Sun, Nov 1st - 2:57PM

  I can truthfully say that I’ve never written anything for anybody, without including myself.  No brag, just fact, because none of us can escape being fully human, no matter what our egos tell us.  Adding to that a bit, I most usually see something in myself first, and it triggers thoughts about what everyone else experiences, which I always picture similar to my own.  I do hope that’s correct!

  I have noticed in my brain what I would term “disconnects”, and I would think they’re common to many others.  I read in 1 Corinthians 13:12(a), the well-known verse, ‘For now we see in a mirror, dimly,…’, and I acknowledge it as true – but I immediately fail to apply it to my heart, and instead it just lodges in the “Religious” section of my brain until I hear it again.  And when I hear it again, again I miss the impact of the statement and think instead, “Well, yes, I’m familiar with that verse….”

  I feel this verse is true 100% of the time, but I usually fail to apply it to ME.  But if the verse is true, should I ever be satisfied with seeing ‘dimly’ – I don’t think so.  I prefer to challenge my own religious comfort, and desire to become unsatisfied with my dim view, and that is not comfortable – like exercising…”No pain, no gain”.

  Thank God, Jesus Himself is the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, and I can, and should ask for more.  But when I ask for more, He often directs my attention to areas of problems in me that need to be opened – so the wisdom He then gives actually is of benefit, and has a home in me.

  Right now, I feel just like I did the day I got lost in a wood-lot.  I never meant to get lost, and didn’t really feel I even could get lost – but I did.   I wouldn’t blame you for asking, “What did he mean by any of that?”  Really, I’m not naturally obtuse…

  My human natured brain automatically disconnects me from the reality of God’s Word – and I don’t even know it when it happens.  I not only see through a ‘glass dimly’, I probably spend most of my life living dimly, and the only way for me to break free is to ask Jesus to reveal my dimness to me, and for that, I have to ask myself the ugly questions I usually avoid.  There, that’s simple enough, isn't it?

  And with regard to the “real world”, I had no idea how dark it was until I reached out to the Light.  The entire limit of what I can do is to keep reaching, and never let myself settle for the status-quo.  And if I don’t limit the Light, He will take care of the rest…but I have to be honest with myself, and sometimes it hurts.

  So ask yourself the hard questions – feel the pain as it cuts into your own darkness, and let Him unpack those areas in yourself that we all have – and need healed.

  He allows bumps in our roads so we won’t be comfortable enough to go to sleep.  Isn’t He good?!

John

Sun, Nov 1st - 9:34AM

  Let’s be very honest today.  We don’t have to admit anything to anyone else, but let’s be scary-honest with ourselves.  Agreed?

  Let’s ask ourselves some uncomfortable questions:

• When we pray, do we pray in hope, or in faith?  (There is no “both” answer allowed)
• Are we supposed to pray in hope or faith?  (ditto)
• Where in the Bible does it say ‘Without hope it is impossible to please Him’?
• On a scale of 1 – 10, where would I place my personal level of unbelief?
• Did Jesus, our eternal example, pray in hope or faith?  (What did He say as He began His prayer outside of Lazarus’ tomb?)

  I think that’s good enough for openers, don’t you?  If we are really honest with ourselves, we answered the first question, “Hope”, didn’t we?  My main point with this essay is to point up that hope without faith – Hope that isn't first created from Faith, is Unbelief.  Isn't that a nasty little secret?

  One of the things I do periodically is to lead corporate prayer during our church worship service.  Having been involved in this activity several times in the last few months, on a rotating basis, I find myself grappling with the issue(s) raised by my questions above.  This morning, facing another bout of prayer leadership in about 45 minutes, I feel trapped, guilty, critical, potentially rejected by my peers as a complainer and yes, angry.  All these emotions are flowing through me like hot, mixed oil, and I’m trying to find a path through to the other side – and do it all in 45 minutes!  Frankly, I don’t have a lot of Hope I’ll find the path this morning, and here’s some of the reasons why:

  I believe prayer is vital – I can't stress this enough, but I also believe we usually say it’s vital while secretly, perhaps even unbeknownst to ourselves, find it an odious burden we don’t really like or understand.  Lip service to the importance of prayer runs rampant through most congregations, and ultimately will be a stunning indictment of that body.  Let’s face it – do we understand what prayer is, how important it is to God and us, how to do it, and very importantly – how NOT to do it?  I have to admit, I’ve usually seen nothing to indicate a “Yes” answer to any of those questions.  What I have seen is: HOPE. 

  I know this is coming across as harsh, but then, so is pain when it tells us something’s wrong.  When we pray for a sick brother to be healed from a deadly disease, how much Hope will cause God to answer the prayer, when a ‘grain of mustard seed’ Faith will move mountains, much less cast the burden of the disease off our brother?  He doesn’t need our Hope – he desperately needs our Faith.  And from God’s point of view, should He prioritize our Hope and heal our brother, or should He try to teach us a vivid lesson about praying in Faith, while He takes our brother home?  I don’t know, it’s always risky for me to ask a question about God’s point of view, but I don’t think He minds it when I do.

