LOWEST PLACE

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Of all virtues to possess on the road to maturity, there is none so great as a genuine humility.

Humility opens the door for everything we need to possess that still needs to "descend" to us.  The degree to which we do not function in humility (our pride-quotient), is the degree to which we have elevated ourselves above the supernatural resources of our inheritance in Christ.  We are dependent upon those resources for maturity.  God gives grace (the gift of His influence by virtue of His imparted nature) to the humble, but He must take a definitive stand against those who elevate themselves (the proud) above His transforming influence.  Click here and check out a number of verses that express this same truth.

If we do not humble ourselves, the resources of our inheritance, which are realized and manifested though His nature, will settle in the valleys at the base of the mountains upon which we have perched ourselves, useless to us.  Ironically, those resources will actually become available to those we have reduced, devalued, and categorized as "less than ourselves" - those walking through the "valley of the shadow" so to speak.  We may miss out entirely on our next-level life, if we do not walk in genuine humility. As the song goes, "the river rushes to the lowest place."  If we want to be more, experience more, and fully mature in Christ, we must go lower, all the way...to the "Lowest Place."

Forever panning for gold,
Chris Liotta 

Lead Pastor
Rivergate Church
Chris@WeAreRivergate.com




© 2016 Chris Liotta

HIS DELIGHT

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I love word studies. Digging into ancient languages and original meanings literally transforms my understanding in ways that just thrill me.  Today's topic is the result of one of those times.  Take a look at Psalm 147:10-11.

He does not delight in the strength of a horse or take pleasure in human might. No, the Lord ’s delight is in those who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love.

The theme of these two verses is identifying that which brings pleasure and delight to God.  Though we'll focus on the word "fear" that appears later, we'll give a moment to the words for "pleasure" and "delight."  The Hebrew word for "delight" is "chaphets;" and its root meaning is "to move or bend down."  For "pleasure" ("ratsah") the root meaning is "to enjoy, express favor, and be satisfied."  In other words, our Father is not impressed or moved by the confidence we place in solutions that are premised in natural strength.  His deep joy and soul satisfaction come from something else, something that He can't help but express favor towards - those who fear Him and put their hope in His unfailing love.  Now, this word "fear" is the Hebrew "yare".  The letters that comprise it are: yod, resh, and aleph.  Their symbols are, respectively, the hand of surrender and worship, the head of man fixed in a gaze, and the ox, which is the letter of God the Father and symbolizes sacrificial leadership.  In other words, the fear of the Lord is not about cowering before the One who could turn you to ash in a nanosecond.  It is about the willing surrender of our affection, energy, and focus to the One to Whom we have entrusted our total welfare, being, and destiny.  "Fearing Him" means actively declaring that all of who we are not only appreciates His sacrifice, but is yielded to His leadership.  From this posture, we put all of our faith-based expectations in His omni-capable covenant love.  And it is that trust, that satisfies the soul of the Creator of the Universe.

When we, His kids, give up trying to earn His approval with our abilities, or save the day with our own strength and supplies, and simply surrender in faith and gratitude, placing all trust in the nature and character of His love - we light Him up!  The Latin and French derivations for "delight" are actually "to be allured and aroused."  Almighty God is romantically provoked when we, out of complete deference to His might and dependence on His love, fix our gaze on Him.

Take a look at your biggest problem today.  If you have been scrambling around, trying to deal with it through your natural strength and supply - STOP.  Take a breath.  Turn your hands and heart over to Papa.  Gaze at His beauty in worship and rest in His unfailing love.  Surrender to and put your hope in His sacrificial leadership.  Feel His temperature rise and make room for His passionate response.  Your trust is alluring to Him.  It inspires His creativity, His productivity.  Let Him have His way and He will make a way for you.  It's Who He is and how He moves.  It's His pleasure.  It's His delight.  

Forever panning for gold,
Chris Liotta 

Lead Pastor
Rivergate Church
Chris@WeAreRivergate.com




© 2016 Chris Liotta

WE'RE IN!

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I would like to address a popular verse from a slightly different perspective in this blog (a shocker, I know).  Take a look at the verse.

