Deeper Still by phil mccallum

Press on the arrow to hear a story of an amazing answer to prayer that comes from my home church, New Life in Colorado Springs.

Scripture
But they are deeply guilty,
for their own strength is their god. Habakkuk 1:11

Observation
No matter how whiz bang the appliance or computer, it will always have to plug into something. In the same way every single human life draws power from one single value. Every person has a key word that they live by that empowers everything that they do.

For the Babylonians (who by the way are today’s Iraqis) it was strength. Not much has changed for them in the past 2,500 years!

The power outlet for others may be
beauty
intelligence
acceptance
money
fame
defiance
reputation
appearance
sex
fun
and for a very few
Christ.

The Babylonians did the work of God, for they brought his judgment on Israel. But the Babylonians did the work of God in the wrong way and so they were guilty of great sin.

Application
I can do the work of God, yet be absolutely wrong if my strength is from the wrong source. I must be always looking to what my life is plugged into.  What is my power source today? Let it be Christ.

Prayer
Father, let all my strength be found in you! Amen.

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Scripture
Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Ephesians 4:10

Observation
It isn’t easy to know what pleases God and what offends him because not all of God’s judgments come immediately. Because consequences can often be delayed we can skip along with the notion that God is okay with whatever we do.

But not so. If we know anything about the way God works, he takes his time. He lets the sins of the wicked reach their “full measure” before taking action. He told Abraham it would be a wait of over 400 years before he would deal with his enemies. Some bad guys never get their comeuppance because not all rewards and punishments come in this life.

It is not enough to be led by a life of consequences because they don’t come quickly enough. This is why we have the Bible. This is why we have the Holy Spirit. It sounds simple but the moment by moment inquiry of the Lord to know what pleases him is often forgotten.

Application
I need to be careful to determine what pleases the Lord. If I want a life with his favor I need to have the upward glance with just about everything.

Prayer
Father, help me to pray reflexively this prayer, “What would please you?” Amen.

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Scripture
Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world—to people and angels alike. Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed. Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home. We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment. I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. So I urge you to imitate me. 1 Corinthians 4:10-16

Observation
The higher a leader climbs the ladder of responsibility the fewer privileges, not greater, but fewer privileges he has. As John Maxwell says, “You have to give up to go up.” Paul knew that. He was an Apostle. On the kingdom flowchart his leadership box looked impressive. It was a role appointed by Jesus Christ and accountable directly to the Lord. With CEO ministry came travel, public speaking, company expansion, staff and the freedom to write the Bible. Not bad.

But the highest office in the church was really just a litter box. Like a parent, Paul had paid the price for churches to exist without repayment. His actions were public so onlookers filled in the motive blank. As a great leader he was magnanimous, knowing that to start a fight is to lose an argument. By patience and gentle appeal Paul may have lost face but he kept the climate of the church healthy for conflict. Yet for all this Paul was just a green garbage bag, always ready to be opened and packed with just one more bit of abuse from those he hoped to serve.

The more a leader influences the more rights he loses because a leader is one who serves. If a leader holds onto his privileges then he ends up serving only himself and it is just a matter of time before the enterprise fails. The great corporate leaders exist to serve the mission of the organization at whatever personal cost necessary. Paul was just such a leader.

So why did Paul bring up his self-sacrifice? Because the autograph-hunting groupies of the Corinth Church were gaga over the glittering personalities of the international church. They were impressed with what doesn’t impress God. Since Paul looked like something from a scratch and dent sale he didn’t make their cut. Paul was concerned with more than his rejection as their leader. What bothered him was what this hero worship would warp in the people’s own hearts. If they thought leaders with perks were the epitome of church life then very likely all of their service for Christ would become self serving. If however, they could come to see that true leaders serve by sacrifice then they would as well.

That’s why Paul ends his dog-eared resume with the words, “I urge you to imitate me.”

Application
God had those words written for us too. We are to imitate Paul with a humility in our leadership to give up as we go up. Paul was okay with being a garbage can if it meant that a church could be formed and lives could be changed. He wasn’t doing what helped him but what furthered the organization. God asks leaders if we are okay with that kind of leadership style. Yes we can collect perks around his house like frequent flyer miles but in the end we may be followed by hollow people just like us. People of substance are produced by leaders who qualify for leadership by the debris trail of their self-sacrifice.

Prayer
Father, whew, that is a heavy thought today. But it is the bottom line of changed lives makes it worth it all. I make the choice today to be what you need me to be in the kingdom. That means looking foolish, being weak, feeling ridicule, hunger, thirst, cold, beaten, homeless, self-supporting, blessing, patience, gentleness–just being a trash can for you. I see the fringe benefits of leadership. I accept them and I ask that you will help me not to rattle too much when my lid is lifted and something is tossed into me that I do not like. Amen.

