Surrender? Me? Why?

Several sunday mornings ago I shared with you about the importance of being yielded and allowing the Holy Spirit to move us further along in our relationship with Him. That requires sacrifice on our part. I always ask myself the same question when it comes to sacrifice. After reading I Sam. 15:22 it makes me ask myself, why do I have to do all the sacrificing? Good question but not a necessary question is it? I have to sacrifice because God the Father already sacrificed all He had by offering His one and only Son for me. And because I must realize that it's not about me. In the spiritual realm, sacrifice has everything to do with the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and secondly it becomes about us. When Abraham went up the mountain to offer a sacrifice to God, Abraham knew that he may end up sacrificing his own son and he was prepared to do that because he knew that it was not about him, it was however about his faith in God. Sacrificing takes us to deeper levels of committment and faith toward a deeper more intimate walk with God. What have you sacrificed lately for the Kingdom of God? Will you do it for Him?

Let's Do It For Loves Sake!

In a world of hurt and disappointment there's always room for improvment isn't there? Sometimes we may be the source of some of that hurt and disappointment. I certainly hope that it's not intentional, but being the people we are it's inevitable. It's inevitable because we're fallen human beings. Cursed from the beginning thanks to Adam and Eve, if it hadn't been for them it probably would have been someone else. After all we can't be perfect, as hard as we try it won't happen, unless of course, we make the decision to put Jesus Christ at the center of our heart and life. Then we can be made perfect in Him, by Him, for Him, through Him. Sure it will be difficult at times, we may have to apologize for the hurt we've caused and the disappointment that's been generated because of our lack of judgment. But it can happen none the less. Jesus said we are to love those who hurt us and despitefully use us. That is a tall order but when we yield ourselves to Him it makes all the difference. When we love others the way Jesus loves we can see life and circumstances through His eyes and love him with His love instead of our own. So let's love others for love's sake.

Dreaming Big

Have you even had a dream so big that you thought would never happen? A dream of going on a trip around the world or to Hawaii or Australia? That is a reality that can happen, but you have to plan don’t you? You have to save and sacrifice and scrimp. You go without now so that you can take that trip later. Nothing else matters. You do what you have to do to see that happen. In the church the same is true. We plan with the big picture in mind. The big picture being our ability to minister to the needs of others in a big way. It begins small and grows in increments. The point is, if we don’t dream, then we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we die. Of yeah, I know that is a pretty pessimistic point of view, but it is truth never the less. Fortunately for me these moments of pessimism are brief and without any permanent damage.

Back to our dream? What do you believe that your dream for the church here on 81st and Douglas is all about? Does it involve seeing the pews filled with fellow worshippers? Does it involve honoring God above all? Does it have to do with leading people into a relationship with Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior? Does your dream have to do with continuing to help care for people, both physically and spiritually? Does your dream have to do with seeing our sanctuary filled with the holy presence of a Holy God? A sanctuary filled with others lifting up praise to their Heavenly Father? If so, then you’re on the right track! This is what we should be dreaming about. We shouldn’t be dreaming about just the next Sunday’s service but about the next year’s worth of services and the year after that!

Don’t limit your dream based on how much money it will cost or how much time we’ll have to invest. Dream with God’s ability in mind and His limitless resources available to us. When we trust in someone and something bigger than ourselves it motivates us to either put our fears behind us or to jump in with both feet. I’m all for jumping in who else is with me? I hope you are!

Another New Year!!

Something tells me that this new year is going to be an outstanding year. I am now 53 and think that some of the new year's that I've seen my fair share of not so good new year's. I'm thinking specifically of the year that my mom died, 18 years ago this October, that was a tough one. It wasn't that I thought mom would never die but that she would live way longer than she did. She was only 62 and I know it sounds selfish but I wasn't ready for her to go. But because God did take her it gave me a chance to get to know my dad better. We had always had something in common. We could always seem to find something mechanical to work on together or a project to work on that needed attention. I had 14 or 15 extra years with my dad
that gave me a new appreciation of what it meant to be a dad. I was able to glean from him what it truly meant to be a dad in ways that I might not have known had mom lived.

I love and miss them both very much. But as they say, life goes on. I can't stop living my life because their's comes to an end. And has it really ended anyway. I plan on seeing them again in heaven, not tomorrow but at God's appointed time for me I want to go to heaven and fellowship with Him and them. I look forward to it and trust that this year will be the year that we can move ahead with His joy and presence driving us deeper into a relationshiip with Him.

