Sunday, September 30, 2007

why the Gospel is important




nuff said

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Pay the Fee

I am typing my sermon for tomorrow knowing fully well that i will abandon them at some point and just get "real and honest." so as I am typeing a group called "Fee" comes on that is just rock'n and i felt that i needed to let you know.

Rock on in the Name of Jesus,

Chris <><

Thursday, September 27, 2007

bible fight club

in the dank basement of a tattoo parlor believers of a multitude of faiths or the lack thier of gather to duke it out about the Bible and other matters from a Christian view. ink is not require but expect nothing but bare knuckle Bible thumpin'.

http://asap.ap.org/data/interactives/_lifestyles/podcasts/0913asap_BFC.mp3

hmmm

i wonder ..

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

a multitude of toppings for your worship

Ben is planting a Church in Reston, Georgia and boy is he having fun. NOt only is one of those guys you need to keep up with, but he is definitely in the mix - not hiding from culture behind a cardboard church wall as you will read

Pizza Apologetics


href="http://www.benarment.com/history_in_the_making/2007/09/pizza-apologeti.html">
  • Yesterday, I met a fitness trainer who looked like he could bench press my car. He asked about my iPhone, but then noticed my Bible and started talking about his Muslim father and Catholic mother. Said he was neither. He used pizza to describe his religious views...
    "Your god may be pepperoni; mine might be sausage; someone else's, the tomatoes. But we're all mixed together on the same pizza and baked together. We're all eating the same pie."
    Besides getting a
    little hungry, I was scrambling mentally to keep up with all the inconsistencies. People are so quick to philosophize about spirituality because it keeps God away from our hearts where he can convict us. So we reduce him to a pizza.

I wonder what the diffrent kinds of crust mean to him in regards to spirituality? hand tossed, deep dish, craker crustm, stuffed crust, thin crust ... and the list goes on

Monday, September 24, 2007

one more past

i seem never to post any more, well we have dsl now. now more dial up, yea!! so now i can watch funny things like this and re-post it

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Matthew 6:25-34 Gucci or God

Have you ever spent time watching children play Maybe you have watched your child or grand child play on the playground? If you watch these bundles of joy for any length at all you will notice that they are worry free. They run with reckless abandon, not worried about dinner, or how the mortgage payments will be made this month. As they go down the slide and swing from the monkey bars they never stop to count the cost. They don’t rationalize over the jungle gym. No, they let their hair blow in the wind as they run their hearts out never stopping to think about skinned up knees or repairing the brakes on the pick-up.

Well in Matthew Chapter 6, we find Jesus’ cure to the anxiety that tightens up our chest and rules our lives. Join me as we read this great truth together.

Matthew 6:25-34 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? (26) Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (27) Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? (28) So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; (29) and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (30) Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (31) Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' (32) For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. (33) But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (34) Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

As we begin our quest we see that Jesus is meeting us where we live. He addresses our needs. Those things in which we could not survive, he begins with needs because we could not live without them.

The way Jesus is speaking, it would seem to say that we are spending to much time worrying about what we eat an what we wear. Could Jesus really be speaking to our fashion conscious culture? Fashoniestas beware! I mean, really does it matter if your shoes are made by Steve Madden, Kenneth Cole, or Jimmy Choo? No, but we will spend to the name and scoff at the lesser desired brands. We will demand to have such so we can meet the pressure that we feel from our peers. I promise you, Jesus does not care if you purse is Gucci or faded glory. He cares about you, not the clothes.

It is a betrayal of our relationship to with Christ, to worry more about if my meal comes from the trendiest eatery or my clothes from the latest boutique than we do about our walk
as Christ followers.

Jesus turns his attention to nature in verse, (26) Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

He reminds us that birds are not caught up in the trivial worries of life and this world. They simply trust God for their provisions. They are not working eighty hour weeks to get night crawlers. They don’t work high tension, passionless jobs that are robbing them of their joy and time with their family.

God desire for our lives is not to be entangled in worrying about this life. His desire is for us to trust Him like the birds do.

Remember the kids playing in the sandlot we were talking about a while ago. Those kids trust us to take care of them – to provide for them their daily PB&J and deliver them from bullies. God designed that relationship to model His care for us so that we would see our care for our children and know that His care for His Heavenly Children, you and me, is so much greater.

