Bible

Soar. A Book by Pastor Kenny Luck.

When I was young, I jumped from airplanes for the 82nd Airborne Division. When my parachute deployed, I felt this overwhelming sense of freedom. The brief time spent floating to the ground stirred every one of my five senses. While it was not quite like soaring on the wings of eagles, it was the closest I have ever come. Oh man, life exploded into vivid reality every time the jump-master yelled, “Go, go, go!”

Pastor Kenny Luck’s book “Soar” aims to help men capture this same experience. Well, like one of my nephews is prone to saying, “It’s the same, but different.” Same in that Pastor Luck wants Christian men to really, truly come alive; different in that Kenny desires us to truly and finally feel alive through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. When we do, we soar!

In fact, if all I had ever read from this book was a short section from chapter eleven regarding a part of the Holy Spirit’s mission in my life, I would count myself more than satisfied with Pastor Luck’s presentation of the Spirit’s ministry. Here’s what that short section says:

“The mission of the Holy Spirit in your life is to cause spontaneous or continuous spiritual fervor over things that matter to God. All of the following are signs the Holy Spirit is working in your life on a specific matter:

You have conflicts internally. You are thinking twice about decisions. You are remembering the consequences of similar actions in the past. You are having cautionary dreams or consistent streams of thoughts that warn you of certain actions. Your internal radar is flashing red about certain people or situations. You are feeling unusually conflicted in certain situations. You are getting unsolicited but personally targeted advice from various sources (for example, a sermon this past weekend, a friend says the same thing, and then your Scripture reading for the day puts the nail in the coffin).”

This alone, regarding the Holy Spirit’s leading, is worth the price of the book…and much, much more. Think about it: every time you experience these signs, you are experiencing the work of the Majestic, Magnificent, Marvelous God of all creation laboring personally and privately in you, through you, and for you ultimately for his own glory. Amazing! It is the answer to the cry of so many Christians, “Please, please Lord, I want to experience your presence, your favor, your glory”

In three divisions, Transitions, Transformations, and Transactions, Pastor Luck helps us see how the ministry of the Holy Spirit keeps us intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually “in the moment” with God.

Finally, as a fellow pastor, Pastor Luck’s approach causes me to celebrate. This is not a treatment of the Holy Spirit based on emotionalism or experientalism (sorry, that might not be a real word). Pastor Luck asked the question, “What does the Bible teach about the leading, guiding, and teaching ministry of the Spirit?” He asked, “What does the Bible teach regarding walking and living in the Spirit?” In the end, Pastor Luck clearly discovered that what the Bible actually teaches about life in the Spirit is far more satisfying to both our emotions and experience than much of what we have come to understand in the past about phrases like, “I sensed the Spirit’s leading,” I was moved by the Spirit,” or “the Spirit led me.”

Read “Soar” if you want a theology of the Holy Spirit that changes your psychology. Read “Soar” if you want answers about really experiencing the presence of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. However, soar in the Spirit, by living what Pastor Luck has pointed out from God’s word, if you crave a sense of awe and exhilaration in your life with our Savior.

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Life's Moments

“Twas The Night Before Christmas”

With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore or Henry Livingston, Jr. (depending upon who the scholars finally decide was the original author), I offer the following…

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the church
the preacher’s teaching was less effective than Google search.

The elders were nervous hanging ’round the coffee pots
in hopes that the offering would be exceedingly hot.

The men all discussed the object of their worship
sports, money, or a favorite beverage to nip.

And the ladies, well the ladies did what they do,
they passed their gossip from pew to pew.

The teens were all slouching in the back row
whispering—none too quietly—about their favorite TV show.

The children were running hither and yon
wishing the lesson soon would be gone.

When out on the lawn there arose such a noise
the preacher shut up rather than lose his poise.

To the front door all the people ran lickity-split
and nearly tore it from its hinges to gawk and flit.

And there to their wondering eyes they beheld
A ragged, little man shouting, “I am compelled…”

“Compelled I say to shout and speak this gospel
lest ye remain a useless rabble.”

“There is a God and his Son is the Savior.
Ignorance of this, well, there’s nothing graver.”

“He rolls out before us both heaven and hell.
The former is life, the latter I’d rather not tell.”

“Yet tell it I will to all I encounter
in hopes that finally their hearts I might stir.”

“Will you remain idle while others fail to see
their sin condemns them to a Christ-less eternity?”

“Will you continue as the church in the lurch
or awaken to help them find the hope of their search?”

“For if not you then who, if not now then when?
Why wait to hear a mournful graveside ‘Amen?’”

The preacher first blustered, but then hung his head
as he tore each page of his sermon shred to shred.

The elders glanced back and forth, one to another,
then fell to their knees their shame to smother.

