it’s tuesday.

do you know about positive post tuesday?

today’s positive post is simple. no fancy pictures or attempts at comedy.

just the reminder that the God of the universe is great, merciful and is looking for each and every one of us, that He might speak to us about His love and His plan for our lives.

He is the God who left heaven to live on earth and die on a roman cross while we were yet sinners.

He is the God who fashioned us and formed us in our mothers’ wombs and made us with a purpose.

He is the God who provides His word, His gifting and His Holy Spirit to guide and fill and direct and empower, day in and day out.

He is the God who could look Judas in the face at the Garden of Gethsemane and call him ‘friend.’

a God of love and grace. a God of power and mercy. a God who, even now, is looking at me and offering me life, and that more abundantly.

it’s tuesday.

be positive!

+

i did a little segment last night at our Ignite service that we’re calling Mid-Week/Re-Cap, where we talk about the different studies and messages that are going on @calvaryhanford.

we believe that God speaks to us specifically as individuals and as a congregation through His word and the messages that He places on the hearts of our teachers, so the things that we’re studying must be pretty darn important! so, the recap is just to help jog our memories of the things God has been sharing with us as a congregation.

audio below.

blessings.

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welcome to the internet.

like most people, you’ve been connected for some time. and in that time you have, no doubt, discovered that the wide, wide world of web can be an angry, cynical, unfair, finger-pointing place…even among Christian sites.

some people would like that to change.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
{ Matthew 5.16 }

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
{ John 15.11 }

as God’s people, we are to demonstrate love, not hate. we are to be full of compassion and mercy and forgiveness and joy everywhere we go and in all that we do.

online it’s easy to become someone else. it’s easy to be someone angry, someone spiteful, someone who doesn’t care about the effect of their words or attitudes. someone who is brazenly negative.

it’s time to be positive.

here’s the idea (it’s not mine, it’s this guy’s): on your blog, on your facebook, on your twitter, on your myspace, on your web space, when you add something new, designate it with either a + or a – .

it’s a pretty simple equation.

+ = something positive

- = something negative

say what you want.

post what you want.

act how you want.

but be honest about what it is that you are broadcasting.

+ or -

for me, it’s a good reminder that i am out here representing Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. i’m representing the One who left heaven that He might put on flesh forever and serve the very people that rejected Him.

He chose to love unconditionally.

He loved us while we loved Him not.

and now i am His representative to the whole world.

the least i can do is think about the words i’m typing for that world to see.

be like Christ.

blessings.

+

it is always a snare when one feels he has a certain reputation of godliness to maintain before his fellows.

it is so easy to succumb to the temptation of trying to appear more devoted than one really is. the only right thing is to live before God and to be utterly indifferent to men’s praise or blame.

{ h.a. ironside – Matthew }

there’s a royal route to heaven
will you travel it today?
’tis the path of full surrender
all along the homeward way
it is yielding every moment
to the blessed Savior’s will
seeking only for His glory
and His purpose to fulfill

there’s a royal route to heaven
’tis the way the Savior trod
’tis the path of full surrender
and the deep, sweet peace of God

there’s a royal route to heaven
they who travel it may know
peace that passeth understanding
which the Father doth bestow
dead to self and its desires
living unto Christ alone
finding joy and satisfaction
which the world has never known

there’s a royal route to heaven
which will bring a rich reward
when the last long mile is covered
and we face our loving Lord
oh, how small will seem the trials
of the steep and rugged way
when we stand in His blest presence
at the close of life’s brief day

{ avis b. christiansen }

+

the moment a Christian, or a church, departs from the principle of revelation and goes into high criticism or intellectual understanding of the Bible, all spiritual authority is lost.

this is very relevant to the days in which we live and to the land in which we live. instead of attacking a city in the name of the Lord, the very spirit of the city gets into the life of the church. the local church becomes full of party strife and division, and believers become materialistic. the Bible is approached on the basis of ‘what i cannot understand, i will discard.’

if we submit the Word of God to our own intellect and refuse to believe in the possibility of absolute, authoritative revelation, the church loses its power and authority. and if it loses the ability to say, ‘thus saith the Lord,’ it has no answer to the problems of our times.

during the last century we have talked about the spread of modernism & neo-orthodoxy as if those things were new. but they are as old as the New Testament.

…if you want an enlightened mind on the Word of God, you have to live a crucified life.

that’s the principle.“

{ alan redpath  >>  the royal route to heaven }

+

i admit that i don’t spend much time thinking about Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus.

because of that i really enjoyed this little insight from acclaimed author, pastor and evangelist H.A. Ironside:

[speaking of the flee to and return from egypt] Joseph ‘arose…and came into the land of Israel.’ Joseph’s obedience to each message of the angel is noteworthy. without raising any questions, he complied immediately with every commandment that was given him in this supernatural way.

we know very little of the life and experience of this man who was chosen to be the foster father of Jesus, but what little we are told makes us realize that he was one who was very sensitive to the word of the Lord. he furnishes us with a most precious example of implicit obedience to the will of God, even under most perplexing and difficult of circumstances.”

- H.A. Ironside Matthew pg. 21

makes me think of Joe in a new way.

blessings.

@calvaryhanford we have a saying that we try to keep in mind:

seeking to excel.

for us it’s a reminder that we want to move forward in our ministry and our relationships with Christ.

the problem is, we have a tendency to lose focus, settle, become complacent. it’s just human nature.

that isn’t what we want. we want what God wants.

blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.
Luke 12.37

again and again in God’s word we’re encouraged and commanded to stay sharp, to stay busy, to work hard, to watch, to expect, to focus.

yet, again and again we see the examples of believers and churches who don’t end up doing that.

the ephesian church lost focus. and, despite all the good that they were doing, despite all their patience, all their labor, all their teaching, they had lost focus on loving God. there was no first love.

the corinthian church lost focus. paul said that they lacked no spiritual gift and that they were eager in waiting for the Lord’s return. yet, in other areas they lost focus: they were sectarian. they were dogmatic. they were unbalanced. they were self-serving.

left to ourselves, we always become unbalanced. we lose focus and become fixed on things that are not primary, or, at very least, we neglect what is most important for that which is less important.

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel.
1 Corinthians 1.17

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works.
Revelation 2.5

it’s an interesting thing to look at these churches or many other Biblical examples and see how they can be so right on in some ways and so out of focus in others.

that’s not what we want. we want what God wants.

at first it can seem overwhelming to keep a huge list of things that i have to stay sharp on: good works, doctrine, witnessing, discernment, prayer, study, discipleship, worship, discipline, giving…

then we remember that Christ left the earth so that we might have a Helper, the Holy Spirit, to direct and empower us day in and day out. in the small and in the great. sundays and mondays (yes, and the rest too).

so, how do i keep focus?

in a sense, i only need to focus on 2 things: Jesus Christ and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

i focus on Jesus by knowing Him. i know Him by reading about Him in the volume of the Book, the Bible, and by speaking to Him through prayer.

i focus on the leading of the Holy Spirit by listening, waiting, watching and by not being distracted by problem or program or dogma or discouragement.

loss of focus is what has led to incredible failures in the lives of individuals, churches and movements.

staying focused on Jesus and the leading of the Holy Spirit will ensure that we are moving forward in our walk with Him.

maranatha!

right now i’m headed over to a funeral.

the good news is that as stanley left this world he was immediately in the presence of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

so it’s time to celebrate!

the question for you is this: are you ready to die today?

if yes, the next question is: how many funerals have you been to?

[Jesus said] “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”

John 17.17