Labor Day Prayer

Father, I thank you for Labor Day
I thank you for the chance to rest from my labor
I know the job I enjoy only comes from you.
I know the energy I have and ability to get up and go about my work comes from you.
And father, even the moments I do not enjoy so much at work comes because you allow it.

Father, today I pray that you will give me more energy to serve and labor for you.
I pray that I will enjoy my labor for you.
I pray that I will work harder for your service and in love.
I pray that I will find joy even in the minuscule tasks that you give me
And Father, I pray that I will labor well for you.

Father, you have designed rest for a reason
I pray that I will continue to work hard and labor for you
But I also pray that I will learn to rest well and enjoy time with you
So I pray that today, on Labor Day, I can rest well and enjoy time with you and your blessings
But I pray, Father, that tomorrow, I will begin to labor some more and with new energy in your work
Thanks Lord, for a blessed Labor Day

Refinishing my floor

Last weekend I spent a good portion of the time refinishing my hardwood floor in the new house. As I was spending many hours stripping, scrubbing, brushing, sanding, and wiping, God gave me many illustrations for what I was doing and how it coincided to my Christian life. Let me explain. Here is the flooring activity, followed up by how it illustrates the Christian life.

Removing the old floor (tearing up my carpet).
This flooring activity is a great example of the Christian life. When God calls us to be His children we must remove our old sinful self and cast off our old habits and expose our true character for God to refinish in His plan. We can never have a new shiny beautiful worship life in Jesus, if we never remove the old self and surrender ourselves to His work. We must remove our old habits, activities, friendships, and traits if we are to have a new life.

Strip away the old dirt and grime.
This again is a great example of what must take place in our Christian life. Not only must we remove and cast off our old life, we must allow God to strip away the layers of sinful dirt and grim from our lives and expose the true beautiful created part of us. Just like I spent many hard painful hours laboring over the floor, God will spend many hard painful hours stripping away at us. We to as God's children must also spend many painful hours stripping ourselves and the sin away from our lives. The stripping of the dirt from our lives is painful, trust me it hurts and takes a long time.

Sanding the floor smooth
This was a harder activity for me to see the Christian life in, but that is because this is the stage I am in the most right now and I could not recognize it. Not only does God strip away our sin and we join Him in the stripping process but God also sands away our rough spots and hard jagged edges. I have been experiencing this very much in my life very much. God uses people (my wife), places (my church), or activities (preaching) to smooth us and our rough spots out. God will continually sand and smooth us as we allow Him to. We must be open and ready and willing to bear the hard times to allow God to smooth us. Sanding and making the floor smooth was again hard and painful work and it was a labor of love. God love us so much that He will spend hours, days, and years, smoothing us, His children, out. We just need to give in to His loving touch in our lives.

Brushing on the Finish
I spent the most time brushing on the finishing coats of polyurethane and it took much time and layers. The Bible is our finish coat and it take many layers and continual immersion in it to shine and be bright for Jesus. My floor now shines and is bright only because of the finish coat that was continually applied over many brush stroke. We need to spend much time in the Bible allowing it to shine and finish us. The Bible is something that we need to continually brush on our lives because only then will be be bright and shining for Jesus.

Are you a floor that has been refinished for Jesus and by Jesus?

Quotable Friday

"You cannot have Jesus' rescue without accepting his rule."~Tim Keller

Separation???

"Be Holy because I am Holy" is a command from God in 1 Peter, which Peter is quoting from Leviticus. One of the ways that God is Holy is the fact He is separated from us and this world. This means that God is separated from sin, and the fallen brokenness of us and the culture of this world. A few lines later Peter calls us strangers or aliens in this world. And I think he is trying to make a point that we need to be aware of. Let me try and explain a little.

We are to be holy like God, so we too as the children of God are to be separated from this world, aka non-conformist. When I say separation from the world, I do not mean like the Amish or those who go and live in a cave and have no contact with anyone else. As Christians we are to live in this world and be a part of this world so we can tell others about our amazing Savior Jesus. But we are not to look, talk, or act like the world. That is what I mean by separation. In my next few statements, I might offend some people but it is what I believe is the truth. So we are supposed to not look like the world, be non-conformist, or separate ourselves from the world by looking different. So do we drink, talk, work, drive, watch, and live like the world? By getting drunk, swearing and talking dirty, being lazy or not showing up, speeding and being aggressive, watching dirty shows and movies, and just down right living the same as those who do not love Jesus; we are living in the middle and being a conformist to the world.

When we are called to a holy life we are called to a life that is morally different and pure compared to those who do not love Jesus. When we love Jesus we are to live like we love Jesus and show to others that Jesus has changed our lives. We are to be a humble and broken people that is pure in spirit and pure in mind and pure in mouth. When we live lives that are holy to God we are separated from the ethical standard of the world and are living to the moral standards of God, those He has set down in His word. When we are living holy lives we are non-conformists to the world but daily conforming more and more into our Savior. A life that is a sweet and pleasing aroma to God.

