Tuesday, September 27, 2011

9/26/2011

In a recent podcast, Ann Graham Lotz [Billy’s daughter] and Joel Rosenburg [popular author] asserted that God is shaking America to spiritually awaken us. Rosenburg said that while 911 was not caused by God [it was caused by fanatics devoted to a false religion], He did allow it to happen to wake us up. However, we pretty much ignored the warning and within a couple of months reverted back to our national pre-911 sins. He mentioned abortion, pornography, drugs, gay marriage and the utter defiance of God. Then Rosenburg reviewed other warnings that should have awakened us over the past 10 years…. hurricane Katrina, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars. He referenced our economic woes and our political divisions/gridlock. He asserted that 2011 has already been the worst year in history for natural disasters….killer tornadoes in Alabama and Missouri, the earthquake on the east coast [the biggest in decades]. Hurricane Irene flooded the Northeast, and we have suffered the worst fires and drought in Texas history.

The American economy seems to be imploding. Thousands of factories have closed. Nearly 15,000,000 jobs have been lost. Home foreclosures are epidemic. Our national debt is increasing by the minute [literally] and we see no way out of the crisis. 8 of 10 people surveyed say our country is on the wrong track. Preacher Bob Russell recently described it like being in the middle of a frozen lake….we hear the ice cracking, but don’t know which way to run for safety.

But, it is not just the U.S….the whole world is being shaken. Japan just experienced a series of terrible earthquakes, one large enough to trigger a tsunami that killed thousands, damaged several nuclear energy facilities and crippled their economy. Australia has had flooding described in one newspaper as a ‘Biblical flood.’ Haiti experienced one of the deadliest earthquakes in history, which killed thousands. Russia is living through the worst drought in 100 years….and China the worst drought in 200 years. There is extreme political unrest and even revolution in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Tunisia. The entire Middle East is in turmoil.

People everywhere are asking big questions: “Are we living in the last days?” “Will America survive?” I have not seen such apocalyptic interest and concern in my lifetime. Many are anxious….troubled. Joel Rosenburg is a scholarly student of prophecy and a frequent guest on national talk shows. He has plainly said, “I believe God is trying to warn us to repent, to stop living such immoral, self-centered lives.”

God has a mission for his church – and that is to warn the world that Jesus is coming back and that the time is short. So, are we living in the last days or not? Absolutely, we are. We have been ever since the Day of Pentecost. The Apostle Peter quoted the prophet Joel when he preached the Gospel for the first time on the day the church was born. The quote from Acts 2:14, “In the last days, God said, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.” And that is exactly what happened on Pentecost. We have been living in the last days for over twenty centuries! The question is…. Are we living in the last days of the last days? My answer: I don’t know. But, what I do know is that unprecedented things are happening globally, in rapid sequence, and that could well be interpreted as warnings to “repent the end is near.” But, whether the end is near or not, as Christians we should live each day as though it were our last, faithfully and zealously being a Great Commandment/Great Commission people…. loving the Lord and one another/making disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them.

Pray with me…. Our loving Father, we know that we were not made to live life on this earth permanently. This world is just our temporary home. We are destined to live with You in the place that Jesus has promised to prepare for us. We praise and thank you that He lives evermore, and that because of who He is and what He has done for us, we have the promise of a greater life. We pray to wisely invest ourselves in Your eternal purpose in these days when the uncertainty of this life is being impressed on us by what is happening in nature and in the governments of men. We trust you Father. In Jesus’ dear name, amen.

Blessings,

Pastor Ken

Monday, September 19, 2011

9/19/2011

They walked with Him, ate with Him, heard His teaching, saw His miracles, prayed with Him, grieved His death and rejoiced in His resurrection. But only after Jesus had ascended into heaven and the power of the Holy Spirit came upon them did the apostles truly make Jesus’ mission and vision their own – to sacrificially serve others, share the Good News and build His church worldwide.

Ultimately, we are a product of their efforts, and today, we have the same mission and vision with the same challenge – making connections with new people and leading them from being passive spectators to active participants who embrace and ‘own’ the mission and vision of the church themselves.

How to best do that is something every faithful church must address, regardless of size, location, denomination, etc. At Crossroads, we will address this coming Lord’s Day, September 25 at 4 PM in our worship center in our annual all-church Vision Meeting. In recent months we have been moving on a path to accelerate the ministry and amplify the witness of Crossroads Christian Church here, near and far away. Beginning the first of the year 2011 we have studied through the Gospel of Luke together. Then we went through the book of Acts, considering the theme, ‘The Church Alive’. Presently, we are learning about our ‘Reborn Identity’ and rediscovering who we are in Christ. In October we will focus on ‘Intimacy With God’ including a special accent on prayer. That will prepare us for the challenge of ‘Revolutionary Generosity’ culminating with our Try The Tithe II weekend after Thanksgiving. All this preparation has been to prepare us for unprecedented effectiveness in building the Kingdom of God. My prayer this morning is that every person who reads these words has heart ownership of where we are going and what we are doing for the cause of Jesus Christ in our generation. It is no accident that we are in this fellowship, together in this hour. We should have just as much of a sense of destiny as the disciples of the first century!

