{1}

##LOC[OK]##

{1}

##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##

{1}

##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##

TIMING IS EVERYTHING ...
SAY "YES" TO GOD AND SHOW UP

Most invitations expire. The happening is announced. You’re invited. The event happens and you either attend or you don’t attend. The party wraps up. Concerts, sporting events, even weddings, have a beginning time and an ending time.

And unless you’re holding an unused ticket for Woodstock, the invitation or the ticket probably isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. Sure, you could show up late. But who knows what you’ve missed? The key after receiving the invitation is to say “yes” and show up.

Mary showed up. Like Esther in The Old Testament, Mary realized that she’d been “born for such a time as this.” Here’s what Luke’s Gospel tells us about the delivery of Mary’s invitation, Mary’s question, God’s answer and Mary’s response.

GOD'S INVITATION ...

The angel came to her and said, “Greetings! The Lord has blessed you and is with you.” But Mary was very startled by what the angel said and wondered what this greeting might mean. The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary; God has shown you his grace. Listen! You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him ‘Jesus’. He will be great and will be called the ‘Son of the Most High.’ The Lord God will give him the throne of King David, his ancestor. He will rule over the people of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.”

MARY'S QUESTION ...

Mary said to the angel, “How will this happen since I am a virgin?”

GOD'S ANSWER ...

The angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you. For this reason the baby will be holy and will be called the ‘Son of God.’ Now Elizabeth, your relative, is also pregnant with a son, though she is very old. Everyone thought she could not have a baby, but she has been pregnant for six months. God can do anything!”

MARY'S RESPONSE ...

Mary said, “I am the servant of the Lord. Let this happen to me as you say!” Then the angel went away.

This Christmas season Jesus comes to you and to me with an invitation, and like Mary, we have the opportunity to say “yes” or say “no.” “Will you let Me live inside of you, grow inside of you, and be birthed out of you in your thoughts, your words, your priorities, and your actions?” Jesus asks us.

“But the cost is too great!” “But I am too in love with myself to surrender to you.” “But what will others think?” “But I’m too old, or too far gone to turn myself over to You.”

And to each of our questions, Jesus’ answer is the same: “God can do anything. You’re not at the end of the road. You can begin again. Many others are on this same journey with me and they can testify to the beauty, the grace, the peace and the joy of surrender. Come home to me. Make your home in me. Let me become more than a story to you this Christmas. There’s no expiration date on this invitation. But timing is everything. This is your time.” Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

WOULD JESUS BE
WELCOME AT OUR CHURCH?

A woman moved to a new city and started working in a downtown office building as a janitor. One Sunday morning she visited a church that she walked by on her way to work each day.

The parking lot was filled with beautiful cars and everyone was well dressed. Almost to the sanctuary, a tall, silver haired man in a three-piece suit stepped in front of her and suspiciously asked, “Well, now where are you going?”

Pointing towards the sanctuary she said, “In there, with everybody else … to worship the Lord.” The man steered the woman over to a side door and asked in a disingenuous tone, “I want you to go home and ask Jesus if this is the church He wants you to attend.”

The woman replied, “I walk by here each morning and thought it would be a good church to visit. But now that you mention it, I didn’t really talk with Jesus about visiting your church”. And at that, the man opened the door, and motioned to the woman to exit. And so, without a chance to even enter the sanctuary, the women left.

The following morning the same man went to a downtown office building on an errand. Walking into the lobby, he saw the woman who’d tried attending his church the day before – there she was, polishing stair rails. He went over and asked, “Did you ask Jesus yet about what we talked about yesterday?” And the woman answered, “Oh, yes, I did.” “Well, what did He say?”

Without missing a beat of her polishing the rail, the woman said with a smile, “Jesus said, ‘My child, don’t feel bad. I’ve been trying to get into that church for years, and they wouldn’t let Me in either.’”

The church at Laodicea, like the church in this story, and many churches in America and around the world had become comfortable with what they had and who they’d become, even though God wasn’t.

It’s my hope that each person reading this post will invite God to use Jesus’ words from REVELATION 3:14-22 as a mirror that we hold up to ourselves, to see our motivations, to see our priorities, and to see our faith with honesty and clarity. And then, based on what we see, that we’ll make the course-corrections we need to in order to become more like the FAITHFUL church at Philadelphia (REVELATION 3:7-13), and less like the LUKEWARM church of Laodicea. Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live

Gregg

TEACHING GOD'S WORD

When I was in Seminary I learned to "preach" from a Nazarene Evangelist. I thought he was creative. But basically he had just one sermon, taught from different places throughout the Bible. He was an evangelist, not a pastor-teacher, what could I expect? Here's a simple distinction between PREACHING and TEACHING ...

• PREACHING is done by both evangelists and pastor-teachers. It is what evangelists do all the time, and what pastor-teachers do some of the time. It is done to share the Gospel with people and invite them into a relationship with Jesus Christ. The gospel is so woven throughout Scripture that pastor-teachers can't avoid it, nor should we. At 2nd Street I invite people to come into a relationship with Jesus Christ on Sunday mornings on a regular basis. But I am gifted and called as a pastor-teacher not an evangelist.

• TEACHING is done primarily by pastor-teachers. And it is done to grow and mature the flock in their relationship with Jesus Christ. This is what I do at 2nd Street on Sunday mornings, 40+ times a year. I believe that the teaching of God's WORD is most effectively done verse-by-verse through individual books of the Bible, using other passages from the Bible as support.
  

When I showed up in Klamath Falls in 1984, fresh out of seminary, it didn't take long for me that while I'd learned to preach in seminary, I hadn't learned to teach. Bummer. Because since I wasn't spiritually gifted and called as an evangelist, the way I'd been taught a way to teach the Bible that didn't fit with my gifting as a pastor-teacher.

So instead of staying frustrated (which I really was for about a year), I started listening to a number of pastor-teachers on the radio. Here are the five God primarily used to help shape, change, teach, and train me in how to teach His WORD (these folks aren't all serving in these positions anymore, but they were during my time in Klamath Falls / 1984-1991).

