The Open Pastor
I am often accused of being, “open”. Most of the time, people use that term toward me as a compliment. They are saying that I am approachable and accessible. But at other times, I am told I am “too open.” I think what’s meant by the latter statement is that too many people have access to me. It its true that all of Connections has my cell number and feels the liberty to text me.
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Communication 1101
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Easter is over
Easter is over 
Good Friday services, lent, communion, cantatas…is it over? Did we arrive at the pinnacle of all things holy? Are the extra chairs back in storage? Let’s face it – it would be hard to preform at that level every Sunday. Thank God we only celebrate the resurrection once per year.
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Rest in a Restless World
In the weeks to come, I plan on doing some posting on obedience. I will discuss everything from what it means to seek wisdom (James 1:5), to allow His word to guide us (Psalm 119:105), and to experience His peace. To kick off this series, I dusted off this post from a few years back and am sharing it again here. I believe that we can ALL relate to it…
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Expectations
“Release people from expectations and set your expectations on the shoulders of the ONE who can handle it.” - Tammy Cox
Tammy recently posted something on Facebook concerning, “Expectations,” that I wanted my friends to see as well.
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Flight – The Movie
2 Thumbs down. I think that this is only my second attempt at a movie review. I can’t even recall what the other one was mainly because the world of Hollywood matters little to me. Non-the-less, here’s my problem(s) with the movie, “Flight” starring one of my favorite actors Denzel Washington.
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Identity Theft
As of late, I’ve been seeing a good number of posts, books, and even movies concerning the topic of , “identity.” The title for this post is a rip-off from one such comedy. I wouldn’t recommend that movie by the way. But one of my daughters was an “extra” in it so it was cool seeing here on the big screen
Some might make the argument that God is speaking to us about a topic that is important to Him. Others will maintain that Christian authors are merely trying to stay current with pop-culture. Whatever the reason might be for this sudden rise of material on the subject of identity, I for one am glad to see it out there. I will speak more about why I am glad at the end of this post.
Frank Viola has witten a wonderful, down-to-earth post about identity. In the post titled, “Who are you? Accepting your true identity,” Frank lists some 80 statements, taken right from Scripture, that speaks pointedly about our identity in Christ.
Here are just 6 of them:
You are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13).
You have been reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18).
You have been accepted by God in the Beloved Son (Ephesians 1:6).
You are kept by the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:8).
You are free in Christ (John 8:36; Galatians 5:1).
You are in Christ’s hands out of which no one can pluck you out (John 10:28).
A lot of personal counseling occurs at Connections. Most of that time is spent helping people understand the good news of Jesus Christ. Often this means helping them to identify, forgive, and reconcile past emotional wounds that have caused them to have a skewed understanding of the work of Christ. Even in my Sunday-morning teaching, I seem to almost naturally turn toward sub-topics such as liberty, healing, and identity. I know for certain that when people begin to understand their true identity in Christ, most of their issues seem to go away on their own.
After reading Frank’s post, I can say that his list accomplish at least these 2 things:
- Identify what missinformation the reader may have about their relationship with Jesus Christ and,
- Give the reader a scriptural truth on which to stand
Read Frank’s post HERE
I often teach that if, “truth will set you free (Hohn 8:32),” that it stands to reason that a lie will result in bondage. Most of the people I counsel have been led to believe lies about their true identity As I stated early, By helping people understand the truth about their identity with Christ, the “issues” that they originally came to me about seem to take care of themselves.
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What I Hear
From time-to-time I post an outline, of sorts, of what I believe The Lord is saying to His Body. This post is my most current list.
What this post is NOT is a detailed explanation of each point. Nor is this post intended to define, defend, or explain in any way the concepts of prophecy, discernment, or what I mean by, “God speaking.”
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The Clock Watcher
I was never a clock-watcher. I think that’s one reason I consistently excelled in the corporations I worked for. When I was in management, I thought very little of the, “clock-watcher.” I am speaking of that person who, some 30 minutes prior to their shift’s end, began to watch-the-clock in great anticipation for the signal indicating that, “it’s ok to leave now.” Normally those last 30 minutes were very unproductive.
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experiential relationships
Trust is built out of relationships. In the bible, such gems as peace and joy seem to come from developing a trust relationship with God. It also appears that this trust is only found in a long-term, an intimate, experiential relationship with Him.
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