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Beauty and the Church

2017-07-07T09:00:00-05:00

I saw something beautiful this week.

Wednesday afternoon my family and I went to see our students at primary camp. It was great to see them at camp and the excitement of them showing me what they had learned during the week.

This is the first year we have joined with the Mid-South District for our Children's Camps. The incident I watched transpire did not involve any of the children from our church, but I was reminded of the importance of these types of experiences.

I went down to the creek to see Aiden Day and Will Rickman jump off a rock into the creek. This is one of the favorite activities of the campers. This was at the beginning of afternoon free-time for the campers and the creek soon filled up with kids. Many of them were jumping off the rock, but most were participating in one of my favorite childhood activities– catching crawdads.

After about thirty minutes of the kids playing in the creek, one of the girls called out for her counselor. She had jumped into the creek and her bathing suit had come apart. She squatted down in the water while the leaders developed a plan.

What I saw happen next was beautiful.

A small group of girls began forming at the edge of the creek as they realized what had happened. As their little minds began processing their friend's predicament, they had a decision before them.

This little girl, who's modesty was in the hands her friends, looked on patiently. Then the girls sprung into action– looking for something for her to wear, deciding who's towel was going to be sacrificed in the water to help cover their friend.

It was a simple moment and I don't think those girls ever considered making fun of their friend's situation. But, I stood there incredibly proud of a bunch of little girls, most of whom I don't know.

I watched them walk into the water and help get a towel around their friend and walk out of the water together.

The only word I could use was beautiful. However, as I have reflected on the incident, I could also call it the church.

The people of God are called to be people of love and support. To resist the temptation to respond as the world would respond. To put ourselves in the place of our hurting neighbor and treat them as we would want to be treated.

That's what I saw from a group of second and third-grade girls and it affirmed in me the importance of the church. These girls have learned how to respond in love.

I have a feeling we all are faced with opportunities to choose love and friendship. The world needs to see the love of our Father and even the smallest gestures are beautiful.

Go! Be beautiful and use opportunities to hurt as opportunities to love!

Pastor John

New Identity

2017-06-30T09:00:00-05:00

Yesterday, our denomination wrapped up General Assembly. General Assembly happens every four years. It is a great time of celebration, but it is also an opportunity to handle polity issues. These issues range from the way the church is run to theological issues.

What amazes me as I watched online this year, was the importance of identity.

Through all of the issues addressed, the issue at the heart of most theological issues was the importance of who we are as Nazarenes in 2017 (and the next four-years). We are a global church dealing with global issues. This does result in some headaches, but the sense of purpose and identity shined through the debates.

Identity was a central issue for Paul in Romans 6-8. Last Sunday, we looked at how Paul draws his thought from the Exodus. Paul is reminding the people of God, that God delivered His people from the slavery of Egypt to create a new people in Him. In the same way, God has delivered us from the slavery of sin to create a new people.

The beauty of this argument comes in a subtle shift of language from chapters 3-5 to chapters 6-8. Let's look at two verses as an example of this shift:

5:6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
6:8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

Look at the first example. In this passage, Christ died for the ungodly (read- you and me!). He died for our sins.

Now, look at the second verse. Who died? We did! When He died, you died. When He arose, you arose.

What is Paul saying here? We identify with Christ and now my identity is found in Him.

You now have a new identity. You are no longer living for yourself, but for Christ!

We can see how this new identity changes our lives as Paul writes in Colossians 3:1-3, "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."

What do we do with this new identity?
We seek the things that are above.
We set our minds on things that are above.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Amen!

Pastor John

The wages of...

2017-06-23T09:00:00-05:00

Do you remember your first paycheck? My first job was at an Elvis/Nascar souvenir shop at Opryland theme park (I know that's a weird combination). I can remember getting that first check in the mail and realizing that this was an actual paycheck. This wasn't the six dollars I received for mowing my Aunt Evie's yard. I was actually earning money.

I worked that job for the summer and spent many hot summer nights in that little shop.

One of the many things I learned that summer was the value of work. I worked and at the end of every two weeks, I would receive a check in the mail. I worked and I was paid for the work.

This week, I would like to pick up where we left off last week. Romans 4:4-5 reads, "When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners" (NLT).

There is a temptation of approaching our faith like we approach work. We live a certain way and then our 'paycheck' is our salvation.

Here, Paul is driving home his point from the passage last week.

Our salvation is not an earned wage. It is a gift. What do we do when we receive a gift? We give thanks.

This is where the water can get a little murky. How do we give thanks? We obey the commands of God. We love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. We love our neighbors– for they are God's creation and He is seeking to redeem them as well.

Obeying God's commands, loving Him completely, and loving our neighbors does not save us– they are a response in love to the saving grace of God.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35)

May we give thanks to the One who saves us!

Pastor John

Righteous Because of His Faith

2017-06-16T09:00:00-05:00

As we work our way through Romans on Sunday mornings, there are many passages that we will be unable to cover. I would like to use these devotionals to cover some of those passages.

Romans 3 ends with Paul asking a series of three questions (there are actually more questions, but the other questions fall under these three):

Then what becomes of our boasting?
Or is God the God of Jews only?
Do we then overthrow the law by this faith?

Today, I would like to focus on the first question, "Then what becomes of our boasting?"

Paul's Jewish audience dealt with boasting on two levels. Judaism dealt with a self-confident assumption of national, cultural and religious superiority. This is the first level of boasting Paul was addressing.

Paul also dealt with the boasting surrounding the keeping of the Law. Keeping the Law leads to the belief that one had earned favor with God due to their own righteousness. This self-righteousness leads to boasting. In effect, it is not God who saves, but by keeping the law the believers could 'save' themselves.

This issue of boasting is not just something that Paul's Jewish audience had in their lives- it is something in our lives as well. We too struggle with boasting.

Boasting comes from our struggle with self-centeredness. We turn the focus of salvation away from God and to ourselves.

This is a real struggle. "If I live the Christian life, then God has to save me." "I'm a good person and don't 'do bad stuff', thus I'm a Christian."

When these types of thoughts creep into our minds, we are turning salvation away from God and focusing on ourselves.

Paul is reminding us that the focus has to remain on God's saving work. Paul wraps up this argument at the beginning of chapter 4.

"Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. For the Scriptures tell us, 'Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith'" (Romans 4:1-3 NLT).

We need to be reminded of Paul's point. It is God alone who saves. Next week, we will look at Paul's next point in chapter 4.

Pastor John

The Power of God

2017-06-09T09:00:00-05:00

This summer, we find ourselves working our way through Romans. On the first Sunday of this series, I gave an account of three times in history that a study of Romans was influential in changing the church.

Romans was a significant catalyst for Martin Luther in the Protestant Reformation. It was in a reading of Luther's preface to Romans that John Wesley finally heard the voice of God and found 'his heart strangely warmed'. It was in war-torn Europe that a pastor of a little church in Switzerland had his eyes opened to the beauty of Scripture through reading Romans. Karl Barth went on to be an instrumental leader in the Confessing Church in Germany, which actively opposed Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime.

I remind you of these points to remind you of another point I made that Sunday. Romans is a powerful book. Romans is a life-changing book that God has used for centuries to change the hearts of believers, to change the world, and to change His Church.

Due to the life-changing power of Romans, I believe that there are spiritual forces actively working against us studying this epistle.

I need to be reminded many times of the power of God over any these powers of evil. To do this, I turn back to the beginning of the epistle:

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

The gospel is the power of God and this power is that same power that delivers us from the sin and darkness that once ruled our lives.

Theologian John Stott writes in his commentary, "How then did Paul (and how shall we) overcome the temptation to be ashamed of the gospel? He tells us. It is by remembering that the very same message, which some people despise for its weakness, is, in fact, the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. How do we know this? In the long run, only because we have experienced its saving power in our own lives. Has God reconciled us to himself through Christ, forgiven our sins, made us his children, put his Spirit within us, begun to transform us, and introduced us into his new community? Then how can we possibly be ashamed of the gospel?"

Romans is a powerful book and I pray that you prepare your hearts for what God wants to do your life through this book.

May we open our lives to 'the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.'

Pastor John

God's Small Things

2016-10-07T09:00:00-05:00

This morning, I'd like to look at two small parables. You can find these parables in Luke 13:18-21.

"He said therefore, 'What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.'
And again he said, 'To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.'"

There are some similarities in these parables. We see both including a human character. However, the main characters are the mustard seed and the leaven.

Both of these items are small items. In today's scientific world, we know that mustard seeds are not the smallest seeds. They were common in the New Testament Jewish world and would have been the smallest common seed.

There is a significant similarity that I would like to highlight. Both of these parables are metaphors for the kingdom of God. This brings a significance to these one verse parables.

Think about it for a moment. God's kingly reign was embodied in Jesus– a poor carpenter from Nazareth. Then, He leaves His mission to a ragtag band of former fishermen, a tax collector, and the like.

Isn't that exactly the way God works? God takes the insignificant and does something great. This is the way God works- from creation to today. He tells us, "Don't miss the little."

My challenge for you? In a world obsessed with 'bigger is better', the followers of Jesus plant mustard seeds and hide leaven. Why? Because we know God can do more with little than we can do with much.

I pray that you trust God with whatever seed you are planting- no matter how small you think it might be.

Go quickly into the streets

2016-08-12T09:00:00-05:00

Today, we will look once again at Luke 14:15-24.

Last week, we focused on the basic premise of the parable and the excuses of the guests. For today's devotional, I'd like to look at the actions of the host of the great dinner and our response.

