“Thanks be to God who leads us into victory!” What victories are you in need of today? Each of us have struggles, some of these struggles are things we much endure, but it doesn’t mean God can’t provide a measure of victory in the midst of our struggles.
Do you need to surrender control today? Perhaps it’s time to allow God access to your struggles…and He can give you some measure of victory right now…if you let Him.
-Just a thought
This song has been running through my head all night and all of yesterday. We sang this song on Sunday, but it has just stuck with me. For me, music speaks…for me not a day goes by that I don’t find myself breaking out in some sort of song. It’s just my temperament I guess.
But singing songs of praise isn’t the only form of worship to God is it? Music is a very easy conduit that brings us into worship though doesn’t it? It can transform a humble chapel into the very throne room of Heaven, and connect with in ways with the Savior. Worship is so much more than just the songs we sing though. Mere words cannot express who God is, and how we are called upon to bring Him glory. But that doesn’t mean we ever stop…after all the creatures before God in the heaven are singing His praises never ending (Rev 4:8).
Our worship is all about God and what He has done for us. If it becomes mere performance and we lose the emphasis of authentic praise then we ought to re-evaluate our intentions in His sanctuary. When our songs become anything less than praises to Him, they become empty words that only edify our old selfish spirits. That may sound harsh, but that is the reality of things.
Worship isn’t just for Sundays:
Truth be told, we come on Sundays to get reconnected to God, but we shouldn’t unplug ourselves from Him as soon as we shake the Pastor’s hand and exit the building. In fact His praises should be evident in all that we do, through-out our week! Worship takes on other forms in the work place and on our drive to work. How we relate to others around us can be evidence of our Worship to Him. How we respond when others attack us or cause us difficulties is also further evidence of that same worship of Him.
Why Worship in every aspect of our lives?
Because if we believe in a living and active God who created everything and wants to be apart of our lives then shouldn’t we also invite Him into our work week and into our homes? When we do so, we begin to see the full spectrum of the kind of worship that is required of us. Don’t just hang up your worship with your Sunday suit and tie, only to sit there until the next Sunday morning. Take His praises with you every day! He wants that kind of love relationship with you! He deserves so much more than just an hour a week!
Worship…is not just reserved for Sundays…worship is reserved for everyday!
Some thoughts on grace today…after all, isn’t that what Christ’s redemption story is all about? We are those who spurned God, rejected Him, sinned and fell hard…we damned ourselves. We held the match while the bridge burned all the while smelling of gasoline…so to speak. Christ came so that we might once again have hope of Eternal life. When Christ died, the bridge called grace was built and lowered for us once again. Did we deserve this gift? No! But grace is still given to us, despite our stubborn, stiff-necked attitudes.
Turning the tables:
Who in your life needs some grace today? If we are to receive grace from God, then aren’t we to in turn extend that grace to others? Extending grace to others isn’t for the weak of heart…it takes real guts, courage and fortitude. Extending that grace to those who have spurned you, mocked you, disliked you, ‘un-friended’ you, doesn’t mean you should expect that grace to be reciprocated back…it simply means you love them despite their indifference, and act as Christ would act…you may be the only reflection of Christ that they ever see. Extending grace, means you live consistently within that love and grace regardless of who it is that grace falls upon.
I find it seriously ironic that many writers of love songs or love stories are good at the concept of but not in life experience of love. Is it their deep desire to find love that keeps them writing even after so many failed attempts at it themselves?
Not to be cynical or sarcastic but why do we keep listening to their music when what they speak about isn’t practiced? It’s like going to a college professor who teaches medicine for open heart surgery…they just don’t have the practical experience where as a seasoned cardiologist in the field performing surgery every day would be so much more reliable.
Real, true, authentic love isn’t for the weak minded or weak of heart. Writers may ponder its existence and miss their opportunity all together. I don’t profess to know all there is about real love, but I do experience it every day with my wife and my kids…and it’s amazing and yet difficult at the same time.
We will always hear the siren call of those writing about love but never actually living it. It might be just me, but I would prefer to live it rather than profit from it as a profession.
…and they lived happily ever after… 😉
Written a few years ago:
Easter Recap
Our church had a great Easter Sunday this past Weekend. Our SONrise service began at 8:00am, and we had about forty minutes of worship and a devotional. The power of the Holy Spirit was so wonderful to experience. After our Son-rise service, we had breakfast which was followed by our Traditional Easter Service . We were wiped after yesterday but God was awesome, hearts were touched, mine as well.
