Christmas - Christians - Generosity

Clay Stout, a retired rancher, showed up at our doorstep, “Where do you want me to dump this load of wood?” pointing at his four-wheel drive International truck, idling in the cold winter air in front of our house, its dump-bed stacked with firewood.

We, after finishing college and the birth of our first child, had moved back to Susie’s hometown, rented the over a hundred-year-old Greeley house, which was build long before insulation and sealed windows, and had a constant draft coming through the few retrofitted electrical outlets.

I knew I had to get firewood, so I bought an old Homelite chainsaw, borrowed a truck and got all but a half a load before it gave up the ghost, having to take it in for repairs we really couldn’t afford. On top of it all the promised job never materialized, and so we were both poor and cold. That is when Clay, who somehow had gotten wind of our situation, knocked on our front door.

“What are you doing next Thursday?” Clay asked after dumping the load in our backyard.

“Unless I find a job between now and then, nothing.”

“I’ll be by at six in the morning, we’ll go and cut some more wood,” he let me know. And woodcutting we did, somewhere up in the mountains. He cut, I hauled. Then he showed me how to cut, and he hauled and stacked. We took turns all day until we couldn’t get any more on the truck, dumping the load just as the sun was setting. The next few weeks we made several more runs to feed the hungry potbelly and Wedgewood stove through the winter.

Clay was generous with what he had, his time, his truck and saw, his money to pay for the fuel, his knowhow and skills, his encouragement, and even the lunch his wife Pat had packed for us. Clay wasn’t a rich man, but he was a generous one. His generosity was not rare moments here and there, it was a lifestyle of seeing needs and responding to them with what he had, it was part of his faith in Christ.

Generosity and giving are an intrinsic part of being a follower of Jesus, it is evidence of following in his footsteps, acting in faith on his words, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” Acts 20:35.

God blesses generosity and enables more generosity, “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back” Luke 6:38 (NLT2).

“The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed” Proverbs 11:25 (NLT2).

“You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. ‘For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.’ And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others” 2 Corinthians 9:7-8 (NLT2).

Interestingly, God especially commands the wealthy to be humble and generous, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing (ready) to share” 1 Timothy 6:17-18 (NIV parenthesis mine).

Finally, there is only way to store up riches in heaven, you have to be generous with what you have here on earth, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV). Everything we have, money, stuff, time, skills, knowhow, power, influence, … enables us to be generous, to show up on people’s doorsteps, and delight our extravagantly generous God and Lord Jesus Christ.

Have a blessed Christmas.

Love you, Pastor Hans

David Redd - Thank You - Finishing Well

David Redd, our Brother in Christ, FoodBasket Ministry Leader, Church Board Member, and friend, graduated to heaven two Sunday’s ago. I remember the first time I met David. His wife and sons had started coming to church and I stopped by to introduce myself. He greeted me with the skepticism a preacher often gets when showing up on someone’s doorstep, polite, uncomfortable, and ready for me to leave. He certainly was not going to come to church although Christ and His church were part of David’s past.

A little further down the road of life things were not going well in David’s family and finally fell apart, and guess what, he started coming back to church. Sporadically at first, but slowly he showed up more and more. I prayed with him many times and encouraged him to become involved, and involved he became. He started helping in the FoodBasket Ministry, became a dependable member of that team, and when it needed a new leader he stopped by my office and asked me if he could take a shot at it. That’s like a pastor’s dream, people knocking at the door to ask for deeper involvement, offering themselves for greater responsibilities.

From the time of that knock on my office door to the day David went home to be Jesus, Dave poured himself into the Foodbasket, so much so that I had to tell him to slow down a bit more than once. Under his leadership the FoodBasket expanded to serving hundreds of people twice a month. He was continually on the hunt for more resources, which become a small problem because you have to put all of those stores somewhere. I finally had to tell him that he couldn’t have any more freezers. All the while God blessed him with a tremendous team of dedicated people he loved.

I wondered where David’s FoodBasket passion came from and found out that at one time in his life he was homeless, he knew from personal experience what it meant that someone cared enough to help anyone in need. He also wanted his retirement years to count for something, to be filled with Kingdom work, give testimony to Christ and God’s goodness.

He liked to stop by my office after a distribution day or after bring in a big load of food and share how God provided over and over again, how God answered specific prayers for food supplies, how hordes of people showed up and somehow there was food for all of them. That’s what happens in ministry, you get to see God at work. After hearing him sharing these blessings we would usually pray for both his team and the people the FoodBasket serves, that they would come to know Christ, understand the Gospel, be saved from their sins and God’s judgment, that they would come to believe in Christ, let Him into their lives and experience the saving grace of God and the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit and of the Word of God (the Bible), become part of Jesus’ Church, grow spiritually, and become dedicated servants.

Except for a few snapshots David shared with me, most of the chapters of his entire life I am not familiar with. I do know it wasn’t perfect, had great ups and downs, regrets, hardships, and long stretches where God and Christ did not figure much. What I do know about is his Don Pedro life, the finishing lap of his life. Of a man returning to God and serving Jesus, the church, and our community. Of a man leaving no doubt about where he stood with God, his love for Christ, serving to the end.

Finishing well is a big thing in God’s mind. The Bible is replete with encouragement and warning when it comes to finishing well, to be faithful and dedicated Christ right down to the last step, the final breath. David did that and blessed us as a church and our whole community in doing so. Thank you! David.

David, our brother in Christ, friend, and fellow servant, “His (your) master said to him (you), ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master’” Matthew 25:21 (ESV, parenthesis mine).

To God be all glory.
Pastor Hans

Call Tychicus or his sister (How are you doing?)

So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. Ephesians 6:21 (ESV)

How are you doing? What are you doing? Those are two good questions to ask yourself, and those who care about us want to know the answers to those two questions.“ Tychicus … will tell you everything.” Full disclosure, real transparency, complete and honest answers. No safe answers, partial admissions, changing topics, hee-hawing around, hiding, or running for the fig leaves.

So, how is it with you? What are you doing these days? If Tychicus had full access to your life, what would he report? What would you want to hide from him? What would you be too embarrassed to tell him? What would you be ashamed of? Would you secretly hope for Tychicus to leave sooner than later before he found how you were really doing, before you had to tell him what you were actually up to? Would Tychicus find an open book, a closed book, or a quickly hidden book?

What we don’t want people to see or know about us says a lot about us. The less transparent and accountable our lives are the more we have to fake it, pretend, equivocate, and obfuscate. We will develop a public image (what we want people to see and know) and a hidden/private image (who we really are and what we are actually doing). The more this invades the inner circles of our relationships the lonelier we become and the more we are in trouble.

