More Than Bread

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In John 15 there is a serious call to love God's Words, to make them an always-there part of our hearts. Jesus uses the word, "remain." Remain in me. Let my words remain in you. Remain in my life. Remain. What we will find in this episode is that there is a connection that goes beyond metaphor into the land of mystical, a connection between Jesus, who is called "The Word" and the Word which we call our Bible. It's almost like God speaks and every time God opens his mouth, Jesus comes out. 

Here's the point, "I can't love Jesus, if I don't love the Word!

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Well this isn't the message I preached last Sunday on the Psalms, but it is the Psalm I would have preached on if I wasn't on vacation. :)  Psalm 77 is a powerful Psalm on gratitude in the midst of hard times. Few spiritual practices are as easy to understand, and require so little "practice" as gratitude, but honestly it is so powerful, so helpful, so refreshing. 

Maybe this Psalm will spur us on to gratitude!

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What did Jesus say to Martha when she came complaining about Mary? "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled over so many things, but only one thing is needed, one thing is necessary." Or perhaps in Martha's only one thing was lacking. With all her worry and hurry she was still lacking something. In essence Jesus was saying, "Mary has chosen what you need. What good would it do to take away from Mary, what you need?" I wonder how many of us are missing what we need because we are hurry to get something we think we lack.

Only one thing is needed. Jesus doesn't say only one thing is possible.  He doesn't say, "If you ever do anything other than this one thing, then you are wasting your time." He is simply telling us in midst of our mindlessness, distractions, hurry and worry, that there is one thing that is necessary. We must listen to His Words.

So here is my question, how many of us are choosing the wrong one thing?

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Sometimes we are tempted to think that words are just words. Right? We live in a world with a lot of words. Sometimes it feels like word overload. But is there really such a thing as "just words?" Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Remember that schoolyard ditty? We said it to try to convince ourselves that words couldn't hurt us, but we knew it was just a lie. Words can hurt. Words can bring life. Words can reshape a day, a year, even a life. And those are just our words. Think about the potential power of God-Words. 

God's words created the heavens and the earth. God's words bring healing. The words of Jesus were words of life. When it comes to God, there's no such thing as "just words."

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In a number of his books, C.S. Lewis compares the Christian life to a dance with God.  He calls it the Great Dance, and says, "Each one of us has to enter that pattern, and take our place in the dance.  There is no other way to the happiness for which we were made." See when it comes to the life of faith, there is a great difference between dancing by the book and hearing the music.

Living by the book is all about behaviors and rules and regulations, taking the right steps.  But entering into the great dance is all about relationship, romance and joy. You know what?  It's hard to dance, if you can't hear the music.  Can you hear the music?

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In this episode I'm going to ask the question, "Why don't I hunger for God's Words?" Maybe it's because we aren't sure we really believe in the Bible. When someone says that to me, I'm thinking really? Which part do you not believe?  Is it the poetry in the Psalms, or the wisdom of Proverbs? Maybe it was the way Jesus interacted with people?  Or maybe you don't believe that stealing and lying is bad?

And I'm not saying that there aren't parts of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, that aren't hard.  But some of us use that as self-imposed Word-famine excuse. It's Just too hard! But let's be honest, sometimes what's hard about the Bible is what we do understand, not what we don't understand. Right? So in this episode, I'll ask you ponder that question, "Why don't I hunger for God's Words?

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For those of you who are newer to "More Than Bread" for sometime now I often take a break from the "5 episodes a week" life and simply upload my sermon from the last Sunday (or something similar) on Mondays. Lately at Calvary we've been going through the Psalms with the theme of finding "A Life Refreshed."

This episode takes a look at Psalm 42 and 43. It's a Psalm of Lament, with a recurring theme of hope. No matter how hard the days or how dark the night, hope is fuel for our hearts. And here is the truth, "The best is yet to come, and He is worth the wait!" 

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Do I have an urgent hunger for God's Words? First can I define my terms? Here's the deal, if it's not important, it can't be urgent. The dictionary defines urgency as "something of importance requiring swift action. Urgency is an earnest and  persistent response to a pressing situation." In other words, urgency is a subset of what's important. If it's not important, it can't be urgent. Now any number of issues in our world today could cause a sense of urgency. But here is what I think, while many things could seem urgent, what actually becomes consistently urgent is whatever we think will brings us life and is missing.

In other words, urgency is defined by hunger. Urgency happens when we lack something which we think will bring us life. So ask yourself, "Do I have an urgent hunger for God's Words?

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Listen, there are voices in this world, voices that some of you have listened to all your life. Some of them were bad voices, mean, always critical, made you feel like you had nothing to offer the world. You can't be fixed, never succeed and can't be forgiven. Some of you on the other hand, you've had some great voices speaking into your life through the years; words of affirmation and courage, words of love and wisdom. Whether the voices of the people in your life, have been good or  bad.  Whether you have chosen to listen or not.  There is one voice above all others that we need to hear.

It's God's voice. Listen for God's voice deep in your heart. Nobody cheers for you like him. He delights in you. He's paying attention, shaping you, holding you, ever faithful and forgiving.

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In Exodus 33, God tells Moses He is saying "yes" to Moses' prayer. Why? "Because you have found favor with me and you are my friend." Every time I read those  words, it brings tears to my eyes. In part because I'm reminded how often I seek his favor over his friendship. In part because of the memories that flood my mind. Times when I've gone on long drives, just because I wanted uninterrupted time with God.  Times when I've opened the Bible and it's like having coffee with Jesus.  And I find myself praying, "God, whether you breakthrough out there or not, would you please breakthrough in my heart. In the last chapters of my life I just want to be known as a friend of God. 

What if nothing matters more than this? Are you a friend of God?