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Listening to our lead pastor, Ron Barnard, this past Sunday as he preached his message,
an interest sparked in my mind that I’ve never had before exactly. It was actually Redemption Sunday, a holiday created by, recognized by and celebrated by 828 Church, our church. The 828 in the church’s name comes from Romans 8:28, which reminds us that, regardless of the occurrences and circumstances in our lives, God causes them all to work together for our good– our meaning those who love God and who submit themselves to His purposes for them. The holiday, Redemption Sunday, is the Sunday each year closest to August 28 (8/28). When Ron and his team launched 828 Church in February of 2015, there was a deeply personal reason for their settling on that name.

In 2006, Ron saw that a little boy who was crossing the street was walking into the path
of an oncoming pickup truck. Ron darted (my word, not his) into motion to hopefully save the little boy. He did save the kid, but sustained very serious injuries himself as the truck hit him.

Lying in the ditch with a shattered femur and several badly damaged vertebrae, Ron woke to his wife, Karen, praying for him. He was soon airlifted and taken into surgery. Long story short, Ron survived literally getting hit by a truck but with some major challenges ahead of him. He still endures significant back pain today (and definitely can’t dunk a basketball anymore).
But here’s the 828 connection. Ron soon realized that, even though getting hit by a
truck was in no way a good thing in itself, God caused many good things to come about by
working his accident together with other factors at play. For example, the driver of the truck
that hit Ron (I believe his name is Tony), a self-proclaimed atheist up to that point, put his faith in Jesus Christ as he saw the faith of Ron & Karen and the undeniable protection God provided for Ron and for the little kid. Also, God gave Ron many opportunities to tell the story about how a guy can get hit by a truck, live to tell about it and continue to be used by God to help people spiritually and physically. Many people have come to know Jesus and many have benefitted from Ron’s pastoral ministry, myself included. Because of his story of redemption, Ron eventually became known as 828 Ron. Naturally, the name of the new church he would lead would be 828 Church.
As he does every year on Redemption Sunday, Ron preached a masterful message about
how God redeems everything for all of us in Christ. (Watch that sermon below.)

After hearing Ron’s message, I noticed that aforementioned spark in my mind. After the sermon was concluded, my wheels continued to turn all afternoon about the idea of redemption.
From an economics standpoint, redeem means converting something valuable into
something useful. God redeems not only the things in our life; He actually redeems us. He
considers us of great value, but we can be infinitely more useful to Him once He redeems us. He converts us into being supremely useful for His divine purposes. That’s what happens when wesurrender to Him and put our trust in Jesus Christ. We’re born again. The old is gone (the condition we had before we became supremely useful), and the new has come (now given the Divine Spirit who births in us a very useful new love for God and for people). We’ve been converted, redeemed.

A hundred dollar bill, in itself, is useless to us. But when we redeem it by purchasing something useful – converting it into something with one hundred dollars’ worth of
usefulness – it’s been redeemed. That’s us. We’re the ones who, because we’ve been
redeemed, love God back and embrace the purposes He has for us. What’s cool is that He
doesn’t stop by redeeming us, but He continues to redeem everything for those who have
allowed Him to redeem them. He redeems all things for all the redeemed. This week we
celebrate that. Happy Redemption Week!

And we know that God causes everything to work together for those who love God and are
called according to His purpose for them. – Romans 8:28

God created the universe and all it contains. To the ones He created in His own image He gave the instruction to be fruitful and multiply. The message from the heart of the Creator is essentially I want more of you. That God wants there to be more of us is a surprising idea if we view Him as being displeased with us and ever poised for pouring out His wrath in judgment. So maybe He isn’t as displeased with us as we’ve come to believe. God knew when He issued the commandment to fill the earth with people that Adam and Eve would eat the forbidden fruit, that their son would kill his brother, that by Noah’s generation people’s intentions would be continually evil. Yet He still wanted more of us.

So the history of mankind’s actions is tarnished with disobedience and rebellion against God. But there’s one natural and passionate obedience that abided in them. So many evil intentions, so much sinfulness, yet this one passion seemed as natural to them as their need for food and air. They possessed a natural longing to procreate.

Consider Lot’s daughters. Their hometown of Sodom had been decimated by the fires of judgment, only they and their father escaping to the mountains. Both of his two daughters possessed such a yearning to have children to promulgate their father’s heritage that they did the unthinkable. They got Lot drunk and took turns from one night to the next sleeping with their own father to produce sons from him. (Incidentally, Lot is the only person I know of in history to be both father and grandfather to the same children.) Whatever appalling reasons anyone can think of for those women to do what they did, it was trumped in their minds by their desire to produce children.

Then there’s Tamar. This lady was so desperate to have a child that she tricked her father-in-law, Judah, into sleeping with her by posing as a prostitute after never having become pregnant by either her first or second husband, Judah’s two now dead sons. She actually risked her life to become pregnant, since being found with child as an unmarried woman would have gotten her stoned in her culture, and it almost did. That was the power of her natural drive to have a child.

