Yesterday  morning I had the opportunity to visit one of our mission outreach partners in the Peoria area--Southside Mission. I was invited to see the various ministries and projects which started from a simple dream of one young lady who saw a need and felt God’s tug on her life to make a difference.

I love it when God tug’s on my heart….reminds me that God is in control and that I am invited to partner with Him in what He is doing in His world. Ministries like Southside Mission bring out the best in people, because they see a BIG VISION, which they feel God has called them to do.

People with vision are fun to be around; they talk in excited and purposeful ways about this project or that success. They share a glimpse of the plan God has given, and they understand their calling. Most are filled with hope, and they understand that they are called to serve and not to be served.

Good news for Crossroads--we are involved with many such ministries. I have had opportunity since coming on board to visit some of them, and I hope to visit all of them soon. I am drawn to people with “Vision;” I suspect you’re the same way.

I remember early in my life picking strawberries all day long so that I could help a visionary friend set up a fruit stand. I never worked so hard in my life, but I remember how much fun it was because I was part of the vision. Vision gives us life. Now this is a great place to quote a famous passage from scripture from Proverbs 29:18.  I love how the “Message” interprets this passage:

If people can’t see what God is doing,
    they stumble all over themselves;
But when they attend to what he reveals,
    they are most blessed.

So do you want to be blessed? Then the answer lies in seeing and embracing the vision that God has placed before you.

See you on the journey,

Pastor Rip

Return

Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit and listen to seven gifted, large church pastors speak and teach about leadership.  I would not normally sit through ten hours of preaching as a rule, but this conference was structured in such a way as to make a large impact in a small amount of time. And… it was well done.

I won’t bore you with a synopsis of their teaching. You can check that out in a more detailed overview which I will make available online later. Suffice it to say, I was stretched, overwhelmed, humbled and encouraged by all the messages. However, there was an overriding theme to this conference which centered on the question of returning to God.

Coming back home!   I thought a great deal about that during the day and tried to discern in my mind what that really meant.  What would coming home look like for me?  To be more precise, what needs to change in me to enable me to come back home?

Of course, my mind immediately went to the story of the father who had two sons. (You can read this story in Luke, chapter 15) My problem was not so much on what I needed to change before I could return...that was the easy part.  I can give you a list a mile long on things I need to work on in my life.  My problem was that this action was not what God was asking me to do.  God was not asking me to change myself; God was inviting me to allow Him to change me!

Coming home means that I return back to God with all my stuff in tow—all my baggage.  It’s realizing that I really can’t change myself and that if things are going to be different I need help.  I need forgiveness.  Ouch, there is that word again. I need the forgiveness of God in my life so that the healing which is offered is applied freely.

The liberating reality is that God planned returning home events for all of us.  And now God is wooing us back. “Come home,” Jesus says.  “Come, taste and see,” He invites.  Find rest for your soul.  Find forgiveness.

Blessings

Pastor Rip

Join with me reading the bok of Proverbs

CLICK HERE

Forgiveness continued…

As I was working on this BLOG today, I was again overwhelmed by the superiority of God’s forgiveness offered to each of us freely. Not only is forgiveness the main point in Paul’s presentation of the Gospel, but the very idea of forgiveness was the mainstay of God’s redemptive plan for humankind.

As I look around at the world I live in, (and please realize I have been to many places in the world) poverty and starvation and death are everywhere, senseless murders and rape are everyday events, countries are ravaged by corrupt governments…life in a simple word… STINKS.

We live in a broken world, but the good news is that God never intended for us to be here. God’s plan for us, as Pastor Tom has forced us to consider over the past few weeks, was a much better plan. We were created to live in paradise. However, somewhere along the way we began to think of ourselves as more in control and became less concerned with following the plan of God.  Brokenness resulted.

Psalms 130 gives an amazing picture of this forgiveness at work in us. The Psalmist says,

“Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.”

God’s plan was forgiveness--to restore us, to clean us up, and to set us again on a pathway to relationship with Him.  That is the beauty of forgiveness and the beauty of a God who loves us even when we are unlovely.

Ever feel that way?  I encourage you to return to a God who is ready and willing to receive you back home.

Pastor Rip

So I am reading through the book of Proverbs one chapter a day....Join me!

CLICK HERE to go to the book of Proverbs

I love the word forgiveness.      While this word may have many different meanings to different people, nowhere is it exemplified best than from the personal testimony of the apostle Paul.  In the book of ACTS, Paul gives his personal forgiveness inventory. If you remember this story, Paul was persecuting Christians when one day Jesus spoke to him from a bright light. Now that should get your attention, and for Paul, it did. This is what Paul says of that experience.

^{Acts 26:15  “}Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

(For a full understanding of what happened in Paul’s life, check out chapter 9 of Acts)

There are a couple of things that stand out to me in this recounting from Paul. First, God came to set him free. That is what God does for us in Christ Jesus. Jesus confronts the bully in us. Have you ever faced your biggest fear only to discover that in reality there was nothing to fear in the first place? Jesus comes to us to help us realize that we can have something really great if we would trust Him to make it happen. Paul did not change by his own power; he received forgiveness.

