Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Honor

As I was reading Proverbs 15 today, the last verse happened to be the one that Caught my attention. "Humility come before honor"
There are so many people who long to be important, even in the Kingdom of God. But in this upside down kingdom, the servants are greatest.
Lord, make me a servant...like You

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Christmas musical

I'm really not a Christmas person but I absolutely love listen to little kids sing and do Christmas programs. The kids at C3 did an amazing job with their musical tonight.
I can't imagine the number of hours that have been invested between the volunteers, the kids, the parents, the stage crew...a bunch.
But for what purpose? Well, a huge purpose. There were dozens of visitors there tonight. They saw the bride of Christ at her best, we even had enough finger-food for the 300-ish crowd. Awesome!
God, help us as we tend to the seeds that were planted tonight...

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Mouthpiece of God

I can't help but see preaching as being God's mouthpiece. That's a bit unnerving. It causes me to have others look over what I have written in notes.
I always pray before I prepare a sermon. I ask God to guide me. I ask godly people their thoughts on the message. I pray more as I internalize the message.
All those things ease my mind. But should I be at ease? I think not. Confident? Perhaps, if that confidence is produced from reliance on, and faith in God.
Acts 1:8 says "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." 
Here I am, at the end of the earth, praying, "Holy Spirit, give me powerful words."

Monday, December 7, 2009

Outsourcing Justice

I look back in time and see that, at some point, the church disregarded the example of the church described in Acts.

The church decided that the government could take over helping people who were down and out...widows, orphans, poor, lame.

These were the very people that Jesus chose to hang out with. So why? Why have we outsourced justice to the government that decided that corporate prayer does not belong in school. That decided that evolution would be the creation theory that it would teach. Why have we outsourced to those who say that, contrary to Scripture, life begins outside the womb? Why have we given the task of taking care of widows and orphans to those who would encourage the demise of those left to its charge by handing out condoms? Why church?

I have but one answer...APATHY. We simply don't care. We have put ourselves on the thrones of our lives. But it can all change, it can be reversed.

This is the season to change all that, reach out. Put those in need ahead of yourself. God will bless you!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Campers, People, God

After seeing the weather forecast, I realized that I should probably winterize my camper. This realization happened at 8:00 PM so there I was, 23 degrees, at 9:00 doing something that I should've done weeks ago. One of the lines was already frozen so it required thawing and it was a huge pain.
I think that we do those sorts of things all the time in situations that can have far worse repercussions.
We put off seeing people until they are sick or far away. We then scramble to try to make up for lost time and it is almost never easy.
We put off cultivating out relationship with Christ until we have looming problems. Then "the pipes are frozen."
Funny, how God uses crazy things like cold weather to refocus me on people whom I love and His "still, small voice" but for these reminders, I am thankful that He pursues me.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Legos

Wow, 6 weeks since I've posted. I'm not really that busy, I just haven't made the time.
Because of my new position, I've been reading a lot about different methods of church growth.
I believe that God has ordained church growth. When people experience God in a real or new way, they tell others. The church grows. When there are no face to face experiences, the church stagnates and I know, according to Rev 3, God doesn't do stagnation.
Today, I read an analogy of our culture that seemed very accurate. People are like legos. They only have so many pegs to attach to. This applies to relationships among other things. A person can really only accommodate so many relationships at a time.
One of the keys to church growth is to find that open peg on their lego. To help people attach to one another. It doesn't matter what the contraption looks like that is built. Much like a parent, God sees beauty in all that we build when we build it for Him.
Building a lego church...maybe I should write a church growth book. or not.