Look at the anguish of Hannah. One of her husband’s two wives, she being the one he loved dearly, she was barren and could find no comfort as long as she was childless. Her desire to birth a child was so strong that she promised God she would literally give the child up for His service if He would make her womb fruitful. That child was Samuel, and Hannah was good for her word.

Boaz demonstrated the priority of producing children by his willingness to marry Ruth and have a child with her that wouldn’t even be his heir, but rather Ruth’s first husband’s who had died and left her childless. He held a desire to be fruitful, not just to promulgate his own legacy, but to fulfill the God-given desire to bring children into God’s world.

Fast forward more than a millennium and Jesus, the original Creator all things, issued a new command not that different fom the original one. Instructing His disciples to go and make disciples, He’s still saying I want more of you.

Then we see a very similar innate desire to reproduce themselves in the disciples that we saw in the earth’s earlier inhabitants. Peter preached passionately at Pentecost to win three thousand newbies, those in whom old things had passed away and all things had become new. They’d been born again.

Soon there was trouble. Of the persecution persuasion. But the persecuted Christians didn’t stop everything and put their heads between their knees. No, the simply took the life-giving gospel all over the known world as they fled to keep themselves and God’s kingdom alive. They continued to make disciples everywhere they went. The sense in the early church is that Christians had a passion to reproduce themselves.

Now let’s fast forward two more millennia. Where is that very natural passion to birth new believers? Something has perverted our very natural desire to cooperate with God in making more of us. The literal meaning of pervert is to turn completely away from the goodness of God (vert: turn. per:through or thorough) Our enemy, the devil, would pervert any and every one of us. And I doubt there’s a higher priority for him than to pervert our producing more of us for God.

The most direct antonym of pervert is repent. It means to turn all the way back around to God (pent: turn. re: again.) So our response to becoming perverted as agents of reproducing is to repent.

How do we repent? We turn back to God. But in what way, exactly? There are a couple things that need to happen. First, we need to walk according to the Spirit. God has given His Spirit to those who follow Him. It’s the Spirit from whom we’ll regain our natural passion to see more people become followers of Jesus. That’s the most important change we need to make. It isn’t about trying hard to implement a method. It’s about being in step with the Spirit who makes anyone new.

And yet there is method we need to follow, and it’s surprisingly simple. Maybe not always easy, simple to understand. It’s simply love.

 First it’s Jesus followers loving each other. That means we don’t criticize each other, but speak highly of one another. It means we don’t neglect one another, but we come to each other’s aid when they need help. 

That’s it. It’s that simple. Onlookers who aren’t following Jesus yet will have their interest piqued and decide to follow Jesus themselves. We can get back on track with helping God have more of us. And it’s simple: the Spirit and love of Christ. Be fruitful and multiply!

Lot’s daughters

Tamar

Boaz

Hannah

Make disciples

Acts (Pentecost, dispersion, Paul)

How: Love inside and out

It was more than twenty years ago now that I was serving as associate pastor at a
church in Dunn, NC. I was fulfilled in my role there, but at the same time, I longed for an
opportunity to do more than I could do in that role.
I saw Chris, the leader of our denomination, at a meeting and conveyed my sentiments to him.
“If something comes up that you think may a good fit for me, please let me know; I’d love an
opportunity to take on more.”
He said he’d keep that in mind and called me one evening a few weeks later. He told
me there was a church in the town a half hour from ours that needed a lead pastor, and he
thought I could be effective there. He told me the likely salary, which was a step up from my
current salary at that time.
I told him I’d like a night to pray about it and that I’d give him an answer the next
morning. He seemed surprised at my response. Maybe he thought I’d jump at the opportunity especially since I’d recently conveyed my desire for a change and it seemed like a natural next step for a pastor on their ministry journey. But he agreed to give me the night to seek God about it.
I hung up the phone and immediately got on my knees beside my bed. I said, ”Lord, I’m
not sure what to do, so if I don’t hear otherwise from You, I’ll call Chris in the morning and tell him I’d like to pursue that lead pastor role.” I told my wife, Sharlene, what had transpired and went to bed.

I’m not a person that often has meaningful dreams. I usually can’t remember my dreams
longer than fifteen minutes after I wake up, and even then struggle to make sense of the
jumbled abstract pieces I can recall at all. But the night I prayed about how to respond to Chris, I had a dream that was vivid when I awoke and still is to this day. In my dream, I was standing in a freshly plowed field; the hand of God came down and made three furrows in the dirt. The first one was relatively shallow, the second one deeper and the third deeper still.
Then, God asked me, “Which one do you want?” I can’t describe how I knew, but I knew
the first furrow represented staying where I was. No change, no risk, just remaining in my
comfort zone. The second furrow represented the lead pastor role Chris invited me to consider. The third one represented planting a church, going into “Satan’s territory” and helping people find freedom in Jesus and live as citizens in God’s kingdom.
“I want the deepest one, Lord,” The answer seemed obvious to me.
And the Lord’s reply made me think it indeed should’ve been obvious. “That’s the one I
want for you, too.”
I woke the next morning excited to have heard from God in such a vivid dream, that He
had answered my prayer, and that He wanted me to do something that would have deep
impact. I could hardly wait for Sharlene to wake up so I could tell her what I had experienced. I knew she’d be excited too, and I was right – she was!

