Continued…

February 7, 2011 • 8:00 am 7

Intentional Church…

I sat across from one of the ministers from my church,   Here are two quotes from the conversation.

Him: “I don’t want another system.” ME:  “I don’t either.”   We were discussing discipleship in relation to small groups, and how do we become more organic in our Church, and intentional in Discipleship.

I sat in church the other a couple months ago and listened to the preacher talk about making the choice for ministry, specifically to the ministry of preaching the Gospel. As I have processed through the sermon, I realized God does not want just another preacher.

I don’t want to be just another preacher.  I want to be more intentional in my use of God’s word to affect Discipleship.

This all starts with the intent of my heart…

Well over 20 years ago I walked away from the institutional church because I was fed up with not finding the answers I was seeking about my faith and was frustrated with the lack of focus on the teachings of Christ. The church was more focused on it’s systems of belief and theology, they were forgetting how to live as the Church and how to live as the Church through Christ.

I started back at an institutional Church about 9 years ago. I could copy and paste my frustrations from the above paragraph.

I need to state here, that church in whatever form it takes is not the issue.  The issue is the intent of the people involved in the church. The worldly view of church says  a church is successful if…If what?  The more people in the seats, the more people are tithing, the more people are in bible studies,the  more people dress a certain way, the more people avoid “evil” things, the more people ignore…..the more the more…the more we ignore the One who instituted the Church.

What did Jesus say to the Pharisees when he confronted them about their man made traditions of doing church?  From Mark 7

Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.” 6 Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,`These people honor me with their lips,  but their hearts are far from me. 7 Their worship is a farce,  for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ 8 For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.” 9 Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition. 10 For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: `Honor your father and mother,’ and `Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ 11 But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, `Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ 12 In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents. 13 And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.”

And what was the law of God?  From Mathew 22:

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. 35 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Jesus in both instances is teaching about the intent of the heart.  Interesting that Jesus said both of these in view Pharisees and Sadducees, the leaders of the institutional church at the time. Jesus was more concerned with the intent and focus of the heart toward His church, and was intentionally putting their man made traditions on the alter.  They are to be discarded. Romans 12:1-2

When focused on “the more” success that is defined by the world and set up by a man made system to gain “the more”, we discard the ways of Christ for our own.  Christ is intent on changing the focus of our heart to be His heart.  The intent of Christ’s heart is going to be carried out in-spite of us and our want for more.  We are to be focused on more of Christ, and the change only he can make to the intention of the heart of His Church.

I  have recognized that it is not the institution of church that drives the intent of my heart…It is the power of the Holy Spirit driving me to love Christ more and more everyday.    Today I am blessed to be part of a church that is being intentional about making Disciples,  It starts with being intentional about prayer, and connecting the dots of Christ’s church in the community.   The  body of Christ working together to affect hearts with the Gospel.  Christ the Church, being intentional…

Filed under: Discipleship, God's View, , , , ,

February 3, 2011 • 8:13 am 1

Incomplete thoughts…

What you are about to read is a series of half written posts that have been in draft status for awhile.  It is time for me to clean house with them and get them out of the way.  So enjoy my incomplete thoughts….

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(From Jan 10th 2011)

92000 miles…  Around 950 miles a month since the summer of 2003.  If I have the math correct my car will turn or be close to 100,000 miles on my 40th birthday.   Of the 92000 miles I have been in the drivers seat for 95% or more of them.   There is a well worn spot on the steering wheel, a warn spot on the door window sill trim, and the shifter is worn smooth on top.   I know how the car will react in almost every situation, how fast it will accelerate, handle certain turns and curves, and how quick it will stop.   After almost 8 years I hardly notice the hail damage that the car has, and had when I bought it.   What else do I remember..

____________

(From Dec 11th, 2010)

OK with my imperfection…  (Yeah the title is as far as I got with that one)

____________

(From Aug 17th 2010.  This is the one that will be completed sooner than later)

I sat across from one of the ministers from my church. Here are two quotes from the conversation.

“I don’t want another system.” “I don’t either.”

I sat in church the other day and listened to a preacher talk about making the choice for ministry, specifically to the ministry of preaching the Gospel. As I have processed through the sermon, I realized God does not want just another preacher.

I don’t want to be just another preacher.

