malleability

I'm not really sure if that is a word, but for today it is. Today, we are looking at the fact that no matter where we are in life, no matter how close or distant God seems right now it is important that we take on the features of clay.
In the book of Jeremiah we read this, " Then the word of the Lord came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the Lord. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
We are clay in the hands of God. Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." This and the verses in Jeremiah 18 that I shared above go hand in hand. Being all that God has called you to be is a process. It is a lifetime process that has no true arrival point. There is no truly finished product until our souls are delivered to the gates of Heaven and we hear "Well done good and faithful servant." Until we hear those words we are to be and remain malleable.
Malleable reminds me of playdoh and my little ones love the stuff. P.J. will sit for hours(yes she is capable for sitting for more than a few seconds) and play with Playdoh. She will make shapes and snakes, and balls and all types of things with it. Playdoh is only good as long as you keep it fresh and in a container or bag of some sort. If you leave it out for too long it will get hard and just become brittle. It's the same way with us as God's servants, it is our job to remain malleable and completely fresh in His word, and in His teachings so that He can continue to mold us and make us into what He is calling us to be.
If we stay attentive to His word, and spend time with other believers who are doing the same we will see that we are being molded and changed on a daily basis. The person I am in God is completely different from the person you saw in me a month, a year and certainly 5 years ago. I have allowed God to mold me, re-shape me when needed adn continue to develop me into His creation throughout.
So stay malleable, allow God to shape you in your daily walk through reading His word and spending time truly seeking Him in prayer. You'll find that He is right there and very hands on.
Have a great day and thanks for reading.

The call

I hear from time to time people discussing whether a person is "called" into the ministry or if they just enjoy it. If they are filled with the gifts naturally or supernaturally. I don't have all the answers to that, but I can speak for myself.
As a young boy I always wanted to be a youth pastor. Todd Carr was my youth pastor and I had always looked up to him. Before him, David Beachamp was my pastor and I had looked up to him.(I must confess I still lean on both of them for guidance even to this day) I wanted to be like them, I wanted to experience the things that they did and I wanted to be them in a sense. As I grew older and got into high school I was given an opportunity to work with the young boys in our church on Wednesday nights and then, I had a chance to do something with the middle schoolers and eventually the whole youth group. I loved every minute of it, but there came a time where I knew it.
Todd invited me along to speak at a youth conference called "Super Summer" in Lake Yale, FLorida. We arrived like a normal summer camp week was about to happen, we had a lot of fun, I got to speak to the middle schoolers and it was moving. But, on the next to last night there was something that overcame me, a feeling of needing to go down during the altar call. Interestingly enough I did it, and dedicated my life to being in the ministry, and accepted the call as they say. From that point on there have been countless opportunities to go in other directions but always the path has lead to ministry.
Paul talked about this a little in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 16 :Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
You can't really boast about being a pastor or if the day ever comes I can't boast about being good at it because it isn't natural. I can't say that I woke up one day and started working hard at it, I was moved by God, designed by God for this specific service. I also, must preach, and teach because that is what I was called to do. My secular job is killing me, I'll admit that because here I am talking to all these people, all these students and kids and unable to share the Gospel. But, the feeling of wanting to never leaves my body. On days when I am in classrooms all day, that urge to just blow their minds and talk about the Gospel is there and stronger each time, but I can't, because if I do I'll not have a place to speak. If I don't have a place to speak, I can't feed my family and so on. So I go on, in the secular world for now knowing that on WEdensday nights, Thursday nights and Friday nights I get to share the Gospel. Then, on Sundays I get to do it again so I can't complain too much.
So I hope this helps you understand the "call" on teh lives of pastors and preachers. That is why they are the way they are, they are compelled to be as Paul puts it, it's not optional at all.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Fix it first!

Have you ever gone to church and sat down for worship and had something pop into your head? A feeling of having done someone wrong, or having done something that may be robbing someone else of their joy or opportunity to worship that day. Something that may have been simple, and not bothered you up until that point. Well, Jesus addresses that very issue in Matthew chapter 5.
"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
To me the most important word in this passage is remember. It is not telling us to stop in the parking lot and think about the whole week, and then get the cellphone out and call anyone who you may have done something wrong to that past week or so. It says remember, meaning that it is something that will pop up in your conscience, a conscience which as a believer is driven by the Holy Spirit. In other words, if the Holy Spirit lays something on your heart, get up and go fix it right then or as soon as you have the chance to. You have nothing to offer God by way of worship and neither does the other person until it has been reconciled. In ignoring the Holy Spirit you are in a sense robbing yourself of worship.
I've been there, I've experienced this both ways. I've been done wrong, badly and actually had to sit in worship facing the person who did me wrong and no matter how hard I prayed, no matter how much I did, it placed me in a frame of mind where worship was not 100%. I have also been put in a situation where I handled everything correctly, everyone told me I did, but I did get that prompting of the Holy Spirit just before church. I got up and went to that person before the service and told him I was sorry for what had happened the day before and I wanted to apologize for any way that I may have hurt him, or done him wrong. He did not accept and would not speak, but I was able to worship because I had done exactly what God calls for in this verse. So it's about following the Spirit's leading, not about digging through your closet and cleaning it out every Sunday. God will lead you through the Holy Spirit and you will "remember" the things that need immediate attention.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