Living Together

In preparation for my sermon this week I have been going over the one another list from the New Testament. An aspect of a holy life is a love for one another in our faith family. The list of the one another's shows us how to truly and deeply love one another, live together,and are a pleasing sweet aroma to God. Here is the list that I have come up of the one another's.

care for one another- 1 Cor. 10:16
love one another- John 13:34-35
host one another-1 Peter 4:9
receive one another- Romans 15:7
honor one another-Romans 12:10
serve one another-Gal. 5:13
instruct one another- Romans 15:14
forgive one another-Col. 3:13
motivate one another- Hebrews 10:24
build up one another- 1 Thes. 5:13
encourage one another- 1 Thes. 5:11
comfort one another- 2 Cor. 1:3-7
pray for one another- James 5:16
confess sin to one another- James 5:16
esteem one another- Philippians 2:3
edify one another- Romans 14:19
teach one another- Col. 3:16
show kindness to one another- Eph. 4:32
give to one another- Acts 2:45
rejoice with one another- 1 Cor. 12:27
weep with one another- Romans 12:15
hurt with one another- Romans 12:15
restore one another- Galatians 6:1-5

Purify

When we think of holiness we need to think of purity. God is holy, which means He is pure and without any blemish or sin. To live a life that is holy and to have a life that is in pursuit of God's holiness in our life, is a life that is chasing purity. Simply put a life that is holy is a life that is beating temptation more times than not.

Now a pure life in this world will still sin. We are human, imperfect, still live in this flesh that has passions and a bent towards sin. But when we are born again and called to a life of holiness, we are called to resist sin and flee temptation. When I mean flee temptation, think of Joseph fleeing Potipher's wife. The temptation to sin is still there and living in this world we will still have tons of things that want and call us to sin and not live a life that is holy and pleasing to God. But a life that is chasing holiness, is a life that resist the temptation and flees from the sin before it is committed.

A holy life is a life of purity and when an impurity effects it because of sin, because we will still sin, we must run back to God broken and ask for repentance and go back to a pure life until the next time we sin and need repentance with God again. This is the struggle and yet joy of a holy life. Staying pure and when the purity is broken getting repentance to return to a pure holy life loving Jesus and loving the world that needs to know of Him and His holiness.

Take My Life

As I have been thinking about holiness in Jesus, I was reminded of a song that would express a lot of what needs to be said. Last night we looked at some of the ways God is holy and what that means for Him. We are command in Scripture to also be holy and chase after it. Our God is amazing how He keeps reminding of important truths through many different medians. So here are the lyrics for the song. I pray the words encourage and challenge you like they have for me.

"Take my Life"- Holiness

Holiness,Holiness
Is what I long for
Holiness
Is what I need
Holiness, Holiness
Is what you want
For me

Righteousness,Righteousness
Is what I long for
Righteousness
Is what I need
Righteousness
That's what you want
For me

Brokenness, Brokenness
Is what I long for
Brokenness
Is what I need
Brokenness, Brokenness
That's what you want
For me

Take my heart
And mold it
Take my mind
Transform it
Take my will
Conform it
To yours, To yours
Oh, Lord

Be Holy

"since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy'." 1 Peter 1:16

So for starters we need to realize that when we are called to holiness it is because our Savior and God is Holy. But what does that mean?

Well God is holy means first that he is perfectly pure and without sin or blemish. God is perfect in all that He does and in no way could God ever sin in any of His actions, deeds, or thoughts. If God were to sin, He would cease to be God anymore and all hope is lost and we are done and should just die now.  God as holy means that he is pure in all that He does and thinks. God in His holiness, as the Apostle Peter has reminded us, is something that we need to strive for but something that on this earth we will never obtain. God in His holiness is something that we grow in the likeness of as we are more sanctified and is a call to be more like Him.

God as holy also means that he is separated from the human race and this world. God's holiness makes Him above, removed, and far superior to us humans, as His creation. God knows all, sees all, and understands all. God knows what will happen next and has a divine plan for every moment in time. God in His holiness is above time and space, which makes Him the perfect being to trust in. God's holiness makes Him God and it also makes Jesus the only being who could take our place on the cross and die the sinless life in place of the sinful people. 

God's holiness though is 100% of Him just like His love, grace, mercy, compassion, justice, wrath, and gentleness. So yes God's holiness is important to remember but it is all of God just like every other attribute and character of God. But striving to be holy like God is becoming more and more like our Savior which is a command in the Bible. God's holiness is a call to be holy and shine that holiness into a dark world that needs to know Jesus, the holy Savior. 

