Pastor Rileys Blog

“By His wounds you have been healed”
1 Peter 2:24

Live long enough and you’re likely to have some scars on your body. Some scars are the result of accidental injuries suffered over the years. Other scars are left from medical procedures meant to bringing healing or correction. There are scars of disfigurement from diseases, scars from the violence of wars and emotional scars from wounds of the soul. There’s a scene from the movie “Jaws” in which the characters are comparing their scars, very attractive. We tend to do that. I hear us talking about our scars, our hurts, our wounds, our sacrifices.

Here’s a thought, when we arrive in heaven there will be no more comparing of wounds. In fact there will be only one wound remembered, and that will be what our sins did to the Son of God. Only the scars borne in Jesus’ body will be seen. Our wounds will be no more. His wounds that saved us are the only ones worthy to be remembered.

I think it was the apostle Paul who said,

“Let us not grow weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not”, KJV Gal. 6:9

Lou Piniella quit! If you don’t know who he is, he has been the manager of the Chicago Cubs for the past four years. He was once the Rookie of the Year, that was a long time ago. He’s seen a lot of success as a major league manager over the years, great success. You Cincinnati Reds fans may remember. But this year the Cubs are awful; it hurts me to say that though I know it’s true. They’re just plain bad. The veterans got older and the kids are making rookie mistakes. Add to that the fact that old Lou obviously lost his fire, his drive, his passion for the game. So he said he’d quit at the end of the year and then decided that yesterday would be his last game. He cited his mother’s illness as the reason for his early departure. Now I’m no doctor but I’d guess her illness is related to this, I’m pretty sure she was sick of watching the Cubs lose.

So he quit. It’s his life. He doesn’t need the money. He’s 67 years old with nothing left to prove. Go ahead and quit Lou, baseball will go on without you and not miss a beat.

Have you ever felt that way? If I wasn’t around life would just go on without me and not miss a beat. I wouldn’t be missed. No one would care. Nothing would be left undone.

You know what, in most cases and scenarios that’s true. Billions of people on this earth are not dependent on you. But here’s where it isn’t true, in the Kingdom of God. In the Kingdom no one is indispensable. In the Kingdom no one doesn’t matter. In the Kingdom your presence and your involvement always make a difference. If you don’t come on Sunday, someone misses you and wonders. If you don’t contribute, yours along with other’s unfaithfulness will cause a decision to have to be made concerning a ministry. When you opted out of Restoration Weekend, you joined over 300 others to make a huge statement about the spiritual state of our church.

So you see, you do matter. You or Lou can quit baseball and nobody really cares. But when you quit in the Kingdom, the Owner of that team is . . . well disappointed doesn’t really describe how He feels.

“We all have different gifts, each of which came because of the grace God gave us.” Rom. 12:6

There are some things I wish I could do for God, but I’m just not equipped or “gifted” to do them. I think it’s important to recognize one’s gifts, or lack thereof. Paul gave some good advice to the Roman church when he said, “Have a sane estimate of your capabilities”, Rom. 12:3 (Phillips)

I have a good friend who really isn’t that great of a singer, but he gets up to sing with such confidence that it’s hard to tell him, “you know you’re really not that good”. When you teach, do people want to listen? When you administrate a meeting, do things go smoothly? When you sing, are the people blessed as you sing or only when you’re finished? Where are you truly productive? Identify that and you have most likely discovered a gift God has given you. Now use it for the Kingdom, that’s why you were given it.

Ask God to reveal to you this week the truth of your giftedness. Once you’ve identified it, you may be surprised how much easier it is to be All In for the work of the Kingdom. We need you AND your gift to do all that God is calling us as a church to do.

“He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths
of righteousness for His name’s sake.”
Ps. 23:3

He did not restore my past; but He restored my innocence. He cannot restore one’s physical virginity; but He can restore one’s purity. He will not restore my lost youth; but He will use me to save the youth of my church. There was a full house in the sanctuary yesterday. There were full altars at the close of the service. The invitation included the caveat not to come down to pray for someone else, come only to pray for yourself. So the altar was full of “seekers”. Some purity was restored. Some found acceptance from God. Some heard the voice of God in their hearts. Some finally decided who Jesus is going to be to them, for real.