1. Chuck Smith, pastor-teacher at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, CA
2. Burt Smith, pastor-teacher at Little County Church in Redding, CA
3. Jon Courson, pastor-teacher at Applegate Christian Fellowship outside of Jacksonville, OR)
4. Kay Arthur, Bible teacher, founder of Precept Ministries
5. Bob Yandian, pastor-teacher at Grace Fellowship in Tulsa, OK

These five pastor-teachers all taught God's WORD verse-by-verse, and I loved it. I saw that when using this method of teaching, it was easier to allow the Holy Spirit make the outline of the teaching, and that the application flowed out of the verses along the way, instead of being pasted onto the end of the teaching like a postscript.

So learning from these five pastor-teachers (none of whom I'd ever met ... but I eventually met Kay, Burt, Bob, and Jon's brother Jimmy), I simply looked at the end result of what they taught and worked my way backwards, developing my own methods of study, preparation, and delivery of God's WORD.

I study on Tuesday afternoons, Thursday afternoons, all day Friday, Saturday morning, and then finish everything up early Sunday mornings. All told, I usually invest about 15 hours into each Sunday's teaching. But I think that it is worth it. The way I study, plan, and prepare isn't complicated. Here's a basic outline of what I do ...

• Read the next passage from God's WORD that I'll be teaching from many, many, many times, out of a variety of translations. www.youversion.com helps me do this. Knowing where I am going, not just on a given Sunday, but in the coming months and even the coming year, helps out tremendously. Take notes.
  
• Pray.
• Read more of God's WORD / look up all the cross-references listed in the main Bibles I use for study (New American Standard Bible, New Century Version, The Amplified Bible, The Message, J.B. Phillips New Testament in Modern English, Contemporary English Version, and English Standard Version) along with all the other Scripture passages that the Holy Spirit brings to mind. Take notes.
  
• Write.
• Pray.
• Write. Incorporating more Greek/Hebrew word studies.
• Pray.
• Add the Faith Lessons throughout the teaching as led by the Holy Spirit to do so. These are short, application points from individual verses, or words/themes encountered along the way.
• Pray and deliver the teaching.
  

I hope your life with God is maturing and deepening. Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

WHEN DOES GOD SHOW UP?

It's been too long since I've posted something here. I'm trying to turn over a new leaf. But we'll see. Life has gotten a bit crazy, with being a husband, a dad, and a pastor. I misplaced my superman cape a while back and have been struggling with the angst (and freedom) of being a mere mortal.

Jesus Christ doesn’t wait for us to show up to worship services before He shows up. It’s not like He has His alarm clock set for 8:55 a.m. each Sunday morning … and it goes off, and then He hurries up and shows up here at 2nd Street. He’s here, waiting for us when arrive, to join Him. And as much as you may think that you’ve INITIATED this connection, this conversation, and this experience of praise and worship with Him this morning, let me break it to you … you’re wrong. God is always the INITIATOR and you and I are always the RESPONDERS.

I love how the mid-20th-century Christian mystic, Thomas R. Kelley describes this reality in his classic book, A Testament of Devotion …

In this humanistic age we suppose man
is the initiator and God is the responder.
But the Living Christ within us is the
initiator and we are the responders. God
the Lover, the Accuser, the Revealer of
Light and Darkness presses within us. ‘Behold,
I stand at the door and knock’ [God says in
REVELATION 3:20]. And all our apparent initiative
is already a response, a testimonial to His
secret presence and working within us.”
(italics added)

And in Kelley’s words, which express this mysterious front-line truth of how God works in our lives, I see an important truth ...

We do not gathered for worship, primarily because WE choose to be. Jesus Christ is always the INITIATOR, and we are always the RESPONDERS. Entering into Jesus Christ’s presence, hearing His voice, taking on His character (His thoughts, words, deeds, and priorities) and then more fully living out the will of God … this all happens because we’re RESPONDING to the loving, pursuing, wooing, INITIATION of Jesus Christ.

Let me ask you a question. Where are you seeing Jesus Christ alive and well right now? Where are you seeing His presence, His footprints, His voice, His fingerprints, and His actions? With the people you work with who are accountable to you? With the people you work with, to whom you’re accountable? In your relationships with family, with your spouse, with your children, with the people you’re dating, with your friends, or with the people you’ve felt estranged from right now but who Jesus Christ has been inviting you to begin building new bridges of relationship with? Where are you seeing Jesus Christ alive and well right now? Where are you seeing His presence, His footprints, His voice, His fingerprints, and His actions?

If you’re not seeing Jesus in these places, then you’re life with Him isn’t THE REIGNING PRIORITY of your life. Because when we make Jesus Christ our First Love (cf., REVELATION 2:4) and THE REIGNING PRIORITY of our lives, it’s like we get a new pair of glasses and we begin living life with God, not apart from God … we begin seeing His presence, His footprints, His voice, His fingerprints, and His actions everywhere … and when we look at Him and see what He’s up to, we’ll consistently see Him looking back at us, and inviting us to join Him in what He’s up to.

There are not some parts of our lives and experiences that are “spiritual” and other parts that are “not spiritual” or “natural”. All of life is most intimately and accurately defined by its “spiritual nature”. Like C.S. Lewis wrote …

“We are not natural beings who
have spiritual experiences. We are
spiritual beings who have natural experiences."

Godspeed to you as you RESPOND to the working in God in your life today.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

UNITY OR UNIFORMITY?

JOHN 13:35
(NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE)

By this everyone will know that you are My
disciples, if you have love for one another.

Is this what the world is seeing from you and me? I know that as followers of Jesus we’ve gotten it right some of the time. But if we’re honest, we’ll admit that Christians have also shown the world division, fighting, and backbiting. And what we’re usually divided over is what we believe.

You might believe one way about spiritual gifts, and I might believe something slightly different. You might believe one way about the Rapture of the church, and I might believe another. You might believe one way about predestination, election, and eternal security, or any number of other doctrines, and I might believe differently. You might believe one kind of worship music is the best way to come before God with your praise and adoration, and I might believe differently.

But as people who believe Jesus was right when He said in JOHN 14:6 that He’s the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes into a relationship with God the Father except through Him, God wants us to be united in love with one another. This is why we pray for other Christian churches each week – even ones that we might have some doctrinal differences with. Because what’s important is our mutual love of Jesus Christ and our willingness to follow Him.

Listen to what the Apostle Paul wrote in EPHESIANS 4:1-6 concerning the things that followers of Jesus Christ need to be in unity with other Christians about …

EPHESIANS 4:1-6 (CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION)

… I beg you to live in a way that is worthy of the
people God has chosen to be His own. Always
be humble and gentle. Patiently put up with each
other and love each other. Try your best to let
God’s Spirit keep your hearts united. Do this by living at peace.

All of you are part of one body. There is only one Spirit
of God, just as you were given one hope when you were
chosen to be God’s people. We have only one Lord, one
faith, and one baptism. There is one God who is the Father
of all people. Not only is God above all others, but He
works by using all of us, and He lives in all of us.

Friends, these have got to be the beliefs that unify us with other followers of Jesus Christ. If you're part of the Body of Jesus Christ, then you’ve got a lot of siblings - not only here at 2nd Street, but in churches all around Newberg, Oregon, and across the face of the earth. God wants us to get along. And it’s not about cloning or becoming identical Christians … it's about harmonizing.

It was said that George Whitefield (England | 1714-1770) was such a powerful evangelist that 30,000 people would regularly attend his open-air meetings. History tell us that Whitefield was so anointed and eloquent, that many orators and actors would come just to watch him, listen to him, and try to learn from him.

Charles Wesley, a contemporary of Whitefield, also preached to multitudes. And yet the Christian doctrines these two men held were miles apart. In fact, when it came to certain doctrines (especially God’s sovereignty and mankind’s free will) they placed paid advertisements in the newspapers explaining why they believed what they did — and why the other guy was wrong. I promise that I won’t ever do. Even though The Graphic could probably use the ad-revenue!

In fact, the disagreements between Whitefield and Wesley, were so intense at times, that people must have thought they hated each other. But any question about that was finally put to rest one day when a newspaper reporter asked, “Tell me, Mr. Whitefield, do you expect to see Charles Wesley in heaven?” “No, I won’t see Charles Wesley in heaven” Whitefield answered. “Oh, he’ll be there. But he’ll be so close to the throne of Jesus Christ, and I’m going to be so far back, that there’s no way I’ll be able to see him.”

Man, I like that! Here were two pastor-teachers who held very different doctrinal views from one another, and whose ministries had very different focuses, and yet they made the choice to have unity through love in their diversity. Do you see it?

“Unity doesn’t eliminate diversity. The absence of diversity
is not unity; it is uniformity, and uniformity is dull. It is fine
when the choir sings in unison, but I prefer that they
sing in harmony.” - Warren Wiersbe, Be Hopeful, p. 53.

Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

PREDESTINATION AND ELECTION ....
AND/OR FREE WILL

I have a 19-year old female friend (the youngest daughter of some dear friends of mine) living in India right now. She is working with a couple who is raising the 70+ daughters of Hindu temple prostitutes in their town. I received an email from this young woman the other day asking me the following question:

Do you believe in Calvin's theory of predestination? It was presented to me here by one of the pastors and I have NO WAY of proving it wrong, but it seems SO wrong to me! If you have time and interest give me your thoughts.

Here is what I wrote back to my young friend ...

%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%

Hello friend. Calvin's doctrine of predestination, and it's twin and necessary sister, the doctrine of election, have so many varieties to it, that to ask a pastor, a theologian, a religion professor, or a Sunday School teacher to describe them would be like asking these different people to describe the best flavor in the world, or the sound of rain, or to paint a picture of what they think Jesus looked like. A whole slew of answers would come. And the funny thing is that Calvin would probably argue with all of them. And he certainly didn't believe these doctrines were theories ... for him they were iron-clad doctrines that he was willing to stake his life on.

This is a theological question that followers of Jesus Christ have talked about, argued over, been divided over, and even hated one another over for centuries. And the reason why? Because both emphases are found in God's Word.

THE DOCTRINE OF FREE WILL | God has given us a free will and that we either respond to His invitation to come into a relationship with Him or we don't (most Quakers, Methodists, many Pentecostals, and Nazarenes find their beliefs lingering on this side of the theological fence).

THE DOCTRINES OF PREDESTINATION AND ELECTION | God is sovereign and chooses some people ahead of time to be in relationship with Him, and chooses others to not be in relationship with Him (most Baptists, Presbyterians, Evangelical Free, and independent Bible Churches find their beliefs lingering on this side of the theological fence).

God's Word has plenty of verses that seem to speak to both sides of this theological coin that this pastor has asked you to spin (for his pleasure?). GOOGLE "free will, predestination, and election" and you'll find a curiously solid slew of Biblical answers for both. But here's the deal my friend. Why can't both be true? This is one of the things I love about Quakers. We're not afraid of paradox. We don't believe that being silenced and dumbfounded by the awesomeness and the "otherness" of God shows a lack of conviction, a lack of theological expertise, or a lack of convincement.

It's not the easy way out to sit on the fence on these two seemingly oppositional doctrines. In fact it's the height of humility, to admit that God is God and we're not. And that while we see the two sides of this theological coin spoken of throughout Scripture (in the law, in the history, in the wisdom, in the prophets, in the minor prophets, in the Gospels, and in the Epistles), we don't have to have a certainty about one being right and one being wrong in order to feel confident about our theology.

Letting both sides of this God-coin be true is just more evidence to me that there are things about God that human beings will never be able to understand in ways that solve all the doctrinal riddles that people as smart as Calvin and Wesley are able to dig out of God's Word.

But when seeking what I believe about this and other theological conundrums, a couple of the questions I always ask myself are ...

