The Seeker

poetry

2011-12-02T12:17:00.001-05:00

the 'orchard thieves' blew it
embarrassed, their cover gone,
ever since they've been
trying to get back in
and go for the other tree
- RFM

You, plural, describing the church . . .

2011-08-14T07:56:00.003-05:00

We've been blessed with many new, good, enlightening translations of the Bible, and I, for one, am glad. My college Greek is long ago withered, and I never studied Hebrew. The "thees and thous" of old translations are foreign language any more. That is good.

But one little word, "ye", Y - E, was a valuable word-- the plural of "you", Y-O-U, because in several places we read it as for individuals, for ourself, when it is meant to include the whole body of believers.

For example, in I Corinthians 3:16 our modern English reads "you are the temple of God" and the old versions read "YE are the temple of God." What's the difference? Later on(6:19) it does read "your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit" which I understand to mean me, my body, personally. But here "ye" means that together, you and I, and the whole mystical union which is the redeemed body of Christ--all those imperfect people we worship with as well as all our warts an all-- we, together, are where God dwells on earth, and where God meets human life as it happens.

Looking for the glory . .

2011-08-04T10:30:00.003-05:00

. . .so elusive, and yet it is there in surprising places . . like a shining coming through the trees . .. it is the love of Jesus almost always unconsciously given . . . broken bread that feeds the giver . . . it is not ours but we can share it . . .

Thoughts about glory . . .

2011-08-01T12:02:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking about glory lately . . . not notoriety, or fame, or praise, or anything about 'me' at all . . . but glory as in love, as in shining, as in Presence, as in wonder . . . glory that cannot really be parsed out and explained or earned or deserved . . . the glory of being loved and the glory of knowing God is loving through you, too.

Three Great Things

2011-07-02T11:21:00.002-05:00

The Great Commission--
We need to tell the world God is GOOD! That God the Good News is for everyone who will call on the name of the Lord...
The Great Commandment--
The hallmark of the Church is LOVE! If we love God and belong to God, then we had better learn to love God's people . . . even the ones who think we're too (liberal, fundamentalist, Catholic, conservative, fillin the blank) . . and even the ones with which we disagree in the details. If they say "Jesus is Lord!" be careful how you judge...
The Great Promise--
The LIFE of the Church is the Holy Spirit! We can be filled! Luke 11:13 is just one of many promises that we may have God indwelling us day by day! "If you being evil know how to give good things to your children, how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirt to those who ask Him?"

Walking by Faith

2011-06-24T07:20:00.003-05:00

Psalm 107 begins by saying, by exhorting "Oh give thanks to the LORD for He is good!" And then commanding "Let the redeemed of the LORD say so." Say what? That God is GOOD!

Then the Psalm goes on to give four examples of people in trouble . . . people who cry out to the LORD. In every case when they cry out God hears and answers. Then comes the refrain:

Oh that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men!"

Just now I am in trouble . . . in a spiritual and physical and relational crisis . . . praying for a loved one's physical healing . . .praying God to intervene in a desperate situation. It is for all those involved a Gethsemene.

I want to affirm here and now that God is GOOD! His mercy endures forever! I desperately want God to give a miracle! I ask God for the faith we need to see God's GLORY shone (John 11:40).

End of the World and Fundamentalism

2011-05-21T12:26:00.002-05:00

The Harold Camping prediction has brought to the world's attention the absolute folly of fundamentalism; of Christians who give answers to questions that are actually shrouded in mystery, and who need to control the interpretation of scripture. They are equally to blame with the very intelligent theologians and scholars who also need to make control pronouncements explaining away the supernatural; who tell us what God is and is not.
The fact remains that our Truth is a Word spoken by God; what is written down is not true because it is written down, but it was written down because it is True. That Word is beyond "explanation." We can KNOW the Word, but only as the Word chooses to be made known to us. I believe the Word is speaking, has spoken, will continue speaking. I am trying to listen.

I believe . . .

2011-05-12T10:25:00.000-05:00

I believe the Bible is true, but somehow I know it is not true because it is written, but it is written because it is true.
This ismuch more than a play on words. Maybe theologians and philosophers have sophisticated words for what I am trying to say . . . but
"TRUTH" that is God is beyond "explanation" and the mysteries of creation, and miracles, and divine inspiration cannot be reduced to catch phrases and even to true doctrine.
"TRUTH" is a Person. God has expressed His love for us by sending Jesus to be identified with us. This is THE profound miracle. If we believe that it is by revelation. All other true "facts" are of lesser importance...
The Bible exists to reveal Jesus...Jesus who said
"If you know Me you have seen the Father."

Audacious Sermon Fragment - - Really Old!

2011-04-18T10:28:00.002-05:00

Think with me through two or three "inner dramas" of people coming to seek salvation. See how the idea of what sin is goes to the heart of how we come to trust: 1. A commonly held "Nazarene" idea of finding salvation: Sin is being "bad," and sinning separates me from God. Salvation is being GOOD (once I've been to the altar to take care of being BAD)- And later I should come back to the altar to take care of the SIN ("bent to sin") that makes me wobbly at the center. The "drama" goes like this: I come to the altar. I confess my sins as I am told. I am given a clean slate, which assures me I will go to heaven if I die. I have a list of things I must and must not do. I must read and pray. I must not smoke or drink. I should go to church when I can, but then I sometimes see others who are rather casual about it, so maybe that isn't all that important. I start out with confidence. Then a couple of bad things can happen: (1) I keep all the neat rules, like NOT smoking and NOT drinking and so forth, and so I "know"(presumption!) I am saved even though from year to year I never really come to know the Lord Jesus in any personal way, and I never help any fellow mortal move one inch closer to the kingdom of God; or, (2) I soon find out that my clean slate is all messed up. I start over several times. Finally I quit in disgust saying that I cannot honestly live a Christian life. I drop away and say there is nothing real in this fake religion. (3) Or-- in spite of not having a perfect understanding of all these things I find a personal, growing knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and somehow the miracle continues to grow! 2. Let me have the audacity to change the scene. Now I am a hard-shell Baptist, or a child of strict Reformed or Calvinist roots. My definition of sin is sort of all the above PLUS-- sin is ANY COMING SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD! And by that I mean any place I should do better and don't, or shouldn't do bad and do. It is ALL sin! All my life I hear the Bible preached as propositional truth. "God said it! I believe it! That settles it!" Here's how MY "salvation drama" goes: I "come forward." With good solid counseling I "receive the Lord Jesus as Savior." I understand that He is my Substitute, and that His righteousness is IMPUTED as my own. God now looks at me, and instead of my sins He sees the righteousness of His Son. I am honor-bound to read and pray and prove the reality of my new birth by (1) Baptism; (2) Tithing; (3) Witnessing. If I do these things (1) I often come to live far above the raw simplistic application of the very real Truth of this system, and the discipline carries me into a genuine relationship. OR, (2) I drift into old ways, and from time to time I "re-dedicate my life" during times of emotional challenge. All the while I am more-or-less consoled by the fact that I have received "eternal Life" which by definition can never be forfeited (presumption) , otherwise how is it "eternal?" (3) Or-- in spite of not having a perfect understanding of all these things I find a personal, growing knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and somehow the miracle continues to grow! 3. Let me be even MORE audacious! Let me describe a person with some form of Catholic up-bringing. Sin to me is pretty much defined by the Church. There are mortal sins; there are venal sins. Jesus Christ is GOD and Savior, but the idea of salvation is strictly mediated through both the Word and the Traditions of the Church. I need to (1) be baptized; (2) confirmed; (3) keep current by taking Mass regularly, which should involve regular confession as well. My "salvation drama" comes when somehow these truths I have been taught become personal to me. I am saved by being in fellowship with the Church, and obeying from the heart its teachings, and I trust without inner assurance what I have been told- my salvation is "second hand" but the Creeds and Gospels move me from time to time. Or, I become a skeptic, a "nominal Catholic" and my life is no different from the culture in which I live, OR, Or-- in spite of not having a perfect understanding of all these things I find a personal, growing knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and somehow the miracle continues to grow! IN ALL THESE DIFFERENT STORIES LIFE-CHANGING SALVATION NEEDS A PRESENT SAVIOR No human agency can fully present the truth so powerfully and true that "correct theology" will save. Somehow, by the Word being released and through the preaching I hear, in whatever church, I must grasp -the Idea that God knows ME-! He cares that I have sinned. He is angry with my sins, but I know He loves ME. I am enabled to enter into a personal relationship with Him. I ask Him for mercy and forgiveness. He grants it. I sense that I belong to Him. We do not know all the profound things that take place when the New Birth takes place! We properly quote our theology-- Justification – Regeneration – Adoption – Sanctification -- but it is never ours to say whose faith in genuine and whose is not. This is God's One Holy Catholic Apostolic church-- it is God's call. The Church is God's Beloved! Be careful not to rip and tear at what God loves! Salvation is a relationship has been established. It is not easily broken!

The Jesus Prayer

2011-04-14T12:50:00.005-05:00

People I respect and love come from many different backgrounds, and many different sets of values. I want to be honest and real with every friend, but it is easier with some than with others to disagree at times and still feel unshaken fellowship. Some of my friends are convinced that the emerging church is the reason for a falling away in my denomination. Others of my friends are sure that people in political office are the greatest threat to our way of life, to the point of obsession. Some haver abandoned the music I grew up with, and the hymns that are written on my very heart; others excoriate the new, loud, casual music and cannot imagine how guitars and drums can ever bring a spirit of worship. I'm not saying it very well, but so many times what we are "against" becomes so strong that we forget what we are f\"for." Or, more properly, sometimes we hve to make our points until in our spirits we deny the very core of what we say we are. Actually, it is not what we are for, but Who is really our Life. Bottom line: The spirit (Spirit in us!) is everything! Even in militant opposition to sin as we understand it it is still the Jesus in us that people need to see. I have known many people whose doctrine is far different from my Wesleyan-Arminian persuasion-- but who lived and breathed a love for Christ that made me love Him more. I'm rambling, I know-- old people do that sometimes. But let me say this: the Word of God is a Person. The Bible is not true because it is written down-- it is written down and passed on because it is true. Sometimes TRUE means more than we can understand-- when it comes to how we got here, and why God permits this and that-- and why it seems hard for us to understand each other. The Church is God's darling. Don't rip it to shreds because it isn't like you think it should be-- rather pray that the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic church-- bigger than any "denomination"--purer and more holy that we can understand and yet imperfect and in need of grace (because I belong to it-- and you) --PRAY THAT WE WILL LET GOD BRING US TOGETHER AS HE SEES FIT. There is an ancient prayer that sums up what we need, day by day. Pray it with me: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

EAT IN FRONT OF YOUR ENEMIES

2011-02-01T11:23:00.002-05:00

When faced with the evils of sciety Christians usually fall into one of two categories: either

ACTIVIST, or CONVERSIONIST.

1. Activists create pressure. They seek to enact law. They

form a moral majority or a green peace. They protest.

2. Conversionists seek to evangelize. Nothing wrong with

that-- except that all too often this means "Join MY group

the way WE say and then circle the wagons and wait for the

cavalry." I do not deny that I believe that people need

to be born again, and that unless a person is saved he or

she is lost.

But there is a third way. Stanley Hauerwas suggests that

this "third way" is not in any way a blending of the other

two, but a radically different approach to Christian

reality!

3. This third way says: EAT IN FRONT OF YOUR ENEMIES! Don't

just try to block them in legislature, or persuade them to

become a member of your church-- but show them your

Shepherd!

Instead of an ACTIVIST APPROACH or a CONVERSIONIST APPROACH, this

is A CONFESSIONAL APPROACH to Christian living. . . . saying: "Jesus

Christ is MY Shepherd! He is MY Lord and MY Master. I will seek to do

everything I do in a way to please Him and reveal Him to the world!

You and I are called to be Christ's body! He is the Bread of life!
As He satisfies our deepest needs . . . as He loves through us where we are . . . the most powerful force in the Universe is brought to bear on the ills of society that frustrate mere human effort.

Prayer
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight,O LORD our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen

The Promise: Wait and See!

2011-01-28T11:35:00.002-05:00

In January 1991 the Middle East was in crisis--so what is new? Is this Egypt thing "the end"? What do God's people do?
Here is a sermon God gave me then-- it seems to fit "now"...

January 27, 1991
Isaiah 40:28-31

A PROMISE OF GOD'S STRENGTH

Introduction

There is no question but that these are days of stress all over
the civilized world. The events in the Middle East are brought into
our living rooms and our minds, and they are sobering, to say the
least.

Yesterday the Patriot Ledger said that people of faith
everywhere are turning to prayer: some for guidance, some for solace,
some for God's intervention. I would hope that we would be people of
prayer.

The question is: Where do God's people have any advantage over
people who profess no faith at all? What difference does faith make?

Faith does indeed make a difference! I am sure that you are
already finding this out. Perhaps you don't even need to be told that.
But I find that it helps me to be reminded of God's great promises.
Times of stress, whatever the reason, are good times to return to
favorite treasures, to the passages of scripture that have 'come
through' with assurance over and over again.

One such passage that we can claim together is Isaiah 40, and
especially that last paragraph which says, in part:

" . . .they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength . . ."

I. ISAIAH IS A PROPHET OF GREAT HOPE

[Isaiah is also a great Messianic prophet, and is
sometimes called "the Fifth Evangelist" (along with
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, because we Christians can
see so much of Jesus in his writings.]

A. Some "key words" that open Isaiah's message as we read are
words like "expectancy" and "hope" and "peace." Isaiah lived in
expectancy for a long time, through many difficult times. But Isaiah
was "forward looking." He believed that God was in charge, and that He
was in charge of the future. Isaiah is the one who told us that
Messiah would be called "Prince of Peace."

B. The heart of Isaiah's message is the fact that God works not only
on a cosmic scale, but personally. God was interested in kings and
nations, and Isaiah observed roles and rituals of religious ceremony
along with his fellow priests and prophets. But the message came in a
PERSONAL way to Isaiah himself. Isaiah felt his own personal
uncleanness before the holiness of God as well as that of his
people. Isaiah experienced personal cleansing and empowering. The
message that God gave him interfaced with his own family situation.

And-- Messiah would be a PERSON! Not just the nation of Israel,
but a Suffering Servant, a man among men and women!

Majestic and meek. Baptized - and a baptizer with
fire! Life-bringer who came to die! This personal
Savior would be called by the names of deity: WISDOM
POWER IMMANUEL! God with us!

C. Isaiah tells us in this passage that the reality of God's gifts
of HOPE and STRENGTH and PEACE are personally available, held out to
those who will 'WAIT UPON THE LORD!'

Wait upon the Lord!

II. WHAT IS THIS 'WAITING UPON THE LORD'??

A. "Waiting" would seem to imply something like 'killing time;' like
reading old magazines in a doctor's waiting room somewhere while the
appointments are an hour behind schedule.

Or, waiting might seem simply to let the years go by until God's
time gets right, and a certain day or hour appears and God says, "Now
you've waited long enough!"

But "wait" here has a personal aspect. It doesn't simply mean
letting time pass, but means waiting in expectancy, or looking to God
in trust as we watch to see how God will answer our prayer.

And no one, in any age, ever really waits on God in vain! No
one ever comes in trust and obedience that does not somehow find that
God is IN the prayer, that God is BEHIND the prayer-- and that,
ultimately, God is HEARING the prayer. [I certainly do not minimize
the mystery of prayer. I do not dispute the fact of genuine struggle
and even travail in prayer. But God does hear and answer prayer!]

B. But what, then, does this waiting mean?

1. Waiting on God indicates a sense of DEPENDENCY. Being
dependant somehow goes against our All-American western culture
Protestant work-ethic positive self-image self-confident way of life
and living.

[There ARE benefits to a healthy self-image which I do not deny.
There is enormous worth in looking at a task and thinking "I CAN!"]

But in matters of eternity and life and death "I CAN!" somehow
fades away into the realization that among the spinning galaxies of
ultimate reality there are many things which "I CAN NOT!"

[In "skits" of Bible stories which we used at a recent
pastors' retreat one mini-drama had to do with the
centurion who came and asked Jesus to heal his servant.
The man who represented the centurion was deeply moved,
even to tears. Later he said, "I realized that in
temporal things I had great authority: 'I say to
one, "Come!" and he comes, etc.' But in the things which
really mattered (i.e., the life and death of the beloved
servant) I was totally helpless, dependant on Jesus."]

Waiting on God is saying to God: We can't do it unless and until
YOU do it!

C. So waiting on God is not so much TIME as it is ATTITUDE. It is
listening for God. It is seeking to give God our attention. It is
being ready for communication from the Master. [It is perhaps like a
little dog trotting along, always looking back, always looking up to
make sure the master or mistress is coming along, and everything is
all right.]

And as we wait, we will hear God! As we wait the things will
happen that would NOT have happened if we had not waited! Isaiah
makes it clear that the benefits of waiting on God are in the HERE AND
NOW!

THEY THAT WAIT UPON THE LORD SHALL RENEW THEIR STRENGTH!

[But we are NOT little dogs trotting along, looking up to the
Master's face. We are PEOPLE, living in a tremendously complex world
situation. We have tremendously complex lives to lead. Is there any
practical guidance for waiting on God?

III. GIVING GOD OUR ATTENTION

A. We can pray DELIBERATELY to be filled with God's Spirit.
William Barclay says:

"The only way to receive the Spirit is to silently and
prayerfully WAIT upon the Spirit."

A helpful verse to me is Luke 11:13. Jesus says that if we ask
the Father He is more anxious to empower us with the Spirit than we
are to give things to our own children! But we need to ASK!

Barclay goes on: "In a church life in which the church
is increasingly organized, and in which strenuous
activity is the key-note, and in which ACTION is valued
above all things it is hard to find time for that
apparent doing nothing which means everything."

B. But can we be even more PRACTICAL? More SPECIFIC? How shall we
pray in such a way that we can renew our strength? [I have FOUR
suggestions:]

1. By praying HONESTLY. God will only receive as much of our
lives as we are willing to give freely to Him. This God who could
easily overwhelm us never pushes His way in past locked doors! If you
need His help in areas of your life make certain that you have made
Him welcome in EVERY area. [sin / confession / open-ness]

2. By praying REGULARLY. Prayer life is not so much a series of
major repairs and overhauls as it is keeping a schedule of daily
maintenance. Fifteen minutes a day is better than two or three hours
every other week!

3. By praying CORPORATELY. Worship together with the Body of
Christ is an essential part of waiting on the Lord. Worship is much
more than just a convenient time for religious people to get together
to hear a common word. The CHURCH has power as it joins in prayer
together. "Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together" is the
word of God (Hebrews 10:24.)

Finally,

4. By praying TOGETHER. Not just in the assembly of the Body,
but in the daily traffic of life and living, Christians must learn to
pray with each other, and pray for each other.

We need to reach out and ask for help. We need to say, "Let's
pray!" If it seems like a weakness, it is only admitting before God
that He alone is our strength! There is strength and power in weaving
the potency of prayer into the daily conversation of our living.

Conclusion

William Barclay again:
"God will 'do it again;' that is, renew and revive,
both for us individually, and for the church, if we
remember that He asks nothing but our attention, and if
we learn to wait INTENSELY upon Him."

Prayer:

Lord, We confess freely our need of Your strength. We believe that
You are as good as Your word. Help us to wait in simple faith and
trust- to give You our full attention. Help us to hear Your Word of
power. Amen

Who's Calling Us to Prayer???

2010-09-14T08:03:00.002-05:00

Everybody seems to have answers . . .we analyze . . .we explain more than we know . . . but the fact is only One Person sees the whole picture, and He has given us a prayer which we know so well we sometimes pray it and don't hear what we are praying . . . or worse, we sing our ditties and pray our extemporaneous prayers and never come to grips with what Jesus told us:

PRAY THIS WAY!!!

OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN . . .

HALLOWED BE THY NAME!

THY KINGDOM COME !

THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN !

We need to pray this together ... in our churches . . . pray it in our homes . . . pray it from our hearts!

Then...it is all right to ask:

GIVE US TODAY WHAT WE NEED TO BE ALL YOU WANT US TO BE !

FORGIVE US OUR SINS AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO SIN AGAINST US !

LEAD US!

dELIVER US FROM EVIL!

What if we all did what Jesus said we shoudl do?

I hear the call to prayer from different, even surprising directions these days . . . before we rush off to save the world in our own puny strength . . . before our civilization slips into hell . . . can we join together and pray the prayer we know by heart until from our hearts we truly pray that prayer?

Diana and Teresa . . . that week in September

2010-09-14T07:58:00.000-05:00

September 7, 1997
Good News! There's Hope!

THE OUTSIDER
Mark 7:24-30 The Syro-Phoenician woman with a daughter
distressed with an unclean spirit.

This has been a week we will remember a long, long time. The
death of the Princess of Wales has caught the attention of many
millions of people around the world. At the outpouring of words that
immediately followed the news of Diana's death, I think I was most
impressed that Mother Teresa of Calcutta had loved Diana, and had
said, among other things, that Diana "was in love with the poor" of
the world. And then Friday afternoon we heard: Mother Teresa was
gone!

Two women, so very different-- one 37, and tall and stately and
beautiful-- one 87, and tiny and wrinkled and, yes, beautiful, too, in
her own wonderful way. One born to great riches, and living in the
glare of the spotlight. One with absolutely nothing of this world's
goods to call her own, under a vow of chastity, poverty, obedience,
and of service to the poor.

[[[Diana Frances Spencer was born on the first of July 1961, just
over 36 years ago and married Charles Philip Arthur George, the Prince
of Wales, in a spectacular wedding in St. Paul's Cathedral on July 29,
1981. Mother Teresa was born, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on the 27th of
August 1910 to Albanian parents in what was then Serbia. She was
called "Mother" but was a nun for 69 years. ]]]

Two women very different-- and yet both of them remembered with
love for one thing: they made the people they met feel valued and
respected. They somehow carried the message: "Whoever you are, you
matter!" And in so far as they carried that message, they were
messengers of truth. This world is starved for genuine love. We need
to hear the message "You are a person of worth! You matter!"

The first message that God wants this world to hear is that same
message: YOU MATTER TO GOD! Before they can really understand
anything else of spiritual worth, they need to know that God cares
about who we are and how we live.

It may not be the first message the church thinks the world
needs. We begin with Lesson Two or Lesson Three. We attack the evils
of our culture, and get wrapped up in boycotts and legislation, and no
doubt there is a place for all of that and much, much more. (After
all, Mother Teresa took every occasion she could to speak out against
abortion. But first she paid her dues; first she saw in every face
she met the image of God-- her base from which she worked was: YOU
MATTER TO GOD!) We tell the world "Change the way you're living, and
God will accept you, and you will be saved!" We say, "Confess your
sins-- and turn to Jesus and be saved!" and of course this is the very
heart of what we are here for-- but first, "Lesson ONE" is the message
the world needs to hear: God cares about you! You matter! You are of
worth to Him!

It seems so simple, perhaps. We've heard it so many times. But
the fact is, there are times when we need to hear this first word
again. But if we, who know our Bibles, and know something of God's
love need this, how much more people who have never met Jesus Christ
need to hear the good news of strong hope-- that God loves them, and
that THEY MATTER TO GOD!

In the gospel lesson today a woman, a foreigner, heard that Jesus
was nearby, in the coastal town of Tyre. This woman was an outsider
so far as the pious Jews were concerned. She had two big strikes
against her, maybe even three. She was a woman in a society where all
the religious leaders were male; she was a Syrophoenecian, a sort of
half-breed foreigner who was despised by the pure orthodox Hebrews.
This woman had a daughter in deep trouble, deep spiritual trouble.

This outsider thought she saw in Jesus that same quality we have
been speaking about-- the love and respect for all people that drew
people to Diana and Mother Teresa. Jesus had actually crossed a
political and religious boundary in entering Tyre, a city in Gentile
territory. It seems as though Jesus was trying to get a little down
time-- a tiny vacation, but it doesn't work and people flood in to
ask for his help.

The Syrophoenecian woman came to where Jesus was trying to rest,
and she watched for a while as people came and went, and saw his
kindness and power and healing compassion. Then she, too, asks for
help with those who are breaking into his time of rest.

Mark doesn't tell us, but Matthew does, that this woman was
noisily bothering the disciples and that they wanted Jesus to send her
away. He doesn't do that however, and I wonder if maybe the
interesting interchange between Jesus and the woman is more for the
disciples (read "us") than it was for the woman.

But this "outsider" saw what we all will see if we will look and
live-- she saw that no one who ever came to Jesus was turned away,
except those who came in hypocrisy to defeat Him. By his own words we
know "The one that comes to me I will in no way (ever) cast out!"
This "outsider" saw that compassion, and dared to ask for help. And
she found that she mattered to God. She got the help she needed.

YOU MATTER TO GOD! That is Good News!

Do you really believe that? You don't have to break down doors
and try to persuade God you are worthy to be loved by him. He loves
you just as you are! He cares about you! He wants to come into your
life and brings HIS HOPE to bear on all that you are and do.

YOUR NEIGHBOR MATTERS TO GOD!

How are you going to tell him/her? Probably imperfectly, if
you're like the rest of us. But it will begin with an attitude.

James has some suggestions in our epistle lesson. He tells us
that we had better stop deciding who is "in" and who is "out." He
says if a person with money starts attending, and we act as though she
matters more than another person who is poor, we are missing the
message: you matter to God.

Don't get me wrong-- rich people need to hear this message, too.
Don't despise your neighbor because he may have more than you do. The
message is the same: you matter to God!

Conclusion:

Not one of us here will ever catch the attention of the entire
world like Diana or Mother Teresa. We won't have the spotlight in
which to tell people that they count, they are important. We probably
can be thankful that we don't.

But we will all have the privilege, first of all, to know that
fact for ourselves. IN JESUS CHRIST WE HAVE A DOOR TO AN ETERNAL
RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD! We matter! We are as important to God as
anyone who ever lived!

And then we have the privilege and the duty to begin where we can
by spreading the word far and near: YOU matter to God! You are NOT an
"outsider" to him! That is the message of our church! Will you help
tell it this week?

When Smart People answer Simple Questions

2010-08-07T10:01:00.000-05:00

Process theology, as it appears to me, is the result of very smart people attempting to answer a question I have heard asked in innocence by much simpler, less well-trained minds:
Is God good?
Yes.
Is God strong?
Yes.
Is God stronger than the devil?
Yes.
Then if God is good and stronger than the devil why doesn’t God just kill the devil and be done with evil?
So we apply logic and human genius and presume to announce that God is . . .

Emerging church, as it appears to me, is the result of very sincere people beginning to see that behind and beyond and above all they have ever known is a God that loves them, and they come to believe they have discovered something so new that they must begin all over building the church from the ground up.
Emerging church…from where?
Who is building the church?
Where has the Builder been for 2,000 years?

Agreeable God! Never, ever says “No!” Grace for the asking, off-hand, even. God of excitement and good times. Who needs to study? Why split hairs over any doctrine? God of the beautiful, young and strong. Worship in cliché and celebration.
A caricature, perhaps, of homogenous worship.
But the challenge to sacrifice, to leave, and follow often is missing.

Old people like me-- who never have known anything but the church and hymns and scripture-- can and do get to thinking that while other Christian groups or understandings of the Way of salvation may stumble through because of grace, it is really WE who know the best. WE understand who God is and what God is REALLY “like.”

What all us sincere people have in common is the danger of “creating God in our image” . . . we know so much it is hard for God Himself to get through our (MY) dullness or ignorance or carnal pride or obscurantism to lead us onwaqrd and upward.
Elijah thought he was the last one left . . . and I sympathize--no, empathize with him in my weaker moments. I wonder what I can do to help my little corner of the church find its way.

Then I fall back into a promise
That if I can and do really believe that God IS
(not God is “like”, or God is “here”. Or God is (anything but God IS!)
..if I can believe God IS-- then I have a great gift! It is FAITH!
The rest of that promise is to take my gift of FAITH and diligently
Begin to SEEK God!

A very wise man and maybe one of the best preachers I ever knew said in a memorable sermon in a church I once pastored:
“I know God! Oh, I know God! He has saved me! He has forgiven my sins! God loves me!
“But sometimes it seems I hardly know Him at al!!”
He was saying that our lives are enriched as we seek God, seek to know Him and let Him know us to the depths of our beings.

I am concerned about many things. I want to do what I can to see God’s kingdom come and God’s will be done on earth. But I am convinced it begins and ends when people seek God diligently. It is so naïve to think thoughts like this, I know. But I’m beyond analyzing and seeking to provide answers. I need to know God. I want God to help me pray the Lord’s Prayer with you and with all who call Jesus “Lord”-- pray it all the way through!

A SERIOUS QUESTION . . .

2010-07-22T08:09:00.000-05:00

. . . the following question is one which should not be
avoided. [My problem sometimes is that people think I am exaggerating
when I'm serious, or think I'm serious when I am having fun and
exaggerating. I want absolutely no confusion here: I am as serious as
I know how to be!]

The question is: HOW REAL IS JESUS CHRIST TO YOU? If you, as
parent, role model, leader, have a "get-by" or "mediocre" friendship
with Jesus, and your prayer life is not an increasing push into the
adventure of the mystery of knowing God in Jesus Christ, then it is
likely that those watching you will not be excited about the faith
that you may well hold dear.

We need to talk with Jesus. We need to walk with Jesus, and tell
Him constantly how we are, what we are thinking. And then we need to
put at the top of our intercessory prayer list the people we do not
want to be separated from for all eternity!

The WORD of God ..the Word of God..where God's WORD lives

2010-07-20T10:38:00.000-05:00

Colossians 3:16
The WORD of God . . . the Word of God . . . where God's Word Lives . . .

"It has become a family story..."
Ben went to the doctor who lifted his shirt and listened to his heart
with a stethoscope.
"What are you doing?" asked little Ben.
"I'm listening to your heart," was the reply.
"Jesus is in there, " said Ben, matter-of-factly.
"I think I hear Him," said the doctor with a smile.

My young grandson Ben's statement to the doctor: "God is in
there!" comes close to summing up what genuine Christian faith can be:
God in US! … incarnational faith!
Paul says in Colosians: Let the word dwell in you richly!

WHAT IS THE WORD OF GOD ??
The Bible? The Bible is God's WRITTEN Word. It is probably the first thing
that comes to mind, especially for those of us brought up in the
Christian church. We believe that the Bible is God's revealed Word on
salvation. It is a great and good thing to have the words of the
Bible hidden in our hearts. But the Bible is the written Word that tells us of the WORD.

JESUS CHRIST is God's WORD. He is the LIVING Word. John in the
Prologue to his Gospel says, "In the beginning was the WORD!" The
text says "Let the WORD dwell in you!" To have the WORD in us is more
than Bible memorization: the living WORD can come and live within us!
In Ephesians 3:17, a similar passage, instead of saying "Let the Word
dwell in you.." Paul says "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by
faith.."

But with Jesus Christ LIVING-- ALIVE in you and in me... WE the CHURCH-- become THE WORD INCARNATE!
Three great miracles of INCARNATION
-- the Bible, which exists to testify of
the WORD,
and the Church (made up of born-again believers)-- speak to a world that
is hungry for God.

It is our task to abide in Jesus, the WORD, and to let His WORDS
abide in us-- and then we can share in His mission to let the world
come to know God:
We are called to be HOLY; not simply so that we can bask in our
goodness, but so that Christ can indwell us, and speak of His love and
righteousness and grace to a world that wants to know God!
We are given what is necessary for us to live this CHOSEN life:
God's peace; His Word; and His great name-- the name of Jesus!
Into the Privilege of Christ’s Presence in the Sacrament of Communion
As we Invite the Living WORD to abide in us!

Listening . . .

2010-07-20T08:27:00.002-05:00

. . . Sometimes it seems the hardest thing to do to be quiet enough to hear God speak. And it is a mystery how He gets through to us when He answers our prayers. Hebrews 11:6 promises us that God is the Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
. . . The faith to believe God IS is itself a gift. The insight that God is GOOD is also a gift, because the way we look at things often tries to "see God" where WE expect and how WE "know" He should act. That is His business. But the diligence . . . the persistence . . . the listening, that is my part! I'm willing. And if I somehow am not in synch, or not really willing, by an act of will I say
"I am willing to be made willing!"
". . .No holds barred, no qualification-- Lord, I'm listening! I love YOU!
"Yes!"

Romans 7 & 8 "Too simple??"

