Category: Bible

Abnormal

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adjective; not normal, average, typical, or usual; deviating from a standard

1 Peter 2:9. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Nothing about you is normal. You weren’t called to be normal. So why do we work so hard to fit into a world that is completely and totally temporary? It’s not about the clothes you wear, but the fruit you bear that sets you apart. If your fruit looks exactly like the world then of what benefit was it to others? How did it help humanity?

If it didn’t help humanity then of what purpose did my life serve? As a follower of the Way then love is my mandate and if love is my mandate and I play it out ordinarily then I’ve missed the whole point.

My prayer for you is that your life is never normal. That your life takes twists and turns and ups and downs that form such a powerful love for others that nothing else matters. Not money, not fame, not our own way or opinion or judgment but simply that our love for God outweighs our love for anything else. My prayer is that you find your place in a church where your gifts are used, not as you think they should, because most people want platform promise, but where your love and talent can shine through.

My prayer continues that you will never take for granted a single day of your life. It’s easy for us to go about our day but it’s a different thing to notice the extraordinary. We’ve had fabulous sunny warm days here in California these days. Do we take the time to notice it? Do we take the time to show God the gratitude for it? Do we look at it in terms of how it works for us or for others? No one is promised tomorrow so we have o make the most of today!

I’ll Take A Side Of God Please!

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Nowhere in Scripture do I see a “balanced life with a little bit of God added in”  as an ideal for us to emulate. Yet when I look at our churches, this is exactly what I see: a lot of people who have added Jesus to their lives. People who have, in a sense, asked Him to join them on their life journey, to follow them  wherever they feel they should go, rather than following Him as we are commanded. The God of the universe is not something we can just add to our lives and keep on as we did before. The Spirit who raised Christ from the dead is not someone we can just call on when we want a little extra power in our lives. Jesus Christ did not die in order to follow us.  He died and rose again so that we could forget everything else and follow Him to the cross, to true Life. –Francis Chan author of Forgotten God Reversing Our Tragic Neglect Of The Holy Spirit.

I’ve Been Road Tested

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Psalm 66:1. All together now – applause for God!
2. Sing songs to the tune of his glory, set glory to the rhythms of his praise.
3. Say of God, “We’ve never seen anything like him!” When your enemies see you in action, they slink off like scolded dogs.
4. The whole earth falls to its knees – it worships you, sings to you, can’t stop enjoying your name and fame.
5. Take a good look at God’s wonders – they’ll take your breath away.
6. He converted sea to dry land; travelers crossed the river on foot. Now isn’t that cause for a song?
7. Ever sovereign in his high tower, he keeps his eye on the godless nations. Rebels don’t dare raise a finger against him.
8. Bless our God, O peoples! Give him a thunderous welcome!
9. Didn’t he set us on the road to life? Didn’t he keep us out of the ditch?
10. He trained us first, passed us like silver through refining fires,
11. Brought us into hardscrabble country, pushed us to our very limit,
12. Road-tested us inside and out, took us to hell and back; Finally he brought us to this well-watered place.
13. I’m bringing my prizes and presents to your house. I’m doing what I said I’d do,
14. What I solemnly swore I’d do that day when I was in so much trouble:
15. The choicest cuts of meat for the sacrificial meal; Even the fragrance of roasted lamb is like a meal! Or make it an ox garnished with goat meat!
16. All believers, come here and listen, let me tell you what God did for me.
17. I called out to him with my mouth, my tongue shaped the sounds of music.
18. If I had been cozy with evil, the Lord would never have listened.
19. But he most surely did listen, he came on the double when he heard my prayer.
20. Blessed be God: he didn’t turn a deaf ear, he stayed with me, loyal in his love. -“The Message”

Freedom in a 180 Gallon Tank

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Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another.

Do you ever feel trapped? Sometimes, I look at our saltwater tank in our family room and I think of the vast ocean where these fish were made to be, deserve to be and there is part of me that  feels bad that the fish are trapped in 180 gallons of water. It seems like a lot of water and they seem happy to be fed everyday but I wonder what they would do in the ocean? Would they swim around in 180 gallons of sea or would they venture out past the boundaries and check things out? Just like those fish we find ourselves trapped in a limited space.

Only unlike those fish we can choose to swim beyond what we’ve always known and test the waters of the vast ocean of opportunity set before us. Freedom of a multitude of choices is the benefit of being human. Maybe we just want to explore the possibilities that are set out before us, only what keeps us from moving out into the great unknown? Fear. Fear and freedom are two opposing words.Fear keeps us from exploring what the Lord has for us.

