THE TWO DRAWERS

We have these two drawers in our kitchen that have become catch-alls for "things". These "things" seemed important at one time in the past. These two drawers had become so full that you could find only those "things" in front. To search through the full drawer was only frustrating.

Well one day I had enough. I decided to straighten these two drawers out. SO, I drug the trash can over and I got a chair. I sat down (on the chair) and began to straighten. I found several pens that didn't work. Screws, nails and metal pieces that didn't go to any thing. Memos that had faded to a non-readable state. One drawer had 10 or 12 votive candles scattered all over, a single piece of gum and candy. Keys to nothing, coupons 2 and 3 years out of date. Well, I'm sure you get the point. There was very little of value left.

As I was going through the drawers, a thought occurred to me that these drawers are like my mind. I fill my head with worldly "things" during the day. During the week. During the month. You get the idea. I do this to the extent that good spiritual "things" have a hard time getting in. I just use the "things" on the top or in the front. These "things" do not have to be sinful. They are things like television, vacations, church work, golf, children's games. My point is that our minds become so full that we have trouble communicating with God.

Where I'm going with this is in Philippians 4:6-9. I will let you look it up. Basically, vs 6 & 7 tell how to obtain God's peace, and vs 8 & 9 tell how to keep it.

Verse 8 is what I thought of when cleaning the two drawers:
Finally, Brethren, whatsoever things are true,
Whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,, think on these things.

If we keep our minds on the "things" of vs 8, we will become closer and closer to what God wants for us in our lives. So, I think we need to "straighten" out the drawers of our minds daily. That way we will be able to find God quickly. We will not have to search through the clutter.

Jim Capps

Hey guys.

Took last week off, but I'm back and ready for action.

I will be going through the book of Joshua, and each week will be a portion of the book, and thoughts on what we read.

Keep me in your prayers. I'm trying to cling to my savior and follow his lead in my life. I need to develop my prayer life more, and I would like to see myself become more compassionate towards strangers, and more social towards them as well.

May God's grace overflow to all who draw near to him in repentance and in love.

-Brett

Honey Get the Shovel. It’s time to dig

This is going to be the first of a few little lessons of a more academic nature. It seems to me that our culture plays down knowledge and academic study. It is seen as cold and impersonal. We enjoy experiencing things, but we have little interest in why or how that experience occurred. No one wants to have deep discussions about God, or anything for that matter, but these things are important. In at least two of the epistles Paul wrote, Colossians and Ephesians, he tells the Church that he is praying that God would continually grow them into a deeper knowledge of himself. Because of this, I would like to write up a couple of things that will help us to study God’s word in systematic way. But before we get into all that, I want to give my case for why Theology is important.

Theology is the study of God and by it we attempt to known him as he desires to make himself known. Not that God is some inanimate impersonal object that can be studied, like a volcano or a tree, but that he is alive and he loves. He interacts with his creation and we should seek to know him not as we know a tree but as we know our best friend or our spouse. Seeking knowledge of God while not seeking to know God is a dangerous thing and an insult to the great love that God has for us.

So does God want us to know him? YES! Seems like a silly question, but if we look around, or dare I say in the mirror, do we live like we believe God wants us to know him? God has revealed himself to us through his word and do we read it? But anyway back to the question, silly as it may be. Throughout the story told in the book of Exodus, in which God delivers his people from the oppression of Pharaoh, God claims that both Pharaoh and the Israelites will know that he is God after he has worked all that he intends. Again, in the book of Ezekiel where God introduces the new covenant he is making with his people, God again speaks of making himself known. We serve a God who wants his people to know him. Not only does he desire it, he works to make it happen. Because of this we should be a people who desire and work to know our God with the same ferocity that he wishes to make himself known to us. Theology is how we aim to do this.

Now, some will say we can not fully understand God because he is infinite and we are finite. While this is true, it does not mean that we should not struggle to understand the more difficult attributes of God. They are just as glorious as the ones that are seen as simpler. Just because it is hard and sometimes confusing, does not mean that it should be abandoned. You can never fully understand or know your spouse or best friend, but that does not stop you from trying. We should wrestle and pray through what we do not understand. Like aforementioned, God has worked and is working to make himself known. We would be discrediting him by saying that he is not worth struggling to understand. You can not really comprehend the magnitude of God’s incomprehensible greatness until you have tried to comprehend it. It will at least show you how insignificant and small you are in comparison to him.

So how can we know him? We know him through the Bible, through creation, and through Jesus who is the word become flesh. After Jesus’ ascension into Heaven the Holy Spirit was poured out on all believers and it is through the Holy Spirit that we know God. In this way theology is subjective. We all experience God in our own way. Most people in our culture like to stop here. I know my God you know yours we’re all good. But this is wrong. God also gave us the Bible which is his objective word to which all of our subjective experiences must be submitted to. If any experience or emotion of ours contradicts scripture, we must discredit that experience and accept the truth of scripture. While experience and emotions and reason all play apart in how we do theology, all of it must be submitted to the authority of scripture.

