Revolutionary Compassion

What is powerful in life?  What is meaning in life? 

Who is this God?  Why does he do what he does?  What is he like?  Does he laugh at funny jokes?  Does he cry when he sees us upset? 

Just what are the thoughts of the incredible eternal, person being.. when he exist in all places, at all times, and be with all of us, at our respective locations.  In our thoughts, guiding our thoughts, above our thoughts, below our thoughts and at the same time among our words, guiding our voices... guiding our triumphs, our victories, holding us in our defeats and desperate tragedies? 

This being is like standing in a still field to me. This being is like seeing rays of light.  This being is like the beauty I catch in every moment, if I can just stop and see it. 

I feel my Father with me when I walk in the darkest nights, staring out, watching the sunset in brilliant colors of purple, blue, and gold. 

The more I learn about God, the more I understand just how miserable, foolish, and completely unaware I am. My dependence on this great being of light is complete. There is nothing I can handle without his assistance. In fact life and matter would not and could not exist without him.

I was joking with a friend the other day, that I imagined if God pulled his hand from the workings of humanity, even for a moment, at that moment there would be tens of thousands of car accidents.  God is the only reason this world doesn't crumble in on itself. Even the order of society, I sense, is maintained by Him.

My imperfection is made so very apparent, as the understanding of his perfection comes to my stubborn heart.  I feel often my heart is stone, slowly being turned to flesh, and what I mean by that is... He is changing my lack of compassion and love, to an overflowing of compassion and love.

Truly in this world, compassion has become a revolutionary act. We are not called to be normal. We are called to be uncharacteristically loving, uncharacteristically compassionate, and uncharacteristically forgiving. 

A select few display the true heart of Christian love. Yet so many Christians in this country, and across the world unfortunately do not display Christian love. They display the stereotypical responses the public expects from Christians: judgmentalism, self-righteousness, carnality, and greed. This is a great damage to the cause of Christ. Yet there is reason for hope. We can learn from Christ to love.

What does scripture say?  How will they know we are Christians? 

John 13:35 NLT "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."

That is the only thing, the only thing that will stand out to most secularists when they see Christians working in the world.  When I was unsaved, and lost, the love of Chaplain Marien proved to me, more than any other single word or action, that there was something to Christianity.  There was something beyond this world in it.  It was something that touched my heart in a way I couldn't ignore.  Compassion.  Love shines through, people cannot ignore it.  

So many times when I was sick, drug addicted, and lost I would see the look in peoples eyes. The look of judgment, and even hatred.  Anger. A look of "you are worthless" a look of "I'm better than you."  I saw it so many times, I would start looking for it in peoples eyes. It was completely commonplace.  Chaplain Marien, whom I studied closely, his eyes... there was only compassion.  Compassion, as I lay on the hospital bed near death.  

I never forgot the love and compassion in his eyes.  

Be that example in the world. Be the example. Cultivate your compassion.  A great way to do this, and to push aside judgment, is try to emphasize with someone.  Imagine yourself in their place, and consider how it must feel.  And compassion will grow in you, it will flower.  

God is a mystery to me, even to me, and especially to me.  To consider the scope of the creator is to begin down a road that has no ending, and leads to places beyond my comprehension, in my current form.  I am a spirit residing in a physical material form.  As are you.  Isn't that interesting?  Sometimes I'll just think for a second and consider the fact that wow... I exist?  I exist.  And that is such a strange thought to me.  I spend so much time existing I hardly consider the concept of existing.  

Why does God allow so much tragedy in the world?  Why isn't his hand more active in the world?  Why doesn't he just come out and say here I am, I'm God?  I don't have answers to a lot of these questions.  And in fact the Bible doesn't say "go insane trying to figure it out."  Instead it says "Trust God" over and over.  

