why purpose?

When you forget the purpose of your life that is a sure way to kill your passion for life and for God. If you don’t know the purpose for life, why bother? Why get up in the morning? Why put forth the effort? Why get out of bed? Life without purpose is activity without direction. It’s motion without meaning. Life without purpose is trivial, petty, and pointless.
Passion and purpose go together. When you have a clear purpose it’s going to give you a lot of passion. But it’s got to be God’s purposes for your life. If you’re only living for yourself, that’s a pretty dinky purpose. That isn’t going to make you very passionate. In fact it’s pathetic. "I’m living for me." That’ll give you a lot of energy to get out of bed in the morning! You need a cause greater than yourself. That gives life significance and gives life meaning. The more you understand God’s purposes for your life and the more you live those purposes the more passionate you’re going to be.
Hobbs wrote this about passion. He said, "Passion is waking up in the morning wherever you are and bounding out of bed because you know there’s something out there that you love to do, that you believe in, that God made you for and you’re good at, something that’s bigger than you are and you can hardly wait to get at it again. It’s something that you’d rather be doing than anything else and you wouldn’t give it up for money because it means more to you than money."
Ephesians 2:10 – For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
The benefits living on purpose:
It cuts down on frustration, you know that feeling of not knowing exactly what you are doing or why you are doing what it is that you are doing.
It increases motivation, as in you are far more motivated when you can see results. You can only see results when you understand what you are doing and why.
It allows you to concentrate. Try to find someone who doesn't have purpose or drive in their life and watch them for a bit. They can't concentrate their energies because they don't know what they are doing. They don't know why they are doing anything and their energies go all over the place like crazy.
So understand you were put here to glorify and worship God. You cannot do that if you are busy worshipping money, time, relationships or jobs you just can't. You can't because each of those will run into each other because they are equals, you someone and something much larger than all that. You need God, God can overcome all those things and put you on the right path for sure.
You are GOd's masterpiece, created to do great things. Are you spending time daily finding out what those great things are that He created you to do?
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

FInding contentment

Since the creation of man, there has always been someone that is unhappy or discontent with something in life. There are always people who want to be different than they are:
If we’re young, we want to be older. If we’re old, we wish we were younger.
If it’s old, we want something new. If it’s new, we want something newer.
If it’s small, we want something bigger. If it’s big, we want something really big.
If we have a hundred dollars, we want two hundred. If we have two hundred, we want five hundred.
If we have an apartment, we want a condo. If we have a condo, we want a house. If we have a house, we want a bigger house. Or a new house. Or a nicer house. Or maybe we want to scale down and live in an apartment again.
If we have a job, we dream of a better job, a bigger job, a closer job, with a bigger office, a better boss, better benefits, more challenge, bigger opportunity, nicer people to work for, and more vacation time.
If we’re single, we dream of being married. If we’re married, …well you get the picture.
So how do we find contentment in this crazy world? By realizing that you are exactly where God wants you to be and there is a whole lot of work to be done.
inside of 7 verses in 1 Corinthians 7 there is a pattern repeated by Paul.
“Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him” (v. 17).
“Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him” (v. 20).
“Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to” (v. 24).
There you have it, God called you and placed you carefully right where you are and there is no reason to want to be anywhere else. I can honestly tell you right now, I don't want to be exactly where I am. I want to be full time at the church, working for God 24-7(which I do just not the way I want to) and waking up every day just to do ministry and nothing else. But, the reality is I am where I am by God's appointing and I need to see each day as an opportunity to fulfill what God's plan is for me right here and right now.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

My thoughts on purity

I would like you to think of pearls, those beautiful nature made beads that line necklaces of the rich and famous. Those necklaces that are a welcome addition to a fancy evening gown or dress. They are beautiful, but only if they are allowed to mature. You see the pearl is made in the belly of an oyster.
An irritant enters the mollusk either when it is open or sometimes it actually burrows through the shell from the outside. As the irritant enters the mollusk, in order for it to be the cause of a new pearl, it must pick up some of the mollusk's mantle tissue on the way into the inside of the mollusk. It's the mantle tissue that forms a pearl sac over the irritant and begins secreting the calcium carbonate base called nacre.
There you have it, there is no way for man to manufacture pearls. Thomas Eddison once wrote that there were 2 things he could not make that nature can. Diamonds and pearls, and I am sorry to inform him that diamonds are now synthetically created in some places but pearls are still a thing of mystery.
The pearl builds and builds until it is complete. If it is taken too soon, the pearl will not be as beautiful and not nearly as durable meaning that it will be seemingly just a puddle of calcium build up and worthlessness. If it is taken out and dropped it will be eaten by swine. THose are two endings that were not intended for the pearl.
Sex is the same for God. He created it to be a beautiful thing between a man and woman inside the confines of marriage. It is a beautiful thing if it is left to mature and be used by a married couple, it is a seemingly dirty thing when taken and used before marriage our outside of marriage as a form of pleasure.
You see God intended each of these for beauty, but when corrupted by man neither one reaches GOd's potential for them.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

The real deal

I can confess to you that the most frustrating thing about attempting to grow a church has been attempting to find a few leaders that are the real deal. A group of people who are devoted to the church, love the church and want to see it grow and flourish. It's tough and very frustrating, I have been prepared by the number of youth helpers I have attempted and the number that I have actually had. I have seen potential in hundreds of teens but looking back less than 20 or 25 thru the years have actually been great leaders. It's up to God to hand pick them, not me. It's also up to God to help the church flourish and grow, not me.
There is so much involved in putting together church leadership and getting things headed in the right direction, but there's a story from Chuck Swindoll's book "Living above the level of mediocrity" that drives home what every Pastor is looking for when embarking on this endeavor.
He tells about a church in the Soviet Union a few years ago that was forced to meet secretly because the holding of house church services was illegal.
They tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as they gathered on Sunday to worship the Lord, so they came at different times & casually walked into the house until they had all arrived. Then they would close the doors, pull the curtains, & quietly worship the Lord.
But one Sunday, right in the midst of their worship service, two soldiers broke into the room, & at gunpoint lined the Christians up against the wall. One shouted, "If you wish to renounce your faith in Jesus Christ, leave now!"
Two or three quickly left, then another, & then two more. Again the soldier spoke, "This is your last chance. Either leave now & renounce your faith in Christ, or stay & suffer the consequences." Another left, & then another, almost hiding their faces in shame as they went out. But the rest stood their ground, children standing beside their parents, trembling, some even crying as their parents stood with their hands in the air, fully expecting to be gunned down or imprisoned.
After all had left who chose to flee, the other soldier closed the doors, looked back at those who stood against the wall & said, "Keep your hands up - but this time in praise to our Lord Jesus Christ. We, too, are Christians."
The two soldiers explained that some time earlier they had been sent to another house church to arrest the Christians there. But in the process, they had heard the gospel & had accepted Jesus as their Lord & Savior, too. But they explained, "We have learned that unless people are willing to die for their faith, they cannot be fully trusted."
So pastors aren't necessarily looking for people that will die for their church, but people who would die for their faith. People who put their faith first, and their church not far behind, who are willing to sweat and struggle a little to see a community reached for Christ.
Thanks for reading and have an awesome weekend!

Independence

Our independence in America and our independence as Christians are pretty much the same thing if you think about it deeply enough. As Americans we are enjoying freedoms and rights that we did not earn, sure there are people today who are helping to ensure we keep those freedoms but very few are alive who have truly fought for them. Our freedoms have come from a long, long time ago a group of men and women called soldiers gave their lives willingly so that we could enjoy such freedoms. Christianity is the same, not one single person to ever walk this earth other than JEsus Christ has done anything to earn us the freedoms and eternal life that we receive as believers. Not one of us will ever do anything that even remotely resembles someone who can earn or deserve such things as what God pours out on His children.
Think of it this way, I remember a time when I had to go downtown regularly to drop off things for my boss. I would drive downtown and look for a parking space, and beleiver it or not usually there were a few close to my destination. But, those parking spaces weren't quite what I was looking for, so I would drive around the blocks a few times. What was I looking for? That one meter that was sitting there with time left on it, a space that someone had vacated before their money ran out. I would park, run into the building dropping off what I needed to and run back outside to the car trying to make sure I didn't put one penny of my own money in that meter. It was a great feeling knowing I hadn't wasted my money on that trip, so I would in a sense be parking on someone else's quarters. That's what citizenship in America is, we are parking on someone else's hard earned expenditures. More importantly that is exactly what Christianity is, we are parking on God's quarters. God sent His ownly Son to die on a cross for our sins and for our eternal life and nothing we do or say can add to that or ever take the place of that.
I got excited when I was able to park on someone else's quarters, I should daily be 100 times as excited about the cahnce to one day park in Heaven with Jesus Christ on God's quarters!
Thanks for reading and have an awesome Hump Day!

what makes America so great?

