Lessons Learned From Farmers About The Harvest

The other day I took my nieces and nephew out to Lost Nation, Iowa for one of our “adventures “. As we drove along the back roads we saw many fields with combines working on the fields bringing in the harvest. This got me to thinking about the spiritual harvest that Jesus talked about .

Someone had to plant the seeds.
With who and where are you actively sowing and planting seeds to bring someone to Jesus? A harvest doesn’t just happen. You and I have to be intentional about reaching others for Jesus.


Someone maintained the field over time.
 During the spring and summer the farmer was out there daily working doing what needed to be done so that as much as he was responsible for he could have a successful harvest . We maintain a potential spiritual harvest by daily prayer for others, treating others the way we want to be treated, sacrificing our time to help others , etc....

Someone did the work of reaping the harvest.
In God’s kingdom sometimes we reap the harvest of the person we were working on. Many times , we reap the harvest that others worked on. Regardless, we must be ready to do the work of reaping the harvest. The farmers we saw on our trip were out past dark reaping the harvest. This reminded me that reaping the harvest isn’t always on our timetable or when it is comfortable for us. I’m sure that farmer had other things he would have rather been doing rather than sitting on a combine or tractor past dark. But he knew it was time to reap.

 Finally, all these farmers had sown seed with expectancy.
They expected a harvest. They didn’t sow seed with the expectation that nothing would come of it. Are you expecting a harvest with the seed you are sowing in others lives?

In my own life I have been blessed to see this process play out over and over. ( and it’s not solely because of being a pastor. Many times it has been outside of what I was doing at church).
I have sowed seeds with some individuals and it took over 10 years before there was a harvest. Some people I sowed seeds on, but others reaped the harvest. Sometimes, others sowed the seed on a individual, but I reaped the harvest. The point? Always be about working the field and there will be a harvest.

Please , be encouraged . I am someone who had didn’t necessarily have religious classes as a child as others. As a teenager and young adult the only time I was in a church was for a wedding or funeral. I didn’t start following Jesus until I was almost 28. If God can use me to reap a spiritual harvest in other’s lives , he can use you.

I’d like to leave you with some verses in the Bible on harvest:

 “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭9:36-38‬ ‭

“Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case the saying is true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor."”
‭‭John‬ ‭4:34-38‬ ‭

“What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭3:5-9‬

Troy

How to develop our faith in God

It has been said that life is a series of choices. With that being said, everyday we are given the choice to choose faith or not. Choosing faith is not easy by any means of the imagination. It is a challenge to choose faith , but in this whole following Jesus journey we are on, it is required.

Without it we can’t please God....
“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11:6‬ ‭

With it we see God move miraculously in our lives. Jesus was always moved by people who exercised faith.

For those who attend church and read their Bibles somewhat regularly it is possible not to unite what we hear and read , with faith. That is how the children of Israel are described . They heard God’s Word, but they didn’t unite it with faith.

“For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4:2‬

Even people around Jesus didn’t see some miracles because of not exercising faith.

“And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭13:58‬ ‭

So how do we develop faith ? We have to get to know the One who we are putting our faith in. I mean we don’t trust someone we don’t know.

How do we get to know God? By reading our Bibles and praying. So often people who don’t regularly read their Bibles or pray tell me they have trouble trusting God . I have to let them know it’s hard at times for those who read and pray regularly, it’s going to be near impossible for someone who doesn’t because you don’t know him.

Reading our Bibles helps us to see what God is like. The more we read the more we see that throughout the Bible,  He remained faithful to what He promised. Though life was difficult at times , He remained faithful.

When we pray we develop our “conversation “ with God. We learn that prayer isn’t just talking , but also learning how to listen.

These two disciplines help us develop our relationship with God. They help us to get to know what God is like so that we can put our trust in Him.

By having relationships with people we have learned who we can trust and who we can’t . We know which person will be on time , we know which person will be late . We know who is reliable, we know who isn’t. We learned these things about people in our lives over time spent with people.

So remember to develop a relationship with God start reading your Bible and praying . As you get to know Him more you will find that it gets easier to trust Him because now you are getting to know who you are putting your trust in. You are getting to know His character, what He is like. As that develops then start trusting Him with areas in your life . You will begin to  learn and see that He is faithful . This will then help to develop that all important important area of faith.

It won’t always be easy to put our faith in a God we can’t see, but at least by doing these disciplines we will have developed a relationship with God . These disciplines done regularly will help to develop our faith. Remember, God wants to show you He is faithful . Because He loves us so much , He wants us to trust Him. Just as you want those who you love to trust you. So He has made a way for us to develop our trust/ faith in Him.

