…bill’s front porch…

well, the election is over.  we now have a new direction.  i don’t mean that we have a new president but we now can turn for awhile to a more positive outlook.  all of the negativity should start to be a little more positive because so many people now have hope and excitement because their man has been elected.

of course the losers are very frustrated but that is life and they have to go on.  now i believe in democracy but i don’t put my total trust in it.  i put my trust in GOD.  HE can bring what HE wants out of anything.  i trust HIM.  and i believe HIS view of it all is different than our view.  yes HE did say to give to caesar what is due caesar but caesar is not lord, JESUS is LORD. 

now here is the key, if your candidate lost or won, how as a CHRISTian will you respond?  i am in luke the 6th chapter in my morning reading and here in the message version is what i read this morning in verse 31, “here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them!”  we need to make sure we respond as we would want someone to respond to us.

and don’t let pride, despair, fear, anger, take over.  remember GOD is in control and HE has a plan, and HIS purpose will be fulfilled in the end.  read the end of the book.  those of us who are CHRIST-followers win, not republicans, not democrats, and not our own selfish interests. 

how are you doing today?  remember, respond as GOD says to respond, we are to respond differently than others who are not CHRIST-followers would respond.  don’t be proud and don’t be in despair but give to others what we would want them to give to us.  also remember that our hope is in CHRIST.  for JESUS is LORD!!!

i watched 2 different activities last night, flipping back and forth.  one was my dodgers losing to the phillies and the opportunity to go to the world series and watching the debate between mccain and obama and who will be our next president.  back when i was young i had my first big fight with my future father-in-law over my dodgers and his reds and over politics.  both of those bring out our emotions.

now i’m not devastated any more over my sports team losing.  i am not going to let something that i have no control over mess up my life but that should also be true in our politics but a lot of CHRISTians get so worked up over who is going to win.  and i thought that really is a misplaced set of priorities.  we think as CHRISTians that mccain or obama is the sorce of how we live.  we have given the politician too much importance.

i read a psalm every day and what i read is dependent upon the date.  i am on my second 30 chapter cycle and today was the 16th so i read the 46th psalm.  here is what verses 1-3 says in the new century version, “GOD is our protection and our strength.  HE always helps in times of trouble.  so we will not be afraid even if the earth shakes or the mountains fall into the sea, even if the oceans roar and foam or the mountains shake at the raging sea…(bw version, or the other guy gets elected or wall street completely falls apart and my stocks go ca-put)

now a lot of CHRISTians have misplaced their trust.  i am getting closer and closer to retirement and our 401k is taking a hit right now but i haven’t put all my investments in wall street like a lot of CHRISTians have and who are going to pieces right now because of misplace trust, on something that has no control over itself.  i have seen CHRIST followers go to pieces over investments that have gone bad and have caused great relationship problems because of misplaced priorities, misplaced trust.

i have put my investments, my trust in GOD and HIS Word.  not the dodgers , not wall street, not my money, not mccain, not obama, not bush,  not my job, not my family, not my….

of course GOD uses other means in our lives and HE wants us to invest wisely and HE wants us to listen and vote but GOD is…even if… 

just some thoughts here on my front porch after my dodgers lost, after the last debate and after i just got back from new york city and seeing wall street for the first time, and more importantly seeing my son and daughter-in-law get installed into their new church, and being with my grand daughter, ashlyn and celebrating her 2nd birthday.

GOD is…even if… 

i just spent some time out putting door hangers on some homes inviting people to our church.  i can’t say i really enjoy doing that but i really do enjoy seeing new people come to church.last night i was sitting outside at starbucks waiting for some people and i picked up erwin mcmanus’s new book wideawake.  it has been great and it has really gotten me to dreaming again.  well in the section i was reading he said how important it was to do things you enjoy and that got me thinking.  so i got out my notepad and started writing down things that i enjoy doing.  i had a great time. well one of the things i really enjoy is seeing new people come to church, i live for that every sunday but i know that thy don’t just walk in off the street, GOD is not going to just send them our way, HE leaves it up to us to do something, do something.  HE has his part and i have my part.  well my part is to be faith ful to do the things that i don’t really enjoy and HE will honor my faith fulness with that which i do enjoy.we had a group of teens at our house last night.  my wife, who had a hard day at work and my son in law and daughter, who had hard days at work, were faith ful in meeting with this group of very special people that they love because they enjoy making a difference in their lives.now was my family tired?  they sure were.  were they excited that they couldn’t set down and just relax last night?  no they weren’t but they love those teens and they care about what they are going through and they wanted to have a time for them in the middle of their week to encourage them and help them through a difficult time in their lives.both of our kids are grown and making a difference for GOD in their lives but that didn’t just happen.  that happened because of the faith fulness of 2 parents to put first things first in their lives even when we really didn’t want to, even when we were really tired.listen GOD honors faith fulness.  he really does.  what are you faith ful to do when you really don’t want to do it but you know it is something that will make a difference? GOD has something HE wants to do in and through you and HE will give it to you if you are faith ful or another way to say it, when you are full of faith by doing something that you don’t enjoy so you will get the reward that GOD has for you.  you see, faith fulness is to be full of faith in the GOD you serve no matter what, no matter when and no matter where and no matter how you feel.  GOD honors faith and faith fulness.  without faith it is impossible to please HIM.  that is what i really, really, really enjoy doing, pleasing GOD!  don’t you? 

