The Essential Background to The Cross


The four basic biblical concepts of The Gravity of Sin, Human Moral Responsibility, True and False Guilt, and The Holiness and Wrath of God are needed to be understood in order for us to understand the heart of the cross. The truth about God is a foreign notion to modern-day man.

The kind of God who appeals to most people today would be the easygoing in His tolerance of our offenses. They see God as an old man with a white beard; almost like a Santa Claus. He would be gentle, kind, accommodating, and would have no violate reactions.

That is not the God of the Bible and sadly to say some churches have lost the vision of the majesty of God. All inadequate doctrines of the atonement are due to inadequate doctrines of God and humanity. If we bring God down to our level and raise ourselves to His, we see no need for a racial salvation, let alone for a racial atonement to secure it.

On the other hand, when we glimpsed the blinding glory of the holiness of God and have been so convicted of our sin by the Holy Spirit that we tremble before God and acknowledge what we are-hell-deserving sinners-then and only then does the necessity of the cross appear so obvious that we are astonished we never saw it before.

The essential background to the cross is a balanced understanding of the gravity of sin and the majesty of God.

My Little Ray of Sunshine


On February 23rd, Ripley will be 15 months old. Man, where has the time gone? Just last night I was thinking to myself, how can I be so blessed with this little girl in my life? Her nickname fits her well, Sunshine. She just glows when she is doing her thing; her thing is walking laps around the living room and stopping to dance whenever she hears music. To be so young, she has some moves. Her dance moves have grown from shacking her little rear to walking fast in a figure eight with her hands in the air to now she shacks her hips. She even has some foot work; marching in place but its foot work. She is very cute when she hears music; her eyes sparkle and she has this huge smile on her face. Teresa is hoping that Ripley gets my talent to sing.

I never knew how much I wanted children until God blessed Teresa and me with Ripley Anne. We really never tried but we stopped preventing back in 2005 so it was a pleasant surprised when we found out in March 2009 that Teresa was 4 weeks pregnant. The past 15 months have been a roller coast of feelings and experiences; from learning Ripley at 10 days old had to have surgery to correct a lower intestine mal-rotation where God showed Himself faithful in ways I’ve never seen (thank you Lord!) to seeing her grow and thrive as she walked for the first time 2 days before her first birthday and now she is almost to the point she is running. My God is so awesome; I can barely contain the awe I have for Him. Who am I that He blesses me so? I know He does it because He is my Father and He loves me.

I read that people will see God (as their Heavenly Father) the way they have experienced their earthly father. The way they were treated (good or bad) affects how they think God will treat them. I’ve counseled a young lady years ago who had difficulty seeing God as a loving Father because her earthly father had abandon her. It affected how she saw God. I’ve read and saw first hand how that young ladies who don’t get their love from their earthly father find it elsewhere; most of the time by having sex with men trying to fill that void in their hearts; both lost females and even Christian females do this to feel loved. I take all this to heart when I look at my little girl knowing how I treat her and love her is how she will see God as her Heavenly Father. When I love her unconditional, she will see how God can love her the same way and understand how He came to save her on the cross. Because of the love He has for her. I take my job as Ripley’s father very seriously; both Teresa and Ripley are my first priority after God and my duties as a pastor come after my two ladies.

I could go on and on about Ripley but I will finish with on Saturday Teresa and I will take Ripley to our local zoo for the first time. It will be fun and we will take photos. I leave you with some photos of the last 15 months of me with my little ray of Sunshine.

Ripley ready to go shopping with Mommy on 2/18.

Ripley stopped in middle of doing her laps.

The family at Christmas.

Ripley playing with her new doll>

Ripley hanging with cousin at July 4th picnic.

Enjoying some Daddy time with Ripley.

Ripley with her friend Pooh.

The day after Ripley came home from CHKD and her surgery.

A 5 day old Ripley using me as her nap mat; I loved every minute of it.

Me holding a 2 hour old Ripley on Nov. 23, 2009.

