Embracing the Mundane

  Pastor Haven continued are series of What’s Next Series by diving into Acts 18. A little context is that Paul was preaching in the city of Corinth and the general tone of the city is that what happens in Corinth stays in Corinth. Any and every form of sin was encouraged in this city. To top it off, the people of Corinth had nothing to do with Paul and Paul was feeling frustrated. So ail went to the other side of the town  and went into the synagogue and one of the synagogue leaders took Paul’s message to heart. Him and his family accepted Christ. If you want to read about the  dysfunction of not only the city and the church read Paul’s two letters to the church at Corinth. 

  My first observation is how often are we get so frustrated with God and people that we want to take our ball and go home. Jesus.  Paul wad ima similar situation. He was out preaching, the people opposed him and even got abusive. Paul got up, wiped the dust off of his clothes and told the people that their blood was on their heads for not listening and repenting from their ways. I can only imagine Paul said this forcefully and he was mad. God showed up in a dream to Paul and told him to get comfortable and that He will give Paul the words to speak. If I was Paul, I would have considered pulling a Jonah and leaving, but Paul didn’t. He ended up staying 18 months in Corinth, which was out of the norm for Paul. His missionary journeys, he just stayed a short time in the different cities. So here is my question, what do we do when it gets tough and God shows up to tell us to stay because He has work to do? Do we run, or do we stay and complain, or do we embrace what God has for us?

  My second observation is how often do we want the glory without the work. We want the Olympic gold medal, yet we don’t get up at 5AM to train hard and eat well. To paraphrase Pastor Haven, we all want the glory and success, we just don’t want to put in nor do we do the work. During my time in college I often seen a basketball player or two shooting jump shots when they had a break in between classes and before practice. They weren’t doing it for show, but they wanted to improve, so they put in the extra work. Paul did this in Corinth. It wasn’t an easy place to plant the church in Corinth, but he put in the work so that others may hear the Gospel. He was dedicated enough to where one of Brothers in Christ was beaten badly for doing good and hard work. So what is preventing you from being obedient and putting in the hard work?

  My third observation is what is our mundane? We often look for things that gives us that high. I like to call this the church camp experience. How many of us went to camp and we God reveals Himself in a special way and we are flying high. When we get home and back into the day to day, we often come down that mountain and we long for that experience again. As cool as the mountain top experiences are, they are not sustainable. We need to put into practice what God showed us, and that means coming down off of the mountain.  Also, most of the time the work isnt beautiful and it is hard work not many people see or appreciate. The work still needs to be done. If we want to be given the big stage, or the big job promotion, we need to do the mundane things well, even when no one is looking. This is called obedience and how can we be faithful in the big things if we can’t do it with the mundane. 

  To close out, one of the most popular and misinterpreted Bible verses is Jeremiah 29:11 which is God telling the nation of Israel that He knows the plans for us and we will prosper and be protected. What people forget to mention is that in the first verses, God is telling Israel to get comfortable. They are in captivity and are going to be for seventy years. God tells them to build homes, plant gardens and to marry off their children and to have grand children. The adults in this passage won’t see Gods promise of returning home. Are we comfortable with doing the mundane even if we don’t see the promise come to completion? It is about know our role and being obedient to Gods calling, even if it is changing diapers or garbages instead of leading worship or a small group. Embracing the mundane is a great way to to keep our ego and attitudes in check and maybe helping to put the right people in place for the big event and accolades. It is also our form of worship and remind ourselves that often we are not all that and that the bag of chips is empty if there is even one.

Grace and Peace

Tom Boustead

Mars Hill and No Not That One

   Pastor Fred continued the What’s Next Series by preaching out of Acts 17:16-31. In all reality, the whole chapter is good with truth packed in the whole chapter. Here is a brief Bible Study tool. If you want to have a better understanding of Pastor Fred’s preaching passage or for any preaching passage that you hear is to read and meditate on the chapter previous to the preaching passage and the chapter that follows. This is where we get an understanding of the passage and the Bible as a whole. When we do this, not only do do we have a better understanding of God and who He wants us to be, but also, we can discern what we are hearing and to figure out what is good and holy and what is garbage. Also it allows us to vote more Biblically this week when we go to the voting polls. 

  My first observation is that we often want someone else to lead a loved one to Christ and yet we are still in their lives. Sometimes we should stop passing the buck and God has appointed us to be that person. In essence, God has placed us in other people’s lives and them in our lives for a particular reason. Maybe how we share the Gospel and our life experiences is a way to reach other people because how we live and say things resonates with particular people in a particular way. God has given us each one of us particular gifts and talents to not only glorify Him but to worship Him in a way that reaches particular people. 

My second observation is where Paul was at in Athens was called Mars Hill and no Mark Driscoll and Rob Bell weren’t there. Mars Hill was a place where people were more concerned about sharing ideas than doing them. They would rather grab their favorite beverage and talk about the events ant thoughts of the day rather than taking those ideas and putting them into practice. Here is a hard truth, we don’t know something until we have to either teach it or do it. There were more idols in Athens than people and people were bowing down to these idols. There was even an idol to the unknown god in hopes that they have all the deities covered. Something welled up in Paul to go and do something about it. He went out preaching and sharing the Gospel. What are those things that keep coming to mind and that we can’t shake. Even if other people keep telling us that we are crazy, we still keep coming back to this idea. Often these ideas and passions come out of nowhere. The reason why Paul was in Athens was because things got heated up inBerea and Paul went to Athens to let things cool down. Instead he picked up right where he left off. So what are those things that we can’t shake and what are we going to do about it?

  My third observation is that we often are seeking God and trying to find Him. We just do it in weird and often destructive ways. We often try and for God in creation and we elevate the created over the creator. In essence we turn the things into idols and we at least place them on par with God. Whether it is power, fame, having a good family or any other thing we think is cool. Jeremiah 29:13-14  tells us that when we seek God with all we have, He can and will be found. So are we like the people of Athens who try to find any god to give it their worship. God tells is us that we don’t have to keep guessing on who or where God is, because He can be found, we just have to look for Him. 

  My third observation is that God doesn’t get hung up on our failures. He probably shakes His head and hits His forehead because of the things we do and say. It’s like when we are trying to teach our parents how to use new technology, we still do it, but we often shake our heads at least one during the experience. Here is the cool thing though, nothing surprises God and He still uses us despite of our failures and their are times God can take our failures and turn them into something beautiful. The most amazing thing is that He still loves us and cases after he, the question is, are we chasing back?

Grace and Peace

Tom Boustead

Just A Bit Outside

   Pastor Fred continued the What’s Next Series by preaching from Acts 16:14-40. One of the very random facts that was shared was that the Romans did something to camel dung and used it as medication to treat epilepsy. I’m glad we have advanced in our medicine and how we treat ailments. Here are my observations. 

  My first observation is that this passage was about conversion. Whether it was Lydia, the  person who was demon possessed and the jailer all had their lives changed when they accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. What makes it so interesting is that Paul and Silas were being obedient to the Holy Spirit. Often when we are obedient to the Holy Spirit, we are often led long distances and face uncomfortable situations. Whether it was the encounter with the demon possessed woman to being jailed and beaten for their faith. One of the things that I noticed in life is that’d when we are obedient, we have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. This is when we have the greatest impact for the kingdom because we have to rely on God and not our own talents. So what is preventing you from being uncomfortable?

  My second observation is that things may happen to us, but it may not be for us. In essence, the world doesn’t revolve around us. As often we want to be Gods favorite child and we want everything to be roses. It often doesn’t work that way. God still loves us but He often allows us to experience hard things so at some point in life we can come along side someone so we can give them encouragement and a path to move forward. Now every situation is not the same, but there truths in those situations that is applicable to every situation. God has created us to be in community and one of those ways we live in community is by bearing each others burdens and sharing with others what we have learned. Also, it’s nice to know that someone else has been through something similar to what we are going through. When we share those experiences and Gods truth, it shows that there is hope and that we can get to the other side. 

