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Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Sorry for the long delays in getting anything new up...the holidays tend to put things off schedule that isnt related to them in some way....

I was talking to Cody at work today and we started discussing some recent sermons...i mentioned a couple of Andy's sermons and things i took from them to my understanding of Scripture, and Cody was impressed...he says the ability to recall some significant points of a sermon weeks afterward shows that i was paying attention and learning....too many people go to church just to go, and dont retain anything they heard

so, with such praise, i will resume from just over two weeks ago...the sermon of December 19, just before Christmas...

This sermon was continuing the theme of holiday movies with the title "The Santa Clause: What do you beleive?" Of course, we start off with a short clip from the movie "The Santa Clause" with Tim Allen as the befuddled replacement for Santa...he was openly epxressing his doubts about how real this was which stopped ALL activity...the head elf looked at him "Do you REALLY want to say that to ALL the children of the world?"

So, Andy asks, why do we hold back on our faith, even knowing all we do? We live in an age where we almost require proof of everything we see...and even then we dont always beleive it. But Christian faith will ALWAYS have elements of the unknown in it...and we need to take things as given...and trust in God...like the simple shepards watching over their flocks when that angel appeared to bring them tidings of the Birth...

We explored two of Faith's myths..

1. Seeing is not believing > We are all skeptical, even of things we see...we are always looking to see what tricks were involved...or wondering if we are somehow being tricked. When the angel appeared to the shepards that night, they were naturally frightened...of course, angels don't come calling on you every day, especially when you are on the job! so, of course their inital response was fear...until the angel told them that he brought great news...then their fears turned into great joy....this was something important indeed! So when they went to see the Baby Jesus, obviously what they saw wasnt quite what they expected...the King of the Earth....in a humble straw crib, and not all decked out in finery....but lo' the angel told the truth and they were convinced of what they witnessed.

We know more than they did....yet while they accepted what they were told, we cannot. The problem is simple...we want all our facts upfront before we decide on things but we DONT get all the facts...we have to take a certain amount of things on faith.

Hence, faith is a very important part of Christian thinking and belief...but one we neglect all too often

2. Circumstances may never change > Even after major events occur...even after we witness for Christ...and turn ourselves to God...our life may NOT change into a happy wonderland. After witnessing the baby Jesus, life didnt change for the shepards who went back to work at their herds of sheep...their attitudes changed, they were awed by God...but otherwise their lives didnt change at all.

That leads us to a frequent issue: the 'what is in it for me?' attitude...many times we dont turn to God because we are thinking in some way, 'what is in it for me?" and if we dont like what we see, then we turn away. But Andy says this is where we lose so many people who have unrealistic expectations of life as a Christian...even the Bible itself warns that once we surrender ourselves to Jesus and God, not to count on our lives changing.

That is where people screw up...they think once they declare for Christ, that there will be an increase of the happiness quotient.....well, while it is true that the angels will celebrate you accepting Jesus, and God will smile, the fact is...you life will go on as it has before pretty much. The main difference is the inner feeling knowing that by accepting Christ in your life, and by living as a Christian should, then you will have a ticket to Heaven...

The bigger picture says we need to have faith...to trust that God will somehow look after us. As noted in Herbrews 11:1, 6 : "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see... And without faith, it is impossible to please God..."

Back tomorrow with the sermon of Dec 26....when we discuss "Its a Wonderful Life: Are You Grateful?"

posted by xqmrp at 6:25 PM 0 comments

Sunday, December 12, 2004

Due to Illness, I was unable to get to Church this morning....so there wont be any discussion of today's sermon...

We will be back next week...unless they have figured a way to upload this mornings sermon online at the site...

sorry minna-san ~_~

posted by xqmrp at 9:15 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Well, for the next several weeks, we are going to the movies...tying in the favorite holiday movies with some important ideas and themes...

This week....Home Alone

Every year, some folks slip through the cracks...we know they are there, we see them, but somehow we keep forgetting them. A prime example of this is Joseph, who had to put up with far more than most men of his time could cope with. Yet, in spite of the immmensity of his place, he is all but forgotten...if we see him in Nativity scenes, he is usually stuck in the background with the livestock..the Bible even forgets him beyond a few references outside the story of Jesus birth...(and hardly any beyond Jesus yourth , whoich leads to wonder if maybe he passed away fairly young...)

