God is with us,
God is near.
In our sorrow,
He is here.
Through our darkness~
Through our fear~
God is with us,
God is near.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Chiseled Words
I've been thinking alot about God
and what can be said about Him.
Sometimes we say that God will protect us
and then a friend is badly hurt,
or a sister's son is killed.
Why didn't He protect them?
Did He try?
Why does He sometimes protect
our loved ones
and other times it seems like
someone's angel was on vacation?
What is safety?
What are we kept safe from?
One thing for sure-
our idea of
safety in Christ
is over-rated.
Sometimes, people are badly hurt.
Sometimes, people die.
Therefore,
I cannot equate safety
with protection from death
or harm.
What about all those who die
because they believe in Him?
Does the persecuted church ask us to pray for their faith
so they won't deny Him under trial?
Or do they ask for prayer
because God does not protect them
and they do not want to be tempted to
lose their faith
in Him because He doesn't do
what they thought He would do.
This is the kind of thing that is keeping
me up at night.
My brain won't stop.
My little God box has been blown to bits again.
It was bigger than the last time
but I think I was starting to get the Math facts down again.
Faith + righteousness= Protection
Those kind of religious formulas-
blown to bits again.
A crater stands naked and bare
where the God Math facts once blared
their certainties in my manufactured box
of God's goodness.
My trust in God is shaken, again,
but I think it's really my trusted ideas
that are devastated.
I have to change the way I think about God.
I was talking to my sister
and she had been talking to a friend
who lost a brother and his wife
in a tragic accident.
Her friend raised the infant children
that were left behind in that calamity.
She and her husband did a great job.
They had no children of their own.
They had lost a child right before it
was ready to be born.
Was it Christmas day many years ago?
Rosalee's friend said that they have come
to this conclusion about God after the things they experienced.
I can hardly write this, I am crying so hard.
She had this to say about God.
"God is with us."
Bottom line.
Don't ask me to dance around and sing a happy song
about God's goodness.
I would go to great lengths to
protect my sister from hearing that
kind of song right now.
But, I will tell you what will get her through...
what will get us all through the days ahead...
because,
if you have not experienced the depth of sorrow
that cannot handle a loud, happy song...
you may someday.
And then, you will understand.
Words of formula will disappear
and you will know
that the one thing for sure that can be said about God is this,
"He is with us."
I cannot shout those words loudly enough,
nor can I whisper them quietly enough.
"He is with us."
For that I love Him with all my heart.
For that I will try to refrain from
putting Him in my little makeshift box again.
And for that I will build a majestic monument
in my heart.
I will chisel eternal words on my Rock
with my
pounding fists and when I am finished,
you will read,
"God is with me
and He alone is good."
Perhaps, someday,
I will write a song with those words
and it will be full of richness and joy,
sorrow and knowing.
The violin will duet with the cello
and the clarinet will waltz with the harp.
The sad in heart will hear it and weep
and they will want to embrace
the God of the valley
who knows their sorrows
and wipes their tears.
They will know that He is for them
and that He is with them
and that He is good.
It is the music of heaven.
Sometimes,
if I am very still,
I hear it.
Perhaps, He will give it to me someday
so I can share it with others.
Perhaps,
He will give it to you.
and what can be said about Him.
Sometimes we say that God will protect us
and then a friend is badly hurt,
or a sister's son is killed.
Why didn't He protect them?
Did He try?
Why does He sometimes protect
our loved ones
and other times it seems like
someone's angel was on vacation?
What is safety?
What are we kept safe from?
One thing for sure-
our idea of
safety in Christ
is over-rated.
Sometimes, people are badly hurt.
Sometimes, people die.
Therefore,
I cannot equate safety
with protection from death
or harm.
What about all those who die
because they believe in Him?
Does the persecuted church ask us to pray for their faith
so they won't deny Him under trial?
Or do they ask for prayer
because God does not protect them
and they do not want to be tempted to
lose their faith
in Him because He doesn't do
what they thought He would do.
This is the kind of thing that is keeping
me up at night.
My brain won't stop.
My little God box has been blown to bits again.
It was bigger than the last time
but I think I was starting to get the Math facts down again.
Faith + righteousness= Protection
Those kind of religious formulas-
blown to bits again.
