pastorrudytlc

Do you consider your work a ministry? Do you realize that your profession is very much your own personal pulpit that proclaims to a watching world what is most important to you?  Our English word for “vocation” actually comes from the Latin word for “calling.”  As Christians, we no longer do what we do to just advance ourselves selfishly or become random workaholics. It does a soul no good to invest a ton of the very best prime time hours to just try to reach a financially driven goal. Each person who calls himself a Follower of Jesus is expected to fulfill his God-appointed task in everyday life and to do so not just for the “eye service” of others- but as a daily act of worship to God!

 Serving the Lord is not just for the full time Pastors or Missionaries. We all need to be properly equipped so we may be able to do exactly what God has appointed and assigned us to do. All human work should be an opportunity to bring glory to God!  The Scriptures define for us the great spiritual wealth belonging to every believer in the heavenly realm that plays out practically as we step into the godly walk here on earth. But there is a catch and that is the reality that there is an enemy that wants to trip us up when it comes to fulfilling God’s will for our lives. We might say that the more fruitful a follower of Jesus becomes, the more intense the fight will be. This is why we must not take the field until we are properly dressed in the full uniform of a warrior in the Lord. Ephesians 6:13 exhorts us to, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

 Let’s start with that word “full” as in “full armor.” You can’t expect to be able to literally withstand whatever Hell throws at you without taking the equipment that God provides for you seriously! I learned that lesson the hard way. I played baseball when I was a student at Philadelphia College of Bible and it was because of my stubbornness that I put myself in the place of experiencing a serious concussion. I hated wearing those Batting Helmets when I ran the bases and saw it more a nuisance than a necessity. To me it was something that kept me from moving freely. I have never been blessed with possessing great speed and so the last thing I didn’t need was to be wearing anything else that slowed me down even further. I was on first base when our next batter got a base hit and as I was rounding 2^nd base heading for 3^rd the right fielder rifled a throw that hit me square in the back of my head and with no helmet to protect my cranium and dropped straight to the ground. The good news is I recovered although maybe the jarring of my brain explains a lot of why I am like I am today. We all laugh about it now, but not having my full armor on nearly cost me!

 Every Christian is freely given every piece of wardrobe he or she needs to win the spiritual battles that we find ourselves in. Without the armor on, our bark is very open to the devil’s bite! When you say no to sin and yes to righteousness, you win a spiritual battle. When you say yes to sin and no to righteousness, you lose a spiritual battle. And when you are exposed, you need to quickly repent and renounce your sin and get that armor back on to protect the heart and soul of our faith. If you don’t want to be left with a gaping hole in your faith, you must let the Spirit guard your whole person. When you practically make it your goal to be with Jesus, his light becomes contagious and his power trumps our cowardice. His behavior starts dominating our activity! The old adage is true: you truly do become like the company you make time for!

God’s light when it is allowed to shine bright through you will eventually get in someone’s eyes and it will at times tick them off. But don’t you dare douse the dosage of his difference making presence that should be beaming through you! This is why Hell wants to determine your outfits before you leave the house and head out into the world! Your heart is daily up for grabs. Hell wants to bounce your soul around like a basketball and pummel it like a dodge ball and sock it like a baseball. Following Jesus makes it possible for you to rise up above the mediocrity, but you won’t be hungry for what’s on God’s menu if you keep settling for the scraps this world keeps throwing at you. Your thin skin will become vulnerable to sin breaking in and rotting your roots by stealing, killing and destroying His life pumping through you!

 Open our eyes Lord and let us keep our breastplate of holy living on so that we don’t look for a way out but always a way up! Wearing the righteousness of Jesus makes you more confident in your stand. The purpose of the breastplate on a soldier was to protect all the major organs of the body, especially the heart. It covered the front area thus protecting from a frontal assault. It covered the back area thus protecting from a rear assault. Today we are getting attacked from both sides by the enemy but every time we see God bring us through, we become faithful and we grow in faith so we don’t groan in disgrace because what otherwise might have been fatal ends up as nothing more than a futile shot from Hell!

 We live in a world that is destroying the sacred things. We need to be dressed so that our hearts have protection from hell’s bullets. Nothing protects us better than Christ’s righteousness. It is indestructible! In The Encourager, Charles Mylander writes: “Sunrise was dawning when Los Angeles motorcycle police officer Bob Vernon saw a red pickup truck speeding through a stop sign. This guy must be late to work, he thought to himself. He turned on his emergency lights and radioed that he was in pursuit. The pickup pulled over, and the officer approached. Meanwhile in the truck, the driver thought, “The cops already know!” He was scared. He rested his hand on the same gun he had used a few moments before to rob a local mini-market. The sack of stolen money was beside him on the seat. The officer said, “Good morning, sir, may I see your…” Bob never finished the sentence. The driver pointed his gun toward the policeman’s chest and fired! Officer Vernon was knocked flat and flew seven feet away. It appeared that Bob Vernon was dead. You could imagine the horror of the driver when a few seconds later the officer stood up, and made his way back to the driver. “Don’t shoot!” the thief screamed, throwing the gun and sack of money out the pickup window. What saved the policeman’s life was dozens of layers of Kevlar, the super strong fabric used for bulletproof vests. Only three-eighths of an inch thick, Kevlar can stop bullets cold.

In Ephesians 6, the Bible instructs every Christian to put on completely the breastplate of the righteousness of Jesus our Savior! Simple qualities like walking in God’s righteousness with childlike faith can deflect what the enemy of souls may fire at us. I remember growing up believing that if I wanted to hit like Hank Aaron, I needed to eat a big bowl of Wheaties, the breakfast of champions! As Christians, too many of us have feasted for too long on the fatty fare this world has to offer. We too easily forget to meditate, chew on and mull over the truth what the Holy Spirit teaches us.  The old hymn challenged, “Rise up, O men of God, have done with lesser things.” Putting on the breastplate of God’s righteousness reminds us that the Lord has plans for your body and they are plans for you and I to participate in as a part of the very practices that God redeemed us to do! Don’t settle for distortion. Make a serious commitment today that tells the Lord and shows the world you are prepared to embrace this aspect of your calling in Christ.

