Trip to Effingham

My wife wanted to go shopping this past weekend. I suggested we go to Effingham. It is about an hour away and it was recommended by a gentleman at our church as the best place to shop.

We went and found no quality places for her to shop, at least not what she had in mind; Menards, Aldi, Walmart, and Kohl's. Later I found out that the man recommended Effingham because of his deep love for Aldi.

Anyhow, we promised the kids a surprise. We began with lunch at Culver's, and then drove around looking for an adequate surprise. When we saw these mules outside a Mexican restaurant I knew it was a photo opportunity. "SURPRISE!" We ended the trip with a trip to Menard's where we visited every isle, played with every toy, and sat in every tub.

Trip to Effingham

My wife wanted to go shopping this past weekend. I suggested we go to Effingham. It is about an hour away and it was recommended by a gentleman at our church as the best place to shop.

We went and found no quality places for her to shop, at least not what she had in
mind; Menards, Aldi, Walmart, and Kohl's. Later I found out that the man recommended Effingham because of his deep love for Aldi.

Anyhow, we promised the kids a surprise. We began with lunch at Culver's, and then drove around looking for an adequate surprise. When we saw these mules outside a Mexican restaurant I knew it was a photo opportunity. "SURPRISE!" We ended the trip with an trip to Menard's where we visited every isle, played with every toy, and sat in every tub.

Questions from Jesus

A couple weeks ago we were in the middle of our sermon series "Evangelism Jesus' Way" with the focus on questions that Jesus asked in His evangelism efforts. what we found was that there were three questions posed by Jesus that really strike the heart, and these three simple questions sum up all His evangelism efforts.

Not only are these questions beneficial to us as we strive to fulfill the calling that Jesus left us with, that is to make disciples in His name, these questions must be asked to keep each of us on the straight path to becoming Christ's disciples.

For the first question we look to John chapter 1:

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.

What do you want?

Jesus asks us, first and foremost; “What do you want?”

When we approach Him, He asks;

What are are your goals?

What are your aspirations?

What are your desires?

And if we respond that we desire Him, Jesus says “come, and you will see”.

Then, after we have seen, after we have witnessed His power and His glory,

He strikes us with another question.  

And for this question we look to Matthew chapter 22:

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Christ?

What do you think?

After we have seen Jesus,

after we have encountered His Spirit,

after we have experienced His love, peace, and joy,

Jesus asks; “What do you think?”

What do you think about Christ?

What do you think about Christ’s Truth?

What do you think about Christ’s will and my ways?

And, if you answer in the same way that Simon Peter did in Matthew 16,
“you are the Christ, the Son of the living God”,

Jesus will follow up in the same way He followed up with Peter, with a question.

For this final question we look to John chapter 21:

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” "Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep." The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

Do you love me?

This is the heart of Jesus’ questions,

this is the goal of His evangelism efforts;

a deep love for Him.

So, Jesus asks us, “do you love me?”

Do you love me more than these?

Do you love Jesus more than your family?

Do you love Jesus more than your hobbies?

Do you love Jesus more than your addictions?

Does your love for Jesus exceed everything else?

Jesus’ evangelism came down to three simple questions:

What do you want?
What do you think?
Do you love me?

And for us, it comes down to three simple questions:

Do you desire Jesus?

Do you believe Jesus?

Do you love Jesus?

Ask yourself, and others, these questions today!

At least your soul is covered

Our son, Zion, just turned three. He is at that independent stage where he doesn't want help and gets upset if we notify him that he has made a mistake.

He is consistent in putting his shoes on the wrong feet and for the most part this does not bother him. Bit, as we just finished our summer vacation to the lake, when he puts his flip flops on the wrong feet, it bothers him very much. Likewise it bothers us. He walks slower, he complains more, and he grows tired quicker. Yet, in his pride and independence, he refuses to change his way.

The other day he put his flip flops on the wrong feet yet again and I wanted very badly to point it out to him. But, knowing what his reaction would be I simply said, "at least your sole is covered".

That 's when it struck me, a lot of us are walking around with our flip flops in the wrong feet. And, knowing that we have our soles (souls) covered we keep going. Yet, we journey through life at a slower pace than God desires for us, we complain more about the things we see and experience, and we grow tired quicker and give up on what God desires for us to achieve. And then, when we realize our error, we refuse to change our ways out of pride and independence.

