Christian Living, God, Life, Ministry

What God Taught Me About Prayer

About three weeks ago, I challenged our church to partner with the leadership and me to pray for our church and the impact we can have on our community for a full 24 hour period.  We broke the 24 hours into 15-minute time slots and asked people to sign up for slots that they would commit to praying for the whole time they signed up for.  I committed to take any of the time slots that were still left, so that we were assured of covering the full 24 hours.

As I write this now, we completed our 24-Hours of Prayer about three and a half hours ago, and as I’ve reflected on the time spent in prayer, focused on our church, I realized that God has taught me a lot through this process.  I’m still processing everything (and exhausted because I was up most of the night), but I feel that there is value for you to hear what I learned as well.

Prayer is one of those disciplines that I always feel like I can and need to improve in, and having a commitment to praying for a specific amount of time caused me to set up a plan for how to follow through and keep my commitment.  My wife graciously helped me cover some of the open slots, but in the end I had three hours and forty-five minutes that I had committed to praying during.  A big chunk of that time (two hours and 15 minutes) was in one block, from 1:15-3:30 AM.  I’m not saying this because I’m trying to brag about praying this much.  In fact, I was really concerned at the beginning that I wouldn’t be able to concentrate and pray constantly through that entire time.

There were others that had committed to large chunks of time in one sitting like that as well, so to help them out, and myself, I put together a prayer packet, with a suggested order of prayer, Psalms that they could read and pray through, different prayers of Jesus they could read and pray as well, and also a selected reading from Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline about prayer.  It was through this process that I discovered something that helped me so much.  Prayer is more about setting aside time to communicate with God than it is about the words that we say.  It should be a conversation between you and God, instead of just a one-sided listing of things you want from Him.

So, what did I specifically learn?

1. Start your prayer time with Confession

Starting prayer with time of confession to lay all of your sins at God’s feet really sets the time apart.  The time I spent in confession last night means more than I ever thought it would.  A prayer partner of mine taught me to do this a few years ago, but I never really understood the benefit of it until last night.  I started my prayer time confessing those things that I just can seem to shake in my life, and it was the usual reaction on my part.  That is until I realized just how broken I really am.  That was a hard realization, and it led me to literally weeping for a few minutes in my brokeness.  And it caused me to cry out to God like I hadn’t done in a long time.

Crying out to God like that helped me connect with Him again.  It led to the rest of what I learned throughout the rest of the night.  I got into the flow of a conversation like I was literally speaking to a friend in the same room.  That was something that I hadn’t felt in a long time either.  My two hour and 15 minute time block of prayer seemed to fly by after I was able to settle in to that conversation like I had.  If you are having a hard time connecting with God, make a point of spending time in confession to Him on a regular basis.  It may just be that the sin in your life is keeping you from that connection, and that confession and crying out for His help is all you need to reconnect.

2. There is value in praying for individuals

My prayer time actually started with a simple 15 minute session at 7:30 PM.  Since I just had 15 minutes, and was just finishing up dinner as well, I decided that that 15 minutes would be best spent praying for each individual that had agreed to pray during our prayer event.

Later on in the evening, after my time of confession during my long block, I wrote out a list of all the people that attend our church (we’re a small congregation, so it wasn’t too hard to name each person), and then spent some time praying for each individual and family.  It made me appreciate each person, even if there are things that I don’t agree with them on.  How can you hold a grudge with someone if you are committed to praying for them on a consistent basis?

3. Find your own style

For me, I concentrate best with music on in the background.  Complete silence allows my mind to wander, or I just flat out fall asleep (especially at 1:30 in the morning).  So I put headphones on, turned on my Pandora shuffle, and listened to Christian music while I was spending time with God.  In fact, when certain songs came on that really connect with me and are like prayers from my heart, I treated them just like that.  I stopped talking, and just worshipped along with the song that was playing.  They became my own prayers, and I even literally hit my knees a couple of times during the songs, because I was drawn to throw myself down before God.

The point I’m trying to make here is simple.  Find your own way to remain focused, especially if you are undertaking a long prayer time.  If it wasn’t for music playing in my ears, no matter how committed I was to praying, I would have either fallen asleep or I would have been just daydreaming.  But knowing that about myself, I was able to correct it and spend that time focused on God.

4. There is value in praying others’ prayers

I knew there I was going to have a hard time praying my own words for that long, no matter how committed I was to it.  So I took my own advice, and spent time praying through prayers from Psalms and Jesus’ own prayers.  I did this during my 6:00-6:30 time slot.  After my 3:30 session ended, I caught a little bit of a nap, setting an alarm for 5:50, so I would be awake for this short 30 minute session.

I was out of it, but awake enough to be able to follow through with my commitment.  This seemed like a good time to pray some already written prayers, instead of having to come up with my own words.  But at the same time, I wanted these to become my own prayers as well.  So I read through them, concentrating on the words, and placing them in my own life.

5. Journaling is great

Writing is something that I find great joy in.  I process things through my writing, whether someone else will ever read those words or not.  Journaling during my prayer time, however, is not something that I have been very consistent with over the years.  One of the journals that I have is a combination of Bible study notes, thoughts, and even a few prayers, although not many.  I had that laid out, not really sure what I was going to do with it, but at one point, when I had run out of words, I flipped through that journal, reading every prayer that I had written there.  It was a great experience, but it was also a little terrifying, because I realized some of the things that I was struggling with now, and had confessed earlier, were the same things I was confessing throughout this prayer journal, dating back several years.

I also spent over an hour total writing down some of my prayers.  That was a great experience, because I was able to really concentrate on my words, and communicate exactly what I wanted to say to God at that moment.  It is also great because now I have a record of my prayer time.  I prayed some pretty big prayers, and now I have a record of that, so I can look back at later and see how God has chosen to answer those prayers.  One of the prayers is actually going to be worked into my sermon this week, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I didn’t have them recorded.

6. Silence is part of prayer

Prayer cannot just be one sided.  If you are doing all of the talking the whole time, there is really no value in it.  It’s almost as if you are just dictating to God.  There is value in “Being still, and knowing that He is God”.  Sitting in silence, and just listening for what God may be trying to tell you is one of the best parts of prayer.  This world is full of noise, yet when we can shut out the outside world (even if that means listening to music) and just patiently waiting for God really helps our connection with Him.

This 24-Hours of Prayer that we did with our church has been an eye-opening experience for my.  In a lot of ways, I was actually disappointed when my time was over.  That is until I realized that I can spend time with God in these same ways anytime I want.  I just have to be committed to setting aside the time to spend with Him, and I am going to try to make this a daily thing for me from here on out (maybe not almost four hours a day).

What do you need to do to improve your prayer life?  Is there anything I can do to help?  Trust me when I say that spending committed time with God in prayer can truly change things!

Christian Living, God, Life, Ministry

Praying Audaciously…Now What (February 2016 Newsletter)

Last month, I wrote about praying audaciously, looking at Jesus’ prayers from John 17.  It ended with a challenge to prayer big, tough, audacious prayers throughout the month of January.  If you want a refresher of that article, you can click here to read it again.  This month, I want to follow up on that article.  We’ve talked a lot this past month about prayer, and have even partnered together to pray over all aspects of Central Christian Church for 24-Hours straight.  Prayer is an important part of our relationship with Christ, but we can’t treat it like prayer is the only thing that we should be doing.  One of the things that I have noticed in my own life, and in the lives of those that I am close to, we are either really good at praying, but not following that up with action, or we don’t take time to pray, but we’re really good at jumping to action right away.  Neither of those are the best that we should be doing.

Take for example the prayers of Jesus in John 17(click here for a refresher).  Jesus prayed and prayed hard at that time.  He was hours away from going to the cross.  Actually, all four gospels record some version of His prayer that night(Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22).  He not only took time to pray for His disciples and for all of us that would eventually come to know and follow Him, He was praying that God’s will be done.  He didn’t want to go to the cross.  In fact, Luke’s account of His time in the garden praying says that Jesus was so stressed over what He knew was coming, He was literally sweating blood.  It would have been easy for Jesus to pray, and just think that was enough.  To walk away because He did what He thought was enough, and prayed about something that was bothering Him.  We do that a lot.  But He didn’t do that.

