I AM

This past weekend we were blessed to see God work in the lives of over 75 high school students. Our theme for the weekend was I AM. One verse continued to be brought up throughout the weekend and that was Romans 12:1 which says, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." In some versions it reads "reasonable act of service" or "rational service." As I marinate on that it seems simple but makes sense. Jesus Christ has paid for my sin through his death and resurrection at the cross. It would only seem reasonable or rational that I would give him all I have. It's like in movies or in life when someone saves your life or does something for you then you in turn feel like you owe them something. If we truly grasp what Christ has done for us it would only be reasonable to give him our time, money, selfishness, pride, worries, etc. Instead many times we become self focused, self seeking, and our world revolves around ourselves instead of our God. The deeper my relationship with Christ grows the more the focus of my life shifts from me to Him. I am still growing and will continue to do so but my prayer is that my life would revolve around Him and not me.

A Barbarian Call

I am currently reading the book "Barbarian Way" by Erwin McManus. Often times our expectations of following Jesus is that life will be easy and everything will be smooth sailing. In my experience life becomes more challenging, spiritual warfare becomes more intense, and you separate yourself from the world. In the book McManus talks about how this call to follow Jesus has become caged and domesticated here in America. Here is an excerpt from the book.

"This is the sticky part of the barbarian call. It's not fair or equitable. When you hear the call, when you follow the call, you must recognize that is is a life and death proposition. When you understand what Jesus means when He says that you must follow Him, you finally realize that this is not a cattle call. He is not calling you to the same life that everyone else will live. He's not even calling you to the same path that every follower of Christ will walk. Your life is unique before God, and your path is yours and yours alone. Where God will choose to lead you and how God chooses to use your life cannot be predicted by how God has worked in the lives of others before you."

Have you gotten too comfortable? Do you find yourself constantly comparing your life and hardships with other people's lives? Are you focused on what God wants you to do for him? No matter what the cost?

Jesus says "...If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." - Mark 8:34b

Living a life as one of God's Beloved is not something to take lightly. It is a call to sacrifice, love, and humility. God is constantly teaching and showing me more crosses to carry, areas where I need humility, and sacrifices I need to make. I want to challenge you today to break up routine, escape from complacency, and play offense against an enemy that is constantly trying to make us retreat.

Promises

Do you ever forget about God?

If you're like me you can have a tendency to get caught up with the details of life and we tend to forget that God is in control and running the whole picture. So in the midst of our life if we tend to lose sight of God we will then often lose sight of God's promises.

Living in a house with 5 young men is sometimes challenging, encouraging, and entertaining. We get into many talks and recently it seems they guys have been really struggling with losing sight of God's truths and his promises. So this past week I decided we were going to do a project. They each had 5 days to search the scriptures and come up with promises that spoke to them. This morning we all got together and shared those promises. Here are a few that I would like to share with you.

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6

"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:28-31

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go" Joshua 1:9

"And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us." 1 John 5:14

"for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." 2 Timothy 1:7

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1

These are just a few of what we discussed this morning. If you have a moment I would also encourage you to read Revelation 21. It is an amazing picture of what God promises us.

God vs. Science

Check out this story I came across, I hope it encourages you today!

