Christmas

December 9, 2009 in Challenges with 1 Comment

christmas

Due to me having ‘bloggers’ block again, I am posting a writing from Louis Brittz on Christmas. In many ways he expresses what I feel toward Christmas in the modern day, but his ending really got me just now.

Christmas, christmas. What to say?

If it weren’t for the vast splotches of red everywhere I guess I’d be O.K.

This is an unchangeable fact of life: Red is the base colour of Christmas. And it insults my sense of good taste. Red is the colour of fire engines, stop signs and matadors. It says danger! Stop! Anger! It’s also the hue of measles, pimples and other wortlike growths. Do we need a whole season clothed in it? Stuffed up men dressed in it from top to bottom, on every corner of every shopping mall?
Whole department stores transformed into fever factories? How is this supposed to make me happy?

And if it weren’t for the Christmas bells I could cope.

I’m not from Switzerland. I’m not a goat or a cow. The ringing of a high-pitched bell doesn’t loosen the hidden merriment deep in my soul. To me a bell means that it’s time to go to class. That there’s a fire warning somewhere. That I must leave the significant things I’m doing to go wash up for dinner. That I must get out of bed! It’s a disturbing sound. It’s too high, too shrill, too clear and too piercing. It’s a javelin stuck in my inner ear. Satan’s arrow, I’m sure. It’s the blinding flash of white light behind my left eye before the headache settles in.

In fact, it’s the exact opposite of the warm, gurgling sound generated by an electric guitar played through a tube amp. If that doesn’t sum it up for you, you’re lacking in paradigm and I weep for you.

And what’s up with the fascination with snow? Where did the idea of a white Christmas come from and why is it so romantic?

Snow works great in pictures. Pretty and pristine. But that’s a lie. Up close it’s filthy, wet and horrible to drive on. And very, very cold. In truth I’m a bit biased (and maybe jealous?) because I’m from South Africa. Christmas for us is a sundrenched day at the beach. Dreaming of a white Christmas in South Africa…could get you thrown into prison. (Please consider our political history).

Oh, and then there’s the floral paper with bows on them that we wrap our too-expensive gifts in.

Floral paper.
Bows, for crying out loud.

What is this, the Seventies?

And woman in church who sing too high. Why is it at Christmas that all the woman sing too high? Why are Christmas songs so written that they almost always support a piercing soprano harmony? Is this the enemy’s way of keeping musical people out of church at Christmas? Should I consider spiritual warfare?

…So I don’t celebrate Christmas…or do I?
Of course I do.

I’m not enough of a non-conformist as to abstain. I’m not Ebenhaezer Scrooge!
I have a family after all, and this is such a great family time. And what harm could be done, I ask myself, in celebrating Christmas with the rest of the world? It’s such a non-violent thing. If it has an aura, I can only imagine it pink. Peachy, rosy, soft and warm…what ever.

I’m just really glad that Christmas doesn’t originate from the Bible like the real Christian celebrations. That God didn’t tell me to do Christmas or He’d frown upon me and smite me. Because then I’d have to go all out for it. As you can imagine, I’d have to really dig deep and I’m afraid the well might be found dry.

Oh, but I’m happy for the kids! For them Christmas is the most splendid time of the whole year. Gifts, food, merriment, more gifts, more food. And a general license to do some things that they would never get away with during the rest of the year. And for the same reasons I’m happy for us grown-ups. We get a semi-Christian-like festival filled with wonder, amazement and a touch of magic. We get the excuse to make contact with our inner child and say to it “Come out to play.”

Christmas is when I retreat into my head, look at the whole shebang and think: “If only I never grew up.”
But then, I feel like that most days.

Jesus,
I’m sorry that I’m such a partypooper. That I have to be so adult, morose and “real” about everything. Sorry for shattering the postcard-picture that gleefully romantic people have of a very happy season. I concede that Christmas is cool. You were born in a manger, which is a very special place to be born for a human. You were born of a virgin, and I don’t think it had ever happened before. Nore has it happened since. There was that very special star, the shepherds, the wonderful gifts that wise men brought, bad old King Herod who tried so hard to get at you…It’s a pretty amazing story and it deserves to be told. I can even imagine that You’re behind the whole Christmas-hype. How else would we get the whole non-Christian world to sing carols with your name in and be reminded that the Word became flesh and they called you Jesus?

