By Your Side

It's Been A While

I haven't posted in a while but here goes. I was reading this morning in Joshua chapter 2. I have heard the story before but it never clicked with me like it did today. In Chapter one God tells Joshua to go take the land that He is giving him. Moses has died so Joshua is going to pick up where he left off. So in Chapter 2 Joshua sends two spies out to look over the land. They end up at Rahab's house where they hang out for a little while. All of the people in the city heard that the men were there and asked Rahab where they were. She told them they had already left and pointed in the direction they "went." Little did these men know Rahab had them hiding on the roof. She asked the men since she didn't' tell where they were hiding and if she didn't tell anyone anything about them, could they spare her families life. They agreed, made an oath and Rahab sent the men out of a window of her home. She told them where to go so the men that were looking for them would not find them. But, what really shows me how awesome of a God we serve is the fact that Rahab was a prostitute. So many Christians look down on people because of their sin. We write them off so to speak and don't give them a second chance. In reality we should be talking to people in sin and telling them about Jesus, not condemning them to hell. Anyway, now that I'm off that little soap box I will get back to the point. I learned from this that God is God no matter what we say or think. God told Joshua to go get the land, so Joshua sent men out to look over the land. If it weren't for a prostitute named Rahab these men would have been killed. In God's overall plan, He used a prostitute. God can use anyone anytime, why? Because He is God. So when we see people openly living in sin, lets not send them to hell, lets pray for them, strike up a conversation, tell them about Jesus. You never know what God will do. If He can use a prostitute, He can use you.

Easter Service at Adventure Life Church

Ok, I don't really know where to begin about last nights Easter Service. I do know that we had been planning things for at least a week. I had a setlist planned for worship, Johnny had a message planned along with some other interactive things, and Easter was going to go off perfect. Right? Well, it did go off perfect, but it happened God's way, not ours.

We were about three songs in to our worship set and all of a sudden the power goes out. So without missing a beat, we ended the song we were on and went into Amazing Grace my Chains are gone, no mics, not amps, no keyboard, just an acoustic guitar and our voices. It was AMAZING.....after we ended that song, Paula Cox came up, she is our pastors wife. She said keep playing that song, so I picked the strings in the background while she shared what God laid on her heart during that song, then we sing another chorus. Then our Student Pastor Brandon Higgins got up and shared what was on his heart, then we sang another song, then I shared what was on my heart. After this happened, Johnny came up, shared some things that were on his heart and told us what was about to take place. He had three tables set up. One table had a basket on it. That was for our offering. If we had an offering we put it in and prayed over it. We did this by families. On the next table was the word of God. Each family took turns praying over the Word that we would be obedient to the Word and live it out by our actions, at the last table we prayed and took communion. We did all of this in the dark, and the only light we had was the soft glow from outside shining in the big windows. While families were praying Josh shared something that was on his heart as well as Terry. After Terry finished the worship team gathered at the front and sang songs while people were praying. God let that service happen His way and for me, the song Heart of Worship rang so loud and true in my heart. God was speaking to me last night. I am so thankful He allowed me to be a part of it all.

Even though it was dark in that room, it was as bright as it has ever been, because God was there and in Him there is no darkness. I wish you all could have been there!!

Easter is on it's way

Christmas and Easter have so much in common. I think in toady's society the one thing they have in common is that is when people come to church. On these two occasions you could plan a family reunion after church. Easter is this coming weekend and there will be churches filled with people that are in church for the first time this year. You know what? I think that is ok! A lot of times we get discouraged when people only come on Easter and Christmas, but most churches on Easter will present the Gospel. Those people that aren't in church on a regular basis will hear the Gospel and one or more of them might get saved!!! That would be awesome, regardless of how often they come to church.

So remember this year that the Gospel needs to be presented and pray for the lost to come to know Jesus and follow Him on a daily basis. We shouldn't be discouraged, but be encouraged and let God do a work. All we can do is point them to Jesus.

I never thought the day would come, but it has.

I have always kind of looked over this passage of scripture.

Matthew 10:21-23 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death, All men will hate you because of me, but he who stand firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

I have never looked deeply into that scriputre until now. I never thought my own family would persecute me for being a Christian. I have heard that I am a hypocrite, that my church is a cult, that I am not a man. Jesus says in this scripture that when you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I never thought I would have to flee from my family, but I have to follow Jesus and not a man or woman on this world. I'm not perfect, but I am forgiven.

I don't know who all reads this other than my family but whatever the world throws at you, stay true to Jesus, follow Him and read His Word. He will put you where He wants you, if you let Him. He has stayed faithful to us, so please to all of those who follow Jesus, stay faithful to Him.

