A Brief Sermon from a Brief Sermon
I was relieved this morning to get a spiritual nugget from my father. Spending this weekend with my dad and his dad, ended up fairing out for the best. The 3 of us hung out yesterday all while playing fix it with my car. It was freezing cold and a tad frustrating at times. But we all bonded and I actually learned a lot about cars. But I am always craving the spiritual nugget. The one thing that is going to blow my brain and keep me chewing for a while.
Regular Sunday routine I suppose. Me trying to drink coffee while keeping my son entertained in the midst of a loud television with a random preaching from CTN. There are only 2 TV preacher people that influence me; Joseph Prince and Ann Burns. Anything else I see or listen to is merely to laugh and chuckle at. I like to listen to the Dr's and Reverends disect easy gospel fact and regulate their attendee's with fear. This morning was an English Baptist (yes there are baptist's in England!) pointing out 4 truths to his chruch that God told him to share. Now I don't doubt for a second that God gave this man these 4 truths. I just think this man forgot to ask God to elaborate on what he meant. I've done it. God gives an idea and I just start writing on it instead of asking God what He thinks about it. And so you get a truth and you mix it with some law and you get the blue brew. Let me explain....
The 1st Truth: God is always watching you!
This is very true. But watch how the human engulfed in law hears this. The Baptist Dr. of the Lord says, "Where were you this weekend? Who were you with? What did you see? GOD knows!" RAWGH!!!!! Now this is true. God DOES know all this. But this man used it as a fear tactic. God might as well be Santa! He knows when you are sleeping, He knows..... He knows... He knows.... You get where I'm going.
Of COURSE He knows! Otherwise we can't say He's all knowing. But why is that a bad thing? He is always watching me. He sees that I am struggling financially, that I am slowly drifting into old habits, that I am fighting with my wife, that I am depressed, lonely, hungry.... etc. He is watching and He sees me and He loves me and He is concerned. Better than that, He has created a way for me to get out. The problem is, I was raised to believe that not only is God watching me, but he also hates me. He hates what I do and who I have become. He's disappointed in me. So instead of running to him and saying, "Hey buddy, what's the answer here?" I run from him in fear so as not to anger him more. Like he lives in a volcano above the village that is my life, just waiting to spew his firey judgement on me.
This disturbs me so much. But when I mix this with Grace, suddenly I feel okay. I say, "Wow, right now, this sucks! Life is not exactly what i want it to be. Thank God He is watching me. He knows whats up and he knows the answer to get out. Should I keep heading this route or ask him whats up? Hmmmm!??!??
The 2nd Truth: Be Aware of The Lord's Coming!
This one was the nugget. The Dr. Pastor Baptist touted, "We must be aware of the Lord's coming! For we shall be raptured up, lest you be left behind due to your wickedness!" Whoa whoa whoa! Hardcore. That is defintely a truth from God, but when you mix it with the law.... well you get this shit.: BEWARE!!!!..... not Be aware.
Looking at this truth from a perspective of Grace I see, 'Be Aware of the Lord's Coming' as a past tense reference. As, "Be aware of the Lord's coming and what it meant!" Get it? Not be aware of the Lord's coming to eat your soul. The Lord came. Be aware, daily, of His coming and what it means. It means that you are free and free indeed. You no longer live under the fear of a law, you live under the light of the Son. Jesus coming again holds many mystery's, but one thing i know is this. Jesus will not return to this world to save it. He already did that. Jesus came and he saw and he conquered. He gave us health, prosperity, and, best of all, righteousness through his death. When he comes to this earth again, he will not be coming to save it, he will be coming to destroy it. And when he returns, how will you have spent your life? Will you have lived it to the fullest? Doubling what he gave you? (i.e. - The Parable of the Talents - Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-28) Or will you be like the wicked servant who went and hid his in the ground? Seriously! Are you enjoying what Christ gave you or have you buried it and sat around waiting for the 2nd coming?
Regular Sunday routine I suppose. Me trying to drink coffee while keeping my son entertained in the midst of a loud television with a random preaching from CTN. There are only 2 TV preacher people that influence me; Joseph Prince and Ann Burns. Anything else I see or listen to is merely to laugh and chuckle at. I like to listen to the Dr's and Reverends disect easy gospel fact and regulate their attendee's with fear. This morning was an English Baptist (yes there are baptist's in England!) pointing out 4 truths to his chruch that God told him to share. Now I don't doubt for a second that God gave this man these 4 truths. I just think this man forgot to ask God to elaborate on what he meant. I've done it. God gives an idea and I just start writing on it instead of asking God what He thinks about it. And so you get a truth and you mix it with some law and you get the blue brew. Let me explain....
The 1st Truth: God is always watching you!
This is very true. But watch how the human engulfed in law hears this. The Baptist Dr. of the Lord says, "Where were you this weekend? Who were you with? What did you see? GOD knows!" RAWGH!!!!! Now this is true. God DOES know all this. But this man used it as a fear tactic. God might as well be Santa! He knows when you are sleeping, He knows..... He knows... He knows.... You get where I'm going.
