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Living a Christian Life is Like a Game of Tag with a Twist

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In This Game, It’s Good to Be Tagged

We’re all familiar with the game of tag and most of us played it as kids. 

It involves two or more players chasing each other in an attempt to “tag” them out of play. When a person is tagged, the tagger says, “Tag, you’re it.” The last one tagged is the loser and is “it” for the next round.

The Christian game of tag works a little differently. Instead of tagging people out of play, in the Christian game, we “tag” them in. Every person we tag joins in the effort to tag others, who then do more tagging. 

The people tagged in this game are the winners.

In Luke 9:28-36, Jesus takes Peter, John and James up on the mountain. While up there with Jesus, they were tagged. They went on to tag others, who tagged others…

This experience, among others, made them want to be like Jesus and “tag” people.

Being like Jesus, sounds relatively easy on the surface, but think about the sacrifices He made. He came to earth and lived like a human. He shared in our sufferings. He loved us that much.

Dr. Maxell Maltz tells a remarkable story of a love like this.

A man had been burned and disfigured in a fire while attempting to save his parents from a burning house, but he couldn’t get to them and they perished. 

He mistakenly interpreted his pain as God’s punishment. The man would not let anyone see him — not even his wife.

She went to Dr. Maltz, a plastic surgeon, for help. He told her not to worry. “I can restore his face.”

The wife was unenthused. Her husband had repeatedly refused any help. She knew he would again.

Then why her visit? “I want you to disfigure my face so I can be like him! If I can share his pain, maybe he’ll let me back in his life.”

Dr. Maltz was shocked. He denied her request but was so moved by her love that he went to speak with her husband. Knocking on the man’s bedroom door, he called loudly. “I’m a plastic surgeon, and I can restore your face.” No response. “Please come out.” Again there was no answer.

Still speaking through the door, Dr. Maltz told the man of his wife’s proposal. “She wants me to disfigure her face, to make her face like yours in the hope that you let her back into your life. That’s how much she loves you.”

There was a brief moment of silence, and then, ever so slowly, the doorknob began to turn.

The way the woman felt for her husband is the way God feels about us. But He did more than make the offer. He took on our face, our disfigurement. He became like us. 

The places He went to reach us show how far He will go to touch us.

“Tag, you’re it.” Now go and tag someone else.

How do You Know When You’ve Reached “Rich” Status?

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That Depends on What Your Definition of Rich is

If we aren’t careful, we can get caught up in chasing the “almighty dollar”. There’s nothing wrong with money as long as it doesn’t become the only thing you’re focused on.

We can also go too far the other way and see money as evil. It’s not. Money is a tool that make ministry possible. It’s much easier to rebuild a home damaged by a storm if there’s money to buy the building materials.

One definition of rich is specific to money, but another is plentiful or abundant. What is it that you want to have in plenty and abundance?

Love and joy are the kind of things that makes us rich.

Here’s an excerpt from a story about being rich from Eddie Ogan:

I’ll never forget Easter 1946. My dad had died five years before, leaving Mom with seven school kids to raise and no money.

A month before Easter the pastor of our church announced that a special Easter offering would be taken to help a poor family.

When we got home, we talked about what we could do. We decided to buy 50 pounds of potatoes and live on them for a month. This would allow us to save $20 of our grocery money for the offering.

We thought that if we kept our electric lights turned out as much as possible and didn’t listen to the radio, we’d save money on the electric bill.

My sister and I got as many house and yard cleaning jobs as possible, and both of us babysat for everyone we could.

For 15 cents we could buy enough cotton loops to make three pot holders to sell for $1. We made $20 on pot holders.

That month was one of the best of our lives.

Every day we counted the money to see how much we had saved. At night we’d sit in the dark and talk about how the poor family was going to enjoy having the money the church would give them.

We had about 80 people in church, so figured that whatever amount of money we had to give, the offering would surely be 20 times that.

The night before Easter we were so excited, we could hardly sleep. We didn’t care that we wouldn’t have new clothes for Easter; we had $70 for the sacrificial offering.

We could hardly wait to get to church! On Sunday morning, rain was pouring. We didn’t own an umbrella, and the church was over a mile from our home, but it didn’t seem to matter how wet we got. Darlene had cardboard in her shoes to fill the holes. The cardboard came apart, and her feet got wet.

When the sacrificial offering was taken, we were sitting on the second row from the front. Mom put in a $10 bill, and each of us kids put in a $20.

As we walked home after church, we sang all the way.

Late that afternoon the minister drove up in his car. Mom went to the door, talked with him for a moment, and then came back with an envelope in her hand.

