Happy Summer!

Summer always reminds us of our dedication to God, family, and country. The season is kicked off with Memorial Day. The middle of summer is sparked with the Fourth of July holiday. The summer season ends with Labor/Patriot Day. Sprinkled throughout are reminders of devotion and loyalty. The daily devotional offered a terrific reminder of what it is to be truly devoted to God and His body of believers on June 24^th: “A believer is devoted to God in love.”

Paul writes, “Whatever we do, it is certainly not for our own profit, but because Christ’s love controls (compels) us now.” God is looking for volunteers, not conscripts. Law motivates conscripts while volunteers are motivated by love. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, enlistment centers all over America were jammed with boys too young to fight, men who had retired, and even the blind. One elderly man said to a recruitment officer, “I’d consider it my greatest privilege to die defending this country.”

Why do men and women do this? Duty? Yes, but something even greater emerges – devotion! Their hearts have been captured by a cause. Facing the loss of his freedom, his family, his ministry, and possibly his life, Martin Luther told the ecclesiastical powers of his day, “I will not recant. My conscience is captive to the Word of God!”

No one should ever have to beg and pressure you to teach a Sunday School class, work with young people, give to the cause of Christ, visit the sick, lonely and needy, or serve others. You should be begging for the opportunity. Paul said, “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ … for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” (Philippians 3:7-8).

The long obedience in the same direction is a commitment to Jesus. Commitment to Christ is like signing your name on a blank check and saying, “Lord, You fill in the amount.” You’re not doing God a favor by serving Him; He’s honoring you by allowing you to serve and respond to Him. Our response to Jesus truly defines our long obedience in the same direction.

As believers, we are on a long obedience in the same direction. Please know that Karen and I pray for you everyday. I also want to wish you the happiest of summers. I encourage you to intentionally make memories that will last through eternity by loving on each other.

You know I love ya, Don

Long Obedience in Life!

In life....we learn living is not easy....We start off with many dreams and those dreams give opportunities to more dreams and then we grow up into adulthood and we realize that life isn't all about dreams but that the real world needs people to do things other than your dream....Life in reality is not a reality show.

The question that is often raised is: Where is God? Where is God in all this mess? Where is God when I was suffering? Where was God when I lost my job? Or my house was robbed? Or my spouse left? Or when my children started drugs? Or when my baby died? Where was God in all this hard times?

God is still exactly where he has always been. He wants you to know that he has brought you through your suffering and struggle so that you can meet him at the Cross. He knows it is hard and he know that life has not been easy....he does know that life has been necessary so that you know that faith is the only way to survive. 

 

God intends every type of suffering and hard times to sanctify us. The scars of life establish hope for our future. The scars of life drive us to cling to sanctification. Sanctification is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man, after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness....It is at the cross that hard times come to a DEAD END!

It is our faith that is realized at the scar on the cross... we are renewed by what Jesus did on the Cross. “A believer's awareness of justification, peace, and access is made authentic in our suffering...in our scars.”

Let's consider Romans 5

     Justified through faith:

          Peace through Jesus

              Access through grace (favor)

                     Rejoice in the hope of the “glory of God” = the cross

Every Christ-following believer should have hope because of the scars of justification, peace, and access to grace. The suffering...the scars call to us...the hard times come to a DEAD END at the cross because they motivate, they produce, and they mark Christ-Followers for the purpose of SANCTIFICATION!!!! ( the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man, after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.)

We are working through the long obedience in the same direction together...you know I love ya, Don

Willing to serve...or living a life of soft serve?

"If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles." Matthew 5:41

Service begins in your mind! Listen: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who...made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant" (Php 2:5-7 NKJV). Are you into reputation building, or serving others? You can't do both. God is always more interested in your attitude than your achievements. King Amaziah lost God's favor because: "He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not with a true heart" (2Ch 25:2 NRSV). True servants have certain attitudes

True servants focus on others, not themselves! Real humility is not thinking less of yourself - but thinking of yourself less. A lot of what we do is just self-serving. We serve to be admired or to achieve our own goals. Some of what we do is manipulation, not ministry; we're really thinking about ourselves and how noble and wonderful we are. We even use serving as a bargaining tool: "God, I'll do this for You, if You'll do that for me." True servants don't use God for their purposes, they let God use them for His.

