A Balanced Life

Hi,
I am looking for discussion centered on the Balanced Life. God desires that each of us have an abundant life, a balanced life. What does that look like? What does it mean to live a prosperous life? How do you balance your personal and professional life?

Many strive to balance their lives. Few actually achieve it. Share with us your perspectives.

Remain Faithful

The Young Adult class recently finished a study of the Book of Revelation. Our study investigated the historical and prophetic theories from many theologians. As we studied and discussed it was apparent to all of us that the fear which surrounds the Book keeps many from seeing the main point made.

You might say that we had a revelation as we studied the book. We overlayed the dispensationalist theory with the historical theory. What we found was not two seperate views but rather a congruancy of the views. The one question that seemed to keep showing itself during our study was: Can the book be both historical (apocalyptic) for the people at that point in history and prophetic, relevant to what is happening today?

We found that while both views took a very different view of the images and symbology in Revelation, the main theme was really the same. Whether you are a dispensationalist or amillennist, you are called to REMAIN FAITHFUL TO GOD. The other interesting fact is that in both views, GOD wins!!!

Methodism subscribes to Amillennialism but that does not mean that we should discount the dispensational view. When we break both views down we encounter a heavenly Father who loves us and promises to sustain us even in the hardest of times.

Reflection and Confession

I have to confess: I have been reflecting on my ministry and I recognize very little growth, spiritual or otherwise. Doing a self examination can be a painful but growing journey. Asking ourself questions like, Why do I do what I do? What should I do that I don’t do? What is the largest barrier to the ministry?
Often these questions begin to illustrate either too much “I”, lack of vision, lack of focus etc. After 8 years in the ministry it is apparent to me that too much “I” and not enough God was my sin. Pride comes before a fall. Now that the fall is at its bottom, the emphasis is back on regaining the initial energy of the past.

I will be using this blog more for personal reflection and getting input from the readers. We will discuss some of the hard issues surrounding our faith practice while encouraging everyone to seek the “Father’s Embrace”.

Granddaddy’s Promise

Growing up it was often hard for me to trust anyone. I had been hurt many times by unfulfilled promises of my parents. Now the hurt is long gone but the one thing I remember was my granddaddy always being there to pick up the pieces. Granddaddy had a way of showing up just when I needed him. He would stop by our home and pick me up. Going to work with him was fun. We would spend lots of time “riding the rails”, watching trains, and talking. His words never returned void to me. I always garnished something from our conversations. Well, Granddaddy died in 1984 but I have never forgotten the one promise that he constantly reminded me. “Stay true to who you are and one day you will make a difference” he would say. He reminded me that God would take care of me if I would simply turn to him. His words in my later years proved to be the very thing I needed as I faced my demons. Remembering that God is my heavenly Father has allowed me to remain true to where God leads me. Granddaddy’s promise still strengthens me today as it did 30+ years ago.

Grace: Passive or Active

I was listening to a message on Grace from a fairly new TV ministry. Reading Paul’s letters to Timothy I am reminded of how, as pastors, we can take something good and misrepresent it in our messages. Grace is often preached from a passive perspective from the offenders viewpoint. This means that while we make a true statement when we speak of God’s grace being free and for all humanity, we often stop short of telling the believer about accepting God’s grace. Preaching God’s grace from the passive perspective keeps people happy and doesn’t step on their toes. However, I believe when we teach or preach only the “feel good” parts of the gospel and leave out the accountability we do more harm to an individual. In other words we speak of grace as not being the transforming agent of one’s heart but as a “cheap” trick conjured up by God. People use God’s grace to legitimize their acts towards others. The accountability that comes from turning from our sin(s) and the accepting of God’s grace begins the transformation process. Is it not the transformation of individuals that witnesses to the crowds.

Experiencing God in the Small Stuff

This past week I had the opportunity to experience God in something small. I say small because the time that it took to relieve some inner anxiety was about 20 minutes. I had allowed an issue to bother me for so long that when someone finally listened to me it was as if a burden had been lifted. What I learned is that sometime we simply need to take the time to listen to others. This is a small task but can have tremendous rewards.

While I know the individual who listened did not necessarily agree with me, the fact that she listened expressed an outward grace that others had not allowed. In that moment, I found myself not only relieving the tension but I also heard another side of the story.

Take time to listen. You may never realize the impact it may have.

Congress, Bailouts, and Prophecy

The stock market has began to move upward again due to some news in the housing industry. Many are predicting that this is the beginning of the end to the recession. For me, we let’s just say that I am not that optimistic. How many of these so called housing acquisitions are simply individuals purchasing foreclosures? Are the houses purchased primary residences or are they investments?

