A Generous Life and a Pile of Stones

Sometimes I feel such a “screw-up”. I’ve made my fair share of mistakes and then some it seems.

The other day, I was talking to a friend that felt the same way and it reminded me of this story in the bible....

_____________________

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

(Found in John Chapter 8)
______________________



When I look back on different situations, I know I've been on both sides of the pile of rocks. I have been the one holding the stone, full of pride and judgment, wanting God to say it's okay for me to punish someone else.

I have also been the one who crumbles in fear as I wait to see what others are going to do to me because I messed up. I've tried to run and hide from God multiple times because my guilt makes me feel so ugly and so unworthy that I don't even want him to see my mess.

But this guilt is not from God. Guilt, feeling as though your worth has decreased because of something you've done, is the devils tool. He uses it to bring people to a place where they feel so unworthy to be with God that they distance themselves from him. The devil knows that God will never leave us, but he wants us to feel like we can't talk to Abba Father, that Daddy God is shunning us. When we choose to try to distance ourselves from God, the devil has more space to creep in and attack.

John 10:10 describes the devil as "the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy". He's lurking there, just waiting for a chance to steal our peace, our joy, and our worth. Like a pick-pocket, the thief removes theses pieces, sometimes without us even knowing it was him, but instead we blame ourselves for not having them anymore.

For the next thirty days, Pastor Chris has challenged Citipointe Fort Collins to say yes to living a life of generosity, giving everytime there is a physical, spiritual, emotional or financial need because that is what the church, the body of Christ, should be doing. It's going to be amazing and life changing without a doubt. That's why I'm in.

But this morning, I think I caught a glimpse of something else God wants us to do. He wants us to be generous with our grace and forgiveness with everyone, including the person we see in the mirror. We have to stop condemning ourselves and others and giving the devil this foothold because we are angry (Ephesians 4:26-27).

So live generously. Give your time, your talent and your treasure. Love on people, forgive them, and flood the world with grace.

You are not condemned; YOU ARE LOVED. You are not chained to what you've done, are doing or will do; the cross paid for that, in full, FOR-EV-ER.

But I don't wanna..........

Friday morning my heart broke when I heard the news. 12 people killed and over 50 people wounded at a midnight premier of the new Batman movie in Aurora, CO. It consumed my thoughts, broke my heart and built my anger as I read and listened to the stories coming from the media. How could this be happening, again? Columbine, Fort Hood, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma City, the World Trade Center, Norway, London, Mumbai.... and those are just the ones that come to my mind the quickest. This vicious pattern just keeps rolling through history. But what can I do except for pray for the victims, their families and friends that are left with a gaping hole and communities that once again are being asked to rise and stand when they want to crumble in fear and grief?

Walking in to Citipointe Fort Collins yesterday, I could tell that so many others were being troubled with the same feeling of helplessness. It was like our hearts were yelling, "give me something to do!".... and Pastor Chris did.

As he started off with prayer to begin the sermon Honor (part 2), In Your Face, I expected him to pray for the victims, the family and friends, those still in the hospital, the law enforcement and medical staff that were handling this tragedy... and he did. What I didn't expect though was for him to pray for and honor James Holmes, the man who went into the theater and fired off round after round at movie goers less than 48 hours before. Chris honored him with disregard for his actions.

In my mind I thought “Whoa Whoa Whoa Pastor Chris! Don't you know what this guy just did? How can you honor who he is and forgive him so quickly?” My head and my heart couldn't grasp the concept immediately, but he was speaking truth. Check out my internal conflict below......

Me: But I don't want to pray for him........
Matthew 5:43-47
You have heard that is was said, "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I tell you; Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? (From Jesus)

Me: But he killed someone........
Matthew 5:22
You have heard that is was said to the people long ago, "Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment." But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. (From Jesus)

Me: But he didn't just kill one person.....
Matthew 18:21
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?'
Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven."

Me: But can't I just hold on to this a little longer.....
Ecclesiastes 5:4
When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow.
Ephesians 4: 26, 31
In your anger do not sin; Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Me: But do we really have to honor who he is....
1 Peter 2:17
Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.

Me: But if Pastor Chris is honoring him, do I still have to.....
Romans 12: 10
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Honoring means to value, respect, highly esteem, to treat as precious, weighty or valuable.

God honors us in our hot mess....
Psalm 91:14-16
“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and HONOR him.

