Category: Christian Service

Posted in Christian Service, Grace, Leadership, Life Inspiration

When You Can’t Fix What’s Broken

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I got this

I absolutely love serving the Lord and I love serving people but when you’re in the business of serving you’re suddenly expected to be all things to all people.  And if you’ve recently ask me to do something, this is seriously not about you, this is about me. But it may be for you, because you may be like me, and that my friend is a scary place to be.

I’m a fixer. If I see a problem I need to fix it now. My life and problems go on hold and the immediate problem before me is the task at hand, which explains a lot about my life. The problem with being a fixer is I’m not always qualified, which doesn’t stop me nor seem to matter because I’m pretty sure I got this. I think someone needs to start a group called “Fixers Anonymous,” but then the meeting would probably be dominated by us trying to fix each other and we personally would never get fixed. Wow… I just gave myself a headache. But it’s a true story and it’s on my heart today.

I’ve just discovered that I can’t fix everything. I’m still partly in denial, so don’t mention it if you happen to see me.

So what’s a fixer to do when something’s broken that’s irreparable… like a heart or relationship?

In Philippians 4:6, Paul writes “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

Be careful for nothing… meaning, don’t be full of care, don’t be stressed. Usually by the time I get around to reading a verse like this, I’m already past the point of stress, but it still doesn’t mean I shouldn’t follow through with the rest of God’s plan. Regardless of what it is, (everything) should be taken to God in prayer. That conversation portal to Heaven that we tend to forget how big a deal it is. With the first utterance of His name, spoken aloud or just in your mind, you are ushered by the Holy Spirit into the presence of God. That’s powerful! How awesome that with a breath you can be before He Who can fix it all. It is there that we can plead our case (supplication) and tell God everything that we feel nobody else in the world wants to hear, but God wants to hear it. Not because He doesn’t know already what’s going on, but because He wants us to believe on Him to fix the problem, or possibly help us through when the problem is there for another reason we weren’t meant to understand.

Today I’m in a quandary with a problem I can’t fix because it’s not my problem. God doesn’t want me to stop caring, which is what I’m trying to do, it seems that would be an easier fix. It’s unfortunately not a part of my DNA. Because when the Holy Spirit came into my heart and filled me to the brim with Jesus I also was filled to the brim with care. That’s what makes me want to be a fixer in the first place. So there seems to be two kinds of care. Stress – the wrong kind. And Concern – the kind that drives you into the arms of Jesus, Father, Friend and Fixer. Who understands that you’re a fixer because you’re trying as best you can in this feeble body to be like Him. And today you feel like you’re failing miserably.

So I’m thankful. That I can lean on Him and when I can’t fix the problem, I can fix my eyes on Him and He’ll guide me through until the problem is past.

Are you a fixer? Are you in midst of a problem. Take it to Jesus and leave it there, He’s got the tool box.

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Posted in Christian Service, Evangelism, Leadership, Life Inspiration

Not the God of Low Expectations

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high expectationsThe day after a busy holiday is always two-sided. There is the side of me that’s like “Whew! Now I can rest!” and then the other side which is somewhat let down, because the excitement and anticipation of the event is over. But with Easter, that’s shouldn’t be the case. Yes, the 2016 Holiday is over, but not the excitement! Still today I woke up excited about my Salvation, what it means to me and what God is doing in my life. Every day I wake up to a resurrected Lord, not just Easter Sunday! “So what’s your plan today,” I ask myself? “What are you going to do with another day with Jesus? How are you going to impact the world for Christ?”

That’s a heavy question. But God is not One of low expectations. He didn’t go the cross for a group of slackers. He went to the cross for servants willing to go into the highways and the hedges.

Luke 14 tells the story of the planning of a great event. Much time and preparation had gone into it and yet it was taken for granted by the masses and many refused to attend because the world had pressing business for them real estate, farming, family (or whatever it is that’s on our schedule today before God.)

Vs. 17-24

And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

I thought of this scripture when I thought of the many friends of mine who invited folks to church for Easter Sunday, some came, and some did not. And for those who didn’t it’s disappointing, not only to us, but above all to God Who had planned so great an event! But in truth, that wasn’t the great event, that was a precursor to the great event and we’re still in the planning stages!  There’s still time to get our friends to the party!

God’s not looking for the perfectly dressed, the happy, healthy and rich. He’s looking for the hurting, poor, tired and sick who need to find Hope and we have the invitation in our hand! Today is a highway and hedges day and we’re not guaranteed another. So they didn’t listen yesterday. Compel them today! Now I’m excited about Monday.

