Why?

With Hurricane Matthew quickly approaching the East Coast, I'm reminded of the tension we all live with:  Why do bad things happen?

Though it's no easier to stomach, we at least 'get it' when someone does something evil and the innocent are injured or killed.  We can explain it so much more easily.  Someone made an ugly decision.  Evil actions by one can affect many.  We get that.

But hurricanes?  Floods?  Tornadoes?  Typhoons?  Earthquakes?  Why?  Why, God, why?

Perhaps this is the point at which many who don't consider themselves people of faith shun God.  "If God were real or loving," one might say, "how could God let such a terrible thing happen?"  Even people of faith struggle through this.  Doesn't God control the weather?  Why wouldn't God stop a storm from killing hundreds, sometimes thousands?  Is God judging us, and does that fit with the character of God that that I thought I knew?

See...lots of questions.

There aren't many easy answers in the face of disaster and tragedy.  Nothing really soothes us and makes us feel 'okay' about the hurt and heartache we are witnessing.  But there is an explanation.  In a sense, we are under judgment, but not the way you think.

I don't believe that natural disasters occur because God is judging a particular region or people.  That's not the message of the Bible.  The story of the Scriptures is that we are all under judgment because of sin.  Sin messed all this up.

Shortly after the original sin of Adam and Eve, in Genesis 3:17 God says to Adam, "Cursed is the ground because of you." The earth is cursed because of sin.  Because of sin, everything is not as it should be.  The cosmos was knocked off its axis.  Creation is out of sync with the Creator.

Storms, floods, earthquakes...these were not part of the original plan.  This was all supposed to be perfect.  We were supposed to be in perfect relationship with God.  Sin messed it up.  Sin messed it ALL up.

What we are seeing is the result of a broken world, but this is not the end of the story.  In fact, people of faith are environmentalists of the highest order.  For while Jesus came to save humanity, we believe God is at work to redeem all of Creation.  Creation longs for this.  Romans 8:22 says, "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time."  And when Christ comes in final victory, we believe that not only are we made new, but there is a new heaven and new earth.  Everything will be restored.  No more storms, no more tragedy.

In the meantime, our hope is in prayer.  And our task is in being the people of God in the midst of tragedy, whether that means donating money, flood buckets or supplies.  Until there is a new earth and all of Creation has been redeemed, let us be the glimmer of redemption when brokenness rears it's ugly head.  

What is Truth?

What is truth?

That is the question Pilate asked Jesus.  It's an incredibly important question.  It's one we're struggling with culturally in a million ways.  And this is relevant to everyone.  We all have a standard of truth, even if that standard is something we made up entirely ourselves.

The first problem we seem to be having is actually deciphering if something someone has said, sung or written is erroneous.  All we have to do is put the right picture with it, post it and it seems true.  The internet has made this incredibly difficult.  Just because your best friend from 3rd grade (who is now a grand-mother) posted it, that doesn't mean it's true.  Just because it was reported by a major news outlet, that doesn't mean it's true.  Just because someone who is usually trustworthy said it, that doesn't mean it's true.  In this day and age, we'd do well to investigate further before we buy into whatever we read or hear.

But truth is crucial at a deeper level, and this is perhaps the most difficult.  I'm reading a book right now in preparation for a sermon series I've got coming it.  It's okay.  I agree with the author on most points, but his approach is way different than mine.  That's a good thing.  I'm learning from a different angle. Most of his stuff is spot on, makes me think deeper and makes me think about the topic differently.  But, on some points...he's wrong.  He's wrong compared to what I believe to be the truth revealed in God's Word -- because that's my barometer for truth.

You have a truth.  Whether it comes from your parents, your feelings, your heart, your friends, your culture, your church or the Scriptures or a combination of many of those and more, it plays a role in how you approach each an every situation.

Be careful what you believe.  Be careful if it's really true.  For truth is real.  And it matters.  And if you're considering banking your life on what you believe to be true that seems to go against what God has revealed in the Bible...are you sure it's really true.  For me, I have found that the truth in Scripture, though often very uncomfortable personally, has never let me down and has proven to be truth I can trust as what's best for me.

