You’ll Get It When You Give It - Tis the season to give and get. But let us not get so wrapped up in the festivities of the tradition that we forget about all the people who are hurting. For some, Christmas can be a cruel reminder of losses in life – lost loved ones through death or divorce, lost jobs, lost hopes or dreams. Just the simple fact that this time is suppose to be joyous may drive some into deep depression, apathy or anguish.
So why not think beyond ourselves? Why not give some time, money or presence? Instead of getting caught up in our own selfish celebration, why not remember what it’s all about – Jesus came to tend to and mend the broken and hurting. Then step out of your world and into another person’s and make a difference. After all, isn’t that what Jesus did as God’s gift to us?
I’m coming to understand in deeper ways how true the old saying is… “It is better to give than to receive.” Isn’t that what being a follower of Christ is all about? We have received the gift of His grace, so we follow His example and our lives are graciously being poured out for others? I had the blessing of buying two new tires for a friend this past week because the tread was coming through and she couldn’t afford to replace them right now. While I’m standing at the tire place waiting for the job to be completed, in that moment I felt more alive than ever. I remembered once again as I said to myself, “Now THIS is living!” It really is better to give than to receive because when we give, we are more like God. Have you realized this? You are more like God than at any other moment when you give a gift out of love. That’s why it is better to give than to receive, and why it feels so right.
A family we know needs a car. They are pregnant with their first child and both of their cars died beyond resurrection. The wife got laid off from work and the husband is making enough to support them but with the unexpected circumstances cannot replace their vehicles. So we thought, “Why not? Why not buy them a car?” If we are going to “love our neighbors as ourselves,” doesn’t that mean we will do for them what we would do for ourselves? So we sent out an email to some on our contacts list and explained the situation and the opportunity to do something extraordinary for others. Perhaps you got that email. So it worked, and God worked… we raised money to buy them a vehicle in less than 24 hours. God also directed us through a FUSIONeer to a car dealership that gave us wholesale price on a good used minivan. 
We dropped it off after worship with an infant car seat in the back and a $100 gas card. The couple could not believe it. “Why would anyone do this,” they asked? They wept tears of joy and said this simple gift has renewed their belief in God and their faith in people and has changed their entire lives.
FUSION is all about Unleashing God’s Power Together . . . do you see that when we come together, united in Christ to do good, that God’s power is unleashed through us? God can use us better when we come together to explode His love into this world… I mean, after all, isn’t that how this whole Christianity thing got started? God exploded His love into this world through His Son, Immanuel = God with us; beginning as a baby in a manger and dying as a sinless Savior on the cross for all the sins of humanity.
God GAVE. Do you get it? He gave us love, grace, mercy. He gave Himself for us. Do you get it? Perhaps you’ll get it when you give it. So GIVE yourself away for others. You might be surprised at how good it is to be ALIVE, living in the image of God.
(Turn Christmas UPSIDE DOWN by gifting a donation to Jesus – it will go to help out this couple & people in tough times by creating a FUSION Relief Fund – mark envelope “UPSIDE DOWN” & drop in offering or mail to: FUSIONchurch P.O.Box 250168, Atlanta, GA, 30325)
2 Sizes 2 Small
We just began a new teaching series this past week based off the story, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” You see, the problem with the Grinch was that his heart was “two sizes too small.” This explained his miserable Grinchy attitude.
How about you? Do you ever find yourself having a bad attitude? Do you ever find yourself thinking only of yourself, or placing yourself above others?
Whether your attitude and actions are downright Grinchy or if you’re able to disguise your self-absorbed ambitions, all of us could stand to check ourselves and see if perhaps our hearts need a bit of enlarging… For it is out of the heart that everything else comes.
Proverbs 4:23 says…
“Above all else, guard your heart for it affects everything you do.” (NLT)
I hope you will discover how to enlarge your heart in time for Christmas . . . so it is not 2 Sizes 2 Small.
EPIC :: From Wretches Into Warriors
What sort of story are we a part of? Who are we, where do we come from and why are we who we are?
Here are the topics:
EPIC Groups (small groups) are starting all over Atlanta. Contact us if you’d like to be part of one.
Recently, TIME published an article entitled:
“Yes, I Suck: Self-Help Through Negative Thinking.“
The main point of the article is summarized in these words:
“Is there power in positive thinking? A study just published in the journal Psychological Science says trying to get people to think more positively can actually have the opposite effect: it can simply highlight how unhappy they are.”
The article didn’t make any spiritual applications – but I suggest we do so:
Think of the implications of our commonly accepted practices to “better” ourselves and how people accept or reject human depravity and the need to receive grace.
