What incentive?

“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that, my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”
– Dr. Adrian Rogers.

Do Christians love each other?

Love is vitally important to Christians, for it should govern our relationships with other Christians, especially those with whom we strongly disagree. In the Corinthian church of Paul’s day, and in the evangelical church of our own day, strong polarization exists between charismatic Christians and non-charismatic Christians.

Listen to these words by D. A. Carson:

"In the entire range of contemporary Christian theology and personal experience, few topics are currently more important than those associated with what is now commonly called “the charismatic movement. … As the charismatic movement has grown, so also has it become more diversified, thereby rendering many generalizations about it remarkably reductionistic. But it is probably fair to say that both charismatics and noncharismatics (if I may continue to use those terms in non-biblical ways) often cherish neat stereotypes of the other party. As judged by the charismatics, non-charismatics tend to be stodgy traditionalists who do not really believe the Bible and who are not really hungry for the Lord. They are afraid of profound spiritual experience, too proud to give themselves wholeheartedly to God, more concerned for ritual than for reality, and more in love with propositional truth than with the truth incarnate. They are better at writing theological tomes than at evangelism; they are defeatist in outlook, defensive in stance, dull in worship, and devoid of the Spirit’s power in their personal experience. The noncharismatics themselves, of course, tend to see things a little differently. The charismatics, they think, have succumbed to the modern love of ‘experience,’ even at the expense of truth. Charismatics are thought to be profoundly unbiblical, especially when they elevate their experience of tongues to the level of theological and spiritual shibboleth. If they are growing, no small part of their strength can be ascribed to their raw triumphalism, their populist elitism, their promise of short cuts to holiness and power. They are better at splitting churches and stealing sheep than they are at evangelism, more accomplished in spiritual one-upmanship before other believers than in faithful, humble service. They are imperialistic in outlook (only they have the ‘full gospel’), abrasive in stance, uncontrolled in worship, and devoid of any real grasp of the Bible that goes beyond mere proof-texting. Of course, both sides concede that the caricatures I have drawn admit notable exceptions; but the profound suspicions on both sides make genuine dialogue extremely difficult. This is especially painful, indeed embarrassing, in the light of the commitment made by most believers on both sides to the Bible’s authority."

A less individualistic gospel

Ben Sternke posted this on his blog recently. I like it a lot. Let's do some more stuff like this...  http://benjaminsternke.typepad.com

Scot McKnight apparently recently took a stab at a brief gospel presentationthat manages to de-stabilize the individualism of most presentations I've heard. He preached a gospel that manages to keep the church front-and-center in God's purposes (as it should be, I think). See what you think:

God loves you and everyone else and has a plan for us: the kingdom community.

But you and everyone else have a sin problem that separates you and everyone else from God, from yourselves, from one another, and from the good world God made for you.

The good news is that Jesus lived for you, died for you, was raised for you, and sent the Spirit for you - so you all can live as the beloved community.

If you enter into Jesus' story, by repentance and faith, you can be reconnected to God, to yourself, to others, and to this world.

Those who are reconnected like this will live now as God's community and will find themselves eternally in union with God and communion with others.

Those who preach this gospel will not deconstruct the church. Instead, they will participate in what God is doing: constructing the kingdom community even now.

Precious Friends

The Bible says there is a friend who is closer than a brother. Thank God for friends who walk with you through the ups and downs of life. Thank God for those whose partnership never wavers even when it costs them tremendously.  

I am coming through a season of extreme challenge and severe testing. I have discovered again who my real friends really are. Some hang around only when things are hunky-dorry. Some only seek you out for what you can do for them. Some are critics who can only see what's wrong and never have a word of encouragement. But there are some whose love for you is so genuine they hang with you through thick and thin. And when you really need someone the most, they are there for you. Friendship is a precious gift of love. Thank you all dear friends for your faithful kindnesses and enduring caring.  People come into our lives for a reason, a season, and a few for a lifetime. Thank God for those whose friendship never wavers.

Pay Attention, There is a War going on...

   In 1933 an Austrian born Psychiatrist named William Reich made this statement (remember that Austrian psychiatrists like Sigmund Freud at this time, were influential and akin to Swiss watches or German Porsches today): 

    “We, as communists, used to debate people about the existence of God and after a while, I came to the conclusion that this was a waste of time.  You aren’t going to debate people away from the existence of God.  But what we found was that if you get people involved in deviant sexual behavior, the whole idea of God just disappears automatically.”

 

Micah Clark, AFA, IN

What does it matter if I tithe?

