What can be said that hasn’t been said already about Christmas?

Maybe that’s the wrong question. Maybe we should just review ALL that’s been said and try to get it deep into our own spirits, and ask why we have such a hard time living it!???

Was Jesus Christ really born in Bethlehem? Did wise men really come and meet him? Did Jesus grow and become the Sacrifice for our sins and rise from the dead and go to his Father and send us the Holy Spirit and call US to follow him too and empower us and comfort us and provide for us and lead us and BE the subject matter for the entire New Testament, not to mention YOUR testament!?

Oh my, there are so many things we can remember, and SHOULD remember, to encourage us and strengthen us for daily stuff.

You need it, don’t you? Encouragement. Strength. Guidance. Forgiveness.

Add your own, customized list of needs, and see if Jesus Christ speaks to them, answers them, and offers a way to resolve each and every one.

What a gift!

God. Himself. For us.

Christ-mass.

Be Merry.

It’s Christmas time, which means we’re all busy with the gift-giving thing. This can be really cool or really horrible. Carol and I have a large family, which means we are really very Blessed, but it also means we have to, uh …, think about gifts in a financial way we don’t like. It causes me to wonder:
What is Value?
What is it to be Valuable?
Are we losing the understanding?

We usually determine value by what something costs. Whether it costs money or time and energy, the more we have to put into a thing the more value we probably ascribe to it. The less it costs us the more apt we are to disregard it or abuse it, even discard it.

In business they talk about the ‘cost/benefit analysis’ to decide what to invest in or what project to take on. We all do this, I think, in our daily lives of going here and there and making decisions on the fly, as we must. We have this instant analysis going on inside us, cost vs benefit, with ‘me’ at the center. We can’t help it. Our ‘selves’ demand that we take care of them and get the best outcome we can.

We get really irritated when someone abuses our stuff. That’s why we don’t like to loan out things, right? When someone treats as ‘low value’ what another thinks is ‘high value’ we have relationship problems. People just value things differently. Some folks take great care of their car, for example, while others just drive ‘em and don’t pay much attention to maintenance. Some folks keep their houses clean and tidy, and others just live in ‘em and have no concern about order or vacuuming.

This is all very well on an individual basis, but not so good when involving others, because others have different opinions, and here is where the relationship issues happen.

So, what is YOUR value to God? Does He value you? Does He care about you? Did you cost Him anything? Is He trying to maintain you in any way? Are you taking care of His child … you? Are you nurturing His desire for relationship? Are you listening when He whispers His love for you?

And, what is your value of others?

Good things to ponder this Christmas, as we think about the VALUE of GIFTS given, to us … this day … a child was born … to save the world!

Here are 10 things I took away from Amanda’s message on September 4th:

1. God has proved faithful when I said “yes” to Him.
2. Fear keeps you from doing things.
3. If you don’t say “yes” to Him, He will go to someone else.
4. From the Voice: Looking for a Lion, John saw the Lamb!
5. So? So worship!
6. Worry? Choose worship!
   Fear? Choose faith!
   Remember who your God is! (communion)
7. Worship releases faith in the soul.
8. God will spare you from the pain, or, He will bring you through the pain!
9. We’re not here just to live and then die. We’re here to live and see Jesus, and then see Him again.
10. The struggle will be worth it!

-Skip

On a walk today Carol and I were having a good chat, talking about ‘why do we like to walk?,’ Skip says “It gives us time. Time to talk things thru. Time to think. Time to be together.”

“In fact, it gives a person time to live.” Hearing his own words, Skip thinks he’s just landed on a great sermon topic, until Carol takes it higher:

Carol says “Most people are too busy looking at how other people live.”

Think about it. We watch sports, and how athletes live, perhaps longing ourselves to do what they do. We watch movies, and live vicariously through the actors and the great places they take us to. In magazines we read about the lives of others, often going deeper into their lives than we do our own. We go to concerts and watch others make music. The entire industry of celebrities is about other people’s lives. You get it? Sure you do.

