Wednesday, September 12, 2007
The Church Under Fire
This week's message on the Running A.M.O.K. Podcast is on the church in Smyrna from Revelation chapter 2. This message talks about the church under persecution, the struggles that Christians face and the importance of the church. Here's an excerpt.
Luke 6:22Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. 23"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets. Jesus promises a great reward for us when we are mistreated because of Him. I need to say this again. Tough times are not a sign that God has given up on you. If anything tough times that come for the sake of righteousness are a sign that the opposition is cranking up against you because you are on the verge of a breakthrough or of doing something great for the kingdom. Consider Paul. Here’s the guy who took the Gospel to the gentiles, here’s the guy who wrote close to half of the New Testament. What was His life like?
1 Corinthians 11:21What anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. 22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. 23Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
I read this passage and feel like such a coward. This guy had it tough. Was he in God’s will? Absolutely. The question is, are you? See if your struggles come from your own sin then the answer is no, you need to be honest with yourself and you need to repent. But if you’re seeking God and trying to do His will then maybe what you’re facing is opposition trying to stop a major breakthrough in your life. Is God going to stop the opposition? Maybe, maybe not. Pray that He does, but trust Him, persevere, come to your brothers and sisters who are instructed to help you bear your burdens and keep going. Resist the enemy and hold on to Jesus.
To hear the whole message, go to www.RadicallyReal.com
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This week's message on the Running A.M.O.K. Podcast is on the church in Smyrna from Revelation chapter 2. This message talks about the church under persecution, the struggles that Christians face and the importance of the church. Here's an excerpt.
Luke 6:22Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. 23"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets. Jesus promises a great reward for us when we are mistreated because of Him. I need to say this again. Tough times are not a sign that God has given up on you. If anything tough times that come for the sake of righteousness are a sign that the opposition is cranking up against you because you are on the verge of a breakthrough or of doing something great for the kingdom. Consider Paul. Here’s the guy who took the Gospel to the gentiles, here’s the guy who wrote close to half of the New Testament. What was His life like?
1 Corinthians 11:21What anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. 22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. 23Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
I read this passage and feel like such a coward. This guy had it tough. Was he in God’s will? Absolutely. The question is, are you? See if your struggles come from your own sin then the answer is no, you need to be honest with yourself and you need to repent. But if you’re seeking God and trying to do His will then maybe what you’re facing is opposition trying to stop a major breakthrough in your life. Is God going to stop the opposition? Maybe, maybe not. Pray that He does, but trust Him, persevere, come to your brothers and sisters who are instructed to help you bear your burdens and keep going. Resist the enemy and hold on to Jesus.
To hear the whole message, go to www.RadicallyReal.com
Friday, September 07, 2007
Ruined
I've been listening to Nate Sallie lately. I love his stuff, but this lyric really hit me.
Would you please Ruin me For a life ordinary, yeah
All I seek Is a Holy, Covering Moving over me
Asking God to ruin you for an ordinary life? I have to admit at first it sounds a little scary, but wouldn't it be cool? To refuse to live a lackluster, mediocre, wasted life chasing after all the stuff the world will tell you is important. Bowing out of the rat race and living in the divine presence of God. Living out the thing He created you for and being what He created you to be, living a life filled with purpose and meaning, where every second counts. Reaching and touching and lighting the world around you, living a life that makes a difference. That's what I want from my life, how about you?
Understand this though, if you are going to live this out, to be truly ruined for ordinary, is going to require discipline and training. It is going to involve letting the ordinary go. You know what I mean...the stuff that we say is drudgery but yet gives us the comfort of the security of the known. It may mean laying down the comfortable and taking up the unknown. It may mean changing your location or your vocation. It will definitely mean laying down your pride. It will mean laying down your sin. But isn't all that stuff a small price to pay in exchange for living out your purpose.
Let's be clear on something else too. Some of us have to redefine ordinary. Ordinary is the stuff that you think you need, but that God never intended for you in the first place. Ordinary is not that blessed time when you just spend time with the people God has given you to love. There's nothing ordinary about those moments. They are a blessing from God and should be savored not passed over to get to the next thing. Everyone spends their lives trying to grab the next thing and the next success. That's what's ordinary. An extraordinary life is what happens when ordinary people place their ordinary lives in the hands of an extraordinary God. An extraordinary life is life when we step out of what the world tells us is important and step out into the adventure that God has in store.
Lord thank you for your blessings, ruin me for an ordinary life, let me live an extraordinary life and give me the wisdom to know the difference. Thank you Jesus!
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I've been listening to Nate Sallie lately. I love his stuff, but this lyric really hit me.
Would you please Ruin me For a life ordinary, yeah
All I seek Is a Holy, Covering Moving over me
Asking God to ruin you for an ordinary life? I have to admit at first it sounds a little scary, but wouldn't it be cool? To refuse to live a lackluster, mediocre, wasted life chasing after all the stuff the world will tell you is important. Bowing out of the rat race and living in the divine presence of God. Living out the thing He created you for and being what He created you to be, living a life filled with purpose and meaning, where every second counts. Reaching and touching and lighting the world around you, living a life that makes a difference. That's what I want from my life, how about you?
Understand this though, if you are going to live this out, to be truly ruined for ordinary, is going to require discipline and training. It is going to involve letting the ordinary go. You know what I mean...the stuff that we say is drudgery but yet gives us the comfort of the security of the known. It may mean laying down the comfortable and taking up the unknown. It may mean changing your location or your vocation. It will definitely mean laying down your pride. It will mean laying down your sin. But isn't all that stuff a small price to pay in exchange for living out your purpose.
Let's be clear on something else too. Some of us have to redefine ordinary. Ordinary is the stuff that you think you need, but that God never intended for you in the first place. Ordinary is not that blessed time when you just spend time with the people God has given you to love. There's nothing ordinary about those moments. They are a blessing from God and should be savored not passed over to get to the next thing. Everyone spends their lives trying to grab the next thing and the next success. That's what's ordinary. An extraordinary life is what happens when ordinary people place their ordinary lives in the hands of an extraordinary God. An extraordinary life is life when we step out of what the world tells us is important and step out into the adventure that God has in store.
Lord thank you for your blessings, ruin me for an ordinary life, let me live an extraordinary life and give me the wisdom to know the difference. Thank you Jesus!
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
When I look at the Stars...
The other morning I was out on my walk. I love walking in the early morning this time of year. It's still dark and I get to walk into the sunrise. I always pray when I walk and lately I've taken to running a bit to try and get a little stronger. I had finished about a mile run and was trying to catch my breath. As I threw my head back I looked into the sky and it was crisp and clear and I feel like I saw about a million stars. I began to have thoughts about the stars and at first I wrote it off as my mind wandering and tried to get back to prayer, but in my spirit, I felt God saying "just look at the stars." What He showed me blessed me and I pray it will bless you too.
He reminded me how stars guided people for centuries. From the magi finding Jesus to people lost at night on the open sea, people could find where they were by following the stars. Over time people began to chart the movement of the stars. This was both good and bad. To the negative, it led people to believe that certain things happened because of the alignment of stars and planets and began to create astrology, which took man's focus off God and placed it on the movements of inanimate objects.
The other problem created was that people began to see the "movement" of the stars and assumed that the earth stood still and everything else revolved around it. This is where it parallels with my life. When you see things moving in the night sky, you make the assumption that the earth is not moving. This as we know is not the case. In fact, while the stars are moving, the universe is so vast that we are not seeing their movement, so much as we are seeing our own. The earth rotates at a speed of 465 miles per second. If it moved any slower, we would all just float off into space. So while we feel we are not moving, we are actually moving at an insane speed. It's the same way with our lives. We look at all the things that are happening around us, and get frustrated feeling as if we are going nowhere, but in reality, lilke the earth moving beneath us, God is at work in the spiritual realm, keeping things in motion and preparing us and preparing the way for us to live out the mission He created for us. Just because it feels like nothing's happening, doesn't mean that's true. He showed me a lot of other things too. If you'd like to hear them check out the Running A.M.O.K. Podcast at http://www.radicallyreal.com
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The other morning I was out on my walk. I love walking in the early morning this time of year. It's still dark and I get to walk into the sunrise. I always pray when I walk and lately I've taken to running a bit to try and get a little stronger. I had finished about a mile run and was trying to catch my breath. As I threw my head back I looked into the sky and it was crisp and clear and I feel like I saw about a million stars. I began to have thoughts about the stars and at first I wrote it off as my mind wandering and tried to get back to prayer, but in my spirit, I felt God saying "just look at the stars." What He showed me blessed me and I pray it will bless you too.
He reminded me how stars guided people for centuries. From the magi finding Jesus to people lost at night on the open sea, people could find where they were by following the stars. Over time people began to chart the movement of the stars. This was both good and bad. To the negative, it led people to believe that certain things happened because of the alignment of stars and planets and began to create astrology, which took man's focus off God and placed it on the movements of inanimate objects.
The other problem created was that people began to see the "movement" of the stars and assumed that the earth stood still and everything else revolved around it. This is where it parallels with my life. When you see things moving in the night sky, you make the assumption that the earth is not moving. This as we know is not the case. In fact, while the stars are moving, the universe is so vast that we are not seeing their movement, so much as we are seeing our own. The earth rotates at a speed of 465 miles per second. If it moved any slower, we would all just float off into space. So while we feel we are not moving, we are actually moving at an insane speed. It's the same way with our lives. We look at all the things that are happening around us, and get frustrated feeling as if we are going nowhere, but in reality, lilke the earth moving beneath us, God is at work in the spiritual realm, keeping things in motion and preparing us and preparing the way for us to live out the mission He created for us. Just because it feels like nothing's happening, doesn't mean that's true. He showed me a lot of other things too. If you'd like to hear them check out the Running A.M.O.K. Podcast at http://www.radicallyreal.com
