R.A.B.-ble Rouser.

I am really praying that Pastor Benji does not get into trouble for speaking the truth with passion.

What did he say? In essence, he said:

If circumstances should be such that one has to make a choice between following the directives of Jesus Christ or remaining loyal to a particular denomination, then by all means follow Christ.

There is no sense in keeping tradition at the expense of revelation. How can I say that? We have precedence in Scripture. Andrew, a disciple of John the Baptist, was given a revelatory word: "Look, the Lamb of God!" (John 1:36). And, upon hearing that word, he skipped out of John's ministry and went, without hesitation, to follow Jesus the Christ.

Some of you may need to re-evaluate why you're doing what you're doing...

Brotherly Love.

This past Sunday, Pastor Benji spoke on John 1. We'll spend this week reflecting on some of the points he made concerning Andrew's role in introducing Peter to Christ, and the lessons we can incorporate into our own roles as witnesses of Christ to the men and women who are closest to us.

Prior to following Jesus, Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist. That is, Andrew was on the leading edge of the new wave of ministry.

God was moving in the desert through a man named John the Baptizer, and Andrew caught the vision. He followed John.

John made a public announcement of the nature and status of Jesus Christ, and Andrew caught the vision. He followed Jesus.

And, in catching the vision concerning Jesus, Andrew "went and found his brother" (See John 1:41) in order to share the good news.

Have you caught the vision of what God is doing?
Have you shared that vision with your brother?

I Love You!

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." (First John 3:16)

"No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us. We know that we live in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit." (First John 4:12-13)

"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement, because in this world we are like Him." (First John 4:16-17)

"This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out His commands. This is love for God: to obey His commands." (First John 5:2-3)

"And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love." (Second John, verse 6)

Bronx Bethany, show some love.

Just Your Garden-Variety Jealousy, Part Two.

"Every day He was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill Him. Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on His words." (Luke 19:48)

"Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy." (Acts 5:17)

In this Christian life, part of the package is that not everyone will appreciate your decision to submit to Christ and to be engulfed in a relationship with the Father. They will be jealous of your being used to demonstrate the awesome power of the Holy Spirit. In fact, they might seek out ways to undermine and destroy your effectiveness in ministry. They might even try to end your physical life.

So, what are we to do in the face of opposition?

The example we have in Scripture is that the work of God continues in the face of opposition. "Every day Jesus was teaching at the temple". We see in Acts that the apostles, on two occasions, gave a direct reply to the religious leaders who opposed the work of God: "We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20); "We must obey God rather than men!" (Acts 5:29).

Keep preaching.
Keep praying.

Remain in line with the apostolic mandate: "(we will) give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word" (see Acts 6:4).

LORD God, give us grace to continue in Your work even if some people don't like it.

Real Live Mystics.

Pastor Martha touched upon one of the great mysteries of our Christian faith during her sermon this past Sunday:

-Why does love last forever?
-Because love is Jesus, Jesus is love, and He Himself is eternal.

We find, in Jesus, the true definition of love: love suffers long, love is kind, love is patient. Love emphasizes the character of God (see First Corinthians 13).

Love will cause you to live a life of obedience and submission to the Father.

And love will cause you to embrace the cross, "the instrument of your death" (a quote from Pastor Sam); your personal agenda will dissolve in the inexpressible Light of God's glory.

My friends, do you love God enough to fully renounce your sins and relinquish the pleasures of this world?

Account Balance.

During this past Sunday's sermon, Pastor Martha make a critically important point in the first service (and extended the point in the second service) concerning the "how" and "what" of our prayer lives.

Pastor Martha offered the analogy of a banking relationship: that is, we put money into a bank so that we can access the money when we need to make a withdrawal. The crisis of Christianity is that many Christians are seeking to make withdrawals from the account of God without having ever made any deposits:

They don't tithe.
They don't give offerings.
They don't fast.
They don't pray.
They don't intercede.

Yet, when crisis comes, what happens? They run to God, and/or they run to the church which is God's agent upon the earth... to keep the analogy, let's call the church the bank manager. And they attempt to use God as their Automated Teller Machine.