Well over 20 years ago I walked away from the institutional church because I was fed up with not finding the answers I was seeking about my faith and was frustrated with the lack of focus on the teachings of Christ. The church was more focused on it’s systems of belief and theology, they were forgetting how to live as the Church and how to live the Church through Christ.

_______________

(From Feb 25th, 2010.  The task of this book still lingers in God’s timing)

The first part of this book will focus on worship.

So I want to know a couple things if you are willing.

What is your worship style?

How do you get focused on worship?

Do you or can you worship with out Music?

—————–

It is interesting  looking back at those disconnect thoughts.  I can’t tell you the number of times I think of something to write about, an experience with my faith or a clarification  God has given me from scripture, that remain unwritten.   Or how many times I have sat down to write a post and gotten 3/4 of the way through and hit the delete key.   God reminds me often that I am tasked to do things that are within His will, and that not everything he teaches me  is meant to be blogged to the world.  Maybe it is because what God is teaching me is not what the reader needs, maybe what God is teaching me needs to remain between me and Him. My prayers, writing and thoughts may be incomplete, but no teaching with God is incomplete or without purpose.

Being complete in His purpose means to completely seek him…

Jer 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Filed under: Christ, Discipleship, , , ,

January 31, 2011 • 9:00 am 4

Who is my neighbor…worth retelling…

It was the hardest collusion I had experienced in Basketball in a long time.   Jammed fingers, twisted ankles sure, but this was a knee to the ribs going up for a rebound.   After hitting the floor I realized the wind was gone,  I was gasping for air, and my side hurt.

Then I heard a lone voice:  Are you OK, do you have any medical conditions? …. Continued below.

30In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

We have to remember that Israel and Samaria did not get along.  Though they worshiped the same God they were bitter enemies.   To even talk to each other was often punished severely.   Much the same shock was shown when the disciples found Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman at the well.   The two groups hated each other so much they would not even use the well for water at the same time.

In the book Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard,  Willard talks about this parable and what the term Neighbor means, when Jesus is asked, “Who is my neighbor?”    Knowing what we do about Israel and Samaria we know that for the Samaritan to stop in view of the Priest and Levite, our “good Samaritan”/neighbor is not always who we expect them to be.  Willard goes on to explain that today we might say “Good Muslim” “Good Iraqi”… Etc, and it may extend in some circles to “Good Prostitute, Good Christian, even Good Homosexual”  Our neighbors are not just those people who share the same ideas and beliefs we do.  Being a part of God’s creation all people can be and are our neighbors.

…. I was sitting out the first game of ball, when he first walked in.  I had never met him before.  The first word I heard out of his mouth was the F word, and I quickly said “Could you please watch your language?” I admit I let the first impression sink in.  A bit later he introduced himself as Brandon.  As he shot around and warmed up to play ball, I took notice of the manner in how he carried himself, the way he talked, and his mannerisms.  I quickly made the assumption that he had some feminine qualities, honestly none of this bothered me really, and I treated him no different than any of the other guys there to play.  But in the back of my mind he was labeled.

Since we both had not played, the next game we ended up on the same team.  No problem, he could shoot well.   The game progressed along, and nothing out of the ordinary happened until…

Towards the end of the game one of the other guys on our team took and missed a shot,  going up for the rebound out of the corner of my eye I see Brandon coming in for the rebound also.   That is when the collusion happened.

It was the hardest collusion I had experienced in Basketball for a long time.   After hitting the floor I realized the wind was gone,  I was gasping for air, and my side hurt.  I laid there eyes closed

Then I heard a lone voice:  Are you OK, do you have any medical conditions? GASP I couldn’t speak.  “Are you ok? Just stay still”. GASP.   “Can you get up?  Through GASPing “I just need to catch my breath.” GASP. “

After couple minutes, I was ready to get up.  When I opened my eyes…There was Brandon, the only person to stay and make sure I was alright.

Did I mention where I play ball is at a church and most of the men around my age are Christians, yet none of them were there while I laid on the floor or to offer me a hand up.

Who was my neighbor?  GASP

We are all part of God’s creation, regardless of a persons choice to follow Christ or not.  We must love our neighbor as ourselves.  Even those we would never expect to be our neighbor.

