When Jesus meets Nicodemus in John 3 He is beginning the story of the resurrection. Nicodemus has a great 'institutional' pedigree but Jesus tells him that this means little to his ultimate salvation. Whether Nicodemus is a great Jewish teacher who keeps the law and leads others to do the same Jesus is clear. For those who do not believe in Jesus (Jesus says He IS the resurrection and He IS life) will receive judgement ... in fact Jesus says they are already judged. This does not appear, in context, to be a good thing since those who believe in Jesus are given eternal life and others appear (John 3:16) to perish. It is also clear that Jesus' desire is for 'everyone' to believe in Him. But what does this mean?
There is a new book out (I forget the author) about being a fan of Jesus but failing as a follower of Jesus. This is close to the point being made in John 3 as Jesus talks about the word belief. The word (in the Greek) does not mean being a fan. It does imply being a person who is filled with the power of the resurrection, following Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit. It is believing in Him to the point of investing yourself in His message.
I find many people who follow the church, place their faith in Scripture and say they 'love' Jesus. OK ... let me know how this love is manifested. Show me where your time and energy is spent. Do you follow in how you do your work? Do you follow in where you place your priorities? Is there evidence in your home, your activities, your spending and your living that Jesus is first? That is what John 3:16 means when Jesus says "believes in him."
The good news is that Jesus is saying that regular people, redeemed Pharisees, single mothers, business people, athletes, and those who are confused and messed up are all invited to the party. His desire is for all to believe ... but not the shallow "fan-like" belief I see so often. He invites you and me to a life of resurrection power and peace. Everyone is born of the water of the human womb. "But the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life" [John 3:6]. That is the birth and life to which you are invited! Pastor Randy
Monday, August 29, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
A Short Word
This week I will be brief. Lee and I will be going to Kentucky for the 175th anniversary of the congregation we served in Mt. Olivet, Kentucky. Pastor Jerry will preach on Sunday. Mt. Olivet is a small town in Northern Kentucky with only a few people ... but people of God nevertheless. We will be going back to a place where love, work, family, weariness and life happened.
In Jeremiah's message from Lamentations I'll bet he thought about these things as he saw his home, Jerusalem and Judah, become exiled and destroyed before his very eyes. He looked forward and couldn't tell the people good things about what was coming. He probably wanted, like many pastors, to give his people encouragement, love and a prediction of peace. But Jeremiah's message was harsh, brutal and full of death and destruction. He said he wanted to hold in some of what he was to say, but it was a "burning in his gut." God's Word was coming out ... he had to tell.
In Kentucky, Prattville, Montgomery, and Santa Rosa Beach this is the challenge. As your pastor I have a heart for you as fellow sheep under the ultimate guidance of the Great Shepherd. He has asked me to lead you, teach you, love you, tell you His truth and give you His good Word. Sometimes that is easy, uplifting and a message of peace and love. Sometimes it is giving you a difficult, harsh, distasteful and draining message that I would rather hold inside. But like Jeremiah it is a burning in my gut. So I will do my best to tell you what God is saying through the Word for the week. I will pray that I never need to say the harsh things Jeremiah must tell the people of Judah. But remember ... it is not my word ... it is His Word. I,Pastor Jerry and Jeremiah, are messengers of a faithful and true God. Pray for Jerry and me and anyone else who is asked to preach at Good News. I will pray for eyes that see, ears that hear and hearts that follow. Randy
In Jeremiah's message from Lamentations I'll bet he thought about these things as he saw his home, Jerusalem and Judah, become exiled and destroyed before his very eyes. He looked forward and couldn't tell the people good things about what was coming. He probably wanted, like many pastors, to give his people encouragement, love and a prediction of peace. But Jeremiah's message was harsh, brutal and full of death and destruction. He said he wanted to hold in some of what he was to say, but it was a "burning in his gut." God's Word was coming out ... he had to tell.
In Kentucky, Prattville, Montgomery, and Santa Rosa Beach this is the challenge. As your pastor I have a heart for you as fellow sheep under the ultimate guidance of the Great Shepherd. He has asked me to lead you, teach you, love you, tell you His truth and give you His good Word. Sometimes that is easy, uplifting and a message of peace and love. Sometimes it is giving you a difficult, harsh, distasteful and draining message that I would rather hold inside. But like Jeremiah it is a burning in my gut. So I will do my best to tell you what God is saying through the Word for the week. I will pray that I never need to say the harsh things Jeremiah must tell the people of Judah. But remember ... it is not my word ... it is His Word. I,Pastor Jerry and Jeremiah, are messengers of a faithful and true God. Pray for Jerry and me and anyone else who is asked to preach at Good News. I will pray for eyes that see, ears that hear and hearts that follow. Randy
Monday, August 15, 2011
Unpacking
Last week's lesson from Habakkuk told us that God does things that are beyond our ability to understand (even if God told us what he was doing). He was both sending the people of Judah into exile and promising them a return some years down the road (in God's perfect timing). In Jeremiah and Ezekiel God gets more specific (giving them the time frame of 70 years of exile in Babylon). Immersed in the predictions of things the people do not want and the surety that God will (and did) do what He says, there is a beautiful theme of redemption, newness and hope. There is the advice to unpack your stuff and be a blessing where you are planted (lot's of agricultural terminology here).
I want to spend a moment on this idea of unpacking. What great and perfect advice for a people in spiritual, physical, emotional, political and economic turmoil! We should be able to identify with this theme!
Unpack! Sounds simple, but what is God saying? He is saying that while the nation is here temporarily (in Babylon) they should plant gardens, build houses, have children and become productive/functional in the place they are living. He is also saying that unpacking means you are setting up a life in a place where you become witnesses of the God you worship. This God can prosper His people in captivity. this God can cause His people to become a blessing of prosperity to their captor nation. These people are of a different sort and of different character, having hearts devoted to their God.
