Thursday, April 28, 2011

Help with a Real Issue

I wish it was not the case, but a major issue in the life of a growing number of men, and also a smaller, but also a growing number of women, is pornography. In my role as a pastor I have seen the devastating effects of pornography in the lives of too many lives. The power of sin is real and I do not believe that we can on our own overcome pornography. This morning I saw two articles related to dealing with pornography. I think they offer helpful insights. Please consider their messages and in the words of Proverbs 4:23, guard your heart from it. Your heart is the wellspring of your life. If you pollute the wellspring, the damage to the life will be huge.

40 Positive Reasons to Avoid Pornography

Arousing Ourselves to Death

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Communicating the Gospel

Here is a a great presentation of the good news of the Lord Jesus. Please take a look.

The Gospel

Monday, April 25, 2011

Are You a Trader?

Philippians 2 is one of the passages in the Bible that grips whenever I read it. I am struck by the directives of verses 1 to 4 about how should experience unity as follower of Jesus. I am humbled by the words of verses 6 to 11, which describe what the Lord Jesus did and that some day we will all bow before Him. The words of verses 1 to 4 reminder me that it is incredibly easy for me to be selfish. Verses 6 to 11 tell me that the impact Jesus had and will ultimately have in the eyes of all humanity is tied to His being anything but selfish. Touching the world requires being like Jesus, not like the selfish guy I can easily be and often am.

So far I have not mentioned verse 5. It is a challenging verse. It calls us to have the same attitude of Jesus. On this Easter Monday, I am profoundly grateful for what the Lord Jesus did for me on Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday.  That makes me think I need to choose verse 5. I need to live out verse 5. Please watch the link to the video below. The clip got me thinking that verse 5 living is a much better way to live on Easter Monday.

Are You a Trader?

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Did the Resurrection Happen?

We are in the middle of the Holy Week, the time when we remember important events recorded in the four gospels in the New Testament. Th events of the week are given a considerable amount of attention in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. There is probably one reason we remember the Holy Week: the Resurrection. The Claim that the Lord Jesus came back to life impacts everything else He did that week, every thing else He did while He was on earth, and according to verses like 1 Corinthians 15:20-28, His resurrection changes everything. The Bible makes some pretty bold claims related to the Resurrection. One of those claims is that we need to repent of our sins and trust the Lord Jesus. It is easy to make bold claims. It is another thing to be able to back up those claims and fulfill them. The resurrection is a big claim.But did it happen? I would encourage you to watch these two clips. I think they underline that the resurrection did happen. The bold claims of the Bible are true and the call to repent and trust Christ is a claim that we should heed.

The Case for the Resurrection

Did People See Jesus After the Resurrection?

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Thoughts to Start the Week

Tomorrow, Sunday, April 17th is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week. Undoubtedly, the historic events are critical to Christianity and to history. I found this video on a blog that I read and I thought it might be helpful to help us think through more of who Jesus is and what He has done for us. It is easy for us to be caught up in all kinds of things. This video helps jar us back to having a clearly view of life. Please take four minutes, thirty seconds to watch it.

Truth Video from Ravi Zacharias

Friday, April 15, 2011

Fear or Rejoicing?

I spent three days this week in Chicago at the national conference for an organization called the Gospel Coalition (If you would like to hear the content of the conference please go to their website - The Gospel Coalition National Conference Media). I am grateful to God for the opportunity to be at the conference. I was challenged and blessed and I was reminded of how incredible God is and how wonderful salvation is.

To get to Chicago, I drove to Omaha and flew from there. Early Tuesday morning I arrived at the airport. The mood around the gate was warm and upbeat. It was a sunny, warm morning, people were enjoying their coffee and many appeared to be beginning traveling adventures. One group of about eight people was talking about Beijing. The boarding process began right on time, which helped keep the atmosphere light and positive. But as we moved into the jetway, things seemed to change. As we walked down the slope and made the left turn to the plane, the tones of conversation changed, people feel quiet. If words were spoken it, they were few and expressed with noted hesitation. Why the change?

