Headed towards the Farm...

"An African Christian described it to me this way: “You Americans think of Christianity as a farm with a fence. Your question is, ‘Are you inside the fence or outside of it?’ We Africans think differently. We think of Christianity as a farm with no fence. Our question is, ‘Are you heading towards the farm, or away from it?’ “The church’s identity is not defined primarily by its edges, but by its center: focused on Christ, the sole source of our identity, no intruder poses a threat." ~Almost Christian, 65.

Divine Architect

“The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;

By understanding He established the heavens.”
(Proverbs 3:19)

Have you ever bought something new and tried to assemble it? Chances are, if you’re like me, often those pieces don’t always seem to fit as snug and sturdy as I remember the store display being. Or, what do you do with the three bolts left over? “Did I forget something?” I’ve asked myself more than once. “Oh well, it looks fine to me. At least it’s standing…” “It’s only leaning a little to the right.” “The wheel does seem to be wobbling a little bit, but I think it’s okay.” Any of these sound familiar? Sometimes the extra pieces turn out to be a little more significant than others and before long the whole thing falls apart.

Imagine if you had been contracted by God to design and assemble the universe, or perhaps just little ole Earth. Consider the following intricacies of the planet we live on.
If the earth were as small as the moon, the power of gravity would be too weak to retain sufficient atmosphere for man’s needs; but if it were as large as Jupiter, Saturn, or Uranus, extreme gravitation would make human movement almost impossible.

If we were as near to the sun as Venus, the heat would be unbearable; if we were as far away as Mars, we would experience snow and ice every night even in the warmest regions. If the oceans were half their present dimensions, we would receive only one-fourth the rainfall we do now. If they were one-eighth larger, our annual precipitation would increase fourfold, and this earth would become a vast, uninhabitable swamp!

Water solidifies at 32 degrees above zero. It would be disastrous if the oceans were subject to that law, however, for then the amount of thawing in the polar regions would not balance out, and ice would accumulate throughout the centuries! To prevent such a catastrophe, the Lord put salt in the sea to alter its freezing point![i]

The earth moves in at least SIX different ways, and yet we on earth are not dizzy. The movements are:

(1) The earth spins on its axis, like a top, at the speed of one-third mile per second or 1,000 miles per hour. If it were 100 miles per hour, the earth would alternately freeze and burn.

(2) It weaves slowly back and forth on its axis, tilting to an angle of 23 degrees, then swinging slowly back, twice a year. This gives us our seasons.

(3) The earth with the moon is swinging around the sun, once a year at the rate of 18½ miles per second. And it never varies 1/10,000th of a second on this annual trip.

(4) The sun, with all its planets, is on a trip, rushing northward at 12 miles per second.

(5) The nearby stars, with our planetary system, are revolving at 180 miles per second around the Milky Way’s center.

(6) The Milky Way, our galaxy, with all its millions of stars, is on a tremendous journey, plunging through space at terrific speed. Who knows where?[ii]

God guides and controls them all.



Reflect

What was the last thing you tried to put together or assemble? Were there any pieces left over? When you were done, did you ask yourself something to the effect of “something’s not quite right…what is it?”?



Take a few moments and think of various features built into the Earth, its atmosphere, seasons, etc. Meditate on some of the intricate features listed above.



“There is for me powerful evidence that there is something going on behind it all… It seems as though somebody has fine-tuned nature’s numbers to make the Universe… The impression of design is overwhelming.”
PAUL DAVIESThe Cosmic Blueprint

[i] Tan, P. L. 1996, c1979.
[ii] Tan, P. L. 1996, c1979.

Free Audio Book :: Spiritual Leadership

This month christianaudio.com is giving away a free audiobook of Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders. Simply go to the site, add the download to your cart and use the coupon code SEP2010.

"Christianity needs a powerful voice in today's world. Such a voice can come only from strong leaders guided by God and devoted to Christ. Spiritual Leadership will encourage you to place your talents and powers at His disposal so you can become a leader used for His glory."

...in the beginning.

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—
his eternal power and divine nature—
have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.”
(Romans 1:20 NIV)

“Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
even from everlasting to everlasting,
you are God”
(Psalm 90:2)

God is eternal, i.e., God is without beginning or end. God not only pre-existed creation, He preceded and created time. Sometime ago I came across a fictitious story about a group of men who set out to find an answer to the question, “Where did the earth come from?” They compiled much data covering many areas of investigation and then fed it into the mammoth computer. When they had completed their work and had given the machine all the information, they pushed the “answer” button and waited expectantly for the results. Lights flashed! Bells rang! Buzzers sounded! When the great moment arrived, this printed message emerged: “See Genesis 1:1.”[i]

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
GENESIS 1:1

Meditate on the following statement: God is eternal. He has no beginning, nor end.


What thoughts, emotions and questions does this arise for you?

New Series :: INDESCRIBABLE

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard." ~Psalm 19

The heavens are telling the glory of God, and their expanse declares the work of His hands. The Apostle Paul wrote, that “by taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being.”

This series will take you on a rich journey through the cosmos, allowing you to peer into God's universe to discover the amazing magnitude of His greatness and grace.

Free Audio Book :: Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road

Why would someone risk his safety, destroy his schedule, and become dirty and bloody to help a needy person of another race and social class? And why would Jesus tell us "Go and do likewise"? Like the wounded man on the Jericho road, there are needy people in our path- the widow next door, the family strapped with medical bills, the homeless man outside our place of worship. God call us to be ministers of mercy to people in need of shelter, assistance, medical care, or just friendship.

This month, christian audio's free e-book is Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road by Tim Keller.

Keller uses Luke 10, the parable of the Good Samaritan, as the paradigm for the church’s understanding of mercy. He seeks throughout the book to answer the question the expert in the law asked to Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”, by explaining the parable and bringing the rest of Scripture to bear on the question.

Some of the questions Keller addresses in the book include:

• Is everyone called to mercy, or only those who are gifted in mercy?
• Should I show mercy to my neighbor even if I don’t feel like it?
• Didn’t the poor just get themselves into the mess they’re in? Do they really deserve my help?
• Is it ever merciful to withhold giving to someone?
• How do sharing the gospel verbally and living out the Christian life balance?

The first half of the book deals with the principles of mercy ministry, and the second half gives some practical ways you can start putting the principles into action at the church level.

An Aggressively Inarticulate Generation