Legacy 05

 Todays devotional reading bothered me somewhat by using the term legacy as a theme. I understand the intent, and that we often allow our practice of celebrating Easter to become rote, tradition, or a family practice. It’s very easy to do the same in my daily life, allowing what was once a personal passion to become something I merely practice. But as you and I discover the depth and challenge of knowing Christ, tradition and ‘practice’ seem like idolatrous words. Knowing Him, experiencing His Word come alive, and sensing His Spirit within verify that Christ as indeed risen from the dead. 

If our faith in Jesus Christ isolates us from those who need him, there’s something wrong with our faith—and our love.

Warren W. Wiersbe, The Cross of Jesus

Rejoice in Your New Life 04

 Today’s reading inspires and motivates.  The resurrection changes everything about us, as if these facts revolutionize us to the very core.  This transformation is not only a one time change but a life long process of change  there is no depth to the way our commitments, decisions, loyalties and affections change.  Nothing remains the same.  We become different because of the transformation in our hearts.  If no change can be detected, have we made a decision to follow the risen Lord?

"I won't give up, shut up, let up, or slow up until I've preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go until he comes, give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until he stops. And when he comes to get his own, he'll have no problems recognizing me—my colors will be clear."

Quote:   “Lifted up was He to die, “It is finished” was His cry; Now in heav’n exalted high, Hallelujah, what a Savior! (Philip P. Bliss)” - Warren W. Wiersbe, The Cross of Jesus

1. How does the resurrection shoot adrenaline in you go live life on purpose?

2. How does the resurrection change your loyalties, commitments, and affections?

Enthrone our Lord 03

 Todays reading highlights the controversy of where Jesus actually died.  This debate has little to do with our salvation and maturity in Christ, but the fact that He died for us changes everything about us.  The resurrection and our grasp of this fact changes our identity and purpose for living.  Our loyalty to these facts override all others, including all issues that matter in our lives.  The debate, if there is one, is whether Jesus reigns as King in our lives, or whether we are so indifferent that His life, death, and resurrection make no difference at all.  

“The only thing we can depend on is the rule and reign of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. If He is on the throne of our lives, then we can face tomorrow with courage and confidence.” “True salvation is free of works and totally dependent upon God's grace.” - Warren Wiersbe

1. How important is Jesus’ resurrection to your daily life?

2. How can you and I worship our risen Lord in a deeper way, not only at Waster, but every day?

One With The Father 02

 

Our world today is filled with division, anger, and distrust. I read an article last week asking if people are coming to church because of you or are they staying away because of you.  Most of the issues dividing us are nothing compared to the gravity our mission to reach others for Christ, and tone non board with God’s agenda that is being fulfilled right before our eyes  

“We all face things that appear to make little sense and don’t seem to serve any good purpose. So rest is never found in the quest to understand it all. No, rest is found in trusting the One who understands it all and rules it all for his glory and our good.” - Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies: 

The Way of Suffering 01

 

When an individual or family experiences a crisis, we (I) often wonder why it has to happen. But it seems as though we are either coming out of a crisis or headed toward one. No one is exempt from the broken world coming into our lives. Many suffer from the cruelty of war, from abuse, or I’ll health. Life has a way of crushing our self sufficiency and independence. Life is not about us and our trajectory toward stardom and riches. Success in this life is worthy of our pursuit but the way of suffering demonstrates our need to glorify our risen Lord with every breath and each effort.

Quote:   “We all face things that appear to make little sense and don’t seem to serve any good purpose. So rest is never found in the quest to understand it all. No, rest is found in trusting the One who understands it all and rules it all for his glory and our good.” - Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies: 

1. How does Jesus’s anguish on the way to the cross help you when you are facing trials?

2. How are you being prepared today for tomorrow’s trials?

In the Garden 3/31

 Luke 22 portrays the real Jesus, in anguish, filled with anxiety about the trauma about to happen.  But his anxiety also is about the doom of taking on the sin and punishment of every person who follows Him.  The loneliness He experienced helps us in our predicaments, conflicts and crises.  Jesus was in crisis, obedient, fulfilling ancient prophecies, alone in what He was about to endure.  His obedience is motivation to endure the issues ahead and in the present.  Jesus knows my news and will provide the grace needed.

