These thoughts and beliefs are not necessarily the thoughts or beliefs of those who attend The FUSION! My mind is off the wall and sprat-tic to some and may be under the influence of coffee! If you like comfortable and easy then this blog is not for you! If you like to challenge status quo and look outside the box and think what if and is that possible if I try then we will get along well! I love to call all into question that which is and ask the hard questions of why? P.S. No comments will be posted as anonymous! Get a pair!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Stop Shoulding On Yourself!


Let's all say this together: "I WILL NEVER "SHOULD'' ON ANYONE AGAIN!"

A basic definition for those of you who are unfamiliar with "should-ing": Telling someone, "You SHOULD change! You SHOULD try harder! You SHOULD, you SHOULD, you SHOULD..." Well, you get the idea.

I refuse to be a preacher who "shoulds" all over people. There are already enough "shoulds" in the world. You don't need this at church, too. Grace extends to everyone...

And while you are at it: STOP SHOULDING ON YOURSELF! That is just not helpful!

When you read a verse like this:

Matthew 22: 37-41 Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself."

Don't say to yourself: "I should love God more and my neighbor more!" Don't should on yourself! You know you are not living up to this law. You don't even like your neighbor, let alone love him!

Instead, read the scriptures in light of His grace!

1 John 4:19 We love Him because He first loved us. (NKJV)

We will only love Him to the extent that we understand His love for us.  So instead of focusing on your lack of love, focus on His love for you! Focus on the good things He has done lately in your life...And once you grasp His love for you, you'll naturally love others as naturally as you love yourself.

Grace doesn't stop at the point of your salvation. By grace you are saved. But also by grace you live! Jesus came so all our shoulding could stop! What great grace for ourselves and everyone we know!

Excerpt taken from the book Grace On Tap by Eric Dykstra http://amzn.com/B00EYMRYDQ
Get wrecked! Go buy it today!

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Grace on Tap week 1 "Born again, again"

One of the reasons I was drawn to do a series from the book Grace On Tap was how similar Eric Dykstra's story of finding Grace was to my own. (The other reason is my huge respect and admiration for Eric who is my mentor and friend!)  It was incredible how Eric put words to my experience I had this past Spring--I was "born again" again! God's grace transformed my already transformed life. I don't' know how He did it, but God made my life brand new AGAIN just by opening up my eyes to what He had already laid out so clearly in the Bible, but somehow I'd missed it.  I'd like to share that excerpt from the book. (And if you just can't get enough, there's the link at the bottom to buy the book on Amazon.) Enjoy!  --Nate

Many people believe there are two "works of grace" in a person's life. One, when they "get saved". Two, when they are "baptized" in the Spirit and they speak in tongues or get fresh revelation of who God is. I don't know if that is true or not, But is is true for me

I have been "born again" twice.

I asked Jesus into my life at the age of seventeen. I was in New York state at a Bible camp. I got down on my knees at a campfire and asked Jesus Christ to forgive my sins and lead my life. And He did! He moved into my life, forgave me of my past, and began to transform me. My friends began asking me why I was so different. I even went off to a Bible college to enter a life of full-time ministry. I was a changed man.

But then a strange thing happened: My well-intentioned teachers, pastors, and churches taught me (unintentionally) that after you come to Jesus for forgiveness, you must prove you really love Jesus by being obedient to Him!

Or, said another way:

We get righteousness at the cross, but we stay righteous by working for it.

So, I began to work really hard at obeying Jesus. I read my Bible every day. I memorized Scripture. I prayed. I served in my church. I witnessed to my friends. I worked hard at fighting temptation. I tried to be a "man of holiness". I started a church. I preached the gospel. I led people to Jesus. I tithed. I gave sacrificially. I...

Do you see all the I's in that paragraph? I was trying to achieve my own righteousness. I was going to be a sold-out Christian. Except it never worked, and I always felt like a failure. No matter how much I did, I felt like it was never enough. I never served enough, never gave enough, preached enough, loved enough, or prayed enough. I never felt righteous, no matter how hard I tried. And the more I went to church or read the Bible, the more I just felt like a failure, because I could never live up to the standard of perfection in the Bible.

That is, until Jesus met me with a second work of grace. One day while on a vacation from ministry, I stumbled across 2 Corinthians 5:21.

The more I read this verse and studied it's implications, the more it messed me up. The more it messed me up, the more I would cry and shake and tremble before God. I spent an entire month immersed in the study of this verse. At the end of one month, I was a totally different human being. I knew I measured up. I knew I wasn't a failure. I knew I was strong enough. Had faith enough. I was a totally different person. Jesus had met me; He had done a second work of grace in me. My church said I was different. My staff said I was different. My wife and kids said I was different.

The grace of God had hit me, and I was born again. Again.

Here is the verse that messed me up forever:

2 Corinthians 5:21  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Read more in the book Grace On Tap by Eric Dykstra http://amzn.com/B00EYMRYDQ

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

A love that don't Quit!

My son was talking to me the other day about cartoons on and on and on, bla, bla, bla... He was very excited--I have to admit: I wasn't.  I tried my best to seem interested but I found myself losing focus, my mind wandering to my work--which he had interrupted me from--and then I was snapped back to reality when I realized my child's excitement had now changed to embarrassment...disappointment... and he was walking away because he realized I wasn't listening.
In fact, I can remember when I realized my parents did this to me. They tried very hard to mask their indifference at times, just as I occasionally have to try to mask mine, but there's a time in the day when the grown-ups are apparently too exhausted to fake it 'til you make it and the observant eye of a kid is no longer fooled.  I apologized to my son, he means the world to me! But I'm not perfect and I mess up sometimes!
Did your parents (no matter how well-meaning) ever do that to you? Or did your friends, your role-model, your coach...ever make you feel unimportant?  
Did God ever make you feel unimportant?
I know, I know: God loves me...but let's be honest, did you ever think: my life isn't turning out like I thought it would...God, don't you love me? My finances are struggling...God, don't you love me? Why isn't this decision working out...God, don't you love me?
Life happens...and sometimes we feel ignored, looked over, unimportant, but the truth is that God's love is UNCONDITIONAL! Most of us can't even fathom a love that's unconditional! When something bad happens, God's unconditional love promises He'll never leave! God's unconditional love ensures that He's going to use everything in this life, good or bad, to make us stronger!  God uses what was meant to harm us to catapult us further into the good plans he has for us.  It's like a bow and arrow: the arrow has to be drawn back before it flies forward! Maybe something happened in life to set you back, but God's unconditional love is using that to set you up for victory!
Our parents, friends, role-models all did their best, but they're not perfect. They didn't mean to, but sometimes they messed up. God isn't human, He's perfect, and He always loves you and He's always with you! He always works everything out for your good! He wants to heal every hurt, astronomical or ridiculously small, with His unconditional love!
"Just as I swore in the time of Noah that I would never again let a flood cover the earth, so now I swear that I will never again be angry and punish you.  For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain.  My covenant of blessing will never be broken,“ says the Lord , who has mercy on you. --Isaiah 54:9-10