pastorrudytlc

Let us say that there is a cat and let us say that there is a dog. They are both blessed to be living under the roof of the very same owner. Their Master is the best possible animal lover that God has ever put upon this planet! Both the cat and the dog sleep in specially made and extra comfortable beds. They eat of the prime cut of gourmet pet cuisine. They are both well groomed and pampered at the animal spa. They visit the veterinarian regularly and their health is impeccable. They are nurtured, cherished, held often and loved upon. They are spoken to with kindness and affection. They are treated as if they were pure gold. They are truly spoiled pets.

But they think quite differently when it comes to their domestic situation. The cat thinks, “I am an amazing creature and it is of no surprise to me that I am showered with such incredible detail. As a matter of fact, my Master is lucky to have a precious animal like me. And that is why I let him share my house and do these wonderful things for me and with me!” The dog on the other hand sees things from the opposite perspective. He thinks, “I have such an amazing and awesome Master. I love getting to be a part of his family and dwell together with him in his home. I want him to always know how grateful I am to serve him! He will never have to ask me to do anything for I want to anticipate how to meet his needs before he even has to ask.”

Do you see the difference? I call this Cat Theology and Dog Theology. I would like to hope that when it comes to our relationship with God, we are more dog than cat in our attitude and approach. But too often, the church of Jesus makes it more about themselves than they do about the Lord! That is a feline way of faith that emphasizes selfishness over selflessness. How are you when it comes to the unending blessings that God lavishes upon us? God loves you. Jesus died for you. The Holy Spirit works through you and actually resides within you. God has given you a new heart and made you a new creation. How do you react to all of this? Well if it is a Miss Kitty mindset, you meow and move on almost expecting what should be received as an undeserved gift of grace.

After all that the Lord has done for us, our focus should be, “How great is our God, sing with me! Look at all he has done for me and still promises to do for me and with me. God has done this so that I might let everyone know how glorious he is and how I can’t live without him. He is generous, compassionate, kind, patient, merciful and loving to me!” This is the essence of a canine creed. A cat will roam around the home as if it was his own personal domain. A dog never enjoys the house unless the Master is there with him. As a matter of fact, when you come home the cat will expect you to change his litter box! The dog will knock you over as he kisses you with ecstatic joy.

Now don’t write me letters about not being a cat lover. I love our cat Jack! He is the absolute best and I love the way he has rid our home of rodents and moles and I always smile at him as he rips the head off of a bird in our yard that he has just successfully stalked. It is just that Jack expects me to do what I do. A dog appreciates whatever bones of blessing that are tossed his direction!

How about you? Do you look to God more for the blessings or are you happy because you are involved in a personal love relationship with the Blesser? Do you adore the gifts or are you just grateful that the Giver knows your name and has promised to supply all of your needs? Tangible items are nice and who doesn’t love to get a present? But the greatest act of love ever showed mankind was when Jesus gave himself fully to us!

Some of you may say, “I have not seen any blessings of which you speak especially from my place in line at the unemployment office or as I sit in my dumpy apartment. I don’t even have a car and I have to ride the bus and when I looked under my seat, all I got was gum and no goodies from heaven.” The greatest gift that God ever gave to us was all of who he is. God gave us God! Isn’t that amazing? A car is nice, but God is better! Health is OK, but God is better! A spouse is appreciated, but to be in union with God is paramount! God gives us God! Will you give him all of yourself?

If you take God at his word that he has blessed you and then you begin to count all the ways that he has bestowed his bountiful benevolence upon you- you are making the kind of noise that will have you barking in sheer delight. But if you are prancing around like you own the universe and act spoiled and demand to be treated like a  prima donna- then meows are more your music! God withholds nothing of what we need from those he loves! He wants us to enjoy trinkets, but we should make sure that he stays our treasure! What are the evidences of God’s grace in your world? How has God been gracious to you? Where has God been gracious to you? What has he provided for you? What has he saved you from? More importantly, what has God saved you to become?

Dogs have been known to travel hundreds of miles just to be reunited with their owner. If a cat is already preoccupied with something more important to him, he won’t even sashay across the room. God deserves our undivided devotion. I want to be there with him and welcome him and walk with him. Dogs are called man’s best friend and I want to be known as God’s best friend. How about you?   

I am writing this article on Valentine’s Day. I admit that I am and always have been a hopeless romantic. I remember singing the Beatles song, “All My Loving” to the cute girl named Jenny that used to put her rug next to mine when we had nap time back in Kindergarten. She hugged and kissed me after my performance! I thought even then that I could get used to this! Fast forward to my Catholic School days in Second Grade when I was yelled at by Sister Margaret Mary for kissing the beautiful Theresa in the parking lot during recess! It was only on her forehead because I was much taller. It was lots more fun than kickball! Then there was the huge Fifth Grade Crush I had on a classmate named Gayle who sadly didn’t even know that I was alive. I would imagine me singing Partridge Family songs to her while walking on the path leading up to our school. I never did get the nerve to sing to her in person. But I never stopped dreaming that one day love would come my way to stay in spite of my severe shyness and low self-esteem!

My courage and confidence would come sometime later while I was in high school. My heart came alive the day that I surrendered my heart fully and wholly to the Author of love. When I fell in love with Jesus, I knew it was a forever thing! Even though I knew that the Lord was wise to everything that I had ever done and thought- God still loved me and wanted me to be with him! I wanted to let the whole world know about this love and how it won’t let us go! The presence of the Holy Spirit in my heart raised the standard of how I would go about communicating love in the days to come!

My wife Terri and I have been married 33 years! I have written her many love songs along the journey and she too has kissed me and made my soul smile! Love is all about commitment and sacrifice and giving and desiring the best for another, before ever thinking of how your own self can be served. Love is not easy and it is far the fantasy that our culture has painted it to be. I choose daily to love my wife in a way that will build her up and let her know what an amazing cherished treasure that she is to me. I also have two adult daughters and I have always prayerfully and carefully wanted them to both know how loved they are, not because of what they did or didn’t do, but simply because they were Leah and Abbie! Love is not about using or abusing a privilege. It is about literally laying down your own flesh so that others can taste and see that life is a gift!

So along I come with my biblical values and moral compass and I hear others tell me that it makes me intolerant and politically incorrect. But I look at the fruit of the seeds of love that God’s grace has allowed me by his mercy to plant and I’ve got to say that the product that I behold is lots healthier than anything the current culture tries to sell me! Sex is at its best within the boundaries of marriage. Living together is no substitute for committing your life to somebody in the eyes of God and making a lasting vow that promises you will not bolt for the door at the first sign of heartache! You have got to have guts and strength to stick it out through better or worse, sickness and in health until death do you part! But in the make believe land of our instant gratification society, we have made lust a national pastime and left the real deal rotting in the dust.

Unless you live under a rock, the buzz in our backwards media this Valentine’s Weekend has been all about this movie based upon the erotica book series, “Fifty Shades of Grey.” The tales glorify and romanticize such self-centered driven violence of men against women that includes bondage, domination and masochism but all in the name of good fun of course. Are you out of your ever loving mind? Hey Fathers, is this the hope that you have for your little girls? Hey Women, have you become so disillusioned with dating that you will settle to become nothing greater than the fleshly object of a twisted man’s every whim and desire? Come on People! We have got to want more than this! Don’t try to sell me on this being art! It is nothing more than horse manure wrapped up in catchy packaging and we have got to hope and pray that our children aspire to greater goals than these!

As for me, I will take the one shade of the color of love that is tried and true! When Jesus died on the cross for you and me, he knew what he was taking on himself. Left to our own devices, men and women both can let their deviant and depraved shades of sinfulness run rampant. But the red blood that flowed for you and me from that cross on Calvary assured anyone who believed that he or she would be washed whiter than snow! No man or woman has to settle to be treated like trash. God rescued us from the refuse and has redeemed us to become what he always intended us to be. God created sex and within the right context it is worth celebrating. Read the Song of Solomon Chapter 4 if you don’t believe me! But sex outside of the lines can become deadly and a weapon and an addiction and a prison. Don’t try to substitute sex for love! Sexuality is one wonderful God given way to express love for another but it isn’t the only way! The ways God says “I Love You” are wonderful clues to the variety of life giving exercises that we can all use a little more practice in! Expand your horizons not by reading and watching smut, but by learning how to give and in giving becoming acquainted with the true color of love.

Let me close with words from the great hymn, ‘At The Cross.” It was there that Jesus taught us all that the color of everlasting love is blood red! But because he gave his life for us, the rainbows or auras that await us are beyond our wildest imagination. But love did not come cheap. It never does! Here are the words of one of the verses:
“Thus might I hide my blushing face- While His dear cross appears-Dissolve my heart in thankfulness- And melt my eyes to tears. At the Cross- At the Cross where I first saw the light-And the burden of my heart rolled away- It was there by faith I received my sight- And now I am happy all the day!”
And that’s a love that nobody needs to be ashamed to see. It’s a shame though so many never will. I want the color of God’s love to be clearly seen in me! How about you?

Back in 1966, the Four Tops hit number 6 on the Billboard Pop Charts with a soulful and passionate rendition of mourning love lost in a song entitled, “Standing In the Shadows of Love.” Levi Stubbs knew that a heart ache with his name on it was looming just around the corner and he also understood that there was not much he could do about it. So in legendary Motown fashion, he and his three mates cried the blues over his woman deciding to break off the relationship.

In the Book of 1 Kings however, the prophet Elijah is crooning a much different tune. He too is standing in the shadows, but instead of it being a place that finds him cruising full speed ahead upon the boulevard of broken dreams- Elijah is safe and sound under the wings of the almighty power of an awesome God. In that heavenly hiding place, the outcome will not end with another heart biting the dust but with the first recorded resurrection in the Holy Scriptures.

I challenge you today to examine your own life to see if you can discover any character traits that actually make you stand head and shoulders above the rest of the mass of humanity that settles to do just enough to get by. What if, rather than taking your resume to the crowds to get your affirmation, you were courageous enough to bring your list to the Lord. You might say to the Lord for example, “Dear God, today I want to make you my definitive standard when it comes to being excellent at my job.” Or what if you prayed: “Lord, please give me a calm and gentle spirit so that I set the temperature in my world and don’t just react to the chaotic heat all around me.”?

I have gotten to the point in my walk with God that I am no longer satisfied to simply call myself a Christian. I want to be known as a genuine servant of God because my life demonstrates the truth that I live what I say that I believe. And rather than always complaining about the gifts that I don’t have, I desire to be content with the gracious presents that my God’s presence has brought me. And when life goes out of control and it will- keep me anchored to the rock that never loses the handle but with only a word can make it all meaningful and lasting.

