What is our foundation?

Posted on April 7, 2014 by jeremygarrettawaken

As the NCAA men’s basketball tournament comes to its conclusion with the championship game tonight, those of us that have been watching the tournament have seen the same commercials over and over for 3 weeks now. I can picture Charles Barkley ending every Capitol One credit card commercial by turning to the camera and asking the viewers, “What’s in your wallet?”

Jesus (yes, I know I just segued from Charles Barkley to Jesus) points us to ask ourselves another question similar to that one as He winds up the Sermon on the Mount. He closes with this parable: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

So I ask, “What’s in your foundation?”

I think it is of the utmost importance to note that the storms came to both the wise man and the foolish man. Just because the wise man built his house on rock didn’t mean that the storms would miss him. In life, bad things happen to both the wise and the foolish. Bad things happen to the godly and the ungodly.

We don’t think that is fair, but this side of Heaven fairness isn’t something that comes along frequently. When we really think about it, none of us are perfect anyway so who is to say that it isn’t fair that we experience the storms. We are saved by grace, not by our works.

But, the distinction is that if we root ourselves in Jesus we will survive the storm. Not always in an earthly way because the death rate is still 100% (that stat was last double checked 4/6/14). But we will survive on a deeper level. Jesus watches over His sheep. Death is not the end of the story!

Here is a storm I am going through now. Laura and I are experiencing “radio silence” in our adoption process going on 2 months now. We had OUR timeline for how this was all supposed to work out. We would travel in June to get our little girl so I would have the summer to spend with her before the busyness of another school year starts up. But, God’s plan is different from ours. And His plan is better. No, I don’t understand that now but I know that He is God and I am not so whatever His plan is will work out in the end better than my plans.

My job in the meantime is to build my foundation on Him.

What storms are you going through in your life? What is the foundation of your life that is being revealed as the storms pound you? Are there changes you need to make in your foundation to keep it from crumbling?

Remember that Jesus is the master builder!

More to come…
Jeremy

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Why is failure a better teacher than success?

Posted on March 31, 2014 by jeremygarrettawaken

Why is it that I learn more from falling flat on my face than when things are rolling along successfully for me?

I can’t even begin to tell you how frustrating this is in my life! Is this a conditioning in our lives? Do we have to fail to go forward?

Looking back over my life, I have been fortunate to have experienced great spiritual highs–times when I can really feel God’s calling for me and His presence in my life. During those times, it is so easy to follow Him! It just seems like second nature. But, inevitably, those times come to an end and I find myself tempted to go back to my old ways of acting and thinking.

It is in those times, that I want to develop the perseverance to keep on track! Instead of giving in to temptation and then feeling sorry for myself and asking for forgiveness–I want to grow through success instead!

Perhaps Jesus has provided me an answer in the parable of the rich fool in Luke chapter 12. Here is Jesus’ parable, “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest (he experiences success!). He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do, I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy: eat, drink and be merry’. But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:17-21)

When I honestly look back over my life, my stumblings have come when I was “storing up things for myself”. What a powerful reminder for me. The rich man wasn’t a fool just because he was rich. He was a fool because he quit doing the disciplines that led him to having an opportunity to be successful. Once he made a decision to kick back and take it easy he realized only after it was too late that his life would be taken from him.

My “successes” are really just when I am doing what God has called me to do. My failings are when I make decisions–usually small ones to start with–that slowly draw me back into my selfish ways.

Here is where our decisions in life are so important. I want to stand on the shoulders of others who have lived a life of excellence in their relationships with God, their spouses, and their children. I want to be one who looks back at my life and doesn’t have major regrets when I realize that I have squandered so much of the time I was given.

The challenge this week is to think through where you are at in terms of your relationship with God. Is He your top priority? As Barry C. Black the U.S. Senate Chaplain asked yesterday as he preached at our church, “If you were on trial for being a Christian, is there enough evidence to convict you?” That question covers your public life, but what about your private life? How are you doing there? Are you living a life of integrity where what you say matches what you do?

My prayer for you is that you have at least one person–if not a group of people–in your life that you can talk about the above questions with. Which leads me to say that I have begun praying for those who read this blog. I probably should have started a while ago, but if you read this blog often you know I am not always the quickest learner!

More to come…
Jeremy

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Admirer or Follower?

Posted on March 24, 2014 by jeremygarrettawaken

I was struck in a way that I wasn’t expecting this week as I was going through my emails one day. This past Labor Day weekend while visiting my brother-in-law and his family, Laura and I attended Redeemer Presbyterian Church-West Side. Redeemer Presbyterian has kind of become our NYC church home as it is a diverse and vibrant congregation.

