Easter

I consider preaching to be a very sacred privilege. I have the opportunity to serve as a mouthpiece for the Holy Spirit and I have the privilege to receive people’s attention for a few moments; therefore, I feel a tremendous responsibility not to waste people’s time. I kind of feel like the chicken who decided to lay an egg on I-40, the rooster said to the chicken: “Well, here is how you do it: you lay it on the line and you do it in a hurry!”
[ okay, okay, maybe I should be more responsible about my poor humor ]

But preaching is indeed a sacred privilege … and the Easter Season is by far the time when I sense that responsibility and urgency the greatest.

Jesus made some pretty outrageous claims during his short life on earth. He said things like: “I am the Son of God”
“I am the only way to Heaven”
“I am the Savior of the World”
“I and The Father are one”

In John 11:25, he said:
“ I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in me will live,
even though he dies.”

We know that Jesus was humble. He taught humility and modeled it. So he would not make such notorious claims … unless they were true!

I know Him, as my personal Lord and Savior! I recognize Him as the Messiah, God sent to this world. I believe these claims are indeed true!

His willing sacrifice … paved the way for all of us to have our sins forgiven;
to enter into a personal relationship with the Heavenly Father;
and to receive atonement through His shed blood!

And at this very moment - if you are not living…as you ought to be living…before God
– you are belittling and scornfully dishonoring His precious sacrifice of love !!

You are also robbing yourself of the greatest blessing known to mankind …
because in that willing sacrifice …
death was defeated – once and for all;
the power of sin in our lives was broken;
and the promise of peace and joy was given to all
who would reach out and accept this atonement as their own personal gift.

Jesus Christ, willingly experienced the worst this world had to offer …
so that when our life is at it’s worst …
he could offer us hope and expectation of a better day …
… he paid the price – so we would not have to !!

He conquered hell, death and the grave…because we were unable to!

He accomplished for us…what we could not do for ourselves!

AND NOW…in love and mercy…He offers us the opportunity to live above the
hopelessness and helplessness of this world – by entering into a personal
relationship with Him; and by experiencing forgiveness and freedom
through His shed blood; and by experiencing victory …
through the same power that resurrected Him from the grave !!

In the Garden of Gethsemane … Jesus Christ was praying for you;
On the Cross … the eyes of his heart – were looking at you;
And now in victory; seated at the right hand of The Father in Heaven …
you – are still, the desire of his heart !!

THAT is what the celebration of Easter is all about !
Indeed, we have SO MUCH to celebrate !

On Easter Sunday this year, please know that I am taking this sacred privilege and responsibility very seriously. We will study the difference between a Saint, a Stumbler, and a Seeker. And simply ask the question: Which one are you?

I invite you to join us, it could be life changing…

Anger Management

A few weeks ago, I concluded a sermon series out of Proverbs, with a sermon on anger management. (The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about this subject). In all truth, the whole time I was preparing it and delivering it – I kind of felt like “Dr. Phil”. I was fearful it was too practical; the response from the congregation seemed “flat” – but what I discovered afterwards was that the congregation was drinking in every word. I have had more comments about that message than I have about other messages in a long time. Obviously God knew what we needed to be talking about and the precious Holy Spirit hit that message home to the heart of many individuals.

At another function, outside of the church later that week, someone approached me regarding that message and their discussion caused me to think that others may benefit from the response I gave. So I thought I would share the exchange:

This individual said to me: Pastor, was I the only one in the room Sunday? I felt like you were speaking directly at me. When you mentioned that most all of us are either like a “skunk” or a “turtle” with our anger – it hit me square in the face. I find myself telling my boys, ‘do this, do this’, but after about the 3^rd or 4rth time, I just blow up because I am so frustrated at them. And then when you mentioned that anger is a learned response, in horror I thought to myself, what am I teaching my boys. I really struggle with this.

The conversation that ensued may offer a practical suggestion to all of us who struggle with this issue with our children – because it is indeed a very common scenario. My suggestion was as follows: What you just described is perhaps more of a LISTENING problem than an ANGER issue. This methodology is teaching your boys to not pay attention to you, UNTIL you blow up. My suggestion would be that you speak in your normal tones, give them a couple of opportunities to catch it (in other words – it is okay, given their ages, to repeat demands and expectations a couple of times) but then – without blowing up, take away certain privileges from them. When they question as to why they lost those privileges – explain to them that you told them to do something 2 or 3 times, but because they did not obey these loss of privileges are the consequences. They will fuss about how they never heard you say that, but if you consistently take away privileges that get their attention (without blowing up) you will teach them to LISTEN more closely when Mom speaks, and keep your blood pressure down at the same time. It will also be teaching your boys that every decision or indecision carries consequences with it.

That was just a practical suggestion that I thought I would pass along from “Pastor Phil” … isn’t it wonderful how the Word of God is always so applicable to our everyday lives ?!