A few months later we moved to Wilmington, NC and led a team to launch a church. Our
new church, Grace Harbor Church, had an intense focus on outreach into the underprivileged, underserved community, many of whom struggled with drug and alcohol addiction. Out of GHC, we helped launch Christian Recovery Houses, a discipleship ministry for people recovering from addiction. CRH just celebrated its fifteen year anniversary. Many times over the past several years, CRH’s founder and president, CJ, has reminded me of my dream and choosing that deepest furrow.

I grew up on a farm and have spent a lot of hours on a tractor pulling a bottom plow
over hundreds of acres. When you use a bottom plow, it’s called breaking land because the bottom plow point breaks through a low layer of soil and turns it up (kind of like a surfer’s wave rolling water up and creating a tunnel) toward the top of the ground. It’s important to go slow enough for the plow point to reach deep below the top layer of soil. So you can’t go very fast when you’re breaking land; you have to go slow, sometimes annoyingly slow. If you go too fast, the plow will just ride along on top of the bottom layer of soil and defeat the purpose of using a bottom plow. When you plow deeply enough, it creates a deep furrow in which you drive the wheels on one side of your tractor each pass you make through the field. Shallow furrows mean you aren’t plowing effectively.
Once, when I was about thirteen years old, my dad was planting corn when he whistled
and motioned for me to come over to him. I ran across the field and got up on the tractor with him and rode along standing on the footrest. The tractor and planter were bouncing along as we rode because the ground was bumpy.
“You feel how bumpy this ground is?” my dad asked me.
“Yessir.”
“That’s what happens when you’re in too big of a hurry, and you go too fast for the plow
to go as deep as it’s supposed to.”
I had no defense. I was busted.
“Now some of these corn seed are planted deep enough and some of them ain’t.”
All I could do was ride along, embarrassed, not daring to look him in the eye.
“If you ever do this again, I’ll…” (I’ll spare you the unpleasantries.)
He never had to… I learned my lesson.

Deep furrows take time to make. They go at a different pace than we’d often prefer to
go.
When I chose the deep furrow in my dream, I was choosing to invest deeply in the lives
of people, helping them overcome difficult barriers and learn to walk in the profound freedom God offers us through Christ Jesus. Real ministry – serving people – takes time. It can be tempting to glide over the difficult issues people need help with, but that’s when I usually remember the deepest furrow commitment. That dream has come to mean more than launching Grace Harbor Church or helping lead Christian Recovery Houses. I now know God was inviting me to a lifelong lifestyle of working in the deepest furrow. I’m so thankful He led me to that choice. I deeply recommend it to anyone.

Jesus came to our small group Christmas party. He just showed up.  Everyone was so excited to see Him in the flesh. After sharing a wonderful meal together, we all took turns sharing our answer to the question: What does Christmas mean to you? It was embarrassingly obvious that everyone was trying to impress Jesus with their answer. One guy’s clever answer was, “To me, Christmas is about Jesus, and I really sense His presence tonight.” 

It drew laughs from all around the room. But Jesus was quick to reply, “Any more corny jokes like that and you’ll sense His absence.” Then He reassured the jokester with a smile.

The question made its way round the group as four or five others shared their perspective on Christmas.

The lady next to Jesus said, “I hate to sound holier than thou, but I truly do feel closer to the Lord than anybody else in our group.”

“That’s it! I’m outa here!” Jesus rose from His chair and started moving toward the front door.

“No! No! Stay! Please! Don’t go! No more jokes, we promise! Staaayyy!” we all begged.

Jesus stopped two or three steps from the door and turned around, “I’m just kidding.” He went back to His seat and sat down, “I’d never leave you nor forsake you, especially at My birthday party.” He smiled and everyone laughed.

It’s Your turn,” several people reminded Him.

Jesus looked across the room into the flames in the fireplace. Then He gave His much anticipated perspective:

“To Me, Christmas is like Heaven.  In the beginning of the season, the parents tell the kids, ‘We’re gonna celebrate Christmas in a few weeks!’ The kids get so excited. As the days go by, their anticipation grows. Eventually, it’s all they can think about. Their parents give them hints about their coming gifts. The kids can’t wait. Will they really receive what they’ve asked for? It’s a lot! Could life really be that perfect for them? ‘Only one week ‘til Christmas!’ Mom and Dad remind their children. Then, ‘Can you believe Christmas is in two days!?’ The kids feel like they’re in Heaven! Christmas is so awesome! And it’s almost here! Then, on Christmas morning, one of the kids wakes up before the rest of the family. She jumps out of bed and runs through the house shouting to her family, ‘It’s Christmas! It’s Christmas!’ Her little brother comes romping down the hall behind her, “Let’s go downstairs and see our presents!’ They’re down the stairs in a jiffy, almost flying like angels. ‘Look! I got it! It’s just what I wanted!’ ‘Me, too! Look at mine!’ The kids run to their parents’ bedroom, screaming to them what they’ve gotten for Christmas. ‘That’s great honey!…Wow sweetie, that’s so cool!’ is all Mom can get out before fading back into her Christmas morning coma with her husband. Eventually, they get out of bed and make their way downstairs where the kids are dancing and shouting and jumping, exploding with joy. The whole family looks at the kids’ gifts. It’s the most perfect morning.”

