Listen Online

Hey All ... Fall Creek Wesleyan Church (where I've been preaching this fall), is now streaming sermons on the Web. Or is it podcasting? I'm never sure.

MP3 file of last week's sermon is here.

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What Does It Mean that "Jesus Is Lord"?

This week is Christ the King Sunday, the day in our church year when we celebrate the reign of Christ in the world and in our lives.

I'm struggling a bit on this one because there is so much that we could say ... I need to narrow down my thoughts. Here are three directions this message could take.

A. The Deity of Christ. This idea is doubted in our culture and even among Christians. Do you have to believe that Jesus is the son of God in order to be a Christian? Does it matter? If I were to speak on this theme, I would choose a text like Eph. 1:15-23.

My goal would be to convince Christians that Jesus is the Son of God and must have authority in their lives.

B. The Reign of Christ in the World. Jesus commissioned us to be his "hands and feet" in the world. His Kingdom comes to the extent that we make it come by doing the things he has commissioned us to do. I would use a text like the Parable of the Sheep and Goats to show how serious Jesus was about us extending his ministry.

My goal would be to inspire Chrisitans to transform the world.

C. The Lordship of Christ. People come to Jesus for lots of reasons. Some want to be forgiven. Others healed. A few even want him to "crack the whip" on people with whom they disagree. But Jesus always refuses to conform to our agenda. He is our Lord rather than vice versa. I would use a text like Matt. 7:21-23 to show how strongly Jesus asserted his authority, and how important it is for us to respect him.

My goal would be to challenge believers to submit their entire lives to Christ.

So what do you think? Which one do you think is most needed in the church today? Which would you preach? Any other ideas?

Thanks for sharing ...

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What If We All Walked on Water?

This coming Sunday (Nov. 16) I want to dig a little deeper into the idea that we really can live as Jesus lived.

Is that true?

If so, then can we ... heal the sick? Multiply food? Walk on water? Here's what I'm thinking so far.

I'm going to key on Peter's experience in the Miraculous Catch (see Luke 5:1-7)and look at the incredible result of Peter saying "Because you say so" to Jesus. I hope to challenge peope to seek God’s vision for specific ways in which they can bring peace, justice, and healing to the world.

Imagine what the world would be like if we all walked on water--that is, if we all believed the God really would do anything through us. I think the reason we don’t do accomplish more is not because we lack power; it’s because we lack faith.

Jesus prayed “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” He intended that his followers would transform the world through the power of God. Yet our lives often seem powerless, mired in personal issues, family problems, and social problems.

It doesn’t have to be that way. We really can change the world ... if we trust God.

What do you think?

Is this idea on target? Is it faithful to the text?
What could happen in our lives (think suburbia) if we believed this way?
What's the biggest problem that Christians are doing nothing about?
Where does the power to change come from in the Christian life?

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Was Jesus Crazy?

Next Sunday I'll be exploring the Sermon on the Mount, especially the Beatitudes, in my message.

Here's what I've got so far ...

Many people live safe, predictable lives because they’re afraid to act on their deepest convictions.
Jesus wasn’t.

He showed us a completely new way to live—radically devoted to God, selflessly available to others, completely free from fear and doubt. Love your enemies, he told people. Bless those who curse you, and thank God when you are persecuted for being righteous.

People thought he was crazy. Were they right?

I'd like to challenge people to examine their lives to see if they really are living the way Jesus taught us to live ... and to ask the question, "If not, why not?"

Here are some questions I'm wrestling with--

What does it mean to be an "authentic" follower of Jesus?

Do you know people whom you would consider to be truly Christlike? What are they like?

Am I right in thinking that a lot of us play it safe when following Jesus? Is it realisitc to expect people to enact the lifestyle Jesus teaches in Matt. 5-7?

What's the most challenging thing about living the way Jesus lived?

What images, metaphors, or illustrations might get at this point?

Let me know what you're thinking . . .

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Help Write a Sermon on Baptism

In a couple of weeks we'll be baptizing a dozen or more belivers at Fall Creek, and I'm working on a sermon based Eph. 4:1–16. I'll be keying on verses 4-5:

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

The Big Idea: Christians are members of a community and cannot remain healthy outside it.

Many Christians think of participation in a local church as optional and their commitment to fellow believers is low. But without the benefit of strong relationships in a community of faith--that is, the church--Christians really cannot grow (in spite of what Barna may say ;-) We are made for each other. Every Christian has a role to play in the life of the community, so church isn't primarily about what we gain but about what we contribute to others.

This is a totally foreign concept to most Christians, since the way we generally approach church is based on our own preferences--whether we like the music, preaching, kids' programs, etc.

So . . . . give me a hand on this one.

