I have to make a huge confession. It's kind of silly but very frustrating at times. Let me give you a little of my background. I grew up in the church, almost literally. My mom was a "PK", my parents met at Atlanta Bible College and both were active in one way or another in various church positions. So, I guess it just came natural when God put me in the same situations and called me to serve in different areas of the church. I'm not going to bore you with what I call my "Holy Resume", but, I truly feel blessed that God has allowed me to serve in the areas He called me to. Okay, so now we've laid the foundation for this epic confession of all confessions.
I have a horrible memory. I know you're thinking "big deal, so do I". Well, let's just say one of my prayers to God is to tattoo everyones name on their forehead so I don't feel like an idiot. I can know someone for years, work closely with them and for some reason cannot remember their stinking name. If you've ever been in church leadership you'll understand why this is so important. When you visit someone in the hospital, don't you think they would appreciate it if you called them by name? This bothered me so much that Christmas of 2010 Tina bought me a book to help. The books title is "Moonwalking with Einstein". It's filled with several techniques and tricks to remembering anything. The author wrote this after he won the US National Memorization Championship, I know...NERD ALERT! Only one problem, I laid it down and forgot about it, how ironic. I finally did read this a couple of months ago and it's helped. I don't have as many "hey you's" in my life anymore.
So where's this going Tony? This problem doesn't stop at names, I struggle remembering scripture too. I can get you in the neighborhood and then using my beloved concordance..."POW" there it is. One problem, who carries a bible with a concordance everywhere? Ok, I'm not going to lie, I just looked up this scripture to use here. Psalm 119:11 " I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." Not a bad verse to remember. How will you know if you're sinning against God unless you know His word? But that's only one of the over 50,000 verses we are asked to cram into our hearts. This task would be hard for UPS, what can brown do for you?
Music has become my way of remembering God's word. I've been involved in choirs since 7th grade, that's a long time ago (I'm pretty weak in math too). Crazy thing about it, I can still remember several of the songs we sang back then. Remember the words to the song "What a Feeling" from the movie Fame? I do... I sang in a Gospel Quartet for about 9 years, all together we learned around 30 songs. If you start the track to any of those songs I'll remember 90% of the words first time through. I laugh at kids when they say, "I don't listen to the words, just the music." Yeah, right. A couple of weeks ago I listened as two young ladies in our youth group sang all the books of the bible, that was cool. Today's Christian artists have packed God's word in their lyrics. To me there's no better way to give God praise then to sing His word to Him. Pay attention to the words you sing, look them up and see God's word. Learning God's word may be as easy as, learning the melody.
I purposely didn't include alot of scripture in this post. I wanted to expose a weakness I have that you might have too. Learning and remembering and applying God's word in our lives is important to know His will for us. This really helps me, I hope it helps you too. If you're not a Jeremy Camp fan, become one. His music is loaded with God's word.
Peace...
totalheel
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Despicable Us
Matthew 10:30 "And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered." Luke 12:7 "Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered." Ok, so what's the deal with the hair numbering? What about bald men? Does he know the number of hairs on their chest instead? Well, that's just weird. How many times have you sat down and tried to count the hairs on your head? This would be easier for someone like myself but still impossible but not for God, this is child's play in the realm of God Almighty. These two passages are talking about more than just hair, they're stating a fact of how well God knows you. Actually, God knows you better than you know yourself. We often forget that He created us. We're like His little Frankenstein monsters; bad analogy but you get the point. So why is it we always feel like we know better than Him concerning our lives? One of the biggest reasons for people to NOT come to God is this, how in the world can he forgive me, my life is far too despicable. I am beyond his forgiveness. Nothing can be further from the truth.
I want to take a couple minutes and talk about 3 guys from the Old Testament. I'm sure you've heard of at least one of these: Moses, King David and King Solomon.
