Happy Birthday To My Son

Happy Birthday to one of, if not, the most loving person I know - my first born son, Josiah.

What a young man you are, and are growing into!

You have shown me Jesus, and, there are so many ways I want to be like you. You are passionate, loving, generous, forgiving, taking no thought of yourself, intimate with Jesus, bright, and more... and you are a blessing to our family.

I'm glad you're my son.

Happy Birthday buddy!

Another Precious Moment

My son Judah with Carson in the background.

Silent Night at our home church's Candlelight Service on Christmas Eve.

Another beautiful moment captured.

Thank you Jesus. And Happy Birthday.

Advent - Day One

At The Chapel today, we began the Advent celebration by sharing about and lighting the Prophecy candle. I've always been in the dark about Advent, not knowing really what it meant, or its Biblical significance. I think I'm finally getting my mind around the worthwhile church tradition.

Thriving Family Magazine sent us an Advent Calendar (see pic) with this months issue, and we are going to go through the schedule they put together for each day leading up to Christmas. We did day one tonight - it was a great start.

I'll update you more as our family walks through this special "Advent" time of year together...

Election 2012

As I write, things are pretty tight in the 2012 Presidential race. Over the next several hours, we should know who will be the next President of the United States. Months and months of campaigning for the candidates comes to this moment.

I personally have no feeling one way or the other about who will win this election. What I do know from Proverbs is that when the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

I also believe that America is at [and has been at] a crossroads in many ways. It doesn't take much prophetic insight to see our nation is straying from its foundation. Ultimately, I believe that fact actually points to a deeper issue - a church that has left her King, her first love.

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden... Jesus.

How does a nation stand strong on it's biblical foundation, if the church, or light of the world, is allowing their light to go out?

Regardless of who our next president is [and I hope he is a godly man] we must all be sure to examine our lives to see if we as the church are truly being the light of the world.

Am I truly the salt of the earth? Or have I lost my saltiness? Have I left my first love in exchange for the cares and allurements of this world?

Without the church being a light, without the church burning hot for her God, our nation has no real hope. There is only one leader who can provide lasting and eternal change to our nation - and He's on the ticket of our lives - Jesus Christ.

Light the fire again...

Your Steadfast Love

My good buddy Tom has been preaching on God's attributes. Recently, he talked about God's infinitude, and placed God's great love in that context. The truth hasn't left me...

God is infinite.

God is love.

His love is infinite.

There is no end to our God, His power, His majesty, His wisdom... His love. Our infinite God is infinitely loving. There is no end to His love. You cannot exhaust it.

I almost can't believe it. Then I read...

"Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds."

Believe it. Thank you Jesus.

This song is running through my head tonight, I'm so thankful for His love...

Road to Emmaus

But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. http://bible.us/Luke24.21.ESV

I had the opportunity to preach on the Scripture above this morning. This is taken out of Luke 24, the two disciples and the road to Emmaus.

Jesus had just been crucified 3 days earlier, and the disciples were disillusioned to say the least.

This one verse is amazing because it exemplifies the "hope deferred" feeling the disciples had, as well as the symbol of their greatest answer or hope, in that it was the third day.

The disciples thought Jesus was going to redeem Isreal by delivering them from Roman rule, and what they thought was a great defeat (Jesus' death) which led to great confusion, they were actually in the midst of a greater story/deliverance/answer then they ever could have imagined - salvation had come to the world.

The point is this - we have a tendency to become disillusioned by our circumstances when things don't work out the way we thought. But don't give up hope, you might be in the middle of the greatest breakthrough, or a better answer than you could've ever asked or imagined.

Let's ask God for His perspective on the things in life we are facing, that we might see the bigger picture, God's picture, of what He is doing in our lives and in the world around us.

We might be surprised to find out we're in the middle of a God moment way bigger and better than any plans we could've ever come up with ;)

Near

When you are going through the press, how good it is to know that He is near-

Let's draw close to the Lord in worship tomorrow at our local expressions of faith.

Blessings...

Leadership

A great reminder of heavenly leadership that we are to model here on earth...

But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." http://bible.us/Matt20.25.ESV

Sunset Testimony

What a beautiful sunset tonight. Cotton candy clouds on a backdrop of crystal blue skies.

Amazing doesn't quite cut it.

I was reminded about how no man has an excuse for not knowing God. His very creation cries out and testifies of the infinite God (see Romans 1).

I was blessed to see a beautiful part of His handiwork tonight, as were many others... God's sunset testimony.

