All In - Zach’s In

I grew up playing team sports - football, baseball and basketball, primarily. And, while I can fully appreciate the dedication and athleticism required for individualized sports like tennis or golf, I’m convinced some of life’s most valuable lessons can be learned in the context of a team. Lessons like the value of working together or that we are stronger and better together than we are on our own or the value of being a part of something bigger than me, yet dependent on my responsibility to do my part, to carry my own weight. I’ve also never been a part of a team where the coach didn’t remind of those things on a regular basis. Sometimes in practice when someone is slacking off, yet everybody suffers for it. Other times in the pep talk before the game or at halftime when the coach is trying to cast the vision, to charge the emotions, the drive, the determination of how good we can be... together, of what we can accomplish... together, of how when we lock arms and stand as one, nothing or no one can stop us... together. Those talks can be about specific things related to that game but they are usually centered around the concept of each one buying in to the need for us to be all in, invested, sold out, no turning back.

Matters of faith are like that too, and the Bible is full of examples of folks that were all in and of others who weren’t, the consequences of both often having eternal significance. We’re going to look at several of those folks over the next few weeks as we begin a new series entitled simply, “All In.” They are going to show us both the benefits and the challenges to living the all in life. The reason that’s so important is that we find ourselves living in and struggling with a pop culture that either buys into some of the most foolish and temporary things (video games, fashion trends, the obsession with appearance) or to nothing at all. I believe it’s time that our culture saw what the body of Christ can accomplish when we lock arms together, when we’re driven, determined and all in. What about you? You in?

Woes & Warnings - Woes for Those Who Lead

For the last almost 30 years I’ve had an insider’s view into the life of a school teacher, namely that of my wife, and it seems to me that the “experts” in education add another non-teaching position to the schools about every other year. Positions like guidance counselors, psychologists, curriculum specialists, academic coaches, social workers, nutritionists, behavioralists, and the list goes on. Please understand that there is nothing wrong with any of these people or their jobs but the fact that any of these are necessary in our schools especially at the elementary level is telling. Isn’t most if not all of these positions and the jobs that they perform something that parents should already be doing? I can only speak from my perspective but all of the additional “help” hasn’t made the teacher’s job any easier nor more effective. Why? Because no one is as effective as parents at doing parental things. What would make teachers’ efforts more effective is engaged parents who see themselves as extensions of the teacher and of the classroom instead of in conflict with it, reinforcing and working in tandem with him or her, instead of a committee of “specialists.”

Why do I zero in on teachers and parents? Because they are unequivocally the most important leaders most of us have ever had and, like it or not, most of the things we remember in life, we have learned from them. In this week’s edition of Woes & Warnings, we’ll look at the 5 Woes for Those Who Lead, and let’s face it, most of us are leaders in some capacity, great or small. Jesus addressed the spiritual leaders of His day with challenges every leader needs to face. Challenges that, left unchecked, will hinder, if not eliminate our effectiveness. These are things that every leader, from the President to the line leader headed to the school lunchroom, needs to know... not to mention every teacher and parent.

Woes & Warnings - Learning from Others’ Failures

When I was about 19 and still living at my parents’ house, I began to get more and more invitations to come and sing and play guitar at various events, mostly church youth gatherings with weddings and a few others sprinkled in from time to time. One of those was for a women’s garden club at the now non-existent Deane Hill Country Club. When my mom found out where I was going, a couple of nights before that, she invited me with my guitar to the kitchen to play for her as she was doing some ironing. (She used to love to hear someone, especially me, play acoustic guitar, or for that matter about any acoustic stringed instrument.) So, as I played, she began to warn me about the environments that I might be invited to sing in and what temptations might come along with those invitations, namely alcohol. I assured her that I had no interest in drinking and that I wouldn’t accept any invitations that I felt would bring my witness into question.

She didn’t tell me what prompted her to have that conversation with me. She didn’t have to... I already knew. You see, her father also played guitar and sang but was “given to the drink,” as she used to say, which eventually lead to the divorce of he and my grandmother. She had a front row seat at what alcohol could do to break up a home and a number of lives and wanted to warn me of those same pitfalls before I had the opportunity to learn that lesson for myself.

