Monthly Archives: July 2025
Confessions of a Small Church Pastor: I Kind of Like it Here
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and to the cross.
“There will be some left behind, like when an olive tree is beaten— two or three ripe olives remain toward the very top, four or five on its fruitful branches,” says the LORD God of Israel. At that time men will trust in their creator; they will depend on the Holy One of Israel. They will no longer trust in the altars their hands made, or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made.” (Isaiah 17:6–8, NET)
“ Therefore, so that I would not become arrogant, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to trouble me—so that I would not become arrogant.I asked the Lord three times about this, that it would depart from me. But he said to me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me.” (2 Corinthians 12:7–9, NET)
Many troubled by various diseases came running from every direction, and putting the health of their souls first, through confession, they were then freed of their illnesses.
First I become indignant and then I become sad when a person to whom I am trying to give spiritual counsel tells me: “Well, I am trying to make up my mind whether or not I should accept Christ.”
This scene is taking place in our society over and over again, as proud adamic sinners argue within themselves: “I don’t know whether I should accept Christ or not.” So, in this view, our poor Lord Christ stands hat-in-hand, shifting from one foot to the other, looking for a job—wondering whether He will be accepted!
Is it possible that we proud humans do not know that the Christ we are putting off is the eternal Son; the Lord who made the heavens and the earth and all things that are therein? He is indeed the One, the Mighty One!
Thankfully, He has promised to receive us, poor and sinful though we be. But the idea that we can make Him stand while we render the verdict of whether He is worthy is a frightful calumny—and we ought to get rid of it!
This morning I received an email which infuriated me.
Most of it I agreed with, as it detailed the various problems in my church brotherhood. There are, like every denomination (whatever they call it), problems that people try to resolve politically. Well, the last problem they mentioned was the existence of churches under 100 in attendance, and as many, saw these churches as a waste of personnel and financial resources.
Of course they offer solutions, most of which include either selling the facilities and closing the church, or allowing another larger church to come alongside and manage and take responsibility for the smaller church. In my observation, this usually ends up with the larger church using the assets from the smaller church, with less people than it had before it came alongside to “help.”
It is, in my opinion, either poor stewardship or simply straight out covetousness of the small church assets in many of these cases. (and its not my own church body – there were brotherhoods and denoms doing this 30-40 years ago) EEither way, we give up places where God put His people, who built a place where people could come to know they were forgiven, to become part of the family of God==to be people God would work through to save the world.
In my readings this morning Iw as hit with this again. It is the small weak remnant of grapes that cast off their idolatry and look to God. It is Paul’s weakness that God uses to do the greatest ministry – it is when we are huumble and broken that we don’t leave Jesus at the door, but welcome Him in, begging for help….
It is when we confess and are absolved of our sin that we see the healing of our lives happen. It is not when we are strong and healthy, when the church is well managed and the programs are working like clock-work; its when we cry out in despair. I am not saying I want my church to always be “small”, my first church didn’t stay at 14 people. But yet I never weant to lost the joy we had seeing the church – told to chose its doors, defy the stats and become a refuge for many.
God works through the small church. He worked through the smallest of families, in the smallest of tribes, in the smallest of nations. God works through broken people. and whether we average 50 or 5000 I want my church to remember that it is still… small and that we need God to do the work.
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2008). Mornings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings. Moody Publishers.
Pasquale, G., ed. (2011). Day by Day with Saint Francis: 365 Meditations (p. 218). New City Press.
Life’s Unfair I Cry… and then realize I am glad for that…
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and the Cross
“For this reason the sovereign master himself will give you a confirming sign. Look, this young woman is about to conceive and will give birth to a son. You, young woman, will name him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14, NET)
When they arrived in the Spoleto valley, going back to their holy proposal, they began to discuss whether they should live among the people or go off to solitary places. But Christ’s servant Francis, putting his trust in neither his own efforts nor in theirs, sought the pleasure of the divine will in this matter by the fervor of prayer. Enlightened by a revelation from heaven, he realized that he was sent by the Lord to win for Christ the souls which the devil was trying to snatch away. Therefore he chose to live for everyone rather than for himself alone, drawn by the example of the one who deigned to die for all.
