Writing Your Life Chapter Into The Story of Life

If you think Genesis is just a band from the ‘80’s . . .

If you think it was Dr. Dolittle who took two of each animal into a big boat . . .

If you think an epistle is a woman married to an apostle . . .

. . . you may need to know more of The Story.

You may be a bit intimidated by the Bible. You’re not alone; many people are. And no wonder, its pages mention odd names like Jehoshaphat and Nebuchadnezzar. It contains accounts from places you probably never heard of, like Sinai and Samaria. And it seems to be made up of a lot of different, seemingly unrelated stories. But it really is one big, exciting story.

You can see it easily if you open your Bible to the beginning and then flip all the way to the end.

The first words found in Genesis 1:1 read: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Then, if you turn all the way to the back of the book, Revelation 21:1, you find, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away . . .”

In the beginning God is creating the heavens and the earth. At the end he is creating a new heaven and a new earth. So the big question is this: “What on earth happened between the beginning and the end of the Bible?” If you can answer that question you will have uncovered the one seamless story of God.

Why not read God’s story with your family next year? Studies indicate if the extent of your child’s exposure to things of the faith is a only weekly visit to church or Sunday School, the likelihood is very great that when she graduates and leaves home her relationship with the Lord will turn cold.

However, if you as a parent engage your children in the experience of reading and discussing the Bible, chances go up astronomically that they will remain strong in their faith after leaving home. You don’t have to be an expert or have all the answers. You just have to be willing to experience it with them.

Get involved in The Story of God. It will forever transform your life and your family’s life. Every day God is seeking to guide you, forming sentences that flow into paragraphs that over time write the chapter of your life––a life committed to knowing him better.

Will you choose today to take your life chapter and make it a part of the Big Story of what God is doing on earth?

Beginning in January, Westwood will begin a thirty-one week adventure as a church to learn the Story of the Bible and to connect that Story to our stories. My messages will take us through the Story of the Bible. Our children’s, youth, young adult, and adult classes will study the same section of Scripture that I preach on, and our weekly Bible studies will also dig into those passages.

The Story

Beginning in January, Westwood Christian Church will begin a thirty-one week adventure as a church to learn the Story of the Bible and to connect that Story to our stories. My messages will take us through the Story of the Bible. Our children’s, youth, young adult, and adult classes will study the same section of Scripture that I preach on, and our weekly Bible studies will also dig into those passages.

Randy Frazee, who developed the idea for The Story, wrote the following about his family story:

“If you simply judge books by their covers, you might pass this book by. Its title is Ozark Childhood: Stories from a Simpler Time and Place. There are a few faces on the front that are surely unfamiliar to you and an author whose name you would not recognize. On the back cover is a picture of the author who, with his white beard, might remind you of Santa Claus.

“And maybe he is. You see, this book of mine is a valued gift. I was hooked as soon as I started reading the ‘Acknowledgements’ page. (Don’t laugh. Some people read the obituaries in newspapers; I read the Acknowledgement pages in books.)

“I was hooked when I saw the names of people dear to me. Raymond and Gladys Elkins—my deceased grandparents. Betty Elkins Brown—my mother. Bill Elkins—my uncle who has also passed away. Sara, my aunt. Dave and Jody, my cousins. And the author, David Elkins, my uncle.

“This is not just any book; this is a book about my family tree. The stories would probably not be of any interest to you, but they are to me.”

That’s what happens when you hear part of your story. Something that seems lifeless comes to life. Something that looks dull becomes dynamite, firing up your heart and igniting your imagination. You are reminded that you are part of something bigger than you are, that began before you and will continue on after you.

That is why God wants you to know his story. It’s found in another book. He wants to take you into his house where he has framed photos of your ancestors––folks you may not know––lining the walls of his house.

Stories of a family patriarch named Abraham whose faith was as great as any. A matriarch named Ruth with courage that would make the most hardened warrior proud. A stubborn Jonah and his improbable fish tale. Impetuous Peter and his big mouth. Persistent Paul and his adventures in preaching.

Yet who he wants most of all for you to meet in his story is his son. He desires for you to look long into the eyes of Jesus Christ and hear his claims that what he began in the first chapter of creation he will realize at the last chapter of the New Creation, where a perfect people can live in a perfect place with their perfect Lord.

The perfect place is on the Storyboard. The question is, “Are you?” You can be there when you find your place in His Story.

The Amazing Names of Jesus

On November 25, I will begin a Christmas sermon series on “The Amazing Names of Jesus.” Bill Crowder writes the following about this theme:

 

“During World War II, my father-in-law spent 18 months in a prisoner-of-war camp. In the camp, loudspeakers often played music, including a song entitled "Lili Marlene." Somehow it gave him hope, and he fell in love with the beauty of that name. Years later he gave that name, filled with personal significance, to his only daughter—my wife, Marlene.

 

“Names are like that. They have great importance in human relationships. Nowhere, however, is a name more important than in our relationship with our God. In a way that sets Him apart from all others, He ties His name to His reputation and introduces Himself to us as ‘God with us.’"

 

This series of sermons is about the amazing prophecy of Isaiah 9:6 about the birth of Jesus, where the prophet, 700 years before the coming of Jesus, described the One whose names reveal his importance to us. 

 

Jesus is given his name by the angel that spoke to Joseph in Matthew 1:21 and told him to give his son the name Jesus, “for He shall save His people from their sins.” The name means “the one who saves.” The New Testament tells us why it is important to honor the name of Jesus:

• It is the name by which we must be saved — Acts 4:12.
• It is the name that establishes the tone for everything a Christian does — Colossians. 3:17.
• It is the name at which, one day in the future, every knee shall bow — Philippians 2:10-11.

There are numerous names for Jesus throughout the Bible that describe his character and the scope of the ministry of the One who saves us. Among those descriptions are the amazing names in Isaiah 9:6. Those names clearly point to his human birth and his divine nature. As we examine those names through December, we will once again meet the One whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.

