Obey = Grow

What do you hear when you hear the term obey? In reference to parents, children, spouses, friends, employers that term obey has almost become a four letter word - we are encouraged to challenge authority at every turn - we are instructed from an early age that independence is vital to our development as human beings and if we simply obey we will be swallowed up by the world and lose our individuality.

I would argue the opposite is true - when we look at obedience not as a punishment, not as a negative, not as something looking to restrict our freedoms - but as a blessing, an assist, as something looking to set us free from our bondage and shackles that we become even more unique even more of an individual than we could ever have become on our own - we become part of the body of Christ and in Christ we each have our own unique function or purpose that we are called to (1 Corinthians 12:12-14)

"Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many."

How is this possible? How is it possible when we surrender our will, submit to His leading that we become more free than before?

There are many  passages throughout the Bible that speak towards "obedience" - the terms obey, obedience, and obedient are used 257 times in various contexts throughout the Old and New Testaments and those are just the times that it is explicitly taught it is implicitly taught far more times through passages such as John 14:15 - "If you love me, keep my commands." Jesus is instructing us that if we love him we will "keep" or obey his teachings. The big struggle comes in when we are faced with the quandary of  do we truly take God's instruction, his advice, or are we simply paying lip service to him?  ― C.S. Lewis puts it this way:

“[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.”

Have you really handed yourself over to God today? Are striving to be obedient in all his ways? Or are you simply paying lip service to God? 1 Samuel 15:22  says

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
    as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
    and to heed is better than the fat of rams."

We may not have to sacrifice a ram today but we are still called to obedience - and as a part of that obedience we are called to sacrifice our own plans and desires and submit to the Word of God. Sacrifice is a must when it comes to obedience -

Christ obeyed the Father in laying down his life for us (Luke 22:42), in sacrificing Himself that we might have access to eternal life - John writes in 1 John 3:16

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters."

The act of obedience here is not necessarily that we are laying down our lives in physical death but that we put ourselves, our wants and desires, our ambitions down at the foot of the cross and walk with Christ, carry our cross (Luke 9:23)
"Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me."

Will you be obedient today?

Convenience in the Gospel?

Let me get my rant for the day out of the way...

Where in the Bible does God do anything for convenience? I mean does He anywhere take a short cut or pass on something because He feels He (or His people) won't benefit from it?  Does Jesus ever say so paying your taxes won't help anyone in your town so don't worry about it let those who benefit from it do all the work? Does he ever say well Dad I know you need me to die today but it doesn't really fit into my schedule besides these folks really don't deserve this why don't  we wait a few years and see if they turn their lives around...

NO? Are you sure? Cause there are days I'd swear that is what he taught by the way people who claim to be believers behave...

Jesus taught we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. That means we are to want for our neighbors what we want for ourselves (or better really if you get right down to it...) Now maybe you don't love yourself and that is your excuse but then you are facing a whole different set of problems which we can address at a different point in time... 

If Jesus really meant what He taught about loving our neighbors as ourselves then shouldn't we want to do anything possible to help those who are around us? Even if we in our finite element never see the benefit from those efforts?

I totally get the fact we are to be good stewards of what is in trusted to us and that isn't my point - my point is this - if someone is hurting, whether it be here, the next town, the next state, or a completely different country and I can in some way make things better for then whether it is convenient for me or not, whether I have to sacrifice or not, whether I ever see the result of that or not; I as a follower of Christ am called to help however I possibly can.

I realize someone might be offended by my words here and honestly that is my goal - I want to offend you to action - the gospel is offensive. Christ dying on the cross is offensive but it is done in love. Love for you. Love that is calling you to be obedient. Will you be obedient today, swallow your pride, and serve those in need whether you ever meet them or not?

Rant over... I'm putting my soap box away for the day...