Filed under: Christ, God's View, , ,

January 25, 2011 • 12:47 pm 0

Looking a new…

So sometimes you have to look at things in a new way to learn something new.    As was the case last night, as we sat down for family devotional time for the first time in awhile.  Mathew 20 is where we opened the bible too. That chapter contains the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard.  I read through the story, stopping to ask questions, and discuss along the way.

We covered what is most of the time covered with this passage:

  • God is the vineyard owner
  • The day’s pay represents our salvation
  • We are the workers
  • Everyone’s salvation is the same, regardless of when they put Faith in Chris

All pretty standard stuff, it was a good new start back into the family devotional time.  Then as I was wrapping up I Saw this:   Matt 20:2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

How had I not seen the order of this sentence before?  The fact that one short verse points to the assurance of salvation. I do not think it was an accident that the agreement for pay(salvation), came before the work.   We do not work and then find out what our pay is. We are guaranteed our salvation first and then we go to work for the Master of the Vineyard.

Not that the concept of saved by Grace and not works is new to me.  That I understand… What is new is the subtlety of the ordering of the sentence.  Makes me wonder what new things I have missed about Christ by not looking  to him a new?

 

Filed under: Christ, Thoughts, , , ,

January 21, 2011 • 4:11 pm 1

Is there a pure guy left…

This is an in the Moment post…   Something just needs to be said.

Over the past few weeks, I have had 3 things come into my purview:

About 2 weeks ago my almost 11 year old daughter brought home a book that a friend gave her.   She was excited to start reading it.  It is by P.C Cast and titled “Marked”  Just let me say that in the first 30 pages the language used was not appropriate, and in the first 50 pages I found a reference to oral sex.  My immediate reaction was to tell my daughter she could not read the book.   Then she questioned why?   I calmly explained the language issue and tap danced a bit around the other adult content aspect.  I made sure she understood why I would not allow her to read the book. I then promised to replace the books with something more appropriate for her age.  What gets me is Marked  is a book being targeted to young teen readers, and runs in the same genera as the Twilight series.  Why the need to include this kinda of language and adult content (Content I wouldn’t even read)  ?

Then there was a small snippet I read about a new show on MTV called Skins.  The name of the show may tell you all you need to know, but here is the Episode Summery from the Premier last night:

Tony’s a smart kid. So smart he believes that he can get his best friend Stanley laid, and make a profit in the bargain — with a drug deal. Inevitably that deal goes wrong. Stanley doesn’t lose his virginity…again. And a stolen car, carrying the unpaid drugs, goes into the lake. Now the kids are really in trouble…

Did I mention that the age of the kids depicted in the show are 14-16? Really? Really?  Does anyone else see a problem?

Has anyone thought that there may be a problem with the over sexualization of kids  today?  Of course people have, but,  sure doesn’t seem like much is being done.  Fact, the media is bombarding our kids with images and messages that sex in almost any form is OK.   I will not bore you with the physical and emotional issues that sex brings into a person’s life, but most kids in there teens think they can handle them.

Lord knows I have stood on the streets and watched the affect of this attitude….My heart is crushed, as I think what could be avoided…

And then there is this:

This morning brought some clarity.  As I drove into work the morning show I listen to, Mornings with Brant on WAY-FM,  had a discussion based on an e-mail that was sent to the show by a Dad in relation to his 18 year old girl.  READ the e-mail and Brant’s response.  The basic question.  When it comes to purity are there any decent guys left?  This girl, based on the example of purity by her Dad, seems to think there isn’t.

First I love that the daughter sees purity in her Dad.  Dad’s take note of that.  You hold the key to what your daughter will look for in a husband.  Your example and how you love her, treat her, and the proper affection you show, gives her a model to go by.  So Dad’s ask yourself this question… If you were an 18 year old girl, would you date you?  Is your purity such that you hold the opposite sex up in purity also? How is your marriage?  How are you in affection and purity towards your wife?  Not looking on them as sexual objects, but a person who deserves love, respect, and proper affection.  See Ephesians 5  (SIDE Note: Men do not think for a moment that your son’s do not notice these things and learn from you also.  How you treat and respect the opposite sex transfers to your son.)  Your children will learn from you or the world… Which will you chose?

To the 18 year old girl… I am sorry.  I am sorry.  I am sorry that men, can not think beyond their one track mind, and can not release themselves from the images and pictures of what society deems as almost normal now.  There  is a chance for these men, But they can not do it alone.

