“You don’t have to go to church be BECOME a Christian, but you do have to go to church to BE a Christian.”

This was a quote from a sermon I preached about 4 important relationships we need that we find in a church community.  There will be a link to the entire sermon at the end.

What It Means to BECOME a Christian

The key words in my statement are “become” and “be.” Let’s start with “become.”  How does one become a Christian?

1.  Not by our human effort.  Salvation is by grace through faith and not by our human doings.  (Ephesians 2:8-9).  We do not earn our way to heaven by going to church, being a good person, or even being baptized. Salvation is not something we attain, but something we obtain.  

2.  By God’s grace.  Grace is God’s favor toward us, irrespective of any worthiness in us.  We don’t obtain salvation because we deserve it.  Instead, we obtain salvation in spite of the fact that we do NOT deserve it.  We deserve the opposite – eternal damnation and separation from God.

3. Through faith.  Salvation comes to us when we believe the Gospel – the good news.  Jesus is the Son of God.  He came to earth and lived the perfect life that we were intended to live.  Then He died the death that we are supposed to die because of our sin.  He took our place.  He paid our sin debt.  Then He arose from the dead in victory over sin’s penalty.  He ascended to heaven, sent the Holy Spirit to work in us to reform us. One day, He will return to judge the wicked and restore the world to the perfect order which God created it.  We are saved when we trust that truth and surrender to Christ as our absolute King now and forever.

What About the Church with a Capital C?

Once we become a Christian, we begin a wonderful journey of living this new life that God gives us.  And one of the greatest privileges in the Christian life is to belong to a church.

The word “church” appears in the New Testament 115 times in either its singular or plural form.  The word refers to the general church – all believers collectively – 20 times.  That means that 95 times – almost 4 times as often – the word refers to a local body of believers.  From that we understand that Jesus’ intention was for His followers to gather together. 

From the beginning in the book of Acts, believers were gathered both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.  The New Testament contains 21 books that we call “Epistles” or letters.  Nine of them are addressed to specific gatherings of believers in specific locations.  Some of those even mention other locations where believers gathered as a church.  

Paul wrote 3 to pastors who served local congregations and one to a prominent member of a local congregation (Philemon). Peter addressed his two letters to groups of believers gathered in specific locations in Asia Minor (modern day western Turkey). The Book of Revelation opens with Jesus addressing letters to seven specific congregations in Asia Minor.

So yes, gathering as a church was considered the norm in New Testament times.

How the Church Helps Me BE a Christian

Several New Testament passages indicate that the early church considered “membership” important.  We will consider those at another time.  Suffice it to say for now, the New Testament practiced intentional membership.

I don’t know about you, but I love to sit around a fire in a fire pit.  But if you remove a log from the fire two things happen.  First, the heat and light from the fire is diminished.  The fire just isn’t the same without the log.  But you will also observe a second result.  The log which you removed will soon lose its glow and its fire.  It will eventually grow cold.

Believers apart from a local church are like that log removed from the fire.  The church provides instruction, encouragement, and accountability.  The Holy Spirit uses the church in those three ways to grow us toward maturity in Jesus.  Candidly, a believer who is not engaged with a local church will remain stunted in their sanctification.

Two Takeaways

So there are two considerations I hope you take away from reading this.  

First, make certain you are a Jesus follower.  Believe the Gospel.  You don’t have to work harder and do better to achieve enough to attain salvation.  Trust in what Jesus has already done on your behalf.

Second, if you are not in a local church, find a good Bible-teaching church and attach yourself to them.  The Holy Spirit will use those fellow-believers to help you become more like Jesus.  And serve in and through that church.  You get to be a part of helping others grow to be more like Jesus too.  What a privilege.

Oh.  And you can click here to view the sermon I mentioned at the beginning.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:24-25

June ushers in my favorite season of the year, Summer. I enjoy the warm weather and outdoor activities of Summer.  But it’s my favorite season of the year because it’s baseball season. Man, I love baseball! There was a time in my life when I thought what I wanted to do with my life was to be a high school teacher and coach baseball.  Yes, I love baseball!

I keep a baseball on my desk. I pick up the baseball, hold it my hand, and toss it around a lot just as part of my fidgetiness. But I primarily keep a baseball on my desk to remind me of the importance of God’s Word in my life.  Let me explain.

A baseball weighs somewhere between 5 and 5 ¼ ounces and measures between 9 and 9 ¼ inches in circumference.  It’s made up of three parts.  A cork or rubber center surrounded by yards and yards and yards (and yards) of tightly wrapped yarn.  The cover consists of two pieces of either cowhide or horsehide cut in an hourglass shape, turned at 90º angles to each other.  The cover is wrapped around the cork and yarn and stitched together with 108 pairs of the characteristic red thread.