Either your God is able or he isn’t! Elijah found himself stuck in a world that had turned its attention to an idol named Baal that was as real as purple dinosaurs. A weakling king named Ahab who should have been leading his people towards Jehovah, got sidetracked by a wicked woman named Jezebel and it was all downhill from there. But Elijah believed in the one true God of impossibilities- and not even death could cause him to doubt! God orchestrated it so that Elijah’s pride would be supernaturally cut down to size at a camp called Cherith while unclean ravens fed him and a brook quenched his thirst. After that, rather than a season of sunshine- more testing came and our prophet was divinely shaken and stirred so that his impurities and dross were spiritually melted away in the crucible of a smelting town called Zarephath. Through this intense education, God was equipping our enduring Elijah for the next challenge that was waiting for him just around the corner. An unbelieving widow that God was using in Elijah’s life was about to lose her son and this time the local undertaker was going to be overtaken by faith in a God who can conquer death forever!

How about you? Are you standing in the shadow of God waiting for the heart beats to come? Or are you doing too much dilly and dallying while the precious time in your bottle is about to fall off the table and crack its contents all over the floor of futility?

This is why our daily drive should be dealing with doing nothing short of our due diligence duty. Don’t allow the circumstances to cause you to lose sight of your God given goal and don’t give permission to the fracas to rob you of your faith focus. Humans tend to be good starters but not always faithful finishers. Bring your efforts under the umbrella of God’s invincibility and in the sphere of his coverage make it more about quality and not just excess and sloppy quantity.

Elijah brought the window’s son with him to his upper room. Do you have your place to getaway so you have have some quiet time with God? And on his bed, Elijah prayed and brought life back into the body of a dead boy. In your secret place, will you place the remains of your broken and scarred past, the emptiness of your poor character traits, the habits that have so long controlled you, the limited vision that continues to contain you, the slight irritation that nags or the large one that looms and the anger or the violence or lust or greed or discontentment or selfishness or the ugliness of pride. Lay these things down before the Father and stretch yourself out under His shadow as you ask him to bring about remarkable, even miraculous changes in your life and your world. Lay down upon that which has died so that God may breathe his resurrection power into what needs to come back to life again. And don’t be afraid to ask God for the impossible, especially when it will highlight and bring attention to the Lord you serve.

Remember you are where you are by God’s appointment; you are always in his keeping and never beyond his consistent care. He is training, equipping and preparing you for his assignments carried out in his sweet time. And don’t forget that behind every shadow is the light of the Son of God. And if you choose to submit under the tutelage of his care, no story ends in the cemetery but in the hall of faith and dreams that really do still come true!
Join Pastor Rudy at The Lighthouse Church as he teaches a Study based on Elijah on Wednesday Nights- 6:30-8PM… Come early as a light supper is served before… http://www.tlccma.org

If you are married, may I ask you a question? I know, I already just did- but I want to ask you a question that has to do with your present relationship. I want to ask you which one of you said, “I Love You” first? Was it you or your spouse? And when you finally drummed up enough nerve and courage to pronounce that magical sentence, did you receive a response right away? Now I don’t mean receiving return replies such as, “Of course you do!” or “That’s nice, can you please pass the ketchup!” When we say, “I Love You,” to another- we all want to hear “I Love You” back. There is nothing more uncomfortable than to put yourself out there emotionally only to hear nothing but crickets! If ever there was a moment that silence is far from golden, it is then!

I remember quite vividly the first time I told my wife Terri that I loved her. Now I want you to know that I didn’t pass out that sentence quite easily or often. I weighed heavily the commitment that came along with that declaration of the heart! But I knew I was ready and one magical night when we were all alone, I looked deeply into my then girlfriend’s eyes and exclaimed loaded with my usual passion and enthusiasm, “I love you Theresa!” And then in expectant and nervous anticipation, I waited and waited and waited and did I mention I waited? Nothing! As Terri has done many times through the years as I go about being unpredictable- she just stared at me!

Wow, what was I going to do now? Should I take it back? Would I backtrack and explain that I was just kidding? No, I made the first move and stuck by my guns and expressed my heart even though Terri was not ready to reciprocate! And time marched on. One week came and went and I would say, “I love you” and she would smile. Another week was swept into history and seven more days of the sounds of silence. It took almost a month before Terri finally bounded up to me and after I went to watch one of her basketball games- she grabbed my hand and whispered into my ear, “I love you Rudy!” And believe it or not, I was walking on air and I never thought I could be so free. Flying away on a wing and prayer- who could it truly be now? Terri does love me!

Did you know that in our interaction and relationship with God- he reaches out to us before we ever even consider returning the favor? God doesn’t wait for us to finally come to our senses and go running into his arms to pour out our heart and soul before him. Without pride or hesitation, the Lord lavishes his love upon us in a constant supply that never runs out or sees the well go dry! 1 John 4:19 plainly teaches us that, “We love because he first loved us.” In Romans 5:8 Paul adds that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Our Heavenly Father doesn’t sit around in Glory waiting for us to clean up our act enough so we will eventually show up before him smelling like roses and expounding upon the many ways we are hopelessly devoted to Heaven. He knows that this moment would never occur without his initiating the partnership.