Moses has quite a resume, he wrote 4 of the first 5 books of the bible and wrote allot of the fifth one too. He was God's chosen one to lead the Isrealites out of Egyptian slavery...at the ripe old age of 80. Did you know Moses was a murderer? Yep... To protect another person from being beaten Moses killed an Egyptian man and buried his body in the sand. He didn't even get to step foot into the promised land because of an anger issue. You can read all about Moses in the book of Exodus, the entire book is about God working through Moses to help the Isrealites "exit" Egypt (pretty clever play on words huh).
King David was a stud, he wrote most of the book of Psalms, he led armies into battle. David led his troops into Jerusalem in 1000BC, took it and made it the Capitol of Isreal. You might remember him as the young shepherd boy that killed the Philistine Goliath with a sling shot. But did you know David was also a murderer and committed adultery. During his reign as King, David sent a man to the front line of battle knowing he would be killed just so he could have this mans wife as his own. You can read all about Davids life in the books of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel.
Lastly King Solomon, the son of King David with Bathsheba. Bathsheba was the young lady mentioned in the previous (hint: adultery). Solomon was well known for his wisdom and wealth. He wrote most of the book of Proverbs and a shorter book titled 'Songs of Songs'. Proverbs can used daily, it's full of great advice for...well, everything. He oversaw the construction of many great buildings including the Temple that bore his name, Solomons Temple. Unfortunetly Solomon had one major problem, he loved women. Ok, that's putting it lightly, Solomon loved women so much that he had 700 wives and 300 concubines (that's 1,000 women for you math scholars). Let's just say he didn't keep them around because he liked a tidy house. You can read all about King Solomon in the book of 1 Kings.
All three were great men, all three were part of the Old Testaments foundation and all three allowed God to work through them but all three had sin in their lives. Can you imagine what the Old Testament would look like without these three guys? If any one of these three men chose to not follow God it couldv'e changed everything. Isreal may not have been a nation, Jerusalem may not have been it's capitol. Oh yeah, I failed to mention two of these guys are in the genealogy of Jesus. Here's the truth, Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We all sin, we all fail, we all have despicable lives. Our sin is the reason God sent His son. To receive forgiveness there must be a blood sacrifice, Jesus was and is that blood sacrifice for us. There's no magic potion or special words to use, all you need to do is accept His free gift and allow Him to come into your life. Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."
I want to close with this scripture taken from Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." You can never "over burden" God, he can handle it so give Him a chance. A simple prayer like "help me God" can change your life forever.
Please keep reading every week, keep me in your prayers and let's get the Word out.
Peace...
totalheel
I want to take a couple minutes and talk about 3 guys from the Old Testament. I'm sure you've heard of at least one of these: Moses, King David and King Solomon.
Moses has quite a resume, he wrote 4 of the first 5 books of the bible and wrote allot of the fifth one too. He was God's chosen one to lead the Isrealites out of Egyptian slavery...at the ripe old age of 80. Did you know Moses was a murderer? Yep... To protect another person from being beaten Moses killed an Egyptian man and buried his body in the sand. He didn't even get to step foot into the promised land because of an anger issue. You can read all about Moses in the book of Exodus, the entire book is about God working through Moses to help the Isrealites "exit" Egypt (pretty clever play on words huh).
King David was a stud, he wrote most of the book of Psalms, he led armies into battle. David led his troops into Jerusalem in 1000BC, took it and made it the Capitol of Isreal. You might remember him as the young shepherd boy that killed the Philistine Goliath with a sling shot. But did you know David was also a murderer and committed adultery. During his reign as King, David sent a man to the front line of battle knowing he would be killed just so he could have this mans wife as his own. You can read all about Davids life in the books of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel.
