The Sermon from the Stock

It is Christmas, just barely, yet it is Christmas. I just came in from the barn. I fed horses, Longhorns, and a miniature donkey. I talked to them as I went about my business, as I usually do. I asked them about their day and told them about mine.

I know, for some of you, the mere thought is foolish. For those of you who dearly love animals, you know you speak of them as you do children. Many times you make sure they eat before you do. You tend to their every need, and you know they will listen to your concerns even when everyone else is too busy.

However, tonight is special. It is Christmas Eve. It is the night the animals speak. As tradition tells it, Jesus was born exactly at midnight. In the few minutes after the birth of Christ, the animals in the stable were the first ones to praise the birth of the new king. These praises lasted but a few minutes and were over by the time the shepherds showed up, but the legend continues and there are children and adults each Christmas Eve who are a little more attentive to the animals in their keeping.

To all of you who might be asking, “No,” I have never heard the animals talk on Christmas Eve. I have said many a thing to them, but I have never heard a reply. Yet there is a sense that those animals who tended the birth of Christ from the beginning somehow may be more in tune with the coming Messiah than many of us are.

On Christmas Day we celebrate that we live in a world into which the Messiah has come. He has come and is blessing us already. His very presence brings strength, life, hope, joy, and peace into our world of disorder, apathy, depression, and pain.

One of my favorite hymns is, God rest ye merry, Gentlemen.

God rest ye merry, gentlemen

Let nothing you dismay.

Remember Christ our Savior

Was born on Christmas Day

To save us all from Satan’s power

When we were gone astray.

Oh, tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy,

Oh, tidings of comfort and joy!

The first line of that song is my favorite. The word “rest” has a better meaning of “make” or “keep”. I have often heard people argue for the translation of “merry” as “mighty” when in fact that actually goes against the rest of the meaning of the first verse. We are not mighty. We are in need of radical intervention against a powerful enemy.

The comma belongs after merry which mean that the merry is not a descriptor of gentlemen. The first line is a short prayer or encouragement that God would make us merry and that our merriness comes from the victory already secured for us in Jesus Christ.

The phrase brings us rest and security. I get that same sense when I am out with the animals at midnight. When the one who cares for them is present, when they know they are cared for and loved, even a storm like blew through our area last night with lightning and thunder causes them no worry or concern. They rest in the presence of one they believe will make everything safe and right.

May God grant you that same sense of belonging, safety, and peace!

Merry Christmas!

Pastor Craig

This Day!

And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: . . .

Joshua 23:14

Joshua knew that his life was drawing to a close. He wants to people of Israel to understand their Godly heritage. He invites them to review with him what God has done for them down through the years. He appeals to the historical record of God’s intervention on their behalf. He recites the works of God through the generations beginning with Abraham until the present day.

Joshua asks them to never forget the value of a Godly national heritage. Neither would Joshua allow them to forget the value of God’s Book of the Law, a document that had been so valuable to him all through his time as a leader of the people. Joshua reminds the people that this rich national heritage is only maintained through the personal choice of the individuals of each generation. Choose this day whom you will serve. . .As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).

He says, “There comes a time in the life of each one of you when you have to make your own choice. You have to choose whether you will ally yourself with the Lord God, live for Him, and serve Him, or whether you will go on living for yourselves in neglect of Him and perhaps serving other gods.” If the heritage is to be maintained, a personal choice for God has to be made by every individual. There comes to each of us a time of decision. None of us are excepted from this rule. Sooner or later each one of us will have to make that vital choice.

Though you be born in a nation that, at least sometime in its history, was willing to identify itself as Christian, though you come from a family of disciples of Jesus Christ, yet, you must make that decision on your own. That heritage does not make YOU a Christian.

Joshua was about to step aside. He loved the heritage and history of God in the midst of the people of Israel. He longed to see it continue forever, so it is within this context that he pleads his case before the national assembly that they might love the Lord their God as he did and might continue that heritage into the future. In the same way, Jesus Christ has left us a rich heritage in our country, but we must decide if we will continue it. Each generation decides for themselves, and each individual decides for himself or herself. At the wonderful season of Christmas, I pray you boldly know who your house will serve!

Pastor Craig

Having Christ or Experiencing Christ

You will never know the fullness of Christ until you know the emptiness of everything but Christ.

C. H. Spurgeon

There is a difference between having all of Christ and experiencing all of Christ. Jesus Christ never gives you only a portion of Himself. He holds nothing back in a relationship. God loves no one on the face of this earth more than you. There is no one who edges you out when it comes to importance and priorities before the throne. It is probably important to say here that you don’t edge anyone else out either. Our Heavenly Father is probably the only parent who can truly and completely say, “I love them all equally, but differently.”

