It is not often that you can draw deep theological insights out of the chaotic and jumbled world of kid’s television, but last night as I was watching a program with my son, I heard a statement that highlighted God’s role in this world and man’s role in this world. It was not the connection that the authors or producers of the program were trying to make, but it was to this glimpse of the Holy I was taken.

In the show, the leading character was required to perform the “Bird Scene.” When she passed the “Bird Scene” she would be allowed to audition for parts in the school’s various theater productions. The first time she completed the scene she looked to the teacher for comment and feed back and approval. He told her she had failed the scene and needed to try again. The next time she brought in props, redid the scene and looked again to the teacher for affirmation of the quality of her work. Again, she was notified that she failed. The third time she did the scene she went all out, she had costumes, backdrops, and even a trained Cockatoo that flew in on cue. This time as she completed the scene she looked to the teacher and seeing no response she got mad. She said something about how she liked the work she had done even if no one else had. It was then that the teacher told her that she had passed the test. He told her that the real test of any artist was to be pleased and satisfied by your work even if no one else likes it.

I want to draw your attention to the simple reality that we are the creation and He is the creator. It is not our position to determine whether what God has done is good or not- that is choice as the creator. Look very closely at the first chapter of Genesis. Notice at the end of each day of creation a very simple little statement, “. . .and God saw that it was good.” In the simplest of terms God was pleased with his work- it was good! Even the most hard-hearted of us must recognize the magnificent beauty in the creation and when we stand stare at the mountains, rivers, forests and plains of this planet we do agree it is beautiful and it is good.

Isaiah drives this point home a little deeper, “But now O Lord, Your are our Father, we are the clay, and your our potter; and all of us are the work of your hands (Is.64:8).” Again, do you see the connection between God and the artist? We are His creation, formed and fashioned by his hands it is God that must be pleased with the work and proclaim it as good, not us.

This leads me to our study through the book of Ecclesiastes. We have already acknowledged that the writer admits that when we are pursuing our own purposes for life we will find them empty and unsatisfying but that we will find fulfillment and satisfaction in following God’s purposes for our lives. But are you content to believe that God’s purposes for your life are good? Are you content to embrace that he believes that they are good and therefore rest in His good work? Or do you believe that God’s creation and purposes would be better with a little tweaking from you here or there?

Imagine a child with a black magic marker walking through the great art museums of the world. While that child might get lucky and do something that doesn’t wreck the great masterpieces, they will at best mar them and at worst vandalize them. No one wants to see the magic marker over the top of the work of the masters. (Think Adam and Eve and sin here). Why then do we believe that we can come up with a purpose for our lives that is more fulfilling and satisfying than the one that God, as creator, has already deemed best for us? Why do we seek to mar and to vandalize a work that God had already deemed good? After all, if God is good and the works of His hands are good, then the plans and purposes He has for us will result in good because in truth its about Him and not about us.

Gather and Go,

Pastor Dale

It's fall here in Arizona and that means that the temperature is finally dropping below the century mark. It also means that we are making preparations for many of our fall activities here around the church. We have the Hot Dog Host and Roast coming up here on October 31. We want to encourage you take use the events of the culture around you to build bridges into the community in which you live and the Hot Dog Host and Roast is one way for you to do that. Several of our families have been doing this for a couple of years and it has opened doors for them to minister to their friends and neighbors and to share with them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It really is a simple activity. Bring your outdoor grill around to the front of your house and start cooking hot dogs as people are taking their kids out trick or treating. Pass out hot dogs as well as candy to those people who come around the house. If you provide a place for people to sit and relax for a while, they will sit and talk and you have a great opportunity to meet and talk with your neighbors. However, one of the questions that always gets asked is, "Why are you doing this?" There is a simple response that often opens doors for deeper spiritual conversations and that is to simply tell people that "the love of Christ compels us." We even have napkins here at the church with that statement printed on them so that people will remember what you have said, or will know without even asking. I know that last year I heard several people in one neighborhood tell the host that they had been looking forward to getting a hot dog at his house all evening and that this stop was the highlight of the night. Scripture tells is not to ". . . love in word or in tongue, but also in deed and truth" (1 John 3:18). This is one of those opportunities for you to do that and possibly have the opportunity to share a deeper message of Christ with a neighbor.

