In a published article written by J. Blake Brown, he writes, “In 1516 M. Luther was reading Romans 1, and when he got to verse 17he was struck by Paul’s quote from Habakkuk 2:4, “The righteous will live by faith.”

Those words launched Luther into what we, today, call the Reformation. He began by tacking up the famous 95 theses which pointed out the errors that existed in the Church at that time, but it quickly snowballed into an all-out reformation

In 1521, just 5 years after it started and church leadership was thoroughly offended that anyone would dare challenge them, Luther was ordered to go before a church council to explain his preaching and writings that were contrary to the church’s teachings. The site of the council was in the German city of Worms (“Varms”). Here Luther defended his writings before the Emperor Charles and all the dignitaries of the Empire. Towards the end of the council, the Emperor and dignitaries had had enough and demanded that Luther recant all that he had preached and written. And it was then that he made his timeless reply:

I cannot submit my faith either to the Pope or to the Councils, because it is clear as day they have frequently erred and contradicted each other. Unless therefore, I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture . . . I can and will not retract . . . Here I stand . . . I can do no other. So help me God, Amen!!

This is a great statement of faith in God. One that looked right into the face of the circumstances, and despite their poised menacing attitudes, he chose God.

There was no reason, other than his faith in God, that Luther should have made this statement. His circumstances were looming dark clouds… he was facing excommunication, defrocking, and even death by uttering those words. After the council, Luther was declared an outlaw which meant that he could be killed by anyone without threat of punishment. Yet Luther trusted God and His Word more than the threats of man. He made a decision that cost him everything!”… Friends, now that was no small decision!

i often think it’s quite intriguing to put scripture into more modern-day language. Like Hab 3:17-19: Here’s the original:

“Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls — Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills.”

Now here is the re-visualized version: Though I don’t have the money to buy more than rice and beans at the grocery store, and I can’t pay my electric bill, though the fuel tank in my car is nearly sitting on empty, and I can’t find a job, though there’s very little food left in the cabinet and only oatmeal to set on the table for my kids, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord will provide. He enriches my faith and opens the doors to His provisions. He supplies that job I need so badly and lifts me out of my poverty because I seek first the Kingdom of God.”

Joyce Meyer once said, “If you’re praying to God for the devil to leave you alone, he’s not gonna do it, so you might as well get over it, quit fighting with the devil and lean into Jesus.” The point is how good God is not how bad the devil is. Think about that and let it sink down into your thinking machine.

i have a phrase the Lord gave me, which is, “Not every blue sky is from Heaven and not every storm is from hell”, reminding me that The Lord is my focus, not my circumstances, and just because things are well in my circumstances doesn’t mean i’m in the throe’s of blessing, neither just because i’m surrounded by storms does it mean God is angry with me or i’ve done something wrong. Aiming fingers of blame are like having guns in your hand, and too many of us are spending our time and emotional capital shooting at everything that moves. i say, “Whoa, whoa, whoa there, nice shootin’ Tex, but put your guns away!” All our blaming never did anyone any good. When times are difficult, lean on Jesus, set your eyes on Jesus, and put your hope in Jesus because in Christ alone is our help and hope. In an old Lutheran hymn by Edward Mote, the first verse is “My hope is built on nothing less, Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand, All other ground is sinking sand.”

Chances are good that many, if not most of us, are going through something difficult… it could be the loss of a job, a family member who fell ill, or overwhelming loneliness in the midst of a large church body. In fact, it could be a number of struggles all at one time. Probably, early on, someone told you life as a believer was not easy, but now that things are not easy, you didn’t know it then like you know it now… life may have been difficult on many levels before, but now… oh boy, now they’re maybe even more difficult. After all, Christians are certainly not immune to trials and tribulations.

Honestly, restoration is messy, revival is very, VERY messy, and life can be wildly messy. In spite of all that, i hope we can see the big picture here concerning having faith despite dark clouds.

i know everyone comes first to this O.T. guy when we think about trials and tribulations, but still, he’s a great example, consider Job. Right off the bat, scripture describes him in Job 1:1 as, “a man named Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” Right off the bat, God is setting the precedence about Job, and all that follows after vs 1, we need to remember that God has overshadowed Job’s story with the fact that he was blameless, upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.

i’m sure you know the story, and if you haven’t it would do you well to read the book of Job which is right after Esther and before Psalms. The Lord asked Satan to consider Job who was blameless and upright. The Lord was obviously very pleased with Job. From the way i read the story, one angle was that satan believed the reason Job lived his life for the Lord was because of what Job could get from God… satan believed it was only a “hand level” relationship (or merely “what can be gotten”), and that if God allowed all Job’s stuff and family to be taken away, Job would curse God.

So, the Lord allowed Satan to take away his blessings. Job lost his oxen, donkeys, sheep, servants, camels, sons, daughters, and eventually even his health. Now we’ve gotta see this, so listen: Here’s a man who walked blamelessly before God, and yet the Lord allowed him to suffer. How could this be? Well, Job’s supposed “friends” had all kinds of ideas of why this might be the case, everything from telling him his sins had caused his misfortune, to his wife telling him he should just roll over and die. If you are in a difficult situation, let me encourage you again to read Job’s story, and i don’t mean just glitz over it, but take it in, roll it over in your mind and ponder upon it in order to see the Lord’s real heart.

Here are a couple of points that i found interesting: First off, it is obvious that bad things happen to “good” people. It’s a fact of life. In Luke 13, Jesus is addressing, again, the issue of retributive theology, meaning your well-being is directly dependent on YOUR ability to be obedient and get life right, and that’s just not true. In vs 4, Jesus speaks of some local news as an example. He says, “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?” The Jews, and even many people today, seem to think if they do good they get good, and if they do bad, they get bad, that’s retributive theology. Now i can see where it would be sort of true in that if you hit your hand with a hammer, it will hurt, and if you don’t then it won’t hurt. Or, if you don’t pay your electric bill, the lights will go off, and if you DO pay it, they will stay on. But that’s not what God is talking about here. Many seem to think that if THEY are well and you are not AS well as THEY, then obviously you have more sin in your life than they do… and that’s simply a lie, which Jesus was addressing.

i’m not saying we shouldn’t avoid pain and suffering, of course we should, probably no one woke up one day and thought, “Gosh, i sure hope i suffer today.” However, if it can’t be helped, and the Lord doesn’t change the situation, learn to live well where you are until He does change things… it can be helpful to accept pain and suffering when we have no choice, and that acceptance can help us get through difficult circumstances.

Secondly, notice that Job still honored the Lord despite his horrible circumstances. He didn’t sin by charging God with wrongdoing. He didn’t try to blame himself or everyone else for his circumstances. And while we’re there, let me suggest we quit blaming God. C’mon guys, cut it out. After all, God is God, and He is our standard of what is right – the Lord is the ultimate justice and adjudicator, who do we think we are to judge the Lord? Put your guns away, or quit blaming everyone and everything, and live well where you are until such time as things change.

“When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace; In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.”

Acts 5:17, “Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation,”.

Further on in Acts 5:40, we read the apostles were beaten because they were speaking in the name of Jesus. Scripture says, “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.” Wow. They did two things after being beaten: they rejoiced because they were counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name of Jesus, and they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

i’m sure, as many others who have read these scriptures, they possibly think, “How can I be strong when I’m going through a difficult time?” i, personally, have never gone through something as terrible as what the apostles endured, but there have been numerous extreme circumstances, which, at the time, i thought things were so very terrible that i was dying. i find it incredible that all through the apostles terrible circumstances, their hearts were in the right place, even when being beaten… and don’t you know, the stripes from the whip didn’t stop right then… the suffering was extreme and went on and on, the sting continued for days, but yet they persisted. i’m sure the Lord strengthened them… and i ask myself, no matter what I’m going through, would i still honor the Lord as well? i hope so and hope i don’t have to find out, but wouldn’t be surprised if i did.

i believe those who endure such difficult circumstances are given the great gift of faith, The Lord intervenes at our most extreme moments, extending us grace to endure, but we also have to be willing to persist and endure in our circumstances.

i wonder to myself, how will i act? What will i say? Will i be like Stephen standing firm to the end, or will i be like Judas who betrayed the Lord and just ran away?

Mark 13:11, “But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speaks, but the Holy Spirit.”

i like to think of myself as being a spiritual man, standing on God’s word, faithfully testifying Jesus is who God says He is, standing on His promises and all that… and, in truth, i am that person. But i’ll tell you what, not too long ago my wife became ill and had to go to the hospital for a few days, and in those few days, i was so shaken to my core, i couldn’t seem to find all my super-spiritual stuff, i couldn’t find the courage to bind this or that, or the strength to cast down principalities and powers, and what’s worse, having been that guy who prayed those sorts of things and has seen people healed on the spot, but this time, none of my words seemed to impact anything. i was reduced to a quivering gelatin mass and all i could squeak out, through my tears, was “Help us Jesus, i don’t know what to do.”

Now, some folks may say that is just downright pitiful and faithless, but i believe the prayer, “Help us Jesus!” is one of the most powerful prayers we can pray. Sometimes, in the midst of terrible circumstances, that’s all we’ve got. The Lord began to give me endurance and the courage to persist, even though i had gnawing butterflies in my stomach, in a bad way, 24 hours a day, all week long. i refused to use alcohol or drugs to squash my anxiety because i believed God would sustain me and He did… i am absolutely determined to be present, unhampered and un-anesthetized… in my heart, i knew not only did He hear my prayers, He was, in the present tense, answering and healing … it’s just something i knew in my heart of hearts. There was faith in me despite my dark clouds… those dark clouds which seemed to overshadow everything, the creeping ominous gloom of doom that whispered, “you don’t”, “you can’t”, “you won’t”, “you didn’t”, “you should have”… the whisperings of the enemy, whispering destruction to me through the crack under the door and at the windows of my house…regardless of all that, there was rising faith in me regardless of dark clouds.

