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Here are my Notes & Quotes for Sunday, June 1.

Heroic prayer is spilling your guts, praising your God and asking for vigor.

Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference.

– Max Lucado

The people who related to God best—Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah—treated Him with startling familiarity. They talked to God as if He were sitting in a chair beside them, as one might talk to a counselor, a boss, a parent, or a lover. They treated Him like a person.

– Philip Yancey (Disappointment with God)

What seem our worst prayers may really be, in God’s eyes, our best. Those, I mean, which are least supported by devotional feeling. For these may come from a deeper level than feeling. God sometimes seems to speak to us most intimately when he catches us, as it were, off our guard.

– C. S. Lewis

Heroic prayer comes from pretty un-heroic people with un-heroic faith. However, people with weak faith are still blessed by God and still can accomplish great things.

³⁶Then Gideon said to God, “If you are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised, ³⁷prove it to me in this way. I will put some wool on the threshing floor tonight. If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning but the ground is dry, then I will know that you are going to help me rescue Israel as you promised.” ³⁸And it happened just that way. When Gideon got up the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out a whole bowlful of water.

³⁹Then Gideon said to God, “Please don’t be angry with me, but let me make one more request. This time let the fleece remain dry while the ground around it is wet with dew.” ⁴⁰So that night God did as Gideon asked. The fleece was dry in the morning, but the ground was covered with dew.

– Judges 6:36-40

• The reason Gideon’s prayer was heroic wasn’t because it worked. It was heroic because it was honest. It came from a weak-hearted, insecure, not-so-sure-of-his-faith believer.
• The “fleece” concept of prayer is driven by weakness, insecurity, and doubt. It was never an act of a believer with a mature, growing faith.

• When you ask for tangible signs you’re treading on dangerous ground. Does God answer prayers in that way? It might happen sometimes, but not usually.

• If your life is based on a series of “sign posts” that you pray for, you are going to be very unstable, develop an almost false faith, and at best be a dysfunctional, emotionally-crippled believer. You cannot reduce a life of faith to a series of signs or you will live a very unstable, superstitious life.

All the persons of faith I know are sinners, doubters, uneven performers. We are secure not because we are sure of ourselves but because we trust that God is sure of us.

– Eugene Peterson (A Long Obedience in the Same Direction)

I’ve been reading an interesting book, The Question of God, that compares the lives of Freud (as in Sigmund) and Lewis (as in C.S.). It’s fascinating actually. That comes from a guy who regularly reads ESPN.com!

I’m so drawn to this book (and I’m not endorsing all of its conclusions) that I’m quoting from it in my message on Sunday (May 18). Obviously I have been “moved” (if that’s the right word) by the book and just wanted to share the last paragraph here.

The answer to the question of God has profound implications for our lives here on earth, both Freud and Lewis agree. So we owe it to ourselves to look at the evidence, perhaps beginning with the Old and New Testaments. Lewis also reminds us, however, that the evidence lies all around us: “We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always easy to penetrate. The real labor is to remember to attend. In fact to come awake. Still more to remain awake.”

– Dr. Armand M. Nicholi, Jr.

If you’re interested in the book, you can find it on Amazon.com: The Question of God.

Here are my Notes & Quotes for this past Sunday.

The church, by and large, has had a poor record of encouraging freedom. She has spent so much time inculcating in us the fear of making mistakes, that she has made us like ill-taught piano students: we play our songs, but we never really hear them because our main concern is not to make music but to avoid some flub that will get us in dutch (i.e. trouble).

– Robert Capon

Frustration: If I get out of line I’m going to get nuked by Him!

Simple answer: We’d already be nuked/dead!

• There is no act, sacrament or liturgical exercise that can gain you greater favor with God/Jesus.
• The Bible says the person of faith in Christ is safely in the center of God’s hand and nothing can change that.

The Person of Faith in Christ is Condemnation-Free.

¹So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. ²For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death. ³The law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature. But God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. ⁴He did this so that the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

– Romans 8:1-4

The Person of Faith in Christ Has No Room/Need/Obligation to be Fearful of God.

¹⁵So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God’s very own children, adopted into his family—calling him “Father, dear Father.” ¹⁶For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God’s children.

³⁴Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.

– Romans 8:15-16, 34

The Person of Faith in Christ Can Never Be Separated from God.

