tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12289895958717500232024-02-08T08:29:16.179-08:00LIVING WORSHIPAn invitation to pursue and get to know the One who created you.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-37681120568081154332016-10-12T09:39:00.000-07:002016-10-12T11:29:13.689-07:00America's Untimely Descent and Ultimate Hope<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Not many months from now we will be listening to another
presidential inaugural address. Unless something unprecedented and
unforeseeable occurs it will likely be delivered by either Donald Trump or
Hillary Clinton. Frankly, I can't even begin to imagine what might be said to the American people (and the world) by either individual, that will be received as remotely
credible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Contrast John F. Kennedy's inaugural speech, which has all but faded into the distant corridors of history:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">"In the long history of the world, only a few
generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of
maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility--I welcome it. I do
not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any
other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this
endeavor will light our country and all who serve it--and the glow from that
fire can truly light the world.</span></i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what
your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.</span></i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">"My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what
America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of
man. </span></i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">"Finally, whether you are citizens of America
or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength
and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward,
with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we
love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's
work must truly be our own."</span></i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: "ms mincho";"> </span></i><b><span style="font-family: "times";">(</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "times";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">John F.
Kennedy: "Inaugural Address," January 20, 1961. Online by
Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, <i>The American Presidency Project</i>.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=8032.)</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "ms mincho"; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Fifty-five years later we find
ourselves embroiled in a societal conflict neither our founding fathers nor, more recently, those
few left from "The Greatest Generation" could </span><span style="font-size: 21.33333396911621px;">have ever</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> conceived in their darkest dreams. We face a threat infinitely more dire than that of communism of the 60's and 70's or the terrorism of the 21st Century. It is the unraveling of the American Dream. Simply put, the word
'<i>freedom</i>' no longer stands for what most Americans understood for more than 200 years: the </span></span><u style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16pt;">obligation</u><span style="font-family: "times";"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">
to uphold </span></span><u style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16pt;">moral responsibility</u><span style="font-family: "times";"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> while pursuing life, liberty and
happiness. Today '<i>freedom</i>' means the complete casting off of all restraint, as
has been so aptly demonstrated by our current presidential candidates.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Our founding fathers understood this danger all too well:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">John Adams</span></i></b><i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;"> in a speech to the
military in 1798 warned his fellow countrymen stating, “We have no government
armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by
morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and
religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 15.5pt;">Benjamin Rush</span></i></b><i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 15.5pt;">, Signer
of the Declaration of Independence said. “The only foundation for a useful
education in a republic is to be aid in religion. Without this there can
be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is
the object and life of all republican governments. Without religion,
I believe that learning </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">does real mischief to the morals
and principles of mankind.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Noah Webster</span></i></b><i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">,</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 19.0pt;"> </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">author of
the first American Speller and the first Dictionary</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 19.0pt;"> </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">said,
“The Christian religion, in its purity, is the basis, or rather the source of
all genuine freedom in government. . . . and I am persuaded that no civil
government of a republican form can exist and be durable in which the
principles of that religion have not a controlling influence.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Benjamin Franklin</span></i></b><i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">, Signer
of the Declaration of Independence “Only a virtuous people are capable of
freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">John Jay</span></i></b><i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 19.0pt;">, </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Original
Chief-Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court , “The Bible is the
best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy
in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate
your life by its precepts.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16pt;">We are fools for not heeding their warning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16pt;">We have become a nation of adulterers, infatuated
with and celebrating all kind of sexual perversion. We are lawless, pursuers of
wealth and self-gratification at all cost. We have chosen to ignore the lessons
of history, having postured ourselves dangerously close to what is
described in Psalm 2, </span><i style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16pt;">"The kings of the earth rise up and the
rulers band together against the Lord and against his
anointed, saying, 'Let us break their chains and throw off their
shackles.' The One enthroned in heaven laughs the Lord scoffs at
them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his
wrath, saying, 'I have installed my king on Zion, my holy
mountain.”</i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16pt;"> In our blindness we have become the poster child for Revelation
3:17, </span><i style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16pt;">"You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a
thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind
and naked.”</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16pt;">It seems the great Question of the hour is “Clinton
or Trump?” I stand aghast wondering how I can vote for either one of these individuals
who have betrayed the principles good American men and women have given
their lives to uphold. <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "times";"><span style="font-size: 21.33333396911621px;">In the midst of the fracas I listen desperately for the voices of <i>any</i> individuals thrust into national leadership who, like JFK, have been entrusted with carrying on America's great legacy. They seem ominously silent.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Dear friends we stand, I believe, on the threshold
of judgement. Divine judgement certainly, but judgement as well from the
millions of Americans who paid the ultimate sacrifice with their very blood and
lives in order that we might carry on the great Dream our founding fathers
envisioned. Their voices cry out from the grave for justice. Justice that may well come
in the form of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">As the great Christian advocate C.S. Lewis wrote, <i>“There
are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will
be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be
done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could
be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss
it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.” </i>(Lewis, C.S.; <u>The
Great Divorce</u>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Sadly, we seem to have chosen. The question is, will we humble ourselves, admit our sinful behavior
and return to the godly, Biblical principles on which this nation
was founded; or will we be driven there, broken by calamity?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Perhaps there is still time.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Edmund Burke, the great 18th Century political activist and American
advocate is credited with saying, “</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #131313; font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The only thing necessary for the triumph of
evil is for good men to do nothing</span></i><span style="color: #131313; font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">.” I
believe this is the greatest temptation we face in America today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #131313; font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">No doubt many will be tempted to abstain
from their constitutional right to vote on November 8. I admit I’m fighting
this inclination myself. It would be a grave mistake to do so, however. Instead
I choose to look beyond the rhetoric and media circus and will do everything I
can to discover where the candidates stand on real issues. I will identify the
candidate I believe most closely agrees with the course charted by our founding
fathers - a course I happen to wholly embrace - and I will vote accordingly. If no such person becomes apparent, I will ask for Divine wisdom and guidance at the moment of decision.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #131313; font-family: "times";"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">I </span><span style="font-size: 21.33333396911621px;">will</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> also continue to pray and plead for God's mercy on our land. It is our ultimate hope.</span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-5892004159074342762010-11-25T07:55:00.000-08:002010-11-25T08:02:46.792-08:00How, then, do we live?<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> <style>@font-face { font-family: "Tahoma"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; color: black; }h5 { margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-weight: bold; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }em { }p { margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 8pt; font-family: Tahoma; color: black; }span.Heading5Char { font-weight: bold; }span.vref { }span.BalloonTextChar { font-family: Tahoma; color: black; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.<span style=""> </span>No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.<span style=""> </span>In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: right; font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">-Jesus of Nazareth</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">“So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: right; font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">-Paul (Formerly Saul of Tarsus)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Last year the sports/entertainment industry was rocked by yet another individual who had the doors of his private life opened wide for all to see. After the shocking revelation of multiple mistresses, this sports icon retreated from the public eye to undergo therapy and counseling. A year later he was back in the game doing what he has always done best, and the crowds continue to follow him enthusiastically, his misconduct seemingly forgotten. Four years ago an influential spiritual leader with international acclaim confessed to having visited a gay massage therapist numerous times and engaged in sexual immorality. Amid heartbreak and turmoil, this brother stepped down from his roles as senior pastor of a large mega-church and president of a well-known interdenominational evangelical organization. Today he is in the pastoral ministry once again. He leads a church he began in his barn last spring after admitting publicly to ‘over-confessing’ his behavior of four years ago. From all accounts the church is packed every Sunday and continues to grow. I make no judgment on either of these men. I relate these stories because they – and scores like them – dangerously erode our faith in the law of reaping and sowing. This ‘erosion’ has a profound effect on who we are and how we live as disciples of Jesus Christ and function as His Church.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">When we observe those we admire – including religious leaders and organizations – ignoring (and even at times promoting) ungodliness, we are tempted to feel no burden of responsibility to live our lives any differently. Our natural, human tendency is to conclude, ‘if those we trust as leaders fall and still thrive with no apparent consequences, why should we attempt to live any differently?’ This is a dangerous undercurrent in our thoughts we must learn to guard against. Men fail. They always have and always will. Moses, in anger, murdered an Egyptian soldier. King David had an adulterous affair with Bathsheba. There are always consequences, even if it appears on the surface to be otherwise.<span style=""></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style=""></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""></span>In Galatians 6, Paul writes, “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.<span style=""> </span>For we are each responsible for our own conduct. Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them.<span style=""> </span>Don’t be misled – you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always reap what you sow. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone – especially to those in the family of faith.” There are five directives in this passage we will explore this week which, if we carry them out, we will reap the benefit, rather than the negative consequences from the law of sowing and reaping; appropriately helping those overcome by sin’, ‘sharing one another’s burdens’, ‘paying careful attention to our own work’, ‘sharing all good things with each other’, and ‘persevering in doing what is good!’</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">“If another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.” <span style=""> </span>Are we at times guilty of the opposite? Do we judge, gossip, criticize and throw stones? Do we compare our own righteousness with that of others and smugly, in our hearts, adopt the very attitude of the Pharisee Jesus warned about, who prayed, “I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I don’t commit adultery?” There are a number of possible causes for this wholly carnal attitude: another person’s failure elevates our own sense of ‘righteousness’; we don’t want to trouble ourselves with the effort it sometimes takes to restore a brother or sister; we simply don’t know how to approach someone who has fallen into sin, etc. These are poor excuses! Perhaps the biggest reason we often fail to help a struggling brother or sister is that it takes a great investment of time and energy to become involved in the lives of others in a way that directs them to Christ. We are usually so consumed with own affairs, we take little time to give heartfelt, prayerful thought to what others might be going through.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">The antidote for our lack of involvement and self-absorption is compassion and mercy. These two words occur over seventy times in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the words of the prophet Micah ring out, “O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Jesus came into this world because of the Father’s love for us. Oswald Chamber’s writes, “When we are born again we are brought into the realization of God’s great purpose for the human race, namely, that He created us for Himself. This realization of our election by God is the most joyful on earth, and we must learn to rely on this tremendous creative purpose of God. The first thing God will do is force the interests of the whole world through the channel of our hearts. The love of God, and even His very nature, is introduced into us. And we see the nature of Almighty God purely focused in John 3:16 – ‘For God so loved the world…’” (My Utmost For His Highest) In order to cultivate compassion and mercy, we must turn our gaze from ourselves and focus upward and outward. As Pastor Gordon so often states, “Love God, love others.” <span style=""> </span>Let’s not allow the evil one to keep us from this important part of sowing into the lives of others!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">“Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.” One of the characteristics of unconditional love is the willingness to share someone else’s burden. When we begin to identify with another person’s pain and struggles, we can then be mightily used of the Father to bring encouragement, relief and healing to that individual. In doing so, however, we must never abuse our knowledge of a situation by speaking careless words. Wikipedia defines gossip as, “idle talk or rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of others. It forms one of the oldest and most common means of sharing (unproven) facts and views, but also has a reputation for the introduction of errors and other variations into the information transmitted. The term also carries implications that the news so transmitted (usually) has a personal or trivial nature, as opposed to normal conversation.” Gossip is perhaps one of the most devastating forces in the Body of Christ. It destroys relationship, distorts truth, distracts from our mission, and brings reproach to the name of Jesus. Gossip elevates our own sense of self-importance and worth, and we inevitably become a stumbling block to the very ones we were trying to ‘help’. When we bear each others burdens, there is only One with Whom we ever need discuss it…in the prayer closet!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">“Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct.” It’s interesting to me that this directive follows on the heels of “share each others burdens” because it seems contradictory. However, I believe this speaks to another important aspect of the law of sowing and reaping. Two of the evil one’s greatest weapons against us are distraction and enticement. In the Garden, he drew Eve’s attention away from fellowship with her Creator by enticing her to consider something other than what God intended for her. He still works in the same way today. The great ‘failsafe’ in this directive is “For we are responsible for our own conduct.” Oh, that we could remember this simple truth at all times! One of the things I remember my mom saying to my brother and me quite frequently when we were young was “mind your own business!” Thinking back to the opening paragraph of this devotional, if the sports icon and the pastor had stuck to their work and ‘minded their own business’ they might not have gotten sidetracked. They were distracted and enticed. The tragedy of David and Bathsheba began similarly. Pause briefly and read I Samuel 11:1-12:13. While there’s not enough room to recount the whole story here, we can certainly read the outcome: “Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife. From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.’” Instead of doing what kings were supposed to do (“now spring was the time when kings normally go out to war”), David remained at the palace and was distracted and enticed. What he reaped as a result of his sin was turmoil within his family until the day he died, including the loss of his oldest son, Absalom. “Don’t be misled – you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always reap what you sow.