Thursday, December 11, 2014

A Non-practicing Liar

I just received a new E-issue of World Magazine today and thought that I would comment on an article regarding a young woman who was recently hired at Wheaton College in Illinois. Wheaton is a Christian college historically connected to martyr Jim Elliot and his wife, Elizabeth, as well as Billy Graham. It is a school that truly seeks to educate the next generation of spiritual servants being sent into our dying world. 

Julie Rodgers was hired to provide spiritual care for students. Not surprising in some ways:  She has a master's degree in English, has mentored inner-city youth, and speaks at Christian churches and conferences. One surprise: She openly identifies as homosexual and yet sees homosexual behavior as sin. Rodgers, though, is a "gay celibate Christian" - someone who identifies as homosexual but does not act on her same-sex desires because she also believes such behavior is sinful. 

Theologically, I am in line with what she says. Regarding homosexuality, I think we can say this about any sin that consumes us. I may feel a certain sinful way and God may not take that particular desire away for whatever reason but by my not acting or mentally dwelling upon it, it allows God's grace and mercy to work. Do we not all have a "sin that so easily entangles us" (Heb. 12.1)? One where we cry out, "How long O LORD must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?  How long O LORD will my enemy triumph over me?" (Ps. 13:2-3). 

The only issue that I have with this position is found in 1 Cor. 6:11. As a follower of Christ my sin does not define who I am. It does not mean that I don't struggle with sin, but that theologically, it is covered, forgiven, and forgotten as far as the east is from the west. So why advertise? In the above article, this is like saying I am a non-practicing adulterous Christian or a non-practicing lying Christian or ... put whatever sin you'd like in the non- column. I am a forgiven and righteous person because of the blood of Christ. That is who I am. I try and seek with all my heart to say "no" to ungodliness because of this wonderful gift of grace. And...I have to say "no" daily because that is how often I struggle, if not with one sin, then another that is revealed by the Holy Spirit. I'm sure that every follower of Jesus would have to admit to the same to some degree. I just choose not to be defined by the sin but by the Savior. 

I also believe in the healing and transformative power of Jesus that allow us to live victoriously over sin. I believe as the early Church Fathers that we should press on toward being "perfect" and "holy" through the transformative work of the Holy Spirit. 

Why is it then that I still struggle with particular sins? Could it be that they are the last vestiges of self, the spiritual holdouts to being fully devoted to Jesus? Could it be my "Linus blanket," something secure, something to keep me from being hurt or disappointed? Something that leaves me in control of my needs and not Jesus? Sometimes the thorn is left in the side as a way of keeping us humble and on our knees before a merciful God. This is a question for another day, another post... 

Unfortunately, we have once again elevated one sin over another in our unbiblical hierarchy of ungodliness. I guess it makes us feel better about our own particular low level sin. 

I wonder if World magazine will do a follow-up on a non-practicing gluttonous Christian who was just hired some place?  



Thursday, December 4, 2014

It Only Takes a Spark

A big part of my doctoral studies focused on the fourteenth century Bishop of Thessaloniki, St. Gregory Palamas.  As I continue to study his work as part of my devoted time to God, he brought up something that refreshed my spirit. 

St. Gregory was consumed with getting people to see that they had a larger mission in this world than just surviving and...in just being a "good" Christian. He was adamant that the Scriptures taught that God became man so that man could become "god." This isn't some pantheistic heresy. Actually the statement just made came from Athanasius, the great defender of the faith in the fourth century. 

St. Gregory believed that the image of God in man was not just a wishful type of thinking but a desired reality. He desired men and women to be fully surrendered to God in such a way that they would become "like" God. No created thing can ever become God, that is, His essence, or who He is by nature, but we can become like Him in that we are brought into his divine community through the Holy Spirit. 

O.k....enough of the deep theology....here is what caught my attention today.  "Even the smallest portion of an essence possesses all that essence's powers.  Thus a spark is both brilliant and illuminating, it melts and burns whatever comes close to it, it is self-moving by nature and rises upwards and, in brief, it is whatever fire is. Similarly, a drop of water possesses every quality that water has...a nugget possesses all that the metal itself possesses." 

If we are made to be in the true image and likeness of God, then we possess certain qualities and powers that God has. We are still limited as created beings but there should be so much more to our life than maintaining. Each of us is a spark representing the fire. Each of us is a drop of water taken from a vast, incomprehensible ocean. As the world looks at us as followers of Jesus they should see the fire; they should see the ocean. It dwells within us. 

Perhaps this struck me so deeply today because I am working on the Candle Lighting service for our Christmas Eve celebration. As each candle is lit and we hold our small and insignificant fire in our hands, it shouldn't stay insignificant. Together, as the darkened room begins to warmly glow and "Silent Night" softy sung, we need to remember that in our small effort to shine we are the image and likeness of God. And...we shine more brilliantly when we shine together. 

As a tribute to the 1970's I will now invite you to sing, "Pass It On."  When singing please make sure you do the echo. It will bring back fond memories of church camp and being eaten alive by mosquitoes out in the woods.  Oh...where have all the good songs gone...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tadZ8nCLBsI

Friday, November 14, 2014

What if...

Good intentions are simply that.  In my quest to be consistent on my blogging I have found ministry priorities and distractions a bit problematic. So as I continue to pursue Andrew Murray's work I have had to humbly set it aside for a new doctoral assignment (teaching this time) on missions which was actually at the heart of Murray himself. Hopefully Murray will not be on the shelf for long.

I came across this statement from Samuel Balentine that stirred my soul this week. 

“What if we do not exercise our God-given responsibility as a community of faith?  What if we do not pray to keep ourselves and our world in God?  What if we do not pray and fight to keep God in the world?  I submit that if we do not, either the church will become a den of robbers where thieves congregate to count their loot and hide out from God, or it will become a shining, splendid edifice, pointing to the heavens but counting for nothing on earth.  In either case, God is anguished and the world is impoverished.” 

The phrase that caught my attention was, "fight to keep God in the world."  I never really thought about this before but as I watched Bill Nye the Science Guy trash Christianity and Richard Dawkins once again call us foolish for such primitive needs, I can't help but think that the world system's goal is to push God completely out. But this actually goes against the goal of Satan himself. For one day he will desire to be called "God." Atheism is not in keeping with  Satanism but merely removes a potential enemy, a potential convert to the one true God. 

Balentine was actually advocating for an integrated mission; one where evangelism and social responsibility are not cousins but actually a part of a whole. We need to be pure, holy and set apart but we also need to be the preserving agents of salt and light as well. The question is, "How do we do that effectively and in balance, especially in the secular arena?' 


As I was studying this week, I listened to the two and half hour worship creation of Handel (Messiah). I was reminded of the brilliance of a work whose sole purpose was to tell the story of God becoming a man, being despised by this world yet loving it to death, and triumphantly rising in victory. This work, accomplished in twenty-four days, was a fight to keep God in the world. I'm not sure that is how Handel viewed it in his commissioning but it is a profound and subversive way of doing it. It was and is performed in the public arena. The earthly kings rise at its chorus. 

I wonder, as a soldier of the King, if am I fighting to keep God in the world or just playing with the other religious kids? Is the church that I serve under the condemnation of being a den of thieves or a shining religious pointer? Or is it a beacon of the light of salvation, a constant advancement of God in this world? Is the world a little less impoverished because of my actions and the actions of my church family? Are we waiting for the world to find us or are we taking the fight to the world? Are we encouraging the gospel to go out in those who have a passion for a cleaner earth?  Are we supporting those who want to design and build a better and safer building or car or drug or whatever will bless this world? Are we taking what is Good, what is God, to our world and proclaiming him through our efforts, through our creativity, through our conversations?

Something to think about....

Saturday, October 4, 2014

A Spiritual Man

Last week my mother and her husband came for a visit from Florida. It was wonderful having family visit.  I threatened to drive them over the bridge into Washington state so that they could say that they traveled from one corner of the country (Florida) to the other. Given that they had been on a bus and a plane for numerous hours my threat was abated, especially since they had an hour car ride to my house. A very long day...

I always seem to get a unique feeling when I am in the airport - like there is a hidden part of me that comes out - someone I would like to be. I love people. I love meeting new people and developing unique relationships with others. I'm guessing this is why I'm in a Chinese Church and also having the opportunity to teach Korean students at an academic level. It in some way affirms who I want to be - what I want my life to be. 