And at the barest,most basic minimum, every person ever born should get to have a birthday. On this earth, what we call Christmas is as close as you will come.

Extending you basic Faith

December 8, 2009 in Challenges with 12 Comments

jesus-cross

What is your basic faith? Is it believing that God created the heavens and the earth, or is it believing that Jesus died for OUR sins on the cross, or is it simply believing that everything happened by chance and there is no eternity waiting for us?

If your basic faith is the last one, I want to commend you, in really having great faith, as this is a bigger stretch of faith for me, than having faith in a Creator and an Omnipotent and Omnipresent God.

To really believe that we humans, and other animals, have just happened form nothing, and to be passionate about it, really is amazing to me. How emotions, and all that goes with it, could just happen. That the drive that all of us have in us, is just because…

I have great faith in the fact that God created everything. That I am not here by accident, and that God really has a plan for my life, which He is already putting in place. By having this faith, I want to extent it by doing what Peter tells us in 2 Peter 1:5-9 (The Message)

So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.

By doing this, I really want to develop and grow in my relationship with God. I want to be able to get up in the morning, and tell the person on the street corner that Jesus loves him, and pray for him, and be able to, confidently, lead that person to the cross, and give him/her eternal salvation.

I want to be able to take my musical talents, and be able to play to people in such a way, as that they will want to know what is different in me. I want to be able to bless people just by playing music.

A guy in our worship team came to me one day, and said that me and my wife brings healing through our music that we make, and I want to start seeing that. Not just play and be recognised, but to start making a difference for the kingdom, by using my talents that God gave me. To live my calling, and to be able to lead people to the cross.

I believe that we all have a certain thing that God gave us, that we need to use for His glory, to lead the unsaved to the cross. Let us all go out, spend time with God, and hear from Him how we are going to be able to do these things with our talents, and let us change the world one day at a time, through the power of Him that gives it to us.

We can do it

December 4, 2009 in Challenges with 609 Comments

positive

I have been listening to the Hero sermon series from NCC (National Community Church) for the last couple of days, and this morning I was listening to a sermon about Caleb.

Now most will know his name, but he basically lived in the shadow of Joshua. However, he had the best attitude of all the spies that was sent into the Promised Land, and had a belief greater than what he could see in the physical.

Numbers 13:26-29 (The Message)

They presented themselves before Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the People of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told the story of their trip:”We went to the land to which you sent us and, oh! It does flow with milk and honey! Just look at this fruit! The only thing is that the people who live there are fierce, their cities are huge and well fortified. Worse yet, we saw descendants of the giant Anak. Amalekites are spread out in the Negev; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites hold the hill country; and the Canaanites are established on the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan.”

From this section you can see that the scouts had no hope of being able to capture the land with their own power. In the very next verse, Caleb steps in

Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses and said, “Let’s go up and take the land—now. We can do it.”

What would happen in your life, if you started to take up a ‘Can Do’ attitude. To start to look at life with faith, and knowing that with God on your side, you can do anything.

We tend to get caught up in the fact that we, as people might not be able to do something, and then we forget that God is always with us, and the He is all powerful.

Let us start and be more positive, taking on a ‘Can Do’ attitude, and I promise you that life would just start to feel a bit more breezy.

Not of this world

December 3, 2009 in Challenges with 12 Comments

baptism

How many times a day do we just wish that the people around us, would accept us and love us?

How many time a day we just do something, because the people around us do it?

I am quite often guilty of trying to fit in, because it is the easy thing to de, but Jesus is pretty clear about this.

John 15:18-19 (The Message)

“If you find the godless world is hating you, remember it got its start hating me. If you lived on the world’s terms, the world would love you as one of its own. But since I picked you to live on God’s terms and no longer on the world’s terms, the world is going to hate you.