I am a proud American but in my sermon on Sunday in my particular case I have to say it's more of a grateful thing. I am grateful that I was born, adopted, and raised in the United States of America. You see I never fought in any war, I never had to leave my family behind to go guard the borders of any part of our country, I have never been to boot camp or basic training. So I can honestly say I am truly indebted and grateful to those who have and to those who are continueing to do that.
more than 100 years ago, Alexis de Toqueville, a famous French political philosopher, visited our nation to uncover the secret of our greatness. He traveled from town to town, talking with people, asking questions, examining every facet of our society.
Returning to France, he wrote these amazing words, "I sought for America’s greatness. I found it not in her fields & forests. I found it not in her mines & factories. I found it not in her Congress & great tribunals."
"It was only when I entered her churches & heard her pulpits thundering against sin & preaching righteousness that I discovered the secret of her greatness." Then he added, "America is great because America is good. If America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."
The soul of America is God. O beware, America, lest we lose our soul!
Proverbs 4:3 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
America, if we put our trust in education, we’ll get what education can give us. If we put our trust in money, we’ll get what money can give us. If we put our trust in government, we’ll get what government can give us. But if we put our trust in God, we’ll have everything we need, for all eternity.
It's sad that a Frenchman came to America and realized what very few Americans realize today, that so long as it is God that we trust in, America will be great. The days are here for some, and approaching for us as a society that God is pushed way back in our hearts and minds to the point that America will no longer be great, or even good, we will be just as crooked as the contries that we have grown to despise.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

My apologies

I am having to rework my schedule right now as things are a little busier this summer. I will begin updating my blog daily next week probably in the late evenings so that I don't neglect it in the morning. I now work earlier in the day and I am transporting all of the kids and women in shelter to their morning activities, jobs and daycares. That leaves me just enough time to work on my sermon and then start driving, so my apologies and have a great forth of July!

broken bodies?

So I just preached yesterday on the fact that we are not our own, we were bought with a price. With the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ on the cross our salvation was purchased so as believers our bodies are not our own. Now, repeatedly Paul addresses the fact that we are to live lives that bring glory to God. to live our lives in a way that is pleasing to Him.
That's all great but there is one step we forget about quite often. Brokenness. There's a christian song that starts out "Broken I come to you for I know you satisfy."
Brokenness is important, it was important in old testament times as it was in new testament times and today as well. You cannot offer your life, your soul, your all to God until there is a point where you come to Him broken. Completely humbled, and sometimes God allows things into our lives that humble us and break us and other times we need to see this need for ourselves.
Leviticus 6:21 " Prepare it with oil on a griddle; bring it well mixed and present the grain offering in broken pieces as a aroma pleaseing to teh Lord.
There you have it, every offereing lifted up to God in the old testament days was to be broken into pieces before it was offered up. How much of you was whole and how much was broken when you started offering yourself up to God? What is it that you need to do to become broken?
The best thing for you to do is focus on Christ and His sacrifice because He was more than broken when He was hung on a cross and crucified. How broken are you? How broken were you? What would it take for that pride of yours to be completely thrown away you be made vulnerable, vulnerable to God's mercy and grace?
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

A Titanic attitude problem

By now I am sure that most everyone is aware of the Titanic and the tragedy that took place in April of 1912. Especially with the movie several years back and the story that was told there are so many details that were manufactured and so many that are completely accurate.
The ship was the most majestic and most amazing and powerful moving thing every made by man. It was in all theories "unsinkable", there was no way that ship could be brought to the bottom of the ocean floor. The ship was made so that even the third class passengers were in better accomodations than first class on most other ships of this time. This was a huge 5 star hotel on the ocean, powerful, ritzy and unbelievably well built. No expense had been spared right on down to the fixtures in the bathrooms and state rooms.
This ship, because it's builders, owners and captains thought it was unsinkable was unfortunately not equipped with enough life boats. They had enough boats and rafts for about half of the passengers. As the story goes, after a Sunday worship service and the meal is the usual time when a lifeboat and lifejacket safety training would have taken place. This particular time they say there was no such training, it wasn't needed.
The ship sped off into the ocean at top speed, on a glassy ocean with almost no waves and not a care in the world. Warnings of icerbergs were given repeatedly and ignored, warnings of too much speed were given and they too were ignored. All in the name of pride.
Have you made the same mistakes as the Titanic? Are you walking around believing that you too are unsinkable?
1 Peter 5 offers some insight. verse 4 Young men in the same way be submissive to those who are older, All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Then verse 8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
In these verses we are told to humble ourselves and see ourselves as needy, in need of God's direction and guidance. Then, we rae told to be alert becaue Satan prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Satan's greatest tool is your pride, and the second you think you don't need God in any situation or you think you are unsinkable Satan is celebrating because as it says in Proverbs pride goes before the fall.
Humble yourself, don't just follow God's direction and guidance in your life, seek it with all your heart. That unsinkable ship is at the bottom of the ocean floor, it sunk and it sunk fast just like we will if we don't humble ourselves and lean on God.
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

How to deal with the world

I hear all the time that we are called to turn the other cheek. We should not fight or quarrel or even stand up to others. In chapter 6 of 1 Corinthians it tells us not to drag each other into court that it would be better to just be wronged. Well, JEsus addressed this issue directly in a business setting. Every day we come in contact with people, some of us many people and we need to deal with them in a certain way. Jesus in Matthew 10 is dealing with just this sort of thing, and he tells us to be shrewd and innocent at the same time. He says he is sending His followers out like sheep among wolves.

"I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." - Matthew 10:16
First he tells us we are sheep and we are going to be around wolves every day of our lives. People that are waiting to devour us if we let them, we need to stand strong and true to our faith. In business dealings, in our home lives, in church settings and all around we are surrounded by non-believers who want a chance to attack us and bring us down.
Then he uses the word shrews which means: good at judging people or situations: showing or possessing intelligence, insight, and sound judgment, especially in business or politics
So in otherwords don't be a pushover, don't let others walk all over you, don't be naive and gullible. Use good judgment, use God's guidance to allow you to make insightful decisions. Shrewd like a snake, not soft a fluffy like a sheep.
Then, He tells us to be innocent as a dove. So we need to be thick skinned and shrewd like a snake, but handle ourselves in a christlike manner so that we are innocent as a dove. We need to be there, take care of the things we need to, use good judgment and keep our noses clean. This is tough, but it is what God's needs from us for our testimony to truly be effective.
So use good godly judgment today, but don't lose your innocence in the matters at hand because there are wolves all around you waiting to rip you and your testimony to shreds.
Thanks for reading and happy hump day!

the parent test

So every year we undergo an evaluation at the Betty Griffin House. We look into things and look at the past year. There are about 30 different areas that are looked at and each area has about 5-7 questions on a specific task that was asked of the worker for the year. It always goes pretty well for me, but I think about the surveys that I pass out each time I speak. Every time I do a presentation for students I pass out a survey and at the end of that survey is a group of questions.
1. How well did the presenter explain the material?
2. How well did the presenter answer questions?
3. What was your overall opinion of the presentation and presenter?
For each of these questions you can answer excellent, good, or poor. I have never received complete scores of poor, but I have seen situations where a kid is mad that they are missing P.E. and they gave me less good scores. Same with my evaluation with the bosses, if money is tight and they are not having a good week your evaluation may not reflect the honest opinion of your year's work. What if I had to do this every Sunday morning, if everyone present could evaluate my sermons, I would not want that to happen. Many people say that this happens at the passing of the plate, but that is a less direct evaluation. Also, the plate is passed before the message in most churches so you are not directly graded. And, most people go to church with their tithe in hand, not waiting to decide as the plate comes by.
What if we had to be evaluated this way as parents? What if there was a re-certification test and evaluation? What would that look like? How grueling would it truly be?
Well, if it was from the world it would ask if you took care of their needs, bought them what they wanted, and made sure the graduated high school and college. God's evaluation would be different and more direct. Did you love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind, and more importantly did you raise your children in a manner that they would too?
Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not exaparate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
So God's final grading scale would be, not did they graduate college, go on to successful careers and have chilren. It would not be did you meet their needs physically and emotionally and provide for them. It would be, did you train them up in a godly manner. Did you raise them to love the Lord and to know His word? That is the only question we as parents truly need to ask ourselves upon a review of our parenting. Did we raise children who know GOd's word and love Him? If so then you get an A!
thanks for reading and have a great day!

