Satisfaction Guarantied

 
  We have but a few real guaranties in life. When we buy anything we all look for the manufacturer’s warranty. We make sure we are familiar with its parameters so we don't void it. Some of the guaranties we get in this world seem to be somewhat bleak; death (10 out of 10 people die), taxes, poor people, politicians will lie. Some are very encouraging; children being born, good friends, favorite meal, favorite song, a smile. What makes us really satisfied when we think about it?
   In one of my weekly Bible lesson prep days I was reading the story in Luke 9:10-17.  It's a familiar story, is the feeding of the five thousand.  At first glance when you read the story you go "Oh Wow!" "What an amazing miracle!" When you dig into it, in a more scholarly manner you find out things that make it even more amazing. The fact that scholars believe that not mentioned is the fact that the 5K men may have had women and children with them. This tidbit of information makes it even more amazing because it implies that at least 13-15 thousand people were fed that day. Just try to wrap your mind around that; 13-15K people fed in one day from five loafs of bread and two fishes. If you do not stop there you will start to see the little things in the story.
   Jesus was trying to take his disciples aside to give them some time to recover from preaching to other towns right before this episode. In the midst of their time-out with Jesus people show up and Jesus has compassion for them and starts healing and preaching to them. Noticed the disciples attitude when it starts go down. They showed concern for the people but it totally escaped their minds that they had the solution to the hunger problem. Their concern was; "look at all these people, there is no way we can house, let alone, feed them all. Let's ask Jesus to send them away until tomorrow, they will listen to Him he's, well Jesus after all." So the disciples go to Jesus and instead of asking what to do, they already have a plan for what Jesus should do. Does that sound familiar to you?  They had good intentions but misguided plans. We have a tendency to try to give God a plan that he can follow for our lives don't we? Instead of asking Jesus; what should we do?
   Jesus has the best response of all time; "You feed them!" OH Snap! No He didn't! Then their focus got really narrow; "But all we have are these two fish and five loafs!" Their focus was on want they didn't have, enough to feed 5K, it should have been; let's start with what we have and see how it goes. Jesus then intervenes and the miracle takes place. Scripture uses the Greek word chortazō (khor-tad'-zo) which denotes the sense of filled to satisfaction to describe how everyone felt after they have all eaten.  Completely filled and in need of nothing more. If we surrender to God's involvement everyone who surrenders is satisfied. Then and only then will your satisfaction be guarantied

Brokenness; Have you been there?

Psalms 38; 51; 103; 32.

    Lord Forgive me for I have sinned! How can we put into words what that really means? Have I seen my condition and come to this conclusion or am I in a desperate place in need of God's salvation? Am I saying this to appease my guilt or to look good in front of others?

    King David was said to be a man after God's own heart. His prayers of brokenness are filled with a cry that cannot be described by simple words. His love for God is so deep that you can feel the pain he feels. You can almost see the tears and feel the down deep disappointment towards letting God down.

   Sins have consequences. We don't like to dwell on that fact, yet it's an inescapable truth. We just think that if we sin against anyone God will forgive us and if you are truly repentant that is true. Yet what kind of trail do we leave in the wake of our sin? Have you ever stopped to ask that question? Who or what gets affected by my sin?

First the people around us, those who we sin against directly. We now have left a mark or a wound on someone that we need to restore. The thought process should make us wonder how deep is the wound we have inflicted. What measures do we have to take to restore those relationships? Have you been there? The next group of people are those who are affected by the reaction to our sin of those we've sinned against. Here is what it looks like; my sin affects person A; person A then shares the pain and hurt my sin caused with person B; Person B is now disappointed, if not angry , with us; person B now goes and gossips (thier own sin) to others of what happened to person A because of our sin. The last but not least of those affected is God. Scripture tells us that when we sin we grieve the Holy Spirit. God has deep feelings for all his children. When John describes Jesus after Lazarus' death the Greek word for wept shows emotions and tears from Jesus. God grieves for our sins but He has also provided a solution to our sins. Forgiveness through repentance and surrender to Jesus as Savior and Lord.

    Do you see how our sin affects everything? So too repentance and surrender to Jesus changes you forever. Does your brokenness overwhelm you like it did David? Do like David did take it to the Lord in prayer, repent and start living as a forgiven child of God.

