Rock Bottom? Part 2

As my day as progressed I realized an important thing that I needed to add to the first part of my blog post "Rock Bottom"...


I truly believe that God allows us to at times hit rock bottom or our "lowest low" because only there... only in this most desperate of places will we totally... I mean 110% depend on Him.  Again, I should know because it took that for me.  God had to bring me to the place to where I had no choice but to see Him for all that He is so that I would begin to become all that He has for me to be.  Oh, and BTW... I am still very much a work in progress.


Some children will touch the hot stove, burn their finger, and never reach for the stove again.  Others, will touch the stove, burn their finger, but will have to touch it again as if to see if the stove was really hot?!  Of course it's hot!  But for some reason they didn't get the message the first time... or maybe the second... third... or nineteenth??!


Sometimes... some of us have to have our hand held to the burner for what can be a painful period before we learn to never touch the hot stove again.


God loves you. God loves you!  He loves you so much that He allowed His One and only Son Jesus Christ to face the ultimate lowest low and be spat on, mocked, cursed, hung naked for thousands to see, beaten, and ultimately crucified to death on the cross so that you and I would never have to face the ultimate lowest low which is death and eternal separation from God because of our sin, our rebellion.  No matter how low we get... no matter how wild the storm... no matter how fierce the battle... no matter what comes against us, nothing, no NOTHING can ever separate us from the love of God.  Love the will sometimes brings us to our lowest low just so that we see Christ for all that He is...


Two passages of scripture come to my mind...


Romans 8:35-39 (NLT) - Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ³⁶ (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) ³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.


Hebrews 12:7-11 (NLT) - As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? ⁸ If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. ⁹ Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?

¹⁰ For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

Writing as He inspires,


PCW

Rock Bottom? Part 1

You may think you've reached your "lowest low"... But,  unless you've gotten to the place of lowliness where all you see... your only Hope... your only friend... the only one still standing beside you is God... you still have a ways to go.  How do I know?  I've been there, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. Because at my darkest place I saw His light!  In my loneliness I felt His comfort. In my brokenness I found His healing.

No, you've not reached you're lowest low as long as that drink, that drug, that person who enables you, that sin that controls you, that part of you you're still holding onto, that thing that has become a wall in your life, that thing that separates you from God, is still there.  

You don't have to tell me about rock bottom, I've been there and I will never forget it.  Yet it was there at the bottom that I found grace, forgiveness, and ultimately God.  And because He was there when all else, and everyone else failed, I will forever be eternally grateful!

Romans 5:8 - God demonstrated his own love for us in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

PCW

"MY Church is better than YOUR Church"!

Really??  Do you really think your church is the BEST CHURCH??

Well, ok, you like the “church” you attend and that's great!  But here's the deal... THE CHURCH is not one particular "gathering congregation"... THE CHURCH is THE BODY OF CHRIST!  In other words, “THE CHURCH” are people who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ sacrifice on our behalf.  Look with me at Ephesians 4:4-6...

Ephesians 4:4-6 (NIV) There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

“The Church” is the Body of Christ and although we may do some things differently, we are all ONE BODY if we are in Christ.  “’Well, I don’t like THAT church because they do those contemporary praise songs’.  ‘Personally, I prefer singing out of the hymnal’”.  Ok, that’s great!  I prefer driving a truck over a sedan but either one can get me from Point A to Point B.  In other words, although they are different vehicles, they both are capable of getting you to the same location.  Bottom line: Every church in and around our area does something different, something better, or maybe even something worse than the church down the street.  What truly matters is WHO is at the center of the WHAT and WHY of what we do.  If Christ is the center of our congregational gatherings, and our desire is to see Him glorified and others come to know Him as Savior and Lord, that’s really all that matters.

Many if not most of our churches in rural America are declining and or dying because we are focusing on the wrong things. Truth be told, many of us are so inwardly focused and worried about protecting “who we have been” that we don’t even realize that it really won’t matter because no one will be there in the future to keep doing what we “died on a hill” to do.  Change and progress are inevitable. Ignoring change will eventually bring death; recognizing the need for change might just bring a dying church back to life.

Folks, it’s time to put down our guards, be willing to cross denominational lines and work together to fulfill the “Great Commission” that God has called ALL of us who are in Christ to be a part of.  We are not in competition, or at least we shouldn’t be.  We are stronger, even better when we work together!  This “next” generation is watching our every move and trying to decide if what we have is real and worth having.  When they look at us and see Christ as our top priority… not a building, denomination, or affiliation, that’s when we will see revival in the land!

This land… this town… this fertile field is where God has called you and I to work the harvest. The harvest is plentiful and the workers need to get to work!

Pastor Christian Watts

http://christianwatts.org