Two cool kats

Gotta love this picture. Two great men, rebellious in their own ways, yet used by God in powerful ways.

Some creation humor

Thought this might lighten things up a bit as we talk about God the creator...enjoy.

Salad bar theology

This Sunday we'll start a 13 week series on "Difficult Bible passages." Often it's tempting to have a "salad bar theology" as we read the Bible, that is picking and choosing what we like and don't like, want to believe and not believe. Sorry to disappoint some of you, but it doesn't work that way. Sure there may be passages of the Bible we don't like or don't understand, but we can't just dismiss them as "no longer applicable to today." God has a reason and a purpose for everything written in the Bible. A wise approach to the scriptures is to try and see God's character through an event or story that may make no sense to you.

This Sunday we'll review the creation account in Genesis 1-2:4. As I discussed this with Darren we agreed that if you don't believe in a God who has existed for ever, created the world and everything in it, then you'll for sure have difficulties with many Bible passages that follow. Foundational to our understanding of the entire Bible is the creation account, how it all started.

I pray that the introduction to our summer series this Sunday will lay that foundation that opens our minds to how God has worked throughout history.

It dawned on me the other day that many church going Christians want to debate certain passages from the Bible, yet have no problem coming to church on Easter and Christmas. Seems like everybody likes to go to church on these holidays...and yet we are teaching straight from the Bible that Jesus was born of a virgin and then later died and was resurrected. Wow! That's amazing. See what I'm saying? If you can believe that, then have faith that God will show you some keen insights into these scriptures we look at this summer.

A Mormon president?

So what happens if Mitt Romney becomes our next president? Will we be forced to read the book of Mormon? Coerced into wearing special secret underwear? Will the Mormon church finally let us mere mortals enter into the most secret places of their immaculate temple in La Jolla?

My answer is no, no and no. It will be interesting to see how this election turns out. No matter who gets elected, God is still in charge. Throughout history God has allowed outright wicked men to rule over his people. God doesn't just hand over the keys to running a particular country with no restrictions. It may seem like chaos (even now with the mess that is the Iraq war) but God has not abandoned us.

So what is the average tax-paying citizen to do? Pray. The Bible cleary tells us to pray continually (1 Thess. 5:17). I'm praying even now before we actually get a new president. As a family, we pray for our president, governor, mayor and city council. God can move in anyones heart, so let's continue to pray for our elected officials.

Does prayer change God's mind?

On Sunday I preached on the Biblical perspective on prayer. We covered all the basics, prayer posture, pray language, humility, seeking God's will, not ours etc. When I asked for feedback, the topic of praying to change God's mind came up. On one hand there are references in the Bible where it seems as if God changes his mind. Yet if we believe in God's omniscience then it was no surprise to him that the events turned out the way they did.

Prayer is a weird thing to me. No doubt we are told to pray throughout the Bible. I pray all the time. In reality, when I pray I'm just trying to get in line with what God wants to do in my life as well as those I pray for. So, I don't think I change God's mind with my prayers. I still believe we are daily learning how to fit in with God's master plan, yet with the hard-to-understand balance of the ability to make our own choices in the midst of that grand plan.

Once again my core theology, "God/mystery/wonder" rings true.

Jerry Falwell part 2

It's been interesting watching the media cover the death of Jerry Falwell. I watched a great show on Larry King the other night. They interviewed the likes of Larry Flint, James D0bson, Rev. Al Sharpton and Ralph Reed. Larry King also interviewed the guy who ghost wrote two books for Jerry Falwell and is today an outspoken gay. (I believe his last name is Winter.)

None of them really had anything bad to say about Mr. Falwell. They all may not have agreed with him, but did agree on the fact that at least he was willing to speak his mind. I believe that Jerry Falwell was actually Biblically correct with his convictions and theology, he just may not have spoken those convictions in the most loving way.

Hopefully the media coverage will cause people to dig deeper into the issues Mr. Falwell pushed for and come to their own convictions from a Biblical standpoint.

That is always the challenge and quest of every Christian, to read the Bible for themselves and let God speak to them individually to form their convictions.

“The death of Jerry Falwell, man of God or embarrassment to the Christian faith?”

With today's death of Jerry Falwell, expect a rush of media driven stories. For a larger than life figure like Mr. Falwell, you can count on seemingly endless stories on his life, showing the good and the bad.

There are times I wish I was a famous Christian (although I still hold to the thought that "famous Christian" is an oxymoron). If I let my ego creep in (like the ring in Lord of the Rings or the dark costume in Spiderman 3) then I find myself craving the attention of millions.

Then I watch a review of Jerry Falwells life (I've already seen one online) and I cringe. Not that Jerry Falwell did all bad. He did plenty of great things for the kingdom of God in his time. However, I can almost bet he'll be remembered more for some of his verbal blunders over the years. God bless Jerry Falwell and his family as he is now in the Lord's presence!

The public stage of the Christian life is not an easy mantle to wear. It's only by God's grace that on my very little stage at Coastlands Church I haven't slandered the name of God yet. It is so tempting to give the "Evan Lauer translation" of the Bible when I'm either preaching or counseling. I've done it a few times and paid dearly for it.

As I often pray before I preach on Sunday's, "Please God, don't let me get in the way of anything you want to say today."

Godspeed my friends,
Evan