Loving the Story of Jesus

I consider preaching to be an adventure. For me, each adventure in preaching is better than the last one.

I hope my journey preaching through Luke this year has been an adventure for our congregtion. It has been for me. I have preached through Luke before, but this year I discovered new things in Luke about Jesus that I have not seen before. I hope our people have discovered some of those things too.

We will end our time in Luke after two more messages on November 11 and 18. One of those messages will be from Luke 23 on Luke’s telling of Jesus’ trials and crucifixion. The other will be from Luke 24 on Luke’s account of Jesus’ resurrection and his appearances after his resurrection.

As we near the end of this adventure in Luke’s Gospel, I have been thinking about how preaching through the book has impacted me, how I hope it has impacted our congregation. I have pondered these things as I have been preparing for a ministry opportunity that I will have this coming Sunday, November 4, at another church, Waupaca Christian Church.

I have preached at Waupaca Christian Church nine times and have assisted the congregation on mission and vision planning. The last time I preached there was in 2007 on the occasion of ordaining their first elders since the congregation was planted. Now they have asked me to return as they ordain the first person out of the congregation to enter fulltime ministry.

As I have been pondering and praying over what the Lord would have me say to the church and to the man being ordained, I could not help but reflect back on our congregation’s adventure in Luke’s Gospel this year. As I have preached through Luke this year and observed new things about Jesus, I have fallen in love with the story of Jesus all over again. I have been in love with the story of Jesus for as long as I can remember, but this year I relived it and was once again refreshed by it.

It occurred to me that for a church to send people into ministry and for a minister to go into ministry and continue to be effective, they must continue to fall in love with the story of Jesus. He must continue to be new and fresh and exciting to us. If we fall out of love with Jesus and his story, we really have no reason to follow him as our Savior and Lord.

So on Sunday, the Waupaca church will charge Jeff Brookins to “preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2. As we do so, I will have the opportunity to challenge both he and the church with what that charge means for the preacher and the listener.

One of my challenges will be this: Learn the story of Jesus and keep it fresh in your life. When you become discouraged, when ministry is hard, when sin is about to take over, when you are ready to give up, go back to the story of Jesus. Fall in love with that story again. Let it wash over you and let it refresh you, because it is the story of God’s grace coming to offer us salvation.

And at Westwood Christian Church, as we finish the story of Jesus from Luke’s Gospel, we will take on another part of God’s story next year: the story of the Bible, how it all fits together from the Old Testament through the New Testament, and how it impacts our lives. I will share more with you about that next month.

Understanding the Roots and Legacy of Our Faith

As I have been preparing for an upcoming speaking engagement, I have returned to consideration of a question that has been on my mind for a few years. I knew that my grandparents had been Christians for many years and had raised my mother as a Christian, but I did not know how my grandparents became Christians.

My sister earlier this year found that Grandma’s parents had become members of a Christian church in Indiana in my Grandma’s hometown. Then this week, I discovered that both of my grandparents were baptized in 1924 in the church in which my mother was raised. One of them was a member of that church for 48 years and the other for 52 years. Mom was baptized in the same church in 1932.

Within my family, that is where my faith in Christ develops from, but the roots of your faith and mine goes much deeper than the influence of a family member, friend, or church. Perhaps the best person in the Bible to demonstrate this to us is Abraham, the father of faith. His faith is set out as an example for us at some length twice in the New Testament.

First, in Romans 4, Abraham shows us the roots of our faith. Paul spent the first three chapters of Romans arguing that we have all sinned and are declared righteous only through faith in Christ. Then he sets Abraham out as the great example of faith, stating four times that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.

Our faith, quite simply, has its roots in Jesus — his life, death, burial, and resurrection. Through his son, God has pursued us so that we will put our faith in him.

John Stott, the great English preacher of the last century, described this about his own life: “[My faith is] due to Jesus Christ himself, who pursued me relentlessly even when I was running away from him in order to go my own way. And if it were not for the gracious pursuit of the hound of heaven I would today be on the scrap-heap of wasted and discarded lives. “

Second, in Hebrews 11, Abraham shows us the legacy of our faith. Hebrews 11 gives us three startling facts about Abraham’s faith: (1) when God called him to leave home and go to a place where God would show him, he obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going; (2) he lived the rest of his life in tents as a foreigner, believing God would grant his promise, even though he did not know when he would do so; (3) he accepted God’s promise of a son who would become his heir, even though he did not know how it could possibly happen.

With that type of faith, Abraham built a legacy of faith — an entire nation would come from the son God promised him. In addition, Abraham’s legacy includes all those who put their faith in Christ, from the very first Christian believers up to and including all believers who will be alive when Jesus comes again.

Adoniram Judson went as a missionary to Burma in 1812. By 1834 had translated the Bible into the language of Burma although he would die with few converts. One hundred and fifty years later, all 600,000 Burmese Christians would trace their spiritual heritage to Judson.

We also live by faith in Christ, and he calls us to pass on our faith to others.

“I don’t go to church. I am the church.”

Those who attend Tri-County Church in DuBois, Pennsylvania, wear purple t-shirts for various church activities that have emblazoned across them the phrase: “I don’t go to church. I am the church.” When the people in a church adopt such an attitude, they create ownership.

In their book Move, Greg L. Hawkins and Cally Parkinson comment on the difference between “belonging” to the church and “being” the church: “Too many churches are satisfied to have congregations filled with people who say they ‘belong’ to their church— who attend faithfully and are willing to serve or make a donation now and then. But that belonging bar is not high enough; simply belonging doesn’t get the job done for Jesus. The people who get the job done are those willing to embrace a value— and maybe even wear t-shirts stating I am the church.”

Hawkins and Parkinson say that churches in which people have this sense of “being” the church “are living breathing organisms. They are filled with people who gather together and then disperse into their communities to live out the commitment to Christ that binds them together.”

