Thanks, Doc! I'm breathing easier.

Now I Understand!!

"It's only minor surgery if someone else is on the operating table."  Yes, I am breathing easier. Yes, my nose is still in bandages. This wasn't optional. It was skin damage I couldn't ignore. Recovery includes saturating my thinking with truth Jesus taught. I hope to share some new insights tomorrow that may be life-altering and health-restoring too.


It's good to know, of course, that you're in good hands. On the phone today, I talked to a friend who had her own surgery yesterday. She wondered aloud what many of us have at some time, "How do people go through this experience without the Lord?"  God's children can breathe assurance and courage of heart. Therefore, we breathe easier.


I wouldn't want to go another day  (much less another year) without knowing He's the One operating on us, and with us. I'm so grateful for as good a surgeon as we could get. Now as the doc reshapes my nose, our Sovereign Lord is intent on shaping His own likeness. Lest this sound too self-absorbed, how good to know that this is how His Grace is operating in the whole Body of Christ by The Spirit! 


No matter what unhappy reports CNN may broadcast tonight, there's a great prognosis for everyone who puts his or her life in His hands. Testify.


Your investment brokers can't tell you the outcome. No presidential candidate can either. Not even your doctor can. But: I know whom I have believed; and I'm convinced that He's able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that Day. - 2 Timothy 1:12.


May what you've entrusted to Him be as plain as the nose on your face. Thus shall we ever breathe easier.

Choosing Group Ministry Options

If we hold our breath on the topic of "spiritual gifts"...  That's not breathing easier! 
These gifts are given so we can bless others: much in keeping with us "giving thanks". 


On Sunday nights, we heard a word on The Holy Spirit by J.R. Vassar, who pastors The Apostles Church in Manhattan. Pastor Vassar spoke about "that which is sensational, and that which is significant". The church in America needs that word today! So do I.
At Corinth, Paul paid more attention to spiritual formation than "special effects". He prayed that they might outgrow obsession with the sensational, and opt for what released the whole church for ministry. It wasn't the spiritual celebrities. In fact, Paul had critics at Corinth who thought him as dynamic as cold oatmeal.  But note the truth he set on the table for them:

When you make choices about gifts and ministry "best", 

Go for what's going to last.  Go for what helps the Church fulfill it's design. 

Go for that which develops & deploys the whole Body of Christ. 

We can't just spotlight the  exceptionall-gifted-and-accomplished. Give everybody room to grow. Thankfully receive what every child of God, walking right with God, brings to God's work. His or her gift.


Maybe some of his principles help us choose which ministry projects we should pursue, and which options we shouldn't. Doing things decently and in order? If you are an emergency response worker, expect last-minute calls. But when someone neglects planning and asks your ministry to bail them out, is that really your emergency? 
 God gives His people a wide range of service abilities. How does that shape the volunteer options you choose?  Is it God's call or someone else's you're thinking about? 
And near the top of our list: if the Body of Christ exists to witness for Christ, choose ministries that give more opportunity to share our faith. It's good to serve side by side with others in your community, but it's better when you get to say "the love of Christ compels us."

These are a few thoughts on serving God and community, and helping one another fulfill God's Call.

What thoughts would you add?

God's Calculations and Ours

The psalmist talked about a time when he was in so deep, he couldn't get out. But God got him out. Actually, he said, God's done that for us more times than we can possibly track.





Here's Psalm 40:5 from 
the New International Version: 

Many, O LORD my God,

are the wonders you have done.

The things you planned for us

no one can recount to you;

were I to speak and tell of them,

they would be too many to declare.

Browse a few Bible pages and you'll find that the ancient Hebrews were not handicapped when it came to their counting ability! In fact, I look at some of their census figures, financial reports, arms inventories, and such, one might feel they were obsessed with keeping detailed accounts.

The word for God's plans speaks of detailed calculations. Originally, the verb had to do with weaving: lots of strands coming together. Various aspects of a larger plan. Then the "recounting" could well be an "accounting report". 

