It will make you or break you.

It will toughen you or lay waste to you.

It has to be overcome.
A young man who is dealing with IT at the moment said, “This is not something I am stuck in, it’s something I am going through.”

IT will come….if it has not yet.

IT may have come at you already in many ways, many shapes and forms. 

You may be in the midst and middle of IT, or you may be over IT for a while.

IT will return.

IT……..is HARD.

HARD.
Hard comes in different ways.

Hard can be a relationship.

Hard can come at you as a job.

Hard can be the year you are in school.

Life consists of HARD in several different ways.

It’s good to know that it’s coming because it IS.

As the young man mentioned above heard from his Coach,

“I don’t want to make it hard. It’s just Hard.

The Hard he was referring to was football practice, in August, in the South.

Hot.

Humid.

HARD.

The young man and his teammates heard their Leader say that it has to be hard because Hard will come at some point in the next four to five months, and he wants them to be prepared by already having faced IT down.

He said it plainly….

“You have to OVERCOME HARD.”

At various times and in a multiple of ways, Life is hard.

My family moved to six different cities before I graduated high school.

My father died in 1983. My first marriage ended in 1987. My mother died in 2006.

My brother is dealing with IT at this moment. I do not want that for him. But, HARD came and now it has to be walked out.

Moses. Joseph. David. Solomon. Paul. Jesus.

All of them faced HARD. 

All overcame IT.

In January, the young man mentioned above faced HARD. He was replaced, in what he had earlier been greatly successful at, right in the middle of it.

His replacement succeeded greatly after overcoming a bit of Hard himself.

The young man who was replaced handled the HARD he had been handed …..perfectly.

That young man is still, 

as he said, 

“going through IT”.
School was hard…..at particular times.

Your job is hard, maybe a lot of times.

Marriage is hard…for some a little, for some, a lot.

Dealing with temptation is hard.

Being a Christ-follower can be hard.

Staying in shape is hard. Weight lifting, if you mean it…..is hard. Refusing to eat until you are full, is hard.

Maintaining and developing the body gifted to you is difficult….in the midst of soft chairs, air conditioning, television, refrigerators, microwaves, Alexa, Google, Shipt and remote controls.

So many appliances and conveniences make life easier all the time.

One thing that we need to know, and it’s a gift to be taught this at a young age….

is that no matter how comfortable life may get…

HARD is going to arrive 

and hit you in the mouth at some point.

And to quote Sean Connery, in his final line from, “The Untouchables”…..

“what are you prepared to do about it?”

If you are going to have success on any level,

in any endeavor 

lessons have to be learned.

And before any other lesson. We need to know that

HARD will come.

Jack Nicholson stated  in “A Few Good Men”…..”you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall.”

This comes from one having learned.

You WANT HARD to come.

You NEED HARD to come.

If it does not come soon enough in life you will fail to learn its lessons for when you need the most.

That’s why sports and other disciplines are so good for us early in life. 

They bring us HARD.

And, if we have the best and correct instruction, we will know that HARD is something we must go through to ever be successful, valuable to others, and any good to ourselves.

Only if you have been through IT do you know.

And it is simply stated but difficultly done.

Overcome HARD.

In a world which changes so rapidly, in which the norm today was unthinkable only a few years ago… do you still get amazed at things?

We can get jaded and cynical about many things because of our previous experiences.

I would encourage you to be careful to not get jaded and “evolve” away from seeing many things as amazing.

I might say that I think it a good thing to have a low bar when it comes to your sense of amazement.

In other words,
I hope you get amazed at lots of things.

I do.

On my way to work yesterday I saw the moon, in the early morning sky, on the other side of that same sky than I saw it that previous evening.

I know about the earths rotation.
I have been on this years for several years.

But to see the moon in a different place in the same sky…. is amazing.

Sunrises are amazing on so many days.
Get up early and notice the beauty in the red, orange, fiery sky as the sun rises to bring the Day.

It’s different every day.
That’s amazing.

There have been over 23 thousand
sunrises in my life ….
none are the same.

The waves which crash on the seashore,
the flakes of snow that fall every year,
are each and every one different.

If Man made those things it would our decision to simply duplicate them because of the volume.

But they are not in any way the same.

Consider the Amazing things in your life.

Your gratitude will rise and increase.