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">“Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them.” I like the paraphrase of this verse found in The Message, “Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained <span style=""> </span>you, <span style=""> </span>sharing all the good things that you have and experience.” <span style=""> </span>There is an <span style=""> </span>important <span style=""> </span>principle here which is understood: learning is lifelong – for both the learner and the teacher. This is one of the wonderful benefits of sowing and reaping! Prior to entering the full-time ministry, I was a high school choral director. Over the years I had many students. One of these was a young man who, after graduating college, was hired to my previous position at Southeast High School – where he was once the student and I the teacher. Over the years we have remained close. Tommy also is a worship pastor part-time in a local church. We speak regularly, encouraging each other in the common work we share, work the Lord established for us. I ‘sowed’ into Tommy nearly 20 years ago when he was a rambunctious freshman; he now ‘sows’ into others. He also shares with me what the Lord is teaching him, and we reap the benefit from each other! This scenario is one that should happen frequently within the church. It is one of the ways koinonia (fellowship in the Holy Spirit) is designed to work. If you are not in a mentoring relationship, I encourage you to seek the Lord and allow Him to lead you into one, either as ‘mentor’ or ‘mentored.’ It will yield positive results from the law of sowing and reaping into your life!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone – especially to those in the family of faith.” This is where our will, partnered with the power of the Holy Spirit, is essential in our day-to-day lives! When we ‘tire of doing what is good’ we are prime candidates for distraction and enticement. In fact, both of these can most certainly lead to ‘weariness in well-doing.’ But we are encouraged to not give up! Imagine what would happen if a farmer, after tilling the soil and sowing the seed, became discouraged after a couple of weeks, gave up, and walked away from his fields. He wouldn’t be much of a farmer! A real farmer understands the ways of his labor: tilling, sowing, fertilizing, and weeding, while all the time watching the progress of the crops until harvest-time. There will be times when doing the right thing simply won’t be easy or feel good. It will require real patience, endurance and even sacrifice on your part. During these times we are encouraged to not give up…the harvest of blessing will come. The Apostle Paul also presents us with an afterthought: do good to everyone whenever you have the opportunity, especially those of the household of faith – brothers and sister in Christ. The church in Thessalonica must have had a good grasp on this directive. Look at what Paul writes to them in I Thessalonians 1: “We know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people. For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true. And you know of our concern for you from the way we lived when we were with you. So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Greece—throughout both Macedonia and Achaia.” What a tribute for a church congregation!<span style=""></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style=""></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""></span>The law of sowing and reaping serves as ‘guardrails’ to keep us ‘on track’ as we pursue Christ.<span style=""> </span>It is a law we should always keep in the forefront of our minds. You will always reap what you sow. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. Our ‘sinful nature’ will always seek to influence us. The role of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to empower us to live our lives above the demands of the flesh. The Father delights in empowering His children to sow in such a way that we reap His blessings in our lives!</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-11857002757016291552010-11-16T02:28:00.000-08:002010-11-25T07:55:48.682-08:00Choosing the One Best Thing<div face="georgia" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> <style>p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; color: black; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">“By prayer we enter into God’s holy temple, and penetrate at once to the throne of grace.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>Prayer is not only the shortest distance to God’s mighty throne; it is the only way in…. The veil of sense and space that hides Him within His temple-universe is suddenly removed as we pray…. We enter silently into His temple, and lo, suddenly we are before His throne…. Only there do we discover the wonder of worship, that worship is before work, and that all His works are done in a spirit of worship.”</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><div face="georgia" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">-Armin Gesswein</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Prayer is perhaps one of the most misunderstood aspects of our relationship with God. One cannot be a genuine follower of Jesus Christ and not have a living, active prayer life. Prayer – like any form of communication – takes time and discipline to incorporate it into daily living. Yet it is utterly simple! This week we will take a ‘heart-survey’ that will help us determine our status as disciples of Jesus Christ: are you progressing into spiritual maturity, or are you still a ‘babe’, able to stomach only the ‘milk’ of the Word (1 Corinthians 3:1-4). Prayer – not intellect – is what brings us to that place where we are able to digest ‘solid food:’ the undiluted Truth of God’s Word which has the power to transform our souls and “transform us into the image of the Creator” (Colossians 3). Each day this week we’ll ask ourselves a question designed to help us evaluate how we live. At the end of the week we’ll reflect on the results.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">What consumes my thoughts and my time? Jesus had three good friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (siblings), who lived in the little hamlet of Bethany, not far from Jerusalem. Luke chapter 10 tells the story: “Jesus entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him as a guest. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he said. But Martha was distracted with all the preparations she had to make, so she came up to him and said, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work alone? Tell her to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the best part; it will not be taken away from her.” A few weeks ago we learned that the Father is seeking those who would worship “in spirit and in truth” (John 4). This story sheds some light on what Jesus meant and is a wonderful example of two hearts in contrast. The truth is, Martha’s preparations were not irrelevant or meaningless. She was working to do what was ‘culturally expected;’ that is, when guests come into your home, you provide for them! To the casual observer, it probably does seem somewhat unfair that she was doing all the work while her sister sat idly by. But remember another truth we have learned: man looks at the externals, but God looks at the heart. Mary was entirely focused on Jesus, the Living Word of God, and what He was teaching. It never occurred to her to think of anything else! Martha was focused on all the externals, the things that, from the perspective of Eternity, simply don’t matter. Mary was caught up into Eternity.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">In his short booklet, The Seven Wonders of Prayer, Armin Gesswein writes, “All of God’s works are wrought in prayer. Prayer works, ‘changes things,’ because through it God works. By prayer we enter into His works. Prayer not only works, but it is work, real work – both for Him in heaven and for us on earth. If we do not learn how to pray, we shall not amount to a thing for God. For it is the one work where we behold God doing His work. There we become workers together with God. Like Christ, and with Him, it is in prayer that we must put in the real man-hours of labor. All else is easy, when we learn to labor in prayer. Christ labored in prayer to the point of sweat, tears and agony.” In it’s most simple form, prayer is communication with the Father. But the manner of prayer referred to above is a specific type of communication, more resembling a ‘business meeting around the conference table’ than ‘casual conversation around the dinner table.’ Conversation around the conference table is risky. Views and opinions are shared, respect for each other can be lost or gained, action plans are laid, work is evaluated. Walking away from the conference table, a life can be greatly altered. Conversation around the dinner table is usually light, filled with laughter and banter (at least in a healthy home). You walk away full, satisfied, but seldom giving a second thought to the discussion (unless devotions happen to be a part of the meal). Rarely does one’s life change as a result of sitting around the dinner table.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">When we pray, does it feel more like the conference table or the dinner table? Do we communicate with God with intimate knowledge of who He is, expecting great, life-changing decisions will be made? Do we see ourselves as a partner with Him, a co-worker? Or is our communication with God more like the list we used to send to Santa when we were children? In Hebrews 11 we find the words, “And those who come to God must believe that He exists, and rewards those who diligently seek Him.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">If one reads enough books on prayer, one discovers a common theme among the writers: prayer changes things; to pray is to change. Throughout my life I have prayed one thing consistently: “Lord, please never let me be satisfied with anything but Your best for my life”. This makes it pretty intense just to be around me, sometimes, as those who know me well will surely testify. But I’ve learned that to expect God’s best for my life, I have to be willing to change, to be continually transformed from the inside out. The transformation process is not an easy one. Many times, just when I think I have made some significant progress, the Lord shows me just how far I have yet to go. And yet there’s hope! Jesus said, “No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.” (John 14:18-21) Has Jesus revealed Himself to you…lately? Don’t make the mistake of thinking this was a one-time experience that took place when you accepted Him as Savior. That would be like attending a seven-course meal, but getting up and leaving after the appetizer!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""> </span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">“Then only do we engage the enemy – Satan and his forces – when we pray. There it is the battle is fought, and the real victory won. Christian work only succumbs to the enemy, [and] does not engage him or overcome his power unless we pray. It is really only in the place of prayer that we wrestle against powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places. Unless we learn to pray, we never do battle for God, or become Christ’s soldiers. The entire armor is shaped for prayer. That is the real battleground. Unless we learn to pray and wrestle there, we shall get into the wrong battle and lose – the hot battle of words and clash of personalities.” (Armen Gesswein, The Seven Wonders of Prayer). We face a real enemy whose goal is to destroy all of God’s works – especially mankind, and most especially, the Church of Jesus Christ. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look back over 2000 years of church history, including our own generation, and realize how fierce the battle rages. What amazes me is how quickly we forget who our enemy is! He uses our sin-nature to his advantage, preying on our weaknesses and our failures. He is a master at drawing our focus everywhere except where it should be: on the Lord Jesus Christ. There’s an easy test to determine who controls our attention: if ours minds and hearts focus on sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these, then the evil one is exerting a strong influence in our life; if, on the other hand, our minds and hearts are drawn to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, Christ is most certainly our center of attention. (Galatians 5)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">In his classic book, Teach Us To Pray: Learning A Little About God, Andre Louf writes, “Is Praying Difficult? A fourteenth-century Byzantine monk, who for a short time was Patriarch of Constantinople with the name Callixtus II, answers this question with the illustration of [a] lute-player. ‘The lute player bends over his instrument and listens attentively to the tune, while his fingers manipulate the plectrum (bow) and make the strings vibrate in full-toned harmony. The lute has turned into music; and the man who strums upon it is taken out of himself, for the music is soft and entrancing. Anyone who prays must set about it in the same way. He has a lute and a plectrum (bow) at his disposal. The lute is his heart, the strings of which are the inward senses. To get the strings vibrating and the lute playing he needs a plectrum (bow), in this case: the recollection of God, the Name of Jesus, the Word. Like the lute-player, [we] must listen attentively and vigilantly to [our] heart and pluck its strings (inward senses) with the Name of Jesus; until the senses open up and [our] heart becomes alert. The person who strums incessantly upon his heart with the Name of Jesus sets his heart a-singing, ‘an ineffable happiness flows into his soul, the recollection of Jesus purifies his Spirit and makes it sparkle with Divine Light.” This is powerful imagery! Think of the acquired skill and discipline it takes to learn a musical instrument, the hours of dedication to the craft before music can be truly made. That’s why so many people never get beyond the most rudimentary lessons on the piano! But for the disciple of Jesus Christ, the rigorous discipline of prayer is not an option.<span style=""><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="">By now you may have noticed that I frequently use the term ‘disciple’ or ‘disciple of Jesus Christ’ instead of the term ‘Christian’. There’s a simple explanation for this. This term ‘Christian,’ which was first used in the early church to describe Christ’s followers, has today become more of a cultural label. Many who consider themselves ‘Christians’ have never made a public profession of faith, much less engaged in a living, vital relationship with the risen Savior! But to use the term ‘disciple’ implies a life that is fully committed to follow the one who is master – in our case, Jesus. In this sense, I write to those who truly consider themselves ‘disciples’. The term ‘discipleship’ we so frequently use is not a program, but a way of life. Disciple…discipline. Both words share the same root. We cannot hope to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ unless we are willing to submit ourselves to the disciplines required of His disciples, obedience to His word, pursuit of knowledge of the Father, denial of selfish desires and ambitions, willingness to display charity – unconditional love – toward others.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-39920152254330953712010-09-13T18:34:00.000-07:002010-09-13T18:58:15.974-07:00Where Life and Lips Join<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-style: italic;">"Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become “unity” conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified. The Body becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The whole church of God gains when themembers that compose it begin to seek a better and higher life."</span></span><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Do we understand what A.W. Tozer is saying? Christian ‘community,’ as described in Scripture, cannot </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">exist outside the context of our own personal relationship with God. Christian gatherings cannot be a </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">substitute for our own individual time spent with the Father. In fact, I would go so far as to say that unless </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">we are willing to commit earnestly to spending significant time (in quality, not necessarily quantity) in </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Bible study, reflection and prayer every day, then we are not going to be much use to our brothers and </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">sisters in Christ, and Christian community isn’t going to be much use to us. Our ability to love and walk </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">with each other in true Christian fellowship hinges upon the degree to which we have learned to love and </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">trust God. At the end of the same chapter of the book quoted above, Tozer sates, “<span style="font-style: italic;">When the habit of</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-style: italic;">inwardly gazing Godward becomes fixed within us, we shall be ushered onto a new spiritual level of </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-style: italic;">spiritual life more in keeping with the promises of God and the mood of the New Testament.</span>”</span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> Let’s explore a little more of what I call Tozer’s ‘corporate worship theology,’ “It is true that order in nature </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">depends upon right relationships; to achieve harmony each thing must be in its proper position relative to each </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">other thing. In human life it is not otherwise...the cause of all our human miseries is a radical moral </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">dislocation, an upset in our relationship to God and to each other. For whatever else the Fall may have been, it </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">was certainly a sharp change in man’s relation to his Creator. He adopted toward God an altered attitude, and </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">by so doing destroyed the proper Creator-creature relation in which, unknown to him, his true happiness lay.” </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">(A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God) In this statement, the reason we need to be completely fixed upon the Father </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">is clear: only when we are in right relationship with Him can we be in right relationship with each other and</span></span> <span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">ourselves. Let’s not be naïve. Our adversary, Satan, knows and understands this all too well. It is the reason </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">why he puts all of his effort into making us self-focused, or self-centered. Frankly, he knows that he cannot win </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">with a frontal attack in most cases, because to the child of God, these are far too obvious. So he studies us </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">carefully to determine which “back-door” approach might work best. His resources are not unlimited, nor is his </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">power. He is neither omnipresent nor omniscient (everywhere all the time, all-powerful). In fact, he was </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">stripped of his authority on this planet in the wake of Christ’s resurrection. Because of this, he wages war </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">carefully, and assigns his ‘troops’ (demonic entities, fallen angelic beings like himself) strategically.<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> A body of believers that is wrapped up in itself for the sake of simply ‘doing church’ is of little threat </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">to Satan. A body of believers, however, that is striving to live, each person as a true disciple of Jesus Christ, is </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">His biggest fear. It is upon these types of congregations upon which he deftly, strategically wages war.