Remember this...

We live in a very busy world where we are inundated with information. Smart phones, the internet, cable tv, work, family, to-do lists, honey do lists, me time, quality time... the sources of things trying to grab out attention seem to be moving at light speed.

When you couple that with the things that are going on in the world: ISIS/ISIL, the end of President Obama's administration, upcoming elections, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, stabbings in Israel, terrorist attacks in France and in The United States, it can become really easy to focus on what's happening and lose track of the big picture.

Honestly, it can all be overwhelming.

Sometimes, it becomes hard to hear God and sometimes even remember Him, but here is what He said in Isaiah 46:9-11

Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose,' calling a bird of prey from the east, the man f my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it."

In the midst of all the chaos, God has a plan!

This morning, I was drawn to a Bible that I hadn't picked up in ages and the following verses where highlighted as I was making my way to Isaiah 46:

1. I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine had, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles... (Is 42:6)
2. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no savior. (Is 43:11) 
3. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you; therefore ye re my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God. (Is 43:12)
4. Yea, before the day was, I m he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand; I will work, and who shall let it? (Is 43:13)
5. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King (Is 43:15)
6. This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise. (Is 43:21)
7. Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I m the last; and beside me there is no God. (Is 44:6)

Everything seemed to be shouting that God is sovereign, He is in control. He has a plan. He has a history of showing himself mighty.

Sometimes in the grand scheme of things, we tend to look a little inward. Let's take action and look upwards. Let us remember that God is sovereign, that He has a plan, that He alone is the Savior, and most importantly to praise Him because He is worthy!

Is the truth ambiguous?

We live in an age where "the truth" is slightly more ambiguous than ever before. In the United States, you would think that the Republicans and Democrats never read the same documents that outline the vision for how the country should be run.

Even in the churches, there are differences in option on what is allowed, whether hell actually exists, whether we should actually ever use the word "sin" in a sermon... the list goes on.

When Paul writes to the church in Galatia, he starts by saying:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (Galatians 1:3-4)

This is a powerful statement! Since we have been delivered from sin, why would we voluntarily become slaves to it again? He also provides the reminder that the reason that we should not wallow in sin is because it's the will of God.

It is important that we read the Bible for ourselves. That we meditate on it, that we make it a part of the way that we live. It is more than just a moral compass or a book of suggestions. In the pages of the Bible we find life!

We find the model of what love is, how to not live an immoral life, how to share the love of God with others.

Let's put Christianity in action and not just listen to what the pastoral staff or the minister on the radio and television broadcast says... let us read it and meditate on it and ensure that what they are saying aligns with the Bible ourselves.

Why suffering?

The Christian church in America has been fortunate in that it has not really suffered the persecution like many of our Christian brothers across the globe. There are places in the world where it it illegal to be a Christian or to own a Bible, but this the church continues to grow!

When Paul starts his second letter to the church in Corinth, it has a different voice than his first.

He first reminds them to bless God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ - the Father of mercies and God of all comfort who

• comforts us in all our affliction
• so that we may comfort those who are in affliction

and reminds them that we are comforted by God (2 Cor 1:3-5)

Paul then writes:

If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same suffering that that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. (2 Cor 1:6-7)

The big question is why?

I don't claim to have the answer, but Paul does say something that is worth considering and meditating on:

Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. (2 Cor 1:9-10)

I think one of the dangers of living in a world where all of our needs are met is that we forget to rely on God from time to time. We lose site of the fact that God provides for us so in turn, we forget about those around us who may be less fortunate, or those that are in need.

Paul links both his suffering with their suffering. His comfort with their comfort.

As a church,.. no, as Christians, we need to be aware of what is going on with our fellow Christians and engage ourselves with their mission - which is the furthering of the gospel.

We have just finished Thanksgiving, the ushering in of the season of excess. We celebrate with a large meal then many people start their "black Friday" and Christmas shopping. During this advent season, let us not forget those who are suffering. Let us take action and show the life if Christ to those who need to understand that regardless of their station in life, Christ loves them, gave himself for their sins, and has a home in heaven for them forever more, Selah.

... this is the truth...

