Thoughts for Summer

Hello Christian family,

• Pursue holiness with Jesus every moment of life. Seek God's presence continuously. Love God & honor Him.  Every moment you are awake you are worshiping someone or something.
• All of life is sacred.  Treat every person as a sacred object since they were created in God's eternal spiritual image.  People are to be loved and cared for; never used.  Honor God by treating all of His creation with respect for Him. 
• Don't get off track by the busyness of summer. Flee temptation, isolation, alienation, loneliness, fear, worry, doubt, self-pity...  We cannot take the summer off from growing in Christ and expect to stay close to The King.  We need rest with and in Him; not from him.  Be wise how you live, speak, think, rest, play and recreate.
• Serve and pray for one another. Focusing on self and your own fun or issues at the expense of relationships with others helps no one.  Erwin McManus is right, "It is through serving that we are healed."  The more we analyze ourselves, the more warts we see and dislike grows into large decaying trees of discontent.  Take your eyes off yourself, look longingly and lovingly unto Jesus treating all people how you would Him.
• You do not go to church. How are you doing at being the church? Serve, love, pray for others, bear fruit, gather together, share the good news of Jesus & His cross... The main difference between Christianity and all other faith and religious groups is the cross: God became man in real flesh to die for our sin and appease the wrath that God has toward sinners--God reached down to make a way for a restored relationship with Him.  No other way works.
• Love & Respect your spouse, future spouse, family, neighbors, co-workers, strangers, brothers & sisters in Christ, enemies...
• Pray for unity in our local churches. This is spiritual warfare. Be a unifier.  The Acts4 prayer gatherings in Washoe County Nevada are a small attempt at being the answer to Jesus' prayer in John 17.  Since these started, many different churches with a variety of musical styles and spiritual views on grace gifts have gathered to pray for the unity of all believers, revival in the churches, awakening of lost people being brought into the Kingdom of God and for sin and demonic activity to be defeated.  There is progress and the battle is real.  The enemy hates these prayers and has been viciously attacking the people made holy by Jesus.  Keep praying boldly.
• Know you are loved and wanted by God and His children. We all need each other.

I agonize over you and long to serve you so you know and follow Jesus completely and radically,

 

Scott

The Bible is HIS story

The Bible is HIS story. It is a jewel to be looked at from every angle, not just our own. We need others to help bring the story alive as we all enter together into HIS story as it continues throughout eternity. The Bible is like the crown jewels all combined into one glorious display. Now, here is the key. Christians are the light of the world, so Jesus says. We need the light in us or else we are dark. If Jesus is the light of the world, then only He can shine His light through us. A person who does not have the light is darkness. So when the dark looks at the crown jewels, dark sees nothing! Nothing. Nothing is revealed where there is no light. The opposite is true for those who have Jesus, the light of the world, emanating from them. The light shines on the jewels revealing a dazzling display as the light is refracted and the spectrum of visible light explodes in a glorious display. And it changes from every angle. Something new and amazing is revealed from each angle and light change. It is never ending and always beautiful as it reveals something of the glory and nature of the divine. It is HIS story coming to life in us as The Light reveals it. The more we allow the light to control us, the more we see new brilliance in the jewels. Then we mature and realize something more. The light is not merely in us. We have died and been hidden in the light. The light shines brightest when we are at our deadest. The more dead we become, the more glorious the light is. As we gain understanding and maturity, it is then revealed that the jewels are not what is glorious. Instead, what is glorious is The Light. The jewels merely reflect and refract what The Light pours down on them. So it is with the Bible, as God's special revelation of Himself to the world, it is merely the jewels that reveal Him as He shines Himself on and through it to those wanting to know The Light. The jewels are pointing us to The Light. We must turn and look unto Him and pursue as. Only life can come from This Light. We have to, absolutely have to, we must enter into HIS story allowing Him to be our Light, our Life, our everything. Darkness, no matter how hard it tries cannot reveal glory and does not deserve glory for it is the absence of Light.




God says to you, "My plans are not thwarted by your choices.  You cannot make Me love you more. You toil and spin SO much."


