Strong Enough

I don't know if I have posted about this before but the idea came to me today and so I really feel lead to write about it. 

I hear the phrase all the time, "God will never give you more than you can handle,".  I find that statement to be incorrect.  If God would only give you what you can handle than we would never need to rely on Him for anything.  The bible says that we should rely on God for everything.  When Jesus was teaching his disciples to pray he made that clear, we should rely on God. 

Phillippians 4:13 says that "I can do all things through CHRIST who gives me strength".  It doesn't say anything about you, it talk about Christ.  Relying on Him for your strength. 

So that tough situation you are going through, can you handle it?  No, you can't.  By your self, but with relying on Jesus you can handle anything, because he gives you the strength to handle it. 

Friends STOP trying to handle things on your own and rely on the strength of Jesus.  The Bible says that the same power that raised Christ from the dead is available to us. 

Life...

1 Peter 2:4-8
"As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to he a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  For it stand in Scripture:
'Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.'
So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
'the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,".

I am reading in 1 Peter chapter 2 and I came across a thought I wanted to share.  In verse 4-8 Peter is making reference to an Old Testament passage found in Isaiah that is making reference to Jesus.  The prophet is saying here that Jesus is the cornerstone.

This is an interesting little tidbit about history and architecture.  In the ancient times when they were building a building they did not have all the fancy tools we have now, what they would do is take a stone that was perfectly cut.  The lines were perfect, corners were perfect, everything about it was perfect.  They would lay that stone at the corner and it would act as the measuring line for the rest of the foundation of the building.  This stone was so important to the integrity of the building that if it was not perfect, the whole building would collapse.

Peter is saying here that Jesus should be in our lives that corner stone, the one upon which we build our entire foundation.  This makes sense because the bible is clear that Jesus is the source of all life.

So my thought is this, what does it say about people who do not build their lives on Jesus?  The ones that reject him?  What does it say about a person's life when they reject the very one who is the foundation of life?

We need to tell people that Jesus is life.  He is the one on which a person can build the foundation of their life.

May our LORD be with you
Josh

The After (High School) Life

Here is an excerpt of a book that i am writing for teens.  Let me know what you think!!

LIFE!!

The After (High School) Life

            I often think back to my own High School days...oh (not) so long ago.  I think about all the popular people, all the drama people, all artsy people, all the smart people, all the sporty people and I think about how I didn’t fit into any of those categories.  Looking back I can safely say I was pretty much invisible in High School.  I mean I did have friends and people that I cared deeply about but in the grand scheme of my High School class, I was like the invisible man.  When I think about all that two words come to mind...THANK GOD!!!!!!!!!

            I like the fact that I was invisible, that I missed out of 95% of all the junk that an adolescent has to wade through during those years of your life.  The problem for you reading this is the amount of stuff you have to deal with is much deeper and thicker than when I went through it.  Whether you are a believer in God or not I want to be there to applaud you and give you an epic high five if and when you make it out on the other side of High School without too many emotional or psychological scars.  When I went to High School I like think of all the drama and stuff I dealt with (this does not include academic stuff) as a sprinting race.  Only I’m not on a racing track, I’m standing in a field of mud and gunk, up to my knees and I have to wade through all of it in order to finish the race.  When I got to the finish line, they handed me my diploma and a nice pat on the back saying, “Those were the best years of your life.”  I thought if those were the best years of my life, I want to quit life right now, cause if that is the best life has to offer, life didn’t do a very good job. 

            For you, however, the amount of muck you have to run through is way past your knees, it’s more like at your waist.  When I hear about things that teens are going through today, it’s like someone decided you should skip learning how to grow up and just expects you to be grown up.  I can’t believe what I hear my some of my students telling me is going on in their schools.  Teens, kids making decisions that affect the rest of their lives and setting them on a path of death and total heartache and they don’t even realize it.  Teens dealing with subjects like sex, homosexuality, smoking all kinds of wacky and awful stuff, drugs, alcohol, deep depression and the list could go on and on.  Why are the “best years of your life” so terrible? 

            I want you to hear this, what I am about to say.  If you are bored out of your mind reading my book and are thinking about putting it down, just give me one more paragraph.  Then you can throw my book out for all I care, but I want you hear this next statement and really think about it to the point of believing it as the truth (cause it is).  YOUR HIGH SCHOOL YEARS ARE NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT, THE BEST YEARS OF YOUR LIFE.  They are so far from the best years of your life, the true best years make High School look like that movie with the great trailer, but soooo disappointing when you actually go and see it. 

Your High School Years are NOT the best years of your life!!!

            I can’t say it enough, if fact I think I might just randomly put it in other places in this book, just to remind you, if in fact you keep reading.  But if I am boring you now, you have my permission to put this book down because I have said my main point.  Your High School years are NOT the best years of your life.  If you want to find out why....keep reading.

            See the problem is when you are told that these are the best years of your life (which they are NOT) you never want to grow up and really experience the best years.  When those are the best years you’ve had, you spend the rest of your life (missing the best years) trying to relive and recreate those 4 years and you never really grow up and become an adult.  I could give you so many examples of people I know, who are adults in age, but are still in High School in the way they think, because they bought into this bologna that the best years are back there and not in front of them. 

            My friends listen to what I am writing to you.  Life is so much more than the drama you go through in High School.  There is life (great, wonderful, exciting life) after you get out of School.  I work with students from the grades of 5 to 12 and I can’t tell you how much they don’t know.  I hear them say all the time about this and that happening in school and I just want to shout at them, “NONE OF THIS CRAP IS GOING TO MEAN ANYTHING IN 10 YEARS!!!!!!!!!”  Students worry and obsess about things they are going through now that do not amount to anything in the grand scheme of life.  Do you know what the “popular” people in my generation got out of being popular, when they were in school....not a darn thing. 

            They other week I was looking through my Senior Yearbook (talk about self-inflicted torture) and I came to the “Best of Pages”.  You know best eyes, best actor, best school spirit, best smile, most likely to succeed, and so on and so forth.  Those people in those pictures, did they get anything out of those awards?, no, not a single thing but a picture in a book, which for most normal people will sit on a book shelf and collect dust. 

            If you get voted for one of those awards, good for you!!  That truly is great for you; I’m not trying to diminish that recognition in anyway.  What I’m saying is realize that even though that is a good thing, in the grand scheme of life, it really doesn’t matter. 

            Most of you may be thinking that I’m just bashing High School, especially if you are having or had a good High School experience and I want you to know I’m not.  My intention here is not to use this book as a platform for my verbal vomit about the awfulness of High School.  If you had/are having a good High School experience, that is great!!  I am truly happy for you.  My intention is to get you to see that there is life after High School and getting all wrapped up in the drama and social system can lead to consequences that set you up for failure for the rest of your life. 

Old Testament Survey

Here is the write out of the sermon I preached last Sunday.  Enjoy!!

I want to start off by asking a question.  Can I do that?  What was your favorite subject in school?  What was that one subject that you just understood without any trouble?  Now, what was the subject that you dreaded because you just couldn't get it?  Have you ever been completely confused by or about something?  No matter how many times some one explains it to you, you just don't get it.  I have this problem with several areas but most notably with mechanics.  I have no idea how a car works, or what is wrong when it stops working.  When I pop the hood of a vehicle the only thing I am capable of doing is saying,"Yep, looks like an engine".  In reality there could be huge pieces missing and I would have no idea. 