Self-forgetfulness is a daily struggle, a lesson we must relearn over and over again. You can measure your servant's heart, by how you respond when others treat you like a servant! How do you react when you feel taken for granted, bossed around or treated as an inferior? Jesus said: "If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life" (Mt 5:41 The Message).

We choose to serve thus we choose to have an attitude that intentionally thinks of others before thinking of our self. It is a question of having a heart that is willing to serve or having an attitude that is always looking for soft serve.

You know I love ya,
Don

Make Every Effort...Unity....Bond....Peace

"Make every effort" is a strong statement for the faith and is then followed with the command to "get along." Paul wrote it to the Ephesian church. He wrote: "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." Every believer should make a quick note that it is not optional, but is a directive to live in harmony within the faith. 
It would have been easier if Paul had wrote that we should make every effort in fellowship meals or in cutting the church grass or in at least meeting every week but that is not the action Paul is calling us too...we are to make every effort in getting along and living love. A friend of mine wrote in her blog:

Do you make every effort to maintain the unity that already exists between Christians? We are extorted to make that our goal.

My sister, who had been a valuable model to me in maintaining excellent personal relationships, said one day, “I refuse to have a row with that girl – life’s too short to fall out with anyone.” We can refuse to have a row if we want to. That is making an effort to keep what we already have – unity. The problem is that if we have unity among ourselves, we sometimes ignore or neglect it. We start to work on it only when a relationship falls apart! But we must get to work before it falls apart. We must endeavor to maintain it. We do that by building an already good relationship into something even better. That takes time and effort.

We have good relationships on our church staff, but they can always be better.  We schedule regular times to eat, to have fun, and to pray together. It’s such a comfort and delight not to have to be a blessing but rather to meet with people on the same spiritual level as ourselves and enjoy a time of maintaining our unity!

I have a friend who often spends time with me – playing tennis, talking, shopping, or just relaxing – and she never fails to say before she leaves, “Let’s pray together.” It’s just a brief glance heavenwards, but what a bond of peace it adds to our relationship!

What practical things are you doing to maintain the unity of the Spirit? I am making it my new goal to put this directive in front of my life. I want to live love and I want others to know that I will diligently seek the unity of the faith through the bond of peace.

You know I love ya, Don

Do you make every effort to maintain the unity that already exists between Christians?  We are extorted to make that our goal.
My sister, who had been a valuable model to me in maintaining excellent personal relationships, said one day, “I refuse to have a row with that girl – life’s too short to fall out with anyone.”  We can refuse to have a row if we want to.  That is making an effort to keep what we already have – unity.   The problem is that if we have unity among ourselves, we sometimes ignore or neglect it.  We start to work on it only when a relationship falls apart!  But we must get to work before it falls apart.  We must endeavor to maintain it.  We do that by building an already good relationship into something even better.  That takes time and effort.
We have good relationships on our church staff, but they can always be better.  We schedule regular times to eat, to have fun, and to pray together.  It’s such a comfort and delight not to have to be a blessing but rather to meet with people on the same spiritual level as ourselves and enjoy a time of maintaining our unity!
I have a friend who often spends time with me – playing tennis, talking, shopping, or just relaxing – and she never fails to say before she leaves, “Let’s pray together.”  It’s just a brief glance heavenwards, but what a bond of peace it adds to our relationship!

What practical things are you doing to maintain the unity of the Spirit?

- See more at: http://justbetweenus.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=113281#sthash.hWHvkNla.dpuf

Unify...unity....joined....together!

Recently, I have had a many discussion about unity in families, in relationships, and in the church. It brought to mind the text from Ephesians 2:14-17

 For he himself (Jesus) is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

 Jill Brice writes:

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If the middle wall of partition has indeed been broken down by the death of Christ, why then do so many people inside the kingdom still meet a stone wall where true fellowship is concerned? Why does the wall still divide black and white, rich and poor, those with social status and those without? I believe it is because Christians have not been taught that the basis of their unity is belonging.

Unity begins when we get our theology straight. If the wall has been broken down and yet the wall is still there, it is because someone has been busy building it up again! What is a wall? It’s a barrier – something that includes others and excludes you. We sense it, though it be unseen, between people inside the church. We see different factions with religious and personal differences. Yet our unity is in belonging. For through Him we all have access by one Spirit unto the Father. He sees all of us kneeling down at our bedsides at the end of the day!

