Covenant Renewal

This is the Vow Renewal Ceremony my parents asked me to do. they have been married for 25 years as of Nov. 2nd.

It was rough going up in the Kellar house. Despite all the difficult times we have had, this celebration tonight is a testimony of God’s faithfulness through those tough times and how it is expressed in the marriage of my mom and dad.

When I think of commitment throughout the years of a marriage, I think of a journey on an airplane. When you first get on the airplane, there are all sorts of adjustments you have to make. Sitting down, getting your bags arranged. This is the honeymoon period. Its still hot because they haven’t turned the air on yet for you to cool down.
Next you take off and things get a little more difficult, Your ears start popping and children start crying the honeymoon period has worn off because they’ve turn the air conditioner on. Once you are in the air you go through seasons of rough and calm. Maybe there’s a little turbulence and you have to put your seatbelts on because things are kind of shaky. Then you have the times of calm when the flight attendants are bring you refreshment.
Periodically on your journey to your destination you may have to stop in an airport to refuel and you find yourself beginning the journey all over again. That is what we are celebrating tonight, the completion of one leg of the journey. On that leg, there are seasons of calm and seasons of turbulence. The thing that comforts me most during times of turbulence is not knowing that I have correctly fastened my seatbelt, or that if the oxygen masks fall down from the sealing I have been instructed to put mine on myself before I put one on the child sitting next to me. Its that throughout the whole journey, there is one man in control of the plane and he is ensuring that I will arrive at my destination safely. It comforts me to know that even if things get so rough that I wish I could stop the journey there is one who has made a promise. The one who sits in the cockpit wearing the captain’s hat has entered into a covenant with us.
A covenant is defined simply as a promise. When we enter into a marriage, two covenants are made. One between and husband and wife and a second between the couple and God. We know how serious is about covenants God makes. Philippians 2:5-9 reads:

 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

Death is the extent Jesus was willing to make for us, just like the pilot who doesn’t go for his parachute at the first sign of trouble. Paul tells us in Philippians that our attitude should be the same. That we should be willing to die for the covenant we have made.
Paul also tells us in Ephesians 5:21 that we are to submit to our spouses and love them as Christ loved the church. The covenants we enter into are so important that death is the only thing that breaks them. Mom and Dad, you are starting a new leg of your journey. There may be times of refreshment and times of turbulence but you know there is one in the cockpit taking you where you need to be, keeping his promise. As you begin this new leg of the journey you have decided to renew your vows.

Dad/Mom, repeat after me:
You are mine, and I am yours, How
God brought us together, kept us together.You are God's gift to me,
my priceless treasure,
my blessing for life.
You have helped me let go of the past
and now I embrace the future.
May God bless us as we come together before family and friends
to renew our pledge of love to one another.
I come today to give you my love,
to give you my heart
and my hope for our future.
I promise to bring you joy,
to be at home with your spirit
and to love you more tomorrow than I do today.