So, how is it with you? How is it with your soul? What’s going on in your life? What are you doing? The Apostle Paul gave Tychicus full access to his life and gave him permission to give a full report, to tell “everything,” the good, bad, and ugly, the struggles, the challenges, the problems, the worries, the failures, the ….Jesus is the only person ever who didn’t have to hide anything because there was nothing to hide, not a single sin, no failures, regrets, bad motives – nothing. He was genuine, spotless through and through. He was “tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin” Hebrews 4:15 (NIV).

Jesus did that in obedience to God for you and me, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV), because He wants you and me to know the joy, liberty, the peace of living without needing to hide anything.

“Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with” James 5:16 (MSG), is James’ advice to all followers of Christ, and all who want to live life with freedom of transparency, freed from sins we are trying to hide and which will keep us bound and afraid as long as we hide them. So, how is it with you? What are doing? Really!

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

P.S. Call Tychicus, or his sister.   

Holiness, Godliness, Christlikeness - The Christian Dress Code

You and an I, like everyone else, were born butt naked, without a stitch of clothing, loincloths, or even a fig leaf. We came into this world with life, a mix of our parent’s genes, the image of God, a soul, and a sinful nature. We didn’t know how to dress, didn’t even much care if we were dressed, as long as we were comfortable. Our parents, siblings, aunts, childcare workers, and babysitters dressed us.

My personal nightmare was onesies, you know those one-piece things with little snaps or dangerous zippers, you had to wrestle the squirmy little rebels into – makes me break out in a sweat just thinking about it.Besides getting the challenge of getting the clothes on our kids, there was the art of putting on the right ensembles, think matching, on each child. Many, of what I thought were successful dressing episodes, did not pass inspection by the keeper of the wardrobe – think Susie, and later my oldest daughter. No plaids and stripes, pink with brown… Then, when they were old enough, when they entered the “I can do it all by myself” stage, four things occurred;
1. Hilarious and ill-fitting combinations that were not allowed to leave the house;
2. Major fits when the keeper of the wardrobe issued a redress order;
3. Innumerable clothing changes throughout the day;
4. Me being very happy to abdicate any responsibility in clothing brood.

Most of us living in the United States have more clothes than we need, and very often much more, so much more that mountains of good clothes end up at Goodwill and the dump. There isn’t anything wrong with owning more clothes than needed per se, but it does reveal our obsession with outward appearance.There is also such a thing as a spiritual wardrobe, and we have to learn to dress ourselves from it.

It is as visible as the clothes we wear or don’t wear because it is seen in our behavior, “Like the Holy One (God/Christ) who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior” 1 Peter 1:15 (NASB, parenthesis mine). All the praying in the world will not make you godly or Christlike if you do not choose to act godly/Christlike.When the keeper of the wardrobe ordered a redress, the first thing, besides the frequent and irrational protestations, was taking of the unacceptable articles of clothing, followed by putting on that which fit, matched, was modest, appropriate, and was right for the season or occasion. Putting on the approved set over the unacceptable set was not an option because it would be ill-fitting, uncomfortable, way too hot, and looking ridiculous, resulting in the right in the clothes coming off sooner than later.  Every Christian has a spiritual closet full of the right clothing for every occasion and season. Everything in it is timelessly fashionable and the best we could possibly wear. But you can’t wear it without first taking off the old clothes, no matter how comfortable they feel to you.

“Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy” Ephesians 4:21-24 (NLT2).

“But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him” Colossians 3:8-10 (NLT2).

“Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you” 1 Peter 5:5-6 (ESV). As the world around us is fed up, angry, violent, corrupt, demanding both change and peace, politically pitted against each other, and spiritually lost, it is critically important for Christians to show up dressed in Holiness, Godliness, and Christlikeness in all our behavior, words, interactions, and involvements. Time to get dressed out of the spiritual wardrobe! 

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans     

The Church Mouse Is Dead - The Little Things

The church mouse has died, and not of natural causes. S/he was not the first church mouse, another drowned a long time ago in the baptistry. That one must have been a Methodist or from some other sprinkling background because, clearly, it did not know anything about baptismal safety. This latest church mouse on the other hand was a dirty rotten scoundrel/ness, a wily thief, an unrepentant sinner, an arrogant trespasser, who would not even stop at my bag of pretzels.

Imagine the audacity, taking pretzels from a German preacher, that’s like peeing in holy water, a mortal sin for sure. But that is not all, this mouse taunted the pastor and the head deacon in broad daylight, no shame, no respect, no adhering to proper church mouse conduct. After deacon Richard left, I turned Kammerjaeger (German for exterminator, literally chamber-hunter). I sealed the bottom of my office door, the only escape route, got out my Maasai stick and went after this unholy intruder. I found its hideout and blocked it off as well, and then we went round and round in my 8’x10’ office. S/he obviously knew my office well, was familiar with every hideout, used computer and telephone wires like Tarzan using vines in the jungle. The only thing that kept me from throwing in the towel was my pretzel indignation.

Finally, that demon of a mouse made a mistake, it ran between two stacks of books I had made into a v-shaped funnel on my office floor. When it reached the dead-end I closed the gap and trapped it between the pages of solid theology, and the Maasai stick sent it to its eternal demise. I do have one regret though, in honor and recognition of this epic pastor’s office struggle I should have had its head mounted. That mouse got me to thinking about little things we are wise to watch out for, deal with, and kill if necessary.

• Catch all the foxes, those little foxes, before they ruin the vineyard of love, for the grapevines are blossoming! Song of Songs 2:15 (NLT2). Lovers, husbands and wives, need to watch out for the little things that ruin love, passion, exclusiveness. It is not just big things that can destroy a marriage, but also little things allowed to run wild.

• A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough Galatians 5:9 (NASB). Of course, you know that a tiny amount of yeast, given time, will spread through the entire dough. In this context, it speaks of bad teaching, false doctrine, in 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 it speaks of sin and wickedness, and in Luke 12:1 of hypocrisy. You don’t want to introduce any of them into your life. You want to give neither opportunity nor time.

• Dead flies make a perfumer's oil stink, so a little foolishness is weightier than wisdom and honor Ecclesiastes 10:1 (NASB). How often do we give ourselves permission for a little foolishness? How often do we make excuses for a little foolishness? Follow the stink and deal with it.

• The words of a whisperer (gossip) are like dainty (tasty) morsels, And they go down into the innermost parts of the body Proverbs 18:8 (NASB, parenthesis mine). Whisperers/gossips need listeners, don’t be one of them because what they serve you up will affect you much more deeply than you think, and even worse, you will develop a taste for it.

• So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! James 3:5 (ESV). Our words, whether they come from our mouth, a pen, or a keyboard are another little/big thing to be careful with, to be in control of, to take seriously. You don’t have to have a flamethrower mouth to be destructive, little sparks will do. Of course, you can also have a healing, encouraging mouth, but only if it doesn’t spark.