And why not? Joseph was a blessing where he was a servant and captive. Israel was a blessing to Egypt giving them livestock, grain and free labor. We (as Christians) are also to be that kind of blessing. Work as though you are working for the Lord [1 Cor. 15] (because you are in your witness). Do your work with excellence. Make your employer, family and country prosperous, not for your own gain but as a witness to your God. Set your minds on the excellent things above and allow this to permeate your lives daily [Col. 3]. Unpack and leave behind the burdens, grudges, worries and drudgery of the pagans, for you are meant for better things. Live, for the Lord is your life [Deut. 30]! And watch your blessings multiply from a God who overcomes all obstacles, including death! Unpack ... love ... live ... grow ... become ... witness ... worship!
Thanks for listening! Pastor Randy
I want to spend a moment on this idea of unpacking. What great and perfect advice for a people in spiritual, physical, emotional, political and economic turmoil! We should be able to identify with this theme!
Unpack! Sounds simple, but what is God saying? He is saying that while the nation is here temporarily (in Babylon) they should plant gardens, build houses, have children and become productive/functional in the place they are living. He is also saying that unpacking means you are setting up a life in a place where you become witnesses of the God you worship. This God can prosper His people in captivity. this God can cause His people to become a blessing of prosperity to their captor nation. These people are of a different sort and of different character, having hearts devoted to their God.
And why not? Joseph was a blessing where he was a servant and captive. Israel was a blessing to Egypt giving them livestock, grain and free labor. We (as Christians) are also to be that kind of blessing. Work as though you are working for the Lord [1 Cor. 15] (because you are in your witness). Do your work with excellence. Make your employer, family and country prosperous, not for your own gain but as a witness to your God. Set your minds on the excellent things above and allow this to permeate your lives daily [Col. 3]. Unpack and leave behind the burdens, grudges, worries and drudgery of the pagans, for you are meant for better things. Live, for the Lord is your life [Deut. 30]! And watch your blessings multiply from a God who overcomes all obstacles, including death! Unpack ... love ... live ... grow ... become ... witness ... worship!
Thanks for listening! Pastor Randy
Sunday, August 7, 2011
A Stop Along the Way
OK ... some heavy stuff has gone past our eyes over the last 8 months. We are into the prophetic writings and we have heard and read some pretty harsh stuff. Time to stop and think for a bit.
Think about God's overall purpose in His Word. Some would say it is to instill particular behavior, show His might, or teach us commandments. These all come out in the Bible, but God has an overriding purpose stated often in the Old and New Testaments. Exodus 19, Jesus prayer from Gethsemane and the conclusion of John's Revelation state that God desires something impossibly good and unbelievably graceful ... He wants to bring us to Himself (His place prepared for us). His Word says there is plenty of room for everyone, although it is equally clear that not everyone will choose God's path to His house. Still, that's pretty good news since we have been getting 'owned' by the words of the prophets.
Yes, God's plan is to bring us to Him, but the prophetic word seems a bit harsh. What seems to be the pattern of those pesky prophets? Glad you asked!
They are clearly telling God's people that their actions are not consistent with a people who are supposed to know and love God. They are saying that these actions will result in bad consequences. And they are calling the people to repent immediately so that God, who is merciful, might have mercy on them. Collectively they don't seem to listen, with the exception of Jonah's Ninevites. But the other side of the prophetic message is that they all tell of a day when God will rescue His people. God's means of rescue is not what we would like or expect. God doesn't send an army of angels, a great wind to sweep our enemies into the sea or some other theophanic miracle. Instead He sends a baby to take on human form, live among us, step into our mess and step into time to rescue us.
The next few weeks will be about the new Covenant, a new heart and some old problems we need to shed. These include letting God be the authority in our lives, letting God lead us, letting God become our first priority and following God to His place and away from the traps, guilt, sin and hurt the Hebrews says "so easily weighs us down." I'm down for that! How about you! Pastor Randy
Think about God's overall purpose in His Word. Some would say it is to instill particular behavior, show His might, or teach us commandments. These all come out in the Bible, but God has an overriding purpose stated often in the Old and New Testaments. Exodus 19, Jesus prayer from Gethsemane and the conclusion of John's Revelation state that God desires something impossibly good and unbelievably graceful ... He wants to bring us to Himself (His place prepared for us). His Word says there is plenty of room for everyone, although it is equally clear that not everyone will choose God's path to His house. Still, that's pretty good news since we have been getting 'owned' by the words of the prophets.
Yes, God's plan is to bring us to Him, but the prophetic word seems a bit harsh. What seems to be the pattern of those pesky prophets? Glad you asked!
They are clearly telling God's people that their actions are not consistent with a people who are supposed to know and love God. They are saying that these actions will result in bad consequences. And they are calling the people to repent immediately so that God, who is merciful, might have mercy on them. Collectively they don't seem to listen, with the exception of Jonah's Ninevites. But the other side of the prophetic message is that they all tell of a day when God will rescue His people. God's means of rescue is not what we would like or expect. God doesn't send an army of angels, a great wind to sweep our enemies into the sea or some other theophanic miracle. Instead He sends a baby to take on human form, live among us, step into our mess and step into time to rescue us.
The next few weeks will be about the new Covenant, a new heart and some old problems we need to shed. These include letting God be the authority in our lives, letting God lead us, letting God become our first priority and following God to His place and away from the traps, guilt, sin and hurt the Hebrews says "so easily weighs us down." I'm down for that! How about you! Pastor Randy
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