He prayed and then He went out and did what He had to do.  He didn’t just leave it at prayer.  He put the physical effort in and He went to the cross.  And we should all be so glad that He did.  That was God’s will, and Jesus put in the work to complete the task that God had given Him.  If He had just left it at prayer, and then walked away because He didn’t think He needed to do anything else, the sacrifice for our sins would not have been completed. 

Other scriptures speak to this, but the first one that comes to mind when I was thinking through this was James 2:14-26.  James is talking about faith vs. deeds, but I think it can easily be seen as prayer vs. work as well.  So in other words, what is prayer without putting some work in at the same time.  Don’t get me wrong, God wants us to pray, and He is more than capable of handling the situations that we pray about.  Sometimes, however, by allowing us to work at the things we are praying for, He uses that to help us grow in those areas and in our faith. 

In the article last month, I mentioned an author and preacher by the name of Mark Batterson, and his book The Circle Maker, all about praying big prayers.  One of my favorite Batterson quotes, and I can’t remember which of his books it’s int (probably in multiple), is this; “Pray like it depends on God, but work at it like it depends on you.”  That’s my challenge to you this month, and it will be a main focus of our teaching times over the next few weeks as well.  Put the time in praying, but don’t be afraid to put the work in either.  God doesn’t want us to just sit idly by after we’ve prayed.  He wants us to do the work as well.

So, think about that big prayer or prayers that you’ve been praying over the last month (if you haven’t been praying those big prayers yet, it’s not too late).  Keep praying those prayers.  Pray bolder prayers.  Then ask yourself, “What can I do to help bring about the results of the prayers that I have been praying?”  And then do it.  Figure out what needs to happen on your end, keep praying, and then do the work!  Let’s all get out there and put in the work to reach this community for Christ.

God, Life

Family

I am more convinced than ever that this life that we live is better lived in community, and that community being with fellow Christians.  We call our congregation here in NM a faith family, and that’s because we try to treat each other as family.  That means that we take care of each other.  Do we always get along?  No.  But what family does?

We are a family simply because of our relationship with Jesus.  We, as Christians, are Christ followers, and therefore we are brothers and sisters in Christ.  And because of that bond, we need to help take care of each other, in the good times and the bad.  But our faith family should be more than just the church that we choose to attend.  Our faith family, in all reality, should be anyone who follow Jesus.  Anyone who is a disciple is your brother or sister, and that means we should be trying to help take care of each other even more.

And the events of today that took place in TN around my mom have proven that this is how the Church or  Christ followers should interact with each other.  My mom lives alone, and when you get a phone call from one of her neighbors asking if she is ok, it’s a little unnerving.  But at the same time, that neighbor was helping to take care of and look out for my mom.  I’m 1,400 miles away, and had no idea that something was wrong, but a neighbor, and fellow Christian called because there was an ambulance in my mom’s driveway.

Turns out, my mom had gotten her feet tangled in a heater cord and fallen.  She landed on her left arm and snapped her humerus, but was able to get to her phone and call 911.  She was taken to the hospital and got the treatment that she needed, but the family aspect of being taken care of doesn’t end at my mom’s neighbor calling me.

Some how, a man from her church found out what was going on, and showed up at her house to check on her.  A lady from a Wednesday morning Bible study that she attends was there, along with my aunt making sure the dogs were taken care of and anything else that my mom needed taken care of.

As a minister, I understand the role of checking in on and praying for someone in the hospital.  Well, it turns out the staff of mom’s church is on a staff retreat this week, but the church has stepped in to take care of her.  One of the elder’s almost immediately called me to make sure I knew what was going on.  I don’t even know how he knew.  He told me to keep him updated when I found out what hospital she was being taken to.  I did, and then found out from my aunt that another elder and his wife showed up at the hospital almost at the same time that they arrived.  They stayed with them the whole time, and ended up taking mom home after she was discharged, so that my aunt could go home and pack a bag to stay with my mom.

There have been countless comments and prayers being offered through social media.  The same neighbor that called me initially has already offered to take mom supper at some point this week, and promised to help take care of her since we are so far away.  I tell you all of this to say the following:  That is what being a Christ follower is all about.  Taking care of each other.  We are family.  Yes, there are times we don’t agree, but our bond of being brothers and sisters in Christ should trump those disagreements.  We have other things that we are called to as being Christians, but one thing we have got to remember is that we’ve got each other’s backs; NO MATTER WHAT!  Seeing it in action over the last several hours, even from 1,400 miles away, gives me hope that we can all remember to treat each other with love and respect.  Not being able to be there for my own mom is hard, but knowing that she has a family bigger than just blood makes me so thankful that I get to be a part of this bond of brothers and sisters in Christ.

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Audacious Prayer (January 2016 Newsletter)

Since the weather stopped us from meeting this last Sunday, I want to take a few minutes in our newsletter this month to write about what we were going to look at this past Sunday.  We are getting ready to start 2016, and with the new year, I would like to challenge each of us to enter this year as a year of prayer.  It seems that this faith family is taking hits from everywhere, both on a personal and a church level in the last few months.  Times are a little hard, but I think we have the opportunity to really lean in and trust God.  We have the chance to be a part of something huge, because it won’t be our power that turns things around.  If we are able to put our faith in God, trust Him, and have the courage to pray audaciously in the new year, I really believe that we will have the chance to see God do some amazing things through Central Christian Church.

What do I mean by audacious prayer?  Well, let’s take a lesson from the life and teaching of Jesus, and see what it can mean in our own lives.  For the sake of space again, I will not quote the whole passage of scripture here.  I ask that you either look it up, or click here if you are reading this in an e-mail.  The passage in question is John 17.  It’s Jesus’ prayer recorded in the Garden of Gethsemane the night He was arrested.  For all intents and purposes, it is His last prayer before He was crucified.  He knew what was coming, and it was in this context that He spent this time in prayer. 

He started out praying for Himself, that He would be glorified.  That wasn’t a selfish prayer.  He was praying that He would be strong enough to accomplish the task that He had been sent to do.  By Jesus completing that task, and being glorified, it would bring glory to God.  That was what Jesus was all about.  He wanted nothing more than to bring glory to the Father through whatever He did.  He was praying for strength to complete the task, because He knew it was going to be difficult.

Second, He prayed for His disciples.  He prayed that they would stay strong through the difficult times ahead.  He prayed for their unity.  He knew that some of the events that were going to take place in the near future had the potential to rip the disciples apart.  He wanted His disciples to stay strong, but He also wanted them to show their love through unity.

Finally, Jesus took His prayer even further by praying for all those in the future that would believe in Him.  That means you and me.  He prayed for our unity with each other under His name.  That means on the individual, church, and Church level.  We are to be unified with each other, in the good times and the bad.  These prayers of Jesus are very important, as they are some of His last moments on earth.  He wanted to make sure that He prayed for some hard things during this time, and it should teach us something.

That’s what I meant by audacious prayers.  In the good time and the bad times, we need to pray big prayers.  If you want to know more about the type of prayer I’m talking about, read Mark Batterson’s The Circle Maker.  It is about a man name Honi who prayed for rain in the midst of a drought.  He drew a circle in the sand, and vowed that he would not leave that circle until it rained.  And legend has it that he prayed and prayed and then it rained.  Not only did it rain, it rained so hard that there was flooding in the area after years of drought.  This all took place in Israel during the time between the Old and New Testaments. 

That’s the type of prayer I want to see us all praying as we enter the new year.  Let’s make 2016 the year of audacious prayer.  What does that mean?  Well let’s commit to praying for some things that seem huge, because our God is huge.  Will all of the prayers that we pray be answered the way we want?  No, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be prayed.  Pray that our numbers, both attendance and giving wise, will grow.  Pray that we will start making a huge impact in this city and county.  Pray that the leadership will be in tune with God’s will for the church.  Pray that you, individually, can help lead multiple people to Christ.  Honestly, here is my audacious prayer.  We baptized 4 people, all under the age of 16 at Central in 2015.  My prayer is that we will baptize 20 people, 15 of which are 18 and older in 2016.  I know that looking at things the way they are now that those numbers seem impossible.  But with God, it’s not only possible, it’s within reach.

