I Will Not Be Moved

Psalm 62:6 He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defense; I shall not be moved.

 

You have to love these feel good verses! Doesn’t it sound great my rock, my salvation, my defense…..God is great indeed! I knew a guy that was always talking about how he ran his house. Make no mistake about it, it was HIS house. His wife did what he said to do, his kids never talked back, and carried out every instruction to the letter. TO hear this guy talk, what he said went, and there was no debate, no conversation, his word, and direction was law, right or wrong, he was the king. Funny thing though, I dropped him off from work one day, he invited me in, so in I went. While we were talking in the kitchen, his wife comes home. Now what I witnessed was not the iron fisted rule I had heard so much about…not by a long shot. Inside of the first five minutes she was home, his wife had him hopping! Take out the trash, the kids need to be picked up in the next half hour, and my favorite…..she wanted to know what HE was cooking for dinner!  What happened to the MAN of the house? Well, honestly he told people what he thought would make him look like he was expected to look, in reality things were a little different!

 

It is the same way with some of these verses sometimes. My rock, my salvation, my defense, I shall not be moved. These are not just feel good about God verses. They are declarations of how our relationship with God works. HE is my rock, this is not some pet rock that we keep in a box. We are talking a boulder. A rock so big that we can stand on the top, and weather any storm, and be safe from the flood waters, and the currents of this world. HE is my salvation. My deliverance, aid, victory, prosperity, health. This is not a word to be used lightly. Salvation is all in, it is not a sometimes, wishy washy word. It is a word that encompasses the very essence of our new life with the Lord. We are SAVED. He is my defense. He is our fortress, our protector, our shield form this worlds snares and traps. This verse finishes up with I shall not be moved. I will not sway, I will not waver, I will not change course, what you see today, you will see tomorrow. How I am right now, is how I am every day. This is the hardest part of this passage. We have to stay with the Lord. We cannot move. You move you come off the rock, you run and the victory has to chase you. Would you leave your fortress, to go outside while you were under attack? I would think not!

 

This verse is not just a “feel good verse” It is a declaration, it is a battle cry, it is a resounding resolution shouted for the world to hear. I SHALL NOT BE MOVED.  Do not be like my friend who will profess one thing, then act another. Do not read this verse, then go about your day as if you are not a new creation in Christ. Let the true meaning of this verse sink down into your marrow, let it fill your soul. He is my rock, my salvation,; he is my defense; I shall not be moved. Live it today, and every day to come. Live it like the victor that you are. Display it for the world to see. Let them know, you will not be moved.

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

<((((><

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

 

Open Wide

Psalm 81:10  I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

 

 

Open your mouth, and I will fill it…..that sounds like fairly easy instructions to follow, however a quick look around, and it is easy to see that easy instructions are not always easy to follow instructions! In this passage we are reminded How God brought His people out of Egypt. That was a huge task, a task only the LORD could pull off. Yet as soon as  His people get out on their own, do they open their mouths wide, and bask in the blessings of the LORD? Nope! Most of them open their complaint line, and instead of thanking the LORD for their freedom, they moan, groan and complain, about what they don’t have. Fast forward, and we see God speak to the Prophets, here again, a few turn to the Lord, but most just open up the complaint department again. The Christ comes, many more people turn, but many more instead of opening their mouths for the blessings, only loosen their tongues, and complain through a mouth barely open enough to get the words out.  As usual we typically get in the way of ourselves.

 

What if I were to tell you that I would stuff your mouth with thousand dollar bills, as much as you could hold, so you would have to open wide. How wide so you think your mouth would be? I know I would be trying to unhinge it just to get a few more in there! I am sure that most would agree with that idea! I mean come on, we are talking about thousand dollar bills! Do you think you would stop and think about how dirty that money would be? There is no telling where those bills have been, in the trash, under plates, maybe on the floor of a crack house or two. There is filth covering them, yet we would all be in line begging to be loaded up!

 

Yet here we have God, telling us, “open wide your mouth, and I will fill it” there is no dirt, no filth, yet when it comes time to open our mouths, we only open wide enough to get the spoon in! We look like children taking that nasty pink anti biotic ! We know we need it, we know it will help, but for some reason we only complain. I have to believe it has to do with the way we have been trained. The world does not care much for compassion, it does not care much about forgiveness, and the world is always running short on love. We are taught that these things are only for those that are closest to us. It is that wrong-headed thinking that keeps our mouths shut when we stand before the LORD. You see, if we are to have ourselves filled with what God has to offer, we must break this worldly cycle of me first. God tells us to open our mouths, and He will fill it, and He does. HE fills it with Hope, Peace, Love, Forgiveness, Compassion, and Strength. It is out of these things that the success you are searching for will come, and it is because of these things that the success you realize will last. It is with these things, that you will prepare in this life for the next.

