The Gospel is about the life of Jesus in the life of His new creation. In Christ the Church lives and moves and has its being. In Christ, the Church is formed and shaped by the cross, and in that cross the Church finds the meaning and depth of her existence.

We Christians don't live for ourselves or for our own personal agendas. God's agenda is the most important thing in all the world to those of us who seek to carry Jesus' cross with Him, and we live for God regardless of what it might or might not personally mean to us in our private lives.

Jesus calls us to a faithfulness that lives in response to God and to what God is doing in the world. Our question is not, "what's in it for me?" but rather, "What does it mean for us to lose our lives for the sake of the One who both created and redeems us?" What's in it for God? What's in it for the kingdom? What's in it for the Church?

Like queen Esther of old, we come to each day released to the fact that we may perish but even if we do we know that God is present and at work, at that His will, shall be accomplished. This puts everything in perspective and releases us to let go of any and all distractions, and to live in the "good, acceptable and perfect will of God" (Rom. 12:2).

Take up the cross and follow Jesus into that which is good, acceptable and perfect.

In his book, With God in The Crucible, Peter Storey who pastored for years in south Africa and who is now Professor Emeritus at Duke University has a wonderful message entitled, Let God Be God! In this message Storey writes,

…the Church must be the Church. Jesus brought into being an entirely new, radically different community, offering people a citizenship transcending the frontiers of nations and contrasting powerfully with the norms around it. The Church is not not simply another institution in society, nor is it an extension of the traditions of any one nation….
The Church must be different from, and often over against and in contradiction to, the ways of all nations. That alternative identity must be cherished and guarded as the most important characteristic of the Church. The richest gift the Church can give the world is to be different from it. It must be a constant irritant that the world doesn’t want, but cannot do without.” (Abington Press: Nashville, 2002)

Storey then shares a personal word of experiences in South Africa. He writes,

When we were cast out of the corridors of power and disowned and vilified by the sate, at first we saw it as a loss of influence. But in that loss we found our souls and rediscovered our identity. We were set free from the false patriotism that worships the nation’s idols. We found instead a higher patriotism that determined to hold the nation accountable to the Kingdom of God and God’s justice before everything else.

I embrace what Storey says, and I believe that he is on to something rooted and grounded in Scripture, and offers us a way of being the salt and light of Jesus in the world, in a way that is uniquely of Jesus.

Compassion filled His heart as Jesus looked over a crowd and realized how much the people needed God (see Matt. 9:35-38). He then turned to His disciples and challenged them to pray that God would "send out workers into His harvest field."

Because of the extreme need at hand what kind of "workers" do you believe Jesus was calling into His harvest field? I think that not just anybody should show up for God in a world desperately in need of God. Those who dare be "workers" for God need to be a special breed. What breed exactly? In Matthew 10:8 Jesus gives us a hint. There He says, "Freely you have received, freely give."

Workers for God need to realize how much God has given to them, then take that generosity and turn it around on others. There is no room for tightwads in the harvest field that belongs to God. Great grace received become great grace given.

FREELY. What a great word. What a great way to live. What a great way to make God look good. What a great way to be to others what God is to us.

Am wondering if there are some folks out there who would pass along to me the name of the candidate they plan on voting for in the November presidential election? And, would you be willing to pass along 4 or 5 reasons you are supporting your candidate? Thank you! Any input will be helpful for a project I am working on.
God bless.

In a message entitled, Becoming What God Intended You to Be, Dr. Anthony Campolo shares what is really an important story as well as a crucial evaluation. He writes

At Eastern University, where I taught for so many years, I would constantly encounter students who would ask a simple question: How can I know what God wants me to do with my life? What a question! But I could never answer the question because I'm not sure that Jesus wants us to look that far ahead. I'm convinced that what Jesus calls us to do is to solve this problem: What should I be doing today? He says quite pointedly, "do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6:31, 34).

After quoting Jesus Campolo then asks, "Are you going to do what God wants you to do today? That's the ultimate question. Everyday you should get up and say, "This is the day that the Lord has made."

The point in all this? Focus on today. Do what faith calls you to do today. In time the days will become a story, a history, and you will discover that Jesus has led you all the way.

The fact of the matter is that Christians are a sent people. The church isn’t present to be a nice fixture for cultures or to offer a pleasant contribution to an enjoyable conversation being held by nice people. The Church is present because Jesus called her to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19). The Church is sent.

