HETEROFLEXIBLE

Right out of the gate today I want to share that this blog has a particular demographic that I am reaching out to. If you are a young female any age please here me out.

Romans 1:20/For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Now, let's go all the way backwards to the first book of the Bible, Genesis. Looking in chapter 2, simple background, God has created man, then God creates the hammock and man falls asleep. Ok, God did not create the hammock but man did fall asleep. Just wanted to make sure you were paying attention.

God then takes a rib from man and creates woman. You know them both as Adam and Eve. Man and Woman. In God's perfect economy this is how God fixed the being alone part for Adam. He created the woman.

Now, here this and do not let this leave you…………

Genesis 2:24/ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

So, maybe I am just out in left field here, but it seems to me that the creator of all things set into motion a relationship that brings man and woman together not a woman and a woman. God did not create a woman first. The woman was created to be a companion for man.

This is the very first relationship in the Bible other than that of God and man. Man and Woman. One man and woman.

And the reason I started off in Romans which by the way is a very heavy chapter is because the Apostle Paul ain't playin' around. He is up in our grill for realz.

Think about this, you and I see and hear about the very creation of God's plan daily, a man and a woman get married. Man and woman enter into a relationship.

But man has gone against God's original plan.

Romans 1:21/ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Romans 1:24/ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

In our culture today we have taken the term "Freedom of Expression" and we have run with it. There are certain groups that are going out of their way to destroy what God originally created.

So, I had better tell you right now before I go any further that this is not a GAY BASHING blog.

But I do want you to understand how the term GAY is being re-positioned and marketed in our culture. And not only that, it is young girls from junior high to college students who are falling for this campaign.

We all know there are mean and demeaning terms that are being used to describe male and females who have relationships with the same sex. And if you have been on another planet in the last few years they can now even get legally married in some states.

Now, the most used term here is "HOMOSEXUAL". Well, it used to be. Now the new term is "HETEROFLEXIBLE." This is the new cool term, the newest permutation of sexual identity.  

It's so cool that there is a song all over the radio where the singer brags about kissing a girl. Isn't it fitting that it is on the TOP 10 music charts. Watch TV lately? There are tons of shows that have no problem showing women or girls kissing. Movies anyone? This is just tolerated and accepted in our society today. So, here is the 411.

A "HETEROFLEXIBLE" is a person that has or intends to have a primarily heterosexual lifestyle, with a primary sexual and emotional attachment to someone of the opposite sex. But that person remains open to sexual encounters and even relationships with persons of the same sex.

Again, this blog is to create awareness to all you female youngin's out there. You may not be gay or "HOMOSEXUAL" but if you consider yourself a "HETEROFLEXIBLE" are you not still rebelling against God's original plan? And since this girl's kissing girl's is now like the "BIG CRAZE" at parties on college campuses I will leave you with this:

Romans 12:2/DO NOT conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be TRANSFORMED by the renewing of your mind.

Lastly, if your own dad was to see you kiss another girl would he be proud of you? So, how do you think your Father in heaven feels?

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HOT Part 7 Conclusion

Revelation 3:18/I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

As we look back at this blog series I have asked the question "Are you Hot for Jesus?" and we have looked at a great teaching by Jesus and not only that many of you have sent me numerous messages on the relevance of this teaching and how it has really been applicable to your life. And for that, "God be the Glory!" 

So, to just totally ignore the word that sounds like loopwarm today, I want to open with an example that makes it clear to see the difference between HOT and cold.

John Ortberg is a Pastor out in Northern California and a wonderful author and in one of his recent books (forget the name of it) he talked about a study where 276 people volunteered to be exposed to the bacteria that causes the symptoms of the common cold. In short this study showed that the people that had stronger connections with others did 4 times better fighting off the illness than the relationally isolated people. So, the people who were in healthy relationships the study showed were less susceptible to colds, they spread less viruses and produced far less mucus (Boogers and stuff).

Which proved the notion that unfriendly people are much "SNOTTY-ER" than friendly people. HAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA….

Seriously, what we see from this study is that when you connect with others it produces a health in your soul and brings a vitality to your life. And to jog our memory the two greatest commandments are what? Loving God and Loving people, right?

And why do we love people? Because God first loved us!

OK. My A.D.D. kicked in for a minute. Back to the text…..

