Jesus - Our Savior

This past week one of the news stories which stood out to me was the teacher who had students write the name of Jesus on a piece of paper, then told them to put it on the floor and stomp on it. Our world has lost the understanding of who Jesus is and what his purpose is. He is the Savior of all mankind.

What or who do you trust to save you? I for one have never understood the mentality of the folks who want to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel or some other way. It just makes no sense to me to put your life at risk for no good reason.

After reading about a number of those people who have gone over Niagara Falls I noticed one thing they all had in common. None of them expected to die! All of them had some idea of protecting themselves from the dangers of going over that powerful water fall.

One of these dare devils was Robert Overacted, a 39 year old man challenged the mighty Horseshoe Falls on October 1st 1995. He planed this stunt for months, he checked and rechecked all of he figures and plans. He planned on riding on a single jet ski until he reached the brink of the Falls. There he would deploy a rocket propelled parachute, which would help him land in the River below the Falls to allow for a rescue.

Overacker launched himself into the Niagara River upstream of the falls. At the brink of the falls, Overacker ignited the rocket which deployed the parachute as planned. Unfortunately, as the parachute deployed it did him no good at all, because Overacker, he had forgotten to attach the parachute to his body.

To me that was a perfect, howbeit sad, example of what will happen if we trust in men or man made things to save us rather than Jesus. One of the most powerful testimonies about Jesus is found in Matthew 1:21 where the angel says of the coming birth of the Savior, "And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

Many today live dangerous lives, going through life with nothing to protect them or save them from what really counts. Until they (and we) join ourselves to Jesus, we are just as near death as Robert Overacker. You may think you have it all together and are safe, but are you really?

This week our world celebrates Easter, which traditionally is a remembrance of the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus. It's not about Easter Bunnies or colored eggs, it's about remembering the one who can save us from our sins.

Russ Lawson

Leaving Sin Behind

Getting away from sin and temptation is probably one of the most difficult things we have to do as Christians. Through the years people have tried many ways. They have tried starting private communities where only believers are allowed. Some have joined monasteries, in hopes of escaping sin, but the results are always somewhat mixed, because Satan is not easily foiled. He fights for our souls and far too often makes himself look attractive to us.

We often handle sin like the children in a story reported in the news paper awhile back. It seems that a mother of eight in Darlington, Maryland had been visiting next door. When she came home and went into the living room, she saw her 5 youngest children huddled in the center of the floor, on her new carpet, very much involved with something wiggly and squirmy. As she got closer she saw, to her horror, that the children were gathered around a family of skunks. She screamed, "Run, children, run!"  Hearing their mother's frantic scream, each child grabbed a skunk and ran.

Sadly this story is often a reflection of our lives. We may have some very troubling things in our lives, yet, try as we may, we can't seem to run away from them, we just take them along with us.

I Peter 5:8-9a tells us, "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith."

This passage tells us, rather than running off and carrying Satan or temptation with us we should stand firm against him! Another translation says to "resist" him. Being able to succeed in staying away from temptation is not accomplished by walling ourselves up in a monastery, but is taking the fight to Satan that keep us free. Matthew 16:18 tells us that when we fight with the knowledge of God in us, the gates of hell itself will not be able to stand against us.

So, you have a choice, grab you skunk and run or stand up and be counted as you join with your brothers and sisters in Christ in the army of God to overcome Satan.

Increasing Security

We have had a problem at our church building for the past few years, which seems to be getting worse instead of better. Folks are leaving doors to different parts of the facility unlocked. It varies by days of the week and times of the day. We speculate that folks just don't remember to lock up after themselves when they leave, but it makes you wonder if there is something more sinister going on. Could someone outside of our members have gotten a key?

There is no denying that security has become a major concern in our world today. Each of us tends to be a little more cautious with our personal security. We make sure we lock our cars and our homes; we install alarms (and try to remember to set them). We are told that in our community, crime has risen by 14% in the past few months, (mainly breaking into homes).

I understand, from those who are suppose to know, that no matter how hard you try and secure your stuff, there are always weaknesses in your preparations. Someone who is an experienced thief will find those weaknesses and exploit them to get you stuff if they really want it.

