You began your life in Christ by the Spirit. Now are you trying to make it complete by your own power? That is foolish Were all your experiences wasted? I hope not!Does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you because you follow the law? NO, he does these things because you heard the Good News and believed it. Gal.3.3-6
if it’s no, it’s no.
How many times I have waffled between “it’s only belief” and “it’s only faith as long as you are striving and trying your best and working to do everything perfect.”
If God does NOT give us the Spirit or work miracles because we follow the law — then IT IS TRULY A RESOUNDING NO!
HE does these things because you HEARD AND BELIEVED.
IT’S ALL ABOUT BELIEF.
IT’S ONLY ABOUT BELIEF.
IT’S NOT ABOUT HOW MUCH WORK YOU DO.
IT’S NOT ABOUT HOW MUCH TRYING YOU DO.
IT’S ALL ABOUT BELIEF.
IT’S ONLY ABOUT BELIEF.
>still trying to truly “get this” in my heart
andy
1. The man with the unclean spirit sees Jesus from afar and immediately comes up to Jesus…only to ask “What do you want with me? (Mark 5.7)
Jesus barely has time to get out of the boat before this man shows up right in front of him and proceeds to ask Jesus what He wants from him. So Crazy. I can’t imagine someone running up to me and asking me “What do you want with me?” Uh, nothing! I don’t even know you….
Truth#1 God’s Spirit beckons. You can be across the sea, chained, oucast, and among the dead. God will FIND you FREE you and REEDEM you!
2. The people who saw Jesus and the healed man were AFRAID. (Mark 5.15)
The guy was demon possessed. He couldn’t be chained. Yet, now they see him HEALED, they see the pigs drowned, they see Jesus and NOW are afraid. So backwards.
Truth #2 Jesus came for the man not the crowd. He ALWAYS comes for the one.
3. The Healed man asked Jesus to go with Him and Jesus said NO. v.18-19
How could he not want to go with Jesus. The whole crowd was completely terrified and probably would still be outcast from the city. What’s the deal?
Truth #3 Jesus will never leave a city without someONE with a Testimony.
just a couple thoughts from yesterday….
Andy
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. Psalm 145.3
Hockey season is nearly here! My Red Wings jersey has been spotted in the far reaches of my closet, the official Red Wings app is released and tickets go on sale tomorrow! It’s a good time of the year. My memories return like the fall air and I sense that this season will be much greater than the last.
Of all sports to ever boast of a single individual via a nickname, I can think of no higher nickname than “The Great One.” Wayne Gretsky is the greatest hockey player ever to live, and yet if you search through his stats, if you watch his replays, if you find official game worn memorabilia, you will find an end to his greatness.
With God, his greatness is unsearchable. It’s not even possible to catalog his exploits. There is no trading card printer who can print each statistic even if you had all the paper in the world. YouTube can’t contain his highlight reels, fan videos, and episodes. It won’t fit into the longest Sports Center or dedicated HD Channel.
My God is the ONLY true Great One!
Andy
I give You thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing Your praise; (Psalm 138:1 ESV)
keep singing.
There are so many gods in this world. lowercase ‘g’
Money. lack of money. stuff. self. sex. drugs. religion. job. people.
I love this psalm. BEFORE THE GODS I SING YOUR PRAISE. It’s where I want to be. It’s what I want to be found doing. I am tired of hearing people singing about the gods when they have a million reasons to sing God’s praise.
When we sing God’s praise, it’s not possible to sing our own.
What are you singing today?
Self confident. self pitying. self loathing. self glorifying.
or
There HE goes a HERO a Savior to the world!
The thing is we are always singing. We must learn to be decisive and choose to sing rightly.
Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. (Proverbs 18:1 ESV)
It’s in isolation that we feel most justified. Why? Well, it seems to me that there is something in us that thrives in “adversity.” It’s a rebel force. It’s the love of the underdog. Only when you choose to isolate yourself it’s not adversity that did it to you, it’s a reproachable behavior that causes you to withdraw. It’s your own desire. It always starts out as a small thing, but if you don’t watch out, your life becomes islolated because you cannot live in the community you once did, and before you realize it you end up in another community. miserable.
If you have the desire of Christ you will live in community. That’s what he did. That’s what we must do. Sound judgment will lead you to loving relationships and community.
If you realize you’re isolated, repent and identify why. It may save your life.
so let’s get together.
Andy
This is an October 2003 post from a great friend that I was thinking about tonight; it still is profoundly impacting today. enjoy!
Saint Telemachus, a fourth-century monk who lived in a monastery, felt God calling him to Rome. He couldn’t figure out why God would want him in Rome, but he felt the pressure to go. Putting his possessions in a little satchel, he threw the bag over his shoulder and started out over the dusty, westward roads to Rome.
When he got to Rome, people were running about the city in great confusion. He had arrived on a day when the gladiators were going to fight both other gladiators and animals in the amphitheater. Everyone was heading to the amphitheater to watch the entertainment.
Telemachus thought this must be why God had called him to Rome. He walked into the amphitheater. He sat down among 80,000 people who cheered as the gladiators came out proclaiming, “Hail Caesar! We die to the glory of Caesar.”