If you are one of those who sacrificed your time in the sanctuary, went to church downstairs, and prayed for our young people, thank you so very much; God heard your prayer! If you are a parent of a young person and you saw your son or daughter go forward, seize this opportunity to talk with them about their commitment. If your young person didn’t go forward, it’s still a good time to have a conversation about the questions that were asked in the message.

We invested a Sunday morning in young men and women whom God loves and needs to use to build His Kingdom. How thankful we must be for each and every one of them! I cannot know how many, but I know in my heart that this morning there are some young hearts All In for Christ who weren’t 48 hours ago. “The harvest is past, the summer is ending”, and we have more saved than before.

“If I only knew then, what I know now . . . ”

No it’s not scripture but it’s timeless truth. Is there even one among us over the age of 40 who hasn’t thought this, who hasn’t wished you knew at the age of 16 what you know now? The wisest human being to have ever lived, at least in God’s estimation, King Solomon said that life just continually repeats itself.

“Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before.”
Ecc. 3:15

What are you supposed to do with your life? How many of us went to college knowing what we were supposed to do with the rest of our lives? 50% of us? How many of us ever thought that there wasn’t anything special about us? How many of us led ourselves to believe that it didn’t really matter what we wound up doing with our lives? How old were you when you seriously considered what God’s plan for your life might be?

Do you remember what peer pressure felt like? Do you remember that awkward feeling, just wishing you could blend in with the others? How many of us were the exception, meaning the kid who stood up against the crowd, went against the flow? The best, I mean the very best of us, have felt the temptation to do what everyone else seemed to be doing. What would it have meant to you if someone had taken you to the side and encouraged you to be true to yourself?

It’s easy to say that young people should remain morally pure when you’ve been married for 39 years. But dial it back, return to the mindset of a teenager, remember all those times when you just wanted to be accepted, be loved, the truth is sexual temptation was there, every day. How does a young man or a young woman today turn aside from all of the seductive suggestions of a media world that seems bent on pulling them down?

They can probably all remember at least one VBS song about Jesus. They’ve heard Sunday School teachers and preachers talk about Him for years. They may even have Christian music on their iPods. But when it comes right down to it, does Jesus make a big difference to them? Did they get saved and that’s that?

We can’t sit them all down individually and talk them through such things. But we can begin praying today that each of them will hear, will feel the Spirit this coming Sunday morning. If you’ll do that, then you are part of God’s family.

“If they could be made God’s people by what they did,
God’s gift of grace would not really be a gift.”
Romans 11:6

He sat in my office and declared himself “unworthy”. His life was a mess. Turmoil barely describes it. A second marriage on the rocks. “I wasn’t the Christian man my wife has needed me to be.” “I’ve been something I never thought I’d be.” The devil has been defeating him with the same temptation over and over again. And then he said something so important. “I don’t have the will power to defeat this.” You could almost hear the devil say “oh no”, Satan winced, hell groaned. Because now this man was ready for grace and help and mercy and all the things that only come as gifts from God.

Where will your struggle come from today? Will it be a personal issue? Money matters? Marriage struggle? Kid junk? Here’s the deal, you don’t have enough will power to win the battle by will power alone. You’re going to need a gift from God, a gift of grace or patience or wisdom or discernment or the strength of the Holy Spirit. But it’s His gift to give. Ask Him, ask Him for it early in the day, anticipating your need.

He’s not a heavenly Santa Claus; but He loves to give to His children. Confess that you need His help (swallow hard and confess it) and then ask humbly as a son or daughter asks a Father. It could turn a potentially horrible day into a day you’ll remember as a day when God reached into your life in a very special way.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
all your soul, and all your mind.”
Mt. 22:37

They may deny it, but look deep enough into someone’s heart and you’ll find that they desire true meaning for their life. “What is the purpose for my life, why am I here?” is a question that I believe everyone asks themselves at some point. Some search for that meaning in a career and there are some very noble careers. My son-in-law is a doctor, wonderful vocation, but hardly the justification for his existence. I once read that there’s a difference between a human “doing” and a human “being”. Who you are is not what you do. If you think it is, then you’ll probably do “it” a lot because without your work you’ll have no identity.