The issue that surrounds us is that our lack of faith in God. When we worry we are having a spirit of distrust about God’s ability to take care of us. We do not trust Him to be the “Almighty,” to be in power and in complete control.

So what does worry do for you? I can not honestly think of one good thing that comes worrying. Worrying robs you of your health and destroys your youthful looks. Worrying decreases your thought capabilities, worrying steals your joy, and worrying sabotages your relationships. But ultimately worry weakens your faith.

So really, what can “worrying” do for you? Jesus said it this way. (27) Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? Worrying will not add years to your life, add hair to your head or increase you looks. As far as I can tell, or research, there is nothing positive or productive about worrying.

(28) So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; (29) and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (30) Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

In these verses, Jesus hits the nail on the head. We don’t have faith. Worry is doubting God, having reservations him and mistrust. Worrying means we don’t trust God, we don’t believe.

My Aunt Sandy is a woman that compared to most of us is a person of extreme faith. But there was a time in her life when she was struggling to make it. The ends just did not meet. She was strapped and did not have the money to pay the light bill let alone buy groceries. So what was Aunt Sandy to do … well she prayed. She sought God for counsel, asked for His direction and prayed for provision.

Later when she was looking in her purse she found a twenty dollar bill. That was the last money needed to pay the light bill. You could say that we had over looked it in her purse, that it was a coincidence but what about the knock on the door.

Oh wait I haven’t told you about that. Later that day, there was a knock on the door and when she made it up from the back of the house to open the door, who do you think was there? No one, but there was two brown paper bags filled with groceries. No, you can’t get me to believe she over looked the bags when she went in the house the day before. That my friends is what we see in Matthew 21:22, “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

So Jesus urges and really He is commanding more than simply advocating, that we stop worrying and stop thinking about things that are out of our control. In verse 31, He says, (31) Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'

In Verse 32 Jesus says that the gentiles, or the non-spiritual, non-Christ pursing people, they worry. They struggle to figure out where their next meal will come from, they have no clue when they will need something. But Jesus tell us that God all ready know our need. He is cognizant of our needs when and where we will need food, clothing, for whatever. This is because He is omnipotent, or all knowing. Life does not sneak up on God. You will never hear Jehovah
say “I did not see that one coming” or “what happened here?” He is all knowing and all seeing. Not just of you physical needs, but he sees the needs of out hearts. He knows our need of
Salvation that is why he provided us with Jesus. That is why he created Heaven and crafted Eternal Life.

God knew we needed to be rescued, to be saved form worry and anxiety. So He gave us a cure.

Read verse 33 along in your Bibles with me... (33) But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Jesus’ solution is to redirect you life; to calibrate it completely in a new way. Jesus charges us to focus upward instead of inward. So it is a sight issue. With all the stimulating things in the world we get distracted. We get blinded by the Hilfiger and the Hurley, the Ford and the Ferrari, the Gucci and the Guess.

Our eyes get pointed toward thing here on Earth, those things in the “here and now, and we lose sight of the everlasting and eternal.

Jesus’ answer is simple – Pursue the Kingdom – and He will take care of the rest. “Keep your eye on the prize,” He says, “and I’ll provide everything else.”

Seek His Kingdom, seek His Righteousness, seek His Holiness, seek His Purity, seek His Truth and seek the meaningful Eternal Things. When you do everything else will fall into place. Other things will seem trivial, non-essential things will fall away like leaves from a tree. So many things that once ruled your life will no longer find the same importance. Pursue Him and He will add to you and He will supply your needs.

So what are we to do. Well there is one more verse that we need to deal with (34) Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Trust Him and never turn back. Let each day come and go a stop worrying about what is going to happen. Stop letting worry destroy your life and take each day, one day at time, with the help of God, with His care and Provision for you. Let Jesus take care of the things you can not, and start living the life God has called you to.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Psalm 78:70-73 Greatness starts in the Pasture

Note: as always this is what i started with , but what happens in the pulpit is not ways waht is written down. for some reason i used the words "deep doo doo" and wmy wife and daughter feel that is not very pastoral. oh well. here is the "doo doo" free version.

When you woke up this morning, did you have a sense of awe? A feeling that God was going to something awesome n your life? Did you feel that sense of purpose ready to burst forward in your life.

