Gifts for The Gift

This week is our third message in the CHRISTmess series.

When everyone arrives at church hopefully they will notice there is an upside down ChristMESS tree standing tall in the sanctuary which displays how we have turned the original meaning of Christmas upside down.

Now above the tree are three gifts. A gold, blue and red gift.

(This bit of information may not be in the message Sunday so if you are reading this blog you will get an extra bit of information that those who don't read it may never see or hear.)

These three gifts represent the three gifts scripture records the wise men present to the baby Jesus, gold, frankincense and myrrh. The gold gift represents the gift of gold, the blue- frankincense and the red- myrrh. These three gifts, like the three given to Jesus over two thousand years ago represent who Jesus is to humanity.

The gold- His Deity.

The blue- frankincense which is burned in the synagogue as worship to God representing the fragrance of heaven.

The red- myrrh which is a toxin used in small amounts with wine as an anesthetic or pain-killer which is associated with suffering and death.

So these three gifts represent the fact that Jesus IS the KING OF KINGS, our One True High Priest and the Ultimate Sacrificial Lamb.

Notice the Red gift has a green covering flowing from it's opening. This is an illustration I added to represent the everlasting life that flowed from Jesus' sacrfice. [green being the color which represents everlasting life]

All these gifts like the title of this blog were presented to THE GIFT God has given us in His Only Son. A Gift I pray we never take for granted or forget the three gifts represent.

The Mess In CHRISTmess

We are in the middle of our December series “CHRISTmess” and so far we’ve recognized that even though Joseph and Mary (Jesus’ parents) were definitely in God’s will for not only their lives but the lives of all of humanity they still had heartaches and trials that turned their lives upside down and made the plans they may have had for their future lives together a complete mess. The end result of the message was that just because our lives seem to be a mess that doesn’t mean that we are out of God’s will for our lives, as some would have us to believe and maybe we are right smack in the middle of the mess we are in because we are right smack in the middle of God’s will.

Then on the 13th we inspected, examined and analyzed Matthew 1 which records Jesus’ genealogy through Joseph, His earthly father’s family tree…and talk about a mess! There are Gentiles, prostitutes, liars and thieves in His dad’s lineage. Which allows us to understand that no matter how messed up we or our roots are, being adopted into God’s family tree is what makes us Holy. Not anything in and of ourselves, or anything we can do will make us Holy except for the fact that God has adopted us into His family tree. And in turn it shows us that God can use us to birth His salvation into the lives of those around us no matter how big a mess we seem to be or be in.

And this week I’m not totally sure what the message will entail but I believe we are talking about how Christmas has become a CHRIST-mess because we have totally turned it upside down! And somewhere in the middle we may discover (I’m not for sure yet) but we may discover that every miracle needs a mess to manifest itself in. Jesus was born not only in the middle of the mess of a feedlot but He was also born right in the middle of the mess that mankind had made of themselves and their relationship with Himself.

All I can say is since every miracle needs a mess to manifest itself in, the way things are going right now for my wife and I and for our great nation...there must be a miracle coming real soon!

etc. etc. etc...

To be honest, it's the way we use the word "control."

As a follower and firm believer in God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit I believe God is definitely (and) ultimately in control of the future and the destiny's of those who believe and those who do not. But the "choice" to believe is still left to the individual. And every Christian should fully agree with this statement because it is the basis of our faith in Christ and what He has done for us. And to seriously disagree with this fact would mean that God "does" choose who accepts Him and who doesn't. (Now I hope I am explaining this thought clearly enough.)

We know the decision to make it to heaven or end up in hell is truly ours to make. Take the two thieves on their crosses on either side of Jesus at their crucifixion. One decided to believe, accept, and confess not only his own guilt, but that the man beside him was also Jesus the Christ, the Lamb and Son of God. The other chose not to believe, admit or confess that Jesus is Lord. These two men and their individual decisions are representative of all of humanity. Jesus died for both men, (or for all humanity to be exact) but only one accepted and made the independent choice to follow Him to Paradise.

My point is this, within God's will for all of humanity there is a [plan A] and a [plan B] (referred to by some as His "perfect will" or His "permissible will".) [Plan A] is what God likes and plans for our lives but then there's [plan B] which is what He allows to happen in our lives by the choices we make.

Just ask Adam and Eve! And don't only ask them about their "fall" as it's called, or better put, their decision to "jump" into the sin of disobedience but ask them what it's like to have one of their sons beat their other son to death and then lie about it. To rephrase it, ask them if they think God seriously wanted Cain to brutally murder Abel in a jealous fit of rage and then act as if Abel deserved it or had it coming. You see it may not always seem fair or right but sometimes good people get hurt by bad people who make selfishly bad decisions.

Now I know and believe that God is all-powerful, all-knowing and all-present at all times (and in all of time) so He knows the decisions we are going to make before we even make them. Because listen, He knows every decision we've ever made, every choice we make now and He already knows the outcome of every one we will make in the future because He is already there! This is why the well known scripture points out that Jesus is "the Lamb that was slain before the creation of the world." He was, is and is to come. You see God exists outside of time. So God is still at the beginning of creation, He is here as you are reading this blog, and He is already present at the end of time as we understand it. Which does mean that He is in ultimate control, and yet (allows) us to choose our own destiny's.

