Blog: January 2016 — December 2016

Merry Christmas, my dear Goshen church family!  This morning it is my delight to take you on a brief tour of some of the great music inspired by the Advent of Christ.  Pause and ponder: “Angels from the Realms of Glory”:  Ye, who sang creation’s story, - Now proclaim Messiah’s birth. Think of the waiting, the longing, by heaven’s angels who were there eons before creation and have watched God’s unfolding plans pan out all through the ages.  Think how they applaud the Sovereign Hand in the outworking of his design. “O Come, All Ye ...

Andrew & Rachel Wilson’s new book, The Life We Never Expected, offers “hopeful reflections on the challenges of parenting children with special needs” (from Crossway, 2016).  Andrew is a pastor in London. “This is a book about surviving, and thriving, spiritually when some­thing goes horribly wrong.  In our case, that ‘something’ was discov­ering that both of our children had regressive autism” (p. 13).  They’ve written the book for “anyone who is suffering at the moment and wants to know how to lament, worship, pray, wait, and hope” (1 ...

Dr. Helen Roseveare passed away this week at the age of 91.  Are you familiar with her?  In case you aren’t, here’s a bit of Helen’s story: As a pre-med student at Cambridge University in 1945, this bright young English woman responded to a friend’s invitation to visit the Cambridge Intercollegiate Christian Union, and the Lord met her in a powerful way during a student retreat.  The Gospel gripped her heart, and she developed an increasing eagerness to serve Christ in missions.  Helen stated, “I’ll go anywhere God wants me to, whatever the ...

’Tis the season … to be jolly?  Depends on whom you ask.  Christmas time is enjoyed and used and exploited and twisted and embraced by all kinds of people for all kinds of purposes.  It makes some folks jolly, others jaded, yet others hopeful in the deepest way. Retailers relish the days from Black Friday to Christmas Eve for their profit potential (of course, those in retail may also cringe at the long hours and added pressure of the season).  In this e-commerce age, I imagine the folks at Amazon and UPS are drooling with jolliness! I ...

What are we doing when we “commission” our newly-called ministers?  Good question—let’s think about it.  This morning we’re focusing attention on the Lord’s calling of Pete Manni and DJ Cronrath to serve and lead here in the Goshen church family. We do this to slow down.  The pace of church activity at Goshen can get pretty swift—with all the great GBP-M2M-EG-AB-YG-YA-SSC-UBBC-etc. stuff going on (did you get all those acronyms?), and with all that goes into the administrative prep for such good works, it’s easy to just fly through week ...

Politics has been in the news, and it’s vital that we pay attention to the world where God has put us and pray for those in authority (1 Tim­othy 2:1-2).  But it would be a great mistake to think our life of faith as followers of Jesus mostly has to do with how we engage with the shifting political sands of our increasingly secular society. Better to give first allegiance to our eternal Commander-in-Chief, Jesus Christ.  And better to step back and see this life for what it is—a temporary passage as we journey home to heaven.  As we travel, ...

Missions is in the DNA of the Bible-based, Christ-centered, Gospel-driven church.  Here at Goshen, we have a strong commitment to sending, praying for, and supporting missionaries all around the globe (check out goshenbaptist.org, “Missions”).  Plus, we also have a high priority on out­reach right here—with Explorer Girls, Awana for Boys, Mom2Mom, Upward, Preschool, VBS, etc., AND through your friendships with co-workers, classmates, and next door neighbors. Having said that, we’re praying that God will take us much further down the ...

Cheryl and I received a promo flyer in the mail from a certified finan­cial planner inviting us to dinner at a nice restaurant where we’d hear a pre­sentation about the advantages of doing business with his company.  For some reason I decided to actually read this advertisement—and I was struck by “Bill’s” bold promise (not his real name). Bill’s unique, much needed service “heralds a new era in which retirees can enjoy security without risk and a future without uncertainty.”  Just think:  security without risk and a future without ...

I bet you’ve heard it said countless times, whether in testimonies, wor­ship songs, sermons, or elsewhere:  “God is faithful.”  But I wonder how often Christians are clear on what this phrase really means.  It seems that believers tend to say “God is faithful” when things go well and their prayers are answered in the hoped-for way.  But are we able to say “God is faithful” when everything’s falling apart? Let’s get to the biblical roots of the expression:  “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:  The steadfast love of the Lord ...

Here’s a key point from my sermon on faith and politics last Sunday, and it has to do with the way many Christians have gotten immersed and engulfed in the current political frenzy:  “When we act like politics is every­thing, we deceive the world and mislead our neighbors:  it’s false advertising.  What is it saying to your friends and family, even Facebook friends, if the only thing they can tell that you care about passionately is politics?  What message are you sending?  Is it obvious to those who know you that you care much more deeply ...

