Dark Glasses

Comedian Fred Allen once quipped: “A celebrity is a person who works all his life to become well-known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized.”

While we may chuckle at this remark, many of us live our lives the same way.  We work hard to get somewhere…only to realize that it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and try to change it.  Why does this happen?  I contend that the biggest mistakes we make in this area are in the very first steps.  We don’t consult God.  We don’t let Him in on the decision making process or ask Him to point us in the right initial direction.  And when our Creator is left out of the loop… we find ourselves careening off in the wrong direction… all the while thinking we are on our way to the top of the ladder of success.  

We may reach the top of that ladder… only to find that it’s leaning against the wrong wall.  And then what?  Do we blame ourselves for poor choices?  Sadly, many times we blame God.  The only way to correct this is to go to God first in prayer… asking Him what’s best… and then having the maturity and courage to follow His lead.  He will make sure that once we get to where we’re going… we’ll be glad we’re there!

Reliable?

Biblical scholar Howard Hendricks once told his son Bob, “Be so dependable that if you say you will be somewhere and don’t show up, they send flowers.”

Are you thought of as reliable?  Are the commitments that you make as good as done?  If you don’t fulfill a vow to be somewhere… will those you’ve made a promise to think a bad thing has happened?  If this doesn’t sound like you… I’ve got good news:  today is a new day.  Making our word our bond requires a steadfast commitment.   Scripture echoes the importance of being good on our words in Matthew 5:37.  It says,  “Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.”  If you’re given the opportunity to make a commitment…stop and think about it.  Are you really going to honor it?  Will you really show up?  If so, great!  If not, remember, it’s better not to make a vow, than to make one and break it later.  Be a person of integrity… someone that people can trust… and when you say “yes” or “no” in the future, those around you will know exactly where they stand and what’s going to happen as a result of your decision.  

Seat Belts

Then heavyweight champion of the world Mohammed Ali was sitting on a plane getting ready to take off.  The flight attendant recognized him and gently walked over to ask him to put on his seat belt.  His response?  “Superman don’t need no seat belt.”   The attendant stopped a second looked the formidable man squarely in the face and replied, “Superman don’t need no airplane either!”

There are many who treat God the same way.  God asks something of them… and they tell Him they don’t need to do it.  He gives them instruction through His word… and they shrug it off.  Pride makes them believe that they are self-sufficient… that they are in complete control of their direction with little need for restraint.  Psalm 10:4 tells us “In his pride, the wicked man does not seek him;  in all his thoughts there is no room for God”

Ali couldn’t fly on his own… and neither can we.  God is in control.  He knows best.  And when He tells us that it’s going to get a little bumpy…we need to put on that seatbelt… sit back… and thank Him for guiding us through the turbulence. 

Stockpile

Below the Federal Reserve Bank in New York City sits five stories of priceless gold.  Locked behind a 90 ton steel door… in a maze of over 100 vaults… the precious metal sits protected and safe.  It is said that each vault can house 100,000 bricks of gold… and the total value of the stash?  Tens of billions of dollars per compartment… several hundred billion overall.

It would seem to most people that this gold is very safe.  After all, who could get down there let alone get anything back up.  But no matter how many steel doors you put on a structure, there is still a chance of something turning up missing or stolen.  The Bible talks about our inability to protect our treasure in Matthew 6:19-20 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”  Truth is… no matter how secure, put away, taken care of, or protected our stuff on this planet is… it’s still isn’t 100% theft-proof.  Want to have eternal treasure?  Something that lasts forever?  Start building a stockpile in Heaven!  Talk to others about Jesus… invest your resources in the local church…. spend time serving others and taking care of those in need.  It is then that you are generating eternal wealth.  And while it may not glimmer like gold… it is far more valuable.  

Greater Purpose

There’s an old Chinese proverb that says: “If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap.  If you want happiness for a day, go fishing.  If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune.  If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.”

If you’ve ever come to the aid of someone in need you know the truth in that statement.  There’s something about being there for a person that gives us a sense of fulfillment… a feeling of greater purpose.  This shouldn’t be surprising if you are a Christ-follower.  Scripture tells us in Acts 20:35 that “It is more blessed to give than to receive”  In Proverbs 11:25 we read “Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.”  Loving others…serving them… is something that God Himself has instructed us to do.  And when we stay obedient in this, the Bible tells us time and time again that we will be blessed. 

