Pastor Gene's Blog (Page 8)
The Well
Puzzled Looks from Inside the Warehouse
If you love God’s Word – I mean really love it – you have no doubt encountered other Christians who are decidedly less enthusiastic about it than you are. They may love the fellowship and comradery of gathering together with other believers, or the pageantry and antiquity of the liturgy – if they happen to attend a liturgical church. Or perhaps they love music – hymns or…
Stealing Beauty from True Christian Giving
I love the way Paul speaks to the Corinthians about their participation in the collection he was taking up for the impoverished saints in Jerusalem: “I am not saying this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love …” (2 Corinthians 8:8, NET). “I am not saying this as a command” points up the sanctity of giving as an expression of the believer’s personal…
The Manger, The Cross & Christian Giving
When the apostle Paul was taking up a collection for the suffering believers who lived in Jerusalem, he presented the Corinthians with two examples of generous giving. First, he used the example of the Macedonian churches – Philippi, Berea & Thessaloniki – who gave out of their poverty. They gave generously, even though they had very little to meet their own physical…
When the Day is Done
‘When the day is done,Down to earth, then, sinks the sun,Along with all that’s lost and won –When the day is done’ -Nick Drake- A Witness in Our Biology And so the day is done. Evening is a tender time – a time for offering the day back to my Keeper. What I’ve done this day can never be undone. The moments I’ve spent in it are gone forever. Hopefully, I’ve spent some of…
The Secret of Walking with God
Dear Church, This morning, I’m reposting a wonderful passage excerpted from Secrets of the Secret Place by Bob Sorge that I really wanted us to see. We’ve been talking about the challenges of walking with God at various times of the day: morning, afternoon and evening. This brother deals with the subject of walking with God more generally, but with simple profundity: “God…
Morning’s Invitation to See the Invisible
Nurse: “Doctor, the invisible man is in the waiting room.” Doctor: “Tell him I can’t see him right now.” Bud-dum! We’ve all heard the expression, ‘I must be seeing things!’ But truth be known, people who walk by faith are ‘seeing things,’ invisible things, all the time! In fact, that’s what it means to walk in faith. Hebrews 11:3 tells us that “faith is the substance of…
How to Live Among Scoffers
In their last written words, the Apostles Peter and Paul felt it was important to warn the church of the grave dangers that lie ahead. In his final letter, Paul wrote: “Understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,…
Keeping Clean While Engaging Culture
It’s been called one of the most important Christian books of the 20th century: H. Richard Niebuhr’s, Christ and Culture. I read it thirty years ago, then I read it in seminary, and I read it again last year. It’s astonishing to me that a book written in 1951 about something as ‘in the now’ as engaging culture remains as relevant as it is. Sixty-seven years is a long time…
On the Threshold of a Fresh, Mysterious Year
Greetings highly-favored people of God (Matthew 13:16-17)! The new year is upon us with all its blessings and challenges and, well, mystery. None of us knows what danger lurks around the next corner (cue dramatic music), but we do know this: (1) The Lord is with us in the journey (Matthew 28:20b) and (2) His Word is more than sufficient to guide us, instruct us and…
Why Did Jesus Come?
At Christmastime, perhaps more than at other times of the year, we think about Jesus coming into the world and why He came. So, why did Jesus come into the world? Careful! The answer you give to that question may say more about you than you think! At the most fundamental level, Christ Jesus came to save sinners. He came to teach us about His Father. He came to warn us…
The Chains We Forge in Life
In A Christmas Carol, Marley’s ghost pays a visit to his old partner in business, Ebenezer Scrooge. Dickens writes: Again, the spectre raised a cry, and shook its chain and wrung its shadowy hands. “You are fettered,” said Scrooge, trembling. “Tell me why?” “I wear the chain I forged in life,” replied the Ghost. “I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of…
Being About God’s Business
One of the most poignant moments in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has the ghost of Scrooge’s former business partner Jacob Marley paying him and uninvited visit. “You were always a good businessman,” Scrooge tells the ghost. The ghost replies, “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were, all, my…
“Love Mercy” – Giving People What They Don’t Deserve
Micah 6:8 really captures our attention because when Gods says, ‘Here’s what I’m expecting of you,’ believers perk up! And it doesn’t get much clearer than this: “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk…
Are You A Thanks-Giver? Then Give Thanks HERE!
Remember the ten lepers Jesus healed in Luke 17:11-19? Leprosy was a devastating and separating disease. It separated one from his or her loved ones and community. It rendered them an outcast. Well, the ten lepers showed themselves to the priest and were indeed declared healed! Then we read this:…
Two Seats
It’s one of the most powerful stories in the Gospels, even if it’s of questionable paternity. A woman is accused of being caught in the very act of adultery. Her accusers bring her before Jesus who is asked to choose between affirming the Law of Moses, which says she should die if she’s guilty, and releasing her, which would open Him to the charge of setting aside God’s…
It’s Not About You. Really, It’s Not.
In consideration of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, which we observed yesterday, I’d like us to consider the story of Mojtaba Hosseini, an Iranian Christian man who learned two precious lessons from the Lord through his persecution. First, he learned that God can use us for His glory anywhere. Second, He learned that Christianity is never about…
“Act Justly” – Giving People What They Deserve
The Big Three This is a wonderful passage isn’t it? I remember being in high school/college/seminary and, no matter what course I was taking, the question on every student’s mind was the same: ‘What’s going to be on the test?’ We all wanted to know what the teacher expected of us. Believers are…
Drowning in Rivers of Oil
What does the Lord require of me? When the Lord looks at me, a sinner He’s rescued from sin and death, what does He expect to find? Micah 6:8 famously asks and answers that very question. “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Act justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly…
The Blood That Delivered Us, and Keeps Delivering Us
In Micah 6, the Lord calls upon the mountains and the hills to witness His accusation against His people. Why have they been so unfaithful? Why have they abandoned Him for other gods, for idols? Why have they walked away from His love? The Lord has an indictment to bring! But, despite their…