Our own experience in relationships is somewhat different though. Remember the first time you asked someone out for a date? For most of us that was a pretty scary event. We thought the person would say yes. Our friends had been in contact with their friends and all the signals had come back good. However, there was that nagging doubt, something that may cause the whole thing to fall apart at the last second. It could be anything from some social or fashion blunder to bad breath or not being “in” or “cool”, whatever that might mean!

Jesus Christ is the one who loved you before you ever were conceived. Your face was in his mind; your name was on his lips when he died upon that cross. We do not have to worry about His commitment to us. He will certainly throw all of Himself at us.

It is in our own ability, or willingness, to throw ourselves into that same experience that creates a feeling of difference, levels, or distance from time to time. Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in unto him” (Rev. 3:20).

For those who despair, fullness in Christ may be as simple as opening the door all the way. Some of us have always been cautious in our relationships. Christ, who loves without question or hesitancy is asking us to trust him and come as close as we can to returning that love in the same way.

Pastor Craig

Be Still

Be still and know that I am God. (Ps. 46:10)

It is a hard thing to do. We think we would like to be still until we have to do exactly that. We are given the opportunity to do so several times a day. We allow other things to crowd in on that still time. We keep our schedules before us. We have reminders that pop up on our phones, that E-mail us automatically when we have an appointment coming up, or we carry pocket calendars around with us lest we miss some momentous event.

Many of us do not like stillness and quiet. We crowd our lives full of events and responsibilities to avoid the still time, for it is in that still time that the Scripture promises us God’s presence.

Yes, He creeps in and whispers something that the everyday rush and noise would have allowed us to ignore in almost any other circumstance. However, in the stillness of that quiet moment there can be little doubt that God has spoken and is now still, awaiting our response. What do you say when God shows up in the midst of your quiet time? Unfortunately, many of us treat Him like someone we hardly know. We don’t know what to say, how to act, or how to respond to His actions.

This short piece was one of the more difficult things for me to write in a long time. I started and threw out maybe as many as a dozen ideas, some made it all the way to the words on the page only to fall victim to the delete button. I was frustrated. I got anxious. The topics were good, but why didn’t the words seem to be the ones that I needed to say.

In frustration, I put my head down. I was still. I heard God saying, “This is where I have wanted you for a long time, but you have been too busy for me. Even your “quiet times” have been whirlwinds of activity.”

“Yes, Lord, you are right. You’re always right.”

It took a bit, but I soon saw that God had been trying to get my attention for some time on this matter. I remember reading a chapter in a book, Christianity for the Rest of Us, how many churches were incorporating extended moments of silence into their worship services. I had read another article about pastoral Sabbaths and the need to get away to experience the presence of God. Both of those articles were duly noted and filed away as trends, something to talk to the worship committee, or novel to try on some future Sunday.

All the time God had been doing something so much greater than  giving me new ideas to try in some future context. No, God had been calling to me. “You! Hey, You there, come over here and experience my divine presence.” So, before I wrote this I sat down with God. I got no new talking points, no sermon revelations, no soul shaking instructions. I simply experienced the presence of my Savior in a calm and comforting way.

So, on this Advent Sunday of Hope, get rid of the hustle, don’t rush anywhere, turn off all the media and all the electronics, and enjoy the Hope of the Gospel as your Savior sits with you.      

 

  Pastor Craig

Christ the King

A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, “darkness.”[1]

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the works of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.

Psalm 19:1-2 (NIV)

I have heard people say, “I don’t believe God is like that,” in response to particularly difficult portions of our faith. It doesn’t matter the issue at hand. Many of us have a way we want God to be, a set of behaviors we consider to be God-like, and when we come up against an event or a set of behaviors that seem to go against our preconceived notions about God, we struggle.

Today is Christ the King Sunday. It is that day in the Church liturgical year when we celebrate the rule and reign of our Creator over His creation. God has claimed that title of King for Himself. There is no other.

In other words, we will not always understand God or His actions. Yet, He will always continue to be God. The creation that surrounds us calls forth his greatness and glory. We cannot change one portion of that simply by saying, “I don’t think that’s the way God is.”

Our Christian life is not about matching the God that is to the God we want to have. No, it is about matching the God in our head to the God that exists and created our mind, heart, and soul. It is about us coming to Christ on Christ’s terms. It is not about us setting guidelines to negotiate a new contract.

God is gracious and good, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. God is just and righteous, holy, above all others. There is no sin to be found in Him. There is no contradiction anywhere in his character or being. So, when we run headlong into one of those things that challenge the God we think we want, it is best to recognize that it is the God who truly is that died for us, loves us and calls us to learn of Him and about Him that He might receive the full measure of His glory.

Pastor Craig

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[1] Tweeted by @LoveLikeJesus

Black Friday

Black Friday: Because only in America, people trample others for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have.

