my blog moved
a bad mix
got up at 6am and went to Starbucks to meet a friend for some theological exploration. So I got the macdaddy coffee – just black…like Jesus made it. And no I don’t know the proper term for “biggest coffee you sell”. It was good too, but you have to remember Starbucks needs 18% water added to take away that nasty cigarette taste from over-roasting.
I settled in to enjoy a fine discussion that moved from the anti-establishment-down-with-organized-church-movement (maybe that’s called antiestablishmentarianism. I think I just made up a word, somebody check websters. We moved on to the doctrine of concurrence where we finished our time.
Along the way at 7:45am, after coffee, I drank my N.O. XPLODE on an empty stomach. Its one of those $65 super duper drinks that makes you go crazy so you can lift more weight when you work out. Then at 8:30am, are you following this, I started Body Pump at Cair Fitness. I felt like a machine…
and then I hit the squat track and things started feeling a little funny after about the 30th repetition (Body Pump is a combination of weights and cardio) and then my vision was gone. I’m pumping in the dark. Something was going wrong. My body was telling me we can lift more and more and more, but other systems inside me were not keeping up. Dizziness and that “everybody is far away” feeling start coming in. Then comes the bench press, back track, triceps, curls and “oh God I’ve got to get out of here”.
Jayme insisted that I eat a banana. I did. But I gave it back real fast along with the N.O. XPLODE (properly named) and a half gallon of Starbucks Pine Bark or something coffee.
I know there is something to learn here…is there a Bible verse?
soothing the savage
do you ever just need a song.
this one just makes my primal day.
its some inner fantasy I think.
Questions and Answers
It is natural for us to desire to reach…but only because of the desire to grasp. it is therefore a felt need to grasp once we reach, even if what we grasp is not worth holding. Hands full of anything are better to us than empty hands.
As a result we are driven to have answers (grasp), especially about God. We don’t like to have questions (reach). We only ask questions to have answers. And it is ever more maddening when our questions only lead us to harder questions.
It appears that God has built life so that true grasp is less attainable but reach is critical.
And there is another reason to reach for God that is better than grasp…
touch.
What are you reaching for today?
“What About My Hedge?”
One day Satan told God (this is a real story in Job 1) that Job only served God because God had a “hedge of protection” around Job so Satan couldn’t touch him. He accuses God of making life easy for Job so that he “serves God for nothing”. He meant, there is no test to see if Job’s loyalty is true.
Have you ever met people like that? They seem to have it made. They have more money but less education than you. They have no diseases and you’ve never even witnessed a bad hair day. They marry beautiful people, have beautiful children, and live in beautiful homes. Life for them seems to be…well, beautiful.
And somehow along your struggle and muddy road you stop and sit down on that rotten stump and wonder, as you look over at them cruising in the convertible; “What about me?” “Am I that bad?” “I try, I love Jesus, serve God, and pursue the truth; but it doesn’t seem to get me anywhere.” “In fact it seems to be open season on me”!
The question – Why must you suffer so much while another (an equal) seems to suffer so little? Is God haphazardly or randomly singling people out for blessing or cursing?
Somehow you know that can’t be the answer. Job tells us that he learns that “no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (42:1-2). God does have a purpose and through the Word we come to understand that suffering plays the great role of shaping us to be like Jesus. Remember, it is the “fellowship of His sufferings” that brings the “power of His resurrection”. And that is what Paul said it would take to “know Jesus” (Phil. 3:10).
The question now really is: Which would you rather have – easy living or deeper knowing?
Don’t answer that right now. But remember today as you trudge – In eternity the truth about you will be: The smaller the “hedge” the greater the glory.
…we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. 2 Cor 4:8-10,16-17
alone or accompanied
So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail. 21 But the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, Gen 39:20-21
How often do you meet people who came to Christ looking for the easier life? And how often do you have those same thoughts,
”Why is life so hard? As a Christian I thought it would be different”?
This thinking leads us to approach decisions with the question, “Which is easier”? And this is the wrong question.
The truth is that life is hard. Paul said “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of heaven.” Acts 14:22. Would that mean that seeking the path of least resistance is like looking for the road to hell?
Real peace and happiness come when we cease looking for easier and start focusing on companionship. The question to ask is:
”If I make this decision, who will be with me?”
Do you see the difference? It is whether you will be alone or accompanied. Easy Street is a walk all alone. In fact, the state of “alone” can only be achieved through sin. Which do you really want:
the worst with Jesus or the “best” without Him.