Your thankfulness will grow and come more often.

Look around
and NOTICE the beauty
and the amazing occurrences before you which occur with regularity.

I betray my naivety when I say this,

I find flight
amazing and astounding.

I have flown countless times…
but am still amazed when the plane rises into the atmosphere.

Yes, physics and
momentum and force and speed and lift ….all cause the plane to rise even when carrying cargo and people.

But yet a small bird,
with no speed,
no momentum and no force….
can simply step off of a ledge …
and fly.

Amazing.

Maybe it’s a sense of appreciation.
Maybe it’s naïveté.

Lack of sophistication.

Maybe a maintained sense of Innocence.

I hope so.

I enjoy being amazed at large and small things.

There are a plethora of things
at which to be amazed.

My hope for you is that your sense of amazement grows.

I believe it can….

if you take notice of the Amazing
things around you every day ….

which will widen your eyes,

move your mouth into a smile,

and lift your heart.

Amazing.

 

 

 

I read this today….
“Don’t be so quick to dismiss the random thoughts that cross your mind.”

I would equate that to the words…
“Show kindnesses to all because some have entertained Angels unaware.”

What we are led to surmise here is that we should pay attention…. to things,
such as a random thought,
people we are drawn to…
because we just don’t know what good can come from the heed we pay things.

There are times I “hear a voice”,
get a sense of something, or
feel compelled to do something.

I have learned to speak these words at those times….
“Lord, if this is You,
push me in it.
I will do it.
Prosper It.

If it’s not You
and I go forward,
lead me away from it
and subtract any impact.”

 

In my adult life
I have grown to listen for
and then to
the Leading of The Lord.

I have sometimes listened to my own inner voice or other influences…. and made some good but many ill-fated decisions.

Many times I have known they were words and influences I should have turned away from.

 

Let us seek to hear,
to actively listen FOR the Leading
which comes from Scripture
or The Direct Voice of The Lord.

Then,
when we hear it….
may we then listen…. TO It.

Listening TO It can lead us to a resulting activity.

Moses saw something…
paid attention,
turned toward it….
and his world and the life of a nation was changed to the better.

It’s not enough to merely HEAR
what Scripture says,
or what might be told to us.

You can HEAR many loud and soft sounds….you might be hearing several noises at this minute… it does not mean we heed and consider all of them.

 

When you HEAR and then sense that you are being spoken to by God’s Spirit….

Pay Attention.

Ask yourself……

Does it fit and is it consistent with Scripture…??
(This is why it’s good to know Scripture or be familiar with using a Bible)

Does it glorify God and does it further His Work…???

As a reference read 2 Corinthians 10: 3-5…
these words help prioritize thoughts,
deflate disobedience
and instruct us to hold thoughts
under the realm of Right Thinking.

 

Our parents spoke to and instructed us continually when we were under their care and tutelage.

Please know….
we are constantly being spoken to
and led
and influenced
by the One whose care and tutelage
we are forever under.

Listen for it.

Pay attention.

And then,
put feet to It.

Father’s are the doorway for the Family.

If they abdicate their role….their family will suffer.

Abdication for a Father, comes from either laziness, wanting something more than their Family, or childishness.

Father’s are always influential.

Either to the good or to the negative.

A son’s progress toward manhood will be stifled and slowed when a Father fails to invest of himself into his son. If the discipline and “man lessons” are not conveyed to the boy …..he may remain a boy in a grown up body.

He, and other people, will suffer for that.

A daughter who seeks and needs her Father’s love, adoration and affirmation, many times will seek that love, adoration and affirmation from some other man, in some alternate way and many times it’s misdirected.

The culture today, in many corners, emasculates the Man. 

In the face of that, Men need to shed the worry of being labeled and do what their inner voice tells them to do.

Be a Man.

If your role model failed you….find one who will lift you.

Don’t fail the next generation.

Man up….. as so many have done, and say that the failure does not go to the next generation.

Stop the “slouch to Gomorrah”.

Step out.

Step up.

Stretch yourself.

Be the Man that those around you need you to be.

Last Sunday was PENTECOST Sunday.

Imagine 3000 people being saved and baptized after the sermon, as happened on that day when Peter and the others were FILLED and then spoke with that new Presence within them.