As I mentioned last week, a quick reading of the parable shows us that God is the one throwing the banquet. There are a couple things worth noting here:

First, we see that the host desires for his guests to attend his lavish party. Yet when they refuse, the host sends out his servant to the streets to bring in all who would come. We are met with the host's graciousness and his severity. We see that God is calling all who will come, to come. We also see that there is a time when He is finished with the excuses.

Second, we must take a moment to pause and think through those who came to the banquet. Look at the verses that precede this parable, "[Jesus] said also to the man who had invited him, 'When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just'" (Luke 14:12-14 ESV).

Brothers and sisters, this parable calls us to celebrate God's kingdom in a way that all people hear the good news of our Lord. When I place myself into this parable, I pray that I am one who was invited in off the street. Coming in the poverty of my spirit to join the feast of the ages. I believe, those of us who find ourselves at the table are quickly turned into servants are asked, "Go quickly into the streets and lanes of the town and bring them in..."

May we celebrate God's kingdom that all people hear the good news!

Pastor John

Come, for everything is now ready

2016-08-05T09:00:00-05:00

Today's parable is one that will take us a few weeks to explore. It is found in Luke 14:15-24.

When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”

This week, I would like to focus on the basic premise of the parable and the excuses of the guests. A basic reading of the story will show us that God is the one throwing the great banquet. The imagery of a meal as an end time celebration of God's people is a standard Jewish and Christian thought. It is time for the celebration and the servant of tell everyone the banquet is ready.

What happens next is designed to be both absurd and pathetic. Look at the excuses:

I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it.
I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them.
I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

What do these three excuses have in common? They are lame. There I said it– lameness is the common denominator.

Now, why would I say this? Let's put the first two in our context:

I have bought a house, and I haven't seen it yet.
I have bought a car, and I need to go check it out.

Both of these excuses involved someone buying an item 'sight-unseen'. They are literally saying, "I made a serious purchase and didn't have time to examine what I was buying. Now after the purchase, seeing this item a priority."

None of these excuses are priorities (I'm not saying that marriage is not a priority. In this story, it is not a priority that would keep you from attending the banquet. Why would he not bring his wife with him?).

The question for us at this point in the parable is, "What priorities do you put over the reign and rule of God in your life?"

Take time and think about this question. It is a serious question that deserves serious time.

Now, take a moment to hear from the parable– as important as those items seem to you right now, in the light of the kingdom of God and in the light of eternity, are they really important? Or is there a ring of lameness?

As your pastor, I hope you hear the invitation of the His servant, "Come, for everything is now ready."

Are you going to join in the celebration?

In Christ,

Pastor John

Let the Darkness Fear

2016-07-15T09:00:45-05:00

Greetings this morning in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. I know you share a heavy heart with me this morning. As we watched the news last night, both Heather and I thought back to the chorus we sang on Sunday.

Build Your kingdom here
Let the darkness fear
Show Your mighty hand
Heal our streets and land
Set Your church on fire
Win this nation back
Change the atmosphere
Build Your kingdom here
We pray

On Sunday, I walked through a few of these lines. I told you I personally feel as though the darkness is winning when the attacks across the world seem to increase in severity and frequency.

As the body of Christ, we are challenged to sing, "Let the darkness fear." We are not to be afraid, rather the darkness should fear.

As we work through the parables, I would like to remind you of two little parables this morning.

He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

–Luke 13:18-21 ESV

These two little parables have some similarities:

Both of these parables describe the Kingdom of God.
They are both dealing with very small items in New Testament culture (a mustard seed and yeast).

I know you might be thinking now, "Pastor, I'm not sure how this relates to our current situation? Mustard seeds and yeast?"

I think Jesus' challenge in this parable for us is not to miss the little things. Kingdom work is in the little things.

Take a moment and think about the life of Jesus.

From the cry of a newborn in a stable
to men walking away from their boats and nets one morning
to the touch of a robe by a hurting, lonely woman
to the words spoken over Jarius' daughter
to the feet washed in an upper room
to the One hanging between two criminals
to the women carrying spices to anoint a body
to a couple confused guards at an empty tomb

These stories were all technically 'little' things. These 'little' things are some of the most significant stories in our faith- and that is my point.

The Kingdom of God doesn't measure 'little' the way our world does.

God's Kingdom is in the prayers we pray. It is in the tears we shed. It is in the hugs we share. It is in the truth we proclaim.

Lord, build Your Kingdom HERE
Here- in the mess, in the hurt, in the loss, in the tears, in the little things
We pray.

Discpline- Love or Punishment?

2016-05-20T09:00:53-05:00

I was reminded this week of one of my favorite passages in Hebrews. Living in a part of the country where college football is very important, a similar news story plays out periodically. It goes something like this:

College football player (or players) do something they shouldn't do.
They get in trouble by law enforcement.
The media outlets run to the coach for a reaction.

This story played out this week. The story itself didn't stand out to me- it was the reaction of the coach that stood out. The media surrounds the coach prior to a round of golf and asks for a statement.

This is what caught my attention. The coach replied (this is not an exact quote), "You want to know what we are going to do to discipline these players. To you, discipline is punishment. For me, discipline is how we are going to help these young men make the right decisions for the rest of their lives."

When I heard this response, I turned to Heather and said, "That was a rather biblical response."

Take a moment to read Hebrews 12:7-11:

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Discipline might require an aspect of punishment. The goal is not punishment, rather holiness. A parent disciplines out of love. A parent seeks to break the bad habits and replace them with 'the peaceful fruit of righteousness.'

May you be encouraged. If you are a parent, know that you are shaping young men and women that they might bear fruit. If you are living in a time where you feel God's discipline, know that He sees you has His child and acts only out of love.

May His discipline shape in us the peaceful fruit of righteousness!

The Sower, Part 1

2016-04-15T09:00:42-05:00

Today's parable will probably turn into 'the rest of this month's parable.' There is just too much to cover in one week.

If you remember the setting for last week, we saw how Jesus' family thought he was 'out of his mind' (Mk 3:21). Mark wraps us that section with Jesus asking the question, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" A couple verses later, Jesus tells us, "...whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother."

This context opens the parable of the sower. If you look at Mark 4:1-9, you will see that Jesus is beside the sea and a crowd has gathered.

Let's focus this week on the sea. Next week, we will move into the actual parable.

I would ask that you read a few verses and look for similarities:

Mark 1:16 & 17- Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
Mark 2:13 & 14- He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
Mark 3:7- Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea...

What do these passages have in common? I hope you noticed they all center around two things- the sea and the disciples. It seems that when Jesus is at the sea, his disciples need to pay attention! Mark is calling our attention to these things so that we sit up and take note.

The last point I would like for you to see today is this- Jesus begins this parable with a pivotal word in the Jewish world. Look at verse 3:

"Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow."
"Listen!" This command would have taken the people back to the most important imperative in their faith, "Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD is One."

Jesus opens this parable with a command, "Listen!"
Listen because a prophet is speaking.
Listen because God is speaking.

May we gather, as His disciples, to listen. So many things in our world fight for our attention. The voice of God is so easily drowned out and lost in the static of our world.

Listen because the Lord is speaking!

It is my prayer, that we sit up and take notice. God is speaking. May we turn off the noise around us to listen to the One who brings life.

A House Divided

2016-04-08T09:00:49-05:00

This morning's parable is one of those odd stories in the Gospels. It is found in Mark 3:20-30.

The crowds following Jesus are growing. This is becoming a problem for the religious leaders. They probably asked themselves, "How exactly are we going to deal with this 'Jesus problem?'"

As the word spread about Jesus, it spread also to his family. Verse 21 reads, "And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, 'He is out of his mind.'"

The scribes agreed with the sentiment, actually, they were convinced that Jesus was possessed. The next verse gives us their statement, "'He is possessed by Beelzebul,' and 'by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.'"

This statement should not be easily dismissed- the scribes were saying that Jesus' actions were being controlled by Satan. He was under the 'prince of demons.' This is a very serious accusation and Jesus responds directly and with authority.

The text tells us that Jesus calls to them and speaks to them in a parable. This parable has three similar statements that reel the scribes in before Jesus finalizes His point in the next assertion.

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.

Jesus then extends this parable with a mini-parable, "But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house" (Mark 3:27 ESV).

What is Jesus telling the scribes through these parables? Two things jump out to me. First, Jesus is reminding us that His work is in unity with the mission of God. His actions are in line with the Spirit.

Following this parable is a couple of those peculiar verses. Verses 28 and 29 read, "Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin."

What does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit? Context is key. Jesus is telling them– when they say things against Him, those will be forgiven ("Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they are doing"). However, when the scribes said Jesus' actions were those of satan, they made a statement that God's Spirit in Him is the work of satan.

The Holy Spirit's actions (i.e. healing, freeing people of unclean spirits, proclaiming the Kingdom of God, etc.) are easily discernible from the works of satan. Jesus' struggle with the scribes was that they didn't recognize God's Spirit when it was right before them. For His Kingdom is not divided.

Second, in order for the strong man (satan) to be defeated, he has to be bound. In order to bind a strong man, you must be stronger than the one who needs binding. Guess what? Jesus will (and has) defeated satan.

When I read this parable, I take assurance in the fact that God is ruling and the Holy Spirit's action might be unrecognizable to those in the world, but that shouldn't stop us from seeing the captives set free!

