the way you see yourself…

GOD does his deepest work in your life when HE deals with your identity.  who you are, the way you see yourself, your self perception. 

the way you see yourself affects everything in your life.  if you think you are such and such a person you tend to act in accordance with that image of yourself.  “i’m shy … outgoing … a loser…  i can’t stop this habit… whatever…” you will always tend to act according to the way you think about yourself.  so GOD does HIS deepest changes in your life by changing the way you see yourself.  HE says, “let me show you how i see you.”  through eyes of love, unconditional love.  when you see yourself the way GOD sees you, it’s going to change your life.  and you can start acting in a whole new way.

for lasting change we have to change our perception and only JESUS CHRIST can make those changes in a person.  there is nothing else that can change people.  there is no seminar to go to, no therapy, no fad, no pill, no book, no tape.  nothing is going to change you like getting JESUS CHRIST in your life.  HE is the specialist in new identities. 

2 corinthians 5.17 (nlt), what this means is that those who become CHRISTians become new persons. they are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. a new life has begun!  you don’t have to stay the same.

just a thought from the front porch…

you'll never become a great lover by yourself...

5. get support from other loving people.

this is so important. you’ll never become a great lover by yourself in your room and reading a book. you only learn it in connection to others, in the context of community, in the environment of relationships. you’ve got to get with people if you’re going to learn to be a great loving person. that’s one of the reasons why a small group is so good. it’s put you in a group who are not part of your family, who are totally different from you, and you have to learn to get close to them. that’s how you learn to love. that’s how you develop skills. you never learn it just sitting back and listening. you learn it in relationship to other people.

think about this: GOD gave you a church to go to. GOD put you in a church because HE wants you to study love. that’s why you go. but if you don’t get on board with this, you’re going to miss the very reason GOD made the church.

we’ve got a lot to learn together, but fortunately we have a model. ephesians 5.2 (mes) says, keep company with GOD and learn a life of love. observe how CHRIST loved us. HIS love was not cautious but extravagant. HE didn’t love in order to get something back but to give everything of HIMself to us. love like that.

you say, “impossible. there’s no way that i can love like JESUS CHRIST.” you’re right. there is no way that you could possibly love like JESUS CHRIST and love as much as HE loves you on your own power. that’s why you need JESUS CHRIST in your life. that’s why you need HIM inside of you and the first step is to say, “JESUS CHRIST, put your love in me. come inside me. i open my heart to YOU.” in the days ahead, i'm going to teach you how to let GOD love other people through you rather than you just trying to do it on your own power. how do you let GOD put HIS love through you?

1 corinthians 13:13 (ph), in this life we have three lasting qualities: faith, hope and love. but the greatest of these is love. why is love the greatest? because it’s going to last forever.

when you get to heaven, you’re not going to need faith, because you’re going to be in the presence of GOD. you won’t need faith in heaven. when you get to heaven, you’re not going to need hope. you’re not going to need hope because all your needs will be met. you won’t need hope or faith. but when you get to heaven, heaven is filled with love because GOD is love. the bible doesn’t say GOD is faith. the bible doesn’t say GOD is hope. the bible says GOD is love. and love is going to go on for the rest of eternity.

just a thought here on the front porch…

love is something your do…

the bible says that love is a conduct. it’s a behavior. it’s an action. it’s a way of acting. love is something you do.

the bible says in 1 john 3.18 (lb), let us stop just saying we love people. let us really love them and show it by our actions.

love is not something you feel. love is not something you say. love is something you do. it’s behavior. it’s actions. it’s an activity. it’s more than just talk. it’s more than just sentimental feeling. it’s more than a nice pretty hallmark card. love is something you do.

a guy was telling his girlfriend all the time, “i would die for you.” she said, “you’re always saying that, but you never do it.” love is something you do.

how many times have you thought: i need to write a letter to that person. i need to make a call. i need to give a word of encouragement to that person at work. i need to go next door to my neighbor’s and do such and such. and you have all these great intentions of loving and showing kindness and showing unselfishness, but you didn’t do it. and the opportunity bypassed you. now it’s gone. over. you’re not going to get it back. and you have missed an opportunity to grow in love, missed an opportunity to do that which matters most. love is a conduct.

just a thought from the front porch…

love is a choice not a feeling...

the bible also says that love is a choice.

we choose to love, and we choose to not love. it’s a choice. the bible says in 1 corinthians 14.1 in the message paraphrase, go after a life of love as if your life depended on it because it does. go after means make a choice. decide. choose. we choose to love or to not love.

that destroys another myth that we have about love. we think love is uncontrollable. as if one day i'm just walking along and i'm instantly in love – no control over it. even the terminology we use is kind of accidental – i fell into love. like it’s a big ditch or something. i fell in love. “help! i’ve fallen in love, and i can’t get up!” as if i have no control over my choice to love or not love.

i can’t tell you how many times i’ve had men or women say to me, trying to justify a separation or divorce: i just don’t love him/her anymore. as if that's totally out of your control and now because you don’t love her that gives you the right to divorce her or leave her.

let’s be honest about this. love is a choice. you need to rephrase that: “i'm choosing not to love him any more.” because it is a choice, and you could choose to keep on loving even if they didn’t love you. that’s your choice. in fact, the truth is, acting in love when you don’t feel like it is actually a higher level of love than when you do feel like it.

it’s one thing to love when the flowers are in bloom and you’re on a honeymoon and things are going your way and you’ve got a lot of money to spend and things are going great. but the real test of love is when things are not going great in your life, when you’re out of money and when you’re sick and don’t feel good, the pressure is on and you’ve lost your job. you choose to love in spite of how you feel. that’s a higher level of love. loving in spite of your feelings. loving in spite of your emotions.

have any of you gotten up in the middle of the night with a kid that was sick? that’s love. have any of you ever been kind and patient with your mate when they were grumpy and grouchy? one guy was asked, “do you wake up grumpy in the morning?” he said, “no, i usually let her sleep.”

love is giving a person what they need, not what they deserve. that’s what GOD does. that’s how GOD loves you. GOD doesn’t give you what you deserve. if i got what i deserved from GOD, i wouldn’t even be here, and you wouldn’t even be alive either.

but GOD doesn’t give us what we deserve; HE gives us what we need. that’s called grace. that’s called love. love is giving to another person without any guarantee of getting anything back. if you’re doing it to get something back, that’s not love. love is committing to the well being of another person without any guarantees that they’re going to give back to you. that’s love. it’s a command, and it’s a choice. it is not a feeling.

just a thought from the front porch…

GOD really loves you...

as i mentioned the bible says in romans 5.8 (tev), GOD demonstrated (or showed) how much HE really loves us by dying for us. CHRIST died for me and for you. that is the ultimate demonstration of love.

you matter to GOD. HE loves you so much it hurts. if you say, “is that the way he feels about it? that's ok but i've got my own life to live. besides, i don't want to be a fanatic. i don't want to lose my fun and my freedom.”

be serious! what do you think GOD is. you wouldn't be here if it weren't for GOD. you wouldn't even be alive. who gave you your life? HE loves you so much.

the fact is everyone is here on the front porch for different reasons. some of you came just because you're checking out this CHRISTianity thing. some others came because you had a need and you thought “maybe i'll find the answer here.

regardless of why you think you came, you came because GOD brought you here and HE knew you'd be here even a thousand years before you were born. HE brought you here. some of you have felt GOD's love in the past. you were close to GOD. you felt HIS care and HIS concern but you've kind of drifted away. you think, “can i ever get back to that kind of relationship?”

what does GOD have to say to you? regardless of your situation, regardless of your background GOD brought you here to say one thing to you. with deep love i will take you back. isaiah 54.7 (tev)

that's what GOD wants to say to you. HE says, “you matter to ME more than you'll ever know and I have a plan for your life and the problems and frustrations and the stress that you're experiencing is there because you're out of my plan. get in touch with me. build a relationship, not a religion. get to know ME. let ME show you why I made you. you'll find your niche and all of a sudden you'll know that's why you're here on earth – not just to take up space and breathe and die. you're here for a reason.” don't reject GOD's love. there is no one who will ever love you more than GOD does.

just a thought from the front porch…

HE loves you so much it hurts...

when you look at these four phrases – know the height, the depth, the length and the width of GOD's love – you have the four dimensions of the cross. height, depth, width, length.

you can't really talk about the love of GOD without talking about the cross because the ultimate demonstration of love is when someone gives their life for you. greater love hath no man than this than a man lay down his life for his friends.

