Mary Poppins Returns Movie Review

Mary Poppins is my hero.  Emily Blunt should win Best Actress.  This movie should win Best Picture.  This movie should win Best Song for “Where the Lost Things Go”.

Mary Poppins returns illustrates truths that are ancient.  Mary teaches us that things people can grow up without growing old and use their imaginations no matter how old they get.  Mary tells us that the cover is not the book and if things are “getting scary be your own illuminary” and we can light up our dark world with the truth that where we are right now is not the way it is always going to be.  She helps us deal with grief as well reminding us that there is hope beyond the situation.  Rightly used and interpreted this movie could do a lot of people good.

The songs are amazing. Director Rob Marshall knows what he is doing.

I am impressed.

Two Thumbs up for Mary.

AQUAMAN Movie Review

2017’s Wonder Woman seems to have kicked DC in the pants. The studio made Aquaman “Marvelesque“. Having witnessed the last ten years of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) this seems to have been a smart move.

Aquaman was enjoyable.  I do think they crammed too much into it and they could have easily trimmed a half hour off the movie.  It would have been more effective.  There were sections of the movie where I felt the length.  They could have put off the Black Manta storyline until Aquaman 2 and it wouldn’t have changed a thing with Geoff John’s excellent storyline.

The cast is excellent and you can bet your fins that Jason Mamoa is going to be in a lot of action movies.  He plays a hero who is layered with loyalty, humility, arrogance and courage.  Rupert Gregson-Williams, like his brother Harry, is an excellent composer and I enjoyed the musical score.  The CGI effects are terrific—much better than Justice League—and I enjoyed the epic imagination of director James Wan and his conceptual artists who came up with stunning new worlds beneath the waves.  I also enjoyed seeing the DCU begin to develop its own onscreen mythology with all the undersea kingdoms.  

Aquaman was mostly a pleasure to watch and with Wonder Woman and now Aquaman I have a new hope for the DC Cinematic Universe.  We will see who they get for Superman and Batman and how they are going to fix the two foundational characters.  DC really got themselves into a jam.  Shazam is up next.  We will see how he flies.  

Two Thumbs up for the King of Atlantis.

The Storm

As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!” Mark 4:35-41

The question from Jesus to me today is, “why are you afraid?’’ It is because I am in the middle of some horrific storm? But there is, in the boat with me, Jesus Christ. Emmanuel—God with me in the storm. I shout at Him to rouse Him from his slumber, “Lord, don’t You care that I’m drowning in this?” He speaks, “Silence! Be still!” And then I realize that Jesus isn’t just speaking to the Storm. He’s telling me to be still and know that He is God and I’m not alone in the middle of the situation. The Storm doesn’t bother him.

The Storm comes and goes like it always does. And then he asks me a question. “Why are you afraid? Could it be that you don’t have any faith?” And therein lies the rub. I have been living on how I feel instead of using faith to apprehend the fact that I have never been alone. Jesus is right there. But when my eyes are the Storm I forget that. When Paul said we walk by faith not by sight he was telling us not to put our eyes only on the physical world around us but to choose to have faith.

Faith is a choice. It is a humbling thing. Because we have to believe in someone we cannot see. We can see the moon and stars suspended in space by his power but we can’t see Him. We have faith that there is such a thing as oxygen and gravity as we see their effects. But when we see the beauty of the world around us it’s like we don’t want to admit He’s real. People say, “if there is a God why is there so much pain?” But could it be that there is another half to that question. “If there is no God, why is there so much good?” Because as Helen Keller, born blind and deaf, said: “Although the world is full of suffering, it's full also of the overcoming of it.” Helen had faith in a God she couldn’t see or hear because she was accessing the latent sense of faith. Perhaps for Helen it was easier for her to exercise faith because she was blind and deaf. I know it isn’t easy. But it isn’t easy to climb a mountain either. It takes effort. I think in the same way it takes effort to exercise faith. Exercising faith is the same as exercising any other muscle.  Use it or lose it.  Strengthen it or it atrophies.  To have faith is to choose to do something we naturally do not want to do. To push ourselves to focus on the invisible. One thing I have found is that people who exercise faith in an invisible Saviour become invincible people. They know that they storm of loss and cancer and pain does not mean that Jesus isn’t with them. In Christ we know that His resurrection power and eternal wisdom can be trusted in the storm and even if the storm tears us apart He will put us back together—because He was torn apart for you and me. Jesus says:

If your eyes are on the storm
Then you’ll wonder if I love you still
But if your eyes are on the cross
Then you’ll know I always have
And I always will*

He is the overcomer—and he can help you and me overcome this storm—whatever it is. I don’t have to be afraid and neither do you. Jesus is the same yesterday and forever.

So when He asks me why I am afraid I will be reminded by the question that I need to choose faith. It is hard—it is humbling to admit I can’t handle it myself—it is a stretch. But we can do it. Jesus is there. When I look at all the good in my life that surrounds the bad stuff, I choose faith. He is the only hope we have. And even the wind and the waves obey Him.






‘Nuff said.






*Mark Hall/Casting Crowns

Empty Nester Dad

When I see the Learner’s License magnet on the back of the car this morning as I was walking down the driveway—I am sad. When I see Max the dog walk into Bethany’s room to jump on her bed—as is his habit after Sandra leaves for work—but then he is stopped in his tracks by the sight of her empty bed and he turns and looks at me with the look of “Umm—where’s Bethany?” I am sad. I am so happy for my youngest daughter to jump into the sky and take off on an adventure in New Brunswick at Bible College. I am proud of her for wanting to leave this town and try new things. But what happens to Sandra and I? We are so used to the bustle of four girls in the home and now we are down to none. What blows my mind is that it all happened so fast. I rejoice in Bethany’s life because she is a miracle baby. She was close to death in the her mother’s womb with heart failure. God chose to save her life and she is a healthy and happy and God and People loving young adult with ambition to help the hurting in this world. I am grateful. I am an emotional guy. Anybody who knows me knows this. So when the waves hit me they are thick and heavy. So this morning as I go back to work after some time off and I kiss Sandra goodbye and we both try and get back to normal I am doing so with a lump in my throat. I am grateful that God, you are there right now with her on the other side of the second largest country in the world, and that You are here with me.

