God is nowhere.

I spent the first 5 months of Saturdays at Awaken teaching through the book of Philippians. I loved it. 18 weeks and lots of deep, life-changing truth! We’re now right in the middle of a new series leading into Good Friday and Easter called Premeditated. I’m loving that as well. I’m torn though, because I can’t wait to start our new study through the book of Esther!

I’m calling it God is nowhere.

Esther is one of 2 books in the Bible where the name of God is never mentioned (anyone know the other one?). In fact, some scholars have argued that because you never read about God in the book, it shouldn’t be included in the Bible. I disagree.

When you first look at the title above, you might read “God is nowhere,” but you could also read it “God is now here.” Same with the book of Esther. When you first read it, and you notice that you never read God’s name, you might think that He’s nowhere in the book. It would be hard to read the book and actually believe that though. As you witness God’s invisible hand orchestrating the events of the book and Esther’s life behind the scenes, it’s more accurate to say “God is now here!”

Sometimes our lives are like that. When we look at our circumstances, we wonder if God even cares – if He’s even involved. Yes, He does care. Yes, He is involved. It’s time to begin viewing our lives as “God is now here.” He is intimately involved in the details of our lives and loved us enough to personally visit us and die for us.

Make plans to join us for this study of a young girl that God used to save the entire nation of Israel. This study kicks off Saturday, April 10, so make sure to invite some friends and read ahead!

Sermon Leftovers #2 – Palm Sunday 2.0

Last night was #3 in our Premeditated series. It’s been an incredible series so far as we’ve looked back at how God was evidently in control of the death of Christ – it was all part of His premeditated plan. Here are some leftovers from last night’s message that I was unable to expound on…

Today is Palm Sunday, but we missed the real Palm Sunday by about 2 millennia. That’s more than just “fashionably late.” The good news, though, for those of us who missed it, is that we all still have a shot at making it to the next one. I call it Palm Sunday 2.0. I say 2.0 because it’s the new and improved edition – a major upgrade from the original. We’ll call this future event “Palm Sunday” although I don’t know for sure what day of the week it will be on (there is a 1 in 7 chance though!) What event am I referring to?

Revelation 7:9-10 – After these things I looked, and behold, ​h​a great multitude which no one could number, ​of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, ​clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ​​“Salvation belongs to our God ​who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

And why 2.0? What’s so much better about this one? Here’s 5 reasons…

1) For starters, we can actually attend this one, since we missed the original one.

2) Jesus won’t be about to die, He’ll have conquered death already.

3) Jerusalem is nice and all, but heaven is A LOT better.

3) We’ll be surrounded by people of all nations, tribes, and tongues, singing the same song. Epic!

4) We won’t have to go to work the next day when the worship service is over – this worship service will NEVER stop. Ever.

5) We’ll really understand what we’re singing – salvation will be complete and we’ll have a complete understanding of the lyrics, “Salvation belongs to our God…”

I hope you enjoy your Palm Sunday celebrations today. What a scene to picture Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, fulfilling Zechariah 9:9 – a prophecy made over 500 years prior! God is very detail-oriented and completely in control of all that’s going on!

Happy Good Friday (and Happy early Easter!)!

A Sweet Package Deal

As I mentioned last week, I’m reading through Leviticus right now. Not the easiest book to read, I’ll admit, but great when you really take some time to think it through. It’s much deeper than just a bunch of dead animals and bloody priests.

One thing that I’ve been doing is underlining the words atonement and forgiven. One great thing about underlining is that you can begin to see patterns. Not weird codes or anything, but you begin to notice things that stand out. What I’ve noticed about these 2 words is that they often appear together as a package deal. When the priest or the person who has committed a sin offers the animal as atonement for their sin, the next phrase is usually “and it shall be forgiven them” (4:20, 4:26, 4:31, 4:35, 5:13…just to name a few). The blood of the animal pays the price for the sin. The deal is sealed. After all, sin earns death according to Romans 6:23, so this system of sacrifice makes sense.