Exasparation

This will be a bit of a review for those who were in worship yesterday for Father's Day. I chose to look at Ephesians 6:4 which says, "Father's do not exasparate your children, instead...... The word instead breaks things up as Paul starts with a negative and ends with a few positives. Pauls tells us as fathers, and parents alike for that matter, not to exaparate our children. Do not make them mad basically, because when we do things to purposely make our children mad we are making them sin. A lot of people don't see eye to eye with me on this matter but think this way.
I had a young lady that I was working with at the Homeless Coalition, she was an awesome young lady and she was working hard to get her life together in her early highschool days. She had brought her grades up, she was attending school regularly and rarely did she get into any trouble at all. One night, her mom took her shopping with her and they tried on some clothes and her mom talked her into leaving with those clothes on and they got caught. To be completely honest when I found out she had been caught stealing from a retail store I was ticked. When she got out and came by the office I met with her and let her know how disappointing it was to see her work so hard just to fall back like that. Then, she let me know that her mom made her do all of it and later the mother admitted to it, even said her daughter cried and put up a huge fit against doing it. How sad, a mom making her daughter steal. That is so aggravating and goes against everything good parenting stands for. But, before you go pointing a finger I am sure there have been times where you have somewhat provoked your kids into being mad at you. If ever, you have done this you are making them sin. Obey your mother and father, is a comand that carries a lot of weight and it is listed with stealing, killing, coveting and all the others, so if you have made your kids mad at you(not by discipline or regular interaction) but truly, purposely made them mad at you are you really any different than the story I shared above? I think not.
We are to love, train and nurture our children in a manner that brings them to love God and us. The greatest job of any dad is to teach his children to love God and if we do that then we have succeeded as parents. We don't need to raise doctors, and pro athletes, and straight A students to be successful in God's eyes, simply love God with all your heart, soul and mind and raise your children to do the same!
Thanks for reading and have an awesome Monday!

more on Joseph

I mentioned yesterday that Joseph was a man of integrity as well as a man who was open and responsive to God. Those two traits together led him to be able to raise God's Son. I can honestly say that there are a lot of pressures associated with raising a child. From the moment you find out your wife is pregnant you are faced with all kinds of pressures and all sorts of changes in your life. I can remember immediately thinking of the things Tara and I would need to cut out of our lives, not because they were bad but because they weren't necessities and we were about to have an expensive addition to the family.
THose pressures carry you right on through teenage years as I have seen being in youth ministry well over a decade now. The pressures to make sure you raise your kid in the way that God would have you raise them is enough to make you crack, I wouldn't want to think about raising Jesus. Just think about how you act and talk and react differently when you think your pastor is watching or around. Or even at church, people dress different, and talk differently at church because they are in a Holy place well Joseph had a holy place right there in his own house, too much to even attempt to comprehend.
Well, we left off yesterday looking at how Joseph innitially handled the news that Mary was pregnant. He had planned to quietly divorce her and move on with his life. THen, an angel of the Lord appeared and now he has to make a decision. He decided correctly to follow God's lead and marry, Mary and raise GOd's Son. Think about these pressures, you are known as a man of integrity and high morals and now your fiancee is pregnant. Now, you are expected to tell people that it isn't your child. Ofcourse people expect you to say that, your morals are on the line. So Joseph took a shot to the gut with this news and this pregnancy as well. I don't think we can ever comprehend the emotions he must have gone through. From anger that his bride to be was pregnant and it wasn't his. Anger that he had saved himself for marriage and seemingly she had not. Sadness as he made his plans to divorce her quietly and slip out of the picture. Overwhelm from the idea that he is now raising a child that was unplanned for, and now it hits that he is raising God's child. Fear for how people would react and look at them during this time, and becausee most would not believe how the conception took place.
Don't ever tell me you have been under pressure, enough to cook you. Joseph faced so much pressure and so much ridicule and took it like a man, like the very man God chose to raise his Son here on earth.
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.

JEsus' earthly father

I mentioned yesterday a character study on Joseph this week. Well, after much digging and reading it would appear that there are two major themes that are found in this man. First, he was a man of integrity, full of righteousness and second he was receptive to God.
Now, each of those traits are important to God's plans. Like I said yesterday God didn't just pick Joseph and Mary because of Mary's traits it was a full package deal. The two of them together were what God wanted for His Son upon His conception, birth, rearing and life. The integrity is important and it shows up in Matthew 1:19.
Because Joseph her husband was a rigteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
Now that goes against all that the world stands for. Think about it, Joseph has pledged himself to eventually be married to the virgin that he is engaged to. He has saved himself for marriage and is without a doubt(you know guys) looking forward to his wedding and honeymoon. Here he is a man of great integrity with high morals and now all that is snatched away from him. In one conversation his whole world is turned upside down, his virgin fiancee is now pregnant and there isn't a good clear explanation for it. He, no doubt, was very angry and hurt by all this. But instead of announcing it to all his friends and hers, he was going to break off the engagement quietly so as not to disgrace her. Most men, would have made a public spectacle of the situation just to get even and to hurt her in the way that he had been hurt. But, he didn't he decided to remain quiet about the whole ordeal and let her go on with her life, and he with his own.
I must admit, if Tara had come to me under those circumstances I would have been upset and deeply hurt. I can't say how I would have handled it, but my integrity would have been in question just by her being pregnant because she was my fiancee. Joseph had to have thought of that, yet he handled it correctly. So fathers, when God was looking for a father integrity in every situation was an obvious must because it is a major part of Joseph.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

why I am not a fan

I will be the first to tell you that I am not that big of a fan of father's day or mother's day. I truly feel like when we set aside a day to remember them we lose the impact of doing it. I think people call, send cards and buy gifts on these days mainly because they feel like they have to. I truly don't like the idea of tellling my dad I love him or my mother I love her on a certain day of the year more than the others. If you love your parents it will be apparent and known to be a fact year round. But still there are more cards purchased, more phone calls made on mothers day and fathers day than any other day of the year. This fact is sad.
But, as we prepare for father's day there are so many sermons that get tossed around. The prodigal son is a regular favorite of pastors all through out the land. The story of a father whose son takes all of his inheritance early, runs off and blows it big time. The son ends up eating out of pigs troughs and begging for slop until he has had enough. When the son comes back to beg to live with the servants, instead the father throws a huge party and while this angers the other children it teaches a great point of how fathers should be and more important how God our HEavenly Father accepts us back after sin after sin.
I want to a bit of a character study later this week, as study on possibly the most under rated father in the history of mankind. Joseph, JEsus' earthly father. THrough out history we look at Mary, the virgin birth, what an awesome example of purity and faith she was. We seldom take the time to look at Joseph a father chosen by God. If you want to know what a father should look like, shouldn't you look at the only father that was good enough for God's own Son?
So think about all your misconceptions of Joseph the carpenter and what he meant to the story and tomorrow we will start studying a little bit about this man, the man God chose to raise His Son.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

faith, faith and faith

So I know most people are aware that I am a big Kutless fan. I love me some Big Daddy Weave and a little Skillet and Jeremy Camp but Kutless is probably my all time favorite band. They have sang songs that I like from their beginning over 15 years ago. If you come to Freedom Baptist Church often enough you will get a chance to sing songs like Better is one day, Strong Tower and other classics of theirs as worship songs. Well, yesterday Aaron plugged in one of my new favorites by the band entitled what faith can do. I love this song because it speaks to the heart of the problem with many beleivers today. They have faith, but they don't put their trust completely in that faith. THeir faith is a possession that they turn on when something is believable rather than something that drives them to think the unthinkable and accomplish things that seem so far out of reach. I want to share some of the lyrics with you, but first let's see what Jesus says about how much faith it really takes to move mountains.
Matthew 17:20
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.
Faith the size of a mustard seed is what led Moses accross a dried up river, and it's what led Gideon's small army to victory. It's what led David to take on Goliath and it is what will take you on to bigger and better things if you will allow it.
Now here's the lyrics to the song:
Everybody falls sometimes
Gotta find the strength to rise
From the ashes and make a new beginning
Anyone can feel the ache
You think it’s more than you can take
But you're stronger, stronger than you know
Don’t you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard
Impossible is not a word
It’s just a reason for someone not to try
Everybody’s scared to death
When they decide to take that step
Out on the water
It’ll be alright
Life is so much more
Than what your eyes are seeing
You will find your way
If you keep believing

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

Overcome the odds
You don't have a chance
(That’s what faith can do)
When the world says you can’t
It’ll tell you that you can!

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do
That's what faith can do!
Even if you fall sometimes
You will have the strength to rise

Typing out the lyrics really doesn't do the song justice, if you get the chance look it up I believe you will love it too.
Thanks for reading and have a great Monday!