Here’s how I want you to start.  Starting on Monday, January 4, through Monday, February 1, I am asking that each of you commit to praying audaciously for 15 minutes more than what you pray on a regular basis already.  Keep your normal prayer routine, just add 15 minutes to it.  And make those 15 minutes big prayers.  Prayers that you may not think are actually possible.  But trust God.  Know that we may not ever know the answers, but keep praying.  I hope that it becomes a habit for you, but I’m asking that you commit to 15 extra minutes a day.  Let’s really make 2016 the year of audacious prayer.

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Unity (December 2015 Newsletter Article)

This weekend we are going to take some time and celebrate this church, and what it’s been able to do over the last sixty years.  I’ve been around for a little over a year now, but I’ve gotten to see some of the great things that have been done through this congregation.  There is much more to be done, however, and it is going to take all of us to do it.  We get the privilege of working in the Kingdom of God.  He allows us the opportunity to be a part of His church.  But with that privilege comes some great responsibility.  There is only one way that we are going to be able to live up to that responsibility…and that is together.

In other words, we have to be united under one common goal.  We have to be committed to helping move people, and by people that includes all of us here, toward Jesus.  I’ve been talking about unity a lot recently, but in some very small ways.  It’s time that I just come out and say that first and foremost, we have to become united under Christ.  We call this a faith family, and that’s because that’s really what we are supposed to be.  And like all families, we have our times of disagreement.  Even during those times of disagreement, however, we have to realize that we have the most important things in common.  We may have different preferences, but we should all have one goal.  Serving God.  Above all else, that is what this congregation has to be about. 

There is a growing trend in the Church (worldwide) it seems like.  And that trend is for people to look at everything like they have to get their way.  People in general get offended way too often anymore.  Part of this is caused by the consumerism that is running rampant throughout our American culture.  And it leads to one of the greatest dangers I see to the work of the Church.  We care more about individualism and what we can get out of everything we do instead of trying to work in unity to advance the Kingdom of God.  That’s why through the month of December we are going to take a good, long, hard look at the difference between consumerism and being a servant.  And that’s going to come straight out of the Biblical account of the Christmas story.  If you want a head start on what we are going to be looking at, I challenge you to read Luke 2:14.  That verse contains the jest of all three of our Christmas sermons this year.  Read it.  Memorize it.  Meditate on it.  More importantly, join us each of the next three Sundays as we talk about how Christmas is not about us, it’s about a servant at heart.

It’s no secret that this faith family has taken a few hits recently.  There has been some disunity.  There have been some disagreements.  There has been hurt after hurt.  I don’t want to dwell on that.  What I want to encourage each and every one of us to do is to forget about what wrongs we have felt, and come together in unity under our mission.  That mission, again, is to Move People Toward Jesus.  The only way we are going to be able to accomplish that is together.  If you feel that something or someone has wronged you, don’t let it fester.  Go to them and discuss it.  Work it out.  And above all, let’s learn the lessons from the last few chapters of The Story.  Following God is what we need to be doing.  And we can’t do that divided.  Division leads to chaos and destruction.  Jesus even told us that himself.  He said, in Luke 11:17, “‘Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall.’” 

If we want to be able to have another sixty years of trying to reach this community for Christ, then we have to be united.  We cannot fight and pull in so many different directions, only caring about our own preferences, and expect to accomplish our mission.  I want nothing less than to see Central CC be a beacon of hope in this community.  I really think we can be that, or I wouldn’t be here.  But the only way that we are going to be able to be that beacon of hope is if we do it united under God.  Forget our own personal preferences, and be willing to be servants.  After all, Christmas (and our mission) isn’t about us.  It’s about a loving God that sent His son to become the perfect sacrifice and bring us back to Him.

God Bless!          

Because of Him, Kraig B

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Servant (November 2015 Newsletter)

Note:  I forgot to publish this article on my blog when the Newsletter was sent out last month, so I am posting it a month late.

