Wise people amaze me.

And no I am not talking about the wise guy mafia type. But rather the type of wisdom that comes from Pastors and other godly people God puts in your life.
Because Jessica and I live 700 miles apart we were not able to meet with my hometown Pastor for our first premarital counseling session in person but had to do it over a conference call. The conference call was a bit strange but I was soon swept away by the power and enlightenment of my pastors counseling. His name is Joe Novenson and I highly recommend that you listen to some of his sermons. It will enrich your life.

This link should take you to some of his sermon.
Click on www.lmpc.org
Click on Sermons
Click on Sermon Library

Hearing a good sermon is like getting a shot of epinephrin. It awakens my heart, it gets my blood moving and gives me life. When the day or the week has siphoned off my tank, a good sermon can fill me back up and empower me for Christ.
Thank the Lord for the people He has appointed to bring us the good news!

I listened to a sermon from one my other favorite pastors today. Rankin Wilbourne of First Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga. He is an associate pastor there and not much older than me. When I used to live in Chattown I would go to Wednesday night services there. (Whats up with that "d" in Wednesday? Why is it there?)

The sermon I listened to today opened a series on the "Parables" starting with Mark 4:1-20.
He starts out by mentioning the bumper sticker, "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven" And we all say Amen to that ...
but is that all there is when it comes to being a Christian? That eternal life comes down to being "just forgiven"?
He then goes on to quote a leading pastor today who laments that Christians today are weak, the church may be growing but that church goers are all too often indistinguishable from the world.

In Romans it says, confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and you will be saved.
Rankin is arguing here that our confession with our mouth means nothing if we dont belive in our heart. He then goes on throughout the sermon by looking at Mark 4 what it means to believe in your heart.
In a way of answering that he looks at the central theme to all of Jesus' parables.

How much do you hear of the Kingdom of God? Not much, its not in our vocabulary much but it was the main focus of Jesus' ministry and his parables. This Kingdom pervades in everything he says and does. Starting his ministry Jesus claims in Mark 1:15 "The time has come, the kingdom of God is near. Repent and Believe the good news!"

Rankin gave this definition to Kingdom of God. His kingdom, his rule, is where He wants done is done. That is a pretty basic definition but it centers on the main point. Dallas Willard says that the Kingdom of God is the eternal kind of life now available to us.

Jesus' life, death and resurrection makes possible our living into the life and heart of God.
Christianity is not just about what happens to us when we die but an invitation to live in Him RIGHT NOW! Eternal Life has already started!
John 17:3 says "This is eternal life, that they might know God and Jesus Christ he has sent."
I loved this because we dont stress enough what it means to live in God day in day out. We don't consider that we already have eternal life!
This takes me to a quote from a book I've been reading, "Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church":

"All of us live in some sense of story or other, and the most important thing is to live in God's story, the story-line of the Bible itself. The gospel of the Kingdom invites us into a large, all encompassing story; the stories of Adam and Eve, Israel, and the church were always intended to be lived in. Living there is a huge privilege. Choosing to live outside Gods story has serious ramifications (a wasted life and hell come immediately to mind.)"

The Christian Message is not just about what happens at death, its not just about sin. Its not just about confession. It is about life! All too often we've reduced our Christian life to Sin Management.
Instead we need to be TRANSFORMED by living out the Kingdom of God: To care about what God cares about.

Rankin goes on to really delve into Mark 4:2-20. I could go on paraphrasing Rankin's sermon but I know it doesnt compare to hearing it yourself. I simply wanted to pass on a few pearls of wisdom.

This is my last pearl. In talking about Mark 4:7, "Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain." Jesus interprets his own parable referring to the seed among the thorns and says "Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceifulness of wealth, and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful."

Ranking gives a John Piper quote from his book "Hunger for God" in reference to Mark 4:7. (Bear with me, its long but good)

"The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie.
It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for Heaven but endless nibbling at the table of the world.
It is not the x-rated video but the prime time dribble of triviality we drink in every night.
The greatest adversary in loving God is not His enemies but His gifts.
And the most deadly appetites are not from the poison of evil but from the simple pleasures - for when these replace an appetite for God the idolatry is scarcely recognizable and almost incurable."

WOW! Epinephrin Shot right there! Convicting. So how do we avoid this? How do we produce fruit? Repent and BELIEVE in your Heart and Live into the eternal life, and the heart of God.