Even nature sings

This world is messed up in magnitude, but there is a more amazing God who has invited us to know him, linking arms with us that we might be amplifiers for the beauty of Jesus to all peoples.

He is not only a global God — he’s a galatic God. He is bigger than anything we can imagine. We don’t have a clue, really, about who we are dealing with. The universe was one of God’s thoughts.

These are some of the thoughts that Pastor Louie Giglio shared at the Desiring God 2011 National Conference. His text was from Psalm 148: 1 – 5

Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts!
Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created.

In the message he helps up to remember that God tends to direct our attention to things greater than us to lead us to worship. We don’t understand the expanse of the worship that constantly surrounds the throne of God. I hope that is short clip from his message will help you to realize the heavens are already doing what God is calling us to do everyday. Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB835wkz1Tc&feature=related]

(View the complete message here)

So you want to live together before marriage?

Over the last few years I have had the distinct privilege of performing multiple weddings, but before that process begins I ask the each couple does some “pre-marital” sessions with me to prepare them for what lies ahead. Between my pre-marital sessions and working in a “secular” workplace (though I do not believe there is a divide between sacred and secular, but I digress) I find that both “Christians” and non- Christians are moving in for a myriad of reasons.

Financial/ our current economy
Sexual (though unstated if you are “Christian”)
Simple try out (i.e. test drive marriage before purchase) and many more.

In these sessions we talk about the Biblical perspective of cohabitation, and (not surprisingly) I see and hear that sliding into cohabitation is more normal than not. Whatever the reasons there has been a substantial increase on cohabitation according to a recent New York Times article,

Cohabitation in the United States has increased by more than 1,500 percent in the past half century. In 1960, about 450,000 unmarried couples lived together. Now the number is more than 7.5 million. The majority of young adults in their 20s will live with a romantic partner at least once, and more than half of all marriages will be preceded by cohabitation. (emphasis added)

The article goes on to state that,

…nearly half of 20-somethings agreed with the statement, “You would only marry someone if he or she agreed to live together with you first, so that you could find out whether you really get along.” About two-thirds said they believed that moving in together before marriage was a good way to avoid divorce.

But that belief is contradicted by experience. Couples who cohabit before marriage tend to be less satisfied with their marriages — and more likely to divorce — than couples who do not. These negative outcomes are called the cohabitation effect.

I have to admit, it is a little frustrating that we as pastors are constantly derided for giving people “antiquated” information about sex, relationships, and life in general all because our source of truth happens to be the Bible. Yet, once again God turns out to be smarter than all of us, imagine that. As a society our thoughts on certain subjects, especially revolving around sex, are “evolving” but Biblical truth does not. Continually, as research and science are compiled the findings come back around to agreeing with those time honored truths.

I do not exactly know where you stand on this subject, obviously I have my opinions tempered by the truth of the Bible. I will admit that amongst the pressures of todays society it is not easy adhere to Biblical truth but an infinite God instructed us for His glory and our joy versus finite man coming up with our “truth” and eventually coming to His conclusions.

I would love to know your thoughts below.

Read the complete NY Times article here.

may his days be few

I don’t talk a lot about politics on my blog or in my life. Honestly, I am not a fan of either political party, they both seriously get on my nerves whenever I think about them. Please don’t get me wrong, just because I don’t talk about it doesn’t mean I don’t care about politics. I just choose not to obsess over it, especially in this phase our nations history because I believe there are much more pressing things to deal with.

Politics is important to me because it involves policies and policies, ultimately, impact people. We have no choice: we must be engaged in our civic responsibilities and affairs.

Let me be clear, I am a staunch independent, I have voted on both sides of the aisle. When it comes to political parties I try to urge people to not be fooled, swayed and seduced by the powers to be. That being said I was reminded of a conversation I had with a friend over coffee a few months back. As we sat across from each other he was telling me of his upcoming missions trip to a undisclosed place we began to talk about things that we were praying for in our lives and how we could be praying for each other. He revealed that he was recently struggling with the dialogue of Christians towards our president. He asked me this question:

I wonder what would happen if we prayed for the President just as much as we complain and blame him for all our problems?

This conversation was months ago but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. I honestly can not fathom the burden and weight of his job and the ‘calling’ of the Presidency. In many ways, we ought to commend the courage of all those who step into leadership – on any level – including but not limited to the highest level. We can criticize all we want about our current presidential candidates, but we must acknowledge them for their courage to be in such vulnerable positions.

You see, it doesn’t matter what your political leanings, affiliations, and affections may be. I’m always amazed by those who would quote 1 Timothy 2:1-4 as an encouragement to pray for our leaders but we hesitate when it’s someone we disagree with and instead start quoting Psalm 109:8

“May his days be few; and let another take his office.”

(Side note: I honestly might scream the next time I see this out of context bumper sticker in reference to our president, but I digress.)

