…well, at least we were cleaning up Cedar Springs!
Here are a few photos from our Saturday involvement in the Earth Day cleanup around Cedar Springs. The theme this year was Love The Creek You’re In, and we do ♥ our town. And I ♥ my church for being such loving, serving folks!
We finished The Q Series yesterday morning, but I hope the questions keep on coming. I always love answering questions, and doing it in the open forum like we did was both challenging and fun (at least I had a good time!).
But I also encouraged the Calvary Assembly of God family to keep on asking questions. It’s fine if the questions are directed to me, but the most important questions are the ones we ask of ourselves.
The Holy Spirit makes all of our lives a work-in-progress. This is what is called sanctification. That word really means to make a saint out of us (think of it as saint-ification).
That means He will constantly challenge us with questions that we are wise to answer. Things like:
Over time the answers to these questions will change, as we should all be growing up in our relationship with God (1 Corinthians 13:11; Ephesians 4:15).
The Apostle Paul tells us that we should take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5), because our minds will either be set on natural desires or set on spiritual truths (Romans 8:5).
So don’t tune out the Holy Spirit. Don’t stop asking those maturing questions. Don’t stop growing in your relationship with your Heavenly Father.
Keep on asking, and you’ll keep on growing!
In answering questions that have been submitted for The Q Series, I noticed a recurring trend: How much of our “conventional thought” in church circles is not revelation, but speculation.
Yesterday I had some tough questions on Heaven, Hell, suicide, our resurrected bodies, the after-life, and so on. In answering these questions, I used many passages from the Bible, but I also quoted from Charles Spurgeon, Charles Dickens, and C.S. Lewis. There’s nothing wrong, per se, with quoting from extra-biblical sources, but we have to be very careful what we do with those.
I once heard renowned evangelist C.M. Ward say something like this:
“The Word of God is completely good; you can devour all of it. But reading anything else is like eating chicken. There is some meat that’s good, and there are some bones, and gristle, and fat that you should spit out. Be very careful of what you take in, unless it is the pure Word of God.”
The Bible reveals so much for our lives, and we put ourselves in a place God can bless us when we are obedient to the revelation of His Word. But we put ourselves on shaky ground when we live by speculation of what we think may be truth.
The Apostle Peter said it this way:
For no prophecy ever originated because some man willed it [to do so — it never came by human impulse], but men spoke from God who were borne along (moved and impelled) by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21 AMP)
So whether you are looking for an answer yourself—or you are asking someone for an answer—make sure you are getting revelation from God’s Word, and not the speculation of man’s opinion.
One of the first commands that God gave to Adam and Eve was to work in the Garden of Eden and take care of it (Genesis 2:15). The earth is God’s, but He put mankind here to be stewards of His creation.
That’s why I am pleased that Calvary Assembly of God is going to participate in the Earth Day 2012 cleanup in Cedar Springs. This is a great way for us to show, in a tangible way, that we love our community, and that we want to take care of the environment where we live, work and worship.
If you live in Cedar Springs, please join with us on Saturday, April 28, at 10am. If you live in another community, please consider partnering with a similar cleanup effort in your hometown, or start one of your own.
I believe those who call themselves Christians should be the most environmentally-aware people in the community.
“Ladies and gentleman, high above you, balanced precariously on the tightrope high over your heads—and performing it all without a net—is your pastor!”
Well, that’s sorta what it feels like to me!
Last year, I took a couple of Sundays to field questions from our congregation. My hope was that lots of people would turn in their questions early, to give me a little time to prepare (that’s like performing with a net). But instead, most of the questions came as I was standing at the front of the church with the microphone in my hand. That’s definitely performing without a net!
But it was very well received, so we’re trying this high wire act again. Beginning next Sunday The Q Series allows anyone in attendance to ask their questions about the Bible, God, or anything else that’s on their mind about spiritual matters. People can either ask their question verbally, or they can text their question anonymously to the techs in our sound booth.
Of course, if you’d like to help me perform with a net, please ask a question or two (or three, or four…) in the comments below. If you’d like to see me perform without a net, join us at 10:30am this Sunday morning.