What Freedom?

A few verses that God has shown me over the last week have illustrated another tension in the Christian life that I think I have needed to be reminded of.

Romans 6:18
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Romans 6:22
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

1 Peter 2:16
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover up of evil; live as servants of God.

Being free means first as Romans says we are free from the bondage of sin. This also means that we are free from the bondage to the flesh and the sin of being a dead person. We are free from our old self, the ball and chain that the life of a dead person brings. We are free from the bondage of this world and free from the deep seated desire in us to call this world home and settle in for a long stay. We are free from making our selves happy and having happiness as the only pursuit in this life. We are free from the desire and passion in ourselves for our own good at all cost and the drive of self. Being free sets us free in many ways and gives us an ultimate freedom that a person not in Jesus could have.

But this freedom in Jesus does come with a cost and that cost is being a slave as Romans and 1 Peter highlight. So what does it mean that we are slaves to righteousness and servants of God? Simply put this means we are now captive and slaves to our love, desire, and passion for Jesus. Having become slaves we now lives lives that are in love with the person who set us free and that is Jesus. We then live to serve Him and work for His mission. We live lives that are in love with Him and we become slaves to that love of Jesus so our lives are then centered around a life of service and holiness for Jesus. We become slaves and servants to our passions and pursuit of Jesus. Our life is full of works and acts of service and love in honor of Jesus. We join and are a part of Jesus' bride, which is visibly His church. We spend time talking with Jesus and spend time reading His words and commands to us. In a life of slave love to Jesus we follow His commands and continually live as a broken repentant person knowing that we continually need Jesus to set us free from our sin struggle and tension. We are free with Jesus but now become slaves to the love and desire and want of Him.

This is the amazing tension of the Christian life and it is a great reminder for us as we wake up each day trying to follow and honor God with our words and actions. We are free but at the same time should be slaves. Amen

Quotable Friday

Here is a great quote from the Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon

"The vigor of faith is the death of anxiety and the birth of security"

Where are your eyes fixed?

My wife and my daughters have gotten a song in my head that I cannot get out. At least 3 times on the way down, twice when we were driving around the beach, and then 2 more times coming home this song was playing on the radio. I loved listening to my wife and daughters singing this song loud and in praise to Jesus. I want to share the lyrics with you tonight. The message in the lyrics is very important for us to hear. Where are your eyes fixed???

"Fix My Eyes"

Hit rewind
Click delete
Stand face to face with the younger me
All of the mistakes
All of the heartbreak
Here's what I'd do differently

I'd love like I'm not scared
Give when it's not fair
Live life for another
Take time for a brother
Fight for the weak ones
Speak out for freedom
Find faith in the battle
Stand tall but above it all
Fix my eyes on you

I learned the lines and talked the talk

(everybody knows that, everybody knows that)
But the road less traveled is hard to walk

(everybody knows that, everybody knows)
It takes a soldier
Who knows his orders
To walk the walk I'm supposed to walk

And love like I'm not scared
Give when it's not fair
Live life for another
Take time for a brother
Fight for the weak ones
Speak out for freedom
Find faith in the battle
Stand tall but above it all
Fix my eyes on you

The things of Earth are dimming
In the light of Your glory and grace
I'll set my sights upon Heaven
I'm fixing my eyes on you
I'm fixing my eyes on you
I'm fixing my eyes

Love like I'm not scared
Give when it's not fair
Live life for another
Take time for a brother
Fight for the weak ones
Speak out for freedom
Find faith in the battle
Stand tall but above it all
Fix my eyes on you

Sensitive and Strengthening Words

The two more secrets to marital communication that God gives through Solomon in Song of Solomon are sensitive words and strengthening words. Here are some of my thoughts for each of them

Sensitive words

The third secret power of communication with love is the fact that our praise must be sensitive to the other person. She (the shulamite bride) answers him (King Solomon) and his words in verse 16. She tells him that he is handsome, charming or pleasant, and being with him is like being in nature and is a natural part of what she desires and wants. Wives, she is building up the confidence of her man. Men like to her that they look good and are charming. She is sensitive to what he needs to hear now when she is responding to his praise with her own praise of him. Men the same praise with sensitivity goes for us too. When your wife asks you how she looks in the dress, how do you respond? Wives, when your husband asks if he has gained a few pounds, what do you say? It is not only the words we say, it is also how we say it. Sensitivity is a trait that we all need in marriage because as I stated earlier, it is much easier to hurt the other person than praise them. Be sensitive with your words and also with how your words sound and come across. Solomon said in proverbs that a right answer is like a kiss on the lips. The sensitivity of our words then is like a kiss or a slap. Have you slapped your spouse recently with your words or how they came across? Or does the sensitivity of your speak and praise feel much more like a kiss? Sensitive words and sensitive communication to the other person is a huge secret in speaking the language of love.