In reflecting on what Easter means to me, I have come to the conclusion that even though there are those who come to our churches only on holidays like Easter it still gives us the opportunity to plant seeds in their lives. At first I used to be very judgmental towards them, but the more and more I have been reading and praying the more I see that it isn’t about church…its about daily life. Sure we could look down on the “occasional church goer, we could confront them, make them feel guilty about not coming; but what will that do? Maybe some would get that message, while most, if not all would never returm (or take years to come back)
Now I know going to church is important for spiritual growth, but it takes sometimes huge steps for people to even grow to that point. Many are still (to quote one of my favorite movies: What about Bob) baby steppin’ it. They haven’t quite gotten to the point of seeing the need for weekly fellowship with other believers. So in their baby steps coming to church even on a holiday is a huge step.
As Christians who are maturing in the faith. planting the seed is our part (not putting on a guilt trip)…the Holy Spirit does the work, we just need to be consistent in our ministry and in our lives. And therein lies the paradox sometimes. Our lives and ministry can’t be divided where one ends and one begins, they are the same, it’s just that the hours intersect between work and home and that makes the difference. But within those segments of our lives: work, home, leisure: is there consistency? I would say sometimes it’s a fifty/fifty toss up. But we certainly have room to improve, and within those improvements the seeds that the Holy Spirit allows us to plant are so much more fertile.
Of course three things that I have continually been convicted on are these:
1) It’s the Lord’s Ministry – not mine.
2) When Victories come – He gets the credit.
3) I need to be thankful in ALL things – even the rough times.
So the next time you start to get annoyed as we all sometimes do with the “Holiday Christians” remember your job is to plant the seed, let the Holy Spirit do the rest. Just be consistent in your faith journey and see what happens.
-Just a thought.(written and re-edited by me (scott strissel) taken from my web site on Xanga: Salarmy -2007)
It’s Saturday. The day after crucifixion, Jesus’ death. Can you just imagine all of heaven, holding their collective breath? The Angels’ anxiously awaiting, anticipating what is to come? Did they know what God had in store for Sunday? Were they party to the entire plan? The hosts of heaven gathering at the tomb, gathering unseen among the disciples, who are in hiding. Imagine what is unseen in the spirit world, as Jesus descends into the deep, setting the captives free and unleashing redemption through the veil.
This Saturday lull before the storm of victory makes us wonder what the metaphysical world looked like on such a day. What battles were fought. The might of God unleashed on the fallen ones. How awesome the power of Christ would have been to behold…it would have probably killed us, who are human, to have witnessed this might. For even Moses had to cover himself in the sight of God…so too Elijah.
It’s Saturday, probably the day within the Resurrection story that the unseen and the hosts of Hell were shaken to the core by the Son of God. This epic battle…Satan standing no chance against his very own Creator. Death, though the gate by which Christ entered, had no more power on Him than all of the demons of hell…He was not their equal, He was so much more than created…he was Creator vanquishing and unleashing those imprisoned.
There is very little within scripture to tell us of what took place on Saturday, but if Sunday is any indication of what took place, all of the demons along with the father of lies himself must tremble with fear when they consider what is to come when Christ returns again.
It’s might be Saturday on this holy week, but resurrection is just around the corner…resurrection and victory for all who would follow after the Christ. For all who would identify with the cross will find an eternal hope and a resurrection unlike any other known in the universe.
On the walls of our living hang pictures. Not just any pictures or pictures of people we don’t know but pictures of my family. My Mom and Dad are there, my Wife is there, my children are there and other extended family members. This wall is dear to me. Not because it holds up a portion of the house that houses my tv, but because within these pictures is captures a moment frozen in time. A moment in which my family are smiling, looking silly, perhaps with teeth still missing as kids, but moments that have come and gone. Sweet moments, joyous moments and I treasure them in my heart every time I see them.
Today is Good Friday. Probably not exactly a joyous moment when we reflect on Christ on a cross, bloody, beaten and dying. It’s not a pretty picture to behold. We probably don’t have pictures of Jesus this way on our wall, in full color naked and bleeding on the cross. Perhaps you have some crucifix’s a portrait or two that resembles his death on the cross, but I doubt that it’s an unedited portrayal of his actual death scene…which I imagine was extremely grizzly to behold. Yet there is something joyous within this moment in our Savior’s death. It’s not that He suffered, or that finally they caught those two criminals hanging there next to Jesus, but it’s the fact that sin and death were nailed to the cross with Christ.
Our sin, our eternal death was taken from us by Christ on the cross. With the shedding of His blood, which was perfect, we now can call on His name and our sinful ways can be atoned for. We have one who intercedes for us before the Father. This portrait is the best we have ever received…ever! Eternal life is ours, death conquered, and hope available to the entire world all because of Jesus.
My photos on the wall are awesome, I love my family and I love my kids…but this life we live has been extended and eternal life granted to us, including my loved ones because of what we celebrate today…Christ crucified.
