God – Page 10 – Thoughts from a Crosseyed Jesus Freak

Christian Living, Encouragement, God, Ministry

The Most Loving Thing You Can Do…

There is a growing trend that I’ve been noticing for a while. If you’re honest with yourself, you’ve probably seen it as well. Some of you maybe have even gotten caught up in it. I get it. It’s easy to do, and our human nature wants us to believe it. But I believe it is a dangerous trend that can end up hurting more people than we could ever help with it. What is it? It’s the idea that everything is alright, nothing is as bad as we could make it out to be, and in the end, God’s love wins.

Let me say one thing before I go any further. Yes, in the end God’s love wins, but not in the way that many are trying to argue now. God wins in the end. But for us that means we have to be in a right relationship with Him. There are going to be those that, through their decisions, do not end up on the right side of eternity. Jesus went to the cross for our sins, and it is through His blood that we have a chance at a relationship with God. But that means making Jesus our Lord and Savior. That means attempting to live the life that He has laid out for us. That means loving others as our selves and becoming servants.

There is a picture of a church sign that has been circulating through social media the past few days. I’ve seen in pop up a few different times from different connections I have. At first glance, I was all for it (even though I truly do have a disdain for church signs, because most do more harm than good). It reads, “Just love everyone I’ll sort’em out later. —God”. While I agree with this on the surface, I think there is a deeper meaning that people are trying to take out of this that, in the end, is just plain wrong.

Love Everyone

Yes, we are supposed to love everyone. I agree with that wholeheartedly, even though I understand that some people are just down right hard to love at times. That’s ok. God never said it was going to be easy to follow His commands, just worth it. The deeper part of this, however, is a potential issue. With society the way it is today, I see people taking this as saying “Never correct anyone, never disagree with someone, live with tolerance, even if they are doing something that is completely opposite of what the Word of God says.” In other words, there is no right and wrong, so just love each other and God will sort it out in the end.

Here’s the problem with that. If someone is going against the very Word of God, and you don’t try to help them see where they are wrong because you love them, that is the very opposite of love. And that is where I am afraid our society is heading. There are differences in how we need to react to others depending if they are fellow Christ followers or not. I’ve written here before about how we can never expect a culture that doesn’t claim to follow Jesus to live by the morals that we try to live by. And that is very much true here as well. Pointing out to someone that they are not living according to the Bible when they don’t claim to be trying to follow Jesus is not the best way to go about this.

But think about it. You wouldn’t let someone walk into the path of an oncoming bus that they didn’t see just because they don’t see it would you? That’s why we need to be building relationships with others and introducing them to Jesus. If not, they are just walking into the path of destruction.

Penn Penn Jillette is one of the members of the duo better known as Penn and Teller. They have a very famous show in Las Vegas, where they perform regularly. Penn is a very outspoken atheist, but I came across a video he posted a few years ago on Youtube that opened my eyes to something profound. In the video (which you can watch here), Penn describes meeting a man from the audience of one of his shows. The man gives Penn a Gideons pocket edition New Testament, and tells Penn about Jesus. In the front of the Bible, the man has written contact info down so that Penn can contact him to ask questions if any arise from reading.

Now Penn states directly that he knows there is no god, a point that I disagree with wholeheartedly. But he goes on to talk about how much respect he has for the man that approached him. He says that he has no love for any Christian that doesn’t try to share their faith. Penn goes on to use the analogy of a bus, saying if you see a bus coming that someone else doesn’t, you do everything in your power to pull them out of the path of the bus. This is where it gets really interesting. He says if you believe in God, heaven and hell, how much do you have to hate someone to not try to tell them about it.

Penn Jillette makes one the best arguments for evangelism that I’ve ever seen. Not only is it not loving to not share your faith with someone that doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus, an atheist claims that you must hate someone not to do so. Think about that? Love everyone and God will sort them out later. How can you love someone and just sit idly and watch them go to hell?

How much do you have to hate someone to not share your faith with them?

Now, there is another side of this that we need to deal with as well. What about fellow Christ followers? Just love them. Never correct them. Never call each other out for sinful behavior, right? It’s not that simple. In Jesus’ most famous sermons, recording in the early chapters of Matthew, and known to us as the “Sermon on the Mount”, Jesus addresses judging. I’ve heard this passage used countless times trying to say that we should not judge each other. And while there is some truth in that, it is not entirely what Jesus is talking about. In Matthew 7:1-5, Jesus is recorded as saying;

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

I hear most people talk about how can we judge someone else when we have our own sin. And that is true. Jesus asks how can we help our brother get the speck out of his eye with a log in our own. But most stop there. Jesus continued. He said to take the log out of our own eye (get rid of the sin) and then we will see clearly to remove the speck from out brother’s eye. In other words, we are called to help one another remove sin from our lives. Not just let each other continue in sin with a log in our eyes.

