Leaving the Grandstand World

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I begin with a poetical musical treatment of one of my old poems entitled, "There Was a Teacher Long Ago" and then I share one of the chapters from my book, A Course in Christianity entitled, "A Call for Love." I complete this episode with what I believe is an obscure Fanny Crosby hymn which I embed with an instrumental. This episode should be a blessing for many.
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We live in a world that is getting crazier and crazier by the minute. It looks as if many are going insane. For those cool, calm and collected enough to stand back and objectively observe, it doesn't appear that the "insane" people know they are that way.

The world would say that we must fight them, subdue them, make them see our way. Jesus, our "Way," didn't do that when He was here. He chose a completely different path of submission to the insanity of His time. He went to the cross and forgave His enemy. And yet, after dying for our sins AND showing us the Way, he overcame the grave, defeated death, and outlives His killers.

What are we to learn from this? We are to forgive in order to defeat death. Could it possibly be that? What if we die in the process? Will we then be with Jesus in Paradise like the repentant thief on the cross next to Him? Are we supposed to submit to the enemy, thereby, defeating him in a way the world does not recognize? Are Christians supposed to handle conflict in a different way from the world? Are we supposed to fight and argue and snivel and roar and slash our claws at the enemy like the animals of the jungle? Or are we supposed to have so much faith in God's Way, presented to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, that we, even joyfully, submit all to our enemies...even our lives? Jesus said to resist not evil. What could He have meant but this?

Is there even more we need to do? I believe there is. We need to love our enemies. Love is not something that happens by chance. It is a choice. We don't evolve into greater lovers who are, through some superpower, now able to love the unlovable. Evolution has nothing to do with it. We choose to love and if we can't, we ask the Lord for help and love our enemy anyway. Jesus would never ask us to love our enemy if it was all by chance. He said to love them so, without question, we must love them.

If the world says to do something one way, then, more than likely we should do it another way, God's way. When someone is bombarding you with hate, turn their vitriolic ways around with love. And if that doesn't do it, at least you've done your part in following God's will. Eventually, love conquers all. Keep loving and have faith.

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I begin with "Let the Captain Steer," a poem of mine set to an instrumental by Josh Woodward. Then I share a chapter from my book, A Course in Christianity entitled, "Only God Will Satisfy," and after that, "All for Jesus."

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I begin with "Summer Flowers," a poem by anonymous found in the public domain. Next I share a chapter from my book, A Holy Hodgepodge entitled, "Reel-to-Real" then end with a hymn-poem "Blessed Redeemer."

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I begin with "The Cross" (a poem of mine) then share a chapter from my book, A Holy Hodgepodge entitled, "God Is God" and finally share another hymn/poem entitled, "Close to Thee."

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Welcome to season 22 (22 months at this). I pray you find this spiritually enlightening. Okay, so today I share an old poem, "Vision" then share a chapter from my book, A Course in Christianity entitled, "Our Carnal Voice" and finish up with a new hymn/poem, "I Will Sing of My Redeemer." That's it!

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Our carnal voice is loud. VERY LOUD. God's voice is soft, subtle, it has no need to shout because the truth is always true, and it never needs to defend itself. Our carnal voice thinks it needs to be loud and aggressive because, deep down, we know we are pushing it, fighting against the goads, going against the grain, making our own truth. We, therefore, need to apply a coating of temporary self-assurance paint to our statement in order to convince others, but mostly to convince ourselves, that what WE say is true. And we're sticking to it.

The Bible says that God's voice is a "still, small voice" but that doesn't mean it is a weak voice. Not at all. It just has no need to prove its strength at all. God knows that our carnal voice will eventually be redirected His way because ultimately there is only one way. Our carnal voice, meanwhile, whines and blubbers and strains and jostles and condemns and whittles away at the truth or shoves the truth way into the back of our minds in a drawer marked "Irrelevant" where it can be forgotten but only temporarily.

We can never push God's voice out of our lives completely. It is His life that keeps us going. Daily we breathe His air, daily we see His beauty all around us, daily we choose to dwell on His life or the appearance of death and destruction running rampant on this earth. We need His assurance embedded deeply into our minds so that as we look out from our vantage point, we see the Truth, instead of a deceptive appearance of truth, we perceive accurately instead of falsely, we have hearts filled with God's eternal joy instead of hearts depressed with nothing to beat for or even live for.

Our voice, built on layer upon layer of carnal sight, "evolved" over God's quiet but massive Truth. We try to bury God's massive Truth with our own shabbily built truth, but we can never completely shut out God. Our voice is pathetic and way off course.

How can we get back on course? How can we hear God's Truth over the 1,000,000 decibels the world shouts at us? This is why God sent Jesus to us. This is why Jesus sent the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, into this world so that the layers of false skins might be peeled back and discarded so that we might be guided back through this maze of the world, back into the arms of God Almighty where fear is no longer real, where negative emotions are no longer aroused, where "Thy kingdom Come" has actually come.

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Here are three favorite song-poems of mine. Enjoy! They are "Thank you, Thank you, Jesus" Lyrics: Vic, Music: Kevin Macleod - "Carpe Diem" found at Incompetech.com.  "Spinning Spinning" Lyrics: Vic, Music: Josh Woodward - "The Mission" found at JoshWoodward.com and "Let's Open Up the Flood Gates" Lyrics: Vic, Music: Josh Woodward, "Me and Billy Barnum" found at JoshWoodward.com.

