The Road We Travel

A Book A Month In 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:24:00 +0000

The new year is a good time to make a commitment to personal growth and one of the best way to accomplish this I have found is to welcome good mentors into your life. A good mentor is someone you respect who you can meet with on a regular basis both in person and in print. Some of my most important mentors through the years have been Christian leaders who have impacted my life through their writings. Why not make a commitment to read a different book at least once a month this year? Here are some recommendations for you (in no particular order):

The Resurrection of the Son of God by N.T. Wright

This book is considered by many Christian scholars to be the most complete work on the theology of the resurrection of Christ. In my opinion it is a book that should be read every few years.

Basic Christianity by John R.W. Stott

This is another one of the Christian classics that should be in every families library in my opinion. It is a concise and beautifully written summary of the meaning of the Christian life.

The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul

In this book Sproul does a masterful job of describing the incredible riches of the glory of God and how our awareness of His beauty and goodness changes how we see life and see ourselves.

Darwin on Trial by Phillip E. Johnson

I put this book in the "Oldie but Goodie" category as it was written in the 1980s but the terrific logic and insights brought to bear in this book are just as current today as they were back then. Johnson is a terrific writer who does an excellent job at equipping believers in the defense of their faith against the biases of darwinian evolutionist belief so prevalent in current culture.

Londonistan by Melanie Phillips

A fascinating explanation of the sociological changes that are taking place in London and in other parts of Europe as a result of the loss of a traditional Western Christian world view in lieu of the new dominant religion secularism and the resulting dominating values of political correctness and equality.

Turning Points by Mark A. Noll

Mark Noll is one of my favorite writers and in this book he does a terrific job explaining the most important historical events in Christian history.

The Story of Christianity Part One by Justo L. Gonzalez

Widely believed to be the most complete work of Christian history from the time of Christ to the reformation.

The Story of Christianity Part Two by Justo L. Gonzalez

This year I'm beginning a new Wednesday night tradition called "Coffee and Theology". These two books will be heavily relied upon as we study Christian history together.

The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis

The classic allegory of heaven and hell written by C.S. Lewis is a Christian classic.

The Language of God by Francis S. Collins

Francis Collins is the brilliant scientist who was largely responsible for the discovery of the human genome. He is also a devoted Christian and sees no conflict between his Christian beliefs and his practice and application of science. This book is his explanation of that.

Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas

This book is not only a Christian classic, it is also seen as one of the most important books in philosophy and Western thought.

Uncharted Path by Lee Myong-Bak

In this autobiography of the president of South Korea Bak gives an account of his rise from terrible poverty after WW2 to become head of Hyunai, mayor of Seol and eventually the presidency. Bak gives his mother credit for raising him in a strong Christian environment.

Is God a Broncos Fan?

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:08:00 +0000

Last Sunday Tim Tebow, the son of former SBC missionaries and devout Christian NFL quarterback, led the Denver Broncos to another miraculous finish over the Chicago Bears thus sparking more speculation that God must be looking over their turnaround season.

Tebows accomplishments this year have raised a lot of eyebrows around the NFL:

He's now 7-1 after becoming the starting quarterback for Denver.
The team was 1-4 before Tebow and most thought their season was over before he took the reigns.
They now lead their division with an 8-5 record and are favored to make the playoffs.
Despite a very low passer rating and one of the worst completion ratios in the league, Tebow seems to always find a way to win.
Tebow has led his team to come from behind wins in dramatic fashion in the final minutes of the last four games.
It's not just that he wins games, it's HOW he wins games that makes people think God must be on his side. For instance, last Sunday all the Bears had to do was run out the clock but their star running back Marion Barber inexplicably ran out of bounds and gave Tebow and the Broncos time to tie the game. In overtime, Barber fumbled the ball when his team was in field goal range to ice the game. Tebow responded by leading his team down the field for a winning field goal.
In all of his interviews, Tebow gives credit to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the victory.

I'm a Tebow fan. I love how he stands up for his faith and how he uses his platform as an athlete to talk about what's most important in his life. His boldness for the gospel is getting mixed reviews however. Even the New York Times has pointed out that the opposition to Tebow seems a little inflated when one considers the other cast of characters around the league:

"The intensity of the derision strikes me as unwarranted, in that it outdoes anything directed at, say, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, accused repeatedly of sexual assault, or other players actually convicted of burglary, gun possession and other crimes. In a league full of blithe felons, Tebow and his oppressive piety don’t seem like such horrendous affronts at all. (Frank Bruni, New York Times, December 10, 2011)

Two questions come to mind regarding the Tebow craze:

First, Is it right for Tebow to talk about his faith in such a public way?

Why would it not be? As Christians we believe that all other truth fades under the glare of that one brilliant truth that God loves us and died on the cross for our sin. So if a person has truly bought into the truth of the gospel, they have no choice but to center their entire being on the reality of what Christ has accomplished on their behalf. So in this regard Tebow is only doing what comes natural for any follower of Christ.

Because we believe in the truth of the gospel, we believe that Christianity cannot be moderately important. It is either of ultimate importance or it is a lie and a hoax. There is no middle ground for us. It would be hypocritical and dishonest of us not to talk about our faith.

And for those who criticize him for expressing his passion, I would ask "what's wrong with passion?"

People are passionate about all kinds of things whether it's fashion, art, politics, music, sports, money, sex, or self-aggrandizement (the passion of choice for most sports celebrities).

Tebow lives in a world of superstar athletes who continually vie for public attention to promote their own particular brand for personal gain. It's the sad nature of professional sports today. This is just one of the things that makes Tebow stand out as an NFL player. He is a guy of superstar status who regularly makes the headlines but continually deflects the glory away from himself.

For example, after the win last Sunday he told the press, "My teammates make me look better than I am".

How often do you hear that coming from a marquee athlete after a game?

Kyle Grant is an ESPN blogger who points out that Tebow is probably the most decorated college athlete in history who exhibits all the qualities every coach dreams about such as unselfishness, leadership, determination, team mentality and work ethic and yet is also the most hated in memory.

There are numerous twitter and facebook accounts dedicated to the dislike and even hatred of Tebow. A comedian on the Daily Show has a video that has gone viral describing how he hates Tebow as much as he hates Osama Bin Laden.

So why does Tebow make so many people crazy? Why is he described as one of the most polarizing players in sports today? The answer seems to be that people don't like the fact that his particular evangelical Christianity seems so intolerant and exclusive. One recent poll showed that nearly 70% of respondents said they believe that Tebows evangelicalism is "too polarizing" for the NFL.

So in other words the hatred of Tebow stems from a particular worldview that is in play in popular culture. This belief reflects the ethos of Western European secularism which says that everyones version of the truth is equally true and important. Therefore those who ascribe to absolute truth such as what is taught in evangelicalism are therefore thought of as "intolerant."

As I have pointed out many times on this blog, that belief in and of itself is also narrow and intolerant. Ironically, the tolerance motif is especially intolerant of intolerance.

Everyone has belief that is narrow and exclusive whether they want to admit to it or not. The person who says "I don't believe in absolute truth" is in fact articulating an absolute truth. The person who says "I don't think a person should push his or her beliefs off on other people" is pushing his belief off on other people. As C.S. Lewis points out,

“You can’t go on “seeing through” things forever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. To “see through” all things is the same as not to see.”

So to the question "is it right for Tebow to proclaim his belief?" I would answer that of course it is! Anyone who says his belief is too exclusive and narrow is being hypocritical about their own exclusivity and narrowness.

A second question relates to the nature of God and His particular grace. Does God care about football games? The words "divine intervention" are being used by sports writers describing Broncos wins these days. Could this be true? Is God pouring down his special blessing on the Broncos football team in order to show favor on one of his choicest servants?

The simple answer to this is of course not. The BIble teaches that God does not play favorites, that His ways are not our ways and that the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike (Matthew 5:44). To say that God has special interest in a football game is a ridiculous proposition. Tebow himself has made this clear in interviews.

The question itself reveals a simplistic understanding in Christianity that points to a bigger issue. That is the belief among many people that if one just prays hard enough and believes the right way and does the right things, God will rain down his blessings.

This is the belief that "if I do my part God will do his part" that is so destructive in some circles of American Christianity. It is man-centered works based religion that flies in the face of conventional biblical doctrine.

Scripture teaches us that God is sovereign and that He sees our life from the perspective of eternity and that His will and ways are not dependent upon our whims and wishes. God does not plan His day around our concerns. In fact, God exists in eternity and is not bound by time and space and the limitations we experience in this life. He sees our life's beginning and ending all at once.

There is actually a direct answer in scripture to the question of whether God chooses sides. In Joshua 5:13-20 we have an account of Joshua asking the commander of the Lord's host "are you for us or against us?" as he was preparing for a battle with the army of Jericho. It was a great question that all of us naturally have as we go into any battle: "Whose side are you on anyway God?" Maybe you've asked that questions a few times yourself? "God, are you for me or against me?" is a question most people ask at some point in their life.

The answer he was given was "neither."

I have always found that to be a fascinating answer. God does not pick sides in the battles we fight in this life. He is only interested in seeing His will carried out in our lives no matter what the circumstance. One of the most important life lessons any of us can ever learn is that God is not as interested in our circumstances as He is interested in our character. Look at what the Bible teaches in James 1:2:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

God uses our circumstances to forge something greater in us than what we can see or understand in this life. Sometimes losing the game accomplishes a greater eternal reward.

So in other words Christian doctrine teaches us that it would have been just as appropriate for Marion Barber to give God the glory for His game losing fumble as it was for Tebow to give God glory for the game winning drive last Sunday. Sometimes life's fumbles teach us more than life's game winning drives. I know that has certainly been true of my life!

So let's applaud Tebow for his strong stand and bold faith as a genuine follower of Jesus, but let's do it in a way that does not mislead people into believing that we think that somehow God is a Broncos fan.

When Good Men Do Nothing

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Joe Paterno is the winningest coach in division one college football. He has won more bowl games than any other coach and is the only coach to have won all four of the major BCS bowls. He has been coach of the year over 20 times and is considered to be a living legend.

But because of one decision he made about 10 years ago his good reputation has now forever been altered. For all of the wonderful decisions he has made in his life and all of the good he has done he will be remembered forever for one fateful choice. It was the choice of what not to do. It was a decision of indecision.

Joe Paterno was fired by the Board of Directors at Penn State University this week because of a choice he didn't make. When he learned that the sexual abuse of a child was happening under his watch he chose not to call the police and report it. Instead, he passed it off to someone else.