A third phrase I’ve been underlining is “a sweet smelling aroma.” It normally appears when a sacrifice is made. What a great reminder that God receives worship and pleasure from our sacrifice! He gave it all up for us, we can certainly afford to give it up for Him! The phrase appears later on in the New Testament as Paul closes his letter to the Philippian church. He thanks them for the gift they sent and says that it is “a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.” They didn’t offer a burnt offering – they offered their resources and concern. God was please by that sacrifice!

Here’s how it all works out for us: Jesus, the sacrifice that made atonement and forgiveness possible, is a sweet-smelling aroma to God.

Isaiah 53:10 – …it pleased the Lord to bruise Him…

Practical Thoughts About Prayer

I want to be a good pray-er. However, I hope I never think I’m a good pray-er. When you think you’ve arrived at something, spiritually speaking, it’s a dangerous place to be. That goes for prayer as well as resisting temptation, Scripture memory, and much more. Always keep trying to get better at it, no matter how great you think you are.

I wanted to share a couple practical thoughts about prayer and some techniques I’m using to try to get better at it.

1. TURN STUFF OFF.

I am surrounded by technology. Between desktop computer to laptops to iPhones, technology is everywhere. Not to mention, I have e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and more that can distract me through any one of those devices. So, when I’m praying, I make sure my phone is not in the room with me. It also helps if my computer is shut (or even better, not in the room with me either). It helps me focus. If I feel or even hear the vibration of my phone, I wonder who texted or emailed me. Keeping them elsewhere rids me of a few distractions and can help make my prayer time far more meaningful.

2. FIND A QUIET PLACE.

This might seem like common sense, but I know some people who try to have their quiet times (ironic name) at Starbucks each morning. Not very quiet and very distracting. Unless you are extraordinarily undistractable, go somewhere where there won’t be tons of other people ordering drinks, spilling drinks, and having loud annoying conversations. Go somewhere that you can actually focus.

3. DO IT FREQUENTLY.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 simply says “Pray without ceasing.” That doesn’t mean you can’t converse with anyone else, but it simply means that when you have a free moment, say a quick prayer. It can be about anything, just stay in communication with God throughout the day. That way, when you sit down to pray, you can pick up right where you left off.

4. WRITE IT DOWN.

I haven’t always been a journal-er, but I’ve really gotten into it lately. When I tell someone, “I’ll pray for you,” I try to make sure I say a quick prayer for them right there, but also write it down so that I don’t forget. Right now, our church is small enough that I can pray for every person by name every day, so I keep a list of their names. It takes me about 30 minutes, but I love being about to do it! One thing that I’ve done too is to write the date that I began praying for someone on. That way when God answers that prayer, I can look back and see the effect of continued, steadfast prayer. Don’t let that date discourage you though. I know people who haven’t had prayers answered till after 10 (or more) years of daily prayer!

5. PRAY WITH AND FOR YOUR SPOUSE.

Jenn and I prayed together yesterday while the girls were down for a nap. It had been too long. We intend to do it weekly. Lately, it’s been more like monthly. It’s so great to get together and talk to the Lord about whatever: the kids, the church, finances, etc. Hearing her voice those things to the Lord helps me have an even better idea of how I can pray for her. Pray for your husband or wife daily. There’s no excuse not to do this. When you think of them or when they call you or text you, say a quick prayer. You never know how God may use those simple prayers.

6. KEEP A PEN & PAPER HANDY.

Inevitably, when you sit down to pray, no matter how hard you’ve tried to rid yourself of distractions, they come anyway. For me, they come in the form of productive thoughts. They try to deceive me into thinking that I need to do them immediately. How do I cure the urge to leave prayer to do whatever just came to my mind? Write it down. I know if I write it down, I can forget about it during my prayer time and just focus on what I’m there to do. After all, real productivity is a direct result of prayer. To be productive, you must be in prayer. Martin Luther used to say “When I have 8 hours of work to do and 5 hours to do it in, I spend the first 3 in prayer.” I know, I know, the math doesn’t compute, but Luther was pretty productive, I’d say. He must have known what he was talking about.

I hope these ideas help you as much as they have helped me. This list is surely not comprehensive, though – I’d love to hear some of your practical thoughts on prayer. Let me know!

