God Encounter / Backslid

In the last post we started looking at the encounter between Jesus and Peter after Peter denied Jesus three times.  We talked about his intentions were not to deny Christ but he did anyway and how we are like this – we think others should be impressed with our intentions.  We looked at John 21 – click here to read it.

We will continue along those lines of intentions because  there is something in this encounter and that is;  being sorry does not automatically restore us to service. Here is what we know, Peter was sorry for denying Christ after he did it. Obviously, God forgives us after we confess our sin and ask for cleansing. But that does not necessarily restore us to our previous place of service. We think many times that all we have to do is say we are sorry and then move right back where we were but that is not the case. Sometimes trust has to be rebuilt in order for service to be restored. Just because you say you are sorry does not mean that someone will allow you to have their complete trust – sometimes you have to earn the trust back that is broken. When we say hurtful things to people – they may forgive and may try to forget what you have said but it is hard. To get that trust you have to take time and consistently do the right things, the right way. You need to practice obedience to Christ to earn the trust back.

When people do not get returned to service right away they make the mistake out of anger or ignorance or out of heart that is not in the right place and return to their old ways in backsliding. I used the term backsliding a few times so let me just take a moment and define backsliding for you – it means turning back to the old and sinful ways. A backslider is a saved person who falls into sin. A lost sinner cannot be a backslider. You have to go somewhere before you can slide back. But one, who is truly born again, a child of God who falls into sin, is a backslider. It may be outrageous and gross sin known to everyone or it may be merely coldness of heart, a lukewarm heart instead of the burning fire of love for God that one has had in the past. But when a Christian loses any of his joy, or loses part of his sweet fellowship with God, or falls into sin, then they are a backslider. Peter by his denial of Christ backslid into his old way of thinking and then went back to fishing but Jesus as we have see was not done with him. I am reminded of what of Hosea 14:4 which says in the New King James Version; "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for my anger has turned away from him". God will heal your backsliding. If you have backslid – you have a gross sin, or grown cold toward God, or you have become lukewarm – God can and will heal it but as always you must come to Him and repent of it.

Peter backslid, he lied to people around the fire the night Jesus was being tried and denied Christ which is part of the way he used to be – even though he thought he was stronger than that and even though his intentions earlier were not to do it. After this backsliding and Jesus resurrection, Peter decided that he wanted to get away from ministry and go back to what he knew. Peter told the other disciples in John 21:3 "I am going fishing" and being a leader others followed. He went back to fishing because that is one thing that he could do and one thing he felt comfortable doing. However, as I see it, God in His sovereignty moved upon the waters and as John put it "that night they caught nothing". Peter went right back to what he knew and was comfortable doing and that was fishing but the Lord had other plans for him as well as the other disciples.

In his mind Peter, was going to be going right back to where he was before he ever met the Lord which was fishing but Jesus was calling on Peter to go back and do something for Him. The call was to return to the Lord because He is calling all of us to come to Him and look to Him and trust Him! Have you slid away from God? As I have said before – If there has been a time that you were closer to God than you are right now – God did not move! Is it time for you to get back to doing what you know you are to do. You are not to go back to the old ways but to move forward in Christ, of which He is calling you too. Christ calling you to be doing something and it is not the comfortable thing that he wants you to do but the right thing.

Have you ever found yourself in a place where you had backslid?  What did you do about it?

Choosing Joy

We started talking about Joy yesterday.  Here the main idea of what we talked about:  Joy – Authentic Joy comes from God and is found in God. You want joy – I mean do you really want authentic joy? The source is God and that is where you need to look. The starting point for the journey we are taking to find joy begins with God.  Joy is not a one time choice but a choice that you need to make daily and many times on most days!  Make the choice now to live in Christ and to allow Christ to live in you and you will be making the choice for joy.

But how do I live a joyfully every day and how do I bring that joy to others? That will be what we talk about today.