  My final observation is that God often brings annoying people into our lives for a reason. Here is a cold hard truth, those annoying people often show us where we need to grow. I had a boss in college and he would intentionally push my buttons from time to time and it was usually to make a point and he used it as correction. Another hard truth is that we often aren’t that pleasant and we annoy others and often quite well. Sometimes it isn’t intentional that we rub people the wrong way, and it’s often due to our personality quarks that we have. Other times we are very intentional about being annoying and even snarky. I know I enjoy pushing buttons just to watch people burn from time to time. So here is my question, how deal with people who annoy us and get under our skin in a Godly manner? Also, how do we deal with our personality traits that annoy others outside of telling them to get over it?

To close out the blog,  here is a quote from the legendary Detroit Tigers radio play by play guy Ernie Harwell (baseball on the radio is the best way to consume baseball) when a player struck out looking. Harwell often exclaimed “And the batter stood there like a house by the side of the road and watched the ball go by.”  My final question is how often do we let life go by without attempting a swing? Sure life can be hard and it can even stink at times, but throwing our hands up in the air and giving up isn’t how God designed us to live.

Grave and Peace

Tom Boustead 

What is Gods Plan?

   Pastor Fred continued our series of What’s Next by asking the all important question is “what is Gods plan for my life?”  How often have we asked this question, whether it is a high school senior wondering what college and or degree they should take up. Or how about should we take or pass on a job or a promotion opportunity. The preaching passage is Acts 16:6-15 and the cool part of this passage is Gods change of plans for Paul and his obedience, the church of Phillipi was planted and this is where we get the book of Phillipians. Here are some of my observations. 

  The first one is we are in Gods will as long as we are doing Godly things. In essence how often do we over complicate things because God didn’t sent us a text or a social media message to what to make for dinner. Or we shut down and do nothing because we didn’t get clear instructions of what to do. God gave us a brain and he expects us to use it. God has revealed Himself to us and are we acting on what God has revealed to us? God often doesn’t tell us what is next when we are not doing what we know we are suppose to be doing. 

  In essence, we need to get off of our backside and do something. The American Civil War could have been shorter if the Union Generals got off of their hands and attacked instead of holding back and doing nothing out of either fear or a lack of motivation. God specializes in the messy. It is a whole lot easier to clean up messed when we are teachable and willing to do something rather be apathetic and stuck in their ways. There was a time at work where I didn’t properly label and bin some stuff. My supervisor was thankful that I took some initiative and then taught me how to do it right. This is how God is with us. He is looking for someone not with all the answers but who is willing to learn and grow. There are something’s that we can’t learn until we get up and do. Yes, this takes risk, but that is what faith is about. 

  My second observation is that when we are asking for direction from God, it is important to spend time in prayer and listening to God, but also connecting with mature Godly people to come along side is to process what we are doing and what God is telling us. God designed us to be in community and to push each other to grow. Are we seeking out relationships that we can’t learn until be mentored by and mentor someone else. My dad god involved with a local youth group and has developed a cool relationship with one of the teens. They often go and do different things together and in that they have important conversations. So who are we being mentored by and who are we mentoring?

  My third observation is that God does set some things in motion and pre planned them. These things are such things as creation and salvation. In the midst of Gods sovereignty, He does give us free will to choose. I know that this is a whole sermon unto itself, but God does allow us to make choices to either serve and grow closer to Him or to walk away and do our own thing . God is big enough to know what decisions we are going to make and nothing surprises Him. God just doesn’t take over and forces us to or not to something. The big fancy word for God dictating our choices is determinism and if this were the case, it would make us robots and God a thug. 

So in closing, I will end with the question I started with and that is what is Gods plan for my life? Are there times where God shows up and gives us a plan for what’s next? Sure, but we have the choice to say no. The other side is, there are people and situations on a daily basis that need Gods grace and we can be the hands and feet of Jesus in those situations. I the Apostle Paul tells us that each one of us was created for a unique purpose. They’re are times when we think that purpose is to be the greatest athlete, musician or CEO, or whatever our dreams are. I am not down playing greatness, because we should do things to the best of our ability, but sometimes Gods plan is for us to be right where we are. God created us so uniquely that He designed us to reach a certain person or a group of people and the only way we can do that is by being active serving where we are at. I will close with this. God won’t give us the next thing if we don’t do the small things that we already know that we are suppose to be doing. 

Grace and Peace

Tom Boustead

Teen Challenge

   Teen Challenge came this weekend and they are always a treat to hear them sing and share their testimonies. For those of you do not know, Teen Challenge is a Christian inpatient treatment center for men who have had their lives ruined by addiction. For many of them, it is a last chance and they are there because they were appointed to be there by a judge and the court system. One of the cool things about coming to the Saturday night service here at Journey is that there is often a group of them who attend and the church service has a different feel to it and it is amazing. 

  One of the things that hit me tonight is that how many of these men had a dream to develop addictions to drug and alcohol and all the bad choices that come with those addictions. I can confidently say that none of these guys planned to develop these addictions and bad choices that come along from them. For some of them, life hit them hard with various tragedies and they needed a way to cope. Others were more gradual and one day they wake up in a jail cell wondering where things went wrong. I encourage all of us to take stock on a regular basis to see how things are going and when things get hairy, seek God and Godly people. 

  As Pastor Fred closed out the service he challenged us that we should be looking out for the people who are marginalized and who struggle with addictions and build relationships with them. We don’t do this as a look at me moment or to pat ourselves on the back, but it is to point them to Jesus. The congregation was issued a challenge last week and we were reminded of that challenge this week by Teen Challenge to go and be a Barnabas to people. It is reaching out and inviting people into a relationship with Jesus and walking with them in that journey. 

  I will close with these two things and the first one is the story of Jonah. As Jonah was in the boat running from God and the storm hit, he had the realization that the storm was his fault for running and God was trying to get his attention. Instead of repenting, he wanted to jump overboard, but his boat mates thought it was a horrible idea and tried to stop him. My takeaway is that are “heathens” more caring about the people who are the social outcast society than Christians who should believe that everyone has value and is made in the image of God. As Christians, we can be more exclusive than we should be. My final thought is this. When I lived in Oklahoma, I was befriended by a guy named Mike. He had many issues and he often pushed my buttons, but God kept telling me to pursue the relationship with healthy boundaries. Here is the thing, I don’t know whatever happened to Mike because I ended up moving to seminary and I didn’t see the changes in him that I wanted to see, but here is the kicker, God changed me. I developed a deeper relationship with Him and I grew because of it. Sometimes these relationships are ment so the other person can grow and mature, and other times we are the ones who needs the refinement. The best case scenario is where we both grow in the image and likeness of God. 

Grace and Peace,

Tom Boustead

Discipleship

   Pastor Ben preached this weekend from Acts 15:39-16:5. The two main questions are, are we doing it right and how are making disciples? This week, Paul is the main character of the story. Before we feel inferior to the Apostle Paul, we need to be reminded that he needed three years of discipleship before he went on his three missionary journeys. 

  My first thought is that we need to be willing to be discipled by Christians who are deeper and more mature than we are. If Paul was willing to be discipled, shouldn’t we? In essence, discipleship is putting in the hard work. Pastor Haven and I get coffee on Monday mornings and one of the themes that keep coming up is we often want the success of the Apostle Paul or any other people we deem successful, but we often don’t want to do the hard work. The reason why Michael Jordan is one of the greatest athletes of all time and has great fame is because he spent hours upon hours in the gym and weight room putting in the work. Discipleship is putting in that hard group and learning from someone who has gone before us. Just remember, we can’t lead until learn how to follow.  So is that person in your life that has poured into you, even when things are ugly?