1. To believe this proposed doctrine before me, do I need to "unbelieve" anything I believe about the character or the nature of God, Jesus Christ, or God's Holy Spirit?
   
2. To believe this proposed doctrine before me, do I need to be talked into it by somebody who is acting smarter and wiser than me for the purpose of getting me to come over to their side of the argument?

Truth isn't confounding. It's liberating and nearly always ridiculously simple. I want to be teachable. But I don't want to be naive, nor do I want to be spiritually sucker-punched into adopting something as a belief just because it makes sense to someone who everyone else believes is "really smart." Remember, that almost all the interactions Jesus had with people who were "really smart" ... especially "really smart religious people" didn't turn out all that well for the ones with the degrees.

Calvin? Wesley? Augustine? Luther? Smart guys to be sure. Lovers of Jesus to be sure. But don't let their "convincement" feel like a noose around your faith-neck. Let Jesus and God's Word teach you, and lead you into all truth. Am I saying we don't need to let God use "teachers" in our lives, and that we don't need to adopt a Credo, or a Statement of Faith that makes sense to us, but that we can grow with? Of course not.

In fact, the book of PROVERBS says over an over again that the definition of a fool is "one who rejects instruction." But learn from people you know and trust, in whom you see the character and the nature of God alive and growing. And don't let people lure you into theological swamps just to prove something to you about themselves and their beliefs, or to get you to trust them and their cleverness.

The Apostle Paul uses the word "predestination" in his writings. My favorite time is when he says in ROMANS 8:29 that "those God foreknew He predestined to be conformed into the family-likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ." And the reason I'm drawn to this verse about predestination among all the others, is because here God's "predestination" is linked to God's "foreknowledge."

In other words, God doesn't make us choose Him or reject Him. But because God is beyond the "chronos" time that you and I as human beings are so easily trapped in (the passing of time that's measured by the ticking of the hands on a clock), and because God is fully engaged in "kronos" time, or "God-time", He sees the beginning, the middle, and the end of all human history as happening at the exact same moment. And so while God sees the decisions you and I will make, He doesn't make us make the choices we have made, are making, and will make. In other words ...

• The invitation to come into the Kingdom of God is mailed to everyone who ever lived (JOHN 3:16).
• But not everybody who opens the invitation up and reads it will make the choice to come to the party.

God gets this. It breaks His heart that some won't come to the party. But the party goes on ... and is going on right now. Welcome to the party.

If my words have become somewhat rambling, I am sorry. I'm tired. But know that I love you. And know that I'm glad that you are where you are, and that you're doing what Jesus has asked you to do. The center of God's will is the hot spot on the dance floor at the party. Dance on my little sister. Dance on. Good night and Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

ADVICE TO CAREGIVERS

Have you been the caregiver to someone who is dying? About two years ago my wife Teresa was. Her mom Pat, a widow, was given 4-6 months to live. Teresa (the oldest of three children and the only daughter) cleared her schedule, flew to Spokane, and made a plan to be there every other week for the next 4-6 months.

But during her first week, her mom became so weak that Teresa stayed for five weeks until her mom died. Day and night she cared for her. Recently Teresa reflected back to the five weeks she spent with her mom and clarified the six main lessons she learned on the journey ...

1. Caring for a person you love while they are dying is the most difficult, intimate, and holy task you will ever do in your life.
2. Taking time to go out of the room, the house, or the hospital ... to take a walk, to drink a cup of tea or coffee, or to get some kind of exercise will make all the difference in "going the distance" as a caregiver. Doing this will help you "listen to your life" and learn the lessons you must remain open to learning while walking this difficult, and oftentimes, lonely road.
3. Let the people who offer to help you, actually help you. Let them clean your house, tend to your yard, take care of your pets, or do whatever else they can think to do for you while you're being a caregiver ... they want their love for you to be as tangible as the love you exhibiting as a caregiver ... so let them.
4. Touch and spoken words are beautiful things. Acts of love and kindness are a bridge that can bond two people together. But touch and the words we speak are two other important bridges. Don't buy into the doubts you might have that your loved one is unaware of your touch and/or unable to hear and find comfort in the words you speak to them. Nothing could be further from the truth.
   
5. If the monitor/s in your loved one's room are a distraction to you being able to focus on them, ask the nurse to turn them away from your view. This will let you center your attention more directly onto your loved one instead of on the monitors.
   
6. Prayer is simply talking with God. Let your prayers out in conversation with God, instead of holding them in. Prayers can be spoken with actual words, or just said silently. God can handle the pain, the anger, the denial, the fears, and the questions that will no doubt all be part of your prayers. And in return, God will give you a peace and comfort that can come from nowhere else. God's presence and God's voice are gifts we all need -- especially while being a caregiver.
   

PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7
(THE MESSAGE / A MODERN-DAY PARAPHRASE
OF THE BIBLE BY EUGENE PETERSON)

6 Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying,
pray. Let petitions and praises shape your
worries into prayers, letting God know
your concerns.

7 Before you know it, a sense of God's whole-
ness, everything coming together for good,
will come and settle you down. It's wonderful
what happens when Christ displaces worry at
the center of your life.

The days and nights of a caregiver are sacred. Give God your cares, because God cares for you. Do not be afraid little ones. You are not alone.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

TRANSFORMED?

As the pastor and teacher of 2nd Street Community Church, it’s my prayer that whenever we gather together here on Sundays, and when we get together in ministry teams, or in community groups, that we will always allow God to use our times of worship, study, fellowship and service, to train our hearts and our minds to come to the place where we’re more surrendered to Him, and more willing to pray for, and come alongside our Christian brothers and sisters in the world whose faith is causing them undeniable persecution … even persecution that ends in death. And I see a FAITH LESSON for us here …

FAITH LESSON …

The life Jesus Christ calls us to as His
followers is a “CHANGED LIFE” … it’s a life
of “TRANSFORMATION.” And it’s a life, that
even in North America should be seen as
“DIFFERENT” and “COUNTER-CULTURAL”
and that should, if we’re living it out the
way God calls us to, will have us swimming
“UPSTREAM AGAINST THE VALUES AND
PRIORITIES OF POPULAR CULTURE.”

