You had better check your credit score

What is your credit score? And no I am not talking about the one they sing about on free credit report .com. A credit score is all about points you accumulate with your credit history. You borrow money and pay it back on time your score goes up. The longer you have been borrowing your score goes up. The less you owe compared to your credit limit your score goes up. It’s all about earning points; we as a society are all about earning points.  The question becomes when are points awarded? For many, even some Christians we award ourselves points for doing good things, for doing good things for our family, our friends, volunteering for things at church. Now don’t get me wrong these are all good things but when it comes to your heart what kind of points are you really earning? Especially when you consider Luke 6:32-33 which says.

³² “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! ³³ And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much!

There are many who if they inquired about their eternal credit score they would be shocked because it would be at zero, because you don’t get points for loving those who love you, anyone can to that. The whole credit score and points thing is all tongue and cheek because you don’t get into Heaven on a point scale. You get into Heaven because of what Christ did on the cross and by His grace. Things you have no control over, you just have to confess, repent and trust in Christ and when you do this then and only then will you be able to love the unlovable and you do this not to earn any points but because Christ first loved you.

Nice Wolf

 I was reading through the beatitudes and a couple of things struck me. One being that the first three God blesses those who are poor, hungry and those who weep all could possible out of a person’s control. It could just be the circumstances that they were born into or by the actions of others. However it’s the third one that really caught my attention today and that is what blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you mock you and curse you for being a Christian. Here is what struck me; for people to know this about you, you have to do something. You have to do something so that people will know that you follow Jesus. I’ll guarantee that if you do this and do it right, by speaking nothing but the truth there will be those who hate, exclude, mock, and curse you. If no one has ever done this to you, you are probably not doing anything for Christ.

When you get to verses 24 and 25 of Luke 6 these things are pretty easy to understand. The rich will get theirs those who laugh now will cry later we get that. But its verse 26 that really caught my attention today it says:

“Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets. (Luke 6:26 ESV)

If you hold back the truth, if you are afraid to speak of Jesus, if you think you might offend someone, if you are PC when it comes to the Gospel woe to you, for you have become a false prophet. Many people become false prophets out of good intentions by not wanting to turn someone off. In so many cases today it’s not so much what a person says that makes them a false prophet it’s what they don’t say. They are a wolf in sheep’s clothing and don’t even know it. Nice wolf.  Don’t let that happen to you by quote un-quote being nice.

Here are the Beatitudes if you wish to read them:

²⁰ Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. ²¹ God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied.God blesses you who weep now, for in due time you will laugh. ²² What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. ²³ When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way. ²⁴ “What sorrow awaits you who are rich, for you have your only happiness now. ²⁵ What sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now, for a time of awful hunger awaits you. What sorrow awaits you who laugh now, for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow. ²⁶ What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds, for their ancestors also praised false prophets.

Are you sick?

Do you know? Do you know that you are a sinner? Well if you don’t know for sure l’ll help you out, you are. If you realize that you are a sinner don’t feel bad be glad because that is exactly why Jesus came to the earth was for you. Now if you think that you are a good person and there is nothing wrong with you now you have a problem. Because if you think that you are “good,” that you are healthy, Jesus did not come for you and that’s bad. It may sound cruel and insensitive but I sure hope you are sick and you know it. Because if you don’t realize that you are sick and go to Jesus you will die and spend eternity in Hell. Kind of like a few years ago. I had a bleeding ulcer and almost bled out. I thought I was fine and was not going to go to the ER. However at the last minute something nudged me to go. Again I thought I was fine and if I would have went back to bed like I had planned I never would have woke up again. If you go through life thinking that you are good and that you have no reason for going to the doctor (Jesus) you will end up in Hell. Realize that you are sick, (a sinner) and go to Jesus and confess that you are a sinner, repent and you will receive eternal life.

Luke 5:31

Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. ³² I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”

Tear a hole in it.

