R U Ready? - To Testify “Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” “I do,” he said, as Mark Fuhrman, the lead detective in the investigation of the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, lowered his right hand and took his seat in the witness box during the 1994 trial of O.J. Simpson. He was not just a witness but THE witness everyone was waiting to hear from as the trial reached it peak. He was the one that matched the bloody shoe prints at the scene to a pair of Bruno Magli loafers that O.J. owned, and he was the one that found the bloody gloves behind the guest house on O.J.’s property, occupied by Brian “Kato” Kaelin. His testimony was calculated, concise, and credible... that is until F. Lee Bailey cross-examined him. Bailey’s cross revealed some racist comments that Fuhrman had made several years earlier and that was pretty much it as far as undermining his credibility was concerned. Fuhrman owned up to the comments and said that they had nothing to do with this investigative work in the Simpson case and that he stood by the truth and accuracy of his testimony. Testifying matters in our legal system. It’s how juries and jurors come to their verdicts of guilt or innocence. Testifying matters in our cultural system also. The problem, however, is getting consensus anymore on what’s the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Truth has become a moving target, it’s become situational and relative to the experiences of me and mine. So then my truth shouldn’t be applied to your life, right? What if my testimony is that my experience with the God of the Bible has shown itself to be true, right, and dependable in every situation. That, my friend is not arguable. We each can and should be testifying to our own experience with our Lord and with His Word. And the more that is done with greater confidence, the more we give God something to use for His glory and to draw others to Himself. So, when the opportunity presents itself, R U Ready to Testify?
R U Ready? - To Worship In the early 90s, there was a significant amount of change happening in churches all across America and, though the changes ran deeper than this, the heart of the transition had to do with worship, and primarily worship music. In fact, Christianity Today magazine had a cover story in the early 90s dedicated to the issue they referred to as “The Worship Wars.” Their story over simplified the change as largely being about style instead of substance but it definitely ran much deeper than style. I found myself in the middle of that change, initiating much of it, at least where I served. To me is was about so much more than style. In fact, style was way down the list for me and taking a fresh look at what churches were calling worship came to the forefront. I grew up in the tradition of featured choral selections and hymn singing, and, while it could be majestic, moving, and occasionally even awe-inspiring, I don’t know that it regularly took us (or at least me) into a place of genuine worship. A place where we knew that we were in the presence of a holy God and we were certainly not worthy to be there. My experience taught me that genuine worship was occurring at a lot of churches, it was just taking place at the weekly youth group meeting instead of on Sunday morning. It caused me to examine the scriptures to see what the Bible says about worship and then adjust my leadership around those discoveries. Much of the new praise and worship music out at the time was, musically appealing but lyrically, well.. thin. That was a major criticism from the traditionalists and, in some cases, they were right. That moved me to begin to dive deeper into searching for songs that actually said something and even moved me into writing some myself to try to close that gap. That said, music was and is just one tool in the worship toolbox and, though an important one, doesn’t, by itself, get us to where we need to be. So what else does worship consist of and what does the scripture have to say about that?
R U Ready? - To Grow I’m pretty good at killing plants. The Mrs. however is pretty accomplished at getting things to grow. Very few people who come to our house, especially for the first time, don’t have something to say about the flowers, in both the beds surrounding our porch, and on the porch itself. They are all beautiful and healthy. Then there are the raised beds in the back yard. They are full of cherry tomatoes, Better Boy tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, squash, and okra and we are harvesting a pretty good sized bowl full about every evening. She loves watching things grow and it shows, it’s a passion of hers and something that brings her joy. That said, tending to flowers and plants, especially vegetables, is a lot of work, weeding, feeding, watering, pruning. It’s something about constantly, but that’s what it takes to get the desired results. Spiritual growth is no different. It doesn’t just happen. It occurs because we pursue it with at least some intentionality. Sure we can pick up a few things from observing how our friends and family deal with spiritual issues from time to time, but to really glean the lessons that help deepen our roots is going to take some effort on out part. Understanding how God can and does use everything from a personal health crisis to the brewing wars in the middle-east to teach us something about who He is, how He speaks, and what He is up to, is what each of us want to know. And we can, but there are some investments that we have to make in order to experience sufficient spiritual growth to not just understand those things, but even learn to anticipate them, adjust my priorities in response to them, and glean the lesson that gives us a clearer picture of how and where God is at work in us and around us. There is weeding, feeding, watering and pruning involved there too. But when we start to grow and mature in our faith, it’s both self-perpetuating and contagious.
R U Ready? - To Pick Up the Mantle A brief look at the American 4X100 relay team’s baton-passing failures reveals that in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, a runner dropped the baton during an exchange. In the 2009 world championships, two runners exchanged the baton before the passing zone started and were disqualified. In 2015 the U.S. team made the exchange after the passing zone and were again disqualified. If there’s a way to blow a baton exchange the U.S. men’s 4X100 relay team has done it. No matter that the team is usually made up of 4 of the top 10 sprinters in the world, if you can’t make the baton pass, all that speed is useless. The success or failure of any relay race lies in the baton exchange, a simple concept that is obviously not so simple to execute, even for Olympians, the greatest athletes in the world. I guess it should be no surprise then that passing spiritual batons from one generation to the next can be problematic as well. Probably in large part because many of us don’t even realize that there are spiritual batons (the Bible calls them mantles) to pass on in the first place. We learn how to do most things by watching our parents and most moms and dads realize that reality and are hopefully pointing out the details and nuances to their children when it comes to the practical. Things like personal hygiene, cooking, driving a car, a work ethic, taking personal responsibility for your decisions and actions, and the like. But what about things in the spiritual realm? Trusting Christ as our Savior, learning how to read and study the Scripture, discovering God’s call/plan for their life, learning the importance of the church and living an on-purpose life in front of their friends. Then, how to find a Godly mate, raise Godly children, and then pass the mantle down to them. None of that is easy but every bit of it is essential if we don’t want our spiritual influence to die when we do.
R U Ready? - For the Battle Readiness breeds confidence. That’s the over-arching theme for the upcoming sermon series beginning this coming Sunday. The more prepared you are for whatever it is that you’re about to face, the more productive you are going to be with it. The Olympics are in full swing right now and in most of the back stories that are done on the featured athletes, the preparation to be where they are today began in early childhood. Perhaps with mom or dad getting them up early every morning to take them to practice before school starts. Some even hiring special coaches or tutors to help their child stay current with their school work. Someone once said that the difference between talent and skill is that talent can simply show up and perform well regardless of preparation and skill is what grows out of sometimes years of preparation. Situational readiness is something all of us understand when it comes to the milestones in life; graduation, getting that first career-shaping job, getting married, starting a family, getting that promotion or moving from one job or career to another, then there’s retirement. Then most of us have purchased life insurance so that our family isn’t stuck with indebtedness after we die. So, at all of those stops, most of us see the need for readiness. It’s when things move into the spiritual realm that many find themselves lacking when it comes to being prepared, and I’m not referring to salvation necessarily, although that is definitely step one when it comes to readiness. However, what about our readiness when it comes to worship, sharing our faith, facing persecution, pursuing maturity, or, as we’ll see this Sunday, our readiness for the battles we face with the enemy? Not quite as ready for those as you’d like to be?