I love waiting in the connect area and watching loved ones being greeted by family and friends. It reminds me of what the world is supposed to be and again, what I desire to be. I want to be someone who is missed, someone who is longed for, someone special in someone's eyes and I long to be that person for others as well. I am thankful that I have that in many ways already but I desire more. I'm hoping this doesn't sound narcissistic or selfish. My heart is really trying to capture what God has designed for us to all be in His kingdom. 

Last time I wrote I looked at Andrew Murray's carnal (worldly) person and this week I want to examine what I want and desire to be:  a spiritual man. 

The first thing that we must admit to ourselves and to others is that being a spiritual man is a reality - a "this world" possibility. How can we attain to something that in our heart we believe can never happen? Not only is it a defeatist attitude but an unbiblical one as well.  

The second thing that we must do is see the shame and the guilt of not having this type of life that is so readily available to us. We choose sin. 

Andrew Murray writes, "There are those who live in self-pity, admitting that they are living in such a contrary life, and all the while saying, "How sad that I am too feeble for it!  How sad that God gives it to others but has not given it to me!" 

"They should rather say, 'It has been my own unbelief, my own disobedience, that has kept me from giving myself utterly unto God.'" 

A person needs a general conviction of sin in order to receive the wonderful gift of salvation. A person needs a second conviction of sin to deal with that particular sin "that besets" him - that sin that he will not let go of in order to be what the Father wants him to be. 

The first sin carries the weight of hell itself, the second sin the residual affects of what that hell might be like. It is knowing what we could be but not having the fortitude or desire to grasp it. The second sin is far more blamable than the first for we do it not out of ignorance but through a willful disobedience to God, trampling upon the blood of Christ as if it were of no effect. 

Becoming a spiritual person will never be fully attained until we recognize this issue in our life and humbly fall at the feet of our merciful Father and ask Him for release. A child will always clutch his hands in a defiant way, unwilling to release his prized possession.  But he will willingly let it go when he sees something else he desires. May the spiritual man be our desire and may we let go of that which is so tightly clenched. 

Murray continues, "If any man will come and say, 'I have struggled, I have prayed, I have wept, and it has not helped me' then you must do one other thing. You must see that the living Christ is God's provision for your holy spiritual life."

"You must believe that the living Christ who accepted you once at conversion, in his wonderful love is now waiting to say to you that you may become a spiritual man, entirely given up to God."

"If you will believe that, your fear will vanish, and you will say, 'It can be done; if Christ will accept and take charge, it shall be done.'" 

Third, you must tear out the root. It does one no good to eliminate the symptoms when the disease is still present. In the end you will die thinking that you are well.  

You beg and plead with God to take away the sickening fruit but you are unwilling to let him dig down deep and extract the very thing that gives it life and nourishment. You don't want to be free. You want to be a hybrid - a mixture of both. 

A painter will not paint a masterpiece on a canvass that he does not own and where others will do with it what they like. 

In the same way, Jesus will not give himself wholeheartedly to a person who will not be His and who will do as they please with their own life.  

We must humbly submit ourselves to the Master Gardner, to not only be pruned but to have the parasitic vines disentangled at there roots so that what is left will be the beginnings of a spiritual man. 

Do you want to be a spiritual person, one who in every aspect is led by the Holy Spirit of God, experiencing what it means to be "perfect" and "holy"? Then humbly agree that it is possible and humbly go to the one who, if allowed, will make you into that person.  

Friday, September 19, 2014

Babes

I Cor. 3:2-3a, "I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it.  Indeed, you are still not ready for it. You are still worldly."


I spent the last week teaching a class of Korean doctoral students the subject of Islam in Los Angeles. It was a great blessing and opportunity since receiving my own doctorate early this summer. Those types of opportunities refresh my soul and 
fill the cross-cultural academic need in my life. 

In the airport I sat next to an agnostic. On the plane I sat next to a Mormon. Needless to say I had some rather riveting and spirited conversation. One might think that I go into attack mode with these encounters but honestly, I have found that being a good listener has been my greatest weapon. 

If there is one thing that I have learned as a teacher of Islam it is that most people have little if any true understanding of the religion or the people who practice it. It wasn't hard to teach this subject given what ISIL, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Al-Nusra are doing in the Middle East. The hard part was to have people look at this faith as they would their own. 

Christians watch the news and become experts on Middle Eastern affairs but cannot speak intelligently about their own state of spiritual affairs. I'm not talking about an individual's state but the state of Christianity. 

