theologer

"Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?" - Psalm 139:7

Remember how Adam and Eve thought they could hide in the garden? Or what about Jonah who thought he could flea by boat?

I was trying to think of ways I've done this, if I've ever tried to flea from his presence, and then it occurred to me. I'm embarrassed to say, but I play like a little kid would play hide and seek. I simply turn away for a bit and hope he does the same, "If I can't see you, you can't see me."

This is supposed to be a great promise and I'm convinced it is. But sad that I can look at it and think, "What a great promise. But man, I totally wish I could get away sometimes."

I'm alone without my wife for 4 more days, and it's rough. But there is something freeing about knowing no one is there to ask where I am throughout the day. We do talk 3 times a day on the phone, but its different than reporting where I'm going as I walk out the door. Somehow it feels like I'm free, like I can go and do whatever I want.

For the most part it's good, but there's a little bit of me that wants to sin while no one is looking. But then I remember this.

Funny how a program like Covenant Eyes (GREAT program, I highly suggest it) can make me feel like someone knows where I'm going on the internet, but I don't mind if God sees. Either I think He'll look away for a minute, or I take comfort in the fact that He doesn't scold me vocally (I wouldn't put it past Him though).

I'm doing alright being away from my wife - it's not easy, but don't read that into this post, it's not my point. My point is, we are held accountable, and it is a good thing.

Our God cares for us, and He'll be there WHEREVER we are (or go) to pick us up when we fall, to love us when we need love, and to remind us He's in control. We cannot (though it's absolutely beyond stupid that we try) to leave his presence.

"Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." - Romans 13:10

Just take a minute and imagine what it would be like to fulfill the law. If you can't pull that off then imagine what it would be like to actually love people (you know, like selflessly, like a child, unabashedly, and always without fault).

It's pretty much impossible because we're so flawed.

That said, I'm thinking about how when I wrong my wife. However I do it, be it saying something mean or doing something stupid, it is almost never (I might dare even say it is never - but not quite) purposefully. I never think to myself, "You know, this will really rub my wife wrong, I'm going to say it just to make her angry." I just say something stupid, poorly thought out, and even more poorly worded. Then I hurt my wife and try to dig myself, making things worse and worse.

I love my wife, but my love is so imperfect, and so even in my striving for love I'm hurting the one I love the most; let alone how often I do this to friends or acquaintances or my literal neighbor.

And yet we're called to love "because He first loved us," which isn't a bad deal. Trust me, God is getting the short end of that bargain.

This is why we all need the Lord at the center of all our relationships, with our spouse, our kids, our friends, and our neighbors. Because we're too incompetent to do it on our own. We WILL hurt people, breaking the law. But love washed with Jesus' blood and understanding of this (by both parties) is how we maintain meaningful relationships. It's the ONLY way we maintain relationships.

So go forth. Love. Fulfill the law. Leaning on the Lord to wash your love because even our love stinks.

(p.s. Notice the subtle difference between "follow the law" and
"fulfill the law." in words its small, but in practice it's great)

"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" - Matthew 7:11

So I've definitely mentioned how I stress out when I fly. Today I took my last flight for probably close to six months. In itself this is reason for me to celebrate, but this morning I woke up and wigged out. I don't know why, the Lord always provides for me in such overwhelming ways.

My biggest concern was my luggage because we were coming back from furlough and had just had a baby we had LOADS of luggage. Also due to some complicated vacationing, I had to take all of the bags both my wife and I carried. So this morning my fear was overweight baggage. This may not be a big deal to you but just to give you some perspective, overweight bags cost around $100-$300 per bag (my wife once was asked to pay $1100 for one bag) and I had 3 more bags than I should have.

But the lady at the front counter had grace for me. It's a long complicated story but she figured out a way to work around the system so I could carry my absurd amount of baby stuff and books back home with me. When I had my boarding pass and my baggage was checked I walked away from the counter and teared up.

The part I don't understand is my shock. The Lord ALAYS gives me good gifts. I begged him for grace with my luggage and he gave me grace with my luggage and this is a HUGE deal to someone who stresses when they fly; not to mention the coin it saved me.

