Thursday, June 29, 2006

High Places of Blessing

How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him.

Ephesians 1, The Message

6 Great Habits That Cultivate Grace

1. Put God first!


The principle of Priority

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6:33, NASB


Chip Ingram, Walk Through the Bible

A Way of Blessing

All you who fear God, how blessed you are! How happily you walk on his smooth straight road!

Psalm 128:1, The Message


"The road we travel is the well-traveled road of discipleship. It is not the way of boredom or despair or confusion. It is not a miserable groping but a way of blessing.

There are no tricks involved in getting in on this life of blessing, and no luck required. We simply become Christians and begin the life of faith. We acknowledge God as our maker and lover and accept Christ as the means by which we can be in living relationship with God."

A Long Obedience

A Way of Blessing, God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.

A Lamp

Joni's Devotional for Today

“Your word is a lamp to my feet ...” — Psalm 119:105a

I once visited a nursing home back in New Jersey run by Marvin van Dyke, a dear Christian friend. The place was brightly lit, beautifully decorated, and very clean. The ladies in the kitchen prepared a wonderful luncheon for us and Marvin invited several of the nursing home residents to join us. One of the attendees was his former pastor, the Rev. Herrmann Braunlin. This beloved man of God had pastored Hawthorne Bible Church for over 30 years, but Alzheimer’s disease had robbed him of any ability to communicate, recall, or think clearly.

Nevertheless, Rev. Braunlin came to the luncheon impeccably dressed in suit and tie, his hair neatly combed and shoes shined. Marvin introduced us and the pastor smiled, greeting me warmly. He didn’t talk much, though. He spent most of the time wandering around the room and looking out the window. Once in a while he would turn to me or one of my friends and the vacant look in his eyes would clear for a moment; he would shake our hands and ask, “Hello there, and what’s your name?”

Marvin, to my surprise, asked Rev. Braunlin to say the blessing over our meal. Without flinching, the elderly pastor rose from his seat at the table, leaned on his hands and began, saying, “Oh, gracious heavenly Father, we bow before you this day to humbly ask your blessing on these, our friends, and upon this meal which has been prepared by the hands of servants who love you. Strengthen us and endue us plenteously from on High with every grace and blessing so that we, too, might serve you with whole and devoted hearts. In the Name of Christ our Lord, Amen.” My friends and I looked at each other in amazement. It was as though the room had filled with light from heaven.

After his prayer, Rev. Braunlin sat down. The vacant gaze returned. But the light did not go out.

God’s Word is a light not only to our path, but to our thinking. Hide it in your heart today and you will never walk in darkness.

* * * * *

Light of the world, illumine my mind and brighten my path. May I never walk in darkness as long as your word lights up the way.

From More Precious Than Silver, April 6, by Joni Eareckson Tada, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1998.


Person Who Succeeds

"The person who succeeds is not the one who holds back, fearing failure, nor the one who never fails -- but rather the one who moves on in spite of failure."

Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life, p. 370


Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.
Proverbs 16:3 NJV

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Destined for God

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1, NRSV


"The Christian community needs theologians to keep us thinking about God and not just making random guesses.

At the deepest levels of our lives we require a God whom we can worship with our whole mind and heart and strength. The taste for eternity can never be bred out of us by a secularizing genetics. Our existence is derived from God and destined for God. St. John stands in the front ranks of the great company of theologians who convince by their disciplined and vigorous thinking that theos and logos belong together, that we live in a creation and not a madhouse."

Reversed Thunder

Destined for God, God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.

His or Ours?

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional


The property on the sea is now ours. We can
hardly believe it.

"But it was what you had dreamed of, wasn't it?"

"Yes, Lord."

"Did I not promise long ago to give you the
desires of your heart? This is one of them. Often
I cannot give them in the form you dream of
because it would not, in the end, give you
happiness. This time I give exactly what you
asked. What will you do with it now?"

"First we thank you, Lord. Then we offer it back
to You. Do with it, for us, for anyone who comes
here, as You choose. Make it a place of peace, a
desired haven."

"I receive your offering. Whose is it now?"

"Yours, Lord. Help me to remember this as King
David remembered it when he prayed, 'Everything
comes from thee, and it is only of thy gifts that
we give to thee. We are aliens before thee and
settlers . . . everything is thine'" (1 Chr
29:14,15,16 NEB).

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

An Act of Obedience

God is great, and worth a thousand Hallelujahs.
Psalm 96:4, The Message

"We think that if we don't feel something there can be no authenticity in doing it. But the wisdom of God says something different: that we can act ourselves into a new way of feeling much quicker than we can feel ourselves into a new way of acting. Worship is an act that develops feelings for God, not a feeling for God that is expressed in an act of worship. When we obey the command to praise God in worship, our deep, essential need to be in relationship with God is nurtured."

A Long Obedience


An Act of Obedience, God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.

Is There Hope for Me?

Transcript, Christian Working Woman

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

God indeed chooses people who are unworthy and unqualified, by our standards, and uses them in mighty ways. To me that says there's hope for me.

Now, let's look at the second woman mentioned in verse 5 of Matthew 1, where we read that Salmon was the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. There's that second woman–Rahab.

Rahab's story is found in Joshua chapter 2. Rahab was not a Jewish descendant. In fact, she lived in Jericho and her people were enemies of the Jews. God had promised Joshua to give them all the land of Jericho , and Joshua sent two men to spy out the land of Jericho and bring back reports. These two men go over to Jericho and they stay at Rahab's hotel. Not only was Rahab not Jewish, she ran a house of prostitution, which was not uncommon in those days.

To make a long story short, Rahab bargains with these two spies and makes an agreement that when they come to destroy Jericho they will spare her home and her family. And that's what happened. Everything and everyone else in the land of Jericho was demolished, except for Rahab's house and the people in it. Not only was she spared, but she believed in their God and married one of their men, Salmon.

She and Salmon had a son named Boaz, and here we see Boaz right in the middle of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Rahab's son–the prostitute's son–an ancestor of Jesus Christ. And if you read Hebrews 11, the chapter that lists the great people of faith, there you'll find Rahab listed along with Moses and Abraham and David. Rahab was called a woman of faith. God used a prostitute. And He changed her and gave her an incredible place in history.

