My Journey

Locked Out.

2011-07-14T18:26:00.000-07:00

"Why does your heart carry you away?" Job 15:12

As I walked out the door and heard it shut behind me, I knew what happened. I left my keys in the house. So I turned around to check to see if the door was locked and it was. I went to the back door; and it was locked also. All the windows, you guessed it, they were all locked too. So there I was sitting in the hot Texas Summer locked out of my house, no way to get in. No matter what I tried to do, I couldn't get in. I was locked out.

"Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life." Proverbs 4:23

As I wrote about in my last post, I was nothing but a hypocrite. I was just like the Pharisees of Jesus' day. I was Christian on the outside but sinner on the inside.

I recognized the place I had to clean was my heart. I realized that I locked Jesus out of my heart just like I locked myself out of my house. No matter how hard Jesus tried to get in, I would not let Him. I shut Jesus completely out of my life.

Solomon warns us if we want to stay alive we must guard our hearts. Now I was alive physically but spiritually I was deader than all get out. Spiritually I was ten toes up.

Why is it so important to guard your heart? Solomon tells us it's where we get our life. Life flows out of heart. For sake of space go read Mark 7:14-23.

When your heart is not saturated with Jesus you're a dead man walking. What do we need to guard our hearts from? As I looked at my heart and what it was full of I noticed several of Satan's most powerful heart blockers had penetrated my heart.

My next few post I will talk about the things I found in my heart.

My question for you is this:
1. What is flowing from your heart?

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Check Yourself.

2011-05-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

Once I learned that God was not the center of my life I knew I had to do something I did not want to do. I had to look in the mirror and check myself. I had to look at myself and look at what kind of person I had become.

In one of the darkest times in Israel's history the Prophet Jeremiah instructs the Israelites to do this same thing.

Lamentations 3:40 "Let us examine and probe our ways, and let us return to the Lord."

Examine - to search through.
Probe - to investigate or explore.

In this dark time, Jeremiah did not tell the Israelites to feel sorry for themselves or to get a group of people together and have a pity party, instead he tells them to search and explore their lives and to see what led them to become the wretched nation they were.

I must be honest and say as my life was mirroring the book of Lamentations I did not want to do any exploring of self. But I knew this is what I must do.

What I found out about "King" Dustin was I became just like the people that Jesus struggled with throughout His ministry.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.
You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also." Matthew 23:25-26

The word hypocrite in the Greek means, "an actor or pretender."

Here are the Pharisees acting and pretending to be the righteous and Godly people. Kind of sounds like the author of this blog. Here I was in full-time ministry teaching Bible class, counseling, instructing people how to live life for God and the whole time I was doing this I was nothing more than and actor playing the lead role in my life pretending to be a Disciple of Jesus. When I looked in the mirror I saw a hypocrite.

My cup was sparkling clean on the outside but on the inside it was a a mess. The inside of my cup was filthy and dirty.

The second half of this verse Jesus tells the Scribes and Pharisees to clean the inside of their cup. The word clean carries the meaning and idea to purify oneself from wickedness.

My next blog entry I will discuss the first place I had to clean.

But until then I have two questions for you:
1) Have you divorced yourself from God?
2) Do you need to check yourself?

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

What Happened?

2011-05-09T13:04:00.000-07:00

"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference." Elie Wiesel

To say that my life can be best described by the word chaos these last few months is not only true but an understatement. The main question that I've heard over and over is, "What happened to you?"

For those of you who don't know, I'm no longer in full-time ministry because I had an affair. Most people cannot believe and are shocked when they attach the word "affair" to my name.

Since the affair came to light in March, I've experienced what is know as a "rock-bottom" experience.

My "rock-bottom" experience consisted of the following: having my wife change the locks on the doors of the house, as well as transferring all of our money to another account so I could not access it, being out of my house for 30 days, losing the trust and respect of my wife and kids, friends questioning the validity of our friendship, a ministry I love letting me know they believe its best they sever ties with me, and much more. Please know this statement is not for the purpose of sympathy, because there is no one less deserving, but just to explain how much it took to wake me up from my own selfish desires.

So, back to the original question of, "What Happened?" The answer to that question can be found in Revelation 2:4. The problem with the Church in Ephesus was that they lost their first love. Some thirty years earlier this Church was described as a Church with an incorruptible love.

Just like the Church in Ephesus, I also left my first love. The word "left" in the Greek means: to send away, to divorce, to disregard. I was no longer in love with God. I sent Him away, disregarded Him, and divorced Him to be in a relationship with MYSELF. I loved me more than I loved God. I wanted to be King of my life.

The Israelites begged Samuel for a King so they could be like the other nations. As a result of them getting a King they endured many unnecessary hardships in their lives. Like the Israelites, I suffered many hardships because of my selfish desires and wants to be King.

Like the Church in Ephesus I once had a love that could be described as "incorruptible" but my selfish desire to be King corrupted my love for God. And to be honest with you being King for a day is not all it's cracked up to be.

My next several blog entries will look at the life of "King" Dustin and what happened to his kingdom of one.

May the Lord Bless you and keep you.

I Know You.

2011-03-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

"Jesus knows all about our struggles; He will guide till the day is done; there's not a friend like the lowly Jesus, no not one! No not one!"

As you know the above lyrics are from the hymn, "No Not One." The first part of this chorus gets me every time I hear it. To know that no matter what I'm faced with or going through, Jesus knows how it feels and will walk with me hand and hand through the day. What a friend we have in Jesus!

The reason why Jesus can do this is because He is familiar with us. That in my opinion is the second reason why He is The Good Shepherd. In John 10:14-15 Jesus uses the word "know". The word know is defined in Webster's this way, "to be familiar with or have experience." Jesus is the Good Shepherd because He can empathize with us. He has experienced what it is like to have people talk about Him. To abuse Him. To spread rumors about Him. To say false things about Him. To leave Him during His hardest and roughest times. He knows what its like to be viewed as an outcast. Jesus knows all our struggles.

And His response to knowing us is, "I lay down my life for the sheep."

This is the Good News that so many people need to hear. In a world where there is so many uncertainties, the only thing that is certain is we have a Shepherd that is familiar with us and is willing to die for us. In a world that is filled with so much pain and heartache the only answer is for us as Disciples is to tell those in need about One that understands.

Another reason why He is familiar with us is because He created us. Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed you in the womb I Knew you." Isaiah 43:1-3 tells us that God calls us by name. He knows what we can handle, He created us. He knows our limits, He knows what we can withstand and how much pressure we can handle.

Why is Jesus The Good Shepherd? Because He is Familiar.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Give it Away, Give it Away, Give it Away Now

2011-02-24T06:17:00.000-08:00

Sacrifice. I think it's fair to say, thats a word that most of us don't like to hear. According to Webster's dictionary sacrifice means, "to give up something of value for something else."

The first reason why I believe Jesus is the Good Shepherd is because of His Sacrifice (vss. 11-13). What kind of sacrifice did Jesus make? Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice by giving up His life for us. In John 15:13 we learn that Jesus laid His life down for us. The word lay in the Greek means "to carry no longer." When Jesus died on the Cross He gave up His life, He carried it no longer and began to carry our life.

As I stated in the first blog post in this series a Shepherd is so attached to His sheep that he is willing to die for them. We read in John 10:12-13 that when the wolf comes that the hired hand (opposite of the Good Shepherd) flees and leaves the sheep as easy prey for the wolf. I'm sure as Jesus was saying these words images of Jeremiah 23:1-6 and Ezekiel 34:1-16 was going through the listeners mind and reinforcing what Jesus was saying. We know that in these two sections of Scripture that the Shepherds here were destroying and scattering the sheep and tending to their own personal needs.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd because He is willing to die for us and protect us from the enemy, even if it means giving up something of value for something else.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Good Shepherd

2011-02-17T06:17:00.000-08:00

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father." John 10:11-18

This passage draws the contrast between the good and the bad, the faithful and unfaithful shepherd. The Shepherd is absolutely responsible for the sheep. To the Shepherd, it was the most natural thing to risk his life in defense of his flock. The true Shepherd never hesitated to risk, even to lay down his life for his sheep.

In this text Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd. The word good here carries the meaning of loveliness and being honorable.

This is one of my favorite sections in the Bible. We learn so much about the character and mission of Jesus in these few verses. For the next several weeks my blog post will be coming from this section of Scripture.

If there is a passage of Scripture that I believe we need to get back to, this is it. The lost people of this world don't need to here our Church traditions and doctrines! They need to know there is a man out there that has laid His life down for them. As followers of Christ we must heed the call that Jesus gives in this passage to get all the sheep together.

I hope you enjoy the next few post.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Good Stuff

2011-02-10T14:36:00.000-08:00

Today's post is my last in this series that looked at Mark 4:1-20. Today we will look at the last the soil, the soil that we all want to be. Jesus describes this soil as the "good soil."

To be the good soil you must be receptive to what God wants you to do. This is the person that accepts God's Word and puts their wants and desires on the back burner. I'm sure that last sentence is something that most of us struggle with. If you're like me, its very difficult to put what you want aside and put what God wants in its place.

To be the Good Soil, you must do the following 3 things with the Word of God:

1. You must hear it. This means you must be still and listen to what God is trying to tell you (Psalm 1 and 46:10). I'm sure you must thinking that I have no idea of how busy you are and for you to slow down any is hard to do. If you truly want to know what God is saying to you then slow down and listen. And for someone of you it might not be you need to slow down, it may be that you need to stop talking (James 1:19). Some of us have a talking problem, we like to talk but not listen.

2. You must receive it. Whenever a foreign body threatens to enter the eye, they eye automatically closes. Sometimes we are like this with the Word of God. We do not like what God is telling us so we close our hearts to it and do our own thing.

3. We must put it into action. As followers of Christ we are called to tell people about Christ (John 1:40-45 and Matthew 28:18-20). It does us no good at all to have the greatest gift in the world and yet keep it to our self. As followers of Christ we must to people about the love of Christ.

So, what do you need to do to be the Good Soil? Pray this week that you become this soil.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Choke Artist

2011-02-03T09:54:00.000-08:00

I hope that you have been reading Mark 4 and looking at the different soils that Jesus talks about. As I have said before, I do not believe this is an either/or choice.

Today we will look at the third soil. This is the soil where I believe most of us are. Jesus describes this soil as thorny ground.

The Palestinian farmer would cut off the top of the fibrous rooted weeds; he even burned of the top; and the field might look clean; but below the surface the roots were still there; and in due time the weeds were revived in all their strength. These weeds would grow with such rapidity that they would choke the life out of the seed.

It so easy to pack so many things in our schedule that Christ and His Word get choked out. Honestly take a look at your schedule today and see how much stuff you have going on. When is the last time you made "time" in your day to read, pray, or serve? I don't like using the phrase "make time" because serving Christ should be who we are. But some of us need to practice "making time" for Christ.

We are a people consumed with wanting more. The more I have the better I am. When we are driven by this desire to want more what we are really doing is choking Christ out of our life.

More stuff doesn't give us a better life. Having more Christ is how to have a great life. Don't be tricked by Satan in getting caught up in the "more stuff" lie. Satan wants you to choke Christ out of your life.

Some of you are breathing your last breath because your stuff is choking you and Christ is slowly leaving you. My encouragement for you is to stop being a Choke Artist and desire to want to have more Christ and less stuff.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Choice Dos

2011-01-20T10:06:00.000-08:00

Today, we will look at our second choice. Last week we looked at the Hard Ground. This describes the person who has a hard heart towards God and His Word.

The second choice that Jesus mentions in the parable is the Rocky Ground. This is not the ground full of stones; it was a narrow skin of earth over a shelf of limestone rock. Much of Galilee was like this. In many fields the outcrop of the rock through the shallow soil could be seen. Seed which feel there germinated all right; but because the soil was so shallow and held so little nourishment and moisture, the heat of the sun soon withered the sprouting seed so that it died.

In vss. 16-17 Jesus lets us know that these are the people that face persecution and affliction because of the word. Jesus never promises us that following Him is going to be daisies and roses. There are going to be times when we will be persecuted because of our faith (Matthew 10:22 and 2 Timothy 3:12).

Does this soil sound like you? When you face hard times do you abandon God's Word for something else? Do you allow Satan to deceive you in believing that God cannot help you during your hard time? You may not believe this but God is with us even during our times of afflictions and persecutions (Hebrews 13:5, Matthew 28:20, and John 14:8).

Don't allow the heat of the sun withered your life away. As I did last week, I want to end with two questions that Francis Chan asks in his book.

1. Has your relationship with God actually changed the way you live?
2. Do you see evidence of God's Kingdom in your life?

Meditate and pray over your answers to these questions this week.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Choice 1

2011-01-13T10:47:00.000-08:00

I hope that you have read mark 4:1-20. Today we will look at what your first option can be.