Troy

Increasing Your Depth Of Worship

If you have come to faith in Jesus and are now living out your faith, all of us at some point want to grow in our depth of worship. I have recently been reading Play The Man by Mark Batterson. There is a passage in the book in which he writes about how we grow in depth about certain subjects, which he then correlates to us growing in our depth of worship.


.....During a rather fascinating TED talk, an expert in visual perception named Ed Seckel showed the audience a wide variety of images. One of them was a stenciled drawing of a couple intimately embracing. The audience immediately recognized what it was, but according to Seckel, children have no clue ! Why ? Because they have no prior memory to associate with it. Some of the kids said they saw nine dolphins!

You can't see what you don't know !

In his mind- bending book Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot, Richard Restak shares a profound truism: learn more, see more.

The richer my knowledge of flora and fauna of the woods, the more I'll be able to see. Our perceptions take on richness and depth as a result of all the things that we learn. What the eye sees is determined by what the brain has learned.

When astronomers look into the night sky, they have a greater appreciation for the constellations, stars, and planets. They see more because they know more. When musicians listen to a symphony, they have a greater appreciation for the chords, melodies, and instrumentation. They hear more because they know more. When sommeliers sample a wine, they have a greater appreciation for the flavor, texture, and origin. They taste more because they know more.
Now , juxtapose that with this:
 You Samaritans worship what you do not know.
John 4:22

The Samaritans were worshiping God out of ignorance. And when we worship out of ignorance, our worship is empty. We don't even know who or what or why we're worshiping!

Have you ever been guilty of apologizing to your wife without really knowing what you're sorry about? You just want to end the argument ! I've been guilty of this a time or two, and sometimes my wife calls my bluff. Lora will ask me what I'm sorry about, and she's got me dead to rights. I have no clue what I'm sorry about. I'm just sorry !

That kind of apology is disingenuous, isn't it? If you don't even know what you're sorry about, it's an empty apology. And many of us worship God the same way. We sing the words on the screen, but do we really know what they mean? If God interrupted our singing and asked us why we're singing what we're singing, we'd be speechless.

Jesus offers a solution:
God is Spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the spirit and in truth.
John 4:24 

We think of spiritual and intellectual pursuits as mutually exclusive endeavors, but they are one and the same. Great love is born of great knowledge. In fact, your knowledge is your worship ceiling!

Knowledge does not automatically translate into worship. But in some respects, quality of worship is determined by quantity of knowledge. The more you know, the more you have to worship.

Learn more, worship more.

Our Words

I don't know about you, but every now and then I come by a passage in the Bible that troubles me. Not because I don't believe it , but because I know it's something that's true and the thought of it being true makes me have to address the issue that is being said in the Bible. So here is a passage that does that to me :

“But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭12:36-37‬ ‭


Yep , there it is........ our words!!!!

How often have you or I said something to someone or about someone that we shouldn't have? How often have we when we go to say something mean to a person or about a person try to throw this disclaimer in there ......... just kidding!!!

According to the verse above the whole just kidding thing isn't going to fly before God.
See, we can say just kidding , but the Bible teaches that God knows what's going on in our hearts.


“Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭44:21‬ 

“And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; 
‭‭Luke‬ ‭16:15‬a

He knows whether we are really kidding or not, and I guess the bottom line is that if it comes to putting someone down or making fun of them, does it really need to be said?

Read this next passage from Proverbs 26 and notice how often there is a reference to words being used.


“Just as damaging as a madman shooting a deadly weapon is someone who lies to a friend and then says, “I was only joking.” Fire goes out without wood, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops. A quarrelsome person starts fights as easily as hot embers light charcoal or fire lights wood. Rumors are dainty morsels that sink deep into one’s heart. Smooth words may hide a wicked heart, just as a pretty glaze covers a clay pot. People may cover their hatred with pleasant words, but they’re deceiving you. They pretend to be kind, but don’t believe them. Their hearts are full of many evils. While their hatred may be concealed by trickery, their wrongdoing will be exposed in public. If you set a trap for others, you will get caught in it yourself. If you roll a boulder down on others, it will crush you instead. A lying tongue hates its victims, and flattering words cause ruin.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭26:18-28‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Our words matter! I’m not saying God needs to get in agreement with our words; our words need to get in agreement with God.

Here are a few closing thoughts.

Our Words Connect Us To God

Psalm 107:20 says, He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.

God sent His word.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus is also known as The Word, The Logos.

There was a chasm—a grand canyon—between God and man called “sin.” So, God sent His Son—the Word—to span that chasm. Do you know how we receive salvation?

Romans 10:8a says, The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.

The Bible connects the mouth and the heart many times. So, God reaches us by sending His Word. Words are how we connect with God.

