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You know, there are great advantages to living so close to Atlanta, Ga.

One is that it’s the home of Chick-Fil-A and Waffle House. ~ Top that.
Another is that Hartsfield airport is one of the major hubs of air travel.
Third, we’re close to the Atlanta gift mart. (Major plus when you’re in retail.)
And lastly, we have the opportunity to go to regular worship with the likes of Louie Giglio and Chris Tomlin. ….Awesome!

Two weeks ago, I mentioned having gone to Passion City Church for the first time. It’s Louie Giglio, from Northpoint Community Church, heading up a new church for the greater Atlanta area. And the last time we checked it out, it was a message on grace being the power of Christ in us. Very powerful.

Well, I was excited to get to attend again this week for a continued message on grace: “Grace: The One and Only”.

Louie said, that in response to his previous messages on grace, he’s usually confronted with four common concerns:

1. 
   It all sounds too easy.
2. 
   Isn’t grace just permission to keep sinning?
3. 
   Shouldn’t I be doing something??
4. 
   I tried. It didn’t work.

Last night was his effort to address these concerns.

First concern: “It all sounds too easy.”

Louie refers us to Philippians 2:5-8. “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

It may sound all too easy. But, it certainly wasn’t easy when he was crushed, broken and pierced, paying the price, all alone, for our transgressions.
And as for our part… it may be easier said than done. When’s the last time you tried to humble yourself to complete obedience and die to self?

Moving right along….

Second concern: “Isn’t grace just permission to keep sinning?”

You know, sometimes I just love how the human mind works. Always looking for loopholes. Dressed up in the appearance of justification. And I love how God calls us out on it. In this instance, through Paul, in his letter to the Romans.
Paul responds to those who may have had a somewhat distorted view of God’s grace, arguing that since grace would be more abundant where sin was greater, they should just go on sinning in order to experience more grace. …. You know, just to help God out and give Him all the more glory. (I love it.)

In Chapter 6 (verse 2), Paul says “May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?!” Louie says that the Greek equivalent to “May it never be” or “By no means” or the likes is our “ **** no!” (So, needless to say, Paul was rather emphatic on this point.)

Paul reiterates in 15-18: “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! (Yikes! Here it is again!) Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”

We are all enslaved to something. Either to Him or to our sinful earthly nature.

To this point, Louie reminds us that true grace develops a desire to be more like Christ. The key is freedom. If the desire is not there to become more holy (set apart for God), you have not yet experienced true grace. It’s not until you feel the weight of the sins that He bore for you, that you have entered the grace that He is offering you. True grace propels you toward obedience. True grace births a hunger for His holiness.

Third concern: “Shouldn’t I be doing something??”

To address this concern, Louie directs us to 1 Corinthians 15:9-10: “For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church. But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.”

This goes back to the whole Christ working through me message.

Louie states that “Grace fuels furious work” but quickly reminds us that it is “with a whole new motive.”
We begin to act purposefully in grace not SO THAT we (fill in the blank) but rather BECAUSE we (fill in the blank). For example, we live out our lives in a manner of grace BECAUSE we are children of God, not SO THAT we will be a child a God. And so on and so forth…

His grace is already extended. We don’t have to earn it. We never could, even if we tried. Which brings us to the last concern.

Fourth concern: “I tried. It didn’t work.”

This one kind of hits back on the previous message, too, of Christ at work through me. And the whole idea of rededication. But, this time Louie points us back to Philippians 2:1-4: “If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tenderness and mercies, make my joy complete, being likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem the other better than himself. Look not every man to his own things, but every man also to the things of others.”

In other words, Louie says “Don’t work FOR your salvation… work it OUT.” This begins with a humble spirit… with grace and with others.

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” (Phil. 2:13)

God works in us, to will and do (aka: the want-to and the know-how) accordingly. But, sometimes, Louie realizes, we even need a want-to to want to. And sometimes we don’t even want THAT want-to. But, he says “That’s alright. Even without a want-to, God’s grace is still there for us. Grace is about the next step, no matter where you are on the journey.”

