After Sunday's message i had this song on my mind...

As you listen to the 2nd verse, you may be asking "what is an Ebenezer?" After Israel had been defeated twice - losing some 34,000 soldiers AND the Ark of the Covenant - they repented of their "idol worship," humbled themselves and asked Samuel to pray for God to give them the victory. After God gave them the victory over the Philistines and they were able to take the Ark of the Covenant back.

1 Samuel 7:12 - Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer: for he said, “Till now the LORD has helped us.”

Ebenezer simply means "stone of help." It was something to remind the Israelites that their help is from God.

Our help is from God, too! We raise an Ebenezer when we sing of His great love, journal about what He has done, or any number of other ways that we remind ourselves and those around us of God's help and provision.

https://vimeo.com/43506400#at=0

Jesus is greater

@JohnPiper: Jesus is greater than I have ever portrayed him to be.

Mighty work of God

@JohnPiper: For me becoming an atheist would be a non-act. Effortless as falling off a cliff. But to stay a Christian, a mighty work of God.

Margaret Thatcher

@ralphreed: "If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman." - Lady Margaret Thatcher

Good Friday 2013

Today is Good Friday.  This is the day that Jesus' trial began which ultimately led to His death, burial and resurrection.  It really is a big deal when you stop to think about it.  Too often I think we take this event for granted.  Really?!

There has never been another event in the course of history that has meant so much and done so much.  Think about it...

It is the dividing line of our calendar.  Every time we write the date, it says 2013 years after our Lord.  Even those who want to minimize the work of and reality of Jesus mark this historical event every day.

There is also the reality that no name in history has brought more discussion.  Think about it...at little league ball games, at football games, at graduations ALL over the country they are having prayers but are not allowed to end the prayer "in Jesus name."  There is power in that name and the enemy wants to limit the use of that name.

It is also that name by which souls are saved, demons are cast out, lives are released from the power and bondage of sin.

It REALLY IS a big deal.  Don't take this event for granted.  Think about it...let it simmer in your mind today - each day.  It has real power for you.  For me. If we let it...if we let HIM.

Being self sufficient

@JohnPiper: If you are sufficient for your task, it's too small.

Depravity

@desiringgod: "Knowing our depravity deepens our humility which sweetens and strengthens all significant relationships."

A Good Man

@JohnPiper: "When we ask whether someone is a good man, we are not asking what he believes, or hopes, but what he loves." St. Augustine

Worry

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. (1 Peter 5:7 NLT)

Mature in The Lord

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. (1 Corinthians 14:20 ESV)

Lord, don't let me forget

Today I was listening to something Brian McLaren video-blogged recently. I typically have nothing to do with Mr. McLaren - I believe some or most of his beliefs DO NOT match the word of God...he seems to embrace some form of universalism. But I was sent this link by someone and I wanted to check it out.

Like I said, I usually don't agree with McLaren but something he said today made me look inside myself. His main thought was "does the Holy Spirit not bring people to our churches because of our feelings of spiritual supremacy?" While I pray that is not true of our church today, it made me think...

I never want to forget all that God saved me from. The sins He freed me from as well as the hell He saved me out of. In a similar way, I want to always reach out to those who need Jesus - I want them to know I care and our church cares...no matter how broken they may be. "Lord, let me never forget and always reach out to those who need you."

I also can't change perceptions. I have loved people and stood for what Jesus says and still have had people say I am judgmental or unloving. In some of these cases the reason people are not becoming followers of Jesus is not because they are not loved, but because they don’t want to repent of their sin. Jesus said they hated Him and they will hate me, too. If I am going to be hated, I want to make sure it is because I am trying to be like Jesus, not because we’re being unlike Jesus.

Christ is Glorified

John Piper: "Christ is glorified in you when he is more precious to you than all that life can give or death can take."

God, Circumstances, and YOU

I have been thinking this week about the way circumstances affect how we see God and our belief system.

Earlier this week I was talking with a young man who was questioning God's existence based on some pretty lousy things he had seen people go through and things that he had gone through.

I was also thinking of another guy who would say he is a follower of Jesus, but, the truth is, he has seemed to follow Christ for a very long time...much of the rationale is in the amount of lousy things he has experienced. And he really experienced some lousy things in his life - infidelity, deaths in the family, significant change in income, as well as the other things in life that hit all of us. Pretty heavy stuff.

So here is the reality as I see it...and I am speaking as one who has had significant pain the last several years myself...God is either God or He is not.

We pursue Him because of WHO He is not just WHAT He has done. It is definitely easier to love God and pursue Him when we have money in the bank, our spouse is treating us well, we have no significant loss in our lives, etc.

But the truth is God is still God whether things are good whether we are going through pain.

I choose today to pursue Him...no matter the circumstance.

Sean McDowell: The Hidden Price Tag of Porn

Sean McDowell: The Hidden Price Tag of Porn: Today’s pornography is different from any in the past in three ways: accessibility, quality, and consumption.

Long for God more than His works

Have you ever read something and thought, "I wish I'd said that." What is really frustrating for me is that...it's usually something pretty basic and simple. But for some reason, at that moment it seems to carry more significance...to be more profound. A while back I was reading Gordon MacDonald's book Gripped by the Greatness of God. He tells of the time in the 1980s when they began Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Over the next 13 years the church grew tremendously. Their facilities became inadequate and they needed to relocate. For 2 years they searched for land and finally found a piece of property. He writes:

The property was owned by the Catholic Church, and they don't sell much-especially not to an evangelical church. Nevertheless, our church's history is one of multiplied miraculous answers to prayer, and so we set about to test the promises of God.

I filled my heart with faith based on Mark 11:24, "All things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them and they will be granted you," and I repeatedly went out on the property to walk and pray. Our elders gathered on the vacant land holding hands in a circle, calling out to God by faith and asking Him to give us this land.

Behind the scenes it really appeared as if He would. Doors that were previously slammed shut began to open. Key people within the ranks of the Catholic hierarchy began to soften to the idea of selling us the land, even to the point of contacting us and inviting an offer. I continued to pray as the private negotiations accelerated, telling our church on several occasions that a miracle was imminent that would "blow their minds." So focused I became on "claiming this mountain" that I hardly thought of anything else.

I begged God to do this work and put myself in a very dangerous position spiritually. Psalm 106:15 says God "gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul" (NKJV).

God doesn't want us to long for His works more than we long for Him. God is not a heavenly genie waiting reluctantly till we rub the lamp the right way. We must be very careful of begging God to do some specific work in a way that quenches our thirst for Him and His greatness alone.
(pp. 138-139)

---

This is where I have been lately. He has been reminding me to desire Him more than His provisions. It is kind of like being a boy with a rich dad (well it is actually a lot like that). The danger can be for that boy to miss the relationship with his dad for all that that dad can provide.

Father, I love you. I want to know you more today.

What a day!

OK...so i am not real regular at writing on my blog. But yesterday was...well...wow! I was so pumped to give a word that I felt i had been given to give to the Journey. BUT nearly from the start, we faced one issue after another as we prepared for service. For those that don't know, we are in a temporary location and so we set up each Sunday...staging...sound...lights...chairs, everything.

From the beginning of the set up to the time we tried to begin worship, there was one technical thing after another giving us problems. By the time we began worship, i was a wreck...i was spinning mentally, physically, and spiritually. I was upset because of circumstances not being just right. But God was preparing to do something in spite of all of that.

The message was His despite the way the enemy would fight it. God's word is powerful and so it is obvious the enemy would love nothing more than to distract. But God was large. In our weakness He is so strong.

So the truth about all this is God does not need lights and sound to be just right...for Pete's sake, He doesn't need me, either...i am grateful He chooses to use me, though. What a rush to be His.

Charles West said, "We turn to God when our foundations are shaking - only to learn that it's God Who was shaking them."

MORE IMPORTANTLY, here is what God's word says...Psalms 139:7-10 (NIV)
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

God will work WHERE He wants WHEN He wants IN THE WAY He wants. I will rest in that today.

God is BIG Enough

God is BIG Enough!
Over the past few weeks at Journey, we have been talking about the names and character of God. Each week I have said, "the more we know about God the more we can trust Him."

We have seen Him as Elohim - the "Creator" and our "Powerful God." The we saw Him as El Roi - the "God Who Sees." He is always there when we need Him. He protects and provides for His children. We have also seen Him as El Shaddai - the "Almighty" and "All-Sufficient One." We have seen Him as "Jehovah" - He gave us His personal name because He wants to know us personally. We have seen Him as Lord - "Adonai." We have seen Him as the "Healer God" - Jehovah Rapha. And this past Sunday we talked about God as Jehovah Jireh - The Lord our Provider.

The reason many of us feel God isn't answering us or isn't providing for us is because of our vision of what His answer looks like. When we pray, we ask for what seems to be the real issue - "a bill to be paid," or "for healing for someone," or whatever. And the truth is, God could snap His finders and you could be wealthy beyond description or completely healthy. However, God is not just into quick fixes. He is about the bigger picture of our lives...the bigger picture of the entire kingdom of God.

It is like tapestry. The top of the tapestry is beautiful - full of colors and design. The bottom is a different story entirely - hundreds of knots, pieces of thread hanging everywhere, no noticeable design. Where BEAUTY is a word that describes the top...a word that would describe the bottom would be CHAOS.

We are focused on the chaos of our lives - not enough money for the bills, too few customers, health problem still not resolved, stress at home, and on and on.

God is looking at the top - the finished product of our lives. He is more concerned with what it takes to teach us to be godly and develop character than the "quick fix" in our lives. Simply put - the problems and stresses that you are dealing with right now, have an eternal purpose.

Maybe you have been praying the same prayer for a while:
- "God, I need more money..."
- "God, I need a different job...or I need a job that I like..."
- "God, I need to be healed...my spouse or child needs to be healed..."
- "God, I want peace in my home..."
- "God, I want to be married..."

If our prayer has not been answered to our satisfaction (I just laughed out loud - "our satisfaction" - that's kind of funny) we probably need to change our prayers. Remember Paul's words...

"To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." 2 Corinthians 12:7-9

So when we find our prayers not being answered like we wanted or in the time frame we wanted, we would do well to change our prayer...

"God, I have been asking for (your specific prayer request) for some time now. I know you are so powerful and could answer my prayer instantly if you chose to..."
- "is there something in me that needs to be changed?"
- "is there sin in me that needs to be dealt with?"
- "what am I supposed to learn about you through this time?"
- "is there some action you have already told me to do that I am not yet doing?"
- "God move in my life however you choose to...I trust you."
...or any number of other prayers that open our hearts and minds to what HE wants to do in us. It is at this point that we will see God in a new way...

God is BIG Enough!

His masterpiece

Becoming His Masterpiece

Recently at Journey we talked about the fact that God is making us into masterpieces. But if you are like me, when you woke up today, that may not be how you "felt." Maybe you are tired from the holiday yesterday and you just tried to do too much...or maybe you worked on the holiday. Maybe you awoke to a spat with someone in your home. Whatever the reason is, you don't feel too much like a masterpiece.

Remember this verse?

"The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?"
Jeremiah 17:9

Don't live on the shifting sands of your feelings. The enemy, the devil, does so much damage there. Instead, choose to live your life on the reality of God's love and faithfulness.

One of the greatest ways to experience God's best is to alter the way you live to fit what He says - simply when He shows us something, we obey. On the other side, when we are constantly wanting more and more, we develop a selfish life that is never content.

However, when we live our life for the glory of God, there is power and peace that happens. Everything we do, we do for HIM. That is the mentality.

Johann Sebastian Bach placed "S.D.G." on the bottom of every musical score he wrote. S.D.G....Soli Deo Gloria...For the Glory of God Alone.

What would happen if there was an SDG:
- on the bottom of the proposal you did at work
- on our report cards at school
- on our homes and marriages
- on our kids lives
- on our bank account
- on our relationships with friends

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

If we made it our goal to live that way, in whatever we do or say, our lives would be so different. God would be freed up to do so much more in us and through us.

For the Glory of God Alone! He is creating a masterpiece...this is just one more way we can cooperate with His process.

Twitter

So this morning, i am getting messages from my TweetDeck. There is some activity, so i go and check it out and there are some absolutely obscene random comments from some guy to his peeps. DOH!

I blocked that because i don't need to have that kind of obscenity flooding my eyes and mind. BUT here is the question, God has called us to be salt and light. No question there...just fact! But how do we keep ourselves separate and make a difference? I almost didn't write the question because of how much of a simpleton i sounded like, but give it some time in your mind. It is not as easy as it sounds.

Another thing that makes this less than simple is that many of us have a past. Past mistakes, past sins, past patterns, and even past addictions. It is not good for some to get involved, because though they mean well and want to stand for God, it is in those times that they fall again.

Just thinking outloud. We ARE to make a difference, but we need to make sure we don't compromise along the way or even fall in the process.

I'm out!

Passionate killing

It happened again. People who are passionate about a point of view compromising and confusing the very point they are passionate about.

Dr. George Tiller was gunned down in church, of all places. Dr. Tiller is best known as the late term abortion doctor. It is also thought that he broke laws in doing so. But to kill him. WOW! That defeats the very thing you are upset with him for - killing babies. I realize he is not innocent and that those babies are, but that is not the way we operate in a civilized environment.

Now there are several issues at play here, I realize. It appeared that his church condoned it, based on things said from a congregant and the fact that he was serving as an usher when he was shot. Pastors need to wake up and stand up. What kind of difference could this pastor have made if he would have help him more accountable or possibly even taught the word (and I am making an assumption here based on what we can see that the pastor was not doing either of those things).

It also seemed that he was allowed some place of leadership even being one who compromised what the Bible teaches. I realize that being an usher is a place of service, but in many larger churches, those places of service are held by deacons or other leaders.

Where do you draw the line? His wife was in the choir. If there is such a compromise of the truth, do you stop all family from serving until there is change and repentance? Probably needs to happen.

BUT - for someone to decide to be judge, jury, and executioner is completely wrong and sinful. He was trying to make a point and in the process, compromised and confused the very point he was trying to make - LIFE!

God help us be your people. Standing for you in a strong, clear way.