Let me just say, God wants more. God wants us to change our ways, to switch out shoes, and live life the way He has created us to live, doing what He desires of us.

God's Time Clock

Weeks ago I talked with our church family about the great dangers of "playing church". I don't believe that our church is any more guilty, any more at fault than the modern church is of this tragedy.

You see, if the hour or two that we spend at church on Sunday morning becomes just another hour in our week, we miss out. If we allow our time with God to become just something that we have to do to be a Christian, we miss out.

If we allow worshiping Christ on Sunday morning to become an unexciting, mundane activity and if we walk out of the church unchanged and untouched by the Spirit of God, then there is no reason to come come  into His presence at all.

I think that many people have this idea, whether they realize it or not, of God honoring our worship and devotion to Him on the basis of a time clock. As if when we stand before Him on the day of judgement we are going to be able to show Him our years of devotion and service in the form of time stamps on our Spiritual time card.

BUT, IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT!

I think Dr. John Vernon McGee said it best;

"I am of the opinion that the Lord could stop many church services today and say, 'Listen, let's cut this out. Why are you going through this form? You are not getting close to Me. You are not pleasing Me. When you leave this service, you gossip, you have bitterness in your heart, you are not moral in your conduct, and you are living loose lives. You think you are pleasing Me by your religious form. I want you to know that you are not pleasing Me."

All Done

My wife has taught each of our three children sign language early in their lives as a way for them to communicate with us. It has made things a lot easier and less frustrating for all parties involved. My youngest son's favorite sign right now is "all done". He will tell us when he is all done playing, all done sitting, all done eating, and on and on. It is funny to see him give the sign that he is all done, but it is a necessary step as we all need to learn how to say "all done" at some point in our lives.

As a Christian and as a pastor, I am convinced that one of the hardest things for us to do as humans is to be "all done".

So many people call themselves Christian because they have decided to allow Jesus into their lives, they have established a habit of attending church, praying, and even reading the Scriptures. But, Jesus called Christians to so much more than that.

"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”   John 8:12

You see, if we accept the first part of Jesus statement, that He is the light of the world, than we will desire the last part of His statement, the light of life. But, in order to have this "light of life" we need to follow Jesus, who is the light of life. And, when we follow Jesus, we will not walk in darkness because Jesus will never lead us into darkness.

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth."   1 John 1:5-6

So, the key is following Jesus, and that is walking in Him, walking in His light. But, in order for us to follow Him, Jesus demands that we say "all done" to everything that is not pure, Jesus demands that we say "all done" to everything that is not holy. 

Jesus is the light of the world, but it makes no real difference to you unless He becomes the light of your world.  

Sin of Sodom

Have you heard the story of the city of Sodom?

In Genesis 18, God speaks to Abraham and tells him about His plan to destroy the city. Abraham begs God not to do it for the sake of his nephew Lot. So, in Genesis 19, God sends two angels down to the city gate of Sodom. The angels, two men, meet Lot at the city gate and proceed to the city square where Lot secures them in his house and then must defend them to the crowd of men standing outside that want to have sex with them. Yeah, you read that right!

So, in an effort to keep these men from accosting these angels inside his home, Lot offers up his two virgin daughters to the crowd of men to "do with what they want". They refuse Lot's offer and try to break down the door to get to the men inside. So, the angels pull Lot in the door, strike the evil men with blindness and proceed to lay out God's plan of destruction. The angels send Lot to a nearby town and God rained down burning sulfur on Sodom.  

So, here is a question; why was the city of Sodom destroyed?

You see, many people use the city of Sodom as an example that God despises same-gender relations and that He punishes this sin. While this is true, that is not the primary reason that the city of Sodom was destroyed! Read Ezekiel 16:49-50 and you find out something different.

"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen."

That sounds a lot like America. Moreover, that sounds like a lot of Christians living in America!

ARROGANT ~ OVERFED ~ UNCONCERNED

It's odd that we look at the city of Sodom as an example that God will punish sin until we find that we are guilty of the very sin by which God was punishing.