            I think sometimes it is like this when it comes to the Old Testament for us believers.  We see this giant book with stories that we don't really understand and prophecies and song that aren't relevant to us here in 2012.  The Old Testament talks about a people and a time that was so long ago, we just don't understand. 

            In 2 Timothy Paul says that all scripture is god breathed and useful for teaching and rebuking, the scripture he was talking about was the Old Testament.  What we know as the New Testament was not put together until about 300 A.D.  So Paul is saying that the Old Testament is good for us, we should read it but we get the impression its not for us, so it doesn't interest us.  Because I have no clue when it comes to mechanics, cars don't really interest me.  I mean besides how they look and how fast they drive, I have no interest in cars. 

            I feel that, that is our approach to the Old Testament but the truth is, the Old Testament is wonderful and we as followers of Jesus we can learn a great deal from the it and it can be very meaningful to us. 

            So what I want to do is go through a survey of the Old Testament so that we all have at least a brief knowing of this first half of our Bible.  I have included a chart to help as a visual aide.  Then once we go through the survey, I want to hit the 2 biggest mistakes the nation of Israel made during the Old Testament time and how we can benefit and learn from their mistakes. 

            To start out, our Old Testament is divided up into 5 parts.  Some of the parts overlap, some of them are straight forward but the entire Old Testament can be followed like a time line. 

            The five sections of the Old Testament are the Torah, the History books, Poetry which is called the Writings and the Major and Minor Prophets.  The Torah would be the first 5 books of the Bible; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.  This section gives the beginning of time and space and humanity.  Then it goes into God establishing the Nation of Israel as his people and their journey to the land that He had promised them.  During this time the Law was given and scholars believe that the story of Job took place during this early time. 

            Then we move into the History book and from here is where it really overlaps.  The Israelites go and conquer the promise land in the book of Joshua and then establish themselves in the book of Judges.  During the Judges is when the account of Ruth took place.  After that we move into what is known as the United Kingdom Era.  1 and 2 Samuel talk about the establishment of the Kingdom of Israel, they begin to have kings, Saul, David and Solomon come onto the scene.  During this time is when the Writing and Poetry books were written and collected together.  The Psalms and Proverbs were written along with Ecclesiastes and the Song of Song.          

            After that we come to the Divided Kingdom Era.  When Solomon died his son took over and made a decision that split the Kingdom in two, so then we had the Nation of Israel in the North and Judah in the South.  This is where things really start heating up in the Old Testament, it's kinda like the beginning of the End.  Now we are into the books of 1and 2 Kings and a lot of the prophets.  Both kingdoms kept falling farther and farther from God.  They were doing their own thing, worshiping other gods.  Still doing what they had to do as far as sacrifices to God but they added all the other gods of the surrounding nations.  So the prophets would come and tell the people to repent and turn back to the true God.  Two prophets were in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Amos and Hosea and six in the Southern Kingdom of Judah; Joel, Micah, Isaiah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk and Jeremiah. 

            Eventually though, both kingdoms went too far and were taken in to exile to Babylon and that is when Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations, lamenting over the fallen Jerusalem. 

            During the exile the books of 1 and 2 Chronicles were written to account the kings of Judah and all the good they did.  We also have Daniel and Ezekiel written during the exile.  Then after about 70 years the political powers shifted and the new world power went from Babylon to Persia.  The Persian king thought it would be a good idea to send all the people that got displaced during the Babylonian empire's rule, back to their home countries.  This takes us to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.  They tell the story of a remnant of Jews coming back to Jerusalem and trying to rebuild the city and begin agin their sacrificial system of worship.  During these books you have the prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi and the story of Ester is during that time period as well. 

            So that is the Old Testament in a nut shell.  I know we covered a lot of ground there in a short time period and there is a lot of information to take in and understand.  But out of all those books and prophecies are two key ideas that we today really need to take to heart.  If we learn these lessons as individuals and as a church we can avoid a lot of the mistakes that the people of the Old Testament made. 

            The first is putting too much of an emphasis on externals.  In the early books of the Old Testament, God gave his people the system they were to use to worship him and to make sacrifices to atone for their sins.  He also gave them the ways that they were to live.  All of these were external things that were meant to shine light upon an inner problem.  God never meant for his people to only serve him on the outside, but more importantly on the inside, with their hearts.  Deuteronomy 6 says that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and might.  All are inward things, wouldn't you say.  The problem is the people took these external things and put way too much emphasis on them.  They thought that all they had to do was say the right words, make the right sacrifices, do the right things and then they could live their lives however they wanted. 

            That's not what God wanted.  He wanted a people who would serve him out of a love for him so great, that they wouldn't even think about doing anything else.  He wanted a people who were with him heart and soul, not just on the outside.  Hosea 6, God says I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.  He is saying, I want your heart, not just making a good show of loving and serving me, I want you to be genuine with me. 

            We, as followers of Christ are not exempt from this, we fall prey to the trap of externals as well.  We come to church and put on a show, we put on a mask that everything in life is grand when in reality we are falling apart.  Church should be the one place where we can be real with each other.  Church should be the one place where we don't have to hide, we can be honest.  But we, just like the nation of Israel, focus on the outside rather than a genuine heart.  In Isaiah God said to his people, what is the multitude of your sacrifices?  I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs, or of goats.  When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?  Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me.  New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations-I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.  your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates, they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.  What if we were to put this in today's language.  What if God said to us, I hate your church services, the Christmas Eve service, the Easter Celebration, the 40-day campaign, they all have become a burden to me.  I have had enough of your offerings because it's all fake.  You worship me on the outside but inside there is not difference, you don't live like I'm apart of your life. 

            Being a follower of Jesus is more than showing up on Sunday, it is all about a real, heart-felt relationship with the God of the universe.  It's about living a completely different life from the rest of the world.  God does not require external perfection, He wants your heart, he wants to have a friendship with the real you.  

            The second mistake is that God's people never handed down their faith to the next generation.  The book of Judges 2:11 says, and the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.  There are verses like this all over the Old Testament.  The people get established, everything is going great but they don't hand down the faith to the next generation and by the time they grow up, the whole nation is in the tanker again.  They were great at coming back to God and living right for a while but when it came to teaching the next generation to do the same, they failed every time. 

            The account of the kings is like this as well.  After every good king Israel had there was inevitably 2 or 3 bad kings that followed.  King David for all the great things he did for God, being called a man after God's own heart, all the worship songs he wrote, he was horrible when it came to his fatherly duties of passing down his faith.  His family had all kinds of horror stories, all because he failed to teach his children the importance of following after God. 

            What do we teach our children today?  Do we teach them the importance of following after God, I don't think so!  We teach them that sports and school activities are more important than a relationship with Jesus.  We teach that church is fine if it doesn't conflict with something else on the schedule.  Whether we mean to or not, our children are learning from us that it is more important to be in sports, school plays or clubs than to attend a small group, or Youth group, or choir.  We are not passing on the importance of faith but passing on the importance of stuff that is not going to matter in 20 years let alone eternity.  Francis Chan, a pastor out in California, was quoted in a sermon saying this, "Our greatest fear should not be failure, but succeeding at things in life that don't really matter".  We are repeating this Old Testament mistake of not passing on the faith to our children but teaching them that God, Jesus, church doesn't really matter in this life, what matters sports and activities. 