Just something I was thinking about today.

Beyond Understanding

Let's face it, we like order in life.  We like to have everything under control.  We like to calculate and plan and prepare and set our calendars.  And we want to know just what God is doing.  Recently, I was reading the story of Samson's birth.  Samson was a judge over Israel, and his birth is one of many miraculous birth stories in the Bible.

His parents are encountered by an angel who declares to them Samson's pending birth and gives this special instructions about how to nurture and raise him to be the leader God has created him to be.  They invite the angel to stay for dinner and Samson's father asks the angel his name.  This is his reply:

He replied, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding." (Judges 13:18)

It's a profound notion.  You can't even understand my name.  You couldn't dream of understanding everything else going on in the heavenly realms.  When you meet a person with a unique name, it might take you a few minutes to pronounce it right. You might ask them what it means in their family or in their language, and they tell you.  It all makes sense then.  You understand they are from a unique family or culture, but you eventually get it.  This angel was from a culture, a realm, a world, a place, an existence that you and I can't understand.

I want to understand all that God is doing in my life and in the world.  I don't.  I can't.  My knowledge and scope is soooooooooo limited.  That leaves me with lingering questions:  Am I going to trust and follow even if I don't fully understand where I am going?  Am I going to 'lean into' Jesus even if I can't fully see where, exactly, I'm leaning?  Am I'm I going to take my next faithful step even if I'm not sure what the step after that looks like?

I am convinced this is the course for people of faith and a critical step in becoming a disciple.  We so deeply want it all to make sense and have the next 5-10-20 years planned out.

We can't.

Because we don't know where this is going.

And even if He told us, it is beyond our understanding.

For we see dimly what will one day be clear.

But it's not for now.

So will you just go?  Will you stop planning and just take the next faithful step?  That's my task.  I don't understand it all, Lord, but I'm willing to walk with you.  Because though it doesn't always make sense, I trust YOU more than the best-laid plans of mice and men, namely me.  Could that be your prayer today?

Wisdom From Above

16 For where envy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every kind of evil. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy. 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace.

                                -James 3:16-18

This little passage in James was what I felt led to share with our church yesterday.  In Godly wisdom, there is no favoritism, which pretty much covers up all the '-isms.'  No racism, ageism, class-ism, sexism, denominational-ism, or any other -ism you or I could scheme up.  There's just not.  It. Is. Not. A. Part. Of. God's. Wisdom.

Instead, the kind of wise life that God promotes among His people is one that sows fruit of righteousness that cultivates peace.  Is everything you are doing sowing righteousness and cultivating peace?  Every article you share online?  Every comment you make?  Every thought you think?  Every conversation you have?  Every action?  

Probably more than anything else that I pray for myself, I ask God for wisdom.  I want to be wise.  This is a part of what God's wisdom, from above, looks like.  Without this kind of wisdom that serves others, loves peace, offers mercy and is gentle, we get a world that is self-absorbed and envious of one another.  And we get disorder and every kind of evil.  I don't want that.  I want to be wise.  Let's you and I together seek to be wise this week in how we act, speak, and love.

On Politics, Faith and Who's Right

Just as we've celebrated our nation's birthday again (can you believe in a mere 10 years we'll be 250 years old -- that'll be a great party!), I soberly remember that we are almost exactly four months from perhaps the most contentious election in U.S. history.  This Friday will be the four month marker to November 8th.  The glow of the fireworks and our unity in red, white and blue will soon fade to mud-slinging and name-calling.  I wish it weren't true.  But it is.

Pastors hold an interesting place in the political spectrum of America.  I lead a congregation and seek to reach a community that is surely comprised of Democrats, Republicans and everything in between.  My goal in ministry is never to sway votes because earthly elections seem so small in the face of my eternal calling.  I'm trying to sway people to Jesus, not Trump or Clinton or whatever local leader that's up for election.  That doesn't mean I don't have opinions.  I just kind of pride myself in the idea that you'd have to have a crowbar to get them out of me.  My political opinions are my opinions, and they're not much helpful to my cause as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus.  Moreover, I'm increasingly convinced that I am grossly ill-informed and uneducated as to the depths of most political issues.  I am inclined to not have strong opinions about things in which I know my knowledge is limited.

