Pastor Chuck’s Blog

9-6-2024

I presume you are aware of this already, but if you’re not, I want to let you know that there is an election coming up in less than 2 months. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems that the past few election cycles have been filled with anger and hatred and verbal pushing and shoving. But here’s the thing: God didn’t ask us to trust in government or presidential nominees. He asked us to trust Him.

One of the things we say around LifePoint Church is, “It’s easy to forget in the dark what we learned in the light.” Our country is in a dark time politically and spiritually. There have always been democrats and republicans and independents and others, and there have always been differences of opinions, but what we’re experiencing at this moment in history is ugly. And while Christians should be involved in politics, Scripture teaches us that we are to do everything – EVERYTHING – in love. That means: We must put our trust in God.

I’m not just talking about the easy things. I’m talking about with everything. But as you know, our current culture challenges that every day, and because of that, sometimes it’s easier to talk about trusting in God than it is to actually trust in Him. Maybe you’re like so many who say, “I love God and I believe in God, but, I still feel so uneasy about the future”. When we look at our country at this moment, there’s a lot to feel uneasy about, isn’t there? There’s the tension all over our country. This leads many to play the, “What if” game. What if so-and-so happens? What if the wrong person gets elected into office? And you get to determine whom the “wrong person” is for you, right? What if I lose my job? What if I get sick, or someone that I love gets sick? What if we have another pandemic or some other crisis and I have to homeschool our kids for the rest of our lives? It’s easy to play the what if game. But take a look at what God says to us:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways [the big ways AND the small ways] acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5 & 6, NIV)

The word acknowledge, in the Hebrew means, “to know”. “In all your ways know Him, and He’ll make your paths straight”. In all your ways, know Him. When you know Him on the mountain tops, you trust Him in the valleys. When you know Him in the good times, you trust Him in the bad times. The way you know Him is to stay close to Him, and that’s a day by day by day walk with Him. You hold on to Him. It’s not just being in close in proximity, but holding on to Him and to not letting go. But here’s the key. In order to hold on to God, you have to let go of whatever else you were previously clinging to.

In order to trust in Him, you stop limiting yourself; you stop leaning on your own understanding. And if we’re honest, that’s just hard. But when you get to the place where you let go of your own understanding, your own plans, your own desire, your own will, your own strategy, your own place of comfort, you discover the God who will never fail you. You cling to the faithfulness and the goodness of the only one who really is good.

So trust God and hang in there, friends…….I’m praying for you!

8-7-2024

We didn’t go to the State Fair when I was a kid, and I didn’t go in my early adulthood either…except for a concert or two. But about 20(?) years ago, one of my friends worked at the State Fair and he invited me to come up and ride around on his assigned golf cart with him. So I did. And I loved it!! I’ve been going ever since.

He has long since ceased working at the fair, but my wife and I still go every year….multiple times. There is just something about the state fair. For some, I’m guessing it’s the rides, but I’m way too old for that. For others it’s seeing all of the livestock. C’mon, the biggest bull? The biggest boar? There’s a lot of hamburger and pepperoni right there! For still others it’s the machinery, or maybe the displays or the concerts or maybe even the food. I know it isn’t, but maybe the motto of the fair should be, “If you can fry it, you can eat it!”

I like all of those things and so much more (except, perhaps, all of the fried foods……there is such a thing as too much HA HA). One more thing I enjoy is – are you ready for this – all of the people who come together to laugh and celebrate family, heritage and culture. What could be better than getting to hang out with 100,000 of your closest friends on any given day? I like to see parents pushing babies in strollers, children dancing with excitement, grey haired men and women smiling at memories, couples sharing a funnel cake and everyone marveling at the butter cow.

I know that God loves people, and like Bob Goff, I’m convinced that He must like laughter.

If the laughter of children thrills us, how much more does our laughter thrill Him? God likes to see people coming together to enjoy one another. Maybe that’s why Jesus performed His first miracle at a wedding feast, providing new wine when the wine ran out, or the reason His teaching is filled with references to banquet feasts and parties, like the fatted calf killed and cooked to celebrate the prodigal’s return. Heaven is described as a great banquet feast, a mansion with many rooms, a place where all peoples, cultures and languages of the world gather in celebration and joy.

