Stewardship is a “touchy” subject …. many seem to resent any mention of money from church leadership, even though scripture does discuss it in plain words. Also, i’ve noticed, almost anytime stewardship is mentioned, among the very first thoughts in our minds is about money, but truly, money is just a small part of the stewardship the Lord has called us to. It’s a provocative subject, and many will, when it is mentioned, inject all sorts of pro’s and con’s into the conversation. Strangely enough, “giving an account” also seems to be an oddly difficult conversation. There’s just something about “accountability” most of us seem to avoid, no one seems none too eager to tell the narrative of where they’ve been and what they’ve been doing with their time and resources . We know how the widow gave when Jesus sat opposite the treasury and watched, as seen in Mark 12, or how Ananias and Sapphira lied about their giving and how there came to them some very final results, to say the least, for telling the “untruth” in Acts 5.

We may appreciate Paul’s statement to the Corinthians about the Macedonians giving of themselves before they gave their gift in 2 Corinthians 8. We might even feel we know what our neighbor ought to give to their church or another charity. However, it is another matter when we sit down to take inventory of our own “take home pay”, so to speak. But that is what the scripture says in Luke 16:2. It says: “Give an account of your stewardship.” Did you get that? Not your neighbor, not your spouse, but your stewardship. It means to sit down and tally a “trial balance”, in the words of a bookkeeper, to see where we stand with God. And for those of us who would like to know, a “trial balance” is when we take a snap shot of all our accounts, giving account of our stewardship of our treasures…..and i’m not talking about just money either.

This is Outposts and i’ll be your host this evening with cool jazz and contemplative conversation from the late evening cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge, and every evening is pleasant.

Taking a good, honest, inventory is always a good idea, although we all tend to feel very exposed or uncovered, but, in the long run i believe the Lord wants us to tell the truth about what is r-e-a-l-l-y on our shelves and in our pockets. Let’s take a break, and i’ll be right back.

Many years ago i worked in manufacturing. We made generator regulators, some nearly as large as a train car …  there were many specialized parts of steel, copper, and many electronic parts which were used in building our products. Some of the electronic parts were very special and had order lead times of over 10-12 months … they were very special indeed. On a side note, “Lead time” is how far in advance a part must be ordered for it to be in-house in time to be assembled and make the shipping deadline. The warehouse inventory specialists had to keep an almost constant inventory, and if they forgot to order something, and lied about it on the inventory, they could easily lose their job. i remember once, a friend of mine, an inventory specialist, was supposed to have ordered a very special transformer but somehow he missed his queue to order it. When inventory time came, he lied about what was really on the shelves, because he thought he could get the parts in fast enough to cover his poor stewardship. It wasn’t gonna happen and he was found out. The manufacturing manager gave him his walking papers immediately. It would have been better for him to say he missed his ordering queue, than to lie about the inventory.

In Mark 6:38 Jesus asks the disciples a question saying, “How many loaves and fishes have we got? Go and see.” The “go and see” part means for them to take an inventory. Suppose they had lied to Jesus reporting there was more in the basket than there really was, how do you suppose things would have gone with them? Or what if they lied and said there were none because they pocketed the items in hopes of turning a profit later on? Maybe there would have been an addition to Sermon on the Mount called, “Sermon in the Desert”. There is a lesson of stewardship and being an administrator there in Mark 6.

Taking an accurate inventory of what we’ve really got is important. Telling ourselves what we’ve truly got on the shelves of our heart gives us a snap-shot of what and how we ought to pray, it re-centers us as to who God is and where we fit with Him. How do we know what to talk to God about unless we have an honest and truthful idea of exactly what we’ve got and what we’re about?

In Exodus 38:21 Moses asked for an inventory, or as the King James puts it, a “sum of the tabernacle”. They were counting everything to see what they really had, not what they might have, or what they dreamed they would have sometime in the future, but real time, in the NOW, the brutal truth of what in actuality was in their possession. It was a check-up of the Stewardship of the Treasuries. Have you taken inventory lately? Ever? One way to take inventory is through prayer. Charles Spurgeon said, “If God gave us favors without constraining us to pray for them we should never know how poor we are, but a true prayer is an inventory of wants, a catalogue of necessities, and revelation of hidden poverty.”