            Friends with this kind of thinking we are killing ourselves, as the church.  The church is always one generation away from being non-exsistent and we are helping that along with what we are and are not teaching our children.  We need to teach that church and a relationship with Jesus is more important than anything else.  That might mean missing games or practices or whatever.  That might mean not getting the lead role or playing as much in the game and not's not cool but look at what they will be learning in return.  Jesus is the most important thing in life, which is how it should be anyway. 

            Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says, and these words that I command you today shall be 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.  We need to teach our children the importance of a relationship with Jesus and pass on our faith. 

            Well I hope this has given you a better understanding of the Old Testament.  There is a lot of great material here that can help us in life.  It is my prayer that we will learn from the mistakes of the people of the Old Testament and have a genuine faith and pass that faith onto our children.

You May Never See the Results

1 Peter 1:12- "It was revealed to them (the prophets) that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look."  

The students in our Youth Group are going through a lot right now.  Obviously I'm not going to go into any details but a good number of them are struggling with real life problems.  Some of them have been with us for a number of years and we have seen and worked through a good bit of junk.  Problem after problem after problem it seems, it makes me stop and think, when are we going to see real change in these teens.  When are we going to see the fruit of our labor and lead these students to a relationship with Jesus that will ignite a massive fire within them.  So much so that their love for Christ spreads and their friends become believers.  

The truth is, we may never see that.  It may never happen in my life time or in the time that we have to minister to these kids.  That is heart breaking but comforting all at the same time.  

It was the same for the prophets, not that I am comparing myself to the prophets but part of the job descriptions match up here.  The prophets spent their lives telling people about a hope that they themselves would never get to see, they spoke of a Savior and Messiah that would never come in their lifetime.  

How hard would that be?  

All the work, all the suffering they went through and they wouldn't even get to enjoy any of the benefits.  Did that stop them though, no way!!  They spoke with boldness and clarity and never gave up or backed down.  So, neither should we.  As workers, ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we should never give up on people.  We may not see the results of all the love we have poured into them, or the seeds that we planted but that shouldn't stop us.  God is the one who ultimately does the work and the people we minister to are in his care, not ours.  It didn't stop the prophets, they knew what they were doing would take generations and centuries to come to completion but they did it any way.  

I love the words of Amos the prophet in Amos 7:14 and I hope this brings you encouragement

"Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah,'I was not a prophet, nor a prophets son, but i was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs.  But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'  Now therefore hear the word of the LORD."

May our LORD be with you

Josh

Getting Culture Out of Our Faith

This is the write out of the sermon I preached this past Sunday.  Enjoy!!

           I want to start off by telling a story.  A year or two ago we took the Youth Group backpacking.  On that trip Abby and I had the great idea of bringing our two dogs.  It was good at first, they behaved, really enjoyed the exercise, they had a great time.  The problem came when we were done with the hiking and took the students to the lake near the trails, so go swimming.  There were lots of people around and lots of other dogs.  Now what you have to understand is our dogs are very large and very playful.  So when they see another dog they want to go and play, the problem is the other dogs just see these two gigantic beast coming at them.  So needless to say I had to play a lot of let's go this way, no let's turn back around and go that way, to avoid causing a scene. 

            At one point in the day we were near the lake at a spot that was kind of hidden so it was working out.  Until, that is, one of my dogs slipped out of her collar.  I started to panic, I had no idea what she was going to do, or go.  There were some people picnincing near by and she hustled over to them to charm her way to some food.  So there I am trying to keep a hold of one dog while chasing the other one down.  The thing I remember most is, I was totally alone.  There were lots of people there watching me, but no one go up to lend a hand.  Not one single person!  In fact it seemed the more she was around them, the more they avoided her and me trying to rescue her. 

            Thinking back on that story, I am still shocked at the scene but, you know, that is the way our culture is these days.  Everyone seems to have the attitude of "Look out for #1," and "that is none of my business,". 

            Now if you are not a follower of Jesus you get to pick and choose what you want to do with this here but, if you are a follower of Jesus, the bible says that we are to be counter cultural.  We are not to fit into the square peg that is the norm, we are to stand out and be different form the people of this world.  God says in Colossians 3, that as followers of Jesus, we are to focus on things above not on earthly things.  It goes like this, "since  you have been raised with Christ," meaning if you are a follower of Jesus, we are talking to Christians/church goers here.  "Set," meaning you stand something in a specific position, in this case we are talking about you, yourself.  "Set your hearts on things above," this is talking about what you seek after, needs to be heavenly things, "where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father".  We as followers of Jesus are to specifically position ourselves to seek after heavenly things because that is where Jesus is and we should be seeking after Him. 

            Then it goes on, "set your minds," again, specifically position your thoughts, intellect, the way you process information and reason, "on things above, not earthly things,".  Let's think about it this way.  We are to have our hearts and minds, what we seek after and our reasoning skills, positioned on following Jesus, so much so that it is like we are with Him in the heavenly places, looking down on earthly things.  This is not a pride, we are better than you kind of thing, this is a we have found something so wonderful, so much greater than what the culture and world has to offer, we are way up here looking down on earthly stuff and saying, that is not worth it.  In Jesus we have found the greatest of the great and we are not giving it up for any of that stuff. 

            Friends, that is what it means to be counter cultural.  Sadly though, there are a few things in our culture that have crept their way into the lives of Jesus followers.  There are two areas that I want to cover, culture practices and culture thinking and I want to mention a few specific things with those two categories because I have noticed that Christians in general and even people in my own church, whether out of rebellion or ignorance, believe in these things and involve them in their lives. 

            The first thing under culture practices is the belief in Ghosts and house hauntings.  There is absolutely no biblical support for disembodied spirit of a human wandering the earth.  The bible says in Hebrews 9:27,"just as it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgement."  What that means is, we are a physical being and a spiritual being, once this physical body stops working our spirit transcend into eternity to either spend it with God or apart from God.  Our spirit does not pass go, does not collect $200.  Once we die here on earth, we transcend into eternity, our spirits do not stay here on earth.  There are spiritual beings that can transcend the physical world and spiritual world, they are called Angels which are sealed by God to do his will and Demons who are fallen angels who joined Satan in the rebellion.  The bible gives plenty of support for them. 

            So let's think about this logically shall we, if when we die and go into eternity with no possibility of staying here on earth but there are beings that can travel between the physical and spiritual world and on group only does what points out God and gives Him glory, what can we logically deduce from this?  The phenomena we chalk up to ghosts are nothing more than the enemy trying to turn our focus away from God and the truth.  Satan and his demons will use whatever means necessary to turn you away, make you believe lies and pull you away from the truth of God's word. 

            I am not saying this to scare any of you, I am saying this to expose you to the truth that there is no such things as ghosts, no matter what kind of eerie feelings or weird things you experience, it is nothing more than the enemy trying to make you believe a lie. 

            But the bible says that greater is He who lives in us than he who is in the world.  So the next time you may experience strange things don't jump to the conclusion that it must be paranormal, set your heart on Jesus and pray in his name that whatever it is will go away. 