  My second observation is that who is that one person we are pouring into? One of the things that I am learning, we often don’t pick the people we disciple, because if we did, we often wouldn’t pick the person who is the best fit or ready to grow. The people who we disciple often choose us and see something in us they want or need. Those people who do need us will often push our buttons, challenge us, and require us to grow in grace and maturity. This doesn’t mean that we have to have it all together, but it’s developing that mantra of follow me as I follow example of Christ. It is walking together pointing each other to Jesus. This means we celebrate, call each other out and even cry together. What makes discipleship different is that it is intentional. Are we intentional about living for life for Jesus and pointing others to Jesus. When we are meeting, are we intentional about talking and pointing to Jesus and being transformed by Him? So my two questions for us that are we willing to step out to find out our Timothy and are we willing to commit for the long haul?

  My third observation is how do we handle conflict? This is a blog on its own, but in life and ministry, there will be conflict. The Apostle Paul and John Mark even had conflict and it forced them to go their own directions. We don’t know exactly what the division between Paul and John Mark was, but the difference was big enough for them to go their separate ways. So here is my question for all of us, when is the divisions in our lives worthy to stick it out and deal with it and when is it wise to go our separate ways? Each situation is different and there are times when we need to realize that we are on the same team  and going our separate ways will be more beneficial for the Kingdom. If we keep reading, Paul and John Mark did reconcile. How it happened, I am not sure, but they probably both had a come to Jesus moment and dealt with their differences and reconciled. Are we willing to work out the conflict, or are we willing to stew over the situation and make it worse? 

 So to close out the blog, are we willing to do the hard work to grow and are we willing to invest in someone and invite them on the journey? Who is that person who has invested in you? For me I have two people that come to mind. The first one is Pastor Mark. He was the pastor of the church I grew up in and we had countless conversations and he often challenged me to be better. The second one was a boss I had in college. We had countless conversations and he was one of the few people I could openly disagree with and when I walked away I felt like I was heard and I often changed my way of thinking. So my final question is who are we going to disciple and are we going to take a risk and ask that person this week?

Grace and Peace 

Tom Boustead

Living sacrificially

   

  Pastor Fred continued the What’s Next Series by preaching out of Acts 14. There were quite a few nuggets that I picked up on and here are a few of them. The first one is that one of the underlying themes of the sermon is, What is Truth? This has been a long debated subject etc and one of the more famous examples is in the Gospel of John when Pontius Pilate asked that exact question to Jesus. The subject of truuth can be put two ways. There is Truth with a capital T that is absolute and no way we can get around it no matter how hard we try. It’s like gravity, eventually airplanes are going to land because they can’t fly forever, or when a person jumps up, they will come back down to the ground, no matter how much they want to fly. Then there is truth with a little T. This is like Duluth being 55 degrees and foggy while  people in Moose Lake or Barnum have it sunny and 75 degrees. Both are true and this form of truth is based on location and even experience, whereas Truth with a capital T is universal and applies to everyone and we can not avoid it. 

  My second nugget is that most of us struggle with contentment. Is we “need” or we really want something because it will make something better. So we get on our favorite app or website and have it shipped within two days in a lot of cases. Amazon makes over one billion deliveries a year and now imagine what the numbers are with places like Wal Mart doing the same thing.To put it another way, Americans has over 1.25 Trillion dollars in credit card debt alone. This does not include student loans, mortgages, medical bills or any other debt. Then we have to find places to keep the stuff that makes us content, we fill up garages, attics and even renting out storage units for all of our treasures that makes us content us happy. The sad thing is, we often forget about those things and move on to another project, or trip over them looking for something else. Just remember what Jesus said during the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. We shouldn’t find our contentment or treasure in things that collect dust, rust, break or magically disappear, but in things that are eternal. 

 My third nugget is how often do we get distracted. I know I am not the only person who sits down to check something on their phone and twenty minutes later I completely forgot what I was looking up. When I go hiking with two people, and when we are traveling to our destination, random thoughts pop into their head and they share them. It’s often not what we were talking about and the goal is to push my buttons. It’s worth it because there is often chocolate or ice cream involved. So here is my question, do we allow ourselves to get distracted because something is to hard or we don’t want to put on the big kid pants and not deal with it, and hope it goes away. It’s like not paying a speeding ticket and then a bench warrant comes in the mail from the county court and mom happens to pick up the mai when everyone is coming home from school. When we get distracted, bad things happen and it usually makes ir worse. 

My final nugget is discipleship and this is where we intentionally become more like Jesus. 18th century theologian John Wesley was a big advocate of discipleship. He created something called band and societies and they make the current view of small groups look like child’s play. There was a list of five questions that was asked of every person during these groups and that 5th question was “do you desire to keep anything secret?” How well do things go when we keep the important things from the significant people in our lives? Most of the time it doesn’t go well, and we are more likely to do it again with bigger things. Discipleship comes in where a person ask God and a few trusted people to not only keep them accountable but also to be an example and to carry each others burdens. Discipleship is point people to Jesus and encouraging them to take that next step. Also, there are even times for correction when something goes wrong. The biggest part of discipleship is that you can’t not expect others to what you are not willing to do yourself. 

  I will close with this, the main point of Pastor Fred’s sermon was that how are much are we willing to hive. With the pig and chicken wanting to start an all day breakfast joint, are we going to be like the chicken who gives a little each day for the cause in the form of eggs. Or are we going to be like the pig and give everything it had so there could be bacon and sausage. My guess is that most of us want to be the chicken, and give a little daily, but God is calling us to bid that pig and give till we are uncomfortable and then give a little more. We all have that one area where God is calling us to give more to the point where we are out of our comfort zone. Could it be tithing more, participating in a ministry of some kind to having a difficult conversation. I will close with this illustration. When I was in seminary, there were a number of people who fought God about going into full time ministry. Some of them had that fight for several years and even a decade in some cases, but eventually said yes. For some it was harder because not only were they a full time student, but they had a family to provide for. So our we going to keep fighting God or are we going to submit to God and give it our all.

Grace and Peace 

Tom Boustead

What’s Next?

 

  Pastor Fred started a new series called What’s Next and his preaching passage was Acts 13:1-12. The crux of the series is that we are going to be going over Paul’s three missionary journeys.  Not only does the Holy Spirit show up throughout the book of Acts but is the star of the entire book. Without the Holy Spirit leading and guiding, we either wouldn’t have a church or it would look completely different. So as we go through the book of Acts pay attention to how the Holy Spirit moves and works through people. 

  My favorite verse of the chapter is verse 10, which Paul asks the question of “will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?”  I can’t be the only person who gets snarky from time to time and take what someone has said to either get a rise out of them or to even manipulate them to get what we want. In essence, we do the same with God. How often do we try to manipulate or even pervert Gods law or Gods best for us. How often do we want to do things our way because we think it is easier, better or that  we want to put on a show for other people and have all the attention on us. In essence we are rebelling against God. We are essentially telling God off when we are doing thins and we become like that toddler in Wal Mart having a tantrum that the whole store can hear because they can’t get what we want. We never grow out of our tantrums, they just look different as we age. So what are the ways are we perverting or replacing Gods ways with ours?

  My first observation is that we shouldn’t oppose God because our ways are not Gods ways. How often do we go to God in prayer time and have all these great ideas for God to tell us no. Or how about paying attention to what is being taught and promoted in our schools and culture. As an Orthodox Christian, when  one opposes or have a different view on such things as pronouns, abortion or immigration, we get labeled a bigot and a whole host of other words that are not nice. Just remember, Jesus telling His disciples and us that if the world hated Him, it’s going to hate us too. 

