Hey. Come stand outside with me for a minute. Imagine yourself standing on the deck of a rural diner, overlooking a river. It’s seriously overcast and evening seems to have come early. Oh…it’s beginning to rain. First a few drops here and there, then more often. Singles then triplets. Can you see it? Can you see the circular patterns of the rain striking the surface of the river? It’s hitting the roof, dripping into the gutters, splashing across the windows, and starting to drip off the hand rail, leaving a subtle jasmine-and-gingerbread sort of fragrance, warm and fresh, giving the land a certain sweetness like no other. If we were sitting inside the car, we could see the drops formed on the windshield. We would watch one drop, starting at the top, and running down, like it’s on an exploratory adventure. It runs down, gives a little, gets a little, disappears for a moment, then reappears, gathering and giving, until it nears the end of its journey where it finally blends into all the rest of the water at the bottom of the glass. i figure we’re like that. We give a little, get a little and run our course until the end when we join the eternity of our Father’s house.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts. It is my pleasure to join you in the vision of rain, the coming of refreshment and revitalization here at the edge of the Ockluhwahhah River. i am honored to stand with you, barefaced, looking up to Heaven waiting for refreshing from the Hand of our God, who will come to us like the rain, watering the earth. In our lives there is the “slip” and “grip” of life. We grip and gather to ourselves light and hope, God’s love and peace…. we also let slip from our grasp the seeds of faith and wisdom, kindness and blessing to be planted in righteousness. It is like the rain on the windshield of your car, we start at the top, run down, get a little, give a little, planting, sharing, receiving, doing our part in weeping joy and singing obedience. i hope you enjoy tonight’s program. Put your ears on, lean back and relax, dream, believe, and imagine.

Sometimes i feel like this dance we do with God is like a giant waltz, three feet off the ground and it’s a clear, starry sky’d night … stepping and spinning with the Lord, His eyes looking courage into us to follow more closely. Our feet step high over the top of fields of wild flowers, we dance over tree tops, spin under clouds, then dip and gradually drop to the river’s edge. There is a warm rain on our faces, the eyes of my Jesus smiling in the ecstasy of dancing with His most beloved, over the hills and far away.

Our lives in Christ are like a painting being put together by a master painter. Sometimes He paints with two hands, other times He’s got the tiniest brush imaginable, painting with colors we’ve never seen, accenting in sounds and smells we have yet to imagine, far beyond our dreams, far beyond the sun of this world. Many feel dry, parched, and i’d like to give you the vision of rain.    Have you ever smelled rain? It’s like the Father’s cologne. i’m reminded of the wife who gave birth to a very premature child. The doctors all said the child wouldn’t live but the parents refused to give up, and they pounded on Heaven’s doors with weeping and tears for the life of their child. To all of the doctors amazement, the child lived. Years later, the child was sitting in her mother’s lap on the bleachers of a local ballpark where her brother’s baseball team was practicing. As always, the daughter was chattering non-stop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, she asked, “Do you smell that?” Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, her mom replied, “Yes, it smells like rain.” She closed her eyes and again asked, “Do you smell that?” Once again, her mother replied, “Yes, I think we’re about to get wet, it smells like rain.” Still caught in the moment, the little girl shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced with her eyes shut, “No, it smells like Him. It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest.”

Can you smell God’s cologne?

It’s going to rain for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. There will come rain in our lives from Heaven’s open doors to inspire and grow the coming Kingdom of God. It’s going to rain. Psalms 68:8, “…The heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God;”. The very word for “rain” in Psalms 68:9 is a shower as a mercy, flashing wisdom on our minds. It causes us to pause and ponder the concealed truth of God that He is faithful even when we can’t see, understand, or hear. In prophecy rain is change, even in our mortal hearts, rain is hidden goodness, like a flame is bound to a coal, even though we can’t see the flame, it is there, which is why i say it is God’s faithfulness, even when we can’t see. You know what i mean? Can you see it?

When God shows up there will be refreshing for the parched hearts, restoration for the beaten down, redemption for those too tired to continue in the heat of battle. We will know the value of shading the eyes of warriors who have nearly fainted in the noon day sun, the Lord will send the rain to re-invigorate those who’s invigoration has ebbed away. Did you know in Deuteronomy 11:14 there are three rains, former rain, rain, and latter rain and they, all three are different types of rain. You should check it out to see what God has in mind in His use of three types of rain.

In Leviticus 26:4, the Lord says,  “…then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.” In those days, the character of the righteous shall bloom and bear much fruit, fruit that shall not fade, fruit born of the goodness and good pleasure of God.  What do you think of when you think of rain? Imagine rain, close your eyes and see it. Can you see it yet? Do you think cold, grey, ugly, irritatingly wet? Inconvenient maybe. It might be a good time to remember that behind the clouds and past the rain there is blue sky and sun. When I think of rain, I think of dancing. Yea, odd, huh? Maybe. i think not really.