Revelation 3:18/I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Yesterday, we talked about the lie of busyness and how easily you and I buy into it. Jesus counsels us in verse 18, "He says buy gold…." what Jesus is saying here is buy this gold refined by fire by investing your heart, your life into things that have eternal significance.

Now in Corinthians Paul writes about a time in our future where all of our deeds and actions will be exposed and then put to fire, the things like hay and straw will be burned up but the things that are gold and silver endure.

Have you ever thought about whether or not your life has eternal significance? Think about it, how easily we will invest in stuff, stature and success at the expense of gold refined by fire in our lives. We are so willing to risk things that threaten our very lives more than we are to risk living for Jesus.

I can tell you today to risk you life for Jesus and some of you may say, "I don't know Blake that's kinda risky!"

Jesus says, "I counsel you buy gold."

Then secondly here in the text he tells us to buy white garments to cover our shame.

Let me stop for a sec and explain to you that one of the keys to biblical interpretation is to see where similar metaphors and teachings are interpreted in other places. And throughout the scripture white garments refer to "SALVATION" that was bestowed upon us. So, how do we buy white garments? We trust in Jesus. We turn our lives over to him.

The great Billy Graham has been recorded saying time and time again that his deeds and actions relied only on one thing and that was the GRACE of Jesus Christ for his salvation.

What is your plan to buy gold that is refined by the fire? Even on Billy Graham's best day no matter how Hot is faith was he still needed the Grace of Jesus to help him get through.

Jesus said to buy the white garments, in other words – TAKE SALVATION! For some of you stop trying to earn salvation to earn his love but instead embrace it and put it into your life.

Live in the relationship with him.

And lastly, Jesus says to buy salve to cleanse your eyes so you can see. The Bible teaches us over and over again that it is the Word of God that gives us vision, that helps us see clearly and sets us free.

But many of us read the Word but do not do what it says. We read you shall not steal then we turn around and rob a bank. We read that you shall not covet your neighbor's wife but then we turn around and meet up with the woman or man we are having an affair with for lunch. We read that you shall not have any other idols before me, but we turn around and take our idol to the lake or we reverse our idol out of the garage.

To go back to the quote from the very first blog in this series, "You can do and not be, but you can't be and not do!" If you do then there is no way that you can't be!

Friends, it's easy to pretend…but if you want to have Hot faith then you have to do what the word says so you can see clearly.

In closing, the book of James chapter 1 verse 22-24 says, Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

Is the person looking back at you living his or her life Hot for Jesus? If not, are you ready to?

*Acknowledgement: I would like to thank Pastor Philip Wagner for his brilliant insight…..

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Hot Part 6

Revelation 3: 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Let's jump to verse 18 where we read Jesus saying, "I counsel you to BUY from me gold refined in the fire, so you CAN become rich….
Again, we see Jesus reminding us that we are really not rich. Especially, not by the standards that our culture our society has put in front of us.
So instead of buying from Jesus gold refined by fire, we BUY into one of the biggest lies our society has taught us and yet again causes another disconnect from Jesus. And trust me we have bought into it hook, line and sinker.

Have you ever asked anyone, "Hey man, how you doin?" And they answer "I'm busy", wearing that statement as badge of honor. Then so many of us reply with, "Yeah, I am busy too, I am just swamped!" as we try to one up them on the busyness scale. They then look at you and say, I know how you feel, "I am just buried everyday!" So, now they have one upped you because they are buried everyday and that is more busy than you. You think for a sec then you respond to them with, "Yeah, I am with ya' – I am so busy that I will be overwhelmed into infinity and beyond!" As you smile at them you because you know you have just clinched the who is busier contest.
Is this you and me for realz? I mean I may have over exaggerated this conversation a little bit but you get the idea.

The world almost tries to force us to buy into busyness. I mean think about it, our culture has all the technology it needs to persuade us to do something. As a matter of fact we have so bought into busyness that people have made millions of dollars in finding ways to keep us busy. To not allow us to take breaks, to constantly keep us on the run. And you and I look at these things as conveniences, things that make our life a little bit easier. Take a look at this list below and just let this message soak into your cranium for a second. 

Alcohol at a drive-through liquor store (Don't Drink and Drive?) Sidenote: I guarantee when Jesus turned the water into wine he did not get behind the wheel.

Banking services at a drive-through bank (I am just too busy to walk into that bank, that would take away 5 minutes of my day.)

Coffee at a drive-through coffee shop (I don't like the people who stand in line at that Starbuck's they make me have to wait to get my Caramel Macchiato Grande.)

