Hammer on Anvil '

Often my buddy Jay and I will sit and discuss a wide range of topics. One of our favorite spots for these talks is under the Thomas Jefferson statue at the MO State Capitol. Recently I had read over the Declaration of Independence and was thinking about it while sitting under the statue. Kind of cool since he was the author of the document. As I sat there and considered the "self-evident truths" that all men are created equal and have the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, I wondered how Jefferson could write that and yet be a slave owner. He penned those words that we are all equal, yet he and many devout Christians treated an entire race as less than human. How could they have been so blind?

A similar situation is Jesus' first disciples. They spent roughly 3 years with him and yet abandoned him at the end. I know I have been guilty of the thought, "If I had seen and experienced all they had I would have no trouble believing. I wouldn't doubt for a second and certainly not abandon him." How could they have been so blind?

I ask this (how could they be so blind) not so I can show how much better I am than they. Rather it is because it troubles me. The phrase "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." comes to mind when considering these things. It is important to learn from the mistakes of others and where people have been blind, but more than anything it makes ask To what am I blind to that will be criticized in the future?

"Jesus said to him, 'What do you want me to do for you?'
The blind man replied, 'Rabbi, I want to see!'" Mark 10:46-52

I was flipping through my randomly kept journal this evening a little bit. The journal itself is loosely comprised of items I have been praying over, studies, random thoughts, lamentations/celebrations over a woman(lots of these) and generally just anything I've felt worthwhile to write down. It's strange how even though these events that happened to me were important enough to write about that without this review and going back over them that they are so quickly forgotten. Many of them are almost even foreign in nature and I find myself wondering who was this person going through these struggles or relating these events.

The value and benefit of keeping and reviewing these "currently praying about" lists is easy to see because it is the easiest to quantify. There have regularly been items that after praying over that enough time has followed that the initial prayer was completely forgotten and so the answer goes unnoticed and unaccredited to God's hand. So to have perfect 20/20 when looking into the past it is encouraging to see how these answers whether they were yes, no or wait were manifested and how or when they finally did come about. That way my faith is strengthened and my countenance is turned to thanksgiving after looking back over these things.

The relating of current spiritual condition whether confessions of sin or expressions of joy and contentment are always eye opening as well. Seeing how deep into a pit one has been in the past certainly gives more appreciation for where a person is right now. On the flip side having the chance to look back onto a mountain top experience can bear great conviction to get right with the Lord whatever may now be wrong or out of place. Not in an attempt to duplicate the prior experience, but in looking deeply to see what may currently be hindering or keeping me from walking in freedom, joy or peace.

And finally as a guy the loathing/loving displayed towards whatever woman I was dealing with at the time immediately cuts to the quick. It plumbs the depths for any of those forgotten lessons or experiences and brings forward again those emotions that I had felt at one time. It gives me a chance to examine them, to see if anything currently matches or lines up with previous experiences, and even the opportunity to fix things that have gone awry. This quick way to re-examine my relationships/friendships with women and see how or why they may have moved back or forward can be tough, but it can be very helpful and healing as well.

Overall the self examination and historical documentation of one's life is a good thing and I would encourage others no matter how sporadic your journal entries may be to still continue to keep them. I've got a few gaps of 8-10 months between a couple of my entries. As for the physical format; get a nice moleskine notebook or glue bound notepad. Not so you seem like such the deep thinker, but so you have it all in one place. With the nicer notebook, unlike spiral bound or loose leaf, it stays all in one place and bound together easy to keep on your bookshelf...and it does look super cool to anyone that comes across you writing or sketching in one. Always write the date/time of the entry so you can get an idea of the frame of mind you might have been later when looking back if you wrote something down that was at say 1:00am after a wonderful evening on a date or at 4:00am after anguish about some ridiculous situation with a woman. For that matter these don't even need to be serious entries, you can make them fun too or even just notebooks that contain sketches of Ligers and Hobbits. Whatever you put into them you'll appreciate the opportunity to look back in time on your own life and history. Hopefully your faith will be stronger and your walk will be deeper because of it.

In 2005, I really struggled with the concept of Predestination. We were discussing it at the Baptist Student Union and one student in particular was making a very compelling argument in favor of it. I don’t remember all that was said, but God gave me an analogy to make sense of it all.

Consider the movie Paycheck. In this movie, Ben Affleck’s character creates a machine that can see into the future. Because of this, he knows that his employers are going to have him murdered. However, he signed a contract that the company will wipe his memory soon, which means he will forget that he is going to be murdered. In order to remind himself and keep himself from being murdered, he mails himself an envelope with an assortment of everyday items. Any normal person looking at these items would never imagine they held any significance. However, because Ben can see into the future, he knows that these items will lead him down a path that prevents him from being murdered.

