What is meekness?

Attribute of Jesus that I think we do not give much attention to is His meekness. Jesus is the Son of God, the guy who spoke and the world came into being. Jesus said light and light showed up. Jesus said I want a dog and there was a dog. Jesus deigned the beauty of a rose and created the noise of thunder. Jesus walked on water and told the storm to cease. Jesus even told Lazarus to come forth and Lazarus came out of the grave alive.

But there Jesus was; getting hit with fist, knocked on the head and even spit on. Jesus stood before an unjust ruler, Pilate, and took false accusations from the Sanhedrin. Then, Jesus gets crucified and is hanging on the cross dying a horrible, painful, slow death, and even taking ridicule from the crowd, in front of His mom and best friend.

I know that if I had the power Jesus did at that moment someone would have been a pile of sand and some lighting would have been flying all over the place. But that is not what Jesus did. Jesus meekly stayed on the cross and took all of that even though He did not have to. 1 Peter tells us that, "Jesus did not retaliate when He suffered, and He made no threats". Jesus in all His meekness "entrusted Himself to the One who judges justly". That is true meekness. Trusting God, who can use His power perfectly to deal with things, even when we have the power to deal with it.

Jesus meekness is a great example for us to follow and next time you want to use your power, remember that even Jesus who had the true perfect power was meek enough to trust His Father, God.

Jesus did not die for what?

I read a blog this week entitled "4 things Jesus did not die for". It was a great read that made me think and begin to understand what Jesus did die for. Here is the blog to read for yourself.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/article/4-things-jesus-didnt-die-for

Quotable Friday

You stand in the right because grace atones. You desire what is right because grace transforms.You do what is right because grace empowers. It's all grace!~Paul Tripp

Anticipation

I am sitting here tonight getting ready for the start of the NFL season. The anticipation of this coming season has been ridiculous. They have been talking this season since April and the rookie draft. They have been doing team synopsis since the end of July and training camp. Predication and season analysis have been going on for over a week now. And to top off the anticipation, they have had a 60 min pregame show talking mostly about the 2 teams playing tonight. There has been commercials and adds for this coming football season. I think direct tv has had a commercial ever other time and please, do not even get me started on the internet craze when it comes to the new season. This anticipation got me thinking about some other anticipations.

The first anticipation I thought about was the birth of Jesus. Was anyone anticipating the Savior to come in the form of a baby in a manger? Was Mary and Joseph anticipating their new born Son to take away the sin of the world? Where the shepherds asleep in the desert really ready for God in the flesh to make an appearance that night? I find when I pour over the Bible only 2 people were anticipating the first coming of Jesus and they were ready for Him (read Luke 2:22-38).

The second anticipation I think about then is the second coming of Jesus. This time we know Jesus is coming. The Bible says so every few prophecies and now even our times are telling us that Jesus is coming back soon. This is an anticipation that I think we do not get ready for enough. Do our lives tell others that we are anticipating the return of Jesus? Does our mouth and words tell others that we are anticipating the return of Jesus? I know from my life, more times than not I am satisfied with this life and the anticipation I need for the return of Jesus is not good. But this is not what Paul and Peter were calling us to be like. Paul thought he was living in the end times and was anticipating the return of Jesus. We are 2000 years later and I find our anticipation in the church has waned and we have become comfortable.

What are you anticipating?

Fix My Eyes

My daughters love this song and it has been running through my head now for over a month.

Leaving a Church

I have had the opportunity in my life to leave 2 different churches over 3 different situations. I left my first church when I was 19 because of a girl that I eventually married. Then when I was 26 I left that church with my wife and children because we all needed more from the worship gathering. Finally I left the first church (which my family and I had returned to) to become a Pastor at the church I am at now. Except this last church exit, which I grieved over greatly, each of the other 2 exits I did not think to much about after the decision was made. I prayed about the situation, made my decisions, and then moved on. After each leave I did not look back and second guess myself and trusted that God was allowing me to follow where He was leading me and my family.

Over the last month I have watched the first couple leave the church that I now call home. As a Pastor and a little shepherd, this exit does not sit with me well at all. From the perspective of being a Pastor and loving all my sheep the church exit is not a simple pray and move event. I am grieved at the lost, especially since the couple as given up on the church entirely, but overall I second guess myself and what I am doing now from this perspective. This time when the church exit happened I took it personally and it hurt much worse. I did not even know the couple that well but knowing they left and gave up on the church stung badly. So leaving the church in this situation was much different from my perspective now that I was on the other end.

So what do both of these situations mean? I realized now that leaving a church and moving on is not as simple as my mind made it seem years ago. Yes, the church as Jesus see's it is a universal body without walls and all God's children are the same in one. But relationships and loving one another inside those walls is much different. I know now, that as I have over the last month, will fight more and love better for those relationships and not simply let someone slide out and exit the church. As a pastor now the simple idea of leaving a church is huge and not simple. So I know that I must pour out my heart to God for those leaving and unless they are leaving for legitimate reasons I must fight for their soul and desire for them to stay. I now know as a Pastor that I must trust God more than ever for people moving on from the church. Leaving a church is not a simple action and should never be an easy decision.

Jesus Prayer Life

What does the Bible show us about the prayer life of Jesus. When we put the 4 Gospels together we can learn very much about prayer from Jesus. Remember that prayer is simply a conversation between you and God, you are talking to God and then listening to Him talk back. Jesus in His life gives us the greatest and wisest examples and teaching about prayer. Here is a list of the many things that Jesus shows us about prayer by His example.

He prayed early in the morning.
He prayed in a quiet solitary place away from any distractions.
He prayed all night long, like 12 hours of solid prayer.
He prayed before any major decisions that He had to make, like choosing the 12 disciples.
He prayed about His needs.
He prayed about His wants and desires.
He prayed for God's will to be done.
He prayed to His daddy.
He prayed while weeping.
He prayed while filled with joy and excitement.
He prayed while in anguish of the future.
He prayed for others.
He prayed humbly yet confidently.
He prayed and fasted.
He prayed and listened to His Fathers voice.
He prayed continually.

How many of these examples of Jesus prayer life do we practice in ours? It is a great place to start when we think about prayer and having a conversation with God our Father.