Dairy products at a drive-through dairy store (notably the Skinner Dairy shops in North-East Florida. "Hey buddy, get those utters movin' double time, I'm in a hurry!)

Drugs at a drive-through pharmacy (Meds on the Go please!)
Food or drink at a drive-through restaurant (In-n-Out Burger 1948 first restaurant in Baldwin Park, Ca.)

Marriage (primarily at special drive-through marriage chapels in Las Vegas.) If you are going to get married in Vegas please just go get married by Elvis.

I wonder what Harry and Esther Snyder were thinking when they built the first drive-through window at In-n-Out Burger. "Wow Esther, I think people are too busy to walk into our restaurant these days, maybe we should just have them drive up to the restaurant and make their life just that much easier." "Harry, I knew there was a reason I married you, honey, that is a genius of an idea."
Speaking of our world being too busy….Did you know that there are two kinds of instructions on a box of Pop Tarts? First of all, I did not know that there are those out there who need directions in preparing this wonderful morning treat, but that being the case, the instructions to cook a pop-tart are for 1.) toasting it in the toaster. Instructions number 2.) is for micro-waving a pop-tart. Do you know how many seconds you are supposed to microwave a pop-tart?….4 seconds. Listen folks, if you are too busy in life to where you need to microwave your pop tarts in the morning then you really do need to loosen up your schedule just a bit.

Ok, I think you get the point.

Just real quick I want to share with you what I do to people and it just throws them for a loop. I have had people come up to me and ask me the "How you doin?" question thinking they already know my response so their expectations have already been set. Here is how it goes:
"Hey Blake, have you been swamped just like me?"
And I respond, "I am not busy at all!"

The second after those words come out of my mouth It is like I just stopped the earth from spinning on its axis, you can hear the needle on the record skip. I just love the look that they give me. You know I actually made a guy drop his blackberry on the ground because I told him I wasn't busy. I totally shocked him. 

But then I really dropped the bomb on him. After he picked up his blackberry and continued on about how busy his day had been and how busy the next day would be and continued to go on and on as the plane taxied down the run way……. and once we were in the air I asked him, "Why?" He looked at me and said "Why what?" I then asked him, "Why are you so busy?" He responded, "I have a million things to do!" I said, "OK, but can you do those million things at 30,000 feet?" Before he even answered the question I saw his entire attitude and persona change. He said, "No, No I can't!" It was as if I just took his foot off the gas pedal that had been stuck to the floor. For many of us a wake-up call is certainly most needed.

Fuller Seminary psychologist Archibald Hart wrote a book last year called "Thrilled to Death" in the book he introduces a new emerging phenomenon called "Anhedonia" defined as (the inability to experience normal pleasure or happiness due to our foot being pedal to the medal 24-7.) Well, That was my translation of Anhedonia, thought I would spare you the fancy scientific definition. But I think it's quite clear that our busyness is so overwhelming that we now have a psychological condition to where we can no longer enjoy life.

Jesus, said in John 10:10/I have come so they may have life and have it to the full.

I think with today's teaching this verse makes you stop and think. Come on people ask yourself "Am I living my life to the full? Am I HOT for him, is my faith HOT or am I consumed with purchases that are not refined by fire.

Verse 18/I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire

Let this teaching be a shout out to all of you out there "Take your foot off the gas pedal just a little!"

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HOT Part 5

Isaiah 55" 1-2/Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;
 and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.2Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare

Let's jump right in and look at what the prophet Isaiah says in verse 2 since we ended yesterday with verse 1.

He says, why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Have you ever noticed that the things we are drawn to the most are actually the things that lead us further away from the foot of cross? These things disconnect us from Jesus; they pull us away from him.

Recently George Carlin, the comedian died. Now, I was never a huge fan but he did have this one brilliant bit he did on "STUFF".

He talked about from childhood to adulthood we have been wired to collect stuff. And once you become an adult you then need to buy a big box to put your stuff in, meaning a house. Then as an adult we continue the journey to accumulate more stuff so we go and buy a bigger house. Then at some point we cannot buy the bigger house so we begin renting smaller boxes to put other stuff in, speaking of storage space. But inside the house which we bought to store our stuff are millions of other compartments in the house to store our smaller stuff.  No matter where we go or what we do we take with us boxes to keep our stuff in. He goes on and on and it is just hilarious. How I wrote this does not do the humor justice but you get the point.

