It's IN There

Tonight, I got to handle one of the hot potatoes in our culture - divorce. One of the funny things you realize after you study the Scriptures for a while (and the societies the Scriptures came from) is that people haven't really invented new ways to sin. They just repeat the old ones.

I'm very sensitive to the effects of divorce, and to the heartache it causes.

And I'm committed to preaching the whole book.

So when I turned the page in the Bible from Mark 9 to enter 10, there it was.

It's funny, for most of my career I was a topical preacher, and would really search to see what God wanted me to preach on each week. I'd then try to present accurately what I found about that topic from the Scriptures. Now, I preach through books. What that means is that I'm able to do a great deal more of work on the background and context of each Scripture portion, so that when I do come to passages like tonight's, I can see much more clearly (I believe), what the Scriptures are saying both to the original recipients and to us.

The beginning of the change? When a man whose not even a member came to me and told me if I'd preach more Bible and less David, that he believed God would honor that. That might sound like he was taking a swing at me, but I've known him for almost 7 years now, and I know he meant it for my good, and had no other motive in saying it.

So I took his counsel, and prayed for guidance, and here's where I wound up.

Telling people divorce is wrong, that it's a sin, that God hates it.
Telling people that sex outside marriage is wrong, that marriage is one man and one woman forever.
Telling people that there is room at the cross for those who have sinned and fallen short.

This keeps up, I might be jumping over pews next. :)

Grace!

David

It Adds Up

It's not one bad day that ruins a career, or one hasty word that kills a relationship. But it's the little things left undone, or the careless words and inattentiveness that, over time, can spell death to things you value, that you care deeply about. That affect people you love.

It's the little things. Lack of little things turn into bad big things.

And things break...

Think about your most important relationship - the one with God. How are you doing on the little things?

If any of us - you, me - anybody - sinned only ten times a day from our tenth birthday to our sixtieth--and keep in mind we're not just talking about rape, pillage, and murder, but the full range - lying, cheating, stealing, and we are including our heart attitudes and motives—what would our rap sheet look like with only 10 sins a day for 50 years?

We'd have piled up 182,500 infractions of the law.

Now let's say that many of us have broken the law and gotten off with a warning. Maybe it was speeding, and the officer checked you out and decided that it was just an isolated failure of judgement, and let you off with a written, or even a verbal warning.

That still leaves 182, 499 times you blew it. So you are going to court.

What judge in his right mind would turn you loose with a record like that?

That's why it is so important to examine yourself and see if you are living what you say you believe. It's not about believing in God - even satan does. It's about loving God so much that you want to do not just the big things, but the little ones too. So every now and then you have to step away from the vehicle and get the big picture. Here's how David, king of Israel did it.

1Generous in love--God, give grace! Huge in mercy--wipe out my bad record.

2Scrub away my guilt,

soak out my sins in your laundry.

3I know how bad I've been;

my sins are staring me down.



4You're the One I've violated, and you've seen

it all, seen the full extent of my evil.

You have all the facts before you;

whatever you decide about me is fair.

5I've been out of step with you for a long time,

in the wrong since before I was born.

6What you're after is truth from the inside out.

Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.



7Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean,

scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life.

8Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,

set these once-broken bones to dancing.

9Don't look too close for blemishes,

give me a clean bill of health.

10God, make a fresh start in me,

shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life. Psalm 51 - The Message


A fresh start... Lord. Hear our prayers. Be Who You are. Our rock, our fortress, our deliverer. Wash us clean and give us freedom not to repeat the past.

A Genesis week - yes!

Grace!

David
www.newhopevalp.org

Chariot Sticker Faith

An astronomer and a theologian were flying next to each other on an airplane. The astronomer smugly turned to his seatmate and said: "You know, there is no need for all those millionsA of volumes of religious literature. The whole essence of religion can be summed up in one simple phrase: 'Love thy neighbor, as thyself,'" whereupon the theologian retorted, "And the whole science of astronomy can be summed up in the simple phrase, 'Twinkle, twinkle, little star.'"

One of the habits that hasn't changed in the history of mankind is our tendency to try to reduce the complex into a simple saying that will fit on a bumper sticker. We are studying the Ten Commandments on Wednesday night just now, and I learned today that some Jews tried to use them as a "bumper sticker".

In the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, the Ten Commandments was always proclaimed before the Shema. Strangely enough, however, outside the Temple, however, the practice was banned. The rabbis felt that though the Ten Commandments helped give people a rough outline, the real picture of God came from reading the whole Torah - memorizing it and applying it.

