A Revelation About What Needs to be Revealed

On Halloween day I was reading in James 1 and wrote this note from verses 2-4, Tests and challenges  reveal what my faith life is really like...

Consider that for a minute.  When you face trials in your life, setbacks, cars that won't start, overdue bills, relationship struggles, problems with your children or parents, temptations and maybe even sin, how you respond to each of these challenges reveals what your faith life is really like.

I remember having a discussion in an Elder's meeting years ago.  There was a gentleman who disagreed with a stance that I took in regards to a biblical issue.  This particular issue had been longstanding in the independent Christian Church so I knew I was on solid ground in my interpretation and the stance I took.  I was not dogmatic or a push-over just firm in my position.  It took only a few minutes into the meeting where this gentleman presented lots of seemingly strong arguments for his case but none of them held water.  Less than 10 minutes into the discussion he pounded the table and yelled at me and everyone else at the table who would allow me to continue to preach there as though we were ignorant and even sinful.  He loudly shouted his resignation and stormed out of the meeting.  Not one other person there - about 10 of us - ever even raised our voice.

Now let me get personal.  A few weeks ago I was in a spiritual black-hole.  It seemed like every car my family owns was broken down and we were really struggling to get everyone where they needed to be when they needed to be there.  And in between those times I was frantically working on one vehicle after another.  Our newest car would not start.  My daughters first car she'd driven about 3 or 4 weeks sat with major engine trouble.  And the one vehicle left drive-able got the worst gas mileage and would not always start.  I was mad at God for putting me in this place and not taking care of me and my family like I thought He should.

Then I read James 1 - Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

Under pressure your faith-life is forced into the open and shows it's true colors.

Wow.  I have to say that my faith life was not any better than the man who yelled at me.  We each were lacking in our spiritual connection and how we faced and dealt with challenges in our lives.  What I saw in me was a bit of a whiner who had to have his way.  I spent considerable time seeking forgiveness from my Father.

What I began to see was that these challenges come into our lives to reveal and strengthen.  Like tearing down a muscle so it will rebuild stronger.  When we try to avoid these difficult situations or as James put it, "get out of [them] prematurely" we loose the opportunity for growth.  We must let these challenges do their work.  Their work is not to harm us or tear us down or destroy us but instead to benefit us spiritually, to build us up in the Spirit and make us strong.

Difficulties, challenges and struggles reveal where we're at spiritually so that we can recognize where we need to grow.  Job's trials revealed that he was faithful and mature in many areas, but that He had begun to see himself as better than he actually was.  God used the trials to reveal those last few areas in his life that might prove to be his downfall later.  And because Job didn't try to get out of it he was blessed beyond measure for it.  In my reading today from 1 Peter 4:13 I read that when things get difficult we should be glad because we are in the thick of this life with Jesus and what we face "is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner."

Let the Holy Spirit reveal what is lacking in you through challenges because that is the only way you and I will grow and no matter how difficult things get glory is just around the corner.

Why I Don't Run From Halloween

First let me say that if you're a believer in Jesus and reading this you've probably heard all the reasons why Christians and certainly churches should not celebrate or recognize Halloween.  You've heard horror stories about Satanic rituals and virgin sacrifices many times before.  So please remember that the title isn't Why I Run from Halloween, but Why I Don't Run From Halloween.  If you want another lesson in the reasons to avoid Halloween there is plenty of information on the inter-web for you.

Do you remember a time in your life when you met someone that said they didn't celebrate Halloween?  Do you remember how you responded?  My guess is you did NOT look at them with a sense of reverence for their spiritual superiority.  You didn't gaze at their glowing face in awe of their giant faith.  No, my guess is that you asked a very sarcastic "why?" with a this guys a nut look on your face... or you simply shrugged your shoulders and kept eating your mountain of candy.  My father was a pastor for 35 years and every one of those years we dressed up and begged candy from our neighbors.  But I never remember Halloween being mentioned in church.

Church seems to have a bit of a double standard in this area.  Churches have resigned themselves to the fact that 98.7% of their people will celebrate Halloween but you still can't talk about it.  Drive down the street and look at churches around Halloween and you'll see that we've done everything we can to try and cover up the fact that what we're celebrating is Halloween.  In the last few weeks I've seen big signs in church yards for Fall Festivals and Neewollah parties (this one really gets me) and Harvest parties but not one has dared mention the word Halloween.

Just for fun, set up a little on camera interview with the little costumed creatures on the street next year and ask one question of each child, "Why do you celebrate Halloween?"  I guarantee every child's answer will have something to do with candy.  You won't find a single kid who will go into the dark history of the Holiday.  The fact is, any child raised in a home that recognizes the opportunity for evil in the day will not be going door to door for candy but will be out in a field somewhere with their family dancing under the moon or whatever they do.

To the vast majority of the people in our country Halloween is an excuse to dress up and eat way too much candy.  So instead of running away from Halloween, I acknowledge it (notice I didn't say, "embrace" or "love") and try to leverage it for a Godly purpose.  See, I'm sick of Satan undermining every "Christian" holiday; He's materialized Christmas and made Easter about eggs and fluffy bunnies.  So why not take a day that is supposed to be Satan's and turn it into an opportunity to engage the disconnected with Jesus?

So this year at Real Life we leveraged Halloween like never before.  There was a flash-mob doing Michael Jackson's Thriller Dance to tease the October message series, Walking Dead (capitalizing on the popularity of the AMC television show by the same name).  The first week of the series we took pictures of our people and "zombified" them for use on social media sites like Facebook.   We saw some great conversations start as friends of friends asked questions about the pictures and our people got to tell them - not about Halloween, but about Jesus and what He was doing in their lives at Real Life.   During this series leading up to Halloween we addressed the spiritual issues of those without Christ headed to a literal place called Hell and how in-Christ we believers are to die to ourselves and to sin - become walking dead in order to live for God in Christ.  And we capped it off by handing out 1100 invitations to church, included in stuffed treat bags, that some decorated volunteers handed out during Trick-or-Treat down Main Street on the 31st.  Around 6000 pieces of candy were given out and nearly each one came with an invitation to connect with Jesus.

Here is my opinion.  We in the Christian community are not fooling a single non-believer with our Halloween hypocrisy.  They know that, whatever we call it, we're celebrating Halloween.  If we were really against Halloween we'd pretend it didn't exist.  We wouldn't let our kids dress up.  We'd preach against it and we certainly wouldn't do trunk-or-treats or invite people to our harvest parties or fall festivals and we wouldn't do these large-events on or near Halloween at all!  Instead, by calling it something other than Halloween,  two things occur.  First, we make ourselves "feel" spiritually superior, because we're not calling what we do a Halloween event.  And second we further alienate the very people we claim we're trying to reach with the Gospel.

So I use Halloween and the month of October to express spiritual truths and share the Gospel in a way that might connect with non-believers.  Instead of standing on the corner telling everyone they are going to Hell (don't remember Jesus doing this to anyone...except the religious leaders).  We have fun with it knowing that it simply provides us with an opportunity to have a conversation about Jesus instead of a discussion on the spiritual implications of Halloween. I don't run from Halloween because I see it as too valuable an opportunity to share the light of Christ Jesus with a dark world - and like Paul said, if we tried to get away from the darkness we'd have to leave this world.  Instead, Paul tells us to avoid those who claim to live in the light but walk in darkness, so that we can find a way to connect with those who truly are in the dark about the light and love of Jesus (see 1 Corinthians 5:9-11).

By the way, October 2013's series will be called The Other Side and we'll deal with the often left alone subjects of Satan and how he works, demons, angels, Hell, etc.  I'm sure we'll do it up big and try to once again leverage this opportunity for the glory of Jesus Christ.  And God willing we'll see the light of Christ shine on those in the darkness.

Reality Check

Anything you can do, I can do better.
     I can do anything better than you!

Do you remember that song?  I remember going 'round and 'round with my sister - "no you can't, Yes I can!"

We may not say this much any more but I bet it's still thought, a bunch!

The mistakes of others often cause us to shake our heads and look down our noses and think, I would never be that careless.  Consider this, when reading about the wanderings of the Israelite's many Christians scoff with this, "if God did for me what He did for the people of Israel I would follow Him anywhere!"  We assume that we could "do it better" than they could.

But I wonder if that is true?

