Running From God

Last Sunday we looked at three ways people run from God as individuals:  run from the presence of God, run from the principles of God, or run from the priorities of God.  This week we wil examine how a nation can run from God.

I  have been reading in Ezekiel where Israel and Judah were being judged for running from God.  One commentator suggested that the sins of both of these nations were in sins against the Glory of God.  After thinking about it, I’ve come to agree that this is the major sins of nations — running from the Glory of God.

I’d like to ask you to join me this week in looking at the Glory of God.  How can nations violate the Glory of God?  This may be a startling study.

Running the Race

The theme of our worship this summer is “Running the Race.”  It is exciting to me to think about conditioning for our lives in Christ.  I have always enjoyed a variety of forms of physical exercise and sports competition.  The Apostle Paul compares the Christian life to a race.  He says in 2 timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”  God’s response to the faithful finisher is a crown of righteousness.

Let’s pray for one another as we prepare to run, as we are on the course, and as we prepare for the finish.

Blogging Again!

Life takes some interesting turns. Leslie and I have both had some difficulties this year. About a week ago I had my gall bladder removed. What was once a major surgery is now a same-day outpatient procedure. I actually feel better than I have for a long time.

I need your help. I was preparing a new sermon series, and I thought about “Christian Principles.” We use the term all the time. But think about it. What are “Christian Principles”? How would you define them? Why? What do you use as your basis? Have you committed to live your life by these principles?

Help me with your thoughts!

Catching Up

It seems like forever since I was able to blog.  Life gets busy.  It seems almost “to whisk” us from one thing to another. So, what have I been up to?

May 11 was not just Mother’s Day but was also the 21st birthday of Stoya, our youngest daughter.  Friday May 16 Jennifer, our second daughter, graduated with her master’s degree from seminary.  Mary Beth, our oldest daughter who is a physical therapy doctoral student, returned last night from a clinical rotation in Jamaica and is leaving Sunday for a clinical rotation in New Port Richie, FL.  Leslie is finishing teaching today and will go to Florida with Mary Beth to get her set up.  Bob and I just returned from a conference in California at Rick Warren’s church.  It is good to be home!

All of this has gone on since my May 9 doctor’s visit.  I have found a great deal of peace in having a definitive diagnosis and in the very encouraging words of the specialist.  I feel great and believe that God has a great future before me.  Right now I am learning to plan better and to work smarter.  I believe that it is important to maximize every moment for Christ.  Hearing Rick Warren this week continued a process that God has begun in me of seeking His best for our church and community.  In many ways, I believe the best years of my ministry are before me.  For this to happen I fully realize that it must be a joint venture.  I know that I need you for God’s will to be accomplished.  God has said some strong things to me that I would like to share with you.  So Sunday’s sermon will take a little different direction than I originally planned.

I hope you will be in church this Sunday.  I believe God has a special challenge for us.

Thank you for the prayers!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Chand a neurologist in the Movement Disorder Clinic at Frazier Rehab in Louisville.  He took me through about an hour of interviews and evaluations.  His conclusions confirmed what Dr. Bandy has been doing and projecting (by the way, the visit confirmed what great doctors we have here).  Although I have tremors, the condition I have has progressed slowly to this point and should continue to progress slowly, enough so that I should be able to finish my career as a pastor without any other major complaints.  In addition to my current medication I was given one new one.

My big task now is to lose weight and build cardio-vascular conditioning.  A battle with asthma brought my last physical fitness emphasis to a halt.  So I begin again.

The doctor’s visit was good news and gave me a new sense of freedom to exercise and praise God.  Thank you for praying with me about the visit.  I look forward to each new day that God brings.  I thank God for the church I am trusted to pastor and for the great friends God has led my way.  God is good — all the time!

A NEW DOCTOR

Ths morning at 7:30 Central I will be visiting a new neurologist who is one of the leading specialists in movement disorders. Please join me in praying that I get some new answers. The tremor I have is easy to live with — uncertainty is not. Thanks for your prayers.
– Ray

Frequent Encounters With Christ

Isaiah 40 is a great chapter from start to finish,  We have focused this week on the last six verses.  We see that we have a God who can hear and act on our complaints based on His nature.   It is God who gives strength to the weary.  I love the way the chapter ends:

 31 but those who hope in the LORD
       will renew their strength.
       They will soar on wings like eagles;
       they will run and not grow weary,
       they will walk and not be faint.  (NIV)

Those who hope in the Lord are indeed fortunate — to soar on wings like eagles, to run and not grow weary, to walk and not be faint.  How do we find this hope in the Lord?

Isaiah is implying that a personal encounter with God is needed to stimulate hope.  We would describe this as a personal encounter with Christ.  When we spend quality personal time with the Savior we often leave soaring.  When eagles “soar” at the peak of their flights they seldom flap their wings.  They soar by capturing the updrafts of air around them and ride the waves of air.  We soar by capturing the waves of God’s grace in Jesus Christ that we discover in personal time with him.  The results of this personal time stay with us.  Soaring turns to running without weariness which turns to walking without faintess.  Our desire should always be to spend enough time with Jesus to soar.  I am not sure that anyone can soar all the time.  Even his closest disciples had to leave the mountain top and return to the valley with Jesus.  But while there they soared!  Their description was like that heard after encounters with Jesus elsewhere in the NT, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us!”

I have always enjoyed Superman.  I have enjoyed his way of using  his “powers” for good.  In the earlier Superman cartoons, whenever he was about to fly Superman would say, “Up, up, and away!” 

My prayer is that you would have frequent encounters with Christ.  My prayer is that you would soar!  Up, up, and away!

Strength When Weary

Isaiah 40 is a great passage.  In the verses we have looked at this week, we first are told that to deal with our complaints we should look at the nature of God.  Then Isaiah gives us the promise that God gives strength to the weary:

 29 He gives strength to the weary
       and increases the power of the weak.

 30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
       and young men stumble and fall;

 31 but those who hope in the LORD
       will renew their strength.
       They will soar on wings like eagles;
       they will run and not grow weary,
       they will walk and not be faint.  (NIV)

Did you catch who would have their strength renewed?  Isaiah says, “those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.“  The process is described with three verbs in this order — soar, run, walk.  You might expect the reverse order order if it were our doing — walk, run, soar — increasing as our strength increases.  But no, the greatest strength is when we first have a special experience with God — we soar!  But just as the glory-light in Moses face faded after his encounter with God, we go to lesser stages after our encounter with God — soar, run, walk.  Why?  To assure us that the strength always is in the encounter with God, not because of us.

Isn’t it wonderful to have a God who can empower us with such mighty strength?  When was the last time that being with HIm you discovered His strength?  Let me invite you to spend time with Him today.  He wants you to soar.