i can remember as a boy, we went camping in the deep woods at the edge of a lake. As i sat there looking out over the water with the trees as my backdrop, there began something like a whispering in the air. i didn’t really notice at first, but i remember sensing the air cooling off and it even smelled differently. Somewhere in me i knew things were changing. The day had been beautiful and the sky was like a dome of plasma-blue, and all day the clouds had looked like a platform for angels, drifting under the gleaming disc of sun. Somewhere far away, there came a pattering sound on the leaves of the trees and the lake looked like all it’s shimmering was being interrupted by something else. Then i saw it. Rain. While i wasn’t watching, the clouds had covered over the expanse of blue and were now spitting beads of water which sounded like a lover’s whisper in your ears. i could see some geese across the way making happy noises, ducks wiggled and carried on like things couldn’t get any more wonderful. Little birds sat still in the trees all fluffed out. We all moved under the tarp at the folding table, listening to the putting sound as rain struck the canvas … i noticed we all found watching it rain hypnotic. To this day, i’m still hypnotized by rain. Here at the cafe, when it rains, i occasionally find myself hoping the windows will fog and we can write God-thoughts on the glass. John Ruskin wrote that “Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.” Some folks argue and mumble to themselves when it rains, but i say … when it begins to rain, probably the best thing to do is let it rain. It’s not like we could complain enough to make the rain do anything other than what God has set it’s course to accomplish.

When God’s presence comes, the rain begins to fall, beginning like a whisper in our ears, getting louder the closer He gets. He has hidden music in the drops upon our hearts, making a sound we’ve never heard before, unless we have ears to hear. In the season of heavy rain, we are not able to stand outside. Friends, come in the house. Who wants to be like the elder son in Luke 15, who, when his younger brother came home and the father threw a party, the elder brother resented the younger brothers favor with the father so much, he refused to join the party. He was “of the family” but was “not in the house” and wouldn’t come in the house either. The Lord wants us to come in and not stand outside. When the Lord sends the rain, it will surprise some, others will be pleased, yet there will also those who don’t see it as God’s blessing, but a mere inconvenience.

i read somewhere that if beauty is God’s signature, then rain is His final flourish. It’s time to come home, it’s going to rain and there will be singing and dancing. Come in the house.

Often in movies, when something terrible is about to happen, or there is some depressing or oppressive situation, it is raining. Just seeing wet streets and rain dripping from roof edges and gutters inspires us to bundle up. Just seeing it gray and drizzling outside motivates us to stay indoors, make soup, and watch old movies. But in God’s economy that picture isn’t so. Of course, there are times when rain and storms are very destructive, but that isn’t what we’re talking about.

i believe there is a seeing which comes with God’s presence, in fact, the very Greek word for “presence” ties to several words used for seeing, the kind of seeing spoken of in a visionary experience. 1 Samuel 12:17 “…and He will send thunder and rain, that you may perceive and see …” Does that mean, in the presence of Almighty God, altogether like a symphony, there is thunder, perception, rain, and sight? Something deep, prophetic, and intimate happens in the heart of man when it rains.

God gives birth to our spiritual perception and sight, to those who have Him present in their thought, who set him before their mind’s eye. My soul longs for the soaking through of God’s promise of rain, rain … it is a good companion sometimes.

We, as humans, have a commonality with rain – It is often overcast and shadowy when it comes and we are regularly overcast and shadowy; it disturbs life just a little bit and puts things off centre as we are recurrently a little off centre. i remember hearing a fellow complain because it was going to rain, and i thought to myself how silly his complaint was. Without the clouds of moisture which fall to earth in the form of rain there would be no snow, there would be no drinking water. If the earth’s moisture didn’t make the circle from sky to earth, and then back again to the sky, round and round, if it only went to the sky, we would all be back in the days of Noah, when it didn’t rain for about 300 years. That was a very dry place!

When the rain from Heaven is at it’s height, i don’t want to be found sitting under an umbrella of my own making, i want to be thoroughly wet with refreshing from the heart of the Lord, Rain. If ever there was a time people needed refreshing, i believe it is now. It’s going to rain, can you hear it coming? Wow, i can smell it. Can you see it in your mind, those of us who have set Christ as the gate to our vision? i want to be found dancing the wild dance with our wild God, who will sing over us and dance in the rain with the audacity of holiness and redemption. i thought to myself if i could leave you with anything tonight, i would give you the gift of knowing it’s going to rain, and i would encourage you to see … i’m saying, “See” in the Name of Jesus. With the “look ahead sight” God gives us, there comes provision, preparation, and celebration. See. Let the dancing in His presence begin and see into the distance of God’s purposes. See He is the master painter, painting you into His vision that plays in your life. Come dance with me and share in His vision. Write your words, draw your pictures, sing your songs, dance your dances! It’s time! Let it rain, it’s time! Hear the feet of dancing, hear the singing of rejoicing! Listen carefully, it’s there. C’mon, it’s time to set your feet in motion! C’mon! It’s time! Let’s go!

The drips and drops of Heaven’s rain have already begun, can you hear it, can you see it, can you feel it? Are you just in the family, or are you in the house? Come in the house where the Father is throwing a party for His Son….come in dancing and singing, come into the rain of God’s presence…C’mon, there is a party going on at God’s house….forever.

i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts, a late night broadcast, broadcast semi-live from the deck of a rural cafe, overlooking the broad and beautiful Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge, and every evening is pleasant.

This production was brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, the girls at the Jump Off Rock gift shop, Weldon at Millers Laundry, Betty and Elisa at the Opportunity house, and of course, Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven. We also appreciate the support from “Shot And A Wafer Fellowship”, a wonderful group of determined believers.

Put on your dancing shoes, it’s going to rain. Can you smell the

 Saved, but saved from who or what, and if we are saved “from” we must be saved “to”.

After he prayed, the man declared, “I’ve been saved!” Everyone clapped and cheered amid encouragers to the man about his new life in Christ.

