Adam and Eve sin against God.
Cain kills Abel
God floods the Earth
God confuses people's language
Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed
Abraham tries to sacrifice his son Isaac
Jacob steals from and tricks his twin brother
Judah impregnates his daughter-in-law (though he thought she was just a prostitute) 
Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers
Israel tricks Joseph's kids in their blessing

THIS IS JUST THE BOOK OF GENESIS

In other parts of the Bible we could share stories of rape, betrayal, killing, war, exile, siege, towns destroyed, famine, drought, persecution, crucifixion, shipwrecks, imprisonments, floggings, beatings, children dying, demon-possessed, lame, blind, deaf, mute, invalids, adulteress, promiscuity, immorality, suicide, the suffering of Hell.

Everyone of these things mentioned are mentioned in the Bible.  And for the most part they are ALL bad.  If they aren't necessarily bad they can be told in a disparaging light.  And I hope you would stand up and say, but that isn't the WHOLE story.  Because it isn't the whole story.  And If I were someone wanting more out of what life has dealt me and was searching for a God who loves, this would not be a sales pitch that would entice me.  I think you will agree.

Then why when some decide to Evangelize, they decide to share the worst parts of humanity to get to Jesus.  I understand that you cannot appreciate the mountain top without having seen the valley, however, people needing Jesus and wanting to see what this God-thing is all about probably already know the landscape of a valley.

Some think it is enough to pick the sin-list that Paul provides in some of his letters or his moral/ethical teachings and then say "You need Jesus!"  The problem with that thought is that when you do decide to lay down some of the sin burdens you carry, you may think you don't need him anymore.  And that just isn't true!  EVERYONE needs Jesus.  It doesn't matter what you've done or not done or who you've been or not been.  None of us are perfect and all of us need Christ.  That is why Paul could always take time to boast of his sufferings rather than his victories.

When we evangelize (evangelize means good news) we should share the good news of Jesus!  Build a relationship with someone because you have common interest and enjoy one another's company.  And in the midst of that they will know that you follow Jesus.  Look them in the eye and share with them that Jesus desires for all people to come to him, not to be reprimanded or punished, but to find true love.  Everyone is looking for love.  People never can have enough.  They will never tire of the pursuit.  Give them Jesus whose fountain of love never runs dry.  Introduce them to the one who can make them whole and offers grace so that any wall of hostility or sin will be broken down so that He can simply enjoy the relationship.

There will be a time to talk specifically about sin and the danger of the prince of darkness and his prowling ways.  But in order to lead someone to Christ you probably wouldn't open with the story of Judah and Tamar, so try opening with what God has done for you and how He loves beyond all other things.  And when they decide to trust you and God enough to open up about the sin, darkness, and brokenness in their life, then they will know how to fill that void.  It won't be an angry, fear-induced Jesus or God who his ready to strike people down dead.  It will be a Jesus who welcomed children, prostitutes, tax-collectors, adulteresses, lepers, betrayers, and criminals.  

This is my final blog for this series:  Ten Thoughts I have had

1.  Criticalvangelism may be a better made up word
2.  We don't have to water-down the Bible to tell a better story for God
3.  It is time to take back the gospel from those who want to use it to hurt others
4.  God is Love!
5.  Finger-pointing doesn't glorify God
6.  Just because a sin is listed in the Bible, doesn't give you the right to chastise those who commit it
7.  Paul is speaking to the Christian Community and had a relationship with those he corrected
8.  Jesus saves with or without you joining Him in that work
9.  Truth is truth whether you believe it or not and whether you speak it or not
10.  Jesus treated sinners with great compassion and kindness and Religious leaders with great criticism and loving rebuke

