Why Can’t We Be Friends?

      At one time the whole world spoke a single language and used the same words. As the people migrated eastward, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia  and settled there. They began to talk about construction projects. “Come,” they said, “let’s make great piles of burnt brick and collect natural asphalt to use as mortar. Let’s build a great city with a tower that reaches to the skies–a monument to our greatness! This will bring us together and keep us from scattering all over the world.” But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. “Look!” he said. “If they can accomplish this when they have just begun to take advantage of their common language and political unity, just think of what they will do later. Nothing will be impossible for them! Come, let’s go down and give them different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.” In that way, the LORD scattered them all over the earth; and that ended the building of the city.  Genesis 11.1-8 (new living translation)

    The infamous Tower of Babel!!!  People got together in unity, and of one mind, to build something in honor of their greatness. They wanted to build a tower into the heavens, they were so proud of themselves that they could accomplish something so great….who cares, who really gives a rats backside that a bunch of people thousands of years ago got together to build a building…Well it seems to me that God cared. God even said “If they can accomplish this when they have just begun to take advantage of their common language and political unity, just think of what they will do later. Nothing will be impossible for them!”

     Wow! A bunch of heathen tower builders got together to build a tower, and it caught God’s attention. But why is it that we as Christians can’t seem to work together long enough to vacuum the church together? We have become so small minded that the littlest things seem to offend us, or throw us out of wack. How can we become so united that we can accomplish something big like that? Well I so happen to have the key to that locked question..let me open it up for you…the secret to unity is…GET OVER YOURSELVES. Even the Godless heathen thousands of years ago understood this concept. If we want to accomplish something, we need to first realize that this something is bigger than we are.

     The one huge road block  to acquiring unity in the church is offense. We so often are offended by what people say to us our about us, or how they say something…Really? Come on people, we have way more potential then that. But we still seem to be set back by each other. The tower of Babel grew in size because the builders could physically see that this was a bigger then they were. We as the church fail to see that. I have worked secular jobs before, and more often than not, people won’t get offended with you, and a business can be built because they realize that it is bigger than themselves. 

     Another reason that the tower of Babel was such a success was that everybody involved knew the final goal, and were trying to achieve it together. In today’s church we can’t seem to get a grip on that . We understand that our goal is to win souls, but we can not seem to work together , because quite honestly pride gets in the way. ” I want to be recognized for what I did”, ” I want people to know how much work I put into this project” Wow, pride is so rampant, that sometimes we are blind to it. It does not say that the Babalonians each required attention and applause for what they did. they just did it. We need to be like Nike and “Just Do It”.

      Along with pride comes the need for a title. I know how ridiculous it sounds, but having a title in the Church is such a big deal to Christians. ” I am head of the bathroom cleaners” and that person will walk around chest out, almost needing a badge of honor. Get real, titles other than biblical ones are only to appease the people that have them, and this really does cause dis-unity, only because it causes a false sense of hierarchy. for example: “I am the official door opener of the church, therefore Thou shall listen to me(I love when people like that feel more powerful using the Kings language)” . NO you are a greeter, and you are a servant in the house of God, you are a nobody, and that should be OK with you. The builders were nobodies, there are no names mentioned, there are no titles mentioned, and they still seemed to make a pretty huge tower. 

     Ok,  so what did we learn today church? #1 Get over yourselves. #2 It’s not about you #3 Be humble, unity is bigger than you are.

Giving

     We are so rich, I am rich. I recently watched a Rob Bell video called rich, and he talks about all the ways that we as Americans are rich. He states that 8% of the people in the world own a car, so right off the bat I’m in the top 8%. I have a job, I have a roof over my head, I am going to school, I have food, I have more than one pair of shoes, I have an entire wardrobe. I am so stinking rich. But, we see people that have a nicer car, a bigger house, newer clothes, more pairs of shoes, and we see them as rich, not us. I have been to places like Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Ghana, Dominican Republic, these places are poor. I have been to orphanages in Africa, I have seen naked begging children on the border of Cambodia and Thailand, and when I come back to my beaten up car, I see that I am rich, I see that I am blessed.

     The Christians in my generation are very good at giving. My church had a theme this past Christmas called “Advent Conspiracy” where we looked outside our own personal life, to a more global perspective. We gave tens of thousands of dollars to organizations such as  Love 146, whose goal is the abolition of child sex slavery, and we gave to Smile Train, who helps repair cleft palettes on children in third world nations, we gave to local charities too, and the lives of people around the world were changed.  Americans are very good at giving, we are the most generous people in the world. But so often we give to the latest causes, and in a sense “pay off our convictions”, we drop a check in the offering, and I’m off the hook, but giving is so much more than that,it’s such a deeper issue.

