Private Personal Sermon

This past week I prepared a sermon twice that ultimately I gave it to myself. I hadn’t planned it that way but that was what God intended it.

You need a little background before I share the story and what I learned from the message. I am currently between official ministries but I teach a house church via the internet each week. Since there are so few of us there are times that the group chooses not to meet due to a family or two being unavailable. I had been looking forward to this message because it was my Christmas story. For the past few years I have been telling the story of Christmas from various characters’ point of view, you know Joseph, Mary, etc. This year I was focusing on the shepherds.

Now back to the story. I had prepared this message and was fairly happy with the direction the message had taken. I had saved the message on one of my computers but had failed to send it to the other one or back it up on my external drive. (Don’t get ahead of the story. Let it play itself out.)

When I prepare a message I make several files: research, sermon, sermon notes, and sermon notes with blanks. All of these file have similar names but the last words are different. Saturday I had been doing some electrical work and had to turn off the power and in the process I accidentally shut off the power to my computer. Now that wasn’t the problem because when I fired up the computer and opened Word I had all of my open files waiting for me as recovered files. I made the mistake of saving them “just to be safe” and in the process of saving these files the program suggests the first line as the file name. Now we come to the fun part! The file that contained my sermon notes was saved as my sermon file due to the first line being the sermon title.

So there I was Saturday night at 11:30 PM realizing that I had lost my sermon but I had several copies of the sermon notes that my congregation would be using in the morning! Fortunately I had done all of the study and had all of my research still available. About 1:00 AM I finally finished my rewriting of my message and crawled into bed.

Sunday morning I got a call from the folks at the church letting me know that a number of folks were not going to be able to make it for the Sunday service so we decided to cancel the service.

Now another man might have been angry and another man might have been sad but I believe that God was telling me that the message was for me. After all I had not only studied the passage extensively but I had also written the sermon…twice! Apparently the message was meant for me!!!

So what did I learn from the message?

The most significant point for me was that the Price of Peace is my sovereign and in the service of my King I could find my well-being, security and completeness in Him!

Look for my next post to expand on Jesus as our Price of Peace

Merry Christmas

Pastor Val

The Holiday Diet

This is the season that my wife makes soups and stews every week. And I love soup! I like all kinds of soup but I especially like hearty soups. Given the opportunity I will eat soup until I am so full that I am uncomfortable. It’s rare that I ever say “Oh that’s enough, I’m satisfied I couldn’t east another spoonful!” Even that happens I always wish I could eat more! I’m rarely stated when it comes to soup! And don’t get me started about Thanksgiving and Christmas Feasts!

I wish I could say the same thing about God. I would love to sit here and tell you that my appetite for God is rarely sated, that I desire another helping and another until I am so full of God that I’m uncomfortable and have to share Him with those around me.

Truthfully, I have to admit that there are times I am more than satisfied with as small of a portion of God as I can get away with.

I don’t want to be a glutton when it comes to God or his things or his will. You see I’m on a God diet. I don’t want to become a heavyweight when it comes to spiritual matters. I practice portion control! Unlike John (known as the Baptiser) my prayer is not more of Jesus and less of me. Rather Its a rousing chorus of more of me and less of you, Oh Lord. And God could you re-align my vegetable intake just enough to keep me healthy and my doctor happy?

My gluttony problem is me!

The portion control I need to be practicing is less of me and the things I want – my school, my job, my spouse, my house, my money.

This holiday season perhaps I need to go on a diet of me and you do, too! When we do I think we will develop a taste for God.

⁹ Reverence for the LORD is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the LORD are true; each one is fair.
¹⁰ They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.
Psalm 19:9-10 (NLT)

Please pass me some more

Pastor Val

Living Openhandedly

God commands Christ Followers to live openhandedly

⁸ Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs.
Deuteronomy 15:8 (NIV)

¹¹ There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.
Deuteronomy 15:11 (NIV)

Learning to live openhandedly is not always easy to do, especially when the recipient of our generosity is ungrateful for the gift. When this happened I’m tempted to close my hand and hang on to God’s provision. It seems like I have to keep relearning the lesson that my obedience is not predicated on the obedience of others.

In another century, when I was in college, I had a roommate who was there on need based scholarship. He was in need of a textbook for a class and didn’t have the money for the book. God laid it on my heart to meet this need and I did so anonymously. Imagine my feelings when my hard earned money was spent for a weekend of partying and the following week he still needed the textbook.

I learned several valuable lessons from this experience. First, if I’m going to give a person a gift to meet a need don’t give them cash give them their need. The second lesson I learned was that while it was my responsibility to properly respond to God’s prompting, it wasn’t my responsibility for someone else’s actions or misdeeds done with my gift. Their actions were between God and them and not me.