2010-07-13T07:22:00.000-05:00

OBEYING THE HIGHER LAW Romans 7,8Lesson: Romans 7: (12) so then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. ... (14) For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. ... (16) ...I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good. (21) I find then a principle (law) that evil is present with me- the one who wishes to do good. For I joyfully concur with the Law of God in the inner man, (23) but I see A DIFFERENT LAW in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. (25) With my mind (I am) serving the law of God, but ... with my flesh the law of sin. Romans 8:2 ..the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.The Story of Naaman and Elisha It was all going very well indeed. The career was ahead ofschedule- there had been victory after victory, and promotion afterpromotion, and now Naaman had been made Chief of Staff and General ofGenerals. He was on top of his world! Then-- he noticed a few strange sensations in his hands; he sawsome white spots on his wrist. After a few days he went to see thedoctor. He was shocked by the report! The report was: "You are aleper!" This statement, this diagnosis changed all of Naaman's life.It was a death sentence! Sooner or later it would become commonknowledge, and he would be shunned, outcast, and the result wascertain deformity and death! The Bible says, "Naaman was a greatman-- BUT he was a leper!" But what makes this story worth telling is that even though thispagan general had a sure sentence of death, and by all the laws ofnature was doomed to die, HE HEARD A WORD OF HOPE, A MESSAGE ABOUT AHIGHER LAW. This word of HOPE came from the most unlikely place! It camefrom a little slave girl-- a little girl from Israel that had beencaptured in one of Naaman's conquests. The little girl evidentlycared about Naaman, and she said to her mistress-- "I WISH NAAMAN COULD GO TO ISRAEL-- THERE IS A MAN THERE WHOKNOWS GOD-- AND WHO COULD CURE HIM OF HIS LEPROSY!" It wasn't much-- but when you are desperate you don't need muchto send you looking. The little girl told her mistress and themistress told Naaman and Naaman told the King of Aram-- and the kingsaid, "GO FOR IT!" So Naaman, the conqueror of nations, the general of generals,takes a small caravan of valuables and heads for Samaria and the Kingof Israel. When Naaman arrived in Samaria, the capital city of the NorthernKingdom, he wasted no time. He went right to the top! When he gotthrough stating his reason for coming, King Jehoram (wicked Ahab'swicked son) was absolutely beside himself. "I'VE COME TO ISRAEL BECAUSE I'VE HEARD YOU HAVE A CURE FORLEPROSY!" Everyone knew that there is no cure for leprosy, but here stoodthe general of one of Israel's traditional enemies, making animpossible request. Naaman was a fearsome sight to all the neighborsof Aram, and Israel in particular. "AM I GOD?" asked the king to his subjects. "WHO DOES THISRAVING MANIAC LEPER FROM SYRIA THINK I AM? HE IS SIMPLY PICKING AFIGHT WITH US! HE INTENDS TO DESTROY ISRAEL!" Naaman, for his part, was in no mood to fight or argue. Hedidn't think there was much hope, anyway. He simply gave the word andthe caravan wheeled about and turned to go back toward the north andeast. Just about that time a man came running through the crowd. Hisname was Gehazi, and he was the servant of Elisha the Tishbite, aprophet of God. [ Now Elisha was not exactly well-accepted at court. His styleof worship was obsolete, and his idea of direct contact with God wasnot too sophisticated. And Elisha was not always civil to KingJehoram! But somehow Elisha had got word of the king's problem, andso he had sent his servant with a message to the king. ] "SEND THE GENERAL OVER TO ME!" It took the king about ten seconds to decide that sendingGeneral Naaman to the prophet would be a good idea. He didn't knowwhere the prophet lived, but Gehazi was willing to guide him. So theentourage turned and left the palace. When they arrived at the home of the prophet Gehazi went in andfound Elisha. I think Elisha was in the back garden. [Elijah was a rugged man, an outdoorsman, fond of camel skincoats and honey and locusts. But Elisha was a city person, smooth andcivilized, and yet not one bit less fearless or straightforward thanhis illustrious teacher had been. He was not over-awed by the power ofAram's armed might outside his doorway. He did not need to satisfyany personal curiosity.] Elisha sent word by the servant, and never himself spoke a wordto Naaman: "GO AND WASH IN THE JORDAN SEVEN TIMES AND YOUR FLESH SHALL BERESTORED TO YOU AND YOU SHALL BE CLEAN." "There it is! Take it or leave it! You are offered healing- - atthe price of obedience and faith in God! At the price of doing as youare bidden, not as you think you ought to do!" The Bible says, But Naaman was furious and went away and said, "Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage. (5:11-12)"IT'S TOO SIMPLE! IT'S TOO HUMBLING!" The message of finding the higher law is not unique to thisstory. That message is that WHEN WE COME TO THE END OF HUMANRESOURCES, IF WE WILL ACCEPT HIM ON HIS TERMS THERE IS GOD! We may think that we have life pretty much under control-- andyet we discover that we are sinners! Like Naaman, we are undersentence of death! The wages of willful sin is death! We seek help for the symptoms of our sinfulness- the damage itdoes to our lives. We go to church-- we ask for help in many acceptedchannels and we hear things like: (1) Sin is an outdated concept. There really isn't any sin anymore-- it is a combination of our environment and our inheritance. Wehave received a bad deal from our parents. Whatever feels good is allright to do. But somehow we KNOW that we are on a collision course with a justand holy God-- and that we are not prepared. or... (2) We are offered various human therapies which are helpful asfar as they go, but which can not reach to the depths of the real needof our lives, which is freedom from the power and guilt andcondemnation of sin. We are not just people who sin-- we are SINNERS! And THEN-- we hear the simple Gospel message: The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, shed on the Cross ofCalvary, cleanses from all sin! Christ died for the sinner! Or thispassage in Romans 10: (8-11) "the Word is near you, in your mouth andin your heart that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, andif you believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead,you will be saved!" And our "sophisticated" reaction is like the ancient Arameangeneral, the leper named Naaman. "IT IS TOO SIMPLE!" NAAMAN'S STORYDOESN'T END WITH HIM GOING OFF IN A RAGE: His servants prevail on him with common sense: "What can youlose?" He goes to the banks of Jordan-- maybe to the same place Jesuswas baptized, who knows? He looks up on the banks and sees the natives watching. Heknows he will look stupid! But he wades in-- and dips under the water. Nothing! He dips again-- and again Nothing! But seven times down and the seventh time up helooks-- and . . . the white spots are gone! He comes up out of the muddy water and heads, dripping, for hischariot. "Go back to that prophet's house!" he orders the driver.The caravan wheels around again and heads back for Samara. And this time Elisha the Tishbite comes out. Maybe there is evena little smile on his face. "Here is a million dollars!" says the general, Naaman. "I won't take one red cent!" says the prophet. (Evidently he ison salary, like Billy Graham; or else, he hasn't learned how to make abig prophet like the TV prophets.) The general rides away a man who is convinced of the power ofJehovah God!Summary and Application: I suppose that I have read this portion of Romans -speakingabout being bound by lower laws-- and then finding freedom in higherlaws-- a hundred times or more. It is NOT a simple, easy passage. Wethink as we read, "Why do you make it so difficult? Why don't yousimply spell it out in language that we can easily understand?" Two or three things come to mind when I think of 'easilyunderstanding' the Word of God. One is-- that the way of salvation is easily entered, simple tograsp, requiring only the obedience of faith to say, "Jesus is LORD!" But another is-- that we think that because eternal life is afree gift, then it does not require study and application and effort,like any other wonderful truth. We think in arrogance that we knowall that is to be known simply by our native intelligence. And thatsimply is NOT so! Paul speaks of the deep things which the CorinthiansOUGHT to have been grappling with, but they simply were going over andover the same elementary truths of arithmetic, not realizing thedepths of algebra and calculus and wonder that God had for them tounderstand and practice. And finally, along with this lack of willingness to study: Wethink that God should always bend to our way of thinking; we thinkthat we are the measure of understanding. But we must be willing toendeavor to follow God's teaching, and enter into His lessons. This, then, is a difficult passage. It expresses the deepest joyof freedom and life in God found anywhere in the Bible. But itdemands our full attention. We will not plumb its depths in thissermon together, and I hope that you will not solve its meaning thisafternoon and come back with all the answers tonight. But you canbegin, or you can continue-- as I am sure that we all are in somemeasure engaged in this "heart-of-Romans truth." Have you submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Are you evenNOW confessing with your mouth, and by God's grace, believing in yourheart? It is profoundly simple, and simply profound-- but the freedomand power of Romans 8 is for us all! We can obey God's HOLY law, andbe FREE from the "law of sin and death" as we submit to the "law ofthe Spirit of life in Christ Jesus!" Elisha said to Naaman, "Go, wash and be clean!" The Spirit says to you and to me: "Confess, believe, and be freefrom sin and condemnation!"PrayerHymn No. 465 Trust and Obey———————————————————————————————————
Dr. Russell Metcalfe is Pastor Emeritus of the Wollaston Church of the Nazarene. Permission to reprint or publish this material is GRANTED as long as the reprinting or republishing is not-for-profit. You can access more of Dr. Metcalfe's sermons at his scripturally indexed sermon archives web site. Now with MP3 audio sermons and audio bonus material.
http://russellmetcalfesermons.nazarene.nl/sermons.html
Dr. Russell Metcalfe now has a Web Log (blog) at
http://rmetcalfe.blogspot.com/
You can reach Dr. Metcalfe

A Modest Proposal

2010-07-01T09:09:00.002-05:00

Given the on-going worship dialogues, I have a modest proposal to keep us old fogies from losing it entirely and attacking the platform with our canes and walkers . . .

The proposal has three parts . . . depending on the churchb size and situation.

For the larger church that has moved into a gymnasium-type setting with moveable seats and cheap projection screens:
After the greetings and offering, dismiss everyone with wrinkles or liver spots to "senior church" in the old auditorium, which probably still has a piano or organ in it which some old fogie can play. Have them take their hymnals with them. They can leave at the same time as the children to "junior church".

For the smaller church the pastor can ask the "senior citizens" to come forward and sit (sit) in the front pews for "pastor's time with the senior citizens". He can turn around and put on a clip-on tie and then have a senior sermon, maybe explaining what all the wires and microphones do and how they can adjust their hearing aids at different parts of the service. He can assure them that the people who stand behind those mikes and slap their thighs and wiggle are NOT Gladys Knight and the Pips, what are they thinking?

For the fortunate church that has "senior talent" a back-up group can be recruited, or a warm-up group or whatever you call it-- of seniors all dressed alike with creases in their pants and oil in what hair they have left-- like the Mille Brothers or the Four Freshmen . . . or even likeGomer Pyle and Goober. That way the older people can get back at the young ones and make them pretend they like it.

I would draw the line at body surfing.

How DID the "Early Church" really grow??

2010-06-29T07:16:00.000-05:00

"Acts" is a textbook on church growth. The conventional thing is to
say: "We want a church like the early church!" I'm not sure we would
want to face the same ratio of impossibilities.

But one thing is for certain, the growth of the early church was
co-existent with great problems and trouble. There was almost
universal opposition from authority both religious and civil. There
was disagreement and strife and even failure within the ranks of the
believers. And yet our text says that they had great grace and they
had great power! This particular incident came after there was a great
stir that began with the healing of the lame man (Acts 3) and there
are some very significant statements which lead up to our text:

I. (v 12) THE DISCIPLES WERE LOVINGLY INTOLERANT

A. "Intolerance" is not the same as "schism." How can we speak of the
virtues of "intolerance?" Aren't we supposed to see all Christians as
brothers; and aren't we supposed to have a genuinely ecumenical spirit
when we follow Jesus?

Certainly we need more understanding-- more reaching out to all
Christians everywhere. The church of Jesus Christ is bigger than we
may understand or appreciate. We need to get along with other
Christians who may have faults. God knows that we may have a fault or
two, as well!

B. "Intolerance" is aimed only at central issues; and the first issue
of all is: WHO IS JESUS CHRIST? and-- WHO IS JESUS CHRIST TO YOU? We
cannot simply co-exist peacefully with those who deny the deity and
Lordship of Jesus Christ- and expect great grace and power!

C. Jesus will not surrender His authority-- nor will He share the
loyalty of His servants.

[ I watched a feature story on the revival of miracle plays in the
streets of York, England; the man playing Jesus was an Indian
national, and a Buddhist, who affirmed on camera again the theme that
Jesus was good-- he is one way to God among many. But Jesus was NOT
"good, and one way among many to God." Jesus is HOLY, Jesus is God,
and the ONLY way to God, or else Jesus is a liar and fraud. ]

D. We must raise the level of our alertness/awareness to doctrinal
truth. We must be lovingly TOLERANT of disagreement WITHIN the family
of faith. Some may insist on speaking in tongues: we can lovingly
disagree; some may insist "once-in-grace-always-in-grace" and we can
argue within the family; some may even pray to Mary, and we
scripturally disagree. We don't have to agree on all points-- but we
can pray for each other, But there can be NO compromise in the matter
of authority and Lordship: THERE IS NO OTHER NAME! NO OTHER WAY!

II. (v 20) THEY WERE OBEDIENTLY INSISTENT

A. They not only believed (intellectually), but they were determined
to be obedient. Acting on what they believed to be God's truth. The
experience, the reality was there. In "new" churches like our own the
tendency is:

Generation ONE: fervency and reality;
Generation TWO: maintenance and tolerance;
Generation THREE: convenience and simply "fitting Jesus in" wherever
we are not called on to sacrifice.

At whatever cost, we must press into the reality of knowing God in
Christ!

B. What was God's will for these men (Peter and John)?: Long before
they had met Jesus personally. They had heard Him say to them:

1. "Follow ME ... and I will make you ..."

And they had begun to follow; they had found a new way of life: living
by God's LOVE. They had seen Jesus live and die and were convinced
that He had conquered sin and death and hell. They were determined to
FOLLOW JESUS AT ANY COST!

They had also heard Jesus say, before He ascended to heaven:

2. "Tarry ye .. until you are clothed with power ... to witness to
Me"

And they had experienced the birth of the church in it glorious
fellowship and worship.

C. These disciples had been true to their own personal experience.

1. We cannot "share" what we don't have. A faith that doesn't pay its
honest debts ... that doesn't get along with its neighbors ... that
can't keep a civil tongue in its head ... is hardly advertisement for
Jesus and His LIFE.

2. But if Jesus is meeting your needs - and if you are a growing
Christian - then you need to SHARE Him -- and there are people that
NEED what you have found!

III. (v 23) THESE CHRISTIANS KNEW THE VALUE OF SHARING PRAYER REQUESTS

When threatened (they were human! they were frightened! so) they
hurried back to the CHURCH and TOGETHER they prayed through to new
reality, and new infilling and power.

IV. (v 32) THEY WERE UNITEDLY UNSELFISH

A. Their exact METHOD is not what we should copy; but we need to
re-discover their SPIRIT.

B. How may we be UNSELFISH in any practical sense?:

1. God does not demand the UNreasonable. But each of us HAS that which
is valuable to contribute; and it is the greatest pleasure to GIVE!

2. HOSPITALITY; KINDNESS TO EACH OTHER is a grace. In the HOME-- (as
we have already said!) -- THE GREATEST GIFT WE CAN GIVE OUR CHILDREN
IS TO LOVE EACH OTHER. We WILL disagree -- but we can be Christians
in working out and talking out our disagreements.

What has this to do with REVIVAL and the CHURCH? It is so obvious-- we
cannot see it: In the CHURCH -- the greatest tool for power and
witness is to love each other!

Our own children are lost to the church at an amazing rate, and one
wonders if it is not because we have aired our criticisms more than
our love! I am not complaining now about personal problems, but there
is a general truth here: people who find fault and criticize wake up
to realize they have cut their children's faith out from under them!
What is GOOD about our fellowship?

This "love-one-another" power carries through in evangelism, too.
People may come to God because they want different things; but they
STAY with the church because they find LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING AND A
PLACE TO BELONG!

If I really believe that our church (with all its faults) is the best
church I know anything about, how do I express that to those I meet?
As I try to bring people to Jesus, do I tell them how I see Jesus in
YOUR faces? Do I tell them how when I have faced difficult times Jesus
has sustained me because of YOUR love? What do you think might happen
if we were able to communicate what we really believe about Jesus
Christ and His church-- and OUR church in particular?

Conclusion:
(In Wollaston)

We don't have the contagious enthusiasm of a risky, brand-new
situation. (And you are like that, too!) There is something exciting
about a storefront. There is a thrill in having just a few and seeing
that few grow.

But we do have the thrilling reality of a middle-sized church that is
pushing forward in several vital areas, and that wants to mind God in
being a force for revival and renewal in this unique place! (You have
what this world desperately needs!) If we will love one another and
mind God, then Jesus will build His church!

#311 I Love Thy CHURCH, O God!
———————————————————————————————————

Narrative Preaching

2010-06-16T13:51:00.002-05:00

Apologies to my grandson Ben for "taking his name in vain" but if you have 20 minutes this is a narrative sermon that is about finding rest in the storm . . . it may be worth wading through, and it is my gift to you.

http://russellmetcalfesermons.nazarene.nl/AudioSermons/I%20Will%20Give%20You%20Rest.mp3

One Act Play-Three Scenes: Angels Calling!!

2010-06-11T10:42:00.003-05:00

ANGELS COME TO CALL
A One Act Play in Three Scenes
(From Acts 10 )

I. SCENE ONE: OFFICER'S HOME IN CAESAREA
Time: June 21, 36 A.D.
Place: A beautiful spacious cut stone home in the Roman city ofCaesarea, on the eastern most coast of the Mediterranean; Caesarea isthe Roman provincial capital of what is now Lebanon, Israel and partsof Syria and Jordan.
Cornelius, a Roman centurion, commander of a famous Italian Regiment, is praying. It is 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and his workday is behind him. Perhaps he is in the atrium of his spacious house; he is meditating on all the things he has seen and heard.
Cornelius is a good pagan. He is a true seeker after truth,after God. He is not a Christian, but he cannot help but have heard something about this development in the Jewish community. Cornelius has not been a typical occupational military presence. He is a loyal Roman, but he believes that the best thing Rome can do for the empire is foster true understanding and good will. And as Cornelius has become acquainted with the Jewish scriptures, the revelation of Jehovah, he has been impressed.
This is "a" good religion! He has sponsored the building of synagogues; he has fostered tolerance and kindness to the Jewish people.
This day is much like many other days-- the administrativeduties have been cared for; the new men have been assigned, the men to be retired or sent on leave have been reviewed; letters have been received and sent, and now a little quiet time seeking to communicate with the Great Unknown. Cornelius has had this growing hunger in his heart for God and has not known quite how to express it. And then-- ithappened!
It happened in the inner court of Cornelius' lovely home in Caesarea-- and angel of God suddenly stood before him! The angel spoke his name! "Cornelius!" Cornelius was startled, to say the least. His reaction was the same as yours or mine would be: he was terrified!
But Cornelius was a military man, and his fear did not control hisactions. Cornelius looked the angel right in the eye! And he said tothe angel, "What is on your mind?"
The angel did NOT tell Cornelius about Jesus. He did NOT makeknown the Roman Road or the Four Spiritual Laws. He DID give Cornelius encouragement, and told him the next step to take. The encouragement was the assurance that God in heaven knows what Cornelius is doing on earth.
The next step was a specific assignment to a specific place tosee a specific individual who was staying with a specific person. Hegave enough directions so that Cornelius could send for the help heneeded. Within the hour Cornelius had sent three men on the day-and-a-half journey down the coast to Joppa to find this man calledPeter. And this is how the first scene ends.

II. SCENE TWO: THE HOME OF SIMON, THE TANNER BY THE SEA
Time: The next day, just about high noon. Peter is waiting fordinner to be announced. Place: Simon the tanner's house. It is by the sea. It isn'ttoo hard to find, for the tanning business involves soaking raw animal skins in vats; fermenting ---the fermentable, potent smells-
I know it is silly because churches had not yet been developed,and the Nazarene nap syndrome was still millennia away; but somehow I picture a Sunday afternoon just after church in the house where I live; I've finished preaching and I am temporarily exhausted; the kids are doing their thing- Helen is in the kitchen-- for we always used to have the biggest meal of the week-- and I usually lay down on the couch until it was time to slice the meat or whatever-- and it wasn't too hard to drop off into a quick nap.
Actually in the hot mid-eastern climate a leisurely noonmealtime is pretty much world-wide.
However it happened, the Bible says that while Peter was hungryand waiting for dinner to be served he fell asleep and fell into atrance that was somewhere between dreaming and a visitation from God,or so it seemed.

[ THE 'VISION' - A "sheet" let down from heaven with pork chopsand lobsters and apple pie with ice cream . . . all non-kosherfoods-- ] Then the Spirit spoke clearly to Peter: Men are just about toring the doorbell! Don't be afraid. I'm in this. Peter went down thestairs and met the men at the gate-- and invited them into the house.
What kosher rules were broken I do not know-- I doubt any at this time. A Jew can have non-Jews in his home-- the contamination begins when the Jew goes into the heathen's house and/or eats off defiledvessels.
The men stay overnight with Peter in Simon the tanner's house.

III. SCENE THREE: OFFICER'S HOME IN CAESAREA
Time: June 24 or 25, same year
Scene set same as Scene One, except now there are a score or moreguests eagerly waiting the return of the men Cornelius has sent away.
When Peter came in he first talked briefly about himself, who he was, and how he was (usually) limited! "I have never mixed with Gentiles! But God has been speaking to me! Here I am!"
Then Peter got down to business! He began to tell Cornelius and his household and guests about the Christ who fills all of revelation,and who had transformed his own sinful heart!
As Peter spoke about Jesus things began to click into place. "I had heard about this Man," Cornelius may have said. "But I hadn't known quite how to fit Him in to what the Jewish scriptures say. Now this makes sense!"
The Holy Spirit was illuminating Peter'spreaching.
When Peter, helped along by the Spirit, said, "If you believe in this powerful Name that is above every Name, you will receive forgiveness of sins," Cornelius's heart leapt for joy! In his heart hesaid, "I do believe!"
And the same thing was happening in the others gathered there. God descended in a wonderful way. Peter's sermon was interrupted, but his message came through loud and clear! They had a testimony meeting-- and then they had a baptismal service-- and then they started the First Church of the Nazarene in Caesarea with about 20 charter members!
I know it doesn't have that all down in the King James version.But as Dr. Knight said at Assembly, that is what we preachers are for!(To explain what isn't written down!)

Conclusion/Application
This chapter says two things to me, loud and clear:

Hebrews 11:6 is true: God will meet with those who seek after Him diligently; and YET-- God uses obedient PEOPLE, not angels to tell the Story...
... 1. When our focus is on Cornelius it makes us aware that
(1) "in all nations there are people seeking after God." and
(2) it encourages us that God answers those who seek him.
[Illus: At the last General Assembly one evening the emphasiswas world mission, and there were several people in our owngeneration-- current-- who were raised pagan, but to whom God hasmanifested himself. One of them will speak with us here next Sunday!Janine Van Beek. Another was a man who lived in the rain forests ofSouth America-- to whom God gave the name of a man to seek after in amission situation.]

2. When our focus comes to Peter there are several things this passage teaches me:
(1) I never know my own prejudices; I must be open to the Lord. Then I can also be myself.
(2) When God wants a job done He sends for a man or a woman. Imperfect, faulted, weak, prejudiced-- still God does not give the Gospel message by angels-- at least not usually! God uses redeemed people!
(3) The POWER is in the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus-- in His life within! When Peter said Jesus is alive, and if you believe in His name you will receive forgiveness of sins-- as he spoke the hearers believed and received!

(Curtain Down---Play is Over)
———————————————————————————————————

Proclamation AND Preaching

2010-06-08T09:40:00.002-05:00

I love to preach. There are a few choice words that I live by in preaching. I would share with you wordsthat I live by, that to me are part of my sacred assignment as apreacher. But, not too surprising, I have come to the conclusion that these words are not justfor ordained people. Together we all are the church apostolic, calledto know Jesus and to witness to the world of what we know.
HERE ARETHE PRECIOUS WORDS

I. I AM AN AMBASSADOR, NOT A PEDDLER "We do not peddle the word of God for profit" A. Peddlers are honorable, but they (1) are in their work to makea living; and (2) they usually sell gadgets. B. We are ambassadors. We earn our livings in order to support ourtrue work. What we handle is a matter of life and death. We are peoplewho are sent. C. As ambassadors we are honor bound to learn our craft; to knowour calling well; to become experts in the matter of scripturaltruth. We must know the message in order not to garble it.

II. I AM CALLED TO BE REAL, NOT A PLAY-ACTOR "We do not cover our face, as Moses, to hide the fading glory" A. The incident cited: Moses had a crisis time of glory when hisface shone. He was frightening to the people then, but it was anhonorable sort of excitement. After all, he had been with God. When the glory faded, Moses kept the veil on so the peoplewouldn't see his apparent weakness or mere humanity. B. Religious hokus-pocus is a temptation. People think more highlyor less highly of us than we deserve. But we must strive to be honestbefore God! [Not just "be ourselves!" But be ourselves as God is working with us!] It is vital that we share our high moments as well as bevulnerable in our low times. I am not suggesting that people want tohear the details of your hospital experiences; but I am saying that weneed to share the fact that God meets with human beings where theylive.

III. I MUST SPEAK THE TRUTH, NOT PROPAGANDIZE "We do not distort the Word of God" A. Let the Word itself speak. All too often when we apply the wordto a situation we know where we want to end up before we evenstart. We are sure how we want to see the result turn out. That isall very well, so long as we are totally under the authority of theliving Word. B. The Word will speak! The Word of God reflects the Living Word,the Son of God. It has a mind, a life, a will all its own thatsupersedes our limited perspective. But that is the rub; the word will not be used! It must beobeyed! C. The critical factor: AM I LIVING BY THE WORD?

IV. I MUST BE CHRIST-CENTERED, NOT SELF-PROMOTING "We do not preach ourselves, but Christ"
A. This is not to say that God cannot and will not use"characters." Thank God, He loves you the way you are-- and He wantsyou to be yourself! Your sanctified self, that is!
B. It comes down to a matter of LOVE: we seek the glory of Godahead of our own!

Conclusion I have a dream of seeing our church become very effective inreaching people who do not know Jesus as Savior. I believe that wecan have a great new break-through in proclamation. Such a dream would usually be immediately followed up bychallenge to learning and doing. And I believe there is a place forall that.

There are two things that if they happen the dream will come:

1. We must really want to proclaim; must see proclamation as thetotal task of the total church, and as the one single thing that willbring us the most joy. WE MUST WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW THE CHRIST WE LOVE.

2. We must believe in each other as we catch the vision: loveand encourage and boost one another in every thing that we do. WE MUSTHAVE A BAPTISM OF TRUST AND LOVE AND COMMUNITY. And, so, we do not lose heart.

{{{SCRIPTURE TEXTS2 Corinthians2:17 FOR WE ARE NOT AS MANY, WHICH CORRUPT THE WORD OF GOD: but as ofsincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.3:13 AND NOT AS MOSES, [WHICH] PUT A VAIL OVER HIS FACE, that thechildren of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that whichis abolished:4:2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, NOT WALKING INCRAFTINESS, NOR HANDLING THE WORD OF GOD DECEITFULLY; but bymanifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man'sconscience in the sight of God.4:5 FOR WE PREACH NOT OURSELVES, BUT CHRIST JESUS THE LORD; andourselves your servants for Jesus' sake)))

Pendulum swngs . . .

2010-05-20T07:36:00.000-05:00

From and old sermon . . .

There was a time when Nazarenes were almost "plain people;" they
had rules and regulations that probably were, in many cases, a little
bit of scripture and a lot of human scruples.

But it seems so much that we have swung way over through
freedom, and I wonder if we have taught our young people and children
to have no fear at all of displeasing God!

We now have people who claim to be serious about their
relationship with God who are impure in their sexual lives; people who
talk about loving Jesus, and yet who buy and sell and copy schoolwork
that is supposed to be their own; people who are Christian who can pad
accounts and steal from employers. . .

Test Post for Face Book Purposes

2010-05-11T19:09:00.001-05:00

Trying to find out how/why my blogs USED to automatically show up on "Notes" and then quit . . .

Thoughts from the past . . .

2010-05-08T17:47:00.000-05:00

Sometimes we think our credentials can stand in place of our actions. Fr. Dick Rice is a noted counsellor of priests and nuns in the archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. He was giving a day of recollection to Mother Teresa and some nuns. He said, "Mother, what is, would you say, your most difficult problem?" Immediately, he felt he shouldn't have asked the question.
But Mother Teresa came right back and said, "Professionalism."
Fr. Rice blinked and repeated "Professionalism?"
"Yes," said Mother Teresa. "When I send a sister off to school to become a nurse or a doctor, she returns with her degrees and diplomas, I always have to interrupt her after a while in her work. She has become too intellectual about her work. She has lost the personal touch. So I send her down to the ward where we have people with advanced diseases who are dying. I tell her to just sit with them, empty their bedpans, hold their hand, feed them. Then, after a couple of months I let her go back to her work."
If anyone is a no-nonsense person, it's Mother Teresa. In her reply she showed how important it is not to lose the common touch, no matter how many degrees one has after his or her name.

Glimpses of Eternity

2010-04-29T08:15:00.000-05:00

In Jesus Christ, in His image, we begin a relationship that issatisfying here and now, but that extends beyond the known and theseen into the greater realities of forever. We cannot let the precious trinkets and imperfect promises ofthis passing moment overshadow the wealth of what it means to be ajoint-heir with Jesus Christ in inheriting the riches of reality thatwill endure when Donald Trump's billions have vanished like smoke, nomatter how the wisdom of this age undervalues them. We are God'sfamily!

Maybe my "Last Chapel Sermon"

2010-04-13T07:16:00.002-05:00

... about "loyalty" and "vision" . . . if you can decipher my spacey speech:

For E.N.C. chapel 4/29/92
DEALING WITH CONFLICT IN LOYALTIES

(( A NEW EXPERIENCE, BEING PAID TO SPEAK IN CHAPEL FROM MY OWNPULPIT, WHICH IS NOT MY OWN PULPIT WHEN THIS IS THE COLLEGE CHAPEL
1) reflections on the history of this church's relationship toENC across the years
2) reflection on the larger relationship of ENC to the church atlarge, and to the Church of the Nazarene in particular))

1. A FOCUS ON OUR LOYALTIES
".. to thine own self be true and it must follow as the nightthe day thou canst not then be false to any man.." Shakespeare'scharacter notwithstanding, this is only partially true. and as Tony Campolo has said in the title of a book outliningseveral damnable heresies-- there is a kernel of truth in mast lies;the title is "Partly Right", by the way
WHEN LOYALTIES CONFLICT, how do we address the tension? who orwhat has to give? William C. Placher in a recent article says
"imagine admissions literature stating something like this:
We groom you to success in your careers. We prepare you for graduate and professional work at the best universities or cocktail conversation at the best country clubs. And also, we will get you thinking about the service of the crucified son of a carpenter who calls his disciples to give up all that they have and pick up their crosses and follow." Then Placher adds with bitter irony: "On second thought, perhaps we'd best leave out that last sentence." So-- am I called to be a millionaire, or called to be a monk?Am I to be socially active, or fundamentalist-defender of the faith?Is there any kind of safe way to go? or better, is there any one rightway?

2. SEEKING THE DEEPEST, HIGHEST LOYALTIES
Kohlberg, Lawrence Kohlberg, (who had some influence in myunderstanding of how I think about 'right and wrong'), saw- still inindividualized understanding- the highest motivation as being"principled" or "post-conventional" motivation. He wrote that he had never observed anyone under 22 years of agethat was really into this high level of loyalty to truth.
I question that-- for the highest understanding of truth isnever abstract, never objective. Robert Coles, also an eminent Harvardteacher, has seen in children nine, ten, eleven years of age aspiritual sensitivity that went beyond their rational understanding ofmoral issues.
We are dealing here with mystery! And I have known many people whose moral understanding may havebeen lacking, but whose commitment to Truth was so thorough and soirrevocable that they lived like Jesus because they lived with Jesusand Jesus lived through them.
There is a better, a higher way of loyalty. It is the personal loyalty to Jesus that transcends all other loyalties. It denies self-sovereignty ("I am NOT God!") and identifies with Christ's body,the Church, (imperfect as it may be, especially after you join it)!

Conclusion: Change is threatening. We live in tension between the joy ofchange and the security of steadfastness. This is the generation of them that seek Him, that seek Thy face OJacob!

For GOOD FRIDAY

2010-04-01T07:10:00.000-05:00

April 17, 1992
IT IS FINISHED
Good Friday Meditation
John 19:30 When Jesus had received
the vinegar, He said, "It is finished!"
and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

A STATEMENT ABOUT CHRIST'S LIFE WORK

The cry from the cross, "It is finished" is the final word in the
Gospel of John. "Into Thy hands I commend My spirit" is a personal
word of faith; this is a statement about what Jesus has done with His
life, and where He had finally ended His earthly ministry.

THE VIEW OF UNBELIEF: IT'S ALL OVER

I suppose there are different ways to hear these words. One
interpretation, I hasten to say 'Not my own!', might say that with
these words Jesus has simply said: "It's all over!"

The agony has ended, but with it also the noble experiment has
failed! 'My disciples are scattered, the high and holy-sounding words
I uttered have proved empty. Love is NOT stronger than hatred; the
people with the biggest army always win.'

But if this had been the true meaning of these words we never
would have heard of Jesus Christ except as a tiny footnote somewhere
in an historian's notebook about some eccentric Jewish revolutionary.

This is the interpretation we must give these words however,
if all that we see is the cross of Christ.

I know it is Good Friday. I know we aren't supposed to celebrate
the Resurrection until Sunday. I praise God that the Cross is God's
victory for us over the power and guilt of sin. But it takes the power
of the Resurrection to unlock the full meaning of these words: "It is
finished!"

John 20:9 expresses how helpless we would be to see the full
meaning of "It is finished" without knowing, as we most certainly
know, that Jesus not only died but rose again from the dead. John 20:9
says:

"For as yet they did not understand the Scripture
that [Jesus] must rise again from the dead."

From our perspective this side of Calvary, this side of the
resurrection, this side of Pentecost and the living Christ inhabiting
His church, we know that Jesus was NOT admitting defeat with his
statement from the cross, IT IS FINISHED!

THE PERSPECTIVE OF FAITH: IT IS COMPLETE

The only way we Christians can understand these words of
completion is in the light of the mighty power of LIFE ETERNAL, the
Resurrection Power that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus.

In His own words in the High Priestly prayer Jesus said: (17:4)
"I glorified Thee on earth, having accomplished the work which Thou
hast given Me to do."

And what DID Jesus come to do?

1. JESUS CAME TO SHOW US THE FATHER.

John 1:1 declared that Jesus is the WORD. In John 14 Jesus
tells the disciples, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the
Father." God is Transcendent, beyond our full
comprehension. Yet forever we know what God is, for God is
like our Lord, like our Friend, Jesus of Galilee.

2. JESUS CAME TO DESTROY THE WORKS OF EVIL.

I John 3:8 says: "The Son of God appeared for this purpose,
that He might destroy the works of the devil." Satan has set
up shop on this planet, and has taken many prisoners. He has
propagated lies about what real power and real wealth and real
satisfaction might be. Jesus has come to set the prisoners of
evil free, and show them His own love, and share with them His
own life!

3. [Here we come to the truth that from our perspective is
central, having to do directly with our salvation:]

JESUS CAME TO BRING LIFE TO YOU AND ME.

John 10:10 I am come that they might have LIFE, and that they
may have it more abundantly. And also John 1:12 He came unto
His own and His own received Him not; but as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the children of God, even
as many as believed on His name.

When Jesus said, "It is finished" He was saying that everything
necessary was set in place that we might be God's children, heirs of
God's grace in Christ, joint-heirs with Christ to all the love of
God's family!

"It is finished!" means that we may be:

justified - counted as righteous in Christ
regenerated - new creatures in Christ
adopted - brought into God's family with His Spirit crying
"Abba, Father" within us and
sanctified - or the actual work of making us LIKE Christ begun
within our personality

BEHOLD: THE FINISHED WORK

Perhaps the best news is that this cry of Jesus from the cross
means that THERE IS NO MORE THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE BEFORE YOU AND I CAN
COME TO GOD, to receive this gift of life (this Gift=Jesus Himself!),
and to be received into God's family:

This finished work is ours to receive as the Holy Spirit makes it
available to us by God's grace:

John 1:12 " ...as many as received Him, to them gave He power to
become the children of God, even as many as believed on His
name."