The Sheep and the Goats

Have you ever considered yourself to be a sheep or a goat? Well, I haven't either, until I read Matthew Chapter 25 verses 31-46. Jesus is using sheep and goats in this parable as He is talking to the Disciples. He says when the Son of Man comes back He will be coming back with all of the angels and the nations will be set in front of Him. He will separate them just like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left. So Jesus will separate everyone, the people on His right will be the blessed ones. He says He will tell them that when He was hungry they gave Him something to eat, He was thirsty and they gave Him something to drink, He was a stranger and they let Him in, He needed clothes and they clothed Him, He was sick and they looked after Him, He was in prison and they came to visit Him. Then Jesus says the righteous, the ones on the right side of Him, will ask "When did we see You like that Lord?" Jesus says that what they did for the least of these they did for Him. Well, then he turns to the ones on his left and told them that they didn't do any of those things. They didn't clothe Him, feed Him, give Him a drink, invite Him in, visit Him in prison, or take care of Him when He was sick. Then they will answer "Lord when did we see You like this?" He told them that whatever they did not do for one of the least of these , they did not do for Him. So the ones on the left will go away to eternal punishment and the ones on the right will enter into eternal life.

That is a powerful section of scripture that can teach us a lot. The Bible tells us in James that we should not show favoritism. We tend to treat people that appear to have money a lot different than those that don't. We sin when we show favoritism. We should treat all people the same because Jesus died for all for us. James 2 also tells us that our faith without works is useless. If we see someone in need and we tell them we will pray for them and not do anything to help them then our faith is useless. We should love others like we love ourselves. That means that when we see someone in need we should put our faith into action and do what we can to help. Just think about Compassion International and other organizations that have children that need to be sponsored. It costs normally 20 to 30 bucks to sponsor a child a month , but we would rather hold on to that money so we can go eat at Outback, after we have already eaten out 10 times that month. We could not go to Starbucks everyday, or McDonald's everyday and use just 20 bucks to help a child get food and clothing, because they need a lot more than we do. We are selfish human beings but what if we started treating others like we treat ourselves. I believe that we would see a revolution take place. Kids would eat, the homeless would be warm or have a home, people would have shoes, etc... and Jesus would be lifted up. So lets all be sheep and be on the right side of Jesus. Remember what we do for the least of these we have also done for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Darkness and Light

1 John chapter 1 tells us that we should not associate with darkness. When we have fellowship with Jesus then we are walking in the light. If we walk in darkness then we are having fellowship with the world and with Satan or evil. We were once walking in darkness but when Jesus saved us we passed from death to life and at the same time we crossed over from darkness to light. We were once part of the world, now we should make sure that we stand apart from the world. We should stand out like lights because Jesus is light. Just like a city on a hill that can't be hidden, as we are here on earth we should be lights that can't be hidden. Yet so many times we want to turn our lights on and off depending on where we are, who we are with and what we are doing. We treat Jesus like He is a toothbrush. When we need to be clean we take Him out of the holder and use Him, when we are finished we put Him back until the next time we need Him. It doesn't matter how much we think we need Him, the truth is we always need Him. Without Him we would be nothing and would always live in darkness. We think we have got it all figured out but we are nothing without Him, so we should keep Him at the head of our lives so that other people can see Jesus in us. We could lead so many people by example, but we have to make the decision. Are we going to keep the light on all the time or turn it on just when we need Jesus to help us. The decision is ours. If we are His then it should be an easy decision to make. Be a light in a dark and hopeless world because our light given to us by Jesus just might change someones life.

Psalm 97:10

Psalm 97:10 says You who love the Lord, hate evil. We who love the Lord hate evil. Do we really hate evil? I would like to think that if we call ourselves Christians that we would hate evil. So if we hate evil then why do we participate in it? You may be thinking that you don't, but the truth is that most of us do. A lot of times we gossip and tell some one's business and call it prayer requests. We tell lies to the people we love, we have affairs, we make shady deals so we can make money, we drink alcohol to be drunk, we steal, we talk bad about others, and there is more but for the sake of typing I'll stop with those. Have you seen yourself in any of these that have been mentioned? If you have you have practiced evil. Sometimes we participate in evil and don't even know it. We call it pride, and when we take pride in ourselves that is when it becomes evil. Any pride we have should be put in Jesus, the One who died a horrible death so we wouldn't have to. So how do we stop participating in evil? Well that is simple, we must fully surrender to Jesus and let Him do with out lives what He wants to do. When we fully surrender to God we become sold out followers of Jesus. We can then live lives of faith, wisdom, truth and worship. When evil comes up in our lives we will be able to recognize it, rebuke it and keep following Jesus. So to all that truly love the Lord, fully surrender to Him so we can really hate evil and turn from it. Be followers of Jesus, not the world.

Haiti

Check out the link below. Pastor Marc Driscoll went to Haiti a week after the big earthquake that rocked that part of the country. He shares details of his trip as well as pictures and video.



http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/special/32-hours-the-church-in-haiti

Sinners Not Saints

Have you ever been to religious? Ever felt like you were above someone else, or that God is more proud of you than He is others that live in sin? Ever thought you were God's friend just because you go to Sunday School, Church, Discipleship Training, church again, visitation on Tuesdays and church again on Wednesday night? Maybe God thinks your awesome because you attend all of these meetings. I have to admit there was a time in my life that I thought God was proud of me for going to churh, but the whole time thinking this, I was a sinner that hadn't yet been saved by grace. These things came to my mind today when I was reading in the book of Matthew. Chapter 9 verse 9 through 13 is the calling of Matthew. Matthew was a tax collector. Jesus went by the tax office and said to him, Follow Me, and Matthew got up and followed Him. It goes on to say that Jesus was reclining at the table when many tax collectors and sinners came as guests to eat with Jesus. The Pharisees, who were very religious, saw all of the tax collectors and sinners come in so they asked Jesus' disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus heard them asking this question and told them that well people do not need a doctor, sick people do. He says too that He didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners. Talk about a wake up call!! Jesus came to die for sinners. Although they don't see it themselves the Pharisees thought they were religious and didn't need Jesus, they thought they were better than these sinners. Jesus tells them this is who He wants, He died so all the sins of the sinners could be forgiven and covered by His blood. Jesus also died for the Pharisees because they were sinners and though they didn't recognize it, they needed a Savior as well. I pray that your not a Pharisee and you realize you are a sinner and let the blood of Jesus cover your sins.

Why are the wicked prospering?

Have you ever wondered why a lot of wicked people, or people that could care less about Jesus seem to have everything they want and then some? I have often wondered why people that are living for the world and not Jesus tend to have all these things. They have the big houses, fancy cars, they can eat out every night, have plenty of money and don't have to worry about anything. Then on the other hand you have people that follow Jesus daily that tend to struggle in life. I realize there are Christians that have nice things and plenty of money, so this message would not be for you. But from my perspective I see the wicked enjoying life with all the things they want. Things that tend to make them happy, while I'm following Jesus and I live paycheck to paycheck. It doesn't add up in my human mind. Well, as He always does, God points me in the right direction when I started thinking about this. I was reading Psalm 92 today, and in verse 7 it says this. "Though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be eternally destroyed." After reading this I realized that our treasures are in heaven. Matthew 6:19-21 says this "Don't collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But collect for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don't break in and steal. For where you treasure is, there your heart will be also." Let me tackle Psalm 92:7 first. God says that the wicked will be eternally destroyed. This means that when these people die without Jesus they will go to hell where they are eternally destroyed. So while they are enjoying these things and putting their hearts into their possessions instead of Jesus they will lose all they have never to see it anymore. So back to being a Christian and Matthew 6. We should put our hearts into Jesus, follow Him daily and gain treasures in heaven instead of on earth. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with having nice things and being able to enjoy them, just don't put those things before God because it is by His grace you have them to begin with. So do we really need anything on earth? Not really, God will meet our basic needs, beyond that everything else is an extra gift from Him. Besides when I die, I know God has a mansion waiting for me in heaven. There are no mansions in hell, so I will follow Jesus while I'm on earth and praise Him for what I have and what I will have in the future, but I know my treasure awaits in heaven.

The Raging Sea

Psalm Chapter 87 verse 9 says "You rule the raging sea; when its waves surge You still them." After you read this verse sit back and reflect on what you just read. Take a look at the picture to the left. That is an image of a somewhat raging sea. We serve a God that can calm the seas. He also told the water where to stop, He placed the sun in a certain place as well as the moon, but to think that when a sea is raging violently God can calm it in an instant. This is the same God that sent His son Jesus to die for us. So as I sit here thinking about the power God has to calm the raging sea, I wonder why so many times we think God can't control our lives. A lot of times we try to control our own lives. We want to do what we want to do and that is it, we don't want help from anyone else and a lot of times we don't think we need help from anyone else. If we would all fully surrender to Gods power and let Him control every aspect of our lives, then I have to think that just like a raging sea that He can calm, He would also calm our lives. This doesn't mean everything will be perfect with us but we will have a peace when we face storms in our lives because we will be focused on Jesus. Jesus is not an author of confusion or chaos but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33). He wants peace in our lives, but for that to happen we have to surrender to Him and let Him control our lives. Just like that raging sea that was stilled, our lives can be the same way. Lets let Him use His power in our lives so we can live lives of praise and worship filled hearts.