As when Jesus fed the five thousand… the numbered were only the men. Many, many more were there, heard, and may have come to follow Him after the meal.

There were many more than 3000 at Jerusalem during the time Peter was preaching. Most likely, many more heard and hopefully came to follow Christ in His Brand New Church.

Momentum itself will lead one to understand that many more came to Salvation on Pentecost Sunday.

The momentum present in a new believer,

and that should be present in all pursuant Christians,

would lead those converts to spread the news and the message they had been touched with and changed by.

I encourage all of us to remember that same energy and momentum ….and remember when we first felt it.

We all can spread that same excitement and Joy, if we feel it.

And know IT.

Like all great and exciting news, many cannot keep it to themselves. They HAVE to tell someone.

Have you shared the most important news in your life?

What IS the most important news in your life?

The well-known magician Penn Jillette has asked the Christian community,….

“If your Christianity is so important and vital to you, why have you not shared that important thing with me?”

One might not approach Jillette because he is a known atheist. He is a winner of a Richard Dawkins award….given to Atheists. He is well-spoken and prepared to defend his position.

We can get prepared and be confident in sharing Christ and defending His Gospel.

Many times the ones we go speak to and share with are not won and converted by the expertise with which we witness….but by the heart and compassion with which we go.

Your effort may or may not not yield immediate results…but may simply “plant the seed” that another one who witnesses will harvest.

Remember, it is not the messenger who wins the lost….it is the message which changes the Soul.

Always remember, the results are not our responsibility.

Our accountability only rests on our obeying the instruction to speak and share what has happened to, and in, us.

PENTECOST was when prepared followers of Christ were filled with Power and that Power compelled them to speak.

They had heard Jesus’ Words and had seen Him do miracles.

You have heard and read Jesus’ Words and may have seen miracles.

Do you seek the same Power they received?

Do not allow any fear of failure or being unable to speak….keep you from seeking what the Disciples  waited on and received 50 days after The Resurrection.

The ability will come if you are willing to share the Power ….share the News….share the Joy.

Some people keep great news to themselves.

Sunday was the 50th day after The Resurrection.

Is the Great Gift

present in us ….

worth sharing?

The Power promised to them came upon the disciples.

They could have kept it a secret….meditated on it.

They could have talked to each other about it inside the walls of the house they were in.

The command their Master gave them as He ascended though was….”Go ye therefore”.

The command, and the Power they received compelled them to leave the room they were in

and go outside.

That command is our instruction as well.

That same Power they received

can be received by us.

May we be compelled to go and tell as they did.’

The results can be similar ….

if our obedience is similar.

Could you have waited this long?

Could you wait 8 or 9 more days?

In this year, 2018, Resurrection Sunday was on April 1st.

Easter.

As I write this, 42 days have come and gone since then.

If we were disciples of Christ’s, or among His very close group of followers, at this time we would be gathered together….as Luke wrote about in Acts.

Gathered together 

Waiting together

Hoping together.
After His Ascension, He told them to gather and wait on The Holy Spirit to come. 

They most likely had no idea how that would occur, they had no idea exactly when this would happen or what it would truly mean to and for them.

They had been changed somewhat after walking with Jesus for 3 years. 

They had been affected greatly by His Trial, Death and Resurrection and continual Appearances to them during His 40 day Affirmation period.

Most likely, Jesus told them many things during those 40 days. He most likely told them some of the things He told them He could not tell them before He died and rose from His temporary death.

I know He spoke encouragement to them.

I know He spoke Affirmation to them.

Even after seeing Him as Transcendant, they still could not acquaint all of this with what they were to do next.
After 3 years of close-up instruction they had no definite plan going forward.

They had heard and seen and walked and talked with THE WORD for over 1,000 days, but had no understanding about their future save that Jesus told them to go and wait and they would receive His Gift of The Spirit.

How close have we been to spiritual events and experiences, great teaching and maybe The Presence of Jesus at times……and not allowed It to change us.
I believe not one knew what was truly to come.

They had no prior experience with any inner presence of Power. They had seen, touched and heard It…but had no further access to It.
This is true in our lives….we can read the words, listen to the sermons, we can see other people do great work …..

but until we have been invaded by this same Spirit they eventually received…we are as they were before It occurred.

Not truly effective or not truly powerful spiritually.