What are we to do? What can you do, when you've done everything you can to secure your stuff or even your own safety and it's not enough? Who do you trust in then?

As a Christian you know the answer already, you trust in God.

I love the story about Thomas Edison when a fire completely destroyed his research facility. His son found him watching the blaze destroy everything he had created. Rather than dwelling upon the destruction he told his son, "Go and get your mother, she'll never see another fire like this as long as she lives." 

He of course picked up the pieces of his life and laboratories and went on to invent even more wonderful things.

In Matthew 6:19-21 we read: "Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be." (NLT)

Maybe we need to stop and ask ourselves, "Just what is it in this world in which I really trust?" In Matthew 28:20, after giving directions as to what he expects his followers to do, he makes this promise: "And be sure of this: I am with you always". (NLT) I will continue to trust in the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth (Ephesians 3:15).

GETTING IT WRONG

Have you ever done something and realized (sometimes immediately) that you made the wrong decision? Most probably you have, I think it is part of being human.

Sometimes the bad decisions are obvious, glaring things that stand out for all to see, sometimes, they are things of which only you are aware.

I started thinking about this when I read an article that told that bubble pack was originally marked at wall paper. I honestly can't see how they ever thought that would work, but then I'm looking at it from a background that says, "bubble pack is used to pack stuff."

As I do a quick review of my life, I can quickly find many things that I made the wrong decisions about. Now, I could dwell on those things and worry about them and let them control my life and make me miserable, but I'm not going to do that. I choose to focus on the good stuff.

I've known some folks in my life, who have done nothing but remember their wrong decisions. They worry about them to the point that they come to believe that they have no worth; no value even to God. How could God possibly forgive them if they can't forgive themselves?

If you are a fan of the Anne of Green Gables books and movies, you may remember one scene where Anne comments that "Everyday is brand new, free of mistakes." What a wonderful concept and one that is so true.

In 1 John 1: 8-9 we read, "If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness." (NLT)

Honestly, this is my favorite (at least one of them) scripture in the Bible. In this scripture we find hope when we make the wrong decisions. We find promise that we can start over fresh with each new day. What does it take? Admitting we messed up and believing what God says, when he says he will "cleanse" us.

It seems sometimes that I work overtime at getting it wrong in my life; I think the wrong things, say the wrong things and do the wrong things. But our God "is faithful and just to forgive us our sins."

You see, it's God's love that brings us forgiveness when we get it wrong in life; it's our responsibility to accept that forgiveness and get on with living for him.

Often Communicate We Don't Well!

When we lived in Africa we tried, (emphasis on tried) to learn the languages of the local people. We were successful to a limited extent, but we understood that often we spoke as a small child might as we tried to communicate.

 

You probably noted that the title of this article is somewhat mixed up, but what is the best way to say what I am trying to say? (1) Often communicate we don't well, (2) We don't communicated well, often, (3) or, Far too often we fail to communicate clearly?

Our world is in a huge transition in communication at the present. Things are in flux, or undergoing changes, which it always has since time began. Admittedly, those of us of "the mature generation," may have more difficulty than those who are younger in adapting to the transition. Personally, I still have refused to embrace "text messages,"
"chat rooms" and such (I'm still stuck on emails and blogs). I understand that makes me quite "Old Fashioned" and out of touch in some folks minds. I know that I will eventually be dragged into the modern world if text messages, but honestly, I don't want to spend that much time learning a new language (text shorthand). I can envision being involved in something like the following incident.

It seems that on a cold winter day a husband received this text message from his wife: "Windows frozen." Having had to deal with the problem of the windows in his car being frozen shut in the past he replied with a text message that said: "pour some lukewarm water over it." A short while later his wife sent him another text message that read, "Now the computer is really messed up."

How we communicate with one another is important, whether we do it face to face, by text, email or over the telephone. Through the years I have made my fair share of mistakes in trying to communicate, but failed in the trying. Thankfully, those with whom I "miss communicate," have been very forgiving.

Where am I going with this? The goal of these thoughts is to cause you to consider how we communicate with God. We can't email or text message God, it takes a real heart to heart conversation to communicate with him. There are no short cuts, no abbreviations, no way to get around talking with him and expressing our love, our thanks and the needs of our heart.