As I stated in the previous blog post, this is a passage we all know well. We know that the different grounds represent us and the Sower is God. And as I stated, I believe you can only be one, I don't believe we have the option to play "musical chairs" with the different grounds/soils.

The first choice we encounter is: The Hard Ground. The fields in Palestine were in the form of long, narrow strips; these strips were divided by little grass paths; these paths were rights of way; the result was that they became beaten as hard as pavement by the feet of those who used them. As the sower scattered his seed, some might fall on this hardened ground, but it had no chance to grow.

This is what I would call an unreceptive person. This is the person that sees the great work of the hands of God but his heart is callous to what he sees. Some examples of people from the Bible that I believe would fall in this category would be Pharaoh and Judas. Think about it, these men saw great signs and miracles that God performed but yet the seed did not grow.

Does this describe you? You go to church, even attend Bible class and are part of a small group but for whatever the reason, God's Word has made no change in your life. The writer of Hebrews tells us, "The Word of God is living and active..." Is God's Word living and active in your life or is it just falling onto hard ground?

Francis Chan asks these two questions in Crazy Love:
1. Has your relationship with God actually changed the way you live?
2. Do you see evidence of God's Kingdom in your life?

Meditate and pray over your answers to these questions this week.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Freedom To Choose

2011-01-06T12:15:00.000-08:00

I'm a rather impulsive person. I have a bad habit of not thinking things through. My next few blog posts will be centered around the choices we make.

Webster's dictionary defines choice as, "the opportunity, right, or power to choose; freedom of action; the act of selecting from alternatives."

Everyday we are forced with making choices, and I believe for so many of us we do not think about the impact of our choices.

J.K. Rowling says this about our choices; "It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

I agree with Ms. Rowling, I believe our choices shape who we are as people.

Mark 4:1-9 will be our focus for this series. This passage is a familiar passage to most. This is the section that deals with the four soils and the Sower. The Sower in this passage is symbolic of God and the different soils represent us. I believe that we have the opportunity to choose which soil we are. You may disagree with me and that's okay but I believe that you can only be one. I know there are people that will say some days I am this and other days I am this. I believe you can only be one of the soils.

The reason why I believe that you can only be one is in Revelation 3:15-22 Jesus describes the Church in Laodicea as lukewarm and tells them since they're this way He's going to spit them out. The word "spit" means: to vomit, hurling, gagging,or retching.

I believe if you say one day your this kind of soil and the next day you say your another, then I see this as lukewarm and being lukewarm gives Jesus an upset stomach and His only option is to vomit.

I want to encourage you to begin reading the text from Mark 9. Next week we will look at the first soil mentioned: The Road.

Have a great week and may the Lord bless you and keep you.

Zip It

2010-11-18T08:51:00.000-08:00

"...a time to keep silence, and a time to speak." Ecclesiastes 3:7b

It's time that I zip it for a while. I hope the things that have been written here on the Blog have been useful and beneficial for you and your walk with Jesus. I know that I have enjoyed the challenge that writing this blog brings. It has challenged me to "practice what I preach." During this time of blog "quietness" I will be seeking God and His direction in my life. I ask that during your prayer time you ask God to show me the direction He has for me. Thank you to those who have spent time reading this blog. Look for a new post soon.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Sleepy

2010-11-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

"Made a decision to turn our life and will over to the care of God as we understand God." Step 3 of AA

This has been a long exhausting week. Several days this past week and half were 19-20 hour days. I'm tired! I'm sure several of you understand where I am coming from. Looking back on this time I noticed something about myself. It wasn't the long days that made me tired. The reason why I am tired is I tried to do most if not all the work myself. If your like me, when you get in to some hectic stuff you want to do it yourself. What I failed to do was give it to God.

My challenge to you is simply this: Instead of being sleepy, give it to Jesus.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Jesus

May the Lord and bless you and keep you.

Suffer

2010-10-28T07:53:00.000-07:00

"But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion."

"As long as it doesn't affect me, I don't care." Sadly, I believe this is the attitude for most people in society. Our world has turned into a selfish playground full of "little kids" that only care about themselves. It bothers me that this selfish attitude has made its way into the church. Now don't get me wrong, for the most part church people will help church people, to some degree. As long as it doesn't interfere with their schedule.

The Scripture mentioned above is from a story in the Bible that we all know way too well. We have been taught this scripture since we were infants. But somewhere along the way we stopped practicing it.

I think for many of us, we are just like the Lawyer who is listening to this story. Earlier in the text the Lawyer wants to know what he must do to have eternal life. The Lawyer proceeds to do a great job quoting Scripture. Like the Lawyer, many of us can quote Scripture but we do not practice what is said and in doing so we miss the point.

A word in this text that pops out to me is "compassion." The word compassion comes from the Latin words com, which means "with" and passion, which means "to feel." So the word compassion means "to feel with." Some scholars believe the Latin word passion means "to suffer." So then the meaning would be "to suffer with."

How would our society be if we learned to "suffer" with those in need? I think what we need in this world is more compassion filled Samaritans and less scripture quoting lawyers.

There is so much more that I could ramble on about this passage but I won't.

My challenge for you this week is to "suffer" with those that are suffering.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Membership Required

2010-10-21T09:32:00.000-07:00

"Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, 'Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?' This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, 'Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.' And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.'"

Every time I read this story I get chills. I would have loved to seen the look on the faces of the Scribes and Pharisees when Jesus began to write in the sand. I'm sure they were looking over their shoulder making sure their partners in crime could not see what Jesus was writing about them.

But really what catches my attention is how Jesus treats the woman compared to the "religious" people. My fear is that most church people today see the woman the same way the Pharisees did. For example:

How would you/we/me view a prostitute? A drug dealer? A pedophile? A murderer? And etc.

I feel fairly confident that most of these people would not be allowed to enter or be a member at most churches. See, I believe that the church has become more and more like a Country Club. What I mean by that is, we have certain requirements that you must have before you can enter. The church is not a fortress that protects us from the world. The church is a community of people who open their arms to ALL people in the loving name of Christ, wherever they are on their faith journey. But we expect people to be "Christian" before they ever meet or know who Jesus is.

Jesus saw the women first for who she was, a beautiful creation of God, not a woman who was "caught" in the act. Now, I know Jesus called her out on on her sin, but before He did that, He loved her. So often we first call people out on their sin, expect them to change, then we can love them.