¹⁸ Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus, ¹⁹ but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus. ²⁰ Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”

There are so many different levels to this short little story it’s not funny. First why were they bringing him to Jesus? To be healed or to have his sins forgiven or both? Jesus knew what the paralyzed man needed most and that was to be saved. So when you think of yourself or others what do you or they need most? The answer would be the same, to be saved. Then if you read on Jesus did heal the man but it was not really just so the man would be able to walk, it was for the benefit of all those who knew him so perhaps they would be saved as well. Jesus always has the big picture in mind. The next level would be about friends, what kind of friends do you have and what kind of friend are you? I once had a person tell me that they did not know what could have happened over the weekend because they got drunk and passed out. They were afraid of what their friends may have done to them while they were out. My response was if you have to worry about things like that are these people really your friends? Here in this story the paralyzed man had friends that were persistent for his benefit. They didn’t just say they were going to do something, or when it became difficult said, “Well we tried.” No, they crawled up on the roof tore a hole in it to get their friend to Jesus. I have to ask do you have friends like that? If you don’t you should. Then when you look at it from the other side as a believer are you ready to go to these lengths for those who are not saved? Will you even start? Will you give up when it gets tough or will you crawl up on a roof and tear a hole in it?  

Resturant Review: High Life Lounge

Made an unexpected trip to Des Moines on Sunday and visited the High Life Lounge. Just a place you have to experience once. From the wood paneling to the green shag carpeting you’d think you were in your grandparent’s house back in the 70’s. Never thought a place like this would get a 4 for atmosphere. We started with the bacon wrapped tater tots now I have to admit that I don’t like jalapeno peppers but the combination made them good. Most of us had the chicken it was very good. The Mac and cheese was just like Teresa makes and I don’t give those kinds of compliments out very often. One of the most pleasant surprises was the roll that came with the meal. I usually don’t do bread and it was tasty. I do however need to comment on something that usually does not get mentioned and that’s the size of the glasses that the drinks are served in. I do appreciate a good tall glass of water instead of the kiddie glasses some places try to give you when you order water. Again you need to visit this place just once.

 Price range: (everyday, a night out, a special occasion only) every day

Overall rankings all based 1 to 5

Atmosphere: 4

Service:        3

Food:           4

Value:           4

Overall          4

High Life Lounge.

200 SW 2nd St
Des Moines, IA

BBQ Joint Reviews: Hickory Park

Hickory Park  (Ames IA) *

Full service dining, Very large, extensive menu great for groups with people who don’t care for BBQ. The desert menu looked awesome.

Sauces:   Two to choose from neither very good.

Ribs:  Good smoke, if they were rubbed  I couldn’t tell,  way overcooked and cold if that’s possibly, almost, fatty just not very good  

Pulled Pork:  actually sliced, good smoke no rub, was cold.

Sides:  A very good selection the Mac and cheese was okay the coleslaw and the sauerkraut were dry like they had been sitting out to long.

Overall:  I did not want to go to Hickory Park because I was afraid of being disappointed but so many people recommended it even the day I went I asked around Ames and everyone said you have to go to Hickory Park. In the end I was not disappointed, I was actually sorry I went. Have all these people ever had good barbeque? Hickory Park is to barbeque what McDonalds is to steak. The best thing I had was the water. In reality the ribs and the pork were smoked well. The mystique of Hickory Park must carry a lot of weight because the food does not. It was kind of funny that in a conversation with the waitress before we ordered I told her that I reviewed and blogged on BBQ places. Her response was “I don’t cook it” she knew more than I realized.  Usually I am so full I don’t order dessert, in this case I just wanted out. On the bright side no one got sick like at the Q.

Overall list todate:

1. Jethro’s Des Moines and Altoona ***** 

2. Jimmy Jacks Iowa City *****

3. Rib Crib ****

4. The Flying Mango  Des Moines ****

5. Woody’s Smoke Shack Des Moines ***

6. Bandannas **

7. Smokey D’s **

9. Hickory Park  (Ames IA) *

10.  The Q (Des Moines)

Is your mind a mess?

In our world today where so many things compete for our attention sometimes our minds can be like a food processor with everything spinning around so very quickly getting all mixed up. The things in our minds can become so mixed up that we can no longer recognize what we started with, especially the important things. There is nothing more frustrating for me than when I take the time to pray that all of these other things rush into my mind and it effects my conversation with the Father. It can be like 15 people all trying to talk to you at once. Sometimes when it comes to prayer my mind is a mess.  Today in Luke 5:16     I found something that may be helpful it says.
But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.