Here is what I know, President Barack Obama is:

a husband
a daddy
our President
proclaimed Christian (only God knows his heart)
a representative of a people group (African Americans)
[arguably] the most influential and powerful man on earth
a human

You may agree or disagree with his policies and/or decisions. You may be a Republican, Democrat, Tea Party or Coffee Party, but it doesn’t matter. The next time you find yourself complaining about him or preparing to slam a policy please lift a prayer for him. His marriage, his daughters, family, strength, conviction, courage, wisdom, safety, and peace.

When life is not fair

A few weeks ago I once again received a call to come back to Park Hill Baptist Church. This church asked me to fill in the pulpit again as they continued the search for an Interim Pastor and eventually a new Senior Pastor. Much like last time I found myself not feeling comfortable with any of the subjects that came to mind for to preach. You see, for me, if I am going into an environment I have never been to before, and possibly will not return to, I try to prayerfully seek a subject that the Spirit leads me to say, and this time it was a doozy. Once again, I traveled back to my pastoral study (aka BlackDog Coffeehouse) and prayed until the Father answered. This sermon was for me and as I soon found out for many people in the attending audience. I pray that it is half of the blessing it was to me in preparing it. Maybe this will give you an idea of where I am going with this sermon:

“Life is not fair. Good people have to die early. There are people that waste money like water, and there are other people who struggle to pay for their parents hospital bills. There are people that spend thousands of dollars on a vacation, and there are other people working three jobs to make ends meet. The funny part is people that spent thousands of dollars on vacation wouldn’t pay for their children’s tuition, and people that working three jobs wants to pay for their children’s tuition. How sad…Life is not fair. And it never will be. What’s the point of life anyway? See the injustice and then you die, painfully.”

Below you will find both audio and video versions of the sermon “Patience in the fires of life” (Malachi 2:17 – 3:7a). Please enjoy!

Audio:

[audio https://somajc.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/patience-in-the-fires-of-life-malachi-2_17-3_7a.mp3]

Video:

Video: Poor audio quality

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/38177824]

Almost (saved) by Ezekiel Azonwu

Ezekiel Azonwu is a resident poet at P4CM which is a ministry looking to Intentionally Impact the world for Christ. They build you up spiritually and teach Biblical subjects in a creative way that can be understood by all. They constantly deliver powerful and compelling word of mouth and this piece does not disappoint. Throughout the poem half of me was smiling and nodding my head, the other half was wincing in pain while evaluating my own life. In the end our enemy does not care if you look right on the outside to the rest of the world, or about your church attendance, he is looking to destroy you by letting you be [well]…. almost.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqfU3OFNZA0]

4 World-views that rule our world

A few weeks ago I received a call out of the blue. Park Hill Baptist Church‘s pastor of 28 years had retired and was looking for some people to fill in there pulpit while they began the search for an Interim Pastor and eventually a new Senior Pastor. I was overwhelmed by the invite but I quickly obliged. Over the next week I did not feel comfortable with any of the subjects that came to mind for to preach. You see, for me, if I am going into an environment I have never been to before, and possibly will not return to, I try to prayerfully seek a subject that the Spirit leads me to say. This is NOT said in anyway as a swipe to those pastors who use the same or similar messages for different venues, in some ways I envy you. After a rather interesting conversation with a barista at Blackdog Coffee house (aka my place for sermon prep), I found myself framing a few basic world-views that most people fall into.

Religious world-view: Which says, that there is a god, whoever he or she is, that must be appeased through a series of actions. So there are things that we do and do not do in order to curry favor with that god and to somehow get eternal life when we die.

Secular world-view: says, that there is no god, there are no forces, there is no energy; there is simply us and what we make of it.

Spiritual world-view: Which is different from a religious world-view. The spiritual world-view says there’s probably not a god, but there are forces driving things. Maybe that force is karma, maybe the universe itself is driving, but we need to tap into those spiritual realities and be aware of them to milk out of life all that we want.

Gospel centered world-view: Is really simply living in such a way that this gospel is central. Thus when any kind of a situation arises we can say, “How does the gospel apply to this situation?” When I am dealing with a particular sin or temptation I can ask, “How can I apply the gospel to this sin?” When I am confused about parenting, how I am to raise my children, I can ask, “What does the gospel tell me about my task in parenting?” The primary reality of the Christian life is this one: Christ died for our sins and was raised. Thus everything else flows out of that gospel and every question is answered in reference to it.

I’ll be honest, after the conversation and as I looked back over my life the Gospel centered world-view has not dominated my thinking and movement through my life. This realization was humbling and encouraging and the sermon turned out to be more of a reminder of just how faithful our Father as been throughout my life. My prayer is that as you listen to this message you prayerfully apply what is said and examine yourself.

Below you will find both audio and video versions of the sermon, please enjoy!

How the Gospel saved my life!

Audio:

Romans 5:1 – 11