More than “Just A Thought”

Thoughts without action are….?

“Faith without works is….”?

On this page I will post single, short thoughts that we, as those who “Claim the Name,” should be taking into our prayers, out to the family table, across the thresholds of our churches, and “in”to the world we are instructed -Not- to be a part “of.” I will also post them on Parler and encourage you to copy and paste them in your Social Media feeds until they shut you down. The “Hashtags” are included at the end of the posts. To see these posts when they come out, Subscribe to this site in the right column of the “Welcome” page. The easiest way to share on your Social Media feed is to click on the post title, which will take you to the individual post’s page. At the bottom of the post, you will find quick links for sharing.

“In” Not “Of” – 3/06/21

No, I did not supply the text… read it. The world will continue to be the world. The question is: “What will the “Christian” be… and when?” We are already late and waiting is not an option. The worst atrocities in history were grown from the seeds of sanctioned bigotry and discrimination. Today, we call it D.E.I.. Today… right now… University teachers are being required to take training in this evil. They are also being required to demonstrate how they have applied it to your children in the classroom. In fact, in new evaluation protocols this is being given more weight than either what they teach or how well they teach it. Psalm 57 says “Awake!” “The World” is becoming “Woke,” it’s past time for “The Church” to “Awake!”

More than “Just A Thought”

https://parler.com/profile/ScottcPOC/posts #christianlife #christianity #christfollowers #christianteaching #christianliving #christianeducation #pursuitofcharacter #improvelife

“In” Not “Of” – 3/28/21

I want to encourage you… that sounds so nice and free to discard, doesn’t it? I want to challenge you… as we go into and through this week to read, study, discuss, and pray about the events of this week. Not this week 2021, but this week 30 A.D. We don’t often think about it; in fact, I would say we never think about it but take it for granted. This is the year 2021 “A.D.,” “Anno Domini,” the two thousand twenty-first “year of our Lord.” Easter has all but disappeared, forced out of recognition by the forces “Of” the world. And the Christians “In” that world do little different. Yes, more people attend a service on Easter Sunday (paying their annual insurance premium) than most other Sundays, but they quickly hurry back across the threshold just as empty as when they arrived.

So, I realize asking you to spend a week not only thinking about what Christ’s week looked like but provoking others to do the same may be a pipe dream, but I’m going to do it anyway. Christ’s sacrifice and suffering for us did not come and go on one “Good Friday.” Events preceded it that we never consider. As we go through this week, I will post a few, “More Than Just a Thought,” posts as I read, study, discuss, and pray with those around me about a week that should be solemn, reflective, humbling, and saddening. We start with the people and happenings of John 18:1-11. And again, No, I did not supply the text. If you won’t put the effort into opening the Manual, you won’t do the rest.

I will however supply two things. First, Bethany Rae’s new song GRACE. She wanted to release it on Good Friday to support the Worship that we should begin that weekend with. She agreed to allow it played here to aid you in what I have asked.

Second, I provide the words of St. Bernard of Clairvaux that inspired her lyrics. They are also how we begin chapter 10 of Forgotten Hope:

“I owe all that I am to Him who made me: but how can I pay my debt to Him who redeemed me, and in such wondrous wise? Creation was not so vast a work as redemption; for it is written of man and of all things that were made, ‘He spake the word, and they were made’ (Psalm 148.5). But to redeem that creation which sprang into being at His word, how much He spake, what wonders He wrought, what hardships He endured, what shames He suffered! Therefore what reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the benefits which He hath done unto me? In the first creation He gave me myself; but in His new creation He gave me Himself, and by that gift restored to me the self that I had lost. Created first and then restored, I owe Him myself twice over in return for myself. But what have I to offer Him for the gift of Himself? Could I multiply myself a thousand-fold and then give Him all, what would that be in comparison with God?”

Remember, share by going to https://parler.com/profile/ScottcPOC/posts and “echoing” my post or by using the links below or, preferably, All of the Above. As promised, here are some Hashtags you can copy-n-paste into your share: #Easter #EasterSunday #GoodFriday #Christfollowers #Christianliving #Crucifixion #John18 #PursuitofCharacter #ImproveLife #JustaThought

“In” Not “Of” – 3/30/21

So, how are we doing? Here’s what our family’s week of reading, studying, discussing, and praying has looked like so far… well, the Sum-up anyway. We realized, as you may have, that in order to truly consider Christ’s week we needed to read what led up to John 18. We read how Christ prayed crying and sweating blood. We heard His request to the Father, “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.” Here is something that is often misrepresented. Christ was not asking to be spared the torture and suffering that He came to take on our behalf. The tears and the blood as He talked with the Father were about this moment, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” In order to set right the wrong that Adam had cursed humanity with, Christ had to reverse the process. Which means, before He could restore our relationship with the Father, Christ must first endure separation Himself. This was a prospect beyond our ability to comprehend. Even knowing there was no other way, He expressed that sorrow. Later, just before “it is finished,” we heard the cry of grief at that separation! This understanding is confirmed when Christ confronted Peter for cutting off the man’s ear, saying, “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?”