I signed up for their weekly email updates that always contain a short devotional thought. This past week’s was written by Reverend David Bisgrove. The question he asked was, “Are you an admirer of Jesus or a follower of Jesus?”

A follower of Jesus is someone who is wanting to be more like Jesus in every way. Daily they strive to know Him more and more! Furthermore, a follower of Jesus knows that Jesus “has a claim on their lives”.

Admirers, on the other hand, think that Jesus was a good man and a good teacher. He taught people how to live good lives and said we should do good things to others. Admirers, however, don’t take it any further. They don’t give Jesus a claim on their life. They cling to their own autonomy.

I hate to say this but there are more times than I care to admit that I have I acted more like an admirer of Jesus than a follower of Jesus.

That is why the examined life is so important. Those who say that Jesus was a good teacher and a good man but don’t give Him a claim on their life haven’t truly thought through the words that Jesus spoke. As C.S. Lewis famously said in his book, Mere Christianity:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Your challenge for this week is to do something you may not have done for some time. Stop and seriously answer the question, “Am I an admirer or a follower of Jesus?” Think through the Lewis quote. You can’t have it both ways. If you truly are a follower of Jesus, what will that mean in your life? What will you have to start doing differently? By the same token, what will you have to stop doing?

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Do we have to prune these again?

Posted on March 17, 2014 by jeremygarrettawaken

Last week, one of our topics was how the ways of our culture and the teachings of Jesus are frequently not in sync. He is another example that just doesn’t make sense in our culture until we take a deeper look.

When I was a kid, every year right around late March or early April my brothers and I would take a Saturday morning and help Dad prune the grapevines that we had growing at home. I never understood why we had to prune these every year. In a child’s mind (and in the mind of our culture), the thinking goes something like this, “We are we cutting these branches back? Wouldn’t we get more grapes if there were longer branches?” (Isn’t more better? Isn’t bigger better?)

Now, as an adult I understand the process of pruning. I don’t have grapes but I do have about 20 different roses on my property that I prune every spring when the first buds start to form.

Why do we prune every season? Because the process of pruning allows the plants energy to focus on new growth. Diseased and older, less useful areas of the plant are eliminated so the plants energy can be used to focus on new growth. For grapes, this allows the vine to produce a better tasting grape. For roses, pruning gives the plant more blooms and more vibrant blooms.

Jesus compares Himself to the “true vine” and His Father to “the gardener” (John 15:1). He goes on to say, “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful,” (John 15:2-3).

I love how Jesus gave us something we can tangibly see and understand (the physical description of pruning) and uses it to explain to us how His Father works in the lives of those He loves.

Jesus prunes us so that we get rid of those things in our life that are taking us away from Him. It is very easy in our culture to “grow” many, many useless branches in our life. Often times it happens so slowly and steadily in our lives that we don’t even realize that we have choked out our life-giving force. We need to constantly ask God to search our lives for what needs to be pruned so we can produce more and more fruit for Him!

This week, take some time to look back at your life. When were there times of pruning in your life? What fruit came out of those times?

Now think about your life today. What are some things that The Gardener may be wanting to prune from your life today?

Make no mistake, the pruning process can be painful and difficult, but we must have faith that God is shaping us into the people He wants us to be.

More to come…
Jeremy

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Do not be like them…

Posted on March 10, 2014 by jeremygarrettawaken

“Didn’t you just study Matthew?” my wife asked when I informed her that I was going to study the Sermon on the Mount again. “That was like 3 months ago,” I replied.

Perhaps I am going back to Matthew because I am drawn in the season of Lent to study the life of Jesus. Also, Chuck Swindoll–which I listen to frequently–is doing a series on the Sermon on the Mount. However, I think the main reason is that I just really need to hear these words again!

Ever since Joe, who is a good friend of mine, brought these 3 chapters of Matthew freshly to my attention, I have found myself craving their words in my life. Swindoll summarized all of the many teachings in Matthew chapters 5,6, and 7 up in 5 words that Jesus is trying to get across to His followers:

“Do not be like them…” (Matthew 6:8). Jesus is telling us what we innately realized in our hearts when we became His followers: The ways of the world are not the ways of Jesus.

There is a primary coming up soon in my home state of Illinois. Politics, like many areas of our culture, rewards a person’s image more so than their integrity. I don’t know if George Washington and John Adams (two men whom, regardless of what you think of their politics, people would be hard-pressed to not see them as men of integrity) could be elected today in the era of television and sound bites. Our culture doesn’t value the traits those men lived by. We want the “coolness” factor instead.

