Pay the Price

"We honor the old prophets, we honor the Tozers and Spurgeons but we don't want to pay the price they paid, and they paid the price by being men who walked alone who lived with God and who loved his word."


"Most of you live your life on flimsy little songs, not upon the word of God."


Paul Washer

Without Love

Do you know any Christians that can answer any biblical or theological question you have, but don't want to get involved with the little kids or the homeless? Long time Christians that that know all about the scriptures regarding love, but don't or can't show love to anyone?

Do you know any resounding gongs or clanging cymbals? (NIV)

It's funny how God works. I had started this post a few days ago and never finished it. On Sunday I didn't go to my church, but another. The young pastor preached on chapters 12 and 13 in 1 Corithinians. He talked about how it's all about love, and that love always wins.

He also shared a point that I had heard before. Look at verses 4 through 8. Every time it says "love" or "it" referencing love, put your name in there. See if it describes you. So it would be..... Sam is patient, Sam is kind.......Linda does not envy, Linda does not boast............... A humbling exercise?

So if we know all about faith, it doesn't matter. Do we know the Word? Doesn't matter. Served God on a missions trip? None of this matters if we don't love. Love others, parents, siblings, neighbors, nobodys, strangers, poor.

And love extravagantly.

Blessed Be Your Name

He gives and takes away, blessed be Your name....

Move On

His court was surprised when David, after Bathsheba's baby had died, cleaned up, ate and worshipped the Lord. He had acted like a mad man when the baby was sick, pacing, praying, not eating. They were afraid what would happen when the baby died.

But David had moved on. He had sinned, sinned greatly, but had repented in front of the Lord. The past was past.

What a concept that most of us miss. Move on. The past is past. Someone may have wronged you. Forgive them. Move on. You may have sinned, sinned greatly. Repent, then move on. Don't dwell on your or other's past mistakes. That's a trick straight from hell.

Move on.

Sometimes we get so upset because we think God has missed our plan that we are too busy to notice we missed God's plan.

Saturday Song- Healing Rain- Michael W Smith

Healing Rain

Healing rain is coming down
It's coming nearer to this old town
Rich and poor, weak and strong
It's bringing mercy, it won't be long

Healing rain is coming down
It's coming closer to the lost and found
Tears of joy, and tears of shame
Are washed forever in Jesus' name

Healing rain, it comes with fire
So let it fall and take us higher
Healing rain, I'm not afraid
To be washed in Heaven's rain

Lift your heads, let us return
To the mercy seat where time began
And in your eyes, I see the pain
Come soak this dry heart with healing rain

And only You, the Son of man
Can take a leper and let him stand
So lift your hands, they can be held
By someone greater, the great I Am

Healing rain, it comes with fire
So let it fall and take us higher
Healing rain, I'm not afraid
To be washed in Heaven's rain

To be washed in Heaven's rain...

Healing rain is falling down
Healing rain is falling down
I'm not afraid
I'm not afraid...

God's Wrath

Sometimes we need fire and brimstone just to remind us.....................

Sin Management

Usually I'm not a big fan of church message boards. They are typically pretty hooky, like, "What missing from ch ch?". Some are thought provoking, but those usually aren't the norm.

But the other day one really got me thinking- "God doesn't grade on a curve; he grades on the cross."

Now obviously, I think the message that they were trying to convey was that it doesn't matter how good or bad a person is, it's all about Jesus' death on the cross and His resurrection. That's what I first thought, and what a powerful message that can be to a non-believer.

But it got me thinking. We as Christians do sometimes think that God does grade on a curve. Yes, Lord, I'm holy most of the time, just give me this one little sin I want to cling to. Lord, I know that what I do sometimes is wrong, but I'm a better Christian than that other guy.

We don't try to be holy. We become very good at sin management.

Salvation is about grace and mercy. But sometimes you hear grace and mercy, mercy and grace, and we forget that we are called to be HOLY. Be holy as I am holy. Not only are we to be holy, but be holy like he is. Some definitions for holy are "belonging to", and "set apart". Holy doesn't mean pious. It means holy before Him.

And, believe it or not, our benchmark isn't other Christians. It's the Son of God.
It is about mercy and grace when we come to Him, but then it's about being like Him.

It's not about a curve. It's about Him.