Backwards mentality

So this world tells us through commercials, news, televisions shows and especially sports that the greater we become the greater we must be. If we accomplish big things then we are entitled to bigger things. I know everyone talks about it all the time, but I have to harp on it for a minute as well. I cannot stand the $ that pro athletes make. Now, they sign a contract to play for a certain amount of money, they are then expected to perform the end. But, instead what happens is they do good, and realize that someone who is not as good as them is making more money so they hold out for more. In some ways I feel they aren't to blame, it's the agents and the teams that allow them to do this that cause all the backlash. But what it tells our kids is that you are always entitled to more, that success breeds more money and so on. This thinking even effects kids, I saw a kid talking to their parents the other day and they had been given a bike as a reward for a - b honor roll the year before, but this year they had made straight a's the whole year and it was a grade higher so they expected something more than a bike. A reward is a reward and it doesn't necessarily have to fit the accomplishment.
John gives us something backwards to think about.
John 3:30 He must become greater, I must become less.
There you have it, the better we get, the more we do the greater GOD becomes, and not us. We need to allow God daily to become more, to increase as our images and our egoes decrease. It is so important that we start teaching this to our young people, because when you do big things for God the reward is in the accomplishment.
When I won my first race as a drag racer I did not care about the trophy, the money or the picture that was taken. I cared about the fact that I had accomplished something huge and won. WIthin a year's time I was going to races according to how much they paid the winner, skippinig out on races that didn't pay that much to win and so on. Why? Because I had blown up my thinking and my ego was soaring. IT's the same way with God, when we accomplish something and it is truly for Him we are perfectly content with the accomplishment and need no stroking or reward for it.
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

My church life

I can honestly say that I grew up in church, from the day I was old enough to be carried into church till now I have never been out of church. I am thankful that my parents raised me that way and I am doing my best to raise my children the same way. I recall as a kid loving going to Sunday School, church, Training Union, R.A.'s and so on. Never do I recall not wanting to go. Just this past Saturday night I was up all night throwing up. I honestly threw up so much that my entire body was cramping. I couldn't move at times in the bed, it was exhausting to stand up for more than a minute and it was a chore just to get dressed. I am not exaggerating any of this in any way. I felt like I had run a marathon and not drank any fluids, I was completely washed out feeling with no energy at all. I actually fell asleep somewhere around 6am and had to get up at 7:30.
When the alarm went off I was unhappy, almost angry with it for making that loud noise when I had hardly slept at all the night before. THen, it dawned on me that it was Sunday and it all seemed better. Like I said it was a major chore to get dressed, but that didn't slow me down. I got up, got showered, dressed and off and running. We had our graduate recognition service and then a few hours later a memorial service for Mrs. Rachel Johnson. I made it through most of it and survived with flying colors. All because it was SUnday and it was spent inside the walls of God's House.
Psalm 122:1 says, 'I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the House of the Lord."'
That is probably why one of my favorite songs in Christian music remains Better is one day.
Better is one day in your courts, better is one day in your house, better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere.
Kutless sings this song and it more than covers my feelings towards church. I have had a rough week with P.J. getting sick, then Tara and so on. But tonight it all changes because it's Youth at 6:30 and better is one hour in His house than thousands anywhere else!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

talents?

So I went to Alexa's first All Star(non-practice) last night. She had open field and it reminded me of my first all star team. We showed up at All Star practice and they had taken the top 12 vote getters from our season and put us on a team together. There were about 8 different teams so there were a lot of kids to chose from, it was awesome just to make it. But, I got to practice and on the way I was telling my dad how I couldn't wait to pitch in my first all star game. Well, the coaches let us all warm up and then started putting us into position.
The first kid they put at catcher, and as he went there he said "I figured I would be pitching." The second kid went to first base, "I want to pitch" he said. The next kid to shortstop, then second, third and through the outfield. All in all there were 7 of us that thought we were going to pitch. It was not comical at all at the moment for me, for the parents who thought their kid was going to pitch or for the coaches. But, we made work of it, the coach pulled us all aside at the end and said there would be several pitchers but that he needed to have his 9 best players on the field at all times. This eased things up somewhat and allowed us to move on.
But think about that, 7 pitchers on a 12 player team. That doesn't leave many position players and it doesn't allow for much comradry. Probably most any other coach would have let us fight it out, argue fuss and quarrel as we debated who should pitch. He handled it correctly and helped us realize that in reality bats were the most important, and we couldn't just pitch and sit.
1 Peter 4:10 says "Each of you has been blessed with one of God’s many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gifts well."
God has blessed each of us with one of His gifts to be used to better our church and our family. We can't all be the same person in teh same position or we will not cover all the bases. If a church was full of servants no one would take the lead. If a church was full of teachers there would be no one to teach, if a church was full of singers there would be only a choir and no congregation. God gifts us all, and then places us in a body of believers that will help us to get through the things that we need to accomplish inside of a church a ministry and a family. If we don't use them correctly we will in a sense be taken ourselves out of the game and hurting the team.
So think about your gifts, are you using them the way God had intended? Or are you just sitting back and wasting them. It's all up to you and your personal drive.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Doing work

I am sure that the title for this blog, the fact that it includes the word work brought little or no excitement to you. Work is something that we all must do to make money, in order to provide for our family and their needs. Work is a word that is along the lines of a cuss words for many, I know that I love the ministry. I love every piece of the puzzle even including the not so fun things involved in being a pastor. There is not one ounce of dread on me or in my mind any day I get to do ministry. But, there is the other side of things. Because the church is not financially stable and shows little or no sign of getting to that point any time soon I must find another place to make my money. I work as a community educator at the Betty Griffin House. I can't honestly say there is anything bad about the job other than the fact that it isn't ministry. I enjoy speaking to kids and teenagers about things and the job affords me time to be on the campuses here in town. The people I work for are awesome and the pay is decent. It just isn't ministry, well Solomon addresses work some in the book of Ecclesiastes.
He says there is a time for everything, and God has ordained there to be a time to work. He says man's fate is just like that of animals, we both die. From dust we both come and to dust we both return. He couldn't be truer in the earthly sense. But he closes the chapter out with a little important blurb.
Ecclesiastes 3:22-23 "So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?"
So try your best to enjoy your work, I know we don't like work but we can enjoy it. If nothing else realize that work is your ministry field, it is your opportunity to reach people only you can reach for Christ. I came into the Betty Griffin House hoping to reach all kinds of kids and teachers. Instead I become close with a family that has proven to be a very important addition to our ministries at Freedom. So we think we know why we are somewhere and who we are there for, but only God truly knows.
Live every day at work as if it is God's day and God's plan because it is and you will see fruit from all your labors.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Be honest

Have you ever had a friend who told it like it was. I can honestly say that through all the years of youth ministry and ministry that I have endured there are few teenagers that truly tell it like it is. There are some who pull you aside and tell you exactly how they feel and how they think you should handle things. Then there are those who tell you right on the spot. People tend to want to surround themselves with those who tell them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. I for one really want people who keep it real(to use today's slang) and tell me exactly how they feel about me and my actions.

He who rebukes a man will in teh end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue. Proverbs 28:23

There are times where I try something new in the ministry or look for a new way to do things and guess what it seems to go great. I ask a few people and they see how excited I am to talk about it and try it that they tell me what they think will make me happy and smile. Then a few weeks or even months later you find out that it wasn't really that great and you feel like a fool. So I tend to cut to the chase, I have a few teenagers right now that will be totally honest with me, and several adults who are involved in all the church's ministries who will tell me exactly what I need to hear. It saves you a lot of headaches and at times heartaches.
So, make sure you tell people exactly what they need to hear when they need to hear it. You wil make them better in the long run, and they will respect you far more in the long run.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

another passion zapper!