(Facebook Quote)

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Matthew 6:28-29 (KJV)

 

On Thursday we will try to express gratitude for the many things with which we have been blessed. Most of us will mention food, family, and freedom. We will stop to remember, hopefully, our men and women in uniform far away from their families, some of whom gave their all and will not sit down on this earth to a family Thanksgiving again. We will include home and hearth in our appreciation. We will remember those less fortunate than we are, and some of us will give our time to make sure others have something pleasant to remember at the end of that day. We will remember God’s love and grace in the person of Jesus Christ.

Then.  .  .  on the following day, many of us will act like none of this ever happened. We will gripe and complain about long lines, about prices for the “must have” items. We will remember those who did not express the appropriate appreciation for their gift(s) from years past. We may spend money we don’t really have because we feel that some shiny trinket is what is really needed to convince our child, our spouse, our parent, our boss, our co-worker, or our friend that we really care about them. Some of us will try to make up for the apathy and uncaringness we have exhibited all year long. In short, we do indeed forget that less than 24 hours earlier we thanked our creator that we had everything we could possibly ever need.

 How do we remedy this situation? Is the answer to throw out all our Christmas lists, take down our ornaments, turn off our lights, and turn into Scrooge? Absolutely not! Maybe it is as simple as allowing Thanksgiving to last a few days before we start our shopping. Probably, we would enjoy Christmas more if we took a memory of that Thanksgiving list with us instead of our gift wish list through the holiday season. When we get stressed we could take it out and look at it and be reminded about just how wonderful so much of our life can be.

 

Pastor Craig

God's Got It Covered!

Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He’s going to be up all night anyway.

(Mary C. Crowley)

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.

1 Peter 5:6-7 (NASB)

In case you missed it, we had a presidential election this past week. Before many of us went to bed on Tuesday night we heard the country’s decision. For some, that was a tremendous comfort. For others, the same decision caused ulcers, tears, and a sleepless night. The question I have is “Why?”

Oh, I am not trying to say I did not have my own preferences. I certainly did, and I probably exhibited many of the behaviors I will write about below. However, this is not the forum for politics. It is a forum for faith. I probably should have written this article prior to the election rather than after its decision, in hopes that I might have heeded it myself.

I had college friends who campaigned for their candidate as though their eternal destiny depended on the outcome of the election. Maybe they thought it did. Looking back on the whole process, maybe we can begin to put it in its proper place and perspective.

For Christians, I believe Jesus Christ wants us to learn some lessons. Hopefully we will remember them all the way to the next election!

1.      If most of us were half as passionate about our own personal faith in Jesus Christ as we were about promoting our particular candidate, we would be much farther advanced in our Christian walk.

2.      If we tried to evangelize the lost with the same fervor we tried to win over voters, we would be closing in on the goal of every person on the planet having heard the Good News.

3.      Regardless of who sits behind the desk in the Oval Office, it is our Heavenly Father who steers the course of this country.

4.      God’s love for us is infinite and eternal. The grace of Jesus Christ given freely to you never has been and never will be linked to you voting for a particular candidate.

5.      If Christ will not disown a person for their voting, or not voting a specific way, who are we to break fellowship with fellow Christians because they voted differently than we did.

So, it is time to re-friend your “unfriended” Facebook friends and relatives, it is time to pray for God’s blessing of those who have been elected, even if you did not vote for them, and it is time to live out the Scripture song about how the world will know we are Christians by how we love one another.

Don’t worry, God has it covered!

Pastor Craig

My God Is So. . .

 

If He who in Himself can lack nothing, chooses to need us, it is because we need to be needed.[1]

God declares His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8 (NASB)

“My God is so BIG, so STRONG, and so MIGHTY! There’s NOTHING my God cannot do!” So went the song when I was younger. . . much younger. It was a bold statement for a young boy in short pants attending VBS. It was one I believed completely. We worshipped the God who needed nothing, the Heavenly Father who stood complete and whole, above His creation. Yet, we knew that it was this God who wanted to come and be like us to show us how needed we were and are.

God, Himself does not need us. If He “needed” us our salvation would be as much about God meeting His own needs as meeting ours. So, God does not “need” us. Yet, in some way He chooses to want us. It is my guess that God cannot feel frustration except through the person of Jesus Christ and His incarnation. However, I am sure that we, as His creatures have given Him multiple opportunities to be frustrated before and since.

We do need to be needed. Why was it ever embarrassing to be chosen last for teams? Because there was no sense of need in being chosen last. We simply were the only alternative left. The only thing worse for our self-esteem would have been for the team forced to choose us to declare that they would rather play shorthanded than include us on their side!

Being needed reaffirms our worth. It shows us we have value. It reminds us that we are important. We NEED to be NEEDED!

You do not fill some hole in God’s heart by being a disciple. On the contrary, God fills all your weaknesses when you become His disciple. God didn’t pick you to complete a winning team. God chose you simply because He loves you. Enjoy that thought. Take comfort in that knowledge.