The Father initiated the choice to love us when we were not very attractive! 1 John 3:1 shares “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” The Son of God, Jesus, implemented the possibility for us to get it together by paying the price that we could not pay so that our sins would be forgiven and the gap between us and God demolished! The good news that John shared with us in Chapter 3:16-18 in his gospel informs us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” This love comes alive in our deepest being because the Holy Spirit empowers us to be able to personally taste of this purest unconditional affection and receive it not just academically but practically and eternally. Again Paul instructs us in Romans 5:5 “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” The Father initiates, the Son implements and the Spirit empowers so that we the people can join in the supernatural banqueting table where the banner over our wedding feast is a love that will never let us go. It can all be ours if we will only surrender to the Giver of all good things! God has already communicated his intentions towards us. How will we respond? Will we foolishly refuse to be enveloped in such a manner of grace because our pride prompts us to play hard to get? I hope not!

So look into the eyes of love and learn who you really are! In the eyes of the world, we are always wondering where we stand. Our identity on earth is always up for grabs as today you may be the most popular person in town but tomorrow you may be called a loser just wasting his or her time! But according to the Creator, you have been loved, forgiven, redeemed, transformed, made holy and eternally promised a place in the palm of God’s hands! God hasn’t changed his mind. He is still singing that romantic tune with you as the object of such a tremendous truth. God has already told you how he feels about you! How will you respond? Heaven shouts, “I love you.” What say you?

Today is my daughter Leah’s Birthday. She turns 27 years old right around 2:30 this afternoon. She was born while Terri and I were living and I was pastoring in Dayton, Ohio. It was kind of funny because after waiting so long for our son Rudy to be born in August of 1986, I was not in any hurry to get my wife to the hospital. I remember not even feeling the least bit of panic or worry as I allowed Terri to walk down several flights of stairs from the parking garage to the Admission Office. We got there around 2pm and Leah arrived just as fast! To this day, Terri is still rather ticked at me because she was not there early enough to be given any anesthesia. Leah was born in a natural childbirth that I know Terri would have never signed off on. My lovely wife called me some harsh names during her labor that I still can’t repeat! She even wanted me to put my fingers in her mouth so she could bite down on them! I chose to pass on that request! I did forgive her though, because I know she was under quite a bit of stress and duress. In what seemed as no time at all, we were greeted with our second child and our first daughter. This darling baby had the biggest brown eyes that I had ever seen! As a matter of fact, my first words were, “She looks like a turtle with those huge eyes!” I have to admit that through the years, I have melted more than once when Leah has batted those big brown eyes at me! She knows that she has her Daddy wrapped around her little finger!

Today, Leah is presently serving the Lord by teaching at a Christian School in Santiago of the Dominican Republic. I couldn’t be more proud of her even though I miss her bunches. Of all my children, Leah is wired the most like me. She is passionate about what she believes in and is driven towards excellence- not settling for the status quo. She always goes far above and beyond the norm and at times her perfectionism and propensity to be way too hard on herself keeps her from the true joy that I know God created for her to experience. I wish she knew how beautiful and amazing she is! I pray the same prayer for the many other young ladies out there who constantly compare themselves to the photo shopped cover girls and imaginary models whose images bombard us all the time. This is why I believe it is up to us godly men who just happen to also be husbands and fathers to speak constant words of life and encouragement and truth to our wives and our daughters. If we don’t delight in them and cherish and treasure them as they deserve to be, then what’s going without saying will be left unsaid and that can lead to dangerous results!

I have become quite the fan of young woman named Lauren DeMoss whose Blog is entitled, “thefulltimegirl” and can be found online at thefulltimegirl.com. She writes to gals and guys alike about the importance of committing our hearts to not allowing society and the crowds to define or degrade the image of God within each and every one of us! She recently wrote with a fire in her pen this challenge to men about the role they play in shaping the self-images of women.
“And men, what are you doing? Girls are watching you. They watch what you look at on TV. How are you telling them what path they should choose? Men do not understand the affect they can have on women simply in them standing up for purity, not just in their words but in their actions. They can talk all day about how they want a godly girl, but if they are following and chasing the opposite- what message are they really sending to women? They are really telling them that they will only get attention if they dress disrespectfully to themselves, God, and the world around them. They are telling them they have to be loose and flirty and flaunt themselves to get even the men who claim to be Christians. That is so sad. We desperately need men who will stand up for purity! Where are the men who will have the integrity to fight for purity?”

Both of my adult daughters are still single women because I have told them time and time again that they don’t need to ever settle just so they can be married to just anybody. They don’t need boys who have never been willing to grow up. You won’t secure my “blessing” to betroth my daughters if you are a guy who still looks to his “Mommy” to take care of him so he can play video games and fool around with his buddies. Leah and Abigail need men who will be trustworthy enough to guard their hearts before they can ever just hold on to their hands! I am praying for men who will treat them with high regard and lavish upon them not just jingle and jewelry but compassion, understanding and unconditional acceptance. My daughters are not just prizes to be won like you would win a trophy on the Wildwood Boardwalk. You don’t just make an effort so you can bag them for your booty. They need to be fought for, protected, valued and know that you will never leave them or forsake them. I only have one Leah and one Abbie so they are priceless in my soul and unless you are willing to give your absolute all- don’t even bother applying for the role!

