Snow Day Blues

So having the last two days have been great because I have had the chance to spend time with Lindsey, rest a good bit, get a couple of things done around the house. I have also got to play a good bit of guitar which I have desperately needed to do because I need to get a lot better at playing. It's been nice to just sit back and pick the strings and play a few songs. If you got any suggestions for songs to learn, whether it's a worship song or secular song or whatever. Let me know! I am trying to learn all that I can right now while I have a little bit of extra time.

Stay warm!

Lost

So he told them this parable: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. - Luke 15:3-7


Over the weekend, our dog, A.J., ran away from a friends house while we were out of town. Needless to say it was a pretty horrible ending to an otherwise fantastic weekend. I feel so bad for our friends because I know they feel terrible but it really is no one's fault. A.J. is an escape artist and when she decides she wants to get somewhere, she can usually do it. It's really been quite a shock for us as A.J. has never tried to run away before and we cannot figure out why she would do so now.


Lindsey and I have been frantically looking for her, placing flyers out, going by shelters, placing ads in the paper and on different sites. We have had friends who have been so awesome in helping search for her and also praying for us and being so encouraging. Some say it's just a dog, but when you have invested so much time, training, money, and love into someone or something, it's going to hurt when it appears to be at an end. Still, we continue to pray, search, and hope that we will be reunited with her someday soon because we love her dearly as she has brought so much joy to our lives.


As we have experienced this in the last few days, there have been many lessons that God has taught me. Several of them are from our weekend with the 5th-6th graders. Such things as you cannot worry about the "what ifs" but you have to trust God and hold on to the promise of Joshua 1:9 which tells us to not fear, but be strong and courageous because the Lord our God is with us. We have to hold onto the promise of Romans 8:28 that all things work for the good of those who love God who have been called according to His purpose. I also like to add to that verse, not only for our good but for God's glory as well. These verses bring great comfort and I know that regardless of what happens that God is with us.


But what I have learned in a new way over the last few days comes from parable Jesus told that is quoted above. What I have learned is that if I have this much love for and determination to find my lost pet, A.J. then how much more so is God's love for us in general, but more specifically for those who have no relationship with Him? How much more determined is God to make Himself known to lost people all over the world so that they may be saved and have a fruitful relationship with Him? 


God rejoices over the salvation of lost people. Not only does He rejoice. He starts the whole process. Just as a shepherd searches relentlessly for a lost sheep, God has sought after us to be the Lord of our lives. The most evident way He did this was by sending Jesus, His Son, to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus took the punishment that we deserved for our sins. When one person comes to a realization that they need a Savior and they place their hope, trust, and faith in Jesus Christ for the salvation only He can deliver, then there is great rejoicing in heaven! A party breaks out!


I need that same kind of love for people in general, but especially for those who do not know nor have accepted the Gospel. I know I need this same kind of love because who God primarily uses to get His message of the Gospel out to a lost world is through His people. My prayer is not only for God's peace, but also for His boldness and His love to share the Gospel, to be a help to Christian and non-Christian alike.


Please pray for Frank and Sue, a couple I met Saturday evening and had a chance to help some while getting gas. They are living out of their car and searching for jobs. Frank professes to be a Christian and I am not sure about Sue. I am hoping I get to see them again sometime to share the Gospel more and minister some more as well.

January 22, 2011

I love Sundays. I enjoy pouring into the students and adults that I work with and alongside of. I love worshiping our Savior and Lord, growing in my relationship with Him, and seeing others grow as we travel on this journey laid before each of us.  But, admittedly it can become exhausting at times and I can become so consumed with the details of ministry that I actually miss the blessings of Sunday. While Sundays is a work day in some sense for myself and ministers everywhere that preach, teach, lead worship, coordinate details of the service, announcements, etc, the ministry should never overshadow the exaltation of God and the amplification of His Word.

I think because we compartmentalize so much of life there is this feeling that we must pack as much as possible into a Sunday and a Wednesday, which exhausts both the minister and the lay person. In such a busy world, even the church is having a problem of promoting a day of rest, a direct commandment of God.We also struggle to teach Christians how to feed themselves spiritually and to have intimate and personal quiet times with God. Is it any wonder that conversions and church attendance as a whole are declining? Whether consciously or unconsciously Christianity has become more about getting people to sit and enjoy an hour here and there of music, preaching and teaching, hoping it will make a difference in someone's life instead of teaching, challenging, and encouraging Christians to go deeper in their faith and to share that faith with the lost world. This isn't a couple hours a week deal, but a 24/7, life-altering thing that infects not just the life of the believer but the life of those who he/she comes in contact with.

I love the Church because it is Christ's bride and it is His primary instrument in spreading the Gospel, sharing His love, and showing His glory. I write these things not to point fingers at others. I write things because I look in the mirror and I see these qualities in me. I write it to encourage and to challenge other believers to step up. Take your faith from being just a couple hours a week deal, and let it saturate your life. Let it change your life.

Father, help me to not compartmentalize my faith. Help me to be more consistent in getting into Your Word and sharing Your love that You have freely given to me.

January 20, 2011

One thing I have loved about some seminary classes is leaving that class feeling so inadequate for the ministry and so ignorant about different issues. That is weird to say, I know, but I say this because it is a great reminder of how awesome God is and just how precious the Gospel is. If you knew me as a child and into my youth I had a pretty big ego. Some who know me today would say that I still do, but I digress. That inadequate feeling leads me to a place of dependence on God. It's always great to be encouraged and we all definitely need it, but it also is necessary to be reminded that we are human and finite and that God is all-knowing and all-powerful. I mean He created this whole universe out of nothing.