It doesn’t mean that what we do is honorable, BUT who we are, a children of God, created in his own image, should ALWAYS be honored and be honoring others. We are commanded to treat everyone with honor because God says they are precious.

Honor.... it's kinda a huge deal.

Shackled to Surrender

Age of the Kings - North Point Community Church

I love the messages at North Point Community Church, hence why I found myself listening to two of their online sermons today. If you want to check them out for yourself, you can find the sermon series "Age of Kings" here! Here's where my heart led after watching Part One - Resistance is Futile. (This was not the same direction Andy Stanley took, so feel free to check them both out!)

Every time I hear someone preach about the bible, I get more excited about it. I know that it's living and moving, but today I learned more about how powerful the history side of it can be. Andy Stanley explained that history buffs should love the bible, especially 1-2 Samuel, Kings and Chronicles. Call me slow, but I didn't realize that these three books were talking about the same time period through different perspectives. As Andy explained though, these 6 books tell the story of the Kings of Israel and provide insight into our own hearts.

In 1 Samuel, you start to see history unravel when the people of Israel go to Samuel, and ask for a king. Up until this point, they had no king ruling over all of Israel. They instead followed (or attempted to follow) the commandments and God was their king, but 8:4 says that the people same to Samuel and said "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have." This broke Samuel’s heart. Everybody else had a king, and they wanted to be like everybody else, even though they were favored.

So Samuel went to God and this is what he heard:

“Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. ⁸ As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. ⁹ Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”
(1 Samuel 8:7-9)

When he went back to the group and told them

“This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. ¹² Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. ¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ¹⁴ He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. ¹⁵ He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. ¹⁶ Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. ¹⁷ He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. ¹⁸ When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
(1 Samuel 8:11-18)

Wow. Why would anyone choose to be ruled by a dictator? Especially those who had been ruled before. These were the decedents of the people that had been led out of Egypt and slavery under pharaoh, and yet, they wanted a human king to rule over them.

¹⁹ But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. ²⁰ Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” ²¹ When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. ²² The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”
(1 Samuel 8:19-22)

Looking back now, it's easy to say "Wow. That was a dumb move." Why would anyone ever want to make an imperfect man king?... especially when they have a perfect God who knows them so deeply that they can't understand the lengths He's willing to go to in order to bring the best to His children who desires to be the king of their lives? Yes, Samuel anointed Saul as king and the chain of command was passed down from Saul to David to Solomon and without them we would not have Psalms, Proverbs and The Song of Songs, but each of these men fell short of the glory of God because they were human. After the reign of Solomon, the kingdom split and continued to crumble.

But isn't this an example of what we're doing right now?

Think about what your heart. Where do you spend your time, your talent and your treasures? If your heart is the "wellspring of life" (Proverbs 4:23), where you place your heart matters. Who you let rule over your life makes a huge difference in the course of your life. Samuel tried to warn the people that they would become slaves to this king, but they didn't care. They just wanted to be like everybody else.

When you give someone the power to be king, you give up that power over your life, a power that humans will eventually abuse and misuse. When you give in to an addiction like alcohol, food, porn, drugs, body image, relationships, power, popularity, money, etc. you lose control and become a slave to that object/activity whether you notice it or not. You serve that "thing" instead of God because you cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).

But serving God is different than serving anything else. Serving God is choosing the light yoke, a yoke that He bears the weight in and you get to learn from the big guy that already knows everything (pretty cool huh?). Serving God is freedom. You get to lose the chains of sin and death when you are clothed with righteousness that comes from just accepting a gift that is completely free to you but came at such a high price. You get to lose the burden of working out your salvation because God has done that for you. No matter what you do, God could never love you more, and No matter what you have done, are doing and will do, God will NEVER love you less.

God created us to want to follow; that's why so many people look to others to show them what to do. In the bible, we are referred to as sheep, something that I've never really liked because of one bad lamb experience many years ago, but something I've learned to take pride in lately because I am loved by my king, my shepherd.

