Gospel On TV

It is amazing that every year at Christmas time, the good news of Jesus' birth is proclaimed in front of millions on TV through the Charlie Brown Christmas special. Let us pray that these words will sink in to non-believers enough that they will seek out a deeper understanding of the truths of Jesus Christ. God, may their hearts and minds be opened to the truth!

A Step Ahead Of The Devil

The other night at our Encounter service I opened my bible during the Communion time. It opened up to Matthew chapter 4. I just started reading there. There were a couple of things that hit me when I started reading...

And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But he answered, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" Matthew 4:3-4

When I read Jesus' response the word "every" stuck out to me. "Every word that comes from the mouth of God." Do I do that? Live by every word that comes from the mouth of God. I feel like if we as believers were honest with ourselves we would have to say, we don't live by every word from God's mouth. We live by some words, the comfortable ones. The words of grace and forgiveness. We live by those and cling to those. But what about the rest? What about our call to die to everything and live for Christ? When will we be able to say as Paul did in Philippians 3, "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" instead of clinging to this world and just adding Jesus to it?

After thinking about the fact that I need to start clinging to every word and not just the comfortable words of God, I moved on to next few verses.

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, "'He will command his angels concerning you,' and "'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'" Matthew 4:5-6

When I read this, It hit me that Jesus was a step ahead of the Devil. Go back to Jesus' first response, which says we are to live by "every" word that comes from God. Satan's temptation here comes with him taking a part of the word of God, not the whole word of God. I thought it was awesome that Jesus' first response addressed what Satan was about to do in the next temptation which is use part of the word of God to distort the truth.

Thank you God for opening my mind to what your Word has to say. May I live by and cling to EVERY word of yours and always use it to be a step ahead of the evil one of this world!

Remember

May our Christmas celebrations always focus on the gift of Love that we have been given.

Christmas Music

I heard about this on KSBJ yesterday morning and decided to see if I could find it online. The band at North Point Community Church borrowed IPhones and IPads and played Christmas music using instrument apps. I was really impressed and decided to share this. Hope you enjoy!

Roller Coaster Ride

Is that what your faith is like, a rollercoaster ride? I think back to youth camps during the summer or a big conference during the school year that I would attend, and I would get on fire for God. I would feel God speaking to me. I would know what he wanted me to do. I would go back to my life ready to take on the world for God. Then a few months later I would be back to my old self and the fire had kind of died out. Did that happen to you as well?

The reason I bring this up, is that I feel like this describes the life of many Christians, young, old, and somewhere in between. There are times that I feel overwhelmed with the presence of God in my life and I am on the spiritual equivalent to the highest peak of a rollercoaster, but then things happen and it drops off. Sometimes very rapidly and sometimes it is a gradual decline, but it always declines.

What causes it to happen? I know it isn’t God pulling away from me. I am the one that is pulling away from God. Either I am not reading my bible enough, or my prayer life is lacking, or the things of life have just distracted me. It is probably a combination of these and more.

I don’t want a faith that is like this and I don’t think that you want a faith like this either. When we are on fire for God, we feel His presence, hear His words, and are using the power that we have been given through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit. When we are not on fire, we are relying on ourselves and we end up feeling lost and confused about where to go, what to do, and how to overcome the struggles and temptations of this life.

I had a conversation with someone a while back where I explained the peak that I had been on. I talked about feeling the presence of God in such an overwhelming way and hearing God speak for a couple of months. It was amazing to feel this way for several months at a time. I then explained that I hadn’t been feeling it as much lately and I was discouraged and I wanted to get back to that place. Their response was something to the effect of “Well you can’t feel like that always.” I disagree. I believe that everyday I can feel the presence of God in this manner as long as I am pursuing it. If I don’t pursue it, then I won’t feel that presence.

I think back to a statement that I heard from Pete Briscoe at the Right Now Conference last month. He talked about Paul being a Christ intoxicated man. I loved that statement! I believe that Paul lived out the rest of his life after his conversion clinging to the presence of God and Christ in his life. And that changed who he was and how he lived. I don’t believe his faith felt like a rollercoaster ride. If yours is, it doesn’t have to be. Let’s cling to Christ and stop having a faith that is full of highs and lows.

Think

I know, I know, you must be thinking, "Another video, and of John Piper on top of it." Take 4 minutes and watch this video. John Piper's new book is titled Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God. I should be getting this book this weekend. It looks awesome. This video covers what the book is about but does it in an awesome and creative way. