My Thoughts on the Recent Duck Dynasty Controversy

I have been intrigued by the recent controversy caused by Duck Commander, Phil Robertson’s comments on sinfulness. I must confess that I am a fan of the show, Duck Dynasty; I find it charming and entertaining. I'll also be honest and say that some of the things that are said and done on the show can make me a bit uncomfortable, but I know it’s entertainment and I do not turn to the Robertson clan...as nice and famous as they might be...for advice, wisdom, moral authority, and spiritual instruction, because quite frankly, that is not the show’s purpose. The purpose of the show is to entertain and make money for the A&E network and the Duck Commander brand.

The Bible tells us that none of us are righteous (Romans 3:9). The Bible also tells us that God loves the world so much that He sent Jesus to save the world and not condemn it (John 3:16-18). And then there’s this, “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). 

Sinners…all of us…people of faith and otherwise…we are all sinners. Some really good news is that even though we’re sinners, God doesn’t cast us out or throw us away; instead, He chooses to work in, with, for, and through us. God does this even in spite of us and our bent toward sinning. 

Something I have learned along the way is that God can work through our own sinfulness for the sake of His glory. I know the Lord has turned some of the muck of my life into something, and for that, I’m thankful! God has used my mistakes to keep me humble. God has used my mistakes to help me learn. God has used my mistakes to give me a witness, opportunity, and platform that declares God loves me in spite of myself. And God has used my mistakes to help me realize that He does indeed love me enough to save me when I deserve the exact opposite. 

I am watching what my friends on both sides of this Duck Dynasty issue are saying about this controversy. In my opinion, it isn’t a free speech issue, and it isn’t really an expression of faith issue. To me, this is a humanity issue! God doesn’t want anyone dehumanized; in fact, God embodied this in Jesus by becoming human Himself to show us the way to live and love in God’s world (Philippians 2:1-11, John 14:6). 

Phil Robertson, while speaking categorically about sin, took the bait from GQ and began categorizing sinfulness. In Matthew 23:13, Jesus took on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees who in their attempt to preserve and protect the Kingdom of God were blocking out the very ones who needed it most! Lest we forget, Jesus told us that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him, and He has charged us to go out and promote the Kingdom.

One of the tools of our enemy, the deceiver, is to cast believers in a poor light in order to discredit the entire lot. I’m not a fan of the comments made by Robertson, but I am a fan of his freedom to share them. I’m also no fan of the hysteria from both sides of the debate. If we are going to combat the techniques of the evil one, and point others to God, then love is the only useful tool in our arsenal. 

I have had a number of Facebook friends invite me to either join in the boycott of Duck Dynasty or to “Stand with Phil”. After some thought, I have decided to do neither, but to stand with Christ who tells us not to judge or condemn or risk the same treatment in kind (Luke 6:37). I want to love God and love others, regardless what “category” they might belong. After all, this is what I want and need at the core of my being, and if the Golden Rule has taught me anything, I need to treat others according to the way I want to be treated (Matthew 7:12).

Remember, God’s love came to us in Christ in the midst of our darkness and sinfulness. Through His love, God decided to save us. May we resist the temptation to dehumanize others in their sinfulness – specifically the categories with which we don’t agree or like – as we remember that God has saved us from our own. And just as Jesus came for all people, may we love others as Jesus has taught us, so everyone can know of the love and grace of God Almighty!

Merry Christmas,

Mark

A Christmas Miracle!

During our stewardship campaign in the month of October, we adopted the Liberdade United Methodist Church for our Miracles for Mozambique outreach project. Throughout the campaign, we asked people in our church and community to help provide gifts of Bibles and hymnals to the church. We set a goal of $200, which we estimated would purchase approximately 200 Bibles and hymnals. Thanks to the generosity of this wonderful congregation, over $2,700 was raised, shattering our goal, and increasing our miraculous outreach to Mozambique!

Last week, I received an email message from Rev. Sambo from Liberdade UMC about our gift. I want to share that note with you.

Dear Pastor Jordan,

Greetings from me and from Liberdade UMC. We are doing fine here and very grateful for working/partnering together in the making of Disciples for Christ. When the idea of Miracles for Mozambique started, I just thought of BIG possibilities and of open hearts and minds to sustain this project. My family and I started praying for Miracles for Mozambique.

Upon the Press Release in the local News in Atlanta, the congregation was thrilled and I said, lets pray that this Miracles for Mozambique's dream come true. Soon after the Press Release, I shared the good news with my Bishop here. She was also excited about hearing that people of God from overseas are partnering with a Congregation in Mozambique. She said: "Rev Sambo, lets pray with thankful hearts because while we journey in faith and ministry, God uses people as His hands and feet to help the need". Our bishop was right and I never doubted on her. The dream "Miracles for Mozambique" is coming true.

I have ordered the Bibles and Hymnals. I will have them Monday, and this will enable us distribute them to our Congregation before Christmas. It's going to be a wonderful Christmas Gift to our Congregation. I am excited about that day. Certainly, certainly we'll make sure we document that through pictures taking to share with you.

This Sunday Dec 15, we'll announce the Bibles and Hymnals' distribution for Sunday Dec 22. Our calculations will enable us purchase more than 200 Bibles and 150 Hymnals. Like I said, the order has been made and will be collected Monday.