Of COURSE He knows! Otherwise we can't say He's all knowing. But why is that a bad thing? He is always watching me. He sees that I am struggling financially, that I am slowly drifting into old habits, that I am fighting with my wife, that I am depressed, lonely, hungry.... etc. He is watching and He sees me and He loves me and He is concerned. Better than that, He has created a way for me to get out. The problem is, I was raised to believe that not only is God watching me, but he also hates me. He hates what I do and who I have become. He's disappointed in me. So instead of running to him and saying, "Hey buddy, what's the answer here?" I run from him in fear so as not to anger him more. Like he lives in a volcano above the village that is my life, just waiting to spew his firey judgement on me.
This disturbs me so much. But when I mix this with Grace, suddenly I feel okay. I say, "Wow, right now, this sucks! Life is not exactly what i want it to be. Thank God He is watching me. He knows whats up and he knows the answer to get out. Should I keep heading this route or ask him whats up? Hmmmm!??!??
The 2nd Truth: Be Aware of The Lord's Coming!
This one was the nugget. The Dr. Pastor Baptist touted, "We must be aware of the Lord's coming! For we shall be raptured up, lest you be left behind due to your wickedness!" Whoa whoa whoa! Hardcore. That is defintely a truth from God, but when you mix it with the law.... well you get this shit.: BEWARE!!!!..... not Be aware.
Looking at this truth from a perspective of Grace I see, 'Be Aware of the Lord's Coming' as a past tense reference. As, "Be aware of the Lord's coming and what it meant!" Get it? Not be aware of the Lord's coming to eat your soul. The Lord came. Be aware, daily, of His coming and what it means. It means that you are free and free indeed. You no longer live under the fear of a law, you live under the light of the Son. Jesus coming again holds many mystery's, but one thing i know is this. Jesus will not return to this world to save it. He already did that. Jesus came and he saw and he conquered. He gave us health, prosperity, and, best of all, righteousness through his death. When he comes to this earth again, he will not be coming to save it, he will be coming to destroy it. And when he returns, how will you have spent your life? Will you have lived it to the fullest? Doubling what he gave you? (i.e. - The Parable of the Talents - Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-28) Or will you be like the wicked servant who went and hid his in the ground? Seriously! Are you enjoying what Christ gave you or have you buried it and sat around waiting for the 2nd coming?
I'm getting off track here. I suppose I could go on from there, but the other truths cannot be expressed here without me treading on the evangelical heel of heresy and I am not in the mood.
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Learning To Fly
In the past month I have suddenly been overwhelmed financially. I have succumb to the feeling of fed up. Fed up with being broke and grouchy for being broke. At times I feel the lack of money has spilled over into the list of fire starters within my marriage. Which sucks because I was raised with parents who never fought about money and my wife was raised with parents who always fought about money. So when we married, we agreed to never make money an object of argument.
Well, that has held to this day, but it definitely feels like the issue of money is definitely beginning to weigh in on the reasons we hate eachother. CORRECTION: I don't hate my wife, but i definitely feel hated. And do read in depth. I FEEL hated. Not actually am.
Regardless of what I am turning my feelings into, the reality is that I am feeling the tension. Nobody likes the feeling of constantly being broke. Nobody likes to hear, "No we can't get that because we don't have money." --- "They turned it off cos we didn't pay it...." --- "We can't eat cos I drank it away."
Refer to my previous script and here's where you find me. GOD! Damn it! I am done. Tell me again how to get out. This time I don't care. Whatever it takes.
My dad refered me some books. The first being, "The Richest Man In Babylon" Very interesting take on the scripts and tablets discovered from the greatest, richest civilization in history. Currently I am indulging my senses with the book "Live Rich". Again, very mezmorizing stuff on life, money and work.
What is funny to me though is how I would never imagine reading either of these books based merely on their titles. To me, "rich" and "richest" imply wealth. And in the country I live in, wealth is attained through capitolism. That is something i have a hard time with. But already I have learned this truth.
Just because the wealthy man is eating Prime Rib in his castle tonight does not mean that he is as happy as the man living in the shack eating a pot of beans.
Living Rich, as I have understood it is living life to the fullest and enjoying every day. That, I have tried to accomplish. My only hinderance is that sometimes my definition of 'full' or 'fullest' requires money.
So here I am at 30 retraining my brain to understand what RICH means. And what will it take to be financially stable enough to truly live RICH day in and day out?
Quite frankly, being rich to me means a lot of things. I do not even have the energy to type it out.
I DO know however that I must start changing immediate habits and luxuries. To attain money I must make money. To make money I must pay myself. Once I pay myself I can make more money. This will happen. I want to be the Robin Hood of these books and use the wealthy mans money to become rich.
My first steps have been to eliminate booze, TV, and Internet. Internet is readily available to me for free. No need to pay for it. TV is killing my brains and distracting me from my son. No need to let it continue robbing me. Booze? Don't get me started. Simple things that have taken their financial toll on me and have returned nothing but another year of debt. This is not a resolution or a band wagon folly. This is me taking control of my situation. This is me saying, "I will never borrow money again." This is my response to the option God has given me.
I don't want the mansion with a thousand rooms. I don't want the fancy cars and flat screen TV's. I just want to truly live rich with the balance of wealth, health and happiness. All things Jesus died for and gave to me. He became poor, sick and cursed so that I might enjoy the opposite. My change starts today.
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