Just Between You, Me, & God 4/23/2012

So who is qualified to serve the Lord? Like any other profession, there are schools and universities that offer courses and degrees in Philosophy, church organization and leadership, evangelism, and church planting. Those are all great and they supply a wealth of knowledge that is important in holding to the truths of organizing, efficiently running, and leading a church from the pulpit. But what about the rest of us, who is qualified to serve the Lord? Actually; none of us. We all fall short of the Glory of the Lord, even the most seasoned of Pastors, because we are all sinners. The great Apostle Paul even struggled in Romans 7:18-19, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do---this I keep on doing.” The truth is that all of us, as believers, are called to serve the Lord. The fact that we are not qualified only brings Glory to God when we serve. In his book “The Apostles, Becoming Unified Through Diversity”, Gene Getz takes a look at the 12 Disciples that Jesus picked to learn and carry on the Gospel message after He was gone. In the introduction he looks at Jesus’ choices from the eyes of an imaginary management consulting firm. “To: Jesus, Son of Joseph, Woodcrafter’s Carpenter Shop, Nazareth 35922, E-mail: Jesuscarpenter.com. From: Jordan Management Consultants, Jerusalem 26544, E-mail: JMC.org. Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for management positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; and we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant. It is the staff’s opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education, and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, sons of Zebedee, place personal interests above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel it our duty to tell you that Matthew has been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau. James, the son of Alphaeus, and particularly Simon the Zealot have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic-depressive scale. Thaddaeus is definitely sensitive, but he wants to make everyone happy. One of the candidates, however show great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All of the other profiles are self-explanatory.” It’s not what you can do; it’s what God can do through you. Your application has been turned in and approved and God is just waiting for you to get started. Accept His call and get started today. Not sure what you can do? Ask your pastor, he’s been waiting for you. God bless you for all you do for the Kingdom, Pastor Dean.

Pastor Dean Hanssen is the Outreach & Ministries Pastor for LHF.

Just Between You, Me, & God, Good Friday Edition

Jesus died for the whole world. We tend to think of Good Friday and Easter Sunday as traditional Christian holidays. The truth is; what Jesus did on the cross and what happened on the third day when He rose from the grave, was done for all of us. Jesus suffered and died for Muslims, for Buddhist, for Hindus, for atheist and agnostics, for Jews, for believers and nonbelievers alike. Whether you are in Church every time the doors are open or if you’ve never darkened the doors before in your life, Jesus died for you. Whether you’re politically correct or conservatively outspoken, whether you believe in the psychic or the astrological alignments or if you put your faith in the One who created the stars, Jesus died for you. If you think that you can do enough good works in this life to outweigh every sin you’ve ever committed or if you think that your sins are so heinous that you could never receive forgiveness, Jesus died for you. Whether you think that the laws of God are old and outdated or that God has changed His mind about His creation and that He is no longer in control and doesn’t care what we do as long as it feels good, then Jesus died for you. Whether you think that you are too rich or too poor, that you are too young or too old, and whether you just don’t care one way or the other, please know that Jesus died for you. If this just doesn’t make sense to you then you’re not alone. I often don’t understand myself. How can Jesus death forgive my sins, even when I continue to sin? Jesus explains in a conversation with Peter in Matt. 18:21-22, “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Here Peter thought he was going above and beyond with forgiving someone 7 times for the same sin against him but Jesus counters with an amazingly higher number. Before you start keeping track of the numbers, keep in mind that Jesus was trying to make the point that no matter how many times we sin, though Him we are forgiven. Remember also that the sin was not just against Peter or ourselves, but against God. We are His creation, so when we sin against each other, we sin against God. Listen again to why Jesus died for all of us. John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world (that’s all of us) that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” Brackets are my words. Jesus died for you; the choice that remains is your own decision with God to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. Please let me know how you decided. God’s love to you, Pastor Dean

Just Between You, Me, & God 3/26/2012

Change is inevitable. Don’t believe me; take a look at some of your grade school pictures or your High School yearbook, then take a quick glance in the mirror. I rest my case. I did this little exercise myself and it’s rather hard to believe that the bare headed, spectacled, old gentleman with dunlaps disease sitting in front of this monitor once had long curly red hair with bell bottoms, a 30 inch waist and perfect vision. Still not convinced; then ask any parent of a new born. Everything changes, and I’m not just talking about the diapers. You’re no longer your own person, you belong to someone else and they belong to you. You have responsibilities that multiply every day and with every situation. You don’t sleep the same, eat the same or sometimes even have the same friends. People with kids understand and sympathize with people who have kids where as others just don’t understand, it doesn’t make sense to them. Have faith new parents; from my vantage point you’ll live through it and it will be worth it. I do recommend having your grandchildren first if you can, that’s a whole other experience. However, there are some things in our lives that are unwelcome and we would love to change them if we only could, erase them as if they never happened. We have no way of turning back the hands of time but we can change the direction we are headed. The world, however, has a long memory about the things we do wrong and a very short memory for anything we happen to do right. Jesus offers us help and instruction in how to change. In Matthew 18:3 Jesus tell us, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” In order to truly change we must stop what we’re doing and start everything over again, we must be reborn in Jesus. Remember the new parents I mentioned earlier, well we must become like the child, completely dependent on Jesus; we must give our lives over to Him. When we do and when we repent or change the way we live and make Jesus the center of our lives, then an amazing thing also happens. All of those mistakes that the world tends to remember and hold over us will be removed from God’s sight by the only one that can remove them and that is Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 assures us, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” If you have decided to change your life and to follow Jesus, please let me know so that I may pray for your journey. God bless you, Pastor Dean

Pastor Dean is the Ministries & Outreach Pastor for LHF.