Why such Tragedy?

In the past ten days over 150,000 people have died from natural disasters and the number is still climbing. Why does this happen? Where is God? A little girl is having surgery tomorrow to remove 1/2 her brain to prevent seizures. A woman was diagnosed with a rare disease and only has a few months to live. Why does this happen? Where is God? Kids will endure their parents divorce today and someone will begin to put their life back together after being raped. Somewhere, someone is trying to figure out how to murder someone else for really no good reason. Why does this happen? Where is God?

When we, yes "we", disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden and ate the fruit of the Tree of Life, it broke God's heart. We He banished us from the Garden, the world and the humans who inhabit it became broken because of their disobedience. This too broke God's heart. Later, God came to save us in the form of Jesus Christ. While he was among us he said we would experience trouble of all types imaginable. He also said He would be with us and God would be waiting on us when death came. God defeats the death and takes us into eternity with Him, if we believe in His son, Jesus Christ.

You have to understand God doesn't cause everything to happen. This problematic and broken world was set into motion by our sin and "life" began to happen. Earthquakes, Typhoons, car accidents, sickness, crime, etc... All of this also breaks God's heart because he did not intend for it to be this way. Remember, He created everything perfect and asked us not to mess it up. But, we did. Where is God? Right there to help us pick up the pieces; to defeat death and usher us into eternity. Praise God he did not abandon us!

Truth or Dare?

In the past month this pastor has experienced some great moments of faith sharing. A few weeks ago there were about 20 children and adults who joined the church and/or were baptized. Family, friends and the congregation were all involved. Last week the vision for one particular campus of our church was shared. The worship and wonderful message of inspiration and hope were tremendous, if I do say so myself.

What was so great about these two events? What makes them stand out above all the rest? It is simply the fact that the “preachers” were not center stage and the people of the church led the way. I wish it were that way more often. You thought I was bragging on myself a few sentences back, didn’t you? Not that I am becoming lazy or losing interest in my calling as a pastor, but in fact, the church is it’s people…not the preacher.

Over the past 100 years, “biblical” scholars and authors have been on the rise. We now rely more on systems to lead the church and the Christian faith instead of the Holy Spirit. Rick Warren, Beth Moore, and Rob Bell are doing an awesome job of creating a new perspective on biblical truths. However, they are no substitute for an individual’s true study of God’s original biblical narrative in the Holy Bible. From this pastor’s perspective, my teachings, along with all of those others, are only good to help a person sort out and shore up their own beliefs. For that to happen there has to be an initial belief system in place. I would argue it should be a true biblical belief system. As Christians we are supposed to be disciples of Jesus Christ, not disciples of Rick or Beth. The problem is there are others out there teaching the opposite of biblical truths; but since they are wrapped in a slick package they are easy to swallow.

When people blindly look for answers, and lead from ignorance, they are susceptible to stumbling onto the truth or maybe even daring to live a lie. When people search and lead from passion and truth, God shines through them and everyone is blessed. Yes, even the paid preacher.

Until next week,
Pastor Matt