Tag Archives: spiritual growth

Nothing For Everything

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Today The Daily Post has asked this probing question:

Which do you find more dangerous: wanting nothing, or wanting everything?

You can discover how others have answered by going to:

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/all-or-nothing/

If there is one thing I have learned in all my years of pastoring it is that most extremes of anything are unhealthy and sometimes dangerous.

Wanting nothing  is a mindset I am all too familiar with. In my own case it has expressed itself in the thought process, “If I want nothing then I will not be disappointed when I receive it.”

On the surface it can look like a deep-seated contentment and peaceful acceptance of the world but underneath it is fueled by my own spirit of self-protectionism, which crowds out healthy relationships, and a lack of faith which cuts me off from God.

On the other hand is the mindset of wanting everything. Now if  the proviso “I want everything…that God wants me to have” is included then what you have is a lifestyle of positive forward-pressing faith. But wanting it all generally precludes any thought of whether or not God wants us to have it.  God generally doesn’t want us to have everything because He knows we cannot handle it; So wanting everything often leads us into places of dangerous disobedience to the Divine.

So let’s sum up here: Wanting nothing breeds unbelief. Wanting everything breeds disobedience to God. Both sound pretty dangerous to me. I think I am with Solomon on this one.

give me neither poverty nor riches,
    but give me only my daily bread.
9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
    and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
    and so dishonor the name of my God. Prov. 30:8,9

God Has Commanded Us To Function

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These quotes come to you from our missionary speaker at Cornerstone, Jason Fuentes. His sermon was entitled “God Has Commended Us To Function” and was taken from Luke 10.

“When religion says, “Do!” Christ says, “It was done on the cross.” Jason Fuentes

“Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good or good people better. He came to make dead people live!” Jason Fuentes

“Christian, you do not go to church. You are the church!” Jason Fuentes

“Our weaknesses become assets when put in God’s hands, but our excuses will always be liabilities.” Jason Fuentes

The Atlantic Sky from the shores of Doolin

The Atlantic Sky from the shores of Doolin

 

Pastor Wrinkles On Why,I Can Make It Anywhere!

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http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/make-it-anywhere/

Today the Daily Post has asked…“If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere,” goes the famous song about New York City. Is there a place — a city, a school, a company — about which you think (or thought) the same? Tell us why, and if you ever tried to prove that claim.

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I’ve never made it out of my hometown. Something of pain or shame exists in that admission and I am not really sure why. I suppose it means that somewhere in my younger self there was this dream that lived for a time in the understanding that I was made for “bigger” things… “bigger” places. Yet something held me at the borders of my own lands. What was it? A spell? A fear? A psychic wall? A dream? A Calling?

My mother wanted me to be a doctor. My father, I think, wanted me to be anything that got me away from this place that I never got away from. My sister has moved all over the world and my children (some of them) display the same signs of wanderlust that leads to adventure while I live like a Hobbit never wanting to stray too far from my own front door.

I think maybe the shame and guilt of only making it as far as my own garden might have more to do with the dreams of others than with my own dreams. For as long as I can remember I only ever aspired to a quiet life of pastoral bliss, walking the rocky New England Fields and listening to the bubbling of the stony fresh-water brooks that dot our landscape. I want to hear the twittering of the birds in the trees and feel the winds of these Massachusetts seasons as they pass over me in repose.

I want to see the world, truly see the world from my own vantage point, the place where I was planted by the Great Himself. I think it has been given to others to run the earth as they watch the sky. They must do that for themselves to succeed. If I can stand and occupy this little space for a time, my time, then that is “big” enough and I can make it “anywhere”, which after all is only ever really “here”.

 

Heaven Pt. 158:So Very High

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The Heaven posts are a devotional word study through the Bible using every reference to the word “Heaven”.

The Way By the Cliffs of Moher

The Way By the Cliffs of Moher

“he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;”

Psm. 103:10,11

Sometimes in my place of prayer I become overwhelmed with a sense of my own sinfulness. I feel like Isaiah standing in the Temple of the Lord,  who said “ “Woe to me!…I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Isaiah 6:5

Does that ever happen to you?

At such moments I could easily be swallowed alive by the feelings of guilt if it were not for a truth buried even more deeply within me. That truth is Jesus loves me! Jesus forgives me! Though my sins were as scarlet He has made them white as snow! AND If Jesus has forgiven me who am I not to forgive myself?

The truth is His love is higher than the Heavens. How high is that? Well I guess it depends on which Heavens we are talking about?

