American Idol

My husband would tell you that I am an American Idol freak. There was a time, when AI first aired, that we would have to leave a restaurant during our entree with doggy bags in hand in order to make it home by the time the show started. While I am not quite as fanatical about it ( I don't leave events early anymore) I still enjoy the show.

I have to admit that I have been a bit confused by the song choices this year. I was excited to see Dolly Parton belt out a gospel Jesus song and I loved that they re-did the "Shout to the Lord" after much audience protest, I am sure. This has been really cool to see on a national show with such a large audience. I am, honestly, kind of confused as to their motivation with song and guest (Dolly) choices. Praise the Lord that this music was aired, but who is behind it??

Is it the same motivation behind the unfortunate song choice of Carly Smithson? On Tuesday night, she sang "Jesus Christ Superstar" from Andrew Lloyd Weber's 1970's famed musical of that same title. If your not familiar with this title, the musical was controversial and the Christian community deemed it as blasphemous. Not familiar? Google it as I would rather not give anymore lip service to the musical directly! (Can you tell that I'm a bit steamed?!)

In on word, if I had to pick just one, the song was IRREVERENT. It takes the name and reputation of Christ in vain. No one seemed to bat an eye by the performance. I batted more than an eye, I was upset and pouted about it for a few days. Well, not really pout, but I mulled over it intensely when I didn't have anything else to focus on. After a few days, I finally had a conversation with the Lord about it. I prayerfully asked Him what He thought about the AI performance and that I hoped it would not go unnoticed by Him. What is so cool is that God held up His side of the conversation with me and led me to a Bible verse answer in Revelation:

He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself...On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORD Revelation 19:12, 16

I felt the Lord telling me that He can take care of Himself in this situation and He doesn't need me fretting over something so small. God is used to people taking His name in vain. But, one day, when He comes back to judge the world, He will bear a name that no one knows. This name will be pure and glorious and not defiled by the sinful world. This bit of a Bible verse gave me a since of power-though not my own power. I felt uplifted that my God doesn't let blasphemy bring Him down. Yes, he does weep over our fallen, sinful world, but that sin doesn't change His Kingly nature in anyway!

As Revelation 19 says, one day the whole earth will proclaim His glory:

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: 'Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!' "

Revelation 19:6-7

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Slow Walkin' at Wal-Mart

"Excuse me, on what aisle might I find the humble pie?"

This is the new characterization of my life right now. I am eight months pregnant and I just can't move as fast as I used to. I find myself in slow motion as I am buying groceries and shamelessly leaning on the grocery cart handle by the time I reach the check out lady.

Insert fork with the bitter taste of that good old humble pie.

Upon swallowing a big bite, I realized that this might be a lesson learned and that the Lord in His infinite wisdom might be using this situation to teach me or show me something about myself that needs to change.

What pride am I dealing with that needs to be countered by the dessert that I am fed these days? Probably the pride of needing to look good all the time. (Boy, I am really spilling my guts today) It doesn't look cool to be leaning on the Wal-Mart cart for support!

Ok, Lord, I get it! I don't need to be focused on what others think. But, instead, my focus must be on what you think and how I am reflecting your glory.

So, as I am writing this, I will take that humble pie as a blessing and be thankful that I have a bundle of joy to deliver in 2 months! Thank you, Lord for redirecting my thoughts back to the great things you do for me.

"Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. 10 All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant" Psalm 25:8-10

How about you? You might not be eating humble pie right now, but maybe its another type of dessert that God is serving up for you. Take it, savor it, learn from it, and do something different! Mmmmm, tastes good when you see the blessing!

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Acts Bible Study-Part 2-BE BOLD

In this look at the book of Acts, I am am finding things about it that I would have never uncovered before. It is cool how God uses His word at different times of our lives and then reveals different things that we need to hear. Lately, I have been doing alot of reading about culture, Pop Culture ,and how Christians can have an impact on the world around us with out being overwhelmed by the culture. This is a complex topic and I prayed that God would give me some examples of how the process of impacting culture was accomplished in the Bible. Well, I found it in the book of Acts with out really meaning to! My original intention was to study obedience and now the Lord is also revealing stuff to me through my new venture of studying culture! I will share what the Lord is speaking to me through the chapters ahead, but I would love to see what He might be teaching you individually as you study this with me~

Let's get going...

Read through Acts 3 (yes, the WHOLE chapter) -we will mainly be focusing on Acts 3:11-26.