The wonderful part of this story is that Jesus welcomed this woman, affirmed her, and protected her. How do we act with those that have been "caught" in the act?

My challenge to you is this: Look at the person first, not the sin.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Duff

2010-10-07T08:04:00.001-07:00

As many of you know I am huge golf fan. Last week I did my best to watch the Ryder Cup. The outcome of the Ryder Cup was not what I wanted, the European team won by one point. And that one point came down to the last match on the last day. I could be wrong, but the one thing this year's Cup will be remembered for is Hunter Mahan's duff on the 17th hole.

The thing that really intrigues me is that Mahan asked team Captain Corey Pavin for that last spot. Mahan wanted to be the man that had to perform at the last match. He wanted all the pressure that came with that last spot. Usually the team Captain picks where each player will play.

I wish there were more Hunter Mahan's in the Church. People who are not scared to take a leap of faith. People that are not worried about losing or failing. So many Christians today sit back in their pew and just watch the world go by. Many of us wait until we are told to go do something. I think we sit and wait because we're scared that we will fail or might make a mistake. And honestly, those concerns are valid. But I believe a true Disciple of Jesus will not wait to be told to go do something. Listen to these Scriptures:

"And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." Isaiah 6:8

"Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest." John 4:35

"If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you." John 13:14-15

What are you waiting on? Go!

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Veer

2010-09-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, "I will; be clean." And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. Mark 1:40-42

Can you imagine the horror and astonishment of the Disciples when Jesus violated the Hebrew purity code? When healthy people approached a leper, they would literally veer to the other side of the road to avoid potential contact.

How often do you "veer" to the other side of the road to avoid someone? I believe if you're honest with yourself, you do it quite often. Why do we veer away from people? What are we worried or scared of?

Jesus could have easily said from a distance to the leper, "you are healed" and the leper would have been healed. Instead, Jesus looks at the man that no one wants contact with and walks over and touches him. To Jesus he was not unclean; he simply was a human soul in desperate need of healing. The Leper had no right to be spoken to at all, but Jesus meet the desperation of a human need with and understanding of compassion.

There are so many people who get passed by simply because of their "leprosy." As Disciples of Jesus it is our mission to "touch" those with "leprosy." Because if we don't, what makes us different? Our religious affiliations doesn't. How we worship on Sunday doesn't. What kind of Bible we carry around doesn't. Saying your a Christian doesn't.

Jesus was not worried about what the crowds would say. Neither should we. Jesus was not worried about the reactions of the Disciples (Church folk), neither should we.

My challenge for you this week is simply this: Don't "veer."

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Dinner Tonight

2010-09-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed him. And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." Mark 2:14-17

Have you ever noticed who you rub elbows with? For the most part it is people who look like us, talk like us, act like us, and etc. I believe this is the total opposite of how a Christ-follower should be. I believe that when you look at the life that Jesus led, He hung out with those who were different. My next three blog post will be dealing with this.

In the Scripture mentioned above we have Jesus and His Disciples taking a stroll along the sea. He sees a man, a tax-collector at that and summons him to follow Him. Later in the story we Jesus and the Disciples rubbing elbows with the hated tax collector and his friends.

The Pharisees (the religious leaders or churched people) would have nothing to do with this man and his friends. I have to ask myself, is this still true today? Are we like the religious leaders or like Jesus? If you look around in our churches most of the people in the building are just like us. It's the people that everyone wants to dine with. What about those that no one wants to dine with?

Jesus wanted the man no one wanted. He offered His friendship to the man whom all others would have scorned to call a friend.

So my question for you is this, "Who are you going to dine with tonight?"

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Stoned.

2010-09-09T09:38:00.000-07:00

The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?" John 11:8

Excuses. We make them all the time. Have you ever thought about all the excuses that you make? Sometimes we work harder at making excuses on why we cannot do something than just doing what needs to be done.

As followers of Jesus we are commissioned to go tell people about the saving Grace of Jesus. But so often we come up with reasons why we can't. Think about it. See if some of these sound familiar: "I'm too busy." "I don't know enough." "That place is dangerous." And the list can go on and on.

My point is simple. In the above passage we have the Disciples trying to convince Jesus that He shouldn't go help His friend Lazarus. The reason for them saying this is that the Jews wanted to kill Jesus. What blows me away about this is that Jesus was not even worried about being stoned to death. He knew that someone needed His help and He was not going to allow people to get in His way from helping. I know a lot of times we allow people to get in our way of helping. The irony in this story is that it was the "Church" people that were trying to convince Jesus not to go.

There are so many people that need to know Jesus. we can no longer allow ourself to make excuses or allow people to keep us from doing what we're commissioned to do. If Jesus wasen't worried about being "stoned" than we shouldn't be either.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Get Out Of My Room!

2010-09-02T08:09:00.000-07:00

And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region. Matthew 8:34

"Get out of my room!" I can promise you without a doubt that this phrase will be shouted and echo through my house at least once a day. It usually comes from my 13 year old shouting it at the top of her lungs to my 8 year old.

I have been reading through the Gospel of Matthew and as I was reading the above passage made my eyes bug out. How could an entire city beg for Jesus to get out of their city. Have they not seen some of the things that He has been doing? Do they not understand who He is? Just in Chapter 8 alone the following has happened; cleansing of a leper, healing of the Centurion's servant, Peter's mother-in-law healed, calms a storm, and heals two demon-possessed men. Why did they want Him to leave?

And then these thoughts came to my mind: "Are we any different?" "Is the Church any different?" How often do we tell Jesus to leave? I think if were honest with our self we ask Him to get out of our rooms quite often. I believe the Church is more concerned with what they want instead of wanting what Jesus wants. If you don't believe me how many Churches do you know who put their traditions or heritages above and before the Word of God? I believe most Christians are good followers of Jesus until He calls them to go a certain way they do not want to go. If you don't believe me how many Christians do you know who are comfortable and have become complacent in their Walk?

My challenge is this; "Don't tell Jesus to get out of your room."

I leave you with this tweet I read by David Platt, "If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the Church today, 95% of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference."

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Kill Me!

2010-08-26T09:23:00.000-07:00

"The problem with Christians today is that no one wants to kill them anymore." Jamie Buckingham

If your like me when you read this quote it makes you say, "WOW!" But the more I thought about this quote, I agree with it. I think that it would be safe to say that Christians are not sticking out in the world. How many people at your job know you're a Christian? How many people at your school know you're a Christian? How many people that you come in contact with during the day know you're a follower of Christ? We have allowed Satan to keep us from being the aroma of Christ to the world. We let people tell us we cannot pray in school or wear clothing that has Jesus "stuff" on it. We are so worried about offending people that we will not stand up for what is right, moral, and Godly.

