"Wake Up Call" - A Letter to Corinth

Posted by Danny

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

As we start the fall, we also begin a new study of the book of 1st Corinthians. The apostle Paul, in this letter to the church in Corinth, writes with love and grace and thankfulness for this local church… “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus…” [1Cor 1:4-5a]. But he also is most straightforward, candid, and direct, not shying away from exhorting the church when need be. The church in Corinth was made up of sinners (like every church is!) and thus had problems, difficulties, and hardships that stem from sin… We will read of divisions, of false alliances, of quarrels, of selfishness. Paul will be honest and ‘in their face’. He however has their best interest at heart… “I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.” [1Cor 4:14].

But at the highest level, Paul has HIS best interest at heart! It is not the church of Corinth… it is God’s church, of which a small group of believers live in Corinth. Faith Bible Church is not really our church, it is HIS church. We are His bride…

“And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I shall show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God…” [Rev. 21:9-10]

This study of 1st Corinthians is a wake up call to be sure our church is preparing herself to be that bride… As a preparation, Pastor Tom shared his seven “passion priorities” of Christ’s church…

Read more »

The Wake Up Call

Posted by Danny

Friday, August 26, 2011

“We had ignored, or just plain failed to notice, shortcomings.”

Luckily we were able to snag a tall table and two stools in the rear of the busiest Starbucks we have ever seen. Its 80-plus seating options, plus every table on their sidewalk patio (Linda refers to that area as “camping out”) was full. Just as quickly as someone would vacate their seat, multiple individuals began maneuvering to take their place.

iPads in front of us and our favorite iced coffee drinks in hand (not a good combination…liquids and electronics), Linda and I settled in for some relaxation and observation. My summer-time diversion had included the reading of Howard Schultz’s Onward, the painfully transparent CEO’s narrative of the remarkable turnaround of the Starbuck’s corporation. The once incredibly healthy and rapidly growing international corporation suddenly became aware that their one time success story had reversed into--what appeared to be--a disastrous and unstoppable slide.

·      “Obsessed with growth, we took our eye off operations and became distracted from the core of our business.”

·      “We had to correct those behaviors and return to higher standards.”

·      “We are in the business of exceeding expectations. That means we have to admit it when we are not as good as we think we should be.”

·      “We had ignored, or just plain failed to notice, shortcomings.”

As I read through Schultz’s account of the journey through a most successful turnaround, I was also reading and meditating upon Paul’s turnaround exhortation to the church in Corinth. And at the same time the words of Christ echoed hauntingly in my mind: “But I have this against you--that you have left your first love. REMEMBER therefore from where you have fallen, and REPENT and DO the deeds you did at first…” Revelation 2:4-5

It was late July and we were vacationing in one of our favorite cities. Seated at our tall table, we were enjoying observing our granddaughter Anna-Marie (the only Starbucks barista that really mattered to us) as she participated in the fruit of one of the great turnaround stories of corporate America. Schultz’s strategies had obviously worked. Not a seat was vacant…and from early morning until late night closing, the line entering the door of this Gold Coast Rush Street coffee shop never ceased!

“We had ignored, or just plain failed to notice, shortcomings.”

First Corinthians, the wakeup call to our church. We begin hearing it together this Sunday.

See you Sunday, Church!

Pastor Tom

PS: Don’t forget Faith Chapel, serving those who serve, begins this week at 9:00 a.m. Check us out!

WOTG: A 'byoc' Kind of Service...

Posted by Danny

Friday, August 19, 2011

Wor-ship / noun: The feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity… / verb: Show reverence and adoration for (a deity); honor with religious rites.

·      We typically describe it as the “Worship Service.”

·      At the beginning of a service, we often hear a “call to worship.”

·      When conversing with a friend we often say, “See you at worship on Sunday.”

·      To children in their age/stage ministry context it is frequently said, “Now children, it’s time for worship.”

Our frequent use of the word “worship” tends to result in a loss of meaning and comprehension.  It is a two syllable, single word that is just tagged on or slotted into a sentence, generally absent of any object or point of focus.

