Monday Morning 5/28/2012

Today is Memorial Day. It is a day to thank those who have served faithfully defending our country whether they are military, law enforcement, fire protection, or medical. It is a day to honor those who are now serving. It is a day to thank and remember their families. And it is a day to honor those who have served and their families who have made the ultimate sacrifice that you and I can worship freely.

Every company has a purpose. The purpose of Apple Computers is to make computers and to make money. General Motors makes cars and hopefully makes a profit for its investors. The purpose of a school is to teach students. The purpose of Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous is to help people overcome addiction. Even the church has a purpose. Jesus told us what that is when He said, "Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) The church has the right purpose because sharing Jesus is that purpose!

There is a story about two churches on the same block in a big city. One was a large church with many members. Their desire was to reach non-Christians and those who, for one reason or another, had quit going to church. They were not as “traditional” as some churches, but their first goal was to make sure everyone understood what it means to have a relationship with Jesus. They went into the community, not as “door knockers” but as “relationship builders.” This is where the “family of God,” the “body of Christ,” the “church" came together for instruction, inspiration, fellowship, and worship and then brought Jesus to their homes, their workplaces, and to their neighborhoods.

The other church on the block in the early 1900’s through the 1960’s was a powerful witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with more than a thousand active members. But their number shrank to about 120. It was discovered that over the years a subtle change crept in as their emphasis switched from presenting the Gospel to helping the homeless. They set up soup kitchens in the church building and began feeding programs for those in need. We all know that helping those in need is a very worthy and Christian thing to do. We are called to do that. But prayers were never offered in the soup kitchens, nor was the name of Jesus ever mentioned. The reason was because they were concerned that someone might be offended. In turning away from Christ’s command to “… preach the gospel…” they made no effort to communicate the Gospel. The result was that the same people were coming through the food lines year after year with no improvement, no change for good taking place in their lives. They were feeding their bodies, but ignoring, starving, their souls. And the church itself there was almost dead.

These are two very different churches. Both of them are very busy in what they are trying to do. But one is dying. Why? What is the church supposed to be? And what is the church supposed to do?

I don’t know how you see the church. I don’t know if you picture a little church where you and a few of your friends can get together. Or maybe it’s a church where thousands of people gather together in worship. But I know this. The church does not exist solely for its members. The members are to obey Jesus to “GO.” The church exists to help reach the lost. And the moment we turn our sights inward, and begin to think that the church is just for us, then we are no longer the Lord’s church. We are a private little club. We exist for a lost world. We exist to give ourselves away. We exist to touch a world that doesn’t know Jesus Christ and to show them the way to be saved from their sins and to live for all eternity.

There are too many people who can tell you what’s wrong with their church. Are you willing to stand up and tell people about what is right with God’s church?

The church, as God planned it, is the body of Christ, and the family of God. It has been entrusted to us with a message of salvation for the world. Now, go and make disciples.

Monday Morning 5/21/2012

We live in a society that has a very foggy view of God.

When the prophet Isaiah saw his vision of God in Heaven, he saw a God who was glorious in holiness. Around His throne, angels cry out with never ending worship, "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory."

God could have chosen any part of His character and nature to show everyone. He could have commanded the angels to cry out words like "Love, love, love" or "Righteous." But He has especially created angels to declare that God is completely HOLY.

To understand that God is holy means that we understand how far His righteousness is above our own. Anyone who truly understands how exalted God is can only fall on their face and beg for mercy.

Isaiah understood that the way we do things and the way we think cannot come close to the way God thinks and acts. As a result of this, things get misunderstood. Some people think God has to do things for us; that God should agree with every decision we make.

Not true my friends. It’s actually the other way around.

In the Book of Exodus God has a plan. But He was hitting some roadblocks with people.  But look at what God did.

In Exodus Chapter 4 God moves Moses out of the way.

In Exodus Chapter 5 God moves Pharaoh out of the way. (Verses 1-2)

Also in Exodus Chapter 5 God moves HIS OWN PEOPLE out of the way. (Verse 20)

Exodus 6:1 God basically says to Moses, “Get out of the way. You have tried and not done so well. So now watch me and see what real power looks like.” God says that when He is finished, Pharaoh will be begging the people to leave.

WOW.

God then goes on and tells Moses seven (Yes, Seven) things He is going to do that Moses cannot do by Himself.

1.       First, God says, “I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.” They had been slaves for 400 years. Now God says they are going to be freed.

