Honest To God

Life.

Life is a gift given to us by God (Genesis 1:26-27; Psalm 8:4-5). It is not an option, opportunity, or a choice to accept or reject. Life is a precious thing each of us has been given – both by being allowed to live, and to be a part of the creation process. Sadly, for decades now, life has become a “Choice” in our nation. We no longer value it as a gift from God, but see it nothing more than a choice of humankind.

I am well aware the there are very unfortunate situations where pregnancy occurs. I have had someone of the closest people in my life find themselves in the midst of an unintended pregnancy – and culture told them that they have a choice. Some have chosen to choose to keep the life God granted them, while others have chosen to discard of it. Even when a person makes a poor choice of aborting a child, God has grace. However, I am a firm believer that those of us that claim Christ must do all that we can to uphold and preserve the precious life that God grants us.

Since the fall of 2011 I have been volunteering for Alternatives Pregnancy Center. Even though my time as a pastor is under high demands, I’ve made this volunteering opportunity a priority. By serving with this ministry I am able to:

1. Live out my biblical conviction for preserving the life of the unborn child by helping mother’s choose life. 
2. I am able to be see lives transformed as they hear the truth about how precious life is to God as apposed to the disposable connotations culture has put on American fetuses today.
3. I am able to live out the Gospel of Christ by helping others in Crisis and not just preach to them. 
4. I am able to see God work on my life and give me great compassion for people in all situations facing the unexpected hardships of life.

My role with Alternatives Pregnancy Center has to been to train drivers for a mobile testing clinic. While there are not many places a man can service in a pro-life pregnancy center, there are enough opportunities to go around! Here is a video I shot explaining my role and how serving with APC has impacted me. I encourage you to get involved with APC or your local pregnancy center.

The command for us to share our faith literally in black and white in the Bible. But I gotta tell you, just getting a conversation started with someone about Christ gives me Godzilla-sized butterflies in my stomach. I get so nervous (and I’m a pastor).

I have come to realize something – one of the greatest things that we can do to start a conversation about Christ is to simply shut up. I know, it seems like an oxymoron, but if we would just start by listening, we would be miles ahead.

(Picture from jansmith2911.wordpress.com)

For example, I was in New York one summer walking in central park. I saw a guy sitting all alone on a park bench, so I walked up to him and asked to sit down. He didn’t smell real pleasant, and was missing most of his teeth, but as we sat there, I simply asked, “So what’s your story?” This guy had so much to tell. He went on about how long he had lived in NYC and how he couldn’t wait to leave the big apple and get on with life. I listened, asked question, and really tried to pay attention to his every word. After he went on for about twenty minutes, he turned and asked, “What is your story?”

Ding… I was in. now it was time to tell him my past, and the unavoidable part that Christ has in my story.

Speaking of New York, I saw this article in the Chicago paper about two post-college grads for Manhattan who rode their bikes all around the US with a sign that simply read, “Talk to me.” They had no agenda, weren’t selling anything… just here to listen to what ever someone wanted to say. One of the guys that ended up talking to them shared his corroded past of crack addiction, but after 15 minutes he said, “I’ll stop talking now, and give someone else a chance.”

You see, people want to talk, but after they do, they then naturally want to listen. Their listener has now earned the right to be heard. People listen to people who listen.

Continue Reading…

The storyline of redemption unfolds throughout the Holy Scriptures and reveals God’s intent to reconcile people to Himself and establish His kingdom on earth. With each turn of the page we find a piece of His plan fall into place, His promises kept, and His prophecies fulfilled. The book of Isaiah is one of the clearest depictions of all Scripture being divinely inspired and breathed by God (2 Timothy 3:16). This prophetic book contains specific elements of prophecy that were inarguably fulfilled over the hundreds of years following its original transcription. Not only was the prophecy fulfilled in the lifetime of the prophet and in the kingdoms following his lifetime, but also the Messiah who came fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecies exactly as described.

In this paper we will look specifically at the passages in Isaiah that speak of the coming Messiah and the way his words were fulfilled in the New Testament by Jesus Christ. He was the Word of God spoken into existence to fulfill the promises of God (John 1:1). We can stand firm in our belief that God was orchestrating the words of Isaiah to give not only Israel, but also the world, hope of a coming King that would be blameless and able to take away the sins of the world (Isaiah 9:7). Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would come, how He would come, what He would do when He came, and how He would die.

