Wisdom – Page 31 – Cross Culture Church

Meditation: June 26, 2012

Posted by Cross Culture Church Categories: Meditations

“Since everything here today might well be gone tomorrow, do you see how essential it is to live a holy life.” 2 Peter 3:11 (MSG )

How quickly things can change from what we have grown accustomed to into something of which we are totally unfamiliar. The transitions occur as a judgment against every standard that opposes what ought to be established. The infusion of sin and the reinforcement given to it by an ever expanding majority opinion hastens the Day of the Lord. When right appears wrong and wrong appears right, God alone must vindicate His honor. He brings to naught systems and all under the authority of the rebellious and reestablish in its place newness. Do not be alarmed at the destruction of the wicked. These things must be if ever the Lord is to be glorified. Opposing and competing forces cannot coexist. The strength of the strong will overtake the weak, and the wisdom of the wise will befuddle the foolishness of the foolish. Since it will happen immediately, we should apply our hearts to live a holy life. The signs are before us now. The rapidity in changes around is our alarm as to how uncertain all things are. God alone is the constant that we can depend upon.

20 Jun 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: June 20, 2012

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“Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder)” 2 Peter 3:1

Our minds are purified as the result of hearing a pure word. The clutter of a misguided conscience and the pollutants of compromised values are removed and replaced with an understanding of absolutes that can withstand the scrutiny of contemporary questioning. A pure mind is to be treasured above all things. It means that the mind has processed what the heart has embraced. Then one is able to give a reason for the hope that is in them. They can defend the faith and withstand the scrutiny of error. Now that we can receive words of wisdom, we are not to entertain thoughts and ideas that can lead to moral failure. Our minds must remain pure in order for us to receive from God instructions for daily living. There are many things to be added to what we currently know. These are the building blocks that contribute to our becoming a spiritual habitation. They cause us to further set our minds on the things above and not be distracted by things around us and beneath us. We are reminded as to whom we are in Christ and with Christ. He is our example and our guide. I write these things to re-mind you of these things. When we rewind, we remember what otherwise would be forgotten. We are on a journey, a mission of hope. We are encouraged through the right message to make it to the end.

13 Apr 0Comments 0Likes

April 2012 Article: “The Mind and Body”

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Grandiose ideas, however tall, are unfulfilled among a people who lack the means of fully expressing them. How many dreams are frustrated due to visionaries abandoning the cause? The future generation inherited the mantle and received the call by God to guarantee a continuum of progress. However, somebody dropped the ball for a distraction, leaving their children with the task of having to decide what they believe is best.

The origin of the dream has roots that extend deeper than a few preceding generations. It was the original idea of God for mankind. He allows some to get a glimpse of what He knows in this present age placing them in the category of revolutionaries. Although the zeal for righteousness burns deep within their souls, if there are no bodies to act upon their words, theirs would become a dream deferred for another time.

God so loved His creation of man as to view him as the extension of His own thoughts and ideas. He gave Adam the ability to name every animal He created by a scientific description. Thus man was to rule over His creation, giving further expression of God’s thoughts. But when the body refuses to cooperate with the Mind, disorder and confusion result. Man was intended to be the embodiment of the thoughts of God. Love is not love without a means of expression. First, He loved His only Begotten Son. Then, His love was extended to man and through man, thus providing proper order among all things made. Yet the rebellion and dysfunction of the body inhibits the flow of the original intent of the mind. The generation that rebels against God is a mindless generation.The wild man of Gadera in the Scriptures was unclothed and violent dwelt among the tombs. No man could control him as he caused harm to himself. Even though his body was out of control, he saw God’s order through His Son, Jesus Christ and he immediately worshiped Him.

Jesus asked him a profound question; “What’s your name?” There was a dream buried beneath the disorder of the wild man. There is a purpose for each life rooted in the origin of every creature. Man has lost his vision and cannot fulfill the ancient dreams of the past because he has taken on too many identities. The demons within the wild man answered, “I am Legion, for we are many.” The preoccupation with ideas, plans, and people apart from an exclusive commitment to God divides man’s personality into many. Identity is often determined by occupation, possessions, or vices rather than the thoughts of God. When we worship the Lord, the first question He will ask is “what is your name?” Our sanity is regained when our purpose for living is singular.

Jesus came to restore to us our true identity. Our inability to do because we were too insane to realize our demise as result of sin positioned God Himself to come in bodily form to redeem us. “Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:”Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.”(Heb 10:5) He came to both illustrate and demonstrate how the Mind and Body should function as one unit. When we take on His identity, God’s thoughts flow to us and through us to the world, thereby reestablishing God’s mandate for creation. Only then will His love cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

03 Jan 0Comments 0Likes

January 2012 Article: “2012, The Year of Divine Order”

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As each year is met with its special challenges, we must be prepared to navigate wisely and safely through it. Nothing is just circumstantial or by chance, but everything exists in a cause and effect relationship. Things might appear to be random, but there is an established order that must be maintained. Its origin is before the foundations of the world therefore we do not have to engage in guesswork and carelessly assemble what has been strategically designed. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. Each of us was made for this time and a place fully known by God. When we are out of place, nature cries out in rebellion to our forceful habits of trying to make something that is not meant to be. We often wonder why things are not working right and life does not make any sense. It could be the disorder of one’s life working against the order for which all things are subjected to and must be surrendered if its truest purpose is ever to be realized.
God orchestrates order out of chaos. He is the only One who can bring forth light out of darkness. He does not have to find the light but rather, He produces the light that dispels the darkness regardless how dark it may be. “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.” What if it was said to you that the only instrument of peace is Jesus Christ alone? In an environment of chaos, it would sound biased and extremely prejudiced against all other attempts to provide counsel and relief to our current crises. Yet there is no light without Him. A convergence of light and darkness will cast a gray shadow. The cloud of error has eclipsed the true Light thus contributing to the chaos and confusion of this generation. This is a generation of compromise. Compromise competes with the ageless truth requiring conformity to a more contemporary order that is sensible to this generation. There is no compromise sufficient enough for us to meet the deep and desperate needs of the soul. What price have we paid and are now paying for the allowances made for the vices of society that should be condemned? Only when we accept God’s choices will there be deliverance from influences that allure people further away from them. Either we believe that He is God or not. There is no safe middle ground. If He is God, then all things generate from Him and were made to glorify Him alone. If He is one among many other gods, then we are permitted to debate whether His way is the only way, and collaborate concerning the rightness or wrongness of His Word in light of other information made available to this present age.
We have prayerfully entitled this year “The Year of Divine Order” because God alone has established the order for government, family, religion, economics, education, world peace, and our personal lives. Every contending force is in opposition to His will and must be proven false and ineffective. Our objective this year is to provide historical evidence that manufactured kingdoms have ultimately fallen over time for no other reason than God stands alone in His sovereignty. When His Word is rightly divided, in essence, preached through those who are authorized by Him to speak on His behalf, the power of change is released enabling the hearers the privilege to conform to His will. Before one can receive His order, the disorder must be exposed and renounced through repentance. The Holy Spirit then does His work of constructing lives that can fulfill the purpose for which each was born. When God is pleased with our lives, we experience a dimension of peace that surpasses all understanding.

07 Dec 0Comments 0Likes

December 2011 Article: “Re-presenting Jesus”

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When a person or thing has been forgotten, or if the memory is reduced to a title, a symbol, or any fixture that is now void of life, there is the need for a fresh presentation in order for the truth to be known. Interpretations are often limited to perceptions that are usually influenced by personal desire. It would be much easier to have a Savior that fits perfectly into our thoughts of Him. He would then be non-threatening and pliable to whatever whim may come to mind. Then, when we grow weary of that perception, we can retire it and create another as we continue to change our minds about life and ourselves. Jesus Christ, however, is not that flexible. Malachi presents Him as unchanging and Revelations reflects His history, presence, and destiny as being the same. Since He is the same, why do many either embrace or reject a perception, but do not seek to know Him as He is? It is primarily because of the responsibility that accompanies the true knowledge of Him. What will we do if we were enabled to see Him as He is? Our agency as autonomous individuals would be compromised. There would be an authority would have determined what is right and wrong, what is good and what is evil. Society has primarily redirected their pursuits for a substitute rather than having to reckon with the One who presents Himself as the established truth.
His Word challenges our thinking and reaches deep into our souls. There is a part of every person that seeks to know more than what he currently knows. Yet it is pride that causes one to think that his pursuits can offer him complete satisfaction. He came to earth for us and we were made to acknowledge and glorify Him. Looking in any other direction merely hardens the heart against what the soul desperately craves. He abandons a life of temporal pleasures that merely anesthetizes the conscience so that things that were prohibited now become more sensible than the grace to participate in what He has granted freely. Jesus Christ is the greatest gift ever given to humanity, but He is not who we think He is. Our minds cannot reach those peaks of marvelous revelation that only His Spirit is able to manifest. When we strain to think of what He is like, we merely get a glimpse from a distance. He stands there welcoming us to approach Him, but not with the things we wish to keep. His will is to fill us with more than we are holding on to by giving us what we never had. Whether it is religiously maintained, it is a devotion and commitment, even if it is not the truest depiction. He comes to dispel all preconceived notions not by becoming a part of our lives but rather by becoming life to us.
Too many have built idols and worshiped without knowledge they were doing so. Little wonder that so much confusion remains all around us, especially among those who profess a faith. He is still here; the Christ of God who revealed Himself in history waits for the opportunity to reveal Himself to this generation. The challenge of the old misconceptions must take place if the original is to be made known. Wise men sought Him when He came as a child to the earth. Now that He has completed His task upon the earth, who will seek to know the resurrected Christ whose will is to dwell richly within the hearts of those who would make room for Him?