Let me give one example of how an item helped. At one point, Ben is sitting on a bus. He is looking at a diamond ring from the envelope and wondering why he sent it to himself when suddenly a kid grabs the ring and runs off the bus. Ben, thinking he needs the ring, runs after the kid. In the end, he doesn’t get the ring back. However, the really significant thing is that at the end of the chase, he is exactly where he needs to be in order for something else to happen that will keep him on the path of not being murdered.

When the kid took the ring, Ben had free will to decide how to respond. However, since he had looked into the future, he already knew that he would respond by running after the kid and ending up where he needed to be. Thus, he influenced his own free will to achieve an end he desired.

Now, with some careful thought, we can see how this analogy can give us insight into how God works. God is sovereign, which means He is in control at all times. What is it that God controls? He controls the items that are in the envelopes given to each one of us. As humans, we are very, very limited in how far we can see the consequences of an action, but God sees all of time, so He knows how even something small might affect things far into the future.

For example, let’s create a fictional woman named Jill. In the “envelope of items” that God has for Jill, there is a flat tire. Jill is driving down the highway one day when she gets a flat and has to pull over. As she is sitting there, worrying about what to do next, a nice guy named Jack comes along and helps her put on a spare tire. That is how Jack and Jill meet. From there, romance blossoms, they get married, and they have several children. Since God had a clear view of all of time, He knew that the flat tire would have this result.

The same kind of logic can be applied toward salvation and the concept of Predestination. Since God is in control of what items are in our envelope, He uses that control to lead us toward salvation.

But now we arrive at the point at which I struggled so much and the point that makes Predestination such a hot topic. If God is in complete control, if He determines the items that are in each person’s envelope that will lead them to the consequences He desires, why isn’t everyone saved?

Many people have attempted to answer this question and have come to the conclusion that if God can, but God doesn’t, God must not want to. In other words, God must choose certain people to be saved and certain people not to be saved.

For the longest time, I really struggled with this. I had always thought that God was all-loving and wanted everyone to be saved, but that didn’t seem to match up with the evidence that: 1) God can control our choices by controlling the items in our envelope, and 2) not everyone is saved. The argument could be made that we all have free will, which God cannot control. However, that is only partially true. Even though we have free will, God can control our actions by a combination of 1)controlling the items in our envelope, and 2) knowing how the items in our envelope will cause us to act.

Let’s say a fictional character named Joe is in a room. God wants Joe to leave the room, but Joe, who has free will, decides to stay. So God decides to put a fire in Joe’s envelope. A gas leak in the room is ignited by an appliance and the room bursts into flame. Now, Joe still has free will. He could still stay in the room if he wanted to, but God, who can see the future, knows that the fire will cause Joe to want to leave the room.

Even though we have free will, God can still influence every choice we make.

So, I hope now you can see the dilemma. I struggled with this to the point where I finally pleaded with God to either give me answers or give me peace of mind. He delivered. He led me to a verse for encouragement, then He gave me peace of mind for several years, and about a year ago, He gave me answers.

The verse that He led me to was 1 Timothy 2:4, “[God] wants all mean to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” This verse was particularly encouraging because it counter-acted the logic that if God can, and God doesn’t, God must not want to. Now I had an absolute statement that said in no uncertain terms that God does want everyone to be saved.

That being said, I still couldn’t wrap my mind around it all. I kept running into the same roadblock – the contradiction that 1) God can (through controlling the items in our envelope), and yet 2) God doesn’t (because not everyone is saved). Luckily, God gave me peace of mind for several years, as I mentioned, and I was able to be content knowing that God loves all of us and wants us all to be saved.

But about a year ago, God delivered again, this time by giving me answers. Consider again the logic: if God can, and God doesn’t, God must not want to. We have already proven through 1 Timothy 2:4 that God does want everyone to be saved. Logically, then, one of the other two statements must be false.

Prepare yourself, because you’re about to think that I’m either crazy or committing blasphemy. The false statement is that God can. Yes, you read that right. I’m saying that God can’t. Keep reading, though, because I am by no means questioning the power of God.

Even God has limits. In this instance, God is limited by the method He has chosen to reveal Himself to the world. He has chosen us, sinful human beings who are made acceptable to God only by the blood of His Son, to be His Body in this world. Just as Jesus was God on Earth in flesh and blood, Christians with the Holy Spirit are God on Earth. However, unlike Jesus, we Christians sin. And what is the definition of sin if not “doing what God doesn’t want us to or not doing what God does want us to”? How can God carry out His wishes if His Body on Earth will not respond to His commands? God can’t because we won’t.

