Galatians is a great book to read to get a better understanding of “salvation is thru faith alone” and not thru works. In the letter, Paul is addressing a community of believers he founded. It looks like he was going thru the area, fell sick, they took care of him, and he ministered to their souls (4:12-20). Apparently some “Jewish Christians” have come to the Galatian community after Paul. They have denounced Paul as an apostle, and they have said that Paul is right that Jesus is the messiah but to be a son of Abraham and be saved, you must be circumcised. Besides the truth of salvation by faith alone, this book is also a good study for the argument of free will or election. There are others that can go better into that argument, but it can be made here also.
Let me start with the free will/election problem. To do this we have to go all the way back to the beginning of humans. In the beginning there was Adam and Eve. They were in paradise, everything was provided for them, and their biggest challenge is whether to eat carrots or potatoes today (yes I know there probably were not bananas or potatoes there, but it really doesn’t matter for this story). Eve is out one day doing her Eve-like thing and the snake comes up and deceives her. Where was Adam? He was right beside her. He didn’t stop Eve from eating the apple. He even took it from her to eat of it. I wonder if he started singing the song by Dierks Bentley after that. What Was I Thinking.
Why did God not come in and stop them from eating the fruit? Or why didn’t God tell Adam the day before “Hey Adam…tomorrow the serpent is going to be talking to your girl and is going to start messing with her mind. You need to be there to pull her to the side and tell her what’s going on.” But God didn’t. Why?
I’m actually jumping ahead in the Galatians study to chapter 3 but that’s ok. You see, God knew what was going to happen. He knew Eve and Adam would fail. But he didn’t tell them because if he did, their acceptance and our acceptance of his love and grace would not be genuine and authentic. You see, I don’t think anyone can make a good decision unless they have all the facts and know both sides. All of history thru Abraham and Moses, from the Law to grace of Jesus had to happen so we could make an informed decision (see Galatians 3:19-4:31). The Law was added when Moses was around to show us what has happened (that is, what we have done wrong), and what was to come. The Law was our guardian (Chapter 4) to keep us in line until we became mature enough to understand the end game. The gift (salvation) was given by God to Abraham and to his offspring Jesus. We became heirs Abraham and we get the benefit of that inheritance by accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. By accepting the truth of Jesus (instead of looking for circumcision) you receive the Spirit and become children of the true Jerusalem (Heaven) from above.
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Throughout this book, Paul has to assert he is an apostle just like the other 12. He was called by God, shown the truth, and given a commission to go and share the Word with gentiles. He jumps right in the face of the Galatian believers right off the bat….”You are confused and want to follow a perverted gospel….anyone that gives you a different gospel than the one we gave you will be accursed (and he says that twice to make sure they got it)”. Paul was an apostle because of authority of JC and God the Father (1:1-3); he was made an apostle by the revelation of JC (1:11-12); he was an apostle because God set him apart from birth.
This last one is significant. Remember what I wrote at the beginning of this post. We cannot fully accept the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ unless we know the whole story (where is Paul Harvey when I need him). So Paul, who is a very zealous Pharisee, probably knew the Law inside and out, persecuted the church because THEY were perverting the word of God. He knew where he came from. He knew the past. The present is his salvation thru Jesus Christ. And the future (or where he is going) is his journey to perfection and eventually heaven because of the faith of Jesus Christ and his acceptance of Jesus.
That jumps us up to chapter 2 starting at vs 15. Jews and Gentiles are both saved by faith. The question we can ask ourselves, is it faith in Jesus or faith of Jesus. It’s a subtle difference but one that is important. The funny thing is it can be both at once. Here is what I mean. I believe it is the faith OF Jesus that saves us. Our belief in Jesus as our Lord and savior makes us heirs of the promise. In addition to that, it is Jesus’ faith (in us, in the truth, in himself, in God the father) that gives us this promise. So in 2:15-21 Paul says we are justified by the faith of Jesus and not works because no one can be justified by works. And I now live in the flesh (and all the sinning and crap that comes with that) but I live knowing that I am justified by faith of the Son of God.
Here is the kicker for the of/in debate. Paul asks in vs 17, if we are saved (justified) and still sin, isn’t Jesus a servant of sin. To put it another way, if we are justified by the faith of Jesus, and we are found to be sinners, isn’t Jesus just a peddler of sin then? If he is so perfect, and it’s his faith that justifies us, doesn’t that mean it’s him that put the sin in us? The answer is a resounding NO. The Law showed me my sin, I am still a sinner, but Christ is perfect and it is his perfection and faith that allows me to have salvation even though I am a sinner. My sinning crappy terrible self has died to the Law and now because of that I don’t live. Christ lives within me and he carries me thru the pain and suffering of sin. The life I live now in this flesh (this is vs 20) I live because of the faith of Jesus. The Law exposes my sin to me and to the world, but that doesn’t give me justification. And with the Law exposing my sin (and proving me a sinner), that doesn’t invalidate the grace given to me because if the Law did justify me, Christ would have died for nothing.
Galatians 3:12…you either live by faith or you live to your works. 3:10 shows us that if you are a follower of the Law and don’t obey the Law fully, you are cursed (lost). You must choose either the Law or faith, and it can’t be both. If you close the Law you are lost because no-one can follow every single law. Choose faith and you are righteous (saved). If you have faith and are righteous you are a descendent of Abraham (3:7). Decedents of Abraham get his blessing of redemption. Christ died and was hung on a tree and he absorbed the curse that comes with the Law so we are FREE TO CHOOSE TO RECEIVE the promise of the Spirit. Starting at 3:15, the inheritance we get comes thru the promise made to Abraham down to Jesus. The promise comes to Abraham and to us because of faith.
So to finish out chapter 3 and go into chapter 4, let’s ask the question “what is the purpose of the law?” So far we have downgraded the law to some backwoods hillbilly that has not moved thru evolution yet. Paul’s purpose is to show that the Law had a temporary role that ended with the appearance of Christ. It was never intended to give life or to justify; otherwise, there would have been no need for Christ to die for our sins. (from my study bible notes) Vs 21…is the law opposed to the promises of God? Remember the promises are faith and righteousness and salvation. Before faith came (that is before Jesus came around) we were imprisoned under the law. Basically since we know right from wrong and we fail to do right every time, we break the law all the time. If we break the law we cannot be saved. By breaking the law all the time, we cannot be saved ever under the law. Vs 25…but now Christ has come into the picture. Faith has come and in that faith those of us who believe Jesus and trust him to be our Lord and savior are now children of God thru that faith. To show we are heirs to the promise, we get baptized. Baptism is our sign of holy adoption into the family of believers so instead of a blood family of people with similar dna, we are a spiritual family, part of Abraham’s offspring, and heirs in the promise. Since we become a member of the family, we receive the Spirit into our lives.
The Spirit is our possessor or keeper and he is here to show us the way. That’s what Paul gets into in chapter 4. We were minors not knowing the truth and probably not able to handle the truth. So the Law was put into place to keep us in line. God sent his son Jesus to be born under this law that keeps us down, he fulfills the law perfectly, and dies to the law so we can be adopted as heirs to the promise outside the law.
Starting at 4:8, Paul talks about elemental spirits. At first I thought he might mean false prophets or false teachers (kind of like Benny Hinn today). But in Hellenistic view, there were demonic elements that worked within the individual and cosmos (think astrology) to control human destiny. Magic, prayers, rituals (observing special days and years in 4:10) and laws were used to keep them at bay. Paul says that the Galatians are circumcising themselves as a way to be protected from the elements (even angels). To finish up chapter 4, Paul gives an allegory of Hagar and Sarah. In the end he is saying we must reject trying to please God by relying on the Law.
Live by the Spirit, Paul says in 5:16. Gratifying the flesh is against the Spirit. Here is what the Jews would say and what unbelievers would say…..”we have the Law. That tells us what to, when to do it, and as long as we follow the recipe prescribed out before us, we have it made.” The Jews say that because that’s the way it’s always been and that’s what they were taught from birth. The unbeliever says that they want something concrete in their life to make it. Unbelievers want to go to heaven also (most do). These people do want to have steps for what they can do get salvation. We are a society of independent people. So the question they ask is what can I do to be saved? The answer they get back is “do this and this and this and be circumcised and you made it”.
But Paul says to live by the Spirit. In vs 18 if you are living by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. What that means is you still do right but you don’t try to get your salvation by following the law. Paul says in vvs 13-15 that thru love you must become slaves to one another and the WHOLE law is summed up in the single commandment of “love your neighbor as yourself.”
But if you are not led by the Spirit, you are searching out to do works of the flesh. Here are some things you will do (vs 19-21) fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, and carousing. I love the way The Message paraphrase bible puts this: 19 It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; 20 trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; 21 the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community.
He then contrasts those works of the flesh with the fruits of the Spirit. Mmmm fruit. Sweet, natural, healthy. There is no law against these things. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The Message puts it this way: 22 But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard - things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, 23 not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
Therefore we do not compare ourselves with others, don’t envy what others have. We are guided by the Spirit and everything connected with the ways of the flesh above are killed off (or crucified).
Then starting in chapter 6, Paul says something interesting. “If anyone has transgressed (read that as backsliding, sinning, failing, falling, or in other words not acting in a way that shows you to ‘love your neighbor as yourself’) then you who are Spirit-filled must love them back to health. Take care that you are not tempted. I like that line. For example, you who have turned your back from drugs and have are now free…don’t go down and hang around your old dealer and addict friends to see how they are doing. If you on the other hand fall back into that lifestyle, your Christian friends should come along side you and lift you up to health again.
Bear one another’s burdens because that’s what Christ did. I will dig deeper in that in one minute. Help others, but you must test your own work. Work as if you are working for God and not for men. So those who can’t, will have help and those that can will help on top of doing a good job with their own work. So back to Christ. Christ in his perfect life/death/resurrection showed that his love fulfilled the Law. He gave himself up for others by embracing the love commandment.
When I began this post, I stated that yes Galatians is a book showing salvation is by faith alone. In Paul’s closing (and in mine), his focus is on circumcision. He states it right…”Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything. But a new creation is everything”. Reference that to 2 Corinthians 5:17. Before the Spirit you were doing the works of the flesh. Now after the Spirit (no mention of circumcision here) you are exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit. And then a reference back to the “Jerusalem from above” he says as for those who follow this rule…those who are believers, love their neighbors as themselves, and exhibit the fruits of the Spirit….peace be upon you, mercy upon you, and upon the true Israel.
One last mention of his authority, Paul says that he bears the marks of Jesus branded on his body. That could be the persecution he received as a believer from unbelievers and Jews. Here is him saying, “I am an apostle. I imitate Jesus and you can imitate me”. So no one should make trouble for me. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
sex and preaching
Ed young @ Fellowship Church of Dallas is doing a series of sermons about sex. He has tasked his married congregation couples to have sex EVERY DAY for seven days. Check out http://www.edyoung.com/. Now I love the fact that he has the 'cahonies' to do a sermon like this. The bible is a love story. And it gives us a prescription of what marriage and in that marriage what sex should look like.
What is sad is how unbelievers don't understand what a biblical marriage looks like. Check out this CNN video (LINK). She tells Ed "well it's rape if a man tells his wife that his pastor said they have to have sex." It's thinking like this that made people misinterpret the word "submit". I'm sure the CNN rep will not watch the sermon, but I pray she will so she can understand exactly what God is looking for in marriage and sex.
What is sad is how unbelievers don't understand what a biblical marriage looks like. Check out this CNN video (LINK). She tells Ed "well it's rape if a man tells his wife that his pastor said they have to have sex." It's thinking like this that made people misinterpret the word "submit". I'm sure the CNN rep will not watch the sermon, but I pray she will so she can understand exactly what God is looking for in marriage and sex.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Our Tax System Explained: Bar Stool Economics
Our Tax System Explained: Bar Stool Economics
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.' Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers?
How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!''Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I got' 'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!''Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.Professor of EconomicsUniversity of Georgia
For those who understand, no explanation is needed.For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.' Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers?
How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!''Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I got' 'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!''Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.Professor of EconomicsUniversity of Georgia
For those who understand, no explanation is needed.For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
What is love in marriage?
In Rescued by the Cross by Ken Freeman, he says that the main issues in marriage are problems in communication, sex, or money. AND if there is a problem in one, it will flow over and affect the other two. I ask "what is love?" not because love will always fix a relationship (everyone sing with me..."all we need is love, love, love"). I as "what is love?" because so many people want to define love by their standards. The problem with that is the world's standards constantly change with the wind.
So let's look at it from God's viewpoint. 1 Corinthians 13 is the 1st place many people will go to see love... Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. (The Message)
I remember "Everybody Loves Raymond where Raymond recorded everything his wife said that he didn't agree with. Then when everything went wrong he played it back to her to make a point. He was right. The problem was he didn't need to be right. Somestime you need to be quiet. Love Isn't always "me first" and doesn't keep score of sins of others. Have you ever been around someone who remembers when you failed? You ask them to do something, they don't do it exactly how you wanted, and you make sure and tell them how they failed you.
Love Always looks for the best, never looks back, and keeps going to the end. If you always look for the best in the person you love, you will not look for their faults. Their gifts will rise to the top. Brandy has a strong gift of discernment. She can look at other people thru God's eyeglasses it seems at times and knows what's in their hearts. Love never looks back. In other words, you don't keep bringing up things the other person has done in the past. Love keeps going until the end. If you have done everything before this, then you will keep going until the end. Love has no temporary option as long as you feel like it. Love is for eternity.
At the end of Genesis 2, God made Eve...the beauty. Therefore a man leaves his mother and father and embraces his wife. They become one flesh. There is no "other person". They are one. Therefore, decisions are made together. Life is lived together. Their desire is to always be together.
Have you ever heard the phrase "Don't go to sleep angry"? Read Provers 15:17 "Better a breadcrust shared in love than a slab of prime rib served in hate". Wow what a statement. If you are down to nothing in your life and the only thing you have to eat is simple breadcrumbs, you should share that in love.
Read the whole book of Song of Solomon. This is a love story between Solomon (the wisest person in the OT) and his new bride. It's a very detailed sexy letter. Sex is ok to say. It doesn't hurt. I promise. Solomon says he will make love to his wife until the day breaks and the shadows flee...that's all night long.
The Greek language has 3 words for love. eros, philia, and agape. Agape is active, determined, and a gracious interest in anothers true welfare, not deterred even by hatred, not limited by results (what do I get out of this), does not retaliate, seeks no reward, and is not censorious. It is based on the nature of God. Philia based love is brotherly love. Yeah Philadelphia. It is about warm affection or being a friend. Eros is the hot passionate devotion. This includes the romatic or physical type love. Agape is what we find in 1 Corinthians. It is the same love from God to his people. Agape is the "foundation for all committed relationships, in marriage, friendship, church, and family. Agape is the reason Jesus laid down his life for our sins.