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Posted in Christian Service, Eternity, Evangelism, Heaven, Life Inspiration

Truth is on our side, Time is Not

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God's Not Slack

I know people, and you likely do too that love nothing more than to stir with a big stick. Perhaps that’s a West Virginia colloquialism, but I doubt it. Simply put it refers to those people in our lives who stir strife, knowingly or not, they do. But that same concept applied to the Christian walk of faith isn’t a bad thing at all; and although to the unsaved it may appear for a little while that we’re stirring strife too, we know that the peace of Jesus is anti-strife. So today I’m following Peter’s example of encouragement and suggesting that you might want to do a little stirring yourself today.

Surely you Remember!

2 Peter 3:1

This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:

Do you remember the first time you felt the urgency of the Lord’s return. I may not remember the first, but I remember the feeling. That sense that I needed to tell everyone I loved (and even those I didn’t) that they needed to get their act together before it was too late. The idea of anyone going to Hell was not something I wanted to be a part of and I knew that even though it was their choice to make a decision for salvation, it was my choice to tell them or not. Satan has to stick  his  two cents in and tell us that we’re “stirring with a big stick” and that we’ll certainly offend  our friends and family and in so doing drive them further away. But the reality of that is Abraham said to the rich man in Hell in Luke 16:26 ~  And beside all this, between us and you there is a  great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

That’s too far. Tell them.

Surely they’ll Rebel

2 Peter 3:2-4

 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

For 2,000 plus hears we’ve been saying, Jesus is going to return. That’s plenty of time for Satan to insert doubt into the mind of this generation of people. It’s been too long… tell them anyway, because Hell’s too far.

Surely they’ll Reason

2 Peter 3:5-7

For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Science has given them reasons to doubt by using the reason of man to explain the unexplainable. What they couldn’t explain they made up and called it fact. The fact is the earth was first destroyed by water, the second will be by fire. Even though they reason in their minds in err we are without a reason to tell them the truth.

Surely it is our Responsibility

2 Peter 3:8-12

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

Peter asks “what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?”

Regardless of the time, the truth still stands. Jesus is coming back. Truth is on our side, time is not.  Stir somebody for Jesus today!

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Posted in Christian Service, Life Inspiration

He knows my Limitations

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God's Got This

Matthew 6:24

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Probably one of the most misused verses to date in my life. Yes, I know there are many, many misused verses, but this is one that I (personally) keep hearing again and again, but only in part.  “No man can serve two masters.” Being used most of the time to insinuate people are serving another god if they don’t do what someone thinks they should do. Scripture taken out of context is a dangerous game. If you read the entire chapter of Matthew 6, there’s a lot packed in there for the believer struggling with life and living by faith. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth, I’ve had to work my entire adult life, so when leaving that station in life (or rather having it leave me) faith was amped up to a new level. And I’d be a liar if I told you it’s been easy. It’s an every other day thing. About every other day I have faith. The other day is a doubt day, filled that way by myself and Satan who always has plenty to contribute. So when I read in Matthew 6

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

You are what you eat and fashion makes the man the world says, and guilt is laid on pretty thick. And so I keep reading 26-32

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

And then I am reminded, God know my needs and He knows my desires, but better than all that He knows my limitations. So He gives me some instruction that was Manna for the day for me.

Verses 33-34

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

God is limitless. America defines success by the dollar. And that’s where verse 24 comes into context. The other god is money. Hey, I like money! I’ve prayed for money. I need it to pay my bills and when I don’t have it, I get scared. But I cannot allow money to define who I am and how I serve; then I’m serving it and “it” is a god. It’s ruling my decisions and those decisions may put me out of the will of God and that’s scarier than being broke.

But if I seek the Kingdom of God, desiring first to find Him, all of a sudden life’s purpose becomes very clear.

The wise Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 7:11-13

Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun. For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it. Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?

Knowledge and money may protect you from the elements of life that can be seen, but around the bend for which we cannot see, and must travel by faith, lies limitless blessings, that shouldn’t ever be traded for the things of today.

