My Zimbio

Monday, March 19, 2012

Power of the Cross

Pastor Scott is doing a series about the cross leading up to Resurrection Sunday.  He is talking about the cross and the crucifixion.

During worship we sang a song called "Power of the Cross". In the song it has a simple phrase:  The power of the cross is in the blood of Christ.

Think about that for a minute.  The power of the cross is not the cross itself.  We put so much emphasis on the cross when the blood of Christ is where the power is held.  Without the blood of Christ the cross is nothing.  The blood of Christ is what washes us clean.

Think about it as we approach the Easter season.  The cross wasn't beautiful.  It wasn't this piece of gold we wear around our necks, in rings, or hang up with a purple robe.  It is where our savior was sacrificed and "through His blood we are healed."  It's by the power of His blood.  We can't lose that simple fact.

The power of the cross will forever be in the blood of Christ.

Nothing is missing.

Nothing is broken.

Now it is finished.

His blood has spoken.

Listen to the song.  It's linked above.  It's a good 7 minutes.

Friday, March 16, 2012

The "Other" People

My wife and I love the show "LOST".  It is one of our favorite series, and probably the only series in which we both can agree on to sit down and watch together.  We have different tastes.  What can I say. Mom always tells me to get a den or man cave for our house.  She may be on to something.

Anyways, on the show you have the group of people on the island that have crashed, "the survivors".  Then, there is the group called "the others".  That's what everyone says throughout the entire six seasons.  What are the others doing?  What do the others want?  Why are the others bothering us?

For more reference on "the others", visit this previous post which has a video synopsis of "LOST": How to be Like John Locke.

Sometimes as Christians we act like the survivors, wouldn't you say?  I know sometimes I do.  I stay in my group, where it is comfortable.  I talk to people I know.  I talk to people that I believe are just like me or at least similar.  I'm man enough to admit that, yeah, sometimes my humanness gets me and I look at people as the "others".

I tell you what it really is; we get scared.  We see differences we don't understand.  Everyone knows I am a huge Batman fan, too.  In Batman Begins, the big mob boss looks at Bruce Wayne and he says, "You're always afraid of what you don't understand."

How true is that?  I know that if I see people I don't resonate with sometimes it scares the crap out of me to imagine talking to them or building a relationship.

Lately, I've been pushed out of my comfort zone.  With how God is working in my life lately, I'm not sure that I even have a comfort zone anymore.

I'm the kind of guy that will talk to a fork if it would acknowledge me most days.  My job involves a lot of talking and some days I'm just done with talking.  We having been working with youth for almost a year and a half now.  In that period I've found myself talking to students that I otherwise wouldn't have spoken to.  It's not them; it's always been me.

God is moving me to understand that people are people.  I'm slowly learning and it is a hard concept when we grow up in a culture of "us 4 no more" mentalities. It's all about breaking the cycle and living as Jesus did which is loving people that everyone else viewed as rotten, despicable, and unworthy.

I'm glad that He loved me, because I am unworthy.  The least I can do is push myself to love like Christ.  I haven't read yet anywhere that said living for Christ's cause is easy, but with a reward such as we will be given, eternal life with Christ, how can it not be worth it?

I encourage you to step out of your survivors circle and see the others for who they are:  people trying to make it just like you and just like me.



Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Things That Make You Laugh

A lot of things make me laugh.  Movies.  Books.  Music, especially when it is a train wreck.  Comedians.  Jokes.  People smiling and having a good time.

I tell you what though.  God can make me really bust a gut laughing sometimes.

Literally five minutes before I wrote this I was thinking, "God, I know the site gets hits, but does anyone even read this stuff?  Am I doing the right thing with this or has it become about me?"

I was literally thinking about just posting and saying hey guys, this is it.  Last one today.

No more than before I was about to begin writing I receive a text from a good friend telling me what a good post the last one was.

See it's not that he encouraged me, because a couple of people have.  It's the fact that I wanted to know if this was all in vain.  My heart is in it.  I do it to reach even just one person.  It's never been about me in my eyes.

That text came right as I said, "God, just tell me to keep going or not somehow."

Well, I got my answer through a friend.  God will answer prayers.  Even if they are as simple as what about this little thing that I do.

So, needless to say, I laughed because I thought it was funny how fast that happened.

I'm not asking for mass comments or encouragement.  I just want to share my heart.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

You Want Me to Do What?