“We all face things that appear to make little sense and don’t seem to serve any good purpose. So rest is never found in the quest to understand it all. No, rest is found in trusting the One who understands it all and rules it all for his glory and our good.” - Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies 

1. How does Jesus’s anguish in the garden help you when you are facing trials?

2. How are you being prepared today for tomorrow’s trials?

The Upper Room 3/30

It had to be a somber atmosphere in the upper room, to say the least. We can speculate on Jesus’s tone of voice, His behavior, and the look in His eyes. I wondered if He has something specific to say to each person in the room, more than what is recorded in the New Testament. The awe and wonder of who Jesus was in the room had to be life changing. I wonder if I allow His presence to be the awe in my life as He really is and should be. 

“We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.” - John Stott 

Questions to consider:

1. What would it have been like to be present in the upper room?

2. What would have been your reaction to the atmosphere with Jesus?

His Love Held 3/29

 

Do I really understand the depth of God’s love? I don’t think I have a clue most of the time. His love includes allowing us to face some rough times, partly because we live in a broken world, partly because we are self sufficient and independent, but mostly so that we can experience a depth of His love that no words can describe.

“There is much shallowness and levity among us. Prophets and psalmists would probably say of us that ‘there is no fear of God before their eyes’. In public worship our habit is to slouch or squat; we do not kneel nowadays, let alone prostrate ourselves in humility before God. It is more characteristic of us to clap our hands with joy than to blush with shame or tears. We saunter up to God to claim his patronage and friendship; it does not occur to us that he might send us away. We need to hear again the apostle Peter’s sobering words: ‘Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives...in reverent fear.’ In other words, if we dare to call our Judge our Father, we must beware of presuming on him. It must even be said that our evangelical emphasis on the atonement is dangerous if we come to it too quickly. We learn to appreciate the access to God which Christ has won for us only after we have first seen God’s inaccessibility to sinners. We can cry ‘Hallelujah’ with authenticity only after we have first cried ‘Woe is me, for I am lost’. In Dale’s words, ‘it is partly because sin does not provoke our own wrath, that we do not believe that sin provokes the wrath of God’.” - John R.W. Stott, The Cross of Christ 

His Great Love 3/28 b

 Most of us do not grasp the weight and burden places upon Jesus as He hung on the cross.  All guilt, shame, regrets, bitterness, and envy were placed upon the Son of God so that He could pay the penalty no one else could pay.  His grief and sorrow were measures of His love for who He has created.  If we are truly follow Him, there is no room for pride or self sufficiency.  I have much to learn from this Man of Sorrows  

Questions to consider:

1. How do we often minimize the gravity of Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross?

2. How does today’s reading help you worship and marvel at who Jesus is?

“At the cross, in holy love, God through Christ paid the full penalty of our disobedience himself.” - John R.W. Stott, The Cross of Christ 

His Great Love 3/28

 The full impact of Christ’s suffering on the cross will not be realized until we see Him face to face.  Even though we get a glimpse of the sacrifice He made by reading the Scriptures, seeing movies like The Passion of the Christ, and experience His presence, we see and feel only in part.  Our finite minds do not understand what it means for an infinite God to have such an intimate love for each of us.  Worship and praise for our Lord is a very humbling experience  

“At the cross, in holy love, God through Christ paid the full penalty of our disobedience himself.” - John R.W. Stott, The Cross of Christ

Questions to consider:

1. How do we often minimize the gravity of Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross?

2. How does today’s reading help you worship and marvel at who Jesus is?

His Great Sacrifice 3/27

 I wonder if I will be completely embarrassed and mortified when I see Jesus regarding how little I thought of Him during most of my life.  I wonder if I take His sacrifice for me and all of us who call ourselves “Christian” much too lightly. But on the other hand, I do believe that I will marvel in my limited capacity at His love and pursuit of me, once I see Him face to face.  All the regrets, guilt and shame will be forgotten, not just forgiven.  Even though He has forgiven already, I’ll be able to forgive myself in full, not just half way    What joy and fullness await us, even though we experience joy and fulfillment now as we worship Jesus.  We will wonder why we wandered, doubted and were so hesitant in His all out pursuit of our mental, emotional, and behavioral obedience.