In the midst of all that grief, a friend, many, many miles away, over the phone, spoke a Heaven-shifting prayer, declaring light and healing to my wife… within the hour she was resting and asleep, on the road to recovery. Since then i’ve found my spiritual legs again. All that to say, we may see ourselves as hero warriors, but when the poo hits the fan, i marvel at how quickly we can find out the depth of our faith… .we also learn that in the necessary moment, faith will rise and the tide will turn… if it doesn’t then we must trust, in the eyes of the Lord, that God had a better idea and it’s on its way. The idea is to go with God not get what you want, and just because you’re uncomfortable and don’t get what you want, when you want, how you want, and God doesn’t agree with you … .. doesn’t mean He is no longer God. We are to conform to HIS image, not Him conform to ours.

Eugene Peterson wrote, “Jeremiah lived during one of the most troubling periods of Hebrew history. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and he was in the middle of it all, sticking it out… praying and preaching, suffering and striving, writing and believing. He lived through crushing storms of hostility and furies of bitter doubt. Every muscle in his body was stretched to questioning; every feeling in his heart was put through fires of ridicule.”

“What happens when everything you believe in and live by is smashed to bits by circumstances? Sometimes the reversals of what we expect from God come to us as individuals, other times as entire communities. When it happens, does catastrophe work to re-form our lives to conform to who God actually is and not the way we imagined or wished Him to be? Does it lead to an abandonment of God? Or, worse, does it trigger the stubborn grasping to the old collapsed system of belief… holding on for dear life to an illusion?”

When the poo hits the fan, whose side are you on? Let the Lord reveal to you where you really live, and what is your real faith level despite dark clouds. The Lord our God is loving and kind, not cruel and abusive, so we have no reason to be afraid. Let me encourage you, Let God reveal your true heart to you and then take action as He leads you to make some course corrections. Think about it, and amen.

I don’t have all the answers. In fact, in the entire scheme of everything there is to know, i know nothing except what God has given me, and other than that, whatever i think i know, i don’t. But, what I do know is, one day, for those who trust in Jesus the Messiah, God will wipe our tears away and bring us into a glorious communion with Himself, Revelation 7:17.

When man is the builder, the structures are judged by God as either good or bad, and here is the tipping point… the standard of His judgment is according as they conform to his character and purpose. In Genesis 8:20 Noah’s altar was accepted by God because it conformed to the Lord’s character and purpose. And in contrast, the Lord rejected the high places and altars to foreign gods built by Aaron, by Solomon in 1 Kings 11, and Rehoboam in 1 Kings 14.

Not every blue sky is from Heaven nor is every storm from hell. Despite dark clouds, our faith should continue on, regardless of whether we’re surrounded and cornered by thousands. Stand Up Church! i don’t know much about suffering, but what i do know is that suffering reduces everything to its lowest common denominator. Now before you go getting offended, which seems to happen far too easily and too often for many, that doesn’t mean depressed, bottom of the barrel, broken, sick, and sad… it means when all things are boiled down in the life of a believer, Jesus stands tall in the middle. We are coming into the likeness of the Son and when all things of the world are removed from obstructing our view, what our eyes see is Christ, the Son of God.

Psalm 17:15, “As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.”

Be strong and courageous and let your faith do it’s work despite the dark clouds and, what appears as looming doom. Your faith is there, let it rise and see God shift the Heavens on your behalf, truly all other ground is sinking sand.

Pray for your friends, go see someone who can’t come see you, drive carefully, and i’ll talk to you next time.

i sometimes catch myself wishing others weren’t the way they are. How often we have said to ourselves in a moment of anguish, “Gahh! i wish so-and-so was different! Why do they have to be that way?”

It’s easy to think of all the ways we believe someone else should change and what they should do to make a relationship better… but maybe, just maybe… we should think more along the lines of what we might do to make things better. We seem to always want the other person to change, but above what we think they should do, we should also be open to letting God show us ways in which we might change also.

Romans 12:16, “Live in harmony with one another. Don’t be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.”

It’s good to want peace, but we need to go the extra mile and be peacemakers. Don’t just think about everything that is wrong with the person you’re struggling with, also think about their good points too. And yes, i realize there are truly people in this world who may not seem to have any good points. If you go to a maximum security prison and speak to some of those who stay behind locked doors all the time, it’s easy to think some people have no good qualities. i believe, having lived my life as one, God has a special place in His heart for fools. Actually, i’m eternally pleased He has room for me.

Time is changing, the world is still turning, Jesus has not returned yet, so, whether we like it or not we must live … today, and again tomorrow, etc, etc., living every day in the name of Jesus with all our breathing, thinking, feeling, and strength. i’ve never heard of Christian retirement unless it is dying. The world is changing and we must change also…simply put, we can’t continue to be like we are and still expect the spiritual climate of our world to change when we, the climate changers, don’t want to address our internal conflicts and cognitive dissonances.

When you turn off the main highway and go all the way to the end of Old Field Road, there at the end of the road is Outposts, a beautiful cafe inhabited by kindness and joy, where, the moment you step in the door, weariness falls off like grave clothes, and the warm glow of the goodness of God breathes refreshment to tired bones. This is a semi-live broadcast from the deck area of the late evening, cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the river’s edge, and every evening is pleasant. i’ll be your host this evening with contemplative conversation, and cool jazz. So glad you stopped in. Pull up a chair, breathe easy, and sit a while with me.

i’m Social Porter and this evening’s topic is change… the pain of it, and the necessity of it. When it hurts too much to stay the same, people will change, but in the meantime when it hurts too much to change, alas, they will stay the same. Friends, change is on the horizon and it simply must happen.

So let’s get to it…pull up a chair, sit back, put your ears on, and enjoy what’s in front of you….

Amos 3:3, “Do two people walk hand in hand if they aren’t going to the same place?” Or put another way as a statement, “two walking together must agree to go together.”

What is it that makes it so we are reluctant to change, even when it’s for the better? Is it that, even if we’re in a bad situation, it could be nothing more than the longitude and latitude we are familiar with?… at least we think we know where we are and what to expect. Or could the truth be something more subtle?

Our fear can keep us from growing up… it can make us do all sorts of illogical things… like being afraid to end a relationship that may seriously need to end, change careers, move to a better place, begin new friendships, or just generally attempt anything beyond our ordinary habits. So many of us seem to often stay in situations that are no longer working, far longer than we should have, simply because what is familiar feels safer than the unknown. i think any change involves overcoming fear in some capacity or another. We think to ourselves, “What if I’m alone forever?” or maybe, “What if I find out I’m incompetent?”. As the people of God, we often balk at changing our doctrine because it agrees with the views of our peers, and it’s more important for us to be “in the club” than to have a better understanding of God. Our minds manufacture a million little excuses for remaining right where we are, afraid to even question our own epistemology, which is what you believe, how you came to that conclusion, and why you think it’s a good idea.

The Pharisees were so uncomfortable with Jesus… they hated Him and eventually found a way to have Him killed.

In Acts 6 we see Stephen who is stepping out in power, doing great wonders and signs where everyone could see him. For those watching Stephen, even though they couldn’t resist the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, they resented the necessary change Stephen represented. They manipulated some guys to lie against Stephen, saying, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” It upset the local people so much so that they grabbed Stephen and dragged him before the dreaded council, bringing in more people to lie, putting words in their mouths to say, “This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law; for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.”

Though no one can actually keep the law, and no man is justified or finds salvation by the law, the only reason i can figure that they objected to Jesus was because leadership was afflicted with the three P’s of mammon…. position, power, and prestige… they had figured out how to make money from the law, to gain a place of importance and a title… and this Jesus, whom Stephen preached about, was just messing up their system.

The idea of change was so uncomfortable they were willing to lie, cheat, and even murder a man in order to keep from changing. Also, i believe it was more important for them to be right in their own eyes than it was to have a relationship with the Lord and understand His heart.

So here’s a question for all of us who are reluctant to change… please be honest with yourself: Do you just want to be right, or do you really want to know what the Lord is saying?

In this day and age with all the crazy stuff going on, i say, for most of us, “the only thing worse than change is no change”. We can’t keep being like we are and expect the world to get any better. From the Message, Joel 2:13, “Change your life, not just your clothes. Come back to GOD, your God. And here’s why: God is kind and merciful. He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot, This most patient God, extravagant in love, always ready to cancel catastrophe.”

To change from God’s perspective is to be transformed or converted, and also means to substitute one thing or person for another, like an exchange. Didn’t Jesus empower us to be able to change by exchanging His life for ours? The idea of change has a continuous washing motion to it… it’s not a one-time thing and then everything is just fine. From God’s perspective, change is like a long slow turn, taken in increments, letting His counsel change us, making each life course adjustment a sure and better direction.

In Romans 12:2, Paul urges us all to not be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewal of our mind. You know, that’s easy to say, but it is a lifelong process that is largely uncomfortable many times. But, in light of that, why don’t we change, even though we may know it is the best thing for us? What is it that prevents you? Why do we have such a hard time letting God be good to us?

i believe there are four agonies: blame, guilt, grief, and anger. People do terrible things to themselves and others when they live under the crushing weights of any combination of the terrible four… they are an agony of the soul that keeps us bound in a continual downward spiral of an unchanging life. You know, hurting people hurt people.

Psalm 31:10, “For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.” Jesus is interested in changing our hearts and offers us forgiveness and counseling to set us upright and in our right mind. He will take our burdens from us if we will allow Him to shoulder those weights. “If”… “if” we’ll allow it… yea… those slippery little “if’s”.

Now, as to the four agonies, the binding burdens to bear: When we feel the despair of unfading blame at the end of an aiming finger… the burden of blame is crushing. Within blame, there is an accusatory thrust whose nature is to surround and bind our minds and hearts. Blamed people tend to blame people, and if there is no one to blame, we often blame ourselves, though there are no grounds for it. OH…how well do i know this! When relationships fail, i am often the first person i blame, even though it is possible it had nothing to do with me. Here is the model i grew up with…my mother blamed us, constantly, and we all grew up smugly blaming others for whatever wasn’t right in our lives. With God’s constant help and support, it has taken years to stop being so combative about everything, to stop feeling accused all the time, and stop feeling the need to blame myself and others…it’s hard to stop… especially when you’re so sure you are right!