The early disciples of Jesus learned this sense of “being” the church from Jesus himself and then they lived it out as can be seen in the Book of Acts as they literally changed the world. If we will “be” the church, we too can change the world around us — one person at a time as we bring people in touch with Jesus, our Savior, the Son of God. Can you say, “I am the church”?

Move – Four Stages of Spiritual Growth

In 2004, a team of researchers from the ministry staff of Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago began surveying their congregation to determine whether it is possible to measure spiritual growth. They tested and expanded their initial results by surveying congregations across the county.

They concluded that measuring spiritual growth is possible, and discovered a spiritual continuum, a framework that can serve as a powerful predictive description of how people grow spiritually. The four segments of the spiritual continuum are:

1. Exploring Christ: These people have a basic belief in God, but they are unsure about Christ and his role in their lives.
2. Growth in Christ: These people have a personal relationship with Christ, but they are just beginning to learn what it means and what it takes to develop a relationship with him.
3. Close to Christ: These depend on Christ every day, and turn to him daily for help and guidance for the issues they face.
4. Christ Centered: These people identify their relationship with Christ as the most important relationship in their entire lives and see their lives as fully surrendered to Jesus.

Now the drivers of this research, Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson, have developed a new dimension to their research by exploring how people grow spiritually and move from one segment of the spiritual continuum to another. They have identified essential beliefs, attitudes, and practices that move people from one segment to the next. They explore these results in their book Move.

As our congregation has explored the ministry and teachings of Jesus this year from Luke’s Gospel, we have seen this kind of growth movement take place in the early followers of Jesus — his apostles and other disciples. Jesus called the likes of Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew when they were spiritual novices. As they grew he gave them more responsibility, sending them out two-by-two to minister.

As the Twelve grew in their faith, others — people like Mary Magdalene and Zacchaeus — began to follow Jesus and their faith began to develop. Jesus would then send a group of seventy out to minister around the countryside. When we arrive at the end of the Gospels and the beginning of Acts, Jesus ascends into heaven and places the responsibility for ministry with his followers who minister in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now Jesus has placed that responsibility in our hands. We need to keep on growing in our faith, moving from one segment on the spiritual continuum to the next, without getting stuck in the middle someplace. I have only given you to the briefest of information into Move’s spiritual continuum, but you can pray and meditate over where you are in your spiritual growth. Don’t depend on others for your spiritual growth. Spend daily time in Bible study, devotions, and prayer. Move from exploring Christ to growing in Christ to getting close to Christ to becoming Christ centered.

A CHRISTIAN BAPTISM

On July 22, Jackie was baptized. Her baptism is the story of a single mother in her mid-thirties who has two children and who a year ago had surgery for a brain tumor. The baptism was a combined effort of Jackie, her family, the church, people from the church who have been involved in Jackie’s life, the local YMCA, and the local nursing home where Jackie is currently receiving care.

When Jackie first began discussing baptism, she had been living at home for a few months following her surgery. Due to her physical condition, our church baptistery would not accommodate her needs, but another church had a baptistery that would, and they agreed that we could use it. Then, before we could make the arrangements, Jackie fell, was admitted to the hospital, and then transferred to a nursing home.

Due to the nature of her condition, everyone agreed that we should proceed with the baptism rather than waiting. However, now we would need to find a place to baptize her that would accommodate taking her into the water in a wheel chair. Consultation with the nursing home confirmed that they did not have facilities that would meet the need. Their administrator did, however, assure us that they would assist and provide transportation for her if we could find a place for the baptism.

We knew that the swimming pools for our three local YMCA facilities all had ramps, so we consulted with a contact at one of the YMCA’s. He was willing and able to work out the arrangements for use of the pool at the appropriate YMCA. He did so on a Thursday within a couple hours of our initial conversation, with the baptism planned for Saturday or Sunday.

     

While we had assurances from the nursing home that they would help with arrangements, we then had to work with them to get everything scheduled. A Friday meeting with one of the nurses put those steps in motion, including a call by the nurse to Jackie’s doctor for approval. After consultation with Jackie’s family the time was set for Sunday afternoon and was confirmed with the YMCA.

On Saturday afternoon a group of fifteen to twenty of Jackie’s family and church family gathered at the side of one of the YMCA pools. As we gathered around Jackie, read Romans 6:3, 4, and heard her confession of faith, the lifeguard kept the ramp area clear of those using the pool for an open family swim time. Then, two of us began to back Jackie’s wheel chair down the ramp. When the water was high enough, we lowered the back of the wheel chair into the water, and baptized Jackie.

I was told later, that as we backed Jackie down the ramp, everyone in the pool area became quiet and watched. When we began to lower the chair back to baptize her, two of the children swam over to the railing separating the ramp from the pool, held to the railing, and watched. As we began to wheel the chair out of the water, the people from church sang “Now She Belongs to Jesus.”

We needed some help to reposition Jackie in the wheel chair as we wheeled her up the ramp. Two of the church ladies, waded into the pool to assist, and two of the men swimming with their families came over to assist.

As Jackie’s van driver wheeled her chair from the side of the pool, I saw one of the most powerful scenes that I have witnessed at any baptism. Jackie’s family and the people from church formed a line, and her chair had to stop at each person as each one gave her a hug. In my sermon that morning, I had discussed Luke 16:9 – “Make friends for yourselves [who will] welcome you into eternal dwellings” – and encouraged people to make friends and influence people who will one day welcome them into heaven or who they will welcome into heaven. The line of people on this Sunday afternoon welcomed Jackie with that spirit into God’s family.

This baptism was a cooperative effort that included two community service organizations. This baptism was a witness to Jackie’s family and the families swimming together at the YMCA. May the people of the church and the ministry of the church always reflect such a witness in our communities.