Dr Mark, please, convey our gratitude and greet the Cokes Chapel UMC members. Inform them, their generous donations will continue to change and transform people's lives and expands the kingdom of God in Mozambique. You are a blessing to Liberdade Community in Mozambique Conference.

Yours,

In the same vineyard,

Rev. Joao Sambo

Friends, it warms my heart and blows me away that this project coalesces at Christmas! It is during this season that we celebrate GOD’s sending Jesus, the living Word of GOD, to us to light our path and show us the way. Consider John 1.14: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (NIV) I also love how it is stated in The Message version: “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” And since we know Jesus as the Word of GOD, our church…here in Sharpsburg, Georgia…is generously giving the gift of Jesus to a church half-a-world-away! Isn’t it amazing how GOD works?

Friends, I hope as we prepare for next week’s Christmas Eve services, you will add an extra mention in your prayers for our brothers and sisters in Mozambique. I know as I think about the literal shelves of Bibles I have in my office and at home how blessed I am, but the thought that someone might hold a Bible for the first time in his/her entire life, thanks to the generosity of this church, fills my heart with all kinds of Christmas joy!

As Pastor Sambo said, we are all “in the same vineyard”! May our joy be complete this Christmas knowing that something as simple as placing a dollar or two in a treasure chest over a month ago is helping to bring the Word of GOD to people across the world. Thanks for being the church. Thanks for living out your ministry of generosity. And thanks for being part of the miracle…the Christmas miracle!

The Intersection of Hope & Fear

I love Christmas music; always have. It is not uncommon for me to pull out some of my favorite recordings even in the middle of the summer when it is time for me to begin thinking about planning for Advent and Christmas. Nothing quite gets me in the mood like my favorite Christmas carols and songs. But something happened a couple weeks ago that caught me off guard.

I was driving home from a church function right after Thanksgiving. Just before I got to the house, one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs, O Little Town Of Bethlehem, began playing. When I pulled into the garage, I sat back and allowed the words to waft into my heart like the aroma of fresh coffee first thing in the morning. As I listened, one line in particular gave a jolt I was not expecting.

There is a line in the song that goes, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” Hopes and fears; quite an interesting dichotomy, isn’t it? There is very little that separates a hope and a fear. They both live in the future and are shrouded by uncertainty. We all hope for something, but all too often fear creeps in. The “what ifs?” of life seem almost deafening compared to our dreams. Success vs. failure; blessings vs. breakdowns; determination vs. disappointment; when all we want is to succeed. In the baby Jesus, God meets us at the intersection of hope and fear and empowers us to go His direction. Also, in the baby Jesus, we find hope because we find love—a perfect love! And as the good book tells us, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…” (1 John 4.18)

Secondly, when the song says “of all the years,” it can only mean eternity. From the fall of Adam and Eve, God set a plan in motion to break the power of sin and redeem His beloved children. That plan was none other than Jesus lying in his manger bed to one day lead the way to God and eternal life. All of our hopes for a promising future and our fears of dread for a dead-end future collided in the coos of a little boy.

The prophet Jeremiah records the words of God as telling His lost and hopeless people, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” (Jeremiah 29.11, NIV, emphasis mine) It has always been God’s plan to give us hope and a future, but our own fear of failure clouds our vision.

It was certainly a moment that has given me renewed vigor and vision for this Advent and upcoming Christmas season. I hope that as you see the sights and hear the music of Christmas, you will see the tiny face, hands, and toes of the little Christ child born to set us free. We all hope for a better tomorrow and often fear the worst. But Jesus is God’s gift of love…a great and wonderful gift.

So this Christmas above all others, may you find in the manger and in your heart God’s gift and promise for hope and a future, knowing love drives out fear! Just as He did on that very first Christmas, God has come to stand at the intersection of our hopes and fears to show us the way, the truth, and the life…His way! So as we get ever closer to this Christmas, may you be blessed by His gift of love and find Him again, right in the middle of your (new) life!

Advent

I got a special gift in the mail the other day; it was from my mom and was actually shipped from her house in Canada before she came home. What is this gift? Well, I’m glad you asked…it is a chocolate Advent calendar!

The chocolate Advent calendar was an annual tradition in the Jordan household. Mom would always buy the family one toward the end of November so we were ready once December 1st arrived. And what was particularly fun for me, having a December birthday and all, was setting up the order in which my brother, sister, and I got to open the windows and reveal the daily treat. I always got to open it on my birthday, so Greg and Kate got to take turns kicking off the month. As the days would pass, and the calendar would become emptier and emptier, we could literally feel the building anticipation of Christmas! After all, isn’t this the purpose of the Advent calendar, and by virtue, Advent itself?

This past Sunday began the season of Advent. Advent is the season of preparation, including four Sundays, that helps us get ready for Christmas. Many churches hold a service of preparation for Christ's coming, which includes hanging greenery traditionally associated with everlasting life. Greens such as cedar for royalty, fir and pine boughs for everlasting life, holly symbolizing Jesus' death and ivy representing the resurrection are used (from www.umc.org). We had more of a festive approach to the traditional Hanging of the Greens as we gathered last Saturday to decorate our facilities and then shared in a potluck chili lunch. It was a lot of fun transforming our worship spaces and chowing down together!

