Posts Tagged ‘sin’
04/06/2009
I do grow weary of holidays at times. Even more so when I am busy (like now). But this coming Sunday is the day those who follow Jesus celebrate as the day Jesus rose to life again after his crucifixion and death three days prior.
This is probably the most significant event for followers of Jesus because of the impact … yet it seems to be left in the shadow in comparison to Christmas and even the Superbowl.
I am tired of not focusing with my family on this event and am curious how some of you have celebrated/observed the Death and Resurrection of Jesus with your family. I don’t want it to be about eggs and gathering with the family to watch tv.
One thing I have heard about is beginning Friday night, turning lights off, tv off and gathering to reflect/remember what Jesus did in relation to our sin. Then Sunday morning (the day of the rising of Jesus from the dead) lights on and PARTY!!!
I would love to celebrate the resurrection, but have it celebrated in comparison to the death. Why celebrate anyone like this? Because with Jesus our sins can be forgiven. When our sins are forgiven, we can actually be from from that kind of bondage that propels us to not do anything for God – in many ways we are broken. But with sin out of the way, we can do the things we desire for God: serve others, love others, lift others up, etc. … rather than just serve myself … or even serve others with the hope of being noticed for it (back to serving self). God is so holy that he can’t have sin around him, with the forgiveness, we can have a relationship with God. There is more to discuss on this topic …
… right now I just want to know how you plan to celebrate the Resurrection (if at all).
Tags: faith, Jesus, photo, sin, thoughts
Posted in Jesus | 2 Comments »
01/25/2009
Today at church towards the end of the second service, I was standing in the hall just waiting. Somehow me and a couple of guys were talking about this one particular guy that comes to our church. His name is Ron and he is homeless and an alcoholic. He has a “corner business” at the end of the street. He comes fairly consistently and has not asked for a dollar (that I have seen) from anyone that comes. He is quite loud and at this point am unsure if it is his personality or drunkenness. If you stand more than a few feet from him you just might become intoxicated by osmosis.
He started coming as another church merged in with ours. Some of us guys have unofficially taken turns sitting with him to tap him on the leg/shoulder when he is getting loud again. He has mellowed down quite a bit over the time and even though he is “less” disruptive, he is still disruptive. What I mean is that (besides the odor) he has this really loud voice and really loud clap … a clap that sometimes is on beat to the music, but mostly just loud – like sonic boom loud. If you are in Marion County on Sundays around 9:15am and hear thunder, but see no clouds … it’s Ron.
At first I was pretty much like “we have to do something about this guy”. But, like stated earlier, some guys were spending time with him. Then I was thinking how “cool” it was that we had a homeless guy coming to church. And how we’re “loving” him and not kicking him out. But today, in that conversation, at the end of the 2nd service, standing in the hallway – it came up that we really weren’t loving him. We were tolerating him … at best, but not loving him.
In our day and age it’s easy to think we love someone if we tolerate them. It’s almost like our value of what a human is, is based on their toleration of people. As if to say “oh look how much I am good by the amount of tolerance I portray”. But sometimes, people plain need to be smacked in the head. Ron is an alcoholic. If I just quietly (maybe even smuggly) sit next to him to quiet him down, what good is that doing him? It might show him that I can stand to be around him, but is that what he needs? Or does he need to get away from his addiction to alcohol? Ultimately, it is safe to say he needs to surrender his entire life over to Jesus … and whether he is a believer in Jesus and needing to be rid of this kind of bondage, or a non-believer needing to come to faith in Jesus for deliverance … he simply needs Jesus and the power over sin that He provides.
I imagine the “tolerance” people that read this post might be offended at that, but hey … tolerate it or be hypocritical.
What can Jesus do with a drunk? A lot. What can Jesus do with me? A lot. What does Ron need most right now? He doesn’t need a tolerant, friendly hand. He needs to come face to face with the biggest road block in his life … his addiction. I was too tolerant to give a damn. I was playing nice, but not loving. What did it take to get to Ron today? It took someone willing to confront him. Was Ron offended, noticeably! Will the conversation change his life? The conversation won’t, but quite possibly the thoughts from it might bring him to the point of needing he needs to stop sinning. (He was asked in our conversation with him if he wanted to stop … and after verbally dancing around the issue, he said he just didn’t want to change). I was standing there the whole time thinking, these are the right words to say to him (what one of the guys was saying in the group that is), but they were words I wouldn’t have cared enough to speak to him.
I am thankful for the brave one who cared enough to love.
I am a bit shamed at myself that I didn’t.
Lord, may I not be afraid to love … I am so glad you weren’t.