 

The Lord is not an ATM, although to hear some Preachers talk today you might think so! He does reward, and He does bless, but the Lords blessings typically come in work clothes, and it will take some effort to be successful. Think of Christ.  Talk about a work ethic! HE took the gifts that were given to Him by His Father, and He changed the world forever. If God was not willing to give His own Son a free pass, I am willing to bet that we will not get one either. The gift of salvation is free for the taking, but the successful opportunities will take some effort. Open wide your mouth, the King of kings is offering you as much blessing as you can hold, and then some.

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

<((((><

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

 

No Do Overs

Galatians 6: 9  Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 

 

Let us not become weary in doing good. YUCK right? Really, don’t we all think that just a little when we hear that. That is one of those things that is much easier to say than it is to do. Don’t get me wrong here we all do good most of the time. Some more than others, but most of the time we all do good. But to not grow weary…..what does the even mean….right? Why would we ever grow weary? Oh yeah, because doing good take a lot of effort some days…..because doing good sometimes means that we pass ourselves over for the promotion, and give it to the guy that deserves it, doing good means we step up and take the blame, even though someone else has already been queued up to take the fall. Sometimes doing good means that things will not work out as well for us, and quite honestly, it is pretty easy to grow weary of taking the hit you deserve, or missing an opportunity that you don’t.

 

No, it is not always like that. Often doing good comes pretty easy, the easy compliment, the extra time (but it is not really extra you were not doing anything anyway) standing up for what is right…oh yeah, that one is not always easy. The skipping out on what you want to do, because someone needs you….oh sorry, that one is not easy either! Opening the door for others, there, that is an easy one! Then there is always giving that extra cash that you don’t HAVE to have, but you could really blow on something cool…oh sorry another hard one. Ok I think you see where I am going. Today when we talk about doing good, it typically stays at the superficial point. Opening doors, being nice, giving something that you did not want anyway. We gee people do that, and think, “oh. Man. Those are good people”. When we see people giving more than most, giving time they do not really have to give, putting others first, standing up for what is right. We don’t think they are doing good…no, we think, “MAN those people are doing GREAT things. Sadly, we have blurred the lies between doing good, and being nice. Being nice is a great thing, but it is not what we are really talking about when we say doing good. Doing good, is being nice in work clothes. Doing good means you are putting forth the effort to make a difference, you are putting yourself, your faith, your God out for all the world to see, and you stand on that Rock, and shout to the world doing less than goods is no longer acceptable. It is not a sometimes thing, or an I don’t feel like it today thing. It is all time, all access, filled with the love of the Lord endeavor. Sound tiring? Sound daunting? Sound painful? It is, and there is not a person who will not feel weary once the undertaking begins.

 

If it is so hard, if it is so tiresome then why do it? First and foremost we do it for the Lord. If He can hang on a cross, then defeat death, I am fairly sure that we can endure the undertaking of doing good…..but look at what the scripture tells us. At the proper time we will reap a harvest…….if we do not give up. I hear this quoted, and it seems that the last part gets left off a lot. Hey, do good, and you will reap a harvest. Sounds like a plan! However it leaves off the important part….IF YOU DON’T GIVE UP. You have to persevere. You have to push through the hardship, you have to push your ego down, and set yourself to the side sometimes. You have to drive this life like it is the only one you will get, because guess what? IT IS! No do overs, no re takes, no replays, no take backs, or fingers crossed. This is an all in hand. So we push to do good. When our egos are bruised and humbled, we push on doing good. When we are tired form a long day at work, and don’t want to go help in the community, or in our church, we push through doing good. When life kicks our teeth in and we feel like we don’t deserve it, we keep on doing good. We do this because we know that God has been working for the good in our lives, and He has pushed through for us. We fight the weariness because we know that there will be a harvest at the proper time. What we work for today, will be repaid double at the time of harvest.  What we don’t do is lay down and give up. That is exactly what the devil is hoping for. He is hoping that you will lay down, and give up. You know what comes next then right? You give up, and then you give in. You give in to the hate that comes when things do not go your way. You give in to the selfishness that tries to creep in at the end of the day. You give in to all of the things you were just fighting so hard to conquer with good.

 

There is little doubt that we will all get weary, we will feel like taking care of our wants, before other’s needs. We know that doing good, takes more work than just being nice. I do not know about you, but I do not care where nice guys finish. I will be with the good guys. They always finish first, because they are always the last. hanging at the back, rounding up the stragglers, helping the ones who need it, pulling those behind them, and pushing those in front of them. You can’t miss them. They are tired to the bone, but there is still the smile on their face, and a spark of the Lord in their eye. If you want to be first, then be last.

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

<((((><

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

 

Who Is In Your Boat?

Mark 6: 50-51  ….Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” ⁵¹ Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 

 

 

We all know this story. It is the account of Jesus walking out to meet the Disciples in their boat. Oh did I mention that Jesus was walking on water to get there. No matter what account you read, they all have the same things in common. The Disciples were in a boat on a lake, and the winds, were getting the best of them. They were struggling, Jesus saw it, and He went out to help. Of course Jesus shows up, climbs in the boat, and the wind dies down, and they were completely amazed.   Huh, imagine that, Jesus gets in the boat and the wind dies down. Funny how that happens. Here we have a group of guys, they are good Christian(well, they are not called Christian yet) men, they are following the Lord, they are changing their lives, and helping to change others….Yet here we see them, being tossed around on a lake like a cork…..they did not have Christ with them!

 

So I have to ask, who did you take in your boat this morning as you launched out into the day? Who will you give a ride to toady? Who will be in your boat on your trip back home? Most of us will leave by ourselves, we will pick up a few people, and drop them off throughout the day, and when the day is over, we will turn the boat in the direction of the house and set out for home. Throughout the day we will typically run through storms, showers, and on the good days…bright sunshine…..but who is with us? Have we left without taking the One passenger that will get us home safely? The One passenger that will calm the storms of life? Too many people today want to be the Captain of their ship. They set out alone, and return alone. They leave Christ back at the house tucked neatly in whatever box they use, only to dust Him off on Sundays, then return Him back to His box.

 

As I am sure you will agree, Christ is too big to try and stuff into a box. He is the one person you want in your boat of life every day, not just as a passenger, but step up to the plate, and let Him Captain your ship.  Why? The last part of this scripture sums it up. They were completely amazed. We are not that different form the Disciples. We are all human. These guys ran with Christ every day, and every night, and yet time and time again when Christ showed up, when He did what only He can do, it is recorded that they were always amazed. The KJV reads that “they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure.” This was not the first time that Christ had stepped in and brought them peace. Yet they were amazed. It would be safe to say that they lived in a constant state of amazement! That is why we make sure we have Christ in our boat. SO we too can live in a state of amazement. Think you are good? Christ is better. Think you are strong? Christ is stronger. Think you are un-sinkable? I can promise you, without Christ you are not.

 

When you set out to sail today, make sure and take Christ with you. Give Him the rudder, and let Him direct your steps. The bright sunny days will be brighter, the dark stormy days will be shorter, and with Christ at you side you will see beauty through it all, you will be sheltered during the storms, and your joy will be complete. You too will understand what it means to be sore amazed in yourself beyond measure. You will find that fear will have no hold on you. For with Christ as your Captain, the roughest of seas are smooth sailing.

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

<((((><

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

 

Who Do You Trust?

Proverbs 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

 

 

I work for a pretty cool guy. One of the things that really amazes me about him, is his ability to see much further down the road than I can…..or further than most people here for that matter. Even he cannot see far enough, and as he will tell you himself, that is why he works with a partner. That partner would be the Lord.  There comes a time in everyone’s life, in every decision that we make, that we have to turn it over to the Lord. Even the best of the best, that can see things that others can’t, still cannot see enough. We can try to think how others will act, but it is just a guess. We can try to plan out a path to take, but that path will depend on others doing, and acting like you need them to act, and all too often God’s plans for others will not coincide with your plans for them.

 

That is why we have to trust in the Lord, not ourselves, or in others. We believe in the Lord, and that the Lord will work in those around us, not for our benefit, but for the execution of His plan. AS we all know, that means sometimes we get the short end of the stick, other times unbelievably, they work out just how we want them to. The danger that comes from leaning on our understanding, is that we begin not to rely just on ourselves, but we start looking for people here to follow. Those people might not always  be what they appear, their plans might not be what they present them to be. I watched a movie last night, I can’t recall the name. It was a “b” movie, but it was a period piece, and I am a sucker for anything from the 13^th and 14^th century.  Part of the show centered around a young man who was leading a large group of children to Jerusalem so that they might pray for peace. The only adult among them was a priest that was helping guide the young leader. Towards the end of the show it is revealed that the priest is really just collecting children so that he might get them to the coast, and sell them to slave traders. Not exactly what the crusade of peace was supposed to be accomplishing. It got me to thinking, isn’t that how the devil works? He depends on us to place our faith and trust into something or someone other than the Lord. Then the devil manipulates the situation. Now the good that you thought you were doing, has turned into a trap of the devil. You are in neck deep before you even realize it….if you are lucky enough to realize it at all. When we trust in others to give us what only God can, we will always be disappointed, and taken advantage of. It is when these things happen that you often hear the phrase why do bad things happen to good people. I have a painful truth to share, one that I and many others have had to learn the hard way. Good people are not always God people. I am quite certain that even the devil can present himself as good for a short time, if it advanced his wicked agenda.