I understand that for some folks, all they know is some prayer they have been taught to repeat. They really don't know how to think freely and communicate from the heart with God. It's really not that hard if we stop and think about what God tells us he wants from us in His Word. You say, "I don't know how to pray." God speaking though his servant Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6, "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done."  (NLT)

It's a simple process, pray for and about everything. Share like you are sharing with your best friend. Tell God what we need and thank him for all he has done, tell him what is going on in you life, about your struggles and your successes. Communication doesn't get any easier than that.

Books by Russ Lawson @ http://www.lulu.com/russlawson

NEW THINGS

This week we finally had a new sound system installed in our building. This new system is primarily about sound and allowing people to hear better, but it is much more than that. This system allows us to come into the modern world more fully, making available DVD's, CD's and Digital recordings in general as well as posting to the Internet in the future.

I believe it is money well spent as we look for more ways to reach out to our modern world. Now there is always some grumbling when we "modernize". Some folks are bound to hold on to the idea, "the old way of doing it was good enough for our parents, so it should be good enough for us."

Let me assure you that "Modern" is not always a bad word. In fact it is defined as, "relating to, or having the characteristics of the present or most recent period of development," (Webster). I know from experience, that as we age we tend to look at some of the new ideas and trends of our world with skepticism. It's natural for us to do so I think. I personally try my best to hold back some of my natural prejudices and think outside of the box in which I was raised. I'm not always successful, some times my thoughts are based upon "my feelings" or "my likes and dislikes," and to a certain extent that's OK, its how God put us together as humans.

I would suggest though there is a better criteria for deciding whether a new or modern idea is acceptable or not. In his instructions to the early believers Jesus said, "Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, NLT)

Here we see that we art to go and make disciples, baptizing and teaching them to obey all of the commandments of God. Going and making disciples are the primary command; teaching about obedience in "ALL" of God's commands is next. So sometimes we need to modernize our thinking as to how to "GO and TEACH," but never about keeping all of the commands of God.  We need to think outside of the box in which we were raised and sometimes live, but never compromise the truth of God's Word.

THREE INCHES FROM GOD

I wonder how often something keeps us from God. How often does something keep us from believing and trusting in him enough to really live up to the definition of what faith is all about. I'm sure you remember the scripture: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (KJV) or perhaps a more modern translation would explain it better: "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." (NLT) (Hebrews 11:1)

What keeps us from having that assurance about things we cannot see? If faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen, why do so many of us who claim to have faith worry so much about the future?

Many times I think we are like the man in this little story: It seems that a man descended into a deep well by sliding down a rope which was supposed to reach the bottom, but when he came to the end of the rope, his feet still could not touch the bottom. He held on, but because his strength was gone and he could not climb back up. Finally he could hold on no longer and he let go fearing the worst. He fell three inches to the bottom.

This is the same problem some of us have today. Some of us are just 3 inches from trusting God, but we are using all of our strength to hold on to our doubts and fears. We can't make ourselves trust God and refuse to trust anyone but ourselves. One man said, "He who cannot let go, cannot hang on," he's talking about holding to faith in God and really trusting him. Before we can let God help heal our hurts and comfort us in our difficulties we must have faith enough to let go.  We must believe in God, his strength, his power and his ability to help us.

Sadly far too often we to try and hold on to our sanity, to try and reason everything out for ourselves, to "fix" things, make them all better, to solve all of our own problems and then we are crushed when we can't do it.

At some point in our Christian walk we are going to have to follow the old adage, "Let go and let God." In other words, some time we are going to have to let go of the rope, stop trying to fix the unfixable and turn it over to God. I don't know about you, but I'm not so worried about having a faith that can move mountains as I am having a faith that will help me make it through tomorrow and the next day and the day after that. The writer of Hebrews also tells us in Hebrews 13:5, "… For God has said, "I will never fail you. I will never abandon you."

That's the faith that I'm trying for, how about you? What is it that is keeping you three inches from God? Maybe it's time to let go and let him handle the problem and fix the unfixable!

Russ Lawson, Messages From The Heart

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