Question: Do you identify with this crucified Christ?
I hope and pray you do, if not perhaps it’s time to consider what life is about, where you’re going at the moment and if there is meaning to what you are doing today.
My children got sucked in today by an old black and white television show. The show in question? The Twilight Zone. This morning before going to school, waking up with sleep caked eyes they flipped on the TV and they were drawn in. Not by expensive special effects or famous actors, but a well scripted haunting scenario. My kids journeyed with the characters on the episode identified with the actors as they uncovered a truth so hard to accept…they weren’t on Earth at all…they were someplace else.
To some degree the disciples had to have felt like actors on horrifying episode of the twilight zone. They had just finished their meal and went for a walk with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. Imagine their tired eyes, filled stomachs and then Jesus tells them to sit at a place in the garden while He went up just a little further to pray. The effects of good food and the tranquil setting must have taken effect because the gospel of Mark records that Peter, James and John fell asleep instead of the Lord’s command of “keep watch”. They fall asleep, and sleep soundly as Jesus prays earnestly for His Father in Heaven to take the cup from Him (v36). Jesus displays his humanity in this moment, because He understood what needed to take place and His very human nature pleads for it to not take place.
Three times, Jesus comes to them and three times He finds them sleeping on the job. Jesus, in this difficult moment, tells them that they have to stand guard so that they didn’t fall into temptation because the spirit is willing, but the body is weak. (v.38) But because of their deep exhaustion they can’t keep their eyes open. In Jesus’ toughest struggle in his human existence, even beyond his temptation in the wilderness, His hand selected disciples couldn’t support Him in this trial. They fell asleep three times…I don’t believe in numerology but this repetitive notion of three is evident in the crucifixion story. Peter denies Jesus three times, the rooster crowed three times, the disciples including Peter, fell asleep three times and three times Jesus has to wake them up. Jesus in His death and resurrection took the span of three days. Post resurrected Jesus asks Peter how much He loved Him…you guessed it three times.
The Twilight Zone Moment:
After Jesus finishes His prayer conversation with the Father, He awakens His disciples for the last time and says, “Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayers!”(v.42) Here is when their reality is turned upside down. Within this very moment an alternative reality seems to present itself and it strikes literal fear in the disciples. One of their own, Judas enters the scene, and as a sign of identification places a kiss on the cheek of Jesus, as if to say ‘this is the one you want’. Peter’s eyes grow wide in surprise, as does James and John’s. How can this be? Why would Judas do such a thing? He was our brother! They all feel the bottom drop out in their stomach as this new reality sinks in. Peter reaches for his sword…where he got it, the Bible doesn’t say, but he uses it poorly it would seem as he slices off the ear of a servant to the high priest. I don’t think Peter planned to use it, his strike wasn’t premeditated but reactionary instead. This twilight zone will lead to an illegal midnight trial.
One can almost imagine the screen flickering in black and white as the camera zooms in on the actor and an expression of sheer disbelief and horror is magnified as the scenario is unveiled for the first time. This Maundy Thursday ended seemingly in a different dimension for the disciples. Way too much drama, too much loss, too little strength to do anything but sleep, cut off an ear and run away.
Don’t be too quick to judge though, perhaps if we were to place our feet into the disciples’ sandals for a moment without the foreknowledge that we have as we view this story from the outside, would we really have done anything different? Probably not.
Welcome to the Biblical Twilight Zone…Beyond it is another dimension – a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You’ve just crossed over into the Biblical Twilight Zone.
Isaiah 61:1-2 (NIV)
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,
Jesus stood in front of those gathered together in the synagogue of His home town and read these words…then, glancing at everyone in the room who were listening he rolled the scroll back up, it was placed in its customary resting place, and he took a seat to teach on the reading. You can almost imagine the crowd gathered there in the synagogue waiting for this fellow resident of Nazareth to speak. What would He say, he’s just a stone cutter’s son, and how much scriptural understanding does He really have? In the back of the sanctuary a person coughed, all eyes trained on Jesus, hanging on expectantly for what He would say.
Then it happens, with scriptural intent Jesus, now seated, looks directly into the faces of the people and fellow teachers and declares; “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” And then He lays it out there in his teaching. He tells them, without flinching or hesitation that every prophet is rejected in their home towns and proceeds to give examples of this through Elijah and Elisha. His meaning strikes the congregation like an audible slap in the face. Since the people of Israel rejected their prophets and continued in their ignorance the prophets went to the gentiles instead.
