!G = E [Not God equals Emptiness]

Not God?  What do I mean by “not God”?

Anything that is not God Himself, not of God, or not Godly.  Anything that is contrasted to life and value.  Worthless as opposed to priceless.

Thus says the LORD, “What injustice did your fathers find in Me, That they went far from Me And walked after EMPTINESS AND BECAME EMPTY ?(Jer 2:5 NASB)

Another way to word this:

“Thus says the LORD: What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from Me, and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?” (Jer 2:5 NRSV)

When we seek “not God” we become empty – we are full of emptiness.  Full of emptiness?  Odd but true.

You can be full of LIFE or full of EMPTINESS.

Series: Black Holes and God (part II)

Do black holes exist? How do you know? Do you care?

Does God exist? How do you know? Do you care?

This series attempts to tie the scientific theory of proving black holes, with the scientific ability to prove God. This series is not an attack on scientific theory, but an appeal to recognize the value of indirect evidence of God as actual evidence. If it is good enough for a black hole, shouldn’t it be good enough for God?

Part I can be found here. (Please NOTE that the first section is, and will be, the same for each part)

Interesting thoughts from Leadership Retreat

(Stay with me, I’ll bring this back around to the Church, I promise)

I recently had the opportunity to attend a leadership retreat with work and discovered something very interesting.

Generation X’ers are very jaded and distrusting. We want to balance work and life instead of work so much. We want to spend as much time with family as we do at the office. We want to have a job we enjoy instead of a job that pays the bills.

Apparently Baby Boomers and Mature workers don’t seem to notice. They enjoy working, it defines them and they tend to make where they work part of who they are.

Example:

Boomers and Matures: “Hello, I’m John, and I work at ABC Company. What do you do?”

Gen X’ers and Millenials: “Hello, I’m John and I have a wife and 3 kids. I enjoy basketball, hiking and in the meantime I work at ABC Company”

Gen X’ers and Millenials aren’t lazy. But we want a balance between work and life. A lot of us grew up in work-a-holic families who were working even when they weren’t working. And what did they get to show for it? Some of them got layed off. Some of them died young. Some of them got sick. Some of them made a ton of money and retired. Some of them started their own businesses.

But in the meantime their kids (Xers and older Millenials) grew up. We found other people to spend time with, because mom and dad weren’t as available. Is that bad? No, but its part of who we are.

I know its part of who I am.

So what does this have to do with the Church?

Well Gen Xers are distrustful and jaded. We’ve seen the downsizing and the insecurity. We’ve seen leaders fall from prominence and fall hard. We want to know that our leaders “Say what they mean, and DO WHAT THEY SAY”. When we see people living what they believe, we follow them and desire to learn from them. We have to see faith in ACTION, not faith in SPEECHES.

Probably the biggest impact to Generation X’ers was the constant television. Our parents generation were the first to really have a lot of access to television and they watched a lot of it. Unfortunately, the television companies realized that negative news sells better than positive news.

We need to see our Christian leaders roll up their sleeves, and get their hands dirty. More and more of us are doing it. But far too many of us are willing to sit in the pews and in pulpits talking about what needs to be done instead of reaching out to our neighbor.

Here’s a prime example:

Two days ago I found out that my neighbor behind me (I mean 50 yards behind me) is going through a rough time. Her daughter plays with my daughter and my daughter told me that they might be moving. When I asked her why, she said because her mommy needed to find another job and it was only her and her mommy again. Wow. Right in my backyard I have a ministry opportunity.

You know what I wanted to do? I wanted to call for help. I don’t know this lady from Eve. I wanted to call the pastor or something. You know?

And thats what some people do. They say, “Lets pray for them”. They say, “We’ll call the preacher, maybe he can help them.” They say, “We’ll ask them if we can help them, next time we see them.” Too many Christians do that you know?

So I walked over with my daughter to see what I could do. Well she wasn’t home so I left my number. Actually, I was kind of hoping she didn’t call. I’m just being honest. Sometimes it is hard to minister to people that live/work close to you. But she did call and we talked. I found out a few things about this woman.