Pastor Craig

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[1] #CSLewis

Patience

Patience is not the ability to wait, but how you act while you’re waiting.[1]

We glory in tribulations also: knowing the tribulations bring about patience; and patience, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 5:3-5 (NASB)

Waiting for something, for example relief from suffering, is not patience. The excitement of a teenager anticipating a driver’s license cannot be rushed. You can open birthday presents early, even though your birthday has not arrived, but the state will not hand over its confirmation that you are a licensed driver until you reach the appropriate age.

Patience is not the fact that we had to wait to receive it. We were going to have to wait anyway. We had no choice in the matter.

Neither is patience apathy, an attitude of not caring if a certain deadline passes or not. A person may endure a crisis simply because they perceive that crises and suffering are simply a part of the life God has dealt them, and if it is not this particular trial, it would simply be a different one.

No, patience involves our attitude and actions while we wait for the future to arrive. Our emotions may involve a desire to be free from some form of difficulty or they may center on some highly anticipated event yet to come. Either way, patience is grounded in the firm belief that our Heavenly Father is caring for us and overseeing all that occurs. We can be certain that, in His perfect timing, we will receive deliverance or blessing. We can trust in Him completely because He is entirely faithful and compassionate in His dealings with us. Patience is a quiet longing for what God has in store for us. What are you patiently waiting for, today?

Pastor Craig

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[1] @LovLikeJesus

Direction

 

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants them to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.

James 3:3-5 (NIV) 

Probably most of the sermons and studies you have heard on these verses from James have to do with the impact your words have on others. Not all the bullying we hear through the news is physical bullying. Nor is all the abuse that one person suffers at the hands of another physical.

Certainly, the statements above are true. However, for this article I want you to look at the idea of “bit” and “rudder” as compared to tongue. Both bit and rudder are used to set direction. Have you ever thought that your tongue may be a bit or a rudder for your whole life. “If you want to know where you’ll be in five years listen to what you talk about most now.”[1]

It’s a scary thing, isn’t it? Take time to think about how trivial much of our conversation is, how uncouth, crude, and, sometimes vulgar. I do not mean to say that every word that comes out of our mouths needs to be some deep philosophical or theological thought, full of long words and heavy. It is obvious that the uncouth, crude, and vulgar parts we need to do without. I hope it is clear that God created joy and laughter and wants our hearts to be light and enjoy the lives he has given to us. However, we should be mindful that while our words do impact the people we direct them towards, those same words our steering our lives at the same time.

You are steering a course. If you continue to follow your tongue, where would you say your destination will ultimately be?

Pastor Craig

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[1] #lovlikejesus

When will you be Christian?

C. S. Lewis (@CSLewis) tweeted at 11:01 AM on Sun, Oct 21, 2012: A Christian society is not going to arrive until most of us really want it: and we are not going to want it until we become fully Christian. (https://twitter.com/CSLewis/status/260048226500083712) Get the official Twitter app at https://twitter.com/download

Why are you here!

C. S. Lewis (@CSLewis) tweeted at 11:06 AM on Tue, Oct 16, 2012: The whole purpose for which we exist is to be thus taken into the life of God. #MereChristianity http://t.co/yPQQkT08 (https://twitter.com/CSLewis/status/258237436486885376) Get the official Twitter app at https://twitter.com/download

Wickedness

C. S. Lewis (@CSLewis) tweeted at 11:03 AM on Sun, Oct 14, 2012: Wickedness, when you examine it, turns out to be the pursuit of some good in the wrong way. #cslewis #merechristianity (https://twitter.com/CSLewis/status/257511951968653312) Get the official Twitter app at https://twitter.com/download

Bound

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all men sinned.

Romans 5:12

What is sin? We tend to think of sin as lying, infidelity, murder, theft, prejudice, hatred, etc. However, the Scriptures seem to use a different definition. “The nature of sin is not immorality or wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, ‘I am my own God.’”[1] Yes, every time you decide that you know better than your Creator as to how to run your life, you are setting yourself up as self-governed. In other words, you are throwing off the authority of God and proclaiming that you will answer to no one but yourself. That, my friends, is the very nature of sin.

The sin of the first people in the Garden of Eden was not simply that they ate from the tree from which God had forbidden them to eat. No, it was the fact that they decided that God’s rules did not apply to them, that they could make up their own rules and laws, that they were autonomous creatures.

We continue to do this far more often than we would like to believe. We create our own interpretation of Scripture, sometimes ignoring the clear and plain meaning of the text. We try to explain away God’s laws that we consider burdensome or outdated, failing to even ask about the principle that may have been behind the commandment.

How can we know that our interpretation is a valid one? How can we be assured that we are not simply putting more weight on the texts which seem to promote the agenda most in line with our beliefs? Well, rest assured that none of us have it perfect. However, we can keep ourselves from significant error by maintaining a teachable spirit at all times. It is when we proclaim that we already have the truth that we lose that spirit and Christian growth in spirituality stops. How are you aware of the Holy Spirit moving within you this day?

