Rush of Fools Show at Church Tonight

Wow...God is awesome.

Following is my message for this past morning for the high schoolers


(I manuscript most all, but I extemp. quite a bit as well that's not written - and take out as well)

Have you ever been in that situation where you want to do one thing so much….but something, be it conscience, or maybe more rightly, compassion holds you back? Maybe you’ve been given the opportunity to go hangout with your best friends, but instead you decide to spend some time with a younger sibling…or maybe spending some time with a peer you don’t really know that well who has invited you to do something else…and it may be a chance for you to invest in that relationship which earns you the right to relate your testimony to them…it’s about giving up your rights for the benefit of others, but not just for them…it’s to glorify Jesus, doing what He did

Let’s think to Jesus, - He is, was, and forever will be God…but for that brief period of time during which He walked in the flesh upon this earth, He gave up His right to be worshipped and praised and radiate His glory (you know how you can feel the sunshine upon your face on a sunny day?, think about amplifying that a billion times and adding every color and visible and invisible energy wave known and unknown)… If anyone had a claim to rights it’s definitely God…and yet He laid not just His rights, but His life down for us…to the point of suffering a cruel unjust murder upon a cross

What would compel God to do such a thing….was it His love for us?

No…and yes…

First we have to get one thing straight…God’s primary focus is glorifying Himself…does that ring true to you?

If it doesn’t, think about it this way…would God be God if His primary concern was His creation and having to create and having to redeem what He created…that would make God subject to us…and because He’s God…that won’t happen…

Often in the Bible we hear of God doing things for His namesake…for instance, many times Israel was saved for His namesake. It wasn’t about them, it was about Him

It’s always been about Him…God sent His Son to redeem us for His namesake. God created us a certain way for a certain purpose – to love and enjoy Him forever…therefore when man fell, there needed to be a Savior in order for the purpose of man to be upheld…that’s why Christ loves us so much….to the point of dying a dreadful death….it’s so that His name will be upheld, so that we will be as He created us…to glorify and enjoy Him forever.

SO now then…what’s Paul talking about…to die is Christ…to live is gain…I thought you were going to say compassion for people….

That’s only partially true

To live is Christ – that is He gave His life for me and so I live by Him. I am to live out this life as He would desire me to live if, for it is His

It’s about delaying your gratification so that you can serve the Lord as much as possible, as intelligently as possible.

But…to die is gain – the gain of the glory of eternity, the gain of receiving the rewards for which one has labored in Christ so long…it’s to be seated with Christ…

Paul is following Christ in Christ’s focus…it was on His Father’s glory…likewise, Paul’s thoughts go to God as well in that he decides he will remain living because it’s most beneficial to the Body of Christ. His focus isn’t people, but the idea of sharing in the what makes our Lord so awesome – the fact that He lived a perfect life and still decided to willingly sacrifice it for us to retain our purpose through Him.

Paul knows what he’s giving up here…wait…Paul knows? Yeah. Paul has been to the third heaven…he knows what he’s missing out on…just as Jesus did when He was on earth…

Thus, Paul is telling us….a life worth living is only worth living if it’s lived focused on Christ.

What are some ways by which we live for ourselves? Within the Church, how do we adjust the focus from Him to us?

In contrast, what are some ways by which we can live for Christ? How can we change from selfishness to selflessness…what are some examples of where we can shift our focus from us to Him? And how?

Paul makes the point that until you’re prepared to die as he is, you aren’t nor will you ever be prepared to live a life worth living. Why does he make this point? What’s so important about being ready to die that opens us up to living full lives?

Are you like me? I sometimes get caught up, especially at this period of time in my life with so many transitions from high school to college to work, school, career, marriage…..there is so much to figure out, and all along the way it’s easy to get lost if we’re not careful…sometimes I get to the point where I just cry out to God asking, craving Him to tell me the answer to this one question…. “What’s my purpose?” Now I know we went over the purpose of man….but I want to know my purpose, my individual purpose…why did you create me? What function do I serve in this Body…..Paul notes here in verse 24 that his purpose, his sole purpose to continue living on was to serve the Body of Christ, his fellow believers, to strengthen them in teaching, preaching, raising up new assemblies….he would stay to encourage them to press on in the faith….