Covenant Renewal

As Good As It Gets

Carol Connelly is a waitress. She works long hours because her son, Spencer is nine years old and has asthma. He frequently has temperatures above 100 and she has to take him to the hospital several times a week. Carol, her mom and Spencer all live in a small New York apartment where Carol sleeps on the couch and Spencer's health problems keep him confined to the house. Carol has no life outside work and her family, because she worries about Spencer all the time. Any attempt she makes to have a relationship is interfered by her constant worry about her son. It's a never-ending process of work, and rushing Spencer to the hospital where the same inexperienced doctors tell her there's nothing they can do. In the spare time she has to breathe she worries. She worries that things will never get better for her. In her pain and despair she wonders, "What if this is as good as it gets?"
***
Simon Bishop is a Painter. He spends his days coloring canvases and loving on his dog, Verdel. His dog is his life and he worries more about it than anything else. His life hits rock bottom when he is assaulted in his own house and is hospitalized. He does not have enough money to pay his medical bills. His apartment is sublet to other tenants and he loses all desire to be an artist. As he faces his seemingly hopeless future he doesn=t care about anything but his dog. Unfortunately, Verdel likes Simon's neighbor, who happens to be his worst enemy, more than him. It seems like things couldn't get any worse. As he hobbles around the room, making his way through dry paint brushes and unpainted canvases, he wishes his dog would just come sit in his lap. And when he stops thinking about how his dog doesn't like anymore he wonders to himself, "What if this is as good as it gets?"
***
Melvin Udall is a successful Romantic novelist. He is also obsessive compulsive. He spends his time ordering his day precisely around routine and exactness. He has no meaningful relationships, except for the one with his computer and the lives he makes up in his books. The only love he knows is the one he tries to ignorantly publish. His rudeness pushes people away. He can't seem to open his mouth without saying something obnoxious. His fear of germs and his attention to habits cause him to be a social misfit. He wants change so bad he worries about it constantly. He can't seem to get his life together the way he wants it. In a waiting room at his psychiatrist he thinks out loud asking himself and the other patients, "What if this is as good as it gets?"
***
Carol, Simon and Melvin all find themselves in a similar situation. They all are at a stage in their lives when nothing seems to go right. They don't feel like their situation will ever improve so they have nothing to look forward to. Wondering if this is as good as it gets gives them hope that the answer is no. But when they are done wondering, they have to settle for the fact that for now, it isn't going to get any better. They are stuck. Their lives aren't going anywhere and it is driving them crazy. All they want is a moments peace where they can forget about their worries. If everything could just go away, they would be alright. If Carol's son could only get better, or at least if she had enough money to see a good doctor. If Simon could only get a little help getting around. If only his pet dog would respond to him. If only he weren’t in so much pain. If Melvin could only get over his obsessive compulsive disorder and not be so self-centered his life would be better. If only.....
***
If only our "if onlies" were reality, we would have a lot less things to worry about. We wouldn't have children going to bed hungry at night. We wouldn't see children having children. We wouldn't have kids killing kids. If only this wasn't as good as it gets, we would have something to look forward to.
Why do we look at our lives wondering why things aren't better right now? Is there some sort of ego trip we are on that gives us a right to have everything go our way? Is each person entitled to live without pain and suffering? Is this really an inalienable right? As I look around, I see many people who have a lion's share of the pain and suffering while I have very little in comparison. I don't have a son who struggles to breathe. I don't have an empty refrigerator and an empty wallet to go with it. I don't have friends or relatives who work in buildings that terrorists fly airplanes into either. While I sit here wondering, "What if this is as good as it gets?," my neighbor could be sitting there watching me, wondering, "Why doesn't he know how good he has it?" If we are all drawn to desire something better than what we have, isn't there something we can all hope for together that we can share?
***
It is a valid question for us to ask. There's no doubt that when I sit at the feet of Jesus on a hill side where he teaches that many are wondering the same thing. Roman occupation of their holy city has them wondering, "What if this is as good as it gets? What if the Messiah never comes!" Jesus, sensing their worry responds. He says, “Are you poor in spirit? It gets better! Your’s is the kingdom of heaven! Are you mourning? Do not worry! You will be comforted! Do you have little possessions? You’re in for a treat! You will inherit the earth! Are you never satisfied with your relationship with our father? Your hunger will be satisfied! Do you forgive others who have wronged you? You will also be forgiven! Have you kept yourself pure? It will pay off! You will see God. Do you find yourself in the midst of quarrels? You will be considered my son. Are you suffering because of the good choices you have make? It will get better, you will be in heaven soon. You are wondering now if this is as good as it gets, but you have no idea how good it will be. You may not know it now, but you have reason to rejoice and be glad. You have a hope of heaven just like everyone else who has wondered if this is as good as it gets.

There's a song by Mercy Me that captures what we have to look forward to, called "In You"

I put my hope in you.
I lay my life in the palm of your hand.
For I'm constantly drawn to you O Lord
In ways I cannot comprehend.

It's the Creator calling the created.
The Maker beckoning the made.
The bride finding what she's always waited for
When we find ourselves that day.

In you, where the hungry feast at the table.
The blind frozen by colors in view.
The lame will dance, they'll dance for they are able.
And the weary find rest
O, the weary find rest in you.

Its no secret that we don't belong here.
Though set apart by the grace of you.
We look for the day when we go to a place
Where the old become brand new.

In you where the hungry feast at the table
The blind frozen by colors in view
The lame will dance, they'll dance for they are able.
And the weary find rest
O, the weary find rest in you.


Jesus saw the crowds and sat down among them. Do you think that Jesus knew by looking at the crowds, just how downtrodden they were? The crowds came to Jesus because they knew when they were around him, things got better. They knew that when Jesus was in the neighborhood all those who were afflicted with diseases and pains, the demoniacs, epilectics, paralytics and all the sick got a sample of what life tastes like when it is as good as it gets. Jesus saw this and so he tells them about the beatitudes. He sees the pain in their eyes, he sees the hope in their eyes.

When we have this kind of relationship with Jesus where he can see the pain and the hope, the weary will find rest. Jesus has the power to give rest. He has the power to truly show us how good it can get. Carol, Simon and Melvin all ask, If Only…? We also ask, if only…if only we could be where life is as good as it gets. We know where that is, and if the beatitudes tell us one thing, its that life as good as it gets is worth waiting for, its worth living for and its worth dying for. If Jesus is trying to tell us anything, its that he was willing to die so that we can have life as good as it gets.