If God tells you to talk with someone else about Jesus and you don’t, then that is one item that should have been in that person’s envelope that isn’t. From there, the situation snowballs. Since you didn’t talk with that man about Jesus (a.k.a. God’s Body wouldn’t respond to His desires), that man may never accept Christ, which means the items he was supposed to put in other people’s envelopes will never arrive. Now God’s Body has been denied growth.

Once again, God can’t because we won’t. Following this train of logic, I have concluded that God gets each person as close to salvation as God’s Body will permit Him to. It has never been so clear to me how powerful sin is or how vitally important it is that we respond to all of God’s desires. It breaks my heart to know that I am basically a broken limb on God’s earthly Body. However, I am encouraged that God continues to work and that, armed with this new wisdom, I will move forward with new determination to make at least my part of God’s Body completely responsive to all of His desires.

This week's guest blogger is Josh Drianis from Sedalia, MO.  Thanks Josh!

Heb 5:11-14 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. (12) For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, (13) for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. (14) But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Heb 6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God

This is the third of a three-part series of blogs looking at this sobering and challenging this passage in Hebrews, that calls readers out on what we have called "Spiritual dwarfism". It's what happens when a Christian has forgotten how to allow himself to grow. A sapling doesn't grow itself, but God has created it in such a way that, with enough soil, water, and sunlight, it will grow to be a mature tree that bears fruit. In the same way, we don't grow ourselves – only God brings growth. But He gives us the spiritual tools we need bear the fruits of maturity and true growth in Christ. But we are commanded to take an active part in our growth. We are commanded to discipline ourselves for growth, to prevent from being fooled by false and Christ-less thinking and attitudes, and falling from faithfulness to God.

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Peter 3:17-18)

When Jesus was wrapping up His earthly ministry, just hours before He would be arrested, Jesus told His disciples, "Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit." (John 15:2) How do you get fruitful branches on a vine to grow and bear more fruit? You prune them. You cut on the right branches, and "purge" the fruitless parts so that so that the fruitful ones will be even more fruitful, producing to it's maximum potential. The disciples had evidently shown evidence of being fruitful: They had open minds and humble hearts as they walked with Jesus during His ministry, and they were eager to learn. Of course, they were far from perfect and completely fruitful… yet. Nevertheless, Jesus invested time in them by "cleaning" their branches, getting rid of the fruitless stuff so that they could bear more fruit. He told them "Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you." (John 15:3)
How were they cleaned? "because of the word that I have spoken to you." The disciples had a bit of religious knowledge, and much of it was misguided, distorted, or just plain false. They were still very susceptible to believing lies and "irreverent, silly myths." But because they were willing to submit to Jesus and learn from Him, He was able to teach them God's truth, expose the lies of the fruitless religion they were surrounded by, and prepare them to be fruitful.

You may remember watching the media hype about a mysterious sea creature that floated onto the shore under the Brooklyn Bridge back in May. People speculated what it might be, some even wondering if it could be something like a Loch Ness monster, or some other unidentified sea creature. But local marine biologists took one look at the creature and determined that it was just a "common Atlantic fish". One biologist said "We could tell it was an Atlantic sturgeon right away." What was the difference between local speculators and the marine biologists in this story? Those biologists were trained to KNOW what they were looking at, and were quickly able to spot the clear signs that this was an Atlantic sturgeon.

How do we grow and bear fruit? For the disciples, it meant humbling themselves so that they were teachable. Do you have a teachable heart? Being teachable doesn't mean you are able to take in information. It means you are willing to humbly submit to Christ at the heart level. It means you confess your helplessness apart from Christ, and fully depend upon His truth to prune your thoughts, and on His grace to grow you into His image.

How do we engage God's truth? By engaging His word. A marine biologist can't understand the principles of science without reading a few books. The disciple of Christ can't understand the principles of Christian discipleship without getting into the word and studying it, with a humble, teachable heart. "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17) Not only are we blessed to know that God has spoken, but that WHAT He has spoken for our sake has been faithfully recorded in scripture for us to read, study, understand, and apply. If you are reading this, you are, first of all, literate; and second of all, you have had God's word translated into your language hundreds of times over.

In spite of this great blessing that God has given us so that we may be "competent, equipped for every good work", a large portion of Christians in the United States are seriously biblically lkilliterate and untrained in the discipline of bible study. We are quick to believe and revel in what I call "Christian superstition", and what the apostle Paul calls "irreverent, silly myths." Quoting one Christian leader, and to state the obvious, "The bible is the most widely owned and least widely read book in America." It's probably the most embarrassing thing about being an American Christian. And among other things, biblical illiteracy is perhaps one of the primary causes of spiritual dwarfism.

