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.







 

The Gospel and Rejection

What is the deepest rejection you have ever felt? The emotional issues surrounding rejection are significant to our overall emotional spiritual health and are actually at the core of what it means to be a Christian.


John 1:11-12 makes it clear that Jesus came to his own - that is, His own people. The ultimate response was rejection. They made it clear that He was not wanted. In fact, they traded Him in for a common criminal.

As I ponder the depth of rejection in the life of Jesus I am reminded that my only hope for enduring rejection is to throw myself upon the rejected Jesus. He bore our rejection through His own life, death and victorious resurrection.

A life redeemed and gospelized will accept rejection as part of the story, but will never lose hope because through Jesus we are accepted by the One who matters - Holy God.  I am His child, adopted into Him and never again subjected to being an outcast.

Rejoice and pray for rejects to come and embrace Jesus!

The Gospel, Shame and Freedom

Whatever happens tomorrow morning is ultimately up to God - but if I could do one thing it would be to make one truth absolutely clear - the gospel leads us to shame while at the same time it leads us to freedom.

For a number of years I have pondered the impact of Adam's sin in the garden. There was a time when I narrowly applied sin as only "separation from God" - in reality sin separates us from everyone and everything. The death is not just physical but emotional, psychological and relational.  Sin is the root cause of all our distorted thinking, acting and leads us to despair. The gospel is the power of God to break through the despair and bring life. A life which is completely unified. We are finally freed to be all that God intends us to be which is the essence of our unity with Him, with ourselves and with one another.

When I first hear this good news it doesn't sound all that good. My sin has fooled me into thinking that I could actually be god. That I could rule myself and the world. The gospel tells me something different. It tells me I am a fraud. A phony. A liar and thief. Broken I receive the truth that unless I receive Jesus I will continue to live in disunity.

The hope of the gospel is that when I come broken and helpless before the Maker I can receive His life. He not only receives me with gladness but repairs me  - He puts me back together again. This is the glorious gospel of freedom and is the only hope for my shame to be eradicated. 

Tomorrow I preach with eager anticipation because the power of the gospel changes everything and I can't think of any better messages to give to broken humans.

Notes along the way

Diving into a clear cold pool of water is something like coming to terms with your emotional health. At first the water feels so cold and it is even difficult to breathe - but - it doesn't take long to "get use to the water". 

Not too long ago I decided to jump in a pool of very cold water. The journey began with an examination of my own life and the basic dissatisfaction I felt internally. From there I took some action steps as I visited a spiritual healer at the "Spiritual Life Center" in Easton. I kept walking painfully toward health as I read through two books on emotionally healthy spirituality. One book dealt directly with some deficiencies in my own understanding of what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus and the other helped me to process what a emotionally  healthy church would look like.

Along the way I saw my discipleship change from feeling like I had to constantly prove myself to God in order to earn His love or keep His love and I began to embrace the freedom of the gospel of grace. It was painful and at times like that cold pool of water - but I also have learned that discipleship as a process is not painless.

My hope in teaching a series on the gospel and our emotions is simple and straight forward - I want people to consider taking some action steps with their emotional health so that they have the kind of discipleship Jesus intended. Just as we hold on tight to reconciliation and redemption in Jesus, we should also embrace restoration as a critical part of our reconciliation and redemption in Jesus. 

Emotional Health

The gospel brings complete restoration to God's creation. The restoration will include full emotional healing - we will no longer be separated from ourselves or other people due to emotional detachment. In the eternal fellowship we will be free in our ability to deeply enjoy God and all of His creation. This is a clear objective of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately the current situation is clear - many people are detached in their emotions so they lack feeling. To put it bluntly - they are unable to feel or sustain feelings. This puts a tremendous amount of pressure on marriages, families and other relationships. E.D. (emotional detachment) is a condition that came as a result of the fall of man in the garden and continues even to this day.  It doesn't just plague men, although men seem to be the most susceptible. This detachment from feeling has infected both children and women and does not discern between ethnicity, education  or economics.

One of the best ways to get a handle on ones own emotions is through reading, meditating and focusing on the Psalms. I have learned over the years that the song book of the Bible hides very little in the area of human experience. It will talk about  emotions with brutal honesty but also with glorious hope. The Scripture pulls no punches because God intends to demonstrate His love toward us - His love will bring about healing for those stressed out emotions.

I hope to hear from some of you - it is an encouragement to see you respond to one another. May God be praised in the summer months ahead. - P. Ken

No Barriers Ministry

In Acts 18:5-8 we see Paul devoting himself completely to the task of testifying that Jesus was the Christ. This leads to his ex-communciation from the synagogue but opens a door for further ministry. What happens next is startling - the leader of the synagogue believes Jesus and receives public baptism. To put this in the modern context imagine that a former muslim is going into a mosque and preaching Jesus as the only true God. He is thrown out of the mosque but is invited to preach in a building that adjoins the mosque. As he begins to preach the first convert is the leader of the mosque. In modern terms this is what happened to Paul in Corinth.


Question: Why do we underestimate God's ability to fulfill Psalm 68:1? Why are we so quick to assume that just because we get pushed back a bit we must tuck tail and run? Why not go next door instead and let God do His thing?

Would you pray for God to give all who call on His name the courage to be winsome, passionate and contagious in our faith so that people who oppose us may come to believe in Jesus? Perhaps Hebrews 13:5-6 may encourage you to see what could be instead of only what is. To believe that there are no barriers too great to overcome.  To live as Paul lived and wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:10-12 

"What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best!"(The Message)

The Gospel Changes Things.. doesn't it?

I have been impressed with the book "Total Church" (Tim Chester and Steve Timmis).  A line of thought is developed in the book that caught my attention recently because it presents a great opportunity to discuss the gospel as that which transforms us, not just informs us.

The line of thought starts with the challenge to see the church as an identity instead of a responsibility. They go on to press the issue with the observation that theology must not only reflect on action; it must also lead to action. The result of theology should be mission. 

Perhaps you have some insights on moving from "responsibility" to "identity" as you are led to "action" because you have taken time to reflect on the "theological implications" of the living Word of God.  You should know that this is exactly what happened to me as I studied the book of Acts.

I love the old pic of D-twn. Yet I love so much more the way God is continually helping us to be more for His glory as we make His kingdom visible.