From the Pastor's Pen - October

From the Pastor’s Pen

A missionary sat on the patio watching a black ant crawl up a table leg until it reached some spilled sugar. It seemed to eat, then crawled back down the table leg. Soon the two black ants crawled up the table leg to the sugar. They ate and left. Soon a steady steam of black ants moved up and down the table leg to enjoy the sugar. The missionary thought to himself, "They must have some system by which they communicate, 'I have found something good and I want to share it!'"

Last month I wrote about finding the authentic Jesus, that is, one who is both relevant today and true to the record of scripture. When we find that authentic Jesus, we need to share that knowledge with others. This is the essence of evangelism. And that is the word that best describes our activities this October. Consider the following:

· This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, we will be holding Revival. Revival should serve two purposes: it encourages and mobilizes those already in the church, and it provides an opportunity for us to bring unchurched persons to meet Christ.

· This Thursday we will kick off our Fall Kid’s Church program. For six weeks, the church will open and invite the children of the congregation and the community to come and learn about the truth the Bible has for us today. Through this program, we not only impact these children, but their families as well.

· At the end of the month, we look forward opening the church during “Trick or Treat Night.” While the world celebrates Halloween, the church celebrates All Saints Eve (or All Hallowed Eve), where we celebrate the life and testimony of the saints that came before us. Our theme for this night will be “Fishers of Men.”
By providing the light of God’s word and some goodies for the kids, we also have the chance to share with the families of our community the love of Christ.

It will be a full month, and there are a lot of other activities going on this month. As you read this, take a moment to reflect on how you can share God’s word with others this month.

~ Pastor Tom

Revival: Misconceptions, conditions, and marks of true revival

Misconceptions:

Not earthly source. True revival comes from God.

Not emotionalism and enthusiasm. Not about feelings and hype.

Not evangelism. More than telling others about Christ. That's only part.

Not education. It’s more than knowledge. We're already educated beyond our level of obedience.

Not enlargement. A church does not necessarily grow in numbers during revival.

Conditions

1. Consciousness of need. (Rev. 3.14-18 "And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God's creation: "I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. For you say, "I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.' You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. ) Do we like the Laodicean church fail to see the need for revival.
2. Firm belief in revival (Matt. 21.22 Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.") Have we asked for revival?
3. Recognize that God desires revival (Is. 48.18 O that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your prosperity would have been like a river, and your success like the waves of the sea) God’s desire for us is for us to prosper.
4. Strong sense of urgency (Rev. 3.20 Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.)
5. Earnest desire to be revived (Look at the day of Pentecost. They were gathered together in prayer seeking God’s revival. Do we desire revival so much that we go to prayer to pursue it?)
6. Willingness to pay the price (Earnestly following God will cost you something. Are you willing to count the cost? Are you willing to give up all that you have, all that you are, all your aspirations and desires, to be revived by the power of God? It is not something that is lightly undertaken.)

Marks of (2 Chor. 7.14)

1. Brokenness (confessed Sin, Humility)

2. Beseeching (pray, meditate on word, seek God’s face)

3. Burden (will of God, needs of community, desire to reach lost)

4. Behavior (obedience to God’s commands, turn from sins)

John Wesley, “Give me 100 Christians who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen. They alone will shake the very gates of Hell and set the kingdom of Heaven upon the earth”

I feel like Abraham talking to God: If we don't have 100, God, is 50 enough? What if we have 20? How about 5? Do we have five people who will seek God's face with everything in them, and resist sin with the same? God, can you start with one? Here I am, Lord, use me.

Catching up

It has been nearly a month since I last posted, and I just wanted to take a few minutes to drop a few lines. I've been teaching on the Lord's prayer for the last five weeks, using material from one of my mentors and good friends. Since it was almost entirely someone else's material, I did not feel right about putting it up online.

I'll be posting my newsletter later this week, and hope to begin posting my sermons again next Monday.

Blessings.

September Newsletter

“Who is this Jesus?”

I have heard this question asked with increasing frequency in
recent days.  The most poignant time was when I heard Bishop
Bruce Ough (from the West Ohio Annual Conference) tell a story
about his son and now daughter-in-law.  At the time, his son
was engaged, and on a certain Sunday,his son and his fiancé
went to church with the family.  As they sat in church and
listened to the pastor speak about Jesus, the bishop overheard
the young lady leaned over and asked his son, “Who is this
Jesus that the pastor is talking about?”  The reality of the
world we live in is that something like eighty percent of
all people under the age of twenty-five have never stepped
foot in a church, and most of these are not familiar with
the Biblical stories as the previous generations were.