In the Gospel of Matthew followers of Christ are called "salt" and "light." When I hear those words it tells me that I am suppose to be different that I'm suppose to stick out because of my relationship with Jesus. Are you sticking out? Can people tell that you're different? Do people want to kill you because of your relationship with Jesus?

I don't know about you but my attitude today is this, "Kill Me!" I want to leave you with this:

"The Church is the one institution that exists for those outside it." William Tyndale

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Really? Are You Sure?

2010-08-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Matthew 4:18-22

Often times when I tell my kiddos to clean the house, go to bed, or anything else that does not fit into their plan at that time they look at me with a look that says, "Really? Are You Sure"? Usually it takes at least two or three times for them to understand that I meant right now, not 30 minutes from that time or when they finished what they were currently doing. Right then is when I wanted it done.

This post has nothing to do with my awesome parenting skills or lack there of but everything to do with how many times we respond to Jesus with the look of "Really? Are You Sure"?

In the passage above we have two examples of people being called by Jesus to follow Him. Each time the response is to immediately to stop what they were doing and go. Scripture does not say they gathered the fish they had caught and cleaned them. No, they followed. Scripture does not say that they asked their dads permission, they followed.

My question to you is a simple one. Are you going and doing what Jesus is asking you to do or are you saying, "Really? Are you sure"? He is going to ask you to go to places that make you feel uncomfortable, but He will be there. He is going to ask you to talk to people who you cannot relate to, but He will help you. Jesus has called all of us to take the step from our normal way of life and to follow Him. Is your response immediate or "Really? Are you Sure"?

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Earplugs Part 2

2010-08-12T07:58:00.000-07:00

In the original Earplug post I talked about how we place so much emphasis on our worship that we forget what is most important to God and in return He does not hear our worship (I know some may not like that thought).

I would like to continue that discussion. In my reading the other day I stumbled across this:

Thus has the LORD of hosts said, "Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another." Zechariah 7:9-10

Now there are many items we can discuss about this passage, but in keeping with the theme from last week I would like to talk about the poor and stranger.

On Wednesday some folks from our Church had the opportunity to serve breakfast to the homeless in our area. After we were done serving, a homeless couple needed a ride; so one of our members volunteered and decided they would give them a ride. My initial thought was "this is dangerous and there is no telling what they may do" (I'm sure God was pleased with my thought).

How often do we drive by the person with the sign on the side of the road and make some questionable remarks about them? How often do we pass by those who need help simply because of the way they may dress, look, or smell?

I am thankful that one of our members gave the homeless couple a ride. I am thankful because she was an example of Christ to this couple and to me (a minister).

I have asked God to forgive my thought towards this couple because from what I read in Amos and Zechariah I caused God to put His earplugs on.

As Christ followers I want to challenge us to get our focus back. I can list all kinds of numbers about orphans, homelessness, and etc. It should not be numbers that drive us. It should be the Cross of Christ that motivates us to go places that nobody else would go.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Earplugs

2010-08-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

I believe churches are placing their emphasis in the wrong place. Churches spend most of their time making sure Sunday is perfect for all the members and visitors. Don't get me wrong, I believe Sunday is important but I do not believe that it is the most important thing to God.

"Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps." Amos 5:23

This is a verse that my heritage has misused in my opinion for many years. We have proof text this verse to show that using instruments is wrong and therefore a sin. I think we need to look closely at why God put earplugs in and refused to listen to the worship of His people.

If you notice in verse 10 they closed their ears to those who spoke the truth. Verse 11 they are mean to the poor. Verse 12 they take bribes which has an affect on the poor.

I guess what I am trying to get at is, we have or focus in the wrong place. We can sing in pitch but if we neglect the poor God has earplugs in. We can have the best Communion Meditation but if our actions affect those around us God has His earplugs in.

Does our lifestyle reflect the worship we give on Sunday? If not, I think this verse shows how God sees and hears what we give.

So what's more important to God? Good singing or making sure those around us are okay?

More to come next week.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Aint Skeered

2010-07-29T07:59:00.000-07:00

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." This is a statement made by FDR during his first inaugural address. He spoke these words at one of the worse points during the Great Depression.

Have you ever noticed that fear keeps us from doing so many things. Fear can control our thoughts, actions, and faith. As Christians what do we have to be fearful of? The phrase "fear not" is mentioned over 350 times in the Bible. How many times have you been scared to do something because you were uncertain of what the outcome may be? I believe one of the main reasons the Christian faith struggles is because most Christians struggle with fear.

I believe when you look through the Bible many servants of God struggled with fear. But it always seems that when they put their trust in God, fear was not an issue. One story that comes to mind is the story of Moses going to Pharaoh. Moses did not want to confront Pharaoh. We know the excuses that Moses tried to give God about why he could not go to Pharaoh but God used Moses and his fear to help free the people.

How many people do you know that need to be freed from something in their life? How many people do you know that have a struggle that is hindering their walk with God? What ministry would you like to start but are scared too? The questions can go on and on. The main question is, "Is fear hindering your walk with God?"

My hope is that as followers of Christ, we can walk with an attitude that is lacking fear. An attitude that is free from fear and one that reflects a God who will never leave us or forsake us.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

You Look Like _________________?

2010-07-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

I am currently reading "Why Jesus Crossed the Road" by Bruce Main. I would encourage you to buy this book. It puts a new spin on the idea of spiritual disciplines. I would like to share part of it with you:

"Jesus' primary motivation was to demonstrate the love and acceptance of God to all people. His identity was defined by His relationship with God, not by the reaction of His peers."

Is your identity in Christ or in your religious heritage? I believe that religious heritages have stunted Kingdom Growth!

How often do we allow what our Church brethren think to keep us from doing something? We all know we cannot do certain things because of what other Christan may say, think, or believe about us.

Jesus lived His life not worried about what others would think about Him. His identity was in the Father. Take for example His encounter with the woman caught in adultery. The law stated that this woman should be put to death. Jesus was not concerned with what the religious leaders would think. He showed this woman the love of God in a way she was not familiar with. Jesus showed this woman love instead of judgement. Jesus showed this woman mercy instead of punishment. I believe if Jesus was concerned with what the religious leaders would think of Him He would have acted differently.

