Finding Inspiration in Strange Places

 Several years ago as a fairly new Christian I ran across a Bible passage that perplexed me, it was John 3:7-8, where Jesus said, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.  So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

The perplexing part for me was that if I was going to show the evidence of being “born again” then I needed to be like the wind in that you can hear the sound, but where it comes from and where it goes to is a mystery.  Frankly, that made no sense to me whatsoever.  I read, read and reread the passage.  I hunted down cross references and commentaries but was unable to find an answer that satisfied me, so I prayed and asked God to help me understand what Jesus meant by those words.

About that time we began hosting a Bible study in our home.  A few weeks into that study a regular participant brought a friend with him one evening.  In the course of the discussion something was brought up about our Christian witness in the community.  The visitor, Jeff, told a story that seemed appropriate.  He was a garbage man for the city of Mount Vernon.  City garbage workers worked in two man crews.  One guy was a real pill to work with.  He was lazy and complained a lot, so many of the other employees refused to work with him.  But Jeff saw a possible opportunity to share Christ with him so he agreed to work with him. 

Sadly, working with the guy was worse than Jeff imagined, the guy was the most negative man he had ever encountered, by the end of the second week Jeff was ready to rip his hair out.  But Jeff continued to pray that God would show him a window of opportunity to share the gospel. 

One of the agreements among the garbage men was ‘if you find it, it’s yours’.  That means that if you are dumping the cans into the truck and you see something you would like to keep for yourself you may and whatever you find does not have to be shared with your partner.  Jeff’s partner was particularly bad about this.  When he found something not only would he keep it, but he would make a point of telling Jeff to keep his hands off it and if it was a ‘good find’ even laughing at Jeff because he had it.

One day Jeff was on the back of the truck picking up the trash, when he came across a brand new unopened case of canned chili.  Jeff opened the box, inspected the dates, saw it was good and decided to keep it.  He took the case up and slid it in on the floor board in front of the passenger seat and went back to doing what garbage men do.   With dozens of stops left the two men went silently about their work, until they reached the end of the route, when Jeff left the back of the truck and moved to the cab for the ride back. 

As soon as he got in he saw the box of chili was open more and it appeared some of the cans were missing.  Jeff said his blood began to boil, the thoughts were in his mind and the words were in his mouth to tell that co-worker exactly what he thought of him, but he decided to hold his tongue until they reached the shop.  As Jeff pondered what he was going to say, he felt the Spirit of God speaking to his heart the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:38-41, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.”  So when they reached the shop instead of letting the guy have a piece of his mind, his looked at the open case of chili and said, “Oh good, you got some already, here take some more you should get at least half the case.”  Jeff went on to say, the guy sat there in stunned disbelief, finely almost whispering the words, “Thank you”. 

The next morning when they arrived the guy told Jeff, “I need to talk to you”.  After they were alone the guy apologized for being so hard on him, asked for his forgiveness and promised to treat him better.  This opened the door for many conversations about faith, salvation and a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

As I heard that story recapped, that’s when it hit me, “you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.  So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”  It is about our motivations, they don’t come from the natural cause and effects we experience in this world, our motivation comes from the very heart of God and when people see that kind of compassion, love and generosity they don’t know where it’s coming from. When Christians are motivated by the things of this world, they are living as this world lives.  Money for the sake of security and power, good health so your jeans fit right and a plan for the future because you must take care of yourself; these are worldly motivations.  There’s nothing wrong with money, good health or planning for the future.  But, our motivation for those things and what we will do with those things must above all else, glorify God.

What’s important to you?  Family? Children? Health? Money? Land?  Whatever it is, see that it is in the hands of God.  Let Him control it and use it, in that you will find the freedom and joy of unloading the ultimate responsibility, the stress and the pressure on God. That’s when the peace kicks in, as well as joy and hope.  How does God do that in our lives?  Sometimes it’s through a box of discarded chili.

I hope you are having a great summer!