I am greatly concerned about the next four months, though, as it relates to the Body of Christ.  I am troubled at how we might portray ourselves in these next four months.  Church, can we please be the Church, at it's best, this election season?  Can we live Proverbs 13:3,

"Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin."

If you are not a Christian, that's still some pretty good advice.  If you're a Christian, it's in the book.  We're supposed to do it.

A key concept for me to recall is that most of the political issues that any of us get all hot and bothered about are very complex.  I recently starting reading John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage.  In the foreword, his brother, Robert, says that any democracy exists "in the struggle for solutions which are very rarely easy to find."  John Kennedy later writes, "There are few if any issues where all the truth and all the right and all the angels are on one side."

It's why speaking rashly comes to ruin.  When we sit an think things through, we can at least see other angles to the story.  Our 'side' in a political debate almost never has all the right on its side.  We'd do well to recognize and admit that.  We can understand that it's very complex. And we understand a bigger picture.  For the Christian, the bigger picture is eternity.

Church, convincing someone to vote for your candidate will not secure their eternity.  Convincing someone to follow your Christ will save their soul.  But you and I won't do it with words.  I'm not saying it's not an important election.  I'm just saying there's something far more important at stake on which to focus our energies, so let's guard our lips.

*John F. Kennedy. Profiles in Courage.  New York:  Harper Collins, 2003.

Where do you get your truth?

Yesterday in church I sang a quick line from a country song because it relayed a message that was against what the scriptures teach...and it seemed so innocent.  It was catchy and probably a lot of people relate to it and it sold a bunch of records.  But they reflect a culture that embodies a dangerous kind of thinking.  There is a new country song that disturbs me much more.  I mean -- deeply disturbs me.

You have to know that I'm a son of the South.  I was raised on Sweet Tea and whispering pines.  I have a very eclectic music taste, and listen to a little bit of evertything.  But I cut my teeth on country music.  I wanted to be the next Garth Brooks, and grew up with Alan Jackson, Clint Black, George Strait, Reba, the Judds, Martina McBride and Brooks & Dunn.  I grew to love those that came before me like Johnny Cash, Waylon, and Merle.  My love for country music has evolved with the industry.  I love Sugarland, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean and Sam Hunt (shout out to Cedartown -- hometown of Sam Hunt, Nick Chubb and my parents!).

My children almost always have their alarm clocks tuned to a country station.  They get it from me.  Country music is in my blood.

But there's a dangerous kind of thinking that country music sometimes reveals about the South -- cultural Christianity.  Sometimes people think because we were raised in the Bible Belt that makes us Christian.  Or because we mention God in a song.  Or because we were a cross around our neck.  Sometimes, the kind of music that sounds like it has some nice religious undertones can contain a most dangerous message.

A couple of weeks ago I heard the song H.O.L.Y. from Florida-Georgia Line.  It's really a catchy song.  It's suppose to mean "high on loving you," but you wouldn't know that from the way it's used in the song.  Instead, it offers a dangerous gospel.  Here's are some lyrics:

When the sun had left and the winter came

And the sky thought to only bring the rain

I sat in darkness

All broken hearted

I couldn't find a day I didn't feel alone

I never meant to cry, started losing hope

But somehow baby

You broke through and saved me

You're an angel, tell me you're never leaving

Cause you're the first thing I know I can believe in

You're holy, holy, holy, holy

I'm high on loving you, high on loving you

You're holy, holy, holy, holy

I'm high on loving you, high on loving you

Well, that's interesting.  It sounds kind of churchy, right?  It's not.  It's the exact opposite.  1 Samuel 2:2 says the opposite, "“There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God."  The Apostle Paul said that no one is righteous.  Not one person.  We are in dangerous places when we begin saying that another person saves us and is our source of hope.  That is not the gospel.

So what's the point.  The point is that there is a world out there hungry for something to give their lives meaning, purpose and hope.  Many are looking to be saved and longing for something holy.  Too many settle for a knock-off imitation of true holiness and true wholeness.  Earthly love can be wonderful, but it won't complete you.  You were designed for so much more.