  Another side to this coin is that we are seeking God and trying to follow His will, but God has a change of plans because He knows what is better and He created us for a particular purpose. In Acts 16, Paul is on his missionary journey and the Holy Spirit shows up in a dream and gives Paul a change of plans. The change of plans and the Holy Spirit led Paul and his traveling party  to go to Macedonia to preach the Gospel. Because of Paul’s obedience, people were saved and the church of Phillipi was started. This is where we get Paul’s letter to the Phillipians because it was to the Believers in Phillipi. 

  My second observation is that we should never let our past hinder our future. How often do we think that Gods grace can’t cover our sin or stupid choices we have made. Or thinking that God can’t use us because we aren’t that talented in our eyes and we don’t have any of those magical abilities or gifts. When we do this, we down play Gods grace and power. In essence, we are letting our past hinder what God can’t use us do in our lives. Now there are consequences for our actions, but God still can work through those consequences so that Has name will be made known and others can receive that same grace we can. Sometimes our lives can either be an example to others of what not to do, or having an understanding of what others are going through when they made the same bonehead choices. You can jump in the hole with them because you have been there and know the way out

    My final observation is do not neglect the Word of God. If our ways are not Gods ways, how do we find out what Gods ways are? It is by spending time in the Bible and being obedient to the Holy Spirit. This means we shouldn’t turn off our brains either. Some of the smartest people I know are deeply committed Christians who use their brains. Some of them have advanced degrees, and others Got their education from the school of hard knocks. One of the most prolific Christian writers, A.W. Tozer didn’t have much more than a high school education, but he spent time in Gods word and he used the brain that God gave him to impact the world. There was a popular phrase at one time of God said it, I believe it, and that settles it. It is a good phrase and all, but if we are turning off our brains and blindly following it, we a fall for anyone who is charismatic enough or a smooth talker. I’m essence most of these people are false teachers and don’t know God. So when we come to church or open our Bibles, to we use our brains either and reading that God gave us, or do we turn it completely off and focus on feelings?

  To close out, our church just celebrated a century worth of being Gods light in Cloquet. Do we sit on our accomplishments and hope we survive another century, or do we move forward and tap into the Holy Spirit for another century worth of being Gods light in a dark wold? 

Grace and Peace

Tom Boustead 

  

Contentment

 

 It was a wonderful weekend celebrating with friends and family the milestone of the church turning a century old this year. Having the church services outside this weekend was amazing. It reminded me of years past when different holiness groups held a thing called camp meetings, where people would gather underneath tents to hear preaching and to pray for a revival and an out pouring of the Holy Spirit.  Sunday morning, we had the pleasure of hearing Nathan Rasmussen provide the message and his preaching passage was from 1 Timothy 1:15. There were a couple things that caught my eye.

  The first one is that if any church or movement is going to start, it takes an act of faith. I will be honest, it can be easier to jump on a train that is moving rather than to get that train in motion. A big part of this is because faith often takes risk and when we take risk, we could fall flat on our face and fail. I don’t know anyone who likes to fail, but some of the life lessons that we remember the most is because we failed somehow. We only truly fail if we don’t learn anything or put what we learned into practice.

  The other aspect to risk and faith is that there is a good risk and there is also stupid risk. I can have all the faith that I can run a marathon, but my faith will ground me and not go run I that marathon tomorrow. Our faith should encourage us to continue to strive in what God has revealed to us already and who He has created us to be. God gave us a brain and the Holy Spirit and we need to implement them both. 

  My second observation that there is an element of contentment to our faith. There are two people we need to look at contentment. The first one is wisdom from the Apostle Paul and he proclaimed that he was contend when all of his needs were met and when he had nothing. Being content means that we trust in God to provide what we need when we need it. When we trust God, we trust Him for who He is and not so much what He provides us. Just a reminder Jesus didn’t die so that we can get a new vehicle or live comfortably. When we live comfortably, we don’t trust God as often as we should and we become complacent. 

  The second person we need to look at is King Solomon. He was one of the wisest people to ever live and he wrote three books of the Bible. He got to a point in his life where he had everything and he still wasn’t content. He ended up taking some wives and making alliances with people that he shouldn’t have and it got him in trouble. How often when we are not content with God, we go on rabbit trails and we get ourselves in trouble. We end up trying to find things to satisfy us and it doesn’t work. We end up depressed and eventually will claim that everything is meaningless. 

 

  I will close with this. In Africa, there has been a thirty percent increase of people who identify as Christian over the last decade and here in the West, there has been a fourteen percent decline of people who identify as a Christian during the same time period. So here is my question, in the West, especially here in America, we have the freedom to worship whatever deity we please along with going through a drive thru to get our six dollar coffee and a pastry to go to work or said worship service. In Africa, not only do they face persecution, but one could loose their life because of their faith in Jesus. Maybe we need to be content in who God is and not so much what He can do for us and our faith is us stepping out in response to who God is. Here are two things to ponder, do we only follow God or are Christians because of the benefits or are we Christians because God is God and He also is holy and just?  To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, God isn’t safe but He is good. So how many of us would rather serve a safe God rather that a good and perfect God?

Grace and Peace

Tom Boustead

Time

Pastor Fred continued the current series by preaching out of Ephesians 5:7-17. As Pastor Fred was reminding us that we are supposed to be a pleasing aroma to God, he listed off some of his favorite smells. As a farm kid, I realized that he missed the two greatest aromas of all time, which is either fresh cut/baled hay or fresh turned dirt, and I can’t decide which is my favorite. Maybe it’s because there was hard work involved and there is a sense of accomplishment involved. 

  I verse 7, Paul uses the word theorem, so we must ask the question, what’s it there for?what is he referring to? If go back in the chapter, Paul tells the church in Ephesians to not participate in idolatry along with not participating in foolish or course talk, and not being greedy. So if Paul were here today, he would tell us those things and that we should also be careful what we watch to what we post on social media and consuming when we are doom scrolling. Also being wise in what we listen to, the movies and shows we watch and even the jokes we share. More importantly, it’s how we talk to each other or about each other. How often are we willing to build people up instead of mocking them, or even bringing them down. Even worse, how often do we start rumors about each other and label it as prayer request, so that we can make ourselves look more holy. So what do we do?

 Most importantly, we need to redeem our time. How often to we pick up our phone to check something “important” and forty five minutes later we have accomplished nothing. I can’t be the only one who does this. Here is something that hurts to hear and that is time is not ours because it belongs to God and He gives it to us. The scary part is that He expects us to be good stewards of that time that he gives us. I challenge you to write down how you either spend a day or even a week and then review it. How much of it is God focused and how much of it is me focused? This doesn’t mean we should be spending all of our time at church or praying. We can pray as we do dishes or work on a project to the best of our God given ability. Redeeming Gods time means that someone will be mad because we tell them no because it’s not what God has for us at that time. 

 Another important concept is that we change our time to what is important. How often do we run ourselves out of gas because we are doing everything. There are seasons of our lives that are going to be busy, but is it God glorifying, or is our schedule running our lives to the point of exhaustion. Remember when we fail to plan, our plans fail. How about we check in with God for direction in the morning, but also throughout the day. Remember, if you don’t hear from God, keep doing what you know God has called you to do. 

  When we honor the time that God dives us, we are redeeming that time for something holy. We gave countless choices that come our way ranging from horrible, to good, to God honoring. The last time I checked, God wants us to do what’s best, because at times, doing what is good may look holy but in all reality it is the antithesis oh doing what is holy.