Suffer

How can we believe that Jesus suffered and we won't? Are we better than the apostles that we won't be persecuted? Read what the Word says, Christian.


John Piper has a take....

The World's 23rd Psalm

I have no shepherd.
I am in want and need.
I have no one to feed me.
In green pastures I have no rest.

I have no one to lead me to quiet waters.
I am thirsty.
I don't know where to turn.
As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
evil surrounds me.
I am terribly afraid for no one is there to comfort me.
I have no feast prepared before me.
I am overwhelmed by enemies.
No one anoints my wounds or fills my cup.
My cup is empty.
All the days of my life are filled with deceit and disappointment.
I have no home for eternity.
Will I dwell in an evil house forever?

Jealous

Have you ever been jealous? Your boyfriend is spending time with another "friend"? Your child would rather go to the movies with someone else. Your friend seems to have it all. Do you get jealous?

We serve a jealous God.

He wants your time. Does He need it? He has been before the beginning and will be for eternity. No, he doesn't need it.

He wants your talent. Does He need it?He has the greatest music ever with Him, and He has painted the greatest universes and the most magnificent mountains. No, He doesn't need it.

He wants your money. Does He need it? He created gold and silver, and owns not only the proverbial cattle but all those hills as well. No, He doesn't need it.

He wants you. He wants you to spend time with Him, use your talent for Him, and wants your obedience as much as your money. The God who made this world, who made the universe and all the stars, wants to spend time with you.

What We Don't See

I know of an associate pastor at a church who is painfully shy. He's not much of a public speaker. Most would wonder how and why he was called to ministry.

But he has a heart for God. He is willing- willing to do whatever it takes to bring people to the Kingdom. He will serve any way he can. This man might not ever be a head pastor, but he has God and His church to serve. And his reward will be in heaven.

Isn't that like God? He uses people or things we would never think of to further His kingdom. Moses was slow of speech, but he talked for a nation. David was a lowly shepherd boy-Jesse was sure Samuel would pick one of the older, stronger sons to be king.

So when someone you think isn't presentable enough or isn't a great communicator wants to serve the Lord, don't dismiss them as not being good enough. Like the song says, when others saw a shepherd boy, God saw a king.

Schaefer

“The inward area is the first place of loss of true Christian life, of true spirituality, and the outward sinful act is the result”

Francis Schaeffer

Saturday Song- Open Me- Shawn McDonald

Would You open up eyes, so I can see
Would You open up my ears, so I can hear
Would You open up my mind, so I can know
Would You open up my heart, so I could love You more

I want to serve You, my God
I want to give All of Me,
I want to serve You, my King, yeah
I want to serve You, my Lord
I want to give You everything, yeah

Would You open up eyes, so I can see
Would You open up my ears, so I can hear
Would You open up my mind, so I can know
Would You open up my heart, so I could love You more

I want to serve You, my God
I want to give You everything
I want to serve You, my King, yeah
I want to serve You, my LOrd
I want to give You everything, Yeah

Here I am with my arms open wide
Asking for You to come up, up inside
Won't You make me new, won't You make me true?
Jesus, won't You make me like You?

Would You touch my eyes, so I can see
Would You touch my ears, so I can hear
Would You touch my mind, so I can know
Would You touch my heart, so I could love You more

Won't You open me
Won't You open me, open me
Won't You open me, open me
Won't You open me



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTeMXby477g

O Ye of Little Faith

"O Ye of Little Faith". Jesus used this phrase several times, for the Pharisees, for the people, even for the disciples. It was a rebuke for what He saw was lacking. Did 'little faith" mean at least they had some? Interesting thought.

George Muller was a man who had much faith. Muller had five orphanages in Bristol in the UK in the 1800s. The number of children under the care of him and his wife grew from 30 to over 2,000. Muller built these five homes, costing over 100,000 British pounds even back then(5.8 million British pounds today), without ever asking for financial support or going into debt. Many times he received unsolicited food just hours or minutes before they needed to feed the children. Muller prayed, faith believing, that God would provide.

Just think, building a church, or an orphanage, or going on a missions trip, without asking for money or going into debt. Where are the men and women of Muller's faith today? Imagine a principle of seeking money and provision through prayer instead of fund-raising. Do we have that kind of faith?

