Check out this week’s message. How to have a heart that responds to God’s goodness with Joy and Gratefulness. Video:http://greenhillschurch.org/media.php?pageID=34 Audio podcast:http://greenhillschurch.org/media.php?pageID=6
Green Hills Church Sermon 6.12.11
June 15th, 2011 | Posted by in Green Hills Church | Musings - (Comments Off)The Offense of the Cross in Italy
April 21st, 2011 | Posted by in Community | Featured | Musings - (Comments Off)I got this article today from my father. As someone who loves Italy and the Gospel it was saddening. It was posted in Crosswalk.com but originally from Break Point Ministry. Please pray for Italy today. I was reading the book of Romans today and my heart is burdened for the church of Rome.
The Offense of the Cross in Italy
Chuck Colson
Last month, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Italian public schools have the right to display crucifixes.
The case has been widely viewed as a crucial one. As Roger Kiska of the Alliance Defense Fund put it, “A loss in this case would have meant, in essence, that it would be illegal under the European Convention on Human Rights to have religious symbols in any institution anywhere in Europe.”
Before you start celebrating, though, you ought to know that this may be a very mixed blessing. When you take a close look at the court’s reasoning, it becomes clear that there are some disturbing implications to this ruling.
In the New York Times, Professor Stanley Fish, a liberal relativist, writes that the court based its decision largely on the idea that “the crucifix is really not a religious symbol.” Fish justifiably asks, “Who knew?”
Who, indeed?
It seems the court decided that the crucifix is now an “identity-linked,” “historical and cultural” symbol — a symbol that stands for “the liberty and freedom of every person, the declaration of the right of man, and ultimately the modern secular state.”
In other words, it stands for pretty much anything but the death of Christ for the redemption of fallen mankind.
For the Christian, that poses a real dilema: If the crucifix is to be stripped of its meaning like this, is it worth displaying in schools, or anywhere at all?
If “the offense of the cross,” as Paul put it, is gone, what’s the point?
And that’s not all. The court went on to state, “In Christianity even the faith in an omniscient god is secondary in relation to charity,” which makes the cross an inclusive symbol.
Even Stanley Fish, who’s writing from a liberal, secular perspective, is driven to wonder about all this. “What we have here,” he says, “is a union of bad argument and bad theology. As a Christian virtue, charity presupposes the God it is said by the majority [of the court] to transcend…Generous though it may be in many respects, Christianity is hard-edged at its doctrinal center and that center is what the crucifix speaks.”
Fish may not be a Christian, but I think he’s pretty much nailed it. Ironically, I think he might just understand it better than many in Italy, where the practice of the Christian faith has been steadily eroding for many years.
Christians believe that everyone is welcome at the foot of the cross — but we also believe with German martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer that “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
That’s why Stanley Fish is right in saying that a crucifix can never be what the court called “an essentially passive symbol.”
On that point, I wholeheartedly agree with him. Religious symbols matter because they convey meaning, and that’s why we Christians support the right to display them. Without that meaning, without Christ’s death and resurrection, the cross doesn’t matter — and neither does our faith.
This is the liberal cause: strip all sacred symbols and words of their meaning.
The real lesson here is that before we take up the fight for the cross, we had better be sure we understand what it is we’re fighting for.
This article published on April 20, 2011.
As a pastor, I get lots of questions about hell. Most of them go something like this. Does it exist? What is it like? Surely a loving God wouldn’t send people there right? I have found as I have studied what the Bible teaches about hell that most of us know very little about hell. Furthermore, most people believe things about hell that are taught nowhere in the Bible. If we are honest, most of us have our concept of heaven, hell and the devil formed for us by what we watch on television in general and by cartoons in particular. Most of us imagine something out of the far side comics or from Looney Toons to create our impression of what the afterlife looks like. In those portrayals heaven is portrayed as a place where people play a harp among the clouds and hell is portrayed as a place where Satan rules on a throne and has a bunch of weird torture devices where he tortures humans for all eternity.
It is vital that we base what we know about heaven and hell and on what the Bible teaches instead of what pop culture and cartoons teach us. As we study we find out that God teaches us something very different about what mankind’s destiny is after we die.
