Full Circle

Full circle 

Some of you know I make weird observations or illustrations in this blog.  In the fourth Rambo movie they show flashbacks of Colonel Trautman telling John Rambo “It all comes full circle John.”  There’s been times things in my own life have come back full circle.  See roughly seven years ago me being a life group leader started.  Also there is a graphic novel I read last year that brought things full circle for me.  Heroes for Hire : Control was a graphic novel that brought back some of the first heroes and the first villain that together subsequently made me become a comic book fan.  Well seven years ago when I lead my first life group I met this couple at Denny’s at midnight and I still to this day remember that first night and leading a small Bible study on part of Psalm 3.  I still feel like I can’t lead my way out of a paper bag much less lead anyone on a Bible study.  But meanwhile “The city of Townsville.”  Anyway David and Gideon have always been two guys I can really relate to.  I’m back to reading Psalm 3 and I think we still need it.  

“Why is everyone always under or overwhelmed.  Why is it no one is just whelmed anymore?”  Robin the Boy Wonder.  

See David was more than just whelmed he was overwhelmed.  

Psalm 3

“O Lord, I have so many enemies; so many are against me.  So many are saying, ‘God will never rescue him!’

But you , O Lord, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high.  I cried out to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy mountain. 

I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the Lord was watching over me.  

I am not afraid of ten thousand enemies who surround me on every side.  

Arise, O Lord!  Rescue, me my God!  Slap my enemies in the face!  Shatter the teeth of the wicked!  Victory comes from you, O Lord.  May you bless your people.”

Maybe you don’t have physical enemies maybe you have had things said or done around you that stress you out and keep you from resting well.  Look at what David said in there about rest.  He trusted that God would be his shield and that he could sleep safely in that knowledge.  One thing I taught in that first Bible study was this in verse 3 he calls God his glory and in some translations “The Lifter of my head.”  When I taught that it was at a point I had been incredibly depressed and I can tell you it was as if God reached down and like David he made me look up and fix my eyes on God.  In this chapter David has his eyes and trust fixed on God and he knows God can handle all his problems.  I’ve used this as an illustration before but it bears repeating.  I took a motorcycle safety course and one thing our trainer emphasized was this.  “Where you look is where you go.”  With a motorcycle you have a broader field of vision than like a car windshield.  The bike responds to where you look and as you look you begin to lean and take the body and bike with you.  Fix your eyes on God.  

I don’t know exactly when this chapter was written during the life of David but I want you to think about it for a moment.  Here’s a guy a shepherd boy probably heard stories his whole life about the God of Israel who led the people with a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night.  He’s heard of the Red Sea parting, the walls of Jericho falling.  He even tells King Saul before facing Goliath that God has already protected him from wild animals before.  David has had his share of enemies.  This guy knows a thing or two about the odds being against him and he knows where to turn.  

Years ago I was taught a simple song at a church camp and if David was here I’m sure he would echo the idea found in it. 

“My God is so big so strong and so mighty there’s nothing that my God can’t do.”

Psalm 121

“I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there?  My help comes from the Lord,  who made heaven and earth!  He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.  The Lord himself watches over you!  The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.  The sun will not harm you by day nor the moon at night.  The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.”  

 Romans 8:31  "What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?  If God is for us, who can ever be against us?"  

Whole world in his hands by Christy Nockels

Constantly by Zoe Girl 

Shield about me by Eden Project

In you alone by Kim Hill

Mighty to save by Laura Story

My God by Point of Grace

I hear Jesus calling by Audio Adrenaline 

A mighty fortress is our God by Shelia Walsh

I need thee every hour/ Hurricane by Natalie Grant

If God is for us by DeGarmo and Key

In the Name of the Lord by Sandi Patty

To encourage others

I'm sending you the blog earlier than I normally would. Today is my only day off of work till I don't even know when.  So I'm taking advantage of the free time.  

