Can People Really Change?

     Modern psychology has given us "disorders."  Over the last one hundred years behavioral scientists have told us that all of society is sick, dysfunctional, and psychologically out of tune.  I don't doubt it.  The more I interact with humanity, I'm convinced that something is very wrong.

     Frankly, it's been going on for a long time.  Just read the popular literature of the past two centuries and you will see what I mean.  Robert Lewis Stevenson wrote The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  It set off a firestorm of psychiatric debate.  Edgar Allen Poe wrote about personality disorders.  Hollywood has certainly presented us with a trail of movies which have delved into the dark, frightening world of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and millions of people have been scared out of their wits just watching them.

     Really, I guess to be fair, this stuff goes back farther than modern history.  Just look at the stories in the Bible and you'll find instances of people who succumbed to personality disorders.  Our friend Samson, for example, was flipping the switch from one extreme to another, and in doing so, displayed shameful degrees of immorality.  But God never designed life to be that way.  Neither Jekyll or Samson's stories is how God planned it.  They went from good to bad.  God designed man to be regenerated, to go from bad to good.

     The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was meant to bring men and women from death to life, from darkness to His marvelous light.  Easter means "new life."  I've been asking in a rather old fashioned and simplistic way, can people really change?  With all our disorders and dysfunctionality, is regeneration possible?  I love the way Ron Walters puts it:

     *  Mary Magdalene was a pitiful, demon- possessed woman.  But once she met the Savior she was

         set free and transformed into a follower of Christ.

     *  Zacchaeus was a hated, money-grubbing robber.  But one dinner with the Truth transformed this 

         little man into a benevolent philanthropist.

     *  The sinful woman at the well had one quick conversation with Jesus and was transformed into a

         Samaritan evangelist.

     *  Saul of Tarsus made a career change on the road to Damascus; from a bounty hunter tracking

         down Christians, to the greatest missionary of the first century.

     *  Augustine was a rising star in a politically-corrupt world.  But politics couldn't rid his guilt and

         shame.  Only the Lord could set him free.  And He did.

     *  John Newton's miserable life included failed suicide attempts and slave trafficking on the high

         seas.  But once he discovered God's amazing grace, he set a new course to proclaim Christ and

         abolish slavery.

     *  C.S. Lewis was a confused, young atheist and "angry with God for not existing!"  But when he

         reluctantly surrendered to the Savior, he was Surprised by Joy.

     Do we have disorders?  You bet!  Big time.  We are steeped in human behavioral mess, but unlike any message the world has ever known, the message of Christ stands alone in its power to reverse the human curse and miraculously transform sinful creatures into the sons and daughters of the Most High God.

Down in the human heart crushed by the tempter

Feelings lie buried that Grace can restore.

Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness

Chords that were broken will vibrate once more.

Fanny Crosby

     Can people really change?  Yeah!  They really can.

         

How's Your Life's Blog Coming?

     Whether you know it or not, you're blogging today.  You are writing your life's story.  Most of us don't think of it like that, but it's true.  Your blog will either be a positive or negative recounting of that story.  Think about it--the power of Story!  People are looking at you.  They see what you do, what you say and how you live your life.  We used to say, "Your life is an open book."  Perhaps now we would say, "Your blog is showing."

    I'm pretty convinced that in order to have a meaningful life there are some necessary ingredients.  As you look at those early Christians in the Book of Acts, their lives were powerful and purposeful.  The reason  for such positive meaning was the coming of the Holy Spirit into their lives on the Day of Pentecost (Acts, Chapter 2).  Far more than just a meaningful ingredient, the Holy Spirit was the all-consuming Dynamic.  He was the core of their lives and all that they did.

    They were writing their Story.  In our language today, they were blogging and it was a blog worth reading.  They were blitzing Jerusalem with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Everywhere they went they were turning things upside down.  Healings were taking place.  Compassionate outreach was happening as offerings were taken to help others.  They were constantly testifying to people everywhere about the power of this revolutionary Jesus whose death and resurrection had brought them from darkness to light.  As a result, scores of people were being added to the church, even though there was persecution.  The story they were writing was to impact human history for all time.  

    How's your life's blog coming?  What kind of a story are you writing?  Is it a story you want the rest of the world to read?  If you are filled with the Holy Spirit, your blog will make an impact on someone's life.  Your story will be a connection point to Jesus Christ.  It will be fresh, not phony.  It will resonate authenticity and goodness.  Others will be drawn to you and to Jesus because your life will be like a beautiful flower with a winsome fragrance.  