Growing And Hearing

According to Prevention magazine, our ears continue to grow throughout the course of our lifetime.  When we are very young, they are proportional to our body size.  After age 10, the growth slows down but continues steadily until we die.  So using this logic, we should have better hearing as we get older… larger ears means better sound processing right?  Not really.  In fact, as we age, our hearing ability actually decreases.  

Sad but true.  

But there is one aspect of our hearing that should improve as we get older… hearing from God.  Why?  Because if we’re doing it right when we’re young… we should be getting to know Him more and more!  Spending time in His word… hearing messages in His church… writing about Him in our journals… telling others about Him when the opportunity comes…  We should be growing closer to Him… and His voice should be getting louder as the shadows grow longer.  2 Corinthians 4 tells us that although we are physically failing over time… we are actually being “renewed day by day” by God.  Want to know what God sounds like?  Spend time with Him.  Pray.  Ask Him to tell you and teach you what you need to know.  And as the years pass… your ability to hear physically may fade… but your capacity to hear from the One that matters will sharpen. 

Found

Do you remember playing hide and go seek?  I do.  My brothers and I would play it when we were little… and I was pretty good.  I remember being hidden and hearing their voices as they’d get closer… the butterflies in my stomach as I got nervous they’d find me… the sound of their feet getting louder against the wood floor… all part of the game.  Sometimes they’d discover me, but many times they wouldn’t.  I was good at hiding from them and enjoyed knowing that I could fool them at will.

Many feel that way about God.  Over time, they become quite good at hiding from Him.  Or, if not physically, they hide things about themselves from Him.  I guess they figure that if they don’t say it out loud.. He doesn’t know.  Maybe if they avoid accountability, God never finds them or discovers what they’ve done.   The Bible sets it straight in Psalm 139.  In it, David says that no matter where he goes… God is there.  He is all-knowing… all-powerful… and everywhere at one time.  It may be tempting to hide… but there are far greater results when we step out into the light and reveal what God already knows.  When we talk to Him and tell Him what’s inside us… He can begin the healing process in our hearts.  Find yourself in the shadows today?  Spend some time talking with the One who already knows what put you there and wants to guide you back into the sunlight. 

Admit It

At the start of the 2012 football season, the league was forced to put replacement referees on the field as a result of a contract dispute with the real crew.  The fill-ins worked throughout the first part of the season… and made many mistakes.  Maybe no bigger than the ending of the Green Bay Packers vs. Seattle Seahawks game.  In it, the Seattle quarterback threw a desperation pass toward the end zone in the closing seconds of the game.  A Green Bay defensive player intercepted the ball, but the stand-in ref called it a touchdown for Seattle…costing the Packers the game.   When interviewed afterward, the confused referee said that he would not have changed the call even though every replay showed he was clearly in error.

Many of us are just like that referee.  

Sometimes we don’t want to admit when we’ve made a mistake.  Even when it’s obvious.  The crowd points and we turn a blind eye.  The replay shows it… and we turn off the tv.  We blow it… drop it… miscall it… and mess it up.  But why is it so hard to admit our mistakes and make them right?  It’s simple.  Pride.  James 4:6 tells us that “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”   Find yourself in a situation where you’ve missed the mark?  Made a mistake?  Humble yourself.  First admit to God how you’ve blown it… then make it right with those you’ve hurt.  God will bless your obedience and you will begin to heal immediately.  Admitting there’s an issue is one thing… making it right, while not always easy, is the always the correct call.  

Carrying On?

Pastor Stephen Kingsley walked into a restaurant to have a warm bowl of chili.  It was freezing outside… the snow piling up just outside the front door.  He walked to the counter, ordered his food and coffee, and waited patiently.  In the corner of the room, an image on the television caught his eye.  It was a closeup of a fireplace… it’s flames dancing randomly across the screen.  He says that maybe it was just because it was cold outside… but he couldn’t take his eyes off the video fireplace.

Have you ever seen anything like that?  A fake fireplace?  All image but no heat?  Maybe not, but you might have known someone like that.  All commitment, no execution.  All talk, no action.  All carrying on, but no carrying out.  The Bible tells us not to be like that phony fireplace on the screen in James 1:22 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.”  James tells us… don’t just look the part… don’t just say the words… don’t just promise yourself you’ll change… actually do it!  Be the real deal!  The world isn’t looking for fake fireplaces… they are looking for genuine believers fired up to be the light in this dark world.  

