Philippians 4:4-9: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
I have seen so many people complaining on the Internet, in newspapers, and in practically every media outlet about how horrible the beginning of the 21st century has been. I disagree. Here are some reasons why it has been exciting for me:
- All of my children except one were born in the 21st century.
- I have been married to a wonderful woman during all of the 21st century.
- I moved on from a stable job which I thought I might never leave and have been able to be used in bringing many people throughout the United States into knowledge of Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit.
- I have some great friends and have better understood what a true friend really is.
- I am blessed to be discipled by an incredible man of God.
- I am involved in a great discipleship group where we encourage and challenge each other in our faith in Jesus Christ.
- Throughout the world, people are taking a discerning look at who they are and what they believe.
- More than ever, people are searching for the truth. What a great opportunity for us to not only talk about the truth but also show people the truth in love through our actions.
- The church of Christ is making some difficult decisions and determining the definition of the “Church.” Even people whom I would call pew sitters are beginning to recognize the need for something to be done.
How about you? What are the good things that happened to you in the first part of the 21st century? What can you praise God for today?
Have we had troubles as a country? Yes. Have we had troubles in our families? The answer, most likely, is yes. However, we need to focus on the good things and rejoice in the Lord and His ways always. Have a great 2010!
The following is a letter from a mother printed in a German newspaper in November 1993:
“I had a child from 1969 to 1991, who then left the house. I was always busy professionally and the child learned to walk and talk from somebody else. He lived his childhood, which went by so quickly, and grew up. It may be possible to unite career and child rearing. I myself can only tell of the wordless grief that accompanied me, like a dark river, despite outward success. I had a child and sat at a desk.”
So what about you? Youth, are you willing to let your parents spend time with you? Why or why not? What can you do to remedy this situation? Maybe you can help by giving them this short writing.
Parents, are you focusing in on your children or just letting life pass you by without a care in the world, only to regret it all later? If you are, what can you do to change this?
If you think you are doing a good job spending time with your children, I want to ask you to ask them how they think you are doing. Ask them, “If there was one thing we could do together today, what would that be,” then do your best to do that with them.
And if that won’t work, just take them out for a soda, a bite to eat or just go out and get some hot chocolate & count blue cars at a busy intersection for a bit.
Please spend time with the children God has given to you.
“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” - Deuteronomy 6:5-8
The following lyrics are from one of my favorite bands on the planet, Project 86. Some of you might think this is too radical, but is it?
I think not.
As Christians our old person is dead and the flesh is dying anyway. As the song states, "I’ve erased all of my fear of the grave." Thanks to the Holy Spirit and His power we can live fearless in this world.
It is time to stand up for our Savior. We need to have the following attitude in all we do for Christ as the song states, "You’ll never kill Him (Holy Spirit) that lives inside of me." I am so glad for the life that our Lord and Savior has given to me.
Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the following song and lyrics.
You can hear the song at the following link. Follow along below. It is a very powerful message to read the lyrics while listening to the song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KM21wwYOSM
Project 86 - The Butcher
This man came to me he was looking for action
Pulling a blade to my neck
He said, "Call me the butcher cause that's my trade
And you know that I’ve come to collect."
I said, "Hit me now
And we’ll see where it leads
Cut me out if you think I will bleed
Strike me down if you think you’re a man
Cause I know that you don't understand"
Because there is no weapon
There is no blade
You wonder why I’m not afraid?
There is no weapon
There is no blade
You’ll never kill Him that lives inside of me.
He looked into my eyes. All he saw was conviction.
Dropping the blade to the earth
I said, "How could you think that I’d ever retreat?
You know that I’m already dead."
I said, "Hit me now and we’ll see where it leads
Cut me out if you think I will bleed
Strike me down if you think you’re a man
Cause I know that you don't understand"
Because there is no weapon
There is no blade
You wonder why I’m not afraid?
There is no weapon
There is no blade
I’ve erased all of my fear of the grave.
There is no weapon
There is no blade
You wonder why I’m not afraid?
There is no weapon
There is no blade
You’ll never kill Him that lives inside of me.
2 Corinthians 5:1–10&17
Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
I also want us to remember Philippians 1:21: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."
Serve Jesus in all you do. So what do you think?