We asked what it was, but she didn’t say a word. She opened the envelope and out fell a bunch of money. There were three crisp $20 bills, one $10 and seventeen $1 bills.

Mom put the money back in the envelope. We didn’t talk, just sat and stared at the floor. We had gone from feeling like millionaires to feeling like poor white trash.

We kids had such a happy life that we felt sorry for anyone who didn’t have our Mom and Dad for parents and a house full of brothers and sisters and other kids visiting constantly.

I knew we didn’t have a lot of things that other people had, but I’d never thought we were poor.

That Easter day I found out we were. The minister had brought us the money for the poor family, so we must be poor. I didn’t like being poor. I looked at my dress and worn-out shoes and felt so ashamed–I didn’t even want to go back to church. Everyone there probably already knew we were poor!

We sat in silence for a long time. Then it got dark, and we went to bed. All that week, we girls went to school and came home, and no one talked much.

Finally on Saturday, Mom asked us what we wanted to do with the money. What did poor people do with money? We didn’t know. We’d never known we were poor.

We didn’t want to go to church on Sunday, but Mom said we had to. Although it was a sunny day, we didn’t talk on the way.

At church we had a missionary speaker. He talked about how churches in Africa made buildings out of sun dried bricks, but they needed money to buy roofs. He said $100 would put a roof on a church. The minister said, “Can’t we all sacrifice to help these poor people?”

We looked at each other and smiled for the first time in a week.

Mom reached into her purse and pulled out the envelope and we put it in the offering.

When the offering was counted, the minister announced that it was a little over $100. The missionary was excited. He hadn’t expected such a large offering from our small church. He said, “You must have some rich people in this church.”

Suddenly it struck us! We had given $87 of that “little over $100.”

We were the rich family in the church! Hadn’t the missionary said so? From that day on I’ve never been poor again.

I’ve always remembered how rich I am because I have Jesus!

You can read Eddie’s full story here.

When money is our focus, it doesn’t matter how much we have. If we don’t have our priorities in the right place…we’re poor. Money is an important tool to be able to build God’s Kingdom…but it shouldn’t be our focus.

Fulfilling our purpose with Jesus is what makes us truly rich.

What’s Really Happening When Jesus Turned the Water into Wine?

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It’s About So Much More Than Just the Wine

Most of us are familiar with the start of Jesus’ ministry in John 2:1-11, when He turned the water into wine. Jesus and His mom were at a wedding where they ran out of wine. Jesus’ mom tells Him that, “They have no more wine.”

Jesus asks her why she’s telling Him this, “It’s not yet time for me to begin my work.” Mary tells the servants, “Do what he tells you.”

She knew who He was and what he could do. She had faith. She believed!

At that point Jesus told the servants to fill six large jars with water…so they did. Then He told them to take some of the water to the man in charge of the feast. The man tasted it and was amazed that the best had been saved for the last.

This was the first of Jesus’ miracles and it caused His followers to believe.

The servants had some amazing faith to take these jars to the host of the feast. They knew the wine was gone. They had just poured water in the jars. They took it anyway. We know how it turned out…best wine ever.

When God speaks to people, He’s asking them to do something bigger, something that will stretch them.

Every day we are faced with situations like the one at the wedding. We’ve miscalculated and ran out of something before we were finished. We have to decide what to do.

We need to start with believing that God can do anything and then ask Him. We need to trust that when He tells us to do something…we can do it.

God is abundance…not scarcity.

Too often we approach empty jars from a scarcity mentality and stop there. If we will have faith and ask, God will fill our jars until they run over.

It’s up to us to believe, ask and act.

How Our Actions Show an Outward Expression of What We Believe Internally

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You’ve Heard It Said That Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Somewhere along the way this saying has begun to be less important than it used to. Too often things are said and then there’s no follow through.

I received a text message just this morning from a lady who shared a friend of hers Facebook post. The post was all about construction contractors and remodelers not calling back when they said they would and misleading customers. I’ve seen this happen way too many times.

This problem isn’t specific to the construction industry…it’s everywhere. Much of the time when we say something, we haven’t really thought through what it is that we’re saying. We have good intentions but haven’t taken into account the fifty other things we’ve told other people we’d do.

In Luke 3:15-17, 21-22, people were looking for the Messiah. They were beginning to think that John was the Messiah. He assured them that this was not the case.

As John is baptizing people, Jesus comes and is baptized. While He was praying the heavens opened up and the Holy Spirit came to Him. At the same time God said, “You are my Son, the one I love. I am pleased with You.”

