Monday, August 31, 2009

"Instilled, Distilled, Or Be Stilled?" by Pastor Kevin Lynch

"Instilled, Distilled, Or Be Stilled?" by Pastor Kevin Lynch

Sit and drink Pennyroyal Tea
Distill the life that's inside of me
I'm so tired I can't sleep
I'm a liar and a thief
~ Kurt Cobain~

The sad portrait of a talent gone to seed.

Somewhere along the way the spirit died.

That's really our choice when it comes to vibrant living.

We are going to be instilled, distilled...

...or just be still.

The Spirit of God pursues like a heart seeking missile.

We lower our defenses and allow Him to find His mark.

So much is taught about how to do that, and I'm not sure it can be taught.

At least not by human measures.

I think we have to listen to the voice of God.

There is a great dumbing down of the gospel in the world today.

People have become reliant on gurus and charlatans.

They even get overly attached to people who are preaching and teaching correctly.

They miss the message in the light of the messenger.

Therein lies the distilling of the Word.

It's sipping Pennyroyal Tea. It's abortifacient. It will kill the spirit.

Paul was a man. Not an icon.

He was like we are.

We have his same capability to listen to the voice of God.


Galatians 1:12 - "For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ."

2 Corinthians 12:1-4

(1) "...I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. (2) I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows--was caught up to the third heaven. (3) And I know that this man--whether in the body or away from the body I do not know, God knows--(4) Was caught up into paradise, and he heard utterances beyond the power of man to put into words, which man is not permitted to utter."

That's what we need.

We need to go on to visions.

We need to be caught up in God.

I need to...no... I LONG to hear utterances beyond the power of man.

I need to hear from God. Everyday.

My day...my life...is not complete until I hear from God.

I long for you to experience that also.

My day is not complete until I hear from God.

Way too many people get the distilled version.

Or they are just still. Stillborn. Stillborn-again.

Dead.

When the human spirit dies instead of being re-born by the Spirit of God, the person dies as well.

It's just a matter of when they lie down.

My prayer is for vibrant instilling of the Spirit. The Spirit of God meeting with our spirit. A refusal to be distilled, a refusal to be still! A longing to hear from God today!

Be blessed today! Talk to God today!

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><

Saturday, August 29, 2009

"Who Dat Say Dey Gonna Beat Dem Saints?" by Pastor Kevin Lynch

"Who Dat Say Dey Gonna Beat Dem Saints?" by Pastor Kevin Lynch

"Who dat"?

I borrowed the chant from the fans of the New Orleans Saints football team.

New Orleans of course being the "home" of "When The Saints Go Marchin' In".

Who are the "saints"? Really.

Plaster statues arranged in ornate cathedrals?

Plastic figures on your parents dashboard?

Nominated and processed dead people by particular religious organizations?

None of the above?

Correctomundo if you picked "none of the above".

The bible says that believers in Jesus Christ are the saints.

We don't have to be nominated for it.

We just are.

We are objects of the intentions of Jesus Christ.

Eph. 4:12:

"His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ's body (the church)".

Dead people (spiritual as well as physical) can't accomplish this.

Disciples of Jesus Christ are consecrated people who's work it is to build up and encourage each other in the faith.

One of the problems in the Body of Christ today is that people are resistant to being perfected and equipped.

Too often the "saint" in Christ doesn't want to stop being ministered to and begin ministering to others.

The Church is designed to operate on take and give, not take and more take.

Sometimes it seems like the Church crawls along rather than briskly walking. Stoop shouldered rather than shoulders back. Defeated rather than victorious.

Recognizing who we are in Christ and a willingness to acquiesce to it would transform the work of Christ on earth.

Who dat?

You're a saint. Be a saint. Perform like a saint.

You da saint!

In all you do today be blessed and a blessing to others!

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><

Friday, August 28, 2009

"I Want My Life Back" by Pastor Kevin Lynch

"I Want My Life Back" by Pastor Kevin Lynch

Try to remain anonymous.