I'M SURE THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE LORD JESUS INTO YOUR HEART
AND LIFE OR YOU PROBABLY WOULDN'T BE HERE TODAY. BUT IF, BY CHANCE,
YOU HAVE COME WITH BURDENS OR DOUBTS OR FEARS, FEARS OF LIFE OR FEARS
OF DEATH, LET ME ASSURE YOU THAT WHEN JESUS SAID, FROM THE CROSS: IT
IS FINISHED! HE HAD YOUR ETERNAL SALVATION, AND YOUR PERSONAL
ASSURANCE AT HEART. HE DIED BECAUSE HE LOVES US, AND HE COMPLETED THE
WORK THAT MAKES HIS ETERNAL LIFE OUR OWN!

Prayer:
———————————————————————————————————
Dr. Russell Metcalfe is Pastor Emeritus of the Wollaston Church of the Nazarene. Permission to reprint or publish this material is GRANTED as long as the reprinting or republishing is not-for-profit. You can access more of Dr. Metcalfe's sermons at his scripturally indexed sermon archives web site. Now with MP3 audio sermons and audio bonus material.

Worthwhile--get to Tracy's editorial

2010-03-25T07:42:00.002-05:00

IS THIS ALL THERE IS TO LIFE?

Romans 4:1

"What shall we say that Abraham ... has found?"

I. THE CALL FOR 'A RADICAL DEPARTURE'
A. (A story. A true story.) Once upon a time there was a good man.He had a good family. He had good connections. He was living in areasonably comfortable manner. He was abreast of the latest moderntechnology. His life was not in crisis. But deep in his heart therewas the nagging uncertainty, the question he could not put into words: "IS THIS ALL THERE IS TO LIFE?"
B. Then one day this good man became aware that Almighty God wastalking to him. Just how this awareness came about I can not tellyou. [ We're so sophisticated... we "know" God doesn't talk to people... now! Or does He? ] But Abraham heard a call from God that sent himpacking. It was a call of a loving God, calling a seeker to Himself.
C. We usually miss this basic fact in the telling of this greatstory. But God was answering the question that sooner or later we allcome to ask: IS THIS ALL THERE IS TO LIFE?
God was saying, "Well, no,as a matter of fact THIS isn't all there is to life! And if you arewilling and obedient, I will show you what your heart is seeking! Iwant you to "come home" and live your earthly life WITH ME as yourclosest Friend!"
D. In order to find his true home in God's Presence, Abraham hadto LEAVE all false security behind. ("Entering" almost always alsomeans "leaving.") God said, "I want you to LEAVE... your country your people your father's relatives and above all your right to control your own direction!" But never lose sight of the fact that this was (1) a call fromGod (2) inviting Abraham into a one-on-one relationship with Himself!

II. QUESTIONS THIS PASSAGE RAISES:
1) Does God still call people like He did Abraham?
2) How would God get your attention if He wanted to speak to you?
3) How might we respond to a call from God in (2010)1993?
A. Does God still call individual people?
1. My 'message' is "yes:" I am convinced that God is thunderingHis call to a "radical departure" ... all the life stories ofconversion and salvation, from Noah, and Abraham, and the Exodus, andthe prophets are being echoed today in one great call "Save yourselvesfrom this reprobate civilization!" In a society where it is acriminal offense to hand out Bibles in the schools - while it iscommendable to teach perversion and hand out birth control devices;where millions of people use abortion as a means of birth controlafter the fact; where public media does its best to ridicule anythingsupernatural that has to do with God Almighty, while at the same timepromotes the worship of Mother Earth and in the name of Pluralismmakes Jesus Christ sound like a bigot when He declares: "No one comes to the Father but by Me!" ... still in all thisGod calls, "Leave the prison of your self-made gods-- come away from aScripture that YOU edit and cut and pick and choose and stand injudgment over -- leave the bondage of "what so-called sophisticatesmight think," -- and step out on a journey of faith with Me!
2. My personal testimony is "yes:" I know you would expect anevangelical Christian minister to answer in the affirmative. I cananswer that I am certain, convinced, sure, that God spoke to me when Iwas living selfishly and out of fellowship with Him. He spoke to meby both love and fear; by what I might call "Behold the goodness andthe severity of God" (Romans 11:22)
B. How would God call YOU, if He wanted to call you?
1. God speaks through dramatically unspectacular, quiet "meansof grace," through a regular submission to the Word; by an habitualobedience in prayer; by the sacrifice of praise and worship in thecorporate worship of the church.
2. It might just be that God has a quiet but absolutely vitalmessage for you during this next week of revival services. I ask younow if you have re-arranged your schedule even one little bit in orderto give God a chance to communicate with you during this LentenSeason-- and even perhaps through Floyd and Barbara Flemming, who havebeen praying and preparing for their ministry in the Word to us? Itdoesn't make much difference HOW God is calling if you are notlistening, or tuning in on a completely different channel.
[I toyed with the idea of just reading Wesley Tracy's editorialin last week's Herald. It really challenged me. So here it is:]

COME ON HOME[1]
Isn't it time for you to come home? Haven't you had enough of the world's shallow gratifications? Haven't you had enough counterfeit answers to your heart's deep needs? Haven't you leaned your ladder on the wrong wall too long already? Aren't you tired of trying to be a classy sophisticate who knows all about things timely-- progressive education, career enhancement, political correctness, next season's fashions, and the done thing? Are you not tired of having just enough religion to make you uncomfortable at a cocktail reception and yet ill at ease in the presence of the Holy? There is time to come back to simple holy living. A time to come back to self-control, Christian simplicity, and spiritual discipline energized by God's grace. "Now is the time. We have been through it all-- the grasping, the looking, the searching. We have lived as people who try to serve God and mammon, and we know now that it cannot be done.[2] Too many Christians have drifted into letting the world tell them how to dress, what to drive, what songs and entertainment with which to saturate the soul, and just how to put me first at the expense of other people whom nobody puts first. Some who take the name of Christ seem owned by their ambitions, chained to a success formula, enslaved by the hunger for prestige-- diseases they have caught from our sinful culture. They fill up the ranks of the Christian jet set. Visit any important Christian conference and you will see them-- "dressed alike, talking alike, smiling alike, looking over the shoulders of the people to whom they are speaking in order to see who else has come into the room."[3] The world has taught us to reach for the things that matterleast while neglecting the things that matter most. Prayer, Biblestudy, devotion, and obedience have been elbowed to the margins asChristian self-help propaganda taught believers to dress for success,win through intimidation, fulfill themselves, enjoy sex, and loseweight. Richard Baxter's 17th-century description fits today'scosmopolite evangelicals like a glove: When we should study God we study ourselves; when we should mind God, we mind ourselves; when we should love God, we love our carnal selves; when we should trust God, we trust ourselves; when we should honour God, we honour ourselves; and when we should ascribe to God and admire Him, we ascribe to and admire ourselves: and instead of God we would have all men's eyes and dependence on us, and all men's thanks returned to us, and would gladly be the only men on earth extolled and admired by all. And thus naturally we are our own idols.[4] Even spirituality has become something to be utilized. We werecoached to practice the spiritual disciplines in order to achieveself-fulfillment, discover happiness, become fully human, and overcomestress. Such behavior is a lilac-scented blasphemy. The only reasonto practice the spiritual disciplines is because of who God is. Not even Hollywood has "out-glitzed" evangelical religion.Popular Christianity has been polled, charted, televised, and made"user friendly" by the best ad crews in the world. But now we knowthat making Christianity compatible with the loose living andundisciplined conduct of our culture does not work. The popularchurch "has lower standards for membership than those for getting on abus."[5] But we have learned a few lessons, haven't we? "Now we cansee . . . where uncontrolled living goes. We know the misery. We havefelt it."[6] It is time to come home. Time to stop trying to be citizens oftwo countries. It is time to stop trying to blend God's way with ourown wants and lusts. Come home to Christian simplicity, discipline,and holiness of heart and life. The journey is not easy. The worldly culture will try to sweepyou back into its whirlwind of shallow gratifications, its conscience-deadening maze of greeds and lusts, its "cosmetic diversions andplastic pleasures." Resist them in the power of the Spirit. They are vapors offantasy that lead only to emptiness. On the other hand, the holy lifeto which God is calling you is "astonishing in its completeness," asThomas Kelley writes. Of the holy life, he says, Its joys are ravishing, its peace profound, its humility the deepest, its power world-shaking, its love enveloping, its simplicity that of a trusting child ... It is the life and power of Jesus of Nazareth.7
C. Yes, God calls! The last question, is How can we respond? :...

III. WE CAN RESPOND WITH FAITH
A. The other story of the morning is from John 3. Here is anotherwealthy, successful, respected man, a leader in society, who is askinghimself: IS THIS ALL THERE IS TO LIFE? He comes to Jesus by night. He says, nice things to start theconversation, but Jesus almost interrupts him to say: "Unless you areBORN AGAIN you cannot even SEE the kingdom of heaven!" Nicodemus was a sort of "literalist." "How can such a thing be?"
Right at this place Jesus reminded Nicodemus of an Old Testamentstory every Jewish child knew-- and ever Christian child ought toknow, too. You know it, too-- remember the Children of Israel had beendisobedient, and as a judgment an invasion of poisonous snakes began afatal assault on them, left and right. God had Moses fashion a serpentof brass and lift it up on a pole. As many as looked to the serpentrecovered. Those who refused to look died. Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Your journey into life starts with alook! It begins with faith in what I am going to do on the Cross ofCalvary! Faith is trusting ME!"Conclusion:
Our text tells us that Abraham, the father of faith, discoveredsomething. Just what was it that Abraham discovered and passed on toall people of faith?
It is the answer to the question so many have asked through theages: IS THIS ALL THERE IS TO LIFE? Abraham discovered that real LIFE is about walking with God!Getting to know God! And in the text Paul tells us that God stillwants people to walk with Him by faith. God still calls people to come HOME into the growing assurancethat we can live in the will of God, and we can KNOW it!
I'm convinced that if we answer this call, two things arenecessary:
(1) We need to deliberately break the insulation that separatesus from entering into God's Presence, the "Shekinah." God's Presenceis life-giving. We must enter into the Presence and worship, whereverwe are coming from.
(2) We need to break the bondage of self-consciousness beforethe judgment of other human beings. "If I buy into this radicalresponse I will be stepping back into the '30s-- I will be an ignorantsheep---" NOT if it is truly GOD who is calling you to come HOME toHIM!

Footnotes_______________________________
1. Editorial by Wesley Tracy in The Herald of Holiness, March1993, 2,32. WT quotes Roger C. Palms, Enjoying the Closeness of God3. WT quotes Palms, Enjoying, 204. WT quotes Richard Baxter, The Saint's Everlasting Rest5. WT quotes Harry R. Rudin, Christian Century, June 4,19526. Wt quotes Palms, Enjoying 307. WT quotes Thomas Kelly, A Testament of Devotion, 29

God speaks to children . . and to child-like . . .

2010-03-10T10:52:00.003-05:00

Eighteen years ago one Sunday morning in Wollaston I talked to the children about Samuel and how God spoke to him . . .I was surprised to hear them say God had spoken to them, too . . .we prayed together and I was joined in the Lord's Prayer by the children . . .then I continued the theme in the sermon that day. If you have a few minutes to spend in uselessness before the Lord I am posting both segments of that morning service . . . those "kids" are now pushing 30 . . .but the message spoke to my own soul this morning . . .http://russellmetcalfesermons.nazarene.nl/AudioSermons/Speak%20Your%20Servant%20is%20Listening%20Childrens%20Sermon%201992.mp3..........and.......http://russellmetcalfesermons.nazarene.nl/AudioSermons/Speak%20Your%20Servant%20is%20Listening%201992.mp3

IS REVIVAL IN OUR DAY POSSIBLE?

2010-02-16T10:50:00.000-05:00

THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUAL AWAKENING IN OUR DAY
What if revival and renewal depends in some way on the witness of the Church? In this Lenten Season I want to be a faithful witness. Christian “witnessing” usually falls into one of two categories: either ACTIVIST, or CONVERSIONIST.
Activists create pressure. They seek to enact law. They form a moral majority or a green peace. They protest. Conversionists seek to evangelize. Nothing wrong with that-- except that all too often this means "Join MY group the way WE say and then circle the wagons and wait for the cavalry." I do not deny that I believe that people need to be born again, and that unless a person is saved he or she is lost.
But there is a third way. Stanley Hauerwas suggests that this "third way" is not in any way a blending of the other two, but a radically different approach to Christian reality! This third way says: EAT IN FRONT OF YOUR ENEMIES! Don't just try to block them in legislature, or persuade them to become a member of your church-- but show them your Shepherd!
Instead of an ACTIVIST APPROACH or a CONVERSIONIST APPROACH, this is A CONFESSIONAL APPROACH to Christian living. . . . saying: "Jesus Christ is MY Shepherd! He is MY Lord and MY Master. I will seek to do everything I do in a way to please Him and reveal Him to the world! I’m thinking here, of course, of the 23rd Psalm that we all know by heart- and that verse that says “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies!”
No for us to say “Nah-nah-nah-nah-nahh!” But to make it clear they’re welcome to join the picnic. It is NOT a table for two! Yes, it IS personal! But there is fellowship around the Shepherd's table. Actually the fellowship is not the primary thing-- even though sometimes it becomes the focus. But the fellowship is incidental to the MEAL.
Personally, I believe the way we observe Holy Communion, and the way we integrate our lives around being part of the Body of Christ, broken for the life of the Church and available to all who are invited by the Host is a key, if not THE key to renewal, revival, and spiritual awakening in our day, dark as it may seem.
-Russell Metcalfe

Build an Ark for Lent

2010-02-09T08:53:00.001-05:00

TO BUILD AN ARK
Genesis 9:8-17
Mark 1:9-15

I never, ever, put myself into the Bible story of Noah, even as a
small child. I could never build a model airplane that would fly, let
alone a boat that would float. I could imagine myself as David, or as
Paul and Silas, but never Noah.

But did you ever think that sooner or later every one of us comes
to a Noah-like situation. We see a world that is tuned out on God,
and that seems bent on going to hell. We may not recognize it as such,
but we have to make a Noah-like decision. We think about it. We
ponder, "What can I possibly do?" We think, "I don't want my family
to be lost! I don't want to lose my own soul!"

Then amid all the pondering comes a thought from God: "Start
building an ark!" Well-- maybe not that. But a challenge comes from
the God of Noah. God says, "Did you know that you don't have to live
like the world?" And we face the question, "How much do we really
want to be saved?"

I. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SAVED?

Water in the story is significant. Christian baptism, among
other things, refers back to this Noah story when eight people in the
world were saved by the very water that destroyed their generation.
To be baptized is to be saved-- right? Well--

Believing in Jesus is absolutely vital. THAT is what it means to
be saved, isn't it? The Bibles tells us (Romans 10:9,10) that to say
from the heart "Jesus is LORD!" and to believe that God has raised him
from the dead is the essence of salvation. But the Bible also teaches
us that "to believe" is more than just a mental assent-- saying the
right things. "To believe" is to hear God make a promise-- and to
respond to that promise!

II. BEING SAVED IS A PROMISE

1. Being saved is a promise GIVEN.

God is a covenant-making God. He makes promises. In the Noah
story he covenanted never to destroy the world again by flood. Then
nearly 2,000 times in the Bible we read about "covenant." We live by
promises. We exist by honor.

God has promised (John 3:16) that "whosoever believes in Jesus
will not perish"

God has promised (I John 1:9) that if we confess our sins he will
forgive them"

God has promised (Luke 11:13) that if we ask the Father will give
us the Holy Spirit

God has promised (John 15:7) if we abide in Jesus, and Jesus'
words abide in us we can ask what we will and it shall be done!

Our Christian life-- salvation depends on promise GIVEN.

2. Being saved is a promise RECEIVED

Every promise in the word is conditional. God's LOVE does not
depend on whether we are good or bad. God loves us when we deserve
nothing. To meet the conditions of a promise is not the same as
deserving what is promised. To pass from death to life is a mystery.
But there must be a WILLINGNESS TO RECEIVE!

To RECEIVE forgiveness there must first be CONFESSION.

To be filled with the Spirit there must first be an ASKING!

But did you know that salvation is more than an "experience" or a
"fact of history?"

3. Being saved is a promise HONORED

Being saved is more than an event-- more than a one-time
happening. Just as a good marriage is much, much more than an
exciting wedding-- but is built on covenant and mutual trust, so our
relationship with God is an on-going PROMISE, a COVENANT!

III. SALVATION IS AN ARK OF SAFETY

Unless we are living differently from the world around us what
assurance to we have, and what witness does the world see that
salvation is worth anything at all?

Is that judging? Is that spiritual elitism?
No-- that is God's still, small voice saying:
"Get busy! Start building an ark! Save your children!
The flood of judgment is coming!"

IV. LENT IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO SEEK TO HONOR GOD'S COVENANT

Jesus began his ministry proclaiming GOOD NEWS!

He said: "The kingdom is near!" Where Jesus is-- THERE is God's
kingdom!"

BUT JESUS ALSO SAID REPENT! JESUS SAID BELIEVE ME! JESUS SAID
CHANGE THE WAY YOU LIVE! THAT IS WHAT 'REPENT' MEANS! The challenge
of Noah sounds like a great sermon preached on the day of Pentecost.
Peter challenged the good people of his day to avail themselves of
God's covenant-making love. In Acts 2:38:

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all
that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall
call. 40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort,
saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. 41 Then
they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same
day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

Save yourselves from this perverse generation! God help us in OUR
perverse time!! Peter was not preaching self-salvation! But he was
preaching repentance and obedience!

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SAVED?

IT MEANS BEING DIFFERENT FROM THE WORLD!
IT MEANS BEING FREE FROM THE BONDAGE OF SIN!
IT MEANS BEING IN A COVENANT RELATIONSHIP WITH A WONDERFUL SAVIOR!
You can reach Dr. Metcalfe at eflactem@aol

Intercession as Zero Hour Nears

2010-01-28T10:13:00.005-05:00

IN Genesis 19 is a picture of the power of intercession:

Abraham was a major-league intercessor.
He saw his nephew delivered even as he saw God's judgment on the evil citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah
"Will the LORD spare Sodom for 50, 45,40, --down to 10...??"
Perhaps we stand closer to God's wrath than we realize today;
perhaps we are more like Lot than we are like Abraham.
Do see the principle that righteous people are somehow a deterrent to judgment day wrath.
And we see the powerful influence ofone person who has the courage to ask God to spare others!

What is the Church's LIFE?

2010-01-22T11:27:00.002-05:00

The "bottom line" of who is/is not "a Christian" has to be God's judgment and God's alone. But there are some things that give life to all of us who profess to be members of the Body of Christ. Beyond regional, cultural, even doctrinal matters, what really makes us followers in fact of Jesus Christ? Not that doctrine is unimportant- it certainly is important- but also the fact is that we are saved by Jesus Himself, and not by our great wisdom in grasping facts, truth with a small "t". Jesus Himself is the Truth.
My personal conviction is that the Church will continue to grow and be healthy even if some sincere movements within the churches flame out and popular spokespersons come and go-- for Jesus Himself has promised that He will build the Church, which is His Body. But I believe the Church will flourish precisely as it re-discovers the vitality of traditions that have been discarded because they have been mis-used , misunderstood, and even sadly neglected. The Holy Communion, regularly and reverently observed will vitalize any congregation. The Creed(s) thoughtfully affirmed often, publicly will filter into the souls of young and old alike. The Lord's Prayer, prayed together week by week by whole congregations, has a way of meeting the current needs-- far from "vain repetition" it will foster unity in the Body.
I love the Church!

Call to Christlikenss (sel.)

2010-01-21T10:38:00.002-05:00

Genuine faith must choose betweenthe apparent and the genuine.
Appearances are all-important to phony Christians. Genuine 'walkers-with-God' have as their first concern thereality of staying near Him; and secondarily only 'what it will seemto other people.'Too often we worship the big, the booming, the shiny. God-centered faith is willing to be thought a failure so far ason-looking people may be concerned!
Paul was a man who certainly pleased God. But listen to thesewords he wrote to the Corinthian church (I Co. 4:11): "To this presenthour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and areroughly treated, and are homeless..."
Paul was not a modern-day success story. He didn't have a stretch limo tocarry him from pulpit to pulpit!
. Until we settle it to please God first we will probablycontinue to have troubles with prosperous evil people, and with hypocrites in the church, and with do-nothing professing Christians. But if we make it our business to walk with Jesus we won't stayfrustrated by people for too long! There are greater things in life than what PEOPLE think!

A SIMPLE EXERCISE IN SPIRITUAL GROWTH

2010-01-07T08:16:00.004-05:00

THE 'T V PUSH-AWAY'

WORKS LIKE THIS---
You are sitting comfortably
before the TV when something comes on ... gets your interest ...
which soon offends your spirit just the slightest.

TURN IT OFF TO
THE GLORY OF GOD!
TURN IT OFF WITH A PRAYER: "Father, I want You
to fill my mind, and not this garbage! Amen."

Ask God for a holy ANGER! Ask the Holy Spirit to show you
your own shortcomings ... how prone we humans are to actually
enjoy the exposure of great sins in others while at the same time
we excuse the sins we consider "small" that we harbor in our own
thought life!

Sins like: harsh judgment of others ... an unloving,
critical spirit ... any kind of double-dealing-- of lying by
implication ... we must shun-- turn away-- reject anything like
this, anything that is not of God's Spirit.

And why should we turn away from evil? (1) Because of other
people's personal convictions? NO (2) because of legalistic
standards? NO (3) Because of fear of what people might say?
NO

We turn away from evil because IF WE TURN AWAY WE SHALL
ENJOY GOOD HEALTH! So many people are not robust, healthy
Christians because they have never been convinced of the need to
HATE SIN as well as to LOVE THE LORD!

LOOK UNDER THE BED

2009-12-22T09:01:00.000-05:00

December 15, 1996
Russell Metcalfe
Looking Forward to Christmas
Advent III - John 1:26b Among you stands one
whom you do not know

This past week our grandson Jake was stuck at our house for a few
hours, which usually means watching Rugrats or sheer boredom for a
six-year-old. But somehow this week Jake got to exploring the
upstairs bedrooms. He discovered that his grandmother has turned the
guest bedroom into a sort of Santa's workshop with wrapping paper and
ribbons. And what is more, Jake discovered mysterious boxes and
packages of different sizes and weights. Jake proceeded to
investigate. Believe me, Jacob was pleased with himself. He was
excited! I'm not sure if Jake has what I could theologically call a
proper Advent spirit, but I can tell you he is certainly looking
forward to Christmas.

Of course, our anticipation of Christmas and all it stands for is
much more mature than a six-year-old's, or at least I would hope it
would be. Still, there is still something of that little child in
each of us, and I'm glad there is. Our Christian faith, when it is
mature, can enjoy human traditions, and gifts, and carols, and all the
rich human mosaic that brings families together again and again for
the holidays, just so long as the trappings don't become ends in
themselves. We understand that.

But maybe we think we understand Christmas better than we
do. Advent means Christmas is coming. Again. We've heard all the
sermons about "Let's keep Christ in Christmas..." We've been there
before. We've done that. We know the "Jesus part" of Christmas--
know who Jesus is-- don't we?

John the Baptist said two things that might help us anticipate
Christmas a little better this year. First, surprisingly, he said, "I
am not Messiah!"

John turned aside questions about himself, for he knew he was
just a messenger, a voice crying in the desert. It certainly sounds
like stating the obvious, but John told us something both about
himself, and about how to get ready for Christmas when he told us who
he was not. Sometimes we need to say what we are NOT.

When it comes to really changing lives, we need to understand
just how limited we are in ourselves, and how important it is to point
them to the One who can make all the difference. The sooner we realize
"I am not God!" the better. John the Baptist knew we all need to know
Jesus.

But then, John the Baptist said, "Messiah is already here with
you and you do not know Him!" Maybe this Christmas we need to look
for Jesus in ways we haven't looked for him before!

Certainly we Christians DO know Jesus! John was speaking to those
sinners who were coming to him for baptism when he said they didn't
recognize Messiah-- wasn't he? Certainly this does not apply to me! I
have heard about Jesus all my life! I cannot remember a time when I
didn't know about Jesus, and did not believe "Jesus loves me, this I
know, for the Bible tells me so!" I certainly DO know Jesus!

Yes, we do know Jesus! We do not need to get saved all over
again to understand what Christmas really is about. But in John the
Baptist's words is a kernel of truth for you and me, here today:
however much we know Jesus, and however precious he may be to us,
there are wonders and surprises in store for those who want to know
Him better, and are willing to ask Him into the scene where they are.

Jake will find as he grows older that while Christmas presents
are always nice, the good feelings they bring don't last forever.
He'll find out if he's spiritually smart that our hearts really crave
being loved, and being able to respond in love. That is what really
meets the needs of human hearts.

And if that is true on a human level, it is also true on the
highest level, our relationship with God. Advent is when we celebrate
the miracle of miracles: the fact that God loves us so much he gave
his only begotten Son to become one with us, to live among us, to die
on the cross for our sins, and by his rising from the dead provide
eternal life to every one who believes in him. Advent is when we
rejoice in the gift of a Savior. But Advent is also when we try to
grasp the fact that God is not just interested in our "souls" but that
he loves us, and wants us to love Him. Advent is a time when the
people who know Jesus best seek to express that desire to know Him
better. If we have not learned the daily walk with Jesus as Friend,
then in some sense "one stands among us that we do not (yet) know (as
we might.)"

Advent is for right NOW! It is not ancient history! We need to
understand that Advent is not trying to identify with the people who
sat in darkness, and imagine what it was like before Jesus came.
Millions of people still need the message John the Baptist shouted.
And we ourselves, in our deserts of isolation, or nights of darkness
of the soul, can cry out for God to come, even as we know He is now
with us. The "One among us" cares very much where YOU are right now.

Advent is for right NOW! It is not ancient history! But more
than 1,000 years ago hymns were written to express the deepest
longings of the human heart for Christ. There were seven titles or
names in those hymns: " Come, O Come!" (the "O Antiphons") Come thou
Wisdom from on High; Dayspring; Root (or Rod) of Jesse; Key of David;
Adonai (Lord!); Desire of Nations. But all these are summed up in the
most familiar of all, "O Come Emmanuel!" And that name means, "God
with us!"

God IS with us, waiting for us to ask Him into our lives where we
are right now!

It is in that coming-- in the certain knowledge that God is
indeed "with us" that there is JOY - an audacious thing, certainly NOT
the product of our will and energy, but rather the result of realizing
that we are not alone, not lost-- but that God Himself is here with
us. This Emmanuel does not "fix things" necessarily in the way we
think they ought to be fixed. He simply says, "If you will open your
heart to me, I will come to where you are and I will never, ever leave
you again!" We get the idea that if this is true, then maybe we can
face the unthinkable. We're still very human, very fragile. But
Jesus is, too-- human, that is-- and he shares his strength with us.

One very human story illustrates the power of love that comes to
where we are:

Henry Carter, a pastor and an administrator of a home for
emotionally disturbed children, tells of an encounter he had one
Christmas Eve that gave him a new insight and perspective. He
was busy with last minute preparations for the worship service,
when one of the floor mothers came to say that Tommy had crawled
under his bed and refused to come out. He followed her up the
stairs and looked at the bed she pointed out. Not a hair or a
toe showed beneath it. So he talked to Tommy as if he were
addressing the bucking broncos on the bedspread. He talked about
he brightly lighted tree, the packages underneath it and the
other good things that were waiting for Tommy out beyond that
bed.

No answer.

Still fretting about the time this was costing, Henry dropped to
his hands and knees and lifted the spread. Two enormous blue
eyes looked out at him. Tommy was 8, but looked like a 5
year-old. He could easily have pulled him out. But it wasn't
pulling that Tommy needed - it was trust and a sense of deciding
things on his own initiative.

So, crouched on all fours, Henry launched into the menu of the
special Christmas Eve supper to be offered after the service. He
told of the stocking with Tommy's name on it, provided by the
Women's Society.

Silence. There was no indication Tommy heard or that he even
cared about Christmas.

At last, because he could think of no other way to make contact,
Henry got down on his stomach and wriggled in beside Tommy,
snagging his sport coat on the bedsprings on the way. He lay
there with his cheek pressed against the floor for a long time.
He talked about the big wreath above the altar and the candles in
the window. He talked about the carols all the kids were going
to sing. Then, finally running out of things to say, he simply
waited there beside Tommy.

After a bit, a small child's chilled hand slipped into his.
Henry said, " You know, Tommy, it is kind of close quarters under
here. Let's you and me go out where we can stand up." As they
slid out from under the bed, Henry realized he had been given a
glimpse of the mystery of Christmas.

Hasn't God called us too, as Henry had called Tommy, from far
above us? With his stars and mountains and his whole majestic
creation, hasn't God pleaded with us to love him and to enjoy the
universe he gave us as a gift?

And hasn't he drawn closer through the Bible, and through
preaching, and conviction for sin? At then that very first Christmas
God stooped to where we live, and came all the way down to live among
us. And we have heard, and received, and found assurance of His
salvation.

But even this very day, wherever we are in our spiritual journey,
One is among us, where we are, that is willing to "get under the bed"
with us and stay with us until we have the courage to come out and go
with Him, and He will go with us.

PRAYER for Advent

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us;
and, because we often are so easily centered in ourselves, let your
light shine on us, to show us how very near You are to us, and how
very much You love us. We invite you to enter every part of our
lives. O Come and let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and
deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the
Holy Spirit, One God, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen

#155 - A Name I Highly Treasure

Song of Joseph

2009-12-17T12:59:00.001-05:00

THE WORD IS HOPE
Matthew 2:21 "And (Joseph) arose
and took the Child and His mother, and
came into the land of Israel."

THE STORY IN MATTHEW

For a very brief time in the beginning of the Gospels' story of
Jesus, the focus of attention falls on Joseph. It is easy to pass over
the importance of the part Joseph had in the life of the Lord Jesus
Christ. For Joseph was the guardian of hope.

Everything that we know about Joseph is good. But in his
lifetime, so far as we know, Joseph never saw the full fruition of his
faith and obedience. Still, his obedience kept HOPE alive for us all,
and is still bearing fruit to this day.

Joseph is the guardian of hope. Before he ever SAW any of God's
promises fulfilled Joseph was willing to obey and believe. First
Joseph was confronted with misunderstanding and shame. He chose to
take Mary into his home. Then Joseph had the privilege of naming the
Holy Child "JESUS" in accordance with what the angel had told him.

His faith was rewarded, and there were visitors who came and
confirmed what he already knew; there were shepherds that very first
day; there were devout people in the Temple in Jerusalem, Anna and
Simeon, who confirmed and assured his heart that the Child truly was
Messiah.

Then came even greater surprises; kings, strange Gentile wise
men from distant lands came paying homage to the Child, and bearing
costly gifts, but at the same time speaking, perhaps in surprise, that
the local authorities were unaware and probably hostile to this great
HOPE of all the earth. Then that very evening Joseph had a vision of
the angel again warning him: "Take the young child and his mother and
go to Egypt. He is in danger!"

We see this story from the perspective of centuries; we read it
like a drama. How could anything ever harm the Lord's Anointed One,
even as a Baby? Would not the angels keep watch over Him? If Jesus
was truly God and the Son of God, why shouldn't he, Joseph, simply
take the Baby to Jerusalem and proclaim Him before all the world?

But Joseph was living out his relationship with Jesus in the
harsh reality of life. God's TIMING is impossible for us to figure.
All Joseph knew was that precious LIFE must be protected at every and
any cost! Whatever it took to keep the Baby alive and well Joseph
would do! That very night, before dawn, Joseph was on the way to
Egypt.

Where he stayed, what he saw-- so pleasant for our speculation--
the pyramids were already nearly 3,000 years old-- did Joseph and Mary
see them? What happened-- the Bible is silent. Joseph stayed in Egypt
until the angel sounded the "all clear." And then, with human fear
and trembling, the Holy Family made its way back to the home town of
Mary, to Nazareth, where Jesus spent the rest of his life until He
began His ministry.

Joseph had the discernment of humility and obedience. He kept
HOPE alive!

THE PRAYER IN EPHESIANS

What comes to us in a story in the Gospels Paul often packs into
a lesson in the Letters. The connection between Joseph's obedience and
this prayer in Ephesians 1 is not immediately apparent, but in both
there is underscored the importance of keeping HOPE alive and
well. Paul prays first of all for discernment, for enlightenment, so
that believers can see what the essence of HOPE really IS.

Paul's world was dark and gullible; it was impressed with
soothsayers and Caesars. Even believers were turned on by visible
gifts more than they were by love and integrity; they were challenged
by the show biz and glitz of their age, as we are by our own. And so
Paul prayed: Lord, help my people to be able to see what is the HOPE
of their calling, where the true POWER is to be found!

HOPE is not self centered! There is an element of risk
involved. Hope is the confidence that God will carry through-- in
God's own good time.

Hope must be nurtured in obedience and faith.

Hope is related to what God can and will do.

Hope on our part has to do more with BEING than it does with
DOING!

It is interesting just here how a best-selling book, The 7
Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey, interacts with
the Christian concept of the importance of discernment and keeping
genuine HOPE alive. In his book Covey says that:

For the first 150 years of our existence as a
nation we were challenged along the lines of CHARACTER:
the qualities that make for quality of life and
relationships: integrity, honesty, fairness, congruence
between profession and life-style.

For the last 50+ years the literature of practical
life has swung to the emphasis on PERSONALITY: those
attributes of human nature that make for success and
the appearance of completeness. Techniques and short-
cuts and seminars that bring about desired results
without the outlay of personal development. He says
that we have been taught that if we maintain (1) good
public relations, and (2) keep a positive mental
attitude we can accomplish "success," whatever that is.
"Success" can be had by shortcuts, including cheating
in school, being insincere in business relationships,
and selfish in our own families.

Interestinly, Covey says this is NOT SO. He calls
his readers back to the basics of CHARACTER FOUNDATIONS.

And really, that is what Paul is praying for: that we will
discern how important it is to keep HOPE alive!

THE PROMISE IN JEREMIAH 31

The third seemingly unrelated passage in this morning's message
comes from "the weeping prophet," Jeremiah; a man so burdened with the
hardness of his generation and the shallowness of worship that he
earned that pseudonym. "Weeping prophet!" But some of the most
beautiful and sensitive passages in the Bible come from Jeremiah's
heart! For all ages Jeremiah caught something of the extent of HOPE
which shall be, through Jesus, for all people.

How important to "nurture the Babe" and let Him grow and become
Lord on His terms! How important to seek the noble way, the way of
integrity and honesty before God, and leave the timing up to Him!
For, according to the promises of God through Jeremiah, HOPE opens up
these realities of faith:

I will gather my people

I will lead them

I will turn their mourning into joy [My people will be satisfied
with My goodness]

I will be their God; they will be My people [I will write My law
in their hearts and they will KNOW Me!]