A Gory Illustration of Forgiveness

Last weekend at Awaken, I taught the first message in a 5-part series called “Premeditated.” We’re looking at the death of Jesus Christ as we gear up for Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The point of the series is to discuss that Jesus’ death was no accident – it was premeditated – thought through and planned in advance.

One thing we discussed last weekend was the clothing that God made for Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:21 from the skin of an animal. We talked about how that was a very practical illustration of sin and forgiveness. After all, Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. Sin earns death. Death is sin’s pay check. An animal had to give its life to cover Adam & eve’s sin and shame.

For the last few mornings, I’ve been reading Leviticus for my time with the Lord (don’t eat before reading it, if you have a weak stomach). I’m struck (as I always am when I read through this graphic, bloody book) with the gory reminder of the consequences of sin. The first few chapters are all about how to kill the animals, what to do with their blood, their entrails, their fat, and other disgusting things that make most people shudder. We’re going to talk more about the bloody sacrifice of Christ at our Good Friday service, but I just wanted to share a few thoughts I had about it all.

Hebrews 4:14 calls Jesus our Great High Priest. He’s Great not just because He’s awesome but because He’s better than all the other High Priests who ever lived. No high priest ever measured up to Jesus. One thing that stood out to me in Leviticus about this sacrificial system is that not only does Jesus play the part of High Priest, presenting the sacrifice for atonement and forgiveness to God, but He also plays the part of the lamb being offered to God.

Not only did He present the offering to God, but He was the offering that was presented!

His death was premeditated. This whole gory, graphic, bloody, violent system of sacrifice described in Leviticus simply pointed to Christ. One day He would not only present the offering to God for us, but He’d become the offering that God required! Incredible!

Stay tuned tomorrow for a few more thoughts on Leviticus. It’s gory and graphic, but it’s also very God-glorifying!

Don’t Go Back to the Cow

If you think the Bible is a strict, serious book with no humor, Exodus 32 must have fallen out of your Bible. Get some tape or some glue and fix that, if that’s the case.

I have to laugh every time I read about Aaron, God’s chosen spokesman to the king of Egypt, and his leadership (or lack thereof) while Moses is gone. The people tell Aaron to make them a golden calf since they don’t know what happened to Moses. Aaron obliges, but then gets caught when Moses comes back down the mountain. His reply to Moses’ righteous indignation:

I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out. (Exodus 32:24)

I don’t know if my 3-year old daughter would attempt to pull one like that over on me! Of course Moses isn’t fooled. Bad things happen when Moses AND God are angry! Read the rest of Exodus 32 to find out how they were punished.

Here’s the lesson, though. As crazy as it sounds for God’s people to worship a golden calf after God led them through the Red Sea and killed the Egyptian army behind them, you need to put yourself in their shoes sandals for a moment. Worshiping things they made was what they knew – it was comfortable. Their fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers had grown up in Egypt where idol worship was everywhere. The Egyptians had gods for everything: the sun, the moon, the river, etc. Now think of where the Israelites found themselves: in the wilderness, hundreds of miles from where they had all been living their lives since they were born. And now, to top it all off, their leader, Moses, had just walked up onto a mountain that was full of fire and lightning.

Cut them some slack. They didn’t give up immediately. They waited a week…two weeks….a month…and finally at the 40 day mark, they’d had enough. Moses was obviously dead. He couldn’t survive that long on a fiery mountain with no food! So, what did they know? What was comfortable? What made them feel like they had a little bit of control? Making a god to worship.

Now, I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you’ve never sculpted a cow out of a pair of earrings and began bowing down to it. I haven’t either. We’re not off the hook though, because our idolatry and doubt come in different forms. Let me explain.

Maybe you’ve been a Christian for a while but you’re suffering. You’ve prayed and prayed for God to help but it seems that He doesn’t hear. So, you go back to what you know: drugs, sex, living for the world, or (fill in the blank) _______________. Those things have become your golden calf. It doesn’t make sense, in light of all that God has done, for you to turn back to those things, but they’re what you know, they’re comfortable, they’re manageable.