    I'm eager to read your life's blog.  And when I do, I know it will point me in the right direction.  Happy blogging!  In the power of the Spirit.  

Is God Still Creating?

I love to read Genesis chapter 1, because it is the story of creation.  Verse 3 says that, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  Can you imagine what is must have been like for God to step out into formlessness and void and say, "Let there be light?" Our creator God flipped on the light switch of the universe and brought the world into being.

A legitimate question can be asked, "Is God still creating today?" Or was He like an absentee landlord who brought it all into being and walked away leaving it up to humans to fend for themselves?  Can the miracle of re-creation happen in a very dark world?  Can anything new take place on a planet gone mad?  There are a multitude of theories relating to the earth's creation, but as biblical Christians, we take the Genesis account seriously.

The fact is, the same God of Genesis who brought this world into being is still creating today.  Isaiah 43 says that God wants to do a NEW thing.  "For I am about to do a brand-new thing.  See, I have already begun!  Do you not see it?  I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come home.  I will create rivers for them in the desert! (Isaiah 43: 18 & 19, NLT)."  In Psalm 40 He gives a NEW song. In Psalm 51, He gives David a clean heart and puts a NEW and right spirit in him.  In Romans 7:6, Paul says that we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the NEW way of the Spirit.  And I love 1 Corinthians 5:17 which says that if any person is in Christ, he or she is a "NEW creation; the old has gone, the NEW has come."

The word "creation" may be old, but it is also ever new.  God is RE:CREATING.  There is a fresh wind blowing.  It is the Wind of the Spirit.  He is continuing to give new life.  He is firing up old ministries and making them new.  He is developing new forms of worship.  Our recreating God wants to give us a fresh new touch with new attitudes, new outreaches and new opportunities.  That's our God.  Hear His voice and submit to Him.

If you are living in the past or if you are plagued by doubt, I invite you to get on board with what God is doing.  I challenge you to let the Wind of the Spirit do a NEW work in your heart.  You'll be amazed at what will happen.  Freshness will invade your life.  Hope will begin to eclipse despair.  By letting God create a new you, the best is yet to come!  You will have a new future which won't be defined by your past.  

Go for it!  He really is still creating.

Your Life in 2012 is Significant

     It's just the beginning of a new year.  The book is starting to open today.  This month.  This New Year.  It's a book with blank pages.  So much yet unwritten.  So much to be told.  It's a book with lots of blank pages.  You and I are the human instruments that God is using to write bold accomplishments.

     You probably feel as I do when such an enormous truth begins to dawn on you:  "What can I do?  It's too much for me.  Wait, this is scary."

     Hold on!  Remember, the power is HIS.  He is the Publisher.  He's simply looking for writers; for people who will trust the power of His Holy Spirit to work in the common, ordinary affairs of their daily lives--family, business, relationships, schoolwork, difficulties, ministry opportunities.

     It's because these mundane details of life are the decisive, history-making points of life, we teach as we do.  Your life is significant.  Your ministry is powerfully significant.  Wonderfully, frighteningly significant.

     As we enter 2012 God offers to you and me a blank book of possibilities, and now He asks what we are going to write.  Let's write wisdom, and let's write it in BIG letters.

Celebrating Christmas Without Going Crazy

I just came from trying to do a bit of Christmas shopping.  Within five minutes I was extremely tired and ready to leave.  After almost being run over several times and still not finding what I was looking for, I gave up.  What a great commercial I could make for online shopping!  Better yet, why not just figure out something to give which doesn't mean getting in such a hurry, frustrated and depressed.

In all the scriptures surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ, not one of the principle players seemed hurried.  Each one recognized that this was God's celebration.  While ruminating on my failed shopping trip, I have identified some guidelines which might keep us all from going crazy during the holidays.

#1  We must keep a clear perspective on Christmas.

What are we trying to accomplish?  Are we trying to impress people?  Are we trying to keep up with someone else's expectations?  Many people are trying to maintain some traditions that have outlived their usefulness.  

Sometimes in all our busy rush, Christ is totally ignored.

Keep reminding yourself that this is Christ's birthday.  Are you honoring Him?  Does He have the prominent place in our festivities?

#2  We must re-evaluate our priorities.

Is our busyness really necessary?  It is easy to get pressured by the expectations of others.  What would others think about us if we don't do what we have always traditionally done.  We think we must send out Christmas cards.  We must host parties and exchange gifts.  Plus, we must make sure it is politically correct.  What would happen if you cut some of these things out?  Perhaps other people's expectations are not as strong as we think.  Our busyness may be self-imposed.  Maybe we're trying to keep up with our own high standards.

