8/31/05: Peace and Safety

When I was a kid, I really wanted a pet bird. When I got my parakeet, it was newly hatched. It was scared to death of me and all other people. So, it would tuck its head under its wing to make us go away.

We human beings are experts at being bird brains. We have a remarkable capacity for self-delusion. Somehow, we generally tend to think nothing can happen to us.

Every now and then, we get shaken up by reality. 9/11, a hurricane, a car wreck. As we get older we learn by experience that we're not immune to mishaps...but somehow, we still keep the bird-brained mentality. Few of us really expect our world to get turned upside down...its almost always a major shock.

So what then? Should we walk around with a negative, fearful attitude, always worrying about worse-case scenarios? Should we take extraordinary measures like stocking up 3 years of canned goods and water in our newly built nuclear fallout shelter?

Not! In fact, all that leads to is further bird brain thinking. The guy with food and water stocked up for Y2k sits back smugly confident that he's secure; unaware of the cancer that's growing in his pancreas.

There's no way we can prepare for each individual disaster, and worrying about them won't keep them from coming. Instead, we need a blanket insurance policy that will cover any disaster when it strikes.

Not a term or whole life, or Anthem or Geico kind of insurance.

The kind that only comes from being absolutely certain that you're on excellent terms with the Creator and King of the Universe.

See, Social Security, FEMA, the U.N., or the American Red Cross are unable to give peace and safety to someone who isn't thinking like my bird. They know that only God can provide lasting peace and safety, regardless the catastrophe.

~Pastor Brian

8/22/05: Patience - Is The Key

Patience - Is the key to everything.

Almost every sin occurs because Satan gets us to exhaust our patience.

And every time patience is exhausted we sin.

We give up, we give in, we give away. "I'm tired of waiting"...always is followed by some ridiculously impetuous action.

Patience goes hand in glove with another "p" word...perseverance. Patience implies waiting to go; while perseverance requires waiting to stop.

It is the patient/perseverant who get prayers answered; who change societies; who fulfill their dreams.

Even Satan knows that patience is key to victory...and if he's nothing else, he is patient, and he does persevere.

So, patience alone doesn't make you godly. But all the godly are patient.

And the impatient?
They're even worse off than the devil himself.

How's your patience/perseverance quotient?

~Pastor Brian

8/19/05: To all my blogreaders:Sorry there haven't been any updates in a while. I was on vacation and then I was sick with strep! Finally feel better, except the throat still is sore at times. At least my fever is gone and my energy is back.

8/19/05: Retirement - A Magical Oasis?

Today I want to talk to you about retirement. Retirement is that magical oasis that it seems everyone who has gotten to the point in life that they have to start working look forward to. Its supposed to be that utopia that waits at the end of life's road, where, hopefully with enough money, a paid-for house, and kids all raised and finished with college, one can sit back and enjoy life. Relax. Goof off. Have fun. Debts to God and country paid off, they can keep the remaining years for themselves.

People talk a lot to me about retirement. Some promise me that that is when they'll finally have some time to devote to God. Right now, they're too busy for church attendance, but once they retire, they say, I'll never see a more faithful Christian.

I have caught myself lately thinking the exact opposite. You see, even 35 year olds look forward to retirement. And especially some preachers, like myself. It seems, in some ways that in the ministry we're at the forefront of the spiritual battle: and I can't help but think, when I retire, no more counseling fighting couples; no more dealing with personality conflicts; no more standing against sin; no more having to be tough and loving with people at the same time.

In my minds eye I see the ultimate joy of retirement. Being able to slink into a church at 5 till the hour, enjoy the service, and slip out with no worries or problems.

But the Lord has been showing me lately how wrong my view--in fact, most views--of retirement are.

First, my fallacy. This is a war we are in...a spiritual battle against forces of darkness. There is no discharge from this war. There is no time Satan says, "Well, you've fought enough. I won't mess with you or yours anymore." Au Contraire: he never quits, and neither can I. I may not always be called to be a Pastor of a church, but I will always be called to be involved. To be in the fight. Moses, Aaron, Elijah, Peter, John...no one in scripture ever got a retirement from God's service. Ever. Their roles might have changed, but their service, their battle lasted until death. No one in scripture ever slinks off to a tropical beach to fritter away his remaining days in peace.

Next, others fallacy. If you don't serve God now, you won't when you retire. Its just not gonna happen. Your habit patterns, and your selfishness, will be too great to break.

You see, the recent American idea of retirement is wrong-headed. Yes, we should save for it. Yes, the day will come when we need not go to a job anymore. But retire to inactivity, to pleasure? The Bible says, speaking of retired widows, "she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives." Instead, it says a widow should, "continue in supplications and prayers night and day (1 Ti.5:5,6)." In other words, her spiritual warfare is not finished. She's still in the fight, she's still in the battle. She still has work to do for God and others.

You see, for some of us, "retirement" has taken the place of heaven. That only is our hope, our rest. We must work for God, committed, hard, sometimes unpleasant work, until Jesus comes, or until we go to Him.

I've changed my focus concerning retirement. I hope you reconsider your view of it as well.

~Pastor Brian

8/2/05: Satan's Deception

One thing I tried to get my kids to understand when I taught history class was that almost no one in history sets out to be evil, just for the sake of being evil. Almost everyone has "good" goals, but the means they use to reach those ends are what made them the monsters they became.

For example, Joseph Stalin's goal was to end poverty, bring equality to his people, and help spread economic security across the globe so that all could enjoy it. To accomplish this, he murdered farmers, stole their land, ruthlessly oppressed other countries, and died with the blood of millions who dared oppose him on his hands.

Adolph Hitler set out to help his countrymen believe in themselves again, to be financially self-sufficient, to cure the world of sickness and disease, and to make the common man educated and cultured. Is there anything wrong with these goals? Of course not. A couple of Hitler's methods were beneficial, like inventing the Volkswagon (the people's car) and designing the Autobahn (the first interstate highway system). But all of his other deeds were horrible...doing scientific experiments on Jews that he considered non-persons; murdering people who were ill or retarded or those from what he considered "inferior" races; aggressively attacking other nations; bringing his own people under total subjection.

Another example comes from last week. Bill First, a medical doctor and the leader of the Republicans in the Senate, turned from his previous pro-life beliefs to openly support killing unborn children in the name of medical research (scientifically known as embryonic stem cell research). Before, he had been opposed to this procedure. But last week, he said the "promise of this research is too great" to ignore. If he has his way, our tax dollars will pay for these murders today, just because of the promise of something better for tomorrow.

That, you see, is always the crux of Satan's deception: do wrong now, to bring something better later.

That siren call has lead to divorces, thefts, dissembling, even murder.

What evil deed now are you doing, in the rationalization that someday you'll make it right or it will help you do something good? "I'll steal now, but I'll pay it back later, and then I'll give the money I make to charity..." and the like.

The future is, at best, a myth. The futures that Hitler and Stalin dreamed of never came to be. Instead, they sacrificed their present virtue on the altar of the future, only to lose all and gain nothing. Senator First betrayed his core beliefs out of confidence in a future hope that will never be realized. What core beliefs are you betraying, what moral-suicides are you perpetrating on yourself, what areas of conscience or of scripture are you violating today because Satan has promised you it will all work out for good in the future? "Eat of the forbidden fruit today," he coos, "and you will be wise like God, and will not die." And the world is plunged into darkness.

The truth: the present is the only sure reality. Only by doing what is right today, can you hope for a right tomorrow.

Don't be a Stalin, a Hitler, or a First.

~Pastor Brian

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