Here is another example of the topsy-turvy world we live in. After church yesterday, Laura and I went to Barnes and Noble to get the Rosetta Stone Level 1 for Mandarin Chinese (1/2 price by the way if you are interested in learning a language!) When we went to pay, there were magazines all over the cashier’s counter with mostly naked women on them. The SI Swimsuit Issue, Maxim, some other ones that I can’t remember, and there is a shirtless Justin Bieber with the cover, “Bad Boy”. Now, I don’t want to sound like a prude, but why do they have to place those there? That is right where every little boy and girl are going to be looking–it is at their eye-level when you think about it.

What are the values that the world is trying to give us? What are the values that Jesus was trying to teach His followers? Do you see the difference?

This week I am straight-up stealing my challenges for you from Chuck Swindoll (but I am giving him all the credit!) Here they are:

1. There are 8 Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-10, pick one a day and work on implementing it in your life. You will come face-to-face with Jesus’ words in these verses. I do have to admit that The Message translation helped me understand these verses better.

2. Like my experience at the Barnes and Noble counter, really start noticing the differences between Jesus’ ways and the world’s ways. Explain them to those around you–especially your children! They need to be taught His ways because they will certainly be exposed to the world’s!

More to come…
Jeremy

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Make a decision–and then get movin’

Posted on March 3, 2014 by jeremygarrettawaken

Do you ever find yourself having a stuck-in-the-mud feeling when it comes to your faith? I know that I do. Upon reflecting on those times, for me those feelings tend to occur when I am trying to get “out of this world”.

By that I mean that there are times when I just wish Jesus would come and take me out of this painful, war-torn, broken world that we live in. But–and this is why daily quiet time with the Lord is so important for me–He cuts through my whining and reminds me that I have work to do for Him in this world. Yes, it is a painful, war-torn, and broken world but it is also full of the people who Jesus gave His life to save.

In the last chapter of the book bearing his name, Joshua tells his people to, “Choose this day whom you will serve”. Joshua makes it very clear what his choice is, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua’s answer speaks to me because it shows me that I need to make that decision and then get moving! I don’t need to re-think that decision once it was made, but I do need to manage the decision that was made once and for all.

“We will serve the Lord.” That is an action statement! So many times I think that I need to protect myself from this world because of all the evil there is. That is such a passive, wishy-washy faith! I need to change my mindset in this regard away from “protection” and towards “training”. I need to train myself to be holy like He is holy! Training myself and my family and all those I have a chance to influence is what God wants from me.

The challenge this week is to change your mindset from one that says only, “Protect me, God,” to one that says, “Train me, God to help take your Kingdom to this world!” This world wants us to hunker down and be defeated, but let’s rise up and live the life that God has called us to!

More to come…
Jeremy

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Encouragement anyone?

Posted on February 24, 2014 by jeremygarrettawaken

Do you know anyone who has been beaten down by this world? Have YOU been beaten down by this world? Do you feel like you are stuck in the middle rounds of a Rocky Balboa fight? Just taking the beating while hoping to fast forward to the end of the fight where the fabulous comeback begins.

I know I have been there before. You probably have been, too. What’s more, if you have been there and I have been there–that means pretty much everyone has been, is now, or will be there at some point in their lives. It is at that point where an encourager needs to step in.

Much of what we say serves two purposes–it either builds people up or it tears them down. Scripture, in the Book of James, tells us that the tongue cannot be tamed by humans. Boy, I can sure tell you that is true. I try hard to watch what I say, but EVERY day, I say something that I regret. I pray about it, I really think about it…yet then when the opportunity comes to say the right thing or nothing at all I still go ahead and say something that tears people down.

I am trying to become an Ephesians 4:29 type of guy, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” The chapter concludes with further instructions in verse 32, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ah, there is the grace that I have been writing about the past couple of weeks. The human tongue can’t be tamed, but Jesus can still redeem our words–and our relationships.

So this week our challenge is to be kind in our words, to be compassionate in our words, and to be forgiving in our words. It is difficult, but through Jesus it is possible. Hey, it’s like Rocky said in Rocky IV, “If I can change, and you can change, everybody can change!”

(I bet you never thought I would end an Awaken Ministry blog with a Rocky quote did you?)

More to come…
Jeremy

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Responding to Grace

Posted on February 17, 2014 by jeremygarrettawaken

Last week, not only did I reveal that I am turning 40 soon, but more importantly discussed how I am coming to realize that I owe everything in my life to the fact that God has given me the undeserved gift of grace. Now, recognizing that we have received the gift of grace is important, but God pours out His grace on all people–believers and non-believers. So, the question is, “How do we respond to His grace?”

I think how we answer that question says a lot about the condition of our hearts. I know I don’t think about my response to this question as often as I should. Thankfully, Jesus in Matthew 25:14-30, gives us a positive and negative way of responding to God’s grace. It is the parable of the talents and I will give the abridged version. Basically, a man is leaving on a journey and gives one servant five talents, another servant two talents, and finally to a third servant one talent is given.

