Monday, July 9, 2012
Mountains
I spent last week on vacation with my family in the mountains. The mountains for us are incredible. We love the cool air the walks and a change of scenery from the desert floor.
While away i feel the freedom to be some what mentally empty, to refresh. When I get home though I tend to reflect on what it is I learned. This year as I think about our vacation I am struck by the thought of Mountains.
Mountains in the Bible have some amazing imagery. Noah and the Ark, Abraham and Isaac, Moses and the 10 commandments, Elijah and the prophets of Baal, Jesus and the sermon on the mount, and Jesus at Calvary. The wonderful thought of what God has accomplished on these mountains reminds me of His faithfulness to Save. Each of these moments is a picture of how God is actively saving His people. His salvation is incredible, He is the only one who saves. Each day he is actively saving us, he is keeping us until His plan is accomplished. What is more amazing is the fact that he has saved us for all eternity, that we would be His!
These mountain tops are everyday, the question is, are you willing to notice the mountain top salvation God is giving you right now?
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Summer Camp
I have been going to summer camp since the summer after 2nd grade. I have not missed one in over 20 years. When I was in elementary school it was about the woods and being independent for five days. After God saved me, it was about growing deep in him.
This year Summer Camp 2012 was awesome it was incredible. God showed up in amazing ways. We spent five days looking at God. is. here. and how each and everyday he is where he said he would be, with us. What helped us see this incredible truth was his attributes that drive his character. He is Love, Holy, Jealous, Father, Faithful and Able. He is all of these things all of the time for His own glory. We were able to see how God used all of these attributes in and through the cross to redeem and people for himself.
As we continue through this year will you be praying that God would take these truths and apply them to the hearts of our students and that they would be more in awe of how much they are loved.
Monday, October 10, 2011
a lesson from Luke
Walk with open eyes to see the least of these.
Luke's description of Jesus is absolutely compelling. He writes of the most under the radar accounts of Jesus caring for and spending time with those society had removed or ignored. He knelt down to the hurting, sat with the dieing and cared for the elderly. It is even more than the physical healing that took place it was the spiritual healing, the forgiveness of sins.
Walk with open eyes to see the least of these.
Luke's description of Jesus is absolutely compelling. He writes of the most under the radar accounts of Jesus caring for and spending time with those society had removed or ignored. He knelt down to the hurting, sat with the dieing and cared for the elderly. It is even more than the physical healing that took place it was the spiritual healing, the forgiveness of sins.
Walk with open eyes to see the least of these.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Matthew 6:25-34 Do not be Anxious
Matthew 6:25-34 Do not be Anxious:
We live with worry and anxiety about everything. Will I get a prom dress is there enough milk for my cereal, is the milk too expired. It is simply amazing how many and how long we will be worrisome and anxious.
The problem with worry and anxiousness is unbelief. Having to much and not enough is the samething: both are not trusting in the fact that God will provide. Unbelief.
We live in a place where we do not struggle with food, clothes and shelter. But be worry about all sorts of things that do not matter to life. Think about how simple the concept Jesus is referring to. Life issues are basics not the complications you make. Work hard, do what is right, and trust the God provides for you. So many times we find that doing things our way makes the most sense. But that is not the way the world works best. God’s way is the way the world works best.
Here is the key to the whole issue found in V. 33 Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Right “USE” ness: what are we seeking? the way things will be and the best way to do them. How do we focus on what we were saved for? God has called us to so much more than we truly believe. Are we willing to live lives that reflect the goodness and righteousness of God? He has a Right “USE” ness for us, to be like Jesus and live like he wins in the end! How do you think about future importance not temporal insignificance?
If God wins we should live like it.
We live with worry and anxiety about everything. Will I get a prom dress is there enough milk for my cereal, is the milk too expired. It is simply amazing how many and how long we will be worrisome and anxious.
The problem with worry and anxiousness is unbelief. Having to much and not enough is the samething: both are not trusting in the fact that God will provide. Unbelief.