Would you have chosen Rahab? She didn't have the right background. She was from the wrong side of the tracks. She wasn't the right nationality. And she had been immoral. Sound like a list of acceptable qualities for someone to be used of God? Not by our standards. But God used her.

Rahab would say to me and you today, if God can use me, He can surely use you. There's hope for you and me.


Praise

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Ephesians 1:3

Monday, June 26, 2006

The Desires of My Heart

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional

Title: The Desires of My Heart

I had been praying for something I wanted very
badly. It seemed a good thing to have, a thing
that would make life even more pleasant than it
is, and would not in any way hinder my work. God
did not give it to me. Why? I do not know all of
his reasons, of course. The God who orchestrates
the universe has a good many things to consider
that have not occurred to me, and it is well that
I leave them to Him. But one thing I do
understand: He offers me holiness at the price of
relinquishing my own will.

"Do you honestly want to know Me?" He asks. I
answer yes. "Then do what I say," He replies. "Do
it when you understand it; do it when you don't
understand it. Take what I give you; be willing
not to have what I do not give you. The very
relinquishment of this thing that you so urgently
desire is a true demonstration of the sincerity
of your lifelong prayer: Thy will be done.

So instead of hammering on heaven's door for
something which it is now quite clear God does
not want me to have, I make my desire an
offering. The longed-for thing is material for
sacrifice. Here, Lord, it's yours.

He will, I believe, accept the offering. He will
transform it into something redemptive. He may
perhaps give it back as He did Isaac to Abraham,
but He will know that I fully intend to obey Him.




Unity

Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4:3

"In church, do you worship God, or critique the worship service? Do you sit under judgment of Scripture, or sit in judgment of your pastor? Do you bear fruit, or prevent fruitbearing from others? In each instance, you can either enhance unity and peace or destroy it. What will you do today ... this week ... this Sunday?"

Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.

Holy Matrimony

Aaron continued the excellent series on Lord of the Rings with a message on "putting the Holy back in matrimony."

Holy is defined as "when two people meet together in self-less love."

Friday, June 23, 2006

Question

I wish I could remember where I heard this, but this is the question:

"Did anyone mistake you for Jesus yesterday?"

Think about it.

Satisfaction

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Matthew 5:6

"Temptation's hook is the devil's claim that what we hunger for outside God's will can satisfy us. Don't believe it. You can never satisfy the desires of the flesh. Only sustaining right relationships, living by the power of the Holy Spirit, and experiencing the fruit of the Spirit can bring satisfaction."

Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Awe

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.
Hebrews 12: 28

"In our day we must begin to recover a sense of awe and profound reverence for God. We must begin to view him once again in the infinite majesty that alone belongs to him who is the Creator and Supreme Ruler of the entire universe."

Jerry Bridges

House of Prayer

In "Recovering the Purpose of the Church" by T. M. Moore he discusses three dominant movements: emerging, ancient-future and missional. He concludes with:

ONE OVERRIDING CONCERN

As Jesus indicated in Matthew 21:12 and 13, the overriding concern of the Church is toward the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—not the present, the past, or the mission of the Church. The Church is the Body of which Christ is the Head. Her primary reason for being is to know and enjoy God, to love and glorify Him, follow wherever His Spirit leads, and embody the plans and desires of the Head of the Body, Jesus Christ.

The Church, in short, is a people called to prayer, to constant and deep communion with the living God, so that He may communicate His love, indicate His will, and empower obedience in those who thus worship Him at all times, in all situations. Let the commitment to prayer become the over-riding concern of all who are eager to cleanse and renew the temple of evangelicalism, and we will find a meeting ground where Jesus Himself will keep us on course and united in His love.

Disarmed

When he had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

"Jesus' death and resurrection triumphed over and disarmed the rulers and authorities of the kingdom of darkness; Matthew 28:18 tells us "all authority ... in heaven and on earth" has been given to Christ. This means Satan is a defeated foe, and he has no authority over those who are in Christ. Affirming this truth is key to successfully combating the enemy's attempts to intimidate and hassle you."

Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

How to Do the Job You Don't Really Want To Do

Devotional: Elizabeth Elliot

Title: How to Do the Job You Don't Really Want To Do

Certain aspects of the job the Lord has given me
to do are very easy to postpone. I make excuses,
find other things that take precedence, and, when
I finally get down to business to do it, it is
not always with much grace. A new perspective has
helped me recently:

The job has been given to me to do.
Therefore it is a gift.
Therefore it is a privilege.
Therefore it is an offering I may make to God.
Therefore it is to be done gladly, if it is done
for Him.
Therefore it is the route to sanctity.

Here, not somewhere else, I may learn God's way.
In this job, not in some other, God looks for
faithfulness. The discipline of this job is, in
fact, the chisel God has chosen to shape me
with--into the image of Christ.

Thank you, Lord, for the work You have assigned
me. I take it as your gift; I offer it back to
you. With your help I will do it gladly,
faithfully, and I will trust You to make me holy.

Made Whole

"He who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me."
Galationas 1:15-16, RSV

"God revealed himself in the person of Jesus to Paul. It was as if God said, "Listen, Paul, you have it all wrong. You have good ideas, your theology is intelligent enough, your sincerity is above reproach, but you have it all wrong. You think religion is a matter of knowing things and doing things. It is not. It is a matter of letting God do something for you -- letting him love you, letting him save you, letting him bless you, letting him command you. Your part is to look and believe, to pray and obey. For a start I am going to show myself to you in Jesus. In him you will see that what concerns me is being with you, making you whole."

Traveling Light

Made Whole, God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

A Challenge: Post-Christian, Post-Modern World

A brief part of a Mike Cope blog entry on theological training and the post-modern world:
(see June 14: Training for Professionalism)

--------------------

Here are some realities we’ll have to face:

1. Some don’t want to be missional. They want the organization to work smoothly. We need to love them as they struggle, helping them to mature beyond consumer complaints. Jesus didn’t leave the church so everyone could be comfortable and happy; he left it as an outpost of the in-breaking kingdom. It is not safe!

2. There will be conflict as this happens. But this conflict is best resolved by people staying focused on what the mission of Christ is.

3. The day of megachurches as the center of attention is probably coming to an end. Megachurches are great at offering services. But they haven’t historically been great at forming people into the image of Christ. I’m thrilled when I hear about students (of various majors) eager to go out and start a house church. This isn’t either/or. I’m committed to helping a large church. But I think the future will be smaller.

