I, the Lord, search the mind and try the heart, to give to everyone according to their ways. (Jeremiah 17:10) In our text from Jeremiah, the prophet proclaims God's judgment over each of us as individuals, but sometimes I wonder: who really believes in a Last Judgment any more? Who takes seriously the idea that God "searches the mind and tries the heart, to give to everyone according to their ways"? A number of years ago, a judge named Horace Gray was forced to free a guilty man because of a legal ...
Paul Harvey told about a 3-year-old boy who went to the grocery store with his mother. Before they entered she had certain instructions for the little tike: "Now you’re not going to get any chocolate chip cookies, so don’t even ask." She put him in the child's seat and off they went up and down the aisles. He was doing just fine until they came to the cookie section. Seeing the chocolate chip cookies he said, “Mom, can I have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you not even to ask. You’re not ...
Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. (Isaiah 40:33a) At the height of the Christmas shopping season, a young boy was standing at the bottom of a department store escalator, staring intently at the handrail as it moved along and refusing to take his eyes away. A saleswoman asked, "Are you lost?" "Nope," the boy said, "I'm waiting for my chewing gum to come back." That boy displayed an admirable patience, but most children find it hard to wait for the things they want. And at Christmas ...
And He said to them, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43) Have you ever thought about how lonely Jesus was as He made His way to Calviary’s hill and hung on its cross to die? Someone has compared it to the feeling you get in the hospital as you are being wheeled into the operating room. You feel radically alone as you wave good-bye to your family and friends, because they can’t undergo your surgery for you! You have to do it yourself. You are surrounded by people - the ...
The text for today lifts before us Yahweh's choice of the family of David as the vehicle for God's divine gift to humankind. Yet the message marked a transition in David's status. According to the passage, David wanted to build Yahweh a "house." He proposed to do what all self-serving rulers in that ancient world would have done. Much of Israel's worship life was well established at that point. The tent which housed the Ark of the Covenant was a recognized institution. A conviction began to emerge that God ...
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7) In our first text for this morning, Jesus asks, "For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether [you] have enough to complete it?" Incredibly enough, we saw this parable being acted out not too long ago right before our eyes in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by none other than Oral Roberts! You see, Oral announced one day that Jesus came to him as a vision 600 feet tall and ...
Today we observe All Saints. Because it is an important celebration, we need to come to some agreement on what is meant by a "saint." If you Google the word, you discover many different definitions and understandings. Among some Protestant groups, every Christian becomes a saint upon joining the "Church Triumphant." In that understanding, All Saints honors and remembers all who have died in Christ and sainthood is the designation of all deceased Christians. Among other Protestants, saints are understood, ...
Robert Penn Warren wrote a novel called All The King's Men. It was the story of a governor of Louisiana and his rise to power. His name was Willie Stark. At the end of his story he is shot down dead.1 Here was a man who gained a kingdom and lost all he ever had. Two thousand years earlier a man from Galilee said, "What would it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lost his soul?" Perhaps when He made that statement He was not only addressing it to those who heard Him, but also was looking back to ...
Today is a day when many of us pastors wish we had arranged for a guest preacher. Or that we had scheduled a church picnic with a shortened service and only a brief homily on a "free" text. Jesus' words do not sit well. In Matthew they do not set up a barrier to discipleship as they do in Luke (14:25-27). But even here they feel like a slap across the face. Who really wants to talk to his or her congregation about the sword that Jesus brings into family dwellings? Who really wants to stress the willingness ...
Introduction Roller coasters are becoming more and more popular in America; they are being built taller, and longer, and faster - and nearly every major theme and play park seems to have one. In a world that keeps us as dizzy as being on a roller coaster, or at best we have a suspicion that we are being used as a yo-yo, trying to meet the demands of all the strident voices about us. So, when a church event that has its anniversary on a certain Thursday every year - not even a Sunday - we find it a bit ...
"But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. (Luke 2:19) The shadows are getting long in late afternoon as Joseph comes running into the house bursting with news: Caesar Augustus has ordered a census for the whole Roman Empire. Everyone will have to go to their family’s hometown to be counted and to pay a tax. For Joseph and Mary, this means travelling to Bethlehem. Mary wants to know more, but Joseph can’t answer her questions. The Romans are not in the habit of explaining themselves to ...
Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son. (Luke 15:21) I once knew a young couple, a husband and wife, who won the grand prize on a TV show called "The One Hundred Thousand Dollar Pyramid." One night, they showed me a videotape of the show and I saw them there on television, jumping up and down and screaming like people do on game shows. They won more money than they had ever imagined, an American dream come true. But winning all that money really ...
Only those who love can understand the resurrection. It is primarily love which makes any sense of this experience. Paul said that the three greatest virtues are faith, hope, and love. While everything else will pass away, love will remain constant. Here now we find a clue to our understanding the resurrection. But it's more than just understanding it. I understand the principles of basic finance, but I'm not rich. You may understand the principles of good health, but you may eat or drink or smoke too much ...
"The word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long." (v. 8) Prayer: Lord, you have called us to a faith that is much more than a sentimental security blanket. You have challenged us to live out what we say we believe. You never said it would be easy. Give us the courage to stand up and be counted, and also the courage to keep standing after we have been counted. "I beg your pardon; I never promised you a rose garden. Along with the sunshine, there’s got to be a little rain, ...
For all of his charisma as a leader, his skills as a diplomat, his savvy as a politician, Moses was not the sort for whom making speeches ever came easily. Rhetoric simply wasn't included on his resume, public speaking never being one of his fortes. And of course, back at Sinai before this improbable pilgrimage began, he had admitted as much to Yahweh: "O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue" ( ...
A Peanuts cartoon strip shows Charlie Brown and Linus as they summarize their team's baseball season. They report that in 12 games they almost scored a run. In right field Lucy almost caught three balls, and once she almost made the right play. They decided between them that they led the league in "almosts." We Christians do not have an "almost" Savior. We have a Lord who saves to the uttermost. He did not and he cannot fail. At this writing, according to the experts, losses from savings and loans (S & Ls ...