            Isaiah chapter 8 says should we not seek God instead of ghosts and things, should we inquire of the dead on behalf of the living.  Absolutely not!!  Don't seek after the belief in ghosts, seek after Jesus. 

            Another big one is Zodiac signs.  By definition the Zodiac is an ancient system of divination based on belief that the stars can influence the fate or behavior of men and the general course of human events.  The bible is clear that we are to stay away from things like witchcraft and divination and we should no look to anything to influence our behavior or the purpose of our lives.  We are to look to God for those things. 

            Genesis 1:14 says, the stars and constellations were created by God to tell seasons and keep the yearly calendar.  Why would we look to anything in creation is influence us when we can go right to the Creator himself for influence on our behavior and purpose.  Deuteronomy says that when we look to creation not the Creator for anything that is idolatry, plain and simple. 

            Friends, checking your Horoscope or being in the know with regards to your Zodiac sign is having an idol, period.  You might says, well how come the description of me from the Horoscope is so accurate?  Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps you are that way because of the season or time of the year you were born and not because of the set of stars that happen to be in the sky at that particular time?  Since you were born in such and such a month you learn to adapt and adjust to the weather climates and patterns and that is what makes you stubborn or easy going.  Or could it be that that is the way God created you? 

            John 14 says that the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send, is the one who will influence you, teach you all things, not the stars.  To look to the stars for anything in your life other than the time of year it is, is idolatry and we can't have anything in the place of God or before God. 

            These are only two specific areas but the list could go on and on.  But now I want to shift gears and look at the way our culture thinks and how that differs from how we are to set our minds on things above. 

           

            All throughout the Old Testament God places huge emphasis on the value of Human Life.  The scriptures are peppered with phrases like protect the innocent, give a voice to those who don't have it, seek justice, look out for orphans and widows, defend the fatherless, I mean it's all over the place.  Human life is a big deal to God and in today's society we just don't get how precious life really is.

          This subject covers a whole host of issues.  When we think about the value of human life and what a big deal it really is, we get into entertainment issues, political arenas, sporting events and literary fiction the list goes on and on. 

            Psalm 8 says, "when I look at your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?  You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor."  God created human life and He holds it in the highest of value, all human life.  There is not a person on this earth that he did not put here for the purpose of loving and having a relationship with them.  In the whole creation account, mankind is the only creation that God did personally, with his hands.  Everything in creation God spoke into being, but with man and woman God formed them from the ground. 

            In our thinking, in every area of life, as followers of Jesus we need to place an extremely high value on human life.  In our culture today life is not valued.  We see this in entertainment; sports and movies that are coming out.  Abortion is such a hot button issue that boils down to whether you value human life or not.  Every year billions of dollars pour into pornography, an industry that completely dehumanizes women and sexual relationships and now even erotic literature has become a norm.  Even something as simple as fashion of our culture undermines the value of life by exposing more and more, it is completely turning humans into nothing more than animals.  All of these issues are so destructive because they seek to destroy the value of life, which should be held in the highest regard. 

            Friends we need to view our culture through the filter of our faith not the other way around.  When we view issues in the bible or in the world through the culture we live in we completely miss out on the things above that we should be focusing on.  When we focus on earthly things we miss out on the greatness that Jesus has in store for us as his followers. God places a huge, huge, huge value on human life.

            I want to close with a little observation.  In our church this will be the third message preached from Colossians chapter 3 in a matter of a few weeks...I think God is trying to tell us something.  I think God is telling us as individuals and a church body that it is time to really set our hearts and minds on things above.  It's really time to get serious about viewing earthly things in their proper place.  It's time to see the greatness that Jesus has in store for us and say to our friends, neighbors and the community around us, look at the awesome things that we have found in Jesus, this will completely outweigh anything this culture has to offer you.  Jesus is so much greater than anything this world will give you when you focus on this culture, when you focus on earthly things you miss out of the greatness Jesus has waiting for us.  

May our LORD be with you

Josh

No substitutes, no additives

I heard a saying a few days ago; "If you don't believe in something, you will believe anything,".

I think that saying really resonates with my topic of choice for today.

I am reading through the book of Isaiah and I came across a verse in Chapter 8, it says this; "And when they say to you, 'Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,' should not a people inquire of their God?  Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?" (Isaiah 8:19).

A few months ago my wife was at a ladies church tea and overheard a conversation from some of the women who attend our church.  They were talking about their houses being haunted by ghosts and/or spirits. This trend is not uncommon, we always have debates in Youth Group about ghosts and haunting and such.

Frankly this whole argument makes me utterly sick to my stomach.  Not because I am afraid of ghosts, my view is quite the contrary.  I CANNOT believe that people who claim to follow Jesus would give any kind of credit, credence, or acknowledgement to such things.  I apologize but this is one of those subjects where I will get on my soap box and scream.  It is completely appalling to me to believe in ghosts, ghouls or haunting in any capacity.

Now that is not to say that there is no such thing as a Spirit real or world, if you like, the bible is clear that such a matter exists.  However let us look at this logically.  We humans are a Spirit with a body.  When the body stops working and we die, what happens to our Spirit.  The book of Hebrews says that it is appoint for every man to live once, then judgement.  The word judgement here is referring to how we spend eternity (spirit world after our bodily death).  We either spend eternity with God or apart from God, there is no other option.  So ghosts or spirits being on earth is impossible in that sense.

We know that in the Spiritual realm there are such things as angels and demons.  The bible makes it clear that demons try to pull us away from the truth of God's word and angels are sealed for God's work.  So following this logical patterns, angels can only do what God tells them but demons try and turn us away from God's truth.

So my question is why when something strange in our house happens we automatically think it must be a ghost and revel in such things.  When those women were talking they were eating up the stories that were being told.  That kind of talk and subject does not glorify God, quite the opposite!!

My point to this rambling is, if we are going to claim to believe in Jesus, let us believe in Jesus, 100%.  No additives, no other beliefs.  Belief in ghosts is a great way of ripping you away from the truth of God's word.

If you claim to believe in Jesus, believe in Jesus.  No substitutes, no additives.

John 14:15- "If you love me you will keep my commandments." Jesus speaking!

may our LORD be with you
Josh

Being called out

It has been a frustrating couple of weeks.  I am having a bit of difficulty with Youth leadership (or lack there of) in our Youth group.  This problem has been an ongoing issue for the past year or two.  In addition to that I have had a few frustrations that I am trying to work through and resolve.

I say that to make a long story short.  I will not name, names because I am not into that but I have had a young lady, who is a dear friend, helping out with the youth group and other things.  Over the course of the past few months she has had some changes and adjustments and so her aid has been limited.  As a result of her limits and my heaping distress, I had been unintentionally taking out my frustrations on her.  Nothing overtly mean, but subtle, curt, short responses.  My attitude and demeanor would change quickly when she would tell me she couldn't help out or stay the whole time.

Now I have always tried to be one who lets things role off my back, so I would try and put on a "That's cool," or "It's not problem" face but the truth is, inside I was getting more and more angry.

I am a big believer in Behavior Psychology.  I believe that we as humans have a Psychological element to our make up.  We can't stuff emotions or thoughts down and forget about them, one way or another they will find a way to come out and be expressed.  So that happy face I tried to put on would often be replaced by my angst.