"Please pray for me church, I need ten thousand dollars!" (that's a quote from Pastor Martha).
"God, I'm having an emergency and you really need to give me what I want, immediately!"

Ah, the petitions of carnal Christians in crisis. But how can one withdraw from a bank in which one has never deposited?

Pastor Martha recalled the indictment against such behavior. It's expressed most poignantly in the parable of the sheep and the goats, found in Matthew 25:31-46. Jesus has commanded us to do some things. Are you doing them?

Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked.
Visit those who are sick and visit those who are in prison.

There is much more that could be said, but I will not belabor the point. I think you get it.

So, Bronx Bethany, how are you giving? And how are you living?

One Step Closer.

On this past Sunday, Bronx Bethany took a giant step forward in validating its mission and vision statements. We had a combined service with our Latino ministry, and our own Pastor Martha preached in Spanish (with simultaneous translation into English).

Though it's been almost eight months since Pastor Publio died, I still cannot mention Martha without mentioning him. They served together as a team, and Publio's spirit was very much present- in the joy of the music selected for praise and worship, and in the urgency of the sermon preached by Pastor Martha.

At the beginning of Pastor Martha's sermon, she said, "Sometimes love is affliction"... how true that is. Because I love Pastors Publio and Martha deeply, and because I became so accustomed to always seeing him and Pastor Martha together, it is a bit challenging for me to write: it's a forced recognition that yes, he is gone, and yes, she has chosen to remain in the United States to carry on the work to the glory of God.

But we are all one step closer to meeting Jesus face-to-face, one step closer to giving an account for the life we've lived on this earth. This week we'll consider the duality evident in Pastor Martha's sermon: the love of God expressed in the merciful sacrifice of the Christ, and the justice of God which requires judgement.

And we also must have a conversation about jealousy.

I hope you'll read this week's blogs in a spirit of prayer and willingness to examine yourself.

One And The Same.

There was a principle that Reverend Anthony did not touch upon in this past Sunday's sermon, but I think it bears noting for our final reflection this week.

When the neighboring kings banded together against King Jehoshaphat, his response was to call for prayer and fasting by the entire community. And God's response to that petition was to send a prophetic word: This is not your fight, it's My fight.

There are instances in Scripture where we find this amazing action of God stepping in and defending the men He has chosen as leaders of His people. And, in some instances, there seems to be an equating of the king with the LORD: that is, there is a synergy between the LORD and those that the LORD has placed in charge of the community.

"A divine sentence is in the lips of the king" (Proverbs 16:10)

"My son, fear thou the LORD and the king" (Proverbs 24:21)

"The fear of the king is as the roaring of a lion: whoso provoketh him to anger sins against his own soul" (Proverbs 20:2)

"The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will" (Proverbs 21:1)

"Ye man of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men...refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply you be found even to fight against God" (Acts 5:35-39)

"If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth" (First Peter 4:11)

"Unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord..." (First Corinthians 10)

"Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper" (Second Chronicles 20:20)

So, Bronx Bethany, be careful what you do to your pastors. You might find yourself in a fight with the LORD... and God doesn't lose any battles.

Just Your Garden-Variety Jealousy.

"It happened after this..." (Second Chronicles 20:1)

AFTER King Jehoshaphat instituted his reforms, opposition arose against him from the kings of neighboring cities. Three kings banded together to fight against Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah.

Why?

Maybe it was Jehoshaphat's religious reforms that brought the light and wisdom of God to the kingdom of Judah. Maybe the opposing kings didn't like the idea of an educated community that obeyed God. Or maybe they just didn't like Jehoshaphat.

Well, I would argue that it's the same problem in our day. Even in Bronx Bethany, there seems to be a thinly veiled opposition to those who make great effort to learn the word of God, hold it dearly in their hearts, express what they know by humble obedience to the Lord they love, and therefore receive public commendation from God.

Oh, what to do when evil kings are after you?

