Are Things as They Seem?

    They often are not. Really. I recently visited a couple of locations where television programs are regularly taped for the History Channel. I was surprised both times. Television can be very deceiving. Some of it is due to the nature of camera lenses and TV screens, and the way our imagination fills in what is past the camera’s periphery. But a lot of it is intentional deception written into the director’s instructions to give a desired illusion. All-in-all, these two locations were entirely different from what I had expected before arriving.
    It’s not only that way in television. I’ve known people on a professional level and became quite disillusioned as I got to know them personally. There have been some whom I respected in ministry leadership: pastors, parachurch heads, well known preachers, where I have felt completely let down once I got into their homes or got to know their close family members and found out what the person was really like. Early in ministry, and even while I was in college and seminary, I found that too often high profile people, even those in ministry, were more focused on their public persona and reputation than on who they really were.
    Who are you, really?
    Honestly, there is a little bit of hypocrisy in all of us. I think we all at times put on as though we are someone or something that we are not. But God cares about who you REALLY are. That is, who you are when no one is looking. What kind of life would you lead and what decisions would you make if you cold get away with doing whatever you wanted to do and people only found out about what you chose to reveal? Answering that question will tell you more about your character and the real you than anything else. And that’s the you that God sees and knows.
    Still, he loves the real you!
    But he doesn’t want you to stay that way. He wants to help you grow. He wants your inside, your heart, to be truly submissive to Him and focused on caring for others. He doesn’t want it to just look that way, but for it to be that way, even if no one found out about it. And that’s the you that He will reveal to the world some day.
    So who are you, really? Is your life like a television studio, arranged a certain way to show others what you want them to see? Or are you submitting your heart to God and allowing Him to mold and shape the real you? When others see who you really are, are they attracted to the Life of God in you, because it is obviously much more than a pretentious display?
    Are things as they seem?

Pardon Me

    In 1830, a man named George Wilson killed a government employee who caught him in the act of robbing the mail. He was tried and sentenced to be hanged. However, then President of the United States, Andrew Jackson, sent him a pardon. But Wilson did a strange thing. He refused to accept the pardon and no one seemed to know what to do. So the case was carried to the Supreme Court. The great Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the opinion. In it, he said, “A pardon is a slip of paper, the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged.”
    And he was.
    Pretty sad. To have been given such a gift of forgiveness and to refuse it. It doesn’t make sense, does it?
    In light of our current series, “HEREAFTER,” this refusal to be pardoned becomes all the more tragic. We are all hurtling towards the end of our lives. Because we have turned away from God to live for and please ourselves, we have cut ourselves off from the only life-giving source and stand condemned for eternity. But God has intervened and through the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, we can receive a full pardon by merely receiving his forgiveness, based on Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. All you have to do is accept it!
    George Wilson was foolish. But when you think about it, had he not been hanged in 1830, he still would have died a long time ago. Death was inevitable for him as for us. Even more important for him than accepting President Jackson’s pardon, was whether or not he accepted God’s. His existence since that time and for all eternity was and is based on how he responded to God’s offer of forgiveness.
    You also need a pardon. God is offering it to you. But as Chief Justice Marshall commented on George Wilson’s situation, the value of it is realized only in its acceptance. Will you receive God’s gift of forgiveness? It’s not just your life that is at stake. It’s your eternal destiny!
    “This is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. So whoever has God’s Son has life; whoever does not have his Son does not have life.”  – 1 John 5: 11, 12

What's a Dead Church Like?

    A paramedic was asked on a local TV talk-show program: "What was your most unusual and challenging 911 call?"
    "Recently we got a call from that big white church at 11th and Walnut," the paramedic said. "A frantic usher was very concerned that during the sermon an elderly man passed out in a pew and appeared to be dead. The usher could find no pulse and there was no noticeable breathing."
    "What was so unusual and demanding about this particular call?" the interviewer asked.
    "Well," the paramedic said, "we carried out four guys before we found the one who was dead."
    Sadly, that is the state of many churches. I fear that a lot of people attend church out of obligation, habit, or because they think they are earning religious brownie points with God. All around this area, people will be starting to dread this Sunday morning on Saturday and will be thinking up reasons to skip. Others became tired of the boredom and wasted time and energy it took to go to church and gave up attending a long time ago, except on Christmas and Easter, of course.
    Honestly, too many churches aren’t worth going to. That may serve as a shocker coming from a pastor who often declares, “The local church is the hope of the world!” Yes, I do believe that. Jesus himself established the local church to manifest Him in a broken world and to give people hope and fulfillment through the Gospel. But, sadly, not very many churches are actually doing that. Too many strayed from their purpose generations ago and exist now only to perpetuate their own continued existence. The influence and power of God’s Spirit having long departed, lives are no longer changed, people are rarely challenged, and the church accomplishes little. It is the tragic result of drifting from the truth of God’s Word and the power and life given by the Holy Spirit.
    And that cold happen here at The Bridge, as well.
    Here at The Bridge, we are enjoying the work of the Holy Spirit in people’s lives at the Bible is being applied every week, every day, among us. We are seeing people’s lives changed as they receive Christ. People are growing daily in their relationship with God. All of this is exciting, and refreshing if you have ever been part of a church described above.
    But it is up to us to not only keep it that way, but to pursue growth in every aspect of our church’s life, as well as our individual walk with God. Things are wonderful at church now, because God is at work and active in our midst. But the moment we lose our awe of Him and appreciation for what He is doing, as well as dependence on Him for this ministry and our spiritual sustenance, is the moment we will begin to decline.
    We’ve had the paramedics here. But thankfully, they haven’t had to take the pulse of several people to find out who was alive or dead! Here at The Bridge, we are alive and well! And I don’t think anyone would describe our services, ministries, or people as being lifeless. So let’s enjoy it, and trust God to keep us moving forward for generations to come!