I love Brant’s take:

This said, as she looks over the field of boys, she’s not looking at finished products.  And if she finds “the guy” when she’s say, 23, and walks down an aisle, she still hasn’t found a finished product.  That boy, or man, will still be confronted with that question:  ”Embrace manhood and grow, or cling to my foolishness?”

And there in lies the Grace of God… That in the depravity of over sexed media images, there is  Grace.  Each man has a choice to step up and accept that Grace from a Savior who can wash away that depravity.  Don’t believe me ask me what Christ has done for my depravity.   Ask me about the journey I have had on the road to trying to achieve purity…

I more and more understand Paul in his letters, when he talks about marriage and the need to control our sexual tendencies.  That our lives must be filtered through the Grace of God.   And we must measure our thinking:  Phil 4:8  Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Dad’s it starts with us, for the sake of every 18 year old girl.  Be a model of purity.   If you have a Son, be a model of purity.

Filed under: Discipleship, Men, , , , ,

December 23, 2010 • 8:00 am 2

A Baby into this World: Why?

Continuing to explore the reason we celebrate the birth of Christ.  A Re-Post from a couple of years ago.

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So have you ever wondered what God was thinking when he sent his Son into this world? Why in his world would God send his Son into the world full of sin?  From the first sin of Man to the sin of Israel that lead to it’s destruction at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, even the sin in the world today.  What was God’s plan with a Baby Boy that came into this world in the most unassuming way?

Exodus 34:14 Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

You see God is a jealous God, and his jealously makes him want to rise up in anger against that which separates us from him.  That is sin.  Our sinful nature is what provokes this jealous anger.

If you read through the Old Testament God’s jealously rises up against the sins of Israel to the point that he wants to beat the sin out of the world.  Now think about that.  He was so jealous of the sin in the world he destroyed it by flood,  Sodom and Gomorra destroyed,  Israel conquered by Babylon,  all because they refused to listen to the prophets,  and heed God’s warning.  God demanded sacrifices to pay for sin, but the hearts of His people were never pure.  The sacrifices were futile.

What was a Jealous God to do to restore the relationship with his people he created?  Destroy the world via flood again?  No he promised not to do that.  More futile sacrifices?  No.  Well he sent a little Baby, His Son to save us.

II Cor 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

To be sin… That is a powerful statement. What was God thinking?  He wanted to rise up and destroy sin, to beat it out of this world. So why would he make his Son be that sin for us?

See, the baby that came into this world in an unassuming way, was beaten and crucified so that the sin that was laid upon him would be destroyed.  God used the life and death of this baby to restore the relationship with His people, His church, by rising up with out stretched arms as the ultimate sacrifice on a cross.  Christ was sent once and for all to purify,  by His sacrifice,  the people of His Church.

Titus 2:13-15 while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

15These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.

This Christmas as we celebrate the Joy that is Christ’s birth, let us not for get the ultimate sacrifice he made for us to restore our relationship with his Father.

Filed under: Christ, , ,

December 21, 2010 • 8:31 am 0

Modern Day Christmas Parable…

This is a Christmas Parable that I first heard as part of a sermon told by a Priest when I was in high school.   When he told it the birds were pidgins,  the ending was a bit different, but the premise the same.    I think over all though it just gives a good picture of God’s willingness to save us by becoming one of us…

—————————–

Author Unknown.

A modern-day Christmas story.

There was a man, a farmer who didn’t believe in God, and never
hesitated to tell others how he felt about religion and religious holidays
like Christmas. His wife, however, had strong faith and raised their
children to believe in God and Jesus despite her husband’s disparaging
remarks.

One snowy winter his wife was taking the children to the Christmas Eve
service in town. She invited her husband to come; but he refused, saying,
“That story is nonsense.” & “Why would God lower himself to come to earth as
a man? It’s ridiculous!”

So she and the children left and he stayed home.

Awhile later the wind began to pick up and the snowfall turned into a
blizzard. Looking out the windows, all the farmer saw was blinding snow.
He sat before the fireplace, hoping his wife would have enough sense to stay
in town until the storm passed. Suddenly he heard a loud thump that shook
the house slightly; then another thump like the first. He leaped ;up and
went to the window. Outside he could see nothing but the driving snow; so
he bundled up and went out onto the porch.