The state fair, of course, isn’t heaven. It certainly isn’t perfect. But heaven is.

Our moments of celebration and enjoyment – at the fair or anywhere else – give us just a tiny glimpse of what God has prepared in Heaven. The New Testament book of Revelation, chapter 21, reminds us of this:

I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
(Revelation 21:3-4, NLT)

I look forward to the state fair each year, but not like I look forward to heaven. The state fair is great……..but heaven is greater. And heaven is the ultimate destination of all who put their faith in Jesus Christ. Until we arrive there, well, there’s the state fair, and so many other things where we can find joy until we arrive in His presence for all eternity.

Until that happens, I’m off to the fair………..again!

July 29, 2024

By now I imagine you’re aware of the huge controversy surrounding the opening ceremony of the Olympics in France. I’m going to throw in my 2 cents worth here……and you might want to put on your steel toed boots because I might just step on a few toes.

Christians that get online and spew hate toward nonbelievers anger me much more than nonbelievers spewing hate toward Christianity.

There have been multiple “explanations” of what the table at the Olympics was supposed to represent. The overwhelming majority of people saw it as a mockery of Jesus’ last supper with His disciples. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. For the sake or argument, let’s assume that it was. Even so, Jesus would have eaten a meal with every single person at the Olympics ceremony. Perhaps not at the Passover celebration, but He would have shared a meal with any or all of them.

Think about it: Jesus spent a lot of His time on earth with sinners. He invited them to the table over and over again. Sinners, prostitutes, Jesus welcomed all of them to His table. In fact, that’s one of the reasons the religious people hated Him and wanted Him dead.

People who are not Christians are not our responsibility to regulate. Sinners are going to sin. We should expect nothing less. And we shouldn’t be offended by that. What we should be offended by is the way Christians treat sinners who sin……after all, that’s what offended Jesus. He was far more upset with the religious people who mistreated sinners than He ever was with those who sinned. Instead, Jesus welcomed them and pointed them to His Heavenly Father. Remember that God’s kindness is meant to lead us to repentance, not to the shouting of His angry “followers.”

To be clear: I do not condone any religion (especially my own) being mocked. It’s wrong. But my heart doesn’t hurt for what they portrayed. My heart hurts for people who are not in a loving relationship with their Creator. Jesus doesn’t need me to shout about sinners sinning. He wants me to shout about the hope and the love they are missing out on. After all, He died for them just as much as He died for you and me. Angrily shouting at people that don’t know Jesus is in direct contradiction to the command to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Instead, let me suggest that we let this drive us to be more forthcoming with our faith – not in an arrogant, condemning way, but in an encouraging, loving and hope filled way. “For God so loved the world…..”, even those who produced and participated in the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. And He’s not willing that any should perish, but that all…..ALL should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

And by the way, wasn’t it at Jesus’ last supper that He instructed His disciples to love others the way He loved them? Read that again.

Remember, we’re in this world but not of it. Let’s rise above it and show the love of Jesus to everyone!

7-11-2024

John Maxwell tells a story about a young boy selling pencils door-to-door in his neighborhood for a nickel apiece. One prospective buyer asked him what he planned to do with the money.

He said, “I’m trying to raise a million dollars to help build a new hospital.”

The buyer said, “That’s a big job for just one boy, isn’t it?”

“It’s not so hard,” the boy said. “I’ve got a friend helping me.”

It’s amazing how much smaller even the biggest tasks become when you’ve got someone beside you. Too many times we tackle challenges alone and try to solve problems on our own – and ultimately we learn that working this way makes us vulnerable to discouragement and defeat.

As you well know, this world we live in and this life we live can become quite complicated at times. That’s why you would do well to have someone alongside you on the journey – someone to help you get the job done.

I challenge you to consider a few things.

• Take a minute to identify your partners. In each project, think about their role and your role, how you complement one another, and how you can build on one another’s strengths. Make it a point to focus on what’s right in the relationship, not what’s wrong.