I was leading a Bible Study the other day and we were looking at the most famous Bible verse in the world. John 3:16. In it there is a phrase that many people just breeze right over. - that none should perish but all have eternal life. What do you think of when you hear that people can perish? Do you believe it? Do you reject it? Honestly it is the reason why Jesus came to the earth. The concept of Hell is vital to the message of the gospel. If there is not hell there is no need for Jesus to come to earth to pay the price of sin for us. If he died anyway, then he was a fool. Jesus was no fool. He came and died for us because there was no other way to have peace with God. Someone had to pay the price for sin so he took the pain of sin and death for us.
When we get started at looking at what the Bible teaches about Hell we need to go to the source. Here are some Biblical passages to look at: Matthew 8:11-12, Mark 9:42-48, Luke 16:19-31, Jude 1:3-13, Revelation 20:11-15, Revelation 19:20, 21:8. These aren’t all of them but they are some of the main verses. Go ahead and look them up if you want.
When looking at these verses something really stands out. Jesus believed that hell was real. In fact, he gives us more information about hell than anyone else. R.C. Sproul says this: It is so unpopular with us that few would give credence to it at all except that it comes to us from the teaching of Christ Himself.
So lets answer some Frequently Asked Questions:
1. What is hell like?
Jesus says it is a place of torment. He called it a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. It is fundamentally a place where you are separated from God’s favor.
It is a place where people get to experience the reality of choosing to live a life without God.
Many people think it is a symbol and only a image used to scare people I love what R.C. Sproul says.
I suspect they are symbols, but I find no relief in that. We must not think of them as being merely symbols. It is probable that the sinner in hell would prefer a literal lake of fire as his eternal abode to the reality of hell represented in the lake of fire image. If these images are indeed symbols, then we must conclude that the reality is worse than the symbol suggests. The function of symbols is to point beyond themselves to a higher or more intense state of actuality than the symbol itself can contain. That Jesus used the most awful symbols imaginable to describe hell is no comfort to those who see them simply as symbols.
2. Does Satan live in Hell?
The answer is no. Although the Bible teaches that someday Satan will be thrown into the lake of Fire, there is no evidence that Satan has ever been to hell. In fact the Bible teaches that Satan is the prince, the ruler of this world. Jesus references him as the ruler of this world in John 14:30. You also find that Satan a lot about Satan in the book of Job. Check out this passage from Job 1:6-7 6
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. 7 TheLord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered theLord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
You find that he wanders the world looking for evil to do. He also has access to go to heaven and present himself to God. But you see that he also needs to ask for permission to take action against those who are followers of God.
I believe one of the reasons we like to think that Satan is in hell ruling the underworld is because it is much more frightening to live in the reality that he exists on this terrestrial ball with us. If he is actively at work on this planet then we must be on guard that we will not fall under his influence.
3. How could a loving God send sinners to hell?
He doesn’t. They volunteer. Those who go to hell choose to go there.
How do they choose? People choose hell instead of God whenever they choose to deny him as their Lord and Savior. The most powerful sin in the universe is rejecting Jesus as God and God as the ultimate reality. C.S. Lewis says it this way, ”I willingly believe that the damned are in one sense, successful rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside.”
The Bible teaches that if you spend your life telling God to be quiet and leave you alone, hell is that place where he honors your request.
I believe we must be careful that our hearts don’t get hardened toward God. Matt 13:14-15 gives a sobering warning:
‘You will indeed hear but never understand,and you will indeed see but never perceive.15 For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’
4. Why does the topic of hell create such resistance?
The primary reason is because people resist the concept of punishment for sin. People don’t want to think that God could possibly punish people for rejecting him. In doing so they throw out huge portions of scripture in order to make the Bible conform to their image.
I think people really want to just let God off the hook. They want him to be humane and humanitarian God. That God be a being that only exists to ease human pain and not cause any of it. They want him to be a God that looks the other way when people actively hate him by denying who he has revealed himself to be.
In conclusion:
Hell is an unpleasant reality of life. Although we may not like the concept, Jesus taught very clearly that hell is a reality and it is the future of those who deny God’s offer of salvation in this life. This is essential to the gospel. Without the doctrine of hell there is no need for a savior. If Hell is not real then Jesus came to this earth and gave himself up as a ransom for us in vain. I hope that this post causes you to think, to explore and to discover what the Bible really says about what happens after death and to consider what the future holds for you.
