Posts Tagged ‘faith’

G VS G

Posted in Bible Study, I'm Just Sayin', tagged , , , , , , , , on June 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

How many times have I read this passage?  I would not even dare to guess.  Probably many more times than is apparent by the state of my love life.  BTW how is your love life?  Perhaps not an uncommon question among the sitcoms, romantic comedies and even dramas of the world.  As a Christian I should ask this question more often than I have.  However the key to the answer is not in the question.  It is rather in Paul’s words recorded (by the inspiration of God) in 1 Corinthians 13.  It is in the magnificent story of a God who fashions an incredible plan throughout history to teach his creation the truth about love, a truth that was lost so many centuries ago in a place called Eden.

So how is your love life?  The Prodigal son knew that his love life was great.  His family was rich, his friends abundant and I would imagine he was quite the ladies man.  On the world economy he was a love billionaire and he knew it.  So when his buddies asked, “How’s your love life?”  our boy could get a grin and say, “I am getting it all!  In fact I am going to go to my father and get even more!  My love life is going to be totally out of control then!”

“The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.” Luke 15:11

I bet he walked away thinking how much he loved his old man.  He was caught up in love, the love of the world.  It is about what we can get.  It is about how people, actions and things make US feel.  It is an economy of love that is pervasive in the world and invasive in the Body of Christ.  It is an economy of love that can only be escaped by death and resurrection to new life and even then it is an economy of love that will sap the strength of the faithful, destroy families, destroy churches, destroy ministries and spread deception everywhere that it takes hold.  It is the great battle of Getting vs. Giving.  It is the economy of Love that left the prodigal penniless, friendless and without hope.  However we serve a God of hope, of redemption, of resurrection and of reconciliation so that no matter how deeply we have sunk into the World’s love He will welcome us home and kill the fatted calf for a feast beyond all expectation and imagination when we return to him.  No matter how broken we are Jesus is ready and willing to accept us into his Love, a love of giving even to the ultimate sacrifice.

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”   Phil. 2:4b-11

How’s your love life?  Give Giving a try.  The Bible gives us the rest of the story and I’ll give you a hint:  In G vs G, Giving wins.

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Walking in The Light

Posted in Bible Study, I'm Just Sayin', tagged , , , , , , on May 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »

“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you , that God is Light and in Him there is no darkness at all.  If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth, but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”  John 1:5-7

Walk in the light.  I have heard that grace is easy.  Walking in the light is not.  Walking in the light means denying everything that I am.  Walking in the light means absolutely giving up my independence.  Even more than that it means that I am responsible for the dependence of my brothers and sisters in Christ.

“This is the message you heard from the beginning:  We should love one another.  Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother…”  1 John 3″11-12a

But you don’t understand she…but he…they deserved what they got.  There is no they fell in the body of Christ only WE fell.  “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” 1 Corinthians 12:26

“See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.  But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”  Hebrews 3:12-13

The Walk in the Light is a walk of fellowship.  It is a journey with companions.  The chief among them being our Lord Jesus Christ himself.  It is the narrow way.  It is the hard way.  It requires death and rebirth.  It is at once a rejection of all that I have been and a fulfillment of all that I was ever meant to be.

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Metro Hope Ministries

Posted in Life and Ministry, tagged , , , , , , on July 31, 2010| Leave a Comment »

www.metrohope.org

God is so cool.  I knew when we started this trip that it would not just be a vacation but a journey of ministry.  When we first came here it was weird because I did not feel the need to search for opportunities.  I had asked around for some ideas but the urgency that I had felt at other times was not there.  It was almost to the point that I was questioning my committment to the idea of ministry on this trip when God just gently nudged me to look around online.  It was pretty amazing.  My friends at Bethel would say that the choices were highlighted to me.  I still don’t really understand what that means but I know it happens.  Within a couple of minutes online I was looking at www.metrohope.org and knew that this was the place that God had for us.  I emailed them and 15 minutes later was talking to Mary A. from Metro Hope Ministries.  They are a Jesus centered addictions recovery ministry here in the Twin Cities.  We will be serving at a facility that houses women who are battling addictions and their children.  We will be helping out with the daily program they have for the kids.  I am excited about what God is doing in our lives and excited to what God will do through our lives!

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If you are afraid then….