We also have our annual GLOW festival coming up on November 1, 2009. (I know, two very busy nights back to back). Each year we, through this community carnival, ministry to the neighborhood around the church. Last year we had an exceptional puppet team present two shows with a clear gospel presentation and we had several people pray with the puppet team to receive Christ. This year one of the booths at the carnival will the the CEF Gospel Caboose where people can come and hear the Gospel and respond to an invitation to receive Christ as their Savior. We are very excited by the increasing community support to help us promote this carnival. Again, this is one of those opportunities we have to use the cultural events of our community to open doors to communicate our love for this community and to share with them our love for Jesus Christ. This year things have been difficult and the finances for this ministry are scarce, but God has opened several doors for us making it possible to continue this event. We look forward to seeing what God is going to do to touch lives through this event. GLOW Festival is one way we can follow the Lord's command to Go and make disciples and to be His witnesses here in our Jerusalem.

Finally, this year we are working with a community organization to distribute Thanksgiving Food Baskets and Christmas Boxes to families who live right here in the neighborhood around the church. In the past we have collected food and done Christmas boxes that have been sent to needy people in other parts of the country or the world, but this year we have the opportunity to build bridges into the lives of families right here in our own neighborhood. I know that times might be financial hard right now, but I know our God is big enough to supply the needs for the ministry He has called us to do here in Southeast Tucson. Be praying for the "stuff" we need to do this ministry and the hearts of the families that will receive the blessing of this ministry. Pray that their hearts would be open to hear the Gospel and the the seed of truth that we plant along with the food and "stuff" will put down deep roots and bring forth the fruit of Salvation.

Regardless of what ministry you are participating in this fall, pray that Jesus Christ would be exalted and God would be glorified in our lives as individuals, as a church and in our community.

Gather and Go,

Pastor Dale

I want to begin this blog by stating again that I am grateful that God has sovereignly placed me in the United States where I enjoy the rights guaranteed by our founding documents. I am glad that I have the right to free speech, religion and privacy. I am glad that I have the right to lawful assembly and the right to vote. I have said it before and I will say it again, these rights are blessings and we should cherish them. However, I am also a citizen of heaven and as a result of that citizenship there are other standards to which I have been called and sometimes those heavenly obligations come in conflict with my rights.

Let's be honest, my rights are about- well, me. When I exercise my rights, more often than not. I exercise them for my benefit. But the standards of the Kingdom of God are different. Those standards are not about me at all. They are first and foremost about God and how He expects those who are part of His kingdom to live. Take a moment and look at the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. We know these passages in passing very well. Turn the other cheek. Go the extra mile. Love your enemies. The stark reality of the Kingdom of Heaven that it is often more about giving up what I have as a right as an expression of my love for God and for my fellow man than it is getting what I want out of something. As you read through the Sermon on the Mount you will again discover that the standards of the Kingdom of God are not the standards of this world. They are not about my happiness (though the beatitudes do show us how to achieve true happiness) they are about living my life in submission to the standards God sets as appropriate and acceptable behavior. Look real hard at the way Jesus speaks about murder, adultery and divorce. These three issues make it very clear that God's standards are not about me, but about Him and others.

Even Jesus calls us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ in the same way that He loved us; in demonstration and sacrifice (John 15:12-13). The Apostle Paul adds to this understanding of  by giving us a clear picture of how Christ demonstrated His love toward us in Romans 8: While we were still sinners Christ died for us. he loved us even when we were unlovable. If that isn't clear enough look at what Paul's says in Philippians 2:5-8. Jesus gave up his rights as God for our benefit. He made himself of know reputation, became a bond servant and humbled himself in obedience to the the point of death, a death on the cross. I know many of you may be say that that is all well and good for Jesus but that's not for me. Well let me challenge you again to look more closely at verse five in that passage. Paul says that we should have this same mind. In other words we should think like Jesus thinks and live, therefore, like Jesus lives.

As a citizen of this country, I have the right to live any way I want, whether my neighbor agrees with me or not. As a citizen of heaven, I do not have that right. I must live in obedience to the laws established by the king of Heaven.

As a citizen of this country, I have a right to have a say in the laws of the land. (For you purists out there I know we live in a representative democracy and we could debate that last statement, but it is what we are led to believe). As a citizen of Heaven, I am not given a voice in what is right and what is wrong. That is the domain of the King of Heaven and I am not he. I am called to live in submission to the King. Since I came into the Kingdom of Heaven by acknowledging that my ways were in opposition to the King of Heaven and that I have been living in rebellion against His edicts and laws it should seem simple for me to acknowledge now that His ways to true, pure and perfect and therefore, I should willingly yielding my views of right and wrong to His and trust Him for what is true and good.