CONCLUSION

Hope is what makes life worth the living. All these great
stories and promises are nothing if they are cut off from where we
live and where we are just now.

But HOPE must be sustained by obedience. HOPE does not follow
our agenda, nor does it follow a timetable which we set. We, like
Joseph, may have to move to Egypt for a while, whatever that means. We
WILL have to listen carefully for God's voice. If we think we hear
Him saying exactly what we want Him to say we had better be very, very
careful!

For God NEVER asks us to take short, cross-lot, cheap methods
into "success." God never compromises His demand that we serve Him
with excellence, with the best that we have. God never sacrifices
CHARACTER on the altar of PERSONALITY!

If we have the precious LIFE of Jesus within, then that LIFE must
be preserved at ALL costs!

CHARACTER OVER PERSONALITY
INTEGRITY OVER IMAGE
JESUS OVER ALL KINGS AND GIFTS

Who's that knocking?.....

2009-12-13T07:45:00.002-05:00

IF ANYONE HEARS MY VOICE . . .
...how cxan we hear over the racket in our heads-- the stuff of life important and worthless all jumbled together?

IF ANYONE HEARS MY VOICE . . .
...I don't need to listen because I invited You in years ago . . . You're here somewhere among the stuff . . . aren't You?

IF ANYONE HEARS MY VOICE . . .
,,, my God! I'm sorry! I haven'tr been aware - - I think I DO hearYou . . where ARE You? Help me!!

. . . AND OPENS THE DOOR
...come in!

... AND OPENS THE DOOR!
. . . .how do I go about 'opening the door'? You open it!

. . . AND OPENS THE DOOR
. . . how do I go about opening "the door"? -what do You mean? Where have I shut You out?

REPENT! TURN!HOLD FAST! YOU HAVE COOLED DOWN! I LOVE YOU!
. . .I think I hear what You're saying HOw can I get this door open? it seems stuck! will you HELP me get it open?

REMEMBER OUR COVENANT? YOU SAID
. . . I said "I am not my own but Yours . . put me to what You will . . ." I still mean it!
the door is open . . .come in . . . this is Your Table

Wise and Foolish Virgins . . .

2009-12-11T17:07:00.001-05:00

I wonder sometimes, knowing that God is just, and knowing how He judged Sodom and Gomorrah, what great impending judgment lies in store for the civilization in which we now live! We're so selfish!
Jesus said Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold! -- You really won't love Me any more!
Jesus did not say, "The righteousness of many will grow cold!" And He did not say, "The honesty of most of My people will be called in question." Or, "The faithfulness to committee meetings will grow slack." That is not what is breaking His heart!
The message I get in Jesus' parable about oil and brides and lamps and all is that I need to keep a light burning in that God-room of my heart, where I meet with Him every day! It isn't automatic, I'm sure! How can I keep it personal?
Lord Jesus, I want to know You better! You have been good, been kind, been patient with me. Help us-help me- to do whatever is necessary to keep close to You! Keep us all close to You. Don't let any be lost! Amen.

If I Could Preach One Sermon to the Christian World . . .

2009-12-03T16:27:00.001-05:00

2 Chronicles 7:14
THANKSGIVING SUNDAY
Covenant for Life

On a Friday morning, April 21, 1747, to be exact, John Wesley rode
his horse into the village of Thirsk, about 25 miles north of York, in
beautiful north Yorkshire, England. John Wesley came intending to
preach and conduct religious services. But if the countryside there is
beautiful, the spirit of the town, as, indeed, the spirit of much of
the entire nation, was ugly.

Wesley wrote in his Journal that night: "I called at Thirsk; but
finding the town full of holiday folks, drinking, cursing, swear¬ing,
and cockfighting, I did not stop at all, but rode on to Boroughbridge,
and in the afternoon to Leeds."

In Thirsk, as well as in all of Britain, Wesley and his Christian
contemporaries faced a sea of evil. The people were scripturally
ignorant and illit¬erate. The living was hard. The character of the
average man in the street was coarse. What could one man, or a few
people, or even a few hundred people do to stem such a de¬generate
tide?

WHAT COULD GOD'S PEOPLE DO?

THEY COULD RESOLVE TO BE HOLY.
They could live to please God!
And THEY COULD MAKE THEMSELVES AVAILABLE TO GOD.

And a relatively small number of people set out to do exactly
that. They had no delusions of grandeur, but they knew that they
served a great God. And they determined to live to please Him. AND
GOD, THROUGH THOSE RELATIVELY FEW PEOPLE, BROUGHT ABOUT A SPIRITUAL
AWAKENING!

Perhaps it is not possible to make parallels between our modern
culture and early 18th century England, and draw spiritual and moral
conclusions. But I feel challenged by what I perceive to be almost
identical spiritual confrontations. I have no way of knowing whether
our pornography and abortion and political corruption are worse or
better than the brutality and prejudices and class discrimination
which Wesley faced. BUT I DO KNOW THAT WE ARE IN DANGER OF SIMPLY
ACCOMMODATING THE WAY WE LIVE TO THE TENOR OF THE TIMES.

We go home from our worship service, where we all agree that sin is
bad and God is good-- and we tell ourselves that we are on God's side
with all we have. And maybe we are. But I also do perceive that
UNLESS MORE HAPPENS TO STEM THE FLOODTIDES OF EVIL IN OUR DAY THAN IS
HAPPENING NOW, THEN WE SHALL SINK QUICKLY and quietly into a
post-Christian, hedonist, Godless society that will swallow up our
children and our own faith as well!

I believe I sense some of the same frustration that Wesley may have
felt as he rode his horse into Thirsk that spring morning. I believe
that he was at least tempted to say, "What can one person do against
such emboldened evil!" I know that I am tempted! But WE KNOW AS
CHRISTIANS WE MUST TO DO SOMETHING!

[Transition:]

I'm sure that it is natural to think first of all about doing; and
particularly about acting politically. It seems natural to see the
sinful conditions of society and begin by attacking those evils,
wherever and however we are able. It might do us well, instead, TO
LOOK TO Wesley for a working model, and beyond Wesley, to THE
SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES WESLEY USED in the spiritual awakening which
came during his lifetime.

These principles come into sharp focus in the words of our text:
(2 Chron. 7:14)

THIS IS A COVENANT STATEMENT.

It is not "contractual;" it does not give service rendered for value
received, and in no way can a spiritual awakening ever be earned,
merited, deserved, or "prayed down." But it is a covenant statement.

GOD SAYS "I'LL BE RESPONSIBLE AND DO CERTAIN THINGS, IF YOU WILL
BE RESPONSIBLE AND FOR YOUR PART, YOU WILL DO CERTAIN
THINGS!"

I. THE PART WHICH FALLS TO GOD'S PEOPLE IS CLEARLY OUTLINED:

(1) IF MY PEOPLE, which are called by MY name

I have made this phrase a separate "condition" even though it isn't
something to "do;" but it DOES tell WHO is called to be the agent of
God's healing. The call of God is not first of all to militancy
against the evils of society, but to the people called by His name,
that they will come to Him. The call is not to reform the terrible
conditions we see on the outside (although we must do what we can when
and where we can.)

GOD'S CALL IS TO SEEK HIS FACE, and His promise is that if HIS people
will hear and believe Him, then HE will heal the land. This task of
land healing is too big for any of us, and it is too big for all of us
put together! But it is NOT too big for God!

[Somehow I see Abraham standing on the edge of the mesa
over¬looking the valley of the Dead Sea below. I hear him
interceding to God for Sodom and Gomorrah, and hear God saying,
"If there are 40 righteous, I will spare the city! If there are
30 righteous, I will not destroy the people!"]

[And somehow I wonder who is holding back the fire and brimstone
of God's wrath on a society that has absolutely no time for any
god but pleasure and convenience and comfort?]

(2) SHALL HUMBLE THEMSELVES

This means putting ourselves into the "servant role." We see
ourselves as the agents of God's work; 'any great awakening depends on
US!' BUT GOD SAYS HUMBLE YOURSELVES!

Recognize the helplessness of all flesh apart from God! Cry out in
desperation to God! WE'RE so "cool!" WE know so "much!" Just a few
more seminars-- a few more hard prayers-- a little more sweat and
busy-ness-- and we'll bring in the New Jerusalem all by ourselves! WE
THINK!

God says: Either I do it-- or it won't get done!

(3) "Humble yourselves . . . AND PRAY AND SEEK MY FACE"

This means giving God TIME and giving Him ATTENTION for AS LONG AS IT
TAKES, until we get ourselves lined up with His good, and acceptable,
and perfect will.

It isn't a matter of praying to change God's mind. God is not
reluctant to help us against the forces of evil. He is ready and able
right now to move in and change our world under our feet. But our
problem is praying, without mixture, "I delight to do YOUR will, O
God!" Your kingdom come! In YOUR way!

God says: "Pray and seek my face until your whole being is on the
stretch for more of ME!"

(4) AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS

And how will we know when we are coming near to praying and seeking
God's face enough? The answer is: WHEN WE ARE WILLING PUT THE WAY WE
LIVE ON THE LINE, WHATEVER IT COSTS US TO OBEY GOD'S WILL! We think
of "wickedness" as violence and impurity and flagrant greed and denial
of God. But GOD SAYS WHEN HIS PEOPLE STOP PUTTING OTHER THINGS FIRST
AHEAD OF HIM-- WHEN THEY ARE WILLING TO PUT COMFORT AND SECURITY AND
LEGITIMATE PLEASURES WAY DOWN THE LIST OF THEIR LIFE PRIORITIES, and
absolutely put God FIRST-- THEN GOD'S PEOPLE WILL BE LEAVING THEIR
WICKED WAYS!

[This is 'our' side of the covenant. But God Himself has made a
promise of what He will do for His part of the covenant!] And
WHEN IT IS GOD THAT MOVES IN, then the dynamic, and the wisdom,
and all the glory are HIS!]

II. AND THE COVENANT PROMISE OF THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY IS CLEAR: THEN
WILL I:

(1) HEAR FROM HEAVEN

YOUR PRAYERS WILL "CONNECT!" Did you ever have a prayer "connect?"
I'm not sure how to describe "praying through." And I know that we
are called upon to pray in faith no matter how we "feel," and I am
also sure that some of our most effective prayers are "embattled
prayers." We are to "be instant in season and out of season."
(2 Timothy) BUT IT IS GREAT WHEN PRAYERS "CONNECT!" It makes all the
difference when, beyond mere emotional feeling, there is the
assurance, the certitude that God is not just "aware" of what you have
prayed, but that God has heard!

(2) WILL FORGIVE THEIR SIN

WHOSE SIN? The sins of the abortionists and drug pushers? Not yet--
THE SINS OF HIS OWN PEOPLE! The sins of NEGLECT-- of BROKEN ALTARS
and NEGLECTED BIBLES and UNKIND ATTITUDES and PRAYERLESS DAYS and
WEEKS. THIS FORGIVENESS IS KEY!

WHAT SIN? Once again-- THE SIN OF BEING "DISCONNECTED" from the
Source of Goodness and Life and Light. The connection once again will
be established. God will have a voice in the land. God's Word will
be heard in its glory!

(3) HEAL THEIR LAND

If the job is too great for us-- and the sickness too profound, it is
not for the great God we serve. This is a covenant statement! AND ONE
WAY OR ANOTHER, GOD WILL HEAL THE LAND OF THE PEOPLE WHO KEEP COVENANT
WITH HIM! And make no mistake, we will have a part, and an important
part to DO. For THERE DOES COME A TIME FOR "DOING!" GOD WILL ASK US TO
PUT OUR LIVES ON THE LINE! But it begins with HUMBLING, and continues
in PRAYER, and SEEKING GOD'S FACE, and TURNING FROM SELFISH WAYS!

Because God does the healing does NOT mean that we will not have any
part in the healing process. John Wesley was certainly an instrument
in the awakening of His day. GOD WILL USE HUMAN INSTRUMENTS IN THE
AWAKENING WE SEE. But remember: THIS COVENANT PROMISE CLEARLY DOES
MEAN THAT THE HEALING WILL COME FROM GOD.

Conclusion:

Wesley was dismayed and temporarily dismissed in Thirsk and a number
of other places because of the prevailing spirit of lawlessness and
sin in his times. But Wesley went back to Thirsk another day..and
another and another! There are 14 entries in his Journal that record
visits to Thirsk. After 1747 there are entries like June, 1755:

Thirsk: a little society; June 1763: intended to preach by a
house, but asked by gentlemen to preach in the marketplace; to a
large, deeply attentive congregation;

June 1764 "exceeding large congregation"

May 29, 1766 I preached in the new House (chapel) at Thirsk.

And Wesley kept on recording visits to Thirsk until 1788, a year
before his death! And if you go to Thirsk today there stands what to
Americans is a very old, substantial chapel built of brick, built by
the people called Methodists. Indeed, in just about every hamlet and
village in Britain there is a Methodist chapel that testifies to the
truth of our text,that: "if God's people . . ."!!

It is past time for another awakening in our world! And we are
frustrated-- we are helpless. We cannot begin by starting out to tilt
against the windmills of evil in our own righteousness and our own
strength and power. WHAT CAN WE DO AGAINST THE CURRENT OF DEGENERATE
TIMES?

WE CAN RESOLVE TO BE HOLY. We can live to please God. And WE CAN
MAKE OUR¬SELVES AVAILABLE TO GOD.

Prayer: Lord God, The task is too large! And we are so very small!
But we are NOT alone! Together with Your people today all over this
world we pray! Heal our land! Your kingdom come! In US as it is in
heaven! Amen.

An audio copy can be found (20 minutes long) at:

http://russellmetcalfesermons.nazarene.nl/AudioSermons/If%20My%20People.mp3

A QUESTION OF LOVE

2009-11-14T20:36:00.001-05:00

April 30, 1995
A QUESTION OF LOVE
John 21:1-19

THE SETTING of the story in the last chapter of John's Gospel is a
beautiful lake at sunrise. The wind has died off as it often does just
at dawn, and some tired fishermen are rowing their boat through the
rising mists the last quarter mile to the beach. The sail hung limp in
the stillness, and the only sound was the thump of the oars against the
sides of the boat.

It had been more than two weeks since Easter. The disciples had
been in Jerusalem for the Passover; it was then that Jesus had been
taken from them and crucified. They believed he was alive- resurrected
from the dead. They had actually seen him twice, except Thomas had seen
him once. He had said something about meeting them back in Galilee.

They actually weren't quite sure what to expect, whether they would
start up their preaching from town to town again, whether now that Jesus
had risen from the dead he might set up his kingdom- they really didn't
know. The Bible makes that plain. But they did know that life goes on--
and they had to eat. Their boats were still on the beach-- their nets
were ready.

Peter said: "I'm going fishing!" There were finally seven
disciples whogot into the little sailing vessel and went off into the
evening to fish the night through.

As the boat got close enough to shore to begin to make out shapes
through the mist the fishermen could see a figure standing on the beach.
He called through the still morning air: "Children-- do you have any
fish?"

He might have been a shopkeeper from Capernaum looking for fish to
sell. He might have been another fisherman wondering if the fish were
anywhere to be caught. But we know, and the disciples were soon to find
out, it was Jesus Himself.

"Sorry! No-- no fish!"

The answer came back clearly through the still air: "Cast your net
off to the right side of your boat." It was not the first time these
men had fished all night and come up empty. And it was not the first
time they had been told to try again in the morning light. But as they
began to draw their big net back in this time they thought somehow they
had snagged bottom. As they kept pulling they realized the net was
completely full of big fish.

John immediately said, "That's the Lord! Jesus is on the shore!"
And before anyone could say a word Peter grabbed his robe and was over
the side swimming and then wading ashore. The other six had their hands
full with more than half a ton of fish. The cash flow of several
fishermen was about to improve dramatically.

It was probably as Peter was wading up the beach he remembered that
there was a cloud in his relationship with Jesus. He was so very happy
to see him that he would jump overboard, but then he was afraid to ask
him if he was really forgiven for denying him three times the night he
was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemene. So he just helped secure the
boats and haul the nets up on the beach.

THE WARM FELLOWSHIP that followed would never be forgotten by any of the
seven men. Jesus already had a fire burned down to a bed of coals for
broiling, and had some fish already cooking. He called to the men to
bring some more from what they just landed.

I don't know what they talked about around that breakfast fire. I
know there were a lot of questions yet to be asked. Somehow I am sure
that every one of those men was happy just to be near the Lord they
loved. But in the heart of one of those men was a big, hard lump that
wouldn't go away.

A TENDER PERSONAL SCENE is what came next. Jesus got up and motioned
for Peter to follow him down the beach. It was one of those very
private times; only John tagged along. And he took notes.

Jesus asked Peter some very tough questions that morning. Three
questions-- and yet they were all asked with the same words, or very
nearly the same words. [I know some ministers make a big deal out of
"agapeo" and "phileo." That's all right. But I don't think the main
lesson is as obscure as that!]

Three times Jesus said to Peter-- as Peter had denied Jesus three
times-- "Simon-- son of John-- do you love me more than these? Simon, do
you love me? Simon--son of John-- do you love me?" Tough questions--
and because John tagged along and took notes-- and wrote the questions
down-- and they are part of our scripture-- it must be that you and I
need to answer those tough questions, too.

"Peter, do you love me more than these?"

OUR LOVE MUST BE
BEYOND COMPARING WITH OTHERS

Before Peter denied his Lord and stumbled he "knew" that his love
was stronger than anyone else's. His doctrine was purer. His
understanding was truer. But it is always the wrong approach to tell God
we love Him in any comparison to others. "Lord, if all these deny you,
I will still go to the death with you!" Or, "I could never love the
Lord like that person!" If our faith must be in comparison and in
contrast to others the chances are it is on shaky ground. Some churches
build their entire message and ministry on "NOT being like 'the
unbelievers'."

Jesus is not the spirit that takes shots at other followers. Peter
had to say "I love YOU, Lord, and not in relationship to THEM."

"Do you love me?"

OUR LOVE MUST BE
BEYOND COMPETITION WITH OTHERS

Life is NOT fair-- some will have glamorous assignments. Some will
die young. Some will suffer while others seem to prosper. Jesus told
Peter that hard times loomed ahead for him. That didn't shake
Peter. But Peter did say-- "Look at HIM, Lord-- the one following along
here-- what about HIM?"

And Jesus had what seem like harsh words for Peter. But they are
words that every one of us need to take to heart if we are to really
tell Jesus we love HIM. "What is that to YOU? You follow ME!"

"Do you love me?" "Feed my lambs, my sheep!"

OUR LOVE HAS TO GO
BEYOND THE WORDS OF CONSECRATION

Each time in response to Peter's anguished answer: "Lord-- you know
I do! You know I love you..." Each time Jesus said: "Then you take care
of my lambs, my sheep!" Love is more than warm feelings in worship
services or quiet times. Peter understood that love is God, not Peter,
at the center of life and all.

And it was then, and only then that in the same place as three
years before-- with the same words as when he started out-- Jesus
renewed Peter's call: "FOLLOW ME!"

SO, HOW DOES THIS INTIMATE STORY APPLY in a sermon on a Sunday
morning in the spring of 1995 A.D.?

Somehow I want to hear Jesus-- I want to make certain that there is
nothing between Him and me-- I want to answer His hard questions: "Lord,
you KNOW I love You!"

1. I love you with a love that I will not compare to other's love.
I will seek YOU-- not the recognition from others that I am
seeking you.

2. I love You with a love that does not compete for position. If I
am in a place of responsibility, I hold it only on your command.
I do not grasp. If you put me aside, or anywhere-- in a hard
place--that is your wisdom, your will-- and I will love you!

3. I love you with a love that wants to be obedient. Not just
words, Lord, but with my body, my reasonable service.

With Peter I say "Lord, you know all things! You KNOW that I love
you! Let me hear you say, 'FOLLOW ME!' "

Prayer

Sing with me: "I Love You, Lord"

The JESUS we know . . .

2009-11-10T09:15:00.000-05:00

The task of the church at large is not to make Jesus over into

something that fits and conforms to the needs of the world of today.

The task of your Bible study and prayer is NOT to discover that about

Jesus which will reinforce your lifestyle and help you achieve your

goals. The task of this church is not to underscore the servant role

of Jesus Christ.

For Jesus IS. He is the I AM THAT I AM. Our task is to lift Him

up, and introduce Him. We are the servants of the great King of Kings.

When we are seeking to use Jesus to enforce our aspirations we

may find principles that will help us succeed in some temporal

areas. But ultimately we shall be diminished and we shall fail at the

task of the Christian faith.

But when we are seeking to be used of Jesus in the work of His

kingdom; when our lives proclaim "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be

done!", then we shall find that all hell itself cannot keep us from

living in God's love.

Hope is the Anchor

2009-11-05T12:11:00.000-05:00

BLACK HOLES AND ANCHOR LINES
John 20:31

One afternoon several years ago I was fishing along the edge of
Nantasket Roads-- the shipping channel that goes past the Boston Light.
It was well into the fall and past the summer heat. I had a VIP guest
in my little boat, and I really wanted to make sure he caught some
flounder. (He was Sam Hunt, the biggest line backer in the NFL and a
starter for the Patriots.) I was ready for a couple hours of good
fishing over the high tide and I swung my boat around to face the tide
and threw out my anchor. It was fifty to sixty feet deep and the tide
was beginning to run, and I let the anchor line run out through my
hands. As a matter of fact it ran out so fast that I came to the end
sooner than I thought and I watched with a sick feeling as the end went
overboard. I grabbed for it, and then I quickly started the engine and
tried to swing back and grab for it but it was out of reach and the line
was slowly sinking out of sight. We were drifting with no way to hold
steady.

How we finally got an anchor and had a good day of fishing is
another story. [Should I tell you?]

But I never will forget the sinking feeling when my anchor was
lost. It was a mini picture of what it is like whenever things we
really count on aren't there any more. Have you ever lost an anchor?

THOMAS LOST AN ANCHOR WHEN JESUS DIED. When Jesus died something in
Thomas died, too. Jesus simply had not performed according to Thomas's
idea of what a Messiah was supposed to do. Thomas thought he knew
Jesus. He found out he didn't know Jesus quite as well as he thought he
did. Thomas loved Jesus. Make no mistake about that. Do you remember
how when, before that last Passover when Jesus wanted to go to
Jerusalem, and the rest of the disciples tried to tell Him it was too
hot, too scary, too risky-- and Jesus insisted--do you remember it was
Thomas who said, "Well- let's go with Him and die!"

But when the actual death came it shattered Thomas. Thomas had
seen Jesus calm the wind and sea. He knew that Jesus had stopped a
funeral procession and given a mother back her son. He believed that
Jesus was powerful. but then Thomas had seen Jesus die in
weakness. Jesus was really dead!

Thomas really wanted to believe Jesus is alive. The rest of the
disciples had said they were convinced that Jesus was risen. They were
all hyper about it. Two men said they had met Jesus on the road to
their home in Emmaus; the disciples said that the Sunday evening three
days after the awful crucifixion Jesus had suddenly appeared in the
Upper Room with them, had actually eaten a little fish. They were so
sure. But not Thomas. "I'll have to see-- no, I'll have to feel it for
myself!" is what Thomas said.

Did you ever get the feeling that just about everybody else had a
closer, tighter faith than you? Did you ever wonder how they could be so
sure, when you have doubts? It may just be that there is more of Thomas
the doubter in each of us than we like to admit.

The fact is that Christians are not always honest and transparent
about the battles of doubt that we fight. We like to testify about our
victories, and it is right and good that we witness to our faith. But
also we need to be dead honest with ourselves and with God, never
seeking to hide the places where we fail, or where we fight a running
battle with temptation.

We think 'I am probably the only one who fights the battle I fight
like this. I am unworthy of being esteemed as a Christian.' Or, 'If
"they" knew the thoughts that come to my mind! they would never have any
faith in me.' What we may not realize is that every Christian has to
fight the good fight of faith. The wars and battles of faith are not
the neat, textbook, cut-and-dried black-and-white illustrations we hear
in sermons. They are real, and they are often confusing.

The only people who never fight battles with doubt are people who
never address the problems faith presents in a real world. There is a
name for these "ostrich people." It is "obscurantist." Only
obscurantists never fight battles of faith, and they give up their inner
core of integrity. They fight with everyone who dares to disagree with
them. They become the true fanatics. In some ways fanaticism is only
insecurity turned inside out. But genuine faith is forged on the anvil
of honest doubt. It says I wish I could believe, but here is reality I
cannot understand! Please, God, I want to know!

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HONEST DOUBT AND THE SIN OF UNBELIEF.
Sometimes they superficially look alike. Perhaps sometimes they are hard
to tell apart.

Unbelief is grounded in a heart that will not give up its worship
of self. It says to God "Show me and I'll think about it and maybe I
will and maybe I won't!" Doubt, on the other hand says, "Show me and I
will gladly own You as Lord!"

I have based my entire life and my life's calling on the trust that
God answers that cry! Hebrews 11:6 says that the faith that destroys
doubt is a seeking faith. What do we do when we are seeking a Jesus who
seems hard to reach? What do we do in the dark moments of life when it
almost seems our God has failed us? Black holes of agony when we send
our desperate prayers winging their way to the Father, while NOTHING is
happening!

What sort of proof does it take to dispel doubt? How many times do
we have to break through again to spiritual reality?

THOMAS LOST HIS ANCHOR, BUT JESUS AS HE REALLY IS CAME TO THOMAS AND
BECAME HIS SURE ANCHOR!

Thomas said, "I need proof positive!" Jesus came and I think that
Thomas was almost embarrassed. Maybe not. But then Jesus told him that
there would be people who could not see or touch Him that still would be
able to believe. But still, we need that personal touch!

We need Jesus to speak salvation to us! Others can help-- we can
show you what the scriptures say. Here is where our text comes in.
John said that personal touch is the very reason that he wrote his
Gospel: "These words were written that you might believe that Jesus is
the Messiah; and that believing, you might have LIFE through His name!"
Come to the Word, come seeking the Savior. Ask the Spirit to show you
that Jesus died for YOU!

And Jesus does come! He comes with His own assurance to those who
seriously seek Him!

We need Jesus to be our anchor in the storms of life. Even after we
know Jesus, there are times when our faith is tested. It seems that
from time to time we walk as it were in the dark by naked faith. As
Dr. William Greathouse wrote years ago in a little book called The
Fullness of the Spirit, "Again and again we need to break through to
spiritual reality." In those times if we will trust Him, and cry to
Him, He will not fail us! He hears us!

I almost wish that I could share with you some of my darker
moments-- the desperate prayers that I have prayed. Some are simply too
involved with other people's lives. I have prayed those quiet prayers of
desperation. And even though at the time I could not see His hand, God
has been there.

[This past week a voice out of the past; a time when there was a
desperate prayer, and very little reason to think there was hope. After
the confrontation - and tears there were a few years of, from my
viewpoint, little spiritual progress. Imagine my joy to hear a clear
testimony from a professional person, a leader in his field of science,
saying: "My wife (he named her) and I have found the Lord. We're
teaching the fourth grade Sunday School class here in our local church!]

Conclusion

I lost the anchor on my little boat because I failed to hold on to
the end of the anchor line. But our eternal life does not depend on how
well we can hang on, but rather it depends on our saying to the Savior
who comes to us: "My LORD and my GOD!" God does not reveal Himself to
unbelief. But God always reveals Himself to seeking, honest
doubt. . . the doubt that wants to become faith.

The God of the Bible has always been a God who sets before us the
alternatives. Choose to live with CHRIST! The Resurrection is an
invitation to us to choose life!

A PSALM OF RENEWAL AND REVIVAL

2009-11-03T08:45:00.000-05:00

On the Sunday evening before special services dedicated to

renewal and revival, it is good to turn to one of the Prayers of David

and let him help us express and focus our need and our desire.

Psalm 40

A PSALM OF RENEWAL AND REVIVAL

This Psalm speaks both of "waiting" and of "seeking."

It is good and right to actively seek God, and most of the time

way we well may know how to go about seeking Him. But even when we

are seeking God, we need to admit that in reality God is the active

party in any genuine renewal. Before we sought God, He was seeking

us! Before we were thinking of Him, He was thinking of us! Our

renewal always begins when we decide to listen, to be quiet, to wait

for God, Who is already speaking.

David tells us that he waited patiently for the LORD; and God

turned and heard him. This Psalm is full of certainty and praise!

Incidentally David tells us what every believer needs to receive:

I. THE NEED FOR A FIRM PLACE TO STAND . . .

(2)"He ... gave me a firm place to stand." "He set my feet upon a

rock..."

There are some things that we know that do not need to be proved. But

in the profusion of learning, and the explosion of knowledge in our

day, many people have lost their spiritual certainty. And then they

cannot regain it by listening to the same people that introduced them

to God, because they are listening to human explanations, or

obscurantism, or anything except listening to God!

Still, however it is lost, it is a tragic thing to lose

spiritual certainty! It is a tragedy when all you have is a slippery

slope or a miry pit of destruction when you need solid rock on which

to stand! I'M TALKING ABOUT SPIRITUAL CERTAINTY! KNOW-SO SALVATION!

IS IT STILL POSSIBLE IN 1990?

I don't know quite how to say this: I alluded to it in the

sermon this morning, in that Rev. Tom Nees says he never has to prove

God's existence or the reality of sin in the ghetto. We would say in

our arrogance that the reason is because they are not as educated or

sophisticated as we are. 'If they knew all that we know, etc. '

I'm glad for the study of epistemology, that study of how we

know. It is humbling to realize that even in the common ideas of life,

we hardly ever all see things the same, and probably none of us is

ever "right" about the details of the facts.

What this means is when I talk to you about GOD, and explain Him,

I can never be sure that (1) I am right, or (2) that you hear what I

say the way I meant it; or (3) that if you do what I say it will make

any difference in your life.

But there is all the difference in the world when God talks to

you through me, or by any means that He has at His disposal-- and you

are listening-- and when God gets through to you. When God speaks,

and you hear-- you can take it to the bank!

People who have been "talked into" cheap grace, and who never

"wait patiently for God" may wonder about the "knowing" aspect of

salvation. Call it a witness. or call it assurance, we need to know

God, and know that we know God. It is possible today! But we have to

get this firm place to stand on God's terms!

II. THE NEED FOR A NEW SONG TO SING . . .

(3)"He put a new song in my mouth"

A "revival" that simply beats us around the ears with new

"oughts" and "shoulds" is something I can do without. I can recall

many times as a lad when all I got out of revival was the scare of my

life. And I even remember a few since I have been pastor where I

wondered if anyone else felt as guilty as I did.

But I would like to remember the joy of first love of God; I

would like to do more than stand against the evils of our day, I would

like to be so full of the love of God that "Many will see and fear and

put their trust in God."

I suppose (I think) that cheerless and dull gray religion is

better than none at all, especially if there is any spiritual life at

all in it. But somehow the very first casualty in the process of

slipping away from God is genuine JOY!

We do not have any lack of religious excitement, or interesting

seminars, or things to do to keep busy for the Lord. But David says

that when he waited on the Lord he began to sing again! The song had

left, evidently, but God gave David a new song of praise! The world

can be changed by a people of God that are singing His new song of

praise!

I'M TALKING ABOUT JOY, NOW! WE GET IT BY WAITING PATIENTLY

(INTENTLY, ON PURPOSE) FOR WHAT GOD HAS TO SAY!

III. THE NEED FOR A TASK THAT DELIGHTS

Yes, there are things that we must leave in order to follow

after Jesus. [Some people didn't hear me quite clearly a week or so

ago when I spoke of 'leaving all to follow Jesus.' I did NOT say that

Jesus would require us to sell our homes and follow Him. But I did

say that there must be a willingness to leave all in order to be near

Him.] I suppose there are some "sacrifices" that are necessary.

But clearly the Psalmist isn't into long-faced, sorrowful lists

of things he has given up.

(6) "Sacrifice and offering you did not require" he writes "but my

ears you have pierced." He goes on, "Burnt offerings and sin

offerings you did not require. Then I said, 'Here I am, I have

come-- To do Your will, O God is my desire (delight!); your law is

within my heart.'"

Many scholars believe that the "ear piercing" has to do with the

ceremony prescribed in Exodus and again in Deuteronomy when a slave

was being set free, and he didn't want to leave his master's

house. When a servant became a love-slave his ear was pierced, and he

became a permanent family member; his "ear was pierced."

Romans 12:1 makes provision for believers to become "love-

slaves" of God-- to say, make me Your servant forever! I delight to do

Your will, O God!

CONCLUSION:

What I am trying to express, or to let God express to me and

through me this "revival eve," is the possibility that we can raise

our level of the experience of spiritual reality if we will wait

"patiently" (intently, on purpose) for our God.

You are some of the best people I know. I do not

un-Christianize any of you. But again and again we need to break

through to refreshing and reviving in the Lord.

And while the "waiting on the Lord" sounds passive, it needs to

be done deliberately. It is obvious that we cannot "schedule revival"

and say to God:

"All right now, Sovereign of the Universe, between

Tuesday and Sunday of next week we would like You to bless

us up a little-- not too much, now-- because we have very

full schedules. But bless us enough to keep us out of hell,

if there is one, and make us real nice people, and bless our

relationships and keep us pretty comfortable. Amen"

But perhaps we can say:

"Lord God, We walk through whirling mists and hear shouting

voices. Please help us make sure our feet are on the solid rock.

"And, Heavenly Father, We are full of causes and agendas and

burdens; please help us remember the old songs of praise, and, if You

would, give us a new song of praise that will lift us toward You.

"And, Lord, Help us to love You so much that serving You will be

our delight and our joy!

"You have promised that if we seek You we shall surely find You!

With the Psalmist we pray, 'May all who seek You rejoice and be glad

in You!'

"We will do our best to clear the way to begin this week. You

come as You see fit, for we wait patiently for You. Turn to us, and

hear our cry! In Jesus' name, Amen."

#83 EH He Touched Me

or

# 60 EH Give Me a Holy Life

———————————————————————————————————

Dr. Russell Metcalfe is Pastor Emeritus of the Wollaston Church of the Nazarene. Permission to reprint or publish this material is GRANTED as long as the reprinting or republishing is not-for-profit. You can access more of Dr. Metcalfe's sermons at his scripturally indexed sermon archives web site. Now with MP3 audio sermons and audio bonus material.

http://russellmetcalfesermons.nazarene.nl/sermons.html

Come on Home!

2009-10-30T12:35:00.000-05:00

COME ON HOME[

Are you not tired of having just enough religion to make you uncomfortable at a cocktail reception and yet ill at ease in the presence of the Holy?