The sower

As Christians we are constantly finding ourselves wanting to grow closer to God. We're going to church, we're going to Bible studies, we're praying every day and we're reading our Bibles. What next?
Well the parable of the sower tells us a little bit about that.
Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear."
So there it is, what is your heart like? Is it like the path where things are so packed down, so hardened that the seed that is planted in your heart each time you go to church, or pray or read your Bible doesn't have a chance to make it's way in? We first of all have to till the soil, soften our hearts so that the things we have an opportunity to grow from, we do so.
Is your heart like the rocky places where the seed make sit in, your heart is soft enough to allow the seed in, but there is no way to let it grow roots. We have to spend all week preparing to be fed on Sundays and at Bible studies. We can't just do little or no maintenance all week and expect to be moved by the Holy Spirit on Sundays.
Finally, is your heart like the last little bit of seed that got dropped. It fell in a place where the soil was decent, not hardened or packed down and not rocky. It was good soil, maybe even great soil but there were weeds and thorns in there. Now we all know that weeds and thorns have a mind of their own, and in those circumstances they will eventually choke out everything else trying to live there. You can't grow flowers and or grass in the middle of weeds, they will take over. This part of the parable is referring to our lifestyles. We must examine ourselves and determine what parts of our lives are being fruitful and which parts are weedlike and choking out the works of God. There are always going to be distractions and things in our lives that draw us away from God, we must come to a place where we are able to set those things aside and give them little or no meaning as compared with knowing Christ.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Approaching God's work

Have you ever been involved in a team sport? Have you ever been a part of a team sport where preparation is the most important part of the game? I am and have been for a long time. For instance, you go to a highschool football game and see two groups of 50-80 teenagers playing their hearts out. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose, but either way they usually look like they know what's going on. Where does that start?
Well, on any given weekend football coaches exchange film from the next week's opponent on either Friday night or Saturday morning. They then spend Friday night and all day Saturday looking over film and coming up with scouting reports. They take those notes and scouting reports and put them into diagrams and put them on paper to pass out to the players on Mondays. The players take those as well as film home and study it all week long. Each afternoon at practice they have a group of players line up and run the opposing team's offense against the starting defense so they get used to seeing it. Then, they have the starting offense go against a set of players who simulate the opposing team's defense. All of this goes on every day until Friday night when they step out onto the field with the gameplan in their heads and hearts and they take on their opponents.
For the outsider, they just run and hit and throw and kick their way through practice. They show up on Friday and play hard. But there is so much work that goes into every game through out the whole week that most people don't even consider.
It's the same for Christian leaders in teh church. When you encounter a pastor, youth pastor, music leader, or any person in a place of spiritual leadership in the church you are encountering someone who does a lot of work. There is a lot of prayer, studying and living in God's will that goes into being a church leader. God clearly cannot use the person who is just in the groove on Sundays, who only acts like a Christian in church. He needs someone who works hard at it every day of the week in preparation for their chance to share the Gospel with maybe just one person, and to them it is well worth it.
Matthew 5:23-24 says, "If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has soemthing against you, leave your gift there before teh altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."
What is JEsus saying here? Don't even attempt to worship on Sunday if you know you have some type of grief with someone else. You are in affect keeping yourself and the other person from fully worshiping. Go and be reconciled to them He says, immediately so that you can worship. It's twice as bad for a person in leadership, and what is the best way to avoid sitting down to worship, or to lead worship and finding out there's a hindrance? Living a pure life, and being a Christlike example in your daily life. It's far easier to maintain than to just live life your way, and try to clean things up on Sundays.
So be a godly example, allowing the Holy Spirit to work through you. If you don't then the Holy Spirit is turned into your conviction instead of your strength. The Holy Spirit will not both strengthen and convict, He will only do one or the other. And when He does convict, it's best to act fast or you may lose out on an upcoming opportunity to bless someone.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Our journey to Jerusalem