Now that I'm a dad I know what it is to want to give good gifts to my daughter (and I'm sure I'll understand quite a bit differently when she's grown up enough to say thanks and appreciate things). But how much more will our Father in heaven give us good gifts when we ask? The answer is "A LOT MORE."

I love that I worship a God who blesses me, and sometimes I just feel overwhelmed by the grace he's given. A wonderful, loving, beautiful wife. A precious, gorgeous, happy baby girl. A safe trip home. And free extra baggage to boot.

“He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” - Matthew 16:15-16

I know that I could have this answer. In the same way I could take a test in High School or College and within a day have forgotten everything. At least, thats the way I live.

I'm just shocked that I can have this head knowledge and not live like it.

I don't want to be saying, "I'm not good enough, I'll never be enough," or even, "I don't spend enough time in the word." Because of what Jesus did, we are just downright saved, righteous, justified. The sanctified part is the process.

But as I look at my life recently, I don't live like someone who truly believes because I don't wake up and seek the Lord with my whole heart. If I really believed this, and REALLY believed it, then I would desire the Lord SO much more than I do. Why must I be so stinkin' incompetent.

The problem lies a lot in the fact that I have a new member in the family. When I first got married it took me about six months or so to get back into the groove of regular quiet times because it took me that long to realize that I cant be married and spend time in the word at night. I have to wake up early to make it happen. But now, the child wakes up REALLY early, and in order to have the house be quiet and be able to spend time with the Lord I have to wake up even earlier.

I have what it takes, and I want to do what it takes. I'm sick of treating Him like a friend who I don't really get along with... I want to seek Him out of an overflow and an understanding of the great pleasure it is spend time with the Christ, the Son of the living God.

In application of this, I'm going outside to get some time with the Lord. Hopefully when I finally return tomorrow (after almost 4 months away) my life will take on some regularity and I'll find a time where I can be alone with the Christ, the Son of the living God.

"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer." - 1 Peter 3:12

There were suggestions flowing in like crazy from my last post and I appreciate it. I did a search for prayer on my blog and was impressed how much I have addressed the topic. One thing I found useful for a time was a schedule for payer, I addressed it almost a year ago today see my post - Contemplating Death Further.

But God's ears are open to their prayer. The righteous. I'm just thinking today about how I will often begin my prayer for others with "Lord, make me clean, forgive me of my sins and make me a righteous man so that you will hear this prayer and give heed." I have this fear that because of something in my life my prayer will be less powerful than if prayed by a truly righteous man (I know Jesus is the only way any of us are righteous), and so I pray to be seen as righteous before continuing my prayer.

This is one of the reasons I secretly long for the prayer of children. I think they have a particular gift for righteousness, and so I seek their prayers for while they may be simple, the Lord's ears will be open.

But in this, don't fail to see the gospel. We have no hope of righteousness and then to have our prayers heard and answered - not by our own strength that is. It's only because of what Christ did for us on the cross that we have any hope of righteousness, and then heard/answered prayers.

Carving out time for repentance is significant to our prayer life and why many people suggest starting there before personal petition.

"Then God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it." - Jonah 3:10

Some movies are made to make you identify with the bad guy and begin to take his side. After watching for an hour and half you begin to identify with his background and understand why he turned out the way he did. You relate a little bit to why he is killing, or stealing, or whatever it is he does. Often times the point is simply to make you see just how fallen we are, or just how easy it would be for any of us to get to that point.

I feel this way about Jonah, the Bible basically makes Jonah out to be a sinner because God decides he will destroy Nineveh and then after Jonah preaches to them he relents. Jonah gets angry about this, wanting God to go ahead and destroy the people. He had even left the city and gone out to make a place for himself to watch the show, expecting God to call to fire from heaven (maybe like he had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah).

There are lots of reasons why Jonah would have wanted the city to be destroyed, but I totally end up taking his side in this story. We should be pleased at the graciousness of the God we serve, willing to save a whole city when they truly repent. But instead, I feel bad that poor Jonah had to walk the whole length of the city and decree their coming death and destruction only for it to not come to pass.

If God told me to go tell Bin Laden that He had decreed Bin Laden would live 40 more days and then die, I would be almost joyful to tell Bin Laden this. But then horrified if the Lord chose to spare him, no matter how great his repentance.

We worship a God willing to forgive an awful lot, I want to feel gratitude, but have a hard time doing so with this story, why is that?

(p.s. its interesting the KJV says the Lord repented - not relented - which would be an interesting discussion on its own, maybe I'll pose it at the forum...)

"'So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!' So they took his advice," Acts 5:38-39

Everyone is complaining about Todd Bentley. Some think he's good, others think he's evil. Some think he's from God, others straight from hell. I hate to use a whole blog entry to discuss this topic but since I could apply it to a verse I thought it fitting.

I take a different stance than most people, and I think mine is easier. Simply - WE DON'T KNOW. And it's really not worth worrying about.

The truth is, God uses people that make you uncomfortable. He'll use people and situations that none of us can comprehend. He is after all, GOD. He's not you. He's not me. He doesn't think like us. In fact, the absolute BEST thoughts you can think about who God is or what methods He might use are still infinitely lower than His worst thoughts.

That is, when you sit down and say "Kicking someone in the stomach is not how God works," you're just absolutely, unequivocally WRONG. I'm not saying that is how he would or will work, simply - who the hades are we to put Him in such a box?

If God wants to save the world through nuclear bombs, He can. He can drop bombs on all the major cities of the world and heal everyone who is in the blast radius (instead of have them vaporized).

It's GOD guys. It's not us. I'm not saying Todd is straight from God. I would imagine like the rest of us he is an unhealthy mix of things from the flesh and things straight from God. These revivals typically have a good mix of things and people who are healed, and people who are completely slimed and undone by what happens.

God can work with the messy. God can work with unhealthy believers. He's God. And we're not. If you're in Florida, I say go check him out, you might even be blessed. Don't take everything he says as straight from God, but remember, the Lord might very well be using him in some weird ways that make you uncomfortable. He has the freedom to do that. He's not a pastor who has to please a congregation, he is the All Mighty. And you, my fellow bloggers... are not.

If he's not from God, he'll just fail. But if he is, it would behoove you not to stand in his way. Take the safe path, it would be a bummer to get to heaven and find out you had stood in God's path.

Posts mentioning Todd Bentley in the last 30 days.

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" - Philippians 3:8

Here is another clear and simple proclamation of the gospel. All things are rubbish in the light of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus.

I once read something which suggested we all read the book of Philippians chapter 3 - 25 times in a row. It said it would change my life, and if it didn't it was because I hadn't read it 25 times. So I printed it out, sat down and read it through 25 times.

While I wouldn't say it changed my life, I did catch what Paul was going for quite a bit better than I had previously. This is the crucial verse. Everything in chapter 3 revolves around this verse. Paul counts everything as loss, everything as trash, to gain Christ.

It is so hard for me to give everything up for Christ. The truth is there are a lot of things I'm willing to give up. Home, comfort, even safety and health sometimes (though this last one is particularly hard for me), but giving up my computer? Internet? My wife? My child? There are things other people have sacrificed which I really don't know if I'd be able to.

Hudson Taylor's story has had a great impact on my life and ministry, and when I read about the two wives he lost, and the many children to disease and other things, I cannot fathom. My subconscious reminder to the Lord has become "Lord I'm willing to sacrifice, but only some things. You're good, but you're not that good."

I hate that this is where my mind goes, but I have a long ways to go to be a Paul, to count ALL things as rubbish. I desire the Lord with all my heart, er... most of my heart. I've still got some growing to do.

Thank you Lord that you are good, and loving, and caring. I want to be a hero for you, a soldier for you, willing to lay down everything for the surpassing worth of knowing you, but I don't know how. I like the gifts you've given me, I like them a lot. Help me to know your worth, and to follow you through thick and thin. If you truly are of surpassing worth, I want to truly believe it. I think Mark 9:24 should become a life verse for me "I believe; help my unbelief!"

"Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction." - Isaiah 48:10

Why does he have to try us? Why through affliction? So often my prayers are "Lord make me humble, but please be nice," or "God I want to understand thanksgiving, but not by having things taken away from me," or "I want to be a man more in love with you, but I fear how you'll bring me there."

There is almost this slight mistrust on my part because I fear of how the Lord will do it. I fear His trial by fire. Trial by affliction.