Posted in Bible Study, tagged , , , , , , , on July 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

During that night the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands.  If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah …”  Judges 7:9-10

So back to Gideon for a minute.  Let’s run it down real quick…

winepress hiding…Great Warrior…Who me?…offering…fire…wow….Altar of Baal…Asherah pole….Broken down…burnt offering to the Lord…..who did it….let Baal defend himself….Midianites….Amelakites….Spirit of the Lord…fleeces…32,000…10,000…300 and here we are. 

God wants Gideon go after more than 100,000 with 300 and IF he is afraid God has an even better plan.  Walk into the enemy camp, just two of you.  I have no idea how difficult it would be for the Midianites to recognize two Jews among them.  Regardless it doesn’t seem like a great plan to me.  But often God calls us to walk into and through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.  It is there in that valley that we can receive the greatest encouragement.  It is there in the valley that our faith is affirmed.  I think of David and Saul, Daniel and the lion’s den, three young men and a fiery furnace

 The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.  Judges 7:12

“As thick as locust”, most of us have not had a opportunity to see a locust swarm utterly destroy an entire agricultural area.  I have seen videos but I am sure it cannot compare to feeling of the locusts beating against your body as you desperately try to salvage the crop that is your life.  This would have been a very pointed picture to the people of the day.  It alludes to more than just the number.  Locusts are incredibly destructive and in this time period the people had no defense.  I can almost hear Gideon describing the Midianite army to his grandchildren and their squeals as he describes them as a huge swarm of locusts.

   Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.”  His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.”  When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped God. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands.”  Judges 7:12-15

God supplied exactly the encouragement that Gideon needed and he supplied it from the mouth of the enemy.  God has it ALL under control.  Trust Him and he will demonstrate it over and over.  Gideon’s encouragement came from the object of his discouragement.  God recognized Gideon’s fear, drew him to it and then blew it away.  If we trust Him with the object of our fear and discouragement, He will blow it away. 

 

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So What do you do when God says, “Send your army home”?

Posted in Bible Study, tagged , , , , , , on June 11, 2010| 1 Comment »

I find the fact that God is laying Gideon on my heart a little concerning.  I don’t want to send my army home.  I want to rely on my talents, skills, intelligence and education to do the things that he has called me to do.  I am finding that there is a great but often unrecognized difference between using your God given gifts and relying on your own resources.

As I begin this summer of service to him I find myself staring at that dividing line.  Sometimes it seems precise and clear.  Other times it seems blurry and tenuous.  I find myself praying, “Lord help me send the army home and rely on YOU! AND help me use the GIFTS that you have given me to bring your KINGDOM to the very best of my ability.”  I am excited that even at this late time in my life and after years of relying on myself God has given me great opportunity to serve HIM.

OK ARMY, I guess it is time for you to go home….

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The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her,

Posted in Bible Study, tagged , , , , , , on June 11, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I have been thinking about Gideon lately.  God has me running Judges 7:2 over in my mind. 

 The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her,

I am ever amazed at the unity of a book written over a period of millenia. 

If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about–but not before God.  Romans 4:2

 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are,  so that no one may boast before him.  It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God–that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the LORD.”  I Corinthians 1:27-31

 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.  Ephesians 2:8-9

God wanted to save Israel by faith.  So he reduced her to the point that there was NO salvation except by His grace.  Here lies the tension between faith and works.  Gideon could have all of the faith in the world but if he had not stepped out in obedience to God, it would have been dead faith.  This is what James is talking about in James 2.  When we accept our own absolute inability to contribute in the slightest bit to our own salvation and step out in faith because he said to, that is when God says ok, now I will do it because in this you will know that I am God.

  When we send the majority of our force home, when we stand facing the Red Sea with Pharaoh at our backs, when we step onto the stormy sea because He said to….then we say with David “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalms 18:2).  When God asks you to give up your advantage, take the risk, it is because he is preparing to do great things.

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What Now?

Posted in Bible Study, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I am reading the Pentateuch.  I started Deuteronomy last night.  As I read, I have noticed a few things.  The first one is that God has not changed!  His methods have not changed.  His requirements have not changed.  I never realized how many Old Testament characters believed in and served God outside of Israel and God’s covenant with Abraham.  Melchizidek, Job, even Balaam who fell prey to his own sinful desires.  As I recognize a separation between God’s dealings with mankind and God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac and their descendants, I recognize a great harmony between the Old and New Testaments.  As I read Genesis, Exodus, (OK Leviticus creeped me out just a little, skin diseases, hair falling out, discharges….), Numbers and Deuteronomy I sensed the same God, the same message as Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts or any of the epistles. 