Jesus Cares About People

In 2002, Time magazine ran a story describing a trip former President George Herbert Walker Bush took back to the South Pacific. Bush served there as a bomber pilot in World War II and was shot down by Japanese antiaircraft fire. The article detailed Bush's return to the very spot where he was rescued from his downed aircraft.

During that visit, Bush met with a Japanese man who said he had witnessed Bush’s rescue in 1944. The man told about watching the rescue and hearing one of his friends remark, "Surely America will win the war if they care so much for the life of one pilot."

We see such caring demonstrated repeatedly by Jesus in Luke’s Gospel:

• He healed Simon’s mother-in-law and laid his hands on numerous people with various diseases and healed them— Luke 4.
• He touched an untouchable leper and healed him, and then forgave the sins of a paralyzed man brought to Jesus by the main’s friends and healed him— Luke 5.
• He healed the servant of a centurion who sent others to Jesus to ask for his help and raised the son of a widow back to life— Luke 7.

Other examples could be given, but much of Jesus’ caring is demonstrated in two of Jesus’ most well-known parables — the parable of the Good Samaritan and the parable of the Prodigal (or Lost) Son. Consider the latter one in this regard.

Rembrandt portrayed it in his painting Return of the Prodigal Son which Christian writer Henri Nouwen discussed in his classic book by the same title. Peter Scazzero describes the painting like this: “The younger son is kneeling, resting his head on the father’s bosom. He is bald, seemingly exhausted and emaciated, without his cloak, wearing only one tattered shoe, and disheveled.” In contrast the older son “is well-clothed in a gold-embroidered garment like his father, judging, annoyed, looking down at the father’s lavish reception of his youngest son who has so disgraced the family and squandered the family fortune.”

The older son could not see his own lost condition, so when he asks his father how he could accept his younger son back, the father replies: “We had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” This is how Jesus sees lost people, and it is how we should see them— through his eyes.

There are people all around us who are lost. Some of them are angry and lash out at family and friends. Some are so mixed up that they return to drugs and alcohol. Others find their “god” in any of a variety of religious practices. Just as we do, they all need the compassion of a Father, the heavenly Father and his Son. Our challenge is to not take on the critical spirit of the older son, but to love them as the father in the parable and as the Heavenly Father loves us.

God Answers Prayer

A couple of weeks ago, I preached on Jesus’ teaching about prayer from Luke 11. I subsequently read about an answer to prayer that was experienced by a staff member from Gospel for Asia. If you ever wonder about your prayers being answered, you will be encouraged by this amazing answer to prayer:

Fred’s Answered Prayer

In 1996, Fred, along with the rest of the Gospel for Asia staff, put together a notebook with information about 100 unreached people groups in South Asia. They used this notebook to pray one by one for each of those groups during their Tuesday night prayer meetings, their morning prayer meetings, and even at home on their own.

He Saw His Prayers Answered

Fred had heard bits and pieces what God was doing among one of these unreached peoples: a remote animist group living in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains. So when he had the opportunity to see firsthand the evidence of God's answer, Fred was moved to tears with joy and amazement. He was amazed God had done so much among them.

Something to Remind Him

In 2010, Fred had the chance to attend a worship conference in Asia. As he and a few other GFA staff members were leaving, a lady approached them and asked if she could take a picture with them. Shortly after, about a dozen more people came and stood near them. Fred looked down at the name tags on their shirts and noticed they belonged to the same group he had been praying for. For the first time, he realized the Lord answered his prayers for these people, as these brothers and sisters represented 120,000 more believers in their home region who couldn't attend.

God is Still Moving

When Fred returned home, he brought with him a handwoven mat given to him by this remote group and a tie from another group with whom they used to be at war. He keeps them as a reminder of what God has done and is continuing to do between them. They are no longer killing each other, but call each other brothers and sisters in Christ.

Join with Fred and Pray

When Fred first saw this amazing answer to prayer he said, "God answers prayer; there's just no doubt about it. By faith you believe God is going to do something, and God's going to do it. We had nothing to go on, just trusting Him that somehow we could reach those people. We knew the need was great, but how are you going to reach 2.5 million in such a short time? But God's doing it."

A Congregational Prayer

Last Sunday, June 3, I preached from Luke 11:1-13 on Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer and the following discussion of prayer. At the close of the sermon, I led the congregation in praying a responsive prayer based on the Lord’s Prayer. The recording of the sermon can be found on this page of our church website.

Here is the prayer:

Leader: Heavenly Father, we come before you today as the Creator of our world and as our Creator. You created Adam and Eve, the first man and first woman, and have created each of us as your own special child.

Congregation: We praise you as our Creator.

Leader: We also come before you as our Father. A loving father will provide for his child and will give good gifts to his child. You are the best of fathers and always provide us with the best of what we need.

Congregation: We praise you as our Father.

Leader: We come before as the Holy One. You are holy. Your Son and our Savior, Jesus, is holy and without sin. Your holiness is far beyond anything that we can even imagine.

Congregation: We praise you as the Holy One.

Leader: You sent your Kingdom to earth through the ministry of your Son and desire to rule in every area of our lives.

Congregation: May your Kingdom come in our lives.

Leader: The work of your Kingdom is being carried on through the work of your church. We want our congregation to be a demonstration of the work of your Kingdom, a part of the work of your Kingdom, a fellowship that leads people to your Kingdom, a people who live for your Kingdom.

Congregation: May your Kingdom come in our church.

Leader: Your Kingdom will come in all of its power and glory when your Son returns. We long for his return. We long for that day when you will restore the heavens and earth to perfection and will take us home to be with you forever. We ask you to hasten his return.

Congregation: May your Kingdom come in the return of your Son.

Leader: In our land of plenty, you provide so abundantly for us, yet we seem to never be satisfied. May we learn to be satisfied with your provision. May we always trust you to provide for us exactly what we need.

Congregation: Give us each day our daily bread.