  I will close with these two things. The first one is that Glorify God in what we do and how we do it, we become that sweet aroma I mentioned earlier. Secondly, if we done steward our time well, we end up asking where am I at and how did I get here? This tends to lead to a boat load of questions and guilt for opportunities not taken. If you ever listened to the song Cats in the Craddle by Harry Chapin or the countless covers of the song, you know that song is about a father regrets for working all the time and not having a relationship with his son. The final verse is the father realizing that his son turned out just like him which led to immense guilt. So here is my question, do we steward are time well in what we say, watch and do so we have a clean conscience or do we mishandle it  and deal with guilt, and shame?

Grace and Peace,

Tom Boustead

 

Family Strong

 

  Pastor Fred continued our current series by preaching out of Ephesians 2:11-22. One of the themes that the Apostle Paul uses in this letter is one of family. Throughout the letter, Paul references husbands, wives, children all multiple times. So how do the themes that Paul talks about two thousand years ago apply today and how do we apply them to our work family, friends who are like family, our biological family and even the family that we don’t like or talk too. 

  My first thought is that every family has a set of rules that are both spoken and unspoken. If you are to interact within the family, you are going to abide by these rules and when you don’t, it could lead to alienation. Within the extreme conservative Amish culture, when these rules that are set by either the family or the local Bishop are not met, people are shunned. It can be as extreme as the shunned not being able to sit at the family table or meals. They have to sit by themselves and often receive the cold shoulder to the point they are not a part of the family until something is either amended or made right. Healthy families have healthy rules to help people stay in healthy relationships and provide a way for restoration. So here is my question, are there rules that are either stated or implied that tend to either drive people away or alienate them because they are legalistic or not Biblical?

  My second thought is that as a church family we are all adopted. What this means is not only are we now all family and we should act like it, but we were also bought with a great price. Christ great sacrifice is what allows us to be family and that makes none of us are second class citizens in Gods family. My niece and nephew are adopted and I don’t see them as second class citizens, but as family that is apart of me and I in them. When you are adopted, you receive all the benefits and responsibilities of being apart of that family. When we become adopted by God through Jesus, we get the benefit of the Holy Spirit, our sins forgiven and the promise of heaven. 

  My third thought is turning strangers into friends. It goes back to that thing of being responsible. It is more than just telling people about Jesus, but it is loving them like Jesus. As a church, we are blessed to have three different services and most of us go to a particular one on a consistent basis and when we adventure to another service, we see different people we don’t know and each service has its own vibe. For me, I attend the Saturday night service, but this week I attended the 8:30 service and I didn’t know a lot of people. Turning strangers into friends takes some risk on everyone’s part and putting ourselves out there. 

  Another part of turning strangers into friends is called hospitality. We all know that one person who can connect with just about anyone and makes them comfortable. Hospitality is more than this and inviting people over for meals. True hospitality is being intentional at relationships, and finding ways to not only bringing people together but fostering a deeper relationships no matter the team they root for, people they vote for or their view on church and religion. There has been a movement called Dinner Church and its whole design is to bring people together from different backgrounds for a meal and to discuss that weeks message. I do something similar. I meet with two guys on Saturday morning for breakfast and to talk. Now  we do share a lot of laughs, but we are there to encourage each other and we have had some serious discussions. We don’t agree on everything but we are still there to encourage and to pray for each other. I want that for everyone

My final observation is about that dirty little word called submission, and no I am not using it in a Mixed Martial Arts reference or for men to control woman. In Ephesians 5, Paul tells us that we are supposed to submit to each other. To be honest, we can’t submit to each other, unless we are submitting to God first. Submitting to each other doesn’t mean we are on some power trip trying to be controlling, but it means we want what’s the best for each other in the light of Gods grace. This means that we do things that promotes being family strong, both in our individual families and our church family. This also means we do our chores. Just as we do our dishes or laundry at home, there are chores in the church that we need to do. Everything from changing diapers in the nursery to shoveling to for someone who can’t. Submitting means takes a lot of humility because it often takes us to places we don’t want to go, things we don’t want to do or gifts we don’t want to develop. Humility doesn’t mean we think less of ourselves bout we think of ourselves less. It is finding our and others worth in Christ. Godly submission also doesn’t mean we don’t have a backbone, but how we use it. It is finding the right way to do and say things. So being family strong means that we realize that everyone is created in the image of God with unique giftings and how are we living up to that

Grace and Peace

 

Tom Boustead

Trust and Rest

 

  Pastor Haven preached this weekend and his passage was Psalm 23. One of the assumptions that we could make of this passage is that everything is going well for David, but it’s not completely true. This is a season where King Saul becomes jealous of David because he was next in line for the throne, and that he was not only winning battles, but he was also adored by the people. So Saul decided to take matters into his own hands and go after David to end him. This caused David to go on the run and he ended up in a cave scared, hungry, and alone. In the midst of this, David wrote this Psalm. 

  To help give Psalm 23 a little more context, go back and read Psalm 22. It’s a famous Psalm because Jesus quotes it when He was on the cross. Jesus was asking why He was forsaken. If you were a first century Jew and witnessed Jesus crucifixion, you would recognize that He was quoting Psalm 22. This Psalm probably is David reflecting on his time on the run from Saul. This what makes Psalm 23 more important because even though David was on the run, He still trusted in the goodness of God and relied on His protection and promises. So when we are on the run and even pooping in a cave, who are you trusting?

  My first observation is that with God being our Shepherd is that He provides everything we need. I remember growing up and every fall we get the Sears catalog that had all the cool toys and clothes for the Christmas season. I remember going through the massive advertisement and wishing that would get all the cool toys. Here is the thing, I don’t remember getting any of those cool toys. Now I did get Christmas gifts, but there is a difference of getting what I wanted and what I needed. My parents were wise enough to know the difference. This is the same with God, He provides everything we need. Also, how many things do we want or we think we need will be our downfall if we actually get it? According to the ESPN Documentary, after two years of retirement, 78% of NFL Players are either broke or under financial stress and five years after retirement, roughly 60% are bankrupt. Having everything isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. In the documentary, former NFL quarterback Bernie Kosar essentially said that when you are broke, no one recognizes you and that is a blessing because they are not hitting you up for money for “great opportunities.”

  My second observation is that we need to be intentional about finding rest.  As many people can attest to, life gets super busy. From working, to various family/friends obligations, and projects around the house means that someone or something is always demanding our attention or time. If we are not intentional about being restful, it won’t happen. Even if we claim that we will rest when the current project is wrapped up, it probably won’t happen because something will demand our attention. When this happens we need to develop healthy boundaries and learning when to put off till later or even saying no. There are times where we need to prioritize our time with God and our mental health because others likely won’t. also means that we do things that are restful.

 Being intentional means knowing the activities that drains us and another activities that restores our soul. For each person, this is different. For me it’s doing laundry, so when I need to rest and for my soul to be restored, I don’t do that. Instead, I grab my camera and head to a local trail or state park to take pictures. This allows me to connect with God and to be constructive. Or if I need a change of pace, I go catch a midweek matinee movie by myself and the theater is usually fairly quiet. If we are not intentional and create plans to rest and connect with God, we end up either becoming super busy and we end up crashing and burning or we accidentally spend hours scrolling on our favorite electronic device and we become mush. If we are not intentional, it won’t happen, no matter how much we want it because we do what we prioritize even if cost us dearly. So are we prioritizing time to rest and to commune with God?

  The biggest take away that I took is this concept of trust and who do we trust more. Do we trust God that his gifts and peace are perfect and what we need, or do we trust ourselves to go out and get what we need? Trusting God is the only way we will find peace and rest. Now there our things that we have to be responsible for and do, but it is trusting God to provide the things that only He can provide. I know there are some of us who have a hard time of creating healthy boundaries and saying no and sticking to it. The only way we can find true rest and peace is when we trust God completely. 

