Genesis 4-6

You can't help but ask the question, "how did they live so long?" in reading todays chapters. Methuselah for 969 years! There are lots of theories out there and one that I like is that in the Garden of Eden, there was the Tree of Life. I tend toward the position that it was in eating from this tree, which is a prophetic picture of Jesus, that Adam and Eve had the hope of eternal longevity. Once they had to leave Eden, they were no longer able to eat from this tree yet the effects of it carried forward for generations. Remember, in Genesis 1 a principle of life was established, that all living things would reproduce after their own kind. The effects of Tree of Life were passed down from generation to generation but so too was the sinful nature of our humanity. Without continuing consumption of the Tree of Life, the effects of the sinful nature of our humanity eventually overcame us, in part physically, and our lives ceased to be supernaturally lengthened.

This brings up another interesting question, "what is the difference between prescriptive and descriptive?" I am more descriptive than prescriptive. For example, the curse on mankind we read in Genesis 3, is this God prescribing what He is going to do to mankind or describing what mankind has done to themselves? I think God is describing what mankind has done to themselves. God did not curse us which would be prescriptive but rather we cursed ourselves and God is describing how we will suffer as result of our own disobedience. Thus, once we get to Genesis 6:3 and God says that the number of mankind's years will not be 120, I see this as descriptive, not prescriptive. God is describing what is now happening to man a result of not having access to the Tree of Life generations later.

But we know that we have access to the Tree of Life today, in a sense! Not that a vow of devotion to Jesus ensures the longevity of these physical bodies but rather a promise of a greater longevity, a heavenly body! In Revelation, the New Jerusalem has at its center, the Tree of Life! See if you can find the reference and read for yourself!

Godspeed in 2010!

Pastor Fred

Genesis 1 - 3

I am endeavoring to share a thought or two from my daily readings in 2010. Our church (www.thecitylifechurch) is reading through the Bible every year. This year, we are using the chronological reading plan. I hope you join us! If you are new to reading plans, any number of Bibles at your local Christian bookstore contains reading plans, there are even Bibles designed specifically for daily reading, like the Chronological Bible. We like to use online services so that you receive a daily email prompting you and listing your reading for the day...check out www.crosswalk.com for example.

It's still The Way today!

For today...I am always struck by what God does to Adam in Genesis 2:18. God acknowledges that it is not good for man to be alone. But does He proceeds, not in the creation of woman, but of animals! If one was not familiar with the nature of God from the rest of Scripture, it would appear rather sadistic, taunting. God then proceeds with giving the task of naming all the animals to Adam, with each naming event, a reminder of his loneliness. Who is this God? A sovereign One, all wise! For here we see one of the great principles of God's Kingdom, that it is in waiting without what God intends for us to have that we are able to recognize His will more clearly once it arrives. Verse 23, "An the man said, This is now bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh..."

I also reflect on how the devil works. In chapter 3, verse 5 he promises, "...you will be like God..." I believe one his most successful approaches in temptation is to play on appetites that we have that are pure, noble, righteous. All of us are called to be like God. In chapter one we read that He created us in His image. The devil takes desires that are God given and perverts them. God gave us an appetite for pleasure, rest, relationship, prosperity...yet we know all of them can be perverted. Be wise to the devil's schemes!

My last thought touches on something controversial. I strongly believe that The Church has failed in its calling to reach the homosexual community. I believe Cal Thomas got it correct in his book Blinded By Might where he accuses some popular evangelical groups for picking certain social issues not out of divine calling but because they were strategic issues for fund raising. I believe The Church has failed miserably in loving the sinner and hating the sin on this one. We have hated both. But we me must not let our mistakes cause us to fall into accommodating a life style that robs people of the abundant life Jesus promises. Genesis 2:24 and 25 are the best verses in the Bible to uphold romantic relationships being only between one man and one woman. Here again the insight above comes into play. Satan understands our innate need for romantic relationship, sexual fulfillment so he plays on this need in people and leads them astray. Genesis 2:24-25 teach us that the only way that need in us is going to be completely satisfied is with one of the opposite gender.

See you tomorrow!

examiner.com

In February of this year, I spent 8 days in one of the poorest countries of the world, Niger Africa. Without costing you anything but a few minutes each week, you can help support an orphanage I visited there. If you go to www.linkniger.com you can find under Projects & Partnerships more information about this home to parentless children. Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world. In fact, it is a fourth-world nation. Never heard of fourth-world? Me too until a friend told me how Niger was too poor for third-world so a new global classification has been created.

How can you help? I recently started writing for an online editorial of sorts, www.examiner.com where I will be contributing twice each week. Funds are generated simply by the number of views. 100% of what is generated is going to support this orphanage in Niger. I hope you help! Simply by going to the Examiner website, then to the link Meet The Examiners, you will see all the examiner categories. Select Religion & Spirituality. You will find me there in the Norfolk group. Open my page and then you can subscribe by entering your email. As long as you don't check the box for other updates, the only emails you will receive will be to notify you of my articles posting. Each time I post, if you take just a few minutes to open the article, a page view is generated which translates into funds for orphans! If you don't find the articles are worth the read, you can simply unsubscribe...but if you do, I'd ask you to invite your friends to join.

