Michael's Blog

Life Spiraling Out of Control

Here are my notes from Bible Study last night.  No video, sorry!

——————-

Spiraling Out of Control

Do you remember the sit and spin?  A great toy, right?  Much like you spun out of control tonight in the game in the gym, the sit and spin did the same thing.  You would sit on this toy ping until you thought you were going to spin off of it.  Then you would get up and try to walk and you felt as if you were about to walk into the ceiling.

Physically spinning out of control when involved in a game is fun.  A life spinning out of control is a whole different thing though.

Many times people get some dizzy from a life out of control that they further complicate their life in a variety of different manners:

Drugs, Alcohol, Gangs, Unhealthy relationships, alternative lifestyles, self-harm, and many other things.  They do this to stop the spinning, but they actually speed up the sit and spin of life.  By the time they realize what is going on they are falling on the floor of life, gasping for air, and getting sick from the spinning.

So how do you stop the spinning and start regaining focus?  How do you get it all back under control?

Discipline

Mark 1:35 (NIV)

35Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up

1 Timothy 4:7 (NIV)

7Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.

Intimacy with God

Mark 1:35 (NIV)

35Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

Stop living according to others expectations and start living according to God’s

Mark 1:36-37 (NIV)

36Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

Learn to say NO! (WHEN NECESSARY)

Mark 1:38 (NIV)

38Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”

Live intentionally and not crazy

Mark 1:38-39 (NIV)

38Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 39So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

Judgment Attitudes of Christians (Follow-up)

So yesterday I am in church and someone brought up this old blog post… http://www.walters-team.net/?p=84

Apparently I made some waves with it. GOOD!  Seriously, I wanted to make some waves with it!  The problem?  Apparently, some people just did not get it.  They said things like, if I was friendly, it would have been like flirting or something.  Really, the only way to be friendly is to flirt?  That is ridiculous.  Saying hey, asking how someone is doing, small talk (weather, how school going for your family, etc) can go a long way in building bridges and making people feel included.  I am sorry, there is no excuse for a cold shoulder by anyone who is a Christian.  We are called to love God with all our heart and then love our neighbor.  This means that we have to show the same kind of Love that Christ extended to us.  You did not see him giving the cold shoulder to people as he did his journey.  I am sorry, Christians today have a problem with love and kindness.  You get shown more love at a restaurant by a waiter nowadays than is shown by most believers.

In order to understand this tirade, you will have to go read the original post at http://www.walters-team.net/?p=84

Peace!

Forgotten God (Francis Chan) and The Body

Ok, so as part of my summer reading (for pleasure since I am finally out of school) I am reading both of Francis Chan’s books, Forgotten God and Crazy Love.  Since everyone is crazy about Crazy Love, I started with Forgotten God.  I like to swim against the current, because that is how I roll.  Anyway, So I got to the chapter about Why do You Want Him (the Spirit).  The chapter dives in to are you called to be where you are?  Then is starts talking about the calling within the body and how important that is.  He brings up 1 Cor 12 (below)

12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

So then he says this, “Ask yourself, Do I believe that the church needs me like the body needs the mouth?”   Do we really ask ourselves this question enough.  So often we turn our backs on the body for so many reasons and never think, “Am I leaving the body without an arm?” “Am I leaving the body without it’s foot today?”  Is the body going to be missing it’s ears today?”  I think we need to work on being a little less selfish with our own time and more concerned about the body as a whole.  The body is hurting in America and it is time for it’s parts to start coming back together!

Random Thoughts

So this morning I got into the office, but I am having a hard time working.  I am thinking too much perhaps.  I am looking through pictures of people, editing video, and just thinking.  I am thinking about how easy people have started turning their backs on God and their churches.  I am thinking about adults. college students, teens, and children, who can simply stay away from church for any reason now.  I am thinking about how it used to be and how it is now.  I am thinking about who has failed.  Is it us in church leadership, the church entirely, or the individuals who decide to abandon all of this.  I am not talking about the Bedouin church members (those who migrate from church to church as the “feeling” strikes them or when they become disenfranchised).   No, I am talking about the sheer number of people who basically feel no need to worship with the body of Christ and put their faith on a shelf to pick up another day.  Those who feel a day at the lake or by the pool is more important than worship.  Those who will go out to dinner with friends rather than be in the house of the Lord.  I do not know what to think about this anymore.  I am frustrated, dismayed, and virtually depressed about this.  I know that my responsibility lies in preaching the truth and the rest is between the believer and the spirit.  No minister, no matter how dynamic, can force the truth down a persons through and institute digestion.