God’s got this…

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Posted in Christian Service, Evangelism, Leadership, Life Inspiration, Political

Tired of Politics? Find Yourself a Mars’ Hill

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chick at mars

Monday morning. The start of the work week and for me a refocus following an awesome Lord’s Day. I was reading in Acts 17 this morning about one of the many adventures of Apostle Paul and was literally getting frustrated with the characters in the story. It was playing out in my mind like a movie screen reality and I could see the religious lot, with their pious faces, plotting the demise of the man who preached Jesus. Their faces would likely go flush, as men and women alike, one after another, believed Paul’s teaching and gave their lives to Jesus.

My heart broke for the family and friends of Jason who was arrested because they couldn’t lay hands on Paul. They’d take anyone; somebody had to pay for price for the upset in the community. And it was an upset. In verse 6 of that chapter they said of Jason and his friends “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” I wonder if that would be said of any of us. Not me… But in this political climate the name of Christ certainly has an impact.

I think I may have torqued Satan off when it comes to my blog because he has attacked my computer from every angle. This morning was another day of frustrations trying to get this blog posted. After umpteen restarts, a system restore and virus scan, I’m back in business but how mild in comparison to what Paul and his crew went through. I mean really, here I sit whining over computer glitches and these men were paraded around in public and beaten. Now I’m mad again, at me as well as the pious people of religion.

Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill speaking to the men of Athens (vs. 22b-27)

I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

So to those who have declared war against the God fearing nation of America, those within and without, I reiterate Paul’s message in kind.

You may not like my God, and you can ignorantly choose to serve the god of the unknown, it’s America, you have that right. But my God, Who, by the way, created everyone, regardless of their nationality or faith,  has determined already what day you’ll meet Him face to face. He will only let you go so far. He’s set the boundary on how far this godless bunch of office-bearers can go before He jerks a knot in them. And the God that you choose not to know, and the One that I am proud to know is very close. That brings me peace, and should bring you fear.

“Technical Stuff” and “Political Stuff” may drive me crazy, but knowing God, and that there is no limitation on what God can do causes my soul to joy and gives me the desire to find Mars’ Hill in my own  community and tell someone about Jesus so that others “haply they might feel after him, and find him.”

Posted in Christian Service, Church attendance, Evangelism, Family, Life Inspiration

God’s How To Guide to get your people in Church

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how to guide

As I read these verses this morning with a heavy heart for people that I love who are out of church, this was my message from God, and perhaps you need it too.

Acts 2:46-47

And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

  • Live it daily
  • Fellowship with each other (food always makes it better)
  • Live with Joy (regardless of circumstance)
  • Share your heart
  • Praise God and give Him Glory!
  • Love people until they love you
  • Let people have the option for Christian Church Virtual Worship
  • And God will bring them to church

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Posted in Christian Service, Church attendance, Leadership, Life Inspiration

When’s the last time you’ve really tasted it?

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chick honeyFor forty years the children of Israel ate manna, a small coriander seed textured food that was described as tasting like wafers made of honey, and honey is something I’ve ate a lot of lately. About a week ago I got my annual dose of winter meets spring which inevitably causes my body to go into shock. You’d think it would be happy about those circumstances, but instead it goes into the next season kicking, but no screaming… I lost my voice. And while that made for a lot of funny stories about how peace now reigned in the house, and lead to laughter when I attempted to sing it really did mess with my psyche. I sing most every day. It encourages my soul and sets my heart in a mode of worship. So when I couldn’t sing I began dosing myself with cough drops, tea and honey, and little by little my voice returned; just in time for a recital at Bearfork Bluegrass which occurs in a few hours. I’m a happy camper!  But as I start this day, my mind is on the manna. The “just right” provision of the Lord that somewhat seems routine and unexciting to some.

Exodus 16:15

And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.

Let’s just call it manna.

They didn’t know what it was. So they decided they’d call it manna. In the beginning they were excited… but slowly and surely manna grew tiresome. It’s called life. We all have somewhat of a routine we get into, including serving God if you’re a Christian. It’s unfortunate for most people serving God is from 10 a.m. – noon on Sunday. Possibly two other hours if they can be squeezed in between ballgames, meetings and the laundry. I doubt it was always like that. The day they realized the provision of God they were excited too! But then it grew dull. Why?

Acts 28:27 sums it up for us.

For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

  • Waxed gross – Unpolished
  • Dull of hearing – Selective hearing
  • Eyes closed – Out of sight out of mind.

And each one a craftily designed tool of Satan.

An unpolished Christian is one that doesn’t stay active with the tools God gave us, reading the Word of God, Worshiping, attending services. These are those that polish us and make us shine for all the world to see.