Remember this week that only the walk of obedience and willingness to know the “fellowship of suffering” will bring the assurance that “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil…”
Do you remember the next five words from Psalms 23?
God’s love is a constant.
God’s love is constant.
I think we struggle with that statement in our daily lives. While no doubt we are able to say it as a matter of fact, we often do not feel that it is true, or we feel that His love comes in degree – He obviously must love me more or less at times and more or less than other people. The truth is of course that God’s love for you is a perfect love and that perfect love is constant – whether I feel it or not.
My feeling and experiencing the love of God is really the issue; and in these few paragraphs we can only address one aspect of our experience of God’s love. Here’s a critical point: We have considerable impact on how we experience the love of God. When we live in sin, rebel, or simply walk in our own strength we will fail to enjoy the love of God (at least the way we want to). This means we will fail to experience His peace and joy as well. And as difficult as today may and as miserable as life can be, one truth remains – His love is constant. He is still just as committed to you, but He has designed life in such a manner that for the believer to “do it his own way” will naturally result in the experience of Holy discipline.
Let’s illustrate. The sun is a wonderful experience when you are on the beach, but it is a kicker in the desert! Nothing has changed about the sun, only the way it is felt. So one place brings about refreshing while the other drains. Obedience is the only path to the beach and the joy of the sun.
This is your relationship to God’s love. He never changes, but His love will bring about polar extremes in relation to your obedience or lack of it. So today if you wake up in the desert you must ask yourself, “What did I come out here to get? And is it worth it?”
Hey, I looked outside for you already and it looks like a great day to head for the beach.
For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But my lovingkindness will not be removed from you…. Isaiah 54:10
The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22
the bailout
I just bailed out.
I got home and found out that John McCain voted for the bailout stacked up with earmark after earmark after earmark after earmark. And how many times has he used that line,
“The first big-spending, pork-barrel earmark bill that comes across my desk, I will veto it. I will make them famous, and you will know their names. You will know their names.”
Liar.
And I am officially bailing. I know that I will probably get great criticism for this, but here goes…
I will not vote for John McCain or Barak Obama (well he never had a chance anyway). I despise them both and they proved who they are on this economy today.
My only response to this congress and president – rejection.
“Do I offend you”?
Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. “And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” Matt 11:2-7
What a strange passage of Scripture. John the Baptist is in prison and wondering if Jesus is the real deal. So he sends some friends to ask. Jesus essentially replies, “Tell him people are getting what they need and hearing good news.” That sounds great to you and me, but not John. He wasn’t getting any “good news”. And he is the cousin of Jesus…family…sitting in a dirty dungeon waiting for a deliverance that never will come. Jesus will never even go to visit or send word or seem to help in any way – There is no good news for John. He is not being delivered.
Ever been there… Where God is giving to others the good stuff while you suffer?
And on top of it all Jesus adds this last word, “And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” What a hard word to swallow. Jesus is communicating to John, “I am doing all these great things for others (not you) and you will be blessed if you are not offended at me.” How hard that must have been for John to sit back down on that hard dirt floor in the dark and tell himself – “Don’t be offended”.
One of the hardest doctrines to grasp is God’s sovereignty over our lives. The right He has to do whatever He chooses with us, and yes He has a purpose. We may not know what He is doing, but it is not unloving or pointless. In fact, all His ways with us are purposeful and loving. And the real question comes down to John – “John, can I do anything I desire to do with your life and you trust me? Have I asked too much from you? Are you offended?”
Ask yourself that question. Is or has God asked too much from you? Has the Jesus who laid down His life in a most bloody manner, drinking the cup of God’s wrath for you til it was empty; is He asking you to suffer to much? While others reap the jingle in life and you seem to get trashed, do you find yourself a little offended at Him…or them? Do you watch others get the promotions while you are passed over? Is your neighbor getting a new car while you just lost your job? Do you lose while others win?
Deep down are you asking the question, “Are you really God, or should I look for another? Because you offend me?”
Come on be honest, He can take it and you need to get rid of it.
Does He Trust You?
Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man. John 2:23-25
”But Jesus was not entrusting Himself to them”.
What a sad statement. Here you have all these people “believing” and Jesus’ response is “I don’t trust you.” As a result the relationship stayed on the surface, they got enough to see some signs and be wowed, but they weren’t really seeing the heart and soul of Jesus – because He didn’t put it out there.
On a similar occasion Jesus talks about people who believe only because He gave them food to eat (John 6:26). A few minutes later they said, “So, now what sign are you going to do so we can believe?”
