"Ultimately, we long for heaven. And there's the problem: to experience heaven, we have to die to temporal living and to ourselves. The drive to be happy–to cope with all the affairs, situations and circumstances of life, to have the ability to perform adequately–cannot be satisfied by any power source other than God. However, man's quest for happiness seldom begins by seeking fulfillment in Jesus Christ. He thinks happiness and freedom from pain and guilt can be obtained through temporal means. He looks for a power source capable of satisfying his soul's thirst for happiness. It is this search for happiness that makes our children (and ourselves) so vulnerable to the destructive spiritual forces in the world. " Norm Wakefield
I like Norm... I often find that God speaks through Norm to me, though his writings and teachings. I find that there is a whole lot of truth here...
That we do long for heaven, we long for creature comforts, for things to go easy, for things to go smoothly.
We don't want things to be hard... Somehow, we need them to go well, because how would that make God look? "my life needs to look good, so that my god looks good" but is that really how the God of heaven operates?
That is idolatry.
Our God is not here to serve us, to give us our every wish and want. True He will give us the desires of our hearts...
But will He give us NEW desires?
or give us OUR desires?
Or give us the desires of our hearts in HIS time in His way?
We are here to serve Him. Not I would have to put forth, to serve ourselves. Nor is it our place to determine what "serving Him" will look like. As each of us are different parts of the body of Christ, each of us will serve the Lord in a different capacity. It is not for me to covet another gifting.
The lesson this week at church was from Acts 20:17-38
It is considered Pauls great "goodbye" to the Church at Ephesus, a church he had been with longer than any other.
17From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.
18And when they had come to him, he said to them, "You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time,
19serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews;
20how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house,
21solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
22"And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,
23except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.
24"But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.
25"And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face.
26"Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.
27"For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.
28"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
29"I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
30and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
31"Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.
32"And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
33"I have coveted no one's silver or gold or clothes.
34"You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me.
35"In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
36When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
37And they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him,
38grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again And they were accompanying him to the ship.
18And when they had come to him, he said to them, "You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time,
19serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews;
20how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house,
21solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
22"And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,
23except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.
24"But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.
25"And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face.
26"Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.
27"For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.
28"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
29"I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
30and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
31"Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.
32"And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
33"I have coveted no one's silver or gold or clothes.
34"You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me.
35"In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
36When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
37And they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him,
38grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again And they were accompanying him to the ship.
Here lies what Pastor Carlson (International Christian Community of Lyon) so aptly pointed out, as something other than what we in the WEST call commitment... We like to consider ourselves committed to Christ....
But we are to surrender ourselves to Christ. Surrender vs Commit hmmm makes ya think.
Hebrews 12:1
1Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
What is entangling me... what desire of my heart, what comforts do I so want that encompass me? What encumbrance and what sin is entangling me, preventing me from running the race with endurance...
and not just "a race"
but the race set before me, the race set before us....
My husband and I have a different race than you do. Different sins, different issues all together, different, yet probably all identifiable and relatable... in some ways the same, yet distinctly different from yours. yet as Paul points out, the issue is the same.. there is a race, and something is entangling us..
Verse 31 and 32 talk about being ALERT.... and being commended to God & to His word of GRACE....
which will build you up
which will build you up
& give you the inheritance of all those who are sanctified.....
wow
lets look at that... so we need to be commended to GOD and
to HIS WORD
OF
GRACE
grace
grace
grace.......
hmmmm
which will build you UP (not tear down, not burden, not overwhelm, nor exhaust, but rather build you up)
and & and.....
give you the inheritance ( that is nice but whose???????)
of those who were sanctified........ (those who have been there / done that/ who have walked the walk, not talked that talk, the ones GOD worked on, who have BEEN transformed by the renewing of their minds.... hmmm the sanctified have an inheritance.... to leave for .... maybe me? maybe YOU?)
but are we commending one another to GOD first
to His Word first?
to Prayer FIRST or as a last resort?
afterthought?
just before bed, if we remember?
Are we even remembering HIS word is the Word of GRACE??
there really doesn't seem to be an understanding of grace in the church today...
people hear grace they hear...
licence.......
so not so....
grace....
needs further reflection if this is what you think of it...
are we as a church,
are we as families
friends
neighbors
communities
building UP in Christ?
or tearing down?
are we so full of criticism that we no longer seek to build up...
and by the way... kissing up, sugar coating, brown nosing, sweet talking, is NOT building up...
building UP
might be showing someone where they are in sin
where they are wrong.
or knowing when to be quiet and let God do what God is going to do, because we are toooooo
emotional about it... too overwhelming, too lacking in grace....
grace can look different
because it is HIS
and it is part of that PERSONAL walk thing....
now as far as the saying goodbye goes.... well we have had to do this..
lots and lots of times...
and I can not expound on it better than it was done here....
we can not know if we shall meet again....
and there is NOTHING wrong with weeping at our own sorrow
it is ok to miss someone
it is fine to grieve you own loss
it is healthy, and normal, and yes biblical.
God is not frowning because you are sad when you have so say goodbye
God is not angry that you are not happy every minute of everyday
God does NOT expect you to be rich to make Him look successful
God does not NEED you to be on time for the world to know that HE is NEVER late
God does not need YOU to have success at anything to look good to anyone...
God is the Great I AM
He is who He is
He does what HE does
You an I have done NOTHING to earn His favor
It was by grace we are saved, not by works, it is a gift of God
it does not matter what any one's standards are
we don't need to live up to their standards
and we had Better NOT expect God to even try.
that would be idolatry...
that would be setting up a false God
and demanding in a way that He do what we want that we could make Him look good...
and that
is not keeping alert
running the race with endurance
that would be looking for a "power source capable of satisfying" one's soul's thirst for happiness, just like Norm said...
Learning is hard, holding fast to the Truth is harder
discerning is a challenge
and loving in Grace well
as easy as walking the steepest incline hill.
I once was part of a body of believers where it was said to us often by the leadership... that "healthy things multiply"
yet where, friends where is the grace and truth in that?
The truth is unhealthy bacteria does too.
Cancer spreads and ugly things multiply also..
The implication was that if YOU are healthy YOU will multiply...
it is full of legality...
suddenly multiplication is a standard
yet the simple fact is
we are broken...
it is
HE who is making us healthy
for HE is the Great Physician
It is
HE who decides what multiplies and by what number and when.
for HE is CREATOR God, sustainer of all the Universe
It is NOT;
not us... never us
or it isn't HIM anymore
and we have missed the point.
Grace is that steep hill
It is simple,
it is hard to do
we all want to make it easier
so we add to it
we try to change it
alter it,
make it convenient
wrap it up in a fancy 5 point package
yet it's Principle IS simple,
It's action is the challenge....
there is no easy and honest way to walk up the hill
but to put one foot in front of the other and walk by faith
knowing that by GRACE you will get to the top of the hill
because HE will NEVER leave you nor will HE forsake you.
We all have our temporal issues that need dying to... We all do..
The issues can range from minute to grand
They can even change from day to day; moment to moment.
The point is this... We all do this, this thing;
and we humans have done so, since the new testament was first penned..
before even...
Let us try to encourage one another now
to LOVE
and good works
that GRACE may abound....
p.s. i have written this over the period of a few days, and editing perhaps while too tired.... if it is simply scatty, or ill edited, please forgive... I will adjust in a short time if needed
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