 

I ended this past Sunday’s sermon with a thought from John F. Kennedy.  From his inaugural speech, Kennedy stated, “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”.  It’s an iconic statement that has lived on, long after his death.  And there is a lot of wisdom in that statement.  But if you were with us at Central CC when I brought this up, you will remember that I also shared an edited version of this statement.  I said, “My fellow Christians, ask not what your church can do for you, ask what you can do for the Kingdom”.  For this newsletter article, I wanted to take some time to expand upon that thought, because I feel that this is where we as a church need to focus.  It’s not that we shouldn’t get something out of our church attendance.  We get fellowship, encouragement, and many other things.  The problem comes when we get so focused on that, that we forget that we are supposed to do something as well.  We all have a job to do, and that job is not sitting back and seeing what we can get from the church.

Hebrews 10:25 tells us, “24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”  So there is direct evidence that church attendance and meeting together with fellow Christians is something that we should hold as important.  We are to spur one another on, and encourage one another.  Those are things that we should all get out of meeting together, by being a part of the church.  But it can’t, and shouldn’t be all about us. 

When we call ourselves Christians, that means two really big things.  First, we identify ourselves as followers of Jesus Christ.  We wear His name as an identity of who we are and what we are all about.  But throughout history, Christians have been guilty of following Jesus in name only.  I fear that that’s what a majority of Christians in America are doing now.  I’m guilty of this for the majority of my life.  It’s important that I admit that upfront, because just as I do with many of my sermons, I’m writing this directed at me just as much as anyone else reading these words.  Let me give you an example of what happens when we as Christians only follow Him in name only.  We see things like this being said about us.  Mahatma Ghandi is credited with saying, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.  Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”  Whether he actually said it or not, I hope you see the significance of what the message is.  If we claim to follow Christ, then we should be like Him.

That leads to the second big thing that is meant when we call ourselves Christians.  We should be about serving others, because that is exactly what Christ came to do.  He was a servant.  He did not come to be served by others, He came to serve.  It was at His very core.  Matthew 20:24-28 reads, “24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  If we want to be like Jesus, which is what we are saying when we call ourselves Christians, then we have to become servants at heart. 

There are many ways of doing this, which is the good news.  I won’t quote it all here, because of space, but look up I Corinthians 12:12-31.  Click the scripture reference if you get this electronically.  For those of you that get a hardcopy, look that passage up.  It’s Paul talking about how we all have jobs to do in the Church.  Not everyone will have the same job, but the body functions so much better when everyone is doing their part.  We are called to serve, and that means we all have a job to do.  I’m not trying to say that we shouldn’t get anything out of church.  We should.  But that can’t be our main focus.  We can’t be selfish.  You can’t be a servant at heart and be selfish.  And if you claim to be a Christian, you have to be a servant at your very core.  If you aren’t yet, that’s fine, as long as you’re working that way.  It may take a lifetime to get there, but it’s the effort of trying to become more like Christ daily that is the goal of being a Christ follower.

Christian Living, Life

Guilty (October 2015 Newsletter Article)

I’ve never been a fan of shows like Judge Judy but a clip appeared online this week that caught my attention.  It’s only about 30 second long, however, it caused a great deal of laughter between Kelley and I.  In the clip, the plaintiff is explaining what was in her purse that was stolen, apparently by the defendant.  She is going through the list of what she had to replace, and said that she had an ear-piece in the handbag.  Then, out of nowhere, in a move of stupidity, the defendant speaks up and says, “There was no earpiece in there ma’am” to Judge Judy.  And Judge Judy starts laughing hysterically.  This guy, not even realizing it, admits to stealing the purse.  In under 30 seconds, the case is over, the defendant has incriminated himself, and Judge Judy has awarded the plaintiff an award of $500.  The guy was guilty, but what made the situation so funny is that he accidentally admitted to the crime.  Who knows how the case would have gone if he had just kept his mouth shut, but he didn’t.  The man got what he deserved. 

