What is faith?

Faith in antagonism to common sense is fanaticism, and common sense in antagonism to faith is rationalism. The life of faith brings the two into a right relation. Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense; they stand in the relation of the natural and the spiritual; of impulse and inspiration. Nothing Jesus Christ ever said is common sense, it is revelation sense, and it reaches the shores where common sense fails. Faith must be tried before the reality of faith is actual. "We know that all things work together for good," then no matter what happens, the alchemy of God's providence transfigures the ideal faith into actual reality. Faith always works on the personal line, the whole purpose of God being to see that the ideal faith is made real in His children.

For every detail of the common-sense life, there is a revelation fact of God whereby we can prove in practical experience what we believe God to be. Faith is a tremendously active principle which always puts Jesus Christ first - Lord, Thou hast said so and so (e.g., Matthew 6:33), it looks mad, but I am going to venture on Thy word. To turn head faith into a personal possession is a fight always, not sometimes. God brings us into circumstances in order to educate our faith, because the nature of faith is to make its object real. Until we know Jesus, God is a mere abstraction, we can not have faith in Him; but immediately we hear Jesus say - "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father," we have something that is real, and faith is boundless. Faith is the whole man rightly related to God by the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. (OC)



A Blessing for you today

May the Lord keep you in the middle of His discipline, focused on His destiny and an object of His delight. May you always drive west in the morning and east in the evening.

The Insight of Obedience

1 John 5:2-5

The Insight of Obedience
Simple understanding of those verses: Love from Christ = the cross. Love for Christ = obedience. Obedience is not a decision, it is a result.

I have been married 32 years. I have a lot to learn about being a good husband but I have learned some of what does and doesn't work.

what works: I've already vacuumed, don't cook, let's stay a few extra days, you look great in that outfit......

what doesn't: I'm doing the best I can so you'll just have to be ok with the leftovers of what I have after I work and do other things I like.......
she deserves my best any time, every time, all the time.


Interestingly, these same principles apply to your and my relationship with Christ...............


what works: I love your Word and Love your law and I love obeying you; these things are not burdensome; they are a joy.

what doesn't: Lord, I'm doing the best I can so you'll just have to be ok with the leftovers of what I have after I work and do other things I like.......
He deserves your best any time, every time, all the time.


Instead, we offer this flawed reasoning: "since I can't be perfect, then whatever I do in my relationship with Christ must be acceptable."

The underlying rationale sounds like this: "I'll just do the best I can when I can and that will have to be ok because my life, my worries and my wishes really do take priority."

Then we struggle along never quite understanding why things don't work out when we're really trying and are secretly a little miffed at God for not jumping in and helping us.


His patience astonishes me!


Here is the way HE intended things to be (7 takeaways)

1. He is GOD

2. He chose you

3. He doesn't want you to serve Him, He wants you to KNOW him (Matt 6:33 and Phil 4:10).

4. Knowledge (relationship intimacy) begets obedience; sometimes we obey b/c we have to or are forced to or do so out of guilt. There is little reward in such obedience. The obedience that arises out of knowledge (relationship intimacy) is sustainable, transferrable and joyful!

5. Obedience begets understanding (Chambers quote The rule for understanding spiritually is not intellect, but obedience. If a man wants scientific knowledge, intellectual curiosity is his guide; if he want literary knowledge, then literary curiosity it his guide, but if he wants insight into Jesus Christ, he can only get that by obedience. (adapted from Chambers)

6. Obedient understanding demonstrates love to Him

7. Obedient understanding progressively transforms your life and the lives of those around you.


Conclusion: Listen to Phil 3:10

My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,

Is that your goal as well?

If so, where do you draw the line?

It is important b/c the future of your family and every person you interact with depends on it.)

Everyone in your world knows exactly how much you love God.

Is it enough?

The One Year Challenge

I was told that this is David Platt's one year challenge:

1. pray for the entire world
2. read through the entire Word
3. sacrifice your money for a specific purpose
4. spend your time in another context
5. commit your life to a multiplying community

Here's a personal version:

1. pray for everyone in my world
2. read through the entire Word
3. sacrifice my money for a specific purpose
4. spend my time in a "God assigned" context
5. commit my life to a multiplying spiritual community

What's your version?

On Mission with The Great Commission

AND THE LORD JESUS SAID, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

As the Church of Jesus Christ, we have the inexpressible joy of being ON MISSION WITH THE GREAT COMMISSION OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. He, like His Word, is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow and judging the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts and passionately inviting us to be ON MISSION with Him!

John Piper puts it this way: "God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshipers for Himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of His name among the nations. Therefore, let us bring our affections into line with His, and, for the sake of His name, let us renounce the quest for worldly comforts and join His global purpose."

To be ON MISSION WITH THE COMMISSION IS NOT ONLY OUR DELIGHT BUT OUR ABSOLUTE DIRECTIVE FROM THE ABSOLUTE DIRECTOR OF HISTORY AND HUMANITY. It is serious business and it’s time to be serious about it!

William Booth said, “Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters (and sons and daughters) not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.”

