Preacher's Post

7/3: God is Great--Beer is Good--People are Crazy

How do you get from these instructions…Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished.  (Romans 13:1-2)

To these words which launched the American revolution…We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

6/26: The Real Sins We Face Today

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39 (New King James Version)

These are Paul’s concluding words to the amazing and transformational thoughts he’s expressed in Romans chapter 8.  In chapter 7 Paul recognized he was powerless to make the kind of changes he knew God wanted to make in his life.  Then he soars in the hope that God can and will do what he can’t do for himself through the love and grace of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.  Then he concluded that in the end, the love of God in Christ Jesus would ultimately prevail in the face of every threat conceivable. 

6/19: Reformed and always Reforming

My walk with God’s Spirit is constantly revealing more of what it means for me to follow Jesus and what God might be up to in my life.  I’ve read the Bible regularly since High School, studied theology at the graduate level, and yet more is being revealed every day, week, month, and year.  I’ve made no secret as to verses I want read at my memorial service.  They come from Paul’s prayer for the Philippians:

I thank my God for you every time I think of you; and every time I pray for you all, I pray with joy because of the way in which you have helped me in the work of the gospel from the very first day until now. And so I am sure that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it on until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:3-6)

6/5: God's 401K Plan

I was reminded last week by Alan Roxburgh of how maps of the world change, both our physical maps and our metaphorical maps.    It should come as no surprise to any of us.

We’re living in a time of great upset and confusion because our maps aren’t working for us anymore.  Physically, the world I grew up in had countries named Abyssinia which is now known as Ethiopia.  When this business of maps came up, I was sitting in a seminar for some very dazed and confused Presbyterian pastors who were all trained for ministry in a world that doesn’t exist anymore.