I swear to you that the Lord of the Rings theme this week is entirely unintentional. I saw Frank post his yesterday and sent him a message saying that I already had this one ready for today. At least we didn’t pick the same topic -Clay

What is the purpose of walls? Are they built to keep people in, or to keep people out? If you construct a tall enough, think enough wall, can it keep out the hordes of those that you don’t want to have access in to your life?

In the second part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Two Towers, the men and women of the kingdom of Rohan are on the run. Their western borders have been overtaken by the wildmen sent by the wizard Saruman. Their people were fleeing and the forces of evil would soon be on the doorstep of Edoras, their capital. King Theoden makes the decision that they would all gather at Helm’s Deep, a mountain fortress that had never been breached.

In this case, the walls of Helm’s Deep were erected in order to keep attackers out. Instead of being overrun by Saruman’s forces, the men of Rohan were able to hold out through the night until salvation arrived in the form of Gandalf the White and the remaining members of the Rohirrim, the horse-riders of Rohan.

Walls are useful for keeping evil at bay. We are wise to build up walls around our hearts

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life - Proverbs 4:23

Do those walls need to exist to hold everyone out though? Too often (and I’m terribly guilty of this) we hold others at arm’s length, not willing to let them into our lives lest they see what we are actually like. We spend just enough time with people to barely get to know them.

The church of Acts did not experience this. They lived, ate, and worshiped together.

44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. - Acts 4:44-47

What will it take for us to break down the walls that hold out people, and then rebuild them as a community? The walls of our hearts need to be strong enough to repel evil, but able to expand to include those in community around us. As Pastor Phil said on Sunday, we need to replace our suspicion with openness, our uncertainty with willingness. When the church becomes a loving, welcoming community that is working together for a common goal (helping others to meet Christ and grow in that relationship), the world will notice. The community will see the unconditional love and the high expectations that we have for each other and want to know more.

Today, let’s all ask ourselves what we can do to make this happen. How can we rebuild the walls around our community so that we all can fight together?

Like many people (and I’m sure some of you reading this right now) I would find a reading plan and start it, trying to make sure that I covered the whole Bible. Many times I’d find myself bogged down in Leviticus, slogging through what seemed to be an endless list of laws about sacrifices and animals and hair care and so many other things.

Then I stopped.

I stopped looking at the Bible as what I was going to glean out of it. I quit seeing it as a requirement and started looking at it as a privilege. Right now, I could reach out an arm and put a hand on at least seven Bibles on my bookshelf. This doesn’t count the multitude of Bibles that can be found in either my Logos software, through YouVersion on my phone or iPad, or on the web at multiple different places. Through technology and my own bibliophile habits, I have the ability to read the Bible in any language, any version, from anywhere.

So why don’t many of us do it?

We view it as a responsibility. We view the Bible as part of our religion¹ and nothing more. Should we view it as more though? Christ himself tells us to pray, “give us this day our daily bread.” He’s not talking about physical bread, but about the daily sustenance we require from the Word. Just because it’s a habit, yes, something that we do religiously, doesn’t mean that it should be dry.

Here is what I would recommend.

First, find a version of the Bible that you are comfortable reading. Yes, the King James is old and hard to read. So find another. I study out of the New King James, but typically will teach from the New American Standard or the English Standard. I don’t use the New International much just because I am more comfortable with the other translations.

Second, find a good reading plan. YouVersion has a multitude of different ones. Currently I’m going through the chronological reading plan. It does give a different feel as I started on January 1st in Genesis, read through about 15 chapters or so, and then skipped to Job. I’ll finish Job this next week and then it’s back to Genesis. After that looms the trek through the rest of the Pentateuch, but I’m ready for it this time.

Which brings me to my third point: do something different. This year I’ve started keeping a journal with me when doing my daily reading. I write (scribble to be honest) notes, questions, observations, whatever comes to mind while I’m reading. I’ll admit it is a little bit exciting to see that book fill up. I’m already on the fourth page and I think that it will be an invaluable resource in the future for me. If I run into something where I want to know about a particular section of the Bible, I can pull out that notebook and read what I was thinking the last time I read through it. It might become my own personal commentary set. You might not do this, but find something else that excites you about reading the Bible.

Fourth, make it a priority. I found myself over the last year going to my phone as soon as I woke up. I would check emails, scan over Facebook and Twitter, browse my RSS reader and then maybe get to my Bible. If I had time. It was too easy to not find time to read the Word. To combat that, this year I have changed that habit to where I won’t read anything else until I have done my Bible reading. Honestly, it’s not been difficult at all. It has been refreshing to have that be the first words spoken into my mind and heart every morning rather than someone complaining about how the Cowboys coaches are morons.

