Month: February 2009

parents

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5star

The key to having a good relationship with others people (parents), is to have your foundation built on God. God is about to transition the commandments from a vertical (God) focus to a horizontal (man) focus. The relationship that God focuses on is the parent-child relationship. This foundation relationship affects most if not all your other relationships.

The Fifth Commandment: “Honor your parents.” (Exodus 20:12). In other words we are to respect them with out words and ways. We are to we honor them with our attitudes and actions. We are to behave in a way that would reflect on our love for God.

To understand this command we have to know what honor means. Honor means to take them seriously even though they are not perfect. To hold them up as the God-given authorities in your life.

To be honest, I had a difficult time honoring my parents as a child. I didn’t get too many golden stars or badges of honor for the way I acted or talked with them. I have since sought to reconcile this by putting on the 5 Badges for Honoring your Parents: (*****)

1. Love. Love is more than words, “I love you.” Love is active, I love you there for I will show you. Love is motivated to do something lovely. Imagine if Jesus saw our condition and just said, “I love you,” but didn’t do anything about it. Rather His love for you motivated Him to act as a Savior for your sins. Your relationship with your parents is just the same, you need to be actively loving. You cannot wait for them to take the first step, you are to initiate it (love is not conditional: I do love if you love me first).

2. Forgiveness. This is a tough one. Everyone has different issues at home, and even though I don’t know what you go through at home or what your parents are like (abused, abandoned, alcohol, anger, etc). The odds are against you to be a forgiver if your parents are not good or godly.

Truthfully, those who have godly parents have an easier time keeping this 5th Command. I didn’t have perfect godly Christians parents and I know how hard it is to honor parents when words fly, tempers flair, and the circumstances seem unreasonable or abnormal. Yet Jesus knows what we are going through. He has been there. His closest friends bailed on Him when He needed them the most. People beat Him, spit on Him, mocked Him, cursed Him, abused and tortured Him. Since He has been there too you can take your problems and pains to Him (God knows your parents and your situation very well, and they will get their just punishment; Lk.17:1-2).

If you harbor unforgiveness towards your parents you are giving a foothold to the devil (Eph.4:27). He is a little a skilled rock-climber. You give him one toehold, he’s hanging on and you cant shake him off. Does Satan own real-estate in your life because of unforgiveness you have towards your parents? If yes, then it’s time to apologize to your parents and not expect anything in return. Forgiveness releases the bonds of bitterness and frees you to love your parents.

3. Unity. God has a chain of command in our lives. Respect your authorities and live in peace with them. God put imperfect parents (employers, pastors, coaches, teachers) into your life for His purpose, to help you grow into the image of God. Unity begins with your heart (love and forgiveness). Unity doesn’t mean you allow authorities to walk all over you, but that you honor them as your authority.

There is a lack of respect for authority in our culture today. Negative dinner table talks about bad bosses, parents and political leaders teaches a child that it is okay to ‘dis’ authority. Help your parents to honor authorities in their lives too.

4. Value. You were born dependent upon your parents. You needed them to grow. They feed you, clothed you, changed all your dirty-stinky diapers, cleaned your messed and more. As we grow we become more independent. Yet as your parents grow them become more dependent upon you to care for them. We are to value them at every stage of our lives and theirs. To honor them is to value their place in their lives. Be careful of speaking negatively about them to others, joking about them or rejecting them. Value their insights on live and their experiences of ‘been there and done that.’

5. Encourage. Show and share with your parents you love, admiration and appreciation. Even though they may not be perfect or polluted with sin God has placed them in your life. Encourage them to love and follow after God. Appreciate them all the days of your life.

A day might come when you will get that dreaded call, “It’s your dad, he…” or “I’m sorry but your mom…” In this moment you have a choice: to hang your head in shame because you didn’t honor your parents or hold your head high with joy because you honored them.

Honoring your imperfect parents is just as honorable as honoring your perfect God. Wear your badges proudly to love, forgive, unify, value and appreciate your parents. These are the rock-solid foundations for godly relationships.

marry me

Posted in marriageTagged , 4 Comments

dscn21541It was a cold snow covered day, but the sun was shining brightly through the trees. We took a walk like we do every Friday. Everything about the day was normal. I wanted it to be very normal. As we walked through the snowy pathways of the park we talked about our day and spoke sweet nothing to each other.