• Take on a partner. In the areas where you struggle – personal, spiritual, career – ask yourself, “Who can I bring in to help me make this better?” Whatever you’re trying to accomplish, having a team member can get you there faster.

• Lend a hand. Is there someone you know in the midst of a massive pencil selling campaign? Maybe you can pitch in long enough to help them bring their project to the finish line.

Israel’s king Solomon talked about this idea in the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. He talks about how futile it is to work alone. He reminds us…

Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one; they get a better return for their labor. (Ecclesiastes 4:9)

More importantly, Solomon reminds us that working with a team helps one bounce back more quickly from defeat.

If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But people who are alone when they fall are in real trouble. (Ecclesiastes 4:10)

Solomon finishes this thought by saying…

Two can stand back to back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple braided cord is not easily broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

One of the things we say at LifePoint Church all the time is this: Following Jesus will make your life better, and it will make you better at life. And it will. So will bringing someone alongside on this journey we call life. As you do, you’ll see how much more quickly you move down the road of accomplishment.

5-24-2024

It’s been said that, “….the Lord works in mysterious ways.” This begs the question: Is this a biblical truth or a myth? Interestingly, there’s not one verse the specifically says this in the Bible, yet, (I’ve been told) that if you search this on the interwebs, you will find 52,000,000 results +/-. You can check that out if you like. I’m going to pass. But while there isn’t a verse that specifically says this, there is ample evidence in Scripture that this is true. For instance, the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah, speaking for God, said this:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9, ESV)

As we read passages such as this, we quickly realize that the way God does things, or even the way that God directs us to do things is not always how we would have done them. The matter of grace and forgiveness and Salvation is a beautiful revelation of how different God thinks and acts than we would have.

For salvation to become available for man, God Himself took on human flesh and had to die. Wow! I’m not sure that any of us would have done it that way. I’m a dad and I can’t imagine the thought of sacrificing the life of one of my children so someone else could live. And before you judge me, I’m guessing you feel the same. That goes against everything that is embedded in the parental DNA, right?

That is one of countless examples. C’mon, when someone is hurting or persecuting someone you love, is your first thought to tell them to love that other person? …..to pray for that other person? What about when someone says, “How many times should I forgive someone?” We’d probably say, “Once or twice”. Or we might say, “Forgive? Are you nuts? Punch ‘em!” Yet, Jesus said, “No. Not 7 times, but 70 times 7.” Or what about, “How am I supposed to treat other people?” We’d probably go the, “an eye for an eye” route. Jesus said, “Love others like your Heavenly Father loves you.”

See, Jesus was ALWAYS raising the bar. People would approach Him and say things like, “Look what I’ve done! I’ve kept the law. I’ve followed the commandments,” and even more such things. Then Jesus would say, “…..but I tell you…..”, and then He’d raise the bar. Every. Single. Time. Mysterious, eh?

Not only are God’s ways different from ours but they are on a higher plane. Simply put, God thinks at a level far superior to our thinking. We see the beginning from the end, but God sees the end from the beginning. He knows the outcome before we do anything. I am not saying, He forces us to do His will (that’s an entirely different discussion), but He knows the choices we will make. If you watched a ball game where you already knew the final score, you would watch it differently because you know. That’s the advantage God has over us, He KNOWS!

But back to the question at hand: Does that mean that God really does work in mysterious ways? The dictionary defines, “mysterious” as: “difficult or impossible to understand, explain, or identify.” If we use that definition, then we’d have to agree that, in deed, God works in mysterious ways.

Perhaps this is why Proverbs 14 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but its end is the way of death.” and why Proverbs 3 says, “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding”.

Those are wise words, particularly in the confusing and ever changing world that we live in. There is no specific verse telling us that God works in mysterious ways, but the evidence is there. It’s found throughout Scripture, and if we’re honest, it’s found in our every day lives. And here’s the thing:

You WANT the ways of God to be “mysterious”!

Why? If you and I could figure everything out about God, they why bother following Him? He’d be just like any other person on social media. So embrace “the mysteriousness” of our God! Exercise your faith in Him. Embark on the journey, and see where He will lead you…..