Our Christian life is a journey, it's a trip that we embark on the very second we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We take off on that journey and we are on our way to our Jerusalem. What is our Jerusalem? What in the world could that mean for us? I'll tell you.
Luke 18:31 says, Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled."
JEsus was telling His disciples that it was time to start the journey to Jerusalem. Along that path were several things, but first we need to know what Jerusalem represented. Jerusalem represented God's will for Him in His life and the culmination of His Father's plan for our salvation. Jerusalem was the place where He would be crucified on a cross for our sins, for our salvation, and for our lives. Along the way on this journey Jesus never stayed too long where He was praised and He never rushed through areas where He was persecuted. He simply allowed His Father to guide Him through the journey.
As Christians it is very easy for us to want to stick around and witness where we are receiving blessings and where everything is going as well as we can imagine. It's easy for us to think that we are doing exactly what God wants us to be doing, but, we cannot go on just feelings. We must spend time with God and allow Him to guide us through it all. We also must make sure we don't avoid witnessing and working in areas where we are being persecuted. This is a tough one for sure. When given the opportunity to witness, to preach or teach in an area that is growing with Christians and blessings versus an area that is full of people persecutuing and against Christianity flesh says go where it's easy, where there is no persecution to slow the spreading of God's Gospel. BUt, the truth is we need to find out where God's will and plan lead us and get there. We need to spend time alone with God each day on our journey and follow His lead. Regardless of how fruitful our efforts are we must follow God to our own "Jerusalem", that place where He uniquely put us together in the womb to reach. It could be the workplace, your neighborhood, your church, your kids' leagues or clubs, whatever the place we must do it God's way and be persistently reaching out to the lost.
A shoe salesman went to a remote part of a third world country and returned to tell his boss there were no sales to be made, no one wore shoes. THe company sent a second salesman a few months later, he came back and said, "We have hit the jackpot, there are nothing but sales here because no one wears shoes." One salesman had a worldly view of things, the other represents God's view. He most certainly wants us witnessing in the midst of the lost.
Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Master and Teacher

So in the days of slaves there were masters and there were servants. The servant was simply around to do exactly what the Master told them to do, they existed merely to serve, and in their eyes the Master existed merely to tell them what to do and make sure they did it. Well, in the 13th chapter they refer to Jesus as Master and then as Teacher. Those 2 do not go all that well together, we are to view Jesus as our Master, but also as our Teacher but we can't simply stop there.
You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
THere are two major themes going on in these verses for me. The first is the fact that Jesus is Teacher and Lord. If we view Him as such it should be so engrained that we do it subconsciously. If we do it any other way we will simply disappoint ourselves in the ways that we react to Him. He is our Savior and friend and I don't know of many slaves that ever viewed their Master as their Savior or as their friend. Jesus is all of these. Jesus washed the feet of the disciples in a role of servant to show them humility and to show them how they ought to think of themselves as servants to all. Jesus saw Himself as a servant for the lost and saved alike. He came to reach the lost, teach the saved, and die as a ransom. None of which point any closer to Him as a Lord and a Teacher than the other.
As our Lord we are to obey the words of Jesus. The neat thing about the word obey is that the word obey is almost always based on a loving relationship between two people. We are to obey our parents, well that is a loving relationship between two parties.
Basically, we should not be consciously and constantly aware of God as our Master, but it should be there. If we do stay aware of it completely then we miss out on the relationship side of JEsus which is the most important aspect of the believer's life.
He wants us to be in a relationship where He is so easily our Master and Teacher that we have no conscious awareness of it--a relationship where all we know is that we are His to obey.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

He's been there!

One of my favorite verses in the entire Bible is in Hebrews. I liken a lot of what it says to being a youth pastor(though I am in no way saying that I am God). As a youth Pastor I spent as much time on the campuses as I could possibly get away with, eating lunch with the kids, going to their school functions and showing up at sporting events were some of the highlights. As a Pastor I have not changed that up in the least. I spend at the very least 2 days a week(because of my BGH schedule) eating lunch at the schools. I enjoy this time a lot, it reminds me a lot of my days as a teenagers and it gives me a good look into what goes on in teenagers' lives today. I want to be able to meet their emotional and spiritual needs, you cannot do that affectively as a youth pastor without walking into their world a few times each week. I do long for the day that I am full time at the church so that I can be on a campus 4 or 5 days a week, and that day will come.
Because I did play sports in high school I am able to meet the needs of our athletes at Pedro and at St. Augustine as someone who has been there. That is very important and that is an important thing to remember about Jesus, He has been there.
Hebrews 4:15 says, "We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin."
The temptation of Christ is something we need to remember when we slip, when we fall or when we are tempted to do so. Christ went for over a month without food and then was tempted face to face by Satan. He was tempted in ways that we are on a daily basis, His pride. Every day we are tempted mainly in areas that affect our pride. THink about it, there is no sin we commit that does not involve us choosing ourselves over God, choosing our wants over what God wants for us. Every sin commited is because in that moment we had a major lack of humility.
The good news in all of that is that we serve a risen Savior, who sympathizes with us. He can truly say, that He has been there and He has done that. He walked this very same earth, faced some of the same temptations we do, and yet was without sin. That leaves us not only with a risen Savior who has been tempted as us, but a risen Savior who successfully shows us how to avoid acting on those temptations.
So the next time you fall, the next time you think God doesn't understand open up your Bible to Matthew 4 and read about His temptation, then read Hebrews 4:15 and find comfort in his sympathizing in your weaknesses.
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

A winning attitude

WHat are the major components in having a winning attitude in life? I am asked this often, and I go back to teh same set of verses and the same person every time.
Philippians 3:8-14 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Pressing on Toward the Goal Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me.
There are 5 major components in there.
Dissatisfaction,Devotion, Direction, Determination, Discipline
What better example of each of these things than Paul. A man who was never satisfied, he even said that that I have already obtained all this, or already been made perfect. He was the leader of the church, one of the most humble, and disciplined leaders of all time in teh church, but yet he constantly pointed out his own flaws.
Devotion in that he pressed on after being beaten, locked up in jail and even seeing other believers killed.
Direction in that he pressed on toward the goal that God had called him to. He wasn't just marching to the beat of his own drum, but he was following God's leading. Determination in that none of the things listed above slowed him down at all and finally discipline in that he pressed hard toward the goal. He was never lazy or luke warm in any aspect of his relationship with God.
The man who gave us half of the new testament, who God personally blinded to get his attention constantly tells us to never be happy or content with life. That is a winning attitude in life.
Success is a journey, not a destination. God is leading us through teh path in which he would have us to take, day by day we are directed by him, never will we reach our destination until we are in His presence daily in Heaven. So seek Him in all that you do no matter how great you think your relationship with Him is, it needs work take Paul's advice. If he wasn't content, then I better not be.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

New wine in old wineskins

So I bought this new race car about 3 years ago. I did not at all like the paint scheme of the car. It had a lot of blue, with yellow, white and red striped going down the side. It wasn't even a blue that I particularly liked, but I got such a good deal on the car and it was exactly what I wanted at the time. The same went for my last car, my first true race car that I ever purchased was 2 different shades of green and I am not a big fan of green, especially green race cars. So I had a dilemma, do I paint the car or do I get them running.
With my first race car I was currently racing my dad's car so I wasn't in a huge hurry to get it running, I took the time to get the motor together, get it running right and paint it all before it ever hit the track. Then, when I bought my second car I was without a race car, no ride, ready to race so I started out racing it with the motor we already had and didn't bother painting it. I raced it like that for about a season and a half before I could paint it. It wasn't until I had it painted the way I like it and running the way I wanted that I was truly proud of it and enjoyed it to the fullest.
It's that way with God, he puts us together with a purpose. Until the inside is right with God, we are not usable by Him. He needs us to make a decision not only to choose Him as Lord and Savior but to let Him have control over our daily lives. We start out with a change on the inside, with a new life growing inside of us ready to bust out into the environment we live in. But, it's not until our lifestyles change, our outward attitudes and daily routines must change before that inward growth can manifest itself in our lives.
Matthew 9:15-17 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.
Think about it, what good is a new life in Christ if we are daily doing things that negate the changes that are taking place in our lives. What possible good can come from someone telling people about Christ, about how He has changed their life if they don't appear to have changed. It's a packaged deal, neither is any good without the other. Eventually, the "new wine" or "new life" will spill out and bust the old skin and it will be evident to all what has taken place, and how much you have allowed your flesh to overrule your heart.
So live in a way that brings no shame and no discontent to your new life that is found in Christ, that way you are usable to God in whatever you do.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

prayer

In his book Desiring God, John Piper talks about Christian Hedonism. That is, the pursuit of happiness in Christ. There is nothing wrong with pursuing happiness and pleasure, as long as you are seeking it in the right place, God. He lists several different things as being important in this pursuit, and prayer is what he calls, the power of the Christian Hedonist. As a Christian Hedonist, seeking happiness in life, you never seek your own happiness over that of GOd.
I work out every afternoon before I run out to football practice. I choose to do so at the house in my own setting, at my own pace. Because I am seeking to work out and get stronger, and in better shape as a person and to do so I need to be alone without distractions. There's always that temptation to lift a little more weight, do a few more reps or even do a different exercise simply because you feel like someone might be watching, thereby you start working out for the wrong reason and for the wrong people, getting none of the benefit you are seeking.
It's the same with prayer, it should be that time when you are totally seeking GOd, alone with Him and wanting to grow in Him. You need to do it in the privacy and oneness that you can only find alone.
Matthew 6:6 says, "When you pray, gointo your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in teh secret place"
Jesus is telling His listeners to pray in a quiet, and empty of distractions location. A place where you will be seeking GOd for your own good, and for your own desires and not others. A place where you will pray in a way that it is only for the benefit of your relationship with Him. Far too often we pray in public so that others see us praying, so that they will think more of us, and then we pray longer and more intensely(or so it appears to them) so that we puff ourselves up as Believers. In John 15:7 Jesus tells us that we will ask what we desire. Desire is far different from our wants. And if we are asking what we desire then we are asking and seeking things that are in our hearts. Your heart is where Jesus dwells, that being known then our prayers should be from the heart seeking to fullfil our needs for Him.
Remember my favorite quote from Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest? The lasting value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private times of fellowship and oneness with Him. So regardless of our motives, our public service will be measured by our alone times with God. You fuel your service for Him in your prayer life, in your Bible reading and you do so in the privacy of your down times. Doing so publically adds nothing to it, it only takes away the oneness that is so important in prayer.
So pray hard, do it in private and seek oneness with your Savior during that time, and your public service will be far more fruitful.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Renouncing

