Do you play “Let’s make a deal” with God?

“I will bring burnt offerings to your house; I will offer you what I promised.  I will give you what I said I would when I was in trouble.” Psalm 66:13-14

At first when I read this it sounded so positive…and it is positive.  But as I continued to read it again I realized something.  The Psalmist bringing an  offering to God.  That sounds good.  Then the Psalmist says he is bringing the offering he promised to God…again, that sounds really good.  However, then the writer says, “I will give you what I said I would when I was in trouble…”  HuH?  What is that about? I suspect we all can identify with the Psalmist.  Well, all of us who have experienced trouble, anyway.  When bad things come our way, especially if they are bad things of our own making, we have a tendency to play “Let’s make a deal” with God.  God if you get me out of this… or God if you will only do this, I promise to never do that, or promise to change… I’ve been there and done that!

In the Burt Reynolds movie “The End”, there is a great scene where Burt is about to drown.  As he is looking at the shore he begins to promise God that if God lets him live he will give God 10% of everything he makes.  As he grows more tired his offering increases.  When the shore is almost in reach but he doesn’t think he will make it, he is up to 90%!  “God I will give you 90%.  I really mean it this time”, he says.  As he crawls up on the beach he loudly proclaims his thanks to God for saving him by proclaiming, “Just like I said God, I will give you 10% of everything I make!”

Sounds a little like our Psalmist, doesn’t it.  Only the Psalmist is keeping his promise…we hope.

The problem is the when I, Mr. Reynolds or the Psalmist play “Let’s make a deal” with God we do so from a false place.  God can take my life anytime.  God already owns me and all the resources.  As a follower of Jesus, everything I have or will ever have is God’s.  I have nothing to bargain with.  I have nothing to offer God that God can’t just take anytime He wants.  What I am trying to say is that there is nothing I offer to God when I am in trouble that I shouldn’t be offering to Him every day.  My life, my money, my family, my house, my car, anything I am or will ever be has already been bought and paid for by God by Jesus’ death and resurrection.   Praise God!

I should be offering up to God everything every day!  I will be trying to do a better job of that, starting this moment.  I hope you will, too.

If you are a Christian, you are a Royal Priest

“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” I Peter 2:9

Peter tells us, in this passage that we have been given a job title, a job, and a job description!  If you are a Christian, you are a Royal Priest. That is your job title.  You are a priest with royal ancestry.  As  one of God’s own kids you have the best linage possible.  Think about it… when you say “my father is bigger than your father” you aren’t kidding!  And that is exactly what your job is.  As a royal priest your job is to talk about the greatness of God.  That is your calling…not just mine as the pastor, but every Christian’s.  Now no employee contract would be helpful if it didn’t give at least a clue as to how to accomplish what you are hired (called) to do, would it?  You are hired to share with everyone the mighty acts of Him who called YOU out of darkness into His marvelous light!  I once asked a friend of mine who was born blind what it was like to be blind…. I know, no tact… His answer really surprised me.  He told me that he didn’t know what it was like to be blind because that was all he had to compare it to.  Many people out there don’t know they are in the dark because the darkness is all they have ever known.  Our job is to help them see that they don’t have to stay in the darkness.  They don’t have to live without seeing and knowing the marvelous works of God.  Jesus’ death and resurrection have made possible the seeing what we couldn’t see before, God’s love and grace for us.

You have been given a job, a job description, and a job title… it is time to get busy… our boss has great expectations!

Haiti – Help Provide Assistance to Haiti

The Ecumenical Church of Pueblo West has joined in the need to help Haiti.  If you are able to help, we recommend that you go through The Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) link below, or you may give during our church service and we will send the money directly to PDA.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is responding in Haiti.  Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has already sent funds and is working in cooperation with our ecumenical partners on the ground to provide emergency food, water, shelter and medical supplies. Please pray for those affected and give to the ongoing relief through PDA account number DR000064. Gifts can also be made by phone at (800) 872-3283, and checks can be mailed to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, P.O. Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700.

Give Online Here

Thanksgiving Not Uniquely Christian

Thanksgiving… a chance to rest up before the big push to Christmas…or is it?  The thing is, Thanksgiving is not specifically a Christian Holiday.  Don’t get mad at me for saying that.  What I mean is that it isn’t a Holiday mandated or connected to anything that is uniquely Christian.  One can be of any religion or no religion at all, and still “give thanks”.  It really was started as a way to remember the courage of our American Pilgrim ancestors.  They courageously survived their first year, or so, by overcoming starvation, loss of crops, sickness, and fights with the Native population.  Tradition says that they overcame many of those obstacles through making peace with the Indians.  As an act of thanks they had a feast to celebrate their survival.  Who did they thank?  The easy answer is God… after all, they were a Christian colony.  It would have been entirely appropriate for them to take a break from all the hard work and hardships and thank God for their survival.  I suspect they were thanking each other for the support of their community.  Without their coming together they wouldn’t have survived.  They looked after each other, they shared meager supplies with each other, and they nursed each other through sickness.  I think they also thanked their Native neighbors.  The Indians shared of their food, taught the Colonist better planting practices and better crops to grow.  The Indians were very crucial to the survival of the small colony.  Without each other and without the Indians we possibly wouldn’t be here today!

That isn’t the whole story, though…they did thank God.  God who helped them survive the voyage to the New World.  God, who helped them survive that first year.  God, who used non-Christians (the Indians) to help them learn to survive in their new home, certainly was with them each step of the way…even to encouraging them to make peace with their new neighbors.   Their thankfulness wasn’t a frivolous thing.  It came from the painful experience of watching their friends and families die.  It was a thankfulness that came from the recognition that without each other, without their Indian neighbors, and without God they would not be alive!

So…this Thanksgiving…I hope that each of us can think deeply about how God has given us one more year.  One more year to thank Him, one more year to thank our neighbors (and hopefully to live in peace with them) and one more year to thank each other for the support, love and guidance we have received from each other.

“Thank You, God, and thank all of you”.

Grace and Peace in Jesus,

Pastor Bill

photo credit: Mike Licht

Christians need a KISS card

What exciting times we live in!  There is so much going on… I don’t know if more is going on or we just get more information about what is going on.  It has been said that we live in the “age of information”.  I think that may be true.  In a time when there is so much information available on every subject known to the human race, it can get sort of confusing about what information to share.  We don’t want to add to the information over-load, but we do need to keep people informed.  What is one to do?

It makes me think of the Apostle Paul who said, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (1 Cor 2:2-3) Wow!  Paul was so brilliant.  He was an extremely well educated man, with a very sophisticated understanding of Greek culture and language.  He was very well versed in many aspects of Greek philosophy, yet he while he is with the Greeks (Corinth was a Greek city) he didn’t make that claim.  He only talked about Jesus and what Jesus had done for those who believe in Him.

Years ago, when I was a salesman, I carried a card in my front shirt pocket.  The card simply had K.I.S.S. printed on it.  That simple card was an important reminder to Keep It Simple Stupid!  Yes, a reminder for me to not over complicate what I was doing.  The more simple things are the less that can go wrong in trying to explain them.  I think sometimes we Christians need a KISS card.  Something to remind us that this whole thing about being a follower of Jesus is not rocket science, so that only the smart or well learned can do it.  No, it is as simple as the age old song…”Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.  I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”  We receive all of this because God cared enough to give us His only Son.

As you go through the next few weeks, remember that when it comes to your relationship with God, there is really only one thing to know…no, not what does KISS stand for.  What we all have to remember is …”Jesus Christ and Him crucified”!