Isaiah 57:15
For this is what the high and lofty One says—
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
"I live in a high and holy place,
but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite."
Contrite: (Adjective) Feeling or expressing remorse or penitence; affected by guilt.
I am constantly amazed at the God I love and serve. How in the world can He be the high and lofty one, who lives in a high and holy place, and yet also WANT to be with us, especially when we are contrite and lowly?
I am in awe of the heart of our God, that He loves us so much that when we are broken and sorrowful we find His power and His presence so available. How can this be? I could question it, but there is the cross, the horrible payment for my sins standing before me. Concrete proof through all of time that God loves us with a love beyond measure and understanding. A love that we must decide how to answer. Shall we respond and love back? Or shall we turn away callously and reject such a great gesture of compassion and mercy? Is life lived our own way, on our own terms really so great? I don't think so...
So I shall seek the place of grace, the place of power, the place of rest... Contrite and lowly!!!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
The American Dream Nightmare?
Lauren Henley is an amazing young lady at our church who recently wrote the following. Her feelings echo what many in our church are realizing, specifically from David Platt's book, "Radical." However, we see God's spirit at work because Lauren has not read the book, which warns us that the American Dream is not all it's cracked up to be...
From Lauren:
From Lauren:
I thought that I would share some of my thoughts/ revelations of what the Lord has been doing in my life.
From the day I was born (and probably most of us), I was raised by my family, my school, and by culture to get a college degree, use my brains to earn a living, get married, have children (in which I instill the same future), and make money so that I can afford way too many things.
-Isn't this the American Dream? Aren't we all supposed to work a 9-5 job with good insurance, TRY to own a house that we don't need/can't afford, send our kids in 500 different directions to 500 different extra activities, and have a good retirement package; because if you don't have those things you won't survive, won't be able to live.
I feel like we have taken some of the blessings and "lifeboats" that the Lord has given us and turned them into necessities. There is nothing evil about having 4 family cars, because God can use them to send us on his missions, but the absolute NEED for it can be evil. There is nothing wrong with working a conventional job with good insurance and retirement package, because God our Provider- Jehovah Jireh uses that job, but it is terribly wrong to box God in by saying that you can only be successful and "happy" if you live this American Dream life.
What if God has a different plan for our generation? What if we are called to break a generational curse of greed and self-reliance?
We have all used anti-bacterial hand soap. It is in every elementary school, hospital, and grocery store. This soap is so powerful that is cleans all the bad bacteria’s and germs that we encounter on a daily basis. Thanks to this soap we may have prevented a week in bed with the flu.
- There is a downside, not only have we gotten rid of our harmful bacteria’s, but we have also erased our immunity to them. Our natural ability to fight off these invaders is gone. This soap has become our sickness "savior".
This makes me think. Have we taken the safeguards and the protections God has given us: our homes, our nice clothes and cars, our insurance and retirement packages, and have turned them into our "saviors"? Do we no longer need Jehovah Jireh when we can provide for ourselves, when our jobs and our things take place of our Savior?
We all know that our economy is in the absolute pits. Why is this? Could it be because we are a greedy nation? Is it because we are so fixated on our American Dream that we forget to tithe, take care of the poor, and live a humble life?
I think that we have taken our American Dream and washed our hands in it so many times that we have lost our immunity to adversity, and boy is it here! No wonder America is freaking out over the economy! We don't know how to rely on anything but a retirement plan, let alone a Savior.
What if God is calling us to be a generation who lives within our means, not only that, but lives within the means of the job God has called us to, and not the one society tells us we need to have. It may be a conventional 9-5 job, it may not. Are we willing to say "yes Lord!" if he calls us to travel in a band that makes no money, or if he calls us to forsake our desires and trust that the plan he has for us is better, or if he calls us to give everything we have to the poor?
I don't know about y'all but I feel convicted. All my life I have set my goals to match the American Dream, when this very dream is the nightmare our nation has fallen into.
My hope is that we will be in hard and faithful prayer for each other and for our generation. If we don't wake up from the American Dream nightmare, we are going to miss out on the incredible, out of the box, plans the Lord has for our lives.
From the day I was born (and probably most of us), I was raised by my family, my school, and by culture to get a college degree, use my brains to earn a living, get married, have children (in which I instill the same future), and make money so that I can afford way too many things.
-Isn't this the American Dream? Aren't we all supposed to work a 9-5 job with good insurance, TRY to own a house that we don't need/can't afford, send our kids in 500 different directions to 500 different extra activities, and have a good retirement package; because if you don't have those things you won't survive, won't be able to live.
