How's your swordplay?

Ever since I was a younger boy, I've always loved movies. Don't ask me for a top 10, too difficult. But I can remember watching action movies, and seeing people like ninjas handling swords. Now Luke Skywalker was, in my mind the coolest carrying the light saber. And of course you had Leonardo of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But one of my all-time favorite movies is "The Sword in the Stone." I never owned it, and still don't for that matter (it's probably safely tucked away in the Disney Vault awaiting some anniversary attributed by some precious stone, or metal) but hope to in the future.

But I can remember the scene where people were trying to pull the sword out of the stone and no one could do it, and then along came some scrawny kid named Arthur and just pulled it out with ease. Then to his surprise came upon him great responsibility.

This visual has stuck with me and reminds me of a very important Biblical lesson with 3 points. (that should make some of you happy that I have 3 points.)

But let's dive right in:

1. The Word of God is our SWORD!
In Ephesians 6 we are told that we are given armor to withstand the wiles of the Devil, and our only offensive weapon is the word of God. We, Christians, have the responsibility to take the word and to take it in. I personally have around 20 Bibles. Some are antiques, some are keepsakes, some I have to use as examples. Some are paraphrases (which I don't recommend), some are closest translation from the original texts that we have, and I even have 1 Hebrew bible. And they all are important because each one of them holds the truth of God and His son Jesus Christ within the pages. And the awesome thing about the Bible is that it's not just pages that were translated and written down hundreds of years ago, each one is alive, because the words on that page tell of the power Christ has to change lives.
Our sword is a powerful weapon, and we need to look at it as such. We sometimes tend to think as the young Arthur did, "that's pretty cool, I think I can handle it." We take hold with both hands and start swinging, not really looking where we are aiming, but since we are Christian we "know" what we are doing.
The scary thing is when we read God's word and we act on our own ideas we are crossing the line of being in control. His word is our sword, and He gives it to us freely, but He also gives us the Holy Spirit which guides us in understanding (learning to use our sword) and without that we are still that scrawny Arthur that can barely pick it up, but we still don't mind trying to swing it so people see us "using" our SWORD.

2. We've got to study the SWORD
Fast-forwarding to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, we see 4 turtles that have been changed by some chemical material into turtles that would stand about average height with you or me. But they've also been training to be ninjas since the time they began changing (I really don't know why I gave a rundown of TMNT because everyone should know this movie). But they've spent time mastering their weapons, and Leonardo, not only master 1 Sword but 2. He had studied his weapon so well that he could handle it with no problem and use it both offensively and defensively.

2 Timothy 2:15 reminds us that we are to study to show ourselves "worthy" or "approved" in the sight of God to accurately handle God's word. We must spend time everyday in the word. Whether it's listening to the Bible on CD, or podcast. Bible study with friends, but especially spending some quality time just you, your Bible, and God.

God has given us the Holy Spirit to be our helper, to be our guide through His word. When we don't know the word, and haven't spent time in the word, then how are we expected to know how to use the word.

This means a few things for those of us that find it important to study God's word in order to use God's word.

The first: Context
The second: Context
The third: Context

When we use God's word out of context we are not fulfilling 2 Timothy 2:15, we are not handling God's word accurately. We are in simpler words, grabbing the sword by the blade and swinging the handle at the Enemy. When we do this we hurt ourselves. Think a minute about if you went into your kitchen right now and took out a carving knife held it by the blade and began chopping up vegetables, or fruit or some dessert. Your hands would be brutally hurt, and until they healed you wouldn't be able to handle things properly.
That is the same way when we use scripture to make "our" point to people, or we use scripture to "make ourselves in the right" or we use scripture to make a cool T-shirt fit something we think is neat. (The last one i had to throw in there because you all know you have seen one.)

So we have to study the word! If we don't we are only going to hurt ourselves.

3. We MUST use the Sword!

If we recognize the Bible as our sword, and we learn how to use it, but we let it sit on the shelf then how have we honored God? How have we ministered to God? We are called to first minister to Him, then to others. It is possible to do both at the same time, but we must honor the Father before anyone, or anything else.

We don't need to minister to God, or to other solely based on "our live experiences". Now we do need to go and tell what the Lord has done for us, and what He is doing in our lives. If we look at the writings of the Apostle Paul we see that is what He did. The awesome thing about it though, is that Paul always pointed it back to Christ. He never pointed to himself.

So many times we think we are praising God, but we are truly praising ourselves. We MUST use the sword. If we can't reflect back to the word, as we are reflecting on what God has done in our lives then we find ourselves relying more on our words than HIS WORD.

There is nothing that we will go through that we can't find: comfort, solution, any kind of answer for it in His WORD.

So how is your swordplay?

Catch of the Day!!!

Some of my earliest memories were of spending time with my family on some land we own right outside of Maben, MS. It's not a whole lot of land but to a child it was huge. We had trails all over the place, forts, creeks, and even a pond that was always the source of hours of entertainment. I can remember going fishing with my grandfather, dad, and brother many times and spend hours there. It is something that I long to share with my kids, even though they are small now I know it's never to early to pour into their lives and make memories with them. For father's day they got me a new fishing pole, and they each got their own as well, so I guess it's about time to get them started with days full of memories. Here are some pictures of fishing at our Family Life Center at church.