In tandem with my studies in Islam I have been engaged in mental self-debate with end-time writings, blood moon tetrads, raptures positions, and the status of possible prophetic fulfillment in my lifetime. 

I have found, generally, that the average church going Christian knows as much about Christianity as he or she does about Islam. I know where the worshippers are, but where are the students? I know who watches every football game during the week but who is looking into the Word to find the answers to the above investigations? I know who can give me directions to all the great restaurants in Portland but who is giving me directions to strategic passages of Scripture that may unfold the deep truths of Jesus and his prophetic plan for this world?

Some people just choose to go about life and seek to be Jesus. Wonderful. I wish more people would aspire to such a goal. But to do this one has to be in the Word more than once a week. One has to be a student as well as a worshipper. One cannot live on a diet of milk when meat is the intended goal.  

Perhaps its not the prophetic but some other subject. I'm looking to meet with parents of our youth on Friday nights and begin a "Parenting thru Proverbs" class. It has two purposes. Get parents the help, support, and answers they need to rear their children in a godly manner, and get them to find it in the Word themselves. 

This whole idea of self-feeding was what Paul was talking about and what Andrew Murray was concerned about. Murray gives us four conditions of someone who is still stuck in the worldly mindset. 

1.  This person is in a protracted state of infancy.  In other words, this person never seems to grow up spiritually. I was reminded of this when I attended my last high school class reunion. Some people are in larger bodies but they have really never grown up. Not only is this not healthy for the person, it is not healthy for those around him or her. A baby is always keeping others occupied with meeting his or her needs. Spiritual this person is always running to the pastor or church leaders for help.  This person is always showing up at prayer meetings so that they can be the subject of everyone's prayer. Babies are consumers not givers. They have not yet developed to a place where they can feed themselves or help feed others. 

2.  A second sign of spiritual infancy or worldliness is that a person continuously fails to overcome sin. 

This person keeps manicuring the weed but never pulling out the root. Love and peace are not the fruit produced but anger and discord are found on its tree. 

3.   The failure of sinning can be found in the spiritual gifts. 

The fruit of the Spirit is literally "grace-gifts." One must have and experience the grace of God before one can exercise the gifts of God. 

"A man may teach the Word beautifully, have social influence, and a large congregation but he may still be a carnal [worldly] man. This man may be a blessing to others and yet worldliness may still mark this man's life." 

Just because a man is blessed does not mean that he is a spiritual man. A spiritual man is not a sinless man but one governed by the Holy Spirit.  A carnal [worldly] man is governed by the world and cannot have hope of ever conquering worldly sin. 

4.  Carnality [worldliness] makes a man unfit for spiritual truths. 

People admire and appreciate a pastor's message but if it does not change the heart and life, it is may mean that one is a spiritual babe and cannot understand the deep truths of God. [The preacher might be boring but if he preaches the Word faithfully the heart will respond]. 

Murray asks, "Why is the Church so feeble?" The answer: Milk is cheaper and easier to digest than meat. 

I have been practicing a Jewish rhythm of reading the Scriptures for the last 6 months. I read early in the morning for about two hours. I read for an hour at lunch. I read before I go to bed. I started reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelation in January and I am now on my third time through. It is amazing the blessing of insight that I have received since I have been doing this. Someone is saying, "You're a pastor. You get paid to read the Scriptures." My answer:  "This is not for work. This is on my own time and for my own spiritual journey." 

I want a deeper knowledge and experience with God and I cannot do that by being attached to the things of this world. The time is short. Jesus is returning. I want to be watching and waiting not having someone watching and waiting on me. I want to be a spiritual man. 

The next posting will focus on how to do just that. 

Thoughts?

Thursday, August 28, 2014

A Rare Jewel

I have a lot of books. Deb has the official count since she logs them in for insurance purposes but I think its well over a thousand. About half are reference books and commentaries, some are vintage editions, the rest are divided up into meticulous categories (at least in my brain) from Eastern Orthodoxy to Islam, from worship to church government and everything in between. Many have been bought along the way in my studies and some have been graciously given to me. Often those given to me get recorded and put in their proper topical place for future reading...and then are forgotten. And every once in a while I'll extend my hand to something unfamiliar and not required. 

One such book was written by Andrew Murray titled, The Master's Indwelling. I was actually very familiar with Murray's work, With Christ in the Schoolhouse of Prayer but I neglected to see if he had any other works of interest. 