So what do you take away from all this? How does this affect you? Well....do you have the kind of love you should for your spouse? Is the foundation there? Your relationship is based on the rock of Jesus and the love he has shown to us. Your life together is not a short term project to see how it goes. Marriage has a foundation of agape love with the house built on top of it. I said before that problems in marriage are on communication, sex, or money. Eros is the passionate sex and that can be a problem. If you communication does not have that love foundation, it will be the problem. And if you have a love of money (or problem with money), that will be your problem. Who you love is who you will focus on. Your spouse is your focus and your devotion. Love him or her.
So let's look at it from God's viewpoint. 1 Corinthians 13 is the 1st place many people will go to see love... Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. (The Message)
I remember "Everybody Loves Raymond where Raymond recorded everything his wife said that he didn't agree with. Then when everything went wrong he played it back to her to make a point. He was right. The problem was he didn't need to be right. Somestime you need to be quiet. Love Isn't always "me first" and doesn't keep score of sins of others. Have you ever been around someone who remembers when you failed? You ask them to do something, they don't do it exactly how you wanted, and you make sure and tell them how they failed you.
Love Always looks for the best, never looks back, and keeps going to the end. If you always look for the best in the person you love, you will not look for their faults. Their gifts will rise to the top. Brandy has a strong gift of discernment. She can look at other people thru God's eyeglasses it seems at times and knows what's in their hearts. Love never looks back. In other words, you don't keep bringing up things the other person has done in the past. Love keeps going until the end. If you have done everything before this, then you will keep going until the end. Love has no temporary option as long as you feel like it. Love is for eternity.
At the end of Genesis 2, God made Eve...the beauty. Therefore a man leaves his mother and father and embraces his wife. They become one flesh. There is no "other person". They are one. Therefore, decisions are made together. Life is lived together. Their desire is to always be together.
Have you ever heard the phrase "Don't go to sleep angry"? Read Provers 15:17 "Better a breadcrust shared in love than a slab of prime rib served in hate". Wow what a statement. If you are down to nothing in your life and the only thing you have to eat is simple breadcrumbs, you should share that in love.
Read the whole book of Song of Solomon. This is a love story between Solomon (the wisest person in the OT) and his new bride. It's a very detailed sexy letter. Sex is ok to say. It doesn't hurt. I promise. Solomon says he will make love to his wife until the day breaks and the shadows flee...that's all night long.
The Greek language has 3 words for love. eros, philia, and agape. Agape is active, determined, and a gracious interest in anothers true welfare, not deterred even by hatred, not limited by results (what do I get out of this), does not retaliate, seeks no reward, and is not censorious. It is based on the nature of God. Philia based love is brotherly love. Yeah Philadelphia. It is about warm affection or being a friend. Eros is the hot passionate devotion. This includes the romatic or physical type love. Agape is what we find in 1 Corinthians. It is the same love from God to his people. Agape is the "foundation for all committed relationships, in marriage, friendship, church, and family. Agape is the reason Jesus laid down his life for our sins.
So what do you take away from all this? How does this affect you? Well....do you have the kind of love you should for your spouse? Is the foundation there? Your relationship is based on the rock of Jesus and the love he has shown to us. Your life together is not a short term project to see how it goes. Marriage has a foundation of agape love with the house built on top of it. I said before that problems in marriage are on communication, sex, or money. Eros is the passionate sex and that can be a problem. If you communication does not have that love foundation, it will be the problem. And if you have a love of money (or problem with money), that will be your problem. Who you love is who you will focus on. Your spouse is your focus and your devotion. Love him or her.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Church planting
What does a church planter look like? It's interesting to read different ideas on church planting. From a house church to store front, buying an old church, starting something in a coffee shop-book store-etc. Most people don't know that many churches start in a house (or garage). Just a small group of similar minded folks wanting to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Maybe to start a church you just need a Big Ego. Check out the story from the United Methodists Reporter paper. A portion of the story is below:
Maybe to start a church you just need a Big Ego. Check out the story from the United Methodists Reporter paper. A portion of the story is below:
When searching for pastors to start new congregations, conventional wisdom is perhaps best kicked to the curb. According to a Congregational Development Think Tank convened by United Methodist church leaders, the best candidates for church planters are people who are perceived as troublemakers, egotistical, nonconformist and don’t like to spend time in their offices. ..........The church planter must be an entrepreneurial pastor who is creative and has a passion for reaching out to the unchurched, think tank participants agreed. They must also be “out-of-the box” thinkers who are passionate, creative and high-energy personalities.
Pretty cool idea huh. It breaks the mold of what many church type people believe. I especially like the part of LAY PEOPLE starting the church. Read the story and see what you believe. Have a blessed day.
-Pastor Sean
Saturday, June 21, 2008
The New Church
I've been thinking more seminary and church and the people and how it all relates. People have been asking me when I am going to go back to school (when I pay down or off my student loans). People ask when I will become a pastor again (when God leads me there). I know we will never go back to the Methodist church.
I've been Methodist most all my Christian life. I had never really experienced anything different. When people ask me why I was Methodist over another denomination or non-denomination, I would give them the analogy of Albertson's Grocery. Albertson's makes almost all there stores look exactly the same. The reason is no matter where you are in the country, you can go into any Albertsons and know exactly where everything is. I've always been Methodist because the church has over 100 years of history I can look back on and know what they believe and why they believe it.
I think in some ways that history has hurt the Methodist church also. Many in the church are so stuck on honoring/keeping the past, they can't see themselves letting the church go into the future. In our last church, the organ player's mom taught him how to play so "there will always be an organ player at the church". Raise your hand if you listen to organ music outside the church. Is it on top 40 radio? Even Jadon Lavik who recorded a bunch of old hymns like Come thou Fount did it with modern instruments.
A good friend of mine has said that I should start a church. He is all for jumping in with me. We have a name for it and everything. I've thought about starting a new church....maybe even one online. Everytime I think about starting a B&M church, I think about people from That Church. The church would be great if people didn't screw it up so much :o). Every move we have made in the past 2 years has been a good move. From Sardis (great biblical name for a church), to Crossroads Bible (good church), to now Hillside Community. When I was a pastor, I was the pastor I've always wanted. Now Pete is definitely the pastor I want.
But what about starting a new church. What would it look like? If we are all priest, why shouldn't we all preach? Have you ever sat in church and thought "I could definately preach. Most people have. I have said more than once, most people have 1 good sermon in them. Unfortunately most don't stop at that 1 :o).
But seriously, I could start my online church. On the front page a top 10 list (thanks to Letterman) of what we believe and why we believe it. 1. Lost people matter to God. 2. Christians should grow. 3. The only way to God is faith in Jesus Christ. 4. We teach from the bible ....etc, etc.
Send me a video of your teaching and a transcript of it. I will upload it to youtube or one of the other sites, tag it, post it on the church site with the transcript (because I HATE sites with video and no transcript expecially news sites). We will have new postings up front, but just like any web 2.0 site the community will Amen the sermons that are the best and those will float to the top (think of Digg.com). the site will have a little overhead for the hosting and such, but with no B&M cost, these will be minimum.
Donations after cost will be sent to missionaries, non-profit groups, etc. The site has a large enough congregation, people can post needing help in a specific area (porch building, house painting, electricity paying, etc), people in that area can help out. Don't know a good church in North Dallas? another visitor does. Wondering how to get involved with the homeless in Memphis? Another visitor in California has been doing it for years and will tell you what to do to get started.
Now church has stopped being one-way communication of the pastor preaching, to the community worshiping. Did you ever want to respond to the pastor after a sermon. You can do that at this church as long as you do it with gentleness and respect.
When I was preaching, I taught transformation and movement. The Word of God will transform your life. If you are not transformed you are not growing. and movement in that you need to get off your butt and go out into the world. We are not in the world but of the world. That is, your home is in another place. Your heart is yearning for that place. But God has you hear right now to do his work and will. You can't lock yourselves behind church doors and tell everyone they have to come to you.
Last week the preacher asked how many of those flyers for churches have you gotten saying "come visit us, we are nice. we are a family church". How many did you visit? But if you see a church DOING for others (not just their own) then would you go visit them and see what they are all about?
What do you think? Should we (the web community) start a church?? I'll let you wear whatever you want to church.
I've been Methodist most all my Christian life. I had never really experienced anything different. When people ask me why I was Methodist over another denomination or non-denomination, I would give them the analogy of Albertson's Grocery. Albertson's makes almost all there stores look exactly the same. The reason is no matter where you are in the country, you can go into any Albertsons and know exactly where everything is. I've always been Methodist because the church has over 100 years of history I can look back on and know what they believe and why they believe it.
I think in some ways that history has hurt the Methodist church also. Many in the church are so stuck on honoring/keeping the past, they can't see themselves letting the church go into the future. In our last church, the organ player's mom taught him how to play so "there will always be an organ player at the church". Raise your hand if you listen to organ music outside the church. Is it on top 40 radio? Even Jadon Lavik who recorded a bunch of old hymns like Come thou Fount did it with modern instruments.
A good friend of mine has said that I should start a church. He is all for jumping in with me. We have a name for it and everything. I've thought about starting a new church....maybe even one online. Everytime I think about starting a B&M church, I think about people from That Church. The church would be great if people didn't screw it up so much :o). Every move we have made in the past 2 years has been a good move. From Sardis (great biblical name for a church), to Crossroads Bible (good church), to now Hillside Community. When I was a pastor, I was the pastor I've always wanted. Now Pete is definitely the pastor I want.
But what about starting a new church. What would it look like? If we are all priest, why shouldn't we all preach? Have you ever sat in church and thought "I could definately preach. Most people have. I have said more than once, most people have 1 good sermon in them. Unfortunately most don't stop at that 1 :o).
But seriously, I could start my online church. On the front page a top 10 list (thanks to Letterman) of what we believe and why we believe it. 1. Lost people matter to God. 2. Christians should grow. 3. The only way to God is faith in Jesus Christ. 4. We teach from the bible ....etc, etc.
Send me a video of your teaching and a transcript of it. I will upload it to youtube or one of the other sites, tag it, post it on the church site with the transcript (because I HATE sites with video and no transcript expecially news sites). We will have new postings up front, but just like any web 2.0 site the community will Amen the sermons that are the best and those will float to the top (think of Digg.com). the site will have a little overhead for the hosting and such, but with no B&M cost, these will be minimum.
Donations after cost will be sent to missionaries, non-profit groups, etc. The site has a large enough congregation, people can post needing help in a specific area (porch building, house painting, electricity paying, etc), people in that area can help out. Don't know a good church in North Dallas? another visitor does. Wondering how to get involved with the homeless in Memphis? Another visitor in California has been doing it for years and will tell you what to do to get started.
Now church has stopped being one-way communication of the pastor preaching, to the community worshiping. Did you ever want to respond to the pastor after a sermon. You can do that at this church as long as you do it with gentleness and respect.
When I was preaching, I taught transformation and movement. The Word of God will transform your life. If you are not transformed you are not growing. and movement in that you need to get off your butt and go out into the world. We are not in the world but of the world. That is, your home is in another place. Your heart is yearning for that place. But God has you hear right now to do his work and will. You can't lock yourselves behind church doors and tell everyone they have to come to you.
Last week the preacher asked how many of those flyers for churches have you gotten saying "come visit us, we are nice. we are a family church". How many did you visit? But if you see a church DOING for others (not just their own) then would you go visit them and see what they are all about?
What do you think? Should we (the web community) start a church?? I'll let you wear whatever you want to church.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
What is Sex?
sex
What is sex? What is sex in the Christian context? I heard a radio show on the seminars for Song of Solomon ministries. From what I heard it sounds like a great conference. The book in the bible is a very erotic book, but actually blessed by God (see chapter 5). That got me to thinking about sex in life today. Most men think about sex pretty much every minute of every day. Most women don't. Men are very visual (thank you Victoria's Secret and Fredericks of Hollywood) and physical. Most women are very emotional. A couple can sit down and watch a somewhat romantic movie or a drama with a scene of some sort of lovemaking and the woman can be turned on. The man isn't. But the wife gets into any kind of lingerie and the husband will be turned on. If the wife will physically touch her man throughout the day, he will be turned on. I think the turned on part is knowing his wife is wanting to be intimate. Most men want sex more than their wives (I say most, not all). Most women don't think they are sexy. How do you take all of this, wrap it in a neat little marriage box, and make everyone's fantasy and dreams come true? Where is the plane to fantasy island when you need it?The first thing is communication. Good communication will keep most problems from happening. Did you know that if you tell your husband how you like to be touched during intimate times, he will touch you like that? Did you know that if you tell your wife you would like her to wear lingerie she will? If you have a fantasy or something new you want to try, you have to tell your spouse. And if you don't like the way they do something, you have to tell them. Personal space and time is definately needed away from your spouse. When Brandy I got married, every other weekend we would separate. She would go see her mom or family or I would go to my family's. The time away was a renewing time, and when we came back together it was the best of times. There was an email going around a few years ago; the truth about men. one of the items said "if you have to ask if it makes your butt big, your butt is just big." The last one was "yes I know I have to sleep on the couch because of this list, but men like that. it's like camping." Remember women, men love you for who you are. Whether you are big or small and in which parts of your body. We love you. Just love us back.
What is sex? What is sex in the Christian context? I heard a radio show on the seminars for Song of Solomon ministries. From what I heard it sounds like a great conference. The book in the bible is a very erotic book, but actually blessed by God (see chapter 5). That got me to thinking about sex in life today. Most men think about sex pretty much every minute of every day. Most women don't. Men are very visual (thank you Victoria's Secret and Fredericks of Hollywood) and physical. Most women are very emotional. A couple can sit down and watch a somewhat romantic movie or a drama with a scene of some sort of lovemaking and the woman can be turned on. The man isn't. But the wife gets into any kind of lingerie and the husband will be turned on. If the wife will physically touch her man throughout the day, he will be turned on. I think the turned on part is knowing his wife is wanting to be intimate. Most men want sex more than their wives (I say most, not all). Most women don't think they are sexy. How do you take all of this, wrap it in a neat little marriage box, and make everyone's fantasy and dreams come true? Where is the plane to fantasy island when you need it?The first thing is communication. Good communication will keep most problems from happening. Did you know that if you tell your husband how you like to be touched during intimate times, he will touch you like that? Did you know that if you tell your wife you would like her to wear lingerie she will? If you have a fantasy or something new you want to try, you have to tell your spouse. And if you don't like the way they do something, you have to tell them. Personal space and time is definately needed away from your spouse. When Brandy I got married, every other weekend we would separate. She would go see her mom or family or I would go to my family's. The time away was a renewing time, and when we came back together it was the best of times. There was an email going around a few years ago; the truth about men. one of the items said "if you have to ask if it makes your butt big, your butt is just big." The last one was "yes I know I have to sleep on the couch because of this list, but men like that. it's like camping." Remember women, men love you for who you are. Whether you are big or small and in which parts of your body. We love you. Just love us back.