Let us ask the Lord for wisdom and confidence in our decision-making process. Confidence in God is a wall of safety against blame and guilt.

An amazing number of people walk through each day with the millstone of guilt around their necks. Maybe we have not done the things we should have, or…we’ve done things which should never have been done. We cannot undo the past, and the memory of our hurtful deeds can cause a lifetime of pain. For many, the seemingly harmless sins and offenses of our youth can weigh on our consciences forever… and in the minds of others, those same conflicts of our youth stick like super glue….and don’t you know the enemy uses offense to wound us all.

Grief demands an answer, but sometimes… there just isn’t one… yea, i know, we try to keep on keeping on, sort of keeping up appearances so people may stop asking us how we are….we say we’re, “doing just great” or “no problem, i’m moving on,” and “Oh yea, i’m having a great day,” ….it seems so many expect us to easily be over our grief, even before the grass grows green over a loved one’s grave….yet there is grief, still clinging to your back seeming to be an emptiness of unbearable weight which allows no rest for the one trying to shoulder it.

The last is anger… it is exhausting and corrosive, we wear it even in our micro-communications to others. Anger hangs on us for the world to see like a bad suit… a dark cloud that follows us around… it is one of the most disfiguring and tiring of all burdens to bear. i heard one fellow allude to an angry man being like a dung beetle ….it finds some animal dung, rolls up a little ball of the stuff, and just rolls it around everywhere it goes, spreading it everywhere, feeding off it, even raising their young in it. We do the same thing, and it prevents the change we so desperately need.

Jesus will take the burden of those four agonies from us if we let Him… we must change and allow God to take our burdens from us… yield to God. Open your hands and let it go, and yes, i know, it’s easier said than done, but in Christ it can be done. Matthew 11:28-29, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Change is necessary…and in order for us to be world changers, we must be willing for ourselves to change, and change we must.

How will we come to change? More rules? More laws to keep? No one who says they keep the law actually keeps the law, so going back to doing the law holds no relief from the weight of agony and conflict. Does striving to be even more obedient and being a “better rule-keeper” help us to change? Nooo. In our society today, our government is imposing more and more rules, but the general public is getting more and more unruly and less law-abiding. More rules and laws only increase the load, not lighten the load.

i’ve met so, so many people who go to counseling and take mind-bending pharmaceuticals trying to overcome mental and emotional burdens, only years later, when they try to get free of the drugs and counseling, not only has nothing changed, but in fact, they’ve gone backward from where they were. True, for some it helps, but by far and large, i believe for many, the problem is far more spiritual… additionally, there is a cognitive dissonance going on that is not being addressed. We must change and let God change us. The church, as it is today, cannot keep going the way it is and expect to change the world. Through passion, we ardently claim we are world changers, but change starts with us, in our head and heart, in our own house with our own families.

1 Thessalonians 2:2, “But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.”

The word, “conflict” is the Greek word “agon”, where we get our word for “agony”. The Lord calls us to release our earth-bound agonies to Him, and let Him carry those things, let Him resolve the conflicts.

i believe our greatest contentions are within ourselves… i am the biggest rock in the bottom of my own boat. When anger seems about to devour you, when you are caught in the downpour and deluge of grief, when guilt and blame accuse us day and night, we can say to the Lord who lives, “this is too heavy a burden; please carry it for me.” Remember friends, you have the right to call on the name of Jesus. By His blood He made it possible to approach the throne of grace and make your petition known, being persistent in faith that He hears you and will answer… our request for help is not made to an imaginary friend but to the living Jesus. Ask the Lord for help, the simple word “help” is probably the most powerful prayer to God in the universe.

William D. Strayhorn tells a story about a little boy who was helping his father with some yard work. The man asked the boy to clear some rocks from one part of the yard, and the boy eagerly began the task. Soon he came upon a large rock half buried in the ground that was too heavy to move. The boy heaved and tugged with all of his strength, but was unable to budge the rock. “I can’t do it,” he confessed to his father. The man asked the boy, “Did you use all of your strength?” The boy, visibly spent with perspiration running down his face, looked hurt and replied, “yes I did; I used every bit of strength I have.” The man smiled and said, “No you didn’t; you didn’t ask me to help.” Then the two of them walked over and together pulled the rock out of the dirt.

When change needs to happen and we are stuck in the four agonies somewhere, the first thing we do is call on the name of the Lord for help, and we call…and call…and call…..as often as necessary until things change. Trust Him at His word, He will answer. We can not stay the same and expect things to change.

The Hebrew word for conflict literally means to toss, grapple, to fight, and dispute… meaning there is a conscious argument going on and we’re just letting it ride without resolution… within our own heart we may be settled, but in our head, there is an agony which prevents us from really getting a leg up on change. The Hebrew letters in the word “conflict” reveal “in a man’s head, there is a wrestling effort going on, and it affects the whole house.” , including everyone in the sphere of our influence. The enemy of our soul inspires and propagates grief, blame, guilt, and anger… that means that our conflicts are not simply things we have invented… many of us just buy into our internal conflicts, round and round and round… days going by, and yet we are still not seeing much change in ourselves.

Ephesians 3:16-17, “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”

i have been asking myself, what then, can we do to shed the four agonies from ourselves so that we would more effectively enter into the presence and practice of the Kingdom of God? Honestly, i don’t have anything like “2 simple ways to avoid blame and guilt”, or “four steps to resolving grief”, or how about, “6 easy ways to not be angry anymore”….it’s truly… not that simple. Furthermore, we need to know that all four of the agonies build on shame, and friends…. if we don’t do something about shame, restoration is very, very difficult. All i know is that Jesus is the only one who can resolve our internal conflicts.

i asked a woman who had, for her entire life, been in a difficult relationship with her mother, how she dealt with blame and guilt, having come from a home where blame and guilt was a common mode of operation. She thought a moment, then said, “I don’t.” i asked if she meant she had good boundaries and her mother’s blame/guilt game just rolled off her back? She said “No… i don’t know what to do with it but keep asking the Lord to help me be released from the imposed responsibility my mom tried to put on me.” She said she has learned to slowly sort out what is her responsibility and what is not. It has taken years, but it is the path the Lord took her on to learn how to not take on burdens that were not hers to bear.

We all must deal with conflict and adversity in life, but when our conflicts and adversities impinge themselves upon us with such intensity as to slow our walk in Christ, we must do something with it. And, think about it.

The church must change, therefore, we as individuals in the church must change. Change without transformation is completely unsatisfactory. We must cease carrying our millstones of guilt while wearing the face of being good soldiers; let God give us good boundaries defining what is our responsibility and what is not, that blame would not get its fingers around our throat; i pray that the grace of God would lift the burden of grief, and kindness would be extended to those grieving hearts, helping them find their feet again; and that the fire of anger, born out of intense internal conflict, would stop being part of our every meal and that our children would not be raised in it anymore. Ultimately, the church needs to change that shame would cease to hang on so many like grave clothes, chaining them in darkness, often confining them to chaos. If we don’t do something with shame, it makes the restoration of broken hearts nearly impossible.

God is going in an upward direction and we must follow. Young people who are raised in church are leaving the congregation around the time they get to their early twenties. Don’t believe me, look at the statistics. Oh sure, they believe in god, but the truth is, they don’t have any particular god in mind. In 2014, at least 4 million people got saved across America, but yet church attendance is… down. Don’t believe me, look at the stats again. The stats beg the question then: Where are those plus 4 million people and why is attendance down? There are several reasons, but primarily i believe it’s because the Jesus they met when they got saved, isn’t the same Jesus they found when they went to church. They found people with all the same unresolved internal conflicts as before they were saved, and the church people, just like the world, seemed to be making no big move to do anything about their agony, just putting on a face, going through the moves, but by far and large, not much changed with themselves, so not much changed with the world around them. Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 1 John 5:3 says God’s commands are not burdensome. Let Jesus lighten your load.

i realize all this talk of change is possibly unpleasant, but sometimes we’ve just gotta talk about stuff that’s not glowing and pleasant, you know… everything can’t always be candy canes, moonbeams, and merry-go-rounds… from time to time, we’ve got to go to the barn and shovel some horse apples to make compost with.

The world is changing and we must change also…simply put, we can’t continue to be like we are and still expect the spiritual climate of our world to change when we, the world changers, don’t want to address our internal conflicts and cognitive dissonance. Jesus is the answer, he is always the answer, and there’s never a time He’s not the answer. Allow the Lord to resolve your conflict, and be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might. Let your light shine this week, be strong and courageous, going forward in Jesus’ name, amen!

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 inn keeper.

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?

i really love the tune, Moon River. i’ve been completely taken with it since i was a child and my dad would play the Henry Mancini version on our family’s little turntable stereo. i played it over and over… there’s just something in my heart that bubbles to the surface anytime i hear it.

And so it goes, the sun comes and goes, the moon rises and falls, seasons come and seasons go… days go by…..joy rises and falls, wounds speak and then are healed….. and so it goes. The rain falls today… the flowers and grass of the field rejoice, and tomorrow comes at its own pace on its own terms… ahh well, let’s not bother about getting all pumped up about tomorrow, the truth is we really don’t know what may come ‘round by this time tomorrow. And so it goes…

The deeper your love, the higher it goes; every cloud is like a flag to your faithfulness, and with your depth of love there is an increased capacity to love even more still; consequently, the more people hate, over time, the more nothing else is left to them but to hate. And so it goes, sometimes conflict and struggle can’t be avoided, and in the interim when there is a time of no conflict and no struggle we have time to accept our successes and guilts, to mull over conversations that should have happened and didn’t, as well as the ones which actually did occur… in the “in-between” times we get time to deal with what we think and feel and how to face our own experiences.

