He is Beside you— I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. — John 15:15

He is Beneath you— As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. — 1 Peter 2:4-5

He is Behind you—For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—Romans 6:6

He is Before you—Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. —Philippians 3:13-14

He is Above you—at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.—Philippians 2:10-11

He is Inside you—But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. —Romans 8:10

Two reasons why you need to know how to do battle:

Jesus says: YOU WILL BE IN A FIGHT
“In this world you will have trouble.” - John 16:33
“All men will hate you because of me…” - Matthew 10:22

Satan is: LOOKING FOR A FIGHT
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. - 1 Peter 5:8

What happens when I fight the battle my way?

• I’m limited to MY STRENGTH
• I’m limited to MY WISDOM
• I risk losing more than THE BATTLE

What do I need to know?

I need to know MY SAVIOR
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” - John 16:33

I need to know MY ENEMY
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. - Ephesians 6:12

I need to know MY STANDING
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. - Romans 8:37

I need to know MY WEAPONS
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. - 2 Corinthians 10:4

What do I need to do?

I need to hold onto MY DESTINY
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. - 1 Timothy 6:12

I need to hold onto MY FAITH
Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. - 1 Timothy 1:18-19

I need to remember MY REWARD
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. - 2 Timothy 4:7-8

I need to GEAR UP
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. -Ephesians 6:13

I need to TEAM UP
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. - Matthew 16:18

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. - James 5:16

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”- Matthew 28:18-20

Who are you? That’s not a question we deal with often, but ultimately it is a question we all have to answer.

Your first impulse might be to state what you do. “I’m a business man. I’m a contractor. I’m a secretary.” But as long as we see ourselves through the lens of what we do, we risk an identity crisis every time our performance doesn’t meet up with our expectations. When we do well, we feel good about ourselves. When we do not, well, lets not talk about it…

The question, “Who are you?” is a question of identity. What we believe about ourselves determines what we believe we are worth, what we will settle for, what we will strive for, and who we’ll associate with. But the most important thing our identity does is it defines to whom we belong.

After Jesus rose from the dead He gave His closest followers an assignment: to go and make disciples. The first part of the discipleship process? Baptize them. What’s baptism? Identification.

When you get baptized, you make a statement of identification. You are saying to yourself, to God, and to the world you no longer belong to who and what you belonged to before. You now belong to God, Jesus Christ and His church. You are making a public declaration that you now have a new tribe.

What makes this important is that we have a habit of slipping back to our old ways. When we do, it is much too easy to let our behavior tear down our identity. We are quickly convinced of our lack of worth. It is in that moment that we need to look back on that day when we were baptized and say, “I am of infinite worth. Not because of what I have done or will do, but because of the infinite love of the infinite One who loves and values me infinitely.”

God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation. – Hebrews 2:11

Could it really be possible that you could be considered God’s family? After all, you and God couldn’t be any more different. If it were left up to you or I, there would be no possibility of relationship with God, let alone a familial connection.

Lucky for us, we have nothing to do with it. God created everything. That means He has the power to make something from nothing. When there is no shred of desire for God, God can infuse our hearts with a love so unexplainable that it changes our desires. Everything God created, He created for Himself. God hasn’t chosen us to be a part of His family for us, but because we being in His family brings Him glory.

Do you want to glorify God? Then celebrate and live in the reality that you are God’s child and Jesus is your brother! That brings God great pleasure and shows off His power and love to a world in desperate need of both.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. - John 15:13

“What have you sacrificed?”

That was the question I was asked one night as I was teaching about the Christian lifestyle. The main topic that night was the the idea that if we want to see God move we need to have an unyielding commitment to the mission that God has given us. Commitment always involves sacrifice.

It was a tough question for me. You see, I wouldn’t trade my life and what I am doing for anything. I am convinced I am right where God wants me doing what God wants me to do. It was hard to think of what I had given up because what I have received from God has been so much greater.