Mullers's diaries show that life was hard at times, and he had to learn to be persistent, and felt that God had given him a task to demonstrate the faithfulness of God in prayer. His diaries stated he had documented proof of 50,000 answered prayers, many answered within 24 hours.

Don't we look like those of "little faith" compared to Muller? We need persistence, we need to ask boldly and believe. But we need to keep knocking.

Muller's diaries stated that "without the trust in God through Jesus Christ and in His provision in answer to prayer, our activity will be ill founded. The ways in which we do things may change but this godly pattern remains unchanged. "

Intimacy

No deep relationship can last unless there is intimacy. This intimacy takes several forms, but some is needed. Holding hands with a spouse or a knowing glance. Knowing the dreams and being there for the life lessons of your children. The familiar voice or shared secrets of a dear friend. Real intimacy is something that is developed by spending time with that person, to know how and what they think and feel.

Do we really feel intimate with God? Do we tell Him our innermost thoughts? Do we long to spend time with Him? Do we ache to learn more of Him?

That's what He wants from us. Intimacy. The intimacy of a spouse, of a child, of a friend. He is the creator of the stars and the ants, and the painter of the skies and the mountains.

And He wants to spend time with us.

Ugly

“Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.”

Francis Schaeffer

Saints

The saints of the scriptures were called saints not because they were already pure but because they were people who were set apart and called to purity.


RC Sproul
The Holiness of God

A Lion Gone Home

Back in May, Ralph Winter passed away after battling multiple myeloma and lymphoma. He was 84. Unfortunately, many Christians had no idea who this lion in God's army was.

If you've ever heard of "unreached people groups" or the "10/40 window", you can thank Ralph Winter. Several have said that along with Billy Graham and Bill Bright, these three were the greatest evangelicals of the 20th century.

Named one of America's 25 most influential evangelicals by Time magazine in 2005,
his list of achievements includes founding a mission think tank, a university, and a mission society. He raised the funds to start the US Center for World Missions. Since then, the center has not only trained thousands of missionaries and support personnel, but also has worked tirelessly to bring the vision of reaching hidden peoples to the wider church. The Perspectives course, a college-level course the center sponsors, has equipped almost 60,000 lay people around the world with this vision.

But arguably his greatest contribution to the world of mission and what he is best known for is his ground-breaking 1974 presentation at the Congress for World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was at this legendary summit, convened by Billy Graham, where Winter introduced the term “unreached people groups” that had the profound effect of shifting the entire global mission strategy thereafter.

Winter, who was previously a missionary with his wife Roberta in Guatemala for ten years, argued that cross-cultural evangelism is urgently needed because more than half of the people in the world who are not Christian are people who cannot be reached any other way except by pioneer missionary techniques.

The presentation of “unreached people groups” is hailed as a milestone event in missiology.

“Dr. Ralph Winter was perhaps the most influential person in missions of the last 50 years and has influenced missions globally more than anyone I can think of,” said Dr. Ray Tallman, professor of missiology at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary and Olivet University in San Francisco.

In his last few years, despite his daily physical struggles battling multiple myeloma and lymphoma, Winter continued to accept invitations to speak at mission conferences around the world. Just last summer, a frail looking Winter took the stage at a mission conference held at the famed alma mater of Billy Graham, Wheaton College, to deliver a passionate address about the biggest trend in world mission.

Speaking to thousands of missionaries attending the Korea World Mission Conference – a conference held once every four years – Winter seemed increasingly energized as he spoke to the crowd of thousands of missionaries from around the world who would take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Although he needed help walking up only a few flights of stairs, the 83-year-old Winter, who was battling cancer and several diseases, stood by himself for about an hour to deliver a message about how to get God in the world and glorify Him on earth.
Refusing the advice of conference organizers to rest and attend the conference as a listener, Winter held multiple workshops, each lasting about an hour, for several days during the mission conference.


I read all this and wonder, what am I doing with my life?


What are you doing with your life?


John Piper remembers Ralph Winter here- http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1811_john_pipers_personal_tribute_to_the_late_ralph_winter/


The US Center for World Missions- www.uscwm.org.


Some parts excerpted from various sources.

World's Wages or His?

Do we seek the world’s praise or acknowledgement for what we do for the Lord? Do we want to be part of the world, or are we strangers living in it?