“Joy is contagious.
It can spread like a forest fire, whipped by a high, hot wind.
Joy can be shared in a crowd.
Or it can be savored all alone.
Joy can bellow.
Or it can fall soft as a kitten’s tread.
Joy can excite.
Or it can comfort.
Joy can be sensuous.
Or it can spring from the intellect.
Joy can bewitch.
Joy can be sweet.
Or it can be zesty, euphoric, giddy.
It can teach. It can heal. It can lay to rest old pain.
In a world so darkened by suffering and uncertainty, joy can brighten our heavens
and make life worth living all over again.” - Philip B. Kunhardt Jr., The Many Faces of Joy

I choose joy… I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical… the tool of the lazy thinker. I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God. – Max Lucado

One of the things I want you to understand is that joy is a choice. It is a choice that you can make daily or it is a choice you can choose to not make. The question is how can you make the choice to be joyful on a daily basis?

Let us look at one way today on how we be be joyful on a daily basis and we will look at more tomorrow.  The one way today  we will look at is something we have already talked about and it is:

Choose to be joyful – We were all born with a free will. We have the freedom to choose whatever it is that we want to do, whether good or bad. Therefore, since we have the power to choose, we have the power to choose if we will be joyful or not. We can not choose every circumstance that we go through but we can choose the attitude that we have when we go through it, One of my favorite quotes of all time is “… everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s own attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Viktor Frankl

Let me give you some background on this quote. Frankl was a Jewish psychologist locked up in a concentration camp. The quote that is made is made about those that he found were the ones who were able to make it through such a terrible time; they choose to have a good attitude in a terrible situation.

Again, as we look at joy and being joyful on a daily basis, we can see that our attitude plays a large part.  Two verses that we need to think about on this are:  Philippians 4:4 which says “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice”  and the other  verse is Psalms 118:24 which says “This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Today regardless of what you are going through you can choose to be joyful!

How often do you find yourself choosing joy?  What is the hardest part of choosing joy for you?

The Results of Revival

In a time when Revival Services are fading – we still do them at the church I am blessed to Pastor.  Here is what we did:  Sunday we had two services – 11AM and 7PM and then Monday through Wednesday we met at 7PM.  We had a speaker who feels called to do Revival Services who was the local weatherman and got fired last August for doing a revival service and would not leave the revival when some bad weather came this way and they want him to come be on air.  He was a draw in and of himself .  When it comes to numbers, we had well over a hundred people every service and that is in a church that has about 110 – 120 each week on Sunday Morning.  We had some people from local churches who came but also people who do not go to church anywhere. 

Let me share with you what God did in those services – we had somewhere around 10 people come to Christ this week and we had just about 75 who rededicated their lives back to Christ.  The front of the church was filled with people who were weeping and crying out to God.  It was not high pressure that brought the people down because he was not high pressure at all – it was the Spirit of God.  The Spirit could be felt in the services in a very real way.  I have near been in services like this in my years of ministry.  It really was powerful and I was in awe of God and what he was doing.

The speaker the last night said and I did too that the end of the revival service is really the beginning of the Revival.  I have received phone calls and visits from people since and they are in awe of what God has done in their own lives.  Now the exciting part for me – I am being asked consistently where people should start reading in their Bible because they are starting to read it.  I am being asked about how they should go about forgiving people who have wronged them.  I am having people send me emails talking about never feeling the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives.  It is the kind of stuff you dream of as a Pastor.

Charles Finney said Revival is a renewed conviction of sin and repentance, followed by an intense desire to live in obedience to God. It is giving up one’s will to God in deep humility.  I am seeing this in action.  Vance Havner said that Revival is falling in love with Jesus all over again.  I saw and am seeing people who have been Christians longer than I have been alive really falling in love with Jesus all over again.

It is truly spurring on revival in my own life – God has been doing some powerful things in me the last couple of days.  It has been powerful to see and feel what God is doing.

