Tim Harlow

Where Are You Going?

You are never, not going anywhere.  I know that's a horrible sentence structure, but I want to make a point. 

We are always moving in one direction or another.  I think that many times we believe that we're just hanging out in limbo and what we're doing now doesn't affect anything later.
 
BUT IT DOES!  Because you are never, not going somewhere. 
 
For example, we've lost two young people related to our congregation in the past week to a Heroin overdose.  Evidently there is a Heroin epidemic going on in the suburbs!  I had no idea. 
 
Okay, I was young once.  I thought I was invincible once.  But this is my point.  When you decide to try a highly addictive drug – you are moving in a direction.  You are going somewhere.  Possibly jail, probably a lousy life, potentially the grave.
 
As a pastor, I’ve heard more stories of regret than I can recount. I’ve walked with individuals and couples through bankruptcy, divorce, custody battles, lawsuits, and lots of family heartache.
 
I’ve listened to countless people tell me how badly they wish they could go back and do it all over. But, of course, you can’t go back.
 
The great theologian - Kenny Chesney says: “When your hourglass runs out of sand, you can’t turn it over and start again.”
 
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a heart breaking story, and thought to myself – “Well what did you expect?  You wanted to go to Florida but you went North! And now you are broken hearted and even mad at God because you ended up in Wisconsin. 

It’s not His fault.  YOU WENT THERE.
 
It really breaks my heart how many people don’t connect the dots between the choices they make and the outcomes they experience.
 
You are never, ever, not going somewhere.   Every choice you make is affecting your future.
 
So please…
 
Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.  Joshua 1:7
 
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.  Matthew 7:13-14


Tim

Got Thanks?

During his day, it is said that every word that Rudyard Kipling wrote was worth twenty-five shillings.  Hearing this, a group of college students got together and wrote him a letter which said: "We understand that every word you write is worth twenty-five shillings. Enclosed is twenty-five shillings, send us your best word." 

A couple of days later, these college students received a telegram from Mr. Kipling. The telegram consisted of one word. That one word, his best word, was: "Thanks!" 

That may very well be the best word there is in the English or any other language. 

I hope you are ready to give thanks.

Listen to the first Thanksgiving Proclamation - written by George Washington in 1789 -

”Whereas, it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and His favor;  and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint committee requested me to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public Thanksgiving and Prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts, the many  favors of Almighty God.

Especially by affording them an opportunity to establish a form of Government for their safety and happiness. Now I do recommend and assign, Thursday, the 26th of November, next, to be devoted by the people of these states to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the benevolent author of all the good that was, that is, and that will be.  That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere thanks for His kind care and protection for the people of this country.”

I can’t wait to see the new Lincoln movie!  Here is Lincoln's 1863 Proclamation. It was more of an indictment.

“We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we've vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we've become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us."

I know that a lot of people would love to use these two proclamations to gripe about how far our nation has fallen from its origins in Christianity. But that’s not me.  The U.S. is what it is. The election is what it is.  I did my part, and I will do my part to keep us heading back towards God. 

But Thanksgiving is not about a country. It’s personal. I can’t force anyone else to give thanks. I’m thankful we still get a national holiday to do it. And when the atheists tell my grandchildren that the Pilgrims were giving thanks to the Indians, I’ll just gently correct them and remind them that some people like to make up history to support their own ideas.

What Lincoln and Washington were calling for, and what I’m reminding you of today, is that it is EVERYONE’S personal responsibility to join in Thanksgiving.

I mean, hey, I’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving with my son-in-law who is from Britain! Should my prayer be “God, thank you for allowing us freedom from the horrible Redcoats?”

What’s Ash supposed to pray about? 

This holiday is a time for us to give thanks to God for anything and everything He’s done for us.  I’d love for our nation to turn to God.  I would love for Great Britain to turn to God.  I would love for everyone to give thanks to God on Thursday.  But there is very little I can do to make that happen.

What I can do is make sure I don’t forget.

One of the most repeated verses in the Bible is the beginning verse of Psalm 136.

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.  His love endures forever.”

Pray for the country, and the world – but don’t forget to do your own Thanksgiving.  Lest you become “too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.”

HAPPY THANKSGIVING,

TIM

 

 

The Day After

Today half the people in America are yelling “Four More Years!” - and the other half are just yelling.

