real vision

So I am reading a book by john Piper entited, "Don't Waste Your Life" which I believe should be the driving force in most of our lives. I will admit I feel at times like I am not doing nearly enough, not doing what I am called to do. He states that life is about the greatness of God not the signifigance of man. I like this quote because a lot of times I hear people say things like I am not worthy of God, or, Why would God take any interest in a little speck like me? These are great questions but they focus more on man's signifigance rather than God's greatness.
Piper puts it like this. If we spend our entire life trying to see our signifigance, and see ourselves as important rather than just seeing God as great and wonderful we are missing the picture. He compares it to going to the Grand Canyon. Anyone who has visited the Grand Canyon stands there breathless as they view God's creation. As they view the size, the beauty and the wonder that is the Grand Canyon. The very last thing they do while they are standing there is look at themselves in the mirror. You would stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon and look at yourself in the mirror now would you? Then stop looking for your own signifigance, we everyday have a chance to be awed by God's greatness, yet we still spend time in our own mirror, trying to see ourselves as signifigant.
Psalm 19:1 says, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork."
Everyday we can look and see an example of God's handiwork and His majesty. Especially living in Florida we can drive over to the ocean and look out over a sunrise, or just look at the waves as they repeatedly crash into the sand. Or you can walk outside right now and look at the clouds in the sky and know that God is wonderful. I don't know about you but I don't want to look at myself when I have a chance to look at those things. So we must stop searching for our signifigance and start focusing on God's greatness!
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful New Year!

resolutions step 2

Now that we have done our best to create a short term memory loss we have to move on from that point. We can forget our failures, but there is more to forget about last year than just failures. We must forget our grudges. I know, I know this is a tough one for many people, I for one think I do a great job of it. I prayed about 15 years ago that God would take away my sourness and all my grudges so that I could be used in this city to reach the lost for Christ. That I must say is exactly what God did, I have been done wrong numerous times by people and shook it off and kept on going. People sometimes ask me how I can face someone who did me wrong, Jeff How do you do it? It's simple, I do my best to never harbor any grudges.
My illustraton to our youth ministry many moons ago was one of acid in a cup. I took some acid and poured it into a stirofoam cup, then let it sit there while I was talking. I talked along and made references to the cup several times, then at the end you could see that the bottom and the majority of the sides of the cup were completely eaten up by the acid. That illustrates perfectly how grudges affect us, they eat us up slowly from the inside out and they don't bother anybody but ourselves. You pass that person in the hallway at school, or in the office and your blood pressure goes up a little bit, but not theirs. They are just fine and say hello, meanwhile you are shortening your life with fits of rage inside. It makes no sense to put yourself through this at all.
Colossians 3:13 Bear with one another and forgive each other whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord has forgiven you. Colossians 3:13
There you have it, Paul tells us that God expects us to forgive and forget just as He does. God washes away our sins, our times of faltering and makes them no longer. We, on the other hand, take the transgressions of others and multiply them and announce them by carrying grudges and wanting revenge. If God ever, just for one day decided to start carrying grudges and seeking revenge we would be gone in an instant.
So forgive those who do you wrong, forgive and forget so that you can free yourself from it as well as them.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Resolution prep 101

The first step to setting goals for your new year is to look at the last year. You can't honestly set goals for this year until you take a good look at what you accomplished last year and the year before. You need to know who you are, where you are in your life, and where you are headed before you can set goals for yourself. I remember as a teenager setting goals and making resolutions for myself only to figure out that those goals had nothing to do with me, my life, or where God was taking me. I was shooting air balls all over the place trying so hard to set goals and resolutions that it was as if I didn't know myself at all. Paul learned to set goals for himself by erasing the past. We can't erase it completely but we must forget our failures. So many times we set a goal for ourselves based on one that we failed or fell short of before, and this is not a good process at all.
Philippians 3:13-14 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 heavenward in Christ Jesus.
If you truly want to be successful in 2010, you have to forget the shortcomings of 2009. If you are still living in 2009, then 2010 will be a miserable time for you and your goals. In sports there are a lot of athletes that need to have a short memory, quarterbacks and kickers in football need these. If a quarterback throws an interception he has got to forget about that the next time he gets ready to throw a pass. Same with kickers, if he gets ready to kick a field goal thinking about the last one he missed, then he will be in bad shape for sure. In baseball, I think pitchers have it worse. You throw a pitch and the hitter drives it out of the park for a homerun, then you watch him trot around the bases with his chest out and head swelling. You watch the other team celebrate with him at homeplate after he crosses, and then your catcher sets up and you have to throw another pitch, many times the same pitch that you missed location with less than a minute ago. We need to put the past years dealings behind us in order to accomplish big things for God next year. Paul says he forgets what is in teh past, an strains ahead for the goal. Hopefully your goal is to bring glory to God, and with His help you can forget the times that you fell short and move forward with boldness.
Forget yesterday, enjoy today, prepare for tomorrow!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Christmast gift #2 from God

The first gift is the obvious, it's salvation. JEsus was the gift of a Savior for our sins and that is the most important part of what Christ did. He bridged the gap between us and God because of our sinfulness. The second gift is the church. Those of us who are actively a part of a church and ministry know exactly what an awesome gift this is, that we can be a part of the Body of Christ. We are teh body of Christ when we become a part of a church. It's about knowing that there are people who love you , care for you and want to see you grow closer to Christ. It's about a group of people who are constantly striving to grow closer to Christ.
Colossians 1:24 "Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I will fill up my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church."
Paul is saying that he rejoices in all that Christ did and is still doing and he will pick up all that he lacks from the church. That is what a body of believers is all about, figuring out what we lack as Christians and surrounding us with people who compliment those shortfalls. We spend our entire lives looking for people who compliment our weaknesses, and in reality God puts them right there in our Sunday School class, on the pew behind us or in front of us, and sometimes behind the pulpit preaching to us on Sundays. There is so much that a church adds to our lives, comfort, caring and nurturing, and hopefully a place where you can be broken and vulnerable. You can walk in let people know you are hurting, or that you have sinned and you will be loved like Jesus would love. After all, you are the body of Christ and His church is where He is doing His greatest work these days.
Thanks for reading and have an awesome Christmas!

Christmas gift #1 from God

Each year we put together a Christmas list for the kids. Tara compiles a list of things that they have asked for, things that they have desired, and things that they have showed interest in. We take that list and decide which things we want to get them, then we pass it on to family and others who want ideas. That list consists of toys, cloths, video games, and so on. Alexa and Peyton don't show a lot of desire for things so we have to pay close attention. We don't walk through Wal-Mart or target hearing I want this, I want that, I like that. They just aren't normal in that sense(I'm not complaining at all).
Think about this, have you ever compiled a list of the major gifts that God gave us through His SOn. Just through Jesus being born there is a list a mile long of gifts we receive from God.
THe first one I think of is a way to God. Through the birth of Christ God in a sense built a bridge from His heart to ours. That is a costly bridge because of our sin, it had to be built.
John 14:6 JEsus says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes unto the Father except through Me."
There you have it without the birth of Christ, we have no way to God. We continually damage our relationship with God, and He is holy, perfect and unblemished. Sin can have no contact with God, and because our hearts and our minds are so full of sin we cannot communicate directly with Him. We needed the birth of CHrist, we needed the gift of life and a way to God.
So take advantage of this gift, the greatest Christmas gift is salvation, but we can't begin to understand salvation until we can have a way to God.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

church as a business

So I am sure most of us have either worked in the business world or known those who do. Everything is about margins, the profit to loss margin, what is our bottom line looking like and so on. You look at stocks, stock market, your target market and competitors and see how you are doing. Many presidents, vice-presidents, board of directors and CEO's of large companies crunch numbers 24/7 all year round. They look for patterns of gain and loss, try to cut out the things that aren't needed and move on. In their minds they are saving a business, but really without realizing it they are putting others first. They are fighting for the prosperity of the company and there are sometimes thousands of employees that depend on their decisions. It's called a business, and it is all about investments.
In church, there are investments, but unfortunately some churches still look at it from a business standpoint. Do not get me wrong, I view the business end of it like paying bills, payroll and offerings as extremely important. But, there is a far greater investment to be made. Sometimes in the business world you have to spend money to make money. You have to invest in new machinery, new employees and such to provide for making more money. The church is the same, sometimes you have to invest in things like vans, buses, new buildings, renovations and such to provide for your future growth. There is no profit to loss formula for the net gain of spending money on something that will assist in leading a lost person to Christ or discipling someone who was formerly unchurched. THere is no way to do it.
Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others" (Phil 2:4).
Here Paul tells us how to look at things. I believe in asking myself when I do things what part of this is helping me reach the kingdom for Christ. Eating lunch at a school, going to basketball games and wrestling matches, visiting the sick in the hospital, making house visits, typing a blog, preaching on Sunday morning. I can honestly say that there is not one of those things I do because it is part of my job, or my pay, but because it opens the doors for reaching the lost. If we can spend money on making something nicer that will attract someone who is unsaved into our flock, I am all for it. If we can take more teenagers on a trip because of an investment, if it is feasible then by all means lets do it.
The interest of others we should look at as a church is the lost, the unchurched and the outstretched arms of CHrist. That is our interest, what is this program, investment, expense going to do to help Freedom Baptist CHurch reach this community for Christ? That is our bottom line, if it can save a soul, then by all means let's go for it.
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

