I have Rights!

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These are some of the most famous lines from the United States Declaration of Independence.

Rights! We in the states even call the first 10 Amendments to our Constitution our “Bill of Rights.”

Rights! Our student handbook at Pine Forest High School carried the title, “Students’ Rights and Responsibilities.” Where my son attends we sign a Student/Parent/School Compact that includes the Rights he has a a student.

I have rights! And according to the US Declaration of Independence, some of them come from God. Recently in our Wednesday Bible Studies we discussed one of our God-given rights: the privilege we have to talk directly to God in prayer.

As God’s child, I do not have to have a religious power, an ancestor, or a decease religious figure as a solicitor to God on my behalf. I can talk directly to God.

Consider these scriptures:

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:14-16)

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Gal 3:24-29)

My gender, economic status, or ethnicity cannot and do not prevent my access to God. When I by faith put on Christ according to His plan (immersion into Him) than I am God’s child and can speak in the presence of God.

What a great God we serve!

- Scott

Have You?

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (Luk 14:26-33)

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (Col 3:1-5)

Jesus talks about the importance of it.

Paul repeats the same thing.

Abraham had to learn to do it.

Have you?

Have you fully surrendered your life to God?

• “I go to church.” – That’s not what I asked. Have you FULLY surrendered YOUR life to God?
• “I pray.” - That’s not what I asked. Have you FULLY surrendered YOUR life to God?
• “I am a member of _________ Church” - That’s not what I asked. Have you FULLY surrendered YOUR life to God?
• “I am a Christian.” - That’s not what I asked. Have you FULLY surrendered YOUR life to God?
• “I was baptized.” - That’s not what I asked. Have you FULLY surrendered YOUR life to God?

One more passage, “For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,” (1Th 1:9).

So, have you FULLY SURRENDERED YOUR life to God?

- Scott

Driving Rant

WARNING!  I am about to go on a rant. I am stepping up on a soap box and I will not come down until I have my say. This is my prerogative - this is my blog – I will say what I want to say and then turn the comments over to you.

Christians, we need to be careful about what we allow to enter our homes on that TV.  I am going to give a list of current shows on TV and a list of new names for those shows and let you match them up:

1. The Big Bang Theory
2. The Bachelor
3. The Bachelorette
4. Dancing with the Stars
5. Pretty Little Liars
6. Scandal
7. Modern Family
8. Vegas
9. Revenge

• A) The Harem
• B) Diminutive Dishonest Divas
• C)  Immense Innuendo Hypothesis
• D) The Madam
• E) Mocking Family
• F) Sin SPIN
• G) Gambling Against Hell
• H) Lasciviousness on Hardwood with Has-beens
• I)  Returning Evil for Evil

Now match the answers and then decide if we should be watching.

- Scott

Haiku Deck

I am trying out Haiku Deck on my iPad as a presentation tool.  To test it out I put together (in less than 15 minutes) a presentation of an old blog post – Ten Commandments of Human Relationships.  Below is the Haiku Deck, click on the picture to see the presentation:

Check Haiku Deck out for yourself at http://www.haikudeck.com

On the Radio

Classic!

This week a radio station in our area played a call from listener. This female listener was complaining about her parents. Here is a transcript of the complaint:

“I’m 30, and I’m bringing my boyfriend home to meet my parents for the first time in a few weeks. My parents are weird about stuff like that, so they’re making me and my boyfriend sleep in separate bedrooms. But he’s 36 . . . and it just seems like a weird thing to do. I guess my parents just don’t want to think about us together in their house. Should adult boyfriends and girlfriends sleep in separate beds at their parents’ house? Doesn’t the whole separate bedrooms thing seem a little too old-school in this day and age?”

The calls and comments started coming in and varied between two basic opinions:

1) Her parents need to respect her as an adult and allow them to share a bed.

2) She needs to be an adult and respect her parents wishes and not share a bed with her boyfriend in her parents home. If they cannot be apart for that long, get a hotel.

There is something missing. What about respect for God? Consider these words from God’s Word:

• Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Rom 13:13-14).
• Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, (1Co 6:18-19)
• But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 

  (Eph 5:3)

• For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 

  (1Th 4:3-4)

Sexual intimacy is for marriage only - Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. (Heb 13:4)

These parents are not being “old fashioned” they are trying to help them do what is right and avoid what is wrong.

- Scott

Busy?

The Busy Life of Jesus: (A.K.A. Doesn’t God know that I am busy?)

We have created work cultures which are pushing people beyond their limits. When we look

Wait, I am getting a text . . .

at our schedules, we doubt anyone is as busy as we are. To be completely honest, everyone else has it easy compared to me.

Our calendars are full with work, school, extra-curricular activities, club memberships, gym memberships, shopping trips (groceries), TV shows, and church events. Looking at all we do, we look back in time and think we would find relaxation living in a “simpler time,” a time when life was not so hectic. If lived in such a time I would have more time to do what needs to be done as well as have time to myself.

Jesus lived in what we would consider a “simpler” time. But Jesus was busy. The Gospel accounts only give a record of about 30 days in the life of Jesus, yet in that time, He was about His Father’s business. He stated, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work,” and “I must work the works  .  . . while it is still day.”  He opened a prayer saying, “I have finished the work which You have sent Me to do,” and he closed His life stating, “It is finished! (cf. Luk 2:49; John 4:34; 9:4-5; 17:4; 19:30.) Jesus was busy!