But he does it for his sake:

"For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another." - Isaiah 48:11

Because we take His glory. As you know, I'm about to get on an airplane... in about 18 hours (or so). I'm stressed out. But I also know that if everything went well and I felt in control through the whole trip, then I would look back and say "I did pretty good. I brought us all the way here."

I almost think the Lord brings me adversity in traveling because it is the one thing of which I am unable to relinquish control. I want to trust God with it, but I don't. I want to bring the Lord glory.

So when I get there. I'll try to post something, and thank the Lord for how he brought me safely where I'm going.

That said, I may post once more tonight (I may not), but then I might not have internet access for several days, so if I'm out - well... sorry. But I'll be back.

Life has to return to some normalcy which has been gone for some time. So goodbye for now. I'll see you again shortly.

"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." - Hebrews 11:6

I read:

By faith it IS possible to please Him. And without it we lack even a chance so...
First believe He exists. Check.
Next believe that He rewards those who seek him. Check
Now I can draw near to God.

Interesting, that in order to draw near, we have to believe that the Lord will bless our efforts in seeking Him. That is, we not only have to seek God to draw near, but we have to believe that it will yield something valuable.

Faith. And then we can please Him. But this isn't supposed to be something which we DO. It's supposed to lead us to Jesus.

The writer of Hebrews is saying that God DOES reward those who seek Him. Then he's saying it's only by faith - belief, not action - that we please the Lord.

Belief. Not action. Get that? Faith.

"but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." - Philippians 2:5-7

As I've been sorting through my feelings on blogging and this has been my thought process:

1. People read my blog. Cool. I should keep writing. I like that people read my writing.

2. As more people read I'll become like... internet famous. Which, while the lamest type of fame, is still cool.

3. I write under a pseudonym so I wont be able to become prideful.

4. I've become prideful.

5. I hope it still brings glory to the Lord and I'm not just a moron writing personal thoughts while leaving God out of the equation.

While, what I want to be thinking is:

1. People read my blog. Cool. I hope I'm writing things that are glorifying to God and edifying to these people.

2. As more people read my blog, more people will be blessed by the things I write which glorify God.

3. I hope people know this is a place that glorifies the Lord.

Note this verse in Philippians. HE WAS GOD PEOPLE! He was GOD and he was able to be humble and did not aspire to equality with God. I am not just mere mortal man, but LAME mere mortal man striving for INTERNET FAME! INTERNET respect... LAME!

We all know this verse... and probably the two verses preceding it... here the thought is in its entirety, "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." But pride is one of the hardest things NOT to live.

What does it look like to be a servant on the internet? I BEG an answer.

"Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire." - Hebrews 12:28-29

Today a guy in my class preached on this scripture and what he said was pretty fascinating, focusing mostly on the consuming fire.

He also talked about how we should be grateful and offer acceptable worship to God because we've been given a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Imagine if we were given something as our inheritance which was perishable?

Or even built well but with a poor foundation. I'm pleased to think that our inheritance in the kingdom will not pass away, or be affected by floods or earthquakes. I can leave candles on in the house and not be worried about them burning it down in my heavenly inheritance.

But then this verse is followed by the consuming fire. Our God is a force to be reckoned with, the same God that can provide something which cant be shaken, can also utterly destroy.

We worship a powerful God. I have a friend who is 6'6", he is half Native American and half Hispanic, and just got out of the marines. You would NOT want to meet this guy in a dark alley, but I can walk comfortably knowing he's on my side. A guy that big, he's good to have on your side.

God's the biggest, the toughest, and the scariest, but He's on our side, He's our friend, and we don't need to be afraid because we're with Him. And he has given us a good gift, an unshakable kingdom.

"Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!  
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,"
-Psalm 103:1-2

I think I've written on blessing the Lord before (it's sad I can't remember or find it through a search) but if it's something you don't do, consider getting in the habit. Awkward as it may be at first.

But bless the Lord.. with your whole soul! After all, when was the last time that you thanked He "who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases"?- v3

Or the one "who redeems your life from the pit" - verse 4... These are not little things. These are matters of not just pain, suffering, right and wrong. It's not even just about life and death, but about eternal damnation or eternal joy, a black and white that we might never be able to comprehend.

That's the God we worship.
Bless Him!