The nativity scene

There are so many people in the world who have their little nativity scenes set up in their homes. It's interesting that they have them in their front yards as well. Some time ago it became common practice to put the lights out and not put baby Jesus in the scene until Christmas day. But you always have your usual players, Mary and Joseph, the donkeys, goats, and different animals. They are set up under a make shift awning made to resemble a stable. Some people go ahead and place the shepherds there and some even add the wisemen even though they arrived some time later. But, for me I like to study each of these groups and figure them out and their importance.
I know most of us see that the shepherds are important because it was God's way of showing the world that He sent His Son to all people and all walks of life from rich to poor, from powerful to powerless. That is a great way to look at it, but the interesting thing is that we see the need for evangelism even in the birth story. The shepherds immediately take off to share what they have found.
The true root of evangelism is to reach new people for Christ and to impact the kingdom of God. But, at the root of it all is the need for excitement. Many people have been believers for 50 years or more, in my case I am entering the 25 years or more group. THe excitement and enthusiasm is rarely later in life what it is when it is first experienced. We need to reach the lost, we need new converts in our churches because that is what creates the buzz to reach more of the lost.
Luke 2:16-20 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shpeherds said to them. BUt Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the thins they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
The shepherds found Jesus, and they told everyone who would listen. That is the perfect picture of when the lost find Him today. THey tell everyone who will listen, it's new, it's exciting and it is life transforming. We need to remember this every time we have a chance to share Jesus with the lost, a revival great or small will break out every time we reach someone for CHrist.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Who's in charge?

There is so much talk these days about our leadership. So many people said that the United States would lose it's morals, beliefs and so on when Obama became president. SO many people claimed so many things would go down, would be destroyed and our great nation would crumble. There are those who are against so many things that he is doing, and his plans to do more. I stand opposed to many of his beliefs, but still he is my president, the leader of our great nation. We are told from God's word to respect and submit to the authority, especially because God has chosen them to be that authority. GOd's word tells us that there is no one in power anywhere by surprise or that can go opposed to His plans for His people.
Think for a minute about the birth of Christ. Jesus was prophecied in so many different ways, by so many different people. All these prophecies had to be fullfilled by His birth, His life and eventually His death and resurrection. These were all a part of God's plans from the very beginning. God started mapping this all out before He had even created the heavens and the earth or anything on it. Joseph and Mary were in Nazareth, Jesus was prophecied to be born in a manger in Bethlehem. There would be no reason for Joseph or Mary to be in Bethlehem when they were all settled in Nazareth. But, what happened?
Luke 2:1 In those days Ceasar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.And everyone went to his own home town to register.
THere you have it, God was using a leader of a nation that was slipping away from Christianity to make His plans come true. God used Augustus to move his little family to where they needed to be. So don't think for a moment that the leadership of any nation or group of people will have any bearing whatsoever on God's plans.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

one link to rebuilding

Have you ever been wrongly accused of something? Have you ever either as a child or as an adult had a group of people, or even one person accuse you of something that wasn't true? Well, odds are almost everyone has. We can all honestly say there has been a time when we stood wrongfully accused, and it hurts. It is painful when people believe something about you that is completely untrue. When you realize that they are questioning your integrity and character it stings a little, okay a lot. You carry around the anger and the grief that comes with wrongful accusations until the day you decide to forgive those who were accusing. Most people believe that you start getting over it when you prove yourself to be innocent or when you prove yourself to have more integrity than what is showing in that accusation. That isn't true, you start putting things back together when you start forgiving. THat's it, I can tell you that I put my broken heart back together the day I forgave those who were at the forfront of my accusations. Each time, I have taken the high road and not faught it at all. Each time I have felt good about taken the high road but worse as time went by. That is, until I started forgiving, and I started forgiving in my prayer life, and then followed it up in life itself.
Job 42:10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before"
For over 40 chapters we had read of Job's losses from loved ones, to cattle to homes to everything under the sun. The whole time a few of Job's closest friends were accusing him of some hanous sin. They believed there was no way God would let all this happen unless he had committed some great sin. That wasn't true, and it wasn't until Job prayed this prayer in chapter 42 that things started rebuilding in his life. As a matter of fact, it tells us that he had twice as much as he had before. What event triggered it? Forgiveness in his prayer life led to a forgiving heart and all his riches in life were restored in double.
So think about that next time you are accused of wrongs, pray for the person doing the accusing and let God be in complete control of it all. Forgiveness is the first step to recovery.
Thanks for reading and have an awesome day!

Faith tested

Ken Davis was a young youth pastor working on his college degree. In one of his college courses he had to share a speech and demonstrate his beliefs on the subject. He had to prove that the theory was true and sell his teacher and classmates on it. He chose the law of the pendulum.
The law of the pendulum states that because of energy if a pendulum is raised to a certain height and allowed to swing freely to the other side and back it would not return to the previous spot and each time it would swing a slightly lower height.
Well, he came to class that day with his lesson in place, ready to share with the class. He shared his speech and then took a ball bearing tied to a string and fastened it to teh middle of the board with a thumb tack. He raised to ball to one side and let it go, each time it swung to his side he made a mark on the board and each time it was slightly lower than the one before, this proved the law of the pendulum to be true. But, just to have a little fun he knew some of the guys doing the construction on a new building outside just accross the parking lot. He had them take some 500lb test parachute ropes and tie them to a large steel beam in the building. Then, he took about 200lb of weights and tied them to the end of the ropes and left them. He invited his professor and the class over to the new building and had his professor stand up against the wall, then he had several classmates help him swing pull the weights over against the professor's chest. Then he asked the class do you believe the law of the pendulum to be true? "Yes" they all responded. Then he asked his professor the same thing with a yes as a response. They let the weights go, they swung down accross the room and over to the other side and as they began their return swing the professor jumped about 20 feet over to the side and out of the path of the weights. Then, young Davis asked how many believed the law of the pendulum, the class was completely unsure.
Job 2:7-9 says, "So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, 'Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!'"
Job was backed up against the wall, and his faith and beliefs were being tested. In life we will face the same tests, and it's only when our faith is tested that it is truly faith. Everyone believes when things are great, when there are not trials or tribulations, faith kicks in when everyone else gives up. Like that professor we have 2 choices when truly tested.
1. We can run away and let our faith look weak to teh world, or 2. we can stand firm knowing that God is allowing our faith to be strengthened by the test in front of us. Well. Job chose to sit quietly for the end of his faith testing, even when his wife gave up he clung to the one thing he knew would never fail him. His personal relationship with God.
Thanks for reading and have an awesome weekend!

A sad condition

As a teenager I went through very few trials that I can place my finger on. Other than trying to make sports teams and make good grades there was very little that bothered me. There was, however, one time I can recall quite clearly for several reasons. My mom went to the doctor with some issues related to her arthritus and it turned out to be a short stay in the hospital. They found out that she was anemic. Anemia is the lack of red blood cells, hemoglobin or total volume of blood in the body. The body obviously needs a certain amount of blood to function, but it also needs a certain amount of red blood cells and hemoglobin to energize the heart and the body. She was often weak and tired and now we knew why. She spent a few nights in the hospital(seemed like a few months) as at that time my dad nor I could cook, do laundry or anything. We had to learn on the fly(we managed to do laundry, but Burger King and Wendy's did most of the cooking haha)how to do those things and it was not fun. Mom was always the one who cooked, and cleaned because at that time she stayed at home while dad went to work. It was a great working situation until this episode where our rythmn was taken out. We survived it, she got medicine and ate ceratin things that helped get rid of this problem and she was back to strength in no time at all.
Hebrews 4:2-3 "For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith"
We as Christians can get quite anemic in our faith. We have faith, we believe but it has little or no substance. People don't see our faith, they don't see our actions matching up so our faith is weak to them. It lacks substance, it lacks trips to church and Bible studies to grow. It lacks action to the messages that we do hear and read. Our faith becomes something with very little substance, it should be full of substance. Faith means a strong belief and a growing relationship with Christ. Faith means acting out the things that we read in God's word and especially the things that God calls us to do.
So act out your faith, watch it grow and let it have substance other wise you are an anemic believer.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

