Keep on Learning

He is a fool - 

who thinks he knows everything

and acts accordingly

 

who judges another man's knowledge

without firsthand knowledge of the same

 

who is ignorant in a matter

and resists instruction

 

who acts on presumption

when knowledge is available

 

who wishes to succeed

but stops seeking out knowledge and wisdom

  

 

Famous Last Words: The Gospel of Jesus Christ

A person's last words are often considered important when they know they are about to die. I say 'often' because there are some surprising last words recorded of men. They can give insight to the deep thoughts of a person who leaves their earthly existence to pass on forever. What is on their mind is what they utter.

There are last words in important roles, such as President, Pastor, Father to a bride to be, or groom to be. Things are said that the person completing their role in the life of another want to be sure to pass along to that person with the importance that the role they are completing will lend to those words. I can remember the last words I spoke as Pastor at Church at the Crossroads in New Hampshire. I remember the last words I spoke as a student at Melodyland High School. In both of these situations I spoke words of encouragement and exhortation based on the position of shepherd and as valedictorian of my class. Words, that could be heard because of the role I played or position I had attained.

I have been contemplating the last instructions Jesus gave His disciples before He left earth and before He left the role of full-time, present-in-the-flesh teacher. The words He spoke carried the weight of His deity, His position as Teacher, His relationship as trusted Leader, His reputation of righteousness and faithfulness, and the weight of being His deepest concern as He was leaving. It was annointed by the Holy Spirit and therefore carried the weight of the glory of God the Father!

What were His last instructions? When you piece together the last instructions found in the gospel accounts and in the first chapter of the Book of Acts you see that Jesus instructs the Disciples to wait upon God for the power of the Holy Spirit which would empower them to go and preach the gospel. He wants them to be sent out with the power of God to be witnesses to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ which brings salvation to men and women everywhere. The emphasis here, is that we need power for evangelism.

At the end of the book of Matthew we have what we call the "Great Commission." This is the final work order from the boss. He states that He has all authority and gives it to the disciples for the express purpose of making disciples of all nations, baptizing them into a new life, and teaching them the commands of Christ and the importance of obedience to those commands. In other words, go witness to my life, death, and resurrection so that others might be saved, and then teach them how to live by my commands.

Hmmm...there we go. That's what we are supposed to do. God gives us tools and authority to spread the truth of the gospel. What is God after? He is after the souls of mankind. What has he sent us after? The souls of mankind. What is our message? The Gospel of Jesus Christ. What is our method? Proclaiming the story of Christ and His words. What is our engine or propulsion? The authority of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.

What has your message been? What has my message been? What has the church's message been? What has our focus been? Time to check your focus? Time to place things in perspective given what Jesus has told us to do? I know I need my focus worked on continually and suspect we are all in the same boat.

I have many more thoughts to express on this but this is a blog not a thesis paper. I need to keep my thoughts on what is important. Life has a way of taking us along a long road of troubles and work, fun and friends, tasks and projects. The good, bad and the beautiful (I hate two negatives against one!) We are consumed with so much. But what are we to be doing?

Be Strong in the Lord! Do His work!

Airplane Ride of Faith

Some ramblings from my thoughts this morning that I hope will encourage you...

Ever notice how big the buildings in LA, NY, Boston, or Chicago, (sorry Cheyenne, Wyoming...ever see a tall building there?) are when you stand up close, bend way back, and look up to the very top of the building? Wow! Incredible heights, incredible materials, incredible designs.

Lately I have been seeing pictures and and television shows about new buildings in Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and other places throughout the world. Incredible structures are going up. Heady, expensive projects being undertaken. Not so much in San Diego here...I like the quaint qualities of this city.

I love to fly in airplanes. (Never tried a helicopter but would like to). We have a cool airport here in San Diego...of course, I am always picking up or dropping off here...not fair! When you get all settled in for a flight, earphones on, coffee in hand, Shaq sitting next to you taking up his seat and half of yours, and a child nearby holding the energy back for later in the flight when you finally fall asleep...you are ready to relax and simply get from here to there. Pretty regular, normal travel stuff. Then it happens...

Takeoff, ascent, climbing, climbing, climbing and then cruising altitude. Hey, look at the tiny little people, the small cars, and hey, look how small those buildings look from way up here! Wow, look at the clouds, the sunshine, are those alien crop circles??? No, silly! Wow....oh no...watch out! Here they come!!! BIG THOUGHTS!!!!

"The earth is incredible. God is even more incredible!"

"Look at how the clouds are formed, look at the horizon and mountains. Wow, what a beautiful creation!"

"I wish I could fly. Hey, maybe we will see some angels as we go through the air."

Isn't it interesting how perspective changes when you climb out of your personal space and climb to higher heights? Things that seem so large in our normal realm of existence seem smaller when we get above them and look down on them.

