Play ball!

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Tim Sorbo

I have played tee-ball, baseball, and softball for almost my entire life. I missed a couple of summers when I was in my twenties but I am still swinging the bat and running the bases on my church softball team. See a previous post:

Again…and again…yet again.

Last weekend, I had the privilege of performing a wedding ceremony on a baseball field. We were in left field and not on the actual dirt part though. This post was inspired by the sermon I gave at that wedding.

In baseball, you need a glove, a bat, and a ball to play the game. These are essential.

These items represent different parts of the game.

The glove represents defense. The glove I use is over 20 years old. If it could speak, it might tell of the countless times that it saved me from certain disaster. =-)

The bat represents offense. Bats are as different and varied as the players who use them. The common denominator is that we all need a bat if we are going to hit the ball.

The ball represents the game. It is the game. Everything revolves around the ball. Without it, you cannot play baseball.

As a follower of Christ, the glove, bat, and ball can represent three aspects of following Jesus.

The glove represents defense. 2 Samuel 22 starts out with these verses, “David sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior from violent people you save me.”

God is the ultimate defense when are faced with troubles and trials.

The bat represents offense. 2 Corinthians 10 explains the offense, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

God gives us what we need to be victorious as we follow Him.

And finally, the ball. The ball is everything. Nothing can or will happen without it. The ball represents Jesus.

Here is what Colossians 1 says, “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

Jesus is everything. No point in living unless life is lived in Jesus.

So whether you are watching some Major League Baseball, playing co-ed softball on a church team, following Christ or living for yourself, let me remind you of one thing:

Keep your eye on the ball!

Wind in your face?

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Tim Sorbo

In the movie, What About Bob?, Bill Murray is hilarious! At one point, he is strapped to the mast of a sail boat.

And here is what he is saying…

Very funny!

Sailing. It is something that I have never tried. Someday perhaps.

But I do know something about sailing. Going from point A to point B is rarely, if ever, a straight line.

Even as I type these words, I recall all the twists and turns I have experienced. In the language of sailing, it is called tacking. Another picture to help with the idea.

There were many more photos from which you could choose to better understand tacking but this one worked for me.

Sailing a boat: There is a goal. There is a course that is plotted to get to the goal. But then the wind blows. Start tacking. Progress can be slowed but it is still progress.

Following Jesus: God plants goals, visions, passions, and dreams into our hearts. We set out to achieve all of these things for God. But then the wind blows. Start tacking. Our forward progress is slowed but we still move forward.

I am reminded of the words in James 4, “But he gives us more grace.”

Sure, I make mistakes. Life happens and I get wronged. Whether I did something or something was done to me, there is some readjusting to be done. Tacking.

So when rejection (this could mean your sin or someone else’s sin) occurs, will I regret or redirect?

We are all sailing through this life. And the wind is usually blowing.

Regret means to stop forward progress by not changing according to God’s standards.

Redirect means to move forward by adjusting to God’s will and changing directions.

One of my favorite bands is the Imperials. Here are some of the lyrics to one of their songs, “Sail On”:

“Cast up your sails
And let the wind blow
Jesus will never
Let your ship lose control
Just keep your compass set on the Son
And He’ll guide you safely
To His beautiful Home”

Enough is enough.

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Tim Sorbo

Faith. Most days I don’t even feel like I can find the words to type. Can my faith really move mountains? Will I really see healing in someone’s body? It seems that with all of the stuff of life, faith is hard to come by. And when we do have faith, it feels small or insignificant.

By the way, if you want my idea of ‘stuff’, click here.

My first two posts about faith were in regards to Altitude and Attitude. Feel free to go back and read them again. =-)

The Altitude of Faith is that Jesus is supreme. He is above all else.

The Attitude of Faith is reflected in my actions in life.

But is my faith enough?

I say yes. But again, don’t take my word. God says yes as well.

I John 5: 4-5 tell us, “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

What?!?! My faith is the victory that overcomes the world?!?! I guess I will take God’s Word at face value here. It is not normal to think of myself as an overcomer but I like it. There is a small catch though…I need to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. If that is in order, than I am victorious.

So to answer the question in the opening paragraph, yes, my faith can move mountains. I can see people healed. My problems and issues are suddenly not so life-choking.

It seems that enough is enough. My faith is enough. God can do anything because He is all-powerful but He chooses to let me use my faith. Enough is enough.

And that, my friends, is the Amplitude of Faith.

Amplitude –

“the state or quality of being ample, especially as to breadth or width; largeness; greatness of extent.”

