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A Post-Father's Day Post

6/25/2015

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Here we are 4 days after Father's Day. I was blessed by the Church in Burton with an invitation to go there and speak on Father's Day and it went amazingly well. The following is the message I gave at Burton Father's Day 2015.

Now I am not myself a father but I had like 5 growing up so I know a little about them. What is a father to you? What does it mean to you when someone says they are a dad? According to Wikipedia, ‘a Father is the male parent of his and the mother's offspring.’ But being a father is more than siring, more than just procreating; being a father is about protecting, about providing, about being a role-model; being a father is about affirming identity, and loving your child. Not just a father, but as a parent it means loving your children.

God created us with a natural instinct to love our children unconditionally. I’ll give you an example of what I mean about unconditional, when I was about 24 I disappeared. I was living in Calgary and my parents were living in Kelowna and the life I was living exploded in my face, I won’t get into the details, but the result was I vanished from my family for 6 years. After the first few years things had settled down some, but I still didn’t contact them because I didn’t think they could ever forgive me for disappearing the way I did. I felt there were conditions for their love and I had broken those conditions. I didn’t think of it in these terms, but that was the thought process. It wasn’t until the wonderful woman whom I eventually married gave my head a shake that I called my parents and do you know what happened? My parents, mostly my mother; cried with relief and love. They had never given up on me. It was very much like the prodigal son.

A parent’s love for their children, a father’s love for the child he has sired is unconditional. But God has shown us an even deeper love a father can have. The unconditional love a father has for his adopted children. Now I’m not saying you would love adopted children more than your own. I’m saying that love is more than an emotion, it’s more than a biological imperative. God has taught us that love is a choice, a choice we are to make unconditionally, and as His adopted children He has chosen to unconditionally love us.

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.  For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (If you are led by the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, you are a child of God.)  For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” (Abba is personal, it’s actually an Arabic word. Calling God Abba is like calling your father Dad. It is a personal connection, a connection of love. A connection of relationship.)  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. (Romans 8:12-17)

We who follow the Holy Spirit, we who ‘Choose Love’ are the adopted children of God. We are heirs, joint heirs with Christ. But by choosing love we also take up the cross of Christ. We accept that we may suffer in this life, but we will experience God’s glory in the next.

Choose Love. This is actually a pretty impressive statement Paul is making here. During the first century when this was written it had an even bigger impact, not just because of the revelation but also because of the sociological impact it had. According to the law of the time you could cast aside your children, you could cut them out of the inheritance even take your name away from them leaving them as orphans, as social pariahs. But, if you adopted someone, you had no right to cast them aside. When you adopted they became a permanent part of your life. You could discard your wife with a few words, you could banish those whom you sired with a declaration in court, but a child who was adopted could never be cast aside, their inheritance could never be taken away. This is what God did for us. He came and chose to give us a permanent life with Him, an undeniable inheritance.

God chose to love us unconditionally without restraint without borders or limits without second guessing without reservation. We can never be disowned, we can never be removed, we can never be cast aside, and we will always be God’s children for the rest of eternity. How does that feel? I’m not coming to you today with a deep message of warning or a condemnation about things we need to change. This is an affirmation a reminder that we need to praise and glorify our Lord and Savior who has shown us how to make the right choice and ‘Choose Love’.

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Makes sense right? If the world didn’t recognize Christ then they obviously were not going to understand who we are. Beloved, now we are children of God; (I love how John puts this, ‘Beloved’. Because we are not just called to ‘Choose Love’ for God, but to also ‘Choose Love’ each other unconditionally as well.) and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (I John 3:1-3)

Our Father has adopted us into His family and shown us that He is love. He is love. He is love and His love is perfect unconditional love, He is the perfect adopter, the perfect God, the perfect Father, and we will never be worthy but we will always be loved by Him and for that we will always strive to please Him. We will never be disowned, we will never be removed from our place at His feet. We cannot lose our inheritance, nor our salvation because He loves us with His perfect unconditional love.

God will not remove our inheritance. God will not remove our salvation, or our place in His heavenly family; but just to be clear, we can refuse it. We can choose to squander our inheritance by turning away from God and choosing to reside in the world instead. Reminds me again of the prodigal son. But personally and you might agree or disagree with me here, I think you would be much happier to just ‘Choose Love’. And what is love? God is love, so when you ‘Choose Love’ you are choosing God. Choose love, choose God. Choose God, choose love.

God is the perfect father this and every Father’s Day. He protects us and watches over us: For You have been a protector for me, A strong tower from the enemy. (Psalm 61:3)

He is our provider, from the air we breathe to each and every blessing in our lives. He provides everything: The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. (Psalm 34:10)

God is an amazing role-model and gives us wisdom and advice when we ask Him: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (James 1:5)

Beyond all of this God gives us a new identity, a new life to be lived with Him: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)

In every way God is the perfect example of what a good father is. He has chosen us out of the world. Chosen to love us and make us His children. Following His example let us go out and chose to love others with the same unconditional love, even if we think they don’t deserve it. Choose to emulate God’s love and adopt a neighbor, or even a community here in Burton. By ‘Choosing Love’ we become a tangible manifestation of God's divine love to every single person our lives touch. 
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Stress Kills, Christ Restores

6/8/2015

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 I feel stressed quite often. In fact, no word of a lie; there are times I get stressed about how stressed I am. It’s distressing. Connie tells me that when I’m stressed out it’s like talking to that dog from the movie UP. Anyone seen that? We’ll be talking and I’ll see something shiny and it’s like, “Squirrel!” Ok, that’s not entirely true, she says I’m always like that.