She is losing her job. Her father is dying from bladder cancer. I didn’t ask about her husband’s situation and she didn’t volunteer. We made plans to get together this weekend to talk and see if I can help her find a job that is nearer to where we live. We talked about having her daughter come over when we’re doing our Bible devotions (she’s invited too of course!).

We’re out of practice of reaching out to our neighbors. Why? Because we haven’t had good examples. It’s easier to stop for a stranger on the highway, or a homeless person on the street, than someone we know we’ll have to see day in and day out.

God help us, please.

WE’RE ALIVE, SO ACT LIKE IT

Until recently I had a bad attitude. 

THE QUESTION:

I went through everyday hoping to be a “good” Christian.  To not stumble today.  To live better today than I did yesterday. To not repeat the same mistakes I did yesterday.  I felt like I was the guy in the temple that says “Lord have mercy on me, a sinner!”  I felt like I was having to do that everyday.  I didn’t want to be like that other guy, the Pharisee who was self-righteous. (Luke 18:10-14)  I believed I had to constantly seek the Lord’s forgiveness for sin.  I’d pray things like: “Lord, please help me to not do “x” today.”  Or “Lord, please help me not do “y” today.”  Or “Lord, please help to quit doing “z” today.”

Do you feel that way? Do you feel like you are struggling against yourself more than against the world?

THE SITUATION:

Luke 18
Luk 18:10   “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 
Luk 18:11   “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 
Luk 18:12   ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 
Luk 18:13   “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 
Luk 18:14   “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” 

So what’s the problem? We are sinners after all, right?

The problem is, I was “living trying not to sin”, instead of living to serve God.  I was inward focused instead of outward focused.
See, I’ve already been that guy in temple asking forgiveness.  And forgiveness was given to me.  I died with Jesus on that cross already, and was resurrected as a new creation.

THE SOLUTION:

Romans 6
Rom 6:1   What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 
Rom 6:2   May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 
…….
Rom 6:5   For if we have become united with {Him} in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be {in the likeness} of His resurrection, 
Rom 6:6   knowing this, that our old self was crucified with {Him,} in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 
Rom 6:7   for he who has died is freed from sin. 

Wow!  You mean I’m freed from sin?  But I thought everyone is a sinner?  Everyone is a sinner to a point.  We are separated from God by inherited sin (from Adam).  And we can choose to commit sins; adultery, fornication, murder, theft, greed.

But we are FREED from those choices.  We are not slaves any more.  We shouldn’t expect to sin, we should expect NOT to sin.
Sin should be a surprise.  Like, “Ouch!  How did that happen?”  Because falling into sin should be painful.

But when we choose to live for God, to live knowing we are FREED FROM SIN, then God can really use us.  When God looks at me, He sees a person washed with the blood of His Son.  The price has been paid.  If I go around beating myself up and “live trying not to sin”, then I’m limiting what God can do through me. I’m looking into myself instead of looking outward to God.

When we realize that we are “FREED FROM SIN”, and that our old selves died on that cross with Jesus, we can really affect those people and the world around us.

THE APPLICATION:

So, I have a word of encouragement AND a word of WARNING.

For Christians, I encourage you to live and know that you are FREED from SIN.  I encourage you to take your eyes off yourself and focus on God and see the world and the people around you.  Stop “living trying not to sin.”  I encourage you to live and be surprised when sinful actions appear in your life.  I encourage you to LIVE for GOD and LIVE FOR OTHERS.

Now I warn you, this is a NARROW road.  The difference between legalism on the one side, and corrupt freedom on the other.
Do not abuse your freedom.  Above all else, remain HUMBLE before God.  Know that you are where you are only because of His grace.  Know that He is in control, and let Him be in control.

PRAYER:

Father, please help us to remember the sacrificial offering has been made.  The price has been paid.  Help us to live for you by taking possession of our salvation through faith in Christ.  Father, we know we will stumble and that we have forgiveness.  Father, most of all, help us to remain humble and know that we are here by your grace alone.  Father, take us and use us as members of the body of Christ.