This is the first time the people witnessed the Trinity. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirt. Three different forms of the same God. This was an action speaking louder than words.

Being baptized doesn’t mean we’re perfect…it means we’ve been accepted.

Too often people are afraid of God. They feel that they have to be perfect first. This is completely backward. No one other than God is perfect.

Baptism is an outward expression of our words. It is an action that speaks loudly. This action doesn’t stop there. It doesn’t mean that once baptized we will never make mistakes. We have to constantly be working to do better.

We need help to do the things that we should. Just like when Jesus prayed Heaven opened up and He received the Holy Spirt, we can do the same thing. The Holy Spirit will help us to know the right actions we should take and help us to take them.

We have the power to do the right things with God’s help.

There’s a story of a machinist at Ford Motor Company in Detroit who over a period of years had, “borrowed” various parts and tools from the company which he had not bothered to return. While this practice was not condoned, it was more or less accepted by management and nothing was done about it.

The machinist, however, experience a Christian conversion. He was baptized and became a devout believer. More important, he took his baptism seriously. The very next morning, he arrived at work loaded down with tools and all the parts he had “borrowed” from the company during the years. He explained the situation to his foreman, added that he’d never really meant to steal them and hoped he’d be forgiven.

The foreman was so astonished and impressed by his action, that he cabled Mr. Ford himself, who was visiting a European plant, and explained the entire event in detail. Immediately Ford cabled back: “Dam up the Detroit River, “he said, “and baptize the entire city!”

We can only hope that every Christian takes his or her baptism that seriously.

This is an example of actions speaking loudly!

Think about what you say. Think about what you do. Act accordingly!

The More Important Your Priority, the More You’re Willing to Spend

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Being Clear About What’s Most Important Will Show Up in Your Actions

Today, January 6th, is the start of Epiphany. The commemoration of the three kings visiting Baby Jesus and giving Him their gifts. Most are familiar with the story in Matthew 2:1-12 of these wise men traveling the long-distance, led by a star and their faith.

At the time, Herod was king. He was sly and ruthless. Willing to do whatever it took to stay in power.

In an effort to find Jesus, the wise men were asking around Jerusalem about where they could find the King of the Jews.

When Herod heard about this new King, he was scared that he might lose his position of power.

Herod had a meeting with the wise men and asked them to come back after they found Jesus and let him know where He was so that he could go and worship Him too.

The three kings were faced with a risky choice…which king would they honor?

If they reported to Herod, there will be less risk of him hunting them down and killing them. Or they could worship Jesus and earn a ruthless enemy.

After the three kings found Jesus and gave Him their gifts, God told them in a dream to not tell Herod. So, they went home a different way.

They made the right choice.

The message of Epiphany is that every person must choose which king to honor. The king of worldly power or the King of Peace.

Throughout every day we are faced with one decision after another. Some bigger, some smaller, but ultimately each and every one of those decisions are the same as the three wise men faced.

Which King are we going to honor?

God will do the same for us that He did for the wise men.

He will let us know what we should do if we will just listen.

As we begin the season of Epiphany and start this new year, full of opportunities and possibilities, be prepared to decide which King you’re going to honor and make your decisions accordingly.

Nobody said it would be easy, but ultimately, the investment is worth it.

There’s A Lot More to the Day than Just Opening Presents

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Just Like That, Christmas is Over…Now What?

With every passing year, Christmas seems to come and go faster and faster. It seems like it was just last week that we were celebrating Christmas 2020.

It’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of the Holidays and lose sight of the “Reason for the season”. With all the excitement building up to Christmas, what’s left after can be depressing. All those decorations need to be taken back down and put away for another year (week).

Don’t let the fun seasonal activities cause us to forget that we’re celebrating the coming of our Heavenly Savior.

In Matthew 1:18-25 Joseph is told to accept Mary as his wife and to name the baby Jesus because He will save people from their sins. This all happened as the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isiah. “They will name Him Immanuel.” Immanuel means “God with us”.

God is with us… Not just for the day. He is with us every day.

We’ve been falling short of God’s plan from the very beginning. Adam and Eve in their desire to be like God, fell for Satan’s pitch and did the one thing God commanded them not to do.

Like Adam and Eve, we still are persuaded by Satan to do things we shouldn’t. We’re fortunate that we were given the gift of Jesus.

God’s gift of Jesus is like any present we get, if we don’t open it and use it, there’s no benefit to getting it.

We’re like Paul when he writes about how he struggles with doing the things he wants to and not doing the things he doesn’t. We’re pretty good at messing things up.

