Today's Word

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

Hebrews 9:28
so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Today's Preaching Insight...

Being Ready for Anything

Anything can happen and it usually does.

The old saying has it, "The only things certain in life are death and taxes." Those two things certainly are certain. It is also certain, though, that lots of other things are going to happen, and many of those things are going to be challenging to us. The question is, are we going to be ready for whatever comes? We ought not be too surprised when difficult events come our way, and yet too often we live as if they won't. That's a shame, because in Christ God has given us what we need to stand up against anything that comes. When we boil everything down to its essence, we can conclude that everything that does happen can be placed in two categories: life happens and death happens. We need to be ready for them both and both can be very hard to deal with.

Let's talk about these realities in the order in which they occur: life first, then death.

In talking about life, Jesus used the metaphor of a man building a house. He said that the man who built his house on a solid foundation would see that house stand even when floodwaters struck it, but that the man who built his house without a foundation would see the utter destruction of his house. Jesus made it clear of what that proper foundation would consist: "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I tell you? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words and acts on them" (Luke 6:46-48). We have a sound and strong foundation when we come to Jesus.

(To read the rest of this article, click here to visit the official website)

Today's Extra...

Illustration: Materialism

Austrian millionaire Karl Rabeder is giving away all of his $4.7-million fortune. He said, "My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing. Money is counter productive—it prevents happiness to come." He will sell his six gliders, his 42-acre estate in France and his luxury villa in the Alps. He plans to move into a small wooden hut in the mountains or a studio apartment in Innsbruck. In selling everything, he says, he felt free.

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

Hebrews 9:28
so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Today's Preaching Insight...

Seeing the Future

If you could pick one spot in all the world to go and sit for a few minutes, where would you go? I would not have to give it a second thought. For me it would be the summit of the Mount of Olives. When one sits there atop the Mount of Olives and looks over the Kidron Valley, he sees one of the most beautiful panoramas in all the world. It was from that spot that the Psalmist said that Jerusalem was beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth. (Ps. 48:2) As you view the panorama from left to right, on a clear day you can see the mountains of Bethlehem. Next is the beauty of Mount Zion with the Tower of David. Straight ahead and across the valley is Mount Moriah. There one can view the pinnacle of the Temple and the Temple Mount itself where once stood the glory of Solomon's Temple and where now resides what is commonly referred to as the Dome of the Rock. The old walled city of Jerusalem is before you and the eastern gate is in plain sight. Looking toward the north and up through the Kidron Valley one sees Mount Scopus and beyond that mountain on another more distant mountaintop is the tomb of Samuel the prophet. It is an incredible panorama.

When we come to the second chapter of Daniel we stand on a tall mountaintop of Scripture. We see the panorama of world history encompassing what Luke calls the times of the Gentiles. (Luke 21:24) This involves the time from 605 B.C. until the consummation of this age and the return of our Lord Jesus Christ himself as King of kings and Lord of lords. God himself stepped into the dream of an ancient Babylonian king in order to reveal your future. He reveals to us the scope of human history with a statue. Therefore, it behooves us to ask several questions as we deal with these verses of Scripture.

(to read the rest of this article, click here to visit the official website)

Today's Extra...

A New Kind of Big

A New Kind of Big (Baker) by Chip Sweney tells the story of how Atlanta's Perimeter Church created a partnership with other area churches (now almost 150 churches) as a way to transform their community. He introduces readers to a powerful model that could be done in other communities -- allowing churches to unite and make an impact in a way no single church could.

[Judy Harder]

Mark 9:23
" 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."
Today's Preaching Insight...

Living in the Spirit's Fullness

There are occupational hazards in being a Pastor.  Let me mention two of them. One of them is that while people expect you to be pious, you can come across as a little too pious at times -- like the lady who came to a pastor at the end of a service, and was very effusive in her gratitude.  She said, "That was the most wonderful sermon I've ever heard. That was absolutely fantastic!  It was so powerful, it has changed my life!"

Well, what does a pastor say to something like that? This one decided that he had to be very humble about it, so he said, "Oh, thank you madam, but it was not me, it was the Lord!"  And she said, "Oh, it wasn't that good!"  So that's one of the things you have to avoid.

