3 Positive Resolutions

Posted on February 2, 2015 by dkoop

Ridge My New Life Res1. I Will Spend Less Time with Negative People and Influences

Please pray, use discernment and always be loving in dealing with negative people.  Some negative people you may have to spend time with because they are family!  However, negativity is like a sickness, it spreads.  I Corinthians 15:23 illustrates this.

…”Bad company corrupts good character.”

Have you ever noticed when you hang out with certain friends that continually complain and are negative what happens?  For me, I want to listen, relate and contribute but soon find that I’m seeing the seeing the bad in circumstances and people as they do.  My proverbial glass is”half empty” that was once “half full.”  What a sad way to live.

Also, there’s a lot of news, articles, radio  and TV shows and some are very positive and uplifting.  Others, I have noticed, are filled with people who are miserable in life.  A group of negative people who gather and criticize everything.  What I found is, when I read, listen or watch them, they hurt me as they slander others and make me overly self conscious or judgmental of my short comings, which I don’t need any help doing.  Soon, I’m more critical and negative.  When I reduce my time with negative media  and negative people, I find that my mind, spirit and emotions are healthier.   I will not allow negative influences to strangle me.  I will not let their thinking become my thinking.  Life is too short.

  1. I Will Speak Words Of Life.

The tongue has the power of life and death. Proverbs 18:21

In the lives of my children, I notice that I am quick to police them.  “Stop that.  Come over here.  Quit doing this.  Don’t hit your brother.  Don’t hit your sister.  Stay on your side. Be quiet! Am I going to have to pull this car over?”  Instead, I want going to catch them doing good things.  “You did awesome.  You cleaned up your room without being asked.  Way to go!  You said, ‘Please’ what great manners.  You brought over your dishes.  You’re amazing.”  I am going to encourage them with words of life rather than always criticizing what they didn’t do right.  I’m going to speak words of life.

  1. I Will Be Thankful For What I Have.

Instead of complaining about what I don’t like or don’t have.  I will give thanks in all things.  I Thessalonians 5:18, says Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

How does this play out in everyday life?  If I’m having a bad hair day,  I thank God that I have some.  A lot of people would love some and not have to do the comb over.  When I am about to complain about my vehicle, “It’s dirty, it’s messy or uses too much gas.”  Realize that since I have a vehicle, I am in the wealthiest three percent of people who are alive today.

God is doing a work in my heart.  My words are changing.  My thoughts are changing.  My life is changing for the better.

I hope yours can too.

Darrell

http://www.RidgeFellowship.com

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I Resolve To Be More Positive – Events & Responses

Posted on January 30, 2015 by dkoop

Ridge My New Life ResHave you ever seen two people experience the same event, yet respond totally different?  I’ve learned that to be positive its not so much about what happens to me, but  how I respond.

Here are some biblical examples of the same event but different perspectives.

The Israelite s were in slavery in Egypt for years.  God used Moses to lead them out.  God miraculously provided food for them daily, called manna. Day after day, God provided for their needs, and yet, the Israelite s did what so many of us do, and they started complaining.  “God, we are sick and tired of this manna.  If only we could go back to Egypt where the fish were free.”  They were complaining, and being negative.  Same event, different perspective.  Moses says, “Did you forget that when you were in Egypt, you were slaves?   Shouldn’t you be overcome with thankfulness?”  You may not have fish, but you have your freedom!

I can be just like that, complaining about what I don’t have instead of being thankful for what I do have.   Do you ever do that?  I want be thankful for what I have.

There was a woman who was forgiven by Jesus, and she took a very expensive jar of perfume and broke the jar open and poured this valuable perfume or oil over Jesus in an act of worship, and the contents of this jar was valued at a year’s worth of wages.  Judas looked on and said, what I could have said, “That’s wasteful.  We could have used it in other ways.”  Judas says, “Why didn’t you sell that and give the money to the poor.   Jesus looked on, same event, different perspective, and said, “You’re missing the point entirely.  What this woman has done is one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen.  What she has done will be told about her for generations to come.”   It was beautiful not wasteful!

Often I’m guilty of thinking, “what this person did was not good enough, they should have done is…”  I want to see beauty in people’s service and gifts.

Stressed or Calm?   Luke 10:38-42

Mary and Martha were hosting Jesus in their home, and Martha was doing what most of us do, stressing out.  And she comes in complaining to Jesus, “Look at Mary! she’s just sitting at your feet.  She’s just sitting there.  No good, lazy girl.  Tell her to help me out!”  Same event, different perspective.  Jesus looks on and says, “Martha, Martha.  You are worried and upset about many things.  Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her.”   Martha was too stressed, Mary is calm and that’s better.