Finally, find a way to share that with someone. Let someone else know what you’re doing and allow them to hold you accountable for it. Now my tens of readers (probably not even that high) know what I’m doing, and I give each one of you permission to ask me about it. Ask to see my journal if you want. Ask me if I’ve been keeping up with it. Thirteen straight days of reading is simply a good start. I’ll be more excited when it is 364 days and I’ve only one more day to read until I start the next plan.

To sum it up, just like I’ve said already this year: just start. Resolve to show up. Grab your Bible and get into God’s word. If you need help with a reading plan, shoot us an email and I’ll help you out. We’d love to hear about how you read the Bible.

Now, put yourselves in the disciples sandals. Jesus told you to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) and you are ready to run out and do what the Savior has asked. You’ve just seen him raised from the dead, a man you saw crucified with your own eyes. You know he was dead, laid in a tomb, but yet he is here, standing in front of you. Your desire is to tell as many people as you can about the Messiah that you’ve seen and know. You and your fellow disciples have all gathered together to start spreading the Gospel when Christ says to wait here and don’t leave. Wait? But you said to go, and I’m ready to go! I don’t want to wait. Aren’t you going to restore the kingdom? Why not now? (Acts 1:4-6)

Don’t we all feel that way sometimes? We feel ready to unchain ourselves from what has been holding us back and then we are required to wait. We want to accomplish things NOW, not wait for something that we don’t know when or how it might be coming. This happens in our personal lives, our professional lives, even among the church. We don’t want to wait for something, we want it now. Patience is truly a virtue that many of us have not mastered. My wife says that I am patient most of the time, though my children and my parents would disagree with that. I see myself as fairly patient, but I have a proximity bias. I know that there are times when I’m more than willing to wait on something, and other times when I want to start on it immediately. I don’t believe that I’m unique in this feeling either.

What the disciples didn’t know was that they were about to receive a helper, a comforter to assist them in spreading the Gospel to the ends of the earth. They were ready for the kingdom to be restored immediately but Jesus told them,

“It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8)

It is not for you to know the times or seasons. That’s powerful language. It takes the onus of knowledge off of us and places it on the Father. It requires us to wait until we have received the Holy Spirit, and then it’s time to do the work we have been commanded to do. The results and outcome are left up to God, we simply work in the field to help bring in the harvest. The power to accomplish this task is not even our own, but comes through the Holy Spirit.

So, are we ready to wait and see where the Spirit directs us? Or are we going to jump the gun and run off in our own race, without the power promised us by Christ?

But try to imagine what Joseph’s “Christmas Eve” might have been like. He wasn’t eagerly looking forward to a turkey dinner with family, he was waiting on his wife to give birth to a child. He wasn’t concerned with whether or not the tree was decorated, he was simply trying to keep the sheep from eating the stuffing out of their coming child’s bed. As if that wasn’t enough, Joseph knew that his wife was giving birth to the Son of God. No pressure there, right?

I remember when our oldest child was born. She would be the first grandchild on either side of our family (which is code for spoiled) and my and my wife’s parents were eager to welcome her into the world. My wife and I went into the final weeks of her pregnancy with excitement, and more than a little trepidation. As first time parents I’m sure that we were more worried about what we didn’t know than what we did.

As dawn breaks on Christmas Eve, what are the expectations we have? Are we simply looking forward to another day with our family and friends, 24 more hours of keeping the electric fence up around the tree so nobody sneaks a peek? Or are we filled with other expectations? Do we look forward to celebrating once more the cycle of remembrance that stretches across Christmas and Easter? What are our expectations this Christmas season?

Have we come to expect little out of God? Do we ask him to meet our needs and nothing more? Do we minimize our problems to God, thinking that we are so small as to be insignificant to him? Don’t! Each of us matters to God. Do our expectations measure up to our God? This is the same Creator who spoke the universe into being, the same God who parted the waters of the Red Sea, the same Father who gave his only Son so that we would have everlasting life. Amazing doesn’t have to be on such a grand scale either. Amazing can be the simple touch of a friend, unexpected help with a bill, a shoulder to cry on, or the love of a child. He has the ability, the desire, to do amazing things in our life, but do we ever expect him to do them? Each Christmas, those expectations begin with a baby.