We live in a place where we do not struggle with food, clothes and shelter. But be worry about all sorts of things that do not matter to life. Think about how simple the concept Jesus is referring to. Life issues are basics not the complications you make. Work hard, do what is right, and trust the God provides for you. So many times we find that doing things our way makes the most sense. But that is not the way the world works best. God’s way is the way the world works best.
Here is the key to the whole issue found in V. 33 Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Right “USE” ness: what are we seeking? the way things will be and the best way to do them. How do we focus on what we were saved for? God has called us to so much more than we truly believe. Are we willing to live lives that reflect the goodness and righteousness of God? He has a Right “USE” ness for us, to be like Jesus and live like he wins in the end! How do you think about future importance not temporal insignificance?
If God wins we should live like it.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Matthew 6:19-24
When I read this passage on storing up treasure I get distracted. Does that ever happen to you? You get distracted by words or ideas? Sometimes when I read the Bible esspecially the words of Jesus I get lost in pictures and illustrations. One thing that got me thinking in this passage the moment Jesus says "where your treasure is there your heart will be". What is amazing and distracting all at the same time is that this phrase is counter cultural in 2011. Treasure is not dependent on your heart. Your heart follows treasure. The world in all it's wonderful ways tells us to follow out heart let our heart be our guide and there we find happiness. It is an amazing process to think through. The fact is our heart is fickle, wishy washy it is not a good compass for life. Deciding on what your treasure is will give your heart a plan. If it is not Jesus than we have lost focus we have fallen off course. It is hard to come to grips with the fact that we have found something more beautiful than Jesus. We have proven our disbelief by our desire for something more than we desire Jesus. So fight the treasure lie, let your belief in Jesus be your treasure principle, if it is Jesus than you have heart direction. How will you seek the greatest treasure of all time?
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Matthew 6:5-18 Prayer and Fasting
Prayer and Fasting in the Sermon on the Mount, deal with how not to pray and fast. Jesus is showing the disciples by teaching through bad examples on how not to pray and fast. What might help us is to think about how these will further our growth in Jesus Christ. The following are excerpts from a couple commentaries and bible dictionaries all mashed together.
This model prayer is concerned in the first instance with the glory of God. Before we ask anything for ourselves, we look for the hallowing of God’s name, the extending of God’s kingdom and the doing of God’s will. These are the issues that weed out all that is self-centered in our prayer lives. It’s not just a matter of coming with our requests: it is coming with requests for things that will give glory to God, that will be in the interests of his gospel and that will produce more obedience to him in our own lives and in the lives of others.
Then we can start asking. We can ask for our needs to be met in the present, for forgiveness for the past and for protection in the future. By asking God for ‘our daily bread’, we acknowledge that all our material possessions are his to give and his to withhold. This is the language of dependence on the giver of all good gifts. By asking him to ‘forgive us our debts’, we are acknowledging a lifetime of accumulating debts we cannot repay before a God who can forgive. And by asking that he ‘lead us not into temptation’, we are looking forward realistically, knowing that we need to be kept and protected every step of life’s way.
FASTING: Refraining from eating food. The Bible describes three main forms of fasting. The normal fast involves the total abstinence of food. Luke 4:2 reveals that Jesus “ate nothing”; afterwards “He was hungry.” Jesus abstained from food but not from water.
In Acts 9:9 we read of an absolute fast where for three days Paul “did not eat or drink” (HCSB). The abstinence from both food and water seems to have lasted no more than three days (Ezra 10:6; Esther 4:16).
The partial fast in Dan. 10:3 emphasizes the restriction of diet rather than complete abstinence. The context implies that there were physical benefits resulting from this partial fast. However, this verse indicates that there was a revelation given to Daniel as a result of this time of fasting.
Fasting is the laying aside of food for a period of time when the believer is seeking to know God in a deeper experience. It is to be done as an act before God in the privacy of one’s own pursuit of God (Exod. 34:28; 1 Sam. 7:6; 1 Kings 19:8; Matt. 6:17).