Has there ever been a time when you really had a personal revival and what was the catalyst to it in your life?

Is Confession Good For The Soul?

As we continue our look at the prayer of Nehemiah from Nehemiah 1 we will look today at verses 6 and 7 and the idea of confession. Nehemiah 1:6-7  6 let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. 7 "We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.

Nehemiah was completely dependent on God and he is begging God to hear him. He knew that there was nothing that he could do in this situation unless it was God who did something in and through him. We should all understand that unless Goes does something it will fail. Our human will and power is no match for the Lord of Heaven and Earth. How often are we found trying to do things in our own power? How often do we fail to seek God and His ways? How often do we fail because of our failure to rely on God? I would say for me too often, how about for you?

Did you notice that Nehemiah prayed night and day. Have you ever been so bothered in your spirit that all you could do is pray continually? Nehemiah is a man who knows that prayer is the only possible thing that can make a difference in this situation or any situation in life. What we see here with Nehemiah is that he is constantly praying and keeping in contact with God. The Bible tells us that we are to pray without ceasing in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 and in Rom. 12:12 we are told to be, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. What we are to be doing is to be constantly in communication with God. The idea for us all is to always be in a state of persistent prayer. Would you describe your prayer life as persistent?

The next thing we see is that Nehemiah confesses his sins but not only his but the sins of his people. Many people forget their own sinfulness and focus in on others. It is always easier to see other people’s sins and imperfections than to notice our own. We need to be aware of our own sinfulness as 1 John 1:8-10 makes that clear to us -If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. I confess before you now that I am not the perfect pastor, father, husband, blogger by far and I sin, but with the grace of God I find His mercies new every morning.  I know that I have sins that I need to confess, how about you?

Notice that He did not whine and complain about the sins of the people but he confessed them. He did not whine and complain or make excuses for his sin or the sins of his people; he humbled himself and accepted the judgment of God. We as a country have sinned against God and even more so we as Christians and the church of Jesus Christ here in America have sinned and not been what we are called to be by God. We have not stood up for what is right, we have allowed sinful attitudes to prevail in our churches and homes, and we have turned from God’s way of doing things. We need to confess it and we need change our sinful ways and attitudes and we need to move forward in Christ.  Please understand that confession should lead to change, has it in your life or do you confess and remain the same?

What was the hardest thing you ever had to confess to someone?

It is ALL God

Let us continue on in 2nd Samuel 7 and the prayer that David is praying after finding out that his dream of building a temple for God is going to die but his legacy is going to live on forever through the Messiah.  Yesterday we saw David focus on the present and today as we continuing looking at this prayer we will see David focusing on the past and what God did for Israel.  So let us look at 2nd Samuel 22-24 today : 22 "For this reason You are great, O Lord GOD; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 23 "And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for You and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You have redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, from nations and their gods? 24 "For You have established for Yourself Your people Israel as Your own people forever, and You, O LORD, have become their God.

Verse 22 tells us that O Lord GOD; for there is none like You. What we see here is that David is in awe of God and that quite frankly he is blown away with God’s answer to him. David in his reaction to God has it right. There is none like God. If you study the beliefs of the Mormons you will see that they teach that we can become gods, we can’t. Why, because there is none like Him. Those whose beliefs are found in the New Age movement will try to tell us that in some ways that we are all gods, but we aren’t. Why, because there is none like Him. Do not ever think yourself anywhere near to being God like, because the truth of the matter is that you are not and you never will be. The closer you get to God the more you will see this truth!

We saw yesterday that David understood that God favor was falling on him and reacted to it in his present state by sitting, humbling, and praising God for his grace and greatness. Now we see in this prayer that David is praising God for what he has done in the past. David understands that it was God who brought them through and redeemed them. He understands that it is God who established them.

