The Pastor's Wife

I am thankful for the God who saved me. And I am thankful for the wife He gave me. No one knows the junk the wife of a pastor has to put up with. What if Paul had been married? Imagine the junk his wife would have been put through. I'm thankful for the great church God has allowed me to be a part of, but through the years time can take a toll on the ministry participants...including pastor's wife. Actually, everything is great right now, so this isn't some stealth shot at fellow participants in ministry (I don't roll like that anyway.)Recently, we have relocated my office to my house. Uh, I've got a bunch of stuff, and a little room to fill in...um...it was the guest room. Teresa has had a great attitude, especially considering, I just kind of started bringing all my junk home. It is officially called the Noffice. Without an office, the membership class has moved to my house for two consecutive sessions, and Teresa has had a wonderful attitude. This is an ode to her. Thank you, to my lovely wife. And yesterday, she made red velvet cake for our newest members to enjoy. Teresa, I love you. ---This is between you, me and the few people that read this. ---You know what...shout out to the unsung hero at your church (wherever that is)the pastor's wife.

SSS

Start slow, stay steady and finish strong. Recently, I began to adopt this as my daily discipline, because I realized at various times in the day I could falter or my spiritual fulness (if that's the proper phrasing)would deteriorate. With my morning quiet time, the day was started off right and I was in good shape. On the days I got in God's Word at lunch time I would stay steady. If not, the chances of failure loomed ahead. By afternoon, all of the experiences of life with people on the planet, and my own sinful nature (man in the mirror) must be contended with unless I have predetermined to finish strong.
Not only is this a good plan for a daily routine, but it is a great plan for those that have decided to actually follow after Christ daily (the thing that every Christian is called to do). More believers need to understand the Christian walk or lifestyle is more of a marathon than a sprint. Many quit the race early, because they start off in a sprint. It would behoove each of us to start slowly. Learn from other believers that seem to have it together. Crawl first. Then, stay steady. Walk. Do those things you learned like: regular time in God's Word and prayer daily, getting together with other believers in small groups for accountability and fellowship, be regular in worshiping with the large group at church, serve God by serving others, etc. While doing all these things, keep in mind the imminent return of Christ. He is coming back! Finish strong with that in mind. Crawl, walk, run, and be ready for the flight home!

We Need Empowerment not Entitlement

We don’t need entitlement; we need empowerment---do you get that? After committing your life to Christ, you don’t need some bumper sticker or t-shirt that tells everyone that you are now a Christian. In fact, that’s part of the problem. There are many people today that would say they have not become a Christian, because of other so-called Christians. Claiming Christ and never living for Him is entitlement. Like He owes you something. Do you not know that He paid a debt that He didn’t owe? (Your and my sin debt.)What the world needs to see is a group of empowered followers of Jesus Christ! And I promise you the day that we will die to self and be recognized as a Holy Spirit empowered church the people will come. The world is starving for truth. They are looking in all the wrong places. And why do they need to come? Jesus said so! He said go get them! He came for them and has sent us out.

A Holy Spirit empowered church is made up of Holy Spirit empowered people.
Dead churches litter the landscape of America full of the entitled. It's time to rise up. "Don't you know that the Holy Spirit dwells within you?"

Change of Thinking

We need to stop labeling things that happen to us in life good or bad things. Sometimes the worst thing in the world for someone is to win the lottery. Sometimes the best thing in the world for someone is to be given away as a baby to a loving, caring parent that has their act together. Some things in our lives cause us despair, when they should serve to motivate us.
The kid that keeps getting up after he has been knocked down over and over is an inspiration. I'm sad for people that are stuck in the same place wandering around in life, because they won't get past their past. Bad things happen to all of us. Admittedly some things seem worse than others, but then the people that I have seen arise from the crappiest circumstances seem to rise the highest. Call on God today. Trust Him. Quit loitering around in your circumstances. Look around. We all have circumstances! Don't let that be your excuse for not living. Have a change of mind today.

The Parent/Child Responsibility

The greatest hindrance of kids living godly lives is also the saddest...the parents. I came across a note from about nine years ago that had names of kids attending church. Only about 20% were still attending church. Unfortunately, I knew enough about the parents to know that it was due to their lifestyle. It's funny how parents want their kids to be good kids, stay out of trouble and what-not. And most parents don't mind the good things that most churches have to offer, even if it includes God. So, I'm going to limit this to perhaps the top two ways parents are hindering their kids from living godly lives. #1 Kids can't drive. Parents you get them to soccer practice and everything else this world has to offer. Get them to church. And don't punish them by not letting them go to church. That is stupid! (my blog, i can say stupid) #2 Monkey see, monkey do. More is caught than taught. If living a godly life is low priority for you, what do you think junior is going to be like? Kids are not stupid! Parents: don't be the one that hinders your child from having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Don't be the stumblingblock. Take 'em and live it!
Jesus has a little bit to say about hindering children from coming to him. You might want to read it. See Matthew 18:6