For the Joesphs in the world...

> Honor Those Who Serve in Secrecy : Joesph was the role player...he did the upfront dirty work but never really got affirmation he deserved...

How do we do this? We honor them by

1. Acknowledging their hard work: We should notice these secret servants and say our thanks...let them know they are noticed and you value their service
2. Accepting their inadaquacies: We ALL have inadequacies...the voices we hear telling us we are not as good as we want to be are the voices of Satan trying to lead us astray. We need to let these servants know we dont expect them to save the world, just continue do their quiet thing in service to the Lord.
3. Appreciating their endurance: something that i never felt from my last job when i kept hanging in there in spite of the generally hopeless staffing situation rather than quitting in disgust and leave my guys in more of a lurch than they already were. I didnt give two hoots and a holler about my employer...but i couldnt let my personal snit hurt my guys...

(Editorial comment: Rebecca tells me that things have gotten pretty bad at my old Group Home since i was fired...they still cant keep staff, and Mr Happy is terrorizing any new staff who do appear...and many of them quit rather than deal with him. My replacement spends a great deal of his time hiding in the office to stay away from Mr Happy's temper tantrums. Guess i wasnt as bad as they thought i was...too bad, i am much happier where i am now...)

4. Affirming their significance: simply put, if you are serving Jesus and the Lord, NO work is insignificant! 'Nuff said right here!

We also need to encourage those who suffer in silence...again, Andy draws from poor Joesph who had planned a quiet wedding only to be told "hey, your bride is pregnant!"...and hearing all the derisive comments from onlookers about Mary. "Virgin? AND pregnant as well? RIIIGHT!" He had planned to quietly leave her to spare her any further public humiliation, but an angel told him not to do that....to stay with her and he was to name the baby Jesus. All of this he did, but Andy asked if maybe Joseph wondered at times what it may have been like to have a normal life with a normal family. Mary is saying "Honey, Jesus got in trouble at school again today for ministering to the sick..." as Joseph hides behind the evening newspaper "Why couldnt i have a normal kid who merely dips girl's pigtails in the school inkwells and fires spitwads at the teacher?"

Seriously, Joesph DID suffer a lot in silence, and never really was noted as complaining about his lot in life. And this is not healthy...we need to share our emotions with close friends...and God as well...bottling up emotions is definitely NOT healthy....so we should reach out to these silent sufferers...to let them know they are not alone...and are very much noticed..

so, who does this apply to? Anyone who is...

1. Alone: If they are alone, they are suffering. Folks who dont know english or the local language and customs, empty nesters, those who are new to town...

2. Greiving: They lost a loved one, a job, a relationship, regrets over a long-ago mistake...

3. Bitter: Is ther an underlying hurt to the bitterness here?

4. Defeated: Smothered by debt, addiction, or repeated failures in life, will sap the life and joy from anyone...

5. Misguided: Those who have lost causes, those who pine for issues that are long past, or spending energy in the wrong directions in life...

6 Empty: These folks are trying to fill the void in their lives, something is missing..something that all the presents and holiday cheer cannot hide....these folks missed the true meaning of the holiday...

bottom line: we long for God's praise...when we honor thse silent servants and sufferers, we can say "We got it right this once." for we are fulfilling God's Will...

Next week, what kind of a Grinch are You? ^_~

see you then!

posted by xqmrp at 8:18 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

This past Sunday as part of the mini-series, A Life Well Spent, we touched upon Jonah...yeah, THAT guy, the one of fish food fame, who had his own issues with God and His directives...namely running FROM God, not to Him. While Jonah is regarded by many as a Biblical hero, he certainly had more than his share of flaws, which came to the forefront in his prophecy.

God was angry at what he saw was the sin and evil in the city of Ninevah...and told Jonah to go and prophesy its destruction. Now, Jonah wasnt too keen on this, and decided to go scurrying off the other way...Andy's theory was Jonah KNEW God was up to something and smelled out a plot right away...and wanted NOTHING to do with it.

Per Andy, A Life Well Spent Overcomes...