Once there was a woman whose homemade pies were continually stolen from her window sill while they were cooling. She obviously became frustrated with putting such time and energy into making them only to have them stolen. Finally, she devised a plan to teach the pie thieves a lesson.
She decided to make a pan of brownies. She took extra care to make sure that these brownies would be the best, using high quality ingredients to ensure that they were tasty and succulent. Once they were baked, she put them on the window sill to cool. Then she hid to see who came to take the brownies. To her shock, she saw an upstanding community leader and church member in her congregation swipe the pan of brownies!
The next Sunday morning at church, the woman wanted to mention the brownies in conversation with this leader. While she was talking to some friends, the culprit approached the group and joined in the conversation. She knew this was her chance. So she said, “You know how I’ve been having problems with someone stealing my desserts while they are cooling on the window sill over the last few weeks?” The group nodded, and one younger lady asked, “You aren’t still dealing with that are you?”
The woman replied, “Well, I think I finally took care of the problem.” With the thieving church member listening, she told the following story:
“I really didn’t know what to do, so I thought I would make that person a nice pan of brownies. I used the best ingredients money could buy, took extra care to make sure they were mixed just right, and then I added the final secret ingredient . . . dog poop.” All of the faces reflected shock, except for the culprit’s: he looked mortified. She continued, “I placed the batter into the pan and then went outside to find two pieces of dog poop from the neighbor’s cuddly cocker spaniel and added them to the pan. I cooked it and then placed the pan on the window sill. Then, like clockwork, the brownies disappeared.” The group laughed hysterically, but the community leader quickly excused himself and went to the restroom.
She never again had another baked good stolen.
How many of us are like the person who stole the brownies? How about this for an answer: All of us are guilty of this.
You might be saying, “Now Jason, not me! I don’t steal, and I wouldn’t eat a pan of brownies with poop in them.” You may not be a thief, but I bet you have had some “brownies with poop” in them before. You might even have had them last night before you read this blog. Let me explain this rather strange metaphor.
When surfing the internet, which is often an appealing “brownie,” have you ever visited a site or partook of something you knew was “dog poop” — something impure or inappropriate? When watching a great movie, which was an awesome brownie, did you shut it off or fast forward when it had sex, violence, or crude jokes in it? Or did you eat that dog poop too? How about appealing brownie music? Do you consume the dog poop with that brownie? Or did you discard music that is lyrically immoral and only partake of pure, delicious, untainted brownies? There are many kinds of quality brownies available.
Or maybe you go to church and worship God on Sunday morning, only to turn during the week to the dog poop of consulting your horoscope and listening to mediums and spiritists, such as Sylvia Brown or (dare I say?) Oprah and the like. Have you partaken of the incredible brownie of sex only to experience dog poop because you are not married to that person? Have you become so gluttonous with food that you are gaining weight on a monthly basis?
Scripture is clear that everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Take Adam and Eve as an example. God loved them so much that He allowed them to go their own way and disobey Him. However, in His love, he had warned them that if they went their own way, they would die. We still have consequences today for our choices. You can do as you please but there is dog poop in some of the brownies. We are taught how to live a godly life, but God allows us to choose our own way. If we choose to stray from Him, His heart breaks.
I know because I am a father too. When my children obey me, their lives, for the most part, are productive and good. When they decide to go their own way and make a decision against what I have told them to do, they experience unpleasant consequences for their actions. Many times I don’t need to discipline them because they already realized the trouble and hurt that they caused themselves or others.
James 1:21–24 says, “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like." Are you like the community leader in this story? In what areas of your life do you partake of moral “filth”?
For further study, please read James 1:19–27 and II Kings 21:1-19.
Questions to ponder:
1) How can today’s church often be like the Israelities during King Manasseh’s reign?
2) How are you being like the Israelities in this scripture?
3) Of what moral filth do you need to rid yourself?
4) How do you plan to get rid of this moral filth?
5) How will you let the Holy Spirit help you stop returning to this lifestyle?
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
Does that sound like the headlines we read today? It amazes me that the more this world changes, the more it remains the same.