After the party and the last of the guests had gone home, Jesus and I were cleaning up the kitchen. He was washing, and I was drying.

I couldn’t resist, and worked up my courage, “That was a great story tonight about Christmas. But will You please explain it to me? I’m not sure I completely understood it.”

“You didn’t understand that story? How, then, will you understand any of My parables?” He cut His eyes at me and curled up one side of His lips into a half-smile. Then, full of grace and mercy, came His explanation:

Thousands of years ago, God announced that Christmas was coming; He spoke it to Adam, and to Eve. Then he foretold it to Abraham, then to Moses, and then to David. Through many prophets He told of the Christmas gift – where and how He would come. Finally, God sent word to Zechariah, to Mary, and to Joseph. Then on Christmas morning, the first Christmas morning, Heaven was so excited they could hardly contain themselves. Angels burst through the night sky, announcing the Christmas gift to shepherds near Bethlehem. Heaven shouted and praised God as earth received her King. The shepherds went to see, and then ran down the streets announcing what they’d all gotten for Christmas. It was Heaven’s gift to earth, and the greatest gift ever given.

Jesus washed the last pot, gave it to me to dry, and said, “Gotta go.”

I dried the pot, bent down to put it away, and turned to see Him standing facing me with arms spread wide. I stood and we embraced.

“Merry Christmas.” He whispered into my ear.

“Thank You.” 

It was all I could say…

One of the many interesting parts of the Christmas story is how God communicated with its various characters. He began His messaging about the coming of the Son of God to the earth centuries before He came by foretelling some of the specifics through the prophets. Isaiah wrote in the eighth century before Christ that God would come in the form of man and be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6). A few years later, through the prophet Micah, God revealed that the child would be born in the town of Bethlehem. But as the time of the Savior’s coming drew very near, the Lord chose to speak to His chosen people by either sending an angel, giving them a dream, or both (having the angel appear in a dream). 

God sent the angel Gabriel to two different people. The first was Zechariah, a priest who was on duty for burning incense in the presence of God in the temple. The angel appeared to Zechariah while he was carrying out his priestly duty, and told him he would have a son. (This son would be John the Baptist who would turn many people to the Lord.) Zachariah had trouble believing that he, an old man, and his elderly wife, who had been barren even as a younger woman and was now past the age of child-bearing, could have a child, so he asked the angel for a sign. Wrong answer. Here’s the thing. If you’re standing in the very Holy of holies, the one place on earth that God has committed His presence (at the time), and an angel, the one who stands in the Heavenly presence of God awaiting His instructions, appears to you and gives you a message from the Almighty, accept it. Regardless of how many obstacles to that message exist, believe it. The lesson? God’s Word trumps any obstacle, all obstacles. 

A little over six months later, Gabriel stood in Nazareth before a teenaged girl named Mary. She was engaged, and a virgin, and heard the angel say that she was about to have a positive pregnancy test.  After hearing Gabriel explain that she would conceive, not by a man, but by the Holy Spirit, and that her baby would be the eternal King, and called the Son of God, Mary gave the right answer: Let it happen to me as you have spoken. The lesson? Always say yes to God, because with Him nothing shall be impossible.

So Mary is pregnant before she marries her fiancé Joseph. There must’ve been quite the buzz around Nazareth. Everybody could see the emerging bulge, and there’s only one way it could’ve happened, right? So was Joseph premature in becoming intimate with his promised bride (Could he not even wait until they were properly married?)? Or was Mary so promiscuous that she sought pleasure from someone other than her betrothed? Doubtless, Mary’s story about an angel and the Spirit of God was met with whispers and sneers from the Nazarene town folk. And Joseph must’ve landed somewhere amid angry, confused, and puzzled about how to respond. But then the only thing that could clear this whole thing up happened, at least for Joseph. God spoke to him. And He did it in a dream. The Lord told him how Mary, indeed, became pregnant (by the Holy Spirit), what he should do next (marry the girl), and what he should name the child (Jesus, “for He shall save His people from their sins”). (Jesus means Jehovah saves.) And Joseph did as the Lord commanded him. The lesson? When circumstances confuse, let God’s Word clear it up for you.

Once Mary became Mrs. Joseph, and the newlyweds, their marriage still not consummated, traveled to Bethlehem for a Caesar-decreed census, and the time came for the child to be delivered, God again sent an angel with a message. This time the angelic message was announced to shepherds near Bethlehem. A child had been born in town, and this child is the Messiah, the Savior. Here’s how they’d know it’s Him. He’d be swaddled and lying in a feeding trough. The shepherds did go into Bethlehem and verify what the angel said, and they worshipped the baby Messiah. But before they left the sheepfolds in the pastures, a multitude of angels joined the one who’d delivered the message, and they all praised God, saying, “Glory to God in the highest way! And may peace now come to the earth and goodwill come to mankind!” The lesson? Don’t be surprised. God may speak to anyone anywhere anytime.

