Natural Disaster

I don't know about you, but I find it deeply distressing and disheartening that it takes major devastation from natural disasters for not just entire nations, but humanity in general to work together to rescue others in dire need.

Now I'm not saying we shouldn't do everything within our powers to help others in times like this earthquake in Haiti, but can you imagine how much better the condition of our entire world would be in if we would all just give of our time, finances and prayers to meet the needs of others consistently and not just when a catastrophe causes focus on a particular people group, city or country?

I mean seriously shouldn't the lack of food, safe drinking water, clothes, medical needs and the number of orphaned children in this world count as a calamity?

Why is it we all, all of a sudden band together as humanitarians and become heroic when massive numbers of people die in an earthquake or a tsunami at one time, and yet year, after year, after year large amounts of human lives are lost due to a lack of the basic and abundant needs most of us take for granted?

Shouldn't we place just as high a value on one life as we do on fifty thousand?

Think about it, if all of humanity would work together all of the time like we do in times such as this earthquake in Haiti then meeting the needs of those who go without would make this world a far, far better place for everyone. The fact is the worldwide death toll and crime rate would not only decrease but the world's economy would most assuredly improve.

So where does this leave us?

Well for the most part it leaves us watching the devastating pain and suffering of events such as this earthquake in Haiti on the news or on the Internet, and maybe sending money, food or clothing to help. And for some it might lead to flying into that particular location to help with the rescue attempts.

But what then? So many of those in Haiti like other places, live without the basic needs to sustain life before natural disasters like this one takes what little they do have.

So which is the real "natural disaster" or catastrophe?

Is it the fact that people suffer because of earthquakes and tsunami's or is it possibly the fact that other human beings in our world suffer because the rest of humanity just naturally ignores their basic needs to sustain decent livable lives before or after these natural disasters strike?

Worth-ship

I am a little discombobulated due to the opinions of some Christians, or should I say the biased hardcore “beliefs” of some believers about different worship styles. Yes I am talking about the ultimate debate between the beloved hymns and the more recent choruses. If you have been in any church for any amount of time whatsoever you have discovered that there are those who religiously, and I do mean “religiously” insist hymns are the only songs that must be sung, there are those who only enjoy the new choruses and then you have those who don’t mind singing both.

Now my dazed and confused state is not as much concentrated on the “men and women of God” as much as it is on their reactions or better said their lack of action to the style of worship they dislike. Sadly some have this honest belief that true worship only takes place when one sings out of the hymnals. So when a song is being led in a style they blatantly detest they choose to not sing as if they are making this bold proclamation of protest against some sort of raging machine they feel is leading the masses away from God.

But in my opinion when it comes to the worship debate my question to all who dare to call themselves Christian would be “WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE?” I mean seriously, who DO we think we are to act as if God agrees with us on OUR choice of worship styles? Isn’t worship all about Him and not at all about us? How dare we assume God can or will only move due to one style of worship over another.

To be honest when I think of these brothers and sisters in Christ my heart is troubled and I am sincerely filled with sorrow for them because they just don’t seem to get it. You see the sad, sad fact that these opinionated Christians need to understand is that their decision to NOT sing certain worship songs based solely on their personal disapproval of them is like personally making a decision that God is not worthy of all of their praise. So of course they will not FEEL or SEE God move in their lives because they’re not open to His moving or His “inhabiting their praises” because of their personal decision to just not worship because of their personal preference.

Worship whether we’re singing the old or the new is all about the expression of God’s worthiness to us as our Creator, King and Savior. So we should sing every song with every ounce of our beings and stop being so concerned about our personal preferences and become more concerned about our personal relationship with our personal Savior.

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.