Conciliation Anniversary Sunday

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This Sunday marks the 8th anniversary of a landmark weekend in the history of OGC.

Following a devastating conflict amongst our leadership in the summer of ’02, everyone involved in that struggle met for a weekend retreat with two trained mediators from Peacemaker Ministries for a conciliation retreat.

God gave me the privilege of participating in that event. I will never forget it. Emotions ran high. Hurts went deep. But God worked mightily among us that Friday night and all day Saturday such that all fifteen men came out of the weekend reconciled with one another. Forgiveness was granted. Fellowship was restored. Much has changed since then but each of those men, as far as I know, remain in fellowship with one another as a result of a commitment to do biblical peacemaking for the glory of God and the good of His church.

I refuse to let us forget. On my watch, Lord willing, we will remember. Every second Sunday of September I depart from the regular sermon series and preach on some aspect of biblical peacemaking. Few objectives matter more to our church than the development and maintenance of a culture of peace within our midst. I will preach this Sunday from 1 Cor. 6:1-8 a message entitled How Not To Resolve Disputes Among Believers. I want us to maintain a high regard for the peace and purity of our church so that the testimony of our fierce love for one another in this regard redounds to the fame of Christ and the renown of His name.

You can contribute to the ongoing development of a culture of peace at Orlando Grace by subscribing to various free electronic publications from one of my favorite groups, Peacemaker Ministries. I received this sample from their weekly PeaceMeal publication this week:

Being a peacemaker is difficult. There is no other way to honestly speak about it. It is hard, humbling, and sometimes humiliating work. But consider this: The peace that Christ achieved for us was hard. Jesus is described as a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief (Isa. 53:3). It was humbling. Jesus humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:8). And it was humiliating. Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame (Heb.12:2). All this was done so that peace, not just an appearance of peace, but the reality of peace would be achieved between God and human beings.

We may never act more like Christ, more reflect the character and person of Christ, than when we engage one another in love and fight for the peace and purity of our church.

As we observe the anniversary of this landmark event that set us on a course for cultivating a culture of peace at OGC, may we pray and labor for this reflection of Christ in our midst for many, many years to come.


How's Your Contentment Quotient?

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Find out by checking out this month’s edition of Free Grace Broadcaster.

Here’s a sample from Plumer’s piece, the first of several Puritan writers on the subject:

But what is contentment? And how may it be known from evil states of mind somewhat resembling it?
Contentment is not carelessness or prodigality.3 It is not obtuseness of sensibility.4 It is a disposition of mind in
which we rest satisfied with the will of God respecting our temporal affairs—without hard thoughts or hard
speeches concerning His allotments5 and without any sinful desire for a change. It submissively receives what is
given. It thankfully enjoys present mercies. It leaves the future in the hand of unerring wisdom. Nor is there
anything in true contentment to make men satisfied with the world as a portion or as a permanent abode. The
most contented person may long for the day when Christ shall call him home. He may, like Paul, be in a strait
betwixt two, not knowing whether to desire to abide in the flesh for the sake of others or to depart and be with
Christ, which is far better (Phi 1:23)…

Check it out. This stuff will challenge your socks off but given the economy and a host of other reasons the people of God need in these times to feast on truth like this.

Unbelief Made Profitable (Part 1)

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Today’s message from John 10:22-30 is now on the web. You can listen to it here.

Here is how I summarized the content of the sermon:

The main thing I want to say from this passage is this: Understanding the ultimate issues behind unbelief confronts us with the requirement to believe in Jesus the Messiah and to follow Him. By dissecting the anatomy of the Jews’ hardhearted unbelief in these two paragraphs, we have opportunity perhaps to see ourselves, resistant to Jesus’ claims, and are given yet another chance to believe in Him and receive the gift of eternal life, abundant life, as He called it in John 10:10. I want to show you from the text three things about unbelief that God may use this way in our lives: where unbelievers are deceived about faith, why unbelievers are deprived of faith, and what unbelievers are denied without faith.

The mystery of human responsibility and divine sovereignty looms large in this text. May God give us grace to take Him at His word and humble ourselves before Him.

5000 psi & GIL

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“It’s never been cleaned before,” Darlene said.

“I’ve never seen more dirt on a driveway,” Randy said.

“Sorry we took so long to get to it,” I said.

Almost a year ago to the day, the OGC faithful descended on my widow neighbor’s home for a massive painting project. We sought to put James 1:27 into action. We worked to build bridges into our local community for the gospel. I promised we would come back to do the driveway but failed to do so until this morning.