What about us? Are we guilty?

Most people, when asked about the good news of Jesus will quote John 3:16.

16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life

John 3:16 (NLT)

As great as that verse is, it only begins to describe our riches in Christ Jesus. There is so, so, so much more.

Take 10 minutes tomorrow and read the story of God's love. You can even begin in John. :)

Grace!

David Wilson
www.newhopevalp.org

PESS - Post Easter Stress Syndrome

Just wondering today how many pastors have this ailment after Easter.

Easter is huge, just about everywhere. You gear up everything at your church for it, get your folks to invite their friends. The music ramps up a notch, the preacher tries doubly hard to reach those who only come on days like this.

Then...

The week after races along, and it may be Friday, but Sunday's coming... again.

Some of my friends begin sermon series' deliberately on Easter Sunday so as to pull people along for the ride. The other benefit I can see from that is that it also gives the preacher a clear trail to follow.

I'm really trying to preach Jesus these days, and though I did skip ahead to the resurrection last week, I'll be rolling back into Mark in Chapter 9 Sunday morning.

There's so much more to what Jesus gave us than just freedom from the fear of death. Learning how to LIVE like Jesus is the really tough part, and I'm hoping that by exposing Jesus as He lived the life people will catch what He was teaching. (If I can get out of the way.)

So what's haunting me about Sunday's passage is that Jesus used a little child to explain to the disciples what real faith was like. I wonder what that child remembered.

Hmmm... I see a devotional coming later today.

Grace!

David
www.newhopevalp.org

After Easter - Growth Is NOT An Option

After Easter, thousands of pastors all over either bask in the glow of what God did on Easter Sunday, or pray to find what happened. I'd be in the latter group. One thing is very clear though, for the people we have been given to care for, growth in Christ is not an option.

A deeper church requires deeper members. Those members have to be equipped and empowered to live the life and to spread the contagion that is the Way. We have some tools to do that with, and today and this week will be prayer and planning the next wave of small groups.

Easter

Reports of Easter being the preacher's favorite day are greatly overrated - at least from an effectiveness point of view. No doubt the resurrection is the awesome power of God being released for us, and at the very core of our faith.

But for effectiveness at reaching the lost, it stinks.

The best way I can relate it to you is that the lost prep for Easter like my Mother prepped me for a trip to Atlanta in the 3rd grade. By the time we got onboard that train, I was confident that Atlanta held nothing but kidnappers and pickpockets, so I was to stick to the teacher like glue and keep my hand over my wallet at all times. I was so busy doing that, I think I might have missed something.

I think those who come on Easter that are lost or missing have the same mindset. They are there for people they care about, and just trying to make it through with their lack of faith intact. Not exactly "seekers" more like "avoiders" or "deflectors". They've had years to perfect their craft. Not impossible to reach, but toughened.

Every Easter, I take the "hill" like a bullpen closer who has been brought in with no one out, the bases loaded, and Murderer's Row up to bat. Do you craft a message out of where you are in the Scriptures at the moment and ignore the day, or do you tackle the issues around the resurrection head on. Every year I say I'm not preaching on the resurrection and every year I do. What's that definition of insanity again?

This year I tried to wrap the facts into people's lives. Tried to present enough head-candy to shock the smug, and enough heart to do what I do. Who knows what happened. It wasn't a Billy Graham moment, that's for sure.

Thing is, it comes off as forced - everything does - the music, the greeters, the preaching - everything - because everyone knows - "It's Easter." So forgive me, but I'm glad Easter is over and I can go back to focus on making disciples.

"Seek the truth."

So I'm reading about the next grave threat to the foundations of the church - "The Da Vinci Code". Just watched the trailer in fact. Great scenery, wonderful casting - should be a great summer movie. Given the amazing claims the book makes without any hard evidence though, I laughed out loud when, as the trailer ended, a quote appeared on a black screen "Seek the truth."

Oh, if people would.

All we can do as pastors and teachers is to help people find the truth. We cannot create the desire for truth, nor can we cause people to apply what truth they know.

All these "faith-shaking" new gospels and fictional histories do is make me more and more determined to preach Jesus.

That's the Truth.

Work that Rolodex

Christians might sometimes act all "ho-hum" about Easter, but the folks at GetReligion have correctly shown that satan hasn't.

Work that Rolodex

"Well, the Judas Gospel story, the one that was supposed to shake the foundations of Christianity, seems to have passed away rather quickly. Christianity was similarly unfazed by the week’s reports that Jesus walked on an ice floe — not water, that he wasn’t crucified in the manner in which people think, and that Jesus’ father was a Roman soldier named Pantera, not Joseph. Let’s see if Christianity implodes under the allegation that Jesus didn’t die on the cross so much as pass out after being doped up."