As a citizen of this country, I have the right to spend my money any way I want. As a citizen of Heaven, I know that the King of Heaven has a soft spot in His heart for widows and orphans, the poor and the oppressed. In fact Paul warned Timothy to remind those who are rich in this world to do good, that they be rich in good works ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life (1 Tim.6:18,19) Notice that even in this passage the issue is our citizenship and where we are laying up our treasures. I also want to acknowledge here that there isn't anything wrong with having money in this world- it's what we do with it as citizens of Heaven.

I could go on and on giving examples where my rights as a citizen of this country can conflict with my citizenship in heaven but the question isn't if there are conflicts, it is to whom do I surrender when there are conflicts: My rights or My King?

Gather and Go

Pastor Dale

I am an American and as a result I live with “certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” However, I am also a citizen of the Kingdom of God and that means that I live by a certain set of morals, standards and laws that are established by God. I am grateful that God has given me the blessing of living in a nation in which I can participate in government and have a voice in the day-to-day affairs that affect my life. I am grateful that I live in a land where “all men are created equal” and I have rights guaranteed to me by the Constitution of the United States. As a citizen of the United States I have a great deal to be thankful for. As an Ambassador of the Kingdom of God I have even more for which I am thankful.

First, Paul writes in the book of Colossians that “. . . He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” (Col.1:13). When God rescues an individual from the dominion of darkness, he doesn’t just leave them to wonder about aimlessly without direction or to return to their old ways, but he places them in the Kingdom of His Son so that they have a home, are cared for and are loved. Let me illustrate this with an example: When someone rescues a dog from an animal shelter they do not just turn around an put the dog back on the streets to be collected again and returned to the shelter. No people go to the shelters to select a dog that they will remove from the shelter and the consequences of the shelter to take home where they will be cared for and loved. Like unadopted dogs left in the domain of the shelter, those who are left in the domain of darkness face certain death, but like the dog rescued from the shelter, those placed in the Kingdom of God have a home where they are loved and cared for by the King Himself.

Second, Paul also wrote that we were rescued from the domain of darkness “. . . Although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind and engaged in evil deeds” (Col. 1:21). Again, using the example of a dog in a shelter, what Paul is saying is that, I (we), was (were) not the cute and cuddly puppy that everyone wants to take home from the shelter- but that I (we) was (were) the mean, snarling, snapping dog who held my (our) rescuer at bay unaware that it was just such behaviors that kept me locked in the domain of the shelter and destined to be put to sleep. If you read verse 22, you will see that Paul tells us that Christ “. . . has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him, holy and blameless and beyond reproach.” My citizenship in heaven is not secured by my ability to be a good person but by the actions of Jesus Christ in my place.

Finally, as a citizen of the Kingdom of God, when I break the laws of the Kingdom, I have an advocate who intercedes on my behalf (1 John 2:1, 2). That means when I am acting like a citizen of the domain of darkness and repent of my behavior, I know that Christ is there, interceding on my behalf, proclaiming my righteousness through His blood. I am grateful of God’s continued demonstration of His grace and mercy toward me through Christ Jesus.

As a citizen of Heaven I have a lot to be thankful for. As an American I have a lot to be thankful for. Yet, there are times when my dual citizenship clashes and I must decide- am I an American first or a citizen of Heaven first. More on that issue next time.

Gather and Go

Pastor Dale

I am an American and as a result I live with “certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” However, I am also a citizen of the Kingdom of God and that means that I live by a certain set of morals, standards and laws that are established by God. I am grateful that God has given me the blessing of living in a nation in which I can participate in government and have a voice in the day-to-day affairs that affect my life. I am grateful that I live in a land where “all men are created equal” and I have rights guaranteed to me by the Constitution of the United States. As a citizen of the United States I have a great deal to be thankful for. As an Ambassador of the Kingdom of God I have even more for which I am thankful.

First, Paul writes in the book of Colossians that “. . . He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” (Col.1:13). When God rescues an individual from the dominion of darkness, he doesn’t just leave them to wonder about aimlessly without direction or to return to their old ways, but he places them in the Kingdom of His Son so that they have a home, are cared for and are loved. Let me illustrate this with an example: When someone rescues a dog from an animal shelter they do not just turn around an put the dog back on the streets to be collected again and returned to the shelter. No people go to the shelters to select a dog that they will remove from the shelter and the consequences of the shelter to take home where they will be cared for and loved. Like unadopted dogs left in the domain of the shelter, those who are left in the domain of darkness face certain death, but like the dog rescued from the shelter, those placed in the Kingdom of God have a home where they are loved and cared for by the King Himself.