One of the other, and more pertinent things to my current life was God’s dealings with Israel in the wilderness.  They were given the end of the story, but the path to get there was a moment by moment thing.  When the cloud/fire lifted they went.  When the cloud/fire settled they stayed put.  God was “a lamp unto their feet”.  He only provided enough information to get them to the next stop on the journey to the promised land.  It was enough to fray even Moses staunch faith in The Lord, just enough to cause him to strike a rock instead of speaking to it, just enough to keep him out of the promised land.  For the people it was too much.  They couldn’t wrap their minds around Hebrews 11:1

Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Of course they didn’t have that scripture but it was certainly what God was calling them to.  So every step of the way, they whined, they cried and when push came to shove and they faced the giants they failed.  Then they tried to fix it themselves and they failed again.  I can’t avoid the “Just In Time” information flow of the Holy Spirit but I pray that I can avoid the outcome that Israel experienced.  I have already spent enough time in the wilderness!  I have already felt the sting when I have stepped out of God’s timing.  I stand at the base of Mt. Horeb.  He has given me a vision of the promised land but the landscape between Horeb and Canaan is cluttered.  There are too many paths.  I am in a hurry.  I want the Trip-Tik or to have the Map Quest  page that gives me the route, ETA and potential tie ups along the way.  With each new development my mind races to figure out all the possible scenarios.  Sometimes it seems like the way gets foggier and foggier, until that moment when he parts the Red Sea or the walls of Jericho fall.  So here I wait for the cloud to lift and lead.  The camp is uncomfortable.  The enviroment stressful.  I am ready for the promised land but..

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.  My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning. Psalm 130:5-6

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What About Saturday?

Posted in Bible Study, tagged , , , , on April 6, 2010| 1 Comment »

     Big week this week!  Just enjoyed a wonderful Easter weekend with my family and at BCC.  As we worshipped and studied, God really spoke to me about some things that I had never considered.  Probably the biggest one was on Saturday.  We celebrate Good Friday.  We celebrate Easter.  What about Saturday,  sandwiched between the suffering of the greatest sacrifice ever made and the glory of the most magnificent triumph ever, past present or future. 

 How often do we find ourselves on Saturday.  That blank day between the suffering and triumph.  At least as we watch the events unfolding we can focus on the horror, the pain.  We can anticipate the miraculous escape, the triumphant turning of the tide as God magnificently brings the victory.  Then it doesn’t happen the way we want or expect.  The night falls,  a restless night, perhaps without sleep, certainly with disturbed dreams.  Then what about Saturday, what do we do.  The dawn rises but all we can see is Friday’s darkness.  The birds are singing but all we can hear are the screams and jeers of the crowd; the hammering of the nails; the moans of his mother; the pounding of our own heart.  What about Saturday.  What do we do?  What should we do?  Some will run.  Some will hide.  Some will lose faith and return to the life they had known before they felt the Master’s touch.  What should we do?  Yesterday Pastor Nate spoke of faith defined,

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  Hebrews 11:1

If Friday is Good Friday and Sunday is Easter Sunday; Saturday is Faith Saturday.  Saturday is when we remember His Word.  Saturday is when we remember His touch.  On Saturday the fellowship of our brother’s and sister’s in Christ becomes paramount.  On Saturday we cry out to God.  On Saturday we worship, we cry, we hurt, we heal…inspite of ourselves.  On Saturday we grow and mature as on no other day.  Perhaps that is why Saturday is in God’s plan for us.  I have experienced a few Saturday’s in my life.  Some I am still experiencing.  While the Sunday mornings are great!  It is the Saturday’s that draw me close to God and close to God’s people.  It is in the midst of Saturday the I make strides towards Phillipians 2.  It is on Saturday that God makes those subtle changes in me that draw my spirit, soul and body closer to having His attitude and His values and to truly having His love.  It is on Saturday that we practice Hebrews 11:1 like no other day.  Do we trust the promise?  Are we certain of our hope?  I say in the midst of it all with Joshua,

As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.

 Are you in the midst of Saturday?  Be certain Sunday morning is coming, and when it does the most miraculous thing, the most miraculous change will not be in the situation that you are experiencing, it will be in YOU!

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