Yesterday, in the message I mentioned a few things that were my strongly convicted feelings about the way we treat God. I feel that many people, just like in the times of Acts want the church building and the sanctuary to be more sacred than need be. They are not old fashioned but Old Testament fashioned. They don't realize that God has left the church, there is no Holy of Holies located in today's churches. There is no High Priest that we must talk to and send to the Holy of Holies to go to bat for us. There is simply a Savior who was God's Son, who died on a cross to build forever a bridge to God for us. So that the Holy Spirit can be ever present in our lives on a daily basis.
In Acts, Stephen is faced with the daunting task of explaining all of this to the Sanhedrin. He is faced with making them see that God does not dwell in buildings made by man, but in hearts because of what His Son did for us on the cross. Why was it so hard? 2 reasons:
1. They had religion with no relationship. They had a complete understanding of the Old Testament, of religion and they had all the rituals down pat, they could quote scripture, put it in context and defend themselves at all times on matters pertaining to God's word and "the law". But they missed completely the fact that God's own Son had been right there in their presence, they had missed out on the greatest gift, a relationship with our Creator. They had religion and no relationship.
2. Secondly, and I feel this is the one that is prevalent today. They wanted the temple to be holy, and the place where GOd was because they didn't want GOd anywhere else. They did not want God to be in their presence on their daily journeys, they wanted to leave Him in the temple and not take Him out. We do the same thing don't we. We want God on Sunday, Wedensday night and whenever we meet at the church, but we sometimes want to leave Him there because we are ashamed of what we do with our lives the rest of the week.
2 Corinthians 4:2 says, Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
This means that we live in a way on a daily basis that we are not shameful of what we have done either privately or publicly, we don't distort the Bible or it's teachings and we don't do anything that would not allow our conscience to be clean. A clean and clear conscience is important as we go through our day and especially as we walk into church, we need to have our hearts and minds clear so that we can communicate with God clearly without distractions.
The Sanhedrin and the leaders of Stephen's day could not do this. They could not worship God through the entire week, they simply left Him in the temple, they did not want to think about Him being there as they lived through out the week.
Can you do it? Can you honestly say that you welcome the idea of GOd being everywhere you go through out the week? I hope so, because He is and He will be.
Thanks for reading and ahve a great day!

Any good team

I believe there is a misconception a lot of people fall into when they are seeking to group up. When they are working to put together a team of people for a certain task they always fall into one pitfall. Likemindedness. We believe that when we are putting together a group of people for the work of the church that we need everyone to be in agreement. I would tell you otherwise. About one year ago I probably had the greatest team of leaders I have ever had in my youth ministry. Amber, Hali, Jordon, Katie, Donnie none of us all ever agreed on how to do things. We all had our own vision for where GOd wanted us to go, but at the same time we all had the same goals, reaching kids with the Gospel. I think back to times when I had people who always agreed with me, always went along with my ideas, and even agreed as those ideas failed and that is why I believe those ideas didn't work. It takes a lot of people working together to spread the Gospel, and it takes more than one idea, more than one vision and certainly more than one opinion on how to do it.
Jesus chose 12 to help him. From doctors to tax collectors to fishermen and so on, each of them unique in their lifestyle and upbringing. Each of the many times with their own unique view of how things should be done. Each of them at times questioning who should be in charge, and who was the greatest. The main thing Jesus had to do was keep them focused on the big picture. He had to create in them opportunities to put their vision to work.
Think about it, at one point Jesus was not right there and they were not focused on fishing, what did they do? They started arguing over who was greatest among them.
They came to Capernaum.S Mt 4:13 When he was in the house,Mk 1:29 he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.Lk 22:24 34 Mt 4:13; Lk 22:24
In Mark chapter 9 we read
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."
What happened here is that the guys who were called to be fishers of men weren't fishing any more. And the very moment they quit looking at the big picture Jesus again had to reign them back in because they were arguing. Jesus had hand picked these men, these egos and these perspectives to be a part of his team. Not in any way do they resemble a team that was put together to get along perfectly, to always agree with what was going on, and to never give their own opinion. Jesus kept them focused by teaching them to be servant leaders rather than dictatorship leaders. He told them later in that chapter that whoever wants to be first, must be last.
So any good team, put together for the cause of Christ is going to have their disagreements, their different outlooks, and that is exactly what you need. People who will tell you yes or no when needed. That is exactly what JEsus put together with his group.