> Competing Agendas : We struggle many times with the sense of surrender to God and His Will. Who decides what path to follow? All too often, we want to choose our own Path, which isnt the one intended by God...our personal preference trumps God's Will...but He has His own ways of setting us back right. While His plan sometimes leaves us feeling a bit puzzled as to His intent, God never wants us to be anything but happy in doing His Will.

> Inescapable Discipline: We will never get away from God without consequences. Jonah tried to do just that when he bought a ticket to go west....when a terrible storm came up that threatened to swamp the boat he was on, he realized that God wasnt too thrilled with his actions. When he was willingly tossed overboard, the storm ended for the frightened crew, but he (Jonah) was swallowed by a fish.

Andy's point here was that God will do whatever it takes to break your will. While His discipline is inescapable, it will never be cruel or beyond what you can bear.

>Unpredictable results : There are NO guarantees, not even for God. This is why many people become discouraged. They become Christians and expect positive life-changes to take place immediately....and when they dont, or things they expect to happen dont, they feel like they were led on and want to quit. For Jonah, he finally did return to Nineveh and prophesy its destruction.... only the townspeople heard the message and reformed themselves. God was so impressed with their sincere efforts to reform themselves that He cancelled the destruction of the city...which led to Jonah feeling pretty cranky about it. He openly wondered what the purpose was of prophesying the end if it was never going to happen...

Andy's point was sometimes we expect a bit much from even God Himself....

> Overwhelming Resentment : yeah, Jonah was a bit hacked off at God for His actions. He didnt get his way, and in the end was pulled to God in spite of his efforts at running away. We ourselves often act like we lost something when God takes over our lives...even though we may have already made a mess of things on our own. God will expose your inadequacies ruthlessly, which makes many want to run from Him....but instead, we should run TO Him...and face Him...and face our inadequacies....as Jonah was eventually forced to do...

Well, the holiday season is coming up fast, and my Church is going to the movies for the next month....so some favorite Christmas films will be used to capture the real 'spirit' of the Christmas....

first up : Home Alone: Who Are You Missing?

posted by xqmrp at 10:25 PM 0 comments

Friday, November 26, 2004

Just a quick word...

While i havent changed the header here yet, this place has a new title...

"The Gripes of Wrath" will now be called "A Path to Discovery..."

now if i can just get that banner taken care of...

(EDIT: Thanks Lady Ru for the new header...while it wasnt what we discussed the other night, it certainly works very well... so well, i want to keep it if you dont mind.... ^^

posted by xqmrp at 3:37 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Time for this past weeks sermon....as mentioned previously, this next two weeks messages are a theme of "A Life Well Spent'... involving two minor prophets who had their own issues with misplaced priorities...

This week is Malachi's turn at bat....

If we had a camera turned upon us at all hours, recording our actions 24-7, what would we see? Would it be like Candid Camera, catching us doing embarrassing things, things we wouldnt want our friends and loved ones to know about? Or would it be showing us acting properly all the time. Hint: it wont be the latter....NONE of us act properly 24-7....

Malachi was that 'candid camera' for the Israelites, but in his images, he also had a message of hope that was often lost in his hard-nosed assessments

His first 'video clip'...half-hearted worship....He noted that the Israelites were not giving their best to God....cutting corners, so to speak....such as giving diseased animals and rotted grains and fruits and thinking "Well, that be good enough." The Israelites of then are much like many Christians today...more concerned with the style than substance of their worship...either too cool or too uptight to worship God properly. To wit, if God Himself appeared at a Church to witness for Himself how things are going, how well could we represent OUR worship to Him? We crave minutae, but fail to recognize the true blessings God sends us...and worship Him daily in recognition of those blessings

(Worship is defined as 'Looking for God, and seeing Him"

Malachi's second candid clip was 'broken promises'. In a nutshell, you cant break a promise without consequence....marraige ( a promise to God as well as your loved one), your family and friends, etc. You cannot flip-flop without consequences, sometimes to innocent parties. This is why God hates divorce....while some divorces are necessary evils, those who divorce casually hurt the partner, and if there are any children involved, them as well.

Live as honestly as you can...