          
Strengthening words

Solomon gives us the 4^th secret to a love language with his final response to his bride in the text in verse 17. Solomon is echoing her praise in 16 by agreeing that the natural bent of his heart is to love her. Loving her is natural and when he loves her it is feeling of fresh natural air. Solomon is using praise to strengthen her and give her confidence and build her up. Do our words strengthen our spouse? We, both spouses, live in a world that is sinful, broken, and beat us up on a daily basis. Does our praise give strength to our spouse in the middle of this world, or does our words add to the sin and brokenness that they feel? Do we give admiration and respect with our praise or do we ridicule and tear apart? Solomon’s was encouraging his bride with his words which gives his bride the strength she needed. Do our words to our spouse give encouragement? Using words and praise of strength is a secret and a big power that our spouses need. We should be strengthening our spouse 10 times more than we ever do anything else. That is how we walk together and complement each other, with our strengths. Do your words to your spouse, today, tomorrow, next week, give strength or give heart ache? 

Sweet and Soft Words

This past Sunday I had the privilege of teaching form the beautiful book of Song of Solomon. In the teaching time I talked about 4 secrets to marital communication that God gives us through the communication in the first chapter of the book. Tonight I will highlight and discuss 2 of the secrets and tomorrow night I will highlight and discuss the other 2. 

Sweet words

Solomon's first secret in communication that he showcases in verse 15 of Chapter 1 is that our communication in marriage must be sweet. Solomon tells his bride she is beautiful twice and his darling or love. Then Solomon compares her to a dove for her purity, tenderness, and simplicity. Solomon is showing us here that sweet words of praise are important and a secret to communication in love. It has been said, a courtship begins with him telling her sweet nothings and the relationship ends when nothing sweet is said. Men, we have a responsibility to tell our wives sweet things about themselves. Wives, your husband might be rough around the edges, I know I am, but he still has a sweet spot. Wives point your husband’s sweet spot out to him and praise him for it. It is much easier to criticizes, call names, yell, get angry, and talk negatively to our spouses because well they are our spouses. But God is telling us that sweet words go a long way and sweet words of praise are a secret to communication in love. Are your words sweet or sour to your spouse?

Soft words

The second secret that Solomon shows us in verse 15 is that that not only do sweet words go a long way, so do words that are soft. Solomon compliments her like she is a dove and as we have already stated a dove is a tender soft animal. Solomon is not loud, harsh, or even bold in his words to his bride. Solomon is tender and soft with the ways he compliments and praises her. Solomon knows that a soft word will go a long way and will go much farther than a harsh mean word. We are not called to be mean and harsh to our spouses. A poem I read this past week said it like this;

“To keep your marriage with love in the love cup, Whenever your wrong admit it and whenever your right, shut up.”

This is telling us the same thing as Solomon. We need to praise our spouses with soft words and not beraid them or be prideful in them or boast in our words to our spouse. Soft words build up character and love while harsh words destroy and tear down a person. The old saying is wrong, stick and stone do break bones but words have much more power. Are your words to your spouse soft and tender like a dove? Do your words build up character and strengthen your marriage or do they destroy and tear down the marriage. Do you respond in anger and venom or do your words that are soft build up them?

What qualities make someone a good minister of the gospel and why?

Humility- The gospel is not about us and not designed for our glory. The gospel is about God and His plan which was carried out through Jesus, His son, with the serviced of the Holy Spirit in our lives. So a minister of the gospel must not have pride and must have a humble realization that they are serving a sovereign and holy God. Jesus is the greatest example of a minister of the gospel and the gospel is because of Him and Jesus was the most humble and gracious person on earth. The minister of the gospel must be humble enough to direct others to Jesus and show them His power that changes lives. They must also be humble enough to realize it is about Jesus and not about them and be full of all ever time God uses them to save or care for someone else with the gospel. The minister of the gospel cannot do anything until they are humble enough to let God use them to spread His message of Jesus and the cross. Humility must be the foundation and cornerstone of the minister caring out the gospel in action and deed for God.

Courage- 1 Peter reminds us that Jesus was rejected by the world. This means fro those who stand with Jesus and tell others about this amazing man and story (the gospel) the world will reject us also. That means it takes courage to go into the world and make disciples and tell others what Jesus and God have and do for us. A minister of the gospel will be rejected and persecuted continually in the world, so courage is needed. A minister of the gospel inside the church will have to stand against sin and Satan as they equip and live around other fallen but saved humans. This stand for truth and living in a world of sin, even with brothers and sister in Christ, must take courage. 