In the faith realm, there are plenty of opportunities for us to Learn From Others’ Failures if we’re willing to see them. That’s one of the reasons why every believer should have a “go to” friend or mentor and every married couple a “go to” couple ahead of them on the journey. Someone who has an observer’s perspective to help us see the things we might otherwise miss. Why? Because learning from someone else’s failure is far less consequential than learning from our own.

Woes & Warnings - Real McCoys & Imposters

In 1970, Adidas introduced a new basketball shoe to the market: the Adidas Superstar. It was an all-leather upper with a herringbone rubber sole and shell-shaped rubber toe that made an immediate splash in the NBA. In fact, at one point, 75% of professional basketball players were wearing the Superstars. If memory serves, they sold for about $35 a pair, which might as well been $135 when I asked my dad if I could get a pair. Because even at $35 a pair, that was 30 dollars more than he was willing to spend on a pair of sneakers. So, having to come up with the remaining $30 was on me. I grabbed our lawn mower and gas can (with my dad’s gas in it that he would remind me of later) and hit the streets trying to find a few yards to mow. It was fall and the mowing jobs were slowing down but I did manage to make around $15 bucks over a couple of weeks, still well short of the mark I needed to get the Superstars. A couple of weeks later mom took me to JCPenney to look for a new pair of dress shoes and right there on the shelf in the shoe department was the JCP version of the Superstars. They had 4 stripes instead of three and were called All Stars but they were leather uppers with the same soles and rubber toe caps, but the best part was that they sold for $19.99, which was in my budget if I could still get dad to kick in $5. I told mom about the deal I had with dad and we left with the dress shoes AND the JCP All Stars.

I knew I wasn’t wearing the real McCoys when I wore them to school and was reminded about that by the few guys that had the Superstars. Kinda made me wonder of I should have saved a little longer for the real thing but, as I recall those knock-offs lasted every bit as long as the name brand shoes. Have you ever felt like you’ve settled for less than the best when it comes to your relationship with Jesus? If so there are several Woes & Warnings that we need to be reminded of on our faith journey. You see, the real McCoys and the Imposters can sometimes look very similar on the surface but, when you go a little deeper, the Imposters become exposed.

Woes & Warnings - Freedom

I learned the hard way that copy machines need to be used instead of stored. When we were upgrading our copier at the previous church where I served, it was during a time that God was leading me to plant what would become CrossPoint. The company that we purchased the new machine from wasn’t going to give us anything for our old copier so I told the elders that I would take it unless someone had a use for it and they agreed. I brought it home and stored it at my house for a few months until we got CrossPoint up and running. I got it out and cleaned it up before preparing to run the handouts for our first Sunday of worship at Fulton. It powered up, but did nothing beyond that. None of the moving parts worked and it was too old to get replacement parts for it so I ended up taking it to the dump and one of the first purchases we made for the church was a slightly used machine that ended up lasting a little over ten years.

Our freedoms in our country are a lot like that. They need to be exercised, or, over time, they are lost and we wake up 20 years later and wonder what happened to them. The freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly both grant us the rights to worship God as we wish and share that with whomever we want, wherever we want, whenever we want. However, if the PC crowd gets their way, those freedoms we have today will eventually erode into “offensive” speech. (As they have already begun to do) Men and women have fought, and some have died, to preserve those freedoms and their sacrifices are meaningless if we don’t exercise those freedoms at every opportunity.

Our freedom in Christ shares a number of similarities to our cultural freedoms in that, if they aren’t exercised, given a workout on a regular basis, they become stale, awkward, and eventually non-existent. As we begin a new sermon series entitled Woes & Warnings this coming Sunday, we’ll see the warning given to us in scripture about misusing our freedoms and see the consequences that await us when we do. Have you ever found yourself on the short end of a situation and wish someone had warned you about it ahead of time?

In the Name of Jesus - There’s More

The first chapter of Luke’s gospel tells the story of the Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah a priest whose wife Elizabeth had been unable to have children, were visited by the angel Gabriel, who would later visit Mary regarding Jesus miraculous conception. Gabriel visits Zechariah to tell him that he and Elizabeth are going to have a son and they are to name him John. Zechariah loses his ability to speak for the duration of the pregnancy as evidence to him that the angel’s words were true. When the baby is born and it comes time to name him, the rest of the family, as was the norm in Jewish culture, assumed he would be named after his father but Elizabeth speaks up and says, “No! He is to be called John.” Assuming that Elizabeth was either mistaken or was having a mental lapse, they turn to Zechariah to ask about the boy’s name and he takes a tablet and writes, “His name is John.” Immediately Zechariah’s ability to speak returns and they begin praising God for this son of promise who would become John the Baptist, the one who would preach repentance and who came to prepare the way for Jesus.

Just as Zechariah and Elizabeth’s family thought that the name John was culturally inappropriate, there are similarly inappropriate names in the days we are living in. For example, do you know anyone who has named their son Adolf, Sadaam, or Osama? Probably not, but why not? Because names matter. Names mean things.

The name of Jesus means some things too, but what you ask? Well, as we learned last week, His name cleanses, sets us apart, puts us in right standing, and gives us life. But that’s not all.

In the Name of Jesus - What’s In a Name?

My maternal grandmother’s name was Mary Lou Shields Bull Wester Waller. Mary Lou was her first name, Shields was her middle name, and Bull was her last name. Then, after her parents died when she was a youngster, she was adopted by the Westers and took on their last name. Then her married name was Waller. And just to add even more spice to that cake, the man she married, my grandfather, whom I never knew, was named Walwurth Mcurnth Waller. Though unusual, I can see where Walwurth might be a family name somewhere down the tree but Mcurnth? Who in their right mind would would name their kid something that sounded more like a cough than a name? So, you can see why his friends and family just called him Mac. Perhaps you have a similar story somewhere up the line in your family history.

Lee Ann had a student several years ago whose name was spelled Orangejello and was pronounced (O-ranj-ello). I guess that might sound cute when you are five but can you imagine sitting in line at the DMV at age 25 and hearing the clerk call out “Mr. Orange Jello!” It’s clear that some folks give a great deal of thought to what they name their children while others.... well, not so much.

This coming Sunday, we will begin a new series together titled In the Name of Jesus where we’ll examine the various things done in the scripture that were done, “In the name of Jesus.” Among the many take-aways we’ll learn is that His name is a source of power, of healing, of deliverance, of authority and of life. I encourage you not to miss a single week and to bring a friend with you who either don’t know Christ or has been away from Him for so long that they can’t seem to find their way back. So, What’s In a Name you ask? Turns out, if your name is Jesus, quite a lot.

Do Overs - Thomas’ 2nd Chance

Each of us have been faced with doubt multiple times in our lives, whether our doubt is in a set of circumstances working out as planned or in a person following through with what they said they would do. It’s important to understand that doubt enters our mind because we have experienced disappointment in the past, perhaps even multiple times as a child, an adolescent, or an adult and because that seed of disappointment is still in our memory, it creates an attitude or atmosphere of doubt. In our legal system, the prosecutor or the plaintiff has to prove their case to be true beyond a “reasonable doubt.” So how much doubt is a reasonable amount? A little? A lot? Somewhere in between? The amount of doubt that each of us are comfortable carrying is unique to each of us and based on a track record of how much disappointment we have experienced in the past. In fact the doubt, in a sense, becomes a protection mechanism we put in place to buffer the disappointment that we are anticipating.

That’s why the untold parts of the story of Thomas in John 20 likely was littered with disappointment that, for him, led to a lack of trust and the doubt that unless he saw the scars in Jesus’ hands and side, he wasn’t going to go all in that Jesus had actually risen from the dead. I mean the resurrection story sounds preposterous in the first place right? So in Thomas’ mind what’s wrong with demanding a little proof that what Mary Magdalene and the other disciples had told him about seeing Jesus in person actually happened? Here’s another thought... could what all of Christendom has believed as Thomas doubting Jesus actually be his doubting the disciples and their accounts?