The horrifying stories of apparent systemic child abuse in the Penn State University football program invoke some strong reminders about what is most important to us.

First and foremost on all of our minds is that a good, just and moral society protects the most vulnerable and powerless. In a society influenced by the laws of God children are protected and nurtured. Scripture demands it (Matthew 18:1-6) and human nature understands it instinctively.

A second and profoundly important truth that should be taken away from this is that this tragedy became even worse because good men were not assertive and aggressive in dealing with it.

This is a reminder to us that one of the biggest problems in our society is passivity.

The original sin in the garden was not just that Eve gave in to temptation but also that Adam was passive. And that pattern of passivity causes profound dysfunction in our culture. People are asking this week, "how could this happen?" The answer is that it happens because people choose passivity.

The abuse itself is bad enough, but the culture of passivity that enables the abuse is just as bad. It was the English philosopher Edmond Burke who once wrote,

"All that is needed for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing."

So as we unpack our emotions of anger and disgust in hearing these terrible stories coming out of Happy Valley Pennsylvania, let us be reminded of the nature of our sin. Our sin is not just that we give in to temptation. Our sin is that we bring idols into our heart. We idolize our desires, our hopes and dreams and careers and football coaches and football programs. We idolize ourselves. But one of our biggest problems is that like Adam, in our sin we choose passivity.

May we all be reminded that every single day we are constantly making the choice between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of me. The kingdom of me is all about protecting self, protecting jobs, careers, programs paychecks and reputations. The kingdom of God on the other hand rejects passivity, accepts responsibility, leads courageously and longs for the applause of heaven more than the applause of man.

Finding LIfe

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 02:02:00 +0000

Sunday was a day of incredible worship and celebration. Many have told me it was the best worship experience they've had in a long time. It was a day that included 22 baptisms, great stories of missions around the world, terrific music and the celebration of the Lord's Supper.

In our staff meeting on Tuesday as we reflected on the great day, our youngest staff member Michael McAfee made the observation that perhaps the reason our worship was so over the top was that such a large percentage of our body was out serving in the community during the week in our "Loving Our City" events. His idea is that our hearts were filled with joy because we had focused on others all week long.

I think he's on to something.

After all, the more we give our lives away, the more we find it. This principle found in Matthew 10:39 is not just true of our individual lives, but also true of our lives together. A congregation that is on mission together in loving and serving their community for the sake of the gospel is a dynamic joy-filled congregation. And that joy is manifested in worship.

Our intention is that every person who is a part of our church will be a part of a group and that every group will be on mission serving in the community in some way.

This is one of the reasons our oneness weeks in the future will be so important to our overall strategy. And it is why I believe we will find the more we participate together in these events the more life comes into our worship.

Reversing the Curse

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 13:51:00 +0000

This past week our church has been involved in many different "loving our city" events across the Oklahoma City metroplex. These activities highlight ongoing ministries our church supports all year long. One of the benefits of us doing this together several times a year is that it creates a kind of synergy that is crucial for our success. Our hope is that more and more of our church family will get actively involved in one or more or these important ministries.

This is all a part of our dynamic mission to "love all people to Christ". Why is this so important to us? The simple answer is that redemption is the work of Jesus and when a group of people are passionate about doing His work, redemptive activity is the natural result.

To understand the deeper meaning of Christ's redemptive work it is important to think about what happened at the fall. When Adam rebelled against God the result was not just a separation between Adam and God, but also a decaying affect on his relationships, his emotions and of the physical creation around him. The curse brought death and the deterioration in all aspects of Gods' creation. So what did Christ's work on the cross accomplish? Not just redemption of our relationship with God that results from our salvation through His blood sacrifice, but also a reversal of the curse in all of His creation that will finally culminate some day with His coming at the end of the age when His kingdom is finally and completely restored.

The word "savior" in the Greek language is a word that can also mean "healer". That is what Christ does- He heals the wounds brought about by the devastating impact of the fall. This is why what we are doing this week and all year long in our community is so important. It is the gospel lived out for the redemption of our community. We are not just passionate about bringing people to Christ, we are also passionate about healing the wounds we see around us in our homes, our schools, our streets and our relationships.

The practical implications of this biblical teaching is that we as His church are to continually be about His redemptive work until the day He receives His bride. Until then the bride of Christ is His primary agent for bringing about this redemptive work as His kingdom advances. So in a very real sense, Oneness Week for us is not just solitary acts of kindness and giving, but they are all about curse reversal.

Death Is Life's Change Agent

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 02:54:00 +0000

There are few people in my lifetime who have had as much influence as Steve Jobs. When I heard of his death today I thought of the amazing changes that have been brought about as a result of this one man. In fact just about every part of my life has been impacted by his creativity and chances are the same is true for you as well.

His Iphone and Ipad inventions sparked a revolution in mobile technology that have forever changed the way we communicate to one another and receive and dispense information. What is remarkable about these changes is not just the immensity of their impact, but the speed with which they occur. Subsequent inventions occur in such rapid succession it seems like technological advance is no longer measured in decades but in months and weeks. He didn't just bring about new ideas, he unleashed a connectivity that greatly accelerates new invention and so has made change a way of life.

And yet Jobs himself made the observation a few years ago that one of the most important and helpful tools he had received in his life was not something he could hold in his hand or read on a screen- but an emotional and psychological awareness of his own mortality. Here is an excerpt from his Stanford University commencement address in 2005:

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was.

The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes. I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Although Jobs religious perspective was apparently quite different from my own biblical worldview, there are some things in his observations that ring true for the believer. For instance, Paul the Apostle wrote this:

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. (2 Corinthians 5:1-3)

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18)

As Christians we believe that our knowledge and understanding of how this life will end only enhances and invigorates how we embrace life in the right now. So tonight as I pray for the family of Steve Jobs and think about what this amazing change agent has brought to my life, I am reminded that no matter how great that influence has been, it does not even begin to compare to the One whose life and death has brought about ultimate change. And although I could indeed go a lifetime without any one of his amazing inventions, I could not go a day without the hope and knowledge of the One who transforms earthly tents into heavenly dwellings. In this sense I agree with his fascinating perspective on death. It has become for me a knowledge and an awareness that is more important than all of life's inventions.

One Solitary Life

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 13:28:00 +0000

Over the next several weeks we will be dealing with the question "Who is Jesus?" in our Sunday morning BIble studies. As I said last Sunday I believe that every thinking person has to decide at some point in their life what they think about Jesus. Jesus' life as documented in the gosepls was so compelling and His claims so over the top they can't be ignored. They are in this sense "demanding a verdict" as Josh McDowell has famously said. If what Jesus said about Himself was true then those claims are not moderately important- they are of ultimate importance and have to be explored carefully.

I think we should start more conversations about Jesus.

The question, "Tell me what you think about Jesus" can be amazingly interesting and productive. Even people who are somewhat antagonistic to Christianity tend to be keenly interested in this subject once it is engaged. And with this question we can normally begin to challenge long held assumptions about the nature of Christ. Jesus was not just a "good man" or a "good religious leader" or a "good teacher". Jesus claimed to be God and challenged His disciples to spread the word and make disicples of all nations based on His redemptive work on the cross. Good men or good teachers don't make these kinds of claims if they are not true.

No one said it better than C.S. Lewis:

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -‑ on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg ‑- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the son of God: or else a madman or something worse."

Engaging people with the gospel begins with simple questions that challenge conventional belief. Let's find ways to help people answer these important questions and do it in a way that projects gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). After all, the most powerful aspect of the message of the gospel is the life of Jesus Himself. I love this statement by Dr. James Allen Francis written in 1926:

Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.

He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself...

While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.

I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.

As Christians, how are we to see 9-11?

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 01:24:00 +0000

This Sunday's new series providentially begins on the ten year anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. An event so thoroughly lodged into our collective consciousness that it is now remembered simply by three numbers and whose connotation carries significant weight for every American. It was a few moments in time that is now forever embedded in our language, our history and our culture. It was also an event that poses many philosophical challenges to our society.

I believe that one of the reasons 9-11 has been a philosophical challenge to our government is that historically America has not had to posture itself up against other religious paradigms. It has taken our political leaders a long time to grasp the significance of this and I think that in many ways our leadership still has not grasped it. After all this was not an attack of one sovereign nation against another as it was at Pearl Harbor. This was an attack of a religious ideology against what was perceived as symbols of an opposing ideology. The battle is as much a ideological battle as it is a military battle. In this sense we are not fighting flesh and blood as much as we re principalities and powers of this dark age. So how are we as Christians to look at the events of 9-11 and what should be our response?

1, First and foremost we are to see events in the world from the perspective of His kingdom work. Christ has called us to the nations to spread the gospel and to bring fame to His name and so events like 9-11 should give us a sense of urgency to be about His work. When we see evil and darkness in the world it should invigorate us as believers to the purpose Christ called us to. As His church we are to push back darkness in a way that is so effective the gates of hell cannot prevail against us.

Last February Teri and I were visiting with some missionaries in a Middle Eastern Muslim dominated country when one of them said to me, "When I see our military guys over here I walk right up to them and apologize to them. I say, 'if we were more effective at doing our job you wouldn't have to be over here risking your life.'" I looked at him smiling waiting for him to smile back but he said to me, "I'm dead serious. What every Muslim terrorist needs is Jesus man. If these people just had Jesus they wouldn't want to strap bombs to themselves. So we've got to do a better job of spreading the gospel!" I like that attitude.

2. Second, as we reflect on the events of 9-11 we are to see the terrible danger of religious idolatry. Few things in this life are as destructive as religion. Religion is the tool of Satan to disguise the dynamic work of the Spirit that comes about as a result of a transformational relationship with Jesus Christ. Religion feeds the horrible beast of self centered idolatry. It is evil, destructive and life taking. Islam is a religion that puts people and cultures into bondage and wherever it flourishes the human spirit is crushed. But all religion is this way to a certain degree.

New York City pastor Tim Keller was once asked to be a part of a panel that was to discuss the subject, "Religion is the biggest problem facing the world today." The organizers obviously meant it to be a cynical slant against American Christianity as it lumped it in with all world religions and wanted Keller along for a compelling thoughtful counter argument. Keller said at first he was offended by the thesis, but the more he thought about it, the more he agreed with it. Imagine how dumbfounded the organizers were when Keller announced, "I completely agree, religion is biggest problem in the world today. That is why as a Christian I despise religion."

