Clock Watcher?

Indira Gandhi, the third Prime Minister of India and a central figure of the Indian National Congress party,  once said: My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition.

Ecclestiases 11:6 Go to work in the morning and stick to it until evening without watching the clock. You never know from moment to moment how your work will turn out in the end. (The Message)

Fourth Sunday of Advent--Love All

On this last Sunday of advent the Advent Conspiracy focuses on another way to make Christmas memorable.

LOVE ALL
It all boils down to love. Love from a savior. Love to a neighbor in need. By spending just a little less on gifts we free up our resources to love as Jesus loves by giving to those who really need help. This is the conspiracy three churches began a few years ago, and has since grown to an international movement where thousands of churches have raised millions of dollars to love others in life-changing ways. But it doesn't have to be about money. And we are able do this on an individual basis.  Love those around us who have less, those who are going through loss, love those who need someone to walk along side of them.

Mark 12:30-31
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Third Sunday of Advent--Give More

On this third Sunday of advent the Advent Conspiracy focuses on another way to make Christmas memorable.

GIVE MORE
We know what you're thinking. "Wait, didn't they just say I should spend less, and yet here they are telling me to give more? What gives?" The most powerful, memorable gift you can give to someone else is yourself. And nobody modeled this more than Jesus. So what does this look like for you? Tickets to a ball game or the theater? A movie night? The main point is simple: When it comes to spending time with those you love, it's all about quality, not quantity.

1 John 3:23 

And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

Second Sunday of Advent--Spend Less

On this second Sunday of advent the Advent Conspiracy focuses on another way to make Christmas memorable.

SPEND LESS
Quick question for you: What was the one gift you remember getting for Christmas last year? Next question: What about the fourth gift? Do you remember that one? Truth is many of us don't because it wasn't something we necessarily wanted or needed. Spending Less isn't a call to stop giving gifts; it's a call to stop spending money on gifts we won't remember in less than a year. America spends around $450 billion dollars during the Christmas season, and much of that goes right onto a credit card. By spending wisely on gifts we free ourselves from the anxiety associated with debt so we can take in the season with a full heart

Jam 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

2Cor 9:15

Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

First Sunday of Advent-Worship Fully

This year we are part of the Advent Conspiracy. We all want our Christmas to be a lot of things. Full of joy. Memories. Happiness. Above all, we want it to be about Jesus. What we don't want is stress. Or debt. Or feeling like we "missed the moment". Advent Conspiracy is a movement designed to help us all slow down and experience a Christmas worth remembering. But doing this means doing things a little differently. A little creatively.

It means turning Christmas upside down.

WORSHIP FULLY
Christmas marks the moment where God's promise was fulfilled and love took form, tiny fingers and all. It is a moment that deserves our full attention and praise. Worship Fully is the first tenet because we believe the level of our involvement at Christmas is based entirely on how much we are celebrating Christ's birth. He deserves celebration; one that is creative, loud and directs every heart His way.
Psa 29:2
Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

Thankful Thoughts--God's Love

2. The Love of God by Frederick M. Lehman, 1917
3. 
   
4. The love of God is greater far
5. Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
   It goes beyond the highest star,
   And reaches to the lowest hell;
   The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
   God gave His Son to win;
   His erring child He reconciled,
   And pardoned from his sin.
6. • Refrain:
     Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!
     How measureless and strong!
     It shall forevermore endure—
     The saints’ and angels’ song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

The last verse was penciled on the wall of a narrow room in an insane asylum by a man said to have been demented. The profound lines were discovered when they laid him in his coffin. The poem had its roots in a long Jewish poem written in the eleventh century in Germany. The Jewish poem, Hadamut, in the Aramaic language, has ninety couplets. It was composed, in the year 1096, by Rabbi Mayer, son of Isaac Nehorai, who was a cantor in the city of Worms, Germany.

Pay Back

Proverbs 20:22 Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!” Wait for the Lord, and he will avenge you.(NIV)

Psalm 94:1 The Lord is a God who avenges.   O God who avenges, shine forth.

Sunday Meditation--God's way

God's way may be harder for you, but it will be easier on you.

John 16:33  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  (NIV)

Noah

One of the highlights of my vacation was a trip to Lancaster, PA to attend the play Noah

With more than fifty professional actors and dozens of live animals, Noah's message of hope took me on a remarkable journey of faith as I witnessed the struggles of Noah, his family and their journey as faithful servants of the Lord.

In this epic we traveled with Noah, overwhelmed in his quest to fulfill the wishes of God as he struggles against seemingly impossible odds and the intense criticism of non-believers. Every detail of the story - as revealed in the Bible - came to life with remarkable realism, sweeping us back in time to the days when Noah is called to build a large floating vessel big enough to save mankind. Will he succeed? The 40-foot-high ark was constructed right before our very eyes! 

Then in the second act we sat inside the boat, surrounded by hundreds of live and animatronic animals of every species. Sight and Sound Theatres, the largest Christian live theatre, truly brought the Bible to life with this captivating, immersive production. 

It ended with Jesus appearing in the ark's door and saying, "Behold , I stand at the door, and knock : if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Rev. 3:20

This was an inspirational illustrated sermon on God's love and mercy.

Where was God?

