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Archive for the ‘Formation’ Category

Messengers of Hope

Posted in Church, Community, Formation, Hope on December 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Last week, most of my posts dealt with hope – the hope that Jesus brought to a hopeless world over 2000 years ago.

This past Sunday, my sermon centered around this same  hope.  Jesus came to earth to live among us, to teach us to live and love, to die for us and then to defeat death in the resurrection.  We also believe that He will return again according to what the Bible says.

But what about the meantime?  How is the hope that can only come from God to be shared between the resurrection and the return?  We are God’s plan and strategy for that to happen.  We are to be God’s messengers of hope.

So here is the question I asked our congregation on Sunday, and I ask of you today – and it is not an easy question:  If we truly believe that Jesus came to this earth to teach us how to live and to love; if we believe he died a horrible death on a cross for you and for me; if we know beyond a shadow of doubt that he rose again, defeating death and making it possible for us to have eternal life – if these are the things we believe (and as followers of the Way, these things are the basics) . . . then shouldn’t our lives reflect that fact?

Be a messenger of God’s hope today!

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Stable and Tomb

Posted in Formation, Hope on December 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »

This time of year causes our minds to think a lot about hope.  Hope is believing that something we dream about will come true.  For many, hope is believing and trusting that their situation in life will get better – that they will have enough money or enough food.

I believe that true hope can only be found in God.  When people place their hope in other things or other people, their hopes are disappointed.  Over time, hope fades to nothing.

When Jesus came to earth, he restored hope.

At Christmas time, we remember Jesus’ coming – the miracle of his birth and all the joy surrounding that blessed event.

But we cannot fully experience the hope Jesus brought without remembering the cross as well.  1 Peter 1:3-4 says this: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you.”

We can celebrate a living hope this Christmas season because of what happened in a stable over 2000 years ago, but may we never forget that our hope is possible because of an empty tomb.

Be a blessing today!

 

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Hey, You Awake?

Posted in Family, Formation on December 10, 2010| 2 Comments »

Growing up, my brother and I shared a room.  There are lots of stories I could tell about pestering and the like, but one memory that comes to mind is long after going to bed hearing the words, “Hey, you awake?”  And then a conversation would begin.

Now days, I often wake up for no reason in the middle of the night.  Typically this happens somewhere between 4:30 am and 5:30 am.  I have come to believe that it is God’s way of saying, “Hey, you up?  Wanna talk?”  I normally lay there and pray and find that many times I doze back off.  But if I will get out of bed, I stand a better chance of staying awake and actually having a time of meditation and prayer.

Today, I was lazy and just stayed in bed.  But I lay there for an hour (before actually getting up) and talked to God.  I realized in that time, that I don’t pray for my family nearly enough.  So I prayed for Kristi for a while, then I prayed for each of the boys, one by one.  It was a blessed time.

So just a reminder today – don’t pass up an opportunity to talk to God.  And while you are at it,  pray for your family – they are your biggest blessing from God!

Have a great weekend!

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The Love Badge

Posted in Community, Formation on December 9, 2010| 2 Comments »

Yesterday, I received a card in the mail from one of our area hospitals reminding me that my “visiting clergy I.D. badge expires soon.”  So the request was for me to visit the hospital and update my information in their system so that I can get a shiny, new badge.  The badge serves a security purpose so that hospital personnel can identify me as someone who can be in certain places in the hospital.  It is a sad commentary on our society that a badge is even needed, but I do understand the need for such identification.

As I thought about making arrangements in my schedule to get by the hospital, I thought about how the badge will help people identify me and my role.  Then my mind wandered – like a stray animal on the open range, walking through fields . . . oops, sorry, did it again.  Where was I?  Oh, yes, my mind wandered and I began to think about how people identify me in other settings.  How do people know me?

My hope and prayer is that I am known as a Christ follower.  I desire that my actions, attitudes and words leave little room for ambiguity when it comes to what my life stands for and who I serve.

Jesus said we should wear a “Love” badge.  Well, not exactly.  What he said was this: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).  Everyone will know who we follow by how we love.

So here is my challenge for us today:  Do people have difficulty determining what you stand for and who you follow based on your actions?  Or does the way you show love to people daily identify you as a follower of Jesus?