3. Finally, we are to take on the attitude of Jesus. Jesus taught us to love our enemies and to pray for those who despitefully use us. Jesus taught us that we are not to carry anger in our heart but that we are to forgive as God in Christ Jesus has forgiven us. Phillp Yancey put it well in a recent article in "Christianity Today":

"As Christians, we believe in a counterforce of grace. Lewis Smedes and others have identified three stages of forgiveness: first, recognize the worth of the person you are forgiving; second, surrender the right to get even; third, put yourself on the same side as the one who wronged you. Increasingly, I'm convinced that we need more of this attitude toward those who seek to harm us.

In 1999, Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines was burned to death by a Hindu mob in Orissa, India. In 2007, German missionary Tilman Geske was tortured and murdered by five Turkish fanatics. The widows of both men made sensational headlines in those countries by repeating the words of Jesus: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

This is why I say it is providential that we are beginning the series "Who is Jesus" on the Sunday we commemorate 9-11. As Christians we recognize that the real problem in the universe can only be resolved by the redemptive work of the One who completed the demise of ultimate evil by His sacrificial work on the cross.

Calvin Who?

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 23:46:00 +0000

I've just finished my third day of teaching 60 Honduran church leaders 2,000 years of church history. It was amazing to me that many of them had never heard the stories before. My last day of class I asked how many had heard of John Calvin and not a single person raised their hand. I asked again just to make sure they were hearing me right- but no, not a single person! I thought to myself, "It's (pre)destined to be a long class today! My translator tells me that for most of these students Christian history is a blank slate. For many of them the experience has been transformative.

One of the students told the class that after hearing about churhc history he can now see that his approach to ministry has been all wrong. One of the beneifis of learning about past mistakes is that you learn not to repeat them.

The lessons of our Christian heritage teach us that men and women have died for important belieffs and that many of the beliefs that we now take for granted came with an incridble price. They teach us that the truths we have and even the Bible we hold in our hands have been passed down to us because precious blood has been spilt and heavy costs have been paid. When we know our history we learn to better appreciate that truth.

I come away from this experience with a great impression of what Global Action is doing in their pastor training probram. The students I have taught this week are mostly lower class with very little education and from a wide array of backgrounds. And yet what they have in common is a passion for the gospel. Many of them have started churches and God is using those churches to reach the lost. THese classes are like gold to them. They come early eager to learn with a kind of joy that is infectuous. I have heard many inspiring stories.

Like the man who works in a Honduran prison for gang members. Because of his relationship with Jesus he now sees his work as a mission . He has started a church for these former gang members who have been convicted of drug dealing and murder and violent crimes and now has several hundred members. Or like the woman in the class who is a former prostitute and who once owned her own brothel. He life has been so radically transformed by the gospel that she is now a dynamic leader in her church. The woman has an amazing charisma and glow about her. She would often shout "hallelujah" when some story in hisoty inspired her throwing her arms in the air as if signalling a touchdown and shout "yes!!" (You don't get that often in history classes in the states!)

I am more convinced than ever that if we truly want to change the world and advance the Kingdom of God we must equip and truin the hundreds of thousands of house pastors that God i sraising up around the world. These are people who do not have the means or the backgournd to attend theological seminaries or Bible colleges. And yet they need the equipping and the accountability. Global Action has provided the means for this and is putting together the structure to accomplish this great task around the world in Africa, India, China and South America.

Post Rapture Reflections

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Mon, 23 May 2011 16:39:00 +0000

"I thought our attendance was really great Sunday considering the rapture occurred on Saturday, didn't you?"

This was the joke at a lot of church staff meetings today- a reference to the now infamous prediction of Harold Camping, the Christian broadcaster who told his followers to expect the rapture last Saturday night at 6:00 P.M.

What are we to make of these kinds of sideshows in the sometimes three ring circus of American Christian culture? We should keep in mind that fascination with the day and hour of Christ's return has been a part of Christianity since the early church. So when we occasionally read stories like this we should remember that clear biblical teaching is that we are to be engaged with Christ's mission and work as if He were coming any day on the one hand (2 Peter 3), but on the other we are taught to be about that work with joy and steadfastness without our eyes fixated on the clouds as if we have nothing better to do(Acts 1:11).

Al Mohler recently published a response to Camping, which I think has some good points:

First, Christ specifically admonished his disciples not to claim such knowledge. In Acts 1:7, Jesus said,

“It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” In Matthew 24:36, Christ taught similarly: “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

To state the case plainly, these two verses explicitly forbid Christians to claim the knowledge of such dates and times. Jesus clearly taught that the Father has not revealed such dates and timing, but has reserved that knowledge for himself. It is an act of incredible presumptuousness to claim that a human knows such a date, or has determined God’s timing by any means.

Second, the Bible does not contain hidden codes that we are to find and decipher. The Bible has been given to us in order that we might know the truth, and the truth is clearly revealed in its pages. We are not to look for hidden patterns of words, numbers, dates, or anything else. The Bible’s message is plain and requires no mathematical computation for its understanding. The claim that one has found a hidden code or system in the Bible is an insult to the Bible as the Word of God.

Third, Christians are indeed to be looking for Christ to return and seeking to be found faithful when Christ comes. We are not to draw a line in history and set a date, but we are to be about the Father’s business, sharing the Gospel and living faithful Christian lives. We are not to sit on rooftops like the Millerites, waiting for Christ’s return. We are to be busy doing what Christ has commanded us to do.

In Hebrews 9:28, we are taught that Christ will come a second time “to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”

That is the faithful Christian response to the New Testament teachings about Christ’s coming. The church is not to be arrogantly setting dates, but instead to be eagerly waiting for him. Of that we can be truly certain.

Seeing Recent Events Through The Lens Of The Gospel

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Tue, 17 May 2011 23:35:00 +0000

What a few weeks we've had.

A royal wedding was followed by one of the most dramatic military operations in U.S. history. Someone famously tweeted,

"The girl married her prince. The bad guy was killed. It's been a real disney weekend here on planet earth."

In addition to those dramatic events, we've had tsunamis, earthquakes, nuclear meltdowns, floods, wildfires and what will go down in history as the "Arab Spring" because of the popular uprisings that have toppled governments in the Middle East.

What is the Christian perspective on these things? Aside from the inevitable prediction that this is surely the end of the world (Jesus made it clear that when you think it's obvious- it's not), I've been thinking lately about how we as Christians should distill down the dramatic events we see around us.

There are many obvious points to make, but I want to focus not so much on what we see, but on what we should see through.

As Christians we are to see all of life through the lens of the gospel- that we are all dreadfully sinful and yet incredibly loved. The gospel gives us our context for reality and is the central truth of our life. Paul said, "I resolved to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2). The truth we learn in the gospel is the lens through which we understand everything else in life.

The gospel keeps us grounded and balanced in our understanding of everything that happens in life. It is through that lens that we as Christians are to see all of the world events. This context brings balance to all that we experience- no matter how dramatic those events may seem.

So when we hear about a world terrorist coming to justice in a violent death our response should be measured somewhat by the overwhelming reality of the gospel. On the one hand we delight in justice accomplished, but on the other we can see that it is only by His grace and mercy that we ourselves have been rescued from the consequences of our own sin.

The gospel does not allow us to categorize sin. The Christian understands the incredible potential for evil that resides in every human heart and is able to say of the evil we see around us, "There except by the grace of God go I!" In this sense it is important that when events like this take place that we not measure ourselves against the sins of others and rank human evil in a kind of hierarchy of severity (2 Corinthians 10:12).

The gospel teaches me that my sin was bad enough to put God on the cross. It doesn't get worse than that.

My daughter asked me the day after Bin Laden was killed, "Dad, what do you think of all the celebrating going on for the death of this man?" I said to her, "I understand it, but to see Americans celebrating a man's death feels a little weird to me." She said, "Me too."

We talked about how to understand what we were seeing and what we were feeling about it. I made the observation that the celebrations we see should remind us that although there is rejoicing today about the end of a type of evil, that one day there will be great and lasting joy about the end of ultimate evil (Revelation 20:2). To put the celebrations in context in this way is helpful.

People long for the death of ultimate evil because it rings true. That is what our future is moving toward. We can rejoice in that.

Am I pleased that this man will no longer have the capability of terrorizing the lives of millions of people? Absolutely. Am I impressed with the faithfulness and sacrifice our military men and women who put their lives on the line every day for us? You bet I am!

But do I rejoice in his death? Of course not. I do not rejoice in the death of a single human being who goes into eternity without Christ. Ezekiel 18:23-32 teaches us that God does not rejoice in the death of the wicked. The Spirit of Christ in me does not reconcile an emotion that runs contrary to the heart of God.

To see events through the lens of the gospel is also to understand how nuanced our own limited perspectives can seem. The gospel is universal in scope and therefore as a believer I am to think locally and globally at the same time.

As Christians we are to understand our calling to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth (Matthew 28:19-20). It is helpful therefore at a time like this to remember that there are believers in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan and Iraq and Jordan who are holding up the gospel to Muslims and praying for their salvation.

An Egyptian Christian woman whose posts have been extremely popular during the Egyptian uprising tweeted the day after Bin Laden was killed,

"Americans you are really freaking me out right now..."

Because the world is now a vast social network via the internet, American Christians now more than ever have to be aware of their global witness. As Christians in America we have lived with the grief and sorrow of the events of 9-11 and have been immersed in the shadow of Islamic terrorism ever since. So it is understandable that we all felt a sense of relief at the news of Bin Laden's death. But at the same time we should make sure that our response to this kind of news is pleasing to Christ.

I am convinced we are individually accountable for how we bear His name to a lost world- even to parts of the world that insult our patriotic sensibilities- where unruly crowds shout "death to America" and burn American flags. These are places of darkness where the gospel has not penetrated and those are people who Christ gave His life to save. Indeed, these are the "outermost parts of the earth" Jesus was talking about.

So through the lens of the gospel I see things differently than my own limited perspective.

It is through that lens that I can see a true perspective on the meaning of the death of ultimate evil.

And this perspective helps me put all the other dramatic events of the past few weeks into proper context as well. Through the lens of the gospel I understand the fascination with the beauty of a royal wedding broadcast to billions around the world because I know that there there will be a day when the true and better Groom will receive His bride and all creation will rejoice (Revelation 19).

Through the lens of the gospel I understand that all creation is convulsing in labor pains until His redeeming work is consummated at the end of the age (Romans 8). I can see that these things that captivate us, as fascinating as they are, are not ultimate things. They are only shadows of things to come.

The gospel therefore as my ultimate reality teaches me to see through them to what is most important.