I thank you for a good marriage where we still like and love each other. Keep that strong in us and help us to have fun and use some new free time to make a big difference in people’s lives. Help us to have fun dating and give us discipline to use the time we have left well. Help us to invest! Help me to invest in Sandra’s life in new ways that fill the void in her mothering time. May Your Spirit be the love and joy and contentment and purpose to fill her life. Make her a light for You.

I need Your help to do a job pastoring a town that I have always cared for within the context of my involvement with the schools that my daughters were students at. So in a way, this empty nest, has a big impact on how I do my job. I suppose I am going to have to reinvent myself somewhat. Although there are many kids in this town that I can still be a dad and a grandpa to. This is really the first time in the last seven whirlwind days that I have been able to really sit and journal my feelings—it is very good to do so. To admit that although I am only going to be fifty that I am probably really feeling my age for the first time. If indeed I only get to do my job full time for another fifteen years it is going to go fast. So let me do it with purpose and give me a vision of how to do it.

Thank You for letting us raise those four wonderful girls! You are so good to us, Lord.

AMEN

What Do These Smoky Skies Mean?

The smoke is so thick this morning that I can’t see the mountain that is only three kilometers from here. It is so thick that my nose feels like it is plugged up and now after weeks of this haze I can feel the constant burning in my throat. We haven’t seen blue sky in quite awhile. What is going on?

Well it's sorta like this. 

I haven’t had a day without a headache in a long time either. My neck is plagued by constant pain stemming from a car accident. My hair in gray and there is a constant haze of tiredness around the frayed edges of my brain. It feels like it has been awhile since I have seen the blue sky of my youth. What is going on?

I am aging. I am only going to be fifty this fall but I tell ya—it came fast.

Meteorologists are saying that we may not see a lot of blue sky over the next few summers. Why? Everything is on fire. Ukraine, Britain, California, Washington state just below us and British Columbia just to name a few. These coupled with the volcanoes that are all freaking out right now have put a lot of gunk into the air.

My daughter and I just finished watching LOST IN SPACE where the Robinson family decided to leave the earth after its skies were clogged by the dust created by the impact of a mighty asteroid on the earth’s surface. In one scene you see the mom and daughter Christmas shopping with filtering masks on so they can breathe easier. Mrs.Robinson says to her kids "we need to go somewhere new so that we can see a blue sky again because we never will see one here again."

What do these smoky skies say to us? What does it all mean? It means that the earth is wearing out. It needs to be fixed. And right now I don’t know any human with a sky-sized vacuum cleaner.

Now throw in the fact that even a manufactured evangelical messiah like Trump isn’t actually making anything better and neither is Trudeau. No one can make the earth any better. The earth’s quality of life is going to get worse and worse. We have wrecked the place. We didn’t take care of it and it is going down like a ship in the middle of a black ocean.

What are we going to do?

Well, the only option I see is to look up past the smoke to the only One who can do anything about it. In Revelation 21 there are words of hope about a renewed earth with no more storms or volcanoes or hurricanes and for humans no more cancer or grieving or shipwrecked relationships. In Revelation 21 Jesus says, “Behold I am making all things new.”

The Bible says that there will be a,“renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne...”. Not only will people who have died be raised from the dead and made new but so will the earth.

Right now we are chasing the wind as we try and get environmentally conscious. We need to do our best to recycle and keep plastic out of the oceans we have already wrecked. But we need to realize that what these messed up skies are saying is, “Come back to God.” We need His help. We are trying to keep straws out of the ocean—and this is right—but we aren’t trying to keep sin out our lives. We humans always treat the symptom without focusing on the true cause of our pain. The problem is that our sin has brought death to us and to the earth. We told God to take a hike and He said, “Okay, thy will be done.” And like a smartphone that has been unplugged—here, at the possible end of day, we are dying. Our planet is dying. We need to go back to God and plug in. We need His help.

We need Jesus to do what he did for people when he was walking the earth. We need Him to say, “Lazarus, come forth” to us and the earth so we can be raised to new life.

Read these words of life from Revelation 21–“I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!”

We need Jesus to resurrect our humanity and our planet. The Bible says that the current systems of government all over the globe will fail until Jesus, the True and Good King rules from His throne in Jerusalem. The Bible tells us that the Earth and the heavens will perish. They will wear out like old clothing. Jesus will fold them up like a cloak and discard them like old clothing. But Jesus is always the same. The storms are coming. The people who build their lives on the Rock will remain. They will see the salvation of Jesus.

Long, long ago the prophet Micah foretold the coming of Christ to the Earth and the renewal of all things that He would bring with Him. Look at these words:

“In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all— the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.”

He will end all wars: “They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore. Everyone will live in peace and prosperity, enjoying their own grapevines and fig trees, for there will be nothing to fear. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has made this promise! (Micah 4:1-4)

The earth needs to be renewed. There is only one person who can end wars and heal the earth and ultimately heal us and give us our youth and our perfect health back.

His Name is Jesus.

We need to call out to Him while we still can.

We need to remember the words of CS Lewis: “God will invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realize what it will be like when He does. When that happens, it is the end of the world. When the author walks on to the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else - something it never entered your head to conceive - comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last for ever. We must take it or leave it.”

Call out to Jesus—choose to be on His side now while you still can. These smoky skies portend the current earth’s demise and the fall of all men who think they are king. Truth is there is only one King—Jesus Christ. He is the hero we need. He is the One who can fix us and fix this earth. And He will. I am so glad that I can rest in His power and His plans. So can you if you choose Him as your King. Moses asked the question a long time ago. “Who is on the Lord’s side?”