Mapping Religions

Very interesting map of the concentrations of different religions within the United States. I expected a lot of it, I mean I knew there were a lot of Baptists in TX and Lutherans in MN, but the Muslim and Jewish ones were a surprise.

Take a look here. Maps

To Blog, Or Not To Blog

That's a picture of my wife Bunny and our big friend Henley, the Great Dane. They are standing on Bayshore Drive, which coincidently happens to run along the bay shore. I also have a son here named Sean, an older son names Adam who lives in Byron GA, and we have another dog - a mini schnauzer named Ellie.

Back home in Macon, my father, who's 86, has just finished his last round of chemo and is waiting anxiously on a scan May 8th to tell him how much longer he'll live. My father in law suffered a stroke a few years ago, and walks around with a defibrillator in his chest. It's been going off lately way too often.

Our last day in this house is July 31, and we're busy hunting for somewhere to move to. We'd like to stay here in Valparaiso, but homes are scarce unless you want a dump or a mansion, and tell them you have dogs, and people freak out. Folks say "buy a house, why are you renting?" We can afford, according to Ginnie Mae, $150,000 worth of home, in a market where the average home is $225,000. Oh and because the church has taken just a wee bit longer to get going than we thought, we've had to use credit to stay afloat. And now that we are getting some of that back, the new rent will most likely stop that.

Oh, and our worship leader is almost certainly leaving as well as one of our associate pastors. Replacing either will be a God thing.

So if I don't blog everyday, let me point to the above and say that I have a few other things going on. :)

And I am going to love watching God sort all this out for us. :)

Grace!

David

Holy Week

I'm preparing today for our Good Friday service of shadows. For me, it is the most moving service of the year - no other comes close. Reading the prophecies and passages wherein Messiah was brutalized for our sins just gets to me every time I read them - even in preparation.

The service we do is an adaptation of a centuries old service called Tenebrae. We begin with communion, to establish ourselves in community. The lights are on, though reduced, the candles are lit along the sides of the sanctuary. Then once communion is over, we extinguish the lights and the rest of the worship is with the candles only.

As the passages of prediction are read, one by one the candles are extinguished, until only one remains - the Christ candle. With the reading of Psalm 22, that one too is snuffed out, and the service abruptly closes and people depart in darkness.

The music, on the years when we use it, is mournful, or expressive of His sacrifice in our stead. Some years we don't use any. Last year, we used a video of "The Last Painting", where an artist paints a picture of Jesus on the cross, but because you only see parts of it during the playing of the video, you don't realize what it is until the end. Set to music from the Passion of the Christ, it is a violent shock to the senses as the artist paints with only his hands.

I have some other video I can use, and am still working on which ones. I'm also thinking about shaking things up by having the readers within the congregation, equipped with small flashlights to be able to see to read - and maybe have the singers sing from the lobby instead of the front.

We want this to be emotional.
We want to help people feel the sheer weight of their sins.
We want them to realize the full price that was paid for those sins.

So that when Sunday comes, they understand.

Grace!

David

Community

I'm a member of a few online communities. They are basically organized around activities or affinities for certain things. Guitars, cars, ecology, birds, and church work are just a few that I am a part of. I also moderate a group on Yahoo that helps people keep things out of landfills by offering them to one another.

Out of all those, which ones do you think would have the most trouble among members?

The two that are about helping people. Why is that?

The Deeper I Go, the Deeper It Is

For the last year or so, I've been digging. After a lifetime of studying the New Testament, I'm finding out more about it by studying the Old. It began when I heard a Rob Bell video, and it's accelerated ever since. I'm even thinking about going back and studying Hebrew.

Putting the New Testament in context. That's basically why it is fascinating me.

So much of Jesus' sayings and doin's, as Clarence Jordan would have put it, rest in the culture of the time in which He lived. Subjects like divorce and Torah were talked about in rabbinical schools and marketplaces like immigration and Iraq are today at the coffee house. We come into the gospels, see Jesus teaching apart from that context, and we only hear one side of the conversation. The Truth side to be sure, but why did He say that? What was going on in society? Learning about the OT really opens it up.

Some of the places that I regularly go for help in this on the internet are:

Follow the Rabbi
Ray VaderLaan's site opens the Bible with great OT insight.

Jesus Through Jewish Eyes

iTanakh

Ancient Hebrew Research Center

There's more, but that will give you a start.