I easily get uptight about my to do list, making sure everything is just right and I miss the presence and peace of Jesus.   I want to stress less, calm down and experience Jesus.

Worshiping or Whining?  Acts 16:25-34

While Paul and Silas were spreading the good news about Jesus, and they were arrested, stripped, beaten publicly them, put them in prison and locked them up by their feet in shackles.  Instead of whining about their circumstances, and Paul and Silas, with their wounds still bleeding, start worshiping God and singing!   God showed up, brought a big earthquake, the doors flew open and the shackles fell off.  It was the first jailhouse rock! The jailer looked on and said, “Everyone’s gone, I might as well kill myself.”  Same event, different perspective.  Paul and Silas said, “We’re still here,” and the jailer said, “What can I do to meet Jesus? They led him to Christ and his whole family, and that event led to the beginning of the church in Philippi.

When things go wrong in my life, instead of whining that its not fair, I want to worship and draw people to God.

So, here’s my challenge to myself and to you.  Let’s do what we saw in scripture.  Look at the same things that we have been complaining about, but look at them from a different perspective.  Rather than focusing on a negative aspect.  Take a step back and look at them from a different perspective.  What do we have to be thankful for, how could we see the beauty in others, calm down, enjoy the presence of Jesus and find opportunities to worship?

I resolve to be more positive, how about you?

Darrell

www.RidgeFellowship.com

 

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I Resolve to Be More Positive – Heart Check

Posted on January 30, 2015 by dkoop

Ridge My New Life ResDo you ever get tired of negativity? I do.  Do think others may be tired of your negativity?  The Bible says  the tongue has the power of life and death.  Which are you speaking?  So many of us speak words of death: complaining, gossiping, lying, criticizing and being negative. We need to speak words of life, and when it comes to words of death, we should stop, but that’s easier said than done.

Are you more negative than you would like? I find it incredibly easy to slip into a mode of finding the negative things in life and complaining about them, rather than thinking of  good things and being thankful.

Like this one lady who was characterized as being very negative, she’d complain about absolutely everything. One day, she went to the grocery store, and was complaining because they only sell a whole head of lettuce. And she said, “I’m a single lady. I can’t eat all of the lettuce that goes bad. I demand that you sell me a half a head of lettuce!” And the worker there said, “We can’t,” and she threw a fit. So finally, the worker went back and was cutting the head of lettuce in half. One of his buddies said, “What in the world are you doing?” He said, “Oh, some grumpy old lady who’s just a pain, wants to buy a half a head of lettuce!” Then he looked up and saw that lady right by him, and he said, “And this fine lady would like to buy the other half of that head of lettuce.”

What I’ve found is that my words are only a symptom of the real issue that takes place in my heart. My Words Reveal The Condition Of My Heart.

Jesus said this…

…For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:34-37

I can see here that Jesus gets right to the heart of the matter.  My words are important, they come from within,  they are good or bad, they set free or condemn and I will give an account for them.

Here’s what I have learned:  from a negative heart overflows negative words which  become negative actions resulting in a miserable life.

This is one of the areas where God has done an overhaul on my heart. What I had to acknowledge is that my words were a symptom of a very deep and very real problem in my heart.  My heart was once full of resentment and bitterness and anger, and my words revealed the condition of my heart.  So do yours.

Here’s a formula to be negative and be miserable.  Complain about everything.  Complain about the weather, complain about the economy, complain about the prices of gas, complain about your physical features, how you used to be hot and now you’re not. Complain about the misplacement of your hair. It’s no longer on your head, now there’s more on your back or coming out of your ears. Complain about the way people drive …complain and complain and complain and you will be miserable.

Want to hate your job? Complain about the commute to work, complain about the people that you work with. Complain about your idiot boss that doesn’t know squat. Complain about the lousy benefit package. Complain about how you are undervalued. Complain about how you don’t like your work environment. In no time, you will hate your job.

If that’s not enough, let’s destroy your marriage, as well. Do you want to mess up a perfectly good marriage? Nit pick your spouse to death. Find anything, big things. Even more fun, find small things and nit pick them: the way they drive, the way they choose to get to a place, the way they chew their gum, the way they leave a little piece of food on their plate, the way their hair falls out and clogs up the shower drain, the way they leave their underwear laying around on the floor.  Complain about everything, and you will mess up a good marriage.   Think about it, when you were dating, you spoke words of life. “I love you!” Sweet,  Sugar pie,  Pumpkin, Muffin, … you’re so good looking’. You walk into the room and the smoke detector goes off, you’re so hot.”  Then years later, “You can’t do anything right!  I’m sick and tired of you. You’re making me miserable!”