God bless you all,

Pastor David

Duty Roster

9/7:  Nursery-Beth, Children's Church-Sue, Cleaners-Jim &John, Greeters-Glessing
9/14:  Nursery-Hannah, Children's Church-Sue, Cleaners-Roger & Don, Greeters-Jamison
9/21:  Nursery-Nancy, Children's Church-Sue, Cleaners-Noble, Greeters-Gordon
9/28:  Nursery-Joy, Children's Church-Sue, Cleaners-Gordon, Greeters-Noble

What's Happening This Month

Sundays:
9:30 Sunday School
10:30 Worship, nursery, children's church
Fellowship following worship
6:30 Evening Bible Study

Tuesdays:
4:00-6:30 Community Soup

Thursdays:
11:00 Prayer Hour

Saturdays:
9/13 Men's Breakfast @ Chimacum Cafe
9/20 Busy Hands @ Annex
9/27 Men's Breakfast @ IHOP (Irondale House of Praise)

Making Decisions

Each of us has a primary way to make most of our decisions.  For example if our car is old and starting to cost money for repairs and lost time we will weigh the decision to buy another.  If we decide to buy another, then we consider questions like—car? pickup? van?  Once that decision is made we consider Ford, Chevy, Dodge or whatever.   (But, of course, the most common way of buying a new car is when your brother-in-law tells you of a really good deal you better jump on.)

We usually don’t think of the psychology behind decision making (or the psychology behind anything else), but there is one.  When it comes to decision making there are five ways we can know things.  First is “Sensory Data,” that is touch, taste, sight, etc.  For example we can tell a brick wall by how it looks, tastes or by running into it.  Second is “Authority,” this is when we take the counsel of someone we admire.  Maybe a parent, doctor, pastor or even your uncle Fred; based on their experience and knowledge you can be confident or at least well-informed about your decisions.  Third is “Reason” which is basically figuring it out yourself.  For example, if you are making barbeque sauce and it tastes funny, you add some salt, sugar or whatever it needs to make it taste right.  You simply use your know-how and experience to solve the problem.  Fourth is “Intuition” which is that good old fashioned gut-feeling.  This is hard to explain, but if you’ve had a gut-feeling, then no explanation is necessary.  The fifth and final one is “Revelation.”  Revelation is when God tells us what to do. 

One way God speaks to us is, simply that, speaking to us.  At times with an audible voice, at times quietly in the stillness of our heart, both of these are wonderful, but both can be dangerous. Dangerous because not every voice we hear is from God and certainly not every inclination of our heart is from Him either.  God also speaks to us through other people, but we should weigh every bit of counsel we receive from others against the written Word, as not every practical idea is a godly idea.

The primary way God speaks to us is through the scriptures.  From the pages of the Bible we may not learn every particular detail we want to know, but we do learn about God’s character, and by understanding His qualities and expectations we can understand what He wants from us in every situation.  Jesus, of course, was the best at explaining this, for example in Matthew 5:21-22 He said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”  From this we learn that not only does God want us to avoid murdering, He also wants us to avoid character assassination.  So if we are wondering if God wants us to speak harshly about someone, we know the answer is ‘no.’ (A little something to consider as we watch the political ads.)

Galatians 5 gives us one of the lists of don’ts and do’s, the don’ts are “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.”  The do’s are, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”   Then we are challenged to keep in step with God and avoid being “conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”   When we have check list passages like these, it’s easy enough to know what God wants from us in these areas, but what about more complex issues?  What does the Bible say about life on other planets or does God care who I vote for?  How should I deal with depression?   Or a spouse or parent who abandons me? 

Sometimes life is simply overwhelming and we are missing the answer.  When this is the case here are a few faith facts to keep in mind:

1. God tells us to be wise, James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him”.  That’s pretty simple; if you don’t know what to do, ask God.  My experience has shown that God gives us an answer or gives us peace with not having the answer, either way He gives us all the wisdom we need.  A word of caution, there is a big difference between knowledge and wisdom.  We can have a ton of knowledge, but if we don’t use it wisely it is of little use.  In the same manner you can have a little knowledge used wisely and do great things.

