The Phil Files

Last Updated 9.14.08

Going Organic (1:3-10; 2:19; 4:5-6) - 9/21

• There is great power in the good news about Jesus to produce fruit – changed lives of faith, renewed hope, and love modeled on the Savior and empowered by the Spirit.
• This power of grace crosses cultural and racial boundaries and leads others to Christ and his joy [Harper Testimony @ China?]
• Look forward to Balloon Fest & Celebration Sunday (1 Peter 3:15-16) and hear a real call to be a front porch people of God – the way we talk to others is crucial [Wait Staff Testimony]

There is a great power in the Gospel as a seed – Jesus’ Parables (Mark 4 & Matthew 13) – and Satan can’t stop it. We can choose what kind of soil we are, the evil one can try to do everything he can to stop it and corrupt us, but there is great power … that nothing (as we saw last week with persecution) can stop! But there are things that keep us from being fruitful (Parable of the Soils, Fish, Tares) which are all the work of Satan and his forces! But Jesus has already triumphed (2:13-15).

Daybreak Focus

Idea Image: Power of one seed to grow in harsh places and change everything [i.e., post glacial growth in Alaska that begins as rock, then simple plants, then complex plants, then forests.] Same should be true in us as we seek after Jesus, we change the world around us and God grows US together, as community, into a place of blessing.

There is something “hardwired” in the DNA of the good news of Jesus, and in us as His followers, that is all about growth — growth in numbers (”all over the world”), knowledge of God and His will, and growth in spiritual character (faith, hope, love) — cf. 2 Corinthians 3:18; Galatians 5:22-23. While we have to make an effort to grow to be like Jesus (2 Peter 1:3-10), our growth in the qualities of the Lord are “Spirit-natural” (Remember the parables about the seed and the harvest!) and the result of seeking after Jesus. So let’s seek after Jesus (Bible Class emphasis and reading focus) must be our passion.

Refresh Focus

Emphasize that there is something “hardwired” in the DNA of the good news of Jesus, and in us as His followers, that is all about bearing fruit — about organic Spiritual growth. The Alaska image is good here, but for it to happen fully, each generation of plant life must produce fruit and also offer up itself to grow and provide for what follows. Fruit principle will lead into the Lord’s Supper time.

Sundown Focus & LIFE Groups

(Look at the parables of Jesus for inspiration here, especially Luke 8:1-15; Mark 4:26-32; Matthew 13:24-30).

What keeps the “Spirit-natural” growth from happening in us? What keeps the Word from growing?

Which of the problems with growth keep you from growing spiritually?

Which of these is most challenging to spiritual growth for you?

What should we do with others who are not growing? … not even trying to grow?

Should we expect growth — spiritual, numerical, character — to be a natural process?

Is growth an easy process? In what ways does Jesus suggest that Kingdom growth is mysterious and easy, yet in other ways is very challenging?

What is our responsibility to grow and help the Kingdom grow?

iSpy

I Owe My Soul to the Company Store [Joe vs. Volcano]

O God Whose Name I do Not Know I thank you for my life

Sometimes a picture — or a cardboard testimony — is worth more than 1000 words. We so often limit our talk about the resurrection of Jesus and what it means to us to Easter time. But, each Sunday proclaims that the Lord is risen and His power is available to transform us if we will just walk with Him. Why? Because He loves us!

It sounded just like this: “Bzrp-cha-ta-bzrp. Zip-zip. Splzt. Bzrp-cha-ta.” While it happened quickly, that’s what it sounded like as my friend, Jim, worked over the reel-to-reel recorder and cut out my blunders, goobers, and mistakes in my audio recordings. Many times since those days long ago, I ‘ve wished that I could have him do the same for me in my life! (I talk about this in my heartlight.org article today.)

If you could edit some things out of your life, what you change? Come on now, at least be honest with yourself, what things would you just as soon be banished to the depths of the sea?

Better yet, what would you do to help foster a sense of love, forgiveness, and generosity in those around you?

I’d love to hear from you!

Vindicate me, LORD,
    for I have led a blameless life;
  I have trusted in the LORD
    and have not faltered.
  Test me, LORD, and try me,
    examine my heart and my mind;
  for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love
  and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness.

  I do not sit with the deceitful,
    nor do I associate with hypocrites.
  I abhor the assembly of evildoers
    and refuse to sit with the wicked.
  I wash my hands in innocence,
    and go about your altar, LORD,
  proclaiming aloud your praise
  and telling of all your wonderful deeds.

  LORD, I love the house where you live,
    the place where your glory dwells.
  Do not take away my soul along with sinners,
    my life with those who are bloodthirsty,
  in whose hands are wicked schemes,
  whose right hands are full of bribes.
  I lead a blameless life;
    redeem me and be merciful to me.

  My feet stand on level ground;
    in the great congregation I will praise the LORD.