This Christmas Eve, let’s look at the birth of our Savior as more than the same story we’ve heard before. Instead of expecting to use this last day before Christmas to finish up all those tasks we didn’t have time for, let us use it to prepare for the coming of our King tomorrow. May the last thoughts that go through our minds tonight be the expectation that God can and will do incredible things through our lives which to grow his kingdom, that the coming of the Christ child signals a renewal of our own faith. The words to the an old hymn by Charles Wesley close this better than I could:

Come Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free
From our fears and sins release us
Let us find our rest in Thee

This time of year that phrase seems to roll off the tongue when we sing Christmas carols or hymns that speak of Christ’s coming to earth as a child. Do we really grasp the meaning of the phrase though?

God with us.

We have this picture of the nativity in our minds. A picture that has Mary, Joseph, a baby boy named Jesus, and an assortment of animals, shepherds, angels, wise men, gold, and whatever frankincense and myrrh might be. Too often though, that’s all it is. A picture. A snapshot in our mind’s eye of a moment in time not captured by any camera. A portrait that has been painted for us by God’s Word, passed down through the centuries.

God with us.

You see, it wasn’t simply words on a page to these people. It wasn’t a painting, or words to a song, or stained glass in a window. It was real. Jesus, the Son of God, born of a virgin, was real and was laying there among them. I’m certain that few, if any of them, knew what this child would grow up to do. All they knew at that moment was that he was there, in front of them. A tangible, real person. A baby, complete with all the unpleasant things that babies do, but full of the love and hope of God. The incarnate Christ, right there in front of them. The shepherds knew this because an angel and told them. The magi knew this because of a star, Joseph knew because of a dream, and Mary knew because the angel Gabriel appeared to her.

God with us.

But how do we know? How do we make that jump from words on a page to reality? How do we know that Christ is with us, just like he was in that manger (in a cave or stable, let’s not argue) so long ago? Do we see it in the actions and words of those around us? Do we experience it at our churches and in our homes? Do we show it to others ourselves? What does it mean to have God with us?

We are born separated from God. We live our lives in ways that are sinful, sometimes without knowing it, sometimes with full knowledge of it, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We need the Christmas story to be real in order for us to know the extent of what Christ did on the cross. If Christ wasn’t Emmanuel, God with us, at his birth, then what power would his death and resurrection hold?

This Christmas season, we must remember that Christ is with us. As John 1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Christ became flesh in order to become the sacrifice for our sins. It wasn’t a “he was here, now he is gone” kind of thing. He passed through the life of a human in order to become the once and for all sacrifice for us. Easter is not what it is without Christmas proclaiming God with us.

The carol O Holy Night says, “A thrill of hope, a weary world rejoices.” This Christmas I pray that we all experience that thrill of hope in Christ and rejoice that Emmanuel has come.

God is with us.

But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth. – Exodus 9:16

Purpose. Such a direct word, yet sometimes so difficult to interpret. One dictionary defines purpose as, “the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used”. What is our purpose here on earth? What is it that we are meant to accomplish for God? There are limitless possibilities, but how do we narrow that down to what God has intended for us?

Pharaoh most likely thought that his purpose was to make sure that others fulfilled his will. As one of the most powerful rulers of the time, Pharaoh simply had to speak and what he had requested would be done. The Egyptians believed that the pharaoh was both the embodiment of the law and the chief priest, appointed by the gods to uphold order. Honestly, this probably gave Pharaoh a bit of an inflated ego. You grow up being told that you are the next big thing, the main attraction, and I imagine that your ego would puff up a bit as well.

What Pharaoh didn’t know, was that this was not his purpose. The God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had a different purpose for him. Pharaoh was about to find out what that was, and it surely turned his world upside down.

Moses was told by God to get up early, go stand in front of Pharaoh, and tell him to let His people go. If He didn’t, then he would bring more plagues against Egypt. In the middle of this, God chastises Pharaoh for not listening to Him before. He drops the hammer on Pharaoh by saying, “I put you in this position. This is My design, not yours. I’ve done this so that you, Pharaoh, you can see my power and then My name will be declared over all the earth.” How life-shattering would that be? To stand there as the most powerful man on Earth and be told by God that whatever purpose he may have thought he had was wrong had to destroy his spirit. God follows that up with, “I know you’re not going to let them go this time either, so here comes some big hail. You might want to tell your people to bring their animals in and stay inside, else they will die.” (All quotes from God in this paragraph are paraphrased)

Just like that, Pharaoh’s purpose was revealed. He was there to be an example of what not to do. When God talks to you, shows you His power six times already, yet you still refuse, bad things will happen. God had placed Pharaoh there for the purpose of showing His power through what was going to happen. Pharaoh was there because of God’s design, not his own.