Pastor Craig

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[1] One-Minute Meditations

 

It cost God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills cost him crucifixion.

C. S. Lewis

The finer things in life. . . Do a Google search for Christie’s, the world-famous auction house of “finer things”, and you will come across the most recent sales items. It turns out that the most recent sale listed was for four custom made handbags. The handbags were Passe-Guide bags. That may mean something to some of you. I know nothing about handbags or purses. However, I do know that one of these custom purses sold for more than $128,000 US dollars! I hate to think what the matching shoes would cost!
 
The most beautiful things God has made come to us for free. He is generous with His glorious sunrises and sunsets. The powerful beauty of the thunderstorm can be seen and heard on many a night. Fireflies in a glass jar are a wonder to behold. The priceless look of our child or loved one peacefully asleep comes for free.

 God, Himself, is willing to pay a great price to possess those things He holds most dear, those things which, honestly, He already has claim and power over. I am talking about that rebellious will mentioned above. Humanity’s greatest sin is not adultery, murder, or even genocide. It is the refusal to recognize our Creator as having any claim over our lives, our hearts, and our wills. We proudly fly our own flag from our heart, seeking to repel any others that would attempt to conquer that hill. Oh, yes, we give it to a loved one, but even then, only at an equal exchange rate. They must make us happy or we will tear down their flag and cast it aside. They must do as we expect and want or we will remain alone atop that mount.

 
God will not fight you for your own heart. You must give it to Him. He will fight anyone else who tries to claim it from Him once you have declared Him its conqueror and king, but he will not grapple with you. Yours must be an unconditional surrender.
 
Who owns your heart? Yes, it may have been abused by many in the past. It has probably been trampled on and run over. It has been treated unkindly and without compassion. The result is that we guard it very closely. We keep it behind locked gates. The drawbridge to it remains up and the moat that must be crossed to gain access to it is wide.

 Jesus Christ calls to you to lower the drawbridge to your heart and will, to let Him in and be King. He will treat your heart kindly. He recognizes the value it has. He has already been willing to pay a tremendous price in the hopes of getting your attention. Now, will you let down this last defense and be at peace?

 

Craig Krueger

Good Intentions

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.    (Romans 7:15)

We are all about good intentions. We want credit for trying, for giving our best effort. We intend to follow Jesus in all that we do. We really want to. When this doesn’t work, we intend to try harder. We really do. Well, when that doesn’t. . .Are you getting the picture?
 
We are up against the perfect law of God. Good intentions don’t matter, only results. Are you perfect yet? Me neither!

Until we come up against that perfect law of God, until the gravity of our own sinfulness becomes reality to us, until we recognize that our best efforts are not even fit to be put in God’s garbage can, we can’t truly experience God’s infinite mercy. You see, until we recognize just how short we have fallen, we can’t appreciate God’s love. We turn Jesus into a helper. Well, let me tell you right now – Jesus did not come to earth to help you be a batter person. Jesus came, died, and rose again that you might become someone totally different. Jesus doesn’t want a better you. He’ll start with that, but He will never leave you there. He won’t allow it. He is going to remake you from head to toe. Nothing is going to be the same.
Following Christ is not about a cessation of sinful activity and an initiation of righteous living. Our righteousness will never get us where we truly need to be. No, Christianity is about a living relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ. Much of Christian literature is about telling us what is wrong with us. Most of us already know that!

The gospel is about telling us what God has already done to take care of the problem. There is nothing for you to do, no multi-step program to begin, only to fail miserably like every other time we have tried to live up to our good intentions. Jesus Christ comes to us to live life together, in community, with us. He comes to us to proclaim in our lives as He did on the cross, “It is finished.” No, that won’t mean you’re always perfect from that point onward, but you will be whole!

Pastor Craig

C. S. Lewis (@CSLewisU) tweeted at 0:48 AM on Mon, Oct 08, 2012: If He who in Himself can lack nothing, chooses to need us, it is because we need to be needed. #CSLewis (https://twitter.com/CSLewisU/status/255182976147668993) Get the official Twitter app at https://twitter.com/download

Treasure

Don’t let your happiness depend on something that you may lose.

C.S. Lewis 

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

(Matthew 6:19-21)

Where is your heart? It is so easy to long for this world. There are many things in this world that cause us joy, but there are many things that cause us frustration and heartache as well.

Remember, if you can, the story of Lot’s wife. If you need a refresher course go home and read Genesis 19 this afternoon. In the story, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are so wicked that God decides to destroy them completely. In the whole region Scripture only records one person that God warned prior to the event, Lot.