The other thing you have to avoid is assuming that people remember anything that you said.  One of the worst things a pastor can do is talk to somebody who has been in the service, and say, "You probably remember four weeks ago, I was talking about such and such a thing." It is just plain embarrassing for everybody.  The only reason the pastor remembers is that he just checked his notes.

(To read the rest of this article, click here to visit the official website)

Today's Extra...

Illustration: Eternal Life

In his latter days, Johnny Cash, whose spiritual renewal has been well documented, produced a series of songs, now collected in a CD under the title Ain't No Grave. The music contains his musings on faith and life after death. The only original song on the album is one titled "I Corinthians 15:55." In case you need a reminder, the words that inspired Cash are, "Where, O Death is your victory? Where O death is your sting?" That song contains a stanza that says, "Oh, let me sail on with my ship to the East/And keep my eye on the North Star/When the journey is no good for men or for beast/I'll be safe wherever You are."

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

Proverbs 16:9
In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
Today's Preaching Insight...

What Starbucks, Harry and You All Have in Common

"For if the message declared through angels was valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty, how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" (Heb. 2:2-3a).

Rick Richardson, professor and writer, tells about a pastor named Dan, who realized he was getting stale. So with the approval of his pastoral team, he took a part-time job at a Starbucks coffee shop.To his surprise, "All 21 people he worked with believed in God. Not one was an atheist ... They were all very positive toward God and spirituality."

Richardson goes on to report:

A second surprise was that all were interested in spiritual things, but not in Christians, Christianity, or the church. No one wanted to hear Dan's proofs for God or invitations to come to church or ideas about salvation. Almost everyone thought they knew what Christianity was about and had decided they didn't want it. They were post Christian. At some point along the way, each of them had experienced a breach in trust related to Christianity. Maybe a Christian friend had been hypocritical or pushy. Maybe when they were young they had attended church and found it boring and irrelevant. Maybe they had watched TV preachers and been turned off. Or maybe they had experienced a tragedy—death or sexual abuse or some other trauma—and felt that God had been distant and uncaring.

Richardson said, "Dan wasn't starting at ground zero, but rather at minus-three or four. ... The biggest thing Dan learned is that people in this generation have a prior question of trust that must be addressed before we can have meaningful spiritual conversations with them."

(To read the rest of this article, click here to visit the official website)

Today's Extra...

The Great Theologians

The Great Theologians: A Brief Guide (IVP Academic) by Gerald McDermott is a useful and readable guide to the key thinkers who helped shape the way the church thinks about Christian theology. Taking on 11 major theologians: Origen, Athanasius, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Edwards. Schleiermacher, Newman, Barth and Von Balthasar -- the author provides for each a biographical sketch, an overview of their key ideas and a brief selection from their writings.

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

1 Peter 4:11
If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Today's Preaching Insight...

A Lifetime of Days Holy to the Lord

What do you think? Is it better to befriend a stranger or have common sense? What do you think? Is it better to feed the hungry or have common sense? What do you think? Is it better to risk injury in helping one who may be desperately in need or have common sense? What do you think? Is it better to live your life helping another, especially a child, or having common sense? What do you think? How are we to spend a lifetime of days granted to us? Should we focus on the needs of others or have only common sense and focus on ourselves? Is there something worthwhile in which to spend a lifetime? Bob Keeshan thought there was.

I have to tell you that when I picked up the paper recently and read the headline on the front of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, a part of me sort of died. I learned, as many of you did, that Bob Keeshan had died. My generation remembers him as Captain Kangaroo. Remember his show? I hadn't thought of it in years until yesterday. It aired Monday-Saturday, each morning on CBS back in the 60s. About the only time I got to watch it was on Saturdays, since it wasn't televised until 8:00 in the central time zone where I grew up. How I loved it when I was sick and had to stay home from school. If I wasn't too sick, I got to watch Captain Kangaroo!

(To read the rest of this article, click here to visit the official website)

Today's Extra...

Illustration: Mistaken Identity

With his request approved, the CNN News cameraman quickly used his cell phone to call the local airport to charter a flight. He was told a twin-engine plane would be waiting for him at the airport.

