In high school, it was the car I always wanted.  I finally got it while in Seminary.  I have driven it for ten years.  It has been with me for my marriage and all three kids.  We have been through much.  Still, it was right to watch it go…

I had to drive the buyer’s car back to his house while he drove the Cruiser in front of me…

Bitter Sweet…

When my wife saw the trailer, she provided some very true words.  She said, “Now, there is a pile of good intentions”.  She was so right.  On that trailer were treated lumber, a fence, pipes, and even benches from a McDonald’s playground.  I had collected those things with the intention of one day using all of them.  Unfortunately, those things were probably never going to get done.  My best intentions were not enough to produce anything with those resources.    

It makes me think about my own Christian journey.  How many good intentions do I have for higher things…more eternal things?  How often do they end up in a pile with nothing to show for them?  I have resources that God has given me, yet often I have not prioritized my life in such a way to do something with those resources.  Check out the following words written by the Apostle Paul on this idea…

^“8 I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. ⁹For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. ¹⁰And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. ¹¹So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. ¹²For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.” -2 Corinthians 8:8-12 ESV

How do I prove that I have genuine love for others?  How do I engage in things with eternal significance?  By taking the resources God has given to me and using that for others.  This can be money, material possessions, abilities, time, and many other things.  Paul was encouraging the church in Corinth to do something with their good intentions.  He told them to prove their love.  He even used Jesus as an example of what it looks like to make a bold move with your intentions.

How about you?  Have you ever felt a burden or even an excitement about doing something with eternal significance…only to find that it is a pile of good intentions?  What would it take to do something with those intentions?

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While digging through the pile, Thomas and I noticed a pile of fur…

Thomas grabbed a stick to poke it.  Out came a possum!

Thomas had fun chasing him through the yard until he disappeared into the woods.

You never know what type of adventure you will find when you stir up that pile of good intentions!

The Fight – Round Three from RSBC Media on Vimeo.

Every Sunday during the message, we provide a text number on the screens for people to ask questions about the message. We try to answer one or two questions live at the end of each service and the rest on this blog. The following are the questions that came in this past Sunday.

Is it possible to fight back and still show God in our lives, because by fighting back won’t it show the other person we have no self-control and that God cannot calm us? So how are we to show God in our fighting back? 11:48

It is definitely possible to fight back and still show God in our lives. It is really all about how you fight back and what fighting back looks like. Self-control is one thing that is needed to fight back properly. We should ask God to help us with that. We can show God in our fighting back by deciding to fight back when it directly puts God out front. If our fighting back only leaves us as the winner, and not God, then we are probably in a bad fight.

Check out Acts 23:1-3. Paul fought back when he was being wronged. He even called the man in charge a bad name. “²And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. ³Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall!”” He did this quoting Scripture to explain his response. He called him a whitewashed wall because the man seemed clean on the outside, but was really dirty within. Paul felt that the guy was good at following some religious rules, but missed the heart of it. This story is not a subscription, rather a description of what happened. This does not mean that we need to mouth off at anyone doing us wrong, but sometimes, it is alright to push back.

Check out the rest of the story that we began in Mark 14 and 15. Watch how Jesus responded to the different attacks while he was on trial. Jesus clearly shows us that there is a time to push back and a time to not.

You will show God in your fighting, if you really have God as your number one desire for the win.

The cups are more confusing than helpful- mainly because there are to many, 4 is the limit, otherwise it’s to cluttered 11:28 AM

Thank you for the observation. The huge amount of cups was really to show just how much conflict that our desires or wants can create. I really wanted to use around a hundred. We have thousands of desires that wage war within us. When we get around others that have thousands of desires in them, we now have the makings of what can really become a mess. ‘Cluttered’ is a great word for it. We have to determine a way to “prioritize” our wants so that we can keep God out front. I’m sorry that you were confused. Be encouraged that many people told me that the visual of the cups helped it to make sense to them in their own situations.

Can bad fights ever lead to good fights? 11:24 AM

I believe they can. By “bad fight”, I define it as a fight where I have only myself as the goal for winning. The “good fight” is defined as the number one goal to have God as the winner. I have been in bad fights that had me as the central goal that ended in unexpected ways. Most of the time, the good fight comes when I lose the bad fight that I should not have been fighting in the first place. In those moments, I am humbled enough to recognize God more. It seems like my highest times with God have come out of a lost fight. The good fight then comes as I keep God out front in my new awareness of Him. I think about Paul on the road to Damascus. He was in a bad fight. God used that very fight to help him to see God in a whole new way. From that point on, Paul was in the good fight.

That guy is going to die like that!  Anyway, just wanted to share.

By the way, I was driving back from a disaster relief trip to Cartersville where we helped rebuild a church that was built in the 1800′s.  The church was hit by the tornado.  You can see the pictures at www.roswellstreetconnections.com in a couple of days.

The Fight – Round Two from RSBC Media on Vimeo.