As you read, mark in the margin of your Bible any thing you read that seems like Peter and John are making a proclamation. There is no wrong answer here and there are several instances.

Who are they "preaching" to and what is the message?
Peter and John are proclaiming the resurrection of Christ to the Jews. They are also admonishing them for ignoring the prophets and not recognizing Jesus as their Messiah. Basically, they are blaming the Jews for sending Jesus to the cross. But, in the same breath, Peter and John are loudly begging them to repent and await the second coming of Christ.

Would you say that the two apostles are being extremely bold in their preaching? Why?
As witnesses to Christ's life and resurrection, the two apostles were so passionate about their message of the Gospel, they didn't care whose toes they stepped on!


Now move on to Acts 4. (the whole chapter!)

Take a look at Acts 4:1-4

There are two main outcomes of all the noise and bold proclamation of Peter and John-what were the outcomes in these verses?

1) Peter and John got the attention of the Sadducees and the high priest!
2) Five thousand came to believe in Christ because of their boldness!
Do you think Peter and John really cared that they were being incarcerated after seeing all of those people come to follow Christ!?

Verse 8 gives us some insite as to where the gumption came from.
What came over Peter?
The Holy Spirit filled Peter and he was not afraid to proclaim the resurrection to these very powerful and important people. These very people threw him in jail for goodness sakes!
We see over and over again instances where the apostles relied only on the Holy Spirit for power to speak and power to do miracles. They fully understood that they could do nothing to further the Kingdom of Christ on their own.

How often do you try to take matters into your own hands? In retrospect, would it have made things easier if you relied on God and asked for help from the Holy Spirit?

Also, don't miss the role that the Holy Spirit played in our theme of boldness. The two apostles where standing up to the leaders of Jerusalem and unabashedly accusing them of Christ's death. Do you think Peter could have boldly made these claims in his own flesh and power-NO! It is only through the guidance of the Spirit that he was able to have such an impact with his words.

Christians these days-you and I- are still called to BOLDLY proclaim the resurrection of Christ. By doing this, we can be the salt and light of the world around us and make a difference in the culture. This is a enormous task-impacting the culture. But, again, the book of Acts gives us some insight.

Focus in on verse 24-32. What does verse 32 say of the believers?
They were of ONE heart and mind and they were single mindedly focused on Christ and spreading the word. They were also in one heart and mind as they prayed and petitioned the Lord. What a difference we could make in the world if we all could get over our petty differences and focus on the message of the Gospel-this seemed to work so well for all of the believers in Acts. Why can't we do the same today?

Back up in verse 29-30. What did the believers ask of God?
The believers asked for Boldness(yes that word again) and for the Lord to do miraculous works and healing. The reason that they asked God to do wonders was so that people would see tangible evidence of Christ and believe.

LIVE IT OUT application:
BOLDNESS and MIRACLES-this is what we need God to give to us and do through us in this day that we live in. It should be the concern of every Christian to want to make a difference in the world around them for the glory of Christ. Is this your concern? Do you even consider what you could do to impact people around your or circumstances around you? The apostles had a single minded, BOLD focus on proclaiming the gospel. They stuck to the message of the cross and resurrection and let the Holy Spirit work through them. As far as miracles and wonderous works of God, boy do we ever need the Lord's heavenly intervention in the world around us! There are just somethings that we need Him to be BOLD and do amazing things!! Through our BOLDNESS in speaking the truth of Christ, we can LIVE OUT the Kingship of Christ. And, through us and His MIRACLES, Christ the King, will be known through out the earth. Its time for us to step out of our comfort zones and take on the challenge of reclaiming the world around us for the Kingship of Christ! BE BOLD-LIVE IT OUT!!

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Salute of the Tulips

Part of our role as Christians is to recognize God as Creator of the universe and to give Him the credit for the magnificence of the world He formed with His own hands.

Springtime is a wonderful time to do just this. Every year about this time, grass grows green, flowers sprout up from the ground and animals come out of the winter slumber. Beauty comes forth around us in abundance.

I was driving in my neighborhood and stunned by a flower bed of gorgeous , colorful tulips. These flora were all of the primary colors in their brightest hue and were standing straight up as if to salute the Lord. I was moved to applause as I gave recognition and credit to the Lord for His creativity. It would be so easy to give credence to the gardener who skillfully planted this flower bed. But, God deserves all the praise!!

"the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." Isaiah 55:12

LIVE IT OUT:

Take the time this spring to open your eyes to creation around you and give God a shout for joy our and applause of praise for blessing us abundantly with His royal artwork!