We all feel stress but it seems like in the last few generations we get buried with it. Stress affects every avenue of our lives. Stress, worry, fear, concern, hesitation, anxiety, building and self-perpetuating until we don’t even know how to live without it. If there was a moment in our lives where we didn’t feel stressed, we’d probably get stressed out trying to figure out why we weren’t stressed.

Have you ever had a day that was going so good you were watching and waiting for the other shoe to drop? Waiting to see what was going to pop up and bite you in the butt? We are so use to living with stress we are consciously aware when it’s not present.

I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that stress kills. Stress is the heart killer.

Stress kills our passion. Not just romantic passion, have you ever tried to be passionate about something when you’re stressed? You can but it’s really hard when you keep thinking about that bill that’s overdue, or the squeak in your brakes that you know is getting more expensive by the kilometer. Connie and I dealt with this the week before last. Our car had been squeaking for a while and because of various circumstances we hadn’t been able to get it in. All the time we were in the car, every time we moved an inch it was like having a band around my chest and with each squeak that band would tighten. That band of stress made it very hard to concentrate on work, on our relationship. It caused us both to be cranky. It tried to kill our passion.

Not only does stress kill our passion but it also kills our desire. It makes it hard to even want to do anything. What’s the point? We expend so much energy trying to manage our stress, that we have little energy and little desire to do anything else. The impact stress has on our desire can even go further and lead to depression and/or anxiety disorders.

But stress isn’t happy with killing our passion and our desires; putting us into emotional tailspins; stress also kills our health. High blood pressure, lack of sleep, you don’t eat right, and if you’re stressed enough it can even cause you to start getting sick. How many times in a year do you think you get sick because stress has made you susceptible? I wouldn’t even try to hazard a guess.  Stress kills in a very real very physical way.

Stress also kills our minds and hearts. It impedes our ability to make rational decisions. It becomes so hard to concentrate and you start forgetting things.  Have you ever talked with someone who is under a lot of stress and they don’t handle it well? The conversation is like herding cats. I’ll give you an example of what I’m talking about here. Maybe you can relate to this. You know what you need to take with you when you go to work in the morning, but if you wake up late and you have like 15 minutes to get up get dressed, and get everything you need, do everything you need to do; I don’t know about you but it seems like I always forget something.

Stress does this on a global scale in your life. Stress is a masterpiece of Satan made to destroy every part of us. Stress can infect every area of our lives like a virus and multiply. It’s a burden that weighs on us and tries to drag us down and keep us from receiving the blessings God has for our lives. It wears us down.

Wow this message went kind of dark side didn’t it?

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Stress kills, but Christ restores.

Stress kills our passions but Christ is the restorer of passion. He is the Bride-Groom. He comes to us with open arms to breathe new life into us, to bring us a new fire a new passion for Him.

Stress is the killer of our desires, but Christ is the restorer of our desires. He is trustworthy and has promised us the desires of our hearts. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we find our energy revitalized, we are not helpless against our enemy; because of Immanuel, ‘God is with us.’

Stress might well kill the body but Christ restores us by giving us a new body, a new flesh. And as re-born men and women of God we can rest under the covering of His divine and holy protection.

Stress may try to kill our hearts but Christ has given us a new heart for Him. *No matter how much stress tries to be the killer of our dreams Christ; God made flesh, has given us a new dream that is so much better than any other, that’s my King, that’s your King that’s our redeemer. Our burdens may be heavy but His burden is light.

Connie mentioned a story a couple of weeks ago about how her friend carried her burdens for a day. Jesus wants to carry the burden of our stress not just for a day, but until the end of days; and trust me, He can take it.

Jesus has dealt with stress He knows what stress is all about. In the garden of Gethsemane the night before the crucifixion.

 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” (I have to stop here. Let’s take a moment and put this scene into context. I can’t even imagine how Jesus was feeling that night. The disciples had no real idea what was going to happen. Jesus had hinted to them but only He knew in full detail what was coming. If He had told them they would probably freaked out. We as human beings do not handle stress that well.) He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” (Matthew 26:36-38) Sorrow to the point of death! Overwhelmed with sorrow. Sorrowful and troubled.

In the Gospel of Luke, Luke describes the prayers Jesus made in the garden: He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”  An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. (Luke 22:41-44)

Jesus in the garden. Under so much stress He sweat blood. So Jesus knew what it was like to undergo stress. He experienced levels of stress that night that would have flat out killed most of us. Sweating blood is called hematohidrosis; it means to undergo so much stress that it causes you to hemorrhage through your sweat glands.

Jesus trusted in God’s vision and didn’t give up. He gave His burdens and stress over to God and trusted Him. Jesus exchanged a heavy near unliftable burden for God’s promise. This did not take the source of the stress away, releasing His burdens to God didn’t remove the situation; but it did free Him from the crushing weight of His circumstances.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

After the garden all throughout Christ’s ordeal being arrested, tried, lashed, mocked, humiliated, and eventually crucified; do you notice the one thing missing? Stress. He conquered death on the cross, but He conquered stress in the garden, and showed us exactly how to do it. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Whenever you feel your burdens are weighting you down you can pray and give them over to God because though stress kills, Christ restores. The situation may remain, the reason you were stressed might still be there. But we no longer have to be stressed because we know it is now in the hands of God. We will still be responsible for our decisions and we will still have to take on consequences of our actions, but we know that God is with us, and we have nothing to fear because stress kills, Christ restores.

That’s it, if there was one thing to take away from today. If there was one jewel of knowledge I would want you to glean from your morning in God’s house today that would be it. No matter how much the enemy tries to use stress to kill us, Christ can and will restore you to wholeness and restore 10 fold what the enemy tries to take from you.
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    Walking With God

    Walter Blackwood

    Director of Out of School Care at Sunridge Community Church in West Kelowna BC, Canada

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