Maybe you’re a new Christian and you were hoping that this “God thing” would take all your problems away. It hasn’t. In fact, it seems that life is harder now than it was before. So, what do you do? Go back to what you were doing before you realized Jesus was everything you needed. Whatever that was – whatever you’re relying on now instead of Jesus – is your golden calf. God is all you need, but you can’t see Him, so you live for what you can see.

I’ve struggled with this recently. Not that I’ve wanted to go back to drugs or anything like that, but the struggles and criticism I’ve faced with planting a church has made me question at times whether or not I’m in the right place. It’s easy to remember how great I had it back in Albuquerque and be drawn away from where I know God has called me. For me, the easy life back there is my golden calf. Although it’s not sinful in itself, if it were to draw me away from where God has called me to be, it would be sin. I would be worshiping the easy life over the obedient life.

You could be in any number of situations, but here’s the lesson: just because you can’t see the way out doesn’t mean you should revert back to what you know. Let the times of questioning and suffering be times of drawing nearer and nearer to God. Seek Him out. He’s there. He always has been. You’ve allowed yourself to lose sight of Him though.

Don’t go back to your calf. It’s not real. It won’t satisfy. It’s not what you’re looking for. It will disappoint.

Oh yeah, and it’s a COW!

Illustrations Are Like… (Part 2)

Illustrations are to sermons what milk is to a bowl of Raisin Bran: refreshing!

Yesterday, we talked about some good places to find sermon illustrations as well as some not so good places.

Today I want to share my favorite, and in my opinion, most effective: my own life!

When I was 16 and just starting out teaching at my youth group, I began to realize that a sermon without illustrations can be like eating a cracker without a drink – somewhat enjoyable but very dry! I prayed a prayer that I believe God is still answering today. It went something like this: “God, help me to see the Gospel and the truth of Your Word through my every day life so that I can relate it to people in a more meaningful way.” It was a simple prayer that revolutionized my teaching. In fact, I believe God is still answering that prayer today. Whenever something happens that illustrates something I’ll be teaching soon (or might teach some time), I normally make a quick note of it on my iPhone. I’ve even recorded myself talking about it using my iPhone’s voice memo app. Those are just a couple quick, simple ways to remember what happened and how it could relate to God’s Word. If you’re old school, call and leave yourself a message or write it down in your journal or on a receipt. Or, if you’re super old school, write it on a note card and stick it in your fanny pack with your lip balm. Keep track of them so you don’t forget!

Life is the best way to illustrate Scripture – it’s real, unscripted, and honest. You can be yourself and make your sermon personal with those stories.

Let me let you in on one more secret of how to find some of the all-time best (and funniest) sermon illustrations.

You ready?

If you want really great sermon illustrations, follow these 3 simple steps (guys):

1) Find a godly woman.

2) Settle down.

3) Have babies.

I’m kidding. Kind of. God has taught me more about Himself through my girls than through anyone else! I’m kidding about the making babies part, but I’m serious when I say learn from everyone – even the kids in your life!

Some life situations that can make great illustrations: work situations, a family issue, driving, people watching, and the list goes on. Almost any situation you’re in can relate back to the Gospel and put a personal touch on whatever you’re trying to say. So keep your eyes and ears open all the time.

If you’re a little skeptical about this teaching-from-your-life method, you must have skipped over the Gospels in your Bible reading, because Jesus did this constantly! He used the wind and waves, some fish, a fishing net, money, grapes, a vine, seeds, birds, flowers, a camel, and many more daily, ordinary things to tie-in deep, spiritual truths. Gospel truth is everywhere – pay attention!

I hope that gives you some direction with where to head with illustrations.

Surely I missed something. Help me out here. Where do you go to find the best illustrations?

FREE Commentary on Acts

I went online to see if I could find this book for a friend who is about to start teaching through the book of Acts. It’s called Luke the Historian: the Book of Acts. I just recently discovered it, and now, every week as I prepare for Wednesday nights, I can’t wait to open it up! It tends to have a unique view on things and some insights that go unmentioned in other books and commentaries.

Since I haven’t read it in its entirety and have only been using it for a month or so, I can’t give it a full endorsement, but I can say it’s been a great help to me so far.