Trusting Jesus is the most important decision you can ever make. If you need help making it let me know in your comments or can email me at mike@mikeharderministries.com
Exodus: Back-story to the Gospel
January 17th, 2011 | Posted by in Community | Musings - (Comments Off)Sunday’s Sermon is up: New Series- Exodus: the back-story of the gospel. I touch on the controversial subject of abortion and a Christian’s responsibility. http://bit.ly/eUCfMG
Here are some statistics that will blow your mind.
- 22% of all pregnancies are ended early by choice. Doesn’t sound bad until you realize its 1-5 pregnancies.
- 1 in 6 abortions are by evangelical Christians.
- 1.5 million abortions a year. 250,000 are evangelical Christians.
- 32% are women 20-24
- Forty percent of women ages 15 to 44 have had at least one previous abortion.
- Fifty percent of women who have abortions use it as their sole means of birth control.
This brings me to 2 conclusions:
1. This is an issue that affects all Christians. Evangelical (both men and women) are culpable in abortion.
2. We need to care about this issue and advocate a peaceful protest to an injustice that is being done to the weakest members of our society. Even non believers believe this is a travesty. ”A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” ~ Mahatma Ghandi
If you want some good information on how to get help in Nashville TN: Check out the Hope Clinic for Women: http://www.hopeclinicforwomen.org/
I broke my hand right before Christmas. It was my first broken bone of my life. That fact in and of itself is pretty amazing. I am a very active person, and admittedly have done a lot of silly stunts in my life in search of a thrill. This break happened as I was playing basketball at the YMCA. I was trying to advance the basketball after a loose ball and ended up losing my grip on the ball when an opposing player latched on to it. The entire gym heard a loud pop as my second metacarpal snapped like a twig. My hand was instantly numb and I knew that something was wrong.
Times like those make me so happy that my wife is a health care professional. She actually set the bone in my hand while examining it, saving me from surgery. I think she was more surprised that I was that it popped back into place.
The next day I went to go see the doctor. The surgeon told me that since the break wasn’t displaced anymore they would just splint me and give me a protective cover for my hand. I have to be honest with you, although I was so happy that I wasn’t headed for surgery and they didn’t cast me, having a splint was incredibly uncomfortable. Through the experience I have 2 spiritual insights.
1. You never know what you have until you lose it. My hand was my right hand. I had no idea I was so dependent on it. It was terrible because I couldn’t write, or even open zip lock bags. It was so humbling to not be able to do the smallest of ordinary tasks. However, there was a huge silver lining. I got out of all kinds of chores that I dislike. Over Christmas break I had no dish duty! That was amazing. Spiritually, I think we take so many things for granted that God gives us. We feel like we deserve only the very best blessings from God, although we really don’t even deserve the oxygen that God freely gives us on a daily basis. Then when we lose them we sulk and claim that God is not fair and not kind to us. I learned to be grateful for the limited use that I still had in my hand and am so grateful this is a temporary condition.
2. It is easy to get complacent with less than God’s best. I have been getting Stockholm Syndrome with my hand splint. You know the condition where a kidnapped person begins to identify and agree with their captors. After 4 weeks of having a splint on my fingers I am starting to feel like that it is normal to have my fingers immobilized. Instead of my hand being strong and free, I am becoming used to my confinement. When I first got my splint, I had actual feelings of claustrophobia when I was trying to move. Now, it actually feels weird without it. The spiritual truth I am learning is that so often I can feel comfortable with my life and not experience the freedom that God desires me to live in. So often I settle for what is normal and comfortable instead of living a life worth living.
Someday soon I will be able to take off these restraints and really be able to use my hand to its fullest potential. I will be able to play basketball again and even do dishes and chores I don’t want to do. I really can’t wait for that day. In an even greater way, I hope that someday soon I will be someone who is able to put off all things that keep me back from following God fully in my life. I hope that you as a fellow sojourner will examine what areas in your life you are allowing yourself to be bound. Maybe today you will identify an area where you need to through off anything that holds you back from fully following Jesus.