Larger Barns

2016-04-01T09:00:54-05:00

Today's parable follows an unusual request made by a man listening to Jesus teach– “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus responds to this request with a parable. This is a lesser known parable, so let's take a moment to look at it:

And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”–Luke 12:16-21 ESV

I would like to focus on a few things in this story. First, we need to identify what the error in the story is. The farmer has planted his crops and they have produced more than he was planning. This was not his error. Nor was his error in storing the excess.

What then is the error? I think the error begins in the next two points.

Reread the parable and count the first person pronouns. I count 11 uses of 'I' or 'my'.

"I will do this...I will...my crops...my goods...my soul."

It never seems to occur to him that others might need his excess. He never looks outside of himself. Not only, does he not think of others, he never thinks to thank God for 'his' abundance.

This mistake leads to his second mistake. "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry." He is not foolish because he makes plans for the future. His foolishness lies in the belief that his abundance secures his future.

This is where the parable hits home. We are lulled into the belief that our security comes from what we have and what we have planned. We invest in our future. Again, the issue wasn't that he prepared for the future, the issue was that he placed his trust in the temporal.

One commentator writes, "The farmer is called 'fool' because of neither his wealth nor ambition but rather because he accords finite things infinite value."

What are the things of infinite value?

Let us end with a quote from author David Lose, "Only as we recognize that the gifts of ultimate worth, dignity, meaning, and relationship are just that - gifts offered freely by God - can we hope to place our relative wealth in perspective and be generous with it toward others."

May we rightly place trust in the one true God and thus be generous as He has been generous.

The "Thou Shall Not's"

2015-09-11T09:00:00-05:00

On Sunday, we will begin our look at the last five commandments. I'd like for you read through them and ask yourself what they have in common:

Thou shall not murder.
Thou shall not commit adultery.
Thou shall not steal.
Thou shall not bear false witness.
Thou shall not covet.

I probably know what you are thinking. You are thinking, "I know what they have in common! These are the 'Thou shall not's'".

That is true. But their commonality is deeper than their grammatical structure. Each of these commandments is about our love of neighbor.

It has been said that The Ten Commandments are not about self-improvement, but neighbor-improvement.

Remember the story in Matthew 22? A lawyer comes to Jesus to trip Him up and asks, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" Jesus replies in grace and beauty, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

This is one of those responses that we could spend weeks discussing. Jesus simply explains to the lawyer- Love God with everything in you. When you love someone you love what they love, and God loves your neighbor.

When Jesus was asked what the most important commandment was, I believe the lawyer and the Pharisees were running through the commandments in their heads. "Which 'Thou shall not' was Jesus going to pick?"

Then Jesus answers- "Love."

Love God.

"Wait, wait, what about all those 'Thou shall not's?'"

Love those He placed around you.

The answer is right there. How do we love our neighbor? We celebrate life. We protect life. We don't steal. We are generous. We remain faithful to our spouse. We tell the truth about our neighbors. We stay away from gossip. We find contentment in our lives, not coveting someone else's. In doing so, we show love to the ones that our God loves, our neighbor.

May we love our Lord with everything in us- and radiate His love to those He has placed in our neighborhood!

Sabbath Rest

2015-08-28T09:00:00-05:00

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

This week, we will finish what is called the 'first table' or the 'vertical table' of the Ten Commandmetns. These commandments govern our relationship with God:

You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol ... you shall not bow down to them or worship them.
You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.
Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.

They point us towards God. They show us that the goal of life is to be attuned to God. There is a need for us to turn away from things that we seek that are apart from God. They remind us that God cares about our words and even how we use our time.

Sunday, we will be looking at the fourth commandment. The beauty of this commandment is found in the realization that it was spoken to a people coming out of slavery. The thought of taking a day off would have been foreign to the generations serving under Pharaoh.

Inside this commandment, we must slow down long enough to hear God's whisper, "You are mine now and my graciousness is deeper than a one-time event- I want you to be reminded of my possession of you weekly."

It is my hope that you will join us Sunday as we celebrate that we are God's beautiful possessions, whom He purchased through His Son!

No Other

2015-08-14T09:00:00-05:00

This week, we are moving to our second commandment, "You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea." (NLT) This commandment is closely related to our first commandment, "You shall have no other gods before me."

Our second commandment asks a simple question, "What is it that we place before God in our lives?"

This question will be our guide for this Sunday. We will look deeper into this question and ask the question, "If God and His grace are not at the center of your life, then what other things are your ultimate values?"

When we put something else before God, we are placing them as an ultimate value in our lives. The Ten Commandments are a reminder that God is the only one who deserves that sacred place in our lives.

What is at the center of your life?

Pastor John

Nineteen Comes Before Twenty

2015-08-07T09:00:00-05:00

“Nineteen comes before twenty.”

This is a quote from professor David Lose. It is a simple, yet profound introduction to the Ten Commandments. I know you are probably thinking, “I have no idea what it means.”

Let me explain. Exodus 20 is where the Ten Commandments are recorded in our Bibles. Many people read Exodus 20:2 as the introduction to the commandments, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

If there is a chapter twenty, then we can assume there is a chapter nineteen. After all, nineteen comes before twenty. What happens in chapter 19?

The people have left Egypt and arrive the wilderness of Sinai. They stop and set up camp before the mountain. Moses goes up the mountain and God says:

“Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

There is where the ‘profound’ part comes. Lose writes, “The point is that the relationship God establishes with the chosen people comes first -- it is literally primary. The law, with its ethical demands on our behavior, comes second -- it is literally secondary.”

You see, keeping the law does not earn you salvation. God’s relationship with us is first and our salvation comes through God and Him only.

One last point from this passage that we cannot overlook. Many times, we look at the commandments as restrictive on our lives. Look at God’s language in this passage: “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.”

God is telling the people (and us), “Remember how I brought you out of slavery and defeated your captors- I did this to set you free to soar in relation with Me.”

Old Testament theologian Rolf Jacobson writes, “These commandments are not meant to limit our freedom by telling us what things we are not free to do (although these laws do precisely that). These commandments are what lives freed in Christ look like. In order to love God’s law, we must always remember that through Christ’s death and resurrection we have been freed from the power of sin. And now that we are free, the law shows us what that free life looks like.”

It sounds a lot like Paul’s declaration in Galatians 5:13, “ For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

May we find freedom in our Lord.

Pastor John

Love is Holiness

2015-07-31T09:00:00-05:00

This Sunday we are wrapping up our series, “The Fellowship of Love.” Last Sunday, we looked at holiness. As Nazarenes, this is an important theological concept for us. We believe we are to be holy because God is holy and He called us to a life of holiness.

Leviticus 11:44a reads, “For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.” The apostle Peter reiterates this point in his first letter, “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:13-16).

We tend to lose sight of what it actually means to be holy. We read the verses and agree with them, but fail to see holiness on a daily basis. Author, Scot McKnight, recently wrote about three elements of holiness. I used these points on Sunday because of their simplicity and beauty. I believe these points are important enough for us to look at once again:
We don’t make ourselves holy. God makes us holy.
This point almost seems to contradict the second and third points. The issue is, for many of us, it does contradict. How do you become holy? Well, you abstain from sin. The problem is that abstinence doesn’t equal a relationship with God. I’ll come back to this in a moment.
Holiness means learning to live a life that avoids sin.
Holiness means learning to live a life devoted to God.
The next two points need to stay together. They are separate points– but they are closely intertwined. I find the best way to tackle these points is to look at what I call the ‘Trap of Maximum and Minimum.’ This is a very serious trap that catches us more than most of us would like to admit.

The trap asks two questions-
What’s the maximum sin I can be involved in and still be a Christian?
What’s the minimum I have to do and still be a Christian?

I think we can all agree neither of these questions creates a healthy relationship. Let's make a subtle change to the questions in order to cast it in a new light:

What’s the minimum I have to do and still be married?
Do I really have to spend time with my spouse to be married?
How much of a relationship can I have with someone else and still be faithful to my spouse?

Do these questions make you as uncomfortable as they do me? I read through them and get a weird feeling in my stomach. There is nothing in these questions that build a strong relationship. There is nothing in these questions that make me think, “Now, that’s a good marriage!” If you found yourself asking these questions, you would know your relationship was heading down the wrong road.

Yet, we tend to find ourselves playing this game with our relationship to our Lord. Let's look at the third point, "Holiness means learning to live a life devoted to God." This is a key point.

Only God can make you holy and a life devoted to God means being in the presence of God. I cannot become holy if I am not spending time at the feet of my Lord. It's just that simple.

If I am not in a constant relationship with my Lord, I cannot be shaped into His image. In order to be shaped into His image, there are definitely some things I will have to abstain from doing. Yet, that abstinence is not the goal- life with our Lord is the goal!

Grace and peace,

Pastor John

Be a Blessing

2015-05-01T09:00:00-05:00

To live completely for Christ.

Mission statements are funny things. We read them. We see them, but do we really think them through?

To live completely for Christ.

We all agree with this statement. We want to live this out. We want to live completely for Christ. The struggle comes with thinking about what this means on a daily basis.

These were the ideas swirling around my head as we headed into this new series on Sundays- Kingdom Habits. Last week, I challenged the church to do something. The challenge was this:

I will bless three people this week, at least one of whom is not a member of our church.

Each week during this series, I will bring a new challenge. Each challenge is designed to help us live completely for Christ. It is my hope that our mission statement moves past a written statement and becomes a lived statement.

What does it mean to bless someone? Pastor Michael Frost writes, “Anything that relieves their burden in life. Anything that helps them breathe more easily. Anything that lifts their spirit or alleviates their distress. It can be a small thing or large.”