Friday, March 21, 2008
God has blessed us
It's the little things that matter. At least that's what my grandma or mother (or someone) used to tell me when I was a kid. We are completely broke right now. What's new. but driving to work on Saturday last week, I won tickets to Six Flags and a Jeremey Camp concert on the radio. I think I have to ride the roller coasters by myself. God is good-all the time.
The good is it's the three of us going. The bad is it's just the three of us going. Julia asked 3-4 girls she knows if they wanted to go and no.... I really wish she had a good friend. I hope when we move we find one for her. she has acquantances. That's all well and good, but no one she can call. I thought one of the kids from our minichurch group was going to be a good fit. I'm still not sure. Pray that Julia (and Brandy both) find a good friend soon.
On another note, we watched License To Wed with Robin Williams last night. Hilarious movie. I recommend it to anyone especially married or about to get married couples. In the movie, the priest makes the couple take his marriage course. With everything that happens, he basically makes them get into a big fight and break up. That way they can see if marriage is really what they want.
I was talking to another pastor one day. In one of his pre-marriage counciling sessions he had an emergency and had to leave. On the spur of the moment, the last thing he said was "now think about this....look at the other person and realize marriage is long term and you will be with this person in 50 years." He said they broke off the marriage. They realized it was not a good idea. Since then he has used that line every time.
After the movie, Brandy and I started thinking about the time together before we got married. I can't remember much. just little snippets. I think that's the way it's supposed to be. If you focus on the past and can't move to the future together, you will will be strangled by it and not be able to move on together.
Don't let the past hurt your future life together. The time together is precious just like the time we have with God. Make the most of it. And always ride the roller coasters :o).
The good is it's the three of us going. The bad is it's just the three of us going. Julia asked 3-4 girls she knows if they wanted to go and no.... I really wish she had a good friend. I hope when we move we find one for her. she has acquantances. That's all well and good, but no one she can call. I thought one of the kids from our minichurch group was going to be a good fit. I'm still not sure. Pray that Julia (and Brandy both) find a good friend soon.
On another note, we watched License To Wed with Robin Williams last night. Hilarious movie. I recommend it to anyone especially married or about to get married couples. In the movie, the priest makes the couple take his marriage course. With everything that happens, he basically makes them get into a big fight and break up. That way they can see if marriage is really what they want.
I was talking to another pastor one day. In one of his pre-marriage counciling sessions he had an emergency and had to leave. On the spur of the moment, the last thing he said was "now think about this....look at the other person and realize marriage is long term and you will be with this person in 50 years." He said they broke off the marriage. They realized it was not a good idea. Since then he has used that line every time.
After the movie, Brandy and I started thinking about the time together before we got married. I can't remember much. just little snippets. I think that's the way it's supposed to be. If you focus on the past and can't move to the future together, you will will be strangled by it and not be able to move on together.
Don't let the past hurt your future life together. The time together is precious just like the time we have with God. Make the most of it. And always ride the roller coasters :o).
Monday, January 14, 2008
New Years Resolution and Prayer
What was your New Years Resolution this year??
At Sprint, they asked employees what their NYR were. Here are some of them: "This year I resolve to finish school, lose weight, and spend more time with my family and friends."
" I resolve to keep my house cleaner and more organized."
"To have clarity of mind and sound judgement in all decision making."
"To stay in better shape, and stop being such a nice guy." -Hopefully that last one was just mistyped.
I don't make NYR. I try to be better today than I was yesterday. Each day I live my life. But what do NYR acrually do? Well, maybe they get you focused. I will focus on my weight-exercise-family-friends-house-chores. Everything I didn't do last year as well as I wanted, I can "recommit" myself to doing this new year. When I started working at Dell so many years ago, I was skinny (so was Brandy). 6 years later when I changed jobs I was 60 lbs heavier. That's 10 lbs a year I gained by working at a desk job. During the 6 months I worked at Schwan's I lost a little over 10 lbs and gained some muscle. Now that I work at Sprint behind a desk, I'm going to have to commit myself to being more active. That could easily be a resolution, and I'll tell you why in just a little bit.
Why do so many people not fulfill their resolutions? Do you think the person at the top will keep her house cleaner? Do you think that other one will be in better shape? The best question to ask is what do their (and mine and yours) resolutions mean? What does a "cleaner house" than last year look like and what does "better shape" look like? I think that's why many people break their resolutions. Their is no substance to the resolutions; no definite goal (or end game) that can be quantified. Resolutions are so many times general, non-commital....pretty much useless. They make you feel good in the beginning, but nothing happens after the first few days or weeks. Sounds like "carbon offsets" that are popular right now. I'll keep driving my SUV and living in my 5000 sq ft house, etc, etc but to make everything all better I will buy some carbon-offets to make the world a better place.
I think prayer can be like resolutions for many people. If I say a prayer like Miss America gives a speach, I'll have done my duty and can go on to the next thing on my list.
OK.....if our prayers are quantity and not quality, what should they be like? We can look at scripture for the answer on this one.
Genesis 25:21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.
Ezra 8:23 So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.
Old Testament specific prayers that are answered by God. Isaac prayed his wife would become pregnant and she did. Esra's people fasted and prayed and he answered. In the Psalms you can hear the emotion and passion in their prayers.
Ps 54:2 Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth.
Ps 55:1 Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea;
Ps 61:1 Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer.
People have said that the written word is powerful. When you talk, your words go out and may or maynot be heard again. When you write it down, it is permanent. But when you pray, your prayers go to the heart of God immediately. There is no middle man, no naughty or nice list that God reads later. Your prayers go straight to God.
No priviledge is greater than being able to call God "father" and knowing it is true. he is the greatest father and is available to talk to you at any time. As Alistair Begg has said "A prayerless Christian is a contradiction in that if our life is under the control of Christ's Spirit, we pray to the Father with delightful confidence."
How can we pray? Ther have been a few acrostic created to help us be more effective pray-ers. Not more effective in that God listens to them more, but more effective in that we don't get into a rut where prayer is just repetition of a few words and no substance behind them.
ACTS prayer
A-adoration
C-confession
T-thanksgiving
S-supplication (intercession)
Adoration is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We give everything in praising God and telling Him how we feel.
Confession - If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. confession gives us a chance to air out the things that are blocking the path between you and God.
Thanksgiving is thanking God. We are constantly blessed by God in all we have and are able to do. IN these times we need to give him thanks.
Supplication is asking God for our needs and the needs of others. It seems like we get here first many times. "God I need this or that. " The time of praying for others is not where we make God do things, but it allows us to be a part of the blessing he gives to others.
ACTS is not the only way to pray, and if you missed one letter, your prayer does not get thrown aside. You should have no worries for that. Paul said to "pray without ceasing".
Maybe we should pray as Jesus taught us to pray. He said that we must come to God like little children.
"Our Father in heaven" -- We need to always acknowledge first and foremost who we are talking to. He (God) is our heavenly Father. We address Him with respect just as we should address our earthly father with respect. He is the only true God who created all things in this universe, including ourselves. He loves us and we need to show our love for Him.
"Hallowed be your name" -- We must see Him as being holy, sanctified, consecrated; worthy of praise, honor and glory!
"Your kingdom come" - We acknowledge His coming kingdom. We pray that Christ will soon return and establish His earthly kingdom where we will reign with Him for eternity.
"Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" -- We need to be praying for His will to be done in our lives, so that we might bring glory to Him here on earth as He is also glorified in heaven. We need to do things His way, instead of selfishly doing our own things to satisfy our own desires. "Give us today our daily bread" -- We should ask our Father each day to provide for our needs, just as He promised in His Holy Word. His Word says that we don't have, because we don't ask. Of course, we must first know God through His Son, our personal Lord and Savior. If we don't know Christ, God won't acknowledge this request for daily provision.
"Forgive us our debts (or transgressions) as we also have forgiven our debtors (transgressors)" -- This speaks about forgiveness among our associates, neighbors, friends, family and loved ones. Any and all persons in our lives that we come in contact with in social or business situations are included as well. If we can't forgive others, how can we expect our heavenly Father to forgive us?
"Lead us not into temptation" -- We need to ask our heavenly Father to help us recognize every evil thing, every temptation before us. We need help to stay focused on our Father and see the evil that we might fall into, for what it is really is, a trap set by Satan to bring us down to his level.
"But deliver us from the evil one" -- Help us, dear Father, to steer clear of that liar and deceiver. Let us see clearly the path that you want each of us to walk. By the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, may we never stray from your will and way...
Lord's Prayer - A Glorious EndingSome commentators believe that the end of the Lord's Prayer - "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever" - was added by someone other than the original writer. Whether that's true or not, this last phrase simply emphasizes more praise and glory to God the Father - so it's absolutely biblical… a glorious ending to a model prayer to God!
At Sprint, they asked employees what their NYR were. Here are some of them: "This year I resolve to finish school, lose weight, and spend more time with my family and friends."
" I resolve to keep my house cleaner and more organized."
"To have clarity of mind and sound judgement in all decision making."
"To stay in better shape, and stop being such a nice guy." -Hopefully that last one was just mistyped.
I don't make NYR. I try to be better today than I was yesterday. Each day I live my life. But what do NYR acrually do? Well, maybe they get you focused. I will focus on my weight-exercise-family-friends-house-chores. Everything I didn't do last year as well as I wanted, I can "recommit" myself to doing this new year. When I started working at Dell so many years ago, I was skinny (so was Brandy). 6 years later when I changed jobs I was 60 lbs heavier. That's 10 lbs a year I gained by working at a desk job. During the 6 months I worked at Schwan's I lost a little over 10 lbs and gained some muscle. Now that I work at Sprint behind a desk, I'm going to have to commit myself to being more active. That could easily be a resolution, and I'll tell you why in just a little bit.
Why do so many people not fulfill their resolutions? Do you think the person at the top will keep her house cleaner? Do you think that other one will be in better shape? The best question to ask is what do their (and mine and yours) resolutions mean? What does a "cleaner house" than last year look like and what does "better shape" look like? I think that's why many people break their resolutions. Their is no substance to the resolutions; no definite goal (or end game) that can be quantified. Resolutions are so many times general, non-commital....pretty much useless. They make you feel good in the beginning, but nothing happens after the first few days or weeks. Sounds like "carbon offsets" that are popular right now. I'll keep driving my SUV and living in my 5000 sq ft house, etc, etc but to make everything all better I will buy some carbon-offets to make the world a better place.
I think prayer can be like resolutions for many people. If I say a prayer like Miss America gives a speach, I'll have done my duty and can go on to the next thing on my list.
OK.....if our prayers are quantity and not quality, what should they be like? We can look at scripture for the answer on this one.
Genesis 25:21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.
Ezra 8:23 So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.
Old Testament specific prayers that are answered by God. Isaac prayed his wife would become pregnant and she did. Esra's people fasted and prayed and he answered. In the Psalms you can hear the emotion and passion in their prayers.
Ps 54:2 Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth.
Ps 55:1 Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea;
Ps 61:1 Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer.
People have said that the written word is powerful. When you talk, your words go out and may or maynot be heard again. When you write it down, it is permanent. But when you pray, your prayers go to the heart of God immediately. There is no middle man, no naughty or nice list that God reads later. Your prayers go straight to God.
No priviledge is greater than being able to call God "father" and knowing it is true. he is the greatest father and is available to talk to you at any time. As Alistair Begg has said "A prayerless Christian is a contradiction in that if our life is under the control of Christ's Spirit, we pray to the Father with delightful confidence."
How can we pray? Ther have been a few acrostic created to help us be more effective pray-ers. Not more effective in that God listens to them more, but more effective in that we don't get into a rut where prayer is just repetition of a few words and no substance behind them.
ACTS prayer
A-adoration
C-confession
T-thanksgiving
S-supplication (intercession)
Adoration is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We give everything in praising God and telling Him how we feel.
Confession - If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. confession gives us a chance to air out the things that are blocking the path between you and God.
Thanksgiving is thanking God. We are constantly blessed by God in all we have and are able to do. IN these times we need to give him thanks.
Supplication is asking God for our needs and the needs of others. It seems like we get here first many times. "God I need this or that. " The time of praying for others is not where we make God do things, but it allows us to be a part of the blessing he gives to others.
ACTS is not the only way to pray, and if you missed one letter, your prayer does not get thrown aside. You should have no worries for that. Paul said to "pray without ceasing".
Maybe we should pray as Jesus taught us to pray. He said that we must come to God like little children.
"Our Father in heaven" -- We need to always acknowledge first and foremost who we are talking to. He (God) is our heavenly Father. We address Him with respect just as we should address our earthly father with respect. He is the only true God who created all things in this universe, including ourselves. He loves us and we need to show our love for Him.
"Hallowed be your name" -- We must see Him as being holy, sanctified, consecrated; worthy of praise, honor and glory!
"Your kingdom come" - We acknowledge His coming kingdom. We pray that Christ will soon return and establish His earthly kingdom where we will reign with Him for eternity.
"Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" -- We need to be praying for His will to be done in our lives, so that we might bring glory to Him here on earth as He is also glorified in heaven. We need to do things His way, instead of selfishly doing our own things to satisfy our own desires. "Give us today our daily bread" -- We should ask our Father each day to provide for our needs, just as He promised in His Holy Word. His Word says that we don't have, because we don't ask. Of course, we must first know God through His Son, our personal Lord and Savior. If we don't know Christ, God won't acknowledge this request for daily provision.
"Forgive us our debts (or transgressions) as we also have forgiven our debtors (transgressors)" -- This speaks about forgiveness among our associates, neighbors, friends, family and loved ones. Any and all persons in our lives that we come in contact with in social or business situations are included as well. If we can't forgive others, how can we expect our heavenly Father to forgive us?
"Lead us not into temptation" -- We need to ask our heavenly Father to help us recognize every evil thing, every temptation before us. We need help to stay focused on our Father and see the evil that we might fall into, for what it is really is, a trap set by Satan to bring us down to his level.
"But deliver us from the evil one" -- Help us, dear Father, to steer clear of that liar and deceiver. Let us see clearly the path that you want each of us to walk. By the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, may we never stray from your will and way...
Lord's Prayer - A Glorious EndingSome commentators believe that the end of the Lord's Prayer - "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever" - was added by someone other than the original writer. Whether that's true or not, this last phrase simply emphasizes more praise and glory to God the Father - so it's absolutely biblical… a glorious ending to a model prayer to God!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Thankfulness on Thanksgiving
Oh so many things to be thankful for. The Psalms tell us to "give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever."
