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Keeping Your Life In Balance

By on November 13th, 2006

Today, my topic is “Keeping Your Life In Balance,” or maybe I should have called it “How To Keep All Your Plates Spinning.” Life is complex these days and each of us has many hats to wear. We have our role in our families, our roles at our jobs or in our schools, we have our role in our church and a myriad of other responsibilities to keep us busy. And somewhere in the mix, we try to keep God in it all. Unfortunately, sometimes we only have time for God on Sunday. That’s not so good, that’s not a life in balance.

The way to keep your life in balance is to balance God’s five purposes for your life. Those five purposes are summarized in two important Scriptures that Jesus spoke, The Great Commandment and the Great Commission, which we’re going to look at in more detail today. These passages do not just give us guidance for Sunday mornings, but for every day of our lives. First, let’s look at the Great Commandment, NIV Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Someone had asked Jesus what the greatest commandment in the Bible was and this was Jesus’ reply. Love God, the purpose of worship and love your neighbor, the purpose of ministry to others.

The second statement of Jesus that we’re going to look at today was spoken by Him just before He was taken back to heaven, it is some of Jesus’ last words on the earth. NIV Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Here Jesus gives His disciples of all ages instructions on how to live and keep their lives in balance. The third purpose of your life is to “go and make disciples”, the purpose of outreach, telling those who don’t know God about Jesus and the truth.

The next purpose is related to Jesus’ instruction to baptize new believers. Baptism is a sign that the new believer has become part of God’s family in the church and is the purpose of fellowship. The last purpose referred to in the Great Commission is to learn and practice God’s Word, the purpose of discipleship. In the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, we have God’s five purpose for your life summarized. As you and I learn to live lives balanced with those five purpose, we will have effective, fulfilled lives as we serve God. So, let’s look in some more detail, how these five purposes apply to our daily lives.

To hear more about this topic, listen to my November 12, 2006 message entitled Keeping Your Life In Balance

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A Biblical Perspective On The Stem Cell Debate

By on November 5th, 2006

Today, I’m going to talk about “A Biblical Perspective on the Stem Cell Debate.” This issue has been around for a while, but has come to Missouri in the form of a ballot initiative called Missouri Amendment 2 : The Stem Cell Initiative. If you’ve been following the news or just the World Series, you’ve heard from actors, politicians and doctors giving you their 30-second take on the issue. It’s a controversial issue and confusing for many people, in fact I really didn’t understand what was at stake until I attended a pastor’s meeting several months ago. At that meeting a Christian PhD scientist explained what Amendment 2 was all about from a biblical perspective.

I began to study the issues in more depth. For those who don’t know my background, besides my theological degree, I also have a PhD in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and so have the background to understand the issues. Several weeks ago I wrote a blog article on the issue entitled “Missouri Amendment 2 and the Stem Cell Debate – A Biblical Perspective.” To date over 5000 people have read the blog, spending on average 5 minutes on the page. People can comment on the blog and there were so many comments that I could only publish some of them, but I will refer to some comments this morning.

Note that my title this morning is called “A Biblical Perspective.” Here at Life Church, we believe that the Bible is to be our authority on the decisions we make in life. NIV Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Not everyone agrees, here is part of a comment to my blog, misspellings included. “You are an idiot. You must realize that religeon can never be part of politics and it should never be. You, like so many like you, take liberties with your alledged interpretation of the bible, a fictional book at best.” This person has a religion, it’s just not based on the Bible or on God’s truth Here’s another comment from another person, “Reading 2000 year old scripture and applying it to today’s problems with health is stupid.” Is applying the Bible to today’s moral issues involving life and death stupid? I don’t think so. If we don’t use the Bible as our standard, then there is no standard.

NIV Romans 8:7 The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. As a believer, I submit my life to God’s Word. As a church, we submit our lives to God’s Word. As you will see this morning, the issues involved in this debate, although seemingly complex at first, are actually quite simple to understand. The Biblical teaching in this area is also very clear for those who take it seriously. There is no disagreement among evangelical Bible-believing denominations, churches and ministries on this issue. Why should Life Church get involved in the debate at all?

To hear more about this topic, listen to my November 5, 2006 message entitled A Biblical Perspective On The Stem Cell Debate

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Expand Your Vision To The World

By on October 30th, 2006

What is vision? Vision is eyesight, but today I want to talk about something more than mere eyesight. Another definition of vision in the dictionary is “a mental image of the imagination.” For some people, vision in life is limited essentially by what they can see with their eyes, they have a small vision. God wants you to have a large vision, a vision in your imagination painted by God’s spirit NAS Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained. A vision from God focuses your life on what’s important. People who have no vision from God simply do what they want, they are self-centered, they are unrestrained, their lives are chaotic, they never accomplish anything of significance in God’s eyes. God doesn’t want you to live life like that, consumed with just working, paying your bills, taking care of yourself, He has much bigger plans for you.

Today, my message is entitled “Expand Your Vision To The World.” I’m going to talk about how you can take your vision off of yourself and expand it to God’s vision for your life. God wants you to make an impact on your world that is far bigger than your life and the life of your immediate family. NCV Mark 16:15 Jesus said to his followers, “Go everywhere in the world, and tell the Good News to everyone.” Are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Then Jesus’ command applies to you. God’s vision for your life is for you to go and tell the Good News to everyone you meet. That’s your mission in life, that’s a large vision that God has for you to reach out to make a difference.

