This weekend was my last weekend for camping before winter comes. My dog and I took our first day at our camp spot to go hiking. The fall colors were beautiful and we went for a long hike down the trails. At the end of the trail we had chosen we ended up in a farmer’s field. He had just finished taking off all of his wheat and the sharp unbending stocks stood in our way. My dog is a Jack Russell, so he’s not very tall. The stocks were too high for him so I had to pick him up and carry him. We have been hiking for a really long time or else I would have turned us around and taken us back the way we had come. But the road lay ahead of us just beyond the field so I picked my dog up and carried him in my arms. He’s not a very light Jack Russell. He was too heavy to carry in my arms the whole way so I placed him up on my shoulders, like shepherds do with sheep. In doing this I realized a couple of things. We often see images of Jesus carrying lambs (representing us) on His shoulders as He traverses a rocky or dangerous area. He is always carrying the lamb on His shoulders, because that’s what shepherds do. When I placed my Jack Russell, who’s considerably lighter than a lamb, up on my shoulders it caused my body to bend forward in a position of bowing humility toward the terrain that I was navigating. Holding his little feet on either side of my neck and having him trust that I wouldn’t let him fall all seemed to he symbolic of the way Jesus carries us. And of the way He carried the cross. He humbled Himself. We hear people say that all the time but do we really acknowledge what it means. He humbled Himself. Bowing is often a sign of respect or humility. I see Jesus bowed under the weight of the cross on His back and shoulders, like He would have carried the lamb in the images we see. When Jesus placed the cross on His back, He was carrying us every one of us. Every person, every name that would ever exist was attached to that cross, when He sacrificed Himself for our sins. And like the images we see of Him carrying the little lamb on His shoulders, He had to bow forward. To put a sacrifice of humility on someone who didn’t ever need to be humbled, God didn’t need to humble Himself, if anyone had the right to not be humble, it’s the guy who created the whole world. But He still chose to humble Himself for us, in dying on the cross, in carrying the cross, in carrying us He had to bow forward to take the strain and the weight of our sins upon Himself as He carries us forward toward the end goal. We can’t do it on our own, we just don’t have it in us. We can try and we will fail, but He will never fail. Like I said earlier we have to trust Him, as He places us on His shoulders, to never drop us. But He won’t, He’s God, He loves us. And He buys Himself forward to take our weight on to Him, because that’s just who He is.
Happy October 1
Category: encouragement
Was that wrong?
Was that wrong?
Today I had an experience that dealt with somebody who did something that went against something I believe in. Not a Christian or Church something. Just a personal belief. I saw a person I know going to do something that I personally would say was unkind. Someone else I know saw this other person going to do this thing and brought it up to me, I simply said that I felt it wasn’t a nice thing to do. I was immediately told off because the person doing the unkind thing was connected to me. I had my defense up by that point and tried to joke my way out of their annoyance at my statement. Which made things worse and I was told ‘you can’t get rid of them if you want to.’ Which had nothing to do with what I had said, and by that point I was irritated and replied without thinking, ‘you can try!’
That was not the correct response on my part and having been angry for being called out was no excuse. But here is what I realized. I never once said anything against the person in question, that would be wrong. I responded to being questioned on the subject that I felt their action was unkind. Not the person. The action.
This is a growing problem in the world today. You can no longer speak out against an action you feel is wrong without people accusing you of speaking out against the person. People are so sensitive that if you mention a sin (as the Bible tells us to do) to a friend, that you notice creeping in, that friend will more often than not get angry that you are being judgmental. Now. Sometimes we are being judgmental. But hopefully more often than not you are worrying for the soul of a loved one. I know that I do it too. Someone says something about something I have done and criticizes the action and I take it as a personal assault and usually it isn’t.
This has always been a problem because we are people and we get hurt really easily. But we have always tried to follow the Biblical doctrine of hating sin and loving sinners. That includes the people in your Church and family because we are all sinners. But people now claim that if you don’t accept their sins you aren’t loving them and so the concern for the soul is thrown out for the sake of the feelings. You know why people say that? Because they want to keep sinning. And we all do this. If you chose to tell me that I was wrong in what I said at the end of my conversation with the person who got in my face, you would be right. You could probably be right by telling me that I shouldn’t have said anything at all, even though asked. However if you told me that an hour ago when I was still smarting from it I would have taken it personally and been upset. Because it always hurts to have your sins called out. Do we speak butterflies or hornets when we open our mouths? And do we take criticism of an action as criticism of our selves?
It’s always hard. But the bunny in Bambi said it right, “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” And if you feel you should say something even though it might not land well with the person you are speaking to, do it with love in your heart and the reminder in your mind that you make mistakes too. Then maybe your point will get across without tempers flaming.
