Getting Kicked In the Face [ Pt 2 ]

I'm not even going to try and paraphrase these thoughts/quotes. But let me add, the chiseling away at the filthiness of my heart continues. Are my toes also getting stepped on?
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Excerpt from FamilyLife Today with Dennis Rainy.
Hear/download full broadcast entitled "Surrender" HERE



"....what does it mean to surrender to Jesus Christ? ..... 

• Jesus Christ didn’t come to take sides; he came to take over.
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come to be a spare tire; he came to be the owner and driver of your life.
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come to have your attention for two hours a week on Sunday. He came to be the center of your affection and attention and focus of your existence. 
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come to have your half-hearted partial love.  Instead he came to command us to love him with all our hearts.
• Jesus Christ didn’t come just to be our Savior from God’s wrath, judgment and hell.  No, he came also to be our Lord and master, so you can taste heaven now
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come just to be your buddy or a pal; he came to be feared, to be reverenced, to stand in his awe and to be worshipped and then obeyed.
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come to satisfy all your needs and wants; he came to enlist you in his army and do his work here on this planet. 
  
• Jesus Christ didn’t come to just give you life.  Listen to this:  He came to live in you and through you and love others and impact their lives through you.
  
• And finally, Jesus Christ didn’t come just to give you a happy marriage and a holy huddle as a family.  He came to use your marriage; he came and redeemed your marriage and your family to use you to change the world. 

A.W. Tozer:

“In the early days,” he said, “when Christianity exercised a dominant influence over American thinking, men conceived the world to be a battleground.  Our fathers believed in sin and the devil and hell as constituting one force, and they believed in God and righteousness and heaven as the other.  Man, so our fathers held, had to choose sides. He could not be neutral.  

“For him it must be life or death, heaven or hell, and if he chose to come out on God’s side, he could expect open war with God’s enemies.  The fight would be real and deadly and would last as long as life continued here below.  The Christian soldier never forgot” –listen to this – “The Christian soldier never forgot what kind of world he lived in. It was a battleground, and many were the wounded and the slain."

 “But I’ll tell you something.  It’s a delightful thing when you know you’re close enough to the adversary that you can hear him roar. Too many Christians never get into lion country at all.”

You ever heard him roar? Have you been on the battlefield? Are you on a war footing? Are you going into battle armored up?

Are you on a mission for the King?  If not, what is your mission? Why are you here? What’s God got you here for? ......"
  

Untouched

Despite being 1/4 of mile away from the destructive path of a tornado that hit Raleigh this past Saturday, PRAISE GOD, we are safe and uneffected. We lost power for less than 24 hours and there are no signs in our immediate neighborhood that a tornado passed through. Unbelievable!

HOWEVER, the damage that did occur near us is pretty bad. One of the main roads (right around the corner) into the heart of the city is still blocked off and there are many businesses that got demolished.

Who knew NC could be a place of almost 90+ tornadoes in one day. We are not in Kansas anymore.

Below is a video of the area.

Getting Kicked In the Face [ Pt 1 ]

If you do not want to get "kicked in the face", then I suggest you not read my posts with the same title.

Because there is so much content I am still processing, these next couple of posts will be a series.

These posts are not about my commentary on you and your lifestyle and your choices. But there will times as you read, it may feel like it. These posts are about the journey the Dulins are on. And this is not about a vacation....

God began communicating a general theme in the lives of the Dulins about a year ago. This theme has over the last year been refined and become more and more clear. God is kind that way. He is patient knowing we are slow in the areas we need to be quick or we are quick in the areas of our lives we need to be slow.

"God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." How many times have you heard this? And if you're from my generation, you probably used this line more times than you can count. It IS true that God loves you. And yes, I'd say its even true that God has a wonderful plan for your life. The sticking point would be who's definition of "wonderful" are we using -- yours? or God's?

But the American Christian has edited even that tag line to be: "God loves me. And I have a wonderful plan for my life!" Me..... I ...... my.....

The "general" theme I mentioned earlier that God seems to be communicating to the Dulins is this: You are called --- you are commanded --- to live out the gospel in its entirety AND in the entirety of every area of your life.

Actually, the Dulins are not special that God has started to suddenly communicate this to us, He has been communicating this through His Word long before the Dulins showed up on the scene. This message is not specifically for the Dulins, its in this season that the Dulins are being challenged (and accountable) to living this message to its fullest.

I have been frustrated for the past several years by my experience of the American Christian woman. My frustration is not that I can't find any, but what she looks like. My frustration is she is a fixture in modern day American society and I can't always tell the difference between her and any American woman.

She nice. She is pleasant. She loves children. She loves her husband (he's probably her 2nd). She loves her home that she has carefully decorated within the budget. She struggles with her weight, but continues to pursue the gym. She is often tired from all the activities she must take her multiple children to. She will make you a meal in a heartbeat if you're sick.

She is in touch with pop-culture just enough, but it doesn't rule her lifestyle. She is educated, but not pretentious. She has a grasp on world events, but her world rarely makes the news. She is culturally aware of the arts, but has been forced to more so for her children.

She is never too flashy, but never too shabby. She faithfully attends church. She makes sure her children attend church and church activities. She supports programs at and missions through the church. She is a pleasant conversationalist. She is a good neighbor. She struggles with managing her time. She struggles with having time for herself. She has a master calendar -- whether literally or in her head. She is doing the best she can to provide a loving home for her children and husband.

In many, many ways, she is wonderful. She is wonderful in her various talents and strengths. She is wonderful in her pursuit to give to her children. She is good at making us feel wonderful too.

Does the American Christian woman look like an American or does she look like a Christian?
Despite my frustrations with her, I like her. And in many aspects, I look like her.

But Scripture calls me to look like Christ.
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As Danny and I have been challenged as "empty nesters" with our lives/time, we are coming to grips with how much of our lives overlook the application of the gospel. Even though this has been ongoing, there are three things that have really refocused and brought us back to the baseline in our relationship with Christ:

1. We have given up on finding sold out for Jesus Christians who are our contemporaries/peers. We have given up on wondering where peers in our generation are to spur us on; to challenge us as Timothys while they were our Pauls.

2. We are reading "Radical" by David Platt. We had our own copy and had not started it when Catrina brought us a copy and that jump started us to read it. I've been hard pressed to not devour it.

3. Recent sermon at church by our pastor in James that examines how the American body of Christ proclaims Christ but really live like "practicing atheist."
To listen to this sermon, click the link below and select "Sunday Morning Sermons" and then "4/10/11 Vanishing Life"

http://www.colonial.org/mediaplayer/CBCmediaplayer.html

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The Dulins are being kicked in the face, spiritually. It hurts. Its embarassing. Its not pretty. But hopefully, we won't ever look the same afterwards.