To me this means more than physically walking into the woods to get away from it all. It means withdrawing from all of the “stuff” going on in my life and spending that quality time with God focusing on only Him. Jesus could have just snapped his fingers or wiggled his nose and made everything around Him stop. But Jesus chose to withdraw for prayer to show us how to get away and be with Him. Spending time with Him is the most important thing that you can do every day, figure out how to do it and do it right.

Fish or Fisherman?

When Jesus tells a person to do something it’s probably a good idea to do it, no matter if you are the fish or the fisherman. Just like in Luke 5 with the whole fisher’s of men thing. When you study the first part if this chapter you will find that not only did these fishermen have no luck that night but what Jesus told them to do was against everything that they knew. 

⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

First of all commercial fishermen back then fished at night and along the banks and Jesus told them to go out in the day and fish in the deep. To do this required trust in Jesus and when they did so the amount of fish they caught almost sunk the boat. It’s no different for us when we feel that Jesus is telling us to do something we should do it even if it is something that goes against everything we know. There are some other things to note in verses 8-11.

⁸ When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be around you.” ⁹ For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. ¹⁰ His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” ¹¹ And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.

There are some definite things to take from all this  whether you are the fish or fisherman and they are:

Realize what Jesus can do.

Fall to your knees before Jesus

Repent

Be awestruck by what Jesus does

Leave everything else behind and follow Him.

The Dash

It's been a very long week at work so I'm going in early again today so I am taking the easy way out. I'm not one who really like to read poetry but here is a poem that I stole from my daughters blog, that deserves to be reposted. 
A poem By Linda EllisI read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning to the end

He noted that first came the date of her birth
And spoke the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years

For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not how much we own;
The cars, the house, the cash,
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard.
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left,
That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read
With your life’s actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?

I would squash it.

In reading Luke 4 today I came to the conclusion that there are three main types of temptation and they fall under the following categories, provision, pride, and power. If you are ever tempted to do something wrong it will probably fall under one of these things. The first thing you have to do is recognize the temptation and that can be very difficult because Satan is an expert and making temptations look like very good things. The second would be to find a way to fight off and resist the tempting temptations. The answer to both problems is exactly the same and Jesus tells us the answer in Luke 4 when each time when he is tempted by Satan himself in each of the three categories. Jesus says “the scriptures say” So knowing scripture helps you identify and fight temptation. I also find it interesting that if he wanted Jesus could have just squashed Satan like a pesky little mosquito. He had the ability to do it but chose not to. Now if it was me and something was irritating over and over again I would have squashed it knowing I could. But for some reason which we really do not know Jesus chose not to. It could be here to show us how we can overcome temptation and it’s not in our own power but in His. I would still just have squashed it. But that is why he is God and I am not.

Stick to your guns

Saying you are a Christian does not make you a Christian. How Jesus is viewed is what determines whether or not a person is a Christian. There are entire churches and denominations out there today that claim to be Christian but by their view of Jesus are not. This applies to individuals as well. Having the proper view of Jesus is essential because a Christian is what? A follower of Jesus Christ. This should not come as a surprise because it was predicted long ago. Here in Luke 2:34 at 8 days old during Jesus’ dedication it was said:

Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, but he will be a joy to many others. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him.

During His three years of ministry here on earth what did Jesus do? He brought joy to many and there were many who opposed him. I don’t know if there was such a thing back then as political correctness however if there was I’m so glad Jesus was not PC and would change His words as not to offend those who were opposed to Him.  He spoke the truth and stuck to his guns. A good lesson for all of us, we should learn what is the truth, get the proper view of Jesus, and stick to our guns. While realizing that we too will be able to bring joy to some while others will oppose us.

Protect yourself

Jude 1:22-23
²² And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. ²³ Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.

These two verses are packed full of things that we are called to do that are sometimes very difficult. First we must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. This tells me we need to be patient with those who are just learning about Christ and take the time to disciple them. Second when it says rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment this tells me that we must be out spreading the Gospel Message and then spending time with them after they accept Christ. Then there is the third thing, show mercy to still others. This can be the difficult part showing mercy to those whose hearts are hard and eyes are scaled because these are the people who don’t like you much and would love to make life miserable for you. We are still called to show mercy to them, we don’t have to go on vacation with them but we do need to show them mercy. At the end of verse 24 we are left with a caution which I think has two meanings. One is when we go to these people that we are not influenced by their sins, we need to make sure we protect ourselves from taking part in the things that they do. We need to put on God’s word much like a HAZMAT suit before we go in so we don’t get contaminated. Because remember it’s our job to go in. Christ came to earth and was not effected by all the sin around us. He should be our modle. Then the other meaning has to do with the old saying hate the sin and not the sinner. If you go in with the purpose of sharing the Gospel hating the person you are sharing it with I don’t think you are going to be very successful in fact you will do more damage than not going in at all. So before you do anything it is essential to cover yourself with God’s word so that you can be protected and effective.