Interims are like soft periods or bold semi-colons, it’s not quite a full breath, not quite a full stop, maybe a little longer than a pause, but just something God has framed into life for everyone… whether they take advantage of the “soft periods” in their lives or not, those contemplative interludes are entirely up to each person. The lull and intermission in our lives often play like a symphonic masterpiece that slows to a near crawl, and waits for the rest… and the breath…. giving an extended moment for musicians to refocus before pressing on to express the remainder of its melody.

And so it goes, meaning “that’s just the way it is”, or “that’s just the way things work”… life goes on.

Psalm 55:18, “My life is well and whole, secure in the middle of danger Even while thousands are lined up against me.” In the midst of turmoil and danger, life goes on…. the birds still fly, flutter, and twitter, people still go to work and come back. Ok, so things didn’t work out so well today, make a purposeful pause to consider more than just what didn’t happen but what did happen also, be specific. What does tomorrow look like, and if it’s not pleasant, can you re-imagine it in a good and positive way? How about imagining peace instead of imagining dismal forebodings? How about next week? And you totally know that regardless of all your planning there will be situations occur which couldn’t possibly be planned for and not all in a bad way either. Let us stop being morbidly fascinated with all that didn’t happen, or might not happen.

People change, love can be agonizing sometimes, friends come and go, things go right and things go wrong, but through it all remember, life goes on…..which is another way of saying… and so it goes. Romans 5:3-4, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

A friend of mine came to the United States from another country. The culture shock was overwhelming and, at times, paralyzing. After many months of trying to fit in here, i found him weeping one day. He said, i wish i could just go back to where i started when I understood life, when i understood people, in a place where I knew how to get along. In the moment i had a vision that was in motion, I saw, on a huge scale, people living, moving, working, resting… there were gears and wheels everywhere….. behind clouds, under buildings, some big gears, some small, but it was just a big picture of life happening and it was all in motion. The clouds moved slowly across the sky, and everything moved forward as if on a giant wheel, everything changed at the pace of everything else and there was no going back. Even if we were sitting on a park bench, got up, and walked away only to return a few minutes later, things may look the same, but rest assured nothing is the same… everything has moved. The change may be infinitesimal but i can assure you everything has changed. When life seems to have a down-turned mouth and sad eyes and we so long to go back, there is no going back, for what we have desired to go back to is only the memory of a place, a person, a situation that does not exist anymore as we remember it.

Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” And so it goes.

Idioms are words, phrases, or expressions that cannot be taken literally. It’s a combination of words that has a meaning that is different from the meanings of the individual words themselves. It can have a literal meaning in one situation and a different idiomatic meaning in another situation. It is a phrase that does not always follow the rules of meaning and grammar. In other words, when used in everyday language, they have a meaning other than the basic one you would find in the dictionary… like the phrase, “a chip on your shoulder”, meaning you are holding a grudge, or “sick as a dog” meaning you are very ill. We talk and speak in idioms all the time, like, “once in a blue moon”, “pay the piper”, or “jump the gun”… our Bible is absolutely full of idioms.

“And so it goes” is a little idiom … meaning, life goes on, and on, that’s just how things go … regardless of how bad you feel, or how someone made you angry or hurt your feelings… get up from your sad bed and try again… life goes on and tomorrow is another day. And so it goes. If we want to eat we either raise a garden or go to the grocery store, it’s something we must do if we plan on living. We work in the garden pulling weeds, hoeing the soil, picking bugs off… day after day after day…and so it goes. It isn’t a job nor is the task a laboring grudge… it is a benefit we get to participate with the Lord in, our everyday work-a-day world built largely of things we do over and over, and so it goes. We brush our teeth (hopefully), wash up, comb our hair, get up in the morning, lay down to rest at night, sit in our comfortable chair, breathe in and breathe out, over and over, and so it goes. These may seem like mundane, mindless, thoughtless things, but they are things in the interim, in the interlude between events where the Lord has constructed times of respite for pondering. It doesn’t mean God is done with us, it just means we are in the place of tidying up loose ends, doing maintenance.

You know… when you’re between projects, and, oh, how i know the thinking that says that maybe the Lord is just done with me because nothing is happening… i’m learning to use those times for rest and regrouping. Is it possible, when nothing is going on that it’s not that the Lord is done with us, but more it’s a time of rest, a time to do the everyday things that make life go on, and so it goes, on and on?

Psalm 94:18-19 “The minute I said, “I’m slipping, I’m falling,” your love, Lord GOD, took hold and held me fast. When I was upset and beside myself, you calmed me down and cheered me up.”

i used to live in a place that i loved more than any other place i’ve ever lived. It was old, i mean really old, and i loved the history of it all … down to the bone. It had roots back to the late 1700s, there were h-u-g-e trees, long open fields, old fruit trees which bore the sweetest fruit i’ve ever eaten, there were even several old barns and a house other than the main house which was left over from long ago tenant farming days in the 1920s. But then, life changed radically, i don’t live there anymore… And so it goes. My heart has so desired to go back there and be there again. i’ve had dream upon dream, wishes upon wishes that if i could just get back there… well, i can’t. The truth is, i don’t live there anymore, i live here where i am now. This is where i live and this is what the Lord has me doing. 2 Corinthians 6:2, “God reminds us, I heard your call; The day you needed me, I was there to help. Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped.” Or my paraphrase, the date is today, the time is now.

We have to be where we are, present in the here and now, not in the what was, or in the dream world of what will be. There is no going back for all things have changed, and nothing stays the same except the Lord who is ever the same.

Deuteronomy 31:8, “GOD is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t worry.”

         In Job 8 Bildad, one of Job’s supposed buddies, gives his first response. In verses 1 through 13 Bildad speaks of the results of turning against God and forgetting Him altogether. Then in verse 14 he says, “And so it goes to all who forget God. The hopes of the godless evaporate.” When he says, “and so it goes” he means the situation and results of verses 1-13 just go on and on and on for those who forget God.

Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and hope.”

“Even so” is another little idiom, which means… with the exception that, or despite anything to the contrary, and nevertheless.  It is an idiom that also has an “on and on and on” motion similar to “And so it goes”. Like in John 3:14, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,” meaning despite anything to the contrary you may have heard, nevertheless, Jesus must be lifted up. John 5:21, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so, the Son gives life to whom He will,” meaning regardless of anything else or to the contrary, regardless of what you believe or have been taught, the Son, Jesus, gives life to whom He will.

The Lord doesn’t dribble words pointlessly across the pages of the Bible. Every single word in the Bible has a point and a job, so if we’re going to understand the Father’s heart and fully know who He is, we’re going to have to take even the most minuscule words seriously, making an effort to see Jesus in them, even so, if we’re interested enough to chase the wisdom of the Lord, He will make sure we catch it in due season, then comes life, moving in like an early morning fog, even so, it comes…..and so it goes….every day.

Romans 5:19 “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so, through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”

“Even so” is there is an idiom representing the idea that, although what was previously said may be true, what is to follow is above all… the end all of what is true. As it is re-read with the definition of “even so” replacing the words “even so”, we would read it as, “… through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, regardless of that fact, above and beyond the truth of that statement, due to the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous, which supersedes what previously was true.” The words “even so” place the focus on of what is the “nevertheless” truth.

Another place among many examples is in 2 Kings 3, where Jehoram (yea-hô-rhām’) in verse 2 put away the sacred pillar of Baal that his father made, but then in verse 3, it starts with an “even so” or “nevertheless”…..meaning regardless of his action of tearing down the pillar of Baal which was a good thing, his sins stuck to him, they were hard after him staying close at hand. It didn’t matter concerning any good he did while he was king of Israel, he wore his sins like jewels to be proud of.

Even so, we go on… and so it goes… on and on.

Proverbs 19:21 21 “There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the LORD’S counsel–that will stand.” Regardless of all the well-laid plans we may have in our minds or hearts, the Lord’s counsel will stand forever, and so it goes, on and on.

He is our purpose, He is our being. In Christ, there is a divine purpose for which we were born. When crisis strikes in our lives, regardless of the reality of the crisis, above the crises is the greater reality, Jesus, the Lord, even so, or nevertheless, He covers us and shelters us, providing us comfort to withstand it all by His grace. In our every moment of joy or hardship, He is there.

Be certain that the glory of God will be revealed in our lives when stressful events occur. Do you ever wonder how you will face difficulties that come your way? Problems with finances, family, relationships, health, work, and your livelihood, real or imagined may cover you like a blanket, and our character and foundation of faith are tested, it seems that life just wants to pull the rug out from under us (“pull the rug out from under us” is another idiom). When our entire world is shaken, our ability to recover is impossible unless we rely on the Lord for strength. And so it goes, when we know we don’t have to face it alone, it makes all the difference. Knowing that He is there helps us survive another day. Every day is a new day, a new opportunity, a new day of possibilities, and even in the midst of it there are still the little things we do that may seem mundane, but they are part of life. Even so, Jesus is there to help us survive another day, and every day thereafter.

Nevertheless, or, regardless of all your trouble, God is always there, always faithful, and always right. Remember to “fasten your seatbelts” (another idiom), because life is going to get bumpy, full of turbulence, and possibly internally and externally. We have to, so to speak, strap ourselves into His word (another idiom) and trust in His faithfulness. No matter your situation, even so, God will perform miracles in your life. So, when tragedy knocks at your door, stay focused, and place your faith in God. When we trust in Him, all is well and will be well, day after day, and so it goes.

Psalm 28:7, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Even so, my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song, I will praise Him.”

And so it goes, life goes on my friend, the days come and go, situations arise and pass, but the Lord is still there, never leaving you or forsaking you, every day without fail… and so it goes until you’re home with Jesus. Selah.

Friends, we’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home…the Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little Heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less.

Many believers live in the midst of some pretty terrible circumstances even so, they do so with a cheerful heart…don’t walk around drooping your heads or dragging your feet…don’t let the world get you down, instead let what’s in your heart rise. Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are all it takes to stop you? Take note of the little pauses God gives you every day. Use them to re-orient and rest. Don’t get in a hurry, tomorrow will come, and so it goes. When the time comes, we’ll exchange this world for homecoming. Regardless, and nevertheless, neither this life nor homecoming is the main thing. Gladly loving the Lord because He first loved us is our main purpose, knowing His heart regardless of our conditions. Sooner or later we’ll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions.