So I would say the same thing about our fellow Christ followers. How much do you have to hate them to not try to help them correct sin in their lives? It’s not judging them, it is loving them. God even disciplines us because He loves us. Sometimes He uses others to point out where we’ve go Love Everyone ne wrong. But make not mistake about it, His discipline comes from a place of love.

“Just love everyone I’ll sort’em out later.—God” I’m fine with that, as long as you realize this. Sometimes, the most loving thing you can do for someone is point out that they are sinful and in need of a loving Savior.

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Christian Living, Encouragement, God, Life, Preaching

A Light Shines in the Darkness

As I woke up one morning this week, the news flashed across my iPhone screen about another potential terrorist attack, this time in London, England. As I type these words, five have been confirmed dead, including one police officer. There are at least 20 injured. The person responsible for the attack is thought to have acted alone, and is also dead. We see this all too often anymore. Every time we turn around it seems some kind of violence is happening in our world, rather it be nation against nation, terrorism, or individuals against each other. There is no doubt about the fact that we live in a dark world. I’m not sure if it is actually getting darker, or if it’s just because the world is so connected through technology and we hear more about what is going on. But there is no doubt that we live in a dark and dying world.

Just here in Carlsbad, we are reminded almost daily how dark and broken our world is. We see a city that has the potential for a bright future, but we also see a city with a bad drug and alcohol abuse problem. In the past few weeks, friends of mine have lost close friends suddenly. There are many other things I could type, but I think I’ve made my point. This world seems to be lost in darkness.

There is light, however, we just have to where to look for it. When we see the void in our lives because of the darkness, we try to fill it. That’s why drug and alcohol abuse are so prevalent. That’s why there is so much violence in this world. But, like I said, there is a light. There is something to fill that void that we feel in our lives. That light is Jesus Christ. We’re in the middle of a sermon series here at Central called “I AM Jesus: Who Jesus Claims to Be”. In this series we are looking at what is called the “Seven I Am Statements” that Jesus makes in the book of John. One of those statements that He makes is “I Am the Light of the World”.

There is so much packed into this one statement that we actually took two weeks looking at it. Jesus actually makes the statement twice, once in John 8 and then again in John 9. The setting for these claims are related, but there is enough difference in them to take them one at a time in our sermons. In John 8, the setting is the Temple. Specifically the Court of the Women, in front of the collection areas for the offering, probably early during the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus is teaching in the courtyard, and as usual, a big crowd has gathered to hear Him. This setting is important, because on the first night of the Feast of Tabernacles, the Courtyard of the Women is illuminated with four giant candelabras.

It is said that the Temple would be aglow from all over Jerusalem during this ceremony. It is likely either during this time, or the next day, when it is still fresh on everyone’s mind that Jesus made His first “I Am the Light of the World” statement. In John 8:12, Jesus is recorded as saying;

12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Think about that. Jesus is saying, possibly with the backdrop of the Temple being illuminated in a great way, that He is the light of the world. Not the Temple. Not the Pharisees who made it almost impossible to follow God, not even Moses or Abraham. He is the light of the world.

As impressive as the Temple had to be illuminated the way it was, Jesus is saying, “I shine a light in the darkness of this world, and only through Me can you see”.

After this conversation that eventually ended with the Teachers of the Law picking up stones in an attempt to stone Him, Jesus is with just His twelve disciples. They come across a man that had been blind from birth and the disciples ask Jesus if it was because of the man’s sin or his parents’ sin that he was blind (The Jews, at this time, believed that one could sin in the womb, and therefore thought that this man could have caused his affliction. I don’t have time to go into too much detail with this now though). This led to Jesus making His second “I am the light of the world” statement. This time around, it was just the twelve disciples and the man Jesus was getting ready to heal that was present for the statement. John 9:1-5 records the event this way;

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Jesus continues and heals the man, however, this is done on the Sabbath and that gets the Pharisees all in a twist again. They cannot understand how someone “from God” would “clearly” break the Sabbath. But you see, Jesus knew exactly what He was doing. He was continuing His teaching from the Temple from the previous chapter. He used the physical blindness of the man he healed to lead in to a discussion on what He considered an even bigger issue; Spiritual blindness.