You stir us so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in you.
Christians who understand the true meaning of Christ’s cross will never whine about being treated unfairly. Whether or not they are given fair treatment will never enter their heads. They know they have been called to follow Christ, and certainly the Savior did not receive anything approaching fair treatment from mankind.
In language the word “unfair” seems altogether innocent but it indicates an inner attitude that has no place among Christians.
It’s ironic that one one the most evil rulers in all of history had the opportunity to receive any blessing he desired. ALl he had tro do was ask, and God would have granted it, to prove that he was trustworthy. And despite the king’s refusal, God provided him a sign, the birth of the Messiah, All to prove what is contained in the name of the Child provided.
Immanuel – “God is with you!”
It’s something we should never tired of hearing.
Even when we are as obstinate as the King of Israel, or as evil as his wife. God is at work, stirring us, trying to awe us with His love, that we might fins the peace we so desperately need, so our heart can rest from the “unquiet”
And from there, even as we desire more peace and rest, like Francis, we find at the end of our prayers a desire to live fro others. We learn to stop whining about what is fair or cry out for justice for our sake. For it wasn’t fair for Christ to come and die for me, but he embraced that sacrifice, that injustice, for me.
And so dealing with things that are unfair…
Those things become meaningless when we find the joy that comes when we realize we can worship God–for we know God’s love for us, and knowing that we can rejoice in Him. Knowing why we can rejoice in Him, because of his extravagant, incredible love for us.
That’s where it comes down to – experiencing the love of God that goes beyond what theologians can write about, or make a Youtube about. The love of God needs to be experienced, it needs to be lived in!
It is so incredible, embracing that which is unfair, in order to help people experience it is well worth it, indeed, we will come to rejoice in those times of life being unfair – for we know the opportunity it brings, to testify to how Jesus embraced us, even as our sins were unfairly carried by Him, nailed with Him to the cross….
The tears will come, as will the pain, but God will use it all for good, even if we don’t understand. He promised and we can depend on it. AMEN!
Pasquale, G., ed. (2011). Day by Day with Saint Francis: 365 Meditations (p. 214). New City Press.
Saint Augustine. (2012). The Confessions, Part I (J. E. Rotelle, Ed.; M. Boulding, Trans.; Second Edition, Vol. 1, p. 39). New City Press.
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2008). Mornings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings. Moody Publishers.
Christians are simply beggars… if we do things right.
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and to the Cross:
“In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us the message of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His plea through us. We plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!”” (2 Corinthians 5:19–20, NET)
They are expressions of the one great heresy, which is as old as fallen mankind: Man refuses to accept the external word and the external means of grace and develops his own religion, which places man where God alone has the right to stand: “Ye shall be as gods!”
I have met Christians who were so intent upon winning souls to Christ that they would not talk to you about anything but God and His goodness!
Such a man was the Canadian, Robert Jaffray, one of our early pioneer missionaries. His family owned the Toronto Globe and Mail and as a young Christian he was disinherited because he chose to follow God’s call to China rather than join the family business.
That good godly man spent his lifetime in China and the south Pacific, searching for the lost—and winning them! He was always reading maps and daring to go to the most difficult places, in spite of physical weaknesses and diabetic handicap. He sought out and lived among the poor and miserable, always praying to God, “Let my people go!”
On my bookshelves I have numerous books about church growth, about having a missional spirit. Others talk about forensic apologetics and evangelism. Many of these approach the topic with a clinical approach, looking at statistics, looking for patterns that can be replicated, looking for logical presentations of the gospel that give overwhelming proof – which we hope will covert the heathen.
We know, for we ourselves our guilty, of the great sin of self-idolatry, of narcissism. Even in thinking “we” can prove the gospel, we are take up a burden that is rightfully the Holy Spirit. Far too often in the church, we create our own religion, putting ourselves in charge of saving the world.
