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

Stand

I Corinthians 10:1-13 (NIV)

¹²So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!

¹³No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Last week, we read about Jesus' temptation by the Devil in the wilderness.

We learned that Jesus was able to stand firm, even while starving and weak, because of his deep sense of purpose and identity. And because of his knowledge of, and embodiment of, scripture.

So what about us?

Did you decide to intentionally expose yourself to temptation during this Lenten season? Have you "given something up?"

How is that working? What does it feel like?

If you picked something that's hard enough...it's definitely not easy. We know that "thing x, y or z" is not good for us. That's probably why we chose it. But we're drawn to some seductive part of it anyway.

Some good news: Paul reminds the Corinthians, "no temptation has seized you except what is common to man."

Some more good news: St. Paul himself...one of the greatest and most prolific Jesus-followers who ever lived, wrote this about his own struggled in Romans 7 (from The Message)

Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison.

What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise.

So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.

^17-20But I need something more!

For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help!

I realize that I don't have what it takes.

I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway.

My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

^21-23It happens so regularly that it's predictable.

The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight.

Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

²⁴I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?

²⁵The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does.

He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

We will fail, and fall, regularly, to temptation. But, that's not who we're called to be, forever. Know that we are not the first to struggle, nor will we be the last.

There is a war between the "heart and the flesh." But there is also help. "He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions." Let's make the most of this Lenten season to find out what that really means.

Grace & Peace,

Adam

No secret meaning to the song today...it's "The Temptations." And, my favorite song of theirs for all time, "I wish it would rain," although I definitely don't wish that today.

Satisfied

Psalm 63:1-8 (NIV)

O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;

my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.

² I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.

³ Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.

⁴ I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.

⁵ My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

⁶ On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.

⁷ Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.

⁸ My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.

Ever have trouble sleeping?

I rarely have that experience. I usually go to sleep fairly easily, and hardly ever wake up in the night.

But, just like everybody else, I do occasionally have those nights when the clock seems to make fun of my inability to doze.

I don't know about you, but for me, when I can't sleep it's because I'm thinking about my problems through "the watches of the night," not because I'm thinking about God.

Psalm 63 is a psalm for the anxious. It's the insomniac's psalm. The solution this psalm-writer finds is not in a bottle or an infomercial.

It's simply an intimate, powerful knowledge of the love of God.

Everything will be ok. Roll over and go back to sleep.

Grace & Peace,

Adam

Come

This Week's Readings

Monday: Isaiah 55:1-9
Tuesday: Psalm 63:1-8 (UMH 788)
Wednesday: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Thursday: Luke 13:1-5

Friday: Luke 13:6-9

Isaiah 55:1-9 (NIV)

¹ "Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.

² Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare...

⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.

Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

⁸ "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.

⁹ "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

During "The Great Flood of 2009," back in September, I had a fascinating experience in our local Kroger.

Well, the whole morning and several days afterward were filled with fascinating events for all of us, come to think of it.

I woke up to a text from a neighbor saying that school had been called off. That made absolutely no sense.

Once we watched some news and had a feel for the severity of what had taken place (27" of rain in 24 hours...which has been called a "500 year rain event" by the weather folks...what climate change?), we realized that it was going to be an interesting day.

Still, I was naive. I sallied forth to the Kroger near our house. I the main east-west road from our subdivision was underwater. I took an alternate route. Still, I wasn't prepared.

A grocery store, crawling with folks who were beyond the panic of a get-milk-and-bread-now-or-you-shall-surely-die impending snowstorm.

This was just crazy. Folks were cleaning off shelves and they were 20 or 30 deep at every register.

Then the lights went out.

I heard a manager on a megaphone say, "our computers are down, and we cannot checkout any more customers."

What? What about a pencil and paper? What about a calculator?

All the registers had locked. Inventory is tied to sales by computer. No items have prices on them...everything is UPC code. No way to sell anything.

Even if they would sell...the "money" in my pocket was an electronic card tied to my bank account. No cash, of course.

I went home, back through the craziness.

When the chips are down in life, money isn't going to make a difference.

I know this seems impossible. But it's true. The invitation from Isaiah 55 is so important for each of us. It is an invitation to what is real and lasting. It is the spiritual invitation to wine and milk and bread that can't be bought with money.

God will provide.

His love is sufficient.

As flood recovery began to unfold, I saw that love first-hand. Two other churches partnered with SOTH and helped us help other people. Without their money, time, and talent, we could never have accomplished so much. But all of that, even the money, was milk and wine from the Father, that we didn't obtain with our own "purchasing power."

There is a greater power. Let's plug into that account.

Grace & Peace,

Adam

Find your headphones, kick back, take a 6 minute vacation, and groove on some "higher love," 80's style.

"Higher Love" Steve Winwood

Think about it, there must be higher love 

Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above 

Without it, life is a wasted time 

Look inside your heart, I'll look inside mine 

Things look so bad everywhere 

In this whole world, what is fair? 

We walk blind and we try to see 

Falling behind in what could be  

Bring me a higher love 

Where's that higher love I keep thinking of?  

Worlds are turning and we're just hanging on 

Facing our fear and standing out there alone 

A yearning, and it's real to me 

There must be someone who's feeling for me 

Things look so bad everywhere 

In this whole world, what is fair? 

We walk blind and we try to see 

Falling behind in what could be  

Bring me a higher love 

Where's that higher love I keep thinking of?  

Bring me a higher love 

I could rise above on a higher love

 I will wait for it I'm not too late for it 

Until then, I'll sing my song To cheer the night along 

I could light the night up with my soul on fire

I could make the sun shine from pure desire 

Let me feel that love come over me 

Let me feel how strong it could be  

Bring me a higher love 

Where's that higher love I keep thinking of?