The term, Advent, comes from the Latin, adventus, which literally means, coming. It is during this season when we commemorate the first coming of the Messiah in the Christ child while looking forward to the second coming of Jesus and the complete institution of the Reign of GOD. It is a season of excitement, anticipation, and focusing on the adventure of a life lived in GOD!

Advent is not Christmas, even though culturally we see a lot of bleed-over. Before the Halloween jack-o-lanterns are even been carved,  Christmas decorations tend to appear in our favorite retail outlets and festive music begins to hit the airwaves. We tend to get so inundated with the approaching holidays, that by the time the Thanksgiving turkeys are ready for dinner, the Christmas season has already begun. Then, once December 26^th arrives, we are so over Christmas that we are ready to put away our decorations and the stores are trying to prepare us for Valentine’s Day. The problem is, by then we have just entered into the Christmas season and are to begin celebrating GOD’s gift of Jesus to us. When you think about it, it really is sad.

The Church really wants us to be more intentional about our preparation for Christmas, hence the season of Advent. Advent is designed to help us strategically connect the miracle of Christmas to our everyday lives. This way, by the time the big day has arrived, the excitement and anticipation has built to a fever pitch that we are so ready for the celebration we do not want it to end! So as we go through these four weeks of Advent, we will focus on the hope, peace, joy, and love of GOD so that we are almost ready to burst with the excitement and anticipation that comes with Christmas. Thinking of it this way, Advent should be much more like an adventure than the motions through which we go to mark off the days of a calendar.

I hope you will make every effort to be part of this adventure as we prepare for the glory of Christmas! We have a bevy of fun and worshipful events to help us prepare for Christmas, culminating in our Christmas Eve Candlelight and Communion services at 7pm (contemporary) and 9pm (traditional).

When GOD came in Jesus, everything else was different forever. It was a miraculous event that still causes miracles today. So come, partake of the sweetness of this special season, and make a point to connect the miracle of Christmas for someone else, introducing them to the love and light of GOD in Christ Jesus this Advent and beyond!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is Thanksgiving morning. Sportakiss the elf is once again on the shelf; I'm surrounded by Tiff, Ethan, and our fur babies; biscuits for breakfast are in the oven; cup-o-coffee is in my favorite mug; the Macy's parade is on the TV (in HD, no less); we're getting ready to head to mom's for a Thanksgiving feast that will be so grand she called to tell me to bring my own to-go containers; I get to spend the holiday with my brother, sister, and all my nieces and nephews; I'm taking a quick peek at facebook and see lots of thankfulness; and everywhere I turn I am made aware of the power of God's love that not just directs my life, but shapes it. Yes indeed, there is a lot for which to be thankful! So know how thankful I am for all of my friends, my family, my church peeps, my Savior, and yes, even the challenges that cause me to grow stronger and stronger. 

May you have a blessed Thanksgiving Day as you pause, identify, and reflect over the many things for which you have to be thankful! And as you celebrate, remember those who are serving our country; protecting and caring for our communities; are working today to make our lives safer, easier and/or more convenient; and especially for those who spend this holiday missing a loved one.

Happy Thanksgiving, my friends!

(This was originally a Facebook post from Thanksgiving morning -- 11/28/13 -- that I wanted to post on my separate blog)

Are You Thankful?

I have a pastor friend who occasionally takes a unique approach to offering a blessing before a meal. Instead of asking everyone to bow their heads and then offering a prayer, this pastor will intentionally look each person in the eye and ask, “Are you thankful?”

The first time I experienced this, I must admit that it caught me off guard; for my entire life, I either bowed my head and sang the children’s prayer, “Thank You, Father,” said the “God is Great, God is Good…” prayer, or shared in a spoken prayer either memorized or extemporaneous. Needless to say, expressing thanks for a meal in this fashion was unique for me. And you know what? That’s a good thing!

It is easy for us to get into routines with the way we offer thanks, and if we aren’t careful, we begin to take for granted the things for which we truly should be thankful! There are times when some unconventional ways to express gratitude are just what we need to help us remember how grateful we should be for all that we have.

I have read a couple articles recently that take another unique approach to helping people consider their gratitude for the blessings of life. The articles present a hypothetical idea that if tomorrow you woke up and were only able to experience the blessings for which you give thanks today, what would you have? Poignant question.

During this Thanksgiving season, many of us will take the time to express our gratitude for the blessings in life. Perhaps around a dinner table tomorrow, we will take turns sharing the things for which we are thankful. We will undoubtedly share things like friends, family, food, health, employment, God, grace, Jesus, and the like, and we should! This is precisely why we need holidays like thanksgiving, so we can pause, identify, and reflect over the blessings we have in life. But imagine what tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day, would be like if you were only able to experience the things for which you give thanks today! What would you have? What would you miss?

I don’t know about you, but this idea has really challenged me to be more thankful on a daily basis for the multitude of blessings in my life. And as I gather with my family tomorrow for our traditional Thanksgiving feast, and am pressed into service for offering the blessing (after all, it is what I get paid to do, as a dear sibling once said with a wink and a smile) I think I might just take a page out of my pastor-friend’s book and offer a non-traditional way to begin our meal and ask all who are gathered there, “Are you thankful?”