Time

We are on week three of our GROW series and still looking at the "G". (If you missed the previous weeks you can find the sermons here and if you want the Bible Study guides you can find them here.) I am sitting here reading old commentaries and new blogs, contemplating the meaning of Giving - giving time, giving tithes, giving of myself - I find myself reflecting on the age old question of what is time... C.S. Lewis in his work Mere Christianity puts it this way:

“Our life comes to us moment by moment. One moment disappears before the next comes along: and there is room for very little in each. That is what Time is like. And of course you and I tend to take it for granted that this Time series—this arrangement of past, present, and future—is not simply the way life comes to us but the way all things really exist. We tend to assume that the whole universe and God Himself are always moving on from past to future just as we do.”--p.146

Augustine puts it this way:

  

 “In the Eternal...nothing passes away, but the whole is simultaneously present. But no temporal process is wholly simultaneous...all time past is forced to move on by the incoming future...all the future follows from the past; and that all, past and future, is created and issues out of that which is forever present. Who will hold the heart of man that it may stand still and see how the eternity which always stands still is itself neither future nor past but expresses itself in the times that are future and past?”--Confessions

  

So how does this impact me? How does it impact you? Why is time important? Lewis says time is fleeting, Augustine says the past is forced on to allow for the future -

John Piper says it "better to lose your life than waste it" Are we wasting time? How do we waste time? So many questions so little time... 

Are you living in the past? Or are you finding yourself off dreaming of the future? I often find myself thinking of days past, whether wishing I could with present knowledge make a better past decision - or to stop an injustice, right a wrong, or even just to savor a moment missed. But am I wasting my time? I can't change the past, I can learn from past mistakes though and when I use those moments to lean on the Eternal  promises of God I find that instead of living in the past I am looking towards the future, the promise of spending Eternity in His presence. I don't believe God desires us to live in the past or in the future but in there here and now.

Isaiah 43:18-19 says:

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."

Matthew 6:31-34 says:

"Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Psalm 118:24 says: "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

The word of God tells us to not dwell in the past, nor to be anxious about tomorrow but to live for Christ today, to seek first the Kingdom of God and let him take care of the rest. 

As with Augustine I am still left wondering what time is, but while I am wondering I am resting in the assurance that in my ignorance is God's wisdom, in my weakness is God's strength, in my brokenness is God's redemption. I am wondering but not worried, pondering but not perspiring, enjoying the journey that He is faithfully leading me on.

"And I confess to thee, O Lord, that I am still ignorant as to what time is."

Augustine of Hippo

Confessions: Book XI:25

1am Bedtime Brain Craze

Sometimes I wish I could just walk in climb in bed, close my eyes, and my brain just magically shut off to allow much needed rest. So keep in mind the random mess that might proceed forth...

What a week it has been - mission team left today, 7th team of 2013 (and 1st team of 2014) we hosted managed to get lots done including a new coat of paint on the parsonage... Great kids from Michigan what a blessing! Man oh man what a year it has been - feels like just yesterday we were settling in and 13 months later this is home, couldn't imagine a better place to raise our family or to serve our Lord.

Hopefully I will succeed in last year's new years resolution and keep this blog a bit more updated...

Food for thought read this CS Lewis quote earlier this evening - Humility is thinking less of yourself but it is thinking of yourself less -

Paul assured Timothy that being confident in the Gospel he preached was a good thing and to not let others look down on him but to stand strong - Humility isn't bowing out and letting others run the show nor is it feeling unworthy to be used by God... It is taking yourself out of the equation and putting God in control of your life focusing on Him alone.

Goodnight...

Happy New Year!

It is hard to believe that we are at the start of a new year already. Where did 2012 go? With January here Ainsley is 4m, Connor will be 2y, I have a new job, at a new church, we live in a new house, in a new town. Roles have changed, lives rearranged, all for the glory of God. My prayer  is that with the New Year that is upon me, I will be the husband God intends, the father God desires, and the pastor God has called me to be.  I heard a song last night that is a remake of the old time hymn Come Thou Fount - Come Thou Fount, Come Thou King the second verse just reminded me so much of the fact that we are never alone, God is always with us.