2.       God says, “I will free you from being slaves to them.” Freedom? What’s that?

3.       God says, “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.” God is bringing redemption and deliverance.

4.       God says, God says, I will take you as my own people.” God loves them. God provides whatever they need. God will bring them home.

5.       Then God says, “I will be your God.” God gives Himself to us. We give ourselves to God.

6.       God then says, “I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.” He gave them a home, a place to call their own. God brought them to it after raising them up as a nation, and after seeing them almost destroy themselves. God did exactly what He said He would do.

7.       Finally, God said, “I will give it to you.” It’s yours. It’s done. It’s signed, sealed, and delivered. It’s just for you. Jesus said, If it isn’t true, I wouldn’t tell you.

That is God’s “Exodus plan.” We join His work. We look for the places He is working. He brings us together in the Holy Name of His Son, for the purpose of going into the world in the Holy name of His Son, for the purpose of showing EVERYONE HIS POWER and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

What Moses learned, and what we also need to learn, is that there is nothing safe or easy about following God’s call. When we respond to God’s call, and if He chooses to do things the hard way, which he seems to usually do, He will also give us all of His strength and wisdom to accomplish what He wants us to do. In the end, following God in His “Exodus Plan” can certainly be tough – but it is well worth it.

Monday Morning 5/14/2012

When Jesus wanted to teach his disciples and help them feel important about the work they were doing and the work they were called to do, He took them on the road, not into the classroom. They went into the community.

Jesus' mission was not education. He was not here to motivate or inspire. His mission was always to rescue. To His core, He knew exactly what this meant. As a result, He was very good at what he did and He never gave up in His pursuit. Every word, every move, every step was a planned move to free men from the prison of their minds, untangle the knots of the knowledge of good and evil and lead them back to God as the center of the universe. Right about now I’m feeling pretty important to God.

Clearly Jesus defined freedom in a particular way, and watching what He did can help us understand how Jesus, the Author of freedom, thinks about freedom and shows just how important we are in God’s eyes.

He took a group of men and traveled across the countryside teaching them how to change everything they encountered and touched. Think of it this way: He was showing twelve guys and a crew of persistent women what it looked like and how to practice God-given authority.

“Fever go away,” He would say, and then he would make sure that His followers caught what had happened.

“Peace, be still,” He would say to a storm, and then he would turn and be sure their eyes had been on Him.

Encountering a crowd of religious know-it-alls? He peered inside their hearts and told stories. “Once upon a time there was a man who owed a little bit of money…” and then He would steal a glance at His disciples. “Get it?” the gleam in His eye would say.

A scared insecure tax collector? A shame-filled near-death prostitute? A self-confident Pharisee? All of these fell under the sway of Jesus restoring God’s blueprint to the universe He so perfectly created.

Two things stand out about Jesus' strategy. 

First, He spent the bulk of His time teaching them how to be and what to do, not on rules and restrictions.

Second, He taught them on the move in the community, not in a church or classroom.

Jesus was restoring God’s intended design. He was showing men and women how Adam and Eve might have taken authority over the creation, authority which God gave them. This is different from how our “religious” minds want to think.

Jesus was not spending His time trying to get them to behave well. He was not showing them what not to do. He was showing them who to be. His approach to this was to go and do, and teach on the way.

Jesus was showing them how to step into the role for which they were created.  We were created to have God-given authority over the planet; over the kingdom of darkness; over sickness; over hopelessness; and over fear and insecurity. All of these things and more were designed to be subject to us. Jesus took His team on the road and showed them how to do this.

Young athletes are taught on the playing field and not in a classroom. Classrooms without experience teach information and that’s pretty much it.  If someone wants to grow and learn, take them right out in the middle of reality and then begin to show them how to be.

Jesus did not come to teach about how to avoid bad behavior or better ways to study the Bible.

Jesus did not come to motivate people to get up off their chairs and try harder.

Jesus came to because you and I are so important that He came to earth and gave his life so we could be rescued from the prison of the world that has been wrapped around our minds.

I’d say He thinks we are worth it. I’d think you and me are pretty important to God.

Monday Morning 5/7/2012

Yesterday at Master’s Hands we talked about traveling. Here on earth, our human existence is not our final goal. Earth is not our home. Heaven is our home and until we understand this, we will keep on wandering. Until we are safely home in heaven, God will NOT stop going ahead of us with Jesus being THE way, THE truth and THE life.

And on this journey through life, WE ARE NOT ALONE!

“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” (Proverbs 27:17 NLT)

We are ALL travelers on a journey. Some go ahead making a way for us. Some follow us letting us prepare the way for them. Some travel beside us. We are surrounded by travelers.

