aSacredRebel

Hebrew story our story

So Agrippa said to Paul, You have permission to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense: “I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently. “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee. And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities. (Acts 26:1-11 ESV)

Here is Paul giving a defense of himself to Agrippa. He does not talk about who is now only. He starts with who he was, being out on trial by the Jews he has a place he came from that they know about. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees. Paul was a persecutor of the way and followers of Christ. But instead of speaking about himself in Christ alone, he links his past to his present and future. We are all called and a part of the whole story. How does Abraham feed your life?

We are all a part of the whole story. How do you fit in?

Psalm 30 Cartoon…

I found this on and thought it was worth sharing.

Joy vs Sorrow

I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit. Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” By your favor, O Lord, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed. To you, O Lord, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy: “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me! O Lord, be my helper!” You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever! (Psalm 30, ESV)

Have you ever had a bad day?

A bad week?

A bad month?

A bad year?

I think we have all been there where the world around us seems to be against us and everything is going wrong. So what do we do?

We cry out for help. Some of us will seek out a source of power we may have never went to before, or we may seek out God after a long time away.

We seek comfort in our times of trouble. That is our nature. We look for what is good for us. We are not usually worried too much with the world around us unless our lives are in order. We should always though sing the praises of the Lord and seek what is right and just for all of His creation around us.

You see the psalmist here tells us that God’s anger lasts only a moment, but His favor a lifetime, and even though we cry ourselves to sleep and mourn through the night His joy comes with the morning.

God helps us to turn around to Him and see the joy that is waiting for us. Take the joy Hi has for you and run with it. Even in the darkest times, Joy is always there to have from the one who created you and made you to help others see the love He has for them!

The Most Powerful Way to Enhance Influence

Leadership Freak

At least once in a while, forget about controlling outcomes. Build human connections.

Surrender:

Set aside the things leaders hide behind. Turn off:

Results.
Strategies.
Respect.
Vision casting.
Authority.
Planning.
Power.
Timelines.
Job titles.
S.M.A.R.T. goals.

Yield:

Take a deep breath and let go of doing, at least once in awhile. Connect by gently stepping toward people with an open heart.

Forget about what you want to do
and remember who you want to be.

The most powerful way to enhance influence
is removing your mask and being you.

“Surrendering means completely relinquishing any effort to control or manipulate the outcome. Surrendering means putting all effort into being completely authentic, real, and mask-free.” Chip Bell and Marshall Goldsmith in, “Managers as Mentors.”

Bell and Goldsmith on surrender:

Mask-removal.
Openness.
Vulnerability.
Curiosity.
Not dedicated to convincing.
Candid with the intent of helping not hurting.
Accepting candor from others.
Learning-oriented.

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10 reasons why we have trouble getting things done

Surface To Soul

Why can’t we get anything done? If we’re so well trained and so well informed, then why aren’t we a lot more effective? Here are 10 reasons why I feel that there’s a gap between what people know and what they do.

1. Doing something requires … doing something! It’s easier and safer to have conversations and gather more information than it is to implement something.

2. We train people how to create plans and programs but not how to execute them. Learning how to execute is rarely part of university management programs, and it’s certanly not part of seminary training.

3. We’re unwilling to tolerate mistakes. Congregations need to build cultures that tolerate error and failure. Ask yourself this: “If you’re going to be held accountable for every mistake that you make, how many chances are you going to take? How eager are you going to be…

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All are a part…

Thus says the Lord: Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed. Happy is the mortal who does this, the one who holds it fast, who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it, and refrains from doing any evil. Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and do not let the eunuch say, “I am just a dry tree.” For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered. (Isaiah 56:1-8, NRSV)

All are a part of the ministry of God, and included in the family. Just because they were not a part of the family from the beginning does not matter. The thing we must do as a part of the body of Christ is to pursue justice. We must maintain a just society and do what is right regardless of how that effects us, or if it gets us what we want or not. We are called to serve and love one another.

The foreigner and the eunuch are a full part of the community and not partial members that will be burned away later. They are not people we are putting up with now so that they can be removed later. God loves us all and calls all of us to pursue justice and to show His love to all we meet.

Do you accept everyone as they are as God accepted you? Are you helping them see and participate in the love and mercy of God?

What can I give?

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, Look at us. And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk! And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. (Acts 3:1-10 ESV)

What do I have to give?

