The Book of Revelation -- Part 15 -- The Angel and the Little Book

Revelation chapter ten is all about one thing the mighty angel and his little book.
Two significant things happen in this chapter:
1) Seven thunders utter something that john is told not to write because they are for the end. What then becomes interesting is John knows this stuff but no one else will but God and the angels.
2) John is asked to eat the little book in the hand of them mighty angel which he does -- it tastes as sweet to his mouth but bitter in his belly. He is then told to prophesy.

Now the angel is never named but I am sure some have tried --Michael would make sense but ultimately who knows and his name is not as significant as what he holds. The significance of the little book being eaten I partially understand because I am a preacher. Preaching or teaching is always sweet in them mouth but bitter to the belly. God's Word is always good to speak but harder to make a part of your life.

I think this vision has significance to John most of all but to the seven churches it was one of acknowledging John spiritual right to speak and know God's Word.

Next: The Two Witnesses

Sorry -- Pastor Work Intrudes

One of my parishoners had a triple heart attack so I had to travel today to Grand Rapids, Michigan (that is about an hour away from me) to be bedside. As it turned out even though she had a Code Blue (her heart stopped once), she is alright and alive. Going to take a few days to get back on her feet plus some further surgeries and treatment but she has a good chance of making it.

No blog entry becasue of it though but as a bonus I will do two for tomorrow.

What Do You Think? -- Revival!

What do you think -- what is it going to really take to have a revival in this country?

The Bible and Nakedness -- Part 16 -- A Biblical Definition of Nakedness and the Issue of Spiritual Life and Ministry in an Increasingly Naked World

Here in North America one thing is becoming clear -- skin is becoming more and more common. Christians still have to live and minister in this world, but it is becoming more clear that as we do we are going to see more public nudity and it is going to become more prevalent. The questions are course of action ones. We have one state that already has topless laws that allow women to be topless in the same places men can be and several others that have laws that allow these things in certain situations. I predict it is only the beginning.

The traditional 'conservative' position is one of isolation and an attempt at stopping the skin from showing as much as possible through political action. With the prevailing wind being that the church is supposed to stand for 'traditional morality' including women and men keeping their clothes on, it becomes difficult to kind of stand against that wind but here I go.

1) To be blunt, there is no Biblical support to the idea that nakedness, in and of itself is evil or sinful, and if we are going to maintain credibility we need to acknowledge this. The fact is our views on nudity, toplessness and other related issues reflect more of a holiness movement cultural mentality than an honest Biblical assessment.

2) I see this issue being used more as another reason to isolate ourselves from people who need the gospel. The nude beach sign above is humorous in its own way but there are real ones in certain states that warn of areas where nude sunbathers might be. On the streets and everywhere else in New York State, in any place a man can go without a shirt so can a woman. In many places, people are not a squeamish about showing their bodies to public consumption. The church's reaction has been one of hiding and avoiding or trying to reverse political decisions on enact moral legislation.

Looking at the book of Acts, I do not see the apostles doing this. As Paul ministered in Corinth he would have been greeted with sexual perversion on a grand scale. Nudity was in abundance in Corinth. I find it telling that Paul does not start a petition with the government to get it stopped. He does not stay away from areas where the temple prostitutes are showing themselves and their services. He does not lead a moral crusade against the nude temple statues and mosaics depicting nudity. He does none of that -- he ministers right in the middle of it all. He simply preaches the gospel and disciples those who believe. Even when the church is established his focus is the ethics and morality of the church -- not those outside of it. It is almost as if he expects sinners to sin -- imagine that.

I think the American church's failure in this country continues to be compounded because we act as America's moral police rather than engaging the message of Christ. When we do pop out of our holes we seem to call down curses from our ivory towers and then disappear back into our holes. So much for compassion for the lost -- we continue to want to meet the sinner on our terms instead of his or hers. To do this may require us to walk down the streets of cities where women are walking around topless, go to nude beaches and visit places where nudity in both reality and art are present. Why? Because it may be our only opportunity to minister to some people.