Well, most of us feel that are lives are boring. Hum-drum. Nothing special about them. We get up brush out teeth, get dressed, have a little breakfast and drive to work. We toil at work, have some lunch, go back to laboring, and drive back home. Nothing special about it. Nothing to write home about. Nothing newsworthy.

For David his days were pretty much like this too. He got up, washed up at the brook, had a little something for breakfast and watched the sheep. Sometime in the day he would find a shade tree and eat some leftovers for lunch. Afterward he would go back to watch the flock. Talk about unexciting, dull, lack luster, dreary task.

Occasionally he would chase off a predator or have to track down a way ward sheep. But that is about it. For David this was about dull as a job on the manufacturing line. Over and over it was pen the sheep, chase the sheep, herd the sheep, protect the sheep, water the sheep, feed the sheep, and do it all over again. But this servant sheep herder had a future that was beyond his belief and a destiny to fulfill.

I bet some of you feel taken for granted. You feel that what you are doing does not matter. And maybe your not even sure that God is on your side because you have no clue what you are suppose to be doing let alone how he is working in your live. The Bible tells us that if our victorious God is for us then who can be against us. The problem seems to be that we will not release ourselves to him and allow him to work. We tend to want to fight Him instead. We try to do own, we say we that we can do it, but we really can’t

Listen to a simple sheep herder turned king as he write a quick summary of his life and how God worked in it.



Psa 78:70-72 He also chose David His servant, And took him from the sheepfolds; (71) From following the ewes that had young He brought him, To shepherd Jacob His people, And Israel His inheritance. (72) So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

So do you know where you are going in life, what your destiny or God’s plan is. Probably not, most of us are just floating along. But I feel that we can learn from David that we need to take the time to prepare for the greatness God has for us even when we don’t know what it is. Through faithfulness and obedience we will be prepared for the opportunities that God ushers us forward into. If we rush, and hurry, and push when it is not there then we will miss out on the little things that count as well as the important opportunities that we desperately need

But, we won’t be able to make the most of them and enjoy the blessing if we rush by. We will miss the little things and we will lose out on the important ones too. It’s like the song that the music group Alabama sings “I hear a voice It says I'm running behind I better pick up my pace It’s a race and there ain't no room for someone in second place I'm in a hurry to get things done Oh, I rush and rush until life's no fun All I really gotta do is live and die But, I'm in a hurry and don't know why”

You might not be sure of what you are doing with your life, where you are going or what your purpose is. I ask you, be patient. Be patient and don’t force the issue.

Moses was a man who forced the issue. Go had a plan for Moses life, but Moses just could not wait. He was in a hurry and tried to push God’s time line ahead. In the process he ended up killing an Egyptian man had to flee for his life and his freedom. By the time he was able to fulfill God’s will for his life he was now 80 years old. Don’t be in such a hurry that you take short cuts that will cost half your life and make you wait 40 years before you can do what you need to. Just because everything is not popping and zooming and happening just like you think it should, does not mean that God has lost sight of you. God know where you are at and what is going on. You are not insignificant or meaningless; you are his creation that he bought back with the blood of His only Child, Jesus. You matter and everything you do matters

We must realize that nothing God has you do is inconsequential, it all matters. Who you date, what you do, where you work, how you life, who you marry, how you treat others, where go, what you buy and most importantly, what or should I say, who come first in you life.

David’s skills were learned in a season when did not have the most glamorous of jobs. Every talent and ability that David needed for his future kingship he honed in the meadows and pastures. In those fields of green filled with grazing and bleating sheep he was not only learning to be the Shepard of the flock but the Shepard of a nation.

So do you know where God is taking you? Probably not, but if we don’t take the time to prepare and make the most of the opportunities to we won’t be ready for the big break in life that God provides. We will not be able to enjoy and make the most of the blessing that God presents us with.

Let me share Psa 32:8 with you,”I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.”

We need to understand that our vision is limited, but our Eternal God is able to see all space and time. God knows where the pitfalls of life are and he can guide us through life if we are will trust Him and not fight Him to have our way. God, as a loving heavenly father will direct us, he will instructing us and show us our life’s path.

