aSacredRebel

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?

How 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…

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.

The Lord has sent me…

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself.’ What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.” And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away. (Luke 4:16-30 ESV)

Have you been sent?

Do you have a mission?

One of my favorite movies is The Blues Brothers. They are on a mission from God to save the orphanage that helped them out.

Do you have a mission?

In the text above, Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” He says that the spirit of the Lord is upon me, and we can probably all agree that this is true of Jesus, but is it true of all of us?

You see the problem comes when we can say this is true of us, because then it is true of others. God’s Spirit will reside on whomever the spirit decides to, and use all of us. We can not do ministry to those who know us, because they know our past. They know who we use to be, all of the bad things we did. Now do not hear that as me saying that Jesus did bad things. He was without sin, but he was also a teenage boy, who happened to be the son of God and a creator of the universe. Think about it…

But the point is that we are all sent on a mission from God. We are sent to give good news to the poor, to set the captives free, and to help those who can not see to see, to set at ease those who are in need. We are sent on a mission to proclaim the gospel.

I have always wanted signs over the doors out of the sanctuary that say, “Servants Entrance.” So we would all be reminded that when we leave worship we are entering the mission field, and we are going to be a servant. We are leaving where we were “on break” and going back to work as servants to the world. Giving them the message of the gospel.

So know that the Lord has sent you. Go and be a servant to all you come in contact with.

Be like Boaz

So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another. And he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.” And he said, “Bring the garment you are wearing and hold it out.” So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her. Then she went into the city. And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did you fare, my daughter?” Then she told her all that the man had done for her, saying, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said to me, ‘You must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.’” She replied, “Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today.” Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.” (Ruth 3:14-4:6 ESV)

Taking care of family is what Boaz is about. Maybe he does it because Ruth took care of his family, but he still does not shun her or throw her out. He even goes farther than he needs to by making sure she is not seen for being in the threshing floor when she shouldn’t be…

Boaz goes the extra length to make sure the family is cared for, and not just actual family, but family that is brought in through circumstances. Ruth is not blood, but is family through the marriage and remains family because of her devotion to the family. Boaz could have treated her as an outsider, but he includes her. How many of us would include her? How many of us shun our own families, our own blood families?

We need to to treat the stranger and the alien as our own. We need to be like Boaz…

Care for your relatives…

Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity. Honor widows who are truly widows. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God. She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives. Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach. But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Timothy 5:1-8 ESV)

Honor an older man and encourage them as you would a father and a younger man honor them as you would a brother. An older woman treat her with respect like you would your mother and younger women treat as you would your sister…

Now think about how you treat your family… Should you treat your family as you do? Or should there be more respect for them? In our society in the USA today we do not count on our families like we use to. Our extended families would be the back bone of our existence. Now we can make it as an individual and leave our family behind. We go off in search of the golden ring that will be our ticket to the good life, and do not worry about anyone else.

Or worse, we are so hung up on the rules of living a right relationship we shun our family because they are breaking the rules and living a life of sin. They are doing things that will not get them into heaven and therefore I can not have them in my life so they become a leper or worse and must be shunned out of our family. They need to figure out what they are doing wrong and need to correct it before I will love them and support them. Yes just like God did to you…

God told each of us that we had to have it all together before we would be welcomed at His table, at His house… No that is not how it went. God welcomed us into His family when we did not deserve it. He took us in and loved us in spite of our wrongs, inspite of our sins.

So care for your relatives and love them as God loves you. And do not leave them to fend for themselves, because we all know life is better lived with others to help with the struggles of the journey…

Escape…

As he taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” Mark 12:38-44 (NRSV)

We hear this text as a model for giving over and above our means. We hear sermons preached and lessons taught that the woman is a model of good stewardship because she gave everything to the church.

However this section starts with Jesus saying beware of the religious leaders who look or the best seats and look to be greeted with respect. They have the rules and know who has to do what in order to get the best seats and be in the right way with God. They have received their reward. Jesus saw what was happening that the religious system was holding people in place by having them give more than they could and live under rules that did not matter. Then the widow who could not afford to give but needed help was forced to give because of the system. She is not a model for stewardship but a model for how the church should not make people live. We should not hold people to rules or giving systems that hold them prisoner. We need to lift them up and give them what they need. Not be one more guard in a prison they can not escape…