By Faith - 8/15/11

Romans 10:17 - "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ."

I wonder what we're listening to. Or even whom we're listening to. Is the word about Christ dwelling deeply in our lives?

I had a wonderful opportunity to talk about the Bible this week with a number of different people, because I threw out the question, "What have you always wanted to know about the Bible?" The response was overwhelming; and, I found myself continually trying to convince people that the Bible is correct, and that dinosaurs existed during the time of man, etc. After awhile, I was no longer attempting to show the Word of God, but rather trying to prove how smart I was through my biblical knowledge. Fail.

On Thursday, I had lunch with a friend that I haven't talked to in a very long time. We went to tacos (not surprising, if you know me) and while there we discussed some of the hard questions that had been raised. His response was very simple. "Don't get so caught up in trying to explain everything that you take faith out of the discussion." Truth.

The word about Christ had ceased to be the message I was spreading.

We are already familiar with the idea that we must have faith in Jesus in order to receive salvation, but are we continually listening to the message about Christ? Because, without the message of Christ girding our understanding of faith, we lose. This week, you will be tempted to follow other passions, other ideas, or logical conclusions that may not necessarily be wrong; however, if they do not fortify your faith in Christ, ignore them. Abraham had faith and followed God to a new land. In the same manner, ignore the other pastures that may seem "good enough" and follow God into the new land that is prepared for you and your family.

God's blessings on your life this week,

Bryan

http://thebtaylor.blogspot.com

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The Legacy Path, by Brian Haynes

If you're looking for a good read on biblical parenting and leaving a legacy for your children, check out Brian Haynes' new book! The Legacy Path: Discover Intentional Spiritual Parenting is a book that every parent, pastor, and youth worker should have in their library. You can find it on sale at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Legacy-Path-Intentional-Spiritual-Parenting/dp/0892656344/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1

Haynes has an easy way of communicating God's plan for parenthood. The Legacy Path is intentionally grounded in scripture as a way of pointing each of our parenting decisions back to the Bible. Not only are we responsible for leaving our children with a godly legacy, but also we are to look to God's example outlined, very clearly, in the Bible.

Haynes is well-researched and writes in an easy-to-read format, so that anyone picking up the book can understand the message. By breaking down the major points of understanding into smaller concepts, the reader can quickly grasp the intentional guidelines that God has outlined for parents.

I would recommend this book for any parent, pastor, or youth worker! It has very practical ways for understanding the roles and responsibilities of parents. If we were to look at God's example of parenting, we would very simply see that our way of parenting should be similar. But, not only does this give parents an understanding of their task, it also gives pastors and youth workers clarity on role distinction.

Often, pastors and youth workers feel as if they have to parent the teens and children that walk through the church doors. Not so! Instead, they are responsible for teaching the parents of those children to parent well. As a youth worker, myself, I've come to realize that I cannot parent every teen that walks into my room; however, I can work with the parents of my teens, to frame their parenting abilities after God's original plan. Since I have no children of my own, I found Haynes' book extremely useful and insightful for teen ministry.

If you can, share the word about The Legacy Path, please do so! We need more parents that are willing to take a stand for biblical parenting principles!

On Love - 8/8/11

"What is love, baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me no more."

Man, isn't that just how it is? We're afraid to love, because we're afraid of getting hurt?

Consider John 13 with me. This is the time when Jesus having the Last Supper with His disciples. They've spent three years together, ministering to each other, Jesus, and the people; and, now they're approaching the time for the final meal. At this point, I'm sure the disciples weren't fully aware that Jesus would be leaving them, although He had mentioned it repeatedly throughout His ministry. They were probably just reclining and enjoying the celebratory meal of the Passover, while excitedly awaiting the Passover Festival.

Before Jesus begins to break the action, John describes His attitude by saying, "Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." An accurate description of His lifestyle, this seems to embody all that Christ was about: love. To put actions to words, Jesus stands up and begins to wash His disciples' feet. And, if that's not enough, He continues to eat with the disciple that will betray Him, giving no further thought to regret, emotion, or retribution. How is it that this man, called Jesus, can do the unthinkable and love the person that is about to betray Him??