Pray with me….. Father, you have called us to Yourself for salvation and we have answered that call. But you have also called us to Yourself for service and we want to answer that call as well. Thank you for the way you have honored and blessed our church over the past 43 years. Now Lord, help us to take higher ground than we ever have before as we seek to win the lost at any cost and weld them into your forever family as faithful witnesses. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Ken

Monday, September 12, 2011

9/12/2011

A powerfully insightful piece by Steven Furtick:

The Perception Principle

There’s a secret to listening to sermons that dramatically affects what you will get from them. I call it the perception principle.

I’ve preached about this before and share it with our staff regularly, but I’ve never blogged about it. I want to give it to you because I believe it will revolutionize the way you listen to sermons and exponentially increase their impact on you.

The perception principle goes like this: I can only receive someone on the level that I perceive them.

This is true for God, and for every human relationship you have. The way you choose to see someone determines how you will treat them and how you will receive whatever they have to give you.

Negatively, this means that if you perceive your wife to be a nag, that’s the way she’s always going to sound to you. Even when she really isn’t being one. If you perceive your husband to be a loser, that’s how you’re going to receive him. No matter what he does.

Positively, it means that if you perceive someone to be wise, what they say will sound wise. And you’ll give it more weight. If you perceive someone to be ‘cool,’ everything they do will look cool.

Here’s how this matters when you’re listening to a sermon. How you perceive the person preaching will determine what you’re able to receive from them. And ultimately from God.

If all you see is a guy with good ideas and not a guy with a message from God, that’s all you’ll ever get. If you go into a sermon with an attitude of bless me if you can, you’re probably not going to be blessed. If you go in skeptical of every word, you’re probably going to find fault. And only find fault.

On the other hand, if you perceive your pastor to have a message for you from God, you’re probably going to be a lot more attentive and engaged. If you go into a sermon expecting to hear a word from God, you’re probably going to get one.

I’m convinced that what someone ‘gets’ from a sermon has nothing to do with the skill level of the person preaching. It’s how they perceive the person preaching. It’s how they decide to engage. When people tell me, ‘that’s the best I’ve ever heard you preach,’ I always want to respond: No, it’s the best you’ve ever listened.

I don’t care who your pastor is or who is preaching to you. Whether their podcast is downloaded by millions or their sermons are heard by five people, the principle is the same. Perceive them to have a message from God for you, and that’s what you’ll get.

Show up ready to hear from God, and don’t be surprised when you do.

Pray with me…. Dear Father, we are reminded of the words of Jesus, often after he had delivered a difficult to receive teaching, when he admonished his listeners, ‘He/she who has ears to hear, let him/her hear.’ We want to have ears to hear, on the inside as well as on the outside. We want to have a positive perception of others so that we can receive your best from them, especially when they speak from your Word to our hearts. Give us the humility and discipline to ‘receive with meekness the implanted Word.’ In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Ken

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

9/6/2011

Since November 6, 2007, Amanda Knox has been in prison in Perugia, Italy, charged and convicted, along with two other men, in the murder of British exchange student, Meredith Kercher, during a sex game gone wrong. Her sentence…. 26 years in prison. However, earlier this summer, the DNA evidence used to tie Ms. Knox to the scene of the crime has been called into question. If the DNA evidence proves to be unreliable, she will likely be exonerated, acquitted, freed and able to return to the United States and her family. I am sure that if/when she hears the gavel fall and she receives the pronouncement ‘not-guilty,’ she will be indescribably ecstatic.

This story in the media this very week reminds me of I Peter 1:23, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God.” The word for seed/Spirit in the New Testament is ‘sperma.’ It is indicative of the fact that when we are born again into God’s family, we receive the spiritual seed of God’s Spirit, appropriated to us by our obedient faith. And, when we have this imperishable seed, we have God’s DNA. And when we have God’s DNA alive in us, we are His children. And when we are His children, we are not-guilty of sin because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. We are absolved of the guilt, shame and penalty of our sin. Our sentence would have been much more serious than 26 years. “The soul that sins will die.” [Ezekiel 18:4] And the death it is talking about here is much worse than life in prison without parole, much worse even than capital punishment. It is banishment from the presence of God forever. It is the ultimate irreversible sentence of the second death…. hell. But, thanks be to God that the DNA evidence, the seed of God’s Spirit in us through the Word of God means we are not guilty before Him. But, it is not because the DNA evidence is unreliable…. It is because the DNA evidence is reliable that we are forgiven and free!

Pray with me…. Father in heaven, everywhere we look we can discover and translate our experience into the life-changing truths that are documented in your word. Help us to see what is going on around us with redeemed eyes, spiritual eyes. Help us to hear what is going on around us with redeemed ears, spiritual ears. Show us each day, speak to us each day. We want you to reveal to us daily the wonder of our salvation. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Ken