But let's make one thing clear: Knowing your bible does not mean you know Jesus Christ, any more than reading a book on marine biology makes you a scientist. Memorizing scripture, by itself, is not what draws you closer to God and causes you to be a more mature Christian. God's word, God's church, God's spiritual gifts that He gives us are only effective in helping us grow if we are truly faithful to God. The bible is not just a book of rules, or even just a book of stories, but it is a book of testimonies of many who have gone before us who were faithful to God, and have inherited the promises of salvation. "And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (Hebrews 6:11-12)

So how about it? Let's move on from the ABC's of the faith. Let's train with the word of God in hand, and with a faithful heart, desiring to persevere to the end in obedience to the Lord!

Need some practical stuff? Here are some tools to help get you started:

• http://www.e-sword.net
  
• http://youversion.com
  
• http://www.precept.org/site/DocServer/InductiveStudyOverview_1-Sheet.pdf
  

Oh yeah, I forgot about the fish...Click here to read about it!

So I've pretty much figured out that I can't write a short post. It takes me a while to get from the question on the table around the subject to the resolution God reveals to me. My husband would say that I just like to make short stories long. Maybe that's true, and maybe there will come a point where I'm all "narrated" out. For any of you wishing for something shorter, keep paying attention--but don't hold your breath. :) - Misti


What constitutes a trial in the Christian life? How serious does our trouble have to be before we can acknowledge and suffer it without feeling like selfish fools? What level of torment earns the right to be referred to as "the valley of the shadow of death" (Psalm 23: 4)?

Recently, I've been feeling the pressure of some trials. Work has been extra stressful, my house is a mess, finances are tight, my kids are transitioning into grown-ups, and I've just recently heard that someone I love may be moving pretty far away from me.

As I've struggled with the increasing weight of these things, I've also been experiencing another layer of stress: Can I really justify feeling pressed down by this stuff? I'm alive and healthy and so is my family; I have a roof over my head and a job to pay for it. There are people in the world suffering with cancer, struggling with addictions or living on the street. Nevertheless, these things feel like trials to me, and realizing my life could be much worse does not remove the sadness and frustration I feel.

So what do we do with the "little" trials of life? Do we have to try to handle them alone because they're not as big as other people's problems? The Bible's answer is "No!". "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?" Matt. 6:26. I am so glad God cares about birds! It reassures us all that He is a God of details. Actually, all around us are clues to this aspect of His nature; the intricacies of a spider web, the variety of colors of fall leaves. Just think about all the minute details that have to come together for our bodies to work properly!

God cares about all the things that we face. So, what we do with trials, big and small, is that we put on our boots, pick up our backpacks and walk through them. No matter the size of the trial, though, we can't do it alone.

Arriving home from a meeting the other night, I found my husband watching "Apollo 13". I sat down just in time to catch the scene where Tom Hanks' character looks out the window of the space capsule and sees the earth so far away. He holds his thumb up to the window and closes one eye. As the audience is granted his perspective, the enormous earth seems to be completely blocked out by his tiny (in comparison) thumb.

Perspective is the key to peace. God is bigger than anything we will ever encounter, but focusing on trials can make them seem larger in comparison. My favorite podcaster, Brian Hardin, (Daily Audio Bible) spoke some words straight from God to me this morning. He said, "Hopefully you are having a great day, but even if your day has gone in a way that you were not planning, this is the time to center ourselves around God's Word. This is the thing; this is like a game-changer." God's Word helps us gain proper perspective. When we focus on Him, we realize, like Paul did, that our "sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." Romans 8:18. It isn't as easy as it sounds, but it is the most important thing we can do when facing trials.

Besides, Paul was beaten, imprisoned, exiled and the like, and Jesus suffered on the cross and died for us, so what do we have to complain about anyway? :)

Today, I want to share with you a song that has been really powerful in my life. The song is a new one from Mat Kearney on the Young Love album.

Interesting side note on Mat - his name has one "t" because of an error on his birth certificate. His mom accidently spelled it Mathew. Then in red ink added the other "t" some time later. He saw it as a kid and embraced the single "t."

Random? Yes, but interesting! :)

OK - this song is basically the testimony of his father. In the link I have embeded, he tells the story a bit.



Pretty powerful stuff if you ask me...
the power of the gospel and how it changes your life.
the power of Jesus and how he redeems what is lost.
the power of Jesus and his love for the lost.
the power of a person who is determined to break out of their frame.
the power of starting over and making much of God.
the power of change in your life.
the power of grace and mercy.
the power of being stubborn and not letting circumstances determine your life outcome.
the power of a success story in one life and how it can encourage us.

Each of us must make choices every single day that determine whether we will live life to the fullest for God or choices that compromise who we really are in Him.

Choose today - to make the most of every situation and to glorify God in all that you do.

