Law of Christ

One of the elements of Hope Community church, that I am so encouraged with, is the REALNESS of the people that make up the group. If anything they are real about their faith, real about their struggles, real about what church means to them, and real about their doubts and confusions that plagues all of our lives . Willingness to be real about their burdens, and taking on the burdens of others. You guys teach me a lot about being real in my own walk and with my own faults and struggles. Daily I have to remind myself that I have a King and I am under His leadership to do things His way, not mine. Here is a statement from Jim Palmer that wrote Divine nobodies, it sums up a lot of churches today.

“And so it is with us. The more we have been schooled in religious activity, the more difficult it is to see this kingdom for what it really is. We have millions of people on the planet today claiming to be born again who don’t have the foggiest idea who Jesus is or how to live in his reality. They may subscribe to Christian beliefs, follow Christian ethics and practice Christian rituals, but they do now know how to ride the wind of his Spirit and be transformed by him.”

Jim Palmer “Divine Nobodies”

The transformed life can be seen in the willingness to follow Christ to the other side of the planet to lend a hand, or a shoulder. The transformed life can be seen in the willingness to cross the street to help a neighbor no matter there race, creed, social status, economical status. The transformed life can be seen in a willingness to share with each other our burdens and then allow the Holy Spirit to work and move in our lives to heal and to transform us. The transformed life can be seen in fulfilling the law of Christ.

Gal. 6: ² Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.

What is that law: Love God, Love people as you love yourself.

Matthew 22: ³⁷Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' ⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Living the transformed life is not easy, did anyone say that it would be. But, anything that has a cost to it, also has the greater reward. Peace now and eternity with God, that is the transformed life.

Thoughts from a sinner on his journey.

Peace, byron

5 Minutes Christian.

Have you ever noticed how we have no time. I mean I decided to try my hand at blogging and guess what happened? I can't find time. I guess this is God's way of showing me the most precious commodity He has given all of us is time. And it is so sad that the one thing we take for granted is our time. I am reminded of this as I prepare for a dear lady, of fifty seven years, funeral this Saturday. True to the words of James, "What is your life but a vapor" I don't know about you. but I find myself constantly stressed and running. It is amazing that when I read the words of Jesus I see a man that had all the time in the world, but had the most demanding schedule to fulfill in the shortest amount of time. What was that agenda? To save the world and to redeem man back to God in 33 short years. And I thought I was busy. But what was so amazing was he did this while living a life totally dedicated to the Father. We have trouble living a Christian life 5 min. at a time.

During one of our small groups at Hope we had a young lady share what God had done in her life. How he had radically transformed her 2 years ago, but she also found she was struggling with her total dedication to God. She came up with this label and I thought she was right on target. She said she was a 5 min. Christian living for Christ only 5 min. at a time . I can relate to that, for I to am a 5 min. Christian. I guess if I could keep my thought's and time dedicated to the right things, as did Christ, then I could overcome being just a 5 min. Christian and maybe with my fingers crossed become a 10 min. Christian. Just some thoughts from a sinner struggling along on his journey.



peace, byron

Hope for the World!

This will be my first attempt at blogging and I hope not the last. I hope this will be a great place for thoughts and discussion. This morning as I was having my alone time with God, and while reading a new book I have called "Revolution of Character" I read a statement that match what we are doing at our church. Dallas Willard is the author of the book and he says:

"Jesus sent his followers out, not to start governments, or even churches as we know them today. These organizations inevitably convey some elements of a human system. Instead, His disciples were to bring the presence of the kingdom and its King into every corner of human life by fully living in the Kingdom with Him."

I feel we at Hope are on the right track of seeing the lives of people transformed by the power of God. We have the right understanding that it is not about building's or programs, but the transformed lives and we get to be apart of that. I have been reflecting on our sunrise service at Hope and I was blown away that the people of Hope are still thinking out of the box. Although, we do not have a building to call our own, we met on our land and many of the people from Hope said lets start a drive in church. You guys are awesome! The church is about people coming and growing by the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. It is about living for the King and being under his sovereignty for everything in our life. The bottom line, it is about letting our king control and we follow.

peace, byron