Friday Funny - Looking for a Job!

With the unemployment rate rising, I thought a little job humor might be in order.

A man was applying for a job as a prison guard. The warden said, "Now these are real tough guys in here. Do you think you can handle it?"

"No problem," the applicant replied, "If they don't behave, they are outta here!"

So, you better behave or the warden might throw you out of the game....You know I love ya - Don

Devote, Devoted, Devotion....

I watched the remake of "V" last night. I liked it as entertainment. There was action, sci-fi thrills, and a little creepiness. I also liked how the writers made you think. I was provoked to think about "devotion." The episode ended with the reality that the visitors were gaining loyalty and devotion. I asked, "What am I truly devoted to...?"

Devote: To give over or direct (as time, money, or effort) to a person or cause, or activity (transitive verb).

I find it interested to learn that a transitive verb has two characteristics. First, it is an action verb, expressing a doable activity like kick, want, paint, write, eat, clean, etc. Second, it must have a direct object, something or someone who receives the action of the verb. Therefore, to devote oneself needs a person or object to receive the gift.

Devoted: Characterized by loyalty and devotion (adjective).

I find this interesting because it describes me as the one being devoted.

Devotion: The fact or state of being ardently dedicated and loyal devotion to the cause (noun).

I find this interesting because it is the gift that is handed to the other person or object.

Thus...it takes two to have "Devote, Devoted, Devotion." That may seem obvious to many of you...but lets look what we are truly devoted to...our stuff, our food, our home, and the list goes on. It seems to me that we devote ourselves to "ourselves." What about being a Christ-Follower...what should I be devoting myself too?

Psalm 86:2, "Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you."

Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

Paul wrote in Romans 12:10, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves." And in Colossians 4:2, "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful."

I need to work on and watch what I devote myself to. That which I am devoted to defines the character I posses. In other words, my character is defined in my devotion. My devotion reveals that true nature of my heart and loyalty to those around me.

"Dear God, help me be more devoted to You, my wife, my children, my church, my family, my friends, and even those that do not know you. Bring your characteristics of devotion in my life and may I be as passionate about it as you were, even if it means being crucified for your sake. You know I love you and humbly ask this in Jesus Name. Amen."

Your fellow devotee - Don

Effect of afflictions!

Romans 5:1-8

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

This is one of my favorite scripture passages that reveals the effect of afflictions.

1. Perseverance

First, tribulations bring about perseverance, or patient endurance. Paul doesn't mean this is universally true. For many, tribulations unleash hatred and bitterness and anger and resentment and murmuring. But this is not the ongoing effect in those who have the Spirit of Christ. For them the effect is patient endurance, because the fruit of the Spirit is patience.

The point here is that until hardship comes into our lives, especially hardship for the sake of Christ and his righteousness, we do not experience the extent and depth of our devotion to Christ. Until times get hard, we do not taste and really know if we are fair-weather Christians—the kind Jesus described in the parable of the soils in Mark 4:16–17.

"And these are the ones sown upon rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away."

So Paul is saying that one great effect of tribulation is that it brings about patient endurance and perseverance in God's people, so they can see the faithfulness of God in their lives and know that they are truly his.

2. Proven Character

That's the point of the second effect that's mentioned (v. 4). "And [this] perseverance [brings about] proven character." Literally the word dokimen means "the experience of being tested and approved." We could say "approvedness" or "provenness."

This is not hard to grasp. If, when tribulations come, you persevere in devotion to Christ and don't turn against him, then you come out of that experience with a stronger sense that you are real, you are proven, you are not a hypocrite. The tree of trust was bent and it didn't break. Your fidelity and loyalty were put to the test and they passed. Now they have a "proven character." The gold of your faith was put in the fire and it came out refined, not consumed.

3. Hope

The third effect comes from this sense of being tested and approved and refined. Verse 4b: "And proven character [brings about] hope." This takes us back to verse 2: "We exult in the hope of the glory of God." The Christian life begins with hope in the promises of God in the gospel, and it spirals up through affliction to more and more hope.

The people who know God best are the people who suffer with Christ. The people who are most unwavering in their hope are those who have been tested most deeply. The people who look most earnestly and steadfastly and eagerly to the hope of glory are those who have had the comforts of this life stripped away through tribulations.

I choose to press through in order to achieve greater hope...you know I love ya and praying for you to NEVER give up! - Don

Friday Funny - You are not alone

I found this short little funny story and as a brother, I can relate and it brought a chuckle....

Mary, a typical teenage girl, was having a tough day and had stretched herself out on the couch to do a bit of what she thought to be well-deserved complaining and self- pitying.

She moaned to her mom and brother, "Nobody loves me ... the whole world hates me!"

Her brother, busily occupied playing a game, hardly looked up at her and passed on this encouraging word: "That's not true, Mary. Some people don't even know you."

So, if you are feeling a bit out-of-sorts...don't worry, not everybody hates you....

Don't forget to smile at the cute children and fun costumes, laugh at all the weird-ohs that dress up for All Saint's Eve, then turn your clock back an hour. Fall back in the Fall...

You know it - Don

A Blended Worship Service IS???

Park Chapel Christian Church has a Blended Worship Service...we call it Solid Ground. What do I mean by "blended worship" service?

Well, let’s start with the word “worship”. Many books and articles (perhaps deliberately) do a poor job of pinning down what they do and do not mean by that word. On one end of the spectrum are definitions like “a complete liturgical event for which the people of a church regularly gather”: greeting, singing, preaching, praying, the kid’s moment, it’s all part of “worship”. On the other end of the spectrum is “participation in the singing of a particular type of song of adoration towards God, usually to soft, melodic, contemplative music”. While we all agree that “worship is important”, we have wildly different notions of what is and is not a part of that important thing. Worship is simply, "declaring how much God is worth with a physical response."

For the purposes of this blog, I’m going to use “worship” to refer to those times when the gathered church sings and prays aloud together (whether en masse or one-at-a-time). An alternate definition which will work just as well is those things in which the gathered church participates in perceptible ways with the intent of engaging with the presence of God in and among them so as to respond to our Creator by declaring He is worth more than anything else.

So what is “blended worship”? Simply put, it is the use of songs and prayers from radically different streams of the church and cultural genres, in their conventional forms, within a single worship event. Imagine a choir-sung Lutheran hymn, a neo-punk chorus, and a Gregorian chant as back-to-back songs within a single service and you’re starting to get the idea.

Notice that an otherwise-traditional church service in which a single “contemporary” song is performed by a singer (”special music”) is not blended, and neither is a rock-ensemble worship band covering a hymn; each of these is an example of one style co-opting the other, but using it on its own terms.

Therefore, in the Park Chapel Solid Ground service, we make it our goal to please our Creator by offering ourselves to Him in many diverse offerings...blending many facets of our abilities and gifts together so as to declare to anyone and everyone that we praise, adore, and love a creative Jehovah that has blessed us beyond our imaginations.

Genesis 2:3, "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that He had done."

All thoughts are welcome...you know I love ya - Don

Words to encourage...

“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”- Ephesians 5:19-20

Speak to one another is the first mark of a Christian who is being matured by the filling of the Holy Spirit: “...Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs.”

In other words, these Christians are addressing one another in a way that encourages their mutual edification. Even in their conversation with one another, their desire is to edify, to build up, to encourage. It’s addressing and exhorting and encouraging one another—in this case, he says, with scriptural songs, or songs that are scriptural and spiritual—so that we’re moved to adoration and confession and thanksgiving, and petition and intercession.

An elder at Gethsemane Church of Christ is particularly good at doing this. Any time I got a note from him, he almost always began it by quoting a long passage of Scripture before he then moves on to a word of encouragement. And even sometimes when I was talking with him, he’ll start the conversation off by quoting Scripture, and then we would move into the substance of what it is that we’re going to talk about. And very often in his prayer he would quote Scripture first, verbatim, and then move into lifting up the specific praises or petitions to God. Cleveland Bosher will always be a good and encouraging example to me.

Yesterday, I was talking to one of the mothers of the congregation as she walked into the church, I was reminded of another manifestation of this speaking with one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. She was talking about the importance of parents encouraging their children to read the Bible, and to ask them what they’re reading, and what they’re learning from the Bible, so that their conversation is filled from time to time by talking about the things of the Lord, naturally; that we would desire to have that as a normal part of our interaction with one another in human relationships, whether parent and child, or friend and friend.

Well, the Apostle Paul says the person who’s being Spirit-filled has a conversation which is filled with the truth of God’s word in a way that encourages or edifies our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. That’s one mark of a Christian who is being matured by the Holy Spirit.

Lord, Help me to have encouraging words today! Amen.

I am sending encouraging words your way - you know I love ya - Don

Friday Funny - The Birthday Wish

It is Friday, so lets laugh....

A man asked his wife, "What would you most life for your birthday?"

She said, "I'd love to be ten again."

On the morning of her birthday, he got her up bright and early and off they went to the theme park. He put her on every ride in the park...the death slide, the screaming loop, the wall of fear, and so on. Everything there was, she had to go.

She staggered out of the park five hours later, her head reeling and her stomach upside down. He takes her to McDonald's, where she was given a Double Big Mac with extra fries and a strawberry shake. Then off to a theater to see a replay of Star Wars double feature with more snacks of candy and popcorn and soft drinks.

At last she staggered home with her husband and collapsed into bed. Her husband leaned over and asked, "Well, dear, what was it like being ten again?"

One eye opened and she grown, "Actually I meant dress size 10."

Keep smiling and have a great weekend! - Don