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Grayson's photo shoot

(click on the photo for a closer look)

Modern technology is so cool. Today Greg and I got to have a 3D ultrasound-really cool. The doctor said everything is fine and that he is a chunky baby! I am going to have to cut back on the carbs and eat more protein-boo!! Such are the sacrifices of a mother :) Many more to come, I am sure...

So of course this lead me to a thought about Mary, mother of Jesus. She did not have the opportunity to see her unborn child via ultrasound. But, she was just like any other expectant mother, excited about the arrival of the baby. Our God is a creative God and offers us a divine paradox. He sent his Son, our Lord and Savior, to this earth to be fully man AND fully God. Little baby Jesus would have looked similar to Grayson in the picture. He had 10 fingers, 10 toes, dirty diapers, and sweet , baby soft skin. He took on the appearance of all babies born into this world; He looked just like you and me! The difference is that He was also KING of KINGs and LORD of LORDS!

Matthew 1:23 says:
The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"which means, "God with us."

God sent His son to live among us, to save us, and to have a relationship with us. The term "Immanuel-God with us" takes on the meaning of God with us:
-not a God who creates us and then leaves us to fend for ourselves
-He is for us, not against us (Romans 8:31), He only wants the best for us

The gospels give many accounts of Jesus interacting with us as human kind, his creation, disciples, Isrealites, etc.

*Jesus cried in the nighttime, needed diaper changes and nursed His mother's breast just like any other baby
*Jesus walked with us along the dusty country roads of Judea; He nursed blistered feet as He preached, healed an gave hope to the Jews
*Jesus danced and celebrated with us at weddings, hoisting the bride and groom up on the wedding chairs; he also danced with the bride during the Mitzvah dance

Getting back to the Paradox of Jesus as fully man and fully God. There is a difference between us and Him:
**Jesus relates to us as man because he came to earth as a man. This DOES NOT bring Him down in stature.
**Just as He was a man, servant, brother, friend, carpenter, He is still supreme over All of creation.

Jesus was all of the roles listed above but embodied the role of leader, healer, teacher, SAVIOR, GOD, and KING.

LIVE IT OUT application:
read the following verse and think about how you look at Christ in the manner expressed in Isaiah. Do you hold Jesus up to these roles in your life everyday?

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, [a] Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!
Isaiah 9:6


AMEN!

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Admin stuff-Posting a comment

I heard back from some of you all that you were unable to post a comment-this is totally my bad! I didn't have it on the right setting. You are now more than welcome to post a comment. If you don't have a blogger/google account, you can click the anonomous button-but remember to leave your name in the post so I know who you are:)



love,
sarah

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Quick devotion on Psalm 4

I got a hold of some great scripture cards that encourage praying specific scriptures and have been trying to memorize and pray a new scripture daily.

Today's verse:
" Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for Himself; the LORD will hear when I call to Him." Psalm 4:3

This verse is rich with so much meaning and is worth taking the time to look at what some of the words mean in Hebrew. In doing this, I get a tid bit of extra insight into what the writer of the Psalm was meaning when using that particular word. Alot of Hebrew words have deeper definitions than our English translation allows us to read.

The Hebrew for "set apart" means to be distinguished, to deal differently, to make a distinction. This means to me that God made me distinct from others and especially made me different from non believers. He sets apart His own to live godly, holy lives while holding us to a higher standard than the rest of the world. Once we become a follower of Christ, we are still going to mess up, but with the guidance of the Holy Spirit we can live that godly, holy life that is on par with God's standards. This should be our aim everyday...

But, also take note of the fact that the LORD sets apart the godly FOR HIMSELF. He doesn't just pick us out of the crowd, and then sluff us aside to be forgotten. The LORD saves us for HIMSELF,for His pleasure and delight. Boy do I want to live to delight the LORD!

But, how do I actually delight the LORD? This brings me back to the Hebrew meaning of the word, "godly." It means to be merciful, faithful, kind, benevolent, and gracious. This definition does not cover the whole meaning of the word but it gives us an idea of what the LORD is looking for in godliness. Christ lived this example out for us and we can turn to the New Testament for further instruction on godliness.

LIVE IT OUT application:
In the meantime, what are ways that I can be more merciful, kind or gracious to those around me? What are some things I can do today to delight the LORD with my faithfulness? How can I act as one SET APART?

LORD, you are worthy of our praise and worthy of our godly actions. Show me, through your Holy Sprit, how to live my life as one set apart. My goal is to delight you and to also delight and have joy in You.

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