Being a good steward of the gifts God has given us is a learned endeavor, and truly, everyone is born with God-given capacities, but what we do with those God-given gifts is a choice we must make.

 The realization and exercise of our God given giftings is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. The Lord didn’t give you gifts just so you could put them on the shelf, nor did He give them to you so others could be exploited for your own gain. Use them wisely. Think how you would feel if you gave your child a wonderful gift, and your little loved one just put it away, or held it in contempt, or sold it to the kid down the street? ….why do we think our Father is any different towards us? God has made us rich in every way so we can be generous on every occasion. There’s a good word, “Think generous”. Generous in kindness, generous in mercy, generous in patience, generous in hope. Generous in the exercise of your giftings. Think generous!

Someone asked Daniel Webster, a leading American statesman, a senator from Massachusetts, and the 14^th and 19^th U.S. Secretary of State, “What is the most solemn thought that has ever entered your mind?” He replied without hesitation, “My most solemn thought, and i have it often, is my personal accountability to God.” We must face the truth that every one of us is accountable to God for the use we make of the gifts and blessings He has entrusted to us. Some think God doesn’t heal anymore…read your Bible and think again. Some think God doesn’t speak to men anymore … read your Bible and think again. When, not if, but when God speaks to you….listen. By the fact God is speaking to you….that in itself is a gift. Use it. He’s not speaking to you for nothing.

Fritz Kreisler, an Austrian-born violinist and composer, once said, “I was born with music in my system. It was a gift from God. I did not acquire it. I didn’t even deserve thanks for the music. Music is too sacred to be sold, I never look upon the money I have as my own. It is public money. It is only a fund entrusted to me for proper disbursement…”

What are you doing with the treasures God has given you? Do most of us even have an idea of what they are?

In Matthew 25 there is a parable about talents (or gifts) and what three servants did with their talents. Rev. R. R. Belter wrote, “The man in Matthew 25:26 said, “I went and hid my talent in the ground,”, and he is not the only one on whose tombstone, in the “Cemetery of Neglect” such words were written. Arthur Brisbane, whose’ syndicated column we read with relish years ago, once penned these words: “The greatest loss to the human race has not been caused by floods or by fire, not by epidemics which have spread disease over vast areas and with the sickle of death mowed down millions, nor by earthquakes and topical storms; neither by record-breaking crashes of Wall Street … the greatest loss … has been in the buried talent of God’s people.”

Reverend Belter continued saying, “Is there anything more pathetic than a trained teacher who will not teach, a beautiful voice which will not sing, a pastoral gifting that will not shepherd, an apostolic anointing not allowed to plant, an efficient businessman who will not give to God the benefit of his knowledge, or a lawyer who will not serve in Church councils so that his Lord can have the benefit of talent which God alone gave him? We have men and women in all walks of life, who have been given blessings, but refuse to be a blessing.”

Someone, anyone, please tell me the difference, between the person who neglected the talent God gave them and the one who simply misuses it by not using it? Our gifts and talents may not be, in our estimation, a “big” talent at all, but we are to serve where we are with what we’ve got, the best we know how, as unto the Lord.

Asaph was a steward, He was appointed and purposed to make all provision and preparation as necessary to take action as the keeper of the Kings forest. You think you’re not a steward of anything? Think again my friend. God has made us stewards of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding as He gives it to us, stewards of the Kingdom of God, stewards of the reflection of Glory, and stewards of worship and praise. He has given us stewardship of our communications with Him and others, stewardship over investment, and multiplication of His investments, and stewardship of our pursuit of the mysteries of God. We are absolutely stewards, and not having a title and position in church doesn’t mean we are not.

1 Corinthians 4:2 “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” A steward is someone who is an administrator of the house, one who oversees, and each one of us has authority over ourselves, in mind, body and spirit. Are we good stewards over what God has given us? Mediocre maybe? More specifically, ?do we see the value in ourselves as God sees that value, enough so that we are willing to take responsibility for being a good steward over our giftings? We can’t be neglecting our gifts just because we find them scary or we might get it wrong…that doesn’t negate our stewardship. Just because someone one you respect says the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for today, does not negate our responsibility of stewardship. If you don’t believe they are for today doesn’t mean suddenly they aren’t for today, it simply means you don’t believe it. Stepping out in obedience and being willing to use the giftings God has given us is part of growing up, and i’m quite certain the Lord is calling all of us to be mature believers, rightly occupying our place in the Kingdom. Our stewardship and gifts do not possess us, we possess them. 1Cor14:32 says that the spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet, meaning the gift doesn’t possess him or her, but they possess the gift.