Philemon

I don't know if I have ever read the book of Philemon until today. I may have read it before just because it is short. I found out today that just because it is short doesn't mean it can't pack a punch. This book definately packs a punch. Paul wrote this letter to Philemon, and basically Philemon had a slave named Onesimus. Onesimus tole things and ran away, so not only was he a thief, he was a runaway slave. Somewhere along the way Onesimus ran in to Paul. Paul shared the Gospel of Jesus with Onesimus and he was saved. Paul is sending Onesimus back to Philemon not as a slave but as a son, or a brother. Paul tells Philemon that Onesimus is coming back with a piece of himself and that whatever Onesimus owed Philemon to just charge it to his account. This made me think about Jesus. Jesus told His Father that whatever we owed Him to charge it to His account. Jesus died and paid for our sins with His blood. If we accept Him as our personal Savior and follow Him then we become a son. Before we are saved, jult like Onesimus we are slaves to sin, but Jesus's deat covered those sings wso that we could become sons. But, what if we are Christians and have fallen away from God. Just like Onesimus we are stealing from God. We are stealing the praise, glory and sacrifice that is due to Him. Like Onesimus and even the Prodigal son found in Luke 15 we can come back hom to Jesus. Our debt will still be paid and He will welcome us with open arms. So in a way hwe have all been an Onesimus. God sent His son to pay our debts so lets not be slaves anymore. Let the blood of Jesus make us sons.

If grace is an ocean we're all sinking

If grace is an ocean we're all skinking - Grace. When I think of God's grace I think about Him finding favor with me an dextending His grace to forgive me of my sins. When I think about the words "If grace is an ocean we're all sinking" I think about how big Gods grace is, and how big His grace has been in my life. He has extended His grace to me so many times that if it were truly an ocean I would be sinking. God's grace is real and it is true, He finds favor with us and forgives us of all of our wrong doings. I will never forget Gods grace that he has shown me. When I think about sinking I think about beging for help. While we may be sinking in a nasty ocean of sin, if we cry out to God and praise Him, He will pull us out of that nasty ocean of sin and bury us in an ocean of grace. I would much rather be covered with Gods grace then be covered in what the world has to offer. Thanks be go God for covering and extending His grace to all of us, when we dont' deserve it. But, OH HOW HE LOVES US!!!

GO AHEAD AND SAY IT!!!!!!!!

Christmas is two days away and I have heard so many people on tv and in newspapers say Happy Holidays. Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with Happy Holidays, but the reason we are hearing Happy Holidays so much lately is because we don't want to offend anyone by saying Merry Christmas. What is being done to stop things that offend Christians? What is being done to eliminate sexual scenes on cable tv? What is being done to stop all of the nasty language you find on tv, or in the magazines? Nothing, if anything is beind done it's becoming worse instead of better. What if a Christian stood up and voiced there opinion on these matters? I know what would happen, and it has happened already, we would basically be told to sit down and be quiet. Or, people would strip us of our jobs or something worse. So why should we stop saying Merry Christmas? I want to challenge you to keep saying Merry Christmas. Besides, the government shouldn't tell us how to live our lives and what we should say. The only person we should tell us how to live our lives is God Himself. So have a safe Christmas, also have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

True Christmas Spirit

My wife called this morning and told me about something her sister has done. My wifes sister, which is my sister-in-law, is 8 years old and has always been an awesome kid. At her school there is a little girls whos house just burned to the ground. She and her family got out of the house and all they have left is the clothes they were wearing. The school asked the kids if they could to buy something for this family that just lost everything. The teacher also told them that whoever may not be able to buy anything to raise their hand and she would buy something and let it be from that student. So my sister in law, whos name is Isabel, raised her hand because she didn't know if her parents could buy anything or not. The teacher told her to find out and let her know. So Isabel goes home tells her mom about what is going on and her mom said they could definately buy something. So Isabel then tells her mom, "I don't want you to buy me anything for Christmas I just want to get this girl something." WOW!!! 8 years old and she doesn't want anything for Chsristmas. She wants to give to another girl in need. But the story doesn't stop here.

They went to Wal-Mart and found some really cool shoes that Isabel liked. She wanted to get those for the girl at her school. So they seen they were on sale (so they thought) and were going to go buy them. When they got to the register they rang up 14 dollars. They were supposed to be 7 dollars. So my mother in law told them about that and a manager came up there. He wanted to see where they were so Isabel (8 year old) took him back to the shoes to show him. When they came back up the manager said give them to her for 7 dollars. The cashier said, are they on sale? He said "No but she just told me the story of why she is buying the shoes and I have to give them to her for 7 dollars." WOW again!!! What a huge heart by the manager at Wal-Mart.

That got me thinking. Most of America can't wait until Christmas to get this and get that, especially the kids. But Isabel wanted to give to others instead of get for herself. The manager wanted to give to others when he could get more for himself. Other than Jesus being born, giving like these two have is what Christmas should be about. I believe God will bless my sister in law as well as the manager from Wal-Mart.