But you know what? Why wait until tomorrow? I truly am thankful for my life and all the blessings I enjoy – those that bring me comfort as well as those challenges that cause me to grow – so I am going to give thanks today for those things and not wait until tomorrow!

Are you thankful? I know I am.

May God bless you and Happy Thanksgiving!

From Thanksgiving to Thankful Living

We are barely a week away from Thanksgiving…can you believe it?! It is as though I can feel the power of the holiday beckoning me, calling me forward, as a way to remind me not just who I am, but whose I am!

Even though our Thanksgiving holiday is purely American, the notion of giving thanks for our blessings is not. Throughout history, God has called us to pause, identify, and reflect over the many blessings in life. So as we prepare for our Thanksgiving holiday next week, I hope you are getting ready to pause, identify, and reflect over your many blessings.

Speaking of these blessings, I read a quote that gave me pause. W.T. Purkiser once wrote:

Not what we say about our blessings,
but how we use them,
is the true measure of our Thanksgiving.

I love that quote, because it bears the active nature of what should be our Thanksgiving celebration. It isn’t merely about a couple days off from work or school, a giant meal with a turkey cooked by the FOCUS Youth as a centerpiece, or football games galore, but it is about recognizing the blessings in life and doing something with them…not taking them for granted, but allowing them to help us shape the way we serve, share, and shine for the Lord! This view of Thanksgiving should take root in our lives as thankful living.

As we prepare for next week’s holiday, how are you preparing to measure your own Thanksgiving? It is certainly appropriate to pause, identify, and reflect over all God and others have done for us, but consider how you might do something with those blessings for God and others as well. When you do this, your thanksgiving truly shapes your living. Consider the words of Apostle Paul from Colossians 2.6-7:

My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving. (The Message)

It is my heartfelt prayer that you have a blessed and marvelous Thanksgiving! It is also my heartfelt prayer that your thanksgiving spills over into thankful living as you pause, identify, and reflect over your blessings, and then do something with them to make a difference in the world for God and in the lives of others!

Momentum

I am a big sports fan. One of the things that makes watching a sporting event so exciting is momentum. Momentum is what you can consider an intangible part of the game, but when watching or playing, momentum is palpable. When your favorite athlete or team is doing well, you can feel the momentum build…it draws you to the edge of your seat, gets you to your feet, and helps you cheer a little louder. When your favorite athlete or team isn’t doing as well, you also can feel the momentum wane…you sit back, your heart races, and you fear the worst. Professional golfer, Rocco Mediate, once said, “As any athlete knows, momentum is the most unstoppable force in sports. The only way to stop it is if you get in your own way, start making stupid mistakes or stop believing in yourself.” Momentum might be an intangible, but when it shifts, it really is palpable!

Momentum isn’t just evident in sports, but in many aspects of life; and yes, this even includes the church. We experience momentum when we see vision realized, missions accomplished, and lives turned toward the Lord. When faced with momentum challenges in our lives and church, remembering the Great Commandments – to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12.30-31) – and the Great Commission – go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything [Jesus] commanded (Matthew 28.19-20) – is essential!

There is a great story in the book of Acts that speaks to me about momentum in this sense. It occurs in Acts 9 when Saul of Tarsus was blinded and convicted by Jesus, then converted to become the Apostle Paul, the greatest Christian missionary of all time. Before he was Paul, Saul of Tarsus was an enemy to Christianity. He was devoted to seeking out followers of Jesus and putting an end to them. As a result, people were afraid of him, and rightfully so. But as Jesus changed Paul’s heart on the road to Damascus, he sensed a shift in momentum that forever changed his life. This does not mean that everyone was comfortable with life change, but Paul’s encounter with Jesus left him undeterred. Check out this verse: But their suspicions didn’t slow Saul down for even a minute. His momentum was up now and he plowed straight into the opposition, disarming the Damascus Jews and trying to show them that this Jesus was the Messiah. (Acts 9.22, The Message).

As I read that verse, I cannot help but think of football and a running back plowing through the defensive line with his teammates leading the way. Everyone on the offense is unified with one goal: working together to reach the end zone and score the touchdown. And once the running back “breaks the plane,” the culmination of that momentum shift is realized…people jump to their feet, arms raised in the air, and voices cheering in unison. If you think about it with your favorite team about to win the big game, you can almost feel the energy and excitement can’t you?!?!?

We have the opportunity in our daily living to be momentum-builders for others. When we put others’ needs before our own, it can make someone’s day and change someone’s life! Have you seen the story of the Olivet Middle School football team that is going around the Internet right now? It was featured on the CBS evening news; you can watch the 3-minute video below. 

Think about how the selfless acts of those young football players changed the momentum of not only that one child’s life, but everyone’s on the team!

I want to encourage you to build a little momentum for the Lord in your life by pointing people to Jesus. Often times we think it takes big things to accomplish such change, but in reality, we are often moved most by the little things…the simple things. So find someone in your life that needs a little Christian love, serve them and show them the love of our Almighty God! And you never know, it might just be the greatest thing anyone could ever do!