As we continue in our “…because Bible is our middle name” journey, we have been reading together from the letter Paul wrote to Rome’s saints.  At the very beginning he describes, in graphic relief, the foundational core issue of man’s lostness and unrestrained pagan passions.  Regrettably, it was not an absence of “worship” but rather a distortion in the object worshipped.  In quick summary, they turned their focus from the worship of the Creator to fixate their adoration upon those things He had created.

Worship is a word, an attitude and an action which demands an object. Only God is worthy of such reverence!

The Psalm writer put it best, “Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.”

“Worship THE LORD…”

Read more »

“Encountering Jesus – Snapshots of the Savior”

Posted by Danny

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Dustin Rogers

Luke 5:17-26 – A Hopeless Man’s Encounter

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. [John 1:14]

This well known account of an amazing miracle by Jesus is usually remembered as that, one miracle in which Jesus heals a paralyzed man. But in this account, there are three miracles that confront three groups of people, with each encounter providing us wonder and amazement in this Man who was and is God only Son!

Pastor Dustin Rogers taught from the fifth chapter of Luke and describes “3 Groups – 3 Miracles”… But first, the passage…

One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . . .” He said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”  [Luke 5:17-26]

Read more »

Theophany: The Angel of the Lord...So What?!?

Posted by Danny

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

-Sunday Recap-

We have arrived at the end of our summer study together on the various appearances of the “Angel of the Lord” throughout scripture. Each appearance, each ‘theophany’, has been given to us for a reason. (All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; [2Tim. 3:16]). What are we to do with these appearances of the pre-incarnate Christ? What is the ‘take-away’? In short, “so what?”

As we remember the people and places at which each theophany occurred, we are reminded of aspects of the very nature of God…

For Hagar, He is… The God who sees…

…God saw Hagar [Gen 16], fleeing from Sarah after being thrown out of the house. The angel of God calls to her, comforts her, and promises that she will give birth to a son whom she will name “Ishamel” which means “God hears”… Grace for the ordinary

For Sarah, He is… The God who delivers…

…God heard Sarah laugh [Gen 18] as the angel of the Lord promised Abraham that the two of them would, in their old age, bear a son. This son would be the son of an incredible promise… Sustaining Faith in the Promise

For Ishmael, He is… The God who hears…

…God hears the baby crying [Gen 21] and rescues the infant Ishamel keeping the promise that he would father a great nation…

Read more »

Theophany: So What?!?

Posted by Danny

Friday, August 5, 2011

“The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them.” Psalm 34:7

“We could use a heavenly host in here!”

The ‘talent show’ is a family staple. Our Christmas Eve tradition involves family participation in the worship service at church, and then a full evening of food and fun at Nana’s house. On this particular year, the older grandchildren had prepared a surprise dramatic interpretation of the Christmas story as written in Luke 2. Elise was the reader/narrator and each of the others was assigned a role to play. In Meredith’s case, she inherited SEVERAL character parts, which required some rather rapid costume changes. So the drama began. As the story was read, each ‘actor’ came from the other room to stand in the arched doorway.

The story moved rapidly till it came to that great line, “And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying….” But there was no one on the stage. So our narrator repeated the line with a bit of a raised voice, “…and suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying….” A long and hilarious pause…no angel appeared.

Read more »

Lessons from a Tree

Posted by Danny

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

So, you think you could learn a lesson or two from a tree? Just imagine the Lord Himself walking by this tree with a group of followers. They’re not looking into the tree – nobody does that. They’re talking with each other, pointing to things in a distance, watching where they walk. And then, just as He walks under the tree, He looks up and there sits one of the most despicable men in Jericho. He’s a tax collector for the Romans which means that he’s collected taxes (and most likely stolen) from just about everyone in the city and surrounding areas. Not exactly someone you’d want to stop and talk to, let alone invite yourself to his house for a meal.

Like many people in the city, he’d heard about this man called Jesus and he wanted to get a good look at him. So, being resourceful, he spied a tree ahead along the path Jesus was taking, and Zaccheus scrambled up the tree for a better look. Little did he suspect that Jesus Himself would stop under the tree and talk with him, or end up at his house for dinner. All he wanted to do was to get a better look at this Jesus.

Read more »