 On Sunday Columbus Day, Oct 13, while on vacation, I attended the church services at Riverside Church in Manhattan.  The building is beautiful, reminding me of the cathedral in Chartres, France.  The service began with a performance of their bell choir--beautiful classical melodies.  The message that followed was a discourse on the times of Columbus, and the colonization that Europe promoted.  It touched on the slave trade and pillaging of resources from this new land.  It was a reminder of social injustice, which was good, but why was not any reference made to God or the scriptures?

Is not God aware and does He not care for those who are called by his name?

My conclusion about this service was that although the building was beautiful and the music uplifting it lacked the touch of the Holy Spirit.  

2 Timothy 3:5
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

Next Sunday, I will tell about another spiritual experience that I had while on vacation.

Sunday Meditation--Protection

PSALM 121:7-8

7 The Lord will keep you from all harm - he will watch over your life; 8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Sunday Meditation--Respect

Sunday Meditation--Worth

LUKE 12:6-7

6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Sunday Meditation--Rest

As we rush around madly trying to squeeze as much as we can into every waking hour, the latest news that lack of sleep can cause depression, weight gain and even premature death comes as grim reading - especially for men, who are particularly at risk from these effects. 

Brain scans have shown that people who meditate are able physically to expand parts of their brains, growing bigger, fatter frontal lobes - the part that controls concentration, attention, focus and where we do much of our analysis of problems. 

Praying has similar benefits. U.S. research has shown that people who regularly attend religious services live longer than those who do not. Although some of this benefit must lie in the social connection, scans show the brain responds in a similar way to prayer as it does to meditation. 

Rest is not a matter of doing absolutely nothing. Rest is repair.
Philippians 4:7  His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus. (TLB)

Sunday Meditation--Right Road

When everything is coming at you, you're in the wrong lane.

Psalm 25:4 Show me the path where I should go, O Lord; point out the right road for me to walk. (TLB)

Sunday Meditation--Comfort Food

Comfort foods are simple in their ingredients, in their preparation, and in their presentations. Comfort foods primarily feed our hearts and souls, rather than our bodies. Common foods such as mac and cheese, a spoonful of real mashed potatoes, a dish of chocolate bread pudding or a bowl of soup with a thick slice of bread are comfort foods. These beckon us to sit down and to feast, to eat until we are satisfied.

God has comfort food for us. God invites us to His banquet "For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things." Psalm 107:9 

"Comfort, whether human or divine, is pure and simple comfort." Hannah Whitall Smith in The God of All Comfort

Never be afraid
to trust an unknown future to a known God.
~ Corrie Ten Boom

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD,
plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

Sunday Meditation--Protection

Life is a winding road with unknown perils and troubles, but we can be certain of God's providence, security, and care.

2 THESSALONIANS 3:3

3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.

Sunday Meditation--Stubborn

I have had to live with three stubborn children.  But I, also at times, find myself being stubborn. Sometimes I think that selfishness leads to being stubborn. I have to remember that I am not always right.  But it is a comfort to know that God is patient even when you are stubborn.
Deuteronomy 29:5  For forty years I, the LORD, led you through the desert, but your clothes and your sandals didn't wear out. (CEV)

Romans 15:5  May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other -- each with the attitude of Christ Jesus toward the other.

Sunday Meditation--Night Song

He gives songs in the night; when our condition is dark and melancholy, there is that in God's providence and promise, which is sufficient to support us, and to enable us even to rejoice in tribulation. 

PSALM 42:8

8 By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me--a prayer to the God of my life.

Sunday Meditation--Are you a Slave

Jesus Paid the Price You Couldn’t Pay

Rick Warren
“He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.” (1 Timothy 2:6a NLT)

All of us are slaves of something. Maybe it’s our peers. Maybe it’s our lusts. Maybe it’s money. The Bible says in 2 Peter 2:19, “You are a slave to whatever controls you” (NLT). Based on this definition alone, all of us are slaves to something.

We don’t have to let anything enslave us, though. The Bible says Jesus bought our freedom: “He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone” (1 Timothy 2:6a NLT). The Greek word for redemption actually refers to slaves who were purchased in a marketplace. In a spiritual sense, all of us were slaves to sin until Jesus purchased us out of the slave market and set us free from sin’s bondage.

Let me give you a picture of what Jesus’ death on the cross did to purchase our freedom. Imagine you’re in a busy marketplace with a lot of commerce going on. In the center of the marketplace, you’re in the middle of an auction, where you are being bid on. As each successive bid is shouted out, you look in the eyes of those who are bidding on you and try to size them up. Are they kind or cruel? Just as the auction is winding down, a stranger from the crowd stands up and offers a bid a thousand times higher than anyone else’s bid. There is no way anyone could ever match or beat that bid. As the auctioneer hastily accepts it, you look into that stranger’s eyes and realize he isn’t bidding on you to use you, like a slave. He’s buying you in order to set you free.

That’s just what Jesus did for you. He paid the price to set you free. The price for
your freedom was so high you could never pay it. But he paid it for you.

Galatians 5:1 says, “Freedom is what we have — Christ has set us free! Stand, then, as free people, and do not allow yourselves to become slaves again” (GNT).

So many people spend their lives seeking significance and freedom on manmade dead-end passes. Yet, here’s the amazing truth: “We can never redeem ourselves; we cannot pay God the price for our lives, because the payment for a human life is too great” (Psalm 49:7-8a).

The price for your freedom has already been paid. You’ve been bought. Are you living in that freedom?