Rescued!

I saw a true story on the news that occurred in California. There was a former US Marine heading out on some errands with his cocker spaniel, Honey, locked in her travel kennel in the back of the car. As the driver was backing out of the driveway, he lost control of the car and plunged into a ravine. The driver was seriously injured and feared the worst. After being pinned in his car for several hours, he grew painfully aware that he might not make it. It was then he knew he needed a miracle.

The driver was able to shift his body in such a way he could free a hand to reach the dog’s kennel. In tremendous pain, the man was able to unlock the kennel and free his dog. As Honey looked curiously at her owner, the man told her to go get help. And off the dog went.

The dog walked for quite a distance until coming upon one of the neighbors. Somehow, the dog conveyed to the neighbor that there was trouble, and in typical Lassie fashion, led the person back to the wreckage and her owner in great peril. The neighbor was able to get help to the former Marine and this story has a happy ending. But what makes this story even more extraordinary is the man had only owned Honey for two weeks after adopting her from a rescue shelter.

What a story. I wish I could know what was running through the minds of the man and dog in the midst of that crisis. Luckily this story ends well with the man and dog even on the rescue scale. But each and every one of us needs to be rescued by One with whom we can never get even on the rescue scale.

The Bible tells us that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3.23) We, therefore, are all in need of rescuing. And in Jesus, God sent us exactly what we need for salvation. In Jesus God gives us the sweet gift of forgiveness for our sins. And we can rest assured that God is actively seeking us out, looking for that one special moment to pluck us from the perils of sin and certain death into life eternal. This might seem like a miracle, but there is no end to the length God will go to save those He loves.

Once we are rescued, we need to start living like it! We need to embrace our salvation and with God’s help avoid the pitfalls of life—you know what they are for you. This brings to mind the word repentance: accepting God’s love in Jesus, turning away from an old sinful life, and not returning to it; living a life of repentance forces us to be aware of our weakness and asking God’s help to keep away from those things that put us in peril. And in every day since our rescue, live according to the love of the One who delivered us from our doom.

Honey the cocker spaniel was well aware of how it felt to be rescued. This motivated her to find help and rescue her owner, playing a major role in the miracle. As people, when we’ve been rescued, we owe it to others to share the life-giving power of a rescue by offering them Christ. And then model a rescued life by not returning to the ruins of our old lives, forever embracing the new world of hope and love before us. In so doing, we become part of the miracle; a miracle that forever changes life and provides the hope necessary to live anew for the LORD.

“God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons.
He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much,
the Son who got us out of the pit we were in,
 got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.”
(Colossians 1.13-14, The Message)

The Cycle of Generosity

We just completed  our Abundant Joy campaign! I have heard a lot of very positive feedback, and I couldn’t agree more! The purpose of the campaign was to help encourage and empower us to be generous with our lives, and as a result, experience the abundance of God’s amazing love. As we considered ways to holistically give our lives to God in this series, we explored:

-          Giving God our time: devoting our day to the Lord so He can guide us;

-          Giving God our worship: we are going to worship something, so we need to give our worship to the ONE who truly deserves it;

-          Giving God our service: we each have been blessed with talents and spiritual gifts to use in GOD’s kingdom;

-          Giving God our Generosity: using our financial resources to bless others and point them to God.

Of course, if you missed any of the messages in this series, you can watch them on our web site by clicking here: http://www.cokeschapel.org/sermons4.html.

This past Sunday, as we brought our series to a close, I talked about what I call the cycle of generosity. As we think about generosity in our personal and corporate lives in the church, understanding this cycle is important: all of our resources come from God and God wants us to use our blessings to help and connect with others, enabling us to introduce them to God. This reminds me of the great quote by William Barclay, “What is needed in this world more than anything else is something which will link a man to his fellow men.” This cycle is captured in Paul’s writing to the Romans:

Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It’s way over our heads. We’ll never figure it out. Is there anyone around who can explain God? Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do? Anyone who has done him such a huge favor that God has to ask his advice? Everything comes from him; everything happens through him; everything ends up in him. Always glory! Always praise! Yes. Yes. Yes. (Romans 11.33-36, The Message, emphasis mine)

I am so grateful for…and continued to be amazed by…the generosity of this church! Throughout the series we celebrated the various ministries that help us connect with others and point them to God. From our daily ministry in the church, community, and Childcare Center to our special offering for the Bibles and hymnals to go to Mozambique (we raised over $2,700, shattering our goal, meaning we’ll be able to provide a combination of 270 Bibles and hymnals to the Liberdade United Methodist Church!!!), the generosity of individuals and families has enabled our church to be generous for the purpose of changing the world, beginning in our own back yard. And friends, let me tell you, God is blessing this! Hearts are being touched and lives are being changed in our midst by the light and love of God in Christ Jesus! And isn’t this what it’s all about anyway?

I want to thank everyone who has so far given a commitment card for your estimate of giving to God’s ministry through the church. The preliminary reports from the first Sunday of receiving the commitment cards is really encouraging! So far, we have received 36 cards pledging $163,000 to the Lord! I also want to thank those who are still prayerfully considering what they will give. We will be collecting these cards the next couple of Sundays (though we can really take them at any time), so there are still opportunities to share these estimate of giving cards as an act of worship in one of our services. Of course, if you cannot make it to worship, please feel free to contact Velda Graydon or the church office and we will do everything we can to help in your own personal ministry of generosity.