When I was first became a follower of Jesus Christ in 1978 I knew that Jesus was changing my life, but frankly, I didn’t want to have to become all that different from the way I was before I came into a relationship with Him.

I wanted TO ADD SOME JESUS into the mix of who I was; but I wasn’t all that interested in “TOTAL TRANSFORMATION.” I didn’t want to lose any of my friends who weren’t yet following Jesus Christ. I still got drunk pretty regularly, and I still smoked a lot of weed with my buddies. I still liked going to profane movies. I basically acted the same way as before I was a Christian. And nobody ever really hassled me about becoming a Christian because it was just kind of A PRIVATE CONTRACT that I’d made with Jesus.

I mean my friends knew that I was going to church, but that was about it. God forgave my sins, and then I basically made the choice to stay the way I was before I met Him. In other words, not too much SURRENDER was happening. I was like an employee who really liked getting a paycheck, but who wasn’t all that excited about actually showing up to work and staying on task with the job they’d been hired to do.

But then one night, several months into my new life with Jesus Christ, a friend of mine who knew I’d started going to church, said to me, “Man, you’re such a cool Christian.” And God used his words like a glass of cold water thrown in my face to wake me up. And it was at about the same time, that I remember my pastor teaching through EZEKIEL 36:25-27 …

EZEKIEL 36:25-27 (NEW LIVING TRANSLATION)

25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols.
26 And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart. (emphasis added)
27 And I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command.

Gang, the bottom line is that God wanted to do this work of TRANSFORMATION in me (just the way He wants to do it in all of us) and I was settling for so much less than He had in mind. When we’re living life the way Jesus calls us to live, our lives, our values, and our priorities will be totally different from the values and the priorities of the world – and that because of that, Jesus says here that there will even be some people won’t like us. And this message from Jesus started to soak in.

And it wasn’t very long after that night when I stopped trying to convince people that I was the same person … but just with a little bit of Jesus added … because I wasn’t the same person! Jesus was changing me from the inside out. Here’s what the Apostle Paul wrote about this to his friends in the city of Corinth.

SECOND CORINTHIANS 5:17 (ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

When we make the choice to SURRENDER to Jesus Christ and begin to live the life He calls us to live, He’ll be pleased, but not everybody else in our lives might be. And within a few weeks of making that choice to allow Jesus Christ to tell me about how to live, many of my “FRIENDS” walked away from me.

But that was okay, because the One who didn’t walk away from me was Jesus Christ. He stuck closer to me than a brother. He never turned His back on me. He never gave up on me. Here’s how Jesus talked about this truth in The Gospel of Luke … and how the Apostle Paul talked about it with his friend Timothy …

LUKE 6:26a (GOOD NEWS TRANSLATION)
SECOND TIMOTHY 3:12 (GOOD NEWS TRANSLATION)

26a How terrible when people only speak well of you.
12 Everyone who wants to live a godly life in union with Christ Jesus will be persecuted;

Notice, that Jesus and Paul didn’t say that people who follow Him “might” experience persecution. He said that after we make the choice to SURRENDER our lives to Him, that IF WE’RE NOT EXPERIENCING a new kind of rub and conflict with the world because of our choice to be connected to Him, then we’d better go back to square one and ask ourselves if we’ve really chosen Him above everything else, if we’ve invited Him to be the LORD and Master of our lives, and if we’ve really SURRENDERED to His desire to teach us a whole new way to be human. Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

CHRISTMAS 2008
A QUESTION ASKED ... AND A QUESTION ANSWERED

Years ago I heard a description of how The Old Testament and The New Testament both speak through two statements … one A QUESTION ASKED, and the other one A QUESTION ANSWERED … about the coming of Jesus Christ as our Messiah. First, A QUESTION ASKED …

The whole Old Testament can be described with the QUESTION Isaac asked his father Abraham as they walked up Mt. Moriah to offer a sacrifice of worship and forgiveness to God. And as they trekked up the mountain, Isaac asked his dad, “Where’s the lamb?” They had the wood, and they had the fire, but they didn’t have the sacrificial lamb.

All the way through The Old Testament, from the Garden of Eden until the Manger in Bethlehem, the world has asked this same QUESTION, “Where’s the lamb?” Wanting to find our way back home to God, every human being ever born knows deep down inside that there’s no way we can get back home to God on our own. The lamb of God needs to be sacrificed to open the door up for us to have a restored relationship for forgiveness, grace and peace with God.

So that’s the QUESTION that defines life before the Jesus Christ, the Messiah came into the world … “Where’s the lamb?” But what about after Jesus Christ showed up? Well that’s here the QUESTION ANSWERED comes into play.

When Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist baptized Him in the Jordan River, God the Father spoke out of heaven and ANSWERED THE QUESTION, by saying, “Behold The Lamb.” In other words God was saying, “You’ve been waiting for the Lamb of God. Well here He is. He’s My Son, and by following Him, obeying Him, and surrendering to Him, you’ll have the opportunity to see everything change in your lives. Old things will become new and you’ll become a new creation. My Son’s sacrificial death will bring you life, and make a way for you to come back into relationship with Me.”

In The Old Testament
A QUESTION ASKED
“Where’s the lamb?”

In The New Testament
A QUESTION ANSWERED
“Behold the Lamb!"

Merry Christmas ... and Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

THE LOVE OF THE FATHER

Many years ago, there was a wealthy widower who, with his only child, a devoted young son, shared a passion for art collecting. Together they traveled the world, adding only the finest art treasures to their collection. Priceless works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet and many others adorned the walls of the family estate.

The man looked on with satisfaction as his son became an experienced art collector. The son's trained eye and sharp business mind caused his father to beam with pride as they dealt with art collectors worldwide. As winter approached, war engulfed the nation, and the son left home to serve his country. After only a few short weeks, his father received a telegram that his beloved son had died while rushing a fellow soldier to a medic.