I have heard Christian fellowship being described as “one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” Think about it. That pretty much describes all of us doesn’t it?

A young boy was sent to the corner store by his mother to buy a loaf of bread. He was gone much longer than it should have taken him. When he finally returned, his mother asked, "Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick about you."

"Well," he answered, "there was a little boy by the side of the road with a broken bicycle who was crying. So I stopped to help him."

"I didn’t know you knew anything about fixing bikes," his mother said. "I don’t," he replied. "I just stayed there and cried with him."

The word “Encourage” means to “add courage” or to come alongside to pass on courage to another.

A newspaper in England gave a reward for the best definition of a friend. Thousands answered, and the winning entry was this: "A FRIEND IS ONE THAT COMES WHEN EVERYONE ELSE GOES."

“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13 NLT)

God’s desire is for all of us travelers to walk the same direction. Some will fall back. Some will lose their way. Some will go ahead and sometimes we will move ahead of others. The point is to keep moving forward. Seek to relate to other travelers in your journey through life in such a way that you bring support, strength, and success to those on the path.

Monday Morning 4/30/2012

Is your love for God greater than your love for what people think about you?

Is your obedience to God greater than your common sense?

Do you care more about making disciples than you care about making a good first impression?

Acts Chapter 12 opens with King Herod Agrippa of Rome persecuting believers. He orders the death of John’s brother James and has Peter arrested. Just to make himself look good. People came together and prayed. Soemthing more than a miracle happened. Peter shows up, Herod dies, and the story cannot stay quiet. People saw the results of their work. Verse 24 says that many new believers were added. New disciples made to tell other disciples.

 
And just like Acts 12, the Holy Spirit shows up at the front door of the church, and some don’t want to believe what has happened.

Faith makes things happen.
Faith makes -
- Heaven real
- God Real
- Life really exciting.

But we can’t have it both ways.
If we are going to act in faith, we must believe something is going to happen. We must expect a miracle to happen.

But that’s not easy, is it?

Are you getting the picture yet?

We need Jesus to INCREASE OUR FAITH to act, to do something, to Go.
We really don’t have much faith do we?

We need God to help us.

Let’s face the real problem. Let’s be honest.  
We say we have “real” faith, but when it comes time to do something that involves God’s church, the faith is not there, right?

Sometimes we have more faith:
- In our car starting than we have in God answering our prayer.
- In our best friend helping us out than we do in Jesus making the difference for us.
- In getting a weekly paycheck to pay our bills than we do in bringing offerings to God.
- In others telling us what’s best for us than we do in the God that created us and gives us our every breath.

This is not criticism. This is the way we are programmed to act.

We need GOD to INCREASE OUR FAITH to ACT!

Jesus has made us lots of promises we need to have faith in. Here’s one: “ I am with you until the end of the age.”

Right about now someone may be thinking to themselves, “Hmm, I need to start working on this”

No, my friends, that’s not how it works.
You can’t buy faith, and you can’t build it up on your own.

You see God is God and does not need to prove Himself to anyone, however, he is eager to show us what he can do and will do if we act in faith and reach out beyond ourselves. All we need to do is to go to Him in faith, then watch Him work.

Have you ever needed an all-important “right now” kind of blessing? Perhaps it’s a blessing that He and only He can give? Maybe it’something more than a miracle? And when He gave that blessing to you, you knew that regardless of what anybody thought of you, one thing you really know is that God cares so much for you that while He was blessing others, He took time out to bless you as well.

The prophet Isaiah says, “For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!” (Isaiah 64:4 NLT). Wise believers keep going with the faith to act knowing God is in the details.

Faith calls believers to wait. First, God may be preparing us to receive His blessings. Perhaps we need new skills or greater maturity. Sometimes people require fresh spiritual insight before they can understand what God is doing.

Second, God is teaching us to have confidence in Him. How would believers ever learn faith if God immediately fulfilled their every request? God teaches us to say two words: "Trust Me."

Last, God calls us to reach beyond ourselves into the community. We have no idea whether God is acting or not. But if we walk by faith and not by sight, God will be victorious. But be assured that God knows every situation and gives us what we need every time at the right time.

Waiting is rarely easy, particularly in this instant-everything world. The people in the house did not know what God was doing with Peter. They had to trust God with the details. Be patient while the Lord works out details. His best is on the way.