Agitator

Have you ever looked inside your washing machine and wondered how it gets clothes so clean?  You might be surprised to know that it isn’t just the soap… or the hot water… it’s that column in the middle that usually has plastic fins that rotate all the way around.  It’s called an agitator… and without one, your clothes would smell better but they wouldn’t be clean.  During the wash cycle, this agitator forces the clothes to move around… from the bottom to the top of the water and back down… preventing laundry from just floating on the surface.  This constant movement allows the soap and water to fully saturate the materials and clean the clothes. 

Agitators in a washing machine make it work to it’s fullest potential.  They do the same thing in our lives as well.  Our agitators take many forms… those that bother us, those that are jealous of us, those that disagree with our decisions, or those that just plain rub us the wrong way.  They agitate, irritate, instigate, and infuriate us to the point that we wonder why God allows them into our day-to-day.  He does it because in dealing with them… we grow.  James 1:3 tells us that testing produces endurance.   Loving those that frustrate us builds character.  Caring for those that don’t care for us allows us to be more like Christ.  Anyone can be friendly to the friendly… but it’s when we extend grace to the agitators of life that we truly exhibit the character of the One who wants to see us grow through the process.

Bad Things - Good People

The world we live in is broken.  It’s not the one that God originally had in mind when He ordered it in to existence.  Adam and Eve chose poorly and sin creeped into a perfect planet that was never meant to harvest it.  As a result, the freewill that all of us enjoy allows people to often make decisions outside of God’s will for their lives.  There’s disease, crime, senseless acts of violence and hatred running rampant among us.  Why does God allow this?  Why do bad things happen at all?  Why doesn’t God put a stop to the hurt?  Why are some people allowed to suffer while others are fed or healed?

There isn’t any one particular answer.  It’s the question that’s been asked for eons… why does God allow good people to struggle?   And while there isn’t a turnkey answer to all of these questions, there is a way that each of us can see these situations in a different light.

Enter David Ring.

If anyone had the right to ask “Why do bad things happen to good people?” it is David Ring.  Technically speaking, David was born dead. Quick acting medical personnel were able to get him breathing, but oxygen deprivation left him with cerebral palsy. He suffered from a speech impediment, hands that don’t cooperate, and a limp. As if that wasn’t enough adversity for one person, both his parents died by the time he was fourteen years old, and his hemophiliac brothers subsequently died of AIDS. 

David’s remaining family members feared that David would never have a normal life, because they assumed he would never marry, have children, drive a car, earn a living or take care of himself. As a young teenager, David came surrender his life to God and came to see his disability as a gift. Once he began to see his circumstances as being chosen for him by God, he began moving forward. 

Today he is married, had four beautiful children, drives a car, and speaks to more than 250 audiences a year. At his speaking engagements he sells T-shirts bearing the slogan “Don’t Whine…SHINE!”

David Ring has taken responsibility for his life—the bad, the difficult and the wonderful. And he continues to celebrate the difference he is able to make in the lives of others. 

When people wrestle with difficult life experiences, the why question often gets in the way. One of David Ring’s axioms is “Don’t ask God why. Ask What. What do you want me to do with this?”

You may not be facing what David did... but whatever stands in your way leaves you with two questions:  

“Why me?”  or

“What now?” 

Which one do you find yourself going to more often?  Let’s take a look at each response.

1)  Asking “Why Me?”    

How many thousands of times do you think it crossed David Ring’s mind to use Cerebral Palsy as an excuse NOT to do something.  He hurt... his tongue couldn’t say what his brain was sending it... his hands and feet crippled and painful.  Every person with a beating heart on the planet would have understandingly told him... it’s ok...  we know you’re at a disadvantage... you’re off the hook for not reaching the potential God has put into your heart.

That didn’t happen.  David didn’t quit.  

It wasn’t a disadvantage.

It was an opportunity.

He didn’t question why it was happening...he just kept pushing forward.

The enemy gave him every reason to wonder but instead...

David worshipped.   

You may be tempted to ask the same thing today.  The world would understand wouldn’t it?  They’ll tell you that your marriage can’t be fixed.... your condition won’t improve... and other lies. Will you believe them or will you hold on to God’s promise of growing you through your circumstances?  Miracles still happen.   Sometimes the miracle you are looking for starts with your willingness to believe God can do it.   

