Who are you really?

My three year old son now closes doors so as to not be seen in certain activities. The other night he closed the door to his room and climbed up and got into a drawer that had lotions and powders and such. In his newly achieved privacy he began to empty it all out on the carpet. After several moments of unusual silence, I went upstairs to look in on him. Our next few moments were instructional for both of us.

What do you do behind the closed doors of your life? That is a powerful question isn’t it? Who are you when no one is looking? The truth is there is never a time when “no one” is looking.

Proverbs 15:3

The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Keeping watch on the evil and the good.

The eyes of God are always there. Like one of those paintings of someone’s face, no matter where you walk in the room the eyes follow you. I guess that could be a little scary for some. If you are in honest pursuit of good character it can be a joy that God is watching over you. But if you are running in the shadows this truth can be quite disturbing.

A different question is who are you when no people are looking? What secrets are you holding in that you hope nobody will ever know? What’s the stuff you’ve tried to stuff way down deep but still seems to linger somewhere right under your skin? Secrets-we all have them. Or do they have us?

Right now I am in the process of asking this probing question of myself. Who am I really? Who am I when no one is looking? Are there parts of my life that I still don’t want you to know about? Honestly, the answer is yes. I am taking action to change this. I want every area of my life to say that I truly follow Christ. Not most areas-every area.

Secrets can make us sick. Like mold and fungus that flourishes in low light, secrets have a way of spreading darkness throughout our hearts. The answer is light. We have to allow light to come into our lives. We have to choose to walk out of the shadows and into His marvelous light! The liar will tell you that you are safer in the shadows. He will attempt to scare you with thoughts of judgment and rejection. Don’t believe him. It is safer in the light. Let Jesus shine into your life today. Walk with Him in the light! Tell someone you can trust and shed light. Many are taking steps toward freedom. They are confessing sins to God and to the appropriate people. They are finding forgiveness & healing in a community of acceptance. Join us for the rest of this month as we lighten up the atmosphere a bit.

1 John 1:5-7 (NLT)

5 This is the message he has given us to announce to you: God is light and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness. We are not living in the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light of God's presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin.

Check your eye sight

19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Matt. 6:19-24

Jesus taught that money leads the heart. Our treasure indicates the direction of our heart. If I want my heart to be in a certain place, all I need do is invest in that place. Do you like where your heart is? Would you rather it be somewhere else? If so, put your money there and your heart will follow.

Be careful though. The human eye can be drawn to dark places. The lust of the eye has brought darkness into many a life. We need an eye examination now an then to see how healthy our sight is. When you look at the world what do you see? Do you see more and more for yourself? Do you see the possibilities of contribution to the Kingdom of God? What do you see?

The eye is the window to the soul. Look full into the face of Jesus today and let the brightness of His life shine into you. Let Him flood your heart with light. Let Him be your one and only Master.

Current Topic: "Mind Your Own Business"

just click

Have you ever just clicked with someone? I mean you really connected at a heart level with them. You wanted the same things. You thought similar thoughts. You anticipated each others moves and worked in harmony with them. It is a rare thing but it is exactly what Jesus and His Father had. And it is His goal for the church.

"The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, So they might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me. The same glory you gave me, I gave them, so they'll be as unified and together as we are—I in them and you in me. Then they'll be mature in this oneness, and give the godless world evidence that you've sent me and loved them in the same way you've loved me." John 17:21-23 (MSG)

The last great prayer that Jesus’ followers heard Him pray was this one. His great desire for us was and is to know the joy and power of unity-to be one in heart and mind. Unity is a beautiful to see when it emerges. When people lay aside individualism as a primary concern and seek to unify around a cause amazing things happen. For those of us who profess Christ as Lord, we have our cause, or I should say, our Person. We centralize around Jesus and His teachings. Those who truly know Him are swept up into His love for the hurting and the lost. They live to know Christ. And so that others might know Christ.

Last weekend we observed, “Holy Communion”. As I looked over the congregation, my desire was that we would make the kingdom of God our primary concern. That we would awaken to know and follow Jesus “together”. That we would become “one in heart and mind”. My prayer is that we would reach out to the hurting and the lost of this would and touch them with the love of God.

This is my prayer:

“Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and sympathetic? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one heart and purpose.” Phil. 2:1-2

Hopefully, with God’s help, and for Christ’s sake, we can find a way to click.

was eve a 36c?

The crown of it all, the last stroke of God's brush on the canvas of creation if you will, was woman. God looked around at all He had done and said, "Good, good, and very good!" Then he looked at Adam's aloneness and said, "Not good." So He had one more "good" thing. Perhaps His most amazing work of art yet-woman. And reading the Genesis account Adam seems very pleased when introduced to her.

I've been thinking-was Eve a 36C? I mean, was she a "brick house"? Did she look like Jessica Biel, Paris Hilton, or I have heard some men's personal favorite, Halle Berry. Assuming that God's first woman was beautiful, what would have been the definition? Would it have been the color of her skin, the curves in her shape, or maybe her long flowing blonde hair? (By the way, where did I get that hair idea?)