Leader: We acknowledge our sin before you. Because of our sin, we confess to you that we are not worthy of your love. Yet, you have offered your own Son as a sacrifice for our sins.

Congregation: Forgive us our sins.

Leader: Even though we gladly accept your forgiveness for our sins, we find it difficult to forgive those who need our forgiveness. However, if we accept your forgiveness, we should also forgive those who act unkindly and unfairly toward us. We need your help in forgiving family members and friends and even those we do not know.

Congregation: Help us to forgive those who need our forgiveness.

Leader: There are so many temptations around us everyday. It has especially become difficult to live holy lives with all the images our TV’s and computers and smart phones and devices flash at us and with all the music and language we hear around us. We also need your help with all of the temptations around us.

Congregation: Keep us from being led into temptation and from falling to temptation.

Leader: Lord, there are people around us for whom we need to pray today. So we ask for you to continue to be with Jackie Wickless as she battles her brain tumor. We ask you to heal her and we ask you to be with her during this battle.

Congregation: Lord, hear our prayer.

Leader: We also continue to offer our prayers for Loretta and her sister Denise as they both continue their individual battles against breast cancer.

Congregation: Lord, hear our prayer.

Leader: We pray for Barb, Terry’s wife, who has been diagnosed with stage 2 cancer.

Congregation: Lord, hear our prayer.

Leader: We pray for Nancy, Christine’s mother, who is facing a number of age-related health issues.

Congregation: Lord, hear our prayer.

Leader: There are others who need our prayers as well, Lord. Some of them are family members and friends of various people here today. We offer them all up to you.

Congregation: Lord, hear our prayer.

Leader: Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful gift of prayer. As we have learned about prayer again today, may we each make prayer a regular part of our lives. May we each be more committed to prayer. Thank you for always hearing us when we pray.

Congregation: We offer these prayers to you in the name of your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

“Carpe Diem,” Jesus, and Us

My wife, Christine, graduated on May 19 from the University of Notre Dame Graduate School with a M.A. degree in Theology. The speaker for the Graduate School commencement was Dr. Thomas Quinn, a Notre Dame alumnus and a world-renowned and pioneer researcher on AIDS.

Dr. Quinn began his commencement address by relating that he sought to draw inspiration for his address from the speaker at his own commencement — only to realize that he did not remember who the speaker was or what he had said. Dr. Quinn then proceeded to deliver a memorable and inspirational address of his own!

The theme of the address was “Carpe Diem” — Seize the Day.” Dr. Quinn discussed four general topics around which he encouraged the graduates to “seize the day.”

As I pondered his address, it occurred to me that of all the people who have “seized the day” and thus had great influence, Jesus certainly did so. We can see that from the events of his life as told by the Gospel writers. Here are some thoughts, then, using Dr. Quinn’s four topics, on how Jesus “seized the day” and demonstrated to us how we should do so.

(1) Family — There are a few occasions in the Gospels where we read about Jesus interacting with his family. In Luke 8, Jesus is told that is family is outside, and he responds by saying, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear and do the Word of God.” Jesus’ seized the day with his family. He made every effort to influence them for the Kingdom of God, and eventually his family would also follow him. Do you make every effort to influence your family for Christ? Do you make the people of God your family ?

(2) Mentorship — One of the striking things about Jesus’ ministry was how he mentored twelve men, those he appointed as apostles. They became the individuals who led the early church. You no doubt have people who mentored you to faith in Christ and in your faith in Christ. Learn from them and then look for opportunities to mentor others.

(3) Collaboration — Even Jesus did not depend solely upon himself for his ministry. At one point, he sent the twelve out two-by-two to minister in his name. In Luke 10, he sent out 70 “to every town and place he himself was about to go.” Then, when he ascended, he left his followers to carry on his ministry, and all those who follow him continue to do so. In order to grow in Christ and minister effectively, we need to collaborate with other Christians. Every ministry of our congregation is a collaborative effort. Look for opportunities to collaborate.

(4) Influence — Jesus used his trials and successes to influence people’s lives. The greatest influence of all came through his greatest trial — his death — and his greatest success — his resurrection. As we serve others and interact with family and friends, we will make mistakes, but we will also have successes. We can use both to grow and develop in order to serve more effectively in the future if we “seize the day.”

Christine’s graduation was a memorable day, and Dr. Quinn’s address was also memorable. Jesus, though, teaches us the most about “seizing the day,” about living by faith. Learn from him, and “seize the day” in your life.

Dr. Marion Henderson — 1922-2012

On May 6, I began my message by telling our congregation that on Friday, May 4, Dr. Marion Henderson was called to his eternal reward. While you may not know him, his life is a testimony to a long life lived serving the Lord.

When I enrolled at Lincoln Christian University in 1969, the first class I attended was Gospels, taught by Dr. Henderson. That class met four times a week at 7:30 in the morning — but did we ever learn the Gospels! I had read the Gospels, but I learned the Gospels under Dr. Henderson. He taught the Gospels to countless Lincoln students from 1951-1976 and again from 1986-2006. He had a way of making the Gospels come alive. His last lecture of each course was an event every semester as he took us through the Garden of Gethsemane. Every student eagerly anticipated hearing that lecture for the first time. It was the stuff of legends at Lincoln. If I know anything about the Gospels today, it began with Dr. Henderson.

In my senior year, I completed the circle and took third year Greek from Dr. Henderson. I have forgotten how many classes I took from him in between, but each one offered something powerful from the Scriptures.

Besides teaching, Dr. Henderson filled many others roles. For many years he coached the college basketball team. As I said last Sunday, I never played for him. His last year of coaching was the year before I enrolled, but he still coached me — after games, as I came or went from class, or when we met in the hallway. In his own way, whether it was teaching in the classroom or talking about how you played in your last game or just talking to you about life, he encouraged you to give your best to Christ.