He’s basically saying to the Pharisees, and to us, that we are spiritually blind. But through Him we can receive our sight. Jesus knows the darkness that is in the world, but He has the cure. In His own words, He is the light of the world. The Pharisees bring in the man healed of blindness and question him. They are not satisfied with his answers, and eventually kick him out. That’s when Jesus enters the picture again. John 9:35-41 records the rest of the story;

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

There is no question what Jesus is claiming here. He is claiming to be the Messiah. He is claiming to be the Son of God. And He is claiming that only through Him can we truly see in this dark and dying world. That is because He is the light of the world. That is because only through Him do we have a relationship with God the Father. You want to fill the void of this life? You want to see clearly in the darkness? John, continuing the thought of Jesus as light in this world, writes in I John 1:5-7;

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Encouragement, God

What One Over-Zealous Dad Reminded Me About God

This season of college basketball has been exciting. We are down to the final sixteen teams vying for a National Championship, and there really doesn’t seem to be a clear cut favorite in my opinion. Yes, I hope that Kentucky will win out, but there are at least eight teams that have a legitimate chance to win it all. The next couple of weekends should be really exciting to watch.

March Madness

There has been one thing this season, however, that has been really frustrating and distracting. And it doesn’t even have anything to do with a player, team, or coach. It’s a father of one of the best players in college this year. LaVar Ball, the dad of UCLA Bruins star Lonzo Ball, has really made this a miserable season if you pay any attention to the sports world. He can’t keep his mouth shut, and it is embarrassing. Lonzo is arguably one of the best players on the college level this year, and any parent should be proud of his effort on the court. But his dad takes it a little too far.

LeVar has gone on record numerous times over the course of this season, making ridiculous claims about his son, and about himself. He has claimed that his son is, at this moment, better than two-time defending NBA MVP Steph Curry. He actually said that they should switch Lonzo and Steph, and that that would make the Golden State Warriors better. He has stated that if his son is going to sign a shoe endorsement contract, then the number to start at is $1,000,000,000. That’s One Billion.

LaVar, who played in college himself, averaging 2 points per game, stated that he would destroy Michael Jordan in a game of one on one, both being in their prime. When other NBA greats stepped in to call him out on this unbelievable statement, he argued that he would beat them too. And most recently, he got personal with LeBron James, stating that his sons (he has two more that are still playing high school ball) are set up better to succeed than LeBron’s kids. That prompted LeBron to go on record stating to leave his kids out of it.

Basically, Mr. Ball thinks really highly of himself and his kids. I’m all for having confidence, but this is more about ego than it is confidence. He keeps running his mouth, and personally, I feel that he is actually hurting his sons’ futures. Think about the NBA teams that might want Lonzo to play for them. They are going to have to think long and hard about whether they want to put up with LaVar. No matter the talent of Lonzo, if I was a coach or owner in the NBA, I wouldn’t want to put up with his dad unless there were some major steps taken to ensure that LeVar was not interfering.

As I was thinking about the Ball family and all of this earlier today, I did draw a parallel that I had never thought of before. And while it is not exactly the same, there is enough to it make the connection. Let me say this. LaVar goes too far in trying to promote his son. He talks too much, and brags too much. But he sees greatness in his son. He sees someone with a great potential.

God sees us doing great things for the Kingdom, even though He knows that we are going to mess up.

And I have to think that that is what God sees when He looks at us. God is not out there bragging more than He should. But He sees something that He created, and looks on us with pride. He sees us doing great things for the Kingdom, even though He knows that we are going to mess up. Look all the way back to the Creation account in Genesis 1. God says that it is good after each of the first five days, meaning that what He created those days was good in His sight. Then the sixth day arrives and He creates man in His own image. Genesis 1:27-31 records day six;

27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. (emphasis mine)

What was different on the sixth day? He created mankind in His own image. We have the image of God living in us, and because of that, God looks on us with pride. That doesn’t mean that He is not going to hold us accountable when we sin. He did that even with Adam and Eve in the garden. He kicked them out of His presence because He could not be around sin. But He also had a plan to bring all of us back into His presence from the beginning as well. And that plan was Jesus Christ.

And that plan was Jesus Christ.

