Do You Eat Your Lunch, Or Do You Share It

As we start off the year I’ve been doing a little self review, a little grade report on where I feel my walk with God is in comparison to where I would like it to be. In doing so, I’ve sat back to think where I was two years ago when I made my covenant with God. I asked myself, “Am I stronger then where I was two years ago? Can I say have grown, and have had a greater impact on where I was before”. Then came the hard question, have I plateaued in my walk from where I began? As I thought about this, I would have to agree; I was a little more disciplined and driven in my walk with God two years ago. In the last two years I have become comfortable in my place with God, and in turn, I believe I have hindered the work God could truly do in my life.


I find myself often praying and asking for opportunities to serve God, asking him guide me to people who I could offer prayer for, or people who I could help draw closer to him. As I review this last year, I didn’t find myself to active in these areas; often this blog was the only work I put in for God. Last Sunday one of our Pastor’s gave a talk about God the provider. It was in this talk that he asked the question, “do you eat your lunch or do you share it”. The whole basis of his talk was touching on the example of Jesus feeding 5,000+ people because of two fish and a couple loaves of bread a little boy gave to his apostles, which Jesus was able to multiply. It was about living life for others instead of living life for ones self. I must admit I left that sermon with a whole new look at my year, convicted you can say.

As I ended my night reading in the Book of Luke, I would find God’s word complimenting the very sermon I heard, as Jesus gave the parable of The Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. There was a theme I began to see in Jesus’ desires for mankind. In the parable a expert in the law asks Jesus, “what must I do to inherit eternal life” (a question I am always looking to answer). Jesus asks him, “What is written the law?” The answer was, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself”. It was the last the five words that stuck out to me and ties into that Sunday’s sermon. In fact, this is the theme that Jesus shows by example and continuously teaches to anyone who will listen; to love others more then you love yourself.

As a Christian I know there is so much more then putting money in an envelop that I can do to help bless others in the way I ask God to bless me and my family on a daily basis. I know there are people in my demographic who hurt, and have it far worse then I have ever experienced. I know there are people who have never been served, but lived life as the servant. I know there are people sitting in hospitals with no one to sit next to them, or families who could use a little tender loving care. What if for once I lived life outside of my world and choose to focus my time on the needs of others. I no longer have the excuse of saying, “I could do more if I had the money”. What if everyone reading this took one day of the month and dedicated it to someone else’s needs? What if everyone reading this looked into their excess and decided one day to look for someone else to bless, maybe it’s digging into the closet and blessing someone with some clothes we take for granted.

I see now why even though I have prayed for opportunities none have come, it’s because I have never gone out and looked. All these days of prayer thinking it was up to God to bring the people to me, instead, I should have been going out and letting God bring me to the people. People….we are so blessed as a nation We take it for granted the roof we have over our heads, clothes on our backs, and food in our stomach. Sure we may not be making the money we want, or drive the care we would like……but you have a car, something half of this world lacks. I truly feel as if God has shaken me down for my heart has never been so inflamed while my body is buzzing at the thought of how I can finally take the scriptures I read every night and actually put them to use. How I can finally help bring the love of God to life.

People are always saying how they would like to change the world, Christians are always saying how they would like to help people see and experience the love of God. Here is how we can, by sacrificing our time and going out and looking at where we can give back to others what we have been so blessed to take. This weekend I looked in my closet and was able to fill an entire hefty bag to it limits with clothes I no longer where. In my closet I found multiple pairs of in good shape shoes I no longer where. As I drive to work I always see the homeless, and those that you can see are entrenched in poverty. I plan on passing on some blessings. This year we should be doing okay in the tax return area, I think I’m going to walk around and look for someone to treat to a nice warm meal.

Every second Saturday their is a ministry called City on the Hill that caters to those homeless and in financial distress. I think my wife and I are going to be a servant for them and help make them feel VIP for a day. There is a cancer ward in our local hospital; I think my wife and I are going to help bring a smile to some children who haven’t smiled for a while. I get it now, I understand what Jesus was showing as he traveled healing the sick, feeding those who were hungry, and showing love to those whose communities outcasted them. What if every Christian put down their own agenda once a month, and served their community or lived each day looking for the chance to bless someone…..do you think communities would begin to see God in a different light? Could we possibly even change the way a community looked? Change your world, you can make a difference, and it doesn’t cost a thing.

Should He Lead Again

The other day there was a show on TV on Ted Haggard. It was a special about his familiy's attempts to start a new church in Colorado Springs. For those not familiar with him, he was the senior pastor at New Life Church in Colorado, and was a prominent leader in the National Association of Evangelicals. Four years ago he was caught up in a scandal which linked him to a male prostitute, and drugs. It was a scandal that rocked America, and had a grand affect on the Christian world.

