Do you really want to be blessed?

How do you feel about blessings?

Personally, I like them. At least I think I do. Blessings can come in the form of a tax refund check, a raise, a healthy baby, a home to live in, or lower gas prices. So essentially we view blessings primarily as something that makes our lives easier…right? So is it possible that a blessing may require more of you? Let me direct you to an incident that took place in the early part of Jesus’ ministry. He has yet to officially fill his disciple roster, but that is about to change as he walks the beach near Capernaum. Read the event that takes place for your self.

“When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.” ~ Luke 5:4-11

The point of focus in these verses is that Peter is a professional fisherman—the dude had seen it all. Then Jesus shows up and, after an unproductive night of catching nothing, asks Peter to go out again. Peter I’m sure doubts the fishing expertise of this landlubber, but obeys none-the-less, only to be amazed by the catch of his life…maybe even the catch of the century. It is such an amazing catch that it requires extra boats that end up being so full they are all on the verge of sinking. Peter is not only amazed, but is convicted as well. He realizes that he is in the presence of someone who possesses the power of God, someone who might even possibly be God. When invited to join Jesus as a disciple, Peter doesn’t even hesitate. He simply walks away from his lottery earnings to follow Jesus.

Now the point I want to direct your attention is this: Did Peter receive a blessing from God? That blessing of fish was unforeseen, unbelievable, and once in a lifetime, it was literally off the charts. But what did that blessing cost Peter and his employees? I’m sure that there were some rope burns, cuts, scrapes, pulled muscles, torn nets and damaged boats. Not to mention a whole lot of work cleaning fish, but isn’t that what they wanted? Wasn't that a fisherman's greatest dream? Yet it was a blessing that came with a price.

The same thing can be said for anyone who has had a baby. A baby is considered a blessing, a gift from God. But those blessings demand a lot from their parents don’t they? Late night feedings, dirty diapers, uncontrollable crying, did I mention late night feedings? Blessings require something of us don’t they? I know what some of you might be thinking: “Maybe I don’t want to be blessed.”

Now the reason I bring all of this up is because God is clearly blessing our church family. We have an incredible renovation-taking place to our building. We have new faces visit each week and a lot of them are sticking around, even choosing to be a part of our family. People are making decisions to enter into a covenant relationship with Jesus. The list could go on, but I think you get the picture—God is blessing our church. But each of these blessings requires something of you. We have a building that needs work done on it to complete its makeover. We will need continued muscle to keep it sharp and ready for action. We have more adults and kids to minister to. All of these things will require our time, energy, and love. Oh, and along the way we will have bumps, bruises, scraps, hurt feelings, spills to clean, and things to fix. But isn’t that what ministry is all about? Isn’t that what we have been praying for? Isn’t that what our purpose is?

So here is a practical plan of action. When you get down on your knees to clean up the carpet, thank God that He has blessed our church with people to get it dirty. When the preacher’s kids dart in front of you (let me know, they’re not supposed to be doing that), thank God that we have kids in our building to dart. When you see a glaring need in our ministry lineup, thank God that He has given you the ability to fill that need. I’m sure that you get the picture. So join me in digging down a little deeper with time, energy, patience and love. Oh yeah, don’t forget to thank God for His blessings! God is good, all the time!

When We Need To Know, "Why?"

This post is a summary of the sermon I preached on March 30^th regarding the recent murder/suicide tragedy that took place in Iowa City. A man beat his wife and four kids to death in their home before killing himself on I-80 by ramming his car into a concrete barrier. The Iowa City community was left with many questions in trying to deal with the horrific outcomes of a "good family." I decided to preach a sermon dealing with the two most common questions our community had regarding the tragedy and what God's Word had to say. So here are the main points and the Scriptures that go with them.

Question 1 – “Why did this murder/suicide happen?”

One word: sin. We live in a world system that from the time of Adam and Eve has been dominated by sin—the choosing to operate in opposition to God’s law and purpose. The result was and has been evil, selfishness, pain and suffering and the apostle John was right in describing the condition as darkness. The apostle Paul agrees about the state of our world by saying:

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” ~ Ephesians 5:15,16

This condition is not limited to a select group of people or places; instead it is inclusive and complete. Sin and evil are equal opportunity employers. The Bible makes it crystal clear, in both testaments, sin is a curse for all people of all times (Isaiah 53:6; Psalm 130:3; Romans 3:23; Galatians 3:22). The only way to break free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2) is to change the way you live, believe in Jesus Christ, and enter into a covenant relationship with him through baptism. When this takes place, our sins are forgiven and God puts his Holy Spirit within us to restore and redeem our lives. Many of you who are reading this, live as testimonies of the power of God in this dark world. There is but one hope for this world and that is the one true light…Jesus Christ.