Second, Paul also wrote that we were rescued from the domain of darkness “. . . Although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind and engaged in evil deeds” (Col. 1:21). Again, using the example of a dog in a shelter, what Paul is saying is that, I (we), was (were) not the cute and cuddly puppy that everyone wants to take home from the shelter- but that I (we) was (were) the mean, snarling, snapping dog who held my (our) rescuer at bay unaware that it was just such behaviors that kept me locked in the domain of the shelter and destined to be put to sleep. If you read verse 22, you will see that Paul tells us that Christ “. . . has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him, holy and blameless and beyond reproach.” My citizenship in heaven is not secured by my ability to be a good person but by the actions of Jesus Christ in my place.

Finally, as a citizen of the Kingdom of God, when I break the laws of the Kingdom, I have an advocate who intercedes on my behalf (1 John 2:1, 2). That means when I am acting like a citizen of the domain of darkness and repent of my behavior, I know that Christ is there, interceding on my behalf, proclaiming my righteousness through His blood. I am grateful of God’s continued demonstration of His grace and mercy toward me through Christ Jesus.

As a citizen of Heaven I have a lot to be thankful for. As an American I have a lot to be thankful for. Yet, there are times when my dual citizenship clashes and I must decide- am I an American first or a citizen of Heaven first. More on that issue next time.

Gather and Go

Pastor Dale

Reading Jospeh Stowells book Eternity has encouraged me to blog on a topic that has been rolling around in my head the last few weeks- the topic of our citizenship. I'm not talking about our nationallity or what nation we were born in or anything like that. I am talking about the place we call home. Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, "For our citizenship is in heaven from which we eagerly await the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippains 3:20). Think about that verse in the light of these thoughts: Heaven is the place where God dwells and Christ is present. It is the home of the believer. It is where our names are registered. Life in heaven is very different than life here on earth, it is the place where God's will is done and we are under the rule of the King of Heaven and heavenly laws. It is a glorious place.

However, the very glory of our home is dimmed in this present world. When we embrace the things of this world, attempt to find satisfaction and fullfilment in the best of this world, we lose the reality that the things of this world are empty compared to what lays in wait for us at home. When we travel it is not unusal for us to eat new foods, sleep in exotic places, but no matter how rich the food or extravagant the room in which we sleep, in time, we long to be home, asleep in our own beds. There is just something about being home. As a believer, we must fight the urge to see this world as our home and the things of this world as the source of our fulfillment and happiness. It can never truely be. First, this world is stained by sin. Even the good things of this world are tainted by sin. How many times have you heard of someone being hurt by someone they love (and don't just think of romance here)? What about the heartache of parents over children or the wounds inflicted on children by parents? How many times has someone in the church let you down? These things should not surprise us, sin and Satan still hold sway in this world. When the believer seeks to find hope in the things of this world they will be disappointed for the hope of this world is not sustainable- it is fleeting. As long as the illusion that the things of this world hold some promise for us we will continue to seek after them. It is only when we focus on the hope that is ours at home that we will be able to endure the things of this world.

Gather and Go

Pastor Dale

I plan to blog more about this and even do some preaching about this in the futre, but I want to leave you with a quote from Stowell's book that really illustrates what I have just said. 

  "If Heaven is our cnstant hope and the King is our guide and the expression of His kingdom is our calling, then life in this world comes more clearly into view. Its disappointments don't damgage or surprise us. We expect little of it, for our reward is yet to come, and we hope to take captives form it in our march toward home.(p.25)

A friend of mine posted a question on Facebook that reaffirmed what I had been thinking about writing in this week's blog. The question he asked had to do with the kind of attention that Jesus' death and burial would have received if he had died in this era instead of 2000 years ago. I have an answer to that question. Jesus would have received about the same amount of attention today that he received 2000 years ago. One of the criticisms that people have about Jesus is that outside of the Bible there is very little reference to Jesus. What people fail to realize is that 2000 years ago Jerusalem was not the center of the Roman Empire. Some scholars have even called it a relative "backwater" and unimportant place for most Roman citizens. Think about things from this perspective. Let's say important events are happening in Cheyenne, Wyoming but for the most part people in the United States don't care because they live some other place. In fact, it could be argued that people in New York, Washington DC or Los Angeles don't care because what happens in Cheyenne couldn't be as important as what happens in their hometowns- After all, their home towns are the seats of money, power and fame and what is Cheyenne? It's a small capital city in one of the least populated states in the Union. Let me go one step further; do you care about the details of a political debate by a man from Torrington, Wyoming in Cheyenne Wyoming? Look, nobody died, nobody was hurt, and it was just a disagreement between the leaders of Wyoming and this uneducated rabble-rouser. It wasn't until Christianity spread and grew that people began to see the events in Jerusalem and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus as something more than just a local issue.

