Religious Junk Mail

Don't you love junk mail?  I get junk mail like everyone else, but mine also has that religious, mean-spirited edge to it sometimes.  I received a strange and disturbing junk mail letter the other day that I opened because I thought it was something else.  

This letter comes from one Baptist group and denigrates another Baptist group and was a waste of 45 cents of postage and the cost of the paper it was printed on.  Here's the statement that disturbed me:  "[Group] is needed more than ever.  The [Other Group] is unrelenting in attempting to draw churches away from [Group] and restrict their freedom."  And you thought over-the-top scare tactics were for politicians and talk-show hosts.  Apparently, they're for preachers too.

Never mind the stupidity of the claim of restricting freedom and so forth.  What lies behind that is the paranoia and lack of perspective that comes with the Kingdom.  We are not called to be builders of organizations but seekers of the Kingdom.  

Jesus is the One who promised to build His church upon the rock of the faith-filled confession that He is Lord.  Focusing on the Kingdom frees us to celebrate when God moves in His people, no matter their denominational label or locale of church membership.

As a pastor, I want to always be focused on the Kingdom and seeing it come on the earth as it is in heaven.  I want that to be more than a line from a rote prayer, but instead a passionate cry from our heart that God would do in us and through us exactly what He wants and that His glory would fill the earth as the waters cover the seas.  

The Kingdom matters most.  It's what remains long after organizations have gone.  It's what comes in the lives of men and women and brings Jesus' transformational power.  It's what lasts when the world shakes because it cannot be shaken.  Seeking it means all the rest of the things we need will be added to us.

But that's just me thinking thoughts...

Blowing your nose in the car

He was blowing his nose in the back seat.

The only problem was he didn't have a Kleenex, a piece of paper, a paper towel, a cloth, a handkerchief, or anything else.  He had his hands.  They were working for him.

Me:  Please don't blow your nose in the car when you don't have anything to blow it into.

Ninja:  I'm using my hands.

Me:  But you don't have anywhere to put it.

Ninja:  I'm using my mouth.

Queen:  *gag* *almost puke* *gag*

Me:  *headshake*

But no, I've never been guilty of intaking things that weren't good for me and doing so willingly and against common sense.  No, not me.  I've never watched too much TV, spent too much time in front of my laptop, overeaten at the buffet, listened to music or talk shows that do my soul more harm than good, dwelt on a thought that I should've taken captive, or kept a relationship I should've let go.  No not me.

I've never been guilty of doing that.  But I might know some people who have.

But that's just me thinking thoughts...

Taking responsibility

You ever noticed that we live in a culture where it's never anyone's fault that something went wrong, went awry, or just plain didn't happen?  If you don't believe me, just ask them.  They'll be happy to avow that it wasn't their fault.

I had a moment in 10th grade where Mr. Nash, the geometry teacher from one of Dante's lower rings of hell, gave an assignment and I didn't do it for some reason or another.  I turned in a piece of paper with my name on it.  He gave me a 4.

Yes.  A 4.

We had a situation like that pop up in our house.  You can hardly believe that a pastor's family isn't perfect, I know, but it did happen in our domain.

The Ninja was supposed to get some homework done.  He didn't.  The Queen or I was supposed to sign that it got done.  We didn't.

The teacher did an unbelievable thing:  she sent home his paper with a failing grade on it.  Shock.  Dismay.  Awe.

Gratitude.

The work didn't get done.  She said it didn't get done.  The grade was perfectly in line with the work (and the parenting).

And it was a great opportunity to talk to the Ninja about how he needed to make sure his homework got done.  And, yes, we took responsibility that we didn't sign the paper and double-check the work.  After a few moments of writhing and it's-not-fair whining, I think he got it.

It'll be better for our culture, our families, our churches, and our souls if we can embrace that it just might be our fault and own up to that.  Along with sin comes the temptation to deflect its evil to someone else's account.  Thus, Jesus has us own our sin via confession before He'll take it from us.

But that's just me thinking thoughts...

Confidence in the Bible

I enjoy teaching the Bible.  Maybe you'd expect a pastor to say as much, but I really do.  I like the study part.  I like the framing it up part.  I like the delivery part.  I like the how-could-I-do-it-better part.

But the thing I like most is seeing how it changes people's lives.

You know what makes that easy?  The confidence I have in the Scriptures.  Historically and culturally, the Bible keeps passing test after test.  Time.  Cultures.  Continents.  Languages.  Persecution.  Coups.  Shifts.  You name it.  The Bible has stood the test.

The stats are easy to find and verify.  We have thousands of copies of the manuscripts.  We have early copies of them (within a few decades of the events themselves).  On and on it goes.  It's easy to have confidence in something like that.  It's easy to stand and declare as Truth what God says.

And it's a privilege to watch it change lives.

But that's just me thinking thoughts...

Sermon Notes from Sunday, 10.7.12

Here are the sermon notes from Sunday, 10.7.12, continuing the series called Clarity.  To find these notes in PDF and the sermon audio, visit sermons.heritagepark.org.  You can also find the sermon audio via our podcast on iTunes.