If you are a man watch this video
September 2nd, 2010 | Posted by in Ministry Tips | Musings - (Comments Off)If you are a man and love Jesus you need to watch this video. Then go find a church and give your life away. If Jesus doesn’t come back in 1000 years, McDonalds wont exist, America will be a memory and every parachurch ministry on the planet will be dust. But the church will remain. Jesus preserves his bride. He said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
I found this quiz online this week in my Sermon Prep. It is from John Piper, one of my favorite teachers of God’s word. This is a quiz on how you see God. I am going to put the answers below so don’t cheat.
Q 1: What is the chief end of God?
Q 2: Who is the most God-centered person in the universe?
Q 3: Who is uppermost in God’s affections?
Q 4: Is God an idolater?
Q 5: What is God’s chief jealousy?
Q 6: Do you feel most loved by God because he makes much of you, or because he frees you to enjoy making much of him forever?
John introduces this quiz by saying “I am persuaded that people need to be confronted with how self-exalting God is in this purpose.” I thoroughly agree. So often our view of God is that he exists only for our own pleasure.
Here are the right answers to the quiz.
Q 1: What is the chief end of God? A: The chief end of God is to glorify God and enjoy displaying and magnifying his glory forever.
Q 2: Who is the most God-centered person in the universe? A: God.
Q 3: Who is uppermost in God’s affections? A: God.
Q 4: Is God an idolater? A: No. He has no other gods before him.
Q 5: What is God’s chief jealousy? A: God’s chief jealousy is to be known, admired, trusted, enjoyed, and obeyed above all others.
Q 6: Do you feel most loved by God because he makes much of you, or because he frees you to enjoy making much of him forever?
How did you do? I really struggle with Question 6. I think God is mostly here to do my bidding like a genie in a bottle but I know that is not the case. That is really my personal self-centeredness leaking into my theology. I must be diligent to be someone who elevates God and not myself. When I do this, something “rings” true inside of me. I am able to live the way I was created to be, someone who God has lovingly crafted to be his worshipper.
Here are some passages to consider when you are thinking about God and his purposes from a vantage point that is grounded in the gospel.
• “He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace” (Ephesians 1:5-6).
• God created the natural world to display his glory: “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalms 19:1).
• “You are my servant Israel in whom I will be glorified” (Isaiah 49:3); “. . . that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory (Jeremiah 13:11).
• “He saved them [at the Red Sea] for his name’s sake that he might make known his mighty power” (Psalm l06:7-8); “I have raised you up for this very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth” (Romans 9:17).
• “I acted [in the wilderness] for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out (Ezekiel 20:14).
• [After asking for a king] “Fear not . . . For the Lord will not cast away his people for his great name’s sake (l Samuel 12:20-22).
• “Thus says the Lord God, It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act [in bringing you back from the exile], but for the sake of my holy name . . . . And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name . . . and the nations will know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 36:22-23, 32). “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another” (Isaiah 48:11).
• “Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy” (Romans 15:8-9).
• “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again” (John 12:27, 28).
• “He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Corinthians 5:15).
• “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).
• “I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25).
• “Whoever serves [let him serve], as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified” (1 Peter 4:11).
• “Immediately an angel of the Lord smote [Herod] because he did not give glory to God” (Acts 12:23).
• “. . . when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at in all who have believed (2 Thessalonians l:9-l0).
• “Father, I desire that they also, whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory, which thou hast given me in Thy love for me before the foundation of the world” (John l7:24).
• “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).
• “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the lamb” (Revelation 21:23).
Another guest post from my sweet wife Tabitha
Walls are built for protection. They are built to keep certain people in and to keep other people out.
Our construction project in Haiti was to rebuild the outer compound wall around the school. This would provide the children with a safe place to learn and play and would protect them from the neighboring slums and dangerous streets of Port Au Prince.
It’s hard however, not to think about the people you will ultimately keep out. I know I am guilty of this in my own life; I build walls around me emotionally and physically to feel safe and secure. But how do you respond when the Lord asks you to go over the wall?
Sarah Jane and I heard of an elderly man living in the slum across the wall. We learned that he was injured during the earthquake and had no family to care for him. He was blind, weak, hungry, and all alone. His home was made of scrap metal and tattered sheets and was approximately 3ft by 6 ft. I watched as his frail body worked to stand up and walk to the edge of his shanty. His knees were buckling and after standing for only a short while, he slumped back down onto a nearby chair. He wore a look of despair and hopelessness.
