The Way We Influence

 

 

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A Quote to Ponder: An Inclusive Invitation

{Luke 9:23-24; ESV}

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Jesus begins his call to follow him with these two words, if anyone…

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An Inclusive Invitation...

 

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Quote: Jesus Sanctifies

He sanctified Himself for us, that we ourselves also might be sanctified in truth. Yes, our sanctification rests and roots in His, in Himself. ~ Andrew Murray, Holy in Christ

Quote: Pray and Do

"To pray for one another as individuals or communities implies that we shall assist one another in every way for which we pray for one another; otherwise our prayers and thanksgivings for each other are mere hypocrisy." ~ Alexander Campbell, The Christian System

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Always Demonstrate Love

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Holiness is True Life

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Faith is the Foundation

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Be Who God Created You to Be

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An Age of Hustle and Bustle

As I said, we do not live in a praying age. We live in an age of hustle and bustle, of man's efforts and man's determination, of man's confidence in himself and in his own power to achieve things, an age of human organization and human machinery, human push and human scheming, and human achievement, which in the things of God means no real achievement at all.

~ R. A. Torrey, The Power of Prayer

In Humility

Marriage is a Partnership

"Marriage is a partnership.  The husband cannot act independently of the wife, not the wife of the husband.  They must always act together." ~ William Barcly, DSB: The Letters to the Corinthians, The Westminster Press (1975), p. 60

Creating Our Future

The future is the sum total of all the choices that are made in the present and in the past.  Fortunately, that sum total includes the choices made by God.

Erwin McManus, Uprising, p. 237

If we took a minute to think about it we would realize that the world we live is the product of billions of choices.  Each of every person who has every lived has had a hand in creating this world.  I think this is why the idea of parallel universes is so appealing because it helps us to think about the what ifs of life.  We can imagine what life would have been like if we would have gone out for the football team, ask a certain girl out of a date, or applied ourselves in the classroom.  Just think there might be a universe out there where I am the President of the United States!

Though we know in our hearts of hearts, as the great theologian Eddie Money taught us, we can't go back. The past is the past and we can't go back and make different choices.  Even if there were other parallel universes out there the alternate me making different or better choices doesn't affect my life.  The only life that really matters is the life that I am currently living.

I have to realize that the life that I am living right now is largely the product of the choices I have made.  Yes, I have been affected by the choices of other people, but those choices still required that I would respond in a certain way.  So it all comes down to choices.  Each day we are faced with hundreds of little choices, and those choices mold us into the people we are becoming.

This can sound a little scary.  After all I know myself and I know how often I make the wrong choice.  I know how easy it is not to exercise because I am to tired or how easy it is to eat the wrong thing (is that a Reeses Peanut Cup Blizzard calling my name?) because my body is craving it.  Each and everyone of us have tired to become a different person, we have had the good intentions, and we have fallen short.  Let me encourage you: Things can be different!

First we have to realize that our problem with making the wrong choice often comes from the fact that we are lead by our flesh.  Our flesh focuses on the immediate and satisfying our bodily desires.  It is our flesh which leads us to sin.  It was Eve's flesh that convinced her to listen to the voice of Satan and eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  It was Adam's flesh that caused him to desire Eve more than he desired God.  

Read what Paul wrote about the flesh:

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:5-8; ESV).

When our choices are guided by the flesh we are unable to please God and to live the way He wants us to live.  Thank God our lives and our futures are not totally dependent on our choices.  We can have different lives because of the choices God has made.  That is the good news!  God's choices are added into the equation of our choices to shape the future.

Earlier in Romans Paul wrote:

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:6-11; ESV)

You see because God made the choice not to give up on humankind He did whatever it took to save us from sin, to rescue us from death, and to give us new life.  He did this, not based on our good choices, but based on His character.  God desired that we would be able to live lives which were guided by the Spirit and not the flesh.  In this way we would have the resources we need to make good decisions.

Our futures are created by the choices that are made.  Our lives are affected by our choices, the choices of the people around us, the choices of Satan, and most importantly the choices of our Heavenly Father.  The reality that God is active in the world and in our lives is the good news that has the ability to change the trajectory of our lives. We can be different people and our futures shaped when we open our hearts to the choices God has made in this world.  Thank God our futures are not totally dependent on the choices we make!

Sunday Quote: Face Our Problems

"When you ignore problems, you relinquish a place of truth.  When you ignore obstacles, you communicate a lack of confidence that God can overcome obstacles that have debilitated or even paralyzed God's people.  Identifying the clear problems is not expressing pessimism or negativity.  It is not judgmentalism or condemnation. It is standing to face whatever Goliaths stand before God's people and speaking with confidence about a future gained after Goliath's defeat.  Identifying the clear problems is the beginning point of spiritual warfare in leadership.  It gives the spiritual leader an opportunity to call God's people to prayer and usher in the promises of God, promises of a future and a hope." ~ Erwin McManus; An Unstoppable Force, p. 191

The Process of Becoming

I think our culture has over looked just how powerful our choices are.  You see our choices form us into the people that we are.  This is why it is so important for us as a culture to have high expectations for the younger generation.  We can’t expect young people to  spend their lives watching TV, playing video games, gossiping, and frivolously spending money to one day in their mid-twenties to all of sudden become mature responsible adults.  When we allow our children to make the easy to choice and to constantly choose what is fun or brings instant gratification then they will mature into people who are selfish, petty, shallow, and irresponsible. 

