KDs are designed/developed/inspired/mused/auto-suggested/indigested to make folks think; an especially uncommon experience among Democrats, Republicans, and jingoistic mainline denominationalists who continue to discourage dissent with their ever-threatening thought police.
People who really know and love Jesus have always considered every Sunday to be “a little Easter Day” compelling people who really know and love Jesus to honor Him through worship, work, and witness.
People who really know and love Jesus are more eager to worship Him, work for Him, and witness to Him as a privileged expression of gratitude for His favor here and hereafter than as some kinda religious duty that makes fidelity look like a bad case of hemorrhoids.
Clue.
People who really know and love Jesus smile a lot!
People who don’t, don’t!
Jesus is written all over the faces of people who really get it/Him!
Jesus is seen in people who really know and love Him because they serve Him by serving like Him a lot!
People who don’t, don’t!
It all started over two thousand years ago on that first Easter Day.
People weren’t excited about religious stuff like the funny church clothes that too many clergy wear in defiance of Matthew 23 or any of those distracting idolatries and vanities that obsess pulpiteers and pewsitters that are rarely more than coincidental to following Him by His example as attested in Holy Scripture.
People didn’t run around on that first Easter Day celebrating fabrics, furniture, architecture, liturgies, litanies, rubrics, rituals, ceremonies, polity, sects, denominations, or anything else religious that are rarely more than coincidental to following Him by His example as attested in Holy Scripture.
Nope.
They ran through the streets of Jerusalem and then throughout the world with the best news ever: “He is risen!”
Those first witnesses knew His resurrection meant resurrection for anyone who trusts Him as Lord and Savior along with the wherewithal to live triumphantly in the meantime of worldly meanness, madness, and misery.
His resurrection elevated the hope that emboldened the faith to love Him by loving like Him in the certainty of “paradise” with Him in heaven after the last breath.
Yes!
Praise Him for the irrepressible smiles and service since that first Easter Day!
We know Jesus rose from the dead because:
1.The Church has consistently focused on and referred to the resurrection of
Jesus as the keystone of its praise and practice since A.D. 32;
2.The worship calendar shifted for Christians from the Jewish Sabbath (7th
day of the week) to Sunday (1st day of the week) because Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday (see Mark 16);
3.The New Testament consists of 27 testimonies to our Lord’s resurrection;
4.The disciples were transformed from cowards into bravehearted Gospelers
willing to face the tests of torture and martyrdom because of Jesus’ resurrection; and
5.Jesus is alive in/through all who believe in Him; or as the old song goes,
“You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart!’
Because Jesus rose from the dead, people who really know and love Him worship regularly, work for Him according to the gifts/resources entrusted to them by Him, and witness to His invitational, welcoming, including, and eternally unconditional love.
Yes!
Every day is Easter Day!
@#$%
Blessings and Love!
@#$%
Shatter the sound of silence!
Wake up! Look up! Stand up! Speak up! Act up for Jesus!
I’ve often repeated, “What’s deep in the well comes up in the bucket.”
That’s especially true for folks knocking on heaven’s door.
People tend to say what they really mean when they don’t have much time left to say it.
It’s very, very, very sad for people who do not believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Their last words are often filled with inconsolable fear about what happens the first nano-second after the last breath.
While I would never judge anyone’s eternity – only God knows that – some folks look and talk and act so desperately to hang onto this life that it can make one wonder if they really believe in heaven/paradise; causing me to well up with tears of pity for anyone who faces the inevitable like Elizabeth I: “All of my possessions for one more moment of time.”
Conversely, people who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior face eternity unafraid; bringing President Andrew Jackson’s last words to mind: “Please don’t cry for me or yourselves, dear children, for we will all meet in heaven.”
My next-to-favorite last words come from my grandfather Hayden Phillips who died on May 18, 1984.
Just a few days before he passed on from here to eternity, he called from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania’s General Hospital to say he was going home to Jesus; and I said as a young pastor in Kansas City at the time, “Grandpa, I’m going to fly out to be with you, talk about some old times, and pray with you.” Calmly with a chuckle that helped me to remember his smile, he said firmly yet gently, “That’s not necessary. When I die, you will come and preside at the service; and then I’ll see you later.”