This summer my hand extended and with great joy my heart followed.  

For those not familiar with Andrew Murray, he was born in South Africa to missionary parents in 1828. His ancestors were from Scotland and when he was 10 years of age he was sent back to his country of ancestral origin for a proper education. In his early adult life he would return to his beloved South Africa where he would pastor for the rest of his life. And in the midst of his pastoral duties he wrote works that stirred the soul and challenged the mundane. The Master's Indwelling was originally from a series of lectures that he gave at the Northfield Conference in 1895, later re-written, revised, and published. 

In subsequent blogs I would like you to journey with me through the pages of a book that had a profound effect on my inner longing to be more like Christ.  

If you've ever struggled with why you can't seem to get victory over a specific sin, I hope you'll allow me to convey Murray's timely counsel. 

If you've ever wondered what it means to truly die to yourself so that Christ might live through you, I hope you'll prayerfully walk beside me as I go through Murray's biblical exhortations. 

Perhaps you are waiting on God and feel like nothing is happening or what true biblical humility looks like - then join me on this journey. 

Ultimately Murray's heart was the fulfillment of God being "all in all." 

This is more than a book to me.  It was a timely answer to prayer reminding me of what is important as a follower of Christ and as a pastor/teacher. It affirmed that God is omniscient and omnipotent. He took a book that has been on my shelf since 2005 and placed in into my life when it was exactly needed. If you can pick up a copy and follow along...great. If not, I hope you'll  be provoked by my inner musings along the way. 

The first time through was relief to my soul. I'm wondering how I will describe the review?

As a side note...he was 67 when he wrote these....perhaps their is hope for me yet. It also reminds me that great men of thought are usually the ones who have lived life and experienced the Scriptures in such a way that they have become a part of them. Unfortunately, we put men out to pasture at the time where they could offer the body of Christ the best that they have. 

Friday, August 22, 2014

The Witness

I was sitting in my office last week and I witnessed a crime. Around four o'clock the perp (that's TV slang for perpetrator) was walking on the other side of the street when this person stopped, looked back at my neighbor's porch, and saw a garment package leaning against their door. The perp turned, walked up to the door, and stole the package. 

As one can imagine the effect of witnessing such evil, my heart was racing. I yelled out the door in my most thunderous voice, "Put it back!" The perp looked back thinking it was the thunderous voice of God. Well...the perp looked back because I was yelling from my upstairs office window out of view from where the perp had already walked. 

Ready to right a social wickedness I ran downstairs with my phone loaded and ready to shoot. The problem is...I am absolutely ignorant on how to use the thing. I couldn't figure out how to take a picture and what is the non-emergency number for the police? The perp was long gone when I finally arrived outside to call them. 

However, my keen skills of exegetical prowess, examining the Scriptures for details, have well-equipped me for giving complete descriptions.  I proceeded to describe the perp to the authorities with almost divine precision. 

For a brief moment I panicked. I thought that I was going to have to pack a travel bag, leave Deb a note, and go live with an Amish family in Indiana (reference to the movie The Witness with Harrison Ford).  But that's probably where they would look first since I grew up around there. I was a witness to a crime. I snitched. And now the full wrath of the ungodly was probably coming my way. Thank God I'm saved. "O Death where is thy sting..."  I didn't want to know. 

Things were made worse when the police knew this person by name, proceeded to bring the perp over to MY HOUSE, and ask if this was, indeed, the perpetrator of the crime. Shaking internally, but with steel outward resolve, I affirmed. 

Of course there was immediate denial: my word against the perp's. But I had done my civic duty and if I must suffer, so be it. I began to pray the imprecatory psalms where David asks the Lord to cut the hands off of his enemies. However, in my heart I knew that there was a heart issue at hand. Something was broken inside this person. There was a need...not for stuff...this person didn't look poor, but a need for...purpose...I don't know.  Why does anyone steal things?  Because they can?  Because they want to? 

Yes, the thought of wondering about the quality of the parents entered my mind but then I was reminded that King Saul had his Jonathan and King David had his Absalom. The parent does not necessarily make the child. Military or some rigid boarding school might.....

Anyway...just a reminder that my world is broken.  Thankful it wasn't my stuff. And thankful it wasn't one of my girls.  You see the perp was a teenage girl. 