Angels came to warn Lot and his family of the coming destruction. The family did not seem to want to leave the city. Finally, the angels compelled them to leave with the warning to not look back and feel sorry for the city. The warning is not one against glancing back. Rather, it involves a sadness for the city or a sense of remorse over what lifestyle is gone. As the family fled the city, Genesis records that Lot’s wife stopped to look back, with the consequences that she was turned into a pillar of salt.

We do not know the thoughts that were in her mind. She may have thought of the place of importance Lot had among the men of the city. She may have thought of the parties or festivals. We do not know. We do know that part of her looking back was a desire to be back there in the midst of it. She chose that which did not last, that which God was going to destroy.

It’s OK to take pleasure in this world. God made it for his glory and our enjoyment. However, we need to pay attention as to where we invest our heart!

Pastor Craig

Mine!

They were Yours, You gave them to Me!

John 17:6

Jesus Christ takes possession of you from the Father. To have possession of another living thing is a big responsibility. That is one reason Tracy and I have had all our kids involved in agriculture at some time in their lives.

At times they whined and complained about it. They didn’t like the extra work, the feeding in the rain, the blanketing of horses in the cold, breaking the ice in the water trough on a frozen winter morning, checking the pasture for fencing an animal might get tangled in, getting up early on a school morning to do whatever needed to be done, or recognizing that your evening at the movies still had to be finished off with a feeding and haying of everything that needed it, even when you stayed for both ends of a double feature. Yes, when something living is yours, the care and attentiveness cannot be limited to the times it is convenient.

Jesus Christ does that for you. He does it for you in a VERY sacrificial way. He never complains, never questions if you are worth the effort, never tires of the high maintenance you require.

When we see our Christian life in this perspective, being a disciple is not about doing anything for Jesus, but of being a delight to Him. The easy part of that is that we are already a delight to Him. He has already proven that to us through His death and resurrection on our behalf.

This is the way we give ourselves to Jesus Christ. He has already posted a claim on your life. It is your job to recognize His claim as the one and only claim on your life. You sign away all rights and privileges to the One who bought you with His very own life and now takes responsibility for your care and life.

Today, be entirely His!

Pastor Craig

C. S. Lewis (@CSLewisU) tweeted at 6:16 PM on Sun, Sep 23, 2012: "Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back everything is different" #CSLewis (https://twitter.com/CSLewisU/status/250010815221080064) Get the official Twitter app at https://twitter.com/download

A Simple Kindness

“You got any cans in there?!” That was the call I heard as I dumped a trash bag in the dumpster behind the church. I turned and saw a man I assumed to be a little older than myself. He was at another dumpster down the alley looking for aluminum to recycle. He was trying to get enough together so he could afford to do his laundry.

It was Sunday morning. I was running a little behind for the Men’s Prayer Breakfast. “No,” I said, "just trash."

“I like to get ‘em before they get buried and nasty if I can,” he said back. “I’m going to have to wait on laundry until Monday, maybe Tuesday, because I can’t get money for these until the recycling place opens up in the morning.”

“Have you eaten breakfast?” I asked. “We’re having a breakfast right here at the church. It should be just about ready. You are more than welcome. Come and join me.”

“I’d have to come like this. Everything else I have is dirtier than this, and I’ve been digging in the dumpsters this morning. I wouldn’t want to offend anyone.”

“You are fine. Jesus doesn’t have a dress code that I know of,” I replied.

“Well, that’s mighty nice of you,” he replied. “Most people are nice, or at least try to be. You know, there’s somebody in these apartments here who pulls out all their aluminum cans and hangs them on the corner of the dumpster here so I don’t have to crawl in here after ‘em. Now that’s nice; isn’t it? It’s like a little angel taking care of me, making life just a bit easier.”

“That is VERY thoughtful,” I replied.

Well, my new friend came and ate breakfast with the men of First Presbyterian Church. He finished his breakfast and went to complete his rounds so he could do his laundry with the money he found that we threw away. I have thought about him in the days since that morning, but I haven’t seen him around. I have thought about him and the world he is a part of, one that is so different from mine.

I have thought even more about the kind soul, anonymous still, who every week separates out their cans, not for their own benefit, but to make life just a little bit easier for my breakfast friend.

And so, whoever you are in the apartments across from the post office here in Ennis, if you are reading this, know that you are someone’s angel, that your kind gesture is noted and appreciated. I hope you are blessed, for God has certainly used you to bless someone else.

Whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink, because ye are Christ's, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

Mark 9:41 ASV

Pastor Craig

Are You Progressive?

 We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.

C. S. Lewis

Yes, it is called progressive. It is also called, on the spiritual road at least, repentance.

What is it that keeps us stubbornly headed down the wrong road travelling towards a destination that is not productive? Why do we do things like this to ourselves?

Admitting we have made such a grievous error and travelled so far down a road in the wrong direction is something that can be difficult to take. We want to be right. However, wouldn’t we be “more right” by admitting we are wrong?