Yet there are those, who in humility simply follow the Spirit, as they are compelled to not shut up about Jesus. Jaffray was one, Eric Liddell comes to mind, as does Barton Stone, and Wyneken and Luther. Each spent their lives, or a great deal of their lives not arguing, but pleading that people would be reconciled to God – a work already accomplished by Jesus.
I think that word pleading is important – it has the emphasis of desire built into the request. It doesn’t come from a place of power, or even authority, but of someone is so worried about the person they beg them to let God in, to receive the love and mercy. It comes from seeing people living without hope, without peace, assaulted by the world, and by their own guilt and shame.
And we have the antidote to that which poisons their life.
How can we get them to receive it? How can we get them to trust in a God they do not yet know of, that they have yet to experience, that they haven’t allowed to bring them to life, remove the guilt and shame of sin, and restore them?
This is the passion Paul had, this is why some cannot shut up about the love of God.
We can beg them, the Spirit opens their hearts, Christ has reconciled them to the Father.
This is our call… we simple beggers on a this journey called life…
Sasse, H. (2001). This Is My Body: Luther’s Contention for the Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar (p. 191). Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2008). Mornings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings. Moody Publishers.
The Critical Need… Isn’t Deeper Theology…
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and to the Cross
“Now an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you understand it?”The expert answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”” (Luke 10:25–28, NET)
“Opening sentences
One thing I have asked of the Lord,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life;
to behold the beauty of the Lord
and to seek Him in His temple.
Call: Who is it that you seek?
Response: We seek the Lord our God.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your heart?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your soul?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your mind?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your strength?
Response: Amen. Christ, have mercy.”
Yes, it is fun to fool around with councils and fathers if one juggles with the letters or constantly postpones the council, as has now been done for twenty years, and does not think of what happens meanwhile to the souls who must be fed with conscientious teaching, as Christ says, “Tend my sheep” [John 21:16].
The responsive prayer above in green is one I have used, on and off for years. I originally found it in a book called “Celtic Daily Prayer” and later found the website version above.
The responsive part of it, means so much to me, not that i full seek the Lord, but it reminds me to pray and do so. and to to strive to do it with all I am. For there I will find the love and peace I need to survive. I will find the grace that enables me to look past this troubled day.
I need to seek God, with all I am… and I need to be reminded to do so.
I see that in ministry as well. There are a lot of cool things to look at in academic theology. Wonderful thoughts about the mysteries of God, all the incredible histories, some of which provide warnings by example. But far too often, these histories, these doctrinal disputes, these things become red herrings and strawmen, capturing our hearts and minds, stealing our focus on Jesus.
That’s Luther’s point about the councils, and studying their works. Sometimes the actual work of those councils stopped the priests, bishops and cardinals from providing the pastoral care their people need. That they desperately need.
This is true today as well, as I find people, hungry for hope, turn to Youtube and other social media, looking for experts to teach them. They find teachers and apologists, men and women who do know a lot about doctrines and histories from within one framework or another, But what is not provided is pastoral care and guidance–which should focus us on our relationship with Jesus and celebrate our being healed from our brokenness with others that are broken.
I am not doubting the sincerity of these teachers, or necessarily what they teach, but we need to be carried to Jesus, we need to receive His healing. Then this other stuff might be beneficial.
What is critical – to experience the love and mercy of God, to experience the resurrection from the dead, that only comes from dying with Jesus at the cross and rising with Him – His people.
May we seek Him, and be strengthened by those who help carry us to Him.
Amen
https://www.northumbriacommunity.org/offices/morning-prayer/
Robinson, P. W. (1539). On the Councils and the Church. In H. J. Hillerbrand, K. I. Stjerna, T. J. Wengert, & P. W. Robinson (Eds.), Church and Sacraments (Vol. 3, p. 359). Fortress Press.
Reserved in Heaven, for YOU! A sermon on Col. 1:1-14
Reserved
in Heaven, for YOU
Col. 1:1-14
† In Jesus Name †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ strengthen your trust in Him, as you are prepared for that which is reserved for you in heaven!