Jesus, as well as many other prophets, warned us about circumstances that are happening today. In II Peter 3, Peter warns of the last days and writes about the world being destroyed by fire. He also states that scoffers will come and deliberately forget that the world was once destroyed by a worldwide flood. Hmmm… Doesn’t that sound a little like the events happening today?
Regardless of what happens in this world, our hope needs to be in Jesus Christ — not in people. Unfortunately, we so often put our hope in people and in a politically correct mindset. What comes to my mind is the most recent vote in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) allowing practicing homosexuals to be ordained as pastors. This principle can be supported nowhere in Scripture. Even the ELCA knows something is amiss, as is evidenced by their very own actions. Why can I make such a bold statement? Because people that are living together outside of marriage and practicing sexual relations cannot be ordained in the ELCA. They know that such a sexual relationship is a sin.
I believe that we have allowed sin to creep into the church, and now we don’t know what we believe. Read I Timothy 3 to find out what kind of people should be in leadership in the church. We have bent this Scripture to the breaking point, and until we are willing to rectify this problem, we will be nothing but hypocrites in the world’s eyes. We have put Pharisees into church leadership. We well know what Jesus said to and about them. We have also allowed false prophets into the church to speak for God. Check out II Kings 21 to see the effect that false prophets have upon the church. I believe this damage is occurring in today’s church.
You have to live as though you believe what the Bible says — even when acting upon Scripture is the difficult thing to do. Until people see that a relationship with Jesus actually works in the real world, they won’t want to come to Him. Case in point: I once had a friend who talked a good talk but didn’t walk the talk. He claimed to be a Christian but was actually lying to me and others. He even lied to people who didn’t believe in Jesus Christ. (Some witness that was.) As his Christian brother, I confronted him on this matter. I even told him, “Just tell me the truth, and I will forgive you no matter what happened in the past.” He told me the truth, and I forgave him. However, he continued lying to me and others. This person, as well as a person who sins and has no repentance (turning from one’s wicked ways), should not be in leadership in the church. Other people saw my friend’s hypocrisy in action, and I had to attempt to mend the bridge in those relationships.
I do not write this to condemn but to challenge each and every Christian: live out your faith in Christ! I Corinthians 15 is a great passage to read about actually living our faith in view of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.
Christians, aren’t you tired of eating table scraps? Our faith is found in Jesus Christ and no other. Let’s start living what we believe so the world can see the truth. This will not be easy, but if you are in the center of God’s will, you will have peace of mind. If you want safety, then please STOP following Jesus or claiming to be His follower. You are giving Him and His followers a bad name. Being in the center of God’s will is not safe, but it is an adventure!
More reading: Genesis 6:5 – 9 (How was Noah known among the people of his time? How can you begin to live that way?), Matthew 24, The Book of Haggai, The Book of Habakkuk, almost any minor prophet.
If you read my previous blog about Mort, my teacher, mentor, and football coach, you know that he taught me the importance of standing my ground even in the face of adversity. He also taught me the importance of being a man of my word with individuals and in a group. Mort also taught me the importance of a great work ethic and the fact that great people are built in the face of adversity.
Yet there were still many more lessons that I learned throughout my high school football career. As you may or may not recall from the earlier blog, during my sophomore year of high school, our football team’s season finished 3 – 6. I was on the scout team appropriately named “The Hamburger Squad.” Every week, we would get pummeled by the starters on defense and offense. Being a part of that taught me the importance of “sticking to it” even when times are tough. I also realized that helping others improve often makes you improve as well.
My junior year was more of the same: we finished 3 – 6 again. It was a tough year with little reward. Despite our continual efforts, the losses just piled up. During my senior year of football, we continued to work hard but figured it would be another typical year.
Then . . . much to our surprise, we actually won the first game of the year! We never won the first game of the year. It had always been a heart-breaking loss. During the next game, our team began to meld together as we all realized, “I need to trust my teammates to get their job done.” Our team captains along with some juniors stepped up to lead, and we won our second game of the season.
Our next test was against the 10th ranked team in the state, the Mora Mustangs on their home field. They were dominant! They had won state titles two years in a row and were looking just as tough as ever. I will honestly say that before the game even started, I didn’t think we could win. But the juniors who led the previous game seemed to not understand who we were facing. They were either brave or simply naïve, for they were fearless.
