HELP ME!!!

These are often the words that believers cry out to God, but they are so often done in a way that sees God as someone we turn to in trouble and ignore when things seem to be going well.

A few weeks ago in our Wednesday night Bible study (yes, I know I have procrastinated in posting again), the title of the chapter from the Green Letters was HELP.

These are the first two sentences of that chapter: "For most of us, it is time to stop asking God for help. He didn't help us to be saved, and He doesn't intend to help us live the Christian life."

Your response may be as many to this: "What!?" "Burn that book!"

However, when we continue to examine this chapter, we realize the point that Dr. Stanford is making. Help implies two people being involved in something. If I ask you to come help me weed my flower beds, I am not expecting you to come do all the work while I sit in a lawn chair sipping sweet tea and watching you work. No, help means you and I are doing it together.

The point that Dr. Stanford is making is that God has done it ALL. We cannot add anything to what he has done. God provided our salvation Himself. He didn't need our help. And God has provided everything we need to live the Christian life. Ephesians 1:3 tells us that we have been blessed with ALL spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Stanford says that immaturity considers the Lord Jesus a Helper. Maturity knows Him to be Life itself.

A.W. Tozer says, "In our private prayers and in our public services we are forever asking God to do things that He either has already done or cannot do because of our unbelief." Stanford says, "Our responsibility is to see in the Word all that is ours in Christ, and then thank and trust Him for that which we need."

We as humans have responsibility. We are to be searching the Scriptures to see all that we have in Christ. But we are to be looking to God by means of the Holy Spirit to produce these things in us. When we simply have the attitude that we just need some help from God, we put too much confidence in ourselves that we have something good to offer. Remember, the flesh never becomes more Christ like. We become more Christ like as we learn what it means to yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit and allow God to produce the life of Christ in us.

Let us stop crying to God for help when He has already provided the victory for us!

Cougars Game...

We had a great time at the Cougars game on this past Monday night. And we had a pretty good group attend.

First, we got there early enough to see Melinda do some flipping and turning with the Turner gymnastics group. They were very impressive...from the little ones to the older ones like Melinda. I think I would break my head if I tried to do a front or back flip...much less those turny things in the air. By the way Melinda is the girl flipping on the right in the picture.

After Melinda's group got done flipping...the game started. The game was a good game but rather uneventful since it was a 1-1 tie going into the bottom of the 11th. And then the Cougars took care of business as the catcher came up and hit a walk off home run to win the game 2-1. And I'm glad he did it, not only because I was pulling for the Cougars, but also because I was leaving to go home if they didn't score in the bottom of the 11th. And just so you know, it was the bottom of the 11th inning that I put on the rally cap. I put it on inside out and the first batter got out. So I changed it up a bit and wore the "shark fin rally cap" and that rally cap brought the rally and the home run. So I will be glad to take credit for that win.

We did have a lot of fun though. We watched all the little "in between inning" games that are played with the kids. We listened to all the sound clips played to try to get into the other team's head during the game (when there was no action). And some of our group ran the bases after the game was over. And some of the group did the YMCA and sang a lot (just let me know if you would like to see blackmail video of that).

So thanks to all who came...hope you had a great time.

The First Arrow in the Quiver...

Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them..." Psalm 127:3-5a (NIV)

Well, he is finally here. Brittany gave birth to our firstborn son, Luke Michael, on Saturday night at 11:19 p.m. The lively young man weighed in at 6 lbs. and 14 oz. and was 20 inches long. He is so very beautiful as you can see for yourself. Both Luke and Brit are doing wonderful. Brit did a wonderful job the whole time and I am so very proud of her. Now we are beginning to understand what sleep deprivation really means. :)

Brit and I are so thankful to the Lord for this precious gift He has given us. Children truly are a great blessing from the Lord. We are so thankful to Him that all went well and that mom and son are doing well. What a great responsibility now we have to raise this little one in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Our greatest desire is to see this little one come to Christ at a young age. While he seems so innocent, he is not. God's Word tells us that this little one right now is a sinner, he was born that way. But I already told Luke the other night that someone came to pay for his sin. He paid for all of our sin. Hallelujah, What a Savior.

So Luke is our first arrow in the quiver. Who knows how many arrows we will end up with except the Lord. But our desire is that he is an arrow that can be used for the service of the Lord and will be one that flies after the Lord's path.

Thank all of you for your prayers during this time. It is great to know that many are praying for us as we begin this new phase in our lives. May God receive all the glory.

One important note to mention. Luke is already taken nicely to supporting his favorite college sports teams - the Mississippi State Bulldogs. He is still deciding between the Cubs and Sox. :)

Resting...

Last night we covered a chapter entitled "Rest" during our Wednesday night Bible Study. Rest is no doubt something that many of us like to hear and many of us like to do. However, many times we get so caught up in the grind of life that we do not rest at all.

The focus of resting as we looked at it last night was that of resting in what we have and who we are in Christ. Labor is involved. Labor involves searching out God's Word to know these things, memorizing Scripture, going before the Lord in prayer, going to church to be taught God's Word, and fellowshipping with other believers, just to name a few. While we may not think of these things as labor, the idea is that these are things that we are doing. Labor involves finding the truth from God's Word, but the application of these truths in our lives involves resting in these truths, depending on God.