So lets remember this Christmas and all of our Christmas's in the future that we should focus on Jesus and give to those in need just as He did. He died for us so we could have everlasting life, a life spent with Him. Let's not focus on ourselves and what we can get, but what we can do for others. Have true Christmas Spirit this year, and as always. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Our Plans, Or His?

I was reading today in Proverbs chapter 16 and it seemed that God really wanted me to get this point. We can choose to live how we want to live, we can do the things we want to do, we can make plans to do different things, but God will basically put us where he wants us. 16:2 says "All a man's ways seem right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the motives." So to me something can seem right but in God's eyes it may not be. If I am doing something that displeases God then obviously it's a sin, and with that sin comes conviction. So I will see what I thought was right, ultimately in Gods eyes was not.

The same could be said with verse 9 in chapter 16 of Proverbs. Verse 9 says this " A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps." This is telling me two things. In my heart I can plan things, what I want to do, where I want to go, etc... but just as I mentioned earlier God will ultimately determine my steps. Now, this is also telling me that I might even go down my own path for a while until God brings me back. Again, this all comes back to conviction. So whether it is now or later eventually God will put me on His path and not my own. My motives will be His motives. My plans will be His plans.

Sing, Sing, Sing

Singing and playing instruments seems to be contraversial. I don't know why because the Bible tells us to sing and even play instruments. The Bible never tells us that using guitars, drums, keyboards, cowbells, etc... is wrong. So whatever your view is on instruments in the church lets all agree on one thing, and that is to sing to our God. God has given us many reasons to sing and praise Him. We all know that He gave His son Jesus to die for us. We all know the story of Jesus being crucified. That alone is enough to sing praises to our God. But, I want you to think about what God does for us on a daily basis. Let's start with the very first thing he does for us, this may sound corny, but he allows us to breathe as we sleep. He then lets us wake up. Then what do we do? We get dressed, we eat some breakfast , brush our teeth, put clothes on the kids, grab our wallets or purse, walk outside and get in our car or truck, crank it up, drive to work, work all day, come home, maybe watch tv, eat supper, play with the kids, take a shower and go to bed. Then we start the next day all over again. Lets just take a look at these things. Notice that we get dressed, eat breakfast and brush our teeth. God has given us clothes, food and toothpaste. Now lets look at getting in our car and driving to work. God has blessed us with some from of transportation as well as a job. Then we get to come home, watch tv, play with the kids, take a shower and eat again. More food. Some people don't get to eat but one small meal a day and they are still hungry after that meal. God has blessed us so much with all of these things and yet every day we take them all for granted. He has also given us some form of shelter and clothes. God has given us many reasons to praise and sing of His most awesome name. While I have mentioned these things I have failed to mention all of the other problems or storms He has helped you through. So why don't we sing praises to Him?? Psalm 47:6 says Sing praise to God, sing praise; sing praise to our King, sing praise. Remember these things daily and lets sing praises to our Lord and Savior. Sing, Sing, Sing.................................

Thirsty Deer (Or Dogs)

I was reading today in Psalm chapter 42 and in the first verse David says As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God. The first part of verse 2 says I thirst for God, the living God. That made me start thinking about being thirsty. I have been thirsty before, really thirsty and couldn't wait to get a drink of water. I have never seen a deer long for water but I'm sure it is similar to a dog. We have all seen a dog pant with drool hanging off his tongue longing for water. When we set down a bowl of water the dog goes crazy gulping the water. That made me think about my life as a Christian. I desperately want to follow God and follow His will for my life, but am I truly thirsting for Him? Are we as a Christian body truly longing for God? When we want something so bad like water, we can't wait to get it and when we get it we dive into it. That is the way we should be with God. We should thirst for Him, we should never be satisfied because we should constantly seek after Him.

In the rest of chapter 42 David fells like God has forgotten about him. His enemies are mocking and opressing him. Even though David feels like God has forgotten him he thirsts for Him anyway. David says he puts his hope in God and will still praise Him.

So lets be thirsty for God. When we think He isn't near us, we should just stop what we are doing and draw near to Him. We should be consumed by God and by His never ending love. Put your hope in God, praise Him everyday, for He has never left us or forsaken us (Heb 13:5b). Let's be like thirsty deer, or dogs. It doesn't matter which one, as long as we thirst for God.

Newspring Church

Check out Senior Pastor Perry Noble preaching the Word of God at newspring.cc Perry is an awesome man of God and really preaches God's word with conviction. Some like him, some hate him, I for one am a fan. So if you get a chance check him out. He also has a website at perrynoble.com

Scars that Save

We are in the month of December and when we think of December most of the world thinks about Christmas and Christmas presents. When I think of December I think of the night Jesus was born. Ok, I admit, I do think of Trees, lights, and presents. Why though? Why do I think of these things more than I do my Savior and the night he came into the world? The world has made Christmas so much about themselves, sure we can say we are giving like Jesus, but how many of us give expecting something in return? (That is something to think about)

But more importantly than presents, trees, lights and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation we should think first and foremost of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I think of how there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the Inn so they went to an old barn full of animals, where Mary gave birth to the Savior of the world. People denied the King before He was born and even after His death people still deny Him. Wow! That is pretty interesting to think about. While I believe the birth of Jesus is one of the most important events that ever took place in history, it is still not the most important and there is one thing that is even more important than His birth. His death.

