THE SUFFERING SERVANT Is. 53:1-6/Matt. 1:18-21

Posted on December 22, 2007 
Filed Under Pastor's Blog, Sermons

The Christ of Christmas is a crucified and risen Savior. He bore the burden of your sin. He endured the punishment meant for us. By his stripes we are healed. His pain has become our gain. This was the destiny of the Holy Child. Mary pondered these things. Joseph was made aware of these things. Sure the details were sketchy for the surrogate parents. What we know is that they believed and they obeyed.

Our journey is with Jesus. As it must have been for his human parents. They witnessed the wonder and the horror of Bethlehem. Followed him in and out of Egypt. Waited with/for him in Nazareth. Walked with him through Galilee and into the holy city. Wept for him at the foot of the cross and celebrated with him at the empty tomb. May this Christmas be one more step in your journey of faith in Christ the Lord. A season of celebration and contemplation. With tender hearts and submissive wills may we be sensitive the voice of God in our lives. Father God, thankyou for the privilege of making this journey with Jesus. Yours is the glory. Amen WHB

UNDERSTANDING END TIMES PROPHECY by Paul Benware

Posted on December 20, 2007 
Filed Under Book Review

“Many Christians view Bible prophecy with confusion or cynicism….(some) have retreated into “eschatological agnosticism,” pleading ignorance on prophetic matters” (Benware). Well if you read Benware it will be hard to plead ignorance any longer. For me this is a non-typical read. Because it is a topical-systematic approach to prophetic matters. While I am predominantly text driven and exegetically oriented.

That being said, I do recommend this book (even if I dislike the approach). First the good stuff. It reads easy and being topically oriented it can give you a good survey of prophetic matters. Benware covers the spectrum of various positions and treats them relatively fairly.The book also answers specific questions regarding the 2nd coming and the rapture(s) [or lack thereof].

The bad. Well I’m not big on approaching the Bible topically (just my preference). At times the book may raise other questions for you. I also prefer to read first sources. Benware does not take all of the positions explored in this book. It is his explanation of how they work and what they say. Nonetheless he is more fair than I have found others to be.

All in all this is a good research/educational tool. If you lead a Bible study this book can be a help (just remember it doesn’t make you an expert, but then again who is when it comes to prophecy). If I were still teaching at the college level this would be required reading in my Daniel/Revelation class. You don’t have to be a scholar to read this book. In fact the so called “experts” would likely brush it off. And here is where I walk softly. Having immersed myself in prophetic studies for around 10 years and spent countless hours in Daniel and Revelation I have determined that I understand less than I once thought I did. I am a dedicated dispensational/premill/pretrib kind of guy (a position that is increasingly scoffed at by smarter people than I in the biblical studies world). But lets face it some people are just too smart for their own good (and ours for that matter). I am always open to a good dialogue in regards to eschatological matters. And my strict text driven, exegetically oriented approach to prophetic studies often leaves me at odds with those in my own camp. But at the end of the day in my mind the other end time theories bend the text in directions it just doesn’t want to go. Maybe that is why I recommend Benware. My own position leaves me irking some in my own camp but I am quietly confident about discussing and effectively defending my biblical theology with those of a different strain. Benware is simple and to the point, but not perfect. A worthy text to sit on my shelf. WHB

OBJECTIVELY SPEAKING

Posted on December 19, 2007 
Filed Under Announcements, Pastor's Blog

Well Christmas is right on top of us and the weather has been making havoc of our lives. It all adds up to a chaotic existence. But Jesus still calms the storm. He is our light in darkness and the voice of reason in confusion. Amidst the choas I put before you our short-term objectives for our community of faith.

There are three objectives we need to accomplish by the end of March. One is the refurbishing of the basement. This is a hold over from the flood of ’06. We want to wrap this up because several men have been working tirelessly and they need to be able to say, “It is finished.” And it would be great to have this out of the way before we go into the next fiscal year (March). Second on the list is Cedarhurst school. We have been waiting on the school board and their feasibility study as we contemplate purchasing the facility. The feasibility study will likely go into March but we are doing due diligence in getting questions answered before the study is complete. By the end of January we hope to have had a tour and gotten the answers to a lot of questions so we can decide if Cedarhurst should stay on our wish (prayer) list. This is about the next campus site for FCC and would impact the next 30 years of our existence. So by the end of January we want to be able to say we want this place or remove it as an option. Finally there is the budget. Which has to be in place for the next year come March. Money matters folks. It is heartless to say we want to “produce authentic followers of Christ” and have no concern for our annual budget. Because it takes money to get the job done. It has been a rough year and currently we have about a $10,000 shortfall for the fiscal year. That means we are lagging around 8%. The new year will bring its own financial challenges and a fresh call to faith and obedience. Fortunately for us January is “stewardship month.” Our own “survivorman” (ala discvovery channel) will be here to challenge us with God’s grace (2 Corinthians 8:1-12) which enables us to make substancial financial contributions to God’s work.