Come Thou Fount of ev'ry blessing

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace

Streams of mercy never ceasing

Call for songs of loudest praise

Teach me some melodious sonnet

Sung by flaming tongues above

Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it

Mount of Thy redeeming love

Come Thou Fount come Thou King

Come Thou precious Prince of Peace

Hear Your bride to You we sing

Come Thou Fount of our blessing

Come Thou Fount come Thou King

Come Thou precious Prince of Peace

Hear Your bride to You we sing

Come Thou Fount of our blessing

I was lost in utter darkness

'Til You came and rescued me

I was bound by all my sin when

Your love came and set me free

Now my soul can sing a new song

Now my heart has found a home

Now Your grace is always with me

And I'll never be alone

Come Thou Fount come Thou King

Come Thou precious Prince of Peace

Hear Your bride to You we sing

Come Thou Fount of our blessing

Come Thou Fount come Thou King

Come Thou precious Prince of Peace

Hear Your bride to You we sing

Come Thou Fount of our blessing

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I'm constrained to be

Let Thy goodness like a fetter

Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee

Prone to wander Lord I feel it

Prone to leave the God I love

Here's my heart Lord take and seal it

Seal it for Thy courts above

Come Thou Fount come Thou King

Come Thou precious Prince of Peace

Hear Your bride to You we sing

Come Thou Fount of our blessing

Come Thou Fount come Thou King

Come Thou precious Prince of Peace

Hear Your bride to You we sing

Come Thou Fount of our blessing

Wait just a second and think this through...

So first off let me get one thing very clear - I am deeply saddened at the loss of any human life at the hands of another whether it is intentional or accidental - My deepest prayers go out to the families who have been rocked by this latest shooting, the thought that 20 children will never have the opportunity to grow up and live their dreams is awful. But wait just a second and think this through - we are outraged at 20 children being murdered, calling for gun bans and legislation to "fix" our problem, to fix our hurt. I ask where is the outrage for the 3500 children who were murdered today in an abortion clinic? They didn't even have an opportunity to run, their lives were taken just the same as those 20 precious lives in Newtown,  the only difference it was a Doctor performing a procedure, not a man with a gun... depending on the source approx 55,762,500 children have been aborted since 1973 in the United States, and 1,278,530,310 world wide since 1980 (more than the total casualty count for WW-I and WW-II combined in case you are wondering)... where is the outrage for these lives that have been taken? Who is mourning their loss? I am not saying that we shouldn't mourn a tragedy but let's remember there is a bigger issue here. 

More Government regulations will not fix the problem, better gun control will never solve the problem, I know what will fix the problem though, more precisely I know who can fix the problem, not some elected official, not even a religious leader or your favorite pastor. The only place we can look for the solution is to the creator, to God himself. His people need to cry out together to him and ask his forgiveness for forsaking him. We have fallen into the same cycle that the children of Israel were following in the book of Judges... With the silence of a generation, the people forgot who God was, and turned to worship in their own ways forsaking God. God being gracious, allowed them the choice to leave, giving them what they wanted, allowing them to fall prey to their pride, and their greed, allowing them to fall captive to their sin.  However he didn't forsake them, when they were at their worst he was still their, he still loved them, and once they cried out to Him he heard their cries and sent someone to lead them out of the wilderness, back into relationship with God. 

God will continue his promise laid out in the scripture that "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14


Will you humble yourself with me and pray, seeking the face of God, seeking his healing on our lands?

Island Life Week One

As our first week in the big city of Islamorada draws to an end tomorrow I am beginning to appreciate the small town life! This is a town where it seems everyone knows everybody, and a new family moving in is a big deal.

Our first night here we went out to eat as we had nothing unpacked and our waitress who doesn't go to FBCI knew who we were just based on our table conversation (so glad we were behaving!) she knew there was a new pastor with kids starting and was actually looking forward to it!

Less than a week in and I had met half of our immediate neighbors including one massive great dane, met our local UPS driver, and our mail carrier (neither at our house either... go figure...)

Krystal went to Toddler Time at the Library today and met several other mom's with kids Connor's age...

Xander has decided Key's life is for him, I still put his leash on him but just let it trail as he hardly stray's from my side while we are out - he has been my office buddy making the long journey across the backyard to the church, sleeping in my office while I work...

Had a great Cuban Sandwich today from Island Grill while at our weekly men's lunch.

As the week has passed we have realized more and more that this is truly the will of God - and feel so at home already even though we are still digging through boxes...

Christmas tree adventures tomorrow!!!!

Boxes boxes every where not a space to spare... Moving can be stressful but fun all at the same time... my shoulders and back are sore and we haven't even finished loading the truck yet...

I'd be having a much better day if my computer had not just died before I was able to retrieve the rest of my personal data off it... go figure...

36 hrs and south bound...

Sunday Morning Brain Wanderings

Now that I have blogger mobile maybe I will blog a little more often... hence a Sunday morning posting...