In 1977 the Steve Miller Band sang, “Time keeps on slippin’ slippin’ slippin’ into the future.” Huh?  I didn’t know what they meant then, and I don’t now.  For me, time keeps on rushing into the past.  I look up at the clock, it’s supposed to be lunch time but it’s 4:00 p.m.!  I look at our kids and marvel that they’re all grown up—how did that happen! And I’m not alone in this.  If we pause to think (can you pause?), we’re unsettled by the seemingly swift passing of time.  Another 1970s pop music voice had a different angle:  James Taylor ...

Summer is over.  Fall has officially arrived.  And all those funny first-day-of-school feelings are now slipping into the past.  Our Goshen ministries that parallel the school year are now running full-speed. But as we turn this corner in our church life, let me encourage you not to forget how God met us in the Book of Revelation earlier this year.  We con­cluded a seven-month sermon series in early August. I don’t know about you, but for me it was both exhilarating and sobering to explore the visions and warnings and promises of the ...

Who has first place in your heart?  What is priority one in your life?  Last Sunday we received Jesus’ command to “Seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).  By contrast, Revelation 2:4 paints the sad picture of a church that had lost its first love.  Secondary matters can be important, of course—such as working to put food on the table and clothes on our backs.  But they come second.  And when we treat secondary issues like primary concerns, it’s a catastrophe. Jesus is teaching that to make material security our ...

A couple weeks ago Dave Thomas shared his story of faith and renewed life in Jesus Christ (thanks, Dave—so encouraging!).  He mentioned the Bible Project, which is a terrific free resource for learning God’s Word.  Check it out on YouTube—they currently have 100 videos on their channel. Bible Project founders Tim Mackie and Jon Collins are eager to help people get past that sense of being overwhelmed or even discouraged by Scripture:  “We believe the Bible is a profound and very beautiful book that’s telling one complete story from ...

This election season, let’s ponder the oft-cited Bible passage, 2 Chronicles 7:14: If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. My people… their land…  How should this word to ancient Israel be applied by Christians in today’s world? In Old Testament times God’s people lived under “theocracy”:  devotion to the Lord and allegiance to government were inseparable; there was no divide between ...

The American political frenzy is heating up—in fact, you might say it’s boiling over.  And just think: still six months until the general election!  One wonders how the candidates and cable networks can energize campaign mania yet more.  But I’m sure they’ll find a way. Here are a few words of spiritual counsel for this wild moment: The election, the American political landscape, and the success or failure of your preferred candidate, are small matters compared to the enormity, the magnitude of the Gospel.  Let’s keep things in ...

Villanova’s buzzer-beater victory for the NCAA national basketball championship was amazing—the ultimate storybook ending.  But you know what else was amazing?  The fan reactions.  All kinds of highlight videos are making the rounds on social media, and they focus as much on the fans as on the players—fans going crazy! What causes grown men (and some of them definitely not young men) to jump up on the couch and shriek and run through the house and flop on the floor?  What was it that launches a big man like Charles Barkley out of his ...

The resurrection is God’s exclamation point that at the end of his Son’s death sentence.  It says, “Enough.” On the cross, as Jesus breathed his last, he uttered, “It is finished.”  So too, the resurrection was the Heavenly Father looking upon his Son’s suffering to bear the guilt of sinners and saying, “It is finished.”  Divine justice had been satisfied. If Jesus were still in the grave, we might claim he’d died in our place, but we could never be sure that our guilt had been fully cleared—that the punish­ment had matched the crime and ...

“Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted” - Thomas Kelly, 1804 Stricken, smitten, and afflicted, see him dying on the tree! 'Tis the Christ by man rejected; yes, my soul, ’tis he, ’tis he! 'Tis the long expected Prophet, David’s son, yet David’s Lord; By his Son God now has spoken: ’tis the true and faithful Word. Tell me ye who hear him groaning, was there ever grief like his? Friends thro’ fear his cause disowning, foes insulting his distress; Many hands were raised to wound him, none would interpose to save; But the deepest stroke that ...

Often in life a very exquisite and precious reality is hidden behind a common and inconspicuous façade. A luminous pearl hidden inside a soft mollusk.  A smooth pecan hidden inside a tough shell.  A human life hidden inside a mother’s swollen belly.  And so it is with the church.  Here we gather this morning.  We are so ordinary.  So very ordinary.   Nothing seemingly extraordinary about us.  But if we look deeper, we find more.  So, so much more. We find a battle.  A battle that has been waged since the beginning of time.  A battle for ...