My Hope

One thing that stood out to me in our book was the idea that we often compare the church to a hospital. I’ve often heard the quote attributed to Abigal Van Buren “The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.” But I loved what McNabb said about it, “The church is supposed to build laborers, not hospitals. It is true that armies build hospitals and care for their people, but that’s not the principle around which they organize.” Yes, people come to church broken and in need... but it isn't the purpose of church. We sometimes forget what we are meant to do. We're commanded to multiply. To reach all peoples and all nations. To glorify God. I agree with Dear Abby, the church should not be a museum for saints- we are all sinners. But it also needs to be a place of training and sending forth. A place to prepare laborers to go out into the fields. In Matthew 9 we clearly see that Jesus does both and if you continue into chapter 10 we see the disciple follo...

Part 3 A call to Acts It’s easy to fear those that are different than us, but we are told that perfect love drives out fear. How then should we react? How did the early church react when they were persecuted from all sides? Did God call for the annihilation of those that martyred Stephen. No. He welcomed at least one of them into His church and changed his name to Paul. I don’t blame the apostles for being skeptical (Acts 9:26). I have no doubts that they wanted to make sure this was the real deal, that he wasn’t trying to sneak his way into the inner circle in order to gain insight and bring greater destruction. We have the advantage, we’ve gotten to fast forward to the end and see how God used Paul throughout his life. The early disciples just had to trust in the changes they saw (I’m sure it also helped that God gave a vision to Ananias). Paul went from persecuting to being persecuted. He did not seek suffering, but he did not run from it either; nor did he return vi...

It’s easy to forget that not everyone has the same perspectives. Different things take on a different meaning when viewed from different cultures. Last week a family we’ve been getting to know came knocking on our door asking for a ride to the grocery store. The rain was just starting and it appeared to be getting harder. Not the type of weather I generally want to go grocery shopping in but I couldn’t tell them no. The whole family came along. On the way the wife kept telling me how much she loved the rain. I started thinking about it from her perspective. She comes from a dry desert climate. Rain is not an inconvenience, something to grumble about. It is something to be cherished, savored. There’s a little boy in the apartment complex who literally lies in a puddle that forms in the parking lot. Free water falling from the sky is such a blessing, just ask anyone in California. We’ve just grown so accustomed to it, we forget to see it for what it really is. The Word ...