A crater stands naked and bare
where the God Math facts once blared
their certainties in my manufactured box
of God's goodness.
My trust in God is shaken, again,
but I think it's really my trusted ideas
that are devastated.
I have to change the way I think about God.
I was talking to my sister
and she had been talking to a friend
who lost a brother and his wife
in a tragic accident.
Her friend raised the infant children
that were left behind in that calamity.
She and her husband did a great job.
They had no children of their own.
They had lost a child right before it
was ready to be born.
Was it Christmas day many years ago?
Rosalee's friend said that they have come
to this conclusion about God after the things they experienced.
I can hardly write this, I am crying so hard.
She had this to say about God.
"God is with us."
Bottom line.
Don't ask me to dance around and sing a happy song
about God's goodness.
I would go to great lengths to
protect my sister from hearing that
kind of song right now.
But, I will tell you what will get her through...
what will get us all through the days ahead...
because,
if you have not experienced the depth of sorrow
that cannot handle a loud, happy song...
you may someday.
And then, you will understand.
Words of formula will disappear
and you will know
that the one thing for sure that can be said about God is this,
"He is with us."
I cannot shout those words loudly enough,
nor can I whisper them quietly enough.
"He is with us."
For that I love Him with all my heart.
For that I will try to refrain from
putting Him in my little makeshift box again.
And for that I will build a majestic monument
in my heart.
I will chisel eternal words on my Rock
with my
pounding fists and when I am finished,
you will read,
"God is with me
and He alone is good."
Perhaps, someday,
I will write a song with those words
and it will be full of richness and joy,
sorrow and knowing.
The violin will duet with the cello
and the clarinet will waltz with the harp.
The sad in heart will hear it and weep
and they will want to embrace
the God of the valley
who knows their sorrows
and wipes their tears.
They will know that He is for them
and that He is with them
and that He is good.
It is the music of heaven.
Sometimes,
if I am very still,
I hear it.
Perhaps, He will give it to me someday
so I can share it with others.
Perhaps,
He will give it to you.
Sunday Sermon-June 28, 2009
Psalm 24:2-5, 7-9-"Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not
lifted up his soul
to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive blessing from the LORD,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation~~~
Lift up your heads, O you gates!
And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of Glory shall come in.
Who is this King of Glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
The LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates!
Lift up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of Glory shall come in!!!!!
This psalm thrills my soul!
I thought about idol worship this week.
How much pressure is on an idol to perform
and to keep the souls of
his worshippers lifted up to him?
What happens when that idol dies?
We worship a God who lives!
We worship a King of Glory.
The King of Pop
bows down to the King of Glory.
Have mercy, O God.
Have mercy.
Pastor Frank's sermon:
Preparation + Anticipation = Revelation
God will never be in debt to anyone. He owes us nothing.
We do not understand God. We 'religionize' Him.
When He does not fit into our box,
we get uncomfortable.
God is transcendent above all of His creation.
We want to conform Him into our own image.
Instead, we should open up the gates of our hearts.
He wants to come in and be intimately involved with His creation.
Recap-(past month's sermons)
1-The intention of God is to build a household of faith, using each of us to do so.
2-The most important one in the Kingdom is the one who has strayed.
-The heart of God is for the lost.
3-We've all been given talents from the Master. He will require something from the investment He has made in our lives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quote from ?-"There is an urge in every man's life to render himself indispensable. We want to have the feeling of not being able to be replaced."
500 people over the age of 95 were interviewed.
They were asked the question about what they would
do differently with their lives had they a chance to start over.
The three main responses were the following:
1-I would reflect more.
2-I would risk more.
3-I would do more things that would live after I am gone.
Does your life matter?
You can make a difference in your community and in your world.
Have an eye to see what is going on.
Have an ear to hear what is going on.
You can affect the world.
(But you can't be in your own little world to do so.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eph. 2:10-"We are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand
that we should walk in them."
11 Cor.9:8-"And God is able to make
all grace about toward you,
that you, always having all sufficiency
in all things,
may have an abundance for every good work."
God has given us everything we need to do His work
and to affect the world we live in.
We need to FLING WIDE the gates of our lives.
We have a great big God with
great big favor and blessing and intention and anointing.