Tomorrow is another day, gone is the sun, take the time to notice the little interims and pauses the Lord has built into your life… His kindness extends to us beyond your imagination, beyond the vanishing point, even so, let us walk in His goodness, never giving up, day after day, week after week, breath after breath, on and on… and so it goes. Amen!

          Contrary to popular belief, we all really do need a mediator. We have a conflict within us between life and death and there needs to be a judge and peacemaker to help resolve our conflicted thinking and crisis of conscience.        

         Hebrews 9:13-15, “For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason, He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

         How will God reward us in Heaven when we have led a life of constant self-condemnation? i think that for many of us, we’ve bought into the lie that we are alone and nobody cares, making it easy to aim our own condemning finger at ourselves. Either way, it’s still all about ourselves… the consummate victim and martyr. Being a victim is as much about domination as being a controller.

         It is not true that we are alone, nor is it true that no one cares. Maybe that works for many of us because we’ve got this idea that if we were God, we wouldn’t have anything to do with us either… but in light of that, i’m very pleased that i am not God, and He is exactly who He says He is.

         Are we just old sinners, doing sinner things with sinner people, thinking sinner thoughts, going sinner places for sinner reasons?

         What is it we know about ourselves that if God found out, we are sure He wouldn’t like us anymore? Do we think God is somehow blind to the entirety of our lives, and we must continuously hide?

         If the sacrifice of bulls and goats was only good to cover sin for a year, how much more is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ sufficient to cover your sins? i believe there are two kinds of secrets, the ones we hide from others, and the ones we hide from ourselves. Without foundational honesty, our hearts shift from vision… a singleness of eye, to di-vision, a multiplicity of vision. To buy into the lie from hell that we are nothing and a zero… and always will be because we are just old sinners… is a lie that divides… our heart, making the condemning vision of ourselves our truth, never taking into account how God sees us. How the Lord sees us is, by far, the correct perspective.

         i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, a semi-live broadcast from the deck area of a rural cafe overlooking the Ockluhwahhah River.

         Who are you anyway? We all know who we say we are, but in our heart of hearts, do we see Jesus staring back at us in the mirror, or do we see the eyes of Judas the traitor, imagining reproach in our own faces with tears of condemnation leaking from the corners of our eyes? Who does God say you are? Do you really believe it?

         Psalm 118:24, “This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.” Friends, take it from someone with some hard-won wisdom, it is right nigh impossible to rejoice and be glad in the day which the Lord has made when all your thinking is busy being just an old, no-count sinner.

         Matt19:19 says to love your neighbor as you love yourself, not loathe your neighbor as you loathe yourself.

         Objective honesty is the truth according to God; Subjective honesty is the truth according to me. When our subjective truth is so negative, looming and large, as it apparently is in many, it diminishes the objective truth, so much so that it can be difficult to grasp what God says about us. i figure we can either be mind changers or simply be the ones with changing minds. Who are you anyway? And even more important… to whom do you belong… or who’s your daddy?

         i was raised in the southeastern United States… the Bible Belt. After i met the Lord in 1973, for more years than i can count, i was constantly, constantly, constantly told who i was not, what i did not, all that i could not, and everything i would not…i can’t remember but a scant handful of times in the first 30 years of my walk with the Lord that i ever heard anyone tell me how the Lord sees me, other than to say, “He loves you”, then quickly adding not to get too proud about it, lest you prove Prov16:18 true… you know… that part about pride going before a fall… then adding “And brother you’re pretty close so you better watch out!” My world was filled with watch out, be careful, and don’t.

         How long can we live in the subjective truth, the truth according to ourselves, while striving to rise above the constant pointing out that we are sinners? There is an incredible conflict in us which says i’m just an old sinner man and can never rise above my wrongness of character, and the other which is the perspective of God Himself who says we are beautiful and loveable. Maybe, when God says we are made righteous by the blood of Jesus, it’s just too good for most of us to bare… . because i feel badly about myself doesn’t change the fact that Jesus, by His blood on Calvary’s Hill, made those who believe on His name righteous. Just because it seems too good for me to bear, doesn’t make it not true. Romans 8:1, “Therefore, now, there is not even one bit of condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit, that of the life in Christ Jesus, freed you once for all from the law of the sinful nature and of death.” There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

         Yes, we all fall short of the glory of God, great day, haven’t we constantly, day and night, been reminded of just how “no good” we are? What do we do then with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ? Is it enough? If we’re going to be under the law, of which no man is justified, made free or whole, then all we’ve got left is condemnation. If Jesus satisfied all the law, i must ask the question, Who’s side are you on? If we have tasted the grace of God and gone back to doing the law, the endurance and surrender of Christ is made of no effect and there is no other sacrifice to be made. We are free, by the blood of Jesus and no going back to Egypt allowed, if you catch my drift. We are either in the law camp of condemnation or the grace camp of Jesus.

         Did God speak to you…by His spoken word, through the church, or by His written word? Either way, i believe He certainly has spoken to you, one way or another… therefore, three questions really need to be answered. 1. You need to know, did God, indeed, speak to you? 2. What EXACTLY did He say? And 3. What are you going to do about it?

         i’d like to unfold those three important questions a little bit. There are people who don’t believe God speaks to anyone anymore, which if you take scripture seriously, that is silly. i figure He has a mouth, we have ears, why wouldn’t He speak to His kids? Maybe it’s more that many people think it’s too scary, or maybe they believe they are too low, insignificant, or sinful for God to speak to them… i find it peculiar that it’s not them who can’t hear, but God who doesn’t speak.

         So let’s suppose the Lord DOES speak to us… c’mon, play along… suppose He did. In that case, we’d have to follow His path of possibilities. If all things are possible with our God, as it says in Mark 10:27, then isn’t it possible He has spoken to you? AND… if He was speaking, it seems to logically follow, you’d probably want to better understand exactly what He was saying… right?… because you don’t want to misunderstand, add anything to His words or leave anything out. If He said to clean up your room, you wouldn’t want to turn it into cleaning everyone’s room all the way down the street, when He only asked you to clean up your own room. From there, we must pursue the Lord to know how to take action. He doesn’t talk to us just to hear Himself speak…it is for our benefit. It may take time to understand what to do, so be patient. One time, it took 9 years to conclude what was initially spoken to me by the Lord in a dream… as another example, it was a long time before Abraham and Sara saw the word of the Lord come to pass concerning Isaac.

         i believe a large part of the body of Christ is in the middle of an identity crisis. Our Savior is speaking to us, and one of the primary subjects He is speaking to us about is “Who are you anyway?” We’ve established that the Lord is indeed speaking to us… If you don’t believe it, read your Bible…God’s voice is loud and clear. What else does the Lord say about each of us other than our selective reading which only points out our short fallings?

         Years ago i saw a woman with a Bible in which she had taken a Sharpie Pen and blacked out all the scriptures she didn’t like… she had literally created a redacted Bible. i asked her why she had done that and she replied that some were too good to be true, and others were too cruel to be true and she just wanted to read the moderate parts because she was a very moderate person. Similarly, we can’t read a redacted Bible, only picking out the scriptures that point to our badness, and all our sins… we must read the rest of what God says about us… and those scriptures that seem too good to be true, if we are going to walk in sound doctrine, we must DO something with those verses and no longer continue to ignore them. The Lord HAS spoken to us, we have a record, and at the very least it’s good enough to understand what He’s saying, so now… what will we do with the entire counsel of God? Ummm… tough question there, huh?

         When we are constantly bombarded by information concerning what sinners we are, we can only hear just so many calamitous stories before they set a bias in our minds.  

         Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

         The word “workmanship” is originally a Greek word, “poiema”… it is where we get our English word for “poem”. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we are God’s poetry, and if we are His poetry, it just doesn’t seem right for us to call bad what God has called good. If we, who belong to Christ are His poem, His righteous rhyme, and joy, who do we think we are to re-decide what God has declared?

         You, yes you are God’s poetry. He knows all your secrets, all the things you may not want anyone to ever know, yet He still loves you and would still like very much to have a never-ending conversation with you. Yes, i realize that if you were God, you maybe wouldn’t want to talk to someone like yourself, but you aren’t God, He is, and He has chosen to talk to you, that is if you have time. If you don’t have time now, believe me, eventually, you will have time and the Lord will be ready.

         For years, i was under the impression that the Lord was just barely able to contain Himself toward my smaller sins, though numerous and proliferate, but He wasn’t so quick to forgive concerning the larger ones. The implication was that if i didn’t get my act together, God would leave me for reprobate in the desert, so to speak, and there wouldn’t quite be enough of the Savior’s blood which could wash me clean from sin. That is NOT what the Lord says. We must do something with Psalm 103:11-12, “For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, He has removed our transgressions far from us.” It doesn’t say, as far as east is from west until it suits Him to go get them back to use as leverage against us, neither can we go fishing for them to bring them back to make ourselves pay over and over, being filled with regret. That is the way the devil thinks, NOT the way God thinks. Your sins have been thrown into the sea of forgetfulness…but just to be clear though… the phrase sea of forgetfulness is not actually in Scripture. When people mention the “sea of forgetfulness,” they are usually referring to several passages that talk about God’s forgiveness, and how when we are justified in Christ, God forgets our sins so completely that they might as well be buried at the bottom of an ocean. 

          The main passage that contains the idea of a sea of forgetfulness is Micah 7:19, “He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

         Isaiah 1:18, says, “God will make our scarlet sins as white as wool.” A sea of forgetfulness represents a place where our sins are sent so very far away from us, that they can no longer affect us.