04 Oct 0Comments 0Likes

October 2011 Article: “Spiritually Discerning Leaders”

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The heart and soul of the leader is of paramount importance. God’s requirement for any who will rightly lead is that they have the heart and passion to completely embrace the heavenly vision. It is initiated by God who arrests the heart of the one that He has chosen in order to impart spiritual gifts along with wisdom and knowledge to use each gift for His glory. The vision is not common and so easily conveyed that any person who choose the position as a career rather than being chosen would be able to master it. They would stumble over and misapply instructions that are spiritually discerned. It must be the perfect fit for the individual who has been specifically called to that assigned task. God chooses His leaders. They are not the products of man’s choices else they would be as King Saul who would take matters into his own hands rather than remain obedient to God. When people lacking spiritual discernment make choices, they usually choose the most impressive rather than the one with the greater degree of character. Appearances are shallow while character is deep. The veneer of appearance wears thin when temptations arise. The lustful leader will abandon his position as a watcher for the souls of others for immediate gratification of his own flesh.

When God does the choosing we can rest assured that He has full knowledge of the qualities He has imparted to leader. The devil may test him but he will resist the alluring tactics of Satan. His focus is on the end of a thing rather than just the process leading him there. Therefore he makes prophetic judgments. He is spiritual as result of experiencing warfare fought on many battlegrounds. It is the memory of surmounting victories that causes his faith to soar to new heights. It is the exercise of one’s spiritual senses that increases his ability to discern the difference between what is good and what is evil. He may look battle worn but every scar and bruise on his body and soul has a story attached to it. If we could just read his life we would find so many intriguing episodes leading him to becoming a faithful servant-leader. He has learned to trust and serve God well thus earning the right to be fully followed. In this age of distrust, people have a difficult time trusting their leaders. If it is the polished and well groomed leader that stands as a mannequin; the knight in shining armor insulated in the glass window you may have a picture rather than a preacher. But if he has the appearance of just returning from the battle, maybe even bleeding from the last scrimmage, that one is able to discern the strategies of the enemy. We do not learn spiritual warfare in an insulated environment void of any challenges. We learn how to strategically fight when we take the fight to the battlefield.

God asked His prophets, Zechariah and Jeremiah the same question, “What do you see?” He did not ask them “what do you feel”, or “what do you think?” Discerning leaders must see with God what He sees. Only then are they enabled to participate with God in what He is doing. When we see with Him then we are enabled to fight with Him. He shares with us the victory in the battles He has won. When we must fight, even in situations that appear to be overwhelming and defeat appears to be inevitable, faith rises higher than rising current against us. The enemy comes in like a flood, a tsunami threatening to overwhelm our banks. Then there arises before us a righteous standard judging the threat of evil and dismantling its attempts to overtake us. Discerning leaders will lead his troops into to battle. But he will also lead them through each battle to triumph.

02 Sep 0Comments 0Likes

Article: “Wilderness Crying”

Posted by Cross Culture Church Categories: Articles

Isaiah 40:3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

There is a clear voice of reason crying among many clouded voices that appeals to the conscience of this generation that rests its experience on feeling rather than thinking. And where there is though, is conscience a part of the process? The voice has become the minority that has been forced into obscure places. If truth has the power to remedy the ills of society and there is an important question, why must it be sequestered in the wilderness instead of placed in the public square? The voice of truth cries out, although muffled by the hustle and bustle of the crowd in its rush towards self-destruction. A cry may be a loud proclamation or a grievous lamentation. However, Wisdom proclaims her distressed message loudly because she has been forced into unoccupied places. The wilderness journey of truth has led her on a path where only those who seek after her may find her. She is not lost but rather rejected—exiled among the nomads who take the road less traveled and are ridiculed by the crowds of fools rushing in where angels dare to tread.