Our giftings don’t have to just be under the heading of the “big five” as seen in Ephesians 4. Some have pockets full of hope, others have a gift of just meeting people….people just like talking to them. Some have a gift of just knowing how to help before other folks seem to know they even need help, they just show up right on time, it’s more than a knack, it’s a gift and leading of the Lord. There are gifts of writing and communicating….some people in the Body of Christ are simply wonderful, vision imparting communicators. There are people with organizational gifts, administrative gifts, gifts of compassion and grace, gifts of imagination and dreaming, the gift of spoken languages, gift of mathematics and the practical application; there are people who just ooze kindness….those are all gifts from God and we are the stewards of those beautiful things the Lord gave us. What will you do with what God gave you, while practicing humility and gentleness, being patient, and supporting one another in love? Are we going to bury our giftings, or use them for the furtherment of the Kingdom of God? Think about it.

This has been Outposts, brought to you live from the edge of the gently flowing, Ockluhwahhah River, where every evening is pleasant, and harmony is not an exception but the standard of life. i’m Social Porter and this production has been brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, Area 22 Guitars, the Knox clan in Mebane N.C., Jax-Pax one stop grocery store, White Knuckle Studios, and Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven.

Music was by the Pete Minger Quartet, Plas Johnson, Mitchel Forman, Mark Egan, Cindy Cashdollar, and the Western Swing Allstars.

All music use is licensed by BMI.

Use the giftings God has given you, be accountable to God for the implementation of what He has planted in you. Be a good steward of your treasures. God doesn’t give us gifts just so we can keep them hidden in our pockets. Think generous, lavish His love and blessings on others, cut the cord baby, and let it flow. No longer allow unbelief or sour doctrine to restrict your service to the Lord and the world around you. Paul said in 2Cor9 that In the use of God’s gifts in you and in your being generous in sharing them with everyone else, the world around you will see your confession of the gospel of Christ.

Listen carefully to the Lord, be strong and courageous! Peace my friends, be at peace.

It’s a beautiful evening and i thought i’d go outside on the deck which overlooks the beautiful river below. i’m Social Porter with Cletus Iaomi and you’re listening to Outposts, cool jazz and contemplative conversation, broadcast semi-live from the deck of a rural cafe which overlooks the virtual cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge, and every evening is oh so pleasant.

You know, just looking up at the night sky just makes me smile. Every evening leads into the next day, so pause for a moment, don’t stay inside if you don’t have to, breath in the clean evening air, and if the weather allows and you’ve got the time, it’s your chance to plan another brand new day.

There is just something profound about looking into the depth of the night sky. God is absolutely beyond brilliant…. capitalize the “G” remove an “o” and you get God. He’s more than good He is God, and all He’s done and will do is the very epitome and personification of “goodness”.

Do you realize just how many people are carrying around an offense; walking around in churches and fellowships all across America carrying with them some burdensome thing which hinders their forward progress? A true offense may not seem like it weighs much in the moment, but just give it time, it’ll get ridiculously heavy. The potential for offense seems available everywhere, all the time. What is it which hinders you and … where are “the peacemakers”?

Every turn in life offers some new opportunity to be offended and conflicted. Sometimes it seems justified, other times, maybe most of the time, the offense is just pride and arrogance. Please note i used the term “seems justified” because truly, there is NO good reason to carry around an offense, weighing you down, bending your mind and feelings around like a hair pin. And the longer we carry that offense, the more it twists our decision making mechanism into something God never intended, influencing everything else in our lives. Haven’t you met someone who was just bitter about almost everything? i can just about guarantee you it started somewhere with an offense and unbending unforgiveness.

Jesus and the Bible are our example of conduct, character, morals, principles, and ethics, so it’s important to note, Jesus NEVER carried an offense around. And because He didn’t carry an offense, He never needed a defense.

Anytime i meet someone who is defensive, they usually have pockets of offenses stored away and rotting. What will you do about your offenses, because eventually, we’ve all got to deal with our baggage?

Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.” Come out of hiding you peacemakers. It’s time to get to work.

Tap your toe, dream a little, and i’ll be right back.

The Bible contains all of the promises and principles needed for true peacemaking. One of the earliest Biblical records of arbitration and making peace was Moses.

          Exodus 18:13, “And so it was, on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening.”      When Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law saw what was going on he asked Moses what he was doing. Moses replied in vs 16, “When they have a difficulty, they come to me, and I judge between one and another; and I make known the statutes of God and His laws.” Moses was evidently acting as an arbitrator and using the statutes of God and His laws as his standard. That’s a good place to start, but Moses was taking it upon himself to be the decision maker without encouraging the people to be involved with God’s standards and statutes for themselves.

If we read on we see Jethro passing wisdom on to Moses by saying Moses should teach the people right and wrong so the people would know for themselves, and to delegate authority to Godly men to help with the job of making peace. i like that, teaching people right and wrong so they would know for themselves, not needing some agency standing over them, dictating their every move even to becoming the thought police. We all need to know right from wrong and God as our standard, not our neighbor or the government.

Are you a peacemaker, or an offense-taker? And i did say peacemaker. There is a difference between peacekeepers and peacemakers. In order to be a peacemaker we must be active participants of peace….while passive observers never get involved enough to make peace. Peacekeepers simply keep the chaos down to a tolerable roar. A peacekeeper serves to diffuse violence or the physical lead up to violence, whereas the peacemaker works to create a lasting nonviolent and creative community. One is a bandaid, the other is a lasting fix.

We can’t make peace by demanding the exercise of the law. Some think that by making the law louder with more severe penalties we can make peace in our communities, but truthfully, condemnation never delivered anyone from immorality or criminality…the law may have scared them into remission, but without Jesus, no one ever became reconciled and transformed.

The 1873 Colt Peacemaker was originally made by Colt Firearms, chambered for .45 Long colt cartridges. It has been called the “gun which won the west”. Law men enforced the law and used the Colt Peacemaker to keep chaos under raps among warring parties. Enforcing the law does not make peace, it just keeps the law. People stopped fighting only because they might get shot, not because their internal conflict was resolved. The gun helped keep the peace in a way, but certainly didn’t serve to create any long term unity. Maybe Colt Firearms should have named it a peacekeeper instead of a peacemaker.

So right off the bat, it seems to me that for any of us to be peacemakers, we would have to start by knowing something about peace for ourselves within ourselves…. wouldn’t you think?

i make notes to myself and i jotted this interesting factoid out in my little book. i have no idea who wrote it but here it is: “It is estimated that in all the history of humanity less than eight percent of recorded history can be described as times of peace. In the last 32 centuries there have been fewer than 300 years of peace. Historians tell us that within the last 300 years there have been 286 wars in Europe alone.” God has given it to us who are empowered by the death and resurrection of Christ to be more than peacekeepers who control, but peacemakers who impart lasting peace, real peace to whom so ever would have it.

Gal5:22 says one of the fruits of the Spirit is peace, and Mark 9:50 says, “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.” i like that, “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.” Let us “be worth our salt” and season the world around us, being peacemakers not offense-takers. On a side note, a really interesting explanation of the idiom of  “being worth your salt”, is that the Roman soldier’s wages were often paid in salt. As a result the person’s worth was the weight of salt paid for wages earned. Of course then, the higher in rank and better soldier you were, the more salt you were given.

According to Matt5:13, we, who believe in Christ, are the salt of the earth. We should be able to have an effect on the earth and those in it. Salt was and still is very valuable and i think the Lord is saying to us to “have value in yourselves and practice to be at peace with each other”. We are to be exercising our gifting which the Father has given us, never allowing a conflict to continue if we can help it…. oh and don’t you know there is opportunity for offense to ride on every side. Unresolved conflict is like having the devil around – if you let the devil ride, the next thing you know he’ll want to drive.

As people who are reconciled to God, we are called to respond to conflict in a way that is remarkably different from the way the world deals with conflict. The world returns anger for anger, and judgment for judgment. Romans 12:18-19 says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends…”

Our society seems to be obsessed with revenge and making sure other people get what “they deserve”. But i think a good question is how do we measure out “what they deserve” according to who? If it is what we deserve according to the world, then the only right the world extends to us is the right to suffer, but if it’s what we get according to Jesus, ahhhh….now we’re talking reconciliation! We get what we do not deserve, grace, because Jesus got what He did not deserve, judgment, suffering, and crucifixion. If He had not died and been resurrected from the dead, we would not get grace but condemnation.