There is time to come back to simple holy living.
Time to come back to self-control, Christian simplicity, and spiritual discipline energized by God's grace. "Now is the time. We have been through it all-- the grasping, the looking, the searching. We have lived as people who try to serve God and mammon, and we know now that it cannot be done.
Too many Christians have drifted into letting the world tell them how to dress, what to drive, what songs and entertainment with which to saturate the soul, and just how to put me first at the expense of other people whom nobody puts first. Some who take the name of Christ seem owned by their ambitions, chained to a success formula, enslaved by the hunger for prestige-- diseases they have caught from our sinful culture. They fill up the ranks of the Christian jet set.
Visit any important Christian conference and you will see them-- "dressed alike, talking alike, smiling alike, looking over the shoulders of the people to whom they are speaking in order to see who else has come into the room."
The world has taught us to reach for the things that matter least while neglecting the things that matter most. Prayer, Bible study, devotion, and obedience have been elbowed to the margins as Christian self-help propaganda taught believers to dress for success, win through intimidation, fulfill themselves, enjoy sex, and lose weight.
Richard Baxter's 17th-century description fits today's cosmopolite evangelicals like a glove:
When we should study God we study ourselves; when we should mind God, we mind ourselves; when we should love God, we love our carnal selves; when we should trust God, we trust ourselves; when we should honour God, we honour ourselves; and when we should ascribe to God and admire Him, we ascribe to and admire ourselves: and instead of God we would have all men's eyes and dependence on us, and all men's thanks returned to us, and would gladly be the only men on earth extolled and admired by all. And thus naturally we are our own idols.
Even spirituality has become something to be utilized. We were coached to practice the spiritual disciplines in order to achieve self-fulfillment, discover happiness, become fully human, and overcome stress. Such behavior is a lilac-scented blasphemy. The only reason to practice the spiritual disciplines is because of who God is. Not even Hollywood has "out-glitzed" evangelical religion. Popular Christianity has been polled, charted, televised, and made "user friendly" by the best ad crews in the world. But now we know that making Christianity compatible with the loose living and undisciplined conduct of our culture does not work. The popular church "has lower standards for membership than those for getting on a bus."
But we have learned a few lessons, haven't we? "Now we can see . . . where uncontrolled living goes. We know the misery. We have felt it.
“ It is time to come home. Time to stop trying to be citizens of two countries. It is time to stop trying to blend God's way with our own wants and lusts. Come home to Christian simplicity, discipline, and holiness of heart and life. The journey is not easy. The worldly culture will try to sweep you back into its whirlwind of shallow gratifications, its conscience- deadening maze of greeds and lusts, its "cosmetic diversions and plastic pleasures."
Resist them in the power of the Spirit. They are vapors of fantasy that lead only to emptiness. On the other hand, the holy life to which God is calling you is "astonishing in its completeness," as Thomas Kelley writes.
Of the holy life, he says,
Its joys are ravishing,
its peace profound,
its humility the deepest,
its power world-shaking,
its love enveloping,
its simplicity that of a trusting child
... It is the life and power of Jesus of Nazareth.

(1) We need to deliberately break the insulation that separates us from entering into God's Presence, the "Shekinah." God's Presence is life-giving. We must enter into the Presence and worship, wherever we are coming from.
(2) We need to break the bondage of self-consciousness before the judgment of other human beings. "If I buy into this radical response I will be stepping back into the '30s-- I will be an ignorant sheep---

" NOT if it is truly GOD who is calling you to come HOME

Dealing with Existential Fear

2009-10-29T07:19:00.000-05:00

Faith in the Presence of Fear
John 20:19-31
Psalm 16
Words for Our Day

The opening words of Psalm 16 are the cry, "Protect me, O Lord God,
for I am trusting in you!" The Psalmist, David, is using what seems
to me the language of fear. He probably had good reason to fear, for
his life was often in danger.

Do you ever feel fear? Is it a sin to feel negative emotions? Is it
evil to have questions or even doubts when it seems everyone else is
so certain about so many things?

In the very last chapter of the last book in the Bible (Revelation 21)
is a list that sometimes bothers me. It is a list of people who are
not going to enter the New Jerusalem. In fact John, the writer of
Revelation, says they will have part in "the second death."

Now part of that list I can understand would not fit in heaven: "the
abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, and all liars" is how
the list ends. But the part that bothers me is how the list begins.
The list of those who miss heaven begins: "But the fearful and the
unbelieving... will have their place in the lake of fire." What does
this mean? Sometimes I feel like the Cowardly Lion, and I admit there
are a lot of questions I cannot honestly answer.

Can the feeling of FEAR keep me out of heaven? [Before I go any
farther, let me say I believe the answer is NO FEELING will keep
you or me out of heaven. Feelings are emotions-- feelings are
results, not causes-- and God is not seeking reasons to exclude,
but to INCLUDE. He is not willing that ANY should perish.
In the Gospel Thomas is afraid to believe and Jesus comes to him--
in the Psalm David is afraid, and he cries out "O God help me!"]
No the feeling will not exclude you.

Still, there IS a fear that can keep us from taking hold of the
gift of LIFE. And there is an unbelief that is not of the mind
but of the heart that says, "I will not submit to God even when
He speaks clearly to me." This passage from John helps us
understand how we can dare trust the Risen Savior.

I. THE DISCIPLES WERE AFRAID TO BELIEVE HOW MUCH GOD LOVED THEM

They lived in a time and place every bit as scary as our own
terror-threatened post-9/11 time. They thought: "It is too good
to be true!" Jesus came and dispelled their fears somewhat--
it took a while.

But Thomas wasn't there. He said, "I have to SEE for myself."
He was afraid to let himself get built up just to be let down
again.

Looking again to Psalm 16, David prays for God's mercy, but
even as he prays he recognizes how audacious it is to talk
to God. He says, "MY GOODNESS EXTENDETH NOT TO THEE." In
another place (Psalm 8) David says, "WHEN I CONSIDER THE HEAVENS,
WHAT IS MAN THAT YOU ARE MINDFUL OF HIM?"

Many of the theologians of our day (whether post-modern, or
process, or deconstructionist, or whatever-- I'm probably ten
years behind in labels) seem to be saying, "You common people
have no idea of how big God really is-- and so you can never
speak about Him with any kind of certainty!" And some of them
carry it so far they are saying 'GOD'S LOVE, IF IT IS THERE,
IS TOO BIG, TOO MYSTERIOUS FOR US TO KNOW AND BE SURE ABOUT.'
It is almost a blocking FEAR before the mystery of God's love.

BUT THE GOD OF THE BIBLE-- WHO TRULY IS BIGGER THAN WE CAN
IMAGINE-- HAS SPOKEN TO US IN THE LIFE AND DEATH AND RESURRECTION
OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST!

That message is understandable even though we can never understand
WHY God should love us! That message IS: GOD LOVES YOU!

Jesus said: "Thomas, I'll help you believe! Blessed are those
who have NOT seen, and still believe! FAITH WITHIN US SAYS:
Jesus really DOES know and care about ME!

Even after the disciples began to grasp the fact that Jesus
was alive, and that He was with them again, there was a
hesitation to dare to believe what Jesus was asking them to
do (commanding them, actually).

II. THE DISCIPLES COULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT GOD EXPECTED OF THEM

Jesus began outlining his assignment for the church that very night.
First, he BREATHED ON THEM, and said: RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT!
Be carriers of God! Be contagious with LOVE! Exude confidence
that God is GOOD!

I'm sure they did not grasp it fully then-- nor even fifty days
later at Pentecost-- but the disciples-- and you and I-- are to
be the place where God lives on this earth. We are God's housing!

Do YOU think of yourself as a tabernacle of God? Is God welcome
in YOUR body? In your relationships? is that a new thought to
you? Is it a bit frightening?

God is what this frightened world needs right now! And who do
you suppose God is wanting to use to meet your neighbors and
mine, face-to-Face?

Jesus began assigning His disciples a role in telling the
world that all their sins had been forgiven on Calvary. This
is mysterious, and not easy to understand:

"Those whose sins you forgive they will be forgiven... those
whose sins you don't forgive they will remain..?"

We can stop and get hung up on the translation of words here--
OR we can understand that WE have a part in sharing the Good News
of Salvation.

FEAR said, that night, "Lord Jesus we have all been afraid!
We have all forsaken you and run away! How can WE ever accept
such an assignment?"

But FAITH SAID: "YOU CAN SHOW ME HOW TO BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT!
YOU CAN HELP ME SHARE THE MESSAGE OF SINS FORGIVEN!" And that is
exactly what happened.

That is all well and good for the disciples..then..and for the
worship times in church. But what about the everyday fears that
come-- AND WHAT ABOUT THE REALLY DARK PLACES IN LIFE THAT COME
TO US ALL? Can fear defeat us when we face the worst life can
offer? It is frightening to think there are people who hate us
just because we live where we do, and believe what we believe-
but in the darkness is where even little lights can shine brightly!
Jesus loves YOU! He is with you and me! He says "Tell people that
God loves them! God is GOOD!"

III. WE ALL FACE FEAR'S CHALLENGE IN OUR DARK HOURS OF THE SOUL

Faith's victory over fear is NOT just doctrine or theory. We cannot
help at times FEELING overwhelmed-- even pushed toward despair.
In the Garden of Gethsemene Jesus Himself prayed like one who
hated, even dreaded what lay out ahead. He prayed, "O MY FATHER,
IF IT BE POSSIBLE, LET THIS CUP PASS FROM ME!"

In the Psalm (16) David wrote the script for the Messiah's hope
even though it was 800 years or so before the time-- he wrote for
Jesus-- and for all who follow Jesus-- "THOU WILT NOT LEAVE MY
SOUL IN HELL, NOR SUFFER YOUR OWN TO SEE CORRUPTION"

Our souls somehow become the battlefield of fear versus faith.
For insight into that aspect of the emotions of fear and temptation
to unbelief there is no better book than The Book of Job. Job
loved God-- and refused to believe God was anything but GOOD!
He certainly did not understand what was going on. But Job said,
"GOD KNOWS! I WILL TRUST HIM!" Faith went beyond what it could see,
and even what it could NOT see-- and reached for the hand of God.

In some of Britain's darkest hours in WW II, the people listened by
their radios on New Year's Eve as their king, King George VI, gave
his annual greeting to his people over BBC. It was truly a fearsome
time. The very existence of their nation was at risk. And the king
that night quoted words that have since become famous. He said:

"I said to the man who stands at the Gate of the Year, 'Give me
light that I may tread safely into the unknown.' And he replied,
'Step into the darkness, put your hand into the hand of God, and
that will be to you better than a light and safer than a known
way.'"

David said, "In your Presence is joy! If I can just BE WITH YOU I
will be all right!" We do not have to wait until we die and go to
heaven to know God's Presence. He is near, He is with us today.
If we will let Him he will live within us, and walk with us. We
may not know all about Him, but we may know Him. He loves us,
and his perfect love casts out fear, our own fear, and the fear
that we cannot tell our frightened neighbors with assurance:
"God is GOOD! God loves YOU!."

THe Jesus Prayer

2009-10-08T08:38:00.001-05:00

THE JESUS PRAYER

Luke 18: 9 - 14

Two men went up to the temple to pray to the one true God. One

man stood by himself in his shining goodness. The other man stood

afar off in consciousness of his sinfulness.

This is a pointed story. Jesus told it to some people who were

trusting in themselves for salvation, and were actively putting down

other seekers after God.

In this story the first character, THE PHARISEE, was the sort of

fellow you think of as the pillar of society. He was regular in

paying his bills, he belonged to the Rotary Club, he drove a Cadillac,

he tithed a pretty hefty income.

The second character, THE TAX COLLECTOR, was different. He was

far down the social scale. He had a shady reputation. He had

business dealings with unbelievers. He would not deny being a sinner.

The PHARISEE had a LOAD of righteousness-- self-righteousness.

It was a comparative righteousness. He compared himself to people he

despised: "I thank You God that I am not as others are -- thieves,

rogues, adulterers, or, God forbid, even like this tax collector

standing there!" And he measured his religion in adding up the good

things he did. "Add these things up," he said to God. "I fast twice

in the week, I give a tenth of all my income, I'm really quite a

valuable addition to your temple, God!"

The TAX COLLECTOR, on the other hand, stood far off, away from

the altar. His head was down. He smote his breast. He acknowledged

his sin.

It is not acceptable in polite society today to talk about "sin"

and "guilt." We deserve a break today! Remember rights, and

entitlement! Guilt is always bad-- always unhealthy.

I agree that guilt is something we do not have to live with. But

I do not agree that all guilt is either inappropriate or bad. There

is a kind of acknowledging of guilt which is actually healthy, because

it accepts responsibility. Facing real guilt is the first step to

real forgiveness and real peace with God. "IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS," is

the promise, "GOD IS FAITHFUL AND JUST TO FORGIVE US OUR SINS, AND TO

CLEANSE US FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS." (I John 1:9) [We like the "all

unrighteousness" part-- we don't always hear the "If we confess"

part!]

The Bible says that whether we are up-and-outers like the

Pharisee, or down- and-outers like the tax collector, "all have

sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) We are all

sinners by birth, and every one of us have sinned by choice. Sin is

putting anything or anyone ahead of God.

Two men went up the hill to pray. The PHARISEE went up the hill

to the temple knowing that he was better than most people. The TAX

COLLECTOR went up the hill to the temple knowing that he had come

short of God's glory. He didn't try to fool either God or himself for

even a minute. He prayed this prayer: "Lord, be merciful to me a

sinner."

Two men went down the hill from the temple that day. Jesus said

the tax collector went back home justified. The Pharisee just went

back home.

The simplicity of the prayer the tax collector prayed all too

often escapes us. We know that following Jesus involves doing as well

as being. Being Christian takes discipline and prayer. So we forget

how simple and how basic it is to say from the heart, "Jesus is Lord!"

We memorize Romans 10:9,10, but we forget the impact of that short

prayer.

When we get away from the simplicity of the faith we start

building our own righteousness. We begin to THINK like the Pharisee,

even if we don't actually put his prayer into our own words.

THIS IS REFORMATION SUNDAY - On this particular Sunday of the

year we recall one man in history who re-discovered the power of the

Jesus prayer and changed the course of history

Let me just mention again a few facts from Luther's life that

underscore this story Jesus told:

Martin Luther was born in 1483, and as a young man started out to

study law. About the time he finished law studies, in 1505, a

lightning bolt scared the wits out of him, and he promised God he

would become a monk-- went on to become a priest-- was a

brilliant but not-very-happy seeker after salvation.

The church of Luther's day was often guilty of praying the prayer

of the Pharisee. Like every human institution, our own included,

there was a strong incentive to preserve the machinery and to

forget the spirit of Christ-- to legalize and legislate, and

forget the simple truth of grace. Luther was frustrated,

unsatisfied in his own heart.

In 1513, the year after receiving his Doctorate and becoming

teacher/preacher at Wittenberg, Martin began lecturing on the

Psalms. When he arrived at Psalm 72, as he was lecturing to the

students he got new insight concerning "the righteousness of

God." (Have you read Psalm 72 lately? I had to re-read it again

to see what was so revolutionary as to catch Martin Luther's

imagination:

(Psalm 72:12) For (God) will deliver the needy when he cries

for help, the humble also, and him who has no helper. (13) He

will have compassion on the poor and needy, and the souls of

the needy he will save....)

Martin Luther began to see the compassion of God. Up until this

time Luther had only feared God, as a tyrant judge. He began to

see God's righteousness as a quality which God was willing to

give to believers, and which would make them acceptable in his

Presence.

Then in his study of Romans Luther re-discovered "The Just shall

live by faith!" Luther discovered that he had had it all

backwards: WE DO NOT ACHIEVE FAITH BY BEING RIGHTEOUS, BUT WE

RECEIVE CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH! Still Luther asked

questions of himself, recorded in his works, such as:

"Are you alone wise? Can it be that everyone else is in error and

has been in error for so long? What if you are wrong and lead

into error so many people who might then be eternally damned?

But Luther could not remain quiet forever. Things came to a head

when fund raisers came through Saxony selling coupons to get

people out of purgatory. It was just three years after Psalm 72

had spoken to him, and after he had re-discovered the great truth

in Romans "The just shall live by faith!" that the crisis came.

On October 31, 1517, exactly 478 years ago this very week, Martin

Luther nailed his 95 Theses, 95 statements for debate on, among

other things, why the sale of indulgences were evil- on the

Cathedral door in Wittenberg, Germany. He wrote these

propositions for debate in Latin-- but the 95 theses were also

translated into the common German, and printed, and spread far

and wide. The business of indulgences, salvation from purgatory

by works, was ruined in that part of Saxony. The Reformation was

under way.

Nearly four years later, in April of 1521, Luther was summoned to

Worms to defend his position before a Diet of the clergy and

secular rulers. On the first day of his appearance Luther saw

that he would not be permitted to make a speech, and he begged

for a day to think of his answer.

Luther was not admitted to the Diet the next day until nightfall,

and he stood in the candle-lighted Episcopal hall next to the

great cathedral. After realizing again that there was no room for

debate, Luther made this statement:

"Unless I can be instructed and convinced with evidence from the

Holy Scriptures or with open, clear, and distinct grounds and

reasoning-- and my conscience is captive to the Word of God--

then I cannot and will not recant, because it is neither safe

nor wise to act against conscience."

And then he added the famous words: "Here I stand. I can do no

other. God help me! Amen" And with those words Luther became an

outlaw.

Thus endeth the "history lesson" this Reformation Sunday!

The "two ways of justification" are still with us today.

If we are honest-- there are times when we have stood in the

place where the Pharisee stood in the story. We have compared

ourselves to other mortals instead of seeing a holy God. We have

added up our good and hoped it outweighed the bad.

But there are NOT two ways to find peace with God. There ARE NO

human beings who can justify themselves in God's holy eyes. There are

NONE of us who dare to despise others, and compare our holiness with

other sinners.

In our Wesleyan tradition we need to learn to live in the healthy

tension between the call of God to holiness and the humility of

knowing that our performance often comes short of God's glory. Our

Savior can give us grace to live above willful sin in word thought and

deed. Our Savior also taught us to pray every day, "Forgive us our

debts as we forgive our debtors!" Can we live with the paradox of not

sinning and confession our sins? Can we seek to be God's instruments

and NOT seek to use God selfishly?

There is a prayer, an ancient prayer, actually, that came out of

this passage, no doubt. It is called The Jesus Prayer. I'm sure that

a number of Nazarenes would not want to pray this prayer because we

have been forgiven and are no longer in active, willful, outbroken sin,

no longer in rebellion against God. . . .

I can still hear the wisdom of my elders saying "If we start

calling mistakes 'sin,' it won't be long until we are calling sin

'mistakes.'" In other words we cannot excuse any willful sin in our

lives.

Still the fact remains that Jesus has given us the Lord's

Prayer-- and also he has given us this story to keep us from trusting

in our own righteousness, and comparing it with others. That ancient

prayer, the Jesus Prayer simply goes like this:

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

It is a powerful prayer when it becomes a way of life! Shall WE pray?

———————————————————————————————————

Tides and Currents don't Determine Destination

2009-09-30T14:39:00.001-05:00

September 6, 1998
8:45 & 11 o'clock services
Wollaston Church of the Nazarene

A PLEA FOR USEFUL
-Philemon 10-

If you fish or sail in salt water you need to know at least
something about tides and currents and channels. When I first went
fishing on my own for flounder - you can ask my sons John and Steve -
I nearly got stranded on shoal. But I'm a fast learner, and soon I
learned a little about reading tide charts and watching weather fronts
and seasons of the moon. It was all new and wonderful for a
mid-westerner like me.

For years I owned a little boat. (I named it Conference.
That way the office people could say that the pastor was in Conference
for the rest of the afternoon.) I found that TIDES AND CURRENTS DO
NOT DETERMINE DESTINATIONS. That is what rudders and engines and sails
are for. While you don't dare ignore the tides and currents, you also
never get anywhere if you let them dictate where you go and how you
fish. When you can, you make them serve you. When you can't go with or
against them, you cut across as best you can with your destination in
mind.

[When one nor'easter threatened my boat at mooring at Squantum
Yacht Club, I took the launch out to the mooring, and slipped the
cable and started around Moon Island for the boat ramp at Boston Gas
ramp in Dorchester. Just as I started from the mooring I saw a man
waving his arms at me back at the Yacht Club dock, and maneuvered back
to pick up John Stark. John has forgotten more about salt water and
boats and fishing than I will ever know, and he wanted to go along for
the fun of the roller coaster ride into the nor'easter. Just as we
were about to go out of sight around Moon island one of the club
members said to Jim Stark, who was watching his dad and me through
binoculars, "Look at those two fools out there!" Jim said, "That is
my pastor and my father!" We respected the elements, but were willing
to take the risk for the safety of the boat and because we really
enjoyed the ride!]

THE TIDES AND CURRENTS OF LIFE CANNOT DETERMINE OUR ULTIMATE
DESTINATIONS. WE CAN GO WHERE GOD INTENDS FOR US TO GO!

IN THE TINY BOOK OF THE BIBLE, PHILEMON, which is actually a personal
letter from the first century, we have the story of how two men were
challenged to take a voyage across the strong currents of their day.
Behind this personal and private letter is the story of Onesimus and
Philemon and the course they felt they had to take across the tides
and currents of their culture.

TO THE CITY OF COLOSSE in western Asia Minor THE GOSPEL OF
JESUS CHRIST CAME ONE DAY in the message of Paul the apostle. A
church was established Among the households affected was that of a
wealthy man named Philemon.

In that day when a man converted so did his whole household,
his wife, children, servants, and relatives. Among the servants
slaves, really- was Onesimus. Whatever his real name had been, he has
been named "Useful."

"Useful" may have been officially baptized, but he watched his
chance and one day he escaped, and took with him a sum of his master's
money. He made his way into Europe, to Rome a thousand miles from
Colosse. In that huge city slaves could melt into the population and
be free forever. But there in Rome Onesimus, Useful, just happened to
meet again the very preacher who had baptized him back in Colosse.

It is impossible for me, or for you or anyone to know what the
tides and currents of culture were really like back then. We don't
know, either, how Onesimus decided he needed to go the thousand miles
back to the east to face Philemon. The Bible does not condone slavery
in any form. But evidently Jesus was making demands on Philemon that
seemed hard if not impossible. Onesimus knew he had to make good what
he had stolen. And so Paul wrote this letter. And Onesimus set off
to deliver it himself.

Think of the cost these men had to pay to face the tides and
currents! The cost to Onesimus is obvious. He risked his freedom and
his life. But the cost to Philemon was great as well. He would be
branded as a slave-coddler. He would be vilified by other wealthy
people in his society. He might even encourage slave-revolt.

Jesus made demands on both these men because he knew they
could make the destination he set for them. The letter doesn't tell
us what happened next. But tradition tells us that not only was
Onesimus received and forgiven, but that he became the pastor in
Colosse. Onesimus was one of the early bishops in Asia Minor.

JESUS HAS A WAY OF CHALLENGING EVERY ONE OF US to cut across the
popular currents and tides of our times. The strong tides today tell
us it is fine to be religious, but that we don't need to get carried
away by our faith. It is not the central thing around which to build
our lives.

The strong currents today say that morality is relative and
comparative. "I may not be perfectly honest in my dealings, but I am
not nearly as bad as my neighbors."

The accepted channels even in evangelical circles tell us that if we
have the proper views on abortion and say the right words about family
values then we are spiritual, and good Christians. Jesus challenges us
to dare to be honest with ourselves and with Him, and with one
another! Our faith must move beyond "experience" into the realm of
relationship. He asks us to dare to follow Him no matter which way the
tides are running and the wind is blowing.

(CONCLUSION)

It only makes common sense if you are fishing or sailing in
salt water to know something about the tides and currents. It only
makes good sense if you are living for Jesus in a secular, pluralistic
world to understand a little bit about the way the winds blow. You
may have to run for cover some times. You may have to wait while a
northeaster blows over. But the winds and tides do not determine your
final destination.

WHEN WE WERE BUILDING THIS SANCTUARY eighteen years ago (thirty years as this is copied into Facebook)we had quite a
discussion over just how the steeple would be. We all agreed this
building should be a testimony in itself to the worship of God and the
fellowship of the church. It is Georgian Colonial in architecture
inside and out and (except for the elevator and wall-to-wall
carpeting) as authentic as some gifted members of our building
committee could make it.

That committee thought a nice weather vane on the steeple
would add a great authentic touch to a New England house of
worship. Protestant churches in colonial times did not have crosses on
their steeples. But in my stubborn way I insisted I did not want a
church that seemed to say to the neighborhood "This is the way the
winds are blowing just now!"

A church is not primarily to tell people which way the wind is
blowing, but which way it is to heaven. So without any visible hard
feelings the steeple went up without a weather vane and without a
cross. I confess I may have hidden some pain! And the steeple really
looked "bare" up there 100 feet in the air!

But then Wesley Angell, a great member of our board who knew
more about building than anyone, noticed that the steeple was not
perfectly straight. Sure enough, it had been damaged in the
installation, and no one had seen it but Wesley. The steeple had to
come down for repairs. And in the meantime the committee got back
together. They inquired how much a cross would cost. And you can see
what happened!

Since that day when a crane carried the cross 104 feet to the
top of the steeple more than 6,500 days and nights have passed. There
have been hurricanes and blizzards and foggy nights and blistering hot
days. The wind has blown from every point of the compass and with
every intensity from dead calm to full hurricane. But the cross
stands there reminding us that there is a Way to heaven, and that if
we will follow Jesus nothing can ultimately defeat us from the
destination He has for us here in this life, and in the one to come.

For those with Patience, LONG

2009-09-09T06:23:00.002-05:00

TEN YEARS AGO THIS WAS PUBLISHED
IN THE PREACHER'S MAGAZINE

I STAND BY IT:

Charting the Changing Scenes in Corporate Worship
Article written and published for Preacher's Magazine
by Dr. Russell Metcalfe, Pastor Emeritus,
Wollaston Church of the Nazarene,
Quincy, Massachusetts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just what goes into the Sunday morning worship service at your church and mine? Why do we do what we do? Why do we have Wednesday night Bible study? Why does there seem to be a conflict between some of the needs, interests, and purposes of various representative groups in our congregation? What should we be seeking to accomplish in worship? Is worship a means to an end, or an end in and of itself?
Some of the tenets we stress, and some of the concerns we ignore, may reflect ecclesiastical and doctrinal battles that were old long before we were born. Some of the things we hold as absolutely sacrosanct may be handed down from scriptural times, or they could be derived from idiosyncrasies or personal convictions of some strong personality of comparatively recent years.

God has not been included in this study as a "component part" of worship, for God is what worship is all about. Worship is centered in God, and is directed to Him--or should be. It is taken to be a "given" in this article that real worship will be our attempt to bring our best, our all, to the loving praise of God's glory; and that real worship is not complete unless and until a dynamic connection takes place, a Presence.

Seven elements of worship, according to James F. White, in a fairly recent book, are people, piety, time, place, prayer, preaching, and music. People are "the primary liturgical document." Piety, Time, and Place are what he terms the circumstances of worship; while prayer, preaching and music are the acts of worship.

In graphic form the elements of worship might look like this:

2. Piety 5. Prayer

3. Time 1. People 6. Preaching

4. Place 7. Music [1]

1. "People," to quote James White, are "the primary liturgical document."[2]

Worship which does not connect culturally is like instruction in a foreign language. In any normal church setting there is a wide range of levels of moral and intellectual development represented. Age groups see similar issues from different slants. Birthright Catholics see things differently from past Pentecostals or former Baptists. When there are a variety of cultures represented, a special challenge obtains.

Added to this are the changing attitudes of society at large, attitudes that are often all-too-quickly reflected in the church setting. Deliberate choices must be made by worship leaders about when to seek to be like other voices in current society (culturally correct?) and thus "connect" with people in tune with entertainment, pop psychology, and success-oriented thinking, and when to confront popular thinking, me-ism and television influence with demands for clear separation of lifestyle. Currently we see some odd combinations of living in the name of Christ-likeness.

Much is currently written about the influences of the baby-boomer and baby-buster generations in American society. Depending on how recent trends are interpreted, the flower children and peace-niks of the late sixties and seventies gave way to narcissism and introversion of the eighties, with continued emphasis on physical appearance and youth.

Some of the changing dynamics reported in various denominations have included lack of loyalty to any tradition; supermarket mentality in consumerism; lack of interest in Sunday School or midweek services, and more recently in the necessity for two services on Sunday; relaxed dress codes reflecting sometimes relaxed behavior codes; swing away from classical modes in music, literature, worship styles; instant gratification; preaching that affirms instead of confronts sin or wrongdoing; increasing conflict between a movement's drive and a denomination's stability. [3]

2. Piety refers to the climate in which we relate to God and to each other.

Probably it has most to do with the deeply held concepts of God that we have formed.

People who think of God first as a "God of vengeance," always looking for faults and sins, will worship differently from people who conceive of God as "keeping score, but willing to forgive," which is different from others who see God as predominately interested in sharing His life and joy.

Worship can cover a spectrum from totally evangelistic, with the assumption that everyone present needs to be severely chastised for falling short of God's glory, to almost totally praise and positive thinking, assuming that the assembled church is already "family."

For the purpose of categorizing only, think of three viable evangelistic modes or "sets" of worship as:

evangelistic;
penitential (with confession/absolution as central focus); and
resurrection, or rejoicing and celebration.
It is my contention that an ideal evangelical church will have a blending of all three, without getting stuck in any one category.
3. Time refers to the various chronological cycles in which a church worships.

These can be thought of as daily, weekly, yearly, and lifetime. Also under the general heading of time in worship, we consider punctuality or lack of it (often a cultural key,) and the usual length of services, and that length in relationship to the overall time-usage of the worshipers. Highly scheduled people will respond differently from more casual approaches to time management.

In a lifetime cycle certain churches expect their members to do certain things at certain times of their lives in certain ways. Sacraments and sacramental-type events, baptism, joining the church, weddings, passages, and even funerals are observed in widely differing ways, even in the same denomination, in different areas of the country, and in different cultural pockets.

Each church has a yearly cycle, whether or not such has been officially recognized by pastor or people. The American versions of the free church often substituted their own local or national observances for the ancient church calendar abandoned in Europe by immediate forebears. Ethnic-based evangelicals brought old-country celebrations or prohibition of celebrations with them to this country when they came. Evangelicals of many denominations in recent years have discovered the richness of the yearly cycles observed by Christians across the centuries, of days of Advent, Lent, Pentecost, Trinity, and many others.

Also under yearly cycles come such events as revival meetings; district events such as assemblies; as well as unspoken or tacit "attitudes" at various times of the year, such as "easing off" in the summer time from choir and from strictness of form in worship to accommodate vacation habits of large proportion of our people; the gathering of intensity as school starts in the fall; the unspoken and often unrecognized weariness and temptation to negativism in the spring when fatigue sets in for many who have been "flat out" for eight months or more.

Weekly cycles, too, should be examined. How often do we observe the Lord's Supper? Why? Why do we worship at 11 a.m. on Sunday? (Why NOT?) Why do we hark back to a mid-week prayer service for as long as we can remember? What does a church encourage its members to do regularly in order to maintain vigorous spiritual health?

Daily schedules might refer to what is expected of each participant in a congregation; what sort of prayer/devotional schedule/time management is practiced as the norm (or professed.)

4. Place of worship is the third "circumstance" of worship and is probably more important than usually thought.

There is a saying among those who make worship a study: "The building will always win." That statement is probably very nearly true. Many churches have been started in very unlikely places, and "wherever Jesus is, 'tis heaven there.'" But function is often shaped by form. Certain types of worship are almost dictated by certain arrangements of seating, furniture, and participants, as well as respect demanded by or given to the place of worship itself. Building materials of themselves are not sacred, but even as we love and cherish our houses until they reflect our personalities and become our homes, so the House of the Lord becomes more than the sum of its constituent parts.

The "acts" of worship:
5. Prayer is a universal in worship.
It is unthinkable that there should be worship without prayer. How do the people speak to God? Literally, how do they call Him?--"Thou" or "You"?

[Is there something somehow "holy" about addressing God in Elizabethan language? Do we realize that even then the "Thou" was the more intimate and familiar address that one would use with close friends? But when one has grown up hearing only this form of address to God, it becomes a "language of prayer" and connotes respect; so often the "Thee" or the "you" simply denotes the generation of the pray-er.]

What form does the main prayer of the worship service(s) take? How about he use of printed prayers? Is it a "no-no"? How often is the Lord's Prayer used? Is that important? How are people taught to pray? What emphases on prayer are regularly reviewed?

6. Preaching is another basic "act" in the drama of worship.

It is central in most evangelical services of worship. Exegetical, doctrinal, evangelistic, narrative, topical are all styles or types of sermonizing, plus there are always "fads" of various kinds (participatory, team preaching, drama) that come and go. Personally, I have an almost mystic faith that preaching "connects" when God is Present' that the written Word becomes the Living Word for those who listen with the anointing of God as the preacher preaches with the same chrism.

Others have less lofty ideas of preaching, although it remains central in most Protestant worship orders. James White speaks of one task of preaching as "stressing the corporate memories." [4]

Preaching probably at once shapes and reflects, defines and describes, spurs and soothes, enlightens and condemns, influences and is influenced by the entire church and all of worship. It is not beyond the discussion of the governing board, but is so arranged in my mind that I need a separate agenda for talking about it.

7. Music is the last "act" of worship that we discuss here.

Like preaching, music has "life of its own" in the church and we can approach it from many different directions.

The songs and hymns a congregation often sings say a great deal about the communal mind-set. Spiritual songs and hymns reflect all the tenses and moods of all of life. But in worship we tend to begin and end where our emphases are.

First-person songs tell about "I" and "We." They reflect experience, and they are important and useful. They can also begin and end with "me." God is important because of what He has DONE FOR ME! Of course He is to be praised for what He does for us! To paraphrase another author, we sometimes get the idea that "Jesus, Lover of MY Soul" would be turned around to "MY SOUL, Lover of Jesus!" We easily become self-centered, even in our so-called spirituality. We attract attention to ourselves in insisting that WE will do it such and such a way, etc.

But, too, it is hard to improve on "The Lord is MY Shepherd!"

Third-person songs tend to be statements of fact. They can be exalted statements that lift and bless. But in them we stand back and make observation. "Isn't HE wonderful?" (Of course, He is!) "To God Be the Glory!" lifts us as we sing--and all can freely enter in the praise. Many great doctrinal hymns of the Wesleys and others are in this mood.