Yes Jesus’ death was more important than anything in history ever! It is actually the most awesome event that ever took place in world history. Not WW1, WW2 or Obama being elected as the fist African American President of the United States tops Jesus’ death. Let me tell you why Jesus’ death was so important. Let me start with God, His Father…

God sent His son Jesus to earth as a human being. A living breathing human being in the flesh. God realized that there was so much sin in the world that we needed a Savior to come and save us. As I mentioned before, Jesus was born in a barn around several animals, He grew up, was a Jewish carpenter and started a ministry. He began preaching everywhere He went telling people about his Father in Heaven (God). He would tell people to follow Him, He would teach them right from wrong, and also taught about Heaven and hell. For the sake of saving my typing fingers I will say this and then get to the main point of this topic (Scars that Save). Jesus was betrayed by Judas, Judas led the Pharisees to Jesus in the garden. Jesus was captured, beaten, whipped, had His beard plucked and a crown of thorns placed upon His head. He was then nailed to a cross where he died.

Many people want to know why this is so important. Well here is why it is so important. Jesus was brutally murdered so that we could live!! What???? That is crazy……Yes, Jesus died so we can live. Jesus took on all the sin of the world and put them on His back so we can recognize this and give our hearts to Jesus. The Bible says that we will all die, but God gave His only son to save us. All we have to do is confess Jesus as Lord with our mouths, believe that He was raised on the third day and ask Him to live in our hearts. But here is where I think it goes a little deeper. We can confess all of this and our lifestyle not show any change. If we confess Jesus as Lord and ask Him to save us then our lifestyle should show what we profess. Being a Christian is more than believing, it’s about following after Jesus. We will never be just like Jesus in our earthly bodies but we can strive to be holy because He is holy. He has actually called us to be holy as well as to be imitators of Him.

So when I think about Jesus being brutally beaten and nailed to a cross I have to smile. Those images are comforting to me, yet disturbing. I don’t want to take anything away from the brutality of it all, but it is comforting to me to know that my Savior went through that so I could live! When I say live I mean live forever with Him because I am a sinner saved by grace. If you never choose Jesus you can still live but when your time on earth is finished, you will die and be tortured in hell. So if you have never given your life to Jesus, please recognize what He has done for you and surrender your life to Him. Follow after Him and live a life full of adventure, because following after Jesus is always an adventure. His scars really do save!

Deacons

What are deacons and why do we have them? This is a question I will try to answer in this study.

First off I want to say that the word deacon comes from the Greek word diakonos. When we translate the word diakonos we find that this means servant. So we can say that a “deacon” is a servant. That is interesting to me because I have seen “deacons” play many roles in the church, especially here in the south.

I feel that in the south or “Bible Belt” we have turned church into a thing of traditions and have added a lot of things to the church that wasn’t intended. The first thing I want to point out is that every church I have ever been to there were a group of men labeled “deacons” these men seemed to have more power than the pastor himself. It’s kind of like being the President of the United States. The president can come up with a bill, but that bill has to go through congress and the House of Representatives to be voted on. Basically the President of the United States has little to no power when it comes to things he wants to see happen. That is kind of what the church has done with pastors. For instance at my former church the pastor wanted to send a certain amount of money to a mission team in Mexico. For this to happen he had to first get the “deacons” of the church together and run the idea by them in a 30 minute meeting to make sure it was ok with them to present this to the church to then be voted on in a business meeting. Let me back up just a little bit. This pastor is an awesome man of God and follows God and does what He wants him to do. This guy does not do what he wants to do. He felt that God was telling him to send this money to the mission team in Mexico, but to be able to do so like I mentioned he had to run it by the “deacons” and get their approval. Then IF they approved it would have to be brought up in a church business meeting and the members of the church would vote yes or no. I will tell you how the business meeting went. There were a number of people that were concerned about sending money to a mission team, it meant they would have to take the money out of a fund instead of saving or hording that money that was already in the account. Needless to say the argument went on for 45 minutes and the pastor wound up putting the issue on the table for a month. Here is my question, if God tells a pastor to do something, why should he have to run it by a group of guys that seem to have more power than him? If God tells a pastor to do something, then that pastor should have all the power in the world to do so, the power being from God. Aren’t we all called to be obedient to God?

Let’s go back to the word “deacon.” The word means servant. We see the first “deacon” in Acts chapter 6 with Stephen. This church that we see in Acts 6 was growing. The numbers of disciples were multiplying rapidly. Then you have these guys that say there widows are being looked over in the daily distributing of the bread. Paul and the disciples get together and said that it wouldn’t be right for them to give up preaching about God to wait on tables. So they selected 7 good men of good reputation to be servants. Nowhere in scripture does it give deacons power, especially to police the pastors. “deacons” are servants, aren’t we all supposed to have the heart of a servant? Serving others is an act of worship, but when we use the term “deacon” to select men to reign and rule over all matters of the church then it doesn’t seem like worship to me.
If the term “deacon” means servant then in a sense we are all deacons, if, we are serving others. Think about it, do you think God wants us to be more concerned about what man wants or what God wants? If God is calling an individual to do something then that individual should do it, he or she shouldn’t have to go ask someone is it ok. When I was growing up if my dad told me to go load up the gloves and ball and let’s go hit some baseballs, I didn’t go to my next door neighbors house and ask them if it was ok to go do what my dad had told me to do. I did what he said. Even if it was something I didn’t want to do like take out the trash, again I didn’t go ask my neighbor if I should do it. That is the way our Heavenly Father is. He is just like our fleshly dad. When He tells us something we should do what He says, not ask somebody else’s permission.

Deacons have been given a sense of power that they are over every aspect of the Church. I find this disturbing because normally God calls a pastor to a church. I understand that when a pastor leaves a church then a search committee of some kind is formed to look for another pastor. So here is my thing, when God calls a man to a church, God will also let the search committee know that this guy is the one. A lot of times the search committee is made up of mostly deacons and a lot of times they want to choose the pastor that they want, and not necessarily the pastor that God wants. The church has given “deacons” power that doesn’t exist in scripture. On the flip side of this, a “deacon” or group of “deacons” shouldn’t be able to fire a pastor or run him off. God should be the only one to move a pastor and it is up to the pastor to hear God and follow Him.

We see in 1 Timothy chapter 3 the qualifications of church leaders and “deacons” or servants. Again no where in that chapter does it give “deacons” power to rule over the church. I feel like we should stop focusing on appointing “deacons” to rule over all the decisions of the church and start training men to be leaders in the church and teach them how to have a servants heart. Those would be true deacons according to the Bible. The pastor should follow God and do what God tells Him. If the pastor is not doing things according to God’s plan then God will give the leaders of the church the discernment they need to see what is taking place. It is then up to the leaders to sit down and discuss things with the pastor, not have him run off or fired from the church. God should do all the hiring and firing. The deaons in the church should just roll up their sleeves and do what they are called to do. Wait on tables.

My prayer is that God will open up eyes around the world about what a true deacon is. I want to see churches start training leaders to help the pastor with his work, but not rule over his work. I also want to see God start leading the churches instead of people that want only what is best for them and there families. When we see God centered churches, and churches following what God wants for them then we will see churches star filling up again.

Lets follow God’s plan and stop living a lie by the devil. Train leaders in your church that support your pastor. Have a group of servants. God bless!

Stop Kissing Toilets

I recently heard a story from a pastor that was potty training his 20 month old daughter. He said one day he was in the bathroom doing his business (number 1) when his daughter came in and saw him. She clapped her hands and smiled saying “pee pee,” she then went to the toilet and kissed it. The pastor says “No baby that is nasty, don’t kiss toilets,” and as he was saying this he picked her up. When he picked her up she wanted to give him a kiss.

Why would this girls own father not let her kiss him? That is easy, because she just kissed a toilet!! The pastor went on to say that God spoke to him saying that he had been guilty of kissing toilets all week long and then came to church on Sunday expecting to kiss God.

Immediately this spoke to my heart. How many times have we gone all week kissing toilets, or in other words living like the world and doing things that “We” want to do and not do things that God wants us to do. We live like hell all week without once worshiping our risen Savior and then we come to church on Sundays and expect to worship Him then, or “Kiss Him.” Just like the pastor would not let his daughter kiss him after she kissed the toilet, I don’t believe God will let us kiss Him on Sundays after we have turned our back on Him the rest of the week. This sort of reminds me of Judas. Are we not in a sense mocking God when we come to Him once a week and try to kiss Him? I don’t want to be like Judas, instead I want to be like Jesus because the Bible clearly says in Ephesians 5:1-2 Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children. And walk in love as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. While we can never be perfect as Jesus was when He was here on earth, we can however strive to imitate Him and be Holy because he is Holy. (1 Peter 1:16)

How are we to be Holy? One way I have thought of that would help us in our quest to be holy is worship. What is worship? According to websters.com worship is a reverent honor and homage paid to God. When I think of worship I think of someone bowing down to something greater and more powerful than them. Kind of like in movies when we see people bow down before the king and worship him. That is exactly how we are supposed to be to our King. We should bow down and worship Him. We should worship Him because He sent His only son Jesus to die on a cross for our sins. The Bible tells us that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) But the good news is that God proves His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). God loves us so much that he gave his own son to die on a cross for us, and whoever believes in Him will have everlasting life (John 3:16). To have everlasting life we have to give our lives to Jesus, invite Him to cleanse us and forgive us of our sin, in other words we need to be saved. Once we are saved then true worship begins. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead then you will be saved (Romans 10:9). Everyone that calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13). This is why I worship God. He gave His sons life up for mine. Jesus was murdered on a cross so that I may live! I can’t truly wrap my head around that, but I thank God for his son Jesus everyday and the new life that I have in Him. Now that is a reason to praise God!

