Crossroads Celebration Church

God is pretty good at knowing the future.  God told Abraham that his descendants would be in slavery for 400 years and then come back to claim this Promised Land.  Genesis 15. 13-14   All of this hundreds of years before Moses comes along and fulfills this prophecy.  Jesus predicted that Judas would betray and that Simon Peter would deny.

But here’s this new thought for me today.  “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat.  But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail.  So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22.31-32  Jesus said this in the Upper Room, at the Last Supper, before he said that Simon Peter would deny him three times before the rooster crowed.  Read that passage of scripture again.  Let it soak in.  Let it ruminate like a good meal that takes all day in the crock pot.

Satan wants to crush you.  Anyone who calls on the name of Jesus is an enemy of Satan.  Satan wants to crush and grind you like that wheat.  But Jesus is praying for you.  Not just the church folks praying for you and sometimes we church folk are half-hearted in our prayers for one another.  Jesus, the Son of God is praying for you.  I got your back and that’s a fact!  Now Jesus also knows that we are going to falter.  There were several little glitches in Simon Peter’s life.  Trying to walk on water.  That didn’t come out so well.  Now Peter is going to deny even knowing Jesus three times in one night before dawn breaks and the rooster crows.  And yet Simon Peter has faith.  Despite the little slips and falters and yielding to temptations, he still has faith.  That Satan cannot crush.

Satan cannot crush faith.  We may not be able to walk on water, but we want to – for Jesus calls us to step out in faith.  We want to be a witness for Jesus, but we get tongue tied or embarrassed or afraid – but in our hearts we still believe.  Whatever faith we have and despite the set backs in our faith; it still is faith.  And Satan cannot crush faith.

Never give up; never give in.  Keep the faith.  Satan will try and try to crush your faith, it’s his job as an enemy of God.  Remember though that the battle is already won and Jesus is the victor and Jesus is on our side.  Keep the faith.  It may falter, but KEEP THE FAITH!

If you are in the Ankeny, Iowa area and reading this and looking for a church.  We invite you to Crossroads Celebration Church.  We believe in keeping the faith.  We know that everyone of us struggles though and some days are harder than others to keep that faith.  We believe it is our duty to support each other and encourage each other in our faith.  We may not be super believers, but we are believers.  We invite you to come and know the strength of Jesus Christ.

Chapter 20 of Luke’s Gospel has the religious leaders challenging Jesus’ authority and then questions about paying taxes and about the resurrection.  In four different segments of this one chapter, Jesus bring about critical thinking.  Socrates had his method, but Jesus was Master and Messiah.  Jesus, the Rabbi [teacher] had his way of throwing the questions back at them with more questions.

In his authority, Jesus asked them if John’s baptism was from heaven or humans.  Either way the religious leaders were doomed.  All they could answer was “we don’t know”.  Paying taxes, Jesus said whose picture is on the coin?  And then answered render unto Caesar what is Caesars and unto God what is God’s. Throughout this chapter Jesus masterfully brings the thinking back to those who ask the questions.

I am thankful that God created the heart to have faith and the brain to think and the hands to serve.  When we go into the sanctuary for worship, we don’t have to check our brains in at the door.  God created us with minds, so let’s use them.  And let’s use them for His Glory.

For me Jesus has the right answers, even if they come flinging back at me with questions.  It is good to grapple with our faith.  It makes us stronger in what we believe.

When you stand up for something, do you know why you believe what you do?

Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like this little amount of yeast in three measures of flour – “it permeates every part of the dough”  Luke 13. 21  NLT

If you have called upon God to be your God, He will permeate everything that you do.  Your little amount of whatever will rise like the dough with yeast and become this great big blessing from God.  On the same day that I was reading this passage from Luke I was reading in Genesis.  Jacob was saying to God, ” I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant.  I owned nothing but a walking stick.  Now my household fills two large camps.”  Genesis 32.10  NLT   Here’s an example of God permeating in one humans life.  Jacob is now going back home to greet his brother, who hates him.  When Jacob fled for his life he had a walking stick as his possession.  Now he comes back with two large camps of wives, children and all kinds of livestock.  As a peace offering to his brother, he is prepared to give 550 animals away to his brother.  550 animals that consist of sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys and camels.  Though I didn’t grow up on the farm, I was raised in small rural towns and had plenty of farmers in my circle of friends and married a farmers daughter.  550 livestock is a lot.  550 livestock which is a small token of a peace offering, of what you already have is huge.  Most of the farmers I know, if they gave away 550 livestock it would deplete their livelihood.  Jacob must have had thousands of livestock.  And when he left all he had was a walking stick.

I have a big God.  One that permeates those with faith.  One that blesses a man with a walking stick and leaves him with the ability to give a little gift of 550 livestock.  And that’s only one small sample of God permeating the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Do you have a big God?  In faith, imagine what God can do with your walking stick, once God permeates you!

