5 Things to Learn from Jules Woodson and #churchtoo

I am not a victim. I have never been abused. In fact, being a pastor, I have more in common with the abusers than with the victims. On behalf of the church I want to apologize. Apologize for the silence of the church. Apologize for generations of Pastors who thought more about their position than victims. Apologize for churches who cared more about reputations than displaying the nature of God. If you have been abused this is not for you. This is a blog for the church. The church that has been silent for too long.

Deliver Us From Evil

The last few months have been alarming. Hurricane Maria has left Puerto Rico without power to this day. California has had several fires and now a mud slide that left at least 17 dead. In New Jersey we had a "bomb cyclone" that left the east cost covered in snow. North Korea gets ever closer to nuking the world. Just last month suicide bombers took out a church in Pakistan during a children's Christmas program.

Evil is part of the sinful world that we live in. There are times that the world seems so dark we cannot imagine how God can be in control. We wonder if there is anything that can save us from the evil in this world. Every day we hear of another case of sexual assault and abuse of power. Some of us have experienced very real evil in our own homes. When we pray for deliverance from evil often we think of immediate evil. But what Jesus was teaching us was about so much more.

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

I want to start this entry in the series with a question. What is your biggest temptation? It might be those cupcakes that coworker brought into work. It might be speeding. For some it will be a bottle of alcohol, for others heroin or meth. For over half of men the answer to that question would be porn. What I want you to see is that there are temptations all around us. Everyday. We cannot escape temptation. And yet for most this is a petition to God for escape from a life of temptation. But that is not really what Jesus is teaching us.

Forgive Us Like We Forgive Others

It has taken me quite a while to write this. Not because I have nothing to say about forgiveness, but because I have already written on it and I wasn't sure what I could add. When I actually went back and read my previous article I realized that I had left out the very passage from the Lord's Prayer that we will deal with today. In talking about this section of the Lord's Prayer I will of course go over some of what I have said before. But enough disclaimer. On to the intro. (Well that didn't take long did it?)

When we recite the part of the Lord's Prayer about forgiveness, we often focus on the first half: forgive us our sins. We gloss over the second half about forgiving others. It's understandable. Everyone wants to be forgiven by God. Isn't that what the Bible is all about? The issue is that what Jesus actually taught us to pray was a petition to God that was contingent on our forgiveness of others. Said another way Jesus taught us to ask God to only forgive us if we forgive others.

Our Daily Bread

It has been a long summer. I was away from home for most of the summer. I spent a lot of that time thinking about how little we really trust God with everything. How we often think that we can do things ourselves. If the events in Texas show us anything, it is that we really don't have control over much. Building a flood proof house doesn't stop the flood, it just makes you feel safe right up to the point that it fails. Our rock in storms shouldn't be the work of our own hands, it should be Jesus Christ the Son of God

Confessions of a Tech Junkie

I woke up at 4 this morning. For some of you that would be normal. Those of you that know me are probably shocked. The reason I woke up so early is because I went to bed at 9 last night. My wife thinks its because I stayed up late (think early am) the last two nights and my body doesn't know how to actually get enough sleep. Anyway, that is not the point of this blog.

The point of this blog is that I am a tech junkie. I stayed up late earlier this week because I was engrossed in technology. I have been engrossed in technology ever since my parents gave me a 386 that they got from someone else. I was 13. And ever since then I have been technology apologist. 

On Earth as in Heaven

The last two entries in this series have been about the kingdom and will of God. You read about what the kingdom of God looks like and you read that to truly live in that kingdom you need to submit to the will of God. This next entry is one that many commentaries lump in with will. But I think that is a mistake.

There is a problem with the view of many Christians today. Many of you are under the impression that the world we live in will be destroyed. You think that when judgement day happens Jesus is going to come and blow up the earth and some incorporeal part of you is going to live with him in heaven with halos and wings and golden gates. I could say that this comes from the writings of Plato, but that would mean little to most of you. I think a more relatable reality is that we have believed all those movies with Kirk Cameron. I hate to tell you, but that's just not what I see in scripture.