fearless

So are you afraid of the future? Are you afraid of all this economic talk, the news channel's news, or the things that are discussed all around you? Do you some times worry about your salvation, your future, or your eternity? THere is a remedy for all of this, and it is focusing on God instead of yourself. We have to figure out a way to focus on God, GOd's love and God's grace. Until you can bring yourself to a point of doing such things you will continue to live in fear.
I can admit I have been completely scared at points in my life, but it has never taken on a place in my life where I can't take it over. When I do find myself fearing for something future, I just remind myself who is in charge and just how much power I have over that situation. I have absolutely no power over today or tomorrow, but I know who does and He loves me and will sustain me.
1 John 4:16-18 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in GOd, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We are made perfect by God's love. There is nothing that can overpower God's love for us and nothing that can punish us in any way because of GOd's love. Think about punishment, have you ever punished your child and seen that it didn't work. I have, I have put P.J. in timeout, taken away play time, even popped her on the hand only to see her return to that action that got her the punishment. Why? Because of the lack of fear in her life. Nothing can take away your relationship with God, nothing can take away his love or your eternal life. Nothing.
They can take your house, your health, your cars, your wealth, your happiness even, but never can they touch your joy, or take away that one thing that sustains you and that is GOd's love for you.
So focus on GOd's love in these uncertain times and find peace in the storms of life.
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

What do you hate?

Think about it, if you were in a classroom and you were asked to write down and exhaustive list of all the things that you hate could you do it? I don't know where to start myself.
I can tell you that I strongly dislike the following:
COrn, meatloaf, ocra, the dallas cowboys, the Jaguars and Kyle Bush. I can give you a great reason for each and every one of those. I also strongly dislike abortion, alcohol, drugs and abusive people. I do hate losing, and I hate seeing people celebrate uncontrollably when they do win. Act like you have done it before is my motto(even if you haven't)
When compiling this list I come to the conclusion that I don't have too much that I hate. I don't have too many things that I truly hate with all the passion that I have.
The second list is probably the strongest hates that I have. But I ask you , what does GOd hate? What is it that God hates more than anything? I know it's sin but whihc one, which commandment is the worst to break?
The word hate is used in a godlike situation once in Proverbs. 8:13 To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.
Go hats pride and arrogance which in reality lead to evil behavior and perverse speech. Think about it, every time you sin you are pridefully taking the place of GOd in your life. You are making a decision of what is best for your life at that moment without taking into consideration what God has planned for your life. God designed you to live one way, and you are choosing another.
God hates the proud but uplifts the humble is another example of a verse that speaks to the hatred that GOd has for pride.
So look in the mirror, list all the things that you see in your life as flaws, and thank God for His grace and mercy on your life in those flaws. Then you will see life as GOd sees it, and find yourself not deserving anything at all but receiving oh so much!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

spare the confusion

I am currently reading Evidence that demands a verdict by Josh McDowell. It is an 800page encyclepedia looking book that is completely in defense of the Bible and Christianity. I love it, it's deep, not a smooth read but very informational. The first few chapters have dealt with the origins of the Bible, the truth of the Bible and the many different proofs that it was inspired by God. I also like the ways that as McDowell puts it, God dummy proofed it for us.
One such way is the correlation between John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that HE sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
If you got tripped up and accidentally turned to 1 John 3:16, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."
John 3:16 is to Christianity what the pledge is to Americans. Most who have grown up in church were able to quote this verse since childhood. 1 John 3:16 takes the previous verse and ups the ante as to what we should do with the knowledge of John 3:16.
We should be willing to lay down, or set aside our own lives for the lives of others. That is the definition of ministry.
Ministry is:
Giving when you are in need.
Praying for others, when your needs are greater.
Sharing when you need to be taking.
staying the course, when your flesh wants to run.
Loving when you need to be loved.
Ministry is setting aside your own life, struggles and needs to meet those of others. It's showing Christ's love for others, even though you need it yourself. It is being selfless and looking at the big picture of the story of the GOspel rather than our own narrow-minded view.
So lay down your problems, thoughts and struggles and allow God to take them. But while you're doing that make sure you aren't overlooking others in your life who have struggles they need help with.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Not deserving