Ivan Denisovich Shukov is a character in a novel by Russian author Alexsander Solzhenitsyn. Denisovich was a laborer in a work camp in post World War 2 Russia that was taken in part from some of the real life experiences that Solzhenitsyn had himself while living in the Russian gulags and work camps. We get to see one single day in the life of this prisoner during the course of the book. Nothing extreme, nothing extraordinary happens on this day, but it certainly gives a person a good idea about what it must have been like if only on the very good days, to put it mildly he doesn't live an easy life even on these "good days".
Towards the end of the book one of the other prisoners, Alyosha, observes Denisovich at the end of a long day offer a sort of generic prayer,
" Glory be to Thee, O Lord. Another day over. Thank you I'm not spending tonight in the cells. Here it is still bearable."
…
Alyosha heard Shukov's whispered prayer, and, turning to him: "There you are, Ivan Denisovich, your soul is begging to pray. Why don't you give it its freedom?"
…
"Well, Alyosha," he said with a sigh, "it's this way. Prayers are like those appeals of ours. Either they don't get through or they're returned with 'rejected' scrawled across 'em."
Alyosha goes on to encourage him, "But, Ivan Denisovich, it's because you pray too rarely and badly at that. Without really trying. That's why your prayers stay unanswered. One must never stop praying. If you have real faith you tell a mountain to move and it will move…"
Ivan retorts that even with his faith and praying that the political turmoil and war still found Alyosha in the same work camp as himself trying to imply that his own prayers weren't effective at all. What good has it gained him if it could not save him from the same fate? Alyosha replies that that is not what they prayed for, but instead simply for our daily bread.
"Our ration, you mean?" asked Shukov
…
"Ivan Denisovich, you shouldn't pray to get parcels, or for extra stew, not for that. Things that man puts a high price on are vile in the eyes of Our Lord. We must pray about things of the spirit--that the Lord Jesus should remove the scum of anger from our hearts…"
Ivan goes on to talk about the hypocrisies and corruption of his old home town priest and how horrible of a person this priest was.
"Why are you talking to me about priests?…It's because their faith is unstable that they're not in prison."
Ivan continues that he's not really against God, but why should anyone be filled with the idea of paradise or hell. Why do you take us for fools? That even still however much Alyosha were to pray that it doesn't shorten his term in the work camp, that he is still very much here in the same condition as himself.
"Oh, you mustn't pray for that either," said Alyosha, horrified. "Why do you want freedom? In freedom your last grain of faith will be choked with weeds. You should rejoice that you're in prison. Here you have time to think about your soul. As the apostle Paul wrote: 'Why all these tears? Why are you trying to weaken my resolution? For my part I am ready not merely to be bound, but even to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.'"
Shukov gazed at the celiing in silence. Now he didn't know either whether he wanted freedom or not. At first he'd longed for it. Every night he'd counted the days of his stretch--how many had passed, how many were coming. And then he'd grown bored with counting. And then it became clear that men like him wouldn't ever be allowed to return home, that they'd be exiled. And whether his life would be any better there than here--who could tell?
Freedom meant one thing to him--home.
Alyosha was speaking the truth. His voice and his eyes left no doubt that he was happy in prison.
"You see, Alyosha," Shukov explained to him, "somehow it works out all right for you: Jesus Christ wanted you to sit in prison and so you are--sitting there for His sake. But for whose sake am I here? Because we weren't ready for war in forty-one? For that? But was that my fault?
They're interrupted for a time, but then Ivan continues shortly there after. - Alyosha returned. Impractical, that's his trouble. Makes himself nice to everyone, but doesn't know how to do favors that get paid back.
Denisovich allows the distraction to jolt him out of introspection and writes off what Alyosha had to say because he thinks his impracticality discredits the message. He lets back in the realities of his everyday habits and struggles. Granted these are genuinely what he must face each day, but the message of something greater beyond these toils he cannot bring himself to hope for. He fails to recognize that Alyosha's hope in Christ is the most practical thing of all. "Exactly at the instant when hope ceases to be reasonable it begins to be useful"-GKC
Has our freedom cost us our souls? No one has it truly easy, but for instance relative to those in the gulags and work camps certainly our lives are quite easy. Has our easy living cost us something we didn't even realize we were paying such a high price for? Our constant distractions, busy lives, material possession; have they lessened our focus and our attention on the truly important teachings of Christ?
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Ephesians 6:14-17:
“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.”

This is the full armor of God that we are called to wear as Christians. But what I have to ask is this: after you have put on all of this armor, where do you go? Where is the battle? Nobody is shooting at us and we aren’t really being persecuted (in America anyways). You have your shield, so what are you going to defend against? You have your sword, so who or what are you going to attack?

