A Thought from Larry

May 13, 2012

 

John 18

 

The truth!  So what is the truth?  This is a question that Pilate asks Jesus.  I find this so interesting.  Prior to Pilate asking the question about what is the truth in the last part of John 18:37 Jesus said, "He came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears Jesus voice."  The truth is standing right in front of Pilate when he ask the question.  I find myself doing the same thing at times questioning what the truth is.  We have the media who puts a slant on everything from the news to Hollywood pushing their agenda on us.  It is a daily battle with knowing the truth. This is why it is so important to pick up the truth from Jesus every day.  We need that filter.  The good news is we can filter everything and take our thoughts captive to the obedience of Jesus. 2 Corinthians 10:5.

 

 

Lord thank you for leaving the truth with us through Your Words. Lord please continue to open my heart and my ears to the truth. I pray Lord you would help me to recall the perfect scripture when I need it to fight the battle of the mind. Lord please help me to show the truth to others. In Jesus name Amen.

 

 Larry

2 Corinthians 2:15-16

A Thought from Larry

May 9, 2012

 

John 14

 

          We just arrived home from Tulsa last night where we had the great privilege to watch Christopher graduate. The ceremony was very well done. It starts off as any commencement with the precession of everyone involved in the proceedings. Then the University Chaplin comes to the podium to lead us in a prayer. I am praying along with him and I hear others around me agreeing with what he is saying. I even reference Christopher's name in areas he is praying about. It does not take long to understand this is a written prayer which I have no problem with but the fact he never mentions Jesus name started to bother me. I wanted to jump out and say what about Jesus? What about John 14:6? What about John 13-14?

13 "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

 

How can you pray to God and ask these special things upon the graduates but never in the name of Jesus? This is the society we live in now. The name of Jesus is not even mentioned in a prayer or in the closing before the Amen.

Lord help us to never be ashamed to mention your Son's name in a prayer no matter the setting we are in. It is only by Him and through Him can we come to the throne of grace and mercy. Thank Lord for what you taught me this weekend. I pray this in Jesus name Amen.

Larry

2 Corinthians 2:15-16

A Thought from Larry

May 2, 2012

 

2 Corinthians 2:15-16

 

As Cathi and I are going through the study of Real Marriage with our community group we were challenged with coming up with a family vision or mission statement. Cathi and I prayed for a week seeking the Lord on what would be become our verse we could use to reflect that vision or mission. We came across 2 Corinthians 2:15-16.

 

15 For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;

16 to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life.

I know when I come home from the fire station Cathi can tell when we used garlic in the meals we had at the fire station. She can smell the garlic. This verse really stands out in several ways. Can people smell the aroma of us as being with Jesus? Think about this verse as a follower of Jesus whether married or not. Are we a sweet aroma to those who are being saved and an aroma of death to those who are perishing? I hope so. It is a reminder to me the gospel is active and alive and not a one-time prayer. This has so many applications to our lives. How do people view us? Are we truly living as a sweet aroma?

 

Lord please as I read your Word may I become a person who smells of Jesus. Lord may I be a reflection of You no matter where I go. Please Lord allow our marriage be a sweet representation of the gospel. Lord I thank you for what you are doing in our lives and pray Lord that my ears would be open to those who are perishing to share the truth about Jesus. Amen

Larry

He Must Increase

At the end of John Chapter 3 there is a neat little scene that takes place between John the Baptist and a few of his disciples.  John's disciples get a little hacked off because people are leaving John and flocking to Jesus to be  baptized.  John's response to his disciples is basically "I already told you guys that I'm not the Christ."  He tells them again that Jesus is the Messiah and that his job was to point people to Jesus.  He says something very interesting to sum it all up.  John 3:30 says

"He must increase, but I must decrease."  