Trust is hard these days. Was it easy in the early 20th century?  Probably.  Church attendance was higher, and depravity was much less celebrated.  I'm sorry, but it's completely true.  When church attendance was high, and prayer was in school, there was less violence, and more prosperity.  With the moral decline, we see a corresponding economic decline.  I don't want to get political though.  I just want to remind you to watch for those kinds of patterns, as our food supply becomes more and more genetically modified, as our children act out more and more, as the family faces more and more attacks, as sin celebration has now become utterly and completely commonplace.  Just think.  And protect your family carefully.  That is your calling, mothers and fathers.  

I'm not going to leave it at that though. We can go insane over the problems in the world, or we can replace our fear with faith in God.  Fear not, says God, many times over in the Bible. Take courage. Nothing, I mean nothing, happens in God's universe by accident.  It all happens according to the council of his will.  God isn't sitting back watching the chaos of our world, going mad, thinking Oh my goodness what am I going to do about this terrible thing? He already knew it would all happen like this. He allows it. Yet his purposes still prevail. He is our God. This encourages our acceptance of God's plan being perfect. Then why is it the world so messed up? Because God allows free will. And when we accept life as being exactly what it is right now, we can deal with it and change the world for the better, without having to feel miserable about it at the same time.  

I promise you, my Christian brothers and sisters, you need not worry! Your heavenly Father is in control. His son has won your passage to paradise. So rejoice, and be glad.  This is his day.  Who are you to say it is wrong?  The most revolutionary act of change you can make, is showing powerful compassion, powerful love, and powerful faith.  Go in peace today!

Sermon: Identity in Christ

So here we go.  Let's get right into it, my Christian brothers and sisters.  The war is on, and this is a war, a war for the souls of humanity.  We're at the ends of the Earth fighting a monstrous evil.  Fortunately we have the power of God behind us, and that puts us on the side that has already won.  But we're still called daily to fight the good fight as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

I'd like to talk about ironies of life today, some that I've learned over the years. During my short time on this planet, I've started to realize that the answers to questions tend to be.. the opposite of what most of us might think.  So let's talk about that, let's go into that and figure out what's going on here.  Sometimes I think of my life like an RPG video game.  You know, level up, gain skills, get good at it.  But a lot of the time the answers to a lot of the biggest questions aren't so easy.  In fact a lot of us tend to bump our heads against the wrong solutions until we end up... giving up.  And just take our candy and head home.  I don't want that to be my walk, or your walk.

So here are some truths, and these don't come from me.  These are things I've learned from others.

I always thought the secret to being victorious was striving for victory at all costs on the power I have.  Turns out that wasn't the case.  The secret to victory is in fact, complete and utter surrender.  I surrender, admit I can't do it alone, and rely on God as my power.  Then I can be victorious.  I learned this from a guy named Bill.

So what's the secret to living and growing?  A guy named Paul said that the secret to living was dying daily.  He wrote some letters, from jail, about two thousand years ago.  Give or take.  So what does that mean?  Paul is making reference to the fact that we die to ourselves, and keep applying more and more to our new selves, our selves as we ought to be in Christ.  So everyday is out shutting off the spout on more bad decisions and mistakes we regularly make.  So our old self dies more and more daily, and the new is taken on.

Paradoxically, as we talked about last week, growing and learning for me wasn't a process of slowly learning this, learning that, and stepping up the ladder.  Growing and learning for me, was complete and utter destruction of everything I understood, knew, or thought I knew.  It was only by utter disaster and pain, that I was capable of being willing for true growth and learning.  Willingness is really the key.  And some of willingness can be learned, but a lot of it has to come from a sense of failure in the past.

That one isn't easy or fun to swallow.  It may not even be everyone's case, but for me, it just so happened to be quite true.

So what's the meaning in all this?  It's all so hard, so difficult.  It's tough to swallow, all these bittersweet truths.  We can end up walking to the ends of the Earth and realizing we've gone the wrong way the whole time!  It's not easy being human, is it?  So what's the meaning here?  Well, we don't know exactly what everything in life means.  But if we've taken the step of giving our lives to Christ, that has to be lived.  So our meaning is found in doing God's work, his business. 

The business of saving souls.  

Philippians 2:13 "For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him."