Why not begin to live yourself? Why not take the time to … live? Why not go where they go, or at least go somewhere!? Why not make your own music? Why not take on the impossible and see what happens? All that can happen is what some call failure; but then again something wonderful may happen, something miraculous, something God may cause, making some impossible thing … possible.

Walking does give one a time to think things thru. And it doesn’t cost anything, except the forfeiture of all the busy-ness you replaced by taking the walk! It’s great for a marriage. It’s a fantastic thing to take the time to be together, talking about realities in life, but also about dreams. In fact, we often DISCOVER one another’s dreams during a walk. It can give a husband a profound and new understanding of what he could provide his wife, and it can give a wife a profound and new understanding of how she can support and respect her husband.

See? The sermons just keep rolling …

I found myself encouraging someone the other day. I like to do that. I like to help others who seem a bit down- to lift their spirit if I can. It’s not that I don’t realize life can be hard, or cruel, or painful in so many ways, but I don’t like to “live there,” and I like to try to help others get out of that place.

What happens when someone DOES go there, and tells you some sad tale of life and experience? We do much more than just say “I’m sorry.” We try to comfort. We try to encourage. We try to help in some way. Don’t we? Of course we do. We’ve been there and we know what it feels like and we want to help. This is our “good” side at work.

What happens, though, when someone DOESN’T go negative, but goes positive? What happens when they smile and their soul shines, and they tell you some fantastic tale of GOOD? Yes! The rising water lifts ALL boats, and we do that for one another every time we share the joys of life, no matter how small.

Resist the urge here to dismiss this as simply looking at the cup as half full, because in that worn out cliché it is also half empty, right? This is much more than elementary psychology. This is about how you look at life. This is about your personal world-view. This is about your foundation for facing each and every day. A healthy soul seems to bring possibilities to reality; to see good and beauty; to experience wonder and joy and amazement! A healthy soul is able to overcome, endure, be humble, and wait for God to show up. A healthy soul is a soul with a living faith, a growing faith, right in the middle of a tried faith, an attacked faith, and especially a faith challenged with so much ‘world’ that it dims the Kingdom of God which, we believe, is right in our midst!

You don’t need a Thesaurus to give you all the synonyms for “bad, sad, hard, failed, hurt, etc.” We’re experts in this area and can spiral downward quickly. Negative upon negative, almost self-generating, or should I say degenerating? So here is an exercise to add to your daily fitness pursuit: start looking up positive words. Study them. Know what they mean. Know what they say is happening. Let them confront you, challenge you, and begin to lift you. Let the knowledge of GOOD begin to triumph, even in regular life. Let them move you to prayer, asking God to transform your own negatives into something good and positive.

It’s not “wishful thinking” when you ask God! It’s not just the “think system” from The Music Man when you seek the Lord God Almighty to CHANGE you! It’s not “mind over matter” when you go to the One Who created both, loves both, and Who wants you to experience both to the full!

The Bible is the Word of God and can be more than just read. It can be trusted. It can be a handbook for life and living. It can feed you and it can heal you and it can lift the veil and reveal the Kingdom to you. Let the Glorious Word of God take you into Heavenly places in your soul, as your spirit joins His Spirit in the journey we are all on. Rebuke the negative and grasp the positive, as you allow Jesus to become more than some historical figure subject to debate. End the debate. Accept what He has for you. Life. Good. Beauty. Promise. Trust. Help. Strength. Victory!

It’s a peculiar thing that the older we get the more questions we have. We go through a time of life where we have lots of answers, because we expend great effort to learn, but then we find that our so-called fix-it answers don’t hold up, and we pause in frustration. This is a good thing, this pause, because it allows us to learn a bit more.

Along the way we have many opportunities to learn from those wiser than us just how to live a victorious life. Conferences and Seminars and Teaching Tapes (CD’s now) are in abundance. Let’s face it, we WANT to learn how to be Victorious!

The real dilemma is: are we willing to DO what it takes to BE victorious? In a spiritual sense, are we willing to BE what it takes to LIVE in victory?

This is not going to be Pastor Skip’s “teaching on how to live the victorious life.” What this is, however, is Pastor Skip’s discovery of what God Almighty says about how to live the victorious life! So, pay attention!