</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> In all our 'doing,' let’s remember Satan’s primary strategy: to keep us focused on ourselves - our </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">wants, our desires, our opinions, our preferences. When we allow ourselves to become distracted by these </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">things, we lose ground quickly, and are in danger of discrediting the Name of the Lord and losing credibility in </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">the sight of those around us! </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> <span style="font-style: italic;"> “All the graces that are produced in a Christian grow out of the death of self. Unlimited patience is necessary </span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">to bear not only with yourself, but with others whose personalities and moods are not compatible with your </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">own. Bear these offenses in silence and submit them to the spirit of grace. As you seek to honor the true cross </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">(the affliction that God allows for us), remember that all the disagreeable situations that fall in your daily path </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">are part of that true acceptance of the cross. Do not insult the work of the cross in your life by complaining </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">about your problems. All things, including things that appear evil, are great blessings when they unite us to the </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-style: italic;">One who is our All in All.” </span>(Madam Jeanne Guyon , Intimacy With Christ) Psalm 16:8 states, <span style="font-style: italic;">“I have set the </span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-style: italic;">LORD always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”</span> The Church serves as the </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">vehicle through which the Redeemed are brought into close proximity with one another. This ‘closeness’ is the </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">stuff of the cross. Our human weakness and selfish nature drives the ‘nails’ of suffering into ourselves and </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">others. Many times we bear the ‘cross’ of own selfishness as it’s mixed with relationship or Koinonia </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">(fellowship in the Spirit). In this sense, “organizations” become irrelevant, “missions statements” and “purpose </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">statements” become irrelevant, “success” and “failure” (measured by human standards) becomes irrelevant. </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Only our identification with the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is relevant. All else is </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">superficial.<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> In the well-known devotional book My Utmost For His Highest Oswald Chambers states, “Always </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">measure your life solely by the standards of Jesus. Submit yourself to His yoke alone; and always be careful to </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">never place a yoke on others that is not of Jesus Christ. It takes God a long time to get us to stop thinking that </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">unless everyone sees things exactly as we do, they must be wrong. That is never God’s view. There is only one </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">true liberty—the liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience to do what is right. Jesus said, ‘go...and make </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">disciples…’ (Matthew 28:19), not ‘make converts to your own thoughts and opinions.’ ” Jesus commands us to </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">love each other. (John 15:17) This means we ‘bear all things, believe all things, hope all things and endure all </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">things’ (I Corinthians 13:7). If we, relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, are faithful to ‘bear, believe, hope </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">and endure,’ then we cannot fail! However, we must remember that God will bring us into difficult </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">circumstances that are designed to test the measure of our surrender and faith. Discipleship cannot be proven </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">by words or even actions. Discipleship is the process through which our hearts are refined, many times through </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">suffering, to display the character and attributes of Jesus Christ. The ‘nails’ hurt, but eventually become some </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">of our most cherished possessions. Remember His nail-scarred hands! </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> <span style="font-style: italic;">“No man is fit to enjoy heaven unless he has resigned himself to suffer hardship for Christ. Nothing is more </span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">acceptable to God, nothing more helpful for you on this earth than to suffer willingly for Christ. If you had to </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">make a choice, you ought to wish rather to suffer for Christ than to enjoy many consolations, for thus you would </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">be more like Christ and more like all the saints. Our merit and progress consist not in many pleasures and </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">comforts but rather in enduring great afflictions and sufferings.” “If, indeed, there were anything better or </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">more useful for man's salvation than suffering, Christ would have shown it by word and example. But He </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">clearly exhorts the disciples who follow Him and all who wish to follow Him to carry the cross, saying: "If any </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-style: italic;">man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”</span> (Thomas á Kempis; </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Imitation of Christ) <span style="font-style: italic;">“And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. By this </span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-style: italic;">all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”</span> (Luke 14:27, John 13:35) Exactly what is </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">the nature of our relationship with God? Do we treat Him like some kind of cosmic “blessing bank”, thinking </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">that if we hit upon just the right combination of actions and attitudes, He will perform for us the way we want </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Him to? Do we fail to see the way we think about, and treat our Heavenly Father is usually the way we think </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">about, and treat those around us? The answer to these questions lies, believe it or not, in the way we view</span></span> <span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">suffering!<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> In "The Problem of Pain," C.S. Lewis writes, “Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">the order of nature and the existence of free-wills involve, and you find that you have excluded life itself.” </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Let’s ‘unpack’ this statement. Free-will (the right to be a free moral agent and choose between right and wrong) </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">is what separates us from all other created things. The very nature and essence of God’s unconditional love </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">demands that the object of His love—you and I— be free to choose whether or not to love Him in return. This </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">freedom was exploited by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when they chose to disobey the one directive </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">from the Father that was to prove their faithfulness (they ate fruit from the tree of knowledge). This </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">disobedience created a dilemma: God’s unconditional love collided with His uncompromising justice. Man’s </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">disobedience required justice to be satisfied. Yet man, as the object of God’s unconditional love, wanted </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">redemption and forgiveness. This ‘collision’ between love and justice could only end in one way: suffering. </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><br /> Man’s selfishness reduced God’s original perfect plan for His creation to a nightmare existence filled with </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">violence, disgrace, and corruption. Something had to be done, so God’s solution was to send the Son (the </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">second Person of the Holy Trinity, the very Word of Life made flesh) to walk on the soil He himself created, </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">among those He so infinitely loved. From the beginning God knew that this journey was going to be full of </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">suffering and pain. Ultimately, the price Justice would exact required God to reject the Son (Matthew 27:46). </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Son, being sinless and perfect, could rightfully take upon himself the punishment for Adam’s disobedience </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">(remember Jesus, born of a virgin, was outside of Adam’s lineage) for all who choose to believe and accept His </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">sacrifice. For this reason the Apostle Paul writes in II Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” </span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> For the disciple of Jesus Christ, there is no loftier goal—and no greater source of suffering—than dying to </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">selfish desires. And our discipleship is proven in how we treat others. This is where community begins, in </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">understanding that when we truly set ourselves to be Christ’s disciples, we will join with others in community, </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">in relationship—living the way Jesus lived, by His commands and precepts, the foremost of which is “love each </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">other [unconditionally].” We MUST accept that no conditions may be attached to our love for others. This is </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">how our unconditional love for God is demonstrated! And it’s here that the Church gets sidetracked into </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">becoming nothing more than a ‘religious organization’ (by the way, these angered Jesus). In his book The Spirit </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">of the Disciplines, Dallas Willard states, <span style="font-style: italic;">“For at least several decades the churches of the Western world have </span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">not made discipleship a condition of becoming a Christian. [In Western churches] one is not required to be, or </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">to intend to be, a disciple in order to become a Christian, and one may remain a Christian without any signs of </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">progress towards discipleship. Contemporary American churches in particular do not require following Christ in </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">His example, spirit and teachings as a condition of membership...most problems in contemporary churches can </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-style: italic;">be explained by the fact that members have not yet decided to follow Jesus.”</span><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This indictment is not new. We have seen the same unfaithfulness characterize God’s people since the </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">children of Israel were delivered from the hands of the Egyptians. Yet God, in His passionate, endless, </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">unconditional love for us continues to pursue us relentlessly. He desires for us to be healed from our spiritual </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">blindness. His wish is for us to step out of darkness into His light. As you give serious consideration to your </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">relationship with the Father, be reminded that we cannot enter into any kind of relationship with Him on our </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">own terms. We cannot claim to love God and be Jesus’ disciples while holding grudges against each other </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">(conditional love). We cannot claim to follow Christ and be driven by our own selfish desires and ambitions. </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Dallas Willard states, <span style="font-style: italic;">“...one cannot be a disciple of Christ without forfeiting things normally sought in human </span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">life. And if we intend to become like Christ, that will be obvious to every thoughtful person around us, as well </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">as to ourselves...discipleship can be made concrete by loving our enemies, blessing those who curse us, walking </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">the second mile with an oppressor—in general, living out the gracious inward transformation of faith, hope, </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">and love. Such acts—carried out by the disciplined person with manifest grace, peace and joy—make </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: georgia;">discipleship no less tangible and shocking today than...long ago. Anyone who will enter The Way can verify </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-style: italic;">this, and he or she will prove that discipleship is far from dreadful.”</span> (The Spirit of the Disciplines). </span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> Let’s take a look at one more of A.W. Tozer’s thoughts. “Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">from our unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly. We insist upon trying to modify </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Him and to bring Him nearer to our own image. The flesh [our human nature] whimpers against the rigor of </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">God’s inexorable sentence and begs like Agag [see 1 Samuel 15] for a little mercy, a little indulgence of its </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">carnal ways It is no use. We can get a right start only by accepting God as He is and learning to love Him for </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">what He is.” (The Pursuit of God) This is huge! Remember what I restated earlier: our ability to love and walk </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">with each other in true Christian fellowship hinges upon the degree to which we have learned to love and trust </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">God! When we begin to truly take God as He is, and submit ourselves to Him, only then will we be able to love </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">each other for who we are and submit to one another, as the Apostle Paul commands us to in Ephesians 5. </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When we get to the point where we are so focused on Him that we trust Him completely no matter what life’s </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">circumstances might bring our way, only then will we begin to live in a manner that draws us nearer to Him and </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">to each other.<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> It is important for us to get a hold of this truth. It is my hope that the Church will </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">engage in a new way in corporate worship and Community Groups. But we must guard ourselves against </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">coming to our times together with the typical worldly attitude of “what am I going to get out of this.” Instead we </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">must challenge ourselves to ask our Lord the question, “What can I bring to the gathering of believers, no </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">matter what it might cost me?” You see, dear friend, this is the essence of Christian fellowship. Decades ago, </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">one of our presidents spoke of this principle of truth accurately when he said, “And so, my fellow Americans, </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”* If the world recognizes this </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">principle of selflessness, then how much more should we, the Church?</span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> I encourage you if you have not already done so, to </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">not let one day go by that you do not spend personal, alone, intentional time with the Father. Understand right </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">away that this will be the hardest thing that you will ever strive to undertake, because we have an adversary </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">who, as we have said, is cunning, brilliant, and understands our weaknesses all too well. The last thing he </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">wants us to do is be in a position where we are exposed to the truth of God’s Word and the influence of the </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Holy Spirit in our lives! </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">*President John F. Kennedy’s entire speech can be found at: http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/speeches/John_F_Kennedy/5.htm </span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-7804290027241512342010-09-02T23:39:00.000-07:002010-09-03T00:06:39.902-07:00Intimacy With God<div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(192, 192, 192);font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.”</span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: right; color: rgb(192, 192, 192);font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;">-The Apostle Paul (Formerly Saul of Tarsus)<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(192, 192, 192);font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />When was the last time you were desperate for something? How far have you gone to get something you really wanted? Last Sunday we sang a song which contained the words “And I, I’m desperate for You; and I, I’m lost without You” (Marie Barnett; Breathe; 1995 Mercy / Vineyard Publishing). One day a young man came to Jesus. He was quite wealthy by worldly standards. Yet in spite of his wealth, he was dissatisfied. He wanted more. He found Jesus and asked Him what he could do to obtain eternal life. Scripture records Jesus loved him, so much so that He invited the young man to follow Him in His journey. The only prerequisite was to sell everything he had and give it to the poor. The young man went away sad for he had many possessions. Could it be that he missed the point completely? Is it possible he saw ‘eternal life’ as one more accomplishment, one more trophy to add to his apparently substantial collection? Did he not realize Who Jesus was, and what He was saying to him?<br /><br />Our relationship with God isn’t a ‘free pass’ into heaven or a ‘Get Out Of Jail Free’ card. It is a holy, sacred commitment to follow with all our hearts the One who has pursued us with all of His. Christian singer/songwriter Jon Foreman asks “We were meant to live for something more…have we lost ourselves?” (Jonathan Foreman, Tim Foreman; Meant To Live; 2002 Meadowgreen Music Company; Sugar Pete Songs) The ‘something more’ Jon speaks of is exactly what this week’s Living Worship is about. It is the neglected, risky, difficult information about what our relationship with God looks like.<br /><br />I consider myself an evangelical. This means I take seriously Christ’s directive found in Matthew 28 to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything He has commanded.” I grew up in evangelical churches. The message I continually heard growing up was ‘believe in Jesus – be saved – avoid hell – go to heaven.’ Period. There was lots of talk about having a relationship with Christ, but little, if any, discussion about what that relationship should look like. It was easy! Talk to the pastor, get baptized, and attend church and Sunday school. It wasn’t until much later I understood what Jesus actually said: <span style="font-style: italic;">“I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.”