When I base my decisions and actions on all of my parts, I am in a danger zone. I am so good at being deceptive.

We see this all the time in the world around us.That which is sinful is called “good.” Seeking the truth at all cost leads to “intolerance.” Disagreeing with someone else is called, “hate.” Life without God is upside down.

There is hope. I don’t have to do what my thoughts, feelings, body, social pressures, and my very soul itself tell me to do. There is the freedom of choice that is my heart. God can take action in my choices.

Left alone without God’s influence, my heart can’t handle the pressure. I will do the things I know are wrong and not do the things I know are right. Life without God is life ruled by me or the devil. 

Honestly, I can’t trust myself to have my own best interest at heart. My choices will be ruled by my desires rather than by God’s desires. I will not even acknowledge that I am not doing right. All my parts will find a way to convince me that I am OK. I will hear the “truth.”

“Go with your instincts.”

“You deserve it.”

“Everyone else is doing it.”

“You’re only human.”

Life without God is as dangerous as it can possibly be because it will seem so “natural.” There is another way.

 Who are the morally conservative atheist thinkers popular in our society today?

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Other than the first humans (out of Africa is the best evidence thus far), the story of humanity is one of groups of people taking over for other groups of people. Whether by conquest or treaty, no one lives in a place where someone else has not gone before. Family, tribe or nation, the human story is one of conquest and compromise.

Other than the first humans, no one can literally lay claim to the term, “native,” at all.For example, there are no “native” Americans; more like “earlier” Americans being linked to emigrants from Mongolia.

What this means is we are not born free. We are beholden to others in order to survive. This begins in family, to be sure, but the continued dependence we have on each other makes the idea of a self-made man or woman foolish. We are not free, but dependant. We will either learn to work together or manipulate and overpower to get what we want. Cooperation or exploitation becomes the human response. Then how can we be free?

How can I be free if I am connected to others in a positive or negative way? Freedom becomes the ability to know what is good for me and good for others and do it. By human nature I cannot consistently live my life for the sake of others. By God’s power I can. The only true freedom is to know what is good and through the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit be able to do it.

We are free to live for others. Free to serve. Free to give privilege a rest. Through Jesus, we celebrate our own independence from being dependant on our human nature.

What does it mean to you to know that you are a slave to what you want, but free to live for the sake of others?

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When we are turned from God, our bodies become the place where sin is lived out. The path of self-worship goes directly through what we look like and how we physically feel. We can see this obsession everywhere.

No one is really interested in how the stars are thinking lately. Yet, you page through any celebrity magazine and you will see the “best beach bodies in Hollywood,” “the worst fashion mistakes at the Oscars,” and so on. We get “Star” magazine at home for research purposes only and I am always amazed at how much what stars look like becomes the conversation for everything. Thin is still in, and yes, Matthew McConaughey does have an excellent six pack.

Then there is how I feel. According to advertisers, I am invited to try any product with the understanding that I am going to be sexually satisfied as a result. Other than a touchy feely family love theme, every product out there is marketed on sex. God-given creativity and imagination seems to be stuck in the public arena on how many different ways I can say that sex is god.

Pornography, alcohol, and drug abuse all are pure body ruin. We are bombarded with the message of feel good or don’t feel at all. Without a good spam blocker, the two “V’s”, Viagra and Vicodin seem to be the solution to all my problems. Giving in to the search for pleasure is a direct result of heart and mind ruin.

Social ruin follows because I don’t need you unless it means I can use you for pleasure. Even anger is not exempt from body ruin. Anger is lived out physically, as well. This is another warped way of the body. Getting a “rush” over rage.

So if heart, mind, body and social relations are all on the path to ruin, what happens to me?

When is the last time you looked in a full length mirror? What did you see?

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“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

This is the social relationship aspect of who we are. God created us as social beings. I would argue this is one of the key parts of being created in the image of God. Being able to relate to one another and God. God himself relates to himself as a social being in the Trinity. That should freak you out.

God living with God’s self in the existence of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and choosing to invite us into the love and joy of this Trinitarian reality. How is that for big words? In other words Father, Son and Holy Spirit are having such a good time living for the sake of each other that he decides, “Let’s make people to share in the joy!”

Born to party!!

Well, something like that. You live out who you are in the community of whose you are. A vital part of what makes you, “you,” is me. What makes me, “me,” is you.

When was the loneliest time in your life? What happened?

