Make it Happen and Make a Mess-Selah 25-CMAW095

Aug 10, 2020

S=Something on my Heart

1. Start by commenting on comments 2 weeks ago about Q and Nesare Gesara.  Will say a few comments about Q Anon tonight and will say something about Nesara Gesara at a later date). I don't want to spend much time on either topic because I feel they are outside of the purpose of this podcast and you don't tune in to hear about these topics, but since I brought it up, let me finish my thought.  For those of you not familar with Q....There's a movement that's very excited about Q and I feel that this movement is misguided and should avoided by Christians.  Based on what I've learned about it, I believe that Satan is using Q to pretend to be the light overcoming darkness when in actually Q may make spiritual comments but it's more rooted in New Age philosophy than Christianity and I think it's from the Devil.  This conclusion I've come to further strengthens my ongoing journey toward focusing more on God and His Word and less on politics.  The problems of this world will not be solved by either political party.  Q is not our savior.  Trump is not our savior.  Only Jesus Christ is our Savior and there's a big risk by focusing too much on politics that we make idols out of our government and our government leaders.  Am I saying don't be aware of what's going on in the world? No.  I'm saying don't be obsessed as I have in the past and don't put your trust in men, trust in Jesus.  - Make It Happen and Make a Mess-I’ve tried to control circumstances , not by physical might or financial influence which is what I often think of when I think of as control, but by my words both verbally and written through emails. True personally and professionally. It hit me in a conversation with my wife where I was clearly trying to avoid responsibility for something that happened in my past that had significant negative long lasting consequences and she helped me see through the lies the devil had been feeding me so I could see how I had gone off half-cocked many times in the past at key times and situations and tried to change people’s minds toward what I thought was right and toward an action or way of thinking I thought others should have and the results were all bad, not just bad but in a long lasting way, seemingly unrestorable way.  As I thought through this later and prayed about it, I realized I had make this mistake in so many critical areas of my life and the results were all bad.  Relationships, sex, finances, trying to find someone to mentor, doing ministry, trying to change the minds of friends and family members around spiritual and political ideas, aspects of how I've gone about this podcast, even going back to how I went about choosing my college degree and career.  I've heard the phrase that we should pray like it's all up to God, and work and act like it's all up to us.  I don't like that saying.  I think that it weakens the power of prayer and the trust we have in God and tends to make prayer a check the box activity but what we're really putting our trust in is ourselves.  There's another old saying "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" which sometimes is followed by "The road to heaven is paved with good works".  The second part of that is not accurate beacuse we are saved by grace and not by works, but I don't like the first part of that phrase either.  It implies that we should act on doing something worthwhile and not just intend to do it.  I think there's some truth in that, we shouldn't put off actions that God wants us to do, we shouldn't procastinate and by lazy.  But I'm thinking of that phrase in a different light.  The road to Hell, or you might say the road to death and misery, can be paved with wrong actions that had what we thought were good intentions.  Pastor Adam Cook at my church had a great sermon today about the Power of Saying No. Here are a few bullet points from his sermon.  Behind every wise "No" there is a much better "Yes". I bet your biggest regret is from a time when you said "yes" when you should've said "no". As your heart becomes devoted to God and His Truth, you will begin to know what to say "yes" to and what to say "no" to. If you want to have a life full of Godly reward instead of regret, you must develop a heart of integrity that only comes by knowing and living in God's truth. Three areas where you must repeatedly say "No" are 1. Sexual Misconduct 2. Relational overload 3. Causes outside your calling.  Now this last section about the 3 areas gets a little off track from the point I'm trying to make in this Selah episode, though I'm making a note to dig into these 3 topics in more depth in future Selah episodes because they are issues all men deal with.  What I DO want to draw from Pastor Adam's message is this idea that our focus should be on devoting ourselves to God and His truth, to read the Bible and pray regularly, and by doing so, over time, we will develop a heart of integrity that will allow us to know what to say "yes" to and what to say "no" to.  Back to what I started talking. 

