Humility Power vs Pride Power

Humility power vs Pride power
Humility power.  Seems like an odd paradox.  Two words that in our English language appear to be contradictory, or, are they?  Is there such a thing as humility power?  Humility defined is:
'the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank.' It allows us to elevate the importance and value of others, above our perceived importance of ourselves.  It requires of us to be self-less, not self-more as the rest of the world is.  Humility power is courageous and requires sacrifice of ourselves.  It requires resilience, strength, integrity, tenacity to break through insecurities that prevent it.  
Pride-power is based on valuing others below ourselves. Recognizing our own self-importance, our own authority or perceived power over others. Pride-power always looks for our own best interests, it requires sacrifice from others to place us in a seat of power and respect. It is taking every opportunity to admire ourselves and what we have done.  

Who benefits is the filter to examine both ideas through.  

In a world that is shrill, loud as a clanging bell and obsessed with self-importance, self-love, and self-interests, choose humility power to stand apart from the crowd.  #LetLIfeWin in how we use our power to value others.  

The path to wisdom travels through humility, by being able to say, "I was wrong, I'm sorry, will you forgive me."  Ret. Sec. of State George Schultz

 

Our Last Full Measure

 As I watched the program reviewing the people from 911 and the Attack On America, there were two striking moments during the show that grabbed my attention.  The first was when President Bush was being flown to a secure location and looked outside the airplane window where he saw a fighter jet flying alongside his plane.  He told his staff, "That pilot is flying alongside because if a surface to air missile is shot towards this plane, he will put his plane in it's path to save ours."  The next was when they narrated the last call from Todd Beamer to the operator that he had been talking to.  He told her of their plan to rush the terrorists and take back control of the plane, he asked her to call his family and tell them how much he loved them, he asked her to pray the Lord's prayer with him, and then, he was silent, took a deep breath, and said, "Let's roll," as he prepared to lose his life for a higher purpose.  

Both the pilot who offered the unconditional full measure of his life, and all of the passengers of Flight 93, laser focused on what was most important in life saw clearly what they were offering and willingly offered that full measure.  There was no rhetoric no questions about how we got there, who was to blame, or  the wrongness of the attack, none of that mattered now.  The actions of those two incidents and the actions of so many more in the aftermath of the attacks is what brought us together as a nation, one people, one culture, one color, and one purpose, to selflessly give of ourselves for the good of others.  There are still many people today that offer that same full measure for the good of others.  They are all cultures, all colors, and all genders.  Today, 20 years later, let's join that purpose to selflessly give for the good of others.  #LetLifeWin in what is important in life.    

Jesus Knew Her

Jesus Knew Her

 

Jesus knew she would be there.  It wasn't an accident.  Jesus knew His disciples wouldn't understand why He wanted to go through where the hated Samaritans, the half-breeds, lived.  Jesus led the way.  He saw the woman at the well and told her about the 'living water' He gave to all who asked. 

 

She had been rejected and shunned so many times by her culture and society, and not just by men, but by women as well.  She didn't fit in.  She had made mistakes but even when she did things right, it didn't matter, all her culture and community saw was the things she didn't do well.  And, we don't know if she had done things wrong to be divorced, or even if she was divorced.  If she was divorced, it's a man's world and he could divorce her for any number of reasons. He could have liked her sister more, she could have burned his toast, she might not have been able to bear him a son.  If she wasn't divorced, she could have lost her husband to death or war.  It didn't matter what the reason was, everyone saw her filtered through the lens of her past, and filtered through the lens of her present, with no husband. 

 

That didn't scare Jesus at all.  He wasn't concerned about her past, He saw her today and her tomorrow.  He knew she was a veteran of Genesis 3:15, 'I will put enmity, 'deep seated hatred,' between you and the woman.'  That is the verse which goes on to say 'and between her seed and your seed,' and because every word in the bible speaks truth we can't jump over the first part of the phrase, nor the significance of it.

 

And so, the woman at the well was a veteran of that war and Christ knew she was exactly the right person for the job of running through the streets of the Samaritan community calling out, "Come see a man……"  She wasn't worried about rejection.  Her entire life had been filled with rejection.  She wasn't worried about shunning.  Her every day was filled with it and is why she went to the well during the heat of the day so she didn't have to see or hear the muffled voices of the other women openly shunning her. 