Religious leaders back in Jesus’ day often regarded as a great virtue their habit of purposefully excluding other people who were not deemed up to par with the stuffy principles of the Pharisees! To them, everybody else was a step down when it came to their social standing within the community. This pompous attitude was labeled as pride by our Lord which was also regarded as a great sin. Unfounded prejudice fired against other human beings based solely upon outside observations has prevented many a potentially great connection. To dismiss another because of their color, their background, where they live or what they make is ludicrous. And when that poison sneaks into human thinking, society quickly becomes the home of snobs and the land of the cowards.                                                  

Jesus never said, “Thou shalt go to church,” because to him, the formation of his body was not constructed via bricks and sticks but it was made up of real life breathing individuals. Jesus formed a highly intentional small group where life-on-life, Spirit-led, transformational community was the norm. It was in this context where his followers received a unique invitation to be shaped, transformed, equipped and loved. And whosoever willed could come and be a part of the family. Old and young, rich and poor, men and women, adults and children, Jew or Gentile, Moral or known sinners could still be part of the crowd that was being cared for by the Christ!

What are the great barriers to seeing the formation and fruit that follows when people are living life within a true caring community? One is the temptation to settle for pseudo closeness. This is an imitation. This is nothing more than a fake version of the real deal. What happens in pseudo community is that while people do spend time together, they take no risks. They might be polite and share safe pleasantries when they talk but they refuse to go very deep. I guess you might say that the primary goal of pseudo-community is to avoid conflict at any cost!  

Are you willing to roll the dice and take the chance that could lead to a lasting friendship? The first step involves being the initiator and going courageously out on the limb in order to get to know another. It means being willing to risk rejection. The second step treasures honesty as the only policy. Rather than hiding behind the mask of hypocrisy, you are not afraid to live by the rule that what you see is who you get! Vulnerability leads to intimacy and trust. Truth opens the door wide to trust. A high regard for life means a deep respect for everyone. Impartiality means that nobody is exempt from graduating from stranger to confidant. 

It is not enough to just learn about generosity; it’s to BE generous. It is not enough to learn about forgiving; it’s to ACTUALLY forgive. It’s not enough to learn about joy; it’s to ACTUALLY rejoice and become joyful people. It is not enough to just learn about prayer; it’s that we ACTUALLY pray. Maybe the risk God is calling us to take is to make a conscious move out of safe living where things get quite lonely and finally jump into the fire of friendship where the knowledge of the heart is worth the climate of the heat!  

Are you willing to expand your sphere of influence by beginning to build new neighborhoods all around your day by day wanderings? Get to know a few new people every day. Bless some folks that you don’t know yet but a random act of kindness could open the door. What is the kindest thing that someone has ever done for you? Did you let it fly by without acknowledgement? On the horizon is the chance to enter into a whole new world. If you see others  only as pawns meant to slow you down and provide interruptions, you will miss the treasure. But if you use things and decide to love people and make them the priority, you are about to become a very rich person.

Just for the fun of it, I thought I’d give you some ice breaker discussion questions to warm things up. I challenge you to ask at least a few of these nuggets to somebody new this week and be pioneering enough to see where it might lead. Let me know if you gain a new buddy or two along the way. Here goes and have fun. 1. Other than Jesus- who is your favorite Bible Character and why? 2. Have you had God answer a prayer of yours lately? Share the story. 3. What are some of your absolute favorite foods? 4. Who has been the greatest influence on your life and why? 5. What don’t you want said at your funeral? 6. When you think about God – what is the first thing that comes to mind? 7. What are your biggest questions about your relationship with God? 8. What do you think about when you get up in the morning? 9. What are your favorite things about living in Cape May County? 10. What is important to you in your life right now? 11. Can I pray for you about anything? 12. If you had a time machine that took you back in time–where would you go to and why? 13. What is one thing that you really hate having to do? 14. What new thing have you learned recently? 15. What was the last really good book you read? 16. Which habits of other people drive you crazy? 17. Name two things you consider yourself to be very good at. 18. Name two things you consider yourself to be not so good at. 19. Tell me about a family member you are really proud of. Have you ever won a trophy? What was it for? 21. Name one thing that not many people know about you. 22. What was one of your favorite childhood memories? 23. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? 24. What extremely difficult life situation have you overcome and how did you do it? 25. Was there ever a time when you were frightened for your life? 26. What is the best vacation that you’ve ever had? 27. What is the craziest thing you have ever done? 28. List one thing you wish you could change about yourself. 29. Who are some of the most important people in your life? 30. What is something that you are passionate about? 31. Who would you turn to if you were in desperate need of help? 32. What outdoor activities do you like to do? 33. Where is your most favorite place on this earth? 34. If you could change one thing about this world what would it be? 35. What do you consider the most important event of your life so far? 37. What is one thing that you are afraid of? 38. What would be your dream job? 39. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? 40. What crazy activities do you dream of trying someday? 41. If you could go on a road trip with any person (dead or alive), who would you choose and where would you go?

If you care to send me some of your answers, I would welcome the chance to get to know some of my readers better and if you have any questions for me, feel free to email me pastorrudytlc@comcast.net Have fun and create some new community!

“I used to be afraid of failing at something that really mattered to me, but now I’m more afraid of succeeding at things that don’t matter.” This wonderful quote comes from the creative and ingenious mind of one Bob Goff! In 2012, Bob wrote a book called “Love Does” and because of my affinity for an author named Donald Miller who recommended it heartily, I devoured it in one sitting. Too many Christians just pontificate and theologize about love solely on paper and here was a unique individual who was busily turning his world right side up by applying and being obedient to what God told us would be the defining evidence of our being followers of Jesus! When God pours his love into the hearts’ of believers, it can’t help but bubble over and bless and baffle all it comes in contact with! I began to share this inspirational best seller with my family and friends which in turn encouraged other readers to live a lifestyle that fiercely seeks out creative and godly avenues to introduce God’s love.

 Since my first reading in 2012, our Lighthouse Church College and Career Group called Crew studied “Love Does” on Monday nights and began to incorporate aspects of its teachings into its daily body life and our beloved Bible Study Teacher, Dennis Hall, facilitated a Wednesday Night Adults Group through the adventure. It is the kind of curriculum that must be addressed. It is both convicting and celebratory! It has a message that is supplied to be applied. And it invites the Christian of today to jump into the world of the Acts of the Apostles and never be afraid to live and breathe and explore an environment that is not limited by stuffy human boundaries and outdated church biases! Remember, nobody made more waves and shook up more traditions than Jesus!

 Here is another soundbite nugget from the pen of Bob. “Love is never stationary. In the end love doesn’t just keep thinking about it or keep planning for it. Simply put, love does!” Bob Goff, besides being a New York Times Best-Selling Author is also an attorney who boasts that he meets his clients at his office which is a picnic table at Treasure Island in Disneyland, California. With a low overhead, Bob has been able to found such organizations as “Restore International,” a nonprofit human rights group operating in Uganda, India and Somalia. Bob has also become one of the most sought out speakers in America today. He brings his contagious enthusiasm to both national and international conferences, college universities and churches by inspiring current and future influencers to get to the ”do” part of life. Choosing to live audaciously, Bob connects to audiences in a powerfully thought provoking and entertaining, yet down to earth manner. The book, “Love Does” has now been translated into ten different languages!