Paul is a believer who suffered, he “took his lumps”, he underwent lashings, shipwrecks, robbery, drifting at sea, imprisonment….all because of focus

His focus was so strong, his stance was so solid, his decisiveness so resolute, He was so stubborn for Christ…that he counted these as privileges….

How many of us could honestly say getting hit in the face by another because we mentioned the name of Jesus, or get jumped by a group of guys because we carry a Bible and talk about God, or get made fun of and slandered at school, or even raped and beaten, all because we follow a guy who happened to be God, who happened to call us to follow Him, HOW IN THE WORLD CAN WE CALL THOSE PRIVILEGES?!?!?

Take a minute or two to talk about a time when you were wronged and how it made you feel.

Honestly, sometimes, I want to think Paul was delusional writing that suffering is a privilege, and if I didn’t mention it already, he’s referring only to unjust suffering, suffering for the Gospel (suffering so that love can win), suffering that isn’t pursued, but comes upon you without your provocation, your egging it on, teasing it to come after you…

It’s hard to look at all the junk we’ve had to go through in life to get to where we are now….sometimes we see that junk and say…that just wasn’t fair, and if it was for God, you’re right, it wasn’t…but Paul seems to tell us that it was a privilege to go through it, like it’s better that it happened to us than not at all….I guess maybe we can use it as part of our testimony or something like that…..but is that all?

I would venture to say no…there’s more…there’s something greater here.

As Jesus said, “Follow me”

Thinking about this topic, we know that blessed is the man who perseveres under trial; because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him. We also know that our God is a jealous God. He and He alone can and has taken upon Himself the sins of the world for the redemption of those who believe. (He underwent what you underwent because He took upon Himself that sin which was committed against you, it was committed against Him, but here’s the thing, only He could actually do something about it, and what He did was in complete and utterly pure and perfect love, it’s called forgiveness). For Him to share with us the unjust sufferings which He underwent for our salvation is sharing the most precious form of provision available. The great mercy he gave to us…He’s letting us do the same for others. There is no greater love.

Next time something happens to you that seems unfair, not right, unjust; if you feel like you are suffering because you’re following God, first make sure that you are unable to keep from the persecution (don’t entice it), if it’s still there, continue to pray about it and read the Word for God’s insight into your situation, along with that find an elder or a pastor to share your burden with…explain what’s happening, they will help you understand and cope with it….

Finally, and here’s the greatest but weirdest part that might take a little time to get adjusted to….Get excited and rejoice in the Lord…again I’ll tell you what I just said because I’m pretty sure it didn’t sink in…..Rejoice…By suffering with Him you are involved in the most intimate act that Christ performed for us. You are rejoicing in the ability to focus on Him over all else, you can rejoice when He is what brings you joy, because the joy we find in Him is perfect, without blemish, and it never fades…

When you get taken advantage of, how can or how do you rejoice?

As we leave today to go back to our families and friends this week, to our jobs and our summer leagues…to our video games and books, our bike rides and water fights…..remember it’s not about me…and that’s why it’s worth it.

A new Bible

Have I told you? I was given a new Bible for my internship....Nothing against my old/current Bible...it's pretty awesome itself. For the past 7 years I've been using a parallel Bible, which has 4 translations (KJV, Amp, NASB, and NIV) side by side; two versions are on the left page, the other two on the right page. It's really nice to be able to cross-reference each translation with the others...to get a richer understanding of what's being said. But now, I have a new Bible. This new Bible is nice. I mean, it's really nice. It's leather-bound. I've never had a leather-bound Bible before. It's got red-letter text in it. I've never had a red-letter Bible before. This Bible has annotations for practically every verse, it's got character profiles, it's got pictures, it's got diagrams, etc...the list goes on. I've never had any of that stuff in my other Bible (except for a few annotations about wording every once and awhile. The only thing this didn't come with was a cheap price....It is so nice I almost didn't want to open it; I was a bit reluctant at first. Nevertheless, I know how much people crave Bibles in other parts of the world and so I know the great duty I have (and delight!) of engrossing myself in this Bible with all of its aides. I'm so very thankful for my new Bible. God is so good in providing for us, isn't He?