- Registered and Reserved
Last week, when deacon Bob preached, his sermon revolved around a word… anyone remember it?
Bob- you do remember it, right?
The focus was your names being REGISTERED in heaven, proof you belong there. I believe you referred to the fact that you and everyone can find the proof of your married in the place it is registered – the County Registrar’s office.
Today takes off of that word “registered” which focuses on the who, and works around the concept of who – in the case of marriage – Bob and Helena… in the core of the message – your name being registered in heaven.
Today we move passed that to what our names are registered for, and we see the impact of what is reserved for us. It is one thing to know someone has our name and we are going to get something… but our response is based on what is waiting for us. What are we expecting, that is reserved for us….
It makes a big difference, let me explain
- Failed Faith from Failed Expectation
Back in high school we had a vice principal whose primary job was to be the disciplinarian – you were only called to his office when someone registered a complaint against you. So for him to call you out of a crowd… well…it wasn’t good! (normally) Well, one day in my senior year I am walking down the hall with my friends, and he sees us, and he calls out, “Hey Darren get in here…”
My instinct I am safe…so I turn around and walk away, leaving Darren Nelson, Darren Cobb, and Darren Degenhardt in the hall to deal with the gruff and mean vice principal.
Until I heard, “Parker, don’t walk away from me…” and all the Darrens breathed and relaxed!
Anxiety level 10 and growing quickly.
He did have my name! Somehow, my name was registered with him… and now I had to to find out what was reserved for me….
I think we often look at God that way, as the disciplinarian who only calls us out when we’ve done wrong?
Even those of us who have heard the gospel, the good news, still can have the impression that God is out there, waiting to give us detention, or suspend us, or kick us completely out, as Moses warned the people of Israel. Sin too much, or certain sins, and unless mercy reigned, outside the people’s camp you were sent, either for a week, or forever…
Paul’s prayer for these people is that they don’t get caught up back in that loop, for they were already living a life that testified to God’s work transforming them! They loved God and all of God’s people because they had the confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven.
- Expecting Heaven, knowing God better
If I had only known what the vice president reserved for me, if I only knew my name and likeness registered in his mind, I would have had a far different attitude. And the Darrens wouldn’t have been relieved either, they might actually have been jealous!
That is the point Paul is making here… hear it again, “we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, 5 which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.”
Our lives are changed by this expectation, by knowing that life is given to us, not just life now, but life eternal, eventually life in the very presence of God, life witout pain and sorrow, life where loving even the least is just how we live.
As Paul would put it, 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.
In some of my vacation reading, I came across a lot of similar thoughts by Luther, Augustine and Pope Benedict XVI. All were saying the same thing—that theology wasn’t about academic pursuits or knowledge of doctrine, but the ability to know God, to experience His love more. To know He knows your name, to know He has reserved a place of you, to know He loves you and died for you
So he could, as Paul says “rescue us from kingdom of darkness (and anxiety that is caused as He calls your name) for He is transferring us to the Kingdom of Jesus, who purchased our freedom, and forgave our sins.
So rejoice – you are registered, and you have a reservation.. and you are remade for that reservation! Amen
Freedom, Liberty, and your Rights –
Thoughts which carry me, even drag me to Jesus and the Cross
“When any of you has a legal dispute with another, does he dare go to court before the unrighteous rather than before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you not competent to settle trivial suits? Do you not know that we will judge angels? Why not ordinary matters! So if you have ordinary lawsuits, do you appoint as judges those who have no standing in the church?I say this to your shame! Is there no one among you wise enough to settle disputes between fellow Christians?” (1 Corinthians 6:1–5, NET)
Francis told them: “When you pray, say “Our Father” and “We adore you, O Christ, in all your churches throughout the whole world, and we bless you, for by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”
To any human who bothers to think a bit, it should be evident that there is in our society no such thing as absolute freedom—for only God is free!