The truth is no matter what happens, no matter what is going on in my life, I have the tendency to harden my heart.  It's not like I do it on purpose.  It just happens.  When I go about my life I can get sidetracked with the day to day.  Even if God provided food every day.  Even if He made my shoes and clothes last forever.  Even if He made the sun stand still - I would get used to it.  I would harden my heart and look for something "more."  With food every morning I would complain it wasn't the right food or get tired of it, I'm sure.

The point is we so often miss the things God is doing in our lives.  Not because we aren't paying attention or because what He's doing isn't incredible, but because His work and miracles have become commonplace.  Because we've grown used to His working in our lives we fail to see it any longer.

The writer of Hebrews recalls this,
"Today, please listen;
    don’t turn a deaf ear as in “the bitter uprising,”
    that time of wilderness testing!
Even though they watched me at work for forty years,
    your ancestors refused to let me do it my way;
    over and over they tried my patience..."

My prayer today was that I would NOT be like those who wandered in the desert.  That I would NOT get lost in the commonplace of God's mighty hand at work in my life and church.  That my ears would stay open so that I would hear His voice so that I might obey His command.  And that I wouldn't get sidetracked or lose focus, but would instead make it to my destination.

What are you ignoring today because you've gotten used to God's providence?

If there is food in your home... ANY food then God is providing.  You literally could be like the majority of the people in the world and have NO food in your home.  No refrigerator or freezer to keep food beyond the day.  No cupboards filled with canned stuff you keep until there's a food drive at church or with Scouts and you can unload it.  Got a vehicle to get to work?  Does it work?  Got a job?  Most people walk.

Father, help me to have eyes to see your work and provision in my life and for my family.

Learning from Lance

Lance Armstrong is back in the news but its the same old story.  Doping.  No it doesn't mean that he was smoking dope, weed or Mary Jane.  In the sports world it refers to any number of performance enhancing substances designed to give you a physical edge over your opponents.  This time though the prosecution comes with eye-witness accounts from Armstrong's team-mates and lots and lots of documentation.

Now, I don't want to presume him guilty, I'll let the people who are making the claims do that but the pressure and the evidence are mounting against Lance.  And although he still fiercely maintains his innocence I would imagine that the truth will come out perhaps sooner rather then later.

Here's the deal.  When you beat as many people as he has as much as he has someone is going to cry foul.  They will say things like, "no one can be that good."

So here's the problem in Armstrong's situation.  He denies his guilt.  I imagine that if it's possible, he'll claim innocence to the grave, regardless of what his closest and most trusted "friends" are saying.  And there's the problem.  We'll take honesty over perfection any day.

Many Christians have believed for a very long time that they, like Lance, have needed to claim innocence even in the midst of obvious guilt.  We'll make some excuse or reason why we "had" to do what we did and say things like, "I didn't mean to do it" thinking that motive or mitigating factors lessen our guilt or responsibility.  But the truth is people just want us to be honest.  If you fall.  If you fail.  Own it.

Here's what I tell the folks at Real Life.  If you are trying to live out your walk with Christ and you mess up, you tell a dirty joke (or laugh at one!) or you let some @#%$! words fly, don't just jump back up on your high-horse and blame your co-workers for your failure, go to them and say, "I'm Sorry.  I'm trying to live differently now and I failed.  I'll probably fail again, even though I don't want to."  An apology for not living up to your own expectations - offered out of HUMILITY will go a long way in helping your co-workers, family, friends or neighbors understand that your new life in Christ is a process and that you want to succeed.

The worst thing we do as Christians is pretend like we're perfect and that everyone else is at fault if we fail.

If it turns out that Lance has been involved in the most intricate and covert doping cover-up in sports history he'll look like a fool and honestly, I hope they take away every win he received.  Not as punishment for his win, but as punishment for his lies.  If he's innocent, I'll be the first to cheer him on.

Believers know this, you're not perfect.  You're going to mess up and fall both publicly and privately.  Own it before your friends, family and co-workers and own it before God.  Seek restoration and reconciliation from those around you and from God.  Get out of the saddle and see what it's like to walk in frail honesty for awhile.  You'll find it's a lot more freeing than trying to be perfect and finding someone to blame when you're not.

The Walking Dead Have Taken Over Real Life

What a great Sunday at Real Life to kick off October AND our new message series, Walking Dead!  Had a great morning of music finished off by four baptisms and learned about how Daniel was walking dead because he chose to die to sin and selfishness so that he could live, completely to God.  And that is what this walking dead series is all about!  The truth is we are all walking dead.  In a literal sense we are all headed for death, if you're reading this you haven't died yet, but you and I and everyone else will one day die.  We're walking dead in a spiritual sense in two ways:  First, the Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) so without Jesus we're dead in our sins.  But as believers in Jesus we should die to sin and selfishness.  So you are either walking dead IN sin or walking dead TO sin.

The myth is that if we remove the obstacle (God we suppose) to happiness and life-the-way-we-want-it then we will truly be able to live.  But the reality of our lives is that without God nothing really makes sense.  We can pretend it does and talk about morality and doing good to others, but without a God that determines what is moral and good those things become arbitrary and meaningless.  I know a young man who talked about how God probably wants a good moral person who "does no harm" over a Christian who lives at times like a hypocrite.  In this view, he justifies not needing a Savior because he lives his life trying to "do no harm" to others.  The problem with his view is this; while he is kind to most people he can be horribly mean, verbally abusive and physically aggressive toward members of his own family.  So he doesn't even live up to his OWN moral code.

When we live for ourselves based on our own system or code of what life is all about we most often fail and wind up controlled by something that we thought we had control over.  Live your life for yourself, on your own terms and you'll end up looking for something more down the road, something that satisfies your hunger for meaning and passion for life.

Paul, in Titus  chapter 3 gives this testimony, [God] gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God's gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there's more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this.

Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus (Romans 6:23 MSG).

If you want to really live you've got to give up your life - I know it sounds backward but it  isn't, it's how it works.  Try to save your life and live for yourself and you'll get trapped by the very things you chose to do to prove your independence!  But give up your life to Jesus and let Him lead you and you'll discover what it's like to truly live.  To be free.  To be more than you though possible.

Welcome, to the walking dead.

Here's a picture of my family taken last Sunday at Real Life Christian Church Worship Center to promote the walking dead series on social media sites.

Thriller Flash Mob at Real Life Sunday!

To increase awareness of the Walking Dead series beginning Sunday October 7th, a few creepy folks from Real Life decided to thrill us with a little taste of zombi-riffic dancing on Sept 30th!  Enjoy!

Walking Dead begins October 7th at Real Life

The walking dead refers to those who appear to be alive but aren’t.  You meet a lot of walking dead every day.  At the grocery store, your school, in the next cubicle at work.  People who appear to be alive but are really just walking dead.  The Bible says that everyone who rejects Jesus as Lord is bound for death, but that in order to truly live we must die to ourselves.  Without Jesus we are dead in our sin – walking, but dead.  With Jesus we must die to self so that we can truly live in Him – dead, but walking.
Join us at Real Life throughout October as we travel a path few have, the Walking Dead.

There will be a special Top Secret surprise this Sunday and then October 7th we'll have a photo booth set up where we'll be taking your picture and then will "zombify" it and post it on Facebook with you tagged.  Then you can grab your pic and put it as your profile picture for the month to help us leverage social media to get the word out about Walking Dead!

The Making of an Extraordinary Day

Facebook can be depressing.

I see so many people nearly overcome with worry, relationship issues, baggage, not being able to let go of their past, haunted by memories, strangled by addictions, tangled in sin.  It's no wonder their posts are depressing and negative.  I remember being told, "show me your checkbook register and calendar and I'll tell you what's important in your life."  Today, all we have to do is look at someone's wall. 

But it doesn't have to be this way.  

Your day can be extraordinary.

Don't you want to wake up excited about the day?  Don't you long to look forward to your future?  Aren't you tired of feeling stuck?

Open your eyes, it's an extraordinary day.

There is something that happens when we get stuck by our past and frustrated with our future.  We stop looking around.  I have this problem.  When I walk or run I often find myself looking straight down at my feet.  Where I am going to step next.  Like I am so worried about falling or stepping on something that I keep my focus six inches in front of my toes.  That's a depressing place.  I start focusing on the gray pavement.  On every... single... step... and monotony begins to set in.  Soon, all I want to do is stop.  But when I look up, to where I'm heading, I get happy.  I'm filled with awe and wonder at the beauty of the trees, the stars (I run at night) and everything God has created.