All voices sound alike to those who are hearing impaired. A foreign language is mere babble and gibberish to one who cannot interpret the strangeness of unfamiliar words. But when we speak the same language, senseless communication can spread through its mutual sharing. The world is on the process of becoming one language and one mind, similar to the days when the Tower of Babel was erected. It persists on television, radio, and other forms of media with a message that none can miss. The outsiders are those who disagree, reason on a different level, and can no longer assimilate with the rest of society. As a result, they exist on the fringes; banished to the wilderness to cry out among themselves.

Repetition has the power to wear down the resistance of the will. Brainwashing occurs when one seeks justification for a thing because he feels that if it is endorsed by many, it must be true. Our generation is being brainwashed without even knowing. This is not what the majority once believed, but it is what they have come to know. The shift occurred gradually and strategically, forming a mass mindset directly opposed to the Word of God. This is the “great delusion” and “spirit of error” prophesied in days past. Yet, in the isolated places away from public opinion, the voice of God calls, making an appeal to any who would listen with their hearts to what their ears may never hear. Deep within the soul is that place of dissatisfaction where nothing fits correctly.

When we come out into the wilderness to hear the Word of the Lord, we are changed. But not only are we changed, the wilderness becomes a place of provision for us. The Psalmist writes that “He turns a wilderness into pools of water, and dry land into watersprings” (Psalms 107:35), where we can be both nourished and refreshed. God does not always follow the way of convention. The desperate soul will not be satisfied with the crumbs of knowledge that may fall from the table as a result of science, technology, religion, or any other source. The desperate nature of the soul will be in pursuit of seeing and knowing the Lord, and it is the voice that cries in preparation for Him to make a highway in the wilderness on which the Lord Jesus Christ will blaze with His glory.

01 Aug 0Comments 1Like

AUGUST ARTICLE: “Things Have Changed”

Posted by Cross Culture Church Categories: Articles

The world is changing at neck-breaking pace. Opinions are shifting in different directions and it is becoming more difficult to identify with individuals who adhere to the old standards of morality that appear archaic to a burgeoning moral system. The leaders of today study trends and patterns in order to keep tempo with the rest of the world. They logically conclude that if they do not change, and both methodologies and taboos are not destroyed, there can be no progress.

People continue to encroach up the line of demarcation, yet few oppose this egregious action. The gradual conditioning of our generation’s mass mind has prepared it for the societal changes without objection. There is a sense of camaraderie among those whose moral judgments keep them separated from others who remain indifferent to moral dilemmas. The question on the table is, “now that we have gotten these things out of the way, where are we headed?” This is a generation that has greater freedoms to do as they please, but lack direction to do what is wise. When we settle on hedonistic pursuits rather than what is right, we create a recipe for disaster. Once guiding principles are absent from our moral landscape, it is only a matter of time before the collapse in morality triggers a domino effect that erodes the economy, heightens criminal activity, and sparks the search for answers in places where they cannot be found. We desperately need a moral compass. Are we progressing or are we losing ground in the battle for the heart and soul of this generation? Every year, the criminal mind continues to develop earlier in children because even at a young age, pivotal decisions rest on their shoulders regarding the life they choose to live.

There are no paternal and maternal influences to guide them in the decision making process. This is being taken away in the form of children’s rights and jeopardizes parental rights to govern their own households. Yes, it is true that abusive behavior must be regulated and restricted, but now there are questions as to the definition of abuse. The State of Georgia tried a case where a parent was accused of invading the privacy of the child by kicking down the door to the room while the child was being stubborn and insubordinate. Is this intrusion when rebellion dwells in the household and order is enforced by children rather than law officials? This issue raises questions as to the extent of governmental involvement in policing the home of those who uphold the standards, methodologies, and morays from past generations. If we are not careful, it will be against the law to preach the Word of God lest someone be offended. Then those who uphold a biblical perspective will be considered our modern day criminals while the morally and spiritually bankrupt Barabbses will be celebrated.

There is a tremendous need for established absolutes in order to become a principled nation. The only absolute is God and the only way to know Him is through the preaching of His Word. Our prayer is that somebody is listening and paying attention to the shifts that have taken place and the shifts that are yet to come. If nothing more is done than what is being done now, we are in deep trouble. But the Word of God has been given to us. God is yet speaking to us that we might be changed. Hear His voice and do not allow the shifts of society to harden your hearts.

07 Sep 0Comments 0Likes

Quitting Christianity

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August 7, 2007, author Anne Rice, best known for her vampire novels, made waves last week when she declared on her Facebook page that she had “quit being a Christian.” Twelve years after her return to Catholicism, Rice said she still believed in God, but that, “In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life.” – Los Angeles Times

My take on this is like saying, “I will quit my Maker! I will now reject the God of the Bible and worship a god that I can agree with.” If salvation is the end, the criteria for it is not optional. Even though many make their decisions on the basis of what is compatible with their habits and lifestyles, the heart must be drawn to the Lord and His agenda and not the intellectual pitfalls regarding philosophy of life and religion. To quit the Church is like quitting the human race and saying, “I don’t like the way humans are treated so I’ve decided to be a horse.”