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www.claybennett.com/pages/ethics.html

Scripture

Let God weigh me on the scales of justice,
for he knows my integrity. Job 31:6

Observation
Job had personal integrity list. He had thought in advance of pitfalls that could swallow him up and had planned in advance to avoid them. Job knew how he would respond before he even came to the point of decision because he had predetermined decisions already made. Those are convictions. From Job 31, here is his personal integrity list from Job 31:

1. Do not look with lust on a young woman or be in a place of enticement to lust after another man’s wife.
2. Treat employees fairly as equals in origin and your status as responsibility toward them.
3. Extend the eves of your house to cover widows and orphans.
4. Have a home open to those who need love, a meal or a bed.
5. Do not become excited by what money can buy or discouraged by scarcity instead trust God as your provider.
6. Never gloat when God disciplines those who have hurt you, or it may be your turn next!
7. Be uncomfortable with unconfessed sin and open it quickly to the Lord.

These are not the words of a pastor but of a business man. Personal integrity is something that matters to all of us for one reason: God is watching. As Job said,

Doesn’t [God] see everything I do and every step I take? (Job 31:4)

All of life is an examination of our lives by the Lord. He watches everything that we do. The perks we enjoy in life are not given to us to cause us to forget our responsibility. Instead, one day, every fringe benefit of life will be taken away from us and only our integrity will hold us together. We are not given cars, homes, money, investments, businesses, employees, opportunities and so on to distance ourselves from human need or to elevate ourselves over others. All of these things are given to us because we are responsible to make a difference. One day God will take everything back and quiz us on what we did with his resources.

The only way to pass that exam is to have personal integrity. Job thought in advance of what mattered most to God about his daily life and how he would respond in a way that would please the Lord. What matters to God is often very different from what matters to us. God values faithfulness in relationships because he is faithful. God values the care of those who are weaker because he is a Saviour. God values transparency because he hates hypocrisy. Job thought through these and other things and formed his whole life around what matters to God.

Integrity is not a way to please God to be accepted by him. Instead, God is pleased with us because of Christ and therefore we live to please him as an act of love toward him.

Integrity, as Job learned, does not guarantee prosperity and success. Just because a person has standards does not mean that he will be exempt from hardships. But what Job did learn is that when all is stripped away it is our integrity that will hold us together.

Application
Job’s list is probing. It would serve any business person or pastor well. We just need to think through the specifics of each point:

1. Use accountability software, have an accountability partner, be honest with yourself, a man should not counsel women, have a window in the office door, never give a woman a ride alone in a car or visit the home of a woman alone.
2. Do not brush aside requests from staff for equipment, pay rises, working conditions, personal need or relationship disputes, rather consider each fairly.
3. Look after single mothers and particularly the children from one parent homes.
4. Look for those standing alone after church and those new to the community.
5. Give generously, don’t accept money that violates principles.
6. Pray for your enemies, especially when life is difficult for them and help them.
7. Have an accountability partner who knows all and can ask, “Are you lying?”

Prayer
Father, as the responsibilities of life increase let my personal integrity grow with them. Amen.

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Amaze yourself with these Nathan Sawaya’s Lego sculptures on CNN and his blog.

Scripture

For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,

‘The stone that you builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.’ Acts 4:11

Observation

Back in April of ‘79 I was a senior in high school saving for college. My summer job was working construction. The boss had just finished laying rows of cinder blocks 27 feet tall. My job was to pull down the scaffolding. I ate my McDonalds lunch from that sky perch and did two historic things. First I made a time capsule of junk food as I put the McDonalds packaging into the holes in the wall. And then I did what no one can resist: I wrote my name and the date in the wet concrete in the top course of blocks.

No one can resist making their mark in stone. There is graffiti etched in sandstone along the Oregon Trail from the 1850’s. There are tags in Roman catacombs and even the Egyptian tombs. I once asked a graffiti artist what it was that drove him to spray paint his tag on blank walls around town. He said, “It’s the desire to be noticed.”

Every human longs for significance and wants to make their mark. Deep down, somehow, in some way, for some moment of time no matter how brief we want to be important. Otherwise Gold Class, First Class, Platinum would not exist. We want to end up on top of the heap of humanity and be treated special.

We are each special to God, but he has designed it such that none of us can claim to be superior. That’s why this little phrase is repeated over and over in the Bible:

The stone that you builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.

The “cornerstone” is not a shinny granite block at the bottom of the wall, it is a huge monolith at the top of all the courses of stone. The cornerstone in the temple was the largest building stone on earth. It was a rectangular block of rock nearly the size of a house. The walls of the Temple were built with man-sized blocks of granite. The rows and rows of huge stones were held in place by the top capstone. It was pure genius as it withstood earthquakes for centuries.