He also had a third legacy. During most of the years during his first stint at Lincoln, he preached for the South Fork Church of Christ, outside Rochester, Illinois, about 30 miles from campus. For those of us who were going to be preachers, he modeled every week what he taught in the classroom.

We can model someone with Dr. Henderson’s commitment to Christ and his church — and we should. It will not be the same going back to campus knowing I will not have a chance encounter with Dr. Henderson, but I will always be grateful he was my teacher. See you in heaven, Doc.

The Importance of Recognizing Who Jesus Is

On April 29 in our worship service at Westwood Christian Church, we shared together the most basic belief for we who follow Christ. First, we heard it in the confession a young lady made as she confessed her belief in Jesus as the Son God and was then baptized. Then, we repeated that confession together: “I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Nothing is more central to Christianity than that confession.

Many people, however, think that you can have Christianity without that confession. For instance, Jeremy Bowen, the presenter of a 2001 British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) documentary on Jesus stated, "The important thing is not what he was or what he wasn't—the important thing is what people believe him to have been. A massive world wide religion, numbering more than two billion people follows his memory—that's pretty remarkable, 2,000 years on."

Bowen, of course, couldn't be more wrong. It seems that everyone has a theory about Jesus, and different religions have differing views about Jesus than the Biblical view. Mormons, for instance, are often considered just another Christian denomination, but they are far from that, which can clearly be seen from their view of Jesus.

I was asked recently for information about Mormon beliefs. About a week later, I came across a sermon from April 29 comparing Mormon and Christian doctrine by Brian Jones, church planter, pastor, and author from Philadelphia. Mormon belief about Jesus is by no means Biblical. They believe that Jesus’ father came to earth and had a relationship with Mary that resulted in the birth of Jesus. They also believe that Jesus had a brother, Lucifer, who volunteered to redeem mankind, but when God chose Jesus instead, he rebelled against God and became Satan. These and other Mormon beliefs are clearly not Christian beliefs.

Who Jesus is and what he did is, of course, the foundation of our faith. Just because another religion claims a belief in Jesus does not make them Christian. We actually have to look at the content of their belief.

The most well-known passage about Jesus in this regard is in Matthew 16. The same incident is also told in Luke 9, verses that will be included in the passage from Luke that I will preach from on Sunday. On the occasion of these two passages, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do the crowds say that I am” (Luke 9:18), and then asks his disciples, “But you, who do you say that I am?” Peter is the one who responds: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” or as Luke gives his response: “God’s Messiah.” Peter’s answer forms the basis for our Christian confession when we accept Christ as Savior and the basis for our following Christ.

This basic belief in Jesus had been announced by God’s Spirit upon the occasion of Jesus’ baptism at the beginning of his ministry. Peter’s confession was followed by another confirmation of Jesus as God’s Son at his transfiguration. On both of those occasions, God announced with a voice from heaven, “This is My Son, the Chosen One, listen to Him” (Luke 9:35).

On the basis of that belief, as stated in Peter’s confession, Jesus called for everyone who confesses him to “deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” He asked this of his first disciples, and he asks it of each of us. He is the Savior that we need to meet. He is the one we confess with our words and our lives.

The Power of Christ's Resurrection Bursts through Obstacles

Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, tells the following story about the power of Christ's resurrection:

“A minister was in Italy, and there he saw the grave of a man who had died centuries before who was an unbeliever and completely against Christianity, but a little afraid of it too. So the man had a huge stone slab put over his grave so he would not have to be raised from the dead in case there is a resurrection from the dead. He had insignias put all over the slab saying, "I do not want to be raised from the dead. I don't believe in it." Evidently, when he was buried, an acorn must have fallen into the grave. So a hundred years later the acorn had grown up through the grave and split that slab. It was now a tall towering oak tree. The minister looked at it and asked, ‘If an acorn, which has power of biological life in it, can split a slab of that magnitude, what can the acorn of God's resurrection power do in a person's life?’"

As you read the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ resurrection and the effect it had on the lives of Jesus’ followers, you can see this resurrection power at work in their lives. Consider these examples:

• Peter denied Jesus three times during his trials, but became the powerful preacher who proclaimed the message of the resurrection on the Day of Pentecost.
• Thomas insisted on seeing the nail prints in Jesus’ hands and feet before he would believe. When he did, he responded, “My Lord and my God.”
• Paul persecuted the church until he met the living Christ, and then took the Gospel across the Roman empire.
• Then there was a woman out of whom Jesus drove seven demons who became one of his most faithful disciples and one of the first witnesses to his resurrection. We will meet her through my message on Easter.

Keller comments that Jesus’ resurrection can have the same effect on our lives.

“The minute you decide to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, the power of the Holy Spirit comes into your life. It's the power of the resurrection—the same thing that raised Jesus from the dead …. Think of the things you see as immovable slabs in your life—your bitterness, your insecurity, your fears, your self-doubts. Those things can be split and rolled off. The more you know him, the more you grow into the power of the resurrection.”

This is the message we will consider again on Easter Sunday, but it is a message that needs to mark our lives everyday. Let Jesus’ resurrection burst through the obstacles in your life.

MAKE READING AND STUDYING THE BIBLE A LIFELONG PRACTICE

One of my mother’s possessions that I now have since we went through her things after her death is the Bible (King James Version) she always carried when we went to church as I was growing up. As you can see it is torn and tattered from use. I also still have my first Bible (also King James). It shows wear and tear as well, although not as much as Mom’s.

The Bible is meant to be read. It is meant to be used to gain insight from God’s Word. When a Bible is used, it will show wear and tear.

I read this week about a worn Bible from China that has an amazing history. Here is a part of the story:

“Jiang Yuchun was a boy the first time he attended a Christian gathering in a home in Anhui Province, China. He and his father walked fifteen miles under cover of darkness because any kind of Christian gathering during the Cultural Revolution of 1966 to 1976 was an act of subversion according to government policy. Thousands of believers were martyred during those dark days; every Christian leader exposed was imprisoned or killed; the Bible was practically extinct. Yuchun watched the leader teaching the group, holding a tattered copy of the Bible tightly in his hand. The pages were torn and dirty, the corners worn to a rounded shape.