But second-person songs and hymns address God in the "I-Thou" mode; they are actually prayers put to music. Whether they are older, accepted hymns ("O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder") or choruses ("Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy O Lord!) they address God directly, and put the assembled congregation into dialogue with God in prayer even when it is not called prayer time. This second-person music must have a central part in any significant plan of worship.

Music is highly significant in the shaping of thought; it reflects our state of piety and belief. Nowhere in the church have the emerging technological advances made more impact; we not only have instant accompaniment by professional sound track musicians in the smallest churches, we have television-trained soloists to clone the stars that make the hits. In some cases, they are cloning the clones of secular singers. These technical facts are not in and of themselves bad or good. What we can lose sight of is the fact that genuinely good music is:

highly subjectively judged; and
not necessarily correlative to genuinely popular church music; and that
there are no spiritual short-cuts to becoming a means or channel of God's blessing, even though it is relatively easy to prepare a performance.
To sing the words and sound the tones may evoke excitement and even applause. To convey the message God intends for the particular occasion still requires preparation for which there is no instant fabrication.

Addenda:
The public worship experience itself is dynamic. In my lifetime I have seen a shift from passive participation, if that is not an oxymoron, where just showing up for church was considered worship, to a demand for more active participation in worship, with an emphasis on saying and doing and responding to the Word.
Where we go from here is hard to predict. I have my own strong preferences, but my tastes are far from universal. Hopefully those who chart a course of worship in their local churches will remember they must speak in a language their people can understand, but also that they do not necessarily need to always say, indeed they dare not always say what their people want to hear. As Wesley urged his preachers to preach Christ in all his offices--prophet, priest, and king--so we who seek to determine the direction of corporate worship must use all the elements of worship in sacramental intentionality solely for the glory of God.

1. White, James F. The Study of Protestant Worship,
(Westminster Press, 1989).

2. Ibid., p. 44.

3. See "The Christian Century," July 10-17, 1991, article by
Paul B. Tinlin and Edith L. Blumhoffer on the 'Dilemmas of
the Assemblies of God.'"

4. White, p. 112.

Permission to reprint or publish this material is GRANTED as long as the reprinting or republishing is not-for-profit. You can access more of Dr. Metcalfe's sermons at his scripturally indexed sermon archives web site. Dr. Russell Metcalfe is Pastor Emeritus of the Wollaston Church of of the Nazarene. You can reach Dr. Metcalfe at eflactem@aol.com.

Sixty Years Ago- today!

2009-09-03T09:31:00.000-05:00

SIXTY YEARS AGO TODAY, exactly, was a Saturday- the day I left home.. Lawrence and Louie Durkee, and Joanne, their daughter, we kind enough to take Lennie and Roy Laudermilk and me along with them to take us from Akron to Boston, to Eastern Nazarene College. Six adults in a nice new but quite compact Plymouth sedan.
The trip took two days. To say I was apprehensive is understatement. I was close to insanity with homesickness. We drove all day and stopped for the night near Syracuse. Mr. Durkee paid for tiny tourist cabins, and Roy and I shared a room just big enough for a bed.
That night I took out my little Bible and opened it "by chance" to Isaiah. I came to Chapter 41, and read the tenth verse (Isaiah 41:10) "Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I amthy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."
Right then I knew God knew where I was even when I did not. I 'got the message' that God was with me and would be with me. That verse that night was a life-line to me. It still is, these sicty (60!) years later- the Presence! The Presence!
I probably have come a long way in beginning to understand "grace"- the unmerited love of God for a sinner. But I know I don't know anything, really-- I have only begun! I cannot explain, or analyse, or prescribe to you or for you. But I can and do tell you that I have come to believe two things: God is GOOD! and God loves ME! (which is to say "God loves YOU!) I am not His favorite-- or maybe, yes, I am! We all are!

THE CALL TO STAND ON HOLY GROUND

2009-09-01T08:23:00.001-05:00

THE CALL TO STAND ON HOLY GROUND
Exodus 3:1-10
Most of the people you meet each day, good bad or indifferent,
live by their wits in this dog-eat-dog world and never think about God
at all. If they ever do consciously think of God they probably think
in terms of restrictions and oughts and shoulds.
But at the same time most of the people we meet each day at some time or other have stopped and asked themselves the question, "Is this what life is all about?"
For when we live by our wits or not, life is full of hard places.

If we were to be brutally honest, it isn't just the most of the
people we meet that are frustrated with life at times-- and who do not
think of God most of the time. People LIKE YOU AND ME who should know
better, or who may have been taught better, or even people who in
earlier times at a youth camp somewhere or a revival meeting or a VBS
made a commitment to God find that they can live a whole day a whole
week a whole month without ever looking to God, and then one day ask
that same question, "Is this what life is all about? Isn't there more
than this?"

THIS IS WHERE THE EXODUS STORY COMES IN....

In the most modern, progressive, intelligent civilization the
world had known to that time-- a nation that had already produced
man-made wonders like the great pyramids of Giza that were evidence of
knowledge of celestial orbits-- in that nation were several hundred
thousand men, women and children who were descendants of the Hebrew
Patriarchs. Four hundred years earlier Jacob had taken his tribe in a
time of famine into Egypt, following his son Joseph who was viceroy of
the entire land. They had been honored guests of the Pharaoh. At that
time there were a total of 72 Hebrews.

But in the intervening 400 years governments had changed, and
generations had passed and now the Egyptians had brutally dominated
the Hebrews. The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were
reduced to living by their wits in the absence of God-- or so they
thought. But from time to time they raised their heads and hearts and
voices and said, "O God! Is this all there is to life?"
And so far as they knew -- nothing! Nothing happened! Day followed day, and
nothing happened.

WHAT A GREAT STORY THIS IS!!

Just as these people were praying almost in despair-- several
hundred miles to the southeast there was a solitary shepherd on the
backside of the desert near a mountain called Horeb. He looked like
any other shepherd, perhaps. He was a shepherd with a very
interesting life story. He had been a prince. He tried being a hero.
He became a fugitive.

I have no idea what was going through this
man's mind as he stood, a tiny isolated little speck of humanity in a
vast dry wasteland south of the Negev. But Moses was about to have an
encounter with God.

GOD MEETS ONE LONE MAN IN THE MIDDLE OF A BARREN DESERT--

The man, Moses, saw a fire. It was a fire that burned and burned
and burned. Moses turned aside to see it. (Significant!) The
scripture says (4) "When the LORD saw that (Moses) turned aside..."
then Moses was confronted with Almighty God. Moses was drawn, but he
was also almost in terror. It was electrifying.

After more than 3,000 years this story has tremendous
significance. For it tells in language deeper than words can express,
to those who will listen, something about what happens when we come
into living contact with God.

THE WONDER OF GOD REACHING TO A HUMAN BEING
[All Moses could do was "draw near"...not generate the experience;
also extreme reverence of Jews for this name "YWHW" and LORD in our
OT...]
Rudolph Otto, a respected German scholar, used three Latin
adjectives to describe encounters with God in the Bible in general,
and this Burning Bush story in particular. Those three words are
tremendum, and mysterium, and fascinans.
Tremendum: Otto used the word tremendum to express three aspects
of a divine-human encounter. First, he said was (1) A sense of
awe. It is, in his words, "a quite specific kind of emotional
response, wholly distinct from that of being afraid, though it so
far resembles it that the analogy of fear may be used to throw
light upon its nature." The Scripture says "Moses hid his face
for he was afraid to look at God." Later, when God had brought
all the people to this place again they, too, were afraid and
trembled and stood at a distance.
But there is more. Tremendum means also (2) an overpowering, a
majesty-- a majestic distance-- realizing the infinite difference
between the ineffable God and our mortal humanity. The prophet
Habakkuk said: "I hear, and I tremble within; my lips quiver at
the sound. Rottenness enters my bones, and my steps tremble
beneath me." Daniel said, "My strength left me, and my
complexion grew pale, and I retained no strength." Both these
men stated later that they felt greatly beloved and yet they were
shaken physically and mentally and spiritually.
Finally tremendum has elements of what can only be described as
(3) sheer "energy." The "energy" is sometimes represented in
fantastic ways-- Ezekiel's wheels within wheels-- the four living
creatures of Revelation-- even the picture of the living Savior
in Revelation chapter one-- (words like Psalm 29: 5 - 9)
The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
And Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire,
The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;
the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voices of the LORD causes the oaks to whirl,
and strips the forest bare;
and in his temple all say, "Glory!")
"Awe" like Abram in Genesis 15 when "a horror" came over him as
God passed between the pieces of the sacrifice "Overpowering" like
Habakkuk who says, "I hear, and I tremble within; my lips quiver
at the sound. Rottenness enters my bones, and my steps tremble
beneath me." Energy beyond any human-generated excitement!
[THAT IS A LONG WAY FROM BODY SURFING AT A JESUS ROCK CONCERT]
But AWE is not all when God asks us to turn aside: [Another word:]
Mysterium: Encounters with God can never be really described.
And they cannot be duplicated or summoned up at will. Ezekiel is
never ever willing to say he saw God or even God's glory-- but he
IS willing to say he saw something LIKE the glory of God:
And above the dome over their heads there was something LIKE a
throne, in appearance LIKE a sapphire, and seated above the
likeness of the throne was something that SEEMED like a human
form..." and so on.
When the Bible tells about people coming into contact with God it
never confuses this great I AM THAT I AM with the physical
setting nor does it give any glory to the humans involved. God
is not in the whirlwinds or the fire or in the burning bush or
even in the mountain or the tablets of stone. Moses does not
fast and pray until God has to do as Moses says. There is always
mystery involved when the great God reaches out to communicate
with people.
One might say God has a big problem. How does he get near to us
without on the one hand consuming us with his energy, and on the
other hand convince us that He really is interested in us if we
will listen and respond in humility and faith. There will always
be mystery.
[Finally-- and wonderfully-- there is another aspect:]
Fascinans: The final adjective Rudolph Otto uses to describe
encounters with God is fascinans, or the root word for
"fascination." There is a tremendous attraction within the human
heart for the holiness of God. For God is white hot passionate
caring LOVE. To think that someone just simply downright LOVES
you is just about the most fascinating thing in the world.
"Love" of some kind or other is the dynamic that drives most of
the dramas and novels of the world-- the concept of loving and
being loved. But no love can compare with the purity and
intensity of the LOVE that emanates from an encounter with God.
Awe. Mystery. Great fascination! Moses is awed. He covers his
face. He certainly does not understand. But what is this-- this I AM
THAT I AM finally saying to Moses?
THIS GREAT GOD CARES ABOUT PEOPLE
He is saying, to Moses,
"I have been listening to a bunch of people who are living by
their wits, and who haven't really ever thought much of Me,
except that I am "absent" from their lives. I have been hearing
them ask 'Is this all there is to life?' And I have even heard
some of them cry poor, broken prayers like, "O God, if there IS a
God-- like I have heard about in fairy tales and myths and
stories about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-- why don't you show up
here and help me? ' Well, Moses, I AM is going to show up! And
GUESS WHO is going to introduce ME and begin the process of
answering their prayers??"
God went on to say that the proof that He was really God would be that
right here-- right at the base of this mountain-- one day you will be
standing with those very people who are praying to Me right now-- and
together you will worship. And then, and then only, the fire
disappeared. It did not "go out." It simply was gone, and there
stood Moses all alone in the vast expanse of desert.
THERE IS A CONNECTION, OF COURSE, BETWEEN THE PEOPLE IN EGYPT ASKING
"IS THIS ALL THERE IS TO LIFE?" AND THE BURNING BUSH EXPERIENCE OF
MOSES-- DO YOU THINK THERE MIGHT BE A CONNECTION OF GENUINE WORSHIP
AND GOD'S LOVE FOR PEOPLE "OUT THERE"??
A lot of things happened in the next few months to Moses and to
Egypt and the people who were slaves but were to become the people of
God. Great miracles took place, and God nearly destroyed Egypt
getting the people out and away from their old masters. But the
bottom line is this: one man met God-- Almighty God-- and obeyed Him.
When this one man invited the slaves in Egypt to follow God they
believed him, they responded to the promises of this God. And one day
the living descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob stood at the
Mountain of God, and they saw the fire and they experienced tremendum,
and they experienced mysterium, and yet at the same time they knew
fascinans.
When WE think of the Exodus we think of the details of the
journey-- the parting of the sea, the manna, the water from the rock--
and that is only natural.
But really Exodus is about a God of fire and holiness and mystery
who calls people to look up and believe and to walk with Him and trust
Him and find they have never been so free and so happy. Exodus is
about being drawn out of life that goes around in circles into a life
that ascends in spirals that never, ever, ever end. Exodus is about
an invitation to fellowship with the eternal God, the I AM THAT I AM.
THE WONDER OF EXODUS IS THAT GOD WANTS TO COME NEAR
HIS PEOPLE AND NEVER, NEVER LEAVE THEM AGAIN!
So-- who are we? and where is God? Are we saying "Is THIS all?"
Can we ever see God inviting us to come nearer to Him? Will we take
time to "turn aside"??
THE MESSAGE OF EXODUS IS THAT ORDINARY PEOPLE CAN EXPERIENCE THE
TREMENDUM AND THE MYSTERIUM AND CERTAINLY THE FASCINANS OF COMING INTO
GOD'S PRESENCE-- AND THAT ORDINARY PEOPLE CAN WALK WITH GOD AND NEVER
NEED TO LEAVE HIS FELLOWSHIP EVER AGAIN.

(Preached at Wollaston, September 1, 1996)

Growing in Faith

2009-08-31T12:40:00.002-05:00

The secret of joy in the Christian Way is this:
God LOVES us-- yes. Everything God does for us, he does so that we can be his child, but also so that we may be his friend.

Being a child and a friend are not always one and the same thing. We love our families; but we aren't always really friends! It is a defining nonent when a child wakes up to the fact that her parents are more than providers and protectors. It is amazing when conversation begins on what approaches an adult level.

Babies are wonderful!
Junior high . . . hmmmmm ..interesting times!
High school--has its moments.
But happy, happy, happy is the parent whose kids grow up to be his friends.

I revel in the fact that I can call God "Father."
I probably never will get over the gimmees in dealing with the heavenly Father.

But I aspire to be His friend as well....

Feelings hurt?

2009-08-20T07:15:00.000-05:00

Colossians 3
Luke 12

Tell it to Jesus . . .
Another Family Dispute

This wasn't the first time for this sort of thing. For the second time in just a little while Jesus was asked to step into a family disagreement. First it was Martha and Mary. Now it was a brother against his brother over settling an inheritance. People have a way of wanting to use Jesus to put their relatives in line.

There certainly isn't anything wrong with telling Jesus when you have a problem with someone. Particularly someone close. In fact that is what we always ought to do first. It is not wrong to hate injustice.
It is human to have feelings hurt. It doesn't mean you're not holy enough yet. Anyone that says he never feels slighted about anything has a real problem.

The only thing is when we tell Jesus about someone else, Jesus looks deep inside of us and knows what is really troubling us. He may or may not go to work in answer to prayer to straighten out the other person or persons involved. We have to leave that up to him. But you can be sure that he hears us, that he loves us, and his answer will begin with the one who is troubled.

As you certainly remember, Martha was upset because she thought Mary ought to be helping her in the kitchen. Jesus told Martha she didn't need to be troubled. He spoke to her about good, better, and best.
This brother was upset because he thought he was being cheated.
"Lord, make my brother divide the inheritance with me!" He probably had a legitimate problem. Somehow Jesus saw that he had a deeper problem than being cheated. He was in danger of corroding his own soul in hatred and greed. So instead of a "ruling" or a judgment,"
Jesus told him a story. We call the story the parable of the rich fool.'

Maybe we can focus too much on the details of the story itself. We think it is about rich people. Bill Gates. PowerBall winners. But the man in Jesus' parable wasn't a fool because he was rich. He was a fool because he forgot what was really important. He was a fool because he decided for himself what was really important. He was a fool because he thought and acted as if there were no God but himself.
"I've done all this! I will pull down these warehouses, and build bigger!" [ There is a bumper sticker that reads, "The one who dies with the most toys WINS!" Jesus might have had a bumper sticker: "The one who dies with the most toys DIES!"] There is no sadder name for a person than fool. Jesus ended the story by saying: "So is everyone who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

Martha got a word about focus.
This wounded brother got a word about perspective.

Colossians chapter 3 has an interesting idea about perspective. It says as Christians we are raised up with Christ. We are so to identify with our Lord that we can find and accept HIS way of looking at life. We know that he died for us, and we die with him in baptism. We know he rose again from the dead, and we are alive in him to God and the things of the Spirit. But that is not all that this
means:

"If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the
things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God."

We are raised to God with Christ! God's own way of seeing things!
What is important to God becomes important to God's people! In Ephesians 2 it is even clearer; there we read: "Even when we were dead in our transgressions (God) made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus."

Life in Christ is really all about finding the proper perspective.

Some ways of looking at life will corrode and destroy instead of strengthen. Self-centered living at any level is corrosive. There are attitudes that will destroy us spiritually. Even when we are in the right as far as the dispute is concerned. It goes without saying there are some attitudes that are always sinful, some actions that are simply wrong: "Put to death," the Bible says, "sexual immorality, uncleanness, sinful passion, evil desire, and greed." But there are also some legitimate, humanly understandable feelings that need to be dealt with and put aside as well, feelings that come when injustice is done, especially when the injustice is done to you or yours. The Bible puts it this way: "Put these aside also: anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive speech from your mouth."

It isn't easy or natural to have God's perspective on life. God loves.
God loves you. God loves your sister, your brother. God loves your enemy. When we identify with Jesus Christ we have been chosen to "put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Instead of a life-view that will destroy us spiritually, we have the view from the Throne! It sounds impossible. It is impossible, apart from the indwelling Holy Spirit!

It isn't easy or natural to have God's perspective on life. We are born into earth-bound circles, and have earth-sensitive sense receptors. We see and hear things from where we happen to be.

When all the world around us is celebrating self-worship, Jesus' call to follow Him and take up a cross sounds stupid. When money and youth and power are what count, and people are valued because they can make their own rules it seems backwards to value the poor, and care about the helpless.

[ Rudyard Kipling was addressing a graduating class once and said
"You will go out from here and very likely you'll make a lot of
money, and one day you'll meet someone for whom that means very
little. Then you will know how poor you are." - Leadership 1995]

Fools act as if there is no God. They build and tear down on their own advice. They make plans that don't take God into the equation at all. Self is the center and circumference of living.

God's life within and His love come with God's enabling gifts: the peace of God, the Word of God, and the name of Jesus. It goes beyond both the time restraints and the parameters of the epistle lesson to develop fully these gifts to us that give us the divine perspective.
But in this same third chapter of Colossians we read:

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. When we come to God
humbly to receive life in him our sins are forgiven, and we have
peace with God. As we walk with Him increasingly we know the
peace of God. Whatever disturbs that peace we need to take
seriously. Check out everything that disturbs your conscience.
Don't let me or anyone else condemn you but let the peace of God
rule.

Let the Word of God dwell in your richly as you worship privately
and together with fellow Christians. The Word of God is our
living guide for living. No one becomes a strong mature Christian
who does not spend time with the Word until the Word becomes at
home' in every part of living.

(Finally) Let the name of Jesus dominate everything you do! If
you can't do it in the company of Jesus, don't do it! Jesus' name
is more than just an ending for our prayers. It is the signature
at the bottom of God's checking account for all you need to do His
holy will. But it is also our family name,' that we uphold with
honor everywhere we go.

What would happen if every time we had a disagreement in our families we brought our grievances to Jesus? As a matter of fact that is exactly what we need to do! Tell Jesus how angry we are! Tell Him exactly how we feel!

But then, let's wait and listen as Jesus talks to us about US! We can pray until we have rolled the burden over on Jesus but Jesus won't let us get away just feeling sorry for ourselves . . .

Let's remember his gifts: his peace, his Word, his Name! And by God's help let's remember where we really are: Seated with Jesus in the heavenlies! "Keep looking down!"

Prayer

Peace, Wonderful Peace

2009-08-18T08:06:00.001-05:00

Lesson: Philippians 4:6-9 Text:12-18 ("What then?")

THE SPIRIT OF JESUS
PEACE THROUGH A HIGHER FOCUS

Preface: If a man in prison can tell me how to experience real joy and
peace- tell me in practical terms- and can demonstrate the same- I'll
buy the book! But we all already have the book! Let's look at it
these four Sundays in August! [One would-be master writer ... with
means ... made an idyllic place to write (I've forgotten his name;)
... Paul wrote about LOVE and about JOY and about PEACE from prison!]

INTRO: 'DEFINING' "PEACE"

1. The word 'peace' is almost a cliché. What really is peace?
Defining "peace" is a little like defining "health." We usually use
negative terms: absence of disease. But health is MORE than just not
being sick; and God's peace is more than just absence of tension and
the storms of life. (Harmony/ tranquility/ serenity )

One thing we know is that Jesus gives peace to His people as
their right: He wills that we shall know His peace.

But having it in the "will" and appropriating real peace are two
different things.

2. 'Peace' does not mean we will never face tension or struggles or
storms of life. Peace does not mean we sail the wide seas no more.

Many of us struggle with emotions that will not behave at times;
some people know acute emotional stress. Still I believe that peace
that passes understanding, peace that keeps the heart and the mind are
for me and for you!

WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF THIS PEACE JESUS HAS FOR HIS PEOPLE?

I. The Foundation for God's peace is a FREEDOM from THE GUILT and the
DOMINION of SIN.

There is a lack of awareness of sin in much of our world today.
That does not erase the fact that existential unrest - lack of peace-
exists where SIN, its GUILT and its POWER have not been dealt with.

TO ENTER GOD'S PEACE WE MUST KNOW OUR SINS FORGIVEN, AND OPEN OUR
HEARTS TO GOD'S CLEANSING

II. The Structure of God's peace is a SELF-WORTH that comes from
belonging to God, to His family. This peace connects directly to
what we call VALUABLE in life.

We cannot have peace if our self-worth depends on secondary good
things. WE CAN NEVER HAVE REAL PEACE IF OUR GOALS IN LIFE ARE WRONG,
OR IF THEY ARE FUZZY!

1. Real PEACE is built upon a separation from the idols that the
world worships. Almighty God is the enemy of all false gods, and He
will never give peace to those who worship lesser deities, whether
they are pagan idols, or whether they are "things" and "positions" and
"feelings."

2. Many of the things that the world worships are good servants,
and God is not diametrically opposed to "things;" He simply will not
give peace to those who make "things" first in their lives.

3. TWO THINGS are wrong with setting our first priorities on
'lesser gods.' (1) If we don't achieve them they frustrate us! and
(2) If we DO achieve them they frustrate us! To know God's peace we
can deliberately surrender our goals for God's transforming light
... ask Him to show us the privilege of being His children, and ask
Him to show us His goals for our lives!

III. The Experiencing of God's peace COMES IN 'LETTING GOD BE GOD!'

[Easy to say; not always easy to do!] It is when we can find
'detachment' from God's work! (We don't have to do it ourselves!)

GOD IS SOVEREIGN, HE IS IN CONTROL! AND GOD IS THE MASTER-
BUILDER, HE WILL ACCOMPLISH HIS PURPOSE! We can trust Him that He will
do what He says He will do!

1. WE CAN EXPERIENCE Peace in the matter of CONTROL:

-WE DON'T HAVE TO SEEK TO CONTROL OTHER PEOPLE (We can't make
over that spouse! We are not living through that adult son or
daughter!) We cannot seek to STEER other people, situations!

-WE DON'T HAVE TO BE STEERED BY OUTSIDE PRESSURES!

2. AND WE CAN LEARN Peace in the matter of RESULTS!:

PAUL isn't building the church! Paul isn't RESPONSIBLE for
building the church! Paul IS responsible to do Paul's job! Paul
belongs to Jesus.

But when Paul has done his best and ends up in jail Paul can
honestly say, "So WHAT!" God WILL do what God alone can do! WE CAN
BE FREE FROM RESPONSIBILITY FOR RESULTS!

HOW CAN WE EXPERIENCE THIS PEACE THAT JESUS GIVES?

Conclusion:

A simplistic start toward renewed peace in your life ... foolish
enough to speak of three simple steps:

(1) We can OPEN UP to God! Don't hide anything! Tell Him how you
feel! But be sure to confess your sin, your need of Him. And that
doesn't END when you are soundly saved! STAY OPEN! That's the
foundation!

(2) We can continue to SEEK AFTER God! [Paul: This ONE thing I do!]
Don't insist on YOUR way -- and don't let any person or any group tell
you what God's will is! Surrender your claims, your rights to God
alone! Ask HIM to give you life goals and values! Don't stoop to be
a multi-millionaire if God wants you to be a servant!

(3) And, by God's grace we can learn to LET GOD BE GOD! (20 'Christ
will be exalted in my body') This is a LEARNED thing! But as we do our
faithful best to obey because we love ... Paul says: THE PEACE OF GOD
WILL KEEP YOU! AND THE GOD OF PEACE WILL BE WITH YOU! That's how Paul
could say: "So what!" Let HIM be responsible for the results!
Perhaps you and I are a bit behind Paul in the school of perfect
personal peace. But I am pretty certain that even Paul himself had to
work at the job of maintaining his peace.

You don't have to have a perfect setting to have peace .. nor [thank
God] do you have to be in jail, either!

#409 Singing I Go

Two Men went up to the Temple to Pray . . .

2009-08-17T15:01:00.002-05:00

In our Wesleyan tradition we need to learn to live in the healthy tension between the call of God to holiness and the humility of knowing that our performance often comes short of God's glory. Our Savior can give us grace to live above willful sin in word thought and deed. Our Savior also taught us to pray every day, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors!"
Can we live with the paradox of not sinning and confessing our sins? Can we seek to be God's instruments and not seek to use God selfishly?
There is a prayer, an ancient prayer a dear friend and colleague taught me to pray. It is called The Jesus Prayer. I'm sure that a number of Nazarenes would not want to pray this prayer because we have been forgiven and are no longer in active, willful, outbroken sin, no longer in rebellion against God. . . .
I can still hear the wisdom of my elders saying "If we start calling mistakes 'sin,' it won't be long until we are calling sin 'mistakes.'" In other words we cannot excuse any willful sin in our lives.
Still the fact remains that Jesus has given us the Lord's Prayer-- and also he has given us the story of the two men who went up to the temple to pray to keep us from trusting in our own righteousness, and comparing it with others. Do you remember that story?
That ancient prayer, the Jesus Prayer simply goes like this:
"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

"In Jesus' name, Amen"

2009-08-12T09:37:00.000-05:00

...more excerpt from "Gowing in Faith"

“In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Did you ever stop to think what these words with which we routinely close our prayers mean? What is praying ‘in Jesus’ name’?
I simply do not have a glib answer for this question, but at the very least it merits thoughtful reflection. The reason for the universal practice of closing our prayers “In Jesus’ name. Amen” probably comes from the promise in John 14:13,14, the words of Jesus: “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” What can this possibly mean? One thing I am sure, this is not a promise either to be taken lightly, nor to be used in any way that does not honor God.
To pray in Jesus’ name, then, obviously means more than simply tacking on a signature to a check we have filled out. In the very next chapter Jesus seems to amplify this same promise, in John 15:7,8 when he said “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so will be my disciples.” Evidently to pray in Jesus’ name means being on the same page with Him in what we really want to see happen.
But after we have explained more than we can ever know, there it is: the stark enormity of that promise: “whatever you ask in My name, that I will do!” I am happy to write about spiritual formation, and try to practice what I preach, but here is a source of power I know I have scarcely tapped. I can only say ‘Come along with me and dare to ask to bear MUCH fruit!’ The prayer to bear MUCH fruit is a prayer Jesus has promised to answer if we pray in order to glorify the Father, and if we let God decide what “MUCH” means. Perhaps the most fruitful people in God’s sight are not as we might think.

The church is...?

2009-08-11T06:44:00.000-05:00

The Christian antidote for selfishness is the church.
We are called to live for each other, and share Jesus everywhere we go.

The church is not a super market, or a filling station or a country club. It is not a lecture hall or a pep rally, a dusty old museum, or a local pub. It is not a store front or a cathedral, although any and all of these figures, and many more, have been used to define or describe what some people think a church might be like.

The church is Jesus’ creation. Jesus loves the church. The Bible tells us it his bride. It is his creation. And the church loves Jesus. The church is God’s family.

Now that you have been told more than you really wanted to know about ecclesiology, how can you best participate in the faith community?

--more from Growing in Faith

Excerpt from "Growing in Faith"

2009-08-10T10:06:00.000-05:00

Participation in the Church Universal
Dare to think globally even as you act locally. Think inclusively about your brothers and sisters in Christ of other denominations, races, cultures. Too often we emphasize the differences and even judge other sincere followers of our Lord. Let the Holy Spirit open your heart. Pray as you see the news of the world on your TV screen. Your prayers count!
(1) Pray big prayers! Be one member of the church universal who prays for the Coming of the King every day! After all, it is in that pattern prayer He taught us to pray! Thy kingdom come! Pray for genuine peace on earth. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. (Psalm 122:6) Thank God the great Church of Jesus Christ is growing and is not limited to any one denomination.
(2) Pray about national and world affairs. Too many of us limit our intercession to family and known church needs. The prayer of literally millions of our brothers and sisters join together when we let the Holy Spirit guide our prayers for world leaders as well as national and world needs. Don’t leave important matters for others to care about. You pray about them! You are God’s precious child: your prayer is important!
(3) Turn criticism into intercession. It is only human to use our understanding of precious truths to draw circles and mentally exclude those we perceive to be outside. A negative attitude is deadly. Remember that Jesus is Lord of all His church and it is His to judge. Be thankful for all that is done in Jesus’ name. Pray for the Church of Jesus Christ in your town, and in your prayers deliberately include all who call Jesus Lord and Savior, and all who are sincerely seeking after God whether you know them or not.

"Think yoah smaht doncha!"

2009-08-02T19:32:00.000-05:00

Whatever bumper stickers are made of- that shiny plastic with adhesive backing-- anyway someone brought in a pile of green stickers made of that stuff to church one Sunday morning. I think it was some local business’s safety slogan- the stickers were about the size of a large post card and they read “LIFE IS FRAGILE- HANDLE WITH CARE.”
I don’t know what we were supposed to do with the ugly green stickers- the donor thought maybe the Sunday School teachers would like them. I don’t recall any of the teachers being excited but the teens in the church enjoyed finding places to put these bumper-sticker-like signs “LIFE IS FRAGILE…”
John was about 15 as I recall (I think he is 53 now!!) and he was resourceful enough to find a use for even the margins that were left on the wax paper after the slogans had been removed from the center. When Sunday morning worship started he armed himself with a stack of “margins,” and each time the congregation stood to sing or pray or listen to scripture he peeled off a sticky green loop and laid it adhesive side up on the pew in front of him. In just a short time Sam Cook, the elderly gentleman who was sitting in front of John had a collage of green loops on the seat of his trousers. He made quite a sight as he left his seat on the aisle to walk to the rear of the church to take his place with the ushers receiving the offering.
The other ushers quickly peeled off the sticky loops so the entire congregation was spared ther scene John had had in mind. Just a few people had seen Sam Cook’s black suit decorated with the shiny green squares.
As soo as the offering was taken, and Sam Cook came back to his seat, not exactly in a worshipful spirit of love, he leaned over before he sat down and said in his native New England accent “Think yoah smaht doncha!”
John managed to keep his face straight but the row of teens were absolutely delighted with that morning’s service. “Think yoah smaht doncha!” became one of those short-hand family sayings every family has-- a phrase that stand for a whole story.

"The heaven of heavens . . ."

2009-07-22T08:11:00.002-05:00

I was reading Solomon's prayer dedicating the temple this morning when he prayed "The heaven of heavens cannot contain You, much less this temple which I have built..." and for sure he had it right-- the galaxies that spin out into light years and beyond - - but then I thought of ladies I remember leading V.B.S. and little kids singing "Into my heart, into my heart, come into my heart, Lord Jesus" . . . and you know what? He did, He does....

Thirty-Four

2009-07-21T10:30:00.002-05:00

Millard Porter was a quiet, unassuming man I knew when I lived in Edison, New Jersey, now forty years ago. He was a good man, and exuded kindness. When I knew him he was married to Signe, his second wife, the widow of a friend I woul assumesince the two couples are now buried on either side of the same grav marker, sharing the same stone. Signe Porter, as I knew her, was every bit as gracious as Millard.

The Porters loved to serve. She served me tea and goat's milk cheese on fine china when I visited thier small house. He served by cleaning the church and doing whatever task he could find to help. In earlier times Millard had been a strong leader and founder of the Edison Church of the Nazarene. Long story.

But I rememer Millard Porter for the way he died. Very weak, unable to speakm really, he lay in an eight-bed ward in a hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Life was flickering away and there were no visible supporters surrounding that hospital bed, just his pastor, although I am pretty sure there were angels. I saw his mounth moving. I knew Millard Porter was trying to tell me something. I bent over to listen. Millard Porter was whispering. "Thirty-four. Thirty-four."

To this day it moves me to think of the word Millard Porter left behind as he was dying. I want to live that way, too. I'm certainly not eager to die just yet, but when it comes I want to die that way as well. I'm so vey glad I knew Millard Porter's favorite Psalm, so I know what he was saying that day in the eight-bed ward in the New Brunswick hospital. "I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth!" (Psalm 34:1)

Back to the Future

2009-07-08T08:30:00.002-05:00

"Come out from among them and be separate!" was a battle cry of the church I first knew and joined. We were DIFFERENT! It was painful sometimes as a kid growing up in a fellowship that seemed to live by strange and even alien guidelines.

What the second and third generations (mine included) often failed to grasp was that the driving force of the holiness people was the powerful ATTRACTION of a God who dominated all of life- who was Present in every facet of living. Left unattended the FLAME flickered, threatened to go out, and holy separation in many cases deteriorated into what appeared to be legalism-- and what actually in many cases was that ugly disease. Still, there was a core of life that burned, that would not go out.

Now our hope lies in a generation that is kindling that sacred FLAME again- talking about leaving the comfort zone-- about bringing God into every fact of living. We have been set free from legalism-- but maybe we need to rediscover the truth in the call "Come out from among them and be separate!" all over again!! Our zeal for God dare not stop when it begins to demand first place in every single area of our living!

Maybe the way we will end up in our quest for God will LOOK like legalism to others. It is impossible to have as our highest goal to be "cool" or at the leading edge of any human endeavor and at the same time tend the sacred FLAME of the Presence.