Do you have a similar story? Care to comment?
Tags: brave, drunk, fear, love, sin
Posted in Jesus, ponder | 3 Comments »
07/07/2007
Today I had a conversation with a fellow co-worker. We ended up talking a little about church, more specifically about messages at the church. She had talked about how she had gotten frustrated lately and partly was that she was not connecting with the messages. She also stated how that she knows she needs to do right and not wrong (these are more my words now) but just wasn’t feeling satisfied.
Is the goal of preaching to try to get people to do right and not do wrong?
It seems like some of the major emphases of preaching would be:
- to make known God’s will to us as displayed within scripture
- to teach, rebuke/reproof, correct and train in righteousness
- to show off the Word – that is Jesus Christ
A response to this could be, but isn’t Jesus perfect? And if we live to be like Jesus, aren’t we practicing doing right and not doing wrong?
Practically it would seem the answer is yes.
But I know that we can NEVER live up to God’s standard of perfection with the law, or even live up to the life that Jesus demonstrated. Any humanly attempt at gaining favor with God will be useless … both before and after life in Christ. With Jesus we have the grace given us that no longer puts the hammer down on our lives when we do sin. However with Jesus, we have the ability to say “no” to sin and ourselves.
It would be stressful to always go to a church that states the “to do’s and not to do’s”. Don’t get me wrong, there is a responsibility to confront sin in it’s various and twisted forms. I think even more stressful would be the idea that Jesus came to save us in order that we do right and wrong!
I think preaching should always point to Jesus in some way and some manner. And I mean ALL of scripture preaching. Think about it … one of the things that Jesus did after he died was spend time with a couple of gentlemen on the road to Emmaus and explaining beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:27 ). Some believers nowadays see no reason to have Old Testament preaching done at all because it is no longer relevant to us, yet Jesus decided to exclusively use it – mainly because there was no New Testament 
If preaching is pointing us to Jesus, what is a proper response? I believe to try and connect with him … an actual, cerebral and/or emotional connection. I also believe as we develop this relation with him, that we will understand our new nature … certainly that we were a broken people and that with Jesus we are restored. We have new hope within us! Hope that tells us that we don’t have to live like we are filled with sin, that we are accepted by God, not because of things we have done, but things he has done.
To preach and know Jesus is enough.
Tags: Bible, church, Jesus, sin
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
06/28/2007
Hilton made a statement that she will never do wrong.
Can you imagine how incredibly hard that would be?
To NEVER do wrong.
To never do WRONG.
Either one is impossible.
Paris needs Jesus, who NEVER did wrong, who never did WRONG.
If she could live through Jesus, then she has a shot at that. Not that our goal in life is to not do wrong. Our goal in life should be Jesus. Jesus. (as in Jesus … period!)
Not to be a good boy or girl.
Not to do drugs
Not to commit crime
Not to … whatever
We often go back to doing or not doing things that are right and wrong, rather than thoroughly living through Jesus.
To have ONE HOUR without sin, would be Heaven.
Tags: culture, sin
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02/12/2007
As I have been trying to figure out my place in the church, I get haunted from the ghosts of my past. These are my ghosts … ghosts I let float around in the corners of my mind and life.
One of the pastors at church this morning stated to me that “sounds like you haven’t put the past behind you . . .”
It reminded me of what another pastor friend told me a long time ago, before entering into the paid ministry. At the time I didn’t think I was cut out for it because I looked at my past and evaluated it against the one who led me to Christ (Craig) and thought, “there is no way I stack up.” My friend then asked me, “do you believe Jesus forgave ALL your sins?” … I thought, and thought … and thought, then recognized how I hadn’t let my past go. Jesus did cleanse me, redeem me and redirect my eternity. That was the same week I responded to God’s call on my life to lead people in the capacity of being a pastor and then experienced some of the best years of my life in ministry.
I find my self in a similar position as I had been in before. I am no longer in the ministry in the capacity I had been in before. I have no title, no set hours, no huge continuous responsibilities. I have desired to get back into ministry (though no clue as to if that will be full time right now). But I know I have valuable things that God has allowed me to experience that would help others. At our church now I have had the privelege of being able to speak to men, help my wife teach the children, speak at a youth retreat, and preach a couple of times at our church … but no specific ministry outside the family.
My hesitation in moving towards a ministry arena is that others would look at me as trying to gain a position that I shouldn’t have because of my past (my ghost). It’s not that I am looking for a title or “fame”, but to be plugged into one specific area of the body would be very nice. At times, I felt like my part in the body was an ice pack … one that has some sort of reason, but never in one place long enough to determine what it’s function is. It is also not that others are looking at me that way. I have not had one person speak any negative thing to me regarding ministry or pursuit of ministry.
