What we dwell on makes a difference

Growing up I read the entire Sherlock Holmes collection (by growing up I mean in college, it was a great mind vacation from school). In said collection, the great detective had a theory that you only have room in your brain for so much before you can't remember clearly all that you put in there. So he committed to only learning and remembering practical things. Like observation, and the skills of observation. (I really want to see the new Holmes by the way).

Now, I don't always agree with Sherlock. But I think that he is on to something here. When I backed up my prior research of reading about the greatest detective to come out of the UK with the very sophisticated "wikiAnswers" I found a similar reading. We can store stuff in our mind until it is displaced or removed.

How true it is with our heart and minds! Jesus tells us that whatever comes out of the mouth, is really from the heart (matt. 15). Potty humor, from a potty heart. Encouragement, from a loving heart. What we dwell on makes a difference.

On Wednesday night we are continuing our Chaotic Joy series through Philippians. Last night in Phil. 4:8 we are encouraged, no, entreated to dwell on things that matter to God.

Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.

Let your mind dwell on these things. We can go through the list and see what we are dwelling on and putting in our hearts and minds. We won't be very proud of the things we see there. Here is how the early church dealt with this. They fixed their eyes on Jesus!

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:2-3

The early church fixed their eyes on Jesus! That is what they were committed to. What He taught, how He lived, how He obeyed, how He suffered, how He rose again. Shame on me for distracting people from Jesus. He addresses and answers nearly every problem we encounter! Let us fix our eyes on Him!

What are we dwelling on? Are we dwelling on our past? Our sufferings? Our anxiety? I pray that we put those behind us and continue to run the race with our eyes fastened on the prize. Let us run the race in a way that He will be proud, and say well done my good and faithful servant.

Are we putting mindless movie quotes in our heart? Are we focusing on the latest lyrics from your favorite band (unless it's dc talk, then its all good in the hood)? Or are we treasuring the word of God in our heart?

much Love,
johnny

So much to do, so little time

Do you ever wonder why God only put 24 hours in a day? Sometimes I wish that he made 28 hours in a day. Think about that...if only we had four more hours to do whatever needed to get done. If I devoted fours hours completely to learning the guitar, I would rock. Or if I shot a basketball four extra hours a day, I would rarely miss. Or if I spent four hours more with my wife everyday, we would have an even more awesome relationship (she might get tired of me though). Or, this is going to sound crazy, but what if we spent four hours a day just hanging out with God? Reading His word, memorizing it, singing to him, praying to him. That would be amazing!

But to be honest, I don't think I would use the four hours productively all the time. You know what I mean. When you heard "four hours more" some of you were like...yeah, I could use four more hours of sleep. Or yeah, four more hours of WoW (which I have never played, simply because it seems like a colossal time waster in which I would then need 32 hours in a day to make up for all the lost time a spent playing a video game).

I guess what I am trying to get at...is that I want to do too much sometimes. And I think that some of you out there are on the same track. We try to do as much as we can because we like people, or we like sports, or we like music, or we like ______ (that's a fill in the blank, duh).

But God is good. He made the day with 24 hours in it because he knew that if we had more time, then it still wouldn't be enough. We would still have days that were productive and glorifying to Him, and we would still have days where we have a million things to do and do only one of them. But what are the important things? What are the things that we should be doing no matter what? I don't think that it is an actual thing to do...I think that it is a thing to be.

We need to just be sometimes. We are not human doings, but human beings. We are not defined by what we do but who we are. Being good at music doesn't define me, or being good at basketball or WoW doesn't define me. It is not what I do, it is what I am.

So, regardless of what I do in a day, am I the best husband I can be? Am I the best son I can be? Am I the best child of God I can be? Am I the best youth pastor I can be? I think if we ask these questions to ourselves we will end up doing the things that need to be done, because of who we are. Think about that.