To see that He by His redemptive work on the cross has defeated ultimate evil and suffering and will one day completely bring it to an end and that on that day the true Prince of Peace will invite us to His wedding feast.

That will be a day that even Disney couldn't imagine.

Love Wins Because Jesus Died For Sin

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 22:29:00 +0000

A few nights ago I read Rob Bell's new book, "Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived." If you've not been paying attention to the Christian blogosphere you may not realize that this book has created an enormous amount of attention and has been roundly condemned by evangelical scholars like Al Mohler and John Piper.

The controversy surrounds Bell's contention in the book that he does not believe a loving God will send billions of people to a place called hell. He believes that given enough time in eternity that every single person who has ever lived will eventually have their heart melted by the love of God and will choose to spend eternity with Him. In the end, Bell argues, love wins.

Of course the controversy is that this belief, that everyone gets to heaven no matter what they believe in this life, is known in theology as "universalism", a heresy that has been condemned by Christian orthodoxy since the fourth century.

This kind of argument has wide appeal. In fact, I would say that there are many Christians in conservative churches who buy into some form of universal theology. The complaint that a loving God surely would not send good people to hell is not a new one with Rob Bell. So what's the problem? Why all the uproar from Christian scholars and conservative pastors?

The problem is that although the idea that in the end everybody wins has a lot of appeal, in order for a person to buy into this logic you would have to ignore or deny some very significant biblical teachings about the nature of man, God's grace and the blood atonement of Jesus. In order for us to embrace the idea that everyone eventually goes to heaven without their hearts turning toward Christ in this life, we would have to believe that man is basically good, Christ's death on the cross was unnecessary and that man's natural tendency toward sin and rebellion is not as bad as we might think or the Bible says.

But of course, the Bible teaches that we were all born in sin and rebellion against God (Romans 3:23) and that our situation is so dire we can't even know the depths of our wickedness and deceit (Jeremiah 17:9) and that the only remedy to our idolatrous heart is the substitutionary death, burial and resurrection of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Bell gets past all of this by speculating that surely after death a loving God will give all of us a second chance at redemption. The problem of course is that the Bible teaches we all get one death and then the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). But remarkably the entire premise of the book rests on this one bit of speculation on his part. He puts it like this:

“And then there are others who ask, if you get another chance after you die, why limit that chance to one-off immediately after death? And so they expand the possibilities, trusting that there will be endless opportunities in an endless amount of time for people to say yes to God. As long as it takes, in other words.” (p.55)

Again, this logic, though appealing, runs contrary to the plain teaching of scripture. An example is found in the teaching of Jesus himself. In Luke 16:19-31 Jesus taught a parable about a man named Lazarus and a rich man who were both existing in a kind of eternal state of awareness after death. Lazarus was in heaven and the rich man was in hell. Remarkably, the rich man begged Abraham to allow Lazarus to go back to earth and tell his brothers of their need for repentance. Abraham's answer was that if his brothers would not listen to Moses and the prophets, they would not listen to a man who came back from the dead (v. 31). In this fascinating parable, Jesus reveals to us that the human heart is in such rebellion against God that not even appeals in the afterlife would be able to budge it.

This is not a new controversy. In fact it seems like every generation has examples of this kind of thing. One of my Dad's favorite biblical scholars when I was growing up was William Barclay. Barclay was a prolific writer and theologian and his commentaries were a must in every conservative pastor's library. Late in his career, Barclay caused a similar controversy when he announced that he was a convinced universalist.

The reason this particular event has become such a big deal is that Bell, like Barclay in my father's generation, has been extremely influential. He is a very gifted communicator, whose Nooma videos have been played and replayed for years in worship services and youth ministry events in countless evangelical churches. There is a lot to like about Rob Bell. He is extremely creative and really a genius when it comes to communicating in popular media. One of the best sermons I ever heard in fact from the book of Leviticus was preached by Rob Bell. It was one of those sermons on the atonement I will never forget.

In fact there were parts of the book I enjoyed. I thought his treatment of heaven on earth in chapter two was masterful. But in chapter three his theology started going off a cliff and it never recovered. As a friend of mine remarked, the parts of the book that were good were really good but the parts of it that were bad were terrible.

To be fair the book was obviously not written as a book of theology. He is not making arguments for biblical scholars and theologians to pour over so they can develop counter arguments. He is pithy and sarcastic and bombastic in his approach to conventional Christian belief. Reading the book is like watching one of his Nooma videos. For the most part, Rob Bell paints pictures, he doesn't develop scholarly arguments.

My sense is that he probably doesn't care what conservative scholars think anyway or else he wouldn't have written such a provocative book. Instead he is appealing to a large audience of unbelievers and others who are offended by the traditional teaching of the church. Believe me that is a BIG audience. There will be many who no doubt will be attracted to this spin on the gospel.

Sadly, it's not the gospel of scripture and so it's not the gospel that transforms lives and changes hearts.

It's another gospel.

Which is to say, it's no gospel at all (Galatians 1:6-8)

In his promotion video, Bell raises lots of questions about conservative biblical teaching regarding the atonement. Denny Burke does a good job in answering those questions:

In the video Bell begins with an anecdote about a person who once suggested that Ghandi is in hell. Bell is astonished that someone would make such a pronouncement, and it leads him to pose a litany of questions--questions that he apparently intends to answer more fully in the book. I thought it would be worthwhile to take a crack at answering each of his questions here from a biblical point of view. So here are my answers to Bell's queries.

Bell: Ghandi's in hell? He is? And someone knows this for sure?

Answer: The Bible teaches that there is no other name given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). The Bible also teaches any person who does not believe in Jesus falls under the judgment of God (John 3:18). Anyone (including Ghandi) who refuses to trust Christ alone for salvation will die in their sin and will not be able to follow Jesus into eternal life (John 8:21).

Bell: Will only a few select people make it to heaven?

Answer: Yes, that is true. Jesus taught that a select number of people would make it to eternal life. Most people will choose the broad way that leads to destruction, but a few will choose the narrow way to life (Matthew 7:13-14; Luke 13:23-28). Nevertheless, the Bible also teaches that there will be a great multitude which no one will be able to count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb (Revelation 7:9).

Bell: And will billions and billions of people burn forever in hell?

Answer: I don't know if anyone knows what the exact number will be, but the Bible teaches that at the end of the age there will only be two groups of people: those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life and those whose are not. All those whose names are not written in the book will be thrown into the lake of fire. This will no doubt be a countless throng of people (Revelation 20:10-15).

Bell: And if that's the case, how do you become one of the few? Is it what you believe? Or what you say? Or what you do? Or who you know? Or something that happens in your heart? Or do you need to be initiated or baptized or take a class or be converted or be born again? How does one become one of these few?

Answer: There is nothing that any person can do to be counted among the saved. Salvation from the penalty of sin is all of grace. God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). God offers us His Son, and the only way to receive Him is by faith. Jesus said it this way, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent" (John 6:29). If you want to become one of the few, then you have to trust in Jesus alone for your salvation.

Bell: And then there is the question behind the questions. The real question: What is God like? Because millions and millions of people were taught that the primary message, the center of the gospel of Jesus, is that God is going to send you to hell unless you believe in Jesus. So what gets subtly sort of caught and taught is that Jesus rescues you from God. But what kind of God is that that we would need to be rescued from this God?

Answer: What is God like? This is the ultimate question and how one answers this question will determine how all the others get answered. God is holy. He loves righteousness, and He hates sin. He is the most valuable, precious being in the universe. He is worthy of all our worship, devotion, and obedience. All people fall short of their obligation to love and worship God, and this falling short is called sin (Romans 3:23). Through our sin, we all have earned God's just sentence of death (Romans 6:23). In fact, God says that He is angry with those who do not repent of their sin. The Bible says that God is storing up His anger for impenitent sinners (Romans 2:5) and that it will be a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of an angry God at the judgment (Hebrews 10:27, 31). The Bible teaches that God is both the treasure of heaven and the terror of hell. God will punish His enemies.

Bell: How could that God ever be good? How could that God ever be trusted? And how could that ever be good news?

Answer: You are asking how can God be good if He sentences sinners to eternal damnation, but I think you have the question backwards. The real question is how can God be good if He doesn't send sinners to judgment. In other words, how can God be good while forgiving sinners? This is the question Paul wrestled with in Romans 3, and he concluded that God set forth His son Jesus as a propitiation for sin. That means that all of the wrath and anguish that would have taken us an eternity in hell to endure, God poured out on His Son in the moment of the cross. God is good because He settles our sin debt in the cross of Jesus Christ, our substitute. This is good news because God clears away guilt through the cross and offers eternal life through the resurrection of Jesus. Anyone who believes in Jesus in this way can have forgiveness and eternal life. This is more than good news; it's the best of news.

Bell: This is why lots of people want nothing to do with the Christian faith. They see it has an endless list of absurdities and inconsistencies, and they say, "Why would I ever want to be a part of that?"

Answer: Sin will always appears as a trifle to those whose view of God is small. If you were to discover a little boy pulling the legs off of a grasshopper, you would think it strange and perhaps a little bizarre. If the same little boy were pulling the legs off of a frog, that would be a bit more disturbing. If it were a bird, you would probably scold him and inform his parents. If it were a puppy, that would be too shocking to tolerate. You would intervene. If it were a little baby, it would be so reprehensible and tragic that you would risk you own life to protect the baby. What's the difference in each of these scenarios? The sin is the same (pulling the limbs off). The only difference is the one sinned against (from a grasshopper to a baby). The more noble and valuable the creature, the more heinous and reprehensible the sin. And so it is with God.

If God were a grasshopper, then to sin against Him wouldn't be such a big deal and eternal punishment wouldn't be necessary. But God isn't a grasshopper, He's the most precious, valuable, beautiful being in the universe. His glory and worth are infinite and eternal. Thus to sin against an infinitely glorious being is an infinitely heinous offense that is worthy of an infinitely heinous punishment.

We don't take sin seriously because we don't take God seriously. We have so imbibed of the banality of our God-belittling spirit of the age that our sins hardly trouble us at all. Our sin seems small because we regard God as small. And thus the penalty of hell--eternal conscious suffering under the wrath of God--always seems like an overreaction on God's part. If we knew God better, we wouldn't think like that.

Bell: [You] see, what we believe about heaven and hell is incredibly important because it exposes what we believe about who God is and what God is like.

Answer: You couldn't be more right. But I question whether the god that you are describing is the same One I am describing.