I have often heard this taught as a rebuke to two different individuals regarding their hesitation to follow Jesus in light of some pressing, inferior duty or desire.  Now, for the second guy, I believe that's true.  It sounds like he's asking for a little party time before he "gives up his old life" and heads out on the open road.  Jesus has no room for those who want one last "hoorah" before they follow Him.  "Don't do Me any favors," He says, "Come back when your ready to go 'all in.'"

While it is true that, in both cases, the disciple asks for a little time to handle some family business, I'd like to give a fresh take on Jesus' handling of the first guy.  Notice the situation - the death of the family's patriarch.  The man's verbiage indicates a responsibility of honor and tradition, perhaps that of the first born.  His desire is linked directly to the fifth commandment.  He would return to make not only burial arrangements, but decisions regarding the estate and provisions for his remaining family members.  Rather than seeing Jesus' response as a rebuke, I hear it as a realignment of the man's thinking. "Don't go back just to bury your father in order to fulfill an old covenant duty.  Don't wait to start following Me.  Do it now.  You got your wish, friend...you're in!  Your job isn't to simply perpetuate tradition. Go there in the authority of My Name, with the message of My Kingdom. Turn that dirge into destiny!  If you really want to follow Me, burn with a desire to bless and go back in the power of the Messiah.  Live what you have been listening to.  Capitalize on the authority you have in this moment."  Jesus has already conscripted this man into His team of disciples.  He tells him that preaching the Kingdom is his present tense duty.  It could even be inferred that Jesus was encouraging a resurrection, as the Kingdom message is linked to the raising of the dead (see Matthew 10:7-8).  "Don't go back to put him down - go raise him up.  Show your family just who I AM!"

And such is His word to us.  We mustn't muddle through our earthly assignments out of stale duty or obligation.  Let's not view our agenda through the eyes of an old covenant.  Every incremental opening of our eyes to His Kingdom is to be instantly employed in our current circumstances.  The moment we realize a new level and layer of who we are in Him, we have the opportunity to engage that revelation into whatever we are holding in our hands.  Go back to work tomorrow - but in the power of the Kingdom.  Go volunteer for that PTO event - in the power of the Kingdom.  Go to that high school reunion - in the power of the Kingdom. Let's live what we've been listening to.  We got our wish, friends...we're in!

Forever panning for gold,
Chris Liotta 

Lead Pastor
Rivergate Church
Chris@WeAreRivergate.com




© 2016 Chris Liotta

SOUL PLUNDER

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Today's topic is, ironically, about "gold."  Maybe not in the sense of what's in the box in this picture, but certainly as it represents the most valuable of treasures within us.  The inspiration for this topic comes from:

Proverbs 22:22-23

"Do not rob the poor because he is poor, Nor oppress the afflicted at the gate; For the Lord will plead their cause, And plunder the soul of those who plunder them.

I am going to assume that, as generally decent folk, those of us reading (and writing) this blog are probably not standing in the shadows of alleyways waiting to trounce upon the poor and downtrodden.  However, when we assess the verse through mature eyes of the Spirit, we realize that withholding blessings is a functional kinship unto robbery (See: Malachi 3:8, Matthew 25:40, and James 2:16).  When I expand my application of the verse to include this concept of withholding blessings, I feel a genuine conviction, because in this way, if must confess, I am quite guilty of robbery.  When my patience is shuttered away from others.  When my encouragement and understanding play a masterful game of hide and seek with those who need them.  When the light of the love of Jesus, which has been so generously shed abroad in my heart, is dampened by the bowl of selfishness, I have robbed the poor in spirit around me.  

Now here is the tough part.  When I do that, I set myself at odds with Christ.  The Father and I now have goals that are juxtaposed. I am quenching the Spirit.  In this condition, the Father has decided that a wake-up call is in order.  The word says that He will "plead their cause."  This literally means that God will step in to strive and contend with the offender (me).  This isn't the romantic wrestling match that Jacob had, no.  There, Jacob wrestled with God, intimately, going full bore after God's best.  This is different.  This is God, wrestling the blessing away from me, so that it can continue its life-changing momentum.  I have become a clogged pipe in desperate need of plunging.  The word says that he will "plunder the souls" of those who plunder the weak.  If I neglect to pass along the blessings that the Father has bestowed upon me, He will step in and repossess from my very soul that which I have selfishly withheld from those He sent to me for the blessing in the first place.  The contents of my soul, given to me as part of my inheritance in Christ, are precious to me:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and a host of others.  I don't want to lose them!  Now, God is not mean, but He is just.  If I lose sight of the big picture and start treating His blessings as if they are an endangered species, hording and hiding them, by default I invite Him to radically realign my thinking.  He redistributes the wealth of my soul as an exercise of humility and to remind me of the generous nature of Christ to which I committed myself when I first accepted His grace.  

Friends, I don't want God to plunder my soul.  I want Him to take pleasure in it!  If you are like me, you highly value the contents of your soul that are blood-bought and spirit-birthed.  Don't lose them to selfishness.  Trust the words of Christ - if you give your life away, you will find it! (See Matthew 10:37-42) Your generosity to others will never outpace the replenishment of God.

Forever panning for gold,
Chris Liotta 

Lead Pastor
Rivergate Church
Chris@WeAreRivergate.com




© 2016 Chris Liotta

COMMANDING SABBATH

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It should come as no surprise to see another blog on the Sabbath rest.  Not only is society at large "running to and fro throughout the earth," but the Church of Jesus Christ is active and alive and fulfilling manifold assignments designed to advance the Kingdom.  So here is the verse...

Mark 2:27

Then Jesus told them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."

And here is the challenge:  COMMAND YOUR SABBATH!  Before I define that further, I must confess that by no means am I claiming to have accomplished this.  I am, however, consciously trying to create a new soul habit for myself in this regard.  So, what does, "Command your Sabbath mean?"  Here's the basic concept.  When God created the world, He did so for His own pleasure.  When He finished, it was ALL GOOD - and He said so.  Then He gave charge of it over to man.  He essentially said, "Here - I made this.  It's freakin' awesome!  And now I am entrusting it to you.  Take it.  Exercise the authority you have, being made in My likeness, and cause it to be fruitful."  Folks, I think that applies to Sabbath.  We weren't made to obey Sabbath.  Sabbath was made to bless us!  But, if we don't command the Sabbath in our lives, then other things and people will.

We may find that it is difficult to take a whole day off during the week.  But that doesn't mean that we can't command the spirit and essence of the Sabbath to serve the cause of refreshing our souls in a Godward direction.  Personally, I am trying to command certain hours of my day for Sabbath.  Not just devotions, or Bible study, or even prayer - but straight up SABBATH!  Literal, stripped-down, no agenda, soaking-in-His-presence Sabbath.  Peter said it well, "Hey guys...get in His presence!  Those are the real times of refreshing."  And that, my friends is the spirit and essence and power of rest.  Now, GO COMMAND YOUR SABBATH!

Forever panning for gold,
Chris Liotta 

Lead Pastor
Rivergate Church
Chris@WeAreRivergate.com




© 2016 Chris Liotta

LION TRUTH

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Job 13:7-12

7 “Are you defending God with lies?

    Do you make your dishonest arguments for his sake?

8 Will you slant your testimony in his favor?

    Will you argue God’s case for him?

9 What will happen when he finds out what you are doing?

    Can you fool him as easily as you fool people?

10 No, you will be in trouble with him

    if you secretly slant your testimony in his favor.

11 Doesn’t his majesty terrify you?

    Doesn’t your fear of him overwhelm you?

12 Your platitudes are as valuable as ashes.

    Your defense is as fragile as a clay pot.

The Book of Job is a tough pill to swallow for many who read it.  The things God allows to happen in Job's life are heart-breaking from the limited scope of our linear perspective.  Yet, listen to his words:  "Will you slant your testimony in His favor?"  How many of us, in this modern spiritual climate, when multitudes shake their fist to the sky and accuse God of the brutalities committed by their fellow man (all the while dismissing His Lordship for their own) -  how many of us have tried to slant our testimony in His favor?  How often do we try to make God "look good?"  To twist our testimony just enough to win back the heart of the lost to His goodness?  Yet, here is Job - struggling to survive the bitter onslaught of an enemy committed to obliterating his faith and condemning his soul by using his own fears as a blueprint for destroying everything he holds dear.  And in the midst of this acidic experience Job maintains a indefatigable grip on his humility and God's sovereignty.  "Do NOT make excuses for God - or you make Him out to be less than He is," he says.  God doesn't need our defense - or anything else from us.  He is after our hearts.  All he wants is 100% of our hearts, 100% of the time.  He wants our worship.  Not because He is an egomaniac, but because He is Life Eternal.  And worship (the supernatural "bow and kiss"), as the essential expression of intimate relationship with Him, exposes us to the life of God and immunizes us to any long-range plan the enemy could conjure against us.