We talked about what it must have been like knowing that Judas, someone with whom He had eaten, walked, and slept, was going to betray Him. Even though Christ knew this before it happened, do you think it did not break the heart of a loving Savior? Knowing Judas’ acts would begin the process for which He came would not have made it any easier when Judas left to gather the forces that would arrest Him. When Judas returned to act out this betrayal in such an intimate way, it caused Christ to respond with, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

OK, now John 18:13-18. Read, study, discuss, and pray. Remember, this is More Than Just A Thought… This is Action. (previous “In” Not “Of” – 3/28/21)

#Easter #EasterSunday #GoodFriday #Christfollowers #Christianliving #Crucifixion #John18 #PursuitofCharacter #ImproveLife #JustaThought

“In” Not “Of” – 4/02/21

So… Judas was not the only follower of Christ to betray Him. Without question, to deny Christ, whom you have known, is to betray Him. As Christ had previously informed Peter, we read how Peter pretended not to know Christ, even going so far as to dispute the servant girl who recognized him as “one of the man’s disciples?”

I know there was not a lot in the five verses I asked you to read but, remember, I didn’t ask you to read. I asked you to “read, study, discuss, and pray,” and, to that end, there is a lot here. First, we actually have two disciples with Christ as He was taken before the high Priest to answer his charges. But the two disciples acted very differently. While Peter first stood outside the gate and then, when brought through the gate by the other disciple, went to stand with the servants and the soldiers who had arrested Christ, the other “went with Jesus.” Peter separated himself from being identified with Christ and even went and enjoyed the warmth and comfort of the fire, standing with the world that would see Christ killed.

So, as you went through this week considering and praying about what your Savior went through, did you step-up to the challenge I gave you last Sunday? Did you stand with Christ and pronounce your association to those around you, or did you hide outside the gate? Or worse, chat it up with the world who would deny Him? While Peter, after the events of this week/weekend, would become a great disciple, on this day he was no better than Judas. When faced with the price of being associated with that radical, Christ, where did you stand this week? Where and who will you be next week? Is your proclamation as a “follower” just as empty as Peter’s when he swore, “Even if all fall away on account of You, I never will.”

If the world you are “In” is happy to stand around the fire with you, what world are you “Of”?

Today, as you choose to stand by the “fire” or by “Faith,” I leave you with Christ’s words to consider. (along with John 18:19-27)

“If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well…”

Post: “In” Not “Of” – 3/28/21

“In” Not “Of” – 4/03/21

I confess going in. This post is not just about verses 19 to 27 but the rest of John chapter 18 beginning with verse 37. Here, Pilate asks Christ, “What is the truth?” So, in this last post we are going to use these last verses to answer his question.

In these final events preceding Christ’s execution, there are two distinctly different groups. Both groups claimed to serve the Living God. Christ identified both groups in verse 36. Here it is made clear that both do not serve the Living God. Earlier, in verses 19 through 24, this Truth Is made clear. The high priest questioned Christ (the Living God). When Christ answered, “Why are you asking Me? Ask those who heard My message,” an officer of the high priest struck Christ (the Living God) asking, “Is this how You answer the high priest?” Basically saying, “Don’t you know who he is?” The Truth Is, it wasn’t Christ who had forgotten who he was, but the high priest. Which brings us to the second group.

The high priest declared his right to arrest, question, convict, and finally execute Christ as coming “under oath by the living God.” But Christ (the Living God) said, “My servants would fight to prevent My arrest…” You see, the high priest and his followers forgot they were called as “servants” to the Living God. Caught up in their own importance, power, and wealth as the descendants of Jacob, the Living God’s chosen, they did not recognize Him as they tore His clothes, spat in His face, and hung Him on a cross. The Truth Is, they forgot something His True servants knew… the rest of Christ’s (the Living God) answer in verse 36, “My kingdom is not of this world; if it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jews. But now My kingdom is not of this realm.”

Tomorrow, churches will be filled (well, probably not) with people claiming an “oath to the Living God,” but not living a life of a “servant.” They will leave the church and return to a world where they are the authority, where they are important, they have power, their “love of wealth” reigns supreme. Tomorrow, churches will be filled with two distinctly different groups, those who claim the Living God for their own ends and the servants who take the Living God (Christ) at His word,

“You say that I am a king,” Jesus answered. “For this reason I was born and have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice.”