How You Look At It

We are in a tough season as a family. The future is unknown. We need answers and time is running out...

Time to PANIC!

That's one way of looking at it.

The other way, is that we are in a...

Blessed season. I am home more with my family.

Season of adventure. We don't know what lies around the corner. That can be exciting and thrilling. (And scary!)

Season of testing. And when our faith is tested, we go through trials, God does great things in our lives and hearts (when we do it His way).

Supplied season. All our needs are covered and supplied day by day.

Carried season. When we run out of answers, the only thing we have left is that Jesus Himself is carrying us through. And that's not so bad of a position to be in.

In what basically equates to a lay-off, I am out of work and not sure when the next pay check will come in. Not sure how we will pay the next months bills. And, I know we aren't the only ones facing this right now.

Though things don't look (or feel) good, God has given my wife and I great peace in the midst of the storm.

Not answers, but peace.

He knows our need before we ask // We are of much greater value than the birds of the air // As we seek His kingdom first, all these things will be added unto us...

This Scripture (below) has been encouraging to me in this time, and would like to share it with you, hoping maybe it will help someone else as well.

Thank you Jesus, our peace in the storm...

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:25-34

Popping The Question

If you died today, do you know for sure you would go to heaven?

This question is a popular one asked by Christians to non-believers in order to open a door to sharing the Gospel. I have found myself pondering it lately. If a strategy is popular, does that mean it's the best or most effective? Or, does that make it right even?

...do you know for sure you would go to heaven?

First and foremost, sharing the Gospel in any way possible is commendable, desirable, and necessary as the lost are going to hell, eternally separated from their Maker. But at the risk of ruffling some feathers and in an attempt to share some thoughts, I've been thinking about the following...

In opening a door to share the Gospel with an unbeliever, there seems to be some flaws with employing this question as an ideal strategy. To start, this question implies a few things: that the hearer knows about a heaven and hell, that heaven is a desirable place to go, and maybe too it's implied that somehow something they do, or don't do, can get them there.

Let's say that this person does have some sort of understanding of the above unsaid implications hidden in the "do you know where you'd go" question. To follow this question up with a presentation of the Gospel I believe poses possible opportunity for misconceptions, even deceptions.

Let's assume the person wants to go to heaven, and knows the alternative, hell, is an undesirable place to go. So how do I get there?? To use terms and language that most are used to, one response might be: Well, you see, God sent His Son Jesus to die on a cross for your sins, because He loved you. You must repent of your sins and put your faith in Jesus, and He will forgive your sins, and one day you will be with Him in heaven.


Sure! Sounds good! Let's do it! Typically what would follow is praying "the prayer" with the unbeliever and they'd be in! Ticket punched and I'm off to heaven, right? But that's part of the problem, many think Jesus to the great ticket puncher.

Let's go further...

Here's my issue: the very question that was originally asked sets the listener up for coming to God on a foundationally wrong basis. Because the original question was "Do you know if you would go to heaven when you die," heaven is the implied desirable end. In other words, my main goal is to get to heaven, so next follows what I need to do to get there.

So what's wrong with this? Sounds good, right?

The chief end of our lives is not heaven. Jesus didn't come solely to "punch our ticket" to heaven. God the Father sent Jesus that humanity might be reconciled to the Holy God they rejected, because He loved them and for His glory.

The most beautiful part of the Gospel isn't heaven - it's God Himself! That I, as a fallen, sinful person, can be reconciled to my Maker through His Son Jesus. That I would turn from sin and follow and walk intimately with Jesus the rest of my life.

Jesus is our goal! Not heaven... as someone once said, it is Jesus who makes heaven, heaven. Without God in heaven, what would heaven be?

The "where would you go" question cheapens the Gospel and makes Jesus a means to an end (the supposed end being heaven) when Jesus is the end Himself. We can know God and walk with Him. How wonderful! Heaven is more a byproduct, a glorious part of putting our faith in Christ.

So, if popping "the question" starts an unbeliever off on the wrong foot and the wrong motivation, what do we do?

Don't know.

Each situation and person is different. Pray about it. Follow the Holy Spirit. See what He has to say and how He leads. God knows each person and what they need.

Let's share His love today!

Easter Sunset

As the sun sets on this beautiful Resurrection Sunday, I pray that we all may know him [Jesus] and the power of his resurrection in a greater way.

May the Lord bless you today! And may we bless and thank Him for the great gift of life, salvation, and the forgiveness of sins that he so lovingly has given us.

