Messiah Culture

Culture of Sexy

Moral decay all around. A culture dripping with lustful ways. Everything has to be sexy in a society given to animal like instincts. Less than human actions seems to be all around us. We live in a culture that sells sex. Porn grosses more than all American sports combined. Sex. Sexy. Lust. Lustful we have become, a culture that has objectified. Not seeing people but lusting after objects. Desensitized in our view of humanity and sexuality. Virginity is no longer sacred. How can we be healed from such deep pits of despair?

Once Jesus said, "You have head it said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a women lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. " Then he goes on to say if your eye causes you to sin gouge it out and if your hand causes you to sin cut it off.

Pretty intense thoughts and a whole new standard of behavior.

I read a while back from a Rabbi, I can not remember who it was, but he mentioned a great thought. Think about how the eye and the hand are connected to lust. I had never connected that all together in what Christ was saying. The point is not to physically gouge or cut yourself. Rather it is to take seriously the responsibility to guard your heart and remain pure or establish purity in your life. What Jesus was saying was to cut off, gouge out any gateway that feeds your lustful desires. Be serious about it and cut it off for the sake of your soul.

Culture can be redeemed but I believe the Church will need to take seriously the mandate to cut and gouge out the portals and gateways that influence lust and desensitize our hearts. 

I have an iPhone and I have had to gouge and cut on my phone. I cut the safari browser for a less powerful browser called X3 watch. It sends an accountability report to my wife! I have had to delete any app that has a built in web browser. My wife and I decided it would be better to cut out TV, in order to build greater relationship with our daughters. To live life instead of watching it! 

We desire to establish moral purity in our home and cut out the sexy broken culture. Almost every station is dripping with sexy. So we cut it off and gouge it out to be fierce in our pursuit of holiness and morality.

Not everyone has to do what I have done but what everyone does have to do is seek the Lord and obey what he tells you concerning the things that need to be cut out of your life.

When we lust after a person, we are lusting after the divine image. Okay I will stop.

Love ya...

Desire that Overpowers

When this life is over what will have summed up your truest desire? At the end of your days what will define you, what legacy will you leave behind? Will what you desired and pursued make the world a better place for your children's children?

What appetite consumes you right now? An appetite for riches, for fame, for success?

I have been pursuing Christ and his kingdom for 19 years now. The further I get in this redemptive relationship, the more an all consuming desire overpowers me. I feel swept into a current of total desire for Him. All my days are spent thinking about his kingdom being established here. I am not perfect, but when I fall, I get right back on track with my pursuit of him. The more consumed I am for him the less there is of me.

We can have an appetite for him or for ourselves.

I love Psalm 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

Let's decide once and for all to never quit pursuing Christ. No matter what comes our way, no matter how difficult it may seem at times. Let's be determined and plant our feet in pursuing Him forever!

There is nothing on earth that I desire besides him!

Declare Oneself

So you just gonna sit there as culture passes by at 7500 RPMs. Gonna let it all blur into one big blob of nothing, being tossed by this and that circumstance. We can make excuses about why our life is not what we would like it to be. We can say "I know God has better plans for me" but its all so complicated I do not know where to begin so I will just let this fast paced system engulf me. We can be tossed by the thinking of culture or we can...

Stop.

Think.

Declare Oneself.

All change begins with a declaration. Check out the definition of declare: 

verb1 [ reporting verb ] say something in a solemn and emphatic manner :

• [ trans. ] formally announce the beginning of (a state or condition)

• ( declare oneself) reveal one's intentions or identity.

Declare oneself... Reveal one's intentions or identity. Declare who you are to the earth, to your circumstances, to your culture. Rise up and walk in the identity spoken over you by your Father in heaven. 

The scripture is loaded with declarations. Here is one I found in my prayer time this morning. Psalm 52.8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.

In the midst of evil persecution David declares oneself. He writes about the circumstance as dark and evil it may be but then he declares, I am not like that, it is different for me.

10,000 people can be wrong in there thinking, 10 million for that matter. But with the clarity of heaven's identity spoken over you, rooted in righteousness and pursuit of our Father, declare oneself. It is different with me, cause the King of heaven has ransomed me to himself.

Don't be pushed around by the thinking of the world or the deep false currents of culture. See yourself today as your Father sees you and declare oneself!

Be fierce....

Thirst No More

The culture in which we live has so much going on it is impossible to keep up. Everyday new technology is released outdating the new macbook pro we purchased just a few minutes ago! Entertainment is dripping from our finger tips. And in a world with so much going on I wonder how much life is taking place. Are we really satisfied with all of it or do we just participate without question. Have we found a reason to never thirst again? Or are we just a shallow existence waiting for the next buzz to come our way.

It was once written like this, in a dry and weary land where there is no water, my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, I earnestly seek you, for you are my God. Psalm 63.1 - revised by me!

Even Jesus mentioned that if we drink from his living water, that we would never thirst again. Think about that, what he offers us to drink actually satisfies us at deep levels to cause us to never thirst again.

So in a culture in which we can drink from many different wells or experiences, there is a well we can drink from that will satisfy our souls. The drive to get more, more and more is satisfied in him. The compulsion to be driven by our emotions can be satisfied with a drink of living water. A culture of sexual brokenness, where everything has to be sexy can be satisfied in a pursuit of Him. His water satisfies, causes my soul to be whole, I am satisfied in Him.

Live in pursuit of Christ and you will thirst no more.

Protection from Danger

When your scared or stressed where do you go for protection? If you feel panic do you have a place to go for shelter and protection? Some ancient writings of a King tell us of a place we can turn, no matter what is coming against us.

In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me! Psalm 31.1 

Refuge means:

1.shelter or protection from danger, trouble, etc.: to takerefuge from a storm.

2.a place of shelter, protection, or safety.

3.anything to which one has recourse for aid, relief, or escape.

So King David says, in you, Oh Lord, I take refuge... He has himself disciplined to take refuge in the Lord. He doesn't just say a quick prayer and goes on trying to figure it out in his own strength. When the storm hits, he does more than whisper a quick prayer, he takes refuge in the Lord.

He spends as much time as it takes in the Lord's presence. Keeping his mind focused on the reality of our Father in heaven. Keeping his perspective based in righteous truth. 

No matter where we are at in our day we can take refuge in the Lord. Even in the busiest circumstance, the craziest storm, we can take refuge in the Lord.