If I’m negative about my life, my job and my spouse, does that make others want to be around me?   No!  Now, in case you think that I am over reacting with my own opinions, here’s a Proverb that explains this even better.

It is better to live alone in the desert than with a quarrelsome, complaining wife.  Proverbs 21:19

Now, ladies, I didn’t want to leave you out, this verse is true both ways, “it’s better to live alone than with a grumpy complaining husband.” You want to mess up your marriage? Speak words of criticism, complaining, negativity, and words of death.

I want to enjoy life, have people enjoy being around me and stay married!  In order to do that, I need to speak words of life, love and encouragement.

If I am constantly negative, I just ask myself, “What is in my heart?” Do I need to confess, anger, bitterness, negativity, ungratefulness and give it to God?  Are you ready to do that?

Darrell

PS. How do we live positive and see life differently?  In the next post we’ll look at how two people can be in the exact same circumstances yet see it TOTALLY different.  We will look at four different Bible stories, but we are going to see the exact same event from two different perspectives.  Which perspective will we take?

 

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The Best Place in Town!

Posted on January 28, 2015 by dkoop

Community2What places in your town do you get excited about?  Where I live (North Austin or Cedar Park to be exact)  people were fired up about the Costco that recently came.  There were lines to sign up and overflow crowds on the weekend.  Before that the Cinemark movie theater created a buzz in town.  I also remember excitement as Starbucks came into our area a few years back.  Often I see people “liking” Walmart on their Facebook pages and a steady stream of traffic at Sonic during their drink Happy Hour.  No doubt these are great places, but what about church?  Wait! Don’t stop reading,  I know for certain the church offers some things that the others do not which makes it special.

I don’t know about you, but I’m growing tired of posts, articles and blogs that write, all that is wrong with the church.   Things like, why people are leaving them, how they are losing the millennial’s, what the church is doing wrong and what the church is lacking.  Have you seen these types of posts and articles?  Enough about that.  What about what the church is doing RIGHT? What about what the church HAS.    I’m not about to give up on church or be down on the church and I hope you won’t either.

I’d like to share my feelings on why I believe the church is unlike any other business in town.   For me, my experience happened (so it seemed) by accident.  The first Sunday of the year, I came to The Ridge just to attend church.  Not as a pastor, just an attender. For me to go to church and not be doing anything is really different – I felt like fish out of water! I kept thinking, “Shouldn’t I be doing something?”  No, I’m just here to attend,” I reassured myself.   I got to hang out, take more time to listen, laugh and not worry about where I had to be or what I needed to be prepared to say.  It was nice.  Then, I observed something that Sunday that impacted me greatly.

Here’s the scene that unfolded before me.  In walks a couple as first time guests.  They were not like most in our attendance that day.  Some might call them a minority, even though we have people from all races and social standings, this couple was different than most.  However they were warmly greeted by our Hospitality Group.  It was discovered soon after that they needed someone to interpret for them.  Someone was found to interpret and did so in the hall ways and through the service in the auditorium.   Also it was discovered that they had some needs and were down on their luck since moving here recently.  A group of people, some from Hospitality and  some from the Prayer Group listened to them by way of the interpreter, then cared for them, prayed for them and hugged them.  Soon the members of those groups represented had collected some cash to give this couple, bless them and help them in their time of need. It was around $100.

I began to ponder the following:   Where else in town would total strangers be treated that way?     

Could you go to Costco, walk in without a membership card and be served?   I’m not a member and I’m told by others I wouldn’t be able to get in the door, much less shop.  Yet we warmly welcome people that are not “members” every week.

Walmart’s slogan, is “save money, live better.”  They do have good prices, but does Walmart give money?  Not that I’ve seen, not without some paperwork or a drawn out process.   Yet the church freely gave to those in need, even people they just met.

Would you be able to go the Movie theater, walk in, sit in one of their comfortable chairs and watch the show?  Not with paying the admission first!  Yet at our church, anyone can come in without paying any admission, sit down in our comfortable chairs and watch the show.

Starbucks has great coffee.  People love to go there but I don’t see every new guest getting a free cup of coffee at Starbucks.  Our church has free coffee, yes even Starbucks coffee for our guests.

Sonic is busy with activity like our church, but I have never seen employees at Sonic stop what they are doing to listen, care and pray for someone that is hurting, have you?

I may be missing something but I believe the church offers what no other business in town does.  We offer hope, acceptance, help and love with no strings attached.   And most importantly we offer “Christ in us the hope of glory.”

I hope you can be excited to attend, love and support your local church.  If you don’t have one, I’d like to invite you to mine.    I think, It’s the best place  in town!

Darrell

The Ridge Fellowship 

 

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