Some people, maybe you, are so worried about falling again, getting hurt or getting even that they spend all their time looking at life six inches at a time.  What is my very next move?  where will my very next step be?  They get so focused on what's immediately in front of them that they can't see all the different directions and options that are open to them.  Nascar drivers are trained to look at where they want to be when they are driving into a wreck on the track, not where they are.  If you are focused on where you are, six inches at a time, you'll end up headed for an emotional wreck.  But if you focus on where you want to be, where you're headed, what's open to you, you will naturally begin to head in a new and positive direction.  2 Thessalonians 2:15 says, "Take a firm stand,feet on the ground and head high."  God knows you'll never get where He wants you to go if you're worried about how you're going to get there.  Look ahead and you'll make the necessary course corrections.

Here's the first few corrections you can make right now.

1. RECOGNIZE WHO YOU ARE:  2 Thessalonians 1:11,12 says, "God makes you fit for what He's called you to be..."  Can you wrap your head around that truth?  You don't have to be perfect!  You don't have to worry about doing everything just right in order to be who you want to be.  It's God who makes you fit for what He's got in store for you.  And it's not about what you are "doing" for Him it's about who you ARE to Him!  He perfects you according to His plan for you!  Who you ARE not what you do.  You are a child of God and He's got a plan for your life that extends through this life and into the next.  But you'll never see it if you're too busy looking at the ground right in front of your feet.  Trust Him to do the work IN you that will enable you to be what He desires you to be.  He makes you fit for His purpose!  Recognize that He's got a plan for you (and here's an exciting secret - this not just true for Christians... God is calling and fitting every person for His plan and pleasure.  So don't think you're disqualified just because you haven't joined Him yet.  You can right now and experience this new, changed life!)  Today you don't have to be perfect.  You don't have to focus on your life right now.  You can relax and trust that God is working in your life to accomplish what He has laid out just for you.  And what He's begun in your life He will be faithful to complete.  Lift up your head and look at all He's doing!
2. PRAY FOR TODAY:  The fact is that you're going to do stuff today.  You're going to meet people and make choices and work and think and plan and have a pity party and worry.  We all go through a ton of emotions and struggles and joys each and every day.  But these don't have to be single events that come and go.  You can redeem your day and see each choice, each conversation, each moment as pregnant with purpose and possibilities.  Paul says, "pray that [God will] fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so that it all amounts to something" (2 Thessalonians 1:11,12).  Pray each day that every decision you make, every thing you do and thought you think would be guided by the Holy Spirit.  Every action would be done in His strength.  Every conversation would include Him.  The truth is, if God's not in it it's not going to amount to anything anyway.  Your good ideas and acts of faith, without God's presence and energy to complete them are just ideas and acts.  They are here and gone.  They live six inches in front of you and with the next step you're past them already.  But if they are done in God's energy they can have lasting effects that stretch both in front of you to affect your future and behind you to impact your legacy.
3. HONOR JESUS:  Our role in life is to be a walking talking Jesus.  I want my children's behavior to be a representation of who they are, Landreths.  Their actions reflect not only on them, but me, their mother and their grandparents and extended family.  The reality is that people will judge our whole family on their actions and attitudes.  Like it or not, this is how we function.  When was the last time you saw a stuck-up-rich-girl and didn't immediately make a judgement about her family and life? How we live our lives reflects on every other Christian and even on Christ Jesus Himself!  When a Muslim extremist blows something up every other person everywhere makes a judgement not only about that person, but about their nation and their god.  But when we honor Jesus with our lives something incredible happens.  "If your life honors the name of Jesus, he will honor you" 2 Thessalonians 1:11,12).  Your life can actually impact how others see the King of kings and the Lord of lords.  You. Right now.  Are either causing people to think, "I'd like to experience that kind of life..." or "if that is what being a Christian is like I don't want it."  Every status update, every tweet, is either drawing people to Christ or pushing them farther away.  Honor Jesus with your life and He'll honor you.  That's His promise.

Recognize who you are.  Pray for today and Honor Jesus with your life.  You'll begin to experience the makings of an extraordinary day.

The iPhone 5 and Your Walk with Jesus...

I just watched a YouTube video from Apple on the release of their newest iPhone and I was amazed by two things.  How incredible this phone will be and how little it has changed.  No matter how much they use the words, redesigned, started over and completely new, this new phone does not seem to very different from the iPhone 4S.  Now, please understand that if you bought me one I would thank you and then with a complete lack of spiritual maturity show it off to all my friends.  That moment of honesty aside when you look at the pictures of the new phone it looks incredibly similar to it's iPhone predecessors.

What Apple HAS done, instead of coming out with a completely new looking phone, is get really specific and intentional with the little things.

For example, they took the case - which is virtually the same as the 4 and 4S - and made it fit together even better.  They now take pictures of the front and back of the aluminum shell while on the conveyor belt and mechanically mach the other pieces of the case from over 700 precast options.  Their claim is that they are dealing in nano-meters when it comes to how the case fits together.  They have also come up with ways to slim the case down a little, but have made it longer without making it wider (no, your old 4S otterbox will not fit the new phone).  They had to create a new LTE chip as well make several other advances to the hardware to make this all happen.   In addition they created new ways of polishing and finishing the aluminum so that each chamfered edge, each rounded corner is nearly a mirror image of the others.

But it doesn't look much different.  It is a little smaller a little longer but the screen, the apps, the backgrounds the form and function of the phone is nearly the same.

I wonder what would happen in our spiritual lives if we took the Apple approach to our walk with Christ?  Instead of looking for that next big breakthrough or duty or job that God is just waiting to give us, what if we started focusing on the little things.   You could start with the case.  Are their corners to your personality or demeanor that could stand to be smoothed down and chamfered a little?  Would it be a good thing if you focused on making sure that your personality and attitudes were mirrored so that whether you were at home, the grocery store or church you appeared the same to those around you.  You know, not so rough.  Maybe your language could use a polish.

And what about the inside?  Are there areas that you have simply ignored because they seemed to be working?  What if you started getting specific with your spiritual life?  How much time do you spend in prayer/Bible reading each day?  How can you sandwich that stuff in so it becomes a more consistent and vital part of your life?

Maybe instead of looking for that next BIG spiritual step you and I could start looking inside and outside our lives with a focus on the little things that help us be better prepared for the big things.  Here's to a more efficient and integrated spiritual walk for you and for me.

(and I'd like my new iPhone 5 in black)

Walking Dead

Maybe you've heard of the AMC show Walking Dead, maybe not.  I'm a fan.  So if you've been watching you know what I'm going to share, if you're just starting the series on Netflix or something this is a spoiler alert for you.

In the show, at the end of the second season you learn that the "virus" that turns people into zombies does not come from being bitten or scratched and it is not ingested or airborne.  The virus is in every person already.  Now we don't yet know where it came from (perhaps in season 3) but it is present in every person.

That means that even though you are alive right now, you are walking dead.

I read the other day in Philippians 2 this sentence, Jesus, being God, didn't "claim special privileges.  He lived a selfless, obedient life and died a selfless, obedient death..."

Jesus was (and is and always will be) equal with God.  However, He willingly gave up His POSITION as God refusing the special privileges that came with His deity.  Instead of making the rules (like He made the universe and everything in it) He obeyed them.  Instead of being outside and beyond death (as everlasting and eternal) He obeyed it's physical requirements and offered Himself willingly to the most horrific death of His time.

In my prayer journal I wrote these lines.
-Jesus died to self way before He died for my-self on the cross.
-Jesus died to sin way before He died for sin.

Jesus was a walking dead.
From at the least the age of 12 He knew exactly what He had been born to accomplish.  He knew exactly where He was headed and He followed that path with unwavering commitment to the end.  He was born to die.

In you and me is the potential to live like Christ Jesus.  To die to sin means we MUST die to self because in the end sinfulness is selfishness.
Jesus, thank you for setting the example for me, an example I too often fall WAY short of, so that I might know what the life of a walking dead looks like.  The walking dead are completely alive and vibrant and awake to You and Your power, even though they are dead to themselves and to sin.  Help me to live the real life of the walking dead.

Walking Dead message series begins October 7th 2012 at the  El Dorado Civic Center Sunday's at 10am

Have We Gotten Soft? Think David, Leonidas and YOU!