Words Can Either Connect Us Or Disconnect Us


The way we connect with God is through our words, and the way we connect with people is through our words. Think about whenever you have had a disconnect with someone. Words were involved. They were either involved with what you said or what they said. Words were involved.

If you want a good marriage, watch your mouth. Some people have a bad marriage because they have a bad mouth.(I'm not speaking of using bad language, but of always complaining or putting down their spouse) You’re speaking death over your marriage.

Now I'm not a name it claim it person or don't speak this or that otherwise it will come true for your life ( like some people who are sick go to the extreme that they don't want to admit they are sick) But, be careful of the words you use concerning your finances, your family, or your health.


 I like to rib my buddies and all of that stuff, but putting others down for the sake of a few laughs is never good.

Transition from speaking words of consistent sarcasm or putting people down to using language as a blessing for your spouse, co-workers, family members, and everyone else.


 Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. 
Colossians 4:6

 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear
Ephesians 4:29

I close by telling you this story: Over my 20 years of ministry I have seen many gifted people. What is sad is when you see someone who has been gifted by God and yet their mouth/words keeps them from being effectively used for the kingdom of God. But, it's not just ministry. There are those who could advance in their jobs to a place of leadership but , they always have to joke, they put others down. Whatever it is, once again in all these situations words are being used.


Of course Jesus himself gives the final zinger:
For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.
Matthew 12:34b

Now hopefully you can see how all of these things connect and why I am constantly asking for forgiveness and trying to watch what I say........ Jesus says it all comes down to the state of our hearts.

Let's go to God and ask Him to deal with our hearts so that our words will reflect that His Spirit is inside of us.

Whether it’s a family member, a coworker, or a stranger, when we talk to or about others,  let's use words that edify and encourage!

Troy

Things I Came Across This Past Week August 7-11 2017

Quotes:

Get God's plan before making your own plans.

Your primary way of building yourself up should never be tearing others down.

Carey N 

Truth for the day:  "Every person will suffer one of two things:  Either the pain of discipline or the pain of regret."

God gave you a gift. Find it, embrace it, and then share it with the world.

Wise men are not always silent, but they know when to be.

Spiritual maturity isn't about how much you know. It's about how much you love.

“No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted” - Aesop

We can see only relatively . But internally, in our hearts, we commonly assume that what we see is the way things are, and that others, if they were seeing accurately, would see things the way we do. 

Mark Labberton 

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. —ALBERT EINSTEIN

When you choose to forgive those who have hurt you, you take away their power.

From Books:

A Grace Revealed
By Gerald Sittser
I long for that kind of spirit to permeate my own story, and I feel reasonably certain you feel the same way. How can we get there? Does it depend entirely on our own efforts, our initiative and creativity and persistence, our faith and goodness? I don’t think so.

......In order for our lives to be characterized by such a spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit must be working in us. Paul links this work of the Spirit to the new covenant promise God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. (Ezekiel 36: 26–28)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3: 17–18)

This vision of transformation is no mere theological abstraction. We truly need the Holy Spirit, as much as we need food and oxygen and sleep, companionship and affection. The reason is simple enough: we are not God, and we do not self-exist.


......It strikes me as strange that people who know they are utterly dependent on physical, emotional, and social resources outside themselves for their very survival still think they can manage on their own in the spiritual life. They embark on some quest to find the “god within,” though they would never embark on a similar quest to find the “air within” or the “food within” or the “community within.”

Union with Christ
By Rankin Wilbourne

 In the Garden of Eden, this was what the serpent called into question—the goodness of God (Gen. 3: 4–6). And that question remains today underneath every temptation we face: Do you believe the Lord intends good for you? If only we could see how much God desires our good, then we would never choose against God’s will for our lives. Therefore, the remedy to our deepest wound and the antidote to Satan’s most venomous lie is a sure and certain confidence in the goodness of God toward us. Only those who believe in his grace will have the power to obey him. Because we are relentless in trying to justify our lives, because we will use anything, even our virtue, to keep God at a distance, we can’t hear this song of grace too loudly or too often. We always need to hear it at full volume. All the way up. Undiluted. In all of its shocking candor. Grace abounds. I’m thankful for those writers who, against the fear that such talk of God’s lavish grace will lead to a life of license, dare to keep turning up the volume on grace—all the way to full blast. Amazing grace. This is the song that breaks into our hearts and changes everything. Grace changes everything. Believe the gospel of grace. Come and rest.

Hearing From God
By David Stine
What has God spoken to you in previous seasons that you can stand on in this season? If you do not have anything that you know He spoke, spend some time this week listening for His voice and asking Him to lead you where He wants you to go. If it is still unclear,look at the desires that are in your heart, and if they line up with God’s Word and what you believe would please Him, I encourage you to walk in that direction. As I mentioned earlier, if you keep your heart humble and your ear listening for His voice, He will redirect you if you ever step off course. I believe as you step out in faith with God, you are going to be amazed at His goodness.