There's also a powerful reminder here to thinking about what is shaping own thinking, and the culture we live in can seductively warp our thinking.  And, frankly, the culture's not always right.  We have to have wisdom to hear what our culture (even the ones we love) are telling us and say, "No, that's not right.  I reject that."  If not, a dangerous message could become our dangerous way of life.

Time Flies

How did this happen?

How in the world did we get here?  The only emergency credit card I have was about to expire so I got the new one in the mail.  I looked at the new expiration date and had to pause a minute.  I thought, "I have a card that will expire in the 2020s?"  That's, like, in the future.  

I am in a very strange time of life.  I am just an adult.  I'm not quite seasoned enough to have all the sage wisdom those near or at retirement have.  And I just don't quite have the energy that those just starting out have.  I'm in the middle.  But by the time you get to the middle, you begin to think about time differently.

After today, I will have a child headed to middle school.  That seems incredibly weird.  I have elementary kids -- not middle schoolers!  It's these realizations that people have what we used to call a "mid-life crisis."  I don't think I'll be buying any convertibles any time soon (what folks used to do during 'the crisis'), but we all certainly start looking for an answer to life's most important questions:  am I living for what I want to live for?  Is there more than the rate race?  

You see, and I don't mean to depress you, but here's something I know about you.  That number up there ^^^^^...

You've got one, too.  

That's right, you've got an expiration date.  Now, I hope it's a long, long ways off.  I'm sure it is.  But it's closer today than it was yesterday.  The realization of this for me is that I just want to be a part of what God is doing.  I want to know my life was a part of a much grander story than my own.  My story is too small.  We spend an awful lot of time on our story, which is really a 12-page short story in the midst of God's 1,500 page multi-volume novel printed in 100 languages.  The ending to my story is coming so quickly.  I mean, my card expires in the 2020's, y'all!  

Here's what I believe about us.  We find our best story in the midst of God's story.  When we live our own lives our own way we live in a story that is so limited and ends when we die, remembered by a few friends and family.  In God's story, we find our truest selves.  We are afforded the opportunity to participate in a story that spans eternity.

Would you pray the prayer of Habakkuk?  "Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known."  (Habakkuk 3:2)  Don't you want to be a part of something bigger in your time?  Times flying, but it's never too late to start a new story.

Things you don't want to hear God repeatedly say

Be strong and courageous.  It sounds so encouraging, right?  It's uplifting.  We put it on little plaques and put it in our office.  I starting reading Joshua 1 again this morning, where that line famously comes from.  It's the call of God on Joshua to take the reins from Moses after his death.  And God says, "Be strong and courageous."

Three times.

Three.

3.

THREE TIMES!

Then, the people accept his new leadership and they say the same thing.  "We'll follow you Joshua, and be strong and courageous."

That's four times.

FOUR.

You know what that means?  Joshua was going to need to be strong and courageous.  That may seem silly. But really, when God tells you to be strong and courageous, that means He sees some days coming during which you'll need strength and courage.  Wouldn't you rather God lead you on a relaxing path to Easy Street?  It usually doesn't work that way.  We'll have days of difficulty and great challenge.

You'll have those days.  It won't always be a cakewalk.  You'll need strength, and you'll need courage to accomplish what God has planned for you.  And, like Joshua, God will promise to be with you, but that doesn't mean you won't need to be strong and courageous.

Don't think when life hands you opportunities to be strong and courageous that God has left the building.  This is what God has prepared you for.  You might be facing one of those days today or one might be around the corner, but you can do it.  Don't shrink from it.  Just because it's not easy doesn't mean you have to turn tail and run.  Be strong.  Fight through it.  Be courageous and bold.  God is with you.  He never promised this would be easy.  He just promised He'd be with you.  So, be strong and courageous.

We Don't Know What to Do

We don't know what to do.  We are becoming numb to terror.  At least 34 dead in Brussels.  At least 16 dead on the Ivory Coast.  And we don't know how to to respond.  But this is the same with all of life.  In the United States, we are in the middle of the most brutal political season ever, namely because of social media.  More people are more aware of what is going on because of media coverage and more people than ever are sharing their opinions because of social media.  And we don't know how to respond.