So I often catch myself telling my kids they haven't earned something. They ask if they can do this or do that and my reply is a firm, "No, you haven't cleaned your room" , or sometimes it's , "No, you haven't finished your supper." These are very valid points and when it comes to raising children they need to have guidelines and rules. They need to be taught that in order to get some things they need to do what is expected of them. They need to deserve them, as we would say.
I now find myself in a situation where Tara and I are scratching our heads. We sit back and it is sometimes very easy to think that we deserve to get helped out of our predicament. We feel at times as prideful, sinful humans that we are entitled to some one stepping in and helping us. After all, we do a lot of work with the kids in the inner city, we chaplain a football team, we coach girls' softball, we skip our own Christmas bonus to help out others and so on. We do each of these things because we are compassionate about others and their needs. We really and truly don't do them to score points to cash in later. But these are the thoughts that Satan puts in our heads, thoughts that we are entitled to a better life, to being helped by others. But it just isn't so.
All you need to do is read Romans 5:8 and see that it isn't so. It says, "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
There is a lot said in that short verse. First of all it was done as a demonstration of GOd's love. Not to prove a point, not to prove his power, but to demonstrate His love for His creation.
Secondly, it happened while we were still sinners. Think about that, Christ died for us as sinners, not even as the saved. Jesus CHrist, endured the cross, endured the humiliation of all that entailed His final days, and He did it for sinners.
I know the market is worse now, at an all time low but just 2-3 years ago did you try to get a loan. They check your credit to see if you are paying off other debts the way you should. Then, they see if what you are trying to borrow money to buy is worth what you are borrowing. They do all these tests to see basically if you are worthy.
Think about your spiritual credit, what would your score be? think about your life and your lifestyle, is it worth the blood of CHrist? It is a humbling experience indeed to read this verse and see that I already have received a hundred fold more than what I deserve.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Yet another humbling experience

So Alexa was Amelia Erhart for her school project. She had to build or have some type of item, say a speech and dress up to look like her. She did look like her, and she did have a great speech. WHile most kids wrote down 3-4 facts about their character, ALexa wrote an entire note card full of facts. She did have a lot of visitors. It was set up like a science fair, where people could walk around through the aisles and stop, push a button at the end of the table and the student that coresponded with that button would begin sharing their facts about their person. Alexa had to have an airplane obviously. I had hoped to find one of the old fashioned stirofoam planes that you can put together and fly around the yard but I couldn't find one anywhere. So we settled for a 3-dimensional kite that was an old fashioned plane. We got it all put together and it was the coolest looking thing that anyone had on their table. The boys flocked to her table to check it out.
I thought this was brilliant on my part, a kite for a project which would leave us with something new and fun to go and try out on Saturday. We did, we took it to Crookshank, to the big field out front and we ran all over the place out there and never did it leave the ground for more than 5-10 seconds. IT was a disaster that ended with us throwing the kite in the truck and swinging on the swings for an hour or so. Come on, I can fly a kite, it can't be that hard. Think again my friend.
Sunday was a great day, a beautiful one outside for that matter. We cleaned out one of my fish ponds, played lots of catch with the tennis ball and a few games of basketball, just the kind of Sunday afternoon I needed after all of the bad news over the past week.
Thanks for reading and have a great day.

what now?

So have you ever been in a predicament where you have lost complete control? You start out feeling like you have control, you can do things to make the situation better, you can slow down the pain and so on. You continually use your abilities and your knowledge to dig your way out of the hole. Then it happens, you get to that point where all seems hopeless, everything in your world as you know it is spirallingd downward, the sky is falling and you are completely exhausted.
I have watched marathon runners, one is out in front and is using up everything he has. Every ounce of energy to stay out front, in the meantime another runner is back a ways pacing himself, he's been there, done that and just cruising. He knows that he can kick it up a notch and win, but he is letting the other guy out in front, exhaust himself before he makes his move.
It's that way with God, He is patiently awaiting that moment when you simply turn it all over to Him. When you will hit your knees concede all conventional wisdom and step aside. That is what faith is, that is what Trusting in the Lord truly is.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.
There it is, lean on God, trust in God and stop thinking you can do it. The moment you do that, is the moment everything will make sense to you. I am a firm believer in this, and I firmly believe that I am living in it right now as we speak. But, if we will simply trust in Him from the beginning then we won't exhaust ourselves, rather we will be energized and empowered by all that God accomplishes through our trials.
So trust God when the race starts, not when you're on the final stretch and He will do so much more for and through you!
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Finding purpose