Here is a link to a good read from Harvard Business Review
how-you-define-the-problem-determines-whether-you-solve-it


With the passing of Glen Campbell this past week here are a few videos of him to enjoy.

I'm Not Gonna Miss You


Back Home In Indiana

Wichita Lineman

Jesus At His Baptism And What It Means For Us

The following is an excerpt from 3-2-1 The Story of God, The World and You by Glen Scrivener.

Let’s return to a scene we touched on in the last chapter: Jesus’ baptism. This was his grand unveiling –a public launch event at the Jordan River with hundreds in attendance. The people were there to be washed in a religious ritual. It was a confession to God and the world: ‘I am a mess,’ ‘I’m a failure,’ ‘I’m filthy and I need a bath.’

We all know that there is a mess out there in the world. These people were confessing to a mess in their own hearts. So they came to be washed –that is, to be baptised. Stunningly, while they were all confessing to their filth, the Son of God shows up. And he doesn’t judge them, he joins them. He lines up with the messy people –shoulder to shoulder with all the moral failures –and he gets baptised. What is he doing? He’s joining us in our failure, so we can join him in his family.

 The Gospel-writer Luke describes the scene: When all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’ Luke 3:21-22

Normally heaven is closed to us. We don’t naturally have an angle on divine realities but here God is opening up to us and the picture we see is both strange and wonderful. When ‘the Jesus-God’ opens up, we see a loving union of THREE.

Here is the Christian vision of God and it’s utterly unique. For Christians, God is a Father loving his Son (Jesus) and filling him with his Spirit. At first glance we see THREE, but look closer and we understand how completely united they are. We see Jesus, but instantly we see that he is the Son of a Father and filled with his Spirit. We notice the Spirit, but the Spirit seems to be flowing from the Father to the Son. We hear the Father, but the Father is sending his Spirit and rapt in delight for his Son. When we understand each person, we realise how utterly dependent they are on the other two. They are THREE, but these three are one –forever united in love.

At the Jordan River we see what it looks like when heaven is ‘opened’. This is what there has always been. Before there was a world, there were these THREE in perfect harmony.

The night before Jesus died, he prayed publicly. Addressing his Father, he said, ‘you loved me before the creation of the world’.  What’s deeper than the universe? What’s the foundational principle of existence? Jesus says he was there before the universe began. What was it like? According to Jesus it was a Father pouring out love to his Son in the joy of the Holy Spirit. If you could open up heaven and look inside you would see precisely what they saw at the baptism: Jesus the beloved Son of the Father, filled with the Holy Spirit. The deepest reality of all is this union of love.

......The Tri-unity (or Trinity) is the loving unity of these three: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The word is not so important; its significance is cosmic: it means that love really is ultimate. The universe has come from love, been shaped by love and is made for love.

.....Jesus is the one from heaven who comes to us with an unparalleled view of God. ‘The Jesus-God’ is not a God we would have imagined by ourselves. No-one would invent ‘the Trinity’ as a religious comfort blanket. Jesus brings to the world the strangest and most surprising vision of God.

You Are More Than The Bad Choices You Have Made

“By faith Moses, when he had grown up,refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,”
Hebrews 11:24-25

The phrase that gets my attention is "passing pleasures of sin". There is something we find enjoyable about committing sin, otherwise we wouldn't do it. I mean, I'm not using my common sense if I keep doing something that isn't enjoyable. 
So sin does bring pleasure to us. 

But the word before pleasure is passing. It is a passing pleasure. We find pleasure in certain sins but it is a passing pleasure. 

 But the part I want to mention is the part that we don't listen to when we are tempted. Not only is it just a passing pleasure but, after we do it eventually there is a price to pay, there are consequences. Guilt, regret, are just a few of the consequences we experience. Not to mention that sometimes our lives are even changed. 

I don't know if I haven't met one person who isn't living with regrets or some type of guilt. And this is where I want to try to bring some encouragement. Eventually the enemy of our souls will come to us and tell us that all we are is the sum of all our bad choices we have made in life. If we are not rooted in God's Word or God's love for us we will believe it. We may do other activities to try and drown out that voice but it will still be there. And the strange thing is, the activities we do to try to forget about our guilt and regrets usually lead to more guilt and shame. 

But, God's Word says we are more than the bad choices we have made in life. 
God's Word says in spite of the bad choices we have made, God still loves us. 
The Bible is full of people who made bad choices. Peter, Paul, Matthew, Moses, just to name a few. The difference was they went to God or I should say God came to them and initiated the restoration process. And now when we think of them we don't think of all their wrong choices in life, we think of the right choices they made. The same can be true for you.