When the man comes back after a period of time, he finds that the first servant doubled his five talents. The master is pleased! “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”

The second servant also doubled his two talents. His master praises him in the same way! But, the third servant dug a hole in the ground and buried his one talent because he was afraid of losing it. He gave the master back his one talent. How does the master respond? “You wicked, lazy servant!” He then gives him a good tongue lashing and sends him outside into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Your first thought may have been my first thought when I initially heard this illustration years ago. I remember thinking, “That is harsh! I mean, the third servant didn’t cost his master any money. He gave him back what he was given.”

But, the difference between the first two servants and the third servant was that the first two took their talents and used them! They entered the arena and went to work! The master loved seeing his servants take what was given to them and using them to produce more. The third servant took his talent and hid it. He didn’t use it for any purpose. In the end, it was taken from him and given to the one who had ten.

That is a powerful lesson for me. How do I respond to the gifts God has given me? Do I bury them in the ground? Or, do I take those blessings and work to multiply them by developing them and sharing them with others?

This is why as Christians we should be some of the most positive people we are around! We know we have been blessed with grace and we should do all we can to multiply that gift to all those we come in contact with!!

So the challenge this week is to share your blessings! Respond to the gift of grace in your life by letting God multiply that gift in your life so that others will experience the grace of God!

More to come…
Jeremy

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Amazing Grace

Posted on February 10, 2014 by jeremygarrettawaken

I know this will be a shocking revelation to most of you–but I turn “The Big 40” later this month. I know, I know…you are asking, “How can that be?” But, yes it is true.

As this milestone birthday approaches, I have been hit by an undeniable truth that has continually been going through my head the last couple of weeks:

I am nothing without the gift of grace. EVERYTHING good in my life has not been earned by me being a “good” person or by any particular act I have done. It is all a gift by the grace of Jesus Christ.

I sometimes fool myself into thinking that I have done something to have deserved the blessings in my life. But, upon further examination, I realize that my heart at its core is corrupt. I am no better than anyone else because God hates and cannot tolerate any sin. It is only through God’s grace that I am saved. It is because of what Jesus did for me on the cross that I know that my future is secure with Him. O, Father I pray that I would never forget these words of Jesus, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit–fruit that will last…” (John 15:16).

I know this about myself. I need this reminder daily. The last verse of the powerful hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” says:
“O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be! Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love; here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.”

As I move closer to 40, this is what my thoughts are. I know we serve a Holy God who deserves our total trust and obedience. I know I fall short of this–despite my best efforts. That is why I am so thankful for His grace.

Because of His grace there is more to come…
Jeremy

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From the head to the heart

Posted on February 3, 2014 by jeremygarrettawaken

Today I read about Joshua’s defeat at Ai (Joshua chapter 7). As I am reading Scripture, like you I am trying to read, study, and apply what I am reading. People in my generation know that “Knowledge is power!”. We know that because we grew up watching School House Rock. I apologize for this reference for those readers that are under 35–I am apologizing only because you missed out on some great Saturday morning learning times!!

Anyway, “knowledge is power” but what I have learned since then is that the power knowledge gives us is only realized when we have internalized that knowledge and know it in our heart!

In Joshua chapter 7, the Israelite army is given a swift defeat by an enemy that should have been easily routed. Joshua, in utter dismay after the defeat, cries out to the Lord, “Alas, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us?” He goes on another couple of verses basically complaining to God about the defeat.

What Joshua is about to find out is that Achan took some items that were supposed to be destroyed in Jericho after its fall. Basically, Joshua found out that victory couldn’t be theirs because they were in sin.

As I read this, I thought to myself, “How many times have I gone whining to God about this or that and didn’t even realize that I had sin that wasn’t dealt with in my life?” I was just like Achan! Which suffice it to say, scared me because Achan (and all of his family) gets stoned to death and then burned for his sin.

Hadn’t Achan heard the very clear instructions given before Jericho fell that there was to be nothing taken other than precious metals that would go to the treasury of the Lord’s house? Yes, he had knowledge of it, but he didn’t know it in his heart. So, when he was tempted with “a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels” he “coveted them and took them” (verse 21).

That is why head knowledge alone won’t get us anywhere! We have to know the truth in our hearts and repent of our sins. Knowledge is a required course, but the graduate level courses of life require that we know the Truth in our hearts which will lead to the development of our “chest” as C.S. Lewis called it, so that we can then live out our faith in this world.

The challenge for this week is to take the time to search your heart and see if there are sins in your life that need to be dealt with. Then, don’t wait, but deal with them now!

Let’s make 2014 a year of increased heart devotion to our Lord!

More to come…
Jeremy

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