Others say what they are is what they have. So they find meaning in a new car or new house or new clothes or new technological gadgets. Such people are great for the economy but bad for the budget as they’re constantly seeking their meaning in the next thing to own. Others find their meaning in sports or sex or cults or academics, whatever, you name it and it will just be one more mirage in the desert of life’s search for purpose for being here.

Truth: if we do not settle that we are here for one reason and one alone which is directly tied to God’s will for us, we end up being just one more wreckage on the coral reefs of Vanity Island.

Jesus told us why we’re here and how to express it in the scripture above. Do well today, sell, create, win, convince, laugh, heal, organize, merge, etc. etc. etc. But do not forget the real purpose for even your being alive today.

Here we are in the valley of summer, that awful period between the Marion County Fair and the Popcorn Festival. OSU football is still way off. The Cubs stink out loud. And it’s really hard to get excited about the big World Cup game between Kazhakisjanistan and Ghhhaaannnaswana.

Where’s the excitement? Where are the thrills going to come from? What’s to get jacked up about? Who do we root for, besides Elin’s divorce lawyer?

Hurray the government said I can own a gun! Wait a minute, weren’t we given that right 234 years ago?

Well if there’s not all that much to cheer about in your life right now, try thinking about your next life. The one where there will be no tears, where children who died young will be embraced again by mom and dad, where words like blind and crippled and deaf won’t mean anything, where divorces are forgotten, along with all other betrayals. That life where they need no lamp or sun for the Light of the world will be always shining. Think about homecomings and banquets set for those who have won their crowns and crystal flowing rivers and trees and life, life the way it was meant to be.

And if you’re not into cheering, maybe you could just back away from all your “important” thoughts, and at least say thank you to the God who will have it all waiting for you there, in that life.

“Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” . . . “Whoever seeks Me with his whole heart will find Me” . . . “Whosoever surrenders, wins!”

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”

That’s the question Paul asked and then answered; he said no we shall conquer whatever may try to separate us from the love of Christ. Perhaps the more appropriate question for you is this one. “Who or what will you allow to separate you from the love of Christ?”

Did you notice that in Romans 8 Paul didn’t say that nothing can separate us. He said he’s convinced that nothing will be able to separate us. It is language that sounds to me like there’s an unmentioned element to the equation. Death can separate me but I will not allow it to do so. I can be turned against God in unbearable grief but I will not allow it. A broken heart can separate me, make me feel totally removed from even God’s love. But I refuse to allow the pain inflicted upon me by man or woman to conceal from my heart the love of God which is ever reaching out to me. It’s a matter of resolve, not mind over matter. Because as a matter of fact some things really hurt and wound and scar. But resolve resides deep inside of my soul where it cannot be reached by any outside forces. It can only be changed from within and I will not allow it.

What is it that’s trying to separate you from the love of Christ in your life today? Look to what you have resolved and do not allow it to be changed. Not today, speak not for all of the tomorrows, but not today!!!!!

I pray today for all of you who are resolved to be loved by God.

“I have learned the secret of being happy at any time
in everything that happens.”
Phil. 4:12

This is one of those verses that makes me feel very inadequate. If this was the final exam, I’d probably fail it three days out of seven. I’m better at the King James Version which talks about being content; I’m much better at being content than happy.

Look into Paul’s prison cell, do you see him? Bent over, frail-looking, shackled to a guard. There he is, the great apostle Paul. Dead broke, no family, no property, not much health left. He doesn’t look like much does he? At times his self-description wasn’t too impressive, “worst sinner in history” and “what a miserable man I am”. And yet after the pause, after a little bit of self-pity, he writes, “I thank God for saving me through Jesus Christ our Lord”, Rom. 7:25.

So go ahead and take a minute or two to feel bad about yourself. Throw the pity party for another minute. Then slap yourself. You are saved through Jesus Christ. Or are you? If not, then go ahead and let the pity party go on a whole lot longer. But if you are saved, it’s going to be a good day.