Our business is doing God's business. As long as we do God's business, whatever happens to us is none of our business. That's God's business.  

What do I mean by that?  Well, I don't have the power to control my life and where it goes.  I really don't, let's just be real.  I may have the illusion of that control at times, but it's really up to God where he's going to put me and use me.  I can either fight tooth and nail against that and fail, or I can rely on God day by day.  The idea here is that if I do some basic things daily, to make sure I'm right with God, and walking with him, then he's going to keep me in his special care.  I'm gonna find a lot of special attention from my creator if I can just maintain the basics, and see if I can't grow at the same time.

2 Corinthians 5:7 "For we live by faith, not by sight."

We walk by faith, not by sight.  That's scripture, but what does it mean?  I'll put it another way: Some say seeing is believing, I say believing is seeing.  When we find that spiritual connection to God through Jesus, we start to see the true reality of everything.  We see "the matrix" of lies around us, and start growing in discernment of evil.

When I was in basketball, the first thing they taught us was having good form.   For defense, bend the knees, wide stance, both hands down, palms open at the knees, focus, attention, footwork, all of it.  So as soon as we were on defense we'd "form up" and be ready to properly defend our hoop from the opposing team. 

I'd like to encourage you to have a form up position within your own mind.  When we minister to others, field questions, face difficult situations, come against temptation, and desperately need discernment on critical issues.. well where do we look?  Is the first thing you turn to your own intellect?  "If I can just figure this out" mentality? Or is it God?  God loves it when we acknowledge our dependence on him.  I have to remember that the first place I need to be when I'm faced with a difficult challenge, is on my knees in hard prayer.  

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13—NIV)

 And people make it seem like prayer is such a hard thing to do.  Just talk to God!  I'm not going to tell you how to develop a prayer life.  Just start doing it, talking, say anything!  Eventually you'll develop a solid prayer life.  The Our Father is a beautiful prayer, if that's your way, but let me encourage to think about what you're saying and put emphasis on it: 

Our Father, not far off distant God, but my personal Father!  
Hallowed be your name!  Your name is powerful it has meaning to me!  
Your Kingdom come!  Please, please, please come, please bring it Father!  
Your will be done!  Not mine, yours!   
On Earth as it is in Heaven, yes please Father make Earth as Heaven is, perfect and holy, 
Give us this day our daily bread.  We acknowledge that you've promised to care for our daily needs and thank you for that.  
 and forgive us our trespasses, please forgive our sins father, 
as we forgive those who trespass against us; Help us to be forgiving to our friends and family Father, fill us with compassion and forgiveness, 
and lead us not into temptation, please Father as Jesus prayed to protect his disciples from temptation, we also ask that you keep us on the path of peace,  
and deliver us from evil, please keep our spiritual defenses strong against the evil one, 
In Jesus name, your precious son who died so we could be reconnected with you,  
Amen. I agree Father,  I agree with all that I've said.

Prayer fortifies our form up position.  It reminds us who we are.  And that's probably the most important thing about being formed up in the face of evil: Knowing our identity in Christ.  What does God say about us?  Am I going to accept that I'm a child of the most high God, or am I going to believe what the world says about me?  That I'm weak, I'm too fat, I'm too skinny, I'm too poor, I'm too wealthy, and so on.  Don't let this world define you.  Remember powerfully who you are in God.  You have authority from Jesus the Christ, the son of the creator of the known cosmos and beyond! Act like it. 