Hope- The gospel changes us as people into a people of hope. The gospel itself gives us hope in the future in that there is a place of perfection and eternal bliss that when this life is over we have hope in God. But hope is also give in the moment in that now God is for us and showers grace and mercy on us each day in every moment and circumstance. When we have hope because of the gospel it affects our heart and is an outward sign of the gospel in action. To be a minister of the gospel than one must have hope that the gospel will change and impact others the same it impacted us.

Joy- Jesus in the midst of suffering was still filled with joy. Paul commands us to rejoice in the Lord through all circumstances in life. So joy must be a part of gospel ministry. If the person ministering the gospel does not have joy, no one he is ministering to will first want any part the that gospel and secondly those around his ministry will not want to be around a person not full of joy. Joy is another outward sign of a heart for the gospel.

Love- The gospel is a love story between God and mankind through His Son Jesus. So how can the person ministering and living out the gospel not have love also? Not only must a gospel minister have love in his life he must minister through and with love. Love must flow from his lips not only to those inside the church but also outside of the church. Love must flow from his actions with what he is doing in ministry for the church but also to the world. Love is a quality that when the world see, they see Jesus and the gospel in action. Love must be a foundation of not only the gospel but also the works of the gospel.

What I learned on Vacation

This past week I had the privilege and blessing of joining my wife's entire family on vacation to the beach. As I was having my devotions and spending time on the beach with my family, God kept bringing up the topic of stewardship in my heart. As the week went on I realized God was challenging my thinking and as a result my actions on stewardship. I knew that everything I had was really God's. My ministry, my wife, my kids, my house, my cars, my physical health, and my faith family were all God's and He has giving me the chance to have them and use them all for His glory. But this week I realized that God was reminding me that my vacation was His too. God through my father-in-law had given me a chance to find rest, relaxation, family time, and quiet time to enjoy. And God was reminding me that I need to steward my vacation for Him too. As I began to open my eyes I started to find many ways that God was giving me things on my vacation to steward.

Here is a list of the many ways and areas I found on my vacation to glorify God in stewardship.
Time with my wife (we got to go for a quiet night out for dinner and a walk on the last night )
Time with my kids (played with them and went crabbing with them multiple times)
Time with my brother-in-law
Many different witnessing times (some that I missed and some that I used)
Quiet time with God
Taking care of God's earth and enjoying His creation
Showing my testimony through some tough times
Being thankful for my In-Laws generosity
Spending some time with my mom (she came down half way in the week)
Staying in the Word

This is the many ways that God was challenging me with being a steward on my vacation from Him. I also know that there is other ways that I missed out on that are not on this list that I failed in being a good steward for God in His great gift of a vacation and time away. In what areas of your life is God challenging you to be a steward and take care of His many gifts?

Quotable Friday- Vacation #5

The kingdom of God always wins, but sometimes it wins much later than we would like.~ Kevin DeYoung

Quotable Friday- Vacation #4

2 Great quotes from a sermon I was listening to on the beach this week.

"True worship expects nothing in return".

"God does not exist to be useful".

Quotable Friday-Vacation #3

Thomas Brooks

Every sin strikes at the honor of God, the being of God, the glory of God, the heart of Christ, the joy of the Spirit, and the peace of a man's conscience.

Quotable Friday-Vacation #2

God has new mercy for you this morning, new grace for your sins, and new good deeds for you to walk in.~Kevin DeYoung

Quotable Friday-Vacation #1

Here is a great Thomas Brooks quote. Read this today and thought right away of my faith family at church and my desires for them and us.

"Remember this, that your life is short, your duties many, your assistance great, and your reward sure; therefore faint not, hold on and hold up, in ways of well-doing, and heaven shall make amends for all!'

I am praying for my beloved at Zion today as they enjoy a morning of worship of Jesus, while I am away.
Amen and may God be with you all at Zion

Quotable Friday

”When the bottom falls out and disappointments come, you will learn what you believe, what you love, and what you treasure.”~Ligon Duncan


*Next week I will be on vacation so the entire week will be quotes so that I can enjoy my family and time away more. Please enjoy the quotes and may God bless you richly in some way in the week ahead.*

Guardian of the Galaxy-Theological Review

Guardian of the Galaxy, or GOTG, was a fun, humorous action adventure comic book movie. Marvel has done an excellent job of mixing in different types of movies over their last few and this movie was completely different then the last movie, Captain America, that they brought out. The movie was rated PG-13 because of the language in it but there was very funny parts that were great and never required crude or the language to make it humorous. Overall it was an entertaining 2 hours that was creative and very imaginative. The movie would not fall out of the Philippians 4:8 framework so it can be view and enjoyed without much Christian compromise.