So, how do we find that design in our own lives? When you find a formula for that, send me an email, because I don’t know. What I do know, is that God has gifted each of us in unique ways, given us different passions, desires, and abilities, and placed us where we are for a purpose. What God says to Pharaoh could just as easily be said to us. A pastor is placed in that position so that God’s power may be shown, and His name declared. A stay at home mom is placed in that position so that God’s power may be shown, and His name declared. The President of the United States is placed in that position so that God’s power may be shown, and His name declared. We don’t live our lives in a bubble, separate from God.

Each of us have been placed here for a purpose. In a commencement address at Stanford University in 2005, Steve Jobs said, “[y]our time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” Don’t look to others for your purpose, pray that God would reveal His purpose for your life.

What is your purpose?

What gifts and abilities are you using to declare God’s name?

Where have you hardened your heart towards God and his purpose?

It wasn’t.

Within a few weeks of its introduction, New Coke met with vocal opposition from those who rather liked the old flavor of Coke. The company hired a psychiatrist to listen in to some of the phone calls that they were receiving. The psychiatrist reported that “people sounded as if they were discussing the death of a family member’.

The message was received loud and clear that people didn’t want New Coke, and less than three months after its introduction, Coca-Cola reintroduced the old flavor as Coca-Cola Classic. I’m sure the CEO sat in his office, hearing reports of how unhappy his (now former) customers were and wondered where it all went horribly wrong. Among the lawsuits and protests, his coworkers probably glared through him each day, thinking “how could you have done this to all of us? We’re the laughingstock of the soda industry.”

All of this over the taste of flavored sugar water.

It’s likely that Moses knew this same feeling. Moses had just received direction straight from God and convinced his people that if he only did what God had asked of him, they would be freed from the oppression of the Egyptians. He and Aaron might have walked up to Pharaohs throne with a bit of a spring in their step, anxious to get out all that God had told them, then start out of the city with their Hebrew brothers and sisters. They knew that since they were on a mission from God, they would be successful. They had even planned out to start by simply asking Pharaoh if they could go have a little party first, softening him up before asking him the big question later.

Only it didn’t happen that way. Exodus 5:1-4 says,

¹ Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’”
² Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go.”
³ Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”
⁴ But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!” ⁵ Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working.”

Not surprisingly, Pharaoh doesn’t say, “Oh, God said so. Then by all means, take a few days off and enjoy yourself!”. Pharaoh first reacts with disgust at the thought that there was a deity out there that wasn’t him, asks for a reason why he should obey this God that he doesn’t know, then greatly increased the workload on the Hebrews. Later, when some of the Hebrew overseers came back to ask Pharaoh for mercy, they were told that they were lazy and must produce as much as they had before, only without materiels provided for them. As they left this meeting, they saw Moses and Aaron. Instead of accepting the burden, they passed the blame on to Moses and Aaon, saying “May the LORD look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

I’m sure Moses had the same thoughts that the CEO of Coke did: “Where did it go horribly wrong? I did what was asked of me, and everyone thought it was a great idea. Then when I put it into action, it failed miserably!” Moses passes the blame on to God, saying “you have not rescued your people at all.” God responds by saying “I am the LORD.” He then tells Moses that these things will happen in His time, not instantly. I imagine that Moses had kind of a sheepish look on his face during this conversation, knowing that he had doubted what God had said He would do.

What can we learn from this? A couple important things. First, no matter how much preparation, research, time and effort we may put in to something, it may fail. It will go completely opposite of what we expect. This may be God’s plan, or it may not be in God’s timing. He is the LORD and He will accomplish all that He has said He will accomplish. Second, we have to lean on God in the times that we fail and in the times we succeed. He has never said that the Christian journey would be easy. Matthew 7:14 says, “narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

The hopeful news is that we are not alone on this journey. God is with us and will do what He has set out to accomplish. We have to be ready to take the pain with the victories. Are you willing to praise God for the struggles that strengthen your faith?

First, the song list:
Glory To God Forever (Steve Fee and Vicky Beeching)
Jesus Saves (Carlos Whittaker, Jason Ingram and Mia Fieldes)
I Will Follow (Chris Tomlin, Jason Ingram and Reuben Morgan)
Jesus Paid It All (Elvine M. Hall, Alex Nifong and John Thomas Grape)
To The Cross (Paul Baloche and Jason Ingram)

The message this week was The Gospel. Granted, this is the core of the message every week, but this week it was focused on what the Gospel is specifically. I tried to choose songs that reflected and emphasized that message. Because of the Gospel, because of what Christ did for us on the cross, we can take all our cares to Him each and every day. The Gospel means that we have been saved by His sacrifice, and nothing that we do can bridge that gap without Him. As Pastor Phil said on Sunday, our prayer is that others will be saved as well (Romans 10:1).