We’re guilty too.  Romans 3:22-23 states, “22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”.  For all have sinned.  We are all guilty.  And honestly, if we think about it, if we were to go before God trying to hide that sin, we would mess up just like the defendant in front of Judge Judy.  We can’t fool God, and He’s going to know exactly what we did.  But the beautiful thing for us, as Christians, is that we don’t have to appear before God on judgement day alone.  We will have someone to fight for us.  Paul hints at this in a way in I Timothy 1:15-17, which reads, “15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Paul is saying that he is that guy on Judge Judy.  The one that has sinned and there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that he is guilty.  But Jesus has offered him mercy to show us all that His mercy and grace are available to us.  That should be comforting.  We don’t have to worry about saying the wrong thing when we come before the judge.  We have someone that will confess us before Him.  Matthew 10:32-33 records Jesus as saying, “32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.”  If we have confessed Jesus as our Lord and Savior before men, and not been ashamed of Him, He will confess us before the Father.  We have someone that will be our advocate.  In fact, to finish out what Romans 3:22-23 is saying, read Romans 3:24-26.  It says, “24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

I, for one, am glad that I have Jesus.  I will not be ashamed of the fact that He is my Lord and Savior.  I want to live that through my life.  And He will be my advocate in front of the Father.  I won’t have to try to keep myself from saying “there was no earpiece in there, ma’am”.  We all know I’m guilty, but Jesus’ blood has paid the price for my sin, and for your sin if you’ve confessed Him before others!  No more being ashamed of Him!

Christian Living, God, Life, Ministry

Sick Of It

Today has been one of the hardest and most draining days that I’ve had since I’ve been in ministry.  I really didn’t have to do anything today either, except watch a family grieve as they said goodbye to a 21 year old kid that died way too young.  I didn’t have to speak at the funeral, but as I set there, watching family members weep uncontrollably at times, and watching this kid’s friends walk up to his casket, I’m just emotionally and spiritually drained.  This kid’s death could have been completely prevented.  It was an accidental overdose, so all of those involved are just heartbroken, thinking what could have been.  I think I met him once or twice in passing, so it’s not that I was emotionally tied to him.  But his aunt and uncle are core members at my church.  And their youngest daughter is the same age.  Watching all of them deal with his death breaks my heart, because there is nothing I can do to take away their pain.  Quite frankly, I’m sick of it!

But it’s not really what you think.  I’m not sick of ministry.  I’m not sick of trying to be there for people as they go through tragedy.  What I’m sick of is sitting back and not doing more to try to introduce people to Jesus that don’t know him.  The kid that died was not a professing Christian to my knowledge.  And now he’s gone.  My heart breaks for the family, but more than that, my heart breaks for his friends.  As I sat in that funeral home this morning, it was amazing to see the different crowds.  You had his family and friends of the family that all sat toward the front.  It was the type of crowd that you would typically see at a funeral.  But then behind the row I was sitting in, there was a crowd of his friends.  I try not to judge by appearances, but it was the type of crowd that you would expect to see at a wild party somewhere.  These are the people that my heart truly breaks for. 

A few of them, before the funeral started, and before the family was actually brought in to the chapel, came up to the casket one at a time.  They stood there looking at their friend with the same blank expression on their faces.  They didn’t understand what was going on.  And who could blame them.  When you’re 21 years old, you think you’re invincible.  All I could think while watching them then, and as they were filing out of the funeral home after the service was I hope and pray that seeing your friend lose his life this young will be a wake-up call.  But not just a wake-up call to get clean and live life sober.  I pray that they see this as a wake-up call that life with a relationship with Jesus is so much better than any other kind of life.

It’s been a wake-up call for me, that’s for sure.  I’m sick of not doing as much as I can to impact the community around me for Jesus.  This world is lost, and seems to be getter further and further from the truth at a rapid pace.  And there is only one thing that can fix that.  Jesus.  He’s the answer.  Addiction takes hold in many forms, and it’s usually an attempt to fill a void in our life.  But there is only one thing that can actually fill that void.  John 10:10 reads, “10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

Those of us that have found Jesus and have a relationship with Him have got to stop keeping Him to ourselves.  This world depends on it.  This world desperately needs Jesus, and we are called to help make the introduction.  I wrote a couple of weeks ago about being unashamed of the gospel (read that here).  In other words, we need to live out our faith, and we need to be sharing it with those that we are able to build relationships with.  If watching this family mourn the loss of a 21 year old kid has taught me one thing, it’s that the stakes are even higher than we could imagine.  We’ve got to start sharing Christ with those that don’t know Him, because you never know how much time someone has.

