God Chose You!

(A quick personal note:  You may have noticed a lack of postings.  The last three months have been a recovery time for Donna who had surgery on her foot.  Then we capped it off with a week of flu bug nonsense... so I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.)

I'm not a science guy by any means.  But when I saw the picture taken by the Hubble telescope of "The Pillars of Creation" I was mesmerized.  I kept staring at it..."googling" it and trying to understand what I was looking at and why it had got my eye.  Here's the picture below:

This picture shows three giant columns of interstellar gas and dust.  They are named "Pillars of Creation" because the gas and dust are in a process of creating new stars while also being eroded by scorching ultraviolet light from nearby stars that have recently formed. 

Got it?  Wait...there is more.  There are stars being born deep inside those columns.  Not just some stars but massive amount of stars.  They say that our sun was probably "born" in a similar mass of gas and dust.

So we are seeing a snapshot of massive amount of stars being born.  This is happening a long, long, long way off...about 6500 light years away.  How long is a light year? One light year is 5.88 trillion miles long.  Multiply 5.88 trillion by 6500 and...well, let's just say it's a long way off.  

And how's this for size.  That first column on the left. is four light years in length.  4 X 5.88 trillion miles.  That's really long.  

You may be wondering about the title of this post "God Chose You!" and what this has to do with this picture and gigantic numbers that make your head spin just trying to think about it.
When God created the universe and this planet He could have chosen something this
massive and powerful to reflect his image.  The "Pillars of Creation" are huge beyond imagination and God is bigger and more magnificent.

God did not choose anything else in all creation to reflect His image other than people. When I saw this picture I remembered Genesis 1:27, "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." 

There is something unique about you because God chose you to be a reflection of His image and not some massive, powerful display of interstellar gas and dust.  When God wants to display His exceeding riches of grace in His universe--God shows what He did in us through Jesus Christ.

Don't believe it?  Ephesians 2:4-7 says,

"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." 

"The Pillars of Creation" are sure something to behold.  But they are nothing compared to what God sees in you as His chosen in Christ Jesus.

Wow...God chose you and me.

I would love to hear any of your responses to this.  Looking forward to a great year.

John P. Holsey

Are We Looking For God In All The Wrong Places?

If you thought this blog would be about how we shouldn't be in ungodly places you are right...and wrong.  Of course, we're not supposed to be in some places and situations but that's not what I'm getting at with the idea of looking for God in all the wrong places.

Last week when reviewing a workbook on kingdom ministry, I came across an interesting statement. It said, "...of the sixty-nine divine interventions in the book of Acts, sixty-eight of them happened in the marketplace."  I confess I have not gone through the book of Acts to verify these figures, but the basic point is beyond doubt.  God shows up in so many places except the "religious" ones in Acts.  The streets of Jerusalem, in the houses of believers, at the stoning of Stephen, a desert road, jails, ships, Roman centurion's houses...just to name a few.

Where do we look for God to show up?  It is easy to get excited in gatherings of believers when we sense the presence of God.  But if Acts is any indicator, maybe we aren't seeing God showing up because we don't look for him in certain places like the marketplace.

The marketplace can be challenging for those Jesus followers trying to be faithful in their conversations and ethics.  Just the frantic pace of most workplaces tends to numb our senses to anything except doing the next task, taking the next order or making that last phone call.  But in the book of Acts, sixty-eight times out of sixty-nine....

Let me ask a series of "what if" questions:

• What if God is showing up and we miss him because we aren't looking for him except on Sundays?
• What if we started expecting God to show up when we entered the marketplace?
• What if we developed "eyes to see" and "ears to hear" for those times God is ready to move through a co-workers challenging project or problem at home?
• What if God is not showing up in our religious gatherings because he knows if he does, we will want to build tabernacles and camp in our religious clubs leaving the marketplaces out?

A familiar verse to most of us is John 3:16.  "For God so loved the world..."  Wait, God so loved the world?  Before we read about God sending his son or anything about eternal life we need to get this down, God so loves the world.  God's focus is on the world before he focuses on the church, not that the church is unimportant.  Christ loved the church and died for the church.  We need to see God's focus on the church is because his ultimate focus is on loving, reaching and redeeming the world.