Distraught and lonely, the man faced the upcoming Christmas holidays with sadness. The joy of the season that he and his son had so looked forward to — would no longer visit his house. On Christmas morning, a knock on the door awakened the depressed old man.

As he walked to the door, the masterpieces on his walls only reminded him that his son was not coming home. As he opened the door, a soldier greeted him with a large, wrapped package in his hand. He introduced himself to the man by saying, “I was a friend of your son. In fact, I was the soldier he was rescuing when he died. May I come in for a few moments? I have something to show you.”

As the two began talking, the soldier told the man how often his son spoke of their shared love of fine art. “I'm an artist,” said the soldier, “and I want to give you this.” As the old man unwrapped the package, the paper gave way to reveal a portrait of the man's son. Though the world would never consider it the work of a genius, the painting featured the young man's face in striking detail. Overcome with emotion, the man thanked the soldier, promising to hang the picture above the fireplace in his study.

A few hours later, after the soldier had departed, the old man set about his task. True to his word, the painting went above the fireplace in his study, pushing aside paintings worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. And then the man sat in his chair and spent Christmas gazing at the wonderful gift he had been given. During the days and weeks that followed, the man discovered that even though his son was no longer with him, the boy's life would live on because he had rescued dozens of wounded soldiers before he died.

As the stories of his son's gallantry continued to reach him, fatherly pride and satisfaction began to ease the grief. The painting of his son soon became his most prized possession, far eclipsing any interest in the pieces for which museums around the world clamored. He told his neighbors it was the greatest gift he had ever received.

The following spring, the old man became ill and passed away. The art world was in anticipation. With the collector's passing, and his only son dead, his paintings would be sold at an auction. According to the will of the old man, all of the art works would be auctioned on Christmas day, the day he had received his greatest gift.

The day arrived and art collectors from around the world gathered to bid on some of the world's most spectacular paintings. Dreams would be fulfilled this day; greatness would be achieved as many would add the new art to their collections. But the auction began with a painting that was not on any museum's list. It was the painting of the man's son. The auctioneer asked for an opening bid and the room fell silent. “Who will open the bidding with $100?” he asked.

Minutes passed. No one spoke. From the back of the room came, “Who cares about that painting? It's just a picture of his son. Let's forget it and go on to the good stuff.” More voices echoed in agreement. “No, we have to sell this one first,” replied the auctioneer. “Now, who will take the son?” Finally, a friend of the old man spoke. “Will you take ten dollars for the painting? That's all I have. I knew the boy, so I'd like to have it.” “I have ten dollars. Will anyone go higher?” called the auctioneer.

After more silence, the auctioneer said, “Going once, going twice. Gone.” The gavel fell. Cheers filled the room and someone exclaimed, “Now we can get on with it and we can bid on these treasures!” The auctioneer looked at the audience and announced the auction was over.

Stunned disbelief quieted the room. Someone spoke up and asked, “What do you mean it's over? We didn't come here for a picture of this man’s son! What about all of the other paintings? There are millions of dollars of art here! I demand that you explain what's going on here!” The auctioneer replied, “It's really very simple. According to the will of the father, whoever takes the son … gets it all.”

And just like the people discovered at the auction, the message is the same today … God the Father’s greatest love and greatest joy came when His only Son stepped out of heaven and into the world, so that He could step into our hearts.

Jesus Christ gave His life rescuing others. And when Jesus Christ died on the cross, He paid the price for the sin of the world. The price for your sin and for my sin, and made it possible for us to come into a relationship with God.

And because of God the Father's love … whoever takes the Son, Jesus Christ, gets it all … abundant life in the here and now, and eternal life when we pass from this world. Blessed be the word of the LORD. Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

JOHN 14:6 (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE)

Jesus said to him, “I am THE way,
and THE truth, and THE life;
NO ONE comes to the Father
but through Me. [emphasis added]

I believe that heaven is a great place to look forward to. But even if heaven wasn’t a reality, the freedom from the penalty and bondage of sin and the abundant life that God brings us into when we come into a relationship with Him … just those realities alone, make surrendering our lives to God worth it.

But we’ve got to make sure we know that Jesus Christ is the only way into this restored relationship with God, because as Jesus Christ says here in JOHN 14:6, “no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”

And as Jesus spoke these words to His disciples, He knew that the cross was just one day away. And when we think of the extreme suffering Jesus Christ endured in order to secure our freedom from sin’s penalty, our hearts should overflow with love for Him. Leslie Flynn who pastored one single church in Nanuet, NY for more than 40 years, told a story that illustrates this truth …

An orphaned boy was living with his grandmother when their house caught fire. The grandmother, trying to get upstairs to rescue the boy, died in the flames. The boy’s cries for help were finally answered by a man who climbed up an iron drainpipe and came down with the boy hanging tightly to his neck.

Many weeks later, a public hearing was held to determine who would receive custody of the child. A farmer, a teacher, and the town’s wealthiest citizen each offered the judge the reasons they felt they should be chosen to give the boy a home. But as each of them talked, the boy’s eyes remained focused on the floor.

Then a stranger walked to the front of the room and slowly took his fire-scarred hands from his pockets. As the crowd gasped at the severity of his wounds, the boy cried out in recognition. This was the man who had saved his life … the one whose hands had been burned as he climbed up the fire-hot iron drainpipe. And with a leap, the boy threw his arms around the man’s neck and held on for dear life.

The other three men walked silently out of the room, leaving the boy and his rescuer alone. The man’s scarred hands had settled the issue once and for all.