As I sit disengaged this morning in the morning worship, listening to the words, hearing the songs, I wonder why I can't engage. I wonder why my brain is else where. I want to be here I want to contribute but I feel like a boy sitting outside the general store looking in and wondering.

I know that I am in God's will but this is where it is hard. This is where I am struggling with the desire to feel needed.

Is this wrong? Is this sin?

I think this is human nature. Desiring to be needed when all God is desiring is for us to desire him, to rest in him and him alone.

I need to release this despite myself.

I need to rest in God alone not in my own self or in my own self worth.

More to follow...

To God be the Glory

Daily Bombardments

You know, I always seem to have questions that need answers - either I have the question, or someone has a question for me that they are looking for the answer to... Last week when I was speaking at MAC2012 people would ask me questions hoping I would know the answer simply because my Dad was heading the camp up... 

Normally I get asked questions because well that's my job right?

What is my job really? Now that is a very good question... One in which I am always struggling to find an adequate answer for....  A simple answer would be I am a youth pastor, I mean that is how I get paid twice a month. But life is never really that simple is it?

Another simple answer would be that my job is as a father and a husband, after all the dictionary definition of "job" is anything a person is expected or obliged to do; duty; responsibility... 

But I don't consider any of these things a job... Father, Husband, Youth Pastor they are all titles I carry but I don't consider them jobs... I know other people might feel that I am "expected or obligated" to these titles but I feel like I am privileged to hold these titles and at that point I see them ceasing to be "jobs" and becoming "roles" that I play in the lives of those around me. Those that I am privileged to meet, know, care for... 

I've held many jobs over the years... Worked for Chick-fil-a, UPS, FPL, Ductz, Genesis, and various landscaping companies to name a few... Those would all qualify to me in my life as a job - (maybe not to you because you are called to that and it is more than a paycheck)

Being a youth pastor is not a job to me - it is everything to me - it is part of how I define who I am in Christ. As much as the role of Husband and Father are parts of that definition.

So what then is my job... That is a very good question to ask... wish I knew the answer.

New Ponderings

So I have never been very good at this, writing out what is going inside my mind but I am going to try it again - there are so many things that run through my mind every day, so many questions, so little time to ponder them.

I'm back...

After years of absence I've returned to the blogging world... I've cleaned up my previous posts left the ones that seemed relevant and started fresh...

Each week I will post the discussion from our Wed Evening Bible study here for further discussion...

So Tune in, Weigh in, and Lets see what God has in Store...

Why Does God Love Us

This past week I had a question dropped in my box downstairs at church of why does God love us? A question that has been asked for centuries. It is a very good question to ask I mean because if you really stop and take a look at yourself you should have to wonder the same thing... Why does God love me and all my screw ups?

While I know the answer to that question stretches far beyond the scope of this answer I think that it can be simplified down to this... 1st John 4:8 simplifies it down to a 3 word answer... God is Love. That is why He loves us... Because it is who He is. The rest of the passage displays how He loves us but that verse lays it out there so simply, so beautifully, God IS Love. Not so sappy, romantic feeling or gesture like to attempted in to impress upon your 4th grade crush but a true agape love that is never ending, perfect, pure, and very personal...

Now you are wondering again well if God is love and his love is this perfect type of love then how can He love me in this mess that I'm in?

Romans 5:8 tells us "But God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us."

That means that before we came to the point of placing our faith and trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior Christ died for us. Before we began living for God Christ died for us. Before we knew God existed Christ died for us.

That means you don't have to clean up your life or do anything else for that matter before coming to Christ. He loves you right where you are.... Right in the middle of the stink pit of the flesh where your sitting reading this... He loves you with that perfect, pure, selfless love that is beyond all human understanding or comprehension.

Does that mean that you will never change your life after placing faith in God? No. His love is such that He will change you from the inside out. That's how he works. He starts on the inside... If you were sick and you knew what was wrong with you and the Doctor knew what was wrong with you however all they ever treated was the symptoms and never the source of the sickness do you think that you would ever get better? No. The same is true with your spiritual life. You cannot just treat the outward symptoms and expect to get better. You have to allow God to remove the cancer from your soul. YOU have to allow HIM to change you from the INSIDE out. Why does he want to heal you, change you, or use you? Because He loves us.

Why does God Love Us? Because God is Love.