When Jesus was crucified, Pontius Pilate asked the people what they wanted to do with Jesus, and with one offended voice they cried out “Take Him away! Crucify Him!” The unfounded judgment and prejudice was incredible. Jesus came to give mankind the opportunity to make peace with God, He was being a peacemaker between man and God, but yet all the people could say was “Crucify Him!” The wounded conscience and biased mind of the people was so offended, many missed the visitation of God.

Instead of setting our eyes on our own desires or spending an inordinate amount of time thinking about what others may do, or not do, should have done, or could have done but didn’t,  let’s take delight in the Lord and posture His love by demonstrating forgiveness, wisdom, and exemplary character.

Offense is easy. hell makes sure ample opportunity abounds for offense. If the devil can get people motivated against people, prying their unity apart at the seams, then the people will become distanced from God, who is the very source of their peace, and maybe he can even influence them to learn to live with an ever deepening wounded conscience. To most people, peace is simply “the absence of strife.” But God’s view of peace is much deeper and much bigger than simply an “absence of conflict”. The Lord says true peace comes when we are re-established between ourselves and God.

What will it take for you to be a peacemaker instead of an offense-taker? Are we willing to undertake the task of being peacemakers? After all, Matt5:9 says being a peacemaker is one of our ear marks.

As quoted from the Peacemakers Pledge, “Instead of blaming others for a conflict or resisting correction, let us trust in God’s mercy and take responsibility for our own contribution to conflicts.” If we get offended and think if we just go and tell the other person the problem, they’ll just own it…. well, chances are very good the other person doesn’t even know they’ve offended anyone, so we can’t expect the other person to make everything alright for us. It is our responsibility to be reconciled to God; no one can accept the peace offering of the Blood of Jesus for us, neither can we receive this gift of God on behalf of someone else.

Another quote from the Peacekeepers Pledge says, “Instead of pretending that conflict doesn’t exist or talking about others behind their backs, we will overlook minor offenses or we will talk personally and graciously with those whose offenses seem too serious to overlook, seeking to restore rather than condemn. When a conflict cannot be resolved in private, we will ask others in the body of Christ to help us settle the matter in a biblical manner. Matthew 18:15 from the Message, “If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend.” That is called being a peacemaker. Did you get that? If THEY hurt YOU, !YOU! go to them and practice your conflict resolution. And if they don’t then knock the dust from your feet and wait on God to resolve the dilemma.

How many of us get offended and just quit on the relationship and go home, saying, “I’ll never speak to her again!” or “That’s the last time I give him any of my time!” OR, and i think this is often the action most take….. we smile, speak our spiritual talk only if necessary, generally keeping silent while maintaining our fascade of well being…. and just move away, maybe even to another church body, allowing the offense to stand and fester, thinking if we just don’t say anything, maybe it will go away. My friend, No, it does not just “go away”, there are no words which come out of your mouth which do nothing and will just “go away”. Do you know just how many offended people there are in churches today? There are so so many sheep from another pasture out there church surfing because somewhere they got offended and just moved to another body until they got offended and then moved again, and then moved again ….until it became a lifestyle of not dealing with conflict and simply moving on. It is truly a scandal!!

In John 6, when Jesus said “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him,” His disciples had a hard time with this. So Jesus asked them the question, “Does this offend you?” “Offend” is the Greek word, skandalizo, where we get our word for scandal. What Jesus was asking was “do you think my words cause you to stumble, becoming entrapped?” Offense is a trap, it immobilizes and neutralizes the offended person.

Offense is a stumbling block, but by the grace of God we can turn it from a stumbling down to a stepping up.

Conflict resolution has got to be one of the most under-developed skills in the Body of Christ. Honestly, i think true “peacemakers” are hard to find today, but i also think that in the days ahead, God will raise us up to be just that, peacemakers.