When Paul greats the churches in Galatia he starts off reminding them that we have grace and peace from God who:

• gave himself for our sins
• to deliver us from the present evil age
• not because we deserve it, but because it is the will of God (Galatians 1:3-5)

He is absolutely amazed that although this miraculous event happened people are turning away from Christ to a different... which provides a distorted view of Christ.

Christianity has the ability to change lives. It's not through our own efforts, but through the prompting of God's Holy Spirit that comes in and radically changes out lives. The Bible teaches us that there is only one way to the Father. Through believing in the fact that His son, Jesus, not only died for our sins but was risen again on the third day. (1 Cor 15)

It doesn't end there... because He died for our sins, we are no longer bond by the curse of sin, if we believe in this, we are a new creation, our old sins have passed away... we are a new creation and have been adopted into God's family where we can call Him Daddy (Abba). (Galatians 4)

It doesn't end there either! He has called us to do great things... displaying His love to a world that desperately needs to hear salvation, and as a result, we share the gospel as He leads us to, and lives are changed bringing others into the Family of God. (John 4)

Any church that never reminds us of this, that does not have a sense of urgency to reach outside of its doors to reach the lost is in danger of just being a social gathering where we just work on ourselves!!

When we look at the life of Christ, He was constantly talking to those who needed a savior. We are called Christians because we do the same thing that Christ did.

Let us take action and remember who we are!

 

What does real look like?

When asked "What does Christianity mean to you" a lot of people reduce it to statements like:

• ... well I go to church on Sunday
• ... I pray
• ... I try to read my Bible
• ... I try to be a good person

I love to read the greetings in Paul's letters because it's  reminder of us as to who we are called to be. 

Over the next few day's let's look at how Paul greets the various churches. Today, we'll start in 1 Corinthians. He reminds the church that they are:

1. Sanctified in Christ Jesus
2. Called to be a  saint (holy people)
3. It's not just the people in Corinth, but everyone that believes in Jesus should b sanctified and holy
4. That they are enriched in Jesus in speech and knowledge
5. Not lacking any gift
6. Sustained until the end (1 Cor 1:1-9)

Sanctification and holy indicate that we are set apart. Our lives should be distinguishable from our culture. 

Can we articulate out faith?

Do we demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control - Galatians 5;22-23)

Are we hanging on to our faith and our beliefs?

Although I am not a fan of reducing Christianity to a list, sometimes it's beneficial to take a step back and ensure that we are living up to the standard by which we are called.

1 Peter 2:9 affirms that

[We]... are a chosen race, a rotal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that [we] may proclaim the excellencies of him who called [us] out of darkness and into His marvelous light. [1 Peter 2:9]

There are people in the world that need to hear this message. Let us take action to ensure that we remember who we are and that we continue to consistently share this with those who are in dire need of a Savior!

Two Doors

There are two doors that a Christian faces in his life. The first one, we have to chose to open. The other one, we need to choose to walk through. Both are completely life changing, but most of us only tend to think about one most of the time.

What's behind door #1?

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come i and eat with that person, and they with me. (Rev 3:20) 

At the beginning of our Christian journey, we all heard Jesus knocking on the door of our heart. We were brave enough to answer. This began our Christian journey! It's important that we continue to realize that the Holy Spirit has taken residence inside us and that we need to spend some quality time with our house guest.

What's behind door #2?

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Matt 16:18

Jesus spoke these words to Peter just after Peter proclaimed that Jesus was the son of God and Jesus recognized that "flesh and blood" did not reveal that to him.

A lot of times, we think about this being a defensive statement... but when the enemy attacks - they do not bring their gates with them! That's right! We are to be standing at the gates of hell waging war through prayer and through sharing Christ with those that are trapped behind the gates.

Let's remember how great it was when we opened Door #1, and lets not forget that we are daily standing in front of Door #2!

Welcome Home!

For the past few weeks I have been meditating on the parable of the Prodigal Son. For those that are unfamiliar with the story, it's about a son who asks his father for his inheritance now - then moves to a city, squanders the money away, ends up working on a pig farm and starving.... then after all of that decides that it's best to go home and work as a servant for his Dad because the servants at his own home are treated better than he's currently being treated.

If this were to be told today, the story would be about a person who moved out on their own, got a really good job, was living a comfortable life and decided that church or the fellowship of believers weren't important to their spiritual well being because they're "comfortable."