Hope you all have a great week and we hope to see you again on Sunday!

On those HOT summer days, there’s only one place to go—THE BEACH!

At the beach, where cool water meets a blue sky warm with sunshine, life seems easier. Children who have finished kindergarten through fifth grade will find it easy and natural to play—digging in the sand, floating in the waves, catching sand crabs and picking up shells.

As kids explore the wonders of the beach, they’ll also discover the Big Answers to their Big Questions about Jesus. Five essential Bible verses—including John 14:6—will help them understand who Jesus is and why they need Him. At SonSurf Beach Bash VBS, kids learn that there is only one truth: Jesus!

]]> http://pinoaks.org/2011/05/vbs-2011-sonsurf/feed/ 0 http://pinoaks.org/2011/04/whats-in-your-back-yard/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=whats-in-your-back-yard http://pinoaks.org/2011/04/whats-in-your-back-yard/#comments Fri, 22 Apr 2011 22:39:28 +0000 clay http://pinoaks.org/?p=1215 You ever think about what is in your back yard? Might seem like a bit of an odd question, but it’s one that’s been on my mind recently. It’s really pretty easy for me to answer. We’ve got a fort for the kids to play on, a slide and a little house for the younger ones, some lawn furniture, a grill, and a small patio. Seems pretty typical, doesn’t it?

Now, if I just stopped there, this would make for a pretty pointless and stupid post, so I’m not going to. What’s interesting to me are the things that I didn’t describe that are back there, things that I don’t expect or want you to see. We have a new dog that’s still a bit of a puppy and she likes to drag things out the dog door and into the backyard. She doesn’t typically chew them up (except for shoes) she just takes them outside and deposits them between the fort and the back door. One day my wife and I were talking while I was driving home from work and she said, “Don’t look in the back yard when you get home.” Naturally, I was curious why I was being restricted like this and she replied with, “Because it looks like a diaper bomb went off out there.” Apparently Maggie had found a trash can in the bedroom where we had been putting diapers and was taking them outside, one by one.

Now you might be wondering why I’m telling you about this and how it relates to my point. You really need to be less like my son watching a movie, constantly asking about what’s going to happen, and be more patient. I’m only 250 words into this.

When there is stuff strewn all over the back yard, I hate going out there. It’s surrounded by a fence so nobody sees it and this removes just about any motivation I might have to clean it up. I don’t even like mowing out there. Normally, nobody knows about this except for my family and it’s not a big deal. However, last week, anyone driving by my house knew about my lack of back yard cleanliness. After a couple days of strong winds and one good storm, my already pathetic fence gave up on one side of the house and came crashing down. I look outside during the storm and notice three fence panels on the ground and two more waving like fans at a football game who just realized the camera was turned their direction. I was understandably disappointed that I would have to repair the fence, but I was more disturbed that now people would be able to see into my back yard and the sorry state it was in.

Last weekend while I was rebuilding the fence, I had plenty of time to think. I started to realize that the way we maintain our house could really be a metaphor for our own lives. I try to make sure that the front yard is fairly well kept, always mowed and looking at least presentable. The front yard is like my public life. It’s lived out in front of anyone who can see it and what goes on there isn’t hidden in the least. Any words I speak in public are out there for all to hear.

My back yard is a bit more guarded. I try to keep what is going on back there private, but it doesn’t always work, as evidenced by my fence falling in. Just like that fence, sometimes my guard is down and people see a bit more of what I’m really like. I might try to quickly build the fence back up but once someone sees that back yard of my personality, they probably won’t forget it, especially if it contradicts what I normally do.

My point behind all this is that we need to be sure that what we display in the front yard of our lives, our public face, is consistent with how we live in the back yard of our life. We expect privacy there, but we should also understand that at any moment that privacy can be broken, and all the things that we try to hide from public view will be displayed for all to see. Luke 12:2-3 tells us:

² For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. ³ Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

Let us live our lives so that what is proclaimed from the housetops is our love for our Savior, our dedication to living our lives for the calling He has given to us. We are the light of the world, shining like that city on a hill to make known His sacrifice for us, not for our own glory, but for His. Pray that we do not let the hidden part of our lives become a hindrance to the spreading of His word.

Originally posted at mezzamorphis.com.