Marching Forth!

If we read the Bible honestly, it will confront and shock us.  God uses the truth of scripture to correct our incorrect understanding or assumptions.  Today I experienced such a moment as I opened the Word for my morning reading of a few Psalms.  David begins Psalm 10 by a vivid description of the attitudes, acts, and even the thoughts of the wicked.  There was one verse in particular which God used to correct my understanding of what wickedness looks like.  The Holy Spirit brought conviction of sin, shedding light where there was once darkness in my conscience. In the KJV Psalm 10:4 reads, " The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts ."  When I think of wickedness, I tend to think of deeds.  The works of the flesh are evident and obvious sin.  The Bible teaches that sin perverts and pollutes a man from within, and evil deeds are the result.   God is righteous, and those who ar...

I was a youth when I first saw the comedy starring James Garner called "Support Your Local Sheriff."  Garner becomes the sheriff in a rowdy western boom town and employs some unorthodox tactics to maintain order.  It wasn't long before he arrested a lawbreaker.  He had a major problem though:  the new jail still did not yet have bars or doors installed in the cells.  The quick-thinking sheriff painted a black line on the ground to delineate the boundary of the cell, and dripped a copious amount of red paint on the outside of the line.  The sheriff convinced the ruffian that if he valued his life, he'd stay in that cell without bars or a door - or he'd be like the fictitious previous prisoner who tried to cross the line and was shot for his trouble. When the family of the ruffian came to break him out, they were surprised to see the effectiveness of the cell without doors and bars.  It wasn't too long before the bars and doors arrived and were install...

We have enjoyed uncharacteristically wet weather in Sydney for the past several days.  Sydney has been shrouded with thick grey clouds and a steady, light drizzle, a complete shift from the last weeks of warm temperatures and rising humidity.  The seasons seem a little confused. When I opened the Word this morning, I read Psalm 4:8 :  " I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety ."  In the United States, Thanksgiving is being celebrated across the country.  How many things do we take for granted God has given us, even something like peaceful sleep!  Did you ever thank God for a restful night of sleep?  It is God who enables us to sleep soundly and wake up refreshed. There have been well-documented cases of celebrities whose deaths have been linked to desperate attempts to simply sleep in peace.  Marylin Monroe, Heath Ledger, and Michael Jackson are tragic cases numbered among them.  I suppose ...

" I will declare the decree: the LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. ' " Psalm 2:7-9 The heading in my Bible for Psalm 2 is, " The reign of God's anointed ."  The term "anointed" is a reference to the Jewish Messiah, who has been revealed as Jesus the Christ.  He was not only the Messiah to the Jews, but to all who repent and trust in Him.  Previously when I read Psalm 2, I looked at it only in this context.  Jesus is the only begotten of the Father ( John 3:16 ) who died for the sins of the world, rose again, and will someday return to set up His rule upon earth.  There is a prophetic glimpse of Christ returning in power and glory in Revelation 19:11-16.  Revelation 19:15 reads, " Now out ...

The church will only be the loving, vibrant, fruitful body God designed after we have laid hold of His grace.  If we think that the work of God depends on us, our talents, gifts, or aspirations, we will be impotent to step out in faith and obedience.  A common trap which ensnares Christians is to look at ourselves, consider what our gifts are, and then only seek to use those gifts.  Consequently our actions and lifestyle will only reflect what we perceive in ourselves.  This kind of insular thinking has the potential to paralyze us and limit what we are willing to do for God - consciously limiting what we consider to be a reasonable scope of work - and therefore limit His effectiveness to work in and through us.  But there is much beyond our perception that God wants to do! If we agree that all gifts we have been given us by God's grace, let us consider another view.  Instead of looking at my gifts, deeming them worthy, and then offering them, how about I...

The other night we had an interesting occurrence at the dinner table.  Everyone in our family had nectarines with dinner.  It's not an oddity to eat fruit in our house, but what happened next was a first for me.  I was assured that the nectarines had been washed just after being purchased.  But being the avid fruit and vegetable washer that I am, I still examined it carefully.  Where the stem used to be there was a little grey fuzz, nothing scary.  I poked a knife into the hole and suddenly a tiny stick poked out a couple centimeters away.  I removed the knife and held it up in the light to see better.  Funny, I couldn't see the stick.  Again, I cut into the nectarine and suddenly the stick appeared again.  Wait a second, I thought.  Something weird is going on...it was one of those strange moments when the brain is a little slow to process. Upon further examination, I could see the stick bending ever so slightly.  I stabbed ...

One blessing about living in Australia is the benefit of living in close proximity to natural wildlife.  When the boys arrived home from school today they shouted in excitement, "We found a tawny frogmouth!"  My favorite bird is the tawny frogmouth, followed very closely by the kookaburra.  Tawny's have very expressive faces and have an amazing defense behaviour that imitates a tree branch (very convincing!).  They also can be quite tame and allow you to pet them as they flash their bright yellow eyes.  The boys led Laura and me down the street and showed us a juvenile bird. When we first approached the bird, he acted like he didn't see us.  But when we came nearer, he opened his eyes and showed us his very large, red mouth.  He almost looked like a fuzzy bird version of a triceratops when he puffed himself up! Many people in Australia volunteer to look after injured native wildlife and lost birds like this one.  If you find one of these birds...

