Standing on the promises of God

“When the going gets tough...his promises are enough...”

Chaos, confusion, confrontation, conflict these are all things that we as believers need to avoid. But do you ever wonder what you would do if you had to face these problems! His promises are enough! We serve a BIG God! We serve a God who is truly mighty to save! We have to stand on the promises! I love the old hymn! Standing on the promises! Our God has given us many promises, so in this blog I would like to take an opportunity to talk about just a few!
First, there is the promise of eternal life...Is this something that we should not celebrate! If you are a born again believer, if you have a real relationship with Jesus Christ eternity is in your future! God’s word teaches us “For God so loved the world in this way: He gave His only Son, so that everyone that believes in Him will not parish but have eternal life”. Eternal life! Think about it! How long is eternity? Can we put any numeric value on eternity? No way! Think about it, you could possibly live 100 years. Think about 100 years in relation to eternity. It does not compute because it is so minuscule. There would be no way to measure it! 100 years on a time-line represented by eternity would be a tiny dot! Believers have the promise of eternal life! Scripture teaches us that our life is uncertain “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that happens for a little while and then vanishes away.” Physically we don’t have the promise of tomorrow! But for the person who has trusted in Christ eternity is in your future!
Second, we have the promise of an abundant life. John 10:10 says “A thief comes only to steal and to kill and destroy. (Jesus said) I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance.” Are you living the abundant life? I don’t know about you but to me the abundant life sounds pretty good! When I trusted Jesus as my Lord and Savior I experienced the abundant life like never before! He is truly all I need! He will meet our needs! He gives us the promise of an abundant life.
Third, He gives us everything that we need. The little things. He also has created an atmosphere that meets our needs! God thought of it all! 2nd Peter 1:3 tells us “For His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called Him by His own glory and goodness.” Our God thought of everything and He has given us everything required for life and godliness! What a promise! We can be imitators of Christ! When people look at us they need to see Jesus! We were created in the image of our heavenly Father. If God has a photo album, your picture is on it. If God had a refrigerator, your art work would be on it! He meets all of our needs, our little needs our big needs, all of our needs!
Fourth, we also have the promise of His presence. Deuteronomy 31:6 tells us “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid ore terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” We have the promise of His presence! I get excited knowing that I am always standing in the presence of God. The Bible is full of promises that a loving God has for those who follow Him. Embrace the promises and realize that we truly serve an Awesome God! I love you all! <><

Awesome...

Awesome…

Awesome. From the root word awe which means overwhelming respect, reverence. Awesome is an adjective, which means it is a word that qualifies a noun. So God is qualified by the word Awesome.

Our God is an awesome God! When it comes down to it God is the only thing that it is truly AWESOME. This past weekend on our annual Top of the Mountain Ski Retreat our evangelist and worship leader helped us to realize we use the word awesome without thinking about it. We talk about how awesome our car is; we talk about awesome relationships; we talk about how awesome our sports teams are. We use the word flippantly and before long the word has lost its original meaning. Face it cars eventually wear out, relationships are not always wonderful and sports teams have good years and bad years! But our God never changes! He is God! He has always been God and He always will be God! Anything other than God that we tie the word awesome to really does not compute or compare. God is the only noun that can be qualified by the word AWESOME! I want you to prayerfully consider what I am getting ready to ask you! Can you refrain from using the word awesome to describe anything other than the Holy God we serve? Let us when we use the word awesome can we reserve it for the creator of the universe! Can we reserve it for the God that thought of us before the foundations of the world were laid? Our God…truly is an awesome God! I love you all! <><

are we really evangelical...

What does the cross mean to you…

Controversy seems to be brewing over theology and beliefs in the 21st century Church. Many Christian brothers and sisters spend hours formulating arguing points to defend their theological viewpoints. Many spend hours debating or developing blogs to baffle friends and rebuke believers who may not hold to their viewpoints. Some even think it is a badge of honor when they are blog blasted for their stated beliefs. There is certainly no problem finding out what evangelical leaders believe with 24/7 updates to social networks and blog sites that are followed by people with like beliefs.
I think that it is important for the believer to have an understanding of theology. We need to know why we believe what we believe so that we can give a defense to non-believers! We are to work out our Salvation. But, (there is always a but) we (believers) spend way too much time arguing with believers and while this is taking place many non-believers are not hearing the good news!
This trend needs to stop! We have to think about the cross! We have to think about the mission! Jesus came so that we could have life! The lost world needs to hear the good news (which by the way is still good news) of Jesus. We should be ashamed not of the gospel but our actions. We spend way to much time trying to convince believers to believe like us and non-believers are wasting away waiting for someone to live, share and show the gospel to them! The gospel, the good news, the eugellion are still important in the life of a believer! Someone once said, “God does not care as much about your ability as He does your availability!” Are you available? Will your life make a difference for Kingdom by being an active soul winner! If you cannot share with a lost world what God is doing in your life you may need to check and see if God is doing things in your life! I love you all, let us tell some people about Jesus today! <><

