The Veil is Ripped

Man, how quick I forget to meet with the living God at all costs.  I am so quick to have a set routine of which I can meet with God, but forget to meet with God.  So quick to trade the glory of God for a lie, that something else can satisfy.  I am so quick to forget that He is alive, ironic since I just preach a message over the resurrection.  Jesus is alive and well.  He wants to meet with me (us), because he loves me.  I forget that he died on the cross, so that the veil could be ripped.  In order that you and I can come and meet with God without any hindrances or veil covering our faces..  Even as I write God I realize how much I (we) say God and don’t understand of whom I speak.  It has become such a commonplace to say God that I become dulled to who he is.  I forget that I speak of the Living GOD, who made the heavens and earth.  The one who has the power to cause death to come to body and soul.  The God that rests his feet on the earth as his footstool.  I don’t have a great grid for how awesome, fun, powerful, mighty, glorious, beautiful, and loving he is and to be honest, that might be sin, not sure.  I do know for certain it is tragic and scornful of the death of Jesus.  He died that the veil might be ripped and that we might have daily, hourly encounters with the Holy3, the Papa of us all; Jesus, the friend and king of us all; and the Holy Spirit, the power and counselor of us all.

Wow!  He died that we can see earth through a lens of truth, through a heavenly perspective, so that we can bring what we see and know to earth.  This is a great pep talk for me.  I need to get more vision for spending time with the 3.  The promises are so great to those who believe and stand with them and obey them.  We must stand in his presence.  We must believe like David that there is only one thing worth asking for, to dwell in the presence of God and gaze on his beauty all his days.  O that I might be a person fascinated and enthralled by, and in love with the Holy3.  It is my destiny and your too.  Well, now that I am motivated I am off to spend time with the awesome, holy, friendly, joyful, kind, worthy, funny, most enjoyable, mighty and powerful Holy3.  Hope to see ya there.  Smiley Face.

The Foundation Baby!

No Niki and I are not having a baby!  Someday, sooner as opposed to later I am sure; however that is not the point of the blog.  Sorry it has been so long, I sometimes just forget about this guy and my faithful followers.  I do not have a ton of time but, have been thinking about some stuff lately that I wanted to get up here to see if some folks could help my thoughts along to brilliant, for right now they are just at good.

Well, there has been a resurgence in my life, revelations from my early days and they have been revolutionizing the way I live and think.  I have just been realizing that Jesus is the only foundation.  Paul says this in I Corinthians 3:11.  The only foundation is Jesus, which is the foundation of every believer.  Now I believe it is up to us how extensive our foundation is, what I mean by that is are we giving ourselves to knowing Jesus and is he our prize, for if we are than are foundation will grow larger and larger.  If we fail to grow in the knowledge of the goodness of the nature of God then we limit the size of our foundation.  Also if we fail to surrender certain areas of our life to Jesus, he certainly can not be the foundation there again limiting the size of our foundation.  Now, with any foundation the stronger and larger it is the bigger the structure can be.  God is and we are going to build on our foundation whether it is small or large.  Now the picture I get is if we have a small understanding of God, then he and we will built straight up as much as it can hold.  Soon we will be a balancing act trying to balance all that is stacked on our small foundation.  I believe that God’s desire is to built a solid expansive foundation in us, in order that the weight might be established evenly.  I fear that I (we) get a small revelation of Jesus and then go to town and try to build so much on it, when he is saying build a huge foundation, true you may not be noticed by man, for when do you drive by a construction sight and see a foundation and think, wow that is awesome…never.  But if we will take the time to build wisely out of the eye of man, saying nope, I am going to build a foundation of love for Jesus and who he is we will be ready for whatever he has for us.  I realize this building requires us to not live in the urgent and will mean having people thing you are wasting your life, which should set you free from the fear of man.  O but won’t it be worth it.  Lovers of Jesus are like the energizer bunny, with workers burn out, I know from experience.  I understand these thoughts are not completely developed  and even unbalanced, so have a good time finishing them and balancing them with scripture.

