I couldn't help but think that when I started this blog it was during a time when I had a bit of hope that my baseball team would perhaps compete this year. Now that it is October and my baseball season ended long before most fans end theirs I probably should be writing about suffering - which is the theme for this Sunday.
As you know we have been examining "Gospel Movement." Jesus is on the move and amazingly the movement is continuing. We should be people filled with thanksgiving and praise because this movement of Jesus has made its way to us. Spiritual darkness is vanquished and the Light of the glorious gospel is available to all who will believe.
As the Apostles preach this message they are initially well spoken of (that should sound familiar because the same was true of Jesus in Lk. 4). But once the religious establishment gets wind of the movement, they step in and start to bring pressure. The pressure ends up in threats and accusations because they recognize these uneducated men as "having been with Jesus." By the way, no more impressive accusation could be launched against a Christ-follower than for someone to have accused them of being with Jesus.
The response of the church in Acts 4 is what we should hope for as we suffer for the cause of the gospel:
* the church prays and rejoices
* the Spirit ignites them again with power
* the word of God goes out with authority
As we will learn this Sunday - suffering is not just physical. It is much deeper and more pervasive in our culture than at first glance. But the question we struggle with is this: "How do we respond to suffering?" Will the suffering we encounter lead us to greater power or cause us to shrink back?
I would encourage you to read Acts 3-4 and familiarize yourself with the story so you too can rejoice to see a mighty and powerful God at work in gospel movement.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
The Gospel and the North County
After a long absence from writing my wife reminded me of how important it is to keep commitments - so I will try to improve on consistency and content.
In case you haven't noticed I have been trying to establish this line of thought in the Sunday A.M. sermons - "Jesus is on the Move." This movement is best seen in the book Acts as Luke records the actions of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the appointed servants.
This Sunday we are going to examine the action of the Spirit through the means of preaching the gospel. The question simply stated is this: Is the gospel still able to break through the spiritual darkness of our age? We know that the Apostles took as their primary mission the speaking of that gospel (Jesus died, Jesus rose - repent and believe Him as Lord). We also know that through the witness of these apostles that the greco-roman culture was broken open and changed. The change was so dramatic that is caused pagan population rioted as the apostles brought the gospel to bear on the culture. Systemic change - not superficial change - resulted and hope came like a warm breeze in Spring. There is no way for us to truly measure the impact of the gospel on the first century culture except to say that history records for us that the transformation was experienced on every level of society.
So where does that leave us in the present age? Is the spiritual darkness deeper and stronger today than it was 2000 years ago? Is the gospel spoken to non-Christ followers still the means through which the powers of darkness will be crushed? The great challenge we face is not if the gospel is powerful enough but whether we believe the gospel is powerful enough.
The north country is as dark of a place as the pagan culture in Ephesus, Colosse or Philippi. We have major crime, family breakdown, addictions, materialism, greed, sexual sins, etc, etc, etc. We also have the most powerful weapon to break through the darkness - the Spirit of power working through the people of Jesus as they declare the saving actions of almighty God.
I encourage you to pray for me as I preach this Sunday that I would communicate God's grace to people attending who may not even be Christians. So the Spirit is needed in our church to break through darkness. Pray also that we as a Church will believe that the gospel is enough and that as we give obedience to living it the Spirit will bring about transformation in our area just as He did 2000 years ago.
In case you haven't noticed I have been trying to establish this line of thought in the Sunday A.M. sermons - "Jesus is on the Move." This movement is best seen in the book Acts as Luke records the actions of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the appointed servants.
This Sunday we are going to examine the action of the Spirit through the means of preaching the gospel. The question simply stated is this: Is the gospel still able to break through the spiritual darkness of our age? We know that the Apostles took as their primary mission the speaking of that gospel (Jesus died, Jesus rose - repent and believe Him as Lord). We also know that through the witness of these apostles that the greco-roman culture was broken open and changed. The change was so dramatic that is caused pagan population rioted as the apostles brought the gospel to bear on the culture. Systemic change - not superficial change - resulted and hope came like a warm breeze in Spring. There is no way for us to truly measure the impact of the gospel on the first century culture except to say that history records for us that the transformation was experienced on every level of society.
So where does that leave us in the present age? Is the spiritual darkness deeper and stronger today than it was 2000 years ago? Is the gospel spoken to non-Christ followers still the means through which the powers of darkness will be crushed? The great challenge we face is not if the gospel is powerful enough but whether we believe the gospel is powerful enough.
The north country is as dark of a place as the pagan culture in Ephesus, Colosse or Philippi. We have major crime, family breakdown, addictions, materialism, greed, sexual sins, etc, etc, etc. We also have the most powerful weapon to break through the darkness - the Spirit of power working through the people of Jesus as they declare the saving actions of almighty God.
I encourage you to pray for me as I preach this Sunday that I would communicate God's grace to people attending who may not even be Christians. So the Spirit is needed in our church to break through darkness. Pray also that we as a Church will believe that the gospel is enough and that as we give obedience to living it the Spirit will bring about transformation in our area just as He did 2000 years ago.
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