Good Question.

Why is Easter Such a Big Deal to Christians

Wonder of wonders.

A maddening miracle: God is on a Roman cross. The Creator of the Universe is being executed. And He is sacrificing Himself. His own countrymen clamor for His death. His own disciple planted the kiss of betrayal. His own friends ran for cover, abandoning Him. And now His Father turns his back on him as he bears the full weight of mankind’s sin.*

I hear people who suffer pain and loss and betrayal and disappointment and sometimes I hear them say things like, “Does God care?” Or say things like “where is He?” On the cross He proved He cared. He suffered much more than you or I for all the fury of God against evil was poured out on Jesus on the cross. He willingly put himself through the worst pain imaginable to bear the death we deserved. We still suffer the after effects of sin and death but Jesus suffered the pain of hell we deserved. He suffered more than anyone else could bear. His suffering absorbed all justice. The price of sin is death. So He paid it all. His death killed death. His death broke the power of sin and it no longer has mastery over us. My sin was nailed to the cross with Him and I bear it no more.

Does He care? 

It’s blasphemous to ask that question once you see the reality of Good Friday. How dare we ask that question when we see what our sin did to Him? He suffered what I deserved that day. He paid for my sin. My sin crushed Him that day. I wandered out into traffic drunk on my sin, helpless to avoid the impact of the truck that would kill me and he pushed me out of the way and took the hit.

Mankind has created all the suffering of this world. Not God.  And still He walked into the suffering we created and took the consequences of our actions.

And we blame Him?

Instead we should be doing nothing but thanking Him that on that darkest day in history He took on my suffering and paid hell for my sin. And, after having died for our sins, He went even further and rescued souls that had been held captive for centuries in hell, told them He was there to rescue them and he set those captives free forever.

Hallelujah! What a Saviour! The hero we’ve all been waiting for. Jesus Christ. The Hope of the World! Our only hope.

There is no other Name that we can call on to be saved. He is it. God in the flesh, dying for us on Good Friday. The Holy sacrificed for the human. He now says, “I am the way through death to life.” Yes we still die, but now our bodies, like His, may sleep in death but also like Him, we will rise.

This is the hope of Easter. Jesus died and Jesus rose. “Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him from rising again.”

So follow Him. For those who believe in Him and follow Him there awaits eternal life. Death now is just a tunnel and the light at the end of it is eternal life. Not life as a ghost or a disembodied spirit who becomes one with the ether, but life restored as a human being, with a resurrected body living on a resurrected earth with no more after effects of sin—hugging, laughing, eating, building, creating, playing, singing, rejoicing, living life to the full.  Mankind and God together again.

That is what the death and resurrection of Jesus has done! This is why Easter is such a big deal!

‘Nuff said.

And AMEN!

*Italics by Max Lucado from Six Hours One Friday

God is Calling Those who Hearts are True

So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands. Then they will not be like their ancestors— stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God.  Psalm 78:7-8

He chose his servant David, calling him from the sheep pens. He took David from tending the ewes and lambs and made him the shepherd of Jacob’s descendants— God’s own people, Israel. He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands.   Psalm 78:70-72

Calling leaders from Sheep Pens isn’t the world’s way of calling a king.

Each Generation should set its hope anew on God—not forgetting His glorious miracles—making sure that they obey His commands...

You are a New Generation of People. Your Parents are the older generation of people and then there is an even older generation of people who are dying.

EACH NEW GENERATION needs to set its hope on God in a new way. You have to choose God to be Your God. Your parents have brought You to church. Or the church has come to You and someone invited You to this truth.

But if You are to be the kind of people who make the world a better place then You are going to have to choose God for Yourself.

You will have to remind Yourself Who He is. You are going to have to make a decision to get to Know God through JESUS.

The SPIRIT of JESUS is here in Sicamous, calling people to be His own. The World thinks Sicamous is unimportant. They like the Lake but the power-player-people in the world with money and power would not ask someone from Sicamous what they think about Life and leadership and policy and what would make the world better. People with money and power would go to Vancouver, or Toronto or New York—to big Universities and to what they call think tanks. They would ask Oprah what she thinks. Heck, many of them would want to ask Justin Trudeau what he thinks.

But Jesus is here in Sicamous—through this church, asking YOU to follow HIM. He asked Justin Trudeau to follow Him. Justin Trudeau watched Alpha, a video series about Jesus, and that was it, Justin Trudeau ignored the call of God to get his heart right and come to Jesus for salvation. Oprah has put her life into a life of doing good but she doesn’t need Jesus to save her. She thinks that just doing good is the answer.

YOU are being called to follow Jesus. One day soon, You will have the chance to train as a disciple and follow Jesus and tell your friends about Jesus. It will be up to You to make that decision.

These are the days in the sheep pen, when You, like David, are being raised to be someone who knows what it is like to be a real person in a small town. But Jesus called that Shepherd boy to be King because David had a heart after God.

He chose his servant David, calling him from the sheep pens. He took David from tending the ewes and lambs and made him the shepherd of Jacob’s descendants— God’s own people, Israel. He cared for them with a true heart.  Psalm 78:70-72

Do you have a true heart? Do You really do want to follow God? You can make that decision now to Follow Jesus. To be his disciple. To learn to be like Him.

A disciple of Jesus is someone who wants Jesus to be their King. It is someone who wants Jesus to come back like He said He would and be the King of kings and the Lord or lords. The King who will make the earth good again, the King who will raise the dead and judge mankind rightly. Evil will be defeated. Death will die. Life will be everlasting. A disciple of Jesus is someone who wants to tell others of Christ’s goodness and lead them to eternal life in Him.

It is up to You to make that call.

Where is Your heart pointing?

Tim Keller said, “The things you daydream about in your spare time are ultimately the things you serve.” If you daydream about fame, or money, or power over people then that is what you will end up chasing after your whole life.