It seems Jesus was intent on bringing into the world a people who would forever proclaim that His life “was the light of men” (John 1:4). His life was good for people who lived in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7). His story is to be told, His life is to be shared, and His glory is to be revealed in all the world. This is what the Church is to be about in her service to “go and make disciples.”

So, how is the Church doing? How faithful are we to proclaim that Jesus is the light of men? Are we passionate about telling His story, sharing His life, and revealing His glory?

In short, how are we doing when it comes to being faithful to the Christ who saved us and who fills us with His Spirit? For two thousand years somebody somewhere was faithful, so much so that in time the message reached us. What shall they say about us in the times to come?

On one remarkable day the Holy Spirit filled the waiting disciples with His very own presence and the world has not been the same since. On that day the Church was born, and a movement was let loose in history that would boldly go to the remotest parts of the earth in the name of Jesus, proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world. It was quite a day.

The twenty-eight chapters of the Book of Acts gives us stories of the first efforts at fulfilling the Great Commission, an effort that is still under way, twenty centuries later. The book closes somewhere around the late 60s or early 70s. Since then, some have suggested, the Church has been writing the twenty-ninth chapter of Acts.

Here in the opening years of the twenty-first century the Church finds itself at a time when the message of Jesus is desperately needed. To live that message the Church is still dependent upon the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. The Church was birthed in supernatural power, carried out it's first mission efforts in supernatural power, and will be fruitful today to degree that it yields it's life to the supernatural possibilities of God in the world. Not magic, mind you, but supernatural, God-explained, power. A much quoted but perhaps most under-used Scripture still holds true: "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the Lord Almighty" (Zech. 4:6). It was true for ancient Zerubbabel and it is true for us, too.

Get connected to God, and stay connected. Let God be God in your life and in the life of the Church. May all that we do and may all that we are be defined by the presence of the Holy Spirit. He is our POWER.

The word of Jesus to His disciples as He ascended back to the Father was, "wait" (Acts. 1:4). He called them to wait in Jerusalem until God gave to them a gift they would desperately need. They had been aware of a baptism with water but God was going to baptize them "with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:5).

The Spirit baptism was going to be unique in that when He came upon them they would "receive power" (Acts 1:8). The power would enable them to be faithful to God, so faithful that they would live as witnesses of Christ as the Church spread from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and "to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Two thousand years later the Church lives in this same promise and in the same power. At least, the Church is invited to do so.

Whether or not the Church lives in the power of the Spirit today is under debate. The truth is, however, we are never the Church when we live by a power that is not of God. God's power is what makes us who we are.

Our abilities, our talents, our savvy, our skills, our gifts are wonderful, and thank God for them. But, these are not what make us the Church. It is the power of the Holy Spirit in a people that makes them the Church. In Him we live and move and have our being. It is the power of the Spirit who brings to us the very life of God that makes us the Church

Don't try to be the Church in your own capacities, but do let the Holy Spirit baptize you with power. Then, you will find that God is at work in your life, and that you are a vital part of something wonderful for and from God ~~ the Church of Jesus Christ.

Religion is an interesting animal. It can bring life and it can bring death. It can instill hate or it can inspire peace. It can unite or it can divide. Truthfully, it has been known to do all of these things through out human history. This is why religion makes me nervous. In fact, religion terrifies me because religion is too private and too subjective It acts out of the context of its own created foundations, and assigns the reason for the action, be they good, bad, or ugly, to God. So, religion is very human, very self-promoting, and very dangerous. It manipulates God to be what the religionist needs for God to be.

This is one of the reason I follow Jesus. I do not believe He is present to start religions. He is present, rather, to draw us to the living God. He expresses God’s desire for His creation to “seek him and perhaps reach out for him, and find him” (Acts 17:27).

Jesus shows us that it is God who created us and loves and that it is “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). God has spoken into human history in the person of Jesus, and when He raised Jesus from the dead He manifested the fact that people can turn around and live differently than they once lived. Renewal is possible in this world.

The life of God can come into dead and barren places and breathe the breath of true life into them. Evil does not have to win. In Christ we see that God has spoken “with justice” (Acts 17:31), and has new things to do in us and in history.

It is when people let God be God in their lives we see the dramatic new reality God has in store. We don’t worship a principle or a theology or a doctrine. Rather, by grace we are drawn to a person, Jesus. In Him we see who God really is. We see God not as the unknown so much as the one who in Jesus makes Himself known, so known that renewal is always at hand.

