Inside Out, Never Outside In!

Mike Hosey, Elder

The Bible teaches us that out of the overflow of one’s heart, the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34-37, Luke 6:45). And that’s a simple truth that most of us immediately accept. For instance, be honest with yourself and think of the times you’ve said something that came from a heart of unrighteous anger. This occurred because the center of your being was corrupt, even if it was only temporary, and that corrupt center produced a corrupt speech – either in the form of an ill-placed profanity, or more likely, in the form of meanness or negativity.

But the truth contained in those verses is much broader than just our speech.  Our inside spiritual lives shape with profound effect our outside condition – and never the other way around. Take another look at that passage in Matthew.  It teaches us that a good man produces good from his treasure of good, and an evil man produces evil from his treasure of evil.

Peter bears this truth out for us in Galatians 2:11-14. In that passage Paul tells us how he had to publicly rebuke his fellow apostle, Peter, because Peter chose to eat with Jewish Christians, and to shun Gentile Christians when certain Jews were present. This had the effect of potentially debasing the gospel by adding legalistic requirements to it. In his heart, Peter feared what those Jews might think of him, and he acted on that fear, rather than on what he claimed to believe.  It can be argued that Peter believed that the opinions of those Jews were greater than the weight of the truth he’d already been taught. Peter was placing his faith in the approval of men, rather than in the approval of God.  And his faith produced a temporarily corrupted heart, and a definably corrupted behavior. It’s true. Faith produces behavioral results, and where we place that faith has measurable effects on our inner spiritual health, which in turn, has measurable effects on our outward life.  In Peter’s case, that outward life was manifested by fear rather than in spiritual disciplines like prayer, fasting and obedience.

If we place our faith in God, he will send us the Holy Spirit (John 14:26) to teach us. He will give us a spiritual life, and that life will produce behavioral results like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22). So get your inside right, and your outside will follow.

Radar the Dog Hears his Mamma's Voice

Mike Hosey, Elder

Kelli has a little three legged Min Pin dog we call Ray Ray.  His real name, though, is Radar.  He was named that because of his rather large upright ears, which he can direct to hone in on any sound he deems significant. 

Let me tell you more about those ears in a moment, but first, I want to give you some of his story.  He lost that fourth leg in a dog fight -- a fight that we believe his previous owners sanctioned. The vet had to amputate his mangled limb, and his previous owners did not care to retrieve him, or to pay for his surgery, and so the vet kept him in his office hoping that someone would take him to a good home.  No one ever did. It seems that a lot of people like to look at three legged dogs, but not very many people are interested adopting one. But one day, Kelli, and our oldest son, Caleb, were in the vet’s office and noticed him.  My wife, with her big heart, felt a need to rescue him – without consulting her husband who was away on the mission field, I might add. And so he became a member of the Hosey household.

At first, he didn’t warm up to Kelli very much, instead, he preferred Caleb.  But after the death of another of our dogs, he latched on to Kelli.  Of course I can’t know a dog’s mind and heart, but I have to admit that he seemed to recognize that it was her who had saved him and taken him in. One thing is certain, he bonded with her in a big way.  He follows her e v e r y w h e r e! The most interesting thing, however, is that he knows her voice. The world and all its chatter can be pumping out noise at airport levels, and Kelli can whisper in another part of the house, and Radar’s ears perk up like super-secret CIA cell phone sniffers and pick her signature voice pattern out of the cacophony. Interestingly, her voice brings him comfort, and draws him to her. When it’s lightening and thundering, our little dog is reduced to wiggly mass of furry jello. But if he hears Kelli’s voice, he’s in her lap and calm!

We are just like that! When we hear the harshness of the voices we’ve been discussing this past week, like insecurity, condemnation, giving up, and fear, all we have to do is listen for the voice of Jesus and we’ll be calmed.  If we really know Jesus, then we can pick His voice out of the noisy world and follow Him to peace in every storm (John 10:27).

