8/13/12

I Peter 4:1 says, “If anyone serves…do it…with the ability…God supplies.” When God gives you an assignment He gives you all that’s needed to fulfill it. In fact, by studying your core competencies you can actually discern your calling. You can’t always be what you want to be, but you can be everything God wants you to be. That’s because He assigns and directs us “each according to one’s own ability” [Matt. 25:15]. What do you love doing and do consistently well? Is music your forte? Crunching numbers? Working with children/middle-schoolers/teens/senior adults? Paul says, “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving” [I Cor. 12:7]. That means some of the things other people find boring, will actually energize and enrich you.

The Bible teaches us that God is building a “spiritual house” [I Peter 2:5]. And there’s a place for each of us in it. Knowing this dispels the misconception that you’re not valuable because you don’t have the same talents others do. It also defines your actual responsibility by doing away with the myth that you’re supposed to doeverything. No, your goal should be to stay within the boundaries of God’s plan for you. So instead of apologizing for the skills you don’t have, discover the gifts God has given you and put them to work for His kingdom. I find it tragic that the most fulfilling experiences of the Christian life seem the most daunting and demanding when in fact, they are the most pleasurable and rewarding: giving our resources, serving others and sharing our faith. Try it, you’ll love it!

Pray with me…. Father God, You have provided ways to bless us in the deepest parts of who we are. When we are most like You, we are the most fulfilled inside. Thank you for building into us the abiding satisfaction that is the by-product of entering into people’s lives in ways that meet their needs and elevate them to higher levels of living. And Lord, thank you for giving each of us gifts that we can use to bless others in your name. And it is in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Ken

8/7/12

Just a few weeks ago now, Illinois’ U.S. Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. fairly disappeared from sight.  A few days later, a carefully crafted statement came out of his office explaining that he had been admitted at an undisclosed facility to undergo treatment for a ‘medical condition,’ which was later identified as clinical depression.  His personal life has been in upheaval since he admitted to a sexual dalliance with a blonde-haired, blue-eyed hostess at a Chicago area restaurant, devastating his wife and disrupting his family.  He is also being investigated for setting in motion a plan to raise $6,000,000 to ‘buy’ the vacated senate seat of Barak Obama from, [then] Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich [now serving a 14 year prison sentence for corruption related charges – 12 years mandatory].  Early reports are that Jackson’s condition will require long-term treatment and hospitalization.

During the first part of the 20th century, J. C. Penney presided over an empire of 1700 stores nationwide, each one bearing his name.  But, although incredibly wealthy, J.C. Penney’s personal life was plagued by setbacks and troubles.  Then came the Great Depression of 1929.   Penney was exposed because he had borrowed heavily to finance many of his business ventures.  Constant and unrelenting worry began to take a toll on his health.  Eventually he checked himself into the Kellogg Sanitarium in Battle Creek, MI.  Penney would later recall ‘a rigid treatment was prescribed, but nothing helped.’  He was constantly tormented by periods of hopelessness and despair.  His will to live was rapidly eroding.  In his words, “I got weaker day by day. Nervous and physically broken, I was filled with despair, unable to see even a ray of hope.  I had nothing to live for.  I felt that I hadn’t a friend left in the world, that even my family had turned against me.”  After taking a sedative, he was sure he was living the last night of his life.  So, he got out of bed and wrote farewell letters to both his wife and son, saying that he did not expect to see the dawn.  The next morning he was surprised to find himself alive.  Making his way down the hallway of the hospital, he could hear singing coming from the little chapel where a devotional service was held each morning.  The words of the hymn he heard being sung spoke deeply to him.  Going into the chapel, he listened to the singing, the reading of the scripture lesson, and the prayers.

“Suddenly something happened,” he said.  “I can’t explain it.  I can only call it a miracle.  I felt as if I had been instantly lifted out of the darkness of a dungeon into a warm, brilliant sunlight.  I felt as if I had been transported from hell to paradise.  I felt the power of God as I had never felt it before.  From that day to this, my life has been free from worry and the darkness of depression.  The most dramatic and glorious 20 minutes of my life were those I spent in the chapel that morning.”  The words of the hymn that Providentially lured Penney into the chapel service that morning were these:

Be not dismayed whate’er betide, God will take care of you;

Beneath His wings of love abide, God will take care of you.

God will take care of you, through every day, o’er all the way;

He will take care of you, God will take care of you.

Pray with me… Our loving Father, we praise you for your patient love and your faithful grace that lift us out of our rebellion and our waywardness and catapult us into your comforting presence.  There is no limit to the peace which passes understanding that will fill our lives when we decide to stop, to stand still and to seek you in the stillness.   In the Name of the Prince of Peace, Jesus, we pray, amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Ken

7/30/12

Former Republican presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, has declared August 1st as National Chick-fil-A Support Day.  I think I will plan to lunch at one of their restaurants on Wednesday of this week.  It is something I can do to express my personal advocacy of CFA president Dan Cathy’s outspoken validation of Biblical marriage.  Here is what he said, word for word, “We’re inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, ‘We know better than You what constitutes a marriage.’  And I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude; that has the audacity to redefine what marriage is all about.”