Let me hit you with a bunch of questions that hopefully help you in understanding who God is and who you are.  Do you understand that it is God who has blessed you in the past? Do you understand that it is God who has brought you through or do you think that is all about you and your ability? We are often quick to say that we understand but our actions tell a very different story. Do your actions show that you understand that it is God who has brought you to this point in your life? Do you understand that it is God who redeems you and not you or your good works? It is all about God not you.

I pray you understand that this is all about God plain and simple and that is really the theme of these posts this week.  I do not want to just put lip service to my thinking it all being about God but I want to actively live in a way to makes it clear to anyone who I come in contact with that my life is about God the Father, his Son Christ, and the Holy Spirit. 

What is the most powerful thing that God has done in your past apart from Salvation? 

I have some ideas of the answers I will get because I am thinking the same things for sure.

Death of a Dream (Part 1)

This week we are going to look at how to deal with a No from God by looking at David and the No He got from God.  Let us get right into it.  1st Samuel Chapter 7:1 When the LORD had brought peace to the land and King David was settled in his palace, 2David summoned Nathan the prophet. “Look!” David said. “Here I am living in this beautiful cedar palace, but the Ark of God is out in a tent!” 3Nathan replied, “Go ahead and do what you have in mind, for the LORD is with you.”

You can see the control that God has; He is the one who brought the Peace to the land. There is a lesson for us in the first line of this Chapter. God is in control and He is the one who brings about the Peace in our life. Any attempt of us trying to bring about peace is useless. How often do we attempt to be the ones who bring peace but the only true peace comes from God.

So what we see is that David comes to the realization that God deserves the best. David sees that he is living in the lap of luxury in his new palace and God is living in a tent. Then we see Nathans reply to this and that is that He sees nothing wrong with David having an idea and tells him to go for it because God is with him.

Then we read this:4 But that same night the LORD said to Nathan, 5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a temple to live in? 6 I have never lived in a temple, from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until now. My home has always been a tent, moving from one place to another. 7 And I have never once complained to Israel’s leaders, the shepherds of my people Israel. I have never asked them, “Why haven’t you built me a beautiful cedar temple?”‘

There is a lot of information in it that we need to look into. The first thing comes is this is where God uses His veto powers and vetoes David’s idea for him to build the temple. What we see is that God is honored that David thinks enough of Him to build him a temple. God sees someone who is willing to go above and beyond for Him. Are you willing to go above and beyond for God or are you doing to what it takes to get by? Unfortunately most will only do what it takes to get by. Let us never fall into the let us just to the bare minimum for God mentality. Give God your all.

Now God’s veto of this is not done in a mean way but in a very nice and complimentary way. He did not treat David’s idea with anger or distain but in a loving and gracious way told Nathan to tell David that it was not what He had planned for him. He has honored David even though he tells him that it is not what he has planned for him.

Sometimes what we plan and what God plans are two different things in life. We need to be willing and understand that God might have something completely different in store for us. Part of understanding this come in the idea that we need to trust God and trust that he has our best in mind at all times.

David is going to find out that God didn’t want him to build the temple. Here is the important thing and it is in the response of David in this. David didn’t respond by doing nothing as we will later see. Instead of building the temple, David gathered all the materials for its construction so Solomon could build a glorious temple to God.

Lesson for us in all this, is that when God says no to you, you do not pout about it and do nothing. You help out and do what you can to serve God and others! Read this quote by F.B. Meyer: “If you cannot have what you hoped, do not sit down in despair and allow the energies of your life to run to waste; but arise, and gird yourself to help others to achieve. If you may not build, you may gather materials for him that shall. If you may not go down the mine, you can hold the ropes.”

Here is the difference between those who are successful in life and those who are not. When you get word that you are not to do something or a door has closed – instead of pouting and getting angry – the successful person figures out what God wants them to learn and where He wants them to go and what He wants them to do. In is not about hanging your head, being depressed or climbing back in bed and pulling the covers over your head. When you get the no then your job is to seek God for what you are to learn in the no, where He want you to go, and what He wants you to go. Sometimes it is going to involve helping someone else achieve what you dream as in the case here with David.