God is extending His grace to you.
It’s up to you to believe it and receive it and see what it will do in your life.

~

All a Matter of Perspective

“Listen to this, you pleasure-loving kingdom, living at ease and feeling secure. You say, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other. I will never be a widow or lose my children…” (Isaiah 27:8)

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Today, I am disheartened. Frustrated. And quite honestly, embarrassed.
To live in a nation such as ours and see such a skewed perspective on the whole.

We can mourn the passing of iconic (unnamed) entertainers for months, and even the future retirements of other iconic (unnamed) celebrities… and yet not give the downtrodden a second thought.
And we indulge in the richest foods known to man… while there are countless brothers and sisters in the world who’d be thrilled just to have clean water to drink.

The other evening, I had the great opportunity to hear Shaun Groves. And I’m so glad I got to go. Not only a gifted musician and singer, such a great example of a man after God’s own heart. Performing his music (for free) all over the country, he now not only shares his musical talent, but also his heart for Compassion International.

In raising awareness for Compassion, he told the story of how he got to meet one of his sponsored families. I encourage you to read it straight from him.

But, the part that made the greatest impression on me and hit me straight in the gut, on behalf of our entire privileged nation was this:
He described visiting one home in particular, that would fit in most of our garages here. With one little bench to sit on, that the father had made and discarded trash as a roof over their heads. At night, the ladies got to sleep inside, their fellas out in the street. And with eyes aglow, the girl proudly asked “Do you like my home?”

Later, he described being led through town, past complete squalor and desitution when he noticed big tears in the girl’s eyes. And when he asked what was wrong, she said “Oh, nothing! I just love God SO much!”

It was then that Shaun had to ask himself. Who are the truly poor here? Us, living under the shelter of false security of wealth and privilege? Or them, trusting in the shelter of the Most High for their every need for mere survival?

Jesus said that when we do for the least of these, we do unto Him. How about this year for Christmas, we focus on the One whose birth it is all about and do unto the least of these, in His name.

It’s so easy, in our culture, to turn and look the other way. We’re blessed to have that choice. But, others don’t and they need our help.
Let’s not go down as just another self-indulgent Babylonian empire saying “I am self-sufficient and not accountable to anyone!” (Isaiah 47:10)

~

“No end in sight that I can see,
Today is blocked by the mirror in front of me.

A wreck, a death, tsunami tide,
It mildly stirs me, I must confide.
TV claims tens of thousands gone.
Oh well, let’s see what else is on.

Numb to the stunning sight
Of each new dawn,
Sinking fast in Babylon.” (Beth Moore)

~

Blue Like Jazz

Okay, so I’ve heard about this book for several years now, always hearing how awesome it is and after having bought it months ago, I finally set my mind to getting it read. And I’m SO glad I did.

I think every non-believer should read this book, as well as anyone who leads in the Christian community.

Donald Miller is not what most would consider your run-of-the-mill conventional Christian writer. He steps outside of the box. And brings you with him. And in doing so, he humbles himself, steps on your toes and brings you off your judgment seat as well – leaving it open for the only One worthy to hold such a place.

Miller is quick not to defend the term Christianity, as by now the term as lost all absolute definition. By this point, Miller says “Stop ten people on the street and ask them what they think of when they hear the word Christianity, and they will give you ten different answers.” He continues ”I would rather talk about Jesus and how I came to believe that Jesus exists and that he likes me.”

And it really can be just that simple. And should be.

Nobody knows for sure what Jesus wrote in the sand in John 8, but I’m pretty sure he wasn’t drawing a line in it.

~

And just so you know it’s also recommended for its entertainment qualities, I’ll just share the beginning of Chapter 11. I hope that in doing so I don’t ruin it for anyone who’s not already read the book and plans to, but considering the fact that this page makes me laugh out loud every time I read it, I think you’ll still enjoy it, too when you get to it.