Be Prepared

Be prepared. One thing about the Bible that I often forget is that it tells us what to expect. When things happen in my life I act surprised. However if I stop and think about it, whatever is going on in my life the Bible has already addressed it. For instance whenever someone causes division I’ll often think I never saw that one coming, but as usual it’s in the Book.

Jude 1:17-19 is just one example.

¹⁷ But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ said. ¹⁸ They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. ¹⁹ These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them.

There are people who purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires, which may in fact cause division. So why should we be surprised when it happens. Instead of being surprised we should adopt the Boy Scout motto and be prepared. If you are prepared just think of the grief you will spare yourself and how much more effective you will be.

Resturant Review: Linn Street Cafe

Teresa and I continued our Living Social adventure last night and went to the Linn Street Café. This is going to be an especially hard review for me to write in fact I had to add an extra category to rate which is value. Because I have to work really hard at being objective because this is one of the most expensive places I have ever ate. So here it goes. I’ll start with the best first the service was excellent our waiter was knowledgeable, friendly, attentive and personable. The atmosphere was nice but not over the top. On the negative side my water tasted like cucumbers, not sure if it was supposed to or not. Now for the food I had the house salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing it was excellent. Bread with honey butter was brought to the table, excellent as well and I usually don’t do bread. For the main course I ordered the  

 Iowa Beef Tenderloin
served with Sautéed Seasonal Vegetables, Chive Mashed Potatoes, and a Cabernet Demi Glace

 The potatoes were very good the vegetables were julienned carrots, zucchini, onions and squash. They were outstanding Teresa doesn’t ever do vegetables and liked them. The thing I can’t pronounce was a sauce that was like nothing I have ever had before, extremely good. Now for the beef tenderloin, average flavor, I requested medium rare and it came very medium to medium well which dried it out. For the price except for the potatoes portion sizes were on the small side. However the presentation of the food was very good. The places I tend to eat you usually don’t hear me speak of presentation.

Overall having the $20 in free food helped my physiological state of mind tremendously. If I could objectively remove the cost from my mind an excellent place to eat on special occasions. In the end my beautiful date was very happy and that is worth something.

 Price range: (everyday, a night out, a special occasion only) special occasion only

Overall rankings all based 1 to 5

Atmosphere: 4

Service:        5

Food:           4.5

Value:           2

Overall          4

Linn Street Café

121 North Linn Street
Iowa city, IA 52245
(319) 337-7370

God built a prison and called it Hell

Jude 1:6-7

⁶ And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment. ⁷ And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.

Hell is one of those things that a lot of people would whether not talk about but it does exist and is a terrible place. I have talked about Hell often in these blogs but today I wanted to say something from a little different perspective. Some people will say how can a loving God send anyone to Hell? The answer is because he is a loving God. God made Hell to protect us. Hell is not much different than a prison. We build prisons to protect the people; a person does not just end up in prison they chose to go to prison when they broke the law. Un-believers choose to go to Hell because they refuse to trust in Jesus, they just don’t end up there. What would Heaven be like if there were those there that didn’t love Christ? It wouldn’t be Heaven. God built a prison and called it Hell. He built it to proctect those he loves. Have you ever stopped to think about that?

Resturant Review: Thirsty Camel

My parents had been wanting to take us to the Thirsty Camel for some time, especially for the Friday night special the all you can eat catfish. The Thirsty Camel is truly one of those places that is out in the middle of nowhere. Once we got there this set up was kind of interesting big open dining area. There were booths along the walls and the tables in the middle were few and far between. They literally could double the amount of tables in the place. It made the place feel big and wide open which is not a bad thing. The salad bar came with the meal and was limited but not too bad. Now for the catfish, it has been many years since I have had all you can eat catfish, I was looking forward to it however when my meal came there were two catfish on the plate that must have been still swimming in the river before they served them. They had been sitting for some time and were cool and soggy. Not a good start. I ordered hash browns and they were nothing to write home about short on flavor a little undercooked. I did ask for two more fish and had to wait awhile but when they were brought out they were excellent worth the wait, hot and crispy. Teresa had the camel hump (sirloin) I took a bite not a lot of flavor but hard to judge because she ordered it medium well (burnt.) The service was poor I think the waitress was nice enough but it was hard to tell because I never saw her. I must have had a one water limit never did get a refill and waited a long time to ask for the seconds on catfish.