Instead of feeding pigs, they might be involved with drinking too much, sexual immorality,  or any other number of things that we do that we are ashamed to talk about with those that are closest to us.

The fascinating part of the story to me is that the son recognizes that his Dad will always take him back. That is the nature of God. The thing that I wrestled with is - why does it take us so long to see this?

Regardless of where we are or what we have done, God is waiting with open arms for us to repent!

Take action today and ask yourself how far you are from home, and whether or not you need to return to a pure relationship with God. He's waiting!

Spiritual or Spare Ritual?

Every Sunday, millions of Christians leave the comfort of their home to gather with other believers to worship. The fact that we can do this freely in the Western world is nothing to be taken lightly especially since there are many places in the rest of the world where the church is still persecuted.

The challenge is to prevent this from becoming a meaningless ritual that we perform that we either take for granted or treat casually.

When Jesus met the woman at the well they had a conversation... it appears as though she views worship as the "ritual" - the when and the where.

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. John 4:20

Jesus' reply gets to the heart of the matter:

 But the hour is coming, and is here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship hum. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. John 4:23-24 

In no way am I implying that you should not go to church. On the contrary... Christianity in Action is realizing that we are the church, and it's not about a ritual, or a time or a place. We should always be worshiping God in spirit and in truth.

Let's spend some time this week meditating on our relationship with God and allow Him to show us whether we have gotten complacent and our relationship has been reduced to a check box, or whether we are truly worshiping God as we should in all aspects of our life.

Don't rock the boat!

"Don't rock the boat" is a metaphor that is used to say "don't do anything that will jeopardize your safety."

In our lives, most of us have the tendency to stay where it's comfortable. We don't like to risk things. Even if it's a situation that we don't like, if it's familiar, we tend to stay there. I think that's why some of us have friends that we know are toxic, or we still go to familiar places that we visited before we were saved.

"Don't rock the boat!"

"Go with the flow"

"It isn't that bad, is it?"

These are all things that we tell ourselves just to get by sometimes... but... what if God is calling us to get out of the boat?

When Jesus began his ministry there were two brothers... I won't tell you the story, I'll let you read it for yourself:

And going on a little father, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. - Mark 1:19-20

James and John had a family fishing business that provided them a reasonable amount of safety. They were doing well enough to have hired servants that worked with them! But when they heard the voice of Jesus, they immediately left everything to chase after God.

I don't think this passage is saying quit your job today, but I think this passage is asking us if we have this place of safety that we are relying on that is preventing us from hearing the voice of God and moving into action when He calls us!

Let's spend the day listening to the voice of God, and answering the call when He asks us to get out of the boat! This may look like different things to different people. He could be asking you to take the kids to a different park today because there's someone there that needs to hear from Him...

Selah

The Walking Dead

Right now, zombie movies and television shows are very popular. Zombie are essentially dead people who don't know that they are dead. Their animated corpses wander around aimlessly with one goal in mind. EAT. FEED. The problem is that they consume and consume and they are never satisfied!

This is what life is without Christ. As Christians, we see the walking dead around us every day. We see people who are dead inside, but try to fill their lives with alcohol, sex, relationships, going to the gym, work... the list goes on.

They try the same thing over and over expecting happiness, but it just doesn't happen!

Ephesians 2:1-9 explains it this way:

 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a]and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.[b]4 But[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

In every zombie movie I've seen, the "survivors" are in one of two different camps:

• those doing what it takes to survive
• those working on a cure

Christians doing what it takes to survive are missing out on great adventures that God has in store. We have the cure to life and were even commissioned to take this cure that we call the gospel and share it with the world!

Let's put Christianity in action and let's cure the walking dead!

What are you looking for?

Almost everyone that I know is looking for something: acceptance from friends, a promotion at work, the love of their life, to loose weight, retirement, vacation... the list goes on forever.

For most of these people, these things consume their day. They are absolutely preoccupied with this never ending quest. The problem is, they are never satisfied when they get what they are looking for. There is always something else around the corner that is pushing them towards the next thing!

To me, this begs the question: what will make you happy? What will give you peace?

