Well we have purchased a house finally!  We have started the renovations on it last week.  Its funny everyone talks about how it would be awesome to be on one of those shows where you just starting whacking stuff and tarring it down. You can take out a little frustration on some projects, but the real truth is that you always find more than you are looking to do.  For example, if you have a whole in your wall what would be the easiest solution?  Of course put a picture over it.  If you decided you didn’t like your current wallpaper what should you do?  Of course put another layer over it to disguise the old one. In renovation you begin to see not only the surface issue but as you dig the root of the problem.  For instance, the floor is not level not because they put down the linoleum wrong, its un-level because the plywood on the foundation of the floor was un-level.

As Christians we are like a renovation project.  We don’t really want to know what the root problem is we mainly just want to look good on the outside.  As I am standing there stripping layers of wallpaper I thought what if we would stood before God and allowed him to remove all the layers.  You know when I removed the wallpaper the wall was horrendous because big chucks of sheet rock had been pulled away. A professional sheet rocker came in and filled all the holes and sanded them.  With a new coat of paint you would never know what shape the walls had been in previously.  We are so scared to be vulnerable to anyone including God. If we would allow God to strip us down we would probably have huge holes where we are carrying pain, sorrow, un-forgiveness, bitterness, regret, but praise God he can fill them with His healing hand.  Just as that room can be restored to its beauty, He can restore us to the way He created us to be. I honestly think sometimes we are just too scared of what we might find that we had rather not look inside ourselves at all.  By doing this we delight the enemy.

Here is the deal it’s not a pretty process.  It can get down right nasty at times, but the results are worth it.  People would come in our house right now and think we have lost our minds, but because we are familiar with the process this part is only a phase.  When we get finished no one will recognize the house.  Isn’t that what we are suppose to be as Christians – a new creature in Christ- the old has passed away?

Psalm 51:1-2, 6-12, ESV Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Isaiah 1:18, ESV Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

 

Have you ever been restless, unsettled?  It can be described as uneasy, lacking stability, worried, unpredictable, and not yet resolved.  I could be described as all the above right now.  Chad and I have flipped houses several times.  The last house we sold was a year ago.  We decided as we looked for another house we would stay in our travel trailer.  We have gotten all types of looks, comments, jokes, you name it we have heard it.  The truth is our family has done very well this past year.  Complete with Santa leaving Christmas presents under the live tree outside, with a campfire! (Santa was pretty awesome!)  Our camper is thirty- five feet long with three slides, with roughly about 300 square feet.  Yes I know some of your closets or bathrooms are probably bigger!  The point is that we love to be outside in nature so it has worked great for us, and cost us practically nothing.


Then everything changed.  We finally found a house with acreage, so we made an offer.  After about six months of dealing with the people we came to an agreement.  We set our close date, and counted it down.  The amazing thing was now the camper seemed so tiny, now it seemed like a pain to get something from storage; we became short with each other, and claustrophobic.  What had changed?  The camper was still the exact same size, but our attitude had changed.  We had not concentrated on the negatives of the camper because it was meeting our basic needs, serving our purpose- storing food, holding clothing, and giving us shelter.  The very minute we let ourselves move into our desire or wants; we immediately became restless and unsatisfied with our environment.


We were suppose to close yesterday and the mortgage company called saying they were missing a paper so we could not close.  I am not going to lie I was beyond mad. It was a horrible scene my kids were crying and I was trying to cancel workers. I just wanted to either hit somebody or cry with my kids.

 The words of Paul began ringing heavy in my ears.  The only true satisfaction comes from being intertwined with the Lord.  Realizing that my situations around me may change, but God never changes. 
Philippians 4:11-13 I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.


He is telling us the only way not to be dissatisfied is by making Christ everything to us.  When we put our hopes on other things such as money, houses, vacations, and cars, what happens when we lose them or never attain them? Disappointment.  I don’t think Paul for a minute is trying to say he did not feel the emotions of disappointment, heartache, or maybe exasperation.  I think he is simply saying those are all part of life, but we do not have to stay there because we are truly satisfied through the one who does not disappoint. 

Isaiah 40 gives us encouragement to find this authentic satisfaction.
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
 The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.  29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.  30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Dear Lord I ask you today to help us see through all the things that distract us, and bid for our attention.  When things build and build binding us and stealing our joy; I pray that you will help us focus on you.  Remind us today, if we have you-we have everything! Amen

We have started our softball league and some days it has been a doozy.  I have a wide array of girls. Some that has played four years, and others who have never played.  Last week I became frustrated at a practice.  I literally would show them exactly what to do and say okay now it’s your turn.  They would turn and do the complete opposite of what I just said.  So we repeated this process over and over.  Although I didn’t expect them to get it exactly right, I wanted to see them mimic a little of what I was showing them. 