Well, as you made the left turn, you could see the plane and its roof. A considerable amount of the paint had chipped or peeled off the roof of the plane. A few of the words spoken mentioned the Southwest Airlines plane that lost a part of its roof back on April 1st (here is a follow up story – Southwest Airlines Planes Still Grounded). What had been a sunny morning of excitement and anticipation of adventure, suddenly had become engulfed by a cloud of fear.

Fear is incredibly powerful. Fear can alter a life. If you don’t believe me, just ask Adam. Genesis 3:10 is the first expression of fear in human history. Because of fear, Adam hid from the Lord, his Creator, the One who had come to walk with him, the One who Adam was created to be in relationship with. I am well aware that I need to learn a great deal more about all the Bible says about fear, but I also know that God does not want us to live in the fear that Adam was living in. That is fear that marks are lives too.

Interesting thing, I was to fly home Thursday afternoon. In one of the three sessions on Thursday morning, Dr. Mike Bullmore spoke from the book of Zephaniah (Dr. Bullmore's Message). Near the end of his message he drew our attention to Zephaniah 3:15-17. Because of God’s incredible mercy and grace, though we sin and are separated from God, God, through the death and resurrection of His Son offers us the incredible gifts of forgiveness and a reconciled relationship with Him. Verses 15 to 17 read:

The LORD has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm. 16 On that day they will say to Jerusalem, "Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. 17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."

When we are reconciled with God, fear becomes a non-issue. I do not need to fear evil. God is present and mighty to save. I do not need to dread evil. Dr. Bullmore noted how verse 17 ends: God’s joy of us. Sin brought us fear. With salvation through the Lord Jesus, God brings us His joy. God rejoices over us with singing. Right now, His voice might seem quiet, but it will get louder and as we draw near to Him, I think even now we will hear the volume increase.

I cannot say that I was immune from a sense of fear on Tuesday, but instead of touching the chipping paint and looking concerned, as I saw others do, I prayed. It was short, nothing profound, but in light of what I learned on Thursday morning, I guess the prayer was really a chance for me to hear God sing. Before long, I closed my eyes again, prayed some more and had a short peaceful nap. I did not need to be overwhelmed with fear. God was with me and He was starting to sing.

Fear is real, but so is God. Please, do not live in fear. God is present to reconcile you to Himself and purge your fear and replace it with His rejoicing presence in your life.


Monday, April 11, 2011

Risk It All

Here is a video clip from Dr. David Platt which provides a challenge to those of us in North America, and maybe followers of Jesus in many parts of the world. For me it raises the question what am I going to live for? Am I going to live seeking to know and enjoy comfort? Or am I going to live for God's kingdom? I do not believe that God is against us having joy in life. The story of Isaac in Genesis 21 reminds us that God laughs. We should laugh too, but that is not the ultimate thing in life. This clip reminds me of how easy it is for us to be self-centered. As I start a new day, as I start each day, I see the need to ask: what am I going to live for? This clip challenges me to take that question very seriously. The investment of a life,your life matters and will leave an impact. What kind of impact and legacy do you want to leave?

Let's Risk It All

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Update on Japan

The video below is from some missionaries in Japan who are trying to provide help to people in the country they love. Please watch the video and be moved to pray for the people of Japan.

Mission: Ishinomakie

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Middle Road?

Tomorrow in the worship service, we will be looking at Matthew 7:13-20. The first two verses talk about the narrow road and the wide road. Jesus seems pretty clear that there are two roads. In this video clip Francis Chan talks about a third road that we seem to want to add: the middle road. It is kind of "nice" combination of the other two. The problem is Jesus did not say that there was a middle road. I kind of wonder if our interest in a middle road is really a desire for us to re-name the wide road. Take a look at the video and let me know what you think.

Francis Chan on the Middle Road