Jesus – Live the Crazy Life

Keys to the Kingdom

March 27, 2024 No Comments

This is not your typical Easter message but one I think needs to be heard (or at least read). When I sat down to write this blog I wasn’t planning on it being about Easter. I was just thinking about this month’s post about the Kingdom of Heaven. But the more I studied this month’s verse the more God began to show me that it is about Easter; and God’s resurrection power and his triumph over death. The verse for this month is Matthew 16:19 which reads “I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on the earth will be loosed in Heaven” (CSB). It is probably a familiar verse to lots of us. It is also probably a confusing verse for lots of us, too (I include myself in that group).

To fully understand this verse you need to understand the context it was spoken in. Jesus is hanging out with his disciples and asks them, “Who do people say I am?” They give him a few different answers, like John the Baptist, or Elijah, even Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Jesus then asks them who they say he is. Peter speaks up proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah – the Son of God. Just two verses down we come to our verse for this month. Peter could only have the keys to the kingdom once he understood who Jesus really is. The saying “I will give you the keys” was a Jewish expression that signified the rising of someone to great authority and power. There is a prophecy in Isaiah that talks about Jesus being given the keys of David, and whatever He opens can not be shut (see Isaiah 22;22). We know that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Davidic Kingdom that has no end. We also know that Jesus in his death and resurrection now holds the keys to death and hell (see Revelation 1:18). So the keys that Jesus is giving Peter here in this verse and then to all the disciples in Matthew 18:18 are the keys to eternial life. Peter and the disciples and even you and me (if you consider youself a disciple or student of Jesus) have been given the ability to help unlock eternal life for people by sharing the Good News and leading people to confession of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. Are you starting to see how this lines up with Easter now?

Let’s unpack a few more words in our key verse to help us understand this better. We know the keys are figurative for power and authority, but what about this binding and loosing business? These two words were commonly used words in church lingo that referred to things that were lawful or unlawful for those in the church to do or partake in. They were medical terminology that meant what was lawful for a human body to do in a physical sense like food is lawful and even needed to sustain life, but certain foods were unlawful or poisonous leading to death. A person living around the time of Jesus would have understood this in the natural sense and been able to apply it to the spiritual sense. Think about all the laws that the Jewish person had to know and live by. The Pharisees and leaders of the Synagog were constantly declaring something lawful or unlawful. These words binding and loosing became Rabbinical idioms. Here is what they mean in the original greek. To bind means to declare, to be prohibited or unlawful, to put into chains. To loose means to unleash, let go, release what was once held back.

What I think this verse is saying first to Peter and then to all disciples in Matthew 18:18 is that we have been given the power to bind the enemy who blinded people from hearing and seeing the Good News. “For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers’ minds [that they should not discern the truth], preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God.” (Amplified Version). When we are sharing the Gospel we have the authority to pray and bind this spirit that keeps people from knowing God. We can also loose the mind of Christ over them.

We have the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. It’s our ability to share the love of God with those who don’t know Him yet, in a way that compels them into God’s Kingdom through salvation in Jesus, and confessing Him as Lord. So as Easter approaches we who are holding keys to the Kingdom of Heaven should bind the god of this world, loosing souls to confess Jesus as Lord. That could be as simple as inviting them to church with you, or taking someone out to dinner with the intent to share the full Gospel story. However you do it, let’s walk in the authority we have, and bind doubt and unbelief and loose salvation for thousands this Easter.

Jesus, The Kingdom

The Unshakeable Kingdom

January 16, 2024 No Comments

gray concrete triumphal arch surrounded by flowers

I am not one for New Year’s Resolutions. You probably already know that based on the fact that the first post for this year is almost halfway through the month. I do, however, lean into words or themes God gives me for the year. A couple years back I felt like the Lord wanted me to study the word steadfast love, or “hessed”, in the Hebrew. I wrote a blog about steadfast love (https://www.livethecrazylife.com/?s=steadfast+love) if you are interested in that. This year I feel led to study the word Kingdom specifically “The Kingdom of God.” In fact “The Kingdom” is a common topic for Jesus throughout the Gospels. Depending on which Gospel and which translation, it is mentioned over 50 times in Matthew, 17 times in Mark, and over 40 in Luke. John, on the other hand, has a much different style and approach in his Gospel only mentioning it 3 or so times. “The Kingdom” is mentioned in most other New Testament books and quite a lot by Paul as well. It is clear that “The Kingdom” is a major theme of the New Testament and should be for a believer as well. The problem is that word or phrase “The Kingdom” or “Kingdom of God” is so over used most of us don’t know much about what it actually means other than Heaven in the most broad sense of the word. My goal this year is to gain a deeper understanding of what the bible (mostly the New Testament, but I wont completely leave the Old Testament out) means when it mentions “The Kingdom” or “The Kingdom of God”.

I have decided to start with a verse from Hebrews that mentions “The Kingdom”. Hebrews 12:28 in the Tree of Life (TLV) reads “Therefore, since we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude – through this we may offer worship in a manner pleasing to God, with reverence and awe.”

When I am studying out a verse I look for key words, or words that draw my attention. I then look them up – usually on Biblehub.com. From there I will look into the surrounding verses to get context, and any verse that the verse I am studying either quotes or connects to in thought. I almost always read commentaries on the verse, look it up in other translations, and often ask a few close friends their take on the verse. It can be a long process, but it always is rewarding.

For this verse here are the words I looked up in the Greek:

Receiving – paralambano a compound greek word meaning para – come along side and lambano to take aggressively. You get the idea of joining with God (or rather God coming along side us) and us aggressively taking hold of something. From this you get the understanding that The Kingdom of God comes from God; but we have to be active participants in occupying it or advancing it. It also gives the idea of an on-going receiving – not just a one time thing. Which I find interesting and intend to pray through more and see if God reveals anything to me on that.