Pretty harsh, to know that the world is going to hate you, isn’t it?

Why do we do it then? Why do we follow God, an proclaim to the world that He is the salvation and the way?

This answer will probably differ for many of us, but for me, it is because I only need the love and acceptance from one person, and that is God. For a very long time in my life, I was an ‘Sunday’ Christian. Going to church, and playing in the worship band, but to get the sine for being on stage, and to impress with my talents. I went to church, because my family went to church.

Only after the birth of my daughter, did I really come to grips with what it means to be a Christ Follower. Now, all I want to do is serve, and be Jesus for the poor and the needy, to help the widows and the orphans.

I pray that all of you reading this, will also get to that point, if you haven’t reached it yet, where you can stand up boldly before the world, and proclaim the name of Jesus.

Another scenario from scripture that I really like around me becoming less and Jesus more is in John 3

John 3:27-30 (NIV)

27To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. 28You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ 29The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30He must become greater; I must become less.

Throw in the towel

December 1, 2009 in Challenges with 3 Comments

throwtowel

NO, not that way. Let us read John 13 and take it from there

John 13:1-17 (The Message)

Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal.

Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, "Master, you wash my feet?"

Jesus answered, "You don’t understand now what I’m doing, but it will be clear enough to you later."

Peter persisted, "You’re not going to wash my feet—ever!"

Jesus said, "If I don’t wash you, you can’t be part of what I’m doing."

"Master!" said Peter. "Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!"

Jesus said, "If you’ve had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you’re clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene. So now you’re clean. But not every one of you." (He knew who was betraying him. That’s why he said, "Not every one of you.") After he had finished washing their feet, he took his robe, put it back on, and went back to his place at the table.

Then he said, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. I’m only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn’t give orders to the employer. If you understand what I’m telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life.

Reading this, and understanding what washing feet meant in Jesus’ time, a chore for the lowliest servant of the household, this passage starts to take a whole new meaning.

According to this passage where Jesus says that if He doesn’t wash Peter’s feet, Peter won’t be able to be part of what Jesus came to do, and that is to SERVE.

We as Christians need to start getting out, and getting sweaty for Christ. We need to start serving people, ALL people. Especially those that would never expect to be served. The orphans and the widows, the needy and the sinners.

Jesus never served in the well off places, but He went into the slums of the times, and ate with prostitutes and tax collectors.

I challenge all of you, and myself, to start putting a towel around our waists and to start serving. Especially over this Christmas period. Why don’t we try and get one demographic of people needing service, and go out and bless them with what they least expect. Let us go out, and preach the name of Christ, and IN the name of Christ, to the people that need to hear it the most.

Altars

December 1, 2009 in Challenges with 1 Comment

altarThis morning driving to work, I was listening to a podcast from Mark Batterson on Altars. This is part of a series of sermons he gave on the rituals we practice as Christians. These include rituals such as Prayer, Fasting, etc.

In any case, what struck me listening to this sermon from him, was how little altars I have built for the Lord in my life.

If you follow the story of Abram, you will notice he build altars to the Lord and he would return to those altars to praise the Lord once again upon returning to the altar, remembering the promise of the Lord which caused him to build the altar.

Genesis 12:7 (The Message)

God appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your children.” Abram built an altar at the place God had appeared to him.

I personally feel that I really need to put some altars in place in my life. Be it a picture or a book, that opened something for me in my life, that I need to remember. Something I need to praise the Lord over on a continual basis.

In Christ

November 30, 2009 in Challenges with 12 Comments

john3-16

Yesterday at church, we as a congregation spent some time reciting the following.

This is a declaration on the reality of things we have in Christ. The only thing we need to do, is make it our own.