Let's do what King Jehoshaphat did:

Call a fast.
Pray.
Seek the face of God.
Make no distinction between young and old, male or female: everyone is needed in a critically important intercessory event.

To paraphrase Reverend Anthony, "the answer is not within us nor around us: the answer can only be found in God."

Picture-Perfect.

Reverend Anthony gave us a profound insight this past Sunday. Usually when people preach on Second Chronicles 20, they focus on that chapter as a single unit. However, Reverend Anthony observed that the previous chapters (17 through 19) demonstrate a marvelous picture of obedience to God, evidenced by King Jehoshaphat's mandates.

"Now the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the former ways of his father David; he did not seek the Baals, but sought the LORD God of his father, and walked in His commandments and not according to the acts of Israel. Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand..." (17:3-5a).

"...he removed the high places and wooden images from Judah. Also in the third year of his reign he sent his leaders, Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Michaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah" (17:6b-7).

"...he built fortresses and storage cities in Judah" (17:12b).

"Then he set judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, and said to the judges, 'Take heed to what you are doing, for you do not judge for man but for the LORD, who is with you in the judgement'." (19:5-6)

Jehoshaphat inaugurated his kingly reign with clear evidence of submission and obedience to God. I pray that, at whatever place we are working, we can achieve the same testimony: clear evidence of submission and obedience to the Lord God.

When our story is told, what will people say?

In The Mouth Of Two Or Three It Is Established.

Our guest speaker, Reverend Anthony, spoke on the theme "Together for God's Purpose". It was a reiteration of several of the themes that the Lord has sent us in the sermons we've heard over the summer, as well as the topics we've had in several of our prayer meetings. God, in His mercy, is telling us the same thing over and over again.

I hope you're getting His point!

Reverend Anthony used Second Chronicles 20 as his sermon text, and this week we'll revisit some of his major sermon points. For today, though, let's recap a few verses of this wonderful Scripture.

"You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you." (20:17)

"The fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard how the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel." (20:29)

"O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you." (20:12)

Lord, we need Your help. We don't know what to do, but we know You are with us. Help us to rest in the veracity of Your word. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Nicene Nazarene, Part Four: Apostolic.

In this final part of Pastor Sam's series we considered a question: How do we know we're in the apostolic church?

-We witness the apostolic attitude in action: the one who is greatest is the servant of all (Mark 10:42-45);

-We wield the apostolic authority as holders of "the keys to the kingdom" (Matthew 16:17-19);

-We work the apostolic announcement: the Kingdom of God is evidenced through our repentance, our forgiving spirit, and signs and wonders that are made possible by the power of the Holy Spirit.

One; holy; catholic; apostolic.

That's the church we belong to. That's the church we long to be.

Nicene Nazarene, Part Three: (c)atholic.

Yes, that's "catholic" with a lowercase "c".

And yes, some of us are okay with using the word in its original sense: it's an authentic descriptor of the universality of the church. There is a place in the church for everyone. Pastor Sam defined "everyone" as:

-those people who are like you; and
-those people who are unlike you.

Let's briefly recap the sermon:

-the mandate of the Great Commission is that we must go to all nations, baptizing and teaching them. The picture of diversity is evident in Jesus's selection of the disciples: varying ages, varying political affiliations, varying social status. We see catholicity in the example of the Twelve.

-the presence of all nations is a key factor in the outpouring of the Spirit (Acts 1) and the establishment of the church (Acts 13). Diversity of not only nationality, but also gender, is made apparent in the life of the early church. We see catholicity in the example of Pentecost and Antioch.

-the prophetic vision of John in Revelation 7 is echoed in the letters of Paul to Thessalonica and Corinth: the church is strong because it is different from the world, and the church is strong when it is a visible expression of different backgrounds, serving as a clue of what the invisible church looks like. We see catholicity in the example of the church militant, which foreshadows the catholicity of the church triumphant.

Lord, help Bronx Bethany to look more like the church You built.

Nicene Nazarene, Part Two: Holiness.