The Real Saint Patrick and Nine Other Things

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:05:00 +0000

1. Yesterday was Saint Patricks Day. I asked my son if he knew who Patrick was? "Was he an alcoholic?" was his answer. So on the day after St. Pats day I thought I would post a good synopsis of the actual story which is much better than the myth. If you've not read the history of Patrick before, you may be shocked that the way the world celebrates one of the most effective evangelists in Christian history is by getting plastered on green beer.

2. I have been receiving emails from Christian friends in Japan who are asking for Christians around the world to pray specifically for the wind direction in Japan to remain low and eastward. One article that explains the importance of this can be found here.

3. The most effective way for us to give to the need in Japan is through the IMBs emergency fund. We have people already on the ground assessing the needs and allocating the resources in effective ways that accomplishes both the short term and long term objectives for Japan. You can allocate your offering through the church or you can give online here.

4. Fellow Oklahoman Tom Eliff has been named the new president of the International Mission Board. I believe Tom will do a terrific job as the new leader of our missions organization. He is a proven leader who has experience not just as a pastor but as a missionary on the field. He is widely respected and loved and brings much needed confidence and competence to the IMB. Tom will face many challenges in the months ahead but I believe his most daunting challenge will be to simplify the organizational structure so that it is more effective at accomplishing it's mission. If I were to summarize the biggest problem with the IMB right now I would say we are entirely too top heavy.

5. I am excited about Eliff's new vision for the IMB to challenge local churches to partner with the board to reach unengaged and unreached people groups around the world. I know there will be many challenges to pull this off, but it is a worthy vision at the right time in our history. In many ways, CRBC is already well positioned for this strategy, as our church has already partnered with the IMB in several different regions around the world. I would like to see us ramp up our efforts in the days ahead however, especially now that we are out of debt and are positioned to allocate more of our resources toward missions.

6. It's time for us to fix the roof over our heads. For many years now our worship center roof has leaked like a sieve. This problem needs to rectified before we can make any further improvements to our worship space. The reason the problem hasn't been addressed sooner is the projected cost of the project has been so astronomical it was impractical. We have recently received a much more favorable bid however and so we will soon be bringing a recommendation to the church for finally resolving the problem.

7. This is a time of terrific transition and opportunity in the MIddle East and North Africa. I believe there is tremendous opportunity in the uprisings we are reading and hearing about. We need to pray that the new governments that emerge will be intent on every kind of freedom for their populations, including freedom of religion. One thing we know for certain, wherever there is turmoil and change, there is opportunity for the gospel.

8. This past week a famous evangelical pastor released a book in which he challenged the longstanding Christian doctrine of hell. The news about Rob Bell was disappointing but not all that surprising to me. Bell has been moving down the neo-liberal theology road for a few years now. I will write a more comprehensive blog on this subject later but to summarize my thoughts to you I believe Bell has not just stepped outside of biblical doctrine with this book, but has removed an important lynch pin in Christ's teaching on salvation. After all, Jesus talked more about hell than he did about heaven. There was a reason for that. Read Al Mohler's thoughts on this subject here.

9. There is nothing funny to me about what is happening to Charlie Sheen. Watching the video of Sheen's drug induced rant is a poignant illustration of the depth of human depravity residing within every human heart. The fact people are so interested in watching his self destruction is also instructive. I believe cultures obsessive fascination with the Charlie Sheen's of the world is evidence of our collective depravity.

10. This Sunday I will be teaching again on Colossians 3:1-11. The money point of this entire series is that our understanding of our need for personal righteousness is what drives our motives, ambitions and our most important decisions in life. Conversely, an understanding of how we find His solution is what brings us ultimate meaning, peace and lasting joy. In a world that seems so upside down and changing rapidly, this is an immensely important truth.

Boasting Only In The Cross

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 16:30:00 +0000

Today begins what I believe is the most important time of the year for Christians around the world - the season of Lent. It is the forty days of the Spring season that we focus on the most important truth of our lives- that Jesus Christ gave His life for us as a substitutionary atonement on the cross. Although this is certainly the case for us every day of our lives all year long, I truly believe there is great value in taking roughly a tithe of the year leading up to Easter Sunday to bring this truth into greater clarity. It is a time of fasting, reflecting and meditation on the meaning of the gospel.

Here is an excellent quote from John Piper that I think nails the point:

Only boast in the cross of Jesus Christ.

It is a single idea. A single goal. A single passion. Only boast in the cross. The word can be translated “exult in” or “rejoice in.” Only exult in the cross of Christ. Only rejoice in the cross of Christ. Paul says let this be your single passion, your single boast and joy and exultation…

All exultation in anything else should be exultation in the cross. If you exult in the hope of glory you should be exulting in the cross of Christ. If you exult in tribulation because tribulation works hope, you should be exulting in the cross of Christ. If you exult in your weaknesses, or in the people of God, you should be exulting in the cross of Christ.

Why is this the case? For this reason: for redeemed sinners, every good thing – indeed every bad thing that God turns for good – was obtained for us by the cross of Christ. Apart from the death of Christ, sinners get nothing but judgment. Apart from the cross of Christ, there is only condemnation. Therefore everything that you enjoy in Christ – as a Christian, as a person who trusts Christ – is owing to the death of Christ. And all your rejoicing in all things should therefore be a rejoicing in the cross where all your blessings were purchased for you at the cost of the death of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Don't forget our Ash Wednesday worship is tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the Worship Center. Mark Clifford will be leading worship.

Breaking Down Islam's Barriers

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 22:44:00 +0000

Teri and I have had many incredible experiences on this trip. We have traveled from Europe to the Middle East visiting with IMB personnel. We have fellowshipped with dozens of Muslim and Jewish background believers and have made many new friends. We've participated in Bible distribution in Marseille France and street evangelism in Paris. We have prayer walked in Madrid and interviewed Iraqi and Palestinian refugees in Jordan. We went on a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee with Messianic believers and spent a few hours in Jerusalem visiting Palestinian friends. One of our most unique experiences however was lunch at the largest mosque in Europe. Before going in we took turns praying that God would break down the barriers of Islam that have such a strangle hold on such large population groups in this part of the world. The rest of our time here gave us many examples of how this is beginning to happen.

Three nights ago I was in the home of an Iraqi family that lives in a slum neighborhood in Amman. The family has no furniture, no beds and lives on four hundred dollars a month they get from the UN. Because they have been given refugee protection status, they qualify for a small compensation for living away from their war torn homeland. Unfortunately, in this country they are discriminated against and have little chance of finding work. Four hundred dollars doesn't go far where they now live when you have ten kids and one on the way. Our friends that work in this country have been helping as much as they can. They're hope is to get permission to come to America.

Hassan, the father, is particularly upset today because he just came from the UN office where he learned that because of a computer glitch they won't be receiving compensation this month. "I want to take my ten kids and pregnant wife to their office and ask them how they think I will take care of them this month!" He says to us in Arabic in a kind of fit of agitation.

On the way to Hassan's house, our friends explain to us that this entire family has now declared they want to convert to Christianity. They have seen such horrible abuse and violence in Iraq that their perspective on the Islamic religion completely changed. One day a couple of years ago Hassan snapped and questioned everything he had always believed. So he announced to the family he was no longer Muslim.

His suffering began in 1994 when his father was killed by Saddam Hussein.

At that time they lived in Basra after the first war. When the US forces pulled out of this area Saddam's thugs moved in and started randomly killing men in the community as a way of regaining control and spreading terror.

Hassan walks over to the only picture hanging on the wall- a picture of his beloved father and takes it down and holds it out to us. When we are finished looking it at it he holds to the picture to his chest as if to demonstrate the depth of his loss.

After his three best friends and one brother were killed in the same manner after the second Iraq war, Hassan was done with Islam and the hate and violence it brought to his life. He had seen enough Muslims killing Muslims to convince him that this was not a religion he wanted anything to do with.

"After you've lived in this land very long you learn that most everyone's a Muslim and most Muslims carry a degree of hatred and anger in their hearts..." one of my friends who has been in a North African country for close to fifty years told me a few days ago. "They say they are all one but when you barely scratch the surface you find out that's not true" he continued. "If a Sunni Muslim finds out someone is a Shia they will say 'he's not a real Muslim!'

"Most violence around here is Muslim on Muslim." He says to me.

Our friends in Amman come to the Iraqi families house weekly to teach them some scripture. They are thrilled the family wants to become Christian but know that simply saying you are no longer a Muslim and want to be a Christian does not necessarily translate to genuine faith in Christ. They have developed a close relationship with this family the past few months and are encouraged that they are now going to a house church and have genuine interest in learning scripture. It is apparent to all of us that this entire family will one day call upon the name of the Lord Jesus.

Our friends assure Hassan that they will make sure he is taken care of this month and that they are there for him. As we get up to leave he tells us he is sorry his home is so small and that he has nothing to offer us. We tell him that he has honored us with his hospitality and will be praying for him.

It is examples like this that have convinced me that Islam's strangle hold on this area is is beginning to loosen ever so slightly. Hassan and his family are but one example of the many who are coming to Christ by unusual means in Muslim controlled lands. We have talked to scores of Muslim background believers who tell stories of dreams, visions and other somewhat dramatic events that precipitate their introduction into Christianity. In a place in which it is difficult to find the Word of God the Spirit of God is moving in ways not seen in the States or in other parts of the world.

But once a Muslim background believer (MBB) comes to Christ it is incredibly important that there are means of discipleship available to them. So it important not just that the gospel be proclaimed, but that along with that proclamation a dynamic functioning church emerge where new believers can find fellowship, Bible teaching and accountability.

So it is not surprising that along side the movement of the gospel, God is also raising up young leaders who fill the void of sound Bible teaching and discipleship. One interesting example of this is the Tunisian couple we met for dinner one night. Both of them came from very traditional Muslim families in small villages in Tunisia, but left their Islamic past behind after deeply questioning the things they had learned in the Koran.

So much of what they read in the holy book made no logical sense to them. With the help of a radio ministry that broadcast Bible teaching into Tunisia they converted to Christianity. Both of them were summarily kicked out of their homes and ostracized from their families.

Muslims who come to Christ face immediate persecution from family and tribal leaders. One of our friends from Tunisia told us that many Islamic governments gives support to religious freedom with one side of their mouths but with the other side give support to tribal leaders and family heads who carry out honor killings of family members who become Christians. It is a convenient way to seem modern and tolerant while simultaneously maintaining the archaic sharia law and it's brutal 7th century type violence.

"Islam is a terrible religion." My friend says to me. "Before Islam came to this part of the world mostly what you had was isolated tribal violence. But now what you have as a result of Islam is ingrained and universal hatred, violence and family abuse.

