Supersheep!

This is an excerpt from a sermon I wrote, and had the chance to deliver to my church in June 2010.

We sometimes need to change our attitudes. Philippians 2 verses 3-5 says "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus"
I think that's a tall order for a regular human being. I think that we do tend to think of ourselves first. We've all heard the phrase, "looking out for number 1!" And by saying that we mean ourselves, and our families, and its usually said with an angry tone, or an arrogant one. Face it, sometimes, we don't want to be the sheep. Sometimes I don't want to be a timid, submissive sheep that can't take care of myself, walking around, being told what to do.
I want to be a warrior sheep!
A sheep that can tell you the way it is!
The way its going to be!
I want to be a Supersheep!
With a sword, and a cape, and a big letter "S" on my chest!
But God says NO. God says be humble. God says in Hebrews 10:30 "For we know him who said, 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' and again, 'The Lord will judge his people'." I don't get the sword, it's God's sword. I don't get to judge. That's God's job. I don't even get a cape. I just get instructions:
"Feed my sheep."
"Do unto others"
"Love thy neighbor"
"Love one another"

No sword, no cape, just love.
But its such an important job! And once you let love break down the boundaries in your heart, once you let God's love wash over you, taking away your sin, even the sins you don't think or know are sins, that's when God's light can really shine. That's when Jesus takes over your life and then, it can be lived for the will of God, and not yourself. When you give it up, is when you will live. That's what God tells us in Luke 9:24, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." This doesn't mean necessarily dying a physical death, but a spiritual one. You have to let go of yourself to make room for God. You have to trust in Him completely, and give yourself to Him completely.
'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
When you give yourself up to God, you allow Him to use you as He used Elijah, and so many other notable people in the Bible. It’s the people who did surrender their lives to Jesus, who gave themselves up, who were able to bring God glory.
And that's what its all about.

Being Used

As my 16 year old son and I were leaving Best Buy yesterday, we saw a young Asian woman lugging a dorm sized refrigerator by the packing straps across the sidewalk. She was tiny, and was struggling just to drag her purchase across the sidewalk. A young man in front of us asked if he could help her carry her item, she politely declined. I'm not sure why I asked when she had declined his offer, but I did anyway.
"Can we help you with that?"
I strained to make out what she said with her quiet voice, the accent was hard to understand. But she had accepted our offer to help.
I thought we'd help her carry it to her car. Turns out, she wanted us to help her get it to the bus stop.
We knew that the bus, if busy, would never take the fridge, and then what? She obviously wasn't "from around here".
I asked where she lived, NDSU, and offered to drive her there instead, We packed the fridge in my car and off we went.
We chatted a bit on the way. She is from China and is here to get her Ph.D. in something to do with molecular biology, anyway I think that's what she said. We talked about Fargo, and the United States, and how she thought it was strange that she could buy things that had been made in China cheaper here than she could back home, in China.
We carried her fridge into her dorm room for her. She thanked us and we left.
It was a fun experience. My son and I got to do the Lord's work, and it was great. She had commented about how nice people, including us, are in this part of the world. I made sure I told her that God always puts us in the right place at the right time. That's all I really said about God, but I knew He was there, and I knew that's the reason that we had left the store at the exact right time to help her.

She thanked us and we left.
But we left revived.
We left renewed.
We left with a smile in our hearts and a skip in our steps.
We had gotten to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Thanks God!

God,
You are so awesome!
So awe inspiring!

I was driving around the countryside in my work truck the other day. I was day dreaming, on a gravel road, probably only traveled by the people who lived on the only farm for two miles. A huge bald eagle flew past my windshield. I slammed on the brakes and stopped right in the middle of the road. This eagle hovered over my truck for a few seconds, then made a big loop around me, and flew off to the west. I saw another eagle in the distance, I assume its mate, and they flew gracefully through the air together. I came back to reality, and from the radio I heard Chris Tomlin singing,
"And I will rise when He calls my name,
No more sorrow, no more pain.
I will rise on eagles' wings,
Before my God,
Fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise."

I wish I could put into words how that felt, to know God was there with me, helping me with my troubled heart.

You are amazing, God!
Thank you for being my Father.
Thank you for being my Everything.

What would you do-oo-oo?

What would you do for a Klondike bar?
I'm not a big ice cream fan, so not much,
But what would you do for salvation?
For eternity?
For ever, and ever, and ever?
For your Father?
Your Creator?
Your Friend?

Great is thy faithfulness.

I had that song stuck in my head this morning and I wondered why.
Why the Lord of all Creation would care to know my name, would have any interest in me whatsoever. I'm just one person on a planet of billions of people. Successful people, brave people, courageous people, intelligent people, people with many resources and influence. I have very little of these things in comparison, but yet I feel Him calling out my name. Calling to me, out of all those people.

Great is thy faithfulness.
I only pray that my faithfulness will prove to be as such.

Ex-communication?

I enjoy Facebook.
I can communicate with those hundred or so people I just don't see as often as I'd like to. I have made some new friends, and found family members who have moved away. Its a great tool to stay connected in a busy world.
But for some, its still a popularity contest, and for others, a vehicle to spread the word for their causes and groups. Its a great way to ask for prayers or to spread good news and great joy.

I "liked" a group called, "Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car."

I love that. Its a great illustration of the truth that so many people don't see. So many people claim to be things they aren't, and so many people seem to claim Christianity falsely. Some of these people do believe that what they are doing is for Jesus, but Jesus is love, and anything that is not love, is not Jesus. I think one of satan's best ploys is to disguise himself as a person doing God's work, and then get others to follow, down into the darkness of lies, anger, prejudice,and false teachings. Please, don't fall for the lies of the accuser!

Can anyone who spreads hate, fear and violence call themselves a Christian?
Can anyone who tries to exclude people from God's love and mercy call themselves a Christian?
Can anyone who oppresses others call themselves a Christian?
Can a Christian say who is "too far gone" to receive God's mercy?
No, when Jesus tells us in Matthew 7 not to judge, He is saying that we cannot judge anyone else's relationship with God. We cannot see within their heart, only God can, and that is why He, and only He, is the Judge. We have been warned not to judge, and told to love.

~Love, love love. That's what its all about.~

The Good News is for everyone, Christians and non-Christians alike. The Good News is that Jesus died for our sins, the sins of all men, and He is the one who decides who is and is not a true follower of His teachings. He decides who He will defend when we come in front of the Judge. And He says, in John 8:12 "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

So if anyone ever tells you that for some reason, you cannot receive the love and mercy that Christ gave you when He died on the Cross for your sins, call that accuser a liar, and walk away into the arms of the One who loves you.

Radiance

The Trinity

The brightest white orb, glowing, I couldn't even look directly at it. It was stark white, completely pure with no defects, yet somehow warm, emitting love, knowledge of all things, and secrets that it will never unveil, and a complete peacefulness that no one on earth has ever felt during conciousness. It's the essence of everything, of all existance, and I knew it as I existed in its presence. It could divide itself, into two or three, or probably more if it wanted to, but it didn't. It gave me the realization that every person on this earth has a tiny drop, or piece of it in their chest. We can't see it ourselves, but the orb can. The blazing orb, much brighter than the sun because it created the sun, dripped a tiny dot of itself into every person, into every soul as it entered a body. Even though it kept adding these tiny pieces to each body, it never lost any of its mass. It stayed the same size, no matter if it was one, or two, or three.

Energy cannot be created or destroyed.

That is true, to a certain degree. The orb is what can create or destroy energy, because it is the source of all energy. Trillions to the nth degree of megatons of energy. We don't have numbers big enough to describe how massive it is.

Its uncontainable!! Indescribable!!

The reason our ancestors, even before they knew about God, knew there was a higher power is because that tiny piece of the orb, the energy, is always wanting to go back to God. God is not a man, nor a woman. God is God. God is amazing. God is awesome.

I've been struggling to understand the Trinity for years. Trying to come up with some imagery to explain it, but I never could. Then one night, as I was falling asleep, I saw all this in my head, in my dreams, awake, yet asleep. I awoke with a strange understanding that this is how God is. I also saw that God doesn't send people to hell, they choose it. Hell is simply being without God. The piece of the orb is destroyed instead of being reabsorbed, because that person chose other things over God. The piece of the orb can't come back because it is defected, and the orb is perfect.
The orb is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  For ever and ever, Amen.