesus told us the reason He had come into the world to set men free. Certainly Christ is greatest Freedom Fighter this world has ever known!

Galatians 5:1 - "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free..."


Romans 8:2  - "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from law of sin and death."

Have you been set free by Christ? You can make your eternal proclamation of Freedom today. Give your heart to Jesus and let him become your Savior and Lord. Allow Him to Set You Free!


FREE FROM SIN

Have you been saved from your sins? Have you been sanctified and delivered from sin?

FREE IN THE SPIRIT

Live, love and lavish in the power and freedom of being Spriti-controlled.

FREE FROM SELF

The worst sort of bondage is the self-inflicted bondage from our sinful deception and desires.


Do You Know Freedom From Sin?


Do You Know Freedon In the Spirit?


The Foundations of Freedom Are From God’s Word Because Freedom Is From God


Freedom Is Worth Dying For Because It Is Worth Living For

"If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

It is obvious by now that the timeless foundations upon which our beloved freedom has been built is now under direct attack by the very institutions that the Founding Fathers intended to protect them. Our rights and freedoms are eroding on nearly a daily basis. Is it too lake to stop the disintigration of these principles before the foundation crumbles under our feet?

There ARE some things that you can do to firm up the foundation of your freedoms, but they must soon and they must be done daily. Will you join me in the task of restoring our moral values that made us the greatest nations on the face of the earth!

HERE’S WHAT TO DO:


FIND FREEDOM


FOSTER FREEDOM


FIGHT FOR FREEDOM

HOW?
Develop a Strong Faith  - Live these principles every day!

Develop a Strong Family - Instill these truths in your children.

Strengthen Your Finances - Work to get debt-free and save so you can be financially free - able to help others.

Strengthen Your Fellowship - Serve, pray, and support your local church so the Spirit has freedom there.

Freedom is fragile and it isn't free. It is rooted and grounded in divine truth! Love His truth! Live in His truth. Lobby for His truth. And, if necessary, die defending it!

May 28, 2011

"For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.  If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly."  I Timothy 4:4-7

This Sunday I will be sharing the seven principles that formed the foundation for our freedom as Americans. In a later post I will be commenting on those "big seven". But this morning I am wanting to focus on the idea of principles. In my thinking, the words "foundation" and "principle" are pretty much synonymous. Principles are bedrock truths upon which you can build - a life, a family, a church, a nation, a business, or an eternity. Principles will translate into eternity because they ARE timeless and unchanging.

The greatness of America is directly attributable to the greatness of its principles. But those principles are only helpful when they are implemented. When they are disregarded they lose their impact.

If you love freedom you would do well to understand and appreciate the importance of principles because freedom is built on truth (Jesus said, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free") and principles define those truths.

Several years ago when Rick Warren wrote his best-selling book (30 million copies) "The Purpose Driven Life" he illustrated the power of purpose in your life and no one can dispute how important it is to have a compelling purpose. But purpose will lose its power in short order if it is not paired with proper principles. Your purpose declares why you live but your principles will determine how you pursue that purpose. A purpose without principles becomes pragmatic.

Purpose is the "what" for your life while principles are the "why". Purpose is the force of your life while principles are the course for your life. Purpose is the reason for living and principles are the rules for life.

When someone asked Jesus about the purpose for life, He answered by linking a principle with the purpose when He said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and all your strength. And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself."

According to Jesus, the purpose for life is pleasing God and the principle by which to fulfill it is love. So, if you are going to live a life that is pleasing to God you must make sure your principles match that purpose.

Here is the bottom line: When your principles match your purpose the result can be holiness but when your principles don't support your purpose you have hypocrisy.

Do you know the purpose for your life?

Can you articulate the principles you live by?

How well do they match up?

When they match two powerful things result: true faith and true freedom!

May 27, 2011

Rarely do I post articles by other writers but I came across this today and was very impressed by it for three reasons: (1) It was written by a young pastor, (2) It was written by a young pastor from a non-holiness tradition, (3) His church is right across the street from Michigan State University so he is challenging college kids with this message. See what you think!

I have a growing concern that younger evangelicals do not take seriously the Bible’s call to personal holiness. We are too at peace with worldliness in our homes, too at ease with sin in our lives, too content with spiritual immaturity in our churches.

God’s mission in the world is to save a people and sanctify his people. Christ died “that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (2 Cor. 5:15) We were chosen in Christ “before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” (Eph. 1:4) Christ “loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her…so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” (Eph. 5:25-27) Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” (Titus 2:14)

J.C. Ryle, the Bishop of Liverpool from the nineteenth century, was right: “We must be holy, because this is one grand end and purpose for which Christ came into the world…Jesus is a complete Savior. He does not merely take away the guilt of a believer’s sin, He does more—He breaks its power (1 Pet. 1:2; Rom. 8:29; Eph. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9; Heb. 12:10).” My fear is that as we rightly celebrate, and in some quarters rediscover, all that Christ saved us from, we will give little thought and make little effort concerning all that Christ saved us to.

The pursuit of holiness does not occupy the place in our hearts that it should. There are several reasons for the relative neglect of personal holiness.

1) It was too common in the past to equate holiness with abstaining from a few taboo practices like drinking, smoking, and dancing. In a previous generation, godliness meant you didn’t do these things. Younger generations have little patience for these sorts of rules. They either don’t agree with the rules, or they figure they’ve got those bases covered so there’s not much else to worry about.

2) Related to the first reason is the fear that a passion for holiness makes you some kind of weird holdover from a bygone era. As soon as you talk about swearing or movies or music or modesty or sexual purity or self-control or just plain godliness, people get nervous that others will call them legalistic, or worse, a fundamentalist.

3) We live in a culture of cool, and to be cool means you differentiate yourself from others. That has often meant pushing the boundaries with language, with entertainment, with alcohol, and with fashion. Of course, holiness is much more than these things, but in an effort to be hip, many Christians have figured holiness has nothing to do with these things. They’ve willingly embraced Christian freedom, but they’ve not earnestly pursued Christian virtue.

4) Among more liberal Christians, a radical pursuit of holiness is often suspect because any talk of right and wrong behaviors feels judgmental and intolerant. If we are to be “without spot or blemish,” it necessitates we distinguish between what sort of attitudes, actions, and habits are pure and what sort are impure. This sort of sorting gets you in trouble with the pluralism police.

5) Among conservative Christians, there is sometimes the mistaken notion that if we are truly gospel-centered, we won’t talk about rules or imperatives or exhort Christians to moral exertion. To be sure, there is a rash of moralistic teaching out there, but sometimes we go to the other extreme and act as if the Bible shouldn’t advise our morals at all. We are so eager not to confuse indicatives and imperatives (a point I’ve made many times) that if we’re not careful, we’ll drop the imperatives altogether. We’ve been afraid of words like diligence, effort, and obedience. We’ve downplayed verses that call us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12) or command us to cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit (2 Cor. 7:1) or warn against even a hint of immorality among the saints (Eph. 5:3).

I find it telling that you can find plenty of young Christians today who are really excited about justice and serving in their communities. You can find Christians fired up about evangelism. You can find lots of Generation XYZ believers passionate about precise theology. Yes and amen to all that. But where are the Christians known for their zeal for holiness? Where is the corresponding passion for honoring Christ with Christlike obedience? We need more Christian leaders on our campuses, in our cities, in our seminaries who will say with Paul, “Look carefully then how you walk.” (Eph. 5:15)

When is the last time we took a verse like Ephesians 5:4—“Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving”—when is the last time we took a verse like this and even began to try to apply this to our conversation, our joking, our movies, our YouTube clips, our TV and commercial intake? The fact of the matter is if you read through the New Testament epistles, you will find very few explicit commands that tell us to evangelize and very few explicit commands that tell us to take care of the poor in our communities, but there are dozens and dozens of verses in the New Testament that enjoin us, in one way or another, to be holy as God is holy (e.g., 1 Peter 1:13-16).

I do not wish to denigrate any of the other biblical emphases capturing the attention of younger evangelicals. But I believe God would have us be much more careful with our eyes, our ears, and our mouth. It’s not pietism, legalism, or fundamentalism to take holiness seriously. It’s the way of all those who have been called to a holy calling by a holy God.

May 26, 2011

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!" Matthew 25:23

One of the big myths of Christian growth and church growth result from spectacular manifestations or major breakthroughs. Many of us tend to overlook the importance and the impact of small things, especially small things done consistently over time.

Remember the Challenger disaster? The official conclusion on the cause of that tragedy was the failure of a few small and inexpensive "o" rings. Just a couple of little things but one big failure.

I'm sure you recall the Columbia space shuttle tragedy. It was caused by a few missing tiles from the heat shield designed to protect the craft from the intense heat during re-entry to the earth's atmosphere. Again, small tiles but huge impact.

It would be hard to completely assess the impact the automobile has had on the modern American lifestyle. But Henry Ford, to whom we owe a great deal, made one small mistake in the design of his first Model-T - he forgot to build reverse into it. Correcting that seemingly minor error launched the ever-expanding love affair between Americans and their cars.

Those are just three examples of small things that made huge, even historic differences. So, why would spiritual growth be different? Should you sit around waiting for big things to happen? It that how it happens? Is that what you should expect? Or should you run around to gospel concerts and attend charismatic conferences until you experience and amazing breakthrough? Is that how it happens?

Not usually. It almost always happens one small victory at a time. A new discipline like starting a prayer journal, or finding a prayer partner can make a big difference. A new commitment to a ministry or conquering a negative attitude show significant growth. When you replace a bad habit with a good behavior, that's real growth. And the result of winning those little daily battles is often that big breakthrough others are chasing!

What is the growth point in your life right now? What little victory could you win that would make the biggest difference? When will you stop wishing and start winning?