Monday, August 26, 2013

8/26/13

I just received a request from a dedicated Christian mom who asked to pick my brain about what I would want my son/daughter to know/ understand before going away to college or out into today’s world.  Here is how I responded:                         
 

1. KEEP BREATHING SPIRITUALLY - DAILY BIBLE READING/MEDITATION AND PRAYER IN PERSONAL WORSHIP. WITHOUT THIS, YOU WILL EITHER BE SUFFOCATED BY THE WORLD OR EVENTUALLY JUST RUN OUT OF OXYGEN AND BE ON LIFE SUPPORT…. SURVIVING, BUT NOT THRIVING.

2.  STAY CONNECTED TO OTHER CHRISTIANS - THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR THE LOCAL CHURCH.  THOSE WHO STAY CONNECTED THERE, REGARDLESS OF HOW IMPERFECT, WILL FIND IT THE MOST FERTILE SOIL TO GROW.

3.  THERE IS AN ANSWER FOR EVERY EXPRESSION OF CARNALITY AND UNBELIEF OUT THERE IN THE WORLD TODAY.  STAND FIRM; DO NOT LET UNBELIEVING PROFESSORS OR PEER PRESSURE…. HEDONISM, INTELLECTUALISM OR MATERIALISM DISTRACT YOU FROM THE UNSEEN REALITIES THAT MATTER MOST.

4.  GUARD YOUR HEART - IT IS THE WELL SPRING OF YOUR LIFE. WHO YOU ARE WHEN NO ONE IS LOOKING IS THE MEASURE OF WHO YOU TRULY ARE.  HARBORING CONTEMPT FOR ANYONE OR HARBORING LUST IN YOUR HEART, WILL PAVE THE WAY FOR A BITTER PERSONALITY AND IMMORAL CHOICES.

5.  TELL THE TRUTH - TO EVERYONE AND IN EVERY SITUATION.  WE LIVE IN A WORLD OF SECRETS, DENIAL AND COVER-UPS AND IT IS KILLING US.  WHEN THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH OF SCRIPTURE GOES DOWN, EVERY THING GOES DOWN WITH IT.

6.  DON'T NEGLECT SERVING AND GIVING.  KEEP YOUR HEART FOR PEOPLE BY SERVING THEM AND REMEMBER JESUS SAID, 'WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS, THERE YOUR HEART WILL BE ALSO.'  FINANCIALLY, SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND YOUR HEART WILL FOLLOW.

Pray with me…. Father God, we pray that the souls of our sons and daughters will be anchored in You and in Your Truth, whether they are near to us or far away.  If they are anchored in the unseen realities, we know that they will live in a way that honors You and will bless their futures.  We believe that life in Jesus Christ is superlative.  It is second to none.  We thank You for the love, joy and peace we know because we know Him as Savior and Lord.  In His Great Name, amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Ken

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

8/19/13

You will sense, if you read on, that I am in a more philosophical frame of mind this morning: As you study the epistles [letters] to Christians in the New Testament, from Romans to Revelation, it is easy to tell that, regardless of the years that have passed from then to now, the challenges to the faith are the same, whether it is the first century or the twenty-first century.   The two common cords that bind the content of this section of God’s Word together are an emphasis on right belief and right behavior. It is present in every letter. The apostolic exhortations to the young churches consistently uphold the truths that will keep Christ-followers faithful.  If it is impossible for a Christian to forsake the faith because of wrong-headed beliefs or immoral behavior, there would be no reason for any apostolic teaching after the book of Acts in the New Testament!

