Opportunities

You know it is a tricky thing when you're a "professional" Christian. When I worked for an auto insurance company I got to be around a lot of people that weren't Christians, when I worked for the cell phone company I was around a lot of people that weren't Christians, when I worked on staff at a church I WASN'T around a lot of people that aren't Christians, and now while I'm working in retail sales I'm once again around people that need to know what a relationship with Jesus is all about. It is crazy that when you are a "professional" Christian you seem to be involved in missions more. One of the things I tried to do my last few months when I was on staff at a church was put myself into places where I'll be around non-Christians. One of the main things I did was join a public basketball league in the town where I live. When you are a pastor you have to make a concerted effort to put yourself into situations where you'll meet non-Christians and be available to what God might do. If we expect for God to do something in this world we can't just sit around and hope God will bring them into our church doors. My challenge to all pastors and to myself when I go back on staff at a church is to put myself into situations where God can use me to show people His love and grace.

Reality Check

This weekend we celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We celebrate the hope that we find in Him both in life and death. This Good Friday wasn't so good for one of my childhood friends. Early Friday morning my friend learned that her husband was in a terrible accident and could die at any moment. My friend is eight months pregnant with their first child and just the thought of her losing her husband so early in life and with so much to look forward to is almost too much to handle. Her husband is currently in a coma and on life support but his vitals have improved greatly over the last 48 hours.

It is events like this that should and do cause you to stop and think, they make you appreciate what you have in life...health, family, friends. Hundreds of people are praying around the clock for my friend and her husband and we all believe that God has the power to heal but we just don't know if He will. On this Resurrection day we thank God for our many blessing and mostly the hope that we have in life or death because of what Christ has done.

Winds of Change

The Maddness of March is almost over as we enter April and the Final Four is this weekend. April is also an exciting time for Amanda & I because I'm talking with six churches right now and half of those six are getting very close to making a decision. Amanda & I are so excited to find out what God has next for us and it has been so exciting to talk with these churches. These six churches are located all over the country and range from 300 to 3000 in weekly attendence but it is amazing to see what God is doing all over this country. Change can be tough but I believe God uses it to mold us and make us strong so I look forward to whatever this next change will bring for us because we know God is faithful.

March Maddness

We are well into my favorite event of the year...March Maddness. Even though Texas A&M got dumped by UCONN I'm still happy Kansas is fighting. March is usually a really great time for me because of the tournament but this March has been down just a little bit because of my job, or lack there of, situation. March has been maddening waiting to hear what door the Lord will open next but I remain confident that once again He'll show Himself faithful and convince me once again that His plan is better than my plan would have been anyways. If March has been maddening to you as well hold on to hope that God is still faithful and He has a plan.

A Sea of Hopelessness

Yesterday evening the tragic story of four friends that went fishing in the Gulf of Mexico came to an end as the Coast Guard called off their search with only one person being found. In a report today Mr. Cooper's father talked about how he and his son would go out sometimes 50 miles and he would look all around and all he could see was water and how that was scary for him. I've been that far out once but it was on a cruise ship not a small boat. To be honest I can't imagine how scared and the hopeless feeling they must of had when they went into the water during that storm. I can't imagine floating in cold water with 10 foot waves crashing and looking all around and all you see if water. I really can't imagine a worse way to go. My hope is that these three men knew Jesus and in their final minutes He was able to provide them with what only He can provide. We need to pray for these guys families as they deal with this awful experience and once again be reminded that tomorrow isn't promised so come to Jesus if you haven't and if you have already share Him with as many as possible.

Making It Understandable

So I recently got this brand new Chronological Study Bible and I've really been enjoying it as I read through the Old Testament. One of the things I really enjoy about this Bible is that it spends a lot of time focusing on history, archeology, and facts about the culture at the time. So many times when we read the Bible we try to figure out what it means to us, which I think is important, first instead of taking time to try and understand what it meant to the people it was written to originally. It is really fascinating to learn all about how brilliant God was in communicating His truth to the people. He chose to take things from the surrounding culture and tweak it to teach them a better way, He didn't come up with abstract things people had no fimiliarity with but chose to take things that pagan cultures had and so how He was better.

Let me give you an example. In Leviticus 16 on the Day of Atonement God instituted the ritual of the scapegoat. In this ritual the priest would place his hands on the scapegoat and confess the sins of the people. The scapegoat was then sent into the wilderness symbolizing the removal of the peoples sins. The interesting thing is this ritual wasn't unique to Israel, both Anatolia and Mesopotamia attempted to appease angry gods by using animals to carry away a plague or other evil suffering. In the Hittite ritual the king even places his hands on the animal. The difference God brought to Israel's ritual was that a second animal was used to be sacrificed to Him as a sin offering.

So what does this teach us about today? I think it shows us the a couple things. First, I believe it is extremely important to understand what the Biblical message was to its original readers, you need to understand what God was trying to say to His people. Second, I believe it shows us that God approves of us using the common things of culture to bring His message. To many people today get really upset and accuse preachers of mixing "the world" into their messages but we see that God didn't have any problems taking the things of this world and showing how He is better and that people understand the message quicker when they can relate it to what they experience in life.

The Pursuit of Happiness

This is one the most recent sermons I did at Hawthorne Gospel Church. This was given four times that weekend to over 2000 people. This message is about how to pursue happiness because it is something God wants us to have in our lives.