4. I hope our theological training stays rigorous: in languages, history, theology, etc. But along with all the information we must find a way to form lives. We need to keep raising up teachers who are actively involved in the mission of Christ. (And I’m discovering more and more of them!)

-----------------

I also encourage to read this article on Churches Must Learn to Die.

Here's a brief part of the article:

...

The call to die reshapes how we live as churches.

It’s not about me. It’s tempting to come to church as a consumer hoping that my needs and desires will get met. Former pastor Eugene Peterson writes, “The great weakness of North American spirituality is that it is all about us...And the more there is of us, the less there is of God.” We face the challenging task of orienting ourselves around God and His mission instead of us and our needs.

It’s not about the institution. Neil Cole, author of Organic Church, writes, “You will be amazed what people do for Jesus that they will not do for your vision statement.” It is important, but not easy, for a church’s vision to be more about the Kingdom than the individual church. Following Jesus may involve actions that cost or threaten individual ministries.

It’s not about methods. Methods are important, but they are not the primary issue. We are facing a challenge that cannot be answered by methodological or stylistic changes, but in a fundamental reorientation of our ministries away from ourselves.

It’s not about success. North American culture is obsessed with size, glamour and celebrity, and that spills into the Church. I’m beginning to learn that some of the most effective ministries in Canada are being led by unlikely people in hidden places, although they will never meet our culture’s definition of success.

-------------------------

The Lord Reigns

The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty.
Psalm 93:1, RSV

"Whether men and women know it or not they are now living under God's rule. Some live in rebellion that can be either defiant or ignorant. Some live in an obedience that can be either reluctant or devout. But no one lives apart from it. ...

There are no days when the rule is not in operation. The week is not divided into one Lord's day when the rule of God is acknowledged and six human days in which factories, stock exchange, legislatures, media personalities, and military juntas take charge and rule.

Neither ignorance nor indifference diminishes God's rule. Day after day "the Lord reigns."

Where Your Treasure Is

The Lord Reigns, God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.

One Cause of Collapse

Devotional: Elizabeth Elliot

Title: One Cause of Collapse

One excuse that is a catch-all for any failure to
do our jobs is "burn-out." It's an occupational
hazard in just about every occupation modern man
has ever heard of. Strangely enough, we never
heard about burn-out until the past couple of
decades, but now everybody suffers from it.
Exhaustion--physical, mental, emotional--is
endemic. Why?

One reason is lack of humility. In our anxiety to
compete, to prove ourselves, to be a success as
the world defines it, we are wearied and
overburdened. If we sought instead only the
greatness of the kingdom, we would become
childlike. The truly important things are hidden
from the clever and intelligent and are shown to
those who are willing to come and be shown, to
put on the yoke Christ bears, which is the will
of the Father.

We need to learn to walk side by side with Him,
bearing humbly and gently the yoke He places on
us, not the unbearable burdens of competition and
recognition and something called fulfillment. If
we do this, any burden He allows--of loss or pain
or insult or responsibility or heartbreak--will
be both bearable and light, for the weight is
shared with Him. No yoke laid on us in this way
will cause us to burn out or collapse. This yoke
itself will in fact be the very means of our
finding rest. There is no form of recreation or
relaxation or therapy to compare with the rest,
the gentle ease, of Christ's yoke. "Come," He
says to us, "and learn of Me."

Milk or Solid Food?

I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly.

"The fleshly person is a Christian who is spiritually alive in Christ and declared righteous by God. But instead of being directed by the Spirit, he chooses to follow the impulses of his flesh. His physical body is a temple of God, but he is using it as an instrument of unrighteousness. Ask God to help you live above fleshly desires by exercising your spiritual inheritance at every temptation."

Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.

Yes or No?

. . . Just say yes or no. . . James 5:12(TM)

"I'm in over my head, but I feel like I'm not being a good Christian when I say 'No' to any request for help!"

Sound familiar? Many of us were taught that a "good Christian" always says "Yes" when asked to do something worthwhile. Add to that our human need
to be liked which makes it difficult to say "No" because we are afraid people won't like us if we do and it is no wonder so many feel overwhelmed.

The truth is that not learning to say "No" is a good way to end up disliking yourself - as well as the people you are trying to please. The Bible says,
". . . just say yes or no. . ." Either is acceptable, but only when we find the courage to say "No", do we stop lying about our own real needs and
start respecting ourselves. In time, others will too.

As a perennial "Yes" sayer here are some pointers that I find helpful in learning to say "No":

1) Pause and ask God first
Develop a policy of not making commitments without praying about them first. The Bible says, ". . .if you want to know what God wants you to do -
ask Him, and He will gladly tell you." (James 1:5 NLT). Pause and ask God before you respond.

2) Know your limits - and stick to them
If you are already over-committed, don't take on more because you feel pressured, guilty, or indispensable. You will discover, as I have, that you
are only indispensable until you say no - then someone else will step up and do it better than you could have!

3) Go with your gifts
God has given each of us unique abilities and talents. If you have to choose between being on the praise team or being on an outreach team, go where
your talents will best be utilized. Is this easy? No! But unless you learn to do it, you will end up investing too much in what seems important, while neglecting
what God has best equipped you to do.

(c)2006 Timothy L. Hudson, UGA Christian Campus Fellowship


Monday, June 19, 2006

How to Love People You Don't Like

Transcript, Christian Working Woman

Monday, June 19, 2006

Do you have people in your life that you really don't like? If you're human, there are bound to be some of those people around. And it seems to me that we run into these people on our jobs quite often.

Yes, even Christians are allowed to have people in their lives they do not like. I know of no scriptural directive that commands us to like everyone. But I know many verses that tell us to love other people. Here are just two of many:

And this commandment we have from God, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. (1 John 4:21)

Jesus said: "Love your enemies. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them." (Luke 6:32 & 35)

It's clear that as Christians we are to love people–all people, yes, even the people we work with. But what about those unlikable people? Since we cannot like them, we usually conclude that we cannot love them either. Don't we have to like people before we can love them? How can we love someone we don't like?