How about this? Instead of accepting premature compromise or allowing relationships to wither and fade, how about we actively pursue genuine peace and reconciliation—forgiving others like Jesus has forgiven us? How about if we take the time to look for and find … just and mutually beneficial solutions to our differences?

i tell you this too, just because we’ve forgiven an offense and gone to the other person and found an amicable solution, by no means signifies we must allow that other person back in our lives. There truly are some people in this world who are not good for us.

My job as a peacemaker is to reconcile men to God, with other human beings and with their own selves. When Jesus walked the earth as a man, the world was divided. One race hated other races, one nation hated other nations, and people of one religion hated other religions. An example of this is the feelings between Jews and Gentiles. The Jewish man thanked God for not being a Gentile, a slave or a woman. He despised the half-breed Samaritans, even to the point of walking many miles out of his way to avoid contact. He was saying to himself, “Oh my gosh, i’m so glad i’m not you because you’re so wrong and i’m so right.”

Peacemaking starts at home. The starting point of being a peacemaker for others is that we, ourselves, first must make peace with God. If we can be at peace and comfortable within our own skin, i believe that is a huge hurdle we’ve jumped by the grace of God which easily impacts the world around us.

What’d’ya think? Peacemaker or offense-taker? What’s it gonna be? Learning conflict resolution or just being mobile sheep; finding win/win solutions, being honest and trusting God, OR  leading a life of being offended and always moving on to another pasture? We all must decide for ourselves. Think about it.

Hear this and hear well…as one fellow wrote: “Jesus embraced the worst sinner, touched the vilest leper, purified the most despicable prostitute, took all types of people and joined them together into one beautiful family of God. He paid a high price but saw his mission as a peacemaker as a priority in his life.”

The solution for family feuds, racial strife and civil conflict is Jesus. Peace does not come by political party, economic system, national flag or the United Nations. Jesus is the One who brings peace.

Thank you for listening in this evening. i’m Social Porter with Cletus Iaomi and this has been Outposts, cool acoustic jazz and contemplative conversation, brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, the always amazing Andrea at Viva coffee house in Tucson Arizona, Area 22 Guitars, Kyle Walker alias Joe, Miss Gertrude Allen, Eugene Fowler at Fowlers Amoco Service, Myrtle Long, and Trinity Bakers where there’s always something good in the oven.

All music was by the Pete Minger Quartet, Jazz For A Rainy Day, Billy Cobham, Alex Gunia, and Curtis Fuller. All music use is licensed by BMI.

Do you spend your time pasting band aids on situations, just keeping the chaos and turmoil to a low boil until the next offense and explosion of drama in your life, or are you willing to do the work of learning to be a peacemaker, practicing God’s idea of conflict resolution, learning how to foster a long term, creative solution that is a win/win for everyone?

Matthew 5:44-45”… Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”

Make peace with God, yourself, and your neighbor, BE the example of how the Lord asks us to conduct ourselves. Peace my friends, real peace in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Rainy day, dream away. There’s a casual drizzle this evening, everything is wet…. it’s an nice all day drip from the sky. It’s just been one of those days, you know, not too warm, not too cool, the wind picks up every now and then to let you know it’s still around. Everything about today just points to taking a good nap, playing a game with friends, making a fire in the fireplace accompanied by good food and good conversation.

This is Outposts, a late night semi-live broadcast from the late evening, cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the river’s edge, and every evening is pleasant, even if it’s raining. i get a chuckle out of some folks who complain every time it rains…. i marvel that they don’t seem to realize if it didn’t rain, they’d have no water to drink or water their lawns. It would quickly begin to look like a desert.

“Always“, and “Never” are, what i call, ultimate words. There are very few things in this life we live which are “always“, and “never“, but yet in the Bible there are ultimate words used, and i believe the Lord wants us to be involved with His ultimate intent and purpose, thus He uses ultimate words for us to ultimately trust Him and ultimately believe Him. Ultimate – to the utter most.

“Always” – at all times; “Never” – at no time. Another ultimate word is “Every“, meaning all individuals and parts without exception. Do we take these words seriously? We say we do, and we read the scripture and agree enthusiastically, but often we live it out in a way which indicates we’re not taking God as seriously as we say we do.

Come go with me on this, and i’ll be right back.

In Matt 28:20 Jesus said, “I am with you always,”, meaning, for believers, He is with us “at all times”.

