Magnificant Significance!

I Know Who I Am! - Israel Houghton

I know who I am
I know who I am
I know who I am
I am yours
I am yours

And you are mine
Jesus you are mine
You are mine
Jesus you are mine

I was running, and you found me
I was blind, and you gave me sight
You put a song of praise in me
I was broken, and you healed me
I was dying, and you gave me life
Lord, You are my identity

I know, I know

I am forgiven, I am your friend
I am accepted, I know who I am
I am secure, I'm confident
That I am loved, I know who I am
I am alive, I am set free
I belong to you and you belong to me
Whoa oh oh, whoa oh of!

Last Sunday, guest speaker Pastor Matt Rice gave a message on the importance of having significance in our lives. He preached his message out of Psalm 37:3 and I Samuel 1:1-18 and used Hannah - the mother of Samuel - as an example to emulate in our service to Jesus and his kingdom.

The title of his massage was "A Sleeping Giant, a Barren Womb, and a Prayer That Changed the World!" He established the background of the story, reviewing the time, place, and events preceding the birth of Samuel, their importance to the story, and the temptations that Hannah eventually had to overcome in order to secure the blessing of God in her life and to understand the significance of that blessing by faith.

The four areas of conflict in her soul that she had to overcome in order to receive her blessing and realize the significance of that blessing were:

•  Overcome the temptation to accept the barrenness of her womb! 
• Hopeless situations are NOT final with God!

• Overcome the temptation to settle for blessing without significance!
• The blessing MUST be used toward a significant end involving God's purposes!

• Overcome the temptation to fight back the pettiness of Peninnah!
• Pettiness or delays that cause you to get sidetracked from God's purposes significance in your life!

• Overcome the temptation to pray a prayer not to change the world!

• When we receive a blessing from God, we need to overcome the temptation not to allow or desire it to be used for the advancement of God's Kingdom!

As I thought about this message on Monday morning, little did I realize how quickly this message would take on flesh and blood during the day and afternoon on Monday.

I left my house to do my Monday chores and the first thing on my list - really Laura's list - was to send off some mail. As I drove around the corner to the mailbox, I listened to my voice mail from the previous day and from earlier on Monday. I mailed the letters and continued to listen to the numerous messages when one of the messages was a request for very serious help. The funny thing was that I was right in front of the house of the caller when I was listening to their voice mail. I stopped my van, approached the house, and knocked on the door. When the door was answered, I inquired about the help I could give and expressed how funny it was that I was right in front of their house when I was listening to their call. I got the information about the request and set off on my way to take care of the request.

A short while later as I was talking to a person who would take care of the request, they began to tell me about a health problem they were going through and their feelings of insignificance about their life. He told me that he was a good dad, had a great career, and was well liked and respected, but that there was an emptiness that he couldn't shake that plagued him. He told me that he believed in God and attended church, but that he wanted to see the reality of Jesus in his life. Wow, I thought. I couldn't believe this was happening! I shared with him the main points from Sunday's message and encouraged him to get into the Bible. I also told him to meet with me and that we could discuss his predicament further.

After I left his presence, I couldn't help think about how many people do not understand the significance of their lives whether in or apart from God's purpose. Both of those conditions have far reaching effects for the individual, but they are seldom thought about and even less acted upon.

Take time to listen to the message given by Pastor Matt Rice and allow God to use the blessings he has given to you to bring significance and purpose to your life and to the world. Then - and only then - will you understand who you really are and the significance of your life's work. When we truly understand that significance, we can face and overcome any obstacle knowing full well that all things work for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purposes (Romans 8:28)!

Stay Holy, My Friends!


Pastor Don

Excessive Baggage!

Staind - "Excess Baggage" Lyrics

Well I know the words, but I can't really speak them

To you

And I hide all the pain that I've gained with my wisdom
From you

And I'm eaten alive by what I hold inside
All the things that I live with I can't easily hide
And I'm left here with nothing, nothing to live for
But you

Its not easy to hide
All this damage inside
I'll carry you with me
Until I'm not alive

When you look at my face, does it seem just as ugly?
To you?

I can't seem to erase all the scars I have lived with
From you

I'm so sick of this place
This taste in my mouth
Cause of you I can't figure what I'm all about
And I'm left here with nothing, nothing to live for
But you

It's not easy to hide
All this damage inside
I'll carry you with me
Til I'm not alive

I have fond memories of the mission trip to Tepic, Mexico last year. One of the funniest events that I vividly remember happened at the airport check-in counter the first day of the trip. I was helping everyone check in their bags at the counter when Kim Mott's turn came. She approached the counter with her usual swagger, lightheartedness, and joy and placed her "luggage" on the scale. The scale quickly announced the weight of her luggage - 67 pounds! Now, this may not seem like an astounding revelation or problem to most people, but for anyone who has ever traveled by plane knows that all luggage must be 50 pounds or lighter! In fact, we had covered this small point of interest numerous times in our mission meetings leading up to the trip.

