99% Is Not Enough

So, I'm a geek and I love the news.  Newspaper, website or television, I love news.  It's the pulse of the world, with a worldly twist but one thing in particular I've kept my eye on lately is the Occupy Wall Street movement.  I'm not a huge supporter or anything, my second worldly love is economics and the overall unruly finacial creature.  As a believer in "the love of money is the root of all evil" truth, if you follow the way people spend and save money it's frightening to watch the overall course of humanity toward the prophecies in the bible, but fascinating to see how God does really know our hearts at the same time.

Anyways, so I'm watching this movement and one of the big catch phrases their using is "The 99%(the poor, the average) is fed up with the 1%(the richest)"  The percentages blow my mind.  I do not deny the presence of the 1% in this world, I just keep thinking, look at what 1% can do, look at what 1% can accomplish.  1% can completely throw everything else into a conundrum, an absolute struggling financial wreck.

The same goes for our faith; the 1%, that dangerous 1%....

99% truth is not enough

99% obedience is not enough

1% lie, 1% disobedience can wreak havoc in our lives, in our churches.

1 Corinthians 5 (ESV)

Sexual Immorality Defiles the Church

 ¹It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. ²And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.  ³For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. ⁴When you are assembled together in name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
 ⁶ Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? ⁷Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
 ⁹I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— ¹⁰ not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. ¹¹But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. ¹²For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? ¹³God judges those outside. "Purge the evil person from among you."

The Greek translation for sexually immoral is "porneia" meaning sexually immorality or sexual perversions.

Under the guise of mercy and grace we tolerate sexually immoral behaviour in our church, directly contradicting the biblical, God-breathed instruction to "purge the evil person from among you"  I am not referring to a truly repentant person, but those who willfully continue in sin.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)

¹⁶ All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Under the guise of mercy and grace we tolerate

sexually immoral behaviour in our church, directly

contradicting the biblical, God-breathed instruction

 to "purge the evil person from among you" 

Sometimes we pretend that those (men and women alike) who have ongoing pornography addiction or are repeatedly unfaithful in their marriages are really repentant and just struggling...

We tell ourselves and each other " Well, at least they're in church, maybe if they remain in sin long enough and we ignore it they'll come around."

I don't think this is an area that is addressed enough. Sure, it may preached from the pulpit but when push comes to shove, we disobey the bible in this area we all shrink back from dealing with it, all in the name of mercy and grace.  As far as our brothers and sisters in Christ are concerned, our extended mercy is for ignorant or repentant sin, not unrepentant, willful sin.

1 Timothy 1:12-14 (ESV)

 ¹²I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, ¹³though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, ¹⁴and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

As far as our brothers and sisters in

Christ are concerned, mercy is for

ignorant or repentant sin,

not unrepentant, willful sin.

Dealing with this kind of sin in the church is messy, confusing at times, and most of all it's heartbreaking.  I'm not suggesting a "witch hunt" by any means, but we all can admit it is a problem in the American church. Dealing with that sort of sin is messy but, I'm beginning to think NOT dealing with it in the way God, through Paul has instructed us to is just flat out dangerous for everyone involved.


⁴When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Those are some hard words to swallow.  Deliver this man/woman to Satan?  For the destruction of the flesh?  When we are assembled? But the verse goes on to hope; so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

The eternal destination of someones' spirit is far more precious than his or her stellar church attendance and the chance to hear a convicting sermon.

Ephesians 5:3-7(ESV)

 ³But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. ⁴Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. ⁵For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous ( that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ⁷Therefore do not become partners with them;

Someones' salvation is far more important than looking good on the outside and not causing a ruckus with church discipline.

1 Thessalonians 4:2-8(ESV)

²For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. ³For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, ⁵not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. ⁷For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. ⁸Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

We've been fearing man for far too long. We've lost the fear of God and we're not doing our part in protecting the sanctity of His church.  People are breaking serious marital covenant commandments and we're sitting idly by watching them pave their road to destruction.

We've been fearing man for far too long.

We've lost the fear of God and we're not doing our

part in protecting the sanctity of His church.