Part of the problem is that we misunderstand the word love. The kind of love that we need in order to love people we don't like is agape love, God's kind of love. Now, agape love is not a feeling. Though we may experience nice feelings as a result of agape love, it does not depend on how we feel or how others feel about us. We can express agape love whether the feelings are present or absent, whether they are good or bad. This kind of love is not a feeling.

Agape love is an action. The Bible tells us that we know that God loves us because He sent His Son into the world to redeem us. We know that Jesus loves us because He gave His life. The Bible says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man give his life for a friend." And God says that He will know that we love Him if we keep His commandments. God's kind of love is an action, not a feeling.

Now, that really is good news, because it tells me that I can love people toward whom I do not necessarily have good feelings. I can love people toward whom I have no feelings at all. Think: Who are the people you will be dealing with today or tomorrow that you really don't like? Will you ask God to help you understand how to love them, even though you don't like them?

Spirit

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Galatians 5: 22-23

"At conversion, your spirit became united with God's Spirit -- transforming you from a natural person to a spiritual one. As a Christian, you receive your life and the power to live from the Spirit. And as you exercise your choice to live in the Spirit, your life can bear the fruit of the Spirit. How exciting it is to consider that God's Spirit actually dwells in you and works through you in this way!"

Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.

Silence is Essential

You're my place of quiet retreat; I wait for your Word to renew me.
Psalm 119: 114, The Message

"Silence in prayer is not the absence of sound that occurs when we run out of things to say. It is not the embarrassing speechlessness that results from shyness. It is something positive, something fertile. It is being more interested in what God will say to me than in getting out my speech to him. It is a preference for hearing God's word over saying my word. ...

Talk in prayer is essential but it is also partial. Silence is essential."

Where Your Treasure Is


Silence is Essential, God's Message for Each Day, Eugene Peterson.

Sunday Sermon

Aaron continued his excellent series on "Lord of the Rings" with a sermon on we vow down. The definition of marriage: two imperfect people entering into a committed relationship diligently pursuing intimacy all under the rule of God.

Friday, June 16, 2006

God's Ends

The LORD works out everything for his own ends—
even the wicked for a day of disaster.
Proverbs 16:4

Determined Deliverance

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3: 16, RSV


"The root meaning in Hebrew of "salvation" is to be broad, to become spacious, to enlarge. It carries the sense of deliverance from an existence that has become compressed, confined, and cramped.

Salvation is the plot of history. It is the most comprehensive theme of Scripture, overtaking and surpassing catastrophe. Salvation is God's determination to rescue his creation; it is his activity in recovering the world. It is personal and impersonal, it deals with souls and cities, it touches sin and sickness. ... There are no fine distinctions about who or what or when -- the whole lost world is invaded, infiltrated, beckoned, invited, wooed."

Reversed Thunder

Determined Deliverance, God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson

Natural Person

You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.
Ephesians 2:1,2

"This is a description of the natural person -- one who is spiritually dead and separated from God. This person is actually subject to the god of this world. Since he lives in the flesh, he invariably walks according to the flesh and has no capacity to please God. That's the condition we were in when God chose to redeem us -- how infinite His grace!"


Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

God Is Light

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:5, RSV


"No one seems completely at home in the dark, even though most of us learn to accustom ourselves to it. We invent devices to make the dark less threatening -- a candle, a fire, a flashlight, a lamp. In the darkness we are liable to lose perspective and proportion: nightmares terrorize us, fears paralyze us.

A light that shines in the darkness shows that the terror and the chaos have no objective reality to them. ... If there is something to be feared, the light shows the evil in proportionate relationship to all that is not to be feared.

We do not live in darkness, but in light. God is light."

Reversed Thunder


God is Light, God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson

Exert Yourselves

Devotional: Elizabeth Elliot

The vigor of our response reveals how much we
care about something. If a man is stung by a bee,
he cares. It takes very little time for him to
respond. When taxes are raised, howls of
complaint follow rather quickly. The winner of a
state lottery presents himself without delay.

Salvation is a free gift. It includes everything
that makes for life and godliness, here and
hereafter. What is it worth? It's beyond
calculation, priceless. We share in the very
being of God. Um hmm, we say. How do we get it?
Oh--by faith. Yes. Very simple. Accept Jesus. The
price is all paid. My sins are forgiven. I'm on
the "Hallelujah Train."

All true. That is the gospel. But that is not
all. Gifts must be received, possessed, and
fostered. God's choice and calling, we must
clinch. This is an aspect of the gospel which
many Christians (Protestants in particular) have
overlooked. The apostle Peter writes, "Exert
yourselves to clinch God's choice and
calling....Thus you will be afforded full and
free admission into the eternal kingdom" (2 Pt
1:10, 11 NEB). How do I "exert myself"? Peter
tells us: "Try your hardest to supplement your
faith with virtue (right action and thinking),
virtue with knowledge, knowledge with
self-control, self-control with fortitude," etc.
(2 Pt 1:5-7). Check that passage. It is still
true that nothing can wash away my sin but the
blood of Jesus. It is also true that God gives us
responsibility--that is, the obligation to
respond. How much do we care? The vigor of our
response will reveal how much.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Imagination

Related thought to Aaron's sermon on Sunday:

"Some people throw in the towel too quickly on their marriage. They think they’re beaten and wounded beyond recovery, they can’t imagine it ever being better, so they give up.

But in way too many cases this is a lack of imagination. And life can do that to you: it can suck out all the imagination you have.

Small insults, small wounds, and small arguments accumulate through the years. Pressure at work, exhaustion from children, and weariness over life begin to set in. Before you know it, the insults are more insulting, the wounds are more injurious, and the arguments have taken the gloves off."

For more see "Wounded Marriages" from PreacherMike on June 8

Life

"There is not an inch of any sphere of life over which Jesus Christ does not say, 'Mine'. Abraham Kuyper (As quoted by John Piper)."
(Pleasures of God, pg. 254)


Honest in Our Hurts

Pile your troubles on God's shoulders -- he'll carry your load, he'll help you out.
Ps 55:22, The Message

"It is easy to be honest before God with our hallelujahs; it is somewhat difficult to be honest in our hurts; it is nearly impossible to be honest before God in the dark emotions of hate. So we commonly suppress our negative emotions. ... But when we pray the psalms, these classic prayers of God's people, we find that will not do. We must pray who we actually are, not who we think we are, not who we think we should be.