Are you not doing things because of what religious folk may say, think, or do? If so, are you truly living a life that can be identified with Jesus? Jesus was all about the Fathers business. How about you?

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Break On Through

2010-07-15T07:10:00.000-07:00

"Break on Through to the Other Side." Yes, I know that is a title of a Doors song. I really don't know all of the words to the song, but I love this part of the song. So many of us Christ followers have certain places we will not go. Most of us have our "comfort zone" and we like to stay in it.

I believe if you follow the life of Jesus, He made a habit of pushing His followers out of the "comfort zone" to the other side. If you don't believe me go read Acts 10. In my opinion, this is a great example of someone "breaking through." Here is the Apostle Peter laying on his roof taking a nap. While he is looking at the back of his eyelids he has a dream. We all know what happens in the dream. During the dream a voice tells Peter to kill and eat the animals. Peter's response is not surprising. He tells the voice that he will not eat anything that is unholy or unclean. We all know that this is Jesus preparing Peter to "break through to the other side." The purpose of the dream was to show Peter the Gospel is for all people, even those wretched and dirty Gentiles. I would have loved to have seen when Peter, a Jew, walked into the house of Cornelius, a Gentile.

I believe it is time for Christians to understand that the Gospel is for all, no matter who they are or where they live or what they have done or maybe currently doing. It is time for Christians to "Break on Through!"

So, my question for you is simple, "Are You Ready To Break On Through To The Other Side"?

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Ouch!

2010-07-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

Change hurts. I am not sure what is about change that causes so much pain but it does. I feel like for the Church to be more effective we have to change the way we do things. My feeling is that most church people like to do what I call "ministry from a distance." What I mean by this is; they go to Church on Sunday morning, they may even put some spare change in the plate and they might even feel convicted to shout "Amen." But when it comes down to serving in a ministry, we are happy with staying in the seat. We will say special prayers for those who are not following Christ but when it comes to ministering we want to have "clean" hands. We are scared to be around people who look different, who act different,etc. I have noticed that we want the people to change before we come to them. Maybe we are the ones who need to change? From what I can tell in the Gospels, Jesus went to the places were people did not go.

For example: Jesus began His ministry in Capernaum - a poor fishing village, not a bustling metropolis. He spent time in graveyards, traveled through Samaria, went to ethnically mixed cities like Tyre and Sidon and other places (borrowed from Why Jesus Crossed the Road).

In the county that I live, we will have 900 men and women released from prison this year. We have 3,000 homeless people. And on any given Sunday over 250,000 people not in Church.

I guess what I am getting at is we need to be more like Jesus. I found this quote and would like to end with it:

"Nothing changes until the pain of remaining the same is greater than the pain of changing."

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Question

2010-06-24T07:14:00.001-07:00

I have a question that I would like to get your response on. And here it is:

1) Can the Church become to busy that there is no time/room for God? What do you think?

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Shut Up!

2010-06-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

Now I know the phrase, "Shut Up" is a phrase that we teach our kiddos not to say. In my house it is known as the "S" word. But the more I think about this phrase, I think it is the best phrase we can have for our walk as a Disciple of the Messiah. Let me explain.

In Exodus 14 we have the story of Moses leading the Israelites across the Jordan. In the first few verse we have God saying, "I will." Now for me, that is comforting. When God tells me that He will do something I need to learn to trust and listen to Him. Further into the story we see Israel crying out to God and being afraid. So often we are in situations that we begin to cry out and doubt God. This is the time we need to remember the phrase, "I Will."

And now to the "shut up" part. Exodus 14:14 reads, "The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." Now I know it does not say shut up, maybe I just want it to be okay to say the phrase, "shut up." But I believe that this is the problem with most Christians. We try to do things our way and we end up in a mess. All we have to do is to learn to shut up and listen to God becuase He will fight for us.

So, Shut Up in your ministry and listen to God. Shut Up in your marriage and listen to God. Shut up in your parenting and listen to God. Shut Up in your vocation and listen to God.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Out of Breath

2010-06-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

I will be taking a sabbatical from the Lost and Found post that I have been writing. I want to encourage you to check out Jeff Dunn's (http://stadiumchurch.blogspot.com/) series that he has going.

If you know me at all, you know I am not a person who does a lot of running. I find myself out of breath after walking up my stairs at my house (keep your comments to yourself). Being out of breath is not a feeling I like to have.

So often in my Christian walk I find myself out of breath. Martin Luther said this about prayer, "To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing."

Are you out of breath? Do you find yourself struggling in your marriage? Your parenting? Your job? Your ministry?

I want to encourage you to catch your breath. Life is a lot better when your not short of breath.

Psalms 5:1-3

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Lost and Found, Part FiVe

2010-05-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

"More than 60 % of persons age 20 - 29 (not in church the last 6 moths) agreed, either strongly or somewhat, that Jesus died and came back to life. About 30 % disagreed, and 7 % answered they were not sure. 2/3 of those with an opinion agreed with this statement. Simply put, the younger unchurched are not staying away from church because they have a problem with Jesus."

I do not know about you, but that last sentence makes me shake my head. 60 % of the unchurched 20 - 29 year olds believe in the resurrection of Jesus. But they are not attending Church.

As I was reading this it made me think of this quote by Gandhi, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

Here are my questions:
1) Is there something that the Church/Christians must change to get the younger unchurched to attend Church?
2) What are some reasons why you think this age group does not attend Church?

I will leave you with this, "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today, is Christians, who look down on Jesus with their lips and walk out the door armed with their lifestyle, that is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." Intro to What if I Stumble by DC Talk.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Lost and Found, Part Four

2010-05-18T06:23:00.000-07:00

As I was reading the first chapter of "Lost and Found" the following quote from the author stuck out and really made me think about how we do outreach or evangelism.

"It is essential that churches focus on more than invitations. The focus needs to be incarnational - going and living among the people who are far from God."

It takes more than a "hey would you like to come to church with me this Sunday" to get people to come to Church. It takes transformation on our part. It takes us being different. We need to show love to those who do not receive love. We need to show mercy to those who no mercy has been given. We need to forgive those who have done wrong to us. We need to hold up the weak and defend the defenceless. We need to be among these people living and looking like Christ to them. We need to act and treat peole the way Jesus treated us. As followers of Jesus we need to get out of the pews and into the masses.

Here are my questions for you:
1) What does incarnational living look like?
2) What does it take for us to become this way?
3) What are obstacles/barriers that hinder us from doing this?