Now onto the theological review.
The biggest theological point that the movie tries to make is that bad people can do good things. The 5 main characters are all thieves, criminals, and some are even murderers. But they must band together to stop a bigger bad guy from destroying the galaxy. The movie tries to show that bad people can do good things and it even ends with the line from the main character, "so what do we want to do, good, bad or a little bit of both? A little bit of both". The movie tries to end with the fact that, in the end they are still bad people sometimes but they can do good things.

The Bible agrees and disagrees with this theological thought. Paul teaches in Romans that as bad people, sinners before Jesus, we can never do any good. We as sinner before Christ are totally depraved in our nature and our sin covers and reaches ever part of our being. We are not as bad as we could be as sinners because we could always be much worse. By the grace of God sin has gotten to our core and that is why we are sinners committing sins. Paul reminds us then in this sinful state we could never do anything good that would please and honor God because even the good we commit will still have sinful and selfish motives and driven by a sinner's core. This theological point from the Bible disagrees with the movie's thoughts about bad people doing good and honorable things.

But Paul in Romans also tells us that after we surrender our lives to Jesus and His control a part of our lives will still deal with sin in the flesh but now when we know Jesus and live in the power of the Spirit we can do good things and honor God. As Christians, still struggling with bad sinful things we can commit a good act that is praise worthy and honoring to God. So I am not sure I would say as Christians and knowing Jesus we are bad people because we have Christ as our identity, but we are a people that still can commit bad things. So with this Biblical thought there might be some agreement with the movie.

Overall we need to be aware of the fact that a sinner before Christ can never do good and a sinner after Jesus can but still struggle with sin.

Jesus the Shephard

Psalms 23:3
"He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake"

This is a verse that most of us memorized as kids in Sunday School and is also part of one of the most famous passages of Scripture, the 23rd Psalm. But I have discovered that this simple sentence contains a full course of God's truth and teaching. There are 3 important things from this simple sentence that I would like to take a look at tonight and remind us of the importance of our Shepherd.

1)"He leads me". God guides us in our Christian walk if we can just look at and listen to Him. God through Jesus is the great shepherd and truly cares and loves His sheep. God through Jesus has made a covenant with us and through that relationship cares deeply and is committed to our well being. If we truly look and listen to Jesus, He has our best and spiritual heart in mind with every decisions and path He sets before us. Now I am not saying that God will speak audibly to us and give us a direct revelation on what we are supposed to do but God guides us. God gave us His word, His bride, and His world to help lead and refine us. Jesus is our guide in this life and if we let Him will bring us whole into the next life with no regrets. But the fact is we miss Jesus leading and guiding all the time because of our sin nature, the distractions of this world, and the influence of Satan. Jesus is still there though caring, loving, and nurturing us, waiting for us to get back on His path and follow the life He has called us to. Next time we feel lost and at a loss for what to do or where to turn, I bet Jesus is there waiting to lead us if we only stop and go to His word and find His path again. Jesus is the Perfect Shepherd so let Him lead.

2)"paths of righteousness" Jesus leads us only ever in paths that are right. Righteousness means doing what is right, in the sense of meeting all obligations and displaying all relevant forms of virtue, goodwill, and Biblical truth.So what happens when our paths and life get off of the righteousness track? It is not because of Jesus that we fell off the wrong path, it is because of us. Jesus will lead us perfectly and never cause us to stumble, trip up, or commit an act of sin. We do all that by ourselves. So next time when we find that life and the course that is being laid out is wrong and not right, find out what shepherd we are following. I guarantee that it is not Jesus the perfect Shepherd that is being followed. Jesus only ever leads us in the right directions and in the paths to our growth and betterment and righteousness.

3)"for His name sake". Here is the crux of the matter. Why does Jesus lead us faithfully and direct us perfectly into the paths of righteousness? The answer might surprise us because Jesus does all that not for us but for Himself. God cares first and foremost about His own glory and reputation. So that is why Jesus leads us as the Great Shepherd, for His own reputation and spreading of His fame. God's first passion is for Himself and in His amazing choosing and grace, He uses us in this passion. Wow! God uses me to worship and spread His reputation and that is the bottom line of Him leading me. We tend to get caught up too much in ourselves and think it is about us. We even think that about the cross sometimes, that it was about me and what Jesus did for me. That is correct to say but at the bottom line of the cross is the reputation of God and the spread of His glory. And this is why Jesus leads us in paths of righteousness, to spread His fame, glory, majesty, and reputation. So when we are not being led by Jesus and going our own way we might not be sinning but we are sinning because we are stopping the reputation of our Savior from being spread.

So the simple question is, "Are we spreading the reputation of Jesus by following His leading in our lives?"

Christian Tension

A few verses that God has shown me over the last week have illustrated tension in the Christian life that I think I have needed to be reminded of.