In Charles Wesley's words:

"O that in me THE SACRED FLAME
Might now begin to glow;
Burn up the dross of base desire
And make the mountains flow.

"REFINING FIRE go through my heart,
Illuminate my soul;
Scatter thy light to every part
And sanctify the whole."

He wrote it-- I pray it for myself. Amen

Living by Faith in a Touchy-Feely World

2009-07-07T08:27:00.002-05:00

A lesson I need to learn again (and again) is the fact that how I may FEEL does not determine what in FACT is happening, or who or what I AM. I am not here to feel good, but to do God's will as He gives me enough understanding to perceive that will.

Pursuing FEELING is counter-productive; at the same time, what I do pursue is a PRESENCE, and that is beyond my control to perceive at will. When in fact I am aware that God Himself is Present it is indescribably good- beyond what I would call "feeling" yet assurance, joy, ecstacy are words that come to mind-- the I AM THAT I AM making Himself known in the way that He chooses- still small voice, inner persuasion, or sheer wonder. Those moments for me are far between, although the in between times are not bereft of assurance.

Still-- what happens in the desert places? How may we become men and women of God? How may I?

Our culture knows so very much! It has given us tools that threaten to be our masters-- diversions that keep our attention-- the wisdom of the ages seems so very much out of date to a generation that knows everything already, and can google in an instant what it doesn't know.
Our goal seems to be feeling good NOW! No empty spaces. No times of quiet. Boring. Answers. Never pondering questions. Pondering?

David wrote (in Psalm 37:34) "Wait for the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to possess the land..."

Sometimes it seems waiting is hard to do . . .

Complaint of a Lover - What?

2009-06-29T13:10:00.004-05:00

I'm disappointed with the music we are using to worship the Lord in many (most?) of our Nazarene churches-- the music at General Assembly this past weekend was a great disappointment to me as I watched and participated reverently and sincerely to the streaming services on the web. Oh, it was good music, well done, and harmonic for the most part.

But I didn't know any of the so-called congregational music-- and had I been there to view the screens it wouldn't have helped me know the tunes.

What would it have been to have heard 21,000 Nazarenes singing "All Hail the Pow'r of Jesus' Name"-- in four/four time-- or "It is Well with My Soul" ?? After a powerful, artless, deeply moving message on healing Saturday evening Dr Jim Diehl finally brought the congregation into participation with Gaither's "He Touched Me" as people streamed forward.

I know it is the new political correct thing to talk about "leaving our comfort zone" to sing these new choruses and leave the Wesleyan hymns in the name of winning the new generations. But we don't have to throw away the rich heritage of our own hymnody to embrace other sincere forms of worship. We don't have to reject simple congregational singing. I wonder sincerely what influences have shaped the worship-team, Pentecostal style music that dominates Nazarene worship.

I'm sure that mentioning this in public like this will be construed as carping, negativism, and poor spirit. I cannot describe to you the depth of anguish I feel in my heart. But I do not feel that I have left my faith; but my church has left me. I love the Lord; I have been a Nazarene all my 78 years; I have prayed and am praying for a spiritual awakening in our time that will transcend any selfish purpose on my part or anyone else's.

This may well be like writing my obituary so far as being used in writing for the denomination, I don't know. I appreciate every opportunity I'vre had to write lessons and articles- and they have come from a loyal son's loving heart. But Oh how Iwant my children and their children to know the transcendent joy of the Presence in worship, and for my part the hymnody, the classic singing of the great hymns, is a part of our rich heritage that we cannot afford to throw away.

First Chapter . . .

2009-06-24T08:32:00.002-05:00

. . . of a new study book published by Word Action-- they had it on line as advertisement so I'm not 'stealing' my own material-- let me know if you like it-- and there are five mopre chapters--

GROWING IN FAITH

Introduction:
The Christian life is not a sum of segments, but a whole, a unit, a person learning to relate to a Person. Just as the body is made up of many parts, all important, and the church is the Body of Christ, also made of many individual parts, even so our individual lives have vital components that function together. We can separate them and look at them individually for the purpose of overall strengthening and health, but there will be overlap-- not a neat categorization. Don’t worry about it. Get the overall view; hold off on judgment. Get with the program.

Week One: Reading the Bible

Why read the Bible? Why read it daily?
When I was a beginning Christian the dear, loving people I looked up to in the church told me “Read the Bible and pray every day.” Great advice, and absolutely true. But even though I was brought up in the church, with Sunday School classes and vacation Bible schools I really didn’t know how or where to begin. Looking back, I wish someone could have helped me get started. It would have saved me a lot of time. Here are some things that I might have found most helpful:

(1) A Primary Focus for My Reading
Many good things will come from daily Bible reading. But there is one basic reason for daily reading that blesses and fulfills all the other benefits. We read to come to know God.
The Scriptures have been given to us so we may come to know the Father, to help us to be more and more like Jesus, and to help us live out God’s love in the power of the Holy Spirit. If John 3:16 is the Golden Text of the Bible, perhaps John 20:31 is the Golden Key: ”…these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,and that believing you may have life in His name.”
We believe that the same Holy Spirit who inspired the writing can breathe life into the reading. It isn’t the beautiful old words or the modern translations that bring the Bible to life: it is the Holy Spirit! He is the vital connection. We will not be saved simply by repeating words, as true as they may be. We are saved by the Truth, who is a Person. Through the written Word we may come to know the living Word, Jesus. We discover that as we come daily with obedient spirits, the written Word nourishes our faith, and brings us into line with the mind of Christ.
We read to come to know God!

(2) An Overview of the Bible
The Bible is actually a whole library of books. In the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are stories, songs, lists of genealogy, history, allegory, different kinds of prophecy, and more. The Bible was written over a period of more than a thousand years, and by perhaps forty different writers. We believe it is like no other book, in that it is God-breathed, divinely inspired so that the human authors were enabled to convey divine truth. The Bible is divided into two main sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The “Old Testament” refers to the ‘covenant’ Jehovah made with Abraham and his descendents. It was the promise that they would share His blessing with the entire world. The Old Testament consists of three main divisions. It begins with
(1) the Law (Genesis through Deuteronomy) and history (Joshua through Esther). The stories of Creation, and the Flood, mysterious and wonderful, lead to the story of one man, Abraham. He is so important that a large section of Genesis is devoted to him, his son Isaac, and grandson, Jacob. The last two thirds of Genesis are about the beginnings of a new nation, the Jews. The rest of the Law and history tell of how God loved these special people, and intended for them to carry out Abraham’s covenant. The second section of the Old Testament,
(2) The Wisdom, (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon), is a treasure of poetry, prayers, songs, drama, and much more than can be described here. From the simple, profound beauty of the 23rd Psalm to the sophisticated philosophical arguments in the Book of Job, there are blessings for every mood, every situation. The readers who are willing to make the time to let the message come through will find great reward in these books in the middle of the Old Testament. Finally, the last section is called
(3) the Prophets, (Isaiah to Malachi). As a young Christian I liked Isaiah the best because I took the promises God was making to the chosen people of Israel as promises for me as well. I confess I still do. I never will forget the night I discovered Isaiah 41:10. It was my first night away from home.
It was September, 1949, and I was on my way to college. Six grown people packed into a Dodge sedan for a two day journey from Ohio to Boston. We stopped near Syracuse for the night. In the tiny tourist cabin where two of us slept I opened my little Bible. I was not using any ‘plan’ for reading beyond the sketchy advice I had received to read the Bible every day, so I skipped here and there from day to day.
But that night my eyes fell on Isaiah 41:10 and I read these old King James version words:
Fear thou not for I am with thee; Be not dismayed for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
That night in that tiny cabin I did not know where I was; I was homesick and frightened. But those words became a very personal message to me. I knew God knew where I was. I knew He would be with me. Nearly sixty years later as I write these words they are still “my” promise.

The “New Testament” refers to the fact that the “Old” covenant, made to Abraham and his descendents, has been fulfilled by a “New” promise. Many prophecies of the Old Testament clearly foretold the coming of a Messiah who would bless all mankind. Through Jesus Christ, the new covenant is revealed; Abraham’s promise has been expanded; now Jews and Gentiles alike can be full members of God’s family and inherit all the promises of grace.
The New Testament also has different sections or divisions.
(1) The Gospels are the first four books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Gospels each tell the story of Jesus Christ’s coming to earth, and his ministry, death, resurrection and ascension. Invest a lot of your reading in the gospels.
Mark’s gospel is probably the first that was written, and Matthew and Luke both seem to augment and amplify the rapid action of that shortest of the four. They are called the synoptic gospels because they seem to share the same story from slightly different personal viewpoints, and so give depth to our own growing understanding of Jesus. John’s gospel picks and selects miracles and personal conversations of Jesus, and especially of his challenges to the disciples that uniquely call for confession of faith: “Who do you say that I AM?” Remember, we read the Bible to know God. Remember the “Golden Key” to the scriptures: John 20:31 is perhaps that key to the entire Bible. ”…these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
In 1956 during my first pastorate a man named Walter came to Christ and was genuinely transformed. Walter had never been around a church before. He knew absolutely nothing about church or the Bible or how a Christian would want to live. He came to Christ in response to such a simple invitation and prayer that I honestly wondered if he had understood, if his faith could be real. I need not have wondered, because he asked for a Bible of his own. A healthy hunger is always a good sign in new-borns.
I gave Walter a Bible and told him to begin reading John’s Gospel. “I don’t want to learn about John,” he said. “I want to learn about Jesus!”
I explained that the first books in the New Testament were about Jesus, and Walter began his Bible reading there. Within six months he was asking me questions that were keen and relevant to spiritual growth. Walter grew to be a true man of God, a valued member of his congregation for many years, and a blessing to all he met.

(2) The one book of History in the New Testament is the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. Beginning with the birth of the church at Pentecost in the first two chapters, Acts tells the story of how the church reached out in all directions from Jerusalem in the first half of that century. Broadly speaking, the first twelve chapters reflect the leadership of Peter, and the last sixteen the influence of Paul on his three missionary journeys, reaching Rome and the nerve center of the civilized world. The church across the centuries has liked to think this is an ‘unfinished history,’ and that the Holy Spirit is writing ‘new chapters’ as succeeding generations obey the Great Commission and live in the spirit (Spirit) of the first Pentecost. You’ll learn more about that as you read daily.
(3) The Epistles are letters written to churches or individuals, twenty-one books in all: Romans through Jude. Some of these letters have passages that are easily understood. Some have difficult lessons. God is not interested in confusing sincere seekers. Most important of all things is looking for Jesus in all those words. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving.* Make sure your spirit is right.
(4) There is one book of Prophecy, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. About this last book in the Bible: it carries a unique promise of blessing to those who read it, but don’t get hung up in Revelation. Stick with what is crystal clear. The first three chapters are pretty plain, although even here ‘experts’ love to date and label the various church “ages. We can be sure there is spiritual struggle and conflict, and we can be certain that God and holiness will prevail. But run from anyone who gets out charts and explains exactly what is going to happen, blow by blow, as the world comes to an end. They don’t know! Read Revelation 3:20: Behold I (Jesus) stand at the door and knock; if anyone will hear and open the door I will come in!” Make sure your door is always open to Jesus.

The Old Testament is the necessary foundation for the New Testament. The only Bible Jesus knew was our Old Testament; he quoted from it, and declared that it foretold His coming and His mission. It is not made obsolete by the New, but is tied to it in so many ways that the foundation for our faith rests in both Old and New. The New Testament does not contradict the Old; the Old Testament does not conflict with the New. The awesome Creator, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob we see in the Old Testament is the same holy Father, the same mighty Breath of the Holy Spirit, the very same Christ who has come, who has died, and who is coming again, that calls to us from the pages of the New Testament. We need to read both testaments, read them together, to study them and let their message shape our live and living. An old familiar couplet tells us that
“The New is in the Old concealed,
The Old is in the New revealed”
In God’s great wisdom, the simple, profound message of His love for each one of us can be understood by little children, and yet there is always a challenge to learn more, to come closer, to be made into men and women of God. We are saved in a moment of time, but we never stop growing in grace.
Welcome to the homework assignment of a lifetime. Welcome to the Bible!

(3) A Plan for My Reading
There are many daily devotional plans available. Which plan we choose is not as important, perhaps, as simply keeping at it. The way you read and study will change and grow along with you as you become more and more at home in the Word. Beginners might do something as simple as reading the words Jesus spoke, often printed in red, and by browsing daily through the Psalms.
If you simply want to read your Bible through from cover to cover it will take you about fifteen minutes a day. I would strongly suggest that you read both from the Old and New Testaments each day, say three chapters from the Old and two from the New. Be prepared for some begets and begots and long words and difficult to understand passages. Don’t get hung up on secondary matters.
Don’t worry about God’s secret messages; the Way is plain and simple and clear. Keeping covenant with God by obedience to the Holy Spirit is what really counts. The basic plan of salvation is simple. God will help you sort out what you need. Remember the Golden Key! And as Jesus told the people who boasted about knowing all about their scriptures, but missed the main point, You search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me (John 5:39). It isn’t what you know when it comes to daily Bible reading, but Whom you come to know, and love, and follow.
One simple way to learn to study the Bible is a good Sunday School class. Lessons for Adult Sunday School classes provide plans for systematic reading of the Bible. In addition they can provide support and encouragement that is helpful in establishing any useful daily regimen. In addition many churches have Bible study groups for growing Christians.
There are a number of devotional periodicals readily available which have scripture selections for each day with supplemental readings. People from all walks of life share their stories and insights as to how that day’s scripture lesson touched them or met their need. These testimonies or brief devotions can serve as the basis for for meditation on the Scripture and prayer. Among these great little magazines are Reflecting God (formerly Come Ye Apart), The Upper Room, or My Daily Bread, and others.
A One Year Bible can be both a working plan for reading as well as a de facto journal. You can begin reading any day of the year and find selections from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. If you read the entire passage each day you will complete the whole Bible in a year’s time. You may use just the New Testament portion along with other readings from Sunday School lessons, or the like. You may read the Psalms each day. I write in the margins of my One Year Bible—it is my second one, about ten years old and close to being retired- and I see burdens and victories that give me a sense of progress in my faith journey.
The Revised Common Lectionary is a three year schedule for weekly Bible study. It is keyed to the three synoptic Gospels, Matthew one year, Mark the next, Luke the third, with John’s gospel being integrated into every year’s lessons as well. Selections from all parts of the rest of the Bible, Old and New Testaments, always including readings from the Psalms, complete what becomes a pretty comprehensive coverage of the entire Bible. The special times of the church year, such as Advent and Lent, Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost get special attention. The Revised Common Lectionary, or RCL, which may be easily accessed on the internet at (http://divinity.library.vanderbilt.edu/lectionary/) is an excellent way to share your Bible study along with millions of other Christians from many denominations.
Remember plans and schedules are our servants, not our masters. If you miss a day, don’t be discouraged and quit. If your plan is too ambitious, scale back. Take your time. But keep at it. You will find your way.

(4) Some Practical Suggestions
Write in your Bible
Date your entries. Claim promises. Underline passages that speak to you. Write answers to prayer in the margins. Look up cross references. Make your Bible personal to you.
Memorize favorite verses.
Thy word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.(Psalm 119:11) Write out a verse to memorize on a card and carry it with you until you have it. The Holy Spirit has a wonderful way of bringing just the word you need when you need it- but, not surprisingly, He uses the words we have hidden away in our reading and memorization.
Pray the Psalms
Some people think the only prayers they can pray are words they themselves put together. If a prayer in the Bible says what you wish you could say, make it your own! Pray with David “Search me, O God! Lead me in the Way!” In other words, if it is saying what you need, don’t just read it, pray it!
Let the Word shape you
Daily reading, combined with prayer, will help you become a man or woman of God. There is no higher ambition. Make this your personal goal. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Discover and use Bible Gateway
One great tool for computer users, this web site gives access to many translations, can serve as a concordance, and even will read out loud to you.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=33&chapter=21&version=31

Trust the Holy Spirit, your Teacher
Bible reading and prayer ‘overlap’ in our spiritual formation. In one sense Bible reading can be God’s side of the conversation. Just as Jesus came alongside the discouraged duo on the road to Emmaus* he comes again and again to warm the hearts of those who persistently seek him in the pages of holy scripture.

*(And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Luke 24:27)

We read to come to know God!

x x x

GOD'S LAW? IN OUR HEARTS? HOPE FOR THE WORLD!

2009-05-12T08:29:00.003-05:00

Most of us pass through various attitudes toward God's Holy Laws,especially those of us who grow up within the preaching of the Bible.

We have a period when we live in and love authoritarianism.Whether or not we realize it, WE THINK THAT BY KEEPING GOD'S LAWS WECAN BE SAVED. We may not think we do, and may not say we do- but welike the security of being told what is right and wrong. We like tohear that we are on the right side, and we know what is right andwrong because someone we respect tells us so. BUT WE FIND THAT THEREIS NO REAL LIFE IN TRYING TO BE SAVED BY KEEPING THE LAW.

So then we begin to think "as adults"; we reject untested truth.We don't like to be told: "Do so because I say so!" Especially we don't like people telling us things like that-- our parents, our teachers, human authority figures. But this carries over even to theheavenly Father, too! And in one way or another we demand AUTONOMY! Wedecide we'll be our own boss! BUT WE FIND THAT THERE IS NO REAL PEACEAND JOY IN BEING 'FREE FROM KEEPING THE LAW' OF GOD.

When we begin to come to ourselves, and when we come to knowthe love of Jesus in salvation, we choose freely to come under the authority of God. Not now simply authoritarian dictatorship, but accepting theloving authority of our heavenly Father. When we are born from above we discover "Happy- blessed- is the man/woman that walks not in the counsel ofthe ungodly--but in God's LAW meditates day and night (Psalm 1). We find thatlife and JOY and peace are not detached from the love of God's Laws!

To the person struggling in authoritarian blindness it seems thatGod has simply tried His best to make up some rules to keep us fromhaving a good time. But the wonderful thing we discover when we voluntarily place ourselves under God's LAWS, we see that they are an expression of His lovingkindness to us! The beautiful thing is: God's commandments are not harsh and arbitrary! Rather, they are designed to help to meet every need and longing in our God-created being!

If YOU are having trouble finding the power to live like a Christian-- the secret is in the FIRST TABLE of the Ten Commandments!
God absolutely first!
Reject any idols!
Honor God's name even in the secret places of the heart!!
Give God His Day! Access to your heart by worship and rest!

Matthew 6:33 If we will seek first the kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness, then all these things (that seem so necessary) will be added.

When GOD'S PEOPLE begin to keep God's LAWS in the power of HisSpirit, there is hope for a moving of the Holy Spirit in revival on our nation and on our world!

II Chronicles 7:14 If MY people, which are called by MY name willhumble themselves and pray, and seek MY face, and turn from theirwicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin,and will heal their land.

A TRUE STORY . . .

2009-04-30T10:07:00.000-05:00

I would like to tell a story; I closed a sermon with it a long time ago:
It is a true story, and I assure you that no one asked or in any wayslightly hinted that I should tell it to you. But I just felt I neededto:
John Nielson died alone in a little house trailer in Delaware, justacross the toll bridge from Pennsville, New Jersey. He was an oldman, and he lived alone. He died in his bed, where he had retired toread. On his bed were three or four reference books, and on his chestwere his glasses and his Greek New Testament. You might say JohnNielson died "mining gold in the Word of God."
And John Nielson died a wealthy man. How can I tell you how wealthy?The reason John Nielson died so wealthy was that (1) he had made verywise investments. And (2) he had made investments that went beforehim into eternity, and followed after him after he had gone intoeternity.
Mr. Nielson invested in his family. He put his family ahead ofworldly ambition, or even ambition within the visible kingdom ofGod. At the age of 29 he was elected superintendent of theWashington-Philadelphia district of the Church of the Nazarene, andbeing a DS at that age would seem to indicate that he "had it made" asfar as the church was concerned. But he stepped down and took a homemission charge so that he would not have to be away from his family somuch while they were growing up.
Mr. Nielson did not shirk his duty, wherever it led. He was a loyalhusband even when he had to literally carry his wife into the churcheswith him on preaching assignments the last several years. She had beenparalyzed with a stroke, and was unable even to speak. But Mr. Nielsonwas committed.
Mr. Nielson did not withhold his money. He tithed and gave regularlybeyond his 10%, but also he participated in pledging and special needswhen it meant postponing what others might term "necessities." Yousee, he was a wise man, and he was making eternal investments.
So, when John Nielson died, he died in a little house trailer, and hadjust a little money left over-- enough to bury him and pay all hisdebts and not much more. He came to the end of this part of lifehaving pretty much spent and expended all the resources and gifts andtalents with which God had trusted him. He also left two daughters andthree sons, and grandchildren and now great-grandchildren-- andsomehow he had handed down to them the idea that they had something togive to God and to God's kingdom, and that they could make adifference in this world through faithfulness to God's Word.
One quote Alice Kauffman makes in her book about Mr. Nielson isinteresting to me: In a letter John Nielson wrote," I am an egoist, notan egotist!" I take this to mean that in a thoroughly Christian,sanctified way he was saying: "I do count! I can make a difference!God does use me!"
I want to be humble and Christ-like. But I want to be rich andwealthy like Mr. Nielson, too! I want to live a life that counts. Iwant to come to the end of my life and have invested wisely! I don'twant too much left over!
What is the best-kept secret in the world? What is life FOR? What am Isaving myself for? These are questions I ask myself! And I ask Godtoday: "How may I invest in YOUR kingdom?"
I have some practical suggestions:
1. Re-think your values. Re-order your life if necessary! What does it profit a man or a woman if we make $100,000 a year and lose our children for all eternity?
2. Open your life to the Spirit, and to the Word. There is no short-cut to spirituality! No one else can do your praying and your Bible reading for you!
3. Determine to live for God by loving people-- and start with the people that are nearest you! Be ye kind! is one of the most important verses in all the Bible!
4. Put all your resources at God's disposal.
Please join with me in prayer!

Finding Fellowship

2009-04-20T08:53:00.003-05:00

Love is a funny thing.
It is easier to "love" in theory than in nitty gritty practice. It is easier to love an idea or an ideal than people with warts and blemishes. It is easier to love "back" than it is to tentatively reach out and offer love not knowing what the response will be.

I'm not (now) talking about romance. I'm talking about looking people in the eye when you are going into church and on the way out and saying, from the heart, "Hello!" Maybe even with a little smile.

Life in the Spirit: A Holiness Sermon

2009-04-17T10:03:00.002-05:00

Life in the Spirit

Romans 8:6 - 9 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mindset on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the fleshis hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law ofGod, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the fleshcannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in theSpirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone doesnot have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

THE MIND SET OF BELONGING

When we read Romans 8, seeking to find out what it means to know the sanctifying grace of God, it is all too easy to begin anywhere and end up exactly where we want to come out.

There are some strong statements in this opening part of Romans 8 that, taken out of context, contradict common sense and experience. One such statement is: "They that are in the flesh cannot please God."
What this is sometimes interpreted to say is: As long as we are flesh and blood, here in this life, we can not hope to please God. Even Christians are under sin's dominion!
But the very next statement is also easy to misunderstand: "You are not in the flesh if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you."--which is misinterpreted to say that people who are inhabited by God's Spirit are somehow "other-worldly" and so they do not fully enter into life here on earth.
What we can understand immediately is that there is conflict and struggle, tension and even warfare that we experience even as we seek to know God's sanctifying grace.

THE BATTLEGROUND OF THE HUMAN PERSONALITY

Why there should even be a battle of good and evil is a mystery.Occasionally even little children will ask profound questions like:"Why doesn't God just squash the devil?"
Why this battle should continue even after a person has chosen to go with God is beyond our understanding. But the battle continues. And the center of the battle, at least so far as we mortals can understand, seems to be our very minds and souls, the human personality.
Romans 7:21 declares there is a principle that good is alway sopposed: "I find then a principle that when I would do good, evil ispresent with me." God's Word reveals the true extent of thestruggle. Our minds become a microcosm of the mystery of good andevil.
This struggle sharpens with the revelation of a God who IS, andwho is GOOD, and who SPEAKS to us, who challenges us to believe in Him, to KNOW Him, and to come to LOVE Him and TRUST Him.
You are personally involved in this titanic battle.

THE BATTLE OF GOOD AND EVIL INTRUDES INTO EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE AND LIVING
Philosophers and peasants, great men and little children- all of us have tried to understand the dimensions of the warfare of good andevil.
Our society has largely taken the approach to the problem of denying that it exists. With no absolute good and no absolute evil,each individual in our society is free to do as he/she pleases, justso long as no absolute standards are proclaimed.
And consequently we have the tragic enigma of parents berating their children for doing drugs, when they themselves are addicted toalcohol; of public officials whose personal and private lives are full of broken promises and rotten selfishness making pronouncements on what is and what is not "moral" for society; we have liberal church leaders speaking for God who have lost all personal contact with God; we have fundamentalists who know all the answers even before the questions are asked. And the heart of the whole matter is this thing Paul calls "mind set!"
All these failures are merely human solutions to human problems.All these are evidence of lack of trust in a God Whose Word reaches towhere we live!

We cannot be truly good without God! We have forgotten that the One who made us knows us better than we know ourselves. We have forgotten the instructions that come with the Manufacturer's Guarantee. And whatever we may think or say about ourselves, human beings still respond at the deepest level to what is right and what is wrong. Our souls bear witness to a battle that we do not ever fully understand. We are a bundle of contrasts.

So we are called on to choose. This is the message of the Evangelist. God has spoken; His way is GOOD. All other ways lead todeath. (Deuteronomy 30:19-20) "I call heaven and earth to witnessagainst you today, that I have set before you life and death, theblessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live... "

This Golden Chapter of the Bible is a litany of the personal fallout of our choosing: (v 1) contrasts of condemnation/freedom; (v 26) ofweakness/attainment; (vv 2,6, 13, +) of death/life; (v 18) of suffering/glory; (vv 35-39) of separation/love.
All of these contrasts come to a focus in what Paul calls "mindset." ( KJV = "carnal mind" and "Spiritually minded".) There are only two ways to think about life, so far as Paul is concerned-- inthe flesh, or in the Spirit.

Several statements are made about THE MIND SET ON THE FLESH.
(1) It has as ITS LIFE GOALS (verse 5) the things of the flesh; temporal things, things that will pass away. It believes that THINGS are the cause of joy.
(2) It has as ITS BASIC TEMPER (verse 7) a hostility toward God. It sees God as the enemy, the One who takes away joy.
(3) It has as ITS LIFE STYLE (verse 7) a law-breaking way of living; in fact it couldn't keep the law if it wanted to.
(4) IT CANNOT PLEASE GOD (verse 8) even though God loves the sinner, and seeks his salvation, the way the sinner LIVES is not pleasing to God.
(5) THE MIND SET ON THE FLESH IS DEATH (verse 6.) Not just "will be" death, nor "leads to" death-- which are both true-- but is NOW spiritually DEATH!

In contrast, here is what is said about THE MIND THAT IS SETON THE SPIRIT:
(1) It is LIFE and it is PEACE (verse 6.)
(2) It has as ITS LIFE-GOALS the things of the Spirit (verse 5.) "But you can't eat "love and Joy and Peace..." Perhaps not, but don't forget Matthew 6:33! (Seek God's kingdom first and all these things will be added unto you!)
(3) The mind set on the Spirit is WHERE GOD LIVES. The Christian is possessed BY GOD HIMSELF! God comes to live in us! (verse 9.)
(4) PLUS ... all the other benefits of this chapter!!
So, how may we come down on the side of God, and of good-- not just on Sunday when we're all dressed up-- but out there on the jobwhere the rubber meets the road?

THE BATTLE BOILS DOWN TO: WHO SHALL BE GOD?!
Is it really possible to be 'Spiritually minded'? Those who are in Christ Jesus HAVE ENCOUNTERED THE LIVING GOD. And so they have aparticular way of looking at God. And because they do, they also havea particular way of looking at all of life.

GOD CAN/MUST BE ENCOUNTERED AS A PERSON If you are a Christian it is not (just) because of WHAT you have believed, but because of WHOM YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED! If you have met the living God who is bigger than all your universe, you have been introduced to the way of the 'spiritually minded.'
If you have a lesser god who perhaps serves to make you healthier and wealthier andwiser, but does not fill all the Universe, then you are still "in theflesh!"
THERE IS NO 'MIDDLE GROUND:'
TO BE SPIRITUALLY MINDED IS TO SEEKTO LIVE IN GOD'S REALITY.
TO BE FLESHLY MINDED IS TO TRY TO SERVE AGOD WE CAN BRING INTO OUR REALITY.

The challenge is to let God truly BE GOD!
THIS IS NOT A NEW THING, THIS "STRUGGLE OF REALITIES."
The First Commandment is still the hardest one to truly keep!
NO OTHER GODS!
Every generation of God's people has had its brand of "secular humanism" under one form or another. It seems so simple to follow Jesus Christ: But there are always logical, attractive, compromising alternatives to following God with all our hearts.
There are many"lesser gods." There always have been.
Jesus said we are to be "In the world but not of the world." One Jewish historian saw it as a battle between the children of Zeus and the Children of YHWH: between the people who saw their gods as super-humans, needing to be placated, but serving to define the ideal Man and the ideal Woman, and the people who saw human beings as made in the image of the Invisible and Holy One who said "I AM THAT I AM"and "BE YE HOLY FOR I THE LORD YOUR GOD AM HOLY!"
IN THE WORLD!
Christians can buy and sell for profit, can run computers, can compete in the marketplace and the arenas of life."All truth is God's truth--" and certainly not all pagans aredeliberately God's enemies, and not all the world outside these doorsis evil.
BUT NOT OF THE WORLD!
Christians are different! They havea different mind-set. They refuse to bow down and worship anyCreature. Only the Creator is worthy of that loyalty.

To be Christian, then, to have one's mind set on God, MEANS THAT WE HAVE A PERSONAL, LIVING, VITAL CONNECTION WITH GOD ALMIGHTY!

THE BATTLE IS WON AS WE CONTINUE TO BE PRESENT TO GOD

To "be saved" is to encounter God. It is to be "present" whenHe calls ... and not just believing a creed or joining a church.

But to be 'being sanctified' is to continue to be "present" to God in the out-living of our lives. [I need to be careful here--careful and kind. I am dealing with some of the finest Christian people I know. People who are highly motivated and actively engaged inthe work of God's kingdom.] WHAT we do may or may not be exactly what we need to be doing. But HOW we go about doing what we do-- the SPIRIT we demonstrate-, and especially WHY we go about doing what we do will reflect whether or not we really know God! That is what "mind-set on God" is all about!

And there simply is no short-cut to "being present" to God. There is no "fool-proof" formula, no ritual that will not dry up and become an end in itself, no "prayer wheels" we can leave on while we go about doing as WE please. We simply have to spend some time with God. If we will take time to "be present" to God, He will dominate our lives and make us like Himself.

When we are "in Christ" the battle is won, but it is not over. There is still suffering to face. There are weaknesses to be endured. There are separations that will come. But be assured: GodIS! God LOVES YOU! If our minds are stayed on the God who transcends, we will find that He is the God who never, ever leaves us nor forsakes us.

I really believe this! It is where I am just now! Amen!

New Release: FC Word Action

2009-03-29T10:15:00.002-05:00

The current Faith Connection illustrated Bible Life from Word Action has the following article on what might be perceived as "unanswered prayer." What do you think?

PRAYING WITH CONFIDENCE
Addressing the issue of “Unanswered Prayer”)
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
When I was a young boy my parents bought a large set of books called Junior Classics. Among the many different types of children’s literature they contained were Grimm’s fairy tales, and magic stories like Aladdin and his wonderful lamp. I remember thinking how shrewd I would be if ever I got to make three wishes, or even just one. I would wish for a magic wand that would then give me all the wishes I could ever wish. There is a temptation, perhaps, to think of using prayer like that magic wand. We think we may lift some of the mighty promises of the Bible out of their contexts and wave them about and name and claim any and everything we can make ourselves believe is for our good and, of course, for God’s glory.

There are superficial similarities, I suppose, between wishing and praying. Both wishing and praying involve a desire for something presently unseen. . But there is a world of difference between magic and miracle.
True praying reaches beyond what we can immediately see, and taps into truly miraculous, life-changing power. The Bible makes it clear that we may come to God with our petitions and intercessions. We can, we should, tell the heavenly Father all that is in our hearts, and ask Him to hear and answer our prayers.

But what about the times we pray and claim the promises and nothing seems to happen? What about unanswered prayer? I think I want to put quotes around “unanswered prayer,” because I’m not sure there are very many prayers God does not answer. It is not a copout to say that “No!” is a legitimate answer.

Do you pray for God to help you find some little thing you have lost or misplaced? I do. Perhaps some schools of thought would see that as a pitifully naïve concept of dealing with the Sovereign of the Universe. I see it as taking literally the lesson Jesus taught us: to think of the Father as “Abba” or “loving Father.” Ideally, God’s children can keep a running conversation going with Him all through the day. But at the same time that simple trust must never cross the line to suppose that the Father bends his will and knowledge of what is truly best for individuals and for all humankind to suit the whim and fancy of self-centered, self-seeking wish lists.

Does this mean we cannot pray specific prayers for the things we want? How about prayers for healing from disease? How about financial or material needs? Can we pray to find work? Will these prayers be answered?

Jesus taught us it is all right to ask for provision, for forgiveness when we sin, for guidance, and for deliverance from evil. In the spirit of the Lord’s Prayer it is safe to say there is nothing we cannot make a matter of prayer. But what about those “unanswered” petitions and intercessions?

Paul solicited prayers for himself, and evidently believed other people’s praying for him made a difference. But even Paul did not always get what he asked for. In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul wrote that he asked the Lord three times to remove what he termed “a thorn in the flesh” and each time he was denied. The denial itself was an answer. It was a loving answer that came with the promise of sufficient grace.

Jesus himself prayed what could be called an unanswered prayer, if by answering we mean He received what He first asked for. But in that awful moment in Gethsemene Jesus provided the pattern for taking us through any and all seeming unanswered prayer as He prayed, “Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.”(Mark 14, Matthew 26)

Ultimately, whatever we pray, for whatever motive, must pass this ‘nevertheless’ subjection, trusting that the God we know and love will answer our sincere prayer in the way that is in keeping with our best and his glory. Effective prayer is centered in the heart of a loving God. The promises of God to answer prayer are linked to God’s good, effectual, and perfect will (see Romans 12:1-2) which only the God-committed know. Look at the context of the great promises through the scriptures. Without exception they are not merely blank checks for selfish exploitation, but invitations to partner with God in the Plan of redemption.