This year, we won't be sending all the Christmas cards we used to send.  LaWanda doesn't bake or cook as much as she did at one time.  We are cutting back.  Things of lesser importance must go.  You should decide what be be eliminated in order to still have a meaningful celebration.

#3  We must be alert to people at Christmas.  Luke's Gospel (Luke 1:78,79) talks about the fact that our Dayspring (Jesus Christ) came to bring light to those who are in darkness.  He had time for people.  At Christmas it is so easy to turn our attention to food, gifts, decorations, cards, travel and many other things.  Why not re-focus on PEOPLE, including those in our own families.  We need to show love, support and encouragement--even if we don't get some other things done which we wanted to do.

To ignore Christmas is not Christ-honoring, but a frantic busyness is no better.  This year, break the mold.  Change the pattern.  Christmas is about LOVE.  Now, you can celebrate it without going crazy.

He Just Keeps Rising

He Just Keeps Rising

Advent brings us face to face with the fact that Jesus, our Emmanuel, came to this planet when darkness and hopelessness pervaded everything.  Society was so debauched that "every man did what was right in his own eyes."  Pain, corruption, scandal, deprivation, degradation and godlessness prevailed, but then He came.  His coming changed everything.  His coming changed hearts, lives, societies--He brought hope to a dying world.

Two thousand years later we find ourselves enshrouded in pain, corruption, scandal, deprivation, degradation and godlessness once again.  Western societies in particular seem bent on writing Him out of the script.  Every week there's a new assault on Christ's values and principles.  We seem to be rapidly moving toward a society which sidelines and minimizes all things Christian.  To many, He is simply irrelevant and probably unnecessary.

But there's something irrepressible about our Emmanuel.  The one who came to be with us and to live in us will not be shunted away quite so easily.  About the time we think He can be erased out of our lives, this Emmanuel shows up.  He just keeps rising.  He's there in the most interesting places.  He intersects our lives when we don't even expect it and perhaps don't want it.  There He is, breaking down barriers, showing love and hope, joy and peace.  Most of all He brings forgiveness and new life.  

Tonight my wife, LaWanda and I, were enjoying a PBS special concert from New York City.  One of our favorite singers, Andrea Bocelli, accompanied by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and  Westminster Choir, was thrilling over 50,000 people braving the rain and chill in Central Park.  Millions more around the world were watching as this man with an incredible voice sang opera classics and pop favorites.  Beautiful, almost beyond description.

Suddenly, the conductor's baton dropped and the orchestra began the opening bars of a song known to believers the world over.  It has been sung in the smallest, most primitive churches and in the great cathedrals of the world.  When Andrea Bocelli began to sing "Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see," my heart leaped right up in my throat.  I thought, you can't banish our Emmanuel.  He just keeps rising.

As the camera panned the thousands of urban dwellers, many weighed down with the problems of sin and woe, Bocelli sang the second verse, "Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved, how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed." People all over the huge crowd were singing with him and when the final chorus ended the applause was the most thunderous of the evening.  There He was and John Newton's words were emblazoned on millions of hearts.

What a great time to embrace our Emmanuel and bring Him into the core of our lives.  Don't try to marginalize Him or emasculate His power and glory.  You'll find that He just keeps rising.  

   

Bring It All!

During the Thanksgiving holiday I was looking through an old file of material when I saw this quote by John Newton, the notorious slave trader turned preacher extraordinaire:

Thou art coming to a King,

Large petitions with thee bring,

For His grace and power are such

None can ever ask too much.

I have been made aware about how large the needs are at this moment in time.  Having just returned from Europe where I met with church leaders from ten European countries, I listened to the immense challenges they are facing--a secular society which at times seems very anti-Christian, economic collapse in many nations and a lack of Christian workers.  Their backs seem up against the wall.  

But, they aren't the only ones who are staring down impossible situations.  Recently, one of our friends who has managed the office of a major insurance company for 34 years, was told that she was terminated and that she should clean out her desk and be out by the end of the day.  Another family's 15 year old daughter is facing her 6th bout with cancer.  She can't remember when she wasn't facing a fight with some form of cancer.  Their emotions and finances are depleted.  Those stories can be repeated thousands of times all over the world.  Our world is groaning under the weight of mammoth problems.

It's then that we must remember John Newton's words--"Thou art coming to a King, Large petitions with thee bring..."  One doesn't bring trivial matters to a king.  Few situations are too great for a king's power.  The breadth and depth of his might are immense.  If that is true of an earthly despot, think how mighty our heavenly King is.  Don't worry about your need being too large for Him.  "For His grace and power are such None can ever ask too much.