My favorite last words are the seven last words of Jesus from the cross; because what Jesus said about who He is and what He has done for us caused my grandfather’s strong calm sanity at the end of his life as preface to something with Someone much, much, much more heavenly.
According to Holy Scripture, these are the seven last words of Jesus:
1. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). This is among the most unpredictably astounding things that Jesus ever said. He is asking Father God not to hold the torturous and murderous sins of everyone culpable for His passion and death against them; but rather to forgive them as ignorant. How often we have heard, “Ignorance is no excuse.” One of our Lord’s last words disagrees with that sentiment. There is no way on earth for us to understand such forgiveness. All we can do is praise and thank Him for “love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”
2. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Jesus said that to a criminal dying next to Him who was saved for paradise, as Jesus described heaven, at the last minute. Yes, foxhole religion is real. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus no matter who, what, where, when, or why; even if that faith is expressed just before the last exhale. While waiting that long forfeits the “good” of participating in life created by Him as “good,” the pure and perfect place of personal peace where there is no more crying or pain or tears anymore is forever and ever and ever for anyone who places trust and confidence in Jesus even if it’s with only one tick left on the clock.
3. “Woman, behold your son!…Behold your mother!” (John 19:26-27). Even while He was suffering so horrifically, Jesus remained concerned for the comfort, care, safety, security, and welfare of His family. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote extensively, Jesus was truly, truly, truly the “man for others.” Of course, He embraced the predestination of His crucifixion and death as the inexplicable cost of our eternal salvation enabling our confident living from now until then.
4. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). Rather than questioning God or suggesting the Father had abandoned the Son, Jesus was quoting Psalm 22. The psalm is about moving through suffering to triumph. The psalm acknowledges existential pain then praises God for eternal security. Jesus was expressing confidence in His movement from the moment of crucifixion and death to resurrection and reign. By quoting this psalm, Jesus acknowledged His suffering for us as preface to glorious victory for/with us.
5. “I thirst” (John 19:28). Again, Jesus suffered; yet the bigger meaning is the fulfillment of Messianic prophecies in Psalms 22:15 and 69:21 in concert with Isaiah 53. Just as Jesus predicted His passion, crucifixion, death, resurrection, and reign in great detail as evidenced throughout the New Testament, every Messianic prophecy of the Old Testament is fulfilled in Him beginning with His incarnation as Emmanuel.
6. “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!” (Luke 23:46). Akin to the trust and confidence of Psalms 46, 62, and so many others, Jesus, as reflected throughout His life and ministry, is the perfect enfleshment of strong calm sanity. His total dependence upon Father God as incarnate Son is the perfect illustration of Matthew 5:3.
7. “It is finished” (John 19:30). The deal has been sealed by Jesus. The price has been paid and the glory is hours away! God’s plan of salvation has been completed by Jesus. I think of the missionary who was asked, “What must I do to be saved?’ Answer: “Too late! Jesus has already done it for us!” No more nor no less than Jesus is needed for wholeness, happiness, joy, safety, and eternal security. Saved by grace through faith in Him, we live confidently until moving with Him from here to eternity.
Our Lord’s seven last words have often been described by seven summary words: (1) Forgiveness; (2) Salvation; (3) Relationship; (4) Abandonment; (5) Distress; (6) Reunion; and (7) Triumph.
In short, Jesus saves!
Sooner or later for everyone without exception, last words are uttered.
Having loved people enough to tell them about Jesus and what He has done for us by grace through faith, I’m expecting mine will be, “Thank You, Jesus!”
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Blessings and Love!
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Shatter the sound of silence!
Wake up! Look up! Stand up! Speak up! Act up for Jesus!
Mentoring young pastor Timothy, Paul wrote, “Before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, I solemnly charge you: proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not.”
After a little more expansion of those opening lines that you can read for yourself in 2 Timothy 4 if you’re not catching the drift, he commands more than urges, “Fulfill your ministry.”