Saved from what? Is it more than being delivered from bad guys on earth or from bad guys in hell? Being saved from them is no small thing in itself, but does God mean something larger than that? i think when we say we’re “saved”  we have a partial understanding of that.

The Lord wants us to re-understand His heart, re-imagine Heaven, re-grasp His words, His meanings, and the ramifications of the words we use in our “dialogue about our conversations with God” (theology). We dribble God’s words around like salt on our food, without really understanding what our mouths are saying (or not saying). It is becoming more and more apparent that there is a great divide between what this world thinks and what God preferences and standards are.

i’m very pleased to say, it is more than just being delivered from bad guys on earth or from bad guys in hell. It is more than simply being delivered from really terrible things which hunt us in the dark. It is a literal changing of blood lines. The earth and my biological parents are not my relatives, other than my flesh relates to them, and poorly at that. i changed blood lines and the Son of God is my inheritance and bloodline now. Wrongness of character (iniquity) and sin have caused all things to become in-animated from God, our very source of life, and that includes being alienated from each other too, from birth, and is the root cause behind the decline of the universe. Rocks become pebbles then dirt, water starts as fresh and becomes stagnant, living flesh declines to non-living flesh, etc, etc, everything declines.

i am from earth, i was born here. i have earth eyes, earth ears, earth mouth, earth tastes, earth touch, and earth emotions. i hear in a limited range of audible frequencies, my eyes see a limited number of colors, and the horizon is the limit of my distance vision. My mouth of flesh can only speak sounds which don’t have enough momentum to go very far. Everything about me is earth oriented due to sin. When Adam and Eve pulled the trigger on the cosmic release of sin in the universe, death and dying became a real thing for all of us and everything else. We die, trees die, things rot, there is decay, sound dies out, hope fades, satisfaction fades in and out, there are sounds and colors we do not see and hear anymore, tastes that are no longer in a frequency spectrum we recognize … all from sin, everything about us, as pertaining to flesh, is damped … in the Godless present state of the universe, we are inclined to decline.

Our flesh and this world has a destiny it cannot escape, which is decay and death. But, because of Jesus, our spirits can reap a different harvest through Jesus Christ.

In Heaven there will be no dead trees, no stagnant water, no rotting anything, no fading flowers, no sadness, no hatred, no fading hopes, no terminal illness. In the beginning, before death, there was only life and everything was relational. When sin entered in, death became a real thing and all relationality was divided. In the end when God resolves all things unto Himself, once again death has no place there. If we take death, as a whole, OUT of the picture, what are we left with? At present, death reaches further than just things of earth declining to a state of subatomic dust. Sin and death influence the entire cosmos (cosmos being Greek for “world”). It even influences the attitude of “the world”, which says it is a self-existent entity, it’s own mother & father, it’s own beginning and end, and has no need of anyone else. The limited view is due to sin and death. We assume because we breath we are alive, but that is not true according to God.

We are animated (made alive) by Christ alone, and without Christ we are inanimate, earth beings, made of dirt and the cosmos, with no clue why we need to be different, unless God intervenes, drawing close to us so we can be made animated again. The closer He gets to all things, the more all things become like Him. In Christ alone is wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, and anything or anyone who is not connected to Him by the Blood of Christ, is not participant to those things, unless God gives it to them … which is why God gives wisdom liberally to those who ask. From Him are all things and to Him are all things, Romans 11:36. If, in His mercy, He didn’t extend Himself to us, we would be darkness also, void, and without insight or understanding, not able to even think to breath to save our own lives.  But !Now!, we who believe in Christ, are “saved”, and it is MORE than just saved from bad guys.

“Saved” and “Salvation” have been grossly understated, watered down to nearly lose the concept. Like “repent” … it’s been watered down by many to merely mean “change your mind”, which is shallow and thin and misses the heart of God. But in Hebrew “repent” is much larger, more accurately meaning, “Come Home”, which makes more sense considering man left home due to sin, and it has been God’s effort to bring us home, more than merely change our mind. Remember, change without transformation is simply not enough.

Romans 10: 9 “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” What do you think?

i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name.

Today’s program was written by Jerry Price.

If there’s anything that sets up twisted games, it’s the Overconfident game. i find it interesting that confidence and arrogance often look very similar, except overconfidence is quite glaring and tells another story … now there’s a problem.

There was a young man who had bragged to his companions how he could jump onto a moving train, make the grab and find his footing, just like in the movies. One day his friends bet him he couldn’t do it as he’d told them. As they watched, with all overconfidence and bragging, he jumped on the ladder of the moving train up between two train cars, just as he said he could … but this time, as he swung onto the frame between the two cars, his foot slipped down between the coupling, right, exactly as one car pushed forward, closing the gap. He lost half of his foot that day, all due to his overconfidence and bragging.

As a kid, I remember standing in an open lot and taking a baseball bat to hit stones. I would imagine myself being some well known ball player on the 1960 Detroit Tigers team. In my imagination i was always a home run hitter. Don’t you know, every boy dreams of being a hero on some level. i mean, i don’t think any little boy hits rocks with a bat and imagines himself only hitting pop fly’s to be caught by some agile outfielder, or always striking out. No, i’d bet every little boy always dreams of being that home run hitter.

There’s nothing wrong with imagining who you can be like. All of us operate with images in our minds, they provide powerful energy to accomplish what we want to do or be. The problem comes when we distort who we think we are, using images to reflect something which confidence was never intended to be, and that is – Overconfident.

