Beyond Emmaus

Don't Drink and Drive

2007-02-19T13:09:00.000-08:00

At the Daytona 500 NASCAR race this weekend, the number 7 car sponsored by Jack Daniels whiskey flipped, caught fire, and skidded through the infield.

The irony of a race car being sponsored by a maker of whisky hadn't dawned on me before but here the danger of being drunk behind the wheel is illustrated so perfectly.

Confronting False Teaching

2006-11-19T13:27:00.000-08:00

The recent elections in our country brought out to us the differing opinions of people on various matters. On the national level the problems of the Iraq War, global warming, unemployment, taxes and national security were all met with different ideas and philosophies. On the local level we saw such issues, as hospital expansion and government office hours become the focal point of controversy. The idea of differing opinions is a value that is held close to the heart of the American citizen for it is the very foundation of our country's democracy. In politics having a different opinion might be helpful in finding the best solution to a problem.

Unfortunately, for many this same concept also influences they way they think about religion. The prevailing idea today is one of "many" religions and "many" ways of salvation. Some people even believe that there will be "many" different religions represented in heaven. Nothing could be farther from truth. Jesus stated in Mat 7:13-14 "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." This is not exactly the all-inclusive philosophy that many Christians hold to today.

As Christians we are called to confront false teaching wherever we find it. However, The enemy has done a good job at intimidating Christians who confront false teaching by causing them to be labeled as "prideful" and "arrogant." Satan further causes truth-seeking Christians to compromise Bible doctrines because they are fearful of being thought of as exclusionary. Certainly we are to be "gentle as doves" when dealing with false teaching but we must not compromise the truth of the Word just because someone might take offense. As Jesus said, "But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." There is one Lord one faith and one baptism. Be a lover of truth, not of opinion or political correctness.

The Rise of Mediocrity

2006-06-24T20:41:00.000-07:00

So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
(Rev 3:16)

"That's good enough." "What difference does it make?" "It'll all work out somehow." We have all heard the language of the mediocre. It is the dialect of the lazy, vision less Christian who is content with just doing enough to "get by." This person's lives by the motto: "No pain, no pain." In 2 Kings 13 Joash went to Elisha and was told by the dying prophet to smite the ground with arrows in a symbolic posture of the coming war with Syria. King Joash hit the ground a meager three times and quit. Elisha became indignant at Joash's lack of passion, and reprimanded him for his "good enough" attitude. Joash's lethargic response to the man of God is indicative of many today who put forth a half-hearted effort into living the victorious Christian life. They want blessing without blood, sweetness without sweat, and talent without tears. Joash hoped that Elisha would say some "magic" words and the victory would be won without any real effort. The heart of God is won by Christians who posses a spirit of excellence and who are not satisfied with lukewarm lifestyle. Men like Nehemiah, who are not content to sit by and hope that someone else will take charge and get the job done and women who are willing to break the alabaster box in consecration to God. The warnings in scripture are clear. Jesus said he would vomit (spue) the Laodiceans out of his mouth because they were not hot or cold. They were somewhere in the comfortable middle of the road where there is neither victory nor defeat; neither a passion nor a purpose. It's a place where many find themselves today, living out the colorless life of self-preservation. Satisfied with the mediocre.

That I might know him

2006-04-07T15:41:00.000-07:00

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Phillipians 3:10)

To know Jesus Christ, is to know him in the fellowship of his sufferings. To experience the same things he did and be able to relate to him the way he relates to us. That is the basis of relationship. One common thread of Jesus' life is that he suffered. So, when people you care about reject you, then you know Him. When people turn their back on you, and cast you aside like garbage, then you know Him. When people judge your beliefs as heresy, you know Him. When you still love people after they have deeply wounded you, then you know that you know Him. When you forgive those who despitefully use you, then you are being made into his image.

As a lump of clay, we spin on the master potter's wheel as he weilds the tools of life's bitterness to make a perfect vessel out of our brokenness that he can pour his anointing from. Each time we are "wounded in the house of a friend," we know him in the fellowship of his sufferings. I hope this post is found by someone who is crying the bitter tears of rejection and that you realize that Jesus loves you and he's concerned about you today.

Here's your sign...

2006-04-06T05:54:00.000-07:00

The problem with rules based religion is that often, minor things are emphasized while the major issues of life are ignored. Jesus told the Pharisees that they were overly concerned with the wrong things.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess." (Matthew 23:23-25)

Jesus did not say that observing customs and traditions was evil. Neither did he say that those things shouldn't be done. He said that we are in serious trouble when we begin to think that certain observances or our outward appearance makes us holy or acceptable to God. A modest appearance and pure life should be the result of wanting to be separate from the evil associations of worldliness, not born out of following the rules/traditions of men.

The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart as one preacher was fond of saying. When we reduce our walk with God to following a dress code or a set of moral rules, we run the risk of letting our guard down by thinking that we have "attained" some invisible level of spirituality that reduces our need to be repentant and humble.

Paul the Apostle, wrote "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." (Phillipians 3:12). One reason that God was able to use Paul so greatly is because the Apostle realized that whatever sins and temptations he was able to master in this life was only by God's grace. Paul realized the dangers of rules based religion when he wrote the following, "Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?" (Col 2:20-22)

Paul asks us why, if we have renounced all hope of salvation from the dead works of observances, do we still insist on trusting in the observance of rules and codes for salvation?

WARNING: DO NOT TOUCH THE EDGES OF THIS POST!

Islam: Religion of Peace?

2006-02-09T08:45:00.000-08:00

You might remember this story from 1989:

Washington DC, (AF) -- Capitol Police fired in the air Monday to disperse stone-throwing protesters demonstrating over a Photograph deemed offensive to Christiananity, triggering a stampede in which several people were killed in the nation's capitol.

Hundreds of protesters threw stones at police and aid workers after attending a peaceful rally at the capitol, sparking the stampede in which several were killed, said businessman Paul Sanstrum, a witness.

Protests over the photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe which included a photograph, Piss Christ, of a crucifix submerged in the artist's urine, broke out in three other U.S. cities, as they have around America. Some 300 members of the Military Police later were deployed in Tallahassee, capital of Florida, to quell rioting there.

Outside the National Endowment for the Arts offices in Chicago, hundreds of Christians from First Baptist Church, threw rocks at the building, burned a effigy of Maplethorpe, reprints of his photographs, and clashed with police. "Death to Maplethorpe!" they chanted, outraged by the photos that were first displayed in a Chicago museum. "Apologies are not enough," said Pastor Jim Harrison of First Baptist. "There should be some retalatitory measures taken against that particular museum."

Of course this artice was never written because these things never took place. They never took place because Christianity is the religion of peace, and places it emphasis on God's love for people and people's love toward each other.

The Apostle Paul wrote, "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." (1Cor. 13:2)

What we see taking place in the world of Islam is the reaction of a people insecure in their own beliefs and in love with rules and commandments instead of in love with God. The Psalms declare that those who love God's laws will have great peace and "nothing shall offend them." Sure, we Christians found Maplethorpe's photographic statements insulting, but we understood the greater principle of "not rendering evil for evil."

Make no mistake about it. Islam is a bloody, revengeful religion of hate. It will have to be Christians who show the world that like Jesus, to love and forgive is to be great in the sight of God.

Right Angles

2005-10-07T19:34:00.000-07:00

" There are no right angles in nature".
That comment was made by a performer today at the Performing Arts Center in Paducah. It struck me because we humans love right angles and God apparently does not. I was racking my tiny brain all the way home to try to think of at least one right angle in creation and could not. What was so striking about that statement was that we were sitting in the theatre with several hundred public school kids who were trapped in a system of "right angles". While homeschooling allows each child to grow as God intended, the public school system traps teachers and kids alike into conformity. Consider the young person lost in thought and writing poetry when suddenly the bell souds off like the sentry at a firehouse, proclaiming the end of one subject and on to another. The modern education system is not designed to foster individual interests, but rather designed to produce "right angle" adults whos highest aspirations are conformity. Even the dedication and self-sacrifice of gifted and caring teachers can never replace God's design for the training of children "in the way he should go" by parents who have invested everything in them.