Make sure your Love badge is completely visible  today and let people know who you really are.

Now I’m off to the hospital to get a new badge – that’s OK because I hate my picture on my current badge – the only problem is, I still look like I did when I took the last picture!

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Do You Think God Is Thankful?

Posted in Formation, Motivational on November 29, 2010| 1 Comment »

Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving.  I trust you had a time of fellowship with family and friends and that you ate your fair share of turkey, ham, dressing and all the other things that follow this tradition.  I also hope you had time to think on those things for which you are thankful.

Each day, I receive an email from The Writer’s Almanac which contains a daily poem.  The poems aren’t normally religious in nature but I just like poetry.  Last Thursday the email was a copy of Psalm 100.  I was impressed that The Writer’s Almanac would send out something from the Bible as the poem of the day.  As I read on through the email, they also included several Thanksgiving Day stories.  This one really caused me to think.

On November 30, 1905, Thanksgiving Day, Mark Twain turned 70. He wrote: “Every year every person in America concentrates all his thought upon one thing, the cataloguing of his reasons for being thankful to the Deity for the blessings conferred upon him and upon the human race during the expiring twelve months. This is well and as it should be; but it is too one-sided. No one ever seems to think of the Deity’s side of it; apparently no one concerns himself to inquire how much or how little He has had to be thankful for during the same period; apparently no one has had good feeling enough to wish He might have a Thanksgiving day too. There is nothing right about this. Do you suppose everything has gone to His satisfaction during the year? Do you believe He is as sweepingly thankful as our nation is going to be, as indicated by the enthusiasms which will appear in the papers on the 30th of this month from the pens of the distinguished persons appointed to phrase its thankfulness on that day?”

I have two questions for us today.  The first is this:  What have you done this past year that would give God a reason to be thankful?

The second question is this:  What will you do this next year to make God thankful?

Be a blessing today!

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Thankful In The Midst

Posted in Formation, Grace, Hope on November 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday, I talked about the instructions in James chapter 1 that tells us we should be joyful when we encounter trials (you can link to that post here).  We talked about the difference between joy and happiness.

This morning as I sat down to have my prayer time, I read a blog post from Jim Dennison.  I ran across his blog, God Issues, a couple of weeks ago and have been reading it pretty regularly since.  Today, his post goes right along with this idea of joyfulness in the midst of struggle (you can link to his full post here).

Jim makes a very interesting and helpful point in his discussion of 1 Thessalonians 5:18.  He points out that Paul did not say, “Give thanks for all circumstances.”  What Paul said was, “Give thanks in all circumstances.”  Isn’t it amazing what a difference one little preposition can make!  We don’t have to be thankful for the trials and struggles that will come our way.  But we do need to remain thankful for God’s provision even in the midst of them.

Regardless of what life throws our way, God is still in control.  Psalm 11:4 says, “The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD is on his heavenly throne.”

So today, no matter where you are or what you find yourself dealing with, give thanks for there is a bigger picture being created and God is the one holding the brush!

 

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Trials Will Come

Posted in Formation, Hope on November 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Several weeks ago, I began a small group for young adults, 25 and younger.  It has been a true blessing to get to know each of the folks more deeply.  Yesterday, we started a new study – on the book of James.  We made it all the way through verse 3 (this may take a while).

The reason for the amount of time spent in those first three verses comes in verse 2.  It says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.”

Let that verse sink in for a minute – the writer says we should think about it as joy when we have to endure difficult things.  Our first reaction is to think, “What was the writer of this book on when he wrote this?”  I mean, how am I supposed to be pleased when my water heater goes out and I have to spend half of a day replacing it – or when the heater goes out on my car and it spends two days in the shop and is still not fixed (yes, that was a picture of last week in my life).  How are we to be happy when things like this occur?

One of the first things to understand is that there is a difference between happiness and joy.  The author of James does not say we should be happy and bubbly when things go wrong, he says we should have joy.  Happiness is an emotion that comes when things are going our way.  While joy incorporates an element of happiness, it is much deeper.  Joy involves an inner peace that comes when we have a glimpse of the bigger picture.  Joy, for a Jesus follower, is the result of knowing to whom you belong.  It is the liberation that we have in knowing that we don’t have to worry about tomorrow because God is in control.