Lastly King Solomon, the son of King David with Bathsheba. Bathsheba was the young lady mentioned in the previous (hint: adultery). Solomon was well known for his wisdom and wealth. He wrote most of the book of Proverbs and a shorter book titled 'Songs of Songs'. Proverbs can used daily, it's full of great advice for...well, everything. He oversaw the construction of many great buildings including the Temple that bore his name, Solomons Temple. Unfortunetly Solomon had one major problem, he loved women. Ok, that's putting it lightly, Solomon loved women so much that he had 700 wives and 300 concubines (that's 1,000 women for you math scholars). Let's just say he didn't keep them around because he liked a tidy house. You can read all about King Solomon in the book of 1 Kings.
All three were great men, all three were part of the Old Testaments foundation and all three allowed God to work through them but all three had sin in their lives. Can you imagine what the Old Testament would look like without these three guys? If any one of these three men chose to not follow God it couldv'e changed everything. Isreal may not have been a nation, Jerusalem may not have been it's capitol. Oh yeah, I failed to mention two of these guys are in the genealogy of Jesus. Here's the truth, Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We all sin, we all fail, we all have despicable lives. Our sin is the reason God sent His son. To receive forgiveness there must be a blood sacrifice, Jesus was and is that blood sacrifice for us. There's no magic potion or special words to use, all you need to do is accept His free gift and allow Him to come into your life. Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."
I want to close with this scripture taken from Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." You can never "over burden" God, he can handle it so give Him a chance. A simple prayer like "help me God" can change your life forever.
Please keep reading every week, keep me in your prayers and let's get the Word out.
Peace...
totalheel
Sunday, March 11, 2012
The End...or is it?
I'm really concerned about my 401K, not so much the amount available when I finally retire, but will I get the chance to spend it. Unless you've lived in a cave for the last 10 years you know the end of the world is near. According to the Mayan calendar all we know ends December 21, 2012...dang it, I won't be retired by then. Isn't that the way things are though, you work hard, you try to save and do what you think is the right thing and some group of people that became extinct 2,912 years ago ruin it. Are you kidding me? In less than a year everything we know will be gone? No more fried shrimp or internet; no more Kardashians to entertain us with their inability to survive in the real world. Good thing we won't be around to be too disappointed by this turn of events. I've always heard you can't take it with you so I guess I have two choices, pull all of my money out and party like a rock star or let it ride and burn up with the rest of the useless 401's. Hold on Tex...don't get too jumpy. How did they come to this conclusion? Well, that's the last day of their calendar so it has to be when time ends. What if the guy ran out of paper or he got carpal tunnel from writing so much? I can come up with several reason to end a calendar that doesn't include the destruction of mankind. How far out do you need a calendar to go? The last time I checked my calendar in the kitchen ends December 31st...Oh no! Time to buy another calendar. Did you know this wasn't the first 'End of Times" prediction? I guess this story has been the one everyone has been talking about for several years. There have been over 200 recorded instances predicting the end of times.
I'm sure you've heard of the Hopi Indians. These guys believe civilization has been destroyed 3 times, first by fire, second by ice and the third by a flood. My first thought, where did the new Hopi's come from and how could they read the previous Hopi writing to know what happened to Grandpa? How long did it take the new Hopi's to realize, "Hey, we're Hopi and I think the world just got destroyed.?" I know I make it sound ridiculous but how did they know how to read the previous language? Supposedly these stories were handed down by word of mouth. By who? I thought ALL of civilization was destroyed. They even have a rock with prophetic images engraved into it, Prophecy Rock it's called. On this rock you see what looks like a guy chasing a train with 4 stick figures riding on top with another in front running for his life. Sorry, to me this looks like they were predicting the arrival of the locomotive system which would be a very good prediction. I couldn't find the actual date when they believe this will happen, looks like it'll happen over time.