i find that it is so easy for some people to live in the “this is the worst day of my life” mode.  i a long time ago decided to make my view of life in the “this is the best day of my life” mode.  it is hard some days. it really is isn’t it but i believe it is the only way to live. 

we live close to a pig farm, i hear that it smells bad.  we live in a desert, i hear it gets really hot here.  we are in the middle of an election, i hear that we are in difficult times.  i hear but i don’t focus. 

i got into a “life is rough” mode a couple of years ago and life became rough.  it was how i viewed it and so i lived it.  now i do realize that some people are having trouble getting around because gas is higher priced but what if we were back when we didn’t have cars, i guess they survived didn’t they?  they just didn’t go to so many places.  wow maybe we could make it if we simplifed where we went.

life can be a challenge but it can also be an opportunity, an opportunity to make a difference, to help people in how they view life.

back when i was in hs i sat in the back of the room because of my last name, williams and my view of the blackboard was fuzzy.  i didn’t realize it was until i got new glasses and my view totally changed for the amazing better.  that is our task, to help people view life in an amazing better way, to help get people’s view of their lives in focus. 

praise be to GOD who gives me the victory through HIS SON JESUS CHRIST.  let’s show others the difference that CHRIST makes by viewing our life from that perspective.    

last week they lost 8 games in a row…8 games.  i don’t think that is the way they will overtake the diamondbacks for the nl west.  they have won now 3 in a row but they are running out of time…the season is almost over.

i wonder how many we lost last week to the church because of our apathy.  at least the dodgers were trying but are we really trying.  it is so easy to get complacent.  there is so much other stuff to put all of our energy into and we only have so much energy.  i mean college football started last week and thursday starts the nfl. 

i wonder when the season of our life is going to come to an end.  i wonder if we knew it was about to end if we would be more envolved in reaching out to our family, our neighbors, our world. 

i turned 61 this summer and i am feeling a little more desperate about reaching my world that is lost.  i’ve been thinking of what JESUS did in 3 years.  of course it was 3 years of  total focus, 3  years of nothing else mattered.  maybe that’s the key.

well, i have a sense of urgency to do my part.   i pray that there is still some more time because there sure are alot of people who don’t have a real authentic, made a difference, make a difference relationship with HIM.   

our front porch has changed.  we moved to this new house a few months back and the front porch for awhile didn’t have any furniture so it still wasn’t being used as it was suppose to be used.  we finally got two chairs and a table between them.  it was great.  we go out, sit in our chairs connect with our world and look at the sheep mountains but CHRISTmas came.  the front porch is beautiful.  everybody driving by i know thinks it looks great but it isn’t being used as it is suppose to be used.  the table now has a beautiful flower on it and the chairs have evergreenery, a wreath on both of them with lights all over them.  it is such a festive place but nowhere can i sit.  all of the beauty has stopped the potential for connection.

it makes me think about what has happened to the church.  boy they look beautiful but you have to go in to get the real effect.  all of the CHRISTmas celebration stuff is great but you have to go in.  it seems like we have gotten away from our purpose.  the way luke starts the acts of the apostles is by linking to a former book that told all about what JESUS began to do and kind of implies that we are to take it from there.  in the former book it seems like JESUS did a lot of going to where they were not bringing them to where HE was.  it seems like the purpose of the church has changed and it hasn’t been JESUS who has done the changing.

i really do believe that we need front porches  in the church today.  we really do need places to connect with people who will not walk through our doors.  we have to go to them and start a dialogue of some sort.  all we in the church are doing is going after the same people and leaving 65% of the people alone because we don’t relate to them.  i’m sure glad GOD didn’t do that to us.  HE sent JESUS to earth to connect with us and then sacrifice HIMself for us.  shouldn’t we do that?  i mean, come on, we are CHRIST-followers.  or are we just CHRIST-followers when it is convenient or when we are comfortable but if it involves sacrifice i’m sure that’s not what it means.