Last night I was leading a class at our church on the topic of missions.  We talked about how Jesus really did three things while he was on this earth.  I borrowed the categories from Richard Stearns' book Unfinished.  Stearns labels the three things as Proclamation, Compassion, and Justice (p.166).  Last night we were talking about justice and because of one of our members we hit on a topic there that I haven't really talked about in the pulpit, but have experienced in life.  That aspect was the idea of standing with someone for justice, even if justice as we see it would not prevail.  In the conversation it was easy to confuse and entangle human's idea of justice and God's idea of Justice.  In America we depend on our laws and justice system and the ideal that all are innocent until proven guilty.  But talk to someone who has been wrongly accused, convicted, and sentenced and you will know that ideal is sometimes, if not many times, not reached.  I've seen this first hand in a court of law.  I have watched friends be accused of homosexuality, racism, slander, gossip, greed, and many other things that end up being difficult to defend.  And what I said last night and believe with all my heart is that the call of the Christian is to stand with those that we believe to be innocent and be their strength when they are weak.  I have stood by a dad who was wrong accused, convicted, and incarcerated.  I have stood by a friend who was accused of being gay.  I have stood by a student in my ministry who was being accused of sexually assaulting his brothers and sisters.  I have stood by some girls in my ministry who lost their mother suddenly and had no place to go.  I have stood by a drug addict who has been accused of relapse when he was still sober.  When these injustices occur in life you need someone to stand with you.  And my concern is that Christians are sometimes the last ones to stand with those being accused, oppressed, or marginalized.  

Another observation that I made during our conversation last night is that sometimes churches and Christians can be so consumed with the global picture of injustice that we forget to stand with our own members.  That is for many reasons I guess.  The social injustices around the world seem to be great atrocities than those in our own backyard.  The problem of sex slavery and genocide are affecting thousands and is in need of immediate attention.  I did not minimalize the need of global social justice last night and I won't do that today.  I just reminded myself and those I pastor that we need both/and not either/or.  We need balance.  

One of the problems I see is that we would rather throw money at the issues, than be present in them ourselves.  No doubt fighting genocide and taking care of 3 recent orphans is going to take some money, but there needs to be something more in the mix...our hearts and presence.  And as we were talking about missions originally in the conversation last night I made the point that we tend to treat missions the same way.  We tend to hire people to go do missions, just like we hire people to do ministry here in the states.  We have turned in our Priesthood of All Believers card and taken up our Financiers for All Ministry card.  Everyone is gifted in different ways, and those in ministry and missions certainly need people to finance their ministries and financially support their living.  However, everyone is responsible for continuing to bring the kingdom to earth through sharing what Christ has done, is doing, and can/will do!

The greatest injustice is that we who are still sinners are constantly being redeemed and found worthy to speak the name of Christ and one day when he returns will enjoy his great inheritance.  Jesus suffered at the hands of great injustice too and yet God's will still was done.

The greatest injustice ever known on Earth came on a Friday with a cross.

The greatest injustice ever known in Heaven came on a Sunday with an empty tomb.

So while, we suffer through the injustices of the world, it is God making unjust things just that will bring us to Him in eternity.

When I was a kid I loved country music.  Please don't stop reading...stick with me! ;)  I would listen and sing along to the radio and there were several artists and songs that I heard all the time.  One of those songs was "You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything" by Aaron Tippin.  That is a common phrase and you've probably heard that phrase before and maybe even that song.  It seems that some Christians in their zeal to change the world have changed that phrase a bit.  "You've got to stand against everything or you'll fall for something."  It is sad really.  The sentiment that I'm seeing from social media and different authors seems to be based more on fear and human can-doness or human failure than the courage, wisdom, power, strength, mercy, grace, and love of Christ.  We feel that if we allow even the littlest sin to creep into our worship assembly or heaven forbid our membership that the entire company of people will turn bad and have corrupted morals.  And so, due to fear we stand on the steps of our church replacing handshakes with stiff-arms, parking lot attendants with parking guards, words of welcome with papers of recommendation.  First of all, FEAR is NOT from the Lord.  Second, sinless humans never enter your building, but maybe a good facade of one.  Third, there is a time to teach ethical, moral teaching and against sin, but it may not be at the beginning.  Let's chase this down for a second