 I want to tell you a bit more about “Restore International.” Its purpose is to work intensively and strategically to improve educational opportunities and to be helpful to those in need of a voice and a friend. Restore has worked with Uganda’s judiciary in bringing over 200 cases to trial, as well as pursuing justice, intervention and education for at risk women and children in Uganda, India and Somalia. Restore Leadership Academy in Northern Uganda educates over 300 students with a focus on character and leadership development. Because of Bob’s vision and the work of Restore International, he serves as the Consul for the Republic of Uganda to the United States.

 Bob Goff also continues to be inspired by friendships he’s developed with others around the world who live their lives pursuing strategic ways to help others. As an attorney, Bob shares leadership in a Washington law firm, “Goff and DeWalt.” He is also an adjunct professor at Pepperdine Law School where he teaches Nonprofit Law, and at Point Loma Nazarene University, he teaches Business Law. He is a human oxymoron finally giving Lawyers a brand new positive image in that he has fought not to gain the whole world for his own gain, but to give it all away and invest it into the treasures of eternity!

 The reason I share this is because God has opened the door for Bob Goff to come to Cape May County during Memorial Day Weekend 2017. He will be right here in our midst at The Lighthouse Church and I believe this area will never be the same again! One of his favorite sayings is, “We don’t really make friends; they make us,” and this is much too big and exciting to keep to ourselves. The vision is for Believers in our area to gather and combine our forces together and pray for God to use this event as an instrument to bring the gospel to those who need to experience the transforming love of Jesus. I am so excited, I can hardly contain myself. Part of my joy is because I was told by many that we could never get Bob Goff to come here! Those critics were wrong and we Christians who live by faith know beyond a shadow of doubt that all things are possible with God. If you’d like to be part of the planning of this amazing venture, please give me a shout! No one church has a monopoly on the Love of God! Love isn’t really love until love does and I am calling you to a front row seat to see what love will do in me and you!  

Check out the Book “Love Does” by Bob Goff on Thomas Nelson Publishing.

When you became a Christian, you did not walk on to a playground but you stepped into a battle field! As a believer, you are always living in harm’s way! There will never again be a time in your life where you will not be a walking target. The enemy has the crosshairs of his scope fixed directly on your heart. Hell knows your name, your background, how you are put together, your weaknesses and your strengths. Hell knows the points that you are the most vulnerable. Hell has been studying your profile since the moment you decided to follow Jesus. On that day, you became another participant in spiritual warfare!

 Whether it is day or night, you are a man, woman, an adult or a child, physically fit or a paraplegic, emotionally strong or a nervous wreck, a brain or a jock, a band geek or a chess champion, married or single, have children or live in an empty nest, grew up in a Christian home or brought up in pagan place; you have an adversary! He is the devil and his emissaries, the demons, all have one goal for you and that is to sabotage your walk with God! The enemy wants you paralyzed, pummeled, panicking and powerless! Hell wants you ruined and rendered “Missing in Action!” You have a stalker with the stench of sulfur as he tries to slime your every step!

 The best strategy of Hell is that it hopes you never pay the enemy any attention at all! Keep pretending it doesn’t exist and write it all off as a fairy tale. The darkness could only hope that you walk out into your world every day, naked, ill-prepared and totally vulnerable! The enemy would like nothing better than for you to picture him as that little imp on your shoulder, whispering naughty ideas into your ears. Go ahead and buy into that crazy caricature of the devil decked out in a red suit with horns and a pitchfork! But come on Christians! Have you ever wondered why life is so hard, suffering is so painful, agony is always near, and God seems far away? It’s because there’s an enemy who hates God, hates you, and has set his army against you because you’re a child of the one true God. When life gets hard, we can easily forget that we’re victorious in Christ and lose hope. Some people practice self-centered contempt and blame themselves when things go wrong. Some practice others-centered contempt and blame other people. And some practice God-centered contempt and blame God. Behind all sin, however, is Satan. While we remain morally responsible for our sin, Satan sometimes also bears some degree of responsibility, as he is the deceiver who delights when we join him in his rebellion against God.

 You do not want the battle to begin when you’re unprepared. You don’t want to be just sort of lollygagging around and all of a sudden you’re halfway defeated before you finally wake up and realize you’re in the war. So preparation comes by heeding the challenge from the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:10 when it says “Be strong in the Lord and in the power or the strength of his might.” Notice it doesn’t say, “Be strong for the Lord,” as we could never muster enough strength on our own to win the battle over our hearts and soul. We need the assistance that the Holy Spirit provides by our constant and utter dependence upon God! His power is our power. His truth is our truth. It is in Christ that his might becomes our might. We have all the resources, all the power and all the principles to live the Christian life. There’s just one thing that we need to know. In spite of all the resurrection power available to us, it will in no way ever be easy. We must not become lazy in our faith and take anything for granted. If there is no struggle in our pursuit, there just may be no Spirit in our possession! Struggle, we don’t want to hear that! But Hell is locked in and loaded and there are specific bullets with our names on them! We don’t like this. We would rather think of life as an idealized, peaceful easy feeling, drifting happily from our birth and dancing happily through our days until we ultimately land in the arms of God in eternity!

 If you look at life from a pure circumstantial perspective, you won’t make it! There will always be “Giants in the Land,” “Goliath’s” cursing our God and our people, “Lions” licking their chops, “Red Seas” hoping to drown us and other obstacles placed strategically in our path hoping we fall and fail miserably. But we must be aware of the schemes that the enemy uses to lure us in. We must learn how to recognize the bait! It’s not healthy and while it may appear tasty and we may be really hungry, we can’t allow our unwholesome appetite to lead us into getting hooked. Hell never plays fair and it does not care about cheating and lying with a straight face!

 Who needs to memorize these verses so you are better prepared? Colossians 3:1-4 says, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things, for you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” You have to know God so that you are not surprised by Hell’s methods of madness! We won’t beat Hell until we join Heaven! We can’t be strong in the Lord if we are still madly in love with our own ego! This is one of those times that the cry of victory is more “I Can’t!” because it is as that moment we will realize that God can! No satanic assault is stronger than God!

No satanic scheme can thwart God’s power over us! No satanic force can defeat what God is doing in us and thru us! No satanic threats can cancel out the promises of God!