My mom is a play it safe kinda gal. She’s been a great mom, in her, I know there is security and love and warmth and a safe place to fall if I need to. I know she isn’t going skydiving anytime soon and her big adventures consists of an occasional cruise or an occasional nickel or quarter slot machine in Vegas. She sees danger around the corner and as her daughter, she is always saying to me things like, “You are crazy! You need to remember you have kids!” Mostly it’s when I say things like, I went snorkeling in the Carribbean, (she sees sharks), or parasailing, (she sees a me crashing into the ocean), or a preaching trip to Africa, (she sees me being eaten by a lion) and when I told her that there were signs saying “Beware of Baboons” in Africa, she said, “Well, you BETTER be careful!”, in her mom voice which means business! When my daughter Casey went off to Midwest for college, my mom said, “Are you nuts? That’s too far!” And yet, she is proud of her girls on some levels. There is a streak of adventure in her as she sees an airplane up in the sky and says, “I’d sure like to be on that plane going wherever it’s going.” In those moments her sarcastic daughter (me) wants to say, “What if it’s going to AFRICA?!”

I think she found happiness in her life. She has been bold in her career as moved up the corporate ladder. She loved her career in banking and as promotions and new offers came in she never hesitated to take them. She showed me that my potential was only limited by my fear to go for it!

So where are you today? Are you swimming around in that 180 gallon tank of your life looking past the glass wishing, thinking about, but never taking the chance to swim past? Ask yourself, what the worst that could happen could be? You may fail and have to go back to the tank, but you might make it, and swim past things you never even knew existed. Are you living your life to its full potential or are you allowing fear to trap you? Resolve to live your life without regrets of things you should have done.

Take a chance to travel, take a chance to change careers, if your heart really wants to, take a chance in your life! You may find the freedom you were called to. Listen to that still small voice in your heart that leads the way to big adventures. Listen to it carefully as it guides you. No one ever promised you a safe life but you were promised a life worth living to its fullest!

Wine Christians

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Mark 2: 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

The metaphor here is the new wine which is the Holy Spirit, the moving of the spirit, the fire and power of Pentecost, the new church. Old Wineskin is religion, tradition, man-made, dry. Old wineskins once they aged became cracked and dry. New wine needs to be in new wine skins that are pliable and stretch and will move with the Holy Ghost.

To be a wine Christian you have to stop and resist the feeling of being pushed and pressured. We feel like we have to go here and there and we get caught up in the urgent and we miss the blessing of the important things God has set before us. A lot of things in our lives are like little fires, they seem urgent but will extinguish themselves if you leave them alone. To be a wine Christian ask yourself these questions;

1. Do you have a plan for you life? Do you have a dream that you want to see come through before the end of your life?
2. Do you have a goal and a plan or is your dream just a dream? Do you know how it will come to pass? What is your strategy?

Isaiah 32:8 But the noble man devises noble plans; And by noble plans he stands.

3. Who in your life is assisting you in your plan? Who speaks into your life? Who mentors you? Who is helping you? It is very dangerous to listen to no one. You hear people say, “I’m not going to church. I only need Jesus. I’m a good Christian.” Jesus is not even in this mix. He’s not hanging around this person because this person is rebellious and prideful and doesn’t think they need anyone. Then you have the flip side, the person who listens to everyone. Oh that sounds good let’s do that, that is a great idea let’s do that. Be careful what you eat in the form of books that you are reading and who you are listening to. Our Pastor warns us often, “Don’t eat from the garbage. Measure everything by what the word of God says.

4. How involved is God in the plan? Don’t forget to bring God into your meetings. And don’t move forward ignoring all the warnings. Learn to hear his voice.

That’s how you tell the difference between whether you are growing in your walk with Christ or standing still. Milk Christians are waiting to be fed the next word. Wine Christians can cook up a great meal and even feed others!

Milk Christians

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My Pastor preached on this and I want to share it.

1 Corinthians 3: 1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

Milk Christians are considered babes in Christ. That’s what we’d like to think.

Unfortunately though we’ve seen some milk Christians with full facial hair or breast of their own!

How can you tell if you are a milk Christian?

Milk Christians go to this church one week, this church the next week and midweek they are at a third.

They are always looking for something new; they are easily bored with everything. Their attention span is like that of a toddler, 3-5 minutes tops.

They believe everything and people easily deceive them.

Milk Christians run out of inspiration quickly.

They start lots of new things but never see it through to completion. I’ve had four jobs in 28 years, milk Christians brag about how many jobs they’ve had like it’s a badge.

Milk Christians get negative quickly.

They have very shallow relationships.

Milk Christians are not into long-term relationships.

Covenants to them are boring. That’s why you can have a long term Christian who still cheats on his wife.

They are listening to everyone and no one so they hear confirmations from sources outside of their covering.

There is no balance.

You see, milk has a time and a purpose but nursing when you are supposed to be weaned is retarded development.

Hebrews 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Are you a milk Christian? If so, and you’ve been a Christian longer than 5 years it’s time to grow up!

It’s Never Good Enough

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I’m learning so much! We are taking The Love Dare at church. The lessons have been excellent. I’ve learned a lot about myself and the kind of wife I am. On some things I’d grade myself an “A”. On other things I fail miserably. Yet, my husband, week after week loves me anyway.

One phrase that seems to be the resounding cadence of the men in the class is, “It’s Never Good Enough”. Wow! I can certainly see how the snake in the garden of Eden got to Eve and caused her to sin so simply. In her eyes, it simply wasn’t good enough and there was room for improvement. Since in our inner design, we as women are multipliers. I suppose that at our base level we view everything as able to be improved. However, in our saved condition we must learn to be at peace and content.

It has really been a learning experience to hear good men say they feel that they can’t do things right at home, when really the issue is they don’t do the task as their wife does it. It can be something simple like sweeping the floor or something a little more complicated like giving the kids a bath. We women have this idea that we can do it better.

So my resolve is set, my eyes are fixed on the prize and that is to have a husband who feels more than adequate and who really is my partner in life. He’s not perfect, but neither am I so we’ll have to be works in progress together.

Which Is Worse?

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There is a concept that we have created in our mind that sins have levels or degrees. Murder, we think, is an ultimate sin which most of us would not commit but lying well, that is a small sin and because everyone does it, it is more likely excusable.

So we judge each other based on what we consider is a more of a sin than the one that we’ve committed. We have categorized sin by degree. Only the problem with this is that sin is sin. There isn’t one that is more offensive than the other. It’s doing something that we know is wrong and just because everyone is doing it doesn’t make it right. We often can justify our sin until that sin is committed on us, then all of a sudden it becomes wrong. In the case of lying, we can say we lied to save feelings but when we are lied to why are we outraged?

Sin is simply defined as rebellion or lawlessness, missing the mark. It means we know something is not right and we do it anyway. The argument then becomes who sets up right and wrong? What if I don’t think it’s wrong? Remember that God set it up and whether you believe in God or not, you can’t deny that it’s basic humanity to live above the law that God set forth. You may not believe that sleeping with a married man is wrong because after all, he’s miserable in his marriage, but when he becomes your husband you’ll have a different perspective when you find out about his new girlfriend. Wouldn’t staying away from him be just the basic common courtesy you would give a fellow human being? You may not think telling a private matter of one girlfriend to another is wrong, until she tells your dirty little secret and then it’s heinous.

Does God forgive everybody? Everyone who asks for forgiveness with a repented heart is forgiven always. Even the most horrible of people and even the things we think we could never forgive a person for God is able to do so. On the surface of things it doesn’t seem fair does it? A person can live their life so horribly and then, finds God, and asks for his forgiveness and gets it. It would seem like God would say no, sorry that is too harsh of a thing to be forgiven for. Only what makes murder with a gun worse than murder with your words? Don’t they both have the same effect? Vicious actions are vicious actions regardless of the tools used. So let’s stop judging motive, see sin for sin and quit excusing our own.

More In The Kitchen!

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Bishop Richard Heard told this story and I loved it and thought I’d share it with you.

A Pastor was hosting an Evangelist at his church. Times were tough so he decided to have the Evangelist stay in his home to save money. Each day the Pastor and the Evangelist would come home for dinner the Pastor would go into the kitchen to check on how dinner was coming along. The Pastor would then call the family to dinner and he’d either announce, “FHB” or “MIK” while praying.

The Evangelist couldn’t figure out what FHB or MIK stood for but because he was a guest in their home, he felt funny about asking. Yet night after night the Pastor would announce, “FHB” or “MIK”. The Evangelist was desperately curious.

Finally on the last day of the revival, the Pastor and the Evangelist were talking. The Pastor was thanking the Evangelist for all of his hard work for the kingdom and blessing him as he spent the last night with him. The Evangelist thanked the Pastor for his hospitality. The Pastor said, “I sense there is something you want to ask me.” The Evangelist sighed and said, “Yes! I’ve been wanting to ask you what does FHB and MIK mean?”

The Pastor chuckled and told the Evangelist that times had been tough for his family. So each night he’d check on dinner and his wife would let him know if there was very little food or an abundance of food for the evening meal. He had taught his children that they were to show preference to their guest so each night as he called them to dinner he would say, “FHB” meaning Family Hold Back or “MIK” meaning More In The Kitchen.

You know your Father in Heaven has never said to you, “FHB”. With God, he has always said to you, “MIK”. So what is holding you back from reaching your goals? If your goals are God breathed, there is always MIK.