CLARITY

Part 5 - Content 

2 Timothy 3.16

Matthew 28.18-20: rationale for all we do, resources we draw from

Teaching to transform means teaching people how to obey Jesus.

          Scripture

• One theme: God establishing His Kingdom among His people.
  
• One hero: the Messiah.
  o Implication: the Bible can never contradict itself.
  
• Transmission question: do we have accurate copies to study?
  
• Translation question: do we have reliable books in our laps?
  o Implication: God is the great communicator and we can understand the Bible.
  
  Inspired
  

• God-breathed these words, using personalities and perspectives.
  
• Scriptures don’t are not just reporting, they are revelation.
  o Implication: demands obedience.
  
  You can agree that it’s Scripture and that God wrote it and even seek to understand it. 
  
  You don’t have a relationship with a book but with the God who wrote it. John 5.39

Snakes are Scary but so is this: interesting juxtaposition

Let me admit a couple of things...

1.  I'm a gun owner.

2.  I'm a Bible owner.

3.  I'm an American.

But this juxtaposition is odd to me for some reason:

To link to the original Snakes are Scary post that explains the Friday insanity, please click this link.

Ted Nugent, a friend, and a boil on a leg

A friend dropped by the office yesterday and told me a story.  Apparently their cat at one point got a boil on its leg which was big and puss-filled and ugly.  Under the advice of their not-a-DVM neighbor, lancing it became the option of choice.

So he volunteered to hold the cat.  The neighbor was the lancer.  The cat was the lancee.

Can you guess the next part?  The cat got lanced.  The holder got bit on the hand.  The neighbor got a heck of a show.

But the bite wasn't bad.  More like a mild scratch.

Until that night.

At midnight, with a swollen, aching hand and streaks of red running up the arm into the shoulder, my friend thought it might be something worth being concerned about.  After a few hours of pain, fever, nausea, and appropriate cat-cursing, an ER visit was made.

He had never heard of Cat Scratch Fever before, not even Ted Nugent's version.

Some IV antibiotics and a night in the hospital later, all was well.

It was too funny of a story not to retell, so I did.  But there's also a moral to be had.  Some of us think we have things in control when we have no idea what we're dealing with.  And some of us think marks we have are small little issues when they're big, hairy, hospital kinds of deals.

Any application for you today?

But that's just me thinking thoughts...

How my wireless carrier is like my church

I just got off the phone with Kiesha, from AT&T.  It was a frustrating reason to call, but it was resolved and is taken care of now.

As we're hanging up, Kiesha from AT&T says, "Thank you for being the best part of AT&T.  Have a great day."

It stuck with me because, whether or not AT&T believes it, that is a true statement.  Customers are the best part of AT&T.

And then I thought about our church.  We have members, not customers - that's true.  But they are the best part about our church.  Even in my prayer time this morning for our church family, I was thanking God for the people He had brought along and asking Him to do things in their lives that were God-sized and explainable only by His authority and Presence.  And part of the reason I ask that consistently is because we're not a cool organization, we don't have a cool building, I'm not a magnetic personality.  There's nothing, from the human side, that would necessarily commend us to anyone.  But our people are awesome.  Our consistent growth has come from our people inviting people and not from any cool program or ministry.

Our people really are the best part about our church.  That's not a line from a customer service script.  It's the reality of God at work.  I hope that's said about your church too.

But that's just me thinking thoughts...

It's like...

The kids, especially the boys, have imaginations.  Think about your favorite sci-fi show running into your favorite crime drama set in the context of Indiana Jones with a sprinkle of Disney's Austin and Ally on top.  Those kinds of imaginations.

And when they get started, they say, "It's like..."  And then the hilarity begins.  For me, the stories aren't all that funny.  But the kids laughing at themselves, even to the point of not being able to say what they want to say, is what is funny.

And for some reason the Holy Spirit prodded me last time I was thinking about that.  There are some things I don't believe (a la the smoke machine malfunctioning and causing the cave to catch fire where the horses were eating their cupcakes) that I need to believe.  And He whispered a few...

It's like a quenching, drenching, and powerful waterfall of love, poured out on you (Rom. 5.5).

It's like a well that's inside of you that not only gives you life but those around you too (John 7.39).

It's like fishing, casting a broad net, seeing what gets caught up in something larger than itself - except for men (Matt. 4.19).

It's like when I take a step, He takes a step and we get closer, though somehow He's already closer than I could imagine (James 4.8).

Yep.

It's like that.

But that's just me thinking thoughts...

A singing salvation

I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry.  He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.  He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD. (Psalm 40.1-3)

I spoke about this yesterday, but I'd like to reiterate it here.  For those in whom salvation has taken root, who have experienced the pit-defying rescue and the solidity of the Rock underfoot, singing is a natural result.

It's not the only result.  It, like other fruit from the True Vine, can be fabricated, faked, feigned.  But those who have been delivered do have a song in their mouth, a song of praise to their rescuing, delivering, security-ensuring God.

So how about you.  What song are you singing?

But that's just me thinking thoughts...