Faceplant '09

God on our own terms…

Last night on our Ski retreat John encouraged us to spend sometime with God asking of Him what He expected of us this weekend! I though long and hard and I began to do some critical self-evaluation. I have come to some conclusions. I believe for the most part we want a relationship with God but we want it on our own terms. We want a relationship where we can compartmentalize our relationship! We want God to fit neatly into our little lives so that we can have access to His comfort. For many believers we have kind of hired God out as a consultant! We seek Him and ask of Him but if what He is telling us does not fit into what we actually want we take matters into our own hands! Can I tell you believer that this is a dangerous place to be! We need to seek God! We need to wait on God for direction! He knows the plans that He has for us so how can we find our way on our own? We need to take time to really seek God! What does he want? What plans has He made for you? We cannot approach God on our terms. We have to come before a Holy God in reverential awe! We can approach the Throne of Grace with confidence on God’s terms, not ours! How is your relationship with God? Are you controlling the events of your life or is God? Here on the top of the mountain I want to encourage you to spend time looking to and waiting on God! I love you all! <><

BTW I am writing this blog from the Top of the Beech Inn at Beech Mountain North Carolina. It snowed this morning! Prayer continues to amaze me!

High Flight

Oh I have slipped the surly bonds of earth…

Often late at night while watching television I cannot help but think of a man who impacted my life even though I never met him. His name was John Magee, the writer of one of my favorite poems. As a boy I would stay up late, until the television would sign off because each night I would get to hear “High Flight” recited, right before the National Anthem. I love this poem…it helped me to dream, to feel, the excitement of wonder. It made me feel alive and look forward for the things to come. We have to dare to dream. The Bible teaches us to “Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.” (Psalm 37:4). What are you dreaming about today? Do your dreams honor our Lord! God has a plan, dream today, reach for the stars, and reach out for God. Dream! I love you all! <><

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air...

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, nor even eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
"High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., Public Domain.

Break Free

Are you living free? Do you freely worship God? We are to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and not lean on our own understanding. The problem is that many people aren't free! We get caught up in what we believe the requirements of the world are and fail to acknowledge Jesus! We want to encourage Jesus to direct our paths in a way that is beneficial for us. It does not work that way! We are to totally submit to and worship Him! He knows what is best for us! Follow Him and Break Free today! <><

Mission First, People Always...Ministry forever

Philosophy for Student Ministry

A college student recently asked me about my ministry and my philosophy for ministry so I wanted to share these thoughts with you. My philosophy for student ministry is “Mission First, People Always and Ministry Forever”. I believe that for students, if they are going to carry out the mission of the church they must be taught. I believe that students should have hands on experience in ministry. They need to understand the mission. The mission is the great commission (Matthew 28:19-20). The cool thing about the mission is that it really never changes. I feel that by training students for the mission will allow them to gain hands on experience that will prepare and help them on their walk for the rest of their lives. I also teach students to have a love for people! “People always” encompasses the great commandment (Matthew 22:32-40) because I believe when they (students) have a love for people, the mission is carried out. “Ministry Forever” is where we teach students the Christian life is not a sprint, but a marathon! I want students to realize that ministry is what we do! Believers were created to worship God and serve people by exercising their spiritual gifts.

We communicate our philosophy through every written correspondence. We also state this on all of our logo shots and when I teach or preach, I will always mention this! I constantly remind people about our philosophy. This simplifies and streamlines our ministry goals, and allows people involved to understand what you are trying to accomplish. Everything that we do goes back to our philosophy. If what we are planning does not fit into what we are trying to accomplish, we scrap it! I believe in students! I believe that they are able to do far more than most ministers or ministries believe. They are bright and embrace challenge! They are not the “church of tomorrow” they are very much the church of today and ministers and ministries need to allow students to function as a part of the church