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
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
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
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
Monday, April 16, 2012
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
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
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