I got by with a little help, who am I kidding, a lot of help, from my friends, deacon Randy and his boy, Andre. Good thing too. Together our pressure washers combined for 5000 psi and we needed every bit of it to tackle the job.

“If you want, you can eat dinner off the concrete tonight,” I beamed.

My neighbor smiled. Her daughter thanked us profusely. The neighbors took notice. I ask for prayer every week for open doors for the gospel in La Floresta. In our postmodern world the way you get them is through acts of love and ministries of mercy.

And so tomorrow we dive into a four month study called Gospel in Life: Grace Changes Everything during the 9:30 adult equipping hour (including middle and high school students). We want to understand more about how the gospel of Jesus can captivate our hearts, shape our community as a church, and overflow in transforming power into our world. This curriculum from Tim Keller and the folks at Redeemer Pres aims to do just that.

Here’s the summary description for tomorrow’s first session from the GIL website:

In Session 1 we learn that we are not just to seek prosperity and peace in the city where we live, but we are to seek prosperity and peace for the city, as well. We see the reasons that cities were created, how they have fallen under sin, and how we can be a part of redeeming them—how we are a part of God’s story to redeem and restore the whole world for his glory.

From 9:30 to 9:45 we will meet in elder groups to share about our lives and pray for each other. From 9:45-10:00 we will study the Scripture passage of the day together. At 10:00 we will view a ten minute video presentation by Tim Keller, and from 10:10 to 10:30 we will move back into elder groups for discussion about the video. Newcomers are welcome to join any of the groups they like.

Please pray with me and our leadership team that God uses this equipping emphasis in a powerful way. May He make us more a church on mission in the city that we have ever been before!

Biblical Resolutions Distilled from a Battle with Cancer Continued

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Recently I introduced a new series of articles based upon my five year anniversary in August from finishing cancer treatment and remaining cancer-free.

When I first returned to the pulpit in November of 2005, I preached a series of three sermons from Psalm 116 entitled Seven Biblical Resolutions Distilled from a Battle with Cancer. You can listen to part one here. You can listen to part two here.

I articulated this theme from the text in light of the apparent deliverance enjoyed by the psalmist from some previous life-and-death threat:

Deliverance by God from desperate straits warrants renewed resolves in a relationship with God.

In the previous two posts I addressed the first two resolves: delight in God and pray to God. Now for the third.

Resolved – to rest on God (5-7).

Notice in v. 5 how he rehearses various aspects of God’s glorious character with which he has became even more fascinated. Gracious is the Lord. When God snatches you from the jaws death, what else can He be? And righteous. God was not unrighteous for permitting me to battle head and neck cancer. He does all things well. The Lord is good and righteous in all His ways. And He is merciful. Verse 6 – he preserves the simple.

The word simple means without guile or deceit, open and trusting in God. It’s similar to the idea of Jesus in Matt. 11:25 when he prayed I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. The uncomplicated. The believing. Such God preserves. He exercises great care over. He watches and keeps. Psalm 121:5 says The Lord is your keeper, your shade on your right hand.

What difference should such truth make in our lives? How should we then live? Do we really reckon God as gracious, righteous, merciful, who watches over us such that He numbers every hair on our heads and not a sparrow drops to earth without His notice? If so how should we talk to ourselves? We must talk as the psalmist does in v. 7 – Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

It’s as if his circumstances temporarily disrupted his spiritual gyroscope and led him to fret and worry. He strayed from the peace and confidence of a rest on God. Sometimes you have to talk to yourself this way. You have to remember the character of the nature of God and preach to yourself, Return O my soul to your rest, God has dealt bountifully with you. He has blessed you beyond your wildest imagination. So do not fret. Do not be anxious. Do not wig out. Do not melt down. None of those things glorify God. Psalm 37:1 says Fret not yourself because of evildoers; Verse 3 – Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

One of the most convicting and penetrating things I think Oswald Chambers ever wrote in his work My Utmost for His Highest has to do with this subject:

Fussing always ends in sin. We imagine that a little anxiety and worry are an indication of how really wise we are; it is much more an indication of how really wicked we are. Fretting springs from a determination to get our own way. Our Lord never worried and He was never anxious, because He was not “out” to realize His own ideas; He was “out” to realize God’s ideas. Fretting is wicked if you are a child of God.

Have you been bolstering up that stupid soul of yours with the idea that your circumstances are too much for God? Put all “supposing” on one side and dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. Deliberately tell God that you will not fret about that thing. All our fret and worry is caused by calculating without God.

How’s your self-talk these days? Take your cue from the psalmist if necessary. Tell your soul to return to your rest knowing how bountifully He has dealt with you.

That’s a resolve worth making whether He has delivered you from some desperate strait or not.

Review of Our Congregational Meeting

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Last Sunday we met as a congregation for our midyear business meeting during the 9:30 hour.

I jotted down a few notes of significant things we covered for both review and the benefit of those who missed for one reason or another.

First, regarding the building program, God has given us favor in the neighborhood in acquiring certain easements that will definitely save us money. A water easement still needs negotiating. Pray for favor with the pertinent parties. Also we continue to move closer to signing a contract with our building contractor, Dave Eddy. Pray for wisdom in the final negotiations. Lastly, tomorrow morning’s interview with the city of Altamonte may be the final meeting with the city to open the door to pulling the various permits to enable us to break ground. Pray for favor for Ross and company before the review board.

On the building finance and capital campaign front we are investigating loan options with various lending institutions and we are working on a second-tier campaign letter to friends and former members of OGC to ask them to pray about giving a gift to the campaign. I was pleased to report that my dentist gave a generous gift recently to our building program! Pray for favor on these efforts and that God will bring us up to the $500,000 ultimate goal we would prefer for our capital campaign.

Second, regarding our church finances, we praise God for His faithfulness in providing for us thus far in 2010. We observed a slight downward trend this summer in our general fund giving. This past Sunday we again fell short on our budget need and for the first time in a great while fell below budget. Pray that as we move out of the summer and into the fall that our general fund giving gets back to budget and that our capital campaign pledges get met.

Third, regarding staffing issues, I reported that the leadership team recently voted to continue Evan Fairey’s role as student ministries intern and to increase his hours from 15 to 30. In addition to making more time for him to build relationships with our students and families, he will be working within our Christian education ministry to help shore up the weaknesses on various fronts.

Fourth, I talked about the 9:30 hour fall curriculum offerings, including Discover OGC, our newcomer’s orientation class, and Gospel in Life: Grace Changes Everything, a DVD and Bible study/discussion curriculum featuring Tim Keller. These kick off this Sunday, September 5. Contact the church office for more info. Click on the video below for the trailer we showed in the service Sunday for GIL.

Trailer for Gospel in Life from Redeemer City to City on Vimeo.

Finally, we had about a 25 minute Q&A with the elders. After the fact I always think of things I wish I had said. Those sessions are unnerving! Someone raised a question about any plans we in leadership might have about equipping women for ministry and helping them with their roles in the church. I answered from an entirely macro level in terms of our need for someone to own the leadership of women’s ministry in our church similar to the way Brett Bradley has recently stepped up to serve our men. I completely failed to acknowledge the efforts going on already on a micro level with the efforts of someone like Kelly Simpson with the Anchored Youth girls and the Women’s Bible Study. Other women are actively engaged in what I referred to numerous times on Sunday as “vine work,” doing discipleship and mentoring with other women in the body. The Titus 2 Moms ministry is also meeting a huge need. That being said, we still need workers in this realm, as in so many, where the harvest is great but the laborers are few. Pray with me to the Lord of the harvest that He will raise up workers (Matt. 9:38).

On a completely separate note but connected to Sunday, I continue to praise God for the way He worked in our special service of thanksgiving that evening for my being five years cancer free. Thanks to all who played a part in making that happen!

How To Tell the True Shepherd from the False (6)

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The last in the series of messages from the Good Shepherd discourse in John 10:11-18 is now on the web.

You can listen to the message here.

I summarized the sermon this way:

How then should we respond to such sovereign goodness that lays down its life for the sheep in a loving, substitutionary, particular, global, voluntary, and designed sacrifice? Don’t take your cue from Captain Miller in that scene on the bridge where, mortally wounded, he grabs hold of Private Ryan and gasps his final words. Do you remember what he said? Earn this. In other words, show yourself worthy of this by making something good out of the rest of your life. Don’t let these soldiers have died in vain. Indeed the movie ends with the aged Ryan along with his family visiting the Miller’s grave in the allied cemetery and France. It’s a gripping scene. The man is torn up with angst over whether or not he has indeed earned it. He pleads with his wife, Tell me I’m a good man.