Application

Here’s the point for us: we are definitely not the capstone, that’s Jesus. Nor are we dirt because the stones were built without mortar. Instead each of us is a living stone with a part to play in the wall, high or low, visible or invisible wherever the Stone Mason wants it to rest. Once each of us is in position, Jesus takes his place on the highest level and holds us in place.

It is a secure feeling being locked into Christ submission. Like a row of Lego blocks, he puts me where I belong and holds me secure. And submitting to his Lordship is a joy because he did not take this exalted position for himself. The stone was rejected and God the Father himself hoisted him into the highest place. Jesus’ authority over me is submission and that is a joy.

All comes together when Jesus is in the right place over our lives. Jesus will only be in the right place when I confess that Jesus is the cornerstone, I am not.

Prayer

Father today I want to stumble on Jesus so I find just the place I am to be. Amen.

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By the way for those who don’t know IKEA, it is a Swedish self-assemble furniture store, not to be missed when visiting Atlanta or LA.

The Bible Says

When he had proved himself faithful, you made a covenant with him to give him and his descendants the land….Nehemiah 9:8And now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of unfailing love, do not let all the hardships we have suffered seem insignificant to you… Nehemiah 9:32

My Mind Thinks

Our track record is significant to the Lord. Our history of obedience and the chronicles of our heartaches all have bearing on the choices he makes with our lives.There are job interviews for doing God’s work. These employment interrogations do not take place around long board tables. Instead God examines the resume of our daily activity. Every moment we are under review. When we face the steep grades of life challenge how we perform under pressure makes a difference in what God has us to do next. Abraham went through just such an extensive candidacy to be the father of many nations. The encouragement of his story is that he was human with doubts and setbacks, but he kept moving on. After 25 years of job interviews, a head hunting team of three angels came to visit Abraham and Sarah and within a year Isaac was born.

There are also promotions for pain. No life pain is meaningless if we wrap it with faith. If the Lord puts our tears into a bottle, then our hardships do matter. The hardships mentioned in Nehemiah are actually all the result of the sin of the people and their just punishment. Yet even that matters to the Lord. He does not punish forever but he comes to remember us in mercy. The record of our punishment and the change of heart it brings does cause him to move our lives into better days.

My Heart Responds

I have courage to believe that all of my life matters to God and that all of it counts in what he will do next with me. He has seen my faithfulness mixed with the sawdust of my mistakes. He has seen the hardships of my life and the improvements they have brought to me. I believe God will open a door and it will be somehow connected with the track record of my life.

My Spirit Prays

Father, remember my track record and open a door for me. Amen.

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From www.inkcinct.com.au

What the Bible Says
The first servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made ten times the original amount!’ “‘Well done!’ the king exclaimed. ‘You are a good servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.’

“But the third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said, ‘Master, I hid your money and kept it safe. I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with, taking what isn’t yours and harvesting crops you didn’t plant.’ “‘Yes,’ the king replied, ‘and to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.
Luke 19:16, 17, 20, 21, 26

What My Mind Thinks
What holds us back from becoming all that God has imagined us to be? It is our desire to play it safe. It’s the tendency to live with a passbook savings account mentality in a bull market economy.

The interest rate of Jesus is frankly out of this world. His rate of return doubles investments, or a 100% dividend rate. The only thing he asks of us is calculated risks. We are not to spend his resources, we are to invest them. We need to place them strategically in the hands of others where they can become greater. That requires thought, demands, foresight, trust and accountability.

But with returns of 100% we want to play it safe. Why? Because we are afraid not so much of failure as we are of disappointing God. “I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with….” Our ability to succeed in life depends on our perception of God’s face. If we we live with a fear of his scowl we will hide our nest egg under the mattress. But if we can capture something of the glee and merriment of God at our forward success we will look for opportunities and take them.

Years ago my aunt put a book in my hands with one quote that has changed my outlook. It comes from Annie Dillard’s Pulitzer Prize Winning Book, Pilgrim On Tinker Creek:

“There is always an enormous temptation in all of life to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for itsy-bitsy years on end. I won’t have it. The world is wilder than that in all directions, more dangerous and bitter, more extravagant and bright. We are making hay when we should be making whoopee; we are raising tomatoes when we should be raising Cain or Lazarus.”

How My Heart Acts
It is time for me to invest…with wisdom. Instead of the self-conscious life that worries what God will think with this or that, I must think of the joy I can bring to his heart by making the most he has given to me while there is yet time.

What My Spirit Prays
Father, today I want to be an investor of what you have given to me. Liberate me from the paralysis of bewilderment of options. Help me to discern the appropriate opportunities. And then hover over my investments with the Miracle Grow of the kingdom of God. The best is yet to come. Amen.

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