It has been some time since I’ve posted – a lot of different reasons for that – but I’m making a attempt to get back to some consistency with regards to posting on the B.D.

There are several things on which I’m trying to stay focused. The Ephesians series – (I’ve now preached five messages on Ephesians 1:3-14) is important to me. These ideas of Election, our destiny to become ‘holy and blameless, in love’, our identity as sons and daughters of God, the comprehensive work of the cross (the overcoming of the guilt of sin, the breaking of the power of sin and the lifting of the curse of sin) are bedrock truths of Christianity. Christian truth doesn’t get richer than this.

Add to that the trajectory of verses 4-8: God’s plan to fix this broken world by summing up everything in to Christ. This world is going somewhere, and its not to hell in a handbag. History has a conclusion… all its disparate parts summed up into Jesus Christ. I believe that once this truth grips the hearts of God’s people, and I mean really grips them everything will change.

My hope is Christ. My hope is the faithfulness of God to fulfill all that he promised his Son. My hope is the working of the Holy Spirit in the people of God. Peace, Scott

I turned 55 a few weeks ago. Let me recount some things – 22+ years as a pastor, in the same place; 26+ years married; 25+years living in the same place. Wow – I’m struggling a bit thinking – man, I haven’t come very far.  Things seem more fragile to me than I thought they would be. Things don’t seem as certain as I hoped they would be. I wonder have I done all that God wanted me to do (at least so far)? Have I been faithful?

I can’t tell you how deeply Joshua 1:1-9 has effected me. That passage of scripture just will not leave me alone. I keep thinking – God is gracious, he makes grand promises, he takes the initiative – yet there is no mistaking that He exhorts us ‘Be strong and courageous‘. What does that mean for me – a 55 year old pastor? What does it mean to you who might be reading this?

Over the course of last few weeks it seemed to me like Joshua 1:1-9 was all I could think about. Here was a man, several years older than me, preparing for the biggest deal of his entire life. He spent 40 years serving an apprenticeship which brought him to that moment. He was chosen as a 20 year old to be part of the group who first investigates the Promised Land. He then waits 40 years to finally arrive at the place where he could enter the land. 40 years to come to the place where he would embark on his life’s great purpose. I wonder…  how should I judge myself? Have I arrived at the place where I am fit to used to do something really significant? If Joshua took 40 years, who am I to think that my time of formation should be any less? I find myself thinking – I want to think about these things in ways that are realistic, true and biblical. All around me the world is frantic – a woman reaches her 40’s and if she happens to be an actress she is almost certainly near the end of her career. A person who loses their job in their 50’s finds it much harder to find a job, because he or she is thought to be ‘limited’ by their so-called ‘advancing’ years. Yet this is not the way God tells time. God’s economy can include really long periods of preparation.

I could have never thought or grasped these things when I was in my 30’s or even my 40’s. I am beginning to learn that some things just can’t be done without a long, slow development. I think that God has given me a vision of a Biblical counseling center. I can see a place that is multiracial, crossing socio-economic lines and reaching into some of the most broken places in our culture. Ah – but how to get there? I have my own experience, the training I received in graduate school, the things I have learned over the past 20+ years and the hundreds and hundreds of hours of counseling experience from which to draw. These things will help – but this is so much bigger than anything I can do by myself. But like the young lad Jesus called upon when he fed the 5000 (Luke 9:10-17) – I have my two fishes and five loaves and I am prepared offer them. Read the rest of this entry »

The church: Divinely inspired and human in its life

I like those two words. Vagaries refers to unpredictability, vicissitudes refers to change. These two words are descriptive of the nature of organizations, even those who ostensibly have divine origins. The church is God’s creation, but local congregations are a product of human beings attempting to partner with God to faithfully express this glorious spiritual reality called the church. The body of Christ is spread thorough out the world, existing in a single room gathering of a dozen or so all the way to the world’s largest church, in Korea with 700,000 plus members. Read the rest of this entry »

Some of you may or may not know this, but following the completion of the well project in the Amazon there was a problem that caused the well to malfunction. This was disheartening. However, we received news that fresh water flows. Praise God!

Also, we are pleased to debut Ben’s 30 minute film on the project this Saturday Evening at the Community Dinner.

Please Note: This is a lengthy article (It summarizes 4 sermons and over 40 hours of work). I humbly ask you to read the entire piece as it is an attempt to bring these 4 messages together. I have included a throne-room-review, with all the art work embedded in the file if you would rather print it out and read it away from the computer screen.

