Sunday Recap June 20 2010

We are into summer big time, where the 15 minute trip to Destin can take an hour and where we apparently intend to keep at least one family in Orlando continuously. Had some folks return and others leave. The most notable return was our Big Creek Missions group back from a week in KY. They were a little tired from the trip - having arrived after 9 PM the night before. But they were still pumped. We'll hear more from them next week.

Father's Day - it's one of those days that you have to determine as a pastor what direction you should take the message. Do you preach at/to fathers? Do you talk about fatherhood/parenthood/family? I literally thought and prayed about this particular weekend for a while and wound up being pointed to the Parable of the two sons in Luke 15. There's a ton of great resources out there on this passage - Kenneth Bailey's contextual work, Tim Keller's "Prodigal God" materials - really a host of people have tackled it. Many are splitting the study of of the parable into multiple sermons and looking at each brother and the father. I chose to cover it all in one.

Two things that really jumped out at me from the story: There were two lost sons - not one. The younger son (called the prodigal) is a no brainer for us - we see his sin immediately. But the elder brother's sins aren't as obvious because he seems to do what he's told and follow the rules. In my experience, the most devastating hurts that the Bride of Christ has suffered have not been from the prodigals but from the older brothers. Cross them as a pastor and you'll know it. And yet what they have done is set up a parallel "gospel" of works that has nothing to do with the heart of Christ.



Music for Sunday was:

Our God Saves
How Great Is Our God
Unfailing Love
The Potters Hand
Just As I Am

We're working hard every week to raise the level of worship and praise and I want to thank the band and the vocalists for investing more time in getting better at what we are honored to do.

Sunday Recap on Thursday :)

I guess the creator of that graphic didn't have a problem loving Democrats. Well, add that to the list along with BP executives, Wall Street Bankers and whoever else you've decided is out of the reach of God's love.

Wow - how time flies. It's been a busy week and I completely forgot about the recap.

We sent our mission trip team out this weekend and that combined with the opening of a short vacation for the kids meant we expected to feel the summer's effect - but we had a great group of people who really seemed to want to worship and learn more about God.

Our worship set:
He Reigns
Mighty To Save
Blessed Be Your Name



At the root of the reason I became a Christian was the idea of "grace." So the sermon basically put forth the idea of what grace should bring forth in the recipient. I think brother Bono gets it.

“You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It’s clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the Universe. I’m absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that ‘As you reap, so will you sow’ stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff. . . . I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for Grace. I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity.”


So am I brother. 


Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.