So this past Sunday morning we had an encounter and I tried to put on that happy face but it was fruitless, she could see right through it and I'm sure glad she did.  Later that day she confronted me and ask me straight up if we were okay.  In that moment I was totally convicted by the Holy Spirit.  I had been acting like a real jerk to someone who did not deserve it.  She was not the problem, my attitude was the problem.

Now the lesson here is in what happened next, I didn't make excuses, I did explain myself and the situation, but I asked for forgiveness right then and there.  I admitted that I had been a jerk and I was wrong, and I needed to make amends with my friend.  She was the picture of God's amazing grace even though I didn't deserve it, she forgave me and everything was made right.

The bible says that we are to forgive as God forgave us.  Period.  If you are a follower of Jesus you know how much God has forgiven you and you are to extend that same amount of forgiveness to everyone else.

Jesus told a story of a man whom had been forgiven a debt that he would never be able to pay back, but then went out and threw his buddy in jail over a debt of five bucks!  That guy did not understand forgiveness, nor did he really appreciate the forgiveness he was given.

When we don't forgive others, we don't appreciate the forgiveness God has given us.  We need to forgive as God has forgiven us...completely.

Also we need to not hold onto feeling of bitterness and anger.  I was doing that and it was hurting my friendship, even if I didn't mean it to.  Those feelings can really mess you up.  The bible says to let go of those feeling, rid yourself of them.

In addition we need to admit when we are wrong, or have done something wrong.  The truth is I had been wanting to talk to her about this for a while but I always put it off or forgot about it, but that didn't help the situation.  When you are in the wrong, ask for forgiveness, clear the air right away, don't hold onto it.

It is such an awesome thing to forgive others and be the one who is forgiven.

May our LORD be with you
Josh

I added a song, enjoy!!

http://youtu.be/oIbCpy0CQEo

Could not say it better myself!!

I love writing.  I love doing this blog.  But sometimes it is best if I shut my yapper and let someone else do the talking, especially when that someone else is Jesus.

We were discussing Matthew Chapter 18 yesterday, talking about temptation, sin, causing each other to stumble, forgiveness and forgiving each other.  During one of the section we came across this verse that made me think of our Youth girls.

Jesus is speaking here, Matthew 18:6, "but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."

Wow!!

Talk about the love of Jesus!  Those are some pretty intense words.

Now the reason I thought about the Youth girls with this verse is because we have had the argument with them about wearing modest clothing.  We have brought up the point that wear clothing that has low amounts of fabric and thus exposes great amounts of skin, contributes to the male battle with staying on the pure and NOT lustful road.  There argument of course is, it's not their problem if a guys sins because of what they are wearing, that is on the guy.  Then others make it clear that they love the attention they receive from the male population when they wear skimpy clothing...but is that the kind of attention a girl should desire from a guy?!?

Like I said earlier sometimes it's best to let someone else do the talking.  I found this article on crosswalk.com, talking about this very subject.  Here is the link.
http://www.crosswalk.com/family/singles/why-what-women-wear-matters.html?utm_source=facebook

check it out!!

Remember the words of Jesus, if you cause someone else in the faith to sin...the results are not good!!

May our LORD be with you
Josh

Ministry Mishaps

I read recently in a book that all believers should read through the book of Acts at least once a year.  I found this statement interesting because I am currently reading through the book of Acts.

So today I came across this story that always makes me a little sad.  It is found in Acts 15:36-41.  It is the story of Paul and Barnabas separating.  I can't help it, every time I read this story it makes me feel slightly discouraged.  Not because I foresee this happening in my own ministry but, I suppose I see Paul and Barnabas as a great team and it makes me sad that a great team like that split.

The situation went like this, Paul and Barnabas had just returned from the Jerusalem Council.  At this point they had already completed one missionary trip, planting several church, now Paul and Barny were getting ready to set out on their second mission excursion.  Barny wanted to bring along John Mark (the author of the gospel from Mark).  Scholars report that John Mark was somehow related to Barnabas, so we can see he had a connection with this guy.  Paul however did not want John Mark to come along on this trip, and that was the crux of their argument.  John Mark had come along on the first trip and left them to go back home.  So this time Paul refused to bring him along because he felt he was unreliable and Barny disagreed, thus the split.

Now the story doesn't end there, in the book of Philemon, Paul mentions that Mark is there with him as well as several other saints.  So ultimately the story ends on a happy note but still the beginning of it makes me sad.

I guess I think about my own ministry when I read this story.  I think about the people that are involved with me, that trust me if I am the one in charge.  I know we all may have differing opinions about the work that we do, different gift, different methods and we all read the scriptures and see different things because that is one of the ways God works on us.  If we all saw the same things when we read the bible, there would be nothing to learn from each other.  God created us like a body, each having a different function but ultimately operating as one.  However, will all our differences, it could be easy for conflict and disagreements to arise.

In my quote book I wrote down a fortune I got from a cookie once, that really sums up what I am getting at here.  Conflict should never be about victory but progress.

Conflict should never be about victory bur progress.

When we disagree and see things differently I think there are a few things we need to consider.

1. Find middle ground.  Part of progress is growing as an individual.  Maybe through a situation of conflict God is trying to grow you and stretch you.  Be open to meeting someone half way and allow yourself to grow from the experience.
Now in this I need to say that there may be situation where you cannot, I repeat cannot, compromise.  The biggest example is anything that contradicts the truth of scripture.  If you are in a conflict with someone over something that is clear in scripture, do not budge.  As I said earlier, we each will learn different things from reading our bibles but the basic truths should never differ.  We may glean different lessons from scripture but the truth of scripture is eternal.

2. Trust God.  Even though Paul and Barny separated in the end we see Paul had great use for John Mark.  He was one of his comrades, helping and serving with Paul toward the end.  We may get into conflict with others in our own ministry but be honest with each other and trust in God that He knows the end and has it all under control.
Romans 9 says that for all who love God, He work out all things for good.
This is one thing I really struggle with because I don't really enjoy conflict but I need to trust him that if I speak what I feel him leading me too, in the end it will be good.  Even if for the moment I lose a friend or partner in ministry.

Let us not be afraid of conflict but let us also use conflict in our ministries not for victory but for progress.

May our LORD be with you
Josh

P.S. Here is a song by Casting Crowns that sums this up quite nicely.
 Enjoy!! http://youtu.be/gK92TZrE-SA

Pray...Really Pray

"So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church."  Acts 12:5

Can I ask you a question?  I guess I just did!  Let me ask you another question.  When you pray do you expect anything to happen?  When you ask God for something or to do something, do you really expect anything to happen?

You should!

There is this story in the book of Acts where Peter gets thrown into prison, so the church starts praying for his release.  Now at this particular time that Peter was in prison, James the brother of John had just been killed.  Obviously they had the same plans for Peter.  So the church hold an all night prayer meeting and prays for his deliverance.  In the middle of the night an angel of the LORD comes and gets Peter out of prison, so Peter runs to the home where the meeting was taking place to tell the people of the church all that God had done.

The funny thing is...at first they didn't believe it was him, they thought it was his ghost or his angel or something.  They spent all that time praying that God would get Peter out of this situation and when he did the people didn't believe it.

Why do we do that?

The problem now is, we have de-evolved to the point of skipping the prayer part and going right to the non-belief part.  We don't pray for anything serious anymore.  When we do pray, it for stuff like our pets, or safe travelling, or my friend is being mean to me, or fluffy stuff like that.

We don't seriously pray for things because we don't seriously believe that God will do anything.  I don't know if it is because we would rather rely on ourselves than see God move or we just plain don't think He will do anything.  The fact is, in our story, what they prayed for they got.  God moved!!  He delivered Peter just like they asked!

What do you have going on in your life that you could pray...and I mean seriously pray about.  I am talking about falling on your knees and asking God to move in this situation or that and believing that HE WILL DO IT!!!

What non-believing friend could you pray for, for opportunities to speak to them about Jesus?

Whose marriage is on the rocks that you could pray for restoration?

Who has an illness that you could pray for healing?

What situation in your own life are you struggling with that you could pray for guidance?

Jesus said ask whatever you want in my name and you will receive it.  James says that you receive not because you ask for the wrong reasons.  What that means is when you ask for something, why are you asking?  Because you think it is the right thing to do?  Or because you believe with all your heart that what you are praying for God will deliver?

Pray, talk to God like you believe what you are asking for will happen!!

May our LORD be with you
Josh

Worthless things

"Incline my heart to your testimonies
and not to selfish gain!
Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
and give me life in your way."
Psalm 119:36-37-He

There is this picture post...thingy...floating around facebook.  I posted it on my wall because it is a great saying and the speaker is one of my favorite authors, Francis Chan.  The saying goes like this, "Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter". 

I am a schemer by nature.  I have so many ideas and so many things that I want to accomplish, it can get kind of annoying at times...just ask my wife.  I have a tendency to float from one thing to another before accomplishing the first thing.  I have had to learn to complete a project and see it to the end before I start another one, even if it is not going the way that I had planned originally.  I'm not great at it but I am better than I used to be. 

With all of these things that I want to do and want to accomplish, sometimes I have to stop and think...do the things that I do really matter??

All of these dreams and stuff I want to accomplish, does it really matter? 

Is it going to make a difference? 

Is what I am doing for my glory or for God's glory? 

In Psalm 119 David writes and asks God to turn his eyes from worthless things.  I love that phrasing.  But I have to ask, do we ever ask that of God? 

Are the things that you are doing worthless? 

In the grand scheme of eternity, are they going to matter?

Sometimes, I really have to hold my tongue when I talk to students entering their college years (but maybe I shouldn't) and they tell me their plans and what they want to major in and do with their lives.  I often wonder, where does God fit into all of those plans.  I hear plans to major in things that will end up being...well...worthless.  It sounds like Beaker from the Muppet's, "Me me, mememe me me me".  I never hear plans to the tune of, "I want to major in such and such, so I can serve God in this way".  I was with a student the other day who told me they wanted to major in a field dealing with mechanics.  You should have seen the look they gave me when I suggested they could use that to figure out how to build machines that would dig wells in Africa for people who don't have drinking water. 

It makes me so incredible sad when I hear students who have gone to church all their lives, make plans for their lives, that puts God last in their lives.  That seems to be the cycle of the "American Dream".  Go to college and major in something that will make you lots of money, serve yourself, have a nervous breakdown or mid-life crisis because you are ultimately unsatisfied because you are serving only yourself. 

Paul says that whatever we do... do it for the Glory of Us?  WRONG!!  Do it for the Glory of God!! 

How can we do that? 

By serving others. 

God says that we should not look to only our own interests but to the interests of others.  THAT is something worthwhile!!

Are your eyes focused on worthless things? 

May our LORD be with you
Josh

Follow me, Jesus?!?

Blessed are those whose ways is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD!
Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart,
who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways!
Psalm 119:1-3-Aleph

We have some big problems that we struggle with these days. 

Young men looking at Pornography and teaching their bodies to naturally respond in a very unnatural way. 

Young ladies giving themselves away and doing whatever they can because they think it will make them feel loved and wanted. 

Teen guys and girls making terrible life choices to the tune of "YOLO", (you only live once) and then finding unthinkable ways to get rid of the mistakes that they have made.

The kicker is, these big problems are not only happening outside the church, they are happening inside the church as well.  In some cases, the problems are more frequent with "believers" than non-believers.  What is wrong with us, the church, these days?  How did we get to this point? 

I don't know as though I have the answer but allow me to share a theory with you.  We, as the church have become so complacent, we have stopped teaching that Jesus needs to be our lives, rather than add him into what we already have going on.  Its like we don't drop everything when he says "Follow Me", we come to him and say "Jesus, Follow Me, be a part of the life that I already live, but don't change anything in it.  Just be my get of of hell free card". 

Am I wrong?  We live life the way we think is best, then scream at God for not saving us from certain situations when the outcome is not what we expected.  The above Psalm says blessed are those whose way is BLAMELESS, who walk in (there own way, no way) THE LAW OF THE LORD.  Blessed are those who seek after him with their WHOLE HEART!!

Jesus said the only way to save your life is to lose it to Him!!  If you try and hold onto your life you will lose it for good. 

This is what we need to teach our sons and daughters and youth.  Lose your life to Jesus and He will save it.  Follow Him, rather than Him follow you. 

Here are three ways we can do this;
-Teach the word of God rather than trends and fads.  Talk about God and his way of living with our kids and teach these things in our Youth groups.  If we do not teach the word of God in our groups, these kids will never know about it.  When we teach the Word, it will inevitably answer their life questions and problems they face. 

-Let's be less sensitive to those who are not believers yet.  I am not saying be mean but often times we don't give kids the truth because they "are not believers yet".  Encourage those kids to cry out to Jesus, to pray, to worship.  Dong this will teach them to be a disciple even before they give their lives to Christ.  That is the truth and the only way to live, why would we cover that up or try and dance around that with advice.  Give it to them straight, talk to Jesus, pray to him, read the Word. 

-Teach those who do claim to be believers to get rid of all the things in their lives that keep them from following Jesus and get serious about following him.  Sometimes you have to draw the line in the sand and say, "either you are with Jesus or you go your own way".  Continuing to teach these students that they can live life and add Jesus in when they want is only doing more damage.  We need to teach them and our children that Jesus needs to be their life, Period. 

May our LORD be with you
Josh

Superheroes, Vampires and Mermaids

I am beginning to notice a pattern here.  There has been an increasing number of movies, tv shows, books, magazines and all kinds of other stuff that involve supernatural things, ie Superheroes, Vampires, Mermaids, Werewolves, Ghosts, Goblins, Witches, Hobbits, Creatures from the Black Lagoon and so on.  Okay, honestly I haven't just noticed this, it's been happening for a while but I think the increase has been slow enough that it snuck up on us.  Now all of a sudden when you go into a book or movie store it seems to be everywhere.  Don't forget also that you can't browse through your TV Guide without seeing a show involving some kind of supernatural element on every station.  Even the History Channel has programs of extra-terrestrial beings.  It's getting kind of ridiculous.

Lately, in my personal time with God I have been praying for understanding.  I have a knack for jumping to conclusions and claiming I know what people are thinking and making snap judgments based on my premature notions.  So I have been asking for understanding, to peer into a situation and understand what is going on beneath the surface rather than jumping to conclusions. 