I want to tie together the messages of the last four weeks. This is very important to me, and I think its something important to us as a church. I actually have a very specific intention – I am trying to be faithful to a strong sense that I have (that I believe is from the Lord), that our shared vision needs to be renewed. I thought about this, prayed and studied a great deal while I was on sabbatical and I believe the Lord spoke to me in wonderful ways from my study of the book of Revelation. I am convinced that the vision of Christ’s exaltation presented to the church in this extraordinary book brings redemptive history together in a way that can energize the church in a time of great need. I am convinced that ours is a time where we need to see Jesus as preeminent, enthroned and with a dominion that is everlasting and ever expanding. Read the rest of this entry »

In just a few days Gail and I will celebrate 26 years of marriage. I’m delighted to be with her, and I’m grateful that she stills finds me a source of joy in her life. But something I have discovered about marriage is this – it cannot be left to itself – marriage needs periodic questions, evaluation and re-affirmation. Leave it to run on automatic pilot and you will end up some place you won’t want to be.

I have had a harder time learning this regarding church life (I guess because with just me and the mrs. I can figure this thing out more quickly than when you have to think about a whole group of people). The truth is, church life requires a very similar willingness to evaluate and renew commitment. I will admit that this is a struggle I don’t always do so well at working through. I assume that people are on the same page, and that commitments made in the past are still working and still relevant. But my time in the book of Revelation as well as some current difficulties are teaching me that I need to think once again about these matters.

Jesus, standing in the midst of His churches

When John saw the vision of Jesus standing amidst the lamp stands I wonder was he astonished by the interest that Jesus had in evaluating the seven churches in Asia Minor? There is no specific reaction of John to this – only the seven times repeated phrase – ‘To the angel of the church of (fill in the name) write…’ Considering how much trouble was going on in the Roman Empire and in Jerusalem I find it quite amazing that Jesus is so completely focused on the life inside these 7 congregations. While there is some reference to outside troubles, like what He says to Smyrna ‘the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation.’ Most of the words are directed at life inside the congregations. Jesus, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings concerns himself with whether His people have passion for Him, or whether they are tolerating false teaching, or false prophets in their midst. Wow – with all that was going on around these churches, I’m blown away by the range of Jesus’ evaluative eye – He cares deeply about the quality of life among his people.

After these letters were read what do you think happened next?

Okay, so its Sunday in the church of Ephesus – news spreads throughout the congregation that there is a letter from John that is to be read in the public gathering. The same thing in 6 other congregations in Asia Minor no doubt took place over whatever period of time it took to get this thing circulated. But try to imagine what it might have been like to hear this – ‘But I have this against you‘ (Rev. 2:4) or this; ‘But I have a few things against you‘ (Rev. 2:14). Do you think things became spooky silent in those churches? Do you think that the next time each of those churches met for worship they noticed there were a few less than the week before?

As I understand this process through which Jesus brought each of these seven churches I am convinced that this sort of thing is meant to be a normal part of the life of every local church. Okay, so maybe we won’t receive a letter specifically addressed – ‘to the church of West Orange called Lamb of God.’ But what Jesus does here with each one of these churches is evaluate, redraw the lines and say – listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church. He speaks and he clarifies what He thinks is important, how he defines commitment, and what faithfulness looks like on the part of the people in each one of these congregations.

Six months of study and reflection have led me to the conclusion that this is a time at Lamb of God Fellowship for evaluation and renewal of commitment to take place. In a way that is similar to marriage – the relationships which make up a church community need reassurance – ‘I’m here, and I still want to do this.’ Leaders need reaffirmation from the people – ‘we believe in you, and we still want to follow your lead.’ Leaders need to be able to say to the people – ‘we still count it a privilege to serve you.’ I believe that God has shown me clearly that He is taking us through a process of refinement and pruning. I won’t say at the moment all the things that convince me of that, but suffice it to say that as much as one can know anything I believe Jesus is refining this congregation (myself included).

Would you like to know what I believe?

I have come to believe that some of us have already decided we are no longer committed to Lamb and in various ways have withdrawn our support. This pains me, but I believe it to be true. Others of us need to repent because we haven’t been faithful to what that commitment means and have allowed other things to get in the way. I also know that there are many of you who are faithful and prepared to give yourself as fully as you are able to the things that God has for us. You are the ones who give generously of time and money, who pray for the church, who are willing to sacrifice and faithfully persevere. Maybe you do know, or maybe you don’t – but I am deeply thankful for each one of you. What I pray is this – ‘please Jesus I hope most still have a optimistic view of the future and want to continue building our little piece of God’s Kingdom.’