This lesson has been especially helpful when dealing with church members who have chosen not to continue to give to their church because they didn’t agree with how the leadership was using the money. Voice your concern, pray for the leadership and depending on your church don’t vote for the leadership if they come up for a vote. But always remember that these people are answerable to God for their leadership and their responsibility is to follow the leading of God same as yours.

On the other hand ungratefulness is a sin. The nation of Israel was ungrateful for God’s deliverance from Egypt. They were ungrateful for the manna that God graciously provided from heaven and water from the rock. Upon reaching the Promise Land they were ungrateful for God’s blessings and provisions. Each time they were ungrateful God would eventually judged them. They suffered plagues in the wilderness, persecution and the confiscation of their harvest by foreign invaders. Eventually they were taken into captivity because they were ungrateful and failed to be thankful and obedient turning their back on God.

Perhaps it’s just a sign of the times, after all 2 Timothy 3:1-5 seems more true each passing day.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NIV)
¹ But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.
² People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
³ without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,
⁴ treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--
⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

I guess in the end all we can do God leads is to continue to love openhandedly and worry about being obedient to God’s prompting. And let God deal with other people’s response to his leading.

With open hands & empty pockets

Pastor Val

No Ordinary Person

I’m not the most compassionate guy. Now I’m not saying that I’m totally insensitive but when God was passing out the compassion gene I think I was off reading somewhere.

Now it’s possible to be too empathetic at times. In fact this is one of the issues that the Psalmist deals with in Psalm 15. I remember having a member of one of my former churches who was compelled after many of my sermons to knock on my door Sunday afternoon to express his “concern” and disappointment over something I had said in a message that day. He would share with me how I had offended this person or that person in my message. By the end of our one-sided conversation I would despair over my calling to be a pastor.

I would go to the “offended” person to ask their forgiveness only to discover that they had not been offended and couldn’t believe that I would think that they had been offended. It soon became clear after a number of these meetings that either the person expressing concern was looking for problems or was busy picking up someone else’s offense. When I finally realized what was going on with this member it made my afternoon scourging (I mean meetings) slightly easier to bear!

That being said - we all need to be careful what and how we say things – we need to season our speech with grace.

Recently I heard about a pastor who spoke on David and how David was no one special, just an ordinary man that God chose to use in an extraordinary way. I fully agreed with this pastor’s assessment of David being an ordinary person, at least from an outward point of view. After all humans look on the outward appearance but God looks at the inside of a person – God sees their heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)

This ordinary guy had an extraordinary heart – after all he is considered a man after God’s own heart. (Psalm 27:4)

This ordinary guy was chosen by God for a special task that only he could perform. Just like every one of us has been specially equipped and created to do some extraordinary thing for God, something that only you can accomplish for God in your unique way.

Each of us has been fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) created in the image of God and therefore made and fashioned in the image of perfection. Yes, because of sin we are not a perfect reflection of the God who created us. But for Christ followers we are on the journey to become like Christ as we reflect His glory in our lives both today and someday (when Christ returns) we will do so perfectly.

Ordinary? Well only by the perception of an imperfect human – but in God’s sight –

You are no ordinary person!

Pastor Val.

Holy Cow!

I recently came back from a mission’s trip to India, the home of the sacred white cows. The picture that I’ve posted was taken in Rajahamundry India, home to more than 3.5 million people.

Walking through the downtown market place is one of the sacred cows that can be seen everywhere in India. These cows are considered sacred in the Hindu religion. They cannot be killed or eaten. They are allowed to wander everywhere and eat whatever looks tasty. It has been hypothesized that these bovines are part of the cause of poverty and lack of food in one of the most populous countries of the world.

These sacred cows have become symbolic of issues that need to be address but are untouchable because they are considered sacrosanct. A couple of years ago I asked the leadership of a church if they could identify their sacred cows. I was assured that they didn’t have any. I told them that all organizations had them especially an organization that had been around for over a 100 years. I told them not to worry that I was sure I would find their sacred cows if I became their pastor.

Boy did I!

Often sacred cows grow as an organization ages. Traditions and liturgy (the way that we do things) can become codified over time and the result is that we get locked into the past because it either it previously worked or it gives us comfort due to its familiarity.

The problem is that it chokes out creativity and the saps our ability to meet new challenges. Much like the sacred cows of India our hands are tied to the past and we starve for lack of nutrition, even though there is plenty of beef to go around.

Perhaps it’s time to hold a sacred Bar-B-Q!

Please pass the sauce

Pastor Val.

Taking a Walk on the Wild Side!

