I spend more time reading Internet comments than is probably healthy.  There’s some sick pleasure about going to a random YouTube video and seeing how the comments quickly descend into inane arguments about Obama, Miley Cyrus, the Illuminati, or good ol’ racial slurs.  Who says the Age of Enlightenment is over?
I’m especially intrigued when the comments circle around matters of faith.  Sometimes, people present well-reasoned, thoughtful questions while other times, people just start talking about a flying spaghetti monster and insult your mother – and those are the so-called Christians!  But I remember one comment that distinctly stood out to me.  The commenter said, “How can Christians read the same book over and over again and not go crazy?  That is the definition of insanity.”
The commenter did have a point.  While the definition of insanity isn’t necessarily rote repetition, I can understand why someone might view doing the same thing over and over again fruitlessly as a sign of dementia.  But the key word in that statement is “fruitlessly.”  While I’ve read the entire Harry Potter series probably over a dozen times and the Lord of the Rings series nearly 20 times (as I’ve mentioned before, I was really popular in high school), none of these books have ever bettered my life, changed my heart, or helped me love my God and people more.
As Christians, we believe the Bible is the living Word of God – that God literally speaks to His people through the words written on these pages.  And I can personally testify to this truth – the times that God has spoken reassurances and peace to my heart through His promises in the Word, the times that God has revealed His heart to me through stories of His interaction with people throughout history, the times that God has challenged me and made me open my eyes to His truths.  Even reading the same exact verse but at a different time in life, I can hear God speaking different insights that I never had before.  This is the living Word of God.  This is how we draw nearer to our Father and grow in understanding of His character.  But we rarely seek out God’s word with that in mind.
My son loves the Disney movie “Cars” more than anything in this world and has about 100 toy cars to prove it.  He sleeps with cars, takes baths with cars, needs to have a car to ride in the car (how meta), will only eat with cars on the table next to him, cries for his cars when they’re not near.  And when you turn on the movie?  Oh boy, get out of his way.  Even though he’s watched it more times than I’ve read Harry Potter and the Hobbit combined (again, I did have friends in high school), he still loves it and never gets bored. In fact, he can watch the same scene over and over and he’ll still react the same way he did the first time he saw it.  I believe the reason my son can do this is because he really and truly loves “Cars.”  Randomly walking around the house, I can often hear him muttering to himself “I love cars.”  This is not a joke!  And this is why he can watch the same movie again and again – and not be qualified as insane.
If we had the same enthusiasm for Jesus as my son did for “Cars”, we would also approach the Bible with the same kind of excitement and joy we did when we were first saved.  Instead of approaching our quiet times or our Bible studies as something we “have” to do or an obligation to fulfill for the day, what would our spiritual lives look like if we loved the Word as much as we say we love our God?  If we truly believed that the Bible is God’s living Word to us, then reading it every day isn’t an exercise in repetition – it’s visiting with our friend and Savior, and seeing what new truth He has to say to us today.  So, call me crazy if you want, but I want to read my Bible every day.  Harry Potter will have to wait.

From Pastor David’s Heart
September 28, 2014

Today we wrap up the study of the book of Jonah, which we’ve been going through for the past four Sundays.  I do not know about you, but I enjoyed preaching from it immensely,  a delightful departure from the study of the two Pauline Epistles (Colossians and Philippians) that we’ve previously spent close to six months on.   While preparing my sermon, I came across the following funny story, which many of you may already have heard:

A lady on a plane was reading her Bible. The man sitting next to her gave a little chuckle and asked, "You don't really believe all that stuff in there, do you?"
"Of course I do. It is the Bible," the lady replied.
"Well, what about that guy that was swallowed by that big fish?" he asked.
"Oh, Jonah... Yes, I believe that, too. It is in the Bible," she replied.
"Well, how do you suppose he survived all that time inside the fish?" he asked.
"Well, I don't really know. I guess when I get to heaven, I will ask Jonah," said the lady.
"What if he isn't in heaven?" the man asked sarcastically.
"Then YOU can ask him." replied the lady! 

On a more serious note, the story of Jonah is one of the most ridiculed Bible accounts by people who consider themselves intellectual and sophisticated.  Some ‘Christian liberals’ have attempted to ‘solve’ the problem by saying that  it is not to be taken as actual history, but only as a parable to convey a hidden meaning.  I disagree with this stand for the following reasons:
While the authors of the Bible did use parables, whenever they did, they always said so or made it evident in the context, which is not the case with the book of Jonah.  In addition, Jonah was an actual prophet who is also mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25, and the book of Nahum also records God’s prophecy against the wickedness of the people of Nineveh. 
More importantly, Jesus Christ himself accepted the account as true:
[Jesus] answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the Prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matt. 12:39-40)
In fact Jesus compared Jonah’s experience to His own impending death and resurrection, pointing out the factual and miraculous nature of both!   Thus, to deny the historicity of Jonah’s story is to charge Jesus Christ to be either deceptive (using Jonah as an example, knowing he was only a fictional character) or ignorant (not knowing Jonah was a fictional character), either of which is denying Jesus’ deity.  And the notion that we can accept the miracle of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ without believing the miraculous account of Jonah is absurd.  Either we believe the Bible to be 100% true and inerrant or we don’t believe the Bible at all, for “all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…” (2 Tim. 3:16) 
Then how do we explain the story of Jonah?  There is little question that it was a miracle performed by God, just like the other miracles in the Bible and many miracles that still happen around the world today.  We may be ridiculed for believing the Bible in its entirety, but once we confess our faith in the resurrected Christ, we should expect it to come with the territory. Since that faith saves us from going to hell, we should be willing to be ridiculed for it as well!

From Pastor Sara’s Heart
January 26, 2014