Every Sunday during the message, we provide a text number on the screens for people to ask questions about the message. We try to answer one or two questions live at the end of each service and the rest on this blog. The following are the questions that came in this past Sunday.

When Jesus says get behind me Satan is this saying that Satan was talking through Peter? How do you know when Satan is speaking through people we love & trust?

Peter certainly was not trying to be wrong when he confronted Jesus in Matthew 16:21-23. He probably thought that he was being a good friend by telling Jesus that all of those things would never happen to him. However, when Jesus said to Peter, “you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man,” it revealed that Peter was allowing Satan to guide him rather than God. Satan was using Peter at that moment. One way that we can know when Satan is speaking through people that we love and trust is to know Scripture so well that we can recognize when something does not line up. It is also helpful to have some outside perspectives in a situation. If you only listen to the people closest to you, then you may not get the most pure perspective. Also, I would say to remember that your friends and family are not meant to fight your fight for you, but they are definitely can fight it with you.

Can a good fight tool be rebuking Satan and turn into prayer to the lord?

Well, believe it or not, many scholars would say that we do not have the authority to rebuke Satan. Instead, we should resist him and flee (James 4:7). I read an interesting article on this at http://www.gotquestions.org/authority-rebuke-devil.html. Zechariah 3 provides a picture of Satan being rebuked by the LORD. Perhaps the best way for us to think about a good fight (keeping God out front) would be to follow the instruction found in the sixth chapter of Ephesians… “¹²For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” It means that we can stand against the Devil’s powers by making sure that we have on us truth, righteousness, the good news of peace, faith, salvation, knowledge of Scripture, and prayer. From this list, it looks like it is much more about our keeping ourselves in check than trying to attack Satan. Prayer is definitely seen in this list as a good thing to fight the good fight. Read 2 Peter 2:10 and Jude 8-9.

How are you 100% sure that God is out front?

Proverbs 16:2 reads, “All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the LORD weighs the motives” God is weighing the motives above the actions. Is your motive to have God out front 100%? Sometimes, we may not completely understand the will of God in a situation. I am thankful for Romans 8:28 which reads, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” That means that even if my good motives still led me to make the wrong decision, God can work that for His good. Having good friends that you trust can help to discern the truth. It is also important to keep in mind that the more we know Scripture, the more we recognize the will of God.

The tornado hit Lake Martin, so I took some pictures from that disaster.

My favorite picture from the trip is the one below.  Notice the stare down between Uncle Tony and Thomas.  Lucy (the dog) is in the background and looking equally intense.  Hudson (Tony’s son) is mixing drinks next to them.

The Fight from RSBC Media on Vimeo.

Every Sunday during the message, we provide a text number on the screens for people to ask questions about the message. We try to answer one or two questions live at the end of each service and the rest on this blog. The following are the questions that came in this past Sunday.

What if you don’t have people around you to coach you and help you stay on the right path? Where do you turn? 11:52 AM

Great question! We have designed “Small Groups” through Roswell Street to help people find “coaches” that can help them stay on the right path. Small Groups are basically groups of people doing life together. These groups basically study the Bible together and share each other’s lives. We have groups that meet on Sunday mornings at 9:30a.m. and others that meet off campus during the week. These groups come together based off of various commonalities like life stage, age, interests, and even geography. Let us know if you are having trouble finding a coach and we will try to help you find one.

Can you apply putting God 1st to resolving the ice cream conflict – both internally & between you and your wife? 11:45 AM

We answered this one after the service, so watch the end of the video. Basically, the conflict was over my desire to get in shape and my desire to eat a whole bunch of ice cream. That is the internal “fight” that I face. The fight was over which “desire” will get the priority in view of keeping God out front as my top desire. I came to an agreeable solution to honor God by cutting back on the number of nights that I eat ice cream so that I can take better care of my body. I felt that this would honor God with my body. My wife also had the same conflict of desires. She wanted to cut back the number of ice cream nights to fewer than what I felt was needed. I agreed to meet my wife in the middle because I want to honor God with my relationship with my wife. If I did not care about keeping God out front, I would not care as much about taking care of my body or my relationship with my wife. My perspective would be much more about gratifying my own desires.

What’s your definition of “fighting”? 11:32 AM

Fighting is basically when our want or desire for something is strong enough that we push for it to get priority. It does not necessarily mean that there is yelling or hitting, though it could mean that. Sometimes this looks like a war and sometimes it simply looks like a negotiation.

Don’t we need to fight sometimes to declare dominance to though? 11:32 AM

I’m not sure what is meant by needing to declare dominance. There are times to stand up for what you believe. Jesus stood up for God when he saw the Temple being used wrongly. God has called people to Holy wars in the Old Testament. Jesus told his Disciples that in God’s kingdom, the first will be last and the last first. This changes our way of thinking completely. If we are the only ones that can win in a fight, then it is probably a wrong fight. A good fight is one where God is the ultimate winner.