I won't back down.

John Wesley said, ""Give me one hundred people who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergy or laity, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon the earth."

Jesus said that he will establish the church and even the gates of Hades will not overcome it. This Sunday at Tabernacle we are going to be encouraged by our Summer Pastoral Assistant (Joshua Friedeman), on how we can stand firm in our faith.

Tom Petty said,

I won't back down, no I won't back down

You can stand me up at the gates of Hell

but I won't back down.

wildflowers...

"You belong among the wildflowers,

you belong somewhere close to me.

Far away from your trouble and worries,

you belong somewhere you feel free."

Where are you? God asked this question to Adam and Eve in the Garden while they were hiding. I wish to ask you the same question. Tom Petty says we belong among the wildflowers. Are you there? Maybe we have to learn what the wildflowers are first.... come this Sunday to find out.

thoughts on vision

Andy Stanley says,

"When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near. I don’t want to be an expert about the last 15 years of ministry. We can’t be satisfied with the status quo even when it is good. If the vision doesn’t drive it, then the past does. When the past drives your ministry, it will lead to irrelevance and will lead to an end. Success breeds complacency, Complacency breeds failure."

It is challenging to see past next weekend. When we get caught in the daily routine of life the temptation is to become too microscopic in our vision and we analyze every detail. This is not bad, but the temptation is there to lose the bigger picture. The opposite could happen when we see to telescopically. Our vision is too big that the details never get taken care of. Either way, in all of these things is the idea that it is thinking forward that allows for us to grow. We can not move in a healthy direction if we continually look backwards.

Have you thought beyond next weekend? Do you still dream? Allow for God to give you your 'life picture' and where you would desire to see yourself in the future.

independence...

On this wonderful holiday where we celebrate freedom and independence as a nation, often the church takes this theme and tries to run with it. For instance, a sign down the road says, "Jesus can give you spiritual independence." While I believe this is true, and I understand what they are trying to say, I want to say that the opposite is also true. Jesus gives us spiritual dependency.

Now when we speak of freedom it is true to say that Jesus sets one free. But does that freedom separate one from a relationship of depending upon God? Does Jesus set one free then all of a sudden we don't need Him anymore? Certainly this is not the case.

This sunday at Tabernacle we are continuing with our Gospel and Tom Petty series where we will address this issue of depending upon God. Petty says, "I aint never gonna let you down, all you got to do is trust me.... I'm depending upon You. Don't let me down, I'm depending upon You." Our freedom comes with the freedom to choose Him each day.

truth

"then you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free..."

What truth is Jesus talking about? Further in the Gospel of John we see how truth is personified when Jesus himself says that He is the truth. But the readers wouldn't have known that as they read John 8 - where we get the above quote.

Is it possible for truth to be outside from our frame of reference? How do you react when you hear the phrase, "All truth is God's truth."

What does the truth set us free from or free to do?

These questions and many more tomorrow at Tabernacle UMC.