The following is excerpted from the devotional God at Eventide, a classic and companion to God Calling(February 2, My Wages)-

"If the world understands you, then you are speaking its language, actuated by its motives, living its life according to its standards. Will you have this?Remember I said very clearly, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." If you serve God, then, for your work, you should surely look to God for reward. So many of My servants serve Me, and yet expect to receive the gratitude and praise, or at least the acknowledgment of the world. Why? You are not doing the work of the world. Why expect its pay?"

Just Showing Off

Recent photos from the upgraded Hubble telescope.



Just because He can.................

Saturday Song- How Can I Keep From Singing- Tomlin

There is an endless song
Echoes in my soul
I hear the music ring

And though the storms may come
I am holding on
To the rock I cling

How can I keep from singing Your praise
How can I ever say enough
How amazing is Your love
How can I keep from shouting Your name
I know I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart want to sing

I will lift my eyes
In the darkest night
For I know my Savior lives

And I will walk with You
Knowing You'll see me through
And sing the songs You give

I can sing in the troubled times
Sing when I win
I can sing when I lose my step
And fall down again
I can sing 'cause You pick me up
Sing 'cause You're there
I can sing 'cause You hear me, Lord
When I call to You in prayer
I can sing with my last breath
Sing for I know
That I'll sing with the angels
And the saints around the throne

Lock Your Wings

I read in some long ago book this illustration and have never forgotten it. Eagles, in flight over the Sinai Desert, will ride the hot thermal winds up over a large storm front. They can go as high as 10,000 feet. He doesn't fly that high by flapping his wings. He locks his wings at his shoulders, to ride the wind over the storm, coming down on the other side. He can stay aloft for hours. He will get so high that ice will start to form on his wings, melting as he descends.

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word "ruach" means spirit or wind, the breath of God. David used it in one of my favorite verses, Psalm 51:10-11, "Create in me a clean heart, O God..........take not your ruach from me". The New Testament Greek for Holy Spirit is "pneuma", wind, to lift up.

When Isaiah says in 40:31 "we should soar with wings as eagles", this is what he means. He used this illustration as he talked about the tired and weary relying on the strength of God. Not to flap and struggle against the storms of life...illness, family responsibilities, failed relationships or financial problems...but to lock our wings, and ride the breath of God. That doesn't mean we have don't have to deal with these things; we do. It's about relying on God to not only take us over these things, but to also give us a new perspective- a view from above the storm. We need to get ice on our wings.

repost

Only See Him

“To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only Him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us.”



Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Behind The Eyes

Many years ago I had eye surgery on both eyes. I had a cataract develop on one eye even though I was in my thirties. At the same time my other eye was poked during a basketball game at a family outing. A few days later my retina started to detached, and I was rushed to surgery. When they reattach the retina they actually put an air bubble in the eye to help keep the retina pushed down for a while. Between the air bubble and the cataract in my other eye, I was legally blind.

We take our sight, like our health, for granted. I couldn't watch my sons play ball. I couldn't play with my daughter. It was frustrating.

It was also a time for much reflection. It was a time to pray and wait on God. My faith stayed strong and I trusted that everything would work out. I never really worried about the eyes. Even though I couldn't see, I would take walks with my dog leading the way. I couldn't read, but a friend brought the Bible on tape to listen too.

I did think alot about our eyes. About what we look at but don't really see. I also thought about what we decide we are going to look at. We can decide to look at beauty and grace, and turn our eyes from evil and temptations. Matthew 6:22 say our eyes are the lamp of the body; if our eyes are good, the body will be good.

And John 4:35 says we are to open our eyes and look at the harvest. Many don't see that.

As well as seeing the physical, we are also to see the spiritual. Ephesians 1:18 says that our heart has eyes! And one of my favorites, 2Corinthians 4:18 says we are to fix our eyes on the unseen, not the seen.

Use your eyes today. Both sets.

Legacy

Some time ago a girl in our church sang the Nicole Nordeman song "Legacy" . It was accompanied by a PowerPoint of photos of people in the church who have left a real legacy, like Ms Nordeman's music video does.

Every one leaves a legacy when they're gone. Some are fleeting and shallow. Other leave a legacy of permanence.