It’s amazing what a person will do to protect their overconfident images. The overconfident person quits on anything that threatens their mental self-portrait. In truth, the overconfidence hides their fear of failure not because of failure per se, but because the failure exposes them as being no different than anyone else! For others, among many other reasons, the same fear of failure and exposure appears as additional negative confirmation of who they believe they are, or were told they were by someone in their lives. In an effort to offset their negative self-image, they overcorrect, becoming overconfident.

Our faith in the Lord must be strong enough that we can stand alone when we need to, without being hyper-spiritual or overconfident. Don’t get me wrong here, it’s great to have fellow Christians who can pray with you and support you. But there are many times when fellow Christians and maybe even your family will not stand with you. They may distance themselves from you because of your convictions. They may criticize you for being too gung ho about your faith. But, there truly does need to be a necessary balance to be struck between being confident vs being cocky.

Before my father came to know Jesus Christ, his heroes he admired were Baby Face Nelson, Al Capone, and Pretty Boy Floyd – criminals – and look out if anyone challenged him.

Here’s a sticky statement: Overconfidence is the poster child for entitlement issues. All twisted games rest on this cornerstone image of being different and better than anyone else. Now how dangerous and arrogant do you think that is?

A commercial from Canon featuring Andre Agassi used to say Image Is Everything, meaning how you look is more important than anything else. Is it possible to pursue excellence to our last breath and still not live off of some distorted image which really expects more out of others than we’re committed to deliver to ourselves? Yes! Did you get that? … expects more out of others than we’re committed to allow of ourselves.

i was an observer in a conversation between two men where one fellow challenged a long standing believer concerning his behavior, which honestly, had recently been quite on the edge of right and wrong. Upon being challenged the second fellow replied, “Look, i’m saved, i’m baptized, i’m instructed, i’m mature, and i come behind in no gifts. I’ve seen many things in my spiritual life. i am free and i’m fully sure i can go and do all these things you’ve mentioned, and they’re not going to have any effect on me, i’m too far along to get trapped. i’m not concerned.” i was astounded at the overconfidence and was glad i was only an observer. i smiled, and left him where he was. Interestingly, the Lord used his words to confront my own similar attitudes. Let’s be clear, He spoke to me about me, not about him.

Jesus taught us about commonality and living a relational life. He left the glory of heaven and became flesh, just like us. He made himself a servant and didn’t quit on us when things got tough – like at the cross.

Let us take care to not step off into a ditch here, we can pursue excellence, of course, afterall we’re all made of the same stuff. We can ask for help when we need it and stay out of any self-imposed isolation or fantasy world which has no accountability for the images of who we think we are. And like Jesus, we can choose to serve others out of love. i’ve pondered how can anyone live overconfident when we know Jesus? That’s like rubbing shoulders with God and walking away with no wisdom or understanding, i just don’t see how it can be done.

i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name.

With And Together….

It’s summer finally, and the days are warm, vivid and green. The vegetable and fruit guy in his make shift hut is going full blast selling fruit, flowers, and berries. Some days it’s just so hot and bright, my aging eyes squint into small slits so much so it almost looks like they’re closed. As the sun wanes …resigned to it’s destination beyond the horizon, the day has cooled and now it’s another beautiful evening.  i know it won’t be long till the air becomes crisp, green leaves turn brown and fall off. But right now, in the evening there is the floral smell of lavender, petunia’s, and grass newly cut. A dog is sporadically barking somewhere in the distance. Ahhh yea … Summer Sunday dreams of long-ago float across my mind. Of days gone past with sweet tea in the evening on the back porch, and pastures so green you can smell the color almost. Fondly, i remember grilling burgers long after the sun went down, walking in high green tree tunnels created by the canopy of big hardwoods, smelling the forest floor yielding it’s earthy fragrance from the heat of the day.

It all inspires me to think of the round and round of the days of our lives. i think so many, although they may gather “together” around local campfires and pubs, they still feel isolated somehow and are a bit clueless on how to be anything else. Each in their own skin, knowing only their own ideas … supposing and speculating about everyone else’s ideas.

i remember when i was in the Navy, i stood in the downtown center of Naples Italy, surrounded by people and was still alone. i didn’t have eyes to see anyone “with” me nor was i “with” them. We were gathered in a group together, but not really “together” as God intended. Don’t get me wrong, i was with some other sailors, and we agreed on many things, but there was no real heart connection which caused us to feel united other than being in the military and being generally disgruntled about life. Agreement does not equal connection. i hope you hear that, here it is again, “agreement doesn’t equal connection.”

i know a fellow who lives in a dark prison cell of his own making. God is with him and i believe defends my friend regularly, but as far as my friend is concerned, he is not with the Lord and has no eyes to see or ears to hear. The Lord is willing to share His life and blood with the man, but the fellow isn’t willing to share with God, and most of the time it doesn’t occur to him that he could. That’s a picture of a man who lives on a one-way street, a street made with his own human hands. In fact, the Lord is closer to him than the air in his lungs but he just doesn’t know it. i fear his eyes have begun to get used to the dark, and he’s been there so long he thinks that’s just the way life is.

We say we are “with” friends and we are “together”, but by far and large our idea of being “with” someone is not nearly as large as God intends the words “with” and “together”.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, cool jazz and contemplative conversation, broadcast semi-live from the deck of a rural cafe, overlooking the broad and beautiful Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge, and every evening is pleasant.

