Coming from the fourth (and final) number in Buell and my repertoire last Sabbath evening at V2—THIS is the will of God! Rejoice, pray, give thanks—any questions?! It apparently is more important that I maintain a spirit of “rejoicing” than that I actually have everything in my life that might be cause to rejoice. It’s apparently more important that I learn the value of perpetual communion with God than that I get all my prayers answered the way I want. And it’s apparently more important that I cultivate an attitude of thankfulness than I have only things in my life that would cause me to be thankful.

I hate to leave you in my last GMU of the school year with too much of a reality check (but I’m going to anyway!). LIFE AIN’T FAIR! Get used to it!  It will NOT all work out the way I want it to and everything will not go my way. I don’t love God so I get what I want. I love God because He has already given me everything I need—INCLUDING life lessons that keep me from getting self-centered, comfortable in this world, and in control. I pray that He gives each of us whatever it is that will draw us or keep us in close connection with Him. My definition of “wrong” or “bad” might just be His catalyst into something greater than we could ever ask or imagine!

My prayers will be with you all as you enjoy the summer as a break from school (maybe) but NOT a break from building a stronger and more meaningful connection with God. Have a great summer and I look forward to seeing ALL of you (except graduates, SMs and TFs) next August as we begin a new school year together with Him!

Have a great day applying the “will of God” to your whole life,
Pastor Rich
Quote for the day: “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.” Terry Schwartz
PS Snow by tonight!!  You gotta love spring in Nebraska this year!

Yesterday I said that I need to FIRST give myself to the Lord and THEN do good to others. Today I find that it is God’s will that I NOT try and “defeat” the devil’s infantry by doing battle with them, but by doing good to all people. It’s not my job to destroy the enemy, it’s my job to love God’s children. He has already defeated the devil and He has already given me that victory. So now the questions is, does my life show that I am victorious or that I am defeated?

Or, worse yet, do my words say that I am victorious but my actions show that I am defeated? Do I say one thing and do the other? My greatest witness is to confess my faith in God and then live like I mean it!

Have a great day in consistency with God,
Pastor Rich

Quote for the day: “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” Brennan Manning

Here’s the background of my “will of God” verse for today. Paul was writing to the church in Corinth (in southern Greece) about the faithfulness of the people in the church in Macedonia (in northern Greece). It’s quite a word picture found in the preceding four verses. The Macedonians, out of “most severe trials,” and “extreme poverty,” were “overflowing with joy,” and “welled up in rich generosity.” In order to help their brothers and sisters in Corinth they,

1. “gave as much as they were able”
2. “even beyond their ability”
3. “entirely on their own”
4. “pleading with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.”

Doesn’t sound they like they needed an offering appeal at their church that Sabbath! And this morning I saw a link that may explain their attitude- my verse for today. Paul says, “And they did not do all this as we expected, BUT they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us.”

Apparently the ideal attitude in Christian living does not start with trying to “live like a Christian.” It starts with FIRST giving myself to the Lord and THEN comes the application to life. And, according to Paul, THIS is in keeping with God’s will.

So another lesson on finding God’s will has to do with my commitment FIRST to God and THEN to my fellow journeyers. Sequence is everything!

Have a great day fulfilling God’s will in your life by making that daily commitment to Him,
Pastor Rich

Quote for the day: “I want to be so full of Christ that when a mosquito bites me she flies way singing,
‘There’s Power in the blood!’”

PS Success on your exams today!!

PPS Happy birthday to my son Dan, and my brother Ron!!

Because it is His will that I be saved (along with everyone else!) I find that His will is also that I respond to that gift with a positive spiritual attitude! It appears that it’s God’s will, when I realize His saving grace, that I “rejoice, pray, and give thanks.” Three very specific things I can do, or be, that will indicate that I am grasping His will. Attitude is everything!

Have a great day in spiritual positiveness,
Pastor Rich

Quote for the day: “We need to take our deepest passions and connect them to the world’s deepest pains.”

PS People’s City Mission to feed the homeless. Leave at 4 and be back for vespers. You MUST sign up in Campus Ministries because spots are limited.

PPS Vespers will be outdoors as we celebrate this year at our final Friday night as a school family. Ricky and Tyler, this year’s and next year’s UFC directors will lead out as we transition between all that God has done this year and all we look forward to Him doing next year. Buell will be speaking so bring your blankets to the grass circle in front of the ad building at 8pm and let’s fellowship and worship!

PPPS Afterglow will coordinate with the outdoor vespers so stay by!