I must tell Jesus, “The wall will not be built by my hands!” I must not be a builder of walls. I must lay down my trowel and use my hands rather to reach out to my brother and sister in love. I need to keep acting as if the barrier isn’t there; I need to walk through it and speak into years of silence. I must write another letter and extend another dinner invitation. I must do what I can to make sure others know I believe in belonging!

I could not agree with Jill more...we must strive to remove the barriers that hinder relationships. In fact, it is our duty to live for the goal of loving God, loving each other, and loving life. 

You know I love ya, Don

If the middle wall of partition has indeed been broken down by the death of Christ (see Eph. 2:13-14), why then do so many people inside the kingdom still meet a stone wall where true fellowship is concerned?  Why does the wall still divide black and white, rich and poor, those with social status and those without?  I believe it is because Christians have not been taught that the basis of their unity is belonging.

Unity begins when we get our theology straight.  If the wall has been broken down and yet the wall is still there, it is because someone has been busy building it up again!  What is a wall?  It’s a barrier – something that includes others and excludes you.  We sense it, though it be unseen, between people inside the church.  We see different factions with religious and personal differences.  Yet our unity is in belonging.  For through Him we all have access by one Spirit unto the Father.  He sees all of us kneeling down at our bedsides at the end of the day! 

I must tell Jesus, “The wall will not be built by my hands!”  I must not be a builder of walls.  I must lay down my trowel and use my hands rather to reach out to my brother and sister in love.  I need to keep acting as if the barrier isn’t there; I need to walk through it and speak into years of silence.  I must write another letter and extend another dinner invitation.  I must do what I can to make sure others know I believe in belonging!

- See more at: http://justbetweenus.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=105816#sthash.Elfiw8lH.dpuf

And that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.  ~ Ephesians 2:16 - See more at: http://justbetweenus.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=105816#sthash.Elfiw8lH.dpuf

And that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.  ~ Ephesians 2:16 - See more at: http://justbetweenus.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=105816#sthash.Elfiw8lH.dpuf

The Early Church and The Globalization of the Good News

 The globalization of the church in the first 300 years of existence is an amazing story of God's perfect plan. In the perfect time of history God incarnate stepped out of eternity into history so as to be our salvation. It is in the historical moment of a world dominated by the Roman Empire that God chooses to step in to make himself known. The increased awareness of God, through Jesus is God's purpose of a restored relationship with his creation. It brings people to a place of humble hearts seeking to know God. 

 

Jesus is more than a historical figure. Bradley Holt states: “They saw Jesus as the Promised One, not only as Messiah (anointed king) but as suffering servant, crucified for all, and as Lord, raised from the dead." Jesus is the central key to all the other views in God's revelation. It is in this view that the theologians and great leaders of the spiritual formation within these early years heard the Holy Spirit and sought after God and knowing God more. These wonderful “God-fearers” stretched out a foundational desire for God that remains a call to all Christ-followers today.

The gifts of the spirit were discovered in the joy of knowing God. Paul address these gifts as opportunities to demonstrate God's love. The Corinthian church was using the gifts to lord it over others within the group. Holt summarizes Paul's teaching with; “Paul suggests love not as an alternative gift to others but as a 'more excellent way' in which the gifts are to be evaluated and exercised.” It is in this love that all things are made complete. 

 

A good modern example is the worship wars of the 1990's. The style of worship was never the true issue. What became the issue was opinions of people in what they thought was formation to pleasing God verses true spiritual formation in knowing God. The underlining lack of love that so dominated change in music established war lines that divided God-fearers and established a very difficult time on God's kingdom. The issue may have had a small part in the style. The bigger issue was in change from what was important to the ones fighting the battle against knowing God through grace and truth.

An illustration that occurred often in these worship wars were the tactics that were used to remove the organ. The “why” was proclaimed that we need to bring new people into the church and the old organ style is a turn off. That very well may have been true, but the lack of love for the people that had so diligently worked and rehearsed demonstrated rejection of the individuals that invested their life efforts. They retorted by starting a retaliation we now label as worship wars. The same was true of the move from projectors to screens. We had worked hard to raise money that was dedicated to purchase new hymnals to add new songs so as to bring in new people. The way we accomplished the purchase of the hymnals was to dedicate the hymnals to the memory of a specific person. It wasn't very long before screens were introduced and the hymnals in memory of “mr. perfect elder” were headed to a box in the storage room. The people that remember “mr. perfect elders” cried out, “we can't do that” and again a lack of love was demonstrated by both sides. 