I was reminded of this verse from James 1:
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.  26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and

Widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
I am sure God has felt about me, the way I was feeling on the field.  How many times does the Bible model it for us, and yet we still do not get it? I was so frustrated because the girls on the field were not mimicking my instructions, but God convicted me of how many times do I not follow his.   There are lots of things to look at in this verse, but the one that stands out would be how and what we are serving.  In verse twenty-six he speaks of bridling your tongue and religion that is pure and undefiled.  The word religion here is “threskeia” (Greek) and its meaning is not so much the outward ritual ceremony of worship, but the practical worship (service) in your personal life.  So many churches in the Bible got so caught up in the structure of the service, or the building they had neither time nor money for practical service outside the church.   This still proves to be a problem in our modern day churches.  I have seen more arguments, more discussions, more worry over things such as moving the time of an event, changing the style, or heaven forbid the order of service.  So what does this really say about us as Christians?  Does it say we love the Lord so much we can worship him anytime, anywhere or does it say it has to be our way or we won’t worship at all?  Does it say that we are so caught up in the process that we forget the Holy God we are suppose to be worshiping?  Some of you are probably thinking this would never be me.  So let’s just give a hypothetical scenario.  Your church discovered a very large group of people that lived very close to your church.  This community of people didn’t speak English.  The church decides in order to reach these people they would start holding a worship service simultaneously with the current service.  This would take both people and financial resources.  Would you be upset?  Here is another scenario.  Your church decides that instead of holding a Bible school on your campus, they are taking 4 Bible schools out into the community this year.  What would be your reaction?  The point is to understand that doing cannot just be in the church walls, but it has to extend outside the walls.  Our whole purpose is to be doers for Christ so that the lost will know the Lord.  Think about Jesus’ life and what he modeled for us.  Did he go to the temple? Absolutely, but think of all the miracles and the parables he told, where did they take place?  They were on the streets, in people’s homes, at the market, in the mountains.  Basically wherever the lost were, so was Jesus.

I like what William Barclay says:  “This is by no means to say that it is wrong to seek to offer the noblest and the most splendid worship within God's house; but it is to say that all such worship is empty and idle unless it sends a man out to love God by loving his fellow-men and to walk more purely in the tempting ways of the world.” Is our Worship sincere? Does it send us out different, or is it idle and empty, leaving us unchanged and uninspired to do?

 

As I was siting at the beach this week I was playing in the sand with my kids.  You name it we built it.  Big sand castles, moats, forts, army hideouts, and on and on the list goes.  What was so disappointing to my kids was that every time we came back to the beach it was as though we had never been there.  The slate was wiped clean for a new day, giving room for new creativity that was not affected by yesterday.  This reminded me of these two verses.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here. 2 Corinthian’s 5:17

Their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. 1 Corinthian’s 3:13

There was a time in my life I lived by the yesterday’s.  It took me many years to realize that you cannot control everything that happens to you, nor can you live in the past.  For whatever reason sometimes we are dealt a tough hand, and expected to play it out. Although I had gone to church my whole life, and knew all the stories you should know - I was lacking.  I never could really get a handle on the verse that states the old had passed, and was replaced by a new creation in Christ. In essence, I didn't understand Grace.  When I was sitting in the sand this week I was overwhelmed with grateful emotion, as I gazed briefly to the past. For years I wasted so much time worrying about things that were already done.  I didn’t realize Satan was stealing my future everyday little by little.  God wanted me to look ahead to see what I could be in Him, not what I had been without Him.  The fact is just like that sand was fresh every morning; God gives us the same chance with Him everyday.  In Lamentations three it states “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” NIV  The fact that I am a children's minister is proof to me that God can do anything he wants.  He took my life, so unworthy on its on merit to be in that position, and breathed not only new life, but also a new purpose into my heart. When I finally realized what Grace really was, it changed my life forever.  

Maybe you are saved today but you are living a defeated life.  You have never really come to terms that you are free.  Everyday that Satan wraps you with guilt, feelings of unworthiness, shame, regret he steals the peace and joy that is yours in Christ. I ask you today to believe that in all your sin, in all your failures, there is a Savior who not only loves you, but also died to set you free.  Why not celebrate this Easter in complete freedom allowing God to make you all you can be in Him.

I believe today there is someone reading this that needs to know “you are someone worth dying for”.    Today is Good Friday and Jesus hung on the cross for you.  He knew the future and your sin, but still loved you so much that he gave the ultimate sacrifice- his life.  He was buried, but on the third day he rose again.  Do you understand what that means?  He died so you don’t have to worry about the past.  He died to set you free so Satan no longer has a hold on you.  He died so you could be made new.  He died because he loves you unconditionally!   No matter what you have or have not done, you have always been worth it to Jesus!  He loves you and is waiting to wash you with a new life, and a new peace!  As we remember the cross today, I hope you will accept the worth you have always had in your Savior’s eyes.  

Dear Lord I am a sinner and do not deserve your mercy, but because you love me, I receive it.  I believe that you hung on a cross and bled for every sin I have and will commit.  I ask that you forgive me of my sins now and set me on a new path with you.  I ask that you be my light and my guide so I may glorify you.  Amen