So Happy Birthday Leah! You are sugar and spice and everything nice and you are and always be Daddy’s little girl for always and ever! I am thanking my Heavenly Father for blessing me with a girl like you. I love your fighting spirit and your drive to never just do enough to get by. You are so creative when it comes to your classroom and even more feisty when it comes to your coaching. Kids love you and parents feel safe knowing that you are in charge! I know this is why you have never allowed me to be your Assistant Coach at the Dennis Rec! You might just hurt me if I stood too close to you on the sidelines! I know the miles may separate us today but you will forever be in my heart and in my thoughts and prayers! I wish you lots of opportunities to smile today and hope your basket is overflowing with all of your favorite goodies. I love you and want you to know that my gift to you today are these words on this paper that you can read over and over again if ever you forget how awesome you are! Go for it Leah! Don’t you dare allow fear to keep you from the adventures that God has your name upon! I will be your number one fan cheering the loudest and letting the world know, “That’s My Girl!”

One of the results in a world where social media has become a way of life is that anyone can say anything at any time and gain an audience whether there is any truth to the statements being printed or not. People who have no trustworthy resume or proven character can spout off their thoughts and record their rants just because they have access to a computer. What is missing is accountability. Do you remember when we took English Classes all those years ago learning how to add a bibliography so others could check the reliability of our sources? I laugh when I hear well-meaning individuals using the phrase, “Well, I saw it in the internet,” as their way to back up their outlandish information. The world of cyber space can at times be quite the deadly place if not traveled wisely and with some solid boundaries.
The reason I am sharing this today is because I see too many good people being hurt by the mindless opinions of others. I have never been a fan of those who hide behind their pen. It is so much easier to just sit in judgment and write about someone rather than to be the one who musters up the courage, faith and perseverance to attempt to make a difference in the world we live in. Too often, it is the ones who have the most to say who actually do the least. It is way too comfortable to just throw rocks rather than use those resources to build a cathedral of life and hope. I am tired of the fickle crowds trying to crucify the Christ over and over again! Before you tear another down- ask yourself, what are you doing to try to rectify the situation? If your answer is nothing, then let your speech be the same! This person doesn’t care what you have to say if what you do doesn’t match the sentences you share.
Church Ministry can be a jungle to work in. I love the Lord with all my heart and I honestly do my best to love people, but serving God and sacrificing for others can still end up with you having your heart busted and broken up pretty good. Still I just shake my head when one believer takes pot shots at other believers without even showing the common courtesy of meeting face to face. Have you ever been wrong about another based upon what you heard but everything changed when you finally got to meet that man or woman? Has anyone ever believed rumors about you that were unfounded and not true and if they only took the time to hear your heart you could have set them straight? I know too many wonderful people who have big holes in their souls because of the pounding they have taken from what might be defined as “friendly” fire.
All I know is that I can’t stop the audience from booing. I can’t guarantee that the majority will approve of what I say and do. But I do know this- I am doing something! I get up each day and make it my mission to show others Jesus the very best I can. Some appreciate it while many do not. Still I don’t want to just be a pew sitter or a congregational critic. I want to be in the heat of the action. I know that I am far from perfect and make many mistakes. But a failure is not somebody who gives it their all and fails. A failure is the one who should have and never did a doggone thing!
God didn’t leave us here on earth to just supervise. We have been set apart to make a dent and to do so by not just reciting our creeds but by rehearsing our daily godly deeds! It is time for the church to not just rate the other churches in town but to be the church that God has called that particular local body to be.
I close with a story told by Chuck Swindoll. He writes that during the reign of Oliver Cromwell, the British government began to run low on silver for coins. Lord Cromwell sent his men on an investigation of the local cathedral to see if they could find any precious metal there. After investigating, they reported: “The only silver we could find is the statues of the saints standing in the corners.” The radical soldier and statesman of England replied: “Good! We’ll melt down the saints and put them into circulation!”
The practical goal of authentic Christianity is to be salt in a world that has lost its flavor and light to a place stumbling in its darkness. We are to be on the front lines in the midst of it all and not all lined up in pretty little rows of nice and neat, highly polished, frequently dusted, statues stuck in the corners of elegant cathedrals! It is time to get real! We may feel the heat by circulating through the mainstream of humanity but bringing worth and value down where life transpires in the raw is what it is all about! It’s easy to kid ourselves. We must guard against self-deception. We can begin to consider ourselves martyrs because we are in church on Sunday—really sacrificing by investing a few hours on the “day of rest.” But the real success of our labor is what occurs on Monday or Tuesday and during the rest of the week. That is when we’re “melted down and put into circulation.” That’s when others go for the jugular. “Sunday religion” may seem sufficient, but its weekly weight is in the ways you live! Stay in circulation and your faith won’t go to sleep!!!

Remember when you were a kid and you would confidently advance forward in an area of your passion and right when you started to feel good about yourself, somebody would ask you quite curtly, “Who do you think you are?” That question asked in a sarcastic manner would put us on the defensive or maybe even poke a hole in our momentum and cause us to doubt what we had only known to be true just minutes before.

“Who do you think you are?” How we respond to that question can shape our identity, alter our life choices, and literally affect our legacy! How would you describe yourself? How do you introduce yourself? How do you perceive yourself? Do you have a healthy self-esteem? Do you possess a positive self-image? Are you honest in your assessment of your own potential? What’s your identity? Is who you think you are who you really are? Is who you say you are who God would say you are? Have you ever even thought that the Lord might have an opinion in this matter?

