Archive for April, 2009

This past Sunday Elevation Church hosted Ted and Gayle Haggard for an
interview on the topics of sin, forgiveness, and the essence of the
Gospel.

You can read some of Steve Furtick’s thoughts on the interview here…

I am really glad to see Mr. Haggard speak so openly about his struggle. It helps folks know that we all struggle…even a pastor and evangelical leader is not immune to sexual sin. If it can happen to him, it can happen to any of us.

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. (Romans 1:24-25)

In essence, when a person habitually uses pornography, they are worshiping a created image instead of God the creator. They are giving their affections, focus, time and intimacy, and to some extent, their bodies to a perverted image of God’s creation. They are worshiping other gods. For purpose’s of this devotion we cannot cover the process of stopping the use of pornography for the habitual user. But for the Christian who has been “dabbling” in this occult activity, run away. Draw strict borders for yourself. Your God is jealous, and will not share your heart, affections, or worship with any other god.

You shall have not other gods before me (Exodus 20:3)

This devotion was written by Shawn Panosian, a friend and Christian Therapist who specializes in Addiction and Sexual Abuse.

I got the last of the ScreamFree Marriage email mini-seminar today. It has a lot of really helpful little nuggets. You can see it in entirety here.

For who struggle and are married, you know that your marriage can be one of your biggest supports and biggest triggers to act out. Take the time to invest in yourself and your marriage!

This past weekend I finished reading “Eyes Wide Open” by Jud Wilhite. I had the pleasure of finishing it while drinking coffee and eating a blueberry muffin at a local coffee shop. After I was done, I passed the book on to the barista. Hopefully it will bless her as much as it did me!

Jud does a really great job of taking some well-known passages of scripture and breathing new life into them. He adds an insightful twist that gives them new meaning.

Each short chapter is an example of God’s grace from scripture accompanied by a poignant story of how it plays out in real life. That is what I appreciate most about the book. It deals with grace where real people live. Jud could have easily stopped with verses and his exposition of them. It is the stories showing God in action that makes it something special.

By the end of the book, you can’t help but be encouraged about who you are in Christ, how God sees you and the purpose you were put here to fulfill for God’s glory.

A friend on Facebook updated their profile with this statement today.

Righteousness is believing the promises of God, being fully persuaded He’ll keep his word.

I was really taken aback by it. I had to go to Romans 4 and clear up my understanding!

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of
many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring
be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:18-22)

This really is an amazing thing. I’ll explain more later, but the remainder of this passage is even more amazing…

The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. (Romans 4:23-24)

I’m sorry, did that just say that God will credit me with righteousness for my belief in Jesus Christ and his resurrection from the dead? Why yes, I believe it did!

If someone were to ask you, “What is the definition of righteousness?” How would you answer? Would it be something along the lines of, “Well, it is obeying God and doing what is ‘right’”? Perhaps you would more correctly say that righteousness is “being in a right standing with God.” That is still quite vague. How do you attain this right standing?

True to form, God’s word cuts to the heart of the issue. Righteousness is a result of our belief; our faith in Jesus Christ. Nothing more, nothing less.

It is living from this center that we can really see the change we so crave, including sexual purity. If our definition of righteousness is skewed, we can be certain that we will live out a works-centered religion that will not result in the changes we desire.

Here are a couple of other helpful verses that come to mind.

Colossians 2:20-23
Hebrews 6:1-3

This is reposted from Pastor Steven Furtick’s blog

Green Grass and Deep Crap

We have several patches of unusually green, extremely tall grass in our front yard.
We also have a problem with our septic system.  It leaks into the aforementioned part of the yard, where the grass grows tall and green.

There is a direct correlation:
The place where the crap runs the deepest
is the place where the grass grows the greenest.

(It’s a stretch, but…)
The same is true in our lives.
The more crap we go through, the more we grow.

James said it in a more profound and appropriate way:
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
(James 1:2-3)

Thought for the day:
Deep crap=Green grass

This weekend, we remember the most remarkable event in human history. The birth of Christ began the chain of events. But, it was his resurrection from the dead that was the culmination. In that single event, he became the first man born into this world to take on a heavenly, resurrected body. This is so incredibly important for us as Christians. Our physical bodies, corrupted by sin and the fall, will one day be transformed into spiritual bodies just like the one that Jesus Christ now has!

The implications of the resurrection of Christ extend far beyond that. But for those of us who have experienced the pain of being trapped by sin that is in this cursed flesh, it is an amazing hope to be clung to. The following passage from Romans is my meditation this Easter.

Happy Easter everyone!

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Romans 6:1-14

Brian and Darcy on the Couple’s Blog at XXXChurch.com just posted a bit of their story. It is really worth the read; both as a wife or a man struggling with porn addiction.

Thank you Brian and Darcy for being so open about what God has brought you through. Your courage is inspiring and your transparency will help a lot of people begin opening up about their own struggles.

Here’s a quote for you. I think it came from Mere Christianity.

We do not know the strength of the evil impulses inside of us until we try to fight against them.

None of our character flaws seem too insidious until we try to change them. They just lurk under the surface, doing their damage quietly in the dark. Once we try to root them out, that is when they show just how strong their grip on us really are.

I was really challenged by a post on Steven Furtick’s blog today. It is entitled, “Who told you that?“

It is a short devotion on Genesis 3:11 where God asked Adam and Eve who told them that they were naked? The blog goes on to ask some other more personal questions…who told you those things about yourself?

Check it out…