Here is what I want you to do: Read 1 Peter 3-5 and 2 Peter 1-2. Read slowly. Read with a highlighter, to identify specific answers to the question of “how do I live a victorious life?”

It’s only 5 chapters in the Bible.

Read slowly.

Read with the lights on and the noises off.

Ask God before you start to illumine the words He wants you to ‘see,’ because you have an enemy who wants you nearsighted and blind.

I’m telling you it is very clear, very understandable, and amazingly un-complicated. God WANTS us to live a victorious life, so let’s get about it!

We’re approaching an election, and many debates are happening, and people are understandably asking “Where is God in all of this?”

Is God going to judge America and give us a spanking? Is God going to give us the candidate of His choice? Or, is God on the sidelines, just watching to see what we do to ourselves?

I don’t know. I have my opinion, like you probably do, but I do believe that as a people who have a vote we have something unique and should use it. We should use our vote to try and create and protect and further a way of life we refer to as ‘American,’ with all of the distinctive that may have.

An essential part of this American life is “What kind of government shall we have? Capitalist or Socialist?”

I think both have folks abusing it, as a way to gain power and control and wealth, but it’s the same for religious systems. The thing is, which one is more like what we want; which is more like what the Bible teaches? Is the Bible more about just giving to others, or more about stewardship? I think giving to others is central to Biblical teaching, but I think this is based upon wise stewardship of the resources. There’s the rub, huh?

Check this out and see if it clears anything up for you, or maybe just muddy the water: https://www.prageru.com/courses/political-science/socialism-makes-people-selfish

Of my 5 children two are conservative, two are liberal, and one doesn’t care. This one may be the wisest.

At our recent family reunion the inevitable happened, which we all try to avoid but cannot, of a discussion that centered on politics, and the party platforms of policy. We talked about laws, freedom, the rights of the people, the poor, and especially about how we say or don’t say what we mean.

After the exchange I regretted it. Again. I regretted my inability to say what I meant, such that what I did say seemed to enflame rather than inform. In round-table discussion among many voices one doesn’t have the chance to ‘edit’ what one says, or to say it best. It comes out however it comes out, and often not well thought through. Furthermore, and perhaps worse, when riled up we get defensive and crank up the rhetoric to make our points, too often going further off course and more directed to the other person than the issue at hand.

After several days of processing this most recent debacle I had an interesting thought about what was actually happening. While trying to talk politics, we were really talking personhood. Perhaps they are inseparable, I’m not sure, but I think they could be.

Personhood is a very sensitive thing, isn’t it? Personhood gets right to the core. Personhood involves more than opinion, but embraces purpose, choices, and most powerful of all- identity. It’s who we are, or, at least who we think we are, or WANT to be. Personhood has at its very foundation the protection of the person! Look at “Maslow’s hierarchy of needs” and see that it flows up from Physiological needs to, Safety, Love, Esteem, and finally Self-actualization. We all want to dwell in the higher realms, but must first satisfy the lower realms in order to get higher. We want love and esteem, but first have to protect the self. Our ability to love and esteem others, which we want, seems dependent upon our own sense of being loved and esteemed, or at least safe and fed.

We may be well clothed and fed, sitting around the room having a chat, but once our identity is challenged, so is our safety, and everything else above! We devolve quickly into protectionism, and then to the attack! It never works. It never ends well. It never changes the other person’s viewpoint, and, in fact, probably deepens their resolve for the next time. Ouch.

I know I read somewhere that Jesus says we are to Love, even our enemies, and that we should Love first, not last. Really? Should we Love others at the risk of our own protection? Should we Love others at our own personal risk? Should Love come before our own personhood? In fact, IS my personhood separate from Christ? And if so, should I let it stay that way?

If politics has to do with personhood, and personhood has to do with Christ, and Christ has to do with Love…well, then, how should we vote?

Jesus Christ is not only alive, He is living! The life that Jesus Christ is living is much more than Christians routinely think about. We who are Christians would do well to reconsider His living because He is living IN us, if we can grasp such a thing! Col 1:27

Jesus Christ is Living Water! – Jn 4:10
How many of us are spiritually dehydrated? And yet, the Living Water
is here for us to drink.