This is what the holy, true word of God the Bible says about us:

There is no condemnation for us (Romans 8:1)

We can never be separated from God’s love (Romans 8:39)

We who are many form one body (Romans 12:5)

We have wisdom from God (1 Corinthians 1:30)

Our labor is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58)

We are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)

We become God’s children (Galatians 3:26)

We have every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3)

We have the forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7)

We were also chosen (Ephesians 1:11)

We are for the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:12)

We have been seated in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6)

We’ve been given the incomparable riches of God’s grace (Ephesians 2:7)

We who were once far away have been brought near (Ephesians 2:13)

We are built together as a holy building (Ephesians 2:22)

We may approach God with freedom and confidence (Ephesians 3:12)

We are light (Ephesians 5:8)

Our joy overflows (Philippians 1:26)

All our needs are met according to his glorious riches (Philippians 4:19)

We are holy and faithful (Colossians 1:2)

All things hold together (Colossians 1:17)

We have our hope of glory (Colossians 1:27)

We become fully mature (Colossians 1:28)

Are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge for us (Colossians 2:3)

We are rooted and built up (Colossians 2:7)

We have been given the fullness of the deity (Colossians 2:9-10)

We come into reality (Colossians 2:17)

Our life is now hidden (Colossians 3:3)

We will rise from the dead (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

We can give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

We have faith, hope, and love (1Timothy 1:1, 14)

We can gain an excellent standing and great assurance (1 Timothy 3:13)

We have the promise of life (2 Timothy 1:1)

How many times does God have to tell us who we are, before we'll just believe him?  I know it's hard.  But stay in his word, and constantly recall these verses and many others!

Be formed up against the world around you.  It's not as easy as it sounds.  The world is right here, in our faces everyday.  It's easy to see the job, the house, the family, the car, the ads, the tv, the internet and start to think that this is all we have.  Well it's not!  It's not all we have and it's not all we are.  More will be revealed, but for now, remember who you are under God.  You are chosen.  You are loved.  You are special.  You are being made holy.  You are saved.  You are redeemed. 

So let me encourage you to have a strong prayer life.  Have a prayer you say every morning.  Have a prayer you say every night.  Do little things to remind you of your true identity in Christ.

 I was studying some things on prayer earlier this week, and I found a wonderful morning prayer.  Use it if you like it:

"Dear Lord, my allegiance to You will be tested today. Right now, I am stating my faithfulness to you. You are the One I love forever. At the same time, I will clearly state that I want nothing to do with serving my self. I have had enough to do with that selfish ego of mine that tries to get all the attention it can. Your principles of love and giving are what I want. Radiate in my life through acts and words of kindness. Forgive me of my sin and cleanse me. I make myself totally empty of self so that You can fill me with your precious Holy Spirit. Lead me forth. I will follow in your humble paths of love. In Jesus name, amen."

 Don't be surprised when you face difficult times.  Scripture tells us not to be surprised by these things:

1 Peter 4:12-14: ¹² Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴ If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

Smile in the trouble my friends, just smile.  Keep calm and smile, because you're suffering as Jesus Christ suffered.  Oh the reward that awaits you, it's wonderful.  I can't say I understand what that reward is, but I trust God, and I know his gifts are mind blowing.  So remember to witness for Christ in the world.  Do anything and  EVERYTHING YOU POSSIBLY CAN! 

It's not hard.  You don't even have to talk to people at first if that makes you nervous.  Instead, if you're a quiet type (like me) buy some clothing that ministers for Jesus.  I just found a cool one online for twelve bucks and it just says "got Jesus?" on it.  See it's just that simple.  There are a lot of little things we can do to push forward the kingdom.  It's not like you're giving them a sermon or ministering to them, but you're giving them a little nudge.  Hey, that person loves Jesus, they might think as they see you walking by.  Well, maybe I should look into that more.  Fast forward to five years later and they're being baptized, because they got a little nudge from you at the right moment, reminding them of who the king is!  God's ways are not our ways.  God can have a person who is really depressed walk by you at the exact right moment where they see that, and it triggers an investigation that will eventually lead to a total conversion.  All from a t-shirt, or a bumper sticker, or a share on Facebook or Twitter.  Think about the little ways you can minister. 

Start a blog even!  And I'm here to tell you that you're qualified if you know Jesus Christ is savior and sovereign Lord. But make sure it's God's will. Always pray about it, and ask the Lord to speak through the Spirit within you. We don't want to start something that isn't of God. 