Monday Morning 4/2/2012

Yes I know its Tuesday. Yes I know its been a while since I posted. Just deal with it! HA HA :-D

“7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.”
(2 Timothy 4:7 NLT)

Adam and Eve ran and tried to hide.
Cain went out in the wilderness.
Moses took off for the desert.
Jesus went up the mountain or went into the garden sometimes to pray and sometimes to simply "get away from the crowds."
The Apostles took off when Jesus was arrested and had to be found when the news of the resurrection was started to spread.
Were they running away from something? Or running toward something?

Some people “run” to get away from something or someone.
Running away gives a break, a pause, a time to catch one’s breath.
Running away sometimes solves very little.
Running away can provide safety, escape, and a chance to recover.
Running away can put something behind us.
Running away can make one feel they have put off something that was going to happen anyways.
Running away with no purpose, no goal, no vision, is pointless. There is no value, no growth.
Running away is not always the answer.

Running TO something, on the other hand, is a little different perspective.

Sometimes running toward something requires something else to be moved out of the way.

Sure there are things that block the road. We can either let those things stop us cold or we can find a way through or around. Some people will run away from the things that block their way. They just don’t want to deal with it.

Running toward something is just as hard as running away from something; it’s just a different direction.

Sometimes we and what we do can look like absolute failures.

Carrying guilt or looking to blame others solves nothing. That’s running away. Running toward a goal does not carry the guilt. Running toward something uses guilt as a step to something better. Blame does nothing but make us feel better about ourselves. Blame hides deeper problems and is running away. It’s pointless.

Look at Paul.

Paul as Saul was mean and cruel, but he had to get past that part of his life.

When Paul traveled and started churches, Paul had trouble being accepted. People remembered his past. When Paul was beaten he never became bitter. When, during a storm at sea, other people on the boat were talking about leaving Paul OUT OF THE LIFEBOAT, he used it as an opportunity.

Paul sometimes had to run away But God used it as an opportunity. During his travels, Paul was wrong about Mark. He allowed this to separate him from a dear brother. Paul remembered Mark’s past failures. But it was God’s plan that Mark and Barnabas go a different direction from Paul. Not to run away, but to go in a different direction.

God had to move something out of the way for something better to happen.

As Paul pens these words that he has fought a good fight, Paul realizes that he would have done many things different in his life.

Sometimes in the book that is our life there are happy chapters, sometimes there are sad chapters, sometimes there are victories, but also know that the times of failure and running away are part of the work of God also.

But whether our book contains victory or failure, we must know how to write the last chapter and there is a time we do what we can and move on.

We get disappointed by others, we get disappointed by ourselves, but we cannot let bitterness, anger, and disappointment drive us away

God’s purpose for our lives is His glory. Maybe once we understand this one simple fact we will stop running away.

Monday Morning 2/6/2012

Our worship continues….

Suppose today you are told by some person that tomorrow you must choose between the life you have and eternal life, what would you say? What would you do? How would you answer? Most of us would jump at the chance and say “I will take eternal life!” But deep down we may have second thoughts. There is so much to do. There are so many things to finish. There are preparations to make.

Do you think Peter thought these things when he saw Jesus and stepped out of the boat and started walking on the water toward Jesus? I don’t think so. Peter did not stop halfway over the side and say, “Oh wait…I need to pull in my nets first.”

“Who are those who fear (worship) the LORD (Jehovah God)? He will show them the path they should choose.” (Psalm 25:12 NLT)

How can you be sure you're making the right decision in your relationship with Jesus Christ? Sometimes it may seem as if God plays hide and seek when we're trying to figure out His plan. But God does not do that. God wants to give us clear direction. The real question is; what would we need to do to hear His voice?

Clear the pathway. There are two things which block our way of thinking: sin in our life and our own strong desires about the situation. To receive the Lord's leadership, we must repent of all known sin and make our desires secondary to His.

Learn patience. Sometimes it takes a great deal of strength to stand still when everything within you is shouting, "Hurry! Time is running out!" But if you try to rush ahead of God, you may miss what He is trying to show you.

Keep on praying. The Bible clearly instructs us to keep coming to the Lord with our concerns. As we continue to pray, He will gradually weed out anything confusing until we come to His conclusion about the matter.

Search the Scriptures. God’s Word has an answer for every need, and the Holy Spirit knows just how to point us in the right direction. There will be times that a verse jumps off the page while you are reading the Bible and it will be the exact answer you need to make an important decision.

So often when we're faced with a critical choice, all we want from God is a quick answer. But He delights that Jesus is our brother and wants us to have a deeper relationship with Him. Don't let the importance of your need keep you from enjoying the closeness of His presence as you seek to glorify God and exalt Jesus Christ in all you do.