But if you choose now to follow Christ then He will take You, the person He made, and use You and those skills and personality He has given You and You will make a difference in this world.

Make Jesus Your obsession in life—Your goal to Love Him and Love people and lead people to Him—and you will choose a life of adventure and purpose where every day You wake up and are on a mission.

That is Your destiny in Christ and it is glorious.

The world changes one person at a time. Start each day with Christ in prayer and reading the Bible and ask Him—Who do you wan to me to pray for—guide me to the right people today. Help me encourage them and show them and tell them that You are real, Jesus. And He will use You to be that bridge for people to get across to Him. But that must be the intention of Your heart every day. You must start off that way to have a life like that.

‘Nuff Said

Praying With An Ache — Remembering He is Still God and He is Still There

Father, it seems I have found a prayer for those of us who fear and grieve and worry and stress and who have a hard time praying.

“I cry out to God—I scream His Name. Oh, that God would listen to me! When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord. All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted.

I think of God, and I moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help. You don’t let me sleep. I am too distressed even to pray!

I think of the good old days, long since ended, when my nights were filled with joyful songs. I search my soul and ponder the difference now.

Has the Lord rejected me forever? Will he never again be kind to me? Is his unfailing love gone forever? Have his promises permanently failed? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he slammed the door on his compassion? And I said, “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me.”

But then...

I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago. They are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works. O God, your ways are holy. Is there any god as mighty as you? You are the God of great wonders! You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations. By your strong arm, you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

When the Red Sea saw you, O God, its waters looked and trembled! The sea quaked to its very depths. The clouds poured down rain; the thunder rumbled in the sky. Your arrows of lightning flashed. Your thunder roared from the whirlwind; the lightning lit up the world! The earth trembled and shook. Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters— a pathway no one knew was there! You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.” Psalm 77

This is a real prayer written by a real person living in the real world. Father, I know that You are big and powerful and Strong and true. And I know that if You can defeat an army of soldiers by caving in an ocean to take them out in one fell swoop then You can sustain me this day. This flawed, small human being is being held together by a great and loving King. The only God. There is no one else like You. Therefore, in whatever state I am in I can run to You, Father. Give strength to the weary and the ones who hurt and the ones who are tired and the ones who still feel the dull, pounding ache of loss or the sharp pain of loneliness. Spirit of God, remind those who feel lost that You are their God and that Jesus came to reverse this pain and one day He will fix it. Help them to hang on. Flash the lightning of memory and give them the images of You parting the sea and making a way where there seemed to be no way. A pathway through mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there! But You know the way when we can’t see it.  Help us to see Jesus, hanging on the cross, sharing in our pain and bearing the weight of the world on Himself and then getting up and walking out of that tomb.  Nothing can defeat Him.  And nothing, not even death can separate us from Your Love in Christ Jesus.

Lord give us faith.

Faith in You.

Turn Your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace

AMEN

Stranger Truths Chapter Two - The Rescue of Will Byers

Last week we talked about the fact that there is indeed an Upside Down, a place where there is darkness personified—someone who wants to destroy us.  The Bible says that God made us in his image, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).  We were literally made to be like Him.  To love, laugh, build and create.  So when Satan, God’s sworn enemy saw us He went for God’s heart—His children.  His lying, killing stealing and destroying was aimed at us, God’s children.  He managed to get our eyes off of God and on ourselves.  He lied to our ancestors and told them that if we did life his way instead of God’s way that we would be like God.  The enemy got us to think like him -  to choose pride and independence.  And as soon as we did that we were now slaves of that sin — stuck in the Upside Down.

Once a human being is stuck in the Upside Down of sin there is only one way to get out.  We can’t get out ourselves.  We are well on our way to eternally “dead” once we are in there.  We are born into. This slavery to sin.  We are physically alive but spiritually dead and unable to get ourselves unstuck.  Some try.  Many use religion to get out of the upside down way of living.  But it doesn’t work because religion cannot change our heart or give us the power to be able to break free.  What we need is help from the outside.  Someone stronger than ourselves who can free us who enters the fray and saves the day.

In Stranger Things the powerful girl Eleven is the only one who had the ability to defeat the demogorgon who was about to kill Mike and Dustin and Lucas.  If Will Byers was going to get rescued from his prison of darkness he needed Hopper and Joyce to come and rescue him.  That’s what LOVE does.  Mike and Dustin and Lucas were powerless to defeat the demogorgon.  All they had was a wrist rocket.  Will was helpless to save himself.  The good news is that Hopper and Joyce entered the Upside Down to find Will and Eleven destroyed the demogorgon. Romans 5:6 says that, “at just the right time, when we were utterly helpless, Christ died for the ungodly.”  In the final episode of Season 1 (spoiler alert) Eleven says goodbye to Mike just before she destroys the demogorgon because she knows that she is going to have to give up her life with her friends to destroy the monster.  In the same way, Jesus knew that He would die to free us from the power of death.  Death is the consequence of sin.  So Jesus took the consequence of hell on himself so we would not have to pay that price.  He took all the pain on himself to save us.  Eleven did what she did out of love.  The Bible tells us that God so loved the world that He gave Jesus, His one and only Son that whoever would believe in Him—that He gave his life to save us—would not perish in hell but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

The death of Jesus killed the monster of death.  The Bible says that, “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—Jesus also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death (Hebrews 2:14).  Now everyone who believes in Jesus will live forever, freed from the powers of death and hell.  Now, because of Jesus, death is just sleep for the one who believes in Christ.

In Stranger Things 2 we saw Eleven break free of the Upside Down after she had entered it to save her friends.  In the same way Jesus entered death to free us from the power of death and He came back to life.  That’s what Easter is about.  On Good Friday Jesus died for us and on Easter Sunday He rose from the dead.

