Mighty God

That Isaiah would call the infant child “Mighty God” in chapter 9:6, assumes an unbelievable journey from heaven to earth that absolutely boggles our imagination. But it was a journey the mighty God had to take—for how else would Jesus be crucified unless he had hands and feet to be nailed? How else would he wear the crown of thorns unless he had a head?  How else would he bleed unless he had a vascular system? How else would he die unless he had a beating heart that could stop?

            Only a mighty God could accomplish this. He had all the power of the universe at his disposal, and he chose to take this power to become one of us in the most humble sense. He could have chosen a palace, but he chooses a barn. He could have chosen kinds and queens so he can be born an earthly prince, but he chooses Nazarene peasants. He could have chosen to be a military hero and conquer the world by the sword, but Jesus chooses the cross. And he took his infinite soul and he piled it with our sins, our guilt, and our death—and by his mighty power—he took it to the grave and he reclaimed his life in the resurrection.

            Mighty God—Jesus was indeed Mighty God.  But unlike other mighty dictates who use their power to rule and conquer, Jesus used his might to empty himself. What a profound irony—that Jesus proves himself mightiest by becoming less and less until he submitted himself even unto death. 

- an excerpt of the message on 12/14

P.Dihan

Running Up to Your Chariot

Last week I laid down a guantlet.

The next time the Sprit whispers into your ear to run up to a chariot, I challenged us to simply run. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, this past week’s message was from Acts 8, the passage about Phillip and the Eunuch.

Phillip was walking led by the Spirit to a desert road when he sees a chariot up ahead, boarded by an Ethopian Eunuch.  And the Spirit tells Phillip to run to that chariot and stay near it.

The more you take that encounter at face value, the more incredible it really is–that Phillip, despite the differences in class, ethnicity, and the utter awkwardness of running next to a chariot–just runs because the Spirit tells him to run. And this of course leads to an incredible moment of evangelism.

The next time you’re on the metro and the Spirit urges us to talk to the person next to us, the next time you’re on a plane, and you hear that whisper to share your faith; the next time you find yourself at the water cooler and the Spirit urges you to take the conversation to a deeper level—for all the moments we hear that awkward, unwanted whisper of the Spirit to share the gospel– RUN! It’s a “CHARIOT” moment!

And we’ll see what happens. We’ll burn through a bit of our dignity, I’m sure. We’ll make a fool of ourselves at times. But if all of us were to run when the Spirit tells us to run–think of all the miracles we’ll hear about on any given week!! This is a challenge I’m applying this week. And when I do run–I’ll post the results!

Pastor Dihan

What It’s Like to Preach a Sermon

Usually we post the content of last weeks sermon. And I’ll do that eventually. But I thought I’d post something about the actual act of preaching. 

People ask me from time to time–what is it like to preach? Is it like preparing a speech? Writing a paper? How do you feel when you’re actually up at the pulpit?

Here are a few of my own thoughts. The other pastors can leave comments about their own experience…

- During the actual sermon–it’s like playing a contact sport; 30-40 minutes of pure adrenalin. You’re sprinting, dodging, defending, pushing, lifting, blocking and you go and go and go and then you’re done. And when you’re done–the odd thing is sometimes you’re not sure if you’ve won or lost. You just feel tired. And then a few hours later, you feel really, really sore.

- Preaching is like puking out your guts. You’re up in front, exposing yourself, pulling out your lungs, your heart, your spleen and laying it out before the people to examine. And then when it’s all over, you have to find a way of putting your organs back in your body. And sometimes, you feel like you’ve put them back in the wrong way.  I find the hardest part of preaching can be the evening after. You just feel so exhausted and emptied. 

-When preaching really works, and you feel like you’ve connect with the people, and God has used you, there is nothing more satisfying.  Nothing engages you more–physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, than the act of preaching. Which is why I do it and will continue to do it!

So an inside look in the life of a pastor.
I’ll post a few more down the road.

In his love

P.Dihan

Are You Ready?

[A preacher was once asked which English translation of the Bible he believed to be the best one.  He responded, “The one you will read!”  Similarly, one might ask, “Which program or method is best in order to present the gospel?”  Answer, “The one you will use!”]

I don’t know if I totally agree with this statement about what is the best way in presenting the gospel but I am convicted that Christians need to have a good grasp on at least one solid presentation of the gospel.