It’s Jesus willingly going to the cross that convinces me beyond a shadow of a doubt that God sees potential in us. He has pride in us, even though we sin. And He willingly sacrificed His son on the cross to pay the debt of our sins that we could never ever pay on our own. He continues to see our potential as well. How do I know that? He allows us to be a part of His work on Earth, when He could easily do His will without us. He gives us free will, meaning that we can betray Him, and many of us do. But that free will also gives us the potential to love God with a true love that only appears through free will.

It’s Jesus willingly going to the cross that convinces me beyond a shadow of a doubt that God sees potential in us.

Parents discipline their children out of love and wanting their child to reach their potential. So yes, there can and will be consequences when we sin. The author of Hebrews reminds us that God does discipline us, but it is out of love. Hebrews 12:7-11 reads;

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

He disciplines because He loves, and because He loves, He see potential in us. Even in your sin, I want you to remember how much God loves you, and what He has done for you through His love. He has had a great patience with all of us. LaVar Ball no doubt loves his son. I’m just grateful that God has a different way of showing His love for us instead of bragging and making claims that can’t be backed up. Paul put it this way in Romans 5:6-8;

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

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Christian Living, Encouragement, God

Where Does Your Passion Lay?

Humans are created to be passionate. We all have different passions and that is what makes us unique. But what we have in common is that we should be passionate about something. Some are passionate about sports. Others are passionate about food. Still others are passionate about reading or writing. As Christ followers, it is my prayer that at least one of your passions is our mission of sharing Christ with others, and being transformed more and more into His image daily.

Let me back up just a moment and tell you what got me thinking about our passions. Back at the end of February, while I was thinking through and working on our churches March newsletter, I was trying to figure out what to write about. I remembered that just a few days before, February 23, was the “Shine the Light on Slavery” day. You see, there are more people in slavery and human trafficking today than at any time in history. When I realized that I had just posted about this, trying to shine a light on a very broken part of our world, I thought what better topic to cover in our newsletter.

End It

Em passion My first thought was to write the article, but also to contact a friend of ours that has spent years researching and fighting this epidemic. I thought it would be good to get some statistics from her to help the article out. Then I had one of my best ideas I’ve had in a while. Why write the article myself when I could ask Em to write it as a guest post for Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak and our church newsletter? I called Em, and while she was excited for the opportunity, she had too much going on to be able to write the article for March. We agreed that she would write it for our April newsletter.

This past weekend, she sent me her first draft, and we are in the process of editing and proofing it now. But this whole process is what has got me thinking about passion. Em is passionate about ending human trafficking and sexual exploitation of people. And you can tell from her writing. I won’t go into too much detail now because I don’t want to take away from her article that will come out sometime next week.

Here’s the deal. When you are passionate about something, other people can tell. When there is a passion in your soul for something, it takes a prominent place in your life. For Em, she has spent time overseas, working with girls that were rescued from the sex slave trade. She looks for opportunities to raise awareness anywhere and everywhere she can about this issue. And she does it because of an even bigger passion in her life. Her ultimate passion is Jesus Christ. She does all she does about human trafficking because of her relationship with Jesus.

When there is a passion in your soul for something, it takes a prominent place in your life.

I try to live with the ultimate passion in my life being Jesus as well. That’s why I preach. He’s the best thing that has ever happened to me, and because of that I have a passion of preaching His word, trying to introduce others to Him. Jesus is why I write here on Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak. I have a passion for writing, but it’s not just because I like to write. I like to shine a light on Jesus and help others in their walk of faith.

Recently, through some of the sermons I’ve preached, books I’ve read, and the writing challenge I just completed, I’ve developed another passion. One that I should have had for a long time. But I have a passion for trying to get to know my neighbors and building a relationship with them so that I can, along with my wife, share Jesus with them.

Scripture is filled with passionate people. Some of those people had their passions in the wrong place. Think Saul of the Old Testament, and even Solomon. They ended up being passionate about the things of this world. And it cost them in the end. Paul, once he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, became passionate about spreading Jesus to anyone and everyone that would listen to him. Jesus’ disciples, minus Judas, became passionate about taking the gospel to the ends of the earth as well. And believe me, their passion was real. I don’t have time or space to go through all of it here, but only one of the apostles died a natural death after a long life. That was John. All of the others were tortured and martyred for the passionate following of and teaching Jesus.

Scripture is filled with passionate people.