Let all idols fall
When the ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory seven months, the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place.” They answered, “If you return the ark of the god of Israel, do not send it back to him without a gift; by all means send a guilt offering to him. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand has not been lifted from you.”
1 Samuel 6:1-3 NIV
I love this. It scares me too, we often forget just how powerful our God is. I love that God’s enemies thought they had won. They paraded around and celebrated defeating Isreal and taking the Arc of the Covenant. They mocked God by placing His Arc next to the false idol of their god, thinking it was greater than the God of Israel. Then came day 2. God struck them with plague after plague and set death and sickness on every city His Arc was brought to. He showed His enemies His power until they repented of their actions and sent His Arc back to His people, alone with a guilt offering, so basically an apology. God decimated those who mocked Him. I love this because it’s cool. I also love it because it reminds us that we don’t have to fight in our power against the enemies of God who are also our enemies. God will fight for us, through us and for Himself. He destroys evil with the flick of a hand. We simply need to wait and know He can do it. Somedays it feels like God will never slay Goliath, Somedays it feels like the lions will eat their fill and the furnace will burn us up. Somedays it feels like the light will never win. But He does win! He has won! The cross declared it. God is the Victor over the devil and all evil. The devil keeps fighting even though he knows he’s lost because he wants every soul he can get to break God’s heart. But God has defeated him. He has thrown down the devil’s idols before and will do it again. We simply need to trust and be patient in His timing.
Lesson learned from Timothy
Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”
(Point: Sometimes God let’s us go through hardships to show us His power. Lazarus would have been qaiting for his friend, Jesus to come and heal him. The sisters were waiting for Jesus to renew the body of their brother. Each was suffering in his or her own way. One physical, one emotional, both serious and in meed of Jesus to come, Right NOW! But that wasn’t God’s plan. That is so hard to deal with and happens often in our lives. God let Saul hunt David for so long because it was part of God’s purpose and plan. God permitted the three Hebrew slaves to be thrown into the fire to prove His power. Even Jesus being born the way He was was a struggle that happened due to God saying years before that He would prove Himself by sending His son in this way. Just because you are struggling does not mean you are outside of God’s plan, sometimes the struggle is God’s plan. Before anyone says something about a good father not permitting struggle and pain to His kids, let us take a moment and recall Gethsemane and Golgatha. He is good, but hard times will still come. But the blessing is that He will be with us during those times and won’t let us fall farther than we can bear.)
Continuing the Scripture:
Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.” After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
(They still didnt get it. They were physically with Jesus everyday and still couldn’t understand that He knew all and had everything in His hands. This is why He was glad He had not been there to save His friend from death, because now the deciples were going to see an even bigger miracle, one that would guide them to have even more faith, faith that was about to be kicked down and stepped on in the death of Jesus. They needed Faith that Jesus really COULD bring people back from the dead. Sometimes when we dont get it Jesus will permit us to go through a trial that proves He is still God and He knows what He’s doing. It hurts and shakes us, but in the end we will see and understand exactly who we serve.)
Next passage of the verse:
Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Let us go that we may die with Him.
I’m a Thomas fan. Mostly because I relate to him. He was a realist. He wanted things he could see and touch and make sense of. Which can be hard when following Jesus. Thomas gets a lot of criticism for his upper room moment, no one criticizes the other deciples for doubting the women when they came and told them that Jesus had risen, yet Thomas gets everyone’s scorn. No one recalls that earlier in history Thomas had been the only one to encourage the others to go back with Jesus to Judea where they had literally! Just escaped from. Some have suggested that the upper room shows that Thomas was being sarcastic here. Or a nay sayer by suggesting they would die. I don’t see that. What I see is a man saying to Jesus. ‘I know I will die, but I’m coming with you anyway.’
Whatever his statements tone really was back then doesn’t matter. He knew the risk and still wanted to go back with Jesus.
Do not forsake
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Hebrews 10:25 KJV
7am on a Sunday. Other people are still in bed and look to a day of doing nothing. But you are up and getting the coffee on. Walk the dog. Get dressed for the day and grab your stuff for the Sunday service. Are you a greeter? Part of the worship team? The person who sweeps snow off the sidewalk before Church? Maybe you are the pastor. Give it another couple of hours and the congregation will be there. They too got up on a day when PJs and hot chocolate would have been so much more pleasant. In come the body of Christ and you all sit down and chat. Then the worship starts and you praise God. Then the pastor comes and you hear God’s word. Then you go home.