³⁵Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? ³⁶(Even the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) ³⁷No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

³⁸And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. ³⁹Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

– Romans 8:35-39

May those of who claim to be “people of faith in Christ” live in a way that our behavior and attitudes will reflect an inner security and strength that is rooted and grounded in an understanding of God’s incredible love for us.

May our shortcomings not cause us to dive into some spiritual funk that causes one to question their security in Christ.

Instead, may it cause me to be catapulted back to God, seeking, accepting and thanking Him for His forgiveness.

In my Sunday morning message last week, I mentioned that reflecting on what Jesus went through in order to rescue us from this broken world can be helpful when going through difficult times ourselves. Here are a number of experiences that Jesus had that show the range of suffering he endured.

• Jesus was born a Jew, which meant that he lived as an oppressed minority in a country that was occupied by the Romans (Matthew 1:1 – 2:6).
• At one point during his ministry, his family thought he was insane (Mark 3:20-21).
• While Jesus was praying about and wrestling with the fact that he was going to die the next day, his friends fell asleep; and they deserted him when he was put on trial and executed (Luke 22:39-46, 54-62).
• Judas, who had been one of Jesus’ closest friends, turned him over to the Jewish authorities so they could arrest him (Matthew 26:14-16, 47-50).
• Because he was innocent, the authorities had to resort to lying witnesses in order to convict Jesus and sentence him to death (Mark 14:53-65).
• After he was convicted, Jesus was tortured before he was crucified (Mark 14:65; John 19:1-3).
• Jesus was crucified, an intentionally brutal means of execution, designed to cause excruciating pain before death (John 19:16-37).

Jesus experienced the full range of human suffering when he lived and died as a human being. He knows what it’s like to feel physical and emotional pain. He knows what it’s like to suffer when you don’t deserve it. And, that makes it easier for me to trust him because I know that he’s been through similar experiences himself.

As always, I’m most appreciative of the comments I received after this talk. This is a very brief version of my ‘Notes & Quotes’ and I hope it will be further cause for you to stop, reflect, and even read the Bible more.

The Bible is often confusing because …

Ministers are confusing.

As you heard or can imagine, I had (and still have) much to say about this subject. It grieves me to see how little attention is given to the Bible in the training of ministers in so many institutions of education.

We are often hypocrites.

People have seen it lived out so poorly.

The best cure for Christianity is reading the Bible.

– Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

People have heard some so-called “expert” say it was out-dated.

Unfortunately there are way too many people who never dig deeper than what they’ve read or heard in a report. That is sadly true for many areas of life for too many people.

People sometimes want to DO what they want to do.

Often times a person’s “crisis of faith” is just part of a process of seeking justification for something they previously thought was wrong.

You’re reading the wrong parts

Don’t let the unclear Scripture references overrule those that are clear.

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.

– Deuteronomy 29:29

People can easily get confused.

My problem is not with 20% of the Bible I don’t understand. My biggest problems come from the 80% I do understand clearly.

Here’s an example, very straight forward passage in the New Testament. It’s certainly easy enough to understand but very challenging to practice!

³⁴But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they thought up a fresh question of their own to ask him. ³⁵One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: ³⁶“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

³⁷Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

– Matthew 22:34-40

We’ve failed to understand its importance.

If we abide by the principles taught by the Bible, our country will go on prospering.

– Daniel Webster (US diplomat, lawyer, orator, & politician; 1782 – 1852)

It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.

– George Washington

The truth is the Bible is very clear on the most important issues of life and faith.

Why is it important?

¹⁵You have been taught the Holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. ¹⁷It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.

– 2 Timothy 3:15-17

• It gives insight in how to trust Christ/God.

• It’s inspired by God and is therefore authoritative.

• It teaches us values for living life.

• It puts us in the path for blessing.

Many of you have been asking me to post “bare bones” notes and quotes from my Sunday morning messages. Here ya go! I’ll try to do this every week. They should usually be posted sometime on Monday.

Why are so many of God’s people jerks?

Show me a person who has rejected faith, and 9 times out of 10 I’ll show you a person or group nearby who turned them sour with their example of bad faith.

– Brian McLaren

The church is made up of fallen people. The pure, clean water of spiritual truth is placed in rusty containers, and the subsequent failings of the church down through the centuries should not be projected onto the faith itself, as if the water had been the problem.

– Francis Collins, The Language of God

Is it any wonder that there are atheists in the world, when the church behaves so abominably?

– Voltaire

Because…

Knowledge doesn’t always translate into practice.