Those dull of hearing have chosen to let the voices of the world chime louder than that of the Holy Spirit and in so doing denied themselves the opportunity to hear the sweet voice of God.

Closing your eyes to the opportunities God affords you for fellowship could eventually get you into permanent darkened state that you don’t want to be in.

Because of my throat issue I fell in love with honey again. I hadn’t eaten any honey for quite some time. But when that sweetness hit my tounge…. Oh…. It was sooooo good. That’s how I feel in the house of the Lord and when I spend time in the Word of God and with His people.

How long has it been since you tasted the provision of God anew? Tomorrow’s Sunday… a new day to a new week, and an opportunity for you to taste again that sweet Spirit of God. I pray tomorrow finds you in a good, Bible believin’ and preachin’ church! If you’re in my neighborhood, I hope to see you at Victory Baptist Church, 2037 South Calhoun Highway, Grantsville, WV. It’s where I found manna in 1996 and it’s been keeping me happy and hole for 20 years!

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Posted in Christian Service, Eternity, Evangelism

One more day to make a difference

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ONE MORE DAY

An early morning ritual for me is check the blog and Facebook pages of Rory Feek. I wonder each morning if this will be the day that the Lord calls his precious wife Joey home. I told the teens in my youth group last night that these are strangers and yet they’re not. We know them through the internet yes, but they are a dear brother and sister in Christ and their testimony for Him has been so very strong. She’s been asleep for days and I want the pain to stop for them both. But then I think… for every breath she takes, God has purpose, even when she’s sleeping. One more moment in time for Him on this side.

What will I do with mine?

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8-9 KJV

Reading through Isaiah 55 this morning, trying to grasp what lesson God would have me learn I   think about the wastefulness in our land and the things that I think matter. And even though I can ask “If today I took my last breath, would “this” matter?” I still wouldn’t grasp the concept of life. Joey and Rory temporarily put life in perspective for me, but then I let it slip from my fingers and go on about the mundane. Heaven is just too high for me to understand, but it doesn’t stop me from desiring it.

I can taste it…

Isaiah 55:1-2

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

While God has certainly satisfied my physical needs, the fatness for which my soul delights has a flavor that is beyond glory. It’s the unexplainable presence of God that makes me feel like I’m at His kitchen table this morning and He sits across from me sipping His coffee, listening to my banter and then He’ll speak, and I’m left breathless, thinking… golly that tasted good God. His thoughts are nothing like mine… mine are vanity… His are vast.

I can hear it….

Isaiah 55:3-4

3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. 4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.

Just like King David, Joey will go on to meet with the Lord, but her breath will still breathe on in the lives of the people she touched. David could not have possibly understood that he would be in the daily conversations of God’s people thousands of years later, and we’d feel as if we know him, just like we feel we know Joey. And there will come a day we’ll be able to see them both, face to face, in full health. His ways are nothing like mine… mine are short… His are long.

Every breath we take has purpose. One more day for someone to know us, one more day to make a difference. What will you do with yours?

Posted in Christian Service, Life Inspiration, Political

10 Steps to a Political Cleanse

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political cleanseI could hear the brakes screeching in my head. “Enough of the negativity and the bad attitude; Jesus would have no part of this, and yet you sit here in the middle of it saying, well… I guess that’s the way it is. Really? That’s the way it is because Christians like you are letting it be.” That’s the conversation in my head this morning. This election makes me nauseous and somewhat crazy. I want God to beat people… not figuratively either, I want Him to take out a club and knock some sense into some people: knock the arrogant grin off of a few others, knock down a few notches those who justify their antics in the name of politics and use the name of Christianity as a blanket statement of faith but have no doctrinal behavior to back it up. And that’s just the Republican Party. Don’t even get me started on the Democratic candidates. And God said… enough…

I think if we had been in a car, God would have pulled over, sat me along the side of the road, and drove off, that’s how negative my mindset can be if I allow the media to govern my thoughts. Today, I’m doing a political cleanse. You know what happens when you do a cleanse, right? You flush the toxins out of your body and all the vile junk you’ve ingested the last year, or week. You replace that with good and wholesome things that serve to edify the body. I want that… I want the edification of God’s Word from His book and His people and so it is that I’m refusing to look at one more political ad, post or rant, at least for today.

This is my mindset diet for the day. The 10 step political cleanse.

Philippians 2

  1. FELLOWSHIP IN THE SPIRIT

1If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

Talk to God… often.

