S.S. Salvation Ship

I heard James MacDonald make a great analogy of the relationship between holy living and salvation. It goes something like this ...

Salvation is a great ship that takes us to heaven. The way you get on this ship is through repentance and faith. We could ever earn our way on to this ship and there is no precondition for getting on the ship called holiness. But once on the ship, holiness becomes a consuming passion. Those who are truly on the salvation ship can think of only one thing, how to live on the ship the way they will when they reach their destination. Holy Living. This is one sure way to know for sure if you are on the right ship.

There are plenty of other ships in harbor that look like they'll get you to the same destination. The Cultural Christian Cruise Line, the Religious Piety Boat and the Christian Heritage Line.

But it is on the Salvation Ship that we discover a yearning for the ways and things of God that exceed anything on any other ocean liner. If you have no longing for holiness, you've got to check out and see if you got on the right boat. If it's been a while since there was a hunger for righeousness and holiness in your life, then you need to spend some time seeking out the Captian of the Ship and stirring up your hunger for His holiness.

Defining Moments

There are those moments in our life that define who we are and what we’ll be remembered for. In sports Clevelanders are defined by “the drive” and “the shot.” In Pittsburgh it’s the “Immaculate Reception.” (I had to get that little dig in!)

But there are also personal defining moments. Each of us have these sacred moments from God where our destinies are written by our responses to those moments. They sometimes seem inconsequential at the time, but long term they set us in a direction that either leads us to or away from God. I think about a summer day in 1986 when I was browsing in a bookstore in Butler, PA when a woman came up to me and asked me if I was the youth pastor at the Community Alliance Church. She introduced herself to me as Rudy Stewart and then introduced me to her daughter, Dinita. Interesting defining moment in my life!

For the next several weeks, I'm going to be leading the congregation to consider some of the common defining moments that God has been putting in front of people for thousands of years. From the lives of people in God’s Word, we’ll draw out principles of capitalizing on the moment and reaping a destiny filled with hope and holiness.

This week we’ll start off with an easy one for all of my friends here at CrossPoint who've been on the "Boomerang Express" leaading our Five-day Clubs. They've been studying Peter all week! Peter had a number of defining moments in his life that made him into one of Christ’s great Apostles. We’ll review and apply several of his divinely appointed moments to see how we might be encountering the same opportunities to let Christ make a difference in our lives.

The Center Piece of Worship Service

When I've gone to Blossom for the 4th of July concert there is really only one piece that I've got to hear. They play lots of good stuff and it is generally a good time. But I'm waiting for the best. For lots of reason's I'll not go into here, I've come to Blossom to hear the 1812 Overture. If they came towards the end of the concert and announced that they were going to skip over that and go right to the fireworks, I would be infuriated. The other music and sing-a-longs are fine. I like the fireworks at the end. But the main course for me is always, Tchaikovsky's most famous piece.

I heard Jim Cymbal say in one of his most famous sermons, "My House will be Called a House of Prayer," that the main thing in a genuine worship service is not the sermon. Being a preacher, I took some offense to that ... and felt a bit guilty at the same time.

When I think of what we have been transitioning too at CrossPoint, I think that Cymbala's point is really at the heart of our desire for change. The focal point of our worship together is not fellowship, good music, or even engaging preaching. When I dream of what I want to be the main thing about our worship I see people taking the time to meet with God in a deeper more personal way. The Personal Minsitry Time at the end of the service is meant to give people the time to get to the main thing. Everything before that is preparing them to enter into a sancturary where they encounter God and respond to His presence.

I'm sure that for some the main point of coming to church is to see friends and be encouraged. For others they may be lookign for an emotional boost from the music and singing. Peronally, I hope that there are some people who are looking forward to a good sermon. But what would our church be like if the main thing that people came to church for ... the item listed on the worship folder for which they couldn't wait was the ministry time. Now that would really be church!

On blogging, preaching and salvation!

I tried a long time ago to get a blog going. I think it was 2007. I'm still trying to keep up with my daughters in IT and I never thought I would have to do that. I was always showing them how to do things on the computer. I'm not sure where it was that they passed me up ... but all they do is look at me and roll their eyes when I ask a simple question about how Facebook works.

But more and more I think of things that I would love to share with others. There are times when I wish that we still had a Sunday night church service. (They are few and far between but I still do have them!) There is so much that God puts on my heart that I could never get across in a 40 minute sermon on Sunday. There are Sunday afternoons when I think of all the other things that I wish I had said.

And on top of that there is so many other things on which I would love to get insight from others on. Preaching is SO one way! There are times when I'm preaching and there is in some back room closet of my mind this nagging thought of "I wonder how so and so is taking this?"

My message for tomorrow is one huge case in point. "Are You Saved?" sounds like a pretty standard and evangelical message about salvation. But I would love to have loved to have had a collection of stories and others insights about what makes them think they are saved. The point of my message is that way too often we depend on lesser things to bring us our assurance of salvation. It actually is going to be pretty controversial since I'm guessing that most people have a pretty narrow idea of what God means when he talks about salvation in His Word. We'll see.

Hopefully, this blog will open up some discussion and interaction on the subject and we can all wrestle with these priciples and ideas so that we indeed do become all that God wants us to be!