When you know who you are, then you know what to do. If you don’t know who you are, then you don’t know what to do. How would you answer this question: I am “fill in the blank”? I am rich. I am poor. I am young. I am old. I am smart. I’m stupid. I’m loved. I’m hated. I’m single. I’m married. I’m married. I’m divorced. I’m desirable. I’m undesirable. I’m successful. I’m a failure. I have hope. I’m hopeless. Who do you think you are? How do you see yourself? How does your identity alter and affect your destiny? Sometimes your identity can be in total crisis, and conflict, and chaos all at the same time. Do you ever feel that? Chances are very good that you are in for an identity crisis when you allow the crowd to cram its creed into interfering with your true conduct!

We have just begun a study in Ephesians on the weekends at The Lighthouse Church. In this amazing letter, the apostle Paul attempts to show us that if you try to do Christianity without being properly connected to the truth of who God says you really are in Christ-there will be a huge disconnect between what you say you claim to believe and the manner in which you actually behave! And don’t we see that in the church today? Aren’t too many believers known for their constant contradictions and horrible hypocrisy and a lack of backing up the talk with an accurate walk? More often than not, we suffer from the serious lack of spiritual power in our lives because we attempt to do the impossible while stuck in the natural mode!

The Los Angeles Times reported several years ago the story of a man and wife who died in their fifties and they found them dead in their apartment and the autopsy revealed they both died of malnutrition. What was interesting was that when the police found their bodies, which had already begun to decay by the time they were discovered, they searched the apartment and found in the closet a whole pile of little paper bags and they opened the little paper bags and found a total of $40,000. It’s a little ridiculous to die of malnutrition, and have $40,000 in paper bags in your closet.

The book of Ephesians is written to Christians like that. You might ask, “What do you mean? What kind of Christian is like that?” I’ll tell you. It is the kind of Christian who doesn’t understand the riches he or she has in their relationship with Christ. It is the kind of Christian who wanders through life with a whole abundance of heavenly delicacies at their fingertips, but they refuse to reach out and answer the invitation to show up at the banquet feast! This kind of Christian doesn’t know how to tap into the spiritual resources because they don’t take the time to apply what they say they know to be true. And in their sad ignorance, their faith dies of starvation. In their poverty, they never really find out how spiritually rich they could be.

I pray that you would be able to answer the question: “Who am I?” with the proper identity that God provides you with! Who do you think you are should be completed with the truth of all God says about you? Do you know that you were made in the image and likeness of God? Do you know that you don’t have to achieve his blessing, but just receive it? Do you know that God doesn’t make one with more of his image than another? The book of Ephesians is a reminder of what God first told man when he created him in the first place! Sometimes we just need to have our memories refreshed! Maybe that needs to happen every day- several times a day!

During the Depression, banks were only allowing people, in some cases, to withdraw 10% of what they had in the bank at one time. If you try to live a 100% committed Christianity with only 10% of your resources- plan to be in debt to the enemy! God’s bank doesn’t work like that. You can draw out all you want, all the time and never diminish your account. But you don’t know that unless you understand the principles in the book of Ephesians. So you want to get into the book of Ephesians and get it down good. It will absolutely revolutionize your life. And as every life is ignited- so the church catches fire! I pray that we’re going to have a New Year’s Revolution of Faith Alive by the time we’re through with this book. Because of its incredible riches, it will teach you who you are, how rich you are, and how you are to use those riches, for God’s glory.

Don’t live in the dark when God has offered you clear light on the matter. Make sure who you think you are is who God says you are and then go out and reflect that reality so others will know how good God is by seeing how genuine you are! This is no time for guessing games. Take your question to the Lord and you can be secure in the answer that he will give you! Hold on to that truth and protect your heart so that identity theft will be a thing of the past now and forever!
You can join Pastor Rudy at The Lighthouse Church as he teaches from Ephesians on Saturdays at 6PM and Sundays at 9 and 10:45AM. Check out http://www.tlccma.org

I had just seen my buddy Dave this summer. It was June 20th to be exact. He had come down from his home in Neshaminy, Pennsylvania to spend some time with me at The Lighthouse Church. It was the first time I had seen him in a few years. We had been roommates when we both attended Philadelphia College of Bible and graduated together in 1982. He had been to my wedding and I was the best man in his. The Friday that we were recently reunited, we had lunch together at the Star Diner and we both felt so good about catching up. There was no denying that life had thrown its share of curve balls our way through the years, but we still had encouraged one another and were both glad of the way that neither of us had lost our faith along the journey. We also were able to recount many blessings that we were both very grateful for. As a matter of fact, one could say that it was the difficulties in both of our stories that we admitted had actually made our relationship with the Lord more real and relevant than ever before. I have learned that trials either make you better or bitter and much depends upon how you receive them. I can honestly say that I was proud of the way that Dave had stayed positive despite many negative things done to him especially recently. He was definitely a humble and godly man and what you saw was what you got!

On Sunday November 30th, a bomb was detonated upon my heart! After preaching at The Lighthouse and having lunch again at the Star Diner with friends from church, I came home to receive the news that Dave was dead. He had taught Sunday School to the children as he had been doing over these last few years and did not feel well after his last class. He was taken to the Emergency Room of the local hospital where he suffered a massive heart attack and was taken to Heaven almost immediately, His dear wife Jennifer did not get to say, “Goodbye.” In a moment, in a flash- Dave was in the presence of his God and we were all left behind with big chinks of our hearts missing! Talk about being hit head on by a speeding locomotive! I was in a state of numbness and shock.