This week, I hope you have thought about this challenge. God has generously poured out His love for us and we are called to generously pour out our love for our neighbor. I would love to hear how your week has gone. Has God opened a door for you this week? Has the Spirit led you to do something new this week? I’d love to hear your story. If you want to email me, you can use this link.

Grace and peace,

Pastor John

Be Transformed, Not Conformed

2015-04-24T09:00:00-05:00

Last Sunday evening, District Assembly began with a celebration service at Huntsville First. It was a powerful service. Dr. Gustavo Crocker, our presiding General Superintendent, preached from Romans 12:2.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2 ESV).

In this text, you will see that I bolded two words- conformed and transformed. Dr. Crocker challenged us to think about these words. Let’s take a moment to focus on these two words.

Paul is telling us ‘not to be conformed to this world.’ I hope we can all see that each one of us is conformed to something. We live lives in the context of internal and external influences.

The challenge for each of us is be centered upon being conformed not to this world, but to the good news of Jesus Christ. It is this good news that has the power to transform our lives.

Thus far, I think we all would agree with these statements– Paul is urging us to be transformed by the gospel, not conformed to the message of the world.

The issue isn’t this message. The issue is the question rolling around in your mind, “How am I transformed to the way of Christ?” This is where Dr. Crocker’s message hit home.

Dr. Crocker narrowed his focus upon these words, “be transformed by the renewal of your mind” What does it mean to have your mind renewed? Amazingly, if one does this, Paul tells us that we will be able to “discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Renewing your mind, Dr. Crocker argued, involved a couple things.

First, it involves a decluttering of your mind. We fill our minds with all kinds of things- some of these things are good, some bad. Many of us find ourselves focused on the negative of the world. Our minds are cluttered by the 24-hour news cycle, by the internal dialogue to people who have hurt us, by the destructive shards of glass the devil places in our minds to sow unhappiness and resentment.

Paul is calling us to do a little spring-cleaning in our minds. Throw out the things that separate us from the love, grace, and hope of Christ.

Second, we must replace our bad habits with good habits. These are the habits that show the love, grace, and hope of Christ. These habits open up our minds to hearing the voice of God.

This decluttering and new habits open the door for the life Paul is pointing to in Colossians 4:2-6, “Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should. Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone (NLT).”

May our conversations be gracious and attractive as we are transformed.

New Things

2015-04-17T09:00:00-05:00

During my earlier years in ministry, one of the most nerve-racking experiences was sitting before the Ministerial Credentials Board of the Tennessee District. Each minister in the Church of the Nazarene is required to meet with this board in the years prior to becoming ordained. I would come into the room, stomach turning, and quickly glance around the table to see who was going to lay the tough theological question on me.

In those six or seven years, there was one year that scared me the most. I walked into the room and saw an older gentleman eyeing me. I knew his face, but I was struggling placing exactly who he was. The men around the table then told me their names and when it was this man’s turn he said, “I am Ray Dunning.”

This was not good– Dr. H. Ray Dunning! One of the great Nazarene theologians was sitting on the board! Oh, the deep question he must have been preparing for me!

The other men began with some questions about my education. They asked about what classes I was taking at Trevecca. Then Dr. Dunning leaned back in his chair and began to speak, “John, What new thing is God doing in your life?”

I can remember his question like it was yesterday. In all of those meetings, Dr. Dunning asked the question that I still think about regularly.

I do not believe that God ever stops working in our lives. I believe He is constantly wanting to do a ‘new thing’. Spring is a reminder in our lives, that new life is always right around the corner. The leaves popping out on our trees reminds us of the life God brings. We serve a God who is always bringing new life.

If you will allow me to borrow a question from Dr. Dunning, “What new thing is God doing in your life?” This spring, take the opportunity to ask God to continually work in your life. Look for God's work- He is there!

May God bring newness to your heart and life!

Brokenness of Christ

2015-04-03T13:02:48-05:00

I turn again today to Living the Christian Year. Bobby Gross writes, “On this holiest of holy days, we are transfixed by Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. We experience a range of emotions: sadness, reverence, astonishment, gratitude. Why? Because we understand that what Jesus endured was for us and instead of us. He was wounded for our transgressions and he died for our sins–by the will of the Father and by his own will. His suffering exceeds our imagination and his motive goes beyond our comprehension. We are simultaneously dismayed and grateful: his torn flesh makes us whole, his bruises bring us healing, and his death gives us life.”

Last night as I had the opportunity to pray with many of you at our communion service, I was reminded of a post from one of my friends, Christa Klosterman, from seminary. She captures, in a beautiful way, the connection between the Upper Room and the events of Good Friday.

“When I moved into the parsonage, I became the caretaker for the 20-year-old Concord grape vine in the backyard. This past weekend, with my mom's help and wisdom, I made communion juice for both of my congregations for the coming year. The juicer I used heats water under the grapes and ‘steams' them until they break open, thus releasing the sweet juice. At the end there is also some stirring and mashing to get all the juice out of those grapes. I don't think I will ever serve communion the same way again. Broken and poured out is the goal of the juice making process and a visual reminder of this peculiar plan God has for rescuing the world through a broken, defeated body. You can't get to that sweet and tasty juice without the breaking. Perhaps there is a drawback to buying communion elements ready-made at the store?”

I love the connection this imagery makes between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Grace is demonstrated in the brokenness. Today is the day we remember that we are given life through the brokenness of our Savior.

The Beauty of Christ's Love

2015-04-02T13:05:08-05:00

Today is Maundy Thursday. It is beginning of a three part observance called the Paschal Triduum. These days begin at sundown on Thursday and concludes at sundown on Sunday. It is my hope that we view Easter in the greater context of this observance.

I believe that looking at Easter as the celebration at the end of a longer observance, shows the events of this week in their proper context. This context brings out the beauty and richness of Easter morning!

One book that I have found myself drawn to year after year is Bobby Gross’ Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God. In this book, Gross gives us a great description of Maundy Thursday:

“On Maundy Thursday, the eve of Christ’s death, we focus our attention on the Passover meal he shared with his disciples. On this night he instituted what would come to be called the Lord’s Supper, in which the eating of bread recalls his broken body and the drinking of wine remembers his spilled blood. By his atoning death he inaugurated a new covenant with all who put their faith in him. Also, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet in an extraordinary gesture of humble service, after which he gave a new commandment or mandate (Latin mandatum, from which we get “Maundy”). So we think today about self-giving love, Christ’s for us and ours for one another.”

As we focus today on that Upper Room, I would ask that we focus on the beauty of Christ’s love for His people. What strikes me about this story is certainly Christ’s actions, but on another level is how Christ turns the events back to his disciples.

If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
–John 13:14-15 ESV

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
–John 13:34-35 ESV

The beauty of Maundy Thursday is that the actions of Christ did not end in that room. He showed us what love is and what love truly looks like. Observing the Paschal Triduum is best displayed as we live out Christ's self-giving love in our world.

Peter's Denial

2015-04-01T13:06:46-05:00

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”

–Luke 22:31-34 ESV

If you are like me, I read the story of Peter’s denial with a tinge of hopelessness. “If Peter can’t stand, how can I stand?”

I believe a closer examination of these three verses breathes life into a dark time in Peter’s life. The Greek text reveals something the English translations miss.

The uses of the word you in verse 31 is plural. Here Jesus is speaking to the eleven disciples before Him.

However, Jesus changes the number of the word in the next three verses. Each time you is used, it is singular. Here Jesus is addressing Peter. You will note, that I bolded the singular uses and italicized the plural uses.

Why is this important? Here is a fact we often miss- Satan demanded all of the apostles. Then we read that Jesus prayed specifically for Peter. Look at what Jesus prayed, “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.”

When I read the stories in the remainder of Luke’s Gospel and in Acts, I think Jesus’ prayer was answered. No where do we read that Peter’s faith failed. We do read that his courage failed in his denial a few verses away.

I know each one of us has a time (or multiple times) where we feel our courage has failed. The important thing is not that your courage failed. The important thing is that your faith didn’t fail.

Do you want to know the incredible thing? Jesus is praying for you that your faith may not fail! Then we hear Jesus give us some instructions for once we realized we have failed, “And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Jesus is praying for your faith to not fail and this Holy Week, my we rest in that fact that the King of Heaven is praying for you!

Greatness=Servanthood

2015-03-31T13:10:25-05:00

A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves. “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

–Luke 22:24-30 ESV

This is one of those passages that puzzles us. Jesus has just washed the disciples’ feet. Now they are arguing with one another over greatness. We read the passage with perfect hindsight thinking, “Seriously guys! How did you miss it?”

When are honest with ourselves, we know we often ‘miss it’ too.

Jesus points out an important issue, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them…But not so with you.” This is a simple truth in the Kingdom of God. In the world, lordship equals being placed over someone. In the Kingdom of God, the leader is the one who serves.

Warren Wiersbe writes, “True greatness means to be like Jesus, and that means being a servant to others.”

If you will allow me to put a little Nazarene spin on that quote– Holiness means to be like Jesus, and that means holiness is expressed by being a servant. Holiness is best defined by what we do. Christ was not know by what He didn't do- He was known by what He did!

As the people of the Kingdom, our lives are rooted in the gospel and patterned on Jesus’ life. I believe the challenge for us is not to simply redefine the word success, but to live a life that redefines what holiness looks like- "And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, 'If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all' (Mark 9:35 ESV).