As Good As It Gets

My Days As An Olympian in Greece

The race was coming to an end and I had managed to stay neck in neck with Lloyd Taylor all the way to the end. Only 20 yards separated me from victory.



I couln't believe I was actually running a race in the original Olympic Stadium in Athens Greece. I knew this was the biggest race of my life...maybe the only race of my life. Nonetheless, I had trained for this race earlier that morning. The cook back at the hotel had said "seconds" were available and I knew there wasn't much left. I sprinted from my table to see if I could get my hands on the last cinnimon role. I won the race to the breakfast pastry, now all I had to do was beat Lloyd and I would win the gold.

There was only 10 yards left and I was pulling ahead of Lloyd, then all of a sudden something deep down within me began to churn. I didn't know what it was. As I began to think of my cross-training in preparation for the race, it became clear...the cinnimon role would rise again.



I didn't know what to do. I was going down. All my hopes of winning were flashing before my eyes as I fell to the ground. I reached my hand out to break my fall and glanced up to see Lloyd. I remembered he ate a banana and a handful of grapes that morning. Why did the greek woman with the name I couldn't pronounce have to make such great pastries? Why did I not eat any fruit with my spiral of doughy goodness? Why couldn't I have been sitting a little farther away from the buffet to get some more training in before the big race. It was all over.



The crowd hushed, the flashing of cameras momentarily stopped. The bystanders gasped in amazment. Everyone had such high hopes of me pulling through. Now, they would cheer for someone else. Now they would never believe I could actually do it. Now they wouldnt let me eat any more cinnimon roles.

I laid there...thinking...thinking...Who cares about a stupid race anyway?

My Days As An Olympian in Greece

The Lord is Your Life

This isn't the sermon I preached this past Sunday but it is one of my favorites so I thought I'd post it instead.

The Lord is Your Life

Deut 30:11-20

Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away.  It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your Godb that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them,  I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.  I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.


Moses is standing on Mt Nebo talking to the Israelites. These are some of his last words he speaks to the nation. Can you imagine what is going through his head as he speaks these words.
He stands there and remembers all that has happened since he and the thousands before him first left Egypt. And as he speaks, all Israel is forced to remember with him.

Moses remembers first hearing God’s plan for him. He remembers being up on Mt. Horeb and God telling him, "I have heard the cries of my people." He remembers being afraid to take God’s word to the Israelites because of his poor speaking abilities. As he stood there before God he could see God’s people as slaves in Egypt being forced to make bricks, often beaten by the Egyptians.

Do you remember making bricks? Do you remember stomping in the mud while someone else added straw to make the job a little easier? Making bricks wasn’t all that difficult but it was the cruel Egyptians that made it hard. Stomping in the cool mud during the heat of the day is easy except for when you accidentally fall and an Egyptian beats you. Do you remember crying out to Yahweh in Heaven for deliverance? All you wanted was a word from Heaven proclaiming an end of the oppression you face. But it all seems impossible and beyond your reach.

Do you remember standing at the edge of the red sea. The crashing waves of the sea mean death in front of us and Egypt’s army with its chariots and legions of fighting men with Pharaoh leading them mean death behind us. Do you remember the doubting? Doubting whether it makes sense to have left Egypt to die. Doubting whether the God who has been absent for hundreds of years is now going to prove faithful in fulfilling his promise. You just want to be beyond the sea. All you want to know is how Moses is going to get you there.

As Moses speaks on Nebo’s mountainside his words ring more true in Israel’s ears than anything. His words of life and prosperity, death and destruction all bring images of God’s interaction with them since they were in Egypt. The words death and destruction remind them of when they hid in their houses with lambs blood painted on their door frames as they heard the cries of neighbors who just lost their firstborns. The words death and destruction remind them of their fathers and mothers. They are reminded of the lack of faith they had at Sinai, the idolatry that followed and the forbiddance of them to enter the promised land. The death of a whole generation of people.

Moses words of death and destruction evoke memories of fighting the Amalekites and how they were defeated. They remember Moses on the hillside sitting on a rock with Aaron and Hur holding his arms up so that the Amalekites might be destroyed.