Meditate

I have found myself recently going back to a familiar portion of Scripture for me. It's where Paul describes all the reasons why he could have confidence in his flesh; how he, if anyone, could put confidence in his own efforts before God.

Yet, after listings all his accolades, he describes these things as being gain for him, and not for Christ. They were all things that he could glory in. They were all things that pointed to his strength and what he could do. None of it pointed to God's strength, and what God could do.

He was doing good things, but it was still all about him. It was all about his work, and what he could do. (Of course, as he describes in Romans, all his efforts fell drastically short.)

When, in reality, it's all about what Jesus... Did.

Here's the passage:
For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ... http://bible.us/Phil3.3.ESV

Grace... Again

Yea, I need to visit it again. I need to dwell on it again.

The richness of His marvelous grace.

We know about Romans 3:23, in fact, we are Romans 3:23. But it's verse 24 that points to the miracle of the cross. It points to Jesus. It points to His grace.

I needed to visit His grace yet again today, as I can so easily forget that it was Him who made me right with God. Not me or my actions.

Stop trying to earn His favor, stop serving from fear. The grace of God has saved me, not me saved me.

So here it is, one of my favorite passages and great reminders of my wretched state apart from Him, contrasted with His great sacrifice and grace that rescued me...

Find it here.

Time is Short

There is one thing that has been in my heart lately - that time is short.

It's one of those things that doesn't show itself in obvious ways, but it's running in the background of my mind. Kind of like those annoying programs that won't stop but continue to "run" in the background of your computer, using its memory space. Difference is, what's running in my head isn't annoying. It's sobering, and empowering.

Paul says to the Corinthians that, "the appointed time has grown very short."

James reminds us about the brevity of our lives when he asks, "What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes."

And Jesus, in Revelation 22, says three times in the chapter - "I am coming soon."

Yes, time is short. We cannot get caught up in the ways of this world. We cannot allow our feet to sink too deep. We are just pilgrims passing through, and our true home is in heaven. Everything in this earth will encourage you to play it safe, live for security, live for pleasure, and live for this life only.

Life is simply what Leonard Ravenhill said, "A dressing room for eternity."

So where is your vision today? Where is mine? Is it on the eternal? The everlasting? Or are we caught up in the things we see and the cares of this world?

I love what Ravenhill also said as a prayer, "Stamp eternity on my eyeballs!"

Oh Lord, help us to realize the brevity of our lives, the value of the moment, and that time is indeed short.

Freedom

I have made mention of this in previous posts, and it does not burden me to mention it again.

There are those who are being abducted, raped, and forced to work with little, if any, pay - right now. Human trafficking and slavery is real. And it's prevelant.

27 million slaves.

So to get the word out again is not a problem, but rather a privilege, and a must. We must speak up for those whose voices cannot be heard.

The video below is a trailor to a longer video that can be viewed here. Check out the trailer below and when you make a few moments, watch the short documentary in its entirety.

For justice. For Freedom. For Jesus.

Prepare the Way

John the Baptist came to prepare the way of the Lord. Matthew 3:3 says this of John:

For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’”

If you look just a verse earlier in Matthew, you read the message that John was specifically preaching,

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

To the church in Ephesus, Jesus commands them to repent, and do the works you did at first. They had left their first love. The remedy? Repentance. Repent and do the works you first did when I was your first love.

Repentance, I believe, prepares the way of the Lord in our hearts. Repentance prepares the way for the Kingdom in our lives. Jesus Himself started His ministry saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

If you are feeling distant from God today, repentance may be just the remedy. Been living in sin? Repent. Unforgiveness in your heart? Repent. Cold heart? Repent, as I have had to do recently.

And don't stop. Let's continue to repent.

Repentance seems to wonderfully re-align our hearts and minds with the will of God, and light a fire in our heart once again for Him.

Revelation 2:5 in the Amplified Bible says, Repent (change the inner man to meet God's will) and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord]...

Let's re-align ourselves with His will today, let's repent of our sin, and prepare the way of the Lord in our hearts.

Culture

I read an article today that sparked something in me that I haven't thought much about in a while. When I was teaching math in upstate New York, we had a gentleman come in to lead a seminar with the teachers. Most likely the students had the day off while the teachers still reported for duty. Seminars like this were usually met with begrudging attitudes from the teachers whom didn't want to spend their day attending another seminar.

Something that this speaker said has stayed with me for years since I heard him talk about it. I don't remember all of the words he used, but the spirit of his message is what I caught.

