World Champion!

World’s Best! World Champion! It has a nice ring to it doesn’t it. We are currently in the finals for the NBA Championship and the Stanley Cup. Millions of dollars will be decided by the outcomes. Players will get new contracts based on their performance in this series. Coaches may get extensions on their current agreements or may get fired for a less than perfect outcome during these playoffs. We cuss and discuss the teams, sometimes our own team, depending on how they are doing.


Well, last night I got to sit next to a World Champion. I can even brag that I know him well. Some of you may know that the Texas Longhorn World Show is going on over in Ft. Worth. The pinnacle of this show is the Trophy Steer competition where the best and biggest Texas Longhorn Trophy Steers in the world gather to decide which one really is the best. Yes, a handful of the ones from the Ft. Worth stockyards come over to see just how good they are.


The owners are a cross-section of the super-rich who like to have a hobby, families who love Texas Longhorns and want their children to experience some Texas heritage, and some kids with school and FFA projects.


Last night, one of those students with an FFA project pulled it off and won World Champion Young Steer. He is an amazing kid who works hard, does what he is supposed to do, obeys his Mother, and, fortunately, listens to his Ag teacher as well. He is the kind of kid you would have been rooting for if you had been there.


I’m not writing this only to brag on one kid, or to highlight a topic I dearly love. No, I am writing it to remind all of us that “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Bailey made sure he had his motives right from the beginning, and he knew the one for whom he was working. Sometimes, all that work goes to the glory of God alone. That is where it belongs. However, there are times when God sends a little back your way as well. It is at those moments, if we have been giving him the praise all along, that we realize what an awesome God we serve.


Pastor Craig

Stories

Christianity is basically a story religion. It is the story of God calling the Jewish people, making them his own, and sending them a Messiah. That story expands when the story of Jesus becomes the story for all people and not only a story for the Jewish people. This Jesus Story is the story of his life, death, and resurrection. The story of the church is, in part, a story beginning with the first disciples. Then it winds its way through 2,000+ years until the character that is us stands on the stage.


There are “Signature Stories” along the way – the life of Christ, the Reformation, The Great Awakening, the Azusa St. Revival, etc., things that are defining moments in the life of God’s people.


Each of us has a personal Signature Story, a piece of personal history that is a defining moment in making us the Christian man or woman we are.


My Signature Story could be one of several events, each one building on the one before. However, since these are connected it seems best to begin with the one that lays the foundation for everything else that happened, that event which is essential; the story that, if left out, probably destroys the whole plot.


God blessed me by placing me in a family with two believing parents who made it their priority to put me in a pew each and every Sunday, who did not just drop me off for Sunday School, but made sure the whole family was there, and who made sure I was able to take advantage of every opportunity for Christian growth that was available. Faith was a family event.


Now, I am not speaking poorly of anyone who was dropped off for Sunday school or those whose spiritual interest was not supported by believing parents. I know many people of tremendous faith who did not have their faith taught to them at home. I just know myself, and, fortunately, my Heavenly Father knew me as well and gave me what I needed for the Gospel faith to take root in my soul.


The other story we all have is a Horizon Story. The Horizon Story for Christianity extends forward until that event where Jesus rolls up all of history like a scroll and puts it on the shelf as a finished story.


My Horizon Story is to continue on the well-worn track on which God has placed me, a small church pastor. I have spoken to 5,000 people before, and, yes, it is kind of interesting. However, that is not the ministry to which God has called me. I grew up in a small church, I have attended small churches most of my life, and God has called us into relationships. A relationship is not easy when the person you are speaking to may be a couple hundred feet from the platform and in the middle of a sea of nameless faces.


Now, the purpose of this is not just to get you to know my stories. The purpose is to get you to think about and share your own. I would love to hear your Signature and Horizon Stories. Please stop by and share them with me. AMEN.

Pastor Craig

Following Through

Several months ago the session selected some priorities for the remainder of this calendar year. It was important not to allow them to be set aside as things we need to do, but never actually put into action. Unfortunately, that is what I allowed to happen. However, mistakes made can be corrected, can’t they? You get the train back on the right track, set it in motion, and, even if you are now behind on a schedule you set for yourself, at least you are headed towards you prioritized destination.

 

The session said it was our #1 Priority for 2013 to answer the following question, or, if we could not answer it in a positive way, get about correcting our direction.

 

How are you encouraging people to allow God’s Word to shape their priorities and actions, and to nurture constant learning and the life of the mind?