What is it we Christians are saying to the world, something that nobody else is saying, that one thing that makes us Christian, that one thing that forms us into who we are?

In the ancient city of Thessalonica the apostle Paul helps us find our answer. Along with his ministry partner, Silas, he went to the synagogue, and to the people there “he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead” (Acts 17:2-3).

In his explaining and proving the Paul said an incredible thing. He told the people, “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ” (Acts. 17:3). Of his remarkable claim Luke says, “Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women” (Acts 17:4)

What makes us who we are as Christians? Jesus who is the Christ. What continually shapes and forms our lives? Jesus, who is the Christ. What drives the Church to be faithful in all things to God? Jesus, who is the Christ.

So the question isn't really what. The question is Who. Who makes us Christian, who shapes and forms our lives, who drives the Church to be faithful? Jesus. It is in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).

On the road to Damascus Saul of Tarsus didn't meet a doctrine or a position or a discourse. He met a person. He met Jesus and Jesus changed his life forever. So, in his evangelistic outreach Paul didn't particularly tell people what to believe. Instead, he gave them a whom; He gave them Jesus and called them to believe in Him.

And what did Paul want the people to know about Jesus? He wanted them to know that He suffered, died, and was raised from the dead. He wanted his world to know that in his resurrection Jesus was confirmed to be the Christ.

We live in an information drenched, rapidly changing, violent, and unpredictable world. We live there as Christians, proclaiming that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and is here today as both Lord and Christ to bring the very life of God into the human experience.

The message of Jesus is more up-to-date than is the last update of your computer’s news information and is laser sharp in penetrating the “thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). Remarkably, even though Jesus knows the true thoughts and attitudes of the human heart, He is not present so as to trip us up concerning the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts (He doesn’t play gotcha games), but He is present to save us from ourselves so that we may experience the glory of being fully alive in the life that is God. We call it grace. In fact, we call it, “Amazing Grace.”

Living in Amazing Grace the church finds itself in this remarkable time in human history as the voice of hope. Jesus is present to enter into the storyline of every person, and to be in that story as both Lord and Christ. This is why the Bible brings to us teachings such as, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want” (Psalm 23:1) and, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).

What a great time it is to live. What a great time it is to be Christian. What a great time it is to live within the embrace of “Amazing Grace.” What a great time it is to share the story of Jesus. What a great time it is fulfill our vows to God (Psalm 116: 14, 18) knowing that God is with us day-by-day, each step of the way, and that God is with us as the One whose presence is so real and so meaningful that we must conclude, “I shall not be in want.”

Regardless of what your future may or may not be, enter into it under the anointing of the One who is your God. Come to it in the power of God’s faithfulness.

On the day of Pentecost and in response to Peter’s appeal for people to “save yourselves from this corrupt generation,” 3000 people joined up and entered into a new way of life, the Jesus way of life. At the end of the day they realized that a new creation had emerged and that the world, from then on, would never be absent the church Jesus is building.

And what a church is was. There was awe. There were wonders and miraculous signs. There was sacrifice. There was generosity. There was fellowship. There was worship. There was witnessing. They prayed together and gathered together to hear important teaching from their leaders. There was a sense of unity that so bonded the people that they “ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God” (Acts. 2:42-47). God was on the move in the early church, and in many remarkable ways the world has not been the same since the activities recorded in Acts chapter two.

In short, the early church was a people under the influence of the Holy Spirit. They were accused of being under the influence of alcohol but Peter corrected that error in His dynamic sermon, and he let the listeners know that what was happening wasn’t of alcohol. This was a God thing.

I wonder if what is happening in our culture through the church a God thing. I often wonder, “what ever happened to the wonder?” Have we become too familiar with God things so that we’ve lost the wonder? Is “awe” too unscientific for the day in which we live? In our church, and in my life, what can be explained only because of the presence of God?

My prayer is simple: “O God, please connect us to the Vine so that the very life blood of the resurrected Jesus pulsates through our being. Pour out Your Holy Spirit, take over, and have Your way.”

Easter is that day when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Actually we do this every Sunday but on this one day, we stop on purpose and with deep intention to remember and to celebrate the event itself; the one event that forms and shapes all it means for Christians to be Christian. That Jesus was raised from the dead brings a new way of being in the world, a resurrection way of being in the world.