When I say 'we,' I mean all of humanity, but I can't ever say 'we' without meaning the Body of Christ.  We Christians aren't sure how to respond.  We are broken-hearted over lost life and lost innocence in places where terror strikes.  We are angry and vengeful to see the terrorist pay.  We are remorseful that our world has come to this.  We are outraged at political commentary and our friends' contrasting opinions on the candidates for our country's presidency.  And we ask ourselves, "Are they really my friend if they see this issue differently?"

And outrage seems to be what the Church does best these days.  We Christians are really good at outrage.  That's kind of our 'go-to' response, but deep down we know it doesn't feel right.  We just don't know what to do, so we're outraged.  We're outraged at a religious group killing innocent people.  Outraged at this or that government's response.  Outraged at that politician comments.  Outraged at this politicians lack of comments.  Outraged at this governmental policy.  Outraged at school board decisions.  Outraged at teacher's teaching methods.  Outraged at our kids lack of playing time.  Outraged our pastor said something political.  Outraged our pastor won't say anything political.  We're just really good at outrage.  I think non-believers have gotten the message:  Christians are outraged.

I'm outraged, too.  I'm outraged that people are killing other people in places like Brussels and the Ivory Coast.  I'm outraged at terror.  But I'm not surprised by it.  In fact, I'm outraged at myself and my lack of courage, compassion, and selflessness.  I'm outraged at my own sin and selfishness and hardness of heart.  This world is broken.  Sin reigns because we've let it.  All of us.  It's a world that needs Jesus.  And I'm convinced my outrage won't help.

I'm convicted by Philippians 1:27, when the Apostle Paul wrote, "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ."  Whatever happens.  We control how we conduct ourselves.  What if 100 people in one church took that seriously in their neighborhood?  What if 1,000 from a few different churches took that seriously in their community?  What if 100,000 took it seriously in a region?  What if millions of Christians took that seriously in the U.S?  What if the 2-3 billion Christians took that seriously worldwide?  What if we conduct ourselves at work, at the ball field, at home, on social media, in the grocery store line in a manner that is worthy of the gospel of Christ?

We do know what to do -- we just won't do it.  Outrage is so much easier than obedience.

When Disaster Strikes

Canaan United Methodist Church in Ridgeville, SC

I am a native South Carolinian.  I was born in Rock Hill, south of Charlotte, and raised in a small town called Williamston on the banks of the Saluda River.   My folks live in the Upstate, and my brother, sister-in-law and two nephews live in the Midlands.  I have cousins and aunts and uncles there.  For nearly 18 years of my life, it was home.  This past week, Mother Nature ravaged the Palmetto State.  The death count continues to rise, the damage is inexplicable, schools are still closed and it raised questions that we all struggle with when disaster strikes.

• Why would God allow such a thing to happen?
• If God controls the weather, why didn't he stop it?
• Where is God in natural disasters?

God allows a lot.  Contrary to popular belief, I don't believe the message of the Bible is one of a puppet-master God in the sky who controls every moment in history.  Being in control and controlling are two different things.  God is in control, but God doesn't control everything.  

Sin knocked the cosmos off its axis.  In the Garden of Eden, sin caused childbirth to be painful and the ground to become difficult in agriculture.  We take these things as normal.  They are not normal.  God did not intend them to be this way.  Sin brought death to humanity.  Sin broke the world, and we're still living in the brokenness.  A crazed gunman at a college campus, a flood in South Carolina, and cancer in a loved one.  They are reminders of our brokenness.

Is there good news?  The message of Jesus is that he is redeeming all this -- he is making all things new.  And one day, when there is a New Heaven and New Earth, this will all be fixed.  Murder is not normal.  Natural Disasters aren't normal.  Cancer isn't normal.  God is fixing this back to the way it should be.  And He can fix it through us.

When we reach out in love across the picket line, when we volunteer and donate to disaster relief, when we care for a friend with cancer, when we pray for the family of the murdered, when we choose love over hate, when we choose selflessness over selfishness, we begin to bring more of that redemption into this world.  God is with us.  The question is how will we allow Him to revealed in us?  