Also, Carlin was famous for the 10 words you can't say on television. And I am happy to share with you that those 10 words also cannot be used in blogging or in church. HAHAHAHHHAHAHA, now that was funny, I don't care who you are.

Ever seen the bumper sticker that reads, "He who dies with the most toys wins!"? Now is that really the case? Last time I checked, I have never seen a U-Haul connected to a hearse. Just a simple observation.

Let me ask you. Does your stuff disconnect you from Jesus?

In one of his parables he tells us that the cares of this world overwhelm us and burn out our faith.

Have you ever stopped to think that our culture shows your wealth not by your personal worth but by your net worth. Jesus loves you no matter how much stuff you have as long as you keep your focus on him.

You see the problem with stuff is the peril of wanting more. Right?

Greatest example of all time – how about the football player who won't show up to training camp because the team is offering him 18 million but he and his agent are looking for 24 mil. I love this part. He then gets interviewed by someone on ESPN and the question is asked "Why are you holding out?" to which the football player answers, "I need the 24 mil because I need to take care of my family."

Are you kidding me!!!! What an excuse, what a cop out.

So maybe this is why the prophet Isaiah asked us why we were spending our money on the things that don't really satisfy. Yeah, it's true, I am sure the already multi-millionaire athlete does love his family and wants to provide for them, but his needing is all about stuff.

Friends, all we need to do is open up our check books and we can truly see what is most important to us.

Does your stuff disconnect your from God? And if so stop accumulating stuff and start spending your money on what it bread.

Isaiah 55: 2/Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?

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HOT Part 4

Revelation 3: 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see

Yesterday I wrote on being lukewarm and that some of us are clueless lukewarm and others are purposely lukewarm. And we camped out there. Then at the end of the teaching I said that we should just delete the word from our vocabulary.

But as I was sitting 30,000 feet in the air I began to think. Is it possible that we as Christians have become lukewarm because we think we have done it all? That there is no way we can continue to grow. We have been in church for all these years and we have done the Bible studies and mission trips and we have read through the Bible with the one year Bible plan several times. We do our one verse daily devotional which takes 30 seconds because that is all the time we have for God today. Our prayer life consists of what has become a repetitive mantra. We tell people that we will pray for them and we either forget or we just said we would pray for them because we know it's the Christian thing to say.

OUCH!!! We have been fed so much that we think we are rich and have acquired wealth and I am not talking financially.

In verse 17 look what Jesus says - You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. In God's economy he is saying we are poor. Not only that, we are wretched, pitiful, blind and naked.

The please be seated light is on so I have to sit here and squirm in my seat. I don't feel good at all. I don't know about you but what Jesus just threw down there makes me personally feel very uncomfortable.

We think we are all of that and a bag of chips but in reality many of us aren't worth the piece of gum stuck to the bottom of a shoe.

Are we really that blind that we don't think there is more? Have we forgotten that Jesus Christ is a never ending fountain of Joy? Is our spiritual condition the reality that we are not even open for more?

But wait……As the stomach gets queasy…..let's bring a new element into the picture. In Isaiah 55 we see an invitation to the thirsty. To the what? THE THIRSTY!!! We don't even know it but if this is really who we are living in our own individual lukewarm worlds then we are the THIRSTY!!!

Isaiah the prophet says in 55:1 /come all of you who are thirsty, come to the water; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

We have got to remember that not only is there more when we get stuck in a rut, we can drink the water for FREE. And if I did not say it enough in the last teaching, Jesus does not even look at lukewarm as a condition.

As I close, I realized something, even though I am not going to get home until after midnight from the airport I will still be up in the morning at 5 a.m. running on the treadmill.  And I know you're thinking, "Blake, what the treadmill has to do with anything?" Well, if I am going to run on the treadmill for 45 minutes there is one thing that I am going to have to have ready and waiting during my workout.  Besides needing running shoes or my IPOD, water is the key element to my workout. You see around minute 25 my body temperature really starts to heat up, I really begin to sweat and my mouth gets a little dry. All of this occurs, why? Because I am HOT. So, when I am HOT I thirst for water. I have to have water.

Friends, this is exactly what you and I need to strive for when we have HOT faith. We need to continue reaching out for more water, if we don't; we then become that word that we were supposed to delete from our vocabulary so I am not going to mention it again. The word that sounds like loopwarm.

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