</span> Umm…this sounds to me like Jesus meant our relationship with the Father to go beyond the ‘get-saved-and-go-to-church’ routine. Let’s look at it another way. What kind of marriage would a couple have, if the only reason they wed was for the self-gratification of sexual intimacy? (All one has to do is take a close look at our society to answer that one.) The marriage would most likely fail over time. All successful marriages have one thing in common: the great personal sacrifice that accompanies unconditional love. In fact, those who have long-lasting, healthy, vibrant, marriages understand how to experience <span style="font-style: italic;">the joy of the sacrifice.</span> This, my friend, is the “something more” we were “meant to live for”.<br /><br />Decades ago I heard a message on being “God-Inside-Minded”. This was a novel concept to me at the time. It seemed the speaker was stating it was possible to walk through my day in constant fellowship with the Father. This completely redefined my understanding – and expectations – of my relationship with God. I began, for the first time in my life, to really study men and women in the Bible who seemed to walk closely with the Father; not their actions and accomplishments, mind you, but how they thought and lived. I discovered something. They seemed to know God...enough to talk back to Him and even argue with Him, to wrestle with Him and even prepare a meal for Him. At least a couple of individuals, it seems, were so close to God that God simply ‘took them’. They went from this world to the next without even tasting death! This almost makes me ashamed to sing, “I am a friend of God, He calls me friend.” (Israel Houghton, Michael Gungor; Friend of God; (Integrity's Praise! Music; Vertical Worship Songs) Since then I have been on a quest to know God. Honestly, there have been some distractions. I’ve had to come to grips with many aspects of my character that are less than admirable. I have failed, sinned, fallen short and fallen down. But I have never given up. I, like the Apostle Paul,<span style="font-style: italic;">“…want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his </span><span style="font-style: italic;">sufferings, becoming like him in his death…” </span>Paul goes on to write, <span style="font-style: italic;">“I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”</span> You see, the ‘prize’ Paul speaks of is knowing God; not knowing about Him, but knowing Him, and, believe me, there’s a huge difference! Knowing about Him involves little risk. The same is true of earthly relationships. It’s easy to get to know a lot about somebody. It’s a different thing completely to get to know them. And yet that is our message to the world! The whole point of discipleship is to know God!<br /><br />Do you remember when you were in your early teens and suddenly one day you saw her (or him!)? Your heart started to beat a little faster, and you soon found you couldn’t think about anything or anyone else? The great romance had begun! You wanted to know everything about them…where they lived, what they liked to do, who their family was. You were consumed! Finally the day came when, joy of joys, you actually began to talk to, and get to know the person. In reality, the relationship couldn’t begin until that moment. And of course, there couldn’t be any real romance until the relationship began and you know what the other person’s feelings were! I think the progression holds true for any relationship. We gain knowledge of the person’s existence, learn something about them, then get to know them. Just knowing about them isn’t enough to create and maintain relationship! True relationship takes time and effort – sometimes a lot of effort.<br /><br />Earthly romance is merely a dim reflection of the Great Romance (to coin Ted Dekker’s term). I love the story of how Jesus called Nathanael. Philip told Nathanael about Jesus, who was from Nazareth. Nathanael wasn’t impressed. That is, until he met Jesus, and it became evident to him that Jesus knew him (what was Nathanael doing under that fig tree, anyway, I wonder?). Then he believed. You can read the account for yourself in John 1. If you read the Gospels like a storybook you will soon see that, with Jesus, it was all about relationship! Jesus loved being with these men. There was something about them that drew Jesus to them. The relationships weren’t perfect. Peter denied Him. James and John competed for first and second place. Judas betrayed Him. When He was finally arrested they all scattered. But Jesus loved them unconditionally. He suffered through their inconsistencies and drew their attention to the Father. He loved them unconditionally. Jesus experienced <span style="font-style: italic;">the joy of sacrifice</span> with His disciples. Funny isn’t it? That sounds like what we’re supposed to do with each other…without resentment and without complaining.<br /><br />You might be thinking, “What does intimacy with God have to do with loving each other?”Everything! John writes, “We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hateshis brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” The Greek word for love in this passage in 1 John 4 is, of course, agape; love with no conditions attached. And this is where the ‘neglected, difficult, risky information’ I spoke of earlier comes into play. If we are going to experience intimacy with God, then we are going to have to learn how to love each other. No ‘ifs, ands, or buts’. “Pastor Mark”, you might say, “Surely you can’t mean I am supposed to love everyone.” Yep. That’s exactly what I mean. If you’re wondering just how on earth you’re supposed to do that, let me assure you that you can’t; at least not through your own human strength of will. It’s just not natural for us to love without getting something back in return. Such is the condition of our fallen human nature. But that’s the beauty of what Jesus did by suffering and dying for us on the cross, atoning for our sin once and for all. That’s why Paul wanted to “know Christ in the power of His resurrection.” I can’t say enough about this, really. We are broken in our thinking, contaminated by our fallen condition. We are so accustomed to ‘reciprocal love’ (we love someone because of what we get from them or how they make us feel), we can hardly grasp what ‘unconditional love’ looks like – much less how to give it! But the fact remains: we will not be able to engage in intimate relationship with the Father until we learn how to love each other unconditionally. This is particularly challenging<br />when it comes to Christian fellowship. So much evil has gone on in the ‘name of Jesus’ and His<br />‘cause’. Wars have been fought, lives have been devastated, and it still goes on today in churches all over America…even in Bismarck/Mandan, ND. All because, somewhere along the way, we never got beyond the ‘believe in Jesus – be saved – avoid hell – go to heaven’ message. It’s time we realize, dear brothers and sisters, there is a lost and dying world all around us who Jesus said would “know we are His disciples by the (unconditional) love we have for one another.”<br /><br />“Love is a verb!” my oldest daughter, Rebekah, informed me one day when she was a Senior in High School. She’s right. Our actions define who we are – not the other way around. How, then, do we love God? We pursue Him. We spend time with Him, in His word, in prayer. It’s not an intellectual exercise. It involves all our heart, soul, mind and strength. At some point in the process we encounter Him, His person, His power, His infiniteness, and we are changed forever. We learn to love Him, and He teaches and empowers us to love one another. But make no mistake: we must take that first step beyond the ‘altar call’, beyond ‘baptism’, beyond ‘Sunday school’ and most certainly beyond the ‘worship service’. We must be willing to go to that solitary, quite place, where it’s just ‘me and the Lord,’ where we come to grips with Who He is, which forces us to grapple with who we are. All those who have truly come to know Him share this experience. When we begin to experience intimacy with the Father, we soon realize how much ofourselves we must surrender. This is a good thing, though many times painful: the things we must surrender are the things that ultimately hinder our relationship with Him. This is true, as well, of relationship with one another. As we learn how to surrender to the Father, we learn how to give ourselves to each other. We finally begin to love unconditionally and experience <span style="font-style: italic;">the joy of suffering</span>. It’s really only then that the journey, the Great Romance, has truly begun!<br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-74528475926992926432010-08-28T07:13:00.000-07:002010-09-02T23:57:08.935-07:00The Heart of a True Worshiper - Part 2<div style="text-align: justify;"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:documentproperties> <o:template>Normal.dotm</o:Template> <o:revision>0</o:Revision> <o:totaltime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:pages>1</o:Pages> <o:words>2119</o:Words> <o:characters>12081</o:Characters> <o:company>Century Baptist Church</o:Company> <o:lines>100</o:Lines> <o:paragraphs>24</o:Paragraphs> <o:characterswithspaces>14836</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:version>12.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:drawinggridhorizontalspacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:drawinggridverticalspacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:displayhorizontaldrawinggridevery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:displayverticaldrawinggridevery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:dontautofitconstrainedtables/> <w:dontvertalignintxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="276"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:black; mso-font-kerning:14.0pt;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:.5in .5in .5in .5in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> </div><p style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><i style="">“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” “If anyone claims, ‘I am living in the light,’ but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness.<span style=""> </span>Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. But anyone who hates another brother or sister is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.”</i> (1 John 1:5-7, 9-11) “How can a supposedly loving, just, sovereign God allow the pain, darkness, and suffering that take place in this world?” This question is one which has been grappled with by people for millennia. Pagans usually ask the question with derision; Christians many times pose the question during times of hurt and confusion. The answer is simple: because He loves us. If He didn’t, He would have ended our existence long ago. Instead, He has chosen to walk the road of sorrow with us, tolerating our rebellion and selfishness, hurting right along with us. His great love allows for no other course of action.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Let’s recap for just a minute. Our human nature is born under Adam’s curse. We are the ones who first think about ourselves and our own needs before considering the needs of others. Our sense of entitlement causes us to justify so many evil plans and actions. We scheme, manipulate and coerce. And most of us begin to do these things at an early age! We are desperately sick. We need healing. “Hold on there, Pastor Mark,” you might say, “this doesn’t sound like ‘good news’ to me…in fact, it sounds a little harsh and judgmental!” On the contrary! The good news is <i style="">in spite</i> of the wretched condition of our hearts, God’s love offers a solution. Not an easy one, mind you, but one that is sure. This week we explore several aspects of relationship with God; how we know when we’re in fellowship with God and when we’re not.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;">God’s love is reflected in His justice; His mercy in His Truth. He is holy, pure, and good. There is no other standard except the one by which He measures all of creation. We are the ones who choose to step away from our Creator so we can say “I did it <i style="">my</i> way.” However, our rebellious hearts indict us to a harsh sentence: death, misery, and destruction. Yet because of His desire for us, God’s love is <i style="">unconditional</i>. Romans 5:6-11 states, <i style="">“When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.”</i> Did you get that? Friends of God! There’s a HUGE implication in this statement: we are a friend of God because we <i style="">know</i> Him (after all, can you call someone a ‘friend’ who you don’t really know?). That’s why the earlier passage of Scripture from I John 1 is so important. We cannot claim to truly have friendship (fellowship) with God and continue to walk in spiritual darkness.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style=""> </span></span><span style="display: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">What are the implications we face by being God’s friend? The same for any relationship. You see, true friendship – true love – doesn’t come with conditions attached. That’s just the way it works! But it gets even better. When we become true friends with the Father, He imparts His nature to us. But then we have a choice. Do we live according to His nature, or our own? Read what the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Galatia: <i style="">“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another. So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the Law of Moses. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures,<span style=""> </span>idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.” </i>(Galatians 5:13-25) I told you earlier that God’s solution to our ‘sickness’ wasn’t an easy one. But He doesn’t leave us to figure it out on our own, thank goodness!</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Jesus told His disciples that He would not leave them comfortless – as orphans. After all, they were His friends! He said He would come to them, and He did! And He is still with us today, just as He was with them 2000 years ago! Let’s connect the dots with some Scripture: <b style="">1.</b> (John 13:34-35) <i style="">“So now I am giving you a new command-ment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” </i><b style="">2.</b><i style=""> </i>(Matt. 28:16-20) <i style="">“Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted! Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” </i><b style="">3.</b> (Acts 1:4-8) <i style="">“Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, ‘Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. <span style=""> </span>John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, ‘Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?’<span style=""> </span>He replied, ‘The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’”</i> <b style="">4.</b> (John 15:15-17<i style="">) “I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.”</i> <b style="">5.</b> (1 John 4:7-14) <i style="">“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. <span style=""> </span>God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love – not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” </i><span style=""> </span>So we see that (1) Jesus gave His disciples a new command to love each other. He later tells them to (2) ‘teach and make disciples of all the nations’, but He cautioned them to (3) wait until they had received the Holy Spirit and power from on high! Power for what? Well, remember that earlier He had (4) called them ‘friends’, and reinforced the command to love each other. The ‘power’ Jesus spoke of enables us to – among other things – live our lives in relationship with Him and each other, as (5) the Apostle John admonishes!</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;">There comes a point in a person’s life when they are confronted with their Creator. Even those who do not directly hear about the Gospel of Jesus Christ are without excuse, according to the Apostle Paul in Romans 1. When we hear we are faced with a choice: do we surrender to God or not? There’s no middle ground. Even by refusing to make the choice, a choice is made. This is the nature of God – remember, all creation is measured by His standard and no other. For those who surrender and choose Him, something awesome happens. Maybe not at first, but, sooner or later, for the person who <i style="">truly</i> seeks relationship with the Father, they find Him. The experience changes one forever. Here’s an account of how it happened to the prophet Isaiah: “<i style="">In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.’ And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, ‘Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.’”</i> (Isaiah 6:1-6) From personal experience I can tell you one thing with absolute certainty: when you see the Lord and are confronted with His Majesty, everything comes into crystal clear focus, especially the depths of man’s depravity and the heights of God’s love. Your world is undone. It doesn’t mean we’re perfect, but it’s here the journey begins.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Jesus never intended for us to view the ‘born-again’ (John 3) experience as ‘fire-insurance’ used solely to escape Hell. We don’t make some commitment to a church, try to do the right things, and hope that it somehow all works out in the end, while all the time we go through life pursuing our own agendas – or worse, coasting aimlessly. On the contrary, the Bible is clear that when we are born with new life, our very nature changes at its core. Do we cultivate this nature and draw close to the Father (something which requires continual surrender of our ‘rights’), or do we just go on living for ourselves? My dear friend, there is a much larger picture! The Apostle Paul writes, <i style="">“I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, ‘THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.’ For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"> There is so much the Father desires to show us, to give us. Not earthly, material things that do not satisfy, but things that draw us into deeper and deeper relationship with Him. I’m talking about living the type of life we were created to live, the type of life which will carry us into eternity, forever face to Face with the One who loves us most and knows us best! For those courageous enough to engage in the journey, the words in Romans 8 sound loud and clear: “<i style="">Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.<span style=""> </span>And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. <span style=""> </span>No power in the sky above or in the earth below – indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”</i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> <!--EndFragment--> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-21264570650470777662010-08-28T07:01:00.000-07:002010-09-02T23:57:40.341-07:00The Heart of a True Worshiper - Part 1<div style="text-align: justify;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:documentproperties> <o:template>Normal.dotm</o:Template> <o:revision>0</o:Revision> <o:totaltime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:pages>1</o:Pages> <o:words>1978</o:Words> <o:characters>11276</o:Characters> <o:company>Century Baptist Church</o:Company> <o:lines>93</o:Lines> <o:paragraphs>22</o:Paragraphs> <o:characterswithspaces>13847</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:version>12.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:drawinggridhorizontalspacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:drawinggridverticalspacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:displayhorizontaldrawinggridevery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:displayverticaldrawinggridevery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:dontautofitconstrainedtables/> <w:dontvertalignintxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="276"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; 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text-indent:-.25in;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} --> </style> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> </div><p style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">“<i style="">Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth</i>.” (John 4:23-24) Jesus had been talking with a Samaritan woman when He spoke these words. In the culture of His day speaking with a Samaritan – especially a woman – was something that a respectable, well-mannered Jewish man would never do. Not only was she a Samaritan woman, but her lifestyle was questionable at best. She had been married several times and was living with a man who was not her husband. Yet Jesus spoke with her! In today’s world this would be akin to going into an adult bookstore and asking the owner for a drink of water, then hanging around and talking with the patrons…not a situation many of us are likely to find ourselves in! But then, Jesus chose the Father’s will over all things, even if it meant being controversial, or running the risk of being misunderstood.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style=""> </span>So what did Jesus mean by the statement, “…true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks?” To answer this question we have to look at several principles in Scripture, all of which deal with the heart – not the physical organ, but that part of us which is the center of our being, the essence of who we are. As we look together this week at what God’s word has to say about the heart, I encourage you to be open and honest with yourself and the Father about the condition of your heart. This is what the Bible calls being ‘contrite’ or ‘repentant.’<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;">“<i style="">But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart</i>.’” (I Samuel 16:7) When we consider our relationship with the Father the one thing we must keep at the forefront of our minds is the fact that He looks at our hearts. He knows our hidden thoughts. We cannot hide our true motives from Him, our ambitions, our desires, our pain, or our fears. He knows that our hearts are riddled with destructive forces (the biblical term is ‘sin’) that will ultimately keep us separated from Him for all eternity if He does not step in and help us. But here is where things get a bit complicated. Above all things, the Father wants us to <i style="">desire</i> Him! He wants a <i style="">relationship</i> with us. He wants us to get to know Him, to have fellowship with Him. He’s not nearly as interested in what we can <i style="">do</i> for Him as He is interested in us <i style="">knowing</i> Him…His love, His goodness, His provision, His perfection, His beauty. (Anyway, what <i style="">can</i> we do for Him? He is the Creator, the Almighty, the Majesty. He is perfectly sufficient unto Himself!) He desires to walk with us, talk with us. He wants to <i style="">affirm </i>the fact we are His! We are precious in His sight; He delights in us and dances over us with joy.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">But our hearts are sick. The disease of Pride and Selfishness causes a blindness that distorts our senses and warps what we see, hear and say, breaking relationship with the Father. Our hearts need healing. There is only one way we can be healed, and that is to come to the place where we are willing and ready to recognize the fact that our hearts <i style="">are</i> sick and we need the touch of the Healer. More on this tomorrow!</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;">A few days before His encounter with the Samaritan woman, Jesus was in Jerusalem celebrating Passover. One night a man named Nicodemus, a Pharisee, sought Jesus out. During the course of the conversation we learn several things from the Lord: we must be ‘born again’ if we are to see the Kingdom of God; God loves us enough to have provided a way back ‘home’ to Him (yesterday I mentioned that the Father has stepped in to help us); we find our way back to the Father by trusting and believing in His Son; Jesus did not come into the world to judge the world., but to save the world; those who believe in Jesus are not judged; those who do not believe in Him are judged, not because of their deeds, but because they have not believed in the name of Jesus, the only Son of God.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">The statements Jesus makes to Nicodemus in this conversation are a death sentence to religion. Merriam-Webster defines <i style="">religion</i> as “</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices.” Practical religion tends to remove the most important element necessary to our relationship with God: <i style="">faith</i>. Simply put, we must <i style="">believe</i>. The Apostle Paul states it well in Hebrews 11, “</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><i style="">And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him</i>.” A few sentences earlier, Paul wrote, <i style="">“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.”</i> This, dear friend, is what sets <i style="">religion</i> apart from <i style="">relationship.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">The sickness that is in our hearts robs us of the ability to see reality as it truly is. This ‘spiritual blindness’ is something we are all born with, because a long time ago the very first man and woman chose to break trust and relationship with the Father by doing the one thing He had commanded them not to do. This single act of disobedience has been humanity’s demise. When we choose to trust in Jesus, believing in His words and learning Who He is, our spiritual blindness begins to lift. The more we get to know Him through His words, the clearer our sight becomes.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="display: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Have you ever experienced the wonder of flying a kite or sailing a boat? Wind is an amazing thing! There’s nothing more soothing than a cool breeze that comes just before a thunderstorm on a hot summer day. At the same time, we stand in awe of the destructive forces of a hurricane or tornado. Another thing that Jesus mentions in His conversation with Nicodemus is wind. I find this to be one of the most interesting passages of Scripture in the Bible. To quote Him directly, Jesus told Nicodemus, “<i style="">Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.</i>” (John 3:8) This is the most important clue that Jesus gives us regarding what our relationship with the Father is supposed to look like. You cannot see wind. You do not know when it is going to arrive. You cannot control it. You cannot make it stronger or weaker through any act of your own. It is what it is.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Practical religion is man’s attempt to bend the Wind to our own will. We set up systems of dos and don’ts, make policies and guidelines based on what we think the Wind should look like and how it should behave. Then we become frustrated and confused when we still find ourselves empty and no better off than we were before we started down the ‘religious’ road. We convince ourselves this is just the way things are, this is as good as it gets, and settle for lives of selfish misery. How unfortunate! This is not the way the Father wants it to be!</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Why all this talk of religion? Because religion – man’s systems of worship – is one of the greatest deterrents to <i style="">true</i><i style="">Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks</i>.” This phrase doesn’t make sense unless you think about it in terms of <u>relationship</u>. We worship in spirit (from the heart) and truth (openly, honestly, admitting our faults and weaknesses to Him and to one another). This is the only way in which we can approach the Father. worship. Remember what Jesus told the Samaritan woman? “</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;">There are as many different types of hearts and personalities as there are people. God delights in this…He made us each unique. He loves the variety! Unfortunately one of the biggest symptoms of the sickness in our hearts is the tendency to believe – deep down – that everyone else should look like, think like, and act like we do! This perspective gets us into a world of trouble. It makes us jealous, selfish, untrusting, and ultimately unloving. This by-product of Adam’s disobedience has been exploited by the evil one to create hatred among races and family members alike, not to mention the Church. Ultimately, Satan’s ultimate goal is to destroy all relationship, because he has relationship with no one!</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;">How do we resist the evil one, or for that matter our own heart-sickness? We surrender to the Wind. We don’t try to control Him or manipulate Him or make Him serve our needs. We give up our rights and devote ourselves to serving each other. According to Jesus, the greatest command in the whole Bible is, “<i style="">You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind</i>.” (Luke 10:27) The second greatest command was just as important: we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Look at it this way. In America we pride ourselves on doing just about anything that we have to do in order to get our needs met. But are we willing to do just about anything we have to do (permissible within Scripture, of course) in order to help get our <i style="">neighbor’s</i> needs met? Putting the needs of others before our own is not something we find easy to do! But it’s one of the ways we prove ourselves to be God-lovers and God-pleasers, and one of the characteristics of a true worshipper.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Another aspect of true worship is obedience. When you love someone with all your heart you find yourself wanting to do things that please them. Meeting the needs of others at our own expense without expecting anything in return is one of the greatest demonstrations of love. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me you will do as I command.” Don’t misunderstand His statement. Jesus is not trying to manipulate the disciples by saying “if you really love me, then you’ll (jump through a bunch of hoops).” He is explaining that a natural by-product of their love for Him is obedience to His Word! Jesus has every right to expect this because He is God – the Creator, the great ‘I Am!’ He deserves our obedience because of Who He is. But beyond that fact, the only way we will know true contentment and peace is <i style="">through</i> obedience! Dear friend, all that is good, all that is beautiful, all that brings joy, all knowledge, all that is noble and pure has its source in Him. Our obedience to Him, our unswerving allegiance as His servants, enables us to enjoy His nature. Obedience is for our <i style="">own</i> benefit!</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.” (John 15:16-17) When we become the type of worshiper Jesus described to the Samaritan woman, we become the presence of Christ and representatives of the Father’s kingdom. We no longer live for ourselves. Instead, we cast our lives to the Wind, allowing it to take us where He will. This is the life of faith. We learn to not manipulate circumstances to our own benefit, but trust the Father in all things. We run free of the expectations that are placed upon us by others, or we sometimes place upon ourselves, trading these in for the privilege of carrying out the Father’s will. Our greatest delight lies in spending time with the Lord Jesus, learning to hear the Father’s voice.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">This type of life is not comfortable to the flesh; in fact, it cuts against the grain of our fallen human nature. Jesus understands this, which is why He told His disciples in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” To choose Christ means to reject this present life and world-system. It is for this reason Jesus commands us to love each other. His followers, those who have trusted in Him and believed on His name, are citizens of a heavenly kingdom, strangers and aliens on this planet. Quite simply, we need each other! When our hearts connect in relationship and in worship, the world sits up and pays attention! Relationship, not programs, is the best form of evangelistic outreach!</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Not once in these pages has worship been associated with the ‘externals’ we experience in our corporate weekly services. Worship is not about the bulletin, how we dress, the type of music we sing, or the pastor’s preaching style. Worship is about our willingness to engage with God at a heart level, surrendered to the truth of His Word. Out of this worship flows true relationship with one another. We support each other, believe in each other, bear with each other, suffer with each other, and endure each other’s weaknesses with joy and forbearance. These are the types of worshipers the Father seeks.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Jesus did not come to this earth to start a new religion. He came to draw us into <i style="">relationship</i> with the Father. When we choose to follow Him, obey His teachings, and trust in His name, believing He is the Son of God, we are changed from the inside out. Have you ever noticed how when you get really close to someone you begin to adopt their mannerisms, even their ‘catch-phrases?’ This is one of the reasons why married couples sometimes are said to look alike – they have rubbed off on each other for so long it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. This is how the Father yearns for it to be with us! He wants to ‘rub-off’ on us so we can, in turn, ‘rub-off’ on each other! It is a divine love-relationship of the highest order…unconditional love!</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> <!--EndFragment--></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-77215873186581804142010-03-04T00:30:00.000-08:002010-08-11T01:27:19.843-07:00When Jesus Shatters Your World<div style="text-align: justify;" align="justify"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"Because of what Jesus said, many of his disciples turned their backs on him and stopped following him. </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Jesus then asked His twelve disciples if they were going to leave Him. </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Simon Peter answered, "Lord, there is no one else that we can go to! Your words give eternal life. </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">We have faith in you, and we are sure that you are God's Holy One."</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: right;" align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">John 6:66-69</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div align="justify"><br /></div><p align="justify"></p></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">This spring marks 40 years that I will have been a follower of Jesus Christ. Having grown up in the church and in ministry (both as a missionary's and a preacher's kid), I have been exposed to God's Word of truth from an early age. It's wonderful, when, after all these years, the Lord continues to reveal Himself to me in new ways.</span></span> <p></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div align="justify"><br /></div></span></span><div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Take John 6, for instance. This may be one of the most misunderstood - therefore glossed over - chapters in the Gospels. It was still early in Jesus' ministry; the journey had taken He and His disciples from Cana to Jerusalem, through Samaria and back to the Galilee. Andrew, Philip, and Simon Peter were probably still trying to process the first miracle they saw back at the wedding in Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine. From there He had gone on to raise up a lame man in Jerusalem, heal an official's son, save a whole town in Samaria, miraculously feed untold thousands, walk on a stormy sea, instantly transport the boat they were in across the Galilee, along with many other miracles Scripture does not record in detail, except to acknowledge that Jesus did them. Talk about fastening your seatbelt - the Twelve disciples must have been in a whirl!</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div align="justify"><br /></div></span></span><div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And then, a breather. After feeding the multitude, Jesus spent time alone that evening before returning to Capernaum. The next day the crowds followed Jesus back across the lake. When they arrived, they found Jesus waiting for them in the synagogue. Synagogues were places of teaching, where Jewish men would go hear the Law of Moses taught by the priests and rabbis. The crowds had been following Jesus because of the signs and miracles He had been performing, not the least of which had been the 'miracle meal' 24 hours earlier! They were fired up! In fact, Jesus withdrew back to Capernaum because He perceived they were going to try to take Him by force and make Him king! </span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div align="justify"><br /></div></span></span><div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So He promptly shatters their world. He tells them that they should not be following Him because he filled their bellies, but because the Father has sent Him on a mission to save them and give them Life. He reminds them of the 'manna in the wilderness' experience during Moses' time (they are, after all, in the synagogue and this would be a common teaching, like a Bible story in Sunday School) But He adds a new twist. Jesus didn't tell them that He had miraculously fed them meat and bread (like Yahweh in the wilderness), and they could expect this provision to now continue since He, the Messiah, was here. Instead, Jesus told them </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">He</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> was the bread of life! In fact, He pressed the point home by stating His flesh was bread they must eat; His blood, the wine they must drink - this was true food. How's that for a political campaign?!</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div align="justify"><br /></div></span></span><div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The crowd was rattled. They argued. This was outrageous! But Jesus didn't stop or backtrack. He pressed on to say, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"I </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">tell you for certain that you won't live unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But if you do eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have eternal life, and I will raise you to life on the last day. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">My flesh is the true food, and my blood is the true drink. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">If you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you are one with me, and I am one with you. </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;" class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The living Father sent me, and I have life because of him. Now everyone who eats my flesh will live because of me. </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The bread that comes down from heaven isn't like what your ancestors ate. They died, but whoever eats this bread will live forever."</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> (John 6:53-59). The grumbling began to ripple-out through through His disciples (not the Twelve, but many others who followed Him as a rabbi and teacher).</span></span></span></i></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div align="justify"><br /></div></span></span><div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The tension reached a breaking point. Any thoughts the crowd might have had of making Jesus king were forgotten. Surely this man was mad! How could anyone in their right mind teach these things? Eat his flesh, drink His blood? Bread of Life - what on earth was He talking about? At that moment, Jesus spelled it out for them, but He was not heard or understood. Minds and hearts were closed. He asked them, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"Does this bother you? </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">What if you should see the Son of Man go up to heaven where he came from?</span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></b></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Spirit is the one who gives life! Human strength can do nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are from that life-giving Spirit. </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But some of you refuse to have faith in me."</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> (John 6:61-64) Jesus explained there is no power in the flesh - human strength - in an attempt to correct their thoughts on the 'cannibalism' issue. Yet when He gave them the Father's true perspective, the crowd remained closed. They were finished, done. They left. Many of His so-called disciples left with them. The huge momentum built over weeks of teaching, signs, and miracles came to an abrupt halt. High hopes and expectations were dashed. There would be no king to deliver them from Roman rule. Jesus shattered their world.</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div align="justify"><br /></div></span></span><div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Only He didn't, really. What He did was speak Truth. He didn't come to deliver them from <em>Roman</em> rule, but from <em>Satan's</em> rule! He tried to get them to understand His mission was to bring them back to the Father, as many as would believe and follow Him. To their credit, the Twelve (Jesus' chosen disciples) got it! (John 6:66-69) You see, the miraculous meal which took place the day before was as much a test for the Twelve as it was anything else. Look at a couple of interesting verses back at the beginning of the chapter, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">When Jesus saw the large crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, "Where will we get enough food to feed all these people?" He said this to test Philip, since he already knew what he was going to do." </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;" class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(John 6:5-6) Before you think that it might have been a little unfair of Jesus to test Philip this way, think back to the miracle at Cana. Philip, Andrew and Simon Peter were there when Jesus turned the water into wine. They heard Mary tell the servants of the bridegroom, </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"Whatever He tells you to do, do it." </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;" class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Simply put, the test was one of <em>obedience</em>. Would the disciples remember Mary's words and take them to heart?</span></span></span></i></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div align="justify"><br /></div></span></span><div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">When we come to Jesus, He speaks the Father's Truth into our lives. God's Truth shatters a world which revolves around misguided beliefs or faulty paradigms. When our world is shattered, we have a choice: do we follow by faith in obedience to His Word; or do we fall away because we don't understand, or our minds are made-up, or the way is too hard? It's been almost a month since my last blog. A month since Jesus shattered my world (something I've come to be most grateful for). I lost my job; my position on staff as worship pastor of a church I had grown to deeply love and enjoy serving. There were no reasons given by the church leadership other than 'differences in style and approach to ministry'. We agreed to end the ministry partnership amicably, in a way that honors the Lord, and the church leadership has been more than generous in providing for my family during this interim period in which I am discerning from the Lord 'what's next'. </span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div align="justify"><br /></div></span></span><div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Nevertheless, I am unemployed (at least temporarily), for reasons I don't really understand, as I step back and try to look at the whole picture. I am in a place much like the one in which the crowds in Capernaum found themselves on that day so long ago, in a synagogue by the Sea of Galilee; a place of disappointment, of confusion, of doubt. They thought they had discovered a king, a savior, but didn't understand Jesus was </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">the</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> King, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">the</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Savior. They allowed circumstances to close their hearts and minds to the Truth the Son was trying to show them: He came to save them - not on their terms, but on the Father's (far better terms, by the way!). </span></span></div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div align="justify"><br /></div></span></span></i><div align="justify"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"'It's not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord God of hosts."</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: right;" align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Zechariah 4:6</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div style="text-align: right;" align="justify"><br /></div></span></span><div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It's not about my job, or the ministry to which I am called. It's about passing the test of obedience. How else on earth can my faith be tested? The Lord has so incredibly blessed my life with an amazing wife and family, abundant seasons of prosperity, great times, wonderful accomplishments for His Kingdom, close friends and ministry partners, many of them lifelong. And yet the command to "sell all you have and come, follow me" still rings out. For me, this means accepting greatly perplexing things I don't understand, whether ministry-related or otherwise. As I look back over the last few years I think this is perhaps the greatest lesson the Lord has been teaching me. A life of faith is one which accepts those things that do not make sense to the human mind, letting go of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">anything</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> that would challenge the Father's authority in our lives. Like the old hymn goes, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey." </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(Public Domain, Rev. John Henry Sammis, Daniel Brink Tower) </span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div align="justify"><br /></div></span></span><div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Lord, there is no one else that I can go to! Your words give eternal life. </span></span><i><span style="font-style: normal;" class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I have faith in You, and I am sure that You are God's Holy One.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I can't wait to see what's next!</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div align="justify"><br /></div></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia,charis,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div align="justify"><br /></div></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-55960207171336251752010-02-07T02:55:00.000-08:002010-08-11T01:31:52.992-07:00True Religion<span style="font-family:georgia;"><em>"...[Religion] is a real participation of His nature, it is a beam of the eternal life, a drop of that infinite ocean of goodness; and they who are endued with it, may be said to have 'God dwelling in their souls' and 'Christ formed within them.'"</em><br /></span><div align="right"><em><span style="font-family:georgia;">-Henry Scougal</span></em></div><div align="right"><em><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></em></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;">I paraphrase Henry Scougal's definition of religion to read, 'religion is that process by which we are conformed and transformed into the image of Christ by the inward dwelling of the nature of God.' This 'transformational process' occurs when we take the intentional steps to reach upward, inward, and outward. The Apostle Peter sums it up nicely in his second letter: <em>"We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God's own power, when we learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness. God made great and marvelous promises, so that his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world. Do your best to improve your faith. You can do this by adding goodness, understanding, self-control, patience, devotion to God, concern for others, and love. If you keep growing in this way, it will show that what you know about our Lord Jesus Christ has made your lives useful and meaningful. But if you don't grow, you are like someone who is nearsighted or blind, and you have forgotten that your past sins are forgiven. My friends, you must do all you can to show that God has really chosen and selected you. If you keep on doing this, you won't stumble and fall. Then our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will give you a glorious welcome into his kingdom that will last forever." </em>(2 Peter 2:3-10, CEV)</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;">The upward reach is described in verse 3, <em>"It was all given to us by God's own power, when we learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness."</em> The 'reaching up' we do is an act of faith, like a child reaching out to hold the hand of a parent when the light suddenly goes out. The child does not question the availability or the desire of the parent to guide and protect. He or she knows instinctively the parent is available, and desires to guide and protect as much as the child desires guidance and protection; it's a natural course of nature. From the time Adam chose to walk in the darkness of disobedience, God hand has been extended to guide and protect those who would seek Him. Not only that, but He entered into this dominion of darkness, the Light of the world, so that we might not walk in the darkness, but in the light!</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;">This is where the 'reaching inward' comes into play, <em>"God made great and marvelous promises, so that his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world." </em>Imagine an operating room complete with the finest surgical staff, the best facilities, the latest technology and equipment, but no light. Would <em>you</em> choose to have surgery in such an environment? His Light exposes darkness. Living in darkness, our souls become marred and blemished. His light exposes the injuries we have wrought on ourselves, the blemishes and imperfections that scar us and cause us to fall short of His perfect nature. As we allow His light to penetrate, we are able to 'see' our hidden faults, the first step toward being healed of them. His light is perfect, revealing the truth, leaving nothing to the imagination. It causes us to see oursleves as we really are, forcing us to face the ugliness and deformity of our souls. But He doesn't leave us in this state! He is the Healer, the Great Physician, the Restorer. As we choose to walk daily in His light, His nature gradually changes us and into the beautiful creation He meant us to be, "<em>Do your best to improve your faith. You can do this by adding goodness, understanding, self-control, patience, devotion to God, concern for others, and love."</em> We walk in His light by allowing His Word of Truth to frame our thoughts and our actions. We take the time daily to read, meditate, and pray through Scripture, surrendering our lives to His gentle nudges as we come to recognize and know His voice.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:georgia;">At this point it we naturally begin 'reaching outward'! <em>"If you keep growing in this way, it will show that what you know about our Lord Jesus Christ has made your lives useful and meaningful." </em>The Holy Spirit is a gentleman - He never forces. He is not a demanding taskmaster who manipulates and controls until He gets His way. He invites and beacons us to "Taste and see that the Lord is good." (Psalm 34:8) As we walk in the Light, our healing and restoration draws other to the Father by His very nature residing in us! We become a 'pleasing aroma', that casts His glow on those around us, inviting them to join in His goodness; and so the process of reaching upward, inward, and outward multiplies itself over and over again. It is a cycle that manifests the glory of God on this earth. And <em>we</em> are the vehicles He chooses to use for this process, if we will just surrender to Him. How awesome is that?!</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-82405871221715416422010-01-05T07:11:00.000-08:002010-08-11T01:33:33.476-07:00Press On To Know The Lord<div style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">2010 Theme Verse - Hosea 6:3, 10:12</span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">When I joined the staff of Bethel Church in 2001, Doug Anderson - the senior pastor at the time - introduced me to a practice that I eventually came to adopt as my own. It is a healthy practice, I believe, because it invites us to look beyond ourselves and see our lives from God's perspective. His perspective is perfect. It does not change with time. It is not influenced by cultural values. It is not biased by sin or human frailty. This practice encourages us to pursue knowing God and His perspective by establishing His word as the standard by which we live in a very real way! Moses sums the practice up in Deuteronomy 30, where he quotes God:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><i>"Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, 'Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, 'Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' No, t<b>he word is very near you;</b> <b>it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it</b>. See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."</i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Theme Verse practice is quite simple. In December of each year I begin to ask the Lord to bring me a Scripture that will guide me through the coming year; a verse which will provide His perspective for my life. There is nothing mystical about it, nothing overtly 'supernatural', other than the fact it is His word, placed in my heart by His Spirit as a guide through the months to come. In 2009 the Theme Verse came from Isaiah 43:18-19, <i>"Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert."</i> As 2009 ticked past, I worked to filter my circumstances and decisions through these verses, reminding myself that His ways are not mine, He is always on the move, and I would do well to trust Him to provide in the bleakest of circumstances and not overly concern myself with the past. I also have been learning that what He does in and through me for His good pleasure may not always 'feel good'. But then, discipline seldom 'feels good', although, in the end, we are the better for it!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So, it's January 5th, 2010. I have been working my way through Hosea, who lived in the 7th Century B.C. during the time of Israel's rebellion and unfaithfulness. In fact, the whole book revolves around the theme of adultery...beginning with the Lord commanding Hosea to take a prostitute - Gomer - for a wife, which he does. Can you imagine? The book spares no detail in describing the Lord's distaste for unfaithfulness and disloyalty. It is sobering and drives me to my knees, for the book describes <i>my </i>heart at times!<i> </i>And yet, we also see a clear picture of the glory of God's grace and the nature of His unfailing love! As I have studied, two verses have leapt off of the page and into my heart. It is these I believe the Lord has led me to for 2010. I am writing them below in two versions, first the English Standard Version (ESV), then the Contemporary English Version (CEV):</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><i>"Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn;<br />he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth." "Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you." </i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><i>(Hosea 6:3, 10:12; ESV)</i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:medium;" ><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:medium;" ><i>"Let's do our best to know the LORD. His coming is as certain as the morning sun; he will refresh us like rain renewing the earth in the springtime. Plow your fields, scatter seeds of justice, and harvest faithfulness. Worship me, the LORD, and I will send my saving power down like rain." </i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:medium;" ><i>(Hosea 6:3, 10:12; CEV)</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:medium;" ><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Seek the Lord with all your heart this new year, my friend. Plow the ground of your heart until it becomes fertile soil in which the Word of Truth can grow into an abundant harvest of righteousness!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Love in Christ,</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Mark</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Charis SIL',charis,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><p></p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-82545870196578140462009-12-30T04:26:00.000-08:002009-12-30T06:31:31.836-08:00Regaining Momentum<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Dealing With Life's Detours</span></span></i><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The year was 1979. I was seventeen and my family had recently moved to Bradenton, FL, where my father had accepted the call to pastor First Baptist Church. We had left friends, family, home and schools behind in Lithia Springs, Georgia. In an effort to cure some of my loneliness, mom invited Scott, my best friend, down to stay with us for a few weeks over the summer. The unparalleled adventures we shared growing up in Georgia now turned a new chapter! </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Scott decided to get a job at Chi-Fil-A at the mall. This was mutually beneficial, as it provided him with a paycheck and the both of us food. I picked him up after work one afternoon. The plan was to hurry home, grab the poles and go fishing. I decided to take a shortcut on some dirt roads behind a golf-course to avoid the afternoon traffic. What I didn't know was in Florida's coastal towns, most 'dirt' is sand. Sand that, during the dry season, you can hardly walk on, much less drive a car on. I promptly buried my '68 Buick Special all the way to the doors in a sand-trap.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Fishing now completely out of the picture, we walked to some nearby apartments, used a phone, called a tow-truck, and went back to wait with the car, dejected at the turn of events. The tow truck arrived, backed-up to our car, and promptly sank to the top of its wheel-wells! We just gaped at the driver, who gaped back at us, and then said some not-so-nice things. A 4x4 came along and tried to help, only to become yet another member of the "Mired In A Sand Dune" club. Finally, after 3 hours we were all freed, thanks to the efforts of a tow-truck designed to rescue and tow semi-tractors! This vehicle was huge! We laughed as it backed right up to each vehicle in turn, and pulled them right out. Sure, it sank a couple of feet into the sand each time, but when you have a 4-5' wheel-span, it doesn't really matter. We were even able to get a couple of hours of fishing in before dark!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Looking back on that experience, I realize how fortunate we were, and how the Lord protected us. The lesson is not lost on me, either. Sure, we were driving a less-traveled road, but we had no idea that the lack of rain combined with the traffic had rendered the road impassable. I'll never forget the sensation of that car slowly stopping, wheels spinning; having to climb out the windows, because we couldn't get the doors open; looking at our predicament with that sinking "what-do-we-do-now?" feeling; then bursting into hysterical laughter, because we were young, best friends, had no cares, and loved life! The confidence of youth blew worries out the window. We were engaged together in yet another famous "Mark and Scott" adventure (these were notorious among our friends in Georgia)!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Scott and I have grown up and apart (although we do run into each other occasionally on Facebook), discovering along the way - as well all do - that life's unexpected 'sand traps' aren't usually fun or adventurous. In fact, they can be exceptionally challenging and deeply painful. If we're not careful, we can find ourselves as stuck as my old Buick was, bemoaning the circumstances, the failure, the loss of time, relationship and life's momentum. We might have even pulled others in with us, and now we're all stuck, trying to figure out how to get out of the mess we're in (these situations can be particularly tricky and vicious, due to the human tendency to be unforgiving). Most of the time these 'sand pits' are our own doing. We've made them ourselves, ignoring the danger signs along the way! We've totally ignored the warning in proverbs, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."</span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">All of us at one time or another have taken a wrong turn; done or said something we deeply regret and desperately wish we could take back. We long for a new beginning, a fresh start, but discover these opportunities are rare, and more times than not we are forced to 'lie in the bed we've made.' We tend to see these times as negative, frustrating, and discouraging, when in fact they are wonderful opportunities, if we'll take the time to see things from God's perspective! This is what </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">He</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> says: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"F</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">or </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">whose heart is completely His."