Pre-Grace??

I asked a certain group of believers if they ever struggle with seeing themselves as “pre-grace”. This is where you know you have been forgiven, but you still see yourself as that sinful person. At times, I still see myself as that punk 12 year old trying to steal cigarettes from the Exxon. It amazed me at the way almost all the eyes went to the floor. It must be an epidemic. We have to learn to see ourselves as God sees us.

I think of Paul when he said, “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has enabled me, for that He counted me faithful putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy.” He understood how that “if any man be in Christ he is a new creature”. He did not forget all that he was, but he also did not allow what he was to define him. His identity was not in being what he used to be, but in being not what he used to be (read that again).

I wonder how many of us see ourselves as a new creation. We know we are forgiven, but we struggle to see ourselves as clean. One small sin can throw us back into the deepest feelings of regret and sorrow. See yourself as God sees you.

I WAS WHAT I WAS, BUT PRAISE GOD I’M NOT WHAT I WAS!

Small Groups

Hey Church!!!!
What do you think of the new Sunday Night Small Groups?

Isaiah

I've been reading through the book of Isaiah, and it has me wondering what a weird guy Isaiah must have been. 

Chapter 20 describes how he walked around naked and barefoot (because it would just be weird if he walked around naked with shoes on) for three years. Here's the guy that we're trusting for our prophecy about everything from the birth of Christ to the end of the world, and he's walking around naked for three years. Granted, God used his nakedness as a picture of what would happen to the Egyptians, but still...

So, here's what I gather from that:

1. People must have thought he was a fruit loop. 

2. He was willing to look like a fool in his obedience to God. 

Sometimes I find it hard to make myself willing to look even a little silly for Him. Are you willing to make a fool of yourself for the cause of Christ? Do you have a boundary in your mind--"I will only stoop this low to obey Him"?

Christmas

So, what does Christmas mean to you...really? And, I don't mean the Sunday School answer. I mean here in the middle of December, what's on your mind when you think of Christmas?

Cool Blog

Check out this story

http://web.mac.com/kevinplaster/iWeb/Russian%20Missions/Blog/F4B01C64-CC7B-4BC9-8C01-C4B895078411.html

Weary of Misery

Judges 10:16 (HCSB)
16 So they got rid of the foreign gods among them and worshiped the Lord, but He became weary of Israel’s misery.

God called His people out of the Wilderness (spiritual immaturity) to the Promised Land (spiritual maturity) for a purpose. They were to conquer the land, throw down strongholds, and move from dependence on God (manna) to faith in the sustaining Word of God (the food of the land). They were successful for a season. They conquered many people. They saw the demise of entire people groups, but they did not complete the job. There is a common phrase found in the history of Israel: “They did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord”.

How many times they fell away from the Lord and came back I do not know. It would take me too long to count. One thing I do know. God gets tired of it. He is longsuffering with His children, but He is not impractical. Judges 10:16 seems to be the first time in the Promised Land that God became fed up.

One thing strikes me. He was not weary of their sin or their sinfulness. I’m sure He was not a proud Father at that moment, but the scriptures show us an insight into God. He was weary with their MISERY.

How many times do we, as believers who have crossed the Jordan into Spiritual maturity, fall away from God and return to Him in sackcloth and ashes. We have made “rededication” a regular part of Sunday. We seem to live in a constant pattern of Spiritual Mountains and Valleys. I can’t help but think in a mature walk with God, those hills and troughs should even about a bit. Our Spiritual life should, at some point, stop looking like a seismograph during an earthquake and start looking like a steady line pulled tighter by an ongoing pursuit of the Blessed Hope, that Glorious Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have the potential to do great things for God, but we spend our every waking moment realizing our stupidity, worthlessness, and weakness. We have equated Spiritual Brokenness with Spiritual Maturity. It is important to spend a little time in sackcloth and ashes. It is necessary to understand who we are in relation to God. But, it is for freedom we have been set free. We are not conquerors; nay we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us and gave Himself for us.

This theme is found elsewhere in the Scriptures. Misery is being Lukewarm. If you don’t care about your sin, you are cold. If you are on fire, you are hot. If you care about your sin, do nothing about it, and stay miserable all the time, you are lukewarm. Jesus says in Revelation 4 that people who are lukewarm make Him want to puke. Sounds serious, huh??

God hates our sin. It is antithesis to His holiness. Sin does not compute in the mind of our Holy God (if that makes any sense). But, what makes God weary, what makes Him sad, what causes Him to look at His people and want to try something else, is seeing those whom He has given Victory living in defeat. It is time to understand that we have not traded in our shackles for shame. It is time to grow up and JUST STOP SCREWING UP SO MUCH. Why would anyone want to join a miserable group of people led by a miserable pastor that asks those miserable people to admit how miserable they are every Sunday? God’s greater than that! Know therefore that Yahweh your God is THE GOD, the Faithful God, who keeps His gracious covenant loyalty to a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commands. Know your God. Know your Victory. Reading this may make you feel miserable. If it does, good. Feel it for a moment and then leave misery for the devil. He’s gonna need it.

Be the Change

Well, we set the woods on fire this last Sunday. I shared with the church what God has been teaching me about “doing the will of Him that sent me”. We talked about starving for that sustenance from God. There was a great move. Many came to the front to openly admit that they are hungry for the food of the Promised Land and not just manna.

For some reason, I got extremely down after that service. All that I hoped would happen did, but it was not enough. I told them how that I expected the Word of God to start a revival, and it caused more movement than usual, but it was not right. Instead of asking people to come to the front, I wanted to say, “Who’s with me?” and lead a charge right out the back door. Once again tradition wins out. (Stinkin’ tradition).

I had high hopes that this message that truly was from God would spark an unstoppable fire in the hearts of the people. But now, I am reminded of a book Kevin Higgins told me about. It’s about a young boy that decided if modern-day slavery was going to be stopped, he would have to do it. It’s called “Be the Change”.

Fires are not started by words or desires, fires are started by fires. Doug Patterson, the one-liner king, said this: If you want to make change in your life, make change in your life. If there is going to be a revival unbeknownst to Henderson occur at LDMBC, it’s not going to happen because I want it to. It’s only going to happen because I start it. Only Passion is truly passionate. I can’t want passion from my church until I find passion in myself. Passion and hunger feel a lot alike. It’s like when someone is found in the desert. They need to slowly drink room-temperature water, but instead they gorge themselves on ice cold water to the point of sickness. I’ve been in the desert, and I’m thirsty.

Real thirsty.