What Kind of Learner Are You?

I'm sure for some of you, you already know what kind of "learner" you are. But for those of you who have never wondered or never tried to discover I hope there is a little insight for you in this. I was required to take some kind of health and wellness class while I was in college and during the course of that class we talked about the different types of "learners." There are Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic learners. So basically you learn by: seeing, hearing, or doing.


Now I was a Junior in college and I didn't know exactly which one I was. So this was very interesting to me. I shortly discovered I was a mixture of visual, and kinesthetic. I can watch you do something, but If I do it along with you I can pick up on it better.
As I went on the seminary, I worked at a camp where we were put in charge of teaching some classes in the realm of "Outdoor Education." This is where I was reminded of the different learning styles, but I also learned a few things that I had never heard. Probably the most interesting statistic to me was that only 10% of humanity is a true auditory learner. God made it possible that I marry one of those 10%. And I personally think that it is pretty-stinkin' cool. You hear it and you got it. This has definitely challenged me to work on paying attention to what I am hearing. This has also challenged me to soak up more and more of what I read and apply those things.
In seminary I was blessed to have a professor that allowed us to listen to the new testament, if we preferred instead of reading it. And for me that worked out really well, and I was able to pick up on more stuff that I would have to go back and re-read. So in this one area of my life God began to develop me into a fraction of an auditory learner. Today I would prefer to listen to a podcast/sermon while I'm driving, or mowing the grass than I would music. It has become a tool for God to get my attention and use in my life.
I had a friend of mine in ministry show me this album about 6 months ago, and it has really caused me to go and re-read the new testament. Especially about the dealings of the church.

Even if you aren't a rap fan I encourage you to check it out. It breaks down the 9 marks of a healthy church in a way that are very understandable.

Why These Nine Marks? from 9Marks on Vimeo.

No matter what kind of learner you are, God will work in you how "He" sees fit. He will give you the tools to use, and grow you into the Man/Woman in Christ you need to be. We just need to keep being obedient to the calling He has put on our lives. He will develop us into the person He wants us to become and use whatever "learning" method that we require to do it.

Over the course of the next several weeks I'm "hopefully" going to be taking a deeper look at each one of these marks. Because no matter what kind of learner we are, we are here to bring God glory, and we, as His children, do that through His church.

We Are Not Alone

One book that I consider one of the best reads, and a must for anyone that is a Christian, is The Unquenchable Worshiper by Matt Redman. Now I'm not telling you to stop your quiet times in God's Awesome Holy Word for this book, and I don't think Matt would tell you that either. But I was introduced to this book my Junior year of College, where I borrowed it read it and loved it. I didn't by my own copy until 2 years later. Since that time I have read and re-read this book about once a year.

In chapter 3 of this book Matt is talking about a worship service that He was truly seeking the Holy Spirit's working in that place. He wrote that he felt that nothing was working, but then the Holy Spirit put a song in his head. It was a popular song at the time You Are Not Alone by Micheal Jackson.



Now you may be thinking ok, that's enough I'm not adding that book to my "Must Read" list. But it was a reminder to him that the Holy Spirit is always with us and always enables us to carry out whatever portion of God's will He has revealed to us at that time.

Personally I'm impatient, I don't know about the rest of you but I pray and seek God but I want an answer, and I want to be able to control the situations that will help me accomplish whatever I need to, to have that answer. And we want all of God's will revealed to us all at once. The incredible thing about that is, that it is 100% wrong. If God revealed His whole will to any of us, why would we need Him? He reveals what we need, let me say that again, what we NEED at that time to further the kingdom work.

Just like this song for Matt Redman, who has written some of the most awesome worship songs of this generation, God revealed to Him what was going to bring HIM glory. We are not alone! We should be excited about that, we should revel in the fact that the Holy Spirit is in us, and that we don't have to live our everyday lives, like we've been living them. We don't have to go to work tomorrow and get in our same routine. WE ARE NOT ALONE!

Why do we refuse to let the Holy Spirit to have complete control of our lives?

Why do we live like we have any control over our lives? This keeps us in our routines, this keeps us from living Holy Spirit inspired lives.

Whether you agree with what the Holy Spirit is telling you, to quote probably the best 1980's catch phrase, "Just Do It." Just do it, Psalms 55:22 tells us to cast our cares upon the Lord, and He will sustain us, He will never let the righteous fall." It isn't about what we like, it is about what God wants us to do. HE WILL SUSTAIN US!!

If we aren't going to live like we have the Holy Spirit in us, why do we boast in His name?

Who do we serve?

One struggle that I've always had in my life is trying to please everyone. Now I know the further you read into this post the more of you might disagree with what I am saying. But I have always been taught even before I came to know Christ as personal Lord and Savior, that God should be first. I can attribute that to many great Christian influences at school or in other areas of my life. But keeping God first has always been important to me, and sometimes it has caused arguments among friends and family. And I can look back upon my like so far and see that those arguments come from me not wanting to back down.

