Month: April 2017

Matthew 5:13-16
Acts 1:1-8

This past week, Gail and I spent 5 days in Sarasota, Florida with her son, Brett, who moved there after Christmas. Sarasota is a wonderful place to visit as there are so many things to do, not the least of which is to hang out on Siesta Keys Beach; voted the # 1 beach in America.

Sarasota is also home to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus Museum. It’s appropriate there is a museum because in 22 days that’s all that will be left, as they perform for the very last time in Uniondale, New York on May 21st. Why did this great American icon give up the ghost after 146 years? Plain and simple; not enough people are interested in going to the circus anymore; especially younger people.

Would you believe the same dynamic is affecting the church? Guess how many churches in America will become museums this year? About 3,700 churches will close up shop this year (that’s 71 every Sunday). And why is that? Simply because like the circus, fewer and fewer people are interested in going to church; especially younger people.

Especially the Millennials. 75,000,000 strong, they range in age from 20 to 36 and last year surpassed the Baby Boomers as the most populous of generations. By and large, they are not (at this time) interested in attending church, as they believe that churches are populated with people who only care about themselves. (more…)

John 11:1-53, I Corinthians 15:12-22

A pastor’s son and his friends were playing in the backyard when they found a dead robin. They decided that the bird should be given a proper burial, so they put him in a Kleenex box, dug a hole and solemnly placed their feathered friend in the ground. Naturally, the minister’s son was chosen to say something appropriate. Remembering what his father often said at times like this, the young boy sang, “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son…and into the hole he goooooes!”

On Feb. 27, 1991, at the height of Desert Storm, Ruth Dillow’s worst fears were realized as she opened her front door to see two army officers standing there with grim looks on their faces. She knew why they were there. It was their job to inform her that her son, Pvt. 1st Class, Clayton Dillow, had stepped on a landmine in Kuwait and was now dead. She later said, “I can’t begin to describe my grief and shock. It was almost more than I could bear. For 3 days I wept, for 3 days I expressed my anger toward God, for 3 days people tried to comfort me, but to no avail, because the loss was too great.”

Then, three days after she received that dreaded message the telephone rang. The voice on the other end said, “Mom, it’s me, I’m alive.” Ruth Dillow said, “I couldn’t believe it at first. But then I recognized his voice, and he really was alive. The army had made an identification mistake! I laughed, I cried, I felt like turning cartwheels because my son whom I had thought was dead . . . was really alive. I’m sure none of you can even begin to understand how I felt.”

It’s probably true that none of us can, but two sisters who made their home in a place called Bethany could and did.

As we join Mary and Martha, we come to a very heavy scene of mourning with all the reality of grief, heartache, and tears. The Bible doesn’t gloss over what we are so afraid to talk or even think about. (more…)

John 13:31-14:1-6
Colossians 1:15-22
We must not consider today’s ‘I am’ saying – ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’ found in John 14:6 apart from its context set for us in the previous chapter. For the beginning of chapter 13 marks a solemn divide in John’s plot. Whereas the first twelve chapters picture the public ministry of Jesus; chapters 13 through 17 provide us an intimate look at Jesus with His disciples for the last few hours of His time on earth before His death and resurrection in chapters 18 through 21.

The setting for both chapters 13 and 14 is the Upper Room; the place Jesus sent two of His disciples to prepare for Him and them to observe the Jewish Passover. The scene opens with Jesus taking on the role of servant as He washes the feet of His disciples followed by Jesus releasing Judas to carry out his betrayal.

With the betrayer departed, Jesus is alone with His own, and now begins what is known as His ‘farewell discourse,’ in which He is going to remind them of His most important truths and at the same time prepare and comfort them for what lies just ahead. (more…)

John 15:1-17

John 15 is a very deep passage of scripture. An entire sermon series could be preached on this passage, answering questions that I am not going to touch on today, including:

• If we are bearing fruit, why do we have to be pruned? Sounds painful to me.
• What does it mean to be pruned?
• How does the pruning process help us bear more fruit?
• Who are the useless branches that are cut out?
• What does it mean to be thrown in the fire and burned?
• What is the nature of the fruit?
• How is the promise of answered prayer related to the rest of this passage?

My goal today must be to stick to the big picture of this passage. To do so, I need to begin by informing you that the Old Testament often pictures the nation of Israel as the vine in the vineyard of God. For example:

• Isaiah 5 speaks of ‘the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel’ (Isa 5:1-7).
• Jeremiah proclaims on behalf of God: “I planted you a choice vine” (Jer 2:21)
• Ezekiel (Eze 15:1-8) and Hosea (Hos 10:1) both use the same imagery.
• Psalm 80:8 testifies: ‘You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine; you drove away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land.”

As time went on, the Jewish people adopted the vine as a symbol of their nation. We in the US have the bald eagle . . . the Jews had the vine. They even put a vine on some of their 1^st century coinage.

But the most interesting place they displayed the vine has much to do with today’s ‘I am’ saying. It was at the Holy Temple located in the heart of Jerusalem. (more…)