During his life He performed multiple miracles: 1) Four in nature, 2) Seven handicapped, 3) Three raised from the dead 4) Three demons cast out, 5) Five blind given sight 6) One deaf man healed 7) Healed lepers, and 8) Twice he fed the multitudes.

During His ministry he taught between 35 and 44 parables. He delivered many other sermons (Matt 5-7), and took many other opportunities to teach. John records, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” (Joh 21:25).

1. Jesus was busy, but He was not too busy to Observe God’s Creation: Mat 6:28
2. Jesus was busy, but never too busy to be with People: Luk 2:52 – He grew in favor with man
3. Jesus was busy, but not too busy to Help Just One: John 3 Nicodemus; John 4 Woman at Well; John 8 – Adulterous Woman
4. Jesus was busy, but not too busy for Children: Mat 19:13-15
5. Jesus was busy, but not too busy to Assemble: Luk 4:16
6. Jesus was busy, but not too busy to PRAY. There are over 20 prayers of Jesus recorded in the New Testament. (cf. Heb 5:6-7)
7. Jesus was busy, but not too busy for ME and YOU! Rom 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

How Busy Are You? What is really important? What is taking up your time?

Let us prioritize our time for God!

- Scott

Committing to Your Spouse

Cover via Amazon.com

Commitment is key to a great marriage. Most of us in our vows made a promise to “keep ourselves to our spouse until death parts us.” However, in my observation, many couples struggle to follow through. Do you want a great marriage? Do you intend to stay together. Here are four – count them – only Four Steps for Maintaining Commitment in Your Marriage*:

1. Make and take very specific steps toward the goals and dreams you have together.
2. NEVER take your spouse for granted nor neglect your relationship.
3. Daily recommit yourself to your spouse.
4. Pray to God asking Him to help you in your commitment and pray for your spouse as well.

There you have it.  Now put it into practice.

BTW: Substitute Christ for your spouse and you have a four good points on how to be committed as a Christian.

- Scott

*adapted from H. Norman Wright, So You are Getting Married, (1985) p 11

Because

This morning as we were getting ready for the day, the radio was playing in the background.  Usually, it is background noise and I am not consciously aware of the talk or the music playing.  However these lyrics sung by Celine Dion (written by Diane Warren) caught my attention:

You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn’t speak
You were my eyes when I couldn’t see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn’t reach
You gave me faith ‘coz you believed
I’m everything I am
Because you loved me

I am not sure who the song is about or if it is a general reflection on as Huey Lewis sang, “The Power of Love.”  As I heard it this morning, I immediately thought about the love God has for me. Look at the chorus line by line:

• You were my strength when I was weak: “My power is made perfect in weakness.” 2Co 12:8
• You were my voice when I couldn’t speak: ” . . . but the Spirit intercedes fir us with groanings to deep for words.” Rom 8:26
• You were my eyes when I couldn’t see: “For we walk by faith and not by sight.” 2Co 5:7
• You saw the best that was in me: “But God shows His love for us while we were 
• still sinners . . .” Rom 5:8
• Lifted me up when I couldn’t reach: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Phi 4:13
• You gave be faith ‘coz you believed: “Greater love has no one that this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13
• I am everything I am Because you loved me: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1Jn 4:10-11

Thank you God for your love and your grace.  Thank you for loving me and by love leading be to be more than I could be without you. In Jesus’ name . . .

In Christ Alone,

Scott

The Problem of Crime and Violence

“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,” This passage from Rom 1:24-30 sounds as if it could be from today’s headline or lead news story.

• Entitlement
• Gun Violence
• Violence in general
• Crime
• Disrespect for Law (Law Enforcement)
• Hateful attitudes
• Unwed parenting
• Sexual Immorality
• and the list goes on . . .

How do we put a stop to all these things?  At the very least, how can we slow down the number of occurrences? Are more laws the answer? Maybe or maybe not.  Are tougher penalties the answer? Possibly or possibly not.

The answer begins at home.  We must get our homes back to what they should be.  We must train our children at home – hands on.  This starts when they are born and continues even when they are in school (home-schooled, private school, or public school).  Parents, we NEVER stop being our children’s firt and primary teacher.  This is God’s plan all along: Deut 6:3-9, “Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

To do this means we will do more that tell our children what to do and how to behave.  We will model it.  We will live as God’s person and live with God every second of every minute of every hour of every day so that our children not only hear but also see how to live.

- Scott

A Repeat Post on Examples

Pliny the Younger (A. D. 100) claimed, “Example, the surest method of instruction.”

Pope John XXIII observed in 1940, “Words move, but examples draw”

Daniel Boorstin stated, “Human models are more vivid and more persuasive than explicit moral commands.”

As Christians these statements remind us the importance of being an example to others (1 Tim 4:12).

I Am My Neighbor’s Bible (Dorthy Keeling)

I am my neighbor’s bible
He reads me when we meet
Today he read me in my home
Tomorrow in the street

He may be a relative or a friend
Or slight acquaintance be
He may not even know my name
Yet, he is reading me

So, I’ll watch my steps where ere they go
And my eyes what they may see
And all the words forth from my lips
Because someone is reading me

I’ll try my best to do God’s will
And be what He wants me to be
An all seeing eye is looking down
And I know He’s reading me

And so my God, who reads us all
Knows me from A to Z
And when I meet him on Judgment Day
He’ll still be reading me

But if I do all of these things
Just so someone may see
And works not prompted by my love
I’ll never be set free

La Rochefoucauld (circa 1650) said, “Nothing is so contagious as example, and our every really good or bad action inspires a similar one.”

What is the example you set for others?

- Scott