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Lost and Found, Part Tres: Just Ask

2010-05-11T06:42:00.000-07:00

One of the things I hear over and over is those that do not attend Church for whatever reason have no desire or care to know about the Bible. They don't like Jesus and really don't like those that follow Him.

I found these following items interesting:
1) Almost 90 % of the unchurched 20 - 29 year olds said they would be willing to listen if someone wanted to tell them about Christianity.
2) 61 % would be willing to have a Bible study if a friend asked them to.
3) 46% said they would be willing to join a small group of people to learn more about the Bible and Jesus Christ.

I remember Jesus saying, "The fields are white for harvest." Maybe its time we get reaping?

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Lost and Found, Part Deux

2010-05-04T06:45:00.000-07:00

Another question that the authors asked the unchurched was, "If you were considering visiting or joining a church, would knowing that the church did not welcome and affirm homosexual members negatively or positively impact your decision?"

Here are the responses: 83% of the always unchurched would react negatively to a church that does not affirm homosexuals as members and 52% of the friendly unchurched would react negatively to a church that does not affirm homosexuals as members.

I have two questions:
1. How do we as followers of Jesus work with this group on this topic?
2. How do we differ in handling homosexuals than Jesus did?

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Lost and Found, Part 1

2010-04-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite songs is a song titled, "Lost and Found" by the Randy Rogers Band. The other day I was in the bookstore and I found a book by that same title and it caught my eye. I tend to buy books simply because of the title or the way the cover looks. This may not be the best way to choose a book but it has worked for me.

My next few post will be my reflections from this book. The purpose of the book is to talk about how we can reach the unchurched population of young adults (18 - 29 years old).

In the first chapter of the book they list four types of young adults that are unchurched. 1) Always unchurched (never been at all), 2) De-churched (having attended as a child, 3) Friendly unchurched (not particularly angry at the church), and 4) Hostile unchurched (angry at the church or have had some negative experience with the church).

The authors asked this question to the younger unchurched, "If you were considering visiting or joining a church, would knowing that the church did not endorse the ordination of women as pastors negatively or positively impact your decision?" Here is the response to this question, 65% of younger unchurched said this would negatively impact their decision. 47% of the friendly unchurched said this stance would negatively impact their decision to visit or join a church.

My question is this, "How as a heritage is the church of Christ going to handle this feedback from the younger unchurched?" Are we going to ignore it and move on and tell them this is just what we do and this is the way that it is? Or are we going to listen to them and take a serious look at our tradition?

More to come. May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Before and After

2010-04-13T18:15:00.000-07:00

I believe that you can tell people that are in a intimate relationship with Jesus. They talk different. They act different. They have a swag that makes them stick out.

Take for example the Apostle John. In the early years of his life he wanted to burn down a city simply because they would not let him pass through. Jesus even gave him the nickname "Thunder." But toward the end of his life I believe you see a change in him. Eleven times in his writings he has the phrase "love one another." And church tradition tells us that in his old age as he was being carried to Christian meetings he would say, "little children love one another."

So my question is simple. "Have you changed since you first meet Jesus?"

My the Lord bless you and keep you.

Do You Smell?

2010-04-02T08:32:00.000-07:00

The other day I found myself listening to some classic rock music. One of my favorite classic bands is Skynyrd. In the early 70's the Southern Rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd had a song titled, "The Smell." The song lyrics itself is not the focus of this post, but the title of the song is.

The title of the song made me think. The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, "For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing."

I believe that if we want to see change in the Church and change in the world we must learn to smell of Christ. How many people know that you belong to the Good Shepherd's sheep pen? Sheep smell, do you?

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

This made me move.

2010-03-25T21:55:00.001-07:00

This question was asked in a class that I attended at the conference I am currently at.

"If the Church you attended was to disappear would your community miss it?" Ponder that question. What would your answer be?

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Change does not mean bad.

2010-03-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

I hate diets! I turn 35 on Monday and I know that I need to change the way I eat. I drink way to many Dr. Peppers a day and I eat bad food. So, starting this Monday I have decided to change my eating lifestyle. I don't really want to but I know that this change is going to be for the best.

Often times when Church people hear the word change they tend to get a bit scared or nervous. As I am getting older I see that change is not a bad thing when it is good for the body of Christ. As I look at the Church in general there are many things that I would like to change. I would like to see all of the Good Shepherd's sheep in one pen going the same direction. I would like for us to be more outward focused (not that being inward focused is a bad thing). I would like to see us to have more influence in the world. My list can go on and on. But I will stop.

What are some areas you think the Church needs to change in and why?

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

IMMA Be

2010-03-10T19:54:00.000-08:00

In their latest hit song, "Imma Be" the Black Eyed Peas list many things they're going to be. To understand most of what they said I had to google the song to see all the things they were going to be.

My point is this. Christ has called us to be things in the world and for the most part we do our best not to be those things because of the fear of what we believe people will think about us. This week IMMA Be Light. I want to be light in a world of darkness. I want the world to know that they no longer have to live in the fear of the darkness. I want them to see how great "light" living is.

So my question for you is this: What are you gonna be?

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Elephants and Donkeys

2010-03-02T17:39:00.000-08:00

I don't know the number off the top of my head but I would guess 40. This is the number of times that I have either been reminded or asked the last three days if I was going to vote today.
I am not saying that voting is a bad thing, but I began to think about something. I started to think about another number. That number is 0. That is how many times during that same period of time that I was asked if I prayed, studied, served or told someone about the Good News of Jesus.
It makes me wonder were our priorities are at as Disciples of Jesus Christ. We get so wrapped up in nominating human beings to an office that we believe will have the power to change things. Unfortunately, we forget about telling people about Jesus. He is the one person that has the power to change everything-no matter who is in office.
Don't believe me? Ask Ezra. Ezra was doing his thing during the reign of Cyrus king of Persia. Cyrus was a pagan. Even though Cyrus was not a follower of God, he granted all that Ezra requested. For example, he authorized Ezra to go to Jerusalem and insure that God's law was both taught and observed. He provided a generous grant to buy supplies and temple vessels for temple worship. He exempted all temple officials and workers from taxation as well as authorized Ezra to set up a Judaical system. The purpose of the system was to see that these laws were obeyed and that violators were properly punished.
I think all this happen for a simple reason. In Ezra 7 it says this, "For Ezra set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel."
My point is simply this, where is your heart? Godly things began to happen because Ezra's heart was focused on God. I know we all want to see Godly things happen. So where is your heart? In a man or in Jesus?
May the Lord bless you and keep you.