 I am hoping that this week you will be a Kammerjaeger, being as diligent as Jesus in hunting down the little mice, foxes, flies, that don’t benefit your life, giving no opportunity or time for leaven and whisperers to permeate your mind, heart, decisions, and behavior, and not allowing that little tongue of yours to be destructive.
To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans    

I once was ..., but now ...

I actually had hair at one time. I used to be able to eat an extra-large pizza all by myself. I could run a mile in under 5 ½ minutes a long time ago. I would split wood all day for months on end with a 10-pound splitting maul. I used to drive cars without air conditioning. I did drink five large milkshakes in a row back in college. I was the kid with such a bad reputation at school that when my youngest brother went there five years later teachers fretted, ‘Oh No! Another Frei!”

I am sure, you too have your own list of what you once were and did (Why not send me a sampling – dergermanshepherd@gmail.com), but your present reality is much different. John Newton, the vile slave trader turned preacher, captured the “I once …, but now …” with these famous words:
“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound / That saved a wretch like me! / I once was lost, but now am found / Was blind, but now I see.” This of course is the scenario God is waiting for, Christ died for, and the church exists for each one of us.

That what we were is no longer be who we are, that through God’s grace in Christ each one of us will be brought from death to life, from sin and futility to holiness and good works, “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” Ephesians 2:1-10 (NLT2).

Salvation also means transformation, the church word for that is sanctification, which means being set apart for holy use. Who and what we were is no longer who we are. We are, with God’s help, continually changing for the better, becoming more and more like Jesus. I understand this with my head, but it sure is easy to act like who I once was rather than in congruence with who I now am in Christ. I am always just one decision, one careless word, one rash response away from acting like the old sinner rather than the new person I am in Christ.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have no business acting and sounding like who we once were, being identified by the sinful behaviors and attitudes of our old life. We are not called to the old nor to go backward, but we should be a living illustration of what Rufus McDaniel wrote, “What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought Since Jesus came into my heart!”

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans    

Have You Had A Bristlecone Transformation?

Methuselah, 4851 years old, a Great Basin bristlecone pine is still going and growing somewhere in the White Mountains of Inyo County in eastern California. Walking through the bristlecone forest where it is hidden feels like encountering a family of Ents out of Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings.” You are in the presence of something ancient, their needles alone can last up to 40 years. One of these trees could be 1000 years old and be called a mere whippersnapper by the gnarled ancients of the grove.It’s the resin that helps preserve them.

On the short educational walk by the visitor center, the first stop is by a large dead trunk of a long-dead bristlecone. The instructional sign tells you that this tree was over 3200 years old when it died – in 1650. Yup, for over 450 years that tree trunk has been laying there and it is far from being decayed. Someone should make anti-aging skin cream out of this resin. Like all things in nature, there is a lot we can learn from these tenacious bristlecones God made to last for millennia in a most inhospitable environment.

We are unfamiliar with bristlecone permanence. In fact, most everything in our experience is marked by the exact opposite, impermanence. The bristlecones don’t waste things, they latch onto every drop of water they can get their roots on. We, on the other hand, are professional wasters: water, food, stuff, time, money, opportunities, relationships… Deep down, we long for permanence, we want love to last, and peace, and health, and good times, and prosperity, and freedom, and stability, and life. But our resin can’t compare to the bristlecone’s. Living in fleeting impermanence we try to squeeze as much out of our vapor-like lives before they dissipate, and all too often sacrifice the permanent things our hearts yearn for. The spiritual reality is that the wrong resin is pumping through our veins, sinfulness, depravity, an inherited penchant to rebel against God and his order.

The Bible (God’s written revelation) tells us about a time when people lived much, much longer. The oldest recorded individual of that time was Methuselah, he lived 969 years (Genesis 5:27). God cut the human lifespan down to 70 plus-ish years (Psalm 90:10). Why? Because 969 years is way too long to have the resin of sin be at work in a person, for human depravity to have an opportunity. We ought to thank God for putting a restrictor plate on our life expectancy because of our sinfulness; our own evil and evil people still flourish way too much in just 80 years. That’s also more than enough time for each one of us to come to grips with our sinfulness, our spiritual rebellion, and our need for God and Jesus Christ to give us eternal life, to have the resin of the Spirit of God transform us for permanence that will far outlast even the most ancient bristlecone.

Future generations will be able to tell if we were truly transformed from decaying sinners into eternal saints through our faith in Jesus Christ. How? By how quickly there will be no trace of our existence, no witness of our faith in their memories, no tangible impact on their hearts, minds, and lives, no blessing of things permanent left behind for generations far into the future.To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

Helpless + Hopeless = Happy

A crazy man, out of his mind, demonically controlled, isolated, abandoned, and feared. A woman incurably sick, beyond the ability of medicine, robbed of dignity, normalcy, and wealth. A little girl, with great parents, loved, dead. These three fell into the pit that reeks of helpless and hopeless, an abyss so deep they cannot climb out of it. Their helplessness and hopelessness are not just their own, but their families, those who love and care for them are also engulfed in their powerlessness, pain, frustration, and grief. They, like us, know the equation: helpless + hopeless = hurt, horrific, horrible, harrowing, hellacious.

Mark, like the other Gospel writers, tells us about the reality and truth of Jesus Christ, “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God” Mark 1:1 (NIV). Right out of the gate, Mark informs you and me that Jesus is not ordinary, not one among many, more than a prophet, more than a holy man, but the very Son of God, divine, sovereign, Creator and Sustainer of all things – good news, the equation changer.

They were real people, that crazy man, that sick and desperate woman, that very dead girl, as real as the people in our lives, in our families, our community, our coworkers, classmates, and friends. They were stuck in the helpless/hopeless equation. People stayed away from them, didn’t touch them, were made uncomfortable by them and their story. “What a shame,” “What do you say?” I wonder, how long it took for people to no longer ask the crazy man’s family about him? How much time passed before folks no longer asked the woman how she was? When do we stop talking with the grieving about their loved ones?

You find all three, the man, the woman, and the girl in Mark, chapter five, helpless and hopeless – until – until – Jesus shows up, and, because of who He is, the Son of God, changes helpless + hopeless to happy. He does not shy away from the lunatic demoniac; He doesn’t mind the unclean, sick, and desperate woman touching Him; He doesn’t stop going to the girl’s house simply because she died. He does so because He wants everyone to know who He is: The Son of God, sovereign over all evil, all of life, all people, death, and all helplessness and hopelessness. He is the eternal Good News. Most of us have been to Mark chapter five, if not all, at least in part. I have. Evil, mental illness, chronic sickness, death. Without Jesus, they trap and condemn us to the grave of eternal helplessness and hopelessness.

You have to wonder about those three and their families, you just have to. What do you think the crazy man told others about Jesus after Jesus put him in his “right mind?” What did the woman tell others after she was healed? What did the girl, after she was restored to life, think and say about Jesus for the rest of her life? How did these three engage with helpless and hopeless people after their encounter with Jesus? 1 Corinthians 13:13 tells me, as a follower of Jesus, as Christian, to be a person of faith, hope, and love. I believe that means I should not shy away from the helpless and hopeless people and situations, but to show up with the faith, hope, and love I have found in Jesus, to live the Jesus equation.