Through the snow he could make out about a dozen wild geese, milling
around in his yard. They’d been overwintering in the woods down by his
pond, and the heavy wind and snow had apparently driven them away from the
sheltering trees. Now they were lost and confused, and being battered by
those forces. They would likely be injured or killed out there. Â He
didn’t want that to happen.

The barn! There, he thought, with the warmth of the other animals, the
geese could ride out the storm. So he struggled over to the barn, opened
the big door and waited, expecting them to recognize safety and go inside.
But the geese had no idea what the man intended, and tried to huddle
together for protection. He beat on the barn door to get their attention;
but that didn’t do anything. He went back to the house and got some
bread, laying a trail of pieces from the flock to the barn. That did
nothing either. Finally he tried to shoo them toward the barn; but that
only frightened them more and they moved further away from him and the
barn. Nothing he did could get the geese into the barn, where they would
be warm and safe.

“Can’t they see, this is the only place they can survive the
storm?”  he exclaimed in frustration.

Then recognition came to him. The geese just won’t follow a man!
If I was a goose, I could save them, he thought. That wasn’t
possible, so he did the next best thing. He went into the barn, picked up
one of his farm geese and carried the scared bird out into the yard,
circling around the wild flock to the side away from the barn. There he
turned his bird loose. Honking and flapping its wings, his goose made a
beeline into the barn. One by one, the wild geese followed.

When all the geese were safely inside the barn, the farmer stood alone in
his yard, very satisfied with what he’d done. He remembered the thought
that made it happen, If I was a goose, I could save them. In the next
instant, he recalled the derisive words to his wife, “Why would God lower
himself to come to earth as a man?”

Suddenly, it all made sense.

Two thousand years ago, mankind was like the wil d geese lost,
confused, and perishing. God could have changed that without any effort at
all. But then we wouldn’t understand and believe in Him. That’s what
Christmas is all about.

The farmer sank to his knees in the snow and said the first prayer since
he was a child. Thank you, God, for coming to save me.

Filed under: Christ, Jesus, , ,

December 6, 2010 • 9:15 pm 0

Men Choose to follow this Christmas…

At church today we listened to a sermon on why God would send his Son as a baby.   Of all the ways Jesus, being God, could have come into the world… A Baby.  I have written my perspective before about this Baby that was laid in a manger, and what II Cor 5:21 really means in the reality of Jesus coming to this earth.

I think about  Mary.  A teen facing the stigma of being pregnant before marriage, and she chose to be obedient to God and accept the plan he had for her.  After the angel left her.  I wonder was there fear and uncertainty.   Sure she was obeying God, but she had stood to lose everything.

But, As God continues to move me through the process of understanding the Spiritual battle Men must step up to, I could not help but wonder about the story of Jesus’ birth in a little bit different way.  What of the man chosen to be the earthly dad to Jesus as he grew up.  Joseph.  What can we as men learn about his response to Mary, his future wife, being pregnant?

This is what we know about Joseph:

Matthew 1:

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”(which means “God with us”).

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Imagine Joseph’s reaction when he found out Mary was pregnant?  The questions he asked Mary, and maybe the questions unasked.  The confusion and maybe some anger.  But Joseph was  a good Jewish Man so he did what the law allowed, but showed his compassion toward Mary by not calling her out publicly.   God had other plans, and Joseph chose to follow…

Men it is pretty simple God has a plan for us when it comes to the women in our lives.  No matter the situation, no matter how angry or frustrated we get.  Even though we may want to walk away… God has other plans, it is up to us to cho0se to follow…

Filed under: Christ, Leadership, Men, , , ,

November 16, 2010 • 8:00 am 3

Prayer for Life… Day 1

This post is my journaling from day one, and reflection about a week after. To read the introduction post click here: Prayer for Life Mission
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Reflection 1

I was not the only one who needed see the whole story so I put out the call…

This whole thing started with a request for men to be more involved.  My mother in-law, who is the director of A Women’s Choice crisis pregnancy center, asked if I could get men to go downtown and pray for their new center that would be opening up next to the Abortion Clinic. I took it a step further and asked the men to step out on the street; I challenged them to “A Prayer for Life”.