On Thursday December 4th, which just happened to be my wife Terri and my 32nd wedding anniversary, we went back to the neighborhood in Pennsylvania where we had met to pay our respects and offer our condolences to the family and friends of the man who had been with us on that day in Lebanon, Pennsylvania in 1982! We were now together again in Neshaminy- but this time with tears and brokenness and many questions that we knew were not going to be answered! I broke down when I hugged Dave’s Parents who I had known and hung out with many times back in our younger days. My cry became a wail and I ended up making those unattractive noises that draws attention when you try to stop your sniveling but only make it worse because the dam of emotion had already been busted! Dave was now in Paradise and we were all left here without him. Happy for him because we knew the peace he was experiencing but so sad for us- especially for his wife Jen and sons Nathan and Joshua. Christmas is coming and without a word of warning- Dave would not be here to share it with his family and friends. In a moment, everything changed! Life shows itself to be so fragile and the body proves to be feeble. We all know it in our heads but oh what a sock in the gut it becomes when death comes knocking at your own front door.

Dave had been called to the ministry also, like myself, back in our days of youth. While my calling was to the pastorate, Dave had always had a heart to work with the children. If a man’s legacy may be judged in the way that he treats women and children- Dave was at strong as steel and yet as gentle as they come in all the best ways! Kids just were drawn to him and he had taught many a young person about faith in Jesus. Dave worked with Child evangelism Fellowship for many years but the last two he had found himself employed not at a church but at Citizens Bank wondering if God would ever use him again. I know he was sad that he was not doing what I know brought him so much joy. But God was very much at work with Dave where he was for such a time that he was. At the Memorial Service, three of Dave’s co-workers indicated that they had surrendered their hearts in faith to the Lord Jesus. I looked up and gave Dave the biggest thumbs up and smiled through my red and misty eyes. God had continued to use my friend even when he thought he was not where he was supposed to be. In light of this, maybe the lesson is not so much where we are but who we are while we do what we do. It is not the title that makes the man but the man that defines his testimony! Maybe it is time to stop complaining about who you are not and start allowing God to use who you are! This may be the exact place that God has for you and there may not be a tomorrow to get accomplished what the Lord longs to do through you today!

I found the college photograph that Dave had signed for me at our graduation. His last line to me was, “P.S. I hate goodbyes.” Me too, Dave! Me too! And thanks be to God that because He sent his son at Christmas to love us in a way that nobody else would or could and because Jesus lived the life he lived and died the death he did- and rose from the grave- by grace through faith for those who receive him- well we will never have to say goodbye again. Eternal life is not living forever after you die! Eternal life is living forever even knowing that you will die! And when death knocks on the door- it is only a moving day! I wish you all this Christmas- Jesus! Please open up the room in your heart and receive your king! Let him take you where you could never travel without him! Soon and very soon- I am going to see the King and Dave! I can’t wait!

Early in the history of the Christian Church, God’s people didn’t know exactly the specific month and day of the year that Jesus was born. Their best case guess was the spring time because shepherds would not be out watching their flocks by night in December. But since the believers already had a holy day in March and April of every year that celebrates the resurrection of Christ called Easter- a day that also is coordinated by when Passover is on the calendar- it only made sense to find a season later in the year that we could commemorate the birthday of our Savior!

No, the Bible does not tell us when Jesus was born and no, it doesn’t even command us to celebrate the birth of Jesus- but Scripture does make it clear where and how our Lord came from heaven to earth. And it is only right that if we celebrate our own birthdays- we might as well give Jesus his own party! But at what time of the year should it be?

Well lo and behold; it only took one glimpse at the ancient calendar to discover that the Romans already had their own pagan festival called Saturnalia. If you dissect Saturnalia, you will discover that it really has no substance whatsoever. It is much like most of the world’s parties in our present age- a chance to drink and indulge and do whatever one wants to in order to escape the drabness of everyday life. Saturnalia coincided with the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. It doesn’t take much to give in to the blues at this time of the year. When it gets dark at 3:30 in the afternoon, people become desperate for daylight. So Saturnalia was the provision of artificial happy substitutes that had no other purpose but to make the world go away and help everyone ignore the darkness. The only problem was you can’t rid darkness by engaging in uninhibited deeds of darkness. Saturnalia was a big bust when it came to making better the matters of the heart. Much like our culture’s practice of whooping it up on New Year’s Eve- all the problems and piles of dissatisfaction still remain once the ball drops and the bells and whistles end.

In the 4th Century, Christians decided to take the Winter Solstice captive to Christ. Believers began to dedicate December 25th to observing the birth of the one who was born the Light of the World. Christmas literally means the “Mass” or “Celebration” of the Christ. By keeping the focus on Jesus- the season now had a reason to actually be joyful. By faith in the one that God sent into the world to save his people from their sins, we got lots more than hangovers and social diseases! We were given an identity and a purpose and a brand new heart that featured a fresh renewed start because forgiveness meant God forgot and removed all of our wrongs! Now that’s something to go tell it on the mountain about! But what is both funny and sad is that our society is trying to edit Jesus from the holiday again. It wants to go back to a God free Saturnalia ruckus. But if you are willing to look at Christmas with your eyes wide open- gifts don’t mean that much if you haven’t received the greatest gift God has ever given. If the presents alone were enough to make the day awesome- then why is December 26th the biggest exchange day of the year? If you don’t know Jesus- then you have no hope for life. You can’t get a season to change what only the Savior will!

