It’s OK to not Be OK

I think that the church has a stigma within itself that we try to maintain.  It’s not biblical, and its certainly not a great thing.  It’s this idea that we have to have everything  in our life together when we’re around each other on Sundays and Wednesdays.  That we some how must maintain this “masquerade” of perfect Christian maturity.  I will be the first to tell you this about me:  I don’t have it all together, and sometimes my life is a mess!

That’s OK!  That’s the beauty of the church!  We aren’t called to be a perfect people…if that were possible than Christ wouldn’t have needed to come to suffer and die to redeem us from our imperfections and shortcomings.  Sometimes I think we do greater damage to ourselves by trying to maintain this “stained-glass masquerade,” as it has been called, than to just owning up to a reality check that everything is not as it seems. We are not OK.

When we can openly admit to one another that we are hurting, that we’ve messed up, and that we need the love and encouragement of the saints, THAT is when our lives are ripe for change to occur.  From James, we read this:  “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. ” (James 5:16, NIV).  I don’t read this in this Scripture anywhere, from any angle of this “Lone Ranger” Christianity that many of us try to keep.  “It’s between me and God,” people will say, and yes that is true, but it’s also worth sharing with others.  James says it brings healing!

If your congregation (or any, for that matter) is so judgmental that we can’t even come forward to admit our sins or our needs, than church, that is not the church Jesus Christ died for.  The church is not, nor was it ever, nor will it ever be in the judging business.  That’s God job.  We are here to walk the road to heaven together, picking one another up when we fall—not walking on top of them. We get walked on every day in the world—don’t bring it into the church.

Are you hurting?  Are you broken? Discouraged?  Weary?  Burnt out?  Well, join up with the rest of us bedraggled and beaten down children of God and share in the Lord together with one another.  Confess and share.  Just think about it.

In love, Scott

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Most people, unless you’re a garden gnome (and no-one wants to be one of those), question why they’re here.  What do I mean by “here?”  I mean alive – living, and breathing…why do you get up?  That sort of thing.

It’s a question that causes our hearts to soar, or our souls to crash…its’ the most basic of all questions and the basis of all philosophy and man’s search for meaning.

Most of us, at some point or another, wonder why we’re here.  That leads us to the questions,  ”Am I Worth Something?”or “Does Somebody Love Me?”  These are the questions that define who we are.  We’ll call these “basic human needs.”  These are questions that need to be answered.

So much time and money is spent (and wasted, in some cases) in our pursuit to find who we are and why we’re here.  College and/or the post-college years are those where we define these questions and make decisions for them.

So what if you don’t know?  Good question…

Check this out:

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.

(Psa 139:11-18 ESV)

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. “
~Psalm   139:13-16 (ESV)

This passage blows my mind right out the back of my skull.  To me, it is incredible.  To me, it answers those fundamental questions of value, love, and purpose.

It also shows an intimate and personal Creator who intricately weaves and creates every fiber of my being – A God who knew me, knew all about me, and who determined my life and death all before I was even thought of!

Forget about your old grandpa sitting on a throne God.  Forget about the “RuleKeeper” God whose just waiting to drop you into Hell.  That’s all WRONG!

So many people misconstrue, misrepresent and misinform about who God is.

So what’s our purpose?  God created me (and you) in His image (Genesis 1:26) and for His purpose (Romans 8:28).  He created us by Hand and every cell, every fiber of our being is woven and knit together by Him.

So what am I worth? I’m worth EVERYTHING to God:

“For God so loved the world (that means YOU), that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”                                                                                                                                                           ~John 3:16-18

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.”

~1Timothy 2:5-6

Notice that word “ransom.”  This is a friggin’ sweet word in the Greek. It means “To buy back.” IT means that God literally paid your debt on the Cross with Jesus Christ because He loved you that much!  We can’t even fathom this kind of love.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

~Colossians 2:13-14 ESV

So Are You Valuable?  Yes!  The most incredible kind of value there ever was or ever will be! God went to extreme lengths to buy you back and give you the opportunity to restore a relationship with Him.

Are you loved?  YES!  The most crazy,incredible, scandalous love there ever was, is, and ever will be!

“…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

~Romans 5:8

Do you have a purpose?  YES!

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

~Romans 8:28 ESV

God created YOU with a purpose in mind!  Just remember, there’s so much more to life than living and dying.

Humbled By Holiness

So I’m reading through the Book of Isaiah.  I think this book is mind-blowing.  I love to read it…very encouraging and humbling.

So I was reading Chapter 6, and though I have read it many, many times, I think that I have always missed the point that Isaiah (really, God through Isaiah) was trying to get across.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. Woe to me! I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

(Isa 6:1-5 NIV)

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. Woe to me! I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

(Isa 6:1-5 NIV)

Isaiah is in the Temple and catches a glimpse of the LORD Almighty seated on His throne.  The language Isaiah uses here is just incredible…i really think Isaiah did his best to put what he saw into human terms… I’ve no doubt that what he saw was way more incredible than he could logically verbalize.

Then throw in the seraphs (angels) that have 3 pairs of wings flying around and they are singing “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is filled with His glory.”

So what’s Isaiah’s response?  Was it shouting for joy?  Was it amazement? No- It was repentance.

Isaiah says, “Woe to me! I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty”

I think the point here is that when we stop to think about the sheer holiness, power, magnitude, and infinite glory of God we will feel tiny and dirty.

When faced with the holiness of God we are forced to realize that we are truly nothing – that we have nothing, and that we are not able to stand.

The sooner I realize that I can bring nothing to the table that makes God any more “Godly” or any more fulfilled the sooner I can get on with the business of being humbled. I brought nothing into this world and I can take nothing out.

As James says, “…You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (4:14)

And “From dust you are created, and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19)

This 60-80 year lifespan that most of us are on this earth isn’t long…and when faced with the holiness of God…it’s incredibly tiny.   Give God the glory.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time” (1 Peter 5:6, NIV).

Just something to think about.

Echoes of Wisdom

So I’ve been in the Book of Ecclesiastes (4 years in Bible college and all I learned was to spell that…totally kidding…or am i?)  this week in my personal reading.

This book is one of those mind-blowing, only God could inspire it kind of things.

The whole theme of the book is that there is really nothing worthwhile in a life lived outside of God. You can try to fill your bank account, drink as much as you want, have as many hook-ups as you can…but the end result is the same:

“Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment” (Ecc 11:9, NIV).

Sure we can live it up, per say, but Solomon tells us “but know” that all th e things we do will be called into judgment when we die.  If they don’t meet God’s holy standards, than we will be in trouble.

Solomon, the author and the wisest man of all-time, he makes it a point to let the reader know he tried pleasure, drunkenness, shananagins, (my paraphrase) amassing wealth, and labor…but he concluded that “all is meaningless” (Ecc. 12:8).

Also, however, Solomon concluded:

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man“ (Ecc. 12:13, NIV).

The whole duty, or purpose of a human being is to fear God and keep His commandments.  I find that fascinating because it’s so revolutionary – so counter-cultural to 21st century thinking.

Most of the time – and as Solomon even writes about, we begin thinking that for some reason life was created for us…and that we should be happy.

Here’s a thought:  maybe our definition of happiness is askew from its original intended meaning.  We begin to think that we want to just be “happy.”  While this is a noble goal, i can observe from my life that happiness is just an emotion – and emotions fade away, thus you can’t always “feel happy.”

We seek to find this “happiness” and make a point to do whatever we can find, and then we always wind up “unhappy.”

Why is that?

It’s because unless you include God in your life, you can’t have joy – the real happiness.  You will never find your purpose, meaning, or contentment in seeking to “be happy” all the time.  It’s just not possible (unless it’s drug induced, and trust me, I’ve been there and it isn’t happy).

God has created us for one purpose:  to glorify Him in worship and how we live according to His inspired words in the Scriptures.

Imagine if the whole world would begin to be selfless instead of selfish, what kind of incredible things would happen!

Just some thoughts!

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

(Ecc 12:13 NIV)

Possibility for an Upcoming Class at Church?

So I am a HUGE fan of XXXCHurch.com.   If you haven’t checked out the site, I suggest you do it.  The whole mission of these guys is to liberate people from the bondage of porn and sex addictions, while reaching out to those in the porn industry to show them the love of God…

They have the Jesus Loves PornStars Bible as well that they hand out in mass at the adult entertainment conventions in Vegas and such.

So the guy who founded this, Craig Gross, is the preacher and founder of Fireproof Ministries.

Hey and another guy, Jason Harper just wrote a book that was released Sept. 1st Called Jesus Loves You this I Know. I went to the site with the free videos from the book and curriculum for a church group and some of them just blew my mind!  It really touched me…

I guess what I’m asking for is opinions on it.  Go to the website at http://www.jesuslovesyou.net.  Watch some of the free video snippets from the program and read up on the subject matter of the book and let me know what you think about it.

I think it’s awesome, but seeking counsel is also a thing I like to do.

Leave your opinions

Offensive?

So I’m sitting here in the office writing a sermon for Sunday.

I have been doing a series at our college Devo every Tuesday on the hard sayings of Jesus…a lot of the material comes from the Sermon on the Mount.

In Bible college, I never heard the words abrasive, harsh, brutal, offensive, or astringent used to describe the Sermon on the Mount…mostly because all people ever focus on are the “Beatitudes,” which are great and awesome, but there is so much more to this message.

As I read it, I can’t help but feel that if I were a 1st century Jew, I would have been greatly angered and offended at the Sermon on the Mount. It literally raised the bar on righteousness…and I think it shows people one critical point – you can’t live like this on your own…you need to have God’s righteousness to even begin to start living these passages of Scripture.

The verse I’m focusing on is, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
(Mat 5:20 NIV)

I think there is a great message here…but I’ll let God work it out and I’ll tell you about it later…leave thoughts.