You don’t have to think long to figure that Jesus was not about to trust Himself to people who cared nothing for Him, and only wanted what He would hand out. Nothing has changed today, people are still deciding for or against Jesus based on the payoff. Some decide to give it a shot, believe and stick out their hand waiting for the reward. They forget that the reward is not the bread, or money, or anything that can be put in their hand. Instead it is the One who now sits beside them, who rises every time they stand and walks every step with them. Most don’t want that. So He doesn’t entrust Himself.
So who gets it? To whom does Jesus “entrust Himself”? It will be to those who believe when there is no sign; when He performs no miracle, grants no deliverance and refuses to heal. And to those whose mates still divorce them, those who lose their jobs, and never seem to get ahead. Their faith is not based on His doing but His being. Real “belief” is that quality of faith that holds onto Jesus regardless what is or is not in His hand.
Remember this, “He knew what was in man.” He knows if you are making Him another part of your investment portfolio or your Soul mate.
No wonder Peter got more of Jesus than the others. After Jesus asked a simple question, “Do you guys know who I am?” After the boys gave wrong answers, Peter got it right – “You are the Son of the Living God”. Jesus responded, “Flesh and blood didn’t reveal this to you…And upon you I can build my house…Oh yeah and here are the keys to the front door.” Mt. 16:13-20
Can’t you hear Jesus saying, “Finally, someone I can trust.”
What about you?
Its Best For Him…
But for Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord?
Awake, do not reject us forever.
Why do You hide Your face
And forget our affliction and our oppression?
For our soul has sunk down into the dust;
Our body cleaves to the earth. Ps 44:22-25
Ever asked those questions? If you haven’t read the blog, “Do I offend you”? you should do that before reading this. Some time ago I heard a message preached by Pastor Cory Jordan that stimulated my thinking further on this subject.
Whenever we find ourselves asking the questions the sons of Korah (the worship leaders during Moses’ time) asked, and hurting the way they were, we always want to know “Why?”. It would be worth it to go back and read this dynamic, yet sad chapter in Psalms to see their pain. And of course they want to know why. After reading the chapter we know that they obviously have heard nothing from God, but they do know one piece of the truth that they were holding onto. This truth is important since we wind up often thinking that things happen to us because that’s “just life”, or all the bad stuff happens because we are sinful. These men knew that that is not true and they give us one clue in the whole 25 verses that show us what they understood. Can you see it in the verses above? Look for it now before you read the next paragraph.
Did you see it? It’s the first four words – “But for Your sake”. In other words they knew that their pain and hardship in this life happens because it serves God’s purposes. Another way to say it would be to hear God speak these words to you – “This pain that feels like it is going to kill you is what I need for you to endure…really, it is best for Me that you hurt like this.” WOW! On the one hand I hate that with everything inside me – “I don’t want to hurt period! Find another way to make things turn out good for you God!” But on the other hand I have grown to love and understand His glory enough that I want to rejoice with the apostles that I have been, “considered worthy to suffer shame for His name”. (Acts 5:41-42) But sometimes it is hard to get passed that negative emotion and see that this thing is “for His sake”.
So how do we accept this practically? What if the next time you find yourself hurting deeply (and not for sinfulness), you cry out with the sons of Korah; and what if you imagine the God of the Universe and Lord Jesus coming in to say…
“I really need for you to endure this hurt, its best for Me”.
Real spiritual maturity is coming to the place where that reason would be enough.
Is it?
P.S. It is still ok to cry out that last verse of the Psalm:
Rise up, be our help,
And redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness. Ps 44:26
Apparently He has another “Sake”.
A Real and Present Danger
But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Acts 19:13-15
SAFE. It is the quality of life that we all seek from God, so we pray, “Lord keep me safe”. We come to Jesus seeking safety from our sin eternally and He certainly provides that safety – “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. But of course we seek more safety than this. We want God to keep us safe from all harm – financial ruin, sickness, depression, and all the harm that others do to us. Of course we don’t want God to forget the harm of the Devil and any other thing that may hurt us. How often do we pray, “God keep us safe…”? This is certainly not a bad prayer.
But sometimes I want more. There is another side of me that cries out to be a conqueror in this life and I remember that John said we would be “more than conquerors”. Some days I long not to just be safe from the Devil and all of Life’s assaults, but to beat them. I want to experience those moments when I “resist the Devil and He flees from me”.
Like the story above when the demon rails against these sons of Sceva because they are spiritual frauds who see spiritual life and warfare as a game. What a statement when the evil spirit says, “I know about Paul”. Wow! Paul had lived in such a manner that evil spirits who had apparently never seen him, had heard about him. Can you imagine living in such a manner that demons would whisper about you in their break room?
Well you don’t get that by only seeking the safety of God. You must also walk with a warrior’s heart, ready to fight. Don’t be fooled, fighting is not some verbal shouting match with Satan where you spit formulas at him. True warfare begins when we walk in obedience to the Word of God, seek Him daily, not nearly as much for safety but for power, and live boldly without compromise in an evil world. Remember, God did not call you to Himself so that you could hide. We are to put on His armor and… war.
No one may ever hear of you in the next city, but wouldn’t it be great to someday discover that your name had been scrawled in derision all over the walls of hell? For that you will have to value a new quality of life. DANGER.
How about this prayer – “Lord, make me dangerous.”
What would you do to get IT?
Dear Church,
I don’t know if I’ve told you lately, but I love you. And the love that I have for you comes out in a similar way to Paul’s love for the Galatians. He said of them:
My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you Gal 4:19.
After so long a time in this Body I have come to a place in my personal and pastoral life where I have answered the question God asked me over a year ago,
“What do you want and What would you do to get it?”
Now after a year I am willing to do what I would do to get it. So Wednesday Nov. 5th, I began a fast that will be quite extended – my spirit is screaming “40 days”. So I have begun. I will write more later, but I wanted you to know this now. And yes, it means that I will not eat any food for this period so please understand my inability to have lunch or dinner with you.
It is important that you know what I am doing because I already see how Satan will come to war against not only me, but you. It is so important for you to remember all those Scriptures about being “alert” to the Enemy. Peter even tells us that he “prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour”. Believe me, in the next 40 days there will be an evil force that will come against this Body in fierce form. Be especially aware of every negative thought that you have – Every whisper in your mind to see anyone…you…me…your church family in a negative light. That will be the Devil seeking to take you down. Don’t listen. Don’t make any major decisions in these days without obeying Proverbs 24:6:
For by wise guidance you will wage war,
And in abundance of counselors there is victory.
And pray. Pray for God to come to this place in His power.
Pray that God would “unhinder” your pastor.
Pray that I would become the unbound “Strongman” whose house cannot be plundered.
And most of all clench tightly the promise of God in your fist:
‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12 ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 ‘You willseek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Jer 29:11-14
Seek Him, with me.
See you Sunday.
what I want Day 5
A year ago I heard the words, “What do you want and what would you do to get it?”
I answered that question:
I want to see what I don’t see
I want to hear what I don’t hear
I want to know what I don’t know;
and I want to find God.
I can’t live in Acts 28 any longer.
In this finding will come my freedom. No more “bound” (Mt. 12:29) and time to “plunder”.
bless me God
In one sentence give your best response to this question:
“Will God bless me in this life if I trust in Him for salvation?”
sorry so little of late
I’m just quiet these days. I want to listen more and speak less. It is amazing what we don’t hear. So please forgive me, I am trying to motivate myself to write, but it just hasn’t overcome the motivation to silence. It will ease and my tongue will loosen soon…and maybe there will be something worth your time.
emergency broadcast system…
this is a test of the
emergency broadcast system
had this been an actual emergency…
there would have been a real BLOG! with real words…
this is only a test!
beeeee........p.
aworkinprogress…
i know that the Big O’s Blog is all Whacked!
i’m trying to fix it…
but when a monkey works with technical things…
It’s back to work at the Zoo!…
Please be patient…and don’t feed the Animals!
~Iron Maiden
Its just what happens…
The older I grow in spirit the more I find myself seeing people different from me as just being different and not necessarily wrong. And in years past as a baby believer, and even after, I have tended to see people I thought were wrong as not loving God as much as I do or being blessed with God’s presence as much as I was. I would question their motivation and heart.
Twenty-five years deep in this Life I no longer am able to make that the explanation of people believing things differently. In fact I have found myself being just like them. Let me explain.
I have been around too many people who clearly love God very much – as much as I do (and I am convinced that I love God), and yet they think quite differently.
And we both seek God. We both spend time seeking to learn more and grow deeply and experience the truth of God.
But we both seem to do the same thing with what we come to see as truth.
We make law out of truth. We take some thing that we have come to understand and turn it into a “should” for everyone right here, right now. “If this is my experience with God, then it should be everyone’s experience with God”. “If this is what I understand, then it is what everyone should understand.”
The problem is this – The law kills. Rom 7.
The moment that we take some experience that we have with God and turn that into a universal should then we create law. We suppose that what God is teaching us He desires to teach everyone right now. My experience is the only thing God is doing.