Many voices are calling for our attention. Among them is the One whose nail-pierced hands remind us that He has rescued us from sin and its deadly consequences. To Him, and to Him alone, belong our surrender, our love, and our devotion. Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

THE FRONT FELL OFF

For a good laugh go to ...

www.snopes.com/photos/politics/frontfell.asp

and watch the video embedded there. I needed to laugh yesterday and this came just in the nick of time! Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

LOGOS BIBLE SOFTWARE

I can't believe it ... but it's almost here. Logos Software ... the Bible software long recognized by all Bible scholars, students, pastors, and laypersons alike as the best Bible software application available ... best searching, best interface, best resource tie-ins, best library add-ons, etc ... is finally almost available for Macintosh! Yippee! Check it out at ...

www.logos.com/mac

I just received an email from the Logos folks and they're now accepting pre-orders for it, and so baring the second coming, I have a feeling I know what's going to be under my Christmas tree! It's been a long time coming, and I smell the scent of 12 verbs a parsing in the wind! Good night and Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

THE VINEYARD OWNER
AND HIS WORKERS
A JESUS PARABLE
MATTHEW 20:1-16

About four weeks ago now I went to a house I'd never been to before for a visit. My new friend who I hadn't met yet had been diagnosed with cancer, and had told his daughter that he was running low on hope and wanted to talk with her pastor. This is what happened between that day and now ...

Thinking and praying about what I should share with my new friend I was led to a Jesus parable found in MATTHEW 20:1-16.

And as I drove down their long driveway, I realized why this was the part of God’s WORD I’d been led to share as a way to give offer hope about life, eternity, and about being in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Here’s the Jesus story I shared that day …

vv. 1-7 – For the kingdom of Heaven is like a
farmer going out early in the morning to
hire laborers for his vineyard. He agreed
with them on a wage of a silver coin a day
and sent them to work. About nine o'clock
he went and saw some others standing about
in the market place with nothing to do. “You
go to the vineyard too,” he said to them, “and
I will pay you a fair wage.” And off they went.

At about mid-day and again at about three
o'clock in the afternoon he went and did the same
thing. Then about five o'clock he went out and
found some others standing about. “Why are you
standing about here all day doing nothing?” he asked
them. “Because no one has employed us,” they
replied. “You go off into the vineyard as well, then,” he said.

vv. 8-12 - When evening came the owner of the
vineyard said to his foreman, “Call the laborers and
pay them their wages, beginning with the last and
ending with the first.” So those who were engaged
at five o'clock came up and each man received a silver coin.

But when the first to be employed came they
reckoned they would get more, but they also received
a silver coin a man. As they took their money they
grumbled at the farmer and said, “These last fellows
have only put in one hour's work and you've treated
them exactly the same as us who have gone
through all the hard work and heat of the day!”

vv. 13-16 – But he replied to one of them, “My
friend, I'm not being unjust to you. Wasn't our
agreement for a silver coin a day? Take your
money and go home. It is my wish to give the
latecomers as much as I give you. May I not do
what I like with what belongs to me? Must you be
jealous because I am generous? So, many who
are the last now will be the first then and the first last.”

God is the vineyard owner and you and I are the laborers. And the silver coin represents the gift of the abundant life with Jesus in the here and now –the hope we have when we know Jesus, and the eternal life God gives to everyone who respond to His invitation and come into a relationship with Him.

Some people come to God early in their lives, and others later in their lives. But no matter when we come to God, it’s never too late, and God loves us just the same. On the day I visited my new friend, after reading this Jesus parable to him and talking about it, he told me that he wanted to come into a relationship with Jesus. Hope came. Three weeks later, he died at home.

I have a friend named Brennan who lives outside of New Orleans, Louisiana. Years ago Brennan sent me a story about something that had happened to a priest friend of his. And as I read Brennan’s words this past week I realized that while the story didn’t have anything to do with my new friend, that it actually had everything to do with him … and so here is the story Brennan sent me.

One day a woman named Ellie, whose family had a long-standing but seldom taken-advantage-of relationship with the Catholic church in her neighborhood came over to talk with the priest about her dad Tom … whom the doctors had just given days or weeks left to live.

After introducing herself to this priest, named Allen, Ellie said that her dad had asked her to ask him if he could come over and visit with him. Even though Allen had never met Ellie or Tom, he knew some of their extended family … and he told her that “yes, of course he could come over … and that he’d be there late that afternoon.”

And so around 4:00 p.m. Allen came over to sit with Tom … and to read Scripture with him and pray with him if he wanted him to. He’d kind of play it by ear.

When Allen arrived at the house, Ellie took him into Tom’s first-floor bedroom. She told Allen that because he was there to kind of keep an eye on her dad, that she’d run to the store, pick up a few things and be back in about 45 minutes.

Tom was about 55 years old, had Lou Gehrig’s disease and Allen could see that yes, indeed, he was very near the end of his life. Tom had been trapped in his bed for most of the past eleven months, except to get up and use the restroom. And during the past six months he hadn’t even been able to do that unassisted.

Tom was awake and looked uncomfortable. He was propped up on pillows at odd angles – trying to relive the pain of being in a bed too long. On his left side there was a little side-table with a pitcher of water, a CD player and a couple of different machines, beeping and chugging along … and on the right side of the bed sat an empty chair.

Allen walked over to the empty chair, but when he tried to sit down, Tom put out his hand to stop him, craned his neck to look out the bedroom door to see if his daughter had gone and said, “Thanks for coming over Father. If you don’t mind, can you pull up that other chair to sit on … the one over there by the desk?”

Allen didn’t know exactly why the chair next to the bed wasn’t available to him, but he obliged Tom’s request, grabbed the desk chair, pulled it up next to the bed and sat down. The room was filled with silence, but it was a peaceful silence, not an awkward one … the kind of silence that’s more relieving than irritating. Finally Tom said, “I guess you’re probably wondering about the chair?”

“Well, ya” Allen said, “I was a little curious about it.”

And then Tom told Father Allen this story …

“About 7 months ago an old childhood friend of mine named Nick came by to visit. We hadn’t seen one another for quite a few years. You know how it is … stuff just got in the way. But Nick had heard I was sick so he stopped by. I thought he would probably just visit one time, but he kept coming back … usually a couple times a week … in fact he’ll be here again Saturday.”

“One day while we were playing cards Nick asked me if I ever prayed. I told him that when we were kids I used to pray sometimes. But that mainly I’d ask God for things like that we’d have enough food to eat or that my dad would get a job … and then be able to keep a job … stuff like that. But that, no, I hadn’t prayed for a long time.