         In light of that, the Lord sees you as a son, daughter, beloved, and friend. We’ve got to get the vision… out of our heads that the Lord is some tooth-gritting, raging galactic hurricane that can’t wait to burn desperate sinners, those monsters of iniquity to the ground. THAT is NOT God’s heart. Sure, He is holy and righteous, unwavering in excellence above all the earth, but the problem isn’t the way He sees us, it’s in how we see ourselves. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” A man recently said that Jesus used death to defeat death and became sin for us. He got what He did not deserve, death on a cross, that we would get what we do not deserve, righteousness. If God says, by His son we are righteous, just because we are uncomfortable with that, doesn’t make it any less true.

         C’mon church, let’s get a hold of this and see ourselves as the Lord sees us. 2 Cor 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” What part of all doesn’t mean all? All means all, not mostly, pretty much, or for the most part, and God is not kidding around. If we’re going to be balanced believers, walking in sound doctrine, then we must take ALL scripture into account, and if we’re going to do that, then we can’t continue to see ourselves as just an old sinner, barely scraping by into Heaven with the faint aroma of sulfur and brimstone on us because we so narrowly missed hell. Hebrews 7:25, “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” To barely get into Heaven means all powerful God very nearly couldn’t save us. Is there any part of you that His blood does not cover? If not, that is to say, the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, was insufficient. He could save others, but couldn’t quite save you. Really? C’mon, really?

         That’s absurd. What is it your eyes see that you think God’s eyes do not? Maybe you feel you’ve somehow walked far from the Lord and the world has inserted itself into your thinking… nevertheless, the Lord has not stopped calling after you,

“Come home!” Maybe you’re afraid God will be mad at you. In Is54:9, the Lord says He will no longer be angry with us. i can assure you, having wandered away myself, the true heart of God says, “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance”, Luke 15:7.

         Maybe you feel surely you are lost for good, but i can guarantee you, God knows exactly where you are, and you have not escaped His attention… you’re not just some old no-count sinner… don’t call foul what God has declared sanctified… the Father knows His children and calls them by name…and He calls you by name. The Lord is confident in His ability to love you back from the edge of destruction and has made a way for you to find your way home and be welcomed with open arms.

         i read somewhere that your worth and value are not determined by the popular clique group that rejects you! Ultimately, not what YOU think, but what does God think of you… THAT’S where the buck stops… with God. If we’re going to be in a club, all we have to do is believe we are all right and everyone else is wrong. But to be a Christian, we have to believe we are all wrong, and there is only One who is right. If He says you are more than a conqueror, then take Him at His word and believe it. What…have you got… to lose? To say anything is “just” this or “just” that… is a subtle way of belittling, as a result, in the mind of many believers, not only are they sinners, but out of their mouths comes a further belittling of themselves by being “just old sinners”. Start speaking life to yourself in the mirror every day.

         Acts 10:15 has a powerful statement we should apply to ourselves… “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” The word “common”, in this case, means profane. From God’s perspective, if we are His poetry, His beloved, who are we to re-decide His decision, calling ourselves profane? He says we are lovely, we say we are just ugly sinners. God says we are beloved, we say we are just sinners, barely liked, much less loved. God says we are righteous in Christ, we say we are sinners and don’t deserve anything good.

         You can snuff out all the flaming missiles from hell with your shield of faith, and you, yes you are a child of God, born of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God which lives and abides forever. Amen. And that’s just a start.

         Because for so many years i went through an identity crisis, over the years i’ve compiled a list of who God says i am. i hope you’ll adopt these for yourself as i have.

         You, yes you can do all things through Jesus Christ, you are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power. Did you know you are alive in Christ, free from the law of sin and death? You totally are! You are far from oppression and fear is not part of your makeup. 1 John 5:18 says you are born of God and evil does not touch you… You are made of Holy Ghost teflon and the curses of darkness do not stick to you. Prov 26:2 is the truth, a curse does not stick without a cause, and Jesus has made it so there is no cause for curses to cling to you. Eph1:4 says you are holy and without blame before the Lord in love. We can not curse what God has blessed, just ask Balaam… read his story in Numbers 22. If Balaam couldn’t curse what God had blessed, then we need a different story in our mouths about ourselves than being “just a sinner”.

         You have the mind of Christ, and the peace of God in you passes all understanding… God said so, therefore it is true. 1 John 4:4 says you have the Greater One living in you… confess every day to yourself, if necessary, that greater is He Who is in me than he who is in the world. Tell yourself that as often as necessary until you get it down…in… your… head!

         You really really do have the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and, yes, actually actually, the eyes of your understanding have been opened.

         You are a new creation in Christ, new, all new, never been another you like you are now. You are alive in Christ, fully alive, not just barely getting by, and the light of the gospel shines in your mind and heart. You are blessed in your actions and are a doer of the Word of God. Not only are you more than a conqueror, but according to 2 Cor 5:21, you ARE the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. You are either righteous or you’re not… if you’re only mostly righteous then you’re not righteous… according to the Lord, if you believe in Jesus Christ, God calls you righteous… that may seem too good to be true, but it is true because the Lord said so.

         Who are you anyway? Just an old sinner, sludging along like some desperate bunker dweller, or are you who God says you are, an overcomer by the Blood of the Lamb, and an ambassador for Christ? 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellency’s of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

         You are beautiful in the eyes of your Heavenly Father, beautiful and beloved as Jesus is beautiful and beloved. You are blood brother to the Son of God, not some no-count sinner. Lift up your chin church, stand up straight and put one foot in front of another, any day can be your new day to begin walking in your calling.

         Drive carefully this week, think about what you spend your time thinking about. Be consistent and repeatable, we are almost home. Amen, and amen!

Ugh! Mammon! What a word… the more i say it the more the word feels like something very unpleasant in my mouth. The way it is used in scripture speaks of more than just money, which is what most of us have been taught… it is more than just money, it is a heart posture, a soul focus and money is more a result than a cause.

A few years ago the Lord began speaking to me of mammon, what it means, how it impacts things, and why, if Christians are so taken with the Lord, can we get so entangled with this ugly… thing… mammon… it is a real golden calf of sorts. Getting in bed with mammon eventually makes us someone of constant sorrows, afterall, without Jesus, there is no real happiness in the end. And yes, i realize “happy” is a very subjective word, but, God is happy, so i believe His desire is for us to be joyful and happy also.

Mammon elevates us in the moment, it spikes and then trails off in a negative direction… it starts high and then the thrill deteriorates until the next high… like drug use… we spend so much time trying to get back that initial spike of exhilaration, as a result, little by little we, pursue our devotion to stuff, and things, or for some maybe, the possibilities of fame and power, but it never quite becomes as satisfying and delicious as the first time we encountered “mammon”.

In the days of old, if a man was caught being disobedient to a cruel lord of the land, sometimes, the master would have a dead body tied to the living man, and through contagion, which is the communication of disease by direct or indirect contact of dead things with living things, the man would eventually die a terrible death. If we hold “mammon” to ourselves, it will eat a hole in our pocket, and upon laying against us… all the terrible soul-sicknesses will begin to invade us, inserting themselves into our thinking, making us become dull-eared, dim-eyed, and thick-skinned toward the Lord. It won’t be long until we are “distant” from God, and we’ll wonder how we got so far from home… never meaning to have become so removed, yet there we are. Mammon is sneaky and insidious, and hell knows mankind can easily get sucked into an addiction to it.

This evening’s topic is “mammon”, absorbing and grave, personified and opposed to God.

Mammon! It even sounds like something i want no part of…The Lord calls it a way of death. As previously mentioned, it is absorbing, grave, insidious, personified, and opposed to God. Cunning and deceitful, it looks good at first and reassures us all things are well as we are slowly swallowed alive down the vortex of the never-ending gullet of a world without God. Like a child playing with a very dangerous toy, the Lord says to us, specifically and plainly, “Don’t touch that! Mammon and all it represents is bad for you and everyone in the sphere of your influence. Put it down and don’t handle it!” Mammon can easily be represented by the character Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, when coveting the one ring, calling it, “My precious!!”

Early on, believers in Christ began to use the word “mammon” in a way that expressed contempt and disapproval… it also was used in reference to gluttony, excessive materialism, greed, and unjust worldly gain. Amongst mammon’s subset of qualities is covetousness, which says “i want what i have and what you have too.” Covetousness is idolatry because mammon is idolatry at its core.

Colossians 3:5, “And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God.”

Those words, “doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy,” is the foundational attitude representing the idea of mammon.

Go ahead… say the word to yourself a few times… feel the way your mouth makes the letters… the word has a stop in the middle meaning you’ve got to stop saying one thing to start saying something else. To me, it’s just ugly to say out loud. More importantly, watch the vision in your head when you say the word… slowly, several more times… i don’t know about you, but i see dark clouds, encroaching dire gravity, weights not wings, which sing us a lullaby to doze us off while regret grows gently around our feet, binding up our courage and growing roots through the foundations of our confidence… it is like a dark, circumvoluted path that is riveting to our soul… mammon finds life in us like a seed planted in a rock wall… when it grows, roots break down our barriers and eventually tumble our fortress defenses.

The use of the word isn’t so much about what you’ve got, but more what you trust in… the word comes with a leaning toward vices that spring from idolatry and are peculiar to its practices… another word that comes to mind is avarice… mammon breeds covetousness and avarice. Hear this: friends, these are the days of the golden calf, something to worship other than the Lord… glittering, shiny, just… dazzling, and many of us get so lost in the dazzle… money dazzle, eye candy dazzle, everything, even architecture is just dazzling and hypnotic.

Col 3:5, as translated by Kenneth Weust, a noted Christian New Testament Greek scholar of the mid-Twentieth century reads, “By a once-and-for-all act, and at once, put to death your members which are upon the earth: fornication, impurity, depraved passion, wicked craving, and avarice which is of such a nature as to be idolatry;”

There should be an incredibly poisonous snake named avarice which, when bitten, we die an unhalting, slow, agonizing death by which only the blood of Jesus can arrest its continual march to stop our hearts.

The root word for mammon comes from a Hebrew word which means “your treasure, what you lay up or store up.” It’s the same root word for what Isaiah 33:6 calls “treasure”. This is important to understand: A literal translation of the word “treasure” means the head and heart are connected by the things we pursue… i’ll say it again, treasure means the head and heart are connected by the things we pursue.