So here is what I propose:
1. Get into God's Word and start learning about His great love for you.
2. You've made some bad choices in life. We all have. Go to Jesus and ask for forgiveness. I have found that God is more eager to forgive us than we are to be forgiven.
3. Develop a relationship with Jesus. The Bible says there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Begin to live for Him.
4. Ask Him to help you to live for Him. 
5. Remember, you are more than the bad choices you have made in life.


 Here was a tweet I came by the other day.
"No person, no situation, no tragedy, and no sin can separate you from God’s ruthless love."
 @jamesbryansmith

You see, the One who never made a bad choice took all of our wrong choices upon Himself on the cross. He bore the punishment of all our bad and wrong choices so that we wouldn't have to. Jesus is the reason we aren't just the sum of all the bad choices we have made in life. 

Troy 

Things I Came Across This Past Week - July 24- 28, 2017

Things I Came Across This Past Week
July 24-28th 2017

Quotes

Obedience may create challenges, but disobedience creates problems.

Only a life lived for others is a life worth while. – Albert Einstein

Many come on Sunday longing for the fancy meat of Egypt. The preacher mustn't consent. It is ordinary manna we offer: Jesus, bread of life.

I used to think I could shape the circumstances around me, but now I know Jesus uses circumstances to shape me @bobgoff

When you talk, you are repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.

Don’t abandon in frustration what you planted in faith.
Louie Giglio

“If you don’t get better you’ll become critical of those who are better” @Chris_Hodges #Grow17

In the spiritual life only one thing produces genuine joy and that is obedience. --
Richard Foster



From Books

"A Grace Revealed"
By Gerald Sittser
Chapter 9
Aroma
In his second letter to the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul uses the word “aroma” to describe the kind of story that has a redemptive spirit to it, and he uses a Roman victory parade as his primary metaphor. In his day, Roman citizens scattered fragrant flowers on the road over which a victorious army marched when returning from a military campaign. The aroma of those flowers reminded citizens that their army had defeated the enemy, won the peace, and established security in the realm. Those same flowers reminded prisoners of war —marching in chains behind the victorious Roman army —that they had been defeated. Paul writes: But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. (2 Corinthians 2: 14–16) Christians, Paul said, are like that aroma, whose spirit brings life to those who long for life and death to those who choose death.

"Destroyer of the gods"
Early Christian Distinctiveness In The Roman World
by Larry Hurtado
From Chapter 1 : Early Christians and Christianity in the Eyes of Non-Christians.

Indeed , in light of the social and, increasingly , the political consequences of being a Christian in these early centuries, one might well wonder that the movement grew and why people became Christians..........
There must have been things about early Christianity that made it worthwhile to become an adherent in spite of social harassment and potential prosecution.

Actually, it appears a good many outsiders, who were the overwhelming majority of the populace, regarded Christians and Christianity as objectionably different and certainly not simply one group among an undifferentiated lot.

3 2 1 The Story Of God
By Glen Scrivener
Chapter 3
How do you respond to hearing of God’s love? Perhaps it sounds like a cruel joke in a suffering world. Perhaps it sounds like wishful thinking. Perhaps it sounds like a cheesy platitude to be posted on the Facebook walls of the gullible. Is there any justification for the claim –made in a million pop songs –that love is the greatest thing? Yes there is. We’ve been talking about him all along. Showing up in the middle of history we have a man who claims to be deepest reality. He says he has come from above, he was there in the beginning and he will wrap it all up at the end. Ordinarily we dismiss such people as madmen or liars. But this man seems entirely credible. The rest of his teaching has shaped civilisations –I don’t think he was mad. The rest of his life pulsates with self-giving love –I don’t think he was bad. Perhaps then he can be trusted. If so, we have a window onto life’s ultimate foundation. When we look at Jesus, what picture of God do we see?

"Hearing From God "
By David Stine
Chapter 4

I share this part of our story to remind you that we don’t always hear God perfectly and sometimes we inadvertently step off course. We can trust that when we do, God will draw us back. I will say that as Romans 8: 28 reminds us, God redeems and works all things together for good.

Union With Christ
By Rankin Wilbourne
Chapter 2

Christ dwelling in us by his Spirit is a guarantee that we can and will change.
We are adopted into God’s family, and not in name only. The Spirit in us now guides and forms us more and more into the family likeness. The same Christ who overcame every temptation and was perfectly obedient—that Jesus is in you now. The Jesus who had compassion on the crowds and who healed the sick—that Jesus is in you. The humble Jesus who led as a servant, who washed his disciples’ feet—he’s in you. The Jesus who repeatedly shattered racial barriers with his teachings and in his life—that Jesus is in you. The Jesus who suffered and loved to the end—he dwells in you. And the Jesus who was raised to new life—that Jesus is living in you right now!
Do you realize what resources you carry around with you? Do you realize that you are never again alone to face whatever you are facing? This is why Paul prays for us, “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe” (Eph. 1: 18–19 NIV).