When the weight was announced, Kim did not seem too upset and reached into her purse to pay her $50 excessive weight fee. There was only one small problem - the fee wasn't $50, it was $200! When Kim was informed about the total, her shoulders slumped, her smile disappeared, and her countenance resembled someone who had just received news of a tragic nature. I immediately told Kim not to worry about the cost, and she seemed relieved but still flustered. The bad part of Kim's experience was not the paying of the $200 dollars, it was the constant harassment from Brian Wilkerson, Ed Lindlbauer, and myself the rest of the trip about the weight and cost of her luggage!

I relate this story because there is a spiritual lesson to learn from this comical episode. The lesson is this - excessive baggage can be costly!  For Kim, it was $200 and being the brunt of countless jokes. For us as Christians, it can be a hindrance from walking in God's fullness and calling for our lives! 

Last Sunday, I shared a message entitled - Hidden Among the Baggage. In the Old Testament, Saul was to be anointed and appointed king over all of Israel, but they could not find him when the time came for his coronation. The people inquired of God as to his whereabouts, and God told them he was hidden among the baggage (I Samuel 10:22)! What kind of man would hide from this honor and responsibility? What kind of future king would lack the courage to present himself to God and his people for their service?

As I thought about this scripture, it dawned on me that Saul was just like most of us! We hide among the baggage in our lives, using it as an excuse to skirt our responsibilities. Baggage such as fear, impossible circumstances, insufficiency in our lives or abilities, past failures and humiliations, ignorance, displaced priorities, unforgiveness of others or ourselves, or an unwillingness to be identified as belonging to Jesus have made us like Saul - fearful of presenting ourselves to God for his use! 

The cost of hiding among the baggage can be a lot more costly than the $200 Kim had to dish out! Broken lives, broken families, destroyed health and relationships, squandered finances, and a host of other disasters can act as baggage that we hide among and refuse to leave behind for the appointment and anointing God wants us to walk in. Jonah 2:8 says:

Those who cling to worthless idols (baggage) forfeit the grace that could be theirs!

It's time for us as "kings" to answer the call, walk away from the baggage where we have been hiding, and begin walking in the authority and anointing of the Holy Spirit. We are encouraged in Hebrews 12:1-3: 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

In conclusion, I Samuel 10:23-24 says:

They ran and brought him out (from among the baggage), and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. Samuel said to all the people, "Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people." Then the people shouted, "Long live the king!" Take your rightful place, leave the baggage behind and get on with the job God has for you!

Stay Holy, My Friends!

Pastor Don

Bully for You!

 

(This video contains vulgar language - personal discretion is advised!)

If you faint in the days of adversity, how weak is your faith! 

Proverbs 24:10

Every now and then, something happens that restores the confidence we may have lost in the next generation. A confidence that has been brutalized and vulgarized recently by a cultural elite bent on reinventing cultural and ethical standards more in line with Sodom and Gomorrah.

The next generation has been indoctrinated, inoculated, and pressured to "accept" or "reject" different opinions and lifestyles as a sign of a progressive society and worldview! All around us, we see young people, as well as their parents, who have fallen for this mindset without ever questioning the possibility that this standard is wrong. Failure to accept the new "moral code" of these elite moral dictators results in a harassment and persecution geared to force people either into submissive compliance or to alienate them from public discourse and make their cultural involvement irrelevant!

On April 27, 2012, Dan Savage, founder of the "It Gets Better" project - an anti-bullying campaign that has reached millions of students and educators - spoke to a group of high school students through a telecommunications conference about bullying. The conference was promoted to be a campaign about bullying, but it quickly descended into a personal diatribe and vociferous bullying attack against the Bible and Christianity! Students who thought they were getting information about bullying soon realized that the speaker was promoting and evangelizing for homosexuality and ridiculing and bullying them about their Biblical and Christian beliefs! Many of the students left in the middle of the conference. As they were walking out of the auditorium, they were harassed by Mr. Savage and called "pansy-assed"! 

What impressed me most about this whole matter was the reaction of the young students who walked out of the conference as they were being laughed at and criticized! Showing moral courage and dignity in the face of peer and authority pressure brought a smile to my face. I applaud the actions of these young people who made this "controversial"  statement with their feet and not with their mouths. These young people illustrated to all that Christians will not go slowly and quietly into the night. We will not be intimidated or fooled by so-called "experts" bent on shoving their brand of socially acceptable ethics and morals down our throats.  Though the younger generation is under a constant barrage of intimidation and pressure to conform to a worldly and perverse standard, these young people are bucking the modernistic influence and taking a stand for Biblical ethics and standards. May God continue to give these young witnesses strength and boldness to stand against the "anti-Christian bullies" as they continue to let their lights shine in a world full of darkness.  And for all the students who left the conference on bullying when their beliefs were attacked - Bully for You!

Won't Get Fooled Again Lyrics

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgment of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
And I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again

Change it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fall that's all
But the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they all flown in the last war

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
And I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
For I know that the hypnotized never lie

Do ya?

There's nothing in the street
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now the parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

Stay Holy, My Friends!

Pastor Don