At this point …..

it’s been two days since The Ascension.

As we would, they were hoping HE would simply return. After all…He did say He would.

We know from Scripture that 10 days after The Ascension they were visited by and filled with The Holy Spirit.

They still had 8 more days until that occurred.

Eight more days to wait.

They waited.

They received.

They changed the world.
Would you have remained in that place?

I have thought as to whether or not any followers did indeed give up and  leave the gathering before The Spirit made His Entrance.

Think…..

Don’t be quick to say you WOULD have remained.

I hope I would have.

It is a matter of not getting distracted by things that are not as profound or as eternal as His Voice.

Do we take Him at His Word…???

Do we believe what He says will take place…???

Have you heard His Instruction in some area…only to give up and go on about your way before The Answer made Its Entrance into your situation…???

Waiting.

Is hard.

Goes against our nature.

But it is another, better, higher Nature….

in the Person of The Holy Spirit that we can receive.

Those few that waited…

received….

and we are talking about It today.

Where were you a year ago???

Spiritually. Mentally. Emotionally. Relationally.

Consider where you were one year ago.

One year ago today I entered the hospital.
Feeling as if I had the flu I stayed home a few days. I had a place on my foot which had been rubbed raw …. and addressed it somewhat. However, I tended to it myself as my wife was tending to what I thought was the flu.

After about four days I had not improved…and the raw spot on my foot was infected. I finally showed it to my wife…. and she was not pleased with my keeping it to myself.

She was prompting me to go….and when my temperature climbed to over 101’ …”we” made the decision to go to the hospital.

After swabbing my infected foot…they admitted me quickly.

Staph infection in my blood.

Beginning that night I was “IV’d” continually with antibiotics. The infectious disease doctor came to see me and told me I was my own worst enemy regarding the cause of the infection.

He ordered a procedure to enter through my esophagus to look and see if the staph had gone to my heart. He told me that if that was the case…then my condition was life-threatening.

The test told him that was not the case.

For seven days there were constant IVs injecting antibiotics into my body. On the seventh day two nurses placed a PIC LINE through a vein in my arm which traveled 24” to a spot directly above my heart.

I was released from the hospital, but had antibiotics given me intraveiniously through the PIC LINE for 10 days.

After one other IV about a week later, I have been free of the staph infection.

Where were you one year ago?

I was going through these things because I had an issue I tried to take care of myself.

And failed.

Have you tried to take care of an issue that you might actually be trying to hide …and tend to yourself….???
You might be failing in that…as I did.

We cannot heal ourselves.

I needed the infectious disease doctor.

I needed the hospital.

I needed the antibiotics.

When we are dealing with health issues we need these things.

When the issue is spiritual…we need help in similar ways.

We need the people who know how to treat the issue.

The hospital we need is most likely a body of believers who can get us the attention we need.

The antibiotic we need is The Word of God.

The spiritual or emotional or marital issue you may be dealing with might not be life-threatening… however if these issues go unattended they can greatly negate any health or well being we may aspire to.

If you have a spiritual issue….it can be eternity-threatening.

If you have an emotional or marital issue…well, you know it’s life changing if it’s not addressed.

I encourage you to not hide these issues.

One year ago I hid an issue for a few days and came close to severity.

You hide an issue for too long ….it can end a part of your life.

When we say…”We’ll, I can take care of that”…..we may be entering a dangerous place.

Doctors, Hospitals and Medicines cost money because of the great value ascribed to them.

Ministers, Churches and Scripture cost only the time and effort to pursue them…..and the value ascribed is beyond price.

Well, as we will acknowledge in a week or so…

the price has already been paid.

The blue sky.

The air we breathe.

The regenerative elements in our epidermis after sustaining a cut.

The order in the universe.

The 23.5′ tilt of the axis of the earth and how it perfectly allows for the different seasons we experience and the proper exposure to sunlight.

Sunlight.

The gifts, talents and abilities we all possess in diverse degrees, and how they allow us to advance in life.

Stages of GRACE.

This grace is defined as
“the unmerited favor of God,
as manifested and revealed through the bestowal of blessings,
and the gift of salvation to all”.

Every creature has received a bestowal of blessings.