1. Brandy's uncle Don gave his life to the Jesus. He has been in the hospital and they did not think he would make it out of surgery. He did make it. An old friend came and witnessed to him. Praise God.
2. We are having cash flow problems. Our outflow is greater than our inflow. I talked to our pastor...He refered me to the ministry guy....the ministry guy helped us pay what we needed.
3. I've been looking for a new job. Schwan's is a great company. They have great integrety, care about their employees, and the possibility to make money is there. However, 14 hours a day, weather outside, not a lot of mental challenge. Sprint called and made me an offer and I start on Dec. 10th in the ADvanced Tech Support division.
4. What do you do when you are having problems with your child?? Have Elaine Bynum sit down and talk with her for an hour. Oh what a difference. Julia has been a wonderful girl.
Yes I am Thanksful. Everything is not perfect, but many things are coming together.
1. Brandy's uncle Don gave his life to the Jesus. He has been in the hospital and they did not think he would make it out of surgery. He did make it. An old friend came and witnessed to him. Praise God.
2. We are having cash flow problems. Our outflow is greater than our inflow. I talked to our pastor...He refered me to the ministry guy....the ministry guy helped us pay what we needed.
3. I've been looking for a new job. Schwan's is a great company. They have great integrety, care about their employees, and the possibility to make money is there. However, 14 hours a day, weather outside, not a lot of mental challenge. Sprint called and made me an offer and I start on Dec. 10th in the ADvanced Tech Support division.
4. What do you do when you are having problems with your child?? Have Elaine Bynum sit down and talk with her for an hour. Oh what a difference. Julia has been a wonderful girl.
Yes I am Thanksful. Everything is not perfect, but many things are coming together.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
My New Favorite Song
The Revelation Song
See It Here.....
The Lyrics can be seen Here: http://www.lyricsdir.com/kari-jobe-revelation-song-lyrics.html
See It Here.....
The Lyrics can be seen Here: http://www.lyricsdir.com/kari-jobe-revelation-song-lyrics.html
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Grace (part 2)
So I really started to think about TWOTM and what I put in my last post. There are the 4 questions they have asked people on the street. Here is how a born-again disciple of Jesus Christ will answer them and how they differ from the person who has not experienced salvation.
1. Do you think you are a good person? Yes. I am good compared to many and not as good as some, but overall a good person.
2. What do the commandments say? That I am a lier, thief, and adulterer. If I have broken one I have broken all.
3. Are you guilty or innocent? Based on the 10 commandments, I am guilty and I deserve to go to Hell for all of eternity. Because of my sins, I am not worthy to stand before the perfect risen Lord.
4. Are you going to Heaven or Hell? I am going to Heaven. I have been washed (interesting word scripture uses....dunked, covered, immersed they all work) in the blood of the Holy Lamb Jesus Christ when I accepted him as my Lord and Savior and he died for my sins, past-present-future, when he died on the cross. Because of His sacrifice and the amazing grace He gives to me, I am free.
You know I like to give music as illustrations of what I have posted. Casting Crowns has a great song out right now called East to West. Here are selections...
You can feel this way:
I start the day, the war begins, endless reminding of my sin Time and time again Your truth is drowned out by the storm I'm in Today I feel like I'm just one mistake away from You leaving me this way. But today I feel like I'm just one mistake away from You leaving me this way.
The truth is here:
I know You've cast my sin as far as the east is from the west And I stand before You now as though I've never sinned.
1. Do you think you are a good person? Yes. I am good compared to many and not as good as some, but overall a good person.
2. What do the commandments say? That I am a lier, thief, and adulterer. If I have broken one I have broken all.
3. Are you guilty or innocent? Based on the 10 commandments, I am guilty and I deserve to go to Hell for all of eternity. Because of my sins, I am not worthy to stand before the perfect risen Lord.
4. Are you going to Heaven or Hell? I am going to Heaven. I have been washed (interesting word scripture uses....dunked, covered, immersed they all work) in the blood of the Holy Lamb Jesus Christ when I accepted him as my Lord and Savior and he died for my sins, past-present-future, when he died on the cross. Because of His sacrifice and the amazing grace He gives to me, I am free.
You know I like to give music as illustrations of what I have posted. Casting Crowns has a great song out right now called East to West. Here are selections...
You can feel this way:
I start the day, the war begins, endless reminding of my sin Time and time again Your truth is drowned out by the storm I'm in Today I feel like I'm just one mistake away from You leaving me this way. But today I feel like I'm just one mistake away from You leaving me this way.
The truth is here:
I know You've cast my sin as far as the east is from the west And I stand before You now as though I've never sinned.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Grace
What is Grace? And how does it relate to The Law? Today a good friend and I went to see The Way of The Master in Plano. If you have not ever seen any of the videos of Ray Comfort or Kirk Cameron doing street ministry, they are great. They are up front and in your face about the truth, but with compassion.
If you look at a building being built and you see the elevator coming down. In the bottom of the elevator shaft there are a couple small children playing in the sand. You don't ignore them thinking "oh they are not my children" or "well they look happy doing what they are doing". No you go and save them from the impeding destruction. That is what THe Way Of The Master is about. THe destruction is Hell. Hell is real. Your goal is to save them.
They focused on the Law. My church (a Bible Church) focuses on grace. Many people have been hurt in the church in their past and this church wants to heal that hurt.
How do the two work together...grace and the law??
TWOTM goes thru 4 steps.
1. do you think you are a good person?
2. What do the commandments say?
3. Are you guilty or innocent?
4. are you going to heven or hell?
Grace says you are "saved by grace thru faith in Jesus Christ". You will sin because you are not perfect and will not be perfect until you die and go to heaven. But even though you sin, your salvation is still intact. You don't have to "prove you are saved" by doing good works. You will do good works because you are saved. Besides....how many good works can you do to prove you are saved and how many 'bad' things can you do to prove you are not saved?
On the other hand, what does grace save us from? We are "saved by grace...". We are saved from Hell. This is thru the death of Jesus Christ. Why did he die? All my sins, past-present-future, he took on as his own and was brutally killed. He was sacrificed. When he died, I was set free.
The problem I have with TWOTM is I am always a sinner, even though I am a born again Christian. BUT, Christ took my guilt away when I accepted him as my Lord and Savior.
Third Day says it right. I am Innocent.
It seemed like I had run out of second chances
And they sentenced me to die
And I was just like a dead man walking
I was running out of time
But you came to me and opened my eyes
You gave me a brand new life
I am innocent and I have been set free
I no longer have chains around my feet
And no matter where I go or what they say
I am innocent
Many years have passed since the day that I met you
But your words are still the same
And every time I find myself with joy or sadness
I am calling out your name'
Cause you came to me and opened my eyes
You gave to me a brand new life
If you look at a building being built and you see the elevator coming down. In the bottom of the elevator shaft there are a couple small children playing in the sand. You don't ignore them thinking "oh they are not my children" or "well they look happy doing what they are doing". No you go and save them from the impeding destruction. That is what THe Way Of The Master is about. THe destruction is Hell. Hell is real. Your goal is to save them.
They focused on the Law. My church (a Bible Church) focuses on grace. Many people have been hurt in the church in their past and this church wants to heal that hurt.
How do the two work together...grace and the law??
TWOTM goes thru 4 steps.
1. do you think you are a good person?
2. What do the commandments say?
3. Are you guilty or innocent?
4. are you going to heven or hell?
Grace says you are "saved by grace thru faith in Jesus Christ". You will sin because you are not perfect and will not be perfect until you die and go to heaven. But even though you sin, your salvation is still intact. You don't have to "prove you are saved" by doing good works. You will do good works because you are saved. Besides....how many good works can you do to prove you are saved and how many 'bad' things can you do to prove you are not saved?
On the other hand, what does grace save us from? We are "saved by grace...". We are saved from Hell. This is thru the death of Jesus Christ. Why did he die? All my sins, past-present-future, he took on as his own and was brutally killed. He was sacrificed. When he died, I was set free.
The problem I have with TWOTM is I am always a sinner, even though I am a born again Christian. BUT, Christ took my guilt away when I accepted him as my Lord and Savior.
Third Day says it right. I am Innocent.
It seemed like I had run out of second chances
And they sentenced me to die
And I was just like a dead man walking
I was running out of time
But you came to me and opened my eyes
You gave me a brand new life
I am innocent and I have been set free
I no longer have chains around my feet
And no matter where I go or what they say
I am innocent
Many years have passed since the day that I met you
But your words are still the same
And every time I find myself with joy or sadness
I am calling out your name'
Cause you came to me and opened my eyes
You gave to me a brand new life
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Actions follow thoughts follow actions follow thoughts sermon Philippians 4:4-
Actions follow thoughts follow actions follow thoughts sermon Philippians 4:4-9
4 Rejoice* in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.* 5Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, beloved,* whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about* these things. 9Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
I’ve been thinking about thought lately. Does that make sense? Have you ever realized how your thought life can affect the rest of your life? It can really affect your spiritual life. Let’s think about it for a minute.
Starting in verse 4, “Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS”. The Greek word for rejoice is chairo which means “to be full of cheer.” All of you should always be full of cheer. What does ‘all’ mean? All means all and that’s all all means. Who is Paul talking to in these verses? He is talking to each of us. He is giving an example of two women from verse 2 (Euodia and Syntyche). The suggestion here is these two women were fighting. Who knows what they were bickering about, but whatever it was, they were not bringing glory to God. Because of their actions (the bickering), God was being removed from their thoughts.
The main breadwinner in the family can have this happen quickly to him. One of the members of my last church was exactly like that. Before I got there, he worked many long hours to support the family he was ignoring. He moved to another job where he was around people who did not have a relationship with God and his thoughts started to suffer. Then he started at a new job where he could excel. He was a people person. He could talk to anybody. But then in his quest to ensure he supported his family, he started back with the long hours. He lost out on time with his family, lost out on time with his church, and his thoughts and actions were focused on work.
Eratic talk can make us lose our focus for God. The tongue can deceive and be sinful. Proverbs 10:19 says “when worlds are many, sin is not absent.” ON the other hand, Psalm 71 says “may my tongue tell of your righteousness.”
In vs. 5 Paul says to “let your gentleness be evident to all.” He is still talking to the women specifically and generally to the entire house church. Be gentle, slow to anger, quick to think. At Schwan’s we have warehouse guys load the trucks overnight. Yesterday the lead came to me complaining about the way my truck looked when I got in the night before. Out of spite, the guys loading it the next day did a poor job.
We as humans do this every day. We take it all personally. Instead of assuming the best of people, we assume the worst, and on top of that, assume it is against us. I had no clue they wanted me to straighten up my truck each night. The loaders could have asked and the miscommunication could have been avoided. But instead of doing that, they automatically assume I don’t care. Can we be gentle and can we give the benefit of the doubt?? I pray we can start to do that more and more.
“Do not be anxious about anything…” Does being anxious (take thought/worry) actually help any? If I worry about a situation will that make the outcome better than if I do not worry about that same situation? Matthew 6:25-34 “Do not worry…Look at the birds of the air. Are you not much more valuable than they? Your heavenly Father knows you need them. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”
So do not worry, but in ALL situations…what does all mean? All means all and that’s all all means. In all situations (not just those that make you anxious) present your requests to God. How do we come to God? With thanksgiving, by prayer and petition. Prayer is the communication between the created (us) and the creator (God). Why do we pray? Because God tells us to in the bible. As pastor Bill Lee tells me, “The point is that we are not so much directing God's activity, but participating in it when we pray according to His will.
John makes that point in 1 John 5:13-15 that if we abide in Him and therefore pray in accordance with His will He will answer our prayers. That is the point Jesus makes in John 14:13&14, asking in Jesus' name implies asking as His representative. So, in these cases we are not moving the hand of God so much as we are aligning with it.”
As we pray, and we pray in the will of God, God acts. With thanksgiving we pray. Psalm 100 says to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. His love endures and his faithfulness continues forever. So, vs 6 could be written as at all times pray and talk to God, and be thankful at all times, that you are able to be in His will, and ask what you want of him. If your will lines up with his and you ask in the name of Jesus, your request will be granted because it is God’s will.
If our thoughts line up with the will of God, then the actions which follow will be good. If our thoughts (which can be prayers in themselves) do not line up with God and His word, our actions will trail off into the rabbit hole after Alice.
Now what do we think about??? Look at vs 7. Whatever is true (not concealing), whatever is right (honest), whatever is pure (innocent, modest, clean), whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable…if there be any virtue and praise in the things you want think about, think about these things.
In vs. 9, Paul gets a little conceited (I think). He says that “whatever you have seen me do or whatever you have learned from me, do that same thing. This is how he wraps it up. Do as I do AND do as I say. He is not saying he is perfect, but he is saying he is following Jesus Christ and his actions model that. Since his actions model the second person of God, his thoughts also will model the thoughts of God. As his thoughts are on God, the God of peace is with him (and with us).
Did the egg or the chicken come first? God came first and made everything perfect. Do actions create thoughts or thoughts create actions? Think only things that are good in God’s eyes and your actions will follow.
4 Rejoice* in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.* 5Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, beloved,* whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about* these things. 9Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
I’ve been thinking about thought lately. Does that make sense? Have you ever realized how your thought life can affect the rest of your life? It can really affect your spiritual life. Let’s think about it for a minute.
Starting in verse 4, “Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS”. The Greek word for rejoice is chairo which means “to be full of cheer.” All of you should always be full of cheer. What does ‘all’ mean? All means all and that’s all all means. Who is Paul talking to in these verses? He is talking to each of us. He is giving an example of two women from verse 2 (Euodia and Syntyche). The suggestion here is these two women were fighting. Who knows what they were bickering about, but whatever it was, they were not bringing glory to God. Because of their actions (the bickering), God was being removed from their thoughts.
The main breadwinner in the family can have this happen quickly to him. One of the members of my last church was exactly like that. Before I got there, he worked many long hours to support the family he was ignoring. He moved to another job where he was around people who did not have a relationship with God and his thoughts started to suffer. Then he started at a new job where he could excel. He was a people person. He could talk to anybody. But then in his quest to ensure he supported his family, he started back with the long hours. He lost out on time with his family, lost out on time with his church, and his thoughts and actions were focused on work.
Eratic talk can make us lose our focus for God. The tongue can deceive and be sinful. Proverbs 10:19 says “when worlds are many, sin is not absent.” ON the other hand, Psalm 71 says “may my tongue tell of your righteousness.”