Did you know that if those who said they were Christians tithed to their churches, there would be 168 billion dollars given? To take care of all the world’s basic needs (food, clean water, clothing, health, etc.) cost $89 billion. That means the churches in the US alone could take care of all the world’s issues each year and still have almost half of what was tithed to share the Gospel. That is a dream to me. I don’t know if it could ever happen – Jesus said we would always have the poor among us. Yet, if we would give sacrificially like we really could and should, maybe Jesus’ statement would be challenged.  Timothy Miekley

Dealing with Rejection

Have you ever prayed the prayer "O God I just want to know you better?"  Perhaps we have even breathed the words the Apostle Paul penned in Philippians 3:10 "…that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death…"  

Certainly knowing the many facets of the Father would include knowing His sufferings.  The gospel of John speaks to us of how Jesus suffered rejection.  He was rejected not only by his own family members, but by the community in which He was raised.  John 1:11 says "He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him."  What a sad thing when we think of it.  But Jesus experienced rejection from those to whom he was closest.  His disciples ran away from him at the hardest moment of his life on earth. 

If we are to experience the suffering of rejection we must also know of His deep love and affection for us.  We must believe that He accepts us and never rejects us.  It is comforting to realize that He didn't 'have' to choose us, but it was His pleasure to choose us "…in him before the foundation of the world."  (Ephesians 1:4)

Healing for rejection requires large doses of God's love being poured into our hearts and allowing our minds to be renewed so we see the rejection from His perspective.  God graces us with a renewed mind so the rejected can begin to think like the accepted that we truly are. God always has us on His mind and wants us to stay in him as He is in us.   That's really close.  Carolyn Allen

Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, John Greenleaf Whittier

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,

Forgive our foolish ways!

Reclothe us in our rightful mind,

In purer lives Thy service find,

In deeper reverence, praise.

In simple trust like theirs who heard

Beside the Syrian sea

The gracious calling of the Lord,

Let us, like them, without a word

Rise up and follow Thee.

O Sabbath rest by Galilee!

O calm of hills above,

Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee

The silence of eternity

Interpreted by love!

With that deep hush subduing all

Our words and works that drown

The tender whisper of Thy call,

As noiseless let Thy blessing fall

As fell Thy manna down.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,

Till all our strivings cease;

Take from our souls the strain and stress,

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy peace.

Breathe through the heats of our desire

Thy coolness and Thy balm;

Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;

Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,

O still, small voice of calm!

[

God's Grand Plan

God’s Grand Plan

Lord Jesus, we all have our weaknesses

It is only by your grace that we can stand. 

Enfold us in your love and kindness

Knowing we are safe within your hands.

Just when we think we are free from falling

We get caught in Satan’s trap-his ungodly plan. 

Our pride takes us down paths we never dreamed of

Because we are weak—we are man.

So turn our broken hearts back to you Lord

Create something good and grand!

This is not to bring us glory but to show your compassion

And just how much you understand! 

“so I have looked for you in the sanctuary.

To see your power and your glory

Because your lovingkindness is better than life.

My lips shall praise you.”

Psalm 63:3 

Selah from Sheila Telando

Encourage One Another

By Lynette Schaefer

The Bible uses the word “encourage”, “encouraged”, “encouragement” and “encourages” in many places.  The Holman Christian Standard Bible uses “encourage” 21 times, “encouraged” 21 times, “encouragement” 12 times, and “encourages” 1 time.  Strong’s Lexicon’s Hebrew word for “encourage” ischazaq (khaw-zak'), the Greek is paramutheomai (par-am-oo-theh'-om-ahee) and protrepomai (prot-rep'-om-ahee).  Both mean to comfort or exhort. 

If you take the time to do a word search in places like Crosswalk.com and find all the verses that contain any of the above words, you will see God’s character shining through.  In almost every instance, we see that God seeks to encourage His people as He wants us to be like Him and to encourage one another in His ways. (1Thess. 4:18; 5:11)  In these last days of Apostasy where everyone seems to be doing what is right in his own eyes (Jud. 17:6; 2Tim 3:1) , we need to seek ways in which we can encourage one another as God encourages us.  It is our responsibility to foster the well-being of each other as fellow believers. What are some ways we can do this?

1. Exhort to walk close to Jesus and remain committed to Him in faith.(Rom. 15:4) It is through our endurance and encouragement of the scriptures that we have hope.  Endurance means perseverance, and we persevere because of the encouragement of the Scriptures.  We can only have encouragement of the Scriptures when we “feed” on them daily and absorb their many spiritual “nutrients”.  That is foundational to our Christian faith and in knowing who God is.

2. Build and strengthen. (2Thess. 2:17) Encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.  We gain strength when we pursue biblical Truth in our daily activities and interactions with others.  We give strength when we encourage others to stay focused on the Lord and not veer off course where we’ll be derailed by the trappings of the world.

3. Motivate others to be their best. (Phil. 4:8) Pursuing moral excellence through character building.  Become more like Jesus.  We should make it our objective to strive for excellence in everything we do, and stay away from mediocrity or lukewarmness.  Likewise, we give the same support to those around us and make them feel worthy of God’s love by motivations we give them.