I think I have been waiting for the “writing on the wall” or for the coach to call me up to the game … but really, even though the church leadership should be seeking leaders, I still need to make a step forward by letting it be known I want to be used and to share in what capacity. A couple of scriptures pop up in my head about it being ok to desire leadership … as well as those that teach will be judged more strictly.
In recent posts you can see that I have been teetering on the idea of challenging men, but specifically training leaders. An obvious arena would be that of men’s ministry. At this moment in our church it is non-existent.
I am ready for the task. I am a leader, I should be leading. God help me to be bold and humble like your Son. Jesus take the ghosts from me and fill me up with your Ghost.
Tags: Jesus, ministry, sin, truth
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01/21/2007
I find that …
…I suck and God doesn’t.
I truly have no business being in a relationship with God. He doesn’t need me. I offer him nothing that he can’t get from someone or something else. There is not a single talent I possess that tilts his love towards me. There is nothing I have acquired that would benefit him. If I were in a sports line-up, he would have no need to pick me for his team. I couldn’t twist God’s arm to do anything. I couldn’t blackmail him with any evidence of sin on his part. I couldn’t bribe him with money to be my friend. Even if I lived to a ripe old age, there is no wisdom or life experience I could impart to him that he would help him to grow.
In fact, in much honesty, I am a weight for him. I am more like one of those guys who calls at midnight an rambles on about some major issue that seems to trouble my mind, but in reality is a bunch of nothing that is simply consuming my mind. I am actually probably more like the guy that finds you out, schmoozes you, borrows money or things from you and then leaves immediately not to come back until he repeats the same cycle of seek, schmooze, borrow and flee.
What is in me that attracts God to me. The straight up answer is … nothing.
So, why do I have this relationship with Him (as one-sided as it seems to be)? The concept of “total depravity” seems to be an understatement in light of what the Bible says
“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
In fact, we also were “enemies of God.”
I don’t get it. I just don’t understand why God loves me. I know he has over-the-top in incredible, loving, momentous ways shown and demonstrated his love for me, but I don’t get why he does it.
What is someone to do with this kind of bold love staring at them?
Embrace it. Believe it. Accept it. Reciprocate it.
Tags: Bible, Jesus, sin
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10/23/2006
Hypocrite … those are one of those words that no one wants to hear about themselves. But when I say it (in response to a recent message at church) I have to say, regretfully, I feel that way.
If I were to look back over the past month or so, I don’t see myself spending a ton of time with Jesus – personally. My day, as most others do, goes like this:
wake up
get ready
check e-mail
work (which is pretty much checking and responding to e-mail!)
home for event of some sort
stay up late
check e-mail
go to bed
get up early
Though it seems like a do a lot in the day, I do not spend a lot of time with Jesus. There was a time I used to take hour long lunches and would often spend time with Jesus on at least part of that time, and then at least one of my breaks (usually the first). A while ago, someone even challenged me stating “I don’t see you reading your Bible anymore”. So not only I notice I am not spending time with Jesus, but others are as well.
Hypocrite
Even though I do not spend time with Jesus, I seem to find time to minister to others and “dispense” “wisdom” … but right now, at this moment, I wonder if I should be doing that. I mean, where is it coming from? I don’t think I could have stored it all up for rainy days. Do hypocrites do that? Probably.
So I find myself needing to ask, what mask am I putting on … have I fallen back into a trap of being good in front of others because that’s what I am supposed to do?
I think I know the answer. It is still in Jesus. Jesus still loves me and cares for me, and his Word even states that it doesn’t come back void … or how I put it … “when we dispense the Word, it has affects in someway.” I also know that I try to help with the right reasons, not to show off, but to really help. It just seems the right thing to do. But I get so busy doing things I need to do.
AHA! As I write this, I know exactly what needs to happen. Jesus was obviously busy and could easily have spent every waking (and sleeping moment) attending to the needs of others. But, even Jesus withdrew and spent time with the Father. Even when he was busy. I simply need to do it. I want to spend time with Jesus, but don’t. Not because I don’t need it, but simply because I do not purposefully plan a time and a place (like Jesus, he often would go alone somewhere, sometimes early in the morning). He also spent time developing others to further propel the ministry forward.
Ok, so first, I need to spend time with Jesus focused on him and away from distractions. Not focusing so much on an amount of time nor a certain study (another blog for that one), but just me and Jesus. Second, if there is anything that I am doing, that is not my own specific responsibility and someone else can do, can I train them to do it? I think this would be true for in the church as well as in the work. Not that I need to burden someone else with my stuff, but more like pay attention to the strengths that He has given me and operate in those, and then shore up my weaknesses with someone elses strength.
Tags: Bible, sin
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08/19/2006
God spoke through this piece of junk.
I was able to preach and from what was heard, was able to present a clear message about our relationship with God.
I have been asked to preach again. This time the topic will shift slightly towards our relationship with other believers.
I pray and hope that I will do fine and not get in the way of His words. I also pray that the end result is that people will open up to each other and involve each other in “one anothers” lives.
I know that Mer and I are really liking this church. In fact Mer is now on staff as an assistant children’s director. That should be fun for her. . . it would be so cool to get paid to do something you are both good at and like. A huge goal I have is to find some way for Mer to have more time with our kids and less time with others … basically stop doing daycare. Because of our foolishness with money, we are in this predicament. But God may be providing a way out of the finance trap we are in.
I have been thinking about being a part of men’s ministry at church: I think more specifically, I want to challenge men and leaders. I am not sure if Men’s ministry would do that, so I want to pray to see. I don’t want to go down a ministry path that He may not want me to go. Not again.
I have also been wanting to finish up some school, but am not sure if we can afford it or have the time for it. I do not want to get bogged down with too many things. Right now, seems pretty balanced.
’till later.
Tags: sin
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01/27/2006
Immediately in my head pops the theme song for “The apprentice” . . . money money money money . . .
I never thought of how fundamental money is in a persons life. ESPECIALLY when you have a family. I find my self in a job that is fairly decent, but looking for a job with more money. I find myself thinking way too much about the inticracies of our family budget and wondering where the dollars will go and how can I switch them around so that we pay the rights ones in time for the next paycheck to come. I used to have a job I loved and didn’t mind (as much) about the money. Now I am in a job purely for the money. I know I can do the job well, my on the job stats show that. But I am also doing so much overtime it is starting to wear on me. I don’t mind it as I know I am providing for my family. But I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND how when I finally get more money, or my wife brings in more. It goes away. It never seems to be enough. I used to think “what a cliche that is”. But it is part of our reality. I think I am coming to the understanding that no matter how much money I make, God will allow our circumstances (or person financial sin) to be in tension.
Tension is one of those things that when we feel it, we want to get rid of it. We do stupid things in doing so. I am reminded of this tension while playing chess. Setting up the pieces around the center squares so that each piece has a back up, and the back-ups have back-ups. No piece has been captured yet, but man the tension mounts and rises until finally … someone makes the first move.
It can be fun having tension. It can not be fun having tension.
What would the purpose of financial tension be in my life? I think to cause that uneasy evaluation of my life to see if it is truly in line with God. I believe I could make a ‘bajillion’ dollars and still be in tension financially. … but why? I think because the money is not mine and I am being held accountable for it to the Owner.
I wrote a prayer in my journal my wife got me recently, I believe one of the things I said was “God forgive me for being financially stupid. Please somehow help my financial sin not be a drain on the family.” I really mean that. … and God seems to make it happen. Tension remains. Down to the last days of the month and SOMEHOW the bills get paid. I just don’t get it. It HAS to be God.
God help me.
Tags: sin
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04/14/2005
Here I sit staring at my computer about a week after a near hit collision. Not with a car mind you, but with the same sin I had struggled against a while ago … the one that caused my life to change.
Why would I be so foolish and blind to think that I can enter into a danger zone . . . at first, I thought things would be fine. But they had escalated quickly – right in front of my eyes! I wasn’t even aware of the stupidity of which I had entered until the other person did. I am glad she caught it before it got bad, however . . . that leave me still with a puddle of sin that I need to clean.
My wife had reminded me of a passage in Ezekiel I believe that had stated that the “heart was wicked, who can know it?”. Man that is me. I can’t trust myself! My eyes tend to see whatever I want them to see . . . this has been good in some cases where my optimism has inspired others, but placed in the wrong direction (Me) they no longer inspire others, but hurt and offend. Not on purpose, but definitely a casualty nonetheless.
I truly thank God that I have such a great and understanding wife who forgives. Her arms were willing to hold me in my sin-state, but still firm in her hatred towards my sin. She has a good balance of seeing sin as it is and placing it as a part of me, but not the whole of me.
So now I am again, at the point in my life where I need to re-evaluate my motives in all relationships to see if my self-centeredness has crept in unaware.
God help me!
Tags: sin
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