3) The current 'conservative' position fails to understand the nature of the lust problem in this country is not the prevalence of nude images. Nude images are the result of an already existing lust in people. The fact is there is a current philosophy among many church folks that in order to stop sin is to eliminate external temptation but this does not take James 1:13-15 into account. Temptation comes from our own flesh. It does not come from externals it comes from our heart. Why then do we think we will rid the world of evil by getting rid of externals -- eliminating pornography and making women cover up will no more get rid of lust than standing on your head.

Next: The Church and Nudity -- A Prediction.

Verse of the Week -- John 1:14

John 1:14 -- "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt amoung us, and we saw his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth"

And who says John does not have a Christmas story?

Blessings as we head into December and the holiday season.

Looking Ahead to 2010.

It is the last day in November 30, 2009. It is also about this time of year that I look to the next and assess where I am with my long term goals. I have added one long term goal this year.

1. Spirit: To be the best pastor I can be. Actually this is a change I have long realized for the last couple of years the only one in the church I can change is myself.
2. Mind: To be a professor in a college or university
3. Heart: To be published writer of fiction and non-fiction books
4. Body: To die old and healthy like Moses at age 120.

For 2010 I want to do the following things to get closer to them.

1. Be a Man of the Word -- I want to memorize at least two books of the Bible this year.
2. Need to advance my education and I need to prepare for the Doctorate I need. That means learning languages -- This year -- Latin for the whole year.
3. Need to write two books this year. Have the non-fiction planned out and need to get a novel written. NaNoWriMo was a bust this year but I learned a few things and got 24000 words. Learned you can write a lot when motivated. Like to have both written and submitted for publication this year.
4. Embracing the bodybuilder in me this year -- trying to get down to the basic foundation I have to work with this year -- have a three year plan on this one and hopefully the results will be great.

Time to move forward.

Hero Worship

We all have people that inspire us. In many cases, the people that inspire us are good people that have overcome odds and achieved their goals. There are also those people that inspire us that are not who they really are. We are actually inspired by a carefully preserved image of that person but not the actual person themselves. It is often too late that we discover that supermodel was using heroin or that politician was seeing a mistress or that preacher was embezzling funds from the church and once discovered heads off to Mexico with his secretary. These stories are common.

This is the peril of looking at people to be our heroes -- they can be genuine but many times they are not what they say they are -- they wear masks or they have some hidden agenda of their own that is selfish. People are flawed, petty and stupid at times.

That does not mean we should not have heroes, but it does mean that we need to be ready to remember they are human. When our admiration for the person exceeds our commitment to our own principles we are on dangerous ground. It can also be helpful to pick a hero that is not flawed and there is only one I know of --Jesus Christ.

Jesus has always been my hero precisly becasue he was both God and man -- sinless and yet real. This is hero worship in truth.

Just a Short Post on a Busy Day

The Biggest problem I have posting from Sunday till Tuesday is time. Between working nights and church activities I still try to put up something:

Here is something to consider:
But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons -- Galatians 4:4-5

Praise God!!!!

The Keys to Revival

Revival assumes a couple things. It assumes first of all that you understand that you need to be revived --the assumption is you are dead or dried up and that needs to change. Secondly it assumes you understand what is required for revival:

1. Return to being humble -- understand who your authority is and walk in the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
2. Prayer -- Revival cannot begin without the power of prayer and people who are praying for it.
3. Seeking God's Face -- trying to be more like Christ requires that you seek him more to know him better.
4. Turn from Sin -- stop disobeying God when he tells you what to do -- no matter how small it may seem. Follow the Word and His Spirit.

Lord send revival and let it start with me!

Desire for Personal Revival

Every week I meet with a prayer/fellowship group and we make sure that we do three things:
1. We pray together taking turns and agreeing with one another
2. Have a devotional with discussion
3. But we start every week by answering a question: "On a scale of 0 to 10 how was your walk with God this week? Include any testimonies or prayer requests that you feel are appropriate." Each person then gets about 5 minutes to answer the question.