It would be hard to study on the concept of The Kingdom without looking into the word itself. In this particular verse the word relates the idea of God making men partners in His Kingdom to advance the interests of the Heavenly Kingdom. It is from the Greek word basileus which means the realm in which a king sovereignly rules.

I also looked up shaken, gratitude, offer worship, and reverence and awe. The phrase “cannot be shaken” is one word in the Greek: asaleutos – which means unmovable. It underscores the concept that The Kingdom is unshakeable because Jesus is always in charge and always triumphs. Gratitude means grace in the original language, which is a Greek word with so many subtle meanings. Overall it is the picture of one possessing greater authority leaning forward with arms open and palms extended out facing up as if offering something to one of a lower statute (God giving to mankind). The word worship isn’t fully in the original language but the word offer is which means I worship, or I serve. It implies one being hired for a technical task because they are well qualified. God hires us, so to speak, because we are well equipped or qualified to serve Him or worship Him in service. Reverence is a word picture that looks like someone carrying a priceless vase across a room. The person carrying the vase is aware of its value and is cautious, taking into account the seriousness of the job they are undertaking. And awe means Holy fear.

The author of Hebrews, while unknown, is one skilled in the Greek language, and possesses in depth knowledge of the Septuagint, and has a good grasp on the Temple sacrificial system. He is most likely referencing Daniel 7:18 (“But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever.”) and the end of Haggai chapter 2:20-23 (Then the word of the LORD came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, “Speak to Zerubbabel governor of Judah, saying, ‘I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. ‘I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots and their riders, and the horses and their riders will go down, everyone by the sword of another.’ ‘On that day,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, My servant,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you,’” declares the LORD of hosts.) Based on these two verses, you get the understanding that God’s Kingdom is everlasting and God will shake and remove all other kingdoms one day.

The take ways for those who heard this message preached by this unknown speaker is the same as it is for us. Jesus is the one true King, He is coming back and His Kingdom will be the only Kingdom left standing. Through your faith in Jesus you will live one day in this Kingdom. God is going to shake and remove both spiritually and literally anything in our lives that is not rooted in Him. Our faith is not in governments, bank accounts, or job titles because all of those can be shaken and destroyed in a moment. God’s Kingdom – our home and future dwelling place for eternity and it’s King who is Jesus – is the only thing we can be sure won’t be shaken, broken, or taken away. We are to live here and now with a then and there, mindset, ever looking forward to the Kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Bible, Jesus, overwhelmed, Prayer, Uncategorized

How you hear and how you read

August 30, 2023 1 Comment

I have been reading in the book of Luke this past week. As I was reading I found myself wondering about so many different verses and their meanings that I started making a list of things to go back and research so I could understand better. One of those things was in verse 18 of chapter 8. But before I go there I have to tell you what happened Sunday on my way to before-service prayer.

I was leading prayer this past Sunday. So as I was getting ready I was asking God what He wanted us to cover in our prayer time. The scripture came to mind about the seed falling on soil and the thorns, or cares of this world, growing up and choking out the word. I felt like God said so many people want a thriving relationship with Me, but the cares of this world keep choking it out. I shared that with the prayer team. They agreed with the feeling of needing to pray over that and we prayed.

Monday morning I was reading in Luke, and low and behold I read chapter 8 which has the parable of the seed tucked into it in verses 5-15. Since the Lord had just been speaking to me about that, I read it slowly a couple of times. The seed in this parable falls onto 3 types of soil and some seed that never even makes it to the soil. The Bible calls that the seed that fell on the road and was trampled on. The soil types are rocky soil where the seed sprouts but can’t grow well because it cannot take root due to the rock. Then there’s the seed that falls on soil with thorns. It grows but becomes choked out by cares and riches and pleasures of life. It does not bear mature fruit, but it does seem to grow some kinds of fruit. Then the last is seed that falls on good soil where it takes root, doesn’t have to compete for nutrients, and it grows and produces fruit.

This is a familiar parable to most of us. The disciples ask Jesus to explain this to them a little more clearly and in verses 11-15 you get the explanation of the soil and the growth of the seed or lack there of. MacLarens Expositions of the Holy Scriptures explains this parable in a wonderful way that makes it clear and easy to understand. The seed sown among the thorns, as Jesus puts it in verse 7, isn’t seed that the sower sowed into a weed-filled field. Rather it looked like good ground, but the ground keeper seemed to have taken short cuts. He cut down the weeds or thorns but didn’t do the hard work of pulling them up before planting. And when the good seed and the weeds both began to grow the farmer let them grow together, skipping the hard work of weed pulling.

I get this. I love to grow a garden, but I HATE to pull weeds. It’s a lot of work, hurts your back, and sometimes you end up pulling up a plant you wanted to grow just to get the stinking weed. It’s often a daily chore and I don’t want to water and weed daily, but I do want the benefit of the vegetable or flowers or fruit in the end. I have found myself taking short cuts in this process. I have even found myself just letting the weeds grow among my plants, to be dealt with at a later day. A good farmer I am not. A patience person I am not either. A daily routine task person – nope not me either. So I really get this. And in the world of my back yard garden, it’s ok. I am not trying to grow enough food to fully feed my family for the year. It’s just something fun, and if it works, bonus! And if it doesn’t, no harm no foul.