Is it higher than the first Heaven the Heaven which the birds fly in? Well then that is about a mile high. That’s pretty high but I think God’s love is bigger than a mile.

Then is it higher than the second Heaven. the Heaven where the planets and stars dwell? Well that is much higher. We are talking light years not miles. And who knows where the end of the universe is? Well no one on this planet, but still our universe is measurable. I think God’s love for me is even bigger than that.

It is higher than the third Heaven, a place beyond the boundaries of time and space, framed in eternity a thing itself unaffected by time. The distance to it cannot be measured by any of our human standards. That is the love God has for me, immeasurable by my standards and yet it is even higher than that!

Let’s suffice it to say God’s love is so big and vast and immeasurable I cannot lose it. If I don’t want God’s love I purposely have to throw it away because there is no other way to get rid of it. Now there’s a guilt killer if ever there was one!

The Season Of Rest and Listening

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Me reclining after walking up the "Rocky" stairs at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Me reclining after walking up the “Rocky” stairs at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Anybody who has been reading Lillie-Put for any length of time knows I have just come through one of the busiest autumns I have ever clocked. Now I am in a season of rest and recuperation.

God has been speaking to me about several things I am to pursue during this season. One of the items on that list is a deeper level of faith. I spoke about this a bit in my series, “Laboring to Rest.”

Pastor Wrinkles: Laboring To Rest Pt. 3

As I was meditating this morning, God spoke to me about another item to be added to that list, listening.

One of the issues I am dealing with coming off of the fall harvest is a feeling of both physical and mental exhaustion. My brain feels like it has been sand-blasted and as if all the ideas in it have been turned to dust.

Of course, I realize that is just a feeling and a misconception mixed together. The truth is the ideas are still there because they were not inspired by me in the first place. Any of my really good ideas started out as God’s ideas and since He never grows weary, His ideas can’t be blasted away by my busyness. What has changed is not His ability to create through me but my ability to connect to Him so the creativity can flow. Restoring the creative connection is going to require intentional active listening.

I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I’m going to learn, I must do it by listening.

Larry King

 

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk.

Doug Larson

So now I am dedicating a large chunk of my prayer time to reading the Word and just sitting quietly before God and practicing the art of what the Quakers called centering down.

How do you practice the discipline of listening to God?

Pastor Wrinkles: Laboring To Rest Pt. 3

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles
Me reclining after walking up the "Rocky" stairs at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Me reclining after walking up the “Rocky” stairs at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

We have been discussing the paradoxes of Scripture in church these last several weeks. Yesterday I got to speak on the paradox of “laboring to rest” which we find in Hebrews 4:11. This post is the conclusion of the matter. So f you missed the first two section s they can be found at the links below:

https://josephelonlillie.com/2014/11/30/pastor-wrinkles-laboring-to-rest-pt-1/

https://josephelonlillie.com/2014/12/01/pastor-wrinkles-laboring-to-rest-pt-2/

What we have learned to this point is that the work…the labor we are called to do as Christians is the work of having faith in a living loving God. We are called to do that in a world that is constantly trying to steal our faith and get us to believe only in our own strength.

The writer to the Hebrews in the verses leading up to our opening verse in Hebrews 4: 11 makes this clear when he writes,

“Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,” Hebrews 4:1-3

Our work our labor is to believe and have faith in God and to allow that faith to propel us through life rather than our own strength.

Some people scoff at this way of living saying it makes God a crutch. They would say that God helps those who help themselves. But the truth is that we are a people who need a crutch.The world, and even our own inner monologues often tells us that we have to save ourselves, that we cannot rely on God so we have to trust in ourselves, our own strength. The problem is that every time we follow this line of advice we end up in trouble. Some people have gone so far as to make even going to Heaven a work that man can accomplish in his own strength. Others following that advice of working their way to Heaven have worked their way right out of trusting Christ and into Hell. I had one man tell me that if in fact he could not get to Heaven on his own merits he was not going to rely upon someone else’s sacrifice to get him into the pearly gates. That man died and for all his labor he ended up with an eternity of torment.

When the Bible tells us to labor to enter into rest it is not talking about a list of do’s and don’ts but about laboring to build faith in the work of Christ in our lives and this is indeed a labor for the whole world is set against it:

The world tells us to work to get ahead. Christ says trust me and obey me and I will give you the life I intend for you to have.

The world says work hard and pay your own way. The Lord says trust me, pray and do the things I tell you to do and I will supply all your needs.