The Bible and a Baseball

The stitches remind me of the role the Bible plays in my life.  Let me see if I can explain it this way.  You see, I am basically three parts as well.  At my core is the spiritual part of me, the part on the inside that relates to God in a very personal way.  Then there is the mental part of me that perceives the world around me, gathers information, knows, sees, and understands things that direct my will.  Then there is the physical part of me, my body – the part of me on the outside that you see.  It is with the outer me that I can relate to you and the outer you.

So just like the baseball is 3 parts – core, yarn, and cover – I am three parts – spirit, mind, and body.  Just like the stitches of the baseball hold it all together, the Word of God holds me together.

“I have stored up Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”

Psalm 119:11

Getting a Grip

The stitches of a baseball also provide grip.  A good pitcher can make the ball go in a desire direction simply by the way he grips the stitches. A fielder gets a good grip on the stitches so he can throw the ball accurately to the intended target.  The stitches provide the grip that enables the player to make an accurate throw. When I get a grip on the truth of God’s Word, my life hits God’s intended target.

“How can a young man keep His way pure? By guarding it according to your word.”

Psalm 119:9

The Strike Zone of Life

The final way the stitches remind me of God’s Word involves the aerodynamics of a baseball.  As a baseball rotates, the stitches produce drag on the air around it.  A skillful pitcher can make a ball rise, drop, or curve based on how they manipulate the rotation of the stitches.  Just like the stitches of a baseball guide it through the air, so also God’s Word gives direction to my life.  

“Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

Psalm 119:105

Like stitches to a baseball, God’s Word holds my life together.  As you watch taseball games this summer, think about how God’s Word is like a baseball.  Maybe you aren’t skilled enough to play ball with the big boys, but all of us can let the Bible have its effect in our lives.

In Christian circles, we often use the word “stewardship” with reference to money.  Most church-goers expect that a sermon with the word stewardship in the title will be about giving more money.  But today, I want us to consider stewardship of another commodity.  Let’s consider the stewardship of our words.

The English alphabet has twenty-six letters that can be arranged to form many words.  Most English-speaking adults have a vocabulary of 25,000-30,000 words.^[1]  God created us with an amazing capacity to form ideas in our brain and then to communicate those ideas with words.  He created an elaborate “sound system” in our bodies to produce those words in audible form.

The Bible and Our Words

James 3:1-12 reminds is that our words have the capacity to both help and harm. It all depends on how we choose to use them. 

In Matthew 12:33-37, Jesus teaches that our words provide a very clear diagnostic of our heart condition.  He reminds us that we speak from the overflow of what is already in our heart.  Jesus was the first to communicate the concept that “what you say can and will be used against (or for) you.”

In Ephesians 4:25-32, Paul challenges us to use words that build up instead of tear down.  He calls us to forsake words that are untrue, corrupt, bitter, and angry.  And to replace them with words that are true, forgiving, and kind.

Stewardship and Words

My challenge to you today is to see yourself as a STEWARD of words.  That begins with surrendering the rights to our words.  We live in a culture that believes in the individual right to speak one’s mind, or to speak from the heart.  That would be fine if our minds and hearts were not fallen and tainted by sin.  How different would our speech be if we forfeited our speech rights?  Would the content of our words and the way we speak them be different? I believe it would. I remember my grandmother saying, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”  If we followed her advice, our world would be a lot quieter.

Read More

I hope that you have a plan to help you read the Bible through in 2024. If not, I invite you to read along with my family and me. We will be using a chronological reading plan from The Bible Recap (see links below).

The Bible Recap offers not only a reading plan, but also a short summary (hence “recap”) of that day’s reading. The recap helps to keep each day’s reading grounded in the story arch of what comes before and after.

The Bible Recap offers several helpful tools, all of which you can learn about on the web page linked below:

— a podcast featuring each day’s recap,
— a book with each day’s recap for those who would rather read it,
— you can also find The Bible Recap reading plan on the YouVersion Bible app under their reading plans.

If you need help with any of these let me know. For those of you who watch my weekly REFRESH videos, I will be using some of the daily readings for our study.

Why You Need to Read the Bible

In his book The Lord Bless You and Keep You: The Promise of the Gospel in the Aaronic Blessing, Michael Glodo states

“We behold the glory of God in the face of Christ with the help of the Spirit through the testimony of God’s word. The Spirit, which inspired the word and now indwells us, testifies through the word of the glory of God in the face of Christ. We ‘see’ by ‘hearing.'”