But in the process of waiting to see God’s plan revealed and the details come forth, we must all so be very care full that we don’t develop and attitude that we are owed something by God. That we have something due to us from Our Creator, the one who gives us each breath and gives us faith. I want to share with you a lesson that a gentlemen, Mr. Patterson ad retired military trainer, taught me while I worked with juveniles. His wisdom to me was that there were only two things I had to do in life. Stay Black and die. All we have to do is be ourselves and die. Just be you, and I’ll be and live to the end. I don’t have to be popular, successful, fruitful, famous, or glamorous. God owes us nothing, but he gave us everything in Jesus and his death you us. God’s treatment of you and me is way better that we honestly deserve.

As David was stepping in sheep manure, he was earning lessons not just it sheep care, but lessons that taught him to be as strong and compassionate leader.

For me I didn’t learn lessons in the pasture, I learned them in prison. I would have never believed you if you would have told me that I would be training to be a pastor when I enrolled to correctional officers academy for TDCJ. But it was there that I learned lessons that molded me as a pastor and improved my shepherding skills. God used some of the worst people in the state of Texas to teach me life lessons about people that come in really handy. Oh, and the inmates were not that nice either.
I would have never thought welding would teach me about marriage of that, sacking groceries would help me as a father, but God did. He knew.

Look at the last verse - So he shepherd them - He performed toward them the office of a shepherd.
According to the integrity of his heart - literally, “According to the perfection of his heart.” That is, he was upright and pure in the administration of his government. Deal fairly, and rightly. Treat people right
And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands - literally, “by the understanding of his hands” - as if the hand had been endued with intelligence. The skill he needed to be king, he learned in the field.

While you may realize it, God is preparing you through various life experiences to be victorious in life and to minister to others. He is preparing you to lead others through seemingly normal situations. In the every day life scenario of wake up, brush teeth, got work, eat lunch come home, eat dinner, wash clothes, go to bed and get up and do it all over again – in the middle of what you think is a boring, tired routine – God is fashioning you for greatness and service.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

bam

i get upse set at what i call the "Redistribution of the Kingdom." Many people will talk about a growing Church that is nothing more that the flavor of the month. It is just the latest place to be. in truth thier is no real growth at a great many churches only transfer growth. Personally, I don't count this as growth. with that being said let me share a post i read at vinceantonucci.com.

Lobby Tests and Fabric Stores
Maybe I’ve been to your church. Maybe not, but I’ve visited a lot of churches – and I usually try to visit those that are supposed to be growing and doing exciting things, or churches that are very new. So if your church is supposed to be growing, doing exciting things, or is new, maybe I’ve been to your church. If so, here’s what I did …

Whenever I go to a church I do my “lobby test.” I walk around wide-eyed and gawking like an amazed tourist at Disney Land. I walk up to people and say, “Wow, this church is amazing. Do you go here?” When the person proudly answers in the affirmative, I ask, “That’s cool! How long have you attended this church?” After they answer, I ask, “What church did you go to before this one?”

That question was the whole point. I want to find out: Was this person regularly attending a church before attending this church?

The answers are absolutely depressing. In one church I asked forty-two people and every one of them quickly identified their previous church. In every church where I’ve done this a huge majority of the people had come from other churches. And, remember, I only do this in churches that are growing, exciting, new, cool.

Often after they tell me the church they used to attend I ask one more question. I say something like, “Oh. Well this church you’re attending now seems awesome. If you weren’t going here, would you go to that last church, or if not, what church would you go to?” At this point they’re looking at me a little weird, because I’m asking more questions than Judge Ito at the O.J. trial, but still they answer. And, in almost every case, they name a church. Not the church they used to attend; they name a different church they would attend if they stopped going to their current church.

Okay, so you can correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m thinking that if you reach a truly lost person: (1) They wouldn’t be able to tell you what church they were attending, because they weren’t, and (2) They wouldn’t be able to name what other church they would attend. (Like, if for some reason you found me at a fabric store, and asked me which fabric store I would go to if not this one, I would say, “How the crap should I know? I don’t go to fabric stores. It’s weird that I’m even in this one.” If I quickly told you the other fabric store alternatives, you would have to assume that my being in this fabric store was not that surprising).

Am I wrong?