So by now most people who know me, know that my favorite verse in the entire BIble is Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. I love that verse for many reasons, I love the fact that the Psalmist tells us not to search for God's will, but for God to implant His will into your heart. The moment He does that it becomes a desire, and we all know that a desire of the heart is a hard thing to stop.
I am reading the Josh Hamilton story, a book about his life, his baseball climb and fall. He shares about his days as a young boy, his love for the game of baseball, and his desire to play. He later falls into drugs, into tattooing his entire body as an escape, and also into drinking. He was snorting cocaine so much that the cartilage in his nose was falling out when he blew his nose. This never phased him, it took him finding God to change all of his patterns. He was as lost as could be, and so confused that he actually has a tattoo of the devil without any eyes and a tattoo of Christ on the cross on the same leg.
God had plans for him, for him to rise to stardom through all the trials and it took GOd putting that desire in him for it to come to reality. His desire to play the game, his desire to be great was not enough. It was when God planted that desire inside his heart along with building a personal relationship with Christ that put him on the right path.
Like Paul says in Philippians 2:13 "for it is God who works in you to will and o act according to His good purpose."
Our heart's desire becomes a passion that overrides all other temptations and worldly desires the moment God plants it in our lives. I can testify to this, I wanted as a young teenager to be a youth pastor. Even told my pastor David Beauchamp as a young boy that I was going to be a pastor some day. All through highschool however, I decided I wanted to be a pro baseball player(I know hilarious) or a professional drag racer(a bit less of a stretch but still well out of reach) when I grew up. But, one night at a youth camp near Ocala, Florida I was in worship watching teenagers walk the isle and accept Christ. I was one of the speakers at this event, a group leader and I found myself at the front of the isle myself. I answered right then and there to go into the ministry. From that day on, not one day have I faltered from my desire to be a minister of God's word and a sharer of the Gospel. It wasn't until God grabbed me by the heart that it truly became a desire, and a passion that overtook all other things.
So ask God for your desires, seek Him daily and ask Him to implant in you His desires for your life and find life more fulfilling.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Pride is the root

Immorality, anger, guilt, drunkenness, all of these are attributes of sin that eat us up from the inside out. Each of these are things that we allow into our lives that will eventually eat our insides out completely and then start on the outside. King Herod suffered from such things, but the root of all sin is pride. We go through life and we focus on the bad things, why won't God give me a break? WHy can't I get one little lucky streak and have things go right? We ask such questions never looking at all that we have. I have a wonderful family, from my daughters, wife parents, cousins and even in-lawsy(yeah I said it, in-laws) and I have been blessed in so many ways. I am given the priviledge of being God's servant as a Pastor and working at a church where I can do youth ministry full-time as a senior pastor. But, there are those days where I find myself wondering why things aren't going right, why can't we pay those bills, why do we have to go through this. We need to focus on the good things in life.
We need to make sure that we thank God and give Him full credit for everything in life, and not just question Him when it isn't going our way. If we don't, then pride is going to grow and grow until it literally eats away at our morals and at our beliefs.
Acts12:23 shows us a great illustration of this, "Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died"
How many times can you say that you did something, it went well and you totally took the credit for it? I do my very best to give GOd the glory for each and every blessing in my life. Look at the athletes and how they handle it. I am reading the Josh Hamilton story, a book about a baseball player who almost ruined his life, not to mention his career, because he was so puffed up with pride. God got ahold of his life and now he is a blessing to all who watch him play the game of baseball. He is the best hitter in baseball right now, and he gives full credit for God. He repeatedly said he takes full credit for the tattoos, the drinking and the drugs that he fell into as a young man, and God gets full credit for everything else.
So how about you? Are you thanking God and giving Him credit for all that you have and all that you are? If not, I would suggest you do so, before it eats you alive!
Have a great day and thanks for reading!

pointing fingers

I learned a long time ago that every time you point at someone there are 3 fingers pointing back at you. That is so true, and yet so often not put into practice. We are fast to point the finger, to let someone else know they are in the wrong, yet we forget our own wrongs. Every single one of us as believers are living in grace, God's grace and mercy and nothing else. Not one of us is living in any form of entitlement, nor is any one of us deserving of anything other than death. Yet, God in His goodness, sent His Son to die on a cross for us.
Luke 6:41 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take that speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye?"
Jesus spoke these words and they are so true in our lives. I can tell you that as I grow closer to God, and as I mature as a Christian(which is a never ending process) I continue to see more evidence of God's grace in my life than in any others'. I get so aggravated at myself for making stupid, sinful mistakes that I can only focus on those things sometimes.
As many of you know I am the chaplain for the football team at Pedro, and I coach girls' softball at St. Augustine High School. THere is one thing that you notice in athletes. I feel like when it comes to errors or mistakes there are two types of players. There are those who make a mistake, and they are harder on theirselves than anyone else can ever be. These athletes are easier to keep focused, but at times they are so hard on theirselves that you actually have to encourage them.
Then you have the athlete who makes mistakes, shakes it off and jumps all over anyone else who dare make a mistake. In a Junior varsity girls' softball game, odds are everyone on the team is going to make a mistake. Everyone will not make every play, will not get a hit every time at the plate, and will not do everything right. Still, we have those who point the finger as soon as things aren't going their way.
So which kind of CHristian should we be? I think somewhere in the middle, ready to admit to every mistake we make, confess every sin openly and lift up others when they fall.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

God inspired worship

The worship service should be completely God centered. That is the only rule to be followed, you need not worry about tradition, style or sequence. We need to be focused on leading everyone in the room to the very presence of God, that is the focus.
Many churches are so entrenched in "We've always done it that way, or that's tradition" that they miss out on the leading of God. We need to pray that God will inhabit our services and that we will do everything we can during that one hour to lead people to His throne. Not move them to join, to make decisions, or to have their ears tickled. Simply put, we need to take ourselves completely out of the equation. We need to stop seeing ourselves as the facilitators and see ourselves as the middle men. When Aaron leads worship, all he is doing is driving the vehicle that is going to draw those in the service closer to God. In my preaching, it's my hearts' desire that I drop everyone off right at the feet of JEsus. That they see Him and remember an experience with Him and nothing else.
Instead, many times we get puffed up and think that we are doing something special, therefore we are stubborn against change, and any form of resistance to "our" ways of doing things.
Mark 7:6 " He replied, 'Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachins are but rules taught by men.; You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
There is so much in this passage, but the one thing I want us to do is focus on following God, with our hearts, minds and lips. Not just in the way we sing or speak, but in the way that we engage ourselves with God. Then, we make sure that we follow God's leading in every aspect of the service. Not our traditions, not some rules that man made, but leading people to the cross each and every Sunday. True genuine worship is from the heart, therefore it must engage the heart on a weekly basis.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

What are you asking for?

When driving to Jacksonville there used to be a sign that I really liked. It was a billboard advertising for a local homebuilder. It said, "Our only limitation is your imagination." I loved that sign and the way it made their company capable of building anything and everything you could imagine and then some. The fact that when you got done with their services, if there was something that wasn't everything you wanted it is your fault for not asking for more.
Think of God that way. The only limitation to God's work in your life is your belief. We tend to put Him in a box and decide for ourselves what He is capable of doing for us. What He can and can't accomplish, or what He will or will not grant is not up to us or our strength of faith, but it is dependent on it.
Ephesians 3:20 Now unto Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work in us.
First, Paul tells us that God can do more than we can ask. He is capable and willing to do more than what we can ask Him to do. He is also waiting to do not just more than we ask but more than we can imagine. We pray for 10 new Chrisitans he thinks in terms of millions. We think in terms of 50 new church members, His math won't go below hundreds. He is able to do more than we ask, so much more than we are even capable of imagining(I know I can imagine a lot!). Not just a little more however, immeasurably more. He can do so much more than we ask, so much more than we can imagine, that we can't even measure it. Think about that next time you are spending time alone with Him in prayer. THink over your prayers, and your contentions.
What is it that you are asking, and how does it compare to what He wants to do in your life?
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Built on the rock