On of my favorite songs speaks of Jesus, the Hero:

Death could not hold You

The veil tore before You

You silenced the boast of sin and grave

The heavens are roaring the praise of Your glory

For You are raised to life again

This is the Good News, or another word for it is the Gospel!  Jesus came to save us.  The Bible says, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:9-10,13).

Is it that simple?  The Bible says it is.  Jesus did it all.  He came after us, in Love, to save us from sin and death.  This is the mercy and grace of God shown to us in Christ.

You can pray this prayer:  Dear God, I believe that Jesus is my Saviour, that He died to pay for my sin and that He rose from the grave.  Thank you for saving me.  Amen.

‘Nuff Said 

Stranger Truths Chapter One - The Vanishing of Will Byers

There are many reasons why Stranger Things is such a hit on Netflix.  From the nostalgia of the endearing cast of characters to the suspense and its totally tubular synth score--this show has it all.  Kinda like the Goonies, ET and 80s horror films all rolled into one.  Season 1 and 2 were fun to watch.  It was tough to just watch one or two at a time and spread the viewing out a bit so i could enjoy it over a couple of weeks.  My brain gets full quick.

The Bible talks a lot about some Stranger Truths that the show Stranger Things alludes to.  If you ever read the book This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti, about a little town named Ashton, which is a pivotal center for a war between unseen angels and demons, then you might be picking up what I’m laying down.

The fictional towns of Hawkins in Stranger Things and Ashton in This Present Darkness have a lot in common.  In Stranger Things, Hawkins is the place where the Upside Down, an ethereal realm full of badness, is trying to break through into our world and take over the place.

The Bible talks about the Upside Down in its own way.  The Apostle Paul wrote about the real Upside Down in the biblical book of Ephesians in chapter 6.  He put it this way: “For we are not fighting against mere flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities off the unseen world (The Upside Down), against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the hidden heavenly places.”

Paul said we have an enemy.  He was God's enemy first--and then he declared war on God's creation--mankind.

Or People-kind if you're Justin Trudeau.

But I digress.

The Bible teaches that Satan used to be a good angel, Lucifer, the son of the morning, a beautiful and powerful angel.  Then he got uppity and decided that he wanted to be God.  Problem is there is only one God--stop applying for his job.  So when Lucifer rebelled and tried to take over heaven there was a great war in the heavenly realms and God defeated Lucifer and he was thrown out of heaven (Revelation 12:7-9).  Lucifer became Satan, which means adversary or enemy.  Jesus tells us that Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44) and that he is on a mission to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:9).

Paul tells us that there is indeed a real ethereal realm that we can’t see that is ruled by dark princes who want to take out the human world.  Like the fictional Upside Down, this real Vale of Shadows is where the dark forces who hate all that is good plot against us.  If you watch Stranger Things you will remember that the Upside Down is almost in the room you are in but it is dark and cold.  This is how the Bible often talked of the heavenly or unseen realms.  The Bible says things like, “An angel stepped out of heaven” and into our world.  Not “down from” heaven but “out of” heaven.  Another dimension right next door. 

In Stranger Things the Demogorgon reaches out from the Upside Down and kidnaps young Will Byers who is played by the amazing Noah Schnapp.   In the Bible we are told that mankind is captive to the darkness of sin just like Will Byers is trapped in the darkness of the ethereal dimension.

The Upside Down has mankind in its grip.  This truth explains why the world has gone so very dark and continues to get darker.  Just watch the news and you will see what I mean.  What else could inspire such hatred and racism and something so dark as the murder of innocent children in schools by men gone mad, wielding weapons that governments are incompetent to regulate.  Mankind has gone dark.  Romans 1:21 says that sin has made our minds dark and confused.

There are forces led by Satan, the enemy of God and man, and these forces inspire this evil in mankind.  This army of sin holds people captive to their anger and bitterness and violence and addiction and abuse and war.  These forces from the Upside Down exist to steal joy, wipe out human life and destroy everything that is good.  The Upside Down tricks us into stepping into its trap of sin.  Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin (John 8:34).  The book of Proverbs says “An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him”(Proverbs 5:22).

The Upside Down’s biggest strength is the fact that it is unseen.  No one quite believes Will’s mom, Joyce Byers, when she tells them that Will has been kidnapped, and that he is just outside her reach in the dark realm around them. She knows he is there.  She can hear her lost boy crying out to her from the darkness.   Joyce knows her son is captive and wants to see him freed from the evil one who has him.  She sees the darkness breaking through and trying to get her as well.  In Stranger Things the Hawkins National Laboratory, which opened up the stupid portal to let The Upside Down in, is covering up the threat.  Likewise most institutions in our world give no credence to the biblical truth that there is indeed a spiritual threat to mankind and say its just supersition from an ancient religion.

Slowly, people like Hopper, and her son Jonathan begin to believe her. But whether someone believes her or not Joyce is gonna move heaven and earth and bust down walls with axes in order to free her son from his captivity.   Mike, Dustin and Lucas are not going to rest either until they find their lost friend even if it means sneaking out and firing up those cool walkie talkies and riding like a squad of adventurers on those banana seats.

For ten years now I have been working as a pastor in a little town to show them and tell them that Jesus loves them and wants to free them from their slavery to sin.  But like, Joyce Byers, very few people believe me when I tell them that there is something sinister and insidious going on and that people are actually trapped by evil and lost in darkness.  Paul wrote these words about this: Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants (2 Timothy 2:25-26). 

I believe what the Bible tells us that God loved the world so much that He gave his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to free us from this present darkness, and like in Stranger Things, someone stronger than Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Hopper and Joyce are going to have to help free Will from the Upside Down.

It's the same for us.   We are gonna need some serious help.

That's where the uber cool Eleven comes in.

More next Friday.