As we made our way to the green railed bridge over the shallow creek my heart was throbbing and throat lumpy. She didn’t sense that I had been planning this normal day for months. We talked a little while and I held her in my arms. I quoted her a list of things that I cannot wait to do as our relationship grows. The sun was settling behind the trees and the cold was setting in, and she decided it was time to leave. I let her go a few steps and said, “Wait.” She turned. I caught her eyes and said, “There is one more thing I cannot wait to do. I cannot wait to ask you just one question.” I lowered to my knees, pulled a ring out of my pocket and gazed my choking eyes into hers. (A very normal day was about to change into infamous memory as) I mouthed the words, “Will you marry me?”

dscn2152_21With a leap, Sarah, was screaming, crying and crushing my knee! “So what is your answer?” I exclaimed. “Absolutely” she joyfully answered.

We enjoyed the moment together, hearts warmed on the cold snow covered day. To think I’ve been praying for this women even before I knew her…

Find out more information at www.biscuitandjuice.wordpress.com

sabbath

Posted in 10 Commandments, churchTagged , , , 1 Comment

sarah-on-the-sabbath

It is interesting that God loves to remind us about important things. He knows our memories can be weak at times.  To remember is to take what we know and apply it to our lives. Fourth Commandment is to “Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11)

In other words, we are to stop working and start worshiping. We are to stop pursuing our passions for one day and make God our passion. We are commanded to worship God with our time. We are not to do our own thing, but His thing on His day.

Does this command mean that I am given a mandate by God to be lazy at least one-day week? God did not give us this command so that we would sit around and do nothing. God is concerned about us. For at least one day a week God wants us to stop what we are pursuing and pursue Him. God gave us this command for several reasons:

1. It is for your good. God knows that we need a day of rest and refocus. Sometimes we think we might miss out on something in life if we do not cram-pack ever minute of every day with something. Yet we can miss out on life itself if we do not obey this command. Jesus confront the religious leaders of His day about this very thing (Mark 2:27 “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”). They were so OCD about not working on the Sabbath that they wrote a book of rules to protect themselves from disobeying the law, all the while they were missing the real purpose of the day: to worship God.

2. It grows your faith. We need more worship in our lives, period. We are over worked and under-worshiped. We make time to relax and spend time with friends, but infrequently do we carve out time for our Creator and life-Sustainer. When we trust God and put Him first, He wont let us down because worshiping God enriches our faith.

So how do we apply this Sabbath command to our lives?

1. Remember God (Get Deep). Over the past few weeks we have talked about who God is. He is not some chump, He is Creator-God. If we think about God in this way (i.e. love, grace, holy, etc.) our natural response will be to worship Him.

All over the Bible people worshipped in groups. In the OT they worshipped God in the temple or synagogue. In the NT they worshipped God in homes, on hillsides or wherever they could find a place. Within these worship “meetings” God gave His people life-changing principles and transforming relationships. God loves the church because it is there that we get deep with God and He gets deep with us. Worshipping with other people inspires our personal worship. (Heb.10:25 “Let us not give up on meeting together.”)

The Sabbath day is not a day to putts around, but a day to praise God (Is. 58:13-14). I have been blessed through my church involvement. Through spiritual growth, accountability, confront sin, encouragement when I am struggling spiritually, friendships and significant relationships, and much more. Worshiping God is not a one day a week thing (Sunday or Wednesday night), it is our daily joy.

2. Refocus Your Life (Go Deep). Gods day is a day to do spiritual inventory on your life. Sometimes we need to take the time to restock the selves of our lives spiritually. It is easy to empty out throughout the week.

It took God six days to create the universe and all that is in it. On the seventh day he rested. He looked back on all that He had done and said, “It is good.” After a long week of working we need to step back and ask, “Was it good? Am I thinking godly pure thoughts? Am I saying or doing things that do not honor God? Am I putting Him first? Am I ready to worship this day?”

i swear

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no-swearing

Do you remember when you first learned a swear word? I must have been 6 or 7 years old, and I was left alone watching the TV. I recollect there being a Steven Seagal fight’em, shoot’em flick on the tube. There were lots of fist and words flying. I was glued. Dad came into the room and I asked him, “What does, !@#4%&* mean?” I quickly found out that it meant something bad as I got a good dose of fist to my hindquarters.