As the Israelites stand there at the edge of their promised land the words life and prosperity carry with them hope and the assurance of God’s faithfulness. Words of life force them to recall times when they were so close to death that only God’s intervening hand kept them alive. Remember waking every morning to collect the manna that formed. It was as if with each new day the promise of life in the desert was revealed through the bread that was provided. Remember at twilight the quail appearing. Out of nowhere, life showed itself in Israel’s midst.
As Moses Speaks to Israel, they realize that what he is commanding them really isn’t difficult and beyond their reach. They can look back on their lives and history and see that what God has promised is being fulfilled. Their history allows them to understand exactly what Moses has been saying to them. All we have recorded in Exodus and Leviticus; All that Israel knew about the law was no longer a list of do’s and don’ts. God’s word is near to them. As Moses says, "it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

It seems like Moses makes it an easy choice for Israel. He says in verse 16, " For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess." It seems pretty cut and dry. Love God, walk in his ways and keep his commands. Moses makes it simple. In essence he boils it down to your typical three point sermon. He says if you do all this, you will live and increase and God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. Why wouldn’t everyone follow Moses three-step guide to the blessings of God? It’s a whole lot better than the alternative.

He says in verses 17 and 18, "But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess." Why wouldn’t everyone follow the three-step guide to prosperity over the three step guide to destruction? The choice doesn’t seem hard to me. You would think the three-step guide to prosperity would be just as popular as Dr. Atkins low-carb diet. All the street vendors would be marketing their latest papyri scrolls on how to make it happen. If you are extra dedicated to achieving prosperity in the promised land get your own copy of God’s top ten on two stone tablets for your mantel. You would think, that with all that Israel went though they would be able to chose life over death. You would think that, standing on Mt. Nebo, they would be able to look out into the land that was promised to them; the land they left Egypt for. The land they wandered in the desert for 40 years for and say, "I’m willing to do what it takes to take God up on his offer of blessings and prosperity, sign me up for life!!"

Do you ever read the stories in the Old Testament and wonder if the Israelites could get anymore clueless? You read about how they abandoned the way of the Lord and adopted the lifestyle of the Canaanites and it reminds you of lemmings. Do you know what a lemming is? A lemming is a small rodent that actually migrates from one place to another. At a particular time during the year the lemming will change its living location. Probably what lemmings are known for most is when they migrate, they just follow the lemming in front of them. In essence you may have thousands and thousands of lemmings that are following one other lemming. For some reason this lemming leader often doesn’t know where he is going and will lead all the follower lemmings off cliff into the sea. Now, if I were a lemming...when I saw the cliff’s edge, no matter how much I liked the lemming in front of me, when I saw the edge of the cliff, I would do all I could with my little lemming muscles to stop myself from being destroyed by falling off a cliff.

For some reason the Israelites followed the Canaanites all the way off the cliff. They had warning of the destruction that would follow but that didn’t stop them from joining in the Canaanite festivities. You would think that looking back on their history they would have remembered how God was faithful in their lives and how they knew what they were supposed to do and that they would have stopped themselves before they met the destruction they did. To make things worse, this happened over and over again.

Do you ever catch yourself thinking, "If I had been an Israelite, I wouldn’t have done that?" Do you ever find yourself thinking to yourself as you read the Old Testament, "Why don’t the Israelites remember that what they are doing is so wrong and God specifically told them not to do it. How many times are they going to have to mess up before they understand what they are doing to themselves?"

Do you ever catch yourself thinking the same thing about yourself? If you are anything like me, you find yourself making the same mistakes over and over again. Sometimes you wonder Why can’t I just get my act together?

Is it because we don’t really know what is wrong? Are we ignorant of any sort of moral truths by which we are to live? I don’t think so. 2 Peter 1:3 tells us that, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness."

Could we just we excuse it by saying we are generally good people and that should be good enough for God? I have known a lot of people who think that. They believe in God and they think that if they just donate enough money to the salvation army or simply obey the laws and pay taxes that they will be saved. Have you known anyone like this. These people don’t understand what Paul means in 2 Corinthians 3 when he says that we are to be transformed into the image of Christ with ever increasing glory. Or what Jesus himself says in Matthew 5:48, "Be perfect, therefore as your heavenly father is perfect."

Do we just need to love God more? Is it this simple? Its easy for us to say it was so simple for the Israelites but when we ask ourselves how much we are loving the lord our God with ALL our heart, ALL our soul, ALL our mind and ALL our strength, it becomes much more difficult.
In a world where God’s word seems so far away, its easy to understand why loving God with our all could be so difficult. In a world where death seems so pervasive, any message of life is almost counter-cultural. We have sexual lifestyles that only lead to death being legalized. There’s war coverage on every news channel. Its in the movies and on the television shows. This all in addition to the mere fact that death is the end we all will eventually meet unless the Lord should come first. Is loving God more difficult in this world that seems to pride itself on issues that only lead to its destruction? I think it is. I think it is.