Let’s amble around the word of God like friends taking their time on a woodland path, being present and conscious in the moment to notice the small details. The Lord has imparted of Himself into all He made and this is part of learning to know the lover of our souls.

Genesis 5:22, “Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.” The use of the word “with” in that verse is different from the other uses of “with” in different places. Why did the Lord pointedly make this time to stand out more significantly than others? All i can think is He intends for us to connect the dots (which would be “getting understanding”) concerning degrees of closeness in our relationships.

i knew a guy in high school named Fatty McDermott, his dad had a gas station in town. Of course his name wasn’t really Fatty, and honestly, he wasn’t actually heavy at all. Oh, he was big enough all right but not in the sense of overweight, but his nickname was just something that stuck from his childhood, and we never knew the back story. Now that i think of it, i don’t know that i ever actually knew his real name, even his Mom called him Fatty. He was a pretty good fellow, broad shouldered with meaty hands gained from farm work, sky blue eyes and a super hero square jaw. Anyway, there was something about Fatty that always seemed to make him just a little untouchable, meaning we might be in the same place, except you always felt there was unbridgeable distance in the friendship, like someone with some terrible secret that was just untellable, and maybe he really did have a secret, i don’t know. He had his childhood stories of fishing and hunting, and we all laughed together, cutup and even fought together, but somehow, he was always a little removed. It reminded me of something like if Fatty and i were riding in one of those big long station wagons from the 60’s, i would be driving but he would be in the very backseat, and i mean all the way at the rear window. In the same car, going in the same direction, but there was always an unexplained distance. Fatty tried dating but none of the girls stayed around for more than a few months at best. Later in life i met one of his old girl friends and asked her why she didn’t continue to see him. She said that no matter how she tried, she just couldn’t connect. i told her my “riding in a station wagon” analogy, and she agreed. If she was driving, he was all the way at the back, every conversation was a loud back and forth dialogue with plenty of misinterpretations and poorly understood words, and there was always a feeling of not quite connecting. It was not relational and subtly impersonal no matter how much she tried to connect with him.

i don’t think Fatty McDermott ever married. In light of that, i’ve remembered my young self, and i don’t think i was much different than my friend. i was so bound up in my head and heart, i had so many thoughts in my mind, my mouth was a bottleneck, so i just never talked, and when i did it was just surface stuff, nothing of any magnitude. When anyone hung out with me, it was as if i was all the way back at the rear window of a long station wagon … in the same car, going in the same direction, at the same speed, just not on the same seat close enough to really be involved. It was difficult to have a relationship with Fatty or myself. Like Fatty, i never knew how to position myself so i could be part of anything. In fact, that’s one reason i never made it in the 70’s for UDT-Seals. i didn’t have the heart of a champion, and maybe more importantly, i didn’t know how to be a team player. Other boys seemed to just be natural team players, but i totally didn’t get it. i could be ON the team, but i didn’t know how to be PART of the team.

Sort of like the older brother of Luke 15, i was of the family, but not “in the house”. i don’t like talking about other people, but i’ll tell you what, the older brother of Luke 15, now there’s a guy we really need to talk about.

i think we spend an unaccountable and inordinate amount of time believing we are connected to others, but for some reason the close connections seem to often leave us wanting for something closer yet unattainable in and of ourselves. We relate to others by way of our dis-gruntledness with the government, and complain about work or make snide jokes about life, but is it really, truly personal with a real connection? And that is with God’s idea of connectedness. Yea, we may appear to be laughing, but we’re not really laughing, and we may feel like our group is together but it’s not really together in the sense God intends. The Lord is a person, He is personal, and He always deals with us personally. There is nothing in the Bible, cover to cover which is not relational and personal. If we aren’t connecting with God then exactly who are we connecting with?

Most of the time we use the word, idea, or concept of “togetherness” and the word “with” means we are in a general proximity, pretty much doing a similar thing, maybe even for similar enough reasons. Like, “i was with my mom….”, “My dad and i went together…”, and i’m sure you can imagine endless scenario’s and examples. We use the idea of “getting with” people, or going to a “get together” to say several people are gathering as in a meeting or a social event, or someone is “together”. According to Webster’s “with” and “together are called “function words”, as in someone who is a participant to an action, or “being in agreement”. Friends, agreement is not necessarily being connected, as in wing to wing, oar to oar, and heart to heart.

We all have a very subjective perspective of what it means to be “with” someone. If you ask 10 different people to describe how it looks to be “together”, you’re likely to get 10 answers which are similar to widely varying. Like i said, our view of “with” and “together” is very subjective.

As is my habit of loving to gather data and do interviews, several months ago i started asking people what their idea of being “together” meant, and what they thought was the meaning of being “with” someone. One lady said, “Being together with someone, from my point of view, means that you are with that other person and you don’t hook up or see anyone else.” She didn’t really say what her idea of “with” and “together” was, she only offered one of the attributes. Her first thought was in terms of a lover-type relationship. She paused, furrowed her brow in pensive thought, then added, “Its complicated because there’s so many different views people have on being together, but I’m just not sure of what it can really mean.” Notice she qualified her thoughts by saying, “from my point of view”, meaning to me that she, like myself, knew it was subjective.