In 2Cor2:14, Paul says God always, at all times, leads us in triumph in Christ. Always, and there is not a time in Christ, which God does not lead us in triumph. We may not see it, but if we stay the course with what the Lord has directed us in, we will see His “triumph” happening in us and around us. Always. And, i must add, if we fail to enter into His triumph at the time, the Lord is relentless and begins to set the stage to lead us into triumph. He will not cease His efforts until we have breathed our last. Always.

1Cor13:8, “Love never fails”, at no time does Love ever fail. Ever. That is the love of God, not the “like” of men. Teenagers fall in and out of “like” all the time, “Like” will fail, but Love never fails. If we don’t recognize His love at the time, God is relentless and tireless in His efforts to influence our hearts to enter into the success of the Love of God, as seen in Christ who loves us unflinchingly and without fickleness.

Heb13:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  Hmmm…. “I will Never leave you,” and “I will always be with you.” Always, meaning time out of mind and past the horizon beyond the vanishing point, and Never meaning more than just “did not”, but “is not”, and “shall not”. In fact, God is so very God and is never man, He so transcends any and all our human thinking, ethics, and especially our moral faculties, that men cannot see God and live. Always God, Never man.

Ultimate words. i think we should take God seriously… Of course, but do we?

Amongst us there seems to be, what i call, a Perception of Disconnection: Here of late i have been asking God that i would somehow spend more time with Him, and that i want to talk to Him more often than i do because i’ve realized i don’t talk to Him as often as i think i do. i have a vision of a long, straight line and on it are occasional blips of how often i actually speak to the Lord. To my disappointment, there are long sections of flat line. So i’ve become acutely aware of how much i talk to God and, in the summary of things, i am pretty dissatisfied with how little i actually do. The disconnect is that, according to my perception, i thought i spent more time with the Lord than i did. What i thought i was doing and what was really doing were widely different. Additionally, i’ve become acutely aware of how thankful i am that Jesus incessantly intercedes for us, as it says in Romans 8:34.

We so often have opportunity to interact with God, but yet many times we tend to sit and stare. Why? Why do we so often sit and stare, not talking, not thinking….just staring instead of speaking to the Lord, or praising? And in those moments, many of us, more often than not, believe we perceive the Lord is somehow disconnected from us when it isn’t readily apparent anything is going on … no events, no conversations, no emails, no text messages. Many of us have a perception of disconnection and it is not true.

We are not disconnected. According to the finished work of the cross, for those who believe on Christ, we are always connected. Do we believe that? Never disconnected. The Lord said so with His ultimate words “always with you”, and “never forsake you”. Let’s get a better grip on that word “never” as the Lord intends it. A few times Jesus used the word “never”, like in Matt5:26, He didn’t just mean “never” as we think of it in English. The way He used the word, it was an absolute negative combined with absolute denial, like saying “not, very not”.

How is it God uses ultimate words like “always” and “never” in reference to His relationship with us, but we selectively hear Him? We read the scriptures, give a big amen, but then we want to get selective about how much is “every thought” which should be taken captive, and how often is “always“, or how seldom is “never“. Measuring, like how wrong is too wrong, and how right is right enough. When the Lord said take “every thought captive”, He meant not just the bad ones, but the good ones too, but we decide to be selective and re-decide the word of the Lord of “every thought” transforming it to become “pretty much select thoughts”. God said “I am with you always“, but yet we often find ourselves re-deciding how often is “always“. The Lord said, “I will never leave you”, but yet we re-decide His words, measuring how seldom is never, as if one time out of 1000 is close enough to call it never. Close enough is NOT God’s character, pretty much and almost are not His style. i think God meant exactly what He said when He uses the words, “Always“, “Never” and “Every“.

The Lord said those ultimate words because He meant them. He did not approximate, and i think it worthy of saying again, He did not say “for the most part“, or “pretty much rarely“. He did not say “take most thoughts captive” … that’s not what God said…… He meant what He said.

We, who believe on Christ, are connected to God through the blood of the Son, whether we perceive it, feel it or not. By faith, my connection with God is as consistent as the Son, and Jesus never fails. Ever. Jesus is with us and will never leave us or forsake us to the ends of the earth, and we can bank on that with our lives. God expects us to believe Him, always. Amen!