The truth is, anyone who seeks to lead people sacrifices greatly. The greater one’s leadership, the greater the commitment. The greater the commitment, the greater the sacrifice. I could talk all day about the time, the money, the career, and the emotional sacrifice required to make a mark for God’s kingdom. The price is steep.

The Christian life is not a life of ease. It is one of determination and grit. It is one of selfless love. The kind of love that says, “I will give up my rights so others can know the freedom I know.” Jesus puts it plainly: the greatest love is the love expressed by someone who surrenders his or her life for others. And He didn’t just say it. He demonstrated it. That’s sacrifice.

This isn’t news, really. We all understand that the greater the commitment the greater the sacrifice. That’s why so many of us don’t really want to step into this deep a love. We see the cost as too high. It’s just not worth it to us. So, we regulate the sacrifice by regulating the the commitment. But here’s the thing: The greater the sacrifice, the greater the reward.

Jesus gave it all and inherited the universe. When we live out the kind of selfless love Jesus does, we become co-inheritors of that very same kingdom. Not in the future, mind you, but right here and right now. We get front row seats in every situation to see the power of God work in people’s lives. We get to experience the daily touch and feel the warp and wane of the movement of the Holy Spirit. We get to dream dreams and know that God is the author and sustainer of those visions.

That’s why it was so hard for me to answer that question that night. When what you get in return is so much greater than what you give up, it’s hard to see anything as a sacrifice. But you have to give it up before you can experience that perspective. On the backside, all you can see is the reward. It’s only sacrifice on the front-end.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. - John 15:11

I hate unfinished projects. Unfinished projects have a habit of remaining unfinished longer than you ever expected. To make things worse, most of the time the reason an unfinished project doesn’t get finished is because another project gets started before the first project finds its end. Then, of course, there is always a third, or fourth, or fiftieth project. Before you know it you have more unfinished projects than you know what to do with.

As much as I hate unfinished projects, I find I am a master at them. I have no end of good ideas and good intentions. There is no short supply of motivation at acting on a good idea. It’s the follow-through to the end that is hardest for me.

Jesus has a project for each and everyone of us. His project is that we live lives of joy. He isn’t satisfied with us experiencing moments of joy. He wants us to not only to experience joy but to own it. Partial joy is not enough. He wants us to have a joy that is complete. A complete joy is a joy that is still there when the bills are due. It’s there when we get the breakup call. It’s there when we don’t get the job. It’s there when we get the flat tire. It’s there when we don’t get the grade we wanted. It’s there when we don’t achieve our goals on time. It’s there when we find out we won’t achieve a particular goal ever.

How do we do that? Jesus says, “Love each other as I have loved you.” (vs. 12)

That’s the trick. The better we learn to love others, the more complete our joy is. God-powered, God-sustained, God-oriented joy is always, always, always gained in the context of relationship. If your relationship with God is great, and all your other relationships are great, the external circumstances of life won’t touch your joy. If your relationships are out of whack, you joy will suffer.

Want joy? Finish your “loving people” project.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now, remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” – John 15:9-10

It’s not enough to be loved by God the Father and by Jesus. Jesus says we need to remain in His love. Implied in that statement is the idea that we need to receive the love that God has for us through His Son, Jesus. God can love us all day long, but we don’t experience life change until we open ourselves up to that love.

How do we do that? By saying to God, what you want is what I want. That’s the essence of loving God–total surrender. Too often we wonder about (or completely doubt) our ability to give ourselves totally to God. But ask yourself the question, can you do it now? In this moment, for this moment alone, can you want what God wants and only what God wants? Great. That’s one moment, now string two moments together.

Stringing moments together requires that we have moment-by-moment fellowship with God Himself. It requires that we be constantly aware of His presence, His care, His power. When we do that, we remain in His love.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” – John 15:9

Jesus says that He loves us in the same way–to the same depth and with the same quality–as God the Father loved Jesus Himself. It is easy to pass this over.