But reading verse 14 of Luke 8 tells a different story. Spiritually speaking this is important because if we don’t deal with the weeds (or cares, riches and pleasure of life as Jesus words it) we won’t become mature Christians. We won’t produce mature fruit. We are under ripe and good for nothing. Harsh I know but true. The word “cares” in this verse can be translated “worries” or “anxieties”. You know those feelings of overwhelmingness and the long list of what if’s that we are supposed to cast upon the Lord. Well, left to themselves they will choke out our relationship with God. And the riches and pleasures of this life lead us to depend on ourselves and not God, making idols out of our abilities and making us like the Israelites of the Old Testament.

As true and hard as these verses are, the one that really got me was in verse 18. It reads “So pay attention to how you listen. For whoever has, to him more will be given. And whoever does not have even what he supposes he has will be taken away.” How you listen. Is there more than one way to listen. The word how in this sentence is an adverb; an interrogative particle of manner; in what way?; also as exclamation, how much!

In the Jewish culture to hear is to obey. They go hand in hand. If you don’t obey what was spoken then you didn’t hear to start with. Which is what I think is really happening in parable of the sower, and what the second half of verse 18 is saying. If you don’t listen well or with the intent to obey then you are the one who does not have, but what he thinks he has is taken from him.

MacLaren explains what we are to do with the word and the thorns: “for in every one of us there are the necessary anxieties of life, and every one of us knows that there is real and substantial good to a part of our being, in the possession of a share of this world’s wealth, without which no man can live, and all of us carry natures to which the delights of sense do legitimately and necessarily appeal.

So the soil for the growth of the thorns is always in us all. But what then? Are these things so powerful in our hearts as that they become hindrances to our Christian life? That is the question. The cares and the occupation of mind with, and desire for, the wealth and the pleasures are of God’s appointment. He did not make them thorns, but you and I make them thorns; and the question for us is, has our Christianity driven out the undue regard to this life, regarded in these three aspects – undue in measure or in any other respect, by which they are converted into hindrances that mar our Christian life? Dear brethren, it is not enough to say, ‘I have received the word into my heart.’ There is another question besides that – Has the word received into your heart cast out the thorns? Or are they and the seed growing there side by side? “

What a thought to ponder. What a place to stop and hear what God is saying. It is not wrong to have wealth, or to love your husband and kids, and be concerned for their well-being. But are we letting the word of God affect us in our habits of life. Do I pray when my kids are facing hard situations or simple worry and fret for them? Am I truly trusting God to keep them safe and lead them into the fullness of their personal relationship with Him? Or am I trying to make their walk with the Lord happen in the way I think best and in my own time table. Do I really believe that God will provide for me and my needs, or do I hold too tightly to my paycheck, planning for the worst?

This concept with hearing and obeying carries into how we read the scriptures too. Just a few chapters over from chapter 8, we find an expert in the law asking Jesus about eternal life in Luke 10:25-28. The man asks, “What should I do to gain eternal life?” Jesus answers him with this question, “What has been written in the Torah? How do you read it?” There it is again. The word how. Such a weird word to use in both of these situations. Or is it? Jesus isn’t asking the man do you know what the law says, but do you know how to apply it? It’s the same thing as in pay attention to how you hear. Pay attention to how you read. Are reading looking for loop holes, or ways to justify your actions or cause? Or are you allowing the Living Word of God to penetrate your heart and change you for the better. Are you listening to God and reading His word with the intention of allowing God to change your motives, your desires, your attitude? Or to check off doing devotions on some list in your head making you a good person?

So as you read your Bible and listen to your pastors, parents and other people of authority in your life, and of course Jesus speaking truth over you, pay attention to how you listen to them. Don’t justify or harden yourselves. Listen with the intention to obey, and read with the intention to see the invitation to walk with Jesus – not just follow the rules.

Quote taken from Expositions Of Holy Scripture, Alexander MacLaren, https://biblehub.com/commentaries/maclaren/luke/8.htm, accessed on 8/29/23

Bible, community, Jesus, Uncategorized

Everyone one is someone to God — Serve them like they are

July 23, 2023 No Comments

It’s been a crazy few weeks. Busy with life, adult children doing their adult things, friends in crisis, summer rain and hail and more rain and hail. And just as discombobulated as the weather has been and parenting adult children can be, my spirit feels that way, too. I am all over the map for some reason. Trying to study Isaiah, while prepping/writing a study on grace with two amazing gals from my church, while prepping the fall studies and women’s events, to doing a study on prayer and one on the names of God. Yep a bit all over the place. So it shouldn’t surprise me that what I feel God speaking to me is all over the place. Live in my grace. Don’t strive, but learn to abide in me. Practice that abiding; oh, and serve others, too. And spend time with me….. Back and forth in this serve and do, but be still and just abide. It’s a like spiritual yo-yo in my life that swings from this to that while I’m trying to make sense of the path the string is following.

Yesterday and then this morning in Bible study, I feel like all the wild thoughts finally are beginning to connect and make sense. At least in my head. Yesterday, me and a few ladies from my church spent the day serving and learning about the homeless and the vulnerable in our city. My heart broke (as a wanna-be missionary). I wanted to quit my job, sell my house, and find ways to help these people who just need someone to give them a hand up. My heart is screaming, “I can do that! I can help refugees in our city. I can be their friend, their support, their contact to our world.” Then 20 minutes later, “I can help these women who are experiencing homelessness. I can be their house mentor,” Then an hour later, “Oh, I should text this friend, or pray for the new gal in Bible study…” (My mind still all over the place, trying to figure out how to serve, how to make an impact in this world, in my church, in my city to do something for God.)

Clarity came at the strangest place — a dumpster. Yep actually two of them. A pair of smelly, gross, graffitied green dumpsters. And then more clarity from John 13 in my Bible study this morning.