In vs. 5 Paul says to “let your gentleness be evident to all.” He is still talking to the women specifically and generally to the entire house church. Be gentle, slow to anger, quick to think. At Schwan’s we have warehouse guys load the trucks overnight. Yesterday the lead came to me complaining about the way my truck looked when I got in the night before. Out of spite, the guys loading it the next day did a poor job.
We as humans do this every day. We take it all personally. Instead of assuming the best of people, we assume the worst, and on top of that, assume it is against us. I had no clue they wanted me to straighten up my truck each night. The loaders could have asked and the miscommunication could have been avoided. But instead of doing that, they automatically assume I don’t care. Can we be gentle and can we give the benefit of the doubt?? I pray we can start to do that more and more.
“Do not be anxious about anything…” Does being anxious (take thought/worry) actually help any? If I worry about a situation will that make the outcome better than if I do not worry about that same situation? Matthew 6:25-34 “Do not worry…Look at the birds of the air. Are you not much more valuable than they? Your heavenly Father knows you need them. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”
So do not worry, but in ALL situations…what does all mean? All means all and that’s all all means. In all situations (not just those that make you anxious) present your requests to God. How do we come to God? With thanksgiving, by prayer and petition. Prayer is the communication between the created (us) and the creator (God). Why do we pray? Because God tells us to in the bible. As pastor Bill Lee tells me, “The point is that we are not so much directing God's activity, but participating in it when we pray according to His will.
John makes that point in 1 John 5:13-15 that if we abide in Him and therefore pray in accordance with His will He will answer our prayers. That is the point Jesus makes in John 14:13&14, asking in Jesus' name implies asking as His representative. So, in these cases we are not moving the hand of God so much as we are aligning with it.”
As we pray, and we pray in the will of God, God acts. With thanksgiving we pray. Psalm 100 says to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. His love endures and his faithfulness continues forever. So, vs 6 could be written as at all times pray and talk to God, and be thankful at all times, that you are able to be in His will, and ask what you want of him. If your will lines up with his and you ask in the name of Jesus, your request will be granted because it is God’s will.
If our thoughts line up with the will of God, then the actions which follow will be good. If our thoughts (which can be prayers in themselves) do not line up with God and His word, our actions will trail off into the rabbit hole after Alice.
Now what do we think about??? Look at vs 7. Whatever is true (not concealing), whatever is right (honest), whatever is pure (innocent, modest, clean), whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable…if there be any virtue and praise in the things you want think about, think about these things.
In vs. 9, Paul gets a little conceited (I think). He says that “whatever you have seen me do or whatever you have learned from me, do that same thing. This is how he wraps it up. Do as I do AND do as I say. He is not saying he is perfect, but he is saying he is following Jesus Christ and his actions model that. Since his actions model the second person of God, his thoughts also will model the thoughts of God. As his thoughts are on God, the God of peace is with him (and with us).
Did the egg or the chicken come first? God came first and made everything perfect. Do actions create thoughts or thoughts create actions? Think only things that are good in God’s eyes and your actions will follow.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
American Idol
What is idolotry??
As I hinted at in my last posting, I think idolotry is focusing on anything that takes your attention away from God. Those things I listed from Romans 1 can be odolotry.......
greed-the desire for greater wealth, power, attention. gossip - The desire to know something another person does not know and then have that "power" over them. boastful - making yourself better than others. heartless - God is love; without heart you are without God.
Colossians 3:5 has 5 sins we must put to death....fornication, impurity, lust, coveting, and greed. That is four sexual sins and then greed. Was life int he 1st century focused on sex as much as life in the 21st century. Now we can get any kind of fantasy fulfilled 24hrs a day. In the Left Behind books, one of the last books had a character turning on the TV in the middle of the day. There was graphic sex right there. His comment was interesting..."I guess since all the kids are gone, there is no reason for them to be sensored."
I guess if we ask the question "what's best for our kids?" we are on the right path to get "what is most God-like (and therefore not idolotry)". BUt I think our kids have become scapegoats for politicians (and others) to push thru agendas. "we have to raise taxes to pay for better teachers and schools for our children." "We have to clean up the CO2 (that's the air you exhale) so our kids will have a better future." "more green space and less building for our kids for the future." OK...off the soapbox. The better question would be "what would Jesus do" (or any variation there of). Jesus would want us to teach our kids the best we can and the whole time to focus on the Father who created the heavens and earth. Jesus would want us to take care of the environment (because we are called to have dominion over it), but not to the detriment of God's children whom he loves more than anything else.
Do you notice how each one comes back to God?? You are (God's) light to the world - Matt. 5. I think Jesus talks about everyone at least once in the Beatitudes (I like the way The Message puts some of these....
3"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
4"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
5"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.
6"You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.
7"You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.
8"You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
9"You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.
10"You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.
In vs. 6 he says "you are blessed when you are content with just who you are". MercyMe has a great song called No More, No Less that really hits this on the head.
I'm not trying to hide anything
I wear it on my sleeve
I wear it on my sleeve
I'm not trying to be something I'm not
This is all I've got
This is all I've got
I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel
Just trying to be real
Trying to be real
I'm not trying to say follow me
I'm not the one who leads
I'm not the one who leads
Let me introduce myself to you
This is who I am
No more, no less
I am just a man who understands
Because of You I'm blessed
No more, no less
I'm not trying to prove anything
It's all about the change
It's all about the change
I hope you stare just long enough to see
The heart that's beating here inside of me
Beyond all the things you may think you know
I'm just a kid trying to make it home, that's it
No more, no less
Lord, I want to go home
Nothing more, nothing less
God has a special plan for each of us, but we cannot sit around waiting for it to happen. Your life has a purpose, but your purpose is in God. Are you trying to lead? Are you trying to make it home? Who is your American Idol? Keep your sight on the light of God.
As I hinted at in my last posting, I think idolotry is focusing on anything that takes your attention away from God. Those things I listed from Romans 1 can be odolotry.......
greed-the desire for greater wealth, power, attention. gossip - The desire to know something another person does not know and then have that "power" over them. boastful - making yourself better than others. heartless - God is love; without heart you are without God.
Colossians 3:5 has 5 sins we must put to death....fornication, impurity, lust, coveting, and greed. That is four sexual sins and then greed. Was life int he 1st century focused on sex as much as life in the 21st century. Now we can get any kind of fantasy fulfilled 24hrs a day. In the Left Behind books, one of the last books had a character turning on the TV in the middle of the day. There was graphic sex right there. His comment was interesting..."I guess since all the kids are gone, there is no reason for them to be sensored."
I guess if we ask the question "what's best for our kids?" we are on the right path to get "what is most God-like (and therefore not idolotry)". BUt I think our kids have become scapegoats for politicians (and others) to push thru agendas. "we have to raise taxes to pay for better teachers and schools for our children." "We have to clean up the CO2 (that's the air you exhale) so our kids will have a better future." "more green space and less building for our kids for the future." OK...off the soapbox. The better question would be "what would Jesus do" (or any variation there of). Jesus would want us to teach our kids the best we can and the whole time to focus on the Father who created the heavens and earth. Jesus would want us to take care of the environment (because we are called to have dominion over it), but not to the detriment of God's children whom he loves more than anything else.
Do you notice how each one comes back to God?? You are (God's) light to the world - Matt. 5. I think Jesus talks about everyone at least once in the Beatitudes (I like the way The Message puts some of these....
3"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
4"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
5"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.
6"You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.
7"You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.
8"You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
9"You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.
10"You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.
In vs. 6 he says "you are blessed when you are content with just who you are". MercyMe has a great song called No More, No Less that really hits this on the head.
I'm not trying to hide anything
I wear it on my sleeve
I wear it on my sleeve
I'm not trying to be something I'm not
This is all I've got
This is all I've got
I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel
Just trying to be real
Trying to be real
I'm not trying to say follow me
I'm not the one who leads
I'm not the one who leads
Let me introduce myself to you
This is who I am
No more, no less
I am just a man who understands
Because of You I'm blessed
No more, no less
I'm not trying to prove anything
It's all about the change
It's all about the change
I hope you stare just long enough to see
The heart that's beating here inside of me
Beyond all the things you may think you know
I'm just a kid trying to make it home, that's it
No more, no less
Lord, I want to go home
Nothing more, nothing less
God has a special plan for each of us, but we cannot sit around waiting for it to happen. Your life has a purpose, but your purpose is in God. Are you trying to lead? Are you trying to make it home? Who is your American Idol? Keep your sight on the light of God.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Romans and my new road
I've decided to do a study on Romans. Brandy just walked in and asked if I was writing my sermon. Maybe I am and maybe I'm not. Who knows......
Romans 1-3 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Paul is very systematic in his thought and he makes sure every T is crossed and every i is dotted. In Romans 3:23 he says that "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Jews and Gentiles are alike. No one gets special treatment in the kingdom. The Jews are under the Law but Gentiles are not. But everyone knows about God.
There are 3 ways to know about God.
Romans 1:20 - We can know God by His creation of the world.
Romans 2:14-15 - We can know God by our consciences, our thoughts either condemning us or comending us.
Romans 3:21-22 - We can know God by Jesus Christ, that is, the faith OF Jesus Christ (KJV).
Paul talks about God's wrath in Romans 1. the wrath of God is being revealed against the godless and the wicked. Who are these "godless and wicked" people??
a. vs. 23...they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images makde to look like man and animals. (check out Psalm 106:20, Jeremiah 2:11, Acts 17:29, and the big story in Exodus 32).
Therefore God gave them over to their sinful desires:
b. sexual sin - he spends a lot more time on this one than the others; and it's first. A man lies with a man and woman with a woman.
Vs 28...since they did not bother to know God, God let them do what they wanted, although what they wanted was wrong. They were:
c. wicked
d. evil
e. greedy
f. depravity (badness)
g. envy
h. murderous
i. strife (arguing)
j. deceit
k. malice
l. gossips
m. slanderers (back-biter)
n. insolent
o. God hater
p. arrogant
q.r.s.t.u.v. w. boastful; invent ways of doing evil; disobey their parents; senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
I think if we broke down a. and b. we could have one for every letter of the alphabet. Do any of these look familiar in the people you know? Do you hear arguing, slander, or gossip in your church?
Colossians 3 starting at vs 5 says what you need to do. "put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature...which is idolatry. You must rid yourselves of such things as these." Everything you do that is not God-like is idolatry. You must have no other God (that's in the 10 Commandments). Ephesians 5 says to be "imitators of God and live a life of love just as Christ loved us."
I'll pick this up again in chapter 2 in a couple days. In closing, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...but all are justified by his grace if they accept his grace thru the redeption that is in Jesus Christ. God sent him to be a propitiation (an atoning victim) to declare his righteousness, and thru his blood, the righteousness of all who believe on the faith of Jesus Christ.
Romans 1-3 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Paul is very systematic in his thought and he makes sure every T is crossed and every i is dotted. In Romans 3:23 he says that "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Jews and Gentiles are alike. No one gets special treatment in the kingdom. The Jews are under the Law but Gentiles are not. But everyone knows about God.
There are 3 ways to know about God.
Romans 1:20 - We can know God by His creation of the world.
Romans 2:14-15 - We can know God by our consciences, our thoughts either condemning us or comending us.
Romans 3:21-22 - We can know God by Jesus Christ, that is, the faith OF Jesus Christ (KJV).
Paul talks about God's wrath in Romans 1. the wrath of God is being revealed against the godless and the wicked. Who are these "godless and wicked" people??
a. vs. 23...they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images makde to look like man and animals. (check out Psalm 106:20, Jeremiah 2:11, Acts 17:29, and the big story in Exodus 32).
Therefore God gave them over to their sinful desires:
b. sexual sin - he spends a lot more time on this one than the others; and it's first. A man lies with a man and woman with a woman.
Vs 28...since they did not bother to know God, God let them do what they wanted, although what they wanted was wrong. They were:
c. wicked
d. evil
e. greedy
f. depravity (badness)
g. envy
h. murderous
i. strife (arguing)
j. deceit
k. malice
l. gossips
m. slanderers (back-biter)
n. insolent
o. God hater
p. arrogant
q.r.s.t.u.v. w. boastful; invent ways of doing evil; disobey their parents; senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
I think if we broke down a. and b. we could have one for every letter of the alphabet. Do any of these look familiar in the people you know? Do you hear arguing, slander, or gossip in your church?
Colossians 3 starting at vs 5 says what you need to do. "put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature...which is idolatry. You must rid yourselves of such things as these." Everything you do that is not God-like is idolatry. You must have no other God (that's in the 10 Commandments). Ephesians 5 says to be "imitators of God and live a life of love just as Christ loved us."
I'll pick this up again in chapter 2 in a couple days. In closing, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...but all are justified by his grace if they accept his grace thru the redeption that is in Jesus Christ. God sent him to be a propitiation (an atoning victim) to declare his righteousness, and thru his blood, the righteousness of all who believe on the faith of Jesus Christ.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
May 27th sermon Pentecost
May 27th sermon Pentecost
Acts 2:1-15
Have you ever been moved or had an experience with God? I mean have you ever felt the presence of God in your midst as if he was standing right before you or (as our scripture says today) been filled with the Holy Spirit? If you answered yes, what was it like? Was it the best high you have ever felt or was it the most terrifying experience you have ever been thru? I ask you these questions because I want to know this…….do you have that feeling now?
I mean, this is God’s church, God’s house. And if this is God’s house than He is here in our midst right now, and He has been here every Sunday you have gathered in this church for the past 100 years. It doesn’t matter if Sean is pastor, Rod is pastor, Elmer is pastor, Chip is pastor or anyone else. This is still God’s house and he still rules the roost; if you ask him to be, God is here all the time. If you don’t experience him, that is if you have not felt him around you, maybe you are the one who has moved away from him.
The day of Pentecost came and all the disciples were in one place. A better translation is they were together and were all in agreement. They were all focused on the same thing.
While they were sitting there together, a VIOLENT wind came and shook the whole place. This was not a breeze blowing thru the windows. This was an F5 hurricane wind shaking the entire house as if it would tear the house off the foundation. But they had no time to think about that. Suddenly fire was above them. It breaks up and individually stops above each of them.
The fire descends and surrounds them yet instead of engulfing them in flames, that flicker inside of them becomes the burning flame of the Holy Spirit. As they felt God’s power and spirit fill them, they were overjoyed and called out praises to God. But instead of the words coming out in their native language, they were speaking in languages they had not known before.
A crowd of Jews from many other nations gathered around and heard these Galileans speaking in foreign languages. Some were amazed, but scripture tells us “some made fun of them saying they had too much wine.” Even before the disciples’ ministry started, they were bad mouthed and ridiculed.
Why would they say that? What would possess a group of people to be so mean spirited and hateful to chastise the disciples and discount the truth they preached. But Peter jumped up and defended the rest. All the disciples didn’t need to argue about what was true and what wasn’t. Peter took care of them all.
