The Video I showed in Church last Sunday

This video was fun to make. It was single take with a borrowed camera, and I recruited a stranger who was just reading on the beach to help me shoot it. I didn't catch his name, but if he's watching, THANKS!

Beach Baptism

I'm soaking in this beautiful Saturday morning and thinking about the amazing weekend ahead. Baptism is one of my very favorite events in the life of our church. It reminds me how much I love being a pastor. I never get tired of hearing the stories of transformed and committed lives. Over the years, we’ve baptized well over 200 people at the beach. And tomorrow I’m hoping we’ll baptize another 20 plus. And each story is amazing.

We meet at Torrey Pines State Beach Lifeguard station #4. Get there early or shoot for 3 pm (it takes awhile to park). Dinner will be served at 4 pm with the baptism immediately following. This is one of the coolest things we do as a church. We often have people come from great distances to be here. You'll be glad you came!

One day Jesus had a conversation with a woman. And the conversation got pretty personal. Especially as Jesus dealt with some of the poor moral choices that she has made in her life (in this case, her failure in six different relationships). Jesus looked deep into her heart and revealed her pain and emptiness.

That’s why I’m so surprised by her response: "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." John 4:19-20

Did you notice what happened? Jesus addresses an extremely deep heart issue. But instead of facing the internal issues of her soul, this woman opts for a surface fix. It’s as if she says, “It doesn’t matter about my past moral failures, or my empty life … as long as I figure out the right mountain to worship on, I’m good to go.” It would be comical if it wasn’t so typical.

How easy it is for us, to try that to fix deep issues with quick external changes. But we will never be healed by surface makeovers. Instead, as Jesus counseled the woman, we must allow His Spirit to change us from the inside out (See John 4:21-24).

A great prayer is found in Psalm 139:23-24:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in
me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

As Jesus looks within your heart, invite Him by His Spirit to uncover any anxious thoughts or offensive ways, and let Him begin a spiritual transformation from within.

.

Happy Fall

I LOVE Fall. Since today, Sept 22, is the first official day of it (actually in an hour or so from now), here are the results of my recent poll. Almost half of those polled said they were ready. Now vote on my new survey.

The patio used to be safe

My mom lives in a quaint townhouse with a sunny back patio. We often eat out there on warm evenings, celebrate birthdays and such. It is very pleasant. But, this summer, I received a panicked call from her. She had discovered a snake in her courtyard. Now she hates snakes. And I inherited that from her. And as it turns out, this was not just any snake, it was a huge rattlesnake. In fact, when the animal control person came to remove it, she said it was the biggest rattlesnake she had ever seen. It was about six feet long and the rattle alone was about eight inches. It was the width of a man's arm. The next day she looked out on her patio and saw two more (see photo above – this was the smaller one). They were also hauled off by animal control.

So a couple weeks later I am invited to celebrate a family birthday party at my mom's place. Did I mention I hate snakes? As we celebrated my nephew's birthday, my mom says, "Let's go out into the courtyard." I say, "Thanks. I think I'll just sit here in the living room." She says, "It's a nice warm summer evening, let's go out?" I respond, "No I don't think so!" Finally I sat there, craning my neck in every direction the whole evening. I was the picture of discomfort.

Here's the point: The courtyard didn't change. But my perception of it had changed.

I love talking to little kids about God. Their perception of him is huge. To them God is so big. But then we grow up. And life happens. And we encounter a snake or two, or worse, and somewhere along the way our view of God diminishes. Instead life gets big, problems get big, threats loom large … and our view of God changes. He sort of shrinks. And all the while God didn't change … but our perception of Him did.

How we need a clearer picture of God. A.W. Tozer said, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." That is an amazing statement.

How we need a clearer picture of God.

Staff Meeting Done Well

Just finished a staff meeting discussing Will Mancini's book, Church Unique. This is what the conference table looked like after we were done. Loose leaf tea, water, note pads, markers, Bibles. Great meeting.

The cross has always been a non-negotiable to God’s people. In the Bible, Paul says, May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ... Gal 6.14.

But, these days, many people would prefer a God without a cross. Here is the contemporary thinking. Why couldn’t God just forgive and forget? Why can’t God just accept everyone who says they’re sorry and move on? Why not just say we believe in a loving God and a forgiving God – good enough? Who needs a cross anyway?

One reason we need a cross is because forgiveness is always costly. Especially when the stakes are high, especially when the evil is great; to forgive is always costly. Dietrich Bonheoffer, the great Christian leader who was imprisoned and ultimately killed in Nazi German Concentration Camp, put it this way, “Everyone who forgives someone bears the other’s sins.” And we know this from life. When we choose to forgive, it always means absorbing the debt ourselves. It is a form of suffering.

Simply overlooking sin was not an option. Especially when you consider the massive evil of the world. But instead of making us pay, God bore the suffering Himself! The cross is a forever reminder that forgiveness is costly. But God paid the price we could never pay.

That is why I cling to the cross.

Wordle

OK, I found the coolest site online. It takes the text of a message and turns it into a word picture. The more you used the word, the bigger it is. Here's this morning's message as a Wordle.