The Father loves Jesus because Jesus is His son. Every time the Father looks at His Son He sees something incredible: Himself. That’s why He said of Jesus at His baptism, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” God the Father loves Jesus with a fatherly love that is incomparable to any other love known in history or creation.

Then Jesus says He loves us with that very same love. He loves us not because we deserve it, but because of His capacity to give it. Jesus capacity for love is infinite because He has received the infinite love from His Father–the same Father with which Jesus shares His divine nature.

Jesus received an infinite love from an infinite Father and in turn showers us with an infinite love from an infinite savior.

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load. — Galatians 6:1-5

I love action movies. Movies with characters like James Bond and Indiana Jones are the best. Action movies always have that one great, intense, climatic scene where you are convinced someone is going to meet an awful fate, and at the last second are gloriously saved from peril. They fall off a cliff and are caught by the hand, pushed out of the way of the speeding vehicle, or pulled out of the quicksand.

Adventure has dangers–that’s what makes it an adventure. In each of these situations we are reminded that no one can survive adventure alone. God has called you into an adventure. You have not been called to a life of ease and apathy. Instead, you have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to step into a radically dangerous mission with untold risk and unexplainable reward. It is truly an adventure following Christ.

But every adventure has danger. We may not face cliffs and speeding vehicles and quicksand. Our dangers are much more subtle, devious and destructive. Here’s the problem: as Christians, our first reaction when we see someone wander off into dangerous territory is to distance ourselves from him or her. But Paul says we are to “carry each other’s burdens.” That is, we are to do everything we can to lovingly bring someone back from the brink of destruction.

Here is what this requires of us, however: We must give others permission to invade our lives. If we are to be the kind of people willing to stick our our necks to pull a brother or sister out of harm’s way, we must display equal courage in allowing those same people to speak honestly to us when we wander into dangerous territory. The problem with dangerous territory is that we rarely see it as dangerous until we are already in the middle of danger. It is always easier to see when someone else is moving in the wrong direction. It’s much harder when it is we are the ones stepping where we should not. That’s why we need to listen–and listen hard–when a brother or sister tries to pull us back.

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. –2 Corinthians 13:5-6

None of us likes to have our faith questioned. Christians today, especially we who live in the West, have been so indoctrinated with sola fide (by faith alone) and sola gratia (by grace alone) that we instantly get defensive when anyone questions whether we are truly followers of Christ. After all, the only thing we need do to be accepted by Christ is believe, right?

But when we actually read the Bible, we are challenged over and over again to examine whether or not we are authentic followers of Jesus. The question is never whether we hold to a Christian ideology. An ideology is something we posses–it is something we own. Whether a person is a Christian or not, one’s ideology is unique to that person and belongs to no one else. One’s faith belongs to that one alone.

That’s why Paul urges us to examine ourselves. If we are not in a constant state of self-examination we are at constant risk of self-deception. Self-examination prevents us from falling into the spiritual apathy that tells us, “I’m doing alright.” But notice Paul doesn’t tell us to examine whether we “have faith.” Again, whatever faith we have is something we posses. Instead, he wants us to determine if we are “in the faith.”

As long as it is a matter of having faith, I am allowed to determine what that faith looks like. Therefore, I get to determine by what my faith is to be measured. But if we take what Paul says seriously, we are confronted with the fact that it isn’t our faith, but God’s. The question switches from “Do I have faith inside me,” to “Am I in the faith of God?” It changes our perspective of belonging. No longer is faith something that we possess but something that possesses us.

How are we to know if we possess our faith or our faith possesses us? The simplest way to find out is to have our faith challenged. If you are relying on the faith you possess, any challenge to your faith will offend you and make you defensive. If, on the other hand, you are possessed by your faith, you will welcome challenges to it, because in the testing you are brought face-to-face with the areas of your life that do not measure up to the faith you profess. It is in that moment, if you make the correction and align yourself with God, you have passed the test and know that you are owned by faith.