As I grew up in my walk toward ministry I found myself against so much opposition.  Ironically, the opposition wasn't from the secular world (non-saved individuals), it was from members and leaders in the church.  The people claiming to want to obey the great commission, claimed believers in Christ, and I received the most discouragement from them!  It's insane, I know.  I don't know if they were threatened, or worried, or just plain cruel, but there it is.  I encourage everyone to write, read, speak, do anything to make Jesus known!  What's the worst thing?  You get a few details wrong here and there?  It doesn't really matter, as long as you're telling people Jesus is the way, and the Bible explains the walking.  God is your qualifier, not me, not the Pastor, Priest or the Pope, just God.  So take your cues from him.

So yes, let's be real, true Christians.  No judgement.  Full of love.  Full of encouragement and compassion.  Full of forgiveness.  Full of kind acts.  Full of ministry to others.  Just full of God.
  
Galatians 5:22-24 (NIV) ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

And how do we do those things, when are hearts are accustomed for sin?  Well, we remind ourselves before the day starts, and make conscious effort to be selfless instead of selfish, caring instead of cold, friendly instead of rude, forgiving instead of judging, and so on and so forth.  As we actively do the good things, we become the good things.  Isn't that cool?

I know the word Christian turns a lot of people off.  The word Christian has come to mean "judgmental hypocrites who go to church on Sunday but don't follow the ways of Christ."  I don't adhere to that. To me the word Christian means the holy remnant of today, true friends of Christ in the world, as the secularists stampede toward disaster and the modern church struggles and declines, we find ourselves in a difficult reality.

It's tough.  But your Savior has already won, my friends.  Jesus lives!  The cross is empty, and all is well.  All is well with you.  So relax, just chill.  Stay strong, and stay serious, but laugh and enjoy life as well.  Recall your identity.  Be courageous in your faith.  Stand alone if need be.  Remember money is nothing, you are what's important, under God.   Take up your armor and sword, and be a good soldier of Christ in these last days of humanity. 

God be with you, and he is, he is with you right now, lifting you up.  Believe it.  Take care and God bless!

Blessing after Blessing

Honestly, it's just blessing after blessing these days.  I've learned that when I do some basic things to maintain my faith, God in return showers blessings, wisdom, and love.  He's awesome like that.  I wonder at his creation, I look up at the stars and I want to shout in joy, but I don't yet know how.  He will teach me, and he makes himself known to me.  The cool thing is that he offers me reconnection to him through Christ.  To all he offers this simple deal, and I choose to take it!  I mean wow. That's really mercy. I mean come on, how many times have we all made terrible decisions and caused trouble in the world and in others, and harmed our family, and harmed ourselves? It seems like we tend to think of ourselves as decent people, but we just aren't perfect. 

What's amazing to me is that once I accept the sacrifice of Christ for my mistakes and regrets, Jesus walks with me daily. I'm still lost and confused about how to be connected to God. God doesn't leave me at that point though. As long as I'm daily walking with him, doing basic things, he teaches me experientially and through his word, how to consciously connect to him.

When I was an angsty teenager I remember looking for evidence of God. When I would call out to him when I was depressed, I felt empty, I didn't feel him there. Well, that's because at that time I didn't know Him personally. And even once we call upon the name of Jesus, it's a life long process of cultivating conscious contact with God.

It doesn't happen overnight. 

But the blessings just keep coming. The beautiful service at the 400 block for Downtown Mission Church. It was just incredible. The music, the testimony.  It was just amazing because.. I saw people, from four different churches that I've been to, and sometimes attend groups at. And they were all gathered together on the 400 block of Wausau. And we were just rejoicing and singing out to the Lord. So many have been praying for changes in Wausau, and now. I mean wow.  The coming together of the churches, the breaking of those barriers between congregations is just beautiful. It's a unifying of the community really. 