finding security

We find safety and security in a lot of different places today don't we. We look at stocks, bonds, bank accounts and investments for financial security. We make wise investments and try to buy things that will hold their value rather than lose value. We do research before making these purchases to make sure we get as much bang for our buck as possible. We do all this as a means of finding financial security.
Then there is physical security, Alexa likes to have Champ sleep with her and she is more of a stickler for getting the doors locked at night than Tara is. Each night if I come in after she is in bed and she hears me, Alexa will get up and go make sure I locked the back door and the deadbolt. We purchase alarm systems and deadbolts that are sure to stop intruders. We do all of this for safety and security.
It's sad, but so many people today put all their stock in things, cars that will rust, houses that will collapse and money that will lose its value eventually. They walk around assured of their possessions and find their pleasure at its peak when they can look at their possessions and know that those things are there.
Isaiah 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD"
Isaiah is addressing these things, people who rely on things rather than God. We can find full security and reassurance in the fact that God is God, He is in control, and with a personal relationship with Him nothing has value beyond knowing Him. We have eternal life awaiting us the moment we believe, we have an opportunity to put our whole and complete trust in God, who will never let us down.
After all we can't take it with us can we? I heard a joke about a wealthy millionaire who continually told his wife when he died he wanted to take all of his money with him. He told her to bury him with all of his money, so when that day came and they closed the casket she granted him his wish. Later, one of the man's brothers came by and told the widow he would help her out financially in every way he could because he knew of the request. She told him she would be fine and he figured she had betrayed him. He asked, "what about my brother's wish?", to which she responded, "It's all taken care of, I wrote him a check."
All the things we work to acquire will be left behind the day our lives end. But, our personal relationship with Christ will only grow.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

a tough part of being a pastor

In every ministry, in every church there is that person or maybe those people. The ones that tell you they are going to do things and don't. The ones who tell you they will oversee projects and ministries and get things accomplished for you and time and time again they burn you. There are those who even talk bad about you, undermind the things you are attempting to do and hurt you.
THere's nothing in the Bible that tells you that you have to let them be in charge, let them burn you again or even put them in the position to do it. There is however, a mathematical formula for your forgiveness. It's 70 X 7. THat's right, you are to forgive those who do you wrong repeatedly until you can't even keep track any more, and when you get to that point, keep on forgiving.
Matthew 18:21 Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?
In this passage Peter was looking for a scape clause. A loophole or some formula for Jesus to give him letting him know that forgiveness had run out. We all know the human reasoning, "You hurt me once your bad, hurt me twice my bad." THat just doesn't work with God, now He doesn't want us to put ourselves into a situation where we are hurt repeatedly, He just asks us to forgive. We are to forgive those who do us wrong over and over and over again. This is a hard task, and as a pastor I am called to be set apart and do an even greater job of forgiving those who have done me wrong in any way. It's up to us to not just take the high road once, but to stay on the high road throughout our interactions with those who have wronged us.
So think about the people that make you the maddest, have you stopped pouring out forgiveness on them? Have you come to the point where you aren't forgiving them at all, that isn't what Jesus wants us to do. Keep forgiving(not liking or thanking) them for their transgressions because I know you keep asking God to forgive yours!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

where should we be?

The question arrises where should believers spend their time? WHere should we go, what should we do? I say, the best place for us to go and the best thing for us to do is to go anywhere we are invited. If you are invited, you should make an appearance unless there is something immoral about what is planned or what will be going on. If you get invited to a get together, go. If invited to someone's house, go. Jesus never turned down an invitation once. If someone invited Him to have dinner or lunch with them He was ready right then to go. He never questioned what would go on, He never looked through His daily planner and made excuses. That's the cool thing about looking at the life of Christ, He did not hang out with the saints all the time or in the temple all the time. He was constantly out rubbing elbows with the lost and sinners all over the place. In Luke 5:31 He pleads His case, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance."
Those are powerful words from Christ. He says, basically hanging out with other Christians is nice, but when you're invited into an opportunity to reach the lost, go do it.
WWJD was a popular thing when I was in early highschool. What would Jesus do? You were suppposed to wear the bracelet and ask yourself that very question any time you came to a tough decision. WHat would He do, where would He go, how would He handle the situation? Those are all questions that stem from a life of living to please God. The bottom line is, no one pleased God with their life more than Christ. And no one spent more time out in the world with sinners than Christ.
So I ask you again, where should we be? We should be in the world, loving on sinners and sharing our story with them. Not hulled up in some place with other Christians all day every day hiding from the world.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

A bad rap

Wally was big for his age--seven years old. Everyone wondered what role the teacher would give him in the annual Christmas play. Especially considering the fact that he was also a slow learner. Perhaps he could pull the curtain.But, too everyone's surprise the teacher gave Wally the role of the innkeeper. The boy of course was delighted. After all, all he had to learn was one line:
"There is no room in the inn." He had that down in no time.
Then came the night for the program. The parents took their places. Every seat in the auditorium was filled. The children entered singing "Oh come all ye faithful." The lights dimmed. A hush moved over the audience. The curtain opened on Scene One. Mary and Joseph entered the stage and walked up to the inn. "Please sir, my wife is not well. Could we have a room for the night?"
Wally was ready for his line. He had rehearsed it all night. He began, there is.and he hesitated. He started over again. There is. . .and again his mind went completely blank. Everyone was embarrassed for him but poor Wally just didn't know what to do. Joseph thought he would improvise and started walking away toward the stable on stage left. Seeing him walking away Wally in desperation called out: "Look, there's plenty of room at my house, just come on home with me."
That seems a rather delightful twist on a familiar story. Over the years the characters in the Christmas story have become clearly defined for us. The issues all seem so clear cut. Herod was a villain and the wise men were heroes. The shepherds were heroes and the Innkeeper--well, the poor innkeeper has gone down as one of the heavies in the story. In our minds eye, we envision him as a crotchety old man with a night cap on his head sticking his head out a second story window and rudely and harshly shouting: Take the stable and leave me alone.
But perhaps the innkeeper has received bad press. Preachers over the centuries have had a field day with the poor guy. But was it his fault that the inn was built with twelve rooms instead of thirteen? Was it his fault that Caesar Augustus had issued a decree that the entire world should be taxed? Was it his fault that Mary and Joseph were so late in arriving?
But you know something; this simple little statement about there being no room in the Inn becomes a symbol for Luke. As he writes his gospel it almost becomes a theme. Luke takes this one line, "There is no room in the inn," and shows us how this phrase was recurrent throughout Jesus' ministry. The question that Luke leaves for us is--will there ever be any room for him?
Today's world still leaves very little room for Jesus. From Happy Holidays to signs reading Merry X-Mas there is still seemingly very little room for Jesus. So next time you want to bash the inn keeper, think about your friends, neighbors and even loved ones who are making little or no room for Jesus this Christmas. They really are the same, it's about space, it's about a Savior, It's about time we helped others make room for Him.
Thanks for reading and have an awesome weekend!

Staying busy

I know most of us have at some point had an event that we just could not wait for. Whether it was Christmas as a child, a birthday part, or something of that sort you can recall it vividly. For me the one thing that I absolutely could not wait for was the birth of my first child. I recall being nuts waiting for it, they set the date and the date came and went. A few weeks later we're still waiting and I am bordering on getting a little testy with my wife(baby hog)! I was fine so long as I was at work, or at a youth event, or at a school hanging out with the kids. It was the slow times when I was laying in bed at night, or studying in the mornings that drove me crazy. I'm sure you can relate to some point in your life feeling this way.
Well, I have met a lot of people that like to study over and over the book of Revelation. They take that book and the Olivet Discourse and study them evaluating what is going to happen in the end times. Many of these people live their entire lives focused on the ending and the way they think Jesus will come back rather than focusing on life itself.
Jesus calls us to do so much more and be far more productive than someone who just sits around in anticipation. Those who are afraid of the end times, those who are excited about the end times, regardless of your millenial stance pre or post they find themselves "ate up" with the end times prophecies. I for one don't like to teach the book of Revelation, and I certainly don't like to live with that in the fr ont of my mind.
Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle" (Ps 144:1).
David says, look regardless of what lies ahead I am going to praise God. He gives me all I need to be prepared for anything this world throws at me. God gave us His word to know how to live and face life's challenges. He gave us His Son to save us from an eternity in Hell. Through a right relationship with God and through His Son we can live victorious lives, but not sitting around in a bunker or stocking our shelves and sitting in expectancy.
True, we should live as though He is coming back tomorrow, but we should be more concerned about those who do not know Him, than our own safety. That is my view and I hope that you can apply it to the way you view the end times. Don't sit in fear, don't sit period. Get out and tell your loved ones and friends that God sent His Son to die for them so that they can experience freedom in life from sin and eternal life in Heaven.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

One mis-step

So all the buzz in sports land right now is about Tiger Woods. He seemingly did something, or had something happen and none of us know what, why or how. The media is not going to rest until something is found out and it's so funny that way. The interesting thing is that he has the power to tell them it is none of their business and never answer one single question about it. He can do that, but still the media will attack him repeatedly from every angle until they get what they want. That is the way the media is and it is a proper perspective of the world.
As a believer in Christ, when you make a mistake you go from living in teh open to under the microscope. You spend your time under the microscope of the world and they really want you to mess up bad so they can attack your relationship with Christ.
You only get one reputation, and one shot at it. If you have a good reputation and you live the way God is calling you to then you will not fall quite so hard when you do make mistakes. But if your reputation is repeatedly tarnished then it will be very hard to keep it in good standing enough to impact people for Christ.
Think about it this way, you only have to lie once to be a lyar, you only have to steal once to be a thief, and you only have to cheat once to be a cheater. You are forever tarnished with that title. But if you live your life in an upright manner those little mistakes and sins that you do commit don't destroy you.