He is the Living Bread – Jn 6:51
How many of us are spiritually starving, and hungry? And yet, the
Living Bread is so readily available for us to eat.

With the Living Message – Acts 7:38
How many of us are living off-message? The most important message
of all time? And yet, the message is probably on our bookshelf!

He is the Living God – Acts 14:15
We don’t talk much about idols in our current culture, but how many
of us have forgotten that Jesus Christ alone is God Almighty? How
many idols have we pursued, when the Living God is right here with
us?!!!

The Living Sacrifice – Rom 12:1
We don’t talk much about sacrifice either, almost like it’s only for
some other person to do. We forget the eternal benefits we inherit
because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And yet, He is a Living
Sacrifice, available to each of us, even now.

He is a life-giving Spirit – 1 Cor 15:45
How many of us crave a more purposeful life? How many are
discouraged and alone? How many spiritually dying or dead? And yet,
Jesus Christ comes for just this purpose, to give us life through His
Spirit, for each of us!

He is the Living Word – Jn 1:1
How many of us just don’t know what to do, feel confused or
conflicted, and need ‘a word’ ? And yet, Jesus Christ IS the Word!

The Living Camino (WAY) – Heb 10:20
How many of us have lost our way, our direction, and gotten side-
tracked somehow, and don’t know the way back? Jesus Christ is the
Way, and He yearns to lead and direct those who will..….follow Him.

The Living Hope – 1 Peter 1:3
How many of us have lost hope because of circumstances, giving up
the very life we dreamed of? Hope is not dead. Jesus Christ is the
Living Hope, and very much alive and able to restore.

The Living Stone – 1 Peter 2:4
How many of us have tripped up somehow in life? Stumbled? Banged
our head? Fallen down? The Lord God has put before us a Living
Stone, and the more we fight against this stone the more we hurt
ourselves and stumble. We would do much better to stand upon
Jesus Christ, obeying His Word, and allowing the Living Stone to
support us and protect us instead of tripping us!

He is the Living ONE – Revelation 1:18
There are many things in our lives demanding our attention, our
time, our resources, and our loyalty. How many of us get the
priorities out of order? Now is a good time to get back to what is
most important, to what will answer your questions, and to Whom
loves you so much. Why put it off? (Go ahead, try to answer that
question, and see what or whom you really serve.)

Do you ever feel like you’re covered up? I don’t mean covered as to be kept warm and comforted, but covered up by life in such a way that you are somehow trapped, or limited, or bound up in some way from what you really want?

And, sometimes, isn’t the covering like dirt, whatever dirt may mean? (The world?)

As my Carol would say: “Here’s the deal!”

Jesus often taught in parables, to illustrate spiritual concepts in practical ways. He didn’t teach this way just to be clever or colorful, but to be helpful. Jesus wants us to be set free! Jesus wants us to learn His Ways and then be able to follow Him to both freedom from bondages, but also to the abundant life, in the Spirit.

Luke 8:5-15 has the wonderful parable of the sower and the seed. You’ve probably read it a bunch, and heard it expounded upon before. Today, however, I saw it in a new way. For me, an epiphany, if you will, and I hope for you too.

Think about a seed. What does a seed want, or need? A seed needs to be covered in dirt, doesn’t it? What a strange thought, that the dirt somehow protects the seed, which really wants something better…light! The seed will sit in the dirt for some period of time, and then begin to seek the light, begin to grow, even while covered in dirt. Some water helps. But the seed pushes onward, upward, to punch out of the dirt into the light!

I realize there are all sorts of ways this could be reinterpreted, probably much better than I ‘m doing here, but the point is that even though we’re covered in dirt, we are seeking the light, and that our growth WILL result in a breaking forth! Jesus then gives us sort of a follow-up parable in Luke 13:19 about the mustard seed, and teach us that it is like that with FAITH. Faith is like a seed, He says, which even if covered in dirt (the world) can break forth into the light of day and bear fruit!

Covered in dirt. Seeking the Light. Faith breaks forth.