Restoration

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:20-28 ESV)

Have you ever restored something? I have not, but I have seen things restored and it usually requires a lot of work, and stripping away of things that should not have been there.

I am reminded as I think of restoration of the last time I visited Gettysburg PA, and some organization was restoring the landscape to what it was when the battle of Gettysburg occurred. They had removed a lot of trees and the Peach orchard to replant the trees the way they would have been during the battle. Well some of the trees that were removed were very old and a lot of people were very upset by the removal of these trees. However to restore the landscape, stripping away has to be done…

Which probably has you asking, what does restoration and the lesson from 1 Corinthians above have in common… I’m glad you asked. The reading for today says, “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” I asked myself as I read this what does this mean? That He, meaning Jesus, must reign until all his enemies have been put under His feet? That He must be standing on all who oppose Him? Probably not, but then that begs the question who opposes Him, because He did tell the disciples, whoever is not against us is for us, so then it would have to be someone in complete opposition to Jesus, and who is that?

I wonder if it does not have something to do with a post I put on Facebook a few days back. “Muslims and Jews both say I promised Jerusalem to them. Never occurs to them I might want them to coexist peacefully. @almightygod” Maybe Jesus is reigning until we all learn to get along, and He actually is king of all creation and everyone and thing is “under His feet” as in He has control. Jesus has to reign until restoration has happened with the human race. Just as death came through one man and we are separated  now restoration comes through one man, Jesus teaching us all to play nice and get along… And just as restoration of a landscape needs some ripping out and removal of items, and restoration of an antique piece of furniture needs stripping away of layers that do not belong, so must we strip away and remove all the unnecessary garbage out of our lives and communities and be restored to the relationship we had with God in the garden, until then Jesus must reign. So hunker in and get ready to be restored and be not surprised when a layer you thought was necessary goes away, because He is the master carpenter and He absolutely knows what he is doing!

 

Thankful!

The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring. Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty! Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits your house, O LORD, forevermore. (Psalm 93 ESV)

The Lord God reigns and rules over everything! No matter what in life is happening, whether it be good, or bad, nasty, or great God is in control. That does not mean that God causes the things to happen in your life, but it does mean that He is with you in the midst of whatever it is that you are going through. God is in control and will not let the flood waters over take you. He is mightier than the thundering seas, and anything you can come up with.

On this day of Thanksgiving be thankful for a creator who loves you enough to walk with you through the valleys and peaks of your life. He is with you and will give you strength. For this be thankful! And tell others of the wonderful love He has given you!

words to say…

“But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (Mark 13:9-13 ESV)

 

Have you ever wondered how you would make it through a conversation that you knew would be incredibly hard? If you are like me the conversation came and went and you wonder how you made it through so easily… Well not everytime, but have you ever had a conversation where you said somethings and wondered where they came from?

God reminds us in this passage we do not need to worry before hand how we will respond to every question we will receive. First of all it is impossible to know all of the questions you will be asked, so how can you possibly rehearse what you will say to the question you do not know you will be asked?

God tells us the Holy Spirit will give us the words to say in the moment they need to be said. We can trust in the promises that God will always be with us and help us through everything we face.

True strength

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10:32-39 ESV)

We are at the end of the church year and so we are talking about the end times, when everything falls apart and all hell breaks loose…

Is that only the end of times though? It seems like we all know someone whose life is falling apart. Maybe it is a brother or a sister, or another family member, maybe it is a friend, or maybe it is yourself…

All hell could be breaking out in your life and it seems like no one cares and that no one is there for you and God is as far from you as possible.

You see Hebrews reminds us that just because we are walking with God does not mean that it is all roses and cake, and sunshine and moon beams. Life is hard, and when we actually walk with God it gets harder, and we will be ridiculed for our thoughts and our actions. But that is the beauty of the moments of life that should make us throw up our hands and give up, God is there whispering in your ear, “We can do this!”

The world is yelling “You can’t do this!” and you know what they are right. You can’t and I can’t. On our own we are not going to make it. I have been looking for a call for 9 months plus and burning through our savings at a rate that will not last much longer. I have taken a job some would say is beneath my level, but is something I enjoy and allows me to be a father to my children and be there when they need me. It would be real easy for me to curl up in a fetal position and cry why have I been forsaken. But I will not do it. The world wants me to give up and give in and find something permanent and give up ministry. Those who worked against the ministry I am doing would love to see this happen, and the powers of evil in the world would love for me to give up, but it will not happen. Because as the picture says. “Anyone can give up.” But those of us who have the strength of God walking beside us to protect and shelter and empower us have true strength and endurance.

So do not shrink back and be destroyed but step out in faith and know that God will hold you up through whatever life may send your way.

Have you ever wondered?

20121119-205201.jpgHow long, O Lord ? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord , because he has dealt bountifully with me. (Psalms 13:1-6 ESV)

I have felt like the world has left me behind. Like the people I once thought cared for me turned their backs on me and left me out in the cold. Like God did not care for me or was any where near me to help or comfort.

I think we have all felt what this psalmist is talking about. We wonder how long God will forsake us and leave us alone to flop around like a fish out of water. We wonder how long we will live with sorrow and pain. We wonder how life can get any worse. We wonder how long those who seem to work against God will seem to be the ones winning…

But you see that is the reality of the situation. That God is always with us. God will never leave me nor forsake me. Even in the midst of what seems to be an insurmountable valley God is lighting the way and walking with me through this path. He has not let my enemies triumph, they just think they have. And if I can trust in the promises and sing the praises of God all will know who truly reigns and what will happen in this world.

God is in control! Never lose track of that I have not and walk with Him daily, knowing He has wonderful things in store for me…

Hope!

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:19-25 ESV)

It seems we are all worried about the end of the world. Everything we hear is that the world is ending. Just look around you and see all of the end times predictions from the bible, and the world is ending on December 21, 2012 according to the Mayans. Of course they did not know about or include in their calculations daylight savings time, so the date of the actual end of the world according to the Mayans would have been in May so we missed that one. But aren’t we always hearing about how all of the events that are happening now are the predictors from the bible that the world is ending…

All of the events Jesus spoke of happened shortly after or during His life. Earthquakes, famines, the destruction of the temple all of these events happened. And yes they are happening, but Jesus made it clear to the disciples and we seem to miss that no one knows the time of the end, only God the Father, not even Jesus knows this! So how are we going to predict it correctly?

The one thing we as followers of the way, disciples of Christ can live in these times, whether they be the end times, or the in between times, or the beginning of the birth pangs, is how the believers are told to live in Hebrews, “hold(ing) fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…” We can hope in the one who is faithful in His promises. God will not let us down. We can see over and over again how He has done what He said He would do. Hope is closer than we realize, and is bigger than anything that we can come up against.

Remember 1 Corinthians 13:13 “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Most of us hear this passage of scripture at weddings, because it is about love, right? I don’t think so. Well ok yes it is about love and what we are if we do not have it and use it and show it to the world, but this passage, the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians is a passage about the end of times. And at the end of time, these three remain, faith, hope, and love. When the world has come to and end and Jesus has returned and we are all finally with God in the great feast that will last forever, everything else in this world will be wiped away except, faith, hope and love… So these three are really important, and what makes them so important to last? We do not create them on our own. They have to be gifted to us!

Our faith comes from God, and is a gift, which is nurtured and grows. Love is something we first received from God when we did not deserve it and were brought into His family. And hope it that reassurance that His promises are our promises and He will always be with us through all of the darkness our lives can bring us.

So know that your worth is in the fact that God created you and loves you. Not in what you have or have not done or what others say about you. And cling to the hope that He has given you, and is the reassurance that is always closer than you know.

my heart is glad

Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips. The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16 ESV)

My whole being rejoices in the fact I am in the hands of God and He protects me. He will never abandon me or forsake me. He sets a path before me that is life!

We have no need to worry about what lies behind or ahead, because God is in control. Believe this with all of your heart. mind and soul and cling to it and live it out load!

God is bigger than any problems you have so rest in His unfailing love and allow Him to guide your life.

walk in Him…

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Colossians 2:6-15 ESV)

What human traditions taint your world view?

I have been hearing a lot lately about how 1500 years of tradition in the church are good enough for me… or how we have not had to change anything for 2000 years, why do we need to now?

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world,” this does not mean that this is outside of the church. The church is a human institution that has been flawed and will be flawed until Christ returns. Jesus did not come to create a new way of religion but to reform another… So anything that is tradition that does not stand with Christ is not what we are rooted in Christ to be or do. These things are “not according to Christ” and therefore not something we should uphold.

We need to know Christ and Him crucified and not cling to something that excludes others. We are all open to the gift of grace that is freely given by God. Do not cling to something or hold to something that excludes others and keeps them from being a part of the community that is Christ’s and not the church’s or yours…

Gnosticism is the secret knowledge that gets you into Heaven. Neo Gnosticism is what the church is clinging to that excludes those who do not meet the standards of God. That means all of us are out in the cold, and none of us are in… God loved us when we were beyond being with Him. So drop your understanding that you are good enough and another if not… Only God can judge and from His seat we are all covered by the blood, and not worthy unless we are. and we can not tell who is and who isn’t. We just need to walk in Him and love and include all in the gathering and learning to better follow and spread His mercy and grace.

Fragile – Handle with care…

Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips. The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16 ESV)

How do you care for yourself?

Do you take some time just for yourself to recharge your batteries?

I have been walking everyday and when I don’t get to I notice it. Not for the lack of physical exertion but that is my time to recharge… I need to do the physical activity, but the job I do has me on my feet and moving around a lot more than a desk job, but the physical activity is good. But it is that alone time, just me time. But there also has to be some time for just me and my spouse, and time for the family in there as well…

I took the story below from this website:

One day this expert was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration I’m sure those students will never forget. After I share it with you, you’ll never forget it either.

As this man stood in front of the group of high-powered over-achievers he said, “Okay, time for a quiz.” Then he pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouthed mason jar and set it on a table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar.

When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is this jar full?” Everyone in the class said, “Yes.” Then he said, “Really?” He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks.

Then he smiled and asked the group once more, “Is the jar full?” By this time the class was onto him. “Probably not,” one of them answered. “Good!” he replied. And he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, “Is this jar full?”

“No!” the class shouted. Once again he said, “Good!” Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked up at the class and asked, “What is the point of this illustration?”

One eager beaver raised his hand and said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit some more things into it!”
“No,” the speaker replied, “that’s not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”

What are the big rocks in your life? A project that you want to accomplish? Time with your loved ones? Your faith, your education, your finances? A cause? Teaching or mentoring others? Remember to put these Big Rocks in first or you’ll never get them in at all.

And like the story of the big rocks and the sand and the water in the jar, if you don’t fit the big rocks in first. If you go back and read my story before the jar and rocks story, what was missing?

The biggest rock of all… God. You see that time I go walk is not just me time, it is me and God time. It is time for me to spend with the one who packs my parachute, who gives me everything I need, who as the psalmists says I take refuge in and apart from whom I have nothing good in me.

So life is fragile and needs to be handled with care, that is why it is best handled by God. So take your refuge in Him and let Him put good in you.