Well, this was one of those sermons where you really had to be in church to get the full effect. Pastor Sam truly spoke as an oracle of God. And I am doing a particular disservice to this sermon by distilling it into a blog you can read in two minutes. But, I said that I'd recap all four parts of the sermon this week, so I will keep my word.

-Holiness defines the church;
-Holiness distinguishes the church;
-Holiness directs the church.

As the people of God, our lifestyle of holiness is evidence of the special relationship we share as the family of God, and the sacrificial relationship we hold as individuals who are the possession of Christ.

We become a portrait of God: our holiness lifestyle is a reflection of the character of God, as well as a reflection of our status as the body of Christ. As Pastor Sam said, we reflect the divine nature of God along with His divine presence.

Lastly, we carry out the program of God. Through prayer, prophecy, and obedience, the community of God advocates the will of God and also advances the work of Christ.

To paraphrase Pastor Sam: This is who we are. This is how we are. This is what we do. And, it's not ever about us- it's all about God.

Nicene Nazarene, Part One: Unity.

The first part of Pastor Sam's series focused on the unity of the church:

-the principle of unity;
-the process of unity;
-the purpose for unity.

The principle is expressed in our shared commitment, conviction, confession, and community. Why are we sharing? Because there is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all (see Ephesians 4).

The process was initiated by the death of Jesus, instituted by the Holy Spirit, and instilled by the people that God gave to the church. We have the privilege of continuing a process that was begun by Christ in His own physical body, then extended to His spiritual body- we who are the body of Christ in the world today.

The purpose for our unity is so the world can recognize that Jesus is sent from the Father. The prayer of Jesus recorded in John 17 shows us His desire that we, as a community of believers, would be "drawn into the unity of the Father" (Pastor Sam's quote).

What is the great challenge? The temptation towards subversion. If the church around the world cannot demonstrate unity, then the world will have no evidence of the integrity of Christ Jesus' message.

Tomorrow we'll review Part Two: Holiness.

The Feat Of Gamaliel.

Welcome back!

During the month of August, while I was posting re-runs of the past year's blogs, Pastor Sam started a series of four sermons extracted from a section of the Nicene Creed. He finished that series this past Sunday.

It was a series that, frankly, was done an injustice by being compressed into four sermons. It really could be a sixteen-week course. Perhaps that will come in the future. But, for now, all we have is this little blog site. I can't do much between now and Saturday, but I think we could all benefit from a brief recap of the four sermons. So, that's what we'll do between Wednesday and Saturday. And if the Lord presses me to do more, then I'll let you know.

Some of you may not know the Nicene Creed, and others of you might not have memorized it, so here it is. The section that Pastor Sam preached on is indicated in italics.

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
Amen.

Courting Disaster With Unholy Laughter.

We have a few people at Bronx Bethany who hate the prospect of fully submitting to the Holy Spirit.

In the midst of an appeal from Christ through Sister Joann, what do we hear? Derisive laughter. Who is laughing? Older adults who are comfortable and set in their ways, who are minimally affected by the current economic storm, and who have bought into the lie that a mere acknowledgement of the Lordship of Christ is sufficient to buy them a ticket into heaven.

Well, people, read the Gospels. You'll find evil spirits bowing before Jesus and calling Him Lord. What makes us different from them? In a framework where we know, according to Isaiah 45:23, that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, what distinguishes the righteous from the wicked?

I'd encourage you to read the book of Matthew. See Jesus equipping His disciples and giving them an assignment: preach the good news of the kingdom, heal the sick, cast out demons. Some of you, I know, are not going to take up the challenge of reading 28 chapters in one weekend- so I'll give you a couple of things here. This is what JESUS said: "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8).

The righteous hear the command of the Lord and put it into practice.

And, see Jesus giving this warning to the crowd: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21).

The foolish, having heard the desire of the Lord, choose not to carry out His desire.