 

Preaching styles, church directories, music, Sunday schools, Vacation Bible Schools, and missionary technique all change. Change is a constant in the church. God has established the church to be a living organism within the world he created. It is interesting to learn in these early years of the church change also existed. It is important to learn that these early believers struggled with discernment and change the same as we do. The revealing survival for the change is the Holy Spirit given ability to love. All Christ-followers are able to embrace love as a gift given to every believer.

Those within the early years that embraced the love also discovered how the life of the the believer is to train for the purpose of preparation for a great goal of spiritual formation. Holt describes these practices as, “characterized by self-denial for the sake of the true self.” There is no doubt that the writer of Hebrews greatly influenced this thought of running the race by keeping our eyes focused on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. The early believers established successful Christian living through out the ages by, “saying no to a good thing for the sake of saying yes to a better one.” Any great athlete or artist would agree with this assessment of their craft. The denial of desire or the easy route is enhanced by the willingness to strive for the greater desire that is achieved by the choice of the harder route.

The word to describe this training as preparation for a contest is, “asceticism.” The moral, ethical, and proactive choice to live as Jesus lived is to train for the a great goal laid for us in being transformed into the likeness of Jesus. The means by which a person is transformed is diverse and there are several techniques available. From the early years of the church to the modern church, these practices and disciplines brought a change and growth to the lives the Christ-followers by the mean of transformation to a closer walk with God. This dedication to training and development of denying the lower good for a better good grants “self-confidence while enabling people to serve others.”

The challenge for the modern believer is that the church today is living in mediocrity. We are complacent in our faith and are not striving as we once did in the area of denying the lower good for the greater good. The church is willing to compromise in order to gain great numbers for attendance and for evangelism, but the result is large number so of people that are spiritually Luke warm. It is the call of God that we embrace these disciplines again and strive for the greater good in knowing God more in every moment. It is then that he will bring about a great transformation within the hearts of those who believe.

Let us run the race marked out for us with a dedication to the Truth and to Grace! - You know I love ya, Don

Bradley P. Holt. Thirsty for God. (Fortress Press: Minneapolis, 2005)

Lets dance together

Mandy Smith, who originally is from Australia, is an author, artist, and pastor at University Christian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio. Her latest book, Making a Mess and Meeting God: Unruly Ideas and Everyday Experiments for Worship, has just been released by Standard Publishing. She wrote the following:

On a seemingly ordinary morning, in a busy Belgian train station, the announcements of arrivals and departures were suddenly interrupted by Julie Andrews’s familiar voice intoning, “Let’s start at the very beginning . . .” A few commuters paused for a second to wonder why the train station would air “Do-Re-Mi,” before returning to their morning rush.

Then, in the center of the atrium’s tiled floor, a single man started to dance, and before long a passing little girl had joined in. A crowd began to form to watch the spectacle but, at each measure, members of the crowd joined the dance and it was no longer clear who was a performer and who was a spectator. Soon dozens of schoolchildren were pouring down the stairs to become part of the group that was growing with every “do,” “re,” and “mi.” By the end of the song the dancing mob had swelled to more than 200 people of all ages, and those who happened to be there had a story of the ordinary day when the crowd suddenly moved as one.

The thing that made this train station dance, and other “flash mobs” like it, different from most public performances was that, right up to the moment of their cue, the performers looked like the usual passersby, carrying backpacks and talking on cell phones. They were not on a stage but were among the crowd. And because of this factor, although they didn’t know the dance steps, the onlookers were also swept up in it and many danced along however they could. The jubilation left after the last bars of the song had died away was not just from having watched a dance, but also from experiencing a moment when human beings came together and made something harmonious in the middle of their disparate lives. It was a moment when what we have in common was more apparent than what separates us.