As I watch the debacle in Washington, I have to wonder why people can not see that most of those who are sworn to look out for the well being of the United States are carrying out their own personal agendas. As I look at the situation I am reminded of the greed which has caused every world power to fall. World powers fall from within. They implode. So where is the U.S. at today?

As China and others continue to buy our debt, we find ourselves becoming more and more dependent on these countries that have no real interest in the U.S. other than to take over as the World Power. Sadly, our debt and the feeble attempts by those in power to stabliize the financial markets will become the catalyst for the States downfall. Recognizing the tension in the global market both financial and political, leads one to wonder about the destiny of one’s future. My destiny is not in the hands of politicians or world leaders, it is in the hand’s of my Creator, the Almighty God.

Here I believe is “where the rubber meets the road”. What does Bible prophesy say about the United States? If we search for mention of the U.S. in prophecy we would be hard pressed to find specific mention of the States. This fact in itself leads me to conclude that the U.S. is on a course which leads to economic and soverignty collapse. We have leverage our futures with those who wish to destroy us. Our future is not ours any longer but it belongs to those who hold our “purse strings”.

Finally, the collapse of the U.S. will be the catalyst for the Islamic countries of the Middle East and Russia to attack Israel. America is Israel’s last true allie. This battle will be won, not by Israel, but by God acting on behalf of Israel. The Islamic world will be devastated and many people will be without basic necessities.

When will this occur? Only God knows the hour of the day, and the day of the year. God is calling people to come to Jesus like never before in our history. Choices are being made right now that will impact our lives for enternity. Choices that many will come to regret. What do you choose? Do you choose Christ and prophecy? or do you choose to place your hope in Congress and the Bailouts? The choice is yours. God loves you, but the CHOICE IS YOURS.

As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord! I and my family choose Christ.

Heaven and Hell

I have been remiss in posting here lately. Not because I didn’t have any thoughts but I really have been overly busy with business in the church. But here is one that hopefully will get us thinking.

I teach a class at the community college centered on Christian Theology. One of the areas that we have discussed concerns the concepts of heaven and hell. Now I must tell you that the discussions were lively in the classroom with every student stating their idea of both heaven and hell. However, that is only a part of my post today.

This week I received an email from the Confessing Movement of the United Methodist Church. It never ceases to amaze me the stance on theologically significant issues that the Church (United Methodist) takes. In this article it mentioned the move in my denomination to cease using HELL in our confirmation and other significant church liturgy. I am appalled that many in the UMC seem to believe that HELL is simply a state of mind rather than a place. Well needless to say this article form the Confessing Movement made me search within for my own understanding of heaven and hell.

Heaven is beyond the words that I could write here. Nothing can adequately describe the beauty, the awesomeness, the glory or the wonder of heaven. I can only dream of what it must look, feel, and smell like. However, hell is a place that can be described.

As I pondered hell, one night I dreamed the following vision. Jesus was present of course, standing at what appeared to be a large oversized wooden gate. On the inside where Jesus stood, the gate was adorned with gold and many other fine jewels. On the outside, it was bleak without any hardware seen. Jesus stood at the gate with it open calling out to those on the outside. Many came to the door but only a few entered. As I watched the action I saw Jesus begin to close the door. The entire time Jesus is standing at the edge of the door looking out and calling to the people. People are doing their own thing and don’t even notice Jesus closing the door. As Jesus continues to close the door he stops and calls out one more time. Still no one responds. Jesus begins to weep as the door is closed. Immediately I can hear people knocking at the door. Jesus continues to cry as He and the one’s on the inside move further into heaven. I then find myself outside of the door or gate and see those who earlier were playing working or whatever, simply standing with a look of emptiness on their faces. There is no conversation between individuals. It is almost as if they do not recognize others are close by. No sound, No movement, just complete silence.

Awaking I immediately wrote down the above description. Pondering the dream, I have come to the conclusion that heaven is a place of great rejoicing, love, and beauty. However, I still can not fully describe heaven. Hell is a place of isolation, but it is a place. Here in lies the “kicker” for me, Hell is a place that God has prepared for the lost in His creation. Even as people rejected Him, God still loved and prepared a place. The people by their rejection chose this place. God didn’t send them there, rather they wanted to be there. Is hell real? YES Should it be preached about and taught in church? YES

Sadly, I believe by the heirarchy of the United Methodist Church sanctioning the removal of HELL from our liturgy and confirmation documents are condemning our denomination to HELL. Of course this is not the only theological term that has been castigated from our Methodist lingo. Others include repentance, sin, personal accountability and the list grows. We have become what our founder John Wesly feared. We are simply a group who has lost all power. Through denial, we have lost our power that is given through the Holy Spirit .

