First

I Corinthians 15:19-26

If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

²⁰But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

²¹For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²²For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

²³But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.

²⁴Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. ²⁵For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

²⁶The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

How exciting is the "first fruit?"

Well, that kind of depends whether you enjoy "growing your own."

For many of us today, "first fruit" means that something new showed up in the produce department at our grocery store. Everything is available year round, so we have lost track of the seasons, and we have no idea what kinds of fruits or vegetables are actually in season in our local community at any given time.

But...if you watch a seed unfurl into a tiny plant. If you see that plant turn sunshine, soil and rain into mature growth. If you look for the first yellow bloom on your tomatoes plants. If you see that tiny, green, embryonic eggplant or zucchini, or squash...and then watch it ripen on the vine into maturity...

Well, that's something to be celebrated.

The first homegrown tomato of summer. It deserves pause and celebration. It should be eaten with a degree of reverent appreciation.

The first fruit of all that is to come. It is a reminder of life, of God's goodness, and of a very important promise.

There is a plan for us. That plan is eternal life. It is resurrection.

Jesus is the first ripe fruit to be produced on that vine of God's goodness.

And Easter declares that much more is to come.

Grace & Peace,

Adam

Another of our Easter worship songs coming up this Sunday at SOTH: this will be a new one for our congregation but our youth love this one and it's been a great song for them. Give it a listen and come ready to sing this Sunday! Plus, I love the kid drawings that were put together to animate this one.

Rescue

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 (The Message)

The hand of God has turned the tide!"

I didn't die. I lived!

And now I'm telling the world what God did.

God tested me, he pushed me hard,
but he didn't hand me over to Death.

Swing wide the city gates—the righteous gates!
I'll walk right through and thank God!

Have you ever found yourself in a tight situation that you didn't think you could escape?

Many of us have never been in physical danger, at least not that we knew about.

But I can think of some pretty hair-raising experiences that I've had on the Atlanta freeway system. And I certainly can remember some really dumb things that I've done, miraculously escaping without getting what I probably deserved.

Maybe, if we try, we can remember what it feels like to really be "rescued." To be saved. To have a higher power come to our aid and make all the difference.

I know. We can seemingly point to situation after situation where nobody saved the day.

But the very fact that you're reading this, and that I'm writing it, speaks to a greater truth.

God has saved us. God is saving us. We are rescued, once and for all, and that is enough.

Faith in the resurrection story of Jesus means that we are miraculously and completely saved from the power of Death.

Yes, we will still experience an end of this physical life. But death will not hold us.

One day we will rise and walk through those gates to give thanks to God.

And we can choose to walk through the gate of this day, right now, and be thankful for whatever comes.

It's all a miracle.

Grace & Peace,

Adam

Raised

This Week's Readings:

Acts 10:34-43

Psalm 118:14-24

I Corinthians 15:19-26

John 20:1-18

Acts 10:34-43 (NIV)

³⁴Then Peter began to speak:

"I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism ³⁵but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.

³⁶You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

³⁷You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— ³⁸how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

³⁹"We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.

They killed him by hanging him on a tree, ⁴⁰but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.

⁴¹He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

⁴²He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.

⁴³All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

Resurrection makes all the difference.

Without it, Peter doesn't really have a sermon. Without it, what he has is the sad story of a very good man who died tragically.

Without resurrection, Jesus is a well-intended fool who got himself killed for nothing.

But it's a lot to swallow, isn't it?

We want to believe, but logic just tells us it can't be so. People who die, just stay dead.

But what if we don't? What if Peter saw exactly what he says he saw?

Yes, you'll have to decide to believe that by faith. And that makes all the difference, too.

Peter says it plainly, "I ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead." You can read John 21 to see exactly what he's talking about.

He doesn't plan to miss any opportunities to feed the sheep.

Resurrection changes everything, and it's what we're going to think about this week.

Life. God really, really seems to like the idea.

Grace & Peace,

Adam

PS: This week, I'll be posting one of the songs that we're going to sing in worship this Easter Sunday. Watch and get excited about our worship this week!

Go

Luke 19:28-36 NIV

²⁸After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

²⁹As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ³⁰"Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden.

Untie it and bring it here.

³¹If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it.' "

³²Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. ³³As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?"

³⁴They replied, "The Lord needs it."

³⁵They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it.

³⁶As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

This first part of the Palm Sunday story has always seemed so strange to me.

Why include these details?

I don't mean that he rode in on a donkey...we know that was part of prophecy and fulfills what had been said about the messiah.

Why the specific instructions?

Why the story of where they should go and what they should say? Why the questions from the colt's owners (well, that makes sense actually), and the phrase, "The Lord needs it?"

I've wondered before...if we need anything that we don't have for a ministry...how would it work to go into a store, take what we need, walk out and answer anyone who questions us with, "The Lord needs it."

I think we'd get some free room and board at the Douglas County jail.

So, what could we learn and apply from this strange little story?

Maybe we just learn to "Go" when sent.

Maybe there's a huge value in simple obedience. If Jesus had given me those odd instructions, I feel sure that I'd have said, "yeah...but..."

Today, let's really try to sense and receive God's instructions. Then simply act.

Don't steal a donkey. But if you are deeply urged to act in a way that is loving and full of grace, there's every chance that sense is from God. Let's just go, and do it, and see what God provides.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

Humble

Philippians 2:5-11 (NIV)

⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

⁶Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
⁷but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.

⁸And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

He, "made himself nothing."

He, "humbled himself."

He, "became obedient."

He, "took the very nature of a servant (slave)."

Our, "attitude should be the same" as his.

What stops me from living Philippians 2?

The list is long. But really, it's pretty short. It's me.

For Jesus, humility, obedience and enslavement resulted in glory.

For us, learning to be like him would hold treasures in this life, and in the life to come.

Dear God, may it truly come to pass for each of us.

Teach us to be empty. Teach us to serve. Teach us to be like him.

Grace & Peace,

Adam

THEO-logy - The AIO Offering

Im actually breaking TA's sermon into two pieces this week, the first of which (this one for those of you keeping up at home) I am titling "The AIO Offering." AIO is an acronym of sorts truncating and combining the words "all in one." Usually AIO is tacked onto the name or type of printer and most often refers to printers that scan, copy, and print. TA found another use for the anachronism, though, and he didnt even know it!

In this sermon he spends a considerable amount of time talking about dedication; moving from the dedication of the Temple to our dedications to Christ, Himself. During his explication of the dedication of the Temple upon its rebuilding in Ezra chapter 3 and the sacrifices presented to God in Ezra 6, he breaks down the three types of offerings and their significance:

• The Burnt Offering - Offerings given to God in complete consecration.

• The Peace Offering - Offerings showing hearts given over to God in gratitude and humility.

• The Sin Offering - Offerings recognizing God as the forgiver of sins.

TA goes on to say that the keynote of Christian joy is the sacrifice at Cavalry that united all together in worship.

As Good Friday draws near, let us reflect on the three-fold, AIO offering of Christ on the cross. He gave of Himself in complete consecration, humility, and as atonement for our sins.

He was the perfect offering. His death put an end to the need to sacrifice animals periodically for repentance and cleansing. His death was sufficient, and yet infinitely more than sufficient, to redeem us all, for He did not just wipe away our sins for a time; He conquered death and forgave them once and for all.

Try to wrap your head around that as Good Friday approaches: That one man's dedication to God rescued for eternity generations of nations of men that have passed and have yet to come.

Rejected

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 (NIV)

¹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

² Let Israel say:
"His love endures forever."

²² The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;

²³ the LORD has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.

²⁴ This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

²⁸ You are my God, and I will give you thanks;
you are my God, and I will exalt you.

²⁹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

Over the years, Holly and I have developed an affinity for things that have been rejected and "used up."

We've never owned a dog that didn't come from the humane society, or that had been handed from owner to owner.

We've never (and probably never will) owned a new car. If my car were a child, it would be getting ready to go to prom. It runs great and I'm glad to have it.