Fasting is to be done with the object of seeking to know God in a deeper experience (Isa. 58; Zech. 7:5). Fasting relates to a time of confession (Ps. 69:10). Fasting can be a time of seeking a deeper prayer experience and drawing near to God in prevailing prayer (Ezra 8:23; Joel 2:12). The early church often fasted in seeking God’s will for leadership in the local church (Acts 13:2). When the early church wanted to know the mind of God, there was a time of prayer and fasting.
What Fasting really means, therefore, is abstinence from food for spiritual purposes.
Fasting is not Discipline it is something unusual and exceptional. Discipline is something we should do all the time not something that happens once in a while.
This model prayer is concerned in the first instance with the glory of God. Before we ask anything for ourselves, we look for the hallowing of God’s name, the extending of God’s kingdom and the doing of God’s will. These are the issues that weed out all that is self-centered in our prayer lives. It’s not just a matter of coming with our requests: it is coming with requests for things that will give glory to God, that will be in the interests of his gospel and that will produce more obedience to him in our own lives and in the lives of others.
Then we can start asking. We can ask for our needs to be met in the present, for forgiveness for the past and for protection in the future. By asking God for ‘our daily bread’, we acknowledge that all our material possessions are his to give and his to withhold. This is the language of dependence on the giver of all good gifts. By asking him to ‘forgive us our debts’, we are acknowledging a lifetime of accumulating debts we cannot repay before a God who can forgive. And by asking that he ‘lead us not into temptation’, we are looking forward realistically, knowing that we need to be kept and protected every step of life’s way.
FASTING: Refraining from eating food. The Bible describes three main forms of fasting. The normal fast involves the total abstinence of food. Luke 4:2 reveals that Jesus “ate nothing”; afterwards “He was hungry.” Jesus abstained from food but not from water.
In Acts 9:9 we read of an absolute fast where for three days Paul “did not eat or drink” (HCSB). The abstinence from both food and water seems to have lasted no more than three days (Ezra 10:6; Esther 4:16).
The partial fast in Dan. 10:3 emphasizes the restriction of diet rather than complete abstinence. The context implies that there were physical benefits resulting from this partial fast. However, this verse indicates that there was a revelation given to Daniel as a result of this time of fasting.
Fasting is the laying aside of food for a period of time when the believer is seeking to know God in a deeper experience. It is to be done as an act before God in the privacy of one’s own pursuit of God (Exod. 34:28; 1 Sam. 7:6; 1 Kings 19:8; Matt. 6:17).
Fasting is to be done with the object of seeking to know God in a deeper experience (Isa. 58; Zech. 7:5). Fasting relates to a time of confession (Ps. 69:10). Fasting can be a time of seeking a deeper prayer experience and drawing near to God in prevailing prayer (Ezra 8:23; Joel 2:12). The early church often fasted in seeking God’s will for leadership in the local church (Acts 13:2). When the early church wanted to know the mind of God, there was a time of prayer and fasting.
What Fasting really means, therefore, is abstinence from food for spiritual purposes.
Fasting is not Discipline it is something unusual and exceptional. Discipline is something we should do all the time not something that happens once in a while.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Matthew 5:21-6:4 Anger, Lust, Divorce, Oaths, Retaliation, love your enemies and giving to the needy.
Heart Issues: We all have them and they are where we find out who we are. The Heart Not just the center of the blood circulation though it means that. Not just the emotional part of man’s nature, but here the inner man including the intellect, the affections, the will. Jesus knows exactly what he is doing as he speaks on these very specific issues. It is no secret that he was speaking to the spirit of the law not the letter of the law. Think about this phrase from the section previous: “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees.” Jesus
The people Jesus would have know that what Jesus was speaking was about to show them the truth of who they were. They would soon see that this was not about what they did not do but why they did what they did. This quotes helps me grasp this perspective: “Confess not only for the reasons you have done wrong, but also for the reasons you have done right.” T. Keller
Think about Jesus words on the heart:
Matthew 12:34-For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Luke 6:45- The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
Here is a small perspective on the illustrations of Jesus.
Anger- Words Kill
Lust- Looking in Lust/ Thinking in Lust: “The eye and the heart are the two brokers of sin.” “Passions lodge only in him who sees.”
→
Divorce- Only for unfaithfulness
→
Oaths- Yes be Yes and No be No “not on your life”
Retaliation- turn the other cheek, give your jacket too
Love your Enemies- Even unbelievers love those who love them. pray for your enemies as well
Give to the needy- no for you but for Jesus
1 John2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Jesus did not come to deal with your actions in specific; he came to deal with the motives of your heart.
Heart Motives
- Who are you really?
- This is the stuff only you and Jesus Know.
- Most of us are Fake.
4 things your heart says about you:
1. What you Love most
2. Who you are
3. Where your deepest secrets are
4. How much you need a savior
Jesus came to change your heart, and what is amazing is that your heart tells your story.
This paragraph helps to bring understanding as Christians how we deal with our heart problems:
“The one test, which you must always apply to yourself, is this, what is my relationship to God? Do I know Him? In other words, as you examine yourself before you go to bed, you do not just ask yourself if you have committed murder or adultery, or whether you have been guilty of this or that, and if you have not thank God that all is well. No. You ask yourself rather, has God been supreme in my life today? Have I lived to the glory and honor of God? Do I know him better? Have I a zeal for his honor and glory? Has there been anything in me that has been unlike Christ- thoughts, imaginations, desires, and impulses? That is the way. In other words, you examine yourself in the light of a living person and nit merely in terms of a mechanical code of rules and regulations.” D. Martin Lloyd-Jones
I have the feeling if we asked these questions we might find heart perspective. One other thought is that we might pray through Luke 11:1-13 we will find hope and joy in the fight we are taking on inside of us.
The people Jesus would have know that what Jesus was speaking was about to show them the truth of who they were. They would soon see that this was not about what they did not do but why they did what they did. This quotes helps me grasp this perspective: “Confess not only for the reasons you have done wrong, but also for the reasons you have done right.” T. Keller
Think about Jesus words on the heart:
Matthew 12:34-For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Luke 6:45- The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
Here is a small perspective on the illustrations of Jesus.
Anger- Words Kill
Lust- Looking in Lust/ Thinking in Lust: “The eye and the heart are the two brokers of sin.” “Passions lodge only in him who sees.”
→
Divorce- Only for unfaithfulness
→
Oaths- Yes be Yes and No be No “not on your life”
Retaliation- turn the other cheek, give your jacket too
Love your Enemies- Even unbelievers love those who love them. pray for your enemies as well
Give to the needy- no for you but for Jesus
1 John2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Jesus did not come to deal with your actions in specific; he came to deal with the motives of your heart.
Heart Motives
- Who are you really?
- This is the stuff only you and Jesus Know.
- Most of us are Fake.
4 things your heart says about you:
1. What you Love most
2. Who you are
3. Where your deepest secrets are
4. How much you need a savior
Jesus came to change your heart, and what is amazing is that your heart tells your story.
This paragraph helps to bring understanding as Christians how we deal with our heart problems:
“The one test, which you must always apply to yourself, is this, what is my relationship to God? Do I know Him? In other words, as you examine yourself before you go to bed, you do not just ask yourself if you have committed murder or adultery, or whether you have been guilty of this or that, and if you have not thank God that all is well. No. You ask yourself rather, has God been supreme in my life today? Have I lived to the glory and honor of God? Do I know him better? Have I a zeal for his honor and glory? Has there been anything in me that has been unlike Christ- thoughts, imaginations, desires, and impulses? That is the way. In other words, you examine yourself in the light of a living person and nit merely in terms of a mechanical code of rules and regulations.” D. Martin Lloyd-Jones
I have the feeling if we asked these questions we might find heart perspective. One other thought is that we might pray through Luke 11:1-13 we will find hope and joy in the fight we are taking on inside of us.
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