It sounds so simple. This ‘Church’ thing. But it is one of the most important things you will do in your week. Too many have come into the habit of streaming Church from their living room and making the effort to become part of a Church family. Don’t get me wrong, the fact that we can stream Church is great! And there are days when you can’t get to Church physically and need to live stream. The fact that that is possible is a blessing. But it shouldn’t be all you do. Church is so much more than a sermon from the pulpit. It’s a place where you can serve God. You get to physically be part of a Church family and to have that happen it takes commitment and effort on your part. You have to keep attending and start volunteering, doing little things that connect you to the people and the pastor. God does not want us to stop gathering with other believers. That might not look like Church as we know it in up coming days. It may look like a home Church or a small group. It may be simply someone reading the Bible as you gather together and then discuss God’s words. For many people Church is a secret and dangerous affair. These people could spend time with God on their own each week and not risk getting caught by gathering with other Christians. Yet they gather anyway. Why? Because they understand the power and importance of being with other Christians. They get that we need to encourage and be encouraged. We need prayer circles and a safe place to go where Jesus is the center. Though the body is in peril or discomfort their souls know they are safe there with others like them.
If they can gather together, why can’t we? Why would we even consider stopping? Our greatest worry is whether or not we feel like crawling out our warm beds. And yet we consider staying home and simply streaming. We must gather in the upper rooms we have been gifted. Whether that’s a Church building or someone’s home, or perhaps a hidden chamber in the basement of some forgotten building where our enemies cannot find us. No matter what it looks like we must continue to gather.
Who have you been whispering to?
Who have you been whispering to?
When you see someone sinning do not talk about them to others- talk about them to God. We tend to see sin in those we care about, or in simply the people around us, and we do the exact opposite of what we are supposed to do. We talk about them. But what we should be doing is praying for them. Only the Holy Spirit can fix sin. If he or she is someone you know well are comfortable with, perhaps you could find a gentle way of pointing the sin out. But in the end that person has to choose to not sin anymore. If your close friend is talking about suddenly enjoying alcohol and you know that the temptation to become a drunk is there (this is a sin by the way. There are those who claim drunkenness is not, but it is.) It would be wrong to not try and dissuade him or her from the temptation. If your friends are watching bad movies and you act like that’s okay, then you are encouraging their sin. I am thinking of myself here. I was watching a show last year that had a nude scene. You didn’t really see anything but it was obvious what was happening. I kept watching because I figured it was fine as long as you didn’t see anything. My dad happened to be over at the time and he pointed out that the show was bad. Suddenly I realized my error and sin and was able to shut it off. No song on the radio or movie on Netflix is worth losing your relationship with God over. But the other day I had a person I know well mention something they were doing that I knew right away was a sin. This person is a professing Christian. Yet there it was. I mentioned that it wasn’t really something a Christian should do and got shot down. So I went and discussed the whole thing with my close friend. I was greatly troubled. But in the end all we could do was talk about the person and speak badly about this person, because once you mention one thing a person is doing wrong to someone else a thousand other things you’ve seen him or her do come to mind. That was no solution. I then felt God say. ‘You shouldn’t talk to others about people. You should talk to me and let me help them.’
It’s true. Only God can help these people. He knows their hearts and what is going on, and He is never there just to criticize. God is there to guide and help. In the end He will judge us. But for now He is doing His best to help us, if only we would stop trying to be Him and start letting Him be in control.
So. Next time. I personally will pray when worried about someone and will work hard to not simply talk behind their backs, which is a sin I need to work on. And I am sure many of the rest of you who are shaking your heads at me in disgust are guilty of this too. We all are. And we all need to try and do better.
Why do we worship?
Why do we worship before the sermon?
Have you ever wondered why we worship before the pastor starts speaking? Of course most would say ‘it’s to praise God.’ Some might say, ‘it’s to give time for late comers to find their seats.’ Both are accurate. Yet it’s more than just praise to God. Worship is about getting into the right head space and heart space. We enter church with the world’s problems following behind us.
“My TV broke and I don’t have money for a new one. Do I really need a new one? Is it important? But I like watching the Christian stations. But the other stations can have such terrible things on them.” “My cat keeps scratching the couch. What can I do? Do I need a cover?”
So on and so on, our minds go.
These things distract from the word of God and the time spent with Him. The worship is a physical act and takes a physical action. We sing and our mind moves to the music. Soon our hearts are taken by the words and eventually we feel the Holy Spirit raise our hands and we praise. Then the sermon comes and we are ready. Even before prayer we can get into a better headspace by spending some time in worship and focusing on God. Sometimes I personally find lighting a candle helps. Little Things that Aid your mind in their thoughts and focus. Sometimes pacing and walking helps you focus on God. But these are things you can’t do at church when the pastor is about to speak. What we can do is worship and get our minds and our hearts out of our day-to-day problems and on to God, and soon we will see that God has answers for all of these problems. Perhaps God won’t tell you if you should or should not buy a couch cover to keep your cat from scratching it. But He will guide you in your need for financing or your health problems or even the fight you had with your neighbors. If you are open to Him God will show you what to do in all your life. But first you need to focus and that’s where worship helps.