RH

Who Is In Control?

Who is in control?

Proverbs 25:28; “A person without self-control
      is like a city with broken-down walls.”

   In our everyday lives we like to have some semblance of order. We all like to be in control of our own lives. After all it is our one and only life. Contrary to what people say about re-incarnation you only get one chance at this life.  There are second chances in life, but there are no second chances at this life. So here we stand guided by our dreams and hopes, clawing and scratching and trying our best to be the best we can be. We are controlled by many things, in part by our ability to have self-control. The questions we ask ourselves are; Do we use our self-control the way it was meant to be used? Do we pick and choose when to show self-control? Do circumstances choose our ability to use self-control for us?

   We all have parts of our lives that we find difficult to control. From food to anger from relationships to habits, you name it something is really in control and it is not you. If we take inventory of the things we did this past week, how did you use your self-control in those seven days? Who or What got to you were you either showed self-control or lost it altogether? Here is the truth about self-control; to have it you must surrender control to God. It is only through surrendering to God’s grace and Holy Spirit and clothing ourselves with Jesus that we can have the strength to practice self-control in every situation in our lives.

   Here is what it looks like for some of us. You know you should come go to church yet you choose not to. Then you get this feeling of something missing in the pit of your stomach. You hear of an activity that is design for you to have fun and grow spiritually but constantly choose to go do something else. At the time it seemed like the thing to do, but down deep inside it left you empty. You decide that keeping your faith a secret will help you gain popularity and once you are popular you will tell people about it. You choose to pray when you need help yet you completely ignore God when everything is great in your life. You hear your parents, but you don’t listen. You talk harshly to them even though they are right and trying to look after you.  Do you make your choice of what to watch on TV and the internet or is someone else guiding you? Do you fall for the fancy ads that make everything look good when they are really just drawing you away from what God has for you?

Self-control or selfish-control, you be the judge.

RH

Exerpt from the sermon "The Other F-Word"

*Asking for forgiveness…

   Forgiveness doesn’t work unless we change our attitude of why we forgive or ask for forgiveness. All of us at some point or another consciously or unconsciously will ask ourselves this; what’s in it for me? Selfishness rears its ugly head and whoop there it is! What started as a noble cause turns into a, “I feel better now moment”.  That is why forgiving works for God so well. He is not keeping track of what’s in it for him and you know why? THERE IS NOTHING IN IT FOR HIM, He has everything. There is not one thing in this vast universe that God needs from us, yet the mystery of his infinite heart and mind gives us this ray of hope, HE WANTS US. 

   For some reason God wants you and me and he wants to forgive ALL of our sins……I know what you’re thinking, did he just say that? Yes I did, “God wants to forgive ALL of our sins”, try to put your mind around that thought, I’ll wait a few seconds……..All our sins; name calling, inappropriate relationships, disobedience to parents, authorities or God, cheating of any kind, lustful thoughts towards the opposite sex or same sex for that matter, Complaining and moaning about trivial stuff, not sharing the gospel, not serving others, idol worship (music, movies, TV, Video games, etc.), "That’s the way we’ve always done it" syndrome, gossip, The good old boys club or the good old girls club, “the holy clicks if you will”, the list goes on and on….The point is this, it’s not enough to know your sins, you have to do something about it! God allows us to forget the sins we forgive others, because otherwise we would withhold love from them, but we are given memory of ours to stay humble enough to not go back there ever! 

   If we don’t live the way God wants us to live.  We can bring sorrow to the Holy Spirit by the way we live. Asking for forgiveness must come at a time where we are desperate for God. It has to come at a time like in Psalm 38:5-6   “My wounds are foul and festering because of my foolishness. I am bent over and brought low; all day long I go around in mourning.”

 David ‘s sin towards God created such pain within him he was in the fetal position begging God for forgiveness. Have you been there?…Are you there now but are too proud to admit it? Do you need to cry out to Jesus today; do you have to do that today?…is your sin eating you up in a way that you need to cry out to God like David? Don't wait any longer call out to Him who loves you just the way you are, repent and change your life today.

Day 1

Today I became a blogger. Let's see what good i can do in this world.
rh