 So are you going to be humble or haughty? Will you believe God or end up being torpedoed? The Nazi regime commissioned the famed Bismarck battleship in 1940. Stretching 825 feet, it was the largest battleship in the world. It boasted eight guns that held shells fifteen inches across, as well as some five dozen other armaments. The Bismarck’s on board targeting computer was so precise that it blew away the HMS Hood, which had been the pride of the Royal Navy, with a single shot. As grand as the Bismarck was, it had one small but fatal weakness. A vulnerable rudder was located right beneath its thermal exhaust port. In the darkness of night on May 24, 1941, the Royal Navy attacked the ship with little success until all of a sudden one torpedo hit this rudder. The boat was severely disabled, attacked fiercely, and defeated.

The key to victory in war is knowing your enemy. If you don’t know your enemy, you can’t know how to attack them or defend yourself. The Royal Navy found the Bismarck’s weakness, but it took many battles and heavy losses. Imagine how many lives and ships would have been saved had they known the ship’s weakness before it was even launched. In this life, we have to know our enemy’s weakness and our own shortcomings! This way we can both defend ourselves and also be on the attack so that we may be victorious.

 The devil is not running a poker game in Hell today with all you can drink beer on tap!

He is in the most sacred of places trying to dupe those who don’t know what Jesus looks like or who God truly is! It is a waste of time to try to take on a foe that you can’t see without the power of The Holy Spirit! If you could only see what is happening right now in the heavenlies, you would never pray another casual prayer for the rest of your days! We need to be made strong in the Lord and we need to discover our strength in Him! We are going to acknowledge our weakness and invite the Lord’s presence. More power to you means more room for God! Our step of faith enables us to see what God can and will do! No satanic evil will ever prevail over the prayers of God’s people. Let’s get to do some serious battle from our knees!

Jesus did not come from Heaven to Earth just to overthrow the Roman Government. He was sent by the Father to destroy the kingdom of sin and death! This is why Jesus didn’t picket against politics.

He preached against the real cause of our problems! The New Testament was not about the reformation of human government but the transformation of the human heart! The issue will forever be the heart condition of men and women! If people’s hearts are not changed; their behavior will always reflect upon the selfishness that drives them. It is not external reform we really need because redemption is an inside job. When God changes the souls of people, society is better off because of it! 

Let’s address how Believers of the Word should believe and behave in the world they live in.  Forget the separation of church and state; Believers cannot justify good behavior in church and bad behavior on the job! The workplace becomes the prime pulpit to show others milling around the difference that knowing Jesus makes in every area of life! Integrity matters most no matter who is looking or not observing our every move. The word integrity comes from the same root word as integrated. When we have integrity, our outer self is integrated and consistent with our inner self!

Our public side matches our private side! What the Boss doesn’t see matches what the Boss does see! We need to be the same person doing the same job with the same attention and intensity whether anyone is watching or not! Why? Because Christians don’t do what they do for just anybody! Christians should be doing everything they are doing for the Lord and if they can’t do it for the Lord they shouldn’t be doing it at all!

 But you may say, “I am never rewarded or encouraged for all the good I do.” How can someone stay motivated to do what they do when the pay stinks? What do you do if you hate what you have to show up for every single day of your life? I would say, “Look up and get your cue from the One who is calling you way beyond the blue!” No matter what your title, your tempo should be tenacious with the task you are performing! Colossians 3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

 My first job was in a car wash. I dried the same side of the cars for 10 hours every Saturday. Every penny of what I made was taken by my Mother. It would have been easy for me to do as little as possible in a job that I hated! But I couldn’t! I was doing it for God and so I sang all day as no one could hear me anyway because the noise of the machines drowned out my voice and it made me smile when my Boss told my Dad, “I wish I had a million like your son.” The way you conduct yourself at work in public is just as powerful as the way you worship God in private! It wasn’t something I wanted to do but I still needed to do it with excellence because my testimony was on trial. I wanted Jesus to be glorified whether I was at the car wash- a custodian cleaning a school building or a Pastor of a church!

 It often seems as if those who lie, steal, and cheat are the winners in our world, whereas the honest, trustworthy, and hardworking are the losers. This causes some people to stop trying to do right altogether, skate by with minimal effort, or actually start sinning and acting unethically. How about you? Are you discouraged or even angry because of how you have been treated by those in authority over you or those under your authority? Do they not really appreciate you, thank you, or compensate you as you see fit? Have you failed to receive your due reward? The Bible teaches repeatedly that God does in fact reward our obedience to him no matter how bad the circumstances that we find ourselves in. God who loves all, sees and knows all and will reward every act of staying faithful to his principles no matter how crazy the place may be around us.

 Over who are you in authority at work, home, church, or any other context? How would those under your authority say that you treat them? Would they say you treat them as Jesus treats them? Would they say that you bless and reward them as Jesus does? We live either with a heart that is reverent of God or we put other people in that place and live a life of people pleasing and we can never live serving and pleasing both God and others at the same time. Who we hold in highest esteem determines what we do and how we live. Being controlled or mastered by people means worshipping other people, putting your trust in people, or needing people too much you can’t say, “No!” When we are in our teens, it is called “peer-pressure.” When we are older, it is called “people-pleasing.” Recently, it has been called “codependency.”

 Whose opinion matters far too much to you? Is your appetite for praise unhealthy? Are you overly devastated by criticism? Are you overcommitted to doing things God never asked you to do, but someone else did? Do you pretend to be someone you are not when certain people are looking? Do you fear their rejection, criticism, disappointment, hatred, or conflict? Does the fear in your mind manifest itself in anxiety in your body? Does it show up in mood swings, a nervous twitch, weight changes, suicidal thoughts, sleeplessness, depression, aggressive driving, panic attacks, high blood pressure, or something equally unhealthy? Are you prone to act out or to self-medicate with such things as food, alcohol, or drugs? Fear is vision without hope, and it turns us into false prophets seeing only a bleak and dreaded future. Fear is about not getting what we want and losing it, or getting what we don’t want and keeping it. The answer to fear of man is love and worship God alone. Rather than having an unhealthy fear of man, the Bible commands us to have a healthy respect for of Jesus, meaning we care more about what he says than what others say and we endure whatever we have to, knowing that he will reward us for being faithful. 