So I have met a lot of talented people through the years, but never have I seen someone so unhappy and so undriven than a friend of mine a few years back. He was called into teh full time ministry, and had pastored a church in the Carolinas. He worked bi-vocationally at first and then the church grew into a full-time position. He worked hard to keep the church going and eventually it grew from almost 20 to well over 150. At that point things kind of plateaued and as time went by they decided he had done an awesome job of growing the church and leading them to where they were, but it was time to move on. They let him go, and he spent a few years seeking another job as a pastor, working part time jobs and doing construction for a time. He was a fiery, extremely driven person who would sit down and tell you everything you needed to know to live a godly life the moment he met you. But, as time went on he slowly deteriorated, he still spent time in the word, still prayed daily and still attended church in another town. But he just couldn't get it in gear.
He eventually came to the point of depression and decided "he thought" that God just didn't want to use him any more. His passion for the ministry was completely zapped.
1 Peter 4:10 says "Each of you has been blessed with one of God’s many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gifts well."
Every person, each of God's creations has a purpose and a gift. God has given each of us those gifts to use for God to fulfill His purposes on earth. The very second we stop using them (whether by choice, or by force) we lose our passion for them. Nothing can zap passion for God like sitting stagnant and not using our gifts for Him. So think about your giftedness in God, what is He expecting from you and what are you doing to get things accomplished for Him. If you are not using your gifts, you are going to become lazy and eventually be drained completely of all of your enthusiasm for those gifts. SO use them, even if it is in a small way, use them or lose them!
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Keeping your passion

Tonight I am starting a series with our youth on things that zap your passion. The series will last us about a month and will include 7 different passion zappers. I found all kinds of Biblical principles that when not followed or when broken can completely take away all of our passion for something. I for one am a pretty passionate person, the things that I endeavor to do are things that I pour my heart and soul into.
First, I am extremely passionate about God's ministry in my life. I pour everything I have into reaching this community for Christ. I do my best to be able to lay my head on my pillow each and every night knowing I did everything I could to take advantage of every opportunity that day. Second, I am very passionate about my family. I spend as much time as I can with my girls, true we do a lot of things all over our community but we do them together. My family is my #1 ministry and without them I would be nothing. THird, I am quite passionate about the sports that I participate in. True I read a couple books a week, usually one that betters me as a pastor or as a believer and another that betters me as a softball coach. I am very passionate about my racing too, it can completely ruin a Saturday if things don't go my way(this has been a regular Saturday occurence for me this season, haha).
In all that I have looked at, all that I have studied the number one passion zapper is unconfessed sin. This is a thing that hangs over our heads and completely takes us down.
Look at David in Psalm 38:4-6 "My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly.I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning"
This entire chapter is actually about this very thing, David is talking about God's wrath and the things that he is struggling with, but it all boils down to guilt.
I want to share a funny thing about our bodies just quickly. We are emotion driven, we can feel any number of emotions and physical things at the same time. But, there are two things that we can NEVER feel at the same time. You will never be able to feel enthusiasm(which is the fuel of passion) and guilt. These two things cannot be present at the same time. So if you are feeling less passion in an area, think about the sins in your life, are you openly repenting of them?
Thanks for reading and have a great Hump day!

Your view becomes you

Have you ever thought about doing something bad? Have you ever viewed something that made you think about doing something bad? Finally, have you ever purposely viewed something that made you either do or want to do something bad? That is exactly how our minds work, and unfortunately that is what pornography is all about. It's about people doing things that they shouldn't so that people will watch and do things that they shouldn't. It roots itself in lust and creates monsters out of people that may have been raised to have good strong morals. It's very hard to undo views and scenes from movies. I know that there are a whole lot of times when I am talking about the cross, or talking about what Jesus did for us that I picture the movie the Passion of Christ. Those images of the beating and the blood and his side bursting open all come rushing into my mind. Why? Because our minds are banks and what we put in will eventually come out of there.
I am working hard to help Alexa get better at softball, and one of the ares we are working hard at is visualization. I am trying to help her visualize and store images when she does good. When she throws a great pitch, or has a great hit I immmediately tell her to visualize what she just did. I also, on the flip side, do my best to have her erase the bad pitches, the swings and misses and the not so great moments. Unfortunately you can't erase them, I can only work hard to help her remember the good ones and not focus on the bad ones.
Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
There you have it, we need to offer our minds and bodies as living sacrifices and we cannot do that unless we are renewing our minds regularly. We must renew in our minds a clean and pure thought process and this cannot be done with some of the things we are viewing on television, the internet and in magazines(I assume those are still around). Every time you put a new image into your head, it is stored for good.
I did a lesson as a young youth pastor where I had one of our teen guys pose in a pair of short shorts and a bikini top. We looked at that image in the opening during part of the lesson and then we went on like it never happened. Then, we finished up the lesson and I asked the kids how many of them could remember that picture an hour later, everyone started giggling and laughing. No one was able to erase that image, well, guess what you never will. Our only hope when these things happen is to not look at those images that are not pleasing to God, and focus on good images that will not cloud our thoughts and minds.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

working His way

I remember working for a close friend in the masonry field. I recall getting trained and taught how to do all the things that we needed to be able to do to get jobs done in the stucco area. I remember that first day looking at my buddy Steven and thinking that there is no way I was ever going to get more mud on the wall than what I dropped on the ground. But, a few days later we were actually getting it on the wall. Then, we thought we had it so we took on some larger jobs and did some whole houses and even a few large businesses and office buildings. We would work all day, work our way around and feel good about ourselves. That is, until a friend of Steven's who had taught us showed up on a job one Monday morning to see how we were doing, he then checked in again on Thursday thinking we should be done already and we were a little over half way done. He actually asked us if we enjoyed our vacation because surely we had taken a day or two off. To be honest we were physically exhausted. Then he showed us some tricks, and taught us how to work smart and more efficient instead of so hard. That was a valuable lesson that I could never put a price tag on.
"So he said to me, 'This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit," says the Lord Almighty."'" - Zechariah 4:6
God says, not by might or power but by His SPirit. We must learn how to work smart, and how to use our lives and abilites efficiently. In all honesty this means anything we are doing that isn't God's will for us is wasted energy. And wasted energy will only frustrate you in the long run. THere's no need to exhaust yourself when you're chasing your own desires instead of GOd's. God's will and His desires for your life will never come back void, yours will.
So pray over all the things that you do, every endeavor from the small and minuscule to the overwhelmingly huge. Let God reveal to you His plans in every aspect of your life and find complete and true efficiency in life.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

SO I know that a lot of people think I wear too many hats during the week. Just a few weeks ago I coached highschool softball on Monday, Little league softball on Tuesday and THursday, did Youth on Wednesday, on Tuesday and THursday of that week I went to pedro football as the chaplain, Thursday before football I went and helped coach middle school softball, and on Friday I played in church softball, I worked 4 full days at the Betty Griffin House, I raced that Saturday night, I made hospital visits with my Pastor hat on and lunch visits to 3 different schools to hang out with our teenagers. I did all this plus played ball with my daughters, went to little ninjas with P.J. and did the daddy time as well. Why? Why on earth and what in the world would drive me to live like that? One simple verse from Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 9.
Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
I am by no means a Paul, or a prophet by an stretch of the imagination, but I do everthing that I do for the spread of the Gospel. I cannot say that all of my endeavors have been fruitful or productive in the world's eyes but I can say that none of them have come back void.
Monday afternoon I was at football practice at Pedro, Tuesday I was at football then helping coach Alexa's softball team. This morning I will be helping a friend at Murray set up for their dance recital and praying with the dancers who want to pray before the show starts. Again, I will become everything I can, wear every hat possible that will allow me to share the Gospel with more people. It honestly is not about growing a church so much as it is about impacting God's kingdom.
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

My favorite tract

Through the years I have admired bumper stickers and CHristian tracts alike. For those who aren't aware, a tract is a little pamphlet cleverly put together for a Christian to give a non-believer to peak their interest. I have met a lot of people who use them, I am not a big fan of using them but I don't mind quoting them from time to time.
There's one I found at Crescent Beach Baptist Church while we were in between churches that was our church home, they have a rack outside their sanctuary with tract in it and I'm sure you can guess why I picked this one. It has a picture of a football player, a basketball player and a baseball player on the outside. It says, "I've always been a sports fan."
Inside it lists reasons people don't go to church, but uses pictures to illustrate the sports theme idea. Here are the reasons they list that people don't go to church:
1. They always ask for money - next to it is a ticket booth where at sports games they ask for money.
2. The people I sat next to weren't very friendly - next to it a picture of rowdy fans of the other team outnumbering a fan.
3. The seats were too hard - have you ever been to a sporting event where they weren't?
4. The coach never asked my advice - but we expect the pastor to.
5. The referees made some bad calls - don't we all!
6. Some people cared more about their looks than the game - fanatical fans with their faces painted.
7. Some of the games went into overtime - in sports this is a blessing, in worship you are in big trouble.
8. The band played some songs I didn't know- this one really hits home doesn't it.
9. Too many games just didn't fit into my schedule - every Sunday?
10. My parents took me to too many games growing up - this is a good one!
11. I just read a book on sports and I know more than the coach does - doesn't everyone know more than the pastor?
12. I don't take my kids to games so that they can make their own decisions - this is a real attitude toward church, certainly not mine when it comes to sports or church.

So let me ask you, does this tract make you think? Do you use these same excuses for skipping church?
Isaiah 55:6 tells us to "Seek God while He can be found"
Don't make excuses for church that you wouldn't make for your favorite sports team.
Thanks for reading and happy Hump day!