Like giant buildings our problems, fears, worries, doubts, griefs, and guilts seem incredibly large to us as we stand at the feet of them and look up and observe them. We walk around them, touch them, sometimes take the elevator up and down inside of them. We take pictures, look through the gift shop, maybe even spend some time sitting inside to take it all in. We really get the feel for the building...

Then, we are called to come up higher, to see things for how they really are. Like a plane ride, Jesus calls us to rise up in faith in Him and see how small the problems are from His perspective and power. He does not deny the existence of the problems but He speaks His promises to deliver us to a new place in Him, to get up and over and past the issues of life in Him.

This is the airplane ride of faith! Rise up in worship to the King and let His Spirit encompass your spirit and bring strength to your spirit. Consume the Word of God and let His truth bring you light. Let Him bring you strength and new perspective. When we rise up in worship of our King, are empowered by the Spirit of God, and increase the expression and strength of our faith we allow God to move in our circumstances.

I would like to invite you to travel to a new perspective today. I invite you to read the Word of God today, praying for understanding and wisdom. I invite you to praise and worship King Jesus today and let his Spirit flow in and through you. It will be a great ride. The view is incredible. The destination is unspeakable!

Get your tickets here!

God bless you!

Planning Things Out

Just got back from Palm Springs where the leadership team of Christian City Church Mission Bay met to plan the church calendar for 2010. It was a lot more than that though. There was good connection, fellowship, unity, creativity, fun, food, prayer and momentum for the new year. I had the best burrito I have ever eaten, enjoyed getting to know others better, and got my little self whooped by a tall Aussie in Basketball. I let the USA dream team down!

Planning...what a great idea! Like, not just going along doing whatever comes your way. Like, being purposeful, dude. Like, deciding what you are shooting for, designing steps to get there, and then implementing those steps. Wow! Good stuff!

The sarcasm above was not pointed at anyone but a realization that as individuals and sometimes as groups we often go along living day to day without forethought, without a plan, and then wonder some where down the road where we are and how we got here. What is it about taking the time to plan that causes us so much angst? Is it the reality of where we are that we wish we weren't? Is it the pain of lost time and opportunity? Is it the realization of how far there is to go?

Take courage my friend. If this is causing you to think about your path and your plan I have good news for you, God has a plan for your life. He wants you to seek out His will and ways and ask His guidance and He will take you to a specially planned place in life where your gifts and talents are in full use and you are working in sync with the will of God and realizing the Kingdom of God in your life.

If you have been wandering along this road, it is time to refocus. Time to get out the Bible, God's instruction manual, read it and pray asking God to help you understand it and apply it to your life. You will save so much time and effort doing things according to the manual. You will avoid pitfalls and potholes and get moving more quickly in the direction you are to head if you stay in the manual.

Prayer, so key. Prayer appropriates the grace, strength and wisdom God imparts to us by His Holy Spirit. It is a place of surrender and emptying of ourselves which is so necessary if we want the outcomes designed for us. It is an incredible place where God instructs us in His already revealed word, but also downloads to us creative thoughts and pieces of the plan. It is a wonderful spiritual place.

Worship...do not forget worship. In the exercise of worship the presence of God comes down and He fills us with Himself and fills our hearts to overflowing. He shows up in our sincere and true worship. This worship takes place in singing to the Lord with the understanding, in singing in the spirit without understanding, in joyful proclamation of the goodness of God, and in other forms of expression of our love and awesome reverence for the Lord.

Now, having spent time with God, hearing from Him and holding things in your heart that He has imparted, you can gather with other like-minded believers and begin to work together to bring about by the grace and power of God those things He has placed in your hearts singularly and as a group sharing with each other and helping each other walk these things out in wisdom.

Oh no, I went too long here... you can take it from here.

Where do you want to be? How are you gonna get there? Get going with God. See you there...

Just talkin'.

Geoff

What's to Blog About?

Blogging is everywhere on the net. If you don't blog, why not? If you do blog, why? If you don't read blogs, why not? If you read blogs, why spend the time? (What did we do with our time before blogs?) What's a blog anyway!?!


Here's the deal. Blogs can indicate your intelligence or lack thereof . Because of this I am actually afraid to blog. You heard it, "afraid to blog"! What if I say something ignorant? What if my career is stunted by something ignorant I say? Better to keep quiet? Why not take the chance! If there is a method whereby your thoughts can be widely communicated to the strengthening of others, whether by encouragement or simply due to humor, wielding positive influence that changes lives for the better, why not just do it!?!


OK...now you think I think too much. "Just write and who cares what people think," you may say. You may wonder why you spent time reading this blog...


I am just going to go for it and forget the rest. Who knows, maybe someday after lots of practice I will actually get good at blogging and my initial foray into blogging will long be forgotten. In the meantime perhaps others will have been encouraged and strengthened and much good can come of it.


I'm in...let's go.


Just Talkin'

Geoff