God's people have always struggled with God's priorities and agenda.  The story of Jonah is all over this.  All through the story, people are turning to God.  Pagan sailors, foreign kings, ungodly gentiles and even the animals repent.  The only one God has trouble with is his own prophet.  Jonah does not want to go to Nineveh.  He only goes after spending three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish.  (I always said after being in the belly of a great fish I would probably hear the call to be a missionary too.)  In the end of the story, God puts the question to Jonah like this:

"And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left--and also many animals?" Jonah 4:11 NIV

Shouldn't God have concern for our marketplace?  Try going to work with the expectation of walking into situations where God is already present and ready to show up.  Expect God to do the most surprising things through you in the lives of your coworkers.

Let's start looking for God in all the wrong places and expecting him to show up.

3 Important Things I Learned On A Job Interview

Recently I went on a job interview for a holiday help position at Barnes and Noble.  The job posting looked interesting to me and who wouldn't want to be surrounded by books. Before going on the interview, I did my due diligence researching the company and browsing LinkedIn and Monster.com for tips on interviewing.

The interview followed the typical interview format.  When the interviewer got to the end of his questions he asked, "Do you have any questions for me?"  Well, being well prepared, I popped out with the following question, "If I get this job, what are the three most important things for me to learn during my first week?"  You can see this is a great question to ask on an interview.  I imagined the interviewer thinking to himself, "This guy is a go-getter... He's really looking to improve his productivity...I've got to use this on my next job interview" and other such good things.

His response to my question was surprisingly quick and to the point.  He didn't miss a beat and said, "First, learn how to greet a customer and find out what they are looking for or need.  Second, you need to know how to operate our book finding system so you can find that book and put it in their hand.  Third, learn how to operate the register and sell them the book."

What stayed with me though is his following comment.  He said, "These three things are what everyone working here has to know first and do well."  He went on to let me know training is available to any employee for anything in the business.  First, they learn these three things and after that, it's up to the individual employee to initiate what they want to learn for their own advancement.

It struck me how this simple concept is focused, powerful and effective.  Talk to customers, assist them in finding what they need and then show them how to get it for themselves.  Simple.

Driving home from the interview I went over in my mind what had just been said.  It occured to me this kind of simple, effective approach could be applied to Jesus followers.  Here's what I mean:

Every person coming into a personal relationship with Jesus needs to know three important things.

1.  How to engage in conversation with people who do not know Jesus.

When I say engage in conversation, I am including listening first to hear the heart needs of people. We don't need to artificially stear every conversation around to Jesus.  I've done this and found I was focusing more on relieving my own percieved pressure to "witness" than anything else.  The other person was just a prop for me to feel better about myself.  We just need listen to people with an ear to hear the heart-level need that comes out.

2.  How to share our story of finding Jesus.

You will be amazed how God will bring people into your life with needs connecting with your story of finding Jesus.  In fact, we should expect this to happen because this is how God works.  We have heart-felt needs.  God meets them.  Then someone else comes into our life with whom we can share how we were comforted by God.

3.  How to lead someone in prayer starting their relationship with Jesus.

There is nothing like praying with another person and hearing them commit their lives to Jesus.  It can be as simple as asking them to pray after you a simple prayer:

Jesus, I realize that you died for me on the cross.  I believe that by your death I am forgiven.  I believe that you were raised from the dead and you are Lord over all.  Today I am surrendering my life to you and ask you to become my Lord and Savior.  Help me to become the person you want me to be.  Amen.

This may all sound simplistic.  I think one reason we do not see more people coming into a relationship with Jesus is because we miss the important simple stuff.  A comment was made by a conference speaker about a problem we have in the church.  He pointed out that in the church we think we are supposed to help people be good. The problem with this is they can get "gooder and gooder" and still miss the vital thing that will actually transform their lives.

