Of love!

^{1 Corinthians 13:13} And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13: 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

John 15:13 (NIV)

¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends

As of disciple and as a legacy dad we have to set our hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  We have to set our minds on things above.  We have to put to death that which is of earth and its desires.

To understand true love we have to study God's word and build relationships with the Trinity.  God the father wants our praise and honor and glory for him.  His Son wants a relationship with us because he wants more than just a fan because he died for us and rose again to save us.  And he loves us so much that he gave us his Spirit to guide us and direct us in heavenly ways.

To understand love we can try to get a glimpse of it when we serve and love others without expectant wants in return.  We can watch children laugh and play.  We can have children of our own to begin to understand just how much God loves us.  I believe in my heart that is why God gives us children to begin to understand this love.

He wants us to understand that love has no record of wrongs.  That is, to say, that when Jesus died on the cross he took all of our broken record and nailed them to that cross.  What that means for each and every one of us who are born again is that we are forgiven of past sins, of present sins and of sins to come.  God gives us His Spirit to guide us and to lead us on our pathway of sanctification.  He calls us to be holy and to pursue His righteousness.  When we sin, we are called to forgive our brothers and to confess our sins to one another.

This is the road map to unconditional love.

When we love our neighbors as our-self we are putting the 2nd greatest commandment to practice.  To love our neighbor as ourselves.  We are called to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and then to love our neighbor.

Who is our neighbor:

• Our family
• Our wives
• Our kids
• Our literal neighbors
• The lost
• The saved (our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus)

If you cannot forgive and you cannot love like this then we are called to examine ourselves to see if we are in the Faith.  To see if we are called to be his chosen.

What fruit are you bearing?  Is the peace of Christ and his love evident in your life?  If not, how then can we justify scripture in our lives?  We cannot.

Forgive as we have been forgiven.

Love as we have been loved.  For love has no greater friend then one who lays down his life for us (Jesus did this for you and me).  Now tell me how we cannot do that for our wives?  For our kids?  For our neighbors, communities and churches.

In all that you do seek first the Kingdom, love like we are loved and move to his wants and desires for our lives.

Of all that we do never forget Love.

Blessings,

Dante

Of hope...

Mark 5:21-43New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman

²¹ When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. ²² Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. ²³ He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” ²⁴ So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. ²⁵ And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶ She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. ²⁷ When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸ because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” ²⁹ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

³⁰ At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

³¹ “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

³² But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. ³³ Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. ³⁴ He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

³⁵ While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

³⁶ Overhearing^[a] what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

³⁷ He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. ³⁸ When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. ³⁹ He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.”⁴⁰ But they laughed at him.

After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. ⁴¹ He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). ⁴² Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. ⁴³ He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

----

Hope can be a funny thing.  Hope can be a last resort.  Hope can be all sorts of things for different people.  The one common theme in Hope is for the looking forward of something.  Have you ever gone to a funeral?  There is a great likelihood that you have if you have been reading this blog for quite some time.  Funerals can be very sad or in some cases (where there is Hope) can be a celebration and a mourning.  The mourning, is common in all funerals, in that we miss the loved ones that have left this earthly realm and have moved on to another.  It is common for us to mourn that which we once had have and now no longer do.  There are some funerals, however, where there is no hope and more like a statement of "if", that is, "if" there is an afterlife, "then" maybe this person will be in Heaven.  And then there are funerals where you go to and there is mourning, but there is also a celebration because you and I, who profess the Lord Jesus as Savior and have repented of our sins and our transformed into His new creation, have this hope.  For those of us that have the Lord, as Savior, no longer have to say goodbye to our loved ones.  Rather, we should be saying:  See you later!

Hope can be seen throughout history.  In war, in peace and even in movies we see the thread of hope intertwined in all of these events.  Hope is looking forward to.  Hope, as Christians, comes with a promise:

• It is all about Jesus
• The Word was with God and the Word is God
• Jesus was raised from the dead and now sits on the throne at the right hand of God
• Jesus will return
• We have the Holy Spirit in each of us who are saved

Faith without works is dead.  Without hope what is there to look forward to?

I am not sure about you, or where have come from, but I am sure in the Bible.  I am sure in my salvation.  I am sure that Jesus will return and I have faith and hope in my future with Him.

What about your hope?

Blessings,

Dante

Of Faith...

Jesus Honors a Syrophoenician Woman’s FaithMark 7: 24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre.[g] He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. 25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. 27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” 28 “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Luke 7 (NIV)

The Faith of the Centurion

Luke 7: 7 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

Often I imagine myself in a situation where I am being watched by a cloud of witnesses and Angels and the Lord all watching me and during a trial or tribulation I say or do something that would please them for my faith.  Often I find myself falling short of this reality and either being too distracted, too tired, too frustrated or the like, wondering just how many times that I have missed these opportunities of faith?

I realize that when I rely on myself in the course of my day, then I am liking setting myself up to fail.  However, when I find myself in the word, reading Scripture daily and praying regularly, more often than not, the Holy Spirit guides more toward these opportunities.  I think the big question here is am I allowing myself the time for the Spirit to guide me?  Am I available?  Am I trusting God for His leading?