Essentially, the apostle is telling the young fellah to find out what God wants him to do with his life and then do it while knowing every day will not be a hot fudge sundae.
Nota bene.
He tells Timothy to discover his calling/vocation/beruf/job not theirs.
He is sparing the young man from pursuing a career that someone else has in mind for him pero God may not have designed and destined for him.
God knows we know what happens when we take a job because mommy or daddy or the unemployment office or anyone else thinks we may like it.
Let me be more specific.
If we’re really called by God to do what we’re doing, we like what we’re doing far more than less and don’t banter and moan about it.
If we’re not really called by God to do what we’re doing, we’re unhappy campers causing discouraging misery for those around us and may even cause a lot of suffering and pain because posing is never real and only the authentic proves efficacious when tested.
The recent disaster on 14 February 2018 at Parkland, Florida’s Marjory Sherman Douglas High School comes to mind.
Demonically possessed Nikolas Jacob Cruz murdered 17 people and attempted to murder another 17.
The reverberations from that horror birthed in hell continue to spark strong debates as Americans are forced to admit our culture is devolving and returning along with the rest of the world to the planet of the apes.
Among the conclusions is some cops were never called to be cops.
A Kopp all of my life, my call to undershepherding has been confirmed for over four decades by the fact that I’m still hanging around and will never hang it up; unless, of course, I get my grandpa Jacob’s cancer genes or am assassinated by an Islamofascistnutball savage or someone still mad at me for taking the church away from them and giving it back to Jesus.
Similarly, I was part of the promotion ceremony for Detective Polnow to Sergeant and Sergeant Gardner to Deputy Chief on 19 March 2018.
By tenure confirming their feelings that they should be cops, facts that they can do the job and have done it so well for so long, and friends, peers, and superiors who say they’re called to be cops, it’s obvious beyond any doubt that they’re cops by God’s design and destiny.
Just as much, like all rookies and even young cops who have not been tested by the storms and wolves/criminals preying on the sheep/citizens, the cops who failed to protect our children from Cruz and his master proved they were never called to be cops in the first place.
When the storms came and wolves attacked, they failed.
They are not called to be cops.
Sergeant Polnow and Deputy Chief Gardner have passed the tests and proven their call to be cops.
They have been promoted to leadership in law enforcement because they have done their jobs; and they are recognized as proven mentors for other women and men in blue to teach, provide, and guide them to do theirs.
Do your job!
Nobody has to say that to anybody who is called by God.
Again, everybody’s got a particular call/vocation/beruf/job for them as designed and destined by God; and when a person takes the time to assess their feelings (Do they feel called to do the job?), facts (Can they do it?), friends (Do peers say they are called to do the job?), and their faith compels their obedience to say what Jesus wants them to say and do what Jesus wants them to do, identity is discernable.
The general call that includes everyone who believes in Jesus as Lord and Savior is all about that last part of discerning specific call/vocation/beruf/job.
Faith.
Christians understand whatever they are saying and doing as how God designed and destined them to honor Him.
When someone becomes a member of our family of faith on the corner of Lincoln and Main, we only ask two questions to confirm that general call to Christianity.
Do you believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior?
Will you pray and work to honor Him in all things at all times in all places with all people?
A yes means we’re in here and now and forever.
Anything less – “Give me more time to think about it…Not sure…Not really ready to commit to the family just yet…No!” – means we’re not in and rolling the dice with our souls.
I’ll never forget Howie.
He was in an egghead program with me in college.
First day of the first class, we went around the room and introduced ourselves.
He introduced himself as Howard.
Later in the introductions, I called him Howie.
He said he didn’t like to be called Howie and asked everyone not to call him Howie.
Guess what we called him for the next four years?
It’s important to know who you are and what you’re supposed to do with your life.
George Carlin used to joke, “Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it!”
God knows we know lots of people who aren’t happy on the job.
They don’t like their jobs and working with/around them can be awfully miserable.
They are the ones who have to be reminded too often, “Do your job!”
Usually, they quit – sooner or later, usually sooner than later, but definitely before a retirement party.
They didn’t do their jobs because they weren’t called to ‘em in the first place.
