Giving God your Best!!

Quick post for all of us to think about...Are you giving your best to God or are you giving him your tired beat down left overs? I was looking through a bunch of scriptures and I found that God doesnt really like second hand gifts, he likes the best. Cain and Able came before God with their sacrifices to Him, one was great and the other well... not so much. Abel came before God with his best offering from his livestock and it pleased The Lord. Cain he brought the average plate of his produce and fruits to God and God didnt like it so much. it wasnt because one was meat and the other a veggie tray that got God all miffed, it was because it wasnt Cains best. Cain becomes angry and sad and God tells him, Why has your countenance fallen, dont you know if you do what is right you will be blessed but if you do what is wrong sin is knocking at your door and you need to conquer it. There is something to be said about not giving your best, when you give God your leftovers you are telling him that he plays second fiddle to all the other stuff in your world, and he isnt really into that. Or what about in Isaiah 58 where Isaih tell the people who are claiming to fast and worship God, but get chastised for their worship because they were not really giving God their all they were being superficial, and quite honestly they wouldnt hear God because he wasnt near them. God tells them the kind of fasting i want is for you to free the wrongfully accused, loosen the chains on the oppressed, lighten the load of those who work for you, give food to the hungry, give shelter to the homeless, dont run when family asks for help, when you do this your Godliness goes before you and when you call out my name i will answer here I AM! Finally in Malachi the priests were not giving their everything to God in their sacrifices in stead they were using them to turn a profit, instead of giving God the best sacrifices to God they gave lame animals, blind animals, ones with diseases Etc.. God responds like this, "“Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?” asks the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and I will not accept your offerings. “But you dishonor my name with your actions. By bringing contemptible food, you are saying it’s all right to defile the Lord’s table. You say, ‘It’s too hard to serve the Lord,’ and you turn up your noses at my commands,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Think of it! Animals that are stolen and crippled and sick are being presented as offerings! Should I accept from you such offerings as these?” asks the Lord. “Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and my name is feared among the nations! (Malachi 1:9, 10, 12-14 NLT)" How blessed could your life be if you truly gave the God of Heavens armies your absolute best, your perspective would be so awesome because the world as you know it would no longer revolve around you, it wouldnt be about wealth of this world, coveting your neighbors stuff, or other women/men, it wouldnt be about greener grass, or bank accounts. It would be about pleaseing the creator of all of those things, giving Him glory and building your true treasures in heaven. God loves you and wants desperately for you to see him as the king worthy of all your praise and when you give that to him he adopts you into his family giving you his inheritance. Dont settle for anything less that giving your absolute best, think about it God gave you his absolute best when he sent you His Son to die on the cross for you!

All to Jesus I surrender

This is one of my favorite hymns, the idea of being able to give it all to Jesus, sounds so, comforting. However we as humans struggle with this, we pretend to give things to Christ, we say things like I prayed about it, or its in God's hands now... What we really mean by this when we say it is I have no control and i am going to be mad if I don't get what I want but you will view me differently because I said I gave it to God. We seek control so often that even in our facade of surrender we long to be in control. We say things like God I am giving this burden to you, and we follow that great act up by saying words like, "If you work this out for me, I promise I will never swear again." or "God if you take this problem off my hands I promise I will go to Sunday night church, and I will actually pay attention." we arent giving our burdens up we are bartering with God. We are trying to play give and take with the creator of the universe. Being able to surrender everything to Christ is being able to say "Lord I pray that in this situation your will be done." and having comfort in not having to get explanations of why God choses to answer your prayer the way he does, or even seeking understanding. Surrendering to God is saying into your hands I give control, I trust that you God have my best interest in mind, and that you will lead me where I need to be. As the song states, " All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give." The hope is that whatever situation you are going through, big or small, whether it be a joyous occasion or a grief stricken sad one, we can freely give it to Jesus, the author and perfecter of Hope, Joy, Peace, and Love. "Lay your burden down Every care you carry, And come to the table of grace, For there is mercy.Come just as you are, We are all unworthy To enter the presence of God For He is holy."

The more we trust in the God the more we allow ourselves to give him control, and allow Him to work within us, and not ask for anything but comfort, God is in control and he wants to prosper us.

Jesus' stands alone so we will never be lonely

The night was getting later, passover was just finished Jesus told his disciples over the meal he would be betrayed by one of his closest mates, and his time on this earth was about to be finished. Could you imagine getting that news, news you never thought you would hear because you have given up everything you have and decided to follow a man that you have seen do amazing things and with absolute authority. And now out of nowhere even though he has hinted at this for a while now his time is upon them and he lets them know all of the messianic prophecies were about to be fulfilled. So Jesus takes his closest buddies Peter, James, and John and heads over to the garden, where he asks them to stay up with him and keep watch as he heads alone to pray. Jesus needed to spend this time alone to allow the magnitude of this moment to set in. He prayed so deeply that this cup would pass from him, and the question is why? This is my opinion but I believe Jesus didnt fear death what he wanted to pass from him was the worlds sin that he was about to bear; think about this for a moment, Jesus was sinless, sinless in heaven and sinless as a man on earth, and now he is about to take on the world's dirtiest sins and bear them alone so we would no longer have to. WOW have you ever thought of that, it is bigger than taking the foul for a teammate so they dont pick up their 6th and are kicked out of the game, its bigger than taking the blame for a friend so that he doesnt get into more trouble because of his record, it is bigger than offsetting someones debt so they dont have to claim bankruptcy, it is bigger then all of those combined. Jesus knew that what he was about to do was going to briefly separate him from the father be it just briefly because of the sins of all of us. The picture of Jesus alone sweating blood, stressing about what this sin would feel like, how heavy would this weigh on him, but he chooses to submit to the Father so HIS will would be done, so HE could look upon HIS children and see them the way HE wanted to as PERFECT. Perfection that only comes from a PERFECT sacrifice, CHRIST bearing it all so we can be relieved or released from the burden of our sins so we can live in GLORY for eternity. There is no way to deny the deity of Jesus because no fully human would have ever stepped up to the plate and endure this sort of pain and humiliation for anyone let alone for the same people that were placing the nails in his hands. Jesus' love endures forever, it is the same today as it was yesterday and it will be tomorrow. GOD is GOOD REJOICE IN HIS LOVE, we dont deserve it but God gave it to us, don't take it for granted, celebrate it.

a blog post by Dan Bouchelle something i wanted all of you my readers to check out

I Resign from the Church’s Compliance Office

I’ve grown tired of criticism. Regrettably, it is part of who I have always been. I’ve excelled at it through the years. It comes natural not just to my fallen humanity, but it was nurtured in my spiritual heritage both in the church and the academy. I think it comes from being part of over 500 years of protesting in the Protestant heritage at large and over 200 years of seeking to further restore simple early  Christianity as an heir of the Stone-Campbell movement. Most of our attention has been on fixing the church rather than saving the world.

But, I’ve had enough now. I’m ready to refocus outward. I’m tired of dissecting what is wrong with every other church or ministry out there. I’m even tired of the self-critique. I’m ready to focus on what I’m for and spend my time encouraging what is good in my own heritage and others. I’m old enough now to feel my mortality, and I know I only have so much time and energy left. I’d like to spend it focusing on promoting what I believe in rather than fighting what I’m against.

I grew up in churches who were known for what we were against. I’m from the a capella, non-class, located preacher, multiple-cup, fellowship-hall-attached Churches of Christ. These are my people and I love them dearly. We were known by many within Churches of Christ as “antis” because we were theoretically against more things that they were against, i.e., Bible classes (or Sunday School). But, this was really a misnomer, because we ended up being more ecumenical and less strident on most other issues because of a historical anomaly I won’t explain here.

Never-the-less, like most in Churches of Christ, we were known for what we were against. No one ever said about us, “Oh, you’re the ones who believe in the unity of all believers,” or “you’re the ones who believe in practicing simple non-sectarian Christianity.” No one ever accused us of “being that group who takes discipleship in Jesus seriously.” I wish. No, what I heard was “Oh, you are the ones who don’t believe in music” (which always galled me because a capella is a wonderful form of music), or “You are that group who doesn’t believe in Bible classes,” or the worst one of all, “You’re the ones who think you are the only ones going to heaven.” That was just not true. We didn’t think even most of us were going to heaven.

Anyway, our identity mostly was rapped up in what we opposed which was commonplace among other followers of Jesus. Despite being heirs of a movement that claimed,“We are not the only Christians, but we are Christians only,” and who worked hard to end sectarian divisions among believers in Jesus, we multiplied divisions to an astonishing level and each group had an identity rooted less in our commitment to Jesus than in what we didn’t do that most believers in Jesus did. We often heard sermons about what was wrong with the beliefs and practices of other churches and why we didn’t believe in doing what they did. Those days are largely gone now, but the spirit of perpetual evaluation remained deep in my habits of mind.

