Take Refuge

Life has been absolutely crazy lately.  Constant go go go.  Not may dull moments.  Barely any time to sit and relax.  The little bit that I do get to sit, I’m still thinking about what went wrong that day, what all is going to happen the next day, the bills that haven’t been paid yet, how long my to-do list is and what is on it that didn’t get done.

When life is moving slower, and you’ve had time to relax and process things, something going wrong can be easily dealt with.  But when life is busy???  One thing messing up can have a domino effect.  You spend time trying to fix that relationship or fix this problem at work, but spending time there has kept you from getting to the ever-growing list of chores to do at home.  Once you make it home to the chores, you realize you missed such and such commitment because your schedule was so tight that you had no time planned for errors.

That’s life.  Doesn’t always have to be that way, but sometimes it just is.  And if you’re anything like me, you take it on all at once, trying to fix everything yourself, forgetting that you have a God that wants to help.

• Psalm 34:8 “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!  Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”

This verse was actually in my last blog, but it’s been on my mind ever since.  I feel like I didn’t study into it hard enough, just kind of glazed over it. 

I actually want to hit the last part of that verse first.  There’s an action and a reaction.  If a person “takes refuge in Him”, that person will “be blessed”.  So, what does it look like to take refuge?

I work construction.  Construction site theology is wild.  Those that attend church regularly are usually quiet about it.  Most attend church sometimes, but don’t think it’s a big deal if they go or don’t go.  Some go just on major holidays.  A few believe it’s all a bunch of rubbish.  Then there’s the ones that preach the “take refuge in Him” message, but they preach it all wrong.

Something I hear a lot is “when life gets hard, go to church.  Church will fix your problems.”  WRONG.  I’ve got two major issues with this type of belief…

First, Church isn’t only there for when you have problems.  It’s there for a community of believers to build each other up and hold each other accountable.

• Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
• Acts 2:42 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

Church is absolutely there to heal the hurt and mend the broken.  But it’s so much more!  We are called to meet together, encourage one another, and pray with each other.

My second qualm with the “When life gets hard, go to church.  Church will fix your problems.” attitude is this: going to church shouldn’t be our only way we spend time with God.  Let’s get back to Psalm 34:8.  What might “taking refuge” in God REALLY look like, aside from going to church?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “refuge” is “shelter or protection from danger or distress.”  How would we find “shelter or protection” in Him by merely observing church every now and then?  Even once a week wouldn’t be enough! 

Back to Acts 2:42, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”  Not “they went to church every now and then and listened to the pastor tell them what they wanted to hear.”

How many of us are actually devoted to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer?  Truly devoted.  I would venture to say not a lot of people.

I think our view of how we “take refuge” overall is twisted.  We shouldn’t rely on church attendance alone to fix our problems.  Attending church is only part of the fix, but it shouldn’t just happen when you’re hurting and looking for answers.  True refuge requires studying of the Word, sharing your problems and hurts with fellow believers, eating some good food with friends and family, and praying.  Real praying.  Talking to God, airing out all your issues and giving Him praise and glory anyways, kind of praying.  Honest, from the heart, this is why I’m upset with you, but you are still a good God, kind of praying.

Let’s take this one step further for the volunteers and staff members.

Unless I put a lot of effort into it, it's really easy for me to fall into this groove where I don't study any more than I have to in order to teach that week.  I don't worship any more than I have to in order to learn to play whatever songs me and Chloe are going to lead on Wednesday night.  And it's easy to fall into the groove where I'm only praying when I need something fixed, or to quickly bless some food.  But God calls us to more than that.  As volunteers and staff members, we are doing more than attending church; but are we going deeper than the bare minimum to complete our commitments to the church?  We should be DEVOTED to scripture, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer.

These things shouldn't be part of our lives, they should be our lifestyle.

If this is we are truly living, we'll already be in the place of refuge before we ever need it.  And there, we will get to “taste and see that the Lord is good.”  I want that.

I want to taste and see just how good He really is.

Find Happiness

It’s easy to look back on certain points in life and think ‘that year was my best year because___’ or ‘life was better when___’ or ‘I was a better person back when___’  …

What if instead of focusing on why 2013 was your best year, or how you wish it was 2009 again, you turn those thoughts into why 2019 has been an amazing year?  Instead of wishing you have the kind of happiness you had last summer, think about the incredible joy you have/can have now.  How you’ve grown, the people you’ve met, the weird things that happened that turned out completely different than you expected.