                                                                                   

We are good at giving, but we are not givers. To be a giver is a consistent lifestyleof giving. So often the thought is, “How little do I have to give so I can spend what I want?” when in reality, it should be ” Who little can I live on to give more?” . This is the thought of a true giver, and I’ll be the first to say that I am not there either.

     Spending less should be our first thought. Do I really need that new Ipod? Do I really need those new Nike shorts? Do I reallyneed that Big Mac (for some of you that is a big no! especially middle-schoolers, if you don’t like acne, then learn not to like fast food)? More than the thought of spending less is coming to the realization that we are indeed stewards of the money that God has given us. Essentially, we are accountants for God. He gives us money, and if we spend it where we are not supposed to, He(being God) could stop giving us money. The Biblesays that a cattle on a  thousand hills are his, God owns it all! Stewardship is so important!

     Give more, well that is so much easier said than done. The truth is that we really have to come to a point where we give until it hurts. ( Oh and tithing does not count, my favorite author Craig Groeschel says it this way: “Tithing is for beginners”, so giving until it hurts is beyond the the tithe.) If you are an athlete or know an athlete, you know that when they do a work out or they go running, they are going to be in pain the next day, and for any athlete, they know that that means progress. same with Christians and giving, if you are giving, and you don’t feel it, you are not improving, you are not “maturing” in a sense. pain=gain.

     Giving is so gratifying. it just feels good. I think that it is very important to always remember that God is the one who gives to us so we can give to others. Worshiping God is so important. God has provided for all of us in one way or another..if you can’t think any, I’ll give you a few examples: you are breathing..God, you have food…God, roof…God, car…God, Steak…God( Cattle on a thousand hills, aka steak..thank you Jesus!!)

     Spend less, you are a steward of God’s money. Give more, God set a great example of giving by sending His son, it must be important to Him. And lastly, worship Him for all that He has done, and is doing for you! 

Don’t Give…Be Givers

While in Cambodia

     OK, I have offically been in the county or Cambodia for about 36 hours..the heat, the humidity…it’s  great! You would think that blonde haired, light skinned, blue eyed fellow such as myself would hate being in the sun, well think again my friends, the sun and I might not be best friends, but we get along pretty well.

                                  

     Today, while in Cambodia, I went to one of the worlds most renown ruins, Angkor Wat. Incredible, these structures were built hundreds of years ago, and the bit that is left standing, and the intricate work that was done on them is amazing! I was walking through the ruins thinking to myself, “This is like a teenage guys dream”, there are structures that are three and four and five stories high, and you have to climb some very small stairs to get up them. I was climbing all over (at least the places I was allowed to, I decided that it was best to obey the law and not be thrown into a Cambodian prison), and I was loving it.

     While looking over these ancient ruins, I began to think: when these were built the were the most high tech most amazing buidings of  it’s time, and hundreds of years later, here they lie in ruin. Aren’t our lives like that, we put so much time and energy into building our lives and building things that help us, things that will not last things that will eventually end in ruin. Instead, we should build into eternal things, and make it last forever.

     How do we do that?  Well let’s first ask what lasts forever? Well, God does, and those that believe in Him have eternal life (John 3:16), so if we are to build things that will last more than our life times, and more than our earthly kingdoms, we need to invest and build into God’s kingdom. Evangalize, the Bible says go into all the world and preach the Gospel. 

       Today’s Goal: Help those around you, be a light in there life, and build with eternity in mind!

Can’t do It

Ever been tempted to do something that you know you shouldn’t do?

Ever done it anyway even though you know that it was wrong?

NO! NEVER! You know friends that have, but never you, right?

OK, to make your sorry self feel better we will hypothetically say that your friend is struggling with something like drinking…Internet porn…the opposite sex…food…throwing up their food…cutting themselves…the list is endless. Their reason is that there is no way that they could fight temptation, it just was impossible. OK, this is where you go home and open your Bible and start to read in 1 Corinthians 10, in verse 13 it begins to dissect the thought of “I can’t do it”.

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God [is] faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear [it].