Finally, He leaves His disciples with one last command: Love one another. He said, "And I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

It seems that we are only willing to love others when they are lovable. Going back to the lyrics to the song above, we're seemingly not able to love people after we've been hurt by them. I think Jesus was saying, "Love anyway. I don't really care if you've been hurt, just do what you know that you're supposed to do." To me, that's powerful.

This week, you will have many opportunities to love others. Some will be dear to you, while others will want nothing to do with you. Love them anyway. Love the ones that are close to you, because Jesus first loved them. Love those that hate you, because Jesus first loved them. Love without fear of getting hurt. Love without fear of retaliation. Just love.

God's blessings on your life this week,

Bryan

http://thebtaylor.blogspot.com

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If you'd like to subscribe to this weekly devotional, please forward your email and name to thebtaylor@gmail.com.

In the Middle of the Pool

I'm sure some of you are fans of swimming. For sure there have been moments of pure bliss for me in the pool, and then other moments that have taken my breath away...literally. Have you ever considered swimming laps, but then partway through one of your laps, you can't seem to make it all the way across. It doesn't matter if the pool is six feet deep or ten, if you can't make it across, you begin to panic and wonder if you will drown. For most of us the pool is short enough that we never have that issue. In fact, we can almost make it across in one push-off from the ledge.

I want you to imagine, however, that you are in an Olympic-sized pool. And, it makes waves.

On one side of the pool is the ledge marked "Traditions and Values". On the other side of the pool is the ledge marked "Forgiveness and Grace". The life of a Christian consists of us treading water in the middle of the pool, perfectly balanced between the two ledges.

Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). We recognize that it is only by His forgiveness and grace that we are allowed to enter into the presence of God. There is no other way around it. If we have not personally claimed Him as our Savior and devoted our lives to Him, then He will not claim us on the Day of Judgement. In many ways, this seems to mark the attitude of Christians, by saying, "There's nothing that I can ever do without God's forgiveness through Jesus," as an excuse for the way that they live their lives.

However, James says that "religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (1:27). There is another camp that says, I am following God through my religious fervor. I prove to God, through my everyday actions, that I am His follower; and yet, their lives seem to be filled with a lot of them and a little God.

There is an unseen, but strongly felt, tension that exists within the heart of every Christian and that is this: I balance out my faith in God's salvation through living according to His Word. We know that balance must exist by treading water in the middle of the pool, but when we get tired, or when the water seems a bit higher than usual, or the waves just start to creep in enough to splash us in the face, we think about swimming back to the ledge. It doesn't really matter which ledge, because either is the mark of shallow living; but, swim to it we do.

Wars have been fought over religious differences. Souls have been lost over the idea of religion. We have this idea that our religious believes and ideology will save us. Even today, there is an ever-growing thought that there are many ways to God, and if you truly believe that your way is correct, you will be saved. Unfortunately, that is the farthest thing from the truth and it will damn all who believe it.

There is also a new movement that says, "Relationship, NOT Religion". I'm not inclined to disagree with them, but it still only hits part of the mark for which we should strive. For, in essence, our relationship with God is reaffirmed by the religion that He has set up for us. We first acquire a relationship with God and then put into practice the commands and mandates that He has given us. The relationship is equally important with the practice, but we've had a hard time understanding that. In fact, we've spent so much time arguing about it that we are willing to give up one to save the other. We are willing to forsake one ledge and cling to the familiar. Both are necessary and both are required.

If you're going to live your life as a true Christ-follower, then you must understand that God is your only source of strength in the middle of the pool. Rather than freaking out over the waves or fatigue, find your energy and comfort in the One that will sustain you. Don't go back to your old habit of short-sided and opinionated dialogue about how "good" you are, but rather recognize that He will provide for your every need as you obey His commands and remain unpolluted by the world.

Then the middle of the pool won't seem so scary.