If One Does Not Master Fear, Then Fear Will Master the One.

Mike Hosey, Elder

Mark Twain wisely observed that courage is not an absence of fear. Instead, he argued, it is a resistance to fear – a mastery of fear. 

Certainly, fear can be a difficult force to master. But mastered it must be!  If one does not master fear, then fear will master the one.  Unfortunately, Satan uses a voice of fear in the same way, and for the same reasons that he uses the voices of insecurity, condemnation, and giving up. He strikes fear in the heart of a person as a means of paralyzing that person from doing the will of God.  Think about it for just a second, all of those voices have at their base a root of fear that keeps them anchored in our hearts and minds.

And when that root of fear isn’t keeping us completely paralyzed, it tries to force us into foolish decisions based on what-ifs and maybes, instead of on Godly visions and truths. How many poor decisions have been made because of worry or fear, instead of on faith, or even fact?

So how do we master fear? Well here are three important tactics.

1)  We must remember that God tells us to take courage:  At least one bible scholar has noted that God sometimes commands us to take courage, not because of a faith in our own ability, but because He is our God (Deuteronomy 31:6, Isaiah 41:10, Genesis 15:1).

2)  We must develop a behavior producing faith in God’s mastery: We must remember that God is in control of everything, and that his wisdom and love are perfect (Romans 8:28-29).

3)  Remember that nothing can pluck us from God’s love: It is good to place faith in the FACT that NOTHING can snatch us from the love of God – not even our own mistakes and failures! (Romans 8:38-39).

If you want to master fear, then place faith in God, His love, and his goodness.  It might not get rid of all of those fearful feelings, but it won’t let them master you either. As long as you keep your eyes on Jesus, you’ll walk on water. The moment you blink, you sink (Matthew 14:22-33).

Tempted to Quit by the Voice of Milk and Cookies

Mike Hosey, Elder

When I arrived for the Army’s Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson, SC, I was a young man in my 20s.  I had never been away from home before. I had some college under my belt, but that was it. My biggest life challenges had been moving as a pre-teen from my small town home in southern Mississippi, to the suburbs of metropolitan Houston, Texas, and then moving again as a mid-teen to the deserts of West Texas.

The first couple of weeks at Fort Jackson were physically and mentally strenuous.  Drill sergeants yelled at us daily, even hourly. We were given tasks that seemed impossible.  Sometimes they were.  One of my favorite memories from those first few weeks is of us running in formation past a place called the White House.  It was a nice house that sat back from the road on a pretty lawn. I don’t know what it was there for, or what was really in it, but every time we ran by, we’d be exhausted and the Drill Sergeant would slow us down a bit.  He’d holler at us, “that’s the white house ya’ll. If you want to quit and go home to ya mammas, you can go in there  There’s a hot shower and milk and cookies.  All you have to do is quit right now."

 dolcelavita foodphotography

Of course, I didn't quit.  I had my mind set on finishing. There were prizes to be won, and I wanted them. But I can imagine that the Drill Sergeant’s offer had an allure for others. If you’ve ever been close to your breaking point, you know how strong such an allure can be. Think about the last time you set out to do something hard, and how difficult it was not to quit when that endeavor was at its hardest. My personal opinion is that tempting you to quit is Satan’s most potent temptation. It’s one thing to hear a voice in your head telling you to give in to your lust.  It’s another thing entirely when you a hear voice in your head telling you that you can’t go on any longer, and everything in your world -- from the way you feel, to the things you see -- are reinforcing that voice. Thankfully, Paul reminds us in his writings that we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).

It’s nearly impossible to resist quitting in those moments. Unless, of course, you realize there is a prize at the task’s completion (Philippians 3:14), and that your strength will be renewed if you wait for the right power (Isaiah 40:31), and that what you’re persevering for is a land of milk and honey that is greater than a plate of milk and cookies (Exodus 3:8).