One story sticks out in a vivid way, however, when I think of passion for Jesus. That’s the story of the first person killed for his faith in Jesus. In other words, he became the first martyr in Christianity. That’s the story of Stephen. You can find it recorded in the book of Acts. Specifically in the sixth and seventh chapters. You can read it here and here if you’re not familiar with the story. Let me give you a short synopsis before I wrap up. Stephen was chosen to be a servant. He was helping by taking care of some widows, but he was also sharing his faith. No one that would challenge him could actually stand up to his arguments. The religious leaders of the day (the Sanhedrin) seized him and put him on trial. Stephen boldly told them the history of the Jews and stated that they killed Jesus, who was the Son of God. And because of this, they killed him. His passion was Jesus, and it didn’t matter what he faced in opposition, he stayed focused on Him.

What about you? What are you passionate about? There is nothing wrong with being passionate about food, or sports, or reading etc. But is that your only passion? If people were to look at your life, could they tell that you were passionate about Jesus because of something that you do with your life? And I don’t just mean “going to church on Sundays”. Is there something in your life that you do because of your passion with Jesus, and it costs you something? Time, money, friendships, just some of the things a passionate relationship with Jesus could cost you. But it is so worth it in the end. I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life.

What about you? What are you passionate about? There is nothing wrong with being passionate about food, or sports, or reading etc. But is that your only passion?

So let me ask you again. What are you passionate about? Don’t have a good answer right now? Figure it out and start putting your passion to work for Jesus Christ. It was His passion for you that led Him to the cross. Return His passion. It might cost something now, but I promise it is so worth it.

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Christian Living, Encouragement, God, Life, Ministry

Pressing On!

ANW Perseverance. I just can’t seem to get the word out of my head the last few days. It keeps coming up in different ways, almost playing a constant theme everywhere I look. My wife and I enjoy the show “American Ninja Warrior”, and so many stories of the athletes that compete there are all about perseverance. Just a couple of weeks ago, they aired their all-star challenge, and we got to see some of our favorites compete, and persevere through obstacles that they have never faced before. Some of them even got to compete and complete obstacles that had taken them our during the regular season a few months before.

ETSU My home town college basketball team, the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers from Johnson City, TN have shown some great perseverance this season. This past Monday evening they won the Souther Conference Tournament, earning a spot to play in the NCAA March Madness Tournament that kicks off next week. This was a team that only had one shot, winning their conference tournament, and they did so beating the number one seed UNCG team that had beaten ETSU twice already this season.

Even a movie that Kelley and I watched just a couple nights ago was full of the theme of perseverance. The 2001 film The Musketeer is a lesser know versions of the story often known as the “Three Musketeers”. In it, the main character perseveres through the hardships of life after his parents are murdered in front of him. He is trained in the ways of the Musketeers and travels to Paris to join them, only to find that they have been disbanded. Not to give away too much of the story if you haven’t seen the movie (or any of them), I’ll just say the rest of the story is about pressing on through hardship after hardship to accomplish his task. In other words, he continues to persevere.

Much of this life, especially as a Christ follower, is about perseverance. That’s why I have been noticing this theme all around me recently. Life may go smoothly for a while, but inevitably, it is going to get rough again at some point. Like I told our faith family this past Sunday, Jesus never promised following Him would be easy, only that it would be worth it in the end.

Much of this life is about perseverance.

The fact of the matter is life is not fair, easy, or smooth most of the time. How can we expect it to be easy when Jesus Himself said that we must take up our cross daily? Luke records Jesus’ words in Luke 9:23-26;

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. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 26 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

So, without perseverance, without pressing on through all of life’s hardships, then we will just simply get overwhelmed. We are going to face trials of many kinds in this life. But we have to keep focused on Jesus. We have to be focused on the goal rather then what is going on around us at the time. Paul knew this first hand. He lived it. That is why I take so much comfort in his words to the church in Philippi. He starts out talking about how much he could have boasted in himself at one point in his life, but he realized that only in Jesus Christ is there anything to boast about. Then he wraps up this section by stating that he realizes that he hasn’t obtained this yet, but he is going to keep on pressing toward the goal. He writes in Philippians 3:1-14;

Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

We have to be focused on the goal rather then what is going on around us at the time.

That’s my goal. Forgetting what is behind me. The good and the bad things that I’ve accomplished in my life mean nothing if I don’t keep focused on the prize ahead. This life is a battle, and perseverance through Jesus Christ is the only way to get through it. Not only do I take comfort in the words of Paul here in Philippians, I take comfort in the idea that he accomplished his goal. Not that he was perfect, none of us will be. But his words to Timothy in II Timothy 4:6-8, near the end of his life, are words that I want to be able to echo in my own life. Paul writes;

6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

May we all press on, forgetting what is behind and strain for what is ahead. That’s the type of perseverance I long for in my life.

Christian Living, God, Writing

The End is Near (Of “My 500 Word Challenge)

my-500-words As I am coming to the end of “My 500 Word Challenge”, I want to take a moment to write about what you can expect from “Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak” here at crosseyedjesusfreak.com. I’m on day 28, or according to the e-mails from Jeff Goins, day 26 of the 31 day writing challenge. I’ve gotten a lot out of it, and am excited to continue this writing habit that I have developed.

One thing that happened during this challenge that was unexpected is that I have actually posted on my blog every day except for one. I wrote that day, but decided to keep the article private because of what I dealt with in it. My original plan was to write for the blog for the first half of the challenge and then focus on writing for my book. I have done a little work on the book idea so far, but I kept writing for the blog more than I thought I would. I don’t want to completely abandon my writing on here, but I do need to focus a little more on my book after the challenge is over, if I ever hope to actually complete the book.

So, here is what I plan on doing. I am going to attempt to continue to write everyday, but most of that will be focused just on the book idea for the time being. As for “Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak”, my plan is to post three times a week, not counting articles that I write for the newspaper here in Carlsbad and our church newsletter. I will continue to post them on here as well, but those will not count toward my three articles a week goal.

Along with the commitment for three articles a week, I want to attempt to be as consistent as I can be in when they are posted. So you can expect to see articles posted on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. That is my commitment to you.

I want to thank you all for following along with me during this challenge as well. I’ve enjoyed seeing your “likes”, comments, and new followers along the way. But I have never wanted to be about me, or getting my name out there. I try to remind myself daily that my worth is not found in how many people are reading my articles, or how many likes and retweets I get through social media. It’s definitely a temptation to find our whole worth in those things, especially in this heavily digitalized society that we live in. My goal in my writing has always been to point to Jesus, and I will continue that.

My goal in my writing has always been to point to Jesus, and I will continue that.

I want to write about topics that help us all walk this Christian life better together. Occasionally, I have focused on writing specifically for ministers, and will continue to do that as well from time to time. Everything will have some connection to my relationship with Jesus, no matter what the topic is, because that is the most important thing in my life.

I want to write about topics that help us all walk this Christian life better together.

Through the rest of this week, I plan to write each day for “Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak” as I wrap up my time in “My 500 Word Challenge”, meaning you can expect to see articles through Saturday. On Monday, March 13, I will begin the Monday, Wednesday, Friday commitment.

Thanks again for reading my thoughts! I hope that you have been blessed, encouraged, and maybe even enlightened along the way. And it is my hope and prayer that you will continue to be as we continue this life as Christ followers together. May we all become crosseyed when life starts to distract us!

Encouragement, God, Life

Unexpected Encouragement: God’s Perfect Timing

Isn’t God’s encouragement amazing? His timing is perfect, but almost every time we are surprised when it happens. Just yesterday, I wrote about some questions that were hanging heavy on my mind and my heart. I wouldn’t say that I was depressed, but I was feeling a little down. I was feeling inadequate, and had lost my focus on God’s amazing grace. I had forgotten that my strength is found in Him and not on anything that I do on my own.

God’s timing is perfect, but almost every time we are surprised when it happens.

Even after I had written those words yesterday morning as I was preparing to preach, God began to remind me of who He is, and whose I am. Through the music i was listening to, He reminded me that His grace is enough. You can read all about that here. But it went further than that. As we went into worship with our faith family yesterday, other things just kept happening to remind me of God’s all sufficient power in my life.

God began to remind me of who He is, and whose I am.

Then the kicker happened today. I got an unexpected message on Twitter from a friend that I hadn’t talked to in a long time (I wrote about him here). All he asked was for my phone number. Thinking that he had probably just gotten a new phone or something and just wanted to make sure he had my number if he needed to reach me later, I sent him my number and didn’t think much else about it. That was until about three hours later and my phone rang. Byron’s name popped up on the caller id.