To encourage others 

Lots of personal and behind the scenes stuff

This past Saturday we had a life group meeting for the leaders at church.  Only current and potential leaders were there.  I want to let you in on my personal side of this whole thing.  I have been very discouraged lately and stressed out.  So the week and a half before the meeting I was to the point of talking myself out of going.  Marion and I had gotten invited to go to a concert with friends but work got in my way.  Then Aaron sent out the info for the meeting and my first instinct when I saw the time we were supposed to be there was “I don’t even wake up that early for work.”  My next thoughts were about being nervous in regards to talking to the people there.  I don’t like talking to new people it is very hard for me.  I will admit the meet and greet during services and for life group launches are completely nerve wracking. Being a writer I have the problem of over thinking things and playing out scenarios in my head. If you’ve ever read a fictional story of mine that’s where the fight scenes start.  But anyway so I am by nature am as one person said “a profound social butterfly” meaning I don’t talk much but when I do the person implied it meant something.  I’m also an introvert.  I have a few close friends but I say hi but technically don’t talk a lot to people I’m not comfortable around.  I nearly talked myself out of the meeting.  I found myself thinking of what I would say to a discouraged life group leader because I’ve been there.  All the advice I came up with I found myself having to say to myself.  As a leader this is why I was discouraged doing an online group feedback is rare and I was having one of those weeks wondering why I even bothered.  So I walked away from the meeting with a gift for you and me.  Over the course of that Saturday and Sunday things happened.  I was encouraged by Kori and Aaron and just being around other leaders.  It was something we greatly needed.  Then on Sunday, Noe Ortiz, David Hill, Dustin Merriman and Cathy Barfield encouraged me.  Before the second service though something happened.  This guy with a beard walks up to me and said “Your name’s Zac right.  I’m Ruben Bautista.”  He tells me for months he’s been reading the blog and how much it’s meant to him.  He said he kept meaning to reply or say something but he figured he would walk up and talk to me in person.  Part of the reason the Bible study blog works for me is I express stuff with written word better than face to face.  Ruben however had my attention.  Now I say all this because like me you need encouragement.  In Acts 4:36 Barnabas is called Son of Encouragement.  It’s a title all believers should have we should encourage others.  See I told you I had a gift for you the reader that was given to me.  We worked through a life group leader package and I asked Aaron if I could share this with all of you.  It’s verses and situations to help you.  It was intended for us as leaders to encourage you when problems are brought to us but I believe in putting the cookies on the bottom shelf and letting you help yourself to them.  But first I need to tell you two other behind the scenes stories.  Norma Cruz came up to me and asked the question I get often.  She asked if I was going to start leading a life group or if I already had one.  I told her for six years I had been doing an online life group.  I learned that day she and one other friend thought that because it is called the Batcave blog online that all it was, was a blog about comics.  So as I mowed that afternoon I thought and thought and I ended up going on Facebook and advertising the whole blog from the beginning to now, what it is and isn’t.  And for the record any who decided not read it because it may have been about comics well you hurt yourself on that one because you didn’t take a chance and read it.  

So my final story is about a lady named Caryn.  I posted a blog about two and a half weeks ago about humility.  It was one of those blogs that got so many responses it was crazy but this one lady’s email blew me away.  She told me she had read the blog and she wished she had read it before a conversation she had because she would have reacted differently.  Now I have said this multiple times and I had to tell her.  I pray for the readers of the blog before and after posting something and I ask God to draw people closer to himself.  The fact that she learned anything was all God at work.  I can’t and don’t want to claim any credit for that.  I showed up and said what God showed me to say.  

Hebrews 10:23-25 “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise .  Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”  

Words I would say by Sidewalk Prophets

Heart to God and a hand to man by Geoff Moore and the Distance

Unexpected Friends by Sandi Patty and Amy Grant 

God of all by Twila Paris 

God is faithful by Shelia Walsh

Scriptures to encourage people

 

Worry

Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all he has done. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Fear

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.  Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you.  I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.  (Isaiah 41:10)

Stress

The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.  He lets me rest in green meadows; He leads me beside peaceful streams.  He renews my strength.  He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.  (Psalm 23:1-3)

Weighed down

Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.  (1 Peter 5:7)

Loss of a job

My God will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:19)

Loss of a loved one

Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.”  (John 11:25)

Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.  Your rod and staff protect and comfort me.  (Psalm 23:3-4)

Trust

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you the path to take.  (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Family

As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.  (Joshua 24:15)

God has a plan

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord.  “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”  (Jeremiah 29:11)

God can do anything

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.  Glory to Him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.  (Ephesians 3:20-21)

God loves us

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.  Neither death nor life nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow- not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.  (Romans 8:38)