He wants to bowl us over with a blessing
that we cannot contain in ourselves.
Are we in it more for our name
than for His name?
The Kingdom of God is so big
that God can do 'it' without us,
but He has prepared everything in us
so that we can be a part of it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's one thing to have the praises of men
and that pat on our backs.
It is another thing to hear the whisper of God in your ear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are promises of blessing-
the rough places will be made smooth,
the crooked places will be made straight,
the waters will part, etc.
But the promises are always attached to conditions.
We must obey the rules. Rules such as...
...If my people, who are called by my name,
will humble themselves and pray,
and turn from their wicked ways...
then I will hear from heaven..
and heal their land.
...Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
after righteousness,
for they will be filled...
...Who may ascend the holy hill? (Who gets to ascend-not who wants to)
Those with clean hands and a pure heart... (The condition to ascending God's holy hill)
If you need to repent, repent.
If you play games with sin you will lose
the opportunity for the Kingdom of God
to come in.
Story-There was a lady named Mary Booker. She had a dream. She wanted to help poor children. She went to Henry Ford and asked for his help. He sent her away with a dollar. With that dollar, she bought seed, and after numerous seasons of planting and harvesting, she had enough money to buy a building. She went back to Henry Ford and said, 'Look what your dollar bill did.' He was so moved that he wrote her a check for a million dollars. She began the Booker School for Children which is still in operation today.
God wants to give us dreams too.
God wants us to have our eyes wide open,
our hearts huge,
our focus on Him,
our gates flung wide.
He wants us to wake up.
There is an urgency.
There's been too much poured out.
Every minute, people are dying and going to hell.
Who is going to ascend this hill?
We have everything that we need.
Who really wants it?
We're all in the same playing field when it comes to
opportunity to ascend
and grace to ascend.
You will fulfill all of His purpose for you
if you receive His provision for you.
(The blood of Christ provides cleansing
for our sins, so we can have clean hands
and a pure heart, and thereby ascend His holy hill.)
Lift up your heads, O you gates!...
(Prepare the way of the Lord.)
And the King of glory shall come in!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Someone asked me one time if I put on the armor of
God every day. (Eph.6:10-18)
I meekly said,'No', and they got a bit upset with me.
Now, if I thought fast enough, I would have said
what came to me a few seconds later,
"Why would I take the armor off in the first place?
Does it fall off at night?"
But that would have been offensive and I am
glad that I was the only one who felt humiliated
that day.
This reminds me of the gates.
We are to fling wide the gates.
I like to do that.
I open my spirit up to God and smile at Him.
I invite Him in.
Just as I want to keep my armor on
so I want to keep my gates and doors
flung open wide to Him.
We have to be careful who we open our gates too.
We can't just let any old king in.
It has to be the King of Glory!
And He is strong and mighty!
He is mighty in battle!
Perhaps the best way for us to keep
our armor in place is the invite the King
of Glory into our lives.
It sounds like He knows all about battle.
It sounds like He wins!
Therefore, with Him in my midst,
I will win.
With Him in OUR midst,
WE will win.
And because we win,
others can also win.
It's no fun climbing a hill
all by one's self.
We're in this together,
you and I.
Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not
lifted up his soul
to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive blessing from the LORD,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation~~~
Lift up your heads, O you gates!
And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of Glory shall come in.
Who is this King of Glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
The LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates!
Lift up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of Glory shall come in!!!!!
This psalm thrills my soul!
I thought about idol worship this week.
How much pressure is on an idol to perform
and to keep the souls of
his worshippers lifted up to him?
What happens when that idol dies?
We worship a God who lives!
We worship a King of Glory.
The King of Pop
bows down to the King of Glory.
Have mercy, O God.
Have mercy.
Pastor Frank's sermon:
Preparation + Anticipation = Revelation
God will never be in debt to anyone. He owes us nothing.
We do not understand God. We 'religionize' Him.
When He does not fit into our box,
we get uncomfortable.
God is transcendent above all of His creation.
We want to conform Him into our own image.
Instead, we should open up the gates of our hearts.
He wants to come in and be intimately involved with His creation.
Recap-(past month's sermons)
1-The intention of God is to build a household of faith, using each of us to do so.