Hope it makes sense...Shalom

Believe In The Word? Believe This One!

1 John 5.19 [niv] "We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one."

Just in case someone doesn't understand what my previous blog was all about let me put it in a simpler statement. If God is in control the way most think (like some mysterous puppeteer) then He would not have given mankind free-will. Our lives as followers of Christ depend on choice not chance, circumstance or compulsory. We choose to believe, choose to follow and choose to live for Him. If God chooses to control everything and everyone then He would not have made choice a factor.

Now I do believe God is in control of the lives of those who choose to follow Him and His Word, but by choice.

Control Freak

How many times have we heard this statement, “Everything is going to work out because “God is in control”?
I mean seriously, how many times have I even made this proclamation from the pulpit?

Is God really “in control?”

If God is in control then why does this world seem to be so out of control? Why is there hatred, sickness, and disease? Why is alcohol and drugs ruining lives? Why do we have wars, crimes and murder? If God is in control why are people starving and going without the basic needs to sustain life? And if God is really in control then why does sin even exist?

Where was this statement birthed, and have we misinterpreted, misquoted and maybe just maybe misused it?

Maybe this declaration echo’s from Paul’s words where he writes this to the Romans in chapter 8 verse 9... “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.”

I believe we need to come to a deeper understanding - a revelation if you will - that we totally take this “God is in control” thing out of context. We seem to treat this statement or quote as if everything that has happened, everything that is happening and everything that will ever happen is within God’s will for us as individuals and for this world. But for all appearances sake that really can-not be true.

The Word of God has specific truths about what God’s will is and what His will is not. For instance, 2 Peter tells us that God “doesn’t want anyone to perish, but He wants everyone to come to repentance.” But the fact of the matter is, not everyone repents and they do perish. So how can we say that He is in control?

I guess what I’m trying to point out is that essentially if God is in control the way we’ve morphed the truth into being, then that would make Him less of a loving Father and more like this obsessed control freak who manipulates us like His marionette puppets.

To properly rephrase the “God is in control” philosophy maybe we should follow it up with, “But only if we follow His leading or only if we are obedient to His Word and Spirit.” Or maybe we should replace the “God is in control” with “God will have the last word and what happens between now and then is not left up to chance but to choice.” I know it’s a little lengthier but in my world, I find it to be more accurate.

December 2nd

December 2nd, the day before December 3rd. This and May 3rd, 2 days I will dread as long as I walk this earth. I'm only human. Not super-human, not even super-spiritual. If anything I am superficial when it comes to my own emotions, as in most of the time I wear them on my sleeves for all to see. I never want to pretend that loss of love is minimized by believing and living for the Messiah. He came to experience sorrow, greif and yes, even loss. I have a joy unspeakable and full of glory because I know that the future holds a family reunion that will last for eternity but until then we must deal, live and strive to continue on. Help me LORD tonight and tomorrow to focus on your promises and not on losses. December 2nd, the day before December 3rd.

Witnessing

Today for the third time I’ve had 2 young students at the door in suits carrying briefcases and [their] bibles. One is about 16-17 the other about 9-10. The older does all the talking while the younger stands there stiff and frozen with this look on his face like a deer paralyzed by the headlights of a monster truck.

The older is polite, respectful and courteous as he lays out his introduction and does his best to befriend me. Now the first time we met on my porch I informed him I was the Pastor of the Pentecostal Church not twenty feet from us, (thinking that would send him running never to return) but it didn’t faze him.

Now this morning he asked if I would like to have some W.T. information to read and I politely accepted and listened as he read from his word, how- believe it or not, people can be deceived by the false teachers and teaching of today and be lead astray from Christ’s original teachings.

Now that you have the full picture of what and who we’re talking about, I need to admit to you that usually I will open my Bible and start witnessing to the Witnesses about false teachings and teachers myself. But again today with these two young boys I couldn’t help but constantly think about how they think they are doing what they need to do to make it into their J.W. "heaven" (wich is just soul-sleep for them- since their elite 144 thousand have already beat them to being included in the “New Heaven” of their scriptures version).

In one way I felt I was doing them a favor by letting them witness to me, but the reality of it is- I wasn’t. They thought they were [doing = works] what they needed to do to make it to their eternal resting place after this life and I continued to play along because to be honest they go away quicker if you don’t confront them with the Truth. BUT by my not telling them the Truth I failed as a Christian let alone a Pastor.

SO YES the Witnesses are dedicated to going from door to door talking about their beliefs but they are taught that in so doing they attain their reward in their heaven BY WHAT THEY DO- not by the grace of God through the shed blood of Christ.

The thing is we should be that dedicated in seeing others come to a relationship with Jesus that we would feel the need to go door to door, but in order that others might give their hearts to God, not so we may attain salvation.

So if God allows the Witnesses to confront me again I shall take the time out of my day to witness to them and plant some seeds of thought in their minds and hearts that we don't have to do anything to have our Father in heaven love us accept, accept His love, His grace and His mercy.