 

This is first and foremost, but not exclusively, a leadership question. That means the “you” mentioned is a question laid before your church leadership – pastor and session. In other words, how are we encouraging, requiring, expecting you to allow God’s Word to be the guidebook for all the actions of your life? If we cannot come up with some programs and efforts, then we better be coming up with ideas, because a church that is not directing people to God’s Word as the source of wisdom, direction, encouragement, comfort, and satisfaction is not really anything more than a club. It is not the Church of Jesus Christ.

 

However, beyond that, you need to be asking yourself the same question. What are you doing to direct those you come in contact with on a daily basis to look first to the Scriptures as their guide for life? Just like with your leadership, if you can’t list an effort that is already being put into practice, then you need to be coming up with ideas on how to remedy the situation.

 

 

The second thing we are to be doing if this is our #1 Priority is to develop an attitude of lifelong learning. How are you growing in your knowledge of the Word of God? How do you have a better grasp of the person and work of Jesus Christ than you did a year or two ago? How can we be academic without being boring?

 

We are going to wrestle with these questions in the weeks ahead. Not just because we said we would, but because it is vital to our work, mission, growth, and life a children of God. Your ideas for us, as your leaders, are welcome.

 

Pastor Craig

When Did Christianity Become Boring?

When Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead – by this name this man stands here before you in good health."

(Acts 4:8-10)

 

When did we allow our faith to get boring? When did Jesus, the Son of God come into the world, become everyday news? We Christians seem to be waiting, like the pre-Pentecostal believers were, for the coming of the Holy Spirit to descend upon us. Well, let me tell you. YOU’RE TOO LATE. It has already happened. The difference between those first New Testament Christians and our poor substitute for their faith is that they did something once the Spirit fell upon them. They made bold gestures. They took great leaps with their faith. They got outside the walls of the upper room and never looked back. They recognized that the purpose for the existence of the church was never about them. That purpose and goal was always “OUT THERE” somewhere; it was in the next person with whom they shared the Gospel.

 

Why don’t we have more evidence of the Holy Spirit in our lives? Maybe because we don’t need any more of it to keep doing the same thing we’ve been doing for decades. Maybe it is because it doesn’t take anything when we don’t risk anything.

 

Peter did not speak to the Sanhedrin because he was filled with the Holy Spirit. No, Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit because he and the other disciples had begun a course of action that brought them to this place before that austere body. We have gotten it backwards. We have not lived out our faith. We stay in our comfort zone, a place where the Holy Spirit is not needed because there is no risk, a place where we can do it all on our own

 

The story of the Acts of the Apostles is an action adventure story. It is more exciting the Indiana Jones. If it were a movie, we would buy tickets. In fact, we would stand in line to buy tickets. If the story of First Presbyterian Church were a movie, would you go see it? In what genre would it be listed? How about your own Christian journey? Yeah, mine too.

 

The faith of those early believers drove them to step out on great journeys. It was those great journeys that demanded the presence of the Spirit in order to see it through to the end. The church at Antioch had already committed to sending someone out with the message of the Gospel when the Spirit led them to commission Paul and Barnabas! Christ has called us into his kingdom to dream great dreams, to begin grand adventures, to step beyond the possible resting in our faith that God will indeed send his Spirit to do great things! Let’s go on a journey!

 

Pastor Craig

When Bad Things Happen

There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, “Do you suppose that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the others because they suffered such things? No, but except you repent, you shall perish as well. Or consider those eighteen the tower at Siloam fell on and crushed them. Do you think they were the worst sinners in Jerusalem? Again, No, but unless you repent, you will perish in the same way.”

(Luke 13:1-4)


It has been a tough several weeks for many across wide portions of our country and around the world. The Boston Marathon Bombing, The explosion at the fertilizer plant in West, accusations of chemical weapons in Syria, bombings in Iraq and Afghanistan, and – closest to home – the tornadoes of May 15th, and, even last night, the awful weather disasters in Oklahoma. Before that, we had a host of mass shootings in various parts of the country. So many innocent people suffering so much.


Why do bad things happen to good people?  It is hard to say. People asked those questions in Jesus’ time and got no more of a complete answer than you have probably received in the past.

The popular answer in Jesus day was that bad things do not happen to good people. Bad things happen to bad people. It was thought that God used the events of the world to punish the wicked. It makes sense doesn’t it, the flood, the plagues sent upon the Egyptians, even the invading armies occupying the disobedient Israelites from time to time.


However, Jesus put forward a new concept. Maybe bad things just happen. That doesn’t mean that there is nothing to learn from the event, and it does not mean that the interpretation automatically has to include punishment of someone for something.


Jesus interpreted the events of the well-known local disasters in light of eternity rather than in light of past events. What should we consider based on the tornado that struck our community this past Wednesday? According to Jesus, those events should motivate people to be prepared for the future, their transition from this life to life eternal.


