My influence

My recent study of the Scripture has taken me into the Old Testament. It's interesting to read the history of God's dealings with His people. 
As I have read, I've laughed at the stupidity of the human race; shook my head at the brevity of faith that some people have had following God doing amazing things; and ultimately my studies have caused me to contemplated my own part in the Kingdom.
It's easy to scrutinize the actions of others. I do it all the time. Watching football, driving, give advice. 
But today, I was challenged. Challenged by the Facebook responses to the death of a standout high school athlete. His friends reminisced all of the times that they had partied together, done crazy things while in a drunken stupor, etc. 
The legacy that this guy left behind following his drug overdose was sad, to say the least. 
So I ask myself a question: what would people post on FB about me? Would the posts read:
Matt was a good ole boy.
Matt loved BBQ.
Matt was funny.


That scares me. Scares me to think about what my God will say. Will He be proud of me? As I watch my life play back, will I have made a difference? Am I making the world a better place? But most importantly, do those in my life see Jesus in me?
The bottom line is, I want to make a difference. A positive difference.

Intellect

My 16 year old son has caused me to consider the place of intellect in my spiritual journey.  1 Corinthians 8:1 immediately comes to mind. "Knowledges puffs up, love builds up." I ask myself the question, Why would I seek deeper intellect? Motive is extremely important for me. Do I seek depth so that I can better love others and use it to lead them into a relationship with Christ or to draw them nearer to Him? So, I've meshed my ideals with the those of others to come up with some questions and conclusions. Is it about education? What credential enables someone to understand Scripture? Is a Ph.D. required? Clearly not, since some professors of theology and biblical studies use their knowledge to argue against the truth of God’s Word. What about a background in the sciences, in order to know the details of God’s creation? But some brilliant scientists conclude that the supernatural is absent from the natural world. In fact, We have the book of Acts 4:13 says, "The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures" Is education necessary to advance the Gospel? NO! To go back to the passage in Corinthians, the Corinthian culture prized education. Now, learning is obviously not inherently evil, but the problem came when they valued it above the truth of God’s Word. Advanced degrees or high I.Q. scores are not the foundations for our spiritual growth. Plus, God's wisdom can be contradictory to earthly wisdom. So does all this correlate?   Three things that I see: First, God the Father has prepared great things for us, wonders beyond the scope of our imagination or scientific discovery (Isaiah 64:4). Second, we must have the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2:10-12). We are not left to our own limited devices—the Spirit has been given to us to enable us to know the words and deeds and character of God. Through the Spirit it is possible for us to understand spiritual truth and spiritual truth is the type of intellect we should seek. Third, we have the mind of Christ. The word mind encompasses more than just intellectual capability; it includes the motive and attitude. Philippians 2 describes Jesus’ humility and love in this way: “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had". Here is the key to our growth in knowledge—love for others in obedience to God that reveals spiritual discernment of the indescribable love of God.  The bottom line is that we need intellect that will last for eternity.

"Why would we need to experience the Comforter if our lives are already comfortable?"

Robin is my closest friend of more than 30 years. He's challenged me lots of times in lots of ways. Most recently, he asked this question of me and the rest of the staff at CCC: "Why would we need to experience the Comforter if our lives are already comfortable?" 
That question relates to a passage in John 16 where Jesus promises to send the Comforter, The Holy Spirit. I had never thought about it that way...why would Jesus promise that if we weren't going to need it? 
When my walk with Christ is comfortable, what does that do to faith? In my estimation, it eliminates the need for faith. At least in terms of dependance. I suppose I could reword the question as: Do I live by faith? 
I continue the query to myself with questions like: Do I follow Christ in such a way that, without God's intervention, it will fail miserably? Do I seek God's will every minute? Are my thoughts towards my life with Christ "comforted" because I have sought His guidance throughout?
That passage in John 16 says that The Comforter will convict the world of it's sin. Ironically, last night Theresa and I talked with a young lady who needed comfort because her God-centered lifestyle had convicted those around her. Subsequently, she was experiencing persecution. 
Maybe that's why we don't need comforted, we aren't living lives that are pure enough to convict the world of anything.
We, as Christ's disciples, watch and listen to the same trash as entertainment, use the same vulgarities, struggle with the same sins as people who have never heard of Jesus. We are comfortable in our own little sloppy pens as so many pigs, awaiting slaughter.
When I am trying to live like Christ, I need comfort. When I'm living like the devil, I don't. And there's no "fence-riding" in between the two.
The bottom line is, sin is fake comfort resulting in eternal discomfort.  