We have the Mission, We have the Commission, We have only left to ask “When’s it gonna happen?”
The God of the Universe is ON MISSION to redeem lost humanity. He has invited EACH OF US AND ALL OF US to partner with him!

It is HIS PLAN that we be part of THE PLAN. If we fail to plan, then we plan to fail. Evangelism and Discipleship and Church Planting are NEVER DONE except by intention!

To help encourage you, later this evening after Church, each of you will be interviewed personally by the Evangelism Linebacker. We’ve flown him in fresh from working with the National Institute for Student Ministries in Dallas and in case you haven’t heard of him, here’s a taste of what will happen when you talk to him:

If I thought that would really work for you and me, we would REALLY fly him in. What DOES work for you and me is when we walk closely, daily, authentically, transparently and passionately with the Lord Jesus Christ; and HIS PASSION fires our souls to be ON MISSION with HIM!

That Passion will show us a path from our Church into our world.

That path can take many forms. Sometimes it looks like this:
ClassCommunityCommission…

This means loving Jesus enough to rearrange our lives to prioritize the forming of intentional relationships that will result in people coming to Christ and our being a part of their discipling until they are fully formed, fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ!

Here’s how it happened in the life of a girl named Christa………(Fruitcake and Ice Cream…)

Here’s the deal. You and I WILL make a decision EVERY DAY of the rest of our lives………

Or like Bill Borden. He’s the man who wrote in the front of his Bible, “No Reserve, No Regrets, No Retreat”.

No Reserve: what or who in your life is holding you back from an absolute commitment to Christ?
No Regrets: what in your past is allowing to keep you from being totally abandoned to the Lord Jesus?
No Retreat: release the past, dedicate the present and say: “this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

The Church exists primarily for those not yet in her. The passion to Make Disciples is not something tacked onto our personalities which we may take or leave; it is ROOTED In the character of God. It must never be the province of a few enthusiasts or a specialty of those who happen to have a bent that way; it is the very essence of our Salvation! Let us no longer enjoy our Christianity within the safe sound of a ringing bell but instead turn this Church into a RESCUE MISSION located within a yard of Hell because I am NOT ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it IS the power of God unto salvation…………

The Cornerstone

What does mean that Jesus is the "Cornerstone"

The cornerstone of a building has to be level in several directions as well as sitting on a strong foundation itself. Jesus Christ is the Cornerstone of Christianity.

We all readily and quickly agree on this truth but might stumble a bit if asked, "how is He the Cornerstone of your life?"

Let's try to answer that in context of the old newspaper adage:

Who? John 14:6

What? John 3:16

When? 2 Cor 6:2, "...Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

Where? Dt 30:12-14, "It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it."

Why? "... no other name under heaven given among men by which
we must be saved."

and How? The "How" is easy to miss if you're not looking for it. It is found in verse 13, "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus."

"they had been with Jesus" means they had a relationship with Him that changed their lives.

Relationships don't work by formulas. I don't pull out a marriage book and pick out the appropriate phrases to speak to my wife each day.

In the same way an authentic relationship with Christ like these men had is dynamic, not static. It is a daily dose of Presence, Perceiving, Praying and Preeminence.

Presence
In order to be with my wife, I have to go where she is. Jesus Christ is found in the quiet place where the "still small voice" can be heard.

Perceiving
In order to hear what someone says, you have to listen to them Psalm 27:8 says, "... Your face, LORD, do I seek." You find the face of God in the Word of God.......

Praying
Ps 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." IOW, know the will of God, pray the will of God, see the will of God accomplished. Those types of prayers originate in the heart of God, come to us via the Holy Spirit. Then the prayers are are returned to heaven by the same Holy Spirit (Rom 8:26 says, "...the Spirit himself intercedes for us..." ) where they are presented to Jesus "who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us" (Rom 8:34) and His intercession returns those prayer to the heart of God! That kind of praying will change your life and will change our world!

Preeminence
Over time and with consistency, the practice of Presence, Perceiving, and Praying will give the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ greater and greater Preeminence in your life an you will become progressively transformed into a person of spiritual boldness about whom people are astonished and recognize that you have been with Jesus.

The Word of God and Christian history are full of men and women who resolved to walk in this way with the Lord Jesus Christ; to make Him their Chief Cornerstone. They were normal, average people who decided that nothing in their lives was more important than being with Jesus. Jesus uses people like that to change the world.

What about you?

10 Questions every man of God should ask his wife every year

Ask them and listen carefully to her answers. DO NOT DEFEND yourself. Write her answers down. Later type/sign/give to her as a commitment to honor/cherish her.


1) Is there anything I can do to cause you to feel more loved?


2) Is there anything I can do give you confidence and the desires of your heart?


3) Is there anything I can do to cause you to feel more secure?


4) Is there anything I can do to cause you know that I hear/fully understand your heart?


5) Is there anything I can do to cause you to have confidence in our future direction?


6) Is there any characteristic I need to strengthen or change?

7) Is there anything I can do to any characteristic you want me to help you develop?


8) What achievement in my life would bring you greatest joy?


9) What can I do to be more like Christ?


10) What mutual goal(s) would you like us to reach together?


11) Have I missed anything you'd like to talk about?