As we come closer to the end of the school year I started thinking (last night) about what I wanted to leave you with. I hear lots of you struggling and journeying with the need to decide what to do with summer, jobs, majors, careers, etc. and—the part I really appreciate most- is the fact that you are wanting it to be within the will of God. I am so blessed as I see you desiring God’s will in your life above everything else. So I thought I would remind myself (and you if you want to join me,) during these last few days of GMU, of some of the indicators of how to know and follow God’s will.

The first one I thought of was my text today. ABOVE everything God’s will is that we all be saved! He is full of promises and patience as He links His will with our free choice. As I see it He has stacked the deck completely in my favor and then said, “You choose!” And the guaranteed victory for eternity that is mine as I choose Him gives me a strong and stable foundation and anchor point from which to launch out discovering how and where else His will will take me.

First of all, it’s His will that NO ONE be lost and the EVERYONE come to an understanding and assurance that we can be forgiven and cleansed and made right in His eyes—ALL by HIM!! I think that’s a good place to start in the middle of trying to figure life out!

Have a great day knowing the #1 will of God,
Pastor Rich

Quote for the day: “Live in such a way that if someone spoke badly of you no one would believe it”

PS 9 O’Clock @ 9pm in Rees Hall Chapel. Come sing for 30 minutes and be blessed in this worship time with your peers.

Choices DO matter! Whatever and whomever I let into my life will change my life. Everything has an impact. Everything has its effect.

I, in turn then, also affect everyone and everything I come in contact with. It works both ways. But if “bad company corrupts good character,” then I assume “good company enhances good character.” I also assume that “bad company probably wreaks havoc with already bad character.”

But I also wondered this morning if “good company could help bad character become better?” With the caution of the original statement always before me I want to believe, in a spirit of Christian love for others, if I can establish my “good character” with good choices, and then impact those who are NOT making those good choices in such a way that I can help them on their journey toward better choices. I wonder if I can be the choice that might start them on the road to better choices so they can also get out of the destructive choices that are consuming their lives? My “at this point conclusion” is yes. Yes I can and yes I should—both be cautious and careful about my choices, but also be a good choice by my influence on others so they too can choose right and enhance their character.

Have a great day making positive choices and being a positive choice for someone else,
Pastor Rich

Quote for the day: “Not more about God. More God.” —Barbara Brown Taylor

PS Laboring Youth for Christ @ 8pm at Erin Schlenker’s home, 4931 Calvert St. Everyone is welcome.

PPS Hour of Power @ 7 in the Heritage Room of the church with Pastor Ron

If yesterday I wrote about clear focus in message, today I will have to write about clear diversity in method. Paul says, “to the Jew I became a Jew, TO WIN JEWS, to those under the law I became like one under the law (though I am not really under the law) SO AS TO WIN THOSE NOT HAVING THE LAW, to the weak I became weak, TO WIN THE WEAK. In fact, I have become ALL things to ALL men SO THAT by ALL possible means I might win SOME!” He was willing to do whatever it took even if he knew he would not be completely successful!

How about this for a freeing conclusion: I can do what I want, I can be what I want, I can go where I want, whenever I want- AS LONG AS it’s to win others to Christ! One size does not fit all, and one approach does not work for everyone. The challenge is my focus, as I wrote about yesterday. If I resolve to do nothing, know nothing, go nowhere, be nothing EXCEPT what leads me to win others to Christ by my choices and example (and words when necessary!) then I can do, be, go whatever and wherever I want! Living for Jesus in not just one way—it’s ALL ways—as long as they are focused only on HIM!!

Have a great day in focusing clearing on ALL the possibilities in Jesus,
Pastor Rich

Quote for the day: “Be like a postage stamp: stick to one think until you get there.” Josh Billings

PS Chapel will be a combination of an IRR report on their experience in Nicaragua AND the SM/TF dedication service. See you in the church @ 10:30 for our final chapel of the school year.

PPS Prayer Warrior- new!! Tuesday evenings @ 7pm in the Ortner Center. Bring your prayer requests and join Aldo and Cody as we spend precious time with our Father. Luke 21:36

PPPS Christ On Demand- 9pm in the Ortner lobby upstairs. All are welcome to this time of Bible study and fellowship.

Wow, what a “resolve” by Paul as his response for helping the believers in Corinth understand how to live victoriously in a very sinful and immoral city. This place was like the Las Vegas of the Aegean peninsula, and Paul knew that mediocre meditations and cool Christianity would not survive under such challenges. It would take drastic measures to come out victorious and that was exactly what Paul offered.

When he wrote to the Romans he said, “do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” I guess my culture and community are not the only ones to wrestle with the seemingly overwhelming temptations of Satan. But I can’t let him win and I cannot be overcome by his evil. That’s my desire. But does my desire match my decisions? That’s where the rubber meets the road. Half-hearted Christianity does not give me half-Christianity; it gives me total confusion! Contrastingly, all my spiritual strength mustered against the devil is still a guaranteed defeat.