I did my part. I voted. I encouraged people to vote and to follow God’s voice as they voted. And for different people that meant different things, based on what they thought God saw as important, and based on the way they thought God’s will would be done. That’s democracy. I wouldn’t trade it, but it allows for people to vote that I think are dead wrong in their thinking. And it allows me to vote, when other people think I’m stupid.

As you read through the history of the Old Testament, it’s amazing how things go back and forth. From one King who is horrible and worships false gods, to the next who rediscovers God’s word and brings the people back. My point is that God allowed both to be kings (at least for awhile).

Yes, the people suffered under bad kings. However there always seemed to be a remnant of people who continued their faith and trust in God and his ways. There always will be. The Israelites flourished in Egypt, that’s why the Pharaoh started killing baby boys. 

My point is that whether you think Barack Obama is more like Pharaoh or more like King David, God is still the one in control. 

God made a king eat grass (Daniel 4:33); he can still do whatever he wants.

The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD: he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. Proverbs 21:1

Whether you are happy or sad, if you think the country is on the right track or the wrong one – God is still in charge.

Whether you believe Obama will follow God more than a Mormon or vice versa, God is still in charge. If you believe Obama to be insincere in his professed Christianity – listen to one of my favorite writers (the author of the Message paraphrase of the Bible).

Eighteen hundred years or so of Hebrew history, capped by a full exposition in Jesus Christ, tell us that God's revelation of himself is rejected far more often than it is accepted, is dismissed by far more people than embrace it, and has been either attacked or ignored by every major culture or civilization in which it has given its witness: magnificent Egypt, fierce Assyria, beautiful Babylon, artistic Greece, political Rome, Enlightenment France, Nazi Germany, Renaissance Italy, Marxist Russia, Maoist China, and pursuit-of-happiness America. The community of God's people has survived in all of these cultures and civilizations but always as a minority, always marginal to the mainstream, never statistically significant. — Author and pastor, Eugene Peterson

He also said,

The Apostle Peter specifically calls the people of Christ not only to show submission to authorities, but to -

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. I Peter 2:13-14

The Apostle Paul calls on the churches to pray and to show thanksgiving for kings and for “all who are in high positions.”

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. I Timothy 2:1-2

So if you are a believer who is happy today, congratulations. I hope you are right, but ultimately my faith is in another Kingdom anyway. If you are an unhappy believer today – let’s pray for President Obama. Let’s not give ourselves to terms of disrespect or every crazy conspiracy theory that floats across the Internet – “that we may lead peaceful and quiet lives in godly and dignified ways.”

And let’s remember where our trust ultimately lies…

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.  Psalm 13:5

Either way – that will always be true.

Tim

Just an Update...

66 more baptisms this past weekend - that is 351 over the last two weeks!!

if you still want to do it, let us know.  we're always ready!

SEE BAPTISM HIGHLIGHTS VIDEO!

I don't know if the threat of God going back to circumcision had anything to do with it, but do the baptism covenant agreement quick before He changes His mind!!

Tim

Submission to Submersion

We baptized 258 people this weekend at Parkview! It’s the 6^th time we’ve done mass baptisms; and it’s always one of the highlights of my year.

Jesus got baptized. That’s always fascinated me. The perfect Son of God didn’t need to “wash his sins away.” John felt the same way…

Matthew 3:13-15 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.  But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Matthew 3:13-15

So why did he do it? “IT IS PROPER TO DO THIS – TO FULFILL ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

Jesus was setting yet another example for us on how to be righteous.

But did it really matter?  I mean, what did God think?

Matthew 3:16-17 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”   Matthew 3:16-17

Wasn’t he well-pleased before Jesus got dunked? Of course he was. But this public act of obedience – submission to submersion -  pleased God in such an extra way that he actually stuck his face out through the clouds and said, “WAY TO GO SON – I’M PROUD OF YOU.”

It wasn’t about the fact that Jesus got wet. It was about his attitude of submission.

Do you ever think about how to be like Christ?  Do you have a WWJD bracelet in a drawer somewhere? The problem with that is it’s really hard.  Jesus was the perfect Son of God.  I can’t fast for 40 days. We can’t do miracles, can’t raise the dead, and I certainly can’t sacrifice myself on a cross for the world. But there is one thing we can do that Jesus did which we know made his father happy.

If you haven’t done it yet, I’m jumping in the tub again this weekend. I ask you the question Ananias asked the Apostle Paul as he was first converting to Jesus –

And now, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?  GET UP, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on his name. Acts 22:16

Tim