Socrates once said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” In the same way, the unexamined faith is not worth having.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! — 2 Corinthians 5:16-17

For the most of my life my eyesight has been spectacular. For years, JoAnn had to wear glasses so strong that without them she was unable to read the alarm clock beside her in the morning. Watching her, I used to be so glad I didn’t have to deal with hassle of keeping lenses clean, prescriptions updated, and appointments with the eye doctor.

In the last two years however, my eyesight has steadily declined. I can no longer read small print and I can’t read at all unless the light is sufficient. When I wake up in the morning, I have to put on reading glasses to make out the words in my Bible. If I don’t, the words are fuzzy and I have to really work to understand what it is saying.

Paul tells us that when it comes to seeing others, we all need God’s glasses. The world sees people in a certain way. It sees them as a conglomerate of their past. Everything they have done is everything they will ever be. It sees them as a product of their possessions. We are largely defined by what we own, wear, and present. The world sees people as a reflection of their performance. They are only worth equal to what they produce. When we look at people through these lenses, we only see a fuzzy image.

But Paul asserts that none of us are any of those things. We are not what we were, not what we own, and not what we do. Instead, we have been changed by God into something new and unexplainable. If God has makes people something new, then of course God sees them as something new. If God sees them as something new, we should also.

When you look at someone, how do you see them? Do you see them as everything they have always been, or do you see what God is making them? Do you see what they can give you or are you focusing on what God is pouring into them? I find that the more I focus on who a person is at this moment, the less compassion I have for him or her. But when I step back and think about how God is in the process of making him or her the person He created them to be, I get excited to be a part of God’s plan for that person.

God stands outside time so He never looks at us as we are–He sees us as we will become. Imagine what would happen if we all did the same.

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. — 2Corinthians 1:8-9

Encountering hardship is never a matter of “if,” but when. Everyone of us is forced to endure circumstances that are unbearable. And so often, the most terrible of times only seem to get worse. It would be one thing if we could handle each of our challenges one by one. But for some strange reason, bad news tends to pile up at the same time. Bills come due, health falls off, close friends turn into enemies, and your self-confidence wanes all simultaneously.

What do we normally do in such times? For some of us, we just hunker down, batten the hatches and wait for the storm to pass. We don’t share our pain with anyone else–after all we’re private people and why would we want to bring anyone down? For others, hardship becomes an excuse to surrender ourselves to self-destructive behavior. We never think it through, but unconsciously we seem to say, “Everything is going to hell, what does it matter if I do to?” So we dive into alcohol, drugs, illicit sex, or any host of self-defeating practices. Still others try to beat back hardships. We take the attitude that we will conquer whatever comes our way–that somehow in the strength God has given us we can overcome it all.

Paul was well acquainted with hardship. He also had a way of dealing with hardship from which we can take a lesson. First, Paul never tried to handle his hardship on his own. He says, “We do not want you to be uninformed.” Being the lone cowboy might work for John Wayne or Clint Eastwood, but it doesn’t work for a Christian. Paul often asked those around him to pray for him. He believed that we need to share each other’s burdens, and that included sharing his own.

Second, Paul recognized the depth of his hardship saying that it was “far beyond our ability to endure.” Acknowledging our powerlessness over our circumstances frees us from the struggle that ultimately happens when we try to control them. It is enough that we have to deal with the problems that we do. When we try to control those things that are outside our power, we become our own obstacles to getting through our situations. When we see that we clearly have no influence on the hardship, we can focus on navigating the circumstance instead of changing it. A man careening down white-water rapids rarely spends much trying to change the course of the river. Instead, his focus is on the dips, drops, and rocks. His goal isn’t to modify his circumstances, its to navigate through them.

Finally, Paul is convinced there is a purpose to every one of his hardships. “But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” It is only when we are in the midst of circumstances that are beyond control that we are driven to the one who has everything under control. Paul’s confidence comes not only in knowing God was present in his problems, but also in the fact that Paul’s life purpose was so in line with God’s ultimate purpose that God Himself could be counted on to pull him through it. If God was strong enough and determined enough to accomplish His purpose that He defeated death itself, then God could–and would–surely overcome anything Paul faced.