I want to tell you this works, get a group of people together and try it sometime.

For many week I have been 8.5 or so and that is good but when I am in revival of Spirit it is 10 all the time. Eights are good but I want more. I am not dead, but is it still revival to want more closeness with God? I think so.

Blessings.

Post 194

Just a post to get one in -- very busy day. work, church, sleep, hunter's dinner, get ready for work, work

My life on Sunday

The Power of Prayer -- A Testamony

For over 30 years my church has run a Shepherd's Table offering a free hot meal to anyone who shows up on Tuesdays Nights. In June of this last year we had to shut down because of lack of funding and new health regulations that would require alterations to the kitchen we could not afford. We also now, because of Michigan Law, needed a licence. All of this, lead to us asking ourselves what to do. There were other expenses and the recent council decision was that the Shepherd's Table had to make its own way because the church couldn't afford to help it. We have an old building that is pretty as a picture (see above -- yeah that is where I preach every Sunday -- God is good to me) but needs a lot of TLC. With our 140h anniversary coming up in needed a new coat of paint. With a wooden structure you really can't skimp on that.

Without any clear direction or resources, we decided to pray about the situation. Well Prayer works. In August I received a phone call from the local TV station about our situation that was a result a letter written to a newspaper that wanted to do a story on our situation. We did the story and the floodgates opened:

1. $4000 was donated to painting of the church cutting the cost for this project almost in half.

2. Since the story over $8500 has been donated to the Shepherd's Table which has gone toward the upgrades of the kitchen including plumbing work and a new commercial grade refrigerator that we just put in the basement this evening. Along with the extra money going to the continued operations of the Shepherds Table and our food pantry.

3. We are now legal and licenced with a great deal of favor given to us by the Health Department. Only one more major project remains and we have been given a five year grace period on that.

On the first Tuesday of October we reopened and for the last month have had an average of 50 people each week. All of this in Michigan with its absolutely terrible economy.

If I had tried fundraising for this I would have fallen far short of what happened -- All we did is prayed and God answered and moved on people's hearts to give.

Glory to God!!!

Physical Fitness and Ministry

I am breaking away form the series for a post because I feel absolutely wonderful today. I had a great workout and I have bee3n reflecting on the importance of physical fitness in relationship to ministry. I can think of three things that make it important.

1. What ministers die off -- usually cardiovascular disease due to poor health. Break the trend.

2. Improved energy -- I tell you i feel i get more done with more time to relax when I am physically fit than not. I feel like doing more and often do.

3. Barrier against depression -- there is nothing more important than avoiding depression in the ministry and exercise is one of the ways to do this. It offers a great escape from the ordinary hum drum -- it gives you a place to pray too.

There is also this to consider -- if you are healthy you live longer -- more opportunities to minister in the long term.

Pray. Lift. Live Better. Temple Builders for Christ.

What Makes Ministry Worth It.

I suppose I have asked this question many times and I guess when you do a lot of ministry you to try to find your motivation. I have eliminated many things:

1. Money -- contrary to popular opinion about preachers most of us struggle or work a second job. Many retire in poverty. Even if you get a good salary, money fades with time anyway.

2. Prestige -- fame, prestige and all that rot are not going to happen for most of us. Even so --they to disappear with time.

This is true with every thing that is in this world -- two things work against us -- death and time. Both rob us of everything. Any motivation that involves this world benefits will not be enough.

What's left.
1. The glory of God
2. Eternal life.

Yeah, I can see that.

Apologetics: How do you talk to Jews? --Part 2 -- Religious Considerations.

It is all well and good to talk about how the Bible is a great tool for witnessing to Jews, but what about the modern Jew? What makes them different?

First off the more I study the modern Jew the more I find them to be very much like any other major religion -- common themes, diversity of thought. I suppose you could put them in three major camps --Orthodox, Conservative and Reform -- but that is hardly adequate at all. The fact is there is a commonality of the Torah and Community Worship but to pigeonhole all Jews into a box is just plain intellectually impossible. So don't try. When talking to a Jew you going to have to ask a lot of questions to find out where they are coming from and avoid hot button topics like Israel, the Palestinians and the Sabbath. Remember your fishing not slapping the water.

