PARADIGM SHIFT

Fall: Week Eleven
Let the Fire Burn
“Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.”
- I Thessalonians 5:19 (NIV)

In case you haven’t noticed, it tends to start getting a bit cold outside this time of year. It is important to not only light the fire in the furnace but to also light the fire for Christ within. Paul’s final instructions in his first letter to the Thessalonians church (5:12-28) were to work together to keep moving forward and not to become complacent in the church. Encourage, rejoice, pray, and love were his words of choice. These words are verbs, verbs require action, action requires motivation, and this motivation comes from the Holy Spirit. “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (I Thessalonians 5:16-18) No matter what is going on, we are called to keep our hearts warm by the fire of the Spirit.

In the book Everything You Always Wanted to Know About God (but were afraid to ask), Eric Metaxas points out that this internal fire can take shape in two very different and yet two very similar ways. The fire of love and the fire of lust. No, I am not talking ‘birds and bees,’ I am talking about love for Christ and lust of religion. These are two very different perspectives that are quite often lumped into one category – “Christian.” Yes, we are called to be passionate about what we believe; we are called to be passionate about the love story between Jesus Christ and His bride the Church. What we are called to be passionate and zealous – ‘sold out’ if you will – about is our relationship with Jesus Christ; not merely a religion, not a moral code, not a social club, not a particular style of music, not someone’s age, gender, or ethnicity, but the love and mercy of the cross.

“It only takes a little spark to get a fire going; I know the fire is in your heart, so go ahead and show it!” – (Audio Adrenaline – “Start a Fire”) I don’t know about you, but this winter when the wind blows and the clouds get dark, I am going to let the Son shine through it all and warm my frigid heart. The spark can be the easy part; the real challenge comes with the feeding and sustaining of the fire once it is lit. This is where Satan comes in and tries to snuff out your flame. Be like the children who sing: “Won’t let Satan blow it out, I’m gonna let it shine! Won’t let Satan blow it out, I’m gonna let it shine!” Stay grounded in the Word and in prayer. Winter can be tough, lots of sports to get excited about, extra time surfing the increasing dangerous internet, and the over-secularization of holidays that used to be dedicated to family and to the worship and thankfulness of the grace of God.

Revelation 3:15 tells us that God does not like lukewarm; He prefers us to be either hot or cold. So this winter, are you going to be hot with the fire of the Holy Spirit? Or are you going to be cold with a heart of stone. Hot or cold, it’s your choice.

Fall: Week Ten
Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted:
Beatitudes VIII – (Matthew 5:3-10)
“Blesses are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
- Matthew 5:10 (NIV)

~ coming soon ~

Fall: Week Nine
Blessed Are the Peacemakers:
Beatitudes VII – (Matthew 5:3-10)
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
- Matthew 5:9 (NIV)

~ coming soon ~

Fall: Week Eight
Fear Not:
Halloween

~ coming soon ~

Fall: Week Seven
Blessed Are the Pure In Heart:
Beatitudes VI – (Matthew 5:3-10)
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will seek God.”
- Matthew 5:8 (NIV)

~ coming soon ~

Fall: Week Six
Blessed Are the Merciful:
Beatitudes V – (Matthew 5:3-10)
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
- Matthew 5:7 (NIV)

~ coming soon ~

Fall: Week Five

Blessed Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness:

Beatitudes IV – (Matthew 5:3-10)

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

- Matthew 5:6 (NIV)

The words hunger and thirst have lost a lot of their meaning over the years. In the land of dollar menus and water fountains, we do not know what it is like to be truly hungry or truly thirsty. How blessed are we today to be able to stop for a drink at a water fountain while out running in a park? That’s not how it was back when Jesus used this metaphor. To be hungry meant that you were starving, having gone days without a decent meal. To be thirsty meant that that you were literally dying of thirst; it is mostly desert out in that part of the world.

When you take this verse in its original context, the meaning changes a bit. The people who are blessed here are those who are longing and yearning for complete righteousness. They cannot be filled with just a bite of righteousness, but need the full meal. Their hunger cannot be satisfied by a mere snack of justice; their thirst cannot be quenched by a mere sip of honesty, but only be total and absolute goodness.

Absolute goodness cannot be found in this world. No one is completely righteous. This hunger and thirst for righteousness will never be fully satisfied by this world. The only way to be fulfilled is to be filled with the bread of life and the living water of Jesus. – “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35) Please read all of John chapter six to see this whole story:

Jesus starts out by feeding five-thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish. Then comes the scene of Jesus walking on the water. Now after the crowd at Tiberias realized that Jesus and his disciples were gone, they went looking for him. They found him at Capernaum and start to inquire about the previous day’s events. This is where Jesus separates his true followers from those who are just coming along for the ride by claiming that he was the bread of life and that the only way to eternal life is through him.

Ask yourself if this is how you live. Are you yearning for complete and total righteousness? Do you find yourself left unsatisfied by all the things of this world? The only comfort is found in Christ, the bread of life.