You ever ask that question?  I have.  I ask a lot of questions because I don't have a lot of answers and sometimes I just want to know what's up.

Have you ever asked that question when you were told to do something?  Such as, "Hey, go jump in a pool of blood and get out cow livers with your teeth for 50 grand."  (Yes, that was a Fear Factor reference.) You naturally respond with, "Come on, man."

That's about how Naaman was.  His wife had a girl that had been taken from Israel that worked for her.  The little girl said there is a prophet there that would cure him of being a leper.

See Naaman wasn't just another guy.  He was the commander of the Syrian army.  He was highly favored by his master.  He was a well to do man with leprosy.  That was a problem.

So he requested to go to Israel.  He talked with the king and the king flipped out on him essentially.  Elisha heard about this and sent him a message.  He said Naaman go wash in the Jordan seven times and you will be clean of leprosy.

Simple enough, right?  I think so, too.

Naaman though expected the miracle would come by the prophet calling upon God and waving his hand over him and boom.  Healed.  No.  He was to go wash.  Now the Jordan to Naaman was dirty compared to the rivers of Damascus.  He walked off mad because this is not what he expected.

Have you ever done that?  You expected God to move one way, and instead He provides in a completely different way.  Think about it.  You probably were ticked off.

I know I had prayed for a job in college.  I got a job in Kentucky.  Four hours away from home.  I was mad.  I wanted to move home with my fiance, family, friends, and the place a I grew up!

See God provided what I had asked for, yet I had the audacity to be mad.  I never asked for a particular place.  Just a job.  He provided. (I have to say it was a blessing.  I have some great friends from there.  MJ, Josh, Lindsey, the Denisios, and Austin!!  I learned a lot and have started the journey into my calling in ministry with a swift kick in the pants from God and my buddy Mitch.)

Naaman does the same thing.  He thought it would happen in one way, but it was meant to be in another.  Finally, he submitted to the words of the prophet and was healed.  Imagine that, right?

See we get mad about God not working our miracle in the way we want our miracle worked.  We are actually upset that the miracle occurs because it wasn't our way!  How crazy is that?

We have to understand that God will provide and we have no control over how He provides.  We just need to realize that we have received the miracle instead of complaining about it!

Have you received a miracle you were mad about because it wasn't your way?

Monday, March 12, 2012

We Struggle...Just like Batman

Who doesn't like Batman.  I mean as a kid I wore my grandpa's button down shirts like a cape.  I'd fly through the house.  It was awesome.

Think about Batman.  He is strong.  He is smart.  He is awesome.

Sometimes he is not excited about being Batman.  He has to hide behind a mask.  He doesn't want the responsibility that comes with his position. Etc.

We as Christians get like that sometimes.  We hide behind a smile, behind activities, behind events, behind our jobs, behind our roles.  We say don't worry about us as we continue to strip others of the ability to truly know us.

Generally speaking, when you hide it's usually because you don't want something seen.

We may have a past, but when we hide our past we diminish the work God has done in our life by not allowing others to see how far we have come by His grace.  Hiding only diminishes the work He has done in our lives.  It doesn't make you feel better or even help the situation.

The women at the well ministry led some in service last night at our church.  They laid it all out.  All of their past.  All of the ugly truth.  You know what was interesting about it?  They weren't hiding and they weren't ashamed.  Could you get up and tell things that are so personally deep and not even blush?

These women did.  The funny thing is that they didn't even flinch.  They truly had found peace and love in Jesus Christ.  When we become so secure in our love with Christ, our testimonies will become a thousand times more effective because we won't be ashamed to say, "Look what God got me out of."

Most of us are too ashamed and worried that people will look bad upon us, but don't let that dampen the power of what God has done for you.

Each person I know has their own story.  Their own, "Well, you don't know what I been through."  No I don't, but God does and if you are still here, chances are He brought you through it so share it with someone else not as dirty laundry to put in public, but as a testimony to the greatness of God.

Hiding is something we can do, but it does nothing.  Choose not to hide behind the mask.

Feel free to share in the comments.

Learning

I don't have anything elaborate today.  I'm exhausted from a youth trip to Winterfest this past weekend.  It's one of those good exhausted feelings though.  You know, the type when you know that something has been accomplished and that the time you didn't get to rest wasn't in vain.  That kind of exhausted.

Life is about learning.  It continues everyday because the world is a classroom.  It doesn't stop at graduation.  It never stops.