I'll never be able to walk comfortably in a mall again....

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Longing

While preparing a message in the Gospel of Matthew, I was reading through the prophetic words of Isaiah today. 

I am still amazed at how truthful and accurate the Word of God is in predicting events and...predicting events that have a near and yet future fulfillment. It's hard enough to predict one but to have a double fulfillment....statistical improbability. 

It is even more amazing to see how the Scriptures can even predict the human personality.

It did this with the yet-to-be-born Son of God. 

Isaiah 42:1-4 is this wonderful passage. 

"Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.  2 He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.  3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;  4 he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope." 

I was standing at the sink doing dishes the other night and I muttered, "God has to be grieved at the wickedness in this world."  I don't know why I said it out loud. I'm guessing that it poured forth from a heart that was just overflowing with that particular emotion. I thought about Noah and how God was grieved that he had made mankind. I also thought about how I yearn for a just world (whatever that means). 

I clearly am not a perfect person but I am striving to be. I have done my share of ungodly things and thought ungodly thoughts. I have been on the receiving side of swindlers and thieves, abuse and lies. I have prayed for forgiveness, offered forgiveness and...yes...prayed the imprecatory psalms over people with "just" intentions. There is something inside of me that just wants to live in world where things are made right. I long for that hope. Perhaps I'm just tired of the struggle, tired of being inundated with the negative all the time. Sequester would be an option but that didn't work well for the monks nor sleep for Ichabod Crane. You just end up being irrelevant and more depressed at the changing times.  

So when I read the description of Jesus given about him 700 years before he entered this world, I found great solace in knowing that the Father planned for him to have a heart for making things right. He has a spirit of justice within him. And the wonderful thing is that, not only does he have the heart, but he has the power to change things. 

Come to think of it....so do I. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_RjndG0IX8



Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Nobody

First, a word of thanks to all of you who participated in my doctoral survey.  I was able to get enough to formulate some general observations and to move forward on my remaining chapters. Words cannot express my gratitude. 

Second, I have been reflecting on Isaiah 53 for our Good Friday service, especially verses 1-2.  

I have seen hundreds of pictures of Jesus…. long flowing hair….beautiful brown eyes that are filled with kindness and gentleness.  If he were born today he would probably be the captain of every sport he played. He would be the lead in all the plays at the theatre.  He would be the cool guy that everyone wants to be like and liked by everyone. He would be mister popular, mister sophisticated.

Since he is God he would never have acne or have to deal with oily skin. His teeth would always be as white as Mount Hood snow.  His robe would never be dirty and always have a slight glow to it.  All the mothers would be asking Mary what laundry detergent she used. 

Whatever he put his hand to was perfect.  When he worked for his father he never cut a board too short or mis-measured.  When he was called to cut a slab of stone his first swing split it perfectly and he was the envy of all the neighborhood masons.

Of course this is not an entirely accurate view of Jesus.  It certainly isn’t a biblical view of him.  The truth of the matter is that he was insignificant.  He was a nobody from a nothing town.  Up until he started his ministry it would have been “Jesus who?”  Son of Joseph and Mary.  Joseph and Mary who?  He was a nobody and the son of a nobody.  He was a plain boy who grew up into a plain and ordinary man.


His was simply described as sensitive toward the things of God; someone who never really fit in to this world, someone who belonged somewhere else. 

As I was writing this I thought, "I guess I am being made into His image."

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Doctoral Survey

This blog post is for my doctoral dissertation survey.  I'm looking for individuals between 18 and 30 years of age to help compare two presentations that have to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You don't have to be a Christian to take this survey, in fact, I'm looking for those adventurous souls who are not. Your help and feedback would be greatly appreciated. The whole survey should not take more than 45 minutes and 25-30 minutes of that is clicking on and watching through my two Power Point presentations. Please be honest in your assessment but also respectful. I'm not trying to convert anyone or offend anyone. I'm just looking for some honest feedback on comparing the two presentations. 

Please review the overview and consent form.  You do not need to sign anything. The survey is an anonymous survey. You simply need to be aware of what will be taking place. 

Your first question will be a statement that you have read and do consent to take the survey and view the presentations. 

Thanks.

Daniel

Survey









Monday, March 24, 2014

Whoops...

Hi, all....

Many of you may have received a partial survey from me....It's a whoops....

My IT person was trying to move a survey from Google Docs into my blog and he apparently hit publish. 

But...be thinking of persons between the ages of 18-30 to take a religious survey for me. It will be coming on my next blog post. It's why I have been a bit absent on my writing of late.  Trying to get this doctoral thesis finished. 

So..disregard if you have received it and pray that I get this finished so that I can get back to my regular blog posts. 

Thanks for your patience. 

Daniel 

Monday, February 17, 2014

Water bucket

"I was all the time tugging and carrying water, but now I have a river that carries me."  Dwight Lyman Moody.  

D. L. Moody (1837 - 1899) has a great life story. Left without a father at the age of four, helping his mother and his eight brothers and sisters put food on the table was more important than education. Like my own grandfather, a sixth grade education was about all you needed. You could read, write, and do arithmetic; in other words, you could survive. Now it was time to get to work. 

He would leave his home for Boston, Mass. and his uncle's shoe store where he would find his talent as a salesman. He would also be led to a saving knowledge of Jesus by a faithful Sunday school teacher in the back of that store. 

Not long after, he felt limited and so left for the great city of Chicago. It was great in opportunity but horrid in corruption and morally bankrupt in character. He would write to his mother and describe the almost unbearable unChristian environment. But the smallest light is able to dispel the greatest darkness. 

He would start with showing the love of God to children of the street. At one point he had over 1500 children in his Sunday school program. He would teach them to read and write using the Bible and make sure that each child knew they were loved by God. 

He would become the head of the Young Men's Christian Association and head up an organization to minister to Confederate captured prisoners.  You would think that he would be pleased with all his accomplishments but instead he was tired and missing something. 

Two small old church ladies would sit in the front pew of his church on Illinois Street and pray through the whole service. One day he asked them what they were praying for. They said, "We are praying for you."  Mr. Moody replied, "Why don't you pray for the people." They said, "We are praying that you will be empowered by the Holy Spirit." He said, "I thought I had the power of the Holy Spirit." After all, he had the largest church in Chicago and an incredible influence in the city. But he knew something was missing. He had the Spirit [the water] but he was tired in spirit. He had been carrying the Holy Spirit instead of the Living Water carrying him. 

And so God helped him with his desire. He sent the Chicago fire and burned up everything that he had and owned. The house, the possessions, the church, the businesses that supported him -- all gone. He left for New York and as he walked on the city streets his attention was on one thing:  the filling, the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Then one day on those city streets God revealed himself to his heart in such a way that he could not contain it.  His love was so strong that it overwhelmed him. Moody says that it was so overwhelming that he had to ask God to stop. The spiritual container was overflowing and could not contain any more. 

Moody said that his sermons were not any different; he did not present any new truths, but hundreds were converted.  It was after this that his soul was set on fire and God would use him in great ways in Great Britain and again back in the United States. 

My point is not to enter into a debate on what the filling of the Spirit means [some calling it the baptism of the Holy Spirit] but to address the fact that many, including myself, need to recognize good hearts with tired spirits from carrying the water. It was never God's intention for us to carry the water but that the water should carry us. 


This means that I need to put down the water buckets and get in the boat. It means that I need to put away my own agenda and desires and let God move me and carry me to the various divine destinations that he has for me. 

Are you tired in the Lord service? Perhaps your just doing too much and need to scale back. But perhaps you're doing the right things but in your own strength. Leave the buckets for the servants.  The boat is for the sons and daughters of God.  


Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Year of the Horse

Psalm 20:7, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." 

Last week began the new lunar year for those in Asia. For those of you non-Asians, the lunar year begins the reign of a new animal. Last year was the year of the snake. This year is the year of the horse. 

This year I have been entrusted to sing "Happy New Year" in Mandarin to the tune "O My Darling." Complicating matters, there seems to be numerous ways to say, "Happy New Year" in Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese). Once again I find myself in the position of public embarrassment, trying hard to be confident while internally wishing that I can get it out with an understandable mumble. 

As I selected the key verse for my closing "talk" I became acutely aware that I am often on the wrong side of this verse. It manifests when I am asked to do things outside of my comfort level. I trust in my chariots. I trust in my horses. It's why I worry about how this will all turn out in the end. At present my horses are all out to pasture and my chariots are in the shop for repair. 

Actually, I know in my heart that any attempt at speaking the Chinese language will be welcomed. Any time I have made an effort to move into my church family's cultural world it has been met with great appreciation. I just feel badly that I cannot verbally engage with them more regarding their "heart" language. God grant me the gift of tongues! 

Psalm 20 is a psalm that specifically speaks of saving the king, the anointed one. And in this psalm the people are not denying that chariots and horses are needed to win the battle. But they are conveying that at any given time there are actually two battles raging:  one physical and one spiritual. In the physical, the psalmist is recognizing that chariots and horses are only successful if they are the instruments in the hand of a much larger power. And without that much larger power it doesn't matter how many chariots or horses you have. Defeat will be coming your way.  

The Apostle Paul eloquently stated this in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5:  "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." The weapons of the Christian are prayer and the Word of God. 

I believe this psalm is teaching me that my ultimate strength, my ability to live victorious in this life must be found in the Lord. I am to use the gifts that God has given me to serve him and others well but in the end I need to realize that it is the Lord who will win the battle. It actually makes me appreciate my personal abilities more. They are the tangible instruments that God uses to actually fight the battle. A sword is simply a combination of metals, but in the hand of an expert swordsman, it is a deadly instrument. 

So if my Chinese comes out incoherent this Saturday look around for a little horse poop somewhere close by. It means that I have once again went to the stables rather than the Creator. The battle belongs to the Lord. 

Happy New Year!
Xin nian hao ya!






Wednesday, January 15, 2014

God, Have Mercy

I write today with a heavy heart. Last night while coming home from a meeting Deb and I were made aware that a 23 year old young woman that we knew was killed in an automobile accident. Her father is the new pastor of the church that I recently left and her mother was my secretary for a number of years. 

I have two adult daughters of my own that are not far from her age and so it gave me pause to think about life, death, and God's mercy and grace. 

St. Gregory Palamas, a 14th century bishop of Thessoloniki in Macedonia, taught his disciples to pray the Jesus prayer found in Luke 18:13.  "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me a sinner." 

He taught that if one kept praying that prayer over and over, not in a mindless mantra but in a concentrated effort to assimilate the truth, that one could actually be brought into an experiential presence of the Lord. 

"God have mercy on me a sinner." After I prayed for comfort and strength for the family, those words came rushing in to my own soul. "God have mercy on me." I was essentially saying, "Please don't let that happen to me."  In my frail humanity I don't want to bear the pain of losing a child or a grandchild. But I was also saying, "Please help me to understand." 

When we cry out for God's mercy we are rightly saying that God has the right to allow these types of things to happen to us all. His children are not immune as we saw last night. But it doesn't preclude us from beseeching God's divine goodness and desiring to live a peaceful, non-tragic life. Human frailty as it is, however, we often look through the eyes of Job's friends in order to justify our perceived gift of mercy from the hand of God and in order to understand why tragedy happened to someone else. 

I remember the words of Jesus recorded in Luke 13.  

"Now there were some present at the time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, 'Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?  I tell you, no!  But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them -- do you think they were more guilty than all the other living in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no!  But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

Whether it is a car accident or cancer or a stroke or a heart-attack, or a brutal rape or murder...we live in a world where bad things happen to redeemed people. It doesn't mean that one is better than another; that one is worse than another. It falls within the providential mystery of God. And so we cry out, "God have mercy." 

I immediately prayed for my own children and grandchildren as if to imply that this will always keep at bay the tragedies of this world. I'm not saying that God does not honor prayers of protection and that we shouldn't pray for the safety of our families, but it is also not the magic shield either. If I miss a day of prayer...if I forget...and something happens...am I to blame?...am I to bear the guilt of the wickedness or pain that might enter my world? I think too highly of myself...as if the world rises and falls upon my desires and my humble requests. God have mercy. 

"Father, if it is Thy will, take this cup from me..."  Jesus prayed. And he was murdered. Am I not glad for this unanswered prayer? Do I not celebrate this act of evil?  Was it not for my good? Is this not the key?  Has God not shown us the reason for allowing such evil -- that good should come of it and that God might receive praise and glory?  God have mercy. 

God have mercy....and in the midst of the pain give us the strength to embrace your will. Perhaps we will never know the reason why but we can trust that it was for someone's eternal good, for His eternal glory, and a reminder that we should all, with deepest contrition and humility, be daily crying out, "God have mercy!"