Now I'm not claiming at all to be some sort of Super-Christian. I'm not I am just as human as the next person. But I can see where digging in and not giving into outer influences was due to the Holy Spirit at work in me because I allowed God to be put first in my life. Now there were, and are still, times that I take on so much to where I put thing in between God and myself, but it's the Holy Spirit that brings me back to where I need to be, and convicts me to re-align my priorities.

"You shall have no other gods before Me." - Exodus 20:3 (NASB)

From the time God gave this to Moses, it hasn't changed.

The defintion of god, lowercase G, is :

(lowercase) an image of a deity; an idol.

(lowercase) any deified person or object

More so than not, we do this in our lives, but we've justified it to the point where we don't see that we are doing it. For Christians we do it with the things of God, or things that are involved in the Christian walk.

We do this with the church building, worship services, preachers, deacons, sunday school, VBS, Summer camps, etc... The list goes on and on, we put so much into these people or things that those things become our concern and we don't remember to focus on God. We are so concerned with the song selection, or what so-and-so is wearing at church that day. We forget that we are coming together in the presence of the Supreme Creator of everything, for His sake.

As Christians we live FOR HIS SAKE!! If we don't then we make an idol of whatever it is we are living for. School, work, family, friends, fun, etc...

God wants us to have a good time, but we forget that we are here for one purpose and that is to bring Him glory! Once we align ourselves with the image of Christ, start living a Christ-centered life, then our desires become that of God and Psalm 37:4 reminds us " Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart." (NASB) Anytime we try to delight ourselves in what we are doing, we aren't aligning our hearts with that of God.

I know as a human I am going to mess up, and one thing that I have learned in my time on this earth is that I'm not going to make everyone happy, but as I strive to delight myself in God, and keep Him first I know that that should be my first priority.

We get caught up in trying to make everyone happy, and I want everyone to understand something THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. Not that I don't want to serve people, I do and especially being in ministry that is what I am called to do. But first and foremost I am here to please God, and align myself with Him. If I do that then the out-flow of His love will be seen in my life, and in the service that He leads me to do.

If we just want to make people happy for the sake of making them happy, we will ultimately fail. But if we are in such a love relationship with God that we are seeking after Him constantly He is glorified.

"He is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him." - John Piper

So who are you putting first?

Do we yearn after God?

In my studies for my Wednesday night sermon for this week, on top of my already pre-determined convictions for the church as a whole, God gave me an incredible example in His word of how we need to seek after Him, in fact yearn after Him.

In Exodus 33:12-23 we find God's servant Moses coming to him with a longing spirit. Now Moses had already received the 10 commandments from God, and come down and broken them because of his anger towards the Israelites worshiping an idol. Now Moses is going back to God and wanting to see God, wanting to know Him in such a deeply personal way.
v. 12 & 13, is such a bold statement from Moses to God, but it is such a good word.(12) Then Moses said to the Lord, "See, You say to me, 'Bring up this people!' But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, 'I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight. (13) Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people."

Moses is interceding on behalf of his people, and asking God to continue to be with them (even though they have just bowed down to a false god.)

And in the next several verses we find God promising to continue to be with them and allowing the nation of Israel to be in His presence.

But the awesomeness has yet to happen. Next is what gets me, in verses 18-21. (18) Then Moses said, "I pray You, show me Your glory!" (19) And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion." (20) But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!

God listens to Moses' plea, and basically let's him know that He's in control, and that Moses is in His favor, but because that "He" is holy, and set apart no man can see Him and live.

The pure awesomeness of God is to much for our minds to comprehend.

But that is the God that loves us enough to want a personal relationship with Him, and we see Moses yearning to know Him more.

God was not telling Moses that he couldn't have that relationship, but that he couldn't see His face. We need to have that same yearning to know God more, and He will reveal Himself to us in His time.

What is our commitment worth?

I haven't blogged in a while but I've really been praying about getting back into it, or better yet making an effort in blogging.

Over the last 6 weeks we have been walking through the first several chapters of the book of Acts on Wednesday nights. Tonight we looked at the passage in chapter 5 on Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11). If you read through through the passage you quickly come to the realization that their sin was not holding back money, but lying to the Holy Spirit (God).
When they chose to follow God they gave up their rights to follow God and what His will would be for their lives. The same for us, when we make a commitment to follow God and to die to ourselves everyday, Luke 9:23, and then we put our desires aside and seek God's will so we can do what He has for us.

When we make that same commitment to God and we consciously lie to the Holy Spirit, we are telling God that our redemption wasn't worth the payment. We say that "whatever" is more important that our commitment to Christ, is Lord of our life.

In Ananias and Sapphira's case it was the money they withheld from selling their land.

We are all guilty of lying to the Holy Spirit, but what I can't understand is why God continues to show His grace to us, and forgive us from putting him second. Even though we are forgiven for what we do, that is sin, we should continually strive to live as Christ as an act of love because of what He has done for us.


What are you withholding from God?

Are you willing to let it go?