Nanny Ruths Apple
Like apples of gold in settings of silver
Is a word spoken in right circumstances.
Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold
Is a wise reprover to a listening ear.
Solomon (Prov 25:11)
She sat in her living room.
She was godly and good and somehow still “cool” although a widow aging.
I sat in her living room.
I was in seminary and sin, having fallen to “youthful lust” at a dumb twenty.
My memory is a dirty haze, probably a self-defense mechanism. I do remember the fear and humiliation and condemnation my rebellion delivered to me, all under the guise of true love. In some manner of wording I broke the silence to tell her, “Nanny Ruth I am very sorry, but Jayme is pregnant. This is not how I wanted to ask for her hand, but I am asking to marry her and I love her.”
I can still feel the air of my shame colliding with her righteous anger. She only had one grand-daughter and they had something I don’t even understand. I had entered like a thief and stolen plans and wedding glory and the ultimate grandmother – grand-daughter shopping, and far more…
I had stolen dignity; the kind grandmothers revel in at the Bridge game as they rejoice in the only thing that really matters to the aging mature – family righteousness.
So she said her piece.
And she did so with such refinement that she would never have to regret a word of it. I can only remember one sentence and I remember it like it was just spoken.
“You don’t love my grand-daughter like you should”.
The words stung me and hurt deeply. I had a twenty year old maturity which meant I thought I knew all about life and love, certainly my own. What could she know about me and my love? Rock stars my age sing about “real love” and if they know, I know. But I took it because I deserved it. The only thing I could say was, “I hope to prove my love for Jayme.” She said nothing more.
Twenty-two and half years have passed since then.
I could never shake those words, they banged like a maddening gong for more than twelve of those years – I hated them. That’s what happens when you try to prove the truth wrong.
The last twelve have been different. As I began to grow and see things more as they are, I came to embrace those words not as condemnation, but challenge. She said “should”, “You don’t love her like you should”. She was talking about a kind of love, a quality and quantity. Given how I led in our relationship at its start, Nanny Ruth could only be right.
It was “a word spoken in right circumstances”. And though it took a long time, I developed a “listening ear”.
She changed my life forever and in doing so gave me direction for my most important relationship.
Nanny Ruth died Monday morning.
Thank you for the Apples. I’m still listening. I love your grand-daughter.
86%
Don’t know if you’ve seen the new stat that is shaking the church world – In a recent poll (by Barna I think) 86% of christians believe you can have a good relationship with God without the church.
Happy Happy
I just left the church. Jayme and I go every Tuesday morning at 5:30am to pray with anyone who wishes to pray and spend time together with God. It is a highlight of the week for me. This morning we prayed Psalm 36 and together with Lynn (a really cool spiritual buddy) got hung up musing on the verse that says something like, “In your house we have abundance (fatness) and you have let us drink from the river of your delights.”
As I read that I could only think about my experience of spirituality which for 25 years.
Alone or Accompanied
So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail. 21 But the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, Gen 39:20-21
How often do you meet people who came to Christ looking for the easier life? And how often do you have those same thoughts,
“Why is life so hard? As a Christian I thought it would be different”?
This thinking leads us to approach decisions with the question, “Which is easier”? And this is the wrong question.
The truth is that life is hard. Paul said,
“through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of heaven.” Acts 14:22.
Would that mean that seeking the path of least resistance is like looking for the road to hell?
Real peace and happiness come when we cease looking for easier and start focusing on companionship. The question to ask is: “If I make this decision, who will be with me?” You see the difference is whether you will be alone or accompanied. Easy Street is a lonely walk. In fact, the state of “alone” can only be achieved through sin. Wouldn’t you rather endure the worst with Jesus than have the “best” without God. Remember this week that only the walk of obedience and willingness to suffer for Him will bring the assurance that “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil…”
Do you remember the next five words from Psalms 24?
Day 1
After over a year the day has come. I have fasted for periods of 3 to 5 days before. But this doesn’t compare. In my mind it is a little surreal. When you just finished the night before one amazing meal prepared in honor of “pastor appreciation” month by Lisa Mentzer (and you know she can cook), you really can’t connect with what it means that you will not eat again for 40 days.
It has also become very clear that I must tell the Church. Just hearing how the Enemy is beginning to tear at other people in this congregation is troubling. I cannot fast and allow them to be blindsided by Satan. They have to know that the decision that I have made will put them at risk. There must be a high degree of alert for this Body during these days. I don’t know what will happen but I know the Enemy will come for my family and the Church.