For example, John 15:7 promises If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you may ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. But, profound to say, the very next verse is John 15:8: Herein is the Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be My disciples. The promise is (1) in the context of abiding in the words and love of Jesus, and (2) in the prospect of bearing much fruit, which is to say, carrying out God’s best will for one’s life. (I like to emphasize that word much!)

Here in this passage I John 5:14 and 15 are followed by verses 16-17, which link the promise of answered prayer to interceding for brothers and sisters who have stumbled or even backslidden, with the clear intent of their restoration to grace. We are to pray (1) asking according to His will, and (2) asking for the restoration of those who have sinned.

Prayer is daring to ask for the miraculous. It is entering into partnership with God in releasing the powers of heaven into situations and relationships that would otherwise remain unchanged. Prayer is not the magic wand that gets us anything we think we need or want. With complete trust we can pray to the Father about everything in our lives, and let Him know our deepest desires. Some of our prayers will receive a gentle but firm “No!” But nothing must stop us from asking with the confidence that we are being tenderly heard. Nothing must stop us from making intercession for those we love, knowing it is God’s will for them to be saved. Nothing must stop us from lifting up our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Such praying with power, “praying through!”, is the most powerful force that has been trusted to God’s children. Use it well.

* * *

-by Russell Metcalfe

Dunning and Wiley

2009-03-26T09:31:00.002-05:00

I've been re-reading Wiley's book on "Hebrews" and Dunning's "Grace, Faith, and Holiness" and appreciate so much their emphases on the simple faith without losing sight of the profound mysteries of grace. I still very much believe we are called to holy living, and that that holy life is covenent- promises made and kept- and that like marriage, the covenant with God mmust be a growing, learning, and often a stumbling, humbling thing. It is worth it all! Love!!

An "Icon" over my desk . . .

2009-03-20T08:31:00.001-05:00

THERE IS A REALM
B’yond space and time
where neither tongue nor pen can fairly grasp
The scope of hope for us whose lives are God-
committed, and who dare to ask
Him for the faith we need to see His Glory
when we meet life’s hardest test.
He knows our every weakness, and with
Love and tenderness He gives His best.
And so, dear friend, if you are filled with
fears and questions cutting to the bone,
Remember it is God who loves you, and
who really wants His Glory shown.
-meditation on John 10:40 by Alvin Kauffman

-this hangs over my desk . . .an encouragement from a friend who ran the race well…

Russell

Dynamic Tension

2009-03-11T09:28:00.002-05:00

Our walk with God is at one and the same time very personal, (One on one), and very connected, (in the Body of Christ.) If our goal is to please God and spend eternity in his Presence, the choices we make will depend on how we come to know God in both these ways.

I know it takes time to be holy. In my personal walk I need to give God access to my soul. Day by day I need to open my very heart to God. The Lord's Prayer, so simple, so easily said like a child's Christmas poem, when prayed...really prayed...will often help me know where to put the day's prayer emphasis.

It also takes the church to make a Christian whole. Our completeness, our wholeness, is not independent of the gifts and graces of the Body. The church of Jesus Christ is bigger than any of us can understand. No matter how large or small the congregation , it has its contribution to the whole church, but it also has things to learn from other members that may be different in many ways.

My own denomination has a tension between what might be terms sacramental and celebratory elements; or, between Methodistic-Episcopal roots and Revivalist-Pentecostal roots from the 19th century movement. A humble, even gentle dialogue between sincere brothers and sisters with strong feelings either way might reveal the possibilities of a both-and approach to worship, rather than an either-or. Two-thousand years of faith and wisdom belong to the whole body, and not just to those who consciously term themselves catholic. Catholic, by the way, is one mark of the one true church, and not the property of any denomination.

Bessie Martin

2009-02-12T10:58:00.003-05:00

Today, Thursday, February 12, 2009, there was a funeral in Glasgow, Scotland. It was a celebration of the life of Elizabeth (Bessie) Martin, who with her husband, Sydney, who died in 2004, were pastor family for the Parkhead Church of the Nazarene, there in the largest city in Scotland.

It would take a writer with considerably more than my skill to tell the story of these two people from the north of England (County Durham) who early on made their way to Scotland in the Church of the Nazarene, pastoring first in Twechar, a tiny town east of Glasgow, then for many years in the Parkhead church, which is the "mother church" in many ways of Nazarene churches in the British Isles, at least in the northern regions.

Sydney was a preacher, a preacher's preacher. The denomination chose him to be the "model preacher" in 1981 for the all the regional pastors' meetings, long after he had retired from active pastoring. Eastern Nazarene honored him with the Doctor of Divinity in 1983. He was the very epitome of powerful, reasoned, dignified pastor. Bessie was the perfect "other half" of the team. She organized countless district assembly details when their church was host to all the other Nazarenes in Scotland. She kept at least one set of feet on the ground when Sydney's mind was dealing with profound themes. Far from being an ideal dreamer, however, Sydney and Bessie had the gift of cvhallenging and inspiring many younger pastors and wives to excellence in ministry.

My own acquaintance with the Martins was fairly limited- beginning with the above named lectures, then extending to visits both ways and frequent times of fellowship, manitained by continual letters and phone calls. But the influence of Bessie and Sydney will linger in my own life. I loved them, and felt a love from them that continues beyond the mysterious boundaries they have already crossed, into the Church Triumphant.

Say a prayer of thanks today for people like Bessie, and Sydney, and the faithful you have known that pull you toward higher things. Pray, too, for Elizabeth, Jennifer, Jon, and their families who sorrow today, but, I assure you, do not have any bitterness in that sorrow, only joy and hope.

Voices from the Past

2009-02-07T16:04:00.002-05:00

More than thirty years ago Esther Sanger, who later became famous as the founder of Quincy Crisis Center, took it on herself to tape all the services at Wollaston Church of the Nazarene.

Years later Mark Metcalfe has resurrected a lot of those old tapes with amazing results. Voices from the past-- singing, testifying, praising the Lord. Esther Williamson is interviewed and sings a solo. Dawn Heckman, Donald Davis, Bob Howard, Geri Metcalf (now Rosser) as well as my own dear parents (then in their 70s) and the Wollaston choir and much, much more.

There are a lot of my old sermons as well. Bear in mind I was mid 40's and just learning to preach (smile!!) so have pity. But there is one sermon on Acts and St Paul's call where Geri sings at the end that I recommend . . . I think October 14, 1979 not sure . . .

Anyway you can find it by google-ing "Russell Metcalfe" and then click Sermons by and then "audio page"--

if you do will you let me know you did?

Audaciously yours,

Russell

Odds and Ends

2009-01-30T11:52:00.002-05:00

Blast from the Past - Mark found an old (!!) tap from a 1978 Sunday evening in Wollaston with a foreign student, Livingstone Abali singing. He sounds refreshingly 'different' but if you listen carefully to his book-learned English he is genuinely praising the Lord. He was a very bright scientist. Wish I knew where he is today . . . . Did you know that "waterboarding" may have its first reference in the Bible? Benhadad, king of Syria, died because people soaked a thick cloth in water and put it over his face. (See 2 Kings 8:14-16) and remember-- you saw it FIRST! . . . I continue to hear from people that we knew "way back" due to Face Book--if I don't always respond it is because I am a bit overwhelmed by the various options in FB. For example, this is NOT first posted there, but on my "BLOG" which is also something Mark set up for me to pontificate on . . . I'd be glad to hear from you as well... Bless you this Friday! Russ

Audio Sermons

2009-01-20T14:10:00.002-05:00

My son, Mark, had maintained a web page of sermons and stuff for me for quite a few years, which I deeply appreciate. Now he has added audio sermons, and I believe him, but for the life of me I can't get my AOL Google to bring it to life on my screen. If you can access the page (simply Google my name - Russell Metcalfe- and go to the sermon page that pops up) see if you can access the audfio sermons and let me know, someone--please? Thanks... Russell

Higher Law

2009-01-14T15:29:00.000-05:00

July 26, 1992 (am) OBEYING THE HIGHER LAW Romans 7,8Lesson: Romans 7: (12) so then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. ... (14) For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. ... (16) ...I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good. (21) I find then a principle (law) that evil is present with me- the one who wishes to do good. For I joyfully concur with the Law of God in the inner man, (23) but I see A DIFFERENT LAW in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. (25) With my mind (I am) serving the law of God, but ... with my flesh the law of sin. Romans 8:2 ..the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.The Story of Naaman and Elisha It was all going very well indeed. The career was ahead ofschedule- there had been victory after victory, and promotion afterpromotion, and now Naaman had been made Chief of Staff and General ofGenerals. He was on top of his world! Then-- he noticed a few strange sensations in his hands; he sawsome white spots on his wrist. After a few days he went to see thedoctor. He was shocked by the report! The report was: "You are aleper!" This statement, this diagnosis changed all of Naaman's life.It was a death sentence! Sooner or later it would become commonknowledge, and he would be shunned, outcast, and the result wascertain deformity and death! The Bible says, "Naaman was a greatman-- BUT he was a leper!" But what makes this story worth telling is that even though thispagan general had a sure sentence of death, and by all the laws ofnature was doomed to die, HE HEARD A WORD OF HOPE, A MESSAGE ABOUT A HIGHER LAW. This word of HOPE came from the most unlikely place! It camefrom a little slave girl-- a little girl from Israel that had beencaptured in one of Naaman's conquests. The little girl evidentlycared about Naaman, and she said to her mistress-- "I WISH NAAMAN COULD GO TO ISRAEL-- THERE IS A MAN THERE WHOKNOWS GOD-- AND WHO COULD CURE HIM OF HIS LEPROSY!" It wasn't much-- but when you are desperate you don't need muchto send you looking. The little girl told her mistress and themistress told Naaman and Naaman told the King of Aram-- and the kingsaid, "GO FOR IT!" So Naaman, the conqueror of nations, the general of generals,assembled a small caravan of camels and valuables and headed for Samaria and the court of the king of Israel. When Naaman arrived in Samaria, the capital city of the NorthernKingdom, he wasted no time. He went right to the top! When he gotthrough stating his reason for coming, King Jehoram (wicked Ahab'swicked son) was absolutely beside himself. "I'VE COME TO ISRAEL BECAUSE I'VE HEARD YOU HAVE A CURE FOR LEPROSY!" Everyone knew that there is no cure for leprosy, but here stoodthe general of one of Israel's traditional enemies, making animpossible request. Naaman was a fearsome sight to all the neighborsof Aram, and Israel in particular. "AM I GOD?" asked the king to his subjects. "WHO DOES THISRAVING MANIAC LEPER FROM SYRIA THINK I AM? HE IS SIMPLY PICKING A FIGHT WITH US! HE INTENDS TO DESTROY ISRAEL!" Naaman, for his part, was in no mood to fight or argue. Hedidn't think there was much hope, anyway. He simply gave the word andthe caravan wheeled about and turned to go back toward the north andeast. Just about that time a man came running through the crowd. Hisname was Gehazi, and he was the servant of Elisha the Tishbite, aprophet of God. [ Now Elisha was not exactly well-accepted at court. His styleof worship was obsolete, and his idea of direct contact with God wasnot too sophisticated. And Elisha was not always civil to KingJehoram! But somehow Elisha had got word of the king's problem, andso he had sent his servant with a message to the king. ] "SEND THE GENERAL OVER TO ME!" It took the king about ten seconds to decide that sendingGeneral Naaman to the prophet would be a good idea. He didn't knowwhere the prophet lived, but Gehazi was willing to guide him. So theentourage turned and left the palace. When they arrived at the home of the prophet Gehazi went in andfound Elisha. I think Elisha was in the back garden. [Elijah was a rugged man, an outdoorsman, fond of camel skin coats and honey and locusts. But Elisha was a city person, smooth and civilized, and yet not one bit less fearless or straightforward than his illustrious teacher had been. He was not over-awed by the power of Aram's armed might outside his doorway. He did not need to satisfy any personal curiosity.] Elisha sent word by the servant, and never himself spoke a word to Naaman: "GO AND WASH IN THE JORDAN SEVEN TIMES AND YOUR FLESH SHALL BE RESTORED TO YOU AND YOU SHALL BE CLEAN." "There it is! Take it or leave it! You are offered healing- - atthe price of obedience and faith in God! At the price of doing as youare bidden, not as you think you ought to do!" The Bible says, But Naaman was furious and went away and said, "Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage. (5:11-12)"IT'S TOO SIMPLE! IT'S TOO HUMBLING!" The message of finding the higher law is not unique to thisstory. That message is that WHEN WE COME TO THE END OF HUMANRESOURCES, IF WE WILL ACCEPT HIM ON HIS TERMS THERE IS GOD! We may think that we have life pretty much under control-- andyet we discover that we are sinners! Like Naaman, we are undersentence of death! The wages of willful sin is death! We seek help for the symptoms of our sinfulness- the damage itdoes to our lives. We go to church-- we ask for help in many acceptedchannels and we hear things like: (1) Sin is an outdated concept. There really isn't any sin anymore-- it is a combination of our environment and our inheritance. Wehave received a bad deal from our parents. Whatever feels good is allright to do. But somehow we KNOW that we are on a collision course with a justand holy God-- and that we are not prepared. or... (2) We are offered various human therapies which are helpful asfar as they go, but which can not reach to the depths of the real needof our lives, which is freedom from the power and guilt andcondemnation of sin. We are not just people who sin-- we are SINNERS! And THEN-- we hear the simple Gospel message: The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, shed on the Cross ofCalvary, cleanses from all sin! Christ died for the sinner! Or thispassage in Romans 10: (8-11) "the Word is near you, in your mouth andin your heart that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, andif you believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead,you will be saved!" And our "sophisticated" reaction is like the ancient Arameangeneral, the leper named Naaman. "IT IS TOO SIMPLE!" NAAMAN'S STORY DOESN'T END WITH HIM GOING OFF IN A RAGE: His servants prevailed on him with common sense: "What can youlose?" So the general went to the banks of the Jordan-- maybe to the same place where later Jesus was baptized, who knows? He looked up on the banks and saw a crowd gathering to gawk. He knew that he was going to look stupid! But he turned and waded in- and into the current and dipped under the water.Nothing happened! He dipped again-- and again—still nothing! Nothing! But after seven times down, the seventh time up he looked—and—the white spots were gone!! Naaman came up out of the muddy river and headed, dripping, for hischariot. "Go back to that prophet's house!" he ordered the driver. The caravan wheeled around again and the caravan went back to Samaria and the prophet Elisha. And this time Elisha the Tishbite comes out. Maybe there is even a little smile on his face. "Here is a million dollars!" said the general, Naaman. "I won't take one red cent!" replied the prophet. (Evidently he wason salary, like Billy Graham; or else, he hadn't learned how to make abig prophet out of his ministry like some of the TV prophets.) The general rode away a man who is convinced of the power ofJehovah God!Summary and Application: I suppose that I have read this portion of Romans -speakingabout being bound by lower laws-- and then finding freedom in higherlaws-- a hundred times or more. It is NOT a simple, easy passage. Wethink as we read, "Why do you make it so difficult? Why don't yousimply spell it out in language that we can easily understand?" Two or three things come to mind when I think of 'easilyunderstanding' the Word of God. One is-- that the way of salvation is easily entered, simple tograsp, requiring only the obedience of faith to say, "Jesus is LORD!" But another is-- that we think that because eternal life is afree gift, then it does not require study and application and effort,like any other wonderful truth. We think in arrogance that we knowall that is to be known simply by our native intelligence. And thatsimply is NOT so! Paul speaks of the deep things which the CorinthiansOUGHT to have been grappling with, but they simply were going over andover the same elementary truths of arithmetic, not realizing thedepths of algebra and calculus and wonder that God had for them tounderstand and practice. And finally, along with this lack of willingness to study: Wethink that God should always bend to our way of thinking; we thinkthat we are the measure of understanding. But we must be willing toendeavor to follow God's teaching, and enter into His lessons. This, then, is a difficult passage. It expresses the deepest joyof freedom and life in God found anywhere in the Bible. But itdemands our full attention. We will not plumb its depths in thissermon together, and I hope that you will not solve its meaning thisafternoon and come back with all the answers tonight. But you canbegin, or you can continue-- as I am sure that we all are in somemeasure engaged in this "heart-of-Romans truth." Have you submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Are you evenNOW confessing with your mouth, and by God's grace, believing in yourheart? It is profoundly simple, and simply profound-- but the freedomand power of Romans 8 is for us all! We can obey God's HOLY law, andbe FREE from the "law of sin and death" as we submit to the "law ofthe Spirit of life in Christ Jesus!" Elisha said to Naaman, "Go, wash and be clean!" The Spirit says to you and to me: "Confess, believe, and be freefrom sin and condemnation!"PrayerHymn No. 465 Trust and Obey

My View on Holy Communion

2009-01-13T09:47:00.001-05:00

Note the date- 17 years ago - but I endorse this today, January 12, 2009

April 5, 1992 - Wollaston

1 Corinthians 11:23-30

For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto
you, That the Lord Jesus the [same] night in which he was betrayed
took bread: 24 And when he had given thanks, he brake [it], and said,
Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in
remembrance of me.

25 After the same manner also [he took] the cup, when he had
supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye,
as oft as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as ye
eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till
he come.

27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink [this]
cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of
the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of
[that] bread, and drink of [that] cup. 29 For he that eateth and
drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not
discerning the Lord's body. 30 For this cause many [are] weak and
sickly among you, and many sleep.

GUESTS AT THE LORD'S TABLE

When the disciples came together for the Passover meal that we
call the Last Supper, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who was the host.
It was a borrowed room, but it was Jesus who made the arrangements,
and took care of the details, even though His disciples helped carry
them out. He even took the task usually assigned to the least or the
youngest: He washed the feet of those around that table.

The story is in Luke 22, how Jesus sent Peter and John to
prepare the large upper room, which they found by following a man
carrying a water pitcher. And if we will, Jesus always prepares a
table before us when we eat His meal together. Jesus is always the
Host at Communion!

Eating the Passover meal, or Seder, is a significant observance
in the schedule of every practicing Jew. It is both a solemn holy
time, and a warm and wonderful family time. I doubt if we Gentiles
can ever fully capture the warmth and the wealth of feeling that have
surrounded the Seder for centuries.

That night the disciples were guests at their Master's table.
They were together as family, with Jesus as the Host. This was a very
significant occasion, and Jesus wanted them to grasp the significance.

"With desire I have desired to eat this meal
with you," is the way that He expressed it. "I love
you! I want you to know that you are dearer than life
to Me!"

And we understand that on that holy night Jesus did something
else, something that had never been done before. He transformed the
Seder, the sacred Passover meal, with its Paschal Lamb and bitter
herbs and remembrance of Egypt and the wilderness and Canaan, and He
turned the focus of the meal on Himself.

Can you understand how profane and embarrassing and sacrilegious
this would be for anyone but the Christ? But this WAS the
Christ! And this was a sacred moment, indeed! All the sacrifices and
symbols of the Old Testament were pointing to this sacrifice! The
Paschal Lamb became the body of the Lord. The cup became the blood of
the Everlasting Sacrifice.

That night Jesus ordained a new kind of Passover Supper. He
commanded his disciples to eat of it, and as often as they ate, to
remember His death, His shared LIFE, and His promise to come again and
eat with them in the Presence of God the Father. This is the
sacrament to which we all are invited this morning:

What, then, can we say about

I. THE NATURE OF THE SACRAMENT [We can only know and understand of
God that which He chooses to reveal to us. The sacred MEAL OF
REMEMBRANCE for the family of faith will always be in great part]

A. A MYSTERY and

1. Any attempt to literalize or explain will certainly fall
short of the truth it conveys to those who know God.

[It is not wrong to use our minds in worship; there really is no other
way. But when we set our understanding, our "reason" as a condiion
for God's love and blessing we severely limit our capacity for
receiving God's grace.]

2. Suffice it to say that when we partake of the sacrament of
the Lord's Supper we encounter

B. A PRESENCE; and by faith we come closer to God than in any other
way. Some of our brothers and sisters make it a literal Presence;
others have other explanations.

1. There is something humbling and something of the acknowl
edgement that we do not have all the answers when we come to the
Lord's table. In our arrogance- the arrogance of our culture that has
put the "feelings" and "individual freedom" above every other good, it
is good that we look with saints across the ages and around the world
to this supper as

C. A SIGN AND A PROMISE; a promise of that which is inexpress
ible.

The church fathers and traditions of the ages testify that this
is a means of grace. We come to the table of the Lord, where HE is
the Host, not to dicate OUR terms, but to look to Him for assurance
that indeed He has come, and has died for us, and that He ever lives
on high to make intercession for us!

[But what may we expect this sacrament to BE, to DO for us?:]

II. THE FUNCTION OF THE SACRAMENT

Without pretending to explain the inexplicable, the scriptures
do help us understand what happens when we share at the Lord's Table,
where He is Host:

A. It is an exercise in OBEDIENCE. The command, the imperative of
the Lord was: "This do! In remembrance of Me!"

The disciples who heard their Lord say those words clearly
understood what He was saying and doing! They were to perpetuate that
moment when Jesus declared that He, Himself, was the Paschal Lamb.

And that commandment still stands!! The family still meets at
the Lord's table. We are here because we want to be-- but we are also
here because Jesus has commanded us to come! We gladly obey.

B. The Lord's Table is also an exercise in REMEMBERING.

Jesus said that night: " ...this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it],
IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME."

As long as we obey we will not forget. We dare not fall away from
the clear understanding that HERE, in the BLOOD and the BODY of the
Lord, the Paschal Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world,
HERE AND HERE ALONE LIES THE ONLY HOPE OF MANKIND FOR ETERNAL LIFE!

C. The Lord's Table is also a TESTIMONY, a SHOWING FORTH. It is a
testimony to three worlds that we depend on Jesus for life.

Jesus said: " ... as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this
cup, YE DO SHEW THE LORD'S DEATH TILL HE COME."

D. The Lord's Table is also a time of RECEIVING. It is a MEAL. It
may not be a physical feast, and there IS mystery involved; but when
we come to the Table we are fed.

Jesus said: " ... THIS IS MY BODY, which is broken for you:
... THIS CUP IS THE NEW TESTAMENT IN MY BLOOD ..."

III. THE RESULT OF THE SACRAMENT

A. WE WILL EXPERIENCE RENEWAL

The Lord's Table will a point of new beginning for us this day.
No matter where you are in your journey, here we recognize that we are
successful ONLY as we remain in Jesus, and that we are failures ONLY
as we leave His Presence,

Let us affirm that we are IN CHRIST, by faith, at this Table
today.

B. WE WILL KNOW A RE-CENTERING OF LIFE

It is easy to let the focus of our attention slip off Jesus
Christ! It is easy to look at PROBLEMS, or at PEOPLE, or at WHAT
MIGHT HAPPEN, or at WHAT DID HAPPEN ... and forget that what
Christians live for is to abide in Christ.

We have opportunity today to tell Jesus that we are depending on
Him, on His sacrifice, on His love. Tell Him that HE is at the center
of our lives and living!

C. WE WILL CONTACT A FRESH ENABLING. The Lord's Table is sacred,
and not to be manipulated for personal ambition, but at the same time
it is a powerful source of strength to each member of the Body to
carry forward in the Spirit of the Lord all that He intends for us to
be and to do.

From time to time we all need to have this fresh outpouring of
God's enabling grace. All across the centuries of the Church of Jesus
Christ, the testimony of the faithful has been: It is at the Lord's
Table where we receive new strength to continue in the faith.

It may seem that what you need is MONEY, or AN OPEN DOOR, or a
JOB, or AN ENCOURAGING WORD. And I do not in any way suggest that you
do not need these, and need them desperately. But at the risk of
sounding like a raving mystic, let me say that when we have Jesus,
when we are centered in Him, we have His promise of "all these
things." I am NOT saying that Holy Communion is the answer to all
your problems; I am saying that at the Lord's Table, as Jesus draws
near, we shall find His enabling grace. Invitation:

To all who will come-- to all who desire to draw near to God- -
to all who are drawn by the grace of God to partake-- this is the
Lord's Table, and YOU are welcome!

Only do not come irreverently! Do not make a mockery of that
which Christ has provided.

Come with heart-searching. Open your heart to the Spirit of
God. Ask Him to make you worthy to partake.

Come with your victories-- and lay them in gratitude at the feet
of the Host. It is through Him that we ar more than conquer or.

Come with your heart-aches and defeats! Come with your doubts
and fears! Come with your sin to the blood that speaks of pardon!

Read aloud together "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" (#283) as a
quiet prayer of the entire congregation BEFORE the distribution.

From the heart--two years ago - - good today

2009-01-11T06:57:00.000-05:00

I have a deep concern- a heartache that at times is almost physical- for the future of my birthright denomination, the Church of the Nazarene. Call it the ravings and whining of an old man if you like, but what I feel is what I feel—I feel sometimes that my church has changed and left me somewhere.There is no way we could roll back the clock to a simpler time, with clear-cut lines of demarcation between the way Christians lived and believed and the “worldly people” who were as yet unsaved. Those lines in many instances were also culturally drawn, until the motivation for lifestyles could be blurred. All too often in the evangelical Christian community we looked at appearances: to be Christian was to do this and not to do that.Our understanding of holiness as an experience may have been at times naïve, or poorly presented. But there was at the heart of that experience a reality that called us to give up our center to God; to make unreserved covenant with a loving, holy Father. We were told something was ‘eradicated’ or that the body of sin, which was like a corpse tied to a criminal, was now removed, or that we needed to ‘die like a dog under the back porch.’ But in the sometimes crude descriptions or ‘holiness or hell’ sermons somehow we got the message that there was more to being fully saved than living in bondage to sin; we got the message that not only the guilt and penalty of sin was removed at Calvary, but provision has been made for the power of sin to be broken, and a life of commitment to God is possible.It is that commitment- that covenant that stands at the heart of what our denomination desperately needs. In all the celebration, and excitement and cultural awareness and ‘seeker sensitivity’ there is a note that needs to be sounded: we are being called to die to self, to forever abandon the selfish way, to respond to a proposition from a Lover who asks us to trust Him to be our all in all. The narrow way is not a celebration at first, but it is the only way.In our Nazarene hymnals (remember hymnals??) on page 484 is a modern-but-accurate ‘translation’ of a prayer John Wesley used . It begins “I am not my own but Yours…” It is very like vows we might use in a wedding ceremony-- a once for all promise to be true and faithful, mutually exchanged—a covenant! That is what holiness is- a mutual covenant with a loving God. When we are in covenant with God the battle becomes His battle- the work is His work- the praise is His.

A Pattern for Private Prayer

2009-01-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

A Pattern for Private Devotions
This article was first published in the Herald of Holiness and reproduced for ENC Students for many years as the Fall semester began.
Dr. Russell Metcalfe is Pastor Emeritus of the Wollaston Church of the Nazarene, Quincy, Massachusetts
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, they were looking for a simple lesson in how to conduct their personal devotions. instinctively they were reaching for the heart of the faith-life, for everything stops or goes in relation to the quality of our prayer - everything worthwhile in the church, that is.
Have you ever outlined your personal devotions?
What do you do when you get alone with God? Do you just sort of "let it happen"?
Here is a suggested pattern for personal devotions, based on Jesus' response to the disciples' expressed need (which of course is "The Lord's Prayer"):
FIRST, before you actually begin: FOCUS! Just what is the aim, the purpose in your life? Why are you coming to the place of prayer? I find it helpful to repeat, not as a prayer, but as a "focus sharpener," these words:
God wants me to be primarily concerned with pleasing HIM, and not too much concerned with pleasing anyone else, no matter how good or godly. Think about that! It doesn't mean that you don't have varied and sometimes conflicting responsibilities -- as parent, as church worker, as citizen -- but in seeking to please God, you will more effectively do everything else that is needful.
THEN, ask God's blessing on the portion of scripture you READ. Just as you pause to ask the blessing on your meals, ask for insight and illumination in the Word. Use a notebook, and read with pen in hand. Jot down thoughts that occur, questions that arise, words you don't understand. Always write down the date, for as months and years slip by you will be able to trace God's grace in growth and blessing in your life. Read by some plan that does not limit your reading to just a few choice passages.
BEGIN your prayer time with PRAISE! Whatever you do don't give into the temptation to skimp on this part in order to get to the "important" part of the day's prayer. In fact, if you are heavily burdened take extra time in praising God. Be specific. I find it helpful to write out three things for which I wish to praise God; don't be afraid to tell God you appreciate His patience with you, or praise Him that you can see Jesus in fellow Christians. Praise Him for godly parents, for blue skies, for a warm home, for the person who introduced to Jesus, for being with you in hard times. Really tell God from your heart how much you love Him, and how you want to give Him praise!
NEXT comes SURRENDER. Yes, I believe in consecration and crisis experiences of salvation. I also believe that in a practical way I can give to God in a daily way what I surrendered when I was saved, and when I consecrated my all seeking sanctification. Give God THIS day! Ask Him to make your appointments! Offer to be His instrument, to be used of God. He will use you -- every single day!
Surrender any failures, too. Don't let temporary setbacks harden. Don't gloss over stupidity or carelessness. Ask for forgiveness -- and give forgiveness, too. Surrender any temptation to harbor resentment, ill will, or even moodiness.
Surrender is quite naturally followed by TRUST. But make it an active trust! Expect God! Expect a fresh infilling of the Spirit! Expect to be used during the day. Don't be surprised when you find yourself really ministering to someone's heartache. And finally, expect God to help you pray as you enter into the final phase of your devotions.
Expect His help as you make INTERCESSION. Pray, by name, for every member of your immediate family. Keep a list of those you pray for daily. Be sensitive and the Spirit will bring to your mind names and faces and needs. How much more keenness and power your intercession AFTER praise and AFTER surrender and EXPECTANT FAITH.
Finally-- get up and leave the place of prayer, but seek to go in the spirit of prayer and thanksgiving. Be thankful God has heard you. Be thankful He is with you. Let your whole day be the "Amen!"
If you haven't tried patterned devotions before try it for 30 days. Pray all you want, any way you want IN BETWEEN regular patterned devotins. But every day FOCUS, and then prayerfully, with your pen in hand, READ, and PRAISE and SURRENDER and TRUST and make INTERCESSION AND PETITION, with THANKSGIVING AND OBEDIENCE as you depart the place of prayer. It is the pattern Jesus gave. It works!
Permission to reprint or publish this material is GRANTED as long as the reprinting or republishing is not-for-profit. You can access more of Dr. Metcalfe's sermons at his scripturally indexed sermon archives web site.

Confessing Christ as Lord: Faith

2009-01-08T10:11:00.001-05:00

John 20:27-31

The story of Thomas is very important, or it would not be at the climax of the gospel. But what does it mean? (In a way that is an arrogant question, since it implies I KNOW the answer.) I can tell you a part of what I believe it means, and what it certainly means to me.
Why Thomas, here at the end? If this book is written so we might believe in Jesus Christ the Messiah, is Thomas the ideal believer?
The list of those coming to living faith in this chapter begins with the writer, John himself, who entered the tomb and believed on the spot! Then comes Mary Magdalene. Then the Eleven, locked in the meeting room, but without Thomas, who for some reason was absent. And now at the very end, Thomas. Are we to strive to be like Thomas? Or, perhaps, we should be like John who was the very first to believe-- he told us himself-- even before he saw the risen Lord?
What this says to me is that John is not holding up either himself or Thomas as models for us to follow. Rather, John is telling us that whoever or wherever we are, if we want him, and if we seek him in love, Jesus will find us and let us know he is alive. In the next chapter Jesus finds Peter in a different way, and restores him to fellowship. But that is another story.
"These are written that you might believe..." All these testimonies-- this entire book is to tell us that the risen Lord is as good as his word. "Go back carefully to the beginning and read what I've written," says John. "'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God...' Read again with faith that entire story of Jesus... see how he spoke like no other man... see how he had authority over life and death and creation... see how he lived and how he died and how he has risen again... read that story, John says, read and believe! Believe and have life!"

It doesn't really matter if you come like John, or like Thomas, or like Mary Magdalene, or like Peter or Paul-- the important thing is to be able to say, "My Lord and my God!" Sometimes it seems like we are all expected to be giants of the faith. But Thomas helps us understand that the good news is for everyone-- great and small. It is not limited to a certain temperament or personality type.
Some of us come emotionally, with tears for wasted years. Some come as little children, and never know the dramatic conversion. Some seem to be able to simply quietly believe, and know they are alive in Christ. Some struggle and agonize and pray, "O God, please give me a sign!" And yet the important thing is that synapse of faith, that spark of recognition that finally says, with Thomas and every other true believer, "My Lord and my God!"
That statement is the climax of the entire Gospel. "My Lord and my God!" comes as the confession we all are to make! That confession by Thomas precedes the text "But these are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that believing ye might have life in his name."

Two other elements of great importance are linked with this confession in this climactic chapter of John's Gospel.

Jesus breathed on the company of disciples, and said to them: "Receive the Holy Spirit!" Faith in the risen Savior is not just a matter of being persuaded of an historical fact, but it is to be a present relationship with a God who is as near to us as our very breath. The presence of God indwells every believer. "Receive YE the Holy Spirit!" It is an inevitable result of believing in Jesus Christ the Messiah!

Jesus also told that little company, the nuclear beginnings of the church, "Go and forgive people's sins!" As we understand that, it was not some confessional power, but a way of saying that if we believe in a risen Lord, and if he is present with us in his Holy Spirit, then our assignment is sharing the good news that God has already forgiven the sins of the world, and that life is to be had for the asking.

But it begins with this inner persuasion: I have met the risen Lord! I know he is alive! I bow before Him! You, O Christ, are my Lord and my God!" That faith enables us to "be more than we are!" It may not be just for giants of the faith-- but Christ comes to live in us, and helps us through the reality of life. And as we stay close to Him, He lives out through us if we will but let him.
As a Post Script:
Some scholars seem to hold Thomas up, if not for scorn at least hold him up, as a poor role model. We are not to be like "doubting Thomas." who needs more and more proof-- we are to be like John who believed immediately. Thomas was not "a giant of the faith" like Peter... or so some say.
But there are in existence in India to this day Christian churches who worship God in the name of Jesus Christ, and who venerate this very same St. Thomas. For however scholars may scorn Thomas's need for proof, it seems that while St. Paul traveled west with the good news of a God who cares, St. Thomas traveled east and preached as far as India where he established the church of Jesus Christ, and where he was finally martyred for his faithfulness to Jesus.
When we say by the Holy Spirit, "My Lord and my God!" the risen Lord Himself enables us to "be more than we are" in our own strength. He gives us his Spirit. He enables us to share his grace. He is with us this very hour.

Prayer - The Lord's Prayer