 

Clean

This entry will not be funny, nor shall it be serious, or deep.  It will mainly be informative with a little bit a persuasion mixed in here and there.  We had to go to the hospital again for a little operation for Niki.  Everything went well.  I tried to go back with her, but they banished me to the waiting room, which gave me plenty of time to read.  However, I had forgotten one of the many books I have wanted to finish, so I read the fitness issue of Outside.  I found a great article in there about a detox.   Now most detoxes that I have heard of sound more harmful to the body than good, but this one did not.  It is called the Clean Program (by Alejandro Jungar).  The gentleman that wrote the article was assigned to try it for the three week period that it requires.  He was opposed to such a “diet”, but work is work he decided.  At first it was a little difficult, but by the end, he swore by the detox.  This intrigued me.  It was clear that this man, had no desire to do it, but did it and loved it.  This man sounds just like me, but if it can help me figure out why I am tired all the time like this author said I am game.  I am doing my best to talk everyone into doing this detox with me, why…I say why not?  So here is the catch of the detox, you have to change what you eat.  You are not allowed a few things for sure: dairy, soy, gluten, refined sugar, alcohol, and coffee.  Probably, one of those sicks out in the no way I could do it category, but I’d say sure you could, anyone can do it for three weeks.  The good news is though you can still eat during this detox.  You can have a smoothie in the morning, organic chicken or fish for lunch, and soup or smoothie for dinner.  That is not bad, far better than some detoxes out there.  Also you can snack throughout the day on nuts and fruit and such.  I am getting the book in the mail soon and I can then post more.  If you’d like to join just let me know.  Join and be Free

My Sermon

I got to preach this past week! I think you’ll like. http://www.antiochcc.net/on_demand_category.php?id=3. Cut and past that bad boy and then click the top sermon link, titled the Son of Man.

His and Mine

 

I have been absent from my blogging for a couple of weeks due to my life taking some crazy turns.  The craziest onebeing that Niki and I were in a wreck.  Long story short, we t-boned a lady at a light; it was our ride-of-way.   Niki was seriously injured and had to be in the hospital for close to a week and is now on bed rest.  If you would like to know more about how she is doing, please feel free, to comment with your email and I’d love to give you the long version.

It was a long past week due to the wreck.  You know, I always remember thinking that hospi

 

tals were cool when I was younger.  I am not quite sure why, probably because they are big and clean and have lots of neat machines in them.  Man, have my views changed!  I think a five day stay in a hospital is enough to make anyone say they are not my favorite*.  I have a much greater understanding and compassion for those who have been in one for weeks or even months, O may God grant all them mercy and grace.  Anyway, enough with my background info.  I would like to give me testimony of my stay in the hospital.

My Testimony:

My testimony is this: not that I am strong, nor that I was consistent in seeking God every morning.  It is not that I was disciplined to pray and believe for healing.  I could go on how I have fallen short of being a “saint”, but why glory in my shame for that is not my testimony.  My testimony is that I have been made a saint, by Jesus’ blood.  It is that God is faithful, a Rock that is higher than I.  It is that His steadfast love is just that steadfast, solid, unmovable, unconditional, and there is nothing that can separate me from it, this is the testimony that belongs to me, one of Him not me.    My testimony is one that boasts in the perfection of God, that by his kindness, mercy, and sacrifice my imperfections are covered.  Hallelujah!  I do not have to be perfect, He is!  He is not after my perfection.  He is God, my friend and Father and wants to be with me.  He wants me, all of me.  He loves me!   My revelation is that His love is made cheap or less great when I have something to do with it.  I have nothing to do with his love.  My ultimate goodness or failure has nothing to do with His love.  His love is completely other and above such things.  His love is of another world; it is heavenly: perfect by definition.  He love is vast and  full of: freedom, life, joy, I don’t know if there is one word or a million words that can describe his love.  It is fun to try though.  It is wonderful a cloud of acceptance and truth; lightness and weightiness; freedom and addiction all at once (maybe true freedom is actually being set free from an enslavement to a holy obsession, if not the enslavement simply changes form).  I realized that the father of lies wants me to believe that  the Father’s love in dependent on my performance.  Ha, it isn’t true, look at the cross.  He loved me while I was yet a sinner.  Whose testimony is that?  Well, it is mine for my testimony is only one of who Jesus is.  So I guess it can be said it is His and mine.