His final video clip is 'unpaid debt"...and yes, money is involved here as well...we shoudl be tithing at least 10% to the Church as the Lord promises that if we do so, His blessings will overflow...as well as our debt to God for His blessings

In fact, Andyu says he guarantees that if we tithe 10% to the Church, if we dont feel morew blessed in 90 days, show him the cancelled cheks of the tithes, and Andy will have the money refunded in full (he says the church bean counters flip out whenever he says this.....but to this point, over the last several years, NOBODY has asked for their money back...

interesting thoughts....

see you next week!

posted by xqmrp at 3:50 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

This past Sunday, we concluded the series of sermons entitled 'The Holy Who?" as Andy was reacquainting us with the Holy Spirit...the oft-forgotten part of the Holy Trinity....

We first have to admit that we need help in our lives, for our choices never seem to work out quite as we planned....unexpected things that throw off what we calculated for our lives and never work out to meet our expectations. So, when things dont meet up with what we want, who do we turn to? Who better to ask than God? He wants us to ask Him when things dont go right...for often what we dont doesnt quite match up with His plan.

(Andy says he is skeptical of anyone who says that God or the Holy Spirit told them to act in a certain way...neither are that obvious in their workings...usually it is more the person trying to justify selfish desires than anything else...)

Continuing the 'driving mode' Andy laid out his final points regarding the Holy Spirit...

1. Brace Yourself > Trying to work things on our own is like teaching a teen to drive (and Andy knows...two of his three daughters have been through that...and he asked us for our prayers for him for his youngest is soon to enter that stage!) And moreso, we need to expect the unexpected...for the influence of Holy Spirit is NOT always what we anticipated...we should...

> anticipate the truth. The Holy Spirit will guide us to all truth. He will 'call it like he sees it'...usually things we need to hear, not what we want to hear. It wont make us comfortable or happy all the time, but that isnt His job...

> Anticipate authority. The Holy Spirit is the voice of God. When we hear the voice of God, we are being told what God wants...the word of God Himself...thus there is no discussion, no debate, no choices...

> Anticipate the unknown. The Holy Spirit prepares us for the unknown events ahead, the unknown truths of life...

2. Shift into Neutral > We often cannot hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us, because we are not in 'neutral' gear in our lives...we are still going forward in the direction we want to go in. The Holy Spirit speaks to get a response, so if we aren't listening , He will be silent. Thus, oftentimes, when we say that we are waiting for the Holy Spirit to guide us, He isnt...because He knows we are not listening anyway....why talk to someone whose mind is closed? Also, many folks misunderstand God's Will...they act in fear of God's Will...Andy says we should be in fear of MISSING God's Will...so discerning God's Will can be scary, but not if we understand His Perfect Plan...

for Peter says "Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares aboput what happens to you." Surrender all to God, and don't be afraid of his will...shift your brain to neutral, and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you...

3. Be Discerning > The Holy Spirit WILL guide you, but we shgould be careful. The Holy Spirit will give us direction, BUT He will speak to us directly rather than act through others. Andy notes four ways to tell if the Holy Spirit is actually talking to us, or if it is our selfish desires talking to us....

> Peace. Hard to describe, but we can certainly tell when it is lacking in our lives...it can be described as 'inner settleness' so, when the wrong influences come in we SHOULD feel unsettled. This is a checkpoint, not a roadblock...

> Conscience - a moral code is enscribed in each of us...a sense of right or wrong. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, He acts as a mechanic to overhaul the conscience, which serves as a megaphone in His hands (When we do something hurtful to another, and a 'HEY! You DUMMY! You cant treat people like that!' rings in our minds...that is the Holy Spirit trying to steer us back to the right way...)

> The Word of God. aka the Bible- The Bible is the product of the Holy Spirit working through the mouths of the prophets in their lives. The Holy Spirit will NEVER guide you to do the opposite of God's Will

> Wisdom- Choices we make arent always good or bad, right or wrong. Sometimes, we simply make dumb choices, not evil ones. He will warn us of the first step taken the wrong direction...

Much to ponder these last several weeks....i hope you have pondered with me...

the next mini-series of sermons is dealing with "A Life Well Spent', the experiecnes of two minor prophets who had their fair share of misplaced priorities and mistakes....see you then!

posted by xqmrp at 7:14 AM 0 comments