But, how do we worship? I grew up thinking that worship was the singing we did for 30 minutes before the pastor came up and delivered a message. I have since realized that worship is not even about singing. Singing is not worship. However, singing is a tool used to worship a living God. But singing is not the only way we worship. Here are a few other ways that we can worship God throughout the week and not just by singing on Sunday mornings.

Worship through Prayer – When we pray we are usually thanking God for something He has done or asking Him to help us. We recognize that God is awesome and we worship Him through prayer because we know He is almighty and can do anything.

Worship by reading the Bible – All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Worship through giving/tithing – When we worship through tithing or giving we are being obedient to God’s word found in the Bible. (See how this ties together nicely) The Bible tells us to bring 10% of our earnings to God. You can check this out in Malachi 3:8-10. If we don’t tithe we are robbing God, but by tithing we are being obedient therefore worshiping God.

Worship by Serving Others/Being Obedient - I have tied serving others and being obedient together because when we serve others then we are being obedient to Gods word. God tells us to serve others. Jesus spent his life on earth serving others, He was a true servant in every sense of the word. So if we are going to be imitators of God, then we should serve others and be like Jesus. We should also be obedient to His word (The Bible). We should live according to Gods standards and not the worlds. When we live our daily lives according to His standards and not the worlds then again we are worshiping on a daily basis. Everyday we should deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Jesus (Mark 8:34).

Worship with music – Finally I am at what used to be my biggest misconception about worship and what worship really is. I always thought this was the only way to worship but now I see that it is not. However, music and instruments are another way to worship. The Bible tells us time and time again to worship the Lord with stringed instruments, loud crashing symbols, sing praises and hymns to God. Throughout the book of Psalms the word tells us to do these things. We have to be careful when we Praise and worship God with our voices and instruments. If we are just singing the songs or just playing the instruments then we are not worshiping. Worship begins in our heart and in our spirit. We must worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Musical instruments and our voices are an added bonus when worshiping. We just have to know how to worship using both tools.

These 5 things are ways that we can worship God on a daily basis and not just on Sundays. Our focus should be to kiss God daily which comes from denying ourselves daily and taking up our cross (Mark 8:34). When we truly deny ourselves and follow Jesus then we will worship Him daily. Denying ourselves has to happen every morning when we wake up. Just like we have a decision on what type of cereal we want for breakfast that morning, we have to make the decision whether or not we will deny ourselves and follow Jesus or not. If we don’t follow Jesus then we will be following a worldly standard that will lead us into a life of sin.

My challenge to whoever reads this is to stop kissing toilets and start worshiping our beautiful Savior Jesus who died for our sins and shed blood that paid our debt in full. All we have to do is accept His free gift of Salvation. Without salvation we can’t worship. Worship begins when we believe in Jesus for the first time. Our lives should be lives filled with worship, and we should worship Him daily.

So stop kissing toilets and have a Worship Filled Life!!

From the Inside Out

This is my first attempt to start a blog. Basically this blog will be about my thoughts as I am on this journey of following after Jesus. I am the Worship Pastor at Adventure Life Church in Saltillo, Mississippi and our moto or slogan if you will is F.A.J.I.T.A. Not only do most of us like to eat Fajitas it also means Following After Jesus Is The Adventure. I have learned that this is true. Following after Jesus is a true adventure. The Bible calls us to be holy because Jesus is holy. I started thinking about how to be holy. One way I have thought about that would help me in my journey to be holy is worship. Worship has to come from from the inside out, not the outside in. Anyone can make themselves look good on the outside but we have to truly worship a risen Savior from the inside with all of our mind , body and spirit. When we worship God from the inside out then our lifestyle and our actions will show a life of holiness. When we truly seek adn follow after Jesus we worship him and are obedient to him then we are striving to be holy. It's an interesting thing for me to think about. I don't want to just look like a Christian, I want to act like a Christian. So I hope anyone that reads this will see that worship starts on the inside, being obedient starts on the inside and truly following after Jesus starts on the inside. So lets start worshiping our God and being obedient to Him remembering that is starts from the inside and moves outward. Let your lights shine bright and do not be a stumbling block for another.