With that said, I pray that all of us at ODPC take the command of 1 Peter 3:15 much more seriously – to share the hope we have in believing in and living out the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Because I believe the more we commit to sharing our faith, the more we will be given opportunities to proclaim the gospel.

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…” (1 Peter 3:15)

Daniel

God’s Love for the Lost

Luke 15

1Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. 2But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

“Sinners” (Lost Causes) were the people Jesus hung out with. He could’ve chosen anyone, but these are the people he reached out to personally. In a crowd, these are the ones who caught his eye. So they need to catch our eyes, and we need to share the good news of Jesus Christ with them. These were the people who Jesus evangelized. They were the ones who needed it most, and often they were the ones who were most open to it.  And he did all this never traveling more than 100 miles from his home. There was enough need right where he was.

Allow me to contrast this with the life of the religious people in Jesus’ day. The Pharisees were the rule following uptight snobs of Jesus’ time. The Pharisees were so focused on their rules that they were blinded to their Messiah. The Pharisees had created an insular culture to protect them from all the evil sinners outside of their club. They tried to only do business with other Pharisees. They wouldn’t associate with those who might be considered unclean. They would only be seen in public with other people like them. They traveled together, they stayed together, they lived in a Pharisee bubble. Their message to people outside the bubble was: “Become like us (translated: believe like us, dress like us, vote like us, act like us, like what we like, don’t like what we don’t like. If you become like us (jump through our cultural hoops and adopt them for your own), we will consider you for membership.” Sound familiar? We have those religious types in our world today too. That’s not who I want us to be, and it is hopefully not who you want us to be either.

Jesus’ evangelism strategy was the opposite of the Pharisees. Rather than expecting people to come to him, seeking out membership in his club, he had a “go get ‘em” attitude. Instead of withdrawing from the world for fear of contamination or what other people might think, he ate with them. He hung out with them. He was friends with them. This of course horrified the Pharisees, and that brought on the charges I read to you earlier – This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. Instead of insisting that people clean up in order to come to God, Jesus preached that God accepted them as they are. The Pharisees said here’s the rules, change and follow them and you might be good enough. Jesus said you are good enough, and because I love you, and through loving me you can be changed. Instead of rigid religious rules, Jesus offered abundant life through a personal relationship with God, and it is still the same today. This is why the Pharisees considered Jesus to be such a threat. He was threatening their very way of life, their system of rules, their system of power.

Glad to hear some of your thoughts…

Daniel

Gratitude…Applied

we’ve had a wonderful series on gratitude over the last four weeks, and learned that we have so, so much to be grateful for, even in the midst of the worst circumstances.  we can be thankful:

- that our very identity has been completely transformed by Christ, that we are new creations, and that the old has gone and the new has come.

- that when we see our lives and circumstances not with the world’s eyes, but with our faith, that we have a God who is good, and sovereign, and very present in our midst.

- that our gratitude fixes our eyes on the rich blessings of God, making the temptations of sin and this world so very small in comparison.

- that through the cross, we can remember exactly who our God is – merciful, loving, forgiving, holy, and just – and that the God who gave himself on the cross would never abandon us, and is surely mighty enough to save.

now, after learning so much, it is time to turn our minds to application, because ultimately, unapplied gratitude is no gratitude at all.  what are the ways in which these conceptions of gratitude can be applied in your life, and the life of our church?

p.peter

Gratitude — Even When We Can’t See His Footprints

Psalm 77.  The Psalmist opens his song with a tired but desperate cry.  His song then begins to take an inquiring tone, asking a series of questions to God.  Only as he wrestles with his questions does he come to a place of firm resolution.  “I will remember God and His deeds,” he sings.  It’s here that he encounters God’s greatness, His deliverance of His people through the Red Sea and and His tender care upon the “flock” of Israel.  His song ends with a greater and deeper realization of God’s character  and with hope.

How far do we as congregations and individuals go in singing our own respective “Psalm 77″ songs?  Especially in our Western 21st century setting.  Do we know how to lament well?  How often do we even cry to God?  Do we come to a place of questioning?  And then remembering Him and His deeds?  Often times, we tend to look to our jobs, vacations, errands, shopping, video games, etc. to somehow distract (”medicate”?) ourselves from this lamenting process.  Imagine how we could deepen our walk with Him if we only allowed oursleves to lament before Him in all the dark nights of our souls.