</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> (II Chronicles 16:9); </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">For I know the plans that I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">found by you, declares the LORD." </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(Jeremiah 29:11-14a)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The older I get, the thing I have come to most greatly value (and what I find I lack the most, many times) is </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">perspective</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. Few have the ability to consistently see beneath the surface of things and anticipate what might lie ahead. We are limited by our knowledge, our experience, our values and our culture. We develop 'filters' through which we evaluate our circumstances and the actions of those around us; trying to discern how we 'fit', in order to create as much security for ourselves as possible. The problem is, these 'filters' tend to focus our minds on </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">ourselves,</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> when our thoughts should be centered on the Father, the Creator, the One who loves us most and knows us best. It's for this reason that we must constantly immerse ourselves in His Truth. It's the one best way to avoid life's 'sand traps'. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The next time you're 'stuck', do yourself and those around you a huge favor: run to the One who made and redeemed you. Seek after Him, get to know Him and His purposes. Spend time reading what He has to say to you...it's all right there in the Bible! Learn to trust Him. He owns the largest tow-truck ever made.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Love In Christ,</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Mark</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-24910883510878563662009-12-24T05:43:00.000-08:002010-08-11T01:35:57.330-07:00Walk The Line<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Where Spirit and Soul Meet</span></i></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">(Hebrews 4:12-13)</span></span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">We are never in more danger than when we presume to judge the thoughts and intents of another person's heart; never more arrogant or prideful; never in a greater place of potential deception. Make no mistake, this temptation is from the evil one and dates all the way back to the Garden of Eden, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">"...did God really say 'you must not eat from any tree in the garden?'" </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Not only did Satan distort the truth (God didn't say that), but he led Eve into trying to judge God's motives. When we begin to judge and evaluate the motives of another person, we place ourselves in a position equal to or above the very living Word of God! This sin has caused more strife, more bloodshed, more wars than perhaps any other in man's dismal history.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">All human relationship is based on how we connect at a 'heart' level, where our "thoughts and intents" reside; in other words, how the 'essence' of who we are - how God created us - interacts with the 'essence' of who others are. At the pinnacle of healthy human relationship is the understanding that we are, first and foremost, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">created beings</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">. We are not some random coincidence. No human has ever been born or conceived by chance; there is no such thing as an 'x-factor' when it comes to human existence. Every person who has ever lived, lives, or will live has been strategically designed and placed on this earth by the Creator for His ultimate glory! Given this fact, it stands to reason that relationship with one another can flourish only as we flourish in our personal relationship with God.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Jesus Christ was Emmanuel - "God with us". The immeasurable vastness of our Creator diminished in size and form until He could be contained in the womb of a young virgin. From an infant in a manger, to a child, to a boy, to a man, Jesus grew and lived and walked among us, eventually giving His life freely, taking the punishment for our disobedient, rebellious, prideful ways upon Himself. He did this in an incomparable act of grace and mercy; all so we could be reconciled in our relationship the Father, God, the Creator! If we believe this, we will follow His ways, learn and obey His teaching, adopt His 'worldview' as our own. This will change us, we will be affected, different, as we come to know Him better (for He lives, you see, just as much today as He did 2000 years ago). This change will be evident in our </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">relationships<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">.</span></span></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Jesus said the world would know we are His disciples by the love that we have for one another. This love Jesus talks about is not human love, based on selfish needs and desires. It is a type of love we can experience only as we place ourselves in our proper station: <i>created</i> beings (and redeemed ones at that!). So you see, my friend, the circle is now complete. Unconditional love accepts without judging or evaluating the thoughts and intents of another person's heart (there's a great description in 1 Corinthians 13). </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Amazingly, even the world understands at an intuitive level that God's love, unconditional love, exists and is critical to all human relationship. The Broadway musical </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Les Miserables</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> ends with this sung dialogue:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">VALJEAN</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">On this page<br />I write my last confession<br />read it well<br />when I, at last, am sleeping<br /><br />It's a story<br />Of those who always loved you<br />Your mother gave her life for you<br />Then gave you to my keeping.<br /><br />FANTINE<br />Come with me<br />Where chains will never bind you<br />All your grief<br />At last, at last behind you<br />Lord in Heaven<br />Look down on him in mercy.<br /><br />VALJEAN<br />forgive me all my trespasses<br />And take me to your glory.<br /><br />VALJEAN, FANTINE, EPONINE<br />Take my hand<br />And lead me to salvation<br />Take my love<br />For love is everlasting<br />And remember<br />The truth that once was spoken<br />To love another person<br />Is to see the face of God.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">I went with my two oldest sons, Aaron and Hastings, to see James Cameron's </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Avatar</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> last night. The essence of this movie is distilled down into 3 words: </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">"I see you." </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> It was impossible for the characters in the movie<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia,serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> to speak these words outside an acknowledgment of "Eywa" the native Pandoran deity, who lived in and through everything (similar to "The Force" in <i>Star Wars</i>). Like <i>Star Wars</i>, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Avatar</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> is riddled with New Age, American Indian and Hindu theology, and serves no purpose other than sheer entertainment. Yet even in this totally humanistic effort exists the underlying the message for the need of unconditional love. When the humans and Pandorans set aside their differences and genuinely tried to accept one another, rather than judge each other, relationship thrived and they could say "<i>I see you"</i> with all their hearts.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">The church will be remembered (and evaluated) <i>not</i> for great buildings, organizations, or evangelistic efforts, but for the love shared between her people. This is her greatest gift, her greatest legacy. The kind of love which refuses to judge the thoughts and intents of the hearts of others cannot exist apart from the direct work of the Holy Spirit within each of us. This work calls for complete surrender and obedience to the teachings of Jesus Christ - the Creator, God taking the form of human flesh - a form He created! It's time for the Church, the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Ecclesia</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">, the Body of Christ, His ambassador to this planet, to really </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">get</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> this; time for us to look at one another, full of the Holy Spirit, Truth, and grace, and say, <i>"I see you</i>".</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Merry Christmas!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Mark</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-68391480978258725482009-12-16T04:21:00.000-08:002009-12-16T09:26:17.000-08:00How, Then, Do We Live?<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." - </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Paul (Formerly Saul of Tarsus)</span></span> <div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Charis SIL', charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Sometimes we tend to dress-up and formalize Scripture to the point it feels 'iconic' rather than 'real'. This happens most frequently with very familiar passages like the one from which I quoted above (from Ephesians 5:15-20). To counteract the 'icon effect', let's take a look at the same passage from the Contemporary English Version of the Bible, a fairly decent paraphrase: </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"Act like people with good sense and not like fools. These are evil times, so make every minute count. Don't be stupid. Instead, find out what the Lord wants you to do. Don't destroy yourself by getting drunk, but let the Spirit fill your life. When you meet together, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, as you praise the Lord with all your heart. Always use the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to thank God the Father for everything." </span><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal" class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I chuckle when I read this version because I wonder how many pastors in America today could get away with making a statement like this - and meaning it - from the pulpit, without losing a chunk of their congregation. It certainly isn't a passage that 'tickles the ears'! Let's spend a few minutes breaking it down.</span></span></i></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia, charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"Act like people with good sense and not like fools."</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> If you're like me, the word </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"fools"</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> jumps off of the page because of its strength. But I believe the most important word in this sentence is actually the verb, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"Act". </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Jesus said, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Sometimes I think the greatest disservice man has ever done to the cause of Christianity is the construction of church facilities. Not because church buildings are bad or wrong, but because when we identify our walk with Christ with a man-made structure, we tend to live 'inside the walls'. In other words, we <i>compartmentalize</i> our spiritual life, associating it with a physical location. This, my friend, is </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">not</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> what the Apostle Paul would call 'good sense'. Make no mistake, we will only be able to live '<i>outside</i> the walls' if we embrace the words Paul also spoke in Colossians 2, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Living 'in Christ' means we become genuine disciples, obedient to His commands (you can read up on some of these by going to Matthew 5-7 and John 15).</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia, charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic" class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"These are evil times, so make every minute count."</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> We live in a day of unparalleled leisure. Statistics say that children accumulate more knowledge</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> in one year,</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> than they would have in a </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">whole lifetime</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> had they lived just 100 years ago. Nothing of any significance can happen in the world today without it immediately being broadcast globally (Tiger Woods, case in point). There is more vile, unmitigated filth available at the press of a few buttons to anyone who wants to view it, than those who suffered God's wrath </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">for the same acts or less</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> could have ever dreamed of. The average person today lives in conditions which historically have been reserved only for the most wealthy and powerful. Today's (unsaved) wealthy and powerful have a hard time not thinking of themselves as gods. And Paul thought the days were evil in </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">his</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> time! What would he say of these days? (He'd say "Look up, He's coming!) The only way we can make every minute count is to <em>daily</em> spend a significant number of them alone, in study of God's Word, and in prayer.</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia, charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic" class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"Don't be stupid. Instead, find out what the Lord wants you to do."</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Building off the end of the last paragraph, we will only discover God's plan for our lives as we </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">seek</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">His face;</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> meaning we pursue the presence of Christ in our lives first, before anything else. Oh, my friend, this is so much more easily said than done! Jeremiah 29:11-14 says, "</span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. </span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><em>I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity." </em>T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">his was a prophetic word given to the children of Israel as it related to the Babylonian captivity, but there are some truths here that are applicable to you and me, namely the part about "</span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic" class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you."</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> This 'seeking' is not an easy thing. You must be diligent, determined, devoted, and daring. Remember, "</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Aslan is not a tame lion!</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">" (C.S. Lewis; </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe)</span></i></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia, charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"Don't destroy yourself by getting drunk, but let the Spirit fill your life." (</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I love the way this whole passage builds upon itself.) If "getting drunk" means you indulge in excess to the point of losing control of yourself, then allowing "the Spirit to fill your life" requires that we do the opposite: live surrendered and obedient to God's Word, Ways, and Will. Getting drunk is a <em>choice</em> we make. So are surrender and obedience; not easy choices, mind you, for they are contrary to our stubborn human nature (which tends to get us into loads of trouble!). Ironically, only surrender and obedience will set us free...from ourselves! This is one of the greatest paradoxes of God's kingdom.</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia, charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So far we've been instructed to </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"act with good sense, make every minute count, seek God's face, and live Spirit-dominated lives."</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> We have (finally) come to the place where Paul encourages us to gather together in a way that pleases the Father! "</span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic" class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">When you meet together, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, as you praise the Lord with all your heart." "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">With all your heart." The last time we read these words it was in the context of <em>seeking God's face</em>. It seems that Paul is wrapping up worship, meeting together, and seeking God's face into a 'package deal'. This phrase is the pinnacle of the passage. But it is conditional on us taking seriously and building on what has </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">already</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> been stated (a</span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic" class="Apple-style-span"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal" class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">ct with good sense, make every minute count, seek God's face, and live Spirit-dominated lives)</span></span><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal" class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. Oh dear brothers and sisters, we have the potential to do ourselves and the name of the Lord such damage when we gather together with unprepared hearts! You see, Paul's little maxim (act with good sense, make every minute count, seek God's face, and live Spirit-dominated lives) is not a suggestion, but a </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">directive</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. Our spiritual engine won't work - won't even turn over - if we're not </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">doing</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> these things first, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">before</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> we gather together and meet as God's people. Yet how often do we get the proverbial cart before the horse? It's no wonder our churches get into such turmoil at times; and, sadly, it's no wonder the world has so little use for 'organized' Christianity!</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia, charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">What is the 'litmus test'? How do we know we are doing things in the right order? The answer to this question is in the last line of this passage, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"A</span></i><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic" class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">lways use the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to thank God the Father for everything." </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The <em>words</em> that come out of our mouths <em>evaluate</em> us. Jesus said, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"By your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned."</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> (Matthew 12:37). I dare you to go through a day and listen - </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">really listen</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> - to the words that come out of your mouth. Are your words ones of blessing, praise and thankfulness, or are they words of criticism, self-pity, and gossip? Do they direct others <em>into</em> the presence of Christ, or do they quench the Spirit of God? In the same passage Jesus also said, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"..out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks."</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> What is your 'overflow'?