Satan’s one and only weapon is deception, and this is how he is using that weapon in our generation. There is no clear enemy. Where are the oppressors who are driving us toward the Red Sea? Where are the powerful people occupying our land?

Satan has created a culture of acceptance, tolerance, and live and let live. These are all certainly good things, but like most other things, it can be taken too far. Consider the song “Imagine” by John Lennon, a very powerful, classic song that heralds these principles. Have you ever listened carefully to the lyrics though? Consider the first two stanzas:

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

Lennon is telling us that if there were no Heaven and hell and if there were no religion, our problems would be solved. Everyone could live for today (see my last two posts for the problem with that). And the way the song is presented, it makes it seem as if anyone who disagrees with him is a peace-hater.

It may seem extreme, but I’d be willing to go so far as to say that these ideas are our enemy (among others). Our culture has set up tolerance to mean the same thing as peace. We are asked to tolerate all manner of sins. As Christians, we’re getting confused. Since tolerance is associated with peace and is considered a good trait, we think we’re not being Christ-like if we don’t tolerate sin. But remember! Jesus forgave sin, but he did not tolerate it. He would never tolerate it. And he certainly would not tolerate a lie against God and the Kingdom of Heaven (such as the lie in the song).

Another area we’re getting confused is in the area of witnessing to others about Christ. Since our culture is sending the message that tolerance and peace go hand in hand, if we bring up the subject of Jesus, most of us feel like the response will be, “Hey, you need to respect the fact that we’re different and you need to tolerate those differences.” A very small number of people would respond this way, but the vast majority of people we come in contact with would not, especially if we’re following Christ’s lead by showing love first and then speaking. In the end, everyone needs to come to know Christ. Satan knows this, and so it is a battleground. Satan fuels our fears to keep us silent. ALL Christians are called to witness, though, as we see in Matthew 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

Don’t allow yourself to be fooled. There IS war going on and we DO need to USE our armor.

Ephesians 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.”

This week's guest blogger is Melissa Watson of Higginsville, MO.  Melissa is sharing a poem she has written.  Thanks Melissa!

Before me are two paths
One welcoming and bright
The other dark and thrilling
I choose the path I know is not right
At first it is exciting
And I don’t hear his voice fade away
Or notice that everything familiar has changed
I’m propelled into a world of darkness
And his lies start to sting my ears
My breath catches in terror
And I can feel my expression contort in fear
As the shadows grow longer and deeper
I realize this isn’t fun
I reach out for someone to help me
But I know only one truly can
I call out his name in desperation
And I hide my face in my hands
He pulls me to him
But something else has a grasp on me for reasons I don’t understand
Finally he breaks me free
From this path with no light
I cling to him as he sets me the path I know is right
I vow to never let go of his hand again
But I already know that I will
And that this is a fight I must fight everyday for the rest of my life

Heb 5:11-14 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. (12) For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, (13) for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. (14) But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Heb 6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God

Last weekend we looked at this passage in Hebrews, and began observing the phenomenon of “spiritual dwarfism” – the state of being a Christian who has forgotten how to grow. Growth is a natural thing, and certainly we don’t have any control over our growth spurts and hair growing in new places. God made us to grow, naturally. But He also lays some responsibility upon us to nourish our own bodies in such a way that we will grow and mature in a healthy way. In the same way, God provides us with everything we need. The bible promises us that “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2Peter 1:3) Nevertheless, the bible challenges us to “train yourself for godliness;” (1 Timothy 4:7b)

Have you ever watched a 3-year-old recite their ABC’s? It’s quite a feat, and you probably congratulate them for their accomplishment for their young minds! But suppose you went off to college for four years, gained a degree in mechanical engineering, and when you returned your parents ask you “what did you learn?” and you think for a moment, then respond “A… B… C…. D…. E… F.… G….” Are your parents going to be impressed? Needless to say, after they just dumped 80 grand into your college education, they would want to know that you are (more than) capable of TEACHING the ABC’s to young children, and then some!

A spiritual dwarf is someone who has been feeding on the ABC’s for so long, they have become hardened and dull, forgotten how to learn, and live as if though the whole Christian life is about the elementary basics.

Now we know that the alphabet only gives us the building blocks to form words, which form sentences, which form ideas, which become the foundation for real accomplishments. A mature Christian knows that the elementary basics of the faith (the gospel: The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, the sinfulness of man, repentance from dead works, faithfulness toward God) is just that: the elementary. The beginning. The foundation. But we don’t simply stop with the foundation. We BUILD something on it. Some students may have gained a massive amount of bible knowledge during their younger years, but unless they have learned how to apply it in their lives, then they are only walking in the ABC’s.