Before we can begin to answer this question for others,
however, we must answer this question for ourselves.  We
need to figure out who Jesus is and what he means to us
before we try to tell others about him.  The Jesus often
portrayed in churches is a meek and mild-mannered man who is
nice to everyone and never gave offensive.  This Jesus is not
only pretty dull, but also seems too unrealistic to a
generation that is slow to trust what seems too good to be
true.  The good news is that the Jesus depicted in the Bible
is very different from this image. Jesus is depicted in
Scripture and history as a dynamic leader, who spoke the
truth of the Kingdom of God even when it was offensive.  

The Jesus of Scripture wove together rope into a whip and drove
the money-changers from the temple courts (John 2:14-16).  He
is the same Jesus who referred to the Pharisees as a brood of
vipers (Mt. 12:34),and he is the same Jesus who told the crowd
gathering to stone the woman found in adultery that whoever
was without sin could cast the first stone (John 8:7). The
Jesus of Scripture and history was (and is) a radical whose
interest lay in telling truth. The church can learn from his
example.  While we should never go out of our way to be
offensive,we should also never gloss over the truth of the
Gospel in order to avoid giving offense.  Jesus calls us to
be salt and light in the world; sometimes the world doesn’t
like that.  

The church needs to offer the world the “real” Jesus, who people can identify with, and who raised the standard at which we aim. This is a Jesus who
younger people and older people alike will want to know and follow.

note: the ideas in this newsletter borrow largely from my good friend, Pastor Jared, with some minor editorial changes.

How Hot Are You?

It’s good to be back from vacation. Several people have asked how our time away was, and I guess you could sum it up in one word: HOT! As I thought about that this week, I wondered if there were a thermometer to measure our spiritual intensity, how hot would you and I be? The Bible word for being hot is zeal (literally translated “to boil”). If 1 is cold and 10 is hot, what number describes your relationship with Jesus Christ? If you are 5 and below, then you are lukewarm.

Jesus, David, and the heroes of faith were eaten up with zeal for the Lord. They were earnest and zealous for the God, having a fervent mind, an indignantce towards the devil, a warmth towards one another, and an energetic pursuit of the things of God.

John Wesley said, “If you’ll get on fire, people will come and watch you burn.” When I read that, my first thought was a picture in one of my college textbooks of a Buddhist monk who had set himself on fire in the street as a protest. That picture will forever be burnt onto my mind. Are you and I willing to be so sold out for God that our acts of loving kindness burn a permanent image on the minds of others?

When we have that zeal within us, we’ll find that we are so grieved for those who lacks the good things of God in their life that we have to act and share with them. The Bible says those who don’t have a zeal for God are poor, wretched, naked, blind. . . Have you ever seen a picture of a homeless person? There are people who are very well off physically, but spiritually, the are that homeless person. There are many people in churches this morning who have every outward appearance of zeal, but inwardly are starving for something.

In Revelation 3, John writes (beginning in verse 14): 14"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

17 You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.

22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

What does this have to say to us today? First, we all fall into one of three categories: cold, hot, or lukewarm (v. 15). Second, the lukewarm person is not easy to spot. They have the outward appearance of a Christian. They say of themselves “I’m rich, I don’t need anything. I’m satisfied.” That sounds a lot like the mantra of today’s American.

Now the Devil comes to deceive us in 2 ways. If we are cold, he tells us that we will never amount to anything. That forms within us a defeatist attitude. We begin to say over ourselves, “ I am a worthless little person. I can not get ahead. I know I will fail.” This type of attitude will keep us from fulfilling the potential that God sees in us. If we are lukewarm, the devil whispers in our ear, “everything is fine, you can take it easy. You have arrived.” The lukewarm Christian looks at those in the world and says to him or herself, “I’m not so bad. I’m better than they are.” Be wary of that voice, for God’s voice will never tell you that you’re better than someone else.

For someone who is lukewarm, God offers the following advice:

1. Buy gold of God that has been tried by fire. I heard the same thing on the radio this week. Buy gold. What does that mean. There are so many things in our lives that have no lasting value. The story is told about Dr. Dobson when he had heart surgery. He honestly thought he was going to die as he lay on that table. And he said at that moment, it did not matter how many books he had written, how many academic and professional awards he had won, how much money and possessions he had amassed. In that moment where he faced the prospect of his life ending there were only three things that mattered: who he loved, who loved him, and what he had done for Christ. 1 Corinthians 13 says in the end of it all only these three remain: faith, hope, and love. To buy gold means to infuse your life with those things that have an eternal value. Scripture reading, quality time with family, time spent in praise and worship as you draw closer to Christ. How much time today will you whittle away with trivial pursuits that have no lasting value? Buy Gold.

2. Get white raiment. This speaks of the blood of Jesus and the righteousness of Jesus. I looked hard for a picture for the power point this week. It’s hard to find a picture of a person wearing white. Most of those I found had a cigarette in their hand, needed more clothes, or had something spilled on their white clothes. As I thought about it, those very problems plague us as well. We can’t trust our own works to justify us, for our doubtful habits continue to ruin the picture; nor can we trust the law to justify us, for our goodness under the law never quite covers enough of us. In both instances, our sinful nature tends to stain our righteousness before we get very far. Only the holiness of Jesus that he gives to us through the cleansing of the blood can make us spotless before God. When God looks at us, he doesn’t see us, but he sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ. It is like a great big robe that covers us.

3. Get some Eyesalve. If I were to update this, I would say, we need to get glasses to correct our vision. We need to see as God sees, to have vision for lost souls in our area. We need to refocus our vision off of ourselves and look for what God is calling us to do around us. During his ministry, Jesus healed a blind man. (see Mark 8:22-26) He spit in the man’s eyes and laid hands on him then he said, “Do you see anything?” The man replied, “I see people as trees that are walking.” This scripture illustrates the problem with our vision, and it is two-fold. First, we tend to focus only on ourselves, unable to see beyond our needs and wants to consider others. After an encounter with Christ, however, the man could see others, just not as they were. One commentator says of this passage that we often treat people as trees. We look to see what good they can be to us. When I served at Stafford, the trustees had three trees taken out. They were pretty scrawny trees, giving no shade. They were fruit trees, but they remained fruitless. So they were cut down. Too often, we look at other people that way. We ask ourselves what the person can do for us. We fail to realize that every person is of sacred worth to God, regardless of their past, their present, or their future. If we saw the lost as Christ sees them, then we could not help but improve our witness to those who are lost, for they are priceless to God.

The passage concludes with two pretty amazing verses. In verse 19, the Spirit tells John that God doesn’t bring this rebuke because he’s mad at us, but because he loves us. He just wants to see us be everything he’s made us to be. So in the next verse, he extends an invitation to us. If you are lukewarm, Christ is standing at the door to your heart this morning. He says to us, “Open the door, and I will come in and live within you. And you can live in me.”

HOW HOT ARE YOU THIS MORNING? Are you full of zeal for God? If not, then I invite you to come and ask God for gold, for white clothes, and for better vision. He loves you this morning and wants to see you full of zeal for him.

Back from Vacation

I am back in the office after a week-long vacation. We took in some shopping, the Columbus Zoo, friends in Marion, Wooster, Columbus, New Philadelphia, and Cambridge, as well as a stop in Shreve for a Bible Study. We popped in on Rev. Walsh yesterday and enjoyed great worship and a powerful sermon, then went to lunch with some friends from the valley. It was a very full and refreshing time.

Still, it feels good to be back home. This week is our county fair, so I don't expect to be posting much before Sunday.

Catching Up in the Pulpit

July has been a wild and crazy month. With the holiday at the beginning, a community service and our town's festival in the middle, and VBS at the end, I am just now catching my breath. For those who are wondering, we had the biggest VBS in recent memory, averaging between 103 and 104. Our offering was also ten times what was typical. God has blessed in so many ways.

For the sake of those who read regularly, I wanted to do this post and link July's sermons in one post, so that you don't have to dig through them all.

July 1: Answers in Abundance
July 8 (Community Service - I did not preach)
July 15 Dog Faith (posted last year, but still a great sermon)
July 22 Take the Plunge
July 29 Six Things To Do When Going On A Road Trip

I also put up the July and August Newsletter articles.

I'm sorry it took so long to get caught up. I will (with God's help) do better in August.

Pastor Tom

August Newsletter

From the Pastor’s Pen

Vacation Bible School is over, the county fair is only a few weeks away, and before we know it, the children will be headed back to school. It’s hard to believe how fast the Summer has gone by! As we look ahead to Fall, there’s Charge Conference, revival, our cook out, and many other activities. So as I considered how I ought to spend the last few weeks of Summer, I asked myself, “What is the most important thing I ought to do?”

As I thought about it, I realized how easily we become distracted by all of the activity around us and lose sight of the main thing. If we identify ourselves as followers of Christ, then we find the answer in scripture – Jesus told us to share the Good News with others. (Matt. 28:19-20)

This really jumped out at me this week. In a class of roughly 30 children, only one was in church with us last week. Two more regularly attend church with us. Only 10 kids had a regular church home--that means that 2 out of every 3 do not! Jesus told his disciples that the harvest was very great. The problem is that the laborers are too few. (Luke 10:2)

Many of us do not share our faith with others because we simply do not know how. So I want to offer a few practical suggestions that can help us share our faith.

· Build friendships with one or two unchurched people. Many Christians isolate themselves from all non-believers, but in doing so, the cut themselves off from their mission field.

· Don’t force the conversation to faith. Get to know them and be an active listener.

· Ask them questions. Where do you work? How old are your kids? What activities are you involved in? The more you know about the person, the better you will understand them.

· Expect unchristlike behavior. They may have language, habits, and behaviors that offend you.

· If you have the opportunity to invite them to church, offer to meet them at the door and have them sit with you. The unknown of a church service isn’t so scary if there’s someone who knows how it’s done.

· Pray for these people, and ask God to guide you through his Holy Spirit. God can give us the words to say if we let Him. It takes labor in prayer to see a life changed.

As we close out the Summer, I pray that each of us will find ways to enter into the harvest field, so that we can see lives changed forever.

- Pastor Tom

July Newsletter

From the Pastor’s Pen

As we enter July, I wanted to pause and reflect on the freedom and liberty that we enjoy as Americans. As I stood at the park last week (for Celebrate America Day) and watched the Boy Scouts present the flag, we all joined in the Pledge of Allegiance. Hear again those familiar words that come near the end of that pledge . . . “One nation, under God.”

One of the fundamental questions of our day is whether or not we are truly united as Americans. Today we find our country as divided as it was during the Civil War. We are divided by many things: the war in Iraq, political parties, social outlooks, our views on the hot social issues . . . this space is far too small to list them all.

Likewise, as individuals we find ourselves divided. We know that as Christians, we are called to live as citizens of God’s kingdom, obeying the commands of Christ and embodying the love of God to the world. Often, this puts us at odds with our own will and the norms of our society.

It is with all of this baggage that we come to those words we all learned as children: One Nation, Under God. Are we indeed united as one? Are we a country under God? How can we be?

First, do the commands of Christ affect the day-to-day life I lead? If not, then we need to read the words of Christ again (the red print in many Bibles) and ask ourselves how it applies to our everyday life.

Second, do I allow politics to define me? Instead of drawing lines based upon a party, we need to educate ourselves about the issues and candidates and vote our conscience. And once the elections are over, we need to pray for our leaders, regardless of who he or she might be.

Finally, do I look for ways to use the bounty that God has provided to me to help those who are less fortunate than myself? America has been blessed by God. It is among the richest nations in the world. God has given us an abundance, not for our own pleasure, but as a tool to further His kingdom. Consider John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, who required each family in the societies (similar to our Sunday school classes) to adopt a family less fortunate than themselves. They would look for opportunities to bless that family and embody Christ’s love to them. The Bible makes it clear that if we turn a blind eye on the plight of the poor and powerless that God will bring judgment.

God has richly blessed this country with liberty and prosperity. I pray that we as Americans might be a blessing to God in return.

~ Pastor Tom

Answers in Abundance

Note: This sermon is based on Chapter 2 of David Jeremiah's book, "The Prayer Matrix"

Matthew 7:7-8 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

A man went to heaven and saw St. Peter sitting in a room full of filing cabinets. "What’s in the filing cabinets?" asked the man "They are full of all the unclaimed gifts and blessings that God was prepared to give his children, but that they failed to ask for," Peter answered, “and one drawer has your name on it.”