What will be the final result of Jesus’ followers carrying out God’s vision? NLT Rev. 7:9 After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. One day, there will be a vast crowd of believers, from every nation, every people-group on this earth, worshipping God. God wants you and me to have a part in making it happen. God wants you to have a vision to reach many people for Jesus, both here in St Louis and around the world. Your life is meant to affect history and eternity.

Last week, I spoke about talking to other people about Jesus and I gave you some important tools in order to do that. However, I know that nothing will happen as long as we have a small vision, as long as our vision for next week is centered on ourselves. Change in life only happens as we allow God to change our thinking and our vision. So, let’s look at the question, “How can you expand your vision to the world?”

To hear more about this topic, listen to my October 29, 2006 message entitled Expand Your Vision To The World

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How Can I Talk About Jesus?

By on October 23rd, 2006

Becoming a believer in Jesus Christ is the most wonderful thing that could happen to anyone. The Bible says that when someone becomes a believer, they are “born again.” It’s as if you are born into a new world. It’s a world where God is so close to you that He actually lives inside of you. You are born into a new world where your sins are forgiven and your guilt is gone. You are born again into a world where your life now has purpose and meaning. When you become a believer, you are born into an eternal life that will never end. And I could go on and on about the wonderful new life of everyone who has become a believer.

When you find something great in life, what do you want to do with it? You want to share it with those you love, those you care about. The same is true for the believer. You have found a relationship with a person named Jesus that is so wonderful that words can hardly describe it. Every believer wants to share what they have found with other people. If someone doesn’t want to share what they’ve found in God with others, it makes you wonder if they’ve really found God at all. Why? Because every believer is meant to be God’s messenger to tell others about Jesus.

NIV 1 Thessalonians 1:8 The Lord’s message rang out from you your faith in God has become known everywhere. The people in the church at Thessalonica spread God’s message and shared their faith all over the place. The result was that more and more people came to experience the most wonderful experience in life of becoming a believer. Today, my message is entitled “How Can I Talk About Jesus?” You may be sitting here today and thinking that you’d really like to tell others about Jesus, but you’re afraid or you don’t know how.

Let’s see how the Bible says you should talk to others about Jesus. NIV 1 Peter 3:15 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. The Bible says that you should always be ready to give an answer to those who are searching to find God. To do that, you need to build a friendship with people you want to share with. So today, let’s prepare by answering the question, How can I talk about Jesus?

To hear more about this topic, listen to my October 22, 2006 message entitled How Can I Talk About Jesus?

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Missouri Amendment 2 and The Stem Cell Debate – A Biblical Perspective

By on October 19th, 2006

Missouri Amendment 2, the Stem Cell Initiative, will be on the ballot this coming November 7. The Missouri Coalition For Lifesaving Cures is supporting Amendment 2 with a record breaking contribution of $28 million from a billionaire Kansas City couple, Jim and Virginia Stowers. The motive of the Stowerses, according to their lawyer, is that “They want that science to progress without restriction to cure disease.” Supporters of the amendment claim that passage will ensure your family’s access to federally-approved cures available to other Americans and will ban human cloning. The ballot language on Amendment 2, as well as the propaganda put out by Missouri Coalition For Lifesaving Cures, is full of lies intended to mislead Missouri voters. Many pro-life Christians have been misled as well, as the whole story is difficult to sort out.

As a pastor of a Missouri church with a Ph.D. in the field of science, it is my responsibility to expose the error in this Stem Cell Initiative and show you why it is the duty of every Bible-believing believer to vote “NO” on Amendment 2. NIV Ephesians 5:11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. The fact that various ministers from non-Bible believing churches support the initiative, shows only that these people cannot be trusted to either understand or explain the truth.

Missourians by an overwhelming margin (8 out of 9) oppose human cloning, as do most Christian religious denominations. The language of the Stem Cell Amendment on your November ballot will read that the amendment will “ban human cloning or attempted cloning.” This is a lie and it is inexcusable that this language has been allowed on the ballot. The fine print of the amendment, which will not appear on your ballot, states in Section 6.2 ““Clone or attempt to clone a human being” means to implant in a uterus or attempt to implant in a uterus …” Therefore, Amendment 2 redefines human cloning as implanting a cloned human embryo in the womb and creates an unlimited right to clone and destroy non-implanted human embryos for the purpose of harvesting embryonic stem cells.

A flyer sent out to Missouri homes from the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures states “And, making stem cells in a lab dish is not the same thing as cloning a human being.” This statement is very misleading and suggests that those who are opposed to human cloning should not be opposed to producing embryonic stem cells. The truth is that it is necessary to clone a human being in order to create the embryonic stem cells. So, those who are rightly opposed to human cloning, should also be opposed to created embryonic stem cells and should vote “NO” on Amendment 2.

Not only, does Amendment 2 protect, rather than ban human cloning, it also protects the destruction of human embryos by amending the Missouri constitution. The Bible teaches that life begins at conception and that human life must be protected at all stages of development. NIV Psalm 139:13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Thus, the destruction of cloned human embryos to produce embryonic stem cells is immoral and must be opposed.

You might ask, but what about the lifesaving cures? Whether lifesaving cures can be made from embryonic stem cells is unknown, as none currently exist. There are many therapies being researched from adult stem cells, which have no ethical concerns. However, lifesaving cures, even if possible, must not be created by destroying other human life.

For more information about the issues of stem cell research, read an interview or watch a video interview with Dr. Christina Powell. Read a column by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Bob Novak on how misleading Amendment 2 is. More information about the issues surrounding Missouri Amendment 2 can be found at the website of Missourians Against Human Cloning. Email this blog post to your friends and encourage them to vote “NO” on Amendment 2.