With that in mind, consider two superheroes, Batman and Spider-Man. Batman is a rich and strong man with lots of cool gadgets. His superpowers stem from his external possessions. Spider-Man has a few accessories as well, but he is a superhero because of the spider powers he obtained when he was bitten by a radioactive spider. His nature has been changed. He now has a new power accessible to him, within him. 9 Christ in you makes you more like Spider-Man than Batman. Something alien to you, from outside of you, has entered into you and changed your nature. You now have power that you did not have before. The trouble with this analogy is that Spider-Man became something more than human, while we instead are being restored to our full humanity. We are becoming more like Christ.

Chapter 3

When I base my Christian life on my Christian experience, I become locked in the labyrinth of my own performance. I am only as sure of God as my current emotions and obedience allow. My eyes are fixed on myself.

Christ has wed himself to you. This is not just a declaration to agree with. It is an objective reality to live into. He has fully atoned for you, and he is now with you, assuring you that with him, you have the resources to overcome anything that threatens to overwhelm you.

The Father loves you “even as” he loves his own son because all that belongs to the son he now shares with all those who are united to him. Whatever is true of Jesus in God’s eyes is now true of you. That’s union with Christ. Union with Christ means you are in Christ. And Christ himself prays for us to know we are hidden in him—and promises that he “will continue to make it known” (John 17: 26).

From Interviews and Blogs:

"This is no time to cave into spiritual narcissism, where the primary concern is whether people are fed, are ministered to, or “get anything out of the worship experience,” as though the mission is caring for believers as consumers instead of dying to ourselves to reach a lost world."
James Emery White



Explain the three timeless truths; are they what you mean by the Daniel “code”?
O. S. Hawkins: In the first chapters of Daniel, he reminds us:
• Don’t Give In — Be Resistant. You know, on some things, we can go along to get along. It’s unlikely many men reading this wear suits and ties to church. While maintaining appropriate modesty, most of us have gone to a more casual dress in church, much as we have at work, at the airport, or at a ballgame. We can give in on other non-essentials. But where there’s clear teaching by God’s Word on a given matter, we should not give in—we should be resistant! Secondly, Daniel tells us:

• Don’t Give Up — Be Consistent. We spent a quarter of a century serving just about every kind of church imaginable. Our first pastorate was in the southwestern wheat farming communities around Hobart, Oklahoma. Then, we served in a county-seat town: Ada, Oklahoma. For 15 years, it was our deep privilege to serve in the heart of a great cosmopolitan center—Fort Lauderdale, Florida—before coming to serve in the heart of the concrete canyons and the historic First Baptist Church of Dallas. In each of those churches, we saw men and women, boys and girls, who chose to be consistent with their faith, even when others around them took an easier road. How did they do it? How did Daniel do it? They stayed on guard. The tendency within each of us is to simply give in when we become overwhelmed by cultural pressures seeking to fit us into their mold. Daniel steps off the pages of Scripture and shows us how to stay consistent not only in what we believe but also in how we behave. Finally, he tells us:
• Don’t Give Out — Be Persistent. Daniel was in it for the long haul. In your small group, in your church and your home, you’re surrounded by people who likely will affirm everything you believe. But what happens as you’re going to work, to school, or out into the marketplace? Daniel knows exactly what you’re facing—the incredible peer pressure of political correctness, of cutting corners, of leaving your integrity at the door. Daniel knows there’s a cost to not giving out, but he also shouts from the pages of Scripture: Don’t give out! Be persistent!

YouTube

Here is a link to a beautiful video on Pentecost
Meditation On Pentecost from Fuller Theological Seminary


Here is a link to great 4 minute video from Crawford Loritts on not having to  always be significant.
Slay The Significance Monster

3 Simple Daily Acts To Help Your Spiritual Life

We all want to grow spiritually/ become better followers of Jesus. But we do face a few challenges in the process.
1. We go about it half heartedly. We wouldn't attempt anything in life half heartedly expecting great results, but often we do .
  2. We over complicate the process. Again, I'm sure we have all done this in other areas of life.

So, after we have decided to go all in and yet not over complicate the process here are 3 simple acts we can do daily that will lead to spiritual growth. I will also keep my explanations simple because it would be easy to go into more depth on each subject. But the point of this post is to get us into the habit of doing these 3 acts.

