"Not-So-Astute Observation"

 "Not-So-Astute Observation"

By:  Pastor Jack Schneider

“All Scripture is God-breathed, useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”  [2 Tim.3:16,15, NIV]

Blew my mind the other day when I read the following comment by a supposed Christian pastor here in Dallas: “I cannot say exactly what we believe except that experience is a higher authority than Scripture.  I do not believe the Bible is the Word of God…” [Pastor Danielle Shroyer, Journey Church]

Say what??  Oh, my!  I wish I could tell you this person is one lone twisted voice in a sea of Biblical orthodoxy, but that’s not the case.  More and more we’re finding human experience and reason as the foundation for faith, not the written, living Word of God.  In fact, says the world, the Bible is but one of many collections of myths, rituals and stories of religion, and all have value.  It doesn’t really matter what you believe, we’re told, so long as you’re sincere.

Oh, really?  Paul encountered this numerous times in his ministry, having traveled across a cosmopolitan landscape and numerous seaports of the wisest mankind had to offer.  Listen to what he had to say… 

“God shows His anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves.  For the truth about God is known to them instinctively.  God has put this knowledge in their hearts.  From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made.  They can clearly see His invisible qualities -- His eternal power and divine nature.  So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.  Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship Him as God or even give Him thanks.  And they began to think up foolish ideas of what He was like.  The result was that their minds became dark and confused.  Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead.  Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies.  So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator Himself, who is to be praised forever.” [Rom.1:18-22,25, NLT]

In 1943 Thomas J. Waters, Chairman of the Board for IBM, made this sincere, not-so-astute observation, “There is a world market for about five computers.”  His failure as a business prognosticator pales, however, in comparison to the social convictions of Cordell Hull, U.S. Secretary of State, who stated emphatically in 1933, “Mistreatment of Jews in Germany may be considered virtually eliminated.”

  Y’know, you can be mistaken in this life, or you can be mistaken for all eternity..

- Jack

"Consider Your Heritage."

"Consider Your Heritage."

By: Pastor Jack Schneider

“I will utter things hidden from of old -- things we have heard and known, things our fathers have told us.  We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord.”  [Ps.78:2b-4a, NIV]

Tragedies and world events have a way of challenging us to ask, “What’s important enough in your life to pass on to your children?”  Ultimately our kids [and others] will remember us not because of what we’ve accomplished but for being the person we are in Christ.  If you don’t believe it, just ask who it is you admire and consider a model for your own life.  Seldom is it someone known for his/her worldly success.  Instead, those of the most significance in our lives are those who model specific principles worth living -- living examples of Christ. 

Here are some of those principles, with definitions added.

1.                 Responsibility.  Pick up your own toys, help with family chores, and learn to cooperate.  Don’t blame others for your own failures.

2.                 Work ethic.  You don’t get something for nothing.  Do a job right. Take time to play, but finish work first. Work to live, not live to work.

3.                 Determination.  Stick to it! If at first you don’t succeed, try again. A stone can be broken by drops of water. Genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.

4.                 Attitude.  Have a good one; the world doesn’t owe you anything. A positive person has stronger friends and more success than a negative person.

5.                 Potential.  Build up others, encourage them, and instill a desire to be all God would have them be.  The best leaders are encouragers.

6.                 Stewardship.  Malachi 3:10 says to bring the whole tithe to God.  Manage the remaining 90% wisely to His glory. Children learn miserliness by example.

7.                 Relationships.  Use things and love people, not the other way around.  When people come first, circumstances follow. Better to be hurt than not know love.

8.                 Honesty.  Thomas Jefferson called it “the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” Let words and actions be consistent. Avoid lies and manipulation; live with integrity and transparency.

9.                 Generosity.  The richest people are those who give, expecting nothing in return.  True generosity depends not on the amount but the attitude in heart.

10.              Dependence on God. This is the most important of the ten.  “Cast your cares on the Lord, and He will sustain you.” “My salvation and my honor depend on God.” [Ps.55:22; 62:7]

Consider your heritage.  Do others see Jesus Christ in you?  Are these ten principles

evident in the way you live, or do your actions negate the witness of your life?  To use the tag-line old sermon from years ago, if you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?  Think about it…or, better yet, ask your children.

- Jack

"Worship: Noun or Verb?"

"Worship:  Noun or Verb?"

By:  KC Knippa

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”  John 4:23-24

In the next few weeks and months, I will be writing a series of articles on the topic of worship.  These upcoming articles are more for me, the writer, than it will be for you the reader… a way for me to dive more deeply and wrestle with the thoughts of what worship truly is (and for that matter, what it isn’t!).  As I take this journey, I encourage you to join me in this dialog and conversation on worship; learning not only what God says though scripture, but also learning from one another.

I think it is only appropriate that we begin with the question, “What is worship?”  If you look in a variety of sources, one thing becomes clear; worship can be summed up in two ways… as a noun (a place or time of devoted service) or as a verb (an action).  But, which form of worship is right?

Let’s stop right here.  If we are already asking ourselves this question, it is doing us a disservice.  Because of our western thinking and culture, we want to immediately see things as either/or, right/wrong, or black/white.  But the answer is that both forms of worship are important and needed… but, one form does take precedence over the other.