Teach Your Children Well


Today is Valentine’s Day. Teresa and I do not celebrate this holiday (I use the term holiday loosely), because Teresa refuses to allow Hallmark and the candy companies to dictate when and how we show our love for each other. Yes, I have an awesome wife. I call her my Proverbs 31 woman. This morning, I saw a card and a note from Teresa asking me to write something in for a keepsake for Ripley. I think this is a neat idea so I thought about what to write because it will be something Ripley may keep as a remembrance of her Daddy. I came up with 2 sentences (it was 5:30 in the morning after all). I wrote;

“It’s been neat to watch you grow. I look forward to seeing the person you become.

Love,
Daddy”

I wish I was one of those people who write in journals. I’ve tried a handful of times since the mid 1980’s to do so but I don’t last long doing it. This blog is the closest I’ve come to writing in a journal and as you can see I’m not constant. I write as I feel the need to or have something to say. I wish I could write life lessons I’ve learned in a book and leave it for Ripley to read when she is old enough to understand. My hope and my desire is that she will see me live a life that she will want to have; one that is pleasing to our Heavenly Father. As I think about the desire to leave something written for Ripley, I think about the book of Ecclesiastes which is a book Solomon wrote for his son Rehoboam. The book was meant to give wisdom and lessons learned to his son who would be king after him.

When Solomon wrote this book to his son, he was coming back to God after doing his own thing thus the book’s opening statement; ‘”Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, Vanity of vanities! All is vanity (verse 2).”’ Solomon went from being given the wisdom of God, building the Temple of God to doing his own thing by building altars to idols and trusting in man instead of trusting in God. The reason for all his wives is that they came with treaty agreements with other nations. By the time that Solomon learned that he needed God and only God, it was too late to teach his son (Rehoboam). Though the book of Ecclesiastes is used in our churches to instruct, the intended target (Rehoboam) missed the meaning or disregarded it. By that time, Solomon’s actions spoke louder than his pen. 1 Kings 12 tells what happened after Rehoboam became king of Israel. It’s a sad commentary but a lesson we need to remember. Our children are watching.

Lord willing, I will be the man Ripley needs to see in order for her to see our Heavenly Father.

Whatever Happened to SIN?


I’m reading “The Cross of Christ” by John R.W. Stott, and it’s a great read. It has blown my expectations away. I knew it would be good (being around 25 years) but Stott is spot on. This book was published in 1986 and my copy is the 20th Anniversary Edition (copyright 2006). There is so much to take from this book, but one thing has popped out that I had to share is on pages 92 and 93.

Pages 92 and 93 are in “the Problem of Forgiveness” chapter and are under the sub point of “The Gravity of Sin.” Stott uses some interesting information taken from the book “Whatever Became of Sin” by Karl Menninger. Karl Menninger is (no idea if he is still alive or not) a psychiatrist who shares his thoughts how society has removed the word SIN from our vocabulary. It’s striking what he writes (or better put, what John Stott quotes). It’s a reminder to me that we should not sugar coat what sin is and how it affects us and our society. Below is some of what Stott has in these pages; its eye opening.

“Describing the malaise of western society, its general mood of gloom and doom, he [Karl Menninger] adds that “one misses any mention of ‘sin.’” Enquiring into the cases of sin’s disappearance, Menninger notes first that “many former sins have become crimes, “ so that responsibility for dealing with them has passed from church to state, from priest to policeman, while others have dissipated into sicknesses, or at least into symptoms of sickness, so that in their cases punishment has been replaced by treatment. A third convenient device called “collective irresponsibility” has enabled us to transfer the blame for some of our deviant behavior from ourselves as individuals to society as a whole or to one of its many groupings.”

When I first read this, I thought that Menninger is spot on and then I saw the biography data at the bottom of the page and saw he wrote his book in 1973. I was 3 years old when he published this work and I can say that he is spot on and that it is even worse now some 38 years later. Stott puts another quote from Menninger that reinforces for me the importance for preachers to preach the Bible and not feel good talks. Stott has on page 93 a quote that I hopefully will not forget; “The clergyman cannot minimize sin and maintain his proper role in our culture.”

