This Sunday I preached a message out of John 15:5-8.  The thesis is that we prove to be Jesus’ disciples by producing much fruit.  From John 15 we jumped to Matthew 13 and the parable of the sower.  We learned that we are able to produce good fruit by being fruitful soil.You can listen to it here:  http://greenhillschurch.org/Podcast/2_28_10.mp3

After the service someone asked me to elaborate on how the Holy Spirit allows us to be good soil.  I felt that the best way for me to address this question was here, online.

I believe that the Holy Spirit is God’s main tool to transform us into the likeness of his son Jesus.  The Holy Spirit speaks to us by convicting us of sin and moving in us to do God’s work.  The best way to have the Holy Spirit work in your life is to begin to have a relationship with him.  The Bible tells that he is the third part of the Godhead.  That means that he is as much God as God the Father and Jesus.  Although he isn’t human, he is a person with the desire to be in relationship with us.  As we grow in our relationship with the Holy Spirit, through prayer to him and trying to do his will we will change into being good soil.

One of the most powerful roles that the Holy Spirit does in our lives is being a helper.  Jesus tells us about the role of the Holy Spirit in John 14.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.  John 14:26

I find great confidence in becoming good soil knowing that the Holy Spirit is working in me. That he is going to teach me all things and that he will help me follow Jesus’ teachings.

To hear more about the role of the Holy Spirit you can listen to this message on the Holy Spirit that we taught on Recently.  Just click on the link!

http://greenhillschurch.org/Podcast/1_10_10.mp3

Whenever something really tragic happens, whether it is a hurricane, earthquake or personal loss.  When that happens we struggle with why God would let something like that happen.  This reveals that we really don’t trust God.  At a core level our hearts do not trust that God is in control.  I wrote a long article about this last year and thought it would be appropriate to repost it again here today.  I hope it is helpful.

I have found that most of us struggle with a fundamental distrust of God.  Even if you are a devout believer in God, when tough times come it is easy to begin to doubt the fundamental nature of who God is.  That is because at our core we believe that bad stuff shouldn’t happen to good people.  We think only good things should happen to good people.  We believe subconsciously in a cause and effect relationship with the universe.  Subtly, we begin to see God as someone who spends his time averting evil from people who follow him and rewarding them for doing good.  At the same time he is punishing people for doing bad things and bringing chaos into their lives.

Unfortunately in the real world, bad things do happen to nice people.  Good things happen to bad people.  It seems really unfair.  When pain enters into our life we doubt whether God is good, omniscient, and all powerful.  We may even wonder if God exists at all.  This is because we do not have a good understanding of the God of the Bible.

It is easy to lose hope in God when we think that he allows evil things to happen and for justice to be withheld without a good reason.  But just because we can’t fathom a reason why bad things may happen to us or to those we designate as good, does not mean that God doesn’t exist.  It’s a form of pride in our own mental abilities, to imagine that with our finite understanding of the universe and the limited time we have on the planet we could figure our all of God’s reasons for why we experience pain.  But as we look at the Bible we can find an answer to the question of evil.

In the Bible, we find a God who is good, all powerful,  and hates evil.  However, he allows evil to exist in the world for an important reason.

The reason that God allows evil to exist is rooted firmly in the gospel.  This is Christianity 101.  God allows evil to happen because he loves people. I understand this seems very counter intuitive.  Why would God allow pain and suffering in the lives of people that he loves.  Isn’t that sadistic and cruel?  That doesn’t seem very loving.  According to the Bible however, God allows evil to exist because he wants to rescue humanity from its clutches.  God has vowed to end evil, pain,  and suffering forever someday but he has held back because he is extending grace to those who are perpetuating this cycle of evil, namely you and I.

You see, if God was to destroy evil and suffering today, then he would have to destroy all people who are currently under the domination of sin.  It is a package deal.  If he were to destroy one part of the construct of this world he has to destroy all of it.  Humans are tied into the story of suffering and injustice because we are the ones who initiated it into this world.  We are not exempt from the system of this world that we are born into. God does his work of limiting evil by setting constraints upon it.   When he finally does away with evil, all those who do not come to a repentant relationship with Jesus Christ will be destroyed along with evil, injustice and pain.  God is extending mercy upon humanity by waiting to do away with evil.