Do the little things

In life everyday we are faced with menial decisions and tasks. It's in those moments that we build ourselves up for the big things. I like to think that the little things I do, I do them as well as I can in theory that when the big things come I'll do them well also. I know I kind of put a tongue twister in there and rambled but it works.
We must focus on the little things like:
When a colleague at work is down or is experiencing some type of depressing situation. It is important that we walk with them in that situation right then and there so that we don't have to back track when the important times come. We let them know we're praying for them, we go over and share an encouraging word, we spend meaninful time with them. It's right there that our witness begins to work on them. Then when life throws big crises at them, or major losses in their path we are able to reach out to them because they will want us there.
In John 13:14 Jesus says, "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet."
Jesus is telling us that if He can wash the disciples dirty, sand worn feet, then we should be doing the same. And the washing of feet represented 2 things in this passage.
1. It tells us to be humble, no one likes or wants to do menial things like washing feet, talking to a person who is suffering or even offering someone and encouraging word all the time. But, we need to follow God's example in putting the needs of others before our own.
2. IT tells us that the most simple of exercises will lead to an amazing opportunity to witness. No one wants to hear from you in crisis if you haven't been there already in the small things.
That's why I take Gatorade to the football team each day, give some of the guys rides home from practice, show up at lunch at the schools, show up at sporting events, and so on. I do those things so that they will see that I care for them, and when big things go on in their lives they will trust me with them because I was there during the notso big times.
So make sure you take advantage of every opportunity God gives you to make a difference, it will pay off in the long run and make your witness much stronger in the meantime.
Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Get grounded!

Eleven miles off the coast of Scotland stands the Bell Rock Lighthouse. It is the world's oldest surviving sea washed lighthouse. It was built on an acre of solid rock in the middle of the North Sea. Waves and storms have been crashing into this lighthouse for 200 years. But it still stands strong as a beacon of light because of its solid foundation and it is a perfect picture of what Jesus was saying in Matthew chapter 7.
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."
Proverbs 10:25 says that "when the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever!"
These verses lead us to the question, what is your foundation built on? What is it that drives you, where is it that you go when it seems like everything is falling down on you? I would hope that the answer is Jesus, and the personal relationship that you posess in Him.
Jesus had just completed the sermon on the mount. And to close the sermon out He did what every preacher wants to do, He made sure it was going to stick with them and get applied throughout the week. It's the hope of every preacher that the congregation grows spiritually throughout the week applying all that God had revealed to them and Jesus in this respect was no different.
He closed with an illustration of a foundation, knowing that without a foundation a house would wash away. By today's building codes there is more to it than just dirt. Then they would build on solid ground, but they didn't really build a foundation like we do today. Today, builders lay out rebar, dig footers around the outside and layout the base(or foundation) of the house. Before they even get the chance to pour concrete or start building walls. ANd, long before they even put the rebar down and layout the foundation they have trucks bring in dirt, anywhere from 4-8 dumptrucks full of dirt are brought in then that dirt is spread where the house will be built and then compacted so that they are pouring on top of a piece of ground that is completely solid up to several feet below ground. You see, in biblical times they just built on already existing solid ground, today we can build solid structures on mushy ground after it is filled in and compacted. SO the illustration carried a lot more weight back then.
THis all goes with the old saying, "you've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything." Jesus wanted His listeners to know and understand that if they don't take His words and apply them to their lives building a solid foundation upon their faith, then they would crumble and wash away at the slightest of storms in their lives.
Look around you, non-believers are crumbling all around you from minor tests and storms in their lives. Believers that are not that grounded are doing the same, but you find yourself a good, strong, grounded individual who is seeking God and growing, that's when you will find someone who can stand up to any and all of life's storms no matter the risk.
Have a great day and thanks for reading!

God has it together, for sure!