Proverbs 1:8 Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

A Vision for Community

2005-09-15T22:17:00.000-07:00

Modern American culture is the loneliest place on earth. Isolationism, individualism and consumerism is the three fold cord that Satan is using to try to choke the life from the Apostolic church. We are excited about the vision that God has given us for the future of the church here in Murray. God is creating a place where real ministry can take place in the life of a believer. We have instituted Home Friendship Groups in lieu of mid-week service and left behind an old building that drained our resources. I am convinced that the church building plays far to important of a role in the modern Apostolic Church. The early church met in homes and "places". The Azusa street revival was in a warehouse and the spread of Pentecostal fire across the land was through brush arbors and front porches. These are not just cultural changes but fundamental changes in the way believers relate to each other. Sitting in a pew looking at the back of someone's head two or three times a week, is not the best way to be fed spiritually. Anonymity should not be one of the reasons for choosing a church. When it comes to "doing church", give me that old time religion, not modern substitutions.

Brothers, Copper Will Do...

2005-08-25T01:19:00.000-07:00

God called the man in Luke 12 a fool because when his business produced a surplus, he used the extra to build bigger barns and take his ease. How will ministers ever convince people that the rich fall into a snare (I Tim 6:9) when they themselves will not apply the teachings of scripture against prideful luxury? If it really is harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich man to enter into heaven, why do God's people have such a lust for riches with some of the ministry leading the way? "Fool" is what God calls people who use their surplus to increase their own comforts and pleasures. Brothers, while we preach the gospel of simplicity we live lives of complication. While we build bigger and fancier homes our savior had not where to lay his head. While we drive vehicles of excess and luxury, our Master rode into Jerusalem on a borrowed colt. The wise steward knows that his money is not his own and it all belongs to God. The fool thinks that money is given to him only to increase his comforts and yet the Bible says, do not lay up treasures for yourself on earth. God does not prosper a man so he can go from a Chevy to a BMW or from a moderate ranch style to a Mansion. Why are Christians today shaped in their thinking by the world? "If you earned it, you deserve it, it's yours" Is that not of the world? Love not the world, neither the things in the world. Why are we not content with a "wartime" simplicity of life? Does your home and clothing and cars send the message that you are just a sojourner or rather that of heedless unconcern for the poor and suffering? Do you justify your extravagance by saying what a "good deal" you got on your luxury? What should a pastor be wearing and driving and living in knowing that every day 24,000 people die of starvation? Since when did the ministry need a six-digit lifestyle even if they have a six-digit income? Brothers, teach your people that copper will do.

Professional Christianity

2005-07-10T06:10:00.000-07:00

In this post-modern age, the church has largely become "p.c.". No, not politically correct but rather "Professional Christians". The early church was operated as a network of believers that influenced communities by going "house to house" and breaking bread. They met in homes and discussed the bible, prayed and even baptized - all in a believers house. At some point, the church began gathering in buildings or meeting halls. When the altar was gone from the home, the church started her slow decent into "professional Christianity". The P.C. churches are primarily businesses that function almost like a spiritual franchises where certain systems and programs are passed along from the corporate office and repeated in every city. The "professional Christians" are consumers that are looking for a church that provides the best value for the money spent and the time sacrificed. Whenever the perceived benefit is less than the monetary sacrifice, the professional Christian goes church shopping for another "brand" that suits his needs better. May God bring us back to the time when Christians weep for the souls of the lost in our world. Are there professional weepers? We are called to hold up a blood stained cross as a banner of hope to a corrupt generation. Are there professional cross bearers? God, deliver us from "Professional Christianity"!