Our Group

“Teacher, we saw someone using your name to force demons out of a person. We told him to stop, because he does not belong to our group.” - Mark 9:38 -

John has a dilemma. He and the other disciples ran into someone who was doing great work. This man was casting out demons (the very act the disciples had trouble doing in Mark 9:20). He was changing lives. And, what’s more, the man was giving the credit to God. He was doing it in the name of Christ.

Everything about him was so right. Right results. Right heart. But there was one problem. He was from the wrong group.

So the disciples did what any able-bodied religious person would do with someone from the wrong group. “We told him to stop, because he does not belong to our group” (v. 38).

John wants to know if they did the right thing. John’s not cocky; he’s confused. So are many people today. What do you do about good things done in another group? What do you do when you like the fruit but not the orchard?

I’ve asked that question. I am deeply appreciative of my heritage. It was through a small, West Texas Church of Christ that I came to know the Nazarene, the cross, and the Word. The congregation wasn’t large, maybe two hundred on a good Sunday. Most of the families were like mine, blue-collar oil-field workers. But it was a loving church. When our family was sick, the members visited us. When we were absent, they called. And when this prodigal returned, they embraced me.

I deeply appreciate my heritage. But through the years, my faith has been supplemented by people of other groups.

A Brazilian Pentecostal taught me about prayer. A British Anglican by the name of C.S. Lewis put muscle in my faith. A Southern Baptist helped me understand grace. One Presbyterian, Steve Brown, taught me about God’s sovereignty while another, Frederick Buechner, taught me about God’s passion. A Catholic, Brennan Manning, convinced me that Jesus is relentlessly tender. I’m a better husband because I read James Dobson and a better preacher because I listened to Chuck Swindoll and Bill Hybels.

And only when I get home will I learn the name of a radio preacher whose message steered me back to Christ. I was a graduate student who’d lost his bearings. Needing some money over Christmas break, I took a job driving an oil-field delivery truck. The radio only picked up one station. A preacher was preaching. On a cold December day in 1978 I heard him describe the cross. I don’t know his name. I don’t know his heritage. He could have been a Quaker or an angel or both for all I know. But something about what he said caused me to pull the pickup onto the side of the road and rededicate my life to Christ.

-Max Lucado-
From In the Grip of Grace

Woman

Woman came out of a man's rib.

Not from his feet to be walked on.

Not from his head to be superior, but from the side to be equal.

Under the arm to be protected, and next to the heart to be loved.

Mighty to Save

Everyone needs compassion

A love that's never failing

Let mercy fall on me

Everyone needs forgiveness

A kindness of a Savior

The hope of nations

Savior He can move the mountains

My God is Mighty to save

He is Mighty to save

Forever, Author of salvation

He rose and conquered the grave

Jesus conquered the grave

So take me as You find me

All my fears and failures

Fill my life again

I give my life to follow

Everything I believe in

Now I surrender

Shine your light and let the whole world see

We're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus

-Hillsong Australia-

Mountain or Molehill?

Oh my goodness! I just read this blog from one of my most favorite bloggers. It totally spoke to me today. I HAD to share it with you guys.

Our problems can seem so mountainous, but perhaps it is just because of where we stand. When we are down, and incredibly low, everything appears to be towering over us. It is however, all a matter of perspective. If we go to God, strive to climb, to soar above it all on the wings of our God, we will have a completely different perspective. Looking down on all of the muck from on high puts it all in the proper perspective, the mountains become molehills. We need to get out of our lowly perspectives and know that God's the one with the true, over-and-above-it-all perspective, and from up there, these problems are minuscule, small, and incredibly earthly. Let us soar way up high on the wings of our Lord. ALL perspective will change.

Thank you Mary E. DeMuth for the amazing insight!

Unexpected Weight Loss

Scripture Reading: Matthew 18:21-35

Today’s Treasure: “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13).

Unparalleled joy and victory come from allowing Christ to do “the hard thing” with us. Perhaps nothing is harder than forgiveness. Let’s face it. Each of us has been confronted by some pretty overwhelming challenges to forgive. Some seem…well, unforgivable. We argue with God that all inflicted hurts are not created equally. For instance, sometimes the person who hurt us isn’t sorry. Or won’t take responsibility. Or is in the grave. Or the person might be sorry but refuses to recompense. Perhaps the person simply doesn’t deserve our forgiveness. After all, forgiveness would make everything OK, and we want the record to show: we’re not OK! Then, if we let it, truth begins to eclipse our mound of excuses: we won’t be OK until we forgive. If only we could understand that God’s unrelenting insistence on our forgiveness is for our own sakes, not the sake of the one who hurt us. God is faithful. He will plead our case and take up our cause… but only when we make a deliberate decision to cease representing ourselves in the matter.

Innumerable strongholds are connected to an unwillingness to forgive. Left untreated, unforgiveness becomes spiritual cancer. Bitterness takes root, and since the root feeds the rest of the tree, every branch of our lives and every fruit on each limb ultimately become poisoned. Beloved sister or brother, the bottom line is…unforgiveness makes us sick. Always spiritually. Often emotionally. And, surprisingly often, physically.

Please keep in mind that forgiveness is not defined by a feeling, although it will ultimately change our feelings. The Greek word most often translated “forgiveness” in the New Testament Scripture is aphiemi, meaning “to send forth or away, let go from oneself. To let go from one’s power, possession. To let go from one’s further…attendance, occupancy.” Forgiveness is our determined and deliberate effort to let something go. To release it from our possession. To be willing and ready for it to no longer occupy us. God is not asking us to let “it” go haphazardly into the black hole of non-existence. Forgiveness means letting it go to God. Letting it go from our power to His. Forgiveness is the ongoing act by which we agree with God over the matter, practice the mercy He’s extended to us, and surrender the situation, the repercussions, and the hurtful person to Him.