   Prov 3:5-6 NKJV sayd "Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
   And lean not on your own understanding;
   6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
   And He shall [b]direct your paths."

   Most of us are familiar with those verses.  Lately I've been trying to read the context around famous verses like this one, and I like verse that immediately follows this, it says "7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;

   Fear the Lord and depart from evil."

   Proverbs 17:28 NKJV "Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive."

    

   Next time you catch yourself saying or thinking “Something’s got to be done about this “-red flag, press the pause button, and pray.  Think about these questions often used by journalists when telling a story, sometimes referred to as the 5 W's and an H: who, what, when, where, and why and how.  I think all of these are relavant except maybe "where". : 1. What is it you think needs to be changed?  Does it really need to be changed? If so, Why? Also, what is the consequence you think will come from the action you're considering taking?  What unintended consequence might come instead?  Who should do that thing? Don’t assume it’s you.  How should it be done?  With an impersonal email to a group of people or should it be a 1:1 conversation in person or by phone?  And finally "when"?  Is this really urgent, or might it be better to wait, to allow you time to pray and hear from God and perhaps later think differently and perhaps be less emotionally driven. 

   Think about people you know personally that you truly respect, did they do some amazing or shocking thing in a moment of time or did they live out a virtuous, humble, modest, loving life consistently

   A couple final thoughts on this. First, if you've already messed up, repent.  Say you're sorry to the person or person you affected if appropriate, and say sorry to God, and mean it.  You may have heard that repent has more to do with going another direction than it does with saying you're sorry.  As my Pastor said this morning, you'll have plenty of opportunities to be tempted in the future, opportunities to get it right, so focus on those not on the past.

   My final thought is that there are some inherently impersonal communication tools that are commonly used that have unique hazards associated with them, most notably email, texting, and use of social media.  Starting with this episode, in the H or Handy Tips section I'm going to begin sharing lessons I've learned about properly using email in the workplace that I think you'll really find helpful

   • E = Example of faith at work
   • He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; he brought him from tending ewes to be shepherd over his people Jacob— over Israel, his inheritance. He shepherded them with a pure heart and guided them with his skillful hands.-Psalm 78:70-72-CSB
   • L=Logos- Work verse
   • Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say. When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil? When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field? His God instructs him and teaches him the right way. Caraway is not threshed with a sledge, nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin; caraway is beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a stick. Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever. The wheels of a threshing cart may be rolled over it, but one does not use horses to grind grain. All this also comes from the Lord Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent. - Isaiah 28:23-29 - NIV -I came across this long passage this morning which I believe is saying that God does not leave us guessing as to how to go about our daily tasks and we should seek his will in everything and not do things by our own power and understanding 
   • A= announcements
   • thinking about retreat next year at our ranch, Spring - sleep under the stars, still have comforts, email with interests Promo for Metal Talk “"The Classic Christian Rock podcast by WildMan & Steve encompasses all a Christian Music fan would want in a podcast. They interview Christian Rock artists twice a month- those from the past and the musicians who are rocking for Christ today. On the same podcast is a weekly radio show called Metal Talk where you will here great talk about politics, current events and faith- all while listening to great Metal music. Subscribe to their podcast today where ever you get your podcasts, find out more at WildManandsteve.com"”
   • H = Handy tip to help to live out Gods assignment for your work
   • First in a series about using email wisely. Today's tip is to use the "do not reply" option when accepting an email invite.  If you use Microsoft Outlook at your work, which most of us do, did you know that when you receive an email invite to a meeting, and in the email it seemingly gives you just 3 options 1. Accept 2. Reject 3. Tentative.  There are actually more options.  If you select the drop down arrow on the right side of the "Accept" button (I believe true for the other 2 buttons as well), you can choose the "do not reply" option, which means that the person who sent you an invite will have it noted in their calendar meeting that you accepted the meeting, and if they select the tracking option for that meetint they'll see that you accepted, but they will NOT receive an email stating that you accepted the meeting.  Just like most of us complain about paying too many taxes, most of us would also agree we get too many emails.  This is one small way you reduce the number of unecessary emails in someone else's inbox.