 

That is why it is written repeatedly in the Bible, trust in the Lord. The Lord is not a liar, He does not deceive, He does not manipulate you. He will set your feet on the path that will lead you home, He will guide you, and He will protect you. Oh I know I hear a lot of people ask the question “how do I know if it is God’s plan” “how do I know if this is what God has planned for me” “how do I know if I am making the right choice” those are tough questions for sure, but we can get a pretty good answer to those questions, by asking a couple more. Does it serve God, or does it serve me? If it is something that serves to benefit you more than God, you can bet that you might want to pray a little more. Moses, David, Joseph, Joshua, Paul, these were great men, who accomplished great things, and they accomplished them by trusting in God. They promoted God in their life, not themselves. AS a result, God promoted them.

 

Just like that priest in the movie I mentioned. The young boy placed his faith in the priest, now, there were signs, decisions made, directions taken, commands given, (all in the name of God of course) that gave an outsider the ability to see that the priest was serving himself, not God. Yet the priest was smart, he inflated the boys ego. As a result, the boy would pick up on things, yet it was hard to break away, because who does not want to be important? Who does not want to feel special? These are the tactics of evil. There are many people out there, I am sure you know of a few, that are serving themselves, yet pretending they are serving God. God is not into the your self-promotion business, He is in the business of salvation. The Lord leads to eternity, self-promotion leads to death.

 

Our own understanding tends to be short sighted, and as much as we hate to admit it, our own understanding tends to lean towards just being good, not being Christ like. It goes back to feeling special, feeling important, feeling needed, feeling loved……feeling “cool”  The purest form of these things can only come from the Lord…..and guess what? You already have them. Think you are not important? God has chosen you, He has known you before you were formed, and it is His greatest hope that you complete His plan. Think you are not special? There is not another person like you, you are unique. No one else can do what you are capable of. Every hurt, sorrow, joy, and triumph has molded you into what you are today, and you have a special viewpoint that is a little different than anyone else. God uses that, if you will let Him. Think you are not loved? How about someone loving you so much, not a group of people, not an entire world, but you, just you are loved so much, that He sent His Son so that you might live for eternity with Him. These are things you can trust in. It is because of these truths, that we can trust in the Lord only. Your Mom, your Dad, your spouse, no one can love you as much, as deeply, and as unconditionally as the Lord. Why then would we place our trust, and faith in anything or anyone above the Lord? Trust the Lord, and you will see His blessings multiply, trust in man, and you will be disappointed. Trust in yourself alone, and you will fall short.

 

Who will you trust in? Will you trust the people, and things that puff you up? Will you trust in the things and the people that only want to elevate you or themselves? Will you choose to trust in the Lord, the rock, our anchor in the storms of life? Only One will save you, only One will sustain you, only One will bless you, not only in this life, but in the life to come. You are going to have to serve somebody. It might be the devil, or it might be the Lord, but we all serve. Who you trust, will make all of the difference.

 

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

<((((><

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

 

Transformations

Romans 12:2  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

 

 

If you want the Lord to change the outside, you have to let Him change the inside. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. In today’s world we hear the word change a lot. We start to think nothing of it. Business’ must change or they will fail, customer relationships must always be changing or they will suffer. Even in our personal life we much change constantly making slight adjustments here and there to keep up with the times. For example my wife used to never text, as a matter of fact not only did she not text, but she could not understand what the big deal was…….until she got a phone with a full keypad….then she made a little change in her life. In this scripture we are not being called to change. We are not being asked to make a little adjustment in our life. We are encouraged to be transformed. Transformation is a far cry from a little change, it is turning into something different. Everyone knows the Transformers, and it makes for a good illustration. You see a car on the screen, and the all of a sudden boom, it is a huge robot that you cannot imagine would have ever been hiding in that small car. That is transformation, becoming something totally different. Making a change so huge that one would have to look close to see what was there before.

 

That is the type of transformation that Paul was talking of. A huge transformation. A break from the pattern of this world. A change into something no one saw before. Do you notice where the change starts? Is it from a friend? Is it from a trip to church? Maybe you can get that transformation by going on a mission trip? No, while these things and many others might provide the spark, your transformation is not something you can go pick up, there is no UPC code to scan, there is no place to go get your ticket stamped saying that you are transformed. It starts with you…..it starts in you, it starts in your mind. You transform your life, by renewing your mind. You decide to take your mind from one focused on, me, mine, tomorrow, I want; and you change that to you, yours, today, and what do you need. If we are to walk in the footsteps of Christ….(OK we might not land right in the footsteps, but if we are to get close) We have to start thinking less like us, and more like Him. That takes a renewal of the mind. Here again, it is not a slight shift, or a little adjustment. I know many people who make a little change in life, a little change in the way they think, and then suddenly they think that they have transformed. I beg to differ. You have to renew, you have to re build, the Greek word used is anakainosis. Derived from the word meaning renovation. When we renovate our house we do not just change the carpet. We knock down walls, change the way the house flows, change paint, put in new appliances, door handles, and outlet covers. When we are done it is the same house on the outside but the inside is totally different. Could you imagine? You walk in to your friend’s house and they say “so what do you think? I renovated the house”. You look around, you do not really notice much, if anything different. Then your friend exclaims “ I changed out the carpet!”. ……uhhhhh “yeah that is great. “ Maybe they needed new carpet, but has a change really been made? Has there been true renovation? I think not.

