What comes out....

I was doing my daily Bible reading today. Came across this scripture in Matthew 15:

What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’ ” Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.” “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’ ”

Now, my mom always told me to wash my hands before I ate something. Hmm. Good idea, I even taught my kids that, but that is not what Jesus is dealing with here. First I find it interesting that the disciple came to Jesus and asked him if he noticed that he had offended the religious leaders. Imagine that! Of course Jesus knew what he was saying! Poor guy, just didn't get it did he? Then Jesus asked them, "Are you so dull?" Really that gives me hope. They were right there with him, listening, following, asking questions and learning from Him, yet they still had trouble grasping everything that he was saying and teaching. But then Jesus gets to the point, it is about the heart. Jesus was trying to get it across to these religious guys that their hearts were not right. Good news is the disciples hearts were right even if they did not understand everything he was trying to tell them. Jesus wants our hearts, not our ability to follow rules. He wants us to want to follow him, to serve him, serve others and to be an example to the world... because we love him and want to do this not because it is a bunch of rule for us to check off our list so that we can do what we do to gain what God promises us...

People are gonna see the way we live our lives. From the outside, they cannot always tell if we do what we do because we love God or because we are trying to "gain" our salvation through the following of the "rules" we read about in God's word. They may not be able to tell, but we can. We know why we do what we do. We do what we do because God showed us the ultimate love by sending His son to this earth to live and to die for us. To make a way for us to have a relationship with Him. We love because He first loved us. We love others because God love them and us. We do the things we do because we love God and want to share that love with those in this world that do not know God and know his unbelievable love for His creation.

We live differently. We act, talk and respond differently to people and circumstances in our daily lives. We do this because of the love of our Father. The hope that we have of spending eternity with our Father and with each other in heaven. It is about the words that come out of our mouths, but it is also about the actions of our lives that show the light of the love of Jesus to a dark world.

I want the things that come out of my heart to be kindness, love, sympathy, caring, patience, joy, peace and all the ways that God our Father is, I want to show the world my Father through the way I live my life. What is coming out of your heart? Fill your heart with the love of the Father and what comes out through your life will be a reflection of the Father. Praise be to His name!

_

TEAM

What do you think of when you hear the word "team". One thing for me, especially because of the Weltmeisterschaft (World Cup of Soccer) going on right now, I think of Soccer. I think about how these teams work together (or in some cases do not work well together) towards a common goal, pun there, to score a point and eventually win the game and tournament. I see them struggle on the field, not just with their opponents, but also with their own teammates. I have also seen the value in being unselfish. How many times have I seen in the different games where one man is taking the ball to the goal and at just the last minute, when the suspense is just about to kill you, will he shoot, will the opponent knock it down or out of the way... the man with the ball doesn't shoot... he instead passes it to another player because...BECAUSE he has the better shot. Think about how hard that is. Giving the glory to the other person. Literally giving it away. You had the shot, maybe you make it, maybe you don't, but you had the chance... But you are a team. A team isn't about one person, it is about the common goal. During this tournament I have seen so many selfless acts. So many times that someone passed the ball to someone else for the greater good. Seeing the other person getting the glory for a great shot... that they would not have had if the other person had kept the shot for themselves. You know what I am talking about... I don't just mean Fußball (soccer) either. I am talking about God's Family. I am talking about our workplaces, our individual families, our extended families and all those areas in our lives where we interact with other people "working together for a common goal". I must confess... it is hard to be a team player. Ha, no surprise to you there... if you know me. I like to be the one with the great idea. I like to be the one to score the winning point. I like to be the one to receive the glory... But being a part of a team means IT IS NOT ABOUT ME. Hard pill to swallow, ha, it is a difficult pill to even put in my mouth.

Years ago, many more than I choose to count, I worked in a grocery store. Pikewood Food Center. Each year Karen and I would go to a convention with my boss and his wife. This was put on by the supplier of our groceries. Each year there would be a theme. You know the kind, get everyone excited, pumped up so that they would buy a ton of stuff later at this show... you know, all those deals that were a once in a lifetime deal that you just could not pass up... at least until next year. :-) Sorry, I got sidetracked in all the memories. A theme I remember well, was centered around this word TEAM. T is for Together, E is for Everyone, A is for Achieves, M is for More. Together everyone achieves more. Hmmm, think about that. Agree? Disagree? Was it just a ploy to get all the grocery guys to buy more stuff from our supplier?