When I asked the kids what they thought of when they thought of rest, Rick said, "You're not doing anything". Bingo! When we are resting in what God has provided for us, we are looking to Him to produce the life of Christ in us. Resting doesn't mean we don't make decisions, or we don't physically do anything. Resting means we are dependent upon someone else to produce in us what only He can produce. This process takes time, many times this takes many years. But as we are continuing to do our part in the labor process of focusing upon God, He will give us rest as He produces the life of Christ in us.

One day when we stand before the Bema Seat, we will receive rewards for the works we have done that bring glory to God. Unfortunately many Christians are trying really hard to do a whole lot of things for God and they are weary. God desires for us to rest in His provision. The only works or acts that we will receive rewards for are those works or acts that were produced as the believer allowed Christ to do it through him/her. It is the righteousness of Christ not our righteousness that will produce these things. We must yield our wills to Him.

Stanford ends this chapter by saying, "Let us take Him at His Word, and leave the fulfillment of it to Him." Rest in His provision!

Discipleship...

Last week at our Wednesday night Bible study, we talked about Discipleship.

A disciple is a pupil or a follower. We of course are most familiar in the Bible with the 12 disciples of Jesus, many of whom later became apostles. But there were many other disciples or followers of Jesus as well who did not have the depth of intimacy with Jesus and did the 12.

As believers, we are disciples of Jesus Christ. We are followers of Christ. The idea of discipleship involves the process of following after Christ. As a follower of Christ we have an in depth, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father.

We saw that the key to discipleship is understanding and applying the principles that we have looked at the last few weeks concerning Self and The Cross. We have to understand and apply the principles that we have died with Christ and He is now our Master.

In the gospel of Luke, we see Jesus dealing with this subject of discipleship. In Luke 9:23 Jesus says, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Then in Luke 14:26-27 Jesus again says, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-yes, even his own life-he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot by my disciple."

Dr. Stanford stresses the importance of understanding that for us to follow Christ, everything else must take a lower priority including ourself. When Jesus speaks of hating father, mother, borther, and sister...He is not speaking of a physical hate for those family members. The Word of God stresses over and over the need for love. What Jesus is stressing is that everything else must take a lower priority. For the believer, God is to be the first priority in our lives. Many times although we may say that He is, our actions often say different.

Dr. Stanford says, "self cannot and will not follow Him, but taking one's Cross results in death to self, and newness of life in Christ Jesus." He goes on to tell us what the Cross is not. "taking up our Cross does not mean the stoical bearing of some heavy burden, hardship, illness, distasteful situation or relationship. Enduring anything of this nature is not bearing one's Cross. Taking up the Cross may or may not involve such things, but things do not constitute our Cross."

As a believer, we must understand that this is a process that takes time. It involves the believer seeing his/her need and seeing self for what it is. "We will be ready to take up our Cross when self becomes intolerable to us, when we begin to hate our life". We take up our Cross by relying on Him and applying our position in Christ - death to self. We rest in the freedom we have in Christ.

As we are focused on Christ, resting in our position in Him, we will be following after Him rather than self. We will be practicing discipleship. Death brings forth life.

The NOT so Itsy Bitsy Spider...

I remember my pastor in Mississippi using the illustration of a spider and spider web to focus on the problem of sin in a believer's life.

Very often when we see spider webs, we knock them down or clear them away. However, we are often frustrated to see the web back a day or two later. Over the past couple of weeks, I have had a spider weaving a web just outside my back porch door. The spider only weaves the web at night. Often as I take the dog out for his last walk, I see the beautiful web in place to catch a late night snack. And even though I have knocked that web down more than once, the web is back the next night.

The reason for returning spider webs is quite simple. The spider is still alive. Unless the spider is dealt with and killed, the spider web will keep returning. For the spider is the source of the webs. However, it is much harder to kill the spider than it is to knock down the web.

We know that as believers we still sin. And when we do, we can be thankful that if we "confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) However, we can compare sins within our lives to these spider webs. By confessing them, we knock them down. However, it usually is not long before we find ourselves "spinning a web" (sinning) again. Many times we get caught up in a vicious cycle which involves sinning, confessing, sinning, confessing, and so on. The problem is that we are not dealing with the source of sin: the sin nature. In saying this, I am not saying that we will never sin. The focus, however, is that we are not enslaved by our sin and caught in and characterized by the vicious sin cycle.

You see the spider (sin nature) has been dealt with. God has made provision for us to overcome sin. That provision was made at the cross. Yes, the cross was the place of salvation where the penalty of sin was paid for. But the cross was also God's way of making provision for us to live the Christian life without being enslaved by sin. At the cross we were freed from the power of sin. "I have been crucified with Christ..." (Galatians 2:20). "Knowing this that our self was crucified with Him that the body of sin might be rendered inoperative, that we should no longer be slaves to sin." (Romans 6:6). God has provided the way. The sin nature has been dealt with. We must, however, "consider ourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus". (Romans 6:11). The sin nature only has power over us as we allow it to. Its position is on the cross.

If you are caught in the cycle of sin and thinking you can't get out of it, rest in the provision of the cross. There the sin nature has been dealt with! The spider has been taken care of. Believe it, and rest in it!