An interesting side effect of God extending mercy on humanity is that God has not exempted himself from the human problem of pain.  Jesus entered into the world and experienced pain and suffering first hand.  God has not chosen to keep pain at an arms distance but has instead chosen to enter into it.  He understands what it is like to suffer.  He understands what it is like to be mocked, because he was scorned by the religious crowd.  He understands what it is like to hurt when a family member dies young, his earthly father Joseph died before his time.  He understands what it is like to be different, he was seen as an interloper by the leaders of the Jews.  Jesus knows what it is like to be beaten and cursed at.    He even understands what it is like to die for what you believe in.  He understands pain.  And he has chosen to weld his story with ours so that God no longer has the choice to opt out of human suffering.

This is why we can have confidence in God.  Because God has said that we are now his people.  That we have been shown mercy.  1 Peter 2:10 says ‘Once you were not a people but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.”  God now offers us a chance to get away from the consequences of sin and pain through Jesus.

The problem is that we struggle when times get hard.  We quickly stop trusting God when pain enters into our life.  That is because we are really in it for ourselves.  However, God does promise to redeem terrible situations for good.  God is in the redemption business.  God wants to use our hard times to show himself to the world through us.  God uses our suffering as a stage to reveal himself to people far from him. There is a purpose behind the things that we go through.  I love John 9:3 what Jesus says when he is asked about a man who had been blind from birth.  His disciples wanted to know whose fault it was that he had been born blind.  Jesus said, it was neither the mans fault or his parents fault, but it was so the works of God might be displayed in him.  That is amazing.  God allows the pain of this world to exist so that he can show himself to be God.

I don’t know if you are struggling today with some sort of suffering or pain, but I know that God is at work within you if you let him take the stage.  If you say God, I trust you with everything, then he is able to take your pain and make something amazing out of your life.  God has not forgotten where you are and what you are going through.  1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast your care upon him because he cares for you.”  The first step to casting you cares/suffering upon him is to trust Jesus. Trusting someone that you have an innate tendency to mistrust is a difficult process but it is one that brings eternal dividends.  It is a leap of faith that God really has your best interest in mind.

My wife and I watched Avatar in 3D last weekend.  It was an amazing experience.  I had never seen 3D work quite like that before.  At first it gave me a head ache but about 45 minutes into the movie my headache disappeared and I was able to fully enjoy the movie.  However, a bigger nuisance than the headache was the strong thread of  pantheism that was woven throughout the movie.  As a friend said later, James Cameron has stolen the script for Pocahontas and warped it into space.

I found a very good review on Avatar by ROSS DOUTHAT who delves into this much better than I do.  Its definitely worth the read.

Here is an excerpt:

It’s fitting that James Cameron’s “Avatar” arrived in theaters at Christmastime. Like the holiday season itself, the science fiction epic is a crass embodiment of capitalistic excess wrapped around a deeply felt religious message. It’s at once the blockbuster to end all blockbusters, and the Gospel According to James.But not the Christian Gospel. Instead, “Avatar” is Cameron’s long apologia for pantheism — a faith that equates God with Nature, and calls humanity into religious communion with the natural world.

In Cameron’s sci-fi universe, this communion is embodied by the blue-skinned, enviably slender Na’Vi, an alien race whose idyllic existence on the planet Pandora is threatened by rapacious human invaders. The Na’Vi are saved by the movie’s hero, a turncoat Marine, but they’re also saved by their faith in Eywa, the “All Mother,” described variously as a network of energy and the sum total of every living thing.

If this narrative arc sounds familiar, that’s because pantheism has been Hollywood’s religion of choice for a generation now

To keep reading click on the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/opinion/21douthat1.html?_r=3&ref=opinion

If you need something to get you going and on mission for God this Friday morning watch this video.

3 observations

1.  Hillsong Rocks!  They aren’t there for the show or fame they just worship.

2.  It sends me chills up and down my spine to see 60,000 people worshipping their savior with all their hearts.  I am so glad that I can be a part of a movement of people who love Jesus

3.  The drummer has awesome facial hair.  I am going to ask my buddy Josh to grow his to match.

It is hard to believe how quickly this year is flying by.  I can’t believe it is Christmas already.

This fall has been really encouraging for me at Green Hills where I pastor.  We have had a spike in attendance and have seen many new people join our faith community.

The most exciting thing however has been that our people have become excited to serve the underserved.  Brad and I really feel that it is nothing that we have done to bring this about but it has been God who has been doing something special in our church’s heart.  To save some space I just want to give you a list of some of the things that we have been encouraged by our people’s obedience.

1.  Our college students put together 127 bags of basic toiletries and Bibles for homeless people.  They have chosen to put these bags into their cars so they can hand them out when they see people in need.