Romans 6:18
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Romans 6:22
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

1 Peter 2:16
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover up of evil; live as servants of God.

So we are free but yet at the same time we are slaves. That is very interesting, challenging, and important to think and pray about. I will not take the length to give a full explanation of what I think all this means but I believe it has a few very important things to remind us of.

Being free means first as Romans says we are free from the bondage of sin. This also means that we are free from the bondage to the flesh and the sin of being a dead person. We are free from our old self, the ball and chain that the life of a dead person brings. We are free from the bondage of this world and free from the deep seated desire in us to call this world home and settle in for a long stay. We are free from making our selves happy and having happiness as the only pursuit in this life. We are free from the desire and passion in ourselves for our own good at all cost and the drive of self. Being free sets us free in many ways and gives us an ultimate freedom that a person not in Jesus could have.

But this freedom in Jesus does come with a cost and that cost is being a slave as Romans and 1 Peter highlight. So what does it mean that we are slaves to righteousness and servants of God? Simply put this means we are now captive and slaves to our love, desire, and passion for Jesus. Having become slaves we now lives lives that are in love with the person who set us free and that is Jesus. We then live to serve Him and work for His mission. We live lives that are in love with Him and we become slaves to that love of Jesus so our lives are then centered around a life of service and holiness for Jesus. We become slaves and servants to our passions and pursuit of Jesus. Our life is full of works and acts of service and love in honor of Jesus. We join and are a part of Jesus' bride, which is visibly His church. We spend time talking with Jesus and spend time reading His words and commands to us. In a life of slave love to Jesus we follow His commands and continually live as a broken repentant person knowing that we continually need Jesus to set us free from our sin struggle and tension. We are free with Jesus but now become slaves to the love and desire and want of Him.

This is the amazing tension of the Christian life and it is a great reminder for us as we wake up each day trying to follow and honor God with our words and actions. We are free but at the same time should be slaves. Amen

Character of the teacher

Yesterday I discussed and took a look at the question of who is a teacher in the life of the church? Simply everyone who claims to love Jesus will be a teacher, but this raises another question then. That question is then what is the character that a teacher must exhibit. Before I give some thoughts on the character of teachers I have another definition of a teacher.
"To teach is to create a space in which obedience to the Truth is practiced".

But what about the character of a teacher? I believe that a simple way to say what the character of a teacher must be is in the acronym IMPACT. A teacher in the church and a person that cares about the spiritual formation of others in the faith family must be the IMPACT model. let me explain a little what each trait is.

Intercession must be the first trait. Every teacher must realize that they are standing between their learner and God. They must show and give the words of God to the learner and be the go between by explaining God's word, showing God's life, and be a living fleshly example of what God is calling all of His children to do.
Modeling must also be a trait of every teacher. Teacher not only teach by word but more importantly by deed and action. A teacher must show in action but what they do and do not do what it means to live as a follower and lover of Jesus.
Partnership is a trait that a teacher must posses to have any hope in reaching the learner. God has designed the faith family to be a community and group of people living together in the world. This means that relationships and partnerships must take place for learning to be had. Teachers must work together with their learners at their pace so they can live for Jesus the best.
Alertness is a trait that every Christian should have but especially every teacher. The world is a nasty dark place that fights against the church and Jesus. The teacher must be alert and not get sucked into the sin of the world and also be alert to how the world is deceiving others, especially the learners so they can reach the others with the greatest impact for Jesus.
Cultivation is a trait of the teacher that requires patience. Teacher must realize they are in it for the long haul and learning does not happen over night. Every person will learn at their own pace and living in this world is a struggle where sometimes we find ourselves stumbling forward. The teacher must spend the time through many different ways equipping the learner for service and learning of Jesus.
Time is a must in the life of every teacher. Time must be allowed and every teacher must have the time to invest in and train others. As was stated earlier, growth and Christian maturity doe not happen over night and every Christian, including most importantly myself, is still a growing learning Christian. Time is vital to pour into every learner.

The IMPACT model is a great place to start with the character of every teacher. But the best place for every teacher to start to look at for a good character trait is to look to the only perfect Teacher, Jesus. Jesus gives us the best character trait to resemble in a teacher.

Who is a teacher?

A question I have been thinking and praying very much about over the last month is, who is a teacher? Who are the people that are designed to teach in the life of the church? Who are those who are called by God to teach His children? How does the Pastor fit into the role of being a teacher? Who are the teacher's in the life of the church? These are many of the numerous questions I have been thinking and praying through.

The first place to begin I think is to define what a teacher is. I hope this definition that I had much help in coming up with is a great definition of what and who a teacher should be.

"To teach is to come alongside another in the power of the Holy Spirit, to seek an encounter together with the Truth, taking aim to perceive it more clearly, consider it more critically, embrace it more passionately, obey it more faithfully, and embody it with greater integrity".

Matthew 28 I think also gives a great example of who the teacher is supposed to be. Matthew 28 and the great commission is where Jesus commands His followers to go and make disciples, teaching people things that He said and baptizing them in His name. So by this command from Jesus a teacher is someone who makes disciples or as been said many times, someone who multiplies themselves.

So I think a simple answer to the question of who is the teacher, would be everyone that professes to be a lover of Jesus. Everyone who loves Jesus will desire to please Him by teaching others what He said, both inside and outside the church. This is what leads to multiplication and spreading the Gospel. This is what makes someone a teacher in the bottom line. Now I will say there are many levels of being a teacher going up from this simple command of Jesus. But it is the best place to start when asking the question of who is the teacher. The answer should be, I am the teacher and I am teaching others what Jesus said and how He asked us to live if we love Him. But this also will open upo to many more questions, which Lord willing I will try and explore this coming week.

In Honor of marriage counsleing

My beloved and I will be doing marriage counseling tomorrow with a great soon to be couple. So in honor of that I wanted to repost one of my favorite blogs from this past February.

Friends with Benefits

Before I start this off I want to disclose I got the title tonight from a recent book I read called Real Marriage by Mark and Grace Driscoll. I also want to state that as I am writing this tonight I am preaching to myself because I am in no way great at what I am going to talk about and have much room to grow. I pray that at the end of my life on the last day of my marriage that my beloved will say that I did well at this and grew much in this area.

"Husbands, love you wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her"-Ephesians 5:25

"Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh"- Genesis 2:24

Over the last few months God has placed the burden on me about what it means to be a Godly husband and man. God has put a desire deep inside me to be a better leader, lover, friend, rock, provider, heartbeat, and partner for my beloved. Many times over the last few weeks God has reminded me through friends, situations, and His word that I need to take a priority in my relationship with my beloved. And over the last 10 days or so God as chosen a certain area to pick on and really convict me. My friendship to my wife has been an area that God has chosen to focus me on. Here are a few thoughts I have discovered and a few ways that I can improve in this area of my one flesh friendship.

First lets start with a few questions I have asked myself over the last week to gauge how my "friendship" is with my beloved.

1)Who is the person that I think about first, last, and most during my day?
2) When I accomplish something or have something exciting in my life happen, who do I want to tell first?
3) When God shows me an amazing truth about Him or His word, who do I want to share that with most?
4) Who do I want to go see that movie with?
5) Who do I want to do a book study with?
6) Who do I need to repent to first in my life?
7) Who can I cry with?

These are questions I have asked myself over the last week as I have been convicted by the Spirit about my friendship with my wife. God has exposed to me the fact that my wife needs to be the answer to all of these questions because for better or worse she is the one friend I have that is one flesh and should know me the most. As the verse in Genesis says my beloved is my one flesh. That should be the closest relationship I have on this earth, she should be my best friend.

Our spouses need to be our best friends. I should be enjoying the times I spend with my beloved the most. Our relationship should be filled with laughter, love, crying, and joy. My beloved and I should be full of devotion for each other and the passion of our lives after God Himself, should be for the best of the other member. As the verse from Ephesians reminds me, I need to put my wife first in my life (after Jesus) and her needs, desires, wants, joys, and passions should be placed first in my life. My wife and our friendship should be the most intimate relationship I have on the earth. She should be the one person that is free in this life to challenge me when I am wrong, forgive me when I repent, and grow with me in my walk with God.

My friendship with my beloved should be the most needed relationship I have. She should be the one who should meet my needs first and if she cannot she should be the one to help me find ways to meet them. I should then be the one who meets her needs and takes care of her first and if I cannot help her I should find a way to meet them. This also shows that our friendship should be two ways and not just a one way street. Our friendship should be growing together and blessing others by our relationship and marriage. Because of our friendship others should be blessed, God must be glorified, and the gospel must be preaching to a world by word and deed. The world must also see the gospel at work in our friendship and desire to know the Jesus that is at the center of our friendship. My wife must truly be my best friend with many benefits.

This has lead me to then ask 7 different questions about my friendship with my beloved.

1) What are her needs, wants, desire, and passions?
2) How can I cultivate our friendship and grow together?
3) How can I be a better friend to her?
4) What should I be prayer for her more about?
5) How can I pursue her and make sure she knows it?
6) What activities can we do together that she would enjoy?
7) How can we glorify God more together and preach the gospel through our relationship?

I pray that God will challenges others in their one flesh friendship as He has challenged and convicted me.

Quotable Friday

2 important quotes from J I Packer from his book,  "Knowing God".

1. One can know a great deal about God without much knowledge of Him.

2. One can know a great deal about godliness without much knowledge of God.