Jesus never once said from the cross, Earn this. He did say, Father, forgive them. So what are we to do with so herculean a sacrifice by so very good a shepherd. Receive it for the priceless gift it is. You CAN’T earn it. You must believe it and trust in it as your only hope for deliverance from sin and death. Believe in Jesus as the Messiah, if you have yet to do so. Receive the gift of abundant life that only Jesus the good shepherd can give because of His death on the cross for you and His resurrection from the dead.

Big Day Tomorrow at OGC

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The Lord’s Day tomorrow brings us a number of significant opportunities for gathering together as God’s people.

We begin at 8:30 AM with corporate prayer for those who can participate. As it is the last Sunday of the month, a group of us will gather for prayer on the property where we intend to build. Another group will pray in the SDA annex as usual, for those for whom  the prospect of the heat and other environmental conditions on the property seem too uncomfortable.

At 9:30 AM we have our midyear congregational meeting in the SDA sanctuary. We will begin with a building program report, followed by financial and ministry updates, and finishing with an Ask-the-Elders-Anything session. Members and regular attendees alike are welcome to join us for that meeting.

At 10:45 AM comes our regular service of worship. I hope to conclude the sixth in a series of messages from John 10:1-21 in the Good Shepherd discourse.

At 6:00 PM we will gather for a special service of thanksgiving to celebrate the 5th year anniversary this month of my being cancer-free. Dr. William Grow, my medical oncologist, will share his testimony. Pastor Danny Jones of Metro Life Church, himself an over ten year tongue cancer survivor will preach. We will also have a time of open sharing by the members of the congregation remembering how God worked in 2005. Pastor John Christiansen of Orlando Community Church, in many ways a pastor to me throughout my treatment, will close the celebration by leading in a prayer of thanksgiving. A reception in the fellowship hall will follow the service. Remember to bring your finger food to share! Beverages will be provided.

Would you please pray with me that God moves in a powerful way in our midst tomorrow?

I am immeasurably grateful for length of days and the continuing privilege of serving in your midst as pastor-teacher!

Biblical Resolutions Distilled from a Battle With Cancer Continued

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Recently I introduced a new series of articles based upon my five year anniversary this August from finishing cancer treatment and remaining cancer-free.

When I first returned to the pulpit in November of 2005, I preached a series of three sermons from Psalm 116 entitled Seven Biblical Resolutions Distilled from a Battle with Cancer. You can listen to part one here.

I articulated this theme from the text in light of the apparent deliverance enjoyed by the psalmist from some recent life-and-death threat:

Deliverance by God from desperate straits warrants renewed resolves in a relationship with God.

In the last post I addressed the first and arguably most important resolve toward God when He comes through big time in our lives – resolved to delight in God (1a). Now for the second.

Resolved – to pray to God (1b-4).

One major reason for the expanded intensity of the psalmist’s love for God comes from his experience of answered prayer. I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me. The Hebrew word for inclined means to stretch out. There is something here of the condescension of our glorious God who bends down from heaven and cups a hand to His ear in order to hear even our faintest of prayers to Him.

Never is that more appropriate than in a time of crisis. Look at vv. 3-4 – the snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. THEN, I called on the name of the Lord (emphasis added). And he gives us the very words of his prayer – O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul! Not a particularly long prayer. Not a particularly eloquent prayer. Certainly not a difficult prayer. But prayer enough for the dire circumstances. Deliver me.

I can’t tell you how many times I lay my head down on the pillow at night during the final months of treatment and simply prayed, O Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. It’s all I could muster.

Why night after night should any of us pray? Because God has decreed and ordained that He will work in our lives through the means of answered prayer. As a result the writer makes his first overt resolve in v. 2 – Therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

Answers to prayer in the past and present should act as impetus for faithfulness in prayer in the future. God never changes. He is faithful to answer prayer. He hears and dispatches the angels of heaven to minister to our needs.

Just consider one verse from Phil. 1:19 to see Paul’s confidence in the efficacy of prayer to bring about deliverance: (writing from prison) For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance – speaking of his imprisonment in Rome. We need both, the prayers of God’s people and the help of the Spirit.

I shudder to think where I would be today without the steadfast intercession of saints all over the world who lifted me up to heaven during my battle with cancer – especially on the foremost of requests that I not sin against God with my lips. This is the great risk in desperate straits. We turn our backs on God. We take issue with Him. We find Him less than good because He ordains as v. 6 puts it that we be brought low. God is just as good in a biopsy that tests positive as He is in one that tests negative.

Don’t ever underestimate the role of prayer in dealing with a crisis of any magnitude. Pray yourself and solicit the prayers of others at every turn.