Timothy Keller continues to be an inspiration to me.  I listened recently to a sermon he gave from Acts 20:17-37.  He made a strong point about how important it is to be committed to truth.  He used himself as an illustration so I will use myself.  If you were interested in getting to know me better and someone told you that I'm a really organized guy who loves to do 'handy-man' projects, you could believe that if you wanted to.  But it simply wouldn't be true.  In the same way, if a big part of the Christian life is getting to know God better and someone tells you that God is the conscience of the universe, you could believe that if you wanted to but it simply would not be true according to what the Bible teaches about who God is.
He then went on in the discussion about Biblical truth to point out how it will offend every one in every culture at some point.  For example, if some one from a shame and honor culture hears Jesus' teaching about turning the other cheek or about loving your enemy, they will be offended by that.  It doesn't fit with a long history of a strong cultural more of defending one's own and one's families honor.  On the other hand, when some one from this kind of culture hears the Biblical teaching about marriage and sexual morality, it resonates with them and what their cultural values are.  Now, contrast this with our western culture.  When we hear the Bibles teachings about love and justice and even the difficult challenge to love one's enemies and turn the other cheek, it resonates with us.  But the Bibles teachings on marriage and sexual morality have been judged archaic and out of touch with where we are as a culture.
The point is, the Bible is truth from and about God, his ways and his will.  It is outside of all culture and will move to reform all cultures at different points.  The question is, are willing to submit human wisdom and human cultural understanding to the wisdom of God as revealed to us in the Bible?  This certainly doesn't mean that we bash people over the head with truth, which we Christians have tended to do.  It doesn't mean that we posture ourselves in an 'us-against-them' way, which we also have tended to do.  But it is a clear call for us to 'not shrink' from engaging in a respectful dialogue within our sphere's of influence with those who place human wisdom and cultural values and popular opinion above a higher source of authority.  When we learn to understand the truth for ourselves and then let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts, then, we can 'speak the truth in love'.

In varying forms I have had this conversation many times over the course of twenty-seven years of being a pastor.  It goes something like this:  "So, you're a pastor?  Where is your church?  How big is it?"  Usually at this point in the conversation I try to remind them that it isn't 'my' church and then try to interject something humorous about the square footage of the church building where we meet.  Then the person continues, really not wanting to hear anything else from me.  "Well, I used to go to church but I find I can connect with God better out in the wilderness.  Besides, I think religion has done more harm to the world than good and I think God is basically the same in all the religions.  I think we should just live and let live."
Believe it our not these thoughts in various articulations are pretty common these days in our culture.  Fuzzy notions about who or what God is abound.
I find it fascinating how current the apostle Paul's speech on Mars Hill is.  It is found in Acts 17:22-34.  In it he puts forth a very clear description of God that clarifies and corrects much of this fuzzy thinking.  He basically makes five related points about the God of the Bible:
1.  God is a revealing being so that it is possible to have real knowledge OF God, not just knowledge ABOUT God.
2.  God is a living, personal being, not an inanimate, impersonal force.
3.  God is the self-existent Creator, not a dependent creation.
4.  God is the transcendent King of the universe and the immanent sustainer of it.
5.  God a a present and a righteous judge, not an indifferent or even doting grandfather.
I find these thoughts to be helpful in my personal journey and in giving me direction in more conversations I hope to have with people about the God in whom I believe.
A related subject is the issue about our reason, for humanities reason for being on this earth.  The Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it this way:  "What is the chief end of man-kind?"  Good question!  The answer:  "To glorify God and enjoy Him forever."  The understanding of God articulated above gives greater meaning to this answer.  How people think about God and how people think about the reason for their existence will say a great deal about how they go about living their lives.

Dylan William (last name withheld for privacy reasons), born August 7, 2015.  Died, August 23, 2015.  A memorial service was held last Thursday in Idaho Springs.  Clear Creek Neighborhood church hosted the service for Dylan's family.
I learned the night of the service that his parents were big Bob Dylan fans.  Their son was actually named for him.  A kind of theme emerged around one of Dylan's famous songs, "Forever Young".  I am a big Bob Dylan fan as well,  and it brought a smile to my face to hear this song playing.  
The opening stanza goes like this:  "May God bless and keep you always, May your wishes all come true.  May you always do for others, And let others do for you.  May you build a ladder to the stars, And climb on every rung.  May you stay forever young."  Bob Dylan.
The little infant weighed less than a pound when he was born and almost two pounds when he died.  A brief life like his raises all sorts of questions in our minds, most of which don't have an answer, at least not ones that make any sense right in the moment of grief.
One of the Churches great historic statements of faith says, "From all eternity and by the completely wise and holy purpose of his own will, God has freely and unchangeably ordained whatever happens."
Lots of passages from the Bible support this statement.  If you are interested, check out Romans 11:33 and Ephesians 1:11 and let's talk.
In the face of an event like Dylan Ellington's brief life, I grant you this is not an easy pill to swallow.  Questions about the love and goodness of God scream out of the depth of our pain.  They also screamed out of the depth of King Davids pain (Psalm 13) and the prophet Jeremiah (Lamentation 3) and the apostle Paul (II Cor. 1:8-11).  Most significantly they screamed out of the depths of Jesus' pain (Matt. 27:45-46).
I have come to the conclusion--and not easily I might add--that it is at precisely these moments, when we don't understand what he is up to, that God is asking us to simply trust him.  Maybe that is why Jesus said to become like a little child.  Children know more about trust than grown ups.  Maybe that is the deeper wisdom in Bob Dylan's words, "May you stay forever young."