In the end Ted Haggard was removed from his pastoral and leadership roles and was torn apart in the media. Before his fall out, he was the face of Christianity on TV. Before I would come to know who he was, I would see him on TV any time they needed a spokesperson to speak on behalf of Christians. Four years later, he has decided to re-establish his role as a pastor which brings the debate….is this okay, should he be allowed to hold this position and lead people on their spiritual journey?

This is something my wife and I discussed as we watched the show. First, let me point out that no one has the right to point the finger at someone’s mistakes or faults for we all have skeleton’s in our closets that we would rather die then share with others. Secondly, everyone deserves forgiveness for one’s past, no matter how crazy it was, that’s the whole premise behind repentance. As I watched I could agree with some of his argument’s, the main one being that church should be a place for all people of all backgrounds. It should be a place not just for the righteous, but a safe haven for those who earnestly need a helping hand, freedom from any bondage they seek release from.

At one point the media asked if homosexuals were welcome to his new church, which he responded yes. You know what’s sad, I thought church was a place for all. Last time I read the bible there was no difference in sin whether you are sleeping around with people of the opposite sex, or people of the same sex. Seriously, I don’t understand why homosexuality is placed on such a high pedestal, when biblically it’s no different then lying in the eye’s of God. What blows me away, is how the same people picketing against homosexuals, with all their judgment and hate think their any holier then those they target.

Ted would go on to discuss his out casting from the very church he helped found, and his new found view as a pastor that Christianity is all about love for others and accepting them not based on their background, but for the people they are. This is what has bothered me about this wonderful religion that Christ died for, and in scripture lived as a perfect example for us. So many Christians, and churches have lost track of what we are here for, even though we teach about it every Sunday……the love of our fellow man. Aren’t we all broken? Are we all imperfect, don’t we all fall short of God’s glory every day? Then why are we so quick to cast the shadow of judgment on people in their weakest moments. As Christian’s aren’t we suppose to be the one’s anyone can come to and find love and feel acceptance in a world so quick to cast judgment and hate?

I mean wasn’t it Jesus that showed this as he sat and ate with the very people the religious elect of his day rejected like prostitutes, tax collectors, the poor, the sickly, and so on? Wasn’t it God who also showed this as he called a man named Saul, who was their version of Hitler, as he was on his way to slaughter thousands of God’s own people. Wouldn’t Paul go on to write ¾’s of the New Testament. These are the stories we read and preach about everyday of the year, and yet we are so fast to push people struggling with sin out of our sights, or turn our back to those opposite to our belief system. Now, I’m not saying this all of Christianity…but it is a virus that has certainly pitched it’s tent throughout our churches.

In the end my wife and I agreed that a pastoral role is one of the most important positions a person can hold. It is a position of influence in which you will be looked at almost God like by your congregation members. You are the person they will turn to in their times of need, their times of hardship, their times of joy. You will be a person they turn to for guidance in some of life biggest decisions. You are to be a leader and an example, and a life of a pastor is self sacrificing because you are the example your followers will imitate. I think once Ted Haggard fell from grace he relinquished that privilege to represent God as a pastor forever.

As you read through the bible you will see many people who were brought to power by God himself and choose to go against his rules. Even though some would go onto repent, none would ever have the privilege to lead God’s people again. I think it’s wonderful Ted’s wife stayed with him and his children still support him. I think it’s sad his church closed their doors on him and his family, instead of surrounding him we he needed them the most. We are all imperfect and many of us come to God in prayer quite regularly asking him for forgiveness. Let us pour out the same love for others that we seek in private and change the perception that has plagued us for so many years. I encourage all to practice the same love that Christ gave to the world. I feel blessed that I was surrounded with the people I was, and I found Oak Creek Assembly of God. It took me many years to finally make a step in the right direction, and so many times I deserved rejection, but they never gave up on me.

Instead, I would receive constant calls of motivation and encouragement. My fellow brothers would make sure to immerse me in their presence, and never gave up when I tried to distance myself so I could go back to my old ways. I was as bad as they get, and I thank God all the time for the people in my life that loved me more when I deserved it the least. It was that never ending love that has helped me to be the best husband, father, brother, son, and friend I could ever be.