We've downplayed and minimized this kind of sin for far too long and it's a lot like The 1%, if you ignore it long enough, the 1% disobedience can do a lot of damage.

Hebrews 10:26-29(ESV)

 ²⁶For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. ²⁸ Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. ²⁹How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

Church discipline always has to be done in humility and in love, I believe in that with everything in me.  The ultimate goal of church discipline is to restore the wayward to the love of Christ; a heart wrenching and mature love for the very soul of the wayward.  Those involve in correcting the wayward have to be careful not to fall in the same sin or other sins of judging, pride, gossip and Jesus tells us that church discipline/ex communication is not the first conclusion we jump to.

Matthew 18:15-17(ESV)

 ¹⁵ "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. ¹⁶But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

 a heart wrenching and mature love for

 the very soul of the wayward

We need to fear the eternal God Who breathed His instruction and all of us into existence.

 99% is not enough...

God sets the standard for His church, not man and we are commanded to trust and obey Gods' instruction no matter how uneasy as it may make us, I believe it far more dangerous to ignore it.  Even 1% disobedience can wreak havoc in our own lives and the life of our church.

99% is not enough...Look at what 1% can do.

"Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice."

—1 Samuel 15:22.

 

Going Missional

"Going missional" is the latest rage in the American church.  I'm really not that old but I've seen a few trends come and go in the American church and I have to say, I hope this isn't a trend, that it's a style of living that is here to stay for the church.  For those of you who haven't heard of "going missional", it basically boils down to this;

  Less of an inward focus for the church, more of an outward focus with the intent that our lives are as missionaries to an unsaved world, that our lives/possessions are not our own and that the bible is pretty darn clear about helping the poor, the lost and hurting.  Basically it boils down to "If Jesus is so great, then get off your couch and prove it with your lives".

And I like it.  I really, really like it.

I do have to say that for some Christians, they've been doing this their entire "new life" and this is habit for them.  On the flip side, some people have been milking their local church as a social club for years.  Don't get me wrong, church is supposed to be about community but we've all seen those people in our church, we know who they are.

To shift gears a little, what has driven me crazy about the American church for years is this tendency to be inward focused:

They've been busy redecorating the church instead of needing more seating space because no one was really following the commandment to "Go and make disciples".  Kind of along the lines of  "If you build it they will come" philosophy.  Seriously,  How is that working for you?  Is God blessing that?

The members of the church have been inward focused on themselves for far too long.  Prosperity Preaching; Make me rich, healthy and bless me God.  The Prayer of Jabez book kind of started that whole ball rolling and it's disgusting.  Take a look at the life of Jesus: broke, homeless, rejected, despised and murdered.  Who are we to ask for more than what God in the flesh accepted for His own life?

I've seen pointless "ministry" after pointless "ministry" crop up time and time again.  Committee's are formed time and resources wasted, all for the sake of  Lord knows what and did it really further God's Kingdom?  Lives are being wasted just trying to be busy and look good from the outside.

Christians bound and determined to write the same senator or congressperson AGAIN with the same complaint.  AGAIN.  Is that really working?  Are people coming to Christ?  Has the law been changed?  Have lives been changed?  Laws ARE important but I am sick and tired of "Christians" who denounce homosexuality, abortion, the loss of prayer in schools pray and then have the nerve to ask God for financial gain when they haven't donated an ounce of time or energy  to reaching out to PEOPLE.  Yeah PEOPLE.  Those souls that are either bound for heaven or hell.  The souls that we are supposed to be ministering and preaching the good news to.

There, I'm done with my rant. 

Almost.

I hope this convicts some people reading it.  I hope this gets somebody off their couch, out of themselves and into the world we're supposed to be reaching out to.  I hope we can all quit making excuses for not doing the work we're supposed to be doing.  I've been guilty of giving God excuses.  I have some serious obstacles in the way, but truth be told, so did the nation of Israel when they were sandwiched between pharaohs' army and the Red Sea.  God keeps prodding me, not-so-gently, that excuses and obstacles aren't going to cut it with Him anymore.