Grace, Aaron

Aside from my regular time in God's Word, I am following a plan to read the Bible through in a year. I'm now in one of those "dreaded" sections that one is tempted to speed-read through...Leviticus. It is filled with Laws God had placed on Israel to guide them and many of them are very specific, and a lot of rituals are involved. Of course, these rituals were meant to train the people, and to give them a shadow of things to come. Anyway, I'm reading in Leviticus 7:35 and it was talking about special offerings that were brought before the Lord; and it talked about the portion that belonged to Aaron, the priest (brother of Moses). It sounded very generous, and all I could not help thinking about Aaron, and how undeserving he was. When I think of Aaron, three things come to mind and the first two aren't good. First of all, (which didn't happen first, but stuck in my mind first) he was in conflict with Moses and undermined his authority which ticked God off and disrupted the unity of the people (bad things happened after this: God opened up a hole in the ground and helped a bunch of people fall into it.) The second was right after Israel's liberation from Egypt, Aaron built the golden calf for the rebellious people while Moses was in conference with God on top of the mountain. ---Incredible! And yet God let's Aaron have such a high ranking and let's him enjoy the "fruit" of God's labor. If that isn't grace, I don't know what is. Grace is simply giving someone what they don't deserve. ---I am thankful for God's amazing grace in my life. Should I be amazed to find this picture in Leviticus? Maybe. I'll keep reading. :)

Cannot Hold It In

I cannot hold it in and remain composed. I need to shout! In the last couple of days I have heard so many stories of how people are growing in their faith. One person shared how they had upped the ante' on their giving and God surprised them with a huge job opportunity! Another young person took the challenge to read the Bible morning, noon and night; and saw in one week God do some awesome things spiritually within them. Another young person shared with me how they were going to step back from doing something they really enjoyed, because it was interfering with them knowing God in a close, personal way. And then, this morning God blind-sided me as He gave me the opportunity to lead a man to Christ with my Dad at my side. It was a lay-up. God had the guy ready...He just let us be there. Oh, when will we learn to just go with God. So long self. I'm hanging out with God, He has bigger and better things going on.

Psalm 1

Do you want to have a good life? Do you want to have a peaceful life? Heed the Psalmists advice. Don't walk with, stand with, or sit down (join) with those that mock God. Skip out on the std's, the drunken stupers, the poverty associated with a crappy lifestyle. Instead, spend time meditating on God and His Word. Be like that tree planted along the riverbank that never runs dry. That's a good place to be.

Where are you?

"Where are you?" The first question God ever asked a human being. Hmmm. Interesting. The all-knowing, ever-present, and all-powerful God of the Universe asks the first human He created "Where are you?" Those are some heavy words. Obviously, God knew where the man was. He was sure in ear-shot of God's question. The question was for the man. It's a question many of us ought to ask ourselves. "Where are you?" Let me redirect that question: are you in or out of God's will for your life? He has a big plan for your life! Are you settling for your little-bitty plan. Where are you?

Crawl over His dead body

One literally has to crawl over the dead body of Jesus to miss the Kingdom of Heaven.(so to speak, because He has risen.) I was amazed last night as I heard of yet another cult. I thought by now that I had heard of almost every cult. To a Christian, a cult is a group that denies the deity of Jesus (that he is fully God and fully man), and call for some kind of works or good deeds to enter Heaven. I am not even going to name this group, but apparently they took modern shape in 1991, and are based on untruths they claim were listed in the Talmud(ancient Jewish teachings). ---My question: why are people so intent on not believing in Jesus? Everything he did was out in the open. His betrayer didn't go telling a bunch of deep dark secrets from the "inner" room, because there weren't any! He killed himself, because he knew he had contributed to killing The Truth. Jesus was the real deal. He was crucified in public, and his death, burial and resurrection lined up with prophecies hundreds of years old. He was killed by a method of capital punishment that didn't even exist when those prophecies were written. Why do people strain at swallowing a gnat, and find it easier to swallow an entire camel? (someone very wise once said that) ---Listen, you will not understand absolutely everything about the Awesome God of the Universe! Concentrate on what we do know. We do know that the Old Testament pointed to Jesus, because in Him all these prophecies were fulfilled. Jesus is one of a kind! We do know that Jesus walked the earth. All the religions of the world don't know what to do with Jesus, because they cannot deny His awesomeness. What they need to do is yield to Him as Savior. He is the Way, the Truth and the LIfe and no man comes to the Father except by Him.---When given the chance to desert Jesus, Peter had this to say: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."---You can keep searching, but you'll have to crawl over Jesus to enter hell. ---Concentrate on the things you know. Stay away from religions that have secrets, and don't have windows in their building!

Still Standing

In Acts 1:11 after Jesus had ascended into Heaven, the angels admonished the apostles for standing around looking into the sky. "why are you still standing here gazing upward? He's coming back!" ---Some are still just standing around with their hands in their pockets. Get busy! Jesus is coming back, you have some preparing to do. So what...what is that thing that is holding you back from being what God had in mind when He made you? Drop the excuses. Excuses are for losers and liars. The man with one talent (see Mt.25) really had no talent, because he buried it and did not use it for his Master. All the lazy servant had was a chorus full of excuses. He had apparently not heard the adage: "if you're explaining, you're losing." Many of you took the time to write down what's holding you back recently. Some of you used the excuse of no writing utensil or whatever on hand. The bottomline is that we all know what's holding us back. When...when will you get off the couch? To know what to do and not do that is sin. Talk-time is over, quit standing around...He is coming back! Tell someone today, what you are going to do, so you'll do it. Is your problem: the love of money, forgiveness, unconfessed sin, obedience, ungodly relationships or the last one (we'll talk about Sunday)?
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Instruction

Proverbs 8:10 NLT

Choose my instruction rather than silver,

and knowledge rather than pure gold. Don't try to skip steps. Take time to learn before becoming a teacher. Beware of those that preach without proper schooling. There are exceptions, but they are called exceptions because they are rare. None should despise the time of learning. Instruction and the knowledge that follows is a wise choice according to Scriptures.