David

The Mars Hill After Action Report

Many pastors find that keeping their family spiritually healthy is a real challenge. Yes, I've heard all the deacon and pastor's kids jokes, but remember, behind the laughter are the tears.

This week, my 27 year old son, our oldest, came down to spend a few days before he begins a new job. First, let me tell you that there is no way to explain to you how much my wife and I love him. He was a pure joy to have as a child. The biggest problem we ever had with him growing up was his taking chemistry as a senior in HS because he liked the teacher, and then because it wasn't at all interesting - flunking it. For 18 years of life, that's it.

The first few years of his life were pretty good. I had a good job, we had money, and we spent a lot on him. His brother came along, and we still had a nice life. But when he was 12, I was called into the ministry.

During the next few years, we went from naive to schooled on just what really happens in church. He saw it all. Then when we moved here, because he had friends there and a job, we left him. Broke our hearts, but we were following a call.

Now he's 27, bright, articulate, and completely lost to anything of the faith he embraced and was raised in. So while he was here, Bunny and I tried to get some God into his life. It was maddeningly difficult.

When he left, Bunny cried. Because he left? Yes, but mainly because he is missing.

When I hear one of the churched folks complain about "why don't we sing the old hymns", or "why can't we do things like we used to", I always think of Adam and people like him. One of my goals in the ministry is to help create a church that pastor's kids would be proud to be a part of. So much of the meanness that we pastors let go of seems to stick with our family.

He's home now. I'm here. God please help me help him. God please send others there to help him find his way back to you.

Wonder if Paul felt this way after Mars Hill?

Why In the World?

Would anyone want to work in a church?

Quote by Ray Pritchard about the church and work in it.

"Why would anyone want to go into the ministry when you see how churches treat people?"

My answer was simple. You go into the ministry because God called you, and you stay there because the joy of seeing lives changed by the power of God outweighs the trouble you will inevitably face. It's a matter of relative values. I am not "down" on the local church in any way, shape or form. The church of Jesus Christ is still the best hope of the world. Though filled with fallible men and women who make many mistakes (leaders included), the church is the body of Christ on earth, the temple of the Holy Spirit, the pillar and ground of the truth, and the guardian of the Good News of Jesus. The church (not the building or the organization, but the people as the redeemed children of God) is the place where sinners are saved, broken people are made whole, and the life of Jesus is made visible to the watching world.

If you focus on the problems of the local church, you'll probably stop going and you'll certainly resign from the ministry. But if you look at what God is doing, you'll smile and say, "This is the best place in the world."

Laying It Down

We've been here going on 7 years. In that time, we've seen a lot of the people God has given us to care for. I've been with them as loved ones passed away, and as new children and grandchildren were born. We've laughed at weddings together and cried at funerals. I've visited some in jail, and seen their workplaces.

The longer I'm here, the harder it is in one critical way.

You grow to love them.

You have to understand, I'm a private person. My family wasn't a huggy kissy group. I never wanted anyone, except Bunny and the kids, to get close. But these people have.

They drive you crazy with the way some of the same sins they were caught in 6 years ago trap them again and again. You agonize when you give them good counsel from Scripture and they ignore it. You want the best for them, and when you see them fall it hurts.

It has got to be easier just to change churches every couple of years.

I find myself agreeing with Jesus when He says "How much longer...; or are you still so dull."

And yet, when I pray, I see their faces. And I realize they need more of Jesus. Then I pray for Him to help me, help them.

Look Again

This past Sunday morning, I talked in the message about an incident Jesus had with a blind man.

They arrived at Bethsaida. Some people brought a sightless man and begged Jesus to give him a healing touch. 23Taking him by the hand, he led him out of the village. He put spit in the man's eyes, laid hands on him, and asked, "Do you see anything?"

24He looked up. "I see men. They look like walking trees." 25So Jesus laid hands on his eyes again. The man looked hard and realized that he had recovered perfect sight, saw everything in bright, twenty-twenty focus. 26Jesus sent him straight home, telling him, "Don't enter the village."

Mark 8 - The Message


What's unique about this passage is that Jesus, who had healed many with one touch, even some merely by His words - even at some distance - Jesus took two touches to heal this blind man.

Or did he?

Jesus was in the middle of a long series of instructional encounters for His disciples. He was trying to help them understand Who He was, why He was here, what the Kingdom of God was all about. But they just weren't getting it. Even after twice feeding thousands of people miraculously, Jesus was frustrated because the first thing the disciples did when they were hungry was gripe.