 

It starts in our mind with a renovation. We have to tear down walls, open the place up a bit. We have to re paint, and change out that old junky clutter that we have with new stuff. When we are done (one might say we are never truly done) we might look the same on the outside, but the inside is totally different. The transformation is under way, and our lives will never be the same. In short your Jesus Freak flag is flying (contrary to popular belief, there is nothing wrong with flying the Jesus Freak Flag). Paul tells us that once we make that change, that renovation, then we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is. I hear many of my friends ask “well what is God’s plan for me” , “what is His will” “What am I supposed to do” We make the change. We transform our lives in to lives that live to serve Jesus Christ, and the will of God. We make that change, and God will take care showing you His will…..and you will know it!

 

It is an ongoing process, a house that is never finished really. With any renovation we must understand that sometimes we might not know where we are going until we get there. My wife will paint half a room, and then decide, nope wrong color. I have hung pictures, changed furniture, moved it all around the house, only to be told nope, it has to go over there. Oh, but when it is finally in place, when the color is finally right, when the right style of door handle is place on the right door…..it is fantastic! You know it is right. So it goes with our spiritual transformation. We will move things, change things, choose various paths, only to find we have to back track, change things again….oh but when we get that one piece right! I am sure that the Angels sing. We find that during all of our struggles to transform, we have found God’s pleasing, and perfect will. It take work, it takes time, and it takes perseverance. Do not let that hinder you. Start the transformation today. Maybe you have started it, but have become tired. Ask the Lord for the strength to carry on. The next wall you take out, might just be the one. It is never over, it is never done as long as we draw a breath on this Earth, we should constantly be moving out the old junk of the world, and bringing in the new Christ driven alternatives. We can’t finish, if we don’t start, we can’t transform, if we are only willing to transfer. It starts with your mind. It starts with you.  

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

<((((><

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

 

Knowledge or Truth

I know some very intelligent people who are dumb as a box of rocks, I am sure you do too. I also know many people who do not have a receipt from a college, yet somehow seem to be far and away smarter than those around them that have one. The former are the people that Paul is talking about here. They work and study but their only purpose is to gain knowledge. They have no interest in the truth, only the fact. What is the difference you might ask. The difference is found in the application. Often Truth is a verb. A fact is just a fact. It is stored away until it needs to be brought out to prove a point. Think of it this way. If you go out and buy a model airplane, you have everything you need to build a model plane. However that fact does not build the plane. The truth is all of the knowledge in the world will not build that plane. You might be able to say, “yes, I can build a plane, I have the directions, and all of the parts….I have spent countless hours studying how to build one, so of course, with that knowledge, I can build one.” The truth is much more down, dirty, and ugly. The truth says “Yes, I can build one, see the trash can? It is full of all of my failures, but through perseverance, I have learned how to build one.” Knowledge is more philosophical, Truth is more elbow grease.

 

We know that there was a Christ, we know He lived on and walked the face of this Earth. We know He was crucified, we know He died, we know He was buried. That is a lot of knowledge, yet the truth tells us He defeated death……and this is where knowledge and truth diverge. You see knowledge cannot comprehend the truth. Knowledge says nothing in my books tell me how that could be possible. Truth says that I need no book, I have faith. Truth says I have tried and tried and tried on my own, and I have failed Yet with faith in Christ I have become successful. So while there is no book to explain this phenomenon, truth takes the leap, while knowledge is left on the edge, searching physics, biology, mathematics, and meta physics, for some shred of knowledge to link  with what they have been taught. They learn, they have the knowledge, but they cannot fully come to understand the truth.

 

There is another use for this knowledge, and Paul brings it up to Timothy in this chapter, but that is for another day. For today we are left with the question, which one are we, and what do we do to help others see the truth? First ask yourself, which category do you fall in to? Do you have a lot of knowledge, yet can’t seem to make that jump? Do you get to the point of the burial of Christ, and just say “OK, I don’t get it, but I am just going to go along to get along.”? Maybe you even think, no way no how. I know too much about physics to believe that Christ was resurrected. Or are you one that leaps with reckless abandon? You see the edge, and you don’t just walk to it, you take a running leap of faith so you might get the most height, and distance out of your jump. If I were a betting man, I would say we mostly fall somewhere in the middle. Caught between the people we are and the people we want to be. So how do we get ourselves, and most importantly, how do we get others to make the leap every day?  