If the angels bless Him(v20) and His ministers (v21) then so ought your soul. "For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him"(v11). The heavens are FAR above the earth.

And let me tell you, when it says "as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us," that is NO little deal.

I've been to Western Europe, and they're a little like us. I've been the Middle East, and I started to think they were pretty weird. But then I saw the Far East, and let me tell you, the East is a LONG ways from the West. There is nothing about the East that is ANYTHING like the West.

Our God removed our sins that far from us. So next time before a meal instead of "Good food, good meat, good God lets eat," try a "God we bless you for your steadfast love, for your provision for this meal, for your great love for us, for dying on the cross for us. Bless you God!"

"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." - 1 Peter 5:10

I don't know about you but about the last thing in this world I would want to hear is "Oh, you're miserable in there? Well, after you've been miserable a little while, I'll send my buddy in to refresh you."

This verse is likely intended to instill confidence in our Lord and His ability to save us out whatever trials we face. The context for this is dealing with the attacks of the enemy. We want to worship a God who removes us from all strife and pain, but that isn't what the Lord is promising here.

Rather, he is telling us to rejoice in ours suffering, "knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world." - verse 9. Our God is one who allows us to be refined by the difficulties of life but then promises to deliver us. He never told us He would take us out of this world, just that He would be with us in the midst of it.

I can name many times in my life which were absolutely miserable times, and I begged and begged the Lord to take me out of them, but He did not. Instead he let me suffer a little while. Then restored me, confirmed me, strengthened me, and established me. I can look back on all those experiences (granted some took years) and see the hand of the Lord and His great love in choosing to make me the man that I am today through such tough circumstances.

Suffering made me a man calm enough, and appreciative enough to be a decent husband to my wife (I wont say good...) and suffering has given me perspective enough to love my daughter even when she's crying in the middle of the night.

I praise God he let me suffer a little while, though admittedly, it isn't how I would have done it. But I suppose that's why I'm not the big guy upstairs. He is.

Do you find yourself praying, "Lord make me humble, but I don't want it to be embarrassing. Lord make me patient, but I don't want it to hurt. Lord make me like your son, but I don't want to go through the fire."?

I know I do, but His ways are higher than ours.

To me beer is part of the refreshing after the difficulty.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." - Matthew 5:9

While I doubt this was written with the United Nations in mind, in theory it could apply. It would make you wonder why the guy who invented dynamite was given the Nobel Peace Prize.

I'm just thinking about that guy in you knew in school or at work who was able to bring everyone together. There are people out there with the unique gift of getting people together who just wont naturally get along. I think my father had it. For 4 years his job was to work in the Middle East to get the Israelis and the Palestinians to like one another, which is almost an impossible job. But he was good at it.

While there are those who are gifted in this area, I would suggest we are all called to be peacemakers. That is, to bring those together who cannot find resolution. To resolve issues between brothers in the church (or brothers and sisters as the case may be - that was for you TC), to unite the body of Christ throughout the world and bring the Kingdom.

My personality rubs a lot of folks wrong. In fact many of you would not like me upon meeting me (many people don't enjoy me at first impression) because of my strong personality. But this is something I've been called to bring under control and be a person who brings unity instead of division.

Does your church bring peace? Unity? Love? Do you? Or do you break people up because its easier given our fallen nature and people issues?

"Then Job answered the LORD and said: 'Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.'" - Job 40:3-5

Remember that song, "I fought the law and the law won"? Imagine fighting God. I enjoy this verse for several reasons, Job arguing with the Lord seems extremely reasonable in our world of right and wrong. Job was wronged, it seems reasonable he would be angry with the Lord.

I love how the Lord silences Job. Job complains, complains, complains, and we're all right there with him... agreeing with all he's saying, and then at the beginning of this chapter the Lord has responded,

"And the LORD said to Job: 'Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.'" - verses 1&2

The Lord is basically saying this to us, not just Job, because we're basically siding with Job throughout this whole book. But the Lord wins.

No matter how much we contend with the Lord over right and wrong in this world, (as there sure seems to be an awful lot of it), over our lots in life, and over our good times and bad, the Lord has the right to respond, "Who are you to argue with the almighty?"

How can we in our wisdom (only infinite in it's limitations), even pretend to question the creator?