I guess the reason I am sitting on my blog asking these questions this morning is because I am fearful of the future of the church (universal), particularly here in the south.  Now don’t a bunch of you go jumping down my through saying, you can’t live in fear (yadda yadda yadda).  I am perfectly aware of this.  That frankly won’t help me today.  I am sad.  The place that for so long has been the hotbed of Christianity has turned their backs on Christ.  A good tan or a full stomach is more important than the bread of life.

I guess maybe I am a church nerd.  When I was growing up, we were in church every time the doors were open, even on vacation.  Yes, I said on vacation.  I had perfect attendance in Sunday School for 5 years straight!  When we would go on vacation, I would go to church where we are and get the pastor to sign a bulletin saying I was in church so that I would get my perfect attendance pin once again.  I went overboard, but my heart was in the right place.  I absolutely loved and still love gathering with the body of believers.  I loved talking to them, worshipping with them, praying with them, and knowing that I was being prayed for.  My question…how can people not want this, this fellowship, this connection, this chance to dive deeper with God?  It is so overwhelming….

I know that we are in the end times, but to see believers throwing it all away during this time, not wanting any connection with other believers is so sad.  Here are some of the things that I hear from people as reasons for being out and they all relate to time.   I want to go out with __________, we are spending family time, homework, going to a movie/event.  Sure, leisure time is important, but that used to be what Friday or Saturday nights were for.  Would we dare tell our employer, coach, or teacher the same excuses that we give God for not showing up?

I am not trying to be dogmatic, but when are we going to realize that God and our relationship with Him and his people is more important than the petty things in life.  Our churches in the South seem to be very much like the church described in Ephesus in Revelation 2.  We have a great dislike of immorailty, but very little commitment to God.   We need to repent and do the things we did at first…

Revelation 2

1″To the angel[a] of the church in Ephesus write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Dr. Robert Carter – Refuting Evolution

Commitment and Truthfulness

If you cannot view the embedded video, see it here…  http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/7552505

Here are my rough notes from this study…

Commitment and Truthfulness

NAME SOME THINGS THAT YOU ARE COMMITTED TO…

NOW TELL ME THE CONSEQUENCES OF REJECTING YOUR COMMITMENT…

I find it amazing that in this day and age, we have such a hard time with commitment.

The amazing thing is that we commit to things that are not important and we reject commitment to Christ or things associated with His church.

Matthew 5:33-37

33″Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ 34But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Here is the problem we live in today.

We get saved and thus agree to follow the commands of Christ.

God gives us a list of things he expects and it is written out in front of us.

We know his expectations, yet we reject them readily.  We say God expects too much.  So often we do this with anything associated with Church, but let’s look at the other side of the coin and see what would happen if we did the same things to the world that we do to God.

Talking to God – Never talk to a friend, significant other, club member, or co-worker

Attendance in the house of the Lord – What if you attended school or a job like you attend church?

Doing the work of the Lord – Same scenario as above

Sin – What if you disobeyed a teacher, boss, or parent the way you disobey God?

Through out some other stuff…

Matthew 16:24-26 (New International Version)

24Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

Here is the thing… This comment tells us that our old way of thinking needs to go away and we need to develop a Christ centric method of thought.  Some of us have hung on to or developed a new, old way of thinking.  It is time to be sold out to Christ.  See what Christ said… He did not say to check in periodically with him when it fits our schedule.  No, he said, take up the cross and follow him, indefinately.

WE ARE SO UNCOMMITTED WHEN IT COMES TO CHRIST.

WE ARE SO COMMITTED TO THIS WORLD AND ITS SIN!

We will readily skip quiet times, Bible Study, and church to do anything, but we will rarely skip anything of this world to spend extra time with God.

What has happened?  Why are we so uncommitted to God in this day and age?  Why is anything of God up for question, rejection, and so easy to bail out of?

How can we raise the bar?

Realize that God is jealous…

Deut 6:13-15

13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.

TRUTHFULNESS

Colossians 3:9-10 (New International Version)

9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

PEOPLE THINK A LITTLE LIE CAN PROTECT OR HELP?  No, do not lie to each other.

John 3:19-21 (New International Version)

19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

IF YOU ARE DOING THINGS THAT YOU HAVE TO HIDE, THINK ABOUT IT!  Good and light are not compatible with lies and the dark.