Some of us will be amazed in eternity to realize the potential ministry impact we could have had, and the blessings we could have known, if we’d only asked for them.

After Jesus instructs us to ask, seek, and knock, he gives us some amazing, unconditional promises. Look at what it says: everyone who asks . . . receives! He who seeks. . .finds! And to him who knocks, it will be . . .opened! Do you see any loopholes? Does he say anywhere that God answers some prayers but not others? Does it say that he only hears some prayers? NO!!! God’s guarantee for us is this: he hears and answers every prayer. Ask and receive, seek and find, knock and watch the door open – these are ironclad promises. I know that there are other passages that lay out further guidelines for prayer – things like praying according to God’s will, praying in Jesus’ name, and praying in the Spirit. But the fact remains that in this passage, Jesus strongly teaches the profound effectiveness of simply asking – without weighing down the process with our restrictions.

In his book With Christ in the School of Prayer, Andrew Murray says it simply and powerfully: “God means prayer to have an answer.” Look at the biblical witness: Prayer opened the Red Sea, brought water from a rock and bread from heaven; prayer made the sun stand still, brought fire from the sky, and overthrew armies; prayer healed the sick, delivered the oppressed, and raised the dead. Things we think are impossible, God does when people pray.

I read the true story of a mother whose young daughter took ill one morning at school. After the mother picked the girl, she called the doctor and described the symptoms. He said that there was a rash of flu-like afflictions. He couldn’t see the girl until the next day, but suggested an over-the-counter medicine that the mother could pick up to help her.

The mother got her daughter to bed, told her she was to the store for the medicine, and hurried from the house.

She rushed to the store, purchased the medication, but when she returned to the parking lot, she discovered that she had locked her keys in the car.

Her first response was to call her daughter and tell her she would be a little longer than she had expected. He daughter told her, “Mommy, get a coat hanger. I’ve seen on TV how they just stick a coat hanger down the window and unlock the car door.”

The mother went back into the store and was able to get a wire hanger, though she had serious doubts about her ability to open the door with it. But being a woman of prayer, she was not put off. She simply lifted her need to God. “I don’t know what to do, Lord. My keys are in the car, the doors are locked, and my daughter is at home sick. I’ve got this hanger, but I have no idea what to do with it. Please send someone to help.

As she finished praying, a car pulled to the curb and dropped off a passenger not five feet from the woman. This must be God’s answer to her prayer. The man didn’t look like the kind of person God would typically send, in his ripped jeans, arms covered in colorful tattoos. But she said, “Sir, can you help me?”

“What’s the problem,” he asked.

“I locked the keys in my car. I got this coat hanger, but I don’t know what to do with it.”

“Lady,” he said, “where’s your car?”

She took him to it, and after bending the hanger, quickly used it to pop the lock. The overwhelmed mother threw her arms around the man and gave him a big hug. “You are such a good man.”

“Lady,” he said, “I’m no good man. I just got out of prison.”

As the man walked away, the mother prayed, “Thank you, Lord. You sent me a professional.”

Why does God answer any of our prayers? Oswald Chambers, in his typically pointed style, writes: “There is only one kind of person who can really pray, and that is the child-like saint, the simple, stupid, supernatural child of God; I do mean stupid.” I don’t want to speak for you, but I guess that means I qualify as someone who can pray! Chambers goes on to say that it is nonsense to try to use mental reasoning to explain why God answers those “stupid” prayers. He answers not because of our earnestness or our suffering, but because of Jesus’ suffering. The mystery of why God answers our prayers is wrapped up in the answer to why he redeems us through the cross – it points to an infinite love that is far beyond any human explanation.

R. A. Torrey has written some of the best books on prayer. He says, “when I realized what real prayer meant, realized that prayer was having an audience with God, actually coming into the presence of god, and asking and getting things from him, it transformed hi s prayer life.

Before that, prayer had been a mere duty, and sometimes a very irksome duty, but from that time on prayer has not been merely a duty but a privilege, one of the most highly esteemed privileges of life.

Before that the thought that I has was, “How much time must I spend in prayer?” The thought that now possesses me is , “How much time may I spend in prayer without neglecting the other privileges and duties of life?”

As we get deeper and deeper into this thing called prayer and begin to experience the presence of God, I hope that you too will begin to find it one of the highest privileges in your life.