And if you're not serious about it, don't get in the way.  Don't be an Ananias or Sapphira ( Acts 5) who promised everything and held some back.  Don't think it's about you and what you can do.  Give everything you have to God and watch Him use you, watch Him move,  and be ready and willing to die to self.  Jesus first did it as our example.  He left the glory of heaven, gave all that up to come and die for us with the express mission given for us to follow that example.

For far too long ,the American church has been self serving instead of God fearing.  Get off the couch, work those spiritual disciplines out.  We've grown fat and lazy without the persecution the rest of the global church is enduring, we are lukewarm at best.  It's time to lead, follow or get out of the way.  Go hard or go home, but it is time to go missional.

James 1:22-27

English Standard Version (ESV)

 ²²But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. ²⁴For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. ²⁵But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
 ²⁶If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. ²⁷Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Sifted

<sup>Luke 22:31-32 ESV

31</sup>"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, ³²but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."

  I feel like I'm coming out of a season where it feels like I've been sifted by the enemy...  A conversation concerning me; not unlike the conversation Satan had with God concerning Job isn't too hard to imagine. 

Towards the end, I was getting tired and I couldn't see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. 

Towards the end I wondered, "how many had been here before me?"  Lost in confusion, wondering how to get my feet back under me, how many had walked these steps until they could only crawl?  Then slowly the crawl becomes a silent prayer.  "God, I'm tired.  I'm at the end of myself once again.  And I am tired."  And then-after a momentary yet excruciating silence from the heavens,  God moves again and moves in such a way you can see it, feel it and you know.  It's over.

He is reaching out to me again, like He's done so many times before.  God is continually pursueing me, relentlessly but sometimes it's hard to be aware of it.

  I feel like Peter and Job in a sense. After Satan had given up, Peter and Job walked away with a greater understanding of God. I have a greater understanding of all He has done for me, a deep sense of my own inadequacies and a stronger reliance on Jesus than ever before.  It feels like I've come out on the other side of this season with a clearer, more focused view of the Kingdom and my responsibility in it.  I"m looking around me and beginning to realize just how temporal this life really is and seeing each day, how to go about throwing off the sin and the weight that so easily entangles.  The world looks different on the other side of this season.  Jesus is so much more precious, His love and sacrifice so much sweeter and His work on the cross so much more monumental.

I see souls, either bound for heaven or bound for hell.

I see so much time and resources being wasted on the here and now instead of eternity.

I see the mission field clearly now, without the fog of trivial things clouding my way.

I feel more sensitive to the nuances of my own sin and that His mercies are new every morning.
 
I feel like God has used this sifting to get rid of a little of the old flesh nature in me and replaced it with what He's been desiring for me.  But He isn't done yet, the Potter isn't finished molding until I'm done breathing.

I can sense the urgency of the race that is before me, yet at the same time knowing measured steps, taken in faith, is what is needed to make it to the finish line.

Justice For All

   The Casey Anthony trial was in the news a lot this summer.  As I caught bits and pieces of the story, I was somewhat surprised by the publics' reaction to the "not guilty" verdict.  There was, ans still is, a lot of anger about the verdict.  People were very vocal about their feelings when she was released from prison.  The courts have to deal with the terms of her probation for writing bad checks; as some people are saying Ms. Anthony should not come back to town because of the animosity directed towards her.

   There is not a lot a lot that can be done once a verdict has been passed, so the anger can be a real problem for those who do not feel justice has been served.  There is injustice that frustrates in more than just this one case though and I would like to suggest that possibly some of it could be erased by helping in another area.

   Every year, in this country alone, there are more than a million babies aborted; some by those who-like Casey-don't have the skills or resources to properly care for a child.  This is where positive action could be offered by those who want justice and don't know what they can do.

   Crisis Pregnancy Centers are an excellent place to get involved by volunteering in any of several ways: by donating money or helping raise funds, by being a counselor, by giving of your time to help out at the center. You could also help by writing letters an making phone calls to local newspapers or to you government representatives to promote pro-life causes and organizations.

    Don't just stew in your frustration, take action for pro-life issues which, in addition to the saving of unborn babies, also includes the "sanctity of life" issues of euthanasia and assisted suicide.  Maybe if Ms. Anthony had gone to a Crisis Pregnancy Center things could have been different for one more precious child.

