Lovin' Tellin' The Story

Photo courtesy of kingcarp Adapted from a sermon given 7/28/2013 Recently the Lord has been emphasizing some things in my heart about the church. A few weeks ago this thought struck me; If "church" is a place we go, then it is also a place we can leave. Let me restate that for clarity and emphasis. If "church" is a place we can visit, or a location we can go then it is also a place we can leave after a prescribed amount of time. This has some very serious implications, one of which we will look at a little later. The other thing that the Lord struck me with recently was this thought; Jesus didn't come to this earth, live, die a torturous death, go into the grave and rise again on the third day for two or three hours of our week. These two thoughts go hand in hand because the latter informs the former. In Acts 20:28 the Bible tells us, Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shephe...

Right off the bat I want to admit that I did not live through the times of great racial tension in the 1950's and 60's. However, it appears to me that the times we are living in now are some of the most racially charged of my lifetime (1981-present). For that reason I want to approach this topic carefully, yet honestly. Even some of the highest officials in our government claim that we need to have an open and honest discussion about race in our land. Well, here is my open honesty. Please take it with the love and care in which it is intended. From my point of view, as an evangelical Christian, there is absolutely NO  room for racism of any shade in the Gospel of Jesus Christ or His followers. I could very easily stop right there because that just about sums up the truth of the matter. However, I think some further words are necessary. The clearest statement from Scripture on this subject is Galatians 3:28; There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man...

Photo courtesy of kaniths It should be no surprise to any of us that love is, perhaps, the most oft quoted attribute of God. This is for good reason. 1 John 4:8 tells us as much, "for God is love." Indeed, one cannot conceive of any other attribute of God without first considering His unending, unconditional love for His creation. God loved enough to create us. He loved enough to give us free will and when we used that free will to disobey Him, He sent His Son, whom He loved, to die in our stead. The Gospels and the message of Jesus are replete with the command to love, not only those who love us, but even those who do not. To try and comprehend God or His Word without looking through the lens of love is the acme of foolishness. However, it has come to my attention that God's love, and our concept of the godly love we are to display, has been tragically perverted over the years. Recently, I have seen the transformation of godly, biblical love into a love that would ...