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This is the final episode for the season (which is a month) so I'm trying to use up the allotted time I have left. Hence I am sharing three, count 'em, three chapters from my book, A Course in Christianity. But first I share a hymn/poem "To God Be the Glory" then I begin sharing the three chapters, "A Spiritual Law," "Stability Supersized," and "How I Wish God Was." I finish with my poem, "Help Me."  
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Stability Supersized

The earth whirls around the sun, spinning, dancing almost, as our whole solar system advances around the slowly twirling Milky Way Galaxy we inhabit.

The stability of God is greater than any mechanistic observation we can make. Any physical foundation is merely a shadow of God's TRUE foundation found in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Love as emanating from mankind has many flaws. They include but are not limited to possessive love, unforgiving love, loving to get, etc. But God's love is pure. God's love is stable. God's love has no limits.

Beyond the physical universe, residing deep in our hearts, God's perfection is only potential (like a seed) but it is there. We water it with our focus. Despite appearances to the contrary, God's potential in us overcomes via our focus, our desire to know Him, our belief.

Belief is a strong detriment, but it is also a strong encouragement. We choose what we will believe. We water the seed of God or we water the seed of darkness. Which will it be? What shall we believe? Shall our belief send us spiraling down into the pit of hell or shall our belief catapult us up into the arms of Jesus, our savior, our shepherd?

Our foundation does not rest on appearances. Appearances deceive. Appearances put a cloud cover over God's potential just waiting to save us from dire circumstances. Amazingly we can step back from our involvement in appearances and choose to see through the eyes of Christ who knew only life, only joy, only healing love.

If we were limited only by what we saw, we wouldn't be able to step back, step out of the picture, so to speak and re-think the situation. We would be forever trapped by our surroundings, subject only to their results. But we are NOT subject only to appearances, are we? Try it and you'll see. Next time you are deeply involved in a seemingly endless cycle of negativity, stop, take a deep breath and re-think with God knowing that with Him all things are possible and watch as peace envelopes you and a calm assurance from the Holy Spirit re-boots your life and takes you out of your dream of death. Just watch!

Meet Reality and let Jesus overcome death for you, through you. Let the world's reality be infused with God's Reality and you'll see the world's reality disappear (as if nothing was there at all).

Share the vision, folks. Live the truth. Don't just study theory. Put Jesus firmly in your life. Let His strength be yours!

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I begin with "Praise the Lord His Glories Show," then share from A Course in Christianity, the chapter entitled, "Share the Kingdom," and end with "Jesus Loves Me" like you've never heard it before (unless you listened to episode 162).

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I begin with a hymn/poem "Praise My Soul the God of Heaven," then share a chapter from my book, A Holy Hodgepodge "Identity Theft," and finally share an old poem set to music entitled, "The Parking Lot."

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Today I begin with a new hymn/poem creation entitled, "I Need Thee Every Hour." Next I share a chapter from my book, A Course in Christianity entitled "Who Are We?" and I wrap up this episode with an older poem from episode 100 of this podcast entitled, "The Wise May Bring Their Learning."
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What God creates must be incredible! Amazing. As we go through our life, do we recognize and feel a part of this amazingness? Or is life humdrum, boring? (I almost wrote "boing" leaving the r out of boring). Is life "boing" to you?

What God creates is real. We each have a permanent place in the Mind of God (through Jesus Christ). What are we doing with the Mind of God in which we live and move and have our being? Have we snuffed out our potential with our mundane life? Can we be a bright streak in the sky, exploding for God? Can we truly LIVE? Jesus said He came to give us abundant life. Have you seen your abundant life yet?

It is so easy for us to expand in our minds the Satanic operation here on earth. Make it appear bigger and seemingly more real than it is. Our focus gives it credence it doesn't deserve. We would be much better off utilizing the power God gives us through thought to recognize and be thankful to Him. Why would we choose to use this powerful instrument to make boogie men come alive? To fear? Why waste our God-given power of thought by giving it power and allowing it to poison the permanent place God gave us in His Mind. Are we wasting our amazing mental resources, our direct connection with God through His Son, by being in fear? We need to stop that now. 

Jesus gives us peace of mind. There is nothing to fear with Him in our hearts and a focus on Him in our minds. Don't be double minded! If fear of the future haunts you, immediately turn it around and pull the rug out from under the devil. You are far too great to be a victim of Satan and his negative ways. 

So just exactly who are we? Are we these bodies we have been inhabiting all these years? Do we "goo-goo" in our youth and dribble in our old age? Are we just these containers? Or are we something more than those?

If we think we are just these bodies, we will identify strongly with everything these bodies put us through. Is that a pragmatic way to go? Sure, they must be taken care of while we reside in this pre-heavenly realm, they must be fed, watered, and exercised but let's not make them gods. Let's not let them rule us. Step away from that type of identity and claim your shared Sonship with Jesus. He IS your way, your truth and, yes, even your life. Try not to forget that!

Does this chapter put a spring to your step? Are you "boinging" a bit now? Good!

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