Perhaps challenge is exactly what we need to get past our insistence on having all the answers and acting within our own power... 

Which brings us to the next question.... the one we should be asking when we feel knocked down...

2)  What Now?

The question isn’t why... it’s what.  What do I do with what I am facing?   What do I need to do to leverage the calamity to strengthen my character?  What does God want me to learn?  

All good questions... healthy questions.  And when they are honestly looked at and answered, we move forward with courage rather than shrink in fear.  

When I face challenges, I turn to two verses that bring me comfort.  They wholly answer the question of “what now”...

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”  Romans 8:28

“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.”  Romans 8:18

God assures us of three things when we suffer.  There’s a purpose to it, it’s only for a season, and better things are on the other side of the hurt.   What challenges you today will be used to strengthen your resolve... build your integrity... sure up your determination... prove to you that you are stronger in God’s power than you are on your own... and ultimately bring God glory for Who He is.   

What do you do now?  Praise Him in the rain... turn to Him when it hurts so bad you want to stop... look for His heart when yours is broken.  He promises in His word that everything you are facing will come together and ultimately you will win.  In His power and by His grace, what looks to be your deepest tragedy will become your moment of triumph.  In the meantime... cling to Him in this season.  It won’t last forever and neither will the suffering.  

Even the darkest nights relent.  Clouds part.  And warm sun returns.  

We may not always understand the reason behind it… but God never wastes a hurt.  If you find yourself struggling today...stop asking “why me” and turn your eyes to Christ.  Seek His path through the wilderness… and He will take you all the way to victory.  

Church?

“I feel closer to God on my boat!”

“Nature and God are one… so I just hang out in the park”

“Who needs church… I can be religious and not be part of organized religion.”

Maybe you’ve heard someone say things like this before.   Maybe you’ve even said them yourself.  Who needs church?  Why get up every weekend and join a bunch of other people when it’s far easier to stay home? 

Does the church matter?

Do they care that I’m even there?

It’s so tempting sometimes to think that a group of people coming together on a Sunday doesn’t change much in the grand scheme of things.  After all, the church isn’t what saves you from Hell.  It doesn’t do much other than take up a Sunday morning that could be otherwise spent cleaning out gutters or sleeping.   Right? 

Not quite. 

Make no mistake.  The church matters and you matter in it.  It is the hope of the world… God’s plan A to reach those that don’t have a relationship with Christ.  Why do we believe this? 

Three key reasons:

1 1)  Christ established the church. 

Matthew 16:18 tells us: “Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.” Jesus knew the church would be powerful…shining the light of truth into dark places.  Feeding the hungry.  Caring for the lost.  And He knew that even the devil himself would be powerless to stop a group of like-minded believers in God from changing the world.  Christ founded the church, and because of that,  He deeply cares about its well-being and effectiveness. 

2  2)  Christ died for the the church

Ephesians 5:25 “For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her”  Christ gave his life so that we could spend time together each week praising Him.  Does the church matter?  It cost Jesus his heartbeat. 

    3)  The New Testament prioritizes the church

Hebrews 10:25 “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”

We are reminded by scripture to get together as a group and worship..  to not only sing and learn, but encourage and strengthen each other.  The local church is far more than just a building.  It’s the people.  And when we come together, powerful life-change happens.  If we are going to become the people we were created to be, we have to keep church attendance a priority. 

But what does the church do specifically in the hearts of those that attend?  How does it make a day-to-day difference?

First, the church is there to help.  Need some guidance?  Prayer?  A place to invite friends who lack hope?  The church is available. Many people reach out to us here at Potential Church for answers and spiritual support… and we are called to help them at whatever level we can.  But it’s not just the staff that lend a hand… it’s the guests.  People with all kinds of gifts come together to share what God has given them with others.  

Next, the church reaches out to the world.  Scripture tells us in Acts 1:8 that the primary job of the church is to go out and proclaim who Christ is and why people need to make Him the Lord of their life.    It isn’t the goal of the local church for people to come in and get comfortable… it’s to get equipped.   Christ established the church so we would have a place to come to learn but not just sit on the knowledge.  He commands us to take what we know and share it with a world thirsting for hope and love. 