I am going to sign-off this week with a Proverb that has helped guide our campaign and messages over the past month. May this Proverb help us all remember what is we are called to do; who it is we are called to serve; and how we fit into God’s plan for bringing hope and help to the world!

The world of the generous gets larger and larger;

the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.

The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed;

those who help others are helped.

(Prov.11.24-25, The Message, emphasis mine)

Amen, I Needed this Today...

“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment.

“Don’t condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you’ll find life a lot easier.

“Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.”

~ Jesus, from Luke 6:37-38 (The Message)

Money Management

We don’t like to talk about money, and contrary to what many people think or believe, most pastors (me included) dread talking about it in worship. But it is such a hot-button issue since most of our lives revolve around the acquiring and spending of money. This being the case, GOD expects us to wrestle with it. Money issues have the propensity to rise above all of our other life issues, and they can contribute to them all – relationship problems, stress/worry/anxiety, and time management problems. For this reason, the Bible has a lot to say about money, wealth, and the way we either manage it or allow it to manage us. Consider this:

• ·        There are approximately 700 verses on prayer
• ·        There are approximately 600 verses on faith
• ·        There are 2320 verses on money and wealth
• ·        And 2/3 of Jesus’ parables deal specifically with money, wealth, and possessions!

The Bible offers us three (among many) cautions about how we are to approach money and wealth. Before moving on to money management, let’s consider them:

• ·        Idolatry: idolatry is giving something god-like status in our lives that is NOT GOD. The first of the 10 Commandments says: You shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3)

·        Envy: we get envious or jealous about what others have, thinking we deserve it. The last of the 10 Commandments says: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor (Exodus 20:17)

• ·        Distraction: we can lose sight of what is truly important when money occupies a disproportionate spot in our lives. Paul wrote, “The love of money causes all kinds of trouble. Some people want money so much that they have given up their faith and caused themselves a lot of pain. (1 Timothy 6:10)

Think about your own life…I am sure that you can see how all three of these cautions have proven to be tricky for you and the way you either (a) manage your money, or (b) allow your money to manage you.

Considering these three cautions, ultimately, we must make sure that we are worshipping GOD with our whole lives. Jesus spoke about this in the Sermon on the Mount:

“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have! You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.” (Matthew 6.19-24, MSG)

I love how Jesus talked about the peril of greed causing us to be squinty-eyed and live in a dank cellar. Since we are about trying to find the living room that comes from the abundant life Jesus came to give (John 10:10b), we must realize that worshipping stuff will get us nowhere, while worshipping GOD opens our eyes to the true treasure of living. And since our worship of GOD does include the way we use our resources, we need to make sure we make use of our money in a way that is consistent with GOD’s plan for abundant life.  Here is a top-ten list, with scripture references, that can help you keep your worship for GOD versus worshipping stuff:

1.      Everything belongs to GOD: Everything belongs to God, and all things were created by his power.  (Heb.2:10)

2.      GOD creates wealth: But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. (Deut.8:18)

3.      Give thanks to GOD for your wealth: This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord. (Jer.9:23-24)

4.      Save for your children’s inheritance: If you obey God, you will have something to leave your grandchildren. If you don’t obey God, those who live right will get what you leave. (Prov.13:22)

5.      Get out of debt in order to be free: The poor are ruled by the rich, and those who borrow are slaves of moneylenders. (Prov.22:7)

6.      Guard against greed: “Jesus said to the crowd, ‘Don’t be greedy! Owning a lot of things won’t make your life safe.’” (Luke 12:15)

7.      Money in-and-of itself isn’t evil, but loving it more than GOD is: The love of money causes all kinds of trouble. Some people want money so much that they have given up their faith and caused themselves a lot of pain. (1 Tim.6:10)

8.      Put GOD before money: You cannot be the slave of two masters! You will like one more than the other or be more loyal to one than the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (Matt.6:24)

9.      Count the cost of your spending: Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. What is the first thing you will do? Won’t you sit down and figure out how much it will cost and if you have enough money to pay for it? (Luke 14:28)

10.  Give back to GOD: Honor the Lord by giving Him your money and the first part of all your crops. (Prov.3:9)

Though it might seem counterintuitive, the last point on that list – giving back to GOD – is the Lord’s ultimate plan for how we are to manage our money. This leads me to the fourth and final key to our living room: generosity! GOD knows that we are inclined to be stingy or greedy with our possessions, so generosity is the solution to stinginess and greediness.

Giving and generosity is part of our individual and corporate worship. As individuals, we are called to give, and as a church we are called to do the same. This is part of our all-encompassing mission statement to make new and better followers of Jesus Christ to help transform the world! Our generosity changes us, individually AND as a church, so we can help others see how good GOD is.

The standard for giving in the Bible is the tithe. The tithe, or 10% giving off the top of our gross income, was what was used to support the ministry of the Temple, the priests and servants in the Temple, as well as the needs of the poor. In fact, those who took the tithe so legalistically were even known to give one out of every ten leaves from a plant or bush! They never wanted to be accused of not giving GOD His due.