Talking about Jesus and sharing your story is not just for the spiritually hyperactive.  It is part of normally following Jesus as a disciple.  When we begin to follow Jesus we become partners with him in his mission of saving the lost.

Some may say leading others to Christ is not their gift. Spiritual gifts are how the Holy Spirit works through us to help others in the body of Christ grow in spiritual maturity.  There is a gift of evangelism but  that gift includes not only effectively bringing people to Jesus but also stimulating more believers to share with others.  Sharing our story is the natural outflow of our love relationship with Jesus.

Doing these three things well is not just for those who are naturally outgoing.  For example, look at Andrew in the gospels.  Andrew is not known for anything he said or wrote. Andrew is known for one thing- introducing people to Jesus.  He introduced his brother Peter to Jesus.  He brought the boy with the small lunch to Jesus.  When some Greeks who wanted to see Jesus came to Andrew and Phillip, he introduced them to Jesus.  That's just about it--he introduced others to Jesus.

Let me ask you, "How are you doing with these three important things?"  Don't get sidetracked from keeping the main thing the main thing.  I challenge you to focus on these three things over the next thirty days.

Blessings on you.

John P. Holsey

What To Do When You Don't Know What To Do

There are those times when life not only throws a curve ball but the pitches come two or three balls at a time.  I'm going through one of those times where I really don't know what to do because I barely know what just happened.  So...what do you do?

Here's what I have been living on for the past few days:

1.  This (fill in the blank) has not taken God by surprise.  He knew these circumstances were coming and He has allowed them to come into my life.  Somehow in the mysterious purposes of God for the world and for me, He has allowed me to be in the situation I am presently confused about.

2.  The first thing to do is to get into God's presence.  I have put on some meditative music, read some Psalms and then just sat quietly sharing with God how good I know He is, how much I love Him and then sitting quietly knowing it's OK if neither one of us says anything right now.  Basically I'm operating on the principle that if God is quiet, He wants me to get closer.

3.  Keep things to yourself while at the same time reaching out to a few trusted friends.  When you're in the whirlwind of confusion it is easy to make one of two mistakes.  One is to grab everyone you can and send out an S.O.S. signal.  It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking if everyone knows and prays that somehow things will turn out better for us.  The other mistake is to isolate yourself and keep it all inside.  You need to share with a few trusted people to get not only their prayer support but also to give you outside perspective.

4.  Ask God to show you why you are responding like you are to the situation.  Are you scared?  Are you angry?  Does this feel familiar?  When the pressure goes up the toothpaste comes out of the tube.  So what is coming up inside you?  Let God deal with it.

5.  Come to the place where you ask God for His decision over these circumstances and make the decision you are not going against His decision.  I am learning there are some times in life when God does not reveal very much.  But I do have the confidence that whatever will bring God the most glory will also ultimately be for my very best.  That's the time for the prayer of surrender:  "God, I don't know why I'm going through this.  I don't know what You are doing.  But whatever it is I want You to know that I am not deciding against Your decision.  And when or if You think I need to know any more I trust You to tell me.  In the meantime, I am agreeing with Your purposes...whatever they are."

Let me know if any of this resonates with you.

“A Preppers Manual - Overcoming While Living In A Hostile World” – Part 2

4.  Thyatira- Overcome The Secret Attacks.  The church at Thyatira was a busy church.  Jesus even commended them for doing more than they had done at first.  But in their business there was one major problem.  They were tolerating “that woman Jezebel.”  Evidently, there was a woman who was operating in a demonic spirit labeled “Jezebel” after the famous Jezebel in the Old Testament.  This spirit attacks the Word of God and the prophet or proclaimer of the Word. 

The result of this attack is that believers are led into idolatry and sexual immorality.  (Do you see a pattern here- idolatry and sexual immorality?)  Those caught up in this deception receive a judgment.  Note that “deep secrets of satan” are said to have been held by some of the believers.  While this can refer to some very specific dark things, the root of the “deep secrets of satan” is thinking we can continue to practice idolatry and sexual immorality privately while publically being a witness for Jesus. 