As Augustine of Hippo has said, so rightly, "The truth is like a lion; you don't have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself."  Friends, let's let God be God.  Worship Him.  Kiss the Son and soar above destruction. (Psalm 2:12).  Don't slant your testimony.  Speak truth. Stay humble.  And let the Lion roar for Himself.

Forever panning for gold,
Chris Liotta 

Lead Pastor
Rivergate Church
Chris@WeAreRivergate.com




© 2016 Chris Liotta

THE CIRCUMCISED HEART

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I had a conversation with a friend this week and the subject of having our hearts circumcised became a significant discussion point.

WARNING:  The rest of this blog is for mature readers.  The content won't be crass, but the value of the nuggets are in the detailed parallels drawn between literal male circumcision and the figurative circumcision of the heart.  If you would find discussion on the male anatomy and the process of circumcision offensive, stop reading.  If not, read on and surrender more of you to all of Him.

Romans 2:28-29

28A man is not a Jew because he is one outwardly, nor is circumcision only outward and physical. 29No, a man is a Jew because he is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise does not come from men, but from God.

Undoubtedly, the practice of circumcision has a physical context, but the meaning and implication of it are Spirit-driven.  The beliefs to which we hold create an internal atmosphere that affects our outer life.  The condition of our spirit commands the behaviors and fruit of the flesh and soul.  Circumcision, therefore, possesses value only to the degree by which it is a reflection of covenant relationship with God.  And it's covenant power is constrained by the limits of our own surrender.   God wants us to circumcise our hearts.  He inspires us to do so by hinting toward some rewards, symbolically, through our understanding of the effects of male circumcision.  There are lots of ways to look at this, and a good doctor can probably blow your mind with the parallel potential, but here are a few of my own nuggets.

1. Male circumcision hurts.  We do it anyway because we believe the benefits will long outlast the pain.  Let God circumcise your heart.  The glory revealed through you afterwards is worth the pain now.
2. There is a reason why the penis is a part of our body that we call our "privates." We don't show it to just anyone.  A heart circumcision deals with your "privates" as well.  Don't think you can give God permission to circumcise your heart, if you are still committed to keeping your secrets.
3.  The foreskin being removed in circumcision is a natural part of the body.  It's removal isn't necessary for normal function, or the result of some disorder or disease.  It is the circumcision that is unnatural.  Your heart is the same.  Circumcision of the heart is unnatural.  What's natural is to protect and hide what's in there.  In essence, there is nothing wrong with your heart before circumcision.   Circumcision of the heart isn't natural - it's supernatural!  And if you want to live the supernatural covenant life with God, you must allow him to circumcise your heart.
4. Okay, for the sake of space, here's the last one.  The tip of the penis is ultra sensitive.  The foreskin covers the tip so that the penis is only stimulated by that which the person allows to touch it.  Circumcision forever changes this, exposing the sensitive tip to everything in proximity, regardless of the will of the one to whom it belongs.  When God circumcises our hearts, we surrender our right to a protective sheath over our hearts - a sheath that we alone will use to control how and why we are stimulated or aroused in our spirit and soul.  Allowing God to circumcise your heart will commit you to exposing your most sensitive inner man to that which touches, stimulates, and arouses the heart of God.  In this condition, you declare to Papa, "Let me feel what You feel.  Let my heart be touched by what touches Your heart.  Let me be aroused by what arouses You!"

 There's so much more to this than we've looked into here.  Friends, the circumcision of the heart will hurt, but it's worth it.  We will be exposed.  No more living, thinking, or feeling under the illusion of darkness and secrecy.  We will be forever at the mercy of God's agenda for our souls.  We will begin to feel what He feels - every supernatural pleasure and stinging pain.  But it's worth it.  He's worth it.  You're worth it.  Even now, I feel the blade at my chest.

Forever panning for gold,
Chris Liotta 

Lead Pastor
Rivergate Church
Chris@WeAreRivergate.com




© 2016 Chris Liotta