I am not going to sit here today and write that there is no way to appreciate physical beauty in a woman. There is, BUT if God's definition of beauty were like most, then many woman would be shut out and categorized as unattractive or even ugly. Indeed most women are shut out by what we have allowed today (even in our churches) to be accepted as cultural norms in how we percieve females to be beautiful. What if, in God's wisdom, He created Eve 4 ft. 5 inches and she weighed a healthy 175 pounds? Her hair of course was purple for that is the color of majesty and royalty. Her skin being bleach white and pure as the driven snow. What would you think of that image?

Image is our key word here isn't it? God created them "in His Image". What does God's image look like then? Specifically what does the feminine aspect of God's image look like? Let me just say that whatever it looks like, it is beautiful. Very beautiful! And EVERY woman can reflect that same beauty.

"What matters is not your outer appearance-the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes- 4 but your inner disposition. Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. 5 The holy women of old were beautiful before God that way" 1 Peter 3:3-5

Of course most women will never accept this to the point that they have peace when it comes to their own physical appearance. My questions are, "What is the role of the church or Christian men? What are we saying to all our beautiful women? How are we a part of the solution for them? How do we teach in such a way that there can be a collective renewing of all our minds?" Just thinking.

beauty in ugly

_ug·ly (ug'le) adj., -li·er, -li·est.
1. Displeasing to the eye; unsightly.

Recently my son and I went to someone's house and met several people whom we have never met before. After being there for a few moments, a young woman looked at Sam and said, "Your son has a pretty face". I looked at her and did not know whether to thank her or slap her. My son is not PRETTY!

Men & women are obsessed with looking good-and looking good to each other. No one wants to be ugly. It is interesting to type in the word ugly and search the internet. Ugly people web-sites, ugly people forums, ugliness defined, ugliness demonstrated, etc. Even more interesting was listening to men this past week talk about what they found attractive in a woman and what they did not. I don't think I would want to be present when a group of women discussed ugliness in men-could be painful.

My question today is what does God see when He looks at you and me? Or does God even look "at" people. Does He see ugly and pretty or anything like that? The answer is yes, He most certainly does. We can learn how God views men and women and what he sees by looking at Jesus. What and how He saw people is profound. He definitely saw ugly and He often saw beauty and he called it how He saw it. Come this weekend as we continue the series "Men & Women".
We will discover the beauty in ugly.

Fully Vested

After working for the Clark County School District for 5 years, my wife was fully vested in their retirement benefits. Do you have any plans made for your retirement?

19 "Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or-worse!- stolen by burglars. 20 Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. 21 It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. Matt. 6:19-21 (MSG)

Jesus spoke more about money than he did Heaven & Hell combined. It is probably because He knew how much time we spend making it, worrying about it, and letting it control our lives. As we think about our eternal futures Jesus gives us some very sound financial advice. "Stockpile treasure in heaven". I like that! Jesus knows and understands our desire to acquire wealth. He does not tell us that the desire is sinful, rather He harnessses it and gives it proper direction. He says invest in Heaven. Heaven's dividends far outweigh any earthly stock you could invest money in.

"And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will have eternal life". Matt. 19:29

How do you invest in Heaven? You invest in people who are going there. It is that simple. Our Father's highest concern is His lost children. He wants them to come to Him. The cause (sake) of Christ is the single most important project in all of history. Our main mission while here on this present earth is to use every resource available to us to bring people back to God through spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Michelle and I have learned that when we give to the Lord we are actually investing. When we invest we remain connected to the investment and fully expect a return. We have been investing financially in people for years. We continue to find ways to invest. We do this with excitement knowing that one day we will "reap what we have sown". We are fully vested in eternity!

Are you properly planning for your future? Are you stockpiling wealth? Make sure you send plenty to heaven by giving faithfully to the cause of Jesus Christ. Get fully vested in Heaven!

Promotion for you

Servants, do what you're told by your earthly masters. And don't just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. 23 Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, 24 confident that you'll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you're serving is Christ. 25 The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being Christian doesn't cover up bad work. Col. 3:22-25 (MSG)

May today be a day that you "get to" go to work and not "have to"--even if you don't particularly enjoy your current job. May you labor with this truth in mind: No matter what my job is now, if I do it faithfully unto the Lord, He will promote and reward me in eternity. God will give us our dream job!

" `Yes,' the king replied, `but to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away. Luke 19:26 (NLT)

Do your very best work knowing that God is watching and appreciates your effort. May all who work around you be able see your ethic and glorify your Father in heaven.

Father, help us to be found faithful with the work we have to do. Thank you that we live in a country where work is available and opportunities abound. Give us strength to do a good job and bring honor to your name. Help us to set our hearts upon the day when you will say, "Well done".