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Monday, January 23, 2012

What I Learned in Church: 1/22/12



Let us pray:

            Forgive me for not seeing/seeking You in everyone. I’ve been distracted by dysfunction. I praise Your name to the highest heavens for giving me one more chance. Thank You for never changing, even when I did.
            Specifically, I got scared to be the man You spent all this time molding me into. I made some early mistakes. I released my passion and unleased the pimp hand physically and verbally. I don’t know if it was my time to act but I know it scared me into distraction and inactivity.
            My prayer is that those I have chosen as my family, will receive your humble ways through my humiliation. Let them see the true meaning of giving. Shw them through my constant humiliation the ultimate gift is self. Give up self. THAT is Christianity! Giving it all away. IT is ego. Give yourself away.

Show us how to give away our feelings, give away our understanding, give away our stuff, our pasts. And when we are stubborn, take it away. We will count it as a blessing. Forgive us and show us how to forgive ourselves. Help us let go of our baggage so we can receive your bounty.
            In Jesus’ name…

Our youth pastor began the sermon. He touched Isaiah 50:4, Psalms 127:3-5, Matthew 18:2-5, Psalms 82, Proverbs 22:6; 6:1, Philippians 4:13, and Leviticus 19:32. The overall message was to stay encouraged on this journey that is your relationship with God. Always stay focused on understanding, pathways and instruction.  “Reach for heaven. Heaven is farther than the stars.”

Then came the charge from the senior pastor:
            Ecclesiastes 12, after we’ve seen it all and realize it’s all vanity, we don’t take any more pleasure in the things we used to do. So…
            “Remember GOD now!”
            We don’t have time to be distracted for even a second. We especially don’t have time to only think about being good on twice a week (Bible Study and Worship day). Hell, we don’t even have time for the morning/bedtime gap. You know how it is. We wake up praising God for giving us one more day. We end the day asking for forgiveness and one more chance to get it right. In between, we miss plenty of opportunities to remember God.
            The church (in every generation) is going to be held accountable for certain things. [ie. money, inventions, music]. The religious tradition is to run these things out of church. The church has to be ready to receive. In James 5:20 we get the picture that He is saving us so we can get to someone else. We go through stuff so that other can see there IS a way out. (Realize I said ‘go through’ not ‘stay stuck’ in stuff.)
            A lot of us have gotten so into doctrine that we try to take control from God. Let God handle the discipline. We just have to be the beacon. Let his light shine through us and our journey.
            Tradition and doctrine have made us lazy. GET UP!!! We used to walk everywhere. Then we get cars and get too tired to drive to church. Hell, we get to tired to drive around the corner let alone walk. WALK? I know I’m talking crazy!
            The bottom line is right now is a serious time to get it in. and it’s not about 2012, the economy, the election, Al Queda, Iran or anything like that. Virtually everyone knows all there is to know about right and wrong. We are and will continue to be held accountable for ALL that we know. If you know better and ain’t doing it…

…just don’t try to block me on my way to glory…
[Talk about Blocks!]

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