I belong to him ...." the One who created me. The One who loves me. The One who died for me. He will never lead me off a cliff or feed me to the wolves who stand back and wait for the moment I step out of the herd. No, they cannot devour me because my Shepherd guards, protects. He sees the path ahead. He might not show me the final destination... because He wants to enjoy the journey with me. He wants me to rest in "green pastures" and soak up the "quiet waters"... "He guides me along the right paths for his name's sake." He and I will go through valleys - dark ones where death surrounds us - but He won't lose me in there. I will "fear no evil" when I am with Him. Because everything about Him - like His rod and His staff, which are sometimes all I can see when His face is turned - gives me great comfort. He anoints me and He blesses me with an "overflowing cup." - Krissi (from Psalm 23)

God's got sweet sweet sweet plans for your life but He's not going to make you follow him.  If He did, it wouldn't be real love; it would be slavery.  But why would you want to rebel from the only one that truly has your best interest in His mind and his heart? 

We can not win this fight inside out rebel hearts so raise the white flag and surrender. Love has already won.

God's Will

Psalm 18

⁶ In my distress I called to the Lord;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.
⁷ The earth trembled and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.
⁸ Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
⁹ He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
¹⁰ He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.
¹¹ He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
the dark rain clouds of the sky.
¹² Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
¹³ The Lord thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded.^[d]
14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,
with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
¹⁵ The valleys of the sea were exposed
and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, Lord,
at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

¹⁶ He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
¹⁷ He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support.
¹⁹ He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me. 

For weeks now, I have been camping out in Psalm 18, because it just blows my mind.  This image of how much God cares about his children is overwhelming.  Over and over, this passage has brought me to my knees, unable to stand because He loves me so much!

In the past, when I've been hurt, I've had this image of a stand-off God; one that knows what's going on but doesn't seem to do anything.  I know that this comes from years of waiting for God to do what I wanted him to do.  It wasn't until recently that I finally started to grasp at the idea of God's Will.  God's Will isn't God carrying out my plans.  It's a much greater plan that I could even fathom. 

Kelly <3

When my best friend died 3 years ago, I hit an all-time low.  I went crazy with my "whys" because I just couldn't grasp why God would take her from me.  I felt alone in crowded rooms, overwhelmed with pain & grief, and angry beyond comparison at the people who seemed to be moving on while I refused to move the roots that I'd buried in the land of hurt and depression.  I tried to run from God, deny His existence, and hurt Him by hurting myself and those around me with my decisions.

In the back of my mind though, I'd tell myself that "if I just knew why....", I would be able to move on.  Honestly though, there is no way I will truly ever understand why my Kell Bell isn't meeting me for a movie at the drive in, going on road trips and getting tanned while I burn this summer.  As smart as I'd like to think I am, I will never be able to understand.  I can't understand God's plan.  I can't understand what has happened, what is happening or what is going to happen.  Even if He came down from heaven tonight and whispered in my ear his plans, I could not comprehend them BECAUSE I AM NOT GOD.

See, the major difference between God's will and my will is the word in front of will.  If we could fully understand God though, what would be the point in following him? People do not follow those who know the exact same things as them. There would be no reason to seek out a God if we ourselves knew enough to be considered on an equal playing field as God. 

In Ephesians 3, Paul prayed saying "May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God" (verse 19).  Paul knew that these people, like me, would never fully understand God, but that we would be able to experience glimpses into His love for us.  It's those glimpses of his love that remind me to fight when I am having a bad day because I have a purpose.  It's God's will for me to be here 'til He calls me home.

Yes, I am ready to go to heaven.  I long to be home with God someday, in a place where I know I will finally feel like I belong, but it's not my time yet.  God has a plan, and a perfect plan at that for my life.  I don't know what it is, where it will take me or when I'll see the next move I'm supposed to take, but I do know that I want to walk in His will.  I want to be bold.  I want to risk it all and loose it all for a purpose far greater than anything I could cook up on my own. 

Daddy God, I want to be used for your will and your plans for your kingdom.

Commission My Sould O Lord and give me my purpose in Your will.

Searching for Significance - SS Part 2

A Shocking Place - Shocking Statement's of Jesus Part 2

As part of the series "Shocking Statements" at North Point Community Church, Brent Shoemaker talked about ranking, competition and comparison, a topic that often hits a little close to home in small town America. ( http://www.northpoint.org/messages/shocking-statements-of-jesus )  As one of four daughters, I can't think of anything I did more often in my childhood than trying to one-up my sisters. If they did something, I had to do something better to prove that I was the best and try to win peoples' (....usually my parents',) approvals.