The true foundation of knowledge

There are so many books and seminars out there on how to gain knowledge. There are courses in college and books and online resources gallore on become a wise person. All of that is fine and good but reading, listening and recieving the imformation is only the first step. It is the crawling before you walk if you will. You can read every book you get your hands on, you can listen to every speaker you can find, you can go to every seminar ever offered on a particular subject but until you learn to process and use the imformation it is useless.
I kind of look at it as a card catalog in a school library. You could walk into a library when I was younger and find a shelf full of drawers. Little narrow drawers with letters on the outside ( like A-D) marking them accordingly. You would rarely see anyone except for the librarian over there using the card catalogs. Inside them were lots of index cards with book information on them and put in order by author's name. If you knew the author's name of a book you could go over look it up and figure out the exact number of the book in the library and save yourself a lot of browsing. But rarely did anyone use them, they just walked aimlessly around the library lap after lap looking for a book that seemed like a needle in a hay stack.
We take in a lot of knowledge and a lot of information but rarely do we put it into practice. I love to talk to athletes and see all the camps they go to in hopes of becoming better, but they come back exactly the same. They learn all the things they need to and then don't apply any of them. As a coach this is frustrating, and as a Pastor it is equally frustrating. I don't even want to imagine how frustrating it must be for God. To see His creation in Sunday services every week, in Bible studies and spending quiet time in devotionals only to apply very little of it to their lives.
But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand." - Matthew 7:26
So what are you building on? I hope you're not building on sand. I certainly hope you aren't walking around life aimlessly like that student looking for a book in the library. Tap into the knowledge and the database that God has given you, take what you learn from your Pastor, Youth Pastor and teachers at church and apply it. Until you apply it there is no foundation at all, recieving knowledge is important, but applying it to your life and your lifestyle is far more important.
Thanks for reading and have a great Tuesday!

A Biblical Blindside story

So I will admit I stayed up past midnight last night watching a movie, "The BLind Side". The movie was great and I was thankful that Tara talked me into staying up all night to watch it. I trust most people by now have seen it and it has a lot of great points to it. I think one of the main points is how we can compare it to God. Every person on the face of the earth has been through some type of rough time or rough relationship at some point in their life. Big Mike was just that, a boy with a really rough childhood and an even rougher teen years who overcame. He was able to overcome because some of the things that were missing in his life were given to him by a loving family. He was given his first room, his first bed, new clothes and the like all by this new family. More importantly a huge hole in his life was filled because he was not getting any kind of loving support from anyone. Think about your life, no matter how good of a life you had, you had a hole in your heart that was just the right size for Jesus to come and fill it up for you. Jepthah had the same thing, he was born to a prostitute and had several brothers who would not let him in because he was not from the same mother, he was the result of his father's mistakes and viewed as such, "a mistake." Jepthah however gained strength and went on to live a good and prosperous life. Not because someone took him in or because someone provided for his physical needs, but because he found the Lord.
"Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah." - Judges 11:29
THere you have it, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Him and every hole, every void and every shortcoming life had ever dealt him suddenly was swept away. I loved the movie the Blindside, I did, but to tell you the truth I think we need to spend more time filling spiritual voids than physical and emotional ones. We can feed people in need, we can clothe people in need, we can even build relationships with those in need, but until we give them what they really need (a personal relationship with their Saviour) we are failing them completely.
It's great to feed and clothe the needy, it's far greater to share with someone God's plan for their eternal life.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

What is life?

Do you ever really think about your life? We way things out and justify things in a human like manner because we can only see what is on this side of heaven. We see what has happened, what is happening but we have no clue about the future, we think we do but we really don't. I like to look at it this way:
If you had lived in the days of the early church and you were born in 1 AD and you lived to be 90, that would mean that you passed away in 91 AD. And by my Math(yes a graduate of St. Augustine High, haha) this is the year 2010. That would mean that you spent 90 years here on earth and right now you would have spent 1,919 years in eternity. If you were a Christian you would have spent 1,919 years in heaven as opposed to just 90 on earth. So, I hope that offers some perspective for you .
"Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow." - Psalm 144:4
It's interesting how we think we do so much, and we are so important and we offer the world so much when in reality our greatest contributions are almost nothing in the greater scheme of things.
I liken it to filling my fish tank up. We have a 100 gallon fish tank in our living room that is the most awesome thing in the world. I love it and I like to watch my fish but every now and then when I had the koi in there the water would get a little messy and I would have to change some of it out. When I did this I would mix about 5 gallons of water with the water conditioner and let it sit overnight. Then in the morning I would dump it into the aquarium, this would take weeks to get it back to the level I like the water to be at. Each night I would get that 5 gallons ready and in teh morning dump it in knowing I still had to do it several more times. We think each morning we get up and make a huge difference in the world in reality we don't even compare to my 5 gallons of water in the aquarium. Our contributions on our greatest day are more like a glass of water in the ocean. That's right we make little dent in the world and we need to stop thinking we are so important and start living for Christ, that's what is important!
Thanks for reading and happy hump day!

COnfessions of a pastor

So there is so much in the world that is justified and taken so wrongly. I know there are a lot of people out there that teach young people that if they work hard they will achieve all that they want to, this is a good motto but it teaches a little bit of broken systems. I worked hard all my life, I have worked 2 or more jobs at a time for over 17 years. I don't feel entitled but I do carry with me at times a bit of an attitude that says "I've worked hard I deserve this."
Well, truth is just because you deserve something doesn't make it yours. I can honestly say that I worked my days off and spare time to get my family some of the things that we now have. I felt like we deserved the new car I bought my wife in 2007. After all I was working every moment I had, Tara was working two jobs and I had driven a truck that almost blew up on a youth trip for over 3 years. THe truck honestly sounded like it was going to die at every traffic light. People told me to go buy that new car as soon as we could afford it because we deserved it. Entitlement is a tough thing to deal with sometimes. We get it from all different directions, teh world throws it at us at work, at play, at home all over the place. And we accept it, we like it because it tells us we deserve something for all that we have either done or endured. That isn't exactly right because there is one major story in the Gospel, actually it is the Gospel. JEsus deserved to live a plush life, to sit back and relax and sip drinks on the beach. Jesus deserved to be treated as royalty and not as a common man. He deserved all this if He was going to die for my sins and yours. To top it all off, He certainly didn't deserve to die, not for me He didn't.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross!" - Philippians 2:8
Paul says entitlement is nothing because Jesus himself did not think He was entitled to anything. And if God's own Son who was with Him at creation, who lived in Heaven for thousands of years, came to earth to be born in a stable mocked and made fun of, beaten severely and hung on a cross wasn't entitled to anything, then guess what I know I'm not and you aren't either.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Train them up!

So yesterday was mother's day and I can't help but think about the influence that moms have on their children. Moms are so important to their young in all stages of life from birth and nurturing to the teenage days through adulthood moms are pivotal in all phases. Moms many times don't realize the role they play, some times because the father is always the disciplinarian, or sometimes because children just aren't as appreciative as they should be. Either way they need to be thanked more than just once a year and honored more than just for 24 hours. Moms do so much that isn't seen by the public or many times their own children and husband. While dads are working hard to make their children independent and strong, tough and able to endure life's hardships moms are worrying and praying for their young. Moms pray in the morning and the evening worried about how their children will fare that day, that week and even how their young children will turn out as adults. Moms start this at a very young age, while their little ones are a few days old they start the ritual of daily prayer and worry.
Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is older he will not depart from it.
Sure kids falter, sure there are those early adulthood years and mistakes made and poor decisions but the training never goes away and many times they grasp that the moment they slip. Nonetheless continue to train your chldren in the way God would have you to and know that when the grow older they will never depart from the roots of that training.
Here's a story I shared yesterday in my sermon. A young boy had gone off to college and settled into the dorm life. He was a great young man trained and raised by a godly mom. When he settled into his dorm room he decorated it with pictures and posters and all sorts of things just like a lot of young college students do. For the first time in their lives they are completely in charge of the decorating of their rooms.
Well, about a month into the school year mom decided to pay him a surprise visit. And boy was she surprised, she called his roommate and had him meet her and walk her to the dorm room. When she walked in she was both shocked and embarassed by the pictures and posters on the walls of women some barely clothed and others, were nude. This was the theme all accross her son's side of the dorm room. She waited, composed herself and decided that she wasn't going to say anything. She waited for her son outside and then they went to dinner and not a word was spoken of the room or the posters. A week later he recieved a large manilla folder in teh mail, he opened it and it was a picture of his mother in a nice Sunday dress. THere was a note with it that said "I cannot be there with you in college but I am constantly thinking of you. Please hang this picture on your wall and think of me too."
He did just as she said, and the next morning he awoke to her picture and started taking every poster off his walls. She called him later that week and asked him if he had received the picture and he said yes. She asked him if it was on the wall and he told her right where he had put it. He then went on to tell her how he had completely redone his room because he could not have a picture of his mom hanging in the same room with those posters and pictures.
So there you have it, train up a child in a godly way and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Thanks for reading and have an awesome Monday!