The men were nervous shuffling their feet
as each suddenly felt his deep and bitter conceit.

The ladies all blinked with tears of sorrow
as each could be heard crying, “oh, oh, ohhhh.”

The teens soon ignored the pull of the other gender
preferring to stand with a father and mother.

The children ran to the little, ragged old man,
exclaiming as one voice, “Tell us of Jesus and his plan.”

And so the ragged, diminutive man quietly said,
“Far better for you if by God’s truth you are fed.”

He spoke many words then left to finish his work
but, as he was taking his leave, he turned with a jerk,
and lifting his hand high to the sky
they heard his final plea, a deafening cry,

“As with Jeremiah of old, may it be with all of thee
that if you fail to share the good news of the Trinity
his word will become as fire shut up in your bones
burning to be loosed upon those who weary of their groans.”

As every step carried him further, further away
his words grew faint, yet still we could hear him say,
“Revival, revival, ‘tis the need of this season.
Take serious his message. Let it be your reason
for giving, for working, playing, laughing or crying.
The reason for the season must ever be his living and dying.

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Life's Moments

Before She Leaves

Prodigal. The word itself stirs fear in the hearts of moms and dads.

Why not? We bring them into the world. We teach them to crawl. Then they walk. Running and jumping and leaping and playing and poking and prodding come next. We love them. They hug our necks. We make sacrifices and they soak up everything we give.

As they grow, we tell them, “You are the light that pushes back the sadness of my days.” All the while that ugly, painful, frightening word lurks in the recesses of our minds. Prodigal. Prodigal. Prodigal.

Oh, God let her not be a prodigal.

And tonight, as I spend this last bit of time praying for my daughter before she leaves for Bible College in the morning, I stare that ugly word down…and I thank the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…because she is anything but a prodigal.

“Further up and further in,” Jess. You are a light that reflects a greater light.

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Bible

Social Gospel x 2

PART DEUX GRAYBe careful when you accuse someone of having no compassion…

Be careful when you accuse someone of not caring…

…when he or she steadfastly refuses to take up your cause.

Jesus was quite clear that failing to invest ourselves in the lives of the less fortunate is at best problematic and more than likely sinful. His story of the Good Samaritan and his admonitions concerning the “first should be last” are more than enough for us to comprehend this side of compassion.

However, he was equally clear about the spiritual side of things. We must never mistake his desire for the eternal well-being of lost people as a lack of compassion. It is ultimate compassion that our Savior believes, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul” (Mark 8:36).

There is a tension about these two sides of compassion among Christ’s followers, but not within the heart of Christ. The former is Christ-likeness manifest in kindness. The latter is Christ-likeness manifest in love–agape love. The first must always possess potential for revealing the second.

And while this debate has raged among Christians for a century over the social gospel of liberal Christians, we must now apply it to The Social Gospel: Part Deux…the social gospel of conservative Christians. The social justice and public policy activism of conservative Christians has exactly the same potential for good or bad as its liberal counter-part. The life-changing message of Jesus Christ may just as easily be lost in the shuffle during proclamations regarding fiscal, sexual, and self-defense issues as it can during proclamations regarding the need for universal health care or racial reparations. It simply will do no good to argue which is closer to the heart of Jesus if either or both fail as advertisements on behalf of our Savior’s birth, life, death, and resurrection as a ransom for lost people.

“For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.”  Hebrews 9:15

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Bible, Life's Moments

Huh?

“Huh?”

“What’s that?”

“I’m sorry, could you say that again?”

“Whew, I still didn’t get it. Say it one more time.”

Such are the things one says when one has difficulty with one small word.

It’s easy to write…just four letters.

It’s easy to say…just part your lips and push a small breath from the back of your mouth.

However, for some – and, most especially, one person near and dear to me – the word is difficult to hear. Did you hear that…the last word in that last sentence? You did, right? That’s the word. H E A R, hear. But I can almost guarantee my Mom wouldn’t since that is the one word that gives her difficulty. Oh, she can say it and she can write it, but it’s what the word represents that troubles her. Don’t get me wrong. She pays attention. She listens. Frankly, she probably listens better than anyone else I’ve ever met. It’s just the very function of the word that bothers her. In fact, I’m sure sometimes, in the quietness of her heart, she has whispered to herself – and then to God – “To hear, to hear, if only I could hear like others hear.”

You see, my friend, early in life, back in the 1930’s, Mom had some terrible ear infections. Now I’m not sure whether treatment for such things simply was not available then or if her family’s poverty precluded treatment. I just know she received no treatment and the result was severe hearing loss. That’s when the curse started. It’s also when the blessing started. Let me explain.

The curse part is easy to explain. It’s represented by words like those that started this little essay.

“Huh?”  “What?”   “I can’t hear what you’re saying. Stand right in front of me and let me see your lips.”

Every conversation, at best, becomes part time for Mom. Some of it she hears. Some of it she does not. It’s frustrating.

The curse part is easy to explain. It’s represented by the winces on another face as Mom sings out loud. You see, when you cannot hear yourself or others very well, you certainly cannot tell whether or not you are singing on key or pitch or whatever it’s called. This is a dilemma for singing…but, oh how Mom loves to sing. That creates the problem. She loves to sing, she just can’t sing like an angel…nothing like an angel…nothing like…well like nothing you’ve ever heard…if you catch my meaning.

The curse is easy to explain.

The blessing is not so easy to explain, but it’s represented by some things small and some things out of this world.

The blessing of Mom’s almost total, but not quite total hearing loss has often been the source of some near miracles. I remember once, when I was about sixteen, she said to me, “Ricki, I want you to clean the bathroom.”

“Uhhh, you have to be kidding, Mom. I’m not gonna do it. The bathroom is your job?”

“That’s right,” she replied, “the bathroom.”

Notice how she did not respond to my disrespect. She simply responded to what she heard…two words…”the bathroom.” And, being the kind and gentle person she is, she must have presumed the best of me.

So, off to the bathroom I went. I gave it a quick brush down…and I mean quick. You would not have been able to see a difference from when I entered to when I left. A little while later I sat down in the family room. Mom called out to me from the kitchen, “Did you clean the bathroom?”

I called out loudly, “Yes, but you better believe I didn’t do much.” Of course, I dropped my volume on everything after the word yes. I probably did not need to, but I was taking no chances. It was my plan to not only do as little as possible, but to cover my tracks with “deceptive honesty.” You know, say what was true, but say it so as to get away with something…cover some tracks…lay the groundwork for some sleight of hand argument in the near future. Once the words were out I figured “Great, now on to something else.”

Then one of those small miracles I have come to appreciate occurred. My Mom, she who would have expected me to come to the kitchen to give my answer – so she could hear it all – said, “Ricki Lee!,” — oh, oh, use of both first and middle name, not good, not good at all — “get up, get in there, clean it, clean it good, and don’t sass me again.”

Now how did she pull that off?

I think it was God. In small moments, laden with large implications, God would alter the sound waves. It had to be.

That’s it, you see, the blessing is a bit more difficult to explain. Perhaps, when you suffer from severe hearing loss, you learn to listen with your heart…and God comes through. When you do not hear much of what is being said around you, you begin to hear what is being said in you…to you…deep within you…in your heart. In fact, my brother, two sisters, and I have often joked, “She must have an inside line to God.” But it’s more than a joke. It’s truth. The word “hear” for Mom is special when considered this way. This is when she really hears. This is when she gets it all.

Every word.

Every letter.

Every nuance.

She really gets it. She really understands what Jesus meant when he said,

“Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the [Holy] Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

Or, “Look! Here I stand at the door and knock, If you hear me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends.”

And, oh how thrilled I am that she does.

The blessing may be a bit more difficult to explain, but it’s something I cannot, will not, imagine having lived without. The blessing is not only hers, but mine as well, and just as well for thousands of others.

Her physical hearing loss drove her to spiritual hearing…

which drove her to spiritual obedience…

which led her to be more and more like her Savior with each new day…

which enabled her to bless everyone she knew…

me not the least.

Because she listened with spiritual ears she heard the tender voice of the Savior offering salvation. And once she heard it, she received it.

Quickly.

Eagerly.

Ravenously.

She accepted.

Because she listened, I too heard…the sweet call of the Savior’s life-changing message,

“Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. For in my Father’s house are many mansions. I go there to prepare a place for you. If this was not the case, I would tell you plainly. Now, when everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will be with me in heaven. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, but through me.”

Heaven, my friend, is mine…and yours too if, like my Mom, you listen and hear with your heart.

And then, then the day will come, when standing before the very throne of God himself, we will lift our voices. We will lift praises to God our Savior. Perhaps, like the angels, we will be overcome by his majesty. The words will have to come out. The melody will have to be released. We will not be able to contain ourselves. We will cry out, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.” We will sing. We will sing…

and I will hear a voice…

a very beautiful voice…

a voice I have known since birth…both births…

a voice with perfect, no not perfect, heavenly…heavenly pitch…

a voice that will ring out above all others…

a voice light-hearted with eternity, somber with gratefulness…

a voice unchained from physical disability…

a voice with spiritual depth…

a voice once hampered, now set free…

a voice that will remind me of days on earth…

my mother’s voice…

and I will remember…

I will remember her saying, “Just wait ‘til I get to heaven. You won’t mind my singing then!”

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