Setbacks Nag; Success Whispers!

Transformation is a buzzword in our world today.  We are enchanted with it.  We see everything around us morphing.  Life requires change.  If you are not changing, you are dying. 

For those following Christ, this is welcomed and widely encouraged.   Romans 12:1-2 calls for “the renewing of the mind.”  Paul in Ephesians 4:22 told us to change our clothes—“put off the old and put on the new.”  “Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature.” Col. 3:5.  But in Galatians 3:3 he reminds us this is a work of the Spirit—not human effort.  “After beginning with the Spirit are you now trying to attain your goal (of spiritual maturity) by human effort?”  Going back to rules, disciplines, and following the law (or even the Ten Commandments) does not lead to freedom, rather it continues to provoke the flesh.

So, if transformation is important, how does transformation happen?  What is the means in which the Spirit does this? 

The way the Spirit transforms us is through our eyes and ears.  To our eyes he says, “Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of your faith.”   To our ears, he whispers in a “still small voice” calling us away from the bad to pursue the good.  This is the way transformation occurs.   And there is a bonus, our hearts do not condemn us when we look forward.  By looking at Christ, we don’t look backwards—to our setbacks and sins.  It is that obvious.

Ever had the experience of sinning?  Sure.  What did it do to you?  Did it make you want to sin more?  Sin is like that.  How do we overcome sin, temptation and the flesh?  We don’t look back.  We look forward.  Setbacks scream at us; righteousness whispers “look ahead.”  Sin nags; success in the Christian life speaks softly—‘this is the way, walk in it.”

If you haven’t noticed, one sinful experience has the effect of outweighing one positive act of righteousness.  A gallon of bad stuff weighs more than a gallon of good stuff.

Here is my theory about transformation.  You can do all the spiritual disciplines you want (it may not hurt) but if you want to live like a noble son or daughter of the most High God, then you have to keep looking ahead and not focus on what happened behind you. 

One sin has the power to defeat one positive act of righteousness.  In fact, one sin defeats two positive acts of righteousness.  It may take three positives to offset one negative. 

If you focus on your sin or setback, it paralyzes you.  Your soul is like a boat with a hole in it.  The bad gushes in and the good jumps ship.  Look at the good before the bad sinks you.  Plug holes. 

Here are a few words of wisdom.  Think more about the good.  Live with the good in front of you.  Thank more.  Live more.  Love more.  Cheer more.  Do good.  Don’t be defeated by the bad.  Eliminate the negative.  Throw out the bad and the good comes back. 

Focus on the goal.  You are falling behind if you don’t.  The good will whisper you to your goal.  Learn from your setbacks.  Freedom energizes, setbacks drain.

The pursuit of righteousness is fueled by acts of righteousness, not looking at our sins.  Pursue what is good.  Proverbs 21:21 “He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.”   1 Tim. 6:22 “But you man of God, flee from this (the bad in life) and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love and goodness.” Pursuing the good mean stop focusing on our setbacks and shortcomings.  These latter things only trap us in our past.  Listen to whispers!

Focusing on the goal,

Jim

Teacher or Lord?

The following is from QuietTimesReflections


I love teaching about the Teacher, but therein lays a hidden danger if a teacher is all I believe in.  To believe in Jesus as a teacher might bring change could even bring a positive influence in my life.  But until I believe Jesus was more than a cute baby in a manger or a teacher with a powerful life altering message transformation will not occur.
http://kaygraywray-quiettimesreflections.blogspot.com/2013/02/teacher-or-lord.html

Quiet Times Reflections: Fan the flame

Quiet Times Reflections: Fan the flame

This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.  For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.

2 Timothy 1:6-7, 14

Every fall my nephew has a huge bonfire and then bakes the most delicious pizzas in his outdoor oven.  The scent of wood burning pizza and the bonfire sticks to our clothes for days bringing with it the sweet remembrance of times spent with each other.  I thought of him when I read this verse.  The bonfire starts off with a strategically placed Tepee built with different size tree limbs and trunks.  Although powerful looking it serves no purpose until it is lit and nursed into a strong powerful heat source.  When the time is right, the spark is lit and the night sky becomes brilliant with the light from the fire.  The outside temperature can be in the teens and yet the closer we get to the fire the warmer the air around us becomes.

The spiritual gift God gave to Timothy, and likewise to each of us, started with a spark.  The wood for the bonfire had been instilled in Timothy as a youth by his godly mother and grandmother.  Now was the time Timothy would have to ‘fan into flames’ that spark through exercising the power of the Holy Spirit living within him.  Flames will not come when wood is wet and likewise our faith will not grow when saturated with fear and anxiety.  These do not come from the Holy Spirit but rather the enemy trying to keep the bonfire from existing.  

Timothy didn't know the exact outcome of the flames any more than we know the end of the dreams and visions God plants in our hearts.  We don’t need to know, we just need to fan those dreams and visions with the power of the Holy Spirit by renewing our minds daily with his word and his strength.  Our controlling and manipulation will always leave us with wet wood.  God’s word stands guard over that precious truth and he will bring it to pass in his timing.   He then becomes our source of power, love and self-discipline, and strength…never be extinguished. 

What We're All About

I'm cheating a little bit today.  This might be familiar if you've been reading since we started, or if you browse the oldest posts here.  I was feeling the need to re-post some of the first real post we had here.  To repeat and reintroduce the ideas of what M28 is all about.

It's about living the Great Commission.  In our everyday lives.


The Commission

There is a physicality and movement to the command “go.”  There is nothing sedentary about it.  The command is simple.  Matthew 28:18-20  (NASB)

"And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Go.  Make.  Baptize.  Teach.

Verbs.  Actions.  Jesus’ last words to his disciples, his students, were a call to action.  Some were still struggling with belief of what had happened after his death.  Yet he tells them to go out.  They have believed, in faith.  Now they were to teach, in faith.

I’ve heard it said that the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else.

Jesus’ students are told to go into the rest of the world and told to; wash, rinse, repeat.

Step 1:

Go, move, leave where you are to be somewhere else.  Next door, or around the world.

Step 2:

Make students.  People who will grasp things that are separate.  Like Sin and Grace.

Step 3:

Baptize them in the name of God:  The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Step 4:

Teach them to obey, follow, adhere to, the commands Jesus gave.  Including, Go.

Step 5:

Repeat.  Because 11 people didn’t make disciples of all nations on the first go.

This isn’t meant to be a formula or code to follow.  I’m just breaking down the verbs of the Commission. 

Discipleship

Discipleship is not a 3 week class held on Sunday mornings for 30 to 45 minutes.  It’s not a book with a clever plan on “how to.”  As a disciple of Jesus we never stop learning or growing.  There is no graduation or achievement levels.  There is no standardized testing, with multiple choice and No. 2 pencils.

Discipleship is a way of living.  It is continual learning and growing in our relationship with Jesus, and others whether they share the same faith or not.

There are many books and teachings about how to disciple.  I won’t really recommend one over another partially because I haven’t read enough of them to offer opinions on the methods.

What I will tell you is this, discipleship is both simple and complex.  The way to do discipleship can be very simple and uncomplicated.  But there will be complex conversations and questions.  And the very nature of what is being taught is complicated.

Jesus was our example of how to teach disciples.  He pulled it off with out a single youtube video, powerpoint presentation, sporting arena, or even a megaphone.  He taught from his heart what he knew the Father wanted us to know.  It’s all laid out for us in scripture.

Making a disciple requires very few physical things.  A teacher, a student and a Bible.  It can be that simple.  There also needs to be a desire to learn and grow in both parties, and the presence of the Holy Spirit.  It’s the Spirit that makes the growth happen.  It’s the Spirit that opens up the complexities and mysteries of the Word to the hearts of both teacher and student.

Teach the Word.  Not traditions.  As one teaching, you must be as deep or deeper in the Word than the one being taught.  Dive in.  Breathe deep the fragrance of life that springs from it’s pages.  Teach others to be like Jesus by living the way Jesus lived.

You must first be a disciple if you want to make a disciple.

To be a disciple of Jesus is to take hold of the grace and promises of God and join them to what is separate from them, our sinful nature, our hearts, minds and souls.  This is only possible because of what Jesus accomplished for us through his death and resurrection.

Jesus didn’t wait for humanity to come to Heaven.  He left everything he was took on the pain and suffering of being human so he could be with us.  He wanted to be with us so he could teach us how to live, and love, and serve the Father.

He came to us.

And so those who follow him, must also go, make, baptize, teach…repeat.


grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

Rhythm: Part III - Cadence

Now, I'm not a music theory expert or anything, but I'm basing the concept of this post on this:

"a melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of repose or resolution
[finality or pause]."

 A sense of repose or resolution.

We've talked about Mary, and the shepherds.  This final post, which has been deliberately delayed...is about the magi, or 'wise men.'  Mary's rhythm was her heartbeat.  The shepherds was the sound of all their feet rushing to see Jesus.  The magi, their rhythm is a little thing called: the long haul.

Now, we don't know exactly when they arrived to see Mary and the child.  According to Luke, they were in a house.  So, that doesn't mesh up with the traditional scene of the family with the shepherds in a cave as the wise men approach.

Probably cause they didn't arrive that first night.

From some of the other parts of the story, when Herod wants every male child under two, and when the magi tell him when the star appeared, we can make some assumptions, but that is all they are.  Jesus could have been anywhere up to about 2 years old.

These guys didn't have the little run that the shepherds had.  They had to plan a journey.  That means time, money, food, support staff to set up camp cook the food and all that stuff.  It wasn't just a whim weekend road trip.

Neither is it for us today.  The journey for us to meet Jesus, and the one that continues on after.  It's a long road, full of rough and bumpy spots, beautiful places, and lots of other people.

This is a road, a path, a journey that does not end while we are alive.  Nor after for that matter.  I don't believe we ever get to that point in life where we can firmly say we have "arrived" at the best place with Jesus.  There is always something more to learn.  A new sight to see, a new portion of that road to discover.

The magi saw something that caught their attention.  The planned, studied, and then set out.  We don't know how far the traveled.  I think they came from a part of the Babylonian empire that the Jews would have lived during the exile, so that they would have had access to knowledge of the prophecies.

But where someone starts out from on their journey is not the important thing.  What matters is what someone does after they set out on the journey.  The cadence is each foot fall.  Each wheel, hoof, sneaker, boot, spring, leap, stumble, sprint, tear, laugh, and breath of every single person on the journey together.  We might be in different places, but we are all going the same direction.

Toward Jesus.

When you're done reading this, take a moment and close your eyes.  Picture a road.  Maybe it's green and lush and alive.  Maybe it's dusty and worn.  Perhaps rocky and cold.  Think of all the beauty and perils that each road will provide.  The temperatures.  The insects or animals.  Sounds.  The sun or wind on your face.  Weather.  Imagine where that road will go.  What is a head.

Then, think about this.  That you might be walking alone.  Or feel like you are.  But you are not.  And you are not the first person to tread that path.  Someone has gone before you.  And Jesus is right there with you as you go.

I'll leave you with this poem from J.R.R. Tolkien:

“The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.”

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse