real and evident...

i know it’s not something that is easy for some to do but the rewards are so far reaching.  take GODly risks knowing that you may fail but that GOD will never fail you.  that’s an open door faith.

open door faith is the ability to display faith.  and i mean display faith.  look at what joseph does

genesis 41.15 (msg), “i dreamed a dream,” pharaoh told joseph. “nobody can interpret it. but i’ve heard that just by hearing a dream you can interpret it.” joseph answered, “not i, but GOD. GOD will set pharaoh’s mind at ease.”

here joseph is on the edge of his dream.  what an opportunity to promote himself!  he better leave SPIRITuality out of this thing.  pharaoh may not like the god of egypt.  why bring religion into this?  you don’t want to mess the deal up by bringing religion in. 

but here’s joseph, right on the edge of his dream and he says, “i can’t interpret the dream.  it’s the GOD of my fathers.  HE’s the one who can do it.”  that’s part of an open door faith, the ability to display faith.  not just have faith but to display it.   a billboard kind of faith is what i’m talking about.  the kind of faith people can see.  not phony, not flashy – i don’t mean that by billboard.  but real and evident.  and GOD is able to work in our lives when you and i don’t hide our faith.  that was a part of joseph going through this open door.

just a thought from the front porch…

right thing at the right time…

joseph has a GOD given dream and he is in prison but his story isn’t done.  genesis 41.1 (msg), two years passed and pharaoh had a dream...  two years later! 

joseph’s story is an amazing story of GOD’s wisdom and GOD’s timing.  it was a right time.  and joseph did the right thing at the right time.  it took two years and three days for GOD’s timing to act.  you may be in that time right now – that two-year period –what you’ve done is already working in some way; you just haven’t seen the results of it yet.  just like joseph.

now joseph had an opportunistic wisdom.  he had what could be called an open door faith.  that is the kind of faith that looks for and goes through GOD’s open doors. 

what we do so many times in our faith is close the doors for GOD, deciding in advance that they’re closed.  we’re not even going to try that door.  “GOD doesn’t want to do that.  it didn’t work before.  that’s just the way it is.” 

fast forward – two years later.  pharaoh has a dream and he can’t find anybody to interpret it.  guess what?  the cupbearer remembers, “there’s a guy in prison.  i wonder if he’s still there.” 

genesis 41.14&15 (msg), pharaoh at once sent for joseph. they brought him on the run from the jail cell. he cut his hair, put on clean clothes, and came to pharaoh.  “i dreamed a dream,” pharaoh told joseph. “nobody can interpret it. but i’ve heard that just by hearing a dream you can interpret it.”

what’s an open door faith?  well, it’s the ability to take risks.  there was a good chance in that day that if you didn’t interpret a dream the way the leader, the pharaoh, liked, if he felt like you were trying to make up an interpretation, trying to impress him, trying to lie to him in any way, the leader would have you killed.  that simple. 

so joseph had to make a choice.  be stuck in prison.  he could stay there the rest of his life and be safe.  or he could take a risk and try and interpret pharaoh’s dream and perhaps lose his life.  an open door faith has the ability to take risks in a GODly kind of way.  he did that when he went and interpreted the dream. 

i know some people who love to take risks.  they take risks all the time.  they love risks so much they feel like, “i’ll risk everything!  my family, my life.”  they get an adrenaline high from risks.  i'm not talking about that kind of a risk.  i'm talking about the kind of risks not that raises your adrenaline but raises your faith.  the kinds of risks that make you face your fears.  the kind of risks that make you begin to believe you could do something you never thought before by GOD’s power.  that kind of risk.  not a self-motivated risk but a GOD directed risk.  do you see the difference between the two?  a GOD motivated risk. 

just a thought from the front porch…

GOD and playing it safe…

7 life principles.  we are looking at the story of the talents in matthew 25.14-15, 19 (niv), again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them.  to one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability…after a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts.  