It’s easy to look back and think ‘Wow.  Life was good then and I was really happy.’  What if we changed where we got our happiness from?  What if we didn’t let our current situations and circumstances control whether or not we have joy? 

The Bible calls us to taste and see that the Lord is good.  Psalm 34 is layered with ways that the Lord gives us joy and brings us happiness and peace.  I want to hi-light a couple of verses from that chapter.

• Psalm 34:18 – “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

The Lord is with you.  If you’re feeling down in the dumps, not believing in yourself, or completely feel like your life is caving in, nothing is going right, and nothing is worth it any more, God is near you.  He wants to save you who are crushed in spirit.

• Psalm 34:8 “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!  Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”

If nothing else is good, if nothing else is right, if everything in life is falling apart, take refuge in Him!  Sometimes, our only safe place is with God.  This world is messed up!  Why on earth would we choose anything (or anyone) other than our Lord to take refuge in?

Alcohol, drugs, social media, porn, sports, tobacco, family, friends, work … whatever it is you turn to when life gets rough, that is what you are “taking refuge” in.  Sure, about half of those things are not bad things to be involved in!  BUT, are we turning to God first when life gets tough?  Social media can be great, but if it is something that just numbs the pain, are you really blessed by it?

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.

I wanna be blessed.  I want an unexplainable joy in the midst of my chaos.  I want a transformed outlook on life.  I want a bottomless supply of joy that never runs out, even in my darkest of days.  I wanna be blessed.

In Christ, we have that.  We don’t have to go looking for something to take the pain away.

I strongly encourage you to go read Psalm 34 in its entirety.  Pray about it.  Read it again.  Pray again.  Read it verse by verse, really focusing to digest the content.  Whatever it takes to really understand this concept.  Over and over again.  You may wind up receiving a little bit of that unexplainable joy.

1 PETER 2:17 Part 4: Honor the King

HONOR ALL MEN.  LOVE THE BROTHERHOOD.  FEAR GOD.  HONOR THE KING.

-KJV

This one verse has four very strong commands.  Because of this, I have created a separate blog for each command; in an effort to keep them short, sweet, and to the point.  Here’s the final of the series.

This is actually take two at writing this blog.  I have no idea where my first draft went.  And I actually wrote it a couple weeks ago.  So honestly, I don’t even remember most of what I had written.  No biggie.  Y’all just get a fresh take on how I feel about “honor the king” now instead of how I was feeling about it when I tried to write this. 

Here’s a little back story.  When I originally started writing this series of blogs, I was going through a very hard time with local government.  I had an outstanding speeding ticket that I had forgotten to pay (yes, my fault completely!).  Due to this, I had my license suspended.  My license being suspended also cancelled my car insurance.  Car insurance wouldn’t re-up until I had fixed the license situation, and that proved to all be a very taxing (see what I did there) and time-consuming process.  My original draft to this blog was written while waiting two and a half hours at the local Department of Homeland Security office.  Writing a blog about honoring and respecting authority while wasting time in a government building was a challenge in and of itself.  How would I, while feeling full contempt towards government, write a blog about honoring it?  Could I possibly write such a thing without being a total hypocrite?  What would I say?

Since that blog got deleted, I guess we’ll never know what I would say.  I can’t even remember what I said.  So, here’s take two.

HONOR THE KING.

I’ve talked a lot about honor in the last few blogs, but I want to reestablish what it is, just in case you haven’t read my others (yet 😉).

• Honor:  Honor can be used as a verb or a noun.  Here it is used as a verb; to be applied to something (or someone).  The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines honor as “to regard or treat (someone) with admiration and respect : to regard or treat with honor”.

I’m just going to jump right into it.  We don’t do this today.  The disrespect for our president, and other levels of authority, is substantial.  We aren’t called to like the authority in our lives.  We aren’t called to agree with the authority in our lives.  But we are obviously called to respect and honor it.  Race, religion, political side, stance on certain issues, moral compass, or bad toupee don’t matter.  We are called and have been challenged to honor authority.