Billy’s Casket

This week was different.  A Christian soldier who spent his life on a crusade of love retired.  He went to be with his Lord and Saviour.  He was 99 years old and an amazing example of sheer determination. But he was more than that.  He was the genuine article.  A man who flat out told you that he was a sinner.  He didn’t avoid excuse-free apology and he learned from his mistakes.  He knew that he had one job.  He wasn’t in it for the glitz, the gold or the girls.  He was in it for the Great Commission.  He was a simple man.  This is why he is buried in a $200 plywood casket alongside his awesome wife Ruth who was waiting to greet him on the other side.

From the Washington Post this week:

“Graham’s casket, like much else about his funeral, was planned by the pastor long before his death. Two simple, $200 plywood caskets were made for Graham and his late wife, Ruth, who died in 2007, by inmates of Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana, a prison with a longstanding history of brutality and racial tension. The group of incarcerated men who built the caskets, a group who found faith in prison, was led by Richard Liggett, who was serving a life sentence for second-degree murder (Liggett also died in 2007 shortly after the Grahams’ coffins were completed).  According to the Washington Post, Graham had requested that his and his wife’s caskets be made by prisoners at the penitentiary after preaching there in 2005, a request that a prison warden later described as providing prisoners with the “the most profound” opportunity to celebrate their faith.  According to the Billy Graham Association, no upgrades or improvements were made to the casket after Graham’s death, at Graham’s request.”

He wanted to take the simple Gospel, “Jesus saves” to the world.  To anyone who would listen.  He was diagnosed with Parkinson in 1993.   And he just kept right on going.  Billy Graham loved God and he loved people.  I bought the time magazine in 1993 with Billy on the cover and the headline was “A Christian in Winter.”  There in that magazine article they talked about his Parkinson’s diagnosis and how this would mean the end of his storied career.  But it wasn’t. Not even close.  When Billy continued to talk about Jesus in the film The Cross (you can watch it here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NcIWnaXiJLk) he was 95 years old.  He could barely talk with that broken body and voice exerting Herculean effort to do it.  But he loved that message with all his heart and he spoke it with such conviction.  That film changed lives.

My dad came to faith in Christ watching Billy on a little black and white TV in the ‘60s.  Because of that the course of our lives changed.  Our address changed from hell to heaven.  Our life went from pursuing temporary things to chasing eternal things.  The only things that are going to last for eternity are God, God’s Word, people and angels.  The angels chose sides millennia ago.  People still have a chance to choose eternal life as long as they have breath.  That is why Billy went nuts telling as many people as he could that Jesus loved them.  That He died to pay for the sins of the whole world.  That the door to life was Jesus and that everyone was welcome.

His detractors, some of them my fellow pastors, didn’t like the fact that Billy was so inclusive.  But the way that Billy sees Christ now affirms that Billy was right.  Because the Jesus who welcomed him to glory the other day still bore the healing wounds upon his hands and feet and side.  Those wounds are there for all eternity to say that ALL who call upon the Name of Jesus WILL be saved.  Those nail scars mean that thieves hanging on their last breath, those who haven’t got it all together, those who screw up daily and those who are feeling lost can all run into the open arms of Jesus Christ—no matter who they are.  The words of the song that was sung at every Billy Graham crusade say it way better than I am.

Just as I am, without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me
And that thou bidst me come to Thee
O Lamb of God I come

Just as I am though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a count
Fightings and fears within, without
O Lamb of God I come, I come

Just as I am you will receive
Will welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve
Because You promise—I believe
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

I can’t wait to hang out with Billy and go for a hike and enjoy a meal and sing a hymn.  See you on the other side Billy!

‘Nuff Said.

Wisdom on Selfishness and Selflessness by George Lucas

The core of “The Force” in Star Wars is in the Dark Side and the Light Side.  One is selfless, one is selfish. When you drift to the dark side you get really selfish and you forget about what is important.  Being selfish means you get stuff or you want stuff.  And when you want stuff and you get stuff then you are afraid someone is going to take it away from you.  Whether what you want is a person or a thing or a particular pleasure or status or experience.  Once you become afraid that someone is going to take it away from you or you’re going to lose it then you start to become angry.  Especially if you are losing the thing you want more than anything else.  And that anger leads to hate.  And hate leads to suffering—mostly of the person who was selfish, because you spent all your time being afraid of losing everything you got, instead of actually living.  

Whereas with joy and giving to other people you can’t think about yourself and that’s why there is no pain in joy.  But the pleasure factor of greed and selfishness is a short-lived experience. Therefore you are constantly trying to replenish it.  And the more you have to replenish it the harder it is and you are constantly upping the ante.  You’re actually afraid of the pain of not having the joy.  That is ultimate core fo the Dark Side.  Obviously the Sith are always unhappy because they never get enough of everything they want.  Mostly their selfishness centers around power and control.  

The struggle is to always be able to let go of power and control.  You’re allowed to love people but you aren’t allowed to possess them.  Anakin went too far in not wanting to lose his wife so he made a pact with the devil so that he could become all powerful and therefore he would never have to lose what he perceived was his.  But when he sold his soul for that power she didn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore and all he did was end up destroying his relationship with her.   He lost her.  

The only way to defeat the Dark Side is discipline.  The Dark Side is pleasure gone wrong.  The pleasure is temporary and easy to achieve.  The Light Side is joy everlasting and is achieved through difficulty—a great challenge.  You must overcome laziness and give up quick pleasures and overcome your fear which leads to hate.

                                                                            —George Lucas 

How to be Ready For Anything In 2018

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them —to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates —all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:1-9

Joshua 1 is a great, and i mean GREAT, passage of scripture.  It is a passage that should be almost memorized.  Joshua should be Read again and again so that it gets in the blood. 

Joshua 1 sets the stage for us for 2018.  This is going to be a big year.  I can feel it in my bones.  Lots of ground taken for the Lord.  Lots of challenges.  

I think we have to go into 2018 with an aggressive mentality.  I don’t think it is a good thing for a Christian to enter a new year with a passive mentality or mentality of survival.  We were meant to live for so much more.  Don’t get lost in the past or fear the future.  Instead use today to make the future better.