Wisemen from the East later came, following a phenomenon in the sky, probably the one we just experienced on December 21^st, when Jupiter and Saturn moved into alignment from earth’s perspective, presenting as a super-brilliant star. They found the Christ child in Bethlehem, gifted Him generously and worshipped Him. When the time came for them to return to their home, God spoke to them in a dream, warning them to take a route that wouldn’t lead them through Jerusalem, where King Herod awaited their information about the child born King of the Jews, so he could carry out his secret plan to abort Him. The lesson? God’s Word will direct us as we play our part in His greater plan.

Since Herod was a danger to the child, God gave another dream, this time to Joseph again, and in this dream was an angel who warned Joseph to take his family to Egypt, because King Herod wanted the child dead. Joseph did immediately what God instructed him to do, and it preserved Jesus for His purpose. The lesson? Immediate obedience to God is key for us as we fit into His big picture.

The Christmas story is a story of God expressing Himself to mankind. Christ, Himself, is the expression of God in human form. And God also spoke to individuals by angels and in dreams. The lesson? Always be ready to hear God speak. He usually does when He’s about to do something phenomenal. (Read the whole story of Christmas in the first two chapters of both Matthew and Luke. And have a Merry Christmas!

I lead a ministry called Christian Recovery Houses (CRH), which is a discipleship ministry for people recovering from addiction. So I have a front row seat to see people walk with God as  they recover from addiction. Some of what I’ve observed in them has been both interesting and surprising. Although every person who’s been enslaved by the chains of addiction has known a darkness many others haven’t, their recovery journey requires of them certain necessary priorities that serve them advantageously, many times over their brothers and sisters in Christ who aren’t recovering from addiction. These observed advantages are too good not to share with the non-recovery community. Perhaps we can take advantage of them and gain a new appreciation for our siblings in Christ who are also in recovery as we consider – and, hopefully, adopt for ourselves – these seven advantages:

1. They realize honesty is critical.

The healthy recoverer is keenly sensitive to any hint of dishonesty in their own heart. They’ve learned that deception is always the forerunner of using, so wise recoverers keep a vigilant check on their heart for that  

2. They submit to accountability.

Among the most dangerous enemies to the recoverer are secrets, casting shadows wherein one can hide and find the privacy to which the enemy longs to lure them in hopes of tempting and ensnaring them. Light is the recoverer’s friend, and light often shines from the lamp of others in the recovery community who hold one another accountable.

3. They have a healthy respect for relapse.

Having been, often recently, in the throes of addiction, recoverers remember all too freshly the pain and loss of active addiction. They know that one step in the direction of their drug of choice (DOC) could lead to maxed out credit cards, destroyed families, sitting in jail, intense damage to their health, or even accidental death, all in a matter of hours, With indelible memories of such terrible consequences, someone walking the path of recovery keeps a healthy distance from anything in the vicinity of their DOC. 

One of our key verses at CRH is Proverbs 5:8. The context is a warning to men about the trap of the adulterous woman. And verse 8 warns to stop well in advance of the woman’s bed, or bedroom. Its prudent warning is: “Do not go near her door.” Of course, the adulterous woman serves as the stand-in for any luring, destructive bait of Satan.

4. They embrace humility.

Once you’ve owned your loss, come to terms with your failure being  placed on public display, and accepted that you’re nothing without God, and can do nothing without His help, shame is no longer your master. Free from shame, but aware of your weakness, now you’re correctly positioned for God’s work of restoration. Such is the positioning of a recoverer with the right perspective. As long as we remain humble, God can pour into us the seed of His life-giving Word. 1 Peter 5:6 says, “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” What an inspiration to see recoverers walk up the mountain of restoration in step with God, letting Him set the pace, and reach the summit of life and freedom.

5. They’re growth minded.

Speaking of being exalted, recoverers are hungry for higher altitudes. When you really hit rock bottom, you can only go up. Recoverers find themselves having hit that bottom, and desperately rising from the ashes of their incinerated life. They have a renewed sense of vertical direction, a growing hatred for the low, and a humble longing for a high like they’ve never known before. Ever present in them is a deep desire for personal growth.

6. They’re service minded.

Inherent in addiction recovery programs, including ours at CRH, is a responsibility to serve. Recoverers need sponsors. Since each recoverer benefitted from their sponsor, they want to be a benefit to another recoverer. Not only that, but there’s an awareness of the personal benefit of living a life of giving, helping, pouring oneself out for the benefit of others. And as long as a person focuses on serving others, and serving God, that person won’t be consumed with their own problems.

You see what I mean? These people society looks down on so often, these recovery people, they’re really doing better than the rest of us in a lot of ways, aren’t they? My charge to the readers and this writer is twofold: 1) Let’s adopt these advantageous traits for ourselves; 2) Let’s support the recoverers we know with our prayers and with our encouraging words and actions. 

I feel like there’s a pretty big gap when it comes to Non-Christians understanding Christians’ attitudes and intentions. Here are four points that may help close that gap.