These same juniors had started a new tradition that year. As our team would leave the locker room in two single file lines, one person would shout almost at the top of his lungs, “Nothin’ But!” Then the whole team would shout back in unison, “Torture!” It still gives me goose bumps remembering it! The team chanted this walking ALL the way to the football field:
Nothin’ But!
Torture!
NOTHIN’ BUT!
TORTURE!
(On a side note: The word “torture” back then had a lighter meaning than it does today.)
Anyway, since I was on special teams, I was always out on the field before the rest of the team. Therefore, I always got to witness the team walking out on the field. It was an awesome, intimidating sight. Our team chanted this to the 10th ranked team in the state — on their home turf! Did I mention that they had to walk right through the fans of this team? There was no way around them. Cups, candy wrappers, profanity, and other insults were being hurled at our team as they calmly (at least outwardly) walked to the field chanting, “Nothin But . . . Torture!”
It was an awesome sight, a memory I will never forget. It was quite a rush for a 17 year-old young man.
We ended up winning the game 21 – 13 and began to believe in ourselves. We realized that with even more hard work we could accomplish something great. The fans also began to believe it. That year we defeated a team that was ranked #3 in the state and finished the year 9 – 2. Our only two losses were to the state champions twice.
I learned many lessons over my high school years of football that have stayed with me throughout my life. Throughout my senior year in particular, I learned the importance of teamwork and of having a great leader. Every game we played that year had a different hero. I also learned that just because you are older, you may not necessarily be wiser and may not get the glory and credit. Sometimes you need to let others lead. The juniors on our team during my senior year stepped up to lead and did a phenomenal job.
You might be wondering what this has to do with faith in Jesus Christ.
Do you have decisions to make? Or are you going through hard times right now? Then focus on Christ and stick with it. Pray and seek His guidance. Listen to His Holy Spirit and do His will. It may be hard right now, and you may never have peace and comfort in this lifetime. But you need to be okay with that. Do you really believe the Bible or not? If you do, then remember your reward is in Heaven. So live like you believe that!
“Don’t covet your neighbor or friend’s life and stuff. That is a sin! Instead, do the will of your Father who is in Heaven.”
For Further Reading:
Psalm 1
I Corinthians 13
Haggai 1 (focusing on verses 5–7)
If you call yourself a Christian, do you actually do what the Word of God says? Sure you read it, pray, and go to Sunday morning services, but do you actually live out the Word of God? Do you only try to be a good person and just get by doing only the easy things it teaches? Are you seeing or living out Acts 2:38-47?
Are you living out God’s dream or the American dream? Maybe living out your dream has nothing to with God’s dream for you. I ask this question because once my family and I started seeking out God’s will with all of out heart, mind, soul, and strength and quit worrying about what people thought of us, the real adventure began.
I think there are people out there that know what God wants them to do, but they are afraid to follow Him because of what their friends and family might say or think. Also, some people are not willing to give up their comfortable lifestyle.
My family and I don’t really buy a lot of new things anymore, but we do share with a lot of people and they share with us. A great example of this was the other morning we ran out of milk. I was just about to go buy some when a friend showed up at the door with 3 gallons. It was like 8:00 in the morning! We’ve also been given clothes that others have outgrown or no longer need. Some of these clothes are nicer than what we would have bought new for ourselves. We give clothes to others as well. It is really incredible to see God bless His children through His people.
Another way God blesses us is through our health care plan. We belong to a co-op called Samaritan Ministries. It is a group of Christians that help pay for each other’s health care costs. We pray for each other and share the load financially. We send our monthly check to someone in need in the co-op. For example, my oldest son needed to go to the emergency room for care at our local hospital. We let the need be made known to the co-op and we received checks from our Christian brothers and sisters to help pay for the emergency visit.
I want to encourage my Christian brothers and sisters to rethink how we do life here on earth. If we really believe this earth is not our home, we need to have a kingdom perspective and build up treasures in heaven rather than treasures here on earth. I encourage you again to read the book of Acts 1-4 and start living what you are reading. If we put our faith in God and not man, our example will be seen by all.
Fear God and not men. This essentially means respect our Father God. He deserves it.
For further reading check out Joshua 24:15 and Romans 3:21-31.
