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Please pray for my family. My grandmother’s oldest brother & best friend, Felix Heard, passed away on Wednesday evening. He was 95yrs old. I’ll be preaching his funeral on Saturday afternoon.

Pray for his children, his grandchildren, and his great-grandchildren. Pray for Uncle Harold, his 93yr old brother. Pray for my 91yr old grandmother, and for the rest of our family. And pray for me, that I might eulogize him well, and that Christ would be glorified & souls would be saved through it.

Congratulations to the newlyweds — Darian and Grace King!

I had the privilege of officiating the marriage ceremony Darian and Grace King on Saturday, March 5th 2011.

After the wedding, they honeymooned in Seatle, WA. Even brought me back some of the world’s best coffee.

Darian & Grace — love you guys. Proud of all that God is doing in your lives!

On May 17, 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren read the decision of the unanimous Court:

“We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other “tangible” factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does…We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.”

At that moment, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine of Plessy for public education, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, and required the desegregation of schools across America.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Rom. 1:16)

The Sad People of Tazma

The people of the island of Tazma were a tragic lot. Every person on the island was born with an early death gene that aged them rapidly and killed them in their early thirties. The officials had done everything they could in an attempt to find a cure, but without success. The people eventually began to band together in weekly meetings to hear lectures from experts on how to best cope with the problem and how to prepare their children for the inevitable. An industry grew consisting of charlatan “healers” who promised that their “remedies” would prolong life, but people still died in their early thirties.

Then, after hundreds of years of early deaths, a man named Papad landed on the island and produced a cure for the early death gene. Papad, in his concern and love for the people, gave them the cure free of charge and taught them how to use it. Administering the cure wasn’t complex but the five medications had to be taken in a proper sequence and a certain time intervals or they would not work. At first the response was overwhelming, and thousands of people received treatment and were healed. The people continued their weekly meetings to talk about their new lives and how to plan for the future. Life was finally good on the island of Tazma.

One hundred years went by and during that time, the unimaginable happened. The people were once again dying in their early thirties. They were still meeting every week to hear lectures on how to get the most out of life. The false healers were once again selling their potions with promises of added years. A survey was taken which revealed that only 6% of the expert speakers at the weekly meetings were giving the people a clear, complete explanation of how to administer the cure developed by Papad 100 yrs earlier. Instead, they were talking about how to live the good life. As a result, the Tazmanians who at one time lived into their seventies and eighties, were once again dying in their early thirties, all because their leaders were not telling them about the cure and the proper way to administer it.

…Whatever happened to the gospel?

[excerpt from David Nicholas]

from Ray Ortlund: Christ is Deeper Still

“Then began a meeting the likes of which I had never seen before, nor wish to see again, unless in God’s sight it is absolutely necessary.  Every sin a human being can commit was publicly confessed that night.  Pale and trembling with emotion, in agony of mind and body, guilty souls, standing in the white light of their judgment, saw themselves as God saw them.  Their sins rose up in all their vileness, till shame and grief and self-loathing took complete possession; pride was driven out, the face of man forgotten.  Looking up to heaven, to Jesus whom they had betrayed, they smote themselves and cried out with bitter wailing: ‘Lord, Lord, cast us not away forever!’  Everything else was forgotten, nothing else mattered.  The scorn of men, the penalty of the law, even death itself seemed of small consequence if only God forgave.  We may have other theories of the desirability or undesirability of public confession of sin.  I have had mine; but I know now that when the Spirit of God falls upon guilty souls, there will be confession, and no power on earth can stop it.”

Eyewitness account, quoted in Young-Hoon Lee, “Korean Pentecost: The Great Revival of 1907,” AJPS 4 (2001): 77-78.

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Thou blessed Spirit, Author of all grace and comfort,

