Day of Praise

Sa, 05/31/14, Easter Day #42, "Day of Praise"

Leviticus 26:34 - "Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies' land; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its Sabbaths."

God made all recreation, including the land, to have a rest and enjoy it!

I pray that you're able to join in the restful enjoyment today!

Praise God!


Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Fr, 05/30/14, Easter Day #41. "Day of Praise"

John 21:17 - "[Jesus] said to [Simon Peter] the third time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, 'Do you love me?' and he said to him, 'Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep.'"

Even beyond the simple fact that Simon Peter had denied knowing Jesus three times, there's a reason why Jesus asked Simon three times if Simon loved Jesus, namely, we tend to forget what it is to love Jesus.

Jesus makes it clear for us, who tend to forget, that to love Jesus is to feed his sheep.

And what does loving Jesus by feeding his sheep look like? A couple days ago, I went to Frontierland here in Disney to buy my daughters dinner. They wanted to share a turkey leg meal. So I walked to the place, ordered, and paid. The guy then gave me the bottled water, the bag of chips, and the cookie, and then said, "There you go!" I stood there literally for a minute, smiling, and finally his coworker said, "He doesn't have the turkey leg." Ya see, it's so easy to give some food to eat but forget to give the best food, the most important food. When Jesus said, "Feed my sheep," to Simon Peter, Jesus told Simon three times because we tend to get caught up in giving the lesser food, the least important food to our dependent sheep and forget about the best stuff altogether. It happens to all of us!!!

Yesterday it happened to my kids and me. We were leaving Animal Kingdom in late morning and found ourselves to be the only ones at the bus stop until a short, quiet, young lady joined us. We started talking to her and discovered she was a Disney employee, so we started asking her about the realities of working at Disney. Then we realized we hadn't asked her the usual stuff, ya know, where you were born and reared, if you have siblings, etc. Then, noticing how shy she was, I guess my daughter Cassidy and my entertainer gene kicked in and we started to sing a song to which we didn't know all the words, but the young lady knew some more of the words. At this point the bus came, and we continued singing and having fun with this quiet young lady with only one more passenger on the bus.

As we neared our destination, it dawned on us to ask her name as we introduced ourselves. We arrived, said goodbye, went our merry almost-at-the-end-of-our-vacation-way, and all of a sudden my kids and I simultaneously heard Jesus say, "Do y'all love me?" "Well, yes, Lord, you know we love you," we said. And Jesus replied, "Then why didn't you feed my sheep?"

We all felt horrible because we realized that Jesus was right. We'd given Hilary the bottled water, the bag of chips, and the cookie, and then said, "There you go!" But we too had gotten so caught up in the lesser food of getting to know her and her workplace and singing earthly songs with her that we totally forgot to feed her the best food and make sure she knew Jesus and his love.

Yes, friends, everybody makes mistakes, and God is forgiving. But some mistakes are bigger than others. And we found ourselves, during our prayers last night, asking God again for forgiveness for not sharing Christ and the Gospel with the quiet young lady, who God had clearly orchestrated sending our way at a lonely bus stop.

So, what are you feeding your sheep? Is it the best food or something less? Children hunger for the best food from the time they're conceived. Are you feeding them by talking to them about Jesus? Spouses long for a word of hope and encouragement and power which God's word alone can truly provide. Are you speaking God's word into your spouse's heart? Coworkers are real people who hunger for the best food. Are we ever feeding them with more than the daily diet of "what have you done for the company lately?" And on and on and on.

There are so many sheep. They're all hungry. And Jesus is asking if we love him. We're eager to tell him, "Absolutely, Lord!" And he's eager to reply, "Then don't forget to feed my sheep!"

Dear Lord, pleeeeeease help us all to remember and care and feed all your sheep with the best food of your word.

And He who feeds us faithfully will!

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Th, 05/29/14, Easter Day #40, Ascension Day, "Day of Praise"

Ephesians 4:32 - "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

So my 15 year old son, Caden, loves to poke fun at his sisters, especially at my 18 year old daughter, Cassidy.

So when I was at the wheelchair rental station yesterday at Disney and a very young man and woman pull up in their wheelchair and the guy says, "Get up!" and she replied, "Will ya give me just a minute!!!" and he replied, "Ge-e-e-et UUUUUp!", then I just assumed they were brother and sister.

And so I said, "Are y'all brother and sister too?!?!"

And she replied, "No!"

And I said, "Well, y'all just sounded like my teenage son, pokin' at his sister."

And she replied, "No, we're on our honeymoon!"

And then Caden, who's standing right there, says, "Nice start!"

So, other than a giggle, what are we to take from this? Simply this: relationships work when we are kind to one another.

Specifically, in today's Bible verse, God is telling us to be kind to one another as God, in Christ, has been kind to us. And what does God's kindness in Christ look like? Well, Jesus came down from heaven to lift us up. Specifically, Jesus stooped down and took on the form of a servant, even unto death on a cross, in order to lift us up from the weight and penalty and power of sin and death. He forgave us!

And his forgiveness becomes ours when we believe in him. And his forgiveness is offered to others when we are kind to them.

Furthermore, one of the messages specific to today, Easter Day #40, which is the celebration of the Ascension of our Lord, is that when we are kind to others in God's ways then we ourselves are lifted up by God just as Jesus was lifted up when he finished his ministry of kindness and forgiveness to us.

So! Are you feeling down? Be kind to someone else. And God will lift you up!

Are you feeling a weight on your soul in a relationship? Maybe you need to forgive someone. And God will lift you up!

Are you feeling like God is far away? Remember and believe that Christ who stooped down in kindness on the cross is the same Christ who stoops down to you now by the power of the Holy Spirit. And God will lift you up!

So, Happy Happy Happy Ascension Day, celebrating the lifting up to heaven of Christ and all who believe in him and his kindness and forgiveness as he was lifted up on a cross for us!

And may God grant you the fruit of lifting up others as God invites us in Ephesians 4:32, saying, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

We, 05/28/14, Easter Day #39, "Day of Praise"

Luke 9:62 - "Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.'"

Backwards is a fascinating phenomenon to me.

For example, we went to this "Lights! Camera! Action!" stunt show yesterday. It really was fascinating and action-packed! Part of the fascination was watching this one driver do chases and spins and jumps driving backwards that most people can't do driving forwards. But then they reveal that the car is specially set up so that it looks like he's going backwards, but the driver is actually facing forwards. So in the end, backwards isn't such a great thing.

The same is true with some guys I played football with in college. They could run as fast backwards as most people can forwards. But they were still faster going forward than back.

Or take time travel. Many people think that's so cool. But nobody ever does it (even in the make-believe world) without messing something up.

In sum, backwards is never as good as forwards, which is what Jesus is talking about in today's Bible verse. Basically, we're all tempted to spend a lot of time looking backwards and wondering about this and worrying about that and regretting things we wish we'd done differently. When we do that, when we're preoccupied with the past and looking backwards, Jesus is saying that we're missing out on the kingdom of God.

The reason that looking backwards causes us to miss God's kingdom is because the God in Jesus, who says, "Follow me," is calling us forward. Forward is where God is leading us. Forward is where God shows us how he takes our past and uses our past regrets with all things together for good. Forward is where God casts a vision. Forward is where God works out our wonders and deals with our worries. But we'll never see all these works of God if we're always looking back.