Perhaps there's a spiritual analogy between my old Bible and the Old Testament and my new Bible and the New Testament, but I won't divulge any of that reasoning at this point. If you can think about it on your own and understand, awesome, but I'm kinda tired right now, I need to go fill up on some energy and stuff....you know, read my Bible.


God bless,
DMS

1st Camp of the Summer

This passed Sunday thru Tuesday I was at "Prarie Camp" with 1st and 2nd Grade students from NMC. I was a co-counselor with a member of the Prarie Camp staff. Considering they were my kids though - being from NMC - I took charge of most everthing and delegated when I thought best to my co-counselor. He was a great help. Sometimes I needed a little rest from having so much fun, and so I would have him take 9 out of 10 of the kids to the restroom while I waited behind with that one kid who can never tie his shoes, put on his shirt, find his socks, drink enough water, eat his food fast enough.....Essentially I really enjoyed being able to wait around with one or a few of the campers at a time to invest in them more intently.

Needless to say, camp was a blast, and the word on the street is that the kids had just as much fun, if not more :) I'll probably find out through the grapevine from my superiors whether or not that's true, but the consensus so far is that I personally handled the situations I encountered well. Pray that they continue in their young walks with Christ....by the way, that doesn't mean immature walks. I heard one of my boys pray a prayer so genuine, so pure, and so eloquent it struck me with awe...I'll have to tell you about it later. I was blown away.

God bless,
DMS

I'm excited for what the Lord has in store for today...something magnificent is going to happen.




So I'm back, and "oh man" has the Lord been at work this morning. My time with God this morning was pretty intense. The revelations were so rich, the love so deep, the presence so fresh, and the sincerity so genuine; today is a day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. I finished reading Exodus today (38-40), started reading Leviticus(1-4), and read Proverbs (1-8). I'm excited for reading more later today. Writing down a lot of what I'm learning is also a major priority. Keep me in your prayers. The greatest prayer for me right now is for the blessing of humility. God bless,
DMS

Love the Lord Your God

So...there's this vibe emerging from within and from outside of the Church that has everyone "all anti-church and religious forms and tradition and stuff." Out of this is born the following "theology:"

Loving God and loving people are on an equal plane. That is, if you love God, you must love people. You can't love people without loving God and you can't love God without loving people.

The problem such an understanding of Matthew 22 runs into is the idea of which is penultimate and which is truly ultimate. For instance, the purpose of man is what? Answer: To love and glorify God and enjoy Him forever. How do we go about this? How do we love Him, glorify Him, and enjoy Him forever? Well one way (and a necessary way) is to love people. But - and it's a really huge and important but - what's our purpose again? Therefore, the way we go about living out our purpose, the purpose for which God created us, is penultimate. How about this....the end is superior to the means....does that strike your heart-strings harmoniously?

Think about it...why do we eat? To remain healthy and not starve. What's most important, your health or the act of eating? The means complement the end, but they are subservient to it. Why do we love people, because it's a way in which we go about loving God...we also love God by spending alone time with Him, when no one else is around - communicating with Him...prayer. These are acts of worship through which we can demonstrate our love for God. They aren't inauthentic; they are true acts of love. If this is to be the case, however, they must be focused on Jesus Christ. If we ever take our eyes off of Him we will be incapable of loving as we ought, and therefore not fulfilling our purpose, and actually demonstrating one's lacking love. If God is love and true love can only flow from God's love for us, then loving others is only secondary to loving God.

Now, at this point, some might argue - using my logic - that if God's love overflows into us so that we might love others by His love, God's love is actually the means and loving others is the end. This, however, is bad theology because it places a primary importance upon loving others, when the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your mind, all of your heart, and all of your strength. The second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. But if you truly love your neighbor, your focus is on God so that you can love them in the first place.