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans          

Hardened Ground

This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'  But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry. Zechariah 7:9-12 (NIV)

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water. Psalm 114:7-8 (NIV)

Digging in Don Pedro in the Summer is neither fun nor smart because the scorching heat makes the ground rock hard and punishes the digger. How do I know? Plenty of personal experience. Some holes and trenches I had to soak overnight to make progress a few inches at a time. Bill Haas, a retired heavy equipment operator had literally spent his entire working life digging. I imagine, with a D-8 bulldozer he didn’t spend much time watering the ground before moving it. Moving Bill, however, was quite another thing. He literally went and got a shotgun the first time I went to his home to introduce myself to him and invite him and his sweet wife to church. He told me to stick my religion bs where the sun doesn’t shine and to get my #@&%* behind off his porch permanently.

I wonder what God is up to currently, do you? On both the large scale and in me personally. What is he trying to dig up? What does He keep pouring water on to soften it up? What has hardened but needs to be dug up? What wrong attitudes, opinions, and ways of doing things have grown so hard that even a D-8 can’t move them. Bill’s wife called me as the ambulance was rushing him to the hospital, asking me to please pray for him, “Preacher, he’s had a bad stroke,’ she said before hanging up to follow the ambulance. Knowing that he wouldn’t have his shotgun, and because the hospital wasn’t his porch, I went there as well, to sit with and pray with his wife as the doctors did their best to save his life and minimize the damage.

Bill lived and recovered with only minor damage. Yes, he was shocked to see the preacher standing at the foot of his bed. He couldn’t talk then, but you could see it in his eyes. God had softened Bill’s hard ground, had used that stroke like a D-8 to move what seemed immovable, had laid bare what Bill had covered under thick layers of life-hardened dirt. He eventually called on Christ to forgive him, to save his sinful soul, to change his heart, to give him eternal life.  For the rest of his days, he was a different man.

So, what is God trying to change in you, in our country? What hardened things is He pouring “water” on to soften it up? What difficult things is He allowing into your life to move what needs to be moved, to change your attitude, opinions, ways of doing things, and how you deal with people and God.

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

Dad, Texas or Albuquerque?

My Dad lived his entire life in Germany, but as a father he spent too much time in Texas instead of Albuquerque. His record as a dad is at best a mixed one. He was smart, educated, successful, hard-working, good at providing, involved and respected in the community and in church, trying to give his sons opportunities in life, all the while abusing alcohol, beating the living daylights out of us, flying off the handle at a moment’s notice,  and doing a good job at what God warns dads against, “Fathers, do not exasperate (embitter, aggravate, provoke) your children, so that they will not (become discouraged) lose heart” Colossians 3:21 (NASB, parenthesis mine).

I didn’t share this about my Dad to make him look bad or to somehow get back at him, he died and was buried a long time ago. What I am wondering about today is my own Dad record because every dad has one. I can tell you this, if you are a father of a child, your Dad record has a huge impact. My father impacts me to this day, and it took me an awfully long time to deal with the crap of his Dad record. But I am responsible for my own Dad record, and the impact I am having on my kids’ lives.

A man once stopped by the church looking for help. He wanted to buy a bus ticket to somewhere in Texas. He said it was the next stop in his journey of finding himself. I asked him how finding himself was going. He told me he was having the time of his life. I asked him to tell me a bit more about his life. He didn’t really want to, but he finally told me he had a wife and three kids in Albuquerque. I offered to buy him a ticket to Albuquerque, so he could get back to be near his kids, get a job, and help provide for them. He didn’t like that at all, he needed more time to find himself. I told him he was full of it and he would have to find his own way to Texas. He stormed off telling me I wasn’t much of preacher, and he might be right.

I told you about this traveling man in case, like me,  you are father, because once you are one (whether or not you planned to be one makes no difference) you have God-given dad responsibility. If you put a child into this world, doing right by that girl or boy, in a way that will make God nod with approval, is one of your chief and life-long responsibilities. If you have a child, you will have a Dad record, the only question will be what kind – mixed, decent, so-so, awesome, godly, absent, uninvolved, abusive, cold, tender, the worst, the best … There are too many dads in Texas when they are needed in Albuquerque.

I have been privileged, blessed, to be a Dad for 37 years now. I am telling you so you know that they have been out of diapers for a long time, in fact, they are out of our house, which was the plan, and I am proud as can be of them. But I am not done being a Dad, I am still adding to my Dad resume (and Opa/Grandpa record, which is also part of the Dad resume). What kind of older and all-too-soon old Dad will I be? I really am concerned about that. I have seen too many Dads blow it in the tail-end of life, get off the godly trail, forsake being a blessing, quit being a spiritual example, and instead celebrate the selfish life, become hard and difficult to deal with, and move to Texas when they should be in Albuquerque adding to their Dad (Grandpa) resume.

I think Dads from Albuquerque lived and wrote the following: Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.  But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Psalm 1:1-6 (NIV)

LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken. Psalm 15:1-5 (NIV)

A good Dad leaves an inheritance to his children’s children. Proverbs 13:22a

Dad, Grandpa, it is not too late to move back to Albuquerque. 

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

Time to Clear the Log Jam

It is always easier to point at the speck in another person’s eye than dealing with the log in your own, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's/sister’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's/sister’s eye” Matthew 7:1-5 (NIV, italics mine).

While fighting for “liberty and justice for all” (a noble and right cause) we don’t get to address one wrong only to justify another. We don’t get to stand up against vilifying one group of people only to turn around and to vilify another group. We don’t get to preach love for one another and turn around and okay hating police officers. Specks give us fuzzy vision, but logs render us blind. Jesus tells us to remember that we don’t get to fight injustice and be unjust ourselves, we don’t get to fight abuse of power by abusing power, we don’t get require of others what we do not require of ourselves, we don’t get to fight for equality under the law while being lawless ourselves, we don’t get hold others responsible while being irresponsible ourselves, we don’t get to blame others and not deal with our own logs.

The log-eyed have it right now, on the political right and left, on the liberal and conservative end. You can’t say that black lives matter, or that we need to treat immigrants like Jesus would, without an immediate backlash, being denounced, dismissed as liberal, and even being hated. You can’t stand up for policemen/women and law enforcement officers, the vast majority doing a very difficult job with integrity, without an immediate backlash, being accused of just not getting it, dismissed as being uniformed, and even being hated. You can’t stand up for Colin Kaepernick and his right to kneel without being accused of being unpatriotic, and you can’t stand up for Biblical/traditional marriage without being denounced as homophobic or a hater. The sad reality of this is that the very thing both sides passionately clamor for, liberty and justice, is being lost.