Anyway, I thought I’d pass the resource on to anyone else who could use it. Click the link below to access it.

Luke the Historian: the Book of Acts

Illustrations Are Like…

Illustrations are like the windows that let light in on your sermon. Of course the foundation of the structure is the Word and the points you draw from the Scripture, but the illustrations shed light on what you’re saying.

See? That was an illustration. I could have just said “Illustrations are important,” but illustrating it shed some light on their importance.

I use illustrations all the time when I teach. It’s a great way to liven things up, break the ice, be real, and have some fun. Plus, whatever you do, never bore people with the Word of God!

I get asked every once in a while about illustrations – where I get them, why use them, etc, so I figured that over the next couple days I’d answer a few of those questions and give a few of my favorite places to find illustrations.

Let’s start with a few of my least favorites.

Any Christians book store will sell you a book of 77 Million Sermon Illustrations. I picked one of those books up. Once. There might be 7 good illustrations in there. Books of sermon illustrations, in my humble opinion, can often give you illustrations that sound canned and pretty cheesy. I’ve even heard pastors try to tell a canned illustration as if they were in it. Maybe it worked for others who hadn’t heard it, but not for me!

Sometimes a little less cheesy are magazines like Readers Digest that have funny little stories in them. Again, not one of my favorites, but they can work from time to time.

We could talk forever about what doesn’t work, but let’s get on to some of my favorite that seem to work much better.

Let’s start with websites.

Wikipedia. “Anyone can write anything about any topic, so you know it must be accurate!” – Michael Scott from The Office

Wikipedia can be a great resource, but I’d encourage you to double check it. You never know. In fact, double, triple, quadruple check stuff you find anywhere online. You don’t want to give out a statistic or something that you later find out was wrong – that’s embarrassing!

Statistics can be great illustrations, but be careful with those as well. Make sure you’re quoting a reliable source. Some good sources for stats that I’ve found: National Retail Federation, The Barna Group, and Neilsen Media, just to name a few. They are reputable sources reporting on everything from how much money people are spending on what to how much TV kids are watching. Good stuff.

News is one of my favorites. Specifically funny news. If you look hard enough, there are lots of news agencies with a “funny” news section. A few of my favorites: Reuters Oddly Enough, Snopes: Weird News, and MSNBC: Peculiar Postings, just to name a few. I read through those almost every time I teach. There’s usually a gem (or 7) in there somewhere.

Tomorrow we’ll talk about my favorite (and in my opinion, the most effective) illustrations out there. See you then.

Sunrise Son Rise

A year ago, when Jenn and I were out here in Clarksville praying about moving here, we went to the Riverwalk. One of the first things I said was, “I can imagine having an Easter sunrise service right here.” I’ve never been able to get that idea out of my head, so, on Wednesday night, we made it official.

As we celebrate the Son rising, the sun will be rising. That’s right – Awaken’s first Sunday morning service will be Easter Sunday, April 4 at 7:30am. We’re not switching over to Sundays for good – we’re just meeting on Sunday instead of Saturday that one weekend. The service will be held at the McGregor Park Riverwalk in the outdoor amphitheater right on the river!

Of course there will be coffee and donuts to go along with the crisp morning air. You should also make sure to bring some blankets to sit on and stay warm with, just in case.

Why so early?

Glad you asked. Mark 16:2 says, “Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen (they were about to find out that the Son had also risen!).”

We’re going to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection as close as we can to the actual time it took place – early in the morning on the first day of the week.

Whether you’ve ever been to an Easter sunrise service or not, you need to plan on being at this one! We will celebrate the main thing that separates Christianity from every other belief: OUR GOD IS STILL ALIVE!

It will be an exciting time of worship with Jenn, a Gospel message about the resurrection, and fellowship, as well as a strategic time to get some friends to go to church with you. As you know, Easter is one of 2 days (Christmas is the other) each year that people who don’t normally go to church, go to church. So, begin praying now about who you’re going to invite, and SPREAD THE WORD! If you want a poster or two, make sure to ask for them at church.

We hope to WAKE UP the city of Clarksville and show them that we have a reason to party!