Every Christian ultimately works for Jesus. Jesus’ estimation of your life and works is all that will count in the end. Given that, we’re to work hard and honestly for Jesus, not just when others are looking, but all the time because Jesus is always looking. And we can rest assured that if we work in this way for the Lord, he will reward us in this life and the life to come, so we are not wasting our lives, but rather investing them for a reward. That’s a promise! Don’t put a fish or a cross on your stationary if the letter your life is writing is contradicting the Christian faith! Don’t put a “Honk, If You Love Jesus” bumper sticker on your car if you drive with a constant case of road rage! People will know if you are a Christian not so much by your wardrobe but by the way you worship the Lord with your work habits because you are a Godpleaser! You have learned to work hard for the one who worked it all out for you!

 I can assure you that I have never woke up in the morning with my goal being how to raise havoc and chaos in the lives of my children. Still craziness happens and bad parenting habits are formed and then to add insult to injury, we pass this stuff on through the generations and before you know it, we are facing an unhealthy family cycle that needs to be broken. Eventually someone has to be humble, brave and courageous enough to admit that they were wrong and they need help because they can’t do it on their own! Parenting was never meant for the thin skinned, weak at heart kind of individual.

 I have 4 Children. My son Rudy is 30 and married to Lindsey and because of their union; I am now a happy Pop-Pop to three beautiful grandchildren. My daughter Leah is 28 and newly married this year to Pastor Jeff. Leah teaches Kindergarten in Dennis Township. My daughter Abbie is 25 and pursuing a degree in social work when she is not singing and my youngest son Joel will turn 13 this summer. He is our one more teenager to go and keeps my wife and me young! I am not speaking here as a “know it all” because many times as Sgt. Schultz of Hogan’s Heroes fame would say, “I know nothing!” But this much I do know this and I have applied it to my parenting and that is I must be intentional and fully engaged, ready to offer my very best in order to properly nurture my children on to true growth! I need to create a hunger and thirst in them for faith, integrity and all kinds of positive living from infancy right through their launch into adulthood. I believe this is what God has challenged all of us who are parents to do!

What is the best way to create thirst? The same way you stir an appetite and it goes way beyond just reading a menu. Imagine going out with friends who want to go get something to eat, but you aren’t all that hungry. You go to the restaurant with them anyway, where they order big hamburgers, fries, and shakes. When the food arrives, it smells so good. So you ask, “Mind if I have one of those fries?” The next thing you know, you’ve ordered your own meal. What happened? Their food came. You smelled it. You tasted it. And then you wanted your own. In the same way, the best thing we can do to create a hunger and thirst for Jesus Christ in others is to live it ourselves. It is to be what God has called us to be so we can help our kids do the same. We must be willing to model following the Lord before our family and then teach it to them and in doing so; it will create a thirst in them as well.

 Contrary to what they might believe, our kids don’t know everything! God has placed you as parents in authority over them as his gift!  Children need protection, provision and a safe place to learn life’s principles. We are the ones who love them enough to promote a godly path and a Christ-like pattern for them to participate in! And we also have to put an emphasis on respect. If there is a characteristic missing in our society today, it is knowing and showing honor to elders. The other day while I was coaching baseball practice, one of the kids on our team referred to me as “Rudy” and I immediately said, “Excuse me?” I am not a fan of children calling adults by their first name. So I said with kindness but firmness, “Call me Coach Rudy, Pastor Rudy or Mr. Sheptock but don’t call me Rudy again. It is a matter of respect!

There are two things which cause rebellion in children. The two things which provoke a child ultimately to rebel against his parents are indulgence and harshness. During the last 50 years, we have witnessed Dads portrayed from “Father Knows Best” to all Pops on television are idiots!  We have also gone from great discipline in the home to extreme indulgence.  Many parents give children everything they want and always let them have their own way. Adults are afraid of saying, “No” to their children. The lack of discipline will make a child insecure, miserable, and self-centered. It is what we call “a spoiled child,” one who grows up to expect to have his way in everything and who rides rough-shod over the feelings of everyone else.

 Parents must learn that in the early years of childhood, they are needed to make almost all the decisions. One of the terribly tragic things about life today is the degree to which many parents let children make decisions they are totally incapable of making. There was a Christian father and his little three-year-old daughter. The little girl was watching the television set. She had turned on a murder mystery. The father saw what she was watching and he stood at the set, and said to her, “Now, dear, you don’t want to watch this, do you?” She nodded her head, “Yes I do!” He said, “But I don’t think this is good for you. Don’t you think you’d better turn it off?” “No.” “Well,” he said, “you ought to turn it off. This is not the kind of thing you should watch.” But she shook her head again indicating she wanted to watch it. He stood there for three or four minutes, pleading with her, and since she would not give her consent, he finally let her watch the program. A three-year-old child is totally incapable of making that kind of moral decision. Though it need not have been made with harshness, the decision should have been made with firmness that the child was not to watch that program. It was no wonder that the child was a bundle of frustrations, striking out against everyone, for she had no security. A lack of proper discipline, more than anything else, will create insecurity in a child. The child without discipline feels unwanted and terribly unhappy.                             

The other extreme which provokes a child to revolt is harshness. Treating children like an army recruit and demanding behavior from your kids but never accompanying it with love, concern, or understanding leads to conditional allegiance. If you want real relationship, you must offer unconditional love. Rigid, military discipline which says, “Do this, or this, or else,” will inevitably drive a child to revolt as he comes to adolescence. This is why the law of God shoved down the throat of someone without the love of God leaves a person empty and wanting. This is why we must work hard to provide an atmosphere of love within the home. This means spending time with your children until they know you and you know them.

 May God help us to raise our children in the light of the truth. Fathers, are you a good Dad? Are you a godly Dad? Are you taking responsibility to love your family as Jesus does? Would your children consider you a burden or a blessing? Is your wife glad or grieved to have you? Do you want your sons to be a man like you are? Do you desire your daughters to marry a man like you are? Will you step up and ask, “Lord make me your man, the man that you want me to be?” Are you willing to ask forgiveness for the past and fresh wind of the Spirit for the present? If you are, then let’s keep doing our best all in the family!

I teach a weekly Bible Study at The Lighthouse Church from 2:30-3:30pm on Tuesday afternoon’s going verse by verse through the Book of Revelation. In the craziness of our days when the political climate of our Country resembles something close to a bad joke, I thought it was a good time to once again be reminded that there is never a time when God doesn’t still have it all in control. God has told us ahead of time that he will allow the free will of mankind to continue to make selfish choices. With every move of bad behavior also come the many consequences that result in a culture that has lost its moral compass! Still we Believers have graciously been given the blessed hope that when it is all said and done, those who trust in the Lord will overcome.

The times might have changed but truth still remains the same. And I shake my head when I think about those brave men and women of the Greatest Generation who fought so valiantly for America and for our Country’s freedom in World War II, if they could only see how far we have wandered off course in such a short period of time. I believe the more society tries to edit God from daily life, the closer we get to setting the stage for the things to come spelled out for all of us in the last book of the Bible.