The knee-jerk response from the liberal community has been predictable, dramatic and reactionary.  Elliott Spitzer [and everyone knows what a credible source he is] was one of the first calling for a boycott of Chick-fil-A…. so much for freedom of speech and ‘tolerance’ from the left.  Then the mayors of Boston and Chicago jumped in and took turns vowing to keep Chick-fil-A out of their cities.  Big talk.  Of course, this restriction of commerce, based on Dan Cathy’s honest expression of a personal conviction, cannot be supported legally.  Even the ACLU came to the defense of Chick-fil-A on this one!  It is strange indeed when the ACLU defends someone who has made a statement of Biblical conviction.  I was encouraged that even after the back-lash from some Hollywood ‘celebrities,’ Cathy pled ‘guilty as charged’ and continued to be very ‘supportive of the family – the Biblical definition of the family unit.’

The core issue here is the difference between those who believe in the Lordship of Jesus Christ/the authority of the Bible vs. those who do not.  Jesus said in Matthew 19:4, “Haven’t you read that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh?’  So they are no longer two, but one.  Therefore what God has joined together [male and female], let not man separate.” There is clearly an assertion here about what constitutes marriage in God’s sight; and there is also included here a warning about changing it.  Can we disregard the teaching of Jesus?  Sure.  Can we disobey it?  Certainly.  Will there be personal and societal consequence?  Yes, as there always is with all sin.  Am I an unloving person for saying so?  No.  In fact, the true-lovers are always the truth-tellers.

Same-sex marriage is a ‘hot-button’ issue only because it is the current ‘lightening rod’ for the two fundamentally different worldviews: the Biblical and the carnal, Christian and pagan.  Here is the thing…. Gay activists, politicians and the media have succeeded in making the definition of marriage a political issue.  It is not a political issue.  It is a moral issue.  It is not a question of rights.  It is a question of right and wrong.  But, as a nation we are quickly retiring words like sin/righteousness, moral/immoral, truth/lies, good/evil.

I am called to be a pastor, and I am also called to be a prophet….  A pastor, trusted to gently apply Word of God as a healing balm; but also a prophet, trusted to wield the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, in contemporary spiritual warfare.

Pray with me…. Our Father, it has always been the responsibility of your people to contend for the truth and walk in the truth, in a world of lies, under the control of the Father of lies.   Help us to be wise about when to speak and when to be silent.  We want to know how to truly love our generation into the Kingdom of God while upholding the Word of Life.  In the name of the One who is the Living Word and the Life we pray.  Amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Ken

7/23/12

I recently heard a true story of incredible forgiveness.  A young man named Tom McGee, got drunk, lost control of his car and ran into a 16 year old teenager by the name of Ted Morris, the only son of Jack and Liz Morris.  Ted died as a result of his injuries.  Jack and Liz were devastated by the death of their son.  They were so bitter against Tom McGee, they prosecuted him to the full extent of the law and saw him sent to jail.  And they were gratified.  They were disappointed that his sentence was not longer.  When they learned he was out on parole, they dogged his steps, waiting for some infraction, some violation of his parole, so they could report him.  They succeeded in getting him re-incarcerated.  But Jack and Liz Morris became Christians, members of a non-instrumental Church of Christ, and they began to read/study the Bible for the first time.  One day they read these words in Hebrews 12:15, “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” And they were honest enough to both realize and admit that a bitter root had grown up in them. They read Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

And as they grew in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, they were able to will themselves to forgive.  Jack Morris went to the prison to visit Tom McGee.  He told him, “My wife and I have become Christians and we want you to know that we forgive you.  And we are not going to prosecute you further.  You are free.”  On a return visit, Jack took some cookies.  When McGee was eventually released on a weekend, the Morris’ invited him to come to their house for dinner and to visit their church.  Tom McGee and the Morris’ sat in the same row.  Several weeks later, Tom McGee stepped forward and gave his life to Jesus Christ and was baptized in their church.  Incredibly, the Morris’ have now actually adopted Tom McGee as their son and he stands in line to inherit their estate.

Does this sound familiar?  It should.  That’s like our Lord Jesus who said, “I was killed because of your sin, but I forgive you and I will adopt you into my family.  You stand in line to inherit my eternal riches.”

Pray with me… Our Father in Heaven… Freely we have received Your forgiveness; freely we will forgive.  In our better moments we are resolved that no one misses the grace of God.  So may Your grace flow out of us to others even as Your grace has touched us in your Son and our Savior Jesus, in whose name we pray, amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Ken

7-17-12

Stan Blaylock tells about a clear glass dining table in a condo that their family used for holiday get-a-ways.  One of the favorite family pastimes was to begin assembling a picture puzzle and complete it during their stay.  The glass table became the favorite place to put the puzzle together.  Late one afternoon, after playing a round of golf, Stan and his father-in-law came in to find his wife lying on the floor under the table.  She was coaching her mother about where the next piece of the puzzle should go.  When asked why she was on the floor, she said it was easier to determine where a difficult piece of the puzzle should be placed from the back side, because it was not as confusing as looking at all of the colors and objects on the front side.