A fellow Jew takes a step forward and yells in outrage “What are you saying?” “How dare You!” another screams, the color of anger red rising in his face. “Blasphemy” another calls out and is repeated like an echo in a cave throughout the room. The once docile crowd seemingly awakens from its sermoned stupor and like a crashing wave onto jagged rocks at high tide convenes on the cause of their anger – Jesus. And with murderous intent glinting in their eyes, they grab Jesus roughly by His cloak. The roar of anger reverberates off of the columns and ceiling as the crowds of neighbors, townsmen, and even those who had worked with Joseph and his sons including Jesus…they knew Him, and yet they knew nothing. Anger now brimming over like lava from a volcano, the hometown crowd hauls Jesus out with cries of blasphemy and curses. Their intent is to end the guilt and conviction they feel by ending Jesus’ life. But as they approach a nearby cliff, something remarkable happens. Perhaps it’s an unrecorded miracle because no water is turned into wine, nor is someone healed from a sickness, but it’s a miracle nonetheless. The murderous rioters or would be church goers who were intent on killing Jesus aren’t permitted to do the deed! It’s not time yet for Him to die, and this isn’t the place for His ultimate sacrifice.
Instead of falling to His death, Jesus walks through the crowd. Nothing more is said of this event except that He goes on His way (v30). Was Satan involved in this sudden murderous riot? Were the town folk prompted to respond this way by a spiritual battle unseen? Perhaps, but the focus still remains on Jesus here. He walks through the would be murderers from the cliff and continues on this path and mission of teaching, healing and changing lives. This act of the crowd is fulfillment of Christ’s words only moments ago “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.” It wasn’t time yet for His sacrifice for the sins of the world. And so He moves on. Something to ponder here is if this event broke Christ’s heart. Were there tears in His eyes when He walked away from them, from His home? People He had known for years had just attempted to kill Him. His ‘old stomping grounds’ had become a hostile and uninviting place for Him, further reinforcing scripture that “He had nowhere to lay His head…”or call Home anymore. (Matt 8:20)
For us today, we may never face public riots for what we say for the sake of Christ. People might not be attempting to throw us from cliffs. But if we are to be followers and emulators of Christ we too must take bold stands and remain firm in them. Jesus said to His disciples and even now to us, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.” (Matt 16:24) In these words speaks of sacrifice, selflessness and purpose beyond our earthly lives. Jesus understood this measure of surrender, his purpose for being here on Earth and He gave himself completely to this task despite being rejected by the hometown crowd…how about you?
What is the measure of your surrender today?
(*My title isn’t meant to offend, please know I reverence Jesus and that of His life, and please don’t misunderstand my intent in the use of ‘Homeboy’)
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21)
I can’t help but think of the original movie “Pirates of the Caribbean – The Curse of the Blackpearl” in which Johnny Depp plays Captain Jack Sparrow. His treasure is the Black Pearl and taking his rightful place as its Captain again…His antagonist is Captain Barbossa and the crew have been cursed by a pirate’s treasure so that they can never die but they cannot enjoy the pleasures of life anymore either. Their treasure in life has become their undoing and they are now cursed because of it.
Is it so far fetched to think that earthly treasure can be like this with us as well? No we may not appear as ghosts in the moonlight, but we may be ruled by our treasures. Just flip on the television and consider the numerous commercials that tell us we haven’t truly lived until we have the newest and best telephone, electronic device, car or job. Earthly treasure certainly has its trappings, its lures and its appeal doesn’t it?
Have you heard it said, ‘whatever consumes most of your time will consume you?’ Another word for our treasures could be the word ‘Idol’. If we become consumed with an idol in our lives, it dominates our time, and our attention then does it not take away from the time we should be spending with God? Don’t we see throughout the Old Testament that God is a jealous God who wants us to be completely sold out to Him alone? It literally breaks His heart when his people sell His love for cheap idols of this world that are temporal and will fade away. It’s like having the Hope Diamond yet trading it in for a cubic zirconia ring that was seen the on Home shopping network…it just doesn’t make sense!
Where is your treasure today? Are you investing your time and your passions on the Eternal or the temporal and Earthly? Have you been cursed by your possessions? Consumed by them? Don’t allow earthly treasures that are cheap and temporary to replace the love of God which is perfect, lovely and will last forever!
Truth be told, I have made this mistake countless times, it never pays off. Sure for a time we’re happy with our treasure, but over time it loses its shine and what we thought would bring us happiness leaves us with a vacuum in our hearts…and we’re empty. Eternal treasure will never leave us feeling this way! God will never leave us or forsake us, and His promises are always true, noble and priceless in value!
So what’ll it be? Your shiny new toy that will one day fail you, or God’s Eternal light which shines forever?
Where your treasure is…there your heart is also. Think on these things, and with the words of Jesus, “He who has ears to hear, let Him hear!”
Pastor's Ponderings 