We were in a conversation with a person from our community.  She knows I am a pastor.  She professes to believe in Jesus.  In the conversation we had she asked me what I preached about this past Sunday at the United Church.  I said, "I preached about idols."  Her reaction almost made me smile because it was obvious that what she initially thought about when she heard the word 'idol' is more than likely what most of us think about when we hear that word.  We think about something like a statue or like the golden calf fashioned by the Hebrews when they grew impatient waiting for Moses to come down from Mt. Sinai.  But idols are much more complex and pervasive than this.  And as we continued to talk it was also clear she hadn't thought much about how idolatry can be a real issue even with the absence of so called 'graven images'.
As my friend and pastor, Bill Senyard says, "Idols are anything that you run to instead of the living God to give you value, worth, meaning, joy, rest, intimacy and life.  They are anything that you allow to measure your value, your identity, your success, your sense of being right or your honor."  Money, power, performance, approval, comfort, control, recreation, physical fitness, physical appearance all are examples of good things that can become ultimate things.
We can get at what our idols are by pondering a few questions:  1)What is my greatest nightmare?  What do I worry about most?  2)What do I rely on or comfort myself with when things go badly or become difficult?  3)What makes me feel the most self-worth?  What am I the most proud of?
The process of even thinking about this challenging subject can be of value in terms of more regularly turning our hearts toward our Lord.  It certainly will be part of the life long struggle we have against the 'world, the flesh and the devil.'
Knowing our need is a great place to be, actually.  Pleading for the power of the Holy Spirit with an open heart and mind will move us toward a more God dependent and God centered sense of being.

We are continuing to 'talk' our way through the book of Acts.  I'm amazed the number of times in these early chapters (we were on chapter 11 this week) that reference is made to 'large numbers' being added to the church.  Twice in the narrative--11:19-30--this is mentioned:  11:20-21: "...and the hand of the Lord was with them and a large number who believed turned to the Lord..."  And then again in 11:24: "...considerable numbers were brought to the Lord..."
As we continue to pray and dream about what could happen in Clear Creek County and ask for the Holy Spirit, I pondered what would happen if all of a sudden "considerable numbers were brought to the Lord."  I'm not sure we have the 'disciplers' in place to offer the nurture and training but I pray that is a challenge we have to face.
May there be conversions in our wake as we go about living our lives in our part of the world and may that be true for you as well.

During my doctrinal oral exam one of the questions we could anticipate was related to salvation.  We were told the question could take the form of something like this:  "In what aspect are you saved?"  And in our preparation I remember one person saying that a good answer would be this:  "I am saved.  I am being saved.  And I will be saved."  Romans 8:28-30 supports this view.
If the words 'saved' and  'converted' are synonymous, and I believe they are, then the narrative in Acts 10 gives us an account of one person being saved (converted) in the past tense of the word.  And one person being saved (converted) in the present tense of the word.
Cornelius is a religious God-fearer who is being relentlessly and mercifully pursued by God.  The coming of the Holy Spirit on him (Acts 10:44 ff) and his subsequent baptism confirm his conversion at a point in time.
Peter on the other hand is the example of one who is being saved, being converted.  Think of the revolutionary change in his perspective that took place as a result of his vision in Acts 10:9-16.  And then his amazing statement to Cornelius in vs. 28: "...God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean..." (NIV) That is the progressive nature of conversion as God continues to work on our hearts to expand them to love as he loves.  There are other ways this expansion takes place.  But the crucial one is in our love for those who we at one time or another considered un-loveable.

I heard that Donald Trump is running for president.  It will be an interesting presidential election campaign!!
I suspect that many strong opinions exist about someone like Donald Trump.  He is a very public person and a person of strong opinions himself and great financial success.  I also suspect that not many of us reading these words have actually met Donald Trump.  I want us to play a little game together to illustrate a point.  Suppose that you are a person who has never met Donald Trump and you have formed some very strong opinions about what kind of person he might be.  You consider him to be arrogant, selfish, egotistical and filled with pride.  But then imagine that your car is broken down on the side of a busy freeway and Donald Trump just happens to come by.  For some reason he is by himself and not being driven around in a stretch limo and he stops and very kindly, unselfishly and humbly helps you.  Do you suppose your opinion of him would change?  Mine would and that would be a conversion of sorts.  We would be changed.  We would have a radically different view of this person than the one we had created in our minds based on what we had seen in the press.
This picture ran through my mind as I was reading about the conversion of Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9.  Think about the view of God he had built in his mind.  God was distant, cold, angry.  And then he had a personal encounter with the living Lord Jesus and he was literally knocked to the ground.  He was converted.  
Not all conversions are as dramatic as this.  But it at least must start  when the gods we have created in our own image come face to face with the living and true God revealed in His Son Jesus.
Regeneration, the new birth, being born again is solely and in the first place a work of God through the Holy Spirit.  But I suspect that because of the reality of the day to day struggle with the power of sin in the world and in our own hearts that there are daily, even moment by moment conversions that need to take place as the gods of our own making discover how weak they are in comparison to the living God of creation.