I have read this verse several times before and have even heard others comment about it.  I had always taken it to mean that John was saying that in his personal life Jesus needed to be a bigger part of it so that John's desires would become those of Jesus.  Now, I'm sure this is part of what John meant.  However, it wasn't until a few days ago that I realized the passage is in the context of discipleship.  John's disciples are upset that people are leaving him (and presumably them) to follow Jesus.  John's response is that the whole point is that people would stop looking to him and start following Jesus.  There is a lot of practical application for me in this.  The whole point of discipleship is that those following me would more and more look to Jesus for everything and less and less look to me.  It is really easy to fall into the trap of making disciples in our own image.  The real goal is that at some point they wouldn't "need" us anymore but would be following Jesus so closely that they are identified with Him and not us.  Our relationship with them doesn't end, but the nature of it will.  I am not saying that a mature believer shouldn't have those they are accountable to or those that they go to for support or encouragement.  These are habits that are healthy and prescribed by scripture.  I think Paul said what John was getting at in a different way.  Paul said "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." (1 Cor. 11:1)  Paul's hope was surely not that his disciples would end up looking like him, but looking like Christ.  This means that those imitating him would one day say to others "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ."  If I am fixated on Jesus then those following me will fix their eyes on Him as well because they see me doing it.  My responsibility then, as a disciple maker, is to be ever pointing to Jesus and not myself.   

Choose Life

On Tuesday nights my wife and I meet with a couple that God has blessed us with.  My friend Kevin likes to sing and does it out loud (often).  This last Tuesday he was singing the words to a song that I hadn't heard in awhile.  All I picked up on was the line "let it be said of us."  It was bugging me a lot this week that I couldn't remember the words to the song, so I finally googled it and it's called "The Blessing" by John Waller.  Here's the link.  Make sure you listen to it before you read the rest of the post....

http://youtu.be/4tvDQpaJBuo

Hearing the song made me search to find the scripture that I'm positive the song was inspired by.  The passage is Deuteronomy 30:19-20

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.  Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." 

Normally I would never say that God spoke to me through a song, but since I think this one is based on scripture, I'll fudge a bit this time.  The concept of choosing life has something that has been stirring in me and the song and this scripture solidified it.  As a believer I am sealed by the Holy Spirit and I belong to Jesus forever, but God still calls me everyday to choose life.  So much of my life, as a believer, I have walked in death because I was too scared and selfish to choose life.  I don't want to live that way anymore.  In the power of God I want to truly choose life.  This will cost me for sure.  It means that dying to myself can no longer be a catch phrase, but a way of life.  I'm not sure yet what God is doing, but I can tell you that for the first time in my life I'm not completely scared of the future.  I'm actually excited about it.  Is there still fear there? The answer is yes.  But, it is not like it used to be for me.  God is doing something in me that I never thought was possible.  He has allowed me to see that living in fear and anxiousness necessarily means walking in death.  I must choose life.  This practically and simply means I must be willing to fight the mental battle and no longer be okay with fear and anxiety.  It means that there are areas of my life where I need to lead my family in stepping out in faith: at work, in our neighborhood, and with the poor.  What area of your life might God be saying "choose life"?  

Sweet Talk

I actually had most of this entry typed and ready to go a few days ago, but on the advice of my wife and the Holy Spirit (sometimes those are eerily similar) I decided not to.  I had written the beginning and then deleted it.  What was left my wife said "just didn't sound like me."  It just didn't work because the intro was missing.  In the intro there was (and is) a part about my dad.  My dad died almost two years ago.  Even though he is not around I still believe that it is my duty as his son to honor him.  My fear was that what I wrote would in a small way dishonor him.  Me writing this preface is my way of making sure that you know that my dad was an honorable man and a great father.  I think he would be honored knowing that I have learned from him (both good and bad) how to be a dad.