So I believe Jesus was using the blind man to teach the disciples something.

But what? Where's the clue?

The man looked hard and realized that he had recovered perfect sight, saw everything in bright, twenty-twenty focus.

Look again. When the man did, he realized just what he had received from Jesus.

Friends, I preached the message Sunday and wasn't happy with it. I really felt like I hadn't explained what Jesus was trying to do very well. Even as I laid down for a nap that afternoon, I was still disturbed. So I'm writing this to you today out of the Spirit's compulsion. Before I could go to sleep, I had to write a note to pen this devotional. I got clear direction from God.

It wasn't audible - don't freak out on me. And no 400 foot tall Jesus appeared on the side of the bed.

But as sure as I am that I'm typing this, the Holy Spirit told me "Tell them to look again."

Look again - at how incredibly blessed we are to have a Savior in Jesus who loves us so much he Himself would pay the price for our sins.

Look again - at the fact that even after His sacrifice, His concern was that we be able to stay close to Him, so He sent the Holy Spirit to come alongside us - leading us, guiding us, and yes, comforting us in our fears.

Look again - at just how much God has done for you and me.

It's not that Jesus' power is unable to make a difference in our lives.

It is that we are unwilling to focus exclusively on Him and His will for our lives. When we look at men - at the world - our vision will always be blurred.

But when we focus our heart's attention on Jesus... there is Hope. There is peace. There is JOY!!!!!!!!

Look again.


Grace!

David Wilson
www.newhopevalp.org

The beast in me is caged by frail and fragile bars.
Johnny Cash

We went and watched "Walk the Line" a few weeks ago. Johnny Cash was one of those things that you take for granted growing up, assuming that they will always be there. Now he's not. Just when the world realized what a treasure we had. His video of "Hurt" filmed in the months before he died was the most raw video I have ever seen.

He was a man who had horrendous flaws in his character. And he didn't excuse them away. His understanding led him to turn away from his strength - that frail and fragile strength - to search for something more than fame and success. He turned to faith in Jesus.

Funny thing was, he once had been a regular attender. It was easy. "You went every week, put in your time, and went home. But nothing changed. You still lived the same way during the week."

It wasn't until Johnny had almost lost it all, had contemplated taking his own life - that He and God "got back together."

How well I have learned that there is no fence to sit on between heaven and hell. There is a deep, wide gulf, a chasm, and in that chasm is no place for any man.
Johnny Cash

Thank God that Johnny was able to have the time he needed to come home - to get off the fence and leave that chasm behind forever. There must be millions though still stuck there.

They saw a man dressed in black. And yet, inside him, was the Light.

If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. 2 Corinthians 4:7 - The Message

Friends, it's never too late to let God take over. Incomparable power is there if you'll just let go, seek forgiveness, and turn toward God.

Grace!

David Wilson
www.newhopevalp.org

Wear and Tare

One of the toughest things about trying to transition a church from death to life is staying positive. So many things are operating on a razor's edge of competency in a small church anyway, but a small church trying to change just amps that up off the scale.

And when you think you can finally relax in an area, it always seems that God sends another challenge. Right now, we're in a holding pattern because of our worship leader's flirtation with moving to another church. I'm 100% for following God wherever He leads, but it's been a week since he went and led music there and we still don't know if he's leaving or not. Great guy, not his fault, but that's one of the things that wears on me as I look forward - is the music going to improve, or fall back.

Then there's the tare.

If I had a $20 bill for every time one of the older members mentions hymns, I could take everyone who will ever read this out to eat. Lady comes up today and hands me an article titled "Some Contemporary Churches Embrace Old Hymns". Now remember, we are a church that does hymns - did four today. But we don't do ALL hymns. I thanked her for the article, mentioned our blend...

Then she proceeded to tell me about her son's church where they had two services- one traditional and one contemporary. "See the pastor wore a suit and tie in the first and he took off the coat and tie in the contemporary." Hmm... what should the pastor who doesn't wear a suit respond to that?

It just wears on you.

I'm convinced that people like her, who cannot see our efforts to reach out to her as well as those not in church, who will accept nothing except a rollback to 1970 - are tares. They don't love Jesus - cause they don't love His church. They want THEIR CHURCH. And the war is never, ever over, even if the church has doubled in size, people are being discipled, and the pastor and wife are laying their lives on the line everyday to make God proud.

Sigh.............

Another vote for church planting.

I am the crab man

Yeah Baby!

It's the crustatecean nation.

Can't tell I'm finished with the sermon ppt. :)