The lion's share of our clothing (both us and the kids) has come from consignment, second-hand or thrift shops.

Our house has mostly been furnished with parts and pieces picked up here and there second-hand, or at a steep discount.

It's not just that this makes sense economically (which it does.) It's not just that we live in a place of such abundance that our society's cast offs are better than what many people could ever have (which they are).

I think it could be something deeper. It's fun to be surrounded by things that have a story. It's a great thing to see what some spit and polish can do to an item that had been cast upon the junk heap.

We've found the old saying true, that "they don't make 'em like they used to," and an old thing made well is often better than new that's made to throw away.

I tell you this because the culture that surrounds us doesn't really believe in reclamation projects.

As a culture, we tend to like our stuff new and shiny. We like first-run, high quality, status-giving items.

Problem: that's just not who Jesus is.

As Christians, Psalm 118 is a prophecy of the Messiah was was to come. We know this passage as a description of Jesus, a stone who was rejected by the builders.

Let's be clear: the Messiah of Psalm 118 is rejected. Rejected.

But, God has other plans.

That rejected stone would become the "capstone," or cornerstone. He would be the foundation upon which all things are built.

What could that mean for us?

Have you ever felt rejected? Have you ever felt like a re-tread, thrift store project that nobody would want?

Jesus is the Messiah who says, "the last shall be first."

When it comes to our souls, a little reclamation work is a very excellent thing. God is never ready to junk us.

Grace & Peace,

Adam

Servant

March 28th is Palm Sunday. As we approach this Sunday's worship, we'll read the lectionary texts that relate to the Passion of the Christ, as well as the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.

M: Isaiah 50:4-9
T: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
W: Philippians 2:5-11
Th: Luke 19:28-36
F: Luke 19:37-40


Isaiah 50:4-9 (NIV)

4 The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.

5 The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears,
and I have not been rebellious;
I have not drawn back.

6 I offered my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting.

7 Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.

8 He who vindicates me is near.
Who then will bring charges against me?
Let us face each other!
Who is my accuser?
Let him confront me!

9 It is the Sovereign LORD who helps me.
Who is he that will condemn me?
They will all wear out like a garment;
the moths will eat them up.

Isaiah 50 gave the people of God one of their best pictures of what the Messiah would really look like.

He would be, "the suffering servant."

He would be beaten, mocked, spat upon...but not disgraced.

How is that possible? It doesn't make sense to us human beings that someone could suffer at the shaming hands of others but not "be disgraced."

Isn't it automatically disgraceful if someone pulls out your beard and spits in your face?

What if they nail you to a cross and leave you to die?

And yet, this is the disgrace-proof Jesus. He is God among us, Emmanuel.

We've come a long way in a short time. The Christmas decorations are in their boxes, but it wasn't long ago at all that we lit the Christ candle and sang "Silent Night."

Now, God among us is about to be rejected by the humanity he came to save.

But he is not abandoned.

The great good news is that through him, neither are we. Never.

Christians throughout the centuries have learned this lesson. Martin Luther King, Jr. changed our country by leading with non-violence.

Abused, but not disgraced. That is real strength, and it's what's on offer to everyone who will pick up their own cross and follow this suffering servant.

Resurrection waits on the other side.

Grace & Peace,
Adam

Laughing

Psalm 126 (Message)

It seemed like a dream, too good to be true, when God returned Zion's exiles.

We laughed, we sang, we couldn't believe our good fortune.

We were the talk of the nations— "God was wonderful to them!"

God was wonderful to us; we are one happy people.

And now, God, do it again— bring rains to our drought-stricken lives, so those who planted their crops in despair will shout hurrahs at the harvest,

So those who went off with heavy hearts will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing.

The psalms are absolutely wonderful for the huge range of emotion that they display. The psalms show the whole spectrum of feelings that we human beings experience.

There's a lot of weeping and sadness. In fact, "sadness" isn't strong enough to describe some of the emotions at work in the psalms.

At times in there are feelings that approach something more like total desolation and darkness.

The "Babylonian Exile" was one of those deep-dark moments for God's people.

Because of their disobedience, they lost the land that God had given them. The temple was destroyed, the people were scattered, and the dream was quickly dying.

Psalm 126 is the story of their return. It's the story of laughter. What a great and beautiful laughter it is!

Joyous, spontaneous, uncontrollable laughter. That is one of God's great gifts to us.

It's the promise of this psalm for those who have gone away with heavy hearts.

One day, truly, you will "come home laughing, with armloads of blessing."

By faith, it could even be today.

Grace & Peace,

Adam

Home

Luke 15:1-3; 11-32 The Message

By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently.

The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, "He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends."

Their grumbling triggered this story...

...Then he said, "There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, 'Father, I want right now what's coming to me.'

"So the father divided the property between them. It wasn't long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country.

There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had...

...He said, 'All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death.

I'm going back to my father.

I'll say to him, Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.'

He got right up and went home to his father.

When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him.

The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.'

But the father wasn't listening.

He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it.

We're going to feast!

We're going to have a wonderful time!

My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!'

And they began to have a wonderful time.

Homecoming is a wonderful thing.

I don't know what that word means for you, but for me, it's laden with power and feeling.

"Homecoming" is a tradition in many churches, especially the small, rural, Southern variety.

Once a year, in the churches of my youth, a "homcoming" celebration was held. The idea was that folks who had moved away from their families and the small towns would come back to worship together on a Sunday morning.

Special music, special preaching, a special offering (of course, I mean what congregation's going to miss that chance with a full house, right?), and most importantly...the special lunch.

Homecoming involves food. All across the south, if you can find a good homecoming at a small church in June or July, you will experience masters of a dying art.

Down home, grandma-style cooking.

Homegrown blackeyed peas (the vegetable, not the hip-hop group), homegrown tomatoes, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, fried okra, yeast rolls, cornbread, corn on the cob (homegrown), and if you don't like your corn that way, there will also be creamed corn, cut off the cob and cooked slow with tons of butter, salt and sugar.

Folks, that's what homecoming's all about.

Food. And what the food says. It says, "celebration," and "this will always be your home."

We're going to feast!

We're going to have a wonderful time!

Well...all except Older Brother. But, we'll deal with him on Sunday.

See you there. And know that God is ready to run down the road and meet you, anytime. A homecoming feast awaits.

Grace & Peace,

Adam

Today...just a song about celebration. If you don't know about Robert Randolph and the Family Band, I'm sorry. You need to. Read this, and it'll help you out. He's a "sacred steel" player from the "House of God Church," and he's made the cross into blues/rock, and he's just about as good as it gets.

This song is "Homecoming," and it says, "Mama gonna fix me a plate, everybody gonna get 'em a taste. Come on and celebrate, I can't hardly wait."

If you can't groove to this folks, there's not much I can do for you.

THEO-logy - A Special Breed

(In these posts, I will bold whatever I pull directly from my great grandpa's sermons to avoid having to utilize a million quotation marks. Also: Theo was known as TA to many of his friends and family, so I will use that moniker from time to time, as well.)

My great grandpa Theo starts this sermon off with the question asked by the disciples in John 6:28:

"What must we do that we might work the works of God?"

The solution to the world's suffering will be found in the person who can find the answer to the question here in John's Gospel.

For TA, the person who discovers the answer to this question will become a Special Breed of person; a breed that the world desperately needs. He delivered this sermon on April 8, 1973, and in it he posits a rather disturbing prophecy of sorts:

If the population explosion continues, Christianity will become by the year 2000 almost an insignificant force; unrecognizable...We cannot allow ourselves to be swallowed up.

When I read that prediction, I got chills. Here's why:

Its now a decade past TA's predicted time frame; ample enough time to review it for accuracy. According to the CIA website's statistics (follow the link then click on "PEOPLE :: WORLD" and scroll down to see the source material), Christianity is the largest religion in the world making up a full third of the world's population - a number surpassing 2 billion strong. But numbers are not what TA posits will change the world. No, he says it will take a super natural power which only comes by total commitment.

In his notes, he shared with his congregation the two prayers he prayed most:

1) "Oh, God, empty me of every doubt." I want to be so empty of doubt that I might be filled with the fullness of God; that when I stand before people and minister here and any other place I might be a channel of blessing. Doubt is an awful thing. I had just as soon be a bed-ridden patient unable to wait upon myself than to be filled with doubt.

What a powerful metaphor! If we allow doubt to consume us, then we are bed-ridden; unable to help. Doubt hinders, it doesnt help. Doubt in what? Doubt in the ability of our Father to move and change in ways that we cannot even fathom. Doubt that faith even as small as a mustard seed can move mountains. Why limit the limitless?

2) "Oh, God, empty me of self. Let TA Williams die." If this would happen, then we could become just a channel through which the divine power of the living God would flow unhindered.

Too often we place ourselves before our increasingly needy neighbors. We allow our wants to outstrip, outweigh, and out-prioritize the world's needs.

Theo believed these two obstacles, doubt and self, to be the difference between a person of the world and a person of the Special Breed the world needs. We may be 2 billion+ strong in number, but how many of us praise God with our mouths but doubt Him with our minds? How often do we allow our personal comfort to supercede the physical comfort of others? The world doesnt need Christian claims, it needs Christian action, and for TA (and I whole-heartedly agree with him), those actions become possible when and only when we cast doubt aside and sacrifice self. Only then, when we lose our identities, will God be able to work through us unhindered.

- Adkins

THEO-logy

This marks the beginning of a new series I will be posting when I can here on the SOTH Blog. It will be comprised of posts that will meld my thoughts with those of my great grandfather, Theodore Arthur Williams. My great grandpa Theo began preaching at Assembly of God churches in 1948. He served at churches in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi before his retirement in 1975. He also used to build churches from the ground up and was a talented pianist and guitarist. Recently, my grandmother (his daughter) gave me a box overflowing with Theo's sermons. You can tell at a glance of their age for several reasons:

• They are typewritten.
• The pages are discolored around the edges and the ink has faded some.
• Many of them bear the date of that sermon's preaching in the top corners.

I am honored to possess these teachings of my great grandfather's. Years worth of his study of the Scriptures, personal stories, convictions, and revelations. I love that he mis-spelled words, typed the Scriptures in red, and often wrote additional notes by hand on his sermon guides. I didnt get the chance to know him well because he joined the Lord before I was old enough to recall much of my time spent with him. I have memories of him sitting in his chair in the living room of the house he shared with my great grandmother - me at his feet surrounded by lots of other family members at Christmas time...

With these sermons of his in my hands, I am coming to know great grandpa intimately for the first time. I am sitting in the pews of his churches as I read. Or even at his feet in the living room of his home.

As I read these writings of his, I am becoming aware of two things:

1) He knew the Lord intimately and loved talking about Him! The sermons are rife with the kind of insight indicative of my great grandpa's thirst for the knowledge of his God and desire to share that with his congregants.

2) His insights are still very applicable today.

So with these posts I want to honor my great grandpa's memory and passion by passing on his love for God as well as his calls for true discipleship. He may have retired, but his ministry has not come to an end. With each post, I will pull directly from his sermons from the 50s, 60s, and 70s - interjecting my own thoughts and sharing the relevance of his expositions from then to our world now.

Join me in the pews of my great grandpa Theo with every post.

My great grandfather is going to deliver his first sermon to a congregation in 35 years starting tomorrow.

New

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 (NIV)

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

²⁰We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.

²¹God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

How should we "regard" one another?

Take a cruise through the political/talk networks and see how they answer that question, whether the commentator belongs to the far right or the far left.

Jesus said that even pagans love their friends.

How do we regard the people with whom we need "reconciliation," or those that we believe need it in their own lives?

How do we work with one another in the presence of sin that eats up our own lives and the lives of those around us?

How do we love without being judgmental, while also calling one another into higher, better ways of life?

Paul says it has to start with Jesus. It starts when we allow him into our own hearts and find ourselves "reconciled," or made right, with God.

The old creation dies away. The new creation rises. Sounds a whole lot like Easter.

From there, when that truly happens within us, and we allow the work of the Holy Spirit to draw us closer to God, day by day (yes, with frequent setbacks), we begin to learn how to really love one another.

Easy? No. Worth it? Absolutely.

Here's a video for the day that I think shows a picture of what church ought to look like. I know, that's a big stretch, right?

Let me put it differently...here's what "acceptance and reconciliation" looks like for "the world" when they've experienced rejection in a lot of other places.

What if the church reached out, loved and accepted the caricature people in this bar? Maybe the self-abusive drinking, and the brawling and the destructive stuff would stop. Maybe people could experience the real love of God in Christ.

Grace & Peace --

Adam

Song for the day --- what if "I love this bar" could become "I love this church?" A place for everybody ---- where love, not judgment, transforms their lives, in a way that a bar can never do. Good sense of humor Toby Keith. And church folks, what would happen at your place of worship if one of these characters walked in on Sunday morning.

If you'd hear the needle-scratching-a-record sound followed by crickets and an uncomfortable shuffling of feet, we might need to ask ourselves about why our church is really there.

Mule

Psalm 32 (The Message)

¹ Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be— you get a fresh start,
your slate's wiped clean.

² Count yourself lucky—
God holds nothing against you
and you're holding nothing back from him.

³ When I kept it all inside,
my bones turned to powder,
my words became daylong groans.

⁴ The pressure never let up;
all the juices of my life dried up.

⁵ Then I let it all out;
I said, "I'll make a clean breast of my failures to God."

Suddenly the pressure was gone—
my guilt dissolved,
my sin disappeared.

⁶ These things add up. Every one of us needs to pray;
when all hell breaks loose and the dam bursts
we'll be on high ground, untouched.

⁷ God's my island hideaway,
keeps danger far from the shore,
throws garlands of hosannas around my neck.

⁸ Let me give you some good advice;
I'm looking you in the eye
and giving it to you straight:

⁹ "Don't be ornery like a horse or mule
that needs bit and bridle
to stay on track."

¹⁰ God-defiers are always in trouble;
God-affirmers find themselves loved
every time they turn around.

¹¹ Celebrate God.
Sing together—everyone!
All you honest hearts, raise the roof!

The central message of Psalm 32?

We can make this as hard as we want to, and it's up to us.

"When I kept it all inside...the juices of my life dried up...then I let it all out...the pressure was gone...don't be ornery like...a mule."

Got it?

Really? I know I don't, but I sure would like to. How about you?

Let it out. See if the pressure goes.

Or, we can have fun being mules. Up to us.

Grace & Peace,

Adam

Song for the day --- somehow this psalm just made me think of the line, "oh, take me back to the start." So, without further adieu...a little coldplay.

But, I can't embed this one, it's not allowed, so here's the link -- click and watch on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmjPrdTNxQ0

Manna

This Week's Readings:

Monday: Joshua 5:9-12

Tuesday: Psalm 32

Wednesday: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Thursday: Luke 15:1-3; 11-20

Friday: Luke 15:21-32

Joshua 5:9-12 (NIV)

⁹ Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.

¹⁰ On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover.

¹¹ The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain.

¹² The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan.

40 years of wandering in the wilderness. That's how long the Israelites had journeyed from Egypt, toward this land that had been promised to them.

They had battled and suffered and struggled. They had certainly complained.

But all along the way, God had provided.

Manna. We learn in Exodus that the word, in Hebrew, meant "what is it?"

I think we ask just that, many times, when we're experiencing God's provision.

We just don't get it. We think that we earn, that we deserve, that we do it for ourselves.

But the manna always comes. God is faithful and will provide.

Finally, they did come to the land of Canaan, but even then they didn't provide for themselves. They ate from the abundance of that land, the gift that God sought to give them.

Keep an eye peeled for manna today. What is it? You'll know it when you see it.

Grace & Peace,

Adam

So, I'm still evangelizing for David Wilcox...beautiful song called "Show the Way" that reminds me of God's manna. And, for you guitar players out there, check the instant alternate tuning that he goes to by ear (that would take me all day), and the partial capo. Nice.

You say you see no hope, you say you see no reason
We should dream that the world would ever change
You're saying love is foolish to believe
'Cause there'll always be some crazy with an Army or a Knife
To wake you from your day dream, put the fear back in your life...
Look, if someone wrote a play just to glorify
What's stronger than hate, would they not arrange the stage
To look as if the hero came too late he's almost in defeat
It's looking like the Evil side will win, so on the Edge
Of every seat, from the moment that the whole thing begins
It is...

Chorus:
Love who makes the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we're alone
In this scene set in shadows
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play...
For in this darkness love can show the way
So now the stage is set. Feel you own heart beating
In your chest. This life's not over yet.
so we get up on our feet and do our best. We play against the
Fear. We play against the reasons not to try
We're playing for the tears burning in the happy angel's eyes
For it's...

Fertilize

Luke 13:6-9 (NIV)

⁶Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any.

⁷So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any.

Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'

⁸" 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it.

⁹If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.' "

Jesus loves to tell stories about agriculture. Farming. Dirt, seeds, vines, trees, fruit. People can identify, especially in his time.

Today, in our culture, not very many of us are involved in food production.

But any good gardener or farmer, whose survival was dependent on the food that he or she could grow, wouldn't have a lot of patience for perpetual non-producers.

The common sense equation is really simple. "If it won't make figs, cut it down. We can grow something else in that soil."

Where's the grace in this parable?

Fertilizer and time. The gardener makes an appeal to the owner. "Give me time, and I'll fertilize."

What if our lives work in just that same way?

Fertilizer is pretty base stuff, after all. Manure, rotten vegetation, composted food scraps. That's the stuff of fertilizer.

When we face challenges, we usually fail to see any redeeming value.

Too little money or time, broken hearts, grief, conflict. What if those things were the fertilizers of grace that God uses to bring spiritual fruit into our lives?

Knowing this parable, and living out the story, could make all the difference in what happens next.

Grace & Peace,

Adam

A song about how the fertilizer of life can work for us, if we'll let it. Happy weekend everybody, see you at SOTH this Sunday, 9:30 & 11:00.

Repent

Luke 13:1-5 (NIV)

¹Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

²Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?

³I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

⁴Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?

⁵I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

It's called "The Iron Triangle" of evil.

Three sides...each one unwilling to "give."

God is good. God is all-powerful. But evil is real.

How can this be?

Theologians have puzzled this situation for centuries. I used to as well. I spent time in my youth, and definitely during my seminary years, reading book after book and writing lots of papers on the subject.

I finally gave up. And it was the best thing I ever did.

Some in the crowd told Jesus about good people who had just been killed by Pilate and the Romans. Jesus countered by reminding them of a dozen folks, just killed when a tower fell.

Today, there are earthquakes everywhere lately. We don't have to look far in the news to see the reality of evil, both natural and man-made.

Why does an all-powerful, all-good God allow it?

I put my faith in him. Remember Monday? His ways and thoughts are not our ways and thoughts. I don't understand it all. But I do trust.

God is good. His love is real. This world is filled with uncertainty and brokenness. God works to redeem it.

That's what Jesus reminds us when his disciples ask him about evil.

"Repent...or you too will perish."

Let's spend our time and energy pondering that one...it seems important.

Grace & Peace,

Adam

"I Repent," by Derek Webb (note, the video is a cover, not Derek himself)

i repent of my pursuit of America's dream
i repent of living like i deserve anything
my house, my fence, my kids, and my wife
in our suburb where we're safe and white
i am wrong and of these things i repent

i repent of parading my liberty
i repent of paying forvwhat i get for free
the way i believe that i am living right
by trading sins for others that are easier to hide
i am wrong and of these things i repent

i repent judging by a law that even i can't keep
wearin righteousness like a disguise to see through
the planks in my own eyes

i repent of trading truth for false unity
i repent of confusing peace and idolatry
of caring more of what they think than what i know of what they need
and domesticating You until You look just like me
i am wrong and of these things i repent