So this morning I awoke(with much resistance) to the alarm clock, which usually is not a good sign. Rarely do I ever sleep until the alarm goes off. So, I turned the alarm clock off and went about my morning routine, and then it dawned on me. I had an appointment to meet with a group of men from Mandarin Presbeterian church at a Starbucks, located at 13 and Racetrack Rd, and the meeting started at 7am. I jumped into my clothes as quickly as possible wet my hair, brushed my teeth and ran out the door. On the way I just kept my radio off to spend some time in quiet and being attentive to God. And it was then that I realized that my quiet time for this morning was exactly what I was trying to get accross to this group of men.
2 Corinthians 10:5 says that we are to be "bringing every thougth into captivity to the obedience of Christ..
The group of men is a small group from that church, looking for service projects to get involved in. They found out about my work through the Betty Griffin House and wanted to get involved. One of the main things I was trying to explain to them is that they were obviously in possession of servant's hearts and ready to serve in any capacity. BUt, sometimes it is important that we slow down and take it in. We need to make sure we are serving where God wants us and not where we want to serve. We are to take every thought we have into captivity, pray over it and allow God to lead you. This goes hand in hand with Romans 12:2 which tells us to "be transformed by the renewal of our minds".
We cannot just jump everytime we have a "good idea" or hear of a need. But we can't just sit there either. THis is where it is important to spend time with God daily and allow Him to guide us. That way we know those thoughts are His, and not our own. Allowing discipline into our thought processes is so important in deciding where we can serve God.
So look for those opportunities, serve where needed, and most importantly let God guide you through your decisions.
Thanks for reading, sorry it was so late!

All in all

The Indiana Jones movies have always been a big hit in my family. Besides the fact that my mom is a big Harrison Ford fan, as a kid I can remember watching all of the movies in that series with her. We loved to watch them, the funny things that happened along the way, the interesting and precarious positions Indy would get himself into on a regular basis were intrigueing to say the least. But, one of the things that really sticks out was the effort. They never lost sight of exactly what it was they were after, and time after time they were distracted, threatened and nearly killed by all sorts of natural disasters, groups of people and predators. Yet, every time they bounced right back and went right back after that treasure they were chasing after. It reminds me of a verse in Matthew where JEsus is telling a parable on how we should seek God and the Kingdom of HEaven.
Matthew 13:44 says, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
Yesterday we sang the song All in All. I'm not saying I'm a huge fan of the song, it wouldn't make my top 20 or so, but I like the words found in that song. One part says:
Seeking you as a precious jewel, Lord to give up I'd be a fool; You are my all in all.
Are that parable and that song not the perfect picture of exactly how our lives should be driven? Our greatest hunger and drive should be to find a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and then chase after it every day growing it along the way. If we treated it as a treasure, or that thing that we want so badly. From vacations, to cars, to houses, to retirements and so on, we all have things that we save money towards. We work our whole lives some times just to achieve and reach that point where we can have whatever it is we are seeking. Is your relationship with God like that? Are we seeking Him like those things that we want for our lives? Is He our all in all? THat is a question we should ask ourselves every day!
Did you find that relationship with Jesus Christ, run off and get rid of everything you owned, so that you could possess that relationship in fullness?
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!

reaching our community

I work for a Domestic/Sexual Violence center as a Community Educator. It is my job to get the word out on things that are happening in that area and ways to stop it. It's my job to talk to elementary - middle school students about bullying, older middle school students and highschool students about healthy relationships. This is all for nothing if it is not re-inforced in their schools and in their homes. The bottom line in changing things in the world of domestic and sexual violence is the fact that we need to change social norms. We need to change society as a whole, but we can't change society as a whole unless we change individuals. On the flip side, we can't be totally effective changing individuals unless we change society. They work hand in hand in the big picture and there is no way to get around that.
In Acts 17:16-18 Paul was dealing with the same ideals in spreading the Gospel.
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there"
Paul knew in order to see the Gospel spread correcty he had to see lives changed in the local church as well as in the community. There was no way for one to benefit fully without the other.
It's the same way with reaching a community. We will never reach St. Johns COunty as long as churches aren't changing individuals on a regular basis through BIblical teaching and nurturing young believers. We will also never reach and change individuals if we aren't impacting the community as a whole through our programs and getting involved in the local community. IT's a known truth.
There is one major difference between the endeavors I have at the Betty Griffin House and as a Pastor spreading the Gospel. When I spread the Gospel I am empowered by the Holy SPirit which is God's gift to me as a believer. So make sure you're in church every time the doors are open so you can be a part of the growing process, and get involved in your community so that you can reach those individuals and get them plugged in at your local church. Neither one will work without the other.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Salt and Light