2.  We were able to put together over 90 shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child

3.  Our small groups have adopted 2 families who were in great need.  One of our groups is dedicating a Saturday to go repair and clean the trailer of their adopted family.

Our most exciting event this fall was this Sunday when we had Gwen and Suzanna from 147millionorphans.com come and share about how God has been moving them to champion the cause of adoption and care for orphans.  There wasn’t a dry eye in the place.  They have partnered with Katie Davis and Amazima ministries in Uganda and have created a clothing line to raise funds to feed orphans and provide grants for families who want to adopt.

We really encourage you to check out the video and their story.  We podcasted the service on itunes.  (The first half of the podcast is my Sermon and the last half is Gwen’s story of how God is using them.)  http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=274809927.

We also showed a video of what Katie Davis is doing in Uganda.  You can see it here: http://www.greenhillschurch.org/media.htm

lIf you want to find out more about 147 Million orphans  visit their website: http://www.147millionorphans.com/ I also really want you to visit Katie Davis’ blog:  kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/ It will melt your heart.

This is the real heart of Christmas!  To be the body of Jesus to a lost an hurting world, showing them that the savior cares for them and inviting them into a relationship with Jesus.

Christ is All

This is a great article on evangelism and how we must be careful to be clear on sharing the gospel.  Thought you might enjoy it.  It is a response to Shane Claiborne’s article in Esquire Magazine.  Shane is a great guy, who is big on pre-evangelism, but this is an insightful piece on being clear to not water down the good news.   I love pre-evangelism and try to not make obstacles to the gospel but was convicted when I read this.

Here is and excerpt from the article:

The New Gospel leads people to believe wrong things without explicitly stating those wrong things.  That is, Christians who espouse the New Gospel feel safe from criticism because they never actually said belief is unimportant, or there is no hell, or that Jesus isn’t the only way, or that God has no wrath, or that there is no need for repentance.  These distortions are not explicitly stated, but the New Gospel is presented in such a way that non-believers could, and by design should, come to these conclusions.  In other words, the New Gospel allows the non-Christian to hear what he wants, while still providing an out against criticism from other Christians.  The preacher of the New Gospel can always say when challenged, “But I never said I don’t believe those things.”

READ ALL OF IT HERE:http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2009/11/24/the-new-gospel-a-call-for-discernment/

I found it on Justin Taylor’s blog:  if you haven’t read his stuff it is outstanding.  It is a clearing house for useful information.  http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/

If you want to meet the next mother Theresa read this blog: http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/ She is 20 and serving the poor in Africa.  Please read her blog.  It will move your heart!  Her story about Josie-Love is amazing.

Serving children who have needs is something that always grabs my heart.  I started sponsoring a child several years ago and it is one of the best decisions I have ever made.  To be honest it is a sacrifice.  Even though it isn’t a ton of money every month, its only $38 a month, it still is a sacrifice to care for someone else.  To be a good compassion sponsor you need to open your heart to someone else.  You need to pray for your child.  You need to write them and let them know who you are.  Sadly, I don’t do a good job of keeping up with my compassion kid.  But today I watched this video that challenged me.  If you have 5 minutes today please watch it.  It is so worth it.

I love to wander a strange city. There is something about being immersed in a vast urban jungle surrounded by throngs of strangers. The annonomity that crowded streets and unknown arenas are a perfect platform to find a respite from the rat race of everyday life.
So when my wife Tabitha had to do continuing ed for her degree in Chicago I got really excited. While she has been in class I have been on a spiritual retreat in an unlikely location, downtown Chicago.

It has been very fun so far. I spent my morning reading my Bible and journaling in a quiet part near Lake Michigan. This afternoon I going to just wander the Magnificent mile. It’s been refreshing to refocus and reconnect with God.

We all go through periods of intense disappointment and struggle.  Often it may feel like God has abandoned us.  In times like that I often feel like God is angry with me.  The story of Lazarus in John 11 deals with all these issues.  I am always really surprised when I read John 11:6 and see that Jesus when he heard that Lazarus was really sick, waited 2 more days before he came to his rescue.  It seems heartless that Jesus would allow someone that he was so close to and considered to be such a close friend, die so suddenly.   In a similar way, often we feel like Jesus is delaying needlessly when we need him most.  But God has not forgotten us.  He has not forgotten who we are.  Check out this week’s sermon “LIFE and DEATH” at Green Hills Church to hear the rest of the story.  Just click the link to listen: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=274809927.