Academically, this has served as a good motivation tool. Although there's no difference between a 93 and a 100 on college transcripts, there are many classes that I have put in more effort not because I wanted to learn more, but because I refused to get a lower grade that a freshman whiz-kid or one of my friends that never ever studies. If we're honest with ourselves, we are always doing these three things because we always want to find significance in ourselves.

Going to the gym is one of those places that I always find myself struggling with ranking and comparison. I see shirtless women with layers of make-up on and their hair done perfect, and I think to myself "I'm working out harder than them." I see the marathon runner casually sprinting 10 miles and I think "I will never be able to run one mile that fast. They'd lap me in a one lap race." Depending on who is at the gym on that particular day, I usually envision myself as about average on the fitness toe-tom poll. Never the less, I see my significance based on how great I am compared to others, and I'm not the only one.

When you look in Mark 9, you will see that the disciples did this too. After traveling around to different areas, all the while Jesus performing miracles, the group arrived in Capernaum. Knowing full well what had happened on the road, Jesus asked the disciples, "What were you arguing about on the road?" (v. 33) He knew however that they had been debating amongst themselves who was the greatest.

If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Here they had a man in there group who could perform miracles and people wanted to make him king. Then this same man kept talking about a kingdom. Why wouldn't they want to be the closest one to him? I will be honest and say that there are people in my life that I've tried really hard to get in their close-knit circle because I know they have the power to change the world and I want to have that claim to fame, not because I truly loved them. Here, the disciples were having that conversation, but they were ashamed to tell Jesus.

But, "Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." (v. 35) This is so contrary to our society today. It seems radical. Even in bible times, you know the disciples must have been somewhat confused. How could being low make one high? How could being a servant be elevating? Nothing that he was saying was making sense.

When though, was Jesus like just another king? He was born in a stable to a carpenter and his wife. He was not rich. He loved on others without expecting anything in return. And he served. If you think about who you admire most, who comes to mind? To me, these people would probably be my parents, my grandparents, soldiers, police, firefighters, nurses and my teachers. In each case, they serve others to bring them up instead of trying to crawl over people to get to the top. These people have always had time for me, to pour into me even when they're obviously running on empty themselves.

And Jesus was the perfect example of service. He didn't have a home because he was constantly moving from one place to another helping people. He knew that the greatest influence you can make is to serve and empower others. While he could have placed himself above them all, been born into a ruling family and demand all his subjects to bow down or die, he didn't.

I think what Jesus was trying to tell the disciples then, and us now, was that they were looking in the wrong place to find their significance and they were missing out on something greater because their eyes were on their own reflections instead of downwards trying to lift others up.

Because we are like sheep, often too dense to get anything the first time, Jesus went and took a child up in his arms and said to the Twelve, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."

YES! I finally did something right! I love kids! In fact, there are times when I would pay someone to let me babysit their children just to be able to be with children. While not everyone probably has that extreme of a love for kids, I think it's pretty safe to assume that most people like kids. So Jesus is telling us that welcoming kids is welcoming God and that's what will bring us greatness. Wow, I am so great!

But oh no.... not so fast. This is where putting things into context really matters. In today's society, we see kids as precious little bundles of joy, but was that what they were seen as during this period? Not hardly. As Pastor Brent pointed out in his sermon, kids in this day were not held in the value that we see them today. They were often seen as undesirable. If a woman had a baby and the father didn't want to keep it, they would "take care of it" by putting the baby outside where it was left to die or be adopted. Now being adopted, that doesn't sound so bad right... until you find out where most of these babies were going. In this time period, people could be sold into slavery and lots of times, if these kids were adopted, that's where they went, not to a loving family. Think back to the story of Moses. The government killed the innocent babies. No matter how you look at it, these children, these babies, were not looked at as highly treasured possessions. So Jesus was telling them, love those that you've placed below you to obtain greatness.

Application!

To the disciples, there's no doubt that welcoming and loving kids had to have been hard but Jesus told them, whoever welcomes them in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me (v. 37)

***Who is right underneath you that you could be serving but are missing out on because you're too busy crawling over them to try to reach greatness on your own? *** For me, I know one of those people is my little sister. This last summer, I spent so much time to fix my relationships with adults that I missed out on some really important moments with her.

***How can you serve them? Give them your time AND your attention. *** A lot of the time we try to do one of these things without the other. We can sit by someone watching movies for 3 hours but never give them our attention. Or, we tell someone we really want to know what's going on with their lives but get up and leave in 5 minutes because we have other things to do to raise ourselves up.

***How do we get significance? We already have it.*** When you think about the greatest act of service, most people would agree it's a life. That's why we have days like Veteran's day, to thank those that gave up everything for us. That's why so many people suffer from survivor’s guilt when someone else dies instead of them. There is no greater sacrifice to show one's love than with their life. And that's why you're significant. The disciples were hanging out with God, fighting over who was greatest, trying to determine their significance while the whole time Jesus was saying....You are significant. That's why I'm here, to die for you, to pay the price of your sins because I love you and I want you. You are significant. Period.

In Christ's Love,

Liza

Shocking Statements of Jesus

Sometime last semester, I went to my roommate's church where they were talking about life apps. For the first sermon of the series, they played a sermon that was available at the North Point Community Church. I absolutely loved this sermon series because it talked about actually having applying biblical teachings to our lives.

When I got back up to Fort Collins for the rest of break, I found myself restless to hear more messages so I went back to this sight (http://www.northpoint.org/messages ) and searched for a title that intrigued my heart. And that's when I found Shocking Statements of Jesus.

During the first sermon, the preacher touched on the Liar, Lunatic or Lord Trilemma made famous by C.S. Lewis. If you think about it, there is no reason that Jesus would have said these things if he was simply trying to get popular. Think about it.... would anyone win an election by telling people to pay their taxes, give all their belongings away, and wash other people's feet? No way! But those are just a few things Jesus said because He wanted people to live for a higher purpose and differently than what the world was telling them.

For this first sermon in the series however, the pastor focused on John 6. To put this in context, Jesus had just fed 5000 people in verses 1-14. This is amazing because;

1. This was probably the largest group at that time to ever be fed all at the same time. Now a day, a good catering service could feed that many people so we down grade how truly amazing it was that this many people were eating at once.

2. Five loaves of bread and two fish fed 5000 people. No matter how big you think these "small" loaves and fish may have been, it's hard to believe that in a normal situation they would be able to satisfy more than a few teenage boys. Add in that the 5000 people may or may not have included women and children, and this can be nothing short of a miracle.

3. There were 12 baskets of leftovers! Does this even need to be explained? The fact that the people were satisfied and there were leftovers just goes to show that God is more than sufficient.

So Jesus just did this awesome thing where he fed thousands of people from basically dinner for two, and then he got up withdrew from the crowd because he knew they would want to "make him king by force" (v. 15). In my mind, just the fact that he left instead of basking in the glory and praises of people wanting to make him king is amazing and shows that his heart was different than those of men. In the next few verses, Jesus walks on water, showing yet again that He was special.

At this point I can't help but put myself in the position of a disciple. If I was one of them I would be like "Wow! This guy is the real thing. He's doing all these miracles. He's going to take over this land and be King.... and I'm His friend! I am so stinkin' awesome by association!"

So as you can expect, the people who were fed the day before followed him. I mean, why wouldn't they? He had served them free food and they wanted more. When they went to Jesus however he told them "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." (v. 26-27)

Now these people are excited! They have to be thinking "YES! Today he's going to feed us food that will never spoil." So, they ask Jesus what they should do and Jesus replies "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." (v. 28-29)

Confused, and still seeking food, they reply "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers are the manna in the desert; as it is written; 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" (v. 30-31)

This leads to Jesus trying to explain that God, not Moses delivered the manna but now God was delivering the true bread of God to give life to the world. This makes the crowd want the bread even more and they cry out "from now on give us this bread." (v. 34)

Then Jesus tells the people that HE is the bread of life, that those who come to him will never go hungry. He tells them that the Father sent him so that they could have eternal life. The crowd begins to grumble at this saying things about how he was the son of Joseph, a man that they knew so how could he have come down from heaven. Jesus then continued to try to explain, telling them about the ways of the Father (v.35-47) . Again he repeats "I am the bread of life.  Your forefathers are the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man ma eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is m flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." (v. 48-51)

Eat my flesh? Were they really hearing him right? The Jews again began to question him saying "how can this man give us his flesh to eat?", but Jesus replied "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. " (v.52-56)

Eat my flesh. Drink my blood. Now would you say these counts as a SHOCKING STATEMENTS? I know I sure would. See, Jesus was obviously not just trying to say things to get people to follow him because if he would have, there is NO WAY he would go around telling people to eat and drink of his body. Even with the vampire craze in the states right now, I still think people would look at him like "ARE YOU NUTS!?"