Overcomers are those who not only overcome the public outside attacks of the enemy but also overcome secret, private attacks.  The ones that no one knows if you overcome them or not.  Except that Jesus knows and rewards come based on the secret obedience we give Him.  Kingdom authority is only shared fully with those who overcome even the secret things of the enemy.

5.  Sardis- Stir Up Passion.  Sardis had fallen asleep with spiritual apathy.  No specific reason is given but the remedy Jesus gives is very revealing.  He says to complete their deeds.  Not obeying to the end is not obeying.  Partial obedience leads to a weakening of spiritual strength and foundations.  These folks were told to go back and finish what they had started.  They were to remember what they had been told to do, obey it completely and change their patterns of incomplete obedience. 

There is an old saying that “faith that fizzles at the finish was faulty from the first.”  When times get hard, it’s easy to start and then find reasons not to finish.  This indicates a spiritual slumber that comes over our spirits.  It dulls us to the prompting and empowering work of the Holy Spirit.  Walking in simple, complete obedience to Jesus enables us to walk with Him in the white robes of the overcomer.

6.  Philadelphia- Keep On Keeping On.  This church is unique because it is the only one that Jesus does not give a correction or warning.  This church is right where Jesus wants them, doing what He has told them to do.  He has opened a door for them to build His kingdom and they have walked through it.  Yes, they are tired.  Yes, they are wearing down in strength but they are not giving up.  Jesus tells them to continue to patiently endure.  While they are “keeping on keeping on”, Jesus says they are also being delivered from further trails they don’t even know about.  He encourages them that He is coming soon so hold on to what they have in Him. 

Simple, patient endurance is the mark of true overcomers.  We sometimes get our eyes on ourselves to judge how much strength we have or how we are doing.  Jesus tells this church, who He says has “little strength”, that they are right where He wants them to be…hold on…and it will turn out for their best and for the glory of Jesus.  Just because we are wearing down doesn’t mean we are wearing out.

7.  Laodicea- Go For Intimacy With Jesus.  This church makes Jesus sick at His stomach.  They aren’t hot.  They aren’t cold.  They are just lukewarm and He wants to spit them out of their mouth.  This church was not passionate about Jesus nor were they passionate against Jesus.  They were self-deceived thinking because they had material wealth that they were rich and needed nothing.  The abundance of material things had blinded them to their true spiritual condition.

The answer though is not to just get rid of the material things.  Materialism is not the possession of material things.  Materialism is thinking spiritual needs are fulfilled with material things.  It is living like we are living in a material world and we are only material people (no reference to Madonna).  The answer is to open up our heart’s door and seek intimate fellowship with Jesus among the community of believers.  The verse that says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” is applicable to unbelievers but it is first addressed to believers who are numbed by materialism.

So there you have the basic necessities for being an overcoming messianic community in a hostile world.  Let’s review them all:

-       Keep Returning To Love

-       Decide It’s Better To Die Faithful Than Live Denying The Faith

-       Don’t Be Blinded By Tolerance

-       Overcome The Secret Attacks

-       Stir Up Passion

-       Keep On Keeping On

-       Go For Intimacy With Jesus

To the overcomers,

John P. Holsey, fellow prepper

"A Preppers Manual- Overcoming While Living In A Hostile World"- Part 1

“Preppers” are people who seriously prepare for the collapse of civilization.  While watching a TV show with my grandson, it struck me that these folks were preparing for the unknown by stocking up on what they believed were the basic necessities of life.  It occurred to me that in Revelation 2-3, Jesus shares the basic necessities of life with the seven churches who lived in and faced a real collapse of their civilization.  Each church is commended for a strength and then given a warning of something lacking.

The messages to these churches uncovers the basic necessities to continue being the messianic community even under the worst of circumstances.  Because when hard times come, religion built on traditions and maintained by legalistic rules shows itself to not be life-sustaining but rather life-draining.

The messianic community of Jesus followers in the New Testament is not a religion.  It is a living, organic community of people in relationship with Jesus and each other.   Jesus delivers messages to these messianic communities (churches) and in them He shares what is really basic, not just for survival, but for them to share in His victory and enforcement of His defeat of the powers of darkness.