My dad was not the type of man that many people would want to argue with.  At the front of that line were his children.  For the most part we did what he said when he said it with little hesitation.  If one of us ever got up the courage to ask "why" he would gruffly respond with "because I told you so."  This was good enough reason for us and we would do it.  I think this is very healthy.  I thank God that my dad taught me that fathers should be respected and obeyed.  In Ephesians children are told to "obey their parents in the Lord" because it's "right."  God says that children will be blessed for obedience to parents.  However, fathers are instructed to not "exasperate" their children which means causing them to be resentful or even angry toward us.  There were times as I got older that I would get frustrated because my dad would not communicate much more than "because I told you so." I never openly challenged my dad on anything, ever.  Internally, however, I wished we had a relationship where I felt free to talk to him about things. By God's grace we developed this as I became an adult and father myself. We had a real relationship.  As a father myself I have learned there are many other negative things to avoid that could prompt my children to become frustrated like being absent even when at home, making unreasonable demands, smothering them, yelling, or not loving my wife.  I should try to avoid this at all costs in order to promote their obedience.  Proverbs gives us a clue about something positive we can do to avoid exasperating our kids and build a relationship with them.  Apparently, what we say can be overshadowed by how we say it.  Look at these verses from Proverbs 16

21

"The wise of heart is called discerning, 

and sweetness of speech increases 

persuasiveness."

23

"The heart of the wise makes his speech 

judicious

and adds persuasiveness to his lips."

24

"Gracious words are like a honeycomb,

sweetness to the soul and health to 

the body." 

If we are wise and discerning fathers and mothers we will add sweetness to our speech that will make our children want to obey.  This is pretty cool if you think about it.  God is telling us that just talking in a nice way as we instruct our kids and treating them with dignity and respect will cause them to want to obey us.  The application is not only for parents, but it fits for bosses and employees as well.  I don't think God is saying there isn't a time and a place to lay down the law and speak with force.  Before God my kids are called to obey me no matter what, but whenever possible I need to to direct them with words that will spur them to obey with a happy heart rather than clenched fists.  The word that comes to mind is: RELATIONSHIP.  The goal is that we would put in the hard work to build a loving relationship with them so that they do what we say because they love us and trust us.  Can you think of a better way to picture Christ to our kids?  

Travis 

You can't go your own way

Fleetwood Mac wrote a catchy tune called "You can go your own way" sometime in the 70s.  Going your own way is something that seems like a pretty good idea.  I'm sure there were thousands of school assemblies just this year with motivational speakers telling kids to have a dream and go for it (I know because I've sat through a few in my day!).  It feels so right to go with your gut, make a pros/cons list, or seek the advice of someone who has been there and done that.  I have a couple of pretty big decisions to make that will affect a lot of people that I love.  I've been praying and seeking the Lord as to what He wants me to do.  In my reading it seemed that I started to get a "feel" for what God wants me to do but nothing explicit.  I've been tempted to just "pull the trigger" and give an answer, but then yesterday I read this.

Proverbs 14:12

"There is a way that seems right to a man, 

but its end is the way to death."

The way of death doesn't really sound that pleasant.  God reminded me that His voice is the only one that matters.  It is worth waiting to hear directly from Him about what He wants me to do.  Most often what "seems" right to us is not right at all.  A couple of days earlier I read this verse in Leviticus 24:12

"And they put him in custody, till the will of the LORD should be clear to them."

Moses and the people with him did not rely on their own wisdom or what seemed right to them.  They waited to hear the all knowing voice of the LORD.  The very next verse says "Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying."  It seems pretty clear that if we wait for God to speak and trust that He will, then He will speak and tell us what He wants.  Psalm 32:8 says 

"I will instruct you and teach you in the 

way you should go;

I will counsel you with me eye upon 

you."

I am mostly writing this as a reminder to myself that I shouldn't go my own way.  God desires to tell me and you what He wants us to do.  What I am thinking He wants might be right, but I think He is okay with me asking Him to specifically confirm it.  So, don't go your own way, but you can still sing the song.  I looked up the lyrics, though....pretty weak.  

Travis