</span></span></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Charis SIL', charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-3379278276626307942009-12-10T02:05:00.000-08:002009-12-12T07:26:43.035-08:00Dealing With Life's Curve Balls<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none"><b><i> <!--StartFragment--> </i></b></p><b><i><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Romans 8:26-28</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">When Your Heart Hurts…</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.0pt;text-align:justify;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span></span><!--StartFragment--></span></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:130%;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.0pt;text-align:justify;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The couple sat across from me in my office with tears in their eyes. The doctor’s office had called with an unexpected opening in the schedule and wanted to know if the wife would come in right away for an ultrasound. It was a routine procedure, and likely the child’s sex would be determined. Of course she would! Once at the office, the procedure went smoothly. It was determined the baby was a boy, but she could sense that something wasn’t quite right. “Oh, we’ll send you a letter,” the nurse assured her. A few minutes later, however, she found herself on another floor with another doctor. Suddenly this mom realized that she’d been thrown yet another of life’s curveballs: the unborn child she was carrying had the most serious type of Spina Bifida, Myelomeningocele. Both she and her husband had wrestled with this unplanned pregnancy from the beginning, trying to grasp God’s perspective on this circumstance. Now to wrap their minds and hearts around the fact that this child, if it survived at all, would likely be severely handicapped, had stretched them to their limits. They are believers, true disciples of Jesus Christ. They had been through difficult situations before. Nevertheless, they were plagued by the questions ‘How much more can we take?’ and ‘When is enough, enough, God?’ Fair questions.</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.0pt;text-align:justify;text-indent: .5in;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">As we prayed, shared and wept together, it occurred to me that this is the stuff of life. Adam and Eve’s sin wasn’t just about getting ‘caught’ doing something ‘naughty.’ We continue to reap the consequences of their sin every day. Let’s put it in a modern context: when your computer hard drive becomes corrupt and crashes, there is little you can do except wipe it clean and start over. If you are very fortunate, you can sometimes recover a few files, but typically the drive itself must be re-formatted. Life on this planet is not unlike a corrupted hard drive…the operating system no longer functions according to its original design. In real life, this is what the Apostle Paul calls the ‘wages of sin.’ But our Creator was unwilling to give up so easily; such was His love for us. He provided a means through which we – ‘corrupted files’ – can be rescued. He sent His Son, Jesus, to redeem us and pay the penalty for our disobedience. All we must do is allow Him to reach into our lives and rescue us. But this can be much harder than it seems!</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.0pt;text-align:justify;text-indent: 48.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">From time to time we will encounter difficult circumstances. It’s a given. It’s also likely there will be times when we feel we just can’t "take it any more". The Apostle Paul understood this perhaps better than anyone. In 2 Corinthians 4 he writes, <i>"You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, 'Let there be light in the darkness,' has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies."</i></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.0pt;text-align:justify;text-indent: 48.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">This means that we look to Him as the object of our love and the source of our life. We follow the way of life He prescribed for us, and we – through the miracle of the Holy Spirit’s power – enjoy intimate relationship with the Father, our Creator, through surrender and obedience to the Son. We have to remember this! It’s not about us, our comfort, or our ‘rights.’ It’s all about Him. He promises that one day we will exist in His presence, all corruption removed far from us. In the meantime, Jesus promised, that as long as we are alive on this planet, we can expect trouble to come our way. And yet He encourages us to be of good cheer, reminding us that He has overcome the world!</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.0pt;text-align:justify;text-indent: 48.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">We live in a day where popular theology is synchronized to a western mindset that accepts comfort as "good" and discomfort as "evil". Some teach that God does not intend for, nor wills us, to suffer. If we suffer, it is because our faith is weak, we haven't prayed enough, or Satan is somehow dominating our circumstances. This teaching is flawed, and inconsistent with Scriptural Truth. Earlier in the same chapter, Paul states, <i>"We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this." Jesus Christ has overcome the world. We, on the other hand, still live in it. John the Beloved wrote, "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." "Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life."</i> (1 John 4:1-5, 10-12)</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">This passage explains why the life of the believer is victorious. It is not because we are granted every whim and desire, always getting ‘our way,’ but because we who have received the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ live forever for His glory! Our lives will extend beyond this world's existence. That, my friend, is how we overcome the world! These present sufferings are temporary. They only last until the grave. We, on the other hand, are not destined for the grave, but to live all eternity in the presence of the One who loves us most and knows us best! We obey Christ's teachings in every circumstance, even the hard ones; understanding when all is said and done, through Him, we win. And this is the victory: His glory – not ours – is manifested in and through us for all eternity!</span></span></span></span><o:p></o:p></p> <!--EndFragment--> </span><p></p> <!--EndFragment--> </i></b><p></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-13925527460381059492009-12-02T02:31:00.001-08:002009-12-10T03:12:43.308-08:00The Cost of Discipleship<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Personal Renewal through Surrender</span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align:justify"><i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."</span></span></span></i><i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></p> <p align="right" style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:right; line-height:150%"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Acts 1:8</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify"><i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Way to the Cross, Part 2</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Our selfish, human nature is such a difficult thing to change (or ‘allow to be changed’ may be a better way to state it).</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Our humanity – that part which the Apostle Paul calls ‘the flesh’ or the ‘sinful nature’ - so many times keeps us from experiencing all that the Father has for us, including the most important thing: His abiding presence in our lives.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">There are certain attitudes that Jesus spoke of which are non-negotiable for His disciples.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Let’s look at a couple of these from the </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">New Living Translation</span></span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> of the Bible: </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others.</span></span></i><sup><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></i></sup><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.</span></span></i><span style="color:windowtext;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">” (Matthew 7:1-5); “</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">” (John 15:12-13, 16-17) </span></span></p> <p class="MsoBodyTextIndent"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">What is this ‘fruit’ Jesus speaks of?</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I believe that Paul gives us insight in Galatians 5: “</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.</span></span></i></p><p class="MsoBodyTextIndent"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><i></i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">What about the ‘love’ Jesus talks about?</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Again, let’s read the Apostle Paul’s words on love in 1 Corinthians 13: “</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">”</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Contrary to popular culture, the above passage wasn’t written for weddings…it was a directive from Paul to the church in Corinth.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It is a description of how the Redeemed should and must live in relationship to each other.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And it is not ‘optional.’</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">As Jesus said in John 15, “</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If you love me, you will obey my commands….this is my command: love each other.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">”</span></span></p><p class="MsoBodyTextIndent"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Now you’re probably thinking, “but…but…but,” because that’s what we tend to do.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We make excuses and place ourselves above Christ by allowing thoughts to rule our minds that subvert His authority.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Thoughts like, “But He couldn’t have meant me to endure </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">this </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">situation, or forgive </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">this</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> person;” or “Surely He doesn’t expect me to do </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">that</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">.”</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Actually, Jesus expects us to follow Him in </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">all</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> circumstances, and be totally devoted to His cause: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Kingdom</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> living.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">After all, the part of the reason that He suffered, died, rose again, and sent His Holy Spirit was so that ‘we would receive power.’</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">More next week!</span></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-85700936181726029012009-11-26T05:28:00.000-08:002009-12-10T03:13:59.537-08:00The Cost of Discipleship<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;line-height: 150%; "><i><span style="line-height: 150%;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Cost of Discipleship: Personal Renewal through Sacrifice</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“…and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Matthew 10:38; 16:24</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify"><i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Way to The Cross - Part 1</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><u><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Message</span></span></span></u><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> (a paraphrased version of the Bible) puts the above verses like this: “</span></span></span><span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If you don't go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don't deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you'll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you'll find both yourself and me.</span></span></i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. ‘Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?’</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">”</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">These are pretty strong words!</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But then, Jesus was never known as One who minced words.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Apostle Paul understood what Jesus said completely.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In Galatians 3 (</span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Message</span></span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">) he puts it this way: “</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a ‘law man’ so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">”</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">What does Paul mean by ‘rule-keeping?’</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Simply this: God is not nearly as interested in the things we ‘do’ for Him, as much as the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">motivation</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> behind </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">why</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> we’re doing it.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Jesus Christ paid for our sin.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">There is nothing – and I mean nothing – that we can </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">do</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> that will earn us favor or right-standing with God.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">All we </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">can</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> do is understand that Christ’s complete, totally surrendered sacrifice requires the same from us.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And that means understanding our relationship with the Father in light of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This understanding comes only as we discipline ourselves in our desire to know Him better, by honoring Him through time spent in prayer, silence, meditation and study of His Word.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">More on this next time!</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-15366762494168281742009-11-24T06:14:00.000-08:002009-12-10T03:14:22.869-08:00Who am I, really?<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align:justify"><i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“A life without a lonely place, that is, a life without a quiet center, easily becomes destructive. When we cling to the results of our actions as our only way of self-identification, then we become possessive and defensive and tend to look at our fellow human beings more as enemies to be kept at a distance than as friends with whom we share the gift of life. In solitude we can slowly unmask the illusion of our possessiveness and discover in the center of our own self that we are not what we can conquer, but what is given to us. It is in this solitude that we discover that being is more important than having, and that we are worth more than the results of our efforts. In solitude we discover that our life is not a possession to be defended, but a gift to be shared."</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></p> <p align="right" style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:right; line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Henry Nouwen, </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Out of Solitude</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></u></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></i></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So many of the people I know, many of whom I consider to be close friends, have something in common. They are busy. Incredibly busy. I understand why. They are bright, talented, motivated and ambitious. They love their spouses and children (and grandchildren). They love their church. In most cases they love Jesus. But I grow increasingly concerned with the ‘busyness’ life. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;tab-stops:.25in"><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Don’t misunderstand. There’s nothing wrong with being busy. In fact, in many ways it’s worse to be idle. My concern comes from of my own personal experience. I know too well what it’s like to be in that place where I go from one thing to the next and to the next, for days on end with only time enough to sleep. Experience has taught me that this type of lifestyle is the most dangerous threat to my relationship with the Father. “But Mark,” you might say, “you’re a pastor. Surely everything you do is for the Kingdom!”</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;tab-stops:.25in"><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And that’s where you’d be mistaken, my friend. You see, ‘Kingdom living’ has very little to do with what any of us </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">do</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. It has everything to do with who we </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">are</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. To quote from the above passage, “…</span></span></span><i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">being is more important than having, and… we are worth more than the results of our efforts.”</span></span></span></i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Please trust me when I tell you that when it comes to my relationship with God and true ‘Kingdom living’, I know very little. But I do know one thing, as a disciple of Jesus Christ my identity is not established in what I do or what I have. My identity is established as I understand who God created me to </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">be</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;tab-stops:.25in"><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I have also learned, only because of God’s great mercy and grace in my life, that He reveals </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">my</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> true identity as I take the time to discover </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">His</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. I believe this is what the Apostle Paul was talking about when he said to the believers in Colossus, “</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">You have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">” (Colossians 3:3). If we look at this verse in context we read, “</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">(Colossians 3:1-4).</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;tab-stops:.25in"><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It is a fatal error to assume that who we are is a product of our achievements. As far as I know, the only way to really learn who we are is to commit and discipline ourselves to time alone with the Father. It’s the only way we’ll find Him, and the only way we’ll discover our true identity.</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-84215572743014016882009-11-24T04:49:00.000-08:002009-12-10T03:14:47.417-08:00My how time flies...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Okay, more than a year has passed since I set up this blog. So much has happened I haven't been hardly keep up with it all, much less write about it! But I figure that if I don't start somewhere I never will. So, here we go...</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228989595871750023.post-73719833819943031732008-11-17T00:39:00.000-08:002009-12-10T03:15:09.958-08:00Welcome<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">STAY TUNED!<br /><br />Thanks for visiting my blog page. I'm on a journey. I am determined to know the One who created...well everything. He's generally known as "God". He is real. He is not a 'life-force'. He is a person, He has an identify; an identity He would love nothing more than for you and I to become familiar with. In fact, 'familiar' is a great word, since He prefers us to think of Him as 'Daddy'. He is the Source, the Beginning, the Fountainhead. And He has promised that if we seek Him, we will find Him! Come on, let's search together.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2