 

We have to get H.O.T. good old hands on training. You see, a mason does not learn how to build a house by reading a book. HE has to pick up a trowel and get to work. A doctor cannot cure just by reading a book, he must cut, or diagnose to cure. A person cannot take a leap of faith just because they have read the Bible. Do you know what all three of these people have in common? They are all going to make a mess before they get it right. The mason will build a few junky walls, the doctor will misdiagnose, and the person on the road to Christianity will stumble, fall, and miss the mark many times. Knowledge does not take the place of experience, and it is experience that will bring the truth.  I have yet to see anyone worth their salt that does not have a list of failures behind them. Typically the ones that have failed the worst tend to shine the brightest. So am I saying we set out to get busy failing? Of course not! But we do set out to find experience. For the Christian it is a two-fold pay off. Fist only by struggling for the experience will we ever fully understand the truth, second, by letting the world see our struggle, we help to dispel this ugly rumor that somehow all Christians are perfect. If you want to help someone make the jump from knowledge to the application of truth you will have to show them. When they see that failure is not the end, but really just the beginning, when they can understand that just as Christ fell on His way to that wretched hill, it is not the falling that counts, it is the rising,. Then they too will understand that until you get your hands dirty you will never understand the truth. Everyone wants to be a doctor, until they lose a patient, we all want to be lawyers, until your client get the chair, we all want to build walls, until those walls fall down around us. Truth is found, in the rubble, it is found in the hard times, and it is found after we have set down the dependence on knowledge and picked up the reliance of Christ. For in Christ there is no failure, there is no rubble…..and that is the truth.

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

<((((><

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

 

Take the Porsche Out

2 Timothy 1:7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.  

 

I was reading this passage this morning and it struck a chord. The spirit God gave us does not make us timid……but all too often we are aren’t we? We meet the day with a timid heart. Think I am off base on this? Let me ask you a question. What is special about today? Come on, think hard about it. Nothing right? Nothing special about this day. Just another common day. Another x on the calendar, another day closer to whatever it is we are looking forward to. What are we doing today? Anything special?  No, not really right? It is Friday, so we will try and survive the day, keep our heads down, and try to stay off the radar. Just another common day, in a common person’s life. If that is not being timid, then I do not know what is!

 

Today is no common day. It is a day totally removed from yesterday, and a lifetime until tomorrow. It is the right now, the present, the here and now. There is nothing common about that. It is the chance and the time to do something spectacular. Oh wait, I am sorry, I forgot, we are just common people. Our days are not like that. That is the lie, that is the trap, that is the black hole of “just getting by”. There is nothing common about this day, and there is nothing common about you. Why? Because God has made both. The God of the universe does not make anything that is just common. HE does not make “OK” or “so-so” He creates what to us is impossible, and unimaginable. Think about that. Could you imagine a universe if it were not already made? Something as simple as single cell reproduction, could we come up with that on our own? We do a great job tearing things down and explaining them, or taking an idea and expanding on it, but to dream up from scratch the ability for plants to take sunlight and carbon dioxide, and produce life sustaining oxygen, we are good, but we are not that good! So why is it that we are all so ready to believe that Our God that has put so much effort in making even the smallest thing amazing, would for some reason make us less than unbelievable?  AS if somehow He came up short when He created humans. Did I mention that we are created in His image? Yet we would believe that somehow, someway, we are less, not more. We believe that we can’t…. only others can. We believe that today is just another day for us, yet many will accept Christ for the first time today! Folks, there is no ordinary, common day, and there are no ordinary, common people.

 

Let’s say that you own two cars. One is a practical, common sedan, the other is a Porsche 911 turbo. Why would you drive the sedan, and keep the Porsche parked? Could you imagine? Everyone knows you have the Porsche, they always ask, “why are you not driving the Porsche today?” Your answer would be well it is too flashy, it is too nice to drive, or my favorite, I do not want anything to happen to it! It is a Porsche! It was built to be driven! Actually, it was built to be driven faster, harder, and longer than that junky sedan that you plug around in every day. Why not take it out? Why not drive it every day? Why? Well like so many of us, it seems that driving that common car on a common day makes way more sense. The Porsche is just for “special” days. Why do we do that? How does driving that Porsche make you feel? Powerful right? Special? Without a doubt! I bet every one of us  would feel unstoppable every day that we drove it.

 

God has given each of us a Porsche. That Porsche was meant to be taken out, enjoyed, and shared. That Porsche is the Spirit that was given to us. Just like a Porsche, that spirit is not timid, and it is not common. Yet all too often we leave it parked. We listen to the lies of the devil who would have us believe that that junky old beat up sedan that we have had our whole lives is a safer spirit to drive, than that turbo charged spirit God has given us when we turned to His Son! Do not fall for it, do not step into that trap. Take the Porsche out every day. Will it get dinged up? Yep! Shopping carts of life will bang into it. It will get keyed by people you do not know, and someone will hit it when you are not expecting it…..but guess what? You have the best insurance in the world! That Porsche is insured by God. There is no deductible, and the premium has already been paid. Your rates do not go up when you file a claim, and you will find that the more you depend on that insurance, the better is gets.