I would like to tweek that a bit. I would like to suggest that, TOGETHER, EVERYONE is ABLE to do MORE. I guess this comes down to what together means. For me that means that if I am not the center of attention, if I am not the one seeking the glory as I work in a group, then the group as a whole will be better off as we attempt to accomplish what we have started out to do together. Jump back to God's Family. We ARE family, God made us that way, kind of like our own families, we didn't get to choose who is in it, we just love them anyway. God adds us to HIS family. Hopefully we are, want to be, a team. What are our motivations as we would together as a team? What is our goals? Obviously Jesus gave us the ultimate goal... "seek and save the lost"! God's family, God's team, has the opportunity to share the great message of Jesus Christ with a lost world. This my friends is not an easy task, (saving that thought for another day)but this requires every player to play his part. Everyone cannot be on offense, everyone cannot be on defense, everyone cannot be the goalie. Ha, I just got a funny picture in my mind. I thought if all the Germany players decided that they all wanted to be the goalie... you have all of them standing in front of the goal and their opponent having the run of the field... sorry, i am digressing... maybe not. We are a body, Christ is the head, we each play a role in the body, Paul talked about this, this body working together, each part doing what GOD INTENDED IT TO DO, BEING PLACED WHERE HE WANTED IT TO BE... Working together. I am thankful that the body that God gave me works well with itself. I believe we call it cancer when the body turns on itself. I do not want to be cancer in God's family. I really would rather be the little toe and never get noticed for the support I give than to cause death and destruction in something so beautiful as the body of Christ. There are power in numbers, there is power in family. You know this. There is power in working together. We can help each other do better when we put the needs of others above ourselves. I think I read that somewhere...

Love the Lord your God... first command
Love your neighbor as you love yourself, treat him/her as you WANT to be treated... second command
All the rules, all the commands, all the regulations, all the teachings and all the prophesies of the Bible boil down to these two...

Family = Team. God's Family = God's Team. We have a team captain, He is Jesus Christ. I am thankful to be a player on His team. I want to live, breath and work as a team player. Seeking to make YOU stronger, utilize your talents, help you be closer to our Father as we reach out to the lost of our world and ultimately bringing Glory to God our Father through the life and service that we give Him as his family and team.

Thank you for your time this day that it took to read the writings of a person striving to truly put God and His Son Jesus on the throne of my life, then making sure that I am also putting your needs, your concerns before my own. Guess I am not through yet, actually I guess it would be better to say that God is not through with me yet. Thank you Father for the Spirit that you gave to me as a gift, that lives in me and helps me to grow to be the man, husband, father, brother and your son that you want me to be. Praise be to your name. Amen.

Random thoughts this day...

I was talking with Karen at breakfast this morning. She brought up an interesting point that hit me quite profoundly. Many times I am rather disappointed in myself because of what I have NOT been able to learn or NOT been able to accomplish in the almost 4 years of living in Germany. Come the end of August of this year, we will have officially been in Germany for 4 years. That seems like a very long time. Sometimes it seems very long for me… sometimes it seems like I blinked and it is over. Know what I mean? I think you do. Okay, her point. She made the statement that we have lived in three different cities in the last 4 years. First was Bremen. Bremen is a city of officially about 500,000 people. Add in the surrounding small towns that actually connect to it and you have over a million people milling around that city. Ha, that was our first place to live in Germany. I say ha because we came from a city, Little Rock, that with its surrounding towns probably had somewhere over 200,000 people. Big city for me and then we moved to a huge city. After living there for two years we moved to a city in the eastern part of Germany, it is called Chemnitz. It has relatively the same population as what we were used to in Little Rock, but the difference is that it was a city that earlier, before the wall came down, housed over twice that many people. So the city itself was much bigger than what I was used to, just only having the number of people that I had grown used to. Then our next move is to Leipzig. Leipzig has over 500,000 people and then it has many towns around its edges to make it quite a metropolitan area. Again, like Chemnitz, many of its inhabitants left for the west when the wall came down. Many of the industry was closed down after it no longer had the support of the communistic government to keep it running and staffed. So ultimately my rambling today… Have you ever moved to a new city? I am sure you have. Had your set of problems with that? I know you did. New places, new people, new ideas, customs and even sometimes a different way of speaking by the people in that city are what awaited you. I know. I too have experienced that… three times in the last 4 years. God is good, God is faithful. He has brought us through these moves. He has enabled us to learn and to grow beyond what we could have ever imagined. Does that mean it was easy? I say emphatically, NO! But life is not easy. That is what is so great about the promise that we will spend eternity with our Father. Where everything… EVERYTHING is good, great, wonderful! We all struggle with different things and changes in our lives. It is life. But God is with us as His children. We are not alone, even in a city of close to a million people when I know only a handful of those people. I am not alone! You are not alone! Thank you Father for being with us even in our tough times and also being there in our times of victory and triumph.