Does this concept make sense? Is it biblical?

Which ideas here need to be emphasized?

What creative ideas would help communicate this concept? (e.g.., images, graphics, music)

In particular, how would this apply to the life of a 15-year-old kid? A 40-year-old parent?

What would motivate anybody (you?) to get more deeply involved in the community of faith?

What do you think?

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Knowing God

Most of the people I know are on a diet, which shouldn't be surprising. I've read that some 61 percent of adults are on a diet at any given time, with nearly 1 in 5 dieting constantly. We spend some $35 billion a year on diet products, and I recently saw that three of the top 20 books on Amazon.com were diet books.

Oddly, we don't lose weight. About 98 percent of us gain back all we lose from dieting. Some 90 percent gain back more! It could be that we know what to do (eat less), but just don't do it. Clearly, if weight loss could be found in a book, we'd all be thin.

I notice a similar phenomenon in spiritual life, in which we seek the answer to our problems in best-selling books. In particular, we seem obsessed with books about finding God's blessing and our purpose. If the numbers are right, we've consumed over 40 million copies of such books in the last decade.

So why do so many of us continue feel unsure that our lives are not exactly on track or that we've discovered our purpose? As with dieting, it could be that what we need isn't found in a book. Not the books we're reading, anyway. What we need is to know God.

Ahh, but how to do that?

A.W. Tozer, a spiritual giant of the last century who wrote such classic books as The Pursuit of God, said this about knowing God: "The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian."

In other words, if you would know God, know his Word. God wrote a book, so read it.

Oddly, the best-selling book of all time, the Bible, may be the least read. I've seen stats saying that 93 percent of households contain a Bible, and the average number of Bibles per home is three. Everybody who wants a Bible has one. Yet we spend a good deal of our time doing other things in an effort to know God, besides reading Scripture.

As both an author and publisher of Christian literature, I've got no beef with reading things other than the Bible. Your reading habits pay a lot of the bills around here. Yet we have neglected what Abraham Lincoln called "the best book God has given" to us.

Scripture--along with prayer and corporate worship--forms one leg of the iron triangle of spiritual formation. You cannot know God without knowing his Word.

When was the last time you read it?

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Book Review: Through the Storm

Through the Storm by Lynne Spears with Lorilee Craker
Thomas Nelson
$24.99, Hardcover, 212 pp.

Abraham Lincoln is supposed to have written a book review that reached the dubious conclusion, “People who like this sort of thing will find it the sort of thing they like.”

He might have been describing celebrity memoirs of the current era, particularly this as-told-to rehearsal of the rise and fall of Britney Spears by her mother, Lynne.

Beginning with her own upbringing in the rural south, Lynne Spears describes her family’s life and the ascent to celebrity of her daughters, primarily Britney. The theme of the book is that the elder Spears was too trusting of people and unprepared for the deluge of attention by the public and manipulation by industry insiders that accompanied her daughter’s rise to stardom.

That theme wears thin as Lynne Spears seems to assign responsibility for all events in her life to someone other than herself. The phrase “against my better judgment” becomes a mantra that she invokes when describing nearly every choice she made, from decisions concerning her marriage to her alcoholic husband to the choices that advanced Britney’s career.

The book climaxes with Britney’s temporary committal to the UCLA Medical Center for psychiatric evaluation, an event which Lynne describes as the catalyst for freeing her daughter from her most manipulative handler and regaining control over her life.

Despite her too-much-protestation of naïveté concerning the ways of the world, Lynne Spears comes across as a sincere woman who values family and wants the best for her children. The book is a poignant reminder of the fact that tabloid celebrities are not the cardboard cutouts presented to us but are real people with families, hopes, and dreams—just like the rest of us.

If you like that sort of thing, you'll probably like this one.

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Get BibleBuzz on Twitter

Lots of my friends are using Twitter, so I created BibleBuzz, a micro-version of my daily Bible Blog for that forum.

If you are using Twitter, or if you would like a daily nudge to read your Bible, delivered via text message, check it out here.

(My personal Twitter updates are here.)

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Advice on Writing a Memoir

“Will you publish my memoir?”

As editorial director for a Christian publishing house, I get asked that question quite often. Generally, the questioner has had a life-changing experience and is eager to share it with others. This profoundly affected me, they figure, so it will interest everybody. Often, they've written a personal journal that they hope to rework as a book.

My standard reply is that memoirs are a hard sell with the reading public. That statement is met with universal skepticism. “Ever heard of Eat, Pray, Love?” they ask me. Or, “Seems like it worked pretty well for Tim Russert.”

It’s true that some memoirs can be highly successful. In fact, my wife, Heather Gemmen Wilson, is primarily known for her best-selling memoir, Startling Beauty.

But unless the writer is extremely well known or the experience is truly unique, most readers will not be interested in a book about someone else's personal experience. Here are five questions to ask yourself before getting to work on writing your memoir.

1. How many people know you?

Billy Graham, Barak Obama, and Bill Clinton have all had successful memoirs, partly because they were well known to begin with. Sadly, if people don't know you, they probably won't be interested in your story. Name recognition is a tremendous advantage.

So if you’re not a celebrity or don’t have a significant speaking platform, can you still sell your story? Sure, as long as you’ve got a compelling experience.

2. Is your experience unique?

Remember that Tragic and unique are not the same thing. A great many people have been divorced, lost a mom to cancer, or survived child sexual abuse. Those experiences alone are not sufficient to make a memoir successful.

What’s unique? Losing your husband on 9/11 after he galvanizes the nation to resist terrorism with the words, “Let’s roll!” (Lisa Beamer, Let’s Roll). Or being tortured by your parents, kept as an animal and finally treated as a slave but surviving to discover what real love is (Dave Pelzer, A Child Called It).

What if your story is not spectacular, can it still make a good memoir? You bet. But if it is not unique, it must at least be a compelling story.

3. Does this make a compelling story?

Many of the memoirs pitched to me are really a collection of interesting experiences. Many people, especially if they've been through a war, a family breakup, or a serious illness, have had experiences that are genuinely terrifying, tragic, and even humorous. Usually, that's the extent of it. Their story isn’t really a story; it’s a series of random events.

To make a compelling memoir, the book must be have all the elements of a good drama—a hero (you, probably), a central conflict, a cast of characters, and a climactic resolution. A good memoir reads like a novel. BTW, that's exactly what got James Frey into trouble with his “memoir” A Million Little Pieces. It actually was a novel.

What is the central conflict of your story? “God helped me cope,” “I eventually got over my trauma,” or “I learned that God is good” probably don’t count as a compelling dramatic conflict.

So if I’ve got a great story of triumph, survival, discovery, or achievement; will that get me published? Maybe. If you can write your story well.

4. How well do you write?

Even if you do have a unique experience, you have to be able to tell the story well. Publishers generally are unwilling to pay for writing that they have to rewrite in order to put into print. If you cannot write extremely well, you’ll probably have to hire someone to write for you—which is completely legitimate. Many memoirs have two names on the cover.

Get feedback on your writing form someone who doesn’t care if they hurt your feelings (i.e., not your spouse, your mom, or anybody at your church).

So, what if my prospects for getting published appear slim, should I write my story anyway? Good question. It depends on your answer to our last query.

5. Why are you doing this?

There are lots of reasons to write besides becoming a best-selling author. In fact, that’s the worst reason to pick up a pen—since it probably won’t happen. Other reasons are:

To support your speaking ministry
To process your thoughts and feelings
To practice writing
To preserve a record of your experience
To share your experience with friends and family

A publisher can tell you whether or not they will publish your book, but nobody can tell you not to write it. That’s a decision for you to make.

So will I publish your memoir? Probably not, because we don't specialize in that type of writing. But lots of people do, so keep trying. And good luck!

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Book Review: The Faith of Barack Obama

By Stephen Mansfield
Hardcover, 164 pp., $19.99
Thomas Nelson

Who is Barack Obama?

Most of us in the Christian faith community (what we, in simpler times, called the church) are more used to asking that question about Jesus Christ.

That the character of a person, especially a presidential candidate, is primarily understood in terms of his or her personal faith is a revealing of these times.

That fact is also what makes Barack Obama, in Stephen Mansfield's view, the Everyman of the new millennium. He is a spiritual pilgrim who talks as openly of his faith as of his political views and, indeed, insists that the two cannot be fully separated.

Mansfield's brief book surveys Obama's early life, his association with Trinity United Church of Christ and it's controversial former pastor Jeremiah Wright, and his current view on the relationship between faith and public life. What emerges is a man of decided religious faith, but one that cannot be neatly defined by labels such as evangelical or mainline. The author pictures Obama as an aggregate of races, classes, and Christian theologies--not unlike the millennial generation from which he has drawn such avid support.

The book helps to understand Obama's faith and, to an almost equal extent, the current landscape of church/state politics. Two especially helpful chapters are one that contextualizes the controversial Jeremiah Wright in the landscape of Black theology and another that places Obama in a quartet of faith portraits alongside John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and George W. Bush.

Mansfield's conclusion is that Obama may be in a unique position to heal the national wounds by bringing faith and politics together in a kinder, gentler way.

The significant weakness of the book is that it relies so heavily on Obama's own book that it at times feels like a book report for The Audacity of Hope.

Overall, an interesting and helpful book.

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