“There is evidence for the deity of Jesus -- good, strong,

historical , cumulative evidence; evidence to which an honest

person can subscribe without committing intellectual suicide.

John Stott.” - John R.W. Stott

Questions to consider:

1. How do we often minimize the gravity of who Jesus is?

2. How does today’s reading help you worship and marvel who Jesus is?

Today’s reference:  

Matthew 8:27 (ESV)

And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Dangers Of A Hard Heart - Carey Nieuhoff

 

Celebrate…And You Don’t Really Cry

A hard heart is a flat heart. Not much gets in.

Joy doesn’t. Sadness doesn’t.

And while you don’t want to be unstable or imbalanced, it’s actually normal and healthy to feel the ups and downs of life and leadership.

You’re supposed to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. But when you’re heart gets hard, you don’t.

A hard heart is a flat heart. Not much gets in. CLICK TO TWEET

2. You Fake Your Emotions

Truthfully, we’ve all done this in seasons. And sometimes you need to.

When you’re the leader, you ‘have’ to lead in the public eye, and sometimes that means smiling when you’re not happy and showing empathy when you don’t feel it. As far as I’m concerned, that’s not a lie nor is it inauthentic if it only happens once in a while. When that happens occasionally, you’re simply being a leader, not a liar.

But when faking your emotions become a pattern, it’s a sign something is deeply wrong. And that kind of faking can’t last if you want to lead and live well.

Fake your emotions enough times and your leadership will stop resonating with the people you lead. Why? Because you’ve stopped becoming an authentic leader. 

And not only is authenticity a non-negotiable leadership quality in our culture, it’s something God deeply values too. God tends to work best through genuine people.

Not only is authenticity a non-negotiable leadership quality in our culture, it's something God deeply values too. God tends to work best through genuine people.  CLICK TO TWEET

Your Mission Is Too Important To Go Unheard.

Engaging an audience and inspiring change is an essential part of any mission. If you’re finding it difficult to do that online, then it’s time to start using strategies that get people engaged and excited to follow you. 

Your mission will become far more effective when you have a proven digital strategy and can produce meaningful content that people love to receive.

Learn More About The Art of Online Influence

3. You Say “I Don’t Care” A Lot

Maybe this is more personal than universal, but a sure sign my heart is in trouble is when I hear myself saying “I don’t care” repeatedly.

Naturally, there are things you don’t care about and more than a few you shouldn’t care about.

But there’s a line I can easily cross where I stop caring about things I should care about, and that’s a warning sign.

When does not caring become an issue? Well, for me it becomes a problem when:

• Someone’s upset, and I say I don’t care.
• I get disappointed by someone or something, and I say I don’t care.
• If something doesn’t work out the way I hoped, I say I don’t care.
• When my actions hurt someone, and I say I don’t care.

To me, this is a huge warning sign that there’s a problem because I should care. Even if I can’t change the outcome, I should care.

If you really don’t care about the people around you, eventually they’ll stop caring about you.

If you really don’t care about the people around you, eventually they’ll stop caring about you. CLICK TO TWEET

4. So Much of What’s Supposed To Be Meaningful Feels Mechanical

Another sure sign of a hard heart is that you feel like a robot.

What’s supposed to be meaningful has become mechanical. You’re doing your job. You’re getting things done, but it’s just mechanical.

From your personal friendships to your family to work, the feeling’s gone.

We all have seasons like that, but be careful when that season starts to feel normal.

Life isn’t supposed to feel mechanical, it’s supposed to have real highs, real lows, meaning, depth, nuance and beauty. None of that is mechanical.

You know your heart is growing hard when what's supposed to be meaningful has become mechanical. CLICK TO TWEET

5. Passion is Hard to Come By

Remember when you used to be passionate?

Sure. It’s the ‘used to be’ part that’s the problem.

When your heart is growing hard, you lose passion.

For anything. For everything.

It’s pretty normal to lose passion for things that used to matter to you, like say a hobby or activity or even something in your job you used to love but don’t anymore.

It’s a totally different thing when you lose passion for everything.

Your heart and your passion level are deeply connected. Sometimes you’ll try to rekindle your passion when what you really need to do is go deeper and fix your heart.