The "Why?" Questions

2015-03-30T13:12:59-05:00

It is Holy Week. This week stands apart from all other weeks of the year. It is this week where we find ourselves walking in real time with Jesus towards the cross. This year, I would like to use Luke 22:14-23:49 as a basis for daily devotionals. It is my prayer that you will use these devotionals as a means of preparing your hearts for Easter celebration.

"And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this."

–Luke 22:14-23 ESV

Most of us have a collection of “Why” questions. Your collection might look like this:
“Why am I going through this?”
“Why do I feel alone?”
“Why am I the only one struggling?”
“Why was I the one downsized?”
“It was his/her decision, why does it effect me?”
All of us deal with the "Why" questions in some form or another. These questions swirl around in our heads, and for many of us, they seem to control our lives.

What if this Holy Week, we could change the question? What if there was one question, if properly answered, could reframe all of our “Why” questions?

When I read the “Why” questions, I hear desperation, loss, pain, loneliness, hopelessness. In the upper room, I hear the answer for a different question.

The question isn’t “Why?”
The question is “For whom?”

In the midst of our confusion and questions, Jesus utters these words, “This is my body, which is given for you.”

For whom did Jesus die? For you– for your questions that seem unanswerable– Jesus died. For the part of your heart that breaks when you think about that situation– Jesus died.

Author David Lose writes, “…we hear in these two words the shocking, unimaginable, and utterly unexpected promise that everything Christ suffers – all the humiliation and shame, all the defeat and agony – he suffers for us, that we might have life and light and hope in his name!”

May our "Why" questions be framed in the knowledge that Christ died for you!

Ambassadors for the Kingdom

2015-03-20T12:17:39-05:00

This Lenten season, we have been on a journey together. This journey began in the wilderness with the Hebrew people as the twelve spies returned from their trip to the Promised Land. We stood with Moses as he found his home in the presence of the Living God before a burning bush. As we journey through the wilderness, I hope we hear the voice of God giving us direction and a new orientation.

Paul reminds us our direction revolves around the fact that we are ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). Last week, I used Dr. H. Orton Wiley’s definition of an ambassador. He gives us four points to consider:

An ambassador is a citizen of another country than that in which he temporarily resides.
He has no message of his own but delivers the message given him by his own country.
He speaks not on his own authority but on behalf of, and with the authority of, his country.
The ambassador's mission is to bring peace.

We have a message given to us and Paul reminds us of this message, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:17-19).

This work that we have been entrusted with it not easy work. It is, however, a message the world needs to hear. This Easter, we have the opportunity again to proclaim- God has done something completely new in Christ! This is our message. This is our hope. This is the gift we have been given.

May we proclaim this gift of new creation in our fallen world.

Grace and peace,

Pastor John

Insist Upon These Things!

2015-03-06T12:14:20-06:00

I hope you are staying warm on this cold morning. A few weeks ago we wrapped up our series on Titus. Titus is often an overlooked epistle. Once you read it, though, you realize that it is filled with great power and wisdom.

As Paul is wrapping up his letter, he urges Titus to lead his church in the way of the cross. He wraps up by telling Titus, “Insist on these things.” What is Titus to insist upon? I’m glad you asked!

We are saved by His kindness and generous love– not by anything we have done.
We are saved through the washing of the new birth and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. This new birth was richly poured out upon us through Jesus, our King and Savior.
We are justified by His grace and made heirs in the hope of the life of the age to come.

Last Sunday, we began our Lenten sermon series with a look at the temptation of Jesus in Luke 4. As I mentioned, there are many sermons to be preached from this passage. Yet, the point that strikes me is this– The temptations of Christ are a question of what shape His ministry/life is going to take. Is Jesus going to follow after His Father, or choose an easier path? It is satan saying, “Just do this and I can make your life easy.”

I think satan tempts us all with this question. “Make your life about ________ and all will be easy.” My prayer is when we hear that voice, Paul’s voice rings louder- “Insist on these things!”

May we insist on what truly matters!

Pastor John

Looking Outside of Yourself

2015-02-13T15:03:12-06:00

This has been one of those weeks where the passage from Sunday won't let me go. We looked at Titus 2:11-15. In this passage, Paul makes a great statement to the churches in Crete. "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age." (ESV)

The first two statements Paul makes are easy for us to grasp:
• The grace of God appeared in Christ Jesus.
• Through His life, death, and resurrection He brought salvation for all people.

The story doesn't end there, though– we are changed by His grace. His grace is to act in our lives:
• Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions.
• To live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this world- right now!

On Sunday, I used the Kingdom New Testament translation. There the translator translates these three words as sober, just, and devout.

This is what I have been grappling with this week– it isn't the particular words that have stood out to me, but the position that Paul is calling the church to live. You see, most of us see being sober as the opposite of being drunk. That is true. But I think Paul is asking us to look deeper.

If you have an addiction of any kind, life is consumed with the next time you get to feed that addiction. Addiction is anything that consumes your thoughts apart from our Lord.

We typically think of addiction as being related to substance abuse. It can be. But addiction can also be related to hobbies, career advancement, shopping, exercise, envy, or retaliation. It can manifest itself in any number of ways. These things consume us and become part of our lives.

All addictions have something in common– they make you take a selfish posture. You are constantly looking inward.

Paul is urging us- 'live sober, just, and devout lives." In other words, assume a posture that is looking outside of yourself. The example of this is found in Christ Himself. The challenge of this passage lies in learning to put ourselves in a self-less posture.

Our challenge is to live as Paul reminds us in Philippians 2, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant..." (Philippians 2:3-7a ESV)

May God give you the strength to look outside.

Pastor John

Eternal Investment

2015-02-01T16:06:15-06:00

I wanted to take a moment and thank everyone that made Alabama North TNT a success this year. It was a busy weekend- and we could not have done it without you.

The end of January means you should have received all of those fun tax statements in your mail box. These various statements report your wages, your giving, and your investments. When those statments show up in our mailbox, it always makes me reflect on how our home invests its finances. I would like to challenge you to think about another way you invest.

Helping out at a youth event is an opportunity to think about our investments as well. Financial investments are important, but eternal investments far outweigh any financial investment you might make. Yesterday morning I was struck by former ALN teens leading us in worship, a five-year-old little girl ministering to us through a beautiful dance, and a high school senior preaching. There was an investment made in the lives of these young people- and I saw Christ in each of them yesterday.

I would venture to say that someone made an eternal investment in you. It might have been your parents, a Sunday school teacher, a youth leader, a pastor, a family member, or a friend. Someone was willing to show you Christ. Now, we are all called to invest our lives in the lives of our children and youth.

These investments are not subject to the whims of a financial market. These investments are eternal- and I pray that we look at our priorities and make sure we are investing our time, energy, love, heart, and life in what really matters- proclaiming Christ!

Grace and peace,

Pastor John

Smoldering Anger

2015-01-16T16:07:48-06:00

Last Sunday morning, I seemed to have hit a nerve. I have had many people reference one of my points all week. We were looking at Titus 1:7, “For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain.”

I spoke briefly about being arrogant. Then I told a story to illustrate the Greek word orgeélos, translated here as quick-tempered. Back during Thanksgiving, Jake was helping me clear some downed trees at Heather’s parents' in North Carolina. They had a soaking rain, so we piled up the fire one night before we went inside.

The next morning, I wanted to build the fire back up and let it burn down while we helped Heather’s dad more a hay feeder in the field. Jake and I jumped on the four-wheeler and went to the woods to put more wood on the fire. When the fire pit was in sight, Jake saw the fire from the previous day was dead and asked if I brought matches. We arrived at the fire pit and collected kindling to place on the ashes of the ‘dead’ fire.

I then got Jake down beside me, got on my hands and knees and softly blew across the coals. The ash from the previous day quickly blew off and within ten-seconds, we went from smoke to flames.

This is what Paul is talking about when he uses this Greek word. This anger is an anger that smolders underneath. Then, when the right kindling and a little wind blows, flames erupt.

The quote used at the top of this box is one that I used a month ago. Tullian Tchividjian writes in his book Jesus + Nothing= Everything, “One of the marks of a truly maturing Christian– is that we begin to love the things that God loves, and to want the things that God wants.” Another way of saying this is to ask this question, “Are the fruits of the Spirit growing in your life?” Is your life marked more today by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control than it was six months ago?

We all get angry. The question is, what is smoldering in your heart? What is burning deep down in your heart? Is it anger, jealousy, impurity, or gossip? Or are you burning with the desire to show love and kindness?

Those fruits are what God wants burning in your heart! I pray that your heart burns with desire to show the love of our Savior to your world.

Grace and peace,

Pastor John

Is your God too Small?

2014-12-19T11:15:11-06:00

One of my favorite writers tells a story about when he was a chaplain at a university in England. Every year, he would meet the new freshman and introduce himself. Many of the students would say upon hearing he was the chaplain, “You won’t see much of me, I don’t believe in god.”

He developed a standard answer to this statement. “Oh, that’s interesting; which god is it you don’t believe in?”

You see, most people think the term ‘god’ means the same thing. He writes, “…they would stumble out a few phrases about the god they said they did not believe in: a being who lived up the in the sky, looking down disapprovingly at the world, occasionally ‘intervening’ to do miracles, sending bad people to hell while allowing good people to share his heaven.”

To this answer, he would reply, “Well, I’m not surprised you don’t believe in that god. I don’t believe in that god either. I believe in the God I see revealed in Jesus of Nazareth.”

