A Pastor, Fireman and Superhero

"So Joshua, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Sometimes he will tell me that he wants to be a pastor. Other times he will say that he wants to be a fireman. Most recently, he informed the family that he has decided to be a superhero when he grows up. We're still waiting for the super powers to kick in. I don't know what Joshua will finally choose when he gets older, but I am thankful that all of his choices thus far are professions that involve helping others. I was reminding the church last Sunday that the pleasures of this life are fleeting and only leave us with temporary satisfaction. The greatest pleasure comes from serving others and knowing that you made a difference in their lives. I love Mark 8:35 which says, "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it." It would be awesome if my son became a preacher someday - if that is what God wants. I would be proud if the Lord led him to be a fireman. But the truth is, as long as we teach our children to love and serve God by loving and serving others, they will all grow up to be superheroes.

CAP

Relationship, Not Religion

Our Starbucks group just finished Francis Chan's Crazy Love book and it was awesome. In the final chapter, Chan's barrage of truth is hard hitting and causes you to ask some intense questions of yourself. Here are a few of the lessons taught in chapter 10.

• God may want you to go overseas to be a missionary, or He may call you to be more of a missionary where you are now. If we have a right relationship with Jesus, we will be open to all possibilities.
  
• We often say that we can do "all things through Christ" but live and plan as though God doesn't exist.
• We say that we are waiting for God to reveal His calling on our life in order to avoid action. Chan asks, "Did you hear God calling you to sit in front of the television yesterday?" Ouch! Don't say that.
  
• If we want to experience God, then we must be willing to put ourselves in situations where we will fail unless God comes through.
• Remember to treat everyone you meet the same way you would treat Jesus.
• Ask yourself, "Would I rather have Jesus walking right beside me, or have the Holy Spirit living in me?"

Crazy Love is a great book because it draws its wisdom from the greatest of all books - the Bible. I would highly recommend it to any pastor, believing that if an entire church would read this book, and be open to change - it would totally transform that church. Here's hoping that you will all become crazy lovers of Jesus.

CAP

Get That Ram!

Right now I'm reading through Genesis and just finished the story where God asked Abraham to offer Isaac. I can't even imagine how Abraham must have felt. His heart must have sunk when God asked him to give-up the most precious thing in his life. On top of that, Abraham had to journey for three days until God showed him where to offer the sacrifice. What was he thinking during those three days?

• Did I really hear God right? Maybe I was mistaken.
• Why would God want me to do this when He knows how long we waited for this promised child? Is He trying to torture me?
  
• What have I done wrong? This must be a judgment for some sin in my life.

Ultimately Abraham did as God commanded. He put away his doubts and acted on faith. Because Abraham demonstrated his total obedience, believing that God would keep His covenant, the Lord spared Isaac. But then an interesting thing happened . . .

Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son (Genesis 22:13).

God confirmed Abraham's faith by supplying the provision (a ram caught in a thicket), but the provision was not revealed until Abraham demonstrated his faith. And after the provision was revealed, Abraham still had to grab it and use it for the glory of God. God could have just revealed the ram beforehand, killed it, laid it on the altar to be sacrificed, and lit His own fire - but how would that have strengthened Abraham's faith? All I'm saying is that it's good to have our faith tested from time to time. It's good that God doesn't do everything for us. It's good that we have to wrestle the ram and offer the sacrifice. These experiences deepen our faith and increase our love for God. So the next time you experience a crisis of faith, trust the Lord to provide exactly what is needed for the situation. And once the provision is revealed, get that ram! Receive what God has given and use it for His glory.

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For the Glory of God and the Kingdom

This January I am launching into a new sermon series entitled For the Glory of God and the Kingdom. On Sunday we will be looking at Luke 17 with the story of the ten lepers. In that story the lepers called Jesus master and begged for his mercy. Jesus tells them to present themselves to the priest and while they are on the way, the lepers are miraculously healed. However, only one of them returns to give glory to God. The Bible does not tell us why the other nine men did not return, but we must be careful not to condemn them before looking at ourselves. How often does God bless us, and we fail to thank him for his blessings? How often do we fail to thank God for the blessings we enjoy on a daily basis? As a church, our desire is to grow, so are we thanking God for what He has already given us, and are we prepared to be entrusted with others? I really don't want to put a time constraint on this message series because the lessons are too important. If we can get a hold of the importance of God's glory and God's kingdom, I believe it will change and transform our church. In January we will have churchwide evangelism training during our Sunday school hour. If we're going to ask God for greater witnessing opportunities, we need to be ready. Let us start the New Year right be preparing for what God is going to do.

CAP

Conference Pics

Just got some new pics from the conference. If you are interested, check out the new album on FB. I will probably add some of the pics to our Marriage University site at www.marriageuniversity.net.

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Yes It Is Worth It

We just got back from Gettysburg and had a great conference with Wanted Marriage Ministries at the beautiful Eisenhower Inn. We had the opportunity to teach three sessions and God really blessed. It will be exciting to see what God does with this conference in the future. I'm not sure how you top having Harold and Bette Gillogly as keynote speakers, and music by Calling Levi. We really felt that the couples there were fully engaged and sincerely wanted to put the truths they were learning into practice. For all the Marriage University alumni who read this blog - thank you for your powerful stories and encouragement of our ministry. Whenever Crystal and I drive home from a marriage conference, we are exhausted. But when we ask whether the time and energy was worth it, the answer is always the same, "Yes, it was definitely worth it! You are definitely worth it!" Please stay in touch with us through marriageuniversity.net or look us up on facebook. Love you guys.

CAP

Make Peace, Not War

We are going to Gettysburg to make peace - not war. Crystal and I have been asked to do three workshops at Growing Together Hand in Hand, a conference put on by Wanted Marriage Ministries. This conference was organized in response to LifeWay's Festival of Marriage pulling out of Ocean City, Maryland. The keynote speakers for this event are Harold and Bette Gillogly, and Calling Levi will be leading the worship. Whenever we teach at an event, we always ask friends and readers to pray for us. In an event this big, there are bound to be husbands and wives who see this conference as their last ditch effort to stay together. We know that we're headed into spiritual warfare because the devil would love nothing more than to destroy these couples and devastate their children. If your church does not currently have a marriage ministry, you might want to pray for God's guidance (and your pastor's blessing) in starting one. Your pastor may already have too much on his plate to lead this kind of ministry, but a successful marriage ministry might lighten his counseling load and strengthen the church overall.

CAP