So, as one Disney animal character says, "Put your behind in the past!" And better yet, as God often says plainly, "Onward, ho!", because forward is where God, God's blessings, and God's kingdom are found!

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Tu, 05/27/14, Easter Day #38, "Day of Praise"

Isaiah 53:6 - "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

There actually is something that all these people here at Disney have in common. It is really quite impossible for anyone here to watch where they're going. It's true that there are some, in fact, many, who clearly aren't paying attention to anything at all and therefore are just plain old wandering aimlessly. But even for those who are seemingly paying attention, there are just too many directions; in other words, people are flying at you from every conceivable direction, which makes it impossible to not get into someone's way.

In sum, if you want to get angry because somebody's not watching where they're going, then you could be angry all the time!

It's the same in today's Bible verse, if God wanted to be angry because somebody's not watching where they're going, then God would be angry all the time! After all, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way." (Isaiah 53:6)

But instead of being angry all the time, God chooses to do something about the problem, namely, "the Lord has laid on [Jesus] the iniquity of us all."

What this means is that God chooses to do something that makes a difference to the spirit of the world instead of promoting the spirit of irritation and anger amongst people who are constantly getting into each other's way.

And God made us through Christ and redeemed us by Christ to do the same.

For example, today, someone will not pay attention to where they're going, and they'll bump into you. You have two choices: 1) get all bent out of shape, or 2) say, "No prob!"

Or someone today will mindlessly wander directly into your path, literally or figuratively, and you could plow right over them. Or you could calmly slow down, give them a moment to come to there senses, and just smile at them as they move on. You might even pour yourself out and say to them, "God bless you!"

In sum, people in this world, generally speaking, wander like they're lost. And we can get angry about it, and therefore stay perpetually angry. Or we can be world changers, where, in the strength of Christ, we meet people with God's calm and mercy and grace, and, in so doing, offer some direction to a world that sorely needs it, so that, one person at a time, the whole world is transformed to find it's Way in Jesus Christ.

As the great preacher, Steve Brown, says, "Now you think about that!"

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Mo, 05/26/14, Easter Day #37, "Day of Praise"

John 15:13 - "[Jesus said,] 'Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.'"

As we take time this Memorial Day to thank God for the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and the freedoms we enjoy, let's remember that Christ, who made the ultimate sacrifice for the spiritual freedom of every nation, was raised from the dead to pour out his life everyday to set people free.

My three kids and I are on vacation for a few days. At we worshiped together in our hotel room yesterday morning, my oldest, Calley, concluded our worship by asking God to cross our paths with His choices so we could be a blessing in Christ here like we ask to be at home.

Well, no sooner had we finished worship than we walked 50 yards to our bus and got there just in time to be the last on board so that we were standing at the yellow line next to the driver. The driver started having a grand time, looking in the mirror and engaging everyone on the sound system. His name was Tito, and he was from Carolina, Puerto Rico.

I turned to Tito and said, "I'm so excited because I've always dreamed that when I retire from pastoring that I'll become a Disney bus driver and minister to people like you're doing."

Tito replied, "Oh, I'm a big believer, but I don't do the church thing."

I said, "Just look at all the joy you're bringing to people on this bus who weren't even looking for it. Just think how much you'd bring to the many people who come to church because they're looking for God!"

Tito's face turned white as a sheet. Then he asked if, after we got to our destination and everyone else got off, we'd stay and listen to something about God as Creator that he'd recently downloaded to his phone.

Of course, we said, "Yes!," because Calley had asked God not ten minutes beforehand to cross our paths with His choices.

After the bus unloaded, we stayed with Tito, and he played his download about God being the greatest Artist who created all the other great artists. And then we encouraged him to find a church home and use his God-given gifts toward others.

He started crying, which is a Biblical mark of revival, and shared how he wasn't even supposed to be driving that bus yesterday, but two others bailed out on the company, and he was the next driver they called. He also shared how God told him to close the door right after we got on the bus instead of cramming in 20 more like he was supposed to do, which led to our standing right next to him.

In sum, y'all, Christ poured himself out through worship in a hotel room and Calley's prayer and a willingness by Tito to serve by driving a bus you're not supposed to be driving and to talk to the most important person in your world, namely, the person who is right in front of you. Tito, Calley, and the rest of our family, we're just plain ordinary people like all of you, who God wants to work through extraordinarily, as with all of you, so He can get the glory because we were all made to love to praise the Lord.

So stop right now, like Calley did, and ask the Lord to cross your path today and everyday with the people of His choice. Yes, it's kind of scary because it's laying down your life both for others and for God's glory. But we can lay down our lives for these purposes because 1) others have poured out their lives for us, as we celebrate today on this Memorial Day, and 2) Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, continues to pour out his life for us everyday!

To God be the Glory!

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Sa, 05/24/14, Easter Day #35, "Day of Praise"

Acts 7:55 - "But [Stephen], full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God."

A number of people have asked for sermon notes from last Sunday and Wednesday's sermons, both of which were about the faith story of Stephen who was killed for his faith in Jesus, according to Acts 7:55-60. The Sunday sermon was basically entitled, "Learning from Stephen: How to Tell a Faith Story (What Stephen did, and how he did it)" - Acts 7:55-60.

Here are some sermon notes from this past Sunday's sermon. I pray they're a blessing to you.

WHAT Stephen DID to share his faith story.:
1) He looked up, took a deep breath of the Holy Spirit, and invited others to do the same.
2) He cast a vision by telling them what he saw God doing and invited them to look and see it too.
3) He was prepared for their resistance and attack because casting God's vision will always run counter to what despairing sinners see.
4) He entrusted both his own life and also the others into God's power to make things right.

HOW Stephen WAS ABLE TO DO 1-4:
5) He regularly stopped to both spend time with God and also remember how God had acted mightily and graciously in his own life.
6) He was at peace because, in stopping regularly, he was able to both turn any ill-sentiments against others over to God and also remember his purpose in life to reflect God's might and grace, which he did by praying for God to forgive the very ones who were killing him.
7) He was hospitable to God's word and all that it commands because he knew that God only asks us to do what we will need God's strength to do which increases our faith, brings us closer to God, and unveils our eyes of the heart so we can see God!

May God bless you as you share your faith story!!!!

Praise God!


Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Fr, 05/23/14, Easter Day #34, "Day of Praise"

Luke 9:3 - "And [Jesus] said to them, 'Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.'"

Today is, in essence, the start of Memorial Day Weekend. It has been said to me that Veterans Day celebrates the heroes who came home. Memorial Day celebrates the heroes who didn't come home. In essence, all these heroes took one thing and only one thing into battle, namely, a willingness to die for their country, coupled with the belief that earthly freedom was worth the price.

In today's Bible verse, Jesus sends out the disciples and basically tells them to take one thing and only one thing into their mission field, namely, a willingness to die for the kingdom of God, coupled with the belief that spiritual freedom was worth the price.

Do you see the parallels?

You could say that there's at least an implicit charge here from Jesus to us, as many are travelling on this long Memorial Day weekend. Jesus sends us out as disciples and basically tells us to take one thing and only one thing on our trip, namely, a willingness to die to self for the kingdom of God, coupled with the belief that spiritual freedom is worth the price. This dying to self will happen when we use the time this weekend with family and friends to remember, speak of, and celebrate both those who have died for our freedoms and how those sacrifices have blessed our lives.

Many military personnel have died for our earthly freedoms. Many a missionary and Jesus Christ himself, most of all, died for our spiritual freedoms. Let us be found using our time this weekend to remember, speak of, and celebrate both those who have died for our freedoms and how those sacrifices have blessed our lives.

Praise God!


Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Th, 05/22/14, Easter Day #33, "Day of Praise"

Luke 21:34 - [Jesus said,] "But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap."

I was sixteen. And I'd had my license two weeks. And there was this nice, used car; we'd had it two weeks. It was the Fall of 1980. And there was this dance at school. You had to dress up. I'd asked this girl to go; I'd never been to her house. So I'm driving down her street to pick her up; I'm going real slow because it's dark and because I'm looking for her house number. All of a sudden, I hear this horrible metal on metal noise; I look up to see that the nice, used car we've had for two weeks had kissed the nice, used car that somebody's had for two decades. What made hitting a parked car even more humiliating was that I looked at the house number where I'd crashed, and it was hers. There were about to be two deaths. My date was going to die laughing at me; and my father was going to kill me. Praise God that she didn't and he didn't.

That doesn't change the fact that I should've been watching better.

Just like the other three times that I've backed into objects that weren't there the last time I backed out of those places: one was a dumpster in the parking lot of the church where I grew up and the other two were cars in my driveway. Hey! At least I've never hit anything that was moving.

That doesn't change the fact that I should've been watching better.

And I wasn't watching better in every case because my mind was on something other than where I was going.

Spiritually speaking, that's what Jesus is talking about in today's Bible verse. Our minds get on something other than where we're going. So we're not watching, and we run into things. It causes damage to both cars, er, I mean lives. Our eyes are supposed to be on Jesus.

Good thing his eyes are on us. Or the whole world would be a big ol' pile up.

Y'all, Jesus warns us that the world is eager to grab our attention with all the "cares of this life" (Luke 21:34). He also reminds us in many scriptures, like John 10, that he's raised from the dead to put his attention on us because he cares for our life. He's a very, very good shepherd. And he's watching out for you.

But he also wants you to watch for him. Ya know, so you can see him, see his blessings, and see the car you're about to otherwise run into.

Dear Heavenly Father,
You know what's in front of us this day. There are so many things demanding our attention. It's impossible to see 'em all and not run smack into something or somebody and cause some damage. So Lord, we just ask that you help us to trust that you're watching out for us so that we can watch out for you and see your gracious guiding hand and provision. We ask for this, and all that you know we need, in the most precious name of your only Son, Jesus Christ, our crucified, risen, and indwelling Lord and Savior. Amen.

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

We, 05/21/14, Easter Day #32, "Day of Praise"

1 Peter 2:9 - "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was standing next to my dad, standing on my tip-toes, trying to peer through the window. I asked him to pick me up, ya know, so I could see 'em better. I mean, I was only three.

We had put a baby into the pot. So we got to pick a baby out of the pot. It was so exciting because there was a whole big room full of babies to choose from!

Of course, that was not how it really worked. And I have no idea where I got the notion that if your mom has a baby and puts it in the pot, then you get to choose anyone you want out of the pot.

Bottom line, I'm glad we chose the one that my mom gave birth to, Cheryl Diane DeGreen. With the exception of the annual Halloween masks scare, my little sister and I have gotten along famously to this day. So, I'm really, really glad that we chose her.

And in the same way, so is the Lord. The Lord is thrilled that He chose you. That's what God's talking about in today's Bible verse from 1 Peter 2:9 where God says, "But you are a chosen race." Yep! If you have a living, hope-filled faith in Jesus Christ, then it's totally because God chose you.

As Lutherans, we do not believe that unbelievers are not chosen by God; we just believe that they just don't know that they're chosen by God, and they won't until they surrender to the movements of the Holy Spirit in their heart.

But today the focus is on the fact that you are specially chosen by God, so God tells us more in the verse of what that means. It means you're in a "royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession." And you're a part of such a distinguished group for a purpose, namely, so "that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

Wow! In the spirit of what Paul said to Timothy, do not let anyone look down on you! Oh, yes, someone may look down on you today, but you just remember your credentials: chosen by God, royalty, holy, God's own. And you remember your purpose: you are here to tell the excellencies and the greatness of God and how he changed your life! He brought you out of the hopelessness and darkness and loneliness of life estranged from him, and he brought you into a new life, filled with hope and a future and a purpose and sweet fellowship with God through a faith that he gave us, faith in Jesus Christ!

So y'all have what Chosen People have! Have a great day! May the God of peace be so near you and in you that you can taste him. And may you enjoy telling others of Him too!

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Tu, 05/20/14, Easter Day #31, "Day of Praise"

1 Samuel 17:38-39 - "Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, 'I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.' So David put them off."

Saul's armor was way too big for David. I know how David felt.

Ya know there's an old saying, "You're getting too big for your britches," which means you think too highly of yourself. But what about when your britches are too big for you? That's what happened to David in the Bible and to me.

I was about nine, and I was definitely overweight. But the soccer shorts that were assigned to me were ridiculously huge. I didn't realize it until our first game when I put on my uniform. Whoa! My shorts were so big that I had to hold a wad of the waist in my left hand. I remember thinking, "C'mon coach, I'm overweight, but really?" In the pregame warmups, all my teammates were laughing at me. Let's not even mention the ridicule of the other team. Have you ever seen someone trying to play soccer while holding up their britches? It's hilarious, with an element of watching a Stock Car Race; ya know, everyone's waiting for the Big One! Yes, the Big One, which is the moment the nine year old forgets about his britches, lets go of his britches, his britches fall down, he's exposed, and then trips over his "ankle britches" to boot on a muddy soccer field. Hilarious for the crowd! Humiliating for the nine year old!

In today's Bible verses, David refused to fight in the armor that was way too big, and he took it off. And I, as a nine year old, refused to play another moment in the over-sized soccer shorts.

And you should too!

The analogy is simple. Often when we're kids, other people have dreams for us that are way too big for us. They want us to become more than what we're ever capable of being: President or Bishop or a CEO or a Hall of Famer. It's like dressing us up in armor or soccer shorts that are way too big. But y'all, everybody can't be President or Bishop or a CEO or a Hall of Famer. Somebody needs to be a commoner. The world needs commoners, ya know, the little guy. Commoners, average people, make this world work. Somebody's got to do the plain old ordinary jobs well or nothing would ever get done. And instead of trying to make the commoner more than they are and telling them they need to do more with their life, the commoner needs to be celebrated for faithfully showing up to work everyday and putting in a good day's work.

And I'm telling you this because I'm a pastor who constantly hears people feeling laughed at and looked down upon because they're not doing more and bigger things with their life. Hey, if there are 196 boys on my son's high school football team, then there's at least 150 commoners who need to be celebrated for doing things that the studs need done to have a team. And if there's 10 or 100 or 10,000 employees at your work, then 75% are commoners who need to be celebrated. Everybody can't be calling the shots.