It is amazing that is all God ever asks of us, to recognize and speak out loud, what we already know, then to take the action necessary to get ourselves on the right road traveling the correct direction. God has already provided everything we need to make that happen. All that is necessary is for us to accept the reality of our need for His saving grace.

Some of us have travelled a long time in the wrong direction. That is not a commentary on the “seriousness” of our sin, for every sin is serious. It is more a commentary on how entrenched our wrongness may be without our even realizing it. It has become habit. We assume it is part of who we are. Jesus Christ wants to give us a new identity. He wants to tell us that we are much better than we ever realized. He wants to remind us that we are a child of the King, an heir of all that exists.

With all that said, only one decision remains. Would you rather continue down the road you are currently travelling so you can claim to be the master of your own destiny, or would you rather accept a course correction provided by your Creator and be truly progressive?

 

Pastor Craig

They Don't Come By Themselves!

The story is told about a Rabbi from New York accepting a position in the Deep South. Wanting to make a good impression and get involved in the community, he decided to breakfast at a local coffee shop. He scanned the menu and found an item he was unfamiliar with. “Grits” it said.

He called the waitress over to the table and inquired, “Excuse me, what is a ‘grit’?”

The waitress replied, “Honey, they don’t come by themselves.”

It seems Christians are the same way. We have a hard time growing by ourselves. We like to think we are strong, independent, and faithful. Unfortunately, the truth is that left to our own devices we tend to follow after whatever teaching makes us feel good, agrees with our own point of view, or makes us the least uncomfortable. This is why God called us to form communities of worship called churches. It was His hope that we would be honest, sincere, and transparent with one another because in the church we can experience the same kind of forgiveness that God extends to us.

If only that were true.

It seems the church is one of the places we feel least comfortable being ourselves. We put on a brave face to hide the hurt we feel because our children have abandoned us. We bury the loneliness deep inside because we live alone. We keep our struggles to ourselves because we don’t anyone to know our weak points and our failings. We have been told that doing it that way shows us to be strong. God isn’t in the business of showing us to be strong though. He is entirely interested in showing Himself to be strong in us, through us, and on our behalf. Our pride just won’t let us get out of the way. Imagine how strong God could be in your life if you only gave Him a chance to work on your weaknesses!

Pastor Craig

Lest the Darkness Overtake You!

Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you. (John 12:35)

Your theology must work itself out, exhibiting itself in your most common everyday relationships. You may know all about the doctrine of sanctification, but are you working it out in the everyday issues of your life? Every detail of your life, whether physical, moral, or spiritual, is to be judged and measured by the standard of the atonement by the Cross of Jesus Christ.

From: One Minute Meditations

The Scripture verse from John tells us that we are to be about doing something. It also tells us that we have forces working against us, to stop us, to frustrate us. Time is short and we must be moving. Our salvation is not the destination. It is the beginning of a wonderful adventure.

Christianity is not an acknowledgment of Jesus Christ; it is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Everything about us rests in the hands of our Creator. It has always been there, even before we began our life as a Christian. We just never realized it.

The rest of our life is a race to the finish line. The writer of Hebrews describes it as a race run before all of our ancestors in the faith. They are looking on, cheering us towards the finish. We should perform at our best. Hebrews 13 tells us to throw aside, even as we are running the race, anything, absolutely anything that would slow us down and allow the darkness to overtake us.

The Scriptures assure us we can never be snatched from the hand of our Savior. However, some of us live as though we intend to put that promise to the test. We seem to throw ourselves in front of temptation at every opportunity. It seems as though we seldom gain victory over it and never run from it.

Walk! While the path is visible, while the guide is with you, while and where the light shines, Walk! No, Run, because at the end of that path is your Father in Heaven and lining the path are the saints who have gone before.

Pastor Craig

Missed Opportunities

From Great Expectations

Pip, dear old chap, life is made of ever so many partings welded together, as I may say, and one man's a blacksmith, and one's a whitesmith, and one's a goldsmith, and one's a coppersmith. Divisions among such must come, and must be met as they come. If there's been any fault at all to-day, it's mine. You and me is not two figures to be together in London; nor yet any wheres else but what is private, and beknown, and understood among friends. It ain't that I am proud, but that I want to be right, as you shall never see me no more in these clothes I'm wrong in these clothes. I'm wrong out of the forge, the kitchen, or off th' marshes. You won't find so much fault in me if you think of me in my forge-dress, with my hammer in my hand, or even my pipe. You won't find half so much fault in me if, supposing as you should ever wish to see me, you come and put your head in at the forge-window and see Joe the blacksmith there at the old anvil, in the old burned apron, at the old work, as he used to be when he first carried you about. I'm awful dull, but I hope I've beat out something night the rights of this at last. And so God bless you, dear old Pip; old chap, God bless you!