I am ashamed at how many derogatory words I know. I made a list of all those I know that just begin with the letter D. I came up with: dork, do-do, dufus, dingleberry, dumbo, dinkledorf, dwarf, dirtbag, dweeb, deadhead, dunce, doosh, and the list goes on (and these are the semi-tame ones).

Why is our society is so profane? Does my mouth really matter? Yes, enough so that God includes it in His list of commands. The Third Commandment: “You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7) In other words, we are not to use Gods name as a swear word. We are to protect the integrity of His name. We are not to misuse His name. We are not to “dis” God with weak-sauce language. We are not devalue or make His name irrelevant (empty). Gods name is different than any other name. God is God and we are not. He tells us over and over in the Bible to hold up His name.

Last night I asked out student ministry how many of you hear cussing daily at school? Over 75% of them raised their hands. Cussing among teens seems like a second language or at the least second-hand language. I read that the average teen uses 80-90 swear words a day []

I am not proud to say but in middle school I had a bleepin’ little-sailor potty-mouth. And yes, I did kiss my mom with that mouth? I found myself to be in one of these 4 Groups of swearer’s, maybe you find yourself in one of these too:

picture-11. The Blond-Moment Swearer—This person is clueless they are even swearing. He swears so much that it is a habit. He doesn’t even know he uses Gods name as a swear word. God is just a fill word: “God, I’m tired”, “What the hell,” “Jeeze, it’s been a long day.” This person is not calling on God, they are unaware of God.

picture-22. The Stuck-in-Traffic Swearer—This person knows swearing is wrong, but when in the right situation they “can’t help but swear.” You know you are stuck-in-traffic swearer when you respond cussing in these scenarios: a hammer hits your finger instead of a nail, the foul isn’t called, someone cuts you off, your favorite sports team makes a mistake, you lost your homework, or your friend tells you off.

picture-33. I-can-say-what-I-want-to-when-I-want–to Swearer—This person knows what they say is wrong, but couldn’t care less. Like a pirate. These people are either angry at God or shake their word-fist in God’s face. They swear to God with outright rebellion.

picture-54. The Walk-Your-Talk Swear—This person doesn’t ‘dis’ God with his words, but his walk. Even though you may not swear, you may have an empty walk. This person says they are a Christian, but their lifestyle doesn’t match their words. If you wear Christ’s name you better show it. “Walk your talk!” As followers of Christ you are a walking billboard to the world of Him to everyone who sees you. God has pasted His label on you, what do you represent?

The Bible says that the name of Jesus is above every other name, and one day we will all bow our knees to the name of Jesus (Phil.2:9-11). In fact, Jews had such respect for God that they would not use His real name (Yahweh). Never would they speak His real name. They would use “Adonai” instead. They recognized His name as holy. When Jesus prayed, He taught His disciples by saying “Father, hallowed (holy) be your name.” (Luke 11:2)

We must careful what you say. When you say, “God” followed by the word “damn” you are putting two words together that do not fit. God doesn’t damn anybody by our demand; people damn themselves to hell by their sinfulness without repentance and forgiveness. We cannot tell God what to do. We make Him so small, when He is really BIG. You are the creation; God is the Creator. Do not take what you say too lightly.

Matt.15:18 says, that the things that come out of your mouth, come out of your heart. In other words, dirty words = dirty heart. So how can I tame my tongue? First, talk it up. If you are a swearer get help, sometimes it takes a buddy system to help you to stop it! The Christians life wasn’t meant to be lived alone; there is no such thing as a Lone Ranger Christian. Second, critique your talk—evaluate the words you use. Do you honor the name of God? Third, talk about God—when you know Him you wont empty His name out.

we’re getting married

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Sarah and Justin would like to inform you about their upcoming wedding. This site will give you most the information you need to know about their special day. Please, return frequently to check for updates or announcements.

The Date is set: May the Second, Two-Thousand and Nine

The time is set: One Thirty O’clock in the Afternoon

The Location is set: Battle Ground Bible Church in West Lafayette, IN. (www.bgbc.org)

Now are you set on being there?