Let me explain the problem science has with religion.’ The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.
‘You’re a Christian, aren’t you, son?’
‘Yes sir,’ the student says.
‘So you believe in God?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘Is God good?’
‘Sure! God’s good.’
‘Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?’
‘Yes’
‘Are you good or evil?’
‘The Bible says I’m evil.’
The professor grins knowingly. ‘Aha! The Bible!’ He considers for a moment. ‘Here’s one for you. Let’s say there’s a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?’
‘Yes sir, I would.’
‘So you’re good…!’
‘I wouldn’t say that.’
‘But why not say that? You’d help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn’t.’
The student does not answer, so the professor continues. ‘He doesn’t, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?’
The student remains silent.
‘No, you can’t, can you?’ the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax.
‘Let’s start again, young fella. Is God good?’
Er … yes,’ the student says.
‘Is Satan good?’
The student doesn’t hesitate on this one. ‘No.’
‘Then where does Satan come from?’
The student falters. ‘From God’
‘That’s right. God made Satan, didn’t he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Evil’s everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything, correct?’
‘Yes’
‘So who created evil?’ The professor continued, ‘If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.’
Again, the student has no answer. ‘Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?’
The student squirms on his feet. ‘Yes.’
‘So who created them?’
The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. ‘Who created them?’ There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized. ‘Tell me,’ he continues onto another student. ‘Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?’
The student’s voice betrays him and cracks. ‘Yes, professor, I do.’
The old man stops pacing. ‘Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?’
‘No sir. I’ve never seen Him.’
‘Then tell us if you’ve ever heard your Jesus?’
‘No, sir, I have not.’
‘Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?’
‘No, sir, I’m afraid I haven’t.’
‘Yet you still believe in him?’
‘Yes’
‘According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?’
‘Nothing,’ the student replies. ‘I only have my faith.’
‘Yes, faith,’ the professor repeats. ‘And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.’
The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own. ‘Professor, is there such thing as heat?’
‘ yes.
‘And is there such a thing as cold?’
‘Yes, son, there’s cold too.’
‘No sir, there isn’t.’
The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. ‘You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don’t have anything called ‘cold’. We can hit up to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees.’
‘Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.’
Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.
‘What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?’
‘Yes,’ the professor replies without hesitation. ‘What is night if it isn’t darkness?’
‘You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it’s called darkness, isn’t it? That’s the meaning we use to define the word.’
‘In reality, darkness isn’t. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?’
The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. ‘So what point are you making, young man?’
‘Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.’
The professor’s face cannot hide his surprise this time. ‘Fl awed? Can you explain how?’
‘You are working on the premise of duality,’ the student explains. ‘You argue that there is life and then there’s death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can’t even explain a thought.’
‘It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.’
‘Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?’
‘If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.’
‘Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?’
The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.
‘Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?’
The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided.
‘To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.’
The student looks around the room. ‘Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor’s brain?’ The class breaks out into laughter.
‘Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor’s brain, felt the professor’s brain, touched or smelt the professor’s brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.’
‘So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lecture s, sir?’
Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable.
Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. ‘I guess you’ll have to take them on faith.’
‘Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,’ the student continues. ‘Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?’
Now uncertain, the professor responds, ‘Of course, there is. We see it everyday It is in the daily example of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.’
To this the student replied, ‘Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.’

The professor sat down.
If you read it all the way through and had a smile on your face when you finished, mail to your friends and family with the title ‘God vs Science’

PS: the student was Albert Einstein

Are you Dangerous?

Today I was thinking, "I wonder if Satan is fearful of me?" Now we could dive into a deep theological discussion but lets just think about it simply for a second. "Am I dangerous to Satan?" You see, I am a guy and those of you who know guys know that they like fighting, battles, and doing dangerous things for the most part. So obviously as I was thinking about this I really started to get excited. I want to be dangerous or a threat to the enemy's plans. I want to wake up each morning empowered by the Holy Spirit of God and take on the world. I am not talking about doing these monumental things that "the world" would say is great but I want to be dangerous in the little things. For instance, when I walk into the coffee shop in the morning I want to make sad people smile. I want to bring back the joy that Satan has robbed many people of. Imagine people have a joy meter that goes from -10 to +10. When you encounter someone do they shift to the negative or move toward the positive? Everyone we encounter is affected by what we say or how we act. How does that make you feel? That you have the opportunity to take someone from a -10 day to a +10 day. Are you asking God for opportunities to be dangerous to the enemy? Are you looking for ways to encourage one another? Do you want to be dangerous? I know I do, I want to cause as much damage to the enemy and share the abundance of love that Jesus Christ has shown me by his shed blood on the cross. So I want to encourage you to live dangerously today!

But, Jesus...

I have been reading and thinking about Mark 6 recently. There is a lot in that chapter but what interests me is when the disciples present a problem to Jesus. The disciples are trying to get the crowds to leave and they come to Jesus and tell him to send them away so they can go to town to get some food. Well Jesus responds by saying, "You give them something to eat." Can you picture this scene? BUT JESUS! You want us to go buy the food? That would be 8 months wages! BUT JESUS, don't you understand how much work this will take? BUT JESUS, what you are asking us to do is impossible. I wonder if Jesus was thinking, BUT DISCIPLES, don't you trust me? BUT DISCIPLES, don't you believe I am big enough to provide?

Many times God calls us to do things. Sometimes they are little things and other times they are bigger. How many times do we say BUT JESUS and start coming up with excuses of why we can't do something for God. The great thing about God is that he is constantly giving us opportunities to trust him. Everyday we have an opportunity to test our faith. I want to encourage you to step out in faith and let God amaze you today!

Alaska - Summary

Well, we have finally arrived home. Our trip to Alaska was truly an adventure. When we left our prayer was that God would use us while we were there and bring things together for the mission's trip this summer. God opened doors for us to share with high school students at different schools, encourage families, pastors, and communities by sharing the word of God, ministering to broken people through providing food and praying with them, and he grew our faith as well.

Our trip home was a long adventure. Don can sleep on planes and I can't. I went about 40 hours without sleeping and I still experiencing jet lag as I have trouble going to bed before 1am and I usually have to get up around 6:00am. I will just have to start getting some afternoon naps in.