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3).  That links marvelously with Ephesians 3: 20-21, which reads: "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen."

So, you can bring it all in to Him.  He is big enough and powerful enough to handle whatever it is that's overwhelming you.  HE IS THE KING.  You can't ask too much with Him.  Bring it!  Bring it all!  

"If you judge people, 

you have no time to love them."

Here are a couple of early morning thoughts to consider:

     *  "I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money.  No I wouldn't

         touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God."

     *  "I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I do know that when we die and it 

         comes time for God to judge us, He will NOT ask, 'How many good things have you done

         in your life?'  rather He will ask, 'How much LOVE did you put into what you did?' "

Mother Teresa

God's Prayer Force

Recently, while reading A Little Book About Prayer by Dr. W. E. McCumber, I was jolted by these words: "A church may distinguish itself for a number of good things and yet fail.  It may be a church noted for its music or for its preaching or for its philanthropies or for its friendliness or for its influence over politics and culture.  But if that church is not also and chiefly distinguished for its praying, it is arranging its own funeral."

Dr. McCumber went on to say, "The will of God cannot be known or done by a church that does not pray.  The mission of Christ is unsafe in the hands of a prayerless church.  The devil fears nothing less than he fears a people who play at religion, but do not pray."

We are desperately in need of people who will join God's Prayer Force.  This is a person who has a ministry of prayer for the Lord's work around the world.  He or she prays regularly for family members, but their circle of concern is much larger.

I have known some great prayers in my lifetime.  I well remember a group who made it their specific job to pray until they got definite answers from God.  My own life was changed by their prayers.  They lifted me to the Throne of God in a mighty concert of prayer regarding some very big needs in my life.  I am convinced that God met those needs because of their faithfulness in prayer.

Often these are people who are not seen up front in public.  Many are "behind-the-scenes" people.  Because of age or sickness, they may not be able to attend church services.  It is very likely they will not receive recognition or earthly reward.

But, let me tell you, it is impossible to overstate the importance of prayer ministry.

     *  Prayer puts a wall of protection around those for whom we intercede.  Prayer supplies

         strength for those who labor for God.

     *  Prayer pushes back the forces of darkness and opens the door for the entrance of the gospel

         light.

     *  Prayer invites the operations of God's Spirit upon situations of need and calls down divine

         power upon the preaching of the gospel.

Pray!  For Christ's sake, for the world's sake and for your own sake, PRAY!

So, Are You Missional or Miserable?

As we near the holiday season when we think about Jesus coming as a baby in a manger, one of the words which comes to mind is "mission."  His mission was to bring hope and salvation to a very sick world.  Today, we are using a buzzword called "missional."  I love the word because I love the world.  It simply means that we are striving to do the mission.  Do you think you are missional?  Is your church missional?

Church is not an indoor activity.  Church should be done outdoors--outside the weekly indoor gatherings. Outside the church doors is where the world is and, consequently, where we as the church must be.  Oh, it's great to come inside for cookies and milk or even a hearty meal, but we should head right back outside  to experience life.  When I was a kid my mother would send us right back outside to play after we had eaten.  On rainy days we played inside because we needed a safe place to stay dry.  On sick days we played quietly inside because we needed a place to get well, but life happened outdoors where we liked to play Robin Hood or Lone Ranger or Superman.

The world is not waiting inside the church.  The world is waiting outside our doors.  We gather in order to be filled up and then be poured out.  We gather to dream and imagine, so we can leave re-energized to do God's mission.  We were created for mission...it beats in our hearts and resounds in our imaginations.

My most miserable days were when I had to stay indoors.  I wanted to go outside and enjoy the sunshine and all of nature.  If I had to stay inside, I was seldom happy.  I longed to be outdoors.  I was so much more fulfilled outside.  I remember having an insecure babysitter who wouldn't let us outdoors because she was afraid we might get hurt.

That's like many pastors I know.  They are insecure about letting the church outdoors to set the captives free.  I can almost hear them say, "What if they end up getting involved with worldly people?  They won't be available to do church stuff."  With the church indoors, pastors must become entertainers instead of equippers.

My mother was an equipper.  She would put my boots and coat on me.  She would help me get into my uniform so I could go play sheriff or cowboys and Indians.  I couldn't wait to get outside so that I could live out my identity, my destiny, my dreams and my mission.

The church is kind of miserable because it is not very missional.  As for me?  "Open the door, let me out!  I am miserable unless I am missional!"  So, how about you?