Genesis 5:22, “Enoch walked with God…” We go to church together, sit with each other, them in their seat and you in yours. We sing with other people, them in their space singing their song, and you in yours singing the same song, but their song is not your song, and your place is not their place. What God has in mind in Genesis 5:22 is much, much closer than that, and His desire is for Himself and each of us to be closer than merely sitting in the same row of seats, you in yours and Him in His. Closer. So much closer. He means for us to be closer to Him and Him to us than the space between your thumb and first finger if you were to rub them together. Closer than a brother. He means His heart is for us to be closer to Him and Him to us that the air in our lungs. Closer. So much closer.

Normally, with is used to describe a relationship between two things or people. But in Genesis 5:22, the Lord means for us to grasp a concept beyond simply being accompanied, but closer, in the idea that God calls his people to fellowship with himself, more than just being near, but to actually be in unity from beginning to end with God.

1 John 5:7, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”

In Genesis 5:22, “With” is spelled with the first and last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, “aleph-tav”. When i say we “aleph-ta­v” someone, it is a simplistic view of “with”. Simplisticall­y, to “aleph-tav” so­meone is to position ourselves to go tog­ether, “with“, in an intimate fashion wh­ich allows confident and free discourse, participation in an adventure of very close partnership, and sha­ring of attributes back and forth. When Moses was speaking “with” the Lord in Exodus 32:9-14, the Lord said, (my pa­raphrase) “Stand back Moses i’m gonna ki­ll’em all!” (and yes, the Eng­lish translation really is poor), according to the Hebrew, the Lord was speaking WITH Mos­es and was more accu­rately saying what He said as a presenta­tion of an idea and was >>>inviting Moses to of­fer a counterpoint argument<<<. It was God “ale­ph-tav’ing” Moses and inviting Moses to “aleph-tav” Him. It was an invitation for Moses to position himself SO SO closel­y, like a branch is intimately integrated in the tree, that He could freely share all he was with God who was willing to similarly and intimately share wi­th Moses. “With” – aleph-tav in the simp­lest form. Sure, i know it isn’t ALWAYS like that in the use of the word “with” maybe, but i’m shoot­ing at the idea that most of us really really, actually actu­ally, do NOT see our­selves as walking wi­th God in the sense the Lord intends us to walk WITH Him. The Lord is willing, but we are so wrapped up in unbelief and self-condemnation we really have a hard time seeing ourselves that closely with God. Another view of “together” is when Jesus said in John 15:4-5, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” See how the vine shares with the branch, and the branch shares with the vine. Do you see the intimate sharing one with another? It’s relational in it’s fullest extent, as God intended by His using the words “with” and “together” with respect to our relationship with Him and the rest of the body of Christ.

You and your spouse go “wi­th” each other. You share all your breathing, all your thinking, all your feeling like our hand shares all it’s benefits with the arm, we “aleph-tav” each oth­er all the time. Do you get it? Matthew 19:6, “So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Walking closely to­gether on the same side of the road, where the “two have become one”, is a type of “with” in the sense the Lord intends.

Exodus 26:17 and in 36:22 it mentions two tenons being “fitted toget­her”, and how the two tenons “fitted together” gave definition and strength to the entire frame. From God’s perspective, what “fits together” is a vision of union, like close friends or a brother/sister unity. Not merely associates, not just partners, but in God’s idea of a friend. It’s a picture of “with“, they are “aleph-tav’d”, part­icipating in very cl­ose communion, acting as one bracing the other.

Judges 19:5-6, “And on the fourth day they arose early in the morning, and he prepared to go, but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and after that you may go.” So the two of them sat and ate and drank together.” Notice how this went where it says to “strengthen yourself WITH a mors­el of bread”, then “… the two of them sat and ate and drank together.” The bread became intimately integrated with the one and the one beca­me intimately integr­ated with the bread. Jesus is the bread of life, and taking communion also speaks to us of becoming intimately integrated with the bread, Christ Himself. Then they sat “together”, “with” each other, as a single unit in unity, eating together, and drink­ing together. TOGETH­ER, is a type of “wi­th” where we “aleph-­tav” back and forth. There is unity and intimacy in God’s id­ea of “together”, with the fi­rst two letters painting a picture of a palms up hand reaching through a door of life. It is relational. The first letter is palms up in openness and is an invi­tation for the other to participate, and the second letter is a doorw­ay to life. It is the picture of a hands­hake to “aleph-tav” one another, first and last each other, to beginning and end each other … it’s a two way street of not just an action but INTERAC­TION.

On the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, they we­re walking and talki­ng, talking and disc­ussing. It is a pict­ure of “with” in the the sense of “toget­her“. Then it says “While they were talk­ing and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.” “Together” and “with” in the same sentence. Ahhh! Th­is is significant! The word “with”, even in Greek, implies a joining in unity, an intimate handshak­e, Jesus “aleph-tav’­d” them as they were “aleph-tav’ing” each other, like branch­es from the same tree sharing in all the resources, back and forth. More than harmony which requires two or more, but unity, as one.

i believe we, as people, generally don’t see ourselves and the Lord like that. Somehow we’ve got this divide in our heads that we aren’t worthy of walking that closely with God, or that it’s not possible because we’re just some old sinner, barely saved by Grace. Well, what about the rest of who the Lord says we are? What will we do with that? God’s view of the redeemed is important to deal with and own. Don’t just get your just dues for sin, get your gifts from God for His redemptive work in your heart too. Don’t just break even, actually prosper.

Enoch walked “with God”. “With” meaning on the same road, going in the same direction, on the same side of the road, His face in our face and our face in His face, His voice in our voice, as one in unity. I think a lot of people see themselves with God in the sense of on the same road, going in the same direction, but on opposite sides of the road, and that’s not the heart of the Lord.