Nick told me that he hadn’t been much of a praying man either … and that in fact throughout most of his life he’d pretty much lived life as though God didn’t exist.

But then a couple of years ago his wife got sick with cancer and died … and that during that time Nick realized that when some really critical, important things in his life hadn’t turned out the way he thought they should, or hoped they would, he’d been majorly disappointed with God, and made the decision to shut God out of his life.

Then Nick went on to tell Tom that during his wife’s illness everything changed – and he came to discover God as his father and his friend, as his companion, his comforter, and his guide … and that ever since then he’d prayed quite a bit.

Tom asked Nick how he did it … how he prayed … did he bow or kneel? Did he close his eyes? Did he whisper, did he talk in a normal voice, did he yell, or did he just pray silently, with no words at all? And he said, that “yes, he prayed all those ways.”

But Nick told Tom that the way he liked to pray the most was to pull up an empty chair across from him … and then picturing Jesus sitting in the chair, he would just talk with Jesus, knee to knee.

Tom told Allen that when Nick told him the empty-chair-story he thought it was kind of strange, almost spooky … but that after Nick left, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt compelled to try it for himself. And so a few days later Tom asked Ellie to bring the chair into the room – the empty chair that now sat next to the bed.

He told her that he needed the chair to grab onto when he had to get up or change positions in bed. Then Tom told Allen that he didn’t dare tell Ellie why he really had her bring in the chair. No way. I mean she thought that her dad’s cheese had sled off his cracker a long time ago – even before he got sick – and that he didn’t need to give her any fresh ammunition to prove that her theory was right.

And then Tom said, “Father Allen, every day since Ellie brought that chair into my room, I’ve been praying 5-6 hours a day. I picture Jesus sitting in the chair and we just talk.

I can’t really sit up, across from the chair like Nick does, but I pull the chair around so that the chair seat is directly across from me and I just tell Jesus all my problems, all my frustrations, and also all the things I’m thankful for, and that I’m actually looking forward to being with Him face-to-face in heaven someday.

And then I wait and listen … and Jesus talks to me. Not with audible words, but in ways that soothe me, calm me and that make me realize that to not talk with Him … that to not listen to Him would be like not breathing. I’ve grown to love our times together. I’ve come to love Jesus. And maybe even more important than that, I’ve come to believe that Jesus loves me.

As Father Allen sat there listening to Tom, he was blessed and amazed. Tom was dying, but he was also living more fully than he had ever lived before. They talked a bit more, and Allen read to him out of some different passages in the Gospels and from the Psalms … and after about an hour, when Ellie got back from the store Allen told her and Tom that if they wanted him to … he’d be back in two days to visit again … and they assured him that they would.

The next afternoon Ellie came to the church to see Allen. She told him that when she went to give her father his breakfast that morning she found that he had died during the night. Allen was shocked that he’d been with Tom on his last day here on earth. But he also knew that Tom was ready to go home, and be with Jesus.

Allen told Ellie that he’d really enjoyed their time together the day before – that it had been an honor to meet her dad and hear him talk with him of his love for God.

He told her that if he could help with the funeral, to let him know – and that he just wanted to be there for them in whatever way they needed the most. Ellie told him that she’d be in touch the next day, and then as she turned to leave she stopped, turned back around and said, “You know, Father, it was kind of strange. This morning when I went into dad’s room he was almost halfway out of his bed.”

“You mean he’d fallen part-way out of bed during the night?” Father Allen asked.

“No,” Ellie replied. “It was the strangest thing. I’m not sure what happened. He hadn’t fallen. But he’d pulled that chair he kept next to the bed, up as close as it could get to the bed … and then he’d turned in his bed as much as he could, and he’d put his head over onto the arm of the chair. And that’s how I found him … with his head laying over against the arm of the chair. It was strange … but he also looked more peaceful than I’ve ever seen him.”

My new friend was a loving and faithful husband. He was a good father and friend. I know that he didn't have a chair like Tom’s next to his bed, but I know that three weeks ago he found the hope he was looking for, and he told God that when it was time to come home to Him, that because he’d found redemption, hope and eternity in Him … even though like the vineyard workers, it was at the end of the day, that he was ready. And for that, many people in his life are thankful.

You know, death has a way of putting life into perspective … it reminds us of our own mortality … it whispers in our ear a suggestion to get OUR house in order, to set OUR priorities straight, to see OURSELVES as people with a beginning and an end.

And that kind of perspective urges us to ask questions like “HOW can I move from today into tomorrow without regret over how I've lived?” “HOW can I make the most of my life, sometimes in the midst of hard circumstances, yes, sometimes even in the midst of death.”

Everybody here today has a different story – a different history – a different collection of victories and joys – different set of sorrows and pains. And our story and our history and our sorrows and our victories make us who we are. But you know what? None of us have to STAY who we are.

Author Clyde Reid once wrote, “Don’t wait, or you’ll end up waiting forever … jump into the now.” What wonderful words for us to hear and act on today. With God’s help you and I CAN change. We can take the leap of faith my new friend took three weeks ago when he came into a relationship with God.

In 1958 C.S. Lewis lost his wife Joy to cancer and during the next months he reflected and wrote on his feelings in a little book entitled A Grief Observed. C.S. Lewis wrote, “Joy’s absence is like the sky, spread over everything.”

Each in our own way we can connect with Lewis’ words … and that the pain of losing someone we loved to death feels “like the sky, spread over everything" as the pain and grief we feel seems overwhelming, and/or numbing.

But in the days following the death of someone we love, and as we invite God to be our comforter and our counselor, a remarkable thing can begin to happen – and we’ll notice that for short periods the hurt will not be so great. And this will be the beginning of our healing. And so I encourage each of us in two directions …

FIRST don’t deny the pain we feel when someone we loves dies.

SECOND, don’t reject the healing God wants to
bring to us in the days and weeks after the death of someone we love.

PSALM 23 (KING JAMES VERSION)

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

God is good. God can be trusted. God loves us. Small steps. Big God. Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg