Jesus Moves Us

Posted on by pastordarryl68

Right, wrong, or indifferent – we are known by the company we keep.

If we hang out with crude people, we’ll be known by the same crudeness as those we hang out with.

If we hang out with those who have loose tongues, gossip, backbite, tell lies, and bare false witness, we’ll be known by the same traits as those we hang out with.

If we hang out with false teachers and wolves in sheep’s clothing, we’ll be known by the same falsehoods.

If we hang out with hypocrites and vipers, we’ll be known for the same.

One may argue or legitimize their relationship by pointing out that Jesus dined with publicans and sinners. Fair enough. But point me to a narrative where Jesus spent time with broken, corrupt, or morally decrepit people who:

  • did not immediately repent and follow Jesus;
  • did not lash out against Him;
  • did not regret having a conversation with Him;
  • or brought Jesus into their behaviors.

You’ll never find a situation in all of scripture where Jesus spent time with broken people and loving them meant joining them in their brokenness, corruption, or debauchery—not for a second.

Instead, in every situation, He loved them so much that He walked counter to them…He pointed them to a new life, a new heart, a new Kingdom. He reached over and pulled them out of their stink without getting any of it on Him. He died FOR their sin…not IN their sin.

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” ~ Matthew 4:17

Growth is Healthy

Posted on by pastordarryl68

Healthy things grow. If it’s not growing, it’s diminishing, dying, or dead. In the life of the follower of Jesus and in the church, the same is true.

Sometimes people stay stationary and the things around them grow, change, and transition. A solid, consistent, spiritually fit person might walk out all of Christ for all of life by teaching the same class or doing the same type of discipleship for years and years, but the people around them develop and grow and take on new ministry and relationships of pouring into others.

Sometimes people develop and grow out of one form of ministry into another as they themselves grow.

Sometimes a church grows and develops people in loving and obeying Jesus and then sends them out of the fold as workers in other communities, cities, and countries to teach them how to know, love and follow Jesus into His Kingdom.

Sometimes a church grows and develops people who grow and develop people who grow and develop people to know, love and follow Jesus into His Kingdom and the church body just grows and grows.

Sometimes a church does both. But the follower of Jesus and the church of followers of Jesus that is alive in the Spirit and healthy will ALWAYS grow.

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. ~ 2 Corinthians 9:10

Change is Inevitable

Posted on by pastordarryl68

I’m one of those people who like change, for the most part. I love to rearrange and refresh things and practices just to keep them from becoming stale, boring, empty rituals, or sacred cows. I think one of the reasons I love change is that it demonstrates the way Jehovah is making all things new…changes of seasons, human growth, spiritual growth, regeneration, conforming us to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, drawing the nations into His Kingdom. I love the occasional clean slate to re-open my eyes to God’s creative, restorative genius and endless possibilities when HE is doing the work.

I don’t necessarily invite change that is precipitated by tragedy or loss, but even then, if I’m attentive, I can see the hand of God at work. He is in constant care for and absolute rule over ALL of HIS creation, for HIS glory and the good of HIS people.

We can’t stop all forms of change…plants grow and change; children grow and change; relationships grow and change; we physically, emotionally, and spiritually grow and change. But even if we try to stop growth, change is inevitable. Our bodies, our minds, our plants, our homes, our cars, our relationships – if we don’t allow them to grow and develop, they will deteriorate and die. Deterioration and destruction is still change – we can’t avoid it.

Change is inevitable…growth is optional.

I get super excited about the change produced by growth, especially when I can see the hand of God in it.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. ~ 2 Peter 3:18

Sarcasm

Posted on by pastordarryl68

Several years ago, Yahweh strongly convicted me to forsake my lifelong practices of sarcasm and passive-aggressive responses/behaviors. He used the faces of my children to help me understand the heartlessness and ugliness of those behaviors.

I often joked that sarcasm was one of my spiritual gifts. I was good at it, and I passed that “skill” on to my kids. I am now ashamed of both that statement and the behaviors that accompanied it.

Passive-aggressive responses and behaviors are simply masks for insecurity, arrogance, and a lack of warmth and compassion. The more distance God puts between my past and the Spirit of God, the more embarrassing those behaviors become. When I experience them from another, I feel sad and embarrassed for them — I know where it’s coming from. Truth should ALWAYS be spoken with love (Ephesians 4:15), no matter the personality type or gifting and no matter what behavior to which one is responding.

Irony stated through satire can be an acceptable and appropriate form of humor to make a point with clarity, expose foolishness, or simply to entertain. Sarcasm though, at its core, is insulting, derisive, mean, hurtful, and hateful and is never acceptable or appropriate.

There are several biblical examples of satire but no examples of sarcasm. GotQuestions.org said it this way about the subject: “We should speak the truth with loving intent (Ephesians 4:15), avoiding “foolish talk or coarse joking” (Ephesians 5:4). We should speak in such a way that the hearer will understand our motivation. And we should never be malicious or cruel. Carefully worded irony may be fitting, but malicious sarcasm is not.“

Good word.

Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer, but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for building up what is needed, so that it will give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and anger and wrath and shouting and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Instead, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, graciously forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has graciously forgiven you. ~ Ephesians 4:25-32 LSB

Your Way or the Highway

Posted on by pastordarryl68

Some of the most challenging people to connect with in the body of Christ are those who feel that they have an enlightened, private interpretation of their own about Scripture, the church, people, culture, practices, preferences, etc. They’re full of alternate ideas and suggestions of how things should be done, said, taught, etc. They’re right and everyone else is wrong, but you’re still expected to work with them and include them, despite their obstinance and “been there more often, done that better, and bought the superior t-shirt” attitude.

This is not to say that we can’t all learn from these personalities. None of us have a corner on the market of knowledge and experience and God DOES bring people into our lives and into our churches that can share new experiences with us, in the journey, along the way. But there’s a difference between bringing your “lessons learned the hard way”, growth and maturity into new relationships and entering new relationships with the goal of making them look like your old relationships that failed along the way.

“How can I help us better pursue God’s glory for His Kingdom” goes much farther than “Can you just do things the way I want you to?” The difference may be as subtle as authentic humility and self-important arrogance. It’s not about your way or my way. It’s about His way!

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. ~ Matthew 6:10

Get off the Sidelines

Posted on by pastordarryl68

Yahweh does not bring us from death into life by the indwelling of His Spirit so that we can sit, soak, and sour on this earth. A Spirit-filled believer is not redeemed and reconciled back to His Creator to sit on the sidelines and channel surf.

Our faith is not a passive faith. We are restored to a purpose and a mission to invest in and impact the lives of others.

Hear what Paul says to young Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:1-5: “You therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes as an athlete, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.”

Which one are you and how long have you been there?

  • the faithful one who will teach others also
  • the one who is strong in grace and entrusting sound teaching to the faithful one who will teach others also
  • the one who is instructing the one who will entrust sound teaching to the faithful one who will teach others also

If you aren’t any of these yet, take some time to meditate upon God’s Word and consider how He might be working in you to change that.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. ~Matthew 28:19a-20a

Attention Needed 2

Posted on by pastordarryl68

When I seek the attention of anyone other than the One in whom I should find my identity, my expectations will always be unmet.
• I will receive negative attention that hurts me.
• I won’t receive enough attention, based on my expectations, and that will hurt me.
• I won’t receive any attention, based on my expectations, and that will hurt me.

Attention-seeking will always lead to disappointment.

When this happens, judgment will always follow. I will judge myself and become self-deprecating. OR, I will judge those who failed to give me the attention that I expected, which often leads to passive-aggressive, sarcastic behaviors toward them and about them.

As a Spirit-filled follower of Jesus, my sense of identity, significance, security and well-being will ALWAYS be filled by the Spirit of God. He will use the Spirit-filled members of His body to love, serve, and live alongside me, but the Holy Spirit will always be the SOURCE. When I decide that people were not “enough”, what I’m actually saying is that Jehovah was not enough.

My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. ~Proverbs 4:20

For more on attention, take a look at this post.

Three Reasons to Leave a Church

Posted on by pastordarryl68

There are only a few solid, biblical, and godly reasons for breaking fellowship with a local body of believers, and even then, there is a right and a wrong way to do it. Here they are:

  1. Moving out of the area, sent out by your church family with blessing and love, to unite with a church of like faith and practice in the new location.
  2. Being ordained/commissioned with blessing and love from said church to serve on the mission field or in another church of like faith and practice in need of your gifts. It should be confirmed among the body that this move is a call of God and not of an individual’s volition; however, the body must be careful not to be selfish and emotionally hold back the Lord’s anointed when He calls.
  3. Immorality or false doctrine that the church leadership and body fail to recognize, address, and discipline. Leaving at the first sign of disagreement or trouble is not healthy for the individual or the church to which you pledged your involvement.

I’ve heard a plethora of other reasons over the 45 years in church that get blamed on God’s leadership. But in every case, His aroma is nowhere near the hearts, attitudes, and/or tongues of those doing the departing.

Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. ~Hebrews 13:18

The Words We Speak

Posted on by pastordarryl68

Some of us speak from the head. We say the right things, as if from a script or cue cards, but often without the fruit of the Spirit, passion, or empathy.

Some of us speak from the heart. It may not always be the right wording, but it is almost always filled with the fruit of the spirit, passion, and empathy.

Most of us know the difference between the two.

The words we speak matter. The way in which we use those words also matters. Speech that is both led by the Holy Spirit and reflects the Word of God is speech that honors God and the listener. You might think that consistently speaking this way is impossible. However, God’s Word does provide the solution. Part of that solution is a three-pronged attack that we should utilize daily:

  1. Prioritize listening and understanding
  2. Do not rush to speak
  3. Do not rush to anger

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; ~James 1:19

Attention Needed

Posted on by pastordarryl68

There are those who NEED loving, satisfying, careful, purposeful attention from those whom God has placed in their life to give it. For example children and the neglected in the world. Then there are those who SEEK superficial, unsatisfying, never-ending attention from anyone who will give it.

These are two types of people and two types of attention.

One of them solves problems; the other creates and propagates them.

One is needs based. The other is performance based.

The one who SEEKS attention may also NEED attention, but the attention they seek is far different from the attention they need.

Pray for wisdom and discernment in knowing the difference.

Jesus gave attention in ways that was not always received by those who sought His attention. What we want is rarely what we need.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ~James 1:5