Is that egg on your face?

May 21 has come and gone and the rapture did not take place! In case you were unaware, Harold Camping, California Bible teacher and owner of Family Radio International said that it would happen last Saturday at 5:59 PM. I blogged on this earlier this year, but I felt like I should write this follow-up piece to emphasize why this is so dangerous.

When these 'predictions' get this kind of publicity and then fail to happen, instead of just discrediting the false prophet who wrongly predicted it, it begins to discredit the idea of the rapture itself in the minds of people. Maybe that's why the Bible declares so few will be expecting Christ's return when He comes! The truth is, the rapture will one day take place and God's people will be caught away, ushering in a seven year period of great tribulation like this world has never experienced. As awful as the recent natural disasters have been, they are nothing compared with what the Bible says will happen when God's judgement is poured out on this world. We need to be ready, waiting and watching!

Today, Harold Camping has egg on his face because he ignorantly tried to predict what Jesus declared none of us can know (the exact time and day the rapture will happen), but there is a much worse case of egg on the face - and that will be found on the face of those who say the rapture will never happen!

Summer Movies

It’s mid-May, we're all getting graduation invitations in the mail every day, and that can only mean one thing: Summer movie season is upon us! There are a lot of promising offerings on the docket as well. I realize there will be a lot of sequels and reboots, but I don’t mind. Many of their predecessors were HUGE! Take for instance the Pirates franchise. Johnny  is back in the Caribbean on stranger tides. The original Pirates has found a place on my all-time favorites list. I didn’t care much for the two sequels that followed but this summer’s forth installment promises to be a reboot, ditching Orlando and Kiera’s characters and focusing primarily on the true star of the show - Captain Jack Sparrow! 

Another reboot will be X-men: First Class. It’s more of a prequel than a sequel - demonstrating how the group of mutants got their start. The trailer reveals the setting is within the context of the 1960’s Kennedy era. It should make for a very interesting story line and James McAvoy (cast as Professor Charles Xavier) is one of my favorite actors. Can’t wait to see how the X-men deal with the Cuban missile crises. (Or start it?) 

One movie on the summer line up I’m really looking forward to is J.J. Abrams’ Super 8. Abrams is one of the most brilliant young directors out there and the preview for his latest film looks like he’s taken his cues straight out of the Spielberg catalog of movie making: Serving up extra-terrestrial mayhem in a stereo-typical midwest town. Should be fun! 

Superhero films will be out in full force with Green Lantern and Captan America making their debuts. I hope they are as entertaining as this month’s Thor. (I really like it!) Captan America was one of my favorite superheros when I was growing up and I’m really glad they are keeping the film within the context of World War II and the 1940’s. 

Another original offering that I really liked that stumbled with it’s successor was the Transformers films. They’re back this summer with another effort and I sure hope it will be as well thought out as the first one and not just all eye candy. 

Last but not least is a film I have mixed feelings about: Cowboys and Aliens. I know - The premise is ridiculous! (But intriguing!) One of the things that upset me most about last summer’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was the way they tried to sneak the inclusion of aliens in. (I felt betrayed.) At least Cowboys and Aliens are letting you know up front what to expect - So I’ll give it a try! 

I’d love to hear about the movies you’re looking forward to this summer and I hope to see you at the Theater! 

What do our church services say to the unchurched?

Sometimes when attempting to apply the Scripture to our lives, I think we miss the point. I'll give you an example.

1 Corinthians 14:22-25 says, Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!” 

A lot of people will look at this passage of Scripture and see a discussion about spiritual gifts. I look at it and see God's heart for the unchurched! 

First of all, I see that in the early church, as believers met together week-to-week they were bringing the unchurched to their services. They weren't having church as a Christian 'bless-me' club, they were using their services to reach the lost! 

Secondly, it's clear that God wants us to conduct our services with the unchurched in mind! We have a tendency to think about how our services will be received by Christians, but obviously God is more concerned about those who have yet to receive Christ as their Savior. Instead of catering to the whims of those already secure in their salvation, we should structure our services to purposefully appeal to those who do not know Christ.

The motive of bringing unchurched people to our services should be to get them saved! I'm so glad our church understands that! At Crossroads, our people look at their role in our church as a partnership. They know if they will leverage their influence with the unchurched to get them to one of our services, that service will be designed to bring their friends to a decision about Christ. Every week, dozens of people receive Christ as their Savior at our services because of that partnership!

The next thing I see in this passage is that God wants to use everyone in the church to accomplish His goal of bringing the unchurched to Christ through weekly church services. Verse 24 talks about everybody prophesying. Now, I know what you're thinking: "How's that going to work? Will everyone take turns getting up on the platform and prophesying?" Our problem is with our concept of prophecy! We think that prophesying is pronouncing a word of warning or judgement. It certainly can come down to that, but the word 'prophesy' simply means to proclaim! A proclamation doesn't have to be words at all! Like the old saying goes, "Our actions speak louder than our words." God wants to use the actions of every member of the church to make a proclamation to the unchurched attending our services. What is that proclamation? Verse 25 makes it clear: The proclamation is, "God is here!" God is in our services. That fact will bring sinners to their knees in repentance and reverence saying, "God really is among you." How will they know? Because our actions will reveal it - The way we have treated them, the kindness we've shown. Remember, Romans 2:4 says it's God's kindness that leads us to repentance. Let's make godly kindness the proclamation we collectively make each weekend in our services to reach the lost!