He talked about the atmosphere of a school. The culture of a school. He talked about how you can change strategies and come up with new ideas for helping students succeed and creating a positive learning environment in the school, but if the culture doesn't shift there will be no lasting change to that school system. In other words, go ahead and change your slogans, come up with a fancy vision and mission statement, even new programs, but if that vision statement doesn't go any deeper than the letters on the page, nothing will ever really change.

You see, the culture, or ethos, of a school (business, home, etc) is affected by deeply held beliefs, and until those are changed, new ideas and hip strategies will fall short (the fact that we as teachers were begrudgingly attending the seminar pointed to a culture issue!). The culture or essence or spirit of a organization is a deep thing, and not impacted (for the long term) by a surface change. It is driven by these inner convictions and passions we have. Those passions and convictions and beliefs cause us to act, speak, etc in a particular way and without changing our beliefs, passions, and convictions, there again can be no long lasting change.

I love to think on this because it causes me to reflect on my life and see what I need to change. I love getting to the heart of things, diving deep below the surface. I want to get to the deepest part of my convictions and make sure they line up with Christ, that I may have long-lasting change and become more like Jesus. As the leader of my home, I have a huge impact on the culture of my home. My kids pick up my essence without even realizing it. They walk according to my beliefs by nature.

Just because you walk into KFC, it doesn't make you a chicken leg, right? Walking into a church doesn't make you a Christian. It is something that happens deep inside of a person - they are born again. I think of many of those who profess to know Christ, yet never seem to have a true change in actions...

Maybe they never have had a true culture shift? Have they had a real change in passions and beliefs? Were they ever truly born of the Spirit of God?

You can dress them up, teach them Christianese, give them self-help books, even the Scriptures to improve on their life, but the deep issues will come out at some point - they have never truly repented, they were never born again.

So, what's the culture of your business? Your family? Your life? What do people feel when they enter your business? How would people describe you when they are around you.

Good questions. I hope that the culture, or fragrance if you will, of my life is point people to Jesus.

To read the article that got me going on all this, click here.

A Deadly Neglect

You can be doing things right, and in the midst of the right, be treacherously wrong. You can be walking in holiness, serving the family of God, performing good works with toil and patient endurance for the Master, and yet neglect the Master altogether, a potentially deadly mistake.

I venture to say deadly from what we read in the letter to Ephesus in Revelation 2. The church in Ephesus were commended by Jesus this way...

I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.

I would love to hear this from the Master! He is commending them on their good works. However, the next thing He says is...

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

In the midst of their good works, the Ephesians had left their first love. In working for the Master, they forgot about the Master Himself. Here, we see Jesus's heart to have true intimacy and a love relationship with His Bride, His people. And we also see the potentially eternally deadly consequence of abandoning our first love - I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

In the midst of our work for God, we cannot forget or neglect a heart beating with love and passion for Him. In the midst of doing right for Him, we cannot neglect Him. Mike Bickle said, "there are lovers and there are workers, and lovers get more work done than do workers." Jesus is the lover of our soul, the One passion and longing of our hearts!

If you have fallen out of love with the Master, heed the loving, and I emphasize loving, words of Jesus and repent, today. Let's do the works we did when we first met our Savior and fell in love with Him.

Passion 2012

As I write this morning, I am tuned into last nights session for Passion 2012. If you are unfamiliar with the Passion conferences, they are spearheaded by their founder, Louie Giglio, and his team, and meant for college age students ages 18-25. Passion 2012 is running from January 2-5 this year in Atlanta and includes speakers/musicians including Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin, David Crowder Band, Francis Chan, Lecrae, Hillsong United, Beth More and others.

The first Passion conference I went to was in Memphis, TN area when I was a college student in Rochester NY. A friend of mine and I drove down and camped out on a farm for the "One Day" event. A couple years ago I was able to attend Passion 2010 as one of the leaders with a group of high school seniors/college students.

Throughout the conference, they will be streaming live the sessions at live.268generation.com. The sessions run all day long so if you get a chance to tune in and catch one, please do. They will also be showing previous sessions for a short time after the session finishes if you are unable to catch it live (like I am doing).

These conferences are powerful and encouraging, and all about Jesus. Take some time to join with Chris Tomlin as he worships to "Our God is Greater," or be challenged through speakers such as Francis Chan and John Piper. Take a few moments to hear the Word and be lifted up in His Presence. I don't think you will regret it.

#Passion2012