Remembering

 

Have you ever found yourself remembering?  The Bible reminds us in Deuteronomy 32:7 to “remember the days of old”.  I often contemplate the past but the key is to contemplate the positive things in your past.  When we do, the result is thankfulness, joy and increased energy.

Take time to remember people who had an impact on your life.  You will find hundreds like a Sunday School teacher, school teacher, parents, siblings, wife, children, friends, co-workers and relatives.  Maybe even neighbors.  The key is to remember them.

I remember my dad, after a long week on the road, taking time to play catch with me and also traveling across the state of Michigan to see me play basketball.  I remember my mother cooking, going over spelling words every Thursday night and the list could go.  I remember my brother’s protection and encouragement; my grandfather’s stories of Ireland (he was better than TV) and all the fun we had with cousins on the island where our grandparents lived.  I remember the fun times in education and in ministry.  I remember what God has done for me.  Do you remember when He got you out of impossible situations or successfully walked you through them? When I do that, I realize I am blessed.  It focuses me on what I have been given not what I don’t have.  That changes my outlook, mood and allows me to be in a better position to encourage others.

So, when the challenging times come, take time to REMEMBER and be thankful!  You will be glad you did.

Blessings

Blessings

I have taught for years that there is a formula for receiving God's blessings.  It is seen in the adage, "Blessings are positional and the position is obedience".  Over and over again, we find in scripture that the adage is true.  As we are obedient to God's direction we are blessed.  We stand in obedience and the blessings flow straight down.  If I step out of obedience, I step out of the position where I can receive His blessings.  God is not punishing me, I have just moved into a position where His blessings do not flow.  I don't need to run around trying to get under His blessings, I just need to stand in obedience and I am flooded with them!

As I look over my life I can see God's hand at work.  But there were times that He blessed me and I was not standing in obedience and I ask, "Why did God bless me when I was not being obedient?"  I think the answer is found in the words grace and mercy.  God's purposes for us are fantastic and He will often bless us with protection and unsolicited guidance because of His plan for our lives.  His love compels Him to act accordingly.  Thank God for His blessings BUT also for His grace and mercy.

This Thanksgiving, why not take a few minutes and reflect on His blessings and be THANKFUL.

Heart Broken

I am not tired or discouraged.  I am way beyond that...I am heart broken!  I see our nation losing its identity.  I don't see compromise for the good of the nation anymore.  It seems that intolerance in the name of tolerance, restricted speech in the name of free speech, lawlessness in the name of the rule of law, have taken a stronghold in our country.  This is NOT a Democrat or Republican issue!  We cannot express ourselves with reason anymore.  It is all emotion driven.  We demonize those we disagree with, we distort other's words and actions to get our way.  We have lost a country where spiritual values were more important than politics.  We criticize those we disagree with because they have not created a perfect nation.  NEWS FLASH:  No party in the history of our country has because we are a nation of imperfect people. 

The solution:  Obviously, it is Jesus!  We need to get back to His values of loving others and allow Him to do a work in each of us.  Hold to our values, defend our values and show the reasoning behind our values BUT don't make the opposition the enemy or demonize them.  We are all part of one country and need to reason with each other.  This goes for all Americans and especially His Church.  The Church needs to come together and pray for all our leaders and opposition.  We need to reflect Jesus with strength, power, reason AND LOVE!

I am heart broken BUT broken hearts can be repaired my the Master Surgeon.  Church, let's seek His help and healing.

May God bless America with a REAL outpouring of HIS SPIRIT!

I AM TROUBLED!

I get that way sometimes when I think.  Seriously, I am troubled by what I see going on in our country.  This not political issue!  It is a spiritual issue!  Have you noticed that many leaders and influencers don't value truth anymore?  It is about their agenda not truth.  They have bought into the false belief that truth is relative.  To them there is no absolute truth, yet by definition real truth is absolute!  If truth is relative than it is just an opinion and we find ourselves fragmented and being pulled in hundreds of directions.  What "truth" guides us?  Is "white privilege", "black lives matter", "climate change" or any number of a thousand or more "truths"? The REAL truth is that truth is absolute.  Since we have so many conflicting "truths" being expressed, it would stand to reason that real truth is not being valued or followed by many Americans.

The problem is that this belief that truth is relative has crept into the Church.  You are probably rightfully questioning that statement.  We have brought these secular conflicting "truths" into the Church and are fighting over them.  Jesus calls us to be unified and Paul says not to argue over trivia but we have done it and are doing it.  We argue and divide over secular issues and spiritual non-essentials.

The real problem is that even in the Church our actions do not support our professed belief in absolute truth.  When we have theologians saying that Christ is not the only way but the preferrable way, we have a problem with truth!  When we have theologians saying that people can decide whether to accept Christ or not after they die, we have a problem with truth!  The list of examples could go on and on.  The truth is our nation and Christ's Church is in trouble because our actions don't demonstrate that we really believe in absolute truth.

So what can we do?  We can pray for our leaders (national and spiritual) and influencers (i.e. - newscasters, etc.).  We can pray that God will open their eyes and hearts to absolute truth.  The Bible is clear that Jesus is the Truth.  It is found in Him.  Our guide is the Bible.  We don't fight over it but we live by its tenets.  We also remember that where the Bible is silent so are we!

Finally, we pray for a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit on His Church and our nation!  That is the answer.  The question is, "Will we spend the time praying and adjusting our lives to be a real demonstration of His love?"

Just thinking!

Are You Kidding Me?

We call ourselves Christians BUT does our behavior demonstrate it?  Our main attribute is LOVE!  It is an action word meaning, "to do well for".  Is that what is happening in our country...our churches?