So what needs to happen? We need to go into training. No soldier enters battle without training. An electrician doesn’t climb a telephone pole and begin tinkering with intricate connections and dangerous electrical components without training. No Olympic athlete will go into the games to represent his country without LOTS of training. And no Christian should try to attempt life as a follower of Christ without knowing that he is going through a regiment of training.

But how do we train for godliness? Who trains us? We’ll talk about that next week, when we wrap up our look at this passage in Hebrews.

We were created to worship. From Cain & Abel giving the tithe of their labors to Revelation 14:7--"Fear God, and give Him glory...worship Him who made the heaven & the earth..."--the Bible is filled with references to worship. The desire to worship is so ingrained in our DNA that even if we don't know God, we will still worship something. "Burn with fire the graven images; do not covet the silver or the gold that is on it or take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it" Deut. 7:25 (paraphrased). Money, possessions, drugs, relationships, and even the desire for safety or prosperity can become objects of our worship.

When we worship the wrong things, people can see it. There is commitment-however misplaced. There is passion-we are all in. That's why it's so hard to break the hold these things can get on us.

I would be willing to bet that each of us at some point has checked out our neighbors during church. We have watched others as they sing, looked at the paper of the person next to us on the pew to see if we're on the same page. Ever notice how many frowns are in a congregation during worship? That's so ironic to me. As we stand and worship the King of kings and Lord of lords, we can't even muster a happy look! Some of the time, we may even be stifling a yawn! When we worship worldly things, we put everything we have into it, but when we worship God, we fail to give even a tithe of our energy.

Why is there such a disparity between these things? Why must we be quiet, subdued, composed--even bored--when we worship the one true God? David wasn't reserved in his worship. 2 Samuel 6:14-15 says, "And David danced before the LORD with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the horn." Wasn't David called, "a man after God's own heart"? He had a love for God that was true, passionate, and enduring-despite his failures and sins recorded in the Bible.

The answer to the question of 'why' is in this same chapter of 2 Samuel. We find our answer in Michal, David's wife. She saw him dancing. She watched him give his whole heart and all his energy to the Lord in front of all the people. Unlike God, she did not see inside his heart. She only saw the exterior. "As the LORD’s chest entered David’s City, Saul’s daughter Michal was watching from a window. She saw King David jumping and dancing before the LORD, and she lost all respect for him." v. 16. Michal drew her own conclusions about David's motives, based solely on appearances. She even said to him, “How did Israel’s king honor himself today? By exposing himself in plain view of the female servants of his subjects like any indecent person would!”

This is the very thing that causes our reservations during worship. At times, we may even make Michal's judgement on people in our own congregation when they lift their hands, kneel at the altar, or speak out an "Amen!" or "Praise the Lord!" It's also what we fear-others looking at us, seeing our true worship and 'losing respect' for us.

Jesus tells us in Matthew that those who seek the approval of men have their reward on this earth. He tells us to do good deeds, and not call attention to ourselves. He tells us to seek God and only God during our prayers. And, as David demonstrates, He tells us to worship without reservations. Our proper response to God's goodness is told in David's response to his wife's criticism: “I was celebrating before the LORD...and I will celebrate before the LORD again! I may humiliate myself even more, and I may be humbled in my own eyes, but I will be honored by the female servants you are talking about!”

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and foremost commandment." Matthew 22: 37-38

"Let your conversation always be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." Colossians 4:6

One of the summers I worked at Camp Windermere, I wrecked my bicycle and earned some scratches and a small patch of road rash. When my friend helped me to the Nurse's station she poured on peroxide twice; both times it bubbled up white. She wasn't satisfied with the peroxide and decided it would be best to pour some saline on it to help prevent infection. All I thought was, "Saline is salt-water...salt on open wound...that's supposed to hurt." My friend has a look of, "I'll enjoy watching this." Sure enough, it hurt and I got really light-headed from it, but it worked and I have a small scar to remind me of the episode.

That phrase, "pour salt on an open wound" is usually in a negative sense; as in making a situation worse or causing additional pain. Sometimes I picture the effect of salt on a slug, though there are far better uses. If you look up the history of salt, you will find that it has been used a long time. It is used for preserving meat and flavoring (imagine fries without it), and because of these it was even part of a Roman soldier's payment. Check out more here if you like.

Anyway, given the uses of salt, what did Paul mean exactly when he wrote that our speech should be "seasoned with salt?" Did he simply mean, "the truth hurts" and it will sting. My thoughts on this are a little scattered, but as I think about my own words, I wonder. How often is my speech like intentionally hurtful, like salt on a wound? I think Paul had more in mind than this so I hope you'll check again as I explore this further.