pet peeves

Through my life I have developed very few pet peeves, you know those things that make you want to plug your ears or run away as fast as you can when they are happening. One of my pet peeves is people who talk to teenagers like they are 5 years old, this is annoying and they deserve to be talked to differently. Second, I get frustrated when people jump in conversations that they aren't involved in. There you are talking to someone about something and some walks by and says, "What", what are you talking about. THis too is frustrating and unfortunately I have recently worked closely with people who do both of these things regularly.
But, if you had to know what my number one pet peeve is it would have to be swearing. Not talking about cussing or using bad language(I can't stand that either and it would be top 5), but saying I swear after a statement. It's so frustrating to have someone tell you something and then expect you not to believe them, so they immediately go into defense mode by saying, "I swear, or I promise", and on occasion "you wanna bet?" Jesus addressed this pet peeve as if it was one of His own. He told them how to handle letting truth out and speaking about things.
"And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one." Matthew 5:36-37
He says we should keep it simple in that when we say something just leave it at that. There is no need to swear or make promises or defend yourself if you are telling the truth. You simply say what you need to say and because you know for a fact that it is the truth you will have no reason to say anything further. Jesus also knew that people that lie regularly need to defend themselves, so when you swear by something you are putting yourself on the same level with liars.
Yes I did see that, or guess what I saw, saw ....... the end. No need for defensive speech or swearing, just tell the truth and be done with it!
THanks for reading and have a great day!

feed them

There are so many times in my life when I have been frustrated by ministry. You plan for hours, pray for hours and put together a message or a lesson and only a few show up. You feel like you have wasted your time and then you put your Jesus glasses on and you see what you should do. I can remember times when we had 5 youth or less show up for a BIble study and you just have to smile and feed them. I recall Sunday mornings(not long ago at all) when I had spent hours of preparation for the BIble study and the worship service only to have 20-25 show up. What do you do? There are so many excuses out there, we were tired, we have been real busy, little league, work, grocery shopping, etc.. etc... THere are so many excuses, that sometimes you want to make your own. Wait for that day when everyone is there and tell them you are tired, you've had a busy week so you didn't prepare a sermon. Then you think about how Jesus would handle it. He would just feed them.
Armando Silverio told me as a young youth pastor how I should handle these situations. He told me that if I had 6 children of my own and one night Tara had cooked a huge dinner and we had set the table and been all ready for everyone to eat a meal together. What would you do if only 3 of your children showed up? FIrst of all you would be concerned about the 3 that didn't show, and probably be upset that they didn't show. But, in reality you would feed the three that did show. This is a very simple concept that many people don't get. You are talking for God so you feed the ones that come hungry.
But He answered, 'You give them something to eat.'" Mark 6:37
That's what Jesus says, they came here with needs so feed them. Feed them physically, emotionally and most importantly spiritually with all that you have to offer. When God calls people to do things He doesn't bring the masses, He may be calling us to reach one or two souls at a time. And if that is the case, you will never change anyone if you don't feed them.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

laboring in vain

There are so many great things about living your life for the Lord. I don't know where to start with all the riches and blessings and feelings that come from getting up in the morning asking God to use you that day, and then thanking Him that evening for having used you. You don't know what a conversation, smile, or even a few minutes of listening to someone might do for them. There are so many things that we do in vain. I can honestly say I am not a great fan of dishes, lawn mowing and laundry(although not many people are). It seems like you wash dishes just to see a full sink the following evening. You wash clothes just to see the hamper overflowing a few hours later and you mow the grass just to watch the weeds take over a few days later. Your job may ask you to do things that are rather monotonous and empty like waxing and cleaning the floors of a supermarket just to be doing it again, blocking the shelves every evening before closing and so on.
Well you can rest assured that everything you do for God will not come back void. If you block shelves for God, if you wax floors for God, people will notice it and there will be some kind of fruit that comes from it. God will not allow you to do things in His name and not see the fruit at some point.
You may have a conversation with someone while performing these tasks, or even do a great job on a night that you aren't feeling well, someone will notice it.
Planting seeds of GOspel is a busy job that is so rewarding. I have had conversations where I mostly listen with people numerous times and wondered if I would ever see them in church. A few times it seems, months or even a year later there they are sitting on a pew wanting to be fed God's word. Was the conversation I had fruitful, yes it was, did others play a role in it? Yes most likely they did.
"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:58
There you have it, Paul tells us to give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because that labor is NEVER in vain. Never will you do anything for God that turns back void and empty, at some point in some way it will touch someone. That's the greatest thing about working for God, Solomon in Ecclesiastes tells of how empty everything he chased after was. It wasn't until he filled the void in his heart with Christ and the toils and work of his life with God that his life had meaning.
So start your day out by asking God to use you, then look for opportunities to be used by God and see that there will be fruit in some way that day!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

focus

I shared a bit from the book I read on visualizing yesterday, but the next chapter was an even better one on focus. It talks about the different ways to focus and how to use visualization in the focus realms.
Each morning the players they studied start out the day by playing a game in their heads. They play a mental movie of themselves picturing their at bats, their plays in the field and how they want them to occur. Obviously they picture them as bringing positive outcomes for themselves. Then, as the game time approaches they replay little pictures and portions of that movie from the morning, this helps them approach the game with the right attitude. But, once the game starts it is more about focus than it is about the visuals. As hitters many of them don't stand on deck swinging the bat or going through the motions, instead the focus on the release point of the pitcher. In the field they don't just stand around and await a ball to be hit to them, instead they watch as if every pitch is going to be hit to them. THey play in their minds what they will do when they get the ball, where they will throw it and where the next play is. The really good players do all of this subconsciously and that is where I am headed with this today.
These players do this so much that it becomes second nature, each day they do each of these things and they don't need to think about it or plan for it. SO, I ask you how is your focus on God? Each morning do you wake up and pray through your day, pray for those who are sick and for those you will have contact with that day? Do you go to work or school and focus on opportunities for others to see you as a believer, or do you just wait and think if it happens you are ready? There is a difference you know!
Some people go through life hoping no one asks about Jesus, because they aren't sure they can answer all the questions. The second group goes through life prepared to answer and prepared to share but they do it as a reaction. The third group watches and looks around for an opportunity to share, waiting for the very second someone asks a question about their walk or their faith. They not only want it to happen, they jump on every opportunity to make it happen.
Each day we should start our day out with prayer, and then set ourselves up to share as often as possible. Not going door to door on a bike or shaking the bushes so to speak, but honestly and openly awaiting a chance to share with anyone who gives us the opportunity.
So don't just wait for the opportunities, create the opportunities and stay focused on the reason for your faith. The true reason for your faith is that someone actually shared with you about Jesus, that is where the seed was planted.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Visualizing

So I picked up a book while I was in Tampa a few weeks ago for a conference for work. It's a baseball book and rarely do I read books that aren't religious in content but it peaked my interest. The book is called "Mental Toughness, baseball's winning edge" and it looked interesting. Besides it was writting by some top notch baseball guys, actually the guys that put together the Oakland A's team of the early 90's that had Mark Maguire, Jose Canseco, Walt Weiss and Dave Stewart all together on one roster. That team was a powerhouse and they put it together based more on mental toughness and attitude than on actual ability. I've enjoyed the read, and I have read it here and there but not seriously like usual. The last several chapters I have read are about visualizing and playing a movie in your head before competing.
Here's an idea of what I am talking about. Before a hitter goes to the plate to hit he goes through a series of positions that are named for them. First when your team is at bat you are awaiting your turn in the batting order you are considered "in the hole" when you are second from the batter who is hitting. After that you stand outside the dugout with a bat in hand and you take practice swings, during this time you are called "on deck". Normally, when a player is in the hole he begins getting his batting gloves on, his helmet and bat and prepares to be "on deck:. Then while on deck he swings the bat timing the pitcher and getting practice swings in before going to the plate to hit. THey break down what great hitters do to make themselves better.
First, while they are in the hole they already have their helmet, bat and gloves ready and they start to visualize what they will do at the plate. This is normally a time to relax or goof off a little, but they have discovered that the truly good hitters play a little personal movie inside their heads to prepare themselves to face the pitcher. By visualizing they set themselves in a positive frame of mind and prepare mentally for the at-bat. Let's think about that on a daily basis, what can we do to visualize our days?
I can tell you that I start my day off praying over the things that I will be involved in. I pray for the kids at the lunch I will be going to, at the school I may be speaking at and at the practice or game I will be attending that evening. On Saturdays I pray for the day and for the races that evening and on Sundays I pray through the roster of people that I hope to have in attendance at worship that day. In effect this is spiritual visualizing and it is imperative that we have it in our lives. I can honestly say that when I print the bulletins and get things put together for worship I visualize a full house, not a half full sanctuary and not empty pews. I have done this since day one at Freedom(yes during the days of 20-25 in worship) and it has been a positive influence on my preaching and preparation.
IN life we need to prepare for our days with God at the center, and we do that by praying through our day long before we start it. Pray for co-workers, for jobs and things you will have to accomplish at work that day, pray for lunch meetings and afternoon phone calls and even your evening with your family. Pepper it all with prayer and visualize God right there with you every step of the way because He is.
Thanks for reading and have an awesome Hump Day!

