Just Between Me, You, & God 9/28/2012

How many of you looked in the mirror this morning? OK, how many of you liked what you saw? Oh wow! Not very many of us, now is that before or after you fixed yourself up for the day? It must be the mirrors. I remember a time when the guy looking back didn’t have to put on his glasses to see me, and when he could actually run a comb through his hair, and when there wasn’t as much of him standing there. When I step away from the mirror and glance around myself I still pretty much look the same as I always have, to myself anyway. Why are we never satisfied with our looks? With a diet here and an exercise there, here a nip, there a tuck, everywhere a nip tuck… Genesis 1: 27 says, “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Next time you look in the mirror you might think, “Wow God, you’re looking a little rough there this morning.” Remember, it says we were made in His image, not exactly like Him. Let’s look in God’s mirror for a moment remembering that He is more interested in the heart. We are to love God “with all of your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” It doesn’t say with all your looks. Loving God with all of our heart and soul and mind is putting Him above all other things. Don’t like yourself, Jesus has an app to change that. Click on and download 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” In reality, we must be born again in Christ. Believe me, the change will be noticeable to others around you and as they begin to see the difference in you they will tell you. You’ll notice it also. Those things that used to be so appealing just don’t interest you anymore. The shows you watch, the jokes you tell and hear, the music you listen to suddenly sounds foreign. That is the new you in Christ. You are starting to see things in God’s mirror and not the mirror of the world. The Words of the Bible are suddenly making sense to you. Here’s another app you can download, James 1:22-25, “Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--- he will be blessed in what he does.” Our bodies will continue to change as we grow older but the image of Christ in us is never changing and always beautiful to behold. Lookin’ good, Pastor Dean.

Pastor Dean is the Ministries & Outeach Pastor for LHF.

Just Between You, Me, & God 8/13/2012

I was a middle kid with an older and a younger brother. As three boys often do, we could get in trouble pretty easily. When brought before the judges (Mom or Dad) and asked "Whose fault is this?", I could point in either direction and lay the blame accordingly. Likewise, they could point at each other and I would be caught in the middle. Truth be known, we all usually had some kind of part in the mischief. It seems to be our human nature to want to blame someone else for our troubles. Zig Zigler pointed out that "when you're pointing a finger at someone else that just means that there are three more pointing back at you. In Matthew 7:1-6, Jesus gives a lesson to His disciples on judging, mercy, and protecting what is sacred. "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye. How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from you brother's eye. Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces." Jesus is telling them that they set their own standard of judging on themselves by the way that they judge others. It doesn't mean that some things do not demand judging but if you do, you'd better have your own house in order. If our own lives are in disarray, then we are hypocrites for judging others for their way of life. When we as Christians take the standards that God has given us (pearls) and disregard them ourselves but expect others to live up to those standards, then we are giving them excuse that we don't even live up to God's laws so why should they, how can anybody if we can't. If we as Christians expect to see marriage continue as one man and one woman as God intended, then we need to look at fixing our divorce rates, our unfaithfulness, and our acceptance of living together outside the bonds of marriage. Maybe if our kids could see how God intended marriage to be representative of our relationship with Christ then they would grow up with a better self-image of themselves and how to relate to others. When our image in the mirror becomes more clearly then we can start to show others by God's example through us. Pastor Dean

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