So here's to you, dear friends! God celebrates you being just the right size and doing each day what needs to be done! God knows how he made you and loves you for the person you are!

And just like David, the ordinary, common, little-guy, shepherd-boy went and conquered Goliath with his little, ordinary, shepherd sling-shot, let's us all go out there today, proud to be God's little guys and eager to conquer the world by faithfully doing the work that's before us!

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Mo, 05/19/14, Easter Day #30, "Day of Praise"

Acts 21:20,27 - "And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to [Paul], 'You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed.' When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, seeing [Paul] in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him."

When I was a kid, 4th grade to be exact, I had a little devil in me from time to time. I think part of it was that I had the sweetest little sister, Cheryl, and she and I grew up to be very dear friends. But in 4th grade, she was a really easy target of mischief.

For example, when I was a kid, we had these plastic Halloween masks that stayed on your face with a piece of elastic around the back of your head. Dad got the box of masks down from the attic days in advance so they were available for me to put on a scary mask and hide down the hall where Cheryl would eventually have to walk to get to her bedroom. And eventually she did come, and I'd test out her heart, ya know, jump out and scare the bejeebers out of her. (Uhhh, bejeebers means "mental soundness" or "wits.") Fortunately, her heart was healthy. And I thought I was the King of the Hall!

Unfortunately, days, sometimes weeks, of that brotherly love would really mess with her mind. She got to the point, as I remember it, that she started crying even before she came down the hall. I mean she was only 1st grade when I was in 4th. But she was also smart. What she did was she figured out that if she'd turn on the hall lights then she could see shadows, and it just wasn't as scary. The problem was that she left 'em on, and my late father would fuss about the lights being left on, and he knew who was to blame, namely, the King of the Hall. Ya couple that together with her starting to cry at the start of the hallway, and let's just say that the King of the Hall got a few whoopins plus one more to grow on, not to mention sent to my room more times than I could count.

All this is to say that sometimes ya' get feelin' really good about yourself, and life comes along, or maybe your father, and knocks ya' back down to size. That's what happened with St. Paul in today's Bible verses. Paul was an amazing instrument of God to bring many to faith in Christ, but some people didn't like him bringing people to Christ, so they knocked him down to size, plus one more for good measure.

But ya' know what? Paul got back up and got right back to it. Just like me. I'd get the green light to come out of my room and start terrorizing my poor, little sister all over again. (And I wonder why my son is so good at doing the same with his sisters. What's the old saying of parents to kids, "May the trouble you caused us come back on you threefold"?)

Of course, the difference is that Paul had an eternal cause for getting up and getting back at it. Mine wasn't so noble. But, praise the Lord, it actually translated into adulthood. I've been kicked in the teeth a few times and knocked down to size, but God, in his grace, picked me up, set me back on my feet, and said, "Now, get back out there and make a difference today! Christ will be your strength!"

And that's what he's saying to you because chances are you're gonna' get kicked in the teeth pretty soon. If not today, then be on the lookout tomorrow. But not too much. Because you can be sure that God will do for you what he did for Paul and for me and for anyone who believes that Jesus kicked the devil and death in the teeth when Jesus went down there, ya know where, for us. Yep, God, in his grace, will pick ya up, set ya back on your feet, and say, "Now, get back out there and make a difference today! Christ will be your strength!"

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Sa, 05/17/14, Easter Day #28, "Day of Praise"

Genesis 1:27-28 - "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'"

God intended for us to have the upper hand in life! Period! In other words, the creation was not made so it could bring us down. God made us in His image so that, even in the face of storms, we'd have dominion over all the earth.

Today's Bible verses also record that Marriage, the Union of Male and Female, is a huge part of God's plan for us to have the upper hand. The relationship of marriage between a man and a woman brings with it the power of complementarity, where two unique beings (male and female) are made to fit perfectly together and bring about mutual encouragement and affirmation that bear the fruit of children, whether they are one's own flesh and blood or not. Indeed, the purpose of marriage, beyond mutual encouragement, is to raise up children of God, which may come about by working a camp for intellectually disabled adults or adopting orphans or raising your own flesh and blood.

Today some dear friends of mine, Will Dahlberg and Katherine Green, are entering into the Sacred Union of Marriage in Vermont. Next week Karium Edwards and Paula Jones are marrying in Chicago. And many others that I know are wedding from June 1 on, as I'm sure you know others too.

Will you join me in praying for them all to find strength in the Lord so that their Unions will reflect the Intentions of our Maker?

Lord God, constant in mercy, great in faithfulness, we bless you for the joy that your servants, Will and Katherine, have found in each other and pray that you give them such a sense of your constant love that they may live a life of praise of you, whose work alone holds true and endures forever.

Faithful Lord, source of love, pour down your grace upon Will and Katherine that they may fulfill the vows they make this day and reflect your steadfast love in their lifelong faithfulness to each other. As members with them of the Body of Christ, use us to support their life together. And from your great store of strength, give them power and patience, affection and understanding, courage and love toward you, toward each other, and toward the whole world that they may continue together in mutual growth, according to your will in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Gracious Father, you bless the family and renew your people. Enrich husbands and wives, parents and children, more and more with your grace, that strengthening and supporting each other, they may serve those in need and be a sign of the fulfillment of your perfect kingdom, where with your Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, you live and reign, one God, through all ages of ages. Amen!

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Fr, 05/16/14, Easter Day #27, "Day of Praise"

Psalm 119:103 - "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"

Proverbs 24:13 - "My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste."

Psalm 19:10 - "More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb."

Proverbs 16:24 - "Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body."

As a Southerner, born in Georgia, reared in TN, and now living in Alabama for a whole bunch of years, I can't help but think about sweet tea when I hear God's word talked about as honey.

Here's a few Southern, Summer, sweet tea observations.

Sweet tea is a redundant phrase in the South. Tea is always sweet. If it's not, then you call it unsweet tea.

In actuality, sweet tea is pronounced swayt tay.

To qualify as Southern sweet tea, you must be able to liken it to hummingbird feed, which means it's raaaayl swaaaayt.

Some guy named Milo has the ultimate secret swayt tay fomuluh round these parts, just like the Cuhnel has the chickin fomuluh.

Swayt tay has been identified as the cause of young ladies (who grew up in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and the like) goin' up to their senior uncles and granddads (who often persist in their Northern ways) and pullin' the grumpy out of 'em by way of a Southern Swayt Tay kiss on the forehead, a big ol' smile, and a quick gentle rub of the back. Such Uncles and Granddads actually like this very much from their Southern nieces and granddaughters, but they just can't let anyone know it.

The bottom line is that Swayt Tay, the Honey that is God's Word, and the sweet taste of grace (which is merely an outpouring of love for no particular reason) is truly some life-changing, heart-transforming, smile-creating stuff.

So have ya some tay; have ya some honey; have ya some word of God; you'll find it's worth faaaaar more than money.

And then spread the love, People. Spread the love. Spread the swayt, life-changing, love of God in Jesus Christ.

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Th, 05/15/14, Easter Day #26, "Day of Praise"

Matthew 10:30 - "[Jesus said,] 'But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.'"