In the end, Paul never tried to handle his hardships. Instead, he handed them off. Do you?

If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. –1 Corinthians 15:19

Living a life of a follower of Christ is beneficial for the here and now. He teaches that we can live a radical life full of love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, generosity, justice, purpose, integrity, and honor. That’s why, when a person truly puts into effect the teachings of Christ, he or she cannot help to live a better life. Such a person will enjoy benefits relationally because everyone in that person’s life will naturally respond the change in character. The person will also benefit financially, because to be a follower of Christ is to be excellent in all we do, and excellence in our work always translates into financial reward. This person will benefit emotionally because he or she is no longer riding on the waves of external circumstances, but instead is standing on the steady rock of God’s guidance and love.

While these are all good things, Paul says if that’s all we get from Christ we are pitiful. If only for this life we follow Christ, we miss out on the wonder, power, and purpose of Jesus. Here’s why: we weren’t made only for this life. We were made for eternity. We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Being spiritual, we lose out when we look to Christ only for what He can do in the here and now. If our sights aren’t set on eternity we will never live for eternity.

Praise God, Christ is much more than the here and now. He is the past, the present, and the future. He was before the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. He is all in all and in Him all is held together. Because of Him, those who follow Him live in confidence of eternity instead of fear.

Thank you, Jesus, for being and ever-present help in times of trouble, but may you be ever praised because you have opened the door to eternity for us.

If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. — 1 Corinthians 3:12-15

When we first got married, JoAnn and I moved into a fairly decent apartment. It was only 900 square-feet, but that’s all we needed. It had a single bedroom which was a fairly good size. We were set. Some newly-married couples move around a bunch their first few years but JoAnn and I stayed in that little apartment for 5 years. There wasn’t really a reason to move.

But about year four we began to notice something: we weren’t getting much for our money. Sure, the rent was fair and we had a roof over our heads, but every month we wrote the rent check that was it–the money was gone, never to be seen again. All we were doing was buying a time slot for an allotted space. There was no real return for our money. That’s when we decided to buy a house.

Month-to-month, there is very little different between buying and renting. In both situations you have to make a payment every month. Renting, you write the check to the landlord. Buying, the check goes to the mortgage holder. Most times, buying a house is more expensive on a monthly basis. But there are two very distinct differences when you buy: every month brings you closer to a time when you no longer have to pay, and every month you gain a little more ownership. It’s the difference between spending and investing.

This always makes sense to us from a financial perspective. The funny thing is, we rarely apply this principle to our lives. In the passage above, Paul points out that every follower of Christ builds his spiritual house on the same foundation: Jesus Christ. But then God allows us to build on top of that foundation any way we please. The currency we use to build that house is the time we spend here on Earth. Every action, every choice, every pursuit is a piece of the “spiritual house” we are building. Some of those pieces are like rent–they won’t last. Others are like the mortgage payment–they continue into eternity.

So here is the question: are you spending your life, or investing it? We spend our lives when we give no thought to the future. For some of us, thinking about the future means thinking about tomorrow, or next week. Others think long-term means ten years down the road. But if you are a follower of Christ, your future extends throughout eternity. Realizing that should force you to think from an eternal perspective–force you to value only eternal things.

What are you taking with you into eternity?

We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. — Romans 15:1-2

For those of us who have been followers of Christ for a while, we know one thing above all others: we have been saved by faith, justified by grace and forgiven freely and completely. There was nothing we do or have done to earn our salvation and short of denying Christ there is no sin that can take us outside His grace. Praise God!

