Dave Wyrtzen's Blog - Truth Encounter - Challenging you to intimacy with Christ

2009-01-30T17:08:00.002-06:00

Do you ever get bored in history class? Have you ever gotten bogged down in all the history God chose to include in the Old Testament?
I remember little boys who sat in our church years ago here in Texas, went to our Sunday school, and learned all the verses in Awana. All those weird names like Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus the Great, Alexander the Great, and Antiochus Epiphanes who believed he was great came up in the old bible stores. As boys it was easy for them to care less. Who cares about all those ancient kings, about their plots and assassinations, and about their campaigns to decide who would be king of the mountain for a few years?
Then some of these little boys grew up and found themselves at Paris Island. Before they knew it they were standing on the border between Syria and Iraq with a M-16 in their arms trying to keep insurgents from penetrating the border. It was disillusioning to find out that even some of the political leaders who made the decision to send them into the Middle East didn’t know much about history or about Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds.
Some of the boys and girls who grew up in our church have now returned from seeing their buddies killed in family and tribal feuds that they still don’t understand and what was supposed to be an easy planting of an American style democracy in the heart of ancient Babylon has turned into a police operation trying to keep tribal lords, modern politicians, Islamic sects, and a tiny minority of Christians from murdering and being murdered.
After seeing the horror, the ceaseless fighting, the victories, and the defeats, it’s easy to come back to the U.S. and forget what you learned about Jesus, the Promised Messiah, and instead try to find a little comfort on the weekend watching the Super Bowl with frequent shots of Jack Daniels to dull your memory.
Before you resort to this false remedy, take a look at just one Old Testament passage--Daniel 11. It reminds us that God wants us to learn about the world and its history. It also tells us that the God and Father of Jesus Christ knows all about the blood on battle fields, the promises of diplomatic peace, the breaking of promises and the renewed warfare. God also tells us that He has the last word. Alexander, Antiochus the Great, and Antiochus Epiphanes strut their stuff briefly on stage, but then they die and are forgotten. So will the world leaders of today.
You've got to decide whether you will be among the wise (Daniel 11:33) –among those who listen carefully to Daniel’s predictions and who believe his promises of a future resurrection (Daniel 12:2).
The wise live for God’s promises, obey His instructions, and submit to His Lordship. They are willing to be teased by their friends, lose jobs because they will not cheat, and even die because of their commitment to Daniel’s God. The book of Revelation, like the Book of Daniel, promises that there will be those who come out of tribulation. There will be those who wash their clothes in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14), those who allow the forgiveness of Christ’s death and the power of His resurrection to transform their character.
In the midst of our disappointments, crises, and struggles against human pride, duplicity, murder, and death, let’s join Daniel and trust the Messiah. I guarantee that the Spirit of Jesus will sustain, comfort, and guide us through all the battles and land us safe in God’s kingdom of peace in the end.

HAMAS VS ISRAELIS--IS THERE A SOLUTION?

2009-01-10T14:57:00.002-06:00

Israeli vs. Palestinian--The Core Problem
January 11, 2009 Daniel 9:20-27

Imagine that instead of arguing over the NCAA Football championships Oklahoma and Texas were engaged in hot combat. Sirens constantly screamed in Mckinney—not warning of tornadoes but of incoming Katyusha rockets from Norman. Children huddled underground in shelters and tried to learn their ABCs.
How long do you think Texans would allow this kind of assault to go unchallenged? So we invade and discover that this is exactly what our enemies wanted. As we counter their rockets with our jets, the escalating civilian deaths move world opinion against us. Our enemy is a terrorist organization that shoots rockets at civilians and uses human suicide bombers. They are also a humanitarian social organization feeding and providing medical supplies and a court of justice in a formerly bribe invested, hopeless population.
This gives you only an initial feel for the issues that fuel the present Gaza War as Israel and Hamas lock down in deadly struggle. Anyone want Clinton’s job as the next Secretary of State with this as the first item of business on the table?
The economic analyses describe the stench of poverty and corruption that plagues Gaza. Political analysts sift through the history and catalogue the attempts at peace in the Middle East, but the angry cries to fight to the death continue. Few ask the deeper question raised by a first century Jew named James, “What causes conflicts and disputes among you? Where do they come from?”
The prophet Daniel answered this question in Daniel chapter 9. He knew all about threats against Israel. He saw his land and Temple destroyed. He himself lived in Captivity, yet as he prays, he does not look for political or economic solutions. He agrees with the answer that Jesus’ step brother James gave. ““ Do they not come for your cravings that are at war within you? (James 4:1)
Down on his face Daniel confessed his sin and the sins of his people. God responded and sent Gabriel, a powerful angel, to reveal God’s answer to the problem of Jerusalem and His Jewish people. If you want to discover what God revealed to Daniel about who would actually do something about the core issue that causes humans to murder each other, listen to the message of January 12th at www.truthencounte.com.

The Ultimate Candidate

2008-11-07T08:09:00.001-06:00

What do you do the day after you have been elected to become the next president of the United States? You’ve been campaigning for almost two years. The evening’s celebration left only a couple of hours of sleep. Certainly it’s time for a round of golf or at least a day off with your family?
No matter what your political persuasion you have to admire the fact that Obama got up, went for his routine work out at the gym, and then went to the office to spend a full day beginning to prepare for the most influential government position in the world.
What does it feel like to shoulder this kind of responsibility? What does it take to prepare yourself for this position? What are the top priorities that must be met to begin to meet the hard task of not just running and winning the Office but actually governing?
Are you thinking—“Those are Obama’s questions, not mine?” That’s what I was thinking earlier this week after the Tuesday’s late nighter waiting for the returns and the results until I read Daniel 7:18 again, “But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever.”

Obama's preparing to be the President for the next four years.
Are you preparing this week to rule with Christ in His Administration?
It lasts forever and ever!

Sleeping with the Lions

2008-10-14T14:05:00.002-05:00

“I can’t sleep.” Have you ever pulled up the sheets, put your head on the pillow and yet four hours later you’re still wide awake? If you’re getting to play in the Home Coming game, you’re getting married the next evening, or you’re heading for Colorado for your first elk hunt, the sleeplessness is sweet. You’re anticipating joy and happiness. But some of you couldn't sleep last week for hard reasons.
Some of you lost 30 % of your retirement savings in hours, and you couldn’t move a finger to try and stop the bleeding. Some of you lost your jobs, like the school teachers in Dallas, because someone underestimated salaries by two or three thousand dollars. Multiply this over hundreds of employees, Voila! It adds up to over 60 million and hundreds get their pink slips. No wonder you can’t sleep.
For some of you the loss of savings for retirement or the loss of a career means absolutely nothing. You’ve lost your health and face the big peace destroyer—death. Loss, uncertainty, and fear-- it all adds up to sleepless nights.
For many children Daniel in the lions’ den is one of their favorite bed time Bible stories. Maybe your parents used this story to help you calm down and go back to sleep in the midst of a scary thunder storm. I believe God’s Spirit wants to use this story in the midst of some of the storms we are facing as adults to remind us how Daniel learned to sleep with the lions.
His first step was not to hole up in his mid-eighties. He could have easily retired after the Babylonian Empire collapsed. (That's even bigger than a Wall street Collapse.) He was plenty old enough to settle in to his condo on the Persian Gulf. Instead, when you open to chapter 6 of his book, he is ruling the new Persian Empire with two other guys, and the king is considering the possibility of making him the Prime Minister. It was this total involvement with the new regime that created enemies—enemies that wanted to throw him to the lions.