So as I view the media driven world around me and I see the preoccupation we have with things that are superhuman, I wonder what this could mean.  What is going on beneath the surface of our fascination with Vampires and Superheroes?  In our culture and society today, why all of a sudden are we so taken with stories about such beings? 

I believe that answer can be found in the bible.  In Psalm 139, it says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.  The author is writing poetry here about how amazed he is at God's creation of man.  Throughout all of history we have be amazed at ourselves and how our bodies function and operate.  In the ancient world it was physical limitations, in the Renaissance it was our emotional and artistic frontier and in today's culture we are fascinated with our psychological boundaries. 

However, I believe we as mankind have missed the other part of what the author of Psalm 139 was trying to express.  Some scholars believe and have written that, that phrase "fearfully and wonderfully" could also be read "fearfully wonderful," describing God and his work on mankind.  Either way you look at it only a "fearfully wonderful" God could "fearfully and wonderfully" create us.

So we got the part about how great we are created and what cool creatures we are...but we have totally missed the mark on exploring how great and cool God is and that is where I think all of this super, extra-human stuff is coming into play.  We want so desperately to believe that there is something else out there. That is why fantasy material is so captivating.  The thought of something greater than ourselves is appealing.

The problem is, there is something greater than us...He is called God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit.  We have looked inward for so long, mankind has tried to deny God for so long, that we don't see God is the simplest things anymore.  The sunrise at the beach, the waves crashing on the shore, a neighbor doing a good deed, a trespasser being shown forgiveness when he or she doesn't deserve it, we can see God in every circumstance we come across in life.  We can acknowledge how cool he is and how wonderful are his deeds but instead we put more credence in creatures that are figments of our God-given creative imagination.  The church is not immune to this either.  We have stopped looking to God for our everything and look to ourselves.  Lest we forget it is God who will save the world and not us!!

I am not saying that reading books or seeing movies about these things are a bad but do they take up more time in your life than God?  Do you give more energy to fantastical stories rather than the truth of God's word? 

I like Superheroes and the like as much as the next guy but, friends I encourage you if you are looking for something that is greater than yourself...something superhuman, look to God.  Give your life to Jesus.  Living this life with God's Spirit inside you and the adventures He will take you on is greater than any story you could ever watch or read about.  The power to do good works and bring people to a relationship with Jesus is the great superhuman story of all. 

When will yours begin??

May our LORD be with you
Josh

Growing into Greatness

The life of Peter has always amazed me. I don't know if you know this but the

book of Mark is really the book of Peter. Back then computers were known as people
who knew how to write. Peter wrote his book through a man named John Mark. John
Mark was able to write so Peter dictated his account of Jesus to Mark and Mark wrote it
down, which is why to book is called the gospel of Mark and not the gospel of Peter.
Either way you look at it the gospel is about Jesus, but the life and story of Peter always
fascinates me.


I recently read through the book of Mark. Knowing that this is the account of
Jesus through Peter's eyes makes the book a little more interesting when you read it.
You can find personality traits of Peter scattered all throughout the text. For example
we know Peter to be a man of rash action rather than well thought out planning.
Throughout the book the word "Immediately" seems to appear quite often. Jesus
immediately got into the boat and went to the other side and immediately a crowd came
upon him and he immediately began to heal the sick and immediately they were
healed...you get the point. Another example is the account of when Peter denied
Jesus. In this gospel it is particularly detailed.


I say all this to bring up this point. Peter is known to all believers as one of the
giant heroes of the faith but the thing is he didn't start out that way. He made a lot of
mistakes, even to the point of denying that he knew Jesus, pretty much to his face. We
know him as this great man of God who wrote beautiful material and theology on our
faith but Jesus knew him as the blundering idiot who put his foot in his mouth more
often than not. Yet Jesus still said of Peter, "upon this rock, I will build my church".


I don't know where you are at today. But I can tell you that Jesus loves you more
than you could ever comprehend and he wants to use you in his high risk endeavors.
You may feel more like the blundering Peter than the faith giant Peter...that is okay.
Jesus did not write Peter off the first time he made a mistake and he will never do that
to you either.


Being a Christian is not a one time thing; say a prayer and you are perfect, it is
life changing and growing experience. Peter didn't go from fisherman to Saint right
when Jesus said "follow me", he grew into the greatness we know of him today and the
same is true for you and me. We can be great followers of Christ, even though we don't
feel that way sometimes, it is still true, we can be great just like Peter. Friends, the key is that
we need to realize that we need to go through the growing process and take the right steps
towardJesus.  When we stumble and fall get up, learn from the mistake, ask for forgiveness
and use the experience to draw closer to Jesus. 


Christ wants to use you to change the world. Yes, YOU!!! The broken, sinful,
wretch that you are, he wants to use you, the same way he used Peter. I encourage
you, stay the course, follow after Christ and remember, Peter started out just as much
of a mistake maker as you and me.
 
 
May our LORD be with you
Josh

Verbal Vomit

When I get worked up about something it is hard for me not to voice my opinion.  However I am getting better at using that filter in my brain.  Lately though, it has been really hard to keep my mouth closed especially when it comes to people's comments on certain social media sites.  People make the most outlandish, uneducated, brash remarks, at times I can hardly believe the commentary I am reading.  The Internet is a great tool but unfortunately it is also used for people to spew their verbal vomit all over everyone else.  Every time I read something it takes a lot not to comment back but I remember the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the mount, "don't cast your pearls before swine because they will trample on you", and trample they do. 

Take for example this once instance that my wife encountered.  Someone posted an uplifting picture referencing God and how He uses people whom we would think are unusable.  The comments, from people who claim to be non-believers and such, went a flyin'.  The funny thing is, when they would comment about their unbelief, believers would try to encourage and speak in love to them in a non-judgemental way and the unbelievers would then revile the believers and tear them down. 

It makes me sad and mad all at the same time.  Then this morning I was reading in Psalm 73.  David is complaining to God about the wicked people he sees getting ahead in life and asks what is going on.  Then about half way through David makes this statement, "But I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.  Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin". 

I though about this for a bit and found that I have similar feelings and thoughts with David.  I think how crazy these people are and how awful things seem to be and I don't understand any of it.  I don't understand how these people can live this way and mock God the way they do and it all seems to be okay.  I can't stand having different issues and people's opinions rammed down my throat day after day and then I am called the bigot because I disagree or see things a different way.  How can this be?!?

David says when he sits back and gets in God's presences, he begins to understand what is going on here.  These people seem to be okay with life.  They seem to know what they are talking about and have it all together but the truth is they are so far from being okay.  Their own life style and choices make their life ruin.  They seem to walk a good path but their way is slippery. 

Only a life given over to God and built on the rock of Jesus can stand.  Things may seem bad and headed for worse but we can always stand on Jesus.  He and only He provides the foundation we need for a life that is worth living.  Keep the faith, keep walking the walk, live for Him and nothing else.  Acknowledge God in everything and He will make straight your path. 

may our LORD be with you
Josh

Opportunity is knocking at your door

I want to keep it short today.  I know what your thinking...yeah right!!

When I started out in ministry, I could always come up with great ideas for ministry opportunities.  The problem was, my ideas were always on a huge scale.  I was told growing up that I was meant for great things and that to me meant nationally famous kind of things.  What I had to come realize is my definition of great and God's definition of great were two very different things. 