When I first dedicated my heart to Jesus Christ back in April of 1975, I was immediately excited about the reality that our Lord would someday come back again. I was so new in the faith but every time I saw the clouds form a majestic masterpiece in the sky, I would wonder- is Jesus right behind them ready to burst on the scene again? I would sing the Gaither classic, “The King is Coming” almost daily. It has been 41 years since those times of raw innocence and intense passion, but this much I do know. We are a whole lot closer to the Second Coming today than we ere back then! I was ready then. Are you ready now?

Christians should never take the coming again of Jesus for granted or treat it as an afterthought. Early Believers would greet each other with the phrase, “Maranatha” which means he is coming! Even the Apostle Paul shared that for him to live is to be shining his light bright but to die would be so much better. As the old song says, “Everybody wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to die!” I can assure you that if heaven called my name today, it wouldn’t have to do so twice! I love my wife, my children, my church and my life- but I love God and can’t wait to finally be rounding 3^rd and heading across home plate for good! In my favorite sport of baseball, there is nothing worse than to be stranded at 3^rd Base. A triple doesn’t get you safely home! My life means nothing to me if it doesn‘t finally conclude in the arms of my Savior! So I have my eyes on the prize until it is all said and done.

I heard a great story the other day that reminded me of how we need to be longing for the return of our Lord. It was told by the former President of Moody Bible College, Joe Stowell. He shared this illustration that was given to him by a friend of his named Bud Wood who founded Shepherds Home in Wisconsin for boys and girls with developmental disabilities. The original ministry opened its doors in 1964 to 36 children, providing them a loving residential environment and a school that would focus on their unique needs, helping them to reach their potential. Most importantly, this ministry started with a primary goal of sharing God’s love with the residents and encouraging them toward a personal and growing walk with Jesus. Many of those original residents, now adults, still reside at Shepherds. The home, now known as Shepherds Ministries, has grown to include vocational training and a variety of other ministries all clustered around that central passion for delivering and living out the gospel.

One day Bud asked, “Hey, Joe, do you know what our biggest maintenance problem at Shepherds is?” “I have no idea,” Joe replied. “It is dirty windows! Our kids constantly press their hands and faces against the windows because they’re looking to the sky to see if today might be the day that Jesus will return for them and take them to His home where they will be healed and complete.”

Isn’t that awesome? Talk about having your priorities in the right place. One of the hallmarks of a committed follower of Jesus is a longing for His return. That longing and expectation will change our priorities as well. It will make us think a whole lot less about how to live a happy little life and a whole lot more about using every day to bring honor and glory to God. It should shift our attention away from selfishness and the accumulation of earthbound possessions and point us toward investment in that which is eternally significant. It keeps us from getting overwhelmed by our anxieties and the weight of this life’s difficulties, reminding us each day that something better awaits us. No matter what has happened until this day, for Christians, the best is always yet to come. What window are you smudging today? The one from the Department Store or the one that gives us a glimpse of what awaits us on the other side of this journey?  You may have decorated your windows with earthly trimmings but have you gone to them recently to see if Jesus is coming back again for you? Go ahead, smudge up a window or two! Life will be wonderfully different if you keep your eyes to the sky!

Last week I had the privilege of sharing at the Good Friday Service held at The First United Methodist Church of Cape May Court House pastored by Ted Osler. Seven different Ministers shared a devotional based upon the seven last words of Jesus from the cross. I was given the assignment of the fourth word which comes from the Gospel of Mark. It reads, “At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ (which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

 Up to this point, the narrative of the crucifixion has focused mostly on the physical sufferings of Jesus: the flogging, the crown of thorns, and his immense suffering on the cross. Six hours have now passed since the nails were driven into our Lord’s hands and feet. The crowds have jeered, and don’t miss this key phrase: “Darkness has covered the land.” Now we know from the Scriptures: “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). And now suddenly, the Father and the Son are in a moment when they knew they had to face our sin head on. This wasn’t just one sin or one person’s sin or one nation’s sin or one era’s sin! This was all of the sin of all mankind for all time! This was undeniably earth’s darkest moment when here resembled hell more than heaven. This was the moment that Jesus took on the darkness of sin head on, for all of us or else we would be stuck in a midnight mode forever. What is referred to as “The Dark Night of the Soul” wouldn’t just last a season but it would have been the standing we would be stuck in for all eternity!

 But now when the Light of God got stuck in the darkness of “Man’s Depravity” times a zillion, out of the depths of the soul of the Son of God comes this anguished cry from the experience of the God Man. Using the Scriptures as the best commentary for other Scripture, we discover in Hebrews 5:7-8: “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered.” Here is one of those times. Whereas the Son of God is seen also as the Son of Man, fully God but also very human at the same time and knowing that nobody thrives in the dark, Jesus cries out to His Father in an Aramaic-tinged quotation from Psalm 22 and although Matthew and Mark both offer a translation for the benefit of Gentile readers, they clearly want us to hear the exact words that Jesus spoke.

 At his lowest point on this planet, the one who is the Word instinctively quoted the Word and from the Psalms, he expresses the anguish, the horror, the loneliness not now of his body, but of his tortured soul. If one man’s sin can literally drive a man or woman insane, what could the sin of all mankind do to the human side of anyone?

 Have you ever uttered the Words; “God where are you? You have abandoned me! You have left me to fend on my own!” And when are those words most likely to be uttered by your lips? Surely not when everything is sunny and rosy and happy but when you get stuck in the dark!  Now we know from Scripture intellectually speaking that God will never leave us or forsake us! Both Testaments give testimony to that truth in Deuteronomy 31:6 and Hebrews 13:5. Yet has that ever stopped you from asking the question in the midst of your distress, “God where are you?” We know from Scripture that this verse cannot mean that the eternal communion between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit was broken. God could not and would not cease to be triune. Neither could it mean that the Father ceased to love the Son: especially not here, and not now! Nor again could it mean that the Holy Spirit had ceased to minister to the Son. He had come down upon him at his baptism not merely for one fleeting moment, but to remain on him (John 1:32) and he would be there to the very last as the eternal Spirit through whom the Son offered himself to God (Hebrews 9:14). But if ever there was given encouragement to us that as human beings it is that we don’t have to pretend to be happy and we don’t have to fake it when we are facing the intense darkness that living life will throw at us! If Jesus wasn’t exempt from the darkness, what makes us think we get a free pass to just skip the hard times of trial, suffering, persecution and pain?