Grace and Peace 

Tom Boustead 

Living on a Prayer

    Pastor Fred continued the current  series by preaching from Ephesians 6:18-22 and the focus is prayer. Throughout his writings the Apostle Paul references prayer or prays for believers multiple times. Prayer is so important that it is one of our core beliefs here at Journey. So here is my question, how is your prayer life? Is it something we only do when our backs are against the wall or something big is coming up, or when we remember or feel like it?

 My first observation on prayer comes from my favorite C.S. Lewis quote of “ I pray not to change God, but I pray so that He changes me.” So here is my question on prayer, what is our intention when we pray. Is it something that we can get what we want or to make God more like us? If that is the case, either God isn’t all who He says He is, or that our egos are pretty inflated and we think we are better than what we really are. In the Lords Prayer, there is the famous line of “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” It is saying that Gods plan and glory comes before ours and the only way this happens is if God changes us. 

 My second observation is that prayer is a form of communication. Just a thought, if you don’t communicate with a spouse or a loved one, how is that relationship going? My guess is that it isn’t and there could be a lot of hurt and miss managed expectations that comes from this.  The same is with God, how can we know what He wants when we don’t talk. One of the foundations of ant relationship is communication and it is true with God. As we see throughout Scripture, there are many forms of prayer, whether it is a prayer of praise, lamenting, asking God to provide, questioning, to even a prayer of yelling at God because we are mad. Different seasons require different prayers, and my challenge is are we doing them on a consistent basis and for moe than thirty seconds. 

 My third observation is that God commands us to pray for our enemies. If we spend any time watching or reading the news or our social media pages, we realize that we have an easy time distrusting people and creating enemies, especially those who are in power. This is my guess, we would rather crucify them rather than praying for Gods grace for them and that they might walk with Jesus. Even something more radical, how about we pray that God will bless them. Here is the thing, when we pray for our enemies, we might realize that we play a bigger problem in the situation and we are the ones who need to seek forgiveness. In essence prayer is the great equalizer. 

  My final observation is this, when we pray, are we spending time listening? Prayer is more than giving God a laundry list of things to take care of. In all reality, God isn’t a Genie whose sole purpose is to answer our wishes. Any part of good communication is the art of listening not to respond but to understand. I have a running joke with my mom that we don’t tell each other things. Most of the time the problem is that the information does get shared but someone isn’t listening. As the band MercyMe points out in their song, Word of God Speak that sometimes in prayer we are a at a loss for words and that is ok. 

Grace and Peace

Tom Boustead

Gifts

 

  Pastor Fred continued our series by peaching out of Ephesians 4:7-16. The crux of the message is that we all are a part of the body of Christ with various gifts and that we need to use them not only for the church to run well but it is our form of worship. Using our gifts causes us to be stretched and to grow. 

  My first observation is that God calls us to something unique and special. In essence God gave us a particular gift to use so that we can glorify Him. Even though the two same people may have the same gift, it looks different because of how God has wired us and how He wants us to use it. For those who are gifted with kids, some might be called to children’s ministry and others are called to the foster care system. Same gift, it is just being played out in two different ways. I know when I am out taking pictures, I have met some unique people and the conversations have been random at best. I have even shared by faith with people that I have encountered.

  My second observation is that the gifts are suppose to bring growth and unity. How often when we are using our God given gifts do they stretch us and take us out of our comfort zone. Gods gifts are not only designed to bring Him glory, but for us to rely on Him. How often does God call us out of our comfort zone? Whether it is public speaking, to God having us call out the elephant in the room with family or friends. We can’t always be true Minnesotans and be passive aggressive about everything. If we are truly to use our gifts for God and to do great things, we need to rely on Him and not on our own strength. 

  How Gods gifts bring unity is that our gifts can not operate independently from each other. Just as a baseball pitcher relies on their catcher and defense to have a good game, we need other Christians using their gifts to make our gifts go and to make more of an impact. We all have a role and how our we using it? In order to make something go and run well, everything needs to work and work well. Just like a vehicle, if the battery doesn’t work, neither the lights will work and the vehicle won’t start. This is the same with the Christian faith, if we don’t do what God calls us to do, the church will not run as efficiently as it could or should. This is where unity comes in, it is going in the same direction for the same purpose.

  My third observation is that no one gift is greater than another. How many of us want what I call the big beautiful gifts. Whether it is teaching from the stage to running the sound board. We all have that one gift that we desire and we think is a little better than the rest of the gifts. I will be honest, one gift isn’t better than the other, because they all are used to glorify God. Whether it is sweeping up Cheerios after kids church to fixing a single mom’s car for free, it’s all about glorifying God. Gods gifts are perfect and He gives is those gifts because He has wired us a particular way so that we can reach out to particular people. So instead of whining about the gifts we do have or the lack of the big and beautiful gifts we don’t have, how about using what God gives us to glorify Him

  I will close with this, and that is we all have gifts and God expects us to use them. How often do we think that something isn’t our job or someone is better suited to do it and then it doesn’t get done. When this happens, things don’t run as smoothly or they fail. Also, when we use those gifts, we tend to grow and mature. In essence, God is calling us to get off of our hands and to grow up so we can use our gifts to worship Him. Using our gifts doesn’t save us, but should be a response of what God has done for us and through us.

Grace and Peace

Tom Boustead

Where are You Walking Towards?

 

   Pastor Fred picked up the current series by preaching out of Ephesians 2:1-10. The theme of this weekends sermon is what are we walking to and more importantly, what are we walking in? How many of us knows someone who walks (or marches) to the beat of their own drum. They do their own thing and don’t care what anyone else thinks or says. My junior high English teacher told me I was a wonder because I could be found wondering the halls and not in class. So when we are walking, do we have purpose and intent or are we just meandering with no purpose. 

  My first observation is that with free will, there are things that are Godly and things that are pure evil. God isn’t going to force us to love Him, or even choose Him. We can choose God or we can choose our own thing and to satisfy our own desires.  To put it another way, in 1 John 1, the Apostle John tells us that if we walk with God, we are in the light, and if we don’t walk with God, we are in darkness. When we are in light, we seek the truth and we live a holy life for all to see. If we walk in darkness, we want to hide in the shadows and we hide our evil thoughts and deeds. In essence we become so warped and calloused, we become like Gollum from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy 

 My second observation is that there are a lot of times when things are not as they seem. How often have you walked into a room and there is tension in the air and it is extremely uncomfortable, no matter what is being said. I know spiritual warfare is a topic unto its self, but we gave to realize that most of the battles we face are not of flesh and blood, but of good vs evil. One way we can look at is that Satan is trying to deceive us and to make sure that we don’t walk with God and he makes things look awesome until the bill comes due. Are there times when there is spiritual warfare going on and Satan is out in full force trying to deceive us? Yes there is, but we also have to realize that we live in a fallen state and we do what we think is good or makes us comfort able, safe and even happy. When we walk in darkness, we conceal, hide and distort any mention of Godly truth and love because it is all about me. 

  My third observation is there is a difference between walking in darkness vs walking in the light and it is love. My question is, who or what do we love more? Do we love chaos, destruction and ourselves more than walking in light that brings peace, comfort, and a knowledge that God loves us and we don’t have to or need to hide in fear or conceal anything from God. It’s that peace that passes all understanding. In essence, do we love ourselves more and what we can get away with or do we love walking in light and the truth and peace of God?

 So here is my final question? What steps do we need to take in order to walk in the light? If I am brutally honest, we all have that one thing that God has been calling us out on. It could be a small whisper to God using a megaphone announcing what He is calling us too. Most of the time it is an elephant size thing that God is calling us to walk in. To paraphrase an idea and that is the best way to take care of an elephant is one bite at a time. When we decide to walk in the light and to eat that elephant, we can have more success when we share our journey with someone. Not only does it help us with accountability but they also say that confession is good for the soul. How many times have you brought something into the light through confession and you felt ten times better and a weight has been lifted. This means we don’t have to work so hard to hide something and to act a certain way to make ourselves and others think that everything is good. Also it might help with anxiety and depression. To close out with a walking metaphor. Life is a journey and the destination matters and walking in darkness and walking in light takes us to two different places. 