A couple was eating pizza with their son who is in a group home. While they were still eating, the cleaning lady came in. They apologized for the mess and said they would clean it up. The cleaning lady just kept cleaning and said, “This is what I do.”

This is what Jesus does for us. He cleans up our messes.

This doesn’t mean that we should just go be as messy as we can be. If we accept God’s gift, we will do all that we can to keep the messes to a minimum.

As we move past this Christmas and into a new year, remember that Immanuel, God with us is that Gift which we’ve been given.

Use this Present today and every day and enjoy it!

It’s Amazing How Much of an Effect Little Things Can Make

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Big Things Can Come in Small Packages

When we think God…we think big. He is God after all. The Creator of the universe in all its vastness. In a few days we celebrate His coming into the world. What’s amazing is that He didn’t come big, He came small. He came born a baby to a couple of scared teenagers.

You want to talk about an overwhelming mission…just think about what that was like.

There are three lessons that Mary would share:

  1. God is working in the small things –

God could have come as a conquering warrior, a charismatic king or a commanding emperor. Instead, he came as a helpless baby, dependent on Mary and Joseph to feed and clothe him.

He loves us enough to be born into our lives. It’s like the butterfly effect. The small things we do have a big impact…either for good or bad.

It’s up to us to decide what kind of impact we’ll have.

2. God is working through the difficult circumstances –

Jesus was born in a difficult time. Throughout the Bible, God doesn’t choose the easy path and it’s no different today.

You know there were scandalous rumors about Mary being pregnant and her not being married. When Jesus was born Harrod was a ruthless king willing to kill infant boys to keep his throne.

Why didn’t God choose an easier path?

God’s light shines brightest when it’s the darkest. God’s power is greatest when we’re at our weakest. God’s grace shows up in the times when we least expect it.

It’s up to us to see it.

3. God is working in everyone who opens their heart –

In Luke 1: 39-45, we see Mary’s open heart in her conversation with Elizabeth.

God never forces anyone to accept Him. He came in the most unlikely manner, to the most unlikely people, at the most unlikely time. He did this so that we wouldn’t be overwhelmed…but overjoyed.

The actor Richard Crenna grew up in downtown LA living in a family run hotel. Many of the people who stayed there were unhappy and less desirable types. Young Richard would make fun of them to his friends.

After landing an acting job in New York as a young man, he was going to be leaving shortly after Christmas.

Growing up his family wasn’t big on celebrating Christmas, but this time was different. His parents had a Christmas celebration at the hotel with these “less desirable people”. These people celebrated Richard’s opportunity and gave him gifts and shared a meal.

On the train to New York someone asked him how his Christmas was. He replied, “It was my best Christmas ever. I spent it with children of the Most High, my family.”

This event showed Crenna the importance of an open heart and lead to his becoming part of God’s family.

Everyone is invited to be part of God’s family…we just have to open our hearts.

It’s amazing how much of an effect the little things can make, if we’ll just open our eyes and our hearts.

The Francesca Battistelli song Be Born in Me, sums up this whole amazing big/little Christmas gift thing really well. Listen to the song here.

Open your heart to the Joy of Christmas!

What Does it Mean to Prepare the Way for Jesus?

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It’s About Getting Things Ready for Him to Move in

What if you had a close family member that needed a place to live. You decided that you were going to let them move in with you. What would you need to do to get ready for them?

You would need to make some changes to accommodate them, but they’re worth it.

In Luke 3:1-6 John is telling us how to prepare for Jesus moving into our lives. We will need to make some changes…but He is worth it.

Preparation involves knowing and doing.

There’s a story from the Old West when some Apache Indians stole a paymaster’s safe from the calvary. They knew it contained precious gold that was valuable. They tried all sorts of things to open it. They beat it with tomahawks, drug it behind their horses, heated it in a fire, tried blasting it with gun powder and finally threw it off a cliff.

Despite their efforts, nothing worked, they finally gave up and left it behind.

Later the Army found it and in a few minutes the paymaster had it open using the combination.

What the Indians were unable to do with a huge effort and struggle, the paymaster did simply with a few twists of his wrist.

He was able to do this because he knew the combination.

We need to know the right combination to open ourselves up so that Jesus can move in.

This combination includes repentance and commitment to righteous living.

Repentance is reviewing one’s actions and regretting past wrongs and committing to actions that show and prove the change. Righteousness is the perfect holiness of Christ. It is an essential attribute to the character of God; quite literally meaning “One who is right”. Think of it as the polar opposite of sin.

Gift cards are popular at Christmas. The problem is that too often they never get used. Half of Americans have unused gift cards averaging $300 per household. There are billions of dollars of unused gift cards floating around out there.

