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This Sunday at Amana our Pastor Emeritus, Terrell Reed, will be bringing the message. I have an insider tip that he will discuss the simplicity of the gospel. That’s a great topic. i don’t know what he plans to say, but I really believe we need to broadcast and celebrate the simplicity of the Gospel. God sent Jesus as Good News. One of the reasons that it’s good news is that it is understandable to most everyone. It isn’t complicated theology. In fact, when someone is discuss the Good News and you find yourself confused; you can be sure you are being led astray. Confusion is a tool of Satan; not of God. For centuries, evil men have tried to complicate the gospel. Often so that they would become necessary mediators between God and those of us who are smart enough to hear directly. These are the kind of men who discouraged reading of the scripture by the laity, asserting that such was too complicated. There are those who will take one verse of clear scripture and stretch, contort, and confuse if for an hour so that it is beyond the understanding of anyone. The longer I am a […]

Our youth pastor preached on Sunday and delivered a great sermon on the need for good works. His sermon struck a chord with me and reminded me of the deep division in the church which must be healed if we are to be all Christ needs us to be on this earth. With Christ as Foundation, there are two elements of Christian Life: Personal Growth and Good Works. It seems to me that much of the church has split along these lines with each half focusing on one or the other of these elements. The first branch I’ll call evangelical. It focuses on Personal Growth.  It tends to be conservative, to vote Republican, to focus on evangelism and sanctification. It is fiercely anti-abortion and tends to be thought of as “holier-than-thou” and unfeeling toward social needs and justice. Some would identify this as “white” Christianity. In John 3:16 this branch focuses on “whosoever.” Salvation and Christianity is considered more personal than universal. The other branch focuses on social justice, good works, if you will. It tends to be politically liberal. It gets behind social movements: civil rights, gay rights, etc. It tends to be pro-choice. It is often identified […]

My wife is a great lover of plants and planting. Over the years this love has resulted in a mass of flower beds in our back yard. Each spring we would weed the beds and mulch them planting plats of spring and summer flowers and the occasional experimental plant. Recently Rosemary has gained an allergy to wasp stings. She has to carry an epi-pen at all times. Living where we do we have tons of wasps and working in the yard is no longer an option for her. With my knee, which I originally injured doing spring mulching, I can no longer do much in the yard either. When Jonathan, our Youth Director, announced a “slave day” fund raiser to help build a school in Africa it seemed a chance to get at least some of the needed yard work done. The cost of getting the beds done professionally has become prohibitive. I scheduled our yard on the work day and asked my good friend Gary if I could borrow a trailer to haul in some mulch. In typical Gary fashion, he actually went with me to get the mulch and delivered it to our home. I hadn’t expected […]

The most important thing I do every morning is check my attitude. I need to look at the glass that is my life and realize how near to full it really is. It’s important for me to know that if this is the last day of my life I will awaken in heaven with my Lord. I need to remember I am surrounded by beautiful women from my bride through my daughter, grand daughter and three year old Kaydence. I need to remember I have a wonderful work situation that allows me time to do things like this blog. I need to recall I am in the richest nation on earth. I need to know I will have all the food I need today and money for every real need in my life. I recall that I am suffering from no malady that will hamper my mission or end my days on earth on this day. I need to begin the day realizing that I have more blessings than my arms can hold so that I live with an attitude that if I don’t give some of it away, the blessings will be wasted. Our choice is to consider […]

It’s so easy to forget that we are saved for a purpose, that salvation is not an end in itself. It makes us think thoughts like, “Why doesn’t Jesus just take us home the moment we are saved? Wouldn’t that make sense?” The problem is that it wouldn’t make sense. We are saved for good works. It’s a source of much confusion, causing some of us to believe that we are saved BY good works. It can become a pride thing whereby we judge ourselves and others by the quality of our good works. It can cause us to question the whole concept of salvation, concluding that if there aren’t sufficient “good works” can there really ever have been salvation. Probably the biggest problem is that many of us have lost the concept of joy in accomplishment. Real pleasure isn’t found in recreation; it comes in accomplishing something worthwhile. It’s built into our nature. Real joy comes from doing what we were created to do, in finding and working out our purpose. If life has become joyless, we need to seek out and perform good works. If we have become tired and frustrated we need to reconsider whether what […]

Yesterday I blasted teachers and preachers. I aimed at a real problem but after some thought not the biggest problem. Let me share my frustration and re-aim my concern. I believe that the church is the last best hope for us all. I also believe that it is generally ineffective in its mission. This is certainly not a failure of the Spirit, and probably less a failure of leadership than it is a lack of response in the flock. Let me use last Sunday at my church as an example. We have a teaching hour at 9 a.m. Sunday we had an important message on “Fishers of Men.” But like teaching hours at most churches, it was not well attended. However, the message was so important that the Spirit gave the same message to the Pastor to pass on at the principal service. Even many of the same scriptures were involved. As it turned out however, much of the church was not in a position to receive that message. Much of the 10 o’clock time was taken up in prayer for health and other needs. This was a Spirit Led time of prayer and very necessary. Our congregation, like […]

I love reading the words in red in scripture, the words of Jesus. They are a study in themselves. Jesus’ ability to convey profound thoughts in a handful of words is a wonderful gift. We have a limited window to communicate with others. If we pour out too many words without sufficient meaning, our listener will cut us off. We have all experienced the termination of listening long before the speaker has run out of words. Jesus was well aware of this phenomenon and spoke with a great respect for His listener with every word counting. Review the gospels and read any of Jesus teachings or exchanges. They are short and sweet and nothing is left to be said at the end. It is a gift that has been lost in the modern church. Much of what is said on Sunday mornings is repetitious babble. I don’t know why preachers think they can add to the words of Jesus. I don’t know why they think saying something 10 times is more profound than saying it once. There seems to be a compulsion to fill an imaginary time period each Sunday morning like we were dealing with a news talk […]

I am enjoying the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament this year. Two of my favorite teams are still alive: The Florida Gators and Kentucky Wildcats are both in the final eight. It’s amazing to me how the same programs have success each year. I understand that success breeds success; but it must be admitted that certain men have the uncanny ability to get self-centered, egotistical, eighteen year-old superstars, to decide they can be better and that success lays in being part of a team. It’s really what Jesus does for us in the process of Discipleship. Jesus meets us where we are, challenges us to be better than we are, makes us want to be better than we are, enables us to be better than we are, and joins us together as part of His spiritual body to spread His gospel here on earth. As part of the team, our real worth emerges. It’s amazing to watch these guys take skinny freshmen and build them into basketball scoring machines. These guys are drilled in teamwork. Each having a role in producing the eventual winning machine. It’s what Jesus calls us into. He wants us to give up our individual goals […]