“But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against their brothers.”

As I was doing some Bible reading recently I landed on the verse above.  Three words popped from the pages and arrested my attention — “poisoned their minds.”

Instantly I identified with the phrase.  I was immediately reminded of one of the classic traps Satan lays in people’s lives.  He loves to poison people’s minds against God, and against other people.

The context of the verse involves the ministry of Paul and Barnabas in a place called Iconium.  The antagonism they experienced there was linked to lies that had been spread about them.  One group of people with a destructive agenda had purposefully poisoned the perspective of a large group of other people about these two great servants of God.

The same kind of evil activity goes on today.  One of the ploys of our spiritual enemy is to poison people’s minds.  The devil dispatches demonic forces to infiltrate minds with toxic thoughts.  These deceptive, destructive thoughts turn people against God, and more often than we realize, turn people against people.  Satan plants seeds that sprout into looming suspicions about the character and motives of others, leading to strife and separation of relationships, or worse.

If we are not discerning and selective regarding both the internal and external voices we listen to, and the influences we subject ourselves to, we will take in this mental poison.  The results of the contamination are ugly and painful.

How do we know if our minds have been poisoned?  What are the symptoms?

• People who have been poisoned in their thinking are usually bitter, skeptical, cynical and critical.

• People who have been poisoned in their thinking become angry, rigid, resistant, rebellious, disrespectful. negative and judgmental.

Poison doesn’t disappear from the mind without intentional action.  It has to be cancelled, neutralized, counteracted or flushed out with an appropriate antidote.

Poisoned minds need immediate intervention.  When our thoughts are toxic, we need:

• Help from people who are uncontaminated in their thinking — an adjustment of our tainted perspectives from people who are spiritually mature and healthy and who can help us spot the symptoms of contamination and warn us of the consequences.

• Truth that will cancel, neutralize and counteract the lies that poisoned us.

• A fresh baptism in the love of God that flushes away the hard deposits created by the poison in our soul.

Has your mind has been poisoned recently?  The good news is that an antidote is available.  Jesus is able to detoxify your thinking.  Ask Him to do this in you today!

Pastor Dale

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Faced any obstacles recently?  From irritating encounters with heavy traffic during a daily commute to deep relationship rifts that stand in the way of peace in our home or productivity in our work place, obstacles are real and are all around us.  Sometimes it seems that life is one continual obstacle course.  About the time we conquer one challenge, another one appears!

A simple definition of an obstacle is “a thing that blocks one’s way or hinders one’s progress.”  It is anything that slows us down in pursuit of an objective or that stops us from achieving a goal and moving forward in a journey.  Obstacles can be spiritual, emotional, relational, financial or physical.  Usually they are a combination of these.  And they often show up at the most inopportune times.

Obstacles cannot be ignored.  They demand attention and require energy to address.  When an obstacle pops in front of us, it steals our focus.  It is all we can see for the moment.  It looks bigger and badder than our resources, and we usually feel like it will never go away.

How do we deal with life obstacles?  We learn a helpful lesson about “obstacle management” from a man in the Bible named Joshua.

Joshua was charged with the task of taking God’s people into the Promised Land.  After spending 40 long and painful years wandering around a desert, Joshua and the Israelites under his care were most certainly ready to enter and settle their families in Canaan.

Poised and prepared to go into a land flowing with milk and honey, Joshua and the people ran into a major obstacle.  Between them and the placed they had dreamed of for 4 decades was a flooded Jordan River.  On the brink of a new beginning, their future was threatened by circumstances they had no control over and no power to change.  What were they to do?

On the eastern shore of the over-flowing Jordan Joshua and the people of God learned a valuable lesson, one we need to remember.  God showed them that He is the obstacle eliminator!  He pushed back the waters and miraculously took them into the Promised Land.  A quick reading of Joshua 3 will give you the details of this great story.

What are the lessons for us.  Here are a few to consider:

• No obstacle is a match for God.  He really is an obstacle eliminator!

• God sometimes uses obstacles to redirect our steps — to keep us from dangers we cannot see.

• God sometimes uses obstacles to slow us down so that we do not get ahead of Him and hurt ourselves or others in the process.

• God always uses obstacles to refine our character and grow our faith.

The Lord used the obstacle of the flooded Jordan to show His people His power and to build their faith.  Your obstacles provide the same kind of opportunity for you — an opportunity for God to show you more of His power and an opportunity for your faith in Him to grow!

Pastor Dale

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Recently I caught part of an interesting conversation that prompted me to think about a very significant life principle.  I overheard several men discussing a mutual friend who was evidently in poor health.  One gentleman commented about his ailing friend; “He has health problems because he treated his body like a rental car for 65 years!”

