guarded words

Have you ever just wanted to say something, but you know that you shouldn’t? I find most of the time when people say “I probably shouldn’t say this but…..” they usually end up saying it, and it is almost always negative. We live in a time when people say what they think and feel no matter what. I fall in that category. There are times I say what I may be feeling that particular day and there have been many times when I didn’t need to say it. Why is it so many people struggle to gaurd their words? Why is it we can’t think something, but not say it? I will be the first to say that I say too much. I am not giving excuse for myself, there are times I ask God to guide my words and give me discernment. A lot of times people speak without thinking. I think we have all been in that boat. There are other times when we think about it so much, we know we shouldn’t say it and what happens? We say it. We know what we are going to say is negative and hurtful, yet we say it. Why do we have a need to say things about others, especially negative things? Romans 2 sheds some light on it, we condemn others for their sin, even though we do the same thing at times. We are all sinners. We all sin. Pride comes in and tells us we are better than that other person and we need to prove it by pointing out what they do wrong while ignoring our sin or pretending it doesn’t exist. Lord, help me to guard my words. Help me to speak life not death. Help me to speak positive, not negative. Help me to never elevate myself above anyone. Help me to be guided by you in my speech. Help me to guard my words. Help me to discern pride in myself. Help me to be humble. Give me grace I ask.

no judgment

Going through Romans 2 last night we talked about how the Jews thought that they would be shielded from the judgment of God. Why would they think that? Partly because God was very patient and kind with them, but because they had a covenant relationship with Him. So how could God possibly judge those who are in relationship the way they were?

I would ask this: Don’t you see people living as though they will never have to stand before a righteous God? I am talking about Christians first, then the unbelievers. Just as the Jews thought they would be o.k. and wouldn’t have to stand before a holy God, so do many of those claiming Christ. No one is exempt. Everyone will stand before and give an account. Just as Romans 2 says, don’t mistake God’s patience and kindness as blessing for the sake of blessing, but as having patience to allow time for repentance.

Another Reason I Love Alora

So sometimes I get a little frustrated with Alora. I know this never happens to other parents when their kid is up crying at 4 a.m. (not that this is the only time I get frustrated with her), but it happens to me. So occasionally I get frustrated and mad at her. I make her aware that I am mad at her. At this point in time, I am thankful for what I like to call the “grace period”, every time she wakes up, she doesn’t remember how mad I was at her. She wakes up with a smile on her face, but she does not hold it against me that I got mad at her. This is truly amazing to me, because adults don’t work this way. We either let each other know we are mad or sweep it under the rug until it resurfaces sometime later. With Alora she wakes up and has no recollection of it or if she does she has no way of communicating that to me. I am so thankful for this time because it teaches me about the love of God. Every morning when I wake up His mercies are new. Every single time I repent, he forgets. God is so AMAZING!

are we good?

A lot of people strive to be good. We want to be a good mom or dad. We want to be a good student or employee. We want to be a good friend and family member. We want to be good. We desire to be good. Why? Why do we crave to be so good? I would say it is pride. We want people to think we are good at the things listed above as well as many other things. We want God to think we are good. Let me repeat that. We want God to think we are good. So we go about trying to be good. A good son or daughter to the most perfect person who ever existed. Whatever we can do to make ourselves feel good about who we are or what we do or so that others recognize we are good, that seems to be our mission. I saw a quote from a prominent pastor that said ” there is no such thing as a good preacher, only good people preaching”. Really? We are good? Now I agree once we come to Christ we are on the road to perfection (see end of Matthew 5), but we will never be that until heaven. We are not good. We are sinful. We can live in a world where we strive to be, but the point is not for us to be good, it’s to recognize that God is good. He is the source of all goodness, not me. This does not mean we don’t strive to be godly, but we don’t strive to be goodly (just made that up). So stop trying to be good or live your life so you can feel good about it or so that others will say you are good, but spend all of your time proclaiming the goodness of God. He is good, we are sinful, all of us.

false apologies by young leaders

It has become very popular for young leaders to talk about ALL of the mis-giving’s of the church. In the book “Why we love the church” they talk about false apologies by Donald Miller and those who do things like Miller talks about in Blue Like Jazz. He set up a confessional booth at his school and when people came to the confessional booth thinking they would apologize for their sins, instead Miller apologized for the sins of the church, the Crusades, televangelists, neglecting the poor and lonely, and misrepresenting Jesus on campus. Others have apologized for bombing abortion clinics and the churches self-righteousness and hypocrisy. While we have covered many times that I know the church is not perfect, this is false apology syndrome. It allows you to feel good without having to be good. Here is what Theodore Dalrymple says – “The habit of public apology for things for which one bears no personal responsibility changes the whole concept of a virtuous person, from one who exercises the discipline of virtue to one who expresses correct sentiment. The most virtuous person of all is he who expresses it loudest and to most people…. The end result is likely to be self-satisfaction and ruthlessness accompanied by unctuous moralizing, rather than determination to behave well”. In other words, we get to feel grandiose for “our” guilt without actually having to change. I could get up and confess America’s high divorce rae, our alarming number of out of wedlock births, and the countless abortions performed in America, but that isn’t really much of a confession on my part. What is the point of apologizing for something you had NO part in? If I were to have dated someone who had been beaten up by their boyfriend repeatedly and apologized for the male race or for what he did, what responsibility am I taking for my own actions? It would seem like a hollow apology. Apologizing for church or the way it was done 20 years ago, or 40 years ago when you had nothing to do with it is not really on you. If you championed some of those things or participated in them, then apologize, but churches constantly apologizing for things they didn’t do, it may make them feel better, but it doesn’t mean they have done anything about it. The author goes on to say, Miller makes some personal confessions which is good to do. When we apologize and when we repent we go another direction and there is life change.