On the flip side you can't put everything you have in your reputation. You can't control your reputation, you can only control your actions. So focus on what God thinks of you rather than what the world thinks of you. Focus on the things that are important to God rather than the world. They cannot and will not be able to destroy a reputation that is in GOd's possession. They can attack it, they can hurt it but never destroy it unless you let them. JEsus said himself that only in his own hometown is a prophet's name not powerful. He had problems with his reputation and He lived a perfect life. He worried that He couldn't accomplish all that He wanted because of His reputation even though He lived a perfect life.
Live your life for Christ, worry about what God thinks of you and your actions and all those other things will filter in. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 5:3

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

A right attitude

As a pastor it is so easy to get caught up in who is in your corner. You pick out those people in the congregation that seem to be on your side and in your corner. They are always there, always on your side and have got your back no matter what. At times they are what we refer to as "yes men", many times those are the actual people who ruin your ministry. You lose your heart and soul for ministry and that should be to reach the lost. TO reach out to those who are unchurched, unsaved, or maybe even those who used to be in church but have wandered off. The ones who back you, who are most faithful are already growing in their relationship if you are feeding them each week with the Word of God. So where should our focus be, where should we be hungriest, for numbers? For a large group on Sunday mornings? For our regulars to be there to stroke our egos? No, I think Matthew 18 says it all.
"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the 99 on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the 99 that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost."
The most interesting thing about Jesus' words here is that he is actually talking about children. He is sharing with his disciples about how to deal with children. He's talking directly to leaders about their flocks. Reach out to the ones who are lost, to the ones who are wavering and fallen. Reach out for the people in your life who do not know Christ, who do not have a clue what it is like to know Christ and His love. Now is the best time to do it, Christmas is a gift in so many ways. It is in this context a gift in the way that it is an open opportunity to share the Gospel. Everyone is into Christmas, decorating and singing, and eating, and buying gifts so why not tell them what it is really about.
Jesus warns us not to get wrapped up in who is there, but rather to worry about those who arent. As a Pastor it is my job to feed all those who come through the doors each Sunday, it's even more important to pray for, and reach out to those who aren't there. Leaving the 99 is a perfect illustration of leaving your flock for eachc and every lost soul you can find.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

re-arranging

A major part of Christmas is re-arranging things. If you have a small house like ours, you will have to relocate furniture to make room for the Christmas tree. You'll no doubt have to switch things around quite a bit to get that festive feeling in your house. Tara starts out in the bathroom where the toilet seat, toilet paper holder and many other things are changed into a festive look. A snowman now sits upon the top of the dirty clothes hamper. Then to the kitchen where Christmas placemats are put in place as well as a table centerpiece, little houses, carolers, and many other things are put into place all over the house, the living room is moved around and the tree is put up. The roof is adorned with lights, the trees are subject to lighting as well as many other things. All this to prepare the house for Christmas.
Christmas is also a time to change our priorities. It's sad, but true that many of us need a day like Thanksgiving to get us in a thankful mood. Then comes the Christmas season that steers us more towards thinking about what we have, and family things. It's also a time to reprioritize when it comes to God. We focus more on Jesus and a baby, sent as the Savior to this world by His HEavenly Father. We should focus on such things year round, but instead we wait for Christmas to fe-focus our hearts to Christ.
Matthew 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given unto you as well.
Not only is this a call to re-prioritize, it's a call to throw worry out the window. If we will seek God and His kingdom, a personal relationship with Him, and to live a Christlike life then all the other things are just additions. So many times we look at this verse and think that we will get blessings by living the way God calls us to. That's not the case, the blessing is in the fact that the things that the world puts as priorities will become just additions. A nice house, car, bank account whatever you put value into will no longer be the priority, but simply and addition.
I hope you want that for your life, an opportunity to re-arrange things so that the worldly things are simply additions, and not priorities. Keep seeking God, and seeking His will for your life and let the worldly things lose their value in your heart and in your life.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

It's all there

There are a few places where you hear a certain statement. Many times you hear it at a graduation, at a sports pre-game speech or in a church. But Jesus spoke them several times, "I have given you all that you need to succeed." Paul said it numerous times as well and so did Peter, they all had an understanding that a personal relationship with Christ, and a strong knowledge of scripture are all that is needed to succeed.
I've been in locker rooms where the football team has worked all week, they've watched film. They have schemed and come up with a game plan. That game plan is based on their strengths and the other team's weaknesses. They have planned all week to have a plan to take their strengths combined with a knowledge of the other team's weaknesses and bring their team a victory. The coach will say, "we have planned, we have worked hard all week, we have given you the keys to victory now go out there and execute!" Or at a graduation, there is a reading before the graduates walk accross the stage and it basically states that all of the students have met the requirements mandated by the state and local school board. They have been given all the skills and knowledge needed to move on to the next level of education and life.
2 Peter 1:3-4 says, His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness"
Peter says God's divine power has given us everything we need in life. There is nothing the world can offer that adds to what God has already given us. That coupled with the fact that we need a good knowledge of Him (God) who has called us by his own glory. God called us, we did not get up one day and decide to call Him, He called us from the beginning with a plan to offer us a personal relationship with Him and eternal life. It's all been part of His plan from day one, and knowledge of that, and a full understanding of that is all that we can offer people.
We cannot offer eternal life, we cannot offer success in life, all we can do is what Peter did and teach people about those things and let them get it for themselves.
So share the Gospel, teach the word of God and know that there is nothing greater we can ever offer anyone.
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

A rookie Pastor speaks out

So I know it is a huge mistake for a rookie Pastor to speak out and explain why he does what he does and what he thinks is wrong with a lot of pastors today. But, here goes anyway. My viewpoint is that a Pastor is a shepherd, if that is the case then a shepherd stays out in the field with his sheep, he knows his sheep and everything that they do. The shepherd may have hired hands, but those will usually run if a wolf comes or if ther is any danger at all. A shepherd will stay with his sheep in the midst of the danger and not leave until it is over with.
A shepherd does not sit in an office all day, does not attend meetings all day, and certainly doesn't go for weeks without spending time with his sheep. Pastors are repeatedly referred to as shepherds and if that is so then how can a person shepherd his flock from an office. How can he do it by sitting in meetings and planning events, he can't. He needs to be out in the world with them, on campuses, at ball games, at their workplaces, and anywhere they have the opportunity to be. That is where Jesus was, he didn't spend His valuable time in solitude all day or in prayer all day or in study. He spent ample time in each and then went out into the world and reached them. We cannot reach communities for Christ with the Gospel if we are not out in the community. It will not happen that way.
John 10:14 "I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep and my sheep know me-"
Jesus said that He is the good shepherd and stated taht He knew his sheep and they knew Him. That doesn't come from being in the same building for one or two hours a week, it doesn't come from praying for them in an office, it comes from being a part of their lives. Jesus also gave us the Great Commission and it doesn't say much for sitting in an office or in meetings.
To tell the truth, I can't stand to sit still. I spend the first 2 hours of the day in the word, and prayer and after that I don't want to be in no stinking office. I can't reach teenagers, parents, families, children or anyone from the office. I pray each day for the opportunity to go into the full-time ministry once again and once I do watch out there will be no stopping me! I will be on every campus, in every workplace, all over the map each and every day for Christ.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Credit where credit is due