This last guy is the Grandaddy of them all, Nostradamus. He claimed the world will come to an end in 3797 due to burning stones from the heavens. Nostradamus has made over 1,000 predictions and about half of them have come true. Half? Well, that's .500, in the Major League that'll get you a batting title; shooting this in the NBA you'll win the MVP. Winning half the time for some sports teams would definately be an improvement. In the world of predictions and prophets, this isn't good. Old Testament times wasn't very forgiving to prophets, you miss too many and it's curtains. Deuteronomy 18:20 says this 'But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.' That's kind of how they judged you back then, if you got it wrong it must not have been from God. Let me sum this up. This guy was born in 1503 and died in 1566, he made about 1,000 predictions that only about half have supposedely come true...in 500 years. Did you catch that last part? 500 years for only half and most of them are pretty vague. Don't these guys have term limits? My Grandmothers hair stylists can do that. If you ask me I think Nostradomus needs to get credit for inventing dry ice. You've seen the videos, he sits there stares at a smoking crock and comes up with this stuff. Coming up with failing predictions bad, smoking crock actually kind of cool. I do think Nostradamus was an intelligent guy, he definetely thought out of the box.
What does the Bible say? I've been trying to keep this as simple as possible to understand but here's where it gets weird. In a previous post I wrote about the trinity, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. These three are one in the same. God is so amazing, so powerful and so able to do anything that only He knows when time will end. He is able to know the end without Jesus knowing the day. Jesus Is God!! How is this possible? (my head is hurting) I can't explain that one but here's what it says in the Bible. Mark 13: 32, 33 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come." I can't explain it any better than that.
Peace...
totalheel
I'm sure you've heard of the Hopi Indians. These guys believe civilization has been destroyed 3 times, first by fire, second by ice and the third by a flood. My first thought, where did the new Hopi's come from and how could they read the previous Hopi writing to know what happened to Grandpa? How long did it take the new Hopi's to realize, "Hey, we're Hopi and I think the world just got destroyed.?" I know I make it sound ridiculous but how did they know how to read the previous language? Supposedly these stories were handed down by word of mouth. By who? I thought ALL of civilization was destroyed. They even have a rock with prophetic images engraved into it, Prophecy Rock it's called. On this rock you see what looks like a guy chasing a train with 4 stick figures riding on top with another in front running for his life. Sorry, to me this looks like they were predicting the arrival of the locomotive system which would be a very good prediction. I couldn't find the actual date when they believe this will happen, looks like it'll happen over time.
This last guy is the Grandaddy of them all, Nostradamus. He claimed the world will come to an end in 3797 due to burning stones from the heavens. Nostradamus has made over 1,000 predictions and about half of them have come true. Half? Well, that's .500, in the Major League that'll get you a batting title; shooting this in the NBA you'll win the MVP. Winning half the time for some sports teams would definately be an improvement. In the world of predictions and prophets, this isn't good. Old Testament times wasn't very forgiving to prophets, you miss too many and it's curtains. Deuteronomy 18:20 says this 'But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.' That's kind of how they judged you back then, if you got it wrong it must not have been from God. Let me sum this up. This guy was born in 1503 and died in 1566, he made about 1,000 predictions that only about half have supposedely come true...in 500 years. Did you catch that last part? 500 years for only half and most of them are pretty vague. Don't these guys have term limits? My Grandmothers hair stylists can do that. If you ask me I think Nostradomus needs to get credit for inventing dry ice. You've seen the videos, he sits there stares at a smoking crock and comes up with this stuff. Coming up with failing predictions bad, smoking crock actually kind of cool. I do think Nostradamus was an intelligent guy, he definetely thought out of the box.
What does the Bible say? I've been trying to keep this as simple as possible to understand but here's where it gets weird. In a previous post I wrote about the trinity, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. These three are one in the same. God is so amazing, so powerful and so able to do anything that only He knows when time will end. He is able to know the end without Jesus knowing the day. Jesus Is God!! How is this possible? (my head is hurting) I can't explain that one but here's what it says in the Bible. Mark 13: 32, 33 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come." I can't explain it any better than that.
Peace...
totalheel
Monday, March 5, 2012
Is it really that easy...
