my burg

"I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God." (Revelation 3:1b-2 ESV)  "Deliver us Lord, from the formalities that do not have reality. We pray that we may truly have the kind of spiritual reality that we confess in our faith in Jesus Christ." (S. Lewis Johnson, prayer) A group of us are studying through Jesus' words to the seven churches of Revelation (Rev chaps 2-3). We have found the messages given by Dr. Lewis Johnson back in the late-1980s at Believers Chapel (Dallas, TX) to be especially helpful. Following are some excerpts from his message regarding the church at Sardis:  "One of the things that the Christian church must contend with is the fact that it is offensive to the world when it is being true to the word of God. And really, as one of my old teachers used to like to say, 'It is a terrib...

  What to pray for others             Sometimes we are at a loss about what to pray for other people. Thankfully, God knows what they need, and the Holy Spirit is interceding, as well. But we can learn to move past our common prayers (like, "Lord, be with them," and "Lord, bless them") to include some of the things the Apostle Paul prayed for his fellow believers. Here are 18 requests, gleaned from Paul's prayers* in his NT epistles:   1.             Give thanks for God being at work in them for salvation and growth. 2.             Pray that they would know God’s will with all wisdom. 3.             That they would walk worthy of (live up to) their calling. 4.             For God to enable them to live a life pleasi...

Earlier this year, because of a family obligation, I attended a service at a mainline denominational church.  At the front of the church, next to the robed female minister wearing a colorful stole, was a large banner, headed with the words, "Be The Church." Historically, in this denomination the Ten Commandments would have likely been displayed, rather than these ten progressive values (see picture of banner above). My first thought was, why did they feel the freedom to change and reorient God's commandments? Loving God dropped from #1 to #9. (It appears that even recycling is more important than loving God.) And I'm thinking the word "diversity" on this banner means something different than the biblical view of God's diverse creation. In another point, "forgive often" seems to give us a little more wiggle room than, say, " forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matt 6:12).  As helpful as these values might be fo...

"For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will." (Hebrews 2:2-4 ESV)  People dismiss Jesus so lightly and casually.  Some are casually profane, using Jesus' name in a throwaway manner, similar to "G-dammit" or "OMG". Others quietly dismiss him by ignoring his claims and neglecting any serious consideration of who he is and what he came to do. Some people are very open and outspoken in rejecting his existence and his identity. Either way, people daily wave aside any serious thought about him. It's so casual, and very dismissive. And very dangerous.   Why is this so dangerous? The Bible is ver...

"...those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy (Psalm 65:8 ESV)   In retirement I have a bit more time to observe nature, identify bird songs, and photograph trees and flowers. I'm even finding mushrooms to be fascinating, but I am not experimenting with their edibility! Each day I realize something of the goodness and beauty of the world that God created, even though now it is marred by sin and death.  READING PSALM 65. This psalm can be divided into three sections. First, we should praise God, for he has atoned for sin and reconciled us to himself forever (vv 1-4). Secondly, the global work of God's righteousness will bring about redemption for the nations, resulting in great joy (vv 5-8). Thirdly, this will culminate with blessings upon all creation, again, resulting in joyful praise (vv 9-13), "...they shout and sing together for joy" (65:13). There is a movement i...

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ESV)  This week I toured the Cedar Mountain Battlefield with a couple of friends who love history. As we walked about the area, noting the stone markers where Jackson's company was, where the artillery batteries were, and where the Union troops from Wisconsin marched, I was struck by the loss ...

I am finishing up the first volume of the Dudley-Smith's excellent biography of John R. W. Stott. After his conversion as a teenager, Stott embraced an evangelical view of Christianity, which was tested in his years at Cambridge. He and Billy Graham conversed about the challenges of believing in the authority and inspiration of the Scriptures in light of modern scholarship.  After much reflection, Stott held firm in his conclusion, in "both the rightness and the reasonableness of submitting to the authority of Scripture." He later wrote,  "First, to accept the authority of the Bible is a Christian thing to do. It is neither a religious eccentricity, nor a case of discreditable obscurantism, but the good sense of Christian faith and humility. It is essentially 'Christian' because it is what Christ himself requires of us. The traditional view of Scripture (that it is God's word written) may be called the 'Christian' view precisely because it is Chri...