“When I was in Sunday School as a kid, my teacher put a big poster on the wall that was shaped in a circle like a target. She had us write names of people we knew who weren’t Christians on little pieces of paper, and she pinned the names to the outer circle of the target. She said our goal, by the end of the year, was to move those names from the outer ring of the circle, which represented their distance from knowing Jesus, to the inner ring, which represented them having come into a relationship with Jesus. I thought the strategy was beautiful because it gave us a goal, a visual.

I didn’t know any people who weren’t Christians, but I was a child with a fertile imagination so I made up some names; Thad Thatcher was one and William Wonka was another. My teacher didn’t believe me which I took as an insult, but nonetheless, the class was excited the very next week when both Thad and William had become Christians in a dramatic conversion experience that included the dismantling of a large satanic cult and underground drug ring. There was also levitation involved.

Even though they didn’t exist, Thad and William were the only people to become Christians all year. Nobody else I knew became a Christian for a very long time, mostly because I didn’t tell anybody about Jesus except when I was drunk at a party, and that was only because so many of my reservations were down, and even then nobody understood me because I was either crying or slurring my words.”

~

Go get this book. You won’t be sorry.

Our Claimed Treasure

Great

Aunt Leona

Oh, wow. Where do you start, with such a remarkable lady?

You were given 96 years and lived life to the fullest, but I think we half-way expected you to live about 96 more.

You played a mean game of Rummy and taught me about ‘groovers’. You insisted on ‘cutting the stack’ and took no prisoners. But, we still had a good time playing.

You loved to tell stories, larger than life. Each time with that same hearty laugh like you’d never told it before.We heard the same ones time and again. But, they never got old and we’d laugh just the same.

You were golf’s biggest fan. You both watched it and played it. You didn’t pick up the game until you were 32, but you played ’til the end. (I wonder now, how the Pro’s will ever play without you.)

You’d send us our birthday cards, with money inside. Quarters for every year we would celebrate. It wasn’t a million, but it seemed like it to us.

You ran your own business for most of your life. A ‘beauty operator’ who knew all in town. You swore you’d write a memoir one day, of all that you heard from your chair, but I guess you never did. (Probably just as well.)

You never did marry. Proudly proclaimed yourself as an ‘unclaimed treasure’. But, you never gave up hope on me. You’d pray every day to St. Anthony (aka: ‘Tony’- Patron Saint of Lost and Found) on my behalf to find ‘the one’ for me.

Oh, Leona, you’re lotto tickets and Omaha steaks and 5 o’clock drinks and so much more… you’ll continue to be with us in so many ways.

But, why couldn’t it have just been about 96 more?

~
( http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=385323 )

~

* Grrr.... Player still not working.

Wanted to use "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" on this one. *

Christ in You

“Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon.” ~ John Piper

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The other night, I had the opportunity to check out Louie Giglio’s Passion City Church. Needless to say, it was awesome. I mean, anything that starts off with Chris Tomlin and Christy Nockels leading worship and ends with a church-wide prayer to send a sweet empassioned girl off to West Africa to return to the mission field after having just lost her mother suddenly… yeah. Awesome. In the truest sense of the word.

But, Louie was continuing a series on Grace ~ or as he puts it: “the power of God living in me”. He started us off in Colossians 3:5-10:

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”

Yikes. Talk about a tall order. Basically, just do everything that is against your earthly nature, and you’ll be fine. Yeah… okay. Sure. But, what happens after your feet hit the floor in the morning??

Louie pointed out that a lot of us get caught in the mindset of: “Christ died for me! The least I can do is not lust or slander or be angry or greedy, lie or use filthy language.” Next thing you know, you’ve broken about 3 or 4 of these and you haven’t even left the house yet!

That’s when we start rededicating, as Louie says. And then rededicating our rededication. And rededicating the rededication of our rededication. And so on and so forth. (Sound familiar? Maybe it’s just me….) Saying “I promise… this time… (will be different).” Only to have the same results and ending up back at square one… defeated and often self-condemned. All the while being very well-intended, but… well, I think we all know where the road of good intentions leads.