The little monk thought to himself, Here we are, four centuries after Christ, in a civilized nation, and people are killing one another for the entertainment of the crowd. This isn’t Christian!
Telemachus got up out of his seat, ran down the steps, climbed over the wall, walked out to the center of the amphitheater, and stood between two large gladiators. Putting his hands up, he meekly cried out, “In the name of Christ, stop!” The crowd laughed and jeered. One of the gladiators slapped Telemachus in the stomach with his sword and sent him spinning off into the dust.
Telemachus got up and again stood between the two huge gladiators. He repeated, “In the name of Christ, stop.” This time the crowd chanted “Run him through!” One of the gladiators took his sword and stabbed Telemachus in the stomach. He fell into the dust and the sand turned red as blood ran out of him. One last time, Telemachus weakly cried out, “In the name of Christ, stop.” He died on the amphitheater floor.
The crowd grew silent, and within minutes they emptied out of the amphitheater. History records that, thanks to Saint Telemachus, this was the last gladiatorial contest in the history of the Roman Empire.
So, WHAT’S IT ALL MEAN?
Saint Telemachus changed the course of history. So can you. God loves to use one person to make a big difference in the world—and God wants to use you.
The best example we have is when God sent his Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins. One man made the greatest difference in the history of the world. God still works through individuals to accomplish his will. Will you be the one HE uses next?
Today was a fast saturday and in my opinion had it not been for the slows “yardbird” sandwhich, I wouldn’t be in this nearly-ready-yet-lacking-a-coffee state of being. WORK! We love to work, right!
Do you have a routine before work?
Mine is to take care of as many opportunities as possible then race (at the correct speed - seriously) to work, change into the tuxedo and begin. It seems like it all happens in 5 minutes but literally this is a 45 minute procedure.
I have to work today at 4.
Here is my mind.
Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. (Psalm 128:1-2 ESV)
everyone who fears the Lord is blessed.
And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father, for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Matthew 3:9
Another pharisee-ism stopped me dead tonight.
Here they are thinking that because of their past, because of their credentials, because they come from a line of… they are a “leg up” on this repentance thing.
In essence they are thinking that because of yesterday everythings fine today.
The only thing that is fine today is that Jesus allows us to answer his call.
Two verses earlier John the Baptist says bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Just because I bore fruit yesterday doesn’t mean it is good enough today. Because I bore fruit yesterday, doesn’t mean I will always be just fine. NO! I must renew by colors and cling to the call of God as I walk in the same direction day after day as God allows.
But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. -James 1:25
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. Hebrews 3:15
God appointed us to bear fruit that will last!
Today was great. Tomorrow I have to choose.
Andy
How great it truly was to sit with people that I love and listen to the great man who is R.T. Kendall. War Week begins! Today is the day! I love knowing who I (we) are becoming through Him. I am grateful He is still recalculating. Tomorrow is nearly here and the weeks will fly by. But I couldn’t help but to reflect on a statement that I am still reading with tears years and years later. It may be familiar, but only in words. I pray that after these days close we can look back and say we lived, really and truly lived.
-from a young, martyred african pastor
I’m a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of His and I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I’m done and finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.
I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, or first, or tops, or recognized, or praised, or rewarded. I live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by Holy Spirit power.
My face is set. My gait is fast. My goal is heaven. My road may be narrow, my way rough, my companions few, but my guide is reliable and my mission is clear.
I will not be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed.I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of the adversary. I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.I won’t give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ.
I am a disciple of Jesus. I must give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He does come for His own, He’ll have no problems recognizing me. My colors will be clear!
“While I can, I sail east in the Dawn Treader. When she fails me, I paddle east in my coracle. When she sinks, I shall swim east with my four paws. And when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Aslan’s country, or shot over the edge of the world in some vast cataract, I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise and Peepiceek will be head of the talking mice in Narnia.”
-reepicheep
The adventures met on woodward. My adventure in raising my son who won’t fall alseep and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the 5th book in the narnia series. Last night Kathryn and I set sail in the phantom (my chevy trailblazer) to sail for the end of woodward, listening to a radio drama of the Dawn Treader. I wont give away where it ends, although, I am sure you can reach it with one tank of gas and some small rations.
Dawn Treader was a fantastic adventure, not sure where this would all end, we anxiously kept on listening to Capsian, Edmund, Lucy, Eustace, and of course Reepicheep.
Reepicheep is the mot valiant Narnian that lives. He is also a mouse. He is always ready to fight to the death, charge in first, risk his life for honor and Aslan.
As the end draws near it is clear the one person has to sail to the end and stay there to break a curse. The above quote is the response of Reepicheep. Read it again. Where else will a mouse give you chills because of his courage and honor?
Is there something in you that says, “I have to get there!”? Anything at all? Do you lay awake at night, determined to finish the race? Are you troubled by the others who are giving it all up and settling for less? What are you doing to get there? How far will you go? OR Have you gone far enough? Are things pretty good? Are you comfortable with your version? Do people just not understand “How you are?”
I am asking myself not new questions, but the old ones.
I want honor and hope.
I want to get there.
And now I want each of you to extend that same intensity toward a full-bodied hope, and keep at it till the finish. Don’t drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised to them. Hebrews 6.11-12
For Aslan. (Jesus Christ) This is not a tame lion
Jump