We all realize there is nothing wrong with “treasure”, but when our treasure becomes our god, now we have problems. The obsession with greed and treasure was so great, many early believers held mammon to be personified as a demon. It was seen as just that powerful.

When we are “near” God, there is no room for the subtle and corrupt things of the world to get a grip in us to grow, but when we are “far” from the Lord, the world inserts itself into our thinking through the cracks in our character, like a snake in the grass, it just slips along until it starts influencing all our thinking. Mammon is about who or what you have confidence in, and in the case of Luke 16:13, Jesus counsels us to either be on the left or be on the right, but we can’t be in both places.

In a believer, mammon breeds chaos. The word Babylon is first used in 1 Kings 17:24, literally meaning confusion and chaos. People who try to do both grace and law, with one foot in the New Testament and one foot in the old, have a heart of Babylon, or confusion… we can’t do the law and grace at the same time. 1Cor15:56 says the strength of sin is the law, and if we have tasted the grace of God which came by Jesus Christ, then according to Gal5:4, we have gone backward and lost our hold on grace. i think Babylon and mammon live on the same street and are close neighbors.

Luke 16:13, “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Serving the Lord requires the surrender of our worldly ways, humility to get low, and the relinquishing of our past lives for a better one which He will lead us into. This world we live in beckons us to live in such a way, our attitude is: ‘I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” So, don’t worry about anything, you’ll be dead soon, so what does it matter? The Lord says in Prov 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” God doesn’t ask for our heart so He can prevent us from having good things, but so He can position us to actually have good things which cause us to live, not die.

Jeremiah 24:7, “Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.”

Love says, “Give me your heart.” Mammon says, “NO! Give it to me!”

In Jeremiah 24:7 is a word that is the 12th most used verb in the O.T… it’s the word “return”… and better than any other verb, it combines in itself the two requisites of repentance: to turn from evil and to turn toward the good, and that is Godly good, not just good as the world understands. The Lord beckons to us to give Him our heart, yet the world we live in croons to us to join in its dark, godless state and leave the Lord out of everything we do.

If mammon and avarice were a large, corporate service provider, i think their advertisements and sales pitch would sound like this:

“We at Mammon and Company thrive on facilitating a belief system which serves people’s needs… right away. Most have a mortgage, a family, and, according to them, an extremely demanding job. People DON’T want a religion that complicates their lives with unreasonable ethical and moral demands. Mammon and Company has done the research… we find that God requires a huge amount of commitment concerning things like “single-deity” clauses, compulsory goodness, and a never-ending litany of over-spiritualized, mystifying mumbo-jumbo. It’s no wonder people are switching over to Mammon and Company. We know we aren’t the biggest player in the spiritual race, but our ability to deliver on our promises is… well, unique, and our moral flexibility is absolutely unmatchable. Why? Because you deserve to enjoy life – guilt-free.”

That was a parody, but can you hear the insidious, near reasonableness of the creative advertisement? … that is if you don’t think about it, letting the world appeal to your needs, pointing out how you don’t have what you want, and that they can fulfill all your needs, just give mammon your heart.

Love says, “Give me your heart,” mammon greedily says, “No! Give it to me!”

Love says, “Be content with what you’ve got.” Mammon says, “Get everything you can by hook or crook.”

Where is your treasure? Jesus said in Luke 12:34, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Friends, let us cease our efforts to gain prominence, positions, titles, possessions, manufactured personas, and a greedy grabbing for the supernatural. It is the Lord’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom, stop being afraid, it is His choice to give it to us. Make a provision from your wealth and give to the poor; provide for yourselves money-bags which don’t deteriorate with use, a treasure which is unfailing, in the heavens, where a thief can’t get in, not even a clothes-moth can destroy, for where your treasure is, there also is your heart.

Many years ago, i was having a hard time sorting out what spiritual direction to go. i wondered where my heart was on some very real issues. As i dropped the plows into the ground one day, over the roar of the tractor i plainly heard the Lord say, “If you can’t find your heart, go look for your treasure… your heart will be laying around there somewhere.” Again, where is your treasure?

Mammon says to grab all you can, get it for yourself, and only share if it means an increase in your profit margin. Most wealthy people aren’t wealthy because they are so generous you know… and that amazingly cool guy that is a Christian music producer…you know, the one who is so interested in your project? Remember, he probably doesn’t drive a fancy car and have a suite on Hollywood and Vine because he’s such a good guy.

1 Timothy 6:7-9, “for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.”

Love says, “Be honest and just.” Mammon says “Cheat your own father if you can gain by it.”

It’s always about what you can get, even if you have to step on the neck of the person in front of you.

Love says in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honest, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Mammon says to not worry if it is true, who cares if there’s any honesty as long as you’ve got your legal paperwork done, no one really wants justice, purity isn’t relative today; it says life is most beautiful when you’ve got yours and theirs too, always commend yourself first. Mammon says that having what you want when you want is true excellence, and always remember, you and only you are worthy of all praise, you are your own beginning and end… constantly think of these things.

God and mammon are completely opposed. Love says, “Be giving.” Mammon says, “Hold tight to what you’ve got!” Love says open your hand, releasing the provision God has provided to those around you. Mammon says let others fend for themselves. They’ll get what they deserve, and it serves them right.

The Lord says in Proverbs 25:21, “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,”

Mammon says if your enemy is hungry, too bad, this is my food and water and you don’t get any… well, unless you want to work a deal… what have you got in mind?

Jesus said in Luke 6:30, “Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.” Mammon says take from the one who begs, and from the one who steals, prosecute them till they drop and take all their stuff.

In the “meaning of things”, the dictionary doesn’t give significance to your words, nor is your content and context derived from some approving agencies’ board members, sitting in their high places, vowing and disavowing potential ministers and ministries. In the eyes of the Lord, we are not defined by our stuff, but by Christ who lives in our hearts. If our hands are influenced by mammon, we will have shut up riches and closed hands, we will become narrow-eyed, tight-lipped, and our mind will become darkened and dull… thick-skinned toward the Lord.

In 2001 i was at church one Sunday and as i walked out that afternoon, i had an open vision. In front of my face, as plain as day i say in full technicolor, a man’s hand… it was open, palm up, and had a nail hole at the heel of the hand. The open vision was only for a couple seconds, and honestly, for a moment, i wasn’t sure what had just happened and wondered if i had actually seen what i thought i had seen. When the vision happened, it was like a light blue wind pushed through my person and rocked me backward a little, but yet i had no understanding nor application for the vision. Only in the last 2 years, have i begun to understand what i saw. The Lord has opened His hand to whomsoever will receive from Him.

Matthew 10:8, “… Freely you have received, freely give…” and Acts 20:35, “…. the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

i believe somehow, we typically find ourselves somewhere in the middle between Love and mammon. On one hand, we have a heart to give, and on the other hand, we would really like to have something for ourselves. We say titles and validation don’t matter, but secretly, more than a few wish for those things. Friends, we need to balance the equation, so to speak.

Within us, we have conflicts on many levels that are being allowed to continue unchallenged. A question for us all: How has the love of “stuff” and an idolatrous dedication to possessing whatever we can invade our thinking and being? Think about it.

Love says, “Be anxious for nothing.” Mammon says, “Be careful for everything!”

Luke 12:22-23, “And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.” But mammon says to watch every possession like a hawk, be greedy with everything.

The Lord denounces the blind watchmen in Isaiah 56:11, “Yes, they are greedy dogs which never have enough. And they are shepherds Who cannot understand; They all look to their own way, Every one for his own gain, From his own territory.”

Do you see it? Driven by the insidious, cunning, deceitful way of death called mammon, those watchmen found themselves in opposition to God. We either have our feet on God’s side, or on mammon’s side, but we cannot straddle the divide with one foot on each side… it tears us apart, and we end up in chaos and confusion.

The contrast of Love vs. Mammon, was something i found, in Matthew Henry’s Commentary. i was so impacted by, what has been called, the simplicity, strength, and pregnancies of the expressions in his short piece on God and mammon, i thought it valuable to bring it up at this juncture.

Love says, “Be careful for nothing.” Mammon says, “Be careful for everything!”, Love says, “Be giving.” Mammon says, “Hold tight to what you’ve got!”, Love says, “Be content with what you’ve got.” Mammon says, “Get everything you can by fair or foul.”, Love says, “Be honest and just.” Mammon says “Cheat your own father if you can gain by it.”, Love says, “Give me your heart.” Mammon says, “NO! Give it to me!”. There is a lot to think about there.

The Lord calls each of us to be anxious for nothing, to be giving and content with what we’ve got, to be honest, to love the truth and justice, and above all give the Lord our heart. We are bid to consider carefully… to choose this day whom you will serve. The ball is in your court… how do you plead?

Be strong and courageous, pray for your neighbor, be a cheerful resource of hope and strength for those who are in short supply, and i’ll talk to you later. Amen.

On a side note, it seems so much of our time is spent on things of lesser importance, sort of like the anxiety about sanctuary carpet color, knowing the 25 little-known Harry Potter facts, or maybe doing a study on the average length of lampshades in America. i must admit i’m pretty surprised and fascinated by the things people seem to think is so important. Like it’s more important to take an online quiz to find out what kind of potato you would be, if you were a potato, than it is to pick up the phone and have a short conversation with someone who needs to hear an encouraging voice today. Things of lesser importance seem to have completely distracted our entire nation…. another example – many seem to be overly concerned about the number of likes they get on Facebook, overly concerned if someone is texting them or not, whether or not they are wearing an acceptable style of clothing, being pre-occupied over if so-and-so saw me would they like my hair, etc, etc till the stomach turns.

We’d all do better by learning to ask ourselves –“what is critically significant in life”- and to recognize the things of lesser importance we are caught up in which cause us to miss out on what is truly important. It seems like it’s easier to watch a silly reality show than it is to spend a little time reading the Bible. i suppose our preferences are a pretty strong indicator concerning our relationship with God, wouldn’t you say?