2-The most important one in the Kingdom is the one who has strayed.
-The heart of God is for the lost.
3-We've all been given talents from the Master. He will require something from the investment He has made in our lives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quote from ?-"There is an urge in every man's life to render himself indispensable. We want to have the feeling of not being able to be replaced."
500 people over the age of 95 were interviewed.
They were asked the question about what they would
do differently with their lives had they a chance to start over.
The three main responses were the following:
1-I would reflect more.
2-I would risk more.
3-I would do more things that would live after I am gone.
Does your life matter?
You can make a difference in your community and in your world.
Have an eye to see what is going on.
Have an ear to hear what is going on.
You can affect the world.
(But you can't be in your own little world to do so.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eph. 2:10-"We are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand
that we should walk in them."
11 Cor.9:8-"And God is able to make
all grace about toward you,
that you, always having all sufficiency
in all things,
may have an abundance for every good work."
God has given us everything we need to do His work
and to affect the world we live in.
We need to FLING WIDE the gates of our lives.
We have a great big God with
great big favor and blessing and intention and anointing.
He wants to bowl us over with a blessing
that we cannot contain in ourselves.
Are we in it more for our name
than for His name?
The Kingdom of God is so big
that God can do 'it' without us,
but He has prepared everything in us
so that we can be a part of it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's one thing to have the praises of men
and that pat on our backs.
It is another thing to hear the whisper of God in your ear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are promises of blessing-
the rough places will be made smooth,
the crooked places will be made straight,
the waters will part, etc.
But the promises are always attached to conditions.
We must obey the rules. Rules such as...
...If my people, who are called by my name,
will humble themselves and pray,
and turn from their wicked ways...
then I will hear from heaven..
and heal their land.
...Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
after righteousness,
for they will be filled...
...Who may ascend the holy hill? (Who gets to ascend-not who wants to)
Those with clean hands and a pure heart... (The condition to ascending God's holy hill)
If you need to repent, repent.
If you play games with sin you will lose
the opportunity for the Kingdom of God
to come in.
Story-There was a lady named Mary Booker. She had a dream. She wanted to help poor children. She went to Henry Ford and asked for his help. He sent her away with a dollar. With that dollar, she bought seed, and after numerous seasons of planting and harvesting, she had enough money to buy a building. She went back to Henry Ford and said, 'Look what your dollar bill did.' He was so moved that he wrote her a check for a million dollars. She began the Booker School for Children which is still in operation today.
God wants to give us dreams too.
God wants us to have our eyes wide open,
our hearts huge,
our focus on Him,
our gates flung wide.
He wants us to wake up.
There is an urgency.
There's been too much poured out.
Every minute, people are dying and going to hell.
Who is going to ascend this hill?
We have everything that we need.
Who really wants it?
We're all in the same playing field when it comes to
opportunity to ascend
and grace to ascend.
You will fulfill all of His purpose for you
if you receive His provision for you.
(The blood of Christ provides cleansing
for our sins, so we can have clean hands
and a pure heart, and thereby ascend His holy hill.)
Lift up your heads, O you gates!...
(Prepare the way of the Lord.)
And the King of glory shall come in!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Someone asked me one time if I put on the armor of
God every day. (Eph.6:10-18)
I meekly said,'No', and they got a bit upset with me.
Now, if I thought fast enough, I would have said
what came to me a few seconds later,
"Why would I take the armor off in the first place?
Does it fall off at night?"
But that would have been offensive and I am
glad that I was the only one who felt humiliated
that day.
This reminds me of the gates.
We are to fling wide the gates.
I like to do that.
I open my spirit up to God and smile at Him.
I invite Him in.
Just as I want to keep my armor on
so I want to keep my gates and doors
flung open wide to Him.
We have to be careful who we open our gates too.
We can't just let any old king in.
It has to be the King of Glory!
And He is strong and mighty!
He is mighty in battle!
Perhaps the best way for us to keep
our armor in place is the invite the King
of Glory into our lives.
It sounds like He knows all about battle.
It sounds like He wins!
Therefore, with Him in my midst,
I will win.
With Him in OUR midst,
WE will win.
And because we win,
others can also win.
It's no fun climbing a hill
all by one's self.
We're in this together,
you and I.
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