So I think back on my life and what I am most thankful for, there are so many things that come to mind. First, I am thankful for a God who loves me, even though I am a sinner, who sent His Son to die on a cross for my sins. That is by far the thing that I am most thankful for. But there is so much more.
I am thankful for my two little girls, the reason I love life so much is mostly due to them, from softball to watching bike rides and rollerblading, to watching movies and reading books, I love every bit of it. I thank God for them every day several times each day, and I also pray that I won't mess up as a parent. I pray that He will make me into the parent that they need me to be and alongside Tara we will raise them to love God as much as we do.
I'm thankful for my calling as a Pastor, I am thankful for the opportunity to reach people for Christ, I am thankful that God placed that desire deep inside my heart. There is nothing that I desire more than to be the best possible pastor and ambassador for Christ. I work hard every day to better myself as a Pastor and as a believer in Christ.
I am thankful for Tara my lovely wife, and for the way God picked out a wonderful wife for me who gets me(most of the time) and loves me through my ups and downs. I thank God every day for her and I pray that I don't do anything to stop the love that grows between us every day.
I'm thankful that I have the desire and the go that I have. NEver is there a down time, a dead time, or a day of nothingness in my life. Each and every day we strive to better ourselves, reach more people and be there for as many people in the community as we possibly can.
I'm also thankful for people like Jordon and Katie Hutson, Amber Lowe, Hali Worthingtong, the Cooksey family and Donnie Gumble. People who have become a major part of my ministry where ever I have been and through their support I have weathered storms and made it through the peaks and through the valleys of ministry, thank you to all of them and many more that I didn't mention.
Now then, tell my servant David, 'This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel'" (2 Samuel 7:8).
This thankfulness is something that David was struggling with. God had to remind him that he snatched him out of a field where he was the runt of the family watching sheep all day and night. He snatched him out of there and made him into the great ruler that he became. God was reminding him to put credit where the credit is due.
My credit must go to a God who snatched me up from a hospital where I was put up for adoption. I was placed in the arms of a loving family who raised me to love God, to cherish church, to read my Bible and pray daily. They taught me how to be a dad, how to raise my children, and how to manage life with a godly perspective. On earth I am most thankful for my parents, over all I am most thankful first for God loving me enough to send His Son,secondly for His placing me in the family that He did.
So as this thanksgiving comes, remember why you are who you are, and where you are. Remember that God planned it all out before you were even knit together in your mother's womb. He loves you and you had better be thankful for that!

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

True friends

As a pastor I receive a lot of advice on how to do things better. I must admit I don't listen to a whole lot of it sometimes as I can feel that it differs from where God is leading me in my prayer life. If I am in God's will then a complete 180 degree turn is not an option for that time. I do listen though, to any and all advice that is given depending on the source. You see, there are those who are just telling you what they prefer or want to get from the situation. They will share the info with you and then expect you to jump into action. There are also those who love you and care for you, they will tell you exactly what you need to hear rather than what you want to hear.
After a sermon I want to hear good job, that was a great one, or I enjoyed it. I don't want to hear you should have gone into more detail about this, or that; or even that was kind of dry. I don't want to hear those things, but if it is true then I need to hear those things. (Ofcourse it is never the case with my sermons, hehe) My point is you need to surround yourself with people who keep you real, and on task. People who care for you and tell you what you need to hear.
As a youth pastor there were so many people in the church that didn't care one way or another for the youth ministry. They didn't take the time to know anything about it, they were clueless but as long as there were teens there on Wednesday night and Sunday morning they were happpy. That isn't truly what youth ministry is about, but to them it was. They would tell me I was doing an awesome job, or that they were so proud of me. That was nice I must admit, but on the other hand I had a few college students and a few seniors that I sat down with regularly and told them to please critique what I was doing. A few of them I could tell were uncomfortable doing it, but still some of them were more than willing to do it. I still have them involved in my ministries today, they'll tell me what they really think and what I need to hear rather than tickling my ears with praise or what they think I want to hear. That's ego feeding and there's nothing worse than a pastor with an ego!
Proverbs 27:5-6 Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.
It is far better to have people in a congregation that will tell you the truth in love, than sit back and not say anything at all. Those who love you, truly care about you , those are the people who will keep you strong and help you in the long run.
My challenge to you is if you are in a leadership role of any kind, find people who love you enough to tell you when you are wrong or when you are not doing a good job. Those are the ones you want on your side, not the ego feeders.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

I am the greatest!

Don't you think so? Don't you think that I am the greatest pastor, softball coach, team pastor, racer, father, son, husband, cousin, friend, blogger, etc.... etc....?!?! If you don't then obviously you don't know me. Yesterday I got up before 6am to start studying GOd's Word and praying for my family and church. Then, I typed out my blog and got ready to face the day. I went into my office at the Betty Griffin House a little bit before 7am. I did some paperwork, returned some emails and waited awhile until I could return some phone calls. I then went to a school to meet with guidance about doing some bullying presentations, followed by doing some counselling at the First Coast Technical High School, then grabbed a bite of lunch. Then, I ran some things over to the Thrift Store that some people had dropped off at church for me to take, after getting there my mom called and she had locked her keys in her car so I ran back by the house picked up my dad and we went to take her his keys. After that I went back to the office to close out the day there. Left the office at about 3 to rush over and get Alexa from the dentist where Tara and P.J. were having their teeth cleaned. I took Alexa to the house to change and then to softball practice with me at St. Augustine. She ran the mile in under 9 minutes and did really well with it and she then did the leg workout with the girls. At 5, we left softball at st aug and drove out to football practice at Pedro. We hung out there and prayed with the team after practice, gave them Gatorade and cookies and then ran over to the Little League baseball park to see Luke play baseball. After that I finally got home I cooked dinner while they took their baths and we ate. Then I helped them with homework, got them into bed and did some reading.
Now if that isn't the greatest pastor, son, husband, father combo in the world I don't know what is. Without basketball or softball practice for Alexa it was actually an easy night, haha.
Proverbs 27:2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.
Did you really want to hear any of my chatter about my day, blah, blah, blah. Probably not, but I typed it out anyway to let you know that I am the greatest. Many of you probably had a busier day than I did, and if so you were probably wanting your own blog to type it out. But that is completely wrong according to Proverbs. God wants us to speak highly of others and let our actions speak for themselves. We are all suppposed to think that we are the greatest, but it isn't until someone else praises us that we truly are of worth. SO think about yourself, do you praise yourself more than others do? Do you take the time to praise others more than yourself?
I hope you praise others and not yourself. A quote I read a long time ago said "Anyone who knows GOd will be humble, and anyone who knows himself cannot be proud."
In other words, our pride is dangerous and we can every day look back to see that we make more mistakes and do less with our lives that God wants.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Softball is killing me!

Softball with Alexa is absolutely killing me. I can't take much more of the constant fixing and re-fixing of throwing mechanics, hitting mechanics, fielding, running, mindset it's all too much for me. We go to the park early Saturday morning and throw everything we worked on all week is erased. We hit, everything we worked on all week is gone, it's as if she is starting over again every time we do anything with the softball. It is so frustrating, she does not have softball iq, she just doesn't get it and she doesn't understand why I am so frustrated by that. I teach her things that no other 9 year old is learning about the game, I am teaching her things that should give her an advantage. AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! That is only a small portion of the frustration I am feeling, it leaves me borderline depressed some times.
Then, I think about God, how He has done so much for me and how frustrating of a creation I must be for Him. For years now He has sat waiting for me to come to Him early in the morning, yet only in the past 3 years have I truly perfected that. For years He sat waiting for me to pray to Him for His guidance in all my conversations and endeavors for the day. He must feel 100 times more frustrated with me than I do with Alexa.
Luke 11:13 "If you then, though you are evil, now know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him."
We know how to give all that we have to our children, so that they can be successful. We work hard at it, I at times have to calm myself down because I am eating, drinking and sleeping softball. It's oozing out of me to the point of needing to chill out for a day or two. All because I want her to be the best she possibly can, because I have all this information, and all these easy to access abilities to give to her. God wants to see us prosper, He wants to see our endeavors make a kingdom impact, and He waits for us to let Him do so.
So remember those days of teaching whatever it was to your kid that frustrated you as a parent, take that multiply it by about a thousand, and you have about 10% of the frustration God must feel when we don't engage in the Holy Spirit's power in our lives.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Eat, drink and be merry

I'm sure you've heard the slogan, "Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die!" The Greeks lived by it, today far too many people live by it. There was a country song a few years back called Live like You were dying that captures that same meaning. The thought process is get all you can, enjoy everything that you can while you can because you never know what tomorrow could bring. In all honesty that is not so bad of a theory, if you are spending your time correctly.
Truth is, every day you live you are one day closer to dying. Also, James tells us in chapter 2 of his book that we are just a mist, that blows away. We're like a vapor in comparison to eternal life. We may live for 80 or even 90 years, but that is nothing compared to forever, there's no mathematical equation for that. But, how we spend our days is very important. We do need to make the most of every day, spend as much time as we can with God, with family and with loved ones. We do need to do all that we can while we can, but not the way the world tells us to. So many times I hear of surveys asking people what they would do this week if they knew they would die on Friday. Spend all their money, quit their jobs, have an affair(a great memory to leave your signifigant other), and many other things. The Bucket list is an awesome movie where two guys are seeing the end of their life not so far off and they start attempting things they wanted to do. I must admit there is a bucket list for me, but it isn't quite the same.
Paul addresses this in Ephesians 5:15-16 "Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."
Live like the wise, live like God is calling you to live, not the way the world lives. The days are evil is a great illustration, because when do children get into trouble, when do they find themselves most mischievious? When they don't have anything productive to do. My little P.J. is great so long as you keep her busy, give her just 5 minutes of nothing to do and something will get torn up or someone will get hurt for sure!
So, eat food, drink water and be merry because the days are evil. Do all you can, while you can to share Christ with those you love, to be there for those who need you, and be sure to give God the glory for everything you have and are. Think about your "bucket list" and how much of it brings glory to God!
Thanks for reading and have a great week!