In Christ… I am reconciled with God (2 Cor 5:19)

In Christ… there is no condemnation (Rom 8:1)

In Christ… I can do everything (Phil 4:13)

In Christ… I receive righteousness, holiness and redemption (1 Cor 1:30)

In Christ… everything is new, the old is done (Rom 5:17)

In Christ… I have life in abundance (John 10:10)

In Christ… I have authority over the enemy (John 1:12)

In Christ… I have eternal life (Rom 6:23)

In Christ… I walk with the Spirit (Rom 8:2)

In Christ… the truth shall be my witness (Rom 9:1)

In Christ… I form part of the body of Christ (Rom 12:5)

In Christ… I have reason to glorify all things about God (Rom 15:17)

In Christ… I can share God’s love with others (John 3:16)

In Christ… I find my true identity (Eph 1:11)

In Christ… I have a new life (Rom 6:4)

These are just a few of the things that are true reality for us ‘In Christ’.

Now, go out, make these your own, and share it with the people around you.

Faith

November 30, 2009 in Challenges with 41 Comments

image Last night I had a humbling experience. During the course of yesterday I developed a serious stomach cramp and ache. I cannot figure out why this happened, but a few hours before leaving for church to do sound check (for worship) I was lying on the ground in a small curled up ball.

When we arrived at church we completed sound check with my stomach still feeling pretty horrid. A few minutes before the service was suppose to start we (as always gathered) for prayer and focus. During this time some of the band members saw my discomfort (most likely due to my facial expression). As part of the preparation for worship we engaged our spirits and praised God. Following this a few of the guys in the band prayed a simple faith prayer for me, asking God to provide strength and healing.

I was amazed when at the end of this 10 minute period and prayers my stomach crap had disappeared. Praise God! My stomach was still sore, but the cramp that had me twisting since a few hours earlier had disappeared.

This experience hit home hard… We trust in God for miracles and for big things, but yet we deny Him the ability to touch us in the small things. We have faith in God when things seem impossible – but how often do we really engage our faith in the daily “trivial” things.

The words of Jesus came to mind: “O ye, of little faith”. These words where used at various places in the bible to rebuke the disciples when they seemed to doubt in Christ.

Matthew 8:25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.
Matthew 8:26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

Matthew 14:30 But when he [Peter] saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
Matthew 14:31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

O God, help me today to trust is you… completely. My you have faith to see miracles in the big and small things in your life today.

Be Responsible

November 27, 2009 in Challenges with 10 Comments

MessyDesk

I have been asked this question a couple of time before, that if through God’s grace our sins are hidden from view, why we just don’t carry on sinning, or whether we can just carry on sinning.

The thing is, that when you come into Christ you don’t want to sin any more.  You want to live a righteous life, and you want to go out and be Jesus for other people.

In 1 Peter 1:17 it is stated very nicely, as to how God would react to this as well

You call out to God for help and he helps—he’s a good Father that way. But don’t forget, he’s also a responsible Father, and won’t let you get by with sloppy living.

Sloppy living for me is to just let go. To just give in to those sins that He has delivered you from and gave you salvation over.

When Jesus hung on the cross, He took all our sins unto Himself. Are you really going to be so selfish, to carry on doing it? I don’t think so.

Yes, Satan will still come and tempt you, as only he can, but in Christ we are strong and we have the power to withstand the attacks of the evil one.

Stand strong in Christ, and live a responsible life, for Him and for yourself.

Unconditional Love

November 26, 2009 in Challenges with 34 Comments

Smile

What a fail from me this morning. I let my temper get the better of me and I screamed at my baby girl because she couldn’t sleep due to cutting teeth.

I was so tired I didn’t know what to due, and lost it. My temper is something that I have been working hard at to keep under control, as it can get the better of me very quickly. And now this morning I had to loose it on her.

I felt so bad, and didn’t know how I could remedy the situation, as I could see that she was really shocked at my reaction.

In any case, after some pain medication for her, she finally went back to sleep, and I was able to get in another hour, to tally my sleeping hours at about 4.

When she got up a couple hours later, what did I get? The BIGGEST smile ever. It really knocked me. How is this little girl able to forget her fathers reactions so quickly, and just show love towards him?

Thinking about this after dropping her off at day care, it hit me that that is exactly how God is towards us. Even if we do the worst thing possible, His grace is still big enough to love us. We don’t deserve it, not for a second, but He does.

This is the amazing thing in following Christ for me. Thinking about grace just gets me every time.

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