What good is a gift if it goes unused?

We’ve been given the Gift, but we have to use it, or it’s no good.

Don’t let your gift go to waste. Open yourself up and prepare for Christ to move in.

It’s Jesus Inside of Me That Makes Me Want to Do This

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What Does Jesus Working in You, Make You Want to Do?

Now there’s a question for you to think about.

Pastor Lee shared a story about Trevor Ferrell, who at 11 years old was moved to help homeless people in Philadelphia in the 1980s. His story garnered a large public support and Presidential recognition. In an interview he was asked what made him do this work, he responded…

“It’s Jesus inside of me that makes me want to do this.”

Jesus wants to work in and through all of us…if we will just let Him. The problem is, most of us think we’ve got this. We don’t need any help.

In Mark 9:30-37 Jesus and His followers are on their way to Capernaum. Along the way some of the followers were arguing about who was the greatest. They were looking at it from a selfish worldly perspective. They weren’t thinking about what they could do as a team, with Jesus and each other.

Jesus told them that to be truly great they needed to be focused on helping others, not what was in it for them. It’s so simple kids can do it (Mark 9:36-37).

We need to be focused on what we can do for others…not what’s in it for me.

Putting other’s first doesn’t mean that they are more important than we are. It means that we have been given certain skills, abilities and insights that will make the world better if we share them with the people who need them.

The Disciples were competing amongst themselves, each wanting to be the greatest. We are competitive by nature. This can be a good thing if we are clear on what we are competing for.

Pastor Lee told another story about a medical student who was extremely competitive. He consistently scored at the top of his class, but it was beginning to take a toll. He was feeling overwhelmed and burnt out.

During a school break he went on a mission through his church. While on the mission he found a new and refreshed since of purpose and decided to take a semester off and continue working in the mission.

In a letter home to his parents, he wrote about how nice it was to not feel the pressure to be the best. He went on to tell how great things were. He said, currently he was ranked second and if things continued the way they were, he thought he would be first in a couple of months.

He was seeking greatness. I’m not sure that he was clear on what that was. We’re all seeking it and many of us aren’t clear on it either.

Greatness isn’t about me, it’s about God working through me.

Throughout history God has used normal people to do great things. He has given each of us something that is special to us. It’s up to us to find that thing and use it to make the world better.

It’s Jesus working inside of me that makes me want to do this.

It’s Important to be Intentional and Choose Your Situations Wisely

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It’s Amazing…He Looks Just Like You

Pastor Lee shared a story this week about a missionary couple that had small children. When the couple left for a short overseas mission trip, they left the children with family. While in this foreign country war broke out and the couple was unable to get home…for eight years. When they came home the oldest son, now a young man, met them at the train station. After the mother hugged her son, she stepped back, looked at him and said, “He looks just like you.”

We’ve all experienced the resemblance of families. This is something much more than just DNA. This includes the habits, actions, expressions, mannerisms, etc. of those we spend the most time with.

You will become what you surround yourself with.

You will become what you read, what you listen to, what you watch. You will speak the language, wear the clothes, develop the habits and live the lifestyle of those you hang out with. If you associate with chickens, you will scratch the ground squabbling over crumbs. If you associate with eagles you will learn to soar to great heights. (2nd Decision I will seek wisdom, from The Travelers Gift by Andy Andrews)

This is why it’s critically important to make your choices wisely.

 A missionary in Africa tells a story about woman that faithfully came to church. Each time she came her dog came with her. She would set at the end of the same row each week and the dog sat beside her in the isle. Then at the end of service the dog followed her to the altar where she knelt and prayed.

This women’s husband was mean and abusive to her. Then in one of his abusive episodes he killed her. Because they lived in a small village there was no repercussions for his actions. He and the dog just continued like nothing had changed.

One day the husband noticed that the dog was leaving and gone for a couple of hours at the same time each week. After a while he became curious and followed the dog.

The dog was going to the church service and setting at the same place it always had and then going to the altar. The people of the church knew what the man had done and even so, they still welcomed him in Christian love.

The man was so moved that he repented of his sins and accepted Jesus into his life.

When we hear the Good News about God saving us and believe in the message of Christ, God puts His special mark on us. This mark being the Holy Spirit. Then we can enjoy the complete freedom that comes from belonging to Him. (Ephesians 1:3-14)

God can do amazing things if we will trust Him and obey His instructions. Just like in the song, Trust and Obey, there’s no other way. This is how we can be happy and enjoy the favor that He gives.

The more time we spend with Jesus, the more we will be like Him.