Healthy Grace

Bad doctrine will always lead to hypocrisy.

It’s impossible for believers to keep

 their intellectual integrity 

when they are emotionally

 so attached to a heresy.

One of the worst heresies is the thought

 that one must, one way or another,

 find a way to pay back to God for the

free gift of salvation.

 When this heresy possesses believers’

minds they have no time

 nor courage to bring others to Christ.

Proud men will not worship.

God is one of us, but one of us cannot be God.

That’s why empty and arrogant Humanism runs

out of solutions when it’s time to go from time

to eternity.

Worshiping man is the wonder of divine Humanism.

Leaders are just like us.

Leaders should be this and that,

but how about... if they are not?

They still are our leaders.

Silence doesn’t need to be stuffed with words.

Martha’s mind was pulled to many directions at the same time.

She had no time to sit down. She looked like a dynamic,

but lonely, career woman.

Doing nothing is the most challenging state

for a modern, fast track person.

Silence is considered a failure.

Doing nothing is sometimes the most productive activity

in the kingdom of God.

Silence is not a Buddhist invention.

It’s an opportunity to see the work of God.

Isaiah 30:15

Guard your heart with all diligence.

It's too little too late for so many things, yet all

the unfinished works continue haunting our minds

like unborn lives, demanding justice.

Only gracious words can give rest to our burdened hearts.

The book of Hebrews says, "Exhort one another daily,

while it is called 'Today', lest any of you be hardened

through the deceitfulness of sin." Heb.3:13

A hardened heart has no feeling for today's opportunities

and no interest in plans for tomorrow.

It looks wrong, but it's powerful.

"I have seen servants on horses,

while princes walk on the ground like servants."

Ecclesiastes 10:7

"One day is as thousand years." 

II Peter 3:8

I read about nomadic people in Sahara,

 who don’t know how old they are.

They don’t care, 

because it’s really irrelevant to their daily life.

Their sense of time is not divided into numbers and years.

It’s divided into directions.

They are always coming from somewhere

 on their way to some other place.

I think the same way about the presence of God.

So many things don’t matter and that what really

 matters cannot be measured by numbers.

Yes, direction matters and is crucial to all our tomorrows.

“They gave a large sum of money to the soldiers…”

Matthew 28:12

They were paid to be quiet, but the reality was too loud

for man to silence it.

The same way the life that has been given to us is too big

to hide and too loud to shut up.

Peter pretended to be just like everyone else,

but his testimony was written all over him. Even an uneducated

servant girl understood right away who he was.

 Fastness Demands Blindness

Beware the fast and easy solutions that come in the form

of affordable, final answers. Besides bad quality they

usually lead to a pile of unexpected bureaucracy.

If God had had a plan to do things fast, Adam and Eve

would not have been given any descendants.

No wonder Jesus taught his disciples about having fruit

that will last. John 15:16

"When I am weak, then I am strong." 

II Cor.12:10

Our authority as believers is not, first of all,

 based on something that we do or don't do.

It's based on who we are.

Nothing and no one can change the fact

 that we are children of God.

So, put your shoulders back and 

rejoice humbly in this gift of adoption.

The weak shall be strong.

Information has power to define problems,

but only the truth has power to give permanent 

solutions and set us free.

People who have stopped believing in truth

are puffed up with information that

deceives them to think 

that they themselves are in charge of the universe.

They cannot even stop their own feet from

walking to the grave.

"Whatever is right  I will give you." Mt.20:4

Trying to make God act according to our democratic

principles is like questioning his ability to place

 the stars in the sky.

God's math is different.

Man invented the numbers.

God created the stars that cannot be counted.

Happy Swimmers ( Children's Art in Dubai )

If nothing is true and nothing is holy,

then everything is disconnected from the past 

and the future.

Lies celebrate their victories

over fast passing moments.

You cannot buy His favor.

Jesus did not agree to bow down before the ruler of this world,

but He bowed down before His penniless, failing

disciples, to wash their feet in John 13.

Eternity makes sense.

Whenever I find time to think about eternity,

my past loses it's power to discourage, and

my future seems closer and more meaningful

than any of my memories of the past.

Give me those living words!

The use of many Bible verses doesn't yet mean that 

the message is from God.

Christianity is a faith in the living Word, Christ.

Everything relates to Him.

He doesn't agree to be a dead letter.

It's all about people.

Dealing with things is an important responsibility of a leader.

Unfortunately, that's the only thing some leaders are busy with,

dealing with THINGS.

To learn to see people beyond things

 is one of the most valuable

lessons in spiritual leadership.

                                                           

 Cling to what is good.

Goodness should not be overly analyzed, 

calculated nor restricted.

It should be victoriously celebrated and

 enjoyed every time when

God helps us to realize it.

"Don't be overcome by evil,

 but overcome evil with good."

Rom. 12:21

Miracles

It’s a good idea to plan well and 

work hard while waiting for a miracle.

Miracles are wonderful, 

but they are difficult to schedule.

Evil is present.

“Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” John 6:70

The choice of devil to the inner circle, right next to His best representatives,

was not a mistake.

It was a brilliant master plan to train His leaders to continue ministering

disregard of the evil.

Jesus’ challenge was not the existence of evil,

but  others’ inability to see and discern it.

Everybody doesn't need to know everything.

Confidentiality has the appearance of secrecy, but

it actually is far more noble and needed principle

in good communication. 

Failing To See Beyond Failures

It's so easy to see failures. They are everywhere.

Pointing out the failures of others is also easy.

It seemingly gives us some emotional relief and

material for rebuilding our own broken identities.

Ministering to one another beyond all failures demands

faith that is deeply rooted in the character of God.

I will be back on Sunday.

 Opportunities

Pastor Schaller said in his Sunday evening message, that

"The best way to live is to look for more responsibilities."

Opportunities for responsibilities are everywhere,
they come in all sizes,

in all countries and cultures.

When we stop looking for better excuses and ways to

justify our selfish lifestyles we'll have a lot of time for

new responsibilities.

So Different And So Alike

The birth of two baby girls was announced, 

seemingly not intentionally,

on the same page of our local newspaper.

The English princess was born to a palace.

The other baby was born to a migrant woman on

an Italian Navy ship after the mother was

rescued from an overcrowded boat.

Do their worlds ever meet ?

Actually, they just did, in an Omani newspaper.

And in our minds they meet and represent millions

of questions that just need to be thought about.

Endless Newness

As our flesh continues daily to humiliate and frustrate us,

 whining endlessly, we seem to always win. 

Isn't that what this message is all about,

 sinners revealing the holiness of God in their earthen vessels.

The continuing newness of life is a miracle

 that man will never be able

to figure out.

Finland

Guilt is a cruel master.

Guilt will continue haunting us as long as our souls

are connected with our earthly bodies.

I was shocked to realize that even recycling trash can

disturb my peace of mind.

Every time I left a bag of trash in the recycling spin

guilt was ready to invade my soul. Did I do it right?

Did I sort out all the substances honestly? Did anyone see

me fail in doing this right?

No wonder some people feel like jumping in themselves.

Make the foundation stronger!

Convictions are not an undefined chain around our neck

hindering us from having fun in the world. Convictions are

solid bricks in our foundation of faith.They help us to

see further.

New circumstances should not change our convictions.

The invitation to change our convictions in order to change

the circumstances is a tricky temptation.

Endless Washings

The endless washing of everything sends a strong

message of our need to be continually forgiven

and brought to the new beginning.

Washing makes life more pleasant but cannot 

make us clean enough.

Only the blood of Jesus can "cleanse our conscience

from dead works to serve the living God ". Heb.9:14