Let me explain what was happening when Peter wrote this.  Peter had watched the rulers crucify Jesus.  Peter was watching Nero (the Roman emperor) persecute Christians.  It is said that Nero burned some Christians alive as torches to light his gardens at night and fed others to wild animals for public entertainment.  This was a sick, twisted dude.  Specifically, sick and twisted towards Christians.

But Peter said to Honor the King.

We disagree with someone in power over us on one little topic and slander their name publicly.  But, even in the face of sever, brutal persecution, Peter said we are to honor our authority.  Dude wasn’t dealing with whether or not a wall should be built, or the amount of funding that should go into schools.  HE WAS WATCHING FELLOW BELIEVERS GET BRUTALLY MURDERED.

I believe it is perfectly possible to disagree with and honor someone at the same time.  It’s time we started doing such.  As Christians, and as a nation. 

1 PETER 2:17 Part 3: Fear God

HONOR ALL MEN.  LOVE THE BROTHERHOOD.  FEAR GOD.  HONOR THE KING. -KJV

This blog is blog number 3 of 4.  If you haven’t yet, please go find and read parts one and two, “Honor All Men” and “Love The Brotherhood”.  In these four blogs, I am unpacking the four commands listed in 1 Peter 2:17.  This blog will focus on the third command from this verse, …

FEAR GOD.

In keeping with the structure of the previous blogs, I want to define the sentence.  And it’s really hard to define “Fear God” without scripture.  Why would we want to, anyways?  So, let’s dive in.

• Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.  Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.”
• Job 28:28 “And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
• Proverbs 14:27 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, all those who practice it have a good understanding.  His praise endures forever!”
• Ecclesiastes 12:13 ”The end of the matter; all has been heard.  Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

I could keep going, but I think these four give us a good understanding.  There are a lot more verses than this about fearing God.  What I believe it boils down to is this: a healthy, respectful fear.  Knowing that He made us and has the full ability and authority to decide our eternal destiny.  But it’s more than just being afraid of our eternity.

According to Proverbs 8:13, Job 28:28, and so many more, we are called to hate and turn away from evil. Proverbs 8:13 takes it a step further and mentions pride, arrogance, and perverted speech along with evil.  These are all things that I believe many believers are bad at and struggle with on a regular basis.  Getting rid of pride and arrogance is extremely challenging.  Breaking habits like perverted speech takes time.  But the bible says to do it.  And that it goes along with fearing God.

Job 28:28 and Proverbs 14:27 both mention the fear of the Lord being the beginning of Wisdom.  Both also mention having understanding.  We all wanna be wise, right?  We all wanna have understanding, right?  Who doesn’t want to be wise and have understanding?  Fear God.  That will get you on the right track.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 in the same six words lumps fearing God and keeping his commandments together.  So what are His commandments?  That’s a whole different blog series in and of itself.  But, if you don’t know His commandments, or want to study further into them, I’d go check out Matthew 22:36-40.  After that, look up Exodus 20:1-17.  These two passages will get you on the right track for the Lord’s commandments.

So, the fear of the Lord.  What does that mean?  Hating evil, keeping His commandments, and remembering that He is all powerful.  These things will bring us the beginning of wisdom and understanding.  So, get to fearing.

1 PETER 2:17 Part 2: Love The Brotherhood

HONOR ALL MEN.  LOVE THE BROTHERHOOD.  FEAR GOD.  HONOR THE KING. -KJV

This blog is blog number 2 of 4.  If you haven’t yet, please go find and read part one, “Honor All Men”.  In these four blogs, I am unpacking the four commands listed in 1 Peter 2:17.  This blog will focus on the second command from this verse, “Love the brotherhood.”  This will piggy back a little on the first one in the series.

LOVE THE BROTHERHOOD.

I want to structure this blog the same as the last.  Start with defining the sentence.  Then see what other scriptures have to say that might help us better understand what this one is saying.  What’s a brotherhood and how do we love it?  Let’s find out.

• Brotherhood:  per the Merriam-Webster dictionary, brotherhood may be defined as “1. The quality or state of being brothers, 2. Fellowship, or alliance, 3. An association (such as a labor union or monastic society) for a particular purpose, 4. The whole body of persons engaged in a business or profession.”