Maybe it was just where my thoughts went during my prayer time today or maybe it was the fact that I was working a commercial for our upcoming men's group using a scene from the movie 300 about Sparta but I'm thinking we're getting soft.

Here's how my prayer went, "...help us to work through things, instead of working around them."

It occurred to me that in our lives we often look for work-arounds.  You know, another way of doing something that isn't quite avoiding but certainly not a direct attack.  If you are into technology you may look for all kinds of work-arounds for your computer, iPhone, iPad or nook.  I have a nook and wanted to get some apps on it that were not available from Barnes and Noble and found a way to "root" the nook so I could add them.  there are financial work-arounds (ask Bernie Ma doff) and parents often look for discipline work-arounds.  This is actually a huge problem.  Parents who want to have a child and want to see that child grow up to be a good citizen or even a Christian but can't stomach the discipline it takes to discipline.  So they work-around the issue instead of tackling it directly.  We are a nation in love with getting around an obstacle instead of finding a way through it.

Consider a relationship, work or school, in your life and how often you deal directly with a problem or challenge when it arises.  Or do you "sit it out" and "wait for it to blow over."  Do you argue about something and then just not bring it up again until it comes up again?

If you're like most people I know (including myself) you enjoy the work-arounds.

I wonder what would have happened if young David would have sought a work-around?  Instead of frontal assault in the Name and power of God Almighty what would have happened if he walked instead of ran?  What if he tried to sneak up on Goliath instead being in plain view?  And given Clint Eastwood's speech at the RNC last night, what if Dirty Harry would have said, "Let me think about this for a minute..." instead of, "Go ahead.  Make my day."  Would it have had the same impact?

Perhaps we've just gotten soft.  We don't want the fight so we walk away from the battle.  Even if it means we are going to have to face it again tomorrow, or next week or next month.

I think I'm going to try the Leonidas approach and see how that goes.  When there is a problem, no matter how big or insurmountable it may be don't first look for away around it, determine to push right through it.  This will require strength and stamina (they ARE different) and a courage little seen in this day and age. But we might rid ourselves of many a recurring headache if we dealt with our problems and challenges head on instead of always looking for a back door.

Just sayin'.

You Can't Do it on Your Own...

Just heard this sentiment again:  "his parents came to this country with $10 in their pocket and taught their child to rely on himself."  We've heard the now famous line, "if you've got a business, you didn't build that."  Let me speak some Truth into these sentiments.

No matter how much money you've got in your pocket God is the one who put it there.  He is the One who directs your steps, gives you opportunity, provides and protects.  You've got a $1,000 and I've got God - I'm gonna win. Look, you can rely on yourself all you want but in the end the measure of control you actually have over your life is insignificant to the events and situations you cannot control.

Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about.

"The farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. He talked to himself: 'What can I do? My barn isn't big enough for this harvest.' Then he said, 'Here's what I'll do: I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I'll gather in all my grain and goods, and I'll say to myself, Self, you've done well! You've got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!' "Just then God showed up and said, 'Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods—who gets it?' "That's what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God." Luke 12:16-21

When we rely on ourselves, our bank accounts, our smarts and strength we will eventually lose.  What is worth your very life?

As Americans we are probably the number one country in convincing ourselves that we are completely able, within ourselves, to accomplish anything we set our minds to.  The problem?  Our Declaration and Even our National Motto inescapably place our greatness on our God, not on ourselves.  Every nation that has left God and began to build on their own ingenuity and strength has eventually failed.

So the Truth is that if you have a business you should recognize that God has helped you get there.  If you have a strong marriage, God has blessed you.  If you have a good relationship with your children, family, a good job, a nice home or cars, God has been watching over you.

It's not that you haven't done anything, but what you have has come directly from God.  Because if God chose your life could be gone and all you've built will go to someone else.

Instead, we should build our lives and our judgement for success on God.  Build your relationship with God and He'll take care of your business.  Build your relationship with God and He'll watch over your family, He'll work through you to accomplish what you could never do on your own.

Two Sunday's Under our Belt at Real Life's Worship Center

Well, we made it.  Two Sundays under our belt at our new Worship Center, 201 E. Central - The El Dorado Civic Center.  We are so thrilled to have this wonderful space in which to worship.  The city of El Dorado certainly did a great job with this amazing space.  Okay, now that that is out of the way...

Two Sundays down!  We had a great time with a smaller more intimate crowd on the 19th as we remembered the last five years and looked forward to the coming years and God's continued blessing.  Then on the 26th we gathered again to kick off a new message series, had the full band rockin' the house again and was able share the day with 92 of our friends!

Moving forward let me in on what is happening.  We have made arrangements to have more chairs in the worship area so that you won't have to jockey for chairs next Sunday.  We've purchased some large banners to help you get around in the new space and we've stocked up on our guest bag fillers and are working on some children's guest bags!

So come and check out our new (temporary) home at the Civic Center this Sunday at 10am as we hit the second the message in the series Changed - on the book of Philemon.

Inspect Yourself

One of the life complaint I hear all the time as a preacher goes something like, "I just don't know what God wants to do with my life..."  Seems like the vast majority of Christians are just going through the motions waiting for God to dump some incredible, purposeful task in their laps.  I've heard, "I don't know what God is keeping me alive for."  and, "I'm just waiting for God to show me what He wants me to do."

People seem to think, since I'm a preacher, that there must have been this lighting strike moment when God parted the skies and spoke to me A la The Holy Grail.  But it didn't happen like that.  God had been preparing me for preaching my whole life.  I spent some time running from that but God always gets His way.

I think the difficult part is that we all want some great moment when we "know" what it is that God want's us to do with our lives.  But the reality is that what He really wants is you and I to live our lives like Christ, everyday.  Wherever we are and whatever we are doing.

Consider these verses from Galatians 6:4-5.  Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.

What a great encouragement!

First, explore your life.  Chances are you are one of few people in your job or school who can reach the group you are with every day for Christ.  Or look at where you volunteer or the friends you hang out with.  These people are YOUR mission field.  Don't look for another job - look for opportunities to be Christ where you are NOW.  Make a careful (I would say that means prayerful) exploration of your life AND the work you HAVE BEEN GIVEN.  When was the last time you thought about your job as the work God had given you?  Have you ever looked at your co-workers as people God had uniquely placed in your path for you to reach?  Sink yourself into your job, your school, your classroom, your organization, your volunteer group, your neighborhood and look at it as your unique field of ministry.  Then be Jesus to those people.  Do your work as though you are doing it directly for God.  Be happy!  Be purposeful!  Be inspired!  Be loving!  Be at peace!  Be consistent!  Be Jesus!

And then work to avoid the pitfalls of working for God.  Don't be too impressed with yourself.  And don't compare yourself with others.  Both of these will lead to failure.  One a failure OF witness and the other a failure TO witness.  Both will keep you from experiencing God's best for you.

Instead, take responsibility for your life.  Be creative as you work, share, love, interact with others.  Don't wait for your preacher to counsel you into some wonderful God work.  Don't wait for God to part the clouds and lead you to your destiny with a pillar of fire.  Chances are, where you are standing in your life right now is exactly where God has placed you to reach people that no one else is quite as capable of reaching.

Inspect yourself, your life, your gifts and talents and then... get to work for God.

Real Life is a Free Life

I have really enjoyed reading in the book of Galatians the last few days as a part of my Bible reading plan for the year.  Especially since I'm reading in the Message version and getting a  fresh perspective on the old truths contained in Paul's letter to the church in Galatia.

Yesterday I was reading chapter five and in verse 16 I was struck by this line, "My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit."

Those who are not followers of Jesus often think that Christianity is the opposite of freedom.  They think that we believers are governed by this huge rule book that sits on the coffee table collecting dust and spells out every single thing that we can't do and then gives examples of what happens to people when they don't follow the rules.

But that couldn't be farther from the Truth.

It is True that the Bible spells out things that we should avoid, sexual immorality, gossip, slander, drunkenness, fighting, hate, murder, you know, everything that doesn't show love toward someone else.  But think of it this way.  Instead of a rule book listing things to be avoided, it's more like an instruction manual for getting the most out of this life.  The things the Bible says to avoid it says for OUR benefit.  God is not some random fun killer trying to keep us from enjoying life, He's a coach trying to get us to live to our greatest potential!

