Tis the Hurricane Season

Living in the Florida Panhandle for almost five years now, I like everyone else here keep my eyes focused on the Gulf during the months of June through November. This is the hurricane season and so far in 2008 the tropics are a-poppin.

I was here in 2004 when Ivan (above photo) hit us and in 2005 when Katrina just missed us and caused the catastrophic damage in Mississippi and Louisiana. Now that Gustav is bearing down upon our region, we are once again mobilizing Gateway’s disaster response and relief ministry.

In shuffling through my old Ivan and Katrina files a mixed bag of emotion hit me.

First I was struck once again by the amazing generosity of so many after these storms. For just one church- we distributed an incredible amount of money and supplies to people and other churches in the aftermath of these hurricanes. The majority of this came from individuals and congregations across the nation. Rereading some of these tender letters of prayer and support (which had originally included checks) almost brought me to tears.

Second, what did bring tears were the reminders- photos, reports from churches hit by Katrina,  memories of going to the Mississippi Gulf Coast a couple of days after Katrina, and recalling our own digging out process after Ivan- of just how powerful, deadly and devastating these storms can be.

I think we Gulf Coast residents develop some type of defense denial mechanism when it comes to hurricanes. We do not want to think about them, try to deny them away from us and bury the bad memories.

All it takes is another big one headed our way to shatter that deceptive thin line of defense though.

Gustav is doing that right now.

Pray for us please.

Do Sermons Really Make Much Difference?

Being a preacher who makes my trade in sermons- sometimes I wonder.

Do sermons make much difference?

I preach for a church who is very supportive of preaching. Every Sunday I feel greatly encouraged by many positive comments. I do not think anyone is being less than sincere. But still the thought stays with me- during the week, at work, at school, during those moral decision times- does anything presented in a sermon stick? Does any of our (me and my preacher pal’s) well-meaning Biblical guidance make a practical difference in lives?

What say you?

One Another Religion

Just a reminder:

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you…  -Romans 15:6

Greet one another with a holy kiss.  -Romans 16:16; 1st Corinthians 16:20

Be completely humble and gentle: be patient, bearing with one another in love.  -Ephesians 4:2

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you. -Ephesians 4:32

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. -Ephesians 5:21

Do not lie to each other.-Colossians 3:9

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other. -1st Thessalonians 3:12

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up. -1st Thessalonians 4:18; 5:11

But encourage one another daily… -Hebrews 3:13

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. -Hebrews 10:24

Brothers, do not slander one another. -James 4:11

Don’t grumble against each other brothers or you will be judged. -James 5:9

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you my be healed. -James 5:16

Offer hospitality without to one another without grumbling. -1st Peter 4:9

Finally, all of you live in harmony with one another, be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassion and humble. -1st Peter 3:8

 

“When I am weak, then I am strong.”

This was the message I delivered to Gateway the Sunday after hurricane Ivan slammed into Pensacola in 2004. Now that Fay is blowing and storms of other kinds are blowing in the lives of several of my friends, I thought it would be profitable to revisit this lesson. It is kind of long for a blog- so be warned!

 

There are many paradoxes in Christianity about which we should not be surprised. God has called us to be different- to think differently and view things differently and have a heavenly perspective. Therefore when he asks us to love our enemies we can understand it. When he asks us to turn the other check instead of retaliate we can. When we read statements like “the first will be last and the last will be first” we can get a handle on it.

 

One such similar statement in Scripture is very appropriate, I think, for us to consider now. It is found in the context of 2^nd Corinthians 12:1-10. This is a very personal section of Scripture for Paul as is this entire letter. Here he is speaking of his experience as a man, a Christian and an apostle. This entire letter is a defense of his right of apostleship and our context is an explanation of his strength. The paradoxical statement is in verse ten in the last sentence. “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  On the surface it makes no sense. To those who do not share a relationship to God in Christ it will never make sense. But to those whose mind is set on the things of the Spirit it speaks volumes- and is a continual source of comfort and power.

 

In the immediate context Paul is writing about what he calls his “thorn” in his flesh. This is to be understood as some type of physical disability. (Possibly poor eyesight) He asked God to remove it three times, God did not. Rather God increased his grace to Paul to help him deal with it. Paul’s inspired conclusion was that this was “to keep me from becoming conceited.” (vs. 7) He also viewed this weakness as an opportunity for him to rest in and trust in the power of God since his own strength was lessened. This allowed him to view and handle his personal trials- insults, hardships, persecutions, difficulties- in a uniquely heavenly way. That is to actually “delight” in them knowing that these weaknesses were in reality working to strengthen him. Hence the statement, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  His personal physical weakness worked though the assurances of God to strengthen his spirit and personal relationship with God.