As Louie reminded us, it is impossible to live all of this out in the flesh… in our own strength, that is. We must let Christ live it out through us. He is not only our Savior or ‘payment’ but our “life” (Col. 3:4).

“God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27).

Paul continues, “To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me” (Col. 1:29).

It’s normal to struggle. Even with all of His energy. We’re still merely humans. But, if we allow Him to live in us, He will be able to do powerful works through us!

I can’t! But, He can!!

Step forward in faith. And see what He wants to do through you.

~

* The illustration of the storage bins tied in, too. But, I could never begin to illustrate that the way Louie did. So, I guess you had to be there. But, when he gets the series online, I’ll post it for you. *

~

(Oh. And, you must know that it is driving me crazy that I can't get my playlist to cooperate. But, if I were able to connect a song with this post, it would be "Everything" by Tim Hughes. Who knows... maybe I'll get it to work before too long.) :)

Grip of Fear

Last week, in our Esther study, Beth Moore spoke to something that just really spoke volumes to me.

She said that a friend of hers had requested prayer for her mother, who’d had breast cancer and thankfully come through it and now lives cancer-free. However, now she finds herself overcome with fear with the least littlest thing.

She followed that up in saying that she has heard this same testimony, over and over, from so many people who say “The thing about it is, while going through it, I felt the strength and power. But, after I came out of it, I got a stronghold of fear about ever going back into it.”

WOW. Now, I don’t know if this speaks to any of you, but it really wouldn’t surprise me if it didn’t, because I’m all but convinced that it was spoken just for me.

But, Beth then responded to this thought saying “God’s grace is given according to our NEED ~ not what we have made up out of our FEAR.
“We want God to give us strength for our vain imaginations, but He says ‘You’re making that up! I’m not going to give you strength in that! I want to set you FREE from fear! Not help you think up stuff!’ “

Ouch!! Talk about hitting home! This is where I’ve staked a tent and camped out for WAY too long now. ”Somewhere in the middle.” Knowing all that He’s done, and yet not fully trusting in all He’ll do.

~

Lord, please help me to loosen my grip on all the fears that hold me back from living the life You’d have me to live. Help me not to dwell on all the disappointments and hurts, but rather hold onto all that You’ve done in my life and all the times You’ve proven more than trustworthy, in those times when I’ve turned to You.

~

Mirage

(The following is an excerpt from Max Lucado’s “Come Thirsty”)

“Don’t make the mistake that the associates of Lawrence of Arabia made. He took them to Paris after World War I. They had never seen such sights. The Arc de Triomphe, Napoleon’s tomb, the Champs Élysées. But nothing impressed these men from the Arabian Desert more than the faucet in the bathtub of their hotel room. They turned it on and off, on and off, amazed that with a twist of the wrist they could have all the water they wanted.

When the time came to leave Paris and return to the east, Lawrence found them in the bathroom with wrenches, trying to disconnect the spout. ‘We need faucets,’ they explained. ‘If we have them, we will have all the water we want.’

They didn’t understand the role of the faucet. Spouts carry water, not produce it. Spigots are the tool, not the source. The valve might direct fluid, but generate it? No. We know this…

Or do we? Through what faucets has God poured his love into your life? A faithful church? A prayerful spouse? Time-tested traditions? A girlfriend in college or a grandma from childhood? God’s water passes through many faucets. His gift comes in many packages. The treasure, however, is not the plumbing or the box, not the container of the gift. No, the treasure is the Giver Himself.

… God describes Himself as ‘the fountain of living water’ (Jer. 2:13). Thank Him for the faucets, but don’t trust them to nourish you.”

~

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me [not to my prophets or people] and drink” (John 7:37).

~

Why is it that even as a self-professed follower of Christ, I find myself so quickly (and repeatedly) running to all my other ‘resources’ before finally tapping into THEE Resource? The One Who promises “a perpetual spring within (me)” (John 4:14)? Why, so often, is He my last resort? When all other sources run dry? When He’s done nothing other than prove Himself faithful and true to His Word every time I do come to Him thirsty?

Lord, ‘Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee’!

~