Part of our day serving the homeless was a prayer walk. It was the best part of the day for me. As we walked with the guide, we came to these two dumpsters, and he said this is one of his favorite spots in the city. On one side of an ally there was a fence with this strange tree, and on the other side there were the two dumpsters. He was a character and I just thought sure this is your favorite place. He went on to ask us about the graffiti, what we saw and thought. He then pointed out that those are all people – either names, nicknames or titles of people who just want to be noticed. They want people to see their name, their sign or symbol. Then he says that they take pride in “tagging” something and bragging to their friends about it. Here comes the profound part. Jesus knows their names – their real name and their street name. He knows the number of hairs on their heads and all about them. He then goes on to say Jesus is a type of “tagger” but in a different way. Like in the game of tag, when you get tagged you are it then you have to go tag someone else. If you are a Christ follower Jesus tags you with the Holy Spirit. The Bible says you are marked (Eph, 1:13) by God with His Spirit or like the NIRV says, “The Spirit marks us as God’s own.” And because we are marked by God, we are then called by God to go and share the good news of the Gospel with others so the Holy Spirit can mark them, too. Then the man leading the prayer walk asks us to pray for those represented on the dumpster and for those of us who have been “tagged” by God. We prayed. He then turns and looks at this tree which was behind us. He says, “Do you think those pink things are flowers? I used to think they were flowers, but then I learned they are seeds. Seeds help spread the plant, making more plants like this one.” He turns to walk to our next stop and says, “How many seeds does one tree need anyway…” Do you get it? We who are believers are loaded with the seeds of God’s love, we will always have seeds of grace, love, and mercy to spread if we abide in Him.

Now fast forward from a long day of outreach to this morning, in my house, a cup of coffee and my bible. John 13-17 is the scripture for this week. I get all the way to John 13:4 (supposed to read all 4 chapters, and I get stuck 4 verses in.) “So He gets up from the meal and lays aside His outer garment; taking a towel, He wrapped it around His waist.” I feel prompted by the Holy Spirit to look into what it means that Jesus takes off His outer garment? According to Biblestudytools.com (https://www.biblestudytools.com/john/13-4.html) it means He was laying aside His glory and dignity as Son of God, so He could appear in the form of a servant. Another site referenced the greek meaning in the words to take off. It isn’t just removing, but has a deeper meaning implying of Jesus laying down His life. And that in verse 12 when He puts His robe back on, it is referencing Him taking His life back up. (https://www.heartbeatinternational.org/a-servant-s-garment#:~:text=Jesus%20was%20about%20to%20express,laying%20down%20of%20his%20life.) Jesus then goes on to say at the end of John chapter 13, “I have given you an example – you should do for each other what I have done for you.” (John 13:15)

In between John 13:4 and John 13:15, in case you don’t know, is the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet. As He goes to wash Peter’s feet (ah Peter I feel you, always trying to be spiritual and sometimes missing the mark so badly) Peter stops Him and says, ‘no you can’t wash my feet that’s beneath you Jesus.’ Jesus kindly says, ‘You don’t know what I am doing, but you will understand after these things.’ Peter replies, “Wait, then wash all of me.” I can just see Jesus being so kind, so patient with Peter waiting for him to get it, and loving him while He waits. Then Jesus goes on to finishing washing their feet. The Bible doesn’t specifically say that He washes Judas’s feet, but it’s implied. In this touching story, Jesus takes off His outer garment, makes himself look like a servant, then serves both the (EGR – extra grace required) Peter and the betrayer Judas. He serves them all the same. According to John 13:1 He loved them all till the end. He served and loved the self-righteous and the sinner alike, then calls us to do the same.

It’s not about quitting a job, selling everything I have and giving it to the poor. It’s about serving others – whoever the others are. Those I like, those who wear me out, those who I don’t think are worth the time, those who sin against me – everyone in the middle of my life. It’s about serving because Jesus loved me and took off His outer garment to take up the cross for me. And in return I can take time to serve those around me right where I am. In my church, at my job, in my neighborhood and in my home. I don’t have to quit my job or sell my house. Instead, I have to learn to love well and serve right where I am.

Bible, Easter, Holiday, Jesus, love, Minor Prophets, Studying the Bible, Uncategorized

The weight of sin & the Love of God

April 5, 2023 2 Comments

It’s Easter week. I am a staff pastor at a local church, and I’m sick. Yep that’s what my week is like as I write this. Good news is I don’t really have a “Key” role in Easter Services. I am not the lead speaker, nor part of the worship team which takes some pressure off, but still not the best week to be sick. Although there never really is a good time to be sick, is there? We all have responsibilities and things we do that are important and being sick, like it or not, trumps all of that.

Sickness aside it’s been a rough couple of weeks. I have had a funeral to help plan for a friend’s dad, another friend’s son was taken to rehab for the 2nd time, one friend had vocal surgery and another major surgery in a week, car accidents, kids who broke their arms. and a school lockdown that ended in peace. That’s a glimpse of my world. It’s also what I love about being a pastor. I hate that things go wrong; people get sick, but I love that God allows me to bring help to those in need.

I am in the midst of a study on Amos with women at the church. This small book has so much to teach us – it is blowing my mind. This week we are studying chapter 2. Amos is giving his prophetic word to nations that are going to be judged for their sins. It’s actually more bleak than the last couple of weeks around my world. It seems so hopeless….BUT God. There is this one strange verse that author Jennifer Rothschild points out and expands on. Amos 2:13 reads, “Look I am about to crush you, in your places as a wagon crushes when full of grain.”(Holman Standard Bible). Sounds like God is mad, and He is; but there is more to these words than you read on the page. The wagon is symbolic of God, who is weighed down with the sins of His people. A heavy wagon crushes the ground it rolls over due to the weight it carries. Jennifer Rothschild draws the understanding that God allows Himself to get weighed down from our sins. He feels the weight of sin.

Since this is Easter week my mind immediately goes to the scripture from Isaiah, “He was crushed for our iniquities” (Is. 53:5) God allowed Himself to be crushed by the weight of my sin, and yours. I read the rest of the chapter and finished the rest of this week’s study, and then just sat with the Lord. Here in the book of Amos, God is mad at the sins of the Israelites. In fact He is so mad He’s going to crush them according to this chapter. But we know the rest of the story. While Israel is “crushed” for a season – they are taken into captivity, killed, and scattered – God didn’t fully crush them. He didn’t do what their sins deserved. And He doesn’t give us what our sins deserve either. Israel is gathered back together. They become a people group again.

God hates sin. God loves sinners. God does not ignore injustice, but God does not act in wrath. It’s a mystery and a marvel all at the same time. I mentioned my week at the start of this blog. I pointed out the lows, but here are the highs. I was part of a prayer team who saw tumors dissolve, blind eyes see, a life saved from death, tears of joy, peace and love. In the midst of all that is bad God is moving and blessing, and healing, and saving. God always feels the weight of sin. It grieves His heart so much so that He finally had enough. He broke heaven open by sending Jesus to live and then die for the sin of the world. I believe Jesus felt double the weight of sin. The actual sin itself, and then the effects of that sin on others. We live in a fallen world but there is hope. The weight of the wagon won’t crush us because God won’t let it. No matter what sickness you face, or addiction your family member is tied up in; no matter how dark the darkness gets, Jesus is and always will be the light of the world. Light ALWAYS displaces the darkness. No matter how heavy the weight of the wagon God is always there to take that burden. It’s the crazy beauty of Easter. Jesus died. All seemed lost, until it wasn’t. Jesus rose. Nothing can stop God. Nothing can alter the love that is too great to understand. No circumstance is too far gone for God to redeem.

As Good Friday and Easter Sunday come, take a moment and think about what God did for you. What He saved you from. Then praise Him. If He cares enough about you to send His son to die in your place, then He cares deeply about your situation. Whether it’s due to your sin or someone else’s, God sees it; and He will not let it crush you. He is God and He will make right every wrong, He has made a way for us to come to Him. No sin is too big to be forgiven and no hurt is too deep to not be healed. Because of Jesus we will rise.

Christmas, Friendship, Jesus, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized

Getting to the feet of Jesus

November 26, 2022 No Comments

It has been a whirlwind of a week for me. Starting last Saturday. It was the wedding rehearsal day for my second oldest son. Which was fun, confusing (lots of discussing who walks in before who, and what word in the song do we start to walk out to kind of stuff.) All in all a good day, a little surreal but good.

Then Sunday morning (church day not the wedding day because both parents on each side are pastors and well, pastors have church services we do weekly) my daughter and oldest son alert me to a shooting in a town 20-30 minutes away. Five lives have been taken and 18 more are injured. My heart breaks. This shooting is yet another hate crime. Thoughts are swirling, Why God?, How God? And then to happy nervous thoughts. Yikes, tomorrow is the big day…

Then Monday, wedding day. Great day. Lots of emotions – all happy. Then Tuesday, back to work for Christmas decorating day. Then Wednesday, finally a lull in the week. Followed by Thanksgiving which has its own set of emotions. What I am grateful for and who do I want to smack for getting in the way while food is being put in the oven and taken out of the oven in crazy amounts. And now finally Friday. Black Friday. Why do we celebrate a day of being grateful and then call the next day Black Friday? Weird. Anyway, no Black Friday shopping here. Just a quiet house for the first time in a week – ’cause there are extra friends and family around because it was Thanksgiving and a wedding in one week.

I am sitting back in my office – which was turned into a spare room for said friends and family. Life is slowly making its way back to normal or as normal of the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas can get.

I’m working my way through a study on Jesus via the book of Luke. The author, Erica Wiggenhorn, does a great job of leaving you daily with deep thoughts to ponder. Today’s is based on Luke 5:17-26. For those of you who don’t immediately know Luke 5:17-26 (if you already knew what this section of Scripture is about, you ROCK, because I would not have known without having read it this morning), it’s about the paralyzed man with the amazing friends who go to great lengths to get the paralyzed man to Jesus.

When I say great lengths I mean like physically carrying the man on a mat to the house that Jesus was in, only to find one way, through the crowds, to get to Jesus. Determined, they carry the man up the stairs (outside) to the roof, cut a hole in the roof, create some sort of pully system so they can lower the man through the hole to the feet of Jesus. That all took thought, skill, muscle and teamwork. Once the man is in front of Jesus he is both healed and declared forgiven for his sins. He leaves carrying the mat his friends had been carrying him on all night.

The author of the study (Erica Wiggenhorn) poses the questions “Are you that kind of friend? Do you have friends like that?” My answer is I hope so to both. Then she takes it further, “Are you that kind of neighbor?” If your neighbors are some of your really close friends NEVER move, because that is not so common in today’s world.

Then she says “When we become people who readily admit our own desperation for Jesus, the door opens – or the roof is dismantled – for us to become people who will do anything to bring our friends to the feet of Jesus as well as to have their sins forgiven.” She goes on to say “Are you and I ready to become mat-carrying, roof- raising, believing-the-best-for-others kind of people. Will we allow Jesus to make us people with such faith and audacity that the world is left in wonder?” (Unexplainable Jesus, pg 72-73)

As I sit here this morning, once more in my office, in my quiet home, Jesus I want to be that kind of person to my friends, to my neighbors and to those I don’t know. I want to clear a path for people to come to the feet of Jesus because He can handle any situation we lay at His feet. He can make right any wrong. He can heal, and He can forgive sins. He alone can make whole what is broken in our bodies, in our hearts and in our world.

Friends, will you join me in being people who take others to Jesus? Someone who carries those who can’t walk to the feet of Jesus? Someone who won’t stop until the hurting, the broken, or the lost are at the feet of Jesus?

Over the next month as holiday madness ensues, let us remember our job isn’t to be the best host, give the best gift, or have the prettiest decorated house… but to help take those around us, friends, family, neighbors, and strangers to the feet of Jesus.

Bible, forgiveness, complaining, slow to anger, surrendering, surrendering

When God’s Way Seems too Hard – Remember Who You Serve

October 3, 2022 No Comments

I am smack in the middle of teaching on the book of Ezekiel. This week we are going over one of the hardest chapters of the book– and that’s saying something. Chapter 24. If you are unfamiliar with the book here’s a quick recap. Ezekiel is a priest and a prophet. He just turned 30 in the beginning of the book; he could now preform priestly duties on his own. Except he was captured by Babylon and taken into captivity. But captivity is where God uses him to speak, to lead, and to prophesy. This is the first of many things Ezekiel did that was not the way he thought life would go. That right there is a big lesson to learn in and of its self. God’s ways are not our ways. (Is. 55:8-9).

Ezekiel has spent 5 years trying to help the Israelite captives understand the consequences of their sins, as individuals and as a nation. They haven’t listened. Now, in chapter 24 the last time Ezekiel prophesies to the Israelites before turning his attention to the surrounding nations, we find this HARD thing God asks him to do.

God tells him “Your wife will die, and you are not to mourn her death.” This seems like a punch to the stomach from a God who is loving and forgiving, and kind and slow to anger. Questions like “How? Why? And really?” almost jump out our mouths as we read this. It doesn’t seem right, and for sure doesn’t sound like God. And yet it is God, and it is what He says.

How do we reconcile this with the God we believe in? To start we must look at what God is doing and not just what He is saying. I don’t for a moment trivialize what Ezekiel had to have thought and wrestled with. God has asked Ezekiel to do some very strange and not so easy things to get the attention of the Israelites. But this seems too much. Enter Ezekiel 24:18 – “So I spoke to the people in the morning, and that evening my wife died; and the next morning I did as I was commanded.”

I think Ezekiel is my favorite Old Testament person. He lived a life that shows what it truly means to put God first. Something we say but do we really do? He did. He is an example that it is possible to live with God being truly #1 in our lives; above job, above our comfort, above our family (kids, husbands, mothers and fathers.) Above it all.

So we know Ezekiel chose God first but why would God ask this of him. While God’s mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3:22-23) and He is slow to anger (Psalm 103:8 and Ex.34:6), He is also just (Deut. 32:4) and a God who is jealous over us (Ex 34:14.).

For me, understanding and accepting this hard side of God came when I read verse 13 of chapter 24. “In your filthiness is lewdness because I have cleansed, and you were not cleansed.” Stick with me for a moment. Ezekiel is a prophet who is called to physically act out what God is saying. He is the visual aid so to speak. Ezekiel isn’t who God is speaking to in verse 13. Verse 13 is to those who have taken God’s forgiveness lightly.

No one wants to admit it but we all have done that at times. Hanging on to that sin we have repented of, asked to be freed from, but won’t let go of. That one thing we cling to a little tighter in our left hand while holding our right hand out to God. In the word of this Old Testament Book the Idol we have in our heart that we hope no one (not even God) sees. God is asking Ezekiel to give up his wife for the sake of His Glory. And he does.

The other day I was visited by a religious group going door to door to share their “faith”. I watched out my window as adults (not teens, not even young adults, but men and women older than me) got of their cars, gathered, prayed and went out. One man stood at the end of my driveway for several minutes – head bowed, what I assumed to be praying. Then his partner joined him and together they walked up to my front door. I walked outside, explained to them that I am a pastor and secure in my faith, had no desire to debate my believes, and blessed them. Upon returning to my front door, I felt the Holy Spirit asking me what I am doing to make my God known to the lost world? Would I be willing to go to strangers, risk being yelled at, having doors slammed in my face all for the chance to share the gospel? Would I humble myself for the sake of someone else’s salvation. Would I put God above my own comfort? Would I be willing to walk through pain if it meant someone else would truly repent and turn from their wicked ways and be saved? What would I give up to spread the fame of who My God is to the world?

This hard chapter of Ezekiel reminds us that God is God and we shall have no other Gods before Him. Not my comfort, not my wants, not my spouse nor my children can have the space that God has in my heart. God may never ask me to give up my family for Him, but He does daily ask me to give up my ways and wants so that my heart is fully yielded to Him. So that my heart is humble and willing to pray for those who don’t yet know Him, to serve those who I feel don’t deserve it. To honor those who I want to discredit. To live a life that shows the world around me that God is first, and I have no other God besides Him.

Prayer, surrendering, Uncategorized

Learning to sway in the wind

June 6, 2022 No Comments

I had just finished my morning bible reading. Ezekiel 12. I began praying for a friend that they would be sensitive to the Holy Spirit when I looked up from the patio where I was sitting and saw a tall palm tree moving back and forth in the wind. God began to speak to my heart.

This palm tree’s tall trunk is maybe 8-10 inches in diameter, (maybe smaller I am bad with math and guessing dimensions). It’s slightly windy this morning. Nothing major. A nice ocean breeze. As I watched the palm tree move this way and that – unpredictable movements based on the wind – I began to think, “What keeps this tree from toppling over in heavy wind?” Let me explain how tall this palm tree is. I am on the 6th floor of a condo building. This tree’s palms are barely visible to me from where I sit. I would guess the full height of the tree is 8-9 stories tall. This tall skinny tree is swaying gracefully in the breeze.

God said that if I would learn to move with the wind of the Spirit when it starts to blow, the Spirit could keep moving and I would keep swaying with it changing directions when needed, never trying to control the Spirit. Just yielding to its direction.

I have only been in Maui for a few days but I have yet to see a palm tree laying on the ground uprooted because of the wind. I also haven’t seen one broken in two from bending to the wind. What I have seen is trees moving with the wind, swaying and swinging all the while making beautiful soothing sounds with their palms.

It is so peaceful, there is a bird chirping, the sounds of the palms swishing in the air, the sight of all kinds of palm trees dancing with the wind.

My mind began to wonder – what if we all gave up control and just moved with the Wind? What if I learned to live in a peaceful movement with the wind of the Spirit? What would it be like to sway and bend as the Spirt leads instead of fearing that I might bump into this palm tree or that palm tree or worse bend too far and break?

The Holy Spirit is gentle. I know that, yet I forget that. When I feel the Spirit move, I sometimes get tense and worried. What if the Holy Spirit prompts me to do something weird or embarrassing? Yet as I looked out at the palm trees around me the Lord began to show me the beauty I would produce if I yield more to the Holy Spirit, and that I look weird when I fight against the Spirit; not when I move with it.

The swaying of the palm tree is graceful, beautiful and even a little intoxicating. I could sit for hours in this peaceful place listening to the sounds of the wind and seeing the peaceful movement the wind creates.

The Lord began to say “Give up control. Yield to me. Trust my Spirit and move with wind of Heaven, and you too will create a beautiful sound. Others will watch and be in awe of my Spirit in you.’

So today I give back the control I never was meant to have. I yield to the Holy Spirit and commit to a life of swaying in the wind.

Friendship, Jesus, overwhelmed, Prayer, Trust, Trustworthy

Overwhelmed – When the enemy tried to knock me out and God spoke

May 27, 2022 1 Comment

man near carton boxes with many different words about stress

I am sure if you have been a believer for longer than a day you have experienced a season where the enemy seems to hit you out of the blue with spiritual warfare, and then the hits just keep coming from every direction. I don’t like battles. I am not confrontational by nature. I am a people pleaser who easily can put making others happy above my own happiness. I am not a cryer, but lately you’d think I was pregnant the way I cry at EVERYTHING. You get it if you have walked through a season like this in your own life.

It started a little more than 2 weeks ago. An event that shouldn’t have had that much effect on me did. It caught me off guard and sent me into a tale spin. While I was still trying to figure out why I was angry and hurt but this situation, the attacks piled up and took me by complete surprise. After 2 weeks of stress, funerals (yes that is plural), hurt feelings, mental self esteem negative thoughts, PT for a torn ligament in my arm, and fighting with those close to me, I found myself feeling like I was drowning by it all. I began to feel spiritually bi-polar – excitedly “preaching” to my husband one moment, then tearfully exclaiming to him I give up, I throw in the towel, I am done the next. The highs and emotional lows were crazy The tears come easier than I thought was possible.

I read a devotional book personally just for me every morning and every evening. Starting my day with God and ending with God has become a new habit in life this year. On one of the hard days, I was feeling so overwhelmed by, well, everything. Then God stepped in. I cried more but this time not tears of overwhelming hurt and frustration but overwhelming tears of how God was there speaking and loving me. That night I opened my night time devotional book and the title for that day was PERSEVERE. The verse 2 Timothy 4:5 – “Be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

The first sentence from that day’s devotional reads, “Today, persevere. Do not give up, no matter what happens.” I laughed out loud. At my church we are in a series on 2 Timothy. I had been crying out for God to show up, and He did. Just not how I thought He would. I should know by now He never moves how I think He should or will. He didn’t show up and fix the problems although I am believing He will. He came and spoke to my broken heart. He came being more worried about me and the condition of my heart than the chaos around me.

I looked up a few key words from 2 Timothy 4:5. Sober means free from illusions, being tempered and self-controlled, the opposite of irrational. I had been staring at the illusions of the enemy. I had been irrational and definitely wasn’t exercising self-control.

Hardship means enduring painful hardships that SEEM to be a set back but are not. Lastly fulfill your ministry means the use of God’s power bringing the believer to maximum potential, matching their true knowledge of Him.

I finished reading the one page devotional and my spirit shifted. I cried again, but not out of fear; out of knowing God knew how I felt and had been there with me over the last few weeks. I fell asleep in a better frame of mind than I had started the day.

God didn’t stop there. My morning devotional — The same power that resurrected Christ from the dead lives in me. The verse. Romans 8:11. In the devotional she referenced Mark 12:18. The Sadducees were a group of religious leaders during the life of Jesus who were convinced that Jesus’s life ended in a dark tomb and that there was no resurrection. The author says “As I thought how sad it is to see life this way, I sensed the Holy Spirit whisper ‘You have areas in your life where you don’t believe in the resurrection either.” BAM God was opening my eyes and heart to see where my faith was lacking. Again tears of God’s overwhelming love for me.

As if the two devotions were not enough God moved further. Two bloggers I follow posted last night and early this morning, one on don’t give up. The verse “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9, ESV). God was moving telling me He is here. He knows. He cares. He’s not done, so I shouldn’t be either.

Then God got real personal. I have a friend who has hurt my feelings deeply and the worst part is that she is unaware, and I believe at this point she is incapable of seeing or acknowledging this. The other blogger I mentioned posted “How to love well when a friend hurts you”. More tears. God knows. God is here, God cares, God feels my pain, and will move and do what only He can to heal my hurts.

I am so overwhelmed by the God I serve. The only person ever to cause me tears of joy – God.

It’s a tough world right now. Hurt and pain seem to be the normal. Anxiety and stress, being overwhelmed, is just the way life is. That my friend is the lie I had allowed the enemy to convince me was true. It is an illusion. God’s word – “be sober”. God wants me and you to live free from the illusion the enemy creates. God wants me and you to live in full resurrection power. God wants you and me to not give up. God wants you and me to live in unity with other believers. Stop living the illusion and start living the TRUTH. This is a challenge for you and for me. Are you up for it? I am!!

forgiveness, complaining, slow to anger, Jesus, Steadfast love, The power of the Blood

A Journey Through The Book of Numbers – Part 4 Grumbling and Complaining

March 2, 2022 No Comments

angry wife explaining problem during quarrel

In this part of the series on the book of Numbers we will be focusing on a major concept in the book – complaining, grumbling and discontentment. We won’t be so much looking at specific chapters because it seems someone is either complaining to Moses and Aaron, or grumbling against God, or both.

In chapter 11 we see the people complain openly before the Lord, and He responds with fire on the outskirts of the camp. Then a rabble in verse 4 (a reference to possible Israelites that married Egyptians, or Egyptians that fled Egypt with the Israelites) enticed the Israelites to continue complaining. The complaints didn’t just stay among them. That’s the thing about complaining and being grumpy – it affects those around you, and more often than not complainers get a following. One discontented person can cause those around them to become discontented which is what we see in chapters 10-14.

They complain about food, meat, water and even the promised land in chapter 14. Moses sends spies to see the land that God has promised to give them. Eight of the ten bring back a bad report saying the land has strong people with fortified cities, that they will never be able to conquer. Two of the spies remind the Israelites that God had promised them a land flowing with milk and honey, a good land a fertile land. They even bring the proof that the land is all that God had promised – a cluster of grapes they brought back had to be carried on a pole by two men (see 13:23). God had never lied to the Israelites. They even had visual proof of Him keeping his word. But the people focused on the wrong thing. The focused on the enemies of the land instead of the Lord’s promise to hand their enemies over to the Israelites.

It’s easy to look at this part of scripture and think, “Silly Israelites. Don’t they remember how the Lord delivered them from Egypt just a year ago?” But we all do that. God does something amazing in our lives, we celebrate, we praise, we rejoice, and then we go back to our lives. Sickness comes, heartache happens, and we wonder why the Lord has abandoned us in our time of need. One of the things repeated often in the Old Testament is to remember the great and mighty works the Lord has done in their midsts and for them. When we stop reminding ourselves and those around us of the great deeds that God has done, we fall prey to our old way of thinking about God. We see this happen over and over again.

If you learn nothing else from the book of Numbers remember this. God does not like having His character questioned. When the Israelites started saying that God had brought them out of Egypt only to die in the desert short of his promise, He responded. And each time His response got stronger. First, fire on the outskirts of the camp, then to a whole generation missing the promised land, to Miriam getting leprosy, plagues breaking out, and an entire clan being swallowed up when the ground below them opened up.

The complaining even got to Moses in chapter 20:10-12. The people had been complaining once more – this time because they had no water. Moses and Aaron sought the Lord, and He told them to go speak to the rock and water would pour forth. But Moses had had it. He took credit for what God wanted to do when He said, “Listen you rebels! Must we bring water out this rock for you?” God doesn’t like sharing credit, or His glory. So He told Moses and Aaron that they won’t go into the Land He promised. This sounds harsh and it is, but Moses was the closest person at this point to God. God spoke to him in ways unprecedented. Moses had allowed the hard-hearted bitterness of those around him to affect him. We do that, too. Just spend 2 hours with a whiny, grumpy toddler and see how patient and kind you are at the end of that 2 hours. Every mom has experienced this. It’s crazy how a toddler can turn a perfectly calm mom into a screaming maniac.

Our attitude matters. We who have chosen to make Jesus our Lord and Savior, are called to represent Him, and do it well. Verses like, “Do all things with out grumbling or complaining” (Philippians 2:14), and “Whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord” (Colossians 3:23-24) are not just good advice. They are commandments to follow. Not just for our sake but also for the sake of those around us. How are we to make Jesus appealing to a lost world if we complain and grumble more than those without Jesus?

In the middle of the season of complaining that Israel is going through the Lord reminds them once more of His true character. Chapter 14:18 says “The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and rebellion.”

In chapter 19 we have this weird section of scripture. In the middle of all the complaining and bad attitudes toward God that the Israelites had, God gives Moses and Aaron an outline of a purification ritual. It is not the normal sacrifice. This one uses a red heifer that has no defect and has never been yoked. There is much in these few scriptures that point to the need of redemption through blood. The red heifer was to be burned outside the camp. Jesus was crucified outside the city walls of Jerusalem. Cedar wood, hyssop and crimson string were also used in the ritual. Jesus was hung on a tree, they gave Him wine and vinegar from a sponge attached to a hyssop branch, and the crimson string represents His blood that was shed for the forgiveness of our sins.

Once more we see the book of Numbers remind us that God had a plan for redeeming His people all along.

To read the last blog in the series click here.

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