"Wherever Islam takes over, it destroys. That's why it's so vitally important we have a presence here."

On more than one occasion while we were in Europe and the Middle East, we walked around mosques and prayed against them, asking God to neutralize and destroy their effect on this land. Our friends here passionately pray against the demonic influence of this abusive and debilitating religion. More than most Christians I meet in America, they see themselves as being on the front lines of a desperate spiritual battle.

The young Tunisian couple who came to Christ told us that after becoming Christians they moved to Lebanon and attended seminary where they earned their masters degree in Biblical studies. Today they host a popular television program that is broadcast via satellite throughout the Middle East. As a result, their family, most of whom are still Muslim, is constantly harassed and persecuted because of their bold television ministry. The speak of their families suffering with obvious pain.

The more I heard this young couples story the more I was amazed at their incredible courage and keen intellect. We met them at a restaurant in a European port city where they are trying to lay low during the Tunisian revolution. They live under constant threat for their lives. But they live this way with such obvious joy and happiness. As the dinner winds into the night I realize that I am in the presence of true greatness. Here is a couple who has forsaken all for the sake of the gospel.

I leave this part of the world with a fresh sense of how to pray, but more than that I now have faces to put to those prayers. They are faces, young and old of brothers and sisters in Christ who are living out their faith in ways many of us in the States may never understand or appreciate. And yet with all the hardships and often terrible injustices they face, I somehow find myself longing for what they have. I find myself feeling a sense of jealousy for their boundless joy, courageous faith and hope in Christ.

Perhaps of all we have brought back with us this trip, these lessons are most important. And of all we have tried to bring to our friends in these parts of the world with our encouragement and prayers, what they have given to us in return is exponentially greater.

The Time is Now

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 05:09:00 +0000

On this trip we have worked hands on with many of our missionary friends as a way of identifying with their strategy and mission. We have participated in street evangelism, Bible distribution and have sat in on various training sessions. Much of what our teams do here involves a lot of hard work with very little tangible (earthly) reward. Our team in one of the French port cities, for example, will often work 14 hour days with only 2 days off a week. They talk to a lot of people who spit on them, insult them and throw things at them. But they are passionate about what they do and tell us they wouldn't want to be anywhere else or do anything else.

I agree with John Piper who says the missionary is the ultimate Christian hedonist. The more one gives his or her life away, the more joy flows from them. This is certainly true of the amazing group of young missionaries we have met here. And for all the rejection and insults, occasionally something miraculous happens that reminds them their work is Kingdom work.

Like the story we heard of the Tunisian who came to Christ after reading a New Testament he was given at the border and then sought out believers in a town near his hometown. Today he is a pastor who has planted many churches. When I asked his friend who told us the story how many Christians there are today in this part of Tunisia, the man thought about it a minute and said with a smile, "Too many to count."

"Too many to count" is a significant answer for a part of the world where a few short years ago you could count the number of evangelical Christians on one hand. But today the churches are multiplying exponentially. The reason for their rapid growth is that these are not just random examples of a few people here and there coming to Christ, these are full fledge house church movements. House churches are planting house churches. Because of the way they are multiplying they are not confined to church buildings. "The governments are helping us out by not allowing them to build churches and by persecuting believers, this keeps the movement alive." John Brady tells us.

Our friends in this part of the world are involved heavily in leadership training to encourage church planting movements. They tell us that there are three basic objectives to the discipleship in these churches; 1. Bible teaching 2. Practice or application of what is learned and 3. Accountability through prayer. They have learned through the years that when these three things are in place in the discipleship of the house church, not only will the people grow in Christ, but they will plant other churches. This is how the church is spreading like wild fire all over Asia and is now beginning to take hold in the Middle East in some of the most surprising places.

We watch the news and are amazed at the cataclysmic changes taking place in North Africa. Our friends here have a completely different perspective- one that is purely spiritual in nature. They see it as the work of the Spirit to evoke changes on the political landscape so that His Kingdom work can be accomplished more readily. They believe the leaders of these countries were getting in the way of the work of gospel, and so God took them out.

I've thought about that a lot the past few days and am intrigued not just by the enthusiasm and worldview of our missionaries, but also the sense of urgency they feel as they see world event change and the cracks of opportunity open up. "We don't have five years, we don't have several months, the time is now!" John Brady passionately told the trustees yesterday. "If Baptist people will give us the opportunity now to reach the Arab world, our people on the ground will shed their blood if necessary to get it done!"

He pauses for a moment to gather himself before continuing, "I've buried seven missionaries in this land the past few years and I don't want to cheapen their sacrifice by not giving it my best."

East Meets West

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 20:30:00 +0000

This past week Teri and I have been traveling with IMB trustees to visit missionary teams at work on the field. With the reorganization of the International Mission Board from a regional emphasis to "people group clusters", the North Africa Middle East (NAME) target became a world wide objective. Some of the highest concentrations of this cluster are found in Europe. So on this trip the trustees who are responsible for this group `are going not only to the areas of the MIddle East that one would expect, but also to areas around Europe where the biggest concentrations of MIddle Eastern immigrants exist.

So the first stop was Paris France.

There has been much discussion in Europe about the affects of a growing population of North Africans, East Asians and Middle Easterners that are greatly outpacing the population growth of traditional European societies. "Southern blacks would sing 'We Shall Overcome!" for civil rights, but this group sings, 'We Shall Overwhelm!' my friend John Brady, the regional leader for NAME jokingly tells me. There are many sociologists here in Europe who believe that if the current trend plays out to it's natural conclusion, the Muslim population in Europe could be the majority within 20 years. The ferries that carry North African immigrants into European ports in southern France have been given names commemorating famous Muslims like Tariq Ibn Ziyad, the Muslim invader of Europe in the 7th century. A not so subtle reminder to all of Europe that a population bomb is on it's way.

The strategy for our missionaries is cut and dry. In muslim dominated Middle Eastern countries, it is very difficult to plant churches and to formally evangelize; but in European countries there are no laws prohibiting it. So our teams are actively targeting these clusters with the gospel knowing that many of them will be moving back into their home countries. Our prayer is that the affect of this will be the gospel spreading in reverse as immigrant families go back into their homelands.

On our first day here we heard from several team leaders who had gathered from countries throughout Europe and the Middle East to meet us. They briefed us on the dynamic situation playing out in countries like Ethiopia, Yemin, Samaria, Oman, Egypt, Israel, France and Spain. It is clear that there is a movement of the Spirit taking place all across this part of the world.

I am continually amazed at the boldness of our friends in this part of the world. They took us to the largest, most active and notorious Mosque in France. Worshippers here routinely block off the streets of Paris during their Friday prayers. Walking toward the mosque, one gets the distinct feeling of being not in Paris France, the one time seat of Medieval Christianity, but of walking down a normal street in Tunis, Amman or Damascus. Gradually the sights, sounds, smells and language changes from distinctively French to traditional Arab or North African. Increasingly we stand out as Westerners. And yet we are not in the Middle East or North Africa, instead we are within the shadow of one of the most enduring symbols of Western culture, the Eiffel Tower.

A few days ago some of our friends began a conversation with some of the members of the Mosque. The conversation got especially heated when the Imam came out and entered the dialogue. The long bearded man commanded a lot of respect in the community and his arrival drew a lot of attention. A large crowd gathered and our friends asked the Imam, an expert in the Koran, "Isn't it true the Koran teaches that Jesus was the Christ?"

"Yes, of course", was his response.

"And does it not teach that Mary conceived Him as a virgin?"

"Yes", was his response, admitting to the passage in Surah 3 and growing increasingly uncomfortable with the conversation.

"And yet you say that Jesus was not the Son of God. Then who was His Father?"

The Imam mumbled something about them not understanding the Arabic of the Koran and waved them off and left.

As they were leaving one of the men standing nearby grabbed the arm of one of our friends and said, "I know who you are."

"Who is that?" My friend asked?

"You are the Christians."

"Yes, that's right." Was the response.

"Do you know what Jesus is going to do to you when he comes back?" He asked.

"What's that?"

"He is going to kill you."

Their brief encounter at the mosque was a reminder to them that this work here is more than just proclaiming the teachings of Jesus in the scripture. It also involves a great deal of unpacking the complex and twisted distortions that are taught about Jesus in the Koran.

So the proclamation of the gospel around the world begins with meeting people where they are. That is just as true of where they are spiritually as it is where they are physically. Our friends here are committed to engaging this largely unreached people group in both places, whatever the cost.

God in the Furnace

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:28:00 +0000

The book of Daniel is one of the those books in the Old Testament that is rich with dramatic images and story lines. Some of our favorite lessons for preschoolers and grade-schoolers comes out of these visuals. From this one book we get giant statues, fiery furnaces, hands writing on walls and lions dens. These are images that are imprinted indelibly on the hearts and minds of any kid whose grown up going to Sunday School.

But more than just great kids stories- the book of Daniel provides post modern believers with enduring principles to live by.

For instance, this week we are focused on the story of the three sons of Israel who were thrown into the fiery furnace for not bowing to Nebuchadnezzars statue. Here are some principles I see that are helpful to twenty first century believers:

1. To have biblical faith means to be uncompromising in what we know to be true in a way that demonstrates love and respect. I think a remarkable side issue to the Daniel 3 story is the quiet steadfast faith of the three sons of Israel. They were set up, accused and brought before Nebuchadnezzar and threatened with a terrifying sentence, and yet through it all they showed poise and respect without ever backing down from their core belief. When the Bible says to be prepared to defend your faith with gentleness and respect we should understand that those are not two disconnected ideas. The reason a person is gentle and respectful while talking about what they believe is precisely because they are confident in that belief and can talk about it intelligently and logically.

The word "intelligence" in fact comes from two root words, "inter" which means "between" and "legere" which means "choose". The intelligent person is one who knows both sides of an argument and makes an informed choice. Christian discernment is the result of thinking through beliefs and giving all sides of an argument equal footing before coming to a conclusion. The Christian operates under the assumption that all truth is God's truth and therefore seeking truth is God's work. The three sons of Israel showed this kind of discernment when they faced the king when they gave their explanation for their position:

¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. ¹⁸ But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18)

Their answer shows a solid theology. It demonstrates that they grasp both the goodness and greatness of God. God CAN deliver them if He chooses. But for reasons they may not yet know, God might not choose to deliver them. But regardless of what might happen they trust the character and sovereignty of God and can therefore confidently embrace their future.