And, this emphasis on right belief and behavior is still needed today.  In fact, as the centuries have advanced, the more weird, wild stuff there is out there to believe.  And the way some people avoid revealed truth, dismiss reason and embrace whatever they have to in order to live the way they want to, is appalling!  What happens is …. some people decide how they want to live first; then they underpin that choice with whatever belief system they can find that will allow that [usually] morally irresponsible behavior.  This was the path of Karl Marx.  He determined that he wanted to pursue same sex relationships, so he embraced Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species [theory of atheistic evolution].  You see, if we have ascended from lower life forms/primates, we have no soul, and therefore, we have no ethical responsibility.  It is survival of the fittest.  There is no accountability to a Creator God for the life we live in the flesh.  Hitler was greatly influenced by Darwin as well.  Evolutionary theory gave Hitler the permission he needed to practice mass genocide of Christians and Jews.  He could wage war in the interest of world domination without the slightest conscience about it.

The relationship of belief and behavior is clear in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  The life is transformed if/when the mind is renewed.  Our private and public worship will expose us to the Word of God; that will help us keep our heads on straight, our hearts right and our feet on the narrow way that leads to life.  One of my personal life verses is Psalm 119:59-60, “I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes.  I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.

Pray with me…. Father God, you have taken care to provide us with everything we need for life and godliness.  Your Word and Your Holy Spirit are the outward and inward influences that keep us believing and behaving as we both internalize and submit to their power and presence.  Thank you in Jesus’ name…. amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Ken

Monday, August 12, 2013

8/12/13

Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s, who died a few years ago, was once a familiar sight to millions who saw his company’s television commercials.  He also appeared in a lot of in-store training films.  In those, as in many of the more familiar commercials, he would typically dress as his workers.  One year he appeared on the cover of one of the company’s annual reports dressed in a knee-length work apron holding a mop and a plastic bucket.  For many years, a framed copy of that picture graced the back rooms and manager’s offices of most Wendy’s restaurants. Dave Thomas was a self-made [if there truly is such a thing] millionaire.  He didn’t finish high school.  He worked his way up through the ranks of Colonel Sanders’ Kentucky Fried Chicken chain long before he went off on his own and started Wendy’s.  Here’s how Dave explained that picture: “I got my M.B.A. long before my G.E.D.  At Wendy’s M.B.A. does not mean Master of Business Administration.  It means Mop Bucket Attitude.”  Dave Thomas taught all of his employees that service comes before success.  The Wendy’s owner learned that servant ethic from the Gospels and the New Testament.

Jesus said about himself, “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.”  He said to his disciples, “Let the one among you who would be greatest be the servant of all.”  The New Testament again and again reinforces this ethic, that we “serve one another.”  The humility that was communicated by Dave Thomas was more of a personal strategy for success in the business world.  But, it is so much more… it is the key to the life you have always wanted.  Being someone who “would do anything for anyone” is a supreme compliment and a shortcut to greatness in the eyes of God and men.

Pray with me…. Father, Your Son was our Servant, becoming obedient to death on a cross.  Make us like Him.  In His name,  Amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Ken

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

8/7/13

When we do something that we know is against God’s will, our brains record that incident with amazing clarity.  My guess is that most of us could, with a moment’s notice, pull from our memory banks a time when we stood at the intersection of sin and righteousness and consciously chose to sin.  And, even though we later confessed it to God and repented, even though we experienced God’s forgiveness, He does not go inside our brains and erase that memory.  As a result, it is easy for us to be convinced that, because we can remember the incident, God automatically remembers it as well.

And what makes it worse is that our brains trigger emotions when those memories of spiritual failure are recalled.  So we remember not only the sins we’ve committed, but the emotions of Godly sorrow and remorse we felt afterwards as well.  But, those memories and feelings of guilt are only phantoms.  They exist inside our minds, so they feel real, but they don’t exist in the mind of God….

God’s Word in Isaiah 43:25, Jeremiah 31:34, Hebrews 10:17 and Hebrews 10:17 all say it…. Our Lord has gone on record, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

So…. bottom line: We have to discipline ourselves to trust the fact of our forgiveness over the feelings of our phantom guilt.

Pray with me…. Your grace, Father God, is amazing!  We celebrate it regularly in our public and private worship times.  How can we thank you enough?  We are forgiven and free.  And we thank you for the memory of our own sin, only so we can resolve not to repeat it.  In Jesus’ dear name we pray, amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Ken