“The red edging had been worn to a faint pink. The cover hung by a thread to the binding. The preacher, who travelled from one location to the next to teach even during the Cultural Revolution, would not allow anyone to touch this Bible. Too much was at stake. But one day, one time, he allowed Yuchun to take it for a moment to glance at it. Yuchun was only in elementary school, so he could not make out much of the traditional Chinese script, but decades later he still remembered the reverence, awe, and joy he experienced when he held that subversive book in his hands.”

Thirty years later, he again found that preacher. Yuchun said about that meeting: “He gave the precious bible to me and I will forever treasure it” (read the full story here).

Since the Bible deserves to be studied and treasured and worn, I have been teaching a delightful Bible study for the last month on Monday mornings at Sawyer Terrace, the apartment complex where three of our ladies live. On March 8, Marion Greaser will begin a second Bible study for the residents at Sawyer Terrace. It is a joy to see these senior citizens, including one delightful couple who are from Sri Lanka, rejoice at the opportunity to study and to share insights from God’s Word together.

I still remember some of the early passages of Scripture that I read and memorized when I was young. I still cannot get enough treasure from the Bible. I hope you feel the same way. As Jiang Yuchun’s story reminds us, many people in the world find the Bible precious because it is banned. We should not take it for granted, but should make reading and studying it a lifelong practice.

Crafts for Christ at Westwood Christian Church

Dawn Zimmerman recently began a new ministry at Westwood — Crafts for Christ. Here is a description of the ministry from Dawn and volunteers who have worked with her:

I started Crafts For Christ to reach women who are trying to start over by teaching a craft and showing the love of Christ to them. We work with the ladies of Arc, a non-profit organization serving women and children for over 30 years, located in Madison, WI. The Arc house offers a four-month program and residential facility with minimum security for women offenders trying to rehabilitate themselves from former addictions and create a new life.

ARC House – Madison

The person in charge of this ARC house is Celesta who is excited about our ministry and is giving me her full support. She has explained to me how important it is to teach these women how to have fun without using drugs while at the same time improving their social skills and that this can be done through crafts. Sharing crafts with these women will teach them new skills that will increase their living skill. Completing projects helps to raise their self worth and self esteem and many of these women are mothers and can then teach these crafts to their children.

The women have been a lot of fun to meet and work with. I really didn’t know what to expect the first time I went there so that’s been really great. One cool thing is that the women write out prayer requests for us to pray for which is a privilege. You don’t have to be a crafting expert to help out. You can be involved in a variety of ways from donating to Crafts For Christ, helping me to shop for craft materials, putting together samples and supplies, to joining me in sharing a craft with the ladies of ARC. Prayers are always welcomed.

Dawn Zimmerman

Here are three volunteers reactions to their time at ARC House, along with pictures of the crafts they helped the ladies make:

I was excited to help with the ministry and to be able to encourage the girls. Here are my general impressions of Crafts for Christ during the time I helped Dawn with a Christmas craft.

I was impressed with the way the girls looked out for each other, i.e., 1 ) made sure everyone was there, 2) gave suggestions to each other about their particular project, and 3) when a suggestion was made, the girls seriously considered the advice.

They showed pride in their finished projects, making places to display their creations. Many of them probably had not felt pride in themselves for a (long) period of time.

Several of them were comfortable writing prayer requests and submitting them to Dawn for prayer. They were often about family members and their needs rather than something to the effect of "Help me get out of here soon."

This Christmas project gave the girls the opportunity to comment about what they knew, thought, or had heard about Christ's birth. Some girls with some Christian background made comments such as "My grandmother told me that."

The craft was fun for the girls and they had the extra bonus of knowing that someone cared for them and was willing to spend time with them when it was not necessary to do so.

I think it would be beneficial to provide Crafts for Christ more than once a month. That would give an opportunity to discover what an individual girl’s needs are and perhaps to find more ways to help her.

Clarissa Shockley

“The ladies who gathered lived in a home atmosphere of togetherness and they welcomed us with smiles, though a bit tentatively as they weren’t too sure what origami is all about. But they joined in whole-heartedly with chatter and much laughter at their mistakes. It was a fun time for all.”

Betty Anderson

“I was surprised at the enthusiasm and cheerfulness of the ladies, all so friendly and looking forward to doing a craft. They really seemed to enjoy it. I was really tickled by the one table I gave all the bling (shiny stuff) to. They were like little kids. Here there are women whose kids have been taken away or are in foster care and they are still delighted with simple things. They seemed so appreciative and I really think it makes a difference for them.”

Kathi Seman

Responding to the Questions That Jesus Asks

In a post last week, I commented on a passage from Stan Guthrie’s book All That Jesus Asks, which I am currently reading. Let me take you deeper into the book by asking a question: Have you responded to all of the questions that Jesus asks of us?

First you might ask a question: What questions does Jesus ask? Since we are talking about questions, that is a good question. The answer is quite simple: All you have you to do is read the Gospels — just as we are going through the Gospel of Luke with my messages this year — and you will find that one of Jesus’ primary methods of teaching is to ask questions.

Guthrie sums up the questions Jesus asks us like this: “His questions prompt our participation, inspection, and reflection. His questions draw us into the mind of God and invite us to grow as we walk with him. As we grapple with Jesus's questions, we learn what we truly believe-and what we don't…. Jesus, the master teacher of history, asked probing questions of all who came to him: friend and foe, skeptic and follower, seeker and betrayer. And he still asks today.”