God's method

So don't tell the water police but just about every other day when I get home and I am waiting for the girls to get home from school I water the plants. I work my way around what has become quite a collection of plants and flowers watering each of them with the hose. I start over by my parents' house and work my way accross the front of the house, around the tree and the flower bed in the front, then down the other side of the house. I water them extensively at the very least 3 days a week. The flowers and palm trees at times had times of a little droop to them, but the watering keeps them upright for the most part. I start to feel good about how I am sustaining life in these most dependent plants and keeping them going through my personal efforts. THen it happens, it rains and I don't have to water them. It rains for maybe only 20 minutes, not a real shower and hardly anything to get excited over but atleast I won't have to water the plants that day. The next morning I get up and on my way out the door headed to the truck I notice the flowers standing out more. Then, as I back my truck out of the driveway and get ready to drive off I realize that all of the plants look much perkier than before, all because of a little bit of rain.
The church is the same way, I have been working my tail off for 2 years attempting to build a church with God's empowering all along the way. I have pastored a football team, coached girls softball, hung out in lunch rooms and attended little league games for years now. Something just clicked recently and I can't tell you anything but that it was God's resources once again trumping mine. Just recently we have had families start attending church that I have worked on for years, some I have worked on since childhood. They just all of a sudden started coming to church, and are regular attenders. I even had someone get in touch with me on Facebook and ask when our services are, they have been back twice since. Then, out of the blue someone that I haven't spoken to since elementary school for the most part found me on Facebook and got information about the church and attended just this past Sunday. Again here I am working hard, laboring for love and trying to build something that God will increase with the snap of a finger! We have nothing to boast about, and nothing to brag on in ministry it is all God all the time.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 Thus says the Lord, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practice steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight says the Lord."

God delights in bringing blessings to those who do His work, and He does it in His timing. We have nothing to be proud of outside of the fact that God is in control and we are His children. As long as we realize this we will never feel unimportant.
Thanks for reading and have a great day.

pride striking again and again

I was fortunate enough to grow up with a father who was a good mechanic. I would have friends that would have car trouble, and for the most part I was able to fix a lot of it myself. There were always people with little things wrong that would come to me to get me to fix them. I did so graciously and regularly. One particular time I had a friend with a problem with his truck, I went to his house and started taking some things apart and working on it. I worked for almost an hour just getting things apart and got ready to put it all back together, each piece right where it had been, the new pieces right where they had been needed and so on. We cranked up his truck to test drive it and it was still running just as bad as before. So, I fought it for another good hour or two before I finally caved in. I bit the bullet, sucked up my pride and called my dad. He rode by my friend's house and had the truck running like new in about 20 minutes. What was the problem, why did I work so hard the whole time to fix it myself? Pride, I didn't want to admit I was inferior to the problem, or that my dad would be able to get the job done.
This Sunday we will be talking again about pride, something that Paul liked to address especially in the lives of believers. In James 4 it says "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
If you really break down this one sentence it is about the Gospel and God's grace being poured out on us. If God opposes the proud, and God loves His children what is this verse saying to us? Think about that moment when you accepted Christ as your Lord and Saviour. What were you really saying? What was really at war inside your heart? It was your dependency, when we get saved we are admitting our dependency on God and His saving grace and throwing all of our dependency out the window. You are admitting that you are a sinner(for some this is not an easy thing to do, for me quite simple) and that you cannot combat that alone. Your pride is shot, you have thrown in the towel so to speak. You are realizing your needs and the only place that they can be met.
Just like me trying to fix that truck two things are at battle within your heart. You are striving to fix a problem with sin and emptiness in your heart and you are realizing there is a simple solution, a Savior in Jesus Christ.
GOd opposes the proud, in this instance those who won't admit there's a problem and won't submit to Him to have the problem fixed. But He pours out grace to the humble the moment they admit they need His grace He pours it out like rain!
Thank GOd we serve a God who understands us and meets our needs with loving Grace!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Real genuine faith

It's no great secret that my 2 favorite hours of the week are Wednesday night at youth and Sunday morning worship. I don't know that I can chose between the two so I won't attempt to. I love Sunday morning worship because it is a time when the whole Freedom family is together to worship and praise God. I must confess one of my favorite parts of Sunday morning worship is the childrens sermon. I love the opportunity to bring the kids down and let them be a part of the service. I love looking into their eyes as they listen and pretty much sponge up everything I say. It's an amazing feeling to be talking to someone and see them getting it and loving it. What happens after they leave? Well, I am left to a room full of teenagers and adults and most of them are listening to the message. But, for whatever reason there seems to only be a few sponges leftover. Why is this? Why is it that as we grow we lose the focus and the faith that we once had. Faith of a mustard seed can move a mountain, yet children get this and adults forget it.
"He replied, 'Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "Move from here to there" and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.'" - Matthew 17:20
Truth be known I think many adults don't even possess a mustard seed worth of faith. They have been hurt so many times believing in so many things, and they are tired and just want to hear a good sermon, sing some good songs and go home. This is sad, because faith is meant to be cultivated, watered and grown each week so that it is apparent in our lifestyles, instead it is put in a box and left there until the need presents itself to use it, and even then rarely do we use it.
I can honestly say that my faith has grown tremendously over the period of trying to rebuild a church. God is doing big things in and through our church family and my faith is growing as I learn more and more that I just need to get out of the way and let Him drive this bus. Faith is about knowing who you are, what all God has done for you and what He wants to continue to do for you.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

judging

Have you ever watched American Idol? Odds are if you are an American with cable television at some point you have sat down and watched this show. It's a huge hit with Americans of all ages, I am amazed at the number of people who watch it every week just to hear people sing, get critiqued and then voted on. It's a very simple premise and a very simple thing to pull off.
Some people tune in because they like to see musical performances, others because they like competition but I can honestly tell you that the majority of people turn it on because they like to judge. Let's face it we all like to judge at certain points in our lives. We all like to put ourselves in a position of power and decide whether we like someone or something or not. That is what American Idol does, it allows us the opportunity to vote on whether we like someone or not. Then, we pick up our phones and dial a number to vote on whether we like them or not.
1 Corinthians 4:3 I care very little if I am judged by your or by an human court;

Paul makes it very simple, he just doesn't care about anyone judging him in any way. He cares very little if people like what he does or not. All he cares about is if he is living for Christ or not. Is he sharing the Gospel or is he not. He wants to be judged by GOd and God alone. We need to put ourselves on that scale of simply wanting to measure up to what GOd wants us to be, not what the world says we should be.
The bottom line is this: each and every night we lay our heads down on our pillows and talk to God. Paul even goes on to say that he has a clear conscience but that he does not even judge himself.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

have you ever been enslaved?

The answer to the question have you ever been enslaved is an easy one: Yes ofcourse you have. We all have been slaves to sin, slaves to many things in life that have even at times taken us to our knees. As humans we are born to live selfishly and in our own ways. We like to chase after silly things that we think bring us pleasure in reality they build barriers between us and God. I see so many people who are great and strong people being enslaved by sins. Anywhere from sexual sins, to other immoral behaviors to drugs and alcohol, gambling you name it. These are things that can take root in our lives and absolutely ruin us. God has a plan for us, and many times it takes conquering these sins and these lifestyles to make us realize what that plan is and how wonderful the plan is.
Genesis 15:14 says, "But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions."
True the Israelites were slaves and they were put in that situation by many of their own selfish actions, but God wanted them there. And in that time as slaves they built up so many different qualities and possessed so many great things that they learned to conquer so much.
The Israelites learned many more lessons on their journey out of being slaves. BUt God says that He will see to it that the things that we have overcome, and broken free of as slaves will leave us with great possessions. The greatest possessions we ccan have is that of conquerors. Think of the things that you have conquered in life. It may be having paid of your car or house, think about the power and freedom you felt that very moment that last payment was made, you conquered it. The next month when that payment was normally due you felt so much freedom and so much relief. It is the same way with sin, I have seen people who were struggling mighty with a sin and trying all they can to overcome it. Then, they overcome it and it is liberating, but it is far more empowering when they go to the place or near people struggling with that sin. They possess so much power in those moments that the sin seems like a distant memory.
So allow God to help you out of the things that are enslaving you, and realize the possessions that are awaiting you the moment you turn those things over to God. Power is yours for the taking, but you have to truly want it.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!