The Greatest Decision Ever made



Well, we took vacation from our series looking at how one could begin the process, in quiet, of coming to God one step at a time. First, we looked at how no one is perfect. I think this is where many find themselves looking in the mirror thinking they have to come into church already put together. This would be false, it takes time and no one really reaches that pinnacle in their life where they can say they have worked out every imperfection in their soul. Secondly, we looked at the myth behind God and how over the millenniums his image has become so obscure it is hard to tell who God is and what he is really about. We looked at who he is and how he is no different then a father seeking to re-kindle a relationship with his children. We then looked at one of our first foot steps towards meeting God, prayer….and how this is where it all begins. Prayer is your own personal one on one time to open your heart and pour it all out, put all your questions and feeling on the table….just you and God, no one else. Sometime in your journey, if you choose to continue on, you will come to a cross road in your heart were your soul and conscious will demand change, and we discussed facing your cross road. Lastly we left off with the scariest and most uncomfortable steps in your walk with God….CHURCH. We left off by reading my testimony on how I felt the very first time I stepped into a church, and I believe you will be able to relate on your first visit as well.

Every year around this time people throughout America tend to sit back and ponder on the year before. In doing so we will often make subtle promises of change in our hearts….goals we hope to accomplish, or bondages we hope to overcome in this New Year before us. For some it’s loosing weight, for others it quitting smoking, or getting a better job. The only problem is within weeks or best months we tend to fall back into our old habits and in turn fail to live up to what our heart desired. The funny part is the extent we will often go to fulfill these goals, like spending hundreds on gym equipment, supplements, and personal trainers to reach our desired weight. Maybe it tossing the cigarette pack aside and paying double for nicotine replacements, or enrolling in school to have an advantage in the job market for that dream job. In the end we have this wonderful gym equipment collecting dust, 12 boxes of nicotine gum going stale, and three college courses under our belt with a new debt of $2-$3,000 with no intent of going back.

So this brings us to one of the greatest decisions, and best new years resolutions one can partake of. It is also one of the biggest steps you will ever make in your journey to God…..the decision to give it all to God, the decision to commit your heart, your mind, your body, your morals, your life from this day forward to him. You see this is the goal of God’s word and the true meaning of what it’s all about…utter repentance of one’s past and dedication to one’s future. At some point if you really give the big guy a chance, if you decide to open your heart to prayer, if you decide to pick up his word the bible, if you decide to walk out of your comfort zone and enter into a church to take your worship to the next level, at some point in your spiritual journey your heart will move you to this very decision. This is what Jesus died for, this is why God himself sent his son for, this is what Christianity is all about, this is why I write this blog and spend my nights on my knees praying for you reading this today……..to help you come to the point where you fall in love with God so hard, nothing else makes sense then to give God your all.

The best part of this new years resolution is unlike all the others you have made and failed on your own accord, this is one you’re not alone in, this one is out of your hands, and this one only requires words from your mouth that are true in your heart. For some, you aren’t ready yet and that’s okay, for some it’s time. Paul said it best in Romans 10:9-10

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”[e] 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[f]

If in your heart you feel it is time and you want to leave your past in the past and start your year off with a clean slate in the eye’s of God, if you feel in your heart that from here on forth you want your life to be a life that walks with God hand in hand then please use this prayer as an example to make your own:

"God, I recognize that I have not lived my life for You up until now. I have been living for myself and that is wrong. I need You in my life; I want You in my life. I acknowledge the completed work of Your Son Jesus Christ in giving His life for me on the cross at Calvary, and I long to receive the forgiveness you have made freely available to me through this sacrifice. Come into my life now, Lord. Take up residence in my heart and be my king, my Lord, and my Savior. From this day forward, I will no longer be controlled by sin, or the desire to please myself, but I will follow You all the days of my life. Those days are in Your hands. I ask this in Jesus' precious and holy name. Amen.

You have not only been forgiven of your past, and washed clean of all the skeletons in your closet, your name has been entered in what is called God’s book of life. Believe it or not at this very moment in heaven there is rejoicing because of you:

Luke 15:10 - I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

This is truly the first step of many to come, as you continuously grow in your relationship with God you may be moved to get baptized one day. There are so many avenues to a spiritual journey and my heart is ecstatic that I was able to share in the greatest prayer in your life. I will warn you that life as a Christian is a hard decision because Satan is always on the hunt to win back a soul he has lost, and never sleeps in his endeavors. Remember this prayer isn’t a one way ticket heaven for if a person chooses to turn their back on God and go back to a life rattled with sin, essentially you are voiding out the very prayer you said today. You will always fall short and stumble into sin, sometimes daily, just remember that God is a merciful God and is open to your prayers of repentance. This is your relationship with God, this is your journey, where it goes, and where it ends up is up to you. I pray this year will be one the best years of your life, and God will shine brightly from your heart. God Bless