However, within the subculture of my church heritage was a profound irony. We claimed to be committed to the practice of local congregational autonomy. In a way we were deeply committed to this practice. We believed every congregation of God’s people should be self-governing under the direct authority of God as mediated through scripture. We did not believe God intended the church to organize above the level of an individual congregation and we didn’t—at least not formally. The elders and preacher (if he was considered part of leadership) were accountable directly to God and King Jesus. Each congregation was responsible to read the Word of God and obey it as they understood it and no one could interfere. We were against denominational and hierarchical structures. We didn’t believe in regional, national, or global bishops.

Yet, if we believed every church was free of accountability to other churches and answered only to the Lord Jesus himself, why did we feel compelled to pass judgment on other churches? Why stake out our identity in what we rejected? Isn’t that illogical? If we are responsible and free to practice our communal faith as our church sees God’s will revealed in the scriptures, without the oversight of others, how could we ever have gotten to the place where we were known for what we rejected in other churches? Wouldn’t that be largely irrelevant? Shouldn’t we have simply been known for who we were and what we did without comment on the practice of others? Well, theoretically yes. But, while in theory there is no difference between theory and practice, in practice there is.

I bring this up because I believe one of the best gifts of my spiritual heritage was the belief in congregational autonomy. I think this doctrine, which is not stated directly in the New Testament, but which is defensible based on the practice of the early church (the apostles role not-with-standing) is absolutely critical to overcoming the worst burden of my spiritual heritage. The divisions into groups and sub-groups was a product of not respecting one of our own core beliefs. If each congregation is free to obey as they understand scripture, each congregation should also be free of the condemnation of others. Had we really believed in the autonomy of each congregation, we could not have had the wide-spread splits which crossed congregations and created the many sub-groups of my fellowship’s family tree. Every time we lumped congregations together and judged them in mass, assuming we were standing on true ground and could critique all others, we violated our own values.

The great thing about believing in congregational autonomy is that it creates enormous potential for missional flexibility and local contextualization. Perhaps no other doctrine is more critical in serving God’s mission in a global post-Christendom world than this one. Being committed to the authority of scripture, trusting the leading of the Holy Spirit, and letting each community of believers read and practice what the Spirit of God says to them in community is essential as never before. And, it should put the breaks on the ubiquitous, iniquitous obsession Christians have with critiquing each other. 

So, let me know how I can help you. Ask me what I believe and what I’m for. I’m happy to join God in building and expanding his work. But, please don’t ask me to critique another group of believers. I may not agree with them. I might not be able to go where they are going or do what they are doing. I may not think they read scripture correctly, at least from my vantage point. I may have all kinds of problems with their faith claims. But, they don’t answer to me. I am no one’s Lord. No churches give account to me. No preachers or elders answer to me. I have my theological convictions, which grow out of my reading of scripture as part of the communities of faith of which I partake in the cultures that impinge on me. But, I am increasingly committed to recognizing that the church is solely owned by God and only he has the right to judge it.

So, it’s time for me to shut my mouth except to confess what I’m for. While I may discuss trends and ideas for the sake of encouraging what I believe to be good, I will not stand in judgment on preachers or churches. I will unapologetically work with everyone who wants to pursue the way of Jesus everywhere we can find common ground, and I will let them answer to the only Lord they have. I will not apologize for or defend my associations to those who would pass judgment on them. Neither will I attack those who attack those with whom I associate. I’m ready to spend all the time I can advancing what I’m for. I’ve resigned from the compliance office of the Kingdom of God. Now, who is with me?

Posted 2 days ago by Dan Bouchelle

Watch your words: What are they teaching?