How do i walk in the close unity like Enoch, “wit­h” God, “together” with God?? Obviously, i am powerless to do it myself. But the blood of Jesus has bridged the gap! He is the bridge across the finite, us…and infinity, God. He bridged the unbridgeable making it so we could be “with” God in the sense the Lord intended from the beginning. By the blood of Jesus You CAN walk with God, on the same road, going in the same directions, at the same speed, on the same side of the road, together.

And there you have it, that is “with” and “together” in their simplistic forms. The Lord says, “Come up here” in Revelation, like saying position yourself for a better view of God and “think about it”.

In Genesis 7:1, there is a most interesting concept presented by God. Among other things, He says, “I have seen that you”. It doesn’t mean He merely noticed their physical person, like in Genesis 12 where Abram is saying Sarai is so beautiful that “when the Egyptians see you they’ll go wild”. No, Genesis 7:1 means “i see you” in the sense that “i see within you”, “i see into your heart.” From God’s perspective, when He says, “i see you”, “i have seen you” or “i will see you”, He means that He sees and knows your attributes, what makes you tick, even your leanings and intentions and where all those leanings and intentions will carry you depending on every scenario and situation. The Lord wants us to know Him the same way. The closer all things get to the Lord the more all things become like Him, and there again it needs to be pointed out, our greatest strength against darkness and this world is by our coming into the likeness of the Son. God’s heart is that we fully share in Him and He shares in us, like a branch shares in the root of the tree.

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is good for all of eternity. Instead of many sacrifices, His is once and for all, is sufficient and there need not be another. Jesus is sufficient and necessary and His heart is for each of us to walk together so closely with God, He can hear us sweat and we can hear His heart without using words, that we would share in all He is, again, like a branch shares with the root of a tree. He is willing, are we?

i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts, cool jazz and contemplative conversation broadcast semi-live from the deck area overcoming the beautiful Ockluhwahhah River where the trees gently lean over the river’s edge, and every evening is pleasant. This programming is meant to inspire us all to a deeper walk with God, below the surface of our presentation face where we’re always being so safe. Safe in our music, safe in our decisions, safe in our faith, safe in our opinions. It’s time to walk on water and take a chance with God.

Support was by Living In His Name Ministries, my beautiful brother at Area 22 Guitars, Allan, Kevin, and Tommy at the Mebane Freedom League, Tony and Danielle of McDowell Electric, Paul at International Tile, Shepherd Funeral Home serving down home potato salad and fried chicken while you’re waiting for your loved ones to be processed, and Jeff and Karen of Trinity Bakers on main street where there’s always something good in the oven.

The Lord says, “behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every person what is theirs according to what they’ve done.”

He is sufficient and necessary. Always. Drive carefully this week, be a responsible person and think, think before you act or speak. Pray for your neighbors, you truly do make a difference. Until we meet again, amen and amen.

Nahum 1: “Look! Striding across the mountains— a messenger bringing the latest good news: peace! Celebrate, worship and recommit to God! No more worries about this enemy. This one is history. Close the books.”

Psalms 35: “But let me run loose and free, celebrating God’s great work,  Every bone in my body laughing, singing, “God, there’s no one like you. You put the down-and-out on their feet and protect the unprotected from bullies!”

Psalms 37: “The spacious, free life is from God, it’s also protected and safe. God-strengthened, we’re delivered from evil— when we run to him, He saves us.”

Psalms 124: “….we’ll discover we’ve flown free from their fangs, free of their traps, free as a bird. Their grip is broken; God’s strong name is our help, the same God who made heaven and earth.”

Nahum 1: “The Lord says, I’ve afflicted you, Judah, true, but I won’t afflict you again. From now on I’m taking the yoke from your neck and splitting it up for kindling. I’m cutting you free from the ropes of your bondage.”

Are you free? You say you are, but what is your evidence? i believe we confuse agreement with commitment. People agree that God is right and true, but there is often not much of a commitment to actually DO it. Just because we agree doesn’t mean we intend or commit to DO anything.

Jesus said, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” John 8:36

So if Jesus Christ, the Son of God, says we are free, and we agree with Him that we are free, as He said, why are we willing to wear even a small yoke of the enemy? Many seem willing to continue bearing the burdens of their own past, unwilling to truly lay them down, even though the Lord says He has cast our sins as far as east is from west. Sometimes we’re even willing to bear the burdens of someone else’s past, whether they are biological relatives or not.

Why are we so willing to blame our problems on someone in our history, when we are the ones, through our own choosing and poor decision making, we are the ones who have generated vicious circumstances and cruel, self-imposed rules? It wasn’t them, it was us.

Why do we have such a hard time letting God be good to us? Listen to the question here: Why do we have such a hard time letting God be good to us? He said we are free, so how free is free enough for you? Can you imagine being free, and what does that look like to you? Are you willing to be “pretty much free”, or “mostly free”? How free is free enough?

We take God’s ultimate words of Freedom, and reduce the weight of what He said to align with unworthiness in our own eyes. We try and re-create the yoke of bondage for people who Jesus has set free, telling them that even though Jesus set them free from sin and ALL their history, there is still a curse  which hangs over them as a result of their great-grand father, or mother, or someone in their history who is long dead? Those people have nothing to do with us, they are no longer among the living, so i’m wondering, how did some curse survive the washing of the Blood of Christ? By us telling them they are still under a curse after accepting Christ is like saying the Blood of Jesus wasn’t sufficient to cleanse us from all sin.

