Some people believe in God. Others believe in believing in God. There is a vast difference between these two. Those who fail to see the difference are setting themselves up for trouble. When people talk about God, we cannot assume that they have the God of Scripture in mind. We must be discerning.
Whenever someone says that we should “return to God” or “pray to God” – we need to ask a few questions first. Such urging may sound good, but it may not be good. This generic kind of “God talk”, that we often hear at July 4th celebrations, can be particularly misleading. Some feel strongly that any kind of call or urging of our nation back to God will lead us in the right way politically. In the process, though, it may lead us down the wrong path theologically.
Are we really so passionate about political victories that we’re willing to gain them by theological compromise? The doctrine of God is a supremely important issue. Evangelicals who make a molehill out of this mountain are being deceived.
Consider, for instance, the recent “Restoring Honor” gathering in Washington, D.C….
The first time this renown author did, it was for a good reason. This time, unfortunately, it was not.
For those who may not know, Anne Rice is the author of the wildly popular book series, “The Vampire Chronicles.” Having sold over 100 million copies, she has earned the reputation as one of the “most widely read living authors in the world.”
As a little girl, on her first day of school, Rice, whose real name is ‘Howard Allen’, changed it out of embarrassment. She’s been unofficially known as “Anne” ever since. But, this is not the only part of her identity that Rice has changed.
Despite her reputation as a gothic novelist, a few years ago, Anne Rice became…
“Tons of material have been written about the Bible…but [I've] discovered that the Bible can shed a lot of light on the commentaries.”
- Johnny Cash, The Man in White (xvi)
Last time, I shared the first four of my 11 Tips for Better Bible Reading. This post I want to share part two of that list. (I was originally going to make this a two-part article, but due to my verbose wordiness I now realize that it needs to be at least three. Besides, it’s my article…I can write as many parts as I want. Ha, ha!)
While you may not need all of these tips, hopefully, you can pluck one or two of these suggestions out and use them in your own time with God. A few small changes can make a very big difference.
“Show me a Bible that is falling apart and
I will show you a Christian who is not.” – Credited to D.L. Moody
If you’ve grown up in the church, as I have, you probably can’t count how many times you’ve been taught to “Read your Bible.” When I was just a sticky-faced, ankle-biting preschooler, I remember my Eager Beaver leaders taught me this. As a pudgy-faced preteen my RA & AWANA guides taught me this. As a zit-faced teenager my youth pastor taught me this. Add to these my parents and Christian school teachers and it’s easy to see that throughout my entire life I have been taught to “Read your Bible.” Some of you have had that same experience. This is a lesson you learned early and often.
As soon as I could read, I tried to do what I was told. However, I spent many years frustrated. I would read the Bible and find my mind wandering from boredom or my head-spinning from confusion. This was because, while, many people taught me TO read my Bible, nobody had taught me HOWto read my Bible. Like an intern on his first day working at a TV station, I knew that there was something powerful and awesome in front me, but I felt overwhelmed and lost.
I’m preaching verse-by-verse through Matthew right now. It’s all about “Our King Jesus!”
This last Sunday, I encountered Matthew 5:27-32 which is a challenging section that deals with four of the most difficult, explosive topics in the church: lust, adultery, divorce, and remarriage.
For those that may have missed it (or at least for the visual folks out there) here’s my sermon notes in a Wordle word picture.
As my Wordle indicates, the biggest part of my message was not sex…it was Jesus! I believe that’s the way EVERY sermon should be. As Colossians 1:28 says…
Zobmondo, a board game manufacturer out of Los Angeles California, has created a “get to know you” style game that’s got families laughing and learning about each other. According to the company website, the game is designed to ask “players to choose between two uncomfortable choices.” It is simply called, “Would You Rather…?”
By asking strange questions that force players to make a choice between two unlikely scenarios, each person reveals their bizarre and unsuspected preferences to one another. By playing this game you can really learn a lot about each other (in fact, maybe a little too much ?).
For instance, (feel free to play along, just not during the sermon), “Would you rather hit every red light for the rest of your life OR have your TV turn on and off sporadically for the rest of your life?” How about this one, “Would you rather be able to fly OR be able to read people’s minds?” There are also some gross-out questions, “Would you rather have 500 tarantulas crawling around your house OR 1000 crickets jumping around your room?” Sure, it’s silly. It’s preposterous. But it can be a lot of family fun to ask each other, “Would You Rather…?”.
While Zobmondo may be making big bucks off of asking these kinds of questions, they aren’t the first ones to do so. In fact, God asks these kinds of questions of us in the Bible. He particularly does so in…
I’m currently in the middle of reading a book about the fall of Rome and the rise of medieval Europe. (Sounds like a real page turner does it? Move over Stephen King.) I haven’t always enjoyed reading books like this. It must have something to do with my age. It seems the more history I come to have, the more history I come to love.