Over time, the Lord has given me some little, hard-won wisdoms, and this evening i’d like to cover a few of what i’ve gathered.

1. The first little wisdoms on my list of “notes to myself” is the idea that “God comes TO us before He goes THROUGH us.”

To me that means we must become possessors and not simply professors – we must actually possess Christ, not just proclaim or maintain that He lives within our hearts while remaining clueless as to who He is and what He means when He says what He says. It also means we can know all about Hebrew and Greek and the Bible, yet rarely if ever do we connect with God. One of the saddest things i’ve ever seen is a man graduating seminary with a master of divinity, but he’s more lost today than he was when he started. Lately, i’ve been using a phrase to describe the response of many believers to deeper discussions of our faith…. that phrase is “white noise”. You may ask… maybe…what is white noise?

White noise is like tuning your radio to a place where there’s no station and nothing but the hiss of the radio…. no signal…. no music…. no nothing, just the sound of soft, consistent static. It can also mean, “random talk without meaningful content”. When we possess Christ, within ourselves we have a response. When we merely profess Christ and come to times of necessary response, we either give no response, or we only offer cheap, shallow talk with no meaningful content. i consider it a great disappointment when other believers have the opportunity to enter into a deeper conversation about God, but instead of being inquisitive, asking questions, and searching out answers, they bow up in pride, act all huffy, as if someone told them they were stupid, and either storm off, or just stare at you in silence.

1 Peter 3:15-16, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; 16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.”

He comes TO us before He goes thru us so our answers aren’t merely academic, but truly Spirit-driven.

2. Another little wisdom is that “we seem to often confuse character with accomplishment”.

True, our conduct influences our character, and our character most definitely influences our conduct, but so often…. it seems…i find myself believing that if i could just do such-n-such, then i must be a good person, or, i might say to myself that i do good therefore i should get good. You know, even the worst people can do good things, and just because we do good things from time to time doesn’t mean we are people of Godly character. God’s idea of good works, isn’t about the good thing that was done but about the righteous heart behind the works. Even the worst sinners can do good things, but only the righteous are considered to have good works.

Matt 7:11 says that even those with a corrupt conscience know how to give good things to their children. In Christ alone is my character built, not just in doing some good things. i say it is always the right time to do the right thing….believe me, doing the right thing, even when it’s to our own hurt, takes Godly character. Testify. Let us reveal to the world our Godly character and not stop short of that unveiling by only declaring to them our accomplishments.

3. The next little wisdom is about forgiveness, which seems to be a repetitive and difficult lesson for many of us. “Forgiveness is not so much about the other person but about us as individuals.”

For as long as we don’t forgive, we stay chained to the other person, or persons, in the offense of the circumstances. Forgiveness restores the standard and good boundaries maintain that same standard of righteousness.

In 2 Timothy4, we read about how Paul, who was publicly confronted by Alexander the coppersmith, was called upon to give his self-defense at a preliminary trial. But when he stood to testify, no one stood with him as a friend. No-show friends seem pretty common these days, which means we must resolve to follow Christ, regardless of who clicks like on our Facebook page, or gives us verbal cudo’s when we need propping up. Then Paul says, “May it not be put to their account.” Even though all his friends were a no-show, he asked the Lord to not lay it to their charge. So what standard was restored by his forgiveness, even though scripture is silent as to anyone even asking for forgiveness?

i believe it was the standard of mercy and grace. His feelings were hurt by the no-show friends, but he chose to exercise grace and prayed that the Lord would not count it against them. Friends, there will be times in your life when support doesn’t show up – it’s not IF it will happen, it’s when it happens…. in light of that, how will you react? i like to think Paul knew they didn’t show up because they were afraid, and by his employing mercy and grace… he let it go. When friends don’t do what they say, let’s have grace for them and allow their offense to slide off our backs, knowing that God is faithful to address their issues in His time. Consider….the Lord was and is merciful and exercises grace toward us when we are unresponsive towards Him. God is generous, let us be generous also.

4. Here’s a little wisdom: “Silence can speak volumes if we’re willing to listen.”

Now i’ll be the first to admit, silence from any corner can be trying, but rather than object loudly to the silence, how about we listen to hear what’s underneath? Like “white noise”… rather than only hearing the non-response…. let’s go the extra mile to listen for what’s underneath it…and you KNOW there is a lot going on beneath the surface of silence.

Luke 14:3-4, “And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” 4 But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go.” What was underneath their silence?

Ok, now this is just what i think, but i believe they were astounded by the position in which Jesus had placed them, and being unable to discover some means of saving face they simply remained silent, at which point Jesus healed the man, and since the man was evidently not one of the invited guests to dinner, the Lord sent him on his way. i believe their silence was about saving face. i believe their silence was about unbelief, and not knowing how to respond concerning was Jesus really who He said He was. It was about the fact that they couldn’t say it was not lawful, for the law didn’t forbid it. If it had, they surely would have spoken up. Jesus presented the opportunity for protest … and right in front of them was the perfect time to make objections if they had any… right now was the time to object and not after the man was healed. But yet, they were silent. Maybe it wasn’t so much that they objected to someone being healed, but more WHO was doing the healing.

Oftentimes, if we could hear what is in the silence of those around us, quite possibly we would find good reason to exercise great grace. Silence speaks loudly if we are willing to listen. Maybe fear holds people silent more often than we think; maybe most people really don’t know what to say – so they say nothing. We really, really need to learn to listen beyond just the words. i think maybe we’ve been taught to speak and to speak well, but it is rare to meet someone who has been taught to listen.

i’d like to add a twist to the “little wisdom” of “silence speaks loudly if we’re willing to listen”, and that is the side note that silence is not ALWAYS golden. For example, when someone is mad at us and they may give us the silent treatment. This kind of silence, however, usually means they are playing a cruel game of “who can care less, the most, the longest”. And to add further complication to the idea that silence speaks volumes if we’re willing to listen, what do we do with the Silence Of God? Oooo! Profound question there. i have a small amount of wisdom on that…..i’m afraid it’s not much, but here it is: When God is silent, let us wait patiently knowing He will indeed answer, letting strength rise as we wait, learning to live well where we are until the Lord replies. And know this, He is faithful… He WILL reply.

5. “Anytime we “turn on the light of truth, somebody is sure to cry”.

Or, i suppose that could be restated as “You can rest assured that anytime we present the Good News of Jesus Christ, someone will find a reason to object.” Let’s not worry if someone is going to feel hurt when we are truthful about the gospel …..it is necessary that we testify. The gospel of Christ rocks people’s boats, it unbalances their world perspective, it shifts the earth plates in all their agendas, and unclutters chaotic thinking…. in light of that, someone is going to be disturbed and troubled. As preposterous as it sounds, we must realize that there are people who actually thrive in chaos, they Godlessly prosper in a perfect storm. God is not surprised, and when it happens, we need to keep our focus on presenting the gospel, and not be swept into silence because we are afraid of what others will think. i have often found myself being the generator of “white noise”, or non-response – just the noise of nothing but moving air, and oh gosh, haven’t i left a discussion only to repent later for my silence on behalf of the gospel? Truth be told, i was afraid of the potential confrontation and didn’t feel i had a good reply at the moment or maybe i was afraid the people in the discussion wouldn’t like me, which would mean they might not speak to me anymore. Either way, at the core of my non-response, i was afraid.

1 Peter 3:16, “Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.” The world often sees the Gospel as scrutinizing, and any time we turn on the light of Christ and the world feels scrutinized, somebody is gonna cry.

Psalm 30:5, “…The Lord’s favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.”

6. Here is wisdom we should all heed: “An oath is only as good as the person behind it”.

The moment someone says to me, “I swear it’s the truth,” immediately i have red flags of doubt go up. Chances are good that my red flags of doubt go up because so often in the past my experience has been when someone swears something is the truth, loud, long, and often, it has typically not been the truth. As a result, i tend to project into the future what i’ve learned from the past, meaning due to history i tend to doubt someone who makes an oath and swears up and down it’s true. “An oath is only as good as the person behind it” and once someone has proven themselves to be unreliable in keeping their word, i believe it is nearly, if not probably impossible to become expressly and exclusively trustworthy again. It’s like there never fades this little inkling, a little thin shadow of doubt. It’s as if once we violate trust, even if for years we prove ourselves to be of reliable and faithful character, there will often seem to be a little thing in the back of people’s minds that will niggle at them to not be so trusting.

Many people will swear by God….on someone’s grave, or even swear by some false god as to their truth and sincerity, and then they’ll say if they fail to keep their oath they will expect some kind of punishment should they either be lying or fail to live up to their pledge.

Friends, there is no such thing as “personal truth”. There is only one truth, Jesus. Also, i think this is wisdom….if you don’t have to swear and make an oath, then don’t.

Let’s be very careful with all our swearing and declaring, James 5:12 reads, “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes,” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into hypocrisy.”

And really… above that, the truth is… we should put our trust in no one BUT the Lord for He alone is sovereignly faithful. In fact, the Lord is so confident in His ability to do all that He says, we see God swearing by himself in Genesis 22:16, swearing by his holiness in Psalm 89:35. In Isaiah62:8 the Lord is seen swearing by his right hand (the right hand being the hand of prosperity), and swearing by his great name in Jeremiah 44:26…..all that in order that He might stress the absolute certainty and immutability of His performing that which He swore. The Lord is the most reliable person in the entire universe and if He promises anything, we can stake our lives on it; He does not fail. God is good for His promises and truly, He is as good as His oath.

Think about it.

Let wisdom sink down into your soul, and notice, it is subtle, and most of the time the wisdom the Lord gives us doesn’t first appear as earth-shattering, but as it unfolds in our lives, we see the face of God, His glory rising in our hearts……it is there to help us navigate life, sort of like …..it is wise to learn to make small talk….if we don’t learn the art of small talk, we’ll probably miss seeing the green shoots of grace which grow in people’s back yards.

And to that i’ll say, think about it….amen.