December 20, 2011

The Gift

Luke 2:10 -11  10 And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

 

 

The gift, the miracle, the undeserved answer to our prayers. The Christmas season is here, and 5 days from now we will join in unison to give thanks for the gift of life that was given to us by God. I have to share with you…..it happened today…..it happens every year, and I never know when it will show up…….but this morning there it was. Today I find myself filled with the Christmas spirit. I feel the overwhelming undeniable feeling of joy, and the need to tell people in my life how thankful I am for God, For His Son, and for having them in my life. It is truly a season of JOY!

 

Each and every year I promise myself that I am going to hang on to this feeling. I am determined to be this thankful, this joyful, this over the top happy to be alive, and have the chance to reach out to everyone I come across……I think I made it to about the end of February last year…….yeah, pretty dismal I know, but next year I know I will be making a run for it again! It does beg the question, how long do we stay grateful for the gift. Oh I know, don’t get me wrong here, I know most people are thankful throughout the year, but being thankful, and being full of joyful thanks, is not the same thing is it?

 

Let’s say you wanted a Porsche, fully loaded, free and clear, yours, tax title and licenses, you want it, you dream about it….and one day you open your door, and there it is! You are excited, you are joyful, you think you are the luckiest person on the face of the planet. Matter of fact the first month you have it you run in and pull people out of stores, movies, and work, just to come look at it, next month you are still pretty excited, matter of fact the first several months you remain on cloud nine…..then it happens, you jump in one day, crank the engine over, and it is just a Porsche. When people ask what you drive, you get a little gleam in your eye, you are thankful, but you simply respond, Porsche. We humans are bad about this, we get used to having something, and we go from appreciation, to more of an expectation mindset.

 

Christ (and I don’t have to tell you this) is not a Porsche. There is not one thing on this earth that can compare to the magnificence of the Lord, there is nothing that comes close to His power, His glory, or His presence, yet somehow, someway, in the middle of life, with all the hustle, and bustle, all of the trials and tribulations that come with just living this crazy life, it happens. Oh we don’t like to talk about it, we don’t like to admit it, we don’t like to say it out loud, and like it less when someone else does, but Christ becomes that Porsche. We are thankful, we know we should….but. We really want to…..but. We have the time….but……well we just are not as happy, or as joyful, or as thankful as that first day our Savior entered our lives!

 

That is what is so great about this Season. It is a chance to rekindle that fire into a blaze! It is an opportunity for us to recognize just how awesome of a gift that we have been given, and we get that gift not once a year, or once in a lifetime, but that gift walks with us each and every day. I am extending a challenge to each person that reads this. For at least the next five days, commit to be joyfully thankful. Write a letter, or an e-mail to someone who deserves thanks, but most likely does not get it. Tell the people you come in contact with just how great it is to have them in your life. Share the good news with those who have not heard it, and revel in the happiness with those who have. Make the next five days a reason for those who know you to take pause. Let them see what joyful thankfulness looks like. Then five days from now, see if you can make it another five, try to carry it into the new year. Write letters, make phone calls, drag people out of the stores, movies, and work, shake hands, pat backs. Let the world know to “fear not, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people”

 

Merry Christmas to all, and may God bless each of you this Christmas Season!

 

 

 

 

God Bless,

 

Brian Thetford

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

The Workweek With Christ

 

December 12, 2011

Always

Romans 11:29  For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

 

 

The Christmas season is in full swing. Chances are you are feeling like most of us are. There is a tremendous feeling of pressure to preform, pressure to produce, pressure to be at the top of your game. You might feel the need to outdo yourself from lasts year, or out do your neighbor, or out do a family member. Whatever the case you feel overworked, and underappreciated. Maybe you are like many more people, and instead of feeling like you have too much to do, you in fact feel like you have nothing to do. This is the time of year when a lot of people feel isolated, shut out, and cut off. Those around them are celebrating, surrounding themselves with family and friends, all the while you have no one to share with. Guess what? No matter which neat little box you fit into, or maybe it is a box that society has come up with that I did not mention. There is one truth that remains. God is not a liar, and He does not take back His promises.

 

 

Think back to 2 weeks ago, two months, ago, two years ago, whatever the time frame, think back to the last time you simply felt like you were enough. There was no need to don a cape, and become a super hero, nor did you feel alone and cut off. The person you were then at your happiest moment, is the same person you are right now. The person you were when you felt like you were on the right track, and you had the time to do what you needed to get done…..yep you are that same person right now as well……and you know what, God is the same as well. All of those promises that were so clear, all of the feelings of calm, peace, hope, and joy, are still right there with you. We allow this season, this “holiday” to rob us of our joy, and shove God to the back of the line. Oddly enough, He is the very reason that we are celebrating anything anyway! Had it not been for His gift that He gave to the world, then there would be no need to put up the nativity, hang the star, buy the gifts, none of it would have any meaning, or any purpose. Yet we allow these feeling in to our home. We allow them to overtake our desire, our direction, and our purpose. Like a child with a new toy, all too often we too drop our true sense of purpose, and direction, and we get wrapped up in this moment. As a result, for a short period of time, we revoke what we have already given to God. What if he was to do that to us?

 

Could you imagine a God that says He loves you, but when He is busy (and I am fairly sure He is busy often) He sets you to the side? What if When things got hectic, He left you high and dry? What if He felt lonely and rejected when you did not talk to Him, so He just pushed everyone, and everything away so that He could wallow in His sorrow? That is a sad picture of God, and it is one that you will never see. God is taking a great interest in your life right now. Oh it does not feel that way? Are you looking for it, for him, for the answer….or are we just looking for the pay off right now? God is faithful, HE is absolute, and He is unwavering in His love, and compassion for us. He sent His Son so that we might once again be joined together as a family. There is a constant flow of love, patience, Joy, and forgiveness. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

 

This holiday season, let us set aside the trappings, the snares, and the pitfalls that come every year with this holiday. No one around you should feel neglected, or unloved, for you are the representative of Christ here on earth. The time pressures that you feel so sensitive to, throw them off. Do not allow this Holiday to dictate your schedule. Focus on the Lord, and let Him set the tempo. The pressure that you feel to be better, faster, bigger, more than last year is pressure that you have put upon yourself. God loves you for you, right now, just the way you are, a constant work in progress. He has given you amazing gifts, gifts that people around you do not have, use them. Do not set them aside “until you get caught up” do not wait, do not falter, do not fall prey to the holiday. Do not allow this crazy idea of perfection that is portrayed by the world cloud your purpose, and your direction. God will never hold back, He will never let us down, HE will never take back what He has already promised. So as we trudge through this season, let us turn our eyes, our thoughts, our desires, and our goals, back to the one constant in our life. Our true north, our rock, our foundation, our beginning, and our end. Jesus in in fact the reason for the season, but this season will pass, the Lord never will.

 

 

God Bless,

 

Brian Thetford

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

The Workweek With Christ

 

December 07, 2011

Two Way Street

Romans 8:32  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

 

 

I know that we hear all of the time from our friends, our loved ones, our co-workers, “hey, I am here for you” . “whatever you need, just let me know”  “whatever I have is yours”….however most of the time this old saying holds true. We will be friends through thick and thin……but when it gets thick….I am going to thin out! That is the way most of our relationships go. As a result we become jaded, we become untrusting, we start to think that the only person that is willing to give 100% for us….is us. It is no surprise that we take those feelings and throw them right on to the Lord.