Here is what he said: These men are not drunk. Just because they don’t look like you but they sound like you, don’t discount the message. They might be young. They might be different. But they are speaking the truth.
Many years ago, God revealed himself to Abraham and told him to leave his country and go to the place God said. And he did. But Abraham did not get the inheritance. God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision and that was how a people were born.
Soon these people became slaves and for hundreds of years Abraham’s descendants were slaves to the nations, but God brought them out of that slavery. God revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush and Moses led the people. For 40 years they walked in the wilderness. While Moses was on Mt. Sinai the Israelites rejected Moses and desired to turn back to Egypt.
They didn’t want spiritual growth. Even though they were dying under the old system, that was what they knew and it was familiar. When given a chance, the people will always reject their leader and return to Egypt. We hate change. We hate new things.
So they turned to Aaron and said “We had a little meeting. Make us a God we can see and touch. We don’t like the way Moses looks or what he wears. And besides, Moses’ ideas sounded kind of crazy and he’s not here.” They rejected God and it went down thru the ages. Then King David wanted to build a grand church for God, but it was Solomon his son who built it. But there is a problem here. God is bigger than any church. He does not live in houses built by man. The prophet Isaiah says “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house can you make for me that is worthy?”
Stephen cuts right to the heart of the issue. He said, “And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, You’re just like your ancestors. Was there ever a preacher that you did not persecute? Your ancestors crucified anyone who talked about the truth. And you’ve kept up the family tradition….traitors and murderers all of you. You had it all spoon fed to you yet you squandered it all.”
Why do we not like the truth? Do you think we would have done better all these years if the message was just watered down so it was easier to swallow? I mean, come on. If we take the bible seriously we have to be different. We have to change. We won’t be like everyone else. We will be counter-cultural. We will have people mock us, yell at us, fight us, lie about us, crucify us. If you’re not being persecuted, you’re not doing what you are supposed to do.
Peter stood up and told the truth. He didn’t have to defend himself. The 12 disciples went and preached just as they were told to do. Because of the truth, because of the message, because of the name of Jesus they were battered and beaten and bruised.
I got an email the other day. It was a hate filled email and I closed it after reading thru about a third of it. It got me to thinking. This person was complaining about how I had said “dog crap” in one of my sermons. It was sad because I didn’t say “dog crap”, but “dog turd”.
The other sad part is how words are taken and how they are heard today in our church and in our society. One lady not too long ago told me a story about how the DS was in our church here and she said “damn” to the DS. Another person came up and said “you can’t say that in church.” Why not? Is it OK to say certain words outside of those doors, but not inside?
Look at Psalm 139 “You know when I sit and when I rise. You know my thoughts from afar. Before a word is on my tongue Lord you know it completely.” I praise God here on Sunday morning when I’m all dressed up, but I also praise God when I get out of the shower completely naked or when I am wearing shorts and T-shirt on the back porch.
Another person was so worried that about an article I wrote about marriage between a man and woman and in the marriage they have sex. Yet, Song of Solomon in the OT gives detailed description of how Solomon and his bride are making love and what her breast and the rest of her body mean to Solomon.
One person wrote in their 8 page letter to the DS that they “don’t think I should preach at Sardis Methodist Church or any other Methodist church.” They got exactly what they wanted. This is my last sermon in a Methodist church. Although I have offers to be ordained in other denominations, I have not heard from God on where he wants me to go.
If you are wondering, there was nothing else. The district completely dropped me because of this church. That was there choice. But I hold to what one preacher prophesied over me just a few weeks ago…”you will soon lead a church many times bigger than this one.”
And so our life goes on. You have a choice to make too. The new pastor comes in a couple weeks. You can tell him the same thing I heard… “we are here to train you.” Or you can seek out God together. If he does act “less than professional” around you, assume he really likes you and is comfortable around you instead of assuming he is doing something wrong. Love him and his wife because they are here to guide you on your journey.
You have a choice. You can fulfill the words in Revelation 3 or you can write your own destiny. Read Revelation 3 when you get home. I pray you will write your own destiny. Everyone stand and we will pray….
Acts 2:1-15
Ac 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
Ac 2:2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Ac 2:3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
Ac 2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Ac 2:5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
Ac 2:6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
Ac 2:7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?
Ac 2:8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?
Ac 2:9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
Ac 2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome
Ac 2:11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
Ac 2:12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Ac 2:13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.’”
Ac 2:14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.
Ac 2:15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!
Acts 2:1-15
Have you ever been moved or had an experience with God? I mean have you ever felt the presence of God in your midst as if he was standing right before you or (as our scripture says today) been filled with the Holy Spirit? If you answered yes, what was it like? Was it the best high you have ever felt or was it the most terrifying experience you have ever been thru? I ask you these questions because I want to know this…….do you have that feeling now?
I mean, this is God’s church, God’s house. And if this is God’s house than He is here in our midst right now, and He has been here every Sunday you have gathered in this church for the past 100 years. It doesn’t matter if Sean is pastor, Rod is pastor, Elmer is pastor, Chip is pastor or anyone else. This is still God’s house and he still rules the roost; if you ask him to be, God is here all the time. If you don’t experience him, that is if you have not felt him around you, maybe you are the one who has moved away from him.
The day of Pentecost came and all the disciples were in one place. A better translation is they were together and were all in agreement. They were all focused on the same thing.
While they were sitting there together, a VIOLENT wind came and shook the whole place. This was not a breeze blowing thru the windows. This was an F5 hurricane wind shaking the entire house as if it would tear the house off the foundation. But they had no time to think about that. Suddenly fire was above them. It breaks up and individually stops above each of them.
The fire descends and surrounds them yet instead of engulfing them in flames, that flicker inside of them becomes the burning flame of the Holy Spirit. As they felt God’s power and spirit fill them, they were overjoyed and called out praises to God. But instead of the words coming out in their native language, they were speaking in languages they had not known before.
A crowd of Jews from many other nations gathered around and heard these Galileans speaking in foreign languages. Some were amazed, but scripture tells us “some made fun of them saying they had too much wine.” Even before the disciples’ ministry started, they were bad mouthed and ridiculed.
Why would they say that? What would possess a group of people to be so mean spirited and hateful to chastise the disciples and discount the truth they preached. But Peter jumped up and defended the rest. All the disciples didn’t need to argue about what was true and what wasn’t. Peter took care of them all.
Here is what he said: These men are not drunk. Just because they don’t look like you but they sound like you, don’t discount the message. They might be young. They might be different. But they are speaking the truth.
Many years ago, God revealed himself to Abraham and told him to leave his country and go to the place God said. And he did. But Abraham did not get the inheritance. God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision and that was how a people were born.
Soon these people became slaves and for hundreds of years Abraham’s descendants were slaves to the nations, but God brought them out of that slavery. God revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush and Moses led the people. For 40 years they walked in the wilderness. While Moses was on Mt. Sinai the Israelites rejected Moses and desired to turn back to Egypt.
They didn’t want spiritual growth. Even though they were dying under the old system, that was what they knew and it was familiar. When given a chance, the people will always reject their leader and return to Egypt. We hate change. We hate new things.
So they turned to Aaron and said “We had a little meeting. Make us a God we can see and touch. We don’t like the way Moses looks or what he wears. And besides, Moses’ ideas sounded kind of crazy and he’s not here.” They rejected God and it went down thru the ages. Then King David wanted to build a grand church for God, but it was Solomon his son who built it. But there is a problem here. God is bigger than any church. He does not live in houses built by man. The prophet Isaiah says “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house can you make for me that is worthy?”
Stephen cuts right to the heart of the issue. He said, “And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, You’re just like your ancestors. Was there ever a preacher that you did not persecute? Your ancestors crucified anyone who talked about the truth. And you’ve kept up the family tradition….traitors and murderers all of you. You had it all spoon fed to you yet you squandered it all.”
Why do we not like the truth? Do you think we would have done better all these years if the message was just watered down so it was easier to swallow? I mean, come on. If we take the bible seriously we have to be different. We have to change. We won’t be like everyone else. We will be counter-cultural. We will have people mock us, yell at us, fight us, lie about us, crucify us. If you’re not being persecuted, you’re not doing what you are supposed to do.
Peter stood up and told the truth. He didn’t have to defend himself. The 12 disciples went and preached just as they were told to do. Because of the truth, because of the message, because of the name of Jesus they were battered and beaten and bruised.
I got an email the other day. It was a hate filled email and I closed it after reading thru about a third of it. It got me to thinking. This person was complaining about how I had said “dog crap” in one of my sermons. It was sad because I didn’t say “dog crap”, but “dog turd”.
The other sad part is how words are taken and how they are heard today in our church and in our society. One lady not too long ago told me a story about how the DS was in our church here and she said “damn” to the DS. Another person came up and said “you can’t say that in church.” Why not? Is it OK to say certain words outside of those doors, but not inside?
Look at Psalm 139 “You know when I sit and when I rise. You know my thoughts from afar. Before a word is on my tongue Lord you know it completely.” I praise God here on Sunday morning when I’m all dressed up, but I also praise God when I get out of the shower completely naked or when I am wearing shorts and T-shirt on the back porch.
Another person was so worried that about an article I wrote about marriage between a man and woman and in the marriage they have sex. Yet, Song of Solomon in the OT gives detailed description of how Solomon and his bride are making love and what her breast and the rest of her body mean to Solomon.
One person wrote in their 8 page letter to the DS that they “don’t think I should preach at Sardis Methodist Church or any other Methodist church.” They got exactly what they wanted. This is my last sermon in a Methodist church. Although I have offers to be ordained in other denominations, I have not heard from God on where he wants me to go.
If you are wondering, there was nothing else. The district completely dropped me because of this church. That was there choice. But I hold to what one preacher prophesied over me just a few weeks ago…”you will soon lead a church many times bigger than this one.”
And so our life goes on. You have a choice to make too. The new pastor comes in a couple weeks. You can tell him the same thing I heard… “we are here to train you.” Or you can seek out God together. If he does act “less than professional” around you, assume he really likes you and is comfortable around you instead of assuming he is doing something wrong. Love him and his wife because they are here to guide you on your journey.
You have a choice. You can fulfill the words in Revelation 3 or you can write your own destiny. Read Revelation 3 when you get home. I pray you will write your own destiny. Everyone stand and we will pray….
Acts 2:1-15
Ac 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
Ac 2:2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Ac 2:3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
Ac 2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Ac 2:5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
Ac 2:6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
Ac 2:7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?
Ac 2:8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?
Ac 2:9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
Ac 2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome
Ac 2:11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
Ac 2:12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Ac 2:13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.’”
Ac 2:14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.
Ac 2:15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!
Saturday, May 19, 2007
May 20 2007 sermon - Freedom Acts 16:16-40
May 20 Sermon Freedom
Acts 16: 16-40
You hear this story about Paul and Silas and it has to make you wonder some times. There is a little girl walking behind them yelling out the truth. Why in the world would Paul want to shut her up? Well with a cursory reading, you would think the obvious. This little kid is bugging the heck out of him and he wants her to stop.
That could very well be true. Even though she is telling the truth about the two men, she could just be annoying them so much, Paul wants it to stop. Another option is that maybe they did not want all the attention brought on them immediately. Christianity is a great faith to pass on one-on-one. Stadium conversions do happen and Billy Graham is one of the greatest evangelists of our time.
A great illustration of this is the movie Pay It Forward. Young Trevor McKinney is caught up by an intriguing assignment from his new social studies teacher. The assignment: Think up something to change the world and put it into action. Trevor conjures up the notion of paying a favor not back, but forward…repaying good deeds not with payback, but with new good deeds done to three other people.
Trevor’s effort to make good on his idea brings a revolution not only in the lives of himself, his mother and his teacher, but in the ever widening circle of people completely unknown to him.
One person affecting 3 other people who each affect 3 other people, so on and so forth. Let me ask you a question. How many people have you shared your faith with in the last 6 months? 1 Peter 3:15 says to “Always be ready to give a reason for the hope that lies within you, and do it with gentleness and respect.” If you said (in your heart) zero, do you really have the hope within you that Peter is talking about?
But let’s look at it another way. There are approximately 300,000 churches in America. Now let’s say that every one of these churches took Jesus serious when he said “Go and make disciples”. This isn’t a “maybe people from other churches will start coming to our church” or “yeah, we send out post card invitations to our church every year.”
It’s a “This person is an unbeliever and they come to believe the truth because we share it with them.” Each one of these 300,000 churches reaches just 3 people in 2007. Holy Cow. The Holy Spirit just moved 900,000 people to join the kingdom of God. Since the average church in America has 100 people in it, it’s like adding 9000 churches to America.
85% of the people in America say they are Christian. But let’s be honest. There are many people in that 85% that have never had a transforming experience for Christ; just like there are people in this church today that have never had a transforming experience. Our total population is 300 million. Let’s say 60% are real Christians.
Each of those new converts shared their faith with 3 people. The church still does what it’s supposed to do, making 3 other disciples. Do you see what an awesome impact the church and the transformed Christians could make in America by sharing their faith??
Back to Paul and the slave girl. Paul was not looking for some cultural catch-phrases that, while true, did not convey the gospel in a way it would be heard by (as Jesus said) “people who had ears to hear”. This girl was yelling out “these men are servants of the Most High God. They are showing the way of salvation.”
The statement was true, but it was disruptive. There was no message. There was no depth. It was a catch phrase. “God is Good. All the Time. All the Time. God is Good.” Having the sign out front of our church that says “Sardis United Methodist Church” tells everyone around that we are a congregation meeting to worship the one and only Triune God based on Christian scriptures and beliefs.
The building/the sign/the cross outside are not the message. It’s the surface. It can be a distraction or it can be a help.
The slave girl was a distraction. Paul’s discourses were well thought out and flowed where everyone who heard could understand, but this girl made that a problem. To free her, Paul went up to the girl and said “In the name of Jesus Christ, come out of the girl.” And the demon did.
Did you hear the 6 most important words known to humans and angels. IN-THE-NAME-OF-JESUS-CHRIST. We flippantly throw these words around without thinking about them. We add them to the end of our prayers thinking “well in scripture it says to pray in the name of Jesus so if I say that at the end of my prayers then I know God will act on them.”
Or we add it to the end of letters and other correspondence. It doesn’t matter if the letters have no reference to God or even if the letters go against everything God would want, we still add those 6 words in our desire to speak the “Christianeze” and sound like some one else we want to emulate. These 6 words are the most powerful words we can ever use.
In our scripture today, these words call a demon out of a girl and free her from that burden. Unfortunately, not everyone wants to see freedom. Not everyone desires the light. Those in the darkness like the darkness. It’s comfortable there. There is no truth, but there is no responsibility either. Ignorance is bliss and those in the darkness are some of the most ignorant people you will ever meet.
Verse 19 - “But when the slave girl’s masters saw their hope of profit gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.” The darkness loves money doesn’t it? It’s not “Praise God our slave girl is free from the torture she has endured for so many years.” What is more important?? Money or freedom? Slavery or salvation? Status Quo or Transformation? Death or life thru Jesus Christ?
PAUSE
Paul and Silas are thrown into jail where the hardened criminals are kept and locked up real tight. Then they do what anyone would do when locked up like this…they sing hymns. OK…maybe that’s not a normal thing to do. But when things look bleak and its dark all around and you’re shackled to a stank dungeon of hopelessness, you must go back to what you know.
Prisoners of War would sing hymns and say the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s Prayer to keep them going and keep them sane when all else looked bad. Paul and Silas praised God that they were able to be an example to those around them even in this dank dark prison. They were more interested in pleasing God than pleasing men, and God gave them great boldness and confidence even in that awful place.
Paul actually remarks about this same experience in 1 Thessalonians 2. He says:
“You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News boldly, in spite of great opposition. So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery. For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.”
Imagine the impact of these things Paul and Silas said on the jailer and other inmates. It was a far cry from the oaths, threats, and curses usually heard in these places. The message had its effect on the listeners…… it always does. The kind of effect depends on each individual heart, but it is always there.
Marilyn Oden tells in her book Abundance about a prison in the Czech Republic. She says that “Though hardened criminals are sent there, the prison does not harden them further. They are treated with respect, many for the first time in their lives. As we entered, I noticed that neither the guards nor the warden wore guns. There were no “prison” haircuts, uniforms or cells.
They lived in unlocked dorm style rooms that opened onto a large locked hall where they were free to socialize. Capital punishment is illegal in the Czech Republic and the warden took Marilyn and her husband into the murderer’s section. The 3 mingled with murderers. The only guard, unarmed, was at the entrance. It was amazing that she did not feel afraid. These men respected the warden and engaged in easy conversation with him.” Through the Christian warden and some Czech United Methodists, these men experienced the healing presence of God’s love.
Have you been a healing presence to anyone this week? Each day offers us an opportunity to journey in compassion with our sisters and brothers and, through God’s grace, to be windows thru which others can see God’s love. When we experience God’s transforming love and our lives reflect it, we see with our souls.
PAUSE
It was midnight, and an earthquake shook the jail, and all the cells opened and chains fell off. When the jailer woke up and saw what happened, he did what was expected of him. He had failed his job and in this heathen society he was expected to do the ‘honorable’ thing and take his own life.
The tables turned. Paul and Silas were freed and the jailer was under the law, even if it was ignorant law. Paul stopped him from killing himself. And the jailer knowing this could only be by the power of God, fell at the feet of Paul and said what any one of us would say “What must I do to be saved?”
That is a proper question to ask. There is something we must do to be saved. The Word of God tells us what to do. The jailer needed to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s more than knowledge about Jesus. A lot of smart people (and those who think they are smart) get it wrong. Even the devil knows Jesus is the Son of God – the 2nd person of the trinity – God himself.
To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ means to give your entire life over to Jesus as your Lord and Savior. It means total submission and obedience. Transformation has to happen. Turning from your old crabby pain in the butt self and being transformed into what God wants you to become. God loves you just the way you are, but he loves you too much to leave you that way. PAUSE
Who do you identify with in this scripture today? The slave girl and Paul and Silas are in chains. The slave’s master and the jailer hold the keys and are free. But is this really the truth, or is it just a front? Thanks to Paul and the power of the name of Jesus, the slave girl becomes free. Yet she is not free in society. She is a piece of property. And instead of her “free” owners rejoicing in her healing, they desire to lock up the apostles.
When Paul and Silas are beaten and bloody and locked up in a dark cell, they are strangely free to sing. But the jailer is not free. When the chains come off, he decides suicide will be the best way to die if his prisoners have escaped. Having a key to someone else’s cell does not make you free. By the end of the story, everyone who appeared to be free, the slave master and jailer, is a slave. And everyone who first appeared to be enslaved, the girl, Paul and Silas, is free.
Those who are free, live for the truth. Those who are in slavery (and maybe don’t know it) live for the lie. Are you in bondage right now? Do you go thru your day and sometimes saying “This is wrong. What I am doing is wrong. What we are doing is wrong”? The transformation Christ calls us into is counter-cultural. It’s not normal, in the worldly sense of the word.
Would an outsider walking into a group of people be able to pick you out of the crowd as a Christian? Has the transformation happened in your life? Are you counter-cultural or do you look and act like everyone else in society yet go to church on Sunday morning?? Are you free?
If true freedom and transformation has occurred in your life, YOU ARE DIFFERENT. Otherwise, you are a slave? “Well I’m not a slave to anyone pastor.” If you’re not free (and therefore a slave to God), then you are a slave to this world and all the seduction it has on you……and you have no part in the Kingdom of God.
If you desire to be free….that is, if like the jailer you see the state your in and want to yell out “How can I be saved”, you can today. If you recognize your bondage and slavery and want to be free and you want to be transformed, come up to the alter rail during our last hymn. No I didn’t bring my baptism water gun, but even if you have been baptized before, transformation and freedom can still come today.
Everyone stand up and we will sing this last hymn.
Acts 16:16-40
One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, ‘These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.’ She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour.
But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, ‘These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.’ The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, ‘Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.’ The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They answered, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.
When morning came, the magistrates sent the police, saying, ‘Let those men go.’ And the jailer reported the message to Paul, saying, ‘The magistrates sent word to let you go; therefore come out now and go in peace.’ But Paul replied, ‘They have beaten us in public, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they going to discharge us in secret? Certainly not! Let them come and take us out themselves.’ The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens; so they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. After leaving the prison they went to Lydia’s home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.
Acts 16: 16-40
You hear this story about Paul and Silas and it has to make you wonder some times. There is a little girl walking behind them yelling out the truth. Why in the world would Paul want to shut her up? Well with a cursory reading, you would think the obvious. This little kid is bugging the heck out of him and he wants her to stop.
That could very well be true. Even though she is telling the truth about the two men, she could just be annoying them so much, Paul wants it to stop. Another option is that maybe they did not want all the attention brought on them immediately. Christianity is a great faith to pass on one-on-one. Stadium conversions do happen and Billy Graham is one of the greatest evangelists of our time.
A great illustration of this is the movie Pay It Forward. Young Trevor McKinney is caught up by an intriguing assignment from his new social studies teacher. The assignment: Think up something to change the world and put it into action. Trevor conjures up the notion of paying a favor not back, but forward…repaying good deeds not with payback, but with new good deeds done to three other people.
Trevor’s effort to make good on his idea brings a revolution not only in the lives of himself, his mother and his teacher, but in the ever widening circle of people completely unknown to him.
One person affecting 3 other people who each affect 3 other people, so on and so forth. Let me ask you a question. How many people have you shared your faith with in the last 6 months? 1 Peter 3:15 says to “Always be ready to give a reason for the hope that lies within you, and do it with gentleness and respect.” If you said (in your heart) zero, do you really have the hope within you that Peter is talking about?
But let’s look at it another way. There are approximately 300,000 churches in America. Now let’s say that every one of these churches took Jesus serious when he said “Go and make disciples”. This isn’t a “maybe people from other churches will start coming to our church” or “yeah, we send out post card invitations to our church every year.”
It’s a “This person is an unbeliever and they come to believe the truth because we share it with them.” Each one of these 300,000 churches reaches just 3 people in 2007. Holy Cow. The Holy Spirit just moved 900,000 people to join the kingdom of God. Since the average church in America has 100 people in it, it’s like adding 9000 churches to America.
85% of the people in America say they are Christian. But let’s be honest. There are many people in that 85% that have never had a transforming experience for Christ; just like there are people in this church today that have never had a transforming experience. Our total population is 300 million. Let’s say 60% are real Christians.
Each of those new converts shared their faith with 3 people. The church still does what it’s supposed to do, making 3 other disciples. Do you see what an awesome impact the church and the transformed Christians could make in America by sharing their faith??
Back to Paul and the slave girl. Paul was not looking for some cultural catch-phrases that, while true, did not convey the gospel in a way it would be heard by (as Jesus said) “people who had ears to hear”. This girl was yelling out “these men are servants of the Most High God. They are showing the way of salvation.”
The statement was true, but it was disruptive. There was no message. There was no depth. It was a catch phrase. “God is Good. All the Time. All the Time. God is Good.” Having the sign out front of our church that says “Sardis United Methodist Church” tells everyone around that we are a congregation meeting to worship the one and only Triune God based on Christian scriptures and beliefs.
The building/the sign/the cross outside are not the message. It’s the surface. It can be a distraction or it can be a help.
The slave girl was a distraction. Paul’s discourses were well thought out and flowed where everyone who heard could understand, but this girl made that a problem. To free her, Paul went up to the girl and said “In the name of Jesus Christ, come out of the girl.” And the demon did.
Did you hear the 6 most important words known to humans and angels. IN-THE-NAME-OF-JESUS-CHRIST. We flippantly throw these words around without thinking about them. We add them to the end of our prayers thinking “well in scripture it says to pray in the name of Jesus so if I say that at the end of my prayers then I know God will act on them.”
Or we add it to the end of letters and other correspondence. It doesn’t matter if the letters have no reference to God or even if the letters go against everything God would want, we still add those 6 words in our desire to speak the “Christianeze” and sound like some one else we want to emulate. These 6 words are the most powerful words we can ever use.
In our scripture today, these words call a demon out of a girl and free her from that burden. Unfortunately, not everyone wants to see freedom. Not everyone desires the light. Those in the darkness like the darkness. It’s comfortable there. There is no truth, but there is no responsibility either. Ignorance is bliss and those in the darkness are some of the most ignorant people you will ever meet.
Verse 19 - “But when the slave girl’s masters saw their hope of profit gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.” The darkness loves money doesn’t it? It’s not “Praise God our slave girl is free from the torture she has endured for so many years.” What is more important?? Money or freedom? Slavery or salvation? Status Quo or Transformation? Death or life thru Jesus Christ?
PAUSE
Paul and Silas are thrown into jail where the hardened criminals are kept and locked up real tight. Then they do what anyone would do when locked up like this…they sing hymns. OK…maybe that’s not a normal thing to do. But when things look bleak and its dark all around and you’re shackled to a stank dungeon of hopelessness, you must go back to what you know.
Prisoners of War would sing hymns and say the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s Prayer to keep them going and keep them sane when all else looked bad. Paul and Silas praised God that they were able to be an example to those around them even in this dank dark prison. They were more interested in pleasing God than pleasing men, and God gave them great boldness and confidence even in that awful place.
Paul actually remarks about this same experience in 1 Thessalonians 2. He says:
“You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News boldly, in spite of great opposition. So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery. For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.”
Imagine the impact of these things Paul and Silas said on the jailer and other inmates. It was a far cry from the oaths, threats, and curses usually heard in these places. The message had its effect on the listeners…… it always does. The kind of effect depends on each individual heart, but it is always there.
Marilyn Oden tells in her book Abundance about a prison in the Czech Republic. She says that “Though hardened criminals are sent there, the prison does not harden them further. They are treated with respect, many for the first time in their lives. As we entered, I noticed that neither the guards nor the warden wore guns. There were no “prison” haircuts, uniforms or cells.
They lived in unlocked dorm style rooms that opened onto a large locked hall where they were free to socialize. Capital punishment is illegal in the Czech Republic and the warden took Marilyn and her husband into the murderer’s section. The 3 mingled with murderers. The only guard, unarmed, was at the entrance. It was amazing that she did not feel afraid. These men respected the warden and engaged in easy conversation with him.” Through the Christian warden and some Czech United Methodists, these men experienced the healing presence of God’s love.
Have you been a healing presence to anyone this week? Each day offers us an opportunity to journey in compassion with our sisters and brothers and, through God’s grace, to be windows thru which others can see God’s love. When we experience God’s transforming love and our lives reflect it, we see with our souls.
PAUSE
It was midnight, and an earthquake shook the jail, and all the cells opened and chains fell off. When the jailer woke up and saw what happened, he did what was expected of him. He had failed his job and in this heathen society he was expected to do the ‘honorable’ thing and take his own life.
The tables turned. Paul and Silas were freed and the jailer was under the law, even if it was ignorant law. Paul stopped him from killing himself. And the jailer knowing this could only be by the power of God, fell at the feet of Paul and said what any one of us would say “What must I do to be saved?”
That is a proper question to ask. There is something we must do to be saved. The Word of God tells us what to do. The jailer needed to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s more than knowledge about Jesus. A lot of smart people (and those who think they are smart) get it wrong. Even the devil knows Jesus is the Son of God – the 2nd person of the trinity – God himself.
To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ means to give your entire life over to Jesus as your Lord and Savior. It means total submission and obedience. Transformation has to happen. Turning from your old crabby pain in the butt self and being transformed into what God wants you to become. God loves you just the way you are, but he loves you too much to leave you that way. PAUSE
Who do you identify with in this scripture today? The slave girl and Paul and Silas are in chains. The slave’s master and the jailer hold the keys and are free. But is this really the truth, or is it just a front? Thanks to Paul and the power of the name of Jesus, the slave girl becomes free. Yet she is not free in society. She is a piece of property. And instead of her “free” owners rejoicing in her healing, they desire to lock up the apostles.
When Paul and Silas are beaten and bloody and locked up in a dark cell, they are strangely free to sing. But the jailer is not free. When the chains come off, he decides suicide will be the best way to die if his prisoners have escaped. Having a key to someone else’s cell does not make you free. By the end of the story, everyone who appeared to be free, the slave master and jailer, is a slave. And everyone who first appeared to be enslaved, the girl, Paul and Silas, is free.
Those who are free, live for the truth. Those who are in slavery (and maybe don’t know it) live for the lie. Are you in bondage right now? Do you go thru your day and sometimes saying “This is wrong. What I am doing is wrong. What we are doing is wrong”? The transformation Christ calls us into is counter-cultural. It’s not normal, in the worldly sense of the word.
Would an outsider walking into a group of people be able to pick you out of the crowd as a Christian? Has the transformation happened in your life? Are you counter-cultural or do you look and act like everyone else in society yet go to church on Sunday morning?? Are you free?
If true freedom and transformation has occurred in your life, YOU ARE DIFFERENT. Otherwise, you are a slave? “Well I’m not a slave to anyone pastor.” If you’re not free (and therefore a slave to God), then you are a slave to this world and all the seduction it has on you……and you have no part in the Kingdom of God.