I saw friends from Highland Church in Wausau. Beautiful, wonderful people who have helped me so much. I saw a lot of the congregation from my home church New Day praising God as well. Once again, awesome people who I look to for strength and inspiration. I saw a friend from the groups I attend as well, he was sitting there in his lawn chair hanging out, enjoying the music. And Downtown Mission Church was running it.  The pastor shared his testimony. Truly a message shared with honesty and passion. A friend of mine led the worship team and just sung his heart out to God. So rewarding to see God working in his life.  I saw many people I knew from the Thursday and Saturday DMC cafe nights. So amazing! So wonderful. All according to the living God and his wonderful purpose.

It's just been great lately.  My studies at Liberty university are really giving me powerful insight into the great and almighty God. And what's so cool is that I enjoy the subject material so much studying isn't much of an issue. I struggle with it sometimes, but I just ask for God to help me and he does. 

You know it's not always wonderful in the world, it's often very challenging. But the moments when you see and feel God working... I just live for that. It reminds me of all the experiences in my life that guided me to the moment of accepting Christ. It was a long, winding journey of learning, insight, struggle, and failure. God really had to allow me to get really low, rock bottom, until I could just give up and reach out for him.

That's really what it was, I just reached out, and he reached back. I didn't have anything left in my own power. I had tried everything, and it just wasn't working. I had given up, and I called out to God.  He saw me in my trouble, and pulled me up. Kinda like when the disciples were out fishing, and a storm started.. and then they saw Jesus walking on the water toward them. And the storm passed, and they reached the other side. What a metaphor. Jesus coming for the lost people of Earth, walking on the water toward us. And we didn't expect him to come. We saw the storm.. and eventually resigned ourselves to death. The storm is our sin, the chaos of this world. We did nothing to deserve it, but miraculously, our loving God, sends Jesus the Christ, this powerful perfect human, walking out toward us in our disaster. And we take him into us, onto the boat, and he leads us across.. and the storm passes.  It gives me chills to picture it, I have a cinematic mind like that, I picture the scene in The Gospel of John movie. It really hit home with me. 

It's always a struggle though. On good nights like tonight, I can sing the praises of my merciful Father. And on the rough days, when I'm swamped in worldliness and sin, I just kind of curl up and rest on my God, until it passes. Peace grows and faith grows, and as a result I grow. It all starts with the connection to God, all flows like milk from Him and His word. 

So if I can suggest one thing, cultivate with all your effort that connection to God. Ask him to show you how, ask him to explain his word, ask him for guidance, God is good and just, and he answers, and gives out love and mercy generously. 

God bless you all, and have a wonderful night.

Sermon: Becoming the Person God Created You to Be

It's a beautiful summer here in middle Wisconsin.  I love summer.  I always feel really on top of my game during the summer months.  We only get three here by the way, the rest is cold, brutal, unending snowy wastes.  The seasons that the world goes through are pretty interesting, don't you think?  Here in Wisconsin are winter is a bit longer, but there's always four seasons: summer, fall, winter, and spring.

I find that very interesting.  But, my head is always going you know?  Hopefully we can keep it going a good direction today.  Summer is like the way the garden of Eden was probably.  It was beautiful, bright, warm, comfortable and alive.  Humanity failed to keep it together in paradise, as we all are painfully aware of.  So God sent humanity out.  That's kind of like Autumn don't you think?  Everything dies, and it gets cold.  Yet it's so beautiful.  Then you have winter.  Which is kind of like man's time of testing, here on Earth.  It's through these trials and struggles we go through on Earth, the hard times, like in winter when it's cold and difficult.  Maybe it's also in our struggles that are sins are made as white as snow.  Like, through suffering and turning away from God, we learn we need Jesus Christ in our lives.  And when we accept that sacrifice as sufficient to pay for our sins, then spring comes.  And we grow from the ashes into the human being we're suppose to be.

I'd like to start out today by talking about fruit.  Nope, I'm not talking about apples and oranges. I'm talking about fruit the Holy Spirit produces in our lives. When we accept Christ, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and through this force, God works on us. Maybe that's what Obi-Wan and Luke Skywalker were talking about on Dagoba. 

Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV) says:

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

So we can rely on the Holy Spirit to add these things to us.  But we can't just sit back and wait for it to happen. There are plenty of things we can do to help it along.  But the powerful work is done by God in changing us, it's one we have it that we have to maintain and grow those changes into a lifelong lifestyle of these things mentioned in Galatians.  

How do we fan the flames once God is working on us?  Well we can read our Bible regularly. We can get to church regularly. We can listen to audio sermons regularly.  Those are some great things to do on a daily basis. Unfortunately there may not be a truly scriptural church in our area, but then we can find plenty online to keep us Christ-centered. And no joke, it's hard to stay centered in this world.  Don't underestimate the power of listening to audio sermons, reading the Bible, or doing daily readings. Our minds need maintain just like our bodies.

The stories in the Bible show us important character traits to have. I look to the great heroes of the Old and New Testament for how I should be as a man.  Let's take a look at some characteristics of Biblical heroes.  These are the traits I want to carry with me on my walk with Christ:

I want to have a singleness of purpose, like Joshua had when he lead the armies of Israel to victory after victory in the conquest of the promised land.

Joshua 1:7-9 NIV  “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸ Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. ⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

I want to have the trust in God that Abraham carried with him.  All he had was a promise from an angel that he his descendants would be as numerous as the stars.  And he had to wait years and years for that to come to fruition.  But he trusted God, and it came to be.

Galatians 3:6 NIV So also Abraham "believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

I want to have the utter wisdom King Solomon had.  God told him he could ask for anything, and he asked for wisdom and discernment.  God was impressed, and awarded it to him abundantly.  People from all over the world went to him for wisdom, and leadership advice.  I want that.

2 Chronicles 1:10-12 NIV ¹⁰ Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
¹¹ God said to Solomon, “Since this is your heart’s desire and you have not asked for wealth, possessions or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king, ¹² therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, possessions and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have.”

I want to have the peace of Paul. Paul once persecuted the followers of Jesus the Christ. Then Jesus came to him and changed his heart.  He went on to write much of the New Testament.  In the end he was persecuted and thrown in jail.  Many of his writings came in letters that he sent from the jail where he was held.  The peace of his mind can be seen in these letters.  I want that kind of peace in my daily life.

Acts 16:25 NIV About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

I want to have the passion for God that David had.  David was brutal and intense and raw with his love for God.  It was complete.  He danced before the ark of the covenant.  His psalms are some of the most beautiful poetry ever written.  

Acts 13:22 NIV After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: 'I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.'

I want to have the integrity that Jesus the Christ had.  The son of God, who never made a single sin in his life.  Of course I won't find perfection in this life, but it's something I can aspire toward.

2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

And those are things we can ask for in prayer.  I like to look at the mistakes I've made over the day and ask God to remove the defects behind those mistakes.  What are my motivations?  Am I working for God in the world or am I working for myself?  Am I being selfish?  Then I ask God to make me selfless.  Am I being inconsiderate?  God, please make me considerate and compassionate.  Step by step, day by day, God changes my heart.  And that's really where my actions start, at what's in my heart.  Let me encourage you to pray for God to change you, one thing at a time.

"O Sovereign Lord! You have made the heavens and earth by Your great power. Nothing is too hard for You!" (Jeremiah 32:17).

Is there anything too hard for God?  

The answer is no, there is not anything God can't do.  So trust that he can, and he will.  But he wants our trust and our faith.  That kind of faith empowers us, and he then works through us and on us.  It's really amazing stuff.  God is amazing.

Some Pastors tend to speak negative sermons, and just unleash on the audience. Difficult messages have a place in every congregation, but what I've found during my time on Earth, is that love is the primary motivator in my life.  Love causes me to change and become better.  Guilt and the fear of the Lord can at times help me turn from sin.  But in the long run, a constant diet of shame and guilt leads me to giving up, because I just can't measure up.

I'm trying to be a better man everyday.  And that trying is enough for God. Our debt is already paid in Jesus Christ. He sacrificed himself and bore the weight of our sins on the cross.  This made us clean, and we can now approach God in his name, and he grants our requests.  We are restored to conscious communion with our Heavenly Father.  

