Monthly Archives: April 2014

He is not here, for He is risen!

15 Tuesday Apr 2014

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Matthew 28:5-7: But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.” 

As Christians, all that we believe rests on the truth found in these verses of our Holy Bible – that Jesus is risen. He is no longer dead. Without this truth, all else that we believe would crumble. Without His resurrection, He would have been just another dead leader of another pointless movement. Instead, we worship a risen Savior and Lord!

Every Easter (when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ), my church, which is located in rural South Georgia, holds a Sunrise Service. It is a time we get together as believers and worship through songs, prayer and the reading of God’s Word on the steps of our church building, as the sun rises over the South Georgia pine trees. It is my favorite worship service.

As my family and I drive out to the church every Easter morning, we are greeted with a dark night sky that begins to give way to the light of the sun as it rises over the horizon. It is as if the earth comes alive at that moment. I am reminded of the light and the life Jesus brought into this world. I am thankful that He called me out of the darkness and into His marvelous light. That He reached down and gave me life, when I was dead in my sin. That’s what Jesus does. He comes down into the miry muck of sin in which we reside and rips us free from the chains of bondage. We no longer are slaves to sin. We have a new master, and His name is Jesus!

Once again, I look forward to this Sunday morning to worship my risen Savior as the sun climbs into the early morning South Georgia sky. And I am reminded of the words of Matt Maher‘s song Christ is risen:

Sing it, o death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?
O church, come stand in the light
Our God is not dead, He’s alive, He’s alive!

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They need Jesus, not another K-Mart blue-light special

11 Friday Apr 2014

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With a grieved heart, I look around and see a plethora of “churches” that are offering up a fat plate of feel-good to a spiritually-starved people rather than a hearty dose of Jesus, who can quench every spiritual thirst and satisfy every spiritual hunger pain.

Having been a pastor for over 9 years now, nearly 8 years with my current congregation, I’ve seen trends come and go. I’ve seen all the latest growth strategies and polls that indicate the church just doesn’t relate to the current culture anymore. We’re told we have to distance ourselves from “grandma’s church” and get with the “new” program.

Too often “churches” plan and scrutinize over all the latest trends to see what they need to do to keep the folks coming. To those churches, I have the Biblical answer – give them Jesus! Oh wait, Jesus offends. Jesus is too traditional. Jesus requires too much – obedience. Instead, let’s not offend. Let’s focus on the temporal things, not the eternal because that makes everybody feel better at the end of the day and it won’t ruin our Sunday dinner.

But we have to understand, the lost culture won’t relate to the pure church of Jesus Christ because it can’t. After all, Jesus called us out of the darkness and into His marvelous light to be His bride. And the darkness isn’t going to like the light. All the more reason the church must be the light, so that others can be saved from the darkness in which they blindly reside.

We are heading down a street on which we do not need to travel. Nor should we want to. We better get off at the next exit, turnaround and get back to what we’ve been called to do. We must understand, the world needs Jesus. Only Jesus. Unfortunately, the business I am seeing in “churches” today looks more like a K-Mart blue-light special rather than the mission Christ has tasked us with.

May we repent and get back to the business of spreading the Gospel!

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” – Matthew 5:13 (NKJV)