Here though is an incredible principle when it comes to all this and if you can understand this, it will be life changing for you when you get a No from God. When God says “No” to what you propose, God will show you His better plan. You can count on that. When God says “No” He will show you his better plan. You are going to get to see it here in the life of David, so when you get a no you just wait and let the Lord work!

How are you at getting a no from someone else when you are really looking forward to something?

Courageous Christian Life

Joshua 1:6 – 9  "Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.  "Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.  "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.  "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

Look at the phrase: be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you: Joshua must take great care to observe the law. God’s word and Joshua’s commitment to it would be the pillars supporting his success. If we desire to be men and women of Christian courage then we must take care to know what is in the Word of God and we must make the commitment to live by. We must take time to read it daily. We must take time to know it and study it. We are not doing this out of duty or because we have gotten up at this time for the last 20 years and done it this way but we do it out of deep love for Christ. I also want you to see that Joshua did not only need to read God’s word. It had to be on his lips (shall not depart from your mouth), and it was in his mind (meditate in it day and night). Be sure to know and live out the Word of God if you wish to live the courageous Christian life. 

Then we have the phrase:  For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success: Obedience to God’s Word is a guarantee of Christian success but not that it promises a life without problems as we already discussed, but it does insure a life able to deal with anything, because it takes full advantage of God’s presence and promises. Something else to add to this and that is Christian success is not measured by the same standards as the world’s success. Even if the world considers us as sheep for the slaughter, we are actually more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:36-37).

We also then see this phrase: For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go: The final encouragement, repeated from Joshua 1:5, reminds us that Joshua’s success did not depend solely on his ability to keep God’s Word. It depended even more on God’s presence with him. The same is true for all of us. We need not be dependent on self at all but wholly on God.

Friends, there is just as great a need for people to stand for the Lord now as there was in the days Joshua! All around us, Christians are falling by the wayside. What we need is for God’s people to be moved in the depths of their souls to stand up, renew their commitments to the Lord and say, "By God’s help, I’ll stand and not fall all the days of my life! I will commit to living the Courageous Christian life."

How would you define living the Courageous Christian Life?

All Access Pass

Ephesians 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

Yesterday we talked about verse 16 and looked at being strengthened in the inner man.  Christ dwelling in your heart is the result of the inner man being strengthened. For all of us, when we come to know Jesus as savior we get all the Holy Spirit we ever get but what happens when the inner man is strengthened is Christ feels at home in the heart. He has an all access pass to all areas of your heart.

Have you ever seen one of those TV shows where they give you an all access pass to whatever? Maybe an all access pass to the White House or an all access pass to behind the scene of a sports team. You get to see every – there is nowhere or nothing that the one doing it cannot go. 

Let me ask this: have you given Jesus an all access pass in your life?

Think about it this way: your life is a House – have you given Jesus an all access pass to every room in your house? What rooms have you allowed Jesus into and what rooms do you tell him to stay out of? He wants to have an all access pass to your life but will only go where you allow him. What areas of your life are you afraid to let Jesus into? It is not easy to have Jesus have an all access pass because he will see your dirt, your messes, and all the junk – the stuff you try to hide from Him and everyone else. Remember he will help you clean it up but you have to give Him access first.

The result of Christ having the all access pass to our heart is we become rooted in and ground in love. The root of the plant is what keeps it nourished and supported. For us, to be rooted and grounded in love means that we practice love as way of life. Those who love as they should are those who lives are that are kind, selfless, humble, and meek.

Have you ever got an all access pass to anything?  Have you given Jesus an all access pass to your heart?

Reflective

Depending on when you read this – it is either a couple hours before my birthday or actually my birthday. 