Finally, the church is a place of shepherding.  When a group of people come together in the church, there is both protection and correction.   Just like a shepherd leading sheep, the church helps people stay on the path that God has for their lives and guides them back if they stray.  The front doors of a church are always open wide… welcoming back those that are ready to enter (or re-enter) the family of God. 

So… does the church matter?  Yes.  Coming together each week for a time of rejuvenation, inspiration, motivation, education, and celebration makes a difference in our lives. Apart from each other, people have strength.  Together in church they’re collectively stronger.  More powerful.  And the horsepower that emerges from a dedicated group of believers in Jesus can be a catalyst for world-change. 

I want to challenge you… prioritize church attendance.  Make it part of your schedule.  It will radically change the way you live, parent, work, and worship.  Don’t let the enemy convince you that you don’t need to be part of the family.   Your gifts matter.  Using them in the house of God matters.  And when you connect with others in the local church… your life (and theirs) will be better because of it.   

Resurrection?

Did the resurrection REALLY happen?

Did Jesus’ heart stop for three days and then re-start?  Really?  How do we know?

It’s a question that has lingered with mankind since the stone rolled away from the doorway to Jesus’ tomb. Did He really die?  Did Jesus’ followers hide the body?  What proof do we have?

The best place to answer a question like this (or any question) is to start with God’s word. 

Here’s what scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians 15

“And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless.  And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead.
And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins.  In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost!  And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.”

1 Corinthians 15:14-15, 17-19 NLT

What the Apostle Paul is telling us in this scripture is that if Jesus’ resurrection wasn’t real, all of them were liars.  Every disciple and preacher that spoke of Christ coming back from the dead were purveyors of fairytale and untruth.  In addition, Paul goes on to say that if the resurrection were fake, their sermons were useless, their faith misplaced, and their sins still unforgiven.     In other words… Paul believed Jesus came back from the dead three days later just like He said He would.   He was convinced that the Man he was teaching others about was exactly who He claimed to be:  Jesus Christ… Son of God… dead but only temporarily. 

If you need further proof look no further than his disciples. 

The great majority of them were killed violently for their continued faith.  But why?  Simply because they stood boldly and would tell all who would listen that their Master, their Teacher, their Savior, and their Lord had risen up out of the grave and walked again.  They tirelessly preached about salvation, and the coming judgment, and Christ’s deity and holiness… never stopping when threatened with death or imprisonment.  They went without food, spent years in deplorable conditions, and, at the end of their lives, were cut down in horrible fashion by people who dismissed their claims as sedition.   Some were beheaded.  Others crucified.  Abandoned.  Destroyed.  It was as if the authorities were trying to rid the world of a disease by killing one Christ-follower at a time. 

Would any of these men have endured such pain and hardship over a lie?  A ruse?  No.  

People don’t give up their heartbeat for a hoax. 

The disciples would have been the ones that snuck in past Roman guards and stolen Christ’s body.  They would have known the hiding spot.   They would have been in on the secret.  The lie.  But it wasn’t a lie and they knew it.  They believed that Christ rose again so much that they were willing to go through torture, great pain, and even death to proclaim it. 

The resurrection was no magic trick to start a religion.  Jesus Christ of Nazareth…Son of God… walked planet Earth blameless… healed the sick, fed the hungry, taught the ignorant, and loved the unlovable.  He was captured and tried for crimes He didn’t commit and whipped by people He’d created just a few decades before.   They nailed Him to a cross and He bled and died.  They put Him in a tomb, covered the entrance to it with a large stone, and posted soldiers by the entrance in case somebody wanted to hide the corpse. 

But on that beautiful morning, Christ pushed aside the burial shroud and walked among the living once again.  Scripture tells us in Acts that He didn’t hide after His return:

“During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.” Acts. 1:3

Christ had risen.  And the same feet that walked on the water were now back among the people.  The Bible goes on to tell us that before He went back to Heaven, He was seen by more than 500 men (1 Cor. 15:6), His disciples, and dozens of women and children. 

Countless confirming stories from eyewitnesses…

Men willingly giving up their lives that could have saved themselves by simply denying it happened…

An empty tomb…

So much evidence that demands our attention and confirms our faith.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is history’s fulcrum… the pivot point where mankind’s debt was paid once and for all.  And because of it, each of us can now spend eternity in Heaven with a Savior Who loves us immeasurably.   He is risen, indeed.