“But no one gave him anything.”  Luke 15.16 NLT  How many times has the preacher done the Prodigal Son story?  Well being the preacher, I know that it is a popular one.  Good for at least an annual sermon on it.  And it seems to come up in bible studies frequently or personal devotional times.  So the answer is…a lot.  A lot of times we hear the story.

Well I have to say I thought I knew the story pretty well, but last week this one sentence struck me and it was like I had never read the story before because of it.  The prodigal son has asked for his share of the inheritance, goes off to spend it foolishly, extravagantly or prodigally.  Then a famine strikes and no one has any money, so the prodigal son becomes destitute after having spent it on on some wild living.  And then this sentence.  ”But no one gave him anything.”

What dawned on me was the world doesn’t give us anything.  The million dollar check just doesn’t arrive in the mail for no good reason.  I haven’t won the lottery or the Sweepstakes hasn’t come knocking on my door.  No one just is given a paycheck either, it is earned in exchange for work.  So the world doesn’t give us anything.

God, however, does.  Of course the prodigal son is our story and the prodigal dad is really God.  Despite the slap in the face asking for the inheritance before good ol’ dad is dead and coming back empty handed and tail between our legs having spent it all.  God/dad calls for the good robe and sandals and ring and the fattened calf.  [Not the old ratty robe or the so-so calf - the good stuff]  God gives.  Not that we earned it like a paycheck, or that God is a Genie in a bottle.  God is giving.  Generous.  Extravagant and prodigal.  Just like the son is prodigal in giving it all away, so is God prodigal in giving it all away.  It’s called blessing.

I don’t consider myself a prosperity preacher.  It’s not about tithing so I can get rich.  It’s about honoring God for giving me everything.  100% of what I am, who I am is from God.  The gifts and talents to do the job that makes the paycheck is because God gave me the talents to do what I do.  So a tithe is just the first fruits given back to God and the 90% that I live on is then blessed by God.

I have learned a lot from a book I just read after Christmas 2010.  ”The Blessed Life”  by Robert Morris of Gateway Church.  Things I knew, but haven’t practiced fully.   The first 10% is a tithe, 11% and more is a gift to God and giving 100% back to God is painful giving.  But no matter what you give – God gives back.  And it is true, you cannot out give God.

So the world doesn’t give us anything.  But God gives us everything!  Boy was the Prodigal Son blessed with the best robe, sandals, ring and fattened calf.  Wait a minute – Jesus told that story for our sake.  We are the Prodigal Sons and Daughters.  I guess that means we are blessed.

Be blessed!  Be grateful!  God is giving you everything!

On Tuesday, April 27th I will be sharing the last chapter in our Ethics class on environmental ethics.  I will ask the students what they do to help keep the earth green.   Most students have some things they do and on occasion there is one or two students who can’t think of a thing they have done to conserve energy or clean up the planet.

Today I installed our first ever rain barrel.  For the last two years it has been on my list to do and I even wanted to make my own.  A few weeks ago the big lumber store I frequent had a 55 gallon one on sale.  Maybe the next barrel I will make on my own.  I built a frame for it so it is high enough to have gravity push the water out to my wife’s garden.  And to my good fortune, it was sprinkling when I finished putting it up and then it dumped rain about two hours later.

I can’t wait to see how it fills and then see how it drains out to the garden.

The one thing that amazes me about people who say they don’t do anything for keeping the earth clean and green is that usually it saves them money.  And for some of my college students paying off school loans one of these days, saving some green for the wallet just makes sense.  The other thing that makes sense is that God created this beautiful world and we are given authority over the earth [Genesis - creation story]. We should be good stewards of the earth around us.  It just makes sense if you are a person of faith or not.

So if you didn’t do anything this last Thursday, which was Earth Day, it is not too late.  Plant a tree or a shrub or some flowers.  Pick up some trash.  Put up a rain barrel [save on your water bill this summer and do some good for the earth].

I would love to hear from you and see what you are doing for God’s creation.  I am adding to my list yearly and would like to get some new ideas.

What an absolutely amazing God we have.

We just finished the Lent into Easter season and we had a great sermon series.  I am not patting myself on the back.  If it were just me, it would have been a disaster of a series.  But God was pumping out his Word despite me.  Then we turn around and start this Transformation series to really celebrate new life of Easter.  I started out really hesitant and looking over it I was sure I made the wrong choice in doing a four week series on Transformation.  Today I am again totally convinced that it is a powerful series and again there is no pat on the back for Mark.  God is just simply amazing.