the bible says in romans 5.8 (tev), GOD has shown how much HE loves us; it was while we were still sinners that CHRIST died for us. CHRIST died for me and for you. that is the ultimate demonstration of love.

when you go to JESUS CHRIST and say, “JESUS CHRIST, how much do YOU love me?” JESUS CHRIST stretches out HIS arms on the cross and says, “I love you this much. I love you so much it hurts.” and when you reject that kind of love and then expect GOD to let you into heaven, that is ultimate arrogance to walk away from that kind of love as if it doesn't matter. it matters! and you matter to GOD that's why HE did it.

robert coleman in his book, written in blood, tells the story of a little boy whose sister needed a blood transfusion. the doctor had explained that she had the same disease that he had recovered from two years earlier. her only chance for recovery was a transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the disease. since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.

“would you give your blood to mary?” the doctor asked. johnny hesitated. his lower lip started to tremble. then he smiled and said, “sure, for my sister.”

soon the two children were wheeled into the hospital room – mary, pale and thin; johnny, robust and healthy. neither spoke, but when their eyes met, johnny grinned.

as the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, johnny's smile faded. he watched the blood flow through the tube. with the ordeal almost over, his voice, slightly shaky, broke the silence. “doctor, when do i die?”

only then did the doctor realize why johnny had hesitated­, why his lip had trembled when he'd agreed to donate his blood. he'd thought giving his blood to his sister meant giv­ing up his life. in that brief moment, he'd made his great decision.

johnny, fortunately, didn't have to die to save his sister. each of us however, has a condition more serious than mary's, and it required JESUS to give not just his blood, but his life.

you matter to GOD. HE loves you so much it hurts.

Just a thought from the front porch…

where is GOD when you hit bottom?

ephesians 3.17-18 (niv), i pray that you will grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of CHRIST.

GOD's love is wide enough to include everybody…GOD's love is long enough to last forever…GOD's love is high enough to be everywhere.

and GOD's love is deep enough to meet my needs

psalm 40.11 (lb), my only hope is YOUR love for my problems are too big for me to solve and are piled higher than my head.

do you feel, i'm going under for the last time? i'm about to sink! the fact is GOD's love is not shallow. it's profound. no matter what problem you have, HIS love is deeper than that problem.

some of you are in deep despair, deep trouble, under deep stress, you've got deep problems, emotional problems, physical problems, financial problems. GOD's love is deeper still.

corrie ten boom and betsy ten boom were CHRISTians who lived in the netherlands. during the war they hid jews in their home to protect them from the nazis. and when they were discovered, not only were the jews taken to the concentration camp but corrie and betsy were taken to the concentration camp too and they spent their lives there during the war. corrie came out alive. but her sister was killed.

at one point in the movie where they had seen one atrocity after another, corrie says to betsy, “this place is the pit of hell!” betsy says, “there is no pit so deep that GOD's love is not deeper.”

some of you in the last few weeks and the last few months have possibly hit bottom. maybe financially and you think, “i am going broke!" or you've hit bottom emotionally or your marriage has hit bottom or you're having health problems and your health has hit bottom and you're frustrated and you think, “i am going under.” where is GOD when you hit bottom?

deuteronomy 33.27 (niv), the eternal GOD is your refuge and underneath you are HIS everlasting arms. notice it says, underneath you.

when you hit bottom guess who's underneath the bottom? GOD is. drop into HIS arms of love. let HIM catch you and support you when you have nowhere else to go.

just a thought from the front porch…

an attitdote for loneliness…

ephesians 3.17-18 (niv), i pray that you will grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of CHRIST.

GOD's love is wide enough to include everybody…GOD's love is long enough to last forever.

GOD's love is high enough to be everywhere

romans 8:39 (niv), neither height not depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of GOD that is in CHRIST JESUS our LORD.

there is no place that you can go where GOD's love isn't. you'll never be separated from GOD's love. nothing, no circumstance, no situation can separate you because GOD's love is everywhere.

if you want an antidote for loneliness, that's it. you will never be separated from GOD's love. the fact is we do lose loved ones. if you're married, one of you is going to die first. and you will grieve over that. but if you're a CHRISTian, you'll never be lonely, because you can tune into GOD's love. i'm not talking about religion, i'm talking about a relationship to JESUS CHRIST. HIS love lasts forever and HIS love is everywhere.

just a thought from the front porch…

human love wears out…

what about GOD’s love for you? ephesians 3.17-18 (niv), i pray that you will grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of CHRIST.