 

The Lord will not help me, I am all alone, God does not care. All of these feelings have little to do with what the Lord is doing in our life, and a lot to do with the fact that this is the expectation that we have experienced from the world, so we project it onto God. Romans 8 is a great chapter, we all know verse 28 that reads that God works for the good in the lives of those who love Him. This verse (32) is even more to the point. God loves each one of us so much that He gave His only Son. He did not spare Him, He did not hold anything back. He gave the most important thing any of us could think of….His own Son. Do you really think God would make that kind of commitment, then turn and walk away? Bring that thought into your own life. Think of something you have worked on, something that you have poured your heart and soul into. Did you reach a point where you just said forget it, before it was completed? Highly doubtful. Now what if it was something that you felt so committed to that you leveraged your house, your car, and all of your savings? Would you just throw in the towel when it got hard, or looked difficult? No, of course not, you have gone all in, you will give whatever is needed to make sure it works. Now think if you had to give one of your children. The only way you could see this thing through would be for you to give up one of your own…..would you quit? Would you be willing to walk away? If it was something that you loved so much that you killed one of your own children, what would it take to make you stop giving to that cause? NOTHING.

 

That is where God is at in your relationship. There is nothing that can separate you for God loving you, there is nothing that can come between you and Christ…..except yourself. You see all too often, God does not run out on us, we run out on Him. God gave His Son. What did we give? What do we continue to give? Have you ever given any thought to the idea that God has not quit giving, we have just quit accepting? You might think “whaaat?” no way, no how have I quit taking anything offered by God. What about the love of your spouse? Do you accept that every day, or are there many days that it is taken for granted to the point that it is just an expectation? What about your family, your job (or the time given to you while you do not have one), your friends, those that come in contact with you every day? What do we do with these things? Anything? anything at all? Do we accept these gifts that are given daily, or do we just expect them to be there? As a result, we do not truly accept them, we set them on a shelf to collect dust, and miss the spectacular gift that has been given to us.

 

Now let me ask you this. If you have children (and if not think of when you were a kid) what do you do when you give your child gifts and the do not use them, or they waste them, or they take them for granted? Don’t you want to find a way to get them to use what has been given before you give more? Why give them another bike, when the one they have is not used? Why give them a new glove, when they will not even go outside to play ball? Starting to see the point? There is nothing that God will not give you, if you need it. There is no length that the Lord will not go to make sure you are taken care of. He is all in, He has invested His most precious asset. He has made the full commitment. Now it is up to each of us to utilize what we have been given. We have to accept the gifts given each day, we have to make the most of every day. I can promise you that you have been given a gift today….what will you do with it? Will you set it to the side while you wait for the “good” gift? The one you have been praying for, the one that YOU really want? Or will you choose to take each gift and celebrate it, cherish it, and make the most out of it? Yeah I know if we do that with every little gift we are given we will be pretty tired, and we will be pretty busy…….and we will realize that we are pretty blessed. God does not hold back, so make it a point to not hold back on God. He will flood your life, but you have to turn on the spigot. He Gave the first gift, He gave the big gift. Will it go to use, or go on the shelf? There is nothing God will not give, can we say the same about what we are willing to give back to God?

 

 

God Bless,

 

Brian Thetford

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

The Workweek With Christ

 

December 06, 2011

Putting God Back Where He Belongs

by Brenden Vowell

Every year my fellow Christians begin to complain about Christ being taken out of Christmas, and then that leads to Prayer in school, and then God in the Pledge or on the court houses.

I couldn't help but ask myself if this might be God rather than non-believers. I mean if you really think about it like this you might agree. Christ is being taken out of Christmas because many Christians have forgotten the real reason for the season. Prayer in school is being removed because many Christians place the value of education above the value of their relationship with God. Homework time is more important than prayer time. The pledge, because we would rather pledge allegiance to a country rather than to pledge faithfulness to God and our court system because we have forgotten that the greatest judge of them all has asked us to show grace, mercy, and love to all those who wrong us, but we would rather use the judicial system to seek revenge.

If you were God, would you want your name affiliated with any of this?

We as Christians need to step it up and remember that Christ's or God's name is not affiliated with these things because of a bunch people who demanded that it be, but rather a bunch of people who allowed God to work through them to accomplish education, faithfulness, grace and worship not only only during these holidays, but in life.