The Promises that Jesus Would Come
Before we can understand the specific prophecies about how the Messiah would come, we must acknowledge the passages that speak to the fact that God would send such a Messiah to earth. In Isaiah 9:6-7 and 22:22 the prophet tells us that the Messiah would “rule on the throne of David and over his kingdom” and the “Keys would be given to Him.” The fact that the Messiah would come from the line of David was a promise of God upheld all throughout the Old Testament and then proven upon Christ’s birth in the New Testament. In Luke 1:32–33 Jesus was described as the promised Messiah, stating that the “Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” The Messiah was also foretold in Isaiah to be from the root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1-2, 10), also fulfilled in Christ by being from the line of David (Luke 1:32-33). The spirit of the Lord was to rest on this ruler as ordained by God (Luke 3:21-22); in so much as the provision of the Spirit, coupled with the providential reign of Christ on the throne of David, proved true the promises of God given in the book of Isaiah.

The Promises of How Jesus Would Come
God specified through Isaiah that a Messiah would come, but He was very clear about how He would arrive. The words of Isaiah about His birth and His death are seemingly some of the clearest and most specific passages in Isaiah about the coming King. We were told Continue Reading…

Merry Christmas! As we get closer to the holiday, I begin to recount memories from years gone by. I remember when I was a kid, every year at around this time, our local radio station always aired a story that still rings clear in my memory. I want to pass that story on to you… It goes something like this:

It was cold windy winter night one Christmas eve. The Johnson’s home was decorated to the “T” with a beautiful tree, shimmering lights and stocking perfectly hung over the glowing fire place. The sun had now been set for many hours, but before the Johnsons were in for the night, they had to make their yearly visit to Church for the Christmas Eve Service. Mrs. Johnson and the kids began to bundle up, but Mr. Johnson sat satisfied in his recliner next to the fire. When his wife questioned, “Why are you not getting ready for Church? We’re going to be late.”

He begrudgingly replied, “What is the point? What does Church and Jesus have to do with Christmas anyway? We have heard the manger story a million times. Tonight I am going to just sit and enjoy my coffee by the fire.”

So the Mrs. and the Children were off to church, leaving their dad to dabble at home. Mr. Johnson entertained himself by watching the dancing shadows cast on the wall by the blinking lights of the tree… the only noise was the crackling of the fire. Until suddenly his solitude was interrupted when he repeatable heard pounding against the window pane. “Some kid must be throwing snowballs against my house,” he thought.

Annoyed, he slipped on his shoes to go outside and scare off the pest. He was surprised to find that there was no one out there but a flock of small sparrows. They were repeatedly taking off and flying straight into the window, only to hit their head on the glass and fall to the ground. “They see the warmth on the inside,” Mr Johnson thought to himself, “and they are trying to get in from out of the cold.

Continue Reading…

I used to watch Mr. Rogers every morning before school.

Vintage.

There is something about things that are vintage – relics of the past – that cause a certain amount of hype within each passing generation. For people my age, we like things that remind us if Mr. Rogers, 80’s music through a boombox, Gumby, Mario Bros., The Smurfs, and New Kids on the Block. Major companies and sports teams have brought back old logo designs, mototone color schemes, and slogan we all thought died long ago.

In some ways we’ve done the same things with the saving message of Jesus Christ.

We’ve made “The Gospel” a buzz word within christian circles (especially those considered “reformed”). We’ve taken something that we all may have thought of as “vintage” (though we would never admit it) and gotten excited about it all over again. Don’t get me wrong, an excitement about the Gospel is aways a good thing. However, I fear that it will slip back into the gray matter of our minds to be nothing more than a good memory – like old Saved By the Bell episodes, TrapperKeepers, or slap bracelets. The gospel is not just a cool thing from our past, it is the ever present truth of God that is still transformational today. Our current emphasis on the gospel must not only remain, but increase.

If we do not keep the gospel at the center of our churches and our lives then we will not be honest with God. We will go on saying we have been changed by Christ but quarentene His redeeming effects to only a portion of our existence. The blood of Christ that was spilled on the Cross apeased the wrath of God. The Ressurection of Christ opened lines of comuncation once again between all of us, who were enemies of God, with God Himself . Continue Reading…