Warm weather

We have so much to be thankful for. I did not believe it would ever get to 28° (80°), but it did! I do have to say, that I still like the heat better than all that snow we had! Okay, it can get a little difficult, or uncomfortable, because there is no air conditioning, but I realize how much Karen and I are adapting to this European climate.

We are in the middle of our LST (Let's Start Talking) campaign. We now have three students living with us that come from the Sam Houston University in Texas. They are meeting daily with people here in Leipzig that wish to improve their conversational skill in English. I am so humbled by seeing how God is working in so many different peoples lives. People coming from many different walks of life, wanting to develop new relationships. It is such a blessing for us to have these students here. On so many levels. I do so enjoy seeing them interact with different people. Talking, laughing, and just getting to know people with different ideas and many times a very different way of thinking.

It has also been a blessing to have them here because it helps Karen and I recognize just how much of the language and the culture we really do know and understand. Have you ever learned a foreign language? Have you ever been to a place where you could actually use this language and speak to someone who spoke that language as a native tongue? Maybe a better question is, have you ever been to a country and not been able to speak, read or communicate with the local people? Yea, it is not so much fun. In a tourist area you will probably find someone you can communicate with. Often, in many foreign countries the people can speak English as a second language, but not always. I think you get the picture I am trying to paint for you. So, it is not an easy thing to do to communicate with someone who does not speak your language. I have been reminded through helping these students read how to get somewhere, understand what someone is saying to them, shopping in a grocery store where everything is written in a language you cannot understand (thank goodness for pictures :-) ) and general just getting around in a city of nearly 3/4 of a million people. It feels very good to be able to help them do these things. It reminds us that we have learned a lot... ha, yes, we have much more to learn... but when we stop learning... well, I guess that is when we leave this earth, yes?

I am thankful for friends. I am thankful that we have a best friend in Jesus and I am glad that we are here and have the opportunity to share the good message about Jesus with the people God puts in our path in this city. Thanks for reading, praying and caring!!

Mark

Summer time

I am so excited about summer. One it is warm... two it is time for our LST campaign. I must once again apologize for being so bad about making a post. I have no excuses...

We have students here from York College to help people improve their English by reading and talking about Bible verses. We had our meeting this past Tuesday and had over 25 people show up to the meeting to find out how they could take part. 25 people. That is amazing! Only one of those that showed up was someone that we were already acquainted with. The students have their work cut out for them as they seek to build a relationship and a bridge to us, those of us who live here year around, and make a connection so that we can share the love of our Father with people in this city. I am humbled, I am thrilled and I am so excited about the next 6 weeks.

I shot a video of our students playing in a field of Rapps (not sure what we call that in English). It is a crop that is used to make oil to cook with. They have the most beautiful yellow flowers this time of year. Let me see if it will let me upload it... hold on...


So, I think it worked... but I am gonna keep writing till it is finished.

We are having a great time getting to know the students and we now have a building where they can meet and we can also use it as a place of worship on Sundays. Exciting times. Ah ha, it is finished. I think it will work. Hope you enjoy the video.

Enough for now. I hope to add more later. Thanks for you patience...
For Him,
Mark

Change… or not?