His life lesson can be ours today as well:  Life can be confusing on this side.  We can’t always see where the pieces of life’s puzzle fit in. Heartache, bitterness, loneliness, inferiority and depression… our ‘Secret Struggles’… just don’t seem to fit, but if we could see it from the other side [God’s view] it makes perfectly good sense to place that difficult piece in that exact place.  We can’t always see how Romans 8:28 can be true, until we take this perspective.  When we look at it from the other side, we will realize it has worked for our good… Trusting God in the sad seasons of life, when we have hidden hurts, will result in a stronger faith as we trace His hand through it all.

Pray with me… Loving Father, as we trace your hand in our yielded lives, we come to trust your heart for us.  We trust that the plans you have for us are plans to prosper us and not to harm us.   We trust that your Word is in our best interest always.  We trust that you are at work in us, by the Holy Spirit, to shape us into the likeness of Your Son and our Savior, Jesus.  In His name, amen. 


Blessings,
Pastor Ken

7-9-12

Paul Harvey once told of a woman who went to the local newspaper to report the death of her husband.  She took a 4 pp. glowing report about her husband to the obituary desk.  “I’m sorry,” the reporter said, “but you should know that the charge for this kind of copy is $.25 a word.”  She thought for a moment and simply wrote, “Henry Johnson dead.”  “I’m sorry,” the reporter said again, “there is a minimum copy requirement of seven words.”  She thought for a moment and counted out seven words… “Henry Johnson dead; 2008 Ford for sale.”  Obviously, this woman was not too heart-broken about her husband’s passing.  She seems just a little too practically minded does she not?

Now, I do not communicate this anecdote to, in any way, diminish the seriousness of heartbreak, or heartache.  It is very real.   And, my guess is that each one of us… at one time or another… has known this pain.  You could probably reflect on your life and easily identify an event or a time when you first experienced heartache.  I remember the day, as a 7 year old boy, when our family dog, Pokey, following me to the grocery store, ran out onto Route 150 and was hit and killed by a car that did not stop.  We buried Pokey in a cardboard box and had a tearful funeral in the back yard.  My little brother and I were devastated.  It felt like life was not going to be worth living.  I don’t remember ever really grieving before that day.   Regardless of the source of our heartache, here are a couple of verses that will touch and heal us from the inside out, in the deepest parts of who we are…

Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

Psalm 147:3, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

Pray with me… Father, You are the God of all comfort.  You sent Jesus to heal the brokenhearted.  You Holy Spirit are called the comforter.  May we never forget your kindness and compassion when we are dealing with heartbreak or heartache.  Thank you for your promise that one day you will dry every tear from our eyes.  In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Ken

7/2/12

This week, on July 4th, we will celebrate our nation’s 236th birthday.  For some Americans, it can be just another day off.  They easily forget the reason for the celebration.  The real purpose of the holiday fades into the background behind the parades and the picnics.  Younger children might think that the Fourth is just an annual ‘fireworks day.’

But most adults know better.  On July 4th, 1776, fifty-six American leaders signed the Declaration of Independence separating the thirteen British colonies from England.  The fact that that was 236 years ago makes ours the world’s oldest surviving democracy.  At the same time, America is young when compared to Egypt, China, Japan, Rome and Greece.  Do you realize that our country was born just a little over 4 generations ago?  When Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration, died, Abraham Lincoln was a young man of 17.  When Lincoln was assassinated, thirty-nine years later, Woodrow Wilson was a boy of 8.  When Wilson died in 1924, Ronald Reagan was 12.  Ronald Reagan just died in 2004!

Although we are young in years, yet America stands tall among the nations of the world.  We are the most prosperous nation on earth. The poorest among us are much better off than the average citizens of most nations of the world.  All of the complicated economic theories aside, the greatest cause of poverty is tyranny and corruption.  In other words, there is a direct link between our morality and our prosperity.

In the 1830’s French historian and political scientist Alexis de Tocqueville traveled to America.   He was curious to discover what set the young democracy apart from her European counterparts.  At the end of his trip, he wrote, “I have toured America, and I have seen most of what you have to offer.  I’ve seen the richness of the fields and the wealth of your mines.  I’ve seen your industrial might, the beauties of the rivers, the streams, the lakes, and the grandeur of the mountains.  I’ve noticed the abundance of the forests and the marvelous climate with which you are blessed.  In none of these things did I see the cause for the greatness of America.  It wasn’t until I went into your churches that I saw the reason for America’s greatness.  America is great because America is good; and as long as America is good, America will be great.  If it ever ceases to be good, it will cease to be great.

The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty to intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.”

Pray with me… Our Great God, we know Your Word declares that ‘righteousness exalts a nation.’  May we never forget that in our day-by-day personal moral choices, ethics and values we hold the most valuable component of freedom and prosperity.  We thank you that more than our efforts to be good, the imputed righteousness of Jesus, your Son and our Savior, is available to us by faith.  We want to spread the Good News of the Gospel throughout our land to produce faith in this and future generations.  If we do, we know our nation will continue to be truly great because it will be greatly blessed by You.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Ken