The tithe was indeed the standard for giving, but somewhere along the way we lost sight of that standard. Nowadays, we look at the tithe as a goal as opposed to the standard. According to one study, the average committed Christian gives 2.58% of his/her income to the work of the Lord…this is a far cry from 10%, and churches all over are living with the implications. GOD knows we can struggle with our ministry of generosity, so He allows us to test Him in this one regard, and this one regard only. Check out Malachi 3:8-10:

“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

This is a challenging thought to be sure…no doubt about it…but generosity is GOD’s solution to the peril of greediness and stinginess. I know it isn’t something that’s fun and easy to think about, because giving can be hard. I think to when I was a child and needed to tithe off my $2 allowance and 20-cents wasn’t a big deal. But as I have gotten older, and the numbers have gotten larger, I tend to think about all the things I could do with that check that we write to the church. And I will be honest – there have been times when I have gotten squinty-eyed and not followed-though in my ministry of generosity as I should have. But as our family considers our need to be generous, we once again are striving to be generous based on GOD’s standard of the tithe.

As I close out the themes from this Living Room series, I want to leave you with this one last verse. Check out Proverbs 11.24-25:

The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped.

May we all be in serious prayerful contemplation about your own personal ministry of generosity!

Have a great week!

Pastor Mark 

Time Management

This past Sunday we had the third installment of our September message series, Living Room: Managing Life so it Doesn't Manage You. This week’s topic was time management.

In our modern society, technology and modern achievements have helped us develop the notion that we have more time. Microwaves help us prepare food in a matter of minutes versus hours. Computers help us with word processing, paying bills, and research in a fraction of the time it took previously. These advancements should help us maximize our time, but in reality, we tend to try to cram more into our already overloaded lives, propagating a cycle of busyness and burnout. This type of living only further closes in on our living room and isn’t what GOD wants for us; after all, GOD sent us Jesus so we can have life and have it abundantly! (John 10:10).

Our Christian faith is one of action; we hear the Lord say things like: come, follow, give, serve, love, share, etc. We also come to know that there are times when the best action the Lord calls us to are things like: rest, recover, listen, be still, etc. In order for us to enjoy the living room that GOD has planned for us, we must realize that balance is essential!

Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that GOD has placed eternity in the human heart, but we cannot understand it. This verse comes right after the lines that remind us we need balance in our lives as it pertains to time management. Read again these words from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace. (NIV)

These verses speak to us of balance, but also about knowing when it is time to do what. This is where our connection to GOD comes in so powerfully! Filling our lives with busyness and distraction only inhibits the necessary time for rest and recovery by being present for GOD. When we make ourselves available to the Lord, then we find the direction and vision we need to be engaged in the world. And making time for GOD helps us make better time with the others He has placed in our lives. We know this to be true, but we also know that the allure and demands of busyness can get in the way, so we need a strategy.

Peter Druker, who is business and management guru, did a study on the most efficient and effective CEOs. What he learned is that these leaders took a different approach to time management than most people. Where some might look first at their schedules to figure out everything that has to do be done in a given period of time, the CEOs tend to look first for their discretionary time, or the time when they have the ability to choose what to do and when. This discretionary time becomes the buffer around which everything else is scheduled. I know that since I learned this, I have been endeavoring to carve out the time I need for my own physical, emotional, and spiritual health (this includes my family time) and then plan the things I have to do for work around those. When I began managing my schedule in this way, I learned there was plenty of time for everything, whereas before, I always felt like time was in too short of supply.

Drucker offered some suggestions, in the form of three questions, that can be extremely helpful in dealing with the tasks that come to us in our non-discretionary time. These questions are:

1)      What would happen if this task were not done at all?

Ø  If the answer is nothing, then don’t do it!

2)      Which of the activities on my schedule could be done by someone else just as well or better?

Ø  Once you know, then delegate!

3)      What do I do that wastes someone else’s time without contributing to their effectiveness?

Ø  Don’t take advantage of others, because you can help them better manage their time, too, without putting any unnecessary pressure on them.

This leads me to the third key for our living room: simplicity! Simplifying our lives and schedules isn’t always easy, but it is always worth it! It is about carving out the time we need to be present with GOD to rest, pray, and recover so we can be present and effective for the people in life who need us.

As we seek the abundant living room that Jesus wants to give, may balance, simplicity, and these simple time management questions help you make the most of your time. You need balance and simplicity when it comes to managing your time, because if you don’t have it, your time will certainly manage you!

Stress Management

I continued our Living Room message series this past Sunday, talking about stress management from a biblical point of view. I got a lot of positive feedback from folks about how helpful the material was, so I thought I’d share the highlights in my weekly blog.

GOD created us to deal with stress. Deep within our hardwiring, we have the “fight or flight” mechanism, which helps prepare us to deal with a stressful stimulus. Within our hardwiring, we have tendencies that drive our natural reaction as well, to either fight or flee. Sometimes we can experience stress when we realize that we need to respond in a way that is contrary to our natural tendencies. For example, if you naturally want to take on a challenge, sometimes it is better to take a step back, assess, and evaluate the situation. On the other hand, if like me, you tend to want to want to withdraw, then perhaps you face a situation where you need to engage a challenge.