Maybe a better question to ask is, because of whom he is and the impact he has had on the world, how should we treat Jesus today? The answer to that question leads me to the real point of this blog this week-Celebrity, hero worship, and idolatry.

John Piper does a great job distinguishing the difference between hero worship and holy emulation in his “Taste and See” newsletter-www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2009/3974_Hero_Worship_and_Holy_Emulation. Ultimately, there is strong biblical encouragement to admire other people. John Piper says that holy emulation is to admire someone because we see the work of Christ in him or her and that we do so for Christ’s sake so that we might learn from him or her and grow in our relationship with Christ. The end result of our holy emulation is not the glory of the person we admire, nor is it some positive feeling we have in ourselves. The end result of our admiration of another should be the glory of Christ. Anything else is idolatry.

Ask yourself some hard questions about the people that you admire, your heroes: What is it about them that you admire or seek to idolize? (See even in English we recognize the root word here is idol.) Why do you admire that about them? How do they help you see Jesus or how do they help you grow in your faith in Christ? These questions expose our values. Don’t get me wrong; we can admire a person’s God given talent. But notice when I admire their God given talent I am acknowledging the role of the Creator in their talent and recognizing that without God there would be no talent. Take some time and look-up the following passages and see what they say about why we should emulate people and then ask if your “hero” meets that criterion: 1 Corinthians 11:1;Philippians 3:17; Philippians 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; Hebrews 6:12; 2 Timothy 3:10; 2 Timothy 3:14; Titus 2:7.

Now, back to Jesus. Would he attract large crowds of people who hung on his every word? Would there be paparazzi following his every move. Would bloggers be expanding upon his every word, thought or move? The answer to that question is no. Unfortunately the one who deserves the worship, the celebrity, wouldn’t get it. Look at the words of Isaiah 53:1-3, “ Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he shall grow up before Him as a tender plant and as root out of dry ground. He has no comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him, He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. And we hid our faces from him; he was despised and we did not esteem Him.” It is only when we understand who Jesus is and what he has done for us through his life, death and resurrection does we truly understand that the only proper response to him is fall on our face and to worship.

The problem with our culture of celebrity is that we have crowded God out by exalting something less than him to a level of worship so as to diminish the role of the One who deserves worship by exalting the creation to the level of the Creator. This is not a new problem, Paul addresses this issue in Romans chapter 1. Let me challenge you to take a look at your "hero worship" or your views on celebrity and compare them to Jesus and ask yourself honestly, do they really compare to Jesus? I think the answer is obvious.

Gather and Go,

Pastor Dale

I have to admit that I am constantly astonished by how amazing God's love is for us. As I have been studying for Sunday's messages the last few weeks, I am drawn again and again to Jesus' patient answers to his disciples questions. In John 13 and 14 we have a series of questions posed by Peter, Thomas and Philip. Questions that they should have known the answers to after being with Jesus for better than three years.  Jesus' answers and explanations to these questions is a demonstration of the love and compassion that he has for us.

Let's face it, during this period of time, Jesus was under a growing amount of stress. His time had come. He had already seen Judas leave to go and betray him. He knew that shortly he would be tried, tortured, convicted and finally executed. He would, in moments, be in the Garden agonizing over the next few hours. Yet under this growing stress he pauses to comfort his disciples and answer and explain things to them once again. I know that this may not seem like a great expression of God's love but stop and consider your own reaction under such stressful situations. When you are under an incredibly heavy load and the stress and pressure is on, how do you respond when someone asks you a question to which they should already know the answer? (Let alone three people in a row). Parents snap. Bosses snap. Spouses snap. But Jesus didn't. Consider that no one has ever faced the stress that was building for Jesus. It's not just that he was about to give his life, which is stressful enough. He is about to take on the wrath of God for the sins of the world- "for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us" (1 Cor. 5:21). Under that intense pressure Jesus persevers. He comforts his disciples, explains things to them one more time because he loves them.

The cross is the ultimate expressiion of Christ's love for us, and it is something for which you and I are eternally greatful, but let me challenge you: As you read the Gospels, note the number of times that Jesus exhibits patience with his disciples and rejoice that that same patience is still available to you and me. After all, the biblical definition of love beings- "Love is patient. . .(1 Cor.13:4).That kind of love is something that Jesus demonstrated with his disciples and does with us today. 

Gather and Go

Pastor Dale

Prayer and Economics Part 2

Economics and Prayer