Have you ever been challenged to do something greater than you have ever imagined, or caught a vision of a life of purpose and significance beyond your wildest imagination? For many of us we have either experienced this or at the very least dreamed it.

But what happens when after the vision or dream the reality of the next day sets in? Where does our passion go in the ensuing days? So often we drift away from the plan that God has for our lives. We exchange the bold, wild and incredibly satisfying for the tamer, safer life of mediocrity.

What do you think God feels about our playing it safe?

When the nation of Judah had drifted away from the heart of the torah (the way) of the Lord, God spoke to the nation through the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 1:10-17 (AMP)
¹⁰ Hear [O Jerusalem] the word of the Lord, you rulers or judges of [another] Sodom! Give ear to the law and the teaching of our God, you people of [another] Gomorrah!
¹¹ To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me [unless they are the offering of the heart]? says the Lord. I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts [without obedience]; and I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of he-goats [without righteousness].
¹² When you come to appear before Me, who requires of you that your [unholy feet] trample My courts?
¹³ Bring no more offerings of vanity (emptiness, falsity, vainglory, and futility); [your hollow offering of] incense is an abomination to Me; the New Moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure—[it is] iniquity and profanation, even the solemn meeting.
¹⁴ Your New Moon festivals and your [hypocritical] appointed feasts My soul hates. They are an oppressive burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.
¹⁵ And when you spread forth your hands [in prayer, imploring help], I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood!
¹⁶ Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes! Cease to do evil,
¹⁷ Learn to do right! Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.

They had lost their zeal for living a life of worship and God reminded them of what was important. I am reminded of the Scripture passage found in James.

James 1:27 (AMP)
²⁷ External religious worship [religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.

We are called to live out our internal faith by the outward action of our lives. James tells us that “faith without works is dead.”

The problem that we all face is trying to live out our faith in a concrete way. Unfortunately we often expect our “paid professional” pastors to give, serve, pray and sacrifice for us. But God expects all of us to live out our faith and to take a walk on the wild side!

When I was growing up I heard pastors tell us that the safest pace in the world is the center of God’s will. I used to wonder about that whenever I read about Paul’s life experiences. First I would remember what God told Ananias that Paul would “suffer for my name.” Acts 9:16 (NIV)

The I would read about some of the suffering that Paul endured in 2 Corinthians where he tells us about being exactly where God wanted him to be.

2 Corinthians 11:23-28 (NIV)
²³ Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.
²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,
²⁶ I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.
²⁷ I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
²⁸ Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

How can anyone say that being in the center of God’s will is safe. They must be crazy to thing that! But being in the will of God is what each of us was designed to do and be!

Today I’m headed to Dowlaiswaram, India. I'll be spending time at Christ's Evangelical Mission's orphanage and teaching at their Missions School training pastors and church planters about worship as it relates to spiritual formation. I would appreciate your prayers as I

Take a walk on the wild side

Pastor Val

Ground Zero

For the last month I have sat out the debate regarding the building of a mosque near 911 Ground Zero in New York. But I’ve been listening to the various arguments that have been espoused by various people. These arguments seem to boil down to two sides (with kind of a middle ground): the first is the Constitutional argument. That the Bill of Rights allow for freedom of religion. The argument goes something like this. All Americans have a constitutional right to not have the government impede the free practice of our religion. Therefore the Islamic group in New York has the right to build overlooking Ground Zero.

The second argument is more emotional and goes something like this: The wounds are still too fresh in our nation’s psyche to allow the mosque to be built so close to what has become hallowed ground to the majority of Americans.

The middle ground is a blending of both of these positions and states that while it is true that the group has the constitutional right to build on this site, it doesn’t mean that they should do so. It doesn’t mean that it is appropriate to build so close to hallowed ground.

Now I have to admit that I understand both sides and actually agree with both side of the argument. In fact I originally came to the blended position a number of weeks ago.

But I’ve been thinking about the situation and got to wondering what would happen if I took a look at this situation from a Biblical perspective instead of a legal or emotional perspective. What if anything in my thinking would change?

The great commandment and it’s second would seem a great place to start. We are commanded to Love God and as a result of that love others. Does that include our neighbors? What about our enemies? Luke 6:27, 35.

Does this mean that we must be willing to love even when we don’t feel like it? YES! Aren’t you glad that Jesus gave up His rights and came to earth to create a way for us to reconnect with God? Can you imagine if He hadn’t given up his rights what the outcome would have been? Philippians 2:5-8.

Are we supposed to emulate Christ? Called to be like him” Commanded to be transformed? Does this mean that we must be willing to give up some of our God given or Constitutional rights? Well I think we know the answer to these questions. Don’t we?

Sometimes God really messes with us, doesn’t He?

Pastor Val