There is no greater way we can grow in our knowledge of and love for Jesus than by seeing His glory in the Bible. I hope you will select a reading plan and read through your Bible this year and see the face of Jesus in every passage.

The Bible Recap Website	The Bible Recap Book	The Lord Bless You and Keep You	YouVersion Bible App

In my last blog, I wrote about the thoughts I have been having after my 59^th birthday.  (You can go back and read it by clicking here.)  As I mentioned in that blog, my dad died at 73.  If I life the same life span as he, I have about 14 years left. I hope I live a lot more years than that, but in reality, I’m not even promised that many. To put it in baseball terms, this is the seventh inning stretch.  It’s time to get serious about some things.

God has been very good to me in all my life. I was raised by loving parents in a good Christian home.  I attended a solid Bible-teaching church and received a good education at a Christian school.  By God’s grace, I married a wonderful and beautiful (and incredibly patient) wife and have an awesome daughter.  I’ve been blessed to spend my life serving God by leading and teaching His people. Even if my life ended today, I would have no complaints. God has given me more than I deserve.

However, though thankful for all God has done, my passion is to live the rest of my life finishing strong.

Read More

This weekend, I celebrated my 59^th birthday.  The beginning of my last year in the 50s. In case you’re wondering (and even if you aren’t), that is 34,456,000,000 miles around the Sun.  Yes over 34 billion – with a B.  That’s a lot of mileage. No wonder I am so tired all the time!  But like my dad always said, “Birthdays are good for you, the more you have the longer you live.”

Birthday Contemplations

Speaking of my dad, he went home to be with the Lord 2 months after his 73^rd birthday. Relatively young.  On my birthday last year, I realized that if I died at the same age, I had 15 years left.  Now one more year has expired, and only 14 remain – should I live to the same age as he. I am not guaranteed as many as he lived. Conversely, by God’s grace I could have a few more than he did.  Only God knows.  But last year’s birthday started me thinking about something.  And this year’s birthday has pushed the thinking into mach-drive.

I share my thoughts with you in hopes that God will use it to spur self-evaluation in your life as well.

Numbering Days

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12

Psalm 90:12 encourages us to pray that God would help us to “number” our days.  This psalm was written, ironically, by Moses who lived only 120 years.  This Old Testament concept of numbering days goes beyond merely counting how many of them there are. In case you are wondering, as of December 9, 2023, I had lived 21,549 days.  That includes Leap Days.  

In the Old Testament, numbering was counting and dividing into organized parts.  The Old Testament book of Numbers is the record of Moses counting and organizing God’s people into groups. Moses encourages us to ask God to help us evaluate and organize our days.  The goal of such consideration is to help us live our remaining days in a wise manner.

Numbering Questions

Praying and meditating over three questions can help us in this task.  

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Cruel acts of terror.  Local crime.  Political corruption. People are hurting.  I have friends who are battling terminal diseases.  I know newborn babies who are only a few days old and dealing with serious health issues.  Through it all, God is reminding us to live in faith not fear.  

The night before I wrote this article, a mass shooter killed 18 people and injured dozens more in a shooting rampage in Lewiston, Maine.  I thought about those 18 poor souls who lost their lives, and I thought about their families.  They all woke up that morning without any idea how their day would end.

I also thought about several in our church family who are battling cancer and other terminal illnesses.  One day, you are feeling OK; the next, you receive shocking news.  Many in our church family have faced the loss of loved ones over this past year.  All this serves as a stark reminder that life is fragile. 

We cannot let the uncertainties of life paralyze us with fear, dread, and doubt.  What we can do is follow the advice of Corrie ten Boom and trust an unknown future to a known God.

Keeping a Faith Focus

Here are a few suggestions to keep your mind faithfully focused on our faithful God.

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In the Bible, manna was an amazing provision of God for His people as they wandered in the wilderness.  On their way to the Promised Land, He fulfilled a daily promise to provide for them along the way.  His Promise was not just a future destination.  He also promised His daily presence, guidance, and protection.

You can read about the manna experience in Exodus 16 and Numbers 11.  Each day, God would miraculously provide a day’s worth of manna on the ground.  All anyone had to do was pick it up and use it.  But only enough for that day.  Any leftovers would get worms.  God wanted them to have fresh manna each day.  

After a while, the people grew weary of eating the same thing every day.  So God gave them quail to eat instead. Very soon the birds made them sick (Numbers 11:31-34), and they realized God’s manna was better.  I can’t imagine why they grew weary of the manna.  According to the description in Numbers 11:8, manna tasted like a doughnut!  Imagine that!  Quail is tasty, but doughnuts from God every morning!  Who gets tired of that?

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