So there's this wonderful woman in our church, who babysits her extremely cute, little, straight-and-blond-haired toddler. A couple days ago, she brought him into our class with a new, 3-wheeled, jogging stroller that her son and his wife had recently purchased. Everything was great until it was time to go home. She and I could not figure out, for the proverbial life of us, how to collapse the stroller so we could get it back in her car. We struggled and pushed every one of the 47 million plastic buttons on that thing for at least a half hour and probably longer. We were laughing. Well, a little. And finally, out of desperation, with my whole heart I turned to Jesus and calmly (not!) said, "Come on, Jesus! Please help us out here!" And wouldn't you know that immediately she pushed something that made the crazy thing collapse and fit right into her car?

This is what Jesus is talking about in today's Bible verse. He knows everything in our lives, down to the last hair on our head, and wants to bless each one of those teenie things to huge things that are going on. The question is, "Do we believe Him?" And will we turn everything over to Him? And I mean everything!!! Down to the last hair! And then will we watch to see how he shows his care?

Yesterday, I was pleasantly shocked at how many of you replied to me and committed to the suggested practices of daily quiet times, praying scripture, and journaling. One woman gave this testimony. She said that she'd been back and forth about asking to meet with me about trying to find God's will. She said she'd had a particularly hard decision to make that'd been weighing her down the last couple weeks, and she'd never felt comfortable knowing what God was telling her to do.

She said when she got yesterday's Day of Praise, suggesting quiet times, praying scripture, and journaling, it spoke directly to her. So she prayed and read the Bible and journaled. She said she felt like she'd heard more from God in those 30 minutes than she had since the issue came up. And she excitedly committed to a new morning ritual! (And had found a use for all the empty journals she seemed to have collected over the years).

She went on to say, "While there was a direct answer today to my immediate need, my readings reminded me that God is sovereign and to trust Him (which is actually a better answer than what I was looking for). I feel positively challenged to a personal relationship with Christ. I too often forget He's there to talk to and that His word is the best place to find His response. Lesson learned...again. :-)"

All this woman did was discover again that when Jesus says that he knows every hair on our head, then he means it!

Dear Friends, God cares about every single little aspect of your life. Make it easier on yourself, and give everything in your life to the Lord. Turn it over to Him in prayer. Even better, write down your prayers in your journal, or start a prayer box so that you can go back and see all the ways that God has already addressed most, if not all, of the things that you entrusted to His care.

Try it! As always, what do you have to lose, except a little (or a lot of?) stress and worry from your day?

God cares!

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

We, 05/14/14, Easter Day #25, "Day of Praise"

Isaiah 9:7 - "Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this."

Though time is now endless for the reign of Christ, for the rest of us, time, like money, is limited. Spend it wisely.

You're best off to spend your time by learning to enjoy sweet fellowship and communion with God.

Here's how you do it:
1) Spend your time with a daily quiet time with God that begins with, "Hey, Lord, it's me, (your name). I'm listening."

2) Spend your time with a daily praying of God's Word in the scriptures that begins with, "Hey, Lord, it's me, (your name). Please speak to my heart through this that is your word."

3) Spend your time with a daily writing in your journal that begins with, "Hey, Lord, it's me, (your name). I'm going to jot down what I heard you saying to me in quiet time and scripture. (Write down what you heard, then ask...) Did I get it right? I'm listening for you through the day."

God will immeasurably bless you, as he promises, when you spend your time with Him!

Praise God!


Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Tu, 05/13/14, Easter Day #24, "Day of Praise"

Matthew 4:10 - "Then Jesus said to him, 'Be gone, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve."'"

Last night, our Lead Stephen Minister and I went to plan the funeral of one of our 88 year old members at her request. To be 88, she is what she looks, namely, healthy as the proverbial horse. You might ask, then, why did she want to plan her funeral? Very simply, she wanted to plan her funeral now when she's healthy so that her family didn't need to do it later when she's dead. That answers why she wanted to plan her funeral now.

But the better question is "How?" How did this 88 year old, thin, short lady plan her funeral? It would be easy to say "courageously." But it was more than courage; she actually planned it with confidence. In fact, she said so many things about Christ's constant presence with her and about her confidence in Christ's sovereign power that she seemed to be looking death and the devil in the eye and saying, "I'm not afraid of you! Just be gone, Satan. I'm walkin' in the victory and power of Jesus."

As should we all!

It's said that, 500 years ago in Germany, Martin Luther was in his study and felt a presence behind him. Remaining seated at his desk, Luther turned around and literally saw the devil. Luther looked at the Ol' Boy and said, "Oh! It's just you." Then he turned back to his desk and went back to work.

An 88 year old woman last night, Luther 500 years ago, and Jesus in today's Bible verse, all, in essence, saying, "I'm not afraid of you! Just be gone, Satan. I'm walkin' in the victory and power of God."

So what about you and me today? It's first thing in the morning, so there are many things in front of us, and unless Jesus comes again beforehand, someday in front of us is death. Will we face the things in front of us with the confidence in Christ displayed by an 88 year old lady?

And I'll tell ya; I don't care if you think I'm even more crazy than you already do. I have a matter in my life right now where I know that someone is lurking behind me in the shadows. Luther used to say something like this, "Pinch yourself real good. If it hurts, then you're in the world and you probably have something creeping up behind you too." Will we, like Luther, turn and look at the Ol' Boy and say, "Oh! It's just you," and then turn and get back to our day?

Friends, the devil was defeated before he ever got started. The Almighty and Living God is the Lord!

So let's get after our day and flick Satan away, the God in Christ that we worship is Lord!

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Mo, 05/12/14, Easter Day #23, "Day of Praise"

John 15:5 - "[Jesus said,] 'I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.'"

So, my son, Caden, as he often does, asked me a couple days ago to print out some homework papers on our printer at home. I was glad to.

So, I took his laptop and went upstairs to the printer in my daughter Calley's room. I plugged into the side of the computer, as I always do, pulled up the document, and pushed print. Nothing happened. Paper was fine. I turned the printer off and on and then pushed print again. Nothing happened. I went through all that another three times before I realized what I'd done, or I should say, what I had not done.

In sum, I went into mindless mode. And in so doing, I did one thing that was similar enough to what I always do, so that I didn't notice that I also didn't do something that I always do that really needed to be done to get the job done, printing Caden's doc. Did ya follow that? :-)

What I did was I plugged in one plug, like I always do, and stopped. The problem was that I plugged in the power cord because the battery was low. But having plugged in one cord, I stopped and didn't plug into the printer cord. The result? Nothing printed! In other words, no fruit for my labors.

Based on today's Bible verse, you might say my branch was plugged into something, even something important, but it wasn't plugged into the vine that's required to bear fruit.

Here's the deal, Friends. May I be honest? Many people are going into their day, either to work or school, in several hours. And they'll be plugged into the power cord, some coffee or energy drink or breakfast, but they'll start to work without being plugged into the printer.

Spiritually speaking, the printer is what makes it possible for you to see and feel good about the fruit of your labors in a day. I'm not talking about seeing a project finished or a sale closed or a paycheck earned. I'm talking about seeing and feeling good about the spiritual fruit of your labors. Ya know? Fruit! Like, the work I did today was eternally significant. Fruit! Like, God was pleased with my labors. Fruit! Like, I went about my work in a way that noticed the people and treated them respectfully so I can sleep with both the satisfaction of a job well done and a clear conscience that I didn't step on and over someone to get it done.