2. God tells us to be loving, 1 John 4:7, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God”.  This is not loving as in “being in love” with someone; this is love as in extending charity, kindness and compassion without any expectation of being repaid in any way.

3. God tells us to be faithful, Proverbs 3:3, “Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.”  The idea that we are supposed to be faithful to God is a no brainer, but how we show our faithfulness to God on Earth is by showing faithfulness to people.  We do this when we remain faithful to our church, family and friends.  We cannot separate our faithfulness to God from our faithfulness to His people, they always go together.

4. God tells us to be righteous,             1 John 3:7, “Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as He is righteous.”  What does it mean to be ‘righteous’?  Verse 8 goes on to explain that, “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”  So does God ever tell us to sin? No.  No matter how practical it seems.

5. God tells us to have tenderhearts— Ephesians 4:31-32, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”  There are lots of ways to treat people, but being tenderhearted is the way God approves. 

How do you make your biggest decisions?  If you are in tune with God’s revelation you will find your big decisions are quite manageable just by living out these faith facts.  Receiving revelation from God is not a mystery, but it does require reading the Bible and understanding its content.

               

What's Happening This Month

EASTER SUNDAY, APRIL 8
9:00 am Breakfast and Easter Egg Hunt
10:30 Worship Service celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
no evening Bible Study


Sundays:
  9:30 am Sunday School all ages
10:30 am Worship Service
Fellowship
 6:30 pm Evening Bible Study

4/22 Compassion Ministries Presentation
4/22 Oasis performs at 6:30 Bible Study

4/29  Annual Business Meeting following 10:30 Worship Service

Tuesdays:
4:00-6:30 pm Community Soup

Wednesdays:
8-4 OPHC
4:00-5:30 Kid's Club
7:00 Love & Respect

Thursdays:
11:00 Prayer Hour
2:30 Women's Bible Study

Friday, April 6:
7:00 Good Friday Service

Saturdays:
  4/7  8:00 Men's Breakfast meet IHOP, carpool to Port Ludlow for special presentation
4/21  8:00 Men's Breakfast @ Chimacum Cafe

Duty Roster:

4/1:  Nursery-Christine, Children’s Church-Sue, Clean-Conklin, Greet-Jamison, Offering-Kathleen

4/8:  Nursery-Mary, Children’s Church-Jim, Clean-Hay, Greet-Noble, Offering-Kathi

4/15:  Nursery-Melissa, Children’s Church-Colleen, Clean-VanCamp, Greet-Eddie, Offering-Barrie

4-22:  Nursery-Crystal, Children’s Church-Normans, Clean-Wilcox & Jamison, Greet-Glessing, Offering-Colleen

4/28:  Nursery-Christine, Children’s Church-Rona, Clean-Horner & Swanson, Greet-Gordon, Offering-Jim

EASTER: MUCH MORE THAN EGGS AND BONNETS

A while back I was watching the evening news when the news-anchor offered the teaser for the upcoming news after commercial: “There is a report that the bones of Jesus have been found in a tomb near Jerusalem; stay tuned.”

“Stay tuned?”  Do they have any idea what they just said?  “All hope for heaven has ended.  Stay tuned for more after a word from our sponsor.” “You’ll never see your deceased loved ones again, more after this break.” The consequences of finding Christ’s bones would mean the end of hope for eternal life, the end of eternal consequences for evil behavior, the end of any morality governed outside of our own conscience.  Finding Christ’s bones would mean that Jesus did not rise from the dead and if He didn’t rise neither have the millions and millions of believers who have died.  It would also mean that every believer deceased and living would have to be officially counted among the misguided and confused; wayward people duped by religion and fooled by the society they had trusted.  Do we need to be concerned?  Not at all.