Don’t expect Satan to let you off the hook of unforgiveness easily. Be prepared to recommit to forgiveness every single day until you’re free. Second Corinthians 2:11 warns us to forgive “in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” The King James Version says me must forgive “lest Satan should get an advantage of us.” The Word of God clearly teaches that Satan takes tremendous advantage of any unforgiveness in our lives. Unforgiveness qualifies as one of the most powerfully effective forms of bondage in any believer’s life. We cannot tolerate it. Yes, this stronghold demands serious demolition, but the liberty you will feel when you finally let it go is inexpressible! Forgiveness is the ultimate “weight loss”!

Lord, in the parable of the unmerciful servant, the only person in the end who was imprisoned and tortured was the one who would not forgive. Help me to see the monumental price of unforgiveness. It is so enslaving and torturous. According to Matthew 18:35, You may allow me to suffer the same kind of repercussions if I refuse to forgive from my heart someone who has sinned against me. Please help me release the offense to You and be freed from the weight I’ve been carrying. In the name of Jesus, who has forgiven my own sins, Amen.

Adapted from Praying God’s Word, by Beth Moore, pages 220-223. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2000, 2003.

Do What's Hard...

Great post from a blog I love to read. I thought I'd share it with you. Here it is.

JesUs

Before U were thought of or time had begun, God stuck U in the name of His Son.

And each time U pray, you'll see it's true, You can't spell out JesUs and not include U.

You're a pretty big part of His wonderful name, For U, He was born; that's why He came.

And His great love for U is the reason He died. It even takes U to spell crUcified.

Isn't it thrilling and splendidly grand He rose from the dead, with U in His plan?

The stones split away, the gold trUmpet blew, and this word resUrrection is spelled with a U.

When JesUs left earth at His upward ascension, He felt there was one thing He just had to mention:

"Go into the world and tell them it's true That I love them all - Just like I love U."

So many great people are spelled with a U, Don't they have a right to know JesUs too?

It all depends now on what U will do, He'd like them to know, But it all starts with U.

In Loving Memory of Joshua Quick

I do not know who wrote this, but I thought it was beautiful, and it instantly made me think of one of God's Precious Little Clowns that I was blessed by knowing, all too briefly. I share this with you all in his precious memory.

CLOWNS OF GOD

I know what are you thinking.
You need a sign.
What better one could I give
than to make this little one whole and new?
I could do it; but I will not.
I am the Lord and not a conjurer.
I gave this one a gift I denied to all of you,
ETERNAL INNOCENCE.
To you he looks imperfect
but to me he is flawless,
like the bud that dies unopened,
or the fledglings
that fall from the nest to be devoured by ants.
He never offended me,
as all of you have done.
He never perverted the work of My Father hands.
He is necessary to you.
He will evoke the kindness that will prompt you to
gratitude for own good....more.....
He will remind you every day that I am who I am,
that My ways are not yours,
and the smallest dust mote whirled in darkest
space does not fall out of my hand.
I have chosen you.
You have not chosen me.
This little one is my sign to you.
TREASURE HIM.

Josh--you are, were, and will always be treasured by so many who can't wait to see you again!

The Cradle of Hope

by Max Lucado

Christ rose first; then when Christ comes back, all his people will become alive again.

1 Corinthians 15:23 TLB

Let’s go to the tomb, for Jesus lies in the tomb.

Still. Cold. Stiff. Death has claimed its greatest trophy. He is not asleep in the tomb or resting in the tomb or comatose in the tomb; he is dead in the tomb. No air in his lungs. No thoughts in his brain. No feeling in his limbs. His body is as lifeless as the stone slab upon which he has been laid.

The executioners made sure of it. When Pilate learned that Jesus was dead, he asked the soldiers if they were certain. They were. Had they seen the Nazarene twitch, had they heard even one moan, they would have broken his legs to speed his end. But there was no need. The thrust of a spear removed all doubt. The Romans knew their job. And their job was finished. They pried loose the nails, lowered his body, and gave it to Joseph and Nicodemus.

Joseph of Arimathea. Nicodemus the Pharisee. Jesus had answered the prayer of their hearts, the prayer for the Messiah. As much as the soldiers wanted him dead, even more these men wanted him alive.

As they sponged the blood from his beard, don’t you know they listened for his breath? As they wrapped the cloth around his hands, don’t you know they hoped for a pulse? Don’t you know they searched for life?

But they didn’t find it.

So they do with him what they were expected to do with a dead man. They wrap his body in clean linen and place it in a tomb. Joseph’s tomb. Roman guards are stationed to guard the corpse. And a Roman seal is set on the rock of the tomb. For three days, no one gets close to the grave.

But then, Sunday arrives. And with Sunday comes light—a light within the tomb. A bright light? A soft light? Flashing? Hovering? We don’t know. But there was a light. For he is the light. And with the light came life. Just as the darkness was banished, now the decay is reversed. Heaven blows and Jesus breathes. His chest expands. Waxy lips open. Wooden fingers lift. Heart valves swish and hinged joints bend.

And, as we envision the moment, we stand in awe.

We stand in awe not just because of what we see, but because of what we know. We know that we, too, will die. We know that we, too, will be buried. Our lungs, like his, will empty. Our hands, like his, will stiffen. But the rising of his body and the rolling of the stone give birth to a mighty belief: “What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us” (Rom. 6:5–9 MSG).

From When Christ Comes