Birthday’s are an interesting thing.   They always make me reflective and thankful.  A few years ago in my reflective mode around my birthday I recognized that I was hardened and that I had no tears – either for sadness or for joy.  I prayed that God would give me tears back and He did. 

Two years ago things were a little rough because I was leaving my previous Church and there was a lot of stress involved.  I was very reflective that year of the years I had spent at that church and struggled with how I was leaving. 

Last year I was reflective and thankful for how the Lord had blessed me and my family.  He had brought me out of that trying time and brought me to a church situation that was a great fit.  I was so thankful for the gift that God had given me.

This year as I reflect back there are many things that are rolling around my head.  I have honestly been so busy that I have not thought too much about it being my birthday till today.  I am grateful for the family and friends I have been blessed with.  I am grateful for the Church and ministry that God blessed me with. 

Even in my gratefulness, I am also thinking of some goals for the next year.  I want to do more concentrated reading of the Bible.  I want to do a better job ministering to people.  I want to lose some weight and exercise more consistently.  I want to take more risks and dream bigger for God.  I want to be a better husband and father.  I also want to kill a 12 point this year and catch a 10 pound bass.

These are some of my thoughts, reflections, and goals as I go into my 43rd year of life.

Are you reflective when it gets around birthday?  What kind of things do you get reflective about in you life in general?

Let me thank you  in advance for the birthday wishes.

Smile and laugh

The last two days I have looked closely at Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.  Now that we have looked at this, let us look at smiling and laugh in a serious way.

So what are the benefits that one gets from smiling and laughing? They are many. Let us start with the smile. You have heard some form of the following – It takes 37 muscles to frown and 22 to smile, so smile, it conserves energy.

In a study in 2002 researchers found that people automatically respond to what people show them. If someone frowned at them, they frowned back but if the smiled they smiled back. People where told to do the opposite of the picture and found great difficulty in smiling at the frown and frowning at the smile. Facial expressions are contagious.

I would like everyone right now to smile. Smile big! Hold it – even if you do not feel like smiling.  Smile!  Now I would bet that even with a fake smile you feel better.  Research shows that people that smile feel happier even when they faked their smile. People that frown and show sadness felt sadder. Facial expressions actually contribute to the way you feel! So choose to smile and choose to feel great!

Then there is laughing and laughing is one of my favorite things to do. Laughing has some great health benefits. Here is a list of ways that laughing can benefit your health both mental and physical.

1. Anti-stress – When you laugh you become more relaxed which helps to relieve stress.

2. Strengthens your immune system – negative emotions like anxiety and depression weaken the immune system while laughing raises the level of killer cells and raises the anti-body levels in the body.

3. Aerobic workout – 1 minute of continuous laughing is equal to 10 minutes on a rowing machine according to a Stanford study.

4. High Blood Pressure and Heart Disease – The increased blood flow and opening of veins, which lowers BP and helps with heart disease.

5. Natural Pain Killer – Laughing increases endorphins, which are the bodies, painkiller.

6. Alleviates Bronchitis and Asthma – It improves lung capacity and blood flow in chest and lungs, which helps most asthmatics; there is an exercise-induced asthma that is aggravated by laughing.

7. Internal jogging – Hard laughing massages all the body’s internal organs and brings increased blood flow to those organs.

8. Laughing builds bonds – Much like prayer – laughing links people together and helps build social bonds.

A study has shown that children 4 years old laugh about 400 times per day. Adults only laugh about 14 times per day. What has happened to us? One thing that I would answer is we have taken ourselves way too seriously.

I will talk more being too serious tomorrow but for now think about smiling and laughing.  Do your best to look people in the eye and smile at them today.  Have a good laugh today with others and build bonds.  Take time and enjoy life!

One more thing:  I promise you that Jesus did not walk around solemn and sad but I am sure he walked around with the twelve and laughed and had a great time.  So what are you going to do today?  Smile and Laugh or be Solemn and Sad?  The choice as always is yours but for me I will be smiling and laughing.