But there’s good news. God is more faithful than we are. God is more faithful than we are. When all of Israel has turned its back on God, He still provides the manna. God is more faithful than we are. When all of Israel has worshiped idols, He still leads them into the promised land. God is more faithful than we are. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God will not let us be tempted beyond what we can stand. God is more faithful than we are. He says that God will always provide us with a way out when we are tempted. God is more faithful than we are.
This leaves us with a choice. We have a choice just as the Israelites did on Mt. Nebo. It is obvious which decisions lead to life and prosperity and which lead to death and destruction. It is not too difficult for us, nor is it beyond our reach. The answers are not up in heaven that we need to ask what we ought to do. God’s word isn’t far away. It is in our mouths and in our hearts so we can obey it. We have set before us life or death. As Moses says, "Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life."

The Lord is Your Life

Olympics and Paul in Athens

Tonight is the opening ceremony of the 2004 summer olympic games in Athens Greece. As the news anchors report on the preparations, it reminds me of the three months I spent in Greece with Harding University in the fall of 2001. I arrived in Athens Sept. 4th 2001, just one week before the terrorist attacks on the trade centers and the pentagon. As the news reporters detail how the olympics originated in Greece, I'm also reminded of much of Christianitys beginnings were also in Greece. While the ancient sites and temples of Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite and Nike were interesting, what was more interesting to me was that just a hundred yards away from the Acropolis in Athens stands Mars Hill. This is where Paul in Acts 17 tells the athenians that while they have temples and monuments to their god's and even to an unkown god, Paul knew this unkown God and it's in him that we live and move and have our being. The enormous temple ruins and tales from Homer about the greek gods only remind us that the true God, Yahweh, has set eternity in our hearts (Ecc 3:11) and that his divine power and eternal nature are clearly seen in what he has made (Rom 1:19,20). Follow the link here to see the website created by my good friend Tim Yaeger of our semester in Greece. http://www.geocities.com/hug_adventures_2001. The link on the side bar is to the official olympic games website.

Olympics and Paul in Athens

Third Day

THIRD DAY IS COMING TO ABILENE DECEMBER 1st!!!!
They are coming to the Abilene Civic Center and the tickets cost $28.50. If there's a group of people that want to go, there may be the possibility of a group discount.

Third Day

Thanks Fans!!!

I am glad I was not a computer science major! Trying to learn html code by trial and error is not a good use of my time and I hope the three of you who have actually looked at my blog will appreciate the difference. I appreciate your patience through this process as I know you were on pins and needles waiting for it to be done. Now it is! I will continue to add links and tweek things here and there but I think I have the colors and general format laid out the way I want. Mom, Dad, Mike...your interest means the world to me!

Thanks Fans!!!

The Lord’s Thank You and God’s You’re Welcome.

I know this post is long, I will try to write some shorter ones during the week. This is the sermon i preached at Cottonwood this morning. Tell me what you think!

The Lord’s Thank You and God’s You’re Welcome.

Have you ever seen the commercials by Citibank Credit Cards. Two black women bump into each other in the produce department at a grocery store and they begin catching up on the latest news. One ignorantly asks the other, “So when is your baby due?” The brief awkwardness is broken when the offended woman asks, “What baby?” The awkwardness resumes and all the ignorant woman can think of to say is, “Thank You…” with the inflection of hope that her previous mistake will be forgotten. The offended woman looks puzzled for a moment then with a smile says, “Aww, Come here girl!!” and they hug as the narrator talks about how Citibank offers thanks for signing up for their credit card with incredibly low interest rates.

There’s something special about saying thank you. When you receive a thank you card for something you weren’t expecting, it fills you with joy. When you have been treated with kindness, you don’t consider the moment closed until you have said thank you. We teach our kids from an early age that we are to always say, “Please,” and “Thank You.”
Every Sunday we observe a ceremony that in some churches is called “Eucharist.” That ceremony is what we call Communion or the Lord’s Supper. It is called Eucharist because in the Greek, the word Eucharist means thanks. When Jesus broke the bread and served the wine he gave thanks before serving it to his disciples.

Matthew 26:26-30
26 While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
30 When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

What do we have to give thanks for when we are observing the Lord’s Supper? There are three things we can give thanks for.

We can give thanks for The Forgiveness of Sins. In 1 Cor. 11 verses 24 and 25 when Jesus says do this in remembrance of me, we are to remember the death, burial and resurrection which frees us from our sins. The disciples sitting here in the upper room listening to these words don’t know all of this yet. They don’t know this because Jesus is making a prophesy about what is going to happen. He says drink this, it is the blood of my promise that will be poured out for the forgiveness of sins.