 Look again at the statement of Jesus because even in the darkness God was, “My God,” and even when there was no visible sign of the Father’s presence and even when the personal pain obscured the precious promises, somewhere in the depths of the Savior’s soul there remained the assurance that even in the hell; Heaven was still holding him. The crowd had not stopped jeering. The demons had not stopped taunting. The pain had not abated. And as the Son sacrificed his perfect and sinless life, this time, no word came from heaven to remind him that he was God’s Son. No proclamation of assurance was given that Jesus was greatly loved. No dove came down to assure him of the Spirit’s presence and ministry. No angel came to strengthen him. No redeemed sinner bowed to thank him. And yet, even in that cry of degradation as this word from the cross is often called, Jesus makes it clear that when he feels nothing, he still calls God, His God! Jesus makes it clear where his trust is. Even when God felt a million miles away and darkness seemed to envelop the Savior, Jesus sang a song of praise. Our only hope is that even when we can’t feel squat, God still hangs on to us. No matter what, Jesus is saying that even when I can’t sense you as my Abba, or Daddy, you are still my Elohim; my God! 

 Public though the cry from the cross was, it expressed the intensely private anguish of a tension between the sin-bearing Son and his heavenly Father. And now Jesus tastes it in all its bitterness and the reality is infinitely worse than the prospect. Jesus’s mind is near the limits of its human endurance. We, sitting in the gallery of history, are sure of the outcome. He, suffering in human nature the fury of hell, is in the fire. He is standing where none has stood before or since. But in knowing the outcome of this the true Gospel story; we are assured that even when God seems a zillion miles away; Jesus did not surrender to the surrounding circumstances and neither should we. This means that we can vent our cries from the depths of a broken and battered heart. As a matter of fact, it is usually in those times that Christians have the greatest weapons at their disposal; we have access to the Throne of God! Soon I will begin my 20^th year of pastoring the Lighthouse Church in Cape May County and I would be a phony if you thought that I didn’t have my bouts with dark times of depression and discouragement. The last few years of having my physical body betray what my soul and spirit still want to do have brought on many an interesting conversation between me and my Heavenly Father. I guarantee that if you overheard me, you might think I was ready to lose my faith and chuck it all away and yet God knows that in the times that I thought that he dumped me, he was actually teaching me that the true song of life is not found in the container but in the contents that still overflow in my soul and yours too!

 Just because things aren’t going right in your life doesn’t mean God has left you on your own!  We will finish the race and complete the course that God has called us heavenward to and because Jesus ran first, we can count on this to be true even when we feel dead last! Rest in this simple truth that those who trust in him will never be disappointed in this life or in the life to come.

We live in a day when we want instant success and immediate victory. We think we deserve the trophy before taking and passing the test. We desire the accolades without ever actually having to put on and wear the armor. We all want to go to heaven but nobody really wants to die. Oh if it were only that easy for Jesus. What if he could have just fast forwarded himself to the empty tomb without having to suffer the excruciating pain and shame of the cross? But it doesn’t take long for one to learn that if you want to participate in Easter, you can’t skip over Good Friday. You have to start in Gethsemane to get to Golgotha if you ever long to wake up in a graveyard without a corpse.

 Our salvation might be free but it doesn’t come cheap. Grace and mercy were purchased to be packaged as a present to us here on earth from God up above but it was all made possible only because Jesus was willing to pay the greatest of prices to offer the most treasured of sacrifices. The Lord laid his life down so we would have one to pick up. If Jesus wasn’t willing to bleed then we could have never been freed from the chains of sin and death. But because the Lamb of God was compelled by love and took our beating- we hopeless sheep discovered comfort and joy in the Shepherd’s arms. But I never want to forget that it wasn’t a cross of gold that won my soul but a bloody wooden one that mixed with splinter and skin purchased my redemption from the prison that could no longer claim me as one of its own.

 Maybe forgiveness doesn’t mean what it should because you have never invested your heart. It is one thing to consider love from a purely intellectual standpoint and a whole other ballgame when you engage in reconciliation from the depth of your broken and unjustly mistreated soul. Most of us respond positively when another drops charges against us or decides to not hold a grudge when it might well be within pure reason to do so. But when we ourselves have been wronged, it is not that easy to come back by responding with a right. Yet studies show that if somebody has experienced for themselves personally the power of unconditional love, they are more apt to spill over what they were filled with.

 Easter is not about religion at all. All ceremony can do is focus in upon how inadequate we are to be godly in our dealings or able to keep the commands on our own. We must receive something of significance first if we ever want to be able to pass more than just ritual and routine along. All my life I had heard about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Every year I would practically live in the church during holy week. I wanted to feel something. I longed to be engaged but it never went beyond my brain to my gut. Then I finally heard the gospel. It was about God loving me when I had nothing to offer him at all. It centered on Jesus doing what he did not out of duty but because of pure devotion to the Father’s plan to redeem the human race. Jesus loved not just the world but also me. He knew me inside and out and still invited me to join his family. When those nails were driven in his hands and his feet on that tree in Calvary, he took that hit for me and if I would just humble myself and believe in him, I could have everlasting life at the moment of conversion. My salvation was a free gift from God but that doesn’t mean I just grabbed the package and hurried out the back door on my merry way. No! If Jesus was willing to go the distance for me, I knew that I had no other higher purpose than to give my life to following him.

 You can’t have deep communion in a moment or two. You can’t know somebody without investing the best of your attention. You can’t claim to be a Christian if you have no intention of listening to and obeying Jesus. Without a full commitment on your part, how else can there be true communion between you and God? Can you get in physical shape by avoiding exercise? Can you learn to play a new instrument without practice? Can you speak a foreign language without study? Can you love the Lord the way he loves you without spending some quality time together? Growing up I had spent a lot of time in buildings talking about God but when I came to know Jesus- I now knew how to use my time talking to God and learning from his word how to please him with the daily decisions I made and the steps that I would now forever take with him leading the way.

 The empty tomb was not the destination but the launching pad. Easter is not the end of the road but the beginning of a new journey. This week shouldn’t be about just coming back to church to check in, but the start of living the dream by practically jumping in and becoming an active participant in the body of Christ by daily walking with Jesus. God is not the last resort but your first move. If you dedicate your heart to follow him, I guarantee the trajectory of your story will begin to change for the better. I am not saying it will be easier because a life of faith never is. But I am promising that your relationships will grow in passion; your days will exude a clear purpose and your spiritual walk will demonstrate heavenly power right here on earth.