Such fruit can only come about if you're plugged into Jesus and not just Java, Juice, and jelly. That's why Jesus said, "For apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5) Oh sure, you can do something! But apart from Jesus, you can never do anything eternally significant, anything pleasing to God, or anything that lets you have peace and a clear-conscious when you go to sleep at night.

And all you have to do to end the day feeling good about your eternally-significant, God-pleasing, clear-conscious fruit is start the day plugging into the vine, who is Jesus.

Let's pray: Dear Jesus, you are the vine, and apart from you we can do nothing worth doing! So please Lord, right now, before we start our day, pour out your Holy Spirit to connect us to you, the vine, so that we can have all the good fruit spring forth from our labors, bring glory to your name, and impart a blessing to every person in our day! Anen

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Sa, 05/10/14, Easter Day #21, "Day of Praise"

Luke 18:16 - "But Jesus called them to him, saying, 'Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.'"

Have you ever looked in a mirror?

Not the kind that hang on a wall.

I mean the ones that breathe.

Having made us in His image, God meant for us to be a mirror. God meant for other people to see what God is like through us. And God meant for us adults to see God through the littlest ones. Specifically, God wants us adults to see both God's kingdom here on earth and also his holy place in heaven through children.

Like yesterday. I watched a group of four and five year olds graduate from our church's Little Wonders Preschool. A part of the ceremony was their singing of a number of songs. Every single one of those children had one single goal in mind, namely, to let their mom and dad know that their sweet little cherub was singing with love and gusto to make mom and dad ever so proud.

It was a mirror.

Through those sweet and dear little children, I saw again what God wants from me. He wants for me to march into my day with childlike dignity, then look for him in the crowd, then bounce on my toes with eagerness for what I know is about to unfold, and then belt it out with love and gusto, while, in essence, saying to my God, "I love you! I love you with all my heart! And I'm so glad glad glad to be your child!"

Luke 18:16 - "But Jesus called them to him, saying, 'Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.'"

Praise God!


Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Fr, 05/09/14, Easter Day #20, "Day of Praise"

Romans 4:24-25 - "It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification."

Have you ever lost your way?

When we hear in today's Bible verses that Jesus was "raised for our justification," God's telling us that Jesus was raised from the dead, and is now alive, in order to make things right in the lives of all believers. And one thing that Jesus will do to "justify us" and "make us right" is he will lead us in order to get us on track when we've lost our way.

Yesterday, I'd lost my way. After my niece's college graduation ceremony on the University of Tennessee at Knoxville campus, I was trying to find the restaurant where everyone was meeting. My phone had died, so I couldn't call for or google directions. So I stopped at a Weigel's food and gas mart, went inside, and asked nobody in particular, "Does anyone know where Aubrey's Restaurant is?" Immediately, a guy named Lewis said, "Follow me." I suppose that Lewis could've been a serial killer, but, fortunately, Lewis, simply and kindly, just led me straight to Aubrey's, which was tucked away off the road where I'd searched high and low. But just like Jesus, Lewis took me straight to a place that I would never in a million years have found by myself, though I was oblivious to the fact that it was basically right under my nose.

And that's one of the things that God does constantly in our lives through Jesus to make things right in our lives. He helps us find our way. He sends people to us to help us see things we never would've seen, though they're right there under our nose. He helps us see things that, like yesterday's graduation celebration meal, enrich our lives, give us strength, bring us joy, and weave our lives into a rich fellowship of relationships and love, all of which are blessings along the way that God made for us to begin with, but that we often miss because we've lost our way.

Friends, is something missing from your life and you realize that you don't know what it is? Or maybe you know what it is, but you have no clue how to find it? Well, Jesus is alive; he was "raised for our justification," for making things right in our lives. He wants to lead you straight to the things and places that you yourself are just flat out never going to find on your own. So he invites you to stop, to turn to him and ask, "Do you know how to get to this thing or place that I need but can't find?" Friends, you can trust God and trust God's Word, Jesus, he will lead the way!

Follow Jesus, and you'll see!

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Th, 05/08/14, Easter Day #19, "Day of Praise"

John 20:30-31 - "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

Have you ever had something wonderfully strange happen to you?

For example, yesterday, I wound up sitting at the same table as my friend, Santa Claus. It was wonderfully strange. Actually, my friend, Bill Kinnebrew, plays Santa Claus in December because he looks exactly like Santa Claus in May. So Bill and I land at the same table for breakfast, which hasn't happened in over a year, and we're talking and come to discover that this rare day we're sitting at table together happens to be exactly two years to the day since his dad, Bill, Sr., died and two months to the day since my dad, Ben, Sr., died. And the reason that Bill and I sat with each other to begin with was to discuss and pray for our mutual friend, Cindy Davis, whose mom, Betty, had just died. I mean, what are the odds of all those stars aligning through total coincidence? It can't be a coincidence; it must be what's called a "sign" in today's Bible verses.

A "sign" is something that only God can arrange and pull off, and God does it so we'll "believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:30-31) In other words, when something wonderfully strange happens to you, God's arranging it and pulling it off to give and strengthen faith in Jesus. And note that God's word says that God's seeking to strengthen our faith in who Jesus is moreso than what Jesus does! "Jesus is the Christ," and believing that Jesus is the Christ, believing in who he is, is the way God chooses to give us "life in his name." (John 20:30-31) In sum, as great as God's wonderful signs and deeds are, God does them not so we'll look for more signs and deeds but in order to get us to look for him!

Let me give you another example. The night before Bill and I strangely wound up at the same breakfast table on the anniversary of the death of both our fathers to pray for a sister in Christ whose mom had just died, I was driving from the church to one of our eleven neighborhood groups. As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I noticed what I came to discover were two $20 bills just lying there on the ground. God told me, plain as day, who to give one $20 bill to at the group that I was right then going to attend. When I got there and gave it to them, they basically started crying because they said that $20 was going to be the gas money they needed to get to work and that they'd just literally been praying for. Coincidence? Well, you can believe what you want, but those people who needed the gas money and I chose to believe that it was a sign from God that, if we'll just have, what the world sees as, a radical faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, then God will miraculously provide for us. (By the way, the other $20 wound up being part of the money that God obviously provided for us to buy food for their poor next door neighbor whose mom had just died!)

Notice that I did NOT say that, if we'll trust God to provide, then we'll see that Jesus is the Christ. That's what Jesus was talking to Thomas about when Thomas believed because he'd seen a miracle instead of believing in Jesus so he could see the miracle of life in Jesus' name. God's plan is for us to believe in who Jesus is more than we believe in what Jesus does miraculously. In other words, God wants us to fall in love with him moreso than falling in love with his signs and wonders and miracles because the power for our lives and the greatest miracle of all is the life-giving relationship with God through Jesus, which is why today's verse ends with "that by believing you may have life in his name."

So! Is something lacking in your life? Don't look for a miracle; instead look to Jesus. Is something wrong in your life? Don't look for a miracle; instead look to Jesus. The power of God is in Jesus who does the miracles, not in the miracles that are done by Jesus.