We are called by God, to share what the Bible says. Our society changes with the winds of time but the Standard (the Bible) remains the same. Its principles do not change just because society decides it should. We are to share what the Bible says about sin and God will do the rest. This book is challenging me in ways I can not express so I wanted to share just one example with you. I hope this has given you something to think and pray about.

Fear Not . . .


I had a conversation today with a gentleman who I’ve mentored off and on over the years. The last few years, we’ve traded e-mails with a phone conversation once in a while. When I first met him, he was a newly saved believer in the Navy. He grew fast and was willing to serve his Savior in anyway so when he felt called to preach I was not surprised. I know this man’s heart and am blessed to know him. Now the young sailor is a man in his mid 30’s and living in Florida and is serving in a small church as their youth pastor. He’s been praying about what to do next once he completes in undergraduate degree. He called me up this morning and wanted to talk. It’s been awhile since we’ve talked on the phone so it was nice to hear his voice and hear all the things God is doing in his life, his family’s life, and the youth group. While talking with him, he shared with me what happened this past Sunday at his church.

A deacon who for some reason doesn’t like him keeps making things rough on him at this church. The pastor does not correct this deacon out of fear that this man may leave and take members with him. Apparently, some years ago this man joined this church. When he joined, he brought people with him; they all left another church together. Since then he’s become a deacon and feels he can do what he wants. It seems he can as long as the pastor sits by and allows him to do so. It is a shame that this pastor will not correct this deacon. It’s the job of the pastor to edify the members and correct members when they do wrong. This pastor is fearful so he allows things to happen that should not be happening.

I’ve seen good men hit the wall of fear and allow the fear to take control. They seem to forget that God is the One who does and we as His men are called to follow His lead. God is the One who adds to the church and moves people out. If someone who is in some sort of authority is not doing what is right according to the Bible, the pastor is told to correct. The correction must be done in a loving matter but it must be done. God has given the pastor (the Under Shepherd) the authority to lead His (the Great Shepherd’s) flock. When a pastor speaks, exercises authority, he does so with the power of the One who has called him to this position.

God is in control so rely on Him when you hit that wall of fear. He will carry you past it. The Bible is full of stories of men and women who hit the wall of fear but got past it because of God’s power was on them. Any man who is a pastor or minister has been called by God to this office so He will make sure to carry you past any fear that may come up. Take your eyes off of yourself and place them on the Master and He will carry you through it.