I believe Jesus is weeping as He is looking down like He did over the Jerusalem of his day (Luke 19:41). They were coming to John the Baptist in droves, hungry for national change, hoping God was going to something big (Luke 3:1-14). John tore into them, their hypocrisy of wanting change without changing themselves, for trying to act pious while abusing power. He told them God would cut down the logs (them) and hold them responsible.

“What do we need to do?” they wanted to know.

“Take personal responsibility and use your extra not to hoard but to help, be part of creating equity! To improve people’s lives," he told them. “Don’t abuse your public office and the power it gives you to twist the rules and exploit it for personal gain,” he fired back at the tax collectors. “Don’t abuse your badge, don’t abuse the power that comes with your uniform, don’t pervert justice,” he spelled it out for the soldiers (the police in their day).

He was confronting them all because just like today, log-eyedness was ruling the day, creating the narratives, fostering endless finger-pointing, justifying lawlessness, flaunting hypocritical piety (both religious and political), excusing personal responsibility, and twisting or ignoring what is right before God. So, what about them logs, that blind our eyes, darken our minds, justify our wrongs, shape our actions?

A great place to start dealing with them is Jesus’ longest recorded sermon, called the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5-7 (Its shorter parallel is found in Luke 6:20-49). I think it tells us a lot about what God dreams of regarding our personal lives, culture, and society. In the end, Jesus makes it plain that merely hearing/reading and trying to understand, though necessary, are is not enough. We must catch the vision of it, the hope of it, the necessity of it, the rightness of it, and then radically live it.

To God be all glory.

Love you, Pastor Hans

Justice Matters - Black Lives Matter

Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it fully. Proverbs 28:5 (NIV)

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. Proverbs 21:2-3 (ESV)

Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. Isaiah 59:14-15 (ESV)

Every one of us, regardless of the color of our skin, should be weeping, should be outraged, and should be calling for justice. We all should be demanding change, rushing to be part of the solution, and stand alongside our black brothers and sisters as we bitterly mourn Ahmaud Arbery, whose violent death barely caused a ripple until the sick recording of the lynching in broad daylight was finally released - and the death of George Floyd, who died pleading for his life while a policeman’s knee slowly choked the life out of him. We should be brokenhearted as we witness violence birthing more violence, injustice breading more injustice, and stones are being thrown at each other instead of working together to build a nation “with liberty and justice for all.”

Each of these deaths is outrageous by themselves, but sadly, they are just the most recent and most public in a long history of racism, injustice, and police brutality. Neither Ahmaud Arbery nor George Floyd should have died, they should be alive and well today. We need to decide when enough is enough.It should not be difficult to stand beside our fellow Americans and shout with them, “Black lives matter!” in light of the long reality of injustice this cry represents. Immediately countering with, “All lives matter,” or “Blue lives matter,” is tantamount to telling them, “Just shut up.” Of course, all lives matter, blue lives matter, but the very nature of injustice is that some lives matter more than others.

Injustice is always an abuse of power. One of the greatest statements about ancient king David, a man after God’s own heart, is “So David reigned over all Israel. And David administered justice and equity to all his people” 2 Samuel 8:15 (ESV, emphasis mine). Since we are privileged to live in a country led by a “government of the people, by the people, for the people” (Abraham Lincoln), we, every citizen, are responsible to hold our governmental institutions and powers accountable to use those powers entrusted to them in just and equitable ways. That’s not a knock on our police officers and all those who work in our justice system, but rather it validates the importance of a police force and justice system that does not tolerate injustice, inhumanity, and abuse of power.

It’s so easy to talk about these complex issues, but it is quite another to engage myself in ways that help, that are part of the solution, that bring about change and empower equal justice for all. As multifaceted and overwhelming as all of this is, we dare not flee into disengagement or mere talk. Even without having all the solutions:

• I need to recognize that justice is also a spiritual issue. Just by reading the Scriptures above, I know I can only fully understand justice in seeking God through Christ, and that God expects me to personally practice and engage with justice regarding others.

• I need to thoroughly study my Bible (God’s written word) so I can understand justice and what it demands of me as a follower of Jesus.

• I need to put my listening ears on and go to my black brothers and sisters and hear their side, their story, their hurt, their rage, their sorrow, their solutions.

• I need to be a voice for justice and equity with my friends, around my dinner table, and in the sandbox with my grandchildren.

• I need to speak up whenever and wherever ignorance, bigotry, cruelty, evil, and injustice rear their ugly heads, regardless of who I am with, and regardless of the cost.

• I need to pray for God to show me my blind spots, to see justice through His eyes, for courage, for change, for those in power, for our law enforcement officers in my own community and counties.

• I need to use the avenues available to me as an ordinary citizen to influence our government officials and institutions.

May God have mercy on us and help us. 
Love you, Pastor Hans

Extraordinary Kindness, part 2 - It's not theoretical, It needs no excuses

But—When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:4-5 (NLT2)

Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. Luke 6:35 (NLT2)

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:31-32 (ESV)

No one had to teach her, my incredibly sweet and cute granddaughter (my favorite) to whack her brothers, bite them, snatch their stuff, ruin their creations, and pay them back for any misdeeds of their own. She knew how to dish out unkindness and withhold good instinctively, as, by the way, you and I do as well. Having to be told to be kind, to do good means that that unkindness, not doing good comes all too natural for us.

My little ladybug of a granddaughter knows how to be kind and unkind though she doesn’t even know the words, she just knows the actions and reactions and most often dishes them out according to what serves her best and how she feels at the moment. She knows how to give both kind and unkind looks. She knows how to use her tiny vocabulary in kind in unkind ways, her hands and feet sure know how to do both, and she knows different impacts kindness and unkindness, doing good and withholding good have, which, by the way, you and I do as well.

It is amazing to me how immature and undisciplined grown adults, myself included, can be when it comes to being kind and doing good. It is even more amazing to me that Christians, who have crystal clear instruction, who know the will of God when it comes to being kind and doing good, act like two-year-olds. Your eyes, are they kind, look at people and things with kindness? Or, are they skilled at throwing daggers, burn with anger, look down on, and look away to ignore and hurt? If looks could kill.

Your ears, are they good at detecting when and where kindness is needed? Or, are they deaf to the frequencies of kindness, only open to what they want to hear, often rejoicing in the sounds of misery and pain of others. They had it coming.Your mouth, is it fluent in the language of kindness, the healing, peacemaking, encouraging, and blessing power of words? Or, is it a double-edged sword that continually honed by anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, frustration, evil, and the grind of our world? It’s just words, I didn’t mean anything by it.

Your hands, are they good at giving, helping, reaching out, tenderness, involvement? Do they have the callouses of doing good? Or, are they good at taking, hoarding, stiff-arming, finger-pointing, handling remote controls, the grime of selfishness and manipulation thick under your fingernails? No one told me. I‘ve been so busy, can’t you see.