Hunh? Maybe that's why I saw another wonderfully strange thing a couple days ago. I saw two families who both are really struggling financially though they work as hard as anybody. And both these families said that, though they've never been poorer financially and struggled so much, they both volunteered that they've rededicated themselves to tithing, to giving the first ten percent of their income to spreading the good news of Jesus in partnership with our church. Why? Because they both have discovered, in their financial poverty, an immeasurable wealth in the person of Jesus, that he truly "is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:30-31)

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

We, 05/07/14, Easter Day #18, "Day of Praise"

Revelation 7:16-17 - "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Once upon a time, there was no such thing as the internet. One such year was 1972. In order to get a hotel room in places such as Daytona Beach, FL, a family actually had to drive there from a place like Kingsport, TN and look for a hotel that had a little sign in the window that said "Vacancy." If there was no room in the inn, the hotel would put a sign that said "No" in front of "Vacancy."

My late father, Ben, Sr., had driven our family of six the long trip from Kingsport to Daytona for a July 4 holiday. He found a place with a "Vacancy," parked the car, and went inside with many other travellers who were seeking a room during that busy holiday. The process of getting a room was taking a while so us four kids, (I was 7 years old), talked my mom into letting us swim in the hotel pool until dad was finished. I myself took off my shirt and exposed my very pale, never-south-of-Tennessee, skin to the scorching Florida sun for 30 minutes while we had an absolute ball in the pool. Bad idea.

I was introduced to my first official sunburn. And it was bad. I was scorched so intensely on my face, arms, chest and back that I had to walk like the Hunchback through the newly built Disney World. As the Haunted House ride went backwards down a steep slope, I held onto the safety bar for dear life because I couldn't lean back against anything without excruciating pain. I had to sleep on hotel floors, lest one of my 3 siblings accidentally turn in the night and touch my sun-scorched body. I literally froze with fever chills as the ceiling fans sent what felt like an Arctic blast in every place we ate. And by the end of the week, I was peeling very large chunks of skin off my body.

This whole recounting is a parable for one of many reasons why I'm a Christian and thankful for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, namely, that, in the language of today's Bible verse from Revelation 7:16-17, I don't want to be struck by "any scorching heat. For the Lamb [Jesus] in the midst of the throne will be [our] shepherd, and he will guide [us] to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes."

These words were written to and were a comfort to those who, through faith in Jesus Christ, had endured the great tribulation of suffering from the scorching heat of persecution under Emperor Nero in 60 A.D. and beyond. Every movement of every Christian came with the uncertainty of bumping into and being touched by an unbeliever who would inflict great pain. It would have been difficult to eat or sleep in peace. When discovered, the lashings would cause the loss of large chunks of not just skin but flesh and leave a body scarred for life.

So when God's word says, "the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat" what it means in reality is that, though we are struck by heat and burned on the outside, there is an unmistakable victory on the inside, "For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

In the end, I had a great time in Florida that week with many fond memories from "It's a Small World" in Disney to a Stock Car race at Daytona International Speedway. And I intend to have a great time today, even as we live in a world that is becoming increasingly hostile to lives fully devoted to Christ and his ways.
The Lamb is with you today. Come what may from the scorching heat of your day, trust him to "guide you to springs of living water, and to wipe away every tear." He promises. He will.

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Tu, 05/06/14, Easter Day #17, "Day of Praise"

2 Corinthians 13:11 - "Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you."

If I aimed and swung a billion times, I could not ever again match the notorious feat. My son, Caden, and I were hitting golf balls in the large, grassy, power-line right of way that was behind the houses at one of the grandparent's house. At the same time, my younger daughter, Cassidy, was swimming all by herself in the neighborhood pool about a hundred and twenty yards away.

I myself am not a skilled golfer, so when Caden said, "Dad, don't hit the ball toward Cassidy." I said, "Caden, this ball won't hit your sister in a million years." Well, the moment I hit the golf ball with a 7-iron, we saw that we might just as well have played the lottery that day because the ball went high and true and straight on line toward Cassidy. Caden and I just started screaming, "Cassidy!" and sprinting toward the pool as we both had visions of her getting knocked unconscious by a direct hit from the golf ball and then drowning in the pool. And sure enough, the ball hit in the pool parking lot about 20 yards from her, bounced high in the air, and, drawn like a fly to honey, hit her squarely on the top of her head.

God love her! Cass yelled out in pain and started dancing in the pool like Elaine on a Seinfeld episode, i.e. not gracefully at all. Fortunately, she wasn't knocked out. But oooooh, did her head hurt for days. And it was all because of my poor aim, coupled with an unbelief in the possibility.

And this is why St. Paul is inspired by the Holy Spirit to urge us to aim carefully and thoughtfully with our efforts each day. "Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace," writes Paul in 2 Corinthians 13:11. It's as if Paul is recognizing that, without care and thought in a fallen world, the things we do can all too easily harm and injure other people and whack 'em on the top of the head. So "aim for restoration!"

But Paul closes with a great encouragement, noting "and the God of love and peace will be with you." In essence, Paul's also recognizing that in a fallen world, God is alive and well through the crucified and risen Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. And the reason we need to hear this is because, without such assurance of God's presence, anybody who cared would never do anything. We'd be paralyzed by the fear that every little swing of our club, despite our best aim, was going to wind up hitting and hurting someone. But since "the God of love and peace [is] with [us]," then trusting God to work through all things for good, we're set free to swing away!

So "Aim for restoration" to be sure, but believe all the more that "the God of love and peace [is] with [us]." (2 Corinthians 13:11)

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Mo, 05/05/14, Easter Day #16, "Day of Praise"

1 Corinthians 1:30-31 - "And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.'"

Today, I'm passing along a summary of the challenge I heard at our church this past weekend from 14 hours with Pr. Lynn Downing and how God put on my heart for us all to remember it.

Have you ever been proud of and thankful for someone? If so, you carry pictures of them, and you have things about them memorized, like their birthday.

So why do most of us tend to have very little to say about Jesus, even though we are certainly most thankful for him? Unfortunately, our inability to say much about Jesus hurts us most of all because it shows we don't really know and understand the greatness and power of what has been and is being done for us through Jesus.

Let's change that now. In today's Bible verses, we hear three things that Jesus is for us: righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Let's add seven and learn an even ten so we can walk even more powerfully in Christ.

Here's an acronym tool to learn ten awesome things that Jesus is for us. Think of our sinful mess as ERR, as in mistakes. Our ERR was dealt with between PA (the Father) and JR (the Son), which gives us PAERRJR. And PA and JR are Always So Good (ASG) for dealing with our ERR, so we have PAERRJRASG. Got it? If not, then reread this paragraph, please!

So what do these ten letters, PAERRJRASG, tell us IN ORDER that Jesus is for us in dealing with our ERR?
P - Propitiation - He absorbs God's wrath against us for sin.
A - Atonement - He removes our sin.
E - Expiation - He removes our uncleanness.
R - Redemption - He's the ransom payment for our liberty.
R - Righteousness - He fulfills all requirements for restoring us to God.
J - Justification - He leaves nothing for us to be indicted before God.
R - Reconciliation - He restores us to God's face and therefore intimate fellowship with God.
A - Adoption - He makes us joint heirs of PA with himself, JR.
S - Sanctification - He seals aaaaaall the above and matures us in conduct by the power of the Holy Spirit.
G - Glorification - He completes our perfection at his coming again.