That sounds a lot like a group of people all with the same goals or overall purpose.  Kinda like the Church?  Not a specific church, not a specific denomination, but the body of believers that profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

If I may go on a little tangent for a second, I believe denominations are tearing the “brotherhood” of believers apart.  We are called to be united.  We are called to all worship the same God and serve the same purpose: bring Him glory.  Why do we let the “gray areas” of Christianity divide us in such a way that one denomination believes all others that don’t believe the same way they do are going to hell?  Why do we rival with fellow believers about who has the better version of Christianity?  Why do we think we can play God and decide this person is going to hell and that person is going to Heaven?  Show me in the Bible where Jesus said only certain denominations get into Heaven, and I’ll show you where He says all we have to do is confess our sins and profess our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and follow Him.  Maybe this wasn’t a tangent at all.  Maybe this has EVERYTHING to do with this portion of the verse.

Love.  The.  Brotherhood.

Not some of the brotherhood.  Not the part of the brotherhood that believes exactly the same as you.  The whole freaking thing.  Love the fact that there is a body of believers all serving the same God and thanking the same Jesus for taking all of our sins away. 

Now.  Let’s see how the Bible says we are to love.

• Romans 12:10 “Love one another with brotherly affection.  Out do one another in showing honor.”

I talked about what “showing honor” means in the preceding blog to this one, so I won’t repeat that information.  But don’t just show honor.  Out do the people around you in showing honor.

1 Corinthians 13 is a great chapter to read regarding love.  It explains what love is and isn’t, how it should be shown, and how important it is.  I won’t post the whole thing here because I am trying to keep these posts as short as possible.  But please read it.  Love is so important that at the end of the chapter, Paul mentions that of faith, hope, and love, the greatest is love.

Love.  I believe it’s so important, I’ve got it permanently written on my forearm as a reminder to me that I should constantly be spreading love.  Genuine, caring about everyone, type of love.  Unfailing, unconditional love. 

This is the kinda love we should have for all people, and the kinda love that we should express towards the fact that there is a body of believers serving the same savior as you and me.

Go love the brotherhood.

1 PETER 2:17 Part 1: Honor All Men

 HONOR ALL MEN.  LOVE THE BROTHERHOOD.  FEAR GOD.  HONOR THE KING. 

-1 Peter 2:17 KJV

This is a really awesome verse.  In eleven words, Peter gave us four strong commands.  Kept all four commands short, sweet, and to the point.  This is a very easy verse to read once, go “Oh ok cool.  Yeah, treat everyone right and love God.  Got it, next.”  But what does it look like to really dive into this verse?  What does it look like to truly live out these commands?  Over the next four blogs, I’m going to break these commands down and dive into what it would look like to really live this verse out.  First, “Honor all men…”

HONOR ALL MEN.

Before anything else, I like to begin a study by figuring out the definitions.  You can’t apply something to your life without knowing exactly what it means.  So, let’s figure out what it means.

• Honor:  Honor can be used as a verb or a noun.  In either case, it basically means the same thing.  But here it is used as a verb; to be applied to something (or someone).  The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines honor as “to regard or treat (someone) with admiration and respect : to regard or treat with honor”.

Regard.  Admiration.  Respect.  These all sound like terms we would give to those in high authority.  When I hear such a string of words, I think royalty, or the wealthiest of the wealthy.  People that are so influential, they have an entire entourage that travels around with them getting all their doors and chairs, carrying everything for them so they never have to lift a thing, and keeping the peasant blue collar workers such as myself away.  They walk tall, with a well-earned confidence.  They know how important they are.  No one dares to speak a harsh word to someone who is to receive regard, admiration, and respect.  The person who chooses to do anything but honor such a high authority figure must be out of their mind.

• All Men:  Other translations of the Bible say “everyone”

…

Wait.  No.  That can’t be right.  You can’t possibly show that kind of affection for everyone.  It’s not humanly possible.  Not everyone deserves that kind of attention.  Some people deserve to be treated poorly.

What about the people that have wronged me?  What about the ones that owe me something?  My crazy ex?  My horrible neighbor?  That psycho that doesn’t know how to drive and almost killed us both in traffic today?  My bully from school?  My bully from work? (Yes, that exists.  Coworkers can suck more than school bullies sometimes.)  I can’t regard, honor, and respect these kinds of people that much.

There’s a few other Bible verses about this to visit before really coming to a conclusion.

