8/16/15---It's Relational: Ruth

Ruth's story, as recorded in the Old Testament, is a fascinating one. One of the reasons it's one of my favorite stories is that it only takes about 30 minutes to read, even at a leisurely pace such as mine! What impresses me about the book of Ruth is just how much, in 4 short chapters, is packed into this story. Her story has a poignant relevancy for our lives, too. 

John Piper has the following observation about the book of Ruth:

 It's a story that shows how "God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform." It's a story for people who wonder where God is when there are no dreams or visions or prophets. It's for people who wonder where God is when one tragedy after another attacks their faith. It's a story for people who wonder whether a life of integrity in tough times is worth it. And it's a story for people who can't imagine that anything great could ever come of their ordinary lives of faith.

And what a wonderful story it is. In it, I learn that God is soverign, God's ways for us are mysteriously good, and that living with God's goodness gives us freedom. 

Go and read Ruth for yourself. What does this book, her story, teach you about God? About life? About living with God? About having a relationship with God and others?

On Sunday, we'll dive deeper into the depths of Ruth's story. See you then!

8/9/15---It's Relational: David

King David is one of the most known figures from the Bible, no one needs to debate that. He is one of those people that everyone has heard of, and for good reason. He impacted an entire people's history, and stands directly in the genealogy of Jesus. His story, his character, and his legacy is well documented, and for good reason. 

He is known for:

Being a humble boy, anointed to be king

Slaying the giant, Goliath

Alluding Saul

Becoming King 

Enduring many wars

Committing adultery with Bathsheba

Writing many of the psalms found in the Bible

....

His story, his faith, his struggle, his life...impacts our faith, even still today. 

For all that David went through and struggled with, it was important for him to be strong in the Lord. In 1 Samuel 30, David finds himself in the midst of a battle (what are the battles in your life?). In verse 6, it says: "But David found strength in the Lord his God."

David found the strength time and time again, and he did so in ways that are applicable to us today. He wrote; he prayed. How often do we do this? Do we really seek the Lord's strength in times of trouble, where the world seems to be crashing down on us? Where we doubt we can ever get through something? Where our worry paralzes us? Where we are too exhausted, annoyed, apathetic, scared to follow God? David teaches us to reflect, pray, and trust God to help us. David teaches us to continue to praise God through all that life throws at us. Even when it is our own fault, God will help us; God can strengthen us; God will show us grace and love through everything.

Psalm 63:8

My whole being clings to you;
    your strong hand upholds me.

Praise God! See you Sunday!

8/2/15---It's Relational: Samson

Many of us probably haven't heard a sermon on Samson before. He is not one of the more popular Old Testament characters, I don't think. This may be because he has a difficult story to tell. His life is tattered with sin---lust, selfishness, and a general attitude of disobedience, along with a thirst for revenge and violence.

As we march through some of the stories of these Old Testament characters, I hope we can see the story of God working through imperfect people. Folks back then, like now, are prone to sin (and the variety of sinning is quite noteworthy). Yes, God uses us despite ourselves, but I think it goes even further than that. God wants to show us that we can be redeemed through God's action in the world. God continues to show us that God is working in the world, and that is good news, my friends. When God works, there is still hope for redemption and grace to be active in the world. 

Despite Samson's attitudes and dispositions, we have a story through him that is a story of God working through an imperfect person. We can relate so Samson. Hopefully we aren't out there killing people for revenge, but if we are honest with ourselves, we do tend to be selfish and fickle people. But we have something else in common with Samson: God uses us to show the love of God to folks that need God. God uses us despite ourselves, and God uses us to tell a story about his love and redemption. 

And when we come to the Table of Love and Grace, we remember God's story. God turned something terrible (the death of Jesus on the cross) and uses it to write a story of love and grace. 

Are you willing to be a part of God's story? 

See you Sunday. 

7/26/15---It's Relational: Moses

Moses, like Abraham, is one of those characters in the Old Testament that most of us are very familiar with. We know his impact was and is great to this day, even in our own faith. One of the reasons I think that is, or could be if we look at him with a fresh perspective, is because we can relate to him. Yes, he was a great man and did incredible things for God and for God's people. He delivered them out of slavery for goodness sake. The great things that he does not does not take away the fact that he was a human being, with struggles and excuses.

Like most of us, Moses did not, at first, think he could do the things he set out before him. He made excuse after excuse, highlighting his uncertainty, fear, and limitations. When Moses met God on the mountainside of Horeb, God enlisted Moses to free the Israelites from the Egyptians. Moses...did not think he was the man for the job.

God's answer to Moses was that "I will be with you." God did not argue or bargain with Moses, rather, God assured Moses that God would be with him. Moses, then, could overcome his weaknesses with God.

None of us are perfect, but God is. When we realize this, God can work through us in incredible ways. Not because God takes are weaknesses away, but because, for God, our weaknesses do not define us. Our commitment, faith, trust, and obedience to God, does. Our love for our community defines. Our love for God and neighbor defines us.

So God can use you despite your weaknesses, and perhaps even because of them. We'll never know unless we follow God into those opportunities where God leads us.

God is good, and God works through us. Praise God! See you Sunday!

7/19/15---It's Relational: The Life of Abraham

This past Sunday I began a series called "It's Relational." This will be an 8-week series that highlights the lives of several Old Testament characters. Last Sunday, the sermon was about Adam and Eve, whose story reminds us that God's grace adjusts to us, is creative, and steps in where our sins step out...