Please friends, take time to learn more about the most special One in our lives so that God can be praised and others can meet Jesus through you and you can walk in his power. Have faith in Jesus Christ, and you will see!

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Sa, 05/03/14, Easter Day #14. "Day of Praise"

John 8:11 - "She said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.'"

Surprise!

Who likes surprises? I guess, for all of us, it depends on what kind of surprise you're talking about.

Yesterday, I was just plain ol' surprised when I was charged $15 at CVS pharmacy for a gift card that was supposed to take $15 off my bill. A net loss of $30. But we worked it out, and it was no big deal.

And then there are pleasant surprises. As a pastor, I feel blessed when someone walks into my life for any reason because the person is almost always making her/himself vulnerable with a matter of the heart. But, it's always a pleasant surprise when someone walks into your life who is Godly, Christ-centered, Spirit-filled, grace-flowing, relationally-wise, divinely-prioritized, Biblically-valued, humble-AND-meek-bent, long-term-oriented, patiently-persevering, kid-sharing, huge-hearted, sharp-minded, kind-and-compassionate, socially-confident, smoothly-articulate, community-involved, the-more-the-merrier-postured, fun-filled, silly-humored, flower-loving. You, of course, can make your own list of traits that pleasantly surprise you, but that's part of mine. And when I see those traits with someone who comes to church or that my kids tell me they met at school, then I'm pleasantly surprised.

But easily the best possible surprise is when we're met with grace. Grace by it's nature is surprising because grace is always undeserved. God's word is clear that God's grace alone makes life worth living. For example, fundamentally, we didn't do anything to be called into being because we didn't exist, so how could we deserve to be created? That we exist is purely God's grace. It's a surprise. The best surprise.

Today's Bible verse, gives us another example of grace as the best surprise. It's the example of forgiveness. Forgiveness is when an offended party gives up the right to get even with the offender. Though the consequences of sin touch people, all sin is against God because sin, by it's nature, is a rebellion against God and his word. So when the woman, caught in adultery, is spared by Jesus's wisdom instead of stoned by the people of the town, she's surprised. When Jesus though takes it further and doesn't condemn her but forgives her and sends her on her way to live a new life. She's downright shocked. Surprise! The best surprise. The surprise of grace. The surprise of something totally underserved coming your way.

Friends, I constantly hear people talking about wanting a better world. Well, the power to make it better is in our reach. All it takes is our lifting our hearts and thanking God for his surprising grace. And then passing it along. People will be surprised, even shocked, like the woman caught in adultery. And your world, our world, will instantly be a better place!

Let's do it! Wooohooo!

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Fr, 05/02/14, Easter Day #13, "Day of Praise"

Matthew 16:3 - "[Jesus said to them, 'You say,] "And in the morning, 'It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times."'"

Here's some Driver's License Test questions:
A red light means what?
"Stop", yes!
A green light means what?
"Go", yes!
And a yellow light means what?
"Floor it!!!"
Uuuuuh, no, I'm sorry, that's not right. A yellow light means "prepare to stop." And the unwillingness to interpret the sign that is a yellow light as "prepare to stop" has been the cause of many a death.

And that's exactly what Jesus is talking about in today's verse when he says, "You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times." The key sign that Jesus refers to is the sign of Jonah. Jesus even tells us what the sign of Jonah is, namely, that just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a whale, so too will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the belly of the earth. The sign of Jonah is a sign that testifies to the truth that just as Jonah seemed dead in the whale but he was spewed forth by the whale onto dry land, so too Jesus seemed dead in the grave but he was spewed forth by the Living God into the midst of the living.

So why, then, do so many people, many of whom profess to be Christians, continue to live as if Jesus is still dead and in the grave? Tragically, the unwillingness to interpret the sign that is Jesus' resurrection as "live like Jesus is alive" has been the cause of many a death. In other words, everyday, many a Christian approaches a difficult situation as if Jesus is dead by never appealing to the crucified, risen, and living Christ to do something about the situation and then believing that he will do it and looking for him to do it.

God wants us to read the signs of the times correctly so we can live abundantly. When a difficult situation comes up in our lives, it does not mean that we're done for or that we're supposed to deal with it in our own strength. Instead, when we have a difficult situation, it means that Jesus, who conquered the greatest ever difficulty of an unjust death, is about to show you his mighty power and conquer your difficulty too!!!

Let us be found believing, and may God be praised for his victory over every difficulty in our lives by the power of the risen and living Jesus Christ. Can I get an "Amen!"? Aaaaaaaaamen!

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

Day of Praise

Th, 05/01/14, Easter Day #12, "Day of Praise"

Psalm 23:1a - "The Lord is my shepherd."

The price of prejudice is high.

In fact, the price is so high that I'm going to use a fancy word to describe it. The price of prejudice is exorbitant. "Exorbitant" means "exceeding the bounds of custom, propriety, or reason, especially in amount or extent; highly excessive." Of the many definitions of exorbitant that I found, only one said anything about being fair. That's because the price of prejudice is not fair. It's exorbitant.

Just ask Donald Sterling.

It's possible that you don't know Donald Sterling because he's stolen national news at the same time as deadly tornadoes. In a nutshell, Donald Sterling is the owner-in-limbo for the Los Angeles Clippers of the world's best basketball league. A recording of him, making vicious, racist remarks was leaked to the media. Mr. Sterling has discovered that the price of racial prejudice is exorbitant. His parting gifts are a lifetime ban from the league, a fine of $2.5 million, and a forced sale of his team. Mr. Sterling thinks his penalty is not fair, so he's appealing it to a high court because he thinks his penalty is exorbitant. Hunh? Of that you are right, Mr. Sterling.

But, as exorbitant as Mr. Sterling's racial prejudice penalty is, it's nothing compared to the price of prejudice that God says some others might pay in relation to today's Bible verse, which says that the Lord is our shepherd. Ya see, there were people in Bible days who were prejudiced against shepherds. Shepherds were not only unbathed and uneducated, but they were also unable to keep the Sabbath and worship the Lord, so they were considered spiritually unclean. Therefore many people who were prejudiced toward shepherds didn't want to associate with shepherds. Unfortunately, the price of such prejudice is not just exorbitant; it's downright "out of this world."

Since the Lord Jesus is our shepherd, to be prejudiced against him and not associate with him is to keep him at arms length. And to keep him at arms length is to not receive him. And to not receive Jesus is to die an eternal death, which is like getting eaten alive by the biggest, baddest wolf. The irony is that the biggest baddest wolf is so confused by his prejudice against the shepherd that he dresses up in sheep's clothes.

Furthermore, Jesus is constantly associating with shepherd-level people like the poor, the hungry, the imprisoned, and the sick. And he says that whatever you did (or not) towards all these shepherd-level people is what you did (or not) towards Jesus.

The sum of all this is that being prejudiced not only runs the risk of missing an opportunity to serve Jesus, but it also runs the risk of missing him altogether.

And that's a price far greater than Donald Sterling has to pay a pro basketball league.

And it's a price that God wants no one to pay. So surrender to the Holy Spirit, put your faith in Jesus, and love all people as if something is at stake.

Because it is.

Put your faith in Jesus; and you'll see.

Praise God!

Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson