My Family

My Family
My Family

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Time

1 There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:
 2 a time to be born and a time to die,
   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
   a time to tear down and a time to build,
 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 6 a time to search and a time to give up,
   a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
   a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 8 a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace.
 9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3

Take Up Your Cross

Clayton King was guest speaker at the Summit tonight and it was my first time hearing him and I must say WOW!!  That man is anointed for evangelism!!  Incredible!!  He laid it all on the table.  He taught from Mark 8 where Jesus tells His follwers to Take Up Their Cross and follow Him.  Clayton told us how taking up one's cross was a taboo statement for Jews at the time because of Roman rule and their persecution of the Jews so saying this was like saying I'll give you cancer if you follow me.  So why was this statement effective?  What did so many flock to Jesus even after that and even still today?  Because it is truth.  Salvation through Jesus costs us nothing.  Jesus paid the price for us all.  Discipleship costs us everything.  It IS taking up our cross and following Him in all avenues of our lives.  John 16:33 says, "These things I have told you so that in me you might have peace.  For in this world you will have trouble but take heart I have overcome the world."  Jesus paid the price for us on the cross, the ultimate way of showing God's love for us.  In His resurrection He overcame the world and all of sin, all for us.  As disciples of Christ, we must daily take up our cross and follow Him, give Him our lives and die to our selves. I don't say this flippantly because it is truly difficult to do but I pray that He will take me and make me one of His disciples, counting the costs but knowing the gain is my Jesus.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Who is More Generous?

Pastor JD really challenged my thinking tonight with his sermon on the passing of David.  Actually, as you may recall this was his second sermon on the subject but since it's covered twice in the Bible he thought two sermons were in order. lol.  The part that challenged me came from David's prayer in 1 Chronicles 29.  David is so awestruck by God's generosity and he just oozes out thankfulness and praise to the God of all Creation.  This is after the people have gathered boocoos of riches and items for Solomon to build the temple.  So much was gathered that it was a life-changing experience, life-changing for the entire nation!!  All of the people worshipped the Lord with David and marvelled at His greatness and His generous grace and mercy in their lives.  Remember, these were the same people and the same David that had sinned greatly against God.  Yet God had forgiven them and influxed great grace into their lives once again.

Likewise, we should be awestruck by God's generosity with us.  Afterall, He gave His only begotten Son that we might be saved.  This in itself should be enough for us to trust Him completely and utter His praise whenever we speak.  Instead we harbor up our treasures here on earth and think they will bring us happiness.  Treasures can be material things, emotional things, sexual things, whatever enters our little minds.  But only trusting in God completely will bring us true happiness.  It will bring us to complete generosity through a complete gospel-centered life.  Our generosity will be evident in our giving of our money, our time, our lives, our testimony, our very being.  We will be committed to trusting God completely in all areas of our walk.  Jesus gave it all; all to Him I owe.

Won't you join me in striving to live a more generous life?  Can we out-give God?

Monday, February 14, 2011

The Worst Sinner

In 1 Timothy, Paul states, "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.  But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen."  Yes, one of the greatest apostles of the Bible claims he himself is the worst of sinners.  You might agree remembering him as the persecutor of the early Christian church but he was thinking of himself as a mortal being, a sinner, one who fails God on a daily basis even after he has accepted Christ as Lord.  I find this comparable to the life I lead as I feel I daily am the worst sinner.  But the good news is this, God's mercy is new every morning, new and complete and covering all sin.  I am so thankful that He is patience with us and forgiving and full of mercy and grace.  Aren't you???

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?

I was stunned when Pastor JD broached this subject tonight.  Stunned because I've never heard it preached on quite like this before.  It was rough and hard to swallow but here goes my version...

He said that we've got it all wrong.  It's not "Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People" but "Why Do Good Things Happen to Bad People?"  Afterall, none of us are good, no not one.  Sin is not ranked therefore neither are we.  We are under a rightful curse, brought on by original sin, sin which we all participate in.  Yes, we all may try to do right and obey laws and such but we still sin against God.  The only reason more bad things do not happen to us is because of God's endless grace and mercy.  In Isaiah 26:9-10  it states, "When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.  But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the LORD."  So you see, we are all truly blessed, blessed to have Jesus to call upon in our time of trouble for He is our advocate and His blood covers those of us who have believed on Him.  Believe on Him now and see His grace and mercy active in your life.  There is hope for them that love Him.

God is faithful despite ourselves...

Pastor JD was awesome tonight, answering questions in the continuing saga of David's life.  We are at the end of David's life and David once again sins against God.  I was struck by how familiar this is to me as I fail God continually in my walk with Him too.  God's anger was kindled against David and he was given a choice of the nation's punishment.  Yes, the whole nation had fallen with David.  JD drew the analogy of how even though Adam cast the original sin, we fall into sin too and must be punished for it.  We suffer because of one man and because of one Man we are saved.  Unfortunately for the nation of Israel, punishment had to come and the angel of death came but God saw it and was grieved, seeing the future and His own Son's death He relented and had the angel cease.  Fortunately for us, Jesus already took our sin upon Himself and also took our punishment, our death even.  All we have to do is accept Him and His love for us and ask for His forgiveness of our sins.  JD states that the whole point of David's story is to point us to the Son, Jesus.  David's failures as a man, as a father, as a king are overshadowed by the coming of the Glorious One, King of Kings.  I'm glad that I know that God's mercy is better than man's and He will forgive me of my shortcomings and love me because of His Son.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Deserving God's Love

I was watching tv today and a man on there said his son had done nothing to deserve his love.  Immediately, I was captivated because we don't DESERVE God's love but because of Jesus what we get is His love and mercy and grace.  That's what it's all about, people.  We deserve the cross, the death, the torment.  But when we throw ourselves on the mercy of the Lord that is exactly what we get.  We can't earn it; we can only ask for it and know it is there for us.  Praise God; it is there for us!!!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

The Pots of Mesopotamia

Somewhere in Mesopotamia there were pots that were made and then broken over a stone.  The pots were then remade with a glaze of gold sealing the pieces together, making the pots more valuable than before. 
This is how brokeness works with God.  He breaks us only to put us back together better than before!!

Relational Pain

Pastor JD continued our talks of David tonight with a sermon on David and Absalom.  Absalom and David had a broken relationship, broken because of the confusion of David's disengagement from his own family.  Tamar was Absalom's sister and was raped by her half-brother.  David did nothing.  He said nothing.  Absalom couldn't believe this giant-slayer let his half-brother get away with this transgression.  Absalom took in his sister and she lived with him despite her scorn.  Absalom plotted and killed the half-brother who raped his sister and David was incensed and would not speak to Absalom for five years.  So Absalom plotted to overthrow King David and slept with wives left behind at the palace when David fled in disgrace.  As David fled one of Saul's family members cast stones at him and threw dirt on him and cursed him.  David felt he had lost God's favor and didn't deserve anything better than this and didn't allow his servants to stop the man.  David regained his composure and fought back against Absalom but ordered that no harm be done unto his son; however, Absalom was hung by his hair in the battle as he fled and was stabbed to death.  David mourned the loss of Absalom crying out for his lost son in great agony. 
So why is this story in the Bible?  It is there to give us hope of the new King, the King who has stripped sin of its sting.  Relational pain is still there but God's grace can free you from the paralysis of guilt.  Jesus did for us, as His sons and daughters, what David could not do for his own children.  Jesus saves us; David could not save Absalom.  Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose."  This doesn't make anything that we go through easier to deal with or the consequences of our sin easier to accept but it does mean there is forgiveness for those who are in Christ Jesus and walk after Him.