God is with us

For God has said, “I will never fail you.  I will never abandon you.”  (Hebrews 13:5)

Don’t understand why

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.  “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  (Isaiah 55:8)

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.  (Romans 8:28)

Protection

The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.  The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.  (Psalm 127:7-8)

Hope

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him.  Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.    (Romans 15:13)

Joy

Be joyful.  Grow to maturity.  Encourage each other.  Live in harmony and peace.  Then the God of love and peace will be with you.  (2 Corinthians 13:11)

Forgiveness

Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.  (Ephesians 4:32)

Conflict

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you?  Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?  You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it.  You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it so you fight and wage war to take it away from them.  Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.  (James 4:1-2)

Relationships

Always be humble and gentle.   Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.  (Ephesians 4:2)

Work

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.  (Colossians 3:23

Choices

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good pleasing and perfect.  (Romans 12:2)

Opportunities

So be careful how you live.  Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise.  Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.  (Ephesians 5:15-16)

Overwhelmed

Be still in the presence of the Lord and wait patiently for him to act.  (Psalm 37:7)

Success

Be strong and very courageous.  Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you.  Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left.  Then you will be successful in everything you do.  Study this book of instruction continually.  Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it.  Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.  (Joshua 1:7-8)

Words

Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit - you choose.  (Proverbs 18:21)

Uncertainty

Commit everything you do to the Lord.  Trust Him, and He will help you.  (Psalm 37:5)

See now you have tools to encourage others.  As teachers or life group leaders part of what we are to do is equip you.

Striving and training

Striving and training 

Some of you know I workout about 4 days a week with weights and the Chuck Norris torture device(aka the Total Gym.). There are times in scripture where running and exercise are mentioned.  You and I well our lives come in contact and interact with others.  What we strive for personally has an influence on those interactions.  Why do I know this because I just spent half my shift at work being grumpy when I knew better.  So you and I both need to work on this.  I want to set this all up with the words to an old song.  In the book of First Timothy, Paul writes to his friend and young pastor and he warns him about trouble.  We’re all going to face it but I’m going to endeavor to help you here.  

“When you’re up against a struggle that shatters all your dreams 

And your hopes have been cruelly crushed by Satan’s manifested schemes

And you feel the urge within you to submit to earthly fears

Don’t let the faith you’re standing in seem to disappear”

1 Timothy 4:6-13

“If you explain these things to the brothers and sisters, Timothy you will be a worthy servant of Christ Jesus, one who is nourished by the message of faith and the good teaching you have followed.  Do not waste your time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales.  Instead train yourself to be Godly.  Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and the life to come.  This is a trustworthy saying and everyone should accept it.  This is why we work hard and continue to struggle for our hope is in the living God , who is Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.  Teach these things and insist that everyone learn them.  Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young.  Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith and your purity.  Until I get there focus on reading the scriptures to the church, encouraging the believers and teaching them.”  

See Timothy was told to pursue physical training but more importantly Training for Godliness. We have to strive and struggle to be more like Christ.  It doesn’t just happen.  Bible reading and prayer are necessary.  

Being a wrestling fan I can tell you those men and women put a lot of work into the way they look and how they move in the ring.  I got to shake DDP, Booker T and Kevin Nash’s hands and up close a pro wrestler is very physically intimidating.  In Philippians 3:12-14 Paul shows us effort has to be put into being closer to God.  

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection.  But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.  No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing; forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.  I press on to reach the end of my race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

Here’s some more about striving.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

“Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize?  So run to win!  All athletes are disciplined in their training.  They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.  So I run with purpose in every step.  I am not just Shadow boxing.  I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.  Otherwise, I fear preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.”

Let me break this down in a personal way.  I work out to stay in shape.  I’m a 42 yr old diabetic.  My body is under attack by a disease.  Because of the sin of Adam and Eve you and I have a sin nature, striving to be closer to God after Salvation is to be our goal.  Our sinful diseased nature will fight with us as much as someone trying to find an excuse not to exercise such will be the struggle to spend time in prayer and Bible reading.  It’s a fight for your attention.  Are you going to train for Godliness or not?  I can’t answer it for you.  

In Romans 7:14-25 Paul talks in great detail about struggling between doing what’s wrong and right.  Verses 24-25 is where our hope is.  This is a blog of hope and Godly training.  “Oh what a miserable person I am!  Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?  Thank God!  The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.  So you see how it is: in my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.”