Here are a couple examples of indirect uses of “always” and “never”. God is a lavish giver, right? Right! He is the very definition of “generous”. Romans 8:32 reads, ^“ He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not, with Him also freely give us all things?” The Lord, our God who gave us Jesus His Son delights to generously, and graciously give us “all things”. These “all things” are always in addition to Christ, but they are never instead of Him. According to Rom8:32, they come along “with Him”. In other words, if we didn’t have Jesus, we wouldn’t have anything, but because we do have Jesus, we have everything.

Here’s another scriptural use of “always” and “never”. The Lord is beautiful, He is always beautiful, and in light of Rom8:32 “all things” of the Lord come along “with Him”, Him being Jesus, then all i can conclude is flowers are beautiful, because Jesus is beautiful, puppy’s are delightful, because Jesus is delightful, sunsets are stunning because God is stunning, the work of our hand is fulfilling because God is fulfilling. Rainbows are amazing because God is amazing. Real love sweeps our minds and hearts away on the wings of the morning because the love of God sweeps our minds and hearts away on the wings of the morning. God is always delightful, always stunning, always amazing, always sweeping, and always fulfilling. God is always the ultimate source of joy and if it weren’t for the Lord, there would never have been joy.

In the book of John, Jesus did NOT say, “for I pretty much do what pleases him.”; while praying, Jesus did NOT say, “I know that you mostly hear me,”; Jesus said that He always does what pleases His Father and that the Father always hears Him. In Luke 21:36 Jesus did not say, “Watch therefore, and pray a lot… “, He said to “pray always”.

i’ve got to break here, but consider, or ponder these things to the point of resolve, and i’ll be back in a moment.

Ok, all this talk of the Lord really stirs my heart…let’s get going again….

Here’s a verse that is hitting on all cylinders, 2 Corinthians 9:8
^“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”

All i can think is wowee-kazow, God has made such an incredible provision for us, how is it we seemingly walk around in such a beggarly state sometimes? Did you catch all the Ultimate Words in that? i mean, God is incredible, always, and He only gets better and better.

Do you hear the heart of the Lord towards us? This is incredible! It says in Isaiah 40:4-5 “ Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth; The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Wow, that is incredible or what? What kind of person makes such off the charts promises like God? And what is even more amazing is not only is He confident that He is able to do all that He says, it will all happen and every eye shall see, and every mouth confess and none shall be able to halt. The word “all” is infinitely inclusive, excluding none, “every”, means each is counted and no part was not counted, “none”, is empty set, less than zero, and “never” is a an absolute negative combined with absolute denial.

When we’re in the middle of a dark season, when things aren’t well, the car has a flat tire, we burned breakfast, maybe a child or spouse is in real trouble, loss of a job, or just general sadness, disappointment or even depression, when we’re in the middle of a tough time, it’s hard to find a place to grip God’s promises, but grip we must for the Lord will empower your hands to hold tight to Him. He is not ignorant of our difficulties. Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses…”

Have faith and trust God, He will finish what He started in you. Jesus is able. According to Ephesians 1:21, God set Jesus “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.” He is able, always was, always will be, and there is never a time when the Lord comes up short. It’s the truth.

Think about it.

The Lord is indeed the all in all, the every in every, and the always in the midst of the vicious circumstances and limitations of never. God alone has made us alive, and has made us to prosper in the face of howling storms. 1Corinthians1:5, “For in him you have been enriched in every way–in all your speaking and in all your knowledge—“

This has been Outposts, brought to you semi-live from the late evening, cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees lean gently over the rivers edge, and every evening is oh so pleasant. i’m Social Porter and this production has been brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, Area 22 Guitars, Clarence Cable at the Sky Line Drive In, the wonderful ladies out at Ruth Originals, Kevin, Perry, and Tommy of the Mebane Freedom League, White Knuckle Studios, and Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven.

Music was by the Pete Minger Quartet, Yellowjackets, Plas Johnson, Gary Willis, Didier Malherb, Phil Keaggy, and Marcus Miller.

All music use is licensed by BMI.

i hope this week you’ll remember God’s extraordinary promises and that when He says “all”, “always”, “none”, ”every and “never” we should stand firm on His word, with the idea of standing firm meaning to be planted and not be moved. The Lord never jokes around nor is He ever vague.

2Thessalonians3:16, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.”