In prayer, all is not sweetness and light. The way of prayer is not to cover our unlovely emotions so that they will appear respectable, but expose them so that they can be enlisted in the work of the kingdom."

Answering God, God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.

Manipulation Temptation (Wed)

Transcript, Christian Working Woman

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

When we try to manipulate in order to get what we want, we are inviting disaster. I'm sure many of you can testify to your own experience of jumping into the act, trying to fix things yourself, rushing ahead of God, and ending up with a mess.

Sarah, Abraham's wife, certainly made a world of problems when she decided to help God by urging Abraham to have a child by her maid, Hagar. That wasn't God's plan; it was Sarah's manipulation. And when any of us allow ourselves to fall into "manipulation temptation," it reveals certain things about us.

First, it shows a lack of trust on our part. If Sarah had really believed God's promise, she would not have manipulated. Oh, I understand that it was a hard promise to believe, but Sarah needed to remind herself of who God is and stop looking at the impossibilities.

If you're trying to manipulate your situation, it's because you, like Sarah, don't really believe God can come through for you. And you know, unbelief is the worse sin because it reveals a sheer arrogance on our part when we doubt the living God. As soon as Sarah started doubting that she could have a baby, she became unstable and that led her to manipulation. James writes that a person who doubts is a double-minded person, blown and tossed about by every wind. When you start to doubt God, manipulation is often the end result.

Second, when we keep trying to manipulate it reveals how impatient we are. This is my biggest struggle. I'm not good at waiting. Not many people are in our instant society. But God's timetable is best and you can trust His timing to be better than yours. Watch out when you're getting tired of waiting, because that can lead you into "manipulation temptation," and trouble is in store.

Third, often we try to manipulate because we want an easy way out. We don't like God's way–it's too long or too difficult or requires discipline or something we don't want. So we try to find another way that is less difficult or painful.

If you're tempted to start manipulating, ask yourself if you have one of these three problems: You don't really trust God, you aren't willing to wait, or you prefer to do it your way. Remember where manipulation leads you: It leads you to do sinful things. It leads you to broken and damaged relationships. It leads you to shame and disgrace. It causes problems for you and lots of other people. It's a dead-end street you don't want to be on.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

New Way of Life

Take on an entirely new way of life -- a God-fashioned life. ...
Ephesians 4: 24, The Message

"Pliny the Elder once said that the Romans, when they couldn't make a building beautiful, made it big. The practice continues to be popular: If we can't do it well, we make it larger. We add dollars to our income, rooms to our houses, activities to our schedules, appointments to our calendars. And the quality of life diminishes with each addition.

On the other hand, every time we retrieve a part of our life from the crowd and respond to God's call to us, we are that much more ourselves, more human. Every time we reject the habits of the crowd and practice the disciplines of faith, we become a little more alive."


Run with the Horses, God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.

Manipulation Temptation

Transcript - Christian Working Woman

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

The term "manipulation temptation" may be new to you, but I'm sure you know what it is. It's that tendency we have to start manipulating people and circumstances when we can't see how God is going to deliver us or meet our needs.

Sarah fell victim to "manipulation temptation," when she couldn't see how she was going to have a baby in her old age. Her first mistake was that she forgot God's promises and didn't understand that God's timetable didn't have to match hers.

Then she made the next mistake: She thought God needed some help. Since she couldn't see how in the world she was going to give birth to a baby, but she certainly wanted Abraham to have a son, she came up with her plan. She urged Abraham to take her maidservant, Hagar, and have a baby by her. This would be the substitute son that would fulfill God's promise. But God had promised a son from Sarah's own body, not from a substitute.

Now where does this manipulation lead Sarah? Oh my, the trouble that she caused by yielding to "manipulation temptation." First, she caused Abraham and Hagar to sin in this immoral relationship. Then all kinds of relationship difficulties arose because of it: Hagar despises Sarah for what she has done to her (can you blame her?). Abraham obeyed Sarah instead of God, so his relationship with God was affected. Sarah turned against Hagar after Hagar's son Ishmael is born, and then blamed Abraham, of all the nerve; so things aren't very good between those two. Then Abraham, after allowing Sarah to talk him into this idea, doesn't defend Hagar or her son.

And until this very day we see the dire results of Sarah's manipulation and Abraham's willingness to go along. There is still great enmity between these two peoples, Ishmael’s descendants and Isaac’s descendants. It started when Sarah decided to help God out, and she yielded to "manipulation temptation."

Then 13 years later Sarah became pregnant. If only Sarah had waited. You see, God still worked His miracle and kept His promise in spite of Sarah's manipulation. "He is faithful even when we are faithless," we read in 2 Timothy 2:13 , but oh the misery Sarah caused because she was tempted to manipulate. Sarah's manipulation affected not only her and her husband, but many others as well.

If you're tempted to manipulate your situation, remember that you are inviting disaster. Let God have control.

Wounds Can Change Your Heart

Devotional - Elizabeth Elliot

Living in a world broken by sin, we suffer wounds
of many kinds. Perhaps the most painful are not
the physical ones but those of the heart. No one
has power to hurt us more deeply than somebody we
love, somebody we counted on to understand and
support us. But there are two ways to receive
wounds. One leads to larger life. The other leads
straight to death, that is to destruction--of
those we influence as well as of ourselves.

By grace we can receive the wounds of our friends
as our Master received them--in the strength and
for the glory of our heavenly Father. Being
sinners ourselves, however, we need to be brought
low at the cross. Nothing will do this better
than some piercing heart-wound, provided we seek
Christ because of it and pray Him to purify us.

There is another way--the world's way. It is
anger, resentment, retaliation, retreat into
pride and self-justification. These are quite
natural, and quite lethal. The choice is ours.

"The wound which is borne in God's way brings a
change of heart too salutary to regret, but the
hurt which is borne in the world's way brings
death" (2 Cor 7:10 NEB).

Monday, June 12, 2006

Ah Lord God

Jeremiah 32:17
"Ah Lord God, behold, Thou hast made the heaven and
the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and
there is nothing too hard for Thee."

At the very time when the Chaldeans surrounded Jerusalem,
and when the sword, famine and pestilence had desolated
the land, Jeremiah was commanded by God to purchase a
field, and have the deed of transfer legally sealed and
witnessed.