It is inherent in creaturehood that its freedom must be limited by the will of the Creator and the nature of the thing created. Freedom is liberty within bounds, liberty to obey holy laws, liberty to keep the commandments of Christ, to serve mankind, to develop to the full all the latent possibilities within our redeemed natures. True Christian liberty never sets us free to indulge our lusts or to follow our fallen impulses
Tozer’s words about freedom seem so appropriate today, though written decades past. He smacks down the illusion of idols named freedom and liberty. For they are not absolute, they are not all powerful, and they aren’t all merciful… for they have a cost that is reminiscent of slavery….unless…
It has been redeemed by the one who saves us, that He is allowed to put the limits on our freedom, limits which recognize His role as our God, and the limits He placed on Christ’s freedom, which was given the boundaries of what best cared and provided for us.
Tozer said “mankind,” but lets simplify it – our children, our parents, our parents, friends, co-workers and neighbors. Our liberty must be in tune with how we love those around us, those who need us to sacrifice for their well-being. whether the need is physical, psychological or spiritual.
That is what Paul us getting at with his comments on lawsuits–wisdom is required because God’s justice is different than man’s. It is based in mercy, love and loyalty– not just what is our “right” or allows us to maintain our liberty, above our community.
This is the truest freedom.. that found in our relationships…the freedom to be loved and to love.
Pasquale, G., ed. (2011). Day by Day with Saint Francis: 365 Meditations (p. 192). New City Press.
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2008). Mornings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings. Moody Publishers.
Job’s Death Wish… and finding Jesus there!
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and to the cross
““Oh that my request would be realized, and that God would grant me what I long for! And that God would be willing to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and kill me.” (Job 6:8–9, NET)
Hard fights are rarely fought except by those with the greatest strength.”
In each case, this line of theological thought expresses well that divine initiative brings about sudden conversion and that therein exists the indispensable spiritual basis for theology. Consequently, the words of Paul—“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20)—are foundational for Ratzinger’s understanding of theology.
“The knowledge of God is a way; it means discipleship. It is not revealed to the uncommitted, permanently neutral observer but, rather, is disclosed in the measure in which one sets out on the way.” Such knowledge requires deep conversion so that it remains a constant encounter. True reasoning requires “a purification of heart.” It is bound to the Logos and includes death and resurrection.
His words came out of a place of great despair, for everything he treasured, everything he found joy in, was stripped from him over the course of moments.
He was broken, overwhelmed by grief and pain and suffering, and his cry, his desire to die seems like the only hope.
He doesn’t have the strength that St. Francis alludes to, to battle thi hard fight. He just wants to get past it, and the only option appears to be death. Even his wife realizes this – as she encourages him to curse God and die.
I may not have lost as much as Job, but I’ve lost a lot at times. There have been pains in my life I didn’t think I could get through, times of hurting and to be honest, times where I wished Jesus would either return, or call me home. Not because I wanted to get to heaven, but because I wanted to escape from life.
And in a real way, the answer to life is found in death.
Not our physical death as we know it, but as we die with Christ in baptism, only to rise–united with Him as He lives.
it takes some thought to think through the change, to realize it with our mind, but our heart realizes it at the altar, and when we hear His word, and our old nature struggles with the fact we are loved, that we are forgiven, as demons struggle to keep their hold on us, trying to load on the guilt and shame removed at the cross of Jesus.
To help people experience that blessing, to experience that love is the purpose of all ministry, From facilitating worship through music, to the sacraments; from feeding the poor to counseling and advising the rich.
This is the true administration, the proper stewardship of the gifts of God, for the people of God.
To help them know and understand, and experience, as Job spoke, ““As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that as the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God,” (Job 19:25–26, NET)
Pasquale, G., ed. (2011). Day by Day with Saint Francis: 365 Meditations (p. 187). New City Press.
De Gaál, E. (2018). O Lord, I Seek Your Countenance: Explorations and Discoveries in Pope Benedict XVI’s Theology (M. Levering, Ed.; p. 211). Emmaus Academic.
De Gaál, E. (2018). O Lord, I Seek Your Countenance: Explorations and Discoveries in Pope Benedict XVI’s Theology (M. Levering, Ed.; p. 212). Emmaus Academic.
