Paradigm Shift Ministries

Fall: Week Ten
Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted:
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
~ Matthew 5:10 ~

History teaches us that standing up for what is right is not always the most popular thing to do.  From ancient prophets to today’s sincere Christians, bad things happen to good people because of mean-spirited people who equate being good to being weak.  Jesus teaches us that only the spiritually strong can stand for righteousness - to be salt and light.  It is easy to just “go with the flow,” but it is difficult to live life upstream, which is how followers of Christ are called to live.  The world doesn’t like strong people; no matter who you are, all leaders will be shot down by those around you.  But if you hold true to your values and earnestly try to live the life that God called you to live, then the Bible promises us that we will receive a reward in heaven that will be greater than any prize that this world can offer.

The Sermon on the Mount can be summed up by “Christ’s Kingdom First.”  We are called to live for His glory, not ours.  We are not called to follow the crowd but instead to be the salt and light of the earth.  People are supposed to look at us and see Jesus.  What do people see when they look at you?  Does your life reflect the world or the Word?  Are you living for the Kingdom, or are you just trying to get by day by day?

God has a plan for you, but you have to give yourself over to His will.  However, this is not the easy road; you will be persecuted and torn down, but God promises to be there with you no matter how dark the world is around you.  Look at what Jesus went through!  He was brutally beaten and executed even though He committed no crime.  But He conquered death!  He rose from the dead and offers new life to us as well!  God wants to restore us spiritually, but we will have to sacrifice some of our physical comforts in order to receive this new life.  The Bible goes on to say that we should rejoice when we are persecuted!  We must let God shine in our weakness, let His strength carry us when we feel like the world is crashing down around us.  If you can stick it out and live for the Kingdom, then your inheritance will be waiting for you in heaven!

Trick: Approximately 80% of adults in the U.S. pass out candy each year, while over 90% of American kids go “trick or treating.”

Treat: The practice of “trick or treating” exploded in the U.S. during the post WWII years, but its origins are rooted in Medieval and even ancient traditions.

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Trick: The name “Halloween” comes from “All Hallows’ Eve” which signified the night before the Catholic holiday of All Saints’ Day.

Treat: All Saints’ Day was moved to November 1st in 835 AD. Its original spring-time date is still celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

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Trick: Halloween dates back to 5 BC with the pagan Celtic harvest celebration called Samhain.

Treat: Samhain also served as a festival to the dead, which can be seen today in many different cultural contexts: Halloween (USA, Canada, Europe), All Saints’ Day (Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist), El Dia de los Muertos (Mexico, Latin America), etc.

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Trick: The most popular Halloween costume in 2009 was Michael Jackson.

Treat: The tradition of wearing costumes originated with the ancient Celtics, who were afraid of ghosts and spirits, hence the tradition of hiding their humanity.

Fall: Week Eight
Fear Not:
"The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?"
~Psalm 118:6 ~

As Christians, we are called to live with an unwavering confidence in our Lord and God; however, we all know that this is much easier to say than to live.  David was a man that was constantly under attack.  Throughout his life, there was always someone out to take his life, but he never wavered in his trust of God’s protection.  All you have to do is open up the book of Psalms and you will see his heart.  Yes, David knew fear, but he also knew that he served a God who is bigger than his fear.  David may be considered one of the great heroes of the Bible, but he was really no different than you or I.  He fell prey to many of the same things that men today face, most infamously his lust for Bathsheba.  Yet throughout his well-chronicled inner turmoil, David always had a strong sense of God being his rock.  With that foundation alone was he able to go on to become one of the greatest kings in human history.

The Bible promises us that if we are earnestly seeking first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, then we have nothing to fear.  If we build our lives on the rock-solid foundation of God’s covenant made through the blood of Jesus Christ, then there is no power that can separate us from His unending and unconditional love (Romans 8:38-39).  However, this does not mean that being Christian means easy living, quite the opposite in fact.  Being Christian means being tried and tested all the more because the world is designed to make Christians fall.  But, we are to rejoice when we are tested because that is how our faith is made pure (1 Peter 1:6-7).  Be encouraged because not one biblical hero made it through life without being tested – trial by fire is the only way we can become more like Christ.  Go forward, be disciplined, and be free.  If you struggle with fear, feel free to make this your prayer:

“Dear God, please hear my heart.  I want to be free from this fear, please allow me to see myself the way You see me, and pour out Your Spirit on my life.  Test me and try me, but never let my eyes leave heaven.  Give me the strength when I am to endure, and give me an escape when I am to flee.  Gracious Lord, protect me from evil and allow me to forgive as I have been forgiven.  I lift up my burdens, my fear, and my struggles to You and lay them at the foot of the cross.  Allow me to let go of my old self as it has been crucified with Jesus and put on my new self, which is made pure by the blood of the Lamb.  And God, wrap me in Your spiritual armor and equip me with the sword of the Spirit, Your Word.  In Jesus’ name, I declare victory and freedom from all that binds me.  Sin and death no longer have power over my life in Jesus’ name.  Amen.”