 Jesus didn’t do what he did so we could eat candy, eat ham with family and pray for spring. He wanted us to know that there is more to this life than making money, having fun and trying to escape the fray with the least amount of bruises necessary. When hearts are allowed to come out of their protective shells, you can be sure there will be damage done. Since I gave my life to the Lord, my heart has taken more beatings than some of our Eagle’s Quarterbacks have in the last few seasons- still I know that I am fully alive. You won’t be able to judge it by the amount of possessions gained or by a series of successful ventures. As a matter of fact, there have been months along the way in my pilgrimage when God seemed rather absent and the storm flooding looked like it was about to submerge my soul and then- right when I believed I was about to drown in my sorrows- my Savior saved my day! And what I am trying to say is that maybe the most loving symbol of the Easter Season are the scars that remain on the hands and feet of my Lord.

So if you are longing for an easy ride to Paradise, maybe Christianity is not for you. But if you, like I, have come to the realization that this world has nothing lasting and authentic to satisfy the yearning, hunger and thirst in your weary spirit then Jesus has a ticket to ride with your name on it. Yes- the tale will conclude in the celebration of an empty tomb, but there may still be those intense times of crying out in prayer marked by blood, sweat and tears along the way and there may even be your own cross to bear that will inflict a scar or two in spots that you won’t be able to ignore. But if you want to be there for the party, you can’t escape all the pain. Real life just doesn’t work that way. It never was meant to be that simple. It was always meant to be extraordinary! Amazing grace makes it all a reality. Your answer to God’s invitation will make it real for you! It has been oh so real to me! Happy Resurrection Day! 

The word “submit” has become a hot potato in our present day culture that’s for sure, but it is not a swear word! And when surrender is understood properly, it actually becomes a godly act! Let me ask some hard questions: Are you a submissive person when it comes to respecting godly leadership? And as a Christian, are you submitting daily to Jesus as your Lord in every area of your life? Also as a believer, are you submitting yourself regularly to any specific brothers and sisters in Christ? If I asked you right now, could you actually name two or three individuals that you have given full access of your private life to; including the right to speak the whole truth to you no matter how hard it might be to handle?

I can’t tell you how many so called Pastors, Leaders and Teachers there are that have shut themselves off from any accountability. They are not teachable in any way, shape or form and when they are forced to face the truth, rather than humble themselves and receive the teaching, they flee! What is worse yet is when I hear these people boldly spout off how committed they are to God and God alone. The contradiction is plain though when one reads the Scriptures that command us to be submitted to one another in the family of God. If you don’t allow the privilege of another spiritual man or woman to be able to challenge you, don’t expect to grow at the pace that God would have hoped you could experience.

Do you pray for God to use you to practically meet the needs in others? Are you willing to serve others even if it might mean participating in what you would deem doing menial tasks? Nik Wallenda walked across Niagara Falls on a high wire in 2012 and became the first man to walk across the Grand Canyon in 2013. Nik is a strong Christian and has a unique way of actively handling pride. He literally spends hours cleaning up garbage left behind by his fans. Nik says: “Three hours of cleaning up debris is good for my soul.              Humility does not come naturally for me. So if I have to force myself into situations that are humbling, so be it.  I do it because it’s a way to keep from tripping. As a follower of Jesus, I see Him washing the feet of others. I do it because if I don’t serve others, I’ll be serving nothing but my ego.” How about you? Are you too proud to scrub a toilet in Jesus Name?

If you are truly filled with the Holy Spirit, your relationships should be marked by a joyful submission to others that flows out of your committed connection to Jesus Christ. Now in discussing this topic of submission, Christians and Churches run the risk of being misquoted, misunderstood and vilified as monsters in all the mayhem! Contrary to what some old time religion Bible thumpers may shout- none of these verses give any man permission to treat their wives as slaves and servants as they order them around as if these guys were the Grand Poohbah of the Water Buffaloes of Bedrock! If as a male you conclude that you’re your definition of “submission” means acting like Jabba the Hut or General Patton or the proverbial Caveman Joe dragging his woman by the ponytale, you best stop and think again. These applications only come from insecure and disordered men who have perverted God’s Word to stroke their own ego! The big idea of proper submission is not that it is driven by power; but by love. God’s agape love is the love of a heavenly kind that can be shared on earth when we allow ourselves to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. It is the same unconditional love that was shared and modeled by Jesus when he walked this planet some 2000 years ago. The New Testament reminds us that the path to true fulfillment means taking actual steps in pursuing opportunities to serve one another like Jesus would!

This is why it is essential that as disciples of Jesus we must walk by faith and not by sight so we can keep our priorities straight! Because if you don’t intentionally keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, it is way too easy to lose Him in the crowd and when you do, before you know it, you have opened the door to your pride pummeling any chance of positive community! As Christians, we are not to allow our behavior to be squeezed into the world’s mold in the way we deal with one another! You are not to seek power and leverage over one another. Instead of creating a chain of command, we should be practically looking to foster an environment of servant hood. Instead of trying to grab all the marbles to dominate, we should be giving our best away to incorporate a new philosophy to live by. We should be part of building a healthy environment where every individual has equal value. The example for us is in The Trinity. Too many people falsely assume that the Father is the CEO, Jesus is the Field General and the Holy Spirit is the Gopher. But God is in a perfect and equal relationship within the Trinity. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit have always shared a closeness and intimacy that we humans can only dream of! We long for intimacy and relationship because we were made in the image of a Godhead who has just that! As a man of God once said, “God does not need the Creation in order to have someone to love because within Himself love already thrives!” Real Love creates a generous environment of unconditional value. We were created to desire to share life, not hog it to ourselves and we got that quality from the God who made us!

Christ’s love can’t compel you, if you don’t choose to repel your own ego! One of the great reversals in Christianity is that the more we focus on ourselves, the more disillusioned we become! But the more we forget about ourselves and concentrate on Jesus, the more our lives become meaningful and purposeful. Today’s Churches have too many bosses and not enough Jesus! If Jesus really is running the show then the church should be the most honest and yet the safest and loving place on earth! Is it, and if not, why not?

Is it time to wave our “white flag” of surrender to the Lord? Real worship begins by submission to the Lord! It takes us falling down before the Father and abandoning all of our desires and commitments to Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. If you don’t surrender to God, you won’t submit properly to anyone and it will become the very curse you had hoped would never cross your heart! Miracles are only available to those who give God room! Maybe taking the word of Mother Mary might be the best advice of the day. At the wedding feast in Cana, she made it known in John 2:5 “Do whatever He tells you.” If you really are serious about your desire to commit, it all begins with a decision to submit; first to the Lord and then to one another.