 

Now, do not try to tell me that Scripture is irrelevant and out of date!

 

Ivan has taken our strength away. This storm has made us weak. Many of us find ourselves facing a new reality- at least for a while- and are left wondering why and what to do next. Paul’s own words and personal experience are speaking directly to us. As difficult as it may be, it is an opportunity to rely on the power of God as maybe never before and witness his strengthening in our life and our church as possibly never before. For sure it is how God wants us to approach the challenges we now face.

 

And it does not have to be a hurricane to get us here either. And at some point we will all get here. Like Paul, it could be a handicap. It could be a disease, or a divorce, or a death, or a financial crisis, an addiction or an accident, etc. How we deal with it makes all the difference. Paul could have taken a different approach and ended up angry and bitter. So could we all.

 

God is not asking that we do not hurt and mourn. He is not even asking us to not ask why. He very much wants us to communicate to him all we feel. Paul did not hesitate to seek God’s help with his problem. What he is asking is that we receive his message and his strength. That we allow his power to work in our thorns and weaknesses to produce his will: That we rely on his strength when we find ourselves having none.

 

Three points and three Scriptures:

 

1. God will not overload us. “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1^st Corinthians 10:13)  His grace will always be sufficient for us in every situation we face. He is that faithful. He will not leave us to face overwhelming odds. His strength will always kick in. Talk about blessed assurance!
2. We must always keep our focus on heaven. “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is seen is eternal.” (2^nd Corinthians 4:17-18 ) This focus helps us understand the paradoxes and keep a godly perspective. It is the “not seen” part that is paramount. Here is where we find God’s strength.
3. Then his power will be made perfect in our weaknesses. Back to our context and verse nine. Then we will be able to face down the thorns through God’s grace and even glory in our trails knowing what they are accomplishing in us spiritually. 

David said it long ago. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart”” (Psalm 51:7) because he knew too that this is exactly where God begins in us to do his best work- when we are broken and surrendered. “When I am weak, then I am strong.” Later David would add this about God, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3)

 

How about it? Will you give him the chance to work in your weaknesses? Will you approach all of your storms with an understanding that God’s strength will not only get you through but help you triumph? His grace really is that sufficient. And it is available for you right now.

Internet Pop-Ups and Sin

Over the last several weeks I have been dealing with a series of rather nasty viruses or maelware (still not sure of all of this terminology) on my home laptop computer. Somehow these intruders invaded this computer and at times seemed to take over- randomly popping up all kinds of websites including porn- and I had no control over this. Since this is the computer we let our six-year old use to play games on PBS Kids and Playhouse Disney this was even more alarming.

The computer did have an anti-virus program that turned out to be totally useless against this stuff. It even recognized some of the viruses but told me- “no action has been taken”. Of course I am wondering, why is it even on here then! lol

It got so bad that I stopped using it for a few days and had decided that it would have to go into the shop until a friend suggested another anti-virus program. So far, this program has done the job (still holding my breath though). It identified a couple of dozen bugs some called “trojans” and others identified as “tracking” and zapped them- I guess.

All of this reminded me of a phrase I heard years ago- long before our computer age. “You don’t have to go looking for sin, it will find you.” Just imagine checking out your fantasy baseball league and all of a sudden pornographic images flash before your eyes and bombard your senses!

This week in preparing for my sermon I revisited Romans 7: 14-20. This is the text in which Paul confesses his struggle with sin (and the law’s failure to help overcome this sin). Here he speaks of the “sin living in me” or his “sinful nature” and how when he does the things he “hates” it is not him, but this sin doing it.

Could it be that sin is like these viruses on my computer? It gets within us and entangles itself in our values and before we possibly even realize it- it pops-up, engages us and off we fall into it’s trap. Like Paul, we want to do the right thing and are doing it, but then “the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions.” (7:19 The Message)

The answer- virus control! We have to arm ourselves with God’s armour (Ephesians 6). Paul actually asked, “Who will rescue me..? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”- was his answer. Through him we can identify and take care of the sin within us. (See Paul’s continuing discussion in Romans 8 )

Anyway, hopefully my virus problems are under control. Hopefully, we are all letting Christ control our sin problems.

Just for your information:

• John Eldridge in his book Wild at Heart explores the idea of “sin living within us” that is very interesting.  I recommend reading this great book.
• My buddy John Dobbs and his youth minister Jason Barnard do an “Internet Awareness Seminar” which you might want to consider hosting.