No matter how vast his expertise for doing inventory, 

there's no keeping up with how many ways God is looking out for us.

... I found this news piece published October 28, 2010 about the world's most powerful computer. It  can do 2.5 thousand trillion calculations per second. And don't you know, some company is already trying to develop the next generation that can do more faster?  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11644252

God has not gotten smaller because technology has gotten bigger. 

Who He is and how much He does for us . . . we still don't have the equipment to calculate!                                                 ~ Breath easier.

Freedom to Set Others Free

Every so often I meet some guys in a diner for breakfast. And there's a quiet gentleman named Casey who drops by for coffee, too. He strikes me as a "strong, silent type" spiritually:  who's looking for ways he can be used of God to help others connect with our surrounding community's blessings. Each week, I get an email--mailed all over Chester County--that helps others know about important community services, like job training, and coping with the loss of a life-long companion, or finding a lifeline of support when habits begin to control one's life and spirit. What Casey does isn't flashy, but it's fundamental as a follower of Christ. He likes to see others set free.  So does Jesus.

"...He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives"  - Luke 4:18

The place God lets me preach is a special place, blessed by a unity that blends worshippers of varied background. So February seems like a good time to tell some stories of the Underground Railroad, of women and men who became free, and then risked it all to help others become free.


For the better part of thirty years, I have had some experience walking alongside of churches, observing God and observing people at work. Lately, I have been asking myself this question. 

When people think of church, 

is it a place where people are trapped?

or a place where people are being set free?

Through the month of April, my goal is for our congregation to look at a range of ways that God works "Setting The Captives Free".  Probably, this study will lead me to some places where Baptists seldom go. I can't be captive to that. Undoubtedly, this study will mean getting free of some old hurts and hangups myself. Undoubtedly, overdue. But if we go there, we'll be able to help others get there. 

Through His Cross, Though His Grace, 

Into a Springtime of Awakening ~ & breathing easier.

Because of Life Breathed Into Us

Yesterday even as I stood speaking to the church family, there were words and sentiments coming that had not been planned. Like most preachers, I usually have a general idea of what I'm going to preach several weeks in advance. The Bible has numerous "stand-out" names for Jesus, and I knew some of them seemed right to aim us, as a church, in a positive direction at the start of 2011.  


There's a certain name for Jesus that was coined by his critics, "this man is... a friend of tax collectors and sinners". There it is:  "Friend of Sinners". Ironically true. Those words intended for insult have inspired hope for many. Quite often, for me.


Today we whisper this word "sinner". We prefer to say "everybody has issues." Undeniably. One of our issues? People who say they want to be like Jesus, then kick others who are spiritually down-- treating them like dirt. You know how bad you feel when your back is out of line? Well, knowing your faith is out of line feels much worse!


So we looked at how Jesus befriended sinners, most of all, by dying for people like me on the Cross. But this sermon turned into a two-parter. Part two was how people wanting to be like Christ must learn how to be friends with all kinds of people, even those they might instinctively choose not to befriend.


How do we do that? Dr. Martin Luther King reminded people almost 50 years ago that you do it with forgiveness. Not just words of forgiveness, but deeds. That climate requires us to extend grace to those who've hurt us. And when we do, God breathes new life into them, and us.


Our most basic tasks include building character and availability. Availability means being there for others when it's especially challenging to stick by someone's side.


It takes patience, gentleness, genuineness, and caring beyond our own strength to care. It takes Jesus. It takes that mental memo and inner prompting-- He's still a friend to sinners. Will we act accordingly?

Any church doing this has to provide teamwork to shepherd people through a process, of . . .

•  Getting real about the issues.
• Getting close to Christ  (and getting around people who already are.)
• Getting away from all the old trappings of sin.
•  Getting help from a new circle of support. We're supposed to be family.
• Getting on with God’s plans to grow us into who we’re meant to be.
• Getting thrilled about every day progress and wins.
• Getting involved as a friend to others who need Your Friend.