Wisdom is all around you

It's so easy to take advice from those who are older, isn't it. We automatically go to those who are more experienced in whatever endeavor we are seeking advice in. If we are pastors, we seek advice from someone who has been doing it longer. If you're a mechanic you find someone who has been fixing cars longer, teacher, coach, plumber it makes no difference. It is very easy to train yourself to do it. But, at the same time we tend to listen more intently to those who are our age or closer to it.
The times have made major changes and advances in the recent 25 years and so it is easy to think that people are out of touch. We think if someone doesn't own a cellphone, doesn't have an email address they are out of touch with the world. We tend to discount what they are saying based on those factors. In reallity they may be more in touch than we are because of those things. Because they haven't been changed by technology and society they offer a better, more clear picture of what it is that is going on.
But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him" (2 Chron 10:8).
In this chapter Rehoboam took the advice of his peers and the younger workers as opposed to the elders and in affect divided the entire kingdom. A kingdom that was once one was now divided because he had chosen to discount the advice of the elders.
There is so much wisdom found in experience. Even if we don't like the advice others give us, or maybe we don't trust the advice they give us. God places people in our lives who have been there and done that so to speak. He places them in our lives so that we can grow and learn from their experiences.
So next time you have the chance to sit down and talk to someone with a lot of experience in your current situation, listen to them. Grow and learn from them because they are appointed by GOd to be there right then, if you don't use their advice you may end up like Rehoboam. And we see here what happened to him, by the way he was the son of the wisest man to ever live, Solomon.
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

changing the climate

When you think of work, home, school and maybe some other places that you are in regularly how is the climate? When you think of climate and what it is like how much are you affecting it? I am a pastor so naturally I tend to change the climate, but it's funny to hear some of our kids at church tell me about how things change when I am around. One teenager from our church plays football at Pedro and he told me the other day that the language of the players and even some of the coaches changes when I am around. Another young man said the conversation and language changes at his table at lunch when I am there. Still another group tells me that there is more energy and fun when I am lunch with them. It's fun to hear them say those things and to think that I make a difference in simple ways.
So I challenge you to think about the climate where you are. In every possible place you go do you change the atmosphere, the climate the overall feeling of that area? Do people comment when you aren't there, or when you are missing for a short while? As a believer in Christ, as a church member, as a parent or any other title you may carry you should change the way things are where ever you are. People should be changed by having been around you, even if it is for only 5 Minutes they should feel differently because you carry around with you Jesus Christ. Many people know nothing of Him or His power, so we have to sprinkle that into every conversation, every situation so that others are introduced to Him through us.
Romans 14:19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
Whatever you do, where ever you are do you very best to bring peace, peace of mind and spirit to the people you are around. And do it by building them up, edifying them through the joy and the hope that you have as a Christian. We have to make them want that, want to know why things are different when we are around. Then, we have planted the seed and it's up to our prayers to water the seed until God sees fit to cast the Holy Spirit on them.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

thinking of others

As a young man and as a youth pastor I was able to get away with a lot. My walk with the Lord has always been pretty strong so that I could resist temptation without too much problem. I played sports in highschool and I many times ended up hanging out with people with lesser morals than myself. I would run into people after a game, or at a restaurant and get invited to go hang out somewhere with them. I would go, most times there would end up being some form of drinking or fighting going on so I would slowly make my exit when those things started happening.
Well, I had a few really close friends who couldn't be around it at all, because if they were they would join in. Then the following day I would hear the complaints and the guilt of them knowing they made some bad choices. So, I took 1 Corinthians 8:9 to heart and made sure that I kept my closest friends away from those situations. I could go to a party full of beer, cussing, fighting and such and be just fine. My friends on the other hand would fight it but eventually succomb to the pressures and temptations. For me it's the same way with movies, I can watch a movie that may have some inappopriate language or actions in it and be okay(not condoning watching them, I know I shouldn't many times) but I know for a fact that my children cannot. So I watch out for them, I can't just understand that I can handle it and automatically expect others to be able to handle it so I watch myself carefully.
1 Corinthians 8:9 -13 Be cerful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to teh weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols. So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.
You see Paul was free from the things that they believed in that time, he was free to go into places where temptation ran rampant and he survived it well. He knew there were many who may not be so fortunate so he was careful of their weaknesses. So be mindful of those around you who either are not beleivers or are weaker than yourself, don't do anything that may cause them to stumble.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

restored

I love old cars, I have grown up around old cars all my life. My dad owning a 1969 Camaro himself and always working on other people's old classics it's fun to watch. I love to see people who go to a sale, buy cars that are in such bad shape it is hard to even tell what they are. You see people excited to pay $500 for a hunk of junk with no wheels, no interior and now sign of ever running. They take them home and they begin a process that is called frame off restoration. You see, most classics are so old now that you can't just spray some paint on them put new interior in them and be happy, you have to almost start from scratch.
My first car that I bought when I was younger was a 1967 Camaro, it had a straight six in it with a 3 speed manual transmission. It was a really nice looking ride on the outside. I had a close friend of my dad's paint it for me, and when he went to start painting it he realized it was almost all bondo. It had holes in the rear quarter panels that you could stick your head through. So he called me and asked if I wanted to hang new fenders or just fill the holes with bondo. I chose bondo, I had no intentions of restoring the car or keeping it for a very long time, I just wanted to have a nice looking car. So he filled the holes and smoothed them, then I put new carpet in it, painted the interior and fixed up the seats. Finally, we put a new distributor on the motor, changed the oil and bought new wheels and tires.
I was so excited the first time I drove it to work to show all my friends. They were amazed, they thought it looked like a brand new car. Everyone walked around it looking at the paint job, at the interior and the overall new look of the car. I had one really close friend that was riding home with me and I was telling him what all we did and how it was almost all bondo, how if we scratched the paint too bad the fenders might fall off(they wouldn't, but it was believable)
I had taken shortcuts to get it to look good, it was a quick fix. I did not strip everything off of the frame and rebuild the entire car, I instead just made it look good to the passer by.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; teh old has gone, the new has come!
You see a lot of self help books, a lot of Dr. Phil seekers and a lot of things that people use to attempt to fix themselves. In all honesty some of these things may help fix the problems that people have, but they only fix the outside. Only accepting Christ as Lord and Savior can fix them for good from the inside. Being in Christ is like frame off restoration, everything is fixed no shortcuts taken. So let's stop seeking quick fixes and start focusing on the one person who can fix it all, Christ!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

endurance

So we are getting ready for softball season by having pre-season conditioning. We spend two hours two times a week running and doing things to help build up endurance for our players. It's our hope that when the season comes around the girls will always be in condition to finish out the game. We'll see times of losing and times of having bad games, but it is our hope that never will we just implode from being tired and out of shape. It's one thing to win or lose, it's a totally different thing to be in better shape than your opponents.
In life Satan wears on us, and the world wears on us and eventually we come to a breaking point. We may cave in because of pressures and a lack of preparation or we may endure it and be stronger in the end. I just finished a book by John Piper called Roots of Endurance. He talks about 3 major spiritual leaders of their day who faced many, many trials and struggles. One that really takes the prize for endurance in my mind is CHarles Simeon. Simeon was appointed as the Pastor of a church in Cambridge. The people of the church did not like him so another preacher preached the Sunday main service. Simeon did not let that discourage him and he would preach the equivalent of our Sunday evening services today. Anyone who attends church regularly knows what a slap in the face that must have been. To be the Pastor yet unable to preach the main sermon to the largest crowd. Even more, in those days there were pew holders(kind of like trustees, but not) and they would lock the doors of their pews and unlock them on Sundays to allow people to sit in them. Well, the pewholders didn't want Simeon to be the preacher, so they locked them during the evening service which forced people to stand and sit in chairs crammed in the aisles. None of this slowed down Simeon, this went on for 12 years before the pewholders finally caved in and let him have the pews and have the Sunday morning service. At one point the preacher who gave the Sunday morning sermon even passed away and they appointed another one instead of Simeon. He pastored there for 49 years before he passed away still preparing a sermon for the following week. If that isn't endurance, I don't know what is.
Hebrews 10:36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.
You see Simeon got it, it is not about what you want, what you feel or think. It's about enduring hardships, facing them head on and doing God's will. Knowing that in the end it is far greater to have laid your head down on a good conscience and having done God's will, than to live in comfort doing what you want to with your life.
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