The story was that roughly 30 years ago archeologists discovered a ‘coffin’ which they confirmed to be 2000 years old and an inscription was engraved on it, that when translated read, “Jesus son of Joseph.”  Next of that coffin was another which bore the inscription “Mary” and next to that one was a third.  The inscription on that coffin read “Judah son of Jesus.”  So there we have it, the whole happy family buried together and after the discovery civilization would be on the brink of moral disaster.

But before you make plans to sue the Vatican for perpetuating a lie, let’s consider some additional facts.  2000 years ago, Jesus, Joseph, Judah and Mary were among the most common of all names.  An example for today would be a crept that read, “Here lays Robert, son of Donald, his wife Mary and their son James.”  Though the names of Jesus and Joseph may raise an eyebrow, it simply cannot be given much credence.  Also Jesus’ ministry was to the poor, His mother was poor, His brother Judah was shot full of arrows that doesn’t sound like a family that’ll be buying a big crypt to me.

But how can we know that Christ’s bones won’t be found?  Can we be certain that Christianity isn’t just a big elaborate hoax? To answer that, we have to delve into the world of philosophers and critical thinkers. Since our eyes can play tricks on us and our memories can fail, how can we be certain of anything?  To answer that question philosophers analyzed the system we use to separate truth from fiction.  They found that knowledge is learned when we process it through five categories: 1. sensory data; 2. authority; 3. reason; 4. intuition and 5. revelation.

Sensory Data is when you use your senses to determine what something is.  For example, if I handed you a sheet of blank paper and asked you “what is this?” you would look at it and say, “paper.”  If you touched it, listened to it as you crumpled it, you would be more convinced it was paper.  Suppose I tried to tell you, “It’s not paper, it’s a handkerchief.”  You might respond, “No, all the authorities in my life have told me this is paper.  My dad, my mom, my teachers, everyone I respect have always called this stuff, paper.”  If I persisted and said, “Oh they were misguiding you.”  You may begin to reason with me by using your knowledge of the product, “Hand-kerchiefs are made from woven cotton or linen and paper is made from a pressed pulp product.  So we must conclude this is paper, it is the reasonable conclusion.” 

At this point in the conversation, your intuition or “gut -feeling’ is probably beginning to tell you that I am the one who is misguided, misinformed or simply lying.  Because now you have put into action four of the five means for finding truth.   These four means are all generated by our personal experience, research, life experience and inner (often-unexplainable) feelings.  The fifth way we can know the truth about something is through revelation.

Revelation goes beyond anything we can learn or do.  To have something come to us through revelation, is to figuratively have our heads opened up and have information poured into it.  Revelation is something that only God can do.   So to go back to our example of the sheet of paper, imagine that while we were having our conversation, God spoke to your heart and mind and said, “You’re right, it’s paper.”  Will there be anything I can say that will persuade you that the paper is a handkerchief?  Even if I blow my nose on the paper, it won’t make it a handkerchief.

So when we hear on the evening news or even if we watch a special on the Discovery Channel that the bones of Christ have been located, we need to process the information through our knowledge base.  As for me, I have seen, heard and touched people, including myself, whose lives have been completely changed through believing Christ was resurrected from the dead.  I have also listened to the people in my life that I trust the most tell me that they believe Christ has raised from the dead.  As I have reasoned through the Bible’s claims that Jesus was resurrected from the dead, I have concluded that He was.  After weighing all the evidence my gut also tells me that it’s true.  So by the time I add the fact that God spoke to my heart and flooded me with hopes and dreams and a cause worth living, fighting and dying for, I am absolutely, positively, beyond any doubt, convinced that whoever’s bones they found in that tomb, they weren’t Jesus’.  Because as the angel said, “He’s not here, He is risen.”

Don’t let the Devil, your television or critical friend steal your joy or peace.  Have a Happy Easter and let the fact of Christ’s resurrection and the empty tomb make your heart sing with joy and hope eternally!

          

-Pastor David