I will be introducing some new things this week as a result of my interview with my superintendent yesterday.  I am telling a story about a Bible character that I really don’t like, because he takes so much away from my hero.  But it is going to be a good story anyway.  This and that and another thing just fell into place and wow another great sermon is shaping up for April 18th.  You will just have to hear it once it’s posted next week or come and hear it live at Crossroads Celebration Church this Sunday, April 18th, 2010.  Then again it just might be me.  But if you are open to the work of the Holy Spirit, then some of the most simple things can become amazing when God is at work in your life.

There is obviously more to this story for me.   But what about you?   Are you allowing the transforming power of Jesus Christ to turn your life around and change?  Seek the Word!  Don’t hesitate on the transformation.  We are so comfortable in our old world and ways that we don’t trust that Christ has something even better for us if we but trust.

I hope that you will find God absolutely amazing.

I may have given the wrong impression on my last blog about being at UNI and playing tennis.  I was not on the tennis team.  It was a PE course.  Tim Grover was my partner at class and a couple of years later I was the pastor at his parents church.  I baptized some of my tennis partners kids and officiated at his brother’s wedding.  I also took archery as a PE class.

I did earn my life guard license at UNI also and was a church camp life guard for two summers in Cedar Falls.

I know that it doesn’t seem like I am very athletic now that I am pushing 50.  But back in the day I played high school basketball and football.  I intercepted the ball in one game as a tackle just as the other team was about to score a touchdown.

My real claim to fame at UNI was not about sports, but the field I graduated in.  I was one of the few to have an undergraduate thesis and I am certain to be the only one with a BA in Traffic and Industrial Safety.   LONG STORY!

Any way UNI was a fun time and some of my greatest challenges.  I learned to drink at UNI [something I am not proud of] because I also learned the hard way the foolishness of getting drunk.

I also became engaged and married to my wife during those early years.   We will be married 30 years this summer.

My final emphasis for now is about the Men’s Basketball team who lost to Michigan St last Friday.  You played a great game – sorry for the loss – but there is no shame in the way you played!   GO PANTHERS!

Yes, I am an alumni of UNI in 1983.  I have had a niece graduate from there and several young friends as well.  Ran into a classmate and friend yesterday from UNI.  He and I played tennis together there.

So I just have to give a shout out to UNI who won against KU last week.  It was like David and Goliath.  Nobody thought UNI could beat the number one ranked team.  Even my devout ISU neighbors were cheering on the Panthers.

Here’s praying that the UNI Men’s Panther Basketball team goes all the way!   I will be cheering them on tonight.

We are so close to Easter and the miracle of Jesus resurrection, that I just am believing in another miracle.  Victory is always so sweet.

I was at the crossing guard corner this morning that I have worked for seven months.  I had this sense of community.  What is your idea of community?

I took some kids across the street that I happen to now know by name.  I have a few details of his life and find the kid very polite and pleasant.  I also happen to know his parents vehicles now.  His dad drives the Skinner Carpet Cleaning van.  He waves every time we see each other.  One day I got his attention, he rolled down his window and I reminded him that I appreciate the politeness and friendliness of his son.  I think a parent needs to know they are doing a good job and their children are respected out there in the community.

I wave at five or six bus drivers.  Most wave back except one.  I might think he is a grumpy driver, but I will just believe that he is very dedicated to his driving and wants both hands on the wheel when driving kids to school.  I have a couple of high school students who wave.  I have a retired guy, a couple of ladies and the real estate mom taking her daughter to school who are all faithful to make a friendly wave.

Then there are the junior high and senior high students who visit with me while waiting for their bus.

With time I have become somewhat acquainted with insurance agents, real estate agents and carpet cleaners.  Bus drivers and students and the occasional Ankeny citizens have been my acquaintances.  I have two who are the Flemings friends who also make regular contact with me.  What an intricate web of community that passes each morning for 45 minutes.

That sense of community was kept in mind when I moved into another community in my day.  College students.  Two former students and I had conversations today.  It was good to catch up.  And there was the present class that was just coming back from spring break.

So community might not just be the city we live in.  It could be this circle of friends and then the work clientele and the neighborhood.  We might have three or four communities that we interact within during any one day.  Some of those communities have other interactions that overlap.  An example: a college student is now in my church community.

So what is my point?  Many people are friendly.  A few are too busy to be friendly right now.  I was thinking about being the city on the hill, the light that shines for Christ and not hidden under a basket.  Recognize your community or communities and be a light that shines for others.

Thursday was warm enough I almost had my shorts on to be outside.  It was in the sixties in the middle of an Iowa March.  I got the lawn mower out to bag up the dead leaves and things ready to get the lawn ready for spring.  Two days later, I am wearing my long johns and using the snowblower to clear off my driveway of what was said to be six inches of snow.

Is it spring or not?  Today is the official first day of spring and my lawn mowing is really short lived!

God is full of surprises!  And I am confused.  But that isn’t anything new for me.

I wonder what the robins thought?!