In John 14, we read about a conversation between Jesus and his apostles. “Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.’” –John 14:8-10 ESV

I think we fall into the same trap that snared those college freshmen. Our picture of God is too small. When we boil down what we believe, it doesn’t sound that different than their spy-in-the-sky.

We are six days away from our celebration of Christ’s birth.
We are six days away from our celebration of the Word becoming flesh.
We are six days away from our celebration of our Savior’s arrival.

We are six days away from our celebration that the world will never be the same because of a child born in Bethlehem.

We are six days away from our celebration of our God sending His Son and in doing so, we get a glimpse into the very heart of God.

We are six days away from our celebration of a God who yearns for His people to be free from sin and alive in Him.

Merry Christmas from the Parrish home to your home. We pray that your celebration this Christmas is filled with the hope and wonder of a God who is too big to describe, yet is completely fulfilled in the cries of a child that holy morning.

Pastor John

Obedience is Christlikeness

2014-12-12T12:21:30-06:00

In the Church of the Nazarene, we have a rich history centered around holiness. Through the years, our language has changed. We have used terms like Christian perfection, holiness, and Christlikeness. These terms try to vocalize the Christian life with understandable language.

I have been reflecting this week on the passages we looked at last week. We looked at three passages from three chapters in Mark. The passages are:

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34b ESV)
“If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” (Mark 9:35b ESV)
“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45 ESV)

These verses are powerful standing alone, yet in their context, they strike at the heart of the human condition. Let’s briefly look at their context:

This verse follows Jesus’ first prediction of His death. Following the prediction, Peter protests this prediction. Why would Peter do this? Perhaps, Jesus’ revelation did not fit into Peter’s vision for who the Messiah was.
The next verse follows the second prediction of Jesus’ death. Following the prediction, Jesus asks the apostles what they had been discussing. The apostles remained silent. Jesus knew what they were discussing– they were discussing who was the greatest.
The final reference follows Jesus’ third prediction. This time, it is James and John who are discussing the possibility of sitting at the right and left of Jesus when He comes into His glory.

Let me ask you a question, “What keeps you from living a life modeled after that of our Lord?” Another way, “What keeps you from the pursuit of holiness?”

Can I give you something to consider? I believe Mark’s gospel is laying out the heart of our struggle. Three times Jesus lays out what is about to happen to Him. The road ahead of Him is not one that He is looking forward to, yet He is headed down that road because He is being obedient to His Father.

This obedience is Christlikeness. The Christian struggle lies in looking past our selfishness and looking to God’s plan– the heart of holiness is moving our sight from ourselves to God.

This Advent season, may we focus our sight on the One who’s vision for our lives is far greater than anything we can imagine!

The Adventure

2014-12-05T12:34:14-06:00

Last night, NBC continued a new holiday tradition. Last year, they began this tradition with a live performance of The Sound of Music. This year, millions watched Peter Pan.

A couple nights ago, Heather and I watched some clips of the cast learning to fly for last night’s performance. It was amusing to see the first time they strapped on a harness and the cables hoisted them off the floor.

In the midst of these clips, one the directors spoke about the role of flying in the story of Peter Pan. Peter was calling the children to an adventure and their ability to follow him out of the window was an act of trust. This was a wild adventure and they had to trust in order to follow. Flying was the symbol of that trust and their 'childlike faith' helped them follow.

The life of faith is an adventure that calls us follow with a great amount trust. Stanley Hauerwas writes, “When we are baptized, we (like the first disciples) jump on a moving train. As disciples, we do not so much accept a creed, or come to a clear sense of self-understanding by which we know this or that with utter certitude. We become part of a journey that began long before we got here and shall continue long after we are gone.”

This Sunday, we will be looking at Mary’s song (The Magnificat). In this great passage, Mary sees the adventure that lays ahead of creation. How does she approach this new adventure? She approaches what is going on in her womb with a great amount of faith! God is working in a new way- and she invites us to jump on the moving train with her! Come and join the adventure!

Thanksgiving Reminder

2014-11-21T13:11:44-06:00

We are less than a week from Thanksgiving. During this time of year, we take the time to remember the things for which we are thankful.

I love this statement to the Corinthians. Paul says, “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.” Look at this verse. Why does Paul give thanks for the people? In the people he sees the grace of God.

Paul has a perspective of the Christian life that we often miss. When he thinks of the people- he knows their struggles and faults (and the Corinthians had plenty), yet it is the grace of God that shines in his thoughts of the people.

Most of us focus on what we have done or haven’t done. When we think of others, many times we focus on their struggles or faults. This is how the world views others. Paul gives us a strong reminder-Christians focus on Christ and what He has done. What has Christ done? He has given you and your neighbor the grace of God.

This Thanksgiving, may we proclaim with Paul, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1)

On this Thanksgiving, Heather and I thank God for the life that comes from His Son. We echo with Paul our thanksgiving for you “because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.” We love you and pray for you regularly.

"In the Doing"

2014-11-07T13:15:19-06:00

One of the great things about this week’s passage is Jesus’ ability to hit everyone's hearts on the same level. I believe that we fall into the same temptation that Jesus’ original audience fell into.

We hear Jesus’ words, “Judge not, that you be not judged” (7:1). Then we think, “I hope ________ is listening to this!” I can imagine that we aren’t the first people to be tempted by this.

Then, we get to verse 12, “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.”

It is though Jesus can see into our hearts. When we think of the Pharisee culture, we understand their desire to strengthen the Law. When you have someone wanting to strengthen the Law, you also have those who want to relax the Law. Jesus, the Son of the Living God, speaks directly to both groups. At the same time, He speaks through the ages to us today. In Matthew 22:34-40, we hear Jesus echo these words.

Author Scot McKnight writes, “There is nothing complex about this most simple of moral maxims; its difficulty is in the doing, not the knowing.”

Our challenge this week is simple- How do we live lives that turn from the selfishness of our society and turn to the selflessness of Christ? Again, the difficulty is "in the doing, not the knowing."

Philippians 2 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. There, Paul, quotes one of the great hymns of the early church. He knew that living out the selflessness of Christ was difficult. However, in that selflessness, Paul found beauty and life.

I’d like for you to commit to do something with me. What if we memorized Paul’s words together? What if, during the times of selfishness, we had a passage to push to the front of our minds?

Philippians 2:3-11 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

May God bless you as we seek His life together!

Meeting Us Where We Are

2014-10-31T13:17:24-05:00

Our passage for this week is Matthew 7:1-5. In preparing our hearts for worship, I would ask you to read another passage in preparation- John 8:1-11.

The text in Matthew, gives us a directive for how we view one another. Jesus tells us, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” Then in John 8, we see Jesus living this out.

There are a couple of things that I would like to point out in John’s story. Let’s focus on the last couple of verses. Jesus gives the famous line in verse 7, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then, starting with the older men in the crowd, the stones started dropping.

Jesus is then left, bent down, with the woman standing before Him. John then records a subtle detail. Look at verse 10. Jesus stands up. Jesus meets her on her level- eye to eye. In the midst of her sin, Jesus meets her.

When we hear the words, “Judge not, that you be not judged," we sometimes assume that Jesus is offering a blanket of tolerance and moral indifference. I would hope, that as we read John 8:11, we would see the love and beauty of Jesus’ parting words to the woman, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” Jesus is concerned about her sin. He knows that sin separates us from life with His Father.

My prayer for this passage is that we begin to not just understand judgement from God’s perspective, but that we also see ourselves as a community marked by love, peace, justice, and reconciliation.

Hypocrisy

2014-10-22T13:20:51-05:00

When I was in seminary, I had the opportunity to spend time with my great-aunt and uncle, Tommie and Milton. Milton served as a pastor, missionary, and District Superintendent for over forty years. There were very few occasions to spend time with them prior to Heather and I moving to Kansas City. One day as Milton and I sat in his study, he mentioned a Bible passage and said, “This text just preaches itself.”

As a seminary student who spent a semester writing one sermon, I had no idea what he was saying. Last Sunday, we started the sixth chapter of Matthew. This is one of those passages that brings Milton’s words fresh in my mind. There is so much to say about the text, that you can’t fit it all into one sermon.

There is one word mentioned three times in this text (vss 2, 5, 16). The word is ‘hypocrites’. It is not a word we like to talk about in church. Most of the time the word is used when talking about the church. We hear our friend say, “The church is full of hypocrites” or “I’m not going to church, everyone there is a hypocrite.”

We hear those statements and a list of excuses come to mind. We want to explain, “Jesus said that He came for the sick! Just because someone goes to church doesn’t make them perfect!” We are so afraid of being a hypocrite, we don’t spend the time looking at Jesus’ words.

The greek term ‘hypocrite’ literally means, “an actor who wears a mask.” Think about what this means for a moment. Jesus is saying, “When you pray, do not put on the mask of a righteous person. Your prayers must come from your heart.”

Jesus is still dealing with our hearts. He wants us to stop pretending and come to Him out of honesty and humility.

In Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on Matthew, he points out three things that hypocrisy robs from us.

Hypocrisy robs us of reality in Christian living- The Christian life is lived from the heart. Hypocrisy means we put on the mask of being a Christian. This robs us from the freedom of living in the life of our Lord.

Hypocrisy robs us of spiritual rewards- Hypocrisy keeps us searching for the approval of those around us. This praise gives the false sense of filling, but ultimately leaves us empty. We replace the approval of God for the approval of man.

Hypocrisy robs us of spiritual influence- The Pharisees used their faith as a negative influence in their world. Hypocrisy robs us of the opportunity to be salt and light.