I challenge you to commit with me a life that will put God's name back into the hearts of people rather than buildings and pledges.

Whatever you wish?

John 15:7-8  7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  8By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

 

This is a tricky verse, that is why included the verse after it for clarity. SO often we read the first verse, and when I say read, I mean skim over. The problem with doing that is many people read this verse, and are left with a feeling of less than more. We tend to miss the first part (if you abide in me, and my words abide in you) and really hone in on the second (ask whatever you wish, and it will be done).  I bring this up because I believe this Christmas season there will be many disappointed “Christians” . When we take care of the first verse, the next verse takes care of itself. Am I not making sense? Let me point to it this way. Could you imagine Christ during prayer bargaining with His Father? “Father, I know you love me, and I have been working very hard down here in Your name, so how about you hook me up with a new house, you know I don’t own one now, and it would be great to have a home base to do your work”.  Maybe He would have asked for God to “give” Him that new flashy tunic that just came in, or the new sandals with the sole that allows the bottom of your foot to breath…..of course just saying those things out loud is laughable, It would be hard, if not impossible to picture Jesus like that. Yet, if we are honest with ourselves, are we not all like that to some degree this time of year? I hope I get, I really want, you know what I need?

 

Don’t get me wrong here, I do enjoy getting gifts, just as much as, and in some cases more than the guy next to me (he got socks). What we have to be careful of is that we do not start to confuse love of any kind with the newest shiniest thing. We have to make sure that while we all have worldly desires, those desires are taking a back seat to God’s. What is more important, that your father gave you a car for graduation, but missed it, or that he gave you a 10 dollar watch, but was there to hug you and tell you how proud he was of you? Do you want your spouse to hand you that perfect gift on Christmas morning, or would you rather them have nothing to give, but that look of love and desire that they had for you the first year you were together? I guess what I am getting at is that the fancy wrapper, and the cost of the gift is what the world wants us to pay attention to; but the love, the intent, the true gift is found in the one that has given.

 

The Jews were waiting for that flashy gift to show up. They are still waiting today. They wanted a king, we were given a commoner. They were looking for a savior from the Romans, we were given a Savior from death. You see the gift God gave the world might not of looked like much. There was no golden palaces, no expensive linens, no grandeur surrounding this gift from God. This simple gift however would change the world, He would in fact change our lives, and eternity.  The gift did not look like much, but the love, the intent, the desire behind that gift was beyond comprehension.

 

You see that is the difference between asking for a worldly gifts, and wishing for Godly desires. It is hard to glorify the Father when we are more worried about glorifying ourselves. It is hard to bear fruit if you are not watered with the life giving Word of God, It is hard to be a disciple of Christ, when we are disciples for ourselves.  When we align ourselves with the Word of God, when we work to live our lives chasing after the Lord, our desires turn from what do I get to what can I give. When we abide in the Lord, we will begin to see more worth in the gift giver than the gift itself. Oh don’t get me wrong, we all have lists (an Orvis reel with a 8 – 9 ft. graphite fly rod if anyone is asking)  but what we must remember is hopefully in the end we have given more than we were given, and no matter what shows up….if anything at all. We know we are loved, we know that the true gift has already been given, and it is one that while it might not of looked like much, turned out to be one of immeasurable worth. Christ did not ask for much, but always had what He needed. He was always ready to give, even when love was returned with hate. Jesus did not ask for new sandals, He asked for love. Love for Him, and for us to love each other. As we enter into this season, that is my wish for all of us. May we feel the love of the Lord, may we seek to love those around us, even if it is not returned. Way we all have a blessed Christmas season.  

 

 

Brian  Thetford C.T.B.

Concept Services Inc.

12521 Amherst Drive

Austin, Tx 78727

512-343-3100 x173 Voice

512-344-1790 FX

 

I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.