I definitely consider myself to be a cautious person. I lived in Memphis for 7 years and during that time we were named the # 1 city for hate crimes against women. I learned where not to go alone and how to be very aware of my surroundings. But on this day, I felt the Lord calling me to step out of my comfort zone and go over the wall.
Pierre was our new Haitian friend and translator. He had such a huge heart for his community and for Haiti. He told us that providing a safe place for a school and church to meet would be such a blessing for Haiti and that it would be a beacon of hope for the people of Port Au Prince. When Sarah Jane and I told Pierre that we wanted to go over the wall to see the blind man, he paused to think hard about what we were asking and then he smiled and led the way.
As I stepped outside the compound, I felt a wave of anxiety. This was the first time I actually walked through the streets of Port Au Prince. We traveled through the city in a large open bed truck with a covered tarp and at each destination we immediately got inside the compound walls and locked the gate. There were many stares as Pierre led us into the slum, some friendly some untrusting. Children began to emerge from behind piles of rubble and scrap metal. I saw an emaciated dog crouched on top of debris as roosters walked through a pile of trash. We were cautiously led to the very back corner, where we met Antonio.
Pierre explained to Antonio that we were there to help him and that he was not alone. As we listened to his aches and pains, I looked up and saw holes in his shelter. I imagined how hard it must be for him to fall asleep with the rain invading his home. We gave Antonio a hygiene kit that included soap, a razor, lotion and clean towels. As he rubbed his knee and explained his pain, I assessed his injured leg; something had fallen on him during the earthquake. He had significant atrophy in his quadriceps muscle and his knee felt warm to the touch; a sign of arthritis and inflammation. As Sarah Jane educated him on how to take his vitamins and medicines, I took measurements of his knee so that I could bring him a brace. I watched through tears as Sarah Jane literally fed Antonio her lunch that she had brought that day. I’m not sure where his last meal had come from.
As we took notes of all we could bring him the next day: a tarp, a knee brace, and clean water, Pierre asked Antonio if we could pray with him. We placed our hands on our new friend and thanked Jesus that he led us to him. We asked for the Holy Spirit to comfort his pain and bring peace to his heart. When we finished our prayer, I looked up at a very big smile and heard the sweetest thank you in Creole, “Merci, Merci.”
We made 3 other trips into the slum. I think it is funny that once you allow God to lead you over the wall your fears begin to fade and you start to believe the words in the songs you sing: “If our God is for us, then who could ever stop us”. In three days, we were able to clear the rubble outside his tent and place a new tarp over his roof. We even extended a portion of the tarp so he could have a place to sit in the shade. We filled a jug of clean water for him and made a path for him to walk. We even placed blocks on each side of the path so he could feel his way with a walking stick.
As people saw us return each day, I think trust was established. One lady approached me and asked for help with her back. With Pierre’s help, I was able to teach her stretches to relieve her back pain and give her a lumbar support brace. Children began to run to us and touch our arms. They loved having their pictures taken and I loved hearing their laughter as they saw themselves on the camera. Our last day on the other side of the wall, we handed out shoes to the women and children.
I am thankful that the Lord allowed me be a part of something so beautiful. Our last day at the school, Sarah Jane and I walked onto the roof and looked over the now completed wall. Through tears of joy, we looked at Antonio seated on his chair outside his tent, clean shaven, brace on his knee, and a smile on his face. His expression of hopelessness and despair was exchanged for a look of peace and dignity. I hate to think that my fear could have prevented me from blessing this sweet man. I definitely think that I am still a cautious person and I respect dangerous areas, but I hope I have learned that when the Lord calls me over the wall he is going to grow my faith and show me just how much He loves the “least of these”.
I saw this video off a friend’s website. Its a little boy who is severely malnourished in Uguanda. He is not being taken care of by Faith a lady who runs a ministry through Global Support Mission. You can see the whole story here: http://www.knowthinkact.com/stories.php
It is tragic to see the young reap the evil of those that went before them. Maybe you can make a difference.
A day late but still funny
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