A Better Reason to Celebrate October 31st

One day a young aspiring lawyer was traveling on a road to Erfurt in Germany when a violent storm came upon him.  This young man cried out in terror, “Help me, St. Anne, and I will become a monk,” (quoted from The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World by Stephen Nichols).  

Worship the God Who Calls

Paul, along with Timothy, Silas, and Luke the physician, traveled into Europe, to Philippi.  At Philippi, they waited for the Sabbath intending to preach the Gospel in the synagogue, only there was no synagogue.  

Pastor, a.k.a. "Mr. In-Over-His-Head"

I am serving during my first year as full-time pastor at Granite Hills Baptist Church in Reno, NV (ghbcreno.org) by the grace, kindness, and sovereign humor of God.  God has brought me and my family to a church that is filled with His Spirit, with love for one another, and with wonderful opportunities to share the Gospel in a very spiritually dark and dead community.  There is a wise senior pastor, a secretary, me (associate pastor), and several lay leaders.  This past week, the senior pastor was on vacation which left me as the only pastor.  God has grown me by leaps and bounds just this week by putting me in the middle of situations that were simply beyond anything I could handle without His Spirit and His word which points to hope in Christ.

Risen for Real

I went to the theatres a few days ago and saw an interesting movie called Risen.  Here's a link to a preview.



In light of Easter coming up soon it prompted this thought: if Jesus rose from the dead, would it not validate his claim to be God (not in a self-actualized or subjective sense, but in a universal, Creator sense).  Jesus claimed He was God (John 5:18, see below).  Then, He claimed He would rise from the dead (Matthew 16:21), to which even his followers initially were confused.  But after He rose from the dead, His followers came to worship Him as God (John 20:24-29). So, if doubters were changed to believers because of His resurrection, maybe looking into the claims of Easter would impact any doubter today?  If so, then this Easter may God prompt us to talk often and openly about the empty tomb!

Biblical Friendship - Our Communal Walk with Christ

There is a strong biblical theme that appears to me to be often missing or at least muted from the hyper-individualistic west.  That is community.  There is communal joy and communal sorrow, groups praised and groups condemned in the Bible.  Even the Israelites recognized this when the people came to Moses and said, "We sinned," (Num 21:7 after another time of complaining against God in favor of Egyptian gods).

The Kingdom of God and the Already - Not-Yet Tension

In thinking about the Kingdom of God, there is an apparent and necessary tension between the Kingdom having come with the incarnation of Jesus Christ, and the Kingdom to come when He returns.  Below is a series of verses that show the tension.  Afterwards is a very brief discussion of why this tension must be maintained.

The Kingdom has already come:
Luke 17:20-21: “Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, “Here it is,” or “There it is,” because the kingdom of God is in your midst.’”
So, when Jesus came to the earth, it was right for Him to tell others wherever He is, the Kingdom of God is.

The Kingdom is yet to come:
Luke 21:25-31: “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars.  On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity...Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.”
However, until Jesus returns a second time, the kingdom of God has not yet come in its fullness.  Thus, it is right for Jesus to say that even as the signs of the end times begin to unfold, the Kingdom of God has not yet come,  but is near.

Born in Zion

One of the Sons of Korah sang a song now recorded for its powerful and shocking refrain, "Glorious things are said of you, city of God: 'I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me - Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush - and will say, "This one was born in Zion,"'" (Ps 87:3-4).

Here is a beautiful and remarkable prophecy of God's future adoption of children from all nations, including those historically opposed to God and God's people like Babylon, Philistia and Cush (Egypt). Imagine the shock of an Israelite hearing God say He would rewrite the birth certificate of a Babylonian as if he were "born in Zion," the city of God. The redone birth certificate symbolizes the new life in Jesus Christ through faith for the forgiveness of sins. Paul explained it this way, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!" (2 Cor 5:17). The shock of "anyone" in Paul's day was that the previously accepted barriers of foreign pagans had been broken down and torn in two by the shed blood of Christ. Anyone - Jewish, Samaritan, Greek, Roman, or Barbarian - could receive forgiveness for their sin through faith in Christ Jesus, and have their eternal birth certificates signed that they were born again in the City of God. Knowing that at the time my ancestors were on a far away island to the west, among the "barbarians", I praise God that His grace extended over mountains and across cultures. It is by His Sovereign Grace that I know my heavenly birth certificate says by my name, "This one was born in Zion."