I dare you.

Your identity is out there.

For most of the existence of the human race all we had to worry about was our stuff.

Now they can steal who we are.

At least that's what most people think.

However...

Our identity was stolen almost from the very beginning of humanity.

Gen. 3: 4,6

"(4) But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die."

"(6) And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate."

That was the great exchange.

The perfection of Eden for the anemic and deficient world we live in today.

Children of God became children of wrath.

Our intended identity was that we would be Kingdom Kids, lavished upon with all the riches that heaven provides.

Instead, we end up being born into a world of pain, hurt, sickness, disease, pestilence, and lies.

That's not fair.

No one said it was fair.

It's not fair when you innocently transact bank business online and have your identity hacked and stolen.

That's what Satan did to the human race. He hacked our environment and stole our birthright.

However, it is what it is.

Thanks be to God who loves us enough not to leave us in that condition.

He has provided a way to reclaim us back to His family.

He sent Jesus.

"You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body." (1 Corinthians 6:20)

Jesus purchased the human race at the cost of His own blood. He has provided the way back to God.

He is The Waymaker.

It's a done deal. Contract written. His signature is on the page.

All it needs is your acceptance.

Have you "signed on"?

Paul simplified the matter nicely.

He says:

"(9) Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

"(13) For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord [invoking Him as Lord] will be saved."

(Romans 10:9,13)


Paul called Jesus "the Second Adam".

He reversed the curse of Genesis 3.

He righted the ship for those who accept Him.

"Everyone" includes you.

Be blessed today and be a blessing to someone else.

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><

Visit my blog at: http://keepinitrealpastorkevin.blogspot.com/

Thursday, August 27, 2009

"Morose By Any Other Name..." by Pastor Kevin Lynch

"Morose By Any Other Name..." by Pastor Kevin Lynch

Morose by any other name still smells of gloom and doom.

Gloomy disposition. Sullen behavior. Moody. Sulking.

Great folks to be around (insert rolling eyes emoticon here).

When they walk into a room it almost seems like it's harder to breathe. The air gets thinner. It's almost as if oxygen can't stand to be around them.

Some folks can't help being like that I suppose, as we now have bona fide medical conditions that excuses anti-social behavior as well as a corresponding pill to fix it.

I'm not speaking of the legitimately clinically depressed here.

I'm talking about people who choose to be that way.

They have the same choice I do every day to be morose or cheerful.

How does that transcend spiritually?

It doesn't.

Socially morose people are spiritually morose as well. It's compatible.

In fact, it really is a "chicken or egg" scenario.

I happen to believe spiritual moroseness precedes social moroseness.

Gloomy in your spirit, gloomy in your entire life.

If you have no hope in Christ, then where in the world does your hope lie?

Really, you need to confront this.

Where is your HOPE?

In the government? In your ability? In science? In your spouse? Family? Economy?

Stop and realize for a moment that each choice above has the capability of being a dismal failure and a let down.

In fact, if you're honest, you'll realize that most of those probably already have at some point.

Jesus NEVER fails.

Don't forget, your hope is all the bananas. Everything you have. All in. It's what your physical, mental and spiritual health, your very existence is riding upon.

When that fails it's a big matzoh ball to contend with.

There is nothing left when hope fails.

It's the end of the line.

For many it becomes the shrink, the bottle, or the gas pipe.

Why place hope in the hands of proven failures to begin with?

I have been scratching my head over that one for years.

God tells us in Deuteronomy 30:19 (Amplified Bible):

"I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live."

Life and death is a choice set before us, the outcome picked by ourselves, not God, so we can't blame Him.

Our choice, good or bad, not only affects us, but resonates through the genetic strand to our descendants.

Ever wonder why entire ancestral lines have been under what seems to be a "curse"?

You can break that curse if you want to.

You have life and death before you each day.

Choose life.