The word to the Pharisees, recorded in Matthew, is a reminder of the word to the prophet recorded in Hosea 6:6. God desires mercy, not sacrifice (also see Matthew 9:13, 12:7, 16:6-12). And that's a reminder to us. Don't just sit in the pew, worship the King. Don't just give your money, give Jesus total control over your life. Don't show up at events to placate the pastors, instead be sure that your actions are led by the Holy Spirit.

Bronx Bethany, stop laughing. Get uncomfortable.

Crashing Into The Hurdle.

For those of us who watch track and field events, we sometimes witness runners who, instead of jumping over the hurdle, hit the hurdle with their foot. Hitting the hurdle slows them down, causes them to lose their rhythm, and often results in their not being able to win the race.

Music and language, as we learned from Sister Joann this past Sunday, are potential hurdles that face us as we try to share the gospel of Jesus Christ across cultures. I had a conversation some years ago with a colleague of mine. As we discussed some Christian music that had been translated from English into Spanish by a non-Spanish speaker, he shared the following: "Nobody says their sentences like that. It's so obvious that whoever wrote this is not from our experience. Why didn't he just ask one of us to translate it?" My colleague was so turned off by the poor translation that he didn't hear the beauty of the message in the song.

I personally experienced this at a service I attended several weeks ago. As the musician played the first note of the introduction for the United States of America's National Anthem, I instantly knew that either she had not done her research, or she did not care. Sadly, after more than four decades of playing music in this country, she did not play this country's anthem in its official key (yes, B flat major is the official key signature). She unwittingly crashed into the nationalism hurdle by playing in such a way that the Americans in the audience, instead of seeking a dialogue with her, were completely turned off by her apparent disrespect. She never got a chance to communicate Christ- not because of her lifestyle choices or her appearance, but because of a critical lack of understanding in the realm of ethnomusicology.

Lord, help us to avoid hitting the hurdles of cross-cultural ministry, even if it means we leave the track for the sake of additional training. Help us so that we don't inadvertently act in a way that closes the door of opportunity for sharing the gospel.

Guess What? You Are Not The Judge.

On this past Sunday, Sister Joann bravely stepped on the toes of some of our "affluent" congregants who equate language acquisition with intelligence and status. Specifically, she addressed the issue of individuals who feel that, because they have learned standard English, everyone else should be dealt with from the perspective of standard English.

Well, what can we gather from Scripture? We see the apostle Paul, who sometimes dealt with people in Greek language and sometimes in Hebrew. We see Jesus who spoke to the crowds in cryptic parables, spoke to His disciples in Hebrew, and behind closed doors spoke a healing word in Aramaic that brought life into a dead girl.

What have we done? We have said with our actions, "We are not willing to exit our comfort zone and make effort to learn how best to reach you for the kingdom of God."

Lord, forgive us for our unwillingness to suspend judgement of others based upon where they live and how they communicate. Give us grace to be all things to all people, so that they might be touched by Your mighty power for healing and salvation.

You Can't Give What You Don't Have.

This past Sunday, our sister Joann spoke on the challenges we face in presenting the gospel across cultures and people groups. One of the more pressing challenges concerns authenticity. Let's recap a couple of the questions we reflected on:

-Do we really believe Jesus's testimony that He is the ONLY way to the Father?
-Have we personally confessed our sin and accepted God's gift of salvation through Jesus Christ?

As Sister Joann said, we cannot offer a gift that is not in our possession. We can share the love of Jesus only in the measure that we ourselves have embraced His sacrifice and experienced His presence in our lives.

Lord, help us to be fully convinced of our standing in You, so that we in full confidence can stand up for You.

Saboteur.

This past Sunday we heard from Sister Joann, a missionary who specializes in ethnomusicology and languages. Her sermon focused on some of the challenges inherent in sharing our faith.

One of the themes that ran through the sermon was the concept of self-sabotage: that is, there's something in our words or actions that serves to turn people off from the truth of the glorious gospel.

Let's reconsider a couple of questions from Sunday:

-Do you know how to share the message of the gospel clearly?
-Are you willing to leave your comfort zone in order to preach the gospel in a manner that reaches a people group vastly different from your own?

Lord, help us to drop our own agendas and embrace yours.