Are you waiting for answers?
Are you waiting for answers?
The promise of God does not always come fast. So don’t start doubting even if you have waited 10 or 20 years. He has His time.
Why do we become downcast and fearful when we have a God who loves us? When we have Faith in God and know He is God and He can and will deliver, why do we doubt?
James says that the doubters should expect to receive nothing from God.
But Jesus said ‘if you have faith the size of a mustard seed.’ So where is the cut off?
At what point does faith only the size of a mustard seed turn to doubt?
In the moment where you used to say ‘I know God can do this.’
And now you say, ‘God probably won’t do this.’
You aren’t doubting that God is real or that He is there, but you are doubting that He will answer you. I say this more to myself than anyone else because I have had too many of those moments.
(I have also had moments of complete doubt that God would answer and He did, probably because He knew that I needed to see Him do something because I was slipping. He is still good to us.)
His Word warns us that if we doubt who He is and what He will do that He won’t answer us. That’s not having only a little Faith when we pray. That’s having no Faith at all. We must believe or how else can we expect to see answers.
Now. There are times when we have Faith and still don’t see an answer. There were times like that all through the Bible. But our Faith cannot depend on what we see God doing, it has to depend on who God is. Our Faith is in God not in the works of God. We have to trust Him.
Everyone welcome?
Everyone welcome?
I have noticed that certain groups who claim the title ‘church’ have decided to plant an ‘Everyone welcome’ slogan under their banners. We all know what they are gesturing at. But it made me feel like something should be said.
All Churches. All! Welcome Everyone to come and join. But the true Church refuses to dumb down or corrupt the Bible’s teaching just to make certain people happy. Guess what? There are parts of the Bible that are offensive to everyone. The lady who has just started attending after being involved in a messy legal custody battle may be offended by the verse that says to love your enemies, or the verses that tell about divorce being a sin. The man who has attended Church his whole life may suddenly notice 1 Thes. 5:12 and 13 says to respect and listen to those in the Church who give you spiritual guidance, but all that does is bring to his mind a mentor he once had who he didn’t like so he feels angry and offended. Do we change the words of God to suit these two people? No. God’s word is meant to be hard to handle at times and sometimes it even hurts or makes us angry. It’s supposed to help us change and guide us into being more like Christ. If the Bible says your lifestyle is a sin, it’s a call to look at yourself and to decide, do I want to live this way? Or do I want to change and become a new person through Christ? If you’re a mess and the Bible points it out that doesn’t mean it’s closing the doors on you, and neither is the Church that continues to preach the Truth, it means that the Bible and the Church are trying to help you and to guide you out of your mess and sin and into the fullness of living for Jesus. News flash. We all came through the front door of the Church with a set of sins. But that’s why we’re at Church. To sit down and listen to God and hear what He has to say. And when it’s uncomfortable and feels offensive, we choose to look at ourselves and see what God is calling us to change. If you want the Church to change what it says so you feel comfortable there, than you have missed the point of Church. It’s not here to make us feel good and then we go home, it’s here to prepare is to go forward as true followers of Christ. Everyone is welcome. But come expecting to be changed. That’s why we go. Because we want to be more like Him and less like the mess we were when we walked in.
Seek Him openly
Seek Him openly
Last weekend I was at our Church camp. I go every year. Since the pandemic (and I’m not blaming the pandemic itself) camp has been a little hallow. Where we used to hear messages from the Lord and saw people being healed and set free we now were interrupted by tye other christians who were skipping church to roar around near by on their quads and seadoos. Fine to do when service isn’t on. The alters were empty at the end of services and many of the seats were empty throughout. I thought that perhaps these two years were a shift that would mark the new normal in our Churches. Then this year came. The services were packed, the bikes out front of the kid’s chapel were so many you could hardly see grass. The alter was full at the end of the services and children of their own choosing came forward to pray. They prayed for others, they knelt by the alter with their Bibles clutched in their hands, teenagers went to the front to seek and anointing from God. It was marvelous! It was like God was saying, “this is the true shift. This will be the new normal.” Where even five years ago you would mostly see older people seeking God and standing for prayer, now we see people who are so young they are coming from kid’s church where they get to watch puppet shows to stand at the alter of the main tabernacle and give their souls to Jesus. No one coaxing them or calling them forward, just a longing to be there, nearer to the heart of God, seeking Him openly. Let us pray that we see more of this, a great revival coming forward as the Holy Spirit spreads afresh through our people. We can’t be good deciples unless we are filled and refilled by Him.
Carried in the cross 