Enjoying the Carnival

This is just another video of Lauren’s fun-filled ride on the trucks.  She had a ball.

Cheerleaders in our midst

I took my three daughters to a football game on Friday night.  It turned out to be a great game, lots of suspense and a surprise ending.  I was disappointed with the outcome, because I know most of the players on the team.  In fact, I was shocked knowing how much talent they had and still lost.  But anyway, this video is from my girls.  They are very competitive themselves, but when it comes to watching others compete, they are much more egalitarian.  They didn’t like the idea that we had to choose one team to root for.  In protest, Erica made up her own cheer.  The video comes in after she had been doing this a lot for much of the 3rd Quarter of the game.  When I finally get my camera phone on her, she knows she’s being filmed.  So does Lauren and Sam.  But I think you can get the idea.  She says:  Go Teams Go!

Sermon Afterthoughts

I am my own worst critic, so I often spend a lot of time second guessing my presentation and content.  So I thought I might share a little bit of my afterthoughts here.

I preached last night, at authentic, on not loving the world.  I used the illustration of the Prodigal son, and a text from 1 John 2:15-17.  I may not have been as clear as I wanted to be about what I was saying.  So, let me try again.

Love of the world, is something we all struggle with.  It can be terrible life-ruining trap in which we end up literally feeding with the pigs, oro it can be that our life goals are so messed up that we don’t fufill the purpose for which God has made us or intended.  In the case of the prodigal, his life is a mess.  Often times, the other, is more difficult to notice.  How can you tell when you have fallen in love with the World, when you life is not as bad as the prodigal’s? 

John Piper recounts the story of a couple who retire early in their fifties and spend their time playing softball, cruising the bay in a 30′ trawler, and collecting shells.  I can tell you unequivocally that this is not what God has intended for his creatures.  From the very beginning we were charged with caring for our environment, stewarding our resources, and creating just like our creative God.  There is nothing about this story that reflects our creator God.  Our very purpose on this earth is to glorify, that is to make much of, God.  Not to make him much, but to make much of him.  To show hom for who he really is.  That is why sin, which means to miss the mark, is so sad.  We really cast a poor light on our creator when we fail to live up to his Holiness. 

However, we can glorify God through our weaknesses by pointing to the cross.  If not for the cross of Christ, it would be impossible for us to glorify God.  Nothing we do would have accurately reflected Him.  But with Christ, now all things are possible, including glorifying God.  We can now reflect him in what we do, glorify him through what he has done for us, and what he has given us.

In the case of the prodigal, the father was completely forgiving of his son.  The father is glorified, that is made to look good, by the acceptance and love he shows his son.  We need to tell more people that story. 

The true inspiration for this message came listening to another sermon the radio.  It was the idea of condemnation verses conviction.  Someone said to me after my authentic message last spring, that they were tired of the cendemning message of the church.  As a result, they were on a journey to find something more open minded.  Open minded to me, is a code word for empty-headed.  Our minds should be filled with Christ.  There is nothing open about that.  It is finished, were the famous words on the cross.  The case is closed.  What case?  What is finished?

The very condemnation this person hated in the church (and I don’t doubt she felt it from churches who do not preach Christ), is the very thing Jesus closed the subject on.  There could be no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).  Jesus came to forgive all your sins, past, present and future.  God loves you so much, he sacrificed His only son, so you would no longer feel condemned.  So what is it you feel when you are sitting in church and the preacher tells you, “Do not love the world, crave sinful desires, lust with your eyes, and boast about what you have and do”.  This is not condemnation.  This is conviction.  It can feel condemning, if you allow yourself to be told, by others, or by yourself, that you can’t or won’t measure up.  Satan plays these games.  But conviction is different because it breeds dependence.

Dependence means you trust God.  The Holy Spirit is your comforter and guide.  But he is also your convicting conscience.  he tells you areas where God would like to shape you into something more like himself.  That is for the Glory of God and to bring you more joy in life and greater freedom.  Conviction leads to repentence and dependence on God.  So next time you feel condemned from the pulpit, check to see if this is an area of your life God could be bringing about growth.  Reject the idea of your condemnation, that can only come from the evil one.  Instead turn to God and pray.

That is all I can think of right now.  More later perhaps.