White Flag

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War is a funny thing. I doubt there has ever been any army that ever went into battle authentically with the thought in their mind that they would raise the WHITE FLAG of surrender. They actually thought they could win. Typically, you believe that somehow, some way, you will find a way to win. In battle, a white flag is not always raised. Sometimes there is a fight to the death. Even with insurmountable odds, they chose to keep fighting to the last man. We often immortalize their bravery in poems like "The Charge of the Light Brigade, " in broadway plays like "Les Miserables", and in historical movies like "The Alamo". But, the point of war is not to sacrifice, it is to win. Sacrifice might be the means to the end, but no one would sacrifice if there was not a sincere belief that their sacrifice would not make a difference.

Yet, as believers, we are called to surrender to our God and His will for us. Job understood this when He said:

Surrender your heart to God, turn to him in prayer, (Job 11:13 CEV)

It is in our surrender that we become so much more. We join God in what He is doing, and it that act of surrender that makes us more than we ever thought we could be doing it on our own.

Today I wrote this on FaceBook concerning Jacob's wrestling with God, found in Genesis 32:24ff:

The man that Jacob wrestled could have been either 1 of 2 beings: 1) an angel 2) the pre-incarnate Christ. We are told this by the prophet Hosea, "Jacob struggled with the Angel and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor. He found him at Bethel, and there He spoke with him." (Hosea 12:4 HCSB) It seems to indicate that this was an angel Jacob wrestled. To deal with an angel was to deal with The Almighty. But, when [the words] the Angel of the Lord is used, we normally associate him with the pre-incarnate Christ. Either way, the point is - you will lose when you wrestle against God's will. You see, God has a way of humbling you and letting you know who is in charge. He is God and you are not. It will be in your humility that God is able to do the greatest work through you. The deceiver (Jacob) became the father of many nations (Israel) once he submitted to God and lost. Isn't it time we raise the WHITE FLAG?

It is time that we give up. In case you haven't gotten to this place in your life, the battle cannot be won. The sacrifice has already been made through the Cross of Christ. We don't need this battle. God will win, and we will lose. When God wins, we all win!

As we close our "Strapped" Series, many of us have been struggling with how to deal with our financial resources. We have held our money so close to our hearts that we can't release it. We (and I'm including me) can't seem to decide to "live like no one else so we will be able to live like no one else." We can't put our minds around this idea that "We're going to give up things now that we love for things we love even more." As I said this past Sunday, no one who claims the name of Christ doesn't tithe because they somehow hate the LORD. It is because we have become so strapped that we can't get seem to get to the place of tithing. Let's get free!

That is why I tithe. I can't make it on my own with my money, so I've got to tap into the resources of God. My tithe is my WHITE FLAG of surrender to God. It is me telling Him that I put Him first place in my life. It is me saying, "I'm going to get rid of my debt and I need you to supernaturally help me with my bills." It is me saying, "I believe you will open the windows of heaven and pour out so many blessings that I can't catch them all" (Malachi 3:10).

Here's the deal, if I go to war with God, I will lose. Isn't it time you and I both surrender to Him? God can then start His best work in us, and truly the best is yet to come.

Pastor Trey Rhodes

Modern Family Series Begins this Sunday - From "Leave it to Beaver’s" Cleavers to "Modern Family’s" Pritchetts, TV producers have been offering us models of what the modern family is for years, but is that what it should be? Many of us have realized neither model works. Let’s be honest, all we really want is a family that works. Families may have changed, but God's principles about the family haven't. Join us at Oceanside Church for a real-life journey into seemingly revolutionary concepts that have worked for thousands of years, and still work today. The style of the modern family may have changed, but the way to have a great modern family hasn’t.

Valentine's Not Just for Couples Banquet - This Sunday night, February 10th 7p.m. Games, Dinner, Pictures for $5.

 

 

 

RVGC Video Game competition - 6 p.m. Friday Night February 22. $5 entry for Super Smash Brothers Competition. $75 grand prize. Total purse to be awarded, $150.

 

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Who Owns the Castle?

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Castles have been etched in our minds as places where the king and his family live. We watch the movies and read the books and get all caught up in the romance of it all. But, the king doesn't actually live in his castle; he lives in the palace. The steward is actually the keeper of the castle and lives there to take care of the castle until the king returns (For you Lord of the Rings fans, that what The Return of the King is all about).

The Neuschwanstein Castle is one most visited castles in Germany
and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe.

The saying goes that a man's house is his castle. When you hear that, you might have visions of a burly man walking though his door to his doting wife who fawns over him as he plops in his chair and reaches for the cold ice tea that she places in his hand. Maybe it could be a scene from Leave It to Beaver or Father Knows Best. But, in order to understand fully what that means, we've got to go farther back than the 1950's. 

It actually all began in the time of Cicero about 100 years before Christ. He explained how important it was for a man to have security and privacy in his home; it was understood that the man represented the entire family who should expect the same. His exact quote was:

What more sacred, what more strongly guarded by every holy feeling, than a man's own home?

This was later taken to be a part of  law in western civilization as William Blackstone speaks to English law:

...the law of England has so particular and tender a regard to the immunity of a man's house, that it stiles it his castle, and will never suffer it to be violated with immunity.

Of course it didn't end there, our U.S. constitution gives us the same right in the Fourth Amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated...

However, as followers of Christ, we are only the keepers of God's castle. We are not the owner. That is why we have but one right, and that is to yield all we have and all we are to our Lord, Jesus Christ, including our castle. He has the right to not only search us and all we have, but also seize whatever He needs. That's because He owns it all and it is His castle. So, the LORD Jesus should always have access to our stuff. He is the One for whom we are but stewards. He is the Owner, we are the managers. As the Psalmist declared:

The earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it. Psalms 24:1 (NASB)

As a young believer, I was confused with the purpose of the tithe. Somehow I thought that 10% was God's and 90% was mine. The truth is that the 10% is God's, and so is the 90%. It's all His. Everything I own, everything I am, and everything I ever will be are all His. The LORD not only owns the wealth in every mine, He also own the mine. He not only owns the cattle on a thousand hills, He owns every hill on every continent on this entire planet. God owns it all.

So, why do I tithe? Because God needs it? No, I think He could take it any time He wanted it if He really wanted to. Because the church needs it? No, that's not even right. The church needs our support in so many ways; our finances are only a part. Our church needs our talents, our gifts, our time, our support, and our help. So, what is the tithe for? It is our way of letting the Lord know that we acknowledge it all belongs to Him. It is not our holy duty; it is our gift of love for Him.

Thank you for demonstrating your love for your Lord.

All for Him,

Pastor Trey Rhodes

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