\o/ — Comments Psalm 26: My feet stand on level ground! — \o/

OK, I admit I would like to be able to recite the words to this Psalm as my own. BUT, to put it in cornbread English, I just aint that good. I love the LORD and want to serve Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. However, I fall so short. I could never make these boasts before the LORD. The only righteousness I can claim has been given me by Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21).So what I take from this Psalm — very much a claim to live the life advocated in Psalm 1 — is a desire to be more what the Father wants me to be and do what the last line of the Psalm says, “In the great congregation I will praise the LORD” for God has been so gracious and loving and merciful to me.

“What in the world is a BooMama?” I asked my wife, Donna, as tears of laughter streamed down her cheeks.

“Oh, she’s someone who blogs and is hilarious. All the girls I know read her. Denise turned me on to her because she’s a southern girl, too.”

Well, BooMama tries to explain what a BooMama is, but to be honest, the person, otherwise named Sophie, far outstripped any word-limited description. She is Southern Belle meets Southern Fried Chicken, with a sarcastic whit and a deep love for children, her family, and the Lord.

I was blessed to go on a blogging trip to Uganda with Compassion International — find out more by clicking the Uganda with Compassion tab above. Among the 15 or 16 very talented folks who came along was BooMama — I often had to pinch myself to see if I was really blessed to be along with this group: I think I was included as the token old geezer, blogging talent certainly didn’t get me in, that’s for sure! Not only did BooMama add spice, charm, humor, and an outstandingly delicious Southern drawwwwl, she was a mama blogger personified. She was great with kids and translated that love for children to her readers, many of whom sponsored a child.

Last night, after playing a week of catch up on sleep, work, writing, sermons, visits … I was sitting in the TV room watching my daughter laugh as she stared at her laptop. “You must have had quite a time with someone as sarcastically hilarious as BooMama!” Megan said. Yes, I’m in a house with two BooMama fans, but Donna has gone to BooMama land to speak with The Coffee Group on a ladies retreat at the Homewood Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

We then proceeded to laugh together as we read two of Sophie’s recent posts, Our Great Big Wilderness Adventure and My Afternoon Outside in Nature. I especially appreciated the latter, since I had gotten her to pause to show me her Southern Belle rock climbing shoes, pictured to the left — yes, I know they are Crocs, what did you expect?

While you can’t know the meaning of all of the pictures below, this is a little video summary of BooMama from my vantage point. What tells the whole story for me, however, is not something funny or crazy or Southern. When most of the group got to meet their sponsored child, I had already had an in home visit with our sponsored little girl. Having a big BooMama heart, Sophie made sure that her the little boy sponsored by her brother’s family was included in the lunch. So she made time for “Little D” and then shared him with me while she held, cradled, cuddled, and loved on her family’s little girl. Many of the pictures of Sophie and this little girl were actually taken by “Little D” who loved using my camera. Sophie’s little girl didn’t say a word until “goodbye,” but snuggled up and shared the love only a BooMama can give.

 


 

Write them on the tablet of your heart.

Hmm. I’ve spent a lot of time learning facts — facts about history, facts about sports, facts about the weather, … facts about the Bible. Facts are important. Committing facts to memory can be crucial in all sorts of situations. However, when it comes to God’s stuff, the matters of love and faithfulness, facts play second fiddle to something else — my heart!

Knowing God, following Jesus, and being led by the Holy Spirit have often been reduced to religious practices, rules, and traditions. Like you, I am guilty of trying to reduce my life with God to manageable “go do” lists, and “go and do not do” lists. This makes things feel simple … formulaic … and quantifiable. I can make my own lists and decide who is in and who is out on the God stuff.

But God … this great and often repeated line in Scripture has a way of scrambling all sorts of human perversions of God’s grace and it wreaks havoc on our formulaic attempts of taming our lives with God. It most certainly re-arranges and re-orders my soul’s priorities in this matter.

But God … emphatically, repeatedly and consistently reminded His people that walking with Him centers on two holy habits of the heart: love and faithfulness. In all the discussion of the bits of wisdom in the Proverbs, maybe one of the very most important ones — second only to fear God — is this:

//Inspiration: Proverbs 3:3
Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.

//Incarnation:
God won’t let me settle for externals: not external religious observances, not external actions, and not external holiness. No, the Father wants love and faithfulness etched permanently on the tablet of my heart. He wants His words and His will alive in my interior world informing and transforming me from the inside out. Yes, the Almighty wants my obedience. Yes, the Holy One wants me to strive to be holy in everything I do and say and think. But without love and faithfulness etched into the fabric of my heart, sooner or later, the duplicity will out me and I will be revealed — my fake holiness, my skin-deep commitment, and my shifting loyalty exposed.

//Invitation:
O God, so full of both glory and grace, I recognize that love and faithfulness are two primary attributes of your character. I confess that they are not so easy for me to reproduce. I confess further, that a part of me of would like to reduce these attributes to a list of “how to” steps. Deep in my soul, however, I know that only your Spirit can help etch these attributes of your character into my heart. So I ask, and I commit to earnestly seek, the deep water of your grace and open my heart to have You make Your character real in me, heart and soul deep. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.