Because this blog is open to the public, it is possible people may read this blog without knowing me personally.  This blog serves several functions:  to glorify God, as a vehicle to express truths God impresses upon me, to communicate thoughts, and to bless others.  As a pastor I am always looking to relate and apply biblical truth through common things.  Though I am called to be a pastor, I also have the privilege to be a Christian, husband, dad, brother, teammate, and gaming enthusiast.  I am a regular human being, not some self-proclaimed spiritual master.  Sometimes a story is a descriptive way to introduce people to yourself.  Well, here goes. As a kid, I played baseball for about six seasons.  My best years playing ball stretched from age 12 to 14.  Pretty depressing that my best days were over by 14!  I was known around the league for my pitching, relying heavily upon a devastating overhand curve that gave people fits.  I ...

What passes for preaching these days can be easily confused with modern motivational speakers.  I watched for a minute or two this morning before heading off to church.  What I saw was a highlight reel of well-known preachers camping on the theme of self-empowerment.  Every sound bite was uttered to bolster my self-worth.  There was never even an attempt to reference scripture.  The highlight reel was designed to stir my emotions as various preachers delivered messages with sensational gravity and profound pauses.  One of the pastors informed me and many others that the devil is scared out of his wits because of my power.  The problem is, there was no theology and little truth in anything I heard.  This humanistic distortion has permeated much of the preaching people are exposed to on television.  A tiny shred of truth is a whole lie. The primary danger the modern church faces is one of the most ancient:  the departure from preaching G...

I have always had a deep interest and appreciation for science.  Scientific discovery has led to improvements in nearly every facet of daily life.  Technology, medicine, media, agriculture, manufacturing, and recreation have all benefited greatly from scientific study.  But science, even in its modern glory, is not able to adequately answer all the questions we pose as curious human beings.  Science often proves up to the task of answering "how," but rarely answers "why?"  Science is unable to answer definitively the question of how the world came into being.  No one today can make that claim scientifically.  It is not able to answer the deeper questions either, like "Why did the world come into being?" When I went to university, I remember a lecture given by my geology professor that went something like this:  "Just imagine:  billions of years ago, there was an incredible amount of energy and matter.  At some point the 'big bang' occu...

The Bible starts with the sentence, " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth ."  As amazing as that is, I am still amazed that three pages later sin entered into the world through Adam's rebellion, and death through sin.  One only needs to turn to page 6 in my Bible before we read this horrible indictment against man:  Genesis 6:5, 11-12 reads, " Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually... 11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth ."  The corruption of mankind through sin is a self-imposed tragedy. More than anything, man desires to be in control.  He naturally clutches for power, authority, money, privilege, and seniority.  Right from the start, Eve was tempted to be like God by eat...

Last night our family enjoyed the special treat of eating out at a local restaurant.  Our server was polite and had an American accent, always a good conversation starter!  It turns out he came over from the United States to go to Bible college at a local church.  In the midst of the discussion he said something I found interesting.  He invited us to visit his church and said, "Sunday nights are some of the best services.  It is always very creative - if anything creative is going to happen, that's the service for it." I realize I have led a sheltered life in many respects, having worshiped the LORD for a majority of my life at one Bible-teaching church.  Never, in all that time, have I heard "creativity" as a draw card for someone to attend.  There is nothing wrong with creativity.  But I can't say that I would prefer one service over another because one seemed more "creative."  It left me with the question which all Christians must answer...

Most mornings after breakfast our family reads " Keys for Kids ," a daily devotional by CBH Ministries .  Today's story was about a girl who was tasked with a class project studying addictions.  She discovered that not only there are addictions which enslave and destroy, but also wholesome and beneficial addictions.  The dad in the story suggested a verse which I have always found thought provoking.  The KJV of 1 Corinthians 16:15-16 reads, "I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,) 16 that ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us, and laboureth . "  In the NKJV, instead of "addicted" the word "devoted" is used to translate from the original Greek. In modern culture, the term "addiction" often has a negative connotation.  Addiction carries with it an aspect of compulsion and ...

This morning I read Job 28 and was greatly blessed by the practical insight.  Job describes how veins of gold, silver, iron, and precious stones are found through mining.  Then he makes a spiritual contrast in Job 28:12-15:  " But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? 13 Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living. 14 The deep says, ' It is not in me'; and the sea says, ' It is not with me.' 15 It cannot be purchased for gold, nor can silver be weighed for its price ."  True wisdom is not found by digging in the ground, space exploration, deep-sea diving, nor is it for sale.  The wisdom of God is not obtained through any effort of man, but by the grace of God. Some believe that wisdom is obtained through life experience or by acquiring degrees as prestigious universities.  There is a kind of wisdom that is found on earth, but it is a false substitute for what God calls wisdom.  Jam...