In witnessing to them there is the advantage of having the Old Testament (don't call it that when you talk to them) as a guide, this is what the early church did, but even then your going to run into different opinions of what the Torah, Prophets and Writings are and how much authority they should have. The real issue is to convince them that Jesus wasn't just a great rabbi but the Messiah. It has worked for some.

Right now one of the most interesting phenomena involving Jews and Jesus is happening -- the Messianic Jewish Movement is growing and gaining steam. Jews are coming to Jesus in record numbers that probably haven;t been seen like this since the first century. I find this interesting and encouraging -- maybe Paul's prayer in Romans is finally being answered.

Pastor Appreciation -- Congregation Appreciation

October was pastor appreciation month and it may have been that my congregation was a little behind, but we felt no less appreciated for it.

Three years ago, I was ready to give up the ministry and God. My story is a long one and I am saving it as part of a book I am writing so it will have to wait. The thing is, it was probably the lowest point in my life since my Father died.

Over a year ago a man from the local congregational church gave me a call and asked if I would be interested in pastoring a church. It was an answer to prayer. A prayer I prayed that if God wanted me back in the ministry, He would have to seek me out and open the door. God took up the challenge.

This congregation actually has restored some of my faith in church and these last months have certainly restored my faith in God's ability to both provide and move. They have no idea how special they have become to me.

May God richly bless us both till Jesus returns.

Religious Pefection vs. Passion for God

Revelation 2:1-7
The church at Ephesus had a problem. They didn't know they had a problem but they had one anyway. Jesus himself pointed out that they were truly the masters of the truth. The knew the truth, they practiced the truth and they even discovered those who presented falsehood and showed them false. But one thing cause Christ to tell them that if they didn't repent they would lose their place before him -- they had left their first love.

Ephesus was a church that had it all right -- they were religiously perfect. Their failure was the simple fact that the passion for Christ had over time wained. Jesus exhorted them to return to what they did at first. To have the same passion they did at the beginning.

There is a point we sometimes cross -- it is the point when we are doing things out of religious habit and not out of love for Christ. The change is subtle and slow to come upon us. We often do not notice it coming upon us and then all of a sudden we know there is something wrong.

It is like the married couple that does everything right but somewhere they lose their way. The communicate, they are in agreement on their direction in life, they even spend regular time together. But one night, they are sitting alone together and realize the painful distance that has developed between them. That is what Jesus is talking about -- that feeling of distance brought upon by the pursuit of religious perfection instead passion for God.

May we all learn a lesson from this -- passion for God is primary -- it is the love of God with all our strength, with all our mind, with all our soul, with all of our heart that is more important than all else.

"You Shouldn't Do That!" -- Why Religous Control Has To Go.

Colossians 2:20-23: If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,
21"Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" 22(which all refer to things destined to perish with use)--in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?
23These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

I was having and discussion with my son some time ago about his comparative religions class and he remarked that his professor had said that he felt religions were created for weak people so they could have power over others. I have to agree.

I really have no love of religion. That is a system by which people are told to do certain things or conform to certain behaviors to gain a spiritual level. In such systems you will see people who in all the rest of their life cannot achieve anything but who rule in the religious structure of --'don't taste that, don't touch that, don't handle that'.

In Christianity, there is the type of spirit people can develop where they see it as their sacred duty to inform the rest of us what behaviors and issues we are avoid and how we should think about them. "Don't watch that it is bad for you." "Don't read that it will corrupt your mind" "Don't send you kids to public school -- it could ruin their faith." etc. etc. ad nausium.

First of all, if my faith cannot stand up to something out there in the world, then my faith isn't worth much is it.

Secondly, where in the world do we read in the Bible that our struggle with our own sin is external. The external can tempt us but the real struggle is not out there is it. I takes place in our own hearts and minds.

