you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

-         1 Peter 3:15

Before he became a best-selling author,  Lee Strobel worked as a newspaper editor in Chicago.   One day, the newsroom where he worked was especially hectic.   Throughout the day he prayed for God’s help.  Because of his prayers, he was able to remain an island of calm in a sea of chaos.  At the end of the day, Strobel looked up and saw his boss standing over his desk.

“Strobel, how did you get through the day without blowing your top?”  his boss asked him. “What’s this Christianity thing with you?”  Strobel tells what happened next:

“Nobody had ever asked me that before. For a moment I froze. I didn’t know what to say or how to say it I was afraid I would utter the wrong words. I as fearful of embarrassing myself having him make fun of me. But I make the split-second choice to take a spiritual risk and tell him about my faith in Jesus. We ended up talking for 45 minutes. I fumbled around quite a bit…but I managed to explain how I had met Jesus Christ and how he had changed my life and eternity.”

And let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,

 looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…

-         Hebrews 12:2

I’m not much of a golfer.  Anyone who’s played a round of golf with

me can tell you that.  However, one thing I know about golf is that you need to keep your eye on the ball.

That sounds simple, but it’s actually quite difficult. I am constantly battling the temptation to gaze down the fairway at where I want the ball to be going.  But when I do that, I usually muff the shot.

The same thing is true with following Christ.  To follow Him, we need to focus:  not just once a week or a few minutes a day, but constantly.  In other words, we need to practice the presence of God,  keeping our eyes on Christ throughout the day.   Of course, this doesn’t happen all at once.  Like golf, it requires practice.

Where is your focus in life?  Are your eyes fixed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average?  The major league baseball standings?  The weather channel?  Or are you focused on Christ?

          Of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit..

                                                                             - Matthew 27:19

          When Jesus told his disciples to make disciples of all nations, he used the Greek word ethnon.  What that word actually means is ethnic or tribal groups.  Jesus wasn’t referring to nations with political boundaries  but to the thousands of different ethnic groups that make up the world’s population.

          Our goal as Christians is to reach all of these ethnic groups with the Good News about Jesus.  If that is true, the question is: how are we doing?  According to the U.S. Center for World Missions, there are 24,000 different ethnic/language groups in the world.  Approximately 14,000 of those groups have embraced the Gospel and have established strong churches with local leadership.  That means there are 10,000 ethnic groups still to be reached.  I’m glad to say that our church is part of that effort!  We support  missionaries and church-planting efforts in rural India, central Asia,  Mexico, China, East Africa, Siberia and the Arab-speaking world.  Perhaps in our lifetime this task  will be completed!

- Luke 10:40

        Several weeks ago I preached a sermon about Mary and Martha, the two sisters who hosted Jesus in their home.  In my sermon I said that it’s better to sit at the feet of Jesus – listening and learning – than it is to serve Him.

          The following day I received an e-mail from a dear friend in our congregation.  She wrote: “I hope that Martha, having been so justly rebuked, then went to sit at the Lord’s feet. Later, I hope she said, ‘Dinner? Sorry, it burned while I was sitting at your feet.’  They didn’t have carry-out back then, did they? Did any of the twelve know how to cook?”

At first,  I found myself agreeing.  Afterall, if Martha had quit cooking, who would have fed Jesus and his disciples?  Wasn’t it really more important for Martha to stay in the kitchen, fixing dinner?

But Jesus is no ordinary dinner guest – he is our Lord and Savior, maker of heaven and earth.  When the Holy Son of God is sitting in the living room, we should not be in the kitchen.  We should let the roast burn!  I think the danger sometimes is that we forget who Jesus is.   It’s good to serve him, but far more important to spend time with him in worship and prayer.

- Psalm 89:1                                                   

        When I was serving as a pastor in California, one of the members of my church died after a long and painful battle with lupus.  As we sat down to plan the memorial service,  his wife told me that she wanted to sing his favorite hymn,  How Can I Keep from Singing?”  The words go like this:

                   My life goes on in endless song

                   Above earth’s lamentation

                   I hear the real, though far off hymn

                   That hails the new creation.

                   What though the tempest loudly roars

                   I hear the truth, it liveth!

                    What though the darkness round me close,

                   Songs in the night it giveth.

                   No storm can shake my inmost calm

                   While to that rock I’m clinging

                   Since Love is Lord in heaven and earth,

                   How can I keep from singing?

Why is it that so many people today are so miserable? You can see it in their faces: grim, joyless, weary and stressed. The reason, I believe, is that we suffer from A.D.D. – Alleluia Deficit Disorder.
As human beings, we are created to praise and worship our Creator. The essence of worship is gratitude – to thank God for his many blessings. When we fail to do that, life breaks down very quickly. Instead of thanksgiving, we are filled with envy, resentment, discontentment and self-pity.
The way to go from misery to joy is simply by saying, “Alleluia!” an ancient Hebrew word that means “Praise God!” The Apostle Paul says that we are to praise God in all circumstances – in good times and in hard times.
Do you suffer from Alleluia Deficit Disorder? Take a moment and count your blessings. Praise God for your life, health, family, friends, freedom and the beauty of nature. Most of all, thank him for his grace and forgiveness and for the gift of knowing Jesus Christ.

                             - Psalm 46:10

          Do you feel anxious, stressed and exhausted?

          If so, the problem may be that you’re trying to do God’s job.

Instead of allowing God to control your life, you’re taking that God-sized burden on yourself.  When we do that, the inevitable result is stress, fatigue and burnout. 

          In Psalm 46, the Lord reminds us:  “Be still and know that I AM God.”   It’s interesting that in Latin, the word for “be still” is vacate, from which we get the word vacation. In the words of Simon Tugwell, “God invites us to take a holiday (vacation), to stop being god for a while, and let him be God.”   When we pause from our hectic schedules to pray,  “We can stop doing all those important things we have to do in our capacity as God, and leave it to him to be God.”

          The cure for burnout is to let GOD be God.

- 2 Corinthians 10:15 

Scientists have recently discovered that the human brain thinks up to 60,000 thoughts each day.   I’m not sure how they managed to count them all,  but it’s an amazing statistic.

It makes me wonder: how many of my 60,000 thoughts each day are  focused on Christ?  How many of my thoughts are guided by the Spirit?

How many of my thoughts are self-centered?  How many of my thoughts are focused on petty, worldly things?  How many of my thoughts are devoted to people who don’t know Jesus Christ and who will spend eternity without him?

In 2 Corinthians 10:15,  the Apostle Paul exhorts us to “Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”   What this requires, really, is a life of prayer and self-discipline.  If we don’t focus each day on Christ our thoughts will drift and wander and we will give no thought at all to people who are spiritually lost and dying.

-  Luke 8:16

After worship last week, a member of our church told me the following story.  For many years she worked at Miami University in Oxford.  One day, one of her co-workers approached her and said, “I’ve been watching you for four years and after seeing your example, I’ve decided to become a Christian. If you are what a Christian is like, then I want to be one.”

As you can imagine, my friend was stunned!  She had never spoken to the other woman about Jesus or invited her to church.  And yet, by her actions and example she was a powerful witness to Christ. 

          In one of his parables, Jesus said that no one lights a lamp and hides it.  To do that makes no sense because light is meant to shine.  It’s the same with our Christian faith.  Instead of hiding our faith out of fear or embarrassment, we need to let it shine through our actions, example and words.  Are you letting your light shine?

                                                                                        – 1 Corinthians 12:13

          “What church do you belong to?”

          I think if you had asked the Apostle Paul that question,  he would have been shocked.  For Paul, there was only one church of Jesus Christ. The idea of there being many different churches, each doing their own thing, would have been foreign to him.

          In the ancient world, people were divided by tribe, race, class and gender.  Also, there was the division between those who were slaves and those who were free,  between Jews and pagans,  and between Roman citizens and non-citizens.  But when people received Jesus Christ, these ancient barriers came crashing down.  For Paul,  the truly distinctive thing about being a Christian was the unity and oneness that we experience through faith in Christ.

          “What church do you belong to?”   When asked that question, our answer ought to be:  “I belong to the Body of Christ – and there is only one body!”