Not too long ago I was taking the boys to school and wanted to talk with them about the idea of sin.  Now, remember they are 6 years old and sin is not really their issue right now. They are learning how to survive in our world and starting to relate to God and his word.  There hearts are pure and all they want is for the world to be a perfect place where God's love reigns.  It is what every six year old thinks and is after.  So I wanted to come at this conversation carefully.  You might also ask, if that is the case for 6 year olds then why bring it up anyway.  I would rather my kids know what is coming before it comes.  I would rather tell them that the kid at home plate is going to hit the ball towards their face, rather than having to pick them off the ground and explain to them that NEXT time they should be watching more carefully.  So we had a conversation about sin.

Most of the time using original language words and their meanings would be off limits to such a young audience, but I find that in the case of sin that using the original meaning is really useful for a six year old.  So I chose to talk about the greek word for sin, "hamartia."  The proper definition for this word is "missing the mark."  We see it translated as sin.  But in the greek the word is making the case that guilt and shame are produced by not hitting the target (whatever that might be).  For us it is not hitting the target of what God has called us to in our lives.  Hamartia and its definition of "missing the mark," allows for us to see sin the way it should be seen; as something we do, not something God puts on us.

So after explaining all that to my kids...just kidding, I would never go into all that at age 6.  I simply asked the boys what it feels like when you try to hit a target (we recently were using our fence with a chalk-drawn bullseye to practice throwing the baseball) and miss.  They responded with disappointing, sad, angry, silly, hilarious...we were starting to go off topic.  I acknowledged that those are true feelings when we don't do something exactly like we want to do it.  I explained that sometimes doing things wrong are like missing that mark, that target.  
"Tell me what are some things you sometimes miss at?"  Silence...thinking...thinking..."Ok, when dad forgets to take out the trash, dad missed the mark.   If you whine because you have to go to bed, missing the mark or hitting the mark?"
"Miss!"
"Leaving toys out and dad steps on them?"
"Miss!"  
"Dad forgets to grab your lunch for school?"  
"Miss!"  
"Mom makes your lunch for you?"  
"Miss!"  
"Uh, no!" "
Oh yeah, Hit!"
"Right!"

Before we made it to school I wove in the fact that when we do things that makes God sad we miss the mark.  We call that sin.  "Have you heard that word?"
"Yes."
Well that is what sin is, it is when we miss the mark as we try to serve God.  We won't always do everything right and we will miss the mark.  But God loves us enough to forgive us every time.

"Dad, can we play that hit or miss game again?"

Today is the National Day of Prayer, where our country asks everyone to join together in prayer and meditation.  I hope you will find a place to join others in prayer today.  If there is no formal assembly or if you cannot go to a formal assembly, ask others to join you in prayer.  Pray for our world, pray for grace to be seen, pray for our Nation, pray for ALL the nations, pray that people will join God in His mission all over this world.  Pray for the sick.  Pray for those who struggle.  Pray for those who are grieving.  Pray celebratory prayers.  Pray challenging prayers.  Pray scripture.  Pray by talking to God.  Pray by listening in silence to God.  Pray silently to yourself. Pray with many other people.  Pray with a few people.  Pray with strangers.  Pray with friends.  Pray with family.  Pray standing up.  Pray sitting down.  Pray on your knees.  Pray laying down on your face.  

I don't think it really matters how or what you pray, just have a conversation with God.  You may not receive everything you pray for, but God longs for conversations with you.

Some may read this and because of life circumstances or because they never have before; they don't know what to pray.  If you need words to pray, pray this.

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the Kingdom, the power,
and the glory, forever!  Amen!"

Be blessed in prayer today!

P.S. If you live in or around Conway and can come, join me at the Courthouse steps in Conway at 11:30am.  The ministerial alliance has a program for National Day of Prayer.  We can join as a community in prayer and meditation together.