"Life growth, your sanctification, is all about perspective. If you take your focus off you and you solving your stuff, then you grow and mature. Often the change of perspective is so subtle that you do not recognize when you are deceived and off track. You need no longer be independent. You need to be in dependence on Me. You are holey, filled with holes. You are not whole. You need to stay focused on Me and I will make you holy, not filled with holes, but filled with Me so you become pure."


"It's all right that you do not understand many things. Will you trust Me?"

I don't like Your questions, Lord. Why won't You answer mine?

God, "What risk is there in following Me if you are dead to yourself?  Your flesh fears many things that have no power and it has little fear of The One Who has all the power."


Why is it that when 'life' happens, we get busy and caught up in stuff, that we become flakey in our walk with You? ...It all depends on whose 'life' you want: yours or Jesus'.

A Piece of the USA Church

We are the most agitated overrated constipated medicated fornicated overweighted nihilated culture in the history of human existence. No one has done less with more than us.  We have it all and our buckets are empty.  We want it all because the too much we already have leaves us empty and dissatisfied.  Yet God gives us grace.........  Why?  We abuse it, misuse it, misconstrue it, all for the sake of satisfying our own lack of fulfillment by taking it out on others.  We are not complete so we make sure others are not either.  We smile while backstabbing, condemning others while we do the same yet condone our actions as we destroy others due to our own lack of peace.  Why does Jesus still love us?  Look at what we do to each other.  We are not honoring and loving Him with our unity.  We mock Him with our hypocrisy and continue boasting of how wonderful we are.  We are holy.  Are we?  We are overstimulated, aggravated, intoxicated, masturbated, .... We have it all yet have nothing. No peace.  No joy. No prayer. No holiness. Because we don't know God and we don't know good.  We just fake it.

God, we are a mess.  Why do You love us?  Look at what we do.  Look at how we treat each other. Look and listen to our thoughts, lives and actions. We are holy?  We love and obey you?  We want to lead Your church when we act like this?  You must be crazy, God. What is wrong with You to let us keep going like this?

The text is so small because that is what we need to be before The One True Holy God.

Ho, Ho, Ho, Happy Easter

It's not about eggs and bunnies or other tie-ins to pagan fertility gods. It's not about one who gives gifts if we are not naughty; Santa god--the false god we create to make us feel better about ourselves as we outperform others doing nice things or being nice. Instead the One True God has a very different plan for us; one that we did not invent.

God desires that we become holy. We are supposed to be holy, as and because He is. We usually are not. We may want to be, but often have a good desire but a hypocritical heart and our fleshly, self-willed egos keep us far from purity and righteousness. We miss the mark. We aim at the wrong target or fall short. Often we merely rebel.


Our fallen-ness keeps us less than holy. Instead of 'holy' we are just 'ho'. Ho, Ho, Ho. Like Santa's laugh, we are the trinity of imperfection. We are just a bunch of messed up half-holy's. We are partially there. That partial is very far from His holiness. We serve our idol's well and our God, not so well. Partial holiness just makes us prostitutes of imperfection.


Isn't it time to die to the flesh as baptism represents and let Christ live through us. That, alone, can make us holy. Go to Jesus. Pursue, love and worship Him. Quit playing church. Quit play acting the role of a disciple. We must not be actors. It must be real as we spend time worshipping the King in His throne room so we can live out authentic, real and holy faith in our daily earthly existence.


Go hide with God. Get to know Him in solitude in a secret place. Let Him transform you and make you holy. The world is waiting. And so is God.

For Some People Work is Their 'god'

I am noticing more things as I age. This post will focus on work and the attitude of workers.

For some people work is their god. This may not be very many people, but these people are highly motivated and often successful. They may not always live for work but they love to be working. They are there; wherever work is, nearly every day and have a tendency to work from wherever they are on their day off. These people are tough to take on vacation. They don't know how to not be working. It usually is what they live for.

For some; maybe most here in the USA, work is merely a means to an end. This is where 'working for the weekend' is realized. These people work to have money to spend on what they want to be doing. They work because they have to to survive and pay bills. Few, if any, with this attitude are valuable employees. Their goal is to work just hard enough to stay employed and then escape as soon as possible to take care of the god they worship; themselves and the pursuit of ...whatever pleasure, entertainment, sport, recreation, etc. that they would be doing all the time if they had the money.