Let’s look at these basics for overcoming as the messianic community while living in a hostile world.

1.  Ephesus- Keep Returning to Love.

This church had been faithful and resisted false leaders.  They had been true to the truth they had received through the apostles, holding up against persecution from the outside and deception brought on by those on the inside. 

Jesus lovingly warns them “you have left your first love.”  I think what Jesus is saying is that just “doing right” when things get tough is not enough.  We must also “be in right relationship” and for Jesus followers that means to stay in love.  If the messianic community is not living rooted in the unconditional love of Jesus…if we do not relate to others, even our enemies without demonstrating the unconditional love of Jesus…then we will be defeated no matter how sincerely we hold on to the “truth”.

2.  Smyrna- Decide It’s Better To Die Faithful Than To Live Denying the Faith.

Smyrna was the city where later the Bishop Polycarp became one of the famous Christian martyrs.  It was a city closely aligned with Rome who eagerly wanted to show their allegiance through emperor worship.  There was also a large group of unbelieving Jews who were eager to use Rome’s disapproval against the messianic community whom they considered against their God.

No nice platitudes here from Jesus.  He tells them plainly they will be persecuted even more than they have been but reminds them that it will come to an end.  His words to comfort and encourage them was to say, “Hang on no matter what.  And in the end you will not be hurt by the second death.” 

They have to make the decision that suffering even physical death for their relationship with Him is better than denying Him and suffering the second death- being eternally separated from Him and the messianic community.

3.  Pergamum- Don’t Be Blinded By Tolerance.

Jesus points out their toleration of the false teaching of “Balaam”.  In the Old Testament, Balaam tried to destroy the messianic community through teaching them to worship false gods which by definition leads to sexual immorality.  Jesus is warning this church against tolerating false teachers.  These false teachers lead them into compromise with the surrounding culture of emperor worship and temple prostitutes. 

Deceptive tolerance of false teaching and faulty presuppositions lead to enthroning other “gods” and usually show up with increased immoral sexual behavior.  Recall the old story of the frog who died by sitting in a kettle of slowly boiling water.  As the water slowly heated up, the unaware frog remained in the kettle until it was too late for the frog to easily hop out of the kettle.  The warning here is for the messianic community to not be afraid to identify any false teaching that runs counter to the truths of Jesus and His kingdom.

Stay tuned for Part 2,

John P. Holsey, fellow prepper

"The Difference Between Fear and Faith"

What’s the difference between fear and faith?  It all depends.  Let me share with you what I mean by looking at John’s first encounter with Jesus in Revelation 1.

The first encounter John has with the risen Lord Jesus begins, “And when I (John) saw Him (Jesus) I fell at His feet as dead.  And He laid His hand upon me, saying unto me, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last.  I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.’” (Revelation 1: 17-18.)

I don’t think we can fault John for falling down at the vision of the Resurrected Lord Jesus… who wouldn’t fall and become afraid? But Jesus’ words to John are very revealing about dealing with our fear.   Jesus reminds John of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done.  Jesus is the one who lived, died and now is living the resurrected life.  He has all power and authority.  It's like Jesus is saying, "Don't be afraid, John.  Remember Who I am and what I have done for you."  So how does focusing on who Jesus is and what He has done for us help overcome fear and anxiety?

Fear is rooted in thinking that contradicts the truth of who Jesus is and what He has said.  Someone has said, “Fear is: false evidence appearing real.”  The doctor’s report is bad, the job prospects look bleak or we are let down by someone close to us.  This doesn’t mean we don’t feel bad things or react to them when they happen.  But in our pain, shock or disappointment, we can’t shift our faith from the truth of Jesus to what the circumstances are trying to say to us.

