God is up to something!

  There is this wonderful and liberating paradox we run across in the Christian life. First we are to take responsibility for our actions, and we have free will to do so. We can not palm off the blame on the devil as Flip Wilson use to say, "The Devil made me do it". We are decision makers and can choose the path we take. On the other hand we are to be surrendered to God. Our lives are to be totally laid before Him.
   Our lives are to be projected onto the greater backdrop of the Lordship of Jesus. To call Jesus Lord is to state your relinquishing of control to Him.
   When we invite the Holy Spirit to fill us we are no longer calling the shots. Even our self control becomes a product of His work (Galatians 5:22-23) We don't get to be in union with God's Spirit so we can choose the road we will travel. The action of the Holy Spirit is referred to as "like a wind" in the New Testament (John 3, Acts 2); this is not a wind that you can give orders to, you can not command this wind, it "goes where it wills". If you are going to partner with the Holy Spirit you must surrender and align yourself with God's agenda, and I assure you He is up to something.
   We can close ourselves off and go through the motions of being a Christian, impress people, feel good about ourselves, but until we surrender to God we can never be totally a partner with the work of the Holy Spirit; God in you.
   But God's plan is send us out into the world to testify to His great works and love. We can not do this without Him at the wheel. We need to surrender that wheel to him; As you surrender to His Lordship, then the Holy Spirit of God can work through us.

Faith is Just a Leap Away

   I have to admit some of the stuff in the bible does seem pretty far fetched and hard to wrap a puny human mind around. But,through the years and with lots of study, I may not have a full understanding of what the book has to say, but I stand by it as a revelation of the person of God and his magnificent love for us. The bible requires you to think and reason and, yes, sometimes just take a leap of faith.
   When I first came to an awareness of my inadequacies before a holy God and my need for Jesus as my advocate to His father, I thought the bible was just a bunch of stories and pretty sayings. But I heard the truth about my sin nature. I heard about my need to turn from a life ruled by that sin nature. I heard that even though I was a sinner God loved me. I heard that because God loved me Jesus, His son, paid the price of that sin so I could be reconciled to God. I heard that I was now a new creation, a child of God. "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17)
   So how does that happen; that amazing leap from dis-belief to faith? In my case I was obviously open to what I heard, but how did I become open?
   I think that my openness to hearing the gospel was that the ones that were bringing the Word of God to me were doing so mostly with the actions of their lives and not hammering me with what I "needed to do". These people put me at ease by allowing me to be myself, they accepted me for who I was and expressed Gods love for me by their very being and let me "work out my own salvation".
   Most importantly, as they brought the Word of God to me, they were also bringing the Holy Spirit into my life in a new and profound way. As I considered, debated, and wrestled with the Word of God, the Holy Spirit began to reveal himself into that opening heart of mine. So as I heard the Word of God I was also hearing "See how much I love you, see how much you need to come to me. Your way has no map. Follow me."
   Faith does not have to be a big thing at the start, it can be the size of a mustard seed, but with time it will grow. That basic seed of faith is the acceptance of the miracle that God came to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
   Take the Word of God into the world today with the Holy Spirit as you guide. Be honest, be truly loving; love the way God loves. You are a living letter from God; The Word is in you. Those you come in contact with will have the seed of faith planted in their lives. You may not see it, but have faith. It is there.
   

Called to Discipleship

What is a disciple

  By definition a disciple is a student who intentionally follows their teacher, listening and learning from their instruction. In the new Testament we not only see the disciples of Jesus, there is mention of John the Baptist's disciples and disciples of the Pharisees.

  Jesus focused much of his teachings on what it meant to be His disciple. He expected his disciple to follow purposefully and with an awareness of the commitment He was demanding before they made a decision to follow. For example in Luke 14:26-33 He says:

²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

   ²⁸ “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? ²⁹ For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, ³⁰ saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

   ³¹ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ³³ In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. (NIV)

  

  Jesus expects His disciples to be committed to him and His teachings. We, as His Church; His congregation of disciples, also need to teach the importance a total commitment to Jesus and His commands. But more importantly that commitment needs to be exemplified in our lives. We need to live like the disciples we are called to be.

"Go, make disciples..."

  Some people view discipleship as something separate from evangelism when in truth they are inseparable. When you have the opportunity explain the Gospel to someone you say "This what Jesus did for me, this is why Jesus did this for me, this is how Jesus did this for me, and this is what Jesus is doing in my life now."

  We make disciples by being disciples. When we talk about Jesus and all He's done for us and is doing in our lives we need to show that following Jesus is truly the most important and meaningful journey anyone can ever make. Our testimony for Jesus should be totally immersed, baptized as it were, in his teachings


John 14:15,21,23

¹⁵ “If you love me, keep my commands."

²¹ "Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me."

²³ Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them."


Matthew 22:37-39-  37 “Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself." 
Matthew 5:43-48- 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 ’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The Way of Love

Tom Robbins wrote in "Jitterbug Perfume" that "the highest function of love is that the loved one becomes a unique and irreplaceable being". And while the context of  the book deals with the love between men and women is it not also true of God's love for us. That while we are trapped in our sin nature; unlovable, God expressed an unfathomable love for us. We are unique and irreplaceable in his eyes.

This love that God expressed toward us, this grace, is unearned and undeserved. It is not given because of anything we have done. So if we receive it, accept it, should not our lives be changed?  "This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did" (1 John 2:5,6) "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will." (Romans 12:2). Our lives are to be expressions of the love God has shown us.  "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." (Philipians 4:8-9).

Jesus calls us to a way of life, not an adherence to the bondage of a strict belief system. He calls us to experience the Kingdom of God in our daily lives by copying his life and the love and compassion he offers. The evidence that we walk with Jesus is that we demonstrate his humility, love, acceptance and forgiveness towards others at all times, never reacting in a condemning and condescending way.

Unfortunately the largest misrepresentation of what Jesus teaches comes from those most prominent in the public eye. Too many people use the name of Jesus to forward their own selfish agendas. Preachers and politicians using modern media to spread the "Word" but in truth only spreading mistrust,t division,and hate; using the power they garner to feed their own greed and lust. All they do is widen the gap between the camps they have chosen to define as"Us and Them" Them" are usually painted as an enemy.

Jesus teaches us to love our enemies. If we love our enemy, are they still our enemy? The way of love that Jesus guides us to is to be a way of life; a way of  life that becomes a sacred expression of our worship of him. We will find it hard to lift a hand in anger toward someone when our holy hands are lifted in praise.