Job is challenging the big kid in the school yard, the kid let him present his point, and then pointed out that he can crush him to the ground if he doesn't shut up. "I'll shut up, I'll shut up," he responds.

"I lay my hand on my mouth, I have spoken once . . . but I will proceed no further."

Awesome. When is the last time the Lord reminded you of just how small you are? Just how insignificant your opinions? And when was the last time you thanked Him for dying for you anyway?

"Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant." - 1 Kings 8:56

This hit home tonight. I'm tired. I had three doctors appointments today, with a chiropractor, dentist, and then optometrist. Then I came home and spent about 5 hours on my Hebrew class. Not to mention my little girl was having a rough day and pretty much didn't sleep today, just stirred and wined and couldn't relax. - The Lord gave rest to Israel.

I'm glad I serve a God that's not a God of works but a God of grace who even made provision from the beginning of the world for rest. Then He fulfilled his promises.

I worship a God who has promised an awful lot, and made provision for rest. Someday, I will look back and say, "Blessed be the Lord, who gave me rest, according to all he promised. He fulfilled all he promised to his children."

Cool.

Often when I present the gospel to someone who is absolutely new to Christianity (yes such people exist), I like to start with some serious background. Going back to the garden I tell them how God wanted us to have perfect communion with Him, but we messed it up with the apple.

Then he laid out a plan for redemption. I like to explain about how the Jews had to sacrifice a lamb so the Lord would look on the lamb and see our sins on it instead of on us. This leads so clearly into who Jesus and why his sacrifice was so significant.

I can't ever get the idea of the scapegoat out of my head, and then how the Lord chooses to look on Jesus and count our sin against him instead of us.

Today I was reading this:

"Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith." Galatians 3:23-26

We went from needing a guardian, from absolutely depending on the law - and God's provision in a lamb when we fell short of it - to being children of the Most High God.

Yesterday I mentioned about my inability to live like I'm under grace. Part of what reminded me about my ineptitude is a book I'm reading for a preaching class I have.

Christ Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon (second edition), by Bryan Chapell.*

First I have to say this book started out boring as dirt and I wasn't sure if I was going to make it through. About half-way through I started to think it was a bit more interesting and then the entire last section is absolutely gripping. I would suggest it to any preacher.

Anyhow, on page 293 Chapell is talking about how we need to bring themes of redemption into our preaching. He mentions at one point about how he realized he had been teaching works/guilt based theology without even knowing it for months on end. Then this is what he says,

"The warping of faith and preaching occurs, however, with the belief that disciplines ward off God's ire or buy his favor. In such a case, the problem is not the biblical discipline we practice but the type of God we perceive."

And then my favorite line,

"He becomes the ogre in the sky who requires the daily satisfaction of our toil to dispense his favor or restrain his displeasure"

This is so who I am. Walking around everyday believing God to be a God of grace, but living like he is an ogre in the sky and will not continue to give his grace unless I have a longer quiet time every morning, or pray better.

That said, I need to go have a decent time of prayer this morning. But I just want you to think about the kind of God you perceive.

*ISBN: 978-0-8010-2798-7

"And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’" - Matthew 25:40

Today I had an experience with the least of these. On my drive home from a run to the grocery store just to buy donuts (yes, I do this regularly) I passed a car on the way home with a flat tire. I dropped my wife of at home just a few blocks away and went back to see if everything was okay.

The guy on the side of the street was a sweet guy although probably not quite all there mentally. But the Lord showed up in some cool ways and during our time together we were able to talk pretty closely about the Lord, and his relationship with Him. I was able to pray with him and generally, I think, be a blessing.

I love doing ministry like this, but I think today I was surprised at just how easy it was. Typically the things or people the Lord tugs me to talk to or pray for are very difficult for me. I want to be a blessing to them, I want to lay hands on them and pray, but its awkward or they're dirty or something.

But today was a new experience and I don't know what made it so. I do hope if he calls back because he needs more help in some way that I'll be willing and joyful to be helpful. I don't want it to ever be inconvenient to help someone out. I don't ever want to have "something better" to do. We'll see how that plays out in real life. For now I'm thankful for this experience. Thankful the Lord can still use me when I don't expect and that I'm useful for something.

I hope it was a blessing to the King.