Through the life we live,
through the conversion of carbon dioxide to oxygen,
through the bending of light through the lens of our eyes,
through the quick change we go through at birth from living in fluid to breathing the prepared air He has given us.

These are all stages of Grace we live and walk and exist in.

My life has been spared three to four times.

The fact that I live in the Age in which I have been blest to live in has probably kept me from being a leper. The skin issues i have dealt with in the past most likely would have led to that.

The staph infection I experienced in 2017 could have gone to my heart and ended my life.

The wreck in which I was involved in 1988, could have taken my life.

There was not an injury to me or anyone else.

You have one or more stories such as that.

The Grace of Provision and Safety at those times preserved us.

There are many religious definitions of Grace.
It can be parsed as many ways as there can be denominations.

At the root of every varying definition is the fact that God,
in His Infinite Mercy has bestowed upon His Creation,

Grace.

This Grace takes all of the shapes we have mentioned here, and more.

God graced each of us with a conscience to be guided by and a mind with which to think and consider.

That gift allows us access to another form of Grace.

Revelation.

Understanding.

Through these gifts of Gods’ Grace we can experience Him……

not merely on a physiological and sensory level….

but in and through a deeper and spiritual relationship.

Before what The Bible calls the “fullness of time”…..
the world and every created being experienced God and His physical and natural gifts.

After that “time” arrived, the world and every human being has been gifted with the
life, words and salvation given us by Christ.

Every human has not heard, nor has every human being accepted….
but every life brought into being, before Him and since,
has been graced with 

His Gift of Forgiveness, 

of Salvation, 

and Redemption.

This initial stage of grace given by Him,

is or can be followed by ascending stages of

experiencing His Presence,

of understanding His revealed Word,

of fulfillment by His Spirit.

The Grace of His Presence brings a peace that His Words say “passes all understanding”.

That compares to knowing what love is or what beauty is….without being able to verbally define your understanding.

Understanding His revealed Word is a gift which comes after a love and a pursuant desire

leads you to look for
and to seek out ALL He has for you.

The fulfillment of His Spirit comes twofold, to me.

It is gifted when we accept His Exercise of life, death, resurrection and the subsequent salvation.

Secondly, it comes in another measure after we pursue Him and desire more of and from Him….
for doing the work he has called and gifted us to do.

From the physiological grace of breath and blood,

to the sensory grace of beauty and nature….

to the Redemptive Grace of Salvation ……

God has allowed us to live in and experience Stages of His Grace.

And, there are more and bigger Stages to come.

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Jesus said many times that,

“The Kingdom of God is at hand”.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines the phrase …”at hand”…as happening or present at the current time.

I have understood that,
in the past few years,
to mean He was telling those who were listening to Him that because He was present with them… The Kingdom of God was present with them.

IT was where HE was.

Wherever He was, IT was there.

The Kingdom was not merely high
up in the Heavens…
it was on the horizontal plane of Earth….
as He was on that horizontal plane of Earth.

When He instructed His Disciples to go and wait in the Upper Room… He was temporarily separating them from the horizontal world ….while awaiting a vertical intervention.

During those few days the Spirit had not come and He was not physically present with them.

The Spirit came to
and into them
and empowered them
to accomplish the work
intended for them to do.

It changed them.

Forever.

It changed the world.

Forever.

The Scripture tells the reader that
The Spirit is God and equal to God.
The Spirit is an equal entity of
The Trinity.

Since The Spirit of God came into the Disciples …..
He has never exited the Earth.

He is still here today.

Because He is here,
The Kingdom of God is here.

Christ’s words are still relevant…
“The Kingdom of God is AT HAND”.

Its not being prepared.

It is not waiting on us in Heaven.

It is present on the horizontal plane of Earth.

Therefore,
may we realize,
acknowledge and
going forward, live accordingly.

Let’s us live as though Christ is among us.

Because He is among us.

Happening and
present at the current time.

If you believe Scripture is true….
then you believe His Spirit is here.
And, consequently that He is here.

If you visually saw Christ
sitting at your table,
walking with you,
heard Him preaching to you from the podium…
would you live differently than you do ???

Would you serve any differently than you do???

He IS sitting at your table.
He IS walking with you.
He IS preaching to you from the podium,
through the person of your Pastor.

His Spirit is here.

He is here.

The Kingdom of God is at hand.