It all boils down to the fact that God has given each one of us a measure of faith. Some people have more than others but everyone has some. And that faith is enough.

Can I come full circle? This is how I ended my first post in this month:

Faith has nothing to do with feelings. (Thank you God!!!)

If we look at faith and understand it (even if it is only a little understanding), there is nothing essential about how we feel as it relates to faith. My feelings do not always line up with my Altitude, Attitude, and Amplitude but they can certainly influence it!

So go and exercise your faith today. And when you don’t feel like it, that just might be the best time to act.

Another aspect of Faith

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Tim Sorbo

Quick summary of last week:

We all have faith in something. We can choose to put that faith into anything we desire. Jesus, being the Ultimate of Everything, is the highest location for our faith. Our Altitude of Faith should be in Jesus.

Jesus. Isn’t He awesome? Because he is above all else, he rightly deserves our honor, trust, respect, love and yes, our faith. We may know that in our heads but how does that faith translate to our hands? How does having faith in Jesus play out in everyday life? Back to I John 5. I copied the first three verses here.

“1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,”

We can see the Altitude of Faith in the first verse, “that Jesus is the Christ.”

The last part of verse 1 and verses 2-3 give us the Attitude of Faith.

Attitude –

“manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, especially of the mind”

What is your disposition towards faith in Jesus? Do I have positive tendencies with regards to faith? My manner is evident of my faith, right?

The word love is used 5 times in these 3 verses. Let that be a clue as to what our attitude should be. Here is a little example.

When I went to North Central University, it was actually called North Central Bible College. Among my friends, there was one in particular that I remember. He was rather intense. We would be talking about a subject and he would often times use the phrase, “Chapter and verse.” He was asking for proof for my ideas. It was one thing to talk about something we had heard in class or Chapel. This guy always wanted to know what the Bible said. He wanted proof.

Remember, love is a clue since the author used it so many times in a short span.

While the object of our faith (altitude) is Jesus, the proof of that faith (attitude) is our action or love.

My dad often said to me, “You will always have time to do what you want to do.”

I have faith in Jesus. He was a perfect man. He was killed, buried and then raised from the dead. His sacrifice is enough to wash me from my sins. My life is now completely in His hands. I am free in Christ!

All of that is my Altitude of Faith.

I put others before myself. I serve at home and at church. I refrain from swearing or crude language. Drunkenness is not an issue. When the gossip starts, I leave the room. I smile even when I am having a bad day. I invite people to church. I sing on the worship team. I try to be the best version of me that I can.

All of this is my Attitude of Faith.

Go back and read those three verses again. Our actions stem from God doing something that we could not. I DO NOT do good things to get something from God. I do these things because He has already done something for me.

This post is not about doing good works to get saved. But rather, it is about doing good works because you are saved.

Faith…time to soar!

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Tim Sorbo

Ever been in an airplane? I am sure that most of you have. I like to fly. It generally means I am going on vacation. But there was this one time. It was a single engine plane. There was the pilot and then me and my buddy. We were flying for about an hour when the storm hit. Wow! I was not excited on that particular flight! You feel the bumps and rolls so much more when you are in a little plane. We prayed that night. =-)

A pilot has to check so many dials, gauges, readouts, etc. when flying. Most of them I could not even name. But there is one that I do know. And frankly, it could be the most important one in the entire cockpit; the altimeter. In my simple way, it is the dial that tells you how far above the ground (which is altitude) your plane is flying. And when flying, being above the ground is essential!

So the altimeter measures your altitude. Here is another definition:

Altitude – “the height of anything above a given planetary reference plane, especially above sea level on earth.”

The higher your altitude means you are higher up in the sky. Pretty simple. Now let us apply that to our faith. I John 5.

This is just the first verse of ch. 5. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.”

We can have faith in many things. I believe that we are all born with a measure of faith (more on that in another post). The neat part is that we get to apply that faith to anything that we would like. We can have faith in people, jobs, money, alcohol, our looks, pastors, pornography, intelligence, or so many other things.

But the highest idea/person/thing that we could possibly put our faith in is Jesus. Specifically that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Messiah or anointed one. Our sins can be forgiven because of Him. Freedom comes from Him. Life is in Him!!! He is alive! With Easter just passed, we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus. He was more than a prophet or teacher. Sure, he was a good man but he was more. He is…how do I finish this sentence? He is life. He is everything. Everything consists because of Him.

But don’t take my word for it. Read the Word. Start in the book of John. Jesus actually makes some statements that describe himself.

As you go through your day, ponder your faith. Here is a question I would like to ask you,

What is the Altitude of your Faith?