²¹Well then, if you teach others, why don’t you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal? ²²You say it is wrong to commit adultery, but do you do it? You condemn idolatry, but do you steal from pagan temples? ²³You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it. ²⁴No wonder the Scriptures say, “The world blasphemes the name of God because of you.”

– Romans 2:21-24 (NLT)

Behavior overrules God-talk every day.

¹¹Dear brothers and sisters, you are foreigners and aliens here. So I warn you to keep away from evil desires because they fight against your very souls. ¹²Be careful how you live among your unbelieving neighbors. Even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will believe and give honor to God when he comes to judge the world.

– 1 Peter 2:11-12

Followers of Christ are called to a higher standard.

¹⁷Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. ¹⁸Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible.

– Romans 12:14-18

Never forget — You’re an ambassador.

¹⁸All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him. ¹⁹For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. ²⁰We are Christ’s ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, “Be reconciled to God!” ²¹For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

– 2 Corinthians 5:18-21

An ambassador’s main role is to develop good favor toward his country.

Does it matter what others think of how I look, act, and even live? Yes! Some ambassadors get recalled, and that’s not a good thing.

Never, ever forget the value of authenticity and humility.

A couple of weeks ago I ran into an article in which Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was quoted as saying that Moses was under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs when he received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:1-21) and when he had an encounter with God at the burning bush (Exodus 3:1 – 4:16). Haaretz, a daily newspaper published in Jerusalem, has a fairly comprehensive version of the story, and ABC News fills in a few details not found in Haaretz.

Professor Shanon argues that the Biblical descriptions of these events are very similar to the experiences reported by people under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs. He claims that the Israelites used two plants with psychotropic properties, one of which (the acacia tree) is mentioned in the Bible. Shanon compares the experiences of Moses and the Israelites to his own experience when under the influence of a potion made from the ayahuasca plant in the northern Amazon section of Brazil. He says that “I experienced visions that had spiritual-religious connotations.” To his credit Shanon admits that he has no proof of his interpretation, nor does he expect to find any. He also points out that “not everyone who uses a plant like this brings the Torah. For that you have to be Moses.”

Shanon’s comments on the possible alternatives are quite revealing. “As far as Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don’t believe, or a legend, which I don’t believe either, or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effects of narcotics.” While those who believe the Biblical record is correct may chuckle at Shanon’s hypothesis, what other alternatives does he have? He has ruled out a priori the possibility of a supernatural cause, and he doesn’t accept the idea that the event is a legend, so his drug-related hypothesis isn’t so far-fetched if that’s all he has left. This is an excellent illustration of how your worldview shapes your understanding of the Bible and, indeed, all of life.

If you don’t believe in the possibility of miracles, then you will find it quite difficult to accept much of the Bible at face value. On the other hand, if you think miracles are possible, then you are free to examine the Biblical record and other historical evidence and decide whether the Bible seems to be reliable. You can still believe that Moses was on drugs, but you may end up concluding that it is more reasonable to believe that he actually had an encounter with God.

As I mentioned in my message on Sunday evening, while most of us have a pretty good intuitive understanding of the nature of faith, we often have difficulty putting that intuition into words. To help you think through the nature of faith, I’ve included below the definitions and descriptions I used on Sunday night. Someone asked me about the author of the unattributed quote at the end of the list. I plead guilty to being that unidentified author.

According to some prominent skeptics,

“Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.” (Richard Dawkins)

“The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.” (Benjamin Franklin)

“Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.” (Mark Twain)

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, faith is:

1. Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.

2. Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.

According to Hebrews 11:1,

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.” (NET Bible)

Finally, according to the Executive Pastor of Renaissance Church,

“Faith in God means believing that He is willing and able to deliver what he has promised. Although we can’t see the outcome ahead of time, and we don’t have absolute proof, we have good reason to trust that God will do what He has promised to do.”

What do you think? Feel free to leave a comment relating to your understanding of the nature of faith.

This is the prayer that I wrote and read Sunday when talking about judging. It’s always a relevant topic and a delicate balancing act. We need to work at using good judgment, taking a position for the right things and against the wrong things, and doing so in a non-judgmental way.

I trust this prayer will help in the journey.

May God make us the kind of people who can overlook the pettiness that often leads to wrong judgments.

May He give us the strength needed to confront real wrongs in a non-judgmental way.

And, may He always give us the incredible bravery needed to look honestly inward while having the humility to bring what ever we find to Christ for cleansing and renewal.

May God help us to cling to His grace . . . both in receiving and giving.