*Note we were well taken care of at all the hospitals were at by the staff there.  Debbi, and a couple other nurses were wonderful.

Notes on A Keith Green Sermon

 

This sermon is from Keith Green at DTS in the late 70s or early 80s I couldn’t find the exact date.  He stole his material from Charles G. Finney, who to say the least was radical, which I guess is fitting since Mr. Green was as well.  Don’t worry we can all be radical, just live like Jesus told us too.  In the first part I will just put the notes that I took in the sermon, so you can agree or disagree with the thoughts and it won’t bother me.  The second part  I will put a few of my thoughts, which you too can disagree with and I doubt it’ll offend me.  Also just so you know I am listening to my Keith Green playlist on Grooveshark to give the full affect please do the same.  If you don’t have a Keith Green playlist make one.  Lastly, most of the sermon’s notes are online if you care to see the full version.

What is doevotion is not: Devotion does not consist of reading the Bible, nor praying, nor attending meetings. These may or may not be specific instances ofdevotion, but are not to be regarded as devotion itself.

1. Devotion does not consist of a private or public commitment of our lives to God. These are to be regarded as special acts – pledges or promises of devotion – but not as devotion itself.
2. Devotion does not consist of individual acts or exercises of any kind. These may indeed be devotional acts, that is, “acts of devotion,” but let it be remembered that no acts or exercises in themselves constitute devotion.

In short devotion is not something you do.

What devotion is:

Devotion is that state of the heart in which everything – our whole life, being, and possessions – are a continual offering to God, that is, they are continually devoted to God. True devotion must be the supreme devotion of the will, extending out to all we have and are – to all times, places, employments, thoughts, and feelings.

Devotion and true religion are identical.

1. It is impossible for us not to be devoted to the object of our supreme affection. If we love God supremely, He will be the reason for which we live. If an individual loves God supremely, he will be as conscious that he lives for God as that he lives at all!
2. Nothing short of this can be acceptable to God. Unless devotion be a habit or a state of mind, unless the whole being be an offering to God, He must have a rival in our hearts. This He will not endure. And to attempt to please Him by isolated acts of devotion (when it is not the habit and state of our minds) is far more abominable than for a wife to attempt to please her husband with an occasional smile, while she lives only to please and gain the affections of another man.

Last quote worth mentioning in my opinion is this: “Devotion to God cannot be sincere any further than it annihilates selfishness. Devotion and selfishness are eternal opposites.”

Clearly, there is much more that could be stated about this sermon I am only taking the highlights, if you wish to see the whole thing again feel free to go to the link above or to this one at youtube.

 

I have been learning lately that my life although genuine has been from “emotion gushing” to the next.  As I have been maturing in Jesus, I am realizing that life is about decision after decision to follow Jesus, and yes love must be the root or it is no longer devotion, but love is not as I once thought.  I confess Jesus has not been my devotion or prize,  living for him to glorify him, has not been my joy, but living for me has been my objective.  As wisely said by Finney, ”Devotion to God cannot be sincere any further than it annihilates selfishness. Devotion and selfishness are eternal opposites.”  Praise the Lord that He is showing me true love and devotion to Him.  O the joy of getting to live devoted to Him,you are I are made for it you know, and soon we won’t have to struggle against the flesh and by faith, but until then may struggle against the flesh and live by faith and delight our Father, our Husband that is jealous for us.     

 

There Are Four Feet On a Horse

So today, I was taking some time to renew my mind.  I was going through different avenues of my life and refreshing my mind on what is real, the truth, because my default is not yet as God sees it.  It was enjoyable.  I then was taking some time to meditate and I had this thought: There are four feet on a horse what do they stand for?  The first was have faith in God, the second was hope in God, the third was trust in God, and the last was always be moving towards

God.  If you are on this horse you will never miss it.  I want to be a man that is

 

apart of wherever I am, right now Antioch and I am so thankful for that, but never caught up in the systems that are not in the Bible.  I believe that if I am on the horse I just described I will not miss Jesus.  It is so easy to miss these four things.  I saw quickly long to be in control of my life.  Thus eliminating

three of the four feet of the horse, and everyone knows a one footed horse ain’t going nowhere.  Well, I am hoping to life by faith, hoping and

trusting in God.