So what do you do if you know you’re not called to a job because you don’t like it?
Change jobs!
Yeah, I know you’ve got to pay the bills and all of the rest; and I would never tell you to quit the wrong job before starting the right one.
All I’m saying is find out what He wants you to do through your feelings, facts, friends, and faith and then start praying and preparing to be who He designed and destined you to be.
Oral surgeon Robert Amon comes to mind.
We called him oral Robert.
Get it?
Anyway, it was about 40 years ago and I was a very young pastor and he was a mid-career oral surgeon who made lots of money; but he wasn’t happy and came to tell me about it.
He said, “When I was your age, I knew I was called to do what you do but I didn’t go to seminary after college because I wanted to make lots of money and knew I’d never make that much doing what you do. So now I’m making lots of money and I’m really unhappy because I was called to do what you do and not what I’m doing.”
“No problem,” I said, “just quit and go to seminary.”
He did, made much less money, and lived happily for the rest of his truly called life.
He retired a very happy man just a few years ago.
So here’s the deal.
We will never be truly happy on the job until we do the jobs that God has designed and destined us to do.
When people have to be told to do their jobs or don’t do their jobs even when told, it’s obvious that they were never called to those jobs.
Like everything else, bottom line, the only way to be whole, happy, joyful, secure, strong, calm, sane – Let’s just say saved! – is to accept His job offer.
The logic is irrefutable.
He made us.
He knows what we can be and do at His best because He designed and destined us.
If we want job security, it ends if it starts with the right employer.
That’s Employer.
@#$%
Blessings and Love!
@#$%
Shatter the sound of silence!
Wake up! Look up! Stand up! Speak up! Act up for Jesus!
Back on 2 March 2018, I was privileged, as one of our community and county’s police chaplains, to be a part of the promotional ceremony for Shane Woody to Chief of the Belvidere Police Department.
Here’s a big part of what I said.
I’ve got your back!
We’ve all heard it.
Essentially, it means, “I am watching out of you. I am willing and prepared to help you, defend you, look out for you, and, if necessary, I will run into fires with you and for you. I will support you without complaint. I will be there if someone is trying to blindside you. Your well-being is as important to me as my own. I am prepared to sacrifice for you. And, if necessary, I will take a bullet for you.”
I’ve got your back!
I talked about our police chaplains Adam Reardon and Brian Phillips who have pledged with me to run into fires and storms of conflict and danger with our Chief and Sheriff and all of our law enforcement officers in Belvidere and Boone County; for we follow Jesus who told us and showed us how to do that.
Indeed, it’s in a sheepdog’s DNA; and every truly called law enforcement officer as well as truly called pastor or teacher or mom or dad or leader of any kind shares that passionate pledge.
We live to take on predators and run into rather than away from the flames.
We’re called to it/Him/everyone.
I lauded the community and county for the uncommon chain of smooth and seamless transitions of pivotal leadership for the health, welfare, and safety of everyone; especially noting how, unlike DC and Springfield, we have moved with such peace and unity from Mayor Fred to Mayor Mike, Fire Chief Dave to Fire Chief Al, Sheriff Duane to Sheriff Dave, and Chief Jan to Chief Shane.
I concluded, more than less, celebrating Shane having our backs and us having his.
Of course, I also mentioned somewhere in there that there are lots of people who say that but don’t mean it.
We know those advertisements from banks and even churches and especially those jesters in DC and Springfield saying they’ve got our backs don’t really mean it.
It’s always been that way.
Some folks don’t walk the talk, say what they mean, or mean what they say.
Praise God for the exceptions.
Praise God that in a world with so many sheep and too many wolves, we’ve got sheepdogs like Fred, Mike, Dave, Al, Duane, Dave, Jan, Shane, Michelle, Tricia, and…
Jesus especially comes to mind.
The folks lining the road down the Mount of Olives and up to the Temple Mount on that original Palm Sunday said they had His back; but they turned their backs on Him so swiftly and angrily as shouts of “Hosanna” devolved into cries of “Crucify Him!”
They didn’t have His back.