Every year, people throughout the Americas celebrate the time when the Old World met the New World, and Christopher Columbus has the historical embodiment of this time period despite the ongoing controversy that surrounds his legacy.  Columbus was instrumental in opening up the Americas to European influence despite thinking that he has landed in Asia.  Terms like “American Indian” and the “West Indies” are modern reminders of his misbelief.

However, Columbus’ legacy is stained because of how he treated the indigenous peoples that he encountered; his heart was set on making money, and the native people were viewed as tools that he could use to achieve his dreams of wealth and power.  This has led to many Hispanic communities adopting Dia de la Raza (“Day of the Race”) as an alternate celebration in order to commemorate the plurality and unique culture that developed as an outgrowth of the Age of Discovery.

The spirit of the holiday is not meant to be divisive but to be celebratory of  the history of how the New World was opened up to become the world’s melting pot.  We are all free and united today because of the courage of the many explorers that set out to settle in the Americas.  This is not about one man or one race; this is about how we, the free people of the Americas, were given the opportunity to build up our own societies.  Let us, at least for one day a year, come together as one people in remembrance of how we got where we are today.

Who can forget 9/11, our generation’s Pearl Harbor?  The world watched in horror as terrorists flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center Towers, the Pentagon, and southwest Pennsylvania.  Thousands of innocent people died that day as time stood still.  There was an outpouring of unity and support that followed the attacks, even people from other countries stood by the shell-shocked United States.  Churches were also packed that following Sunday as people sought to find out why it all happened.  It is unfortunate that it takes such disasters to bring people together.  Soon afterward, the War on Terror would be declared, a war that we still fight today, a war who’s enemy hides among the everyday people.  The War on Terror is a war against a concept, not a country.  Only God knows what our grandchildren will read in their history textbooks.

Patriot Day is the day of prayer and remembrance for the lives that were lost during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  This hits home for me; my uncle was supposed to be in New York City that morning, but had a sudden medical issue that kept him from entering the city.  His meeting was to be in a building that was only a block away from Ground Zero.  Patriot Day was almost the day of prayer and remembrance for my uncle, but instead it is a day of prayer and thankfulness.  Unfortunately, thousands of other families were not as lucky, so please stop and pray for them today, and be thankful that no matter how bleak life seems, God is ultimately in control.

Labor Day began as a day of celebration of labor organizations and of protest against unfair work conditions; however, today it is not much more than the unofficial end of summer.  Many countries have some sort of labor/workers celebration, but they are generally grounded in radical left-wing political agendas and often become violent.  The American holiday has become summer’s last stand, one last weekend to relax and enjoy before school or business begin to gear up.

I love the laid-back and celebratory feel that Labor Day now has, but I do want to challenge you to not forget why this holiday came to be.  Many people throughout history, and even today, work very hard to ensure that we can live life the way that we do – this day is for them, the hard-working people that quietly go about their business behind the scenes so that others can be free to live their American dream.

Everyone has gifts and talents; everyone has a place that God has prepared for them so that we can all be able to live up to our potential.  So celebrate the little things like waste management and electrical service.  Don’t take these things for granted, for we have been blessed to be able to have them.  And don’t forget the hard-working people who make our these things run; this day is for them.

Fall: Week One

Seek First the Kingdom

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

~ Matthew 6:33 ~

This is the core statement in Jesus’ famous "Sermon on the Mount."  Everything He said there led up to this idea of living for something more than yourself.  In this section, Jesus was addressing where people put their hearts, in earthly possessions or in their faith in God.  Oswald Chambers, in his devotional My Utmost For His Highest, says that these are "the most revolutionary [words] that human ears have ever heard."  Why, because this goes against the social current of our human nature.  We are taught to always take care of number one, to live for yourself.  But Jesus was a radical dude; He taught His followers to live life upstream.  Max Lucado refers to 2 Chronicles 7:14 in his book Turn and calls us "to turn from self-promotion to God-promotion, to turn from self-reliance to God-dependence, to turn from self-direction to God-direction, and to turn from self-service to repentance."

You have to start with this in mind, without accepting that true, authentic Christianity is a calling to go against the grain and live for something much larger than yourself.  The guys from dc Talk in the book Living Under God use the illustration of contrasting the colonial settlements of Plymouth, MA and Jamestown, VA.  The Pilgrims of Plymouth were devoted to living for God, and when the going got tough, they were not deterred.  They would leave a legacy of freedom and of unity for generations to come.  On the other hand, the original settlers of Jamestown (the Virginia Company) were only concerned about making money.  However, they also believed that hard work was beneath a "gentleman," in fact many of the settlers died rather than doing simple things like chopping wood for warmth or digging wells for water.  And when the local gold mine turned out to be full of "fool’s gold" (iron pyrite), they turned their attention to tobacco.  The legacy that they left for future generations was a legacy of slavery and of lung cancer.

What legacy will you leave?  Will you keep your “mind on things above” (Col 3:2) and live for something more than yourself?  Or will you leave a legacy of slavery to sin and to money?  What do you want people to see in your life?

God promises to take care of all of your needs if you only “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.”  I encourage you to look up Matthew 6:19-34 and really let it soak in.  By simply shifting your focus, you can begin to change your life for the better.