God didn't do this.  Stop saying that.  God's not into flooding things anymore.  Trust me.  I read about it one time.  It's a broken world.  It's messed up.  We're messed up.  Our weather is messed up.  Our systems are messed up.  How are allowing Him to fix a corner of this messed up world through you?  How is He redeeming you, making you new, restoring you?  

Coffee, Cake & Coversation

We're excited to be launching a 4-week Wednesday night series called "Coffee, Cake & Conversation" at Harmony Grove Church of the Way.  We'll be discussing some of the hottest topics in our culture.  I'll be joined by other pastors and community leaders to talk about the following issues:

Sept. 9 - RACE
Sept. 16 - HOMOSEXUALITY
Sept. 23 - POLITICS
Sept. 30 - DATING

There are a few ways you can be involved:

1.  Join us for refreshments at 6 p.m. and dialogue at 6:30 p.m.  Childcare available up through 5th grade.

2.  Send in a question!  You can do that in a variety of ways:

• Leave it in the comments here.
• tweet us @churchoftheway
• post it to facebook at www.facebook.com/churchoftheway
• email to info@churchoftheway.net
• Leave a card in one of the boxes at one of our campuses

Tragedy

Yesterday, the state of Georgia was rocked with the news of five young Georgia Southern students who were killed in a multi-car wreck on I-16.  The five young women were nursing students on the way to a clinical in Savannah.  From the pictures I've seen of them on social media, they were full of life and enthusiasm.  Sometimes you can see it in a smile.  I thought of a few of my dearest friends who have daughters at GSU.  It could have been them.  They're about the same age.  It hits close to home.

Simply, there is not real answer for tragedy.  Shame us when we try to find one.  God did NOT need five more angels.  God's got plenty of angels, and we humans don't become angels anyway.  It wasn't 'their time to go.'  No one has a time.  It wasn't God's will.  My God is not in the business of killing young, vibrant college students.  Everything does NOT happen for a reason.  Sometimes there are no reasons.  Sometimes there is simply tragedy that interrupts life.

We live in a broken world where sin, death, and tragedy are a reality.  There was a plan in which it was not like this.  It was called Eden.  But the brokenness of humanity knocked this world off it's axis, and we've seen heartache and tragedy ever since.  It was not God's original design that we would ever see death.

To believe that God wills our deaths and controls events is a tragic and unfortunate kind of thinking.  It doesn't reveal the true heart of God and the greatest promises of Scripture.  Tragedy simply happens.  Our broken world rears its ugly head sometimes.  Life derails just because it does.  There are no reasons, no greater plan, and no answers.

But there are promises.  God's promise is that He is with us, even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death.  He comforts us.  He does not and will not abandon us, no matter how bleak it seems.  My hope and prayer for those families of those precious girls is that they would know the abiding presence of God in these days and the days to come.

And there is another promise.  We weren't supposed to taste death, but we did.  The fall of humanity in Genesis carved a path that each of us have followed.  Since the beginning, we have had a death problem.  God fixed that.  That's why Easter matters to us.  Those of us who follow Christ are still in the 'Easter Season' in which we are celebrating Christ's resurrection from the grave.  We believe Jesus defeated death.  And the hope of the Christian is that, in Christ, we will, too.  Not only in eternal life, but in the resurrection to come.  We really believe that.  We believe that God is with us in the valley, and that one day we will rise again, stare death in the face and say, "Where, o death, is your victory; where is your sting?"  

In the face of tragedy, let us not say the trite things that end up being hurtful more than helpful.  There is no reason for these things.  God is as heartbroken as us.  He weeps at our broken world.  He weeps at our death.  But He is with us, and he has been devising a plan to win back His people over death since the beginning.  May those who face tragedy rests in His presence, and may we all hope in His promises.

Sunday Preview & Thought for the Week (10.9.14)

What an awesome week!  I hope you're having a good one.  Good things are happening at Church of the Way and I can't wait to see what God does next.  Hey, have you heard about our One Way Middle School ministry on Sundays at noon at our Grayson Campus?  Check it out!