This was a strange purchase for a rational man to make.
Prudence could not justify it, for it was buying with scarcely
a probability that the person purchasing could ever enjoy
the possession. But it was enough for Jeremiah that his
God had bidden him, for well he knew that God will be
justified of all His children.

He reasoned thus: "Ah, Lord God! Thou canst make this
plot of ground of use to me; Thou canst rid this land of these
oppressors; Thou canst make me yet sit under my vine and
my fig-tree in the heritage which I have bought; for Thou
didst make the heavens and the earth, and there is nothing
too hard for Thee."

This gave a majesty to the early saints, that they dared to do
at God's command things which carnal reason would condemn.
Whether it be a Noah who is to build a ship on dry land, an
Abraham who is to offer up his only son, or a Moses who is
to despise the treasures of Egypt, or a Joshua who is to besiege
Jericho seven days, using no weapons but the blasts of rams'
horns, they all act upon God's command, contrary to the
dictates of carnal reason; and the Lord gives them a rich
reward as the result of their obedient faith.

Would to God we had in the religion of these modern times
a more potent infusion of this heroic faith in God. If we would
venture more upon the naked promise of God, we should
enter a world of wonders to which as yet we are strangers.

Let Jeremiah's place of confidence be ours--nothing
[No ... Nothing!] is too hard for the God that created
the heavens and the earth.

C. H. Spurgeon

Sermon

Aaron's sermon yesterday was on five of the most prevalent lies from the father of lies about marriages:

1. we are not compatible
2. my mate doesn't make me happy
3. i'm not the one who needs to change
4. if my mate loved me they wouldn't hurt me
5. there's no hope for my marriage

It doesn't seem a coincidence that verses from Ephesians 5 are followed by the description of spiritual warfare and putting on the armor in Ephesians 6.

Guide

The Lord will continually guide you.
Isaiah 58:11

"An important concept of God's will is that God can only guide a moving ship. He is the rudder, but if the ship isn't under way it can't be directed. Willingness to obey His will gets the ship moving. Are you moving ... and ready to head any direction God points? Though you may be uncertain of what lies ahead, there is no safer place for you on earth than in the hands of the Great Shepherd."

Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.

Friday, June 09, 2006

Problems

Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.
Matthew 6: 33

"While it is true that some problems related to the mind are psychological or neurological, it seems we don't give enough consideration for spiritual possibilities. After all, since we are instructed to seek first the kingdom of God, why not check out the spiritual area first? If the problem is spiritual, then it is resolvable, for God has ultimate power over the spiritual realm."

Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.

A Safeguard for the Soul

Devotional, Elizabeth Elliot

Souls are vulnerable things. They need
safeguards. It was when Paul was in prison that
this idea came to him. He had just been writing
to the Philippians about the benefits that
accrued because of his own sufferings and the
possible death he might die. He told them of
Epaphroditus' illness and anxiety, and finished
with "In conclusion, my brothers, delight
yourselves in the Lord!...You will find it a
great safeguard to your souls" (Phil 3:1 JBP).

It would be very easy to allow depression and
anxiety to overcome us when we look at the dismal
circumstances in which we sometimes find
ourselves. Who had better reason than Paul for
depression? ("Oh well, but he was Saint Paul!" we
counter.) He had learned by practice how to apply
the soul's safeguard, which is not mere
enjoyment. It is delight. This is a command and
therefore an act of will, and it is done in the
Lord. No circumstance is so dismal as to prevent
obedience to the command. No trouble can blast
that safeguard. Do it. Do it by faith. Delight
yourself in the Lord. Maybe you will have to get
out of bed, get up from your chair, go outdoors
and walk, sing a song out loud, bake a pie for
somebody, or mow the lawn as an offering of
praise. You can do something which will help you
to obey that command. It is amazing how strongly
what we do affects how we feel.

Jesus Talk

Transcript, Christian Working Woman

Friday, June 9, 2006

I want to challenge you to start talking about Jesus more and more. I'm not referring to what we often think of as witnessing to people, pinning them down and asking them if they're a Christian. There are times we may need to do that, but those are usually rare. I'm just trying to get us to focus on making Jesus a topic of conversation, frequently and naturally, as a logical outgrowth of our relationship with Him.

Why should we talk about Him? Because He is the only hope for this world. He alone offers life and peace and has the ability to fulfill His offer. He is the only one who can free people from sin and guilt and their past. He holds the keys of death and hell, and only He can offer eternal life.

In order to talk about Him more and naturally, we need to get to know Him better, as I mentioned earlier. There is only one way to get to know Him better, and that is to read the Bible, particularly the Gospels, regularly and at length. And as you read, study Jesus Christ. Ask yourself, "Why did He say that?" "Why did He do that?" "What does He mean?" Put yourself in the scene. Pretend you're one of the disciples and you're hearing it for the first time–live! Let the gospels bring Jesus Christ alive to you.

Start a journal and write down what you think and feel as you read about Him. My journals are packed with new insights into Jesus. I remember the day when the story of the transfiguration in Matthew 17 came alive to me in a new way. I got so excited as I saw things about Jesus I had never seen before. And watching how Peter reacted to that scene, I could see myself and understand myself better. That story has never been the same to me. I've told lots of people about it, because it was a natural thing to talk about. After all, that was what I was thinking about so that was what I talked about.

We must always work at staying in first love with Jesus. You remember the condemnation given in Revelation 2 to the church in Ephesus. They did a lot of things right, but one thing was seriously wrong: They had left their first love for Jesus. If we will focus on knowing Jesus, we'll keep first love alive, because you can't get to know Him and not get excited about Him. And if you're excited about Him, you're sure to talk about Him.

I would challenge you as I do myself today: Let's talk about Jesus. Learn about Him, fall in love with Him all over again, delight yourself in Him. And then share Him with others. Don't let this world shove you into its mold and intimidate you and keep you from talking about Jesus. Ask God to give you openings and a natural way to just talk about Jesus. It will make a big difference in your own life, and who knows what seeds you will be sowing in the lives of others.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Prayer

"Lord, I know not what I ought to ask of You. You only know what I
need. You know me better than I know myself. O Father, give to your
child what he himself knows not how to ask. Teach me to pray. Pray
yourself in me."

Archbishop Francois Fenelon

Living Stones

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.


