Sermon Video: The Deliverance of Peter - Acts 12:1-19

The story of Peter's escape from prison in Acts 12 with the help of the angel of the Lord is famous, but when read in its context falls immediately after the martyrdom of John's brother James.  These two disciples were both members of the "inner circle", along with John they witnessed the Transfiguration of Jesus.  Why is James left to die at Herod's hand, but Peter rescued?  There certainly couldn't be any theory that accounts for the difference by elevating Peter above James, as if Peter deserved to be saved but James did not.  So, what answer is left to us?
In verse five, Luke tells us that the church of Jerusalem was earnestly praying for Peter's release, perhaps this is the answer.  The church really prayed for Peter, therefore God delivered him from certain death.  There's just one problem with that cause-effect theory, it assumes that the church failed to pray for James.  We're not told anything about the presence or lack of prayer concerning James, but our own experience as individual Christians and as a Church confirms that fervent, earnest, tear filled, on our knees, prayer doesn't guarantee that God will act.  The will of God remains what God has told us it is, a mystery beyond our understanding.  We cannot force God to act because God is not an idol made in our image that we can control, God is our Creator, we are in his image.  God will continue to act according to his own wisdom, love, mercy, and holy nature.  We wouldn't want the ability to force God to change, God is already perfect, we're the ones that need to be transformed.
If prayer isn't about getting God to do what we want him to do, why are we praying?  The short answer: God told us to.  The longer answer involves what prayer actually does best and that is changing the person who is praying by allowing us to open our hearts and minds to the will of God.  In addition, prayer for those in need, especially public corporate prayer, allows us to demonstrate the compassion that our heart feels for them and to publicly declare that we have faith in the love, mercy, and grace of God's will.
God saved Peter from certain death, James he did not.  I don't know why tragedy happens to some good people and not to others, but I do know this, I can trust the God who was willing to send his Son to die for my sins.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video

Happiness without God?

Some words of wisdom from C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity,
"God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself, because it is not there.  There is no such thing.  That is the key to history.  Terrific energy is expended - civilizations are built up - excellent institutions devised; but each time something goes wrong.  Some fatal flaw always brings the selfish and cruel people to the top and it all slides back into misery and ruin."
I don't see how anyone can look at the world we live in today, or at any point in human history, and argue with that conclusion.  Where is the panacea of happiness and harmony that mankind has ever come even close to achieving.  What great pinnacle of humanity can we point to that isn't marred by the lust for power?
I know that the lives of celebrities seem to be what everyone should want: fame, wealth, glamour, power.  And yet, never has a year gone by without multiple accounts of drug addiction, alcoholism, and suicide by these whom we are supposed to idolize.  If they haven't found happiness, with everything a consumer culture tells you to want at their fingertips, then nobody can.
This is one of the great tools of evangelism for those who follow Jesus Christ.  We don't have to convince people that their lives are missing something very important without God.  They already know it, they might be trying to fool themselves a little longer with something in God's place, but they know it.  What God's people need to be doing is living lives in obedience, fellowship, charity, and love worth emulating when those who long for what is missing turn their eyes to the Church of Christ.  Our task is not to convince the world that it needs God, our task is to prove through our lives that we've found him.

Is it time for you to take a Sabbatical?

One of my fellow ministers here in Franklin is leaving today for an extended Sabbatical until after Easter.  The first thought that most of us have on hearing something like that is a bit of jealousy.  Wouldn't we all love to walk away from our job for a while and get a break that last longer than the standard two weeks?  The idea of a Sabbatical, which comes from the Hebrew Shabbat (Sabbath), is actually something that God intended to be an integral part of the way that society functions.  We are all familiar with the weekly Sabbath, for Jews Saturday, for Christians Sunday, that reflects the seventh day of rest at the end of the Genesis account of Creation.  That weekly break from labor is certainly something we can see the value of, and something we ignore at the peril of our own health, but God inteneded it to be part of a greater scheme of rest that went far beyond a weekly break.  In the Law given to Moses, the people were commanded to let the land have a rest, and themselves as well, every seventh year.  In other words, they were to work the land for six years, and then take one year off.  We have much the same concept regarding the land today with crop rotations and allow the land to lie fallow from time to time, but the idea of giving ourselves longer breaks from labor has always failed to gain hold when practical considerations overrule such considerations.  Today, only professionals, especially academics and scientists, consider a sabbatical to be a part of their career path, although most of these use that time away for an intense level of work on a special project such as writing a book or doing field research.
Do any of us ever really take time AWAY from our 24/7 connected and wired-in world anymore?  What would it be like to walk away from e-mail, voice-mail, facebook, and who knows what else, for not just a few days, but for a few months?  The problem with never stepping away from the daily grind is that we don't take the time to step back and look at how we do what we do, or why.  The next day's work is coming too fast, no time to think about priorities, no time to evaluate the quality of life we're living, nor to consider the opportunities that pass us by to help others.  What could you accomplish with a sabbatical?  What would happen if you took the time to look at your life from the outside for a change?  God knew what he was doing when he told his people to include rest in their lives.  I wish my fellow minister well in her time off, and I wonder, who will return to us after it ends?  Hopefully, and I mean this in the right way, not the same person who left.