If our enemies decided to bring us down, if they did extensive research on our daily conduct, evaluated whether or not we carried through and actually did what we said we would do on the job, if they searched for corruption, laziness, or negligence, would they be able to take us out because we are talkers, not doers? The Spirit of God who lived in Daniel lives in us and He is working to create in us the character that he created in Daniel. Daniel could sleep, even with lions, because he had integrity in his career.
The only vulnerability that his enemies could detect was that he practiced what he believed. Three times a day he connected with the great I Am, the true God. He had done this for years, and when the decree went out from Darius, Daniel didn’t protest with a placard in the streets, he simply went right on praying. He continued to have his time with God early in the morning, at noon, and in the evening.
If we want to sleep with the lions of economic decline, a job loss, or illness, we need to follow Daniel's example and spend time listening to God and talking to Him every day. If we connect with Daniel’s God, we connect with the King who never dies, whose kingdom never collapses, and who has the final say over any "lion" who wants to chew on us.

Here are three questions I ask myself after watching Daniel in action:

What changes do I need to make in my conduct this week so that enemies of Jesus will not be able to find any ground for accusing me?

Will I defeat the lions of laziness, procrastination, and coldness of heart, and commit myself
to connecting daily with God in His Word and in prayer?

Will I ask someone to hold me accountable for my daily time with God?

The Writings on the Wall

2008-10-03T13:33:00.002-05:00

At our Wednesday night prayer and study time Sam Rodgers shared with our group a riveting story about the time he almost drowned in a Tennessee river.
The swimming hole was the perfect place to escape the Tennessee heat and the hours of fun with friends was free.
“Sam, see this place in the river? It looks shallow, clear, and the sandy floor looks like it would be soft on your feet.”
From the safety of the bank Sam’s rugged, powerfully built dad looked his son in the eye, “Whatever you do, son, don’t swim in that spot. The current will sweep you away and you could drown.”
“Yes, Sir!”
A part of Sam wanted to be a good boy, but often when swimming in the river near the spot, he found himself thinking, Looks pretty safe to me! It’s only a few inches deep! A foot at the most!
One day Sam crossed the line and got into the forbidden spot.
The current grabbed him, threw him down stream, and into some underbrush near the river’s edge. His neck braced itself against the current as the river wrestled to pull him under. His mouth was barely above the water and he was losing the battle.
“Help! Help” It was all he could get out as he went under.
Somehow his father skirted the dangerous current, got to his son, and grabbed those upraised hands crying for salvation. Sam was scared silly, but safe on the bank in his dad’s hug.
We all breathed a sigh of relief. Then Sam added, “The sad thing is that I just read about a young boy from my home town who drowned because of that same deceptive spot.”
Belshazzar was Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson. He should have learned that his grand dad’s pride and defiant idolatry against the true God and it cost him seven years of sanity. Instead, in Daniel 5 we enter a Babylonian party where the sacred goblets from the destroyed Temple in Jerusalem are being used to drown the fear of the Babylonians and to praise their impotent gods on the very night when the Persian army was poised to end their revelry forever.
Belshazzar’s story stands recorded on the pages of sacred scripture. He died because the gods of materialism, power, and pride could not save him. In contrast Daniel kept trusting in the true God.
Sam’s father was there with strong arms to deliver him when he was a boy. Your heavenly Father is here today with strong arms to deliver you from Belshazzar’s tragic fate through the forgiveness and the resurrection power that only Jesus can provide.

Is eat, pray, love the truth about discovering God?

2008-06-08T15:10:00.004-05:00

Elizabeth Gilbert's book eat, pray, love is a New York Times bestseller. She's an ace New York journalist, and her tale of a year spent in Italy learning to speak Italian and eating the best pasta in the world, then months of meditation at an Ashram in India eating vegetables and pursuing spiritual devotion in hours of meditation, and culminating in gorgeous Bali where an ancient Yoda-like medicine man and a beautiful medicine woman guide her to balance the extremes of pleasure and austerity encourage a lot of wives in their thirties in unhappy marriages to at least dream of liberating themselves from their husbands and flying away to exotic places. Of course the romance heats up at the end when Elizabeth meets a mature, gorgeous Brazilian business man.

Elizabeth pours out a powerful, witty, and revealing personal testimony. She is definitely open. She hears the voice of god in the midst of her meaningless. She divorces, has an affair, plunges into depression, and then begins the long salvation journey to self discovery. Through meditation she connects with the great transcendent supernatural powers that teach her the spiritual truths that everyone can accept:

Every religion in the world operates on the same common understandings of what it means to be a good disciple--get up early and pray to your God, hone your virtues, be a good neighbor, respect yourself and others, master your cravings. (P. 175).

If faith were rational, it wouldn't be --by definition--faith. Faith is belief in what you cannot see or prove or touch. Faith is walking face-first and full-speed into the dark. (P. 175).

I knew then that this is how God loves us all and receives us all, and that there is no such thing in the universe as hell, except maybe in our own terrified minds. (p. 328).

She admits at the beginning of her book that she's only culturally a Christian. She does love "the great teacher of peace who was called Jesus." She reserves the right to ask herself in trying situations, What would Jesus do? But she can't swallow "that one fixed rule of Christianity insisting that Christ is the only path to God." (P. 14)

Before you rush full-speed into the dark and join your local meditation class or take off for an Indian Ashram, it might be wise to read carefully in the historical documents from the first century about the one who referred to himself as the Light of the World. As you read the first four books of the New Testament ask yourself what the historical Jesus actually did do--things like giving sight to the blind, enabling lame legs to walk, and raising dead people. After an agonizing death on the cross, all four Gospels claim that he rose again--a feat that none of the other religious leaders that Ms. Gilbert lumps Jesus with were able to pull off. Jesus was hardly just another great teacher of love.

It always bothers me when Jesus is presented as this hippy like guru of love potient number nine. Why would the Romans crucify a Mr. Rogers wearing first century Jewish clothing? Now someone generating a messianic movement claiming he was God's Son, the promised Messiah from the Old Testament Scriptures, and backing it up with some wondrous divine miracles--now that's a cause that could effect a Roman response.

Speaking of eating, the historical Jesus did quote Moses, "Man shall not live by bread alone," and then went on to claim to be the Bread of Life. Prayer? Jesus didn't give us a mantra to get us out of our conscious mind. He taught us to ask the Father to forgive us our debts because things like breaking our marriage vows, fornication, and the idolatry of thinking that we can get our lives together through our own devotion and discipline do make us guilty enough to face a deserved judgment. Jesus challenges us to face the true guilt because of real personal evil that has infected all of our lives.

I heard on the Internet that Ms. Gilbert is going to marry her Brazilian lover. I pray that the Son of God who turned the water to wine at the marriage of Cana of Galilee will pour His real wine of amazing grace into her life and her husband's. Sexual, human love can only take us so far, then we need the life and love that only the true Lover of our soul can give.

"In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loves us and sent his Son to be the propitiation ( Look it up) for our sins." 1 John 4:10

Burned at the Stake

2008-05-02T06:21:00.003-05:00

I finished teaching a mixture of Polish and Czech young people at the Word of Life Camp north of Brno in the Czech Rebublic by 10:30, Sunday morning (April 27th). The next morning I needed to be back in Hungary to teach Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs. This left only the afternoon to try and see where Tom Cruise was sitting in Prague when the entire front of the restaurant blew up in Mission Impossible.

Joseph Baucum, one of our Midlothian young people teaching ESL north of Prague, met us at the base of the Charles IV statue, and we began our walking tour. Of course we needed to see the astronomical clock on the South wall of the Old Town Hall in Old Town Square.

Built by Mikulas of Kadan in 1410, the clock brings in every hour with statues of the Twelve Apostles making their appearance in the windows, a skeleton, representing death , shakes an hour glass at an angry Turk. "Vanity" is a statue of a man with a mirror, and "Miserliness" is a man with a money bag shaking a stick. After the Apostles complete their tour, a golden rooster crows and gathers its wings at the top of the clock, the bell rings, and then finally the chimes record another hour. Down the street only a brief walk away is Bethlehem Chapel. It's foundations were laid 19 years before the clock, and it's the place where Jan Hus began to preach in 1402 more than 100 years before Luther nailed his 95 theses on the Wittenberg door.

As I sat in the large, but plain rectangular structure, and looked forward to the center of the church-- a pulpit instead of an altar-- I thought about a humble Charles University professor who, after reading the writings of John Wycliffe, was enflamed to preach in his native language. He encouraged Czechs to read the bible in their own tongue. He stressed the priesthood of all believers, and he attacked a professional clergy decaying in immoral materialism and wordly power. It didn't take long for the religious authorities to rise up to silence Jan Hus.

On December 20, 1409 the Pope issued a bull committing all of Wycliffe's books to the flames and his teachings declared to be heresy. He excommunicated the entire city of Prague, and on October 14, 1414 Hus, surrounded with thirty riders, began his journey to Constance in what is now Germany. Emperor Sigismund had promised him safe passage, but after only three weeks in Constance, Hus was arrested, thrown chained into a prison next to the sewer. He neared death in the stench.

Thirty charges threatened his life and in a Franciscan monastery he was asked to recant. "Unless I am convinced from the scriptures of my errors, I will not recant." Remember Luther's words later at the Diet of Worms--powerful words of trust in Scripture and not religious tradition or human authority. Hus did not recant. He was stripped of his priestly vestments, and burned at the stake.

Today he is a national hero in the Czech Republic. His statue was just refurbished and rules the large square just a stone's throw away from the clock, but today less than two percent of his people believe in the need to trust in the cross that he preached or read the bible he died to proclaim.

I sat in His Bethlehem church and prayed that I won't become weary in opening the Scriptures and teaching them in the power of the Spirit. I prayed that I would not become a professional churchman who inhibits the gifts of all my brothers and sisters, and I prayed that I will never believe that politial power and Jesus' power should be mixed as one. Finally, I prayed that the young people that just heard me teach about wise living from Proverbs would allow the Spirit of Jesus to help them create another movement for evangelical faith in this land that now worships materialism.

As we drove back through Moravia toward Hungary, my friend said, "Communism couldn't force atheism on this people in over fifty years, but western materialism as done it in less than ten.' On Truth Encounter the next few weeks we are going to be teaching a series titled "Dethroning the Goddess of Money." Pray with me that the Lord will help all of us, including myself, to internalize and then practice what Jesus told us, "You can't serve God and Mammon."

By the way the restaurant that blew up in Mission Impossible was created just for the movie. Everything looks fine in Old Town Prague, although a horrible flood did threaten the Medieval buildings. With the Spirit's power it is not a Mission Impossible for us to see a fresh movement of the Gospel throughout Eastern Europe. Pray!

Life's Super Bowl--Quarterbacking to Win in the Biggest Game

2008-04-07T18:25:00.004-05:00

The Giants were 2-0. In his sixties, Coach Tom Coughlin had never won the big one and questions nagged about his young quarterback. Would Eli ever measure up to his big brother? The Giants faced their NFC rival Washington, Redskins in Washington. No one talked Super Bowl.

On Saturday night before the Washington game the Giants had a team meeting. Coughlin briefed his two captains, afraid that the team might be shocked by the speaker that evening.
Mike Sullivan, the Giant’s wide receiver coach, was a West Point grad, class of 89. Greg Gadson played linebacker for three years with him for Army. When his teammate, No. 98, landed in a bed in Walter Reed Hospital, it was time for his old Army team to pull back together and remember that they were brothers.

When Sullivan returned to visit his friend in June, he had a Giant No. 98 jersey with him signed by the Giant players. “Is there anything else, I can do for you.” Gadson smiled, “I sure would like to bring my family to see the Giants play the Redskins when you’re in town!” Sullivan supplied the tickets and told his head coach about his friend. Coach Coughlin thought it would be a good idea for his players to hear the story.

Gadson addressed the players from his wheel chair the night before the big game. He was serving in Iraq with the Second Battalion and 32nd Field Artillery. On May 7, 2007 returning from a memorial service for two of his soldiers, an IED (improvised explosive device) hit his vehicle, the explosion put him in Walter Reed. When a former athlete who now has no legs talks to you about bad times and the need to keep your poise and fight through it, you listen.
He spoke to them about life opportunities, about how special and privileged they were and about their need to understand what they had. He told them about soldiers who got up in the middle of the night after a 12-hour shift to watch them play. He told them that players play for themselves, but eventually they needed to learn to play for each other.

“My old teammates met my need. When my family and I needed them, they reminded me of the power of a team. A team can find a way to do things greater than they thought they could do individually. A bond is formed that lasts forever. Great teams form the bond by going through something together. Success never comes easy, and nothing is promised to anybody in this life, starting tomorrow.”

The Giants beat the Redskins the next day and began a six-game winning streak, and a road winning streak that took them all the way to victory in Super Bowl XLII.

A wounded soldier inspired my old childhood team to the epitome of gridiron glory. As I heard the Colonel's story, I asked myself, Will I be inspired by the Savior who was wounded for me and yet now rules as the resurrected King to give everything for His glory and the ultimate team--His Church?

"I strongly urge you brothers through God's mercy to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is your reasonable act of worship." Romans 12:1

Wrong on the Left, Wrong on the Right

2008-03-15T13:38:00.004-05:00

He was discussed as a prime 2012 Democratic presidential nominee. He built his career as the "Sheriff of Wallstreet" and used his office as Attorney General of New York as a bully pulpit preaching the gospel of a return to justice in New York government. He knew, better than others, that banks must report unusually large withdrawals of cash and requests to break it down into small transactions. He bragged about his extensive knowledge of wiretaps, and yet Eliot Spitzer, the Governor of New York, got caught on the phone negotiating his date with Kristen, a high dollar prostitute. This week he joined Bill Clinton, Gary Hart, James McGreevey, and a host of other high profile politicians involved in a sex scandal.

Time Magazine seeks for answers in brain chemistry--perhaps problems with his neurotransmitter dopamine, serotonin, or high testosterone levels with low monomine oxidase inhibitors. At the close of their article they suggest that perhaps he is not blameless. "Sometimes hubris is just hubris." (Time, March 24, 2008, P. 27) If he is morally responsible, then why all the talk about Spitzer's rich, aggressive, demanding father and his potential brain chemistry?
Karl Menninger, the famous Topeka psychiatrist, early in the seventies wrote a book titled, "Whatever Happened to Sin?" He argued against using psychology to excuse the evil that lurks within.

It's time to listen to the Apostle Paul's exposure of the roots of sin in Romans 1:18-3:23. It's time to stop thinking that his sexual ethics in Romans 1:24 ff are "obscure," hardly applicable in our progressive, informed society. The Left should stop teaching moral relativism at Princeton and Harvard. One of their graduates just slept with a prostitute, destroyed his career, and he will not be able to defend himself in court claiming he did nothing wrong. The Right should stop proclaiming only a select list of the deadly sins the Apostle claims will condemn us to death. The truth is that God condemns us all, and it is only when we accept His verdict (Romans 3:23) that we can begin to understand why there was a crucifixion on Good Friday and a Resurrection early Easter morning.

Things are wrong on the Right and on the Left, but Jesus' sacrificial death can make those on both sides right before God in the end if someone will humbly listen and believe.

Jews and Catholics Spar over Prayer

2008-02-13T16:18:00.002-06:00

The prayer is simple.

"Almighty and everlasting God, you who wants all men to be saved and to gain knowledge of the truth, kindly allow that, as all peoples enter into your Church, all of Israel be saved."Let us pray for the Jews. May the Lord our God illuminate their hearts so that they may recognize Jesus Christ savior of all men."

This is the updated version of the ancient Latin Good Friday prayer, supposedly adjusted so that it would not be offensive to Jews. It failed.

Jewish leaders responded immediately. "The wounds have been reopened." Past centuries of forced conversions and the denial of basic human rights to Jews have been dusted off and ushered into the present. The advances of Vatican II are lost and Jewish-Catholic relations are taken back 43 years.

The Associated Press cites Rabbi David Rosen, a key Jewish-Vatican liaison and head of inter-religious relations at the American Jewish Committee. He states his disappointment.
"It's pretty clear that there's no fullness of salvation outside the Church" under the prayer's language.

As Evangelicals, it's easy to wonder, Why all the fuss? Of course Jesus is the Savior of all men. He was Jewish. He instructed His Apostles to take the Gospel to the Jew first and then the Gentiles. What did the Rabbis expect the Pope to pray? Wasn't one of Jesus' last commands for His followers to make disciples of every nation?

I strongly believe these biblical realities, but before we turn away from the present controversy between Rome and Jerusalem, let's remind ourselves about a deeper misunderstanding. In this present controversy both the Vatican and the Rabbis think of faith in cultural, racial, and organizational terms. The Jewish leaders hear this as an attempt to annihilate them as a people, as their culture and traditions are destroyed. Christianity is viewed as another religion with its capitol in Rome and a totally different set of cultic forms to follow. The Vatican proclaims the need to be baptized into Mother Church.

In the first century, is this what Jesus meant when, at a major Jewish feast in Jerusalem, he stood and cried, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life?"

"Faith" as taught in the entire Scripture can never be forced. By definition it has to be the free choice of an individual made in God's image. It does not equal joining an alternative religious group. It means that you depend upon a person, and this is the person that all of us will stand before at the end of time. A Gamaliel-trained Pharisee put it like this,

"This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares." Romans 2:16

Do we actually believe that we can meet together in learned inter-religious dialogue, decide on the lowest common denominators in natural religious experience, and then declare that this yields peace and new truth about God?

As I near sixty, I become more aware that our faith has to do with what we believe about ultimate reality, and that we don't create or change reality by our discussion. A change or no change in an old Latin prayer will not alter who Jesus actually is or isn't.

I ask forgiveness from the Jewish people when Christians as an organization have used force to "convert " and murder them. I do hear their reasons for reacting when a Christian prays that they might have their eyes opened and the veil removed. All they hear is the reminder of Inquisitions and Pograms.

My prayer is that they will hear, "Father, forgivc them for they know not what they do!"

I crucified Jesus by my sin, but the great Serpent Slayer, the Deliverer promised in the third chapter of the Jewish Scriptures, forgave me so that the curse of death no longer stalks me.

For a sensitive but honest discussion about the conflict over whether or not a Jew needs to trust in Jesus as their Messiah check out, The Christian and the Pharisee: Two Outspoken Religious Leaders Debate the Road to Heaven By: R.T. Kendall, David Rosen

Christ's Return--A Second Away

2008-01-26T16:19:00.000-06:00

Sunday night was recovery time from a hard week end—Friday night-dinner with friends; Saturday afternoon- Fort Worth Stock Show; in the evening- the rodeo; Sunday morning- church, afternoon- homework with three kids. At 10:30 Robert, an executive in the rocket-paced world of High Tech Entertainment and Devices, tried to climb into bed to get some sleep before his alarm went off at four o’clock. His flight to Seattle left at 7:05am. His meeting for lunch and a 1:30pm business session with J. Allard, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President for Design and Development, took him six months to set up. It meant millions or bust for the development group Robert was leading.
He set his alarm, rolled over, and was gone into dreamland.
“Honey, what are you doing? Why are you still in bed?”
Robert loved his wife, but her words hit his growing consciousness like a death sentence. His plane left at 7:05 and the digital numbers on his bedside clock read 7:30 as he grabbed it and frantically checked to see why it had failed to sound the alarm. A missed flight, a missed appointment with a Microsoft Vice President—his career was over.
Sleep is one of life’s sweetest delicacies—except when you’re supposed to be wide awake.
In Romans 13:11-14 the Apostle Paul sounds the alarm for the Roman believers to wake up. Jesus died in AD 33. It is now twenty four years later. For Paul this meant it was no time to be asleep. Christ could come at any second. For us it is now one thousand nine hundred and seventy five years later. Was the 1st Century Apostle naive about history and foolish to think that Christ’s return was imminent in AD 57? What should we believe about the nearness of Jesus Christ’s return today and what should we do about it?
When I was a kid, the European Common Market was the harbinger of the Ten Toes of Daniel's image. Now some of my prophetic colleagues tell me that Baghdad will soon be the world capital and the Ten Toes are ten Islamic nations already challenging Western power. Then I open up to Jonathan Edwards in the Colonial days and I discover that he believed that the French were the forces of Antichrist. All this guessing causes many believers to deconstruct the coming of Jesus and His promise loses its power over our daily lives.
Before you throw out the immanency of the Bridegroom's return for His Bride, read what Paul had to say to your family in AD 57 about the closeness of the parousia, and don't neglect to listen to Paul's advice about how we need to get serious about this.
He doesn't ask you to go to another prophetic congress. He asks the folks that I work with here in Texas not to go boozin and womanizing on Friday or Saturday night. Instead, he challenges them to allow the Light to radiate their unbelieving friends as they see the concrete ethical changes in their character because they know Jesus. Instead of getting drunk, they are to be full of the Spirit. Instead of fighting and dividing over music, styles of liturgy, and what they do or do not eat and drink, they are to be united in loving care for one another.

Rollin With The Flow

2008-01-19T18:36:00.001-06:00

Once was a thought inside my head before I’d reach thirty, I’d be dead.
Some how on and on I go. I keep on rollin with the flow

Folks said that I would change my mind. I’d straighten up and do just fine.
Oh, But I still love Rock and Roll. So I keep rollin with the flow.

While guys my age are raisin kids, I’m raisin hell just like I did.
I’ve got a lot of crazy friends. They forgive me of my sins.

Some might be callin me a bum, But I’m still out here havin fun
Jesus loves me yes I know. So I keep on rollin with the flow

You can’t take it with you when you're gone, But I want enough to get there on.
And I ain't never growin old if I keep on rollin with the flow.
No I ain't ever growin old if I keep on rollin with the flow
I keep on rollin with the flow.

Mark Chestnut

We like this guy. He’s like Peter Pan in Justins-- still boot skootin, boozin, and breakin hearts. He raises hell on Saturday night, but he does remember the children’s song “Jesus Loves Me” on Sunday. And of course, he has a lot of “crazy friends” who forgive him. He’s made it past thirty but doubts his life style will get him much farther--although with luck who knows. Mick Jagger is pushing 65. He ain’t groin old, but when he’s gone, he “wants enough to get there on.”

What is enough for us to get there on? Can we wait till we’re gone to find out? Does the fact that Jesus loves us mean that He simply forgives us and lets us continue to keep on rollin with the flow? Many today think so. The Apostle Paul does not.

He is the Apostle of Grace. More than any other writer in the New Testament he declares that we stand right before God in the end is by depending only on Christ—His death and His resurrection. Many accuse Paul of shattering the Tablets of Moses and throwing open the doors to the kind of behavior Mark Chestnut sings about. Why not take a look for yourself at what the Apostle does say about the Grace --Law connection in Romans 13:8-10 and then check out my thoughts about this issue on our Truth Encounter audio this week titled "The Unpayable Debt."

I would love to hear your thoughts about this strategic issue that has been debated since the Reformation, and most of all I would covet your prayers so that in my personal life I will allow the Spirit of Jesus to daily help me not to be like the priest who walked right by the wounded man in Jesus powerful story about the Good Samaritan.

2008 Resolutions

2008-01-12T12:08:00.000-06:00

We live in a world where a salesman gives us tickets to the Mavericks and after the game invites us to finish off the evening at a strip bar. With a few drinks he swears that he is our long lost brother and proceeds with a tirade against the Maverick management because the valet took too long getting his SUV. This present world is full of feigned love, jokes about sex, and biting disrespect for all in authority. It’s 2008 and the world hasn’t changed, but have we?
The question I'm asking myself as I begin 2008 is --What does it look like for a believer in Christ to live as a living sacrifice? What concrete actions result when believers are renewed in their core values by the Holy Spirit?
I'm making the Apostle Paul's exhortations in Romans 12:9-21 my New Year’s resolution list. Here they are:

Be authentic, genuine in agape love.
Be repulsed by evil, Stick like glue to the good.
Be openly affectionate and devoted to my brothers and sisters in Christ
Outdo my brothers and sisters in giving them honor and respect
Get going quickly. Don’t be lazy.
Be on fire with the Holy Spirit serving the Lord.
Rejoice because Christ will certainly fulfill his promises. My Hope in Jesus will not be disappointed.
Endure hard times.
Persist constantly in prayer.
Give generously to my fellow believers just like they were members of my own family.
Seek out even those who are strangers to me and show them hospitality.
Bless, don’t curse those who persecute you.
Rejoice with those who rejoice.
Weep with those who weep.
Be unified with my fellow believers because I'm committed to the message of Romans—Jesus Christ has given me the gift of forgiveness and right standing before God through His death and resurrection.
Don’t be prideful and hang out with the high and mighty. Hang out with those who are downhearted, going through hard times—those who don’t have status.
Don’t think of myself as smarter than I am.
Don’t pay back evil for evil.
Give careful consideration to what is good for all.
As much as possible, live at peace with others.
Remember I am loved by God (Beloved);therefore don’t take revenge.
22. Don’t just refrain from punching out my enemy. Give them food and drink and anything else they need. Do positive good things for them.
(Vengeance is my divine Father’s responsibility. Give space and time for Him to deal with the wrongs done to me. I will pray for my enemies. What a miracle if they become my friends or even my brothers in His time.

It will take the power of Jesus' Spirit flowing through my spiritual veins every second of 2008 to actually live out these qualities, but what a difference it would make in my unbelieving friends' understanding of an "Evangelical" if these were the actions they thought of instead of the bigotry, pride, power, and narrow mindedness that they so often conjure up now.

Let me challenge you to carefully listen to how the Apostle applies his message of faith in Jesus in Romans 12-16. If we truly believe this letter is inerrant, we will get serious about how we relate to one another and to those who have not yet come to faith in the Savior.

Mary and I had an incredible gift over the Holidays as all seven of our grand children came and lived with us for a good amount of time. What a special time of life to have our adult kids bringing their kids to Ami and Papa's house for Christmas.

Mary and I look forward to this new challenging you as we seek to be used of the Spirit to help you encounter Jesus.

How do you over come evil in a dark world? Obviously, doing evil in return for evil will only add to the darkness. You turn on the light by doing the good things the Holy Spirit prompts you to do because Christ gave His life for us when we were His enemies. When He lives inside of us, we do the same.

Dining Room Waiters and the Manger Birth

2007-12-24T13:14:00.000-06:00

The Melrose in Dallas was built in 1924. Today, it is a Four-Diamond luxury hotel boasting a Landmark Restaurant—one of the top ten restaurants in a city priding itself on having more restaurants per capita than any other city in the U.S. Their dining room is set with circular tables covered with linen, stuffed chairs, and a library while you are waiting that makes you feel that you’re an English lord in your castle.
A few weeks ago I got to pretend that I was one of the elites of Dallas as my brother, Don, and I reunited two roommates from graduate school who are now in their eighties for lunch. Jerry Jones and his wife casually strolled in for a quiet meal together half way through our meal to enhance my feelings of power, prestige, and position. There’s a part of me that loves to sit at a table like this, have the multiple waiters repeatedly fill my water glass, and even help place the linen napkin on my lap.
Jesus had all this attention and infinitely more. The blinding stars only reflect a fraction of the divine light that burns forever in His heavenly home. The majesty of the Montana Bear Tooth Mountains a split second before sun down are like a Dollar Store card compared to the true beauty of His perfect landscapes. Think of ants on the floor of the United States Capitol building thinking they are the movers and shakers while in the chairs above the Senators meet in session—this is a weak comparison. Supernatural cherubim and hosts of angels bowed continually before Jesus’ divine throne. Reveling in all this power, prestige, and position, why didn’t God the Father and His Son decide to use the fiery, divine royal war chariot that Ezekiel saw in prophetic vision? Why a Galilean teenager’s womb? Why a cave in a rural, small town south of Jerusalem?
Like John 1:1-18, Philippians 2:6-11 gives us not the melody, but the words to another Christmas carol—more technically an incarnation hymn of praise—that the 1st Century church sang when they met together either early Sunday morning or after work in the evening after their Agape meal and communion. Paul uses this hymn to point out to the Philippian believers and to us the way to the top. This path cuts right across my desire to get rich enough so I can eat at the Melrose daily.
Take some time in the midst of the Bethlehem child's birthday celebration to study what He teaches us about being a slave so that we can rule in the end. Before you conclude that this is all pious sentimentalism ask yourself this: Two thousand years later who actually is august--Augustus or the Lord Jesus Christ?

Only Violence Continually

2007-12-12T11:15:00.000-06:00

This Sunday morning between services I was in the church office as one of our men checked the Internet. He scrolled down and read to me the first news of the 24 year old gunmen who took the lives of four of our brothers and sisters in Christ in Colorado.

"I can't believe this is happening!" "There must be some mistake!" " Why attack young people who are seeking to be trained to take Jesus' Good News around the world?" My heart struggled to handle the fact that again believers have been killed right here in the U.S.

This spring my youngest son and his wife completed three years of graduate school in New Haven, Connecticut. The Youth with a Mission students and teachers in the city became their local spiritual family and gave them biblical support. During the graduation week I watched my son play ultimate Frisbee with his YWAM friends. After the game, I got to chat with some of them about their future plans. What an encouragement to interact with young people in their twenties committed to Jesus and looking forward to going overseas and sharing His truth and love with others. Now Tiffany Johnson (26) , an easy going, friendly, adventuresome young lady and Philip Crouse (24), who had helped to build a foster home on the Crow Indian reservation in Montana, will not be able to continue Christ's mission here on earth.

When God looked at the pre-flood world, He saw that it was "corrupt and full of violence." (Gen. 6.11). What does He see when He looks at our nation?

I'm praying that God will open hearts to the power of the crucified and resurrected Jesus. He alone can conquer violence, bring His forgiveness and mercy, and awaken consciences all over our land and soften hearts, including mine. We must not allow murder, especially when it is caused by those who hate Christians, to become only another headline.

God is still the Sovereign Lord who sent His Son into the violent world of Herod and Caesar. Though He was murdered, death could not hold Him and His resurrection power will allow us to keep going into all the world to make disciples in every nation.

Listening to the Heavens

2007-10-20T17:06:00.000-05:00

When Carl Sagan was alive, SETI (Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence) got a lot of media attention. I have not heard much about it since his death until this past week and Time's report on Paul Allen's gift of 25 million to install a set of 42 dish antennas in Hat Creek. California..

Allen is the co-founder of Mircrosoft, owner of the Portland Trail Blazers, and the Seattle Seahawks so he has the cash to give to the University of California to fund their latest attempt to listen for voices from outer space.

Now I'm all for learning all that we can about outer space and fascinated by radio signals that might give us more insight into the incredible universe. But I have always questioned why scientists will spend millions trying to discover intelligent life that might be out there when they won't listen to a communication from Heaven that is available right at your local Barnes and Nobles.

If there is some great superior Intelligence, you would expect him or her to have the smarts to communicate with us long before the invention of the computer chip or improved radio telescopes.

This is exactly what the Apostle Paul claims in Romans 10:6. We don't have to ascend to the highest heaven. God has already sent His Son from the highest heaven to reveal Himself on planet earth. Check out my discussion on Romans 10:1-15 in our Truth Encounter message this week.

Global Cerebral Atrophy against God's Will

2007-10-11T10:29:00.000-05:00

God's will isn't being done in the life of one of our precious new little babies in Midlothian Bible Church, the church where my wife and I serve!
Mary just returned from Children's Hospital in Dallas where a neurologist and a paediatrician informed one of our young families, Jason and Lauren Kunz and their daughter Malory, that little Grant has global cerebral atrophy. The physicians can't agree on the prognosis, but neither doctor gave us good news, and this is why Jesus taught us to pray "Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!"
Yes, history is being written according to the divine Author's hand. He has a sovereign decreed will, but a lot of things are included in the present story that make Him angry, frustrated, and hurt. A lot of things, like a baby's illness, happen against His heart, against the way that things are done in heaven.
Our Lord is angry that the curse of sin has been able to touch Grant's little body and He invites us to pray that we might see a glimpse of His coming Kingdom where there will be no more brain malfunction, eye problems, or hearts that don't beat the right rhythm.
We need to pray for healing, for the miracle of seeing in the present God's life giving Heavenly will. During this time of trouble for the Kunz family, our MBC family needs to complete their family circle by giving them our prayers, compassion, and love. You can join us in praying for them.

This Sunday morning at MBC we will be taking a look at what the Divine Potter is up to in the lives of the Jewish people and in our lives. You can join us on Monday morning as Mary makes the teaching of Romans 9:19-32 availabe to you on the Internet. Here's a preview.

Have you ever seen a skilled potter shaping a vase? Now animate that picture. Imagine that the clay suddenly jumps off the spinning wheel and declares to the potter, "You don't exist!" Or "You're an idiot. I'd rather do it my way!"

Sound ridiculous? Its what a lot of us do when we resist our Creator's skilful hands. Romans 9 declares that with all of our strutting and fist raising, we are after all just clay in the Potter's hands. The question is--Will we respond to His merciful touch or have to be trashed because of hardened resistance.

Do you have some friends that haven't heard God's Word in a while or possibly never? Invite them to come and sit with you this Sunday as you gather with your local church family, and then take them out to eat. You can also invite your friends who won't darken the door of church to check out what we are learning from the Book of Romans at www.truthencounter.com .

Maybe the Potter will use you as He places His hands on someone else's life.

A Covenant Promise

2007-10-09T17:28:00.000-05:00

This Friday my wife and I jumped in our Tundra like good Texans and headed close to the Oklahoma border for Pilot Point, nestled on the shores of Lake Ray Roberts. We scoped things out early in the afternoon so that we would know where to go for the evening wedding rehearsal.
The rehearsal dinner was in Denton and then we headed for the fairy tale setting.
My wife is a skilled administrator. So she took the lead in instructing two families who were just beginning to get to know each other and friends of the groom and friends of the bride on the intricacies of escorting grandparents, parents, and then finally pulling off an orderly procession to set the stage for the bride and her dad.
The next evening at 7:00 with the sun setting over the lake the bride and groom stood together under the cupola and repeated before God "I do promise and covenant before God and these witnesses to be your loving and faithful husband (wife) in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live."
I know that more than fifty percent of American marriages end in divorce, but as I challenged this brand new husband and wife to remember that these promises could only be kept by relying completely upon the forgiveness of the Savior who died for them and who can fuel their promise keeping with His resurrection power, I thanked the Lord again for the incredible privilege of being a pastor and having Him use me to challenge another couple to build their home on amazing grace. Please rememember to pray for Aaron and Melanie and the young couples you have the responsibility to support because you witnessed their sacred vows.

Just Tell Stories

2007-09-17T15:47:00.000-05:00

He's an Ivy League trained professor, yet in his book Religious Literacy --What Every American Needs to Know and Doesn't Stephen Prothero of Boston University argues that in a world warring over religion every high school curriculum must include a course on Basic Bible and World Religions 101. Our national security depends on it.

In the 20th century secularists argued that as society matured and became more scientific and technological religion would die a slow death. A secularist who believes that proposition in 2007 has committed the classic ostrich head in the sand error. Diplomats and army officers today must know the difference between a Sunni, a Shiite, and that a Sikh is not a Muslim or a Hindu. The frightening reality is that many do not.

Prothero traces our public education's history from The New England Primer that taught our children that they were sinners who needed Jesus to save them, to the McGuffey Readers that taught them to be good, sober, modest, and thrifty, to our present curriculum where a teacher is afraid to even mention that the Pilgrims actually celebrated Thanksgiving to thank the God of the Bible.

Prothero makes a strong argument for the Constitutional right to teach about the Bible and about Religion in the public schools. Whether or not his distinction between teaching--acceptable, and preaching--not acceptable will hold in the real world of high school curriculums is up for National debate.

What struck me as ironic about Prothero's discussion is that at the time when he is calling for the strong, objective teaching about the Bible and religion in the Public Schools, many leading evangelical pastors are calling for less Bible and more stories in our churches.

Now I'm not against stories. After all, our Savior told some powerful ones about the Prodigal Son, the Lost Sheep, and the Good Samaritan. What I am against is forgetting that He also included Romans in His inspired text that had some strong warnings against turning the message of Jesus' cross and resurrection into just another chapter in William Bennet's Book of Virtues.

Mary and I will be flying to Mitchell, Nebraska in the morning for the Berean National Convention. I have to deliver four messages from the Book of Jeremiah. The theme of the Conference is The Clay. Pray that we will be pliable in the Potter's hands the next several days so that he can encourage many pastors, leaders, and their families.

Soccer Coaching and Jesus

2007-09-01T12:06:00.000-05:00

I knew nothing about soccer. Football, basketball and baseball--Yes! But soccer was not one of the big three when I was growing up. Yet when my son's coach decided he needed to retire, I was conscripted.

My wife and I prayed for each of the boys on the team and tried to reach out to their parents. James, one of my player's dads, was not responsive. He was in to cutting horses, not into Jesus. Our failure to make any apparent impact for Jesus was discouraging.

My oldest son is now 34, and my soccer coaching days ended more than twenty years ago, but the power of the Gospel continues. This morning I got to teach 61 men at the Waxahachie Cowboy Church's men's breakfast from Romans 7:21ff about the internal conflict that we can win through the power of Jesus.

Guess who invited me to speak for this gathering? James, my old soccer player's dad. He came to Jesus a few years ago, and now leads the men's breakfast every month at the Cowboy Church.
Whether its coaching soccer, football, or girls volleyball, believe that Jesus can use you to get across far more than athletic skills, and don't get discouraged if it takes some time to bear fruit.

Communicating Jesus

2007-08-21T15:09:00.000-05:00

Who was the first person to tell you about Jesus? A dad or mom? A grandparent? Maybe a friend? You can probably think back to several people who the Spirit of God used to help you understand the Good News about Jesus dying on the cross, rising again, and the need for you to personally decide to trust Jesus. Now here’s the question, Do you regret that any of these people told you about Christ?

The first century church did not grow because they kept silent. The New Testament
reveals that the new powerful message about a Jewish crucified Messiah who rose from the dead was spreading like a flame driven by gusty winds. Paul begins his letter to the Colossians expressing his passion to let everyone in on the incredible mystery that was now clear.

Paul offered far more than five steps to overcoming your anger or three principles that could help you to achieve financial success. He believed that God had revealed to him a secret that not even Abraham, Moses, or Isaiah knew about.

Down through the ages and in past generations the secret was in God’s heart. But when Jesus died and rose again the secret was out. The Messiah would take up residence in the life of anyone who would simply trust Him, and this presence would guarantee that glory, not death, was ahead. Paul could not have stated this precious revelation more succinctly.

"To the saints (believers) God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is the Messiah in you, the hope of glory."
Colossians 3: 27

When I am intimidated about sharing Jesus with someone else, I remember what a gift it is to have Him living inside my life, and I remember those who had the courage to make the Gospel clear to me. This gets my tongue untied when the opportunities come to speak up.

Some suggestions to help you to proclaim Him:

1. Reflect back on this past week. What evidence do you see in your personal life that Jesus has made your heart His home address? (Check out Matthew 5:14-16)

2. Do you find it easier to shine your life in your home, school, workplace or neighborhood?
Where is the most difficult place to shine your light?

Think of one concrete way that you can shine your light this week.

3. Can you think of three family members, fellow students, golf or hunting buddies, or work associates who do not clearly understand what it means that Jesus can take up residence in their lives?

Write down their names:
a.

b.

c.

Now make a commitment to pray for them for the next thirty days –

Pray that the Holy Spirit would work in their life and draw them to Jesus.
Pray that your life would serve as a good witness.
Pray for boldness and opportunity to share your faith with them.
Pray that they would trust Christ as their Savior

4. You are an expert in telling your story of how you came to trust Jesus for your salvation. Have you ever written it down? Take a few minutes this week to do this and then share it with a friend.