1 Peter 2: 4-5

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Describing Grace

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
Ephesians 1: 16, RSV

"Writing to the Ephesians, Paul says: "For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers" (Eph. 1: 15-16, RSV). Assuming that the Ephesian church had the same percentage of sinners in it as modern ones do (namely, 100 percent), it would be a mistake to envy Paul his congregation, a congregation that it was possible to address so gratefully. It is better to admire Paul's ability to see God's action in those people. ... His passion was for describing grace."

The Contemplative Pastor


Describing Grace, God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.

Food

My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.
John 4: 34

"God will never command us to do something without giving us the power to do it. It is never a question of whether God can, but if He wills. If He wills, then we can -- if we believe. Those predisposed to do His will understand what it is (John 7: 17), and by the grace of God will do it. Living in harmony with God's will allows us to tap into His vast power source to accomplish great things for Him."

Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.

Jesus Talk

Transcript, Christian Working Woman

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

What keeps you and me from talking about Jesus and sharing our faith in Him with others freely and easily, without embarrassment or hesitation, as a very natural part of our lives and conversation?

As I've analyzed it, I see two major reasons. First, our enemy Satan has a vested interest in keeping us from talking about Jesus. He knows full well that Jesus and only Jesus is the way to God, and he knows that if people become acquainted with who Jesus is, they are going to discover life and peace and joy. Since that is totally contrary to his objectives of leading people into depravity and sin and eventually to spiritual and physical death, he fights very hard to keep us from talking about Jesus. His best trick has been to make it appear that anyone who is committed to Jesus Christ is off the beaten track, over the deep end, slightly unbalanced, definitely fanatical.

With his deception and his lies, he has so manipulated the thinking and morals of our society, that we can be loony about sports or television shows or movie stars without anyone thinking twice. But as soon as we build our lives and our conversations around Jesus Christ, we are tagged as a religious weirdo.

And few of us want to be an outsider, unaccepted, or thought of as strange. All our natural human instincts, corrupted as they have been through sin and the world's influence, drive us to be accepted by our peers at any cost, to conform to standard, expected behavior, to fall in line, and to avoid being different. So, here we are in this society that frowns on Jesus fanatics, and here we are wanting to conform to what society expects of us, and so we avoid talking about Jesus, because hardly anyone else ever does, and we don't want to be different.

Is Jesus the most important person in your life? Would anyone else know it based on what you talk about? I want to challenge you and me to get serious about this, search our hearts and get a different perspective so that we are not being defeated by Satan's tactics.

Today, examine what you talk about. Just do a little mental review of what your conversations have covered already today, and as you go through the rest of this day, note your conversation topics. Especially those conversations where you have some control over the direction and the topic of the conversation. See if you can discover missed opportunities where you could have talked about Jesus. Ask yourself why you didn't.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Do the Hard Work

. .do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.

James 3:18(TM)

Why can't we all just get along? Rodney King's question can be answered biblically - we all don't get along because "getting along with each other" is "hard work". We can all get along with each other if we are willing to do the hard work of exhibiting these two qualities:

1) Consideration. The only way to avoid "difficult" people is to leave the planet. Difficult people usually have unhealed emotional wounds and deep insecurities which result in irritating mannerisms, poor social skills. They are what Bob Gass calls "EGR people" - Extra Grace Required! Get to know where these people are coming from. Once you know what they have been through you will be more nderstanding. True fellowship happens when people know they can share their doubts and fears without being rejected or ridiculed.

2) Humility. Pride builds walls, humility builds bridges. Humility is the oil that soothes relationships. Humility is developed by admitting our own weaknesses, opening ourselves to correction, being more patient, and helping others grow. Paul instructs us to "Live in harmony.Don't try to act important.enjoy the company of ordinary people...don't think you know it all!" (Romans 12:16 NLT). and ". . .give more honor to others than to yourselves. Do not be interested only in your own life, but be interested
in the lives of others" (Philippians 2:3-4 NCV).
Humility is not thinking less of yourself - humility is thinking of yourself less.

We can "all get along" but it takes God's grace and our best efforts. Hard work is necessary but not enough. Fortunately God's grace is available to all!

"You are joined together with peace through the Spirit, so do all you can to continue together in this way" (Ephesians 4:3 NCV).

(c)2006 Timothy L. Hudson, UGA Christian Campus Fellowship


Be An Advertisement

" ... Christians are called to live a life that shows the worth of the gospel. "Lead a life worthy of the gospel," Paul said. Let your life be an advertisement for how valuable the gospel is."

John Piper, The Righteous Are As Bold As a Lion


Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

Philippians 1: 27, NASB

Righteous Ones

"In Psalm 32:1-2 David says, "How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man against whom the Lord does not impute iniquity!" Then at the end of the psalm David tells us what sort of person this is whose sins are forgiven and whose transgressions are not counted. Verses 10-11: "He who trusts in the Lord, loving kindness shall surround him. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice you righteous ones and shout for joy all you upright in heart."

The righteous ones are the ones who trust in the Lord--the ones who have faith and bank their hope on the mercy and power and wisdom of God. These are the ones against whom the Lord does not impute iniquity and whose sins are forgiven. They are righteous not with a righteousness of their own, but with the imputed righteousness of God."

John Piper, May 2, 1993 Sermon, The Righteous Are as Bold as a Lion


A Revolutionary Call

"Robert the Bruce was the Scottish noble whose character is most remembered for betraying Wallace, but he later rose up to lead Scotland to freedom after Wallace's execution. ... He died in 1329 at the age of fifty-four. Shortly before his death, Robert the Bruce requested that his heart be removed from his body and taken on a crusade by a worthy knight. James Douglas, one of his closest friends, was at his bedside and took on the responsibility. The heart of Robert the Bruce was embalmed and placed in a small container that Douglas carried around his neck. In every battle that Douglas fought, he literally carried the heart of his king pressed against his chest.

In the early spring of 1330, Douglas sailed from Scotland to Granada, Spain, and engaged in a campaign against the Moors. In an ill-fated battle, Douglas found himself surrounded, and in this situation death was both certain and imminent. In that moment Douglas reached for the heart strapped around his neck, flung the heart into the enemy's midst, and cried out, "Fight for the heart of your king!" ...