If we look in scripture we see that in the hundreds of times that the word ‘worship’ is used, one thing becomes clear;  worship is overwhelmingly used as a verb.  In fact, worship is only used as a noun a handful of times.  But, what is the difference?  What does it really mean to view worship as either a verb or noun?

The way I like to see it is based on our focus.  Worship is based on an action, an experience… it is meant to be active.  Worship is where man and God meet and lives are transformed.  Worship is not accomplished by great pastors, good music, or even a well decorated space… it starts with the Spirit working through us to give praise and adoration to the One who is worthy.  Truth is, worship begins long before we ever enter our worship space.  However, this worship (verb) can happen when we come to worship (noun), but it does not stop there.  One of my favorite verses (Romans 12:1) puts it like this;

“…Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God- this is your spiritual act of worship.”

This means that true worship must go beyond the noun.  Worship is what we do through our very lives; living and praising God in all that we do.  It is only when we get the verb of worship right that the noun of worship even begins to matter.

Simply put, we need to get worship (verb) right in order to get worship (noun) right… not the other way around.

- KC

Pick Your Sin

"Pick Your Sin."

By: Pastor Jack Schneider

 “I’m watching all their ways, which aren’t hidden from Me.  Nor are their wrongs hidden; I can see them.” [Jer.16:17, AAT]

Our Wednesday evening “Digging Deeper” topic is “Pick Your Sin,” which asks whether some are worse than others.  It also points out that, apparently, there are categories of sin.  Seriously.  The study outline is posted on our website but, of course, it doesn’t show all the discussion and feedback that takes place -- which is where the real fun begins, especially when we ask what impact all this has on the life of the disciple in Christ.

We had a wild and Spirit-filled discussion this week over voluntary [intentional, deliberate] sin and those that are involuntary, unthinking.  We talked about the ways human nature seeks to hide things from one another and from God -- as in the passage above -- and how futile this is, for in the end it all comes crashing down around us.  Conscience entered our discussion, and why it’s so important to have a correctly informed conscience based on God’s Word rather than the principles of this culture and age.  We really did have a blast!

But why spend this time talking about sin?  Why not just talk about the Gospel and God’s grace?  Because a correct balance of Law and Gospel is the only way we can come to know Jesus Christ as Messiah, the Savior and Lord Who gave Himself in love for us.  And now that we know Him, to spend this time in study and Biblical conversation is to counsel and encourage one another with insight and even humor so that we may grow in grace and faith.  1 Peter 5 [again, in the AAT] reminds us,

“Keep a clear head and watch!  Your enemy, the devil, is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.  Be strong in your faith and resist him…” 

God knows sin for what it is and hates it -- but never forget that He loves the sinner dearly.  There’s nothing wrong and a great deal right in our taking time to recognize sin for what it is…and to call it the same.  Don’t play games; satan plays for keeps.  Above all, remember this: forgiveness is full…forgiveness is free.  Jesus said, “My yoke is easy, My burden is light.”

- Jack

"Arise & Be..."

"Arise & Be…"

By:  KC Knippa

“And He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘O Lord GOD, you know…”  And then He said to me, ‘I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.’”   Ezekiel 27:5, 14

This past Sunday in our 11:00 worship service we introduced a new song entitled “Arise” by the band Flyleaf.  The song in itself can only be described as hauntingly beautiful, and in an equally beautiful way paralleled our first reading from Ezekiel 37:1-14 beyond what we had even hoped for.

For those of you that were not there, I will fill you in.  We began by explaining that the book of Ezekiel can be defined within the “apocalyptic” category of scripture… and I know what you’re thinking, and it does not mean that it is just about the end of the world.  What the word apocalyptic does mean however is that it is simply an “unveiling” or revealing something that we didn’t know before.  Because of this, both the reading and this song must be viewed in this light.

Now Ezekiel, a prophet from the Old Testament, was living in a very unpleasant time in Israel’s history and the things in which God told him to speak about were also not-so-fun.  The people Israel were exiled in a foreign land, once again under captivity, and away from the temple.  In many ways, they believed that their world was ending… they were a broken people who had lost all hope.

During his time as a prophet, Ezekiel had a few great visions from God.  The passage we focused on this week was the familiar vision of the Valley of Dry Bones.  In this vision, God showed Ezekiel a valley full of dead dry bones and commanded him to tell the bones to arise and be brought back to life… and through God, the bones were made new.

God continues, explaining to Ezekiel that these bones are like the Israelites… they believed that they too were dead and cut off from God.  But God shows that even when they thought this was the case, He still brings hope and life to His people.

So… where does this leave us?

In many ways, we are just like the Israelites.  Far too often we dwell on the fact that we are broken… living in a world full of hurt and pain.  We are nothing more than a dead, dry-boned people.  Have you ever felt this way?  Lost, without any hope?  Broken?  I know I have…                     

But, just as God showed Ezekiel in his vision… there is hope.  Even though we are dead, our hope has come through Christ and we, like the dry bones, are made new.  We are no longer dead and cut off from God, but made alive in Him.  He has brought an end to our suffering… our brokenness.  He calls us to hold on to this world that we remember because through Him, there is enough strength in us and hope left in this world to make it what we all dream it still can be.

Personally, I love how this song ends.  Much like the calling of Ezekiel, the song finishes with the command to “Arise and be all that you dreamed, all that you dreamed…”

I leave you all with the same call.  There is hope for this world… there is a hope for us.  All we need to do is to arise and be the people that God has made us to be in Him.

- KC