This Sunday, we'll be concluding the "CRAZY" series on King David by talking about his relationship with his son, Absalom.  It is a powerful story.  It's been speaking to me for months as we planned this series.  I hope to see you there.  

Thought for the Week
"The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord."  Judges 10:6

Again.  If you read Judges, that's the theme you'll find.  I've been teaching about Judges recently and we keep reading that word.  Again.  Again God's people turned away.  Again they were unfaithful.  They did was was evil in the sight of the Lord...again.  Do you struggle with again?  Why don't we get it?  What speaks to me in all the 'agains' is that God keeps coming back.  We often feel like "this time" we went too far for God.  He'll never take us back.  We've turned away one too many times.  We've done it -- again.  There a few lessons here:

1. If we are not diligent, we'll fall back to former ways again.  When we don't focus on God, spend time with God, take time to pray and read God's Word, get ourselves in a Bible Study, or whatever makes our faith grow, we'll be sure to stagnate and, again, fall away.
2. God's love stretches beyond 'again.'  God pursues us because of His great love.  We don't deserve.  We might run away, but God always runs after us again.  He loves us that much.
3. Bonus:  What would it mean for us to have the heart of God when others hurt us again and again?  That's a tough.  We'll talk more about that on Sunday.

Have an awesome weekend!

Carter 

Sunday Preview & Thought for the Week (8.14.14)

I hope you're having a great week.  God is doing some awesome things among us at Church of the Way.  Last night we had 53 students at our One Way Kickoff.  Praise God for what James Savage and our One Way Team are doing to impact the next generation.  I'm super excited about this Sunday as we continue the "Legacy" Series.  I'll be speaking on what it means to leave a good name for those that come after us.  What goes into a good name?  We'll see what God's Word has to say about it.  Hope to see you there an invite a friend!  As always, go to www.churchoftheway.net to send an eVite to friends.

Thought for the Week
"All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."  2 Timothy 3:16

Do you believe that verse?  The implications of that passage are staggering.  I have come to the conclusion that many don't believe it.  We like some ideas in the Bible, but we're not sure if they're all applicable to our lives.  They don't really "fit" our lifestyle.  Let me put it this way.  Doctors tell us that some foods are bad for us.  Now, many of us still choose to eat those foods.  Why?  Well, there are many factors, but here are the main three:

1. We believe we'll be THE ONE for whom those foods don't have an adverse affect.  They might be bad for others, but not for us.  Deep down, we sometimes believe that we won't be negatively affected by those foods.  They rules simply don't and won't apply to us because our bodies will respond differently than doctors predict.
2. We don't care and like them.  Our appetites and desires are powerful forces.  I know cheesecake and red velvet cake are not good for me.  I don't care.  I like them.  I try to practice moderation and only have them on special occasions.  Maybe moderation will help?  It's certainly better than having a piece of cake every day.  I care enough to cut back, but I don't care enough to never have a piece of cheesecake or red velvet cake ever again.  After all, I don't think they're THAT bad for me.  I'll just run a couple extra miles and make up for it.
3. We're not really sure the doctors know what they're talking about.  This is a big one, and it's legitimate.  We are learning new things about the human body all the time.  And what we're learning is that things we thought we used to know we don't know any more.  We used the thing eggs were bad, remember?  And, we all have an uncle or grandma who ate bacon every morning and fried vegetables at ever meal and lived to be 96.  So, for us, this is evidence that Physicians don't quite have our physiology completely figured out.

Now, think about that when it comes to ALL of God's directions for our life found in the Bible.  They are directions for the most full and healthy life we can have in Christ.  If we are honest, we often treat God's Word like eating directions from our doctor:

1. We think not listening to Him won't have as adverse an affect on us as predicted.
2. We don't care and really like our vice.
3. We're not sure He knows what He's talking about.

Essentially, we're not sure it all has authority for us, but this is not the plan for the full life God desires for each of us.  Let me ask you one question:  of all the people you know, which ones have the most full and joy-filled lives, the ones who are most closely aligned with God's Word or the ones who steer farthest from it?  And which one do you want to be?

In Christ,

Carter