GOD's love is wide enough to include everybody…GOD's love is long enough to last forever.

jeremiah 31.3 (niv), I have loved you with an everlasting love.

psalm 89.2 (tev), GOD's love will last for all time.

and that is so different from our kind of love. human love wears out. it can. that's why we have a lot of divorces. it wears out. i know a lot of people who are not divorced but they don't love each other anymore. there's a limit. it dries up. that's why you have to have GOD's love in your marriage if it's going to last.

i don't know how marriages last without GOD's love in them. human love can wear out, it can be hurt. but GOD's love never wears out. GOD's love is patient, persistent, persevering.

isn't it good news to know that GOD never gives up on you? no matter what you do HIS love never gives up. it's wide enough to include everybody and it's long enough to last forever. GOD will never love you any more than HE does right now. but HE also will never love you any less than HE does right now. HE loves you on your good days. HE loves you on your bad days. because HIS love is not conditioned by your response. GOD is love. it is unearned, undeserved. just accept it!

just a thought from the front porch…

how much does GOD love you?...

so how much does GOD love you?

well ephesians 3.17-18 (niv) says, i pray that you will grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of CHRIST. there are four dimensions there, four words: wide ... long ... high ... deep. these are four ways CHRIST's love grows for you.

first of all, GOD's love is wide enough to include everybody

psalm 145.17 (niv), the LORD is loving toward all HE has made. all – everybody.

john 3.16 (niv), GOD so loved the world… who does that include? everybody. it's universal.

the good news is that GOD loves me. the bad news is that HE loves my enemies just as much. JESUS loved the unlovely and that's what got him in trouble with the religious fanatics. everybody you meet this week GOD loves them. and HE loves them unconditionally. GOD never made a person that HE didn't love. HE loves you. HE loves you very, very much. you matter to GOD.

do want to know the secret of self-esteem? here it is. if you want to feel good about yourself, if you want confidence realize how much you matter to GOD. HE loves you, HE made you and GOD doesn't make junk!

listen, if i like me and GOD likes me, if you don't like me it's you that's got a problem. if GOD likes me who cares what anybody else thinks. because GOD loves me i don't have to prove my self worth. that is so relaxing.

i don't need the props anymore to make me feel good about myself. i don't have to wear a certain kind of clothes to make me feel like i'm ok. i don't have to drive a certain kind of car to prop up my faltering ego. i don't have to have certain status symbols around my house. i don't need them. GOD has looked at me and said, “he's ok!” HE made you and HE loves you. GOD's love is wide enough to include everyone.

just a thought from the front porch…

i want to be free...

another fear that people have that keeps them from GOD is that i'll lose my freedom.

now the world defines freedom as a life without any restraint – do anything i want to do, say anything i want to say, without anybody telling me yes or no.

we have parents who worry about the music their kids listen to. the words to frank sinatra's “my way” are much worse than some of today’s songs. “i did it my way!” everybody got burned by me, but i did it my way! i left five marriages behind but i did it my way! total selfishness! i had my freedom!

what has sexual freedom given us? aids, social diseases, abortions. what has chemical freedom given us? grade school addicts, the most chemically dependent society in the world. what has credit card freedom given us? 146 easy payments. there is no such thing as an easy payment. they are all hard. trillion dollar national debt.

you are not as free as you think you are. the bible teaches that with every choice you make there are consequences. you are free to live anyway you want to live. but once you make that choice you are no longer free. what you sow you will reap.

what does the bible say about freedom? john 8.36 (tev) JESUS said, if the SON sets you free, you will be really free! notice the word, really.

he's talking about real freedom not phony freedom. real freedom is freedom from guilt, from worry, from bitterness, from fear of death cause i know that i'm going to heaven, free to be myself, free to quit pretending – that's real freedom. how do you get rid of those kinds of fears?