Now what I have just told you flies in the face of today’s secular humanism that teaches this truth: the world and humanity is good. Secular humanism’s solutions to the problems of the world are education and talking. How many times in your life have you heard the phrase, “If we could just sit down and talk we could work things out.” Listen, there is but one hope for this world and it starts with Jesus Christ. The problem is that we have bought into the idea that we can manage, control, or hide our sins—even those of us who are Christians. We forget the power of sin. Sin is never personal, sin is not just our own. When you sin, it affects your spouse, kids, family, and co-workers. To get a good example of this read about David’s affair with Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11 & 12. The more David tried to manage and hide his sin the more people it affected.

What this all means is that as long as there is sin in the world, even hidden and managed sin, people are going to be hurt. Sometimes even innocent family members, friends, or just plain bystanders. Our job as believers in Jesus is to help people find the answer for the sin in their lives. Our job is to point them to Jesus so that the light of the world may shine his light into the dark places of people’s lives.

Question 2 – “Where was your god on Monday morning?”

This was an actual question from our community that showed up on the IC Press Citizen comment board. As you can tell, it was written in a condescending fashion, but it is a legitimate question none-the-less.

Well, to answer the question, “Where was your god on Monday morning?” I would have to say without a doubt that God was there. He was in the room, totally aware of every little detail that took place. I know this because Jesus said nothing happens on earth that God doesn’t know about. He even knows the number of the hairs on your head (Luke 12:6,7).

So why didn’t our good and loving Heavenly Father do anything? Think of it this way. What if God was superman and every time there was an atrocity against an innocent person he flew in and rescued them and punished the perpetrator? That means every single one of us would stand guilty of harming an innocent person. We all have lied, stolen, gossiped, slandered an innocent person and sometimes even worse. Not one person would escape the punishment. So God waits and watches.

What is God waiting for? He is waiting for his followers, the ones that he put his Holy Spirit in to make a difference. You see, it’s not that God isn’t engaged in what is happening in this world; He’s very much engaged. It’s just that he is working through his people. Why do you think the church is referred to as “the body of Christ?” We are his hands and feet here in this world, and so our love, ministry, compassion, service, and prayers make a huge difference.

What this means is that everyday you lock eyes with a broken, hurting, confused person who is in need of Christ’s love. The people living in the beautiful homes in your neighborhood--they may be hurting. The person with the nice SUV full kids may be extremely broken. The person in the cubicle next to yours may be at the end of their rope. You have been commissioned by Christ to communicate the Good News in whatever way possible, to who ever you connect with. Your Spirit filled life makes a difference in this world!

Maybe our failure to “see” has kept us from realizing the impact of Christ in this dark world. What if God removed his presence from this world? What if he removed his Word, his people, and his Spirit? Then the murder/suicide tragedy our community experienced wouldn’t be a once every twenty year event, instead it would be a daily experience. Maybe since these kinds of tragedies don’t happen everyday is proof that God is working in this world and that his people are making a difference—just something to think about.

Let me leave you with this parting thought. Horrific tragedies are going to continue to happen. Innocent people are going to continue to be hurt and taken advantage of or worse. However, don’t forget this one truth: one day Jesus is coming back. (Take a moment and read Revelation 19:11-16 to get a picture of what it will be like.) When Christ comes back every wrong and atrocity will be made right and everyone who knows Christ and has a relationship with him will be shown much mercy and grace. But to those who don’t know the King, they will receive a wrath and vengeance unlike anything known here on earth. God is watching and he knows what is taking place and one day it will be made right! So the question you need to answer is this: “Do you know Jesus?”

The Bible: Still America's Favorite Book

Here is a story that I found at USAToday that is rather interesting. It focuses on a recent poll regarding America's favorite book...The Bible.

By Brittani Hamm, Religion News Service

The Bible is the favorite book of all time for American adults, regardless of demographic group, according to a new 2008 Harris Interactive Poll.

Researchers said it's rare to find such consensus among Americans, regardless of gender, education level, geographic location, race/ethnicity or age. Yet, more than 2,500 Americans surveyed in an online poll greed that the Bible is their No. 1 favorite book.

The poll also found that political affiliation did not affect novel preference — Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike agreed on The Bible and Gone With the Wind as their top two favorite books.

According to the survey, America's favorite books are:

1. The Bible

2. Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell

3. Lord of the Rings (series), by J.R.R. Tolkien

4. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling

5. The Stand, by Stephen King

6. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown

7. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

8. Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown

9. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand

10. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

After reading the article here are a few thoughts that I had:

• Wow, The Bible is still important to people.
• Wouldn't it be great if there was a place where people could get together with a few other people and talk about the Bible over coffee or some other beverage?
• Wouldn't it be great if there were venues where large groups of people could gather to hear men and women articulate the teachings of the Bible in real and practical ways?
• Wow, The Bible is still important to people!