I had not been mistaken in my fancy that there was a simple dignity in him. The fashion of his dress could no more come in its way when he spoke these words that it could come in its way in heaven. He touched me gently on the forehead and went out. As soon as I could recover myself sufficiently I ran out after him and looked for him in the neighboring streets; but he was gone.

Becoming Entirely His

Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the outward expression of that relationship must also be right. Ultimately, God will allow nothing to escape; every detail of our lives us under His scrutiny. He never tires of bringing us back to that point until we learn the lesson, because His purpose it to produce the finished product.

His wonderful work in us makes us know that overall we are right with Him. Whatever it may be, God will point it out with persistence until we become entirely His.[1]

But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:4

Becoming Entirely His - Have you ever felt like you have been traveling your life in circles, a certain sense of Déjà vu? Well, according to the passage above, maybe you have been doing exactly that. You see, God will not give up on you. In school, you may have been able to get away with the phrase, “I can’t. I’m not smart enough.” He will not accept anything less than your very best, and He will keep bringing you back to the classroom until you do your homework the way He knows you can.

The very fact that God would “send you around again” shows how much He loves you. He is not willing to leave you incomplete to face the tests life has to offer. He will not send you into the battle only partly equipped or prepared. He will indeed continue His work in you until it is fully accomplished. It stands to reason that this work will be completed at a much earlier date, and we will enjoy the benefits of it for a longer portion of our life, if we will but yield to it and allow His Spirit access to ever corner and closet of our lives!

Pastor Craig

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[1] One-Minute Meditations

The Cookie Lady

My guess is that few if any of you read about the passing of June Curry on July 16^th. She lived in Afton, Virginia, and on a summer day in 1976 she noticed a group of bicycles outside her home. When she went out to offer them some water and a few of her homemade cookies she was just being herself. She had no idea that her house was on Bike Route (BR)1, just a few miles from mile marker #1 on  the new TransAmerica Trail. Nor did she know that these cyclists were among the very first to use this route to cycle from the Atlantic ocean all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

In the last 46 years of her life she became known by all coast-to-coast cyclists as The Cookie Lady. She purchased a building adjacent to her home and converted it into the “Bike House.” She stocked it with free water and an endless supply of her homemade cookies.

The Bike House became the destination for cyclists coming from the west coast and the jumping off place for cyclists beginning on the east coast. During her 46 years at the Bike House she became one of the most well-known advocates for cycling even though she never cycled a mile of the trail herself. She hosted tens of thousands of cyclists, baked more than a hundred-thousand cookies, and turned the Bike House into the National Trail Museum.

Water, cookies, and kindness. So simple. Jesus asked us to provide a cup of water given in his name (Mark 9:41). June Curry simply added cookies. An act of kindness became a vision of purpose that touched an untold number of lives.

Some missionaries are called to travel to the ends of the earth. Others are called to carry a glass of water to the sidewalk right outside their own front door. Each one is a valuable part of the ministry of the kingdom of God. Each one meets the need of an individual. Each one touches the heart, even as they help the body.

While I am a huge advocate of mission trips, First Presbyterian has been to Reynosa, MX, New Orleans, LA, and Joplin, MO in the last 10 years, we must never pass up the opportunity to minister right on our doorstep. There are times God calls us to go to the farthest parts of the globe. Then, there are those marvelous moments, if we will seize them, when God brings the farthest parts of the globe to knock on our own front door!

Pastor Craig

Unhindered

The teachings of Jesus are all out of proportion when compared to our natural way of looking at things, and they come to us initially with astonishing discomfort. We gradually have to conform our walk and conversation to the precepts of Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit applies them to our circumstances. The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of rules and regulations – it is a picture of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is having His unhindered way with us.

                        One-Minute Meditations

Yes, I’m afraid it’s true. We are not born with a heart for Jesus Christ. We are born with a heart only for ourselves. We want what we want, and we want it when we want it.

We tend to compare our benevolent actions to what is acceptable or expected from our community. God uses a different standard. We tend to give or serve to alleviate a sense of guilt. Christ just calls us to give and serve, sometimes out of love, other times just because, and yet other times with no discernible reason other than it is what He calls us to do.

The call of Christ comes upon us at the most inconvenient times and in the most inconvenient places. We are in a rush and a person who needs a meal seems to come out of nowhere. We are headed home after a busy day and someone, maybe even a close friend, is in need of our ears to hear, our shoulder to rest upon, and our arms to hold them.

If we find ourselves comfortable in the Christian walk we may need to listen more closely to some of God’s more challenging passages from His Word.  We tend to pass off Jesus’ command to the rich young ruler to “Go, sell everything you have, give it all to the poor, and come and follow Me” as intended for that young man alone. We fail to hear the call of Christ that we should live more simply, that we are the ones who should set aside much of what we have in order that we might give to others. Instead, we wait for our fun to be exhausted and end up giving what is left of our time, strength, and goods.

It is a fearsome thing to tell God that he can have “His unhindered way with us!”

Pastor Craig