I am just thinking...if love was really our main attribute, would we be seeing the lack of civility in our country and even our churches?  Listen disagreements can be very good.  When we discuss the issues without personal attack, we get creative and good things happen.  Do you see that in our government?  I see a lack of cooperation and character assassination.  That is so sad and so beneath  Americans.   Unfortunately, it has even crept into the Church.  We have a lack of peace because we often just go with the societal flow.  Consequently, the Word becomes watered down so it has little or no authority.  The result is unrest because no one knows what is right.  Everything has become subjective.  SO honest people can be called corrupt and authority is replaced with public or personal opinion which changes weekly. We can easily see the evidence and results in our nation but sometimes is harder to recognize it in the church.  In the Church, it is evidenced in disregarding the Word.  The Pastor is the one who opens the Word but if we don't believe in its authority, he loses credibility and influence. When parishioners tear down a pastor (for any number of reasons) they are ignoring the Word.  We are to love AND not sow dissension in His Church.

I am just thinking...if love was really our main attribute, would we be seeing the selfishness exhibited in our government and our churches?  It so sad when people will cause any amount of trouble to get their way.  In government, they will distort and even lie about an opponents position.  In the church, people will distort a pastor's actions.  I heard of a laymen who at an outreach event began to criticize their pastor to an attendee.  WOW, that is real outreach, isn't it?

I am just thinking...what if we actually did well for others?  What if we really demonstrated Christ's   love?  Would we involve ourselves in character assassination or would we honestly debate the issues?
Would be destroy a pastor's reputation or discuss our concerns face to face?  When a pastor we disagreed with left our church would we wish them well, offer to pray for them OR would we send an anonymous letter to his new church board destroying his character?

I am just thinking...isn't it time the Church really became the Church.  Isn't time we disagreed but still did well for each other?  Isn't time we defend our brothers and sisters when they are attacked?  Isn't it time we lived out what we preach?  Isn't it time we really demonstrated to world looking for authenticity, that we will do well for everyone?  Here is the "Good News"...when we really love, God will send multitudes to His Church but He will not until He knows He can trust us with them.

So I am signing off until next time when I am just thinking again.

Don't Get Too Political

Don't Get Too Political!

I have noticed that Christians spend a lot of time complaining about the various actions of the gov't but most don't do anything to correct it.  They don't want to get too political.  Recently I heard Dr. Jeffrees speak and he stated that there are 70,000,000 evangelicals in the USA.  The statistics of the election of 2012 are very sobering!  It was noted by Dr. Jeffrees that of those 70,000,000 evangelicals, 35,000,000 were not even registered to vote and of the 35,000,000 who were registered only 17,500,000 voted.  That is APPALLING!

Just think, if 70,000,000 evangelicals voted as a unified block (not to mention the millions of Christians who do not consider themselves evangelicals), they could control any election.  We pray and pray, even have election vigils, asking God to intervene and He has already given us the tool of the ballot box and we fail to use it.

It is time the Church opened its eyes and became a voice for the principles of good, rather than the victim of evil.  We have all we need to bring this about but we seem to be too lazy to register, too lazy to vote OR we want a candidate that shares ALL our values or we won't vote.  Ronald Reagan said that if he got 80% of what he wanted he considered that success.

I think it is time we put up or shut up!  I think it is time for the Church to really vote values NOT party. I think it is time the Church really began to function as the Church, with unity and a shared purpose!  It is time we came together and used the tools God has given us to reach the world for Him.  Tools like our financial resources to care for the needy; His love flowing through us to reach and heal a hurting world; and the ballot box to bring God's principles back to the public arena and bring healing to our nation.

It is time to quit being exclusively Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholic (or any other denomination), Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, any racial or ethnic group and just be His Church and bring real healing to our world.  If we will, then real change can take place.

Just thinking again!

I'm tired!

I’m tired!  No, I’m exhausted!  You may ask, “Why are you tired, you are retired?”  Well, I’m glad you asked!  Let me tell you…


I’m tired of a gov’t who won’t tell, or even acknowledge the truth.  I’m tired of a gov’t that spins everything politically.  I’m tired of an electorate that is gullible.  I’m tired of uninformed citizens voting.  I’m tired of people wanting a handout.  I’m tired of working to get ahead only to have it taken and oft times given to someone unwilling to work.  I AM tired!


But we can move quickly from “tired” to “exhaustion” when we look at the Church.  I see His Church living at both ends of extreme.  On one end the Church tries to enforce morality (often called holiness).  The truth is you cannot legislate morality politically OR ecclesiastically.  Churches define morality (holiness) and the gov’t also defines and then redefines morality.  The truth is real holiness comes only through Jesus!  We need to forget the definitions and just allow the Holy Spirit to make the changes in our hearts and enable us to live morally (holy) as He defines it in scripture and He applies it in our personal lives.  I’m tired of churches replacing grace and love with their law and calling it holiness.  The truth is, I can keep every rule a church has and not even know Jesus!


At the other end of the spectrum, I’m tired of churches winking at sin.  You know the routine, everything goes because God loves us anyway.  He’ll always forgive.  That is true BUT what about the consequences of sin?  They are still there and they are very costly.  We are to call sin what God calls sin AND then we are to offer and demonstrate real love so the offender may be loved into a relationship with Jesus. 


It takes us back to our second blog, “Are we going to be a country club or a hospital?”  It really is a law vs. grace choice.  The choice is ours and in that choice lies the future of the Church and our nation.


So in spite our weariness, let’s get busy.  Busy LOVING!
Just thinking!