Jesus gave us much to get excited about.  He gave us much to expect.  When he said, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to every person,” he was expecting us to take new ground all the time and to do new things to reach people all the time.  New ground.  New adventure.  Newness of life and newness of purpose.  

Remember what God said in Isaiah 43 - 

This is what the Lord says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43:16-19

He has defeated enemies in the past.  They lost.  They are gone.  They are done.

He now says forget them.  Forget the slavery and the way that the past treated you.  FORGET THE FORMER THINGS and do NOT dwell on the past.  See I am doing a new thing!

Miracles will happen.  God is making the ground in this desert world break open and streams of LIVING WATER will erupt from that dry, parched ground like geysers.  

That means GOD is ON THE MOVE and he is doing new things. 

Joshua had to have this mentality.  

When my Dad resigned from the church in Quesnel, a pastor who took the church from a little church in a old building downtown and by the grace of God grew that church to over 400 and in a new building. It was tough for the church to lose their Pastor.

I was a mere 35 years old and didn’t know what I was doing.  I knew I wanted to be their pastor.  And I quickly found out a truth.  “Pity the man to follow Randy Evans”  Even his son.

Now imagine how Joshua felt. 

Can you image trying to follow this guy?   MOSES.  Just think about it.

But Joshua had to follow this guy. 

Thankfully he had been mentored by Moses.  Here in Joshua 1 God commissions 

His new leader for the people of Israel.  

Joshua 1:1-4

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead. 

Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them —to the Israelites. 

I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates —all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.

GOD is saying the same thing to Joshua.  MOSES is gone.  Follow me.  YOU get going.  You’ve got a people to lead.  I am about to give you and these people NEW LAND.  I will give you every place where you set your foot.  Your territory will be huge.

The current Evil Occupants of the land will be evicted. 

Get going.  Don’t dwell on the past.  I learned some lessons in 2017.  I am sure you all did.  Things change quickly.

The reason that I called this talk, “How to be Ready for Anything in 2018” is because I believe that, like I said, we have to approach the new ground ahead of us with boldness and with purpose and with intent and with courage.  We must steel ourselves for the battles and expect victory.  

GOD promised that his people, and we are God’s people in Christ, will take new ground.  There is promised land in front of us.  IF you take your eyes off the past and set them on the new ground that HE will show us.

There are new people to be saved.  There are new souls to be won.  There are new things for our church to do.    

There are new ideas that He will give us to accomplish the conquering of the land in front of us.  

Jesus said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20 

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THE GREAT COMMISSION will be SUCCESSFUL?  It will be.  

Christians all over the world are taking new ground.  The ground beneath the world shakes with fear these days.  Massive storms, wars, men shooting innocent people from hotel balconies like fish in a barrel, world leaders with no backbone or no sense.   

God is shaking the planet and even the confidence of the people who paid Him no mind until recently when everything around them began to fall apart.  

They are ready for something solid.  They are ready for the truth of Jesus Christ.  They are open like never before.  They are asking for help.  They are reaching out saying, “I need some help.”

The harvest of souls is ripe.  We need only be the people who take the love of God and take God at his Word and do what He says to do.

This isn’t some human idea or man made endeavor.  These is the marching orders of Jesus Christ and his generals that has been written down for us.  

GOD IS ASKING YOU TO BE BOLD THIS YEAR.  

To realize YOU are NOT STUCK in the past.  

You are not merely human.  

You have the SPIRIT WHO RAISED CHRIST FROM THE DEAD LIVING IN YOU.

The DEATH SHATTERING SPIRIT OF GOD.

“Aslan is on the move”

Winter is thawing before Him.  It is all falling apart.

Evil is in it DEATH THROES.  Satan knows his time is short so he is raging.  He is clawing at the cliff he is hanging off of, shouting orders at people, grasping at straws, getting them to do stupid things to take down as many of them as he can.  

But he has LOST.

Humanity sits in a cage on a bench with the cage door wide open.  All we need to do is run in there and take them by the hand and lead them out into the freedom that was purchased by HIS BLOOD.

Yes the enemy may attack us.  But is defensive attacking.  We are the ones moving ahead.

When JESUS said, “I will build my church on your confession of me, the gates of hell will NOT prevail against the church.”  THAT MEANS the church is a BATTERING RAM and hell’s gates cannot keep it from entering their dark castle and plundering it.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will FEAR NO EVIL for THOU ART WITH ME.

Even when I walk through valleys with people the light of the World is by my side and the darkness will NEVER extinguish it!

We can withstand ANY BOMBARDMENT, for the Name of the Lord is a strong tower and all those who run into it are SAFE.

When JESUS rose from the dead he turned you and me into indestructible people.  Stop living like normal, death avoiding people.  There is no DEATH FOR YOU.  Only life. 

Should you walk into battle and be slain you are immediately with the LORD.  And you will pop back out of that grave with speed and eternal strength and you will reign with Christ forever and ever. 

——————-

Joshua 1 - Look at verse 6 - Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

GOD promised the new land.  He promised that these meek Canadians will inherit the earth.  I didn’t promise this.  I didn’t make this up.  

Be inspired.  The LORD of LORDs, the GOD of gods, the KING of kings, He promised this.  And he bolstered the disciples by saying that when you GO into all the WORLD I AM WITH YOU to very end of the age. 

Never will He leave us, NEVER will He forsake us.  

If John Glenn could strap a rocket to his butt and soar into space remember we have the jet fuel of scripture in our tank and the Holy Spirit ignites that fuel and propels us globally and heavenward. 

Ed Stetzer, a pastor to pastors, leads a church as well as educates pastors all over the globe.  His church plants a church every year.  They step into every year knowing that they are going to do something new. 