So it is that on another significant day in history a, when God kept His word and poured out His Spirit on His people, the apostle Peter preached a message that was rooted and grounded in the fact that God had raised Jesus to life again (Acts. 2: 32). Pentecost was the day Jesus baptized His Church with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matt. 3:11) and what did Peter preach about? The resurrection of Jesus.

In the power of the Holy Spirit Peter confirmed the fact that "it was impossible for death to keep its hold on" Jesus (Acts. 2:24). He confirmed that the ancient king, David, "was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants of his throne" (Acts. 2:30). Peter confirmed that what king David did was to look to what was ahead and that there he saw, "the resurrection of the Christ" (Acts. 2:31). And, to it all Peter bears his own witness and says, "God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact" (Acts 2:32).

Today we are called to a Spirit-baptized witness to the living Christ. Jesus isn't on the cross today and He isn't in a tomb. He lives, and like those of our past we, too, are Faith-witnesses that death itself is defeated and that only Jesus Christ is Lord.

It reads so casually we might miss it, yet it brings to us the incredible mystery of our Faith The apostle Peter said of Jesus in Acts 10:39, “They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him for the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.”

Excuse me? They what? And God what on the third day? They killed him but God raised him. Okay. If you say so. It reads like, “Please pass the butter They killed Jesus you know (can I have the salt, too) but God raised him from the dead.”

Of course it wasn’t quite that nonchalant but I am struck how such a radical and almost unbelievable event could be spoken of without a band playing in the background and without lights blinking and without some kind of incredible Hollywoodish-like fanfare. I mean, isn’t this huge? This isn’t huge. This is mammoth.

At the heart of our story is the remarkable truth, "they killed him but God raised him." And why did God raise him? Peter said it was so that everyone who would believe in Jesus would receive "forgiveness of sins through his name" (Acts. 10:43). Whatever we do for Jesus must make known the offer of His forgiveness. It is why He was raised from the dead. It is what the Father wants. It is what people of every race, creed and color need.

The apostle Peter tells us that wherever Jesus went, "he went…doing good and healing" (Acts 10:38). As His followers this is what we do, too. We don't just preach the Gospel of Jesus; we do good in the name of the Gospel of Jesus. We teach, we empower, we feed, we clothe, we lift human beings up to their full potential, a potential defined by that one day in history when the Father "raised him from the dead."

Go. You are forgiven. Now, do good in Jesus' name. Live the forgiven life and bring grace into your world.

It is the paradox of Messiah’s earth bound reality. Jesus enters Jerusalem with royal praise and approval, seated humbly on the back of a donkey. And make no mistake about it; the donkey was a strategic part of the story. It was a symbol of peace, not war.

He came in peace but by the end of the week they would make war against Him and He would be brutally assaulted and crucified. At the end of this horrific week they would place a placard on the cross proclaiming Jesus to be the King He really is. And what kind of king is He? He is a King who rules by self-giving and who wins by losing.

Palm Sunday reminds us that things are not always the way they seem. Death can masquerade as life. Evil can impersonate good. Hate can rest just beneath the surface of praise, and the accolades of Hosanna can quickly turn to “Crucify Him.”

But then we ought not to be surprised at the Holy Week’s turn of events. Jesus said it was a must that He go to “Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and… be killed” (Matt. 16:21). Now we find ourselves at the beginning of the week Jesus said would happen.

Of course, Jesus also said something else. He said that after the suffering and dying He would, “on the third day be raised to life” (Matt. 16:21). That changes things a bit, doesn’t it? Indeed, suffering is not the last word and neither is death. After every word that can be spoken in this world one marvelous, wonderful and awesome word remains ~~ Resurrection.

Have you ever been in the "depths?" One time David prayed, "Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold" (Ps. 69:1-2). David wasn't really in literal waters, but it was like he was drowning in the overwhelming issues crashing down around him. Depth captures the emotion of terror, fear, pain, grief, questions, and conflict that can hold the human heart captive.

In Psalm 130, a song the people sang on their way to worship, there is a prayer the people prayed, "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord" (vs. 1). So, they knew about depths, too. Let me ask again, have you ever been in the depths? Are you in the depths now?

You're probably thinking, "What silly questions! When am I ever not in the depths of something crashing in around me?" Good point. Life is hard and complicated, with pressures bearing down on us some from within and self-inflicted, and others from without and beyond our control.

The ancient worshipers had it right in that they brought their very lives into the reality of God and they put their hope in the Lord whose love was unfailing (vs. 7). Unashamedly they prayed, "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope" (vs. 5). They took God seriously and made God the focus of their existence. You can feel their passion in their words, "My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning" (vs. 6).