So please, if you won’t recognize Christ in the celebration- you really have no reason to wish me a Happy Holiday. There is no joy without my Lord. If he didn’t come, then where is this mess going? My faith is anchored in the reality that heaven must invade earth for miracles to happen. Without divine intervention, all we are left with is lots of chaos and noise and debt and darkness. We all need Christmas because that gives us a front row seat to God’s power intervening in man’s predicament! Because that baby came- sins get forgiven and people get purified. Nobodies become somebodies and people get a name. Outcasts get invited in and human lives are extended into eternity. Our disappointments become His appointments and the lost are found and the blind will see and the lame will walk and the dead will rise again! Nobody wins in Saturnalia! The only thing you receive in the Winter Solstice is a couple of hours a day but if you don’t like your life- it won’t do you much good! But Christmas means we have hope and peace and love and life! I don’t know what you are waiting for but I am banking on Christmas! And the Jesus who came some 2000 years ago to Bethlehem will one day come again and this I know- he is coming again for me! Do you have the same assurance? You won’t find that treasure at the mall! You must acknowledge the gift in the manger and in doing that- you discover Christmas!
Join us at The Lighthouse Church this weekend as we welcome special guest Laurie Polich Short who will be sharing from her new book “Faith in the Dark.” We meet Saturday at 6PM and Sunday at 9 and 10:45 AM and learn more at http://www.tlccma.org

“If it snows, I’m not getting married!” Those were the words my bride-to-be Terri told me emphatically some 32 years ago this week! We were married December 4, 1982 in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, a place known for getting lots of pre-Christmas white stuff! Now those of you who really know me, also know how much I love my weather cold, and icy and frosty! I am never a fan of our Cape May County rain events while the rest of the northeast becomes a marshmallow world in the winter! Yet, that day in December all those years ago proved to go my wife’s way and hence I benefited from it also because we were joined together in holy matrimony in the middle of an almost 80 degree Saturday! It was well worth all the out of control perspiration my rented tux absorbed back then! Today the tux may be history, but the girl still makes my palms sweat and my heart skip a beat! And that is a very good thing.

Marriage is not easy by any means. I guess that is why it makes me sad that too many invest so little into the relationship that they once vowed would be their most important earthly union. We all know that we humans tend to take the best gifts in life for granted. Our expectations may never get lower but the efforts that we invest into each other surely does! When was the last time you can honestly say that you went way out of your way just to bring pure joy to your hubby or wife? If it has been years and not days, never mind hours- this is probably why so many couples strike out rather than branch out as the years go by! If your spouse is genuinely going to be the stuff that dreams are made of, then you best be giving it your absolute whole hearted commitment every day that you have each other here while you are wide awake living on this earth!

Terri still looks amazing to me-as young and beautiful as ever- she hasn’t aged a day since that December Saturday when she cried her eyes out as she said her vows knowing she would be stuck with me forever! As a matter of fact, I was with Terri a little while back in the very church that we got married in- the United Methodist Church of Avon Pennsylvania. While milling around at a social there, I heard somebody ask my wife why I didn’t make the trip out with her! Much to this individual’s surprise I just happened to be standing right there! I guess I didn’t look like the 22 year old Rudy any more. I feel like when we got married, I looked like Terri’s husband and now I have come to admit that I look more like her father! But unlike the Captain and Tennille- Love and the Lord has kept us together long after my hair gave out- my heart for my beloved still beats strong.

In a Marriage Class that the two of us have been teaching at The Lighthouse this past semester, I asked the question, “What if we treated our spouse with the intensity that we would do everything we did as if it would be the very last time we got to do it? What if we erred on the side of going overboard with our attention rather than just hoping a crumb falls to each other every now and then? Why did we go from moving heaven and earth to get to be together to hardly even noticing one another as we share everything but our souls together? Living vicariously through the children is not the promise we made at the altar! Providing for our partner to such the degree that our profession would get the best of us before our loved one would see us was never in the original contract! Love doesn’t grow in a garden that is not cared for! Watch out for the weeds and the weasels that want to steal the fruit that was never meant for them!

It may be time for us men to kiss the bride again like we did that first time when we couldn’t wait for our lips to connect and the fireworks to begin! Keep the pecks on the cheek for casual acquaintances and pucker up big time for the one who deserves the power of our passion! I want to sing, “Terri’s Song” like I did when I first was privileged enough to learn the words of the sweet symphony that my wife is! Sure, she doesn’t like the Beatles which I will never be able to comprehend- but that doesn’t mean that my heart still doesn’t go boom when she crosses the room and holds her hand in mine! True love ways are here to stay as long as she knows that she is my soul and my heart’s inspiration! So Theresa, I can’t smile without you and believe it or not, I am still walking on air because I don’t want Jessie’s girl- I love you! Happy Anniversary Wife of my Life! I couldn’t be what I am without you and I thank God that out of all the guys you could have chosen- you picked me!

“Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields and lodge in the villages; 12 let us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love. 13 The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and beside our doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.” Song Of Songs 7:11-13