  1. Read Your Bible.
Read it with the intent of not just information, but transformation. How does this happen? Attempt to do what you read that day. As a side note I would encourage you to read at least one book of the Bible in order. Skip around if that is your style, but you should always be reading one book of the Bible from chapter one to the last chapter.

  2. Pray.
Begin developing a dialogue with God. The more you do this , the more the Spirit of God will teach you how to do it. But for now just start and do it regularly.

  3. When you sin ( and you will) confess and repent.
None of us are perfect. We are all going to blow it in some way daily. When you do, don't justify it, confess it and ask God to help you to stop doing it or responding that way to a situation.

There you go, 3 simple acts you can do daily. If you do you will experience spiritual growth. All three of these acts are aiding in your relationship with God. These can turn into religious acts , but that's not what God wants to have happen. He wants these to help develop the relationship aspect of following Jesus. That way your walk with God will feel alive. And isn't that what you are hungry for?

Troy

Accepting You Are Loved

A key to a fulfilled life is accepting you are loved by God.
                           
            For God so loved the world
            that He gave His only begotten Son,
            that whoever believes in Him
            shall not perish, but have eternal life.
                                                    John 3:16

This is a very popular verse. It tells us that we are loved by God so much, that He was willing to give His only Son on our behalf. He let His Son take the punishment that we deserved. How many of us would be willing to let someone we love accept the punishment for someone else who deserved it? Would we give our loved one in their place? Yet that is exactly what God did for us. Why did He do it ? According to John 3:16, which we read earlier, it is because of His love for us.

It is hard for us to accept we are loved by God because we measure by our human standards. There is also the enemy of our souls who doesn't want us to realize we are loved by God. We may think of all the horrible things we have done and say to ourselves, "how could God love me after all I have done?" His love for us is not like human love. If somebody wrongs us, we tend to go away from that person, but God isn't like that. Maybe if I use one illustration from how we as humans act it might help us to get just a small glimpse of how great God's love is for us. When a parent has a child, no matter what that child does, the parent always loves that child. If the child disobeys it can strain the relationship, but the parent doesn't stop loving the child. God's love for us is greater than any parent child love. So yes, when we disobey it affects our relationship with God, but it does not affect His love for us.

We all have a past, we have all done things that were worthy for God to stop loving us, but He hasn't. The Bible says, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). You see, according to the Bible, God didn't wait for us to be good enough for Christ to die for us. No, He did it while we were doing the acts we are ashamed of. That was and is how He demonstrates His love towards us.

So let me encourage you today, accept you are loved by God !!!

Finding Rest

All of us at times get overwhelmed with situations in our life. Stress, sickness, discouragement, and a bunch of other things can overwhelm us. We get that feeling of , "I don't know how much more I can take" , or we ask ourselves, " man, is this ever going to change? " We just get worn out from everything going on and just want some rest.

There is something that Jesus said that has encouraged many people for the last 2,000 years and maybe it can encourage you today.

“"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:28-30‬ ‭

A paraphrased version of the Bible puts it this way:
““Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:28-30‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Jesus says that he is gentle and humble in heart. He also says that his yoke is easy and burden is light. Yoke is “a type of harness that connects a pair of oxen.” It is used metaphorically to refer to submission to a teacher. In New Testament times the phrase, “to take the yoke of” was used by rabbi’s to refer to “becoming a submitted student of a teacher.”

This is not just for those who aren't believers , but also believers in Jesus. So often we feel we know best for our lives. As we try to make our desired outcome happen we get stressed , discouraged, worn out when things don't turn out the way we are trying so hard to make happen.


Are you discouraged? Are you bombarded by a sense of worry or fear? Do you feel that you are carrying a heavy load and you feel like you can’t take it anymore? Jesus invites us to take his yoke… to trust His ways instead of your ways. Believe that God knows better.

Be encouraged, Jesus is ready and willing to help . We just need to come to Him and submit to His ways. He promises as we do that we will find rest for our souls.

Troy

Letting Go Of Trying To Control Situations

All of us at one time or another get anxious about situations we are going through. Instead of thinking positively we think negatively. All we can see is how things will turn out bad. When we think the worst is going to happen we begin to try to control the situation. What is funny is that usually what is making us anxious is that we know deep down that the situation is out of our control. In those anxious times we are supposed to “… be still and know that I am (He is) GOD”, but that’s easier said than done. Instead, we try to take control of situations that are actually out of our control.

But did you know that the verb “be still” is translated in Hebrew as the word “rapha” which literally means “to let go” or “to surrender”. Some translations say "cease striving". Being still before God is to let go of our need to be in control. When we do this we let the light and life of God shine through the anxiety swirling over us.
Are you worried and anxious today? Take a moment to be still before God right now, cease striving  ( I know it won't happen easily because we are all prone to want to be in control) ...and surrender to Him your need to be in control of your situation.