When I read the Old and New testament I am continually amazed how God uses ordinary men, women and even children to do extraordinary things through His will.  That blows me away that God decides to use us to build His Kingdom.  To be a part of that and to be available for that is an amazing thing.  When I mentor, when I coach and when God puts me in leadership, I am truly humbled that He gives me the ability to do this, but even more so to be even more blessed by what I get back in return.

When we serve we should expect:

• To be blessed
• To be needed
• To be used for God's glory
• To be his light (more Christ-like)

When we serve we should not expect:

• To be exhausted
• To have a bad attitude
• To not have the time (We are called to be stewards of His time, talent and treasure)

As a men's ministry leader I find myself walking with various men of all ages ranging from my son to high school all the way up to men that are in the 60's and 70's.  When I find myself walking with men and being asked by them to mentor them I often ask them to mentor me.  Sometimes you will find that when you mentor, the mentee is regularly mentoring you even more so by their walk and truth and humility toward Scripture - it is a beautiful thing.  The one thing that I like to challenge these men with is that if they want me to walk with them then they have to be in the Word regularly and have to be in prayer as well.  The reason that I request this is because if they aren't listening to God's word then there is nothing possibly in my life that would or could bring them to the truth.  They have to be rooted in the word!

When you walk in God's truth and His light you will often find yourself living a life of faith!

Blessings,Dante

Putting things into perspective

Every year my family and I have taken the last week of July and first week of August off.  It is a time for me to rest and to plug back into my family and walk closer to the Lord.  There is this prayer tower that I like to go to along the Lake that is pictured here to the left.  This picture reminds me of several things and first and foremost is that I have to realize that no matter how much I think that things under control - I don't.  This picture reminds me that Jesus has it all - from begging to end.When I try to put my worries, my stresses or even my successes in front of God's will for my life - I stumble.  When I try to walk in His word and trust in him over everything I can see things culminate into a symphony of life that God has ordained for me.  To put it simply - He has it all.

What I love most about this picture is that it reminds me that no matter how much I love my wife, my son and my two daughters, that I cannot love them more than Jesus does.  He paid the ultimate price.  This doesn't mean that I wouldn't jump in front of a bus or run into a burning building or trade my life for my family, because I know in my heart and my mind and my body, soul and strength that I would.  That is not what matters here, because not only does God love my wife and children more than me, He sent His Son to die for me.  To raise from the dead and to now sit at His right hand.  Because of this, God has given me His Holy Spirit and calls me to a life of purity and righteousness for Him.  Jesus Christ's righteousness has been imputed in me - I am now as white as snow with God - thanks be to Jesus.

He loves me, oh how He loves me.  He died for me and His blood has covered me.

All praise and honor  and glory be to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Blessings,

Dante

Why the Church

When you think about life, the Bible and God's plan for us, it is amazing to think and believe that God chose us.  God chooses to use us to build His kingdom.  God chooses us to share his love.  God chooses us to share His Son, Jesus Christ, to the world.  We are called by the Son to go and make disciples unto all the world.  Remember the important narrative here in that God chooses us!In His wonderful creation and word, God shows us the importance of community.  After all, in the beginning God created (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) everything.  The older I get the more I see man's hypothesis and science give way to the Truth, to the Way and to the life given to us by God the Father.  God shows us the importance of community by Himself, His Son and His Spirit who are three-in-one and one-in-three.  That is a concept that is way above my understanding, yet when you test it against the truth in Scripture that is the only way that it could be.  God gives us community by the living, breathing, and awe-inspiring love that He has for us.

Ephesians 3:9-10 (ESV)  9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in[a] God who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Hebrews 10:24-25 (ESV) 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Community is a very important part of God's mission.   God made us to be in community, we crave community.  He exemplifies true community in the Holy Trinity.  He wants to model this some community in the Church, the body of Christ.  We are to love each other and to continue to do good to each other in brotherly (and sisterly( love).  The more that we let the Spirit bless us with His fruit (for the Fruit of the Spirit is: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control).  This is fruit that should pour out of our lives, in community, when we bear the name Jesus as Savior.

When Jesus was on this earth he exemplified this model to us all through walking with His disciples and having them walk with others along the way.  Remember, in the Gospels, that there was a point where Jesus sends out the disciples two by two and Scripture reveals to us that there are 70 disciples plus the twelve with Jesus.  Where did these 70 come from?   The answer is simple:  Through community.

Do you remember where Jesus is talking to Peter about the church and references him in regards to on this rock, he will build His church.  This is not a reference to any specific religion, rather, this is referencing the Church - God's church.

When we are in community and doing God's will, then we can see His purpose and wonderful path that he has for each and everyone of us.  How can we do this:

Be in community

Serve together

Share God's love story together

Read the Bible daily

Pray often

Walk with other brothers (if you are a man) and with other sisters (if you are a woman)

In all you do, do in love and forgiving each other (in the church) as God has forgiven you

Love one another

In all you do, Coram Deo.