While discussing the various reasons that the towering nation of Rome crumbled into dust, Thomas Cahill (the book’s author), provides a tantalizing tidbit to consider. Cahill wrote,
“Rome [either] fell because of inner weakness, [whether] social or spiritual; or Rome fell because of outer pressure – the barbarian hordes.”
As Cahill points out, historians continue to be divided over the root cause of Rome’s demise. Like the fabled tragedy of Humpy Dumpty, we know that Rome once sat on a “great wall” and had a “great fall.” We also know that, despite the efforts of many men, it could not be put back together again. But no one seems to know exactly why this Roman Humpy Dumpty fell in the first place.
“A rumor is one thing that gets thicker instead of thinner as it is spread.” – Anonymous
I recently heard a rumor. It wasn’t just any rumor. It was a rumor about me.
It’s kind of weird hearing a rumor about yourself. We all know that others talk about us. We just rarely get to hear what they are saying. I sort of felt like I was eavesdropping on someone else’s conversation. It was kind of surreal.
At first, when I heard the rumor I wanted to laugh. In fact, I think I chuckled as the person was retelling it to me. I thought to myself, “Who would even think that?” But, after a while, I sort of wanted to cry. It sort of hurt to think that someone might say something like this without taking the time to ask me about it. Although, I guess if they had, I would still be trying to think of an article idea for this week. (“Count your blessings”, right?)
So, what was this rumor I heard?
Here goes: Apparently, (so goes the rumor), after I…
Let me ask you a question, “In your lifetime, how many sermons have you heard?” Has it been one hundred? Five hundred? How about one-thousand? If you had to add it up, how many would it be?
Now, let me ask you another question, “How many of these sermons did you actually listen to?” There is a difference.
Hearing (as I’m using it) refers to simply perceiving sound with the ear. Listening, on the other hand, goes a step further. It takes what the ear has heard and processes it with the mind. Listening makes sense of what is heard.
It’s like sitting in a crowded restaurant that has lots of noisy chatter buzzing around you. You are hearing everyone’s conversations. But you are not listening to anyone. (Which is exactly why your wife, sitting across the table, is fuming mad at you.)
It’s always struck me as funny that we work very hard to train preachers how to preach. But we don’t training congregations how to listen. George Sweazy has said,
“The skills of the hearers are more important than the skills of the preacher.”
Let’s be honest, between the two, in many ways, the listener’s got the harder job than the preacher. As you sit in your seat, there’s plenty of things to distract you from listening to the sermon. Your mind wants to wander. Your cell phone beckons a text message. Your eyelids feel heavy. Your “to do” list needs to be written. Your purse needs to be cleaned out. Your wallet needs to be rearranged. The list goes on and on. There’s plenty of ways to disengage from the sermon.
However, there are also plenty of ways you can be sure to engage yourself in the sermon and listen well.
Everyone who has been to Disneyland (or Disney World for that matter) knows about the fun rides, the delicious food, and the spectacular shows. It is a wonderful place.
But there are lots of things about Disney that patrons never see. For instance, according to the Unofficial Guide to Disney, did you know that every day visitors generate about 30 tons of trash? Did you know that their lost and found collects over 400 items each day? Did you know that they, daily, go through 70,000 hand towels in the restrooms alone? Like I said, there’s more to Disneyland than meets the eye. But that’s not all.
I recently saw a TV commercial for Disneyland that was quite enticing. It not only made me want to splurge, it also made me want to consider: Why do we love places like Disneyland? Why do we go to King’s Dominion? Do we enjoy these parks just for the amusements? Or is there more to it than meets the eye?
The fun rides and the cotton candy are obvious reasons we go to these places. But I suspect that’s not all. As is true with many things in life, there is actually something very theological going on. I think our interest in amusement parks, like Disneyland, reveals our subconscious yearnings as fallen men and women.
That sounds like I’m talking about a Japanese flower or some kind of sushi, doesn’t it? But koinonia is more beautiful than any flower and more nourishing than sushi.
Koinonia is about fellowship. Koinonia is about community. Koinonia is about you connecting with others from Forest Baptist outside the walls of our church meeting house.
God never meant for you to walk the Christian life alone. Spending time with your spouse (and kids) is good, but it’s not a substitute for fellowshipping with others in the body of Christ. God wants those, unrelated by blood but fully related by the Spirit, to be together. In fact, one of the simplest Bible definitions of the church reveals this. Philippians 1:27 says that the church should be
“together for the gospel.”
Christian isolation is antithetical to the good news. The gospel gives us unity. Our fellowship around the gospel gives us community. That’s our goal and purpose in providing a time for Koinonia Connection.