1 john 4.18 (niv), there is no fear in love. but perfect love drives out fear. the antidote to fear is to recognize how much GOD loves you. love and fear can't exist in the same heart. when you realize how much GOD loves you, you're not going to have a fear of becoming a fanatic or that GOD's going to take away your fun or your freedom or anything else in life. HE's not a cruel GOD, HE's a loving GOD.

the very first words of JESUS when HE came out of the tomb on easter sunday was “don't be afraid”. HE said, “i don't want you to be afraid! i didn't come to scare you, i came to save you.” we just need to realize how much GOD loves us.

GOD is not at all the way many people think HE is. do you think GOD gets HIS kicks out of making people miserable? what kind of GOD do you think we serve? you need to realize how much HE loves you.

just a thought from the front porch…

i don’t want to be a fanatic…

another reason people don’t want to get to know GOD is they are afraid they'll become a fanatic.

often well meaning and misguided people tend to cause us to avoid GOD because of their fanaticism. here i would like you to meet four of them: (i wrote down some names of religious fanatics i've met):

freddy the pharisee. rigid, narrow minded, legalistic. he has a rule for everything. his favorite word is “don't”. some think, “will i become like that if i become a CHRISTian?”

susie self-righteous. holier than thou attitude, judgmental of others. her favorite phrase is “thank GOD i'm not like you!” am i going to become like that if i become a CHRISTian, if i get to know GOD?

billy bible-thumper. obnoxious, overzealous crusader. if it's alive he'll convert it. his favorite phrase: “turn or burn!”

pauline praise-alluia. she can't speak without religious cliches. everything is a miracle or the devil did it. her favorite phrase – she's got dozens of them: “believe... receive... praise the LORD... hallelujah...” am i going to become like that if i become a CHRISTian? put my brain on the shelf and become a kook?

the fact is john 10.10 (tev), i have come in order that you might have life – [not religion] life in all its fullness.

JESUS' harshest criticism went to religious fanatics. read matthew 23. HE couldn't stand them! HE said, “you guys are whited sepulchers. you strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.” GOD doesn't want to make you some fanatic.

just a thought from the front porch…

looking for fun fixes...

1 john 4.16 (niv), we know and rely on the love GOD has for us. GOD is love. the most talked about attribute of GOD is probably the one that is most misunderstood. first, don't confuse this. it says, “GOD is love”; it doesn't say “love is GOD”. there's a big difference. same difference as saying “my dog is a girl” or “my girl is a dog”. this does not mean that GOD lets me get away with murder. i do anything i want to and because GOD loves me he just slaps me on the wrist.

what it means is that GOD wants what's best for you. HE's for you. HE's not against you. now if that's true, then why do so many people avoid GOD? many people avoid him like the plague. they run from him.

the reason they do that is because of a fear. they're afraid of what might happen if they really give their life to GOD. for some they are afraid that i'll have to give up my fun. in other words, to become a CHRISTian equals the party's over. to be SPIRITual is to be miserable.

we're very interested in having fun these days. television has given us a particular image of fun. which sounds like more fun to you? miller time or sunday school? television has sold us a lie that says, if you buy our product you'll be happy. i bought it and i was happy for a little while. but the thrill wore off. so i bought something else and then it wore off. or if you'll experience this particular event, or go to our concert, or visit this exotic place you'll be happy. you'll have fun!

people are frantically looking for fun fixes. it's the law of diminishing return. you find you spend more time, more money, more energy to get less and less of a thrill. you go around asking, “are we having fun yet?” so many people are looking for love in all the wrong places and they're looking for fun in all the wrong places.

think about a singles bar. have you ever seen a more phony place than a singles bar? everybody's pretending they're having a good time. where else do you walk up to a stranger and offer to buy them something? “can i buy you a drink?” do you walk up to someone in a department store and say, “can i buy you a toaster?” that's fun?

the way you fight fear is with fact and look at what the fact says: 1 timothy 6.17 (niv), GOD richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

GOD wants you to enjoy life. HE doesn't want to take your fun away. JESUS spoke more about being happy than he did about heaven. matthew 11.19 (phillips) says, JESUS came enjoying life.

fun is a clear conscious. fun is a happy, unified family. fun is laughing in church. fun is having friends who don't manipulate you because they're CHRISTians. fun is enjoying the world that GOD has made. that's fun! nobody has more fun than i do. nobody!

just a thought from the front porch…