We also know that we are not bound to any law as Christians. We know that adherence to a set of man-made rules and regulations does not bring us closer to God. We revel in the fact that God’s grace gives us relationship regardless of (and sometimes in spite of) our religious practice. We love verses like Galatians 5:5 which says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” and John 8:36 which says, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

We make a mistake, however, in believing that in freeing us from “the law,” God has somehow lowered the bar. Our practical interpretation–which is in essence how we live out what we believe–is since we are no longer under the law, just about everything is permissible. Of course, we aren’t going to jump into bed with whomever we wish, rob a bank, or swindle unsuspecting grandmothers out of their retirement funds. But short of that, we are free to do what ever we want.

But that isn’t what the Bible says, it isn’t what Jesus lived and it isn’t consistent with the Spirit of God that lives inside every follower of Christ.

Although we are free from the written law, we are slaves to the Spirit. And the Spirit of Christ sets a standard so much higher than the law that we rarely want to fully face the ramifications of what it requires of us. That standard is love.

That’s why Paul says in the verse above, “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.” The attitude of, “I’m free from the law,” allows us to please ourselves. That attitude also frees us from the responsibility of our influence on other people. It gives us permission to make any choice without regard to how it affects the people who look to us as examples. (And by the way, everyone you know–and many people you don’t–look to you as an example for something.)

But Christ-like, Spirit-filled love demands we take an attitude that says “I live not for myself, but for the benefit of others.” That kind of love forces us to make choices we would not normally make. It might mean skipping a movie we are equipped to watch but might be a challenge to others whose faith isn’t as strong. It might mean giving up a particular form of recreation, not because it gets in the way of our worship of God but because someone we know might allow it to be a distraction. It might mean giving up drinking or smoking not because we have a problem with it but because we know so many other people do.

Here is what it comes down to: we all have rights. Our normal reaction to the freedom that Christ gives us is to insist on those rights. But Christ-like love says, “I am free to do what I want to do, but in my love for others I choose not to.” And it is in the choosing that we experience true freedom.

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. — Galatians 5:13

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—Romans 5:12

You know what the biggest problem with sin is? It’s the mistaken belief that we can keep it under control. It is the idea that if we just practice the right formula, put in the right amount of discipline, or keep ourselves away from the wrong influences we can keep sin at bay. We are rarely foolish enough to believe that we can conquer sin entirely, but we think that at least we can make our sin manageable.

The problem with that thinking is it assumes that sin comes from the outside in. If we make that assumption then it is a natural conclusion that we can control sin by controlling our environment. But the sad truth is, sin comes from the inside out, not the other way around.

Everyone knows that tigers are, by their very nature, dangerous. They were created with ferociousness that is unparalleled, powerful bodies that no man can overpower, humongous paws packed with flesh-ripping talons, and bone-crushing jaws crammed full of piercing spikes they use for teeth.

Even so, for several decades there was an act in Las Vegas in which two men did incredible things with tigers. To hear them tell the story, they had tamed these wild beasts aand bent them to their will–and they made good money doing it. They forgot one thing, though: tigers have a nature and everything they were making these animals do was against that nature. Sure, they looked and acted tame, but a tiger’s nature is always to be wild. And so, in one act on one fateful day, one of the tigers had his way with one of the performers.

Just as those performers were foolish in thinking they could tame the wild nature of the tiger, we are foolish if we think we can tame the nature of the sin inside us. We cannot keep it “under control.” Instead, sin must be destroyed. The very nature that causes us to sin must be put to death. It must be eradicated and replaced with something pure, righteous, and holy.

And that is something only the Holy Spirit can do. This is why Jesus died on the cross. To believe that Jesus died so we could “go to heaven” sells Him and His sacrifice short. He didn’t die to save us from the penalty of sin. He died to save us from sin itself. He had to die so the Holy Spirit could come live in us, give us true life and begin the work of regenerating, changing and reforming our spirits until we think, love, feel, and act like Jesus.

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.—Romans 6:22-23

Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion. - Proverbs 11:22

I came across this proverb in my daily reading this morning. It’s one of my favorites because it says so much in so few words. It has been said that a picture paints a thousand words, and this proverb paints a brilliant word picture.