Your feet, are they good at stopping at the intersections of life calling for kindness and goodness? Do they love to run into the direction of kindness and where doing good is needed? Or, do they balk at the one-way street of kindness, when there is no immediate payoff, when the cost is high, when kindness doesn’t fit your schedule or mood or sense of justice and fairness? It’s a two-way street, you know. Your wallet, does it have kindness in it, dream of it, and remind you to do good every time you take it out? Or, is it fluent in toddler, “MINE,” constantly dreaming of what to get next, of something fun, of having more than enough, or just plain more? One day. I’m barely making it as it is.

Would you read the scriptures at the beginning of the pastor’s note again? They both command and instruct us to be kind, to do good. They do not furnish any excuses for being unkind and not doing good. I need to remember that next time I am tempted to be unkind and try to excuse it. They tell us that God/Jesus did not determine his kindness, his goodness, his mercy, and his forgiveness by our worthiness, our gratefulness, our responses or reciprocity.

One more thing, as a follower of Jesus, a Christian, I have no excuse to be unkind. I have known how to be kind going way back to when I was just wee little and still cute, I know how to be kind because throughout my life I have been at the receiving end of kindness, and foremost, God has poured the full measure of his kindness and goodness into my life through Jesus Christ from the moment he saved, wicked, undeserving, ungrateful, stuck-on-self Hans.

Be extraordinarily kind.
Pastor Hans   

Extraordinary Kindness

Generous, stingy, educated, ignorant, selfless, selfish, honest, liar, saint, sinner, gentle, violent, trustworthy, corrupt, hard-working, lazy, hot-tempered, calm, humble, arrogant, forgiving, bitter, fit, out of shape, interesting, boring, funny, grumpy, patient, impatient, blessing, jerk, straight-forward, two-faced, wise, foolish, handy, clumsy…

We are all known for something. When others think of you and me, they never do so without adjectives or descriptive nouns that identify something about us, our character, habits, appearance, our social status, ethnicity, roles, …I am a Christian, man, husband, Dad, Opa (grandpa), brother, uncle, neighbor, German, American, immigrant, citizen, pastor, neighbor, whipped cream lover, educated, white, bald, fairly fit, odd, multi-lingual, now 60-year-old, who tells lots of people that they are my favorites.

The way you think of me and would describe me depends on your experience with me, how well you know me, whether or not you like me… Some things about me I cannot change, some I should (so I am told, but I am also stubborn), some I want to, and some I have. I cannot not be a German, white, Dad, Opa, uncle, neighbor… What I do have to decide what kind of German, American, husband, Dad, Opa, white, man, and neighbor I am going to be. I do have to choose what I will be known for, what adjectives and descriptive nouns my name will conjure up in people’s minds and conversations.

In Acts 28 Luke, who is among the shipwrecked crawling up a beach on the island of Malta, whose inhabitants met them with “extraordinary kindness” (v.2), received them, made fires for them, and helped them. What a great thing to be known for! Extraordinary, uncommon, kindness. Contrast that with the Cretans who were described by one of their own as, “liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons” (Titus 1:12). Everyone is capable of kindness, even extraordinary kindness. These Maltese were not Christians, but they were super kind. This did not mean they had no need for Christ and the forgiveness and eternal life that is only found in Him, but it did mean they made a real, tangible difference in the lives of the battered survivors littered on their beach.

In pouring rain, they poured out extraordinary kindness to such as extent that Luke attached it to them whenever and wherever he mentioned them, and that God thought it important enough to permanently record it in the Bible (God’s written word). It is a great honor when people use the words extraordinary kindness to describe you, it is quite another when God recognizes you as such. Everybody is capable of kindness, even extraordinary kindness, but for a Christian, it is never optional. Kindness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and without it a believer is unstable and keeps tripping up (2 Peter 1:5-11). Two more thoughts:

• How much unkindness does it take before people will stop calling you kind? In my experience, not a whole lot.

• Imagine with me the difference kindness makes, especially when we commit ourselves to practice it continually, rain or shine, regardless who washes up on the beach of our lives, beginning with those closest to us.

You can be extraordinary kind today and every day. 

To God be all glory.
Love you, Pastor Hans 

Waiting – Don’t Waste It, Part 3, Waiting and Working

“Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” Matthew 24:42-51 (ESV).

Waiting, watching, working – did notice these three in the scripture above? All three are part of the Christian life. We are waiting for many things. Toping the list is the return of Christ, but we also wait for redemption, for restoration, for deliverance not just for own self but for all of creation (Romans 8:18-25). We wait for prayers to be answered, for directions, for the mortal to be swallowed up by immortality (1 Corinthians 15:50-58), for fully applied justice (Revelation 6:9-11), and so much more.

The major challenge in our waiting is to be continually watchful, staying awake, being alert. The longer the wait the easier it becomes to relax on our assigned responsibilities, to get sidetracked by our own interests, to fall into a short-sighted way of doing life, to lose both a Jesus and God’s kingdom focus.The disciples wanted a timeline, a date around which to manage their lives. They wanted to know, “How long?” Jesus told them that they need to focus on a different question, “How well?”

The length of the wait is not near as important as what we do and who we are while we wait. Jesus stressed faithfulness, wisdom, and the blessing of doing what God assigns to us, not just occasionally or when we feel like it, but day after day, no matter how long the master has us waiting. Christian waiting should always be marked by faithfulness, wisdom, a dogged day by day perseverance, and a heart and mindset which finds its greatest joy in doing what God wants us to be doing (see Matthew 25:14-46). It is hard not to notice how politically incorrect Jesus’ answer is, “Master, “servant/slave,” “cut him in pieces,” (that last one will really fly in children’s Sunday School).

Whatever our sentiment, you can’t miss how serious Jesus wanted his disciples to take this. They wanted to know how long before they got to lay their hands on glory, reward, and liberation, Jesus told them to daily focus on God’s will, God’s assignments (no matter how tedious, taxing, and thankless), and the blessing of carrying them out faithfully. Jesus called doing anything else and doing anything less “hypocrisy.” You can’t read a passage like the one at the beginning of this pastor’s note and not ask yourself some serious questions and after answering them you might have to make serious adjustments.

So, take some time right now, reread the scripture above, write down the questions, then write your answers, and finish with writing down the concrete changes you have to make for you to be that, “Blessed … servant whom his/her master will find so doing when he comes.” 