I think this is probably what we most often think of when we observe the Lord’s Supper. We focus on his death. We sing songs like, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” “The Old Rugged Cross,” and “Beneath the Cross of Jesus.” I think when we observe Communion we focus most on his death because of the bread and the fruit of the vine. He said the bread is his body and the fruit of the vine is his blood. When he says this we are instantly reminded of the nails and the cross, and the spear in his side. We are instantly reminded of how only a few short hours after saying this he would take his last breath. We are instantly reminded of how he didn’t deserve any of it but we did. We are reminded of how our fate doesn’t include nails and a cross. When we give thanks at the communion table we think about how we are grateful that Christ endured the pain and not us, even though it pains us to think of our Lord being punished for our sins.
It amazes me when I watch war movies because of the sheer terror of being in the middle of a battle. It seems like there’s so much going on that to be aware of anything other then keeping your own life safe would be too difficult. I think what amazes me the most is when I see a soldier amidst other soldiers who sees a grenade thrown into the group and to save the lives of the lives of the rest of his unit he jumps on the grenade so only he is killed. I’ve never been in a situation like that but I can imagine the other soldiers being grateful for the sacrifice even though one they loved had to die.
It’s the same for us when we observe the communion. We are sad that Jesus had to go through what he did on the cross but we are grateful that now, only after our friend and Lord has died, are we able to have the forgiveness of sins.

When we are observing the Lord’s Supper, not only can we give thanks that we have the forgiveness of sins, but we can give thanks that we share this in common with other people. We can give thanks for The Faith Community.

We can give thanks that Communion involves Community. Acts 20:10 tells us that Paul met with other Christians to break bread. He was a part of a community of faithful people who met together each week to observe the Lord’s Supper.
One of the most special things about church is the fellowship that we are able to be a part of. After the three thousand were baptized on the day of Pentecost, Luke tells us that they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship and the breaking of bread and of prayer. It’s clear that the communion is intimately connected with the people who partake of it. To me the most important thing we do on a Sunday morning is share in this meal with one another. It’s not the sermon, or the singing but the Communion.
In the New Testament, it seems to refer to the church observing the communion with a meal. Specifically in 1 Cor. 11:20. The Corinthian church met together to eat a meal with the Lord’s Supper. There were a lot of things they were doing wrong, but I think that if they had not been selfish and eaten all the food before the poorer people could join them, Paul would have commended this practice.
The Community Fellowship that is enjoyed during a meal is evident during our own potluck Sunday. For me Potluck Sunday is the greatest invention of the church of all time. We get to eat in the name of the Jesus!! Can life get any better!!
Seriously meal times are times when you get to enjoy one another’s company and it was no different in the Bible when they met to observe the Lord’s Supper and it was no different earlier when we broke the bread and drank the wine. There’s always something missing when I have to observe the Lord’s Supper without other Christians.
Some churches have the Lord’s Supper before the sermon and some have it after. I like how one church in Abilene does it the best. This church is trying to reach out to the really poor people. Instead of serving communion during the church service, every Sunday they prepare a meal. The Sunday we visited they had chili dogs. They have tables set up for six or eight people and after they have sat down and everyone has started eating. They read a scripture and pray and give communion. Now, why did I say they give communion instead of take? They give communion because the person who starts with the bread breaks off a piece and hands it to the next person saying, “This is the body of Christ, broken for you.” And hands the piece of bread to the next person who then does the same thing until it gets back to the first person.
That church is communing with one another. I am not suggesting that we do things that way here at Cottonwood. I am suggesting and I think the Bible is also telling us that often we overlook the significance of communing not only with Jesus as we remember him but the communion of the saint’s who observe his death, burial and resurrection together.

We can give thanks that we have brothers and sisters in to share Christ’s love with. We can also give thanks that one day we will drink of the fruit of the vine anew with Christ in heaven. We can give thanks for The Future Kingdom.

While reclining at the table in the upper room, Jesus said he will not drink the fruit of the vine again until he does it with us in his father’s kingdom. The meal the disciples were eating was the Passover meal. This is significant for several reasons. The Passover feast was a remembrance of the Passing over of the Lord in Egypt. A lamb was sacrificed and his blood wiped on the doorframes of the Israelites to protect them from the plague of the firstborn. Here Jesus, the firstborn of God, prophesied of his own death and he is later referred to as the Lamb of God. The food of the Passover was created in haste because they were going to be leaving Egypt to go to the Promised Land. Now here, Jesus tells us of another promised land where he will eat with us in the future. The disciples were giving thanks for deliverance from Egypt; we can give thanks for deliverance into Heaven.
The little girl was happily humming a hymn as she dusted the furniture to help her mother. “Mommie, will I be dusting God’s chair when I get to heaven, the way the hymn says?” she asked. Mother looked up with surprise, “Which hymn, honey?” “And dust around the throne,” her little girl quoted. It took a while before the mother learned that she was quoting a line from the hymn “Marching to Zion,” with the phrase, “and thus surround the throne.”
We all have different ideas about what heaven will be like. I think most of us probably do not think of what it will be like during communion. Jesus specifically said at his last supper, I will not drink this again until I drink it anew in my Father’s kingdom. Being one who drinks with Christ is something to be thankful for. Every time we observe the Lord’s Supper we are proclaiming that we are among those who will dine at his banquet table.