  So let’s get to the summary, because my 45 minutes is running out:  HOPE COMES FROM FAITH – NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. 

  According to the Bible we say we believe – We are the ‘Body of Christ’.  That’s right – you and I are His body.  So when’s that gonna start?  Shouldn’t we be praying like He did – right now? 

  So where on earth is our FAITH?

John

Fri, Oct 30th - 3:07PM

  Years ago I learned the “language” of Kansas City.  Now, Kansas City is half in Missouri and half in Kansas, so there are municipalities called Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas – two very different cities and very different environments.  There are also quite a few different cities comprising the suburbs, on both sides of the state line. 

  With regard to the language, I learned that when someone from Kansas City is asked where they come from by someone who lives in Missouri or Kansas, if they answer, “Kansas City”, you can be assured they mean Kansas City, Missouri, since that is the local, understood default.  However, sometimes the name is used in a generic fashion because the person is only making polite conversation and it is understood by the one answering that the questioner either doesn’t really care, or wouldn’t understand if they did.  Aren’t humans fascinating?!

  In my old line of work, I used to ask people where they came from on a daily basis.  It wasn’t frivolous, but rather a professional inquiry.  I would routinely get answers like, “Illinois” or “Montana”, and then I would follow up with another politely asked question, “All of it, or can you narrow it down a bit?”

  With regard to the question, “What does it mean to have ‘faith in Jesus’?”, the same complexity occurs, but perhaps it occurs to our own detriment.  The default answer usually seems to be that having faith in Jesus means very little until death, then it assumes gigantic proportions.  It is just like a life (death) insurance policy you can’t file a claim on unless you’re dead.  But then, of course, the insured can’t really benefit at all since he’s dead.  (Come to think of it, that’s pretty astute).

   Did Jesus die so Christians could have an eternal form of insurance, or did He provide much more?  I say much more, and it’s important we learn about it.

  Jesus said He had, ‘come that they may have life, and that they may have [it] more abundantly.’ [John 10:10 NKJV] 

  In our lives as believers, the ‘state line’ divides our life into two parts: here and now, and eternity.  Jesus came to provide us with abundant life on both sides of that line, but then it gets difficult, because it is much easier to have faith for heaven after we die than to have faith right now.  Ask yourself, is it easier to have faith you will go to heaven when you die, or be healed of the headache you have right now?

  If we let ourselves become part of the Christian crowd who believe that ‘faith in Jesus’ simply means salvation from hell after death, we will find it almost impossible to live the ‘Christian life’ as set forth in the New Testament.  Those early Christians in the New Testament believed they were walking (and working) with God in this life, and living for God wasn’t just an insurance policy to them – and it wasn’t meant to be an insurance policy for us, either.

  Just as a business takes inventory, and for the same reasons, it’s important for us to take an inventory of our faith on a regular basis, because if we don’t, we will fall back gradually into the “default” of having faith in an insurance policy.  Jesus came and died for more than that, and as I’ve always said, “If it has my name on it, I want it!”

  The ‘abundant life’ is supposed to be an exciting adventure – on both sides of the line.

John

Fri, Oct 23rd - 1:25PM

 I admit I neither have the mental capacity to waste or any desire to keep a catalog of the various common errors represented by the various cults.  I once had a clever publication that detailed their minutia and compared it to basic Christianity, but I never had it handy when it was needed.

  We’ve all had the experience of having “missionaries” ring our doorbells, handing out innocent looking printed material (for free!) or attempting to engage us in erudite discussions of the Bible.  And usually, although we pick up a pervasive flavor of error (at least we should!), it’s a rare person who has studied the particular cult enough to know the details of their errors.

  I have to admit if I had the time or inclination to study cult theology, I’d feel embarrassed about not giving my Bible equal or greater time.  But even if I read my Bible all the time, I’d probably have some trouble fielding the multiplicity of errors against the well-trained cadres of cultists invading my doorway.  So let’s make it simple, and boil it down to the two common denominators we can understand?

  Most of the common, well-known cults, no matter how they say they use the Bible or purport to know the Bible texts, have two things in common:

          1.  A denial that Jesus is God in His very substance, and

          2.  An affirmation that you and I can be sons of God “like (or as) He was”.

  And of course, for us to be sons of God we have to work, (and that explains why the cult missionaries are canvassing the neighborhoods).  They have a goal – usually to eventually be made sons of God through their work.  It’s really not too difficult to grasp for the average Christian, except for the “semantics”. 

  Well trained cultists will turn a Christian’s words and a Christian’s own scriptures against him.  It will genuinely appear that they understand the Bible better than we do, but they are using semantics against us. 

  The Christian’s use of the term “Son of God” is totally at odds with what the cultists mean when they use the exact, same term, however, no definition delineating the difference is provided (or admitted).  Without knowing this, the Christian is at a disadvantage from the beginning of the discussion.  And to make it more confusing, the cultists probably don’t share a concern for truth-telling, with regard to their mission.  Pinning them down, for the average Christian, is like tackling a greased pig – and is usually no more rewarding.

  Let’s go back to the origins of cults.  In Isaiah 14:12-14, we are told Lucifer (Satan) stated in verse 14, ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’  And by the way, only God could have heard this because verse 13 plainly states Lucifer said this in his ‘heart’.  I believe that is the underlying basis for the belief that we can work our way into “Godhood” (point #2, above).

  In Matthew 4:1-11, the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness.   In the first two temptations, the devil led off by saying to Jesus, ‘If You are the Son of God..’.  These statements show the devil was casting doubt on Jesus’ essential divinity, (point #1, above) and if Jesus had given in at the slightest, the cultists would have solid standing to argue for works.

  To sum up, you and I must recognize completely that Jesus is now, and always was, God – Himself.  He may have been brought forth as Jesus the Christ at His advent in Bethlehem, but even prior to that (and afterward) He was, and is God – in substance. 

  In addition we need to be fully convinced that no matter how sanctified we ever become, we will always be created beings.  We will become “like” God, but we will never share his substance by “being” God – no matter how many doorbells we ring. 

Thu, Oct 22nd - 12:51PM

  Large portions of the bible seem to have been written by mostly average individuals, some we might even call simple, in the sense of uncomplicated.  The Apostle Peter, for instance, was obviously the same blue-collar kind of guy we would still expect to find on most construction sites.  But even the more educated of the writers all possessed a similar, simple quality that allowed them to be the vessel the Holy Spirit needed; I think it’s called Humility.

  With that in mind, can any of us contrast the Peter we see in the gospel accounts with the writer of 1^st and 2^nd Peter without marveling over the Holy Spirit working within him?  If the contrast isn't clear enough there, at least we should marvel that so many educated intellectuals have, for over 2000 years, written volumes of books in attempts to explain the writings of a Jewish fisherman.  It is safe to predict it won’t happen to my writings!   My point of course, is the marvelous Holy Spirit. 

  We really are strange creatures!  We hear a lot these days about biases.  Quite regularly we are reminded that we all bring to our bible reading-times our own biases, and we are encouraged to get rid of them and view the meaning of scripture through someone else’s biases.  In fact, that’s what being un-biased is – getting rid of our own, while assuming someone else’s.  Now that’s strange!   But we are told that it’s alright if the someone else is more educated than ourselves.  No, I’m not taking a slap at the pastorate - I have a lot to learn – a ton, and it’s easier for me to learn from someone else’s education than go back to school myself.  But here’s my point: if biases are inevitable, let’s consider adopting the bias of the true writer of scripture - the Holy Spirit. 

  I like to think of the Holy Spirit as the divine Spark Plug in the engine of scripture.  No matter how well educated you may be, if you leave out the Spark Plug you’re going to have engine trouble, and unfortunately, engine trouble usually causes another book to be written – with engine trouble built in!  Gag.  And the engine of scripture wasn’t canonized so the vehicle (us) could remain parked.

  To muddy the mental waters even more, is the human propensity for problem solving.  We love to solve problems – and we like to be the persons solving them because it can build our pride.  In fact, we love to solve problems so much we’ll manufacture problems just so we can!  That’s strange too. 

  Now, there’s nothing wrong with learning the nuances of scripture exposition, unless we discover that our knowledge is building up our pride.  If that is the case, we have damaged ourselves more than we’ve furthered the Gospel, and the cure must be our immediate return to the bias of the Holy Spirit, for only in Him will we find humility.

  Over several decades I’ve periodically run into well-intentioned, usually well educated individuals, who have told me what God won’t do.   Their reasons are sometimes well-presented, and their arguments are sound, based on human judgment, but I’ve always experienced a sinking, disappointing feeling in my spirit. 

I don’t mean things God won’t do like lying and murdering; I’m talking about putting limits on the Holy Spirit, as this is the most common form of the issue. 

  I maintain that our human condition totally precludes any need to know what the Holy Spirit won’t do – instead we desperately need to know what He will do, and the vast numbers of empty churches on Sunday mornings attest to it. 

  Just being honest here; I don’t want to worship a God who is anything less than explosive, and I don’t think you do either.  When we place [our] limits on God, we always lose more than we gain, and I don’t think it honors Him when we do.  After all – we’re the ones in need. 

    I’m not saying we limit God with malice, but rather with ignorance, or bias.  Here’s a truth you can always rely on: we never see ourselves as well as we think we do – never.  Most often, we don’t see ourselves as ignorant, particularly when we are ignorant. 

  There will always be more of God, and I mean a lot more.  He has only revealed a very small portion of Himself to us, no matter how complete you think the scriptures may be.  There is always more of Him.  That’s more of God the Father, more of God the Son and more of the Holy Spirit; a LOT MORE!  Not less – ever!

  Over the years I’ve tried to become sensitive to my own biases when I read scripture, and do I have them!  So each time I read scripture, I play a game with myself; I tell myself to read it as if I’ve never read it before.  It’s not an easy game to play, but when I do it successfully, I see brand new things, hidden in plain sight for decades!  It can be exciting.  (When I don’t play the game, I often get bored and fall asleep!).  That’s how I try to adopt the divine bias, and many times it works.  It’s also a good check on what I thought I already knew.  Works for me…

John