I think of a man who gave up a very successful business and country estate. He decided to go back to school at age 40 and then enter the ministry. God has used him as a mighty tool, touching many lives for the Lord.

Sometimes a legacy can be as much about what you leave behind. Not bricks and mortar, like many people like to put their names on before they die.

There's the missionary who gave up a prestigious degree to work with kids and orphans in a desolate area. There's the couple who despite their own three kids, adopted three more out of abusive situations.

What kind of legacy are you leaving? Great career, nice 401k? Or something more permanent, in the lives and faiths of others.

Each day we build for either the temporal or eternal.

Saturday Song- Hold Me Jesus- Rich Mullins

Well, sometimes my life
Just don't make sense at all
When the mountains look so big
And my faith just seems so small

CHORUS:
So hold me Jesus, 'cause I'm shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won't You be my Prince of Peace

And I wake up in the night and feel the dark
It's so hot inside my soul
I swear there must be blisters on my heart

CHORUS

Surrender don't come natural to me
I'd rather fight You for something
I don't really want
Than to take what You give that I need
And I've beat my head against so many walls
Now I'm falling down, I'm falling on my knees

And this Salvation Army band
Is playing this hymn
And Your grace rings out so deep
It makes my resistance seem so thin

CHORUS

You have been King of my glory
Won't You be my Prince of Peace

Love More

We need to love more. This isn't about loving your friends and family more(but we should) , or loving the weak and "least of these" more(but we should). It's not even about loving our enemies more.

Is there someone at your work that you just can't stand? They think they are always right, and never have anything good to say about anyone or anything. Or maybe they get along with others but they don't like you.

Maybe there is a friend or acquaintance that has everything always go their way, and they flaunt it in front of everyone else. Or someone at church that you feel in self-centered, or who just rubs you the wrong way.

We have forgotten, in society and in the church, what empathy is. We forget to put ourselves in someone else's shoes, to maybe look at them how God must look at them.....and at us.

When God says love your neighbor as yourself, he means the neighbor you fight with about noise and property lines; not just the ones you barbecue with. He says in His Word that anyone can love those who love them. We need to love the ones that might not be so lovable.

We need to love the ones that might not be so lovable.

Spread some love this week. Spread it to someone who doesn't like you; or someone you don't like. A person at work, or at church, a relative or that mean clerk at the store.

Love the unlovable.

Like The Wind

The wind is an interesting force of nature. It can pack the power of an explosion, destroying things in its way. It can fill the snapping sails to propel a boat across the water, or make a kite dance in the sky. It can soothe on a hot summer day, lightly caressing the skin.

No one knows where it comes from. No one can see it. But you can see the effects of the wind, and you can feel the wind. It's alot like God in that way. You can't see Him but you can see His effect on things. And you can feel Him, His presence, calming you or pushing you along.

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word "ruach" means spirit or wind, the breath of God. David used it in one of my favorite verses, Psalm 51:10-11, "Create in me a clean heart, O God..........take not your ruach from me". The New Testament Greek for Holy Spirit is "pneuma", wind, to lift up.

Be uplifted today by God's wind, by His Spirit. Revel in it, and let it guide you on the path God wants you.

Arms and Knees

The author John Bevere shares that for the last 25-30 years we have been so wrapped up in who we are in Christ that we have neglected what we are to do in Christ. Are we as Christians too focused inward instead of also focusing outward? There should be a balance.

Do you know any Christians that are always at conferences and seminars wanting to learn, but would never be interested in witnessing to the poor and homeless, or going on a missions trip? It reminds me of an old Degarmo & Key song lyric from the 80s, "children around the world will starve while we sit in a seminar".

Conversely, do you know followers of Christ that are always going on trips, are all busy serving, that never have time for a daily quiet time, a real relationship with the Father. It almost as if they are unsure of the intimacy with the Lord.

Jesus gave the two greatest Commandments in Mark 12. The first in to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. It's up and down, a vertical relationship between us and the Lord. The second is to love your neighbor as yourself. This is a horizontal relationship between us and our neighbors. Jesus lumps these two together.

Paul gives another insight when he talks about God's discipline in Hebrews 12. In verse 12 he says, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. With our arms we do God's work for others, for our neighbors. With our knees we enter an intimate relationship with our King.

Vertical, horizontal. In balance.