I don't know about you but sometimes I get a little nervous when trying to make the right choices. It always seems like no matter what I do or say someone inevitably comes from the bushes and cries foul, especially when it concerns morals or what the bible says. What I found out is the bible goes way beyond the 'don't kill your neighbor' or 'don't covet his backyard grill'. In the Old testament alone there has been 613 "rules" counted and that just the first 4 books. Just the other day I was wondering if I was washing my hands correctly, now I know. What if you found a recipe for goat (I know, bear with me) and it says to boil that goat in it's mother's milk. First, that's just gross and second...well, there is no second. You follow the recipe exactly as written. Come dinner time you call the family in, sit down at the table and admire your delicious mother's milk boiled goat (yuck). You then hear a knock at the door, it's the police. These guys mean business. They rush into the dining room, confiscate the goat and arrest you. What just happened? Well, you broke an old law mentioned in Exodus 23:19 “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk." Looking for some reasonable explanation to why this was a law came up with several things. I'm never gonna do it, and to be honest with you I don't care why you can't. I'm sure it had some health reason attached to it, either way, it's in there.
Sometimes it gets a bit overwhelming and I lose focus on what's really important. The cool thing about God is He's not sitting on the throne waiting for us to fail. Yeah sure, it's gonna happen and I bet He even expects it. God loves me just the same no matter how much of a jerk or failure I am. Now don't take that as a 'once saved always saved' statement. If I screw up, and I will, I will be disciplined. Isn't that how things are anyway? When my youngest daughter doesn't clean her room, there are consequences. If I don't finish an assigned task at work in the alotted time I face consequences. Why would God be any different?
In my small group we're reading a book titled "Gospel"। It mentions in chapter 2 that we have to be careful to not replace our sin with Holy Acts। Sure God wants our repentance and see our lives change but He doesn't want us to fill that void with mindless acts. It talks about several popular "churchy" things to do, join a small group or help out at the homeless food kitchen.
If we're not careful we can turn our sinful lives into 'spiritual business'. For instance, a daily regiment including bible reading, praying, tithing or even sharing your faith can be turned into an idol. I really like this guy because he spells it out in simple terms. Anything can be an idol. An idol is defined as anything that can separate you from God. Unfortunately our sin is the same, it's just had a facelift. That's not saying these things are bad, it's just saying to do these things for God out of love.
What can we do? Simply love God. The first commandment says, you shall have no other gods before me. Hmm, if i don't have that one then what makes me think I'm doing all the rest? Answer: get this one and all the rest simply fall in place. He wants your love, He wants to be first in your life.
Peace...
totalheel
Sometimes it gets a bit overwhelming and I lose focus on what's really important. The cool thing about God is He's not sitting on the throne waiting for us to fail. Yeah sure, it's gonna happen and I bet He even expects it. God loves me just the same no matter how much of a jerk or failure I am. Now don't take that as a 'once saved always saved' statement. If I screw up, and I will, I will be disciplined. Isn't that how things are anyway? When my youngest daughter doesn't clean her room, there are consequences. If I don't finish an assigned task at work in the alotted time I face consequences. Why would God be any different?
In my small group we're reading a book titled "Gospel"। It mentions in chapter 2 that we have to be careful to not replace our sin with Holy Acts। Sure God wants our repentance and see our lives change but He doesn't want us to fill that void with mindless acts. It talks about several popular "churchy" things to do, join a small group or help out at the homeless food kitchen.
If we're not careful we can turn our sinful lives into 'spiritual business'. For instance, a daily regiment including bible reading, praying, tithing or even sharing your faith can be turned into an idol. I really like this guy because he spells it out in simple terms. Anything can be an idol. An idol is defined as anything that can separate you from God. Unfortunately our sin is the same, it's just had a facelift. That's not saying these things are bad, it's just saying to do these things for God out of love.
What can we do? Simply love God. The first commandment says, you shall have no other gods before me. Hmm, if i don't have that one then what makes me think I'm doing all the rest? Answer: get this one and all the rest simply fall in place. He wants your love, He wants to be first in your life.
Peace...
totalheel
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