JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD IT ALL

Stocks sink on fears about China and growth

On Tuesday, the die for the trading day was cast when China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropped almost 9 percent on fears that the government would crack down on speculation that has driven stock prices there to record highs.

Why do people think they really control anything at all? It’s sad, isn’t it, to watch people be controlled by money and fear… man that’s a deadly combination. Ask the relatives left from the 1929 crash- people literally threw themselves over the cliff because all was lost. Today’s frenzy on Wall Street really showed me what I already suspected- there is something to fear about fear itself. To have one’s life controlled by another continent sounds much like bondage, rather than financial freedom; doesn’t it? Does this image look as though all is well with those who make a living by making money?

What kind of advice can one give here? What is the “moral” of the story? What can you and I learn from this? The need of taking to heart these words in Proverbs 23: 4Labor not to be rich: cease from your own wisdom. 5Will you set your eyes on that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. Paul wrote to his young prtoege,Timothy, that the love of money, not money, is the root of all evil. He gave him a truism for all – we brought nothing into this world, you will certainly take out with you when you leave. However; I think the vast majority believe just the opposite or they would not try so hard to get it, would they?

If I could have the email of every investor today, who by and through fear, no doubt, lost their shirt, I would send them this one verse of warning- I Timothy 6: 9But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. Jesus was right, you know, when He said those who build their lives on sand-aka money, will be washed away when the storms of life come crashing in. However, lives do not need to perish in the storms of life. The answer? Those who build their lives on the ROCK, aka, Jesus Christ, need not fear what happens in China or their back yard because their lives are hidden in the cleft of the ROCK who is able to weather any storm.

One parting thought- if money is the answer to life problems, why were there so many people today looking as though they have none?

I SAW GOD TODAY

It is my hope these thoughts bless your day. Every once and in awhile I see something that sparks my synaspes to fire and this is the end product.

 

I SAW GOD TODAY

SOME SAY GOD IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND
SINCE THERE IS SO MUCH DEATH, SUFFERING AND MISERY
HOW COULD ONE DARE SAY GOD IS AROUND
AND BELIEVE HIM IN THE 21ST CENTURY.

PEOPLE WHO SPOUT THIS; I DARE SAY
ARE NOT REALLY PAYING MUCH ATTENTION
BECAUSE I SAW WITH MINE OWN EYES; GOD TODAY
MOVING HIS HAND IN THE MIDST OF HIS CREATION

WHERE DID YOU SEE HIM?! I WANT TO KNOW
AND WHY WOULD YOU POSTULATE SUCH A NOTION
BUT, I DID, YOU SEE, AS I WATCHED HIS HAND RIPPLING THE SNOW
BACK AND FORTH WITH HIS LITTLE WHIRLWIND IN DESIGNED MOTION.

OH, I SEE, AS YOU CHUCKLE AT MY NAVIETE
THAT WAS MERELY CAUSED BY CHANCE
SO. YOU COULDN’T HAVE SEEN GOD TODAY
AND,BESIDES, NO ONE REALLY BELIEVES SUCH NONESENSE.

OH, NOW, I THINK I COMPREHEND
WHY YOU ONLY SEE DEATH, SUFFERING AND MISERY
AND WHY NOTHING MAKES SENSE IN THE END
‘CAUSE YOU REALLY BELIEVE HE’S NOT IN THE 21ST CENTURY.

BUT. MY FRIENDS, I DID, I DID SEE GOD TODAY
AS HE MOVED HIS HAND ACROSS THE SNOW
RIPPLING IT THIS WAY AND THAT WAY
AND IF I DARE SAY MYSELF, IT WAS QUITE A SHOW..

HOW ABOUT LETTING JESUS BUILD HIS OWN CHURCH?

I freely admit this column or maybe the right word for today, tirade, was probably engineered by a book I read recently called, This Little Church Stayed Home by M. Gilley. In this book(one I recommend you read) he calls for the church to start staying “home” with what scripture says Christianity and the church is all about.

Well, as “luck” would have it, I got to thinking and that’s always a dangerous beginning for me in any venture, didn’t Christ say, ” I will build my church”? He also said, that even hell would not prevent the building of it either. The question, is this, just how He is doing it? He’s certainly not waving a “magic wand” or doing it through divine fiat pronouncments from on high. This much is pretty clear, I think, for all of us to see. So, how is He building this strong, powerful church? Through the preaching of the gospel of His disciples. Yup, ones like me. One who was once not on His side AT ALL, but, now is one who really can’t keep his mouth quiet for long without bringing the discussion around to the necessity of being converted to Jesus Christ. This is pretty simple, not too glamorous,but, because He empowers it, it works. By the way, are you a Christian? Are you saved by the blood of the Lamb? Do you know you need to be saved because until you are you are an enemy of God? The good news is, that can change in a heartbeat, acknowledge Jesus Christ as the only Savior of men and receive His work as the only payment God will accept as satisfying His wrath against sin. You see, it isn’t rocket science, it’s merely the gospel truth, Christ came into the world to save sinners.