Think of it this way.  Let's say you just got selected for the 2016 Olympic team.  Your dream is to win the gold for yourself and your country.  A coach who drives you hard in practice but doesn't care about what you do when you leave the gym would not be your best choice if you wanted to win.  But a coach who pushed you hard in practice and then helped you understand what things you needed to avoid in your diet, in your leisure time, etc., would be of great benefit to you.  And although you may not enjoy the "rules" once you won the gold you would be so happy that your coach pushed you so hard.

Or how about this.  My family used to watch The Biggest Loser television show every week.  If the trainers killed the contestants for eight hours a day in the gym and then let them go back to the homes and eat whatever they wanted we would not see the dramatic results that show produced.  We would not see changed lives.  In fact, when Rulon Gardner was on the show he did not do as well as the others, even though he was at one time a world-class athlete, because he was making poor decisions outside the gym.

God has given us the Bible so that we might know how to wring the most out of this life.  When we decide that our "freedom" means we can do whatever we want we find ourselves, addicted, chained to repetition, miserable because of guilt, hopelessly stuck in a sexual vacuum or simply done trying to live beyond our current situation.  But when you are free, from those "freedoms" that actually confine you, life is so much better, hopeful, happy and you're able to enjoy the freedom you have instead of regretting what you've given up.  Would any athlete claim that their life is not free?  No.  Because they have willingly given up a little to gain what they really want.

I want to live freely - not addicted, confined, forever scraping and clawing to get ahead or stuck in an endless cycle of abuse.  But animated and motivated by God's Spirit, who is my personal life coach.  Helping me avoid the things that will keep me from reaching the goal of living this life to the fullest extent and having hope that when this life is over, real life begins.

Look at your own life without Christ.  Are you free?  Really?  Do you have money to have fun or are you spending it all on your addictions?  Are you healthy and happy in your life or are you strung out and waking up in strange places and can't remember how you got there?  If you don't shoot up or take another hit do you feel better or worse?  The fact is you're trapped - not free.

It's time to be free.

Getting Settled in the New Office Space

Well, thanks to the help of the great folks of Real Life we are up and running now at the new office space at 109 N. Main in El Dorado.  I've enclosed a couple pics so you can see the space.  And you'll also see my desk and stuff.  You can't see it but on the floor around my desk and behind those chairs in the background is blue tape on the floor so we'll know where the walls are going.  There's a blank space where the door is going so if you come over make sure you use it.

God is so good and we not only had a great morning of worship Sunday but we also had a 102 in worship and many stayed to help clean up and clean out our original space and get it all packed and moved over to the new space.

Test Yourself…

Two years ago while training for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon I followed the directions in a book called, Four Months to a Four Hour Marathon.  In the book were several benchmarks that were designed to help me gauge how well I was progressing in order to reach the goal of a four hour marathon.
 
Every month or so the book said I should be running such-and-such distance at such-and-such pace.  And I tried to keep up.  Having never been a runner it was not an easy task.  I was grateful for the tests spread out in the book to help me judge how well I was progressing and I was amazed at how fast and long I could run.  In the end I finished the Marathon at 5:17, but I was not too disappointed.  It was the worst conditions they had ever had (47 degrees and raining, including some hail) and, as I said before, I am not a runner.

In the book of 2 Corinthians Paul talks a lot about the Corinthian Christians faith.  The church in Corinth was having some problems.  This whole faith in Jesus thing was new to them.   They weren’t used to their new normal yet and were struggling to put their faith to practice in their daily lives.  In the 13th chapter Paul encourages them to “Test” themselves to make sure they were “solid in the faith.”  I think thought that was a good idea but was puzzled on what a good test for solid faith might look like.

If you were going to make a test to help someone determine if they were on solid ground in their faith walk what would you include?  Would you want to see a lack of sin in their lives?  Do you see a lack of sin in your own?  Would you consider an addiction a disqualification for faith?  What about language?  Would you put church attendance or volunteerism on the list?  What about Scripture memory?  How would you gauge the Holy Spirit’s presence in a life?  Before you consider writing such a test it would be beneficial to honestly look at your own life and consider where you might fall on your own test.  My guess is that you and I would probably fail our own solid faith tests.
 
It just occurred to me that the church Paul was addressing didn’t even have “Scriptures” to memorize!
 
How hard must it have been to maintain faith in the first century?  No Bible.  You couldn’t turn the TV on at any hour of the night or day and watch a Sunday sermon or teaching.  They didn’t have the Bible on CD or dramatic readings.  They didn’t have denominations so it was difficult to know who was from where.  And no Bible colleges or seminaries existed to pump out indoctrinated students of their particular brand of theology.
 
Here’s what they did have, every once in a while, an Apostle would come to town.  In between those visits other disciples like Titus or Timothy might stop by.  And they even got a letter once or twice a year from someone important.  But in the case of Corinth (and probably every other place except Jerusalem) they had false teachers and faith abusers who infiltrated their church and tried to stir up trouble or take advantage of grace.

So what would YOUR faith test look like?

Here’s some ideas I’ve come up with…
• Can you say honestly that you believe Jesus is the Son of God and your Savior?
• Would you say that you are improving in the areas of:  Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control?
• Are you attempting to be in prayer-contact with your Father on a daily and continual basis?
• Are you able to recognize your own sin and seek repentance?
• Would those who don’t know you figure out that you are a Christian if you spent 30min talking with them?

How are you doing?

Moving Is Underway!

Hey folks, we're moving and things are getting put away, thrown away and stowed away in preparation.  I thought I'd upload a few pics of the progress so far - gonna look pretty bare in here Sunday for our last two worship services in our original location.  God is working out the details through His faithful and we are on track and on budget to make this move in just nine days we'll be worship in our new temporary home, the El Dorado Civic Center!

Keep praying and be ready to serve where needed as we take this historic step to see more people find real life through a relationship with Jesus Christ!

I hope that you can make our last worship service at 2405 W. Central at either 9 or 11 but REALLY hope you can join us at our Civic Center launch August 26th!  See you soon!

It Happens on the Inside

Had to be reminded today that God is at work whether we can tell it or not.  I find myself thinking and praying, "God, you promised, why aren't you..." In the midst of working to accomplish what He's called us  to do if He's not working fast enough I tend to get frustrated.  And frustration often leads to asking yourself, "did I misunderstand what God wanted me to do?"  "If you're not going to provide here God I may just give up."

And it feels like our enemy, The Devil has launched a full-on attack.  Personality conflicts, threats, difficult questions, difficult people, difficult situations and there's no easy answer for any of it.  Like Satan has built a wall around us and is only letting that which has destructive possibilities through his blockade.  Whatever God has already planned for us seems to have been hijacked and taken in a different direction.

On the outside it appears that very little is working like it needs to.  And that means that on the inside I am terrified.  Worried.  Second guessing every decision and seeking a way to compensate for God's apparent lack of involvement.

But I came across this little encouragement in my Bible reading this morning, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18; So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.

We see that even when everything on the outside seems to be falling apart God is always at work!  If it's not visible it's invisible because God's promise is that He will never sleep, so He's always working.  And that work He does is making new life, unfolding grace within us so that we will be able to weather any storm because the troubles and difficulties of this life are insignificant when compared to His abundance.  Good times are coming.  There is hope, even in the midst of trouble so I will NEVER give up and what is unseen now will be what lasts forever.

Here's to hope in the midst of trouble, do you have it?
Only Jesus can provide it.

Am I Competent for the Task?

As a pastor I often wonder how God works out His plan through me (and us)?  How is it that God can take misled, mixed up, malcontents and use them to spread the word about His Son Jesus Christ?  And, how then can He expect that anyone would come to hope in Jesus when the message comes through such messed up people?

The reality is that I, and every other pastor out there, am a mess of sin and striving and insecurity and worry. Find me a preacher completely comfortable in his role and his spiritual life and you will have found a phony.   No one can stand before the people of God to speak His Words and be completely at peace with his own sin.

To make a living and respond to the call of Christ on our lives we must look our own sin square in the face daily and try to deal with it for your benefit.  It is a gut-wrenching task and anyone who says it isn't probably wants you to give them "seed" money... but that's for another post.

I was reading this morning in 2 Corinthians 2 and found a couple verses at the end of the chapter that spoke to this issue of insecurity so perfectly I needed to share them with you.  Here's how Paul dealt with this complexity.

"Is anyone competent to take it on?" (He had been talking about sharing the Gospel) "No— but at least we don't take God's Word, water it down, and then take it to the streets to sell it cheap. We stand in Christ's presence when we speak; God looks us in the face. We get what we say straight from God and say it as honestly as we can."