Since we all are going to face stress in our life – and not all stress is negative – problems can arise when we begin to project stress into a situation where it might not warrant it. Projecting stress is something that we all do when we try to discern if we are going to need to fight or flee. When we aim to project ourselves into a situation, we are not able to see all of the scenarios, so our minds fill in the blanks with the worst case scenario. As this happens, a cycle of stress is born where we are not only anticipating something stressful, but we are typically stressing over things that might not even happen. This projection of stress creates worry and anxiety.

The words ‘worry’ and ‘anxiety’ carry some unique significance in this concept of living room in the abundant life Jesus came to give (John 10.10). I have said in the past two messages that when life happens, it restricts and constricts our inner world. This is stress. This is worry and anxiety. The etymology of the word ‘worry’ in our Anglo Saxon language means, to choke. And ‘worry’ in the biblical languages means to divide one’s mind. So when we are worrying and experiencing anxiety, our minds are divided and spirits choked. This prevents us from being able to maintain perspective. The cycle continues.

Regarding worry and anxiety, a study revealed the way that we often worry. Check out these statistics:

• 40% of what we worry about never happens 
• 30% of what we worry about has already happened and cannot be changed 
• 22% of what we worry about regards problems which are beyond our control 
• 8% of what we worry about are situations over which we have any influence

Do you find this to be true? I know I do! A simple rule of thumb to remember is the 90/10 rule: life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond.

Since we are all going to experience stress, and we are all going to respond in one way or another, then reason stands that our response to stress is really what makes the difference. When we can learn to respond in a way that is consistent with GOD’s plan of abundant living for us, then we will truly be able to manage stress so it does not manage us. Check out this passage from The Message version of Philippians 4.6-9: Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.” 

As you pray to GOD for assistance in your stressful circumstances, know that Jesus indeed wants to come in and displace worry at the center of your life. Carrying your concerns to GOD and then focusing on His character attributes that are directly opposite to your stressors, worries, and anxiety is a perfect way to experience the relief from a divided and choked off mind. This is also essential in keeping the proper perspective when it comes to dealing with the things in life you can control (8%) versus the things you cannot (92%).

The Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.

(Reinhold Niebuhr, 1943)

The Power of Music

A major rite of passage, at least of sorts, occurred in our home last Friday…Ethan got his saxophone for middle school band. When we went to meet the band director, she encouraged Ethan to play the trumpet, but he was not interested. You see, I was a trumpet player myself, and though he didn’t want to offend me, he wanted his own experience. After some contemplation, he chose the saxophone. With eager anticipation, we ordered him a rental saxophone and waited with baited breath for its delivery.

We got home with the sax on Friday after school, and with all the excitement of a Christmas morning, he unpacked his horn and carefully assembled it. After moistening his reed, he placed it in the mouthpiece and blew, producing a pretty decent tone for his first time. Within a couple hours, and without any formal training, he was playing noticeable parts of the theme song to The Pink Panther and The Streets of Cairo, which you might recognize as the stereotypical snake charming song.

There was a sense of pride Tiffany and I detected in Ethan as he began to get the hang of this new passion. The more he played, the more I could see something happening in him…the music wasn’t just emanating from the horn, it was coming from his soul. I know personally there have been numerous times when I have gotten lost in a powerful song in a worship service, a great concert, while in my car, and even while vacuuming my living room. This brings to life a great quote from Heinrich Heine that attempts to define this transcendental shift, “Where words leave off, music begins.”

Music has a power that penetrates parts of the soul in ways words alone cannot reach; this is the reason we use music in worship services. Once music breaks through some of those inner barriers, the Word of GOD is able work its way deep within and do its transformational work of changing us from the inside out. Sure we may not know, or even like, all the songs we sing in worship, but if we allow worship to do its job, we are preparing ourselves to receive the word of GOD as it is read and proclaimed.

Music is very important in the Bible. Throughout Scripture we see instances where music was used to prepare people for battle, call people for ministry, comfort people in pain, inspire people for great works, and challenge people out of their self-defined comfort zones. Music was, and still is, used in a myriad of ways to help us devote our entire life in worship to GOD! One of my favorite images in all of Scripture comes from Zephaniah 3 when we get a glimpse of how life will be when all of GOD’s people turn back to Him. Then we read verse 17, and it’s one I doubt I could ever reflect over enough, “For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” (Zephaniah 3:17, NLT, emphasis mine)

Friends, this is an image I absolutely love! Think about GOD singing over you and how that heavenly lullaby must sound. Think about the LORD, the Creator of an ever-expanding universe, who wants to cradle and sing songs over you, songs that only He knows! Like Ethan moving into a transcendental state while playing his new saxophone for the first time, I can scarcely imagine the glory of GOD’s singing over me, lovingly calming my fears, and sharing with me His holy gladness.

So next time you hear or sing a powerful song lifted up to GOD, think about GOD also singing over you. Imagine the melody. Imagine the lyrics. And imagine the life-changing power of GOD’s own song, penetrating deep within your soul, changing you from the inside-out. This is the power of music…this is the power of GOD. So let’s lift our lives as songs to the LORD, and listen for the songs being sung over us.