Choose Christ.


Be of good cheer today! Jesus loves you!

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

"Here I Am Stuck In The Middle With You" by Pastor Kevin Lynch

Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right,
Here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you.

It feels like that sometimes.

Or worse...

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd & thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

Spiritually this insinuates that there is a middle ground, a gray area, a fence down the middle we can rest on.

A DMZ. Or perhaps more apt, a "Despiritualized Zone".

Yeah, that's it! That's what we're looking for...

A Despiritualized Zone.

A place where we do not have to submit or succumb to good OR evil.

A place where we can take a breather from accountability.

Well, as appealing as that may sound for some, there is no such place.

It's never the line drawn down the middle of hell on earth where we are surrounded completely by jokers and clowns, or cannons and shellshot.

There is all of that, and worse.

And God.

The line is thin and the choice is imperative.


"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve." (Joshua 24:15)

There is only the truth in what Jesus says in Matt. 6:24:

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise and be against the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions, or whatever is trusted in)."

You cannot serve God and "whatever".

There is always something vying for your attention and favor in opposition to God.

Always.

You always have the choice to go left or right. Light or darkness. Good or evil.

Always.

You've got to choose something.

"He that is not with me is against me." (Matt. 12:30)

It's really not that laborious a task for those who have chosen Christ.

The "rest" is in Him, not on some imaginary fenceline down the middle.

There is no timeout in the human race.

Darkness and evil give us a pounding when we are undecided, and consume our souls when we lean its way.

Christ gives us rest when we exchange our heavy burden for His light yoke.

The gray area becomes erased and the struggle of good and evil become less.

There is only ever God and "whatever".

"Whatever" only pleases for a little while and fails us in the end.

God takes us the distance.

My prayer is that you go the distance today. That your soul becomes at rest in Christ, and your mind winds down more easily. That you sleep better, and your body feels strengthened and renewed. That you find the rest you have craved in Him today.

Be blessed today and run it all past Jesus first!

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

"The Best Laid Plans..." by Pastor Kevin Lynch

The great poet Robert Burns once wrote in his ode "To A Mouse", "The best laid schemes of mice and men Go often askew."

Ain't that the truth.

Our news media counts on it.

If not for the gleeful daily reporting of the dismal failures of the human race, there would be no ratings and we would be doomed to a steady diet of infomercials and reality shows.

A modern day lyricist, Billy Corgan, says, "Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage."

Michael Jackson needed sleep so his doctor put him to sleep permanently. It was a plan that failed.

Jasmine Fiore thinks she finds her perfect man in Ryan Jenkins. He kills her, commits heinous acts to cover up the murder, and is foiled by serial numbers found on her breast implants. He flees to Canada and commits suicide. Several plans that looked good failed miserably.

A mouse builds its home in the middle of a plows path. The plow passes over and destroys the nest.

Robert Burns sees it as a parallel to life in general.

We may do things that look good at the moment, but suffer the pain and humiliation of dismal failure.

No matter how good they seemed at the time.

"The BEST laid plans of mice AND men...".

It's not exactly an original thought.

God said it a really long time ago.

"There is a way that seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death." (Proverbs 16:25)

"Seemed like a good idea at the time." What a sweet touch of Americana that one is.

My longstanding challenge to my congregation is still in effect.

I have been saying for years that there is not one single sin that man commits that is not rooted in selfishness. I occasionally resurrect the challenge to prove that statement wrong.

I probably wasn't entirely sure that I believed that myself when I said it.

I'm entirely sure today.

Our best laid plans done apart from the counsel of God is at best a selfish rebelliousness that is doomed to fail from the earliest conceptual stages.

What can I add to that except .........*sigh*.

...and some good biblical exhortation...

Hosea 10:12 (Amplified Bible)

"Sow for yourselves according to righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God); reap according to mercy and loving-kindness. Break up your uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord... ."