For a few, they work to glorify God. These people often mess up on how this works itself out. They want their lives to point toward something greater. They recognize there is a God and they need to serve Him. New Testament teachings tell Christians to work as if they are working for their Lord; even if, their earthly boss is their slave owner. There are bosses who treat people like slaves. People who work to glorify God are themselves works in progress. They want to work hard and with a great attitude so the God they love is honored by their labor. The Hebrew words in Genesis where God places Adam in the garden point to Adam being put there to work the garden and worship God by his obedience in caring for it. That didn't last long; about 5 minutes. But in effort and productivity, it should be difficult to tell these people apart from the first group mentioned.

Thanks to our culture of entitlement there are a chunk of people who refuse to work believing that it is the governments job to provide for and take care of them. This is the maturity level of a toddler who has never grown out of needing diapers. This perpetual cycle of laziness is destructive and wastes the ingenuity and creativity that God has placed in every person. It is extremely difficult to help these people turn their lives around and become productive members of society.

Where do you fit in? Why do you work? How hard do you work? What motivates you? What is your attitude toward your boss? What is your attitude toward the god you think you know? What is your attitude toward the God revealed in the Bible? Whom does your life and work honor? How do you know for sure that your thinking and motives are correct, accurate and right?

Fragile Communication

This is from my (Darla's) notebook from who knows where and from an unknown date. Just came across it 2 nights ago and we thought it just might be relevant to all relationships. Just like how Scott and I are arguing over how to word that last sentence.

We live in a fragile world--everything is fragile from ants to plants to animals. All of creation is fragile but just won't admit it. Because we are fragile, we are easily wounded and this makes it difficult to know what we are thinking and how we feel.

Because we are confused about our own thoughts and feelings it makes it difficult to communicate. The fact of the matter is, sin affects us all in this way. So if you are confused because we are all fragile and wounded also, it's no wonder it is so hard to communicate. This doesn't mean just speaking and hearing words, but real communication, which is connecting below the surface where we can reach in and touch each others souls.

To know and be known is at the core of our deepest desires and needs. Most of us think we are communicating well because we have been doing our best or what we believe is our best or normal. What we often fail to realize is that sin has so tainted or impaired our abilities that what we think is deep communication is merely skimming across the surface.

I had a dream...and there were 2 choices

Last night Darla and I went to some friends house to share how much we love and appreciate them. After we spoke encouraging words over them and prayed, the mother shared that her daughter had a dream. So they shared the dream because it included some of their family members I prayed for without prompting. We were not sure what the dream meant. But a lot of the young adults at Outlook Christian Church lately have been getting dreams and visions. I half-jokingly said that I never get dreams from God, but I wanted them...

...1:30am I wake in the middle of a dream that seems to not make sense nor be provoked by any of the weeks events...

All of my family members are driving around a lake somewhat like Lake Tahoe. We rendezvous at several different spots. None of the gatherings are in the dream. I don't know what we are doing or why we are there. The only detail given is that one part of my family never meets up with the rest of us despite being expected and telling some they were on their way. I finally get a phone call and the leader of that family is put on the phone to explain why. Apparently I had sent an e-mail to this person cautioning them about an upcoming decision and they did not like what I wrote. This is the line that sets him off, “Are you sure you want to make this purchase? Is is good for your family? I know you have struggled with greed in the past.”

That sets him off in anger. Before he responds I wake up. What is this? Where is the rest of the dream? Why this person? I haven't talked to him other than saying “Hello, how are you?” in the last 9 months. I don't have a relationship with this person. Very few in my whole family do. So I lay there awake knowing I am going to be up a while. I ask God what this is about.

I think over the phrase that sets him off. I analyze it, mulling it over from various angles. Was it wrong? Was it anger inducing? Did it deserve a hostile response that was forthcoming when I was awakened? Then it hits me. I have been dealing with a situation where my words of caution and warning to a brother in Christ were received negatively and rage was returned. Things escalated on both ends. He is wounded by me and retaliates with venom. Somehow I am not wounded in return by the battle that ensued. We don't connect. We don't make progress and grow as brothers in Christ. I damage his soul.