2. A second principle here is that to have biblical faith means we know that even tragedy has a purpose. The world we live in is sometimes very painful and often horribly unjust. As a pastor for over 25 years I have seen and experienced great tragedy with people. Sometimes bad things happen to very good people. Life is often very difficult and unfair.

What are we to make of the problem of pain and suffering in our world? There is only one answer that makes any sense to me. I am convinced that it is only in Christianity that one finds purpose in suffering and that is because the central theme of Christianity is that the most tragic event of human history was also the greatest event of human history.

Jesus Christ was brutally and unjustly murdered as an atoning and redemptive sacrifice for our sins. My sin was so bad God had to die but God's love was so great He was willing to die. It is the one grand theme of scripture to which all other stories point. In the dramatic story in Daniel 3 the sons of Israel are thrown into the furnace and yet they are not overcome. The key to understanding the meaning of this story is that there is a fourth person in the furnace with them. Most scholars agree that this mysterious figure is the pre-incarnate second person of the trinity- it is Jesus Christ Himself. What an incredibly poignant foreshadowing picture this is for us.

The story points us to THE story. It says to us that He is in every furnace and that He is walking with us through all of life injustices. In Christianity we know that God is not just an uninterested creator- but instead He loves us with a God-like love that caused Him to get into the furnace with us. Suffering would make no sense without this knowledge. To paraphrase Romans 5:8:

"God demonstrated His love for us in this, while we were still sinners, God got into the furnace with us and paid the price for us."

That is the overarching principle that drives our lives and the one overwhelming truth that overcomes all other truth.

Relevant Daniel

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 15:50:00 +0000

This coming Sunday we will begin a new series for the next four weeks on the book of Daniel. The thing that makes this book interesting to me and I think exceptionally relevant to modern Christians is that Daniel is "exilic" literature. Meaning it was written during the time of the Israelites exile into Babylon after the destruction of Jerusalem. Daniel and many others were forcefully relocated to a foreign land and were taught a new way of life and forced to adopt a different standard of values and livelihood. It is an account of God's people struggling with their biblical faith in a place that was antagonistic to that faith. It is in many ways a parallel to 21st century America.

Last week I had a conversation with one of our college students who told me the story of a professor at OU who opened class a few weeks ago with this question, "Are any of you in this classroom Christians?"

She was the only one who raised her hand.

He then looked at her and made a sarcastic remark about the narrowness of Christianity and told her she would certainly be insulted by what she saw and heard in his class. Besides thinking what a jerk this guy was, I couldn't help but think of the irony of a professor demonstrating subtle if not coercive bigotry and narrowness to one singled out student while accosting her for having a "narrow" religion.

I know this is nothing new. A university professor bashing Christianity and Christian conservatives is as common in our society as Oklahoma wind. What surprised me and also amazed her was that she was the only one who raised her hand. Do you think her account of her first day of class at OU was an anomaly? I don't think so. My sense is that this kind of pressure on traditional Christianity is increasing.

In a recent article in Christianity Today, Drew Dyck made the following observations about twenty somethings who are walking away from their faith:

Recent studies have brought the trend to light. Among the findings released in 2009 from the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), one stood out. The percentage of Americans claiming "no religion" almost doubled in about two decades, climbing from 8.1 percent in 1990 to 15 percent in 2008. The trend wasn't confined to one region. Those marking "no religion," called the "Nones," made up the only group to have grown in every state, from the secular Northeast to the conservative Bible Belt. The Nones were most numerous among the young: a whopping 22 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds claimed no religion, up from 11 percent in 1990. The study also found that 73 percent of Nones came from religious homes; 66 percent were described by the study as "de-converts." (The Leavers: Young Doubters Leave The Church, Christianity Today 11-19-2010)

This is what makes the book of Daniel as relevant to us today as it was to adherents of biblical faith in the fifth century B.C. Although none of us will likely ever face anything like Babylonian religious cleansing, a culture that increasingly sees itself as post-Christian brings new challenges to the modern believer. Here are some of the major themes I will hit on in the coming weeks:

1. We need to get out of the salt shaker and into the world. It is clear from scripture that as Christians we are to engage culture, not separate from it. God instructed the Israelites to move into Babylon and to become a blessing to the city. We are to redeem culture and influence it for the good- not isolate and insulate ourselves from it's influence. Jesus said we are to be "salt and light". Salt is a preservative and light penetrates darkness. He prayed that His disicples would be "in the world but not of the world". That's the principle we live by as Christians.

2. It is important to know our faith. When your worldview is being constantly challenged, it is extremely important to know not just WHAT you believe, but WHY you believe it. If you only know what you believe but not why you believe it, then when your faith is challenged you will tend to feel frustrated and overwhelmed by doubt. The Bible says we are to "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks the reason for the hope you have, but do so with gentleness and respect." (1 Peter 3:15). The only way to do this is to eagerly learn and get equipped. It's a theme we hit on constantly, it is extremely important in a world that is increasingly skeptical of biblical faith that we have a strong epistemology.

3. Remember God has a reason even for our exile. Never forget that God is in control. It is apparant from the exilic literature that it was Gods' design that the people of Israel go into exile. This can only mean that God saw an eternal purpose in their faith being severely challenged in this way. I think there is a lot to learn from this truth. There have been many times in my life that my faith has been challenged and I felt somewhat overwhelmed by questioning and skepticism. But I wouldn't trade any of it for what I have learned through the process of questioning. Good questions have always caused me to dig deeper for answers.

I remember at one season of my life I had a long conversation with my father about the struggle I was having with people who were challenging my perspective of truth. He said to me, "Never forget Rick that all truth is God's truth. When the dust settles on all your questioning, the truth will stand on it's own."

Those words were so helpful to me as a college student. God knows what He's doing. We should never forget that God has a purpose for all of our struggle. Even when it looks as if we are facing overwhelming odds, God plus one always equals a huge majority and His truth prevails through all of life's fiery furnaces and lions dens.

Loving Each Other With Our Real Selves

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:23:00 +0000

I'm excited about a new year and some of the things God has been teaching me. A new year always brings in a sense of starting over and beginning new habits and dreaming new dreams. As a church I think we have some great opportunities in the new year to do all of that.

I really love where we are as a church right now. It's great to be debt free and to be unencumbered financially for the first time in a long time- especially in the tough economic times we are in. Our missions offering this year has also greatly exceeded our expectations! I believe with all my heart we are postured to accomplish some incredible things for His glory in the days ahead. We will be stepping up our ministries to the poor and marginalized in our community this year and gearing up for more intentional missions objectives overseas as well. I sense real enthusiasm in all levels of our various ministries right now. Our budget giving fell a little short in the last couple of weeks of the year so we need to transfer the excitement we felt toward paying off the CUBE into giving toward our budget- which is the primary ministry resource for all of our ministry objectives.

Last Sunday I taught the first in a series of sermons about our mission as a church and focused on our calling into covenant community. Though we couldn't have anticipated it, I thought it was a striking and somewhat providential topic given the tragic news from this week.

We were all shocked by the horrible murders and attempted assassination of U.S. Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona. The man who attempted her assassination is said to be disturbed and emotionally unstable by friends and classmates who know him. The one characteristic that stood out to me in the many offered about Jared Loughner was that he was "increasingly isolated". it is a description we hear a lot for someone who is suffering from mental illness. In fact most of what we characterize as mental illness begins with isolation and aloneness. In truth isolation is extremely destabilizing to the human condition.

"It is not good for man to be alone" God said in the creation account in Genesis. It is a reminder to all of us that God has designed us for life together. We were created for relationship and when we live in aloneness we become less of what God has created us to be.

In one of the first articles that came out about the Loughner family a neighbor who lived across the street from them said he didn't know the last name of the family until the news story broke out. They had been neighbors for 17 years and yet he didn't really know them. I couldn't help but think of how an internet driven society often depersonalizes relationships. Many people in our culture are living shockingly isolated lives within close proximity of other people. Have you noticed that people seem to be more into virtual relationships today than they are real relationships?

And yet virtual relationships are not contemplated in scripture.

One of the central tenants of our theology is that God came to us. The essential point of the incarnation is that God came to us in the flesh. God came to man and looked him in the eye and touched him and felt what man felt and saw life from man's perspective. He took on human flesh so that He could relate to us in this way. The implications are many but one of the most important for moderns like us who are challenged by the values of a media culture is that we are called to each other in physical presence as well.

One of our lead pastors tells a story about his daughter that makes this point. He came home from a long day at work and plopped in his favorite chair and stuck his head into a newspaper as if to hide from the world around him. She danced around the living room in front of him imploring him to look at her new dress and dance moves. He mumbled his approval from behind his newspaper- not paying much attention.

Finally she crawled in his lap. He saw her little fingers grab the top of the paper and then pulling it down in front of him she stuck her little face into his and said, "Daddy, I want you to listen to me with your face."

I think that's an awesome picture of the kind of community we need to value in an increasingly virtual world. We need to listen to each other with our real faces and love each other with our real hearts.

The Incarnation is not Moderately Important

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 13:33:00 +0000

In these weeks of Christmas we are studying together the doctrine of incarnation and it's implications on how we live and how we see life. I can't emphasize strongly enough how important it is for us to nail this. It is important for us to have it clearly in our hearts and as parents to get this right with our kids. In the face of so much cultural pressure to secularize the holiday, it is left to us, the church and parents, to bring to bear the most important elements of the season. We could look at it as some do as a big negative and rail about the "santaizing" of Jesus' birth. But I choose to see it as a positive and a fantastic opportunity. But we have to get it right.

So for the Sundays of advent we will be all over this doctrine. This coming Sunday I will deal with the aspect of the incarnation that has to do with the assault of Jesus on a world that finds it hard to receive Him. Jesus birth was surrounded in controversy and trouble. I think this is emblematic of how Christianity comes into the world. C.S. Lewis has said that the one thing Christianity cannot be is moderately important. People did not have a casual view of Jesus. They either ran from Him, wanted to kill Him or bowed down before Him. People who truly knew who He was did not think of Him in a casual way. This was true of His birth and it is just as true of those who honestly analyze their views of Him. In other words, the fact of His incarnation will inevitably evoke a passionate response. People who think of this doctrine in a casual, cavalier way just flat out don't get it.

The word "incarnation" means "embodied in the flesh". It is the teaching that Jesus is the embodiment of God Himself. This is one of the most controversial, hardest to swallow teachings in the Christian faith. It is also one of the most crucial to embrace. It is why the most important image our children should get at Christmas is not Rudolf or Santa but that the tiny baby in the manger is God Himself. God in the flesh.