I pray today that we would always seek to do the right thing and continually receive the loving mercy of Christ, and that we would break up the uncultivated, fallow ground of our hearts and make it a rich soil for the planting of God's perfect plan for us.

Be blessed today and run everything past Jesus first!

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><

Visit my blog at: http://keepinitrealpastorkevin.blogspot.com/

Monday, August 24, 2009

"Believer On A Hot Tin Roof" by Pastor Kevin Lynch

"Believer On A Hot Tin Roof" by Pastor Kevin Lynch


Big Daddy enters the room at the end of the classic Tennessee Williams play, "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof", and declares: "Ain't nothing more powerful than the odor of mendacity."

I agree.

It's noxious.

Don't run for the Webster's.

It's just a fancy word for "lies".

It's in the air.

Indoors or out.

It's in the air.

Not much room for truth when mendacity is so strong.

It'll downright choke you.

Or it will make you step more cautiously...sort of like...

Yup...

A disciple on a hot tin roof.

The religious climate is a hot tin roof.

The political climate is a hot tin roof.

Richard Pryor's interpretation on Ed Sullivan of the first man on the Sun.

In the lion's den with pork chop underwear on.

I have resolved that I will never be a victim.

...but I sure do feel like a target.

That's ok though.

I know Jesus.

Those that practice mendacity are in the mire.

"But He replied, I solemnly declare to you, I do not know you [I am not acquainted with you]" (Matt. 24:12).

We are being lied to at every turn and on every level.

I can understand that. Liars do what liars do.

What is hard to get used to is when the liars are saying that we are the liars.

They even lie about that.

I read an article in my hometown paper this weekend written by an area "clergywoman". She titled her message "Jesus Was A Health Care Reformer", and then proceeded to profane the very gospel she purports to uphold with the most vile of misinformation and misinterpretation I have ever read about Jesus. She slandered and maligned the Son of God for a political agenda. Sold Him out once again for a few more shekels.

That's gotta be a crime in heaven I'm thinkin'.

The believer on a hot tin roof.

God doesn't like the odor of mendacity.

Jesus doesn't like liars or the Father of Lies.

He is Truth, and the Truth sets us free.

My prayer today is that we present the Truth to the world, and that we would be used to bring sense and clarity to a confused and dark world.

Be blessed today!

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><

Check out my blog at: http://keepinitrealpastorkevin.blogspot.com/

Saturday, August 22, 2009

"Help! My Humility Needs To Be Humbled" by Pastor Kevin Lynch

Luke 9:23 (Amplified Bible)

"And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also]."


Something is out of whack.

I'm trying to see this admonition from Jesus actually being lived out.

Self-denial? Placing others before oneself? Taking up OUR cross?

Living so closely to Jesus that it is as if we are wrapped around Him in a death grip?

Cleaving steadfastly?

One has to actually stop hugging their own self long enough to be able to cleave steadfastly to Jesus.

How about disowning oneself?

That means we would have to say we weren't in charge, and that we are willing to step down off the throne of our own little snow globe kingdom, and allow Jesus to do what Jesus does...

...Reign over us.

Ain't gonna happen if we are in the way.

The devil is very good at subtleties.

In fact I think that his strategy is brilliant.

He keeps our eyes fixed on the big bad stuff, but all the while he is killing us with the small stuff.

One of his most formidable and deadliest weapons is inflating the human ego without the person not only not realizing how egotistical they have become, but having the person think that they are actually humble.

Diabolically brilliant!

There's a lot of humility that needs humbling.

Professing Christ without passing by the cross.

Claiming to be born-again without being resurrected in Christ.

Crowing about holiness without...well...er...um...ah...well, without being holy.

Humbly calling attention to your own humility instead of calling attention to Jesus.

Ouch!

I have to continuously self examine and remind myself that it's Him. It's all Him.

None of me. All of Him. Less of me. More of Him.

I must decrease so that He may increase.