You could probably accuse me of a lot as a pastor and as an individual.  But you can't accuse me of watering down God's Word.  I never have and don't plan on starting.  I pray earnestly that God speak through me and use the words that come out of my mouth to bring life to those who hear.  I shudder at times as I prepare and then deliver a message because of the heavy burden to be in Christ's presence and speak for Him (as though He needs me).  But I have no other option.  His Spirit compels me.

So I preach the whole Gospel to the best of my weak and feeble ability and try to stand in the Strength of Christ and look God in the face.  What a wretched man I am and from what a wretched people... who will save me from myself.  Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus who gives me the victory and the strength.

Real Life is Moving!

As God has grown Real Life over the last several months it has become apparent that our current facility simply is not big enough to sustain any more growth.  Our one kid's room is maxed out, the Pastor continue to share an office with ever-increasing nursery children and although he enjoys playing with the toys during the week the space is getting tight!

So with prayer we have secured a building at 109 N. Main in El Dorado and will begin moving into that space on August 1st.  The building will house offices and a large meeting room for Bible studies and various meetings.  We will also be saving some space at the front of the building for some cool stuff I can't tell you about right now.

Then on August 19th Real Life will have it's first Sunday worship in the Civic Center (201 E. Central), an intimate time of looking back and forward as we remember what God has done and what He has yet to do.  And our official launch at the Civic Center will be on the 26th of August.

Please continue to be in prayer for this move that God will provide everything needed to make it happen and that we will not only continue to see lives changed for God's glory but that we will be able to help many more people find real life through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

I am so blessed to serve and work with you and look forward to an even greater harvest as we take this step together.

Corey.

Apology and Excuse...

If you follow this blog... I think there are like five of you... I want to apologize for not posting much lately.  Real Life has been growing, it is summer and we're planning some major stuff happening in the next four to six weeks.  So, please accept my apology for limited postings and I hope my excuse is well received!  We are excited about what God is doing - it just takes some doing!

Living Life in the Matrix - begins this Sunday

Did you ever think about how the Apostles lived and the incredible things they did and want have that kind of life?  To be in tune with the Holy Spirit and see the impossible take place?  It's not a big secret that only a few are aware of, it's just learning to live by God's rules.  We are to be in the world but not live as the world, we're to live differently and with God as our Father and the Holy Spirit living in us we SHOULD be different.  This new message series will help us live by God's economy.  It's HIS world, He makes the rules.

God Bless America

I was thinking early this morning while doing my Bible reading and prayer time about how blessed I am to be an American. I could have been born in a third-world country with nothing. Instead, I was born in a country of freedom and peace. freedom and peace that has come at the expense of the lives of my countrymen. A price that I have not had to pay because others were willing. My family and I enjoy the freedom to worship, to move about the country and live in relative peace.
I thank God for my country and pray that not only will God bless America but that America will come to bless God. I'm not naive enough to believe that this is a Godly country, but it is a country in which I am free to worship God.
So on this Independence Day, I acknowledge that I and we have attempted to exert our independence but are not and never have been independent from God, but that we have and always will be dependent on Him for all good things come from God
So enjoy your independence day and celebrate that God has not left us alone.

The Enemy Within

In Psalm 84 Asaph is considering an impending attack from Israel's enemies.  He lists them all, nation by nation, talking of their plans to wipe Israel off the map and take their land.  He's praying to God for help and protection and asking God to deliver His people from this threat.

I was thinking about the condition they must have been in.  Nations preparing to battle.  Fearful of the future and seeking God's protection.

It's hard for us to understand the feelings and thoughts that must have been pounding in their hearts and heads.  We are at relative peace.  I wonder sometimes because I've been watching shows like 24 and Jericho and The Walking Dead and they make you wonder if we really are at peace.  But at least for normal Americans like me, I do not feel threatened.  I don't think my way of life is going to end any minute.  I'm not fearful of the end of life as we know it.  It's hard to understand the feelings Asaph and the people of Israel must have had.

Then something occurred to me.  We are not threatened by external enemies who want to crush us, but that doesn't mean we are not threatened.  Our enemies don't have names like Moab, Amalek, Philistia or Ammon.  Our enemies are named Lust.  Greed.  Fear.  Hate.  Anger.  Depression and hopelessness.  These enemies aren't physical but they are just as real and just as able to destroy us.

Satan uses these internal enemies to attack us when we are at our weakest.  They lay in wait until we are tired, fed-up or stressed out.  Then they attack with no conscience.  No feeling.  No compassion.  Satan's plan is and always has been to steal, kill and destroy.  He'll do that anyway he can.

So Asaph's prayer can still be our prayer.
"My God!  I've had it with them!  Blow them away... Knock the breath right out of them... bring them to the end of their rope and leave them dangling, helpless."

I may not be attacked from an exterior, physical enemy but I am attacked - this week in fact, so this prayer is personal for me.  God, do to my internal enemies, the enemies of my mind, my peace, my hope, my faith what you did to the national enemies of Israel.  Destroy them and let me stand.

The Coup d'état of God

I'm a Christian.  A Christ follower.  A believer.  A fanatic.  Whatever you want to call it my primary function in life is to know Christ and make Him known.  At Real Life we remind ourselves often that we want to connect with people so that we might connect people to Jesus.  Our mission is to help every person possible find real life through a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Sound easy?  It's not.

Right now there are several "irons in the fire."  I'm not at liberty to discuss what our Elders and I have been praying about, discussing and working towards, at least not yet, but it is all about being able to connect and direct more people to God through His Son Jesus Christ.  And since that is why we exist, it's cool.

I'm excited about what God is doing and how He is directing and providing and leading this whole process called church, but, to be honest, I'm frustrated.

I'm one of those people who wants to make a decision and then get to work.  I don't find pleasure or joy in the journey.  I want to know what we're doing, where we're going and then get after it.  I know this about myself and so I try to balance.  Take a breath.  Seek guidance and direction.  And then get back to to the work of making it happen.  And therein lies the problem with me.


I was reading in Romans nine today and had to stop what I was doing and think and pray about what I had just read.  In verse 33 Paul quotes from God's revelation about Himself to Isaiah the prophet when He says, "if you're looking for me, you'll find me ON the way, not IN the way."

It occurred to me that at times in our doing of THINGS for God we forget to actually LOOK for God.  Instead we tap Him on the shoulder and politely ask Him to get out of the way so we can continue our doing of things for Him.  The problem with this is that when we try to get God out of our way we are actually starting a mutiny of the Spirit.  A Coup' of God.  We're trying to take charge of a ship we couldn't possible be capable of running!

A Coup is the sudden, illegal deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state.   I (the small group of the EXISTING state) forget that God IS THE WAY and treat Him as if He is only IN THE WAY. Think of it this way, an elementary school basketball team trying to overthrow their coach, Larry Bird.  It's not possible!

At times in my life find myself quickly trying to move Him out of the way so I can get back to His work.  Do you see how ridiculous that is?  Look folks, God IS the goal.  He IS the thing we're after.  It is on our way through this life that we connect and interact with God.  But when we try to put our goals, dreams and aspirations ahead of Jesus as the goal we find that He is in the way.

Father, help me and this church to always seek You.  To find You and walk WITH You on the way to knowing You more and loving You better.  It's all about YOU.  Help us to keep our focus on You even as we move ahead for You.

GOD: In Surround Sound

This morning I was in my regular spot doing my prayer journaling and Bible reading.  Almost everything was the same this morning except that last night I installed a new rack and raised the our television up about 18 inches on the wall.  So as I sat down to journal I looked up and noticed the TV and couldn't help but consider where I was going to mount the surround sound speakers.  Since we moved several months ago I have yet to put up the little speakers that give me that "movie theater" feel.  Instead, four of the six are just sitting on a stand under the TV.  Not the same effect.

As I thought for a moment about where the best placement for the best sound might be my mind jumped to something I had read in Henry Blackaby's book, Experiencing God (have you noticed yet the rapid attention shifts that I constantly struggle with?).  Blackaby said that we hear from God in the following ways, or that He speaks to us in the following forms,

God speaks through the Bible - as we read or listen in an attempt to know Him more.
God speaks through prayer - as we talk to Him He aligns our wills with His.
God speaks through circumstances - as doors shut and open He guides the steps of our lives.
God speaks through the Church - or others that we have contact with who are also led by and listening to Him.