The first 12 were nowhere to be seen when He really needed them to watch His back. They pledged allegiance when it was safe; but when the heat turned on and up, they scattered and caved with whimpers: “I don’t know Him.”
They didn’t have His back.
And somewhere in the distance from years ago when His back was stabbed with an affectionate and unifying kiss turned toxic, I hear a question that begs to be asked, “Is it me, Lord?”
Have I turned my back on Jesus?
Let’s see.
Rather, let’s assess what He sees.
Do we turn our backs on Jesus in public?
Do we have His back at those town halls and school boards and…?
How about those youth sports meetings when games are scheduled during Sunday morning worship hours?
Do we have His back then?
Or do we turn our backs on Him because it’s…?
How about those times when people are texting during a funeral or wedding or…?
Do we turn our backs on Him because we’d rather…?
Do we talk one way in Sunday School and another way when we’re with fraternity brothers and sorority sisters and…?
Do we have His back always or some times or rarely or…?
It’s so crucifying to turn our backs on Jesus.
Ah, yes, history does have a way of repeating itself.
Pero let me tell you about one shining moment in my experience when people who really love Jesus had His back.
I was President of Rock Valley [Junior] Tackle Football.
Most of the games, over the years, were played on Sunday mornings.
Then Alvin from Northwest and another brother from Booker came to me and said this: “I know Sunday mornings and worship aren’t that important to white people; but for black folks, it’s the most important time of the week. So if you don’t mind, we’d like your help to stop scheduling games during our worship times on Sunday. Besides, we know what you really believe and figure you can help us out on that!”
Knowing a little about process and another Robert’s Rules of Order, we got the job done because of the faithful African-American community in Rockford.
I love to tell that story.
It can happen.
There are really faithful people in this world who do have His back…and ours as having His; for we know He taught us to love Him by loving each other like He loves us.
In other words, we’re supposed to have each other’s backs.
Obviously, gloriously, eternally, He has our backs.
That’s what He’s all about.
That’s what people who really believe in Him are all about.
You’ve heard it before.
You can tell more about a person by what she/he will die for than live for.
Such beautiful words.
I’ve got your back!
He did, does, and always will have ours.
Pero there’s that other question begging to be asked.
Let’s frame it this way in His words that He backed up: “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses His life because of Me will find it.”
Then Jesus delivers the punch line about backing up: “What will it benefit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his life?”
I’ve got your back!
He does.
While I may be wrong, I don’t think we can end with that.
Something about faith without works/signs/proof/evidence being…
Let me put it another way.
Knowing we’re going to live forever one way or the other, we better back Jesus.
@#$%
Blessings and Love!
@#$%
Shatter the sound of silence!
Wake up! Look up! Stand up! Speak up! Act up for Jesus!
Too many preachers and other politicians make a good living by saying nothing eloquently.
You know.
Three irrelevant points followed by a syrupy, sentimental, and meaningless poem.
Of course, that's the best way to be liked.
44 comes to mind.
Anyway, we're not called to be liked; or as I used to tell my homiletics classes and anyone else who wasn't really listening, "If everybody likes you, that includes the demonically oppressed and possessed. Way to go, concubine!"
We're called to love; and that often means saying what people need not want to hear.
Still, I wish Jim wouldn't have sent this cartoon to me.
It reminds me of...
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@#$%
Well, this cartoon (below) won't be on our next bulletin cover pero, uh, well, uh, gulp, sigh, geez...
Providentially or otherwise, it was forwarded to me just two hours after an emergency care session with a couple sent to me by...
The woman was wondering why her husband has been cheating on her.
After admitting she isn't interested in you know what anymore, he said, "I don't know why she even cares. I mean she treats me like ___ all of the time. She doesn't like to ___. So I just figured..."
I've often spoken to divorce and singles groups and said with tribute to Harley's His Needs Her Needs, "If your wife's/husband's emotional, intellectual, spiritual, or sexual needs are not being met at home, those needs will be meet sooner or later with or without you. Adultery is sometimes enabled by a spouse who has lost emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and sexual interest in her/his mate. That's a fact, Jill/Jack. If your wife/husband is getting it on with someone else, take a look in the mirror. There are three sides to every story: her side, his side, and the truth; and the truth is adultery is often enabled by a spouse unfaithful to marital privileges and responsibilities. In other words, deal with it before someone does it for you. Just because you've lost interest in her/him doesn't mean somebody else won't..."
