Later, King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance of the Temple of God. The king said to Jeremiah, “I’m going to ask you something. Don’t hold anything back from me.” Jeremiah said, “If I told you the whole truth, you’d kill me. And no matter what I said, you wouldn’t pay any attention anyway.” Jeremiah 38:14-15

We often say how we wish we knew the truth — that ambiguity is where we suffer the most. Kids at the doctor’s office worry far more about the shot they’re going to get than the shot they actually get. But, sometimes the shot DOES hurt as much or more than we anticipate. The truth, can be difficult, sometimes so difficult we deny it altogether.

Jeremiah, the prophet, has been telling the truth to God’s people throughout his life. Generally, he winds up beaten, attacked or thrown in jail not for ambiguity, not for vagaries about the mystery of God. He’s punished for revealing God’s truth to God’s obstinate people.

Whether it’s medical results, relational conflict, or news about work that might not be positive, I tend to run. Sometimes I deny. Other times I question the veracity of the findings (whatever they may be), or the integrity of the source, itself. I find myself doing this more often than not with God himself. My own response to whatever not so comfortable thing to which God might be directing me (however He does that) is denial, fear, and hesitation. But, it is the truth I need and it is as the Gospel of John records, the truth that enables us to live “free, indeed.”

To what is God calling you? How is He nudging you? In what areas is He confronting you with the truth, however disquieting it may be?

This Sunday we’ll wrap our our YOU MAKE THE CALL series as we look at something to which we can all relate: perseverance. I can’t wait to meet the people you’ve invited to join us this week.

See you Sunday,
Jeff

Interested in joining the Prayer Team? We believe that every believer is a minister. One of our passions as a church is to train and equip our people to pray on behalf of those in need. More info here.

Sunday, October 5, 12:45-1:20p, in the Worship Center

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”  EXODUS 20:18-19

Holy Smokes!

I still use that phrase. Even thirty years ago, it was old. It harkens back to that campy bygone era of a caped crusader and his boy-wonder-sidekick fighting crime with clever and often ironic superhero skills. That show, Batman, was a success because it was so goofy. Long monologues from villains always preceded Batman and Robin’s unlikely escapes. The fight sequences were intentionally bad. Every brawl was highlighted by notoriously goofy punch-impact onomatopoeia: thwack! zok! pow! fa-thud! Each episode had the audience waiting for Robin’s clever variation on “holy smokes!” Check out some of the more priceless selections from actual episodes:

Holy uncanny photographic mental processes!
Holy non sequiturs!
Holy diversionary tactics!
Holy hardest metal in the world!
Holy sudden incapacitation!
Holy knit one, pearl two!

I don’t know, specifically, if the etymology of Robin’s catch-phrase has its roots in the Bible. But, the wording does bring to mind the idea that God’s appearance — holy and frightening — was often as a cloud of smoke. “Holy smoke,” if you will. Smoke has mysterious and shapeless property. And, we’re told that wherever there’s smoke, there’s also fire. Smoke is an apt description for the nebulousness of God — particularly, the part of the trinity with which we tend to have the greatest difficulty getting our heads around, the Holy Spirit.

Tonight, Thursday, September 25th at 7p, there’s an event Mariners is hosting at our Irvine campus that will highlight what is often called “life with” or “participation with” the Holy Spirit. We were given a preview of the event yesterday as a staff. In short, tonight will be a night of worship and teaching centered on encountering God’s inexplicable power and incendiary love through the Holy Spirit. While I’m a person who is easily weirded out, the guest teacher, Mike Pilavachi (a humble Brit of Greek descent), spoke in clear, compelling, and accessible biblical truths. The mysterious nature of God was neither apologized for, nor was it minimized. But, I was able to experience Him (the Holy Spirit) in a fresh way.

Holy Smokes!

See you Sunday,
Jeff

P.S.: This Sunday, we’ll continue in our series: YOU MAKE THE CALL. This will be a great opportunity to bring friends who are unfamiliar with Bible and wonder (as we all tend to do) about the practical relevance of what it has to say to our daily living. I’ve talked to a number of people at the door every Sunday — people you’ve been inviting — and they’re so grateful you include them. They’ve loved what the Bible has to say to their lives and the friendliness of the community here at Mariners MV.