4. Comfort the hurting/weak/sick. (1Thess. 5:14) If we see anyone who is struggling in their Christian walk, instead of judging, we need to help them in their weakness so they’ll make better choices.  Sometimes folks go through very hard times and have many personal struggles.  It can happen to any of us!  So when we see someone “down on their luck”, try to be of service and help in meeting their needs.  It’ll make us stronger in the process!

5. Heal the brokenhearted. (Luke 4:18) Jesus stated publicly that it was His mission to bind up wounds and heal the brokenhearted.  He ultimately did that on the Cross.  There were many brokenhearted people who were lost and needed the Gospel and a Savior, which He preached to them during His earthly ministry.  We need to remind ourselves and other people that we are no different and to look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith.  In Him we have that healing and cleansing.

6. Hope for a hopeless world. (Rom. 5:1-5) We can rejoice to having obtained peace with God by accepting His Son as our personal Savior. We now have a real hope of eternal life and know with certainty that Jesus will bring us to Heaven.  That is also our Blessed Hope, that we make it an event we look forward to and to obey His command to WATCH for Him and be ready. (Mark 13:33; Matt. 25:13; Matt. 26:41; Matt. 24:43).  Watching for me is an encouragement as I see current events unfold and know how they are lining up with references about the end times. (2 Tim. 3:1; 1Thess. 5; Luke 21:28-32; Matt. 24; Dan. 12; 2 Pet. 3:3).

7. Resting in the Promises given to us in Scripture.  (2Pet. 1:4; Jer. 29:11) These are referred to in Peter as “great and precious promises”, and they certainly are!  In my mind, there can’t be anything better than to “share in the devine nature” which we will be given.  I’m looking forward to it as I get older!  That is real encouragement to me, to be finally free of limitation and sin when I’m transformed into a glorious being.

Encouragement is a buffer against Satan.  He would like nothing better than to tear us down, make us feel impotent, like we don’t belong, that we’re not really saved, motivate us to make wrong choices or take our eyes off Jesus.  Let’s be wary of him!  He goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (1Pet. 5:8)  Although he is an accuser of the brethren, (Rev. 12:10), his days are numbered and he has already been defeated on the Cross (1Cor. 15:51-57). God has therefore equipped us in every way to live victorious in Him when we wholly depend upon the Holy Spirit which resides within us.  Let’s keep that in mind as we go about our job of being spiritual soldiers.

Spiritual Warfare Prayer, Heartland Church, Jan. 11, 2009

This prayer was crafted at the request of Heartland Church staff, Elders, and transition team as we discerned the swirl of spiritual warfare that was hindering us in this season. The podcast of the service can be downloaded at www.hccfw.com.

Father God, we come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We confess our sins of unbelief. We have not believed you are who you say you are, and we have doubted you can do what you say you can do. That has caused us to mistrust one another and lean on our own understandings. This has sabotaged our life together in Heartland Church. We have been suspicious of one another, and judged one another by assigning motive to others actions, words, and feelings that may not be true. We come to you Father God to repent of these sins. And we forgive all who may have influenced us to sin in these areas of our lives. 


(Stop and reflect on those in our life who have influenced us in this manner.  Each of us needs to say specifically who this is in our lives as the Holy Spirit prompts us.) 

I forgive ____ and ____ for their ungodly influences on my life and our church in these areas in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We repent, Father God, for giving place to the influence of demonic spirits of unbelief, mistrust, suspicion, and judging by wrongly assigning motive.   We are asking your help Father God, to embrace a new way of thinking and behaving in a Christ-like way in these areas of our life together.

We forgive ourselves for the confusion, pain and limitations we have allowed these demonic spirits to inflict upon us as a result of our sinful thinking and behavior. 

In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we renounce and break all agreement with these demonic strongholds of unbelief including all associated demons of suspicion, mistrust, and judging by wrongly assigning motive.

We take authority over all demonic strongholds of unbelief and command them to leave us each and every one and all of Heartland Church now, based on the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work of salvation on the Cross, and our declared Kingdom of God authority as Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Pondering Betrayal

If you deceive someone, you lose one of life's greatest treasures, you lose the capacity to trust. Because without trust, love is not possible.  Osho