Have you ever wondered why our supermarkets are full of magazines that tout the adventures of the likes of Brittney Spears and Lindsey Lohan? Why are we so concerned with the size of Jessica Simpson’s pants? Its because we are enamored with outward appearances.

But this proverb points out that no matter how well we dress up foul character, in the end it is the character that shows through. A pig, no matter how well adorned, is still a pig.

By no means is this proverb reserved for women, either. The man who sacrifices his honor and integrity for the promotion is no less ugly.

In the end, God sees beauty from the inside out. We do well to look for it in the same way.

This is what love looks like.

What has someone that loved you given up? Do you still remember it or does it fade away into the past?

Sometimes feelings creep up on you and you didn’t even have a clue they would be there. I experienced this tonight as I watch my truck of almost nine years drive away under the ownership of someone else.

I bought my F150 in 2000. I wasn’t really ready to buy one yet, but I was just beginning to check out what was on the market. I had a checklist of everything I wanted in a truck: long bed, tow package, V8, cruise control, power everything, etc. During lunch one day I pulled into Pierson Ford’s used car lot and there it was. Everything I wanted and more.

I know you aren’t supposed to get attached to possessions, but this truck and I had been together for quite some time. Countless family trips to the desert. Moving friends more times than I can count. A very special trip to the Grand Canyon with just Amanda and I. There were memories in that truck.

So, when this stranger–a nice stranger with real cash money–got into MY truck and drove it away, it was harder than I thought.

Everything has got to go eventually. My F150 went to a dad who was helping his daughter buy her first truck. When he told her on the phone that he had purchased it, she screamed with delight. Knowing that makes it easier.

He must become greater; I must become less. - John 3:30

Easy words to say, but harder to live by. Regardless, even the those of us who are furthest away from God can, in complete surrender, glorify Him even more. Here is an excellent example of that.

I was once taught that Joy is more than just a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is also a formula for how to live:

J – Jesus first
O – Others Second
Y – Yourself third

Much wisdom there.

Read this in my daily reading this morning and started laughing:

Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut. - Proverbs 10:18

One of the reasons I love reading the Bible so much is because it is full of this kind of stuff.

How far can a hat go? I left this hat at the top of North Fortuna mountain yesterday while I was hinking in the Mission Trails Park. At the top of the mountain there were some geocaches.

I wrote a note on my hat that said something like this:

Take this hat somewhere else and take your picture with it. Email the picture to me. I’d like to see how far this hat can travel.

Who knows? I may never get an email. Or it could end up in Saudia Arabia, China, or Italy. Or maybe it could end up someplace really exotic like Chula Vista.

About the only thing that never changes is the fact that eventually everything changes. Most of us don’t like change. Some of us might say we love change, but study after study finds that those that say that only really enjoy change when they themselves are the ones controling the changes.

And then Jesus enters the scene:

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.”

Everywhere He went Jesus made changes. That’s how He rolls. Not everyone likes that about Jesus. For many of us or first and strongest reaction to the new wine is to lament with noxious whining.

• “That’s not the way I would have done it.”
• “We’ve never done it that way before.”
• “Why would we break a perfectly good tradition?”
• “I liked it the old way better.”
• “I don’t know why we have to change this.”

What is Jesus trying to change in your life? You can hang onto the old, but all that will do is rip a hole in what God is trying to do. On the other hand, you can let Jesus make His changes, and drink deep the new wine. Who knows, you might even learn to like it.

If you were to list out the top three or five problems that you face today, what would they be? Maybe you are experiencing money problems and can’t figure out how to make ends meet. Perhaps there is a person you know who is going out of his or her way to make life hard for you. Perhaps you are feeling lonely, tired, depressed, or anxious. Maybe your body isn’t working the way it should; you are sick, or in pain, or both. The truth is, we all have some sort of malfunction in our lives. Most of us know that when we see a malfunction the best plan of action is to take it to Jesus and let Him fix it.