To God be all glory. Love you and miss you, Pastor Hans 

(What concrete responsibilities has God assigned to me? How faithful am I with those responsibilities? How seriously do I take them? How excellent do I carry them out? What gives me the most joy? When do I feel most blessed? What do my answers to the last two questions reveal about me? My focus on Christ and his kingdom? Have I relaxed? Become sleepy/ Derelict with my God-assignments? How do I get back on track? What practical changes do I need to make? …)   

Watching While Waiting (Waiting - Don't Waste It, part 2)

“So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, ‘Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?’ He replied, ‘The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!’” Acts 1:6-11 (NLT2)

For almost 2000 years Christians have been waiting for Christ to return, that’s a very long wait, that’s 80 generations (if you count 25 years as a generation) waiting their entire lives. I would call that serious waiting. There they were gawking into the empty sky Jesus just disappeared into when two angels told them to snap back to a life of waiting, watching, and working. Maybe we need some snapping back ourselves?

It is easy to get sidetracked, bored, and passive while waiting. Jesus had warned his disciples about becoming lax and irresponsible while waiting (Matthew 24:42-25:46, Mark 13:33-37), “Stay alert!”Staying alert is one of the big challenges in waiting, it so easy to slip into Netflix filled waiting, simply passing the time waiting, whatever I want to do kind of waiting, and before you know it you’re just staring into space – spacing out.So, how do we stay alert in both waiting for Jesus’ return and the waiting in everyday life? Here are there things to learn to practice: 

1. Waiting with your ears open (Acts 8:26-31)

• To the Holy Spirit – He has where you are in time, location, and situation for a reason.

  1. Listening to obey (James 1:2-7). Listening to the Holy Spirit is about wanting to do God’s will, not about evaluating options.

  2. To what you hear around you – Learn to listen for clues of God being at work in people, hearing people’s questions, confusion, searching.

1. Waiting with your eyes open (Acts 17:16-17)

• To spiritual reality – There is a spiritual dimension, a bigger picture to all of life.

  1. Noticing what is right in front of you.

  2. Seeing opportunities to advance God’s kingdom.

1. Waiting with our life open (John 4:3-10)

• When you are tired, exhausted, busy.

  1. When you encounter different people and situations.

  2. When you are alone or with your group.

Maybe God is trying to open up your ears, your eyes, your life in the midst of all the current waiting. What does God want you to hear, to see, to be open to?

To God be all glory.
Love you, Pastor Hans   

Waiting - Don't Waste It

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. Psalm 27:13-14 (NIV)

How good are you at waiting? Yes, you, and I can see you ducking. Our entire culture is not good at waiting, we don’t see it as a virtue but as a failure of someone or something, as something interrupting our happiness. It has to happen now, quickly, and hopefully, sooner than later. Have you noticed? The COVID-19 crisis did not care one bit about making us wait, putting our plans on hold, for who knows how long. By now we can’t wait for things to get back to some kind of normal. So again, how good are you at waiting? Since you are, for some reason, refusing to answer, take the following test. Mark all the ones you would have a hard time with:

• Waiting for 2000 years. Christians have now been waiting for almost 2000 years for Jesus to return and who knows how much longer it will be (2 Peter 3:3-10).

• Waiting for 400 years. God told Abraham that his descendants would have to wait for hundreds of years to be delivered from the tyranny of Egypt (Genesis 15:13).

• Waiting for 70 years. The rebellious remnant exiled to Babylon was told they had to wait for seventy years before any of them could return. (Jeremiah 29:10)

• Waiting for 7 weeks. After Jesus’ ascension, the disciples had to wait seven weeks for the promised Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8)

• Waiting for 1 week. Saul, because he saw his troops defecting, couldn’t wait for more than a week for the prophet Samuel to arrive (1 Samuel 13:8-11).

• Waiting for 1 day. Naomi told her daughter-in-law Ruth to relax, be patient, and wait a day for Boaz to take care of things.

• Waiting for 1 hour. The disciples were emotionally and physically tuckered out they couldn’t wait for an hour when Jesus asked them to sit and wait until He had prayed (Matthew 26:36-41)

Our chief problem with waiting is that we run out of time even if we beat the life-expectancy statistics. But we don’t just run out of time in general, we don’t get to be kids forever, opportunities pass, the chance to have children diminishes, the time to adequately store up for retirement vanishes, you can’t realize your dreams by waiting forever, ...God on the other hand never runs out of time, He is the Eternal One, the Inventor and Creator of time and space.

Have you ever considered what it must have been like for Jesus, the eternal Son of God, in his incarnation, to restrict himself to time, to waiting, to running out of time?Some of Satan’s major temptations thrown at Jesus were regarding waiting and time (Luke 4:1-8). “You’re hungry! So, why wait? Just turn these stones into bread?” “You’re supposed to be king of everything! Why waste time waiting for God’s long-winded plan filled with suffering? You can be king now; all you have to do is worship me.” When it comes to waiting Satan assumes at least four things:

1. We are not good at waiting. There is not a single baby who is good at waiting, “Feed me, change me, hold me, adore me – NOW!” Our needs scream out, our wants demand satisfaction, our dreams whisper to us, “You don’t have forever,” none of them encourage us to wait.

2. Our sinfulness hates waiting, self-denial, submission to God’s will and ways. “Waiting to have sex until you are married – get real!” “Staying out of debt and waiting to buy things until you can pay for things? – What about your credit score? Dummy!”

3. Waiting becomes more difficult the longer we have to wait. Have you experienced rising anxiety as you waited patiently in an airport check-in lane, realizing that at this pace you will miss your flight? Consciously or subconsciously we are aware of and afraid of missing out, that opportunities are not endless because life isn’t.

4. We make serious mistakes when we operate out of impatience, impulsiveness, and give in to FOMO (fear of missing out).

As busy as Satan might be in our waiting, God is even more so. He is the one who is in charge of time, so, if God has us waiting, we can safely assume that we we’re not wasting time or opportunity. God is not inactive when he has us waiting, He is actually growing us, developing us, shaping us – Jesus thought so.

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans 
P.S. For more waiting click here to watch the 04/26/20 sermon - www.LDPBaptistChurch.com       

Don't Get Spiritually Infected

But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves.  Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. 2 Peter 2:1-2 (NLT2)

Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Coronavirus, … COVID-19, COVID-19, COVID-19, …Social distancing, shelter-in-place, wash your hands, sanitize, …Respirators, masks, PPE, hospital beds, shortages, …Infection totals, death tolls, …Shutdown, …Crisis…

Daily we are bombarded with Coronavirus news, facts, statistics, changing predictions, revised timelines, official guidelines and orders. Mix that with our own worries, fears, anxieties, economic and existential threats, and it leaves you feeling confused, unsure, powerless, and vulnerable. Christians should be uniquely equipped to navigate in, even thrive trying times and circumstances. Not because we, in ourselves, are somehow better than everyone else, but because the life of Christ and the Spirit of God indwells us, and because true and well-taught followers of Jesus have a theology that incorporates and embraces suffering.Satan also thrives in chaos and crisis, he is the master of instigating and using them for his godless, evil, and destructive purposes (John 10:10).