Then he received an appointment. That’s the great thing about forgiveness; God chooses to use us who are less than perfect to accomplish that which is about Him. The perfect God uses imperfect people to demonstrate His forgiveness in action.  How cool is that!

You see what this means is that, now, we have a story that we can share with others. The power of our stories can be the catalyst for life-change in another person just as it was in the life of Paul and in countless Pauls since that time.

Why did God forgive you? To set you free from the powers of darkness so that through you the light of redemption might shine into others.  Put that way, forgiveness is a really cool thing.

Blessings,

Pastor Rip

Green Socks

OK, I had green socks and blue slacks on today. As you can tell, my wife did not dress me! Actually, I thought when I selected my socks that they would coordinate.  Yet in the light of the day, I realized that it was not really a good match. All day long I was going around hoping that no one would notice until I could make it home and change before an evening meeting.  However, things did not work out that way so all through the meeting I kept looking at my socks and wondering how many others were looking as well.

Truth be told, I’m not sure anyone really cared or noticed, but still it was glaring to me. One of the truths of life is this.  When I do something wrong (i.e. Sin), I have that same conscious reminder that things are not the way they are supposed to be. What happens is that the Holy Spirit is speaking into my life reminding me that God created me to be better than that.

Sin is like a pair of socks that don’t fit with the rest of my ensemble, and that I am keenly aware of.  It is right that sin is that to me.  Others may not notice the sin, and my problem is that even after a while I get calloused to sin.  It no longer bothers me. Nonetheless, it is still there, and it separates me from what God intends for me to become.

The problem is clear:  if I wear green socks and blue slacks every day, I begin to think that is what I am supposed to wear. It’s all right, and in fact, people may just accept me as the green sock guy I am.  I can even find comfort in the fact that I am accepted as the guy with the green socks.

But my question is this…What if I was made to wear socks that fit with the rest of the ensemble so that the image I presented to others and myself was a true reflection of the person God intended me to be?  What if I were made to be a blue socks-blue slacks type of guy, and when I live the way I am supposed to live I discover that I am not controlled by being exposed because of my flaws?

A good friend responded to yesterday’s BLOG reminding me of these verses,

Psalms 139:13, 14

“For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful”

God has created us to be fearfully and wonderfully made.

Thanks God for your gift.

Pastor Rip

Yesterday

So yesterday was one of those days. I got busy and by the end of the day, I realized that I had forgotten to pray. I had great intentions. I was up early, had my first cup of coffee and then got busy, not bad stuff, just with things that needed to be accomplished.  I was behind on some house chores, and I needed to fix my lunch.  I talked with my new neighbor, and on and on it went, all good stuff.  However…

Now I commune with God through the day; we spend time together.  I would not go long into the day without turning to my creator and giving my thinks. But yesterday did not start the same way. I missed that time with God, and every time I miss that morning opportunity I lose a vital link in my life. Here is the key. Everyday should start out with time devoted to God.

Here is the great thing about God. He did not miss the opportunity to think about me. I am convinced through scripture that God was thinking about me when I awoke.  He was thinking about me when I was working; He was thinking about me at meal times; and He was thinking about me when I was sleeping. God has directed Himself to think about me, and the good news is that He is thinking about you as well.

I love how Psalms 139 describes how God is always thinking about us. The very first verse says this, “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.” I challenge you to read through the remainder of this chapter and discover for yourself this God who is continually thinking about you.

So back to yesterday, I got busy but God was constant. I forgot to pray in the morning; God was walking with me throughout the day. I felt out of sorts; God was calling to remind me He was in control. I need to remind myself that I should never be too busy not to pray.

So here is a prayer that I want to share with you today…

Father God, I thank you that when I am too busy, you are still waiting to hear from me. I am thankful that you offer me the opportunity to come to you whenever, and you are always ready and willing to hear from me. I am thankful that you think of me and that you are always thinking of me. Help me to always think about you as well. Amen.

Pastor Rip

CLICK HERE to read the gospels

No More Games

After writing about a childhood game yesterday, I got to thinking about other games I played as a "Kid." By the way, thanks Phil, for reminding us what that game was called.

So I got to thinking; what other games I played--Red Rover, Red Light/Green Light, Simon Says, Steal the Bacon... all came to mind. There were many games we played in our youth and they were fun times we think back on now. Share with me your memories.

However, I for one am glad that we grew up out of that. NOMOREGAMES!

Actually that is not true if we are honest. My problem is that I find myself playing the wrong games. Games like...Don't face my problems, Get all the stuff you can at any cost, don’t take time to care. The list could go on and on. The adult games we play all the time do not gratify us with childlike wonder; we now discover that our adult games have become a way of life.

I was thinking about the lessons learned from our childhood games. We learned to share, to work together, to learn how to lose gracefully, to not worry when we fell down because it was all part of the fun of playing together. Granted, sometimes I wanted to take my marbles and go home, but for the most part our childhood games were more about learning life than just filling time with something to do.

So I see two issues in this. The first is; why did we lose the ability to play together? The second is, How are the games we playing today affecting our lives?

I look forward to your comments.
Pastor Rip

CLICK HERE to read the Gospels