The danger in too much Mary

In Luke chapter 10 Jesus visits Mary and Martha. Every time I hear a sermon on this set of verses Martha gets criticized up and down for her behavior. Jesus comes to visit and she is worried about cleaning the house and getting the meal ready. On teh contrary Mary is seated at Jesus' feet listening to His every word. This gives a great picture of how we act at church. There are in my mind 3 kinds of Christian church goers.
First, you have your Marthas, those people who show up and work all day long. They get there early and get things ready, they clean up afterwards(sometimes during) and they stay late after to make sure everything is done. Sundays for them are days of getting things done.
Second, you have your Mary's, those people who walk into church to be fed. Their soul purpose for being there is to worship God, to sing, to read and to listen to the message God has for them that day.
Thirdly, you have your in betweens, these are the people who get there early and help out. They then spend time in prayer and prepare themselves for worship and growing and during that hour they are completely focused on God. THen after church, they get back to work and help out where needed.
You see there is a danger in being a Martha because you spend all of your time working and miss out on focusing on God. Even if your work is for God, you miss out. There is also a danger in being too much Mary. Sitting at Jesus' feet is one thing, but there has to be a time where you put all you learn into practice. So the third person listed above who balances the two is what I feel God needs most in today's church. SOmeone who sits and worships at every opportunity, but then goes out and puts it to action.
James 2:26 says, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead"
So in other words if you sit at God's feet all day long, all night long and worship. If you spend every hour you possibly can in God's Word, in worship and at church yet you don't act out any of your faith, it is seen as dead. God wants people to worship, to pray and to read their Bibles daily. But all of that is useless unless it is put into action. Live out what you learn from God's word and from your time in study or at church and give your faith life. That's what God needs believers whose faith is alive and working.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

praying

I am asked more and more what to ask for in prayer. It seems that over the past 4 years of praying with the football team this team is asking more questions. I pray with them before each game and then we pray the Lord's Prayer together. It's cool to think that a whole football team has learned it and now can say it all together. But, still they ask me what it is appropriate to pray for and how to pray. I always point them back to the Lord's Prayer. Jesus said, "when you pray pray like this."
Our Father which art in HEaven, hallowed be thy name. They kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
THis is a great start, I start out by praising GOd for who He is and the fact that I can talk to Him. We must remember just who we are talking to and where He is. When I was a kid if you called someone on the phone(I am a visual person) you picture them standing there at their house on the phone. We automatically do that, especially at my house because we used a rotary phone mounted on the wall until about 15 years ago. So when you called our house, we were without a doubt in the kitchen sitting in the chair by the phone. Today, you call someone's cellphone and there's no telling where they are. You could be talking to them while they drive, while they work, or even at the beach or relaxing by the pool. When we talk to God we are dialing a direct line to Heaven, and we need to remember that. THen we pray for His will in our lives, not our own. It's fine to ask for things, to pray that things will happen in your life but it is important that we pray for His will. His will is far greater than our biggest dreams for our lives. His will is perfect, after all He made us so He would know better than anyone what will make us happy.
So start out your prayers by remembering who you are talking to and where He is. Then make sure you want His will, don't just ask for it, want it for your life.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

How to do good

This is not a formula for how to do good things or how to make your life better. It's not a quick fix or a way to snowjob people into thinking that you are a better person than people think. Far too many people have already figured out how to do that. Look at how many people are saints in the media's eyes yet we see how they live behind the scenes and we are appalled.
What I want to look at today is how to live out good deeds, how to do the things that we should be doing and what our attitude should be during those good deeds. There's nothing more sickening that the way people want credit for their good deeds.
We have a Christmas party for the kids in our programs through the Betty Griffin House each December. It's an awesome event where Santa makes an appearance, gifts are given out and food is provided. We provide the families with nice meals, and the children with gifts which they had asked for. THere are about 12 people who work hard to make all this happen. There is one lady who oversees everything and takes almost no credit for it at all. She quietly makes sure everyone is involved. Then, there is her assistant in the event who makes noise while simply doing what she has been asked to do, and she draws all the attention to herself.
Meanwhile, there are several other ladies that show up and work in the kitchen all day, never set foot on the floor or near anything except to take empty trays off of hte serving table. They work for about 8 hours total the entire time we are there cleaning, fixing, preparing, not once do you see them even stop to see the joy the kids have when they open their gifts or how great it is to see these families have their needs met, both physically and emotionally. Then, there are the few that show up as the families do, work hard openly and do all the stuff that is seen by the families, and they are the ones that end up taking the credit.
It's sad but that is how it works.
James 3:13-14 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom"
We show wisdom by a good life lived and by deeds that are done in humility. The lady who heads things up lives this well, but I want to point to the ladies in the kitchen. Those ladies deserve all of the credit in the world because not only do they work behind the scenes, not only are they the biggest part of making the event a success, but they do it without needing to even see what is going on. That is awesome, they trust that the kids are enjoying themselves, they trust that everyone is taking credit for it and they are okay with that. That is deeds done in humility. Humility is not publically thinking less of yourself than you ought to, it's the freedom from thinking of yourself at all. I read that quote some time ago and I wish I could remember where to give credit for it.
That's it, do what GOd is calling you to do, do it with the joy of the Lord and with total humility. Avoid thinking of yourself at all while you do it and you will double your joy.
(For those of you wondering, I deliver all of the packages behind the scenes, I set up all the tables before the families get there, and I work in the kitchen(sounds great I know), but I also spend a lot of time out there playing with the kids and seeing how it's going so I only have it half right! haha
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Envy vs. Jealousy

Have you ever been completely envious of someone or something? You look on them with such aw and so hungry for whatever it is that they have. Many of us have, I go to the race track all the time and I can tell you there are all these nice race cars, campers and trailers there that I wish we could some day afford. In all honesty, I can't say that I want them all that bad, but I would not turn them down if they were given to me if you know what I mean.
How about jealousy, have you ever been jealous? I can honestly say that I haven't been for a very long time, Tara has never really done anything to make me feel jealousy, but in the past and in old relationships I was constantly a little bit jealous.
What's the difference between the two, what's so different about them. Many times we put those words in sentences and it seems like they are good replacements for one another. They have two totally different meanings, but bring about the same results. Envy is wanting what someone else has, and wanting for your own not for them. It's seeing something and wishing you were the owner of it, and they were not. Jealousy is seeing something that does belong to you as having a possiblity of slipping away. It's a relationship that seems to be souring and you're afraid someone else will soon be in your spot, it's seeing someone do something with a friend or relative that you usually do. It's more fear driven than anything else, when we are jealous we are afraid someone is taking something away from us.
James addresses each of these issues because they are things that go on inside of us and cause fights and quarrels.
James 4:1-2 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.
There you see that James is addressing these very things, we usually fight and quarrel because of things on the inside that are causing us to react the way we do. Many times it is envy or jealousy that is fighting with us on the inside so we fight with them on the outside.
Then, he closes out by saying you do not have because you have not asked GOd. If God wants you to have those things then you will eventually have them in His timing. If you are jealous and God doesn't want for you that thing you are hanging on to then I promise it is not worth the fight at all.
God sees you, He knows your wants and He knows your jealousies. But in the end He strengthens you through them so that you can become the work that He needs you to be.
If it is meant to be, it will be, if it isn't there's something far greater in God's plans for you!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Looking around

I worked in an interesting sitation years ago where there seemed to be a great working atmosphere. All was well, there were guys that had been there longer than me, there were guys that started after me. We all had a great working relationship from guys old enough to be my father, right down to teenagers. We laughed we pulled pranks on each other, we enjoyed the company of our co-workers. I even remember leaving work thinking how cool the day was, hard work, sometimes very strenuous labor but still an overall good feeling about the day. Then it happened, the one thing that can cause all the good feelings and comradery to fade away. One pay day the checks got distributed and a few of them were given to the wrong person by mistake. One person turned it back in with no questions asked, two others however opened the envelopes out of sheer curiosity and found out what others were making. This caused friction like you could not believe. Some soured towards others, some soured towards the boss, others just got mad at everyone. All because of pay, before those envelopes were opened all was fine, everyone was happy with one another.
Psalm 37
Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong. for like the grass they will soon wither away. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in teh land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make yor righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and waith patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
What the Psalmist is saying here is serve God, do what you do for God's glory and don't worry about everyone else.
We played a game last night in youth where two guys were tied together with ropes and there was a very simple way to escape. They were paired up against two of our young ladies and the guys thought they had it so easy. They fought and thought and laughed at the fact that they twisted and maneuvered only to still find themselves tied up. (we will have it uploaded to our facebook later on today) finally the girls had it. The moment they had it, the game wasn't fun any more for the guys. The look on one of their faces was priceless. They immediately went from laughter to frustration, why because they looked to see how the other was doing.
God says serve me, worship me, and worry about you. Don't look over your shoulder or concern yourself with what others have, do this and you will find more peace and far more joy.
Thanks for reading and my apologies for slacking these last 2 days, red ribbon week and Muffins for Moms has had me on the road before 6am the past two days so that I didn't have a chance to blog. Have a great day!