Apparently the Corinthians were well-educated and well-off. So Paul contrasted their worldly victories with the ways of God so that the distinction would be clear. “God chose:
The foolish things of the world to shame the wise
The weak things of the world to shame the strong
The lowly things to shame the powerful things,
SO THAT—no one could boast EXCEPT in Jesus!
BECAUSE—“the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”

That’s a pretty rhetorical statement because my God has no weaknesses and has not foolishness. But if He did, His weakest points would still be stronger than my strongest ones! So, I can try and flaunt my “greatness,” my “power,” my “wisdom,” and not hold a candle to God, OR I can “know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” My greatness loses; His weakness wins! I think I know which side I want to be on!

Have a great day enjoying HIS strength in your life as you focus ONLY on Him,
Pastor Rich

Quote for the day: “If you are trying to defeat the human spirit, marathoners are the wrong group to target.” FB

PS Every weekday at noon there is a special time of prayer at the church. 1 Lincoln, 1 Hour, 1 Prayer. Come as often as you wish; stay as long or as short as you wish; participate or just come be blessed as much as you wish.

PPS The Living Room- Monday – Friday, 6:30am- 10:30pm Prescott Lobby Prayer Room. Renew, Reform, Re-experience the Spirit, any time!! Join others in this space set aside for ONLY quiet time, reflection, and prayer.

PPPS Table Talk tonight in Rees Hall Club Room @ 8. Join your women’s and men’s ministry leaders as the create the environment and opportunity for you to connect together in meaningful fellowship and sharing.

News flash!! I don’t have to understand the details of sin and sinfulness in order to be intelligent about how to deal with it! I don’t have to know bad so I can know good better! Story has it that when the government teaches its employees to identify counterfeit money they DON’T show them counterfeit money, they make them scrutinize real money. If they know the details of the good, they’ll be able to know when they encounter the bad.

I wonder if it might be the same in the spiritual journey? That’s rhetorical! I really don’t wonder that; what I really wonder is why I don’t always live my life by that ideal! I wonder if I should go see that, or do that? Guess I better go and find out? Oops, I guess I shouldn’t have. And then I have to live with the negative impressions that have been implanted in my mind and wonder why I get confused trying to understand the right.

“By beholding I become changed,” works both ways! What I “behold” will change me. That’s not rocket science. What I behold will impact how I think and how I respond to life. I can choose to “behold” good and improve the possibilities, even in my broken and sinful nature, that I will choose good. Or I can “behold” evil or bad and improve the possibilities, because of my broken and sinful nature, that I will choose poorly. The choice of what I “behold” plays a major role in what I am changed into.

So what if I become brilliant in understanding what is good in this life, and become totally ignorant in understanding the evil in this world? Will that “sacrifice” make me better or worse off? That’s one of the last bits of fatherly advice the Paul offered to the people in Rome as he brings his letter to a close. “Be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.”

Have a great day choosing your wisdom and innocence,
Pastor Rich

Quote for the day: “I have noticed everyone for abortion has been born.” Ronald Reagan

PS Vespers tonight is at 8:00 and is the Fine Arts Choral concert!! Bring a friend and be prepared to be blessed. See you in the church @ 8:00!! The program will include the UC Chamber Orchestra as well as the Unionaires and Octet!

PPS Afterglow will be hosted by the Fine Arts Ministries team

PPPS Peace Week activities end Sunday! Come to Heartland Hall @ 7:30 and hear Shayne Claiborne.

I am tempted this morning to make this the shortest GMU ever! All I really want to say is—if there is “no condemnation” FOR those who are in Christ Jesus, then there should be “no condemnation” FROM those who are in Christ Jesus. It is NOT my job to condemn; it is my responsibility as an uncondemned child of God to commend to everyone I meet the goodness and grace of God. I’ll use words if necessary!

Have a great day basking in and living your spiritual state of being uncondemned,
Pastor Rich

Quote for the day: “You can preach a hateful resentful angry punitive judgmental God, and nobody seems to mind. But if you pose a God too loving, too merciful and too forgiving, there will be hell to pay.” Rev V. Gene Robinson

PS 9 O’Clock– @ 9pm! Rees Hall Chapel. Thirty minutes of singing WITH God!!

PPS Task Force girls’ dean needed at Maplewood Academy next school year! If interested talk to Cherilyn or Pastor Rich.

PPPS Peacemaking Week- Thursday–Reconciliation Day (Share stories of reconciliation in class and conversation)