And, Israel had it right. The real problem at the root of all problems is the resulting effect of sin. They knew they didn't just need help; they needed God in their story. After all, they said, "with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins" (vs. 8).

It's a good idea to let God into our stories.

Have you ever been in the "depths?" One time David prayed, "Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold" (Ps. 69:1-2). David wasn't really in literal waters, but it was like he was drowning in the overwhelming issues crashing down around him. Depth captures the emotion of terror, fear, pain, grief, questions, and conflict that can hold the human heart captive.

In Psalm 130, a song the people sang on their way to worship, there is a prayer the people prayed, "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord" (vs. 1). So, they knew about depths, too. Let me ask again, have you ever been in the depths? Are you in the depths now?

You're probably thinking, "What silly questions! When am I ever not in the depths of something crashing in around me?" Good point. Life is hard and complicated, with pressures bearing down on us some from within and self-inflicted, and others from without and beyond our control.

The ancient worshipers had it right in that they brought their very lives into the reality of God and they put their hope in the Lord whose love was unfailing (vs. 7). Unashamedly they prayed, "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope" (vs. 5). They took God seriously and made God the focus of their existence. You can feel their passion in their words, "My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning" (vs. 6).

And, Israel had it right. The real problem at the root of all problems is the resulting effect of sin. They knew they didn't just need help; they needed God in their story. After all, they said, "with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins" (vs. 8).

It's a good idea to let God into our stories.

Having grown up as a shepherd boy in the hills around Bethlehem, king David knew all about sheep and he knew all about shepherds. One day when he reflected upon the greatness of his God he spoke of God as his shepherd.

David’s faith expression prompts some questions. How do people in what is being called a postmodern age, what some are calling a post-Christian age, see God? Is God a shepherd? Does God care? Is there a tender side to God? Is God a strict taskmaster, seeking his pound of flesh? Is there a God, and if there is how personal is God?

David thought God was very personal. To Him God was like a shepherd, drawing near his sheep to do whatever it takes to watch over them. He is a God who protects, who leads, who guides, even when the enemy surrounds His people.

The Shepherd won’t let his people live in denial, either. The world is filled with enemies of the Christian soul, and David isn’t hesitant to use the title “enemy.” Factors are at work in the world that can easily lead to paralyzing fear, but those factors are overpowered by the reality of the presence of the Living Shepherd-God.

For David life in God is life at it’s greatest possible meaning. The sheep are blessed because God is present. The enemy may still be there, mind you, but so is God. The cause of fear may still be there, but so is God. The valley of the shadow of death may still be there, but so is God.

So, the people of God journey with God leading them forward under His anointing and following them by His goodness and love (Ps. 23:5-6). This means we have divine grace for today and divine hope for tomorrow.

Can you say, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want” (Ps. 23:1)?

They had a nickname for the place; they called it Massah-Meribah, the place of strife and testing. It was the place where the people of God decided they had been betrayed by God and His spokesman, Moses. It was the place where the people decided they knew more than God. It was the place where God said, “Enough.”

It would take a while for the “enough” to run it’s course, but a seed of rebellion was revealed at Massah-Meribah that would haunt the people until they had all died (except for Joshua and Caleb, but that’s a story for another time). This rebelling generation didn’t make it to the promise land, but died in the desert where they told God over and over that He wasn’t very good at His job, and that they could do it much better (See Exodus 17:1-7 for the riveting details).

In Psalm 95 a passionate appeal is made that people of God not be like those folks of Massah-Meribah but that they be a people who bow down in worship before the Lord their Maker (6). In worship the people proclaimed, “Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation” (2). In worship they said, “Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song” (3).

No rebellion here; no fussing at God because He’s not Johnny-on-the-spot. Rather a proclamation that “The Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods” (3). In the ebb and flow of life the people knew and confessed, “He is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care” (7).

God provided water at Massah-Meribah because that is the kind of God He is. Today He is with us. “Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker” (6).

Wondering if anyone might respond to the following statement:

"A social justice that does not call forth repentance in persons is not the social justice revealed in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ."

Any feedback (pro or con) will be appreciated, as I am in an ongoing discussion with several people who wonder about the way the church is choosing to address issues that come under the umbrella of Social Justice. This quote came up the other day, and I really would like some feedback.

Thanks,
Rick