Yesterday morning was a very long & emotional morning…

• It started with a 5:00am phone call from my mom…she called to tell me that Mother [her mom, my 90 yr old grandmother] was being rushed by ambulance to the hospital. She sounded fairly calm, and she didn’t give a whole lot of details.
• So after I got the children off to school and daycare, I quickly made my way to the hospital.
• Now I must tell you — as a pastor, making hospital visits is a fairly routine event for me, an event that’s always filled with care and prayer…but this time was very different… This time, it was my grandmother.
• By the time I arrived there were 6 or 7 other family members who were already there.
• I went in to see my grandmother. She was still in ER. I asked the doctor for an update…
• He gave me the scoop: Congestive Heart Failure, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and possibly Pneumonia.
• The room fell very silent and the doctor went on to give a prognosis as best as he could.
• Then the doctor turned to my grandmother, who was barely conscious, and he asked her a few questions. He spoke loudly so she could hear him.
• NOTE: I had been doing very well up until this point; encouraging family, comforting my grandmother, setting an atmosphere of confident trust in God, etc. But something happened at that moment, and I realized I was totally unprepared for what the doctor was about to ask my grandmother, and, for how quickly my grandmother would respond..
• The doctor leaned over my grandmother, he called her name to get her attention, and when her eyes were fixed on him he said, “Ma’am, I have to ask you a very important question. We’re going to do everything we can to take good care of you, but, in the event that you stop breathing, or, if your heart stops beating, do you want us to place an injection into your heart or to put you on machines that will support your life? Do you want us to try and resuscitate you?“
• …And looking him straight in the eyes, with no hesitation, my grandmother quickly replied, “No, do not resuscitate.”
• Now I know that hearing my grandmother’s response should have been a joyous moment, as it speaks not only to the reality that she’s lived a long, full life; but it also testifies to the fact that she has peace with God through Christ.
• Don’t get me wrong ~ I certainly saw God in that moment, but I must also admit, hearing that exchange between my grandmother and her doctor created a myriad of emotions in my heart…..tears blinded my eyes…..but after I took a few moments, I was again able to acknowledge God’s compassion, kindness, power, and sovereignty in and over all things.
• Today, my grandmother’s condition has improved some, and we’re believing God that she’ll continue to improve.
• I’m headed back to the hospital to see her this afternoon, as soon as I finish enjoying Thanksgiving lunch with my 3 yr old son at his daycare.
• Please continue lifting my grandmother up in prayer. I affectionately call her, “Baby Sweets.”

• Quite possibly the most incredible Sunday morning worship gathering we’ve ever had at Hope Church!
• We took a break from our series on “The Parables of Jesus” and I preached a prophetic Word on running the race that God has set before you with patience – not being distracted or moved by what others may be doing – and staying in your lane…
• I can’t even begin to measure or describe the incredible response to the Word that was preached…to God be the glory!
• Attendance was strong, and we had tons of first time guests.
• People were still hanging around more than an hour after dismissal — talking, sharing, and connecting…can’t tell you how much it blesses my heart to see genuine people encouraging one another and being honest about the deep impact God’s Word is making on their lives!
• Praise & worship set was: Let It Rise , Chasing After You , We Cry Holy , and Hosanna . The presence of God was thick & heavy as we worshipped Him..
• This week, we’re tackling one of the “major” parables, “The Prodigal Son: The Compassionate Father and His Two Lost Sons.” Luke 5:11-32.
• Couple of surprises in store this week that you don’t want to miss!
• Click the comments button at the top to post your thoughts and comments.

Do you wrestle with God?

The Bible offers notable examples of wrestlers, for wrestling with God is not uncommon in life. But the most obvious wrestler is Jacob. We are told in Genesis that on a night when Jacob feared for his life, “a Man” wrestled with him until daybreak. Jacob, however, was aware of having fought with more than a human being, for after the struggle was over, he said, “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.”

At least two important things can happen when we wrestle.

1. An unexpected transformation

All night Jacob has been struggling. We read that that Jacob “prevailed” in this combat. But the old Jacob does not prevail.

Alone with God, Jacob is asked his name. Why? Surely God knows who he is.

Maybe God wanted Jacob to acknowledge himself as the cheater. Remember that he had cheated his brother Esau out of his birthright and out of the paternal blessing as the first-born. Now, as dawn breaks, Jacob can no longer hide behind a disguise; he can no longer obtain what he wants by guile. Back then, when his blind father asked who he was, he had said, “I am Esau” (Genesis 27). Now Jacob must admit who he is. He has to face himself and face God directly.

Through his struggle, Jacob is transformed. “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel.” He has survived, not as his former self, but as someone resembling more closely the person God is calling him to be.

2. A defeat which is in truth a victory.

Notice what an intimate activity wrestling is, unlike other forms of fighting: boxing, for example, or modern warfare, where one can kill from a distance without even seeing the other. In wrestling, not only do you see your opponent, not only do you make contact, but the two of you might almost appear to be embracing, as in the Rembrandt painting above.

What shall we do in a match as intimate as this, when like Jacob we have been wrestling all night, and perhaps all day or all year as well? What shall we do when all the wrestling arms and legs and hearts and minds are scrambled and seem just a part of oneself; when God is so tangled up in our life that we wonder if God is there at all or if we were just imagining a divine Other involved in the combat? What is to be our response when we are so damaged, disoriented, and confused — that we can’t tell where we end and God begins?

This is not the time to push for a conquest. Neither is it the time to disengage.

Now is the time to sink into God in a blessed defeat which is the only victory worth winning — and to walk like Jacob into the future, limping perhaps, but graced by God.

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