I hope this clears up the fog created because of this whirlwind of anti-church rebellion. It's sad that because of such rebellion in the world, the Church has, in many ways, acquiesed to the trends and pastors of all sorts are "condoning" behavior that would have never been able to "fly" back in the day: back in the day when hospitality was a given, back in the day when the United States was actually safe, back in the day when those who were saved were taught to love their neighbor as theirself (because now everyone has an urge to love others across the ocean who they're unable to meet and of which they cannot yet meet the needs.

Now, so that my post is not just a similar rant against the Church, I want to provide some solutions, because the Church succeeds in so many awesome ways, and I'm definitely for myself, and since I am part of the Church and a house divided cannot stand - I am for the Church. What I'm hoping to address through this post is clear up the - what I consider - problematic tendency of our Body to shift in the waywardness of the world rather than stand in the adamancy and strong tower of Christ and His Word. Like the Laodicean Church in Revelation 3 we need to let Christ back into the Church. We need to bring back the message of what He actually did and said. We need to quit shifting from love to truth to love to truth where we end up dizzy, and instead we could combine the two (as they should be and are in their original state...in Christ).

How do we combine truth and love?

1. We have to know what He said - Read the Scriptures often.
2. We have to have the right interpretation of what He said (context is a must here), and so be led by the Spirit in wisdom, knowledge, and understanding to adhere to Scripture scripturally. This also means unifying with other strong believers in understanding...when we're unified with each other in Him, He is with us.
3. As Christ pursues the Church with the Father's love, we should pursue loving others with Christ's love.


How do we go about loving others?

1. Ask God - pray - to show you others in need. Have Him illumine those people who you are meant to love on immediately. Remember there are people in this world who are only able to be loved on by you. You are God's workmanship in Christ Jesus to do the work for which He created you. If you aren't given a passion for people in other countries or on other continents, don't be worried that God didn't have a plan for creating you. Those people might not have a passion for their neighbor in the States (who don't know Christ just as equally as those deep jungle tribes), but you might. In that case, ask God to help you recognize those who are in need of His love, and in what way you are to share His love with them.

2. Be obedient to the calling. C'mon man, quit using all this Church language. Speak English...what's this mean, "obey the calling." It means that if you see someone in need, help them out. If you see someone and you want to give them a hug, then do it, give them a hug (ask them if you don't know them, otherwise it might be awkward and means for a lawsuit).



I'm tired of typing for a bit....I'll write more later (maybe about this, maybe not)

God bless,
DMS

Hey guys, recently, as the result of another's request, I studied the "selah" and it's origins and meanings. I sure have learned a lot, and cleaned up some of my misconceptions in the process. Apparently the idea that it's a musical notation is only conjecture and theory...in fact, if we allow Scripture to interpret Scripture for us, it becomes so much more. I'll post some of my notes that I've written from researching later on :)

It's not about the music, it's about the thoughts...it's about connecting thoughts...it's about parallel understandings...it's about metaphors...it's about Truth. It's about The Truth, Jesus Christ.

God bless,
DMS

Holy Liquid

A newer, finished version (though that's subject to change)

1. A holy liquid, a perfect container,

2. Out of Darkness, brought forth, The Sustainer

3. Packed Himself into thin skin, though infinite,

4. Finite bearing eternal, was such meant for it?

5. How is the Holy God condensed?

6. This doesn't make sense, this logic is thoughtless.

7. I thought this couldn’t be the correct process,

8. My understanding and wisdom went out the door, when my reason-guided believing crashed to the floor,

9. No more faith based on myself,

10. Self-help doesn’t really help,

11. It creates confusion, a delusion that you can really know the depths of God,

12. Not that you can’t, but without His hand, it’s a road no man can trod,

13. Save the Savior Son, who’s a Sun to us, three-in-one,

14. In Himself complete, and yet complete when they’re in unison.