Leaving a Legacy

There is a well known passage of scripture taken from Romans 12. It asks of us to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” Someone made the remark that the problem with living sacrifices is that they keep trying to crawl off of the alter.
I was thinking the other day about some really practical ways to observe the extent to which I am presenting my life as a living sacrifice. Like President elect Barak Obama, I have become very attached to my “Black Berry.” Not simply because it keeps me connected (more than I need to be) but also it contains my calendar and my “To Do” lists.
What would my calendar and those multiple lists look like on a “Black Berry” that had been presented to God? What if I applied a filter to all of that information that must first meet the criteria of “What God wants me to accomplish today”?
This idea came to me as I was talking to a young man at lunch yesterday who has joined the Army. Some of the guys were teasing him and someone said, “Well, one thing about it. You won’t have to be worrying about what you are going to do today. Now you will have somebody telling you what you are doing, as well as when and how you are doing it.”
Wow! I don’t know how I would feel about that.
Sometimes I think it would be a relief for someone to say, “you don’t have time to do that” or to tell me, “you need to say “no” here because you’ve more important things that have to be done”. But before I am able to convince myself that it would be a relief, I see those other things. Those other things are bad habits, and “goof off” time, and “procrastinators anonymous” meetings, and other stuff I don’t want to mention.
I can see that presenting my calendar and tasks to God is going to be a major challenge for me. So, I shall think more on this tomorrow. Because today I’ve got — “finish the newsletter,” —on my “to do” list.

“Insulation” — a good thing, right? As I sit here on this blustery winter’s day, beside my heater, I am thankful for insulation between me and the cold. The other day I was working with some electrical wiring and had another occasion to be thankful for insulation that protected me from inadvertently coming into contact with live wires. But there is another kind of insulation in my life that I am not so thankful for. It is the insulation that stands between me and the continual awareness of an awesome God.
You don’t have to read very far in the Psalms to witness Davids’ appreciation for the power and presence of God in his life. That much favored song, “How Great Thou Art,” is fashioned from the words of Psalm 8 which says, “When I consider the heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and the stars which You have created.”
David witnessed the “heavens declaring the righteousness of God,” and the “trees of the field” clapping their hands. “The heavens are telling the glory of God and their expanse is declaring His handiwork.”
The writer of Romans tells us that we know much about God through the things that He has made. The problem is that we spend most of our time insulated / separated from God’s creation by the creature comforts of our homes. Nature’s telling forth the glory of God is drowned out by the blare of our stereos and the bombardment of the TV set. We have surrounded ourselves with the noises of industrialization and technology and have unwittingly drowned out the heralding witness of creation.
Oh how thankful I am that I live in a place where I can go outside and be still, away from the noise of traffic and sirens, out and away from the glare of streetlights and simply be still and listen.
Simply and reverently to be amazed and overwhelmed with the presence of God in the things that He has made.

Doubtless you have seen the “Mac” vs the “PC” commercials on TV. The Mac guy is this modern shirt sleeved – mussed hair – cool dude. While Mr P.C. is a stuffed shirt, jacket and tie geek with slicked back hair- – – out of touch and out of style. If you had to select which character your neighbor would say best represents the church today, which one would they choose?
Yea, I thought so. The church gets a bad rap from the world today. The church gets that bad rap, not from the media, but from us. Sad to say, that often times were are our own worst commercial. We are better known for what we are against and what we can’t do, than for what the church has to offer. Our attitudes and expressions often times lead others to think that the church is a place for zombies, rather than for those who have a vibrant and abundant life in Christ.
Last Sunday we talked about the things that Christians are to have died to; about things that have kept us addicted, chained, and miserable. But those things have been buried. However, that is only half of the story. The journey does not stop at the grave.
We don’t stay dead! We are not “Dead men walking.” The church is not to be a place full of people whose life has been drained out of them, who walk around with grey-pasty expressions and only sing funeral dirges continually.
Paul said, “We have been buried with Christ in baptism, but also added, “We are raised with Him…” “The life I now live…” he later adds.
He refers to Christ who came and gave us new, abundant, resurrection powered abilities not available to the ordinary – non redeemed individual.
Nope! The “energizer bunny” cannot hold a candle to the Christian who has put on Christ – who has a God given hope in his heart and Spirit supplied vitality that can shore him up in ways unimaginable to the world bound indidual.
Come join us this Sunday as we explore what it truly means to be “Alive in Christ”.

“Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me…” So goes the words to a well known song.

In a few short weeks we will be singing a lot of carols talking of “peace”. We will be reading a favorite passage of scripture of an angelic announcement proclaiming “peace, good will toward men.”
Seems ironic, does it not, to be speaking of peace right now. How does one think of peace in light of all of the angry political announcements, each blaming the other for our problems? How can we think of peace with the turbulence in the financial markets around the globe? How can we speak of peace while our nation fights a war on two fronts, not to mention fighting terroristic plots at home?
Can “peace” ever be more than a thought reserved for some day in the future, but in the mean-time, we wring our hands in dismay?
Jesus said we could. He said He came to give it to us; that we couldn’t work hard enough to earn it. He said that His peace was not dependant upon circumstances in the world, but would come from a different source – – from Himself.

John 14:27-28
27 ” Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

John 16:33
33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace . In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

Those are two statements that must be taken on faith. Christians who have a close, intimate relationship with Christ are not worried about the current circumstances. Their trust is placed not upon what is seen, but in the power of the one who not only created this world, but went on to die to rescue us from it. If a grave couldn’t hold Him, I don’t think the current numerous crises can get the best of Him.
What a tremendous opportunity for the Church today to demonstrate our saving faith to our neighbors by our calm –blessed assurance – we have in God who is in control.
I close with the words of another song:
“Put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water. Put your hand in the hand of the man who calmed the sea…”
Gary

There will be a change in this Sunday’s scheduled sermon topic. Trying to be relevant to today’s problems in the financial market, the fear engulfing our country, and the political climate- the message will be “A Christian Response to a National Crisis”

See you Sunday