Brett

Today brings a conucopia of feelings for me. Today is the first day of school for our students. That means several things for me.

• I will have more time in the office for office-type-work.




• I will not have students around during the day.




• My phone will have a lot less activity during school hours.




• I will be missing lunch with students, and thus probably drop a few pounds.

Summer is a great time of ministry and it is always bittersweet to me when "my kids" go back to school. It has been a productive summer and I have seen much growth in many of our students. The true test of that growth happens NOW, as you return to your mission field - school.



What will you do this week to give God glory and to make Him smile today? this week? this year?
What are you planning to do this year that will bear fruit for the kingdom?

Make it your best year ever.

Be the change you wish to see in the world. Ole Gandhi was a pretty wise guy. I'm pretty done with hearing from friends or prominent pastors at some little C churches about how badly the big C church in America or around the corner or that they attended last week is doing. Duh we're sinners and put enough of us together and we're bound to mess up. So Instead of pointing out faults and failures of those around us why don't we consider just for a second our own walk. How is the life I'm living going to change the set of circumstances about me that I've allowed myself to become so angry about or worked up about? The gospel is about walking in life and while I'm not advocating accepting wrongs in the world or glazing over the sinfulness of mankind I am advocating shutting up for two seconds and putting some dad gum actions behind our words. Do you feel a sense of community at your church and if not what are some practical steps you can take and keep taking to see that change? Do you feel angry about some injustice, well first things first make sure the anger isn't rotting your insides and that Christ's love is your motivation then look for some way to contribute towards setting the situation right. If you feel hopeless about the state of America or the apathetic nature of your church, then maybe it's time to grab hold of whoever is around to join with you in prayer as often as you can, pray that town you're in up one side and down the other. The point is no matter how small or unlikely to have impact that your action may seem to be that it doesn't mean you shouldn't still do it. Radical change and personal revival begins somewhere and it's definitely not in complaining and pointing out how terrible of a job everyone else is doing. May your life exude so much fruit of the spirit that people would flock to whatever cause you're leading in and the ways that God is continuously using you. If the work is of the Lord then he'll use it and you may be fortunate enough to see the work grow from small to large. However the return on your work may not be noticeable in this life and instead maybe He just wants to see how faithful you're truly going to be in the small things here on earth. I'm not a sports guy, but Nike has their motto right. Just do it.

A man (we’ll call him Bob) is homeless and starving. So starving, in fact, that he is on the brink of death. A rich man sees Bob’s trouble and offers him $50, which Bob gratefully accepts. You’d think that Bob would go and buy some food, right? Wrong! Bob wants to have some fun! Life is too short. So, even though he’s starving, Bob spends the entire $50 on a ticket to an amusement park. He has a great time, riding the roller coasters and bumper cars, going to the shows, and watching the fireworks. But inevitably, the park finally closes and Bob has to leave. He’s right back where he started. Sadly, he’ll probably even die soon since he’s gone yet another day without food.

This story seems far-fetched and ridiculous, right? But is it really much different than what the human race is doing on a regular basis? We’ve been given this gift – life – and we’re wasting it away because…well…we want to have fun.

Last week I wrote about a similar concept. I talked about how we all have to choose whether to live for today or tomorrow. I then talked about how much longer tomorrow (aka Heaven or Hell) will be than today. That was an issue of quantity. This week I’d like to talk about quality, or how much better tomorrow will be than today if we choose Jesus Christ.

C.S. Lewis writes about this issue in the preface to his book The Great Divorce. He says, “I believe, to be sure, that any man who reaches Heaven will find that what he abandoned (even in plucking out his right eye) has not been lost: that the kernel of what he was really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond expectation, waiting for him in ‘the High Countries’.”

What do you want more than anything? It’ll be there, in Heaven, and it’ll be better than what you can even imagine. Don’t misunderstand me. That doesn’t mean that sin of any kind will be there. But what are we really seeking when we sin? Generally, pleasure. And we will have more pleasure in Heaven than we can imagine.

I seem to remember a verse in the Bible (but I can’t locate it, sorry) that told of angels who fly around God and cry out “Holy! Holy! Holy!” Now I don’t know about you, but that seems like a goofy picture if you think about it. I picture God sitting there and two or three bird-sized angels flying circles around his head and squawking “Holy!” every few seconds. Kind of ridiculous.

But remember that God is infinite. There’s no way the angels could just circle around him. In actuality, they are flying along and every so often they see something new and totally amazing. When looked at in that light, I picture myself as one of the angels and I think my cry of “Holy!” could be loosely translated as “Ohmigosh! That’s flippin’ awesome!” How great would that be? Endless awesomeness.

I leave you with a Jesus quote from Matthew 13:44 and a question,
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”

Where is your treasure?