It should come as no surprise that he will fan the flames of the current massive fire, not only in the world at large but also within the church. Much of the New Testament is devoted to warning believers against devil’s attack on the Body of Christ, the church, specifically against:
-Gutting the Gospel – faulty theology (Galatians, 1 Corinthians 15, Romans 1-11)
-Behaving badly – faulty ethics (1 Corinthians, Galatians 5-6, Romans 12-16)
-False teachers – faulty discernment (2 Peter 2, Jude)

It should not surprise us that with the current crisis and chaos there will be a spike in false teachers, conspiracy pundits, and eschatology (end times) wizards raising their voices, claiming new prophetic insight, personal expertise, miracle cures, proposing unbiblical means of harnessing and unleashing the power of God, contradicting sound science, dressing forms of presumption in so-called faith teachings, twisting the scriptures while trying to sound like theological experts.Now, with our world, including the church, almost exclusively relying on electronic media false preachers and teachers have a platform as never before.

Here in the United States the purveyors of the prosperity gospel, health and wealth pundits, word of faith charlatans already dominate the airwaves. Sadly, too many believers are tuning in to them, give them a hearing, lack the discernment skills, and don’t take time to check out both their life and teaching. Satan knows that a gutted, watered down, twisted, added-onto Gospel leaves the church without a message, perverts the church’s mission, and rips the Messiah/Christ out of its center. Satan loves for Christians to behave badly, unholy, hypocritically, loud, proud, fearfully, cowardly, selfishly, soft, and spoiled, indistinguishable from the world around them.

Christians behaving badly discredit the beauty of the Christ-life and the changing power of the Gospel. Christians behaving badly may talk a big game but bring shame to Jesus’ name. Christians behaving badly are vulnerable to all kinds of theological cockamamie and extremes.Satan is not ignorant of the word of God (Luke 4:9-11), he knows how to quote it, misquote it, divorce it from its context, twist its intentions, selectively apply it, and rearrange it to make the weird and perverted seem plausible. False teachers may be using the “Good Book” (the Bible) but they use it according to the devil’s playbook. If he/they can get you to accept faulty theology, it will sooner than later affect your behavior, conversely, if he/they can get you to legitimize bad behavior it will affect your theology,  both will rob you of the ability to discern. Time for a self-check:

• How theologically sound are you? Are you making an effort to be so?

• How Christ-like is your behavior? What needs to change?

• Who do you watch, listen to, read? Should you? Why or why not?

 To God be all glory.
Love you, Pastor Hans      

Stable and Shining

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” Matthew 5:14-16 (NLT2)

Jesus was directly speaking to his disciples when he spoke these words, but there was also a large crowd listening in, and clearly, he wanted them to hear what he had to say as well. At the end of his sermon, he spelled out why he was preaching what he was preaching.

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows (practices, acts on) it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.  Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.  But anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash” Matthew 7:24-27 (NLT2, parenthesis mine).

Jesus, God is interested in you and me living lives of stability amidst the instability, even torrents, and disasters of our world. He wants you and me to be people of purpose, who make a difference, whose light keeps shining no matter how dark it gets, whose actions make people want to sing praises to God. But for this to actually happen, we need to hear Jesus' words and trust them enough to act on them, that’s called faith. This is why I read some portion of God’s word (the Bible) every day, think about it, take some notes, and try to make “act-on-it” connections to what is going on in my life around me. The last two mornings I read Luke 11 and 12 (We are in Luke in our church’s Bible-reading plan) and found some things to help my life keep shining brightly and keep me stable in our current crisis, and, since this is a pastor’s note, I am convinced these will benefit you too:

Pray – Luke 11:1-13

• Not if but “when” you pray.

• Pray with persistence, keep knocking, seeking, asking.

• Pray with a focus on God’s goodness.

• Pray seeking God’s very best.

Help – Luke 12:13-21

• Don’t hoard.

• Don’t act on the fear of not getting your fair share.

• Look out for more than yourself.

• However little or much you have enables you to share.

Invest – Luke 12:21, 31-34

• In more than yourself.

• In more than the stock market and your financial portfolio.

• In more than what will keep you comfortable to the end of your life.

• In the goodness of your heart.

Jesus didn’t just teach the above as a means of crisis management, he wants you and me to practice them, and much more keep-your-light-burning stuff, whether the sun is shining, or the torrents are raging. He wants you and me to build foundations that don’t crumble even under the greatest stresses and challenges.
To God be all glory.
Love you, Pastor Hans         

Finding Peace When You Want to Panic (COVID-19, part 2)

Prudence, Wisdom, Faith, Fear, Stupidity, Foolishness ,Presumption, Panic, Crises— all have the potential to bring out both the best and worst in us, they also reveal who we really are and what we really believe.Our world is filled with three kinds of evil, natural evil like the COVID-19 virus and other diseases or earthquakes and other natural disasters, moral (human) evil we perpetrate on others and our world, and spiritual, demonic, satanic evil, which is ever busy inciting people to do evil. Often the first is made much worse by the second.

One thing is certain, evil is never theoretical, it is real, brings hardship, causes stress, kindles fears, inflicts pain, and kills.Jesus encouraged us to pray: “Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil (or the evil one). [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]” Matthew 6:9-13 (NASB, parenthesis mine).

It is foolishness to ignore evil of any kind, including the evil within us, it is unwise to think we do not need God’s help when it comes dealing with evil, and it is faith that will help us to deal better with evil, with our fears, and keep us from panicking. Christians are called to a life of faith that applies to the real world, actual circumstances, to life’s unpredictabilities, dangers, and worries. In all of these our anchor, our starting point, our compass is God himself, his presence, his Spirit, his wisdom, his strength, his word (Scripture/the Bible).Christians are called to pursue knowledge, prudence and wisdom, they give us discernment, navigation skills, and help us to not be led by fear and panic. Wisdom is never in opposition to faith.

Often, I have had a fellow believer gush about the fact that their doctor was a Christian and prayed with them. I think that is fantastic, but I want my doctor also to be competent, I want her to wash her hands, put on a fresh pair of gloves, and be up to speed on the most current medical knowledge, skills, and wisdom. I want her not just to be confident, I want her to be confident for the right reasons. This is true for you and me as well, it is one thing to have a faith that talks confidence but is ignorant, lacks wisdom, and is presumptuous, it is quite another thing to have a faith that is informed, pursues and practices wisdom, and knows how to be both controlled by the Holy Spirit and sound interpretation of the Bible. Christians never have reason to panic, we are called to live out of the peace of God that even disaster, suffering, and death cannot rattle. This peace is not an invitation to stupidity and foolishness, to denying or foolishly responding to real and healthy fears. But this peace does enable us not to be consumed by our anxieties, our worries, and our fears, and act with Christlikeness in the midst of evil and the storms of life.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers (sisters), whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you” Philippians 4:4-9 (NIV, parenthesis mine).

To God be all Glory. Peace to you, Pastor Hans