It was the phrase “like a rental car” that grabbed my attention.  What did this man mean by the statement?  From this guy’s perspective, his friend had abused his body consistently over time.  He had failed to physically care for himself in responsible ways for decades, and was now paying the price for his neglect.  He had not owned the maintenance of his health.

This man’s comment caused me to contemplate a very basic question.  What is the difference between renting and owning?

Think about the last time you rented a car.  Chances are you didn’t do anything extra in caring for it.  You didn’t have it washed and waxed before turning it in to the rental company.  You didn’t take it  to a garage for a tune up or an oil change.  Mostly likely you didn’t even clean out the trash that accumulated in it during the rental period before you retuned it!  Why?  Because it wasn’t your car.  It didn’t belong to you.  It wasn’t your responsibility.   You had no attachment to the car and no concern for its regular maintenance and longevity.  You were a renter, not an owner!

Unfortunately this mindset sneaks into lots of areas of life.  All too often we go through life as renters, not owners.

How many people:

• Treat their marriages like a rental agreement?

• Never really own their job assignments and responsibilities, or own only selective parts of their duties?

• Use and abuse relationships through systematic neglect?

• Consume the benefits of church, friendships, employment, etc. without contributing to the success, care and maintenance of these things.

• Trash things that are precious and valuable.

What is God’s perspective on the “renting versus owning” question?

God designed us to be owners, not renters!  Going back to the beginning of time and the creation of humanity, God called us to treat life, relationships and responsibilities as “owners” not as “renters:”

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’”  –  Genesis 1:27, 28

“The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”  –  Genesis 2:15

These passages call us to fully embrace the responsibilities and opportunities God gives us.  He wants us to steward the blessings and resources He has provided to us as “owners,” not “renters.”

How about you?  Are you renting or owning?

Pastor Dale

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On this Father’s Day weekend I want to express my admiration and appreciation to all our dads.  Your daily diligence in caring for your kids — spiritually, emotionally and physically — is much more important than perhaps you have imagined.

As fathers, we have the wonderful privilege and honor of representing God, the Heavenly Father, to our families.  Every time we lovingly comfort, console, correct, challenge, encourage or embrace our children, we show them a little bit more of God and His heart toward them.  When we affirm them, pay attention to them, inspire them or simply hang out with them, we are helping them get to know the God who loves them.  We build deep trust in them toward us — their earthly father.  This trust potentially and eventually transfers to their relationship with God — their Heavenly Father.

My prayer is that you would know how special you are to your family, and how valuable you are to God’s plans and purposes for your kids, and for our world.  Continue to commit yourself to being the best dad you can be.  It is an investment worth making!

Happy Father’s Day!

Pastor Dale

By the way, for some wonderful helps for growing your skills as a dad checkout the National Fatherhood Initiative. My friend Roland Warren and all the team at NFI have developed some incredible resources to help you continue to be a Super Dad!

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One of the exciting things to me about the Bible is the great promises it gives us.  While it is true that the Bible contains God’s commands, instructions and  principles, it is also filled with incredible promises.

The word “promise” is a power-packed word.  Here is the dictionary definition:

“A declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing or that guarantees that a particular thing will happen.”

When God gives us a promise, it is a divine declaration of the good thing He is going to do.  It is an assurance from God Himself that He will do what His Word says He will do.  It is an absolute guarantee from God Almighty to us!

God promises us many things in Scripture, but one of the most amazing promises is the promise of restoration.  Many times the Lord reminds us that He is willing and able to restore the relationships and things we have messed up or allowed to drift and deteriorate.  He is the miraculous, expert restorer!

When God was getting His people ready to enter the Promised Land, He reminded them of His power and promise to restore.  Foreseeing their future rebellion and idolatry, God spoke these words to them:

Deuteronomy 30:2-5  ” …  when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today,  then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.  Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back.  He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it.  He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.

The Lord knew that the time would come when the Israelites would walk away from Him.  Their rebellion would cause them to lose the blessings He had so graciously provided them.  But God’s mercy and grace would not cease.  He gave them an assurance; a guarantee.  If they would simply and sincerely return to Him, He would do something wonderful for them.  He promised to restore them.

The meaning of the Hebrew word for “restore” is rich.  It means “to give back; to rebuild; to recover.” It was the word an Israelite would use to describe a comeback!

It ‘s likely that you need a comeback in some area of your life today.  Bring that part of your life back to God and He promises a comeback to you!

Pastor Dale

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