Here are some of the questions we have addressed:
Our Where’s God? Easter drama reached its climax when the veil in the temple was torn by Christ’s death on the Cross. All three of the synoptic gospels record this—
At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. (Matthew 27:51; also see Mark 15:38 and Luke 23:45)
This was so significant in answering the question “Where’s God?” The veil prevented anyone from going into God’s presence (except the high priest on the Day of Atonement). This made God’s presence something of a mystery: Does God see me? Does He care about me? How do I get to God? Can I even approach Him? Would He receive me or would He reject me?
In one moment, when Jesus said, “It is finished,” all that separated us from God was removed! And we can now live forgiven! We can now be at onement with God!
The veil not only literally and physically hung in the temple, but it figuratively and spiritually hangs in our hearts. This is what the Apostle Paul writes—
But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, Who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:14-18)
Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross allowed the Heavenly Father to tear apart the physical veil in the temple. Have you allowed the Holy Spirit to tear apart the spiritual veil in the temple of your heart? Here’s how you can know that the veil has been torn apart—you can notice that you are being transformed more and more into Christ’s likeness.
That’s the significance of the torn veil! That’s the power of Christ’s atonement!
If you missed any of the message in our Where’s God? series, you can find them all here.
We had an amazing morning at Calvary Assembly of God celebrating the resurrection of Jesus!!
All of the behind-the-scenes help was servant-hearted.
The food was delicious.
The hospitality was sweet.
The music was uplifting.
The drama was powerful.
The atmosphere was inviting.
But the best part is: ten people invited Jesus into their lives!
It was a lot of work to put on our third Easter breakfast drama, but it was so worth it!
I am so grateful to our dedicated church family that works so hard to make sure Jesus is front and center in everything we do. I ♥ my church!
Have you ever been depressed? I have. I know all too well how depression robbed me of sleep, sapped joy from my day, kept me from smiling and on the verge of tears all the time, made sunny days seem cloudy, caused me to sigh all the time and lose interest in the things that used to bring me pleasure, and brought such a sense of loneliness and isolation.
Did you know that Jesus felt the crushing load of depression too? As He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane just before His arrest, listen to these words—
The writer of Hebrews wrote this about Jesus—
While Jesus was here on earth, He offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the One who could rescue Him from death. And God heard His prayers because of His deep reverence for God. Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered. In this way, God qualified Him as a perfect High Priest, and He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him. (Hebrews 5:7-9)
We learn something in suffering that we can’t learn any other way. Jesus learned how to experience all of the grief, anxiety, and depression that you and I will ever feel. And that is what qualifies Him to be a perfect High Priest for us.
Our part is to pray. Time and time and time again, not only did Jesus pray, but He encouraged His disciples to pray as well. As you continue to pray, Jesus is your High Priest praying for you. Only He truly knows how to translate the cry of your heart into a language Abba Father can understand.
If you’ve missed any of the messages in this series called Where’s God, please check them all out by clicking here.
Yesterday was an historic day at Calvary Assembly of God, and I’m still buzzing about it!
The Assembly of God fellowship has several classifications for churches, the highest one being “general council status.” Yesterday our membership voted unanimously to move into this category!
Here are some of the miracles of the day:
Notice that I said that we are growing up—not grown up. I’m thrilled with where we are, but we still have a long way to go to…
…prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:12-13)
And in case you haven’t heard me say it lately:
If you live in West Michigan and don’t have a church home, I would love for you to join us next Sunday!
In yesterday’s “Where’s God?” series, I looked at the very difficult question: Where’s God in my sickness?
The word disease has an interesting origin. In the Old French the word literally means without ease. So we could call any disease our place of dis-ease. Whether it’s in the physical, the emotional, or the spiritual part of us, we have all experienced times of dis-ease.
God did not create disease. He did not create sickness. He did not create sin. We did. When we push our physical bodies too far, when we exploit our natural resources, when we rebel against God’s design, we are opening ourselves up to dis-ease. When we experience the painful results of this, God would be perfectly justified in standing aloof from our situation.
But this is the absolute miracle of the Incarnation—
But the fact is, it was our pains He carried—our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought He brought it on Himself, that God was punishing Him for His own failures. But it was our sins that did that to Him, that ripped and tore and crushed Him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. (Isaiah 53:4-5, The Message)
Only One who is fully Man and fully God could know our dis-ease and heal our dis-ease. Jesus is our Healer!
If you’ve missed any of the messages in this series, please check them all out by clicking here.