1. Think for a moment…
   
   1. How have things changed in the way you live, just in your lifetime?
      
      1. What are three things that have been developed since you have been born?
         
   2. For me that is a little bit easier, I have been around longer :-)
      
      1. Microwave oven
         
         1. Consumer use began in the 60's
            
      2. Color TV
         
         1. okay they were actually developed in the 50's but no one could afford to have one until the 60's
            
      3. Video Games
         
         1. Atari started in the 70's
            
      4. Personal computers
         
         1. Yes, we had computers when I was young, but they were the size of a large room and no one had them at home
            
         2. My first computer was a Vic 20
            
            1. 5 KB (not mb) of Ram
               
            2. Came out in 1980
               
         3. Next was the Commodore64
            
            1. 64 KB of Ram
               
            2. Came out in 1982
               
      5. Handys (Mobile phones)
         
         1. The first produced for public use was in the 70's
            
            1. Bag phone
               
            2. Brick phone
               
      6. We went from LP records to cassette tapes to cd's to mp3
         
         1. We didn't have Ipod or Iphone
            
2. All changes have not been positive or good changes
   
   1. The worlds attitudes about things have changed
      
      1. Marriage
         
      2. Sex outside of marriage
         
      3. Modest dress
         
      4. Abortion
         
      5. Honesty, integrity, ethics
         
   2. Many times I feel like many people in the world call me "square" (uncool) or an "old fogy" (too retro) if I hold to my Bible beliefs
      
      1. I am not "with the times"
         
      2. I am not living in the "real world"
         

1. So what do we do when the world trashes the good things, Biblical teachings through its change in thinking?
   

1. In Psalms 11:3 David talks about the same problem, only many years earlier
   
   1. What would good people do if the wicked destroyed all that is good?
      
      1. This is the question for us tonight
         
      2. What will good people, people following God, do about negative changes in our world?
         
2. David gives us the solution by revealing 3 things about God here in Psalms 11
   
   1. Let's read this together
      
   2. Focus on vs. 4: (someone read this verse again, please)
      
      1. The Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord sits on his throne in heaven. He sees everything that happens. He watches people closely.
         
   3. 3 important things about God
      
      1. God is holy
         
         1. His holiness is unthreatened by an unholy world
            
         2. His standards set forth in the Bible for Holy living do not change just because people's opinions change
            
      2. God rules!
         
         1. Things changing here on earth do not change the fact that God rules in heaven.
            
         2. He allows things to change here, but all people will give an account for how they lived their lives.
            
      3. God sees.
         
         1. He is aware of what is going on
            
            1. On this earth
               
            2. In each of our lives
               
               1. How each of us choose to live
                  
3. God who is HOLY, and who RULES in heaven over all creation, also SEES everything that is going on in HIS CREATION.
   

1. Read vs. 7 again
   
   1. The Lord always does what is right, and he loves seeing people do right. Those who live good lives will be with him.
      
   2. God's way is the best way.
      
      1. God made a way for us to be with Him, through Jesus Christ
         
      2. Change will happen, sometimes good sometimes bad
         
         1. We need to follow God's way
            

What to do with failure

Stupid question right off the bat... have you ever failed at something? Have you ever said that you would be there for someone... then let them down, worse yet been in such a place as to leave them hanging when you told them you would be there for them?

Not what we would call best case scenario for living life like we want, huh? This past week I spent at a men's retreat here in Germany. The week long topic and focus of the retreat was AGAPE. I think most of us have heard enough Bible lessons and sermons to know right off the bat that the Greek has three different words for our English word Love. Different types of Greek words for different nuances of our word. So is the order of languages... Ha, you should see the difference between English and German.. :-)

In looking at the word, Agape, it seems the best way to describe this type of love is a love that does the right thing. Treats people the right way, even when it is difficult to do, even when they are not doing the right thing. It is not so much an emotional type of love like Phileo, but a love that is practiced because we have made a decision to do the right thing. I think that much of our Christian walk is actually this Agape love. We are told by Jesus to treat others the way we want to be treated ourselves, this is not dictated by how others treat us but how we wish to be treated. That my friends is not an emotional love but a decision to do the right thing. Not easy sometimes, but a direct instruction from our Savior. I also think that is how we show our love for God our Father. We love Him when we DO what he says. Jesus said if we love Him (and love God) we will do what he has asked us to do. That my friends is a decision. Yes, emotion does come into it, but if emotion is all that is there... it just won't last. We make a decision to follow Jesus and do what he teaches and we are showing our love for God.