Fall: Week Four

Blessed Are the Meek:

Beatitudes III – (Matthew 5:3-10)

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

– Matthew 5:5 (NIV)

The English word “meek” is misleading.  It is often defined as being submissive or even spineless, but the Greek word “plaus” that is used here is a much deeper word.  “Meek” is not something that we often want to be known as, but “plaus” was an honorable adjective in ancient Greece. Some versions of the Bible translate “plaus” as “gentle,” but even that in the English fails to convey the whole meaning of this word. So as I was researching to try to get to the root of this mysterious word, I stumbled once again upon William Barclay’s The Daily Study Bible and found this interpretation: “O the bliss of the man who is always angry at the right time and never angry at the wrong time, who has every instinct, and impulse, and passion under control because he himself is God-controlled, who has the humility to realise his own ignorance and his own weakness, for such a man is a king among men!”

The theme of humble, gentle people rising to the top of society runs throughout the narrative of the Old Testament; from Adam and Eve, to Abraham (Dt 4:38), to Moses (Num 12:3), and to David (Ps 37:11). Jesus uses this radical ideology to demonstrate that His followers were to be set apart from and not to conform to the way that the world is run. In our society, we our taught at a very young age that the only way to get through life is to cheat, fight, and do anything and everything to win; ‘the end justifies the means’ if you will. That mindset is not compatible to Christ’s kingdom. It is different, and we as members of that kingdom are required to live different.

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). This verse is a rally call, it was for ancient Israel, and it certainly is for the members of Christ’s kingdom. If we are going to ‘take this world back for Christ,’ then we must humble ourselves before the Lord and let Him do His work through us. Strive to be meek, strive to be humble, strive to be different, but most importantly, strive to grow closer to Jesus Christ, for He is our Brother, our Friend, our Savior, and our King.

Fall: Week Three

Blessed Are Those Who Mourn:

Beatitudes II – (Matthew 5:3-10)

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

– Matthew 5:4 (NIV)

When you are in a time of mourning, the last thing that you feel is blessed. But Jesus’ ministry was all about the oppressed, the marginalized, and the broken. However, the American church of today has largely lost sight of this. We have people hurting sitting right next to us in our church pews, and we do nothing to comfort them. And that doesn’t even begin to paint the picture outside our church walls. David Kinnaman points out in his book unChristian that many people outside the Church have very negative feelings toward Christians because of how we simply don’t practice what we preach. Jesus was a radical dude, and we need to live out the radical kind of love and compassion that He exemplified through His life.

The radical love of God can mend any broken heart, no matter how deep the scars. I’ve had my fair share of shadowy valleys in my short life, and every time I seem to hit rock bottom, I find myself digging into the Word and crying out to my Heavenly Father for comfort. And the truly amazing thing is that no matter how far I fall, He catches me every time. A couple verses that I have found comfort in include James 1:2-4 and John 16:33. They both talk about how the trials and tribulations of life help us to grow as people, and if you are hurting for any reason today, I invite you to open up the good ol’ Bible and just let your Father speak to you.

No matter how dark the shadows around you are, God’s unending agape love will light up your night, and His love will restore your broken heart. Just seek Him and He will answer, just as Jesus reminds us: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matt 7:7)

And always remember the old Christian adage: “God is good, all the time! All the time, God is good!”

Fall: Week Two

Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit:

Beatitudes I – (Matthew 5:3-10)

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.“

- Matthew 5:3 (NIV)

Now that we quickly got to the heart of the Sermon on the Mount last week, it is time to zoom out and refocus on the beginning of Jesus’ message: the Beatitudes.  Jesus stood up and basically blessed the normal, everyday ‘good man,’ which completely flew in the face of the honor-system of ancient Israelite culture.  A man was to be high and mighty, rich and successful, well-known and respected.  Sound familiar?  But this Jesus guy just stood up and said “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The meaning of the term “blessed” is often confused, but after looking at the Greek and Hebrew roots of the word, I found that it referred to having a kind of joy that is uninfluenced by outside forces.  Also, the structure of the Beatitudes mirrors the structure of Psalm 1:1 and a few other Old Testament verses that imply that this was an exclamation, not just a hopeful ideal.  William Barclay sums this up in his commentary, The Daily Study Bible with this interpretation: “O the bliss of the man who has realised his own utter helplessness, and who has put his whole trust in God, for thus alone he can render to God that perfect obedience which will make him a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.”

In order for us to truly “seek first His kingdom,” we need to humble ourselves and submit to the will of the Lord.  The Bible and church history are filled with the weak, the broken, and the lost who were called by God to do great things.  Look at Abraham, Moses, David, the Twelve Disciples, Paul, and so many more.  God does not want the self-righteous, independent, nor arrogant in His kingdom; He wants those who have truly witnessed His love and who whole-heartedly love Him back.

A look back at 2 Chronicles 7:14 shows us that the first step in turning back to God is to humble yourself and pray.  I urge you to take a look at yourself and realize that if you are trying to live independent from God, then you will never experience true joy.  Please talk to God this week, but more importantly, just listen; spend some quiet time in prayer everyday, and it will help re-center you and God will give you the strength to do all things (Philippians 4:13).