Arriving at the airfield, he spotted a plane warming up outside a hanger. He jumped in with his bag, slammed the door shut, and shouted, "Let's go!" The pilot taxied out, swung the plane into the wind and took off.

Once in the air, the cameraman instructed the pilot, "Fly over the valley and make low passes so I can get shots of the fires on the hillsides.""Why?" asked the pilot."Because I'm a cameraman for CNN," he responded, "and I need to get some close up shots."The pilot was strangely silent for a moment. Finally he stammered, "So, what you're telling me, is...you're not my flight instructor?

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

Psalms 34:8
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Today's Preaching Insight...

Sexual Immorality: Beyond Body Parts & Nerve Endings

Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body (1 Cor. 6:18-20).Is there anything in the world more fascinating and more powerful than the human sex drive?

Pornography is a multi-billion-dollar industry. I'm told that, in a world where there are so many things to think about and learn, there are more Internet sites devoted to sexual stimulation than any other subject matter on earth.Sexual attractiveness is so desired and admired that we use it to sell every product you can imagine. I opened up the L.A. Times, and this multi-page, high-gloss insert fell out that pictured this knock-down gorgeous brunette in all kinds of attractive poses, the one word theme "GORGEOUS" running through this several-page spread. It was only when I got to the last page I realized that it was an advertisement for Jaguar automobiles.C.S. Lewis, many years ago in his book Mere Christianity, described our contemporary struggle with human sexuality in the following words:

(To read the rest of this article, click here to visit the official website)

Today's Extra...

Illustration: Pride

Tancredo Neves ran for the presidency of Brazil in the 1980s. He boldly declared that if he got 500,000 votes from his own party, not even God could keep him from being president. Well, he won the election, but one day later he got sick and died. There is no way to know if God accepted his challenge, but what we can know for sure is that human beings ought not to make such bold, arrogant pronouncements. Remember the Titanic. People said God couldn't sink it, but it sank on its maiden voyage.

[Judy Harder]

Psalms 35:1
Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me.

Today's Preaching Insight...

A Good Start Stained

They had it all.

Adam and Eve had such a good start in life.

They were created "in the image of God" or at the highest level of God's created order -- the only creatures designed for intimacy or holy communion with God (read the whole story inGenesis 1:1-3:24).

They complemented each other. Though Adam was the first to admit it, Eve probably joined the refrain, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh."

They were in charge of the whole deal. God said, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every thing that moves on the earth." Everything was just about perfect.

Of course, our fairer gender often suggest our Lord did make man first; only to conclude, "I can do better than that!"

Then there is the not so Biblical tale of God telling Adam to go, be fruitful, and multiply; only to witness the young man return with puzzled look on his face and inquire, "what's a headache?"

Regardless, it was a good start. Everything was just about perfect. But you know what happened. God said Adam and Eve could use, manage, and enjoy everything around them except for one thing: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

(To read the rest of this article, click here to visit the official website)

Today's Extra...

I Believe I'll Testify

Much of the greatest preaching in America takes place Sunday by Sunday in African-American churches. In his new book I Believe I'll Testify: The Art of African-American Preaching (Westminster John Knox), Cleophus J. LaRue explores those distinctive characteristics that make black preaching such a powerful rhetorical tool into the 21st century. Of particular interest to me was LaRue's chapter on the disconnect many black students encounter when they study preaching in many predominantly white seminaries. Whatever your ethnicity, you'll find valuable insights for preaching in this brief volume.

[Judy Harder]

Proverbs 16:3

Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

Today's Preaching Insight...

Men & the Church: A Man's Place in the World

Men in general have become reluctant warriors in a social revolution. Men everywhere are wanting to find their places in the world. Most of us grew up in a world that was very different from the world we now inhabit. Our fathers brought home the paycheck and carried out the garbage. Our mothers raised us kids and kept the house clean.

At church, our fathers went to the men's Bible class and debated the Last Days, while our mothers went downstairs and helped the children try to make it through their first days. In church business meetings, our fathers argued over whether to reroof the parsonage, and our mothers sat at their sides in dutiful -- presumably biblical -- silence.