I find it quite interesting, Jesus' discussion with Peter at the end of John's Gospel...
John 21:15-17

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

Remember this is the first time Peter would have once again talked with Jesus since he left him to be crucified... deserted him... denied him... looked into his eyes when he heard the rooster crow... guilt, sorrow, frustration, humiliation, anger, pain, disappointment, embarrassment,.... can you imagine the gammit of emotions he was feeling? If your like me, you can. Because you too have let someone down, you too have failed someone, directly or indirectly... I can relate to Peter. Jesus asks him the question, do you love me? He asks him three times... perhaps because Peter had denied him three times, perhaps because Peter was feeling so many emotions about what he had done, he was not really hearing what Jesus was saying. Let me see if I can make any since of what I mean... look at the breakdown of the questions:

[15] Jesus: Do you love [agapao] me? Peter: I love [phileo] you.
[16] Jesus: Do you love [agapao] me? Peter: I love [phileo] you.
[17] Jesus: Do you love [phileo] me? Peter: I love [phileo] you.

Jesus ask Peter the first two times "Will you make a decision to do the things that I have told you to do. Will you show love for me by being a leader and taking care of my followers?"
Peter answers him with "Yes, I have an emotional love for you. You are my friend and I have feelings for you"

Then Jesus asks in the third question if Peter has emotional love for him.

Okay, where am I going with this. Peter failed Jesus. Point blank simple. Perhaps we can really relate to that. Maybe a time comes into your mind when you remember a time when you have failed someone that you love (phileo) or maybe a time when you have failed God (agape)... I think we can all relate on some level, that is why God gives us this example in scripture.

Jesus was calling Peter (and is calling us) to a higher calling. Jesus says that if we really love him we will make the decision to do things his way. As we serve him... ie feeding his sheep... we have to make a decision to love (agape) God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love (agape) others like ourselves. To treat them, to love them (agape), the way we want to be treated and loved. Yes, we are an emotional people, God made us that way, Jesus was that way too. But, Jesus did what had to be done, he was crucified on the cross for us, that was not emotion my friends, that was a decision to do the right thing. That is the highest form of love. That is the same love God had for us while we were still sinners... He decided to send his one and only son to die for us, because it was what was best for us, not what was best for Him. His decision enables us to have a relationship with Him, but it was not the easy thing for Him to do, but it was the best thing for us... He so Loves us (apages us). Praise His name.

Jesus came to Peter... knowing how he was feeling, knowing the thoughts and emotions he was having. Jesus knows how we feel when we let him down too. He knows how we are feeling when we let other people down. Jesus didn't so much focus on Peter's failure as he did focus on where Peter would go from this point on... what would he do now? So, my question for you today is, what will you do from this point on today? Where are you at? Are you at a point in your life where you have just given up and gone back fishing... that is what Peter had done. What else could he do, it was what he knew how to do? Are you at a point in your life where you feel like you have failed God so bad that you have just given up and gone back to your life before God? Then these scriptures are for you. Have you been fighting discouragement because he just seem to be letting God down because you just can't seem to live the life for him you want? Those "little sins" just keep creeping in? Then these scriptures are for you.

Jesus came to Peter. Think about that. JESUS CAME AND FOUND PETER, the very one who just shortly before left him out to dry. Jesus challenged him to make a new commitment to follow him and being a worker in His kingdom. Jesus does not focus on our failures, he focuses on what we can do and what we should be doing and lovingly (agape and phileo) leads and challenges us in that direction.

My challenge for you and me today is to let go of those failures, don't forget them because they are a good reminder for us to stay committed to the decision that we made to do it Jesus' way, but also not to be crippled by our failures. Jesus was helping Peter look to the future. Jesus helps us to look and see the future, of serving Him by serving others. We can learn from our mistakes. They will makes us stronger. Look at the difference in Peter's life. He made the love decision (agape) to do it God's way and because of that we have so many examples of how we can and should live as we serve God. What kind of differences are you going to make because of the decision you make to live and serve God? What kind of legacy will you leave through living your life in love for God and for others?

I know that this one was very long... hope I did not loose you... hope it helps... hope you can think about these things and give me your thoughts on where I was going with this... we are in this together. Thanks for your time and thoughts.

Mark