I have nothing to give…

As I type those words I think of the story from Christmas, which is not biblical, but has taken the hearts of many, the Little Drummer Boy. When he is ushered to see the new king, he asks what he can give. And he has a gift. He has something to do that is a gift given to him.

People look to us to fill there need. They know what is best for their lives and they want us to be the one to fill that need. Does that sound familiar?

How many times have you gone to God and told Him if you will only give me what I want everything will be great? Now you may not use those words, but the sentiment is there… We think we know what we need and God like Peter says to us, Jesus is enough.

Do you know that Jesus is enough? And that God will handle every situation in your life. So trust in the life that God has laid before you. And give God to the world!

Who?

But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city. The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.” Then the Lord said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?” (Jonah 4:1-11 NRSV)

Has something ever happened in your life that you did think was fair?

Jonah went to Nineveh and told them to turn because of their ways and they did. Jonah did not expect this and was upset when God turned His anger into compassion.

Have we ever been upset about what God does, because it is not a part of our plan? But God created everything and wants everything to be redeemed, and yet we get upset when God brings in someone we think is unworthy.

Yet the old joke is true, when you get get to heaven and you look around you will see all the people you did not expect and they will be staring at you. You will ask St. Peter why are all of these people here, they are the ones that bullied me, and treated me wrong, they lied, and cheated me. And St. Peter why are they staring? Well my child they are as surprised to see you as you are to see them! God decides what needs to be done and does not consult with us, because He is in control and He decides who…

My Faith

After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.” And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health. (Luke 7:1-10 NRSV)

Have you ever prayed for something and not gotten it?

I think we all have. And someone has probably said to you, “well if your faith was stronger you would have gotten is.” And is that true?

We place a lot into our own faith, and the faith of others. As Lutherans we profess we are saved by grace through faith. It is because of our faith that we will make it to an eternity with God. But is is because of my faith?

We are saved by grace through faith. Grace is a gift from God and if it is a gift it can not depend upon how good our faith is. If it is really a gift from God it can not depend upon me or what I do or do not believe. It is a gift from God. Well yes but it is not just we are saved by grace, it is we are saved by grace through faith. Yes but is it our faith?

We are saved by grace through faith just like the faith of the soldier above, our faith is in knowing that things we were told would happen will happen. That the promises we have been given are real. The faith here is not ours but Jesus’. It is His faithfulness to follow through on the plan that was set forth.

So,let go of your faith and join the community around you in a communal faith given to usall through Jesus. And pray Our Father…

He’s got the whole world…

He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbath. They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Let us alone! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ When the demon had thrown him down before them, he came out of him without having done him any harm. They were all amazed and kept saying to one another, ‘What kind of utterance is this? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!’ And a report about him began to reach every place in the region. (Luke 4:31-37, NRSV)

In the light of all of the tornadoes recently, some that have caused damage to property and lose of life, and some that have been occurring in places they do not normally occur, like Victoria, TX. I saw a funnel cloud here in Victoria back earlier this week. It was not a normal occurrence here, but what is really normal. We usually here when natural disaster strikes that it is the wrath of God coming down on this group or that group. Why does God never do anything that is good for the people?

Here in our reading Jesus frees a man from an unclean spirit. He releases him from the bondage that is holding him. A few days ago I got to see to picture of a miracle. One of my dearest friends had a baby. Well people have babies all the time, what is the miracle? This friend of mine was told at a very young age that she would not have children. She has lived her life thinking that she will watch those around her have kids, and raise families, and now in her late 30 she has a child, when it was not suppose to be possible! Does God do good things for people? Yes He does! Has He done something miraculous for you?

Well that is an interesting question isn’t it? We all want to see the big things happen in our lives, for us to get that big job we are going for, or to have a big family. We look for the big miracle every day, as if we are not seeing the miracles all around us…

How many of you are able to read this blog?

How many of you were able to get up out of bed this morning?

How many of you were able to walk to get a glass of water?

Just getting a glass of clean water in some-places is a miracle…

How many of you are breathing?

There are so many things that are miracles that happen in our own lives everyday that we miss because we are looking for something big. We forget that God created all of this world and He holds it all in His hands, and controls what happens… He has all of creation under control, allow Him to have control and live in the greatness that He has for you! A freedom from bondage, and a life you can’t possibly fathom on your own!