Do circumstances speak to us?  Oh yes they do.  Circumstances say things to us like: “you are really on your own now, there’s no way you can deal with this, things like this always happen to you”…that’s when fear sets in and the lie takes hold.  When I believe that God has abandoned me, or God doesn’t care about me or that God may care for someone else but not me…I am trusting in a lie and I am allowing the lie to take dominion over my life.  I am trusting these lies even though Jesus is the one who has “the keys of hell and of death.”

Some would say it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere and have faith.  But that just shows we don’t understand faith.  Faith is based on something and someone.  I've heard people say, "I have faith".  When I ask them what their faith is based on I hear crickets most of the time.  They may get frustrated and say, "Well, I just have faith". So I say, "So you are trusting in the fact that you have faith?"  That's like taking the anchor of a ship in the middle of a storm and throwing the anchor on the deck of the ship.  Then we yell at the storm, "I have an anchor and I'm trusting that having an anchor will be good enough." But an anchor is only good when it is attached to something solid.

Faith is trusting in the promise of something or someone.  Our faith is only as good as the promise that our faith is based on...and a promise is only as good as trustworthiness of the person making the promise.  We can believe something sincerely but if that sincere belief is based on a lie or the word of someone untrustworthy...that kind of faith is worthless and can get us into real trouble.

Suppose I am a young boy who has an older brother who is always trying to trick me.  We watch a superman movie together on Netflix and I, wide-eyed and naive, say, “Boy, I’d sure like to fly like that.” That's when my no good older brother smiles with that cat-who-ate-the-canary grin and says, “Well, little bro, you can, you can.  The secret is in the cape.  Just pin a beach towel around your neck, jump out a window and you can fly.”  Like I said, I'm young and still gullible so I believe his word to be true.  I firmly believe that wearing a cape can give me the power to fly…that’s no problem until I act on my faith in the word of my older brother. 

Because, even though I may be very sincere in the belief that wearing the beach towel cape would give me the power to fly.  And if, for some reason, I still believe my ornery older brother can be trusted…I’m pretty sure that my sincere faith would fail me.  Especially if I decided to act on my faith by jumping out a window 20 stories above the pavement.  No matter my sincerity, as I go “splat”, my dying words might be, “I believe I can fly.”   You could put on my tombstone, “He was sincere.”  At any rate, the best I could hope for is that I’d end up on a YouTube epic fail video.

If we have faith in a lie or the word of someone untrustworthy...the reality of the world we live in ultimately brings us the pain that always comes when we rely on a lie that contradicts God's truth.  Because God's truth is given to us for life and out of His unconditional love for us.  God's truth and promises give us something and Someone solid to hold on to through the storms of life.

I have found when I am afraid or feeling anxious, the antidote is refocusing my mind and trust.  Life has ways of throwing things at us unexpectedly.  My wife, Donna and I have saying between us.  We repeat it to remind us whenever something happens that shakes us or causes us to be afraid or anxious.  The saying is: “Nothing has changed.”

Not that what has happened really didn’t happen.  But we are reminding each other that even if these things have happened…these events have not changed who Jesus is and what He has promised us.  It’s like Psalm 23 where it says, “Even though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, You are with me…”  Whatever is happening around us doesn’t change the truth that He is with us.  (Besides, the only reason we are seeing the shadows of death is because He is leading us through the valley.   And who is He…the most loving, powerful One who can handle anything or anyone in the whole valley!)

Living by trusting Him takes us to a whole different level of living that is real.  There are times when I have lived in a fantasy world and then acted surprised when that world fell apart. I thought that by living in union with Jesus I would be protected from the bad stuff.  So I tried to lose my identity in Jesus.  Jesus does not invite us into union with Him but into communion.  He invites us to be partners with Him in communion as we journey through life. 

We have not lost our identity nor have we disappeared as real live persons living in a real world.  And the real world is full of good things but it is also fallen, twisted and full of hurt.  Our communion with Him doesn’t totally make us immune to bad things happening to us.  But it does mean the bad things cannot separate us from Him and His purpose for us.  And the bad things that happen do not determine my destiny He has given me in His work in this world.  Tough times may come but He does not change and He has not abandoned us.

Just some thoughts about fear and faith.  What do you think?