I feel like we have taken some of the blessings and "lifeboats" that the Lord has given us and turned them into necessities. There is nothing evil about having 4 family cars, because God can use them to send us on his missions, but the absolute NEED for it can be evil. There is nothing wrong with working a conventional job with good insurance and retirement package, because God our Provider- Jehovah Jireh uses that job, but it is terribly wrong to box God in by saying that you can only be successful and "happy" if you live this American Dream life.
What if God has a different plan for our generation? What if we are called to break a generational curse of greed and self-reliance?
We have all used anti-bacterial hand soap. It is in every elementary school, hospital, and grocery store. This soap is so powerful that is cleans all the bad bacteria’s and germs that we encounter on a daily basis. Thanks to this soap we may have prevented a week in bed with the flu.
- There is a downside, not only have we gotten rid of our harmful bacteria’s, but we have also erased our immunity to them. Our natural ability to fight off these invaders is gone. This soap has become our sickness "savior".
This makes me think. Have we taken the safeguards and the protections God has given us: our homes, our nice clothes and cars, our insurance and retirement packages, and have turned them into our "saviors"? Do we no longer need Jehovah Jireh when we can provide for ourselves, when our jobs and our things take place of our Savior?
We all know that our economy is in the absolute pits. Why is this? Could it be because we are a greedy nation? Is it because we are so fixated on our American Dream that we forget to tithe, take care of the poor, and live a humble life?
I think that we have taken our American Dream and washed our hands in it so many times that we have lost our immunity to adversity, and boy is it here! No wonder America is freaking out over the economy! We don't know how to rely on anything but a retirement plan, let alone a Savior.
What if God is calling us to be a generation who lives within our means, not only that, but lives within the means of the job God has called us to, and not the one society tells us we need to have. It may be a conventional 9-5 job, it may not. Are we willing to say "yes Lord!" if he calls us to travel in a band that makes no money, or if he calls us to forsake our desires and trust that the plan he has for us is better, or if he calls us to give everything we have to the poor?
I don't know about y'all but I feel convicted. All my life I have set my goals to match the American Dream, when this very dream is the nightmare our nation has fallen into.
My hope is that we will be in hard and faithful prayer for each other and for our generation. If we don't wake up from the American Dream nightmare, we are going to miss out on the incredible, out of the box, plans the Lord has for our lives.
I hope that my words were not my own.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Why I work at Rock Bridge...
I have no seminary degree... I have no formal church or ministry experience... I have an engineering degree and yet I work at an amazing church called Rock Bridge. In many ways it makes no sense at all, but for me it has been a wild journey that I wouldn't trade for anything. As for why they hired me, that's up to Matt and the elders and the people of Rock Bridge to explain, but I sure can tell you why I stay...
One of my favorite verses is in Isaiah 42:16. This passage got me through one of the toughest periods of my life. It says:
"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them
and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do;
I will not forsake them."
I began to see in this verse an amazing picture of God taking us down paths we don't know, into areas foreign to us, and that this should be an EXPECTATION of life, not an exception. If I am not running into situations and circumstances beyond me, something is wrong. I'm not following God.
But my favorite part in this is that God clearly leads THE BLIND! In my dark days when I realized how blind I was, I then began to be comforted and know that the blindness is OK! God doesn't particularly care to let me see what all is going on around me. He's not concerned with my lack of vision. His concern is whether or not I am following His voice and allowing Him to lead me.
I work for Rock Bridge because Matt Evans (our Sr. Pastor) never pretends to know it all. He never pretends to have all the answers or to see the future or even have a grasp on the challenges we will face. But that's OK. He is a blind man being led by God! He goes in his office and lays on the floor and prays, and asks God to lead him. And he comes out with a new thought, a new idea revealed from the bible, a new heart urging, and he says, "let's follow God on this." I have seen it happen countless times where even in my own prayers God will be laying things on my heart, and I will walk into Matt's office, and he will say the exact same things before I even bring them up. And then our elders will confirm it and we will so clearly know that our big and awesome God has this ragged band of blind people by the hand!
People say a lot of things about our church, mostly good, but sometimes not. But I will clearly say one thing, Rock Bridge is a church of blind people pursuing the voice of their Savior. There has never, ever been a day here when I felt the leadership of this church was not listening for God, for His voice, and for His heart. It's a great thing to be a part of a body that I know has Jesus at the wheel! I can't wait to go where God is leading us next!!!
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