When we think about the Lord’s Supper also being called “Eucharist,” we can imagine when we eat the bread and drink the wine that we are saying “Thank You.” We truly are thankful. If you can picture yourself saying thank you, perhaps you can picture God saying, “You’re Welcome.” With regard to the three reasons we have to be thankful, I think God may actually want us to know we are welcome. Maybe God says, “You’re welcome,” when we thank him for forgiving our sins. Maybe he says, “You’re welcome,” when we thank him for the faith community we have to share the communion with. When we thank God for the future kingdom, I really do think God says, “You are welcome in my kingdom.” When we pray our prayers of thanks, God says you’re welcome and this too is something to be thankful for.

The Lord’s Thank You and God’s You’re Welcome.

Powerful and Effective

Since my last post was more than a month ago, I decided that to help me be more regular about it I would post my sermons from each sunday. This will also help me to prepare better and write them out. It will also allow me to share my sermons with more than the 10 people who I worship with at the Cottonwood church of Christ. Let me know what you think.


Sermon:
Imagine a family that has been through the ringer because of health conditions. They have been in and out of hospitals because the father in the family has had heart problems as long as they can remember. It all started with a heart attack and progressively got worse. One doctor would tell the family one thing and give him medication. When that didn’t work, they went to another doctor who said something different and gave them a different medication. Over time they lost their faith in the medical field and the ability of doctors to heal the father. They tried herbal medicine with sadly the same results. Now, a Christian friend begins reading the bible with him as he lies in a hospital bed and they get to James 5. He hears, “Are any among you suffering, he should pray” and recalls times when he cried out to God just wanting to know why all this was happening to him. He’s tried praying many times before but as usual his heart condition only got worse. His friend continues reading, “Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.  Are any among you sick?” Upon hearing this, the father’s eyes open wide. He thinks that maybe, just maybe he will hear some super spiritual cure that will free him from hospital beds for the rest of his life. What he hears next is puzzling. “They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.” The father lies there wondering if the cure to all his problems has been sitting on a shelf in his pantry at home the whole time. Then he thinks, maybe the Christians have some sort of special oil that no one else knows about. He wonders how he can get a hold of some of this oil and maybe some elders to anoint him while he’s at it. Then he stops, his thought bubble is popped by what his Christian friend says next, “The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.

Maybe you are wondering the same thing as the father. What does the forgiveness of sins have to do with the healing of the sick?
When you read this passage it appears that the two are intimately connected. If you are like me, you have a lot of red flags going up inside your head. There are a lot of questions that are brought to mind.
Don’t sins have to do with the spiritual realm and sickness with the physical?
What does confessing sins have to do with getting well?
It is really a spiritual sickness James is talking about?
I don’t see elders anointing people with oil these days, why not?
Does anointing heads with oil have any value in healing the sick at all?
If anointing, which is a physical act, doesn’t have any significance how can
praying, which is a spiritual act, help?
The more I read this passage, the more questions I had. I thought about not preaching it because there were so many questions I had. I’m doing a series on prayer and this passage talks a lot about prayer. Should I neglect it simply because I don’t understand it?
So I read it again.
James 5:13-16
13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. 14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.
As I read it over and over again, I realized that this passage talks about two different aspects of the life of the Christian.

The first one describes how our personal relationship with God suffers when there is sin in our lives.
The second talks about how no matter what the circumstance we are in, we are to pray.

How does sin impact our relationship with God?
Are we to believe that no matter how sick we are, if we only confess our sins, we will be healed? I would love it if this were true, but you and I can both look at the lives of truly righteous, God loving people and know that they do not deserve what they are going through.
So what does James mean when he says, “confess your sins…so you may be healed?”
I think the answer comes when we read that last line over again.
The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.
There’s something about my prayers that are hindered when I am living an unrighteous life. Can God still hear you when you pray if you are sinning? I believe he can. Can God still act as the Great Physician on your behalf when you haven’t been willing place yourself under his knife so he can help you? I believe as I have said before, God is more faithful than we are. So what about our sinful lives keep us from enjoying the benefits of his grace here on earth?