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(Left to right: Kelley, Me, Byron)

I wasn’t expecting to hear from him. Like I said, I hadn’t talked to him in a long time. But here he was calling. I answered, and he went on to tell my about how much my writing here has been an encouragement to him lately. How he is always excited when he sees a new article pop up on my Twitter account. How my text to him a couple of months ago about Chris Tomlin’s “How Great Is Our God” had been an answer to his prayers, as he is considering going back to school to get some form of degree in Worship Ministry and potentially pursue vocational ministry.

I was blown away. Here he was thanking me for being an encouragement to him, and how God had used something from me to help give him confirmation about his prayers. But what I was able to tell him is that his phone call was an answer to prayer for me. He was encouraging me through thanking me for my encouragement to him. I love writing on here, but hearing from someone that is excited to read what I write gave me so much encouragement to keep doing what I am doing. And it gave me some extra motivation to press on and actually write my book.

So, I’ll say it again. Isn’t God’s encouragement and timing amazing?! He knows exactly what we need and when we need it. Byron and I were best friends in middle school and high school. Then I moved away for college to pursue ministry as my calling. We still consider each other great friends, but distance and life happens. I was a groomsman in his wedding, and he was the best man in my wedding, but we just don’t have the opportunity to talk that much anymore. Yet today, when he called out of the blue, it was like no distance or time had ever passed. We picked up where we had left off pretty much. And that is because we have the bond of not only friendship, but also brotherhood through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Isn’t God’s encouragement and timing amazing?!

If you are down or discouraged, take heart my friends. God knows your pain and He knows your need. You never know when and where His encouragement is going to come from. Keep your head up and trust God!

Christian Living, Encouragement, God, Life, Ministry

Busyness as a Badge of Honor

I could not believe what I had just read. In a lot of ways, I still can’t. As I was getting ready for my day this morning, I was scrolling through Facebook on my phone, and an article popped up from “Church Leaders” that lead to the actual article hosted on churchplants.com. They title of the article got my attention, but I never thought that it would actually read like it did. The article was titled “Do Christians Spend Too MUCH Time Studying the Bible?”

Do Christians Spend Too MUCH Time Studying the Bible?

I opened the article, fully expecting to read an argument for more Bible study, or maybe a little different approach to Bible study. What I read, however, was an argument from a minister claiming that we study the Bible too much. An argument that early Christians didn’t even have the Bible as we know it (which is true), and because of that, we shouldn’t waste as much time studying scripture as we do. I’m still in shock over what I read. If you’d like to read the article, you can find it here. Continue reading “Busyness as a Badge of Honor” →

Christian Living, Encouragement, God, Ministry

Celebration or Competition?

We are in a competition. At least that’s what most of us think if we are really honest with ourselves. It’s not a good or God-honoring competition either. What I mean is that Christ followers look at churches that they don’t attend as direct competition. Even ministers look at other ministers and other churches, mostly local but sometimes anywhere, as direct competition.

We compare ourselves to what the church down the street, across the state, or even around the world is doing to win souls. If we seem to be more successful, at least in the eyes of the world, we look down on these other ministers and churches, asking, “Why don’t they do more?” Or, if we don’t measure up to what another church is doing, we get down on ourselves. Maybe we even turn a little green with envy. In other words, jealousy rears its ugly head.

Christ followers look at churches that they don’t attend as direct competition.

When this occurs, we end up hurting the efforts of the Church in presenting Jesus to the world. Others are aware of the jealousy and competition that we like to pretend doesn’t exist. And it hurts our ability to successfully share Jesus. Even if it doesn’t show publicly, this competition among ourselves hurts more than it helps. When we compare ourselves to another church or minister, we are forgetting two very important truths.

God has placed us in the context that we are in to do His work (that context is unique, and what we accomplish is unique to that context.
We are all in this together. This should not be a competition. Instead, we should be willing to help each other out. We shouldn’t look down on that church down the street that does things different than we do. They are hopefully reaching a group of people that we wouldn’t even know where to begin with. As for churches that we consider being better than us, instead of becoming jealous of their success, why not celebrate the souls that they are bringing into the kingdom!

It’s easier said than done. I get that. When you’re serving in a church and other churches seem to be having baptisms every week, and it’s been a while for you, that jealousy creeps in without us even realizing it sometimes. It can be frustrating, and that leads to us wanting to compare ourselves to another church that is in an entirely different context than we are.

I write this on a Tuesday morning, coming off of a normal Sunday a couple days ago at Central Christian Church. We had a few people out of town or sick, so our numbers were down a little, but not the lowest I’ve seen. It would be easy for a little depression and jealousy to creep in though. And it almost did. But I caught it early, and turned that jealousy into a celebration. That’s why I write this to you today.