Proverbs 15:29 The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

As I look at the issues in our society, honestly, I feel men have allowed many of the problems with society to happen. That we have allowed ourselves to be marginalized to the point where women don’t believe they need us.  And women have come to terms with the fact that men will just be apathetic to leadership.

God saw the apathy of men early, when after the apple was bit, He went looking for answers.

Gen 3:9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

I asked the same question, and now I am looking for the answer.

As I began to organize men through e-mails, I challenged them with this:

What if men stood up?  What if men said something?  What if men decided to fight?  What if men decided to fight the battle with prayer?

Eph 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Ask yourself this question.  If men stood up, fought, and prayed against these forces, what issues would go away in this world?  I could list many… and one involves the life of those without voice.

Journal Day 1

My thoughts are so disjointed right now…Bare with me as I get this out of my system.

“There is a better way” A statement by another man affected as deeply as I am right now…

The scale of change is directly proportional to the affect we have on the cause of the change. Want something to change? Figure out how to change the outcome by affecting the root cause not the issue at hand.

WHAT ARE WE DOING?

When is the best time to affect a choice?

Why are we just standing idle?

This is life and death, this is now… This is not something we can run from.

We talk about the choice all the time, we argue and bicker over whose choice is what choice.  We get mad when someone doesn’t make the choice we would have made, and confront them on their choice.  What causes anyone to be in the position to make the choice?  What are we doing to affect and change the cause of them being in the position to make a choice?

When Jesus turned the tables in the temple he was angry because not one of his chosen people would stand up to the choice at hand.  The Pharisees and the religious leaders were focused on the surface issues and they would not stand up to the spiritual forces that lead to the temple becoming a market of greed.   Jesus was upset that the ones who should know better did not stand the gap to affect the issue before the money changers set up the tables…

This is a life or death choice.   We sit idle as people make this choice everyday.   Then we have the audacity to act wounded when they choose what we wouldn’t.    Did we stand and fight for the truth?   None of that matters my real question.  Did we stand and show them love?

There are battles, that on the surface are being fought in the streets based on ideals and rights people think they understand.  Heck I don’t even claim to understand.  But few will take to the spiritual battle; few will stand a gap…

Jesus wants us to stand up and fight before the issue becomes a choice.  Jesus wants us to plant the seed of life well before the choice has to be made.  Jesus wants the ultimate choice of life to be Him and Him alone.

How do we affect a person’s choice?  Love them like Jesus does.

Filed under: Christ, Men, Prayer, , , , ,

August 2, 2010 • 6:14 am 5

This is not our Church…

If you read Philter48.com you would have seen this post already.  After my last post on the word Christian, I felt that perspective was needed on who the Church belongs too, and why we as the Body the Bride need to focus solely on Him…

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From Cathedrels to Third World missions.. Love will fall to the earth like a  crashing crashing wave…

PEOPLE THE CHURCH DOES NOT BELONG TO US!!!!!!

The church belongs to Christ!!!

This week I was having a conversation with some brothers in Christ about having a Christ Centered world view. It was centered around politics. We concluded some things are just not worth debating or arguing about, if they break down the bonds of Christ’s Church.

My comment was. We can’t even agree to Love each other as Christ commanded, how are we Going to Love God the way Christ commanded.  Christ is the unity we should maintain.

In Eph 4: 11-16 Paul writes for the Church of Emphasis what unity in the Church looks like.

Paul in chapter 4 is driving home a huge point. The Church is not for us.  We are to be part of the Church, but in no way does it belong to us.  For the Church to work as it should we must be united under Christ.

We all have a part to play as individuals.

11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,

But it is the people together that will perform great works.  It is the whole sum of the Churches parts working together that will bring about unity in the body. The whole body together completes Christ’s Church.

12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

This true unity, found in each of us working for Christ’s Church, builds us together in unbreakable bonds.  We experience life in this crazy world together, and have brothers and sisters to rely on. When trials and temptation come, the Church is there to stand with us, we no longer stand alone in this world.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.

His truth, His word is our offense. The Church loving on each other, under the leadership of the one who Loves us deep and wide.   His love is what binds us together.

15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

Christ is the foundation, the glue, the magnet that holds the Church together.

16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Filed under: Christ, Discipleship, video, , ,

View’s of God

1 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.

Job 38: 1-3

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The True Story

A Woman's Choice
Until She Comes Home

Continued Here