Here are some of the questions Guthrie explores that Jesus asks:

First Guthrie seeks to answer the vital question, “Who is Jesus?” Guthrie says, “Jesus was intensely interested in knowing what people thought of him, because our relationship to him determines our eternal destiny.” So he explores questions such as:

• “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” in exploring the crowds’ response to John the Baptist.
• “Can a blind man lead a blind man?” as he discussed the context of his teachings.
• “How can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?” in discussing his authority.
• “Why do you not know how to interpret the present time” as he discusses his mission and his followers’ awareness of that mission within the world.
• Most importantly, “Who do you say that I am?” as Jesus explores with us his identity.

Those are just some of the questions that Guthrie suggests explore Jesus’ identity. Jesus also asks questions about following him, questions that explore our thinking and whether we love the Lord with al of our minds, questions that explore our character, and questions that challenge some of the critical doctrines we must believe.

As I read Guthrie’s book while I am also studying Luke in preparation for my messages each week, I find myself paying closer attention to Jesus’ questions and how I would answer them. Let me give you one brief example:

The first question that Jesus asks in Luke during his ministry is in Luke 5:23: “Which is easier to say, ’Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ’Get up and walk.’” With this question, Jesus forces us to think about the forgiveness that we need and his ability to forgive anyone, in any circumstance, of their sins. You and I need to keep the power of his forgiveness in front of us.

So let me ask you, are you willing to let Jesus explore your commitment to him by seriously giving consideration to his questions?

SPENDING TIME THINKING ABOUT GOD

In our Sunday morning adult class, we recently discussed God as Jesus’ Father and how they relate to each other and the Holy Spirit, and considered our inadequacy to completely understand the nature of God. Following that discussion, I shared the following story:

Shortly after St. Augustine had finished his theological tome On the Trinity, he was walking along the Mediterranean shore on the coast of North Africa when he chanced upon a boy who kept filling a bucket with seawater and pouring it into a large hole in the sand.

"Why are you doing that?" Augustine asked the boy.

"I'm pouring the Mediterranean Sea into the hole," the boy replied in all seriousness.

"My dear boy, what an impossible thing to try to do!" chided Augustine. "The sea is far too vast, and your hole is far too small."

Then as Augustine continued his walk, it dawned on him that in his efforts to write on the Trinity he was much like that boy: the subject was far too vast, and his mind was far too small!

We may not be able to understand God, but we do need to give constant consideration to God and how he works in our world and in our lives. In his book All That Jesus Asks, Stan Guthrie suggests that we do not study the questions about God as readily as we do matters about things around us. Guthrie comments on and analogy Jesus used in Luke 12:54-56:

He also said to the crowds: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, right away you say, ‘A storm is coming,’ and so it does. And when the south wind is blowing, you say, ‘It’s going to be a scorcher!’ and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why don’t you know how to interpret this time?

Guthrie says:

Their priorities are wrong. They study the weather, which comes and goes, but this moment, this opportunity to align oneself with God's purposes, will never come again-and yet people don't use their brains to evaluate these unique circumstances and make the right decision. It is damnable ignorance.

Such attitudes are just as prevalent today. People study the stock market, the weather, the baseball box scores, how to land a good job, and many other subjects, some more worthy, some less. But they expend few or no brain cells on the most important matters: Is there a God? What is he like? What does he require of us? How do we get into heaven and stay out of hell?

Most of us know about many things today. There is an extremely large amount of information available to us about every subject imaginable, more than at any time in the world’s history. We know details about our jobs, how to run our computers (some more and some less than others), our cars, the features in our homes, and a myriad of other things. But how much time on a daily basis do we think about God and what he is like and how he needs to affect every aspect of our lives?

Jesus raised just that point in Luke 12. When we know Jesus as Savior, we also need to know him as Lord and open every aspect of our lives for him to influence. That takes constant thought.

Opportunities in a New Year

As a congregation, we will have plenty of opportunity to evaluate our spiritual lives in 2012 as I preach through the Gospel of Luke. There is no more important person to learn about or to measure our lives against than Jesus . He is the center of our faith.

I try to preach at least one series of messages each year that puts the emphasis squarely on Jesus’ life or ministry. In the last three or four years, we have, at various times, examined his teachings through his parables, his miracles, the people he encountered, and the Gospel of Mark.

The salvation that Jesus offers is the beginning and ending point of our faith, so in 2012 we will let Luke teach us about Jesus as our Savior. Luke, more than the other Gospel writers, emphasizes that Jesus came as the Savior for everyone. The key verse in his Gospel is Luke 19:10: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

So through this year, consider what it means for Jesus to save you and how he can use you to offer his salvation to others. If you have struggled with whether to put your faith fully in Christ, let Luke’s Gospel speak to you about Jesus this year, and determine to trust him completely.

There are other tools that you can use this year to keep your spiritual focus sharp. Here are a couple:

Commit to spending time every day in the Word of God. If you already spend time in God’s Word every day, find a new way to approach Scripture so that it speaks to you in a fresh way.

I have made it my practice most years to read the entire Bible through the year. In recent years, I have used computer Bible apps and online services to determine my reading plan for the year. There are plenty of tools available today for reading the Bible, many of them free. I have one resource that has over twenty Bible reading plans. If you need to find one, I would be glad to help you, but anyone can take a book of the Bible and read through it or just divide the number of pages in your Bible by 365 and read that number of pages per day.

It also helps to change up your Bible reading. I have read and preached from the New International Version of the Bible for many years, but last year I changed and read through the Bible in the English Standard Version and began using an updated NIV that came out in 2010 when I preach. This year I will read the Holman Christian Standard Bible and will read from it when I preach. In just a few days, I have noticed some of the differences in phrasing. That is enabling me to think about the passages I am reading in new ways.

And one more thing: Commit to regular attendance at worship in 2012. If you are out-of-town and cannot attend Westwood, attend church wherever you are. I have learned much from attending other churches over the years. Regular worship keeps you sharp in your Christian walk as you worship, fellowship, and encounter the Word of God.

So meet the Savior in fresh ways in 2012. Keep him at the center of your life.