How do we defeat hypocrisy? The only way to defeat hypocrisy is through honesty with our Lord. When we give, pray, or fast for the benefit of people who we think are watching, we gain nothing. The only gain we can receive is from the One who wants us to live in His fullness.

Wiersbe says it best, “It has well been said, ‘The most important part of a Christian’s life is the part that only God sees.’ When reputation becomes more important than character, we have become hypocrites.”

May you remove the mask that hinders you from opening your heart to your Lord.

Divine Appointments

2014-10-10T12:04:03-05:00

Last week, we were joined by the Communications Director for the Asia-Pacfic Region. It was a great morning of worship and he challenged us find the opportunities in our life where God is wanting to use us. The term he used for this was ‘divine appointments.’ I’d like to spend a little time looking at this idea.

Sometimes this can scare us. We jump to the idea that we are inadequate to share Christ with the people we come into contact with throughout the day. This feeling is natural. I would like to give you an encouragement to pray in this way.

Let’s look at the term, “appointment”. When we say appointment, we can mean a couple of things. Appointments generally mean ‘an arrangement to meet someone at a particular time and place.’ This is a general understanding of an appointment. There is another meaning, though. An appointment can also mean ‘an act of appointing; assigning a job or position to someone.’

Is it possible to accept both of these definitions? Think about this for a moment. We were challenged to pray for a divine appointment. I believe this prayer is asking God to intersect someone’s life with our lives and to open the door for us to offer grace. This might make us a little nervous, but don’t forget this is a divine meeting.

Divine means ‘from God.’ What if we saw our lives as an assigned position by the One who created all we see? The same God that put the stars in the night sky is the same God who put that annoying guy in the cubicle next to you. Why? Because He has given you the job to shine like a star in the lives of those around you!

In effect, you are praying, “Lord, at some point today, place me into the life of someone that needs to see You and give me the strength to shine Your light.”

May God give you the grace to shine!

Pastor John

Yoked to the Father

2014-10-03T16:05:22-05:00

After last week’s email, I received some great questions. If you missed last week’s email, you can read it here .

One question that has been with me all week is this, “What does ‘being yoked to the Father’ look like?” This a great question. I believe the answer is subtly found in the text itself.

Look at Matthew 11:29. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

Jesus tells us to take His yoke upon us and then do something– “Learn from me.” Jesus is calling us to learn from Him.

Many times, we approach our faith as strictly academic. We read. We study. We learn. Though Jesus studied the Law, His relationship was deeper than a knowledge of the Law. Jesus approached His Father the way a child learns from a parent. He lived in His presence. He listened for His voice. He learned from Him the way an apprentice would learn.

How do you approach your faith? Does your relationship with our Father look like the relationship of a parent/child or a student/professor?

Think about the stories in the Gospels. Who are the ones that connect with Jesus’ message? Do the Pharisees, with years of education in their faith, connect with the message of Jesus? Or do the common people (the fishermen, the tax-collectors, the broken and needy) connect with His message?

The people who connected are the ones who came as apprentices. They came hungry for the life-giving message of Christ. I believe this is the answer to the question from last week- “What does ‘being yoked to the Father’ look like?”

In 2003, Heather and I moved from seminary in Kansas City back to Nashville. We bought a home less than a mile from my childhood home. This house was a fixer-upper. We stripped wallpaper, rearranged the kitchen, gutted bathrooms. My mom would come over on many of those late nights for dinner and to keep us company as we worked. I would be building a cabinet or moving plumbing and my mother would ask, “How did you learn to do this?”

The simple answer is- my father-in-law and men from the church on mission trips. But there is a more complex answer. There are few times those men said, “Do this, now do this.” They taught me by doing it themselves and I watched. I was their apprentice.

Christlikeness is to approach Christ as the One whom we imitate. We are the apprentices. Being yoked to the Father is to approach Him as Jesus did- out of love, obedience, and a desire to live in His presence.

May God bless you as you seek Him,

Pastor John

"I will give you rest."

2014-09-26T16:06:54-05:00

Don’t you love this simple verse in Matthew 11? “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

After a busy week, I could use some rest. I bet you could too- it is Friday after all! How do we find this rest?

Jesus continues, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Hmm…my yoke? Though most of us don’t use horses or oxen to get our work done- we do understand that ‘yoke’ is a term pertaining to work. I thought Jesus was talking about rest. How exactly did we get from rest to work?

A yoke increases the power of one animal by binding them to another animal. When the two animals are joined together they can get more done compared to working alone. Think about that for a moment.

I think Jesus is giving us a pretty plain example. Jesus is saying, “When you are joined to what I am joined to, your strength will increase.”

Before we finish this thought, Jesus makes one more point, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

The question I have is- What exactly is Jesus’ yoke? Most theologians would tell you that the Law of Jesus as compared to the Law of Moses is His yoke. Biblically, there are some great arguments that support this idea.

This week, I was challenged to rethink this idea. You see, if you go back a few verses, the context brings new light to the passage. Jesus is speaking of His relationship to His Father.

Take a moment and read Matthew 11:25-27. It is all about Jesus and the Father. Jesus is telling us something very important. We are all yoked to something. Good or bad. You might be joined to a sinful behavior. You might be joined to addiction. You might be joined to your job. You might be joined to your family.

I believe Jesus is telling us- You must be joined to my Father. Verse 30 gives us a clue to this point. “For my yoke is easy.” Let’s rewrite this for a moment. “For my relationship with my Father is easy.”

Some of you are thinking, “Now you have lost me, pastor. I know my relationship with God is not always easy. As a matter of fact, I don’t think Jesus would say dying for our sins was easy.” To that, I would say- I totally agree.

The problem is our translation. The word we translate as ‘easy’ is better translated ‘proper fit’. Think of this in the terms of a tailor made suit. It is to your specifications- it fits you perfectly. Why is this? Because this suit was made just for you.

You see, you were made for a relationship with your Father. When we live our lives in this relationship, we realize we were made for Him. When we are yoked to Him, God can give us more strength and rest than we could ever find on our own.

My question for you is this, “What are you yoked to?” You were made for an intimate relationship with the One who created you- and in that relationship is true rest.

May God bless you as you seek Him,

Pastor John

Green Shoots

2014-09-19T16:11:15-05:00

It is Friday and the weekend is upon us. I’d like to share a little in preparation for Sunday and share a few announcements with you.

As we move through The Sermon on the Mount, it is my hope that we continue to see it as a whole. It is hard not to break it into segments because that is what we have to do Sunday after Sunday.

This week, we will be looking at Matthew 5:33-37. As I have been preparing this week, I found a quote pertaining to the sermon as a whole. It is striking quote that paints a beautiful picture for us.

“[The Sermon on the Mount proclaims] a glad and unworried trust in the Creator God, whose kingdom is now at last starting to arrive, leading to a glad and generous heart toward other people, even those who are technically ‘enemies.’ Faith, hope, and love: here they are again. They are the language of life, the sign in the present of green shoots growing through the concrete of this sad old world, the indication that the Creator God is on the move, and that Jesus’s hearers and followers can be part of what He’s now doing.” –N.T. Wright

It is my prayer that you can begin to see the ‘green shoots’ of new life growing in your life as we study these powerful words of Christ. May God continue strengthing your heart in faith, hope, and love.

Grace and peace,

Pastor John

Hunger for Righteousness

2014-09-12T14:13:38-05:00

Good Afternoon,

I write this today just a couple miles from the campus of Point Loma Nazarene University. Heather and I are in San Diego for a wedding this evening. Wednesday night, we had the opportunity to have dinner with a couple we were on staff with while we served here. The restaurant they chose had tables of eight and since there was only four of us, we shared a table with four strangers.

About half way through dinner, the young lady sitting next to me tapped me on the arm and said, “I don’t want to admit I have been listening to your conversation, but I overheard you say the word ‘disciple’. What does that word mean?” As we spoke, she told me that she had lived a life of a typical secular college student. This life involved partying and everything that went with that lifestyle.

Recently, she started attending a church and she had accepted Christ. The problem she was facing was that she had questions about her new faith and didn’t know who to ask. This opened a beautiful conversation- I told her, “I will answer any question you have.” This led to questions like, “I thought the Kingdom of Heaven was after you die, but this church acts like the Kingdom is now” and “They keep stressing baptism, what really happens when you are baptized?”

As we talked, a verse kept coming back to me. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). We looked at this passage on Sunday as we talked about righteousness as ‘right-relatedness.’

What I saw in this young lady was a hunger for a right-relationship with God. She openly admitted her past life and the hole that was left in heart from that life. We as the church offer the gospel. We have the great news that our God can not just cleanse your sins, but heal your heart.

This Sunday, we look at our next passage (Matthew 5:21-26) in the Sermon on the Mount. These words are tough for us to deal with, but in the words of Christ reside the power to heal our hearts from sin.

We all carry wounds like this young lady, but we must open our hearts to the reign and rule of God. In opening our hearts, we allow the Spirit to truly heal our lives.

May God bless you as we prepare to worship Him!

Pastor John

The Calm of Worship

2014-08-07T09:19:46-05:00

Over the past few weeks, a prayer for worship has been in my heart. I pray that as we come to worship, we anticipate God doing great things in our midst.

When I think of worship in theological terms, my mind runs to the idea of chaos versus the absence of chaos. In the Old Testament, we see a poetic relationship between water and chaos.

Think of it this way, God brought order to the world in creation. Prior to creation, there was just water (i.e. chaos). Then God spoke over the waters and separated (literally, pushed back) the waters. In doing so, He created a place for His creation to live. We begin to see the image emerge that when God is not present, there is chaos.