What to Expect

Because of the way our services went on Sunday, I've had to do some reflection. Reflection on my own personal prayer life and reflection on my leadership focus. 
Several people were drawn powerfully into the Lord's presence, some for what they considered the first time. To that, I say, "Hallelujah!" We all need to seek God's face with that fervor all the time.
The direction that God's Word gives through the Apostle Paul is: "Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done."
As I ponder my life, I consider the conversation that I enjoy with Theresa. I think about what she knows about the goings on in my life and then I compare it to what I've shared with my Lord. When I compare those, I realize why I'm so shocked when I encounter the Spirit of God as I did on Sunday. There are times when it would seem as though I don't even know him. Or I treat my Savior like the person wearing the headset at Sbux, I place my order and pull around expecting it to be filled. 
These observations are pointless unless it creates a change. And it has. I am walking this winding road, to the left and a step behind Jesus. Just like they taught me in basic training. The difference: I can talk all that I want and I'm telling Him everything. I'm telling Him my joys and pains. I'm probably telling Him about you.
I don't want to be shocked when the Holy Spirit moves in such a powerful way, I want to get to a point where I expect it.
The bottom line is that my spirit longs to be with the spirit of God.

what to do?

What do you do when a church grows to the point that there aren't enough rooms for all the classes? We have rearranged classes to maximize our space time and again. People seem to be agreeable, for the most part.
I talked with a teacher this morning about relinquishing the large room he meets in and meeting in the library so a larger group could use that room. He said he'd work with whatever we had to do. I love working with the folks at CCC who share the vision! But that doesn't solve the problem, it just postpones it. A large share of my prayer time is spent on what to do when the postponing is done. And that time is not far away. 
It's an awesome blessing. I wonder if God is testing my faith in His timing. I'm probably failing that test, to some degree. I'm nervous, as a minimum.
But, God has always been faithful. I trust him. I really do. 
Mostly, being a "planner" is a good thing. But not now. I'm comfortable when I have a plan. Maybe, just maybe, God doesn't want me to be comfortable.
Bottom line is, I love to see the church grow!

Arm-chair QB Love

Why is it so easy to se other people's issues? I guess it applies to good and bad. But I think that we tend to lean to that negative side. 

This phenomenon applies to all of the layers of our lives. The average salary of a professional football QB is nearly $2 million but we see his mistakes very clearly from our armchairs. Little Johnny's teacher couldn't teach him how to tie his shoe, but he could certainly master that in an hour under our tutelage. If everyone had my driving skills, the roads would be much safer. 

Jesus saw this happening. He addressed it like this: "why worry about a speck in your friends eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, 'Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,' when you can't see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friends eye."

Some contend that Jesus was in essence saying, "Don't criticize" = "Don't judge". I don't see that. What I see is: Don't criticize an area of somebody else's life that you don't have in order in your own. Somehow, our culture has equated criticism with judgment and they try to back it up with this passage in Matthew 7. The key teaching is against hypocrisy. Jesus had a huge problem with the sin of hypocrisy.  

But...there's a way to deal with all this such that everyone wins. It involves the most outstanding quality of Jesus, love. Love for others and their well-being. 

I am encouraged by someone who has their family in order and they lovingly give advice from their experience on teen child-rearing practices. The desire to do better grows in me when a gifted speaker suggests that the number of times I use the word "ok" might be distracting to folks when I preach. 

God said it best through the apostle Paul, "...faith, hope and LOVE--and the greatest of these is love."

Discipleship

According to the Wikipedia dictionary, a disciple is a follower and student of a mentor, teacher, or other wise figure; and Jesus described what His disciples (followers) would do: Matt 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me." 
He began with unselfishness. Selfishness is perhaps the greatest enemy of following Christ. 
I'm selfish in different ways at different times. I'm selfish with my time, I'm selfish with my stuff, I'm selfish with my money. Presently, I'm seeing the selfishness that I have with time.  Not that I want to spend all my time on myself but rather my lack of patience with others. The false idea that my time is more valuable than theirs. I'm really trying to give time to the ones that God has placed in my midst. 

Jesus set the perfect example of giving, His very life. 
As I look at my life, I am finding ways to give. To give it away, not to be self-less in the eyes of those who see, but to emulate the God that I have proclaimed to serve.