Romans 1:16, 17 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Christian Living

Stand Strong, With Love (September 2015 Newsletter)

This  world seems to be be getting crazier and crazier.  The political and social unrest in this country, and around the world, seem to be building to a powder keg.  I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but it seems to be building to a huge explosion.  Think about it.  On one side, you have the “Black Lives Matter” crowd not only protesting, but in many cases rioting and destroying their own neighborhoods.  Some of them are also calling for and celebrating the unprovoked shootings of police officers across the country. 

We’ve got groups like Planned Parenthood apparently selling aborted baby parts.  And how you react to this organization seems to put you on one side or the other.  You either completely support everything they are doing, or you are completely against everything about the organization.  Then you’ve got the county clerk in KY that is still refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses.  Some are calling for her head, while others are hoping that she stands her ground.  I even came across a comment from a friend of a friend on Facebook the other day about this woman.  She thinks she should lose her job, but she actually went as far as saying that she would literally spit on her is she ever has the chance.

I get that some of these issues are far from black and white.  There is nuance to them, and we’re all going to have somewhat of a different opinion on each of them.  But I’m going to quote Ed Fannin here for a minute, and hope he doesn’t mind.  I recently heard him say something along the lines of, “Just shut up and love someone”.  It might have actually been, “Just shut up and get along”.  Either way, I think you get the point.  I’m not saying that we should stick to our convictions.  In fact, I pray that you will all stick to those convictions, especially the ones that are biblically based.  I can’t support anything that is considered sin, and I’m going to stick to that conviction.  But I can stick to that and still show love to everyone around us.  In fact, our ability to show that love to others, especially the ones that don’t agree with us, that shows that we are living out our Christianity. 

We can’t afford to have a “holier than thou” attitude.  We are no better than the next person.  In fact, we are all the same.  I want to leave you with a couple of passages, and I’ll just let them speak for themselves.

Romans 3:21-24, 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:9-14, 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Uncategorized

Unashamed

I have been thinking a lot lately about how open I am about my faith and if I truly live it out the way that I say I want to.  And the answer is no.  I don’t know many who actually live it out the way they want to, because if you’re like me, you want to live it out perfectly.  But our need to be liked by those around us get in the way of sharing what we believe and what we are trying to live out.  At least it does for me.  I’m getting better about sharing what I believe, but I’m still not there yet.  I’ve realized recently that instead of sharing what I believe with people I meet out in the world, I tend to share what I do for a living, that I’m a minister.  On the surface, it might seem like the same thing.  But it’s not.  My relationship with Christ should be so much more than just what I do.  Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love what I do.  I can’t imagine doing anything else.  It’s what I feel called to do for the rest of my life, and that excites me.  What I believe and who I am is so much more than that though.  While letting people know what I do gives me an opportunity to invite them to church and possibly even start a conversation about God with them, it’s not enough.  If I stop there, then I haven’t really shared the Gospel with them.  I haven’t tried to introduce them to Jesus, the One who paid it all so that we could have a relationship with God.

Being able to share what I do for a living was a good step in the right direction, but I need to get better at sharing the reason that I am in a relationship with Jesus.  I need to use that foot in the door to introduce others to the greatest person that we could ever know.  I need to show them the potential life change that Jesus can bring with a relationship with Him.  Now, this can’t be done in just a brief encounter with someone, but as we build a relationship with those around us, then our conversations can go deeper and deeper.  And that’s the key.  We aren’t going to introduce the true Jesus to anyone by standing on the street corner and yelling at passers by.  But as we build relationships with those around us, in our communities, then we have the opportunity to start going beneath the surface level “What do you do for a living” and start truly talking about “What do you truly live for”.  And when we get that opportunity, we can’t be ashamed to talk about our relationship with Jesus or the power and change that can and should come from it.  I’ve been thinking and meditating a lot on Romans 1:16-17 the past couple of weeks.  I believe this passage, and desire to live it out.  But I don’t know how often I could quote it and be completely confident that I was living it out.  That changes now.  I hope you’ll join me!

Romans 1:16, 17 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”