Lets look at Hebrews 12
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely,a and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake ofb the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners,c so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children—
“My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
or lose heart when you are punished by him;
6 for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves,
and chastises every child whom he accepts.”
7 Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? 8 If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children. 9 Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. 11 Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.
Did you catch that part in the middle?
“Consider him who endured such hostility so that you may not lose heart.”
Jesus paid too high a price for me and you to keep ourselves from running the race marked out for us by the burdens of sin.
Did you catch that other part in the middle?
“My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
or lose heart when you are punished by him;
for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves,
and chastises every child whom he accepts.”
We may go through difficult times while we are here but the discipline we learn from them yields the, “peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
When we develop the discipline of dependence on God even in hard times knowing that we can’t only attribute the good things in our lives to God but also sometimes the bad things, we will be at peace with him.
The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective because it is a prayer that has been tested through times of suffering and through times of cheer.
1 Thess 5:17 admonishes us to “Pray without ceasing.” I’m convinced that this means we are to pray in good times or in bad. It means we are to pray for ourselves and for others. It means we are to pray with the conviction that our prayers can change the whole way we live. Our prayer lives reflect our daily lives. This poem I found sums it up well.

I knelt to pray when day was done,
And prayed, “O Lord bless every one,
Lift from every saddened heart the pain,
And let the sick be well again.”

And then I woke another day,
And carelessly went upon my way.
The whole day long I did not try
To wipe a tear from any eye.

I did not try to share the load
Of any brother on the road.
I did not even go to see
The sick man just next door to me.

Yet once again when day was done,
I prayed, “O Lord bless everyone.”
But as I prayed, unto my ear
There came a voice that whispered clear,

“Pause, hypocrite, before you pray,
Whom have you tried to bless today?
God’s sweetest blessings always go,
By hands which serve Him below.”

And then I hid my face and cried,
“Forgive me, God, for I have lied.
Let me but live another day,
And I will live the way I pray!”

If our prayer lives really do reflect our daily lives, then we have something to think about. How does my daily life reflect my prayer life? If I am not praying at all, it will be easy to tell just by looking at my life. If I am living a life of sin, my prayers will be empty and void of any sincerity. On the other hand if I have thrown off the things that hinder me from running the race God has set out for me, my prayers will be impacted. God will be able to use me because he knows that I am depending on him in all my troubles. He sees your righteousness and makes you prayers powerful and effective.

Powerful and Effective

I'm right here, God.

Have you ever fealt like you were scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to your relationship with God. Sometimes I feel this way and I don't understand why. With all my classes I am taking at school in theology and preparing sermons and classes on Sunday, you would think it would be easy to keep spiritually charged. It's not. When you are scraping the bottom of the barrel spiritually, you dread preparing sermons, because you dont feel like you have anyting to work from. School also becomes a drag because, if you are like me, you wonder if it is all that necessary. Sometimes I think that I just want to begin doing ministry. In addition there are all sorts of other obligations that keep you away from getting school work done the way you want.
Last night, Krista and I had to come to grips with the reality all of us find ourselves in when we are face to face with the bottom of the barrel. We decided to go out into the middle of the field across from our house. It was about 11:00 at night and the streets were quiet. The sky was clear and the starts were shining bright. We put a sheet down and layed there looking at the stars in silence. Prior to walking outside I told Krista that she was going to be in charge of our nightly devotionals. After a couple of minutes she said to me, "Tell God you are right here." Have your prayers ever seemed so cold that you can't even think of what to say to God? For some reason, being told what to pray helps get you going. I just layed there repeating, "God, I'm right here," over and over again. I probably repeated that phrase in my mind a hundred times. Gradually it meant more and more. When I first started out I was saying, "I'm right here God." As in, "I'm sorry that I have been so distant from you. I know I have been preocupied with other thing but now, I'm right here God." Eventually I began thinking about the vastness of the outerspace I was looking at. I began thinking about how God cares for me so much that out of any place where God could be, he chose at that moment to right there with me. "God, I'm right here." "God,I know there are wars in Iraq, I know there are children going to bed hungry tonight, I know there's a woman whose husband has just left her and she needs you. I know there are a thousand other places and people you could be concerned with and I'm right here." I dont know how God can place me so high up on his priority list but he does. Now, every day I am going to make time to meet him. I am going to say, "God, I'm right here," even though I may have other things on my mind and I am sure there are more important things in this world for God to worry about. When I meet him in prayer and meditation, I can think about all the other things he could be doing but instead I hear him saying, "Josh, I'm right here."

I'm right here, God.

Deut. 6:1-12

Today I committed to reading Deuteronomy 6:1-12 everytime I walk out my front door. Mike, a friend of mine, and I decided we needed to reflect upon what it says when we are to write His word on our hearts. Each week we will choose a different passage to tape to our front door. Spending thirty seconds eachtime we leave the house to remember whose we are and why we are here will help us to know God more deeply and for his incarnation to more richly dwell in us.

Deut. 6:1-12