Ok, I am done with my rant.

failing miserably

You can look at different stories in the bible from Abraham lying about his wife, Moses murdering, David’s adultery or Jacob’s deception to his father and see that these people failed. They made some pretty big mistakes. One person from the bible most of us can relate to is Peter. That guy had his ups and downs, but you gotta give the guy credit for trying.

You see too many times people fail or mess up and they give up. Too many times they take a step of faith and it doesn’t work out the way they think it should so from that point on they play it safe. I love how Peter failed miserably over and over and continued to get back up and God used him in some really awesome ways.

So today no matter what you have done or how you may have failed miserably, don’t give up or quit, but get back up and take another step forward. It’s better to have taken steps of faith than to play it safe and not do anything for God at all.

too tired to pray

I bet if you asked almost any pastor “which event do you have more people, a potluck or a prayer meeting”? If the pastor has potlucks at his church he will tell you potluck by far. Why it is more people are willing to go to game night, movie night or to potlucks more so than a prayer meeting?

I probably feel like most pastor’s do when this happens and I feel like it is my fault. I feel like I don’t do a good enough job rallying the troops to pray. I feel like if I was a better pastor people would come to pray. Sometimes you feel like a failure.

Then you read Matthew 26:36-46. This is the account where Jesus prays in Gethsemane. Jesus has an inner core of disciples (Peter, James and John). Jesus is very troubled and calls his disciples to pray. Now, this is the Son of God and He asks His disciples to pray so you would automatically think, (because many people say Jesus is the best leader of all time) that they would pray and follow their leader. But what happens? They were too tired. They couldn’t do it. They gave into their flesh, which was tired.

The last few days for us have been very hectic. We have a 5 1/2 month old. We went to Des Moines on Friday and Saturday. Church Sunday morning, then drove some girls from church to a concert in Des Moines, and drove through horrible weather and didn’t get home till 12:30. Monday was up at the church, then had Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner. I was up at the church yesterday and it would have been very easy for me to say, I am too tired to pray. ( I am not tooting my own horn here ) I believe as a church and as people of God we need to understand what Jesus said “sleep and take your rest later on. See the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: see, my betrayer is at hand”. Friends, we can rest later, people need Christ. When we are in heaven we will no longer be able to share our faith and pray for the salvation of others. We must be diligent to do it NOW!!!

Modern Day Jews

The Jewish people knew they were the chosen people of God. How that played out was a very selfish group of people who wanted everyone to play by their rules. Sound familiar? Here are a few similarities I see between the chosen people of God (which they are, I am not questioning that), and people of the church today -

Everyone has to do it the way they want

They are the only ones who could be “truly saved”

It is all about them, not the kingdom or God.

Those are my thoughts for the day

interesting argument

So which is easier:

To get someone who doesn’t know Christ to realize their need for Him? or

To get someone who does know Christ to realize their need for Him?

The easy answer I would say that most of my friends will say is “that’s easy, the second one”. Because they already know Christ and so it seems that they have no qualms with realizing their need for Him. If that was true would pastors have to beg people to come to prayer meetings? Would pastors have to ask people to serve in the church? Would pastors have to continually remind people that God has a plan? Would pastors have to remind their people to be faithful?

What does that have to do with realizing their need for Him? When we truly grasp that we are sinners and we deserve hell, we can’t help but pray, serve, seek direction and be faithful, yet is that really a picture of every church?

How do you get someone who has never experienced the saving grace of our Lord to realize their need for Him? That is a difficult task as well. Because they don’t think they need God. They have made it this far without Him.

I am sure there are a thousand other arguments, but I would like to see what some of you think is easier?

busy days ahead

Please keep us in your prayers the next couple of days. We are heading to Des Moines for the Red Culture Conference today and we will come home tomorrow. Sunday night we are going to Des Moines to go to Winter Jam. Monday night I have been asked to do the opening and closing prayers at the Chamber of Commerce annual dinner. Tuesday night we have prayer. All of that, plus I have to get ready for our Annual Business Meeting on the 31st. Lots to do, but lots of grace has been given to us by God. Appreciate your prayers.

Oh and pray for my Father in Law who is watching Alora Friday and Saturday and Sunday while we are gone at all of these things.