We all see the commercials on television, print ads in magazines, headlines...about poverty in the world. This is a real opportunity to make a difference. Much of the worlds poverty remains due to a lack of links between the under-resourced and families like yours and mine. Between working for The Christian Children's Fund and living in the inner-city of Richmond, I spent 15 years working directly to help improve the conditions of the lives of impoverished people. During that time I always heard people say the same thing..."I just don't know how to get involved." If you could translate a few minutes each week into real dollars for orphaned children in one the poorest nations of the world, why wouldn't you, why not get involved?

If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know! I won't be posting to this blog for a while since I'll be focussing on the Examiner articles...thanks for your help!

Pastor Fred

All Inclusive

Some 2000 years ago, when Jesus left heaven and came to earth, He made some astounding promises. He promised hope, healing, purpose, destiny, power, perseverance, adventure, suspense, authority...but there was one, if we possessed that promise, we would possess them all. He promised eternal life.

I remember researching for our honeymoon destination twelve years ago, learning all sorts of new terminology in the resort industry. The one that I remember most was "all inclusive." It meant that with that package, for that price, everything was included. You got it all, access to every restaurant, every dish, as many times a day...needless to say the feeling of hunger was elusive that week! All the amenities of the resort were ours to enjoy.

Eternal life is all inclusive. Once we posses this, so too do we possess every other promise Jesus made, every one. This promise of eternal life was not some fine print promise that only the spiritually savvy have any hope of possessing. Jesus puts it out there plainly, for everyone.

He teaches that eternal life is both now and forever. For centuries, mankind had suffered in the myth of believing that eternal life was only found in the after life, that eternal life was limited to the eternity that began after our last breath. Jesus shattered that myth. He taught that, yes, eternal life is the promise of forever with God in an existence that is reminiscent of Eden, but it begins now, in this life. If we are waiting for something to come, Jesus says, we are missing what God intended for today! Eternal life is both now and forever.

Jesus wants us to possess His all inclusive promise of eternal life. I wonder if one reason so many people rejected Him was because He just made it seem too simple. Come on, shouldn't something priceless, something so vastly desired be at least a little intricate to possess? In our secular thinking, exclusivity is synonymous with desirability. A godless value system says, "If just anyone can have it, maybe I don't want it." One of Jesus' favorite words is "whosoever."

He says a vow of devotion to Him, pursuing intimacy with God, embracing care of other, having an appetite for personal transformation, and diligence in service will usher "whosoever" out of just existing and into eternal life. And if that's not simple enough, just in case you think you can't, that you don't have what it takes, that any of these are just too much to ask, He says, yes, you're right so I'm going to send some to help you, the Holy Spirit. Are you kidding me? He makes it that plain and also gives us an Advocate to work on our behalf 24/7? Yes.

Do you have cravings? I do. I'm having one right now for some white coconut chocolate I had last week. It is at the store, I can see the isle in my imagination...I may not finish this blog without satisfying that craving...but alas, I endure! Did you know that you also have spiritual cravings? Every person does. That is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, every life.

We charismatic, pentecostal, evangelical followers of Jesus proclaim our commitment to bring Jesus to the world! I think the Holy Spirit is deeply offended by that kind of attitude. Are we commissioned to go, most certainly, but let us never forget that the Holy Spirit is already wherever we are commissioned to go and let our attitude be, "Holy Spirit, how can I join in what you are already doing."

There are innate desires in every human being, spiritual cravings, for scripture, prayer, gathering, generosity, rest, stewardship, worship, relationship, fasting, accountability, reaching, and service. Sure we all have different ways of saying them but they are all there, longing to be expressed, experience, pursued, satisfied in every one of us. Why, because that is the work of the Holy Spirit in all our lives, moving us, prompting us, leading us, imploring us, convicting us, inspiring us towards these, what I call, pathways. You show me a person that is actively incorporating these pathways into their lives and I'll show you a person who is devoted to Jesus, experiencing intimacy with God, enjoying the care of others, feeding their appetite for personal transformation, and being diligent in service...possessing eternal life, full today and confident of a fullness to come.

Craving something? Of course you are. Don't deny yourself what Jesus came all the way from heaven to earth to show us, to die for us, to possess all His many promises in one, all inclusive, eternal life.

Pastor Fred

Psalm 126

...parphrasing verses 5 and 6...

When we sow sorrow into the soil of God's heart, we reep a harvest of joy in time.

Freedom

I hope you live every waking moment with an unshakable belief that God still speaks today and wants to speak to you!

This morning I heard Him speak to me. I have never heard His audible voice but I like to say I feel His voice. I sense His voice deep within, moments like this morning remind me of the reality of eternity. Feeling the voice of God resonates in the eternal part of who I am, deep. So, this morning I am about to read some in Psalms, reading through the Bible in the year puts us at Psalms according to the reading plan our church is using. I am a little behind in Psalms and was considering picking up with Psalm 31 or in the teens and trying to catch up. God spoke to me about beginning with Psalm 31...and now I know why!

Earlier in the morning I was praying about my sermon for this Saturday, July 4. We are having an abbreviated service, just one hour and then two hours of picnicking and gaming on the grounds to celebrate July 4 and create a wonderful opportunity for those who call TCLC their church home to invite a friend who may not attend church. I knew I wanted to talk about what it means to be truly free, spiritually free...in spite of all the others kinds of freedoms we enjoy, especially those at such a great cost to our men and women in uniform, for many, there is still a freedom they have yet to come to have, the freedom of the heart.

So, this morning in prayer, I remembered something I saw years ago when I was outside. I saw a wasp get caught in a spider's web. The wasp was strong enough o create quite a disruption in the web but not quite strong enough to get free. The spider stayed back assessing the situation. It was clear that if the wasp was allowed to continue, the web would be destroyed. The spider quickly moved into action. The spider approached the wasp with such speed that at first I thought it was going to attack...wow, what a fight this is going to be! But instead, the spider came to an abrupt stop just out of reach of the wasp. With it's long front legs, the spider began tapping the wasp multiple times, as if it were attaching something to the wasp. Then, the spider backed up and began to cut the wasp free...had the spider determined the wasp was too strong for it? Was it now cutting the wasp loose to save its web?

When the wasp fell free, it did not fall very far! The wasp flapped its wings with every expectation of flying away but was then surprisingly forced into an abrupt turn. The spider had tethered the wasp to one of the main supports of the web. Picture a person dangling by a rope attached to a bridge above spanning a canyon. The wasp was dangling below to the web, free to fly as fast and as long as it wanted, but in a circle, about an 8 inch circle. After several minutes, the wasp was completely exhausted. The spider then came, and well, you know the rest!

So I sit down this morning to read Psalm 31 at the leading of God and what words do I find there? Verse 4..."You will free me from the net that is secretly set for me..." Can you believe that! Do you think God knows how to speak to us today or what! I can't wait to preach this Saturday...I know there will be some who think they are fee but are really tethered to destruction. Psalm 31 verse 14 says, "But I trust in You, Lord; I say, You are my God!"

So many people believe that God exists but we are not set free from the "web" of Satan until we surrender our heart to Him, our Creator, and say to Him..."You are my God!"

I hope you find a freedom this July 4 that you have never before known, a freedom of the heart...that too came at a great sacrifice...His Son, Jesus.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."

Be free!

Pastor Fred

Catch of the Day

Three things I look for in a restaurant as I'm entering for the first time are a full parking lot, fat cooks, and retirees! I'm not talking about a spot for your next anniversary or where you might take your business clients. I'm talking about the place where you go when you are ready to give way to avarice, need a bib for your shirt, and leave the hand wipes at home because you have every intention of an unashamed finger-licking culinary event!

If Friday and Saturday nights aren't full-lot-nights, then you know the people who live in the area aren't excited about eating there...chances are, you will not be overly excited about the food either. Heavy kitchen staff you ask? Give me employees who just can not stop eating every time the owners turn their heads; I want them plump and hopeful of their next bite! Retirees may be the ultimate measure. Lots of hair the color of a pure driven snow not only says family friendly but great value. If you are on a fixed income, as many retirees are, you look for healthy servings at a great price. Find the convergence of these three factors, and you've just caught yourself a great restaurant for the day. Hampton Roads is filled with local spots just waiting to be discovered. I hope you make that part of your summer fun.

This idea of criteria that are portents of coming satisfaction, I believe, was God's great motivation in giving us the Holy Scriptures. I want to invite you to read three chapters of the Old Testament book Nehemiah (8-10). You find a profound picture of a city rediscovering the wisdom of God's commands and statutes, ulitmately culimating into the rebirth of a nation. At first they weep, not just because they feel guilty for not having followed God's ways but out of sorrow for all the years they had lost, all the years they had forgone the glory of living in exchange for mediocrity. Then, as you read further, chapters nine and ten, you find them coming to moments of great celebration. Why, because they first confessed their own personal culpability for a life not well lived and also how their lives had led others astray, ultimately leading to the downfall of their nation. They then vowed (covenants) in their hearts and publicly in their assembly to no longer forsake His statutes but rather to forsake a life void of God's direction and embrace a life defining relationship with their Creator, their Heavenly Father. This practice of confession and covenant only and always lead to rejoicing! (As you read, don’t get bogged down in the unique Hebraic practices that comprised their covenant commitments but rather ask God to reveal to you what you have personally forsaken.)

God wants you and I to discover the wonders and splendor of this existence, life this side of eternity. All of Scripture is designed to teach us the evidence that needs to be present in each of our lives if we have any hope of the greatest "catch of the day" -- possessing a life lived well, full. I hope you gleaned from your reading too that an entire nation was reborn through the efforts of two people in the stories of Nehemiah, both he and Ezra. Want to see change in our city...our world? Grasp the life He promises, an idyllic life within all our reach.

Pastor Fred