I have been wrestling with several decisions where our church is concerned and how to best proceed and accomplish His will and as always I have been praying that God would confirm His will in these specific areas in a way that I am able to understand.  He is doing just that through other believers I talk to, through the circumstances He leads us to and in my prayer time.

So as I was sitting there thinking about my surround sound speakers and placement and then switching to hearing God through the various forms He uses to communicate to us it struck me that my desire is the same for hearing God as it is for hearing the "real life" movie sounds that surround sound speakers provide.

I want to be in the sweet spot.

With my surround sound I want to position the speakers in such a way that where I sit provides the greatest effect of the system.  All the speakers working together to so that they hit my ear and make me feel like I am right in the middle of the action.  With God I also want to find that sweet spot where all of the ways He communicates with me are working together to confirm His will in my life and the life of His Church.  I want to in tune and be in the right spot spiritually so that His Word, my prayer time, our circumstances and what I'm getting from others all hit me together.  I want to be right in the middle of the spiritual action.

How has your communication with God been?  Are you hearing from Him through only one speaker?  Then you may be getting an incomplete picture of His will for you on a specific subject.  If you are praying but not reading His Word you've got a speaker out.  If you praying and reading but not connected with other believers on a regular basis who are helping to keep you accountable and plugged-in then it's a lop-sided message you're getting.  If all you listen for is what is happening to you (circumstances) then your missing out on the full-message from God on the subject.

Work to find the sweet spot where everything points to the same conclusion and gives you the feeling that you are right in the center of what God is doing in your life and listen to ALL the speakers not just some.

Think I'll put the rest of my surround speakers up this weekend and find that sweet spot in my living room and in my life.

6 Ways to Ruin Your Life

I had the opportunity to preach to the men at the Union Rescue Mission last night - what a great mission they have being the hands and feet of Christ.  Truly a blessing to get to be with them and share God's Word with them.

I preached from Luke 15, the parable of the prodigal son, but when I got home I started thinking about another way to approach that passage different from the way I felt God leading me to share with the men last night.  I began to see a progression in the young son's attitude and actions that led to his own ruin.  Let me point out the six ways to ruin your life from the parable of the prodigal or wasteful/reckless son.

1.  TAKING WHAT YOU HAVE NOT EARNED.
     Luke 15:12 - the younger son said, "give me my share of the estate."  It's significant that the younger son demanded this from his father.  First because younger sons didn't typically receive a portion of their father's estate, it was reserved for the first-born.  And secondly, as the younger son he had not yet contributed to the estate as much blood and sweat as his older brother or father had.  This younger son was demanding something that he had not earned.  And as we'll see, because he did not earn it, he did not fully appreciate it.

2.  DOING SOMETHING SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU CAN.
     Verse 13 tells us that, "Not long after" he received a portion of his father's estate he, "Set off for a distant country."  There seems to be no good reason for this trip other than the fact that he had some money burning a hole in his pocket.  He had the means to travel and do what he wanted, but as long as he was home he would have surely been expected to pull his weight around the farm.  Something he was apparently no longer willing to do.  Since he already had the money there was no incentive to obey, or to stay.  So he left, not because he had to or needed to, but simply because he could.

3.  SQUANDERING WHAT YOU HAVE ON WHAT YOU DON'T NEED AND CAN'T KEEP.
     Verse 13 goes on to say that this young man, "Squandered" his wealth in, "Wild living."  This is surely something that he would not have had a very easy time doing while still at home.  His father and mother were probably constantly on him about investing and not wasting his money.  Saving for the future and building on what he had so he would have more.  Instead of listening to their wise counsel he left home, taking all that he had been given and then blew and had nothing to show for it.  At times I cringe and have even pulled out of drive through lanes because it burns me to simply eat $5 knowing I'll be hungry again in a few hours.  This boy ran quickly through all his money and then tried to figure out where it went and couldn't point to anything of worth.

4.  BEING FORCED TO DO WHAT YOU DON'T WANT TO DO BECAUSE YOU DID WHAT YOU WANTED ALREADY.
     Luke 15:15,16 tell us that things got so bad for this young man, out of money, out of friends, out of food, that he had to hire himself out to slop the pigs.  This was a horribly degrading job for a Jew, but hunger makes you re-evaluate your standards and force you to do things you never thought you would.  Because the young man did everything HE wanted to do when he had money he was now forced to do what he didn't want to do just to survive.  I wonder how many times he thought, "If only..."  But it was too late.  Sometimes getting you way now means having to give up your way later.

5.  REALIZING WHAT YOU ALREADY POSSESSED FOR FREE YOU'D GIVE ALL YOUR POSSESSIONS FOR NOW.
     Verse 17 starts out, "When he came to his senses."  Everybody comes to their senses sooner or later.  But it usually comes only after you've been compromised in some way.  No one ever thinks they'll end up where they do.  That's the problem with sin.  Sin always seeks to destroy the sinner.  Take him captive.  Make her suffer.  It's always enticing and promising going in but the result is always the same, steal... kill... destroy.  As he considered how well the dirty, nasty pigs were eating (from the same mud and muck they had been defecating in) he realized they were eating better than he was and had an abundance of food compared to him.  What he had in his father's house, aside from the rules and the work, he'd now give anything to have again.  Too bad he couldn't see that before he ran off.

6.  GOING BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM WITH NOTHING TO SHOW FOR WHERE YOU'D BEEN.
     This young son went back to his father with nothing, even though he left with everything.  He had nothing to show for his time away or for the fortune he took with him.  He left with maybe half of all that his father and brother had worked to accumulate and he came back alone.  He was only hoping that perhaps his father would have enough pity on him to hire him as a servant.  Funny how he was now begging to be a servant under the command and thumb of the man he once thought too strict as a father.

There you have it, six ways to ruin your life.  But did you know that there is only ONE way to restore it?

Once the son came home in repentance (it means he changed his mind about the way he was living and "turned around" and went back to his father) the restoration was quick and complete.  He now graciously received what he hadn't earned, his father's love.  He now willing gave his life to his father as a servant because he could.  He gave up the pitiful life he had for a life he desperately wanted but couldn't earn.  He would then do what his wanted because of what his father did for him (the signet ring signified this).  He discovered that he ALWAYS possessed what all his possessions couldn't buy him, love, acceptance and a home.  He came back to where he belonged as though his past didn't exist.  The sins from where he had been did not follow him to where he belonged.


Wherever you've wandered, you can never go too far to come back home.
Whatever you've done, you are never beyond the boundary of His forgiveness.
and Whenever you return, you will be accepted and loved as though you never left.


It takes a while to ruin your life, but it only takes Jesus to restore it.

How to Judge a Day.

How was your day?  

This is a question that is often asked but seldom answered, at least honestly, that is unless you're answering yourself.  When someone asks this question we often default to a simple reply like, "Just fine. You?"  We rarely tell anyone how are day really went.  Unless we're sitting in the silence with the soft glow of our computer screen in the darkness, alone, finally, with Facebook.

Every day someone is posting a status about how their day went, whether they were asked or not.  And it seems like we are more likely to share the result of our day if we consider it to be a bad day.  We use words like; Terrible.  Horrible.  Want to just crawl in a hole.  Will this day ever end?  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  I'm not sure if people are hunting for sympathy, conversation or just using social media like it was group counseling.  Either way I think we need some perspective on how to judge a day.

I think most people work something like this.  Today may be a bad day because something bad happened - a single event like a flat tire - or because there were multiple small bad things that happened that give you that overall feeling.  But it could also be a bad day because nothing good happened.  You didn't win the Publisher's Clearing House big prize, for instance.  You got your hopes up because you were one of the top finalists but they didn't pick your name.  Darn.  Bad day.

It's probably safe to say that the judgement of our day is highly varied and depends not so much on what happens (or doesn't happen) but on how we feel about it.

I struggle with this too.  Everything could be going great for me.  Good morning, lots of stuff accomplished, feeling good about myself and ministry and family and then BOOM!  Flat tire.  Critical email.  Someone in my church puts something unbecoming of a follower of Christ on their status and all the sudden my good mood goes on a cruise.  

I don't know why we feel the need to judge each day based on events, circumstances or feelings.  Shouldn't there be an objective basis on which to judge our days?  Wouldn't that be so much easier?  Well, maybe, but even then it's different for each person.  Let's consider what might be on the list.