Philippians 4:13 says: I can do all things through Christ^[a] who strengthens me.

I'm not here to make you feel guilty.  I'm just not.  I'm here to encourage you to become a better and better person.  And you can.  With God, you can.  Jesus Christ made sure of that, over 2,000 years ago.  

For me, when I'm getting upset or discontented, I need to look at my basic daily maintenance. Just like my body, which requires showering, clean clothing, food, shelter, and relationships, my mind requires maintenance, or it gets all sorts of muddy up there. I need to check and see that I'm doing my morning readings. I need to make sure I'm praying several times a day. I need to make sure I'm getting to my home church here in town. And I need to make sure I'm reading the Bible regularly.  

And the last time I got discontented, I noticed that I wasn't adequately reading my Bible. I was seeing a lot of verses on the computer, and at church but I wasn't taking the time to just sit down and read whole chapters. So you know what I did?  I sat down and read the first three chapters of Mark.  It was a wonderful experience.  I had this epic electronic music playing in the background, and God must've been working because it really just jumped off the page. It felt really epic reading it with the intense epic music in the background, and you know why? Because it is epic!

This is a book that survived persecution after persecution. It was secretly passed down for hundreds of years, until finally it could be in the open. Once it was in the open though, it ended up being misinterpreted by religious leaders, who then started things like crusades and inquisitions, which I'm sure greatly upset God.  

It was like once they, and by they, I mean the powers that work against the true Christian church, once they realized they couldn't suppress it they tried to control knowledge of it.  Once the printing press was invented, they couldn't stop the spread of it, so they switched to propaganda, telling us that only religious leaders could read the actual Bible and interpret it. Apparently it was beyond our comprehension.

Thankfully, the word spread and spread through the centuries, and eventually, technologies came about, like the type-writer, then the computer.

Then the internet came about, and communication between individuals and groups increased.  Pretty soon the Bible was available everywhere, and true Christians were reading it all the time! So now what do they try? 

Well, it seems like their latest attempt is to hide the Bible in plain sight.  It's there and we have access to it, but it's not "cool." It's taboo to talk about in public. Meanwhile the media endlessly plays on our lower nature and tempts us at every turn. All the while you've got a endless distractions, scrolling and scrolling on our phones until entire days disappear.

The Bible hasn't become obsolete. However, some of the modern churches fail to apply it to modern day circumstances. They've become the old brick buildings in town, that seem like relics of bygone eras. People hear the out of tune bells ringing and wonder at the archaic institution of religion. I used to think that way. And boy was I wrong. But it's a perfectly delicious lie, a smug, superior attitude that makes one feel superior. 

But it's not the truth. It's just another twist of the enemy, and a way to cut God out of modern life.  But don't worry, no one can keep God's people down for long. Many new churches are starting. Some are biblical, some aren't. We have to be cautious. But a lot of these churches go straight from the Bible. They don't preaching false doctrine. It's always good to be careful and use discernment, but watch for these wonderful churches. There is a revival taking place.  

Christianity, the Bible, and God tend to get pushed to the side in our society. It's quietly ignored and arrogantly looked down on. But millions and millions are waking up to the truth. There is a growing fire and longing for  truth so bright in America, and the status quo and corporate media try to box it in, so the general public can't see the glow, but it just keeps shining through. Every time they try to silence the light, God makes sure it shines through all the more.

I need to look at that and say, I'm in for the long haul. I may not see powerful success for years and years, but I'm gonna keep being my best and stand on the word. And I know, one day God will reward that faithfulness with powerful victory in my life.  

Pray: Heavenly Father, please care for those who fight for the truth in the world. Care for their hearts, and give them success in their endeavors. Help them to spread truth, love, liberty, and most importantly the message of Christ to all the peoples of the Earth.  Grant them peace in this storm Father, please, grant them strength. Grant them humility, remove any pride.  In Jesus name, Amen.  

Have a wonderful rest of your day, God be with you!