Blessings,

Dante

Cleaning House

If you are like me and you have/had older parents than you can appreciate the phrase that "we have to clean house".  My mother died in March of 2011, which was a year after they went to assisted living as the doctors believed that they were too old to take care of themselves in their own home.  This was a hard transition for my parents and my siblings as they were not to keen on change.  It was particularly harder for my sister and I who literally took over the financial (me) and medical (my sister) while the other two siblings opted out.

In this transition we finally had to come to terms on cleaning out the house.  After renting the house, putting things in storage and finally selling the house, then we had to clean out the house.  It truly epitomizes the term, "IT all goes back in the box".  In talking with friends and other distant family members, we all find ourselves in the point in our lives, be it family members, parents, relatives and or friends and church community where we have to clean out the house and help them clean out.

Society constantly bombards us with the solicitations on television, radio and social media that we have to have more.  They say that we deserve more and believe that we are all entitled to more.  It doesn't matter if we make $12,000 or $50,000 or six or even seven digit incomes - society and its marketeers tells us - buy it, spend it, enjoy it - we deserve a break today.

As Christians, we know that if we truly were honest with the phrase - we deserve a break today, that would not be possible without the saving grace of Jesus Christ.  Because of God's love for us - sending His Son to die for us and to pay the cost for our sins - we will be saved.  Not only must we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, we have to transform through the repentance of our heart.

Romans 12:1-2 (ESV) A Living Sacrifice 12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers,[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.[b] 2 Do not be conformed to this world,[c] but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.[d].

Colossians 3 (ESV) Put On the New Self 3 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your[a] life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you:[b] sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming.[c] 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self[d] with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave,[e] free; but Christ is all, and in all.

12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

As we grow in our walks and truly understand the call to stewardship in our lives, we will realize a few important facts

• We only have a short amount of time on this earth (our days are numbered)
• We have been given gifts by the Spirit to honor God with (our talents are not our on)
• We have to be responsible for our time
• We have to be responsible for our talent
• We have to be accountable for our treasure (that has been given to us by God)
• What we put in is what we get out (meaning Garbage in = Garbage out versus Treasure in = treasure out (the word of God))

If you have ever been like me in the situation that I was in with my parents house (and even my house) then you start to realize the thing about most Americas that is extremely relevant to our every day lives, especially as Christians - we have all been given too much stuff.  I do not care whether your are rich or poor or somewhere in between - the US is truly blessed by its resources.   The lesson that I learned through this chapter in my life is that it is not fair to push my stuff onto the next generation (our kids and their kids).  It is not right to burden them with too much stuff (this is a whole other post) and that in the end, when we meet God at the Judgement Seat of Christ - he is not going to ask us, as Christians, what stuff did we acquire and how much did we do in our name (instead of His).  Instead, those that know and show fruit of being sons and daughters of God will be asked what we have done in His name and how did we use our gifts (time, talent and treasure) to honor Him.

I have shared with my wife a few things during this process that I want to leave a legacy with my kids:

• Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, body, soul and strength
• Love our neighbor (our sisters and brothers) as ourselves
• To not idolize stuff (do not get caught up in material things) rather, put the emphasis on heavenly things
• Pack less, store less, simplify our lives
• Do not depend too much on material things (wealth, technology, and so on) because it all goes back into the box
• Love without condition
• Give without expectation
• Make yourself available to those around you (and in need)
• Do not withhold when it is in your power to give
• In all things, learn from Proverbs 3:5-7 (ESV) 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.  7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

Some of us need to be real and take this lesson on cleaning our parents house out and turn that to a spiritual cleaning in our lives:

• Is our phone (smart) causing us to sin - throw it out
• Is our computer taking us away from God's call to purity
• Are we in the word every day
• Do we pray often?
• Are we in community with our brothers and sisters?
• Are we being accountable to community and to Scripture?
• Do we have unrepentant sin in our lives?

If you don't believe what Lance and I write in this blog, then we challenge you to examine our words (and the words of others) and test them in Scripture.  Pray to the Lord and see if He reveals His way to you.

Draw near to God and He will Draw nearer to us - the Bible tells us so!

Blessings,

Dante

Independence Day

All throughout history we see history of men who stood for truth and justice and independence – their freedom from evil and tyranny:William Wallace, King Leonidas (the 300 Spartans), Winston Churchill, Mahatma Ghandi, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, , William Wilberforce, William Tyndale (translated the Bible into English), Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Apostles,

What about Jesus Christ – what did he do to sin, to death and for us?

• 1 Peter 2:16 - Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants[a] of God.
• Galatians 5:1 - For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
• 2 Corinthians 3:17 - Now the Lord[a] is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
• Hebrews 12:1 (ESV) Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith
• 12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrvpZxMfKaU

If you are a bible believing, Jesus Christ professing Christian and you believe in you heart that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, lived on this earth and was crucified and rose again on the 3rd day and now sits at the right hand of God, then you have been set free.

Therefore, put to death the old self and put on the new self which we are in Jesus Christ and his Spirit resides in us.

Happy Independence Day.

Lance & Dante