The Context of Life That Counts

Where do we search for significance? Most have a sphere of influence to impress in hopes they won’t see the flaws that lie deep inside. This is our desperate attempt to find significance by chasing what we can, and hiding what we want, to seek approval from our sphere. The problem is that we are people who are shaped by our setting and our sphere will always influence the context of our life. So, as we chase approval from a circle of influence in our life, that setting will ultimately shape our story. This is kind of a bummer because you really lower the opportunities of the less fortunate right? I mean, if you’ve always seen drugs in the context of your life as the piece that brings significance, then you will probably chase that as well. If you’re in college and you only equate fun with being drunk and that is the piece that brings significance, then you will probably hang on that pattern of ideal “fun” as your story is shaped. Of course, we could keep throwing scenario’s out there, but let’s land this plane.

Jesus comes in and changes everything! This is the beauty of the cross: 1. that we can admit imperfections 2. we can fess us to failures 3. we can obtain purity through God’s sacrifice 4. we are immediately significant to the Creator no matter what our imperfections, sins, failures, and flaws have been, are, or will be! That’s right! To accept Christ’s work and labor on the cross is to be ushered into the Father, where we are accepted, secure, and significant. So, with Christ, your story can shape up to be more than you ever imagined. When you are in Christ, you are in the Sphere of God the Father, your setting is influenced by being significant just because of Christ righteousness, and your story is shaped by a setting influenced by the grace and peace that is given freely to God’s kids! And dude, your story will boast in the cross, Glory God, and fulfill you like you never dreamed! So go on and live out your significance and stop chasing a dead end dream. It all lands in Jesus the Christ!

Are you in Christ? Have you given your heart to God’s work on the cross through His Son? Turn to Jesus today and find the significance you don’t have to work for!

Waiting is Beneficial

I'm really impatient at times. Actually, I'm so impatient that I get nervous if something is not happening. How do you handle the times in life that require patience and trusting God to speak and give direction? God reminded me that our best practice for being strengthened and prepared for this world is to "Wait" on Him.
Isaiah 40:28-31 is a familiar passage that I've read on coffee cups, bookmarks, and heard quoted by believers and preachers alike.
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary;his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary;they shall walk and not faint.
However, if we forget to read v. 27 we may miss the impact of the blessing!
Isaiah 40:27 "O Israel, how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles? How can you say God refuses to hear your case?" (NLT)
I want to encourage you to read all of ch. 40 b/c it reminds us that our lives are very small compared to God, and this reminder puts our worries in their proper place!
See, your way is not hidden from the Lord and He is hearing your case!
But He provides strength and direction in HIS time, for His glory.
You, however, are not stranded until He moves! It's in the WAIT that we truly meet with Him! So my friends, enjoy the blessing of God's timing. Why get impatient when God promises to renew your spirit while you wait?

The Cats in the Cradle

One of the most difficult priorities in the world for a family that's always on the move is to be still together. I literally mean sit together, pray together, and read God's Word for 15 minutes, 5 days a week. One of the most important skills that we as parents can learn is how to say yes to family and no to tyranny of the urgent. If we aren’t careful, our children will get the leftovers of our lives rather than the best. That not only is true in the realm of affections, attention, and training but it is true in prioritizing. What’s most important to you now will be of great importance to them later. Do you remember the song “The Cat’s In the Cradle” written in 1974 by Harry Chapin? In short, it’s about his son who he has no time with at the beginning of the song, but the little boy wants to grow up being just like his daddy. By the end of the song the daddy longs for time with his son, but the boy who’s grown up has become like his dad and he has no time for anyone. It’s really a sad song, but a great reminder “When you coming home dad? I don't know when, but we'll get together then.” This is real life my friends and whether you are single, married, with children or without, you need to know the importance of prioritizing. Here is a tool for hard working families that desire to have family worship together. Go to www.turningpointechurch.org and click "ministries" and then "children" and you will see at the top of the page "Family Worship". Here is the beauty of this resource, you don’t have to be a Bible Scholar to do it. We provide you questions, and scriptures to look up and a verse per week to memorize together. All you need are your Bible’s. Jump in head first and don’t look back. Let’s prioritize together and make our time with our families the BEST part of our day. Have fun together, forget the world for 15 minutes, and enjoy the adventure of living with God. You can do this, and you’ll love watching as God works through this!

Fighting for the Family,
Scott

Why Knowing God Benefits Finite Man

Uncomfortable is a position for growth. Uncomfortable is a place where your life takes on transformation in a painstaking way. There is a high risk in moving into that which is uncomfortable, but there is high reward in the transformation that happens in that poignant, heartrending place. If you choose to be uncomfortable, you choose to place yourself in a vulnerable position that changes the very core of your being. If there has ever been any static concern in the life of Christ church it is because we seek our own rest in the lethargic location of comfort that changes with each generation. Let’s come back to the transforming message of Jesus Christ that takes that which is dead and brings life, that which is unwise and confounds the wise, those that are weak to upend the strong and that which seems insignificant and gives them Divine identity! That place, it’s not easy, not fun, and not traveled by many because it’s UNcomfortABLE…Welcome to the Book of James

Ok, so this was my first time to preach through the book of James completely and I can attest to my introduction that God has been working in us powerfully. Let me review a short snippet of the sermon from Sunday and talk about it in a little more detail, and then I’ll show you the sucker punch that has really made me think!

James 4:15 “…If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” A Proper view of the person that is driving the perspective behind our plans comes down to infinite or finite. Here’s a quick, get down on my level, definition of those terms. Infinite = unlimited/finite = limited. What happens when we submit to a proper view of the person of God and not only include Him in our plans, but live out His plans in our plan? You get unlimited resources, power, potential, and productivity. You get abundant joy, life, pleasure, and fulfillment. You find rest, comfort, hope, and expectations that transcend your finite capabilities. WHAT? Who is gonna pass that up? Unfortunately the answer is many. Many will rest on finite man to drive through life with limited perspective leaning heavily on the restricted and fixed abilities of people. The end results are plans that have boundaries and fault lines due to the small god that we place on the throne who has no business being exalted to that position. That god is man! However, a right view of God leads us to follow Jesus. Why? Because following the one who has lead out and does not bail out when real life happens reveals a transcending peace that can only be disclaimed “of God”.

So, when all is stripped away, Jesus really is everything I have ever wanted and needed. When all seems to be caving in around me, God positioned Himself as THE ONE who will not share the eternal throne with anyone and you will not be satisfied to lean on any but Him. He knows it all, and can handle whatever comes your way. Will you lean in on Him when you’re making plans in life? I will!

A Huge Concept About Prayer

James 4:3 “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”

I have seen children act spoiled when they didn’t get what they wanted. It’s not a pretty picture, and it’s not fun to deal with as a parent or to experience as an onlooker when you’re in the middle of a crowded store. Then you hear a passerby (who probably is younger and has no children) say something to the tune of, “I can’t believe they’re acting like that”. In which I want to reply, really? I kinda expect that from a child. Right? However, I would fully agree with that statement if an adult male on the fishing isle were throwing a fit when his wife, or mom, told him that he could not have that new rod and reel and he needed to grow up. That would be abnormal, weird, and ultimately disturbing. So, this is what’s going on here in James. Adults in the church who should be leaders in the community, worshipers of Christ, and submissive to the authority of God have allowed their selfish hearts to be the rudder that directed their prayer life. How much of this goes on in your life? You do not have because you’re asking from a heart that is spoiled by passions that are exposing your love affair with this temporary world. If there has ever been a great invitation given to mankind, it’s found in having a real, deep, abiding, marriage with Son of God, Jesus Christ and to love Him with ALL of our heart, mind, and strength. Evaluate your passions, expose your heart, and return to you first love. This relationship with the Almighty is the absolute crutch of the church, hope for the family, and cure for the community in every way. We have been invited by the Healer to “ask and it will be given to you”…”ask whatever you wish”…”come bodly to the throne of grace”, and receive the power that makes anything possible. A pursuing passion for Jesus will change the way you ask and create a large margin for receiving. Let’s give our passions over to God, and put our prayers in position to impact this community for Christ.

God Will and Can Work in You

Psalms 92

God’s greatness goes well beyond my comprehension. So, when I read the Psalms, my mind is challenged to think outside of my normal scope of God’s true and vast characteristics. It goes without saying that there are benefits to knowing the Most High God, singing praises to Him, and being recipients of His beautiful works. “For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.” Ps. 92:4 This Psalm goes on to say that those who Trust His established decrees and follow His rich and flourishing Truths can expect some specific revealing that only comes through a loving and faithful Father.

God fights for those who seek Him and fear Him, and His Glory will be shown through the lives of mere man. Psalm 92:12-14 “12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green,”. God accomplishes His work in our lives and we deliver fruit by declaring that work to all, for His Glory and praise. “15 to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.”

You can find flourishing times in your very soul and still bear fruit like never before just by recognizing that God can be Trusted and His Son, Jesus, has prepared the way for your fulfillment and God’s glory. Repent and turn to God in your heart. God will fill you with the sap of life, that spews out life, to all in your life!