The Blessing of Betrayal

As a youngster I loved to visit my great uncle. He was like a grandfather to me. His farm was within walking distance. Looking for him one fall day when I was about 10 or 11, I found him in the apple orchard out behind his big red barn. What he was doing shocked me. With a huge stick in his hands, he was whacking away at the apple trees. It was scary. I thought my kindly Uncle Elmer had gone berserk. But he didn't look mad. There he was methodically beating the daylights out of the apple trees. I couldn't imagine what vile deed the trees must have done to deserve such treatment. Finally, my uncle saw me and smiling at my confusion, explained to me. "Sometimes you have to shock these old trees that aren't giving much fruit into thinking they are going to die. Then they get busy and start really producing the fruit." Years later telling this to a friend who was an expert on fruit trees, he explained that the bruising that storms bring, and routine pruning prompt the trees to produce chemicals that stimulate their growth and fruitfulness. After helping my Uncle Elmer prune the trees till it looked like there was more of the limbs on the ground than what was left on the trees, he said, "Now there is room for growth and where there is new life, there will be new fruit. You just watch and see what happens next year. I love the apples these trees produce." I couldn't imagine waiting a year for anything at that age. But sure enough as the seasons passed, the apple crop the next year was outstanding, in taste and quantity. 

Sometimes when I find myself being pounded and punched by circumstances and people, I think about those trees. Many times I am shocked that God would permit me to go through experiences that are painful, that reduce, and often seem undeserved. I remember that John 15:2 declares, "Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away. Every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes, that it might bear more fruit." It's inevitable. It's part of what the Holy Spirit does. He sets us up, so He can set us right. Somehow when we have sinned, it's easier to take. But there are those occasions, when we can rack our brain and not come up with any reason to be taking a beating. God is doing a necessary and redemptive work. If we collapse in anger and self-pity, we are in danger of missing the benefit of God's strange work. We can't make it go faster, but we can make it last longer. 

In this season, God is provoking me to intimacy, to reduce me to dependency, to grow me to greater maturity and fruitfulness. 

Over the years, more than once I have been caught in the agony of being accused of some real or imagined sin by someone I counted as a dear friend only to realize that no matter what I said or did, trust had been ruptured and relationship wounded. Consequentially, reconciliation and the possibility of rebuilding trust hemoraged away while slander and gossip impugned me and the fruit of years of relationship and partnership evaporated away. One doesn't have to lie to slander someone. All that is done is to tell the truth but with a design to hurt. Just raising a question mark over someone's head is all it takes for folks to imagine the worst. Of course there is something wrong with everyone. But the assignment is to see love cover sin. Not to go sloppy, but to be redemptive. Galatians 6:1, reminds us that more than just identifying the problem we are to be instrumental in resourcing the solution. There is always the boomerang of judgement. "Judge not less you be judged with the same judgement wherewith you judge."

 

The devastation of betrayal comes not from the hand of a stranger, but from a friend. Psalms 55:12-14. "For it was not an enemy who betrayed me, then I could bear it. Nor was it one who hates me who has come against me. I could hide from him. But it was you, my friend, my companion. We were so close in fellowship and labor. We worked in ministry together." 

It is recorded in scripture that Abel was betrayed and murdered by his brother, Esau by his twin, Issac by his son, Uriah by his king, Jesus by his disciples, Paul by his brethern. It is not unusal for God to permit such a painful thing. So should we become wary and paranoid, dig a moat around ourselves and fill it full of alligators? No. Can we forget that Judas betrayal set Jesus up to fulfill the prophecy of God's salvation. 1 Peter 1:6,7 It is necessary to be refined through the painful heat of trials. The furnace of affliction will reduce our wood, hay, and stubble to ashes. But ashes only burn once. We should be careful not to assign blame for our pain on others. Ultimately, if God has permitted the trouble, it's for good and not for ill. 

Romans 8:28,29 God causes all things to work together for good. Even what came from our rebellion and sin, when submitted to the work of the cross, and covered by the blood, God will superintend over all of it in such a way as to bring a redemptive outcome. He wants us to be and do like Jesus. More than our comfort, God is interested in our development. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, sold as a slave, befriended by Potiphar, betrayed by his wife, and unjustly imprisoned. The years passed by as he was imprisoned. After befriending the butler, Joseph was betrayed again as the butler forgot his promise. As the years passed by Joseph refused to give in to self-pity and bitterness. Finally, Joseph is on the throne of Eygpt when his brothers show up for aid. While he had the power and authority to take revenge, he said, "What you meant for evil, God meant for good, that many might be saved." Genesis 50:20

 

If you find yourself betrayed by a friend, remember God could have intervened but He didn't. God has allowed these seasons of pruning to produce greater fruitfulness in us. Hardship delivers us from dependence on anything or anyone other than God. That is a blessing. God is not mean, He is merciful. 

Betrayal hurts. Our grief is not because a stranger has hurt us, but because it was someone we love. Let's pray for God to forgive us and them. If I don't forgive others, God won't forgive me. When I refuse to forgive I burn the very bridge I have to cross over. God will never ask me to forgive someone else more than what He has forgiven me. I pray for greater fruitfulness and restored relationships. God help me not to sabotage it.