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Feelings follow after the thinking that our minds are doing. The path to emotional ruin is taken easily once our minds are convinced that we are in charge. If only everyone would think like us. If it is our desires that matter the most, then feelings bring plenty of destruction.

There is going to be tremendous amounts of conflict that go along with emotional ruin. Like the effect of the ring in the Lord of the Rings, “whatever we wants, precious, that’s whats we try to get.” The emotional pull of possessing what we want makes it impossible to care about the needs of anyone else. The obsession takes over.

Take dating, for instance. As long as I am having my needs met by you, I am in “love” with you. How quickly that changes when you don’t do what I want or I am not getting the attention I feel I deserve. Conflict quickly moves in and with me at the center of the universe, obviously you must be wrong. Either you change your act immediately or I am out of here. I’ll simply fall in “love” with someone else until my needs aren’t being met again.

Follow your desires? On the path to self-ruin that is the last thing you should possibly do.

What is there in your life that has more to do with following your desires than doing the right thing?

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The second part of you and me to examine is our “mind.”

‘Love the Lord your God with all of your mind…’

The mind is separated from the heart, but it works with it. The mind is constantly providing direction for the choices we make. The mind is further divided into two parts. “Thoughts” and “feelings.”

Thinking is where we process the world around us. We can consider many things in relationship with other things. Thinking is where we have the capacity to use imagination. It is where we form opinions and perceptions which we may or may not act upon. In a healthy mind, we use a set of standards called, “logic,” which help us measure our thoughts.

Our thinking is influenced by our feeling. It is our emotional response to what is being processed. Something may be logical, but we may feel that it is wrong. Two people can think in an identical way about something, but have a very different response because of how they feel. We are often pulled away from right thinking because we allow how we feel to take priority. This is where we can get into big trouble.

“Spock” is a good example of thinking and feeling. See the new Startrek!

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I didn't watch the Major League Baseball All Star game last night. However, I did watch the pre-game show. It was a tribute to ordinary people serving in their community. "All Stars Among Us" included 30 people who are involved in serving their community in some way around the country. This feature was done with the cooperation of all of the living presidents of the United States, with a large amount of imput by President Obama.

The President also threw out the ceremonial "first pitch." Ever the confident, charasmatic leader of our nation, he threw a wimpy floater and then acted as if he had just jacked a 95 mph fastball down the middle. Yet, the fact that he took the time to be involved in the way he did in this whole production, it was impressive and larger than life.

Highlight for me was to see these volunteers on the field being honored by the All Stars. There was a heartfelt honesty to the warm reception the players were giving. Fans were getting teary-eyed, and, yes, I was too, watching a pre-game show in late afternoon.

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Sermon 5 July 2009 by Pastor Dana Hanson  
Download now or listen on posterous

the right way.mp3 (8103 KB)

How much power God makes available to Christians depends on the path they choose. Listen to a message about the "right way."

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Jesus is baptized by John, the Holy Spirit comes upon him, and God the Father declares Jesus as the One. Jesus is ready to go to work, so what does he do? He takes 40 days off, first.

Jesus prays and fasts in the desert. The devil tempts him there, but not until the 40 days had passed. Jesus abides, is refreshed and renewed, and is ready for anything. Yes, including the devil.

When Jesus starts teaching large crowds for the first time, the response is tremendous. Whole cities show up to hear him. Any preacher who gets this kind of response is really cooking. It is like a Harvest Crusade on steroids! So, what does Jesus do?

(Mark 1:35-37) Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"

Jesus follows the most influential day of preaching, ever, with abiding. He spends time alone, with God. See the pattern?

Mike Breen, from 3D ministries, says it this way,

"We work from our rest, we don't rest from our work."

Time to be renewed and prune away anything that isn't helpful. "Busyness" is a way to keep us from facing what we really need. Finding that rhythm of rest and work is what keeps us fresh and ready to face anything immersed in God's power.

Abide…

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Well, it’s over. In LA we move quickly from one big event to another.

Does anyone remember the Lakers won the the world championship a couple of weeks ago?

The response to Michael Jackson’s death is not unexpected. He was a cultural phenomena. Who else could have his first #1 hit be a love song to a rat?

So, how do you explain all that has been going on in the aftermath of this tragic death? I am reminded once again of the “cult of celebrity.”

Philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), explains what is going on in our human condition.

What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.

Pondering Pascal today, and what this says about celebrity…

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