If you have a problem with your watch, don't look at the hands.
Look deeper!
If your spouse is running around on you...
@#$%
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Scratching the Surface
of
Marriage
(A Brief and Incomplete Guide to Happy/Healthy/Holy Marriage)
Everybody wants to live happily ever after.
Certainly, that’s the expectation at weddings.
But as a buddy observes, “Marriage is like flies on a screen. 50% want in. 50% want out.”
Truth is every marriage has challenges; as the bliss, mist, dog-eyed stares, and couch-cuddling to the tune of Elton John’s Your Song are often contradicted by days when wives think husbands come from Mars and husbands think wives come from Venus.
Think about the challenges – gender distinctives/obsessions, socioeconomics, inlaws, outlaws, and the many temptations threatening to tear apart marriages.
While this is a brief, incomplete, and indicative not exhaustive guide to happy, healthy, and holy marriages, I’ve discovered at least three essential ingredients in a recipe enabling romance after the honeymoon:
1. Take Jesus Seriously – You invited Him to the wedding! That’s not enough! He must be invited/welcomed/included/loved into the rest of your life together! Jesus was clear, concise, and conclusive about personal/marital survival: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”
2. Have Fun – Some favorite verses come to mind: “I meant to do my work today; but a brown bird sang in the apple tree and all the leaves were calling me. So what could I do but laugh and go?” Even those dusty old Westminster clergy got it/Him: “Our chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.”
3. Don’t Take Yourself So Seriously – Here are 12 words that keep marriages together: “I was wrong. I am sorry. Please forgive me. I love you.”
If you’re really serious about taking Jesus seriously in your marriage, having fun in your marriage, and not taking yourself so seriously in your marriage, take a look at Mark Gungor’s Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage.
Caution.
If you’re not working on your marriage, someone else will be working on it for worse not better sooner or later.
Willard F. Harley, Jr.’s His Needs, Her Needs: Building an Affair-Proof Marriage is an excellent how-to on keeping romance in marriage and preventing someone from stealing who God intended for you in marriage.
Dr. Harley’s book identifies the emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and sexual needs that must be met in marriage; admitting unmet needs destroy marriages.
A man’s basic needs in marriage are identified as sexual fulfillment, recreational companionship, an attractive spouse, domestic support, and admiration.
A woman’s basic needs in marriage are identified as affection, conversation, honesty and openness, financial support, and family commitment.
Dr. Harley: “In marriages that fail to meet those needs, I have seen, strikingly and alarmingly, how consistently married people choose the same pattern to satisfy their unmet needs: the extramarital affair. People wander into affairs with astonishing regularity, in spite of whatever strong moral or religious convictions they may hold. Why? Once a spouse lacks fulfillment of any of the five needs, it creates a thirst that must be quenched. If changes do not take place within the marriage to care for that need, the individual will face the powerful temptation to fill it outside of marriage.”
Or as I’ve had to say to wives and husbands to emphasize this caution, “Your spouse’s needs will be met with or without you. If your spouse ain’t getting it at home, they’re gonna get it from someone else.”
Marriages can be improved, renewed, or saved.
Go back to the essential ingredients in a recipe enabling romance after the honeymoon; and consider Revelation 2:1-7 as a model for improving, renewing, or saving marriages as well as one’s personal relationship with God: “Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.”
Remember everything that made you so passionately in love with each other.
Repent or do them all over again.
Take Jesus seriously!
Have fun!
Don’t take yourself so seriously!
Gary R. Collins: “The most obvious way to prevent divorce is to build stronger marriages.”
Putting it another way, “The grass is greener where it’s watered.”
@#$%
Blessings and Love!
@#$%
Shatter the sound of silence!
Wake up! Look up! Stand up! Speak up! Act up for Jesus!