Cracker say what?! NO WAY God doesn’t allow your friend to be tempted beyond what he or she can handle? That’s what the Good Book says. Think about that next time your friend is sitting in front of the computer when no one is home, or when your friend(who maybe a tad bit overweight ) sees that last piece of chocolate cake on the kitchen table, or when your friend is all alone in his or her room and really depressed, and searching for their knife, I want you to reassure them that there is no temptation that has been put in front of them, that God has not made an avenue out for.

I CAN’T DO IT…Without God

Religion

When we hear the word Religion what do we think of? We think of things like “Our Father’s” and “Hail Mary’s”, we think of sitting in a silent room having a monologue with the wall and calling it prayer. Over time charismatic churches have grown to dislike what religion has become so much so that we have phrases like :Christianity is a relationship not religion, which isn’t entirely true.

James 1:27 says:  Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Religion is not a monologue in an empty sanctuary, True religion is getting out there and being Jesus to somebody, Is being proactive when seeing a need, is being the light in somebodies darkness.

Why is it that we have made Christianity all about not doing bad? In all reality that is nothing like Christ. Jesus’ whole ministry was focused on doing good, and helping the needy, the widow, the orphan, the neighbor next door who doesn’t have enough money to get ther kids anything for Christmas, the child sold into slavery…Jesus was focused on doing the Fathers will, Jesus was not worried about doing no bad, He was obsessed with doing all the good He could.

Religion:Visit the hurt. Help the Hurt. Go be religious to somebody this Christmas.

Wait

     But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

    Over Thanksgiving break, I get a chance to stop and rest, I get a chance to quiet myself, and just find some peace. When times like this comes, I find it easier to sit back and relax and worry about my own interests, and not worry about anybody but me. But this verse really puts rest in perspective for me. Vacation is a time to find rest, but I’m learning that that vacation can be so much more then that, it can be a time where I just wait on the Lord, I just seek His face, and to try to cultivate my relationship with Him.

     In finding time to rest and seek God, He promises to renew our strength, to renew our strength more then we can do on our own. We will walk and not grow faint, I love these promises, I love that God cares enough about our strength and our weakness!.

     So on vacation, when your planning on sitting in front of the tv, or sleeping in really late, rethink it, get up early to wait on the Lord, let Him renew your strength, be refreshed in all that He has for you.

Salvation

     Salvation, one of the most basic parts of Christianity, but it often surprises me how little people really know about it. If you ask most people how they are saved, they will pull out the one bible verse that they have up in there head, dust it off, and recite it, that’s right, John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. OK,So we got the part that God sent his son Jesus to save me, but how does that really work?  It says in Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace we have been saved through faith,and that not of yourselves, it is a gift from God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We are saved by the grace of God, He had enough mercy and grace on such a sinful world, that He sent His son to die on the cross for us. And the only way to accept His grace is through faith, faith that he really did this for us.

     So we are saved, saved from what? Why is it so important? In Romans 6:23 it says: for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The wages of sin is death, but even greater then death is eternal separation from God, and from the life that He gives. The Bible also says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, that is why salvation is so very important- because all have sinned, there is none that are excluded from that list except Christ himself. We need salvation!

     Now that we are saved, and we have made Jesus the Lord of our life, we don’t have to worry, we can just keep on livin’, we can do what we have always done, it doesn’t matter anymore… right?…WRONG!!! Romans 6:1 says: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that Grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who have died to sin live any longer in it? God’s salvation is a continual process of renewal, and restoration in our lives. Our goal is to be more like Christ. We will fall, and we will stumble, but the Bible says that His mercies are new every morning!

     God did give His own son to die on the cross, Jesus payed the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. So by having faith in the fact that God had enough grace and mercy to give His son for our sins, we are saved, It is a good day. No matter what problems that you maybe facing today, you have the opportunity to choose to spend eternity with God, the Creator of the universe, The King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords! It is a good day!

Random

One of my favorite things in this world is random facts, so I thought that I would share some really good ones with you

The Year that they were introduced, Volkswagen only sold two Beetles in the United States

A U.S. standard passport contains 24 pages

Q: if you had a million dollars in $100 bills, how much would it weigh?   A:20.41 lbs

According to his “official biography,” Popeye is 34 years old, 5′6″tall, and 154lbs.

In Japan, when a man turns 60, he is considered free of the responsibilities of being an adult

Plastic bottles were fisrt used for soft drinks in 1970

More babies are born on Tuesday then any other day of the week.