If you desire to be free….that is, if like the jailer you see the state your in and want to yell out “How can I be saved”, you can today. If you recognize your bondage and slavery and want to be free and you want to be transformed, come up to the alter rail during our last hymn. No I didn’t bring my baptism water gun, but even if you have been baptized before, transformation and freedom can still come today.
Everyone stand up and we will sing this last hymn.
Acts 16:16-40
One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, ‘These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.’ She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour.
But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, ‘These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.’ The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, ‘Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.’ The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They answered, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.
When morning came, the magistrates sent the police, saying, ‘Let those men go.’ And the jailer reported the message to Paul, saying, ‘The magistrates sent word to let you go; therefore come out now and go in peace.’ But Paul replied, ‘They have beaten us in public, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they going to discharge us in secret? Certainly not! Let them come and take us out themselves.’ The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens; so they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. After leaving the prison they went to Lydia’s home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Forgiveness According to Jesus
Keith Giles has a great article on his blog about forgiveness. Here is an excerpt and a link to the article.......
FORGIVENESS ACCORDING TO JESUS by Keith Giles One of the things I love most about Jesus is that he rarely says things that we expect him to say. He is more dangerous, more scandalous, more radical than our Sunday School teachers would have us believe. He speaks with such authority and a shocking sense of raw audacity that sometimes we are tempted to water down his words at times. Thankfully the writers of the Gospel felt no such need to pull any punches when it came to quoting our Lord. In Matthew, right off the bat, Jesus gets things started with a teaching on forgiveness that seems overly harsh to our ears. He says, "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." - JESUS (Matthew 6:14-15) I don't know about you.....More here
FORGIVENESS ACCORDING TO JESUS by Keith Giles One of the things I love most about Jesus is that he rarely says things that we expect him to say. He is more dangerous, more scandalous, more radical than our Sunday School teachers would have us believe. He speaks with such authority and a shocking sense of raw audacity that sometimes we are tempted to water down his words at times. Thankfully the writers of the Gospel felt no such need to pull any punches when it came to quoting our Lord. In Matthew, right off the bat, Jesus gets things started with a teaching on forgiveness that seems overly harsh to our ears. He says, "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." - JESUS (Matthew 6:14-15) I don't know about you.....More here
Sunday, May 13, 2007
May 13th sermon Prevenient Grace Acts 16:9-15
Acts 16: 9-15
Title: grace
May 13, 2007
I grew up in the small town of Sonora Texas, population 3000. My mom took me to a typical Methodist Church and when I was in Jr. High, I started in the Youth Group. It seemed like the right thing to do, being at church an extra time each week, and the popular kids were doing it, so I went.
A year later I was baptized at the same time as 5 other kids. It seemed like the popular thing to do so I did it. I couldn’t tell you what we did in youth group. I think I got some blessings from God by osmosis. You know, I was in church more than just on Sunday. I did all the right stuff. I was a good kid.
Then I got into High School and church was an after thought. I graduated and went to college. I thought about going to church sometimes, but after a Saturday of partying (or just sleeping late on Sunday morning), I had no interest in it.
Anyway, I saw the kids who were part of the Student Fellowship at my small college and didn’t think they were really holding up a good example of what a Christian was. Later I got married and had a baby (well not me but my wife), and we bought a house.
All this time, something was tugging at me. In the back of my mind I could hear a small voice saying “Sean, your journey needs to take you to Jesus. Look for him.”
Today I am talking about grace.
The root meaning of the word “grace” is gift. Christ Jesus, who is God, offers us a gift. It’s the gift of a relationship with him. It’s not any normal relationship, but one that includes salvation, reconciliation, and eternal life.
This grace, this gift from God, has many facets. John Wesley describes grace as prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying. Each of these relate to a particular time in our spiritual journey. The term prevenient means “to come before”.
For a Christian, it is the grace that comes before we make any decision for God. This is the grace that is at work before we are even aware of it. It is the love of God wooing us. It is the will of God drawing us. Maybe my mom taking me to church and praying with me was a form of prevenient grace.
Prevenient grace is present with us from the very beginning. It is at work in us from conception until the moment we accept the relationship God offers us through Christ. In the bible, God says “I knew you before you were born. I even knew you before you were conceived.”
PAUSE
Now, picture in your mind a big block of black ice. You know what black ice is right. When it rains in the winter time, the water on the road mixed with a little oil and other nasty stuff and freezes. It looks like the regular road, but is actually ice.
Picture a big block of ice as completely black. You can’t see thru it at all. This ice is so hard and so cold it doesn’t melt. That is your life, and my life, and the life of everyone we know and don’t know. But God’s grace is at work. It’s a big ice pick. And it starts chipping away at the cold blackness in our lives. Each time God’s prevenient grace nudges us, another chip of ice comes off.
For all of us, the sizes of the chips are different. For Bob the chips might be small. For Billy they might be huge. But God’s grace is working every day to break thru that wall of ice around our soul.
PAUSE
In the beginning, God created the universe, the world, and everything in it and saw that it was good. God created humans in his own image and likeness. The relationship between humans and God was deep and meaningful. When he created us, God gave us some of his attributes. He gave us love, so each of us has the capacity to love and be loved.
He gave us a spirit, and it’s that spirit that makes us who we are. You could say we are ‘hard wired for God’ from the beginning.
Because we were created in the image and likeness of God, all of us long for a deeper and better relationship with Him. It’s that relationship some of us had with our mothers. The theologian Augustine said “Our hearts will not find rest until they find rest in Thee O God.” The good news is we are made in the image of God. The bad news is……human sin.
Adam and Eve made wrong choices that got them kicked out of the Garden, yet God still provided for them. Each of us has made wrong choices in our past that separates us from God and diminishes our spiritual lives. That is the black ice surrounding our soul. Yet God provides for us. God’s love and grace are greater than all our wrong choices.
The good news is God desires a relationship with us even more than we desire to have a relationship with Him. The relationship is that of covenant love. In the OT, the prophets continually called the Hebrew people back to a genuine relationship of love and obedience to God. They proclaimed God’s promise to make a new covenant with the people. And no matter how many times they turned away, God always called them back.
Jesus offers us a new covenant and a new relationship with God. It’s a relationship of love and grace. The love is that of divine love coming straight from the heart of God, a seeking love (that searches for us at all times), and an everlasting love that will never ever diminish. It is a gift (that grace we talked about earlier), a gift, that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God takes the initiative to seek us out. It’s not up to us to seek God (and in actuality, without his grace and him seeking us first, we would never find him). This prevenient grace helps us to overcome our brokenness and alienation from God.
You wonder now…how do we experience God’s prevenient grace?
That grace had been chipping at the black ice around my soul for years, and even after Brandy and I got married. And then I went on a spiritual retreat in Boerne, TX, called the Walk to Emmaus. Every chance I got, or better yet every chance He got, God sent me out into the “wilderness” outside the building to pray. Just like the Israelites in the OT, I was in a spiritual desert, searching for some nourishment, but not finding any.
I was not sure what I was praying for, what I was looking for, or exactly what God wanted from me, but I still prayed. And then on Sunday morning, God’s grace broke thru that black ice and his light was shining into my soul, blowing on that flicker of a flame to build it into a roaring fire.
I didn’t know what had gotten a hold of me. Instead of just believing, I accepted. No, I KNEW the truth, the truth of Jesus Christ and transformation. That roaring fire got so hot so fast, the black ice exploded and I was finally free from its grip.
Christianity…my life with Christ at the helm, was now a reality. It was only thru the Holy Spirit chipping away at the ice on my soul that I finally got free.
PAUSE
The Holy Spirit can speak to us in many ways throughout our lives. Looking back over that time before Grace broke thru, I can see events happening and people around me that God was using to touch my life. For example: God used my mom to guide me thru the waters of life.
The Holy Spirit can speak to our minds and hearts thru the struggles, frustrations, difficulties, and pain… of unemployment, divorce, tension in your house or church, or the loss of a loved one.
We can experience God’s grace thru the care and sacrifice of others who embody God’s love toward us, such as parents, relatives and friends.
Our church can help us to experience God’s grace and presence thru family worship, prayer, communion, and small groups. The Holy Spirit can awaken our conscience and convince us we can never reform ourselves or earn a place in God’s family without his grace and love in our lives. And God can work thru OUR words, attitudes, and actions to help others open their hearts and lives to the prevenient grace of God.
The critical question for you today is will you open your heart to God and accept the relationship God offers you in Jesus Christ?? Don’t wait another minute and miss the opportunity of a lifetime.
Acts 16:9-15
During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.
We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.
Title: grace
May 13, 2007
I grew up in the small town of Sonora Texas, population 3000. My mom took me to a typical Methodist Church and when I was in Jr. High, I started in the Youth Group. It seemed like the right thing to do, being at church an extra time each week, and the popular kids were doing it, so I went.
A year later I was baptized at the same time as 5 other kids. It seemed like the popular thing to do so I did it. I couldn’t tell you what we did in youth group. I think I got some blessings from God by osmosis. You know, I was in church more than just on Sunday. I did all the right stuff. I was a good kid.
Then I got into High School and church was an after thought. I graduated and went to college. I thought about going to church sometimes, but after a Saturday of partying (or just sleeping late on Sunday morning), I had no interest in it.
Anyway, I saw the kids who were part of the Student Fellowship at my small college and didn’t think they were really holding up a good example of what a Christian was. Later I got married and had a baby (well not me but my wife), and we bought a house.
All this time, something was tugging at me. In the back of my mind I could hear a small voice saying “Sean, your journey needs to take you to Jesus. Look for him.”
Today I am talking about grace.
The root meaning of the word “grace” is gift. Christ Jesus, who is God, offers us a gift. It’s the gift of a relationship with him. It’s not any normal relationship, but one that includes salvation, reconciliation, and eternal life.
This grace, this gift from God, has many facets. John Wesley describes grace as prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying. Each of these relate to a particular time in our spiritual journey. The term prevenient means “to come before”.
For a Christian, it is the grace that comes before we make any decision for God. This is the grace that is at work before we are even aware of it. It is the love of God wooing us. It is the will of God drawing us. Maybe my mom taking me to church and praying with me was a form of prevenient grace.
Prevenient grace is present with us from the very beginning. It is at work in us from conception until the moment we accept the relationship God offers us through Christ. In the bible, God says “I knew you before you were born. I even knew you before you were conceived.”
PAUSE
Now, picture in your mind a big block of black ice. You know what black ice is right. When it rains in the winter time, the water on the road mixed with a little oil and other nasty stuff and freezes. It looks like the regular road, but is actually ice.
Picture a big block of ice as completely black. You can’t see thru it at all. This ice is so hard and so cold it doesn’t melt. That is your life, and my life, and the life of everyone we know and don’t know. But God’s grace is at work. It’s a big ice pick. And it starts chipping away at the cold blackness in our lives. Each time God’s prevenient grace nudges us, another chip of ice comes off.
For all of us, the sizes of the chips are different. For Bob the chips might be small. For Billy they might be huge. But God’s grace is working every day to break thru that wall of ice around our soul.
PAUSE
In the beginning, God created the universe, the world, and everything in it and saw that it was good. God created humans in his own image and likeness. The relationship between humans and God was deep and meaningful. When he created us, God gave us some of his attributes. He gave us love, so each of us has the capacity to love and be loved.
He gave us a spirit, and it’s that spirit that makes us who we are. You could say we are ‘hard wired for God’ from the beginning.
Because we were created in the image and likeness of God, all of us long for a deeper and better relationship with Him. It’s that relationship some of us had with our mothers. The theologian Augustine said “Our hearts will not find rest until they find rest in Thee O God.” The good news is we are made in the image of God. The bad news is……human sin.
Adam and Eve made wrong choices that got them kicked out of the Garden, yet God still provided for them. Each of us has made wrong choices in our past that separates us from God and diminishes our spiritual lives. That is the black ice surrounding our soul. Yet God provides for us. God’s love and grace are greater than all our wrong choices.
The good news is God desires a relationship with us even more than we desire to have a relationship with Him. The relationship is that of covenant love. In the OT, the prophets continually called the Hebrew people back to a genuine relationship of love and obedience to God. They proclaimed God’s promise to make a new covenant with the people. And no matter how many times they turned away, God always called them back.
Jesus offers us a new covenant and a new relationship with God. It’s a relationship of love and grace. The love is that of divine love coming straight from the heart of God, a seeking love (that searches for us at all times), and an everlasting love that will never ever diminish. It is a gift (that grace we talked about earlier), a gift, that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God takes the initiative to seek us out. It’s not up to us to seek God (and in actuality, without his grace and him seeking us first, we would never find him). This prevenient grace helps us to overcome our brokenness and alienation from God.
You wonder now…how do we experience God’s prevenient grace?
That grace had been chipping at the black ice around my soul for years, and even after Brandy and I got married. And then I went on a spiritual retreat in Boerne, TX, called the Walk to Emmaus. Every chance I got, or better yet every chance He got, God sent me out into the “wilderness” outside the building to pray. Just like the Israelites in the OT, I was in a spiritual desert, searching for some nourishment, but not finding any.
I was not sure what I was praying for, what I was looking for, or exactly what God wanted from me, but I still prayed. And then on Sunday morning, God’s grace broke thru that black ice and his light was shining into my soul, blowing on that flicker of a flame to build it into a roaring fire.
I didn’t know what had gotten a hold of me. Instead of just believing, I accepted. No, I KNEW the truth, the truth of Jesus Christ and transformation. That roaring fire got so hot so fast, the black ice exploded and I was finally free from its grip.
Christianity…my life with Christ at the helm, was now a reality. It was only thru the Holy Spirit chipping away at the ice on my soul that I finally got free.
PAUSE
The Holy Spirit can speak to us in many ways throughout our lives. Looking back over that time before Grace broke thru, I can see events happening and people around me that God was using to touch my life. For example: God used my mom to guide me thru the waters of life.
The Holy Spirit can speak to our minds and hearts thru the struggles, frustrations, difficulties, and pain… of unemployment, divorce, tension in your house or church, or the loss of a loved one.
We can experience God’s grace thru the care and sacrifice of others who embody God’s love toward us, such as parents, relatives and friends.
Our church can help us to experience God’s grace and presence thru family worship, prayer, communion, and small groups. The Holy Spirit can awaken our conscience and convince us we can never reform ourselves or earn a place in God’s family without his grace and love in our lives. And God can work thru OUR words, attitudes, and actions to help others open their hearts and lives to the prevenient grace of God.
The critical question for you today is will you open your heart to God and accept the relationship God offers you in Jesus Christ?? Don’t wait another minute and miss the opportunity of a lifetime.
Acts 16:9-15
During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.
We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.
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