• Philippians 2:3 – “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”
• Matthew 5:43-48 -  “You have heard that it 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 children 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 own people, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Ok, so now we have a few more commands, all dealing with how we treat people.  Philippians 2:3 says to count other people as more important than yourself.  Matthew 5:43-44 tells you to love and pray for the worst kinda people.  Matthew 5:45-48 tells you why to do such a stupid thing.  Because it’s actually not stupid at all.

God calls us to treat people right.  All people.  Not just the ones you like.  He calls us to be perfect.  To follow the model that Christ set for us.  To love and honor all people.

Lord, show me how to love like you.  How to be a better servant, and honor people like you would honor them.  Thank you for setting the example for me and challenging me to treat people how they should be treated.  Like royalty.  We love you, Lord.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Going All In

Our ministries

Analogy: ministry and our walk with God is like the beach/ocean.

• Some just go every now and then to look at it and watch other people experience it.
• Some go to just sit at the edge where the waves crash and feel the water every now and then.
• Some go ankle deep. Always just a little in. 
• Knee deep, waist deep, chest deep, chin deep. All different levels but all keeping their feet on the ocean floor and standing cause that’s natural, normal, feels safer, and is less exhausting. 
• Then there’s the “crazy” people. They swim out way past where they can stand, just to feel the freedom of being totally submerged in the water. 

It’s time to go deeper.  Quit testing the waters.  God is calling us to swim out to sea.  It’s time to go all in. 

One way we can go all in is re-purposing “pass times” for “ministry time”.  For me this is social media.  I’ve used it as a huge pass time for a long time now.  God is calling me to re-purpose this time I spend on it. (I spent the time this week that I woulda been on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter preparing this.)

You’re always on mission.  Everywhere you go, people are watching and judging.  How you act is supposed to reflect the God you serve.  If you are treating people well, non-believers will be attracted to learning more about the God you serve.  If you’re a jerk, who would want any part of anything you believe?  Are we acting Christlike?  Are we acting right?  Let’s show people who Christ is with our actions. 

The number one reason, in my life, that I have passed up on ministry opportunities is fear. 

 What fears do we have keeping us from doing God’s work?  I want to cast out those fears in Jesus’ name, through scripture. 

• Too young.

Ø  1 Timothy 4:12 “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”

• Too old.

Ø  Job 12:12 “Is not wisdom found among the aged?  Does not long life bring understanding?”

Ø  Genesis 17: Abram was ninety-nine years old before God changed his name to Abraham and gave him a son through his wife, Sarah.

• Not smart/wise enough.

Ø  Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge…”

Ø  Proverbs 2:6 “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

Ø  James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”

• Not enough talent or experience.

Ø  Exodus 3:11-12 “But Moses said to God ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?’ He said, ‘But I will be with you…’”

Ø  Exodus 4:10-12 “But Moses said to the Lord, ‘Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.’  The Lord said to him, ‘Who has made man’s mouth?  Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind?  Is it not I, the Lord?  Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.’”

• Whoever God is calling me to witness to isn’t receptive of what God has to offer.

Ø  Exodus 3:19-21 “But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand.  So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go.  And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty,…”

• Never done it before / scared of change. 

Ø  Ecclesiastes 3:1 “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”

• Failure.

Ø  2 Corinthians 12:9 “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

• Heartbreak from not seeing (immediate) results.

Ø  Galatians 6:9 “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

• Not the “right” timing.

Ø  Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

• Not enough money. 

Ø  Phillipians 4:19 “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

• Language barrier. 

Ø  Acts 2:4 “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

• Others doubt what I am called to is of God. 

Ø  Exodus 3:13-14 “Then Moses said to God, 'If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?’  God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’  And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent you.’”

“God won’t call you to something bigger than you can handle.”

No.  Wrong. 

God won’t call you to something bigger than HE can handle.  You just get to experience it.  On our own, we wouldn’t be able to handle most things. 

One more I didn’t mention.  You’re afraid of what people might think of you if you step out into God’s callings.  THEY'RE JUDGING YOU ANYWAYS.  And their opinions don’t matter. 

Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

He wants your AVAILABILITY, not your ABILITY.  He, who is the creator of all things, will give you what you need to serve the purpose He has for you.  You just gotta be available. 

God is calling us to something bigger.  A deeper level of ministry. 

Lord, guide me.  Show me how and where to go deeper serving you.  Speak to me and speak through me. In Jesus’ name.  Amen.