Your heart and your passion level are deeply connected. Sometimes you’ll try to rekindle your passion when what you really need to do is go deeper, and fix your heart. CLICK TO TWEET

6. You No Longer Believe The Best About People

You know you’re in danger when you meet someone for the first time and you’re thinking about what’s going to go wrong, not what’s going to go right.

A hard heart is a cynical heart. And cynicism projects past failures onto new situations, a sure-fire way of sabotaging all future joy and possibility.

A hard heart is a cynical heart. And cynicism projects past failures onto new situations, a sure-fire way of sabotaging all future joy and possibility.  CLICK TO TWEET

The stakes are high when you stop believing the best and assuming the worst.

Why?

Because it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Leaders who stop believing the best about people stop receiving the best from people.

Leaders who stop believing the best about people stop receiving the best from people. CLICK TO TWEET

7. You’re Growing Cynical

Speaking of cynicism, hard-heartedness and cynicism go hand in hand.

There’s little room in a healthy heart for cynicism. And cynicism creeps in slowly over time.

If you find yourself growing cynical, how do you battle back?

Bottom line? Hope again, believe again and trust again. That’s what hopeful people do.

There's little room in a healthy heart for cynicism. CLICK TO TWEET

Your Mission Is Too Important To Go Unheard. Learn How to Engage Your Audience and Get Them to Take Action. 

Putting yourself and your message online can feel like you’re taking a shot in the dark, but your mission is too important to go unheard. 

But here's the truth: engaging an audience and inspiring change is an essential part of any mission. 

If you're finding it difficult to do that online, just know that inspiring change online doesn’t have to be complicated, gimmicky, or ruin your integrity. 

You can use proven strategies and principles to get people engaged and excited to join you on your mission.

Your mission will become far more effective when you use a proven digital strategy and can produce content people love to receive.

Make it About Jesus, Rick Warren

 “For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4:5‬ ‭CSB‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/1713/2co.4.5.CSB

If you want to be used by God, you need to remember this: It’s not about you; it’s all about Jesus.

“It’s not about you” is the exact opposite of everything you’ve been taught. Our entire culture appeals to self-centeredness. Advertisements everywhere tell you, “You’re number one! Do what’s best for you! Think of yourself first!”

But you’re not the center of the universe—God is. That’s why, when you make every problem, opportunity, and criticism about yourself, you become frustrated and unfulfilled. And you eventually become bored because life is so much more than living for yourself.

The Bible says, “Our message is not about ourselves. It is about Jesus Christ as the Lord. We are your servants for his sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5 GW).

Twice in this passage, Paul says it’s all for Jesus. It’s about him, and it’s for his sake. In other words, learning to follow Jesus is about motivation.  There may be a hundred different things you could do with your life, and God would say: “Because I made you and shaped you, any of those things would be fine with me.”

But God is far more interested in your motivation to do something than in your methodology. You could be using the right method and be very successful in life. But if you have the wrong motive—greed, competition, envy, or guilt—it won’t count with God.

On the other hand, you could do everything wrong and fail in so many ways. But if you have the right motive—Jesus—then God says, “That’s good enough.” God is more interested in your “why” than your “what.”

The Bible says, “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17 NIV).

Have you found yourself bored or frustrated with life?  Choose to make Jesus your motivation today. You’ll find the joy of living for something bigger than yourself.

Healing Thoughts

I minimize the power of the Holy Spirit by thinking that I’m more controlled by the environment, heredity and body chemistry. In trivialize the Spirit’s work even though I believe in being born again. But if I’m truly new, the power of the world forces matter less than the Spirit’s work. I’m caught in the here and now, I’m a broken world. The perfect has not come yet but I’m now primarily Spirit driven toward goals that have an eternal perspective. 

 “Sometimes we say, “God raised Jesus from the dead” or “God healed that person,” but it is striking how often in the New Testament we see that resurrections are attributed to the Spirit of God. It makes me wonder why more people are not saying, that the “Spirit raised Jesus” or the “Spirit healed” someone.

Here are a few examples:

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because  of his Spirit who lives in you.

It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.*12

When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” Excerpt From Open to the Spirit by Scot McKnight