 

But that didn't scare Jesus at all.  He knew she would run into the village as one of the first missionaries of the gospel and eternity would be different because she did.  What could they say or do to her that they had not already said or done?  And on that day, it no longer mattered. She was free!  Men and women would come out to meet Jesus to get His 'living water,' which she spoke of. 

 

Jesus knew her, the good, the bad and everything in between.  Jesus knows me and you, the good, the bad, and everything in between.  This Christmas, let Him give you His living water.  That is the true Gift He is to us.  This Christmas……I invite you…..Come see a Man!  Come see the freedom the woman at the well received.  Your life will never be the same, and, your eternity will not either.  John 4:1-42 

 

We are not better at sinning, than God is at forgiving. 

 

Getting On The Train

Getting on the train

Do you remember Nolan Ryan?  He played with four different teams throughout a four decade career.  He was one of the first pitchers to throw a ball over 100mph.  There is some controversy of whether he actually threw 108 mph on his fastball because they didn't have the same technology in 1974 that they have now.  Point is, if he were throwing to his son or daughter, how would he do that?  Would he wind up and smoke one over the plate?  Nope.  What about an overhand throw?  Nope.  He would start, the same way we all would start, with a slow underhanded pitch to make sure that his child was able to catch the ball without becoming afraid of it.  What Ryan knows, is what we all know, using all of our skills and talents and then combining it with our experience means that we can overwhelm someone and cause them to shut down, fear the information or the talent, skill or capacity, and never have an opportunity to develop the experience to move forward and get on the train of whatever we are teaching.   

Jesus knew that too.  He knew that if He came to earth with all of His power, authority, and capacity, we would never be able to catch His Kingdom, to step onto the train of forgiveness and grace He offered.   So He set aside His power, all of it, and humbled Himself to become equal to us.  To walk with us through taking the first step of getting on the train.  He knew otherwise we wouldn't understand, become overwhelmed and miss out on the greatest gift ever given to humanity, forgiveness and grace. 

God wants us all on the train of grace and forgiveness.  He provided the way for it to happen.  We don't need a theology degree, or years of research to know, "Jesus loves me," or, that He came to pay the price for my sin so I could spend eternity in heaven with God.  Get on the train Christian.  Step onto the train of grace and forgiveness and bring as many with you as you can. You don't have to be perfect before you toss out the ball.   Take the grace and forgiveness you received and give it to as many people as you can find and explain why.  Your life here and in eternity will never be the same.  #LetLifeWin in giving the grace and forgiveness you have received to others.  (Original idea from Robb Beirbaum, Associate Pastor at New Life New Mexico sermon)

 

The War Cry of Heaven

The War Cry of Heaven

They all knew this would happen.  God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, working in perfect unity, each coordinating their part ending in the perfect trifecta of events to restore dominion of the earth to God and His people.  You can't declare war when you are 2 weeks old.  The intent is good, the effectiveness of it, not so much.  In the bible every baptism happens after someone has made a decision to follow Christ.  There is baby dedication, but not baptism.  That is why baptism is considered the war cry of heaven. 

 

When Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were torn open and God said, "This is my Son, the rightful King of the throne of heaven, in whom I am well pleased."  God was saying to Satan, "It's on!"  You tricked the humans, and stole from Me, My Creation.  Now, nothing you can do will stop Me from restoring what was stolen from Me, and humanity." 

 

In foreign countries, people don't get excommunicated or ostracized from their families when they profess Christ.  It is when they get baptized that the bullets start to fly. 

 

As He came out of the water, He was immediately taken out to the wilderness.  Why?  Because God's human son, Israel, had failed in the wilderness.  Jesus would overcome the wilderness.  Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days.  Israel wandered the desert for 40 years.  Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, why?  Because the first man, Adam, failed the temptation.  Jesus would not. 

 

God's original plan was to create Eden and spend eternity with His children.  His plan has always been the 'great commission,' go make disciples, so He can spend eternity with us.  It was supposed to be Adam, it was supposed to be Israel, and it was supposed to be the church.  It is Jesus.  Jesus is the solution and we are to take His forgiveness and restoration to the world. 

 

Christ took the weapons of hell away from hell.  Christ gave us that authority to prevail over sin through His death on the cross.  Colossians 2:15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

 

God is on the move Christian.  Accept Christ as Savior, confess sin, get baptized and then tell others about the new freedom in your life. Time is running out! 

 #LetLIfeWin in the War Cry of Heaven!  (From a sermon by Robb Bierbaum, New Life New Mexico.)