Many frustrated people resign by extinguishing the little flicker of faith that never developed into a flame. Their conversion is what they call a “conversion into realness,” where they see no sense in being loosely connected to something in which they cannot wholeheartedly believe. When there is nothing to fuel their faith, it is just a matter of time before their light disappears. Even Peter, the disciple of Jesus Christ, decided to return to his former occupation of fishing and convinced others to do the same. The “me too” crowd is all around us. In reading Anne Rice’s sentiments, there will be many sympathizers who can identify with her. Her decision has the potential to unleash an avalanche of loosely connected pseudo Christians from their lives of mere religious performance and ritual rather than true faith.

A reaction to the challenge of faith which calls us to a higher standard of living is evidence that something is wrong within the heart of that individual. When a drug addict is placed in an environment where taking drugs is not tolerated, his body convulses from being deprived of what his system has grown accustomed to. True faith causes a reaction among those who desire to establish and sustain their own standard of righteousness. If the whole of God’s offer is not accepted, what He gives will merely cause the individual to go into a crisis mode. There will be withdrawal symptoms from the old way of thinking in order for God to establish His truth within the heart. He will dismantle every opposing argument and position, even though conflict within the soul will occur and cannot be avoided.

True repentance is the establishment of His rightness in place of our wrongness for the rest of our lives. The more we see of Him the more we understand how little we know. Quitting is getting tired of being wrong and accusing God of not knowing what we have come to know. It is matching our wits against His Omniscience or All-Knowing. When we are insulted by God’s intelligence, we quit His instrument of wisdom, the Church. It is not the option to the submitted disciple who is learning what the Lord alone teaches. It is the decision of the self-absorbed individual who has reached the highest plateau of knowledge that he supposedly is able to teach God a thing or two. “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” There are too many things yet to know or to quit before He reveals those things to us. We must not quit the Church, but also pray that the Church does not quit being the Church.

21 Feb 0Comments 0Likes

Vanity of Vanities

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Hopelessness and despair are marks to define this generation. Despite the discoveries in science and progress made that rival every other generation, there is still something missing. Meaning for life, the reason to live has been extracted while the focus is placed upon survival alone. Philosophical discussions on meaning are usually ignored because they require a level of thinking that can be depressing if the pursuit is not in the direction of concrete answers.

When I was in high school, I had a coach that required us to excel in sports. I was one of the worse basketball players on the team. The coach knowing that I was in the ministry asked me to sit in his office and write down my philosophy. I didn’t even know what the word philosophy meant at the time, but I wrote down every thought that came to mind. It was then that I discovered something about myself. I wanted real answers to questions that were deeply imbedded into my soul. I was aware that there was more to me than what I was then able to express, but somehow, I needed to get what was in me out there for others to see. Some never reach that point in life because they merely redirect their attention towards more” entertaining and lighthearted things. These are the people that drift through life only to be disappointed with themselves and others who are around them.

To be anesthetized by overly stimulating oneself with addictive habits provide temporary relief, but the higher the high, the lower the low becomes. Ignorance is not bliss but rather escapism. It provides excuses for those who would rather not think but would merely want to feel things.

“Smoke, nothing but smoke. [That’s what the Quester says.]

There’s nothing to anything — it’s all smoke. What’s there to show for a lifetime of work, a lifetime of working your fingers to the bone?” Ecclesiastes 1:2-3 ___from THE MESSAGE:

You have a philosophy and is living your life as an expression of whatever your philosophy is. “philo” means love and “Sophia” means “wisdom.” The love of wisdom is the quest of every human. Many crash because their wisdom runs its course without a goal in mind. As we grow older, we often reflect over the activities of our past. Yes, it may have been fun, but what did it represent? Was there anything of value left behind for the generations behind us to use? Was there a path blazed for them to follow? Is it our desire for them to walk in our footsteps? The Quester or the Preacher in Ecclesiastes said, It’s all smoke. There is nothing to anything because he did not look beyond the sun for meaning. He thought that being experienced in all that life had to offer would be enough. Let his failed attempts save you the trouble of wasteful experimentations. Life is too short to waste on meaningless activities. Only God, who is above all, can give us the true meaning for our existence. If any person lacks wisdom of Sophia, let him ask God. What he receives from God, if applied, he will love.