Celebrating 50 Years

2007-08-06T18:43:00.000-05:00

This week I am teaching Romans at the Word of Life Camps in Upstate New York, but the primary reason Mary and I flew up to Albany was to celebrate my sister and brother-inlaw's 50th wedding anniversary. Dave and Mary Ann were married in 1957, one year after five of their fellow Wheaton graduates were martyred in Equador. Dave's father was a pioneer missionary in Guatemala, but the Lord called the young couple to Brazil where they started Word of Life's first Bible Institute.

In a family filled with loud voices for Jesus Dave was the quiet, steady, disciplined planner who used his administrative skills to transform the training of counselors at Christian summer camps throughout the U.S. and then to found Palavra Da Vida Seminary --a school that has become the Moody Bible Institute--Dallas Seminary for the Brazilian culture.

David Cox Jr., Dave and Mary Ann's oldest son, worked on our pastoral staff in Midlothian while he attended Dallas Seminary. Then after a few more years serving with us headed out to Brazil to join his mom and dad as one of the profs in the seminary.

For three hours Sunday afternoon David led us in a tribute to his dad and mom built on Psalm 127:1.
Unless the Lord builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.

Listening to their children and grand children extol their dad and mom and their grandpa and grand ma proved that the Spirit can still fuel a marriage for 50 years.Praise the Lord! He is still in the business of building strong homes.

Congratulations Dave and Mary Ann, I pray the Lord gives you 50 more.

Hippy Turned Evangelist

2007-08-03T19:25:00.001-05:00

Last night I stayed in the home of Tom and Vicki Maheiras. The first time I saw Tom he looked like one of the Three Musketeers--complete with mustache, beard, and in place of a sword--a Gibson guitar. It was the summer of '68, and Tom was high on drugs when my friend Bruce invited him to leave Lake George and come up to Word of Life Island on Schroon Lake. That night, Jack Wyrtzen, my dad, proclaimed the good news about Jesus, and Tom came forward to receive Christ. That was 39 years ago, and last night, instead of being high on LSD, he was high on how the Lord had used him to speak to 50,000 Africans in Uganda, and he was strategizing about how to unite the power of the Gospel with the skill of American entrepreneurship to seek to bring more than just a hand-out in Africa. He has pastored for more than 30 years and now head up CitiVision, an inner city ministry mobilizing the Body of Christ not only in New York City, but in cities around the world, to change the ghetto into a community transformed by Jesus. The Gospel still is the power of God. My friend Tom and his precious wife, Vicki, prove it. I picked up my oldest son and his family at JFK this morning. Now its time to relax with the Wyrtzen tribe for a week at Word of LIfe where new "Toms" could get close to Jesus during another week of ministry. Pray!

Beautiful Bodies--Aching Bodies

2007-07-29T16:16:00.001-05:00

The 77 Dallas Cowboys were the Champions in the hallowed days of NFL gridiron glory. Roger Staubach, Bob Lilly, Randy White, Rayfield Wright, and Mel Renfro--these were the gladiators that charmed my childhood. If anyone could defy the ravages of time, these giants could do it. Then I picked up this Sunday's Dallas Morning News. The headline read Champions aging in agony. Thirty years ago Mel Renthro played his last NFL game and walked off the field--the winner of Super Bowl XII. Thirty years later he has an artificial left hip, a right knee that needs to be replaced, arthritis in his shoulders, damaged vertebrae in his neck, and headaches from the glare of the sun. The article details the ravages of time against these football greats, but I am thankful that the Apostle Paul asked this question, "Who will deliver us from this body of death?" His answer? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! My lower back might stoop me over in an old man's gait, but I've got a new eternal model waiting ahead, and it's a certain thing because of Jesus Christ's historical resurrection.

Pray for Mary and me this next week. Early Wednesday morning we fly up to Albany, New York to meet my eldest son, his wife, and their two girls, flying home from France. Word of Life is hosting a Wyrtzen Family Reunion and giving us the privilege of teaching at the Conference the first week in August. My oldest sister is celebrating her fiftieth wedding anniversary, and it will be one of those rare times of getting to spend time with the Wyrtzen side of our family and all serving Jesus together.

Worship Is More than Niche Marketing

2007-07-26T10:55:00.000-05:00

I arrived back in Midlothian at 1:30 this morning after spending a day in Austin with our Midlothian Bible worship leaders, but the late night was worth it. Hundreds of worship leaders and pastors met at River Bend Church in Austin for the first national worship leader conference.

Just listening to that many incredible voices proclaiming "Your Grace Is Enough" made the price of the five hour travel up and down I 35 worth it, but listening to a younger pastor like Ross Parsley argue against the niche marketing of our Sunday morning services was priceless. Ross lamented the tragedy of losing our multi-generational dinner time around the table where even grandma was forced to acknowledge five year old Johnny and vice versa. He then went on to use the possibility of recapturing the joy and love around this table as a picture of what God the Father desires for us in worship at least once a week as we gather as His Household.

I've been reminding our worship leaders for years that the family is one of the dominant New Testament symbols for what the Church needs to be. What an encouragement to have this Pauline revelation underlined by Scott as he leads an influential, resurgent church in Colorado.

Pray for Mary and me as we get packed to head to Schroon Lake next week for a Wyrtzen Familiy Reunion and a teaching assignment along side Dr. Mark Bailey, my precious friend and the President of Dallas Theological. We would love to see you at Word of Life that first week in August.

Seven Thousand Jewelers and the Great Commission

2007-07-13T11:54:00.000-05:00

My wife Mary and I are spending three days in Forth Worth at the Convention Center at the Premier Designs National Convention. Back in 1985 (that's before the Iron Curtain fell), Andy Horner and I went to Poland to teach the Book of Proverbs to a couple hundred polish teens. Andy was in his early sixties and ready to retire after a successful career with Home Interiors.

After listening to his life story and burden to raise money for indigenous missions, I casually said to him on our return flight across the big pond, "Andy, why don't you use your entrepreneurial skills for Jesus." When he got back to Dallas, he did. He founded a jewelry company called Premier. With his wife Joan, their purpose was to help moms stay at home and raise their kids. A mom could do a couple of home shows a week and earn what she would earn in five hard days in an office. They also committed themselves to founding a foundation that would give funds to missions.

That was 22 years ago and now their company has more than 25,000 jewelers and our Horner Premier Foundation has been able to support evangelical outreaches around the world. This Foundation is one of the tools God uses to support Truth Encounter, and this is why Mary and I are shaking hands and handing out free trials for our Jewels of Sinai video game. We are also rubbing shoulders with Latin Americans, Africans, Austrians, and Brazilians who are declaring Jesus because a business man and his wife in 1985 decided to use their skills in the market place for Jesus.

For those of you representing Jesus on the front lines of business today, you are in full time Jesus service. I want to bless you today, and I need to go and shake some more hands to let all these Premier Jewelers know how much we appreciate what they are doing to enable us to help others to encounter Jesus.

Have a great day walking with our Lord Jesus,
Dave