Prayer

A Prayer After Saturday’s Assassination Attempt

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Like many other churches, we took a moment on Sunday to pray for our nation, in light of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. How did your church handle this historic moment? Here are the words I shared…

A Prayer for Our Nation
July 14, 2024
Calvary Church West Hills

Father, we thank you for the love we sung of this morning. We thank you that we dwell in that love, that your steadfast love endures forever, and that nothing can ever separate us from that great love. You are sovereign over us. We thank you for your covenant love, and that your mercies are new every morning.

Lord God, you already know what has happened, and what will happen in our country. We were so saddened by the news of an assassination attempt yesterday. These are dark and difficult days. We pray for healing as a nation. We pray there would be a people from every background, every political party, who would humble themselves before the living God.

Lord, let us be a nation that would delight in righteousness. Let us love mercy, do justice, and walk humbly with the Lord. I pray that there would be a renewal of respect and kindness toward one another. It may seem impossible because the anger, hostility, and violence continue to escalate. But you bring a spirit of peace, and that unity begins in the church. It begins with the God of peace. Lord I pray we would model peace before a watching world. I pray we would treat even our enemies with the kind of love that you treated us.

Lord, I ask that people would not look to any particular party, or candidate, or election cycle for deliverance, but let people cry out to you as the great lover of our souls who can meet our need for eternal life. Whatever people are looking for, they’re not going to find it anywhere else. They’re going to find it in the God who made them. They’re going to find it in having a personal, saving relationship with our Creator, Redeemer, and Savior. People want paradise. What they want is heaven. They want perfection. They want a utopia. They want a place where things can be made right. And you’ve made that possible through your Son. I pray you would help us as a church to be loving and bold in sharing the gospel, knowing that is the true need people have.

We thank you for your protection over former President Trump. We thank you so much for sparing his life. I thank you that all candidates, parties, and the media have denounced this terrible act of violence. And yet the rhetoric continues to be high. I pray people would calm down, and there would be a spirit of peace, a willingness to listen, a kindness and courtesy that would return to public discourse.

Lord, I pray for your churches all across the world, that they would remain faithful to the gospel. That the church would be a refuge and a safe place. Please keep us safe, and allow us to keep our arms wide open to welcome those who are desperately hurting, in need of a peace that only you can provide – a peace that passes understanding. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Theology

Bad Theology

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In April 2014, the city of Flint Michigan began drawing their drinking water from the Flint River rather than the City of Detroit Water District. Almost immediately, something was wrong. Children began developing skin rashes. People started feeling sick. Water came out of some faucets yellow or brown, had a funny smell and a bad taste.

Time Magazine reported at the time: “Flint switched from Detroit’s water supply to the Flint River in 2014, in part to save money. But the city did not use corrosion control to prevent lead from entering the water. The river itself was also found to contain eight times more chloride than Detroit’s water, a chemical that is highly corrosive to metals. Most residents in Flint have decades-old lead service lines that connect their homes to the city’s main water pipes. When water from the river flowed through those pipes, it ate away at their insides, allowing lead to enter the supply…”

In total, over 27,000 cases of lead poisoning were reported. Ten people died, and millions of dollars were lost through litigation and costly repairs. It was an environmental disaster. How thankful we should be every time we turn on the faucet and get a clean glass of water!

There’s a spiritual lesson here as well. The problems we face today in our society start far upstream. The “sickness” of anxiety, depression, gender dysphoria, mid-life crisis, and so many other problems, start far upstream in the headwater of ideas. These things don’t happen in a vacuum. Current events in politics, education, arts and entertainment, and even in the church can usually be traced upstream to dangerous theories like evolution, critical theory, pragmatism, and relativism.

Ideas have consequences. Good ideas lead to good outcomes. Bad ideas can lead to very bad outcomes, like polluted drinking water. Last Sunday morning, we saw three ways Christ protects us from the pollution of bad theology. As we walk worthy of the gospel, let us choose the path of wisdom! You can listen or watch below…

Audio – visit the Sermon Page on our Calvary Church website

Video – visit our church’s Youtube channel or simply use the embedded file below. Thanks for watching!

Preaching

Proclaiming the Mystery of Christ

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I loved reading the Hardy Boys as a kid. You were always in for an adventure as Frank and Joe Hardy strung together clues to solve the latest crime in Bayport. There was usually a muddy footprint, sinister shadow, or hidden staircase along the way to help solve the case.

