To learn or not to learn

Funny thing about history, it repeats itself.  The question is, why?  We run in this vicious circle in life.  Something has to break the cycle.  What should make me different than a non-believer.

“But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the Lord.”

Isaiah 26:10 NIV

God does things all the time.  He is all the time working, saving lives, and doing medical wonders.  He is continually showing grace to all.  He is giving life to all, granting freedom, showing love, providing needs, and well doing what he does.  Those who don't believe can't see it, well let's face it even believers lose sight of the daily things God does. 

We live in a relatively safe land.  A country where the vast majority of its citizens can lay down at night and sleep without worry of being robbed, being bombed, or being shot.  We live in a land that God has provided all of this through law, security, and freedom.  All thanks to the foresight of our anscestors.  We live in a land with technological advances, medical wonders, and advanced freedom.  

Unfortunately to the majority of this country, God is not recognized, accredited, or thanked for being the Devine creator or sustainer of this.  

We live in an age of educational advancement, and yet the most important acknowledgement that a person can give remains silent.  The Divine Creator continues to sustain us in this great country I call home.

I shall never cease to be amazed at how those who call this amazing land home will not regard the majesty of His creation, let alone Him as Creator.

So what happens, everyone keeps doing their day to day things, right?

Lesson to learn:  appreciate everyday for what it is, a gift.  Appreciate the place you live, the land your in, and the freedom you have.  Have a fresh outlook on life.  Be different acknowledge and live your life for the One who created, sustained, and redeemed you.  He is worthy.

on the verge...

I have this feeling inside, I have this feeling I can't hide, and I have this excitement for the ride.

I feel giddy, want to know why...

I feel like a Spiritual Breakthrough is on the horizon.  I don't know when or where, but it's there.  God is working on something in me and through me.  I can't explain it or contain it.  I have really got to stop with the rhymes....

I have been having visions and dreams.  Seeing things with such clarity.  Seeing God work some tremendous things.  Seeing an excitement in the Gospel that I haven't seen in a while.  Feeling excited about things myself that I haven't felt in awhile.

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. ... "  (Isaiah 60:1-ff, ESV)

I have been praying "God, you got me here, so now what?", He has been flooding my mind with plans, projects, and people.  It's hard to wrap my head around all of it.  It's hard to decipher what to work on first, what is most important, and how soon to move on it.  I am prayerfully making models, notes, and flow charts.  I sit back and think to myself, "How?" or "Can I really do this?"

There is such a sense of excitement, urgency, and nervousness.  You pray and the desire is for God to move in a mighty way.  Then when the time is coming, or feels like is coming for the "Spiritual Breakthrough" that you have been praying for the anxiousness comes.  You start feeling like maybe I have bitten off more than I can chew, maybe God picked the wrong person to do this, and/or I'm not talented or good enough to do this.

Then I remind myself that I am just a vessel.  That it's actually God working in me and through me to accomplish anything.  All I am doing is allowing Him to use me.

I feel like I'm on the edge of a break through, one like I have never had before.  I have had some breakthroughs in the past.  There was the DNow weekend with my GBBC youth where God did some amazing things in those students lives over a 48 hour period.  Rededication, salvation, and rekindled.  I have seen God do some amazing things.  This seems bigger, much much bigger, and it makes me nervous.  It's like everything that has happened in ministry and life up to this point is leading up to this moment, or this movement.  Maybe that is what it is... a movement.  As I am typing this I am reminded that I have been praying for Pole Creek, a church in my community, would experience a movement of God.  Maybe God is doing that in our community and in our church.

A movement, that is what I feel and that is what I want to be part of.  A movement of God, like nothing we have experienced before.  We need more than a revival, or a renewel.  We need a movement of God.

I am piecing this together, "Spiritual Breakthrough of a Movement".  I don't know what it looks like, how it would be, or what our part of it is, but I sense and feel it coming.

I had someone say this to me yesterday, "You are the best thing that has happened to our church for awhile, you are the breath of fresh air I feel we have needed..."

I don't feel like I am.  It was a huge compliment, but yet also made me feel uneasy, like a big weight was added called "fear of failure".  I know God has placed me where I am, I know it with all of my being.  I don't know that I would go has far as the "best in awhile", but I would for sure say I have been placed there for "such a time as this".

So, to wrap this up.  I sense God is on the verge of something big, something wonderful, and something unbelievable.  I want to be part of it, I want my church to be part of it, and I want you to be part of it.  The question is, do you?

Chris

its worth the wait

Waiting is so hard isn't it.  Remember how hard it was as a kid when Thanksgiving rolled around and you had to wait for Christmas.  Remember how it is when you go to eat and your so hungry, and it seems like it takes the food soooooooo long to get there.  Remember how it is when you are so ready for vacation and it seems like the days just drag by as the dates get closer.  Maybe you ordered something on Amazon you have been wanting for a long time, and it seems like the three days to wait is taking forever.  Oh my waiting is so hard.

"On that day it will be said, "look, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us.  This is the Lord;  We have waited for Him. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."  (Isaiah 25:9, HCSB)

Waiting on God is even harder.  God's concept of time and ours are so different.  God sees things from an eternal point of view, you and I, well, we only see the here and now.  If you are like me you want it done and you want it now.  I want God to work and do it now.  I know that sounds really demanding, but God already knows what I am thinking so I might as well say it.  Moving on.... I don't really like to wait, maybe you are the same way.

I have learned that when you stand back and are fervent in prayer, it is such a relief to see when He does answer.  You are able to look back and smile and see that truly this was something only God could have orchestrated, only something He could have pieced together.  Then you have this satisfaction of knowing that  He did it and it elevates your worship to adoration.

So, yes, my friend waiting is hard, but my is it worth the wait.

Look this is our God, we have waited for him..... Look this is the Lord; we have waited for Him...

and He did not disappoint...

Have a great day, Chris

try and stop this train...

Have you ever planned and implemented a project and had so many obstacles in the way that it hindered success. Or maybe it even caused the project to fail miserably...  Yeah, we probably have all been in that situation at one time or another.  Obstacles tend to train wreck our greatest plans and projects, we get fed up with the obstacles and resistance that often we give up.

It's virtually impossible to stop a train in full motion once it has begun, well unless your Hancock:

 

 



Nothing stops God's plans once they are in motion.

^24 The Lord Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand. ^25 I will crush the Assyrian in my land; on my mountains I will trample him down. His yoke will be taken from my people, and his burden removed from their shoulders.”  ^26 This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. ^27 For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?  (Is 14:24-27., NIV)

 

What God has purposed, what God has planned cannot be stopped.  For Assyria this was a bad thing, God tells them through Isaiah here that nothing they can do will stop His plan of destruction for them.  They could build the biggest walls, train the greatest armies, and use the greatest of weapons, but they would still be destroyed.  For us, there is a greater truth in this.  On a positive note, this means that if God has a plan for something great that no opposition, no resistance, or financial woe will hinder God from completing what He has started.

 

You and I may get discouraged, you and I may think it's not going to happen, and you and I may quit.  However, God will get done what His purpose it, and it is up to us to decide whether or not God will accomplish His plans with or without our involvement.

 

Just something to think about, have a blessed day.

shocker

The Christian Conservative community acted so shocked and appalled by SCOTUS' decision last Friday.  We acted as though it completely caught us off guard.  It shouldn't have.  It has been a long time coming.  Right, wrong, or indifferent it was definitely coming.

Let me state this very clearly, YOU CANNOT LEGISLATE MORALITY.  Why are we allowing the Supreme Court to decide what is moral and what is not.  When man makes that kind of decision it leaves too many doors open.

You also cannot force someone to believe what you believe, and that works both ways.  The LGBT community will not convince me that same sex marriage is ok, and I won't be able to convince them it not ok.  That is what makes our country what it is. 

What is making our country deteriorate is HATE.  So much nastiness has been portrayed in the last week because of this legislature. 

^18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ^19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ^20 Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’^ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ^21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. ^22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. ^23 He who hates me hates my Father as well. (Jn 15:18-23., NIV)

Hatred towards making a stand for morality is nothing new, nor will it ever change.  Jesus dealt with it long before now, and generations after us will deal with it as well.  People are free to make their own decisions about what is moral and what is right; however, they also need to understand there are consequences to those decisions.  I am responsible for my own moral decisions, and they are responsible for theirs.

We live in a country in which the LGBT community can lobby for whatever they wish, however so am I.  It works both ways, or at least it is supposed to.

I think there would be serious consequences to me if I walked outside and burned a rainbow flag..... don't you?  But yet, its "ok" for the American Flag to be burned in protest....

So what do we do? 

Love our people, Love our neighbors, love our country, and Love our God.

It's what I believe Jesus did and continues to do.

Feed the sheep, tend the sheep.  We need to love and equip our people.

So, you cant legislate morality, but you also can't expect someone who doesn't know the truth to believe what you or I believe to be true.

Even if the SCOTUS had voted differently, it wouldn't have fixed the morality problem in our nation.  We cannot, and must not, depend on government to try and fix the morality problem. 

Our hope has to come from a much higher source.

God designed marriage, God defined marriage, and God instituted marriage.  End of story.  I am baffled at the idea that those who don't believe in God who want something He instituted, or maybe they do believe but they don't want to follow His definition of marriage.

Romans 3:23 tells us that we have all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. It's a fact.  My sin problem is not any less than anyone else's.  I have to deal with my own.  I can admit when I'm wrong, and I'm not afraid to.  I can try to re-define my sin and paint it a prettier picture and say that its ok, or right.  However, in the eyes of God, Sin is Sin. It always has been and it always will be. 

My thoughts where kind of all over today, as I guess you could tell.  Hope something made sense....

Chris