The dance we’re invited to is very simple and involves just a few steps. It takes no rehearsal, and we don’t even need to know each other’s names. But as we join in this action of being a Christ-follower, we enjoy a life when everything else stops and we are in unison with The One who created us. We share an understanding that, regardless of our differences, we are drawn together by our common love for Jesus and our common acceptance of his sacrifice.

---

Thank you, Mandy Smith, for reminding us of this wonderful truth...it is a joy to be dancing with you along this journey. You know I love ya - Don

I'll do it myself!

I am amazed at how great the team of servants are that I have the great honor of serving with. Our musicians, tech crew, and worship choir are dedicated and real to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yesterday was a prime example of that. What a great day of worship and the thanks goes to a great God that allows us to work together. It reminded me of the following story I pulled from my sermon archives...

It was just after midnight on November 20, 1988. A 19-year-old Los Angeles woman apparently fell asleep behind the wheel of her car. The car plunged through a guardrail and was left dangling by its left rear wheel. That one wheel was all that prevented the young woman from falling to a certain death.

A half dozen passing motorists stopped and attempted to help. One of them had some ropes in his vehicle. They tied the ropes to the back of the young woman’s car, and hung on until the fire units arrived. A ladder was extended from below to help stabilize the car while firefighters tied the vehicle to tow trucks with cables and chains. “Every time we would move the car,” said one of the rescuers, “she’d yell and scream. She was in pain.”

It took almost 2 1/2 hours for the rescuers about 25 of them in all to secure the car and pull the woman to safety.

“It was kinda funny,” L.A. County Fire Capt. Ross Marshall recalled later. “She kept saying, “I’ll do it myself. I’ll do it myself.”

People are funny like that. “I’ll do it myself.” Against all evidence to the contrary, we somehow think we don’t need other people. And we think we don’t need God.

Eph. 2:19-22, "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit."

"Lord, thank you for giving me the privilege to serve along side such wonderful servants. You are a great God. How can we help but celebrate your greatness in all we are. We love you, Amen."

You know I love ya - Don

Touching Lives

I believe that one of the greatest opportunities we have as Christians is to make a profound difference in the lives of others. Over the years of ministry, I have had great opportunities to enter the lives of many people who need Jesus. There have been many people that touched me in return. In fact, every time someone read this blog, I am touched.

I don' believe this is a special opportunity reserved just for me. Every one of us has the ability to influence someone. When you take the time to reach out to others and invest in someone's spiritual life, you are impacting the world...yours and theirs.

Galatians 6:10 states, "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."

I believe one of the reasons we NOT are transported to heaven at our baptism is to be a blessing and God influence in this world. We are called to bring encouragement and build up others in the faith. We are not called to be afraid to say the tough stuff and speak the truth in love.

I don't believe God wants us to just be spectators in life. He wants us to be people who really love others and care enough to be willing to pour into their lives. We need to be building up others in Jesus' name so they can grow and reach even more people.

You know I love ya and I am grateful for your touch on my life - Don

Being left out!

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. (Hebrews 13:16 NRSV)

Have you ever been left out or has some one you respect not returned that respect? This week promises to be a spectacular week...Easter is coming, Easter Musical is going great, and God is a great God. Yet, tonight someone I respected made a decision that left me out of the game. It is not that big of a deal, but I got to thinking how we as Christians do that more than we should. I also thought of Hebrews 13..."we need to sacrifice for each other."

As a kid, we learned about sharing our toys. Maybe you were playing with your sister, or with your next-door neighbor, and your parents told you to share all your toys with the person you're playing with. Why did they want you to share? There are all kinds of reasons why our parents taught us to share. You share so that the other person can have fun. You share so that the other person won't feel left out and sad. Sharing with others is a way of showing them that we love them, and we want them to be happy.

Back in Jesus' day, Christians shared everything they had with one another. They shared all their food with one another, so that nobody would ever be hungry. They shared their money with one another, so that nobody would be poor. And I bet they shared their toys with one another, so that nobody would ever be left out. They shared with one another because they loved one another. In fact, sometimes the Christians would sell what they had so that they could raise money to help those who were poor around them. That's how much they loved one another. This is what being together in Christ is all about. We can show that kind of love to one another, too. Today, let's think of ways that we can share what we have with others, to show them that we love them, even when they may not reciprocate the feelings or actions.

"Dear God, may I be as generous as you have been generous to me. Amen."
You know I love ya - Don