A SONG OF THE HEART

In the Gospel of Luke, Luke recorded there an event that took place just before Mary the mother of Jesus left the company of Elizabeth and Zechariah, Mary's cousin. Elizabeth was pregnant with a son as well, John the Baptist. At hearing the voice of Mary the mother of Jesus, he leapt in his mother's womb. In response to the visit Mary had with Elizabeth she declared to Elizabeth and Zechariah the joy she could no longer contain in her heart. Read it for yourself Luke 1:45-56 and you can feel the jouy ozzing from every fiber of her being.

Now how full of joy is your heart? A saying became popular a few years ago, "Jesus is the Reason for the Season". But why? so many people ask. Isn't the season about giving and receiving? Isn't Christmas as much about feeling good as it is in doing good things? What about those people who don't have anything to give? Can they find joy in the season?

In response to this I would first have to say that in the whole mix of things that without Jesus there is no real meaning in the season. It's really all about him. The celebration and anticipation should all be about Him. The sooner we learn that Christmas isn't about us and our wants or needs for the matter, the sooner we will be able to place Him in the highest place. Thanks to commercialism and selfish desires we have lowered Him to a place that is unacceptable. Let's elevate Him to the place that He belongs, to a place above all places.

Ever feel like a shepherd?

In the gospels of Matthew and Luke both writers give us some of the detail of what took place on the night of Jesus's birth. The shepherds, as I mentioned in my message on Sunday, were the lowest of the low in society at the time. Hopefully you and I don't feel like the lowest of the low in our society but sometimes society can turn the tables on us rather quickly and we suddenly feel like we are the lowest on the food chain. Although many counselors and therapists will go to great lengths to encourage us that the only way this can happen is if we let it, I would have to take issue with that. We are all shaped by our upbringing and by those who influence us, however, that doesn't mean that we are defined by our upbringing. That's like saying because you were born in poverty don't ever expect to get out of poverty because it just won't happen. Fortunately we live in an enlightened age. At least more enlightened than they did in the days of Jesus. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that we shouldn't allow life apart from the influence of Christ to determine who we are and who we desire to become. Jesus's destiny was pre-determined by His Father. He wasn't bitter about this, rather He embraced His destiny and allowed God his Father to plan his life for Him. Are you allowing God the Father through Christ to direct your life. Are you and I willing to allow God to awaken in us what He desires for us to be passionate about? I trust that you can trust Him that much with yor life. I'll be praying that you will discover that He desires for you!

The Advent

Hello everyone! Sorry it's been several weeks since my last post. As I consider this time of year, I have a confession. It's not one of those earth shaking confessions fir most, but it is for me. Rita and I got married in the "good old days", 1977. She a lifelong lutheran and me a lifelong methodist. Even as short as my life had been, all of 21 years, I was not familiar with the custom and tradition of the Advent Season. Needless to say my formal education in church and church history was sorely waning. So soon after my wife and I married Christmas season came around and she suggested we buy an advent wreath or candle set to celebrate the season. Not wanting to feel foolish and let on like I had no idea what she was talking about, I said sure why not. Our first advent candle thing-a-ma-bobber was one that you light the candle weekly and as you light more candles the dealy thingy turns around until the candles burn out. The next year was a little leaner so we just bought a cardboard advent calendar and each day of advent season opens a new day for the season. At least I wasn't burning down the house! To make a long story short, we have done various things throughout the years for advent season. Some years we didn't do anything beyond the yearly christmas program at church and the annual choir christmas cantata.

What has impressed me most about the advent season is that it gets celebrated whether I participate or not. Jesus's coming to earth was impinged on whether or not I either believed or celebrated the advent season. I still as many others still, celebrate the birth of a Savior, our Savior, my Savior.

Will you do that regardless of the economy? Celebrate Jesus's birth as thought it has been a good year economically. Celebrate His birth as thought it were the first time you do so. With all the wonderment and joy or a 6 year old who still begs for the chance to sing Happy Birthday Jesus with their whole heart. For a while I was an old grinch, I thought that Christmas was only for the kids, but Jesus has taught me these many years that it's for my good that He came to, to be my Savior.