     Theses are just a few that I thought I would share with you…I hoped you enjoyed them

Successful Children’s Ministry

     What is successful children’s ministry? How do we make what we have either work, or work more effectively? I was talking to Pastor Sam Luce, the children’s pastor at Mt. Zion Ministries, and he was explaining that he wanted to make Sunday school an experience that kids will remember. As a kid, I was all about senses, I will smell something now, and I’ll have a strange memory of smelling that same thing when I was a kid. I will hear something and it will remind me of something that I heard when I was a kid. So, Pastor Sam was talking about making an experience for the kids that come through Uptown, Mt. Zion’s Children’s ministry, whether it’s the exciting scenery, or it’s the smell that looms in the air, or it’s the music that they hear, it is the atmosphere that is the first thing that they will begin to remember. So how can we creatively begin to make this a “time to remember”? What can we do? 

    First, what can be done, is somewhat dismissing traditionalism, I’m not saying get rid of the felt board, if you can work that, go for it, but I have yet to see that excite a kid. We need to start using our creative muscles, go outside our comfort zone, do things that will be will tend to embarrass us, the kids will remember it.

     OK, 2nd, Use what you have, to do what you need to do. Don’t sit on a throne of self pity thinking that you can’t do what all the big churches do because you don’t have what they have. That is a lie, if your children’s ministry has Jesus, the king of kings, who laid down his life so the kids that you are reaching can be saved, you have exactly what all the big churches have.

     3rd, BE PROACTIVE! Creativity will not just have happen, it won’t just fall into your lap. You have to make it happen. Not only do you as a leader need to make it happen, but you need to get your team, or your children’s workers excited about your vision. Vision leaks.

     God wants your ministry to be successful, He wants you to succeed. But first, you need to seek His will, ask Him to build your creative muscles, and to give you insight. The best children’s ministry is the one that not only teaches about God, but also allows God to be the Center of everything that they do.

Kings (part 2)

     King David, OK so now we’re talking about a good king right? King David was the man! He had so many things going for him, and so many things that weren’t going for him. David was anointed of God, like Saul. David was not the best candidate for king, Saul was. David did things that were crazy, things that people ridiculed him for, Saul did things that people admired him for(bringing together an army out of nothing, and having amazing victory). Lets look deeper into this issue, what did David do right?

     Starting at the beginning, David was a shepherd, a shepherd boy at that. Not really king material. He was the youngest son of Jesse, and being the youngest, you really get overlooked, so the probability that he would become the next king was unlikely. Unlikely to men, unlikely to his family, unlikely to his neighbors, but a great choice in the eyes of God. That is what really matters, God looks deeper then the flesh and bones, He looks at the heart, He looks at integrity, He knows better then anyone who could lead His people.

     So after getting past the age and size factor, did he have any leadership qualities? The only thing that he had ever led was a flock of sheep, that was the only quality that anyone had ever seen from him. Until there was a giant in his way. as kids we are all taught the story of David and Goliath, we know that little David went with some smooth stones and threw one really fast at Goliath’s forehead, when he fell David went and cut off his head. First of all, that is such an awesome story, it is one of the famous biblical underdog stories, but second it took initiative to step out, it took faith to step out, and it took courage to go out before a giant and tell him that he better start praying because you were going to kill him. This is the first natural sign of leadership that david showed.

    David has already been anointed to be the next king, but another great leadership quality that he showed was respect, and patience. Saul did indeed try to kill David on several occasions, Saul whipped a spear in Davids direction, and what did David do? David fled the scene of the crime. He did not “Lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed”, or throw a spear at the Lord’s anointed, he ran. We can learn from this, there is a time to face your enemy, and there is a time to flee from your enemy.

     So far so good right? But did David ever screw up? I mean he was human. Of course he screwed up. There is a story about David seeing a really beautiful woman, (it’s always the pretty ones that bring us down) and he wanted to make her his wife, but she was married. Marriage obviously doesn’t stop a king from getting what he wants. The husband of this woman was one of Davids best fighting men, so what he did was he put this man on the front lines to be killed in battle so that he could have his wife. WOW. That is like the worst thing that you could possibly do! And David did it

     David made mistakes, Saul made mistakes. David was a great leader, Saul was a good leader. Why was there two totally different end results with the reign of these two kings? When Saul screwed up, he made excuses, When David screwed up, he became genuinely apologetic. David had a heart for the will of God, Saul wanted to please the people. Learn to go to God when you’ve messed up. The Bible says”If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you, and cleanse you from all unrighteousness”

     Lead like David.. Live like David