Peace is a concept that has been lost in our day. It's turned into a tag line, or a greeting, or something that people do to look cool.

The Bible uses the word "shalom" for peace. Shalom not only means peace, but it's this kind of peace that comes through completeness. The big question is where does this completeness come from?

In the book of Hosea, God asks Hosea to marry an unfaithful woman. This unfaithful woman symbolizes how the relationship between Israel and God had become. Israel had left their first love and were seeking after other gods in an attempt to find peace and happiness.

The following is said about Hosea's wife:

She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them.Then she shall say, "I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now."

His wife would continually try to find happiness - shalom - and never find it! She was seeking after the wrong thing. In the New Testament, Jesus shares the same idea but slightly differently. He says:

Therefore do not be anxious, saying "What shall we ear?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

Imagine how your life would change if you chased God instead of chasing things? God understands what your needs are, but if you seek Him first ask for His strength and guidance how would your world change?

My challenge to you is to take a few days and put this in action and see if your peace... your shalom increases.

 

Who is calling you?

I use to love watching the classic Batman series when I came home from school. There was something comforting about knowing that when there was a need, Commissioner Gordon could pick up the Batphone and let Batman know that there was a mission... there was something that needed to be addressed that only he could handle.

On the other side of the phone, the person that answered was always expecting to hear the voice of Commissioner Gordon. On the rare occasions when  someone else, like Batgirl, there was surprise, because they new the voice of who they were expecting and that there was a need.

Really in Christianity it is no different. 

We all have missions in life that God wants us to accomplish. Whether it's praying for a person or a situation, sharing the gospel with someone or meeting a need that someone may have, God is always reaching out to His people to achieve His goals.

One of the things that has perplexed me about the post-modern church is that a lot of people have stopped answering the phone! There is this idea that going to church is enough, or participating in church activities is enough. There's this idea that those that are called into the ministry or the mission field are the ones that are supposed to act.

The idea that we don't have to jump into action because we haven't been called is a false notion. We are all called. That's why I love reading the first line of most of the books penned by the Apostle Paul. For example, in the book of Galatians, he says:

Paul, an apostle - not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead... Galatians 1:1

Like Paul, we are all called, not by man but by Jesus Christ, whose final words before ascending to heaven were:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Matt 28:18-19

We know this wasn't just the mission of the disciples. If it were, neither you nor I would believe because there are no direct disciples of Jesus today and His message is still changing lives.

Here is today's call to action: Think about the Christians in your life who have made an impact that weren't Pastors, Ministers, or missionaries. There are probably quite a few. Let's act and become a part of that number!

It's Game Time!

The one thing that everyone likes about basketball is how fast paced it is. People love to see the break away plays, the ale-oop, the monster dunk or the well placed fade away jumper. As a matter of fact, that's the way many of us face life... run and gun and hope for the best!

The thing that fascinates me about basketball is that when the game is on the line, they will run set plays. When they need to score, they have a game plan.

Christianity has a game plan too. When Jesus left His last words, what we call The Great Commission, was to go to all nations, teaching them and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. However, when it comes  to living out that mission, we adopt the run and gun offense.

Today, I would like to talk about "Out-of-Bounds Play #1" - remember why.

Colossians 1:9-14 says:

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

We need to remember that we were once "out of bounds" - we were sinners and now we have redemption and forgiveness of our sins. For this reason, we need to continually be filled with the knowledge of His will and bear fruit.

I pray that you remember that we were once slaves to sin, but God has set us free and that we listen to His voice and take advantage of the opportunity to share this with others!

Before you start...

The Old Testament starts with these words:

In the beginning, God...

The New Testament starts with these words:

In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Sometimes we get so caught up in looking for something esoteric in the Bible that we miss simple things. Everything great thing that we see in the Bible begins with God. Here are a few examples:

• God tells Moses to tell Pharaoh to let His people go. 
• God told Samuel to choose Saul as Israel's first king
• God called the Judges
• God called the prophets
• God says "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased" at the beginning of Jesus' ministry

God has a plan for all of us. A lot of times we miss it because we don't know where to start.

My challenge to you is to listen to God... and ask Him what it is He wants you to do, and how He wants to accomplish it. Don't "Go" until you hear Him!