We are finishing up a series on being the body of christ and i have to tell you i am excited for this sunday. We are going to be discussing the role of our words. Here is a good cliff note version of what we are going to be talking about:
James 3:7-12 NLT
People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.

or how about this scripture:
Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut. The words of the godly are like sterling silver; the heart of a fool is worthless. The words of the godly encourage many, but fools are destroyed by their lack of common sense. (Proverbs 10:19-21 NLT)

Godly people should think first talk second, be slow to speak and it will help keep feet out of your mouth. We can forget how powerful our words can be, what we may think could be a innocent joke or insult could be so damaging to a person. The line "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me;" what a lie. Words may not only hurt you but they could leave scars that last forever. Our words are so powerful and so important, and they say so much about us, who we are, and what we represent. When we claim to be the body of christ I cant help but look at how Christ used his words to teach and to lead people to him with his love. Christ spoke to his disciples all the time finding every opportunity to reach them and help grown spiritually. There were times he would stop alongside the road using a vineyard as an illustration to let us know that we are branches and he is a vine and without him we can not thrive grow or even live, and definitely cant produce fruit without him. Or how about on the sermon on the mount when jesus taught the masses on a mountainside near the Sea of Galilee. He told people how they should live so that they would be happy and pleasing to God. He told them to be peacemakers; they would be called the children of God. He told them to love their enemies, and to do good to people who hated them. They were to pray for people who mistreated them. He said they were to be like salt, like a city on a hill and like a light that would light the way for others. His followers were to be a good influence on others and try to get other people to do the right thing. He wanted people to share with others out of love for them.

Ultimately Christ taught us one thing that sums this all up, Love The Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as your self. Use your words in love, be a person that encourages instead of someone that brings people down. Find ways to fill someones cup instead of pointing out how empty it is. More importantly live your words out, words without action is more detrimental than anything, like Christ we need to live what we speak, and be upfront if we make mistakes and learn to grow from them.


Lord I pray that we can use our words for the good, teaching our children to be peace seekers, using wisdom, knowing when to remain silent and when to speak, knowing how to use tact to deal with a difficult situation, and God i pray that our actions may match our mouths. In Jesus name Amen

You Don't Know You're Beautiful

I know what you are thinking why is a grown man quoting the title to a One Direction song in his blog? I catch myself saying the same thing... My 4 year old daughter has fallen in love with this song and she sings it every time it finds its way into our radio, and as I started to listen to it I thought to myself, "Man, I wonder if God looks down at us and says, why cant you see that you are beautiful, I cant believe that you don't see you're beautiful!" God spent some time in crafting us, he loved us so much that he created us in his image both male and female (as it tells us in Genesis). I am pretty sure that in our uniqueness every time God created us and planned us out before we were even conceived he looked at what he made and said it , "You are beautiful,what a beautiful and good creation is this!" The best way to illustrate this point is for us to take a look at Psalm 139, David is talking about how power of The Lord and how he is our creator, he says, "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me! (Psalms 139:13-18 NLT)
IF you have been walking around down in the dumps because of the comments of others or even the comments you have for yourself, maybe you need to read this again, David says, "How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!" God thinks so highly of us, he loves us and likes us so much he cannot be away from us, when we are asleep he is still there, and when we wake he is still with us. His thoughts about us are like glowing remarks that a proud father has of his children and he cant help but saying them to everyone he meets. Like when I meet someone and they see the picture of my daughter and sons, I cannot help but share the many ways I am blessed by my children, how Beautiful and handsome they are, and how they complete my life. So to be contrary to the song it is not the fact that you think you arent beautiful that actually makes you beautiful, you are beautiful because God made you that way. Your most quirky feature is precious in his eyes, your faults, your strengths, that one hair that never likes to follow the rest of the group, or for some of us the hairs that no longer like to grow on your head, were made by God and daily he looks down upon you and says, "THATS WHAT MAKES YOU BEAUTIFUL!"
I hope today you start seeing yourself and others through the eyes of God, we are each made beautifully for a purpose, and our beauty becomes more and more apparent when we are living these created lives to serve our Lord and Savior. We do this by following one easy command by Christ, "Love The Lord your God with all your HEART, Soul, Strength, Mind, and love your NEIGHBOR as yourself."

May God Bless You Today And Make His Face Shine Upon You and Give You Peace

I am taking a poll and need responses

Hey everyone, it seems that there are a decent amount of people that are checking out this blog or maybe one personal likes to look at posts a lot, I am not sure, I was thinking about doing a podcast or a video cast and was wondering what people would prefer, this would be a weekly bible study that would probably be topical with hopes of being applicable to your lives and mine for that matter. So the poll would be, what would you all want a video cast so you can see my lovely face or a podcast that you could listen to wherever. Leave comments or emails to ghavinn.crutcher@elkgrovechurchofchrist.org