1. ownership - everything i have belongs to GOD.    2. allocation - GOD has given me some talents.   3. accountability - God expects me to use my talents.   and then 4. utilization - it is wrong for me to bury what GOD gave me.

the first guy goes out, takes his five talents and he doubles it. one hundred percent return.  the second guy goes out and he does the same thing.  he takes the two talents he’s got, before the master comes back he doubles his money.  he made a wise investment and it doubled.  the third guy comes along and he does zip, nothing.  he buries it in the ground.  he says, “nothing ventured, nothing gained.  i’m going to play it cautious, conservative.  i’m going to sit on my talents and do nothing about it.” 

the master's reaction is in verse 26 (niv).  his master replied, “you wicked, lazy servant.”   i’d say the master is ticked!  he’s upset. 

now this is a parable of GOD.  and HE is saying, “if you don’t use your talent, it ticks me off!”  it’s not a good deal.  what do you do when you bury things?  you put it out of sight.  you don’t want to see it anymore.  you try to forget it. you want to pretend it doesn't exist.  the third guy buried his talent and GOD says, you wicked, lazy servant. 

if you don't get anything else, get this:  i cannot please GOD by playing it safe in life.  GOD’s given me some talents.  HE wants me to use them.  in order to use them and invest them i’ve got to take risks.  HE wants me to take risks because that requires faith.  and the bible says, whatever is not of faith is sin and without faith it’s impossible to please GOD.  so the principle of utilization is, it’s wrong for me to bury my talent that GOD has given me because HE wants me to take risks. 

doing nothing with my talent is inexcusable.  GOD would rather have me try to serve HIM and fail than do nothing.  “i’d rather attempt to do something great and fail than to do nothing and

succeed.”

listen, when i die i want four words on my tombstone:  “at least he tried”.  i may not reach all the goals and the dreams i believe GOD has given to me for my life but it really doesn’t matter.  i’m going to die trying.  that’s what counts.

just a thought from the front porch…

it is so worth the risk..

don’t waste your life.  make the decisions that will determine your destiny.  but understand that the fruit is on the end of the branch and there is risk involved in reaching for it but oh it is so worth the risk.

i love the story of how john ortberg took his then ten-year-old son parasailing.  the man driving the boat said he could ascend 400, 600, or 800 feet.  “how high above the water do you want to fly?”

john said, “there was a pretty big price difference, so i wanted to steer him toward 400 feet.”

then the son commented on how the whole idea was a little scary.  john said, “it struck me that when i was ten years old, being lifted 800 feet up in the air behind a speeding boat over a deep lake might make me swallow extra hard.  and i wanted him to be free of fear, so we talked through his options.”

the boy thought it over a few minutes, and he finally decided, “i’m gonna go 800 feet up.  i might be scared when i go up there at first.  but i’m going to do it because the ride only lasts a few minutes but once it’s over, i’ll have it forever.”

i think if GOD had anything to say to you now, it might be this:  the ride only lasts a few minutes. as for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.

in the vast eternal scheme of things, your life is briefer than you could possible imagine.  but whatever you do in faith, every time you trust me, whenever you act in risky obedience and jump in response to my invitation – that you will have forever.  go ahead and jump.

only one life will soon be past,

but only what's done for CHRIST will last.

just a thought from the front porch…

do something as if, then you will…

when i don’t have the faith to do something, i go ahead and do it anyway as though i had the faith.  then i get the faith.

let me say that again.  when i don’t have the faith to do something, i go ahead and do it anyway as though i had the faith and then i get the faith.

dr. suess:  one of the great theologians of our day.

did i ever tell you about the young zode?

who came to two signs in the fork of the rode?

he looked one way and then the other way too

and so the zode had to make up his mind what to do.

well the zode scratched his head and his chin and his pants

and he said to himself, “i’ll be taking a chance.

if i go to place one – that place may be hot.

how will i know if i like it or not?

on the other hand, though, i’d feel such a fool

if i go to place two and find it’s too cool

in that case i may catch a chill and turn blue

and so place one may be the best and not place two.

on the other hand, though, if place one is too high

i might get a terrible earache and die

on the other hand, though, if place two is too low

i might get some terrible pain in my toe.

so, place one may be the best.”  he started to go.

he stopped and said, “on the other hand though

on the other hand, other hand, other hand though”

and for thirty-six and one half hours that zode

made starts and made stops at the fork in the rode.