I want you to think about something Gregory Boyd wrote:

“Moral culpability is not just about people acting certain ways when they could have and should have acted differently.  It’s more about people becoming certain kinds of people when they could have and should have become different kinds of people” (Satan and the Problem of Evil; p. 122).

Here is the thought that I have been thinking about this afternoon as I prepare for leadership camp next week: The Church needs to encourage people to become a different kind people.  People who have their minds set on heavenly things rather than earthly things (Colossians 3:1-4), people who walk by the Spirit rather than by the flesh (Galatians 5:16-26), and people live humbly putting others ahead of themselves (Philippians 2:1-11).

How can we do this?  First, we emphasis the fact that God in His great love for us has opened up for us the way of redemption, and that way is Jesus (Romans 5:6-11).  We need to always remember that without God’s love and initiative we would have no hope.  Our ability to become new people, Kingdom people, depends on God’s intervention in our lives.  If we miss this truth then we miss the foundation of the Gospel.

Second, we need to pray for our children, students, and others that we have influence with.  This is the example that the apostle gives in Colossians 1:9-12.  The reason Paul prays for the Colossians is so that they will be the type of people who will honor Christ Jesus.  We need to pray for people to be filled with a knowledge of God’s will and with spiritual wisdom and knowledge so they can become people who honor Jesus with the way they live.

Lastly, we need to give people tools, methods, and disciplines to help them train in godliness (1 Timothy 4:7). If we were honest we would have to admit that our process of discipleship isn’t working.  Our church families are not filled with people becoming more and more like Christ Jesus.  In fact, I would wager, many of us having given up on true transformation taking place, and we are content with a little behavior modification.  We need to help people understand that they are responsible for their spiritual growth and that the spiritual disciplines such as meditation, prayer, worship, service, fasting, solitude, and celebration are ways in which we can train our bodies to ignore the pull of the flesh and to follow the Spirit.

Each one of us is in the process of becoming.  We are either becoming a more human and thus fit for God’s Kingdom or we are becoming less human and thus fit for the kingdom of darkness.  Are choices play an essential part in this process.  We are called to do all that we can to help people make the right choices.

Sunday Quote: A Different View of Temptation

“In this life it is impossible to escape the assault of temptation; but one thing is sure—temptations are not sent to us to make us fall; they are sent to strengthen the nerve and the sinew of our minds and hearts and souls. They are not meant for our ruin, but for our good. They are meant to be tests from which we emerge better warriors and athletes of God.” ~ William Barclay; DSB: The Gospel of Mark; p. 21

Sunday Quote: Trying to Take God's Place

In fact, the sin of pride is the oldest one in the Book.  The writer of Genesis states that it was through pride that the serpent tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden: “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.” And we have all, in our own way, been trying to take God’s place ever since. ~ John Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted, p. 109

Sunday Quote: Radically Unequal

"The Declaration of Independence states that it is a self-evident truth that all people are created equal.  From a scriptural perspective this is undoubtedly true in terms of God's love for all people and thus in terms of their inherent worth.  But in every other respect nothing could be further from the truth.  People are radically unequal in terms of the possibilities and potential inherent  in every area of their life.  Some have outstanding physical and mental capacities others lack.  Some even have inherent spiritual aptitudes that others lack.  People are not equal in terms of their natural endowments." ~ Gregory Boyd, Satan and the Problem of Evil, p. 194

Look to Jesus

If we want to know what it means to be human there is only one place to turn: Jesus.  If we want to know God there is only one place to turn: Jesus.  Elias Dantes in his essay on the incarnation of Jesus wrote:

“If you want to know what it means to be a human being and to stand for the humanity of man look to Jesus Christ.  If you want to know God, look to Jesus Christ” (Christ the One and Only; The Incarnation of Christ and its Implications; p. 18).

Hebrews 2:17 reminds us that Jesus became a man in order to make atonement for our sins.  One implication of this reality is that Jesus is our example of what it means to live a truly faithful life; for Christ Jesus lived out what it means to be created in the image of God.  Thus we are urged; Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did (1 John 2:6; NLT).

Not only is Jesus our example for living, but He is also the truth about who God truly is.  Jesus said that anyone who has seen Him has seen the Father (John 14:9).  Jesus, by the way He lived, expressed precisely, in terms our finite minds could grasp, the character of God.

Since we are created in God’s image to reflect His glory, is it any wonder that these two realities are connected in Jesus?

Sunday Quote: We are Free

"You were created to be free.  If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you're also called to be free.  Yet to experience this freedom there must first be an uprising—revolution of the soul.  This is exactly what Jesus Christ calls you to.  Your liberation will require you to see beyond the illusion of freedom—free acts that lead to bondage.  Our freedom must never be about us alone.  Freedom is the gift of serving others out of love.  This is the freedom that only God can give, where we once again become like Him.  It is here and only here that freedom exists without boundaries.  You are free to love without limit, to forgive, to be merciful, to be generous, to be compassionate, to risk, to sacrifice, to enjoy, and to live." ~ Erwin McManus, Uprising, p. 12

Sunday Quote: Taking God's Place

In fact, the sin of pride is the oldest one in the Book. The writer of Genesis states that it was through pride that the serpent tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden: “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.” And we have all, in our own way, been trying to take God’s place ever since. ~ John Ortberg; The Life You've Always Wanted; p. 109