AMEN

G-I-G-O

THE QUESTION:

You know what GIGO is? Ask any computer programmer and they’ll be able to tell you.
It stands for “Garbage In, Garbage Out”. If you build a program and the input is bad, then the output is bad too.

THE SITUATION:

For example, I have a tax program and I need to know what my taxes are going to be.
I gather all my forms and documents that I need such as W-2s, charitable deductions etc.
Now, while I’m entering my tax information, I happen to input an extra zero into my wages for the year.
My earned income just went from $30,000 a year to $300,000 a year. However, I don’t realize that I entered “garbage” for my income. (Since I’m doing this on computer and not on paper, I don’t notice it right away)

So I go through and enter my deductions, and exemptions etc etc. At the end of my inputs, I tell the tax program to do the final calculations. I’m all set to see a nice green figure, i.e. a refund. What happens?

Instead of a refund, the computer program is telling me I owe over $100,000 in taxes! OUCH! How did that happen??
I feel like throwing the computer through the window, because it obviously screwed up. But thankfully, common sense kicks in and I know I messed up somewhere, but where? Luckily for me, this is a tax program and I can easily find my “garbage” data, and correct it. I rerun the final calculations and now I see my refund. Everything is right with the world again.

BAD (garbage) INPUT ALWAYS EQUALS BAD (garbage) OUTPUT.

THE APPLICATION:

So how does this apply to the Christian life you’re asking?

Well, I’ll tell you. Jesus knew this truth and He taught about it. And it didn’t have to do with computers (obviously!).
So lets see what He has to tell us about GIGO.

In Luke 11:34, Jesus tells us that “The eye is the lamp of the body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness”

So as we behold (see) good things, our eye is clear, our whole body is full of LIGHT. BUT when we behold bad {garbage} things, our eye is bad and our body is full of darkness {garbage}.

If our body is full of darkness, then our thoughts are dark. Our actions are tainted by darkness. Our heart is tainted by darkness.

THE SOLUTION:

So how do we keep that from happening?

Remove the dark things from your life. Don’t watch movies that are filled with sex, blood, murders, fear, loathing, lies, violence. Watch movies that are uplifting and edifying. Quit watching those crime shows on television that depict murders, rapes, violence, sex, drugs. Start watching shows that are family oriented. Shows with a positive message. Quit looking at sites or magazines with scantily clad women. Instead spend that spare time reading stories of miracles and good news. Dig back into scripture and God’s Word. Fill your life with light instead of darkness and it will change your life.

Remove the dark music from your life too.   HUH?  Yeah, remove the music that’s filled with violence, cursing, drug use, negative messages.  You might like the sound sure.  Heck, I grew up with AC/DC, GNR, Ozzie, Metallica, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Poison.  And I still enjoy listening to that music.  But do I listen to it?  Not much anymore.  Sometimes if I’m flipping through the stations and I come across one of my favorites, I’ll stop and listen because I do still like it.  But I also realize that the messages are dark and I’m influencing my life.  So, typically I’ll flip between the Christian stations and listen to all kinds of music.  Contemporary, Rock, rap even.  Some old-time gospel, though I tend to not enjoy it as much driving.  Its just not driving music.  My point is, keep your inputs positive, and your outputs will be positive.  Keep your inputs Christian, and your outputs will be Christian.  Keep your inputs worldly, and your outputs will be worldly.

PRAYER

Father, I pray today for everyone that reads this. I pray that we’ll remember this teaching from Jesus about light and darkness, and we’ll remember that whatever we put into our bodies we are sowing. And whatever we sow we will ultimately harvest. Father help us to avoid the dark things of life, and fill our lives with things that are light and life. Help us to remember that much of what we see on TV and on the movies is about fear, and you cast out all fear.
Help us to remember that we are your light in these dark times. Father, most of all, please help us reach those that are lost in their own darkness and help them bring light and hope back into their lives.

AMEN