9/30/05: Knowledge = Power = Victory

Green shirts, blue shirts, red shirts everywhere...our halls at church are really colorful on Sunday nights now that AWANA has begun.
AWANA is just one way we here are training kids and grown-ups to be better Christians.

Really, when you think about it, that's all our job here really is.

If you were lost in a time warp, and found yourself back in 1750, could you build a radio, construct a light bulb, make a car, or even explain how an air conditioner works? If you're like me, all you'd be able to do is talk about all these neat inventions, but you'd have no clue how to make them work.

It can't be that way with our faith! It's the job of every one of us to share our faith, and to put it to work in our lives. On the topic of Faith, none of us can afford to be amateurs. We learn from the Bible, from others, from church attendance, from plain study, from putting things into practice, and from walking daily with God.

There's no limit to what you can know when you determine to become intimate with your faith...and, just like the Manhattan project at the end of WWII taught us, knowledge = power, and power = victory.
So, be victorious, be effective for God...do it by patient and persistent, commitment that you are going to know...and obey, your faith.

~Pastor Brian

9/20/05: IMAGINE

Picture this...

Gleaming in the afternoon sun, the golden temple shines almost as bright.

It's high enough to be a sun itself, up on that mountain that now towers above any other on earth. From its threshold, sparkling water flows out in a silver stream, sparkling with brilliant pinpricks of reflected sunlight. Although it flows down the eastern face of the mountain, you know that another stream of exactly the same size flows down the other side that you cannot see.

Everything on the mountain has returned to life. Trees, flowering plants, green grass, making the mountain a virtual restoration of Eden. As the stream flows into the plain, life has already begun to return along its formerly desolate banks with great vigor. Animals, too, are returning.

The sun sinks lower. You and all your companions are resting outside the newly restored city, at the foot of the mountain, waiting in tents that are scattered on the eastern side like a patchwork quilt amongst the green grass. Anticipation is building. Everyone keeps glancing toward the westering sun, slipping now behind the mountain city.

At dusk, the moment you have waited for arrives. From heaven, He comes. His glory even more resplendent than before. He comes, and they come. The saints from every age. Clad in spotless white. Under the pink and red dusk of twilight they land in the green field. You leave your tent, as does everyone else, and approach. You've attended weddings before, dozens of them, before the world was changed. You see some similarities, but this wedding is unlike any ever done...or rather, it is the fulfillment of which all the others were only the shadow. A tiny pang of envy, perhaps, as you look at the Bride of Christ. How privileged to be one of them. But envy does not cloud your joy. The marriage of the Lamb had come! And you are invited to attend! The wedding finishes as the stars flower in the sky. But the celebration continues through the night.

As dawn approaches, the King and His bride approach the eastern gate of the city. You follow, with everyone else, in anticipation. Just as the sun rises, the gate opens; an angel shouts, "Will ye have this Man reign over you?" And, with everyone else, and a joy that surpasses all joy, you shout, "We will; blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the Highest." You wave your palm branch, just as they did when he entered the city thousands of years before. But that time, He entered to die. Now, the King and His Queen enter the City, and proceed to the temple. The sun is shining directly on the temple's eastern face with all its might. The gold of the temple is so smooth it mirrors the light onto you as you watch. You glance down. Bathed in that amber glow, even your clothes seem golden. You look back up, and there He is stands Crowned. The diadem dazzles in its glory. It seems to have found its perfect place on His brow.

You look back from your place in the mountain city to the distant horizon. All that you see is His domain. Finally, the One who is worthy has laid claim to the earth. Finally, He has married His church and they with Him will reign. Finally, the evil one is bound. Finally, the birds who had eaten the flesh of His enemies have stopped their raucous chatter and flown on.

Finally, utopia has come. The earth is His who made it. Joy to the World, the Lord is Come...let earth receive Her King...He comes to make His blessing flow, far as the curse is found...He rules the World with truth and grace, and from this day forward will make all the nations see...the glories of His righteousness, and the Wonders of His love.