When the Bible uses the word “mystery,” it’s not using the word in that way, like a spooky story or a crime to be solved. Rather, it’s talking about something previously hidden. A mystery is a truth concealed that has now been revealed.

Take 1 Corinthians 15:51–52 for example. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye…

Paul was sharing a truth previously hidden. He was saying that not all people will experience death. Some will be instantly transformed from a mortal body into an immortal one. They will be raptured and glorified “in the twinkling of an eye.”

In the Book of Colossians, Paul shares another mystery.

The mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:26-27).

In chapter two, he adds, “being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ” (Colossians 2:2).

What was the mystery? The coming of Messiah was not a mystery. That’s something that had already been prophesied for thousands of years. What was a mystery, however, was that the Messiah would unite Jew and Gentile into one new people and body, so that Gentiles could enjoy all the privileges and rights of being children of God.

Norman Geisler writes, “The mystery was not that Gentiles would be saved but how they could be “fellow-heirs” (Eph. 3:6, KJV), on the same level with Jews, with no middle wall of partition between them (Eph. 2:12–14). In the Old Testament Gentiles who believed and became a part of Judaism were still considered lower than Jews. This special union in which there “is neither Jew nor Greek” (i.e., Gentile, Gal. 3:28) was nonexistent before Christ died and the Spirit descended to baptize all believers into this new body.” (Bible Knowledge Commentary)

Last Sunday, I preached on Colossians 1:24-29. I shared more about this mystery and how this particular passage has been a favorite of mine over the years, shaping my philosophy of pastoral ministry. You can listen or watch below.

Audio – visit the Sermon Page on our Calvary Church website

Video – visit our church’s Youtube channel or simply use the embedded file below. Thanks for watching!

Counseling

Peace is Possible

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2 Timothy 3 warns that “in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, and abusive…”

With so much difficulty in this world and hostility toward God, it’s not a question of if you will face conflict, but when.

From Genesis 3 to Revelation 20, the Bible reminds us over and over that this world is a broken place, plagued by injustice and conflict. Cain murders Abel (Gen. 3). Jacob swindles Esau (Gen. 25:31). Rachel envies Leah (Gen. 30:1). Israel rebels against Moses (Num. 14:2). David covets and commits adultery (2 Sam. 11). Job is mocked by former friends (Job 30).

The pattern continues right on into the New Testament. The Corinthians sue each other (1 Cor. 6). Euodia and Syntyche bicker (Phil. 4:2). John Mark quits halfway through a project (Ac. 15:37-38). Alexander the coppersmith does Paul great harm (2 Tim. 4:14). Diotrophes loves to put himself first (3 Jn 9).

That’s not to say that everything is doom and gloom. Thankfully, there is still much that is true and beautiful and good in this world due to common grace. But as a whole, the world is at enmity against God (1 Jn. 2:15-17), and will lead to disappointment, conflict, and hurt.

Have you been mistreated? I would simply say this… Join the club. I’m not trying to downplay your pain or minimize the injustices that have been done. But guard your heart against self-pity as though your situation is categorically unique.

1 Peter 4:12 says Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

You are not alone. God knows. God sees. He loves. He hears your prayers. His Son is a great high priest who can sympathize with you (Heb. 4:14-16). Many good and godly people have been mistreated, and through the tears have learned to trust God, casting their cares before him, and continuing to run the race in faith.

Last Sunday at Calvary Church, we talked about the reality of conflict, and how to begin to pursue peace with those who have done us wrong. God is the ultimate peacemaker, and in Colossians 1, he models for us how we can make peace with those who have mistreated us. You can catch the audio or video using the links below:

Audio – visit the Sermon Page on our Calvary Church website

Video – visit our church’s Youtube channel or simply use the embedded file below. Thanks for watching!

Technology

Facebook Problems

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Our Facebook account has been hacked, and now they’re tampering with personal info on our account. I’ve been trying for the past two weeks to contact Facebook but have been unsuccessful so far.

If we were connected on Facebook before, please know this is no longer us, and you might want to “unfriend” us for now to protect your personal data.

You can still reach me through Twitter, email, or this blog. Lord willing, we can get this sorted out!

Thoughts on Life and Leadership