I see so many instances in my times on campus helping coach sports where kids are practicing, and playing and they get in a slump. They get to a point where it doesn't seem like anything is going right and immediately they turn to their coaches for help. I have watched countless times as a young girl comes to a coach on the softball team, and states her case. She can't hit the ball and is wondering why she is in such a slump. The coaches do their best to show her what she is doing wrong. Funny thing is it is the same thing she has always done wrong, more often than not she has had a bad habit all of her softball playing days and failed to fix it. But, once it isn't working at all she is all ears.
We treat Jesus the same way, He points out faults in our lives and in our lifestyles. He shows us how we ought to live and be and it isn't until we have exhausted all our resources that we call out to Him. His immediate response has to be like that of the coaches, "I've been trying to help you change for years now, you ask for my help and guidance, yet don't do anything I show you."
This very conversation comes up in Luke 6:46 where Jesus says, "Why do you call me, 'Lord,Lord', and do not do what I say?"
Think about all the times you have seemingly exhausted every resource and called out for God's help. Then things get better, you accredit it to God and you revert back to your old ways. Or, we call out to Him and don't get the guidance we think we want so we go another direction. Regardless of what you say or think, we do this continually in our daily walk. The rest of Jesus story in this chapter talks about the house built on shifting sand verses the house built on a strong foundation.
How is your spiritual life built? Are you withstanding the storms or are you swaying and crumbling. A lot of this has to do with your response to God right after you call out for Him!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Looking over your shoulder

Have you ever been around someone who tends to look over their shoulder? Everything that person does involves covering their tracks, even when they are involved in something that isn't bad at all they are covering their tracks. THose same people use statements like "Honest" or "That's the truth" at the end of a lot of sentences.
WEll, I learned at an early age that it is far easier to live a righteous life to the best of my ability and avoid those types of situations. I am a terrible track coverer because I haven't engaged in that type of lifestyle that much.
I can gaurantee you that all of us exemplify this attitude in one way or another. Past sins make it impossible for us to avoid this type of thought process.You're driving along, in my case talking to my daughters, one who is carrying on a conversation, another who is asking every question imaginable. Listening to the radio in short bursts of silence that seem to make up about 5 second intervals. Then, it happens, up in the distance I can see the lights of a cop car sitting off to the side of the road just patiently awaiting that passer-by who will be speeding. That's when I do it, I slow down just to realize that I am already going the speed limit. So, don't act like this lifestyle isn't something you often live, we all do it. It's my past speeding that causes me to automatically cover my tracks.
Proverbs 28:1 The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
Where do we find boldness? Where do we find the courage to face all the obstacles in life? By living a life of righteousness. The cleaner and purer lifestyle we live, the less need there is for covering up anything. Then our stories end with the punch line instead of , "honest, that's the truth" and those types of statements.
Have a great day and thanks for reading.
Stay warm the best you can!

Still living for others

Have you ever met someone who is into serving? Someone who is willing to do whatever it takes to get things done around the church or the office, or maybe in the community. That person who when there's work to be done is the first one there. I have had such people surrounding me throughout the days of my ministry. I've even had teenagers who show up to serve, and fully expect to be the ones who do all the work. They show up, get the work done, and leave. Not once do they seek any recognition for their services, because they are doing it for the right reasons.
Then, there are those who do it all, and broadcast it. They are more than willing to do even the dirtiest or most tedious job in any setting. Yet, when they get the chance they are the first to toot their horns to the world about what they have done.
They have it half right.
James 3:13 states, "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."
So there it is, james says it quite clearly, in order to be wise you need to do good deeds in humility. Not to get some award, not to get some type of credit toward your good deeds trophies and plaques. But a truly, humble servant is someone who no one knows anything about.
I have met people in the church who do so many things, they are there early, they visit the sick, they clean up after everyone is gone, they may even just drop to their knees in prayer. But, never do they announce or draw attention to any of that. That's wisdom, and that is humility. The truth is you were put on this earth to bring glory and honor to God. In doing so, all we should care about is that God gets the glory, and that we serve Him. Outside of that, no one should care who knows, or who sees our good deeds.
So live for Him, serve others, and never in any circumstance draw attention to the things that you do for Him. If you do, you are hogging some of the glory for yourself.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