I am sure that many in the UMC would argue against this post but, I am simply stating what I believe to be true. If we continue to “waterdown” our theology, we will be guilty of apostacy.

Buyouts and Debt

It appears that American’s are once again going to be mortgaged for the elite few. I find it quite disturbing that in the stimulus package that is working it’s way through Congress contains so much PIG FAT and not enough TENDERLOIN. I sit and watch our Congress and quite frankly, I am disgusted at the way they speak about saving the economy but yet want to fund programs that will do nothing to stimulate investment. Has Congress become another social club? Is Congress a club for the elite?

In my community, people are losing jobs everyday. Elderly widows are calling worried about losing everything they have. Our media appears to be waging an intimidation campaign by misinforming the public. Yet most of us stand silently by and watch events unfold. What about the middle class individual who finds themselves trying to make it on unemployment when they struggled while getting a paycheck. What about the single parent who struggles with childcare, the elderly with medicare, and others who struggle with simply surviving? What is Congress planning to do for them? ATV trails, Sex Education, Tax breaks for Hollywood producers only serve a small group of people and provide absolutely no value to stimulate the economy. Maybe Congress should cut their pay in half and show that they understand what it is like to struggle. Of course that will not happen even though most of them would realize very little impact to their wealth.

Finally, I ask, how many more in our Congress have not paid all their taxes? Not to be pessimistic, but I believe we would find that scandal, lying, cheating, and other shading things to be commonplace among this elite group of men and women. In the movie, “Remember the Titans”, the two captains are arguing about not pulling their weight. One says, “the team reflects the leadership”. Our country today reflects the direction that our leadership, Republican and Democrat, has taken us. The buyouts will continue with little or no oversight because of the perception of doing something. The something that they are doing is weakening the financial future of our children and our country.

History shows that every country that has ever had power has experienced a life cycle. Today, America is in the survival mode which was brought on by apathy. The next mode we will find ourselves in is death brought on by the bondage of debt. History has repeated this cycle many times and it is in the process of repeating it once again.

Discouragement, Apathy, and Hopelessness: Soul Murder Perpetrated By the Church

The economic crisis in America continues to take toll on the lives of many individuals. Apart from the numbers of individuals that are losing jobs, losing retirement accounts, and other assets, now it seems that many are losing hope. In the past week we have learned about a father who killed his wife and children before taking his own life. We have witnessed large layoffs and watched as the number of foreclosures has increased.

Discouragement is fast becoming a killer. A killer that many of us will encounter over the next year. However, it only becomes the killer when it leads to apathy and then hopelessness. When a person loses hope, spiritual death follows and physical comes quickly. I list spiritual death ahead of physical death simply because it is at this point that the individual loses all sense of worth and value. Sadly, life without the material is not worth living or so it seems. Here lies the burden for the Church.

For so long the Church has judged people creating a mistrust for organized religion. The Church, both Protestant and Catholic, has turned people away from the One who can transform lives through our own petty arguing and hypocrisey. Jesus commanded that we should love one another, but we have decided that we will love only if they are like us (the church). Denominationalism has become a division in our faith journey that only makes the Body of Christ weak. We have been so caught up in the practice of sacraments, freedom vs. determinism, and other issues that we have forgotten to love and be the light in the world.

The message of Jesus Christ is one that world longs for in it’s true form. However, when the Church can not disagree without causing strife, and squelching the Spirit our faith credibility suffers. It is time for the Church to become the Body of Christ as God intended. It is time that as Christians we unite against the world, speaking boldly for Jesus. It is time that we stood up to the politicos, the advocacy groups, and those who are crying for inclusiveness. I can be tolerant and loving of an individual but still hold them accountable for the life they live. Intolerance is not hatred as so many claim. It is accountability focused on the individual and done with love. Sadly, what I have found is that Christians decide not to stand for anything because they don’t know what they stand for. It is easier to sit on the fence. Fence sitting leads to frustration. Frustation leads to discouragement. Discouragement leads to Apathy…. Do you see where the church is headed.

Today, the Church by not taking a stand is caught in Apathy. Because we are not willing to unite and stand for something, people have given up on the church. By not standing for justice, morality, and God’s Word the church has contributed to the hopelessness that many Americans are now experiencing. In other words, but not standing on the Word of God and refusing to waiver from God’s Word the Church has contributed to the soul murder of a nation. We have contributed to the death of many under the pervue of institutionalism.

One day the Church will stand before God in judgment. God has made it very clear in His Word that not everyone will spend eternity with Him. Therefore, why is inclusiveness so important to the Church? The Church is not a social group, it is journey where the head is Christ and the Church is the body. When the Body seperates itself from the teachings of the Head, the body will die. Shouldn’t the Church be more concerned with the Truth as written and spoken. Just a thought.