Over the summer, our worship volunteers recorded a collection of songs to encourage our church to worship God with freedom and excitement.

Available on the patio this weekend
$10 suggested donation

…a world rolling in wealth,
Stuffed with things,
no end to its machines and gadgets,
And gods—gods of all sorts and sizes.
These people make their own gods and worship what they make.
ISAIAH 2:7-8 [MSG]

Tonight, people will camp. Tomorrow, sales records will break (some already have been broken). The world will be ostensibly “remastered” once again. Apple will release its latest world-altering, culture-defining, universe-creating device. The early adopters and the have-to-have-its will be out in full force, determined to get ahold of the latest thing and all that it promises.

What’s being sold isn’t a phone, it’s a connection to a network of other people who have aligned themselves with a set of identifying values: “We are the creative misfits and social outliers that shape the world. We ‘think different.’” At least, that’s what Apple is attempting to sell. The product, then, is a symbol of something deeper to which people long to connect.

I realize, for most of us, the iPhone is merely a really cool phone. There isn’t anything overtly right or wrong about owning one. This isn’t an indictment against Apple. But, in the midst of the inevitable hysteria of this “newest, most revolutionary, ‘bigger than bigger’” device, pause. The iPhone promises to deliver, like so many other buy-able things, what it cannot. The iPhone is simply the latest example of what we already know: we live in a created world, where created beings create things that start out as objects of admiration and can occasionally become objects of worship.

Whether it’s a phone, a car, a pair of shoes, a house, or a garden hose, it’s worth questioning the unthinking consumption that can go into buying helpful, even great things. Remember, at the end of the day, the thing(s) we have to have today will likely become tomorrow’s paper weights.

Join us this Sunday as we continue to talk about navigating the sophisticated, market-savvy world around us in our series: YOU MAKE THE CALL. This week, we’ll talk about breaking from old habits that keep us stuck while cultivating new ones that take us where we intend to go. It’ll be a great opportunity to invite people who are wrestling with some of these questions.

See you Sunday,
Jeff
____________

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.- PSALM 18:2

I almost missed it.

Today, it was my day to get the kids ready and off to school. I’ll be the one solving the near-impossible task of getting three kids to three different soccer practices. I know, child’s play for many of you. For me: I think I’ve developed an eye tick, no doubt due to the low-level anxiety that has me believing I’ll leave one of my kids behind, or deliver someone to the wrong field. I know Saturday’s games will only exacerbate the whole issue. Amanda’s out of town this weekend. My awe of single parents, like my own mom, is not in short supply. Once everyone was accounted for this morning, I scurried off to the church office, anticipating meetings and preparation for Sunday’s message.

Then, I set out to write this brief note. At the top of my document, I typed the date: September 11th.

It is the date of a generation. Until I typed it, admittedly, I hadn’t paid much attention to it. But, this year, September 11th comes on the heels of a speech from the president about taking action against a new global terrorist threat. We re-learn what we’ve always known, but can blithely forget in the midst of all the stuff we have to take care of: the world is an uncertain place populated by human beings who occasionally act out in unthinkable ways. Whether it’s global terrorism, the threat of disease, or domestic violence, we long for an often elusive stability and peace.

It’s not surprising then, that in the ancient world, the ways in which God was described by his own people had less to do with his nebulous philosophical attributes (i.e.: omnipotence, vastness, etc.) and far more to do with concrete imagery. God gets words like: shield, rampart, fortress, or rock to describe Him. Whether the world is crazy somewhere far away — way out there — or it’s crazy right here, we cry out not for the all-knowing God but for the “strong-tower” God. That’s who we need, even in the midst of all that other important stuff we daily scurry around to accomplish.

This weekend, we’ll continue to aim our hearts at God and his wisdom as we continue our series: YOU MAKE THE CALL.

See you Sunday,
– Jeff