~Dave Nelson


As a final note, we do have a local Crisis Pregnancy Center here locally that is doing amazing things for women in a time of need.  I highly recommend, urge, plead you to get involved with a local center where you live.  Lives are a stake.  To make it a little easier I have a link right here on the page.  Click it and see how you can help.  Please.   ~ Sara     http://www.ogallalawrc.com/contact.html    

But God Meant It For Good

If I hadn't been betrayed by a friend,  I would never share that experience with Christ and love Him all the more for being betrayed for my benefit.

If I had never swallowed the bitter pill of someones hypocrisy, then I wouldn't be so passionate for Truth.

If the cross that I take up daily were any lighter, I wouldn't have realized I needed Your Daily Bread to sustain me.

I wouldn't seek You with all my heart if all my needs were met by mere, mortal man.

If I didn't have the opportunity to wait, then I wouldn't have learned to trust in You.

If I hadn't never faced something terrifying, I would have never been able to know by Your grace, the peace that passes all understanding.

If You didn't strip my heart of idols, as painful as it is, I wouldn't be able give myself completely to You.

If I hadn't been enveloped in loneliness, I wouldn't have turned to You.

If I hadn't been lied to, I wouldn't understand how precious Your promises are.

If I hadn't wrestled through the process of dying to self, then Your death would seem cheap.

If I hadn't been wounded, then I wouldn't know the power of Your healing hand to make all things new.

If You'd have given me the desires of my heart before I acknowlegded You in all my ways, I would have thought in my pride that I'd accomplished something apart from You.

If You hadn't brought me to my knees, I would have thought I could stand on my own.

If You hadn't loved me enough to break my stubborn pride, I would have never sought to begin learning humility.

If I hadn't been broken, I'd never have felt Your gentleness.

If life were easy and I hadn't been tested, I would still be weak and breakable.

If I'd always been loved perfectly by people, I wouldn't seek Your steadfast love the way I do.

If You didn't convict me of my sin every day, I wouldn't realize Your mercies are new every morning.

If I hadn't gone through hell, then I wouldn't be groaning for Your gift of heaven

If You didn't love me like You did God, I wouldn't be here.  I wouldn't be here and the alternative is terrifying....

You mean it for good and I praise You for refining me in Your wisdom and I ask, once again, do whatever it takes to keep me near, keep me seeking You in all things.

Woman, Why Are You Weeping?

It's been a while since I've written anything here.  May through September is the four months out of the year where I make about 90% of my income for the rest of the year.  Needless to say, between the kids and work, I'm pretty busy.  Lately though, it's been a rough ride emotionally, I've just been asking God to reveal Himself in situations where I'm powerless to change what is wrong and requesting the peace that passes all understanding.  Half of the prayer, the second half has been answered.

"Woman, why are you weeping?"

It's what the two angels sitting in Jesus' empty tomb asked Mary Magdalene when she came to anoint His body with spices and found Him gone.

Directed at Mary, it seems an odd question.  In the grand scheme of things, she was weeping because of sin.  The sin that nailed her Friend to the cross, the pain that results from sin and the excruciating loneliness she must have felt being separated from Jesus. When I read those words this morning, it spoke to me in my current painful situation.

"Woman, why are you weeping?"  I cry because of sin.  Sin hurts, sin separates and it divides.  Sin in it's ever creeping roots takes hold and distorts and clouds our perception laying way for it to perpetuate and multiply.  Sin seems to be winning at times.  It makes me cry.....but the words of scripture speak to me.  Why am I weeping?

In my bible study with a fellow sister yesterday I learned something new.

We're studying the bible with the help of the book "Doctrine, What Every Christian Should Believe" by Mark Driscoll and Jerry Breshears.(AWESOME book, highly recommend it!)  Currently we're on the chapter titled "God Dies" and it discusses the sacrificial death, saving grace and love of God displayed through the work of Jesus Christ.  One of the subjects covered that touched me the most deeply was the explanation of the foreshadowing of Jesus' perfect sacrifice throughout the Old Testament sacrifices, in particular the blood sacrifice demanded by God for the sins of the Israelites on the Day of Atonement or today know as Yom Kippur.  In an effort to make it simple and concise, I'll simply quote the book directly;

   "On that day, two healthy goats without defect were chosen; there were therefore fit to represent sinless perfection.