Tipping Point

Malcolm Gladlwell wrote a book entitled the Tipping Point. In it he discussed the various ways that products and services become huge successes. If you invent something, that product will undergo rigorous tests to see if it is a good product to market. Then, the company will mass produce it and may sit on shelves for quite a while. The items will sit until consumers purchase them. They may purchase them slowly but eventually, if it is a good product it will make a break through and that moment when it goes from obscure to popular is the tipping point. It's that time when your invention goes from virtually unknown to a household name. Things like the Sham Wow, Magic Jack, and Ginsu Knives have gone through this process along with millions of other items that need consumers to take on. There has to be a creator and brainchild, there has to be a company that can manufacture them, and there has to be marketing dedicated to getting the word out. THese things together along with the usefulness of the product make it happen.
Ephesians 4:11-12 "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers..."
This verse shows us that God used the same process. He created us all to play a role, some of us are inventors, some are mass producers and others are in marketing. It doesn't do any good to have a great preacher with no one to listen, it doesn't do any good to listen if there's no marketing to bring in others, there's no need to do the marketing without a preacher. THe process intertwines itself in a way that you can't tell who is most important. Each has a role and that is the way God designed it.
Ask yourself, is Freedom Baptist Church hitting its tipping point? Are we about to make a major breakthrough, I'm not sure. That is all in God's Hands, but I do feel like we have the right people in place to do the marketing and producing so long as we don't lose sight of the fact that God is in control. So figure out your role, is it inviting, is it telling, is it teaching when they do come? Whatever it is, it is just as important as the rest.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

The shake test

I stood in front of an entire football team, a team who has endured several highs and their share of lows. Over the course of the season we have almost won games we should not win, and lost games that we should win. It's been a rollercoaster of rides that I wanted to address.
I stood up and began to deliver the pre-game as we look at the way we react to such a season of emotional tide changes. I held in my hand a bottle of water, I unscrewed the top so that only the last little turn was left holding the lid on. I shook the bottle vigorously in a way that sent water spewing all over the players sitting closest to me. Some laughed, some rushed away to avoid getting soaked. I asked them this question: "Why did water come out of this bottle?"
I got several different answers from because the water was up to teh top, because the lid wasn't on tight, and because I shook the bottle. All of these were very valid answers, but not what i was looking for.
I then explained the importance of attitude. How our attitude does 3 major things in our lives. First, it reveals the real you. The real you comes out in your attitude towards others, and towards the game. Second, it determines the successes and failures of every relationship you ever have. Your relationship with everyone is affected by your attitude. Third, your attitude is always your choice.
Matthew 15:17-20 Jesus says, "Don't you see that whatever enters the mout goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of teh mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what makes a man unclean; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'"
Jesus is saying what goes in comes out, and when it comes out of your mouth it is from the heart. So your attitude comes out as whatever you have filled yourself up with.
The reason water came out of that bottle when I shook it up, quite simply because the bottle was full of water. What goes into us comes out of us when we get all shook up. So be careful what you watch, listen to and get involved in it must may be what comes out next time you face adversity.

Thanks for reading and have an awesome weekend!

what God really needs

I know I have shared analogies and comparisons of all sorts of what God really needs us to be like. But today I have a good idea of what it is that God needs and it is described in the book of John. You see the moon is a great and beautiful thing, we call it beautiful because it is outlined by the night sky. We also think it is beautiful because we can actually sit and gaze at it, not so for the sun. We cannot look intently into the sun, we can't appreciate it and even if we could it wouldn't be as beautiful as a full moon on a clear night. The sunrise is a beautiful thing on a clear morning and it is majestic, but the light of a full moon is just as nice in my opinion.
We need to remember the job of the moon, it shines a light until the sun comes and it is time to move on. The earth rotates and orbits and as it does the sun comes up and goes down, the moon does the same. The moon is not as bright and is not nearly as powerful as the sun and it knows that. The moon simply reflects the light of the sun, that's it.
God is looking for people to stop trying to be the sun, trying to overpower and bring great attention to themselves. The Christian that God wants to use is the one who shines day in and day out, and gives all the credit to the Lord. The beleiver who is obviously living for Christ, but clearly not taking any credit for any great thing they do.
John 5:35 says, "John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light"
John was a lamp that burned and gave light, but he always let people know the source of his light was God. Never did he let anyone think that he was the light, that he was the source of power for others, or that he was anything more than a reflection. He knew his part and it is time for believers to do the same. It's time for us to reflect God's love, grace and mercy to others and do it in a way that they recognize the source, Jesus Christ. No more taking credit for the great things that God does, just more of being a moon and less trying to be like the sun. God needs more moons, more reflections of Him in this world who can point to the true source of light a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Theme song

Have you ever gone to do something with a song in your head? I used to listen to non-Christian music as a teenager(there wasn't much alternative then) and many times I would wake up to my alarm playing music because I couldn't stand the sound of a regular alarm beeping in my ear. Sometimes it would be a good song, sometimes a not so good song. But regardless of what the song was, it was stuck in my head throughout my day. I would go to school, practice whereever with this song in my head. Isn't it funny how the first things we do in the morning stick with us. THey stay in our heads until we just can't get rid of them. I still to this day get a song stuck in my head at times and it follows me throughout the day. On race days I used to listen to certain songs that would get me more in a race mode. I had a certain cd that I had burned all my favorite songs onto to listen to on the ride over to Gainesville. This was all fine and well, but if I listened to something else earlier that morning, then after I got into the car and strapped in I would revert back to those songs.
I look at the lives of Paul and others and what "Psalms" they may have had stuck in their heads. These guys meditated on God's Word day and night so they had things in their minds that would stick with them much like music for me.
I think Psalm 46 is a good indicator of what the inside of Paul's head must have been like as he faced all forms of persecution. From floggings, to public humiliation, to false accusations to imprisonments, he did it all with a joyous heart and attitude.
Psalm 46 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

I believe these verses incapsulate all that Paul was, all that he stood for, and everything that helped him stand. He was an amazing example of the fact that God is an ever-present help in trouble. Paul showed no fear in the face of persecution and no sign of fear all he had to know was that God was there. Many times in the midst of near death experiences Paul simply sat there and endured all the world could throw at him. It was as if he was being still and knowing that God was in control.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

you are what you eat!

So we are in that mode of Alexa really wanting to be an athlete. She is throwing, hitting and pitching most every day now and really into it. She is pushing herself to get better and doing the things she needs to do to get in shape and be the best she can be. She has one problem though, eating. I am trying to teach her that she is going to have to stop being so picky and eat especially when it comes to meat and vegetables. She is slowly starting to understand that, P.J. and her both make sure they take their vitamins every day, now it's time to get them to think about the foods they eat.
Well at the same time I am working on her friendship choices. I'm trying to teach her to choose friends that will help her get better. A friend in school who won't get into trouble and who works hard academically. Friends who read and study and pay attention in class. Because right now, it seems like she is that person, and the leader when it comes to reading and studying in her class. She has to find friends who are the same so that she can reach her potential. As adults we need to do the same, we need to find people who push us spiritually, and emotionally. Those people can be on either end of the spectrum. You may need someone who is spiritually more mature so that they spur you on to get stronger in your walk with Christ. It may be that you need someone a little less mature than you spiritually and they will continue to help push you as they gain spiritual wisdom and maturity. Regardless, you need people who share the same desires in life. Spiritually, if you want to grow you need to surround yourself with people who also want to grow. Whether it's your pastor, or it's just another member of the congregation, or maybe even a brand new Christian. Growth is imperative, and every day you don't grow, you can't get back.
Proverbs 13:20 says, He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.
I think that says it all, if we want to grow closer to Jesus Christ we need wisdom and that only comes from surrounding ourselves with those who are seeking God's wisdom as well.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!