Now if you grew up like me, this is usually where the sermon ends, with the pastor talking about the Passover supper, but I absolutely loved that this pastor took further on to the rest of the chapter. There are still 11 more verses in John chapter 6.

In my bible, the subheading for the next session is called "Many Disciples Desert Jesus". In all honesty, I have never even heard of this section. I have been missing out on some important stuff! In verse 60, the disciples said "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it? Like the crowd that is sure to have left, the disciples were thinking about it. Then Jesus says to them "Does this offend you?" (v. 61)

I think it's really important to point out here that Jesus doesn't back down from what He's been saying. He doesn't try to sugar-coat it. He is bold, and "from this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him" (v.66) but Jesus turned and asked the twelve "You do not want to leave too, do you?" (v.67)

At this point, you have to know, that the twelve are at least thinking about turning back and going to their old lives. They don't want to follow a crazy man. The day before they had been in the close circle of a man that the people wanted to make king, but now that he looked like a lunatic, why would they choose to go with him? They were doubting if they wanted to stay with this man because it was no longer a "give a little, get a lot situation". With his crazy speech, Jesus was making following him an unpopular choice that seemed to cost more than the rewards it would reap.

But then Simon Peter, one of the twelve stood up and said "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe AND KNOW that you are the Holy One of God".

Bam! Those are powerful words. See, Simon Peter had this flash of insight that walking away from Jesus meant that they had to be walking towards someone else. No one else had these words of eternal life. They didn't just believe that Jesus was the "Holy One of God".... they knew it!

Application Time!

Now just looking at this last part of the passage, I can see myself as one of those disciples; I have tried to walk away. In fact, I would bet that at some point in our lives, all of us at least entertain the thought of walking away from God because the cost of following seems to be a lot higher than the rewards. In times of trials, transitions and temptations, it's often easier to just saw, "I'm going my own way God. You're too crazy and outlandish for me." Look at people in the bible; they did it too. The first example to pop into my head is Jonah.

Jonah 1:1-3

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amitai: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."

BUT JONAH RAN AWAY FROM THE LORD ....

But the thing is, He came back to God. He KNEW that God was in charge, and although he ran away, he ran back to God when he finally had enough of trying to do things his own way.

When I think back to when I ran away from God, I can clearly see how I was running towards the devil's tricks, towards mirages of fulfilling things. People, relationships, food, exercise, romance and media.... nothing filled that void, but I hurt myself in the process of trying to find fulfillment in those directions and I missed out on some amazing comfort from my Daddy who loved me. In the back of my mind I have to keep this lesson for when I face trials, transitions and temptations....

TO WHOM SHALL WE GO?

In Christ's love,

Liza

Panning for Gold

So... when I sat down to watch the live stream from Rez at 8:30 am Sunday in the living room of my parent's house, I had just finished having quiet time in which I prayed that Daddy would show me what I needed to be doing with my life. As always, He was faithful and had perfect timing.

When Pastor Mike Olson started his message he said "this message can be life changing if you let it." Then we went over to a tub where he had dirt, water and a pan (a gold panning pan that is). He said that almost a year ago, God had said to him pan for gold. Not knowing what He was talking about at the time, Mike wrote it down and went on with his life waiting on God's timing to reveal His meaning.

Now have you ever been panning for gold? Yeah... me either, but when I was in New Zealand, a couple of my friends went to "Shanty Town" where they panned for gold and subsequently, became obsessed with it. They bought pans and proceeded to tell me the elaborate plans how they were going to make their millions in the streams.

Although I doubted that they would be millionaires like they were planning, they did know what they were talking about when it came to the basics of panning. As Pastor Olson explained, the first step is believing there is gold to be found. Next, you submerge the pan and pull up water, dirt and hopefully some gold flakes. Then, by carefully shifting the pan back and forth or side to side, you begin to kick out the dirt and part of the water until hopefully, you are left with gold. This cannot happen however without the movement of the water in the pan that washes away all the dirt. Because gold has a higher specific gravity... aka nerd speak that it's heavy so it sinks.... this precious element will stay on the bottom of the pan. And that's how you pan for gold and make millions........

But Pastor Mike wasn't there to show us how to make millions of dollars. Instead, he was using this illustration to parallel gold with glory.