 

Take the Porsche out today, and every day. God has given it to you so that you might use that power. There is nothing to be timid about, you have more horsepower at your fingertips than you will ever need. No common people drive Porsches, and no day is common when you leave the sedan in the garage.

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

<((((><

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

 

give or take

Psalm 73: 2-4 ² But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. ³ For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. ⁴ They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.

One of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes is: “Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels he’s finding his place in it, while really it is finding its place in him”. The Psalmist saw the same thing happening, he even goes as far as to recognize that he almost lost his foothold. The world has a nasty way of slipping in, it intertwines around our heart and works to make us feel inadequate. We struggle to find our place, we search for our niche, our spot, our mark. We look to the wicked, and see the life they live. We want it. We search for prosperity so that we might take our place in this world. In short, we come very close to losing our foothold.

Verse twelve even goes further, the Psalmist points out “This is what the wicked are like—always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.”  Today we hear, “They have it easy, I have it hard”.” Everything comes to them, I have to struggle for what I get”. “Life is just not fair.” All of that sounds pretty familiar I am sure, I know that audio track runs through my mind every now and again. Someone has it better, someone has what I want, someone got what I “needed” (funny how when we see people blessed we don’t long for more God….just the blessing) when we let this track run in a loop in our minds, we are allowing the world to knit itself right into our lives. We have to realize that the chains of this world are forged one link at a time. Link by link, inch by inch, foot by foot, we fashion the chain that will hold us to this world. When you spend your time looking at what others have, you are spending your time forging your chain.

Here is a challenge for each of us. Quit looking at what others have, and start looking at what they are missing. Imagine that, Donald Trump might have a lot, but I bet he could use some of what you have. I know that each of us, if we will take the time and really look at those who we think have so much, will find that it is not that they have what we want, but that they need what we have.  You see, the Psalmist comes to his senses, he realizes what is important in verse 22 he starts to come to a close with this  “I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. ²³ Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. ²⁴ You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.”  These words are the words of a man who saw through the trap of the world. He found his place, not in the world, but with God. We do not need to look to prosperity so that we might find our place. Our place is already carved out for us. We do not need a worldly guide, for just like David, God has us by our right hand. He will guide us, if we will listen. He will bless, if we will look to bless as well. That is what this trip is all about. It is not about getting what everyone else has, it is about giving what everyone else needs. I have seen the richest man, and the poorest, in need of love. I have seen the successful, and the failures, both in need of forgiveness. I have seen the meek, and the powerful both in need of Grace….and I have yet to meet a person on this earth who could not use a little more of the Good News in their heart. It is not about getting, it is about giving.  God freely gives, will we choose to pass it along?  You might think you have little, but I promise you, no matter how little you have, we can go, and with very little effort find a person with less. You might think that some have to much, but if you look you will see just how empty they are. Spend your time looking to give what you have. Money, time, love, compassion, forgiveness, the Love of the Lord. We all have one, if not multiples of these in abundance, not to mention the many others I have not mentioned. If you are always looking to see what you can give, you will never find anyone that has enough. Give or take, forge a chain, or break free. Live for the world, or live for the one true, and living God. Every day we choose. Which road will you take today?

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

<((((><

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

 

Getting in the Way

Galatians 2
¹⁹For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. ²⁰I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Have you ever tried so hard to accomplish something that was just un-accomplishable and in the end you just had to turn it over to somebody else? As a man, I take pride in being able to open a jar of anything that is tightly shut, whether it is peanut butter or pickles. Yet there have been times when I've been embarrassed to humbly pass the failed attempt on, only to watch the next person effortlessly screw it off. Talk about an ego punch!

Here recently, my family needed to build out a room for my dad who was going to be living with us. He was going through surgery on his back and already had prior knee problems, so the upstairs spare bedroom was out of the question. There were two issues that were not playing in our favor. One issue was that we didn't have the funds to pay somebody to do the build out. The second issue was that I didn't have a clue about what it took to turn a garage into a bedroom. If I was going to do it, it wasn't going to get done.

In steps my dear friend Timothy, his son, their friends and family and my dad now has this beautiful room that he can call home. I would stand there at times, watching them transform this garage and wondering how I could help. The truth was that when I helped I would just get in the way. It was something that needed to get done because it was urgent. So they did it and I could only sit back and watch. At times I felt so helpless and unworthy. At times I wanted so bad to jump in but I couldn't. In the end I had to just step back, accept it and be grateful for the love and compassion that they showed my family.