Mark Driscoll, well-known pastor/author, once said something like, “Postmoderns have never been told, ‘You suck.’ They’ve grown up hearing how good and wonderful they are and no one has been telling them the truth.”
In light of this article, perhaps that’s one reason we live in an era of great skepticism. Have we been told the truth about who we are and how to deal with it?
What the research from this article is suggesting is that being told you are great and wonderful and can do anything is not the truth and when people hear something other than the truth, it makes them feel bad that they don’t measure up to where they’d like to be (or where they are being told they SHOULD be). In the process, it brings up unnecessary guilt and shame. So we need to be honest with our shortcomings, honest with our weaknesses, because you cannot deal with something until you recognize and admit it. That’s the first step in AA. It’s the first step in any recovery process, whether purely physiological, psychological or spiritual – to admit there is a problem and accept the fact that it is this way. That brings it into the light where you can remove unnecessary guilt and shame because you no longer are hiding it (or trying to convince yourself it doesn’t exist).
My basic interest in this research is this: if people would embrace this concept it would put them in a vulnerable and humble state of existence where I think they would be more open to hearing and embracing the Gospel… instead of trying to fix themselves. The Gospel is not a self-help program. It is a God-saves story.
The widely accepted theory among psychologists has been that WE can make ourselves BETTER through positive thinking. This is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible says all of our righteousness is as filthy rags and there is no one without sin. Popular psychology undermines the Gospel and diverts people’s attention from this truth by telling them all they need is within them… that they do not need any help from outside of themselves.
So this new research (in this article) is going against everything modern psychology has been saying by telling people — stop lying to yourself, it’s okay to admit that you’re a mess, that you’re not perfect, that you have weaknesses.
The sad truth about contemporary society is that it widely rejects the love and forgiveness of Christ in favor of self discovery and moral relativism. If society (including us) turns to self to make improvements, then we are making ourselves our own saviors and gods. People must understand their own human depravity, their wretchedness, in order to realize they cannot save themselves and therefore must seek for help. The Bible teaches that we need God in a huge way and ONLY through HIM can we experience a transformed life.
In other words – IF YOU NEVER KNOW YOU’RE A SINNER, YOU’LL NEVER LOOK FOR THE SAVIOR. And finally, these studies are supporting this spiritual truth by telling people “you have limitations,” and that’s where I as a preacher say, “and one of them is that you may be a great sinner, but Christ is a great Savior.”
My life text is 1 Corinthians 15:10 –
Paul is commenting about how hard he has worked in comparison with the other apostles and then he makes this statement:
“…by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me has not been without effect.”
This is how I view myself – if there is anything good in me, if you see anything, it is by God’s grace and His grace has not been without effect in me – so you will see that my life has been changed and continues to transform. I think this is healthy improvement for my life… it is GOD-Help through honest thinking. The world could use more honest thinking.
What about you? Have you been disappointed in “Self-Help” practices or had great success? When have you held on to your negative views of yourself more deeply when someone is telling you positive statements? How might accepting your weaknesses or failures be a good thing? What power lies in knowing your limitations?
It is a 5-part teaching series.
The titles are:
1. Finding Forgiveness
2. How Can I Forgive Myself?
3. How Can I Forgive Others?
4. Is Forgiveness Really Forever?
5. Livin’ Forgiven
We are really excited about the potential healing power of this series, as each of us has issues to deal with and to begin or continue to receive the life God is offering us.
God wired you to make a difference in the world.
For 7 weeks we are exploring this truth.
The Series Titles are:
The Power of Influence
Lead Myself
Envision My Future
Activate My Gifts
Deepen My Faith
Engage My World
Reproduce My Influence
What are you doing with your influence to make a difference in the world?
The offering from the grand opening is paying for Mercikley, in Brazil, to go to college!
This is a student who wants to become a doctor but cannot afford to continue his education. My cousin, Steve Wilson, and his family were on a mission trip to Brazil recently and they met Mercikley.
Just this week, not only did FUSION worship in music, singing, teaching, prayers and praise… they also raised money to send Mercikley, in Brazil, to a university for an entire year!
Yes, Mercikley will feel the power of FUSION… it will change his life forever. My prayer and confidence is this: that it will also change my life and yours… as we make a difference together!
We worship. It happens. On purpose. By accident. We worship.
Worship requires something, or someone, to be the object of our affection, our interest, our desire, our obsession.
Steeple nor pew, altar nor temple are needed. Elements, rituals, equipment, rites – aids for our worship. But worship transcends the tools that assist us. Tools only serve to facilitate the deeper connection between the object of worship and the depth of the soul.
Desire links passion with purpose, no matter how right or how wrong, creating a craft of invention. Innovation through action springs forth in worship. Name it any other, it remains to be true. We worship what we want. Worship is selfish. Worship is selfless. It gives glory to its’ object and expects a favor in return. However, unadulterated worship gives glory for its’ own sake. There is no personal agenda other than honoring the beauty in the eye of the beholding worshiper. In this adoration, worship is found to be fragmented with death and yet full of life. Worship becomes a beautiful surrender.
To worship God as a way of life, it is His glory that reigns supreme. The catalyst – our surrender and His mercy. “For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all . . . in view of God’s mercy, offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 11:32; 12:1)
Worship (of God) as a way of life becomes all consuming. It requires death to self in order for us to be living sacrifices. It’s easy to be a dead sacrifice. Anyone can die. There is seldom an act of worship in dying. Unless it’s death to self and alive to God. Death to self means death for my disobedience.
In light of God’s mercy on my disobedient life, my body (my life: all I am and all I have and all I can do) is sacrificed: my disobedient desires, thoughts, wants are sacrificed on the altar of spiritual worship so that I am living a holy and pleasant life to God. Worship becomes a way of life. The object of my worship: God, receives glory through the way my life is lived out on a day-to-day basis. Worship is not an event but a way of living. Spiritual acts of godliness permeate the life as the body is in full submission to the Spirit of God as a life of worship.
sometimes i feel like my identity has been stolen!
fraud has been committed.
not my social security card, credit cards, etc…
but my actual identity. not the stuff that says who i am, what i own, how much i’ve got or owe.
but me. my actual identity – who i actually am.
by whom? by what?
before you think i forgot to take my meds… hear me out… maybe this will resonate with you.
what makes up a persons identity?
think about it. it’s the persons name, family, friends, job/career, culture, history… but mostly, it’s what PEOPLE think about you and what YOU think about yourself and how much you allow those thoughts to mold you – you identify with those thoughts – thus creating your “identity.”
Wikipedia says that identity formation is the process “by which a person is recognised or known (such as the establishment of a reputation). This process defines an individual to others and themselves.”
Do you want to be “defined” by your “reputation”? The one that others think about you? The one that you think about yourself??? Which reputation, from which group of people?
It sounds like identity theft to me!
I mean, seriously, most people build up a reputation that does not accurately reflect their true self. Right? I’m not saying it always happens… but so often, we put on a face, whether for good or bad, in order to accommodate our social setting. Consciously or not, we have different faces for different places. We commit fraud — we are fake, not the real deal.
Average Joe is a different guy at church than he is at the sports bar, or when he’s at work or playing family games with the kids.
The epitome of this idea can be best understood in the life of a teenager, who is coming to terms with who they are, but cannot risk to expose all of their experimentation with individualism. How many teenagers are THE same person with their parents as they are with their friends? What’s ironic is that as teenagers, most of us made comments like, “My parents just don’t understand me,” as if we really understood ourselves!
Can we afford to have our identity come from what others think about us, or from what we think about ourselves? Is there another way?
It’s one of the existential questions — Who am I?
I guess that depends on where you find your identity?
Do you find it in your car? Your clothes? Your career? Your cash?
Or can it be found . . . in your Creator?
God says we are his sons and daughters. Do we believe him? Or will we let Visa and Versace dictate who we are or are not, by what we have or have not?
The stupid and the intelligent things we do often give us our reputation.
Is our identity in what we do, or can it be in what God has already done?
Is our identity in what we or others think about ourselves, or is it in what God thinks about us?
Maybe our true identity cannot be defined by the things of this world… but by the One who made the world and gave us life.
Besides, who knows you better than the One who made you?
You and I are both guilty of identity theft. We are frauds . . . fakes!
We have stolen our true identity by pretending to be somebody we were not created to be!
But our identity can be formed by what God thinks about us and what He has done for us by coming to this world in the life of Jesus Christ and becoming our sin, dying as our sacrifice, restoring to us our original eternal identity. In Christ, we have eternal value. He paid the infinite price for us. Our identity in Christ means we are of unmeasurable worth.
Won’t we stop stealing our God-given identities by trying to be somebody we were not created to be? and start living like sons and daughters of the Most High God? … all the time, in every situation?
I want to be the same person I am supposed to be all the time.
No faking.
Totally real… authentic… transparent… me.
By God’s grace, I am what I am. (1 Cor.15:10)
Let’s be true to our identity . . . sons and daughters of God.