So in youth each Wednesday we are looking in depth at the parables. Each week we are working through the book of Matthew and learning more about the parables that JEsus used to teach the relevance of the Word of God to life itself. What better way to instill in young people the relevance of the Gospel to their daily lives than with the stories JEsus told himself.
Last night we talked about a pre-parable I called it. THe story of being salt and light. This story is the whole basis for how and why I have always done youth ministry the way I do. It is at the heartbeat of my very being as a pastor/youth pastor today. Matthew 5:13-16 says,
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
The part I like to focus on is the salt losing its saltiness. If young people who are believers aren't challenged in their faith, given a chance to put it to work and use it regularly they will lose their saltiness. And if that happens then what does it say? THat they will no longer be good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
You see in those days and in the Old Testament when armies wanted to completely destroy a village they would rob them, kill anyone that resisted with violence and then dump salt and trample it into the ground to ensure that there would be no vegetation any time soon growing back. So there is an example of salt being used negatively which is exactly what happens the moment a young person gets uninterested in being involved in church. That teenager will then have a negative impact, people will see that church is no longer important to them, that their personal relationship with Christ is no longer evident and they will literally no longer be fruitful for Christ.
Think about it this way. Several years ago a young man by the name of Lebron James was in highschool. The NBA and David Stern watched him closely, soon his highschool games were televised and he was a nationally recognized name. He was constantly referred to on ESPN, and on talk shows and in magazines. THe NBA made him and molded him into exactly what they needed at a time when the NBA was losing a little bit of influence in the U.S. Now, if we don't reach the teenagers, and put them to work the world will. While the NBA is not a bad thing to be representing, there are far better and more fruitful things that a young man can be accomplishing for Christ and for man.
So lets reach out with all we have to impact the lives of young people. Let's see lives changed and Christ shared by them, and let's put them to work in teh church and in the overall evangelism focuses in our churches. If we don't use them, the world will!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
P.S. I get a little bit fired up talking about this topic so I did my best not to make it too long!

Pour it out, fast!

Have you ever received a real blessing from God? One of those times when things are down, times are tough for you or your family and then BOOM out of no where comes a blessing that can only be from God. Something so great that you can't believe it happened and you immediately question whether you deserve it. As a believer, I am sure you have encountered these things many times in life. Whether it was just a little bit of encouragement or a major blessing of some sort, these things happen to us, many times it's what we do that makes the blessing "flow."
In 2 Samuel 23:16 we see that three men had broken through the battle lines of the powerful and mighty Philistines and were now drawing water. They took that water and immediately ran it back to David as a blessing for him. What David did in this verse is an example of how we should handle blessings from God. "He would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord"
There can be no partial pouring out. He didn't sip it, save a little and then dump it out. He poured it all out to the Lord. There is on better illustration of our sacrifice and spreading out of God's blessings on our lives than pouring out water. If you take a bottle of water and pour it out on the ground there is no way to get it back and that is exactly how blessings should be used. We should take God's blessings and pour them back so that they can be fully used by Him and so that we can receive the full blessing.
If you have become bitter and sour in life at times, it may very well be because God blessed you and you hoarded it for your own selfish gain. But, if you poured it all out to Him, you would have been a part of the blessing instead of just taking the blessing.
Think about it this way. If you are always keeping blessings to yourself and never learning to pour out anything "to the Lord" other people will never have their vision of God expanded through you.
So keep an eye out for those blessings, and make sure you pour them out for the Lord!
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!

What's important in this whole Christian thing?

So you go to buy a car, they're telling you all the advantages of purchasing that new car. They show you all the features, all the bells and whistles and all teh miles per gallon information. All of that is cool, and all of that is important in some ways but usually we go to the car lot looking for a specific car. And, if you're looking for a new car, it's having the new car that you really focus on. You aren't that inthralled by the dvd players, 3 way air condition settings, power everything you can imagine, sirius radio, 5 disc cd changer, alloy wheels and so on..... You're mostly wanting a new car that is exactly what you want.
When I took Tara to look for a new vehicle 9 years ago(yes my truck is about that old) we went there knowing exactly what we wanted. We wanted something that(at that time) 3 or more of us could ride in comfortably but that would tow the race car for us. We got an extended cab truck. Then just last summer we went to buy Tara something new and we bought a Suburban because our family, and our travel group has expanded quite a bit. We knew when we went to the different lots what we wanted, and exactly what we wanted the outcome to be and we didn't settle until we met that criteria.
When it comes to witnessing and talking about being a Christian we all too often fluff it up with the whole idea of eternal life. We ask people if they want to go to heaven when they die, we tell them they can have eternal life, but we leave out what I believe is the most important aspect of being a born again believer. The personal relationship with the Creator of all things.
1 John 1:7 tells us to, "walk in the light as He is in the light." We need to walk in the light, and sell this all so often left out aspect of being a Christian. The opportunity to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. To have someone there with us through thick and thin, through every trial, and in every triumph. To never be alone, ever again in any circumstance no matter how lonely the world tells us we are. To have and to cultivate this life of being "in the light" and to have it culminate with our death. To know that the relationship we have worked so hard to have will be finalized and never corrupted by sin again upon our entry to heaven. Tht is what it is all about, about a relationship with a Savior and the opportunity to have perfect relations in Heaven. That's what I long for, in his book "Desiring God" John Piper asks the question, "If you died and went to heaven, and JEsus wasn't there would you be satisfied?" That question should be answered with a resounding NO!
We should long to be with Him, and not just in some place that would be empty and meaningless without Him.
So the next time you're witnessing, or even thinking about witnessing, think about what aspect is most important and make sure that person gets those aspects and not just the avoiding Hell portion of it.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!