The youth that we had the honor of going with as leaders were amazing.  Megan and I have been with them for about two months now.  In that time I think I can count on one, possibly two hands, how many students have openly worshiped at any given service.  This weekend I saw something marvelous.

As I saw the marvelous, I also learned.  I sat in front of all the students the first night of the conference and really had to push myself.  I'm not a very engaged worshiper at times.  I'm a musician and I admit that sometimes I get caught up in watching, listening, and processing rather than worshiping.

I put it aside.  I knew that I was in front and if I wasn't going to be free to worship why would they even feel at liberty to do it.  I pushed myself.  When I noticed I wasn't clapping, I began to clap.  When I wasn't lifting my hands, I pressed in so that I would lift my hands as an example.

When I turned around, literally every student in our group was deeply involved in worship.  Not one was sitting.  Not one was talking.  Not one looked bored. Not one was goofing off.  It was amazing.

Now do I think that it was because of me they worshiped openly? Heck no!  There were 25,000 more people there doing it, too.  If I was going to hold their liberty up, we have problems.

What I am saying though is that I had to realize that there was a possibility that I set the tone.  See when we all get back to our churches, who will they look to when they are the smallest group?  They will look to adults and if we aren't at liberty to worship then why should they be?  I pushed myself to set the example that it is okay and that it's actually something important.

I didn't want to worship particularly, but when Christ said take this cup and let it pass from me, I'm sure He was not wanting to die.  If He can do that for me, then why can I not lift my hands for Him.

We have to be the example.  We must create the liberty for the students and children that look on us as adults and leaders in the church so that they know what they are supposed to do.  It doesn't mean they will do it, but it does mean that we will provide an example of what should be done.

So as they learned to worship, I learned to press in.  Not for my sake, but for being a model to a group of people that looks up to those my age.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Asking for More

Asking for more is hard for some and not for others.  You know that guy.  The one who will be like oh you got a half of a pizza left.  How bout you slide me the rest of that over here, man?  Yeah, I know that guy, too.

Sometimes, though, it might be good to ask for more.  I love the story of Elisha.

Elijah is getting ready to gloriously exit this earth.  He turns to the man who had been by his side and refused to leave his side.  He asks him in 2 Kings 2:9 what do you want before I am taken away.

I love how Elisha responds.  He looks and requests a double portion of his spirit to be upon himself.

Elijah did some awesome stuff.  Elisha could have just said, "Hey, I'd like to measure up to what you did so just bless me with the same spirit you have."

No he thought ahead.  He wanted double what Elijah had.  That's great.  It's like hey, you had two scoops of ice cream and I'd like to have four, because I'm that guy!

Elijah responds by saying that Elisha had asked a hard thing.  You think?  He told him if he saw Elijah when he was taken away he would receive and otherwise he was out of luck.

Now if I'm Elisha buddy, I'm up all night long.  I'd be watching this joker like a hawk.  Can you see it?

"Elisha, leave me alone.  I'm trying to use the bathroom."  "Elijah, I don't think so, pal.  I'm not gonna let this one get past me."

Anyways, the point is Elisha didn't just settle.  Sometimes we do that.  Yeah, I'll be fine with what I get.

I want to be bold like Elisha and ask for more.  Ask for the double portion rather than the lucky leftovers.  I want all that is prepared for me and more.  I want to be bold enough to request so much more than most people dare to ask for.  I want the spirit of Elisha in that moment to be bold to ask for something that is considered a hard thing, but nevertheless nothing is impossible for God.

On Your Own

We really get bogged down in this social construct of church now.  Now don't jump to conclusions on me.  I agree with the Bible completely.  (I don't think we have a choice as believers to not agree with it. Another day.)

We should listen to the writer of Hebrews and not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.  Hebrews 10:25.

I agree with that.  We should gather together.  It helps us stay strong together.  It helps build each other up.  Christ says that where two or three are gathered in His name, He is among them.  Simple concept.  Matthew 18:20.

Sometimes, we as the modern church almost put too much emphasis on the gathering together.  We schedule it in to our routine, it becomes the norm.  Sometimes it almost becomes motionless.  Am I the only one that this has happened to?  I know that some Sundays and Wednesdays I go numb and catch myself saying wait a minute.  I didn't come here to be seen or heard.  I came to worship a living God.  I came to hear the Word.  I came to grow, to be challenged, to be a role model for younger people, to love people.