Others chipped in as well financially. The labor was free, but I had stored up debt on the materials that were used. We aren't poor people by any means, however we didn't have the funds to cover the debt. We couldn't do anything. All we could do was accept it and be grateful. The experience was extremely humbling.

God has a high standard of perfection. Thankfully He also has a high standard of love and compassion. The law of God represents everything that it would take for us to love perfectly. Loving God and loving people is the summation of God's law. The truth is that is impossible for imperfect people to accomplish a perfect standard. When we realize the impossibility of the task, at first we may become discouraged. Some may give up. Others may change their beliefs. Still others may ignore the problem or act as if God can just embrace imperfection.

When Jesus came, He lived a perfect life of love, compassion and service. He then was punished for our sins, so that instead of us trying to accomplish the un-accomplishable, we might live by faith in Him. He accomplished it!  While taking His last breath, hanging on the cross, He even said, "It is finished!" That was for you!

God's law brings us to the realization that we are incapable. However, Jesus is capable and offers us the opportunity to piggy back His life. Rather, we have the opportunity to trust Him by faith and allow Him to live through us!

So, we come to a point where we accept that. We say, "God I am a sinner. I need You." Still, somewhere along the line we begin to try to accomplish the un-accomplishable again. "God I want to help." "God I want to chip in toward my debt." We forget that when we trusted Jesus' sacrifice, we too were put to death. If we are going to trust what He accomplished on our behalf, we have to get out of the way. We die to what we can't accomplish and then allow Him to do the work in us.

There is a world of difference in living the Christian life on our own resources and a life lived letting God do it through us. This is something that we must learn, because once we try to do it on our own or even take partial credit, we nullify the grace of God. Letting go and letting God does not result in lazy Christians, but rather more effective Christians who operate out of the power of the Holy Spirit.

--
Scott A. Hescht

Life Spring Church  <)))><
(832) 217-9278
http://www.lifespringfamily.org

Psalm 22 Ministries
GOD has not forsaken you
http://www.psalm22.net

"By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." - Jesus

July 1st

Isaiah 61: 1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.

 

Liberty, deliverance, release…..all of these words are used in various translations of the Bible. The one that rings truest is freedom. How we Americans love that word freedom! This weekend we will celebrate our freedom from the crown. We celebrate our freedom to speak, to live without fear of Government, to own property, we celebrate our freedom to worship. The list is quite endless as to what all our freedom encompasses. Freedom is sweet, it was sought after, fought for, and violently maintained since the vote on July 4^th, 1776. As a result we now live in a free Country, and a free society. Our every want is at our fingertips. Life has really become so simplified for us, that we are at the point where we take our freedom for granted. It is just expected. We do not go to the store worried about a bomb going off, we speak out against our Government when we do not agree, and we are not drug off to prison. Life is good.

 

This weekend let’s make it a point to celebrate that freedom, but most importantly let us celebrate our freedom given to us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That freedom can never be taken, it is sweeter than any other freedom we enjoy today. It is a freedom that has been sought after, fought for, and it came at a very violent price. Yet just like the freedoms enjoyed in this great Country, I fear that many today take the freedom bought with blood for granted. Today more than ever the majority of people believe that we are all just going to go to heaven, there is no hell, and if we will all just be nice, Christ is going to be a very happy person upon his return. While I wish that was the case, I fear, and I am willing to bet it is not. This weekend, while we eat hot dogs, go to a concert, the beach, or a dip in the pool, and enjoy whatever fireworks/ laser light show (burn ban fireworks) is offered in your area, take some time to reflect on the price paid to give us the freedom we enjoy today. The price paid by our fine men and women in uniform for our Countries freedom, and the price paid by our Savior for our eternal freedom.

 

Though society might like us to think that we all have our ticket punched, and we all have a ticket to ride, I call on each person who reads this to take up the calling of Isaiah. Proclaim the good news to the poor, bind up the broken hearted, proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners. You see we might live in this free Country, yet many are not free spiritually. Today more than ever we have to take that message for freedom to those around us. Could you imagine if our founding fathers declared our freedom, but never told anyone else? I would think that around ten would be tea time today. That is the thing about freedom, it is at its strongest when it is passed along. When kept for ourselves it is as worthless as a thousand dollar bill that can never be spent. To borrow a term, we must set the brushfires of freedom. We must carry the good news to all who will listen, and encourage that news to carry across this great Country to each and every free individual, so that the Good News might spill over across oceans, into Continents that have never heard of the sweet freedom of Christ.

 

So celebrate this weekend! Enjoy the freedom that comes with living in the U.S.A. and celebrate the freedom of your soul. Shout it from the rooftops, share it with your friends, light your world up with The Light Of The World! Search out the brokenhearted, the captives, and the prisoners, and share with them the freedom of the good news.

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

<((((><

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22