One In Spirit

Today in our Elders’ Meeting, a topic was brought up which made me remember something I read in “Experiencing God” by Henry Blackaby. It dealt with being of one Spirit as he lead his church in Canada in starting other churches and in general following God’s agenda and not his own. It was when he thought the church should go a direction and no one else affirmed his leading. Instead of strong arming his folk, he would stop and pray; if it was the direction God wanted, the Spirit would show the other leaders the same thing. If not, he would drop the idea and more on.
The reason this story popped in my head was that we are finalizing a church constitution and covenant. One of the items deals with the calling a new pastor; one of the Elders question the concept of being 100% and if that could be possible. The wording is that the Elders must be 100% in agreement with a proposed candidate before he would be allowed to be presented as a possible pastor for our church. We have 5 Elders at our church; the senior pastor and myself (the executive pastor) are part of the board along with our worship leader, our financial (bill paying) administrator, and a retired missionary who does the bulk of the counseling for our people. We all 5 men must be in 100% agreement to call a person. I totally agree with this because if God is truly working in bring a new pastor in to shepherd His people, He (via the Holy Spirit) will show us that fact.
In our normal church business we do not need to be 100% but when it comes to major dealings, we try to be of one mind or better put of one Spirit. In the past, we’ve come to discuss items that one or more have been praying about and it has turned out all 5 of us have been praying and/or thing about the same thing. That is the working of the Holy Spirit in showing us what God wants done. After all, the church is God’s people so we should march to His rhythm and not ours or the pastors. In my life I’ve seen three approaches for church leadership; two are not Biblical and the third is.
One approach of church leadership is deacon lead churches. When I was a child, the church we were members of was lead by the deacon board where they dictated to the pastor; this is not Biblical. According to Acts deacons are servants (not an administration board) who are to serve the body of Christ so the pastor can equip the saints to grow in Christ.
Another approach is a pastor lead church. The bulk of my early ministry career was under a man who led the church. He is a Godly man who loved his people but he was in charge. What he said goes and there was no debating him. One time he wanted to enlarge the church auditorium but one no wanted to so he tried to strong arm the people to vote yes but God was not in it so he dropped the issue. I call that a dictatorship approach of leading a church and that too is not Biblical.
The one approach where I’ve seen God bless the most is the situation I am in now; an Elder lead church where the pastor has one vote and is equal to the other Elders. The Elders yield the leadership to the pastor and to what he is feeling God is leading him to do because we are all praying for God’s direction as we lead God’s people. On major issues or directions, the pastor will yield to the counsel of the other Elders. It works very well as long as we are praying for each other and for God’s will be done with His church.
We must be of one spirit to see where God is leading us. The church is not a democracy (deacon lead) or a dictatorship (pastor lead) but a Christocracy. Just as in the Old Testament Israel was to be a Theocracy (God as their King), the church is owned (lock, stock, and barrel) by Jesus Christ who is the Great Shepherd and King. Christ is to dictate the direction of the church and as a pastor and/or Elder is seeking Christ’s direction he is doing the job God called him to do. But a pastor is just a man with the same amount of the Holy Spirit as Joe church member so as we all keep our eyes on God and seek His direction; we will be of one Spirit and thus going God’s way and not man’s way.
Think about. . .

Hallelujah (Your Love Makes Me Sing)

I was sent an e-mail today thanking me for praying for a co-workers’ father. My co-worker’s father went in for surgery to remove cancer from his lungs. If the doctor saw no cancer cells in the lymph nodes, my co-worker’s father wouldn’t have to go through the chemo therapy. His surgery was on Wednesday morning; it lasted 5 hours. He came through wonderfully. The e-mail that caused me to post my thoughts is what her father found out today. Her e-mail read;

“Just want to say "Thank you" all again for the prayers!!

I just received the most wonderful news ever!!! I just talked to dad, he just finished breakfast and the doctor came in and told him that there were no cancer cells in the lymph nodes, so he will not have to go through chemo or radiation!!!! Talk about a blessing!!! I was so happy I was in tears…”

The first word that popped in my head was “Hallelujah” followed by a song I used to sing a ways back. I think it’s been at least 5 years since I’ve heard it but it popped in my head. The song is called “Hallelujah (Your Love Makes Me Sing)” by Brenton Brown and Brian Doerksen. Our God is so faithful to us even when we are not faithful back. He owes us nothing but hell but He gives us so much. Since He has drawn me to Himself and made me His son, I can’t help but be in awe of Him and His ways. After being saved for 34 years, I can just now start to understand why He gives so much. After becoming a father for the first time back 2009, I can see as a father why He blesses us; because of His love for us. I think after what He did on the cross He owes us nothing, but because of His love for us He gives us so much. I can not help but praise Him every second of every minute; every minute of every hour; every hour of every day; every day of every month; and every month of every year. I look forward to praising my God for all eternity.

I’d like to share the words to the song that popped in my head. I hope this encourages you to lift up praise to our God and Savior.

“Your love is amazing, steady and unchanging
Your love is a mountain, firm beneath my feet
Your love is a mystery, how you gently lift me
When I am surrounded, your love carries me

Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, your love makes me sing
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, your love makes me sing

Your love is surprising, I can feel it rising
All the joy that's growing deep inside of me
Every time I see you, all your goodness shines through
And I can feel this God song, rising up in me

Yes, you make me sing
Lord, you make me sing, sing, sing
How you make me sing”