1. We don’t see ourselves as better than you in any way.

The way we became Christians is by receiving a gift from God, not by doing anything. I repeat, anything. How can we see ourselves as better than others when all we’ve done is receive something? What’s more, the same gift we’ve received – salvation through faith in Jesus Christ – is offered to you. We’re recipients of God’s grace. Grace means unmerited favor; in other words, we have God’s favor, but not because of anything we’ve done.

I have six kids. Last year I wrote and sang them a song. Watch it here:
https://gabrieltew.com/my-favorite/. All their lives I’ve told each one of them, whispering in
their ear, “You’re my favorite.” It’s been true every single time I’ve whispered it, because I’ve
never meant it in a comparative sense. I simply meant that I favor them. They would smile at me sheepishly, and I back at them, like we were keeping a secret from their five siblings. But they all soon figured out I was actually saying those same words to each of the others.
That’s how God’s favor is. He doesn’t favor some above others. He offers every person the
same grace (unmerited favor) that He would offer if there were just one of us. God’s favor isn’t comparative. It’s amazing for everybody.

What’s more is that the people who accept the gift of salvation from God do so because they know they’re lost without Him. So we Christians are keenly aware of our depravity and our need for God’s forgiveness. We don’t look down on anybody; we see ourselves as the lowest of the low. But we also see ourselves as forgiven, because that’s the whole purpose of Jesus’ coming and dying. So we don’t see you as lower than we, but we hope you’ll see yourselves as needing of Christ, and accept His invitation to salvation.

2. We don’t want you to act a certain way or believe like we do; we just want you to
know Jesus.

I know we’ve been misrepresented in this (by our own behavior), but please know that
behavior is not our priority for you, and neither is your adoption of our beliefs. The only thing we want is for you to experience a relationship with God that will last forever, and wherein you will be happier than you could ever be otherwise.

If we do push for certain behaviors in our culture – and I speak for myself, although I suspect other Christians feel this way – it’s so our kids (and everyone, really, but mainly our kids) won’t have unGodly examples lived out before them. We hate for our kids, whom we want to know and walk with God, to have to overcome cultural norms that are displeasing to God. Lifestyle models in a culture are huge in shaping values for its children. We just want our kids to have an advantage in this way when possible.

3. We don’t identify with a certain political party; no party can accurately represent us.

Our identity is in Christ, and in Him alone.
Nothing in this world can contain Him. Whatever earthly thing He enters, He destroys and gives new life. Even the human heart, which is really the only thing He came to indwell, He doesn’t improve, but makes new. Old things pass away when we are born again, and we become new. Jesus used the analogy of new wine and old wineskins (Luke 5) to illustrate the impossibility of fitting God’s kingdom into worldly systems. Human governments and political parties are like old wineskins. Jesus didn’t come to overthrow Rome and establish His government in its place, which was the expected mission of the Messiah in the context of first century Judea. And He doesn’t offer us a political platform, liberal or conservative. He offers us eternal life, and the promise of guiding us, by His Spirit, through the challenges we face in this life.

4. When we disagree with you, we still love you just as much as if we agreed.

One of the most frustrating things for us is when people equate approval and affirmation with love. Which means that, if we disagree with you, we hate you. We aren’t going to affirm
someone’s immoral lifestyle choices that God has made clear in His Word are unacceptable to Him. We cannot condone what God says is wrong, even if the whole world says it’s right. As much as we are called to love you, we are called to love God first. If you require that we either love you and your sin, or hate you and your sin, I’m sorry. We must exercise a third option: we will love you and call your sin what it is. Wrong. But it isn’t wrong because it’s your sin. Our sin is wrong too. There’s a misused adage: Love the sinner; hate the sin. I tell my Christian brothers and sisters it’s fine to take that approach as long as we begin by hating our own sin.

Jesus instructed His followers to love even their enemies. That’s the standard of love to which we are called. I’m sorry that we haven’t always lived that out, but that’s our intention to do so.

I hope this helps Non-Christians better understand Christians. But I’m not so naive to believe this one blog post clears it all up. Maybe it can instigate discussion. Please let me know your thoughts.

I can boil my reasons for being a creationist down to two. Here they are.

1. Because conclusions are commonly drawn at the beginning of an experiment, not the end.

My wife and I visited The Creation Museum in Kentucky near Cincinnati a few years ago. The first exhibit we saw when we entered the museum was about a dig made by two archeologists. One was a Creation scientist, and the other an Evolution scientist. The whole point of the exhibit wasn’t about the findings of the dig itself. Rather, the exhibit showed that each of the two scientists went into the dig with certain assumptions that determined the conclusions they ultimately drew.  So the Creationist, going into the dig with the assumption that there was a global flood several thousand years ago, concluded that the fossils uncovered in the dig were from a much more recent time than did his Evolutionist counterpart.

            I think the word preposterous is an interesting word. It’s two word parts (plus a suffix) put together. Pre means before and post means after. So what belongs in the front (or the beginning) is at the back (or the end), and what should be at the back/end is, instead, at the front/beginning. The proverbial cart before the horse is the perfect word picture for preposterous. And that’s what that scientific process really is: preposterous. Our conclusions, which should come at the end, are established – albeit usually unknowingly – at the beginning. I suppose it really speaks to the power of one’s worldview, because it’s our worldview that most powerfully informs how we see, and what we believe about, pretty much everything.