    The first goat was a propitiating sin offering.  The high priest slaughtered this innocent goat which acted as a substitute for the sinners who rightly deserved a violently bloody death for their many sins........Then the high priest acting as the representative and mediator between the sinful people and their holy God, would take the second goat and lay his hands on the animal while confessing the sins of the people.  This goat, called the scapegoat, would then be sent away to run free into the wilderness away from the sinners, symbolically expiating our sins by taking them away."

Propitiation : 

1 John 4:10 (ESV)

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Propitiation satisfies God's wrath towards sin

Expiation :

1 Peter 2:24 (ESV)

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Expiation in the work of Jesus' death on the cross, foreshadowed by the goat set free into the wilderness, is the act of taking away of the sin.  The sin we commit, the sins committed against us, the shame that we all carry as a result....by His wounds we are healed.  As a believer and follower of Jesus, I am reconciled to God and I am healed.  Jesus took it all, can I get an Amen?!?

Sin.

Sin hurts, but I am a believer, a follower, a precious daughter of a God who loves me so much He poured out His wrath on Himself to make a way for my ransom, redemption my salvation.  His wrath is satisfied and the sin is taken away.  And the question lingers quietly in the corner of my soul....

"Woman, why are you weeping?  Your Hero is here, dry your eyes and see that your wounds have been healed."

Should It Make A Difference?

Ugh!  Somebody did it again.  Against the bible, against the character of God, somebody predicted the rapture.  He used some mathematical equation to decipher the rapture.  The verse that came to mind when I heard that was Isaiah 55:8-9

Isaiah 55:8-9 (English Standard Version)

⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts.



and some guy thought he could figure out God's plan.... ugh!  Somebody please tell this man that God is not that small, so small that His plan for redemption is the result of a mathematical equation.  He is a God of love, concerned with the hearts of man.  He is not an unfeeling God simply carrying out an algebraic equation of numbers, days and years. 


Anyways, now that I have vented my miniature rant....if the world would end at a certain date, should it make a difference in how I'm living my life?  I've thought about this the past couple days...

Would I make arrangements for a pet?  Would I sell everything I had and go spread the gospel on a street corner or put up a giant billboard? Would I pray more often?  More fervently?  Would I include skydiving as part of my final days here?

The answer I come up with is I hope not.  I would hope that I had already taken Jesus' warning seriously, that the master wants to return finding His servants doing what they were supposed to be doing and that I would already be doing it.  I would hope that I had already found rest in His promises not to worry about the future and what tomorrow holds.  I would hope that I'm already doing what He wants, where He wants me and doing to His glory.  I would hope that I would already live my life like I know God is sovereign and there will be a day when my life comes into account.  I hope my brothers and sisters in Christ are already doing all that, living out their faith in the way God has already instructed us to.  If He is already King, already Lord of our lives, should anything really change?  I would hope not.

As far as the one last earthly vacation or adventure, I would hope that I know and understand that anything I could do here on earth would pale in comparison to the glory of being with God in heaven.  If I knew the date of the rapture, I would hope I could wait to relax by the crystal sea as opposed to any beach on this planet.  I would hope that standing before the throne of God would make my heart beat faster than any adventure I could find on earth.  I'm sure it will.

Would knowing the date of the rapture or apocalypse strike fear into my heart?  I would hope that I would have enough faith not to let it.  That when I say I believe scripture that I really do believe it.

Psalm 23

 ¹The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
 ²He makes me lie down in green pastures.
  He leads me beside still waters.
 ³He restores my soul.
  He leads me in paths of righteousness
   for his name’s sake.
 ⁴Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
   I will fear no evil,
   for you are with me;
   your rod and your staff,
   they comfort me.
 ⁵You prepare a table before me
   in the presence of my enemies;
  you anoint my head with oil;
   my cup overflows.
⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
   all the days of my life,
  and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
    forever.