Post-Easter Thoughts

I hope you had a great resurrection celebration!

Some initial reflections on yesterday’s services:

-The gospel was simply, clearly presented. Preaching on Easter is an interesting activity because you have to fight the inclination to “complicate” the sermon. Many who gather in churches are familiar with the resurrection story, and in an effort to not disappoint them, many pastors try something fancy and out of the norm. That can be effective at times, but this is also the one Sunday when people gather who are not as familiar with the gospel message. No matter the familiarity, the gospel message has power for the saved and unsaved, so on a resurrection celebration, you just preach the “old familiar story” and pray it changes lives. I felt we did this yesterday through the different elements of the service. I thought it was clear how one can be saved.

-The elements of our service were effective in exalting Jesus! Everything we did was intentional, not just something we put in for the sake of doing something special for Easter. It was special, but it was planned to intensify the message of Jesus in an intentional way. Thanks to everyone who participated! The music, choir, drama, special instrumental, and even those who purchased lilies to decorate the platform– it all went together to make a special day.

-The sunrise service was a great start to the day with cooperation between churches. I might have heard the best rendition of His Eye Is On the Sparrow sung by two young ladies at this service, and the opportunity to worship with people from other churches was great. not to mention the breakfast was incredible!

Pre-Easter Thoughts

Last night, our church had a great Good Friday service focusing on the events of Jesus’ crucifixion. We used an adaptation of the Stations of the Cross in our service, having many different participants doing readings that pointed out some of the details that some people don’t always remember.

Here’s what I’m really looking forward to for tomorrow (Easter Sunday):

-Celebrating the risen Savior, Jesus! Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:14 that without the resurrection, our faith is in vain. It is the most significant event in all of history.

-Cooperation between churches. We are teaming up with Fite Memorial Baptist Church and Grace Brethren Church for a Sunrise Service in the morning followed by a breakfast together. It will be a great time to be together with other believers, setting aside denominational and “church pride” issues (if there are any even) to just focus on Jesus!

-Some effective different elements in our Resurrection Worship service at Central in the morning. Our 10:30 service will have some special elements that should help make our service very effective at getting the message across.

-Getting my children up and out the door by 7am for the sunrise service!!!

Have a great day celebrating the resurrection of Jesus!

“The End of the World is Tomorrow?” One Thing To Keep in Mind

I had 2 calls from people in the church yesterday all confused because people they know told them the world was going to end tomorrow (Saturday, May 21, 2011).  They didn’t know why their friends were saying this, and their friends asked them about it because they assumed it was something all Christians were believing.

I’ve not written much about this because everybody else on the internet seems to be.  But apparently there are some in our church who are confused, so I thought I’d address it briefly here with one major thought to consider.

Here’s why people think the world will end tomorrow:  Harold Camping and his followers at Family Radio have predicted that judgment day will be May 21, 2011, a day they say is when God will destroy the world because of the sins of mankind.  They’ve been promoting this for a while, although I’m not sure exactly how long.  I first saw their campaign in January of 2010 through the artwork on a bus in Nashville, TN.

Some problems with what they’re saying:

• Their theory is erroneous and a far stretch of what the Bible says.  It’s a mathematical illusion that uses the flood in Genesis 6 and some random verses throughout the Bible.  If their goal was to get attention, then they are successful.  Please remember that Harold Camping was teaching that Jesus would return in 1994, but this obviously was wrong.  So 5/21/11 is no new thing really.  (Here’s a good article about 1994 and Camping’s methods.)
• Jesus said in Matt. 24:36:  “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”    I’m pretty sure that if Jesus wasn’t privileged to this information in his humanity, then no person is either.  But of course, Family Radio has a response to that too, and it’s not a proper understanding of the Bible either.

One thing to keep in mind:

Based on Matt. 24:36, the time that Christ will return is only known by God.  The danger in Family Radio’s campaign is that by claiming they know the day of judgment, they are claiming that they know only something that God knows.  This is what got Adam and Eve in trouble.  Remember in Genesis 3:4-5– But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  

I do not believe that God will honor people who claim to know his ways.  Is. 55:8– For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

We don’t have the knowledge of God, so let’s not be easily trapped into a person or group’s thinking when it is something only God would know.

Where to go with conversations you might have about this:

The Bible is clear that Jesus will return.  We just don’t know when.  So I’ve told people that the bottom line is that He will return, there will be judgment, and the truth is that that could be today.  So the Bible is clear, just like in the parable of the 10 virgins, that we must be ready.  That’s what we ought to be asking people:  are you ready for when Jesus comes?    Matthew 25:13– Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. 

Our church’s website has some great gospel resources to help you share the message of Jesus’ salvation with people.  You can find those here.

The Proper Motivation Keeps Joy in Serving

Readers’ Note: The following is part of what was taught and discussed last night at the Winter Teaching Series at Central.
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It is easy to lose joy in serving the Lord. I see it a lot in people. I’ve experienced it. Why do we?

• Disappointment
• Weariness because of so many other things going on
• Feeling unappreciated
• Lack of what is felt to be a proper reward
• Conflict with someone

All of these (and there could be more) can be remedied.  How?  By keeping the proper motivation in serving.

This is what the church in Ephesus was warned about by Christ in His message to them in Revelation 2:1-7–> they abandoned their first love (v.4).  But notice in verse 2 how the people are “toiling.”  They are still working but they’ve forgotten their first love–Jesus!  They’re developing an improper motivation.

Here’s what it looks like in churches now:  

VIDEO: Jesus Throughout the Bible

Have you seen this yet?  If not, watch it.  This is incredible!

No Crying He Makes?

My son Caleb inspects his brand new sister Lydia as she starts crying.

The popular Christmas song Away in a Manger has a line that I’ve always sung and never thought much about:   The cattle are lowing, the poor baby wakes, but little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes.

But what in the world was the author thinking when he wrote that?  (Actually, the author is unknown, but has been rumored to be Martin Luther since the lyrics showed up in a Lutheran Hymnal.)

Rarely do you see a baby wake up and not cry.  Do the words of this song strip Jesus of His human nature by implying that His deity would not allow Him to cry?

Or maybe the lowing cattle soothed Him enough that when He woke, He was comforted already and did not cry.

Perhaps

5 Reasons Why People Won’t Believe in Jesus

My sermon yesterday (mainly from Zephaniah 2:1-3) was centered on this idea.  Here are 5 reasons I can think of why people won’t believe in Jesus, each with my response to the reason.

“I won’t believe in Jesus because…”

1. “It’s just too simple.  Salvation has to be harder than that.” Some people need Jesus to fit into a formula in order to work, something they can work out and produce the end result with.

Love the Lord Your God

Everybody loves something. Most people love somebody.  Many people love many things, and often assign ranking value to those things.  This is what we would call priorities.  How do you prioritize the things you love?

In preaching yesterday, I submitted this:  If we would love the Lord our God like we’re commanded, we would be more effective in living for Christ and showing Him to others because we’d be focused on the top priority.

Here’s why I said that: the context of this passage (Matthew 22:34-38) reveals two major Jewish groups, the Sadducees and Pharisees.  Both of these groups had “theological bents” according to their beliefs (Pharisees were heavy on the Law, though they didn’t truly live it; Sadducees did not believe in a bodily resurrection), and they both tried to do what I call “theological entrapment,” where they are trying to trap Jesus into saying something that could be turned around on Him to make look like a fool.  In the gospel of Matthew, we can see several occurrences where each group tries to trap Jesus from their theological bent, or angle.  But their attempts were not successful.