A woman prays a prayer to accept Christ… but after a few months she starts to drift away from church because she hears things she doesn’t like.  Like… giving… or hell… or something about homosexuality.  A young man in a Muslim country after professing Christ… is violently rejected by his family and friends and is persecuted by his government.  After time, eventually, he recants his faith and goes back to being a Muslim.  A child goes through confirmation and seems to be committed to Christ through high school years, but then in college… what we fear happening… happens.  He’s confronted by antagonistic professors who mock him and make fun of his faith…  and as he observes in his peers around him the prevailing lack of moral restraints… everyone seems to be indiscriminately indulging and, frankly, enjoying it… and so… by the time he graduates… he no longer professes Christianity.  A woman attends a church that splits viciously leaving relationships bruised and bloodied… Having invested so much of her spiritual journey… it all now feels like an utter waste of an experience… So she leaves that church… and she walks away not only from THAT church… but ANY CHURCH… and adopts more of a new age belief… so later in life… whatever remnants of faith she once had… barely rattles around… and she expresses little hope in anything that will outlast death.

Defection happens.  And when it does… it’s confusing… and disturbing… and it disrupts… OUR FAITH!  WE QUESTION… “What’s going on?  What does this mean?  How could that happen?”  And the closer the person is to US… the more troubling… the more hard a pill it is to swallow. » Read The Rest

If you were here last week. Ch. 5:11-14 is a rebuke! Because as a Christian… it’s NOT OKAY… if you’ve been a Christian for any reasonable amount of time… to not grow up! And know this… spiritual maturity is not a state that you enter and don’t leave. Spiritual growth is not on a ratcheting spool (explain). Even mature believers need FEEDING and at to exercise their faith. And when you stop EATING… and stop GROWING… when you neglect PRACTICING your faith and APPLYING what you learn… you start DETERIORAING… you REGRESS in your faith… your faith ATROPHIES… and the DANGER… if you let your self go… well it’s just bone chilling!

God rebukes all of us who settle for spiritual superficiality! So wherever you find yourself spiritually… the challenge, then is to grow up! “Well, okay! how?” In Chapter 6 of Hebrews he tells us. 1Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death,^[a] and of faith in God, 2instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3And God permitting, we will do so. The first thing he wants us to do is to pass the “A, B, C’s”. He says, “let us leave.” That doesn’t mean let us “forget.” It means “let us graduate” and “let us go on.” Because spiritual growth… is cumulative. It builds on things previously learned! (“Do I have to know this for the test?” “Probably.”) And so he touches on 6 lessons basic to the Christian faith – 2 concerning the foundation and 4 concerning living distinctively in the new life. » Read The Rest

A number of years ago Robert Fulghum scribbled a note that became a popular poster… and then was expanded into the book, All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten. It’s simplicity and innocence really makes you smile. “All I really needed to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at school. And these are the things that I learned… share everything – play fair – don’t hit people – put things back where you found them – clean up your own mess – don’t take things that aren’t yours – say “you’re sorry” when you hurt somebody – wash your hands before you eat – flush – warm cookies and cold milk are good for you – learn some, think some, draw some, paint some, sing some, dance some, play some and work some every day – take a nap every afternoon – watch out for traffic – hold hands and stick together – be aware of wonder …think about what a better world it would be if we all had warm cookies and milk about 3 o’clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap – or if all governments had a basic policy to always put things back as they found them and to clean up their messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world it’s best to hold hands and stick together.”You know, as heartwarming as that is, you have to ask yourself, “Wait a minute… is kindergarten enough? And if it WERE then why didn’t God just say it all in a paragraph like that rather than, what, almost 2000 pages in our Bibles? Did God overdo things a bit if that’s all you really need to know?” More to the point, maybe not all our problems are solved with cookies and blankies and a nap in the afternoon! » Read The Rest

Derek Redmond arrived at the 1992 Olympic Summer Games in Barcelona determined to win a medal in the 400. The color of the medal was meaningless; he just wanted to win one. Just one.  Derek’s father Jim had accompanied him to Barcelona, just as he did for all world competitions. They were as close as a father and son could be. The best of friends. When Jim watched his son run, he always pictured himself running right next to him.

When he was 19 he had shattered the British 400-meter record. But then in the 1988 Games in Seoul, 10 minutes before the race, a freak injury forced him to withdraw.  And his dreams were shattered.  He underwent five surgeries over the next year… started the long road of rehab… and began training for the next Olympics… And when the 1992 Games arrived, this was his stage, his moment, his time.

The stadium was packed with 65,000 fans. The race begins and Redmond breaks from the pack and quickly seizes the lead.  All his hopes… all his dreams… are about to be realized.  Then, down the backstretch, 175 meters to go, Redmond’s right hamstring blows. As if shot, Redmond falls, rolls and winds up in a heap on the track.  Jim Redmond, when he saw this happen, was watching the race four levels up.  And reacting on instincts, begins weaving his way down from the top row… to the field level. » Read The Rest

My wife ran the San Diego marathon in 2004… pregnant!  It was an amazing ordeal.  Not the pregnant part.   My wife has been pregnant most of our marriage.  What was amazing to me was what she described at the end of the marathon.  As she and the other 20,000 runners were coming nearing the end, they entered the naval base,  turned the a few corners, and came upon what she described as… sort of a false ending!  There were balloons… erected towers… flying banners you ran under… media trucks… blasting music…  water tables and so on.  The only thing was… the real finish line was about 800 yards around another corner!  Thousands of runners were stopped short, exhausted, bent over, some hit the pavement drooling, grimacing, vomiting.  They were DONE!  But they hadn’t  finished!  The ankle bracelet they were wearing that registers each individual finish time hadn’t been carried through the final gate!  So what happened was amazing!  Thousands of runners ran back to the false ending point…. to give a REAL picture of the end!  They got down in their faces… eye to eye… nose to nose… and said… “This isn’t the end!  C’mon!  It’s right around the corner!  You’re not done yet… Let’s go…  I’ll do it with you.”  I want you to compare this to what it means to be a Christian… In the OT God powerfully and MIRACULOUSLY saved MILLIONS of people from Egypt… sustained them, meeting their every need along the way… leading them to the Promised Land!  And here’s the comparison… God rescued YOU from the slavery of sin…  not to leave you WANDERING AROUND IN LIFE… but to TAKE YOU someplace better… the likes of which you have never experienced. » Read The Rest

Let me spell out two very different pictures of the Christian experience. We’re born. Somehow through the course of our life we come to understand the gravity of our moral failings… that we’ve done wrong and gone wrong before a Holy God… and through His grace… we come to see Jesus as our Savior. We accept that what He has done was enough to make us right before God… and in return He gives us forgiveness and new life! And it seems like a pretty good deal and so we accept it! We become… “a Christian.” And then we go about our lives… we attend church at least half the time… we make a living… we have a family… and eventually we retire… and we live out our days… and then we die. AND THEN WHAT? WHAT HAPPENS? <heaven!> Well, what’s that like?

» Read The Rest