We get that way though.  We become used to what we do and sometimes it is the only time we do it.  We pray awkwardly out loud, if we do that at all, because Sunday and Wednesday are the only days we pray.  We struggle through scripture and understanding what the pastor might reference if he didn't specifically point it out because we aren't well read in our own bibles.  We miss out on what could be a great experience if we would only prepare our hearts and minds.

We have to get ourselves together privately.  We have to do what the Philippians were instructed to do and work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.  Philippians 2:12.

Tozer says this and I love it because it fits so well.  "Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified."

Think about this.  When we purify our private religion, aka we get ourselves together in secret and work out our mess with God, we will see a perfected social religion.  We will see things start to come to fruition by essentially practicing what we preach.

I encourage you to purify your private religion.  It is something I strive for everyday.  It is a journey.  It doesn't happen overnight.  Try it out.  See what happens.

I Know it All

Is that how you feel?  Society tells us that we have to know what we are doing it and why.  Now let me be clear that I'm not all for running around like a chicken with your head cut off, but I do know that no one knows it all.

We think we know what to do, how to do it, when to do it, etc.

I'm partial to the response Solomon had to God.

In 1 Kings 3 God asks Solomon in a dream what he wanted.  See Solomon was young and inexperienced.  He didn't really know the rules of order for how things worked.  We see it in verse 7 when he responds saying I do not know how to go out or come in.  He hasn't the slightest clue of how to rule a kingdom.

I like the fact that Solomon could have asked for more riches, to never be defeated by another ruler, to never fail at being king, and on and on.  You see what I'm getting at?  The answer could have been anything.

I haven't researched it thoroughly enough to give a certain answer, but I believe from what I have read that Solomon was about my age in his mid to late 20's when he came to rule.

The reason I point out his age is for this:  the one thing he asked for from God was for wisdom "an understanding heart to judge Your people that I may discern between good and evil." (verse 9)

Think about that.  He asked for wisdom above all else he could have asked for that night.

Think about yourself now.  What would you ask for if God specifically spoke to you and said what do you want?

Would you ask for the mortgage to be paid in full?  Would you ask for healthy kids?  Would you ask for a great promotion/raise at work?  What would be in your heart?

I'd like to find myself as Solomon asking for something intangible that would help me for life such as wisdom.

How would you answer?

Thursday, March 1, 2012

True Worship

Anyone that is friends with me on Facebook or has Spotify and sees my listening patterns knows that I love worship music.  It's not just a fad for me either.  I've truly learned to live in worship whether it be by song, by prayer, or by acting out in faith.  I try my best to live a life that shows God my true worship.

Do I fail at times?  You better believe it.

Do I miss the mark?  He who hasn't sinned cast the first stone...Megan (my wife), put down the rock!

If you've been reading along with me you have seen that I've been into Tozer here recently.  The thing Tozer says about worship that really got my wheels turning was this:

"To great sections of the Church, the art of worship has been lost entirely, and in its place has come that strange and foreign thing called the 'program'."

Think about that for a minute.  What he is saying is that we have gotten so caught up in is our mere human formation of a "church service".  We worry that we won't get to the offering plate, or that our lesson/sermon will have been prepped for nothing.

We are restricting the Spirit of God from doing the work He has set out to do by looking out for those who might like to get to lunch on time, or do this by routine.

We, as a whole church, (not specifically Man O' War, Englewood, or any other church) have to begin to realize that this thing has never been about us.  We have to let go of control.  Raise your hand if that is hard.  Yeah, I've got mine raised, too!

Can you imagine what would happen if we gave up control and just fell under the anointing of the Holy Spirit for a whole worship service?  Let's take a small step.  I'm not talking about a year or a month, but one dagum service!

I feel as though if we worshiped without rushing out to "beat that other denomination" to lunch we might see some marvelous things happen.

The whole key to this is that we have to let go!  The longer we hold on, the more control we have and the less true uninhibited worship can happen.

Should worship be only for our weekly services?  That's a whole different topic for a completely different post!

What I encourage you to do, especially leaders in the church, be genuine in your worship.  If the Spirit moves, don't push it out of the way to make headway.  Follow it's guidance.  Let Him work.  We ask God to come be in our midst, and then refuse to give Him control once He has manifested himself.  Let your actions be in tune with your prayers and words.

Be genuine.  Worship completely.  Give everything you have like it's your last time on Earth to worship.