though i’m sure it means one thing in the united states and another thing in china or at least i’m afraid we think it does but does it really to CHRIST?  

i am a 60 year old man who has grown up in the way we have done church and i am so tired of our ineffectiveness.  i am desperate to find a more effective way to reach people.  it may mean persecution like the church has in china to get us out of our comfortable churches, our ineffective ways.  we worry so much at having the right people in government but maybe to GOD the right people are the ones who would persecute us and get us involved in survival and then maybe we would get back to being what we were created to be.  authentic CHRIST-followers.  people who really care for what JESUS cares for.  HE died for people. we too need to die for lost people.  die to going into our churches and leaving the lost outside.  if we don’t they won’t be the only ones lost. 

 i’m afraid that we in the church have lost our way.  we are more concerned about our personal freedoms than the lostness of the world.  and maybe the only way we get out of our churches and into the world is to be thrown out of our churches.  that sure was an effective way to reach the lost back in the early church day and it sure is an effective way of the church exploding in china.  

i am afraid that more CHRISTians are more concerned about who will lose the election than the neighbor who is lost.  CHRIST may have a different view on that than we do.  i want to follow CHRIST’s view for HE is my LORD.               

i am reading in the 3rd chapter of the  book of mark in the message.  and right after it talks about JESUS choosing the 12 it says he comes home and a crowd gathers.  it says he had so many people reaching out to HIM that HE didn’t even have time to eat.  then it shows  HIS family’s reaction.  instead of running to HIM with food, to help HIM with what HE was doing, they did what a lot of families believe is their job. it says, they suspected HE was getting carried away with HIMself.  they came to keep HIM humble.

i don’t think that is my job.  my job is to serve you,  to take care of you, to build you up not tear you down, to help you believe in yourself.  to let you know that you aren’t alone that you have someone with you. 

but it does seem that our insecurities sometimes come out when we see someone else making a difference.  we don’t feel good about us so we don’t want you to feel good about you.  i don’t want to do that.  i want to help people to feel good about themselves. our sin is what condemns us and GOD will take care of that.

what is our job?  to be used by GOD to make a difference in someone’s life today.  thanks GOD for the opportunity.  

what if i…, just lives in the world of regrets too many times but what if GOD…, deals in the area of the impossible.

i am reading in mark.  i have been in the first chapter for quite awhile.  starting in verse 40 “a leper came to JESUS…and appealed to HIM…’if YOU want to, YOU can.’….JESUS…stretched out HIS‚ hand and placed it on the leper, saying, ‘of course I want to–be clean.’ ” (Ph)

we are here on the front porch just talking.  does that get you?  “if YOU want to, YOU can…of course I want to–be…”  think of it…if what i want is what GOD wants, nothing can stop us.  then i want to find what GOD wants.  the key phrase is “of course I want to.”  that’s where i want to live!!!!

it’s friday and the weekend is coming.  let’s do some what if’s.  just something to do on friday.

…what if i was 25 again (i’m 60) what would i do different?  it sure wouldn’t be not marrying margaret and having brett & stef as my kids.  apart from my relationship with CHRIST, those three are the best things that have ever happened to me. 

…what if i hadn’t come to vegas to pastor harvest?  where would i want to be?  can’t think of anywhere else.  if i wouldn’t have been here i wouldn’t have known all the awesome people that GOD has allowed me to become great friends with. wouldn’t have had the great privilege of being a part of all these people coming to know JESUS.  wouldn’t have had the joy of dedicating the six very special young individuals that i will be dedicating sunday.  wouldn’t have had the unbelievable privilege of baptizing sunday, brianna and mary -2 of the most important people in my life - & twister - a brand new friend and a brand new CHRISTian, an awesome man.  i wouldn’t have had that privilege and maybe if i hadn’t been here they might not have come to know the LORD.

…what if i …the truth is i like my life and i am thankful for it and i don’t have any what ifs.  i just have a lot of thank yous to GOD for what HE has and is doing in my life.  i love YOU.  i really, really do.  YOU have given me far more than i deserve. 

…what if i had never had the opportunity to know GOD. that would have been the worst thing that could ever have happened to me but that is a reality out there for so many lost people.  oh GOD may i be faithful to carry on what YOU came to do through JESUS.

…what if i never share YOU with anyone?  i can’t think about that.  i don’t want to think about that. what a waste.