God's definition of great could be nationally famous or could mean ministering and loving on a small youth group of 20 students in a small town that no body outside of the state knows about.  Great, to God, could be living in a hut in the jungle, teaching the gospel to people whom everyone else has written off as savage.  Great could be starting a small church that meets in a school cafeteria. 

As long as Jesus is being glorified and people are giving their lives to him, your (what looks to be small) ministry is GREAT!! It is not small to God.  Anything that loves on people and bring glory to God is great. 

I am in the midst of starting a new branch of ministry that in human terms is small, but I am totally excited about it.  I will give more details when I can but for now, this is going to be a great opportunity. 

What is a ministry that you have been thinking about starting but didn't because it's "too small."  I have news for you, it's not small at all.  I always thought that doing things that didn't impact thousands of people was not worth my time but I was dead wrong.  God does amazing things through the "small", just look at David vs. Goliath.  God took all of my desires, the things that I wanted to do (on the huge scale) and showed me how I can fit those things into his plan.  God's plans and purposes are big enough to fit your huge and small ideas.

So many people think about "God's will" for their lives, wanting to know what it is that God has for them and then end up not doing anything.  God's will is for you to come to know Jesus Christ as your Savior and to then share his love and gospel with others who need to hear it, using the talents He has given you. 

So what is on your heart?  What is a ministry opportunity that is knocking at your door?  Big or small God wants to use you to impact the lives of other...so go answer that door. 

May our LORD be with you
Josh 

Marwiage...Marwiage is what brwings us togetwer today

That bwessed arwangement. That drweam within a drweam!! Haha!!

I love that movie!!

I have been dealing with a lot of marriage things lately. Our friends Sarah and Jaymin are getting married. I am helping out with the wedding of our friends Mike and Sarah. So marriage has been on my mind as of late.

This morning I had a conversation with my wife about marriage...our marriage. We kept several relics from our wedding ceremony and have tried to keep them nice over the years. Unfortunately, life happens and some of those relics have been ruined or destroyed.

Let me give you some examples.

We kept the candle with 1 Corinthians 13 4-8 written on it that we used in the ceremony. We kept it, in the attic where it melted because of the heat and the words got all messed up, so we had to throw it out because it was ugly. We kept our toasting glasses. But the great and mighty Zion broke one when he shook the wine glass rack that they were on, so now we only have one.

We were pretty bummed about these relics biting the dust but you know, as I think more and more about it, in the grand scheme of things they really don't matter. Our marriage is not based on the relics we used in our ceremony. In fact the ceremony was really nothing in comparison to the rest of our lives. The relics do not make or break our marriage, our vows to each other and to God is what really counts.

I think sometimes we forget that marriage is a picture of something greater. Take for example the story of Jesus being cornered by the teachers of the law. They thought they would trick him by asking him a trick question. See this sect of the Religious teachers did not believe in the resurrection, so they asked him a resurrection question hoping to trick him and make him look stupid. They asked, what would happen if a man marries a women but he dies with no children, so she marries his six brothers (one at a time) and (one at a time) they all die without giving her any children to carrying on the first brother's name or take care of her. Who will she be married to at the resurrection?

Now it was Jewish custom that if a man marries a woman and dies before having children that the man's closest brother would have to marry the widow and try and give her a son to carry on the name and line of the first brother. This son would be considered the child of the first man. Kind of strange to us but the way they did things back then it makes total sense.

So Jesus has this question before him and tells the teachers that they are idiots and don't know the scriptures at all (which was their job by the way). Jesus says that marriage in this life does not carry over into the next but is a picture of something so much greater. Marriage is a picture of the relationship that we the church have with God. A picture of absolute commitment and love, to the point of giving your life fully to your spouse. A promise that forsakes everyone else, for the sake of the one you married.

That is the kind of relationship that Christ has with us is it not? Husbands are to love your wives as Christ loves the church AND gave Himself up for her. That is why divorce is so wrong to God, because it takes this idea of a relationship where the people are so committed to each other and turns it into a relationship that can stop at the precise moment when things get too difficult. That is not the relationship that Christ has with us. The cross was pretty difficult for him but he stuck with it so that we could be made righteous and holy and he is holy.

Marriage is a picture of that. A committed relationship that endures hardship and see it through to the other side.

I encourage you if you are married or thinking about getting married make sure you are certain it is for life!! May your marriage be a reflection to others of the relationship between Jesus and his Bride.

May our LORD be with you
Josh

Doubt

I got to speak in Church yesterday and I thought I would write here what I spoke about. For those who were in service yesterday, sorry you have to hear this again but maybe you will get something new out of it.

Yesterday was the Sunday after Easter and that is always a difficult day, espicially if you have to preach. There is so much momentum building up to Easter and all that that celebration involves that the weeks follow kinda seem like a let down, all that momentum is gone. We can get caught up in the hype of the celebration. So let me ask you do you really believe what we celebrate. Do you believe that Jesus died of the cross then three days later he rose from the dead and is alive today...or do you have doubts about that story.

Doubt is a pretty common thing in humans. All the disciples had doubts about Jesus truly being alive. The two guys on the road to Emmaus doubted so much they decided to go home, that is why Jesus caught up with them on the road. When he appeared to the disciples in the Upper Room they doubted ti was him, they thought they were seeing a ghost.

Doubt is a pretty common theme in the last chapters of the gospels but there are other common threads or theme. Jesus does not condemn his followers for doubting his resurrection but what he does do is give them 2 things to combat their disbelief and if we use these examples they can help take away our doubts as well.

With the guys on the road to Emmaus Jesus gave them his story. The bible says in Luke 24 that when Cleopas told the stranger(Jesus) of what had happened in the past days and how they doubted Jesus was the real Messiah, Jesus gave them his story starting all the way back to the books of Moses and highlighting all the Prophets said about the Messiah. Jesus gave them his story of which he was the hero.

So what is your story and how is Jesus made the hero. We cannot go through this life without God being a part of it. Even athesists who deny Jesus with their mouths proclaim the exsistence of God with the fact that they are still breathing. We cannot escape him no matter how hard we try. God has been a part of your story from the beginning. When you tell your story, make Jesus the hero of it. The proof of Jesus being apart of your life will take away any doubt you may have that he is alive today.

In the Upper Room Jesus gave his followers his body. They thought he was a ghost but he showed them his body as proof that he is alive. We don't have the physicial body of Jesus here with us today but we have something just as good, the church is the body of Christ. In Ephesians the church is called the body of Christ here on earth. So if you have doubts about Jesus being alive, get more involved in the body of Christ. See the body alive and active and be apart of it. When the church is doing it's job of loving God and loving and serving our neighbors, people can't help but notice that Jesus is alive today.

I heard a story of an athesist down in North Carolina who did all kinds of stuff to be a pain for this church in his neighborhood but they never spoke out against him or anything. It happened that the man need eye surgrey because he was going blind but didn't have the money to pay. The church raise the money for him to have the surgrey and he became a believer because of it.

That is the church being the risen, alive body of Christ here on earth. That took away that mans doubts and I know if you get more involved in the body or invite your friends to come be apart or see the body at work, yours and their doubts will vanish for all eternity.

May our LORD be with you
Josh