Obviously, if someone close to you dies it's a bad day. Right?  But what if they were suffering?  Or if they were a Christian and Heaven was waiting for them?  Then that death might be a cause for celebration instead of tears.

Someone might want to put the stock market crashing as an objective determinant of a bad day.  But someone is always making money on the stock market.  Up or down somebody is getting rich, it's been designed that way.  So bad day for one is still a good day for another.

What if we just said, regardless of what happens today, it's still a good day because I'm alive.  Even that is difficult for me because if I die I believe I'll see Jesus and that will be the best thing ever!  So being alive is not even a good measure by which to judge my day.

The writer of Psalm 118 simply said, "This is the day the Lord has made (or worked), let us be glad and rejoice..." 

Wouldn't it be wonderful to judge your day in this way?  This is the day that God ordained and knew about before the foundations of the earth were laid.  Before you took your first breath of air, whether in a hospital in the US or a hovel in a third world country the Lord knew your life before it was created.  The events of our day are not good judges - we aren't even good judges of the events themselves!  So why not say, "Today is another day of life that God has given, therefore He must have a purpose for it that I may not even see.  So, until He calls me to heaven I will rejoice in each day and be glad that He has called me out of darkness and into His wonderful light - regardless of the events of my day - it's a good day."

I hope that today, whatever day it is, is a good day for you.

What Can You Do Through Christ?

It seems like not a week goes by that I don't hear someone quote the verse, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13).  It's a good verse.  We use it often because we think it is encouraging and will help someone get through a difficult situation.  And I suppose it does (though we often use it in a way it was not intended, but that's another post).

I've been wondering what would happen if we put a different spin on this verse?  We know, because God is God and He can do anything, that He can give us strength to get through all of life's difficulties.  But how much do we trust God to do just that?  A child may trust her father but if she never jumps, and gives him the opportunity to catch her, does her trust make any difference in the real world?   I don't think it does.  See we Christians talk about trusting God a lot and how He will get us through the difficult times but I don't think most of us actually live that in our real lives.

Let me give you a hypothetical scenario and see what you would do...

Let's say that you absolutely believe that the Holy Spirit is directing you to go to a foreign country as a missionary.  My guess is that the first thing you would do is start looking for Him to confirm this for you somehow.  You'll look for "open doors" or things others may say that support your decision so that you feel more comfortable that you've heard from God.  And let's pretend that He begins to open the doors for you to go so that you feel even more confident that He is orchestrating this step in your life.  But then, as you begin to make the final preparations to leave, or perhaps are now on your way, God sends people into your life that begin telling you what will happen to you when you get to your destination.  Someone comes and tells you that the Holy Spirit informed them that when you landed you would be detained and jailed.  Later someone else comes and tells you that you will not only be jailed but you will be tortured and bound and imprisoned in this foreign country.

How do you feel now about God's call on your life?  Are you still absolutely sure that God wants you to go?  Or are you now questioning your decision, er, God's decision?  Are you saying to yourself, "maybe this was just a test... maybe I missed something... maybe God meant to talk to someone else."  Often, when the doors don't open or the road gets tough we begin to assume that God must have been mistaken or that we "miss-heard" the call on our lives.

In Acts 21 Paul is heading back to Jerusalem absolutely convinced that the Holy Spirit is leading him there.  He meets one believer after another who tells him that when he gets to Jerusalem he will be bound and imprisoned and that he should not go to Jerusalem.  They beg and plead with him not to go because they believe that he will die when he gets there.  (By the way, the Holy Spirit never said he would die and never intended that the people who prophesied would try to keep him from going.  The Holy Spirit was simply trying to inform Paul of what awaited him so that he would know what was coming and find comfort in the fact that God was in charge!)

After all this here is Paul's response, "The issue in Jerusalem is not what they do to me, whether arrest or murder, but what the Master Jesus does through my obedience..." (MSG).

Paul knew that God had called and arranged for him to go to Jerusalem.  He also knew that whatever happened to him there would only be what God allowed to happen to him.  So whether he would continue to live and share the message of hope and salvation through Jesus Christ or was killed and went to be with Jesus face-to-face, the outcome was still up to God.

So what are you willing to do in the power and strength that God provides you through His Holy Spirit?  He is only limited (as if it were possible to limit God) by our willingness to trust him, to jump as in the earlier illustration.  So if God can do anything and everything through you, what are you willing to do through Him?  Are you willing to trust that He knows what He's doing even when you don't?  Even when the doors don't open and the windows fall closed?  Will you still believe Him even when He "seems" to be telling you something different then He did before?

You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength, but can He do all the things He wants to through YOU?

From Zero to Hero

There are all kinds of movies about kids (or even adults) who have a miraculous transformations.  Usually from a nobody to some super popular person who then has to apologize for his/her friends for being a jerk, etc.  Did you know God has been turning no-body's in to somebody's for a few thousand  years?

Probably most of us know the stories of Noah - nobody knew who he was, well, they knew he was a quack and thought him crazy because he didn't live his life like anybody else around him (or on the world at the time for that matter!).  But you and I are here as a direct result of this nobody.  Or what about King David?  He was the youngest in his family, scrawny and got picked on and mistreated by his brothers.  He ended up killing a bear, a lion and Goliath before becoming King of all Israel.  Then there is Gideon who was a frightened young man hiding out that ends up leading a band of 300 against 30,000!

But I've got another zero to hero story for you that doesn't get a lot of press.  In Acts seven there is a situation in the early church where there is a complaint lodged against the Jewish Christians.  whether it was an oversight or intentional, the non-Jew widows felt like they were getting left out when the food was distributed to those who needed it.  The complaint went to the Apostles who apparently were  asked to handle the situation so this would not happen in the future.  The Apostles realize that if they took on this ministry of distributing food it would take them away from their primary role of preaching, teaching and praying.  (By the way, this is a good thing to remember when you get pulled in different directions - stick to your gift and your calling.)

The Apostle's decision was that seven men be chosen to oversee this ministry.  That sounded good to everyone so they agreed upon seven guys who are listed in that chapter.  Up until that day none of these men are mentioned in the Bible. And let's face it, this ministry, not very high up on the list of super wanted ministries within the church.  Anyway, they accepted the role and began to oversee the dispersal of food to the widows.

That should have been the last we heard of those guys.  Not very important guys doing not very important work.  But in the very next chapter of Acts one of the seven guys is so courageously preaching the Gospel that the religious leaders take note of him and decide he needs to be shut-up.  Now remember, Stephen was a nobody who is a contemporary with Peter, James and John!  These "super-Apostles," as Paul calls them, were also preaching and teaching in the same places and at the same time but Stephen stands out enough that he is singled out!  And the result of that focus?  Stephen becomes the first Christian Martyr in history.  His story only takes a portion of two chapters but has a huge impact on the church.

And that is not all!  In Acts 21 another one of these seven nobody's pops up in the story.  A  guy by the name of Philip.  When Paul and Luke get to Caesarea they stay at Philip's home.  How Philip and his family got from Jerusalem to Caesarea we don't know - only that they find him there.  Luke tells us that he stayed in the home of, "Philip the evangelist" who was one of the seven chosen in Jerusalem.  And that he has four unmarried daughters who prophecy. I think that is amazing!  Not only has this nobody became a somebody but he's the second one from a group of only seven who went from a little forgettable story in Acts seven to have a huge impact on the world for Christ!

Here's the reality even for us today.  Nobody knows what God is planning for their future.  We have friends who never had any kind of a desire to be missionaries who are now in their third year of a five year church planing mission in Koper, Slovenia.  Their work will have a huge impact on the kingdom for years to come.  Before becoming missionaries he was an engineer and she was a stay at home mom.  Honestly, nothing super-special about their lives, and they would tell you the same thing!

What you DO NOW is not an indicator of what God may do through you in a week, month or year. Who you ARE NOW is not who you may one day be.

So here's the rules.
1.  Release your future.   Don't get too hung-up on your past - Free yourself to God's plans.
2.  Be ready for God to use you.  Don't think that God can't or won't - that's what David, Noah and Gideon thought.
3.  Allow God to have the freedom to shape you into anything He desires - then let Him work.
4.  Always be prepared to be used as He sees fit - don't rely on yourself to figure that out.

Who knows, the next chapter of your life could be a completely different story from the first.  God will never give up on you.  Don't ever give up on Him.