I heard it again last night. Some actor saying it’s more fun to play the bad guy than the good.

And think about how many times we find ourselves rooting for liars, cheats, thieves, or killers when watching movies or television.

How much of what you watch portrays what God hates?

Look on your Church, O Lord!  Your enemies attack and seek to destroy the people you purchased for yourself!  How long will you allow your enemies to scoff over your purchased possession?  How long will they revile your name?  Look upon your people  in lovingkindness and mercy so that we may lift our heads in your praise!

O God, they attack like an army, cutting a path through your people, laying us to waste!  O Sovereign Lord, how long till you come to judge the Earth and avenge the blood of your martyrs on the Earth?  Yet you have given rest to those who had no rest here.  You have exchanged the blood stained garments of the martyrs for robes of white which they now wear before you.  You have promised to come quickly.  Arise,  O God, defend your cause!  Come quickly and receive us to yourself.

In the mighty name of our Savior who bore his cross on our behalf, and who calls us to take up our cross if we would inherit eternal life, the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Based on Psalm 74 and Revelation 6:9-11.

Brother Charlie will be in 1 Peter 3. I’m looking forward to hearing how he handles this passage.

And I’m excited to be in the pulpit Sunday evening. I’ll be considering how nobody knows the troubles we’ve seen – nobody but Jesus, that is.

Hope to see you there.

SDG,

David

Your Church is now drawing near to you with much confidence as we walk the path the Christ has opened for us by His sacrifice of blood and resurrection, passing through the curtain by which we had been excluded from your presence, but has now been opened to us through the opening of Christ’s own flesh.  We enter in with full assurance of faith, having been washed clean by his blood and the baptism of the Spirit.

We enter in clinging to Christ and the confession of our hope that as we come through him we will not die, because you are faithful to your promise that all who trust in him will not be put to shame.

As we enter your presence together today, teach us to consider how we might encourage our brothers to love and good works.  We seek your face as we meet together, not merely by our physical presence in this building, but that we might be truly meeting together with love and concern for one another, seeking to encourage one another as we look for your Son’s return, Lord, come quickly!

It is in the name above all names, the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray,

Amen.

We may not sacrifice our children to Molech or Nanna, but we murder them on the altars of “freedom” or “choice” or “rights.”

But, praise God, there is mercy and forgiveness in the Cross of Christ.

SDG,

David

We’ve set it up in our classroom. There’s a brand new gliding rocking chair, a changing table, a portable crib, and a baby monitor so whoever is back there can still hear the sermon.

Mind you, we love and want all the children to join us for the service. But sometimes, it’s true, those younger kids don’t want to be with us! And, even though kids do not bother me or Jeremy or Charlie, we know that sometimes the parents feel a little self-conscious about them. I’ve been there myself.

So, it’s set up and ready to go tomorrow morning.

SDG,

David

After four and a half years of vigilantly fighting breast cancer, the 37 year old wife and mother of two was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

But for Rachel the essence of life is found in her relationship with God through Jesus. And that’s why Rachel is convinced that death is not dying.

On March 4, 2009, what started out as a small talk to a women’s group at her church grew into an event attended by 600 women from around Vancouver, giving Rachel an opportunity to share about her hope in the midst of terminal cancer.

Rachel’s honest and thought-provoking talk touched women of all ages and left a hunger for discovering more about Rachel’s journey and the faith that has so deeply affected her life.

Please, go watch the video.  It’s 55 minutes, but worth every second.

It’s fast. Really fast. I like that. And what I really like is the free 20″ widescreen monitor that came with it. What a difference it makes to be able to see everything so big and clear.

But then, the other day, I’m in a co-worker’s office and I notice that the monitor sitting on the desk is 22″ and the first thing I think is I wish I had a 22″ monitor!

Amazing! How quickly I fell into covetousness and discontentment and ungratefulness!

Our wicked hearts are so subtle…O God, may I be content with what I have…

Blessings,

David

Recently, I’ve been visiting various church websites to see the different descriptions given.  One website described their worship as, “Dynamic!”, another as “Relevant”,  “Exuberant!”, and one website even described their ‘Ministries Pastor’ pretty much as, the guy every guy wants to be and every girl wants to date.  Now, those are my words, but that is the impression I got from their description which actually says, “He’s the one you want to take home to mama.”  That’s their words.

I’m sticking with “Unremarkable”, as a description of our church, worship, ministries, and leadership.

Why?  Because our worship style, our leadership, and our service to God doesn’t deserve praise.  Our God deserves praise.  Our acts of worship in singing, preaching, giving, praying, serving, and loving are only what God has asked of us.  And when we offer Him this worship we shouldn’t expect praise in return from Him or anyone else.  In fact, Jesus said this,

“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” (Luke 17:7-10)

You know what’s remarkable?  Someone who goes above and beyond in their service and worship of God.  That’s the person I’m going to praise.  Do you know where that person lives?  Right now He is seated at the right hand of His Father where He rules over everything and everybody.  Jesus is the man who became obedient to the point of death on a cross and that God speaks to and says, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” (Psalm 110:1)

Our worship and our service are unremarkable.  Nothing great and by no means perfect, but we do seek to worship God in the ways He has commanded us to worship in Scripture.  And we long for the day when our worship and service to God becomes perfect.  Not complete, our God is infinitely worthy of worship that will continue throughout eternity.  But perfect worship and service from a glorified heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Now that’s not to say that we can be lazy in our worship.  We strive to be the servants and worshippers that God wants us to be.  That’s why we do the things that we do.  We believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God, therefore we look to God’s Word to tell us what He wants.  And here’s what He wants:  preachers who will preach His Word ‘line upon line, precept upon precept’, Christians who will hear His Word and obey, worshipers who will lift their voices to Him in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs.  He wants His Word read publicly, He wants us to encourage one another and build each other up, bear one another’s burdens, care for the widows and orphans, give cheerfully to His work through the church, and love Him and our brothers and sisters and our enemies.

On second thought, maybe I would consider a church that did all of those things remarkable…at least from a human perspective.