living for others

We often times think of the term living for others in a servant type of outlook. When I say that I am living for God and for others, I am in a sense saying that I am laying aside my wants and my thoughts for those of others. I am doing my best in every situation to put others first in my daily walk.
We know that we need to share our resources with others, so long as we take care of our own family's needs we need to be attentive to the needs of others and help when we can. We need to realize that if we are living for others, some of our resources need to go to others. But, there is another piece of this puzzle that we sometimes overlook. It's our actual actions and lifestyles.
In 1 Corinthians 8:13 we read, "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 sin."
Teenagers ask me a lot how they can decide whether they should go somewhere or not, do something or not, or hang around certain people or not. Usually, if they are asking me, the answer should be "no". But, I tell them to think about 2 things.
First, can you glorify God in that setting. As a believer in CHrist your main goal is to glorify and worship God, so if you can't do that in the setting that is in question then you shouldn't go.
Second, if you can glorify God in that setting, and you are strong enough to avoid temptations in the situation, is your weakest Christian friend strong enough. You see we have to think of them.
I'll give you an example: In high school I was pretty much the leader in our youth ministry. I had a lot of strong Christian friends that ran with me, we played different sports, but on the weekends we could be found together at one anothers' houses or at a church youth event somewhere. But, of my friends there were a few that were weaker in their walk with God. I had to be very careful once I realized this just what I involved myself in. I had to watch my steps and make sure that I didn't get involved in anything that they couldn't handle. I could go to people's houses where drinking or drugs were at and it was a known fact that others would not even offer because they knew I wasn't interested at all. But, there were some who couldn't resist if put in that situation so I had to distance myself from it.
We had another friend who was just as strong as me, who would still go to the parties he shouldn't, and eventually one of the younger guys he hung out with was drinking and doing drugs. By his own choice yes, but he was led there by a leader.
So living for others isn't just serving them, it's also understanding their Spiritual strength and watching out for it.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

encouragement

I can go through an entire week, I can work through the things that have to happen every day and sometimes feel run down. I get to church at 8:30 Sunday morning and start all of the work that has to be done, all the doors that must be opened, all the heat turned on, all the lights on, double check the power point, get the after hour fellowship food table set, get the food all laid out and at some point find a few minutes to read over my sermon notes. But, usually something goes wrong like yesterday remembering the water was still turned off because of a busted backflow valve at the same time as finding out that the heat wasn't working in our Sunday School space. So again, I am off to the races, scrambling to get everything accomplished, and get everything done that needs to get done. I at some point walk into the sanctuary as people are arriving and see all the empty seats. The usual empty seats don't phase me so much as the ones that shouldn't be empty. The ones that should be filled by regular attenders, some who are the ones I am looking to be leaders in our ministries. THose really get me down, so I have to take a deep breath and walk away, out to the back and spend just a few minutes in deep intense prayer, that GOd will take away the malice and all the thoughts that can possibly take me away from glorifying Him.
I walk in, shake a few hands, and get ready to worship. We get through the songs, I pray, I preach and I walk to the back for some fellowship and something happened. I feel good again, it will be late Sunday night before I am pounded with the realization of all those who missed church that should have been there. What was it?
Hebrews 10:25 says, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching."
THere it is, we need to meet together to encourage one another. I talk to ladies who are battling cancer and enduring harsh treatments, I talk with people in so much pain from arthritis and the cold that they can't get out of bed, yet they are there. I talk to others who are struggling in all different parts of their lives, health, economics, work whatever it may be. But, yet there they are worshiping, singing and spending time with God's family. THey encourage me, they get me past the disappointment of man, the selfishness of humanity and lead me to a place of being lifted up. So, as it says, do not neglect going to church, you are an encouragement just by being there and you don't know who it is that you are lifting up.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!