 “Cease striving and know that I am God; 
Psalm 46:10a
Troy

Random Thoughts From The Gospel Of Mark Chapter1 part2

As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 19 Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.
Mark:1:16-20

Today we look at 4 individuals whose lives were never going to be the same after they responded to Jesus' call to follow Him. When they accepted the invitation they had no idea the incredible journey they were about to embark on.They would see and experience things they never would have imagined.

Let's think on a few thoughts:

1. THEY WEREN'T QUALIFIED
There is nothing from Scripture to indicate that somehow they were devout and holy and that was the reason chose them. No, as you read the Gospel accounts you see that they kept messing up even up to the night Jesus was arrested. Of all things, on that night they were concerned about who was the greatest among them. There is an old saying that says, Jesus doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called. They were just ordinary flawed men, but Jesus never gave up on them.

2. THEY RESPONDED TO THE CALL
In both accounts we are told they immediately dropped what they were doing and began to follow Jesus. Most don't believe that this was their first encounter with Jesus. No, they had probably heard Him speak and seen Him before. But,when He gave the call they responded immediately.

Let's finish by thinking about our lives. Have you responded to His call? Feel you aren't qualified for a particular task that He is calling you to?

Jesus invites us to join Him. Can you think of anything greater than that? Someone has said that, "every person needs something that they can invest their lives into". Let me encourage you to invest your life into the kingdom of God. He calls some into full time ministry, He calls others to minister while they continue to work at their jobs. But, Jesus does call us into a relationship with Him like He did with these four.  He will qualify us, teach us, and  He won't give up on us just as He didn't give up on the disciples in spite of their mistakes.  May we respond to His call. As we do we will experience things we never imagined.

Troy

Random Thoughts From The Gospel Of Mark. Chapter 1 part 1

“Immediately the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him.”
‭‭Mark‬ ‭1:12-13‬ ‭

We don't usually think that the Spirit of God would lead us into any trouble, but we see here that it was the Spirit that led Jesus to go to the wilderness.

Now the Bible tells us that God doesn't tempt us,

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. James 1:13

 but that doesn't mean the Spirit won't lead us to a place of testing or to a place that is uncomfortable for us.

 Sometimes God does test our faith, just as He tested the faith of the ancient Israelites by allowing them to go through hard times in the wilderness, “in order to know what was in your heart” (Deuteronomy 8:2).

 None of us likes to go through hard times (and God isn’t necessarily behind them, even if He does allow them).

We so badly just want a life of ease, but it just isn't a reality for our human experience or for our spiritual experience.

Many in the Bible were led to what would be uncomfortable situations. But God did not leave them. It also helped them to learn to depend and trust in God.

The end of verse 13 says that as Jesus was going through the temptation in the wilderness angels were ministering to Him.
The Bible tells us that Jesus prays on our behalf.
 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Romans8:34

So the next time you have been led by the Spirit of God into a challenging situation. Remember, God is with you, Jesus is praying for you, God is developing you, and God will use it for His glory.

Troy

Difficult Roads

"Difficult roads often lead to glorious destinations. "

I saw the above quote the other day and it got me to thinking about times I have vacationed out in Colorado, Wyoming, or Montana. There are many great sights to see. Beautiful mountain scenes, wildlife, incredible views that make for great pictures.
What surprised me the first time I saw these places was the difficult roads you had to travel to get to these places. Sometimes you travel up a mountain on dirt roads. Sometimes you are on paved roads, but you are so close to the edge of a cliff up high on a mountain that you don't want to look to your left or right. The roads are difficult but they do lead to glorious destinations. 

Sometimes in life we travel difficult roads. We go through challenges that we would rather not deal with. But if we think back on some of these difficulties we find they eventually led us to some glorious destinations. We may have experienced God in a way we had never done before. We may have found out that we had strength to get through something we never thought we could.

I often say at church that we want to experience a miracle, but the problem is that most of us don't want to be in a situation that requires a miracle. But without the need for a miracle we wouldn't experience the miracle. The way we experience Jesus as our healer is by being sick. The way we experience Him as our provider is by needing provision. And so on and so forth.

Some examples from the Bible could be if Daniel had never been in a lion's den he never would have experienced God coming to rescue him. If Moses and the children of Israel had not been stuck at the Red Sea they would have never seen the water part. Finally, if Jesus had not been crucified there would not have been the resurrection.

Difficult roads are not easy or fun. But they do lead to some glorious destinations. May we trust that God is leading us to a great destination for His glory as we travel some difficult roads in life.
Troy