One day after Sunday…

Its Monday afternoon.
The girls are finally down for their nap, and I have maybe an hour, hour and a half, to breathe and be sane.

I’m looking at my laptop as I type this post. And as I shared yesterday–across the top of my screen are the words: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God” [Matt 5:8]. I printed that verse out on a sheet of paper, cut it out, and taped it across the screen of my brand new Macbook. It looks horrible. It looks like a bad bumper sticker on a nice car. But I’m going to keep it there because it’s a great reminder. Every time I flip open this laptop I want to see this incredible promise in front of me—that I have something precious to guard. I’m not going to give away my intimacy with Jesus for cheap thrills.

We so often try to fight sin in theory. And what I mean by that is we try to convince ourselves sin is bad when we know it’s not. We long to sin. We have deep unmet desires that refuse to stay corralled. The man or woman who is truly able to fight sin is not one who represses these longings but finds their complete fulfillment in God.

In preaching yesterday’s message, I was powerfully reminded that unless I am enjoying my God, unless I daily draw near the cross of Jesus, unless I treasure the awesome promises of God–I am a tottering fence waiting to be blown down.

How is this actually done? How am I supposed to daily enjoy God? Probably one quiet time after another. That’s a good place to start–a daily diet of God. I think the best thing we can do to fight sin, is to actually sit down, or perhaps even kneel down, and meet with God. The more I eat, the more I’m satisfied, the less I sin. That’s the way I see it. 

 

PD

Saying “Thank You” by Faith

It’s easy to gloss over the words of Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everthing, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Our eyes naturally hit on the words:  ”anxious”, “everything”, “prayer and petition”, “present”, “peace of God”, “guard your heart”.  And from this we gather that in times of anxiety, we must pray, offer up our requests to God, and God will grant us peace.

But what about that word “thanksgiving”? We see it, but we figure it must be an odd appendage of “prayer and petition” and we think little of it since it doesn’t quite fit. How do you give thanks amidst of anxiety? Perhaps it’s some cursory thing–s a “thank you” tossed in at the beginning of our prayers.

Last week, I shared how actually the words “thank you” are critical. Gratitude is the posture with which we must pray all our prayers, especially the anxious ones. The peace of God is not a parting gift that comes after a haphazard litany of our concerns. The peace of God is what we receive when we come to our knees and choose to give thanks when our hearts only want to complain.

We thank God for his presence, his nearness. He is Immanuel. We thank God for his character. He is the good God that refuses to withold even his own son from us. We thank God for his redeeming sovereignty that works all things for the good of those who love him. We thank God not because our circumstances lend themselves easily to gratitude. We give thanks because we have faith. We believe in a God who is near, good and always in control.

This is the peace which transcends understanding. It’s the ability to say “thank you” and really mean it even when everything is falling apart because our eyes are set on what is eternal.

 

Dihan

A New Gratitude

Gratitude is such a pivotal concept in our lives, one that has been repeated so often that we have fundamentally forgotten its meaning.  And we have allowed our conceptions of gratitude to become interwoven with the world’s values.

The way I started this sermon was to write a list of what I was (honestly) thankful for, and I was dismayed.  Overwhelmingly, the list was full of imaginary disasters that could have befallen me, material wealth, and successful circumstances.  It became quite clear as to why I had become such a quick complainer, why my gratitude had no legs – because it was built on such shabby foundations.  I realized that in my life as a Believer so far, I had never really thought there was a difference between Christian gratitude and worldly gratitude…but there definitely is.

The insight that God provided me was that of identity, that a more consistent and permanent sense of thankfulness can overflow when we are aware of who we were before Christ and who we are after Christ.  This conception manages to bypass a lot of the weaker ideas of gratitude that we tend to rely on, and is carried with us everywhere we go, making gratitude in every circumstance a very real possibility.

This is not the only sense of gratitude that we can have, and I am really excited by the fact that we are continuing on in a series about gratitude for a few weeks.  I am hoping that through this, our congregation can learn how to be more thankful, but also, that our thankfulness will be a witness to the rest of the world as well!

And we have even more to be thankful for – praise God for the few brothers and sisters who accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior!

P.Peter