~Pastor Brian

9/15/05: Cleaning Up after Katrina

Wow, what a mess!
Debris, slime, mud, mold...people who have lived through floods find that after the flood has gone, the work is only just beginning. Sometimes, when we first become followers of Christ, we expect an instant cleanup in our life. We soon discover that becoming a true Christian whose character is like Christ's is a long process, even after the flood waters of our slavery to sin are receded.

Like any daunting cleanup, the folks down south will be most successful if they concentrate on one thing at a time.

My grandma used to clean her whole house at once every spring. We'd visit her, and the whole house would be in complete disarray...everything out of order, stuff strewed out, while she'd dust here, vacuum there, clean a window here...as a result, it would nearly be fall before she'd get done with that mess (thankfully, she's not computer literate, so I can safely tell this online!)

The Lord isn't like my grandma. He usually points out one thing at a time that we need to start doing...or stop doing. A good thing, too. When I see a huge mess, my first thought is to just walk away in discouragement! Our problem though, is sometimes we get stuck on a step of the cleanup; and everything grinds to a halt.

I have some friends who have been building a house for years...they'd done pretty well, but got stuck on the step of putting up baseboards. And their construction ground to a halt. They've never finished the other final touches, because they've never gotten around to putting up their baseboards! The funny thing is, they don't even see their unfinished house any more. When I go there, I see what still needs to be done (it's so obvious) but it has become invisible to them!!!

The same thing happens when we get stuck on an area of obedience to God. It might be baptism, cleaning up our viewing habits, cutting out the gossip, becoming more involved at church, or starting to share our faith...wherever we stop letting Him change us, we get stuck. We don't advance any further...in fact, over time we might even start sliding back over ground we've already covered. We, after a while, become blind to our disobedience. Others see it, but we don't. And we get comfortable living in a half-clean house.

New Orleans will return to normalcy...if the people persist in dealing with one problem at a time. So will we, if we don't get discouraged by the whole mess, and start doing that one thing God has put front and center for us right now.

~Pastor Brian

9/7/05: IS KATRINA GOD'S FAULT?

According to reports, Jesse Jackson, Jr., in the aftermath of Katrina said something to this effect:

After 9/11, President Bush said that those who caused that disaster would be made to answer for it; so, Mr. President, my question is, are you going to make God answer for this disaster He caused?

I'm not sure what point Mr. Jackson was trying to make; however, I know that in the point He did make He is completely wrong.

1) God did not cause Katrina.
2) God will make those who did cause Katrina answer for what they did.

Now, wait a minute. I'm not about to launch off into some conspiracy theory. I'm not about to suggest that some scientists or terrorists or industrialists got together, pooled their knowledge and resources, and created a hurricane.

Instead, I know exactly who caused Katrina.

I did.

No, I'm not an ego-maniac. But I can pick up a Bible and read it. Despite what evolutionists (and even some unbiblical Christians) say, hurricanes have not always existed. Nor have floods, disease, suffering, or death. This universe was so well built originally that Almighty God could look at it and truthfully declare it all to be very good. He didn't say that there were some bad things in it that did a little good; but rather that there were no bad things in it at all...it was ALL very good.

No hurricanes; no cancer; no bloodshed.

What happened?

We happened.

Adam and Eve. Given it all as their dominion. Given one command: Don't eat from this one tree. They did. They sinned. Every human who descended from them has sinned as well. You have sinned. I have sinned.

And a holy, just God justly punished us by cursing our sin-contaminated world.

Death. Bloodshed. Storms. Cancer.

Finally, out of mercy, God made Jesus Christ answer for all of this on the cross. If we believe in Him, His answer counts for ours. If we don't believe in Him, He will make us answer for ourselves: for our sin that brought about death, catastrophes, even Katrina.

Mr. Jackson, I admit my responsibility. Have you admitted yours?

~Pastor Brian

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