What's on God's Mind?

I have lots of questions for God. While he isn’t obligated to me in any way, there are many things I don’t understand that I would love to ask him. And I do at times.

Then I read in the Bible that God has some questions for me. Or for people like me in the Bible. God asks questions like,

     “Where are you?”

     “Do you love me?”

     “What are you looking for?”

     “What’s in your hand?”

Maybe I ought to answer his questions before I expect him to answer mine. After all, he started the conversation. While the Bible has a lot of answers, it also contains some great questions. Could it be that God asks these things so we think and wrestle with what’s really important? God’s questions, addressed seriously, could actually change our lives.

Next Sunday I plan to start a series called, “Questions God Asks”. We will take a look at several of God’s questions and try to discover why he asked and how the answers can make a difference to each of us. Join us for the conversation.

Why I don’t read the Bible like I did

These days I’m reading the Bible less than I have for a long time. No, I’m not giving up on God’s Word in favor of my ideas or the internet. I just found another way to get a lot of Word in me.

I discovered an app for my iPhone that has made the Bible come alive to me. (You can also get it online on your home computer or laptop.) It’s an audio format that features dramatized readings of a couple translations.

Now when I get up in the morning and start my usual exercise routine of 12-15 minutes (I also do sort of a power walk or bike ride later), I open the app and listen to the day’s reading that I choose. I love it! Hearing the Bible, especially when it’s dramatized, offers a fresh, new perspective.

The app I use is Bible.is and is also available online at www.Bible.is. Either way it’s free, though I encourage you to go online and make a donation like I did to support them getting the Word out to other nations. (Another Bible app I like that includes more audio Bibles is YouVersion, but I don’t think they have a dramatized version.)

While the Bible is timeless and is God’s living Word, our times in the Bible need to be refreshed. If we always read the same way at the same time of day, it can become routine. We need to mix it up a bit. Try this dramatized Bible, and see how God speaks to you afresh.

The Loving Truth about Homosexuality

Sunday I plan to address the topic of homosexuality. I am hearing from people in our church who seriously want a clear teaching to address what they are getting in the media and movies.

Homosexuality is a hot topic in our culture. Gay marriage is debated daily. And emotions are running high with each side accusing the other of hatred.

I am most concerned for how the church handles this. I see two opposing views emerging. There are those churches who in the name of love and tolerance have abandoned the traditional, biblical view held by Christians for so many years that homosexuality is sin. Maybe it’s compromise, or maybe it’s just weariness due to the long debate.

The other view I see is held by well-meaning Christians who are trying to maintain what the Bible says but in the heat of the conflict end up coming across angry and arrogant.

I believe that as Christ-followers we must not only know and tell the truth about homosexuality but also live out Christ’s love towards those living in sin. Let’s stay out of the ditches of compromise and anger and offer those around us what Jesus did – truth wrapped in love that changed lives.

Stay tuned for Sunday. If you can’t be there, listen online (uploaded Tuesday at www.hccgoshen.org ) or order a CD from our office (574-534-3528).

Our Sovereign and Redemptive God

Sunday our topic was God’s Sovereignty and Redemption. Nothing like trying to cover a couple of God-sized topics in one service! We heard some big truths, such as: God has undisputed ascendancy and superiority. He doesn’t only rule the church, he rules the nations. And one I’m still working on: God not only creates good; he at times sends calamity. (Isaiah 45:7)

Since Sunday I’ve been thinking some additional thoughts to feed the conversation. God is sovereign, yet He leaves a lot of his will up to us. For instance, God sovereignly appointed His Son to come at exactly the right time in history. He also appointed a time when He will return. Yet we choose our eternal destiny by deciding whether to become Christ’s followers and receive His salvation.

Also, God sovereignly determines certain aspects of our lives, such as our parents, our gender, and when we would be born. But then He gives us lots of freedom to make choices. When our choices aren’t good, he responds by offering us his help and redemption as a way to bring good from them.

Lastly, God has a plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11), but we still need to drive safely, not play in the street, and take good care of our bodies so we live long enough to fulfill His plan.

Tragically, things happen that are not God’s plan. People are abused, accidents take our loved ones, and people reject Christ. Our world has been subject to decay, so we have floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes.

In a world waiting for redemption (Romans 8:19-25), I’m so glad our sovereign God is still redemptively at work. He makes sure the determined events take place, and He works through the tragic events for our good and His glory.

God is too wise and loving to take away our power to choose or leave us when we choose wrongly. Many times I have needed to accept His love and mercy for my failures or those of others. Until heaven, we are faced with the effects of those bad choices. Yet I am amazed at how redemptive He is even now when we choose to turn to Him.

Come and Get Some Hope

Everybody needs hope to live well. Maybe even to live at all. You probably heard this quote about hope:

“Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air...but only for one second without hope.”

Hope is essential to life. But finding hope is hard at times. There have been times in my life when hope seemed in short supply. Yet somehow God showed up in some surprising way to restore my hope.

I’ve talked with people who were so short on hope they were planning to end it all. But they are alive and well today because God restored their hope.

We are starting a Sunday series tomorrow on Hope. My passion is to help people find a source of hope that’s not dependent on what life serves them. God offers hope to the hopeless. He is even called the God of hope. Wow!

Maybe finding hope isn’t that hard after all.  Come and get some hope.