While theology is important there are several potential pitfalls that must be avoided, one of which is being more concerned with knowing certain doctrines and being able to defend them, than knowing the God whom the doctrines describe. Ideology about God can never be used to replace God (See the Pharisees). It is a terrible thing when someone becomes more concerned with spreading a specific doctrine, which could be false, than with spreading the gospel. Another danger is arrogance. Paul says that knowledge puffs up but love builds up. This can be avoided by remembering that everything known about God was revealed by the Holy Spirit. It was not based on any merit of personal ability or aptitude. God has grace on stupid, wicked people, and any knowledge of him is given by grace. So a person should not boast in knowledge but in the grace of God.


-Mitchell

Walk in a manner worthy of the call

This week's post is short.

Ephesians 4:1-6:20 is where this comes from. Paul is writing the Ephesians a letter to tell them more about how to practically live out the teaching of Jesus in their lives.

I was reading articles on CNN and I came across one about a Baptist minister who was part of an organization that offered help to those who struggled with homosexuality. He has spent years talking about the redeeming work of Christ in the area of sexuality.

He recently resigned from his post to fight allegations that he went to Europe with a homosexual Male escort.




Are you as tired of this crap as I am?

How many prominent pastors and priests have resigned or been fired for public airing of their private escapades over the last couple of years? The Roman Catholics are still trying to find out how far down the pit they walked into goes.

To be fair, I don't know if these allegations against the Baptist minister are true. And I also know that just because someone is called to leadership positions in the Church, they still struggle with their old sin nature like any other Christian.

But enough is enough already. They bible says that not many should aspire to be teachers, or leaders, because they will be judged by a higher standard from God. (James 3:1)

But notice that he doesn't say that lay people escape judgement either.

In modern American theology, we don't like to think that after we are saved, we will have to give an account of how we used the grace God gaves us in Christ to further his kingdom. It rubs us wrong that we will actually be expected to do something for God after he saves us. Our attitudes are of this opinion more often than not, that of "well, he saved me, yeah, but how could he seriously say he loves me if he just wants to save me so I can be used by him? I think that love is letting someone do what they want."

Don't believe me that we will have to give an account? Check out these scriptures: Ecclesiastes 11:9; Matthew 25; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15

Please get your heads straight. If we love God, we will try to walk in a manner that pleases him.

Remember, he didn't have to save you.

-Brett

How much of God is too much?

I have spent the past couple of months really trying to get over this notion in my head that I am closer to God on Sunday morning than I am on Tuesday afternoon.

I will try to remind myself while I'm working that God lives inside of me. His Holy Spirit is watching me and trying to purify me and lead me when I do an audit or write an order. When I mop the floors, I try to remember the Scriptures that talk of working not for men, but for God. (Colossians 3:23-25)

I have had some cool moments trying to live like this. I truly do feel like I am worshiping at times, when I praise him for the healthy body he has given me to work, for the job I have, for letting me be competent at it.

I have also had some bad moments, when I catch myself thinking evil thoughts, or getting upset at customers, or just generally being a grinch. God will just reinforce his presence in my life, as if to say "Do you think I don't care what you do, or how you think, outside of church? Do I only want you to become more like my Son on Sunday and Wednesday?"

There is a little book written by a monk whose name was Brother Lawrence. He titled the book "The Practice of the Presence of God." He reached the point where he felt as close to the Savior washing dishes as he did reciting prayer. I would encourage you guys to read it, and to think on what he is proposing.

God wants us to worship him in ALL things. We are told to give thanks to God for everything in Ephesians 5:20. When was the last time you thanked him for your drive to work? When was the last time you thanked him for the boss you have, and the specific co-workers you are surrounded by?

Instead of grumbling about the drive and traffic, try to praise him for providing for your needs with a job. Instead of harboring resentment about the bad attitude of your co-worker, or the tyranical zeal your boss has for filing your paperwork, pray for them. If they don't have Christ, all they have is this world. And the last time I looked, it was pretty bad. So don't marvel at how bad they act. Give thanks that God saved you, and he has given you something greater to hope for than what this world offers (John 16).

We need God every second. I am humbled and appalled that I go hours, days, sometimes weeks without really tapping into this truth. He is our life.

I plead with you guys, especially the married ones, MAKE ROOM FOR GOD. Life becomes so cluttered because we fill it with so many things. God is gracious to us, and he allows us to feel his presence wherever we are. If you wish to talk to him at work, he will be there. At the gym, he will answer your call.

But don't spend your life fitting God in. Don't make it where the only time you talk to him is on your coffee break, or on the drive somewhere.

Single people have this problem too, but it's the married couples that I see who make 'good' excuses why they don't have time.

"We have kids to take care of, and events to get them to."

"The house doesn't pay for itself, and if I am a good steward of what God gives me, I will work my butt off to pay for it and give my family nice things."

"I've been in this pattern for too long to change it now."

Please wake up! Please!

God desires your hearts. He should have destroyed us for our sins, but he loved us and sought us to forgive our sins and to heal us. (Jeremiah 3)

I will close with a hymn that I think we would all do well to think on, and wonder when we last felt like this.

"I Need Thee Every Hour" by Annie S. Hawks

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.
Refrain:
I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.
I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their pow’r when Thou art nigh.
I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide, or life is vain.
I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will;
And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.
I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;
Oh, make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son.