We are created for relationship with God, and with another ("it is not good that man is alone..."). This is the basis of this preaching series. We can be reminded of this and relate to this through the stories of these Old Testament characters.

This week I will move to Abraham, who is called the father of the faith. Galatians 3:6 cites Genesis 15:6 when it says  "Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." Paul uses Abraham as an example to say that our faith is the basis of our salvation, not our works (this is not to say that what we do is not an appropriate outcome of our faith). Our faith saves us; our faith is counted as righteousness. For Abraham, his faith was so strong that he was willing (although not without struggle, I imagine) to sacrifice his firstborn son, because God commanded it. God ended up saving Isaac because Abraham was faithful. Thus, hos covenant with Abraham would stand.

Speaking of that covenant, where God promised to be Abraham's God and "make you exceedingly numerous," it is also the basis for Abraham's name. He used to be named Abram, but when he took on God's covenant, he was named Abraham. God changed his name because God made him the ancestor of a multitude of nations. God changed Abram (many, multitude) to Abraham (father of many) because he accepted God's covenant relationship with him.

The impact Abraham had on others is hard to miss; his decision to follow God and accept God's relationship with him had a deep and wide impact on a culture, on generations to come, and on our faith as well. We lift Abraham up for his faith and obedience to God. So Abraham teaches us that God wants a relationship with us that impacts others. Praise God for that reminder! See you Sunday!

Sunday June 28th, 2015---Shake it Off

This Sunday, we come to the time in Jesus' travelings where he comes back home to Nazareth with a rather cold welcome. Actually, it wasn't really a welcome at all....

Does this ever happen to you? Do you ever go somewhere and expect one thing and get another? Are you ever disappointed in how someone receives you? Do you ever think "how could someone think they are so great?"

I imagine that Jesus was not very pleased in how he was received in his own hometown. There he was, teaching in the synagogue, and the townfolk thought "where the heck did he get so smart?" They were suspicious and surprised. They were repulsed, thinking "who does this guy think he is!?" And this appalled Jesus. Yes, he was disappointed to the point where he was only able to heal "a few people."

When we don't believe in Jesus, in God's work through Christ, this limits the impact God may have on someone. God uses us to reach and even heal people (although this does not mean God needs or relies on us wholeheartedly; Jesus is still able to heal without the faith of the people).

Jesus knows that a prophet will not be accepted in their hometown; he cites scripture and fulfills there in Nazareth. And he uses this moment to teach his disciples, and us today, a lesson:


"If a place doesn’t welcome you or listen to you, as you leave, shake the dust off your feet as a witness against them.”

I'm sorry, but I can't help but think of that catchy Taylor Swift song "Shake it Off." The song definitely speaks to different circumstances than the ones Jesus faced in his hometown, but it does invite us to simply be ourselves and be confident in who we are. If we take that a bit further---I think we can be led to a self-confidence that is grounded in the faith that God has uniquely shaped us, and has called us each to be who we are.

Jesus called his disciples to shake off the dust of the town that refused their message of the gospel. He called them to be confident in who they are as Christ followers, even if it means that some may not accept them or what they have to say. This is part of what it means to take up your cross and follow Jesus...to be willing to shake off the dust; shake off the shame; shake off the rejection...and follow Christ, speak the gospel; to turn your life around (repent) for God.

See you Sunday!

Sunday, June 21st, 2015---Jesus the Multi-Tasker

Jesus multi-tasked even before it became the norm of our fast-paced 21st century culture. Mark 5:21-43 tells the classic story in which Jesus comes across the sea of Galilee (where he just calmed the storm) on a boat, where a group of people are waiting for him. Among this group is a leader from the synagogue, Jairus. His daughter is in some serious trouble and is at the point of death. So Jesus, with the crowd following him, goes with Jairus to heal his daughter at his house.

On the way there, a woman was so desperate for healing that it was all she could just to brush the edge of Jesus' clothes. She, too, needed healing. Jesus stops the caravan and says "your faith has healed you."

Jesus continues on and heals Jairus' daughter, too.


So Jesus multi-tasked. He problem solved. We can relate to Jesus in this way. So many times in life, something unexpectedly pops up and we have to take care of it, even if it interrupts our original plans. Although we do not have the power to heal people quite like Jesus did, we do know how it feels to deal with "problems" as they come up like Jesus did that day.

This story lies in a crucial portion of Jesus' ministry in Galilee. In chapters 3-6 of Mark, stories are shared with us where Jesus healed people around this lake-front town. What seemed like an interruption that day, is actually included in Jesus' ministry as one of the most significant healing acts he ever did. And it was on the way to do something else. Jesus healed on his way to heal someone else. He ministered on his way to minster.

So, when something unplanned happens in your life, it, too, may be an opportunity for you to minister to someone. Jesus stopped the caravan of people in order to speak life into this woman who needed healing. He did not simply continue on, he was present for this woman.

Unexpected things happen all the time: car trouble, deaths, chores, interruptions, accidents, disasters, you name it...Jesus is showing us, telling us, to be present in those moments for others so that we may show others that their faith heals them; that Jesus is there for them.

Ephesians 2:8

You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith.

Amen! See you Sunday!