The perishing Jesus warned against was not that of a tower falling upon a group of people or an evil king seeking to motivate a population through fear. No, Jesus was warning about the suddenness and abruptness of life. This warning speaks to our preparation for life eternal, but it also speaks to the need to say those kindnesses that need to be said while there is still time.


What is your warning? Is there an encouragement you need to speak? Is there a transgression for which you need forgiveness? Is there a commitment on which you need to follow through? Is there a faith you need to live out in the world around you? Jesus encourages us, “Do it while there is yet time!"


Pastor Craig

Ascension

We rest on the brink of the birth of the Church. Yes, next Sunday is Pentecost. As all other monumental moments in the life of the Christian faith, we must ask, “What would we be doing if we really believed it?”

Where would you and I have been if we lived back then with Peter, James, and John? Well, we probably would have been doing whatever they were doing, going about our regular tasks, making sure there was food on the table for our family, laughing with friends, visiting those we loved, gathering in groups to think, talk, and pray about all that had transpired in our community since Jesus had died and risen again.

I don’t think we would have had much of a clue about what was about to happen. There is no Scripture that indicates the disciples had abandoned everything else in life to seclude themselves from the world. The words of the angels at the Ascension brought the disciple back to reality. The angels said, “Why are standing with your mouths open gazing at the clouds? GO! Do what Jesus instructed. Be busy preparing yourselves to receive the power of God!”  So they gathered in Jerusalem to be prepared.  

Next week we will celebrate that day. What will you do to be prepared? Are you ready to receive the power of God upon your life? Are you ready to be challenged as you have never been challenged before? Are you ready to be asked to do what you cannot do in your own power, but which will indeed be done because the Holy Spirit now abides in you and in me?

The life of Peter gives us a clear picture of the power of the Spirit in the life of an ordinary person. Peter was impulsive. You know, that raising Peter had to be a handful. He was always into something, doing before thinking, forgetting the consequences of his actions. When Jesus told the parable about counting the cost before you build, I think somewhere in that story he would have glanced over at Peter and given him a wink. Peter was selfish. He let Jesus die alone, not even claiming him as a friend he would stand beside in his hour of need.

Living in the power of the Spirit was not about Peter getting a new personality. It was about taking that radical, devil-may-care personality and directing it with the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit is not about being out of control. It is the reassurance of the power of God living in you and knowing that power is in control of all things, even those consequences Peter seemed to care so little about. That Spirit is the same Spirit alive in you! Prepare to be empowered!

Pastor Craig

Coming Apart

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."

Mark 6:31


Our Creator must have had some insight as to what we would do with his world, that we would be running and doing, always on the move, never stopping to slow down. It is for this very reason he created the Sabbath, a time “to make” us slow down. Those of us who try to do it, unfortunately, end up adding it as one more thing to our to-do list or schedule.

We turn vacations into work-ations. We try hard to rest. We always have some kind of list with tasks on it, and we never get to the end of that list because we keep putting new things on as we cross old ones off.  

Not too long ago, I tried to take a one day retreat. It was one of the harder things I have done. I found myself scheduling the time full of what I would do. As I looked down the list of things to do during my retreat, I realized that it was simply one more to-do list!

Christ has been telling me to take some time to talk and listen. I usually do the talking part very well. It is the listening section my Savior wants me to work on. I am fine about mentioning everything on my prayer list, even the prayer requests others have given me. It is the stillness following the talking, when God begins to have his say, which I usually skipped over.

So, I turned off the phone (That was probably the day I missed your call), took Ozzie, my dog, grabbed a book, and headed to Waxahachie Creek Park. Because the park is going through some improvements and upgrades there was no one there, no one at all.

Let me say, there is nothing like a dog to make you take a Sabbath. They have no agenda. They keep no calendar. They do not care about your calendar, what is on it, how tight your schedule is, or how far behind you are on your "To-Do" list. Dog are experts at "just being." They are transparent with their own feelings and can see right through the façade you try to put up to disguise your own. They are the ultimate go-with-the-flow animal. God sent Ozzie with me to bless me and slow me down.

That slowing down wasn't easy. In fact, the first part of my time, I wondered what I was missing being disconnected from media. The second part of my time, I saw what I had been missing while I was connected to all that technology.

Don’t mistake me; I still think technology is a wonderful thing. I still have my phone. I still have a tablet. I can’t say that the time had any tremendous spiritual revelations. I saw no miracles, other than the miracle of refreshment to a busy soul. It is so easy to just keep pushing, to add one more thing to the list, just one more.

Your Sabbath need have no agenda. Don’t worry; the world will still be here tomorrow. It is today that Christ looks on you, sees your exhaustion, and says, Come with me, by yourself, and get some rest.

Pastor Craig