Grace and Peace

Tom Boustead

Meditaton

  I had the privilege of giving the message at youth group tonight while the youth pastor was at youth camp.  My teaching passage was Psalm 119:1-24. This chapter happens to be the longest chapter the Bible with 176 verses. Even though there is no author listed, David is attributed as the author of the this Psalm. As we have explored this summer, all of the Psalms that we have covered have dealt with a specific story. Whether it is David being on the run from Saul to David confessing his sin with Bathsheba. This chapter doesn’t look at a single story, but takes the big picture approach and shares what it means to live a Christian life. In essence this Psalm is probably written over a long period of time and it is a reflection of David and what he has learned. 

  There are Two words that keep coming up in this passage. The first one is the word law and it comes up 25 times in the chapter. Think of it as God is teaching us His commands and it shows His authority. The second word is the word precept and it has a meaning of a person who manages and investigates Gods law and puts it into practice. We are like the manager inspecting what God has for us and putting it into practice. One of the things I think that God is telling us is that we can investigate His commandments and see for ourselves how good they are. In essence God isn’t afraid to be questioned because He gave us free will and we should use it. 

   I have some observations from this chapter and the first one is how teachable are we? How many of us seek advice from a parent, friend or trusted adult and then not do it? We often do this with God. We seek Him and what He has to say, but then not do it because it will be to hard or it’s not our brand. The Psalmist declares that we need to follow all of Gods laws and not pick and choose which ones we want to follow

   My second observation is that memorizing Scripture is key and something I need to get better at. When we meditate and memorize Scripture, we know what it says and how it applies to our life. Growing up, I had about five phone numbers that I knew by heart. Yes those numbers were called frequently, but also if I had a question or needed help, I could call any one of those numbers and things would be resolved. When we memorize and meditate on Scripture, not only do we know what God desired of us and we can call on it when we are in need.

 May question is that we memorize and meditate on Scripture to make us look better or to worship God. So are we memorizing Scripture as random facts to impress people, or do we do it so we can put Gods commandment to use and honor God in all we do. In verse 11, David writes that he hides God words in his he heart so that he does not sin against God. When life comes at us fast and when we get into sticky situations like wanting to cheat on a rest, we don’t have to ask what would Jesus do, because we would already know what Jesus says and has commanded us to do in those situations. The best way to do this is spending time regularly reading the Bile. Some other ways is writing out our favorite verses and meditating on them while we do it to find out what they mean and asking God to reveal what He has for us. Singing Scripture can help to. A lot of the Psalms were meant to be sung and there are different modern worship groups that puts the Psalms and other famous verses to songs so that we can sing them in our worship services.When we commit Gods law to memory, as Scripture puts it, God is writing it on our hearts. When we have something on our heart, it means that it is important to us and easy to recall in times of need. When we say we love someone with all of our heart, it means that we love them with all we have. Or when we do something with all of our heart, we do that thing with great care and we give it our best effort 

  There is the famous saying of “crap in, crap out.” This often refers to how we eat, because the better foods we eat, the better we feel and less health issues we have. This also applies to the videos we watch, games we play, and the people we read or listen too. If we consume questionable stuff, we are going to think, say and do questionable things. But if we consume Godly things, we often think, speak and act Godly. When we consume Gods word and write it on our hearts, when we encounter new ideas or are faced with a particular choice, we can decipher if it Godly or if it is trash. It also allows us to live out our faith and to glorify God

  In verses 21-23 David tells us that God puts the arrogant and prideful in their place. The prideful often lean on their own understanding and they often attack people who don’t see things their way. As we look at David’s life, he spent plenty of time on the run because people were trying to hunt him down

  The main point that I want us to walk away with is this. Having a position of authority and or knowing things doesn’t make you a Godly person. It is about digging into Gods word, testing it and putting it into practice. Are we taking time to delight and to enjoy Gods teaching. I will close with this question of what are you meditating on and and pairs with the theme verse Revolution Youth which is Joshua 1:8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.  

Grace and Peace

Tom Boustead

 

Grace and Peace

    Pastor Ben preached out of Judges 6:1-24 and how God used Gideon to rescue the Israelites from captivity. One themes of the Israelites, especially in the Old Testament is that things go well, then the Israelites get cocky and do what is right in their own eyes, God punishes them by sending them into captivity and the Israelites eventually repents, God forgives them and delivers them from captivity and then all is well. This cycle happens a number of times throughout the Old Testament 

  One of the things that caught my eye is how often do we blame God for our own stupidity and for the situations we get ourselves into? We often want to take responsibility for the good things we do, but when we do something stupid, or even sin, we blame God and or others. We blame God for not taking that temptation away or we wouldn’t have said something that was hurtful if the other person didn’t say what they said or done what they did. In essence, we enjoy quite well playing the victim card and somehow try to escape our punishment. Here is where the rubber meets the road and that is we may not be able to control what others do or say, but we can control our response. God Gave us the gift of a free will, so we can make choices on how we respond. How respond often reveals our heart and our intentions. Consequences, both good and bad are a result of our actions and intentions. They often point out the direction we are going. 

  How often do we make excuses? When God called Gideon to go rescue the nation of Israel from the Midianites, Gideon came up with every excuse not too. He claimed that he was the weakest of his clan and his tribe was the weakest of the 12 Tribes of Israel. Making excuses is nothing new and famous Biblical characters made them also. The biggest one was Moses. When God called him to go free His people, he claimed that he stuttered and that he wasn’t nothing to look at. We often make excuses because it will make us uncomfortable and it is going to cost us something great. We are more concerned with our comfort than doing what God calls us to do. 

  Gideon decided to obey God and go rescue the nation of Israel, here is my question for all of us. When we do this, we are being obedient, even thou we may be entering a storm and we have a peace about doing it. Could it be fixing a broken relationship or making better health decisions, no matter the what comes our way. Here is the thing about Gods peace, it doesn’t mean the absent of strife, but it is our condition and who we trust. The cool thing about Gods peace is that we don’t get it when the battle is over, but it often comes during the battle. In John 14, Jesus is celebrating His last Passover meal with His disciples before He is beaten, crucified and resurrected. The disciples are scared with what Jesus is telling them. Jesus tells them the peace He gives them and peace is what He is leaving them. Gods peace is that comfort that goes beyond human explanation and it keeps us focused and calm. Gods peace is knowing what we are doing is right, no matter the chaos that is going on around us or what others may say, because God is whispering in our ear His comfort, approval and direction.

  I will close with this, Gods peace doesn’t always mean that things will be put back together here on earth. Even though Gideon rescued the Israelites, the Midianites were still out there as neighbors. Or we tried to put the marriage back together but still ended in divorce because of a cheating spouse. The list goes on, but it is seeking God with all we have, even in the midst of the chaos and taking comfort in His grace, goodness and holiness. 

Grace and Peace

Tom

Godly Vision

 

  Pastor Fred kicked off a new series by preaching out of Ephesians 1:15-23.  I echo what Pastor Fred said and I encourage everyone to spend some time reading the book of Ephesians so that we be transformed by Gods grace. Also a little context, while Paul was writing this letter, he was locked up in prison because he was proclaiming the Gospel. One things that impresses me is that even though Paul was in prison, he was still proclaiming Gods grace. 