The world says do good works and God might be impressed enough to let you into Heaven. Jesus says come unto me and trust my work on the cross to save you and then you can rest from your labors.

In the end we have a choice about how to labor. Laboring in our own strength leads us to exhaustion and ultimately failure. Laboring to trust God and His way for our lives leads to rest and peace and ultimately success. It seems like a no-brainer to me but which will you choose?

Pastor Wrinkles: Laboring To Rest Pt. 2

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This post is part two in our sermon from Sunday 11-30-14. If you missed part 1 you can find it here:

http://wp.me/p39vIx-1mB

Our leading Scripture is found in Hebrews 4:11

“ Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest lest any man lest any man fall after the  same example of unbelief.”

 

So what does laboring to rest mean?

Does it mean that if we work hard eventually we will get to rest in Heaven as a reward for our labors?

Some say that Christianity is a religion of “do’s” and “don’ts”, that if we are ever to make it to Heaven we have to work very hard for it.

They might say something like,”Be good.Be saintly and God might just find you good enough to let you enter Heaven.”

Many people  labor under the false idea that God  is up in Heaven with a calculator right now tabulating good works versus bad works. When asked if they expect to go to Heaven their answer is that they hope that they are basically good people and that God will find their good works to outweigh their bad works and so He will let them into Heaven; But this is not biblical and it is certainly not what Jesus or the writer to the Hebrews meant when they suggested that we labor to enter into rest.

Paul the apostle Paul questioned

 “What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage?”

And he was right when he concluded

” Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:

 “There is no one righteous, not even one;

11     there is no one who understands;

    there is no one who seeks God.

12 All have turned away,

    they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good,

    not even one.” Romans 3: 9-12

Later he wrote:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Eph. 2:8-10

The work and the labor spoken of do not speak of our own works or of Heaven.

Good works can never earn us entrance into Heaven. Our works will never be good enough to earn us a place in Heaven. Our place in Heaven is only guaranteed by our faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus , himself,said “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

So we see that what God requires of us in order to get into Heaven is not a list of good works but a daily living faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul the apostle wrote in Romans 10 that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame. 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

And again in the book of Ephesians chapter 2 He tells us it is by grace you are saved through faith.

Have you realized what we are to labor at yet? Tune in tomorrow!

Pastor Wrinkles: Laboring To Rest Pt. 1

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles
Me reclining after walking up the "Rocky" stairs at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Me reclining after walking up the “Rocky” stairs at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Today in our church we continued our study through the paradoxes of Scripture. As our  Lead Pastor, Barry Risto,  has shared many times over the past few weeks:

a paradox is simply- Something that is made up of two opposite things that seems impossible but that is actually true or possible.

Here are some examples of paradoxes.

 

“You are never too old to become younger!”

― Mae West

 

“The Universe is very, very big.

It also loves a paradox. For example, it has some extremely strict rules.

Rule number one: Nothing lasts forever.

Not you or your family or your house or your planet or the sun. It is an absolute rule. Therefore when someone says that their love will never die, it means that their love is not real, for everything that is real dies.

Rule number two: Everything lasts forever.” Craig Ferguson

Today’s Scriptural paradox  says, “If we are ever to find rest then we must labor for it.”

This is found in Scripture verses like Hebrews 4:11

“ Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest lest any man fall after the  same example of unbelief.”

And Ma 11:28-30

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

 

So how do we find ourselves laboring to rest? How is it possible to work hard and rest at the same time? How can we labor to enter rest? How can we take on a yoke (a burden a chore) and find rest?

Let’s start by talking about some of the myths about Christian labor and rest. Let’s talk about what it does not mean.

  1. Laboring to rest does not mean that Christians never get weary. Some people say if you labor for God perfectly and in the things that God wants you to really do, then you will never get tired. Some say that any sign of weariness means you are not listening to what God is really telling you to do because if you were you would have enough energy.
  2. and not be tired.

But even Paul the apostle said he had served the church…

“In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” 2 Cor. 11:27

We will get weary.

Isaiah 40 says, “Even princes get weary… but they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.”

Weariness is to be considered a normal part of this life.

  1. Neither does laboring to rest mean we should never rest. Some people say that the Christian life is all about exhausting every bit of energy you have and never resting.  I have heard Christians say “I’ll rest when I’m dead. There are souls to save.”

But we are not the savior and the same Lord that told us to go out into the harvest field said “The Sabbath the day of rest was made for man.”

What are some myths you have discovered about labor and rest in the Christian life?