This verse is evidence in scripture that we must realize that trials will come.  When we commit our lives to Christ, we are not suddenly and mysteriously protected from bad things.  Bad things happen to good people – that is life.  But what the verse does say is that we should have joy when they do come because come they will.

The reason for the joy can be found in the next two verses.  We are told that these trials will produce perseverance (patience and endurance – true experience) and this perseverance will result in maturity.

So here is the question for you today?  Are you experiencing a trial that seems overwhelming?  If not, stop and thank God and then realize a trial will come.  But if you are, remember that God is in control.  God has a plan.  And if you focus on the big picture – maturity and experience – you can have joy even in the midst of it.

Be blessed today!

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Desperation Leads to Awakening

Posted in Formation, Hope, Missions on November 9, 2010| 1 Comment »

This week, I have the privilege of being at the Baptist state convention meeting.  The meeting is being held in McAllen, Texas.  The last time I was in this part of the world was on a mission trip and I had forgotten just how great it is to be in this part of Texas.

Today, I sat in a workshop being taught by Jim Dennison.  Jim has been a pastor for years and now serves as the Theologian in Residence for the state convention.  His talk was on the power of the Holy Spirit and the spiritual awakening that is going on in the world today.  Unfortunately, this work is not happening to any large degree in North America.  It is all going on south of the equator in places like Africa, Brazil and the rest of South America.

He talked for  quite some time about the four Great Awakenings that have happened over the course of the last 200 years.  One thing I found profoundly interesting is that each great spiritual awakening occurred in the midst of a sense of desperation.

As I have continued to process that thought, I have begun to personalize and internalize it.

I have had to ask myself this question: “How desperate am I for God to move in my life?”

My fear is that I have grown so accustomed to doing things on my own accord and out of my own giftedness, that I have moved away from a dependence on God.

A second question I have been asking myself is this: “What is it in my life that I am attempting to do that I will surely fail if God does not show up?”

I have become convinced that until we are desperate for God to show up – until we are desperate for God to take over – we will not experience a spiritual awakening.

The question for you today is this:  How desperate are you for Jesus to show up and make a difference?

Think about it today.

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As Simple as Peanuts

Posted in Formation, Hope on November 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Southwest Airlines has made somewhat of a claim to fame in their offering of peanuts on every flight.  While other airlines were offering a wide variety of things (remember when you used to get actual meals on some flights?), Southwest chose to offer only peanuts.  Now days you can get pretzels too!  But it is still pretty simple.

Maybe they are on to something.  Could it be that simpler is better?  Perhaps in a world of more, more, more we should look for less.

When we really dig down to the basics of faith, it is a simple relationship that matters.  And that relationship is grown and developed by simply spending time with Jesus.  As a fellow follower in the Way, I challenge you this week to do less.  But in your effort to do less, focus your time on the one relationship that makes all the difference.

I pray you have a simple week!

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The Level of Your Effort

Posted in Formation on November 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I finished a book last week entitled Re-Thinking the Church.  In the book, James White takes a look at several areas of the church that need to be evaluated.  He looks at worship and structure and evangelism among others.  He also suggests the need to re-think how we view discipleship.  I agree with most of what he says in the book but one statement he made in the chapter on discipleship has stayed with me and convicted me.  He said that the limiting factor to us becoming like Jesus is the “level of our effort.”

I have made statements like this before so I agree with what White has said.  I am a firm believer that God gives the growth but we have to do our part when it comes to our spiritual progression.  But seeing White’s words hit me between the eyes.  God is willing to give the growth but the actual growth is limited by my lack of effort.

Now this idea can be pushed to the point of a theology of works which Paul directly speaks against through out his writings.  But the point is that if I am going to become more like Jesus in this life, then I must be committed to that cause and put forth the necessary effort to get there.  In my case, that effort will have to include setting aside time daily to spend reading God’s word and praying.  The effort does not come in the reading but in the sacrifice of time.  I definitely have room for improvement!

How about you?  How much effort are you giving in order to become more like Jesus today?

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