saying, “no, don’t take a chance, you might not be right.”

then he got an idea that was wonderfully bright

“play safe”, cried the zode.  “i’ll play safe, i’m no dunce.

i’ll simply start off to both places at once.”

and that’s how the zode who would not take a chance

got to no place at all with the split in his pants.

what decision do you need to make?  i implore you do something great with your life for JESUS’ sake.  don’t waste your life.  don’t live in mediocrity.  don’t just exist.  make the decisions that will determine your destiny. 

just a thought from the front porch…

both realistic and optimistic…

2 corinthians 7.4 (Gw) says, i have great confidence in you, and i have a lot of reasons to be proud of you. paul says this right in the middle of some very tough truths, where he’s saying, “this is some stuff you need to work on.” he’s leveling with them. he’s not pulling any punches. but in the middle of it, he says in affirmation, i have great confidence in you, and i have a lot of reasons to be proud of you.

if you want to move from grade-school loving to graduate-level loving, if you want to be a master at the art of love, you have to learn in a relationship to be both realistic and optimistic at the same time. realistic and optimistic. point out what’s really good and what isn’t so good that needs to be better. you say, “i believe with GOD’s help you can change... i believe with GOD’s help we can have a stronger relationship... i believe with GOD’s help there can be a different closeness and level of intimacy together…”

this issue of speaking the truth in love is still something that you learn from practice. it’s a skill you learn from practice. you get better at it.

now whether it’s a big problem in the relationship or a little problem whether it’s a major issue or it’s a minor issue, you’re going to have to take this last step if you want to be a graduate-level lover. and this you must risk their rejection.

paul did this in 2 corinthians 7.8-11 (ms), i know i have distressed you greatly with my letter and although i felt awful at the time i don’t feel bad now that i see how it’s turned out. the letter upset you but only for a while and you were jarred into turning things around. you let the distress bring you to GOD. and that’s what i was hoping for in the first place when i wrote the letter.

the truth is, it’s scary to do a speaking-the-truth-in-love to somebody. we don’t know how they’re going to react. they may get mad. they may walk out. they may misjudge your motivation. they may attack you. you don’t know what’s going to happen. so it’s scary, and you’re taking a great risk.

and because we don’t want to take that risk, we settle for superficial, shallow relationships.

just a thought from the front porch…

you must be willing to take a risk…

if you’re going to be kind you must be willing to put up with interruptions, you must be open and you must be willing to take risks. to be kind, you must be willing to take a risk.

many times, the one thing that keeps you from being kind is your own fears. the most cruel people are the most fearful people. so you have to look at your fears. just imagine the fears the good samaritan could have had. they were all legitimate.

he could have said, “what if i go over and help this guy who’s beaten up, naked, laying at the side of the road dying, what if the robbers are still here? i could lean down to help this guy, and they’ll beat me up – take my clothes, take my donkey, take my riches. legitimate fear.

he could have said, “what if i go over and help this guy and it’s a trap? he jumps up and he beats me up and takes all my possessions and leaves me beside the side of the road. what if it’s a trap? a decoy.” a legitimate fear.

what if i go over to help this guy, and he rejects my help. he says, “i don’t want your help! leave me alone. you’re a samaritan.” jews and samaritans were mortal enemies. they were divided by race, religion and politics. and they hated each other deeply. for a samaritan person to help a jewish person was unheard of! “what if he rejects me, and then i'll feel stupid? i'll feel dumb. what if i go over to help this guy, and i kneel down to take care of him and other people come along and they think i did it? they’ll haul me off to jail. it’ll take a long time to explain that i wasn’t the guy. i was just trying to help.”

today, we’d say, “what if he sues me?” legitimate fear.

“what if i go over to help this guy, and i can’t really help him. i don’t know what to do. i don’t know what to say. i’m not trained in first aid.” how many times have you not helped somebody because you thought, “i don’t know what to say.” maybe you don’t need to say anything. maybe you just need to go over and say, “i know you’re hurting, and i care.” that’s all you need to say.

just a thought from the front porch…