And if I’m right, isn’t this just more evidence that, as I said in my first post: “We absolutely suck at reaching people who are far from God. There are lots of things our churches do well, but if we’re being honest, leading lost people to Jesus is not one of them.” (I have decided to make it a habit to quote myself. Someone has to quote me!)

So enough bad news, I’m even making myself miserable. Next time I’ll start telling you a little about me, and about my church, and sharing some of what we’ve learned about not sucking at reaching people who are far from God.

Until then … blog naked!


- Featured on newchurches.com

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Focus - Psalm 119:1-3

When I was a kid, I used to love to watch wild like shows like Lorene Green’s Wild Kingdom and Marty Stouffer’s Wilds America. I was hooked on that stuff way before there was ever a Discovery Channel or Animal Planet. They would film all of the wild animals in God’s creation. African lions, Mountain Lions, River Otters, Big Horn Sheep, little birds, you name it. They would get you as close as possible and when the wild life went crazy, you were right there with them.

One of the hardest things I think for the camera operator to do is to keep their subject in view when all the craziness was taking place. Think about it. You trying to focus in on a lion as he is victorious over his prey, but you have to be wary of the lion’s pride or some other creature sneaking up on you. But life is a lot like that too. In our fast paced lives if can be easy to get distracted and lose sight. We try to keep everything sighted in but then something moves, we hear a noise and we lose what was in our view.

This happens in the spiritual aspect of our life just like it does in any a part. We have God in center view of our lives and something comes into out lives and we lose contact with God. He was there but now He is out of our eyesight. And often we don’t notice right away that we are losing sight of God. That He is not in the middle of our view finder.

It is so easy for this to happen. King David was a man who truly loved God and found himself in difficult positions because he lost sight of God. He got involved in an affair. He had a man murdered. He was lax as a leader. . He was prevented by God from building the temple because he messed up. He was rebuked by Nathan, God prophet for wanting to do things David’s way. He spent time on the run, as he found himself on the wrong side of the law as a fugitive. Yet he was always trying to pursue God. Time and time again he found Jehovah was in the review mirror and not out in front of him.



Listen to David as he talks to us about this about what he has learned from his mistakes - Psa 119:1-3 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, Who walk in the law of the Lord! (2) Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart! (3) They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways.

David certainly knows what it is means to be obedient and blessed as he has walked on both sides of that street. David understands that if we are faithful to God there is a rich life store for us. He begins the first two verses begin with the word “Blessed.” David tells us to be blessed, to be made happy, we need to do this. Our happiness as well as our joy is dependant up this our focus upon God and His ways.
• So, our goal David tells us is to be undefiled in our ways. To have integrity to our actions, the ways of our daily life.
• In the next verse he adds to it by saying if we live our lives so the not only are full of integrity but they honor the Testimony of who God is.
• Simply enough. Right? Well it might sound simple but if we have a life that is cluttered and you are distracted then you might have a hard time seeing God and seeing what David is talking about.
• But the back halves of these verses are what we need to look at if we find our lives are not where they should be.
• The “Blessed, David says, are those who keep who walk in the law of the Lord. Those that live in the truth of His teachings. Those who not only know but carry out his, but are immersed in it. Those who are not just swimming in God’s words, but they are deep sea diving in. David is referencing those who live in the word.
o You might not see it this way but this has a lot to do with the car you road or drove in today. Cars are better engineered to day. They are stronger and impact resistant. Several years ago Denise was parked in a mini-van and another car backed into her. When she got out of the car and looked to see the damage, but none could be found. But the other car had a huge dent in their chrome bumper. The car maker had manufactured our car in such a way that there was not any damage. The plastic had bounced back and the car was still road worthy
o The same goes with God. If we seek Him and let Him engineer us thought His Word, when Satan backs into us, their will be no impact in our lives. No damage will take place. We will bounce back like the bumper and we will keep on trucking.

• Furthermore David declares that if we keep God’s testimonies – keep His statues, follow His directions in this Life Guide, or as we know it the Bible and completely pursue Him with our heart … Then you will be blessed.
• with the whole heart, that is passionately pursue him like a boxer after the Belt and the Title, like the hunter trailing after a trophy buck, go all out, spare no expense, and all or nothing, go for broke in your Chase for God and His blessing on your life. Don’t stop, Don’t give up, Don’t give in, don’t quit, chase Him, Hunt, stalk, hound, shadow
• So what are you chasing instead of God that is so important? Listen to Solomon, David’s son, a guy who has seen it all, had it all, done it all and left hollow because of it.
• Ecc 1:1-9 - These are the words of the Teacher, [1] King David's son, who ruled in Jerusalem. (2) "Everything is meaningless," says the Teacher, "utterly meaningless!" (3) What do people get for all their hard work? (4) Generations come and go, but nothing really changes. (5) The sun rises and sets and hurries around to rise again. (6) The wind blows south and north, here and there, twisting back and forth, getting nowhere. (7) The rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows again to the sea. (8) Everything is so weary and tiresome! No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. (9) History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.

• Solomon is a guy who got caught up in all the trappings of the world and had completely lost sight of God. He was so deep in sin and was so out of focus that he had to get a periscope just to peek up a Jehovah. And when He tried to do it his way, and tried every luxury and tasted every sin. He found that it was all a waste of time and it meant nothing.

They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways.
• You can’t two-time God. You can’t be dating evil and try to kiss God good night. I’ just can’t work out.
• Look at it this way. You are crossing over an icy lake. With every step you take you can hear the ice grown and creek. The ice underneath you is cracking. Suddenly right a long crack separates the ice into two halves. But you don’t know which side to go jump over to. You just stand there with one foot on each half as they began to separate. You could go to the left, where the ice not as strong looking, but your not sure. You could step to the right, but it might not be a strong as it looks. And while you wait inch by inch the toe pieces of ice float apart. If you don’t make a decision you will go into the freezing water and possible die.
• That is our dilemma. Trust God and what seems too good to be true. Or keep on doing what we always have and that has never worked. But you can’t both.
• Matthew says is this way - Mat 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
• You can’t serve both God and this world; you can’t split time with God and yourself. You can’t be the person that says I don’t believe in abortion, but work at the abortion clinic. If you believe in God then pursue him, chase him, run after Him. Get Him in you sights and scurry after Him. Get Close to him, Get him in your view, adjust the focus of your life on him and find the blessings you desire and he has planned for your life.

So where are you? Are you trying to straddle the fence. Are you pushing you luck hoping you can keep standing on both pieces of ice. If continue like you are you will end up falling in, getting all wet, getting hurt, embarrassed, and in difficult and compromising situations.

Focus - Psalm 119:1-3

When I was a kid, I used to love to watch wild like shows like Lorene Green’s Wild Kingdom and Marty Stouffer’s Wilds America. I was hooked on that stuff way before there was ever a Discovery Channel or Animal Planet. They would film all of the wild animals in God’s creation. African lions, Mountain Lions, River Otters, Big Horn Sheep, little birds, you name it. They would get you as close as possible and when the wild life went crazy, you were right there with them.

One of the hardest things I think for the camera operator to do is to keep their subject in view when all the craziness was taking place. Think about it. You trying to focus in on a lion as he is victorious over his prey, but you have to be wary of the lion’s pride or some other creature sneaking up on you. But life is a lot like that too. In our fast paced lives if can be easy to get distracted and lose sight. We try to keep everything sighted in but then something moves, we hear a noise and we lose what was in our view.

This happens in the spiritual aspect of our life just like it does in any a part. We have God in center view of our lives and something comes into out lives and we lose contact with God. He was there but now He is out of our eyesight. And often we don’t notice right away that we are losing sight of God. That He is not in the middle of our view finder.

It is so easy for this to happen. King David was a man who truly loved God and found himself in difficult positions because he lost sight of God. He got involved in an affair. He had a man murdered. He was lax as a leader. . He was prevented by God from building the temple because he messed up. He was rebuked by Nathan, God prophet for wanting to do things David’s way. He spent time on the run, as he found himself on the wrong side of the law as a fugitive. Yet he was always trying to pursue God. Time and time again he found Jehovah was in the review mirror and not out in front of him.



Listen to David as he talks to us about this about what he has learned from his mistakes - Psa 119:1-3 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, Who walk in the law of the Lord! (2) Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart! (3) They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways.

David certainly knows what it is means to be obedient and blessed as he has walked on both sides of that street. David understands that if we are faithful to God there is a rich life store for us. He begins the first two verses begin with the word “Blessed.” David tells us to be blessed, to be made happy, we need to do this. Our happiness as well as our joy is dependant up this our focus upon God and His ways.
• So, our goal David tells us is to be undefiled in our ways. To have integrity to our actions, the ways of our daily life.
• In the next verse he adds to it by saying if we live our lives so the not only are full of integrity but they honor the Testimony of who God is.
• Simply enough. Right? Well it might sound simple but if we have a life that is cluttered and you are distracted then you might have a hard time seeing God and seeing what David is talking about.
• But the back halves of these verses are what we need to look at if we find our lives are not where they should be.
• The “Blessed, David says, are those who keep who walk in the law of the Lord. Those that live in the truth of His teachings. Those who not only know but carry out his, but are immersed in it. Those who are not just swimming in God’s words, but they are deep sea diving in. David is referencing those who live in the word.
o You might not see it this way but this has a lot to do with the car you road or drove in today. Cars are better engineered to day. They are stronger and impact resistant. Several years ago Denise was parked in a mini-van and another car backed into her. When she got out of the car and looked to see the damage, but none could be found. But the other car had a huge dent in their chrome bumper. The car maker had manufactured our car in such a way that there was not any damage. The plastic had bounced back and the car was still road worthy
o The same goes with God. If we seek Him and let Him engineer us thought His Word, when Satan backs into us, their will be no impact in our lives. No damage will take place. We will bounce back like the bumper and we will keep on trucking.

• Furthermore David declares that if we keep God’s testimonies – keep His statues, follow His directions in this Life Guide, or as we know it the Bible and completely pursue Him with our heart … Then you will be blessed.
• with the whole heart, that is passionately pursue him like a boxer after the Belt and the Title, like the hunter trailing after a trophy buck, go all out, spare no expense, and all or nothing, go for broke in your Chase for God and His blessing on your life. Don’t stop, Don’t give up, Don’t give in, don’t quit, chase Him, Hunt, stalk, hound, shadow
• So what are you chasing instead of God that is so important? Listen to Solomon, David’s son, a guy who has seen it all, had it all, done it all and left hollow because of it.
• Ecc 1:1-9 - These are the words of the Teacher, [1] King David's son, who ruled in Jerusalem. (2) "Everything is meaningless," says the Teacher, "utterly meaningless!" (3) What do people get for all their hard work? (4) Generations come and go, but nothing really changes. (5) The sun rises and sets and hurries around to rise again. (6) The wind blows south and north, here and there, twisting back and forth, getting nowhere. (7) The rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows again to the sea. (8) Everything is so weary and tiresome! No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. (9) History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.

• Solomon is a guy who got caught up in all the trappings of the world and had completely lost sight of God. He was so deep in sin and was so out of focus that he had to get a periscope just to peek up a Jehovah. And when He tried to do it his way, and tried every luxury and tasted every sin. He found that it was all a waste of time and it meant nothing.

They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways.
• You can’t two-time God. You can’t be dating evil and try to kiss God good night. I’ just can’t work out.
• Look at it this way. You are crossing over an icy lake. With every step you take you can hear the ice grown and creek. The ice underneath you is cracking. Suddenly right a long crack separates the ice into two halves. But you don’t know which side to go jump over to. You just stand there with one foot on each half as they began to separate. You could go to the left, where the ice not as strong looking, but your not sure. You could step to the right, but it might not be a strong as it looks. And while you wait inch by inch the toe pieces of ice float apart. If you don’t make a decision you will go into the freezing water and possible die.
• That is our dilemma. Trust God and what seems too good to be true. Or keep on doing what we always have and that has never worked. But you can’t both.
• Matthew says is this way - Mat 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
• You can’t serve both God and this world; you can’t split time with God and yourself. You can’t be the person that says I don’t believe in abortion, but work at the abortion clinic. If you believe in God then pursue him, chase him, run after Him. Get Him in you sights and scurry after Him. Get Close to him, Get him in your view, adjust the focus of your life on him and find the blessings you desire and he has planned for your life.

So where are you? Are you trying to straddle the fence. Are you pushing you luck hoping you can keep standing on both pieces of ice. If continue like you are you will end up falling in, getting all wet, getting hurt, embarrassed, and in difficult and compromising situations.