I’m asking you to celebrate with me.

What am I celebrating? A ministry friend of mine in Kentucky, who went to Cincinnati Christian University with me, had a baptism last Sunday that he posted about this past Sunday. On top of that, another ministry friend, who is a college age minister at University Church of Christ in Las Cruces, NM was at a retreat this past weekend. They had at least 10 people that gave their lives to Christ and were baptized during the retreat. Another minister that I know, whom I also went to Cincinnati Christian University with, is the campus minister at Trader’s Point Christian Church’s new downtown campus in Indianapolis. They launched the new campus this past Sunday. Not only did they have over 1,600 people attend the opening of this campus, 42 people gave their lives to Christ through the obedience of baptism. Now each one of those 50+ lives is worth celebrating whether you know them or not.

And here is the great thing. I just wrote about 50+ people coming to faith in Jesus Christ over the last couple of Sundays. Those are just the ones that I know about through social media. I promise there are more that we can celebrate. You see, we are all a part of the body of Christ. There should be no competition among us. No jealousy. Only support and celebrating wins for the kingdom! Because, again, we’re all in this together!

Christian Living, Encouragement, God, Life, Ministry, Preaching

Only God Can Change a Human Heart

We just finished a six-week sermon series at Central Christian today called Life on Mission. This may have just been my favorite series that we have done to this point, and it has completely given me a new perspective in how we should be striving to live this Christian journey that we are on.

There was a thought that I presented today which is critical in how we live our lives as Christ followers. It was straight from Tim Harlow’s book, Life on Mission, and it is something that we all need to understand for our own lives. You see, our human nature gets in the way and we often try to do things on our own, instead of learning to trust and wait on God. This even creeps into our lives when we are trying to share Jesus with others. We think that we can save them. In reality, however, if it depends on us, we’re in trouble.

Only God can change a human heart.

Only God can change a human heart. In other words, it’s not really up to us in the end. We are to partner with God on this life on mission, but it is only through His power that we are successful. So how do we partner with God in this mission? We pray. We develop a prayer life where we are consistently praying for individuals that we know of that do not know Jesus yet. And we don’t give up when we think we aren’t seeing results.

Harlow told a story in the book about a lady that prayed daily for 40 years that her husband would accept Jesus. It would have been easy to give up after praying daily for someone for that long, but she didn’t. And after 40 years of prayer, her husband accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior and was baptized. Wow! But what happens if she had given up after 35 or even 39 years?

The problem we face today is that we don’t always see God’s timing. We want things done the way we see fit, and in our timing, but that’s just not reality. God sees the whole picture, so sometimes He answers those prayers in ways that we don’t see coming. Maybe, just maybe, when that happens our faith weakens sometimes.

The question was brought up today about strengthening our faith. How do we strengthen our faith in God? How do we develop a prayer life that we can honestly say that we “pray continually” like I Thessalonians 5 tells us to? Without going into a lot of detail, there are a few things that I think we can do to strengthen our prayer lives and our faith at the same time.

First, we just need to pray. How do we strengthen our prayer lives? We pray.

First, we just need to pray. How do we strengthen our prayer lives? We pray. Often. It needs to get to the point where we we might not even realize that we have started praying over a situation, yet we are. Prayer needs to become second nature and a habit in our lives. And the only way that that happens is by doing it more and more. Trust me, I know that that is much easier said than done, but it is something that we can all attempt to improve.

Second, we need to be grounded in the Word of God.

Second, we need to be grounded in the Word of God. We need to be studying scripture on our own and with other people. If we aren’t connected to scripture on a daily basis, then it is going to be hard for our faith to be strong. You want to strengthen your faith? Study and meditate on the Bible. That’s a great place to start.

Finally, don’t try to do all of this on your own.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, don’t try to do all of this on your own. Get connected to a community of Christ followers that are willing to walk beside of you and help you make prayer and Bible study a bigger part of your life. Not only do you need to have others in your life that are more mature in their faith to help you grow, you need to be investing in others that haven’t been at it as long as you have. There is a principle that works here; you never learn more than when you are trying to teach someone else.

We are made to live in community with each other. How do we strengthen our faith and our prayer lives? Getting connected to a group of Christ followers and making sure that we are staying connected to Jesus through prayer and Bible study. We can live this life on mission, but we have to keep our priorities straight. We are not going to save anyone. Only God can change a human heart!

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