Not all of that has changed, but the evidence is clear that it is all changing. Middle-class lifestyles require two paychecks, not one. And working mother -- who in more and more cases is bringing home half the bacon -- is beginning to expect working father to change half the diapers and run the vacuum half the time.

The church is also changing -- much more slowly but just as surely. Women are no longer silent. Men no longer make all the decisions. And down in the nursery, men are expected to take a turn just like women always have.

(To read the rest of this article click here to visit the official website)

Today's Extra...

Illustration: Easter

Don Aycock tells the story of Menelik II, who was the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 until 1913: "News of a successful new means of dispatching criminals reached him. The news was about a device known as an electric chair. The Emperor eagerly ordered one for his country. Unfortunately, no one bothered to warn him that it never would work because Ethiopia at that time had no electricity. Menelik was determined that his new purchase should not go to waste. He converted the electric chair into a throne.

"There was another occasion when an instrument of death became a throne. On a Palestinian hillside about 20 centuries ago, a cross became a throne for one named Jesus of Nazareth. To this day, that ancient instrument of torture and death is converted into a powerful symbol of life, hope and resurrection. Millions of people around the world see the cross as God's way of indicating His refusal to let death and destruction have the final word."

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Today's Preaching Insight...

He Came Back

And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb . . . . As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, . . . he said to them, 'Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; . . . he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you." (Mark 16:2-7)

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins . . . that he was raised on the third day . . . that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, . . . . Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, . . . .he appeared also to me . . . .(I Corinthians 15:3-8)

Mark says that, on that first Easter, women went to the tomb to pay their last respects to dead Jesus. To their alarm, the body of Jesus was not there. A "young man, dressed in a white robe" told them, "You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified? Well, he isn't here. He is raised. He is going ahead of you to Galilee."

Here's my Easter question for you: Why Galilee?

(To read the rest of this article, click here to visit the official website)

Today's Extra...

The Invitation: The Not-So-Simple Truth About Following Jesus

In The Invitation: The Not-So-Simple Truth About Following Jesus(Revell), Greg Sidders emphasizes the next step after receiving Christ: following Him in obedience. Sidders examines seven discipleship sayings of Jesus. The book could offer helpful ideas for a sermon series on obedience.

[Judy Harder]

Today's Word for Pastors...

Psalm 34:1
I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.

Today's Preaching Insight...



He's Not There, but Thank God He's Here!
He really does live, doesn't He? He's not there in that tomb, is He? Thank God He's not there! Thank God He's here — with you and me. There is no question about it. There's no doubt in my mind. The tomb was empty on that first Easter morning. Jesus was resurrected. He's not there, but thank God He's here! That really is the powerful message of Easter Sunday.

And it is a message that needs to be heard again and again. For we are all like the three women, described here in Mark's account of resurrection in Mark 16 — the earliest Gospel account. Early that Sunday morning, they were going to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus, wondering how the massive stone would be rolled aside so they could enter. Upon arrival they observed that stone sealing the tomb had already been rolled away. Upon entering it, they saw a young man — an angel, to be exact, who told them not to be alarmed since they were. You and I would've been alarmed too, by the way. He knew why they were there: to anoint Jesus' dead body, which would have been a very noble thing to do. But the body wasn't there. The young man told them He had been raised. Even though the angel reminded those three ladies that Jesus had told them all this was going to happen, it still didn't make sense to them.

(To read the rest of this article, click here to visit the official website)

Today's Extra...



Illustration: Easter, Cross
In a church marketing newsletter just a few years ago, a campaign was suggested to attract people to church during the season of Easter. In this public relations campaign, it was suggested the cross be removed from the altar. According to the author, a survey has revealed the cross is one of those symbols the new generation of churchgoers considered too churchy. One pastor interviewed for the campaign gave his wholehearted endorsement. "We are going to attempt to concentrate on the resurrection, and not the death of Jesus."

Easter without the cross. Is it possible to have resurrection without crucifixion? No. It distorts the entire gospel if crucifixion is separated from resurrection. The road to the empty tomb will forever pass by a cross. The One who is raised from the dead is none other than the crucified Christ. Easter without a cross is a hoax.