Now I am not saying we can just do as we like but that the struggle we have with sin is as individual as the person and no universal rule about 'taste not, touch not, handle not' is going to stop a persons thoughts and meditations of heart.

Take the Pharisees as an example -- outwardly -- perfect in every outward behavior. Inwardly ---corrupt and unrighteous. Think about it.

Thirdly, the same spirit that thinks externals are where it is at it the same one that wants to make others conform to that behavior. Manipulation and control of others follows.

Probably the most common place to find this is in parenting -- I have watched well meaning parents force kids to church, memorize Scripture as punishment and censor their kids from certain activities, programs and books. The result universally -- when they turn 18 -- see ya! I don't want to have anything with God or religion -- time to party -- and the first thing they do is embrace all the things they couldn't do at home. The Bible -- "I was punished with it so I am going to avoid it because it is like a belt on the backside to me"

My point, no amount of external control will change the heart and until you work on a child's heart you will not see them change. Until you can get a child to be genuinely transformed by Christ, you are only delaying the inevitable by external control. Or worse, creating someone who can look good on the outside but inwardly and when they are in private is a sinner extreme.

If you want to change children you have to love them like Christ loved you -- that mean forgiveness and a lot of trust even when they don't deserve it or you think they are in the wrong. Love is a tough thing both ways.

This is none of many examples I can give but the end result is you cannot control someone to salvation.

What It Means to Be a Congregationalist.

I suppose some people have passed by a congregational church and wondered what that is about -- I mean what in the world is a congregational church in the first place. Well in short it has nothing to do with doctrine and everything to do with government. In a Congregational church the congregation rules. The Council in many way has the ultimate power and they are elected by the congregation. The pastor's role is clearly defined as spiritual and in the end he can overruled. Risky but worth it -- It truly demonstrates a balance of responsibilities and power.

Having looked at my church for over a year now I can tell you I like the concept. The issue is to be independent but at the same time respectful of other people's beliefs

As an example, when Hersey Congregational Church was founded, eight people met that represented five different denominations including, as I remember,: Baptist, Free Methodist, Presbyterian and Episcopal. They founded the church in 1870 and next year the church will celebrate its 140th year.

Some years ago, my church demonstrated it independence by leaving the UCC and becoming non-denominational. The congregation disliked how the United Church of Christ was embracing homosexuality as acceptable and they voted themselves out.

Respect is something that requires a little work. Like the original congregation of eight, I have varied theological and doctrinal opinions sitting in front of me when I preach and I think that is why the doctrinal statement is so short. Respect means to be able to disagree and yet walk out brothers and sisters in Christ who love one another. Dialogue becomes key.

Every council meeting I am reminded of this fact. Dialogue is in abundance and opinions are varied on every issue. It is actually rare to get immediate consensus but when the discussion ends we usually have some sort of decision that all can at least in some measure support. Because of this what we do is often limited in scope but powerful because everyone is behind it.

Independence and respect -- I like it.

Apologetics: The New Religious Reality

I have started a new 'Bible' study at church. It is a look at world religions in relation to Christianity. One of the new realities in the United States is that Christianity is not the main religion of people any more. There are now a multitude of religions in the United States and all of them have influence. As I go through this study with my church, I keep asking myself -- 'how would I witness to such a person who believes such and such?" The book of Acts is actually quit helpful because Peter and Paul clearly ministered in a multi-religious culture. Because of this it is very easy to draw comparisons.

The one thing that is interesting is that a number of people have a view of all religions being roads to the ultimate end with no one of them being truly right. I of course find this problematic because then religion is not a search for truth -- just enlightenment. How do you witness to such a multi-cultured religious people? When you talk truth, they dismiss the idea as impossible.

Like it or not Christianity claims an exclusiveness - that is it is the only road to salvation. In such an environment, how does one continue to do this and be respectful yet assured that your getting across the truth? Hopefully as we go through the study and these days looking apologetics we will find the answer.