Then, while I lay there in the dark thinking, I am reminded of Emerson Eggerichs' words in his Love & Respect video series. He is talking about conflict between two people and explains that you cannot make someone angry. That is their choice. He illustrates by talking about stepping on a rose. If he steps on a rose, putting pressure on it, its true aroma is revealed. It smells fragrant and pleasant. He did not make it a rose or cause it to smell like a rose. The true character of the rose is revealed by the pressure. He switches the analogy telling of a different situation. If, however, he steps on a skunk applying pressure to it, then a very different aroma is released. He did not cause the skunk to smell like that. The pressure merely revealed its true nature and character. Then he made the point that he said the same words in both situations, but the results were completely different.

Now I start to understand.

I get a new picture. I see a large pot on a hot stove. It is near the boiling point. There is a lot of heat ready to be released. It is a big pot. Huge. I step close and reach for the lid to peak inside. Barely opening it I see a stinking liquid ready to explode. The mere exposure to the air of this liquid leads to a violent response. The pot itself turns the burner up to high. The pot applies other flames to its sides causing a roaring boil that explodes the liquid everywhere. All I did was attempt to look inside by barely opening the lid. I did not cause it to boil or explode.

Remember my words above that set off the firestorm? If a healthy person receives those words, their response would be something like, “Thanks for the caution. That has been a problem. I will keep that in mind and seek God for help. Let's go hang out.” Then they walk away together to live life together.

If an unhealthy person receives the same words, something different happens. The boiling pot fuels its own frenzy of fire with flamethrowers. The fleshly fixated filth focuses foul energy; furiously overflowing vile forlorn forces of frustration; furtively faking friendship; foiling every good faith effort by fluidly festering fetid phlegm feverishly and the problem was fervently, foolishly, funkily fertilizing the fungus of un.............. forgiveness. Holiness and purity were on furlough.

If the dream had gone on, the family member would speak to me out of his flesh unhealthily saying in a crescendo of hostility that moves into a yelling roar: “I don't struggle with greed. You're wrong. You don't know what you're talking about. How dare you accuse me. In fact, the problem is you. Why don't you look in the mirror and see that it's really you that have the problem. I am fine with God. You are the sinner. You're a jerk and an idiot. Why did I ever speak with you. I should have known you would lash out and attack me bringing up the past to wound and slander me. I hate you. I never liked you. What a fool I was to think you were family. You're a betrayer and an awful human being. There is nothing good in you.”

I didn't cause the reaction. The skunk revealed itself. Now all this energy spent on this boiling pot takes a ridiculous amount of time, effort and emotion. It can easily pull me away from faithfully focusing on the teachable. So, the boiling pot explodes. Is he like the one I am supposed to leave the 99 for?

While, on the other hand, the healthy person simply and quietly says, “Thanks for the thoughts, I'll think about that and make sure I don't fall into that flaw and fail falling away from the Father. Let's go have lunch. I love you.” There is energy returned instead of hostility. There is healing, forgiveness, faithfulness, trust. The relationship needs no restoration because no damage was one. 99 healthy people require as much energy and time as one unhealthy person.

It's like Jesus' parable about the two men praying in Matthew 6. The healthy person [v.6] prays in secret quietly and humbly asking for forgiveness like the tax collector in Luke 18:12, because he recognized his sinfulness and need for a Savior.

The unhealthy person prays in public to look good [v.5]. The unholy sounds good praying eloquently [Luke 18:9-14] but trust in themselves more than God and need affirmation from men.

Just like the thieves on the cross. The one humbly asks to be remembered, knowing his flaws and failures; and in a sense, humbly whispers remorsefully, “Father, forgive me.” While the other angrily shouts at heaven with eyes aflame with fiery hatred demanding, “FATHER, FORGIVE MEEEE.” The same words. Different intent. Different emotions. Different aroma.

Matthew 6:12, “And forgive us our debts, AS we also have forgiven our debtors.” That should scare the arrogance out of us. Matthew 6:14-15, “For IF you forgive others for their transgressions, your Heavenly Father will ALSO forgive you. BUT IF you do NOT forgive others, then your Father will NOT forgive your transgressions.”

The one thief is a humble rose freely forgiving. He hears, receives and says healthy words. He is healthy because he is broken.

The other thief contemptuously festers over the same words lashing out demanding to be heard and obeyed so he can win the argument and appear righteous. He does not receive correction nor is open to it. Proverbs 9:7-8, “He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself, and he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you, reprove a wise man and he will love you.” The skunk spews stench under pressure. Again, I did not cause the anger. I revealed the character within by cracking open the lid on the pot to look in.

The question now is posed: Which thief are you? Are you the healthy person or the unhealthy? Are you the rose or the skunk? Which will you choose?

Jesus is between the two crucified. In horrible torturous agony he pushes himself up to painfully suck in each breath. After each breath, his knees give out as he painfully attempts to speak. With humongous effort and one word per agonizing breath, he slowly speaks, “Father..... forgive..... them......” Jesus loves them both. And, ….... and …...... so …... do …..... I.

We wait longingly for the unhealthy person to be broken and be made healthy through forgiveness which follows true repentance. Humbly pursue the Holy One so He can make you healthy and whole. I want the one back.

How to Choose Your Spouse

Most people I know want a happy life; the guys want a happy, sexy, beautiful, low-maintenance wife and the ladies want their version of Prince Charming. I won't be writing much about what women want because I am not one; hence, I have no clue. My wife tells me she wants honesty, integrity, love, provision, protection, a man seeking Jesus all the time and to feel enveloped. Picture an eagle standing near his mate with his wings spread around her in protection and glaring at the enemies desiring to harm her silently screaming like Gandalf, "You shall NOT pass!"

So my sweet, petite, kind, gentle, loving, servant of Jesus, gorgeous Swedish blue-eyed blonde babe wife is whom I choose to love, cherish, respect, honor, serve, [insert all the other God-honoring husband adjectives here] for the rest of this life. She is the 'one.' I fell madly 'in love' with her. I forsake all other women to be with her. She is the only one for me, because God says she alone is my woman to share life, love, sex, etc. with because...duh! We are married.

So, how do you find the 'one' and what is 'falling in love?' Both of these are non-biblical descriptions of how our society has told us to find a partner. Nowhere in the Bible do we get much help determining how to find and choose a mate. So Christians in the USA follow along with the same emotionally destructive dating game used in Hollywood. And we see how successful that is. "I know. Right?" [I use that phrase to mock it because I detest it. Are you making a statement or asking a question? You cannot agree and doubt at the same second. Kind of how we look for a spouse. Isn't it? See?!] But Christians haven't chosen spouses wisely and have thrown away marriage as quickly as celebrities have. Maybe if I knew how to choose my mate at 20 with the knowledge I have now, I would still be in that first marriage. But, if I did, then I wouldn't have the children I do now, nor would I be with my wife [described above]. I love my kids. I love my wife. Since they are mine, I choose to LOVE them. All the mistakes along the way have led me to where I am now. I celebrate with joy my children for who they are and that they are seeking Jesus. I celebrate my wife. I cannot imagine, nor do I want to think about, being with any other. So heed my lessons learned advice as we now move quickly forward.

As I stated at the beginning, I will write mainly to the guys; 'cuz I are one. Men, you have a built in longing by God to pour your life into a woman; not just sexually. God put it in us. We long to be Prince Charming and her fearless warrior to protect, provide, strengthen, etc. her so she can become the Princess she longs to be. Only as God directs can this happen in a healthy way. He who finds a wife finds a good thing. The Proverb does not mean she is a thing. It means having a wife is a good thing. The woman, the person who is the wife, is a treasured creation of God. How do we find her? Let's not think finding a wife is to be done in the same manner as Moses, Isaac and Jacob 'found' theirs. And, please, oh! please, do not use David and Solomon as the models for obtaining your spouse.

Whether you decide to meet women at church or through friends, needs to be submitted to God. Those are probably the two best options. Stay clear of the on-line dating/meeting stuff simply for the desperation it connotes or denotes; one of those is the right word, or maybe both. Stay away from clubs, bars, prostitutes, co-workers [these last two are fairly equivalent] and any other places you sense are not for you. I don't really have any idea where or how you will meet 'the one.'

How about praying, "God, when you are ready and think I am, please bring someone to me that you want me to share life with so we can live a marriage that serves and glorifies You while we bring glimpses of Your Kingdom to a hurting world."

As a parent I wish I could save my children lots of pain and deliver to them 'the one' from God. So far, it's not happening. Parents picking their kids spouse! This has caused plenty of pain in people's lives. But what is often overlooked is the fact that your parents didn't deliver a worse version of 'the one' than your own many failed attempts have. Listen to and talk with your parents and Christians that can give you wisdom and direction.

Here now are the five easy steps to getting 'the one.'

1. There is no such thing as 'the one.' You have to become 'the one' for 'the one' you marry. You only know for sure that they are 'the one' when you are married, because they de facto become 'the one.' So make your spouse 'the one' by choosing to be 'the one' and treating your now life-spouse as 'the one' you always dreamed of. Marriage is commitment. It's not about your feelings.


2. This one is more important than #1. Pursue God for life-giving and transforming water daily. Worship God. Surrender to Jesus. Submit to the Holy Spirit. Allow and ask God to continuously wash you clean making you more holy daily. Surrender all your faults at the cross. Become like Jesus so you can be like Jesus to everyone including your spouse. Serve Jesus, love people. Take your eyes off yourself. Submit your will and desires to the King. Beg for holiness; not a wife!


3. You do not 'fall in love' because you do not 'fall out of love.' Neither of these is a biblical concept. This is Hollywood romantic mumbo-jumbo. These are merely descriptions of confused feelings, hopes, wants, etc. that may all merely be related to indigestion. They may also last about the same amount of time.


4. Align all your hopes, dreams, goals, desires with what God tells you as you dig into Scripture and pray. Lose your selfish hollowness. Die to self and be made whole in Christ so you won't need a spouse to 'complete' you. You need to be a whole person who knows that your flesh is dead and the life you now live is Jesus living through you to change the world.


5. Marriage is only for this life. Remember, Jesus said to the Pharisees there will not be marriage in heaven. Bummer! So as great as marriage can be and as amazing as sex with 'the one' is, it isn't even eternal. Whatever heaven consists of is far better than what marriage on earth was designed for. Marriage is merely an earthly analogy of the community God exists in so we can get to know Him. It's like the tabernacle and temple were merely earthly copies of the real thing in heaven. Somehow marriage is just to make us more like Jesus, give us an understanding of how to love God and people and to be committed to one person so we can learn how to be solely, souly and wholey committed to THE ONE. That's the triune God in case you were confused about which one that ONE was.


6. Now that you are whole in Jesus and not needy, emo, etc. we can move on. If you don't have the above solid, you will put too much of your brokenness on your spouse. They cannot fix you. They cannot; cannot bear your burden. They cannot complete you. Only God can deal with all your junk.


7. So when you meet a possible spouse, your number one priority is to determine that they fit all the above and are whole in Jesus too. They cannot need you. If we marry for need, it is putting the spouse in the place of God to heal our hollowness. Marriage is not supposed to be toxic like co-dependency and enabling are [insert all relationship reality TV shows here as negative examples]. Marriage is supposed to mimic the community that God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are.


8. Now for the stuff that is usually first on all the other lists: Do you like this person? Can you get along in a crowd and when its just the two of you? Is there a physical attraction? Somehow this needs to be near the bottom of the list since it is a fading quality. Everyone's looks carries diminishing returns. Can you laugh with and at each other? How do you both handle stress and anger? Insert here all the other questions you think up.


9. Is it wooing? Is it courting? Is it a date? Whatever label the relationship has, it needs to be pursued with purity, integrity, honesty and all the other true and cool righteous adjectives that lift up Jesus. Communicate well. Listen lots. Listen more. Smile. Have fun together. Be friends.

So there you have the 3-steps toward finding 'the one' to 'fall in love' with. Simple.

Now, where is she? Probably on a friends Facebook friend list. No. Wait. That was needy. Remember MySpace? It faded faster than many "the one"s did.

Give Him time. Everything is His space. Your future spouse is His child. You are His child. Read #'s 2 & 4 until you get it. Rest in Jesus. Be His child. Bow before Him. Spend a lot of time before His throne allowing Him to make you whole. Become whom He makes you as He dumps your junk and cleans you up.