I figured I will give you some of the basic details for next summer. We will be having meetings at Countryside Chapel in the near future for those wanting to get involved. The trip we be from August 7th -14th or 15th. There may be an option for some to stay longer but we still need to work out those details. As of right now we don't have a limit on how many people can go and depending on plane tickets the cost per person looks to be around $1,000 to $1,200. There will be a lot of work projects to do at Dennis and Celesta's church including painting, trim work, landscaping, chopping down trees, drywall, and much more. They also need help with their food ministry and we might be able to put on a VBS at their church. Marlin is also interested in putting on a youth outreach event in the Sutton area. These are a few of the details and please let me know if you want to be kept in the loop as we plan for next summer and get the team together.

Alaska - Day 10

Every Thursday morning Dennis has breakfast with some local pastors and missionaries in the community. Some of the them minister in Anchorage and others to the native Alaskan villages. Don and I were able to come along and it was very informative to hear about the ministry to the native villagers. The guys educated us on the native culture, history, and the most effective ways to minister to them. I was overwhelmed with how much ministry there is to the villages. Alaska is so big (like 3 or 4 times bigger than Texas) with tons of native villages that you have to fly to get there. It was an eye opening experience and also encouraging to hear what these guys are doing to reach the native Alaskan villagers.

After doing some office work and preparing for ministry next week most of the day about 20 high school and college kids came over for our "Jesus Night." We spent about 2-3 hours wrestling with questions they had, challenging them to live boldly for Christ, and then spent some time singing songs and worshipping. We met a lot of awesome kids today and I hope that God does some amazing things with them. I am going to try to catch up on some sleep tonight because tomorrow night it is time to fly back to Ohio.

Alaska - Day 9

Our Alaskan adventure is beginning to wind down. We will fly back to Ohio late Friday night and dive right into a jam packed fall full of ministry. We had to wake up and hit the road by 5am this morning. It was a really dark 2 and half hour drive to Cook Inlet Academy in Soldotna. We arrived a little early and joined the staff and administration for devotions and prayer. Mary (the principal) gave us a tour of the school and gave us some insight to the student body. Don and I had a great time sharing with the students and encouraging them to passionately live out their faith in Jesus. Afterwards we grabbed some coffee with Pastor Larry, his wife, and his daughter-in-law. It was a good time of brainstorming and recapping the trip with each other. We had a long drive back to Anchorage so Don and I made a lot of phone calls to catch up with people, work on ministry for next week, and raise support.

We got back to the Richardsons in time for dinner. They cooked up some Salmon and Moose Burgers. To our surprise Don actually tasted part of a moose burger and he survived! He actually said it wasn't that bad. After dinner a few of Seth and Sarah's friends came over and we spent hours having Theological discussions. There were some pretty intense times with Dennis and Don going back and forth but it was great conversation. Tomorrow we will go with Dennis to breakfast with a few local pastors and then tomorrow night we will have a Jesus night at their house. I guess they made an announcement at the high school so we might have a lot of kids over at Dennis and Celesta's house for pizza and Jesus time.

Alaska - Day 8

We awoke early today to coffee and devotions with Dennis and Celesta. Then we ventured out for the long day of ministry ahead. We arrived to Mountain View Baptist Church around 8:30 to prepare for the food shelf that runs the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month. We saw how organized and structured the program is. It takes many volunteers and food donations to run each week as it serves 40-50 local families. Don and I were able to serve by helping people carry their food to their cars or to their homes. There also were a few opportunities to pray with people. It was a reminder to us both about how blessed we are to have food in our cupboards. Many of the people that came through were very thankful for the food. Once the food shelf was finished and cleaned up we drove to the Alaska Food Bank to stock up. Their food supply had run really low and when we showed up at the Food Bank it was like Christmas. The Alaska Food Bank is a place where retailers, wholesalers, etc. donate food and then non-profit organizations can come pick up food for $0.18 per pound. Dennis said they were lucky to get a couple hundred pounds of food lately but today we got 1700lbs of food. We packed a Ford Explorer and Dennis's car full of food. Then we spent most of the afternoon unloading and storing all the food we got.

Dennis squeezed in a quick tour of the church and shared many needs for the church that we can help with next summer. There is much need there and I am excited for how countryside Chapel can serve next summer.

After a quick rest and coffee break we had to get ready for Kids for Christ club which starts at 5:30. We had a meal then went upstairs to sing some songs. There was about 30-40 kids there from Kindergarten through 6th grade. Don taught them a song and then I was able to share with them about Jesus for about 15 minutes.

It felt good to finally get back to the house and relax. Some friends of Dennis and Celesta came over and we just spent some time hanging out and eating ice cream. Hopefully we can get a few hours of sleep tonight because we have to get up at 5:00am tomorrow.