Call me simple, call me stupid, but, for centuries the gospel worked for Peter, Paul, Luther, Calvin, Spurgeon, Hudson Taylor, John Piper, Alistair Begg; and the list could go on for eons. Why is it then, the church seems to think it needs to improve the “product?” Why is it churches today across this land of ours cling to every fad that comes along and finds itself bankrupt financially and spiritually every time in the end? Didn’t Jesus say, “If someone says I over here, or that He’s in the wilderness or some othe place, not to go there”? I think so; and yet the church is so eager to leave the gospel for some type of “new appoach” to win the world. It’s the gospel that has the power unto salvation, not some passing methodology. Does the church want purpose? How about lining up with Christ in His- preach the gospel. If you want to “emerge”, how about emerging on the world with actual conviction that Christ’s gospel is actually true! Want to be “missional”? How about simply talking to your neighbor about Christ? Ask how they are doing, ask lovingly, be genuinely concerned about them. A little love goes a long way. Be a neighbor.

The church has always thought they could build the church for Christ. The tried it through the building of monasteries and “communities”, now it thinks it can build it by giving everybody what they want or thinks makes “good church”. The church has taken the words-Be Revelant!and have run scared with it. Who said the church was irrevelant to society? Did God say that? Who told us, the church, we needed to be “user friendly” or “seeker sensitive”? The world? The outsiders? You mean the ones who nailed Christ to the cross because He didn’t give them what they wanted? You mean the ones who left Him because what He said was too hard to swallow? The ones who don’t like the message of- “I am the way, the truth, and the life and no gets to the Father except through Me. You means those guys?! They are the ones screaming at the church, saying, the church is irrevelant because it dares to simply repeat what Christ said?

<>Personally, I think the church of America and Canada, wants to build the church because it’s afraid and ashamed of the one Christ is building. No easy believeism, no wealth and health gospel, the only purpose that matters to Him is His. He stands on His absolute word and it’s not debatable. In His church, men follow Him, not their dreams. In His church the preachers actually preach the gospel, not stories, call people to repentance, not intellectual acknowledgement and tell people they serve Christ because they have been drafted into His service- there are no volunteers in His army. The church Christ is building is not by the consultants but His way.

<>I think history proves this out- Whenever the church tries to be “liked by the world”, it isn’t long before it’s taken over by the world. So, how about letting Christ build His church.

DO HAVE FAITH TO COMPLAIN?

If I it heard once, I’ve heard it a thousand times, “What’s the use of complaining, no one listens to me anyways.” I take exception to this, I think a Christian can complain, so long as he or she complains to the right person. Psalm 142 verse says, “I pour out my complaint before the Lord.” You notice, David, said he poured out his complaint before the Lord, not about the Lord. I am drawn to the book of Psalms because of the brutal honesty, the raw faith, confidence and boldness before the Lord. They were not afraid; nor were they ashamed, of expressing themselves in prayer to the Lord. They had faith in their relationship with the Lord. The background to Psalms 142 is that David is constantly running for his life from his nemesis, King Saul. Think about it, David is constantly to wet, cold caves, sleeping on the cold, damp cavern floors and at any time his life may be snuffed out by a madman. Honestly, this would get old after awhile, wouldn’t it? , especially if you did nothing to deserve the treatment!! What does David do- he prays! How does he pray? Truthfully. He simply opens his heart before the Lord. He complains to God, not to men and he does not badmouth God before men. There’s a difference between the two, you know.

The question I find asking myself is this- why am I so plastic in prayer? Why do I pretend that all is well and I kind of like being shortchanged; especially when God knows my heart may be seething, or raging or is made very uneasy by the cirucmstances of life? What do I think my heavenly Father do to me? Punish me? Club me? Or do what many have done in my life- walk out on me once He knows I can’t handle something or get upset enough to tell the truth? Am I that afraid to vocalize something He already knows? What kind of con job am I playing on myself?

Look, complaining is being honest and the key to effective prayer is truthfulness and faith; Faith in knowing your God. Faith in knowing He will not blow a gasket when you tell Him- I do not like my circumstances right now and I am troubled about it. Do something God! Elijah complained about being the last true prophet in the land. Jonah whined about the saving of Nineveh. Did God wipe them out? No; He did not. Go before the Lord and tell Him what’s on your heart, be truthful not plastic or phoney- He does know the difference.

This man, David, puts the reason out on the table for why he was so forthright with God and why you can be- “No one cares for my soul except You, Lord. vs 4 of 142. The Apostle Peter said the same thing in his letter- Cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you. I want this relationship with the Lord. It’s speaks of freedom, not, bondage. It speaks of liberty, not fear. It talks of knowing someone, not just about the person. Do I have faith to complain like David? Is my relationship with the Lord this personal that I know no matter what He will never leave nor forsake me. Something to think about, isn’t?