With one heart and mind may we pursue these objectives. WHB

ARE YOU PREGNANT? IS. 9:1-7/LK. 1:26-38

Posted on December 10, 2007 
Filed Under Pastor's Blog, Sermons

Now that is a dangerous question. If the person is not you are in real trouble. And generally it is only asked of a particular sex. But in light of these texts I think it is important to ask it of all of us. What we need to realize this Christmas is that Mary’s pregnancy was a pregnancy of hope. I suppose she may have been the least likely candidate to carry the Christ-child; single, young and poor (sounds like a candidate for a crisis pregnancy center or Planned Parenthood if you lack moral fiber).

God loves to work in and through the seemingly foolish the weak and the worst of times. God’s method and maid would have certainly not been the way we would have orchestrated all this. So we, like Mary are forced to exercise faith. She was obviously more spiritually mature than one would expect. She may be young in age but she is already mature in the faith. For her this is a pregnancy of hope.

Isaiah follows a similar vein. God’s prophet to rebellious Israel. He is painfully watching her descent into darkness and oppression; judgment. And then he sees hope. “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.” He voices messianic imagery wrapped in a perplexing relationship with a child. This is not uncommon for Isaiah. For several of his prophecies would in some way involve or be related to children. What one must see is what Isaiah saw. And what he saw was hope. The child is hope and Isaiah realized and proclaimed the conquest of the Messiah. Conquest sounds rather militaristic. But it is the ministry of the Messiah to end all wars (spiritual and physical).

We (Christians) of all people should be pregnant with hope. Following the faithfulness of Isaiah and Mary. Sure there are plenty of reasons to feel hopeless. The ACLU hates Christmas. Public education is distancing itself from Christmas. As Christians we are more and more becoming a marginalized people. For us it is rather disturbing having enjoyed relative acceptance for so long. But an examination of history teaches us that marginalization and oppression is  the norm for God’s people. Not to mention the personal struggles of our own lives. One’s personal battle with fear, lonliness, depression and anger can only intensify during the holiday season. It can ironically remind us just how imperfect our lives really are.

Then came Jesus. Who would save his people from their sins. And our sin is at the heart of many/most of our problems. I am not suggesting it is simplistic. In fact sin makes our problems more complicated. Sin has a way of multiplying like bacteria on a dead carcass. There’s my sin, your sin and everybody else’s sin contributing to our global meltdown. So God gave us his Son and it all started with the birth of a child. It reached it apex at the cross where Christ was crucified. Certainly a turning point as the page of history was turned and Christ rose from the dead. The world sighed and Spring sprung as the Son rose over our broken sin-infested lives. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes on him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Are you pregnant with hope this Christmas? Jesus is all grown up now and he carries the weight of the world (your world) on his shoulders.                             WHB

GOING GLOBAL MATTHEW 28:18-20

Posted on December 5, 2007 
Filed Under Pastor's Blog, Sermons

The command to go and make disciples is at the core of Biblical Christianity. One might say, “making disciples is our history (story).” One only has to read the book of Acts (the only canonical history we have of the early church). For us of course it is ancient history but for the early church it was near history or one might say contemporary history (a fine comparison may be our “Contemporary History Channel”). Usually the Church looks back with awe and humility at the early work of God and the faithfulness of His Church in the face of persecution.

Not so today. At least in terms of our own contemporary history. The world (no surprise) and now tragically some elements of the Church have begun to criticize our recent missional past. I speak of the Burnham’s in the Philippines and more recently the short-term missionaries from South Korea to Afghanistan. It would seem some are suggesting (in quaint politically correct language) that we have to rethink and with caution go to people and places of crisis in the name of Jesus for the sake of the gospel.

I have3 observations; one is relatively direct, the second is developmental and the third is rooted in history. First of all the missional movement already takes into account the hazards of their ministry. They are not ignorant of the possibilities. Bold and idealistic perhaps but not ignorant. And how can one not be bold and a bit idealistic as a follower of Jesus? Secondly, I am beginning to wonder if this “concern” for those on the field does not in part stem from cultural anthropologists and some missiologists viewing evangelism as cultural/social violence against other people. This is part of a larger discussion about what the gospel “is.” How one experiences “it” and and how we should therefore communicate it. The fact that there are those raising their voice should be cause for great concern for the church. Thirdly, I hate to say it but in my lifetime the church is being critical of the missions movement. Interestingly enough I have yet to hear anyone criticize the early church. We are not sitting around in Sunday School saying Paul and Silas were culturally insensitive to the Philippians and got what they deserved (beaten and imprisoned). For this generation that would be glaringly inappropriate, they are still icons of the faith. Perhaps the next generation will feel more comfortable trashing Peter and Paul for obeying the great commission and facing persecution. WHB