  One of the main points that I observed and that Pastor Fred preached on is about our vision or our eyesight. How often do we see things through our own eyes and try to convince God that how we see life is the way He should see life. How often do we tell God our life stinks and that He should do something about it. Or do we follow certain news programming or particular people because we agree on how the see life. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t listen to these people, but are we filtering what they say and do through how God sees things. My prayer is that we start seeing things as God sees them.?  

  One of the things that makes cults so popular is that there is an element of truth within their belief system, but that truth gets so distorted that it becomes a bold face lie. This is where we need the eyes of Jesus so we can decipher between what is actual truth and what is aimed at making us feel better. Or something that is scary is bold face lies that people try to pass off as Christianity. Jehovah Witnesses try to pass themselves off as Orthodox Christians but if you are to dive into their theology, you would realize that they don’t view Jesus as the Son of God, but a god. This means that there is no Trinity and this is an essential part of Orthodox Christianity. So are we praying to have Gods eyes so we can develop discernment and know the difference between wheat and chaff?

  Another thing about having the eyes of God is realizing that we are greatly loved. Within Greek (what the New Testament was written in), there are several different words and meanings for the word love. They can range from a brotherly love to a sacrificial love. Sacrificial love is loving someone with everything you have and are willing to lay down your life for that person. The other part of sacrificial love is not so much giving what someone wants but what they need. The best part about Gods sacrificial love is that there is nothing that we can do to earn it. The only thing we can do, is respond to that love. Do we live a holy life honoring God or do we do what we want to do and self destruct?

  I will close with this. When we have Gods eyes, or vision, we can properly put this life into perspective. As mentioned before, Paul was jailed for his faith at the time he wrote this letter. He still found joy and was dedicated to teaching the church of Ephesus through letter writing. Paul knew that the trials of this world has nothing on God and His goodness. We don’t let the trials of this world keep us down because Gods love and grace is greater. 

  There is the famous hymn Be Thou My Vision is based on a poem. The author of this poem was blind when he wrote it. Even though he could not physically see, he still knew what it meant to have Gods vision. So my final question is do we have Gods vision or are we to distracted and focus on everything but God?

Grace and Peace 

Tom Boustead

How is Your Faith?

 

  I hope everyone has had a great holiday weekend. Pastor Fred preached from Acts 14:8-22 and this is Paul’s first public ministry and what kind of day would of been on our first day on the new job we heal someone who is crippled and by the end of the day, we were left for dead outside the city limits. How many of us would go back to this place some time later to encourage people in their faith. This happened to Paul and here are some of my thoughts from this passage. 

  My first thought is that I wonder who is this man who could walk from birth? The only thing we know about him is of his ailment of not being able to walk. I find it interesting that there are miracles throughout the New Testament that we don’t know much of the persons story or even their name. Pastor Fred asked me a question this week on this passage that got me thinking. The question essentially was, what made Paul go over and heal this man? There was no recorded conversation between the guy and Paul, so why did Paul heal him without knowing his story or faith. My thought was that maybe it was done so that the glory of God could be revealed. How often are we healed or delivered from something and we forget to praise God for it? Instead we promote the hard work and sacrifice that we did to make something happen and we forget about God being all powerful and deserving of glory and praise. One explanation is that Paul did it to show Gods authority over all. 

  My second thought is that we are often really vain and we really like to promote our goodness or place other people on pedestals and then we crucify them as them for any wrong doing. As Christians we are guilty of this. Bill Hybels and Mark Driscoll both were pastors of fairly influential churches in the early 2000’s and often were keynote speakers at church conferences and people listened to what they had to say. Then they both had their fall from grace and were crucified for their words and actions. Now, they needed to be held accountable for those things, but I wonder if that fall from grace would of been minimized if we didn’t place them with that God like status and they didn’t allow their ego to be fed and allowed it.  When the people called Paul and Barnabas gods and were about to make sacrifices in their honor, they told them no and tore their clothing. They realized the real power was from God and not them. 

  My third observation is that after Paul and Barnabas preached the good news of the Gospel and telling the people that God made Himself known through the sending of rain, the people became fickle and let the nay sayers talk them into stoning Paul and Barnabas, even after the miracle. What gets me is that they were left for dead and after they were healed up, they went back to minister to the other believers. I would have said peace out and not gone back, but Paul and Barnabas realized that there were brothers and sisters in Christ who were struggling and they went back to minister to them. This not only took courage, but faith also. They saw the bigger picture and glorified God by going back. 

  Here is the application for us today. Throughout this whole passage, faith is at the core of it. Paul healed the man who couldn’t walk not to make himself look better, but he realized through the Holy Spirit that he had faith to be healed. There was also faith for Paul and Barnabas to go back after they were left for dead and minister to a church that was struggling. So here is my question, how is your faith doing? Are you trusting God to provide or have you become bitter enough to walk away or not trust as much? At some point we all hit rock bottom and we have three basic choices. The first one is to grab some dynamite and keep digging. The second one is that we sit there and whine above our problems. Or the third option is that we act out in faith and we stick out our and callout for Jesus. Remember, for those of us who are not at rock bottom, we use our faith to come alongside those are struggling and encourage them. 

Grace and Peace

Tom Boustead

Holy Play

  Pastor Fred continued the series by preaching out of Zephaniah 3:9-17 and we learned about how play as worship. Play can be defined is something we get to do and not have to do and enjoy doing. For clarification, this form of play is God honoring and often feel His presence and joy over us. Here are some random thoughts about this weekends message

  How often do we see God not as joyful, a singer and who delights over us but as angry, domineering and even vengeful. Do we take Jonathan Edwards famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (it’s a classic sermon and deserves to be read and meditated on) to the extreme and think that God wants to smite us for every little thing we do.  Now I recommend reading the three short chapters of Zephaniah to gain a context for the final eight verses, because in those chapters God is judging His people for their sin and stupidity, but there is hope. The first sign of hope that there are consequences for sin and stupidity and we are going to be held accountable. Secondly, God wishes for no one to perish, but to seek forgiveness and to be made new. Thirdly, God promises us a remnant or a group of people who stayed faithful to His calling and sought forgiveness and grace and continued to seek after Him. So instead of seeing God as vengeful, see Him as a loving Father who desires to sing with and over us.

  I consider Luke 15 as the Lost Chapter. Luke shares three parables of a lost sheep, lost coin, and the lost (or parodical) son. In each of the stories, someone or something was lost. When all three things were found or returned home, God celebrated by stating what was lost is either found or came home and all of heaven and earth celebrated. Instead of the father shaming the son, or the shepherd doing the same to the sheep, they were met with great joy and a celebration ensued. Now there were consequences to be dealt with, but they could wait till tomorrow. When something is lost and is returned, we often feel great joy. How often have we lost something of value, such as car keys, a wallet or even a child in a busy park. We often put everything else on hold so we can find those things often turning everything upside down. God does the same with us. 

  If God laughs, rejoices, sings gand creates, shouldn’t we do the same since we are created in His image. In essence holy play is when we worship as we play. Telling great jokes, putting together puzzles to spending time outdoors hunting or fishing. I consider holy play as worship because it’s not only fun and something we enjoy doing, it also helps us connect with God and for us to not only delight in each other, but also it helps us to keep God in His proper place. For me, I like to be go to various state parks to take pictures on my days off.  Not only do I spend time in thought and worship, but I have found people who go to state parks friendly. I have my share of random conversations with random people on various topics and had many laughs. My favorite is when my mom and a family friend joins me to go exploring. We share many laughs and take many rabbit trails but often ends with either a picnic lunch or ice cream. In essence, Holy Play is time for worship and for finding joy in God, but also connecting with others. If we go back to the creation story in Genesis, God created us so that He could be in relationship with us. This means that we can and should commune ad enjoy God and each other. May you find time and events to holy play and to worship God with each other. 

Grace and Peace 

Tom Boustead