I was really tempted to go into the theology behind DC Talk's (not so) hit song "time is tickin away" but that might be too much decent Christian talk in one week. So lets strive to be, as opposed to do, and I think it will all fall into place.

And yes, I wrote this because I wish there was more time to prepare for the busy weekend. But God is good and He has it all planned out for us. We just need to be his children.

much Love,
johnny

p.s.- my favorite line from that song..."get busy like a school boy makin' an A, cause time my brotha' is tickin' away." I know. Profound.

Brad Henning was great!

Thanks to all of you who came out to hear Brad Henning talk on relationships, love, and sex. This was perhaps the best area wide event we have ever done, with over 200 kids from Gig Harbor to hear about how to have healthy relationships and why it so important to wait to have sex till marriage. I can't recap all of it, but let's talk about love!

We got a great definition of love from Brad!

Choosing the highest good for the other person.

Remember, love is not an emotion. Love is not a feeling. Love is not a ditch (that you fall into). And love is most certainly not sex (remember how he showed that? woah!)

Love is a choice. It is an action. It is an action word. It is a verb.

I can't believe I am about to do this, but...remember the DC Talk song "luv is a verb"? Yeah, they nailed the definition a long time ago (like 20 years!) with that song. How does it go? Ah yes...

"Pullin out my big black book
Cause when I need a word defined thats where I look
So I move to the L's quick, fast, in a hurry
Threw on my specs, thought my vision was blurry
I looked again but to my dismay
It was black and white with no room for grey
Ya see, a big V stood beyond my word
And yo that's when it hit me, that luv is a verb

Words come easy but dont mean much
When the words theyre sayin we cant put trust in
Were talkin bout love in a different light
And if we all learn to love it would be just right

Thinkin of a way to explain-o
Cause ya know when Im flowin like a bottle of drain-o
Simple and plain, l-o-v-e
Aint all that junk that ya see on tv
Put soaps on a rope cause they aint worth copin with
Its a myth that there aint no hope and
Luv is enough if its unconditionally
Givin now youre living out the great commission

Back in the day there was a man
Who stepped out of heaven and he walked the land
He delivered to the people an eternal choice
With a heart full of luv and the truth in his voice
Gave up his life so that we may live
How much more luv could the son of God give?
Here is the example that we oughtta be matchin
Cause luv is a word that requires some action"

Now those are some good love lyrics! Words to live by my friends, words to live by.

I am pretty sure that Brad Henning should be introduced to the crowds with any DC Talk song playing in the background.

much Love,
johnny

Sunday ReCap, high school

Judges. Lots of cool stories of God raising up warrior judges to lead the people back to Him. When you sit down at Forza to take the half hour this week to read it...remember that it is very bloody at times and war like. Probably rated R for violence. But don't let that stop you!

And when you read it remember to look for the "judges cycle." That is: the people turn from God, suffer oppression from surrounding nations, cry out to God for help, God raises up a Judge, they turn back to God. This cycle happens a number of times in the book and we can learn a lot from it today.

This "cycle" happens because "everyone did what they saw fit" (Judges 17:6, 21:25). You see just how bad society is when you read Judges 19-21. It has gotten very bad in Israel! I don't think USA is at the point where the book of Judges ends, but similar to our society, the moral code is loosening greatly in recent years. Take for example sex before marriage. 60 years ago it was frowned upon in our society. Now, it is practically expected to have sex if you are dating. Because society says it okay, does it make it right? Is there a higher standard that we are to live by? Yes!

And this puts Christians in a tight spot. We DO have a moral code to live by, regardless of what society says. But it is becoming increasingly more difficult to BE a Christian. To constantly choose God over our selfish desires. To constantly be a light to this crooked and perverse generation (Phil. 2:15). I am praying for you!

God has set His standard higher. I am once again reminded of the classic DC Talk song, "I don't want it." It is very poetic (a stretch of the word) about how Christians should live in a society that has loose morals about sex. Check it out!

much Love,
johnny