How I come to feel so humbled in these classes is not because professors are beating us over the head with Bibles and textbooks. It is by the Spirit and through the infectious passion for the Bible, the Gospel, and ministry that professors have. Just about each day I am blown away by the glory, majesty and power of God. We only scratch the surface of His radiance here on this earth and we will see it fully when we get into eternity, but just that little taste we get in this life is more than enough to make us stand in awe proclaiming the greatness of our God. In standing in awe of God's power, might, and majesty it causes me to even be more dumbfounded by His love, mercy, and grace for me, a fallen and flawed individual who sins everyday. How is it and why would a perfect God love an imperfect person? It makes no sense because there has to be easier ways for God to receive glory and honor than by a relationship with humans.

Whatever the reason, I am humbled when I think about the greatness of God and how I pale in comparison to Him. I am humbled that when I placed my faith in the fact that Christ died on the cross for my sins and was raised to life three days later, God welcomed me into His eternal family.

Thank you for continually teaching me new things and re-teaching old things. Thank you God for your redeeming mercy and love. Amen.

Psalm 119:73-77

"Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding so that I can learn your commands..."

I don't know if you have put something together, but it's quite a cool thing. It's always cool to see the progress of the project as it goes from being formless to being a complete creation. As the creator you hold great power over the creation. There are instructions and purposes that you have for your creation. As our creator, God has commands and purposes for us. He knows what is best for us and has a powerful use for us, if we will seek to understand these commands.

We know that these commands are fair and that God is just because the psalmist tells us so in v. 75. He states that God has afflicted Him fairly. The pain and struggles that the psalmist has faced are fair. God is sovereign to have allowed such difficulty. In v. 71 the psalmist writes that it was good for him to be afflicted because this taught Him God's statutes. The darkest days of the psalmist's life taught Him about who God was. It taught Him that God is sovereign and that He has purpose in all that He does and allows. We know that God provides His faithful love to comfort us (v. 76) and that He provides compassion also so that we can live and be delighted by God's instructions (v. 77).

It's common to hear a health and wealth type gospel preached today. It's taught that God is a God who wants to bless us with perfect health and an over abundance of money and possessions. As we read throughout the Bible, and even as we experience our own lives, we come to quickly realize that even the most faithful and devoted of Christians experience some great tragedies. Most of their life may even be filled with difficulty, without great material wealth or stable health. While it is true that God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28), it never tells us how God exactly works it out, or through what means. It could be through the blessing of finances, but it could also be in the loss of a loved one from a terrible accident. I am convinced that we probably learn more about who God is from the hardships of life. When He is all we have to depend on, we begin to see how frail, weak, and corrupt human life can be and we see how powerful, loving, faithful, and holy our Creator is.

Thank you Father for even the hardest of times because I know you are teaching me more about who You are and who I am in light of You. Amen.

One on One with God

Last night, I started a discipleship group along with three other guys. Two of the guys have been through this before and are co-discipling myself and another fellow, along with going through the material themselves. The material we are using is One on One with God. The core verse is Philippians 3:10: For my determined purpose is that I may know Him (AMP). The goal of of this program is that we may know Christ in a greater way each and every day. What Paul is saying is that everything in his life is centered around knowing Christ in an intimate way. If it doesn't have to do with being more like Christ, then Paul doesn't want anything to do with it. To reach this goal though, it is a process, a journey. No one just wakes up one day, says they want to know Christ as best as they can, and then poof it happens. It's a process that is worked out in everyday life through Scripture reading, studying, meditation, prayer, fasting, obedience, and action. It is not an easy task, but by God's grace we have the opportunity to know an all-powerful, gracious, holy, and loving God on the most intimate of levels. The three general goals are: 1. To know Him, 2. To glorify Him, 3. To be like Him. These goals are achieved and fleshed out in a variety of ways. It may look different for each person, but the goals are the same for every believer.

I hope you will seek God on a daily basis. That you will desire to know Him, to glorify Him, and to be like Him. It will make a huge change in your life and in the lives of those around you. If you have not trusted Christ to be your Lord and Savior, won't you do that today? John 5:24: Anyone who hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life."

Galatians 1:1-10

Who gave Himself (Jesus) for our sins to deliver us from the present evil, according to the will of our God and Father - v.4

A major theme in Galatians is the idea of freedom from the law and from works in order to be saved. It is not a freedom to do whatever we want, to be immoral or disobey Christ, but it is a freedom to live as Christ would call us to live. We are free in Christ. In the province of Galatia, the truth of the Gospel was being distorted. Some believers were teaching that the Jewish laws and customs had to be followed in order to be saved. On the contrary, what Paul taught and what the Gospel proclaimed, is that it is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ that one recieves salvation. The law, the 10 commandments, etc., are meant to help us understand that we are sinners and that we need forgiveness.

There is only one Gospel, one Good News, and that is that Jesus gave Himself for our sins so that we might die to sin and live in righteousness (1 Peter 2:24). If anything differently is taught, even if it was from an angel, they are cursed. There are many things being proclaimed out there that go against Scripture, against God's Word. Whenever you hear a preacher, a Sunday School teacher, or anyone who may be claiming something as true from God, hold it up against the Bible. Does it line up with what the Scripture teaches?

No matter what may be taught or written, there is only one Gospel. Jesus Christ died, was buried, and was resurrected and through that we receive salvation. We are freed from sin and and can live in the freedom of Christ. Being good and moral can't do that. Following a set of rules won't do that. No other religion can do that. It is only by God's grace that we are free.