 Price range: (everyday, a night out, a special occasion only) A night out

Overall rankings all based 1 to 5

Atmosphere 3

Service 2

Food 2

Overall 2

Overall, I would go if someone asked but would not go on my own or take anyone.

Thirsty Camel Supper ClubThirsty Camel Supper Club

18747 Highway 70 Conesville, IA 52739-8056 - (319) 725-6891

Mankinds lightning rod

Jude 1:5

⁵ So I want to remind you, though you already know these things, that Jesus first rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt, but later he destroyed those who did not remain faithful.

When I read this verse the first thing popped into my head was the difference between common grace and saving grace. Of course saving grace is the grace that God shows by choosing to save any of us from Hell. None of us deserve Heaven but only by his saving grace are we kept from Hell.

Common grace is something that I had never really considered until I studied it. I used to think that the good things that happened in life were all based on the efforts of humans or just plain luck, little did I know that when something good happened no matter who did it a believer or an unbeliever that it was only by common grace.  Take for example if an atheist doctor saved a dying person, was it his knowledge that healed the person? Yes and no, yes it was his knowledge that did it but it was only by God’s common grace that he was allowed to have that knowledge. Common grace is mankinds lighting rod and is what keeps anyone from being stuck by lighting at their very first sin. We think that we live in an evil world but little do we know that common grace is what restrains people from being as evil as they could be.

Common grace is also responsible for the talents that people have, the music we listen to, the food that is prepared for us, the athletes we watch, the art we look at, the books we read, the movies we enjoy, the list goes on and on. No matter who has these talents believer or unbeliever their works are all just the results of God's common grace. You should be able to come up with a minimum of 10 things that you can see from right where you are that you should thank God for right now as a result of his common grace.

Hell's VIP Lounge

Jude 1:3-4
³ Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. ⁴ I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Did you ever stop and think what it would be like for a pastor in Hell? Perhaps not, but I’m thinking there is a special place in Hell for Pastors. Something like a VIP lounge (very incinerated pastor). Because the Bible does say the preachers and teachers are held to a higher standard. This verse is of course not just talking about pastor’s but of all kinds of people who are in the church you have to be careful because Satan does some of his best work from inside the church and if he can get a pastor to do his work he can be very successful. There are all kinds of people who write bestselling books, have shows on TV, who get quoted all the time, who have mega churches who in the end will end up in Hell because all along they have denied Jesus. You have to be careful following any of these people to closely, you have to be able to test what they say against scripture.

One other thing that you may have not thought about God is not surprised when “church people” or even when a pastor goes to hell because right here it says for it was recorded long ago. You know it happens so be on guard.  

One bad apple

Nehemiah 9 is just packed full of all of the things that God had done for the Israelites, everything from providing to guiding. Miracle after miracle is documented in this chapter. But tucked away in chapter 9 between all of the miracles are some things that in our minds shouldn’t be there. They are as follows:   

¹⁶ “But our ancestors were proud and stubborn, and they paid no attention to your commands. ¹⁷ They refused to obey and did not remember the miracles you had done for them. Instead, they became stubborn and appointed a leader to take them back to their slavery in Egypt! But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to become angry, and rich in unfailing love. You did not abandon them,

²⁶ “But despite all this, they were disobedient and rebelled against you. They turned their backs on your Law, they killed your prophets who warned them to return to you, and they committed terrible blasphemies.

²⁸ “But as soon as they were at peace, your people again committed evil in your sight, and once more you let their enemies conquer them. Yet whenever your people turned and cried to you again for help, you listened once more from heaven. In your wonderful mercy, you rescued them many times!  ²⁹ “You warned them to return to your Law, but they became proud and obstinate and disobeyed your commands. They did not follow your regulations, by which people will find life if only they obey. They stubbornly turned their backs on you and refused to listen.

Proud, stubborn, paid no attention, refused to obey, did not remember, disobedient, rebelled, turned their backs, committed blasphemy, committed evil, and obstinate; how dare they do all of these things after everything God had done for them. Why do they do these things when it’s obvious everything God has done for them?

You know where this is going don’t you? You don’t have to look too far to find a bad apple. All you have to do is look into a mirror. We are no different than the Israelites. If you take a step back and think of all of the grace that God has shown you, and all of the things he has done for you why do you become proud, stubborn, pay no attention, refuse to obey, not remember, be disobedient, rebellious, turn your back, commit blasphemy, commit evil , and be obstinate? Why is that? It is something that we should be thinking about every day. We should also be very thankful for the truth that verse 31 of Nehemiah says:

³¹ But in your great mercy, you did not destroy them completely or abandon them forever. What a gracious and merciful God you are!

Today think about how sinful you are and how gracious God is and thank him for it.

Get off the sidlines

In Nehemiah chapter 4 Nehemiah set out to build a wall just as God had called him to do and as we saw yesterday he was a man of prayer. While he was doing what God had called him to do others got word of it and they didn’t like it much and threatened to attack and what did Nehemiah do? Once again he prayed in verse 9. There is another important lesson to learn here that some people tend to forget about, not only did he pray but he acted. Some people pray and don’t do anything to help themselves. God is sovereign but sometimes I think he wants you at least to participate. There are those that may pray to have a broken relationship reconciled yet don’t make a move towards reconciliation. There are those who may pray for a job but won’t go fill out an application. Nehemiah turned his prayers into plans and if you read all of chapter 4 you will see that he was successful. God gets the credit but Nehemiah was able to participate in the success. Perhaps a good piece of advice for all of us would be to turn our prayers into plans and participate in God’s plan for us instead of just standing on the sidelines waiting for something to happen.

Nehemiah 4:

⁹ But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves.

 ¹⁶ But from then on, only half my men worked while the other half stood guard with spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. The leaders stationed themselves behind the people of Judah ¹⁷ who were building the wall.

It never hurts to ask

It never hurts to ask. I was reminded of that today in
 Nehemiah 2:1-5

¹ Early the following spring, in the month of Nisan,^[a] during the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign, I was serving the king his wine. I had never before appeared sad in his presence. ² So the king asked me, “Why are you looking so sad? You don’t look sick to me. You must be deeply troubled.”Then I was terrified, ³ but I replied, “Long live the king! How can I not be sad? For the city where my ancestors are buried is in ruins, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.”⁴ The king asked, “Well, how can I help you?”With a prayer to the God of heaven ⁵ I replied, “If it please the king, and if you are pleased with me, your servant, send me to Judah to rebuild the city where my ancestors are buried.”

Nehemiah had something troubling him and needed help from the king. When it got to the point that the king knew something was wrong and called him on it Nehemiah had a decision to make, to tell the truth not knowing what the consequences were or to lie and say oh it’s nothing. He made the absolutely the right decision and prayed to God first before answering with the truth.

We face the same decisions when someone asks something or things look bleak if the first thing that we would do was to throw up a quick prayer to God he would be honored and we would be blessed. We often make the mistake of reacting first and then really having to pray afterwards becasue we had made the wrong choice.  Knowing that you’ve talked to the Boss before proceeding on anything should give you the confidence that you’ve been heard. It may not turn out the way that you thought it should but it will turn out the way God knew it would and that should be good enough for us.  

Nehemiah asked God for help before asking the king for help and the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt. I’m sure it did not go the way Nehemiah had planned, but it was no surprise to God how it went. The same thing can be said of you. If you ask Him for help and your trust in Jesus the end will not be a surprise but how you get there will be. Just remember it doesn’t hurt to ask.  

You can't have one without the other

Nehemiah 1:6-9

 ⁶ listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! ⁷ We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.
⁸ “Please remember what you told your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations. ⁹ But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.’

As I read these verses I am immediately reminded of two things and one of the two is sometimes forgotten in today’s society. The first is confession. We must confess of our sins. An interesting point here is that Nehemiah is praying for his family that they too have sinned, just like Job did for his family. Perhaps something we should all do as well. The second thing the thing that does get forgotten is repentance. It’s one thing to ask for forgiveness for something and to never have any intention of changing your behavior. I think of a person who uses God’s name in vain and then says “forgive me Lord” and turns right around and does it over and over again. That just does not make sense and makes me think that when they ask for forgiveness they are just asking for permission to take the Lord’s name in vain again and again. You can't have one without the other. To repent is to turn away from and to hate what you just did.  You have to change your mind.  Have you changed your mind about sin? Do you truly repent of your sin?

The cool part is at the end of verse 9 if you confess and repent it does not matter what you have done, how far down the road you have went that Jesus will bring you back and we can all take comfort in that.

Do I need to draw you a picture?

When the time comes and no one knows when that is, Jesus will return and there will be judgment. So if you need me to draw you a picture here it is. This comes from Joel 2 and is thought to be written 400 to 900 years before the birth of Christ. I realize it is a bit more scripture than usual but I encourage you to read it and I’ll have just a few thoughts at the end.

 ¹ Sound the alarm in Jerusalem! Raise the battle cry on my holy mountain! Let everyone tremble in fear because the day of the Lord is upon us. ² It is a day of darkness and gloom, a day of thick clouds and deep blackness. Suddenly, like dawn spreading across the mountains, a great and mighty army appears. Nothing like it has been seen before or will ever be seen again. ³ Fire burns in front of them, and flames follow after them. Ahead of them the land lies as beautiful as the Garden of Eden. Behind them is nothing but desolation; not one thing escapes. ⁴ They look like horses; they charge forward like warhorses. ⁵ Look at them as they leap along the mountaintops. Listen to the noise they make—like the rumbling of chariots, like the roar of fire sweeping across a field of stubble, or like a mighty army moving into battle. ⁶ Fear grips all the people; every face grows pale with terror.
⁷ The attackers march like warriors and scale city walls like soldiers. Straight forward they march, never breaking rank. ⁸ They never jostle each other; each moves in exactly the right position. They break through defenses without missing a step. ⁹ They swarm over the city and run along its walls. They enter all the houses, climbing like thieves through the windows. ¹⁰ The earth quakes as they advance, and the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars no longer shine. ¹¹ The Lord is at the head of the column. He leads them with a shout. This is his mighty army, and they follow his orders. The day of the Lord is an awesome, terrible thing. Who can possibly survive?

 ¹² That is why the Lord says, “Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. ¹³ Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish. ¹⁴ Who knows? Perhaps he will give you a reprieve, sending you a blessing instead of this curse. Perhaps you will be able to offer grain and wine
to the Lord your God as before.

Five thoughts from these verses

1.       The day is coming and Jesus will be at the head of the column leading the charge.

2.       It will be an awesome and terrible thing, depending which team you are on

3.       You can’t survive on your own

4.       Turn to him now while there is still time

5.       Jesus is eager to relent; perhaps you will get a reprieve.

No ticket to Hollywood here

Philippians 4:13
¹³ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Sounds great doesn’t it. Does this mean I will win next year’s American Idol or So you think you can dance? I very well could make the show ,much like the people in this video.

But me winning is not very likely, just ask my family. I will have to admit that I have thought in the past that someday I would just wake up some morning and through some miracle of Christ I would become a good singer. I’m thinking that if God wanted me to be a good singer he would have done it by now.

But the point of all this is being realistic. This is one of those verses that some will pull out of context and say if you believe enough and have enough faith you can become a great singer, a great dancer, a pro athlete, wealthy beyond your imagination and truth is that’s a lie. All scripture has to be taken in context so with this well know verse I cannot assume that I am going to become extremely talented but what I can take away is the fact that when it comes to the problems, the burden, the struggles of life I can endure it, I can make it, I can even profit from it through Christ who strengthens me. In fact I can even be an encouragement to others because of it.

But you have to keep in mind it's not me but it's He.

Think about these things

[8] Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

(Philippians 4:8 ESV)

 What do you think about? Do you think about the troubles in life, the problems you are facing, or other things that bring you down? What Paul is telling us here is to think about things that will inspire worship of God. Because when you think about what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, or worthy of praise you should not be able to keep yourself from praising God. You will praise and worship something; you can’t help it, that’s the way you were made. It’s just a matter of what you worship. All of the things mentioned in the list that we are to think about were all created by God, he was the author of all of these things so why not praise him for it and worship him for it. Think of a good worship song today, play it and sing along with it and just worship God. Granted worship is not just singing in fact it’s far from that. But sometimes for me anyway a good worship tune gets the ball rolling.

Give Peace a Chance

Give peace a chance. I’ll bet some of you who know me are thinking what in the world has happened to Mike. Give peace a chance? That does not sound like anything he would say. Normally you would be right, however in light of Philippians 4:6-7 my hope is that you would give peace a chance. Because it says:

 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

 Would it have made more sense if the title of today’s blog would have been give the peace of God a chance? If you stop and think about it God’s peace is what we should be striving for while we are here on this earth. How much better off would you be if you were at peace with God? Now realize that peace here does not mean that everything in your world is going to be perfect in fact the truth is we live in a fallen world so it will be far from that, peace is not the absence of trouble. Peace is what you should strive for while in the midst of trouble. When you look at verse 7 it says His peace will guard your heart and your mind. If you can protect those two things your life here on earth will be so much better.  The best example I can give is a person who has been diagnosed as having a terminal illness and they are at peace with dying. That does not mean that they are not going to be going through hell. In fact they will have concerns about their loved ones the will be left here on earth, but the big picture is that they are at peace because of their relationship with Christ.

 Do you realize that you are terminal? You will die there is no getting around that the question becomes are you at peace? If you answered either yes or no, my advice would be to go back up and read verse 6 again.

That is how you get peace. So I ask you, give peace a chance.

Friend or Foe?

 Philippians 3:18
¹⁸ For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.

 I find this verse very interesting. Again it’s one of those verses if you read it very quickly you may miss the meaning. I used to tend to read it as there are those who are just plain enemies of Jesus and those people to me would be very obvious. They would be atheists, agnostics, and all the really bad people.  Like in the Revolutionary War you had two sides, one wore blue the other red they lined up across from each other and fought. You knew who the enemy was. But when you read it slower and take in all in it’s much different, more like the war on Terror. You it’s much harder to tell friend from foe.  The first clue of this difference  should have been when Paul says with tears in his eyes. This tells me that the enemies list contains people that he really cares about. Secondly it does not say enemies of Christ but enemies of the cross of Christ. This means people who add or take away from how Jesus’ death on the cross provided for salvation of those he chooses. The people who add are the religious that think that by living a good life, by doing good things that’s how they get into Heaven. Then there is the other side who say that because that Jesus died on the cross they are saved so they can live however they want. Both sides are dead wrong. So the people Paul has tears for are people who claim to be, and really think that they are Christians but are not.

This saddens me as well there are churches everywhere who have enemies of the cross in them. This even includes Pastor’s, leaders and teachers. It is sad indeed.

Are you an enemy of the cross? Are you sure? To be sure you need to sit under good biblical teaching, study God’s word and stay in constant prayer. Because salvation comes solely from the work of Christ on the cross, there is not one thing that you can do to earn it and you need to live a good life because of it. Choose your side carefully because when you read the Bible it tells you which side wins.

 “The enemies of the Cross of Christ” are bright with the whitewash of outside godliness, while they are rotten within. ~ Charles Spurgeon

Just flush it!

Philippians 3:7-8

⁷ I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.⁸ Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.

A lot of times when I read Philippians 3 I am drawn strait to these verses and I tend to think about all of the “stuff” in our lives that when compared to Christ is garbage. However when you read it in context with the first six verses you can tell that Paul is talking about religion, and indeed religion is garbage. Some Bible translations even use the word dung in place of garbage. Religion is about rules and things where Christianity is about Christ. In the first 6 verses of this chapter Paul says at one point in his life he was so religious that went around killing Christians.

Satan uses religion as a weapon in his war with Christians and he uses it very well. Religion has done more damage to the Gospel message than you would ever imagine. Christianity is about relationships not religion. Religion is about following the rules; it’s about symbols, rituals, leaders, and the like, where true Christianity is about knowing Jesus and your relationship with him and nothing more. If may sound strange but there is no room for religion in the church.

Jesus was not religious and Hitler was, so don’t be religious. We all need to run from religion because it is dung. So if religion starts creeping into your life or if you have already become religious just flush it and concentrate on your relationship with Jesus because in the end that’s all that matters everything else is dung.