Hudson Taylor defied all the logic of family and friends and countrymen when he grew his hair long and starting dressing like a China man to reach people for Jesus.  He lost two wives and learned languages and didn’t stop til the Lord said, “Okay Moses, you’re done, come home and rest now.”

You are a missionary who takes new ground just by doing your job and loving your family and loving these friends and co-workers that God has placed in your path.

You are their LIGHT.   They don’t know Paul Paquette, They know you.  They trust you. 

They need you to step forward into 2018 and march on your knees and in prayer and faith CLAIM the promise that GOD MADE that He will grant new ground with every step on that ground that you take. 

HOW TO BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS

Joshua 1: 7 -  Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.  

You will lead these lost children of God home to Jesus. 

You.  My very introverted friend Margo who is shy and would rather stay at home.  She leads people she is friends with to church and Christ all the time.  She isn’t bold by nature but she is strong.  She knows JESUS is the only way that her friends will be saved so she invites them to movie nights, kids club and basketball and Christmas Coffee houses and helps organize them.  And people come. 

My dad always said there are probably 100 people you guys all know right now that are just ready to be saved.  They just need to be asked.  

By you.  Not.  Hey one day you should come to church with me.  it should be this weekend you would come to this ladies tea thing. This weekend you should come to Alpha. 

Again, they don’t know Paul - they know and trust YOU.

Tell them you are praying for them.

Tell them Jesus Loves you.

Tell them you love them.

Have them over for PIE and COFFEE.  Take them muffins.  LOVE ON THEM.  

LOVE IS THE WEAPONRY and the WEAPONS are handled through prayer.  NINJA warriors all.  Prayer is unstoppable.   Pray all the time.  

Start your day with a focus on prayer and God will bring to mind the people who need His help.  And there in the shower and over coffee and written in your journal pray the names of those He is going to save.  He gave you those names and He loves them even more than you do.

But you know why you’re going to be strong and courageous?  I will tell you now.  The stirring in your heart that the Spirit of God is doing right now isn’t because of some faulty human messenger named Bob who is standing before you.  NO.  

Your heart is stirred by the TRUTH that you are hearing and you IMBIBE the word of God and listen to it FAITH is being ACTIVATED in your heart.  The Truth of God is flowing through your veins. 

Joshua 1:8 says that is the KEY to being strong and courageous in 2018, able to take ground and withstand any bombardment. 

VERSE 8 - Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

This BOOK should always be on your lips.  Mediate on it day and night.  Do what it says.  THEN you will be prosperous and successful.  

Your emotions cannot fuel your success.  They can help.  They are like wild horses, when bridled can be turned into powerful allies.  But your emotions must be corralled and inspired by this TRUTH.  Your will must choose to read and listen to and sing and watch the LIVING TRUTH of the Word of God.

Truth powered action.

Your emotions, your stress, your fears, the way you are feeling physically, they all will get in the way of action.  

GET UP, GET DRESSED, GET INSPIRED BY TRUTH OF GOD and GET GOIN’.

No matter how you feel you need to get the WORD OF GOD IN YOU.  My wife does it by listening to Worship music and changing the dark atmosphere at 5:30am.  She imbibes the truth of these songs.  I do it by reading the Bible and listenin to sermons and praying and watching movies like The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and Star Wars and Superman and Rocky and the Lord of the Rings and having coffee with guys like Paul Paquette when I am down. 

I inject TRUTH into my veins.  When I start seeing people around me dropping like flies from the flu what do i do?  I react.  I start taking handfuls of vitamins and washing my hands like an OCD dude.  

INJECT the TRUTH OF GOD into your daily routine and SHOWER Yourself with it.

You get VERSE 8 and you will get VERSE 9.

“Courage isn’t a feeling it is a God-truth powered obedience in action.”  

‘’You want a change of heart then you need to change your habits.”

Mediate on the Word and then VERSE 9 - BE STRONG and COURAGEOUS, do not be not afraid, neither Be thou dismayed, for the LORD YOUR GOD IS WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO.

You are stronger than you know.  You are braver than you think.  Don’t get discouraged when a sin sick culture gets you down.  Strike back.  Ask God to remind you of WHO THE LION of JUDAH is.  Remember Jesus Christ who held back nothing but instead set his face like flint and headed into Jerusalem knowing it was going to be tougher than anything that He faced.  And he was like you, facing it as a human.

When he became a man he knew he could be killed and that it was going to hurt.  But why did he do it.  Hebrews tells us that “He, for THE JOY that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame.”

He had the joy in front of him.

Be a Christian who reads Acts and Revelation 1 and Revelation 12 and Revelation 19-22 and read to the end of the book to the happy ending where we win!  And you know we do. 

Get that JOY in front of You.  When the current world crumbles and the renovated earth stands and Christ is King you are going to look around for the joy of seeing someone you love there with Christ and you forever and ever. 

Get that JOY in front of you constantly.  No more Death or sorrow or crying or pain.  JOY.  Sheer happiness.

BE STRONG and COURAGEOUS because HE IS WITH YOU NO MATTER the PLACE.

I feared going to Israel.  I feared going to the streets of LA.  I feared walking into the Wander Inn on Granville street with all its weird street youth.  I fear when I approach people with the Good News.  That man of fear is the OLD BOB.

The natural Bob. Then I remind myself who I am and who I belong to.  I am a son of the living God, an agent of change, a man who can go anywhere or do anything for GOD is with me.  It is just as safe in Africa as it is here in this room for God is everywhere you are and He is for us.

And if GOD Is for us - who can be against us?

No one.

If He did not spare his own Son to save us will He not gladly give us all things?

Your King, walked up to the White Witch and said, “I will die in this traitor’s stead,” then he took the blade and then He took His life back and He smashed her face in and cut off the head of Goliath and he rose up and said, “it is finished.”

Buck up.

You’re on the WINNING TEAM.

Jesus is with you!

Resurrection POWER leaving the building.

‘NUFF SAID, true believers!!!