I remember years ago a lively discussion I had with an Imam in a Middle Eastern village over this very issue. For him this was the most important stumbling block for Christianity- the belief that God Himself could become a man. I asked him the question, "Do you believe God can do anything? That God is all powerful and nothing is beyond His ability?" Of course his answer was yes. I said "That's exactly what we Christians believe and therefore we believe that not only could God do this, but that it is the most important truth of our existence and the central fact of scripture."

I was struck not just by his disagreement with this but how he was insulted by it. It was another reminder to me that when we truly embrace the doctrines, they are not just subtle truths we live with as we go on our merry way, they are truths that evoke controversy and resistance and inevitably radically impact the meaning of our lives. They are not moderately important- they are of ultimate importance!

The One Whom Jesus Loves

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:02:00 +0000

This morning in my quiet time I was reading the familiar passage in John 13 in which Jesus reveals to his disciples at the Last Supper that one of them will betray Him. I've read the passage thousands of times but today these words affected me like never before,

"... one of them, the one whom Jesus loved..."

Of course this was the way John identified himself in the story without actually saying his own name. But what struck me today as I meditated on this passage was that John's habit of identifying himself this way was more than just literary subtlety, it also displays a kind of profound spiritual discipline. One of the most important lessons of the gospel is that Christ's love for us profoundly changes the way we live and even the way we see ourselves. So John's identifier was much more than literary style, it was a kind of self awareness that all of us as Christ followers should possess. Having embraced the gospel, we should all write ourselves into the story as "the one whom Jesus loved".

When I look into my own heart I can see that the biggest issues I struggle with are the result of not seeing and understanding His love properly. When I embrace the reality of His grace I no longer have to prove myself. When I see His love in this way all of my worry and despair becomes unreasonable. It is the awareness of His love that answers all my insecurities. When I see that the God of the universe was willing to die for me I am made aware of my worth in ways that affect me profoundly. He is the treasure I look for in all other treasure. He is the joy I seek in all other joys. He is the love the heart longs for in all other loves. So when I am able to see myself in the story as "the one whom Jesus loves" it doesn't matter what else is written in the script- whether it be suffering, sadness, frustration or betrayal- because ultimately I know I am loved with an eternal love. I am the one whom Jesus loves.

Called Out

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:16:00 +0000

This week I've been at our IMB meeting in Greensboro NC and wanted to share some thoughts I've had in reflecting on the call to missions:

1. We say it so much it's become a cliche- but we are all called. The longer I'm a Christian the more I'm convinced the call of God goes out to all of us- and the closer we are to the heart of God the more we are impacted by that incessant, persistent infinitely important call. In my 5 years on the IMB board I've heard hundreds of testimonies from young men and women who have responded to the call to missions. What they all have in common it seems to me is that the bigger God became to their hearts, the more they believe Him for big things. God's call is on all of us, and the closer we get to His purposes, the more we feel the weight of that call, no matter where it might lead.

2. To be at the center of His will is not necessarily the safest place to be. I hear people say it all the time- "the safest place you can be is at the center of His will." Where does one find that in scripture? Was that true of Moses? Of Abraham? Of David? Of Peter? Of Paul? Of Steven? Of Jesus? God hasn't called us to live safe lives, He has called us to live obedient lives. Sometimes to obey Him is to go to places and serve in ways that are way outside our comfort zones. When our trustees at the IMB meet with our new missionaries before they are sent out on the field, we ask them how we can pray. Inevitably some of the biggest prayer needs revolve around parents and family members who are struggling with their decision to go on the field. It isn't just the fact that so many of these young families are going out of the country away from families and friends, it is more often where they are going and the fact that they are in many cases living in places that are breathtakingly unstable and even dangerous.

3. In my experience the people who are fully engaged with the call of God on their lives are the most joyful and fulfilled in spite of whatever perceived hardship they experience along the way. I'm not saying there are no unhappy missionaries- as there are many who are miserable. I am not saying that God's work is always happy work and God's servants are always happy people. I'm saying that in my years of experience in ministry I have noticed that the people who give their lives away are the happiest people I know. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm not saying all Christians are living the dream. Admittedly there are many pretenders who are miserable. There are many people who are living unsustainably incongruent and unhappy lives within the Christian orbit. But the people I know who are truly committed to His will and are letting go of their idols and are focused on His grace and goodness are on the whole much happier people. It is not that they don't suffer or are not living in hardship- but I agree with John Piper who says that the missionary is the ultimate Christian hedonist. There are many more happy givers than there are happy getters.

4. The call is manifested differently on people's lives. To some it means they will give their lives to go to a place where the gospel has not yet penetrated. Yesterday I met a guy in his 20s who has spent the past few years on the mission field in South America. He asked the board to reassign him some place else because he thought there were already too many Christians where he was serving. He wanted to go some place where there was more darkness. So the board is sending him to a place that is beyond the ends of the earth. He is going to a place where once you get to the ends of the earth you have to keep going! He sees his call as hard core trail blazing kingdom building. There are many who are called to that kind of Kingdom work. But others are called to serve where they are in compelling ways for the gospel. Like the business guy in our church who has a vision for sending people into the field with the profits from his business. Like the CEO in our church whose company has a vision for distributing Bibles around the world. Like the couple in our church that is starting a ministry to troubled teens. Like the retired school principle in our church who has started a homeless ministry. They are all called. The calling looks different for each of us but the closer we get to the heart of God the more we are compelled to do big things for His glory!

The Breath of God

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 15:57:00 +0000

Last Sunday in both of our worship services archaeologist Scott Carroll gave us a glimpse of some of the most significant artifacts found within in the Green Collection, arguably the largest private collection of biblical artifacts in the world.

What an incredible blessing to be able to see up close and personal such significant biblical history. Not many people in the world will ever have an opportunity to come face to face with seven thousand years of history including one of the oldest biblical manuscripts as we had last Sunday. What a gift the Green Collection is to the Christian community. I am praying that God will bless the efforts of Scott Carroll and Steve Green beyond measure as they move forward with their plans to make these artifacts available in a biblical museum some day.

While I was listening to Scott's exposition of 2 Timothy and his explanation of the words "God breathed" I remembered a story I heard recently at one of our IMB board meetings.

In many Muslim dominated countries in North Africa it is against the law to give someone a Bible. But there is a crossing from Europe into North Africa in the south of Spain that provides a great opportunity for Christians to get the Word of God into these countries legally. There is a narrow passage in the straight of Gibraltar in which ferries operate all day long taking cars from Europe across a twelve mile stretch into Morocco. It is at these docking stations that thousands of Christians have gathered over the past few years to walk from car to car handing out New Testaments to people who are waiting in their cars to get onto the ferries to cross over into Muslim dominated North Africa. It may be illegal to distribute Bibles in Morocco, but it is perfectly legal in Spain.

The story my missionary friend told me was of a young man who accepted one of those New Testaments as he was waiting for a ferry in Gibraltar Spain. His car was packed full of European goods to bring back to his large family in a small village in Algiers. What he did not know was that back home in that village one of his young cousins had been praying that God would show her the truth. A few nights earlier she had a dream in which God said to her that one day soon He would reveal Himself to her and she would finally know the truth about God.

She had the same dream every night until the day her older cousin arrived in her village with his car packed full of European goodies.

When he came into the village honking his horn the entire family excitedly ran to the car and helped him unpack. Every bit of space inside and outside and on top of the car was packed full of things he had purchased. It took the family a long time to unload his car.

When all the unpacking was finally done and all the gifts distributed, the young man reached into his car and pulled out the Bible he had been given at the border and said, "Oh yeah, and there's this that some fanatic at the border gave to me!" He took the Bible and threw it over his head as far as he could as if to throw away a piece of trash.

The package flew like a missile hundreds of feet behind the car bounced a few times and literally landed in the lap of his young cousin who was sitting in front of her house minding her own business. The girl was amazed that the book had just miraculously landed in her lap. And to think that this was a book about the revelation of God! The girl knew in an instant that this was the answer to her prayers and fulfillment of her dreams. The New Testament was written in her native Arabic language and easy to understand. She carried it into her house, went into her room by herself and began reading. Several weeks later that girl came to Christ and is today one of the key leaders within the underground house church movement in Algiers.

What we all saw at the front of our church last Sunday was a physical demonstration of the miracle of how God's word has been passed down through the generations. What we also need to all understand is that the miracle is not just in the formation of the Bible, but also in what happens every time someone reads it.

It is the very breath of God!

This Is What Biblical Community Looks Like

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Thompson) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 19:57:00 +0000

Occasionally I receive an email that I think our entire church family should read. Last week I got one of those emails from a member who reflected on her experience of biblical community. When I finished reading it, I thought to myself, "that's what it's suppose to look like!" It is stories like this one that make the point for me how incredibly important it is for all of us to be in life with each other- in the kind of fellowship and biblical community Christ calls us into. The New Testament uses the words "one another" about 52 different times- one for each week of the year! That's a subtle reminder to all of us that we should continually make the effort to develop friendships within the context of church community:

As you taught about biblical community last Sunday it brought to mind how blessed my husband and I have been since moving to Oklahoma and attending Council Road. Last year I had to undergo a rigid chemo treatment for the Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma that the doctors had discovered right after moving to OK in Dec.,2006. For my treatments I had to be in the hospital for about 5 days at a time. And because my immune system was so weak I hardly ventured away from home between hospital stays.

After four times in the hospital I went into remission due to much prayer because my oncologist thought it would take six times ! At this point in the treatment my oncologist sent me to OU Medical Center for another round of intense chemo followed by a stem cell transplant. This consisted of a 3 week hospital stay.

During these months our connection class and our small study group were incredible. They stayed in constant prayer for me. They visited me in the hospital and at home. They brought food when a son & daughter in law came so we wouldn't have to bother with fixing food. They mowed our lawn---because in the middle of my treatments my husband had to have a hip replacement. They sent many cards of encouragement, and they called.

One night they rushed me to ICU because I was throwing up blood. Unbeknownst to me a group of ten showed up, went into a room and started praying. The bleeding stopped!

When the doctors could not find out where or what caused the bleeding we told the oncologist about our friends & family praying and that he had just witnessed a miracle.

Health issues were not the reason we felt God was moving us to Oklahoma in 2006 but we have not only been surprised by the quality of medical care available here but most of all the support we have received from our connection class and small group. And we are continuing to keep them on their knees as my husband is now going through treatment for cancer. I can not even put into words how blessed we feel because of the love and care these groups have shown us.