Now, what is glory? We sing about it, we read about it and use it all the time, but WHAT IS GLORY?

According to dictionary.com, Glory is a noun meaning:

1. very great praise, honor, or distinction bestowed by common consent; renown: to win glory on the field of battle.

2. something that is a source of honor, fame, or admiration; a distinguished ornament or an object of pride: a sonnet that is one of the glories of English poetry.

3. adoring praise or worshipful thanksgiving: Give glory to God.

4. resplendent beauty or magnificence: the glory of autumn.

5. a state of great splendor, magnificence, or prosperity.

Although these are decent definitions, I love Pastor Mike's definition that glory is "the essence of His existence; the expression of God's self." If you think about it, this makes perfect sense. God is perfect and every good thing comes from Him so if anything is worthy of praise or "glory" it is a glimpse of God's character.

In Isaiah 6, the creatures in Isaiah's vision say “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.” And in Romans 1:20 it says "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."

So what does this mean? The whole earth is full of His glory, His essence, glimpse into His character because He created everything out of the existence of nothing but Himself so everything had to come from what He poured out of Himself. (Reread that last sentence. It may be confusing but it is truth.)

Blah blah blah... we already know that everything comes from God but how often do we actually see the good in the world? When we look around at our lives or watch tv, it's easy to see all the things that at bad and miss out on the glimpses of God's glory, but they are there because they "have been clearly seen (...) so that people are without excuse."

In my own eyes, it's easy to see God's glory in a beautiful bouquet of flowers, a Rocky Mountain sunrise or a little kid’s finger paint art but when someone is rude, hateful, or hurtful, I often find myself wondering how there could be glory inside of them. And when I look at myself, at the way I've acted and treated others, I sometimes doubt that this glory is inside of me. But the truth is, there is a "special" glory inside of people and here's a verses from the book of truth to prove it.

Genesis 1:27

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

SEE! Humans are special. God didn't just create us of Himself, He created us in the IMAGE of Himself. (Get excited people, this is awesome!)

 If you’re still not convinced of this glory here are a few more verses:

Psalms 3:2-4

Many are saying of me,
“God will not deliver him.”

But you, LORD, are a shield around me,
my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
I call out to the LORD,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.

Isaiah 43:5-7

Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth--
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”

So we were made from the Glory of God FOR the Glory of God. Since we are full of glory though, why do we keep seeing others and ourselves as junk?

Romans 1:21-23

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

By sinning, we cover up the Glory within us and since "all sin and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3) we all cover up this shining glory.

If you think back to panning, this is the perfect illustration. When we don't take the time and believe that there is glory in others, we just walk by the stream and miss the gold (the glory) that's right beside us. Even when we take the time to get out the pan and fill it with the dirt and water, we still have no gold to show for it. It takes the patience of swishing the water back and forth, washing away the dirt(aka the sin) to reveal the gold. If we don't take the time to wash away the dirt, it doesn't mean the gold isn't there; it just means that we didn't find it.

Ephesians 5:25-27

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

-Washing with water through the word reveals the glory just like washing with water reveals the gold. Since God is the fountain of life, he is the water. His truths (conveniently delivered in the bible) will reveal the glory.

Wrap up and Application:

Right now, I really feel like God is asking me to seek the glory not the dirt in others and myself. In order to do that, I need to go panning for gold.

1. Believe that there is Glory. In every person, glory exists because we were made from and in the image of God.

2. Approach people looking for the glory not the grime. If you go looking for dirt, you're going to find it because everyone has sin in their lives. If you go looking for glory, you'll find it too. It just takes more time because we've covered it. Just because it has been covered though does not mean that it can't be found or that its value has decreased. It just takes patience to uncover the glory. As you work on seeing the glory in others though, it will get easier just like a person can get better at panning for gold.

3. Remember that there is glory inside of you and work to reveal it. God's already paid the price to wash away the dirt. Be patient and work on not covering up God's glory inside of you with sin. Nobody is perfect but God's son. He took those sins and He'll do it over and over and over so when you sin, ask for forgiveness and then forgive yourself. Try not to do it again, but if you do, hope is not lost. Just turn to Abba again.

Just like the saying, don't throw the baby out with the bath water, don't throw out the chance of seeing glory because there's dirty water in your pan.

Until next time,

In Christ,

Liza