On to a new topic for the next couple of weeks….

With Easter in the horizons, we can only expect an onslaught of documentaries, news stories, and “specials” reporting the search for the “real Jesus.” The wisdom of this world purports that we cannot trust the four gospels that we do have due to the fact that many of the claims of the gospels are impossible (e.g, dead men do not come back to life, so that part of the gospel is a fabrication).

My next couple of sermons will look at some of the many different Jesus there are, how are beliefs shape who we are, how who we are shapes the Jesus that we believe in, and who Jesus believed he is according to the four gospels that we do have and how we can trust this. Finally, I want to look at why this is even important.

You can hear my sermons at farmercitychurch.org I will also publish an abstract of each week’s message on this page.

Here is a couple of snapshots from this week!

Victory Over Tyranny at the battle of the bands.  The "kid" in white is my son Kyle.

Baptism of Lauren.  

This week we have two baptisms! We will celebrate the Lord’s Supper! And we will be celebrating our vision, purpose, and values. What a week.

I saw a bumper sticker this morning. It said, “Jesus is coming…look busy.” Man, the world has some great lines, but some bad theology. Here’s a thought: Jesus doesn’t want you to just do the job he has for you. He wants to build His relationship with you as you do the job he has for you. In fact, He wants you to rely upon Him as you do the job that he has for you. So, instead of having a God who just tells us what to do, we have a God who works through us to do the things that He wants us to do. Jesus says that we can do nothing without relying upon Him. Jesus says that He will give us the words that we need when we need it. That’s a master who is involved in the work that He has given us!

Here’s a thought: If you’re just standing there, looking busy, and not doing the things that God has called you to do, are you really in a relationship with Him? Me thinks not.

This week I get to talk about sex. I have to say, as a preacher/pastor, I’m for it. Church needs to be a place where we speak of sex in a very positive manner, not just the stuff that we’re against. A few areas that I’m going to hit are as follows:

Sex is good for procreation…

Sex is good for spousal unity…

Sex is good for combating temptation…

I may also look at the myth of casual non-committal sex from the woman’s perspective.

I do feel strongly that as ministers (all Christians are ministers) we need to promote the positives about sex within the marriage. For the most part, when it comes to sex, Christianity today is known for what it is against: homosexuality, bestiality, adultery, sex outside marriage period, and anything “fun.” True (except for the fun part), sex needs to be confined to the parameter that God set and anything other is an abomination (His words not mine). Having said that, the Bible is not mute on the beauty of sex. Song of Solomon paints a wonderful picture of how beautiful it is when a husband and wife come together!

Why do I feel so strongly? Those that pervert, dirty, sell, and destroy God’s gift of sex have no problem communicating their ideal of “good” sex…and in doing so, have led countless people to their own desensitization and/or destruction.

Our teen group is arguing whether or not morality is black and white. I thought I would weight in…hopefully with as few words as possible. Let me start of by saying that I believe that morality is with a doubt black and white. Now don’t close your mind and shrug me off as one who hasn’t been “enlightened” yet. I assure you, I immerse myself in that crap on a continuous basis.

Of course if we look at morality from the big picture its going to look gray, but I believe that is so because one is trying to look at many different moral issues at once. When one does that, they see black issues and white issues, and the combo of the two looks gray. Therefore, from a holistic view, morality is gray. But it is a fallacy in logic to apply the attributes of the whole to the individual units that make up the whole. I believe that if one takes a look at each individual unit (specific cases), one will find what one ought to do or what one ought not to do (therefore black and white).

For example, the issue of killing an innocent person is gray. Sometimes killing an innocent person is good and sometimes it is bad (gray). It was wrong to kill those five ladies in that Lane Bryant store in Chicago. No amount of justification could possibly make it right. So when would it be good to destroy an innocent life? Recently, the terrorists strapped a bomb to a mentally handicapped woman and then detonated the human bomb once she entered a crowd. Now, if you saw the woman coming and you knew the situation (suicide bomber controlled by remote control), you would do a good thing by shooting the woman before she entered the crowd (utilitarian ethics) for the many would benefit by the sacrifice of the few (the poor woman and the individual who shot her are the victims {after all, that would mess one up psychologically}).

The point is that when you look at each case dealing morality, you can determine what one ought not to do or what one ought to do: black and white.

What about moral dilemmas? It is because morality is black and white that we have dilemmas! A moral dilemma occurs when one must do a bad thing in order to bring about a good thing.  If morality were shades of gray, one really couldnt have a moral dillema.