To belong to God is to belong to His heart. If we have responded to the call of Jesus to leave everything and follow Him, then there is a voice within us crying out, "Fight for the heart of your King!" ...

I know the imagery of this story is nothing less than barbaric, but maybe that's the point. The invitation of Jesus is a revolutionary call to fight for the heart of humanity. We are called to an unconventional war using only the weapons of faith, hope, and love."

The Barbarian Way by Erwin Raphael McManus

Monday, June 05, 2006

Clay Pots

Elizabeth Elliot Daily Devotional

The jungle indians of Ecuador make clay pots of
very simple design with no ornamentation or
glaze. They challenged me to try shaping them as
they did, rolling "snakes" of wet clay and then
coiling them round and round until they had a
perfectly smooth and balanced vessel. It looked
rather easy, but I found that it was a highly
developed skill, and my attempts to imitate it
were laughable. Mine was not a master hand.

The next step was to build a very hot fire of
thorns and brushwood and bake the pot. It was
then ready for use, to carry water from the river
or to cook in. Nobody thought much about the pot
itself once it was made. What mattered was what
was in it.

We are, Paul said, clay pots. The Potter has
formed us, shaped us into a useful vessel, put us
through the fire of testing that we might be fit
to hold what He gives us. We are useful and
fit--but we are still clay pots--it's what's
inside that matters. It is a priceless treasure
(2 Cor 4:7 NEB).

I can think of no clearer analogy of our place in
God's service and a no more accurate picture of
the relative merits of who we are and what we
have to offer. We shall always be just pots,
quite cheap on the market, but what we carry for
others is priceless.

Love, Paul said in another passage, does not
"cherish inflated ideas of its own importance" (l
Cor 13:4 JBP).

Faith is ...

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11: 1

"The popularity of positive thinking lives on as people search more eagerly than ever for success in life. But such thinking often takes people from the world of reality to fantasy. People will find far greater potential for success in life in the power of positive believing. With the infinite God of the universe as the object of Christian faith, there is virtually no limit to the spiritual heights that positive believing can take you."

Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.

Living by Faith

When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway.
Romans 4: 18, The Message

"Can you find any arrows painted in that wilderness into which Abraham ventured? Did he have a rule book that showed him step by step what he must do to please God? ... No, he lived by faith. ...

Did Abraham have a twenty-year plan with carefully defined objectives as he launched his important career as father of the faithful? No, there were delays, interruptions, detours, failures. He didn't do it all correctly -- he didn't live without doubt or sin or despair -- but he did it. He followed and confessed and prayed and believed. God was alive for him. God was the center for him."

Traveling Light

Living by Faith, God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.

Sermon Yesterday

Aaron talked about "The Perfect Story" .. and of course it featured "The Perfect Savior"

A Story

Is the greatest truth about Adam and Eve and the fruit that it happened,
or that it happens?
This story, one of the first in the Bible, is true for us because it is our story.
We have all taken the fruit. We have all crossed boundaries.
We have all made decisions to do things our way
and then looked back and said to ourselves, What was I thinking?
The fruit looked so great to Adam and Eve for those brief moments,
but the consequences were with them for the rest of their lives.
Their story is our story.
We see ourselves in them.
The story is true for us because it happened and because it happens.
It is an accurate description of how life is.
Rob Bell

Friday, June 02, 2006

A Long Obedience

I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward -- to Jesus.
Philippians 3: 14, The Message

"Everyone is in a hurry. The persons whom I lead in worship, among whom I counsel, visit, pray, preach and teach, want shortcuts. They want me to help them fill out the form that will get them instant credit (in eternity). They are impatient for results.

But the Christian life cannot mature under such conditions. ... Freidrich Nietzche, who saw this era of spiritual truth with great clarity, wrote, "The essential thing 'in heaven and earth' is ... that there should be long obedience in the same direction." "

A Long Obedience, God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Community

Last night our "faith lesson" was on the importance of community. Here are some characteristics of the community of believers in Jesus Christ that can be found in Ephesians:

(all quotes are from the NIV and emphasis added)

1. This is where God's wisdom is revealed.
Ephesians 3: 10 -- His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,

2. This is the domain for which you are gifted to serve.
Ephesians 4: 11-12 -- It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

3. This is where the inheritance is found.
Ephesians 1: 18 -- I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

4. This is the body for which Christ is head.
Ephesians 1: 22-23 -- And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

5. This is where you mature to become like Christ.
Ephesians 4: 13 -- until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

The Importance of An Individual

Transcript, The Christian Working Woman

Thursday, June 1, 2006

The Importance Of An Individual
You remember the famous line by Linus who said, "Lucy, I love mankind. It's people I don't like." I think we can relate to Linus. We can feel for the starving masses in Africa or the homeless in Armenia . Yet, we can so easily ignore the individuals all around us who desperately need a touch of God's love through us.

The beautiful story Jesus told of the Shepherd who left the 99 sheep in order to go look for the one that was lost shows us how much He cares for one person and the effort He will extend just to reach one. Jesus' whole ministry on earth was one of touching individual lives, caring about people with names like Zacchaeus, blind Bartemaus, the woman at the well, Mary Magdalene–and on and on.

Jesus saw the crowds as hungry individuals, when His disciples more or less figured they could take care of themselves. He interrupted His schedule and His plans time and again to respond to individual requests–the man whose daughter was dying, the Centurian whose servant was sick, the woman who touched his garment in a crowd to find healing. Jesus never hesitated to take time for individuals.

In our modern mass media world, we would insist that Jesus not waste His time on individuals. He should save Himself for the crowds who were thronging to see and hear Him. After all, allowing these individuals to interrupt the schedule and interfere with the "big picture" would seem a poor use of time. Why spend time with one when you can reach thousands?

But Jesus always focused on individuals, and in His economy, that is the wisest investment we can make of our time and money.

Have you ignored that person at work who needs a listening ear? Have you forgotten to include a neglected child in some of your plans? Do you avoid that individual at church that seems to take so much of your time? Are you too busy for individuals?

I speak to myself as I do to you, for it's easy for me to be focused on talking to thousands of you by radio, and forgetting that there are individuals around me who need help. That's why one of our priorities here is to respond to your individual letters as quickly and personally as we possibly can. We are here to minister to individuals.

Think about those individuals in your life, and ask God to help you reach out to the ones all around you who need God's love through you.