My Pet Dinosaurs

Have you ever considered having your own pet dinosaur? That fascination normally goes away at or around the age of 7. Mine, however, did not.

I want a dinosaur. In fact, I would like a number of them.

One would be for transportation. I mean, how cool would it be to have a lizard give you a ride to work? You can't expect to go anywhere in life without a dinosaur to take you there. I'm envisioning this dinosaur being big enough to wear a saddle, but not so big that I need a rope ladder to get up. For my transportation dino, he'd have to make it across Fresno at a decent gait, so I'll probably use a triceratops.

Then I'd like one for a pet. I have a pretty cool dog, but who wouldn't want a dinosaur as well?? This one would have to be small enough to snuggle on the couch, but still able to tear apart any midnight intruders. To stay on the smaller end, I'd like a lesothosaurus.

Lastly, there's always a need for constant home security. I recently had my license plates stolen from my car while it was in the driveway; however, if I had better home security, that wouldn't have happened. I'll need something quick and able charge the enemy without a moment's hesitation, which made me think of the raptor. However, I'm looking for an all-around good pick, and the raptor, while vicious, might take MY head off too. I'm going to diverge from the family and pick a dragon. I'd have to modify my garage to make a home for him, but I think it's worth it when all of the benefits are considered.

A dragon will provide instant heat for BBQ or smores. It could also give me that home security that I've desired for awhile now. But, most importantly, when I'm tired of riding the triceratops to work, I can fly in and make a grand entrance on my dragon. All around, a good pick, I think.

So there you have it. When I am finally able to afford my new pets, I'll post pictures.

eScrip Sign-ups for Harmony Church Youth

For those of you that don't know, our youth group is enrolled in the eScrip program to provide fundraising support for our youth events and activities. eScrip is most notably linked to Vons/Safeway stores, but they are continually adding new merchants to their group of supporters. If you are willing to register your Vons/Safeway card, the store will donate 1-2% of what you spend to our group. Our summer goal is to sign up 4,000 new supporters to help keep our ministry funded. It only takes 5 minutes to register your card, so please help us by signing up! Thank you and God bless!

Go to https://secure.escrip.com/jsp/supporter/registration/step1.jsp and follow the instructions. Our group ID is 7430647. Again, thank you for your willingness to support Harmony Youth Ministries!

And Now Batting Fourth

I'm a HUGE Giants baseball fan, and like many others, my spirits were crushed when Buster Posey was taken out of the game. I immediately began thinking that there was NO WAY that the Giants could recover after he was taken out for the season. But, something else struck my mind: the spirit of the Giants took a big hit. A quiet and unassuming man, Posey commanded the game, without even realizing that He was doing it. It was as natural to him as eating is to me. And with that thought, I began to realize just how clutch Posey has been in his first two seasons with the Giants.

With that said, I feel compelled to relate an incident that happened in my life, and how I was able to draw back to that experience of watching Giants baseball...

I took my car into the shop, because the check engine light had been on (for awhile, but I won't say how long...). When I arrived, the mechanic said that it was only by the grace of God that I was able to drive it in to the shop. My car shouldn't have been running, nor should I have been able to drive it for as long as I did. My first thought went to the expenses. But after I considered what was really happening, I had to stop and tell God that He had just pulled a Buster Posey. He was clutch and I could barely believe that He had taken care of me YET AGAIN. Although I was prepared for the worst, but the price came in under my original assessment. I drove my car into the ground, and yet God kept me safe for that long. How is it that God has such an unassuming ability to protect me and care for me and I treat Him as just another "player" in my life - as if I can live life without Him!

Looking back, I realize that God has done season after season in my life and yet I don't recognize Him for the amazing work that He has done. He has been clutch, and yet I still worry about whether or not He is going to come through for me. With as many times as it has happened, you'd think that I would allow Him to hit clean up ALL of the time, but sometimes I'm slow on the uptake.

I encourage you to take a moment and recognize God's presence in your life. How has He been clutch for you? What can you do to praise Him for the blessings in your life? I hope that you are able to give Him credit where it is due!