This brings a deeper level of beauty to the Noah story. There in the midst of the flood/chaos is a family delivered by the hand of God. In the crossing of the Red Sea, we see God once again pushing back the waters and delivering His people.

We can even jump to the New Testament and as the disciples strain against the oars, they see Jesus walking in the midst of the storm. Then Jesus does the unthinkable- He tells the storm to stop…and-the-storm-stops.

Think about that for a moment. The storm stops. We know the stories. We have been taught them for years. The storm stops. At the sound of Jesus’ voice- it stops.

What does this have to do with worship? I don’t think King David would have been surprised at Jesus’ power over the storm. David writes in Psalm 29, “The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever. May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!” (vs. 10 & 11 ESV).

If you would allow me, can I move this praise of David into our context? I think he might have written it like this in 2014. “The Lord sits enthroned over the chaos in your life. He is enthroned as king forever. May the Lord give you strength in the midst of the chaos of your life! May He bless you with the peace from the God who can calm the storm!”

I don’t know what chaos you are dealing with today. I might not know what storm you are straining against. I do know the God who can calm the storm. My prayer for this Sunday is that when God is present, the chaos is pushed back like the walls of water that day on the Red Sea.

The Poor in Spirit

2014-07-17T10:56:43-05:00

If you are like me, you read the quote above and your mind quickly flashes a picture of someone who is homeless. Knowing the quote came from Mother Teresa, your mind might flash to a picture of the poor in Calcutta. As we prepare for worship this week, I’d like for you to take time and rethink the term ‘poor’.

‘Poor’ simply defined means lacking. Economically, it refers to someone who lacks sufficient economic means to live at a comfortable level. I think this quote is pushing us to think of the disguises those who are lacking might take. Who in your life is lacking all that God has promised them? Poor is much deeper than economics. Are you lacking trust in your Lord?

A verse that comes to my mind is Matthew 5:3, “Wonderful news for the poor in spirit! The kingdom of heaven is yours” (The Kingdom NT). What if we use the term ‘lacking’ instead of poor? “Wonderful news for those who are lacking in spirit! The kingdom of heaven is yours.” I think we could all use that wonderful news.

This verse is one of the Beatitudes. Matthew’s gospel has been said to declare the ‘Upside-Down Kingdom’. The kingdom that Jesus is proclaiming is one that turns the world upside down- or from God’s prospective, one that turns the world right-side-up. N.T. Wright states, “[The Beatitudes] are a summons to live in the present in the way that will make sense in God’s promised future; because that future has arrived in the present in Jesus of Nazareth.”

My question for you today is this, “Who are the poor among you?” Remember, as Mother Teresa challenged you- the poor have some interesting disguises! Once you identify the one who is ‘lacking’ in spirit, do they know the promise of Jesus in Matthew 5:3? Here is the hard question, “How is God going to use you to proclaim His Kingdom to this person?”

If you spend time thinking about this, it will make you a little nervous. Take heart, if you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, then you know you are not alone in proclaiming His Kingdom.

Restorative Wisdom of the Word

2014-06-18T12:36:31-05:00

When we speak of generosity, our thoughts go to our finances. Finances are an important part of living of generous life. However, I believe that we also must we willing to invest something greater- we must be willing to invest ourselves in the lives of others. The problem is that many of us live lives without any thing left over to give to others. We are to be people who are generous in the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control).

These fruits do not come from you. They are the fruits of the Spirit. They come from the Spirit. Author Paul David Tripp writes, “When I daily admit how needy I am, daily meditate on the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and daily feed on the restorative wisdom of his Word, I am propelled to share with others the grace that I am daily receiving at the hands of my Savior.”

My challenge to you is to make sure you are carving out time in our daily life to spend time ‘feeding on the restorative wisdom of his Word.’ I would like to share a couple resources with you that I mentioned on Sunday. The first is my favorite devotional book, My Upmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers. You can purchase this book at most bookstores or Amazon. You can also read the daily reading on utmost.org. I have been using this little book since I was in high school and I am still challenged by it. Jesus Calling is a newer book that has gained popularity over the past few years. There are many versions of this book. We use the children’s version with our kids. Most Christian bookstores will have them available (as well as Amazon).

I hope you will find one of these books useful in your walk with our Lord. Grace and peace, Pastor John

Devoted to Prayer

2014-06-12T14:34:58-05:00

Last night, we discussed a chapter on the Early Church in the book Multiply. It was a great chapter that focused on Acts 2:42-47. In verse 42, Luke records that the early church devoted themselves to four things: the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. All four of these items must continue to be important things for the church today.

A couple weeks ago, I asked you to pray with me. Prayer has to be a central part of the church. Francis Chan writes, “Could it be that we have lost sight of our absolute dependence on God? Have we lost the urgency of our mission and the sense that if God does not work through us, we will not be able to do what we have been called to do? Prayer is exactly this type of declaration. A church that is devoted to prayer is a church that knows God’s mission is the most important pursuit on earth. It is a church that knows it cannot succeed without God. May this type of devotion to prayer define the attitude of our churches.”

I was struck by that last line. We continue to talk about our values and I believe that prayer is one the keys to God’s working in His church. This is a great challenge to us. I want to encourage you to set aside time for prayer. I pray that as a church, we can devote ourselves to God’s mission.

Grace and peace,
Pastor John

Preperation Prayer

2014-05-29T11:58:23-05:00

Over the years, many authors have compared ocean waves to the movement of the Holy Spirit. If you watch an experienced surfer, you will see their placement in the ocean is very important. They wait just beyond the point where the waves are breaking. Usually, you will see them sitting on their boards waiting for waves to form. There is an art to this ability to catch a wave. Surfers watch the horizon. They count the sets of waves as they roll under their boards. Most surfers will know exactly which wave is the best wave out of a given set. If three waves have been coming in a set, they know that the second is the largest out of the three waves. Tomorrow, the first wave might be the largest.

With all this study and gut-instinct honed over years of being in the ocean, one fact remains. A surfer cannot create a wave. No matter how hard they study the ocean. No matter how well they know the currents under them. You cannot control the ocean. Thus, surfers know one key fact- it is all about preparation. Preparation helps you know what to do when the wave comes.

General Superintendent, Dr. Gustavo Crocker, made a comment last month at District Assembly that rings true in our church. He stated, “Pastors need to stop trying to persuade people. That’s the job of the Holy Sprit. Pastors need to start preparing people.” No matter how hard we try, we cannot control the movement of the Spirit.

The third chapter of John is one of the great chapters in John’s gospel. We know it for verse sixteen, yet verse eight might be my favorite. “The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear the sound it makes; but you don’t know where it’s coming from or where it’s going to. That’s what it’s like with someone who is born from the spirit.” John is using a play on words in this verse. The word pnuema in Greek can be translated as Spirit or as wind. The Spirit is like the wind. We don’t know where He is leading- but we are fully aware of His presence.

Church, I see us as surfers. Sitting on our boards. Feeling the water rush back out to the sea- knowing that something great is building. Our job is to be ready when Spirit moves.

How do we prepare ourselves for what God is doing? I think it starts with prayer. I think it starts with us seeking God together. Would you pray with me? This is my prayer and I am asking you to pray it with me:

“Lord, open our eyes to the hopeless in our community.
Open our eyes to those who cannot find peace.
Who, Lord, has lost all hope in a God who loves?
May we, Lord, through Your Spirit, be a church where those who are hopeless find You.
Give us a heart for the ones who desperately need You.
Open our hearts to love them.
Direct our thoughts to people who need You.
Give us the patience to seek Your path.
May Your Spirit move upon Your church. Amen.”

Will you pray with me as we seek God's guidance and presence in our lives?

Grace and peace,

Pastor John

Staying on Mission

2014-04-23T11:05:22-05:00

“The women scurried off quickly away from the tomb, in a mixture of terror and great delight, and went to tell his disciples. Suddenly, there was Jesus himself. He met them and said, “Greetings!” They came up to him and took hold of his feet, prostrating themselves in front of him. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ said Jesus to them. ‘Go and tell my brothers that they should go to Galilee. Tell them they’ll see me there.’”
–Matthew 28:8-10

Good Morning! It is only Wednesday, yet for many of us we feel as though we have lived a lifetime in the past few days. This morning, I can’t help but think of the words we looked at on Sunday. When we deal with loss, the emotions of Easter morning take on new meaning for us. We understand that you can have a mixture of fear and delight at the same time. One point that I didn’t deal with on Sunday still lingers in my mind.

The women leave the tomb that morning. They are walking in a confused state of ‘terror and great delight’ as Matthew records it. Then, Jesus suddenly appears to them. Jesus greets them and then gives them nearly the same instructions the angel gave them. To paraphrase, Jesus essentially says, “I know you are afraid, but do not be. Go and tell my friends that I am risen and they will see me.”

What do I think would be Jesus words to us today as a church? “I know that you are working through loss, but do not be afraid. Continue on the mission I’ve given you- to tell the world that I am risen and they will see me.” Monday night as visitation wrapped up, Zac's great-uncle pulled me to the side. He said, "You and I both know there are people who go to church and people who are the church. You have some great people who are the church." We are truly blessed and we must 'press on' because it is Christ who has conquered death! We must continue being the church!

“For the Messiah’s love makes us press on. We have come to the conviction that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all in order that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised on their behalf.”
–2 Corinthians 5:14-15

Grace and peace,

Pastor John