  1. LIKEMINDED LIVING

2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

We should be sharing Christ, not criticism.

  1. LET NOTHING BE DONE FOR SELF

3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

The opposite of vanity is humility

  1. LOOK AT THE PEOPLE, NOT THE POLITICS

4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

So many people are hurting and in need of knowing that someone cares. They don’t need conversations about what government officials can do, they need to see what God can do through His people.

  1. LET THIS MIND

5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

We have to allow the mind of Jesus to overtake the property which flesh has claimed.

  1. LANDLORD OR TENANT

6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

God is residing with the heart of every Christian, but is He there as a Tenant (just hanging out until you’re in a jam?) or is He there as Lord of all?

  1. LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP

7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

We need to get to know the people we serve.

  1. LEARNING TO DIE

8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

The irony of living for Christ is dying to me. His will should be my way.

  1. ABOVE ALL

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

Jesus. It is the Name that Created all, Calms all, Cures all, Cares for all,

  1. EVERY KNEE

10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

Nobody is forced to bow to Christ on this side of eternity, but there will come a day that every knee shall bow and the obituary of the flesh will read “Here lies arrogance and pride. The soul moved on.” There’s no politics in Heaven, your only opportunity to vote is in the here and now. That’s a great thing to remember!

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Posted in Christian Service, Evangelism, Leadership, Life Inspiration, Uncategorized

If Jesus Coached Little League

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Jesus and Little league

Let me begin this blog by saying I’m a musician, not an athlete; so my view of sports is from the sideline as an encourager. But that doesn’t prevent me from having an opinion on the matter and being that what I’m writing about isn’t really about sports at all, I do consider myself somewhat of an authority. Little league sports is a season of beginnings for both the little ones playing and their parents. It’s a whole new set of emotions for parents who are almost for certain their little Johnny or Jenny have the potential to be a national star. And that’s as it should be. Parents should instill in their children at the earliest of possible ages that they can do or be anything they want… provided God approves.  That’s the part most parents skip. And mainly because many little league activities are held on Wednesday evenings and now Sunday’s when kids should be in church, but that’s another blog.

If Jesus were a little league Coach, this is how I believe He’d go about it. The same manner for which He built the church.

He knew the game

Matthew 4:1-2

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

Jesus was every bit God and every bit man. He experienced and faced temptation the same way we do and yet He overcame sin, so we are without excuse. If Jesus hadn’t experienced that for Himself we’d been given the opportunity to say, “But Lord, You don’t understand.” But He does. And for certain a Coach, even of little league, should have at some point experienced the game.

He knew He was dealing with Amateurs

Matthew 4:18-20

And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

They weren’t preachers, they were fishermen, and Christ used that same analogy to convince them that they could play ball… or win souls as the case may be.

The one thing that most children love to do is play ball. Of any kind! And they’re pretty sure they’re the best at it, until somebody tells them they’re not. Now before any die hard athletes go on a rampage here, I understand the concept of winning and losing. You have to have both, not everyone can win every time. But winning and losing was not supposed to be the precept of little league ball. It was to train children to play.

Now let’s put that in a church perspective. I was blessed to begin my Christian walk in a church of really messed up people, (you know… sinners) with a leader who believed that we could be trained to be leaders. We weren’t expected to be perfect, but we were expected to try. When we broke the rules, we weren’t taken out of the game… we were brought to the sideline, instructed of righteousness and told to try again. That’s good teaching.

He knew they needed time

Most little league players don’t come out of the womb with a team jersey. There are the gifted, but most are just average kids, just like the church. A very small percentage of the church become paid servants, most of us are just average joes, or jills as the case may be; but you better believe there wouldn’t be a game if we didn’t show up.

Matthew 5:1-2

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

Jesus taught not only the disciples but the multitude as well. Little league sports is a community event. It should be a time of learning and fun for everyone. It’s not the making of professionals, it’s the teaching of a team. Jesus wanted the disciples to understand that the game wasn’t about them, it was about those they served. And teaching kids to have a team spirit is the most valuable lesson you could teach as a coach. Because they’ll always be winners if they learn to treat one another with respect.

Teaching church members that lesson goes a long way too! The team’s attitude is usually a direct reflection of the coach. Bad or good the team is usually a mirror image. Jesus’ first lesson was an attitude check.

Matthew 5:3-9

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

He knew sometimes they’d lose

Matthew 5:10-11

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Jesus understood and taught how to take a loss. No matter what… treat people right.