Then, and ONLY then, does it flow orderly and in sync with "the Kingdom of God has come near".

I have been crucified with Jesus and I no longer live, but rather, Jesus lives in me, says Paul in Gal.2:20 (my favorite verse).

That's my prayer today. That we would disown ourselves and put our own self interests in their rightful place by elevating Jesus above all else.

Be blessed in all that you say and do today!

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><






Friday, August 21, 2009

Excuse Me, But Your Arrogance Is Harshing My Self Righteousness"

Job 38:2 "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?"

Have you read the book of Job lately?

I've been scratching my head over the years trying to figure out where we get this "patience of Job" stuff from.

I don't see patience.

I see the same arrogance that God saw.

I see the same arrogant and self righteous attitude that's in me.

Let me save you years of self introspective searching here. It's in you too.

In the beginning passages of Job God declares him as a blameless and upright man.

The problem is that Job considered himself a blameless and upright man.

His "friends" (who in my opinion have to be the prototype of "with friends like these, who needs enemies"), clothed in their own arrogant self-righteousness, unmercifully harangue and harass Job as they conduct an inquisition inundated with poor advice.

Here's the nutshell:

Job is singled out by God to prove to Satan that Job can withstand everything the devil throws at him short of killing him. Job consequently suffers the loss of his family, riches, and good health.

Oddly enough he obstinately maintains the one character flaw that perhaps God was trying to erase.

Job was stubborn and arrogant.

He just couldn't see anything in himself that needed to change.

Short of cursing God, which the devil hoped for and his own wife encouraged, Job actually argues his case as to why he feels he has been unjustly afflicted.

God saw righteous qualities in Job.

Job saw it too.

That's self righteousness, and it has to go bye-bye. No, really... it has to.

If that sounds confusing to you, let me put it this way.

When we become born-again we are deemed righteous by God. We really are in God's eyes a righteous person because of what Jesus does for us. That's a very cool thing.

Walking around boasting about our righteousness is not cool.

It's wonderful to be righteous. Not wonderful to think you're righteous.

It transfers the rightful credit Christ deserves over to us.

It's arrogant.

Which scenario is more palatable to you?...

#1 - "The Pharisee took his stand ostentatiously and began to pray thus before and with himself: God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men--extortioners (robbers), swindlers [unrighteous in heart and life], adulterers--or even like this tax collector here."

Or........

#2 - "But the tax collector, [merely] standing at a distance, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but kept striking his breast, saying, O God, be favorable (be gracious, be merciful) to me, the especially wicked sinner that I am!"

Jesus said it's what's behind door #2!

Tell him what he's won Jesus!

"I tell you, this man (#2 ) went down to his home justified (forgiven and made upright and in right standing with God), rather than the other man (#1); for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:11-14)

I love that. Those who think they are "all that", will become less than all that. Those who realize that they are nothing apart from Christ will be "all that" in God's eyes.

Could you accept that?

I mean, could you actually get to that place of humility, of humbleness before Christ? That place where you can strip away all the false righteous arrogance?

This is a tough place to get to. Our phony baloney self imposed importance won't easily allow it.

Step #1 is to take a good hard look.

I did, and I was disgusted by what I saw.

You might be too.

But there is a cathartic effect that goes way beyond just how you view or think of yourself.

It enters into the realm of restoration.

The Book of Job is not all about Job. It's about his friends as well. It wasn't until God enters "in a whirlwind" that the rebuilding of Job is accomplished, and it doesn't happen until his friends see something about themselves.

Job is restored when he recognizes his own faults, and when his friends intercede with sacrifice, not poor advice.

Basically it's called living in a society...God's way.

My prayer today is for healing and humility. Perhaps we need to see ourselves as smaller than God today. Perhaps we need to recognize the largeness of God and His desire to purge us from arrogance and self righteousness. Give us the courage this morning Lord to accept less of ourselves for more of You!

Be blessed today in all you do and say!

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><