            I’m certainly not exempt from preposterity. (I think I just invented a word!) And neither is anyone else. That’s why it’s uber-important to have a worldview built on assumptions that are correct. I’m convinced that the Bible is God’s written Word, and I try to build my worldview completely upon its principles, so I know going into reading an article that I’m not buying any assertions that don’t somehow line up with Biblical Scripture. I won’t be swayed on that issue. But if I’m preposterous based on God’s stated truths, I’m in good company, God Himself is preposterous in the most awesome and holy sense:

For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. – Isaiah 46:9-10 NKJV

2. Because I know the Creator.

I believe we must go outside all the things we can study intellectually in order to find the truth about origins. Once we find that truth, we can study it intellectually. Once we encounter the Creator of everything that exists, we can view it all with the knowledge that He created it. Once we have that perspective, the creation itself serves as evidence. When I see a night sky, massive ocean waves running up to a sandy beach, or a majestic rocky mountain reaching up to a beautiful blue sky, I see God’s handiwork. I see it that way because God has introduced Himself to my heart, and has helped me understand His Word. Speaking of preposterous – getting things backwards –  it’s preposterous to expect someone to believe God created the universe before knowing Him intimately. I see God’s creation because I know God. I didn’t see the world and exclaim, “Wow! Who created this?! I want to meet Him!” I met Him, and now He helps me see His work as His work. Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” If He is the Truth – and He is – then it’s in Him that we’ll find the real story of how the universe originated. We can look forever in the wrong places, and we’ll never find the truth.

Dear Sharlene,

You’re ten years old and I’m your future husband. I’m currently fifty-eight and you’re currently fifty-two. That’s right, I’m six years older than you. So when you’re reading this at ten years old, I’m actually sixteen. You don’t know me yet, and I don’t know you. 

We’ll meet when you’re fifteen and  I’m twenty-one. By that time, your parents will have opened a Christian book store. That’s where we’ll first meet. You’ll be working there part-time, and I will have recently given my life to Christ. I’ll go in to buy a Bible, and you and your mom will help me with it. At first sight, I’ll be struck by how beautiful you are. You have a pure beauty, the kind that doesn’t need makeup. But you’ll still look incredible with makeup. When I later learn your age, I’ll be surprised, because to me you’ll look a couple years older than your age. Now, you look younger than your age, still with that same pure beauty. Three years after we meet, I’ll ask you out and we’ll go on our first date. We’ll date for a year-and-a-half, including a year-long engagement. 

We’ll get married when you’re eighteen and I’m twenty-four. You’ll be an awesome wife. We’ll love each other a lot. We both have the thing people want most: to love and to be loved. Even now, after thirty-three years being married – and increasingly every year – you’re the thing I thank God for most. Your love for God grows each year, and it’s really your love for Him that makes you the unbelievable wife and mother you become. 

We’ll have six children; you’ll spend ten straight years being pregnant in some part of each year. We always say we want four kids, but God clearly wants two more for us. You’re obviously very fertile, as am I; I think you got pregnant one time when we kissed. (That’s a joke. That’s not really how it happens, although you will be an incredible kisser!) All our kids love you very much. They recognize how you always go the extra mile to do things well, parenting included, and you never cut corners. That’ll be a quality every single person in our family, myself included, picks up from you. You’ll become a real estate agent after several years working in healthcare management and management of other types of businesses. I’ll become a pastor and you and I will lead a team in establishing a new church in Wilmington; the years of pastoring and leading that church will be probably our most memorable ones as a family . We’ll also lead other outreach and discipleship ministries. Looking back now, it’s been such a pleasure with you as my partner, whether in ministry, business, parenting, or marriage. You work so hard, and keep such a great attitude; you always carry more than your load, and you keep me encouraged all along the way. We have lots of hobbies, but the thing we enjoy most is being together.

If it were really possible for you to receive this letter from me as a ten-year-old, I’d leave this part out. Your mom passes away from ovarian cancer at age forty nine. You’ll be twenty-five at the time, and our third child, Kristin, will be two months old. That’ll be the hardest thing you’ll go through up to this point, but as usual, you’ll be very strong through it all. You’re generally stronger than I am. I’m definitely the crybaby between the two of us. 

Another tough experience for both of us – and the kids – will be this year. It’s then, at the beginning of the the current year, that I’ll have a stroke. I won’t be able to walk in the beginning, but I get that back very quickly. However, it takes a little longer to regain my swallowing, and several months before I can lift my left arm all the way up and use the fingers on my left hand. It’ll be hard for me because I miss opportunities to do things with my kids and grandkids, and I’m hampered in my ability to express myself the way I want to. Throughout my lengthy recovery, you’ll demonstrate a new level of love and commitment. You’ll be my nurse, my chef, my counselor, and whatever I’ll need. There’ll be times when I’ll feel sorry for you and I’ll apologize for the plight that has befallen you and that you spend so much of your time taking care of me. I’ll say I’m sorry you’re not living the fairy tale life you dreamed of as a little girl because if anybody deserves it you do. And you’ll just say, “I’m doing exactly what I want to do.” You’ll tell me that the only thing that bothers you is when I get down on myself. That’s the kind of wife and person you become.