Sermon Video: The Church at Antioch - Acts 11:19-30

Why do some churches grow, and other churches shrink?  What does the same church grow at one point in its history, and then falter in another?  The Bible never tells us directly what we should do to help our churches be healthy and growing beyond the general prescription that we have from Paul that the church needs all the members of its body to contribute.  One thing we can do, however, is look at the examples from Acts of growing churches and successful missionary efforts and attempt to draw out from those passages principles that will stand the test of time.
The church at Antioch wasn't founded on purpose through the missionary efforts of the church at Jerusalem.  It was simply the result of committed followers of Jesus Christ taking their own initiative to share the Gospel beyond their comfort zone of their fellow Jews to the Greeks of the large city of Antioch.  The tremendous success that they met with prompted the church at Jerusalem to send Barnabas to them to investigate.  When Barnabas arrived, he saw clearly that God's grace was among these people (would that any visitor could say that about every church!), and rather than worry about the impromptu nature of this church, Barnabas felt was glad for them.  As he always did, Barnabas encouraged them through his own example and through words, but he soon realized that this church would need a capable teacher if it was to mature. 
It was at this point that Barnabas saw an opportunity to bring Saul back from Tarsus and get him involved once more after nearly ten years of "exile" following the near-riot that his last appearance in Jerusalem caused.  Paul and Barnabas then spent a full year in Antioch teaching and training these new Christians.  The end result was a church that was eager to give back to fellow Christians in need (in other words, a mature church), which they then did in the form of famine relief to Jerusalem.
What was the process of growth for the church in Antioch?  Witnessing, Encouragement, Teaching, Giving.  Is that a prescription for any church?  There will never be a one size fits all formula for a local church, this living, breathing, full of redeemed sinners, organization is far too complicated for that; but it certainly would be a good place to start.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video

What are we all in such a hurry for?

On our way back to Pennsylvania from Michigan yesterday, after visiting both sides of our family for Christmas, Nicole and I passed 50 cars and 3 semis that had crashed or slid off of the road into the ditch.  The roads we certainly slippery, and some of the people may have ended up wrecked through no fault of their own, but there we plenty of people still trying to go 70 m.p.h. regardless of the road conditions.  That sort of casual refusal to acknowledge the laws of physics makes me wonder where they were heading in such a hurry.  The trip normally takes us 6 hours, but it took 9 1/2 this time.  I could have shaved an hour, maybe more off of the time by putting my car and our lives at greater risk, but why?
This may on the surface just seem like an observation about driving in snow and ice, but I think it touches something deeper about the modern world.  The world that we live in exists in a perpetual state of hurrying.  Tomorrow isn't quick enough, we need it done today; later today isn't soon enough, we need it now.  We have next day delivery, fast food, instant communications, and yet the anxiety that exists with all this speed about things taking too long only seems to get worse.
What is the end purpose of all of our striving?  For what lofty goal have we given up the joys of a quiet afternoon spent outdoors among God's wondrous creation alone or with our loved ones? 
As it always does, the Word of God offers us wisdom when we have gone astray, as Jesus told his disciples, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?...So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' of 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own."
(Matthew 6:27, 31-34)
Amazingly, the phone hasn't rang while I was typing these thoughts, but one e-mail has popped into my inbox, I've got a lot of work left to do today; no time left to waste on trying to think too much. 
Slow down, where are you hurrying off to anyway?  Seek God first, enjoy your family, live life as God intended for you with both purpose and joy.