Joshua gave the people of Israel a choice.  

Joshua 24:14-15

“So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly.  Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshipped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt.  Serve the Lord alone.  But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then chose today whom you will serve.  Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live?  But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”  

Some of you may still need hope.  So I’m going to let the late Chuck Colson point you in that direction.  

“Where is the hope?  I meet millions of people who feel demoralized by the decay around us.  The hope that each of us has is not in who governs us, or what laws we pass, or what great things we do as a nation.  Our hope is in the power of God working through the hearts of people.  And that’s where our hope is in this country.  And that’s where our hope is in life.”  

Struggling for Godliness will not be easy but there is hope in the power of God at work in us.  A lot of it is going to come down to choices.  Who are you going to serve?  Will it be your sinful nature or the way God calls you to live.  

There is optional reading here I have included a link to a fictional story I did years back about Spiritual warfare.  Some of you may have read this and some may have not.  Here is a link to the Swordsman.  

More than Gold by Geoff Moore and the Distance 

Human Race by Steven Curtis Chapman 

Press On by Selah

Jekyll and Hyde by Petra

Praise the Lord by the Imperials, Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith 

Heaven in the real world by Steven Curtis Chapman 

If you want me to by Ginny Owens 

Now someone may have gotten to this last song and been utterly confused but if you listen to the words you learn that it is a song about God fighting for his people.  

Battle Hymn of the Republic by Lee Greenwood

If I only had a brain

If I only had a brain 

“Gosh it would be awful pleasin to reason out the reason for things I can’t explain then perhaps I’ll deserve ya and be even worthy of ya if I only had a brain.”

I’ve read through the Bible multiple times and some of those who have seen my posts on Facebook last week can tell you I posted something about this.  I have discovered recently that Nehemiah is a very action packed book.  Another thing I have learned is in the book of Job they weren’t all wrong.  There are actually things you can learn from the book.  See I have heard quite a few pastors and some avoid the book and sometimes it is preached from with a perspective that Job, his friends and wife were all completely wrong and never said anything worth reading.  At least that’s the way it always seemed to me.  About a month ago Pastor Micah actually quoted a passage from the book and it caught me off guard to the point I began reading the book for myself.  Job and his friends weren’t completely wrong they simply didn’t know what was going on between God and Satan in regards to Job.  You can actually find an awesome passage about seeking God and finding wisdom that I wanted to share with you.  We could learn some things from this book.  If you’ve never read the book of Job I encourage you to.  Why because you have a brain and you can learn wisdom.  

Job 28:20-28

“But do my people know where to find wisdom?  Where can they find understanding?  It is hidden from the eyes of humanity.  Even the sharp-eyed birds in the sky cannot discover it.  Destruction and Death say, ‘We’ve heard only rumors of where wisdom can be found.’  God alone understands the way to wisdom; he knows where it can be found, for he looks throughout the whole earth and sees everything under the heavens.  He decided how hard the winds should blow and how much rain should fall.  He made the laws for the rain, and laid out a path for the lightning.  Then he saw wisdom and evaluated it.  He set it in place and examined it thoroughly.  And this is what he says to all humanity:  ‘The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding ‘.”  

I mean just look at that for a moment.  Here’s a few things the person who skipped the book of Job would miss.  

1.  God is in control of the rain and lightning

2.  Not even the sharp-eyed birds, death, destruction or people know where true wisdom can be found but God does.  

3.  “The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.”  

Now some of you might have seen Disney’s Aladdin.  So for you looking to read the book of Job I need you to remember the words of the Genie.  “He can be taught.”  Like I said you have a brain and if you only had a brain you could learn something.  Like the Riddler said on Batman Forever.  “If you kill him; he won’t learn nothing.”  Use your brains people read your Bible and let God show you things.  I did and it got you another blog.  Some may think I’m being a little silly but I desire for the reader to spend time in God’s Word on their own.  Having a copy of the Bible is good and all but you need to read it for it to have an impact on your life.  

Treasure Island by Steven Curtis Chapman 

Greatest story ever told by 4 Him

Seek First by Susan Ashton 

Lover of my soul by Amy Grant

Touch your people once again by Steve Green 

You are God alone by Phillips, Craig and Dean

Dive Deeper by Steven Curtis Chapman