I want to say that loving this work, Lamb of God is not the same as loving Jesus (although I do believe that loving a local church somewhere is crucial to healthy Christianity). I think LOG has demonstrated over and over again – we love the whole church and pray for God to bless every church He has given us opportunity to know and be involved with in this area. I don’t for a moment believe we are the only church, or the best church. We are what we are – partly wonderful and partly difficult. However, – if you are unhappy, and find yourself filled with criticism and unrelenting dissatisfaction with Lamb – please either work it out or leave. Don’t allow your dissatisfaction to harm this little body of brothers and sisters. Please understand I don’t want anyone who really wants to be here to leave. I want everyone to find a way to work out conflicts, resolve disappointments and to grow together. I know this pleases Jesus. But lingering when you really can’t support this work is a receipt for harming others. Words matter. Criticism, picking away at those who lead and finding fault with one another is most surely a sign that things aren’t working for you.

When I was a young pastor having people leave would devastate me. I would re-criminate myself and feel like I had failed. Sometimes it was my failure. Other times it was something else. Other times it was never clear why someone had left. But age has given me a more philosophical view of things – ‘you don’t necessarily finish this race with the one’s you started with.’ I still feel the loss when people leave – but I recover more quickly.

What I know is this – I still have a passion for pastoring. I still feel energized by being with God’s people. I still want to look ahead and discover with my brothers and sisters new moves of the Spirit, new lessons of God’s goodness and love and new opportunities to welcome people into this motley fellowship of the friends of Jesus. Perhaps this is a time for you to re-affirm the same.

Nero, Mao and Britney – birds of a feather….

These three make a handsome trio, don’t you think? I had fun pasting them together in Photoshop. Britney looks particularly fierce, even scarier than Chairman Mao and Nero.

I have a serious post to make, so enough with the funny stuff.

During the mid-60’s A.D. Nero began to turn his maniacal rage toward an obscure group of people who called themselves ‘Christians’. He had experienced a plot to assassinate him (which failed) as well as a significant amount of intrigue aimed against him. Someone started a fire in Rome (many think it was Nero) and that fire ravaged Rome, destroying several sections of the city, and damaging many more. Nero used that fire to divert attention away from himself and he used Christians as his scapegoat. The Roman historians Tacitus and Seutonious both say Nero killed multitudes of Christians. He often did it in quite horrible ways. Roll the clock ahead 1800 years… Read the rest of this entry »

When Cyrus, sole King of the Medes-Persian empire issued the decree for the rebuilding of Jerusalem history demonstrated that God is sovereign over all things. Several hundred years before the prophet Isaiah prophesied by name that Cyrus would be raised up by God to be a deliverer for the Jewish people. It is truly an extraordinary prophecy. (Isaiah 44:24-28)

Yet, it took nearly 50 years for what God had determined to do to actually be accomplished. Cyrus did allow a great number to return to Jerusalem, and the building began in earnest, but later bogged down, and even experienced set back. The Lord raised up other prophets (Haggai and Zechariah) as well as Ezra and Nehemiah to see the work through to completion. Prophecy and human cooperation are meant to work together. God declares, but he calls upon us to partner with Him to bring it to pass.

Read the rest of this entry »

Brazil and the lights go on….

Please note that at the end of this article you can listen to and watch the video version of this piece. If you would prefer that just skip to the end.

Several years ago all of the elders at LOG made a trip down to Brazil to observe and participate in the work started by Tom & Kathy Padley. Others had visited Brazil in prior years, but something very special happened to all of us on those visits (which occurred over a period of two successive summers).

I was personally profoundly touched by the 3 weeks I spent in Nova Lima, and the surrounding communities. I observed a level of passion, intensity and devotion to Jesus that I had not ever seen in my 40 years of being a Christian. I saw poor believers gathering in small clusters, in homes, on front porches as well as believers in large gatherings. What touched me was the emotion and brokeness I witnessed every where I went. People were being changed, won to Christ, healed, and delivered from all manner of struggle. I was awestruck at the power of God, humbled by His presence and suddenly lights began to go on inside me mind. Read the rest of this entry »