This Makes Me Think.

2010-02-21T15:15:00.000-08:00

Most of the letters we have in the New Testament were written to Churches. Many of these letters discuss what the Church might be doing wrong. What the Church was doing right. Some letters gave instruction on how to do something. And many more things.

My question to you is this, if Paul or another New Testament author were to write a letter to the Church you attend, what might it say?

Just thinking. May the Lord Bless you and keep you.

What Do You Think?

2010-02-15T19:51:00.001-08:00

Does the Church care more about Scripture or traditions?

Something New.

2010-02-11T17:48:00.000-08:00

For many years I never understood why people drank coffee. I know many people that have to begin their morning with a hot cup of java. As I am typing this post I am enjoying a cup of coffee. The significance behind that is I just started drinking coffee. It's something new.

I think for many Christians we get stuck in a rut and do the same old things. We go to class on Sunday (if we get up in time) and then we go and punch our worship time clock. And that is the gist of our service to Jesus.

I want to challenge you to try Something New in your Christian walk. Get up 10 minutes earlier and pray with your family. Develop a theme scripture for your family and say it together each morning and evening. Devote a day during the week to serve at a homeless shelter. Go visit a shut-in. These are just a few ideas.

Get out of your rut and do something new.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

I Wonder?

2010-02-06T14:50:00.000-08:00

I wonder what the Church would look like if we followed these directions?

Mark 12:30-31 and Matthew 28:18-20

New Eyes

2010-01-31T19:41:00.000-08:00

I am getting old. The reason why I say this is because my eye sight is getting bad. Every Sunday I do the announcements at the end of our morning assembly and I have to squint to read the items on the power point and at night when I lay in bed the TV is blurry, and I have a hard time seeing it. I guess I need new eyes.

I think there are many of us Christ followers that need new eyes. How often do we pass judgement on the person who is fresh out of jail? How often do we make off color comments about homosexuals? The list can go on and on and on.

My point is, as followers of Jesus Christ we need to be looking through His eyes. When we look through the eyes of Christ, the person out of jail is no longer a bad person, he is a person in need of the Good News. When we look through the eyes of Christ, the homosexual is no longer the object of off colored comments. He is a person in need of the Good News.

In Matthew 9:36 the Gospel writer tells us that Jesus felt compassion and was distressed and dispirited because the people look liked sheep without a Shepherd.

I want eyes like Christ. How about you?

May the Lord Bless you and Keep you.

What Did That Say?

2010-01-27T19:51:00.000-08:00

Have you ever read something that made you take a double take? Have you ever thought about the power behind signs, stickers and the like? We often use these as our mode of showing support for something. If you come into my office, you will see a Terrible Towel hanging up on the wall. For those of you that have no idea what that is, it means I am a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Some people like to put signs in their yards to show their support for a certain politician. The other day my daughter had her first dance class, and as part of the paperwork, we got a sticker of the dance studio to put on our car.

So here is my point: We want people to know our favorite sports team, our favorite politician and even where our child takes dance because of our pride for these things. We want people to know if we are Republican or a Democrat and that our child is an honor student and etc.

In ancient times, an army would march out to battle with a banner in front of them - a long pole with an emblem that would clearly announce to their enemy just who they were fighting for. After the battle between the Israelites and Amelekites, Moses declared the Lord Himself was their banner (Exodus 17:8-15).

How many people know the Lord is your Banner?

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Be Diligent

2010-01-21T19:34:00.000-08:00

Have you ever sat down and thought what you are teaching your kiddos? At night when I am laying in bed and it's quite, my brain begins to go in overdrive. A common thought I have each night is, "What am I teaching my kids"? Our kids are being attacked from society today at every angle. Here are some stats that were given to me at a recent conference I attended.

9 out of 10 children between 8 and 16 have viewed pornography on the Internet.
19.6% eighth graders use drugs.
47.4% twelfth graders use drugs.
52.5% tenth graders drink alcohol.
47.8% teens have sex by the age of 16.

I'm not sure how these stats make you feel, but when I read this I need to make sure that I am arming my kids daily for the battle. In Deuteronomy 6, I believe we have a great reminder about how to do this.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and your gates.

Do you notice what we as parents should be doing? We should be teaching our kids diligently. The word is defined in Websters this way, "a steady, earnest, and energetic effort." How much energy are you putting towards studying God's Word with your kids? How often do you try to engage in a spiritual conversation with your kids? How often do you pray with your kids? Do you encourage your kids to carry their Bibles with them?

I want to encourage you to be diligent in studying the Bible with your kids.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Give me a break.

2010-01-16T12:00:00.000-08:00

"Give me a break." This is usually my response to one of my kiddos when they manage to make excuses on why they did not do something that I asked them to do. "I forgot." "It's too hard." "I don't know how." Are just some of the excuses I have received in my 12 years of being a parent.

In Exodus 3, Moses the great leader of the Israelites formulates in his mind some of the best excuses on why he cannot go to Pharaoh as God's chosen leader. The first one that he uses is, "Who am I"? Moses is basically saying, "I am not a good leader." And God's response is, "I will be with you." Not happy that God did not back down, my man Moses decides to go to the excuse bag for his second try. Excuse number two is, "What is your name"? God answers Moses with His most intimate name, the I Am. I can hear Moses telling himself, "man this guy is good!" So, Moses pulls excuse number 3 out of the bag, "what if they do not believe me"? So in response to this God gives Moses the power to perform 3 signs so Pharaoh would believe him. Then the fourth excuse, "I'm not a good speaker." God tells him, "I have control of your mouth and I will teach you what to say." Finally Moses tells God to send someone else.

I wonder how often we make excuses about things we do not want to do? Like; serving others, tithing, going to Church, studying, praying and many more.

I'm sure there are days in my life when God looks at me and says, "give me a break." Let's trust God and know that He is going to be with us and stop making excuses in our life.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Here We Go

2010-01-15T13:12:00.001-08:00

I am not much on this blogging thing but a friend of mine suggested I create one and share my ideas. So here we go.

I called my blog, "My Journey." The reason why I used this name is because life is a journey. It is full of highs and lows, ups and downs, and anything else you can think of. But one thing I know is, that my life truly became a journey when I gave my life to Christ. He has taken me places that I never thought I would be. I am thankful for His Grace and Mercy and I want to use this blog to encourage others to begin a journey with Christ. Jesus wants us to have a great life and that is why He came (John 10:10). So, lets begin this journey together and see were God will take us.

More tomorrow.