Are you, who do deliverance telling people they have generational curses, are you saying the Blood of Jesus isn’t quite effective enough to really do the job, that you, yes you, being the only one who knows of this extra-special condition which was somehow beyond the vision of Almighty God, are you saying only you can bring relief to the poor undelivered soul, which even God Himself was not able to do?

For what reason do you bring into bondage again those whom have accepted Christ as Savior? Having confessed their sins, and asked for His forgiveness for any and all transgressions, why do you offer for them to come back into bondage by trying to influence them into believing they are still under some curse? Is that the work of the cross of Christ? Whose burden have you decided they should carry after Jesus set them free from the burdens and weights of sin and darkness?

Proverbs 26:2 “Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, So a curse without cause shall not alight.” Have you ever read that? Think about it. If there’s not a cause for the curse to come, then it doesn’t stick, and i don’t care who the spell caster was that made it…it doesn’t stick. If we are under the blood of Jesus, then how does a curse stick?

The word used for “unleavened” is Greek “ad’-zoo-mos”, metaphorically meaning free from the “leaven of iniquity”. You are not responsible for the leaven of my iniquity, nor anyone else’s either. i am not by brother’s keeper, i am my brother’s brother. It’s not my job to make sure my brother gets life right and keeps the rules in order to be OK. God never asked any of us to play Holy Ghost Jr., policing people’s lives. i didn’t say don’t care, i said my problems are not your cross to bear. No one is obligated to carry someone else’s cross. You have your own burden and don’t need mine too.

Those who do deliverance, do you hammer on sin until the person admits they are guilty? If they don’t see it, then all that hammering may actually cause them to comply, but probably, nothing of the heart has changed. i do believe that’s called “gas lighting”. It is manipulating someone into confessing to something which may not have actually occurred. When i was a new Christian i was told i was and always would be a terrible sinner so i’d just better get used to it. In my desperation, i confessed to the Lord every problem i could think of, and even sins i’d never been guilty of … constantly confessing day and night. i was desperately trying TO BE free as opposed to believing God who said i AM free. By the blood of Christ, we ARE free. The Lord is telling the truth, we – are – free. We don’t have to get saved and constantly repent to become free, we ARE free in Christ. Oh yes we are! God said it, so it MUST be true.

What do you think?

Luke 10:25-35 is an interesting story of how we view other people and their needs. In the Biblical account, there are 8 characters:  Jesus, who tells the story, an expert in the law, a man who made a trip to Jericho, robbers, a Levite, a Priest, a Samaritan, and an innkeeper.

Which one of these are you? Which one does God see you as?

The Biblical story begins when “an expert in the law” (or a lawyer) asks Jesus a question, v25, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus puts the question back to the “expert” by asking how the man, being an expert, reads the law. The “expert” gave a beautiful answer, but his heart was wrong (v29). We can do the right thing for the wrong reasons, and in this case the “expert” was looking to justify himself rather than actually being interested in a righteous answer. So Jesus tells a story with 6 characters in it, and each person had a different view of the needs of others.

The victim: a man who made a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, could be any one of us. The robbers: they saw the man whom they beat and robbed as someone to exploit and forcibly get gain from.  The Levite and the Priest: they saw the beaten and robbed man as someone who looked like trouble. The Samaritan: he saw the beaten and robbed man as someone to have mercy on and care for.  The Inn Keeper: he saw the Samaritan and the victim as someone to serve for a fee. Yes, the Inn Keeper helped, but he only helped as long as he was getting paid. No money, no help.

Then there was the “expert in the law” and Jesus. The “expert”, when asked who in the story did the right thing, couldn’t bring himself to say “The Samaritan”. The very core of his initial answer to Jesus in v27, Love, was the very thing he himself so distinctly lacked. The “expert” could quote the law forward and backward, he had learned a great deal, but his learning did him no good without carrying out the most basic principles, love.

Each one of the people in this story had a different view of the needs of others.  Some of us are victims, rightly or wrongly, we are.  There are those of us who claim to be believers but we have such a deep-seated prejudice, we hate some people and we can’t see even the simple things. Some of us see others as someone to exploit and get something from, yet others of us see people who have dire needs as people who look like trouble, someone to stay away from, possibly being concerned some of their “bad ju-ju” might get on them, being careful to not touch them but telling them, “I’ll pray for you! Be warm and filled.” Many are willing to serve others in their need, but only if there’s something in it for them. Or maybe we see people in their desperation as someone to care for and have mercy on. And then, some of us, like Jesus, see the needy, compromised multitudes as someone worth dying for.

Who do you see yourself as? An expert, a victim, a robber, a religious person, a Samaritan, or an Inn Keeper? Maybe like Jesus?  How do we relate to the needs of others? A man asked recently, “Why will Christians not do for free, what they will do for money?” We often will help if someone gives us money or a gift. We will be obedient for money to a boss who is abusive, but we despise leaders in the church who treat us well. We’ll sweep the floor for money, but if someone asks us to sweep up at church, suddenly we’ve got an attitude about, “Who do they think they are to tell me anything?!” Wow. Can you see the dilemma?

Let us be honest with ourselves and the Lord, not telling ourselves a fairytale so we look good to ourselves, but to be honest before the Lord. Which one are you?