Let me offer a couple of words of advice. Be sure to enjoy your family along the way. You’ll say how right those old ladies were when they told you to enjoy your kids while you have them because they’ll be grown and gone before you know it. Also, enjoy your parents and siblings as you’re growing up and into a young woman. One of your most impactful memories will be when your parents tell you, as a teenager, that you’re their first daughter and they’re trying to figure it out just like you are. After that conversation, you’ll be more patient and understanding, but go ahead and give them grace even before that conversation happens. You’ll be glad you did, and so will they.

Trust your mom and dad. You’re on the right track to become the kind of woman you want to be. They’ll help you maintain your purity and instill in you a love for God. Training is hard, so remember the result it produces, and you’ll get through it without too much stress. Please know, as much as you can understand now, that I love you. Your future husband loves you. Very very much.

Your

Husband

Dear Gabriel, 

You’re ten, and I’m you at age fifty-eight.  Two things gave me the idea to write you a letter. First, There’s a picture of you in my living room. My wife, Sharlene, (Oh, you marry a beautiful, Godly woman, so don’t ever be anxious about girls or whom you’ll marry.) put it there. She thinks you’re cute, and that somehow works in my favor now. So, thanks for that. Well, I saw your picture the other day and thought it would be a good idea to write you a letter – kind of therapeutic for me, actually. That’s the first thing that gave me the idea – your picture; the second thing I’ll reveal a little farther down in the letter.

In a couple years, God will speak to you in church one Sunday morning. He’ll let you know He wants you to be a preacher. Don’t just blow that off later that day. Go play basketball with your friends that afternoon, like you always do. But don’t just fall into your same old way of talking and thinking and dismiss the idea of being a preacher. 

And please don’t wait until you’re twenty-one years old and in college to surrender your life to Jesus and begin your journey of trusting, and walking with, Him. Go ahead and give your life to Him that very Sunday morning. He won’t be just giving you a prophecy that you’ll one day be a preacher; He’ll be calling you to put your faith in Him and become very close friends with Him. 

And that afternoon, or any other time, if you find yourself saying things that don’t match up with being a Christian, don’t just abandon the idea of walking with God. Instead, say something like, “Hey everybody, I’m sorry, that’s not the way I want to talk or act.” And tell God you’re sorry. The Lord will forgive you immediately, so just get right back in step with Him. And that’ll be a great model for your friends, because they’ll need to do the same thing whenever they make mistakes. 

Now, if you do end up not committing your life to Christ that day or if you bail on your commitment to Him at any point, turn back to Him as soon as you realize it. He’s so merciful and His arms will always be open to you.

Another piece of advice is this. Forgive Dad. I know you feel like he treats you unfairly, but just forgive him and keep deciding to love him the way you did when you were a little boy and he was your hero and you wanted to be like him. You’ll be so glad one day that you always honored him and Mom.

Speaking of parents, you and your wife will have six kids. Then you’ll understand how hard it was for Mom and Dad. You’ll also see that your wife and children are God’s greatest earthly gifts to you, and your parents, siblings, and grandparents will become more and more valuable to you as life goes on. I’m so proud of the kids now. They’re scattered all over the country, and Sharlene and I don’t get to see them as much as we’d like. What’s cool, though, is that we can talk with them on a video screen – like a two-way television – any time. (Actually, most everything on The Jetsons has come true, except for the individual air-travel vehicles. Not sure why, but we just don’t have those yet.) (By the way, buy as much stock as you can in each of these companies in the respective year: Apple – 1980; Microsoft – 1986; Amazon – 1997; Tesla – 2010.)

We’re very proud of the kids. They’re all blessed with talent, wisdom and a strong work ethic, and they’re all doing well. Some are still finding their way to God, but they’ll be walking with Him soon. They’re also all very nice-looking, which is a credit to their beautiful mother. (Sorry to tell you this, but you’ll be the least attractive member of the family. Your wife-and-kids-family, that is; you’ll be the most attractive member of your parents-and-siblings-family, however.)

The second thing that gave me the idea to write to you is that I had a stroke earlier this year. A stroke is a type of brain injury where you lose some function of your brain, temporarily, at least. Well, in some ways, I’ve become like a kid again, so I’m having to relearn and develop things all over again. For example, You know how hard it is for you to do things left handed now? Well, you’ll improve, but the stroke paralyzed my left-hand fingers, and their function is slow to come back. So I’m probably at about your level again for that skill. I also don’t really catch traffic lights and brake lights like I should, kind of like a beginner driver. So, if you don’t mind, work hard to develop that left hand and to build some really good driving habits. Maybe those efforts can help me somehow.

Please try your best at things. You tend to be satisfied with just getting by when you could do much better. Do your best at whatever you do. You’ll be glad you did. 

Finally, remember that God loves you beyond your ability to comprehend it. You have nothing to worry about. Enjoy the next forty-eight years, and I’ll take it from there.

Sincerely You at 58,

Me