That’s certainly the plan that a few friends had in this morning’s passage. They all had a friend who was paralyzed. No one could fix him. They didn’t have the knowledge or the technology to make it any better for him. But these friends figured something out: if anyone could help the paralyzed man, Jesus could. They brought the man to Jesus fully expecting Him to heal his body. But as is so often the case, Jesus didn’t do what they expected:

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

The man and his friends all were convinced his biggest problem was that he was paralyzed. But Jesus didn’t see it that way. He knew that no matter how healthy his body was the man’s greatest challenge was the sin in his life.

It’s no different for us. Our greatest challenge is our sin–that’s our major malfunction. Just like the paralyzed man, it’s hard to see our own sin through the lens of our perceived problems. We have to allow Jesus to point them out–and He will. But then we have to LISTEN to Him and respond. If we don’t listen we don’t see our need for forgiveness, and we miss out on the greatest gift God has ever given.

So, what’s your major malfunction?

“If you are willing you can make me clean“

That’s what the leper says to Jesus in today’s reading.

What is Jesus’ reply? “I am willing” Of course He is! Why would He not be willing? God’s greatest desire for each of us is that we be clean. Clean of selfishness, clean of dependency on things not of God, clean of judgement, clean of gluttony, and bottom line clean of sin altogether.

The challenge is never whether Jesus is willing, it is whether we are willing to go to Him for the cleansing. We love that Jesus will do and has done the forgiving, but most times we’re not so excited about Him doing the cleaning. We don’t want Jesus to tell us what He told the leper: “Be clean.”

It was an interesting choice of words for Jesus. He says, “If you want to be clean, then be clean.” He doesn’t say, “I’ve cleaned you,” or “Go work on it.” He says “Be it.” The power is Jesus part. The being is ours.

Jesus said that He came to bring “Good News,” and when we get good news we need to give it the attention is deserves. That’s why last Sunday I encouraged our church family to develop a practice of listening to Jesus. Listening doesn’t come naturally: it is a developed skill. That means we have to work at it and the more we work the better we get. The best way to develop the skill of listening to Jesus is to read the Bible. That’s why I gave us all an assignment to read the book of Mark this December.

In today’s reading, we see:

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Traditionally, Christmas is a time of giving. The reason for this is simple: God gave us Jesus and Jesus gave all that He was for all of us. So we give to each other in an inadequate yet meaningful attempt to mirror God’s generosity.

I am struck, however, that even before Jesus gave His life for us all, John, James, Simon (Peter), and Andrew gave their lives to Him. They didn’t know what they were getting into, but they knew this: being a follower of Jesus was a much better thing than being a master fisherman. They gave Jesus their trust, their loyalty, and their futures. They held nothing back. There is no more powerful gift we can give Jesus than that.

So here is the question: What are you holding back from Jesus? Is there anything that you are hanging onto that keeps you from following Jesus?

…and perhaps you are what you watch as well:

Groundbreaking research suggests pregnancy rates are much higher among teenagers who watch a lot of TV with sexual dialogue and behavior compared with those who have tamer viewing tastes…

The new study is the first to link those viewing habits with teen pregnancy. It involved about 2,000 12-to-17-year-old girls and boys nationwide. They were questioned by telephone about their TV viewing habits. The teens were first interviewed in 2001, then were reinterviewed twice, the last time in 2004.

Participants were asked how often they watched any of more than 20 TV shows popular among teenagers at the time or which were found to have lots of sexual content. The shows included “Sex and the City,” “That 70s Show” and “Friends.”

Pregnancies were twice as common among teenagers who said they watched such shows regularly, compared with teenagers who said they hardly ever saw them.

1. The Bible will still have all the answers.
2. Prayer will still work.
3. The Holy Spirit will still move.
4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
5. There will still be God-annointed preaching.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God.
7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.
8. There will still be room at the Cross.
9. Jesus will still love you.
10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him .

Isn’t it great to know who’s really in control!!??

(from an email sent to me by Millie)