So I got to Florida yesterday morning - Saturday, 6 am. I was picked up by an old family friend, Auntie Rody - mom and I are staying at her house for the moment. Driving home was weird. I can't really grasp that I'm in Florida, and I still can't really believe that I'll be living here for the next two years of my life. Weird yeah? I've already arrived, and yet I still can't grasp the change that's happening in my life.
I'm not really jet lag - had a nap when I fell into the bed at 11am Florida time, 11pm Bangkok time... slept for two hours or so and got up and went out with mom and people. Shopping, didn't eat lunch... more shopping, dinner, home. Got a new phone number! =) Called Micah =) It's as if I was back in Bangkok, our normal night time long conversations on the phone - only now we're both in America. Weird... very weird...
I went to Calvary Assembly of God Church this morning. Went for the second service at 11.30 which is less formal than the first service. It was really cool. Went in and they had a band playing "Clean Hands", which I haven't heard for a while, and we sang "Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) and it was really really good. Pastor George talked about brokenness and the ten tribes of Israel, and perfect unity, and Change.
Why is this world so broken? Why are people so broken and distant. Why is spiritual wholeness so hard?
Pastor talked about the reunion of Israel and of Judah in Ezekiel 37 15:22 - the joining of two sticks, and joining of two broken pieces that were once whole. Brokenness. Why is it so hard to become one? He talked about Brokenness as "evils trademark on humanity". The inability of being one and whole. John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;" Satan, the thief that steals our perfect unity and disrupts our relationship with God. Then Pastor talked about real harmony in the church -
I'm not really jet lag - had a nap when I fell into the bed at 11am Florida time, 11pm Bangkok time... slept for two hours or so and got up and went out with mom and people. Shopping, didn't eat lunch... more shopping, dinner, home. Got a new phone number! =) Called Micah =) It's as if I was back in Bangkok, our normal night time long conversations on the phone - only now we're both in America. Weird... very weird...
I went to Calvary Assembly of God Church this morning. Went for the second service at 11.30 which is less formal than the first service. It was really cool. Went in and they had a band playing "Clean Hands", which I haven't heard for a while, and we sang "Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) and it was really really good. Pastor George talked about brokenness and the ten tribes of Israel, and perfect unity, and Change.
Change.
Why is this world so broken? Why are people so broken and distant. Why is spiritual wholeness so hard?
Pastor talked about the reunion of Israel and of Judah in Ezekiel 37 15:22 - the joining of two sticks, and joining of two broken pieces that were once whole. Brokenness. Why is it so hard to become one? He talked about Brokenness as "evils trademark on humanity". The inability of being one and whole. John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;" Satan, the thief that steals our perfect unity and disrupts our relationship with God. Then Pastor talked about real harmony in the church -
1 Corinthians 1:10
"I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought."
Perfectly United. How much more perfect can things get? How hard would it be, to get everyone in a family to all agree, in perfect unity? Not to mention a group of friends, or a whole church? God asks us for Perfect Unity, but look at all the brokenness in this world!
This is what Pastor George said: Spiritual Unity (with God), spiritual change is so hard, because is requires us to change as people. Change in all our ways. To be willing to change. To be willing to stop doing the things we like to do, or to do things we don't want to do, to eat things we don't want to eat, to go places we don't want to go. We have to step out of our comfort Zone and allow God to change us into the people he wants us to be.
How hard is that? How hard is it to totally let go of your life and let it be controlled by God? How hard is it, to put your own life, your everything, your relationships, work, your life into God's hands?
In Jeremiah 18, the Bible talks about a potter, making a jar, but the jar didn't turn out the way he wanted it to. So the potter squashed it and started again.
This is what Pastor George said: Spiritual Unity (with God), spiritual change is so hard, because is requires us to change as people. Change in all our ways. To be willing to change. To be willing to stop doing the things we like to do, or to do things we don't want to do, to eat things we don't want to eat, to go places we don't want to go. We have to step out of our comfort Zone and allow God to change us into the people he wants us to be.
How hard is that? How hard is it to totally let go of your life and let it be controlled by God? How hard is it, to put your own life, your everything, your relationships, work, your life into God's hands?
In Jeremiah 18, the Bible talks about a potter, making a jar, but the jar didn't turn out the way he wanted it to. So the potter squashed it and started again.
"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel."
I think that when life seems to really not work, when life just isn't going the way you want it to go, when life just isn't fair, that's when God, the potter, is squashing us back into that lump of clay and reshaping us for His kingdom. Maybe people stray from God when life goes astray - but I think we're supposed to lean even more heavily on God while he remoulds us. When we fall, we should stand back up with God's help. If we sin, we should repent and God will forgive because God is a just and loving God. He has the power to reshape our lives, if we let him. Can we be willing to let God take our life in His hands?
Back to brokenness,
We talked about how the twelve tribes of Israel split into two separate groups of people - a decision made by one person that effected so many. In 1 Kings 12, the decision made by King Rehoboam, Son of King Solomon of Israel, reflected the unwillingness to change when the people of the tribe asked to be freed from Slavery and for Taxes to be reduced. But Rehoboam wanted all the money and the glory that his father had recieved during his reign. His unwillingness to allow change in the kingdom caused brokenness.
I believe the unwillingness to change when God asks us to is the cause of Brokenness, the inability to be perfect in unity, with the Church and with God. I really don't like change. I don't like being uncomfortable and new, but change is needed for growth, for development. If nothing ever changed, then how can we become better?
Back to brokenness,
We talked about how the twelve tribes of Israel split into two separate groups of people - a decision made by one person that effected so many. In 1 Kings 12, the decision made by King Rehoboam, Son of King Solomon of Israel, reflected the unwillingness to change when the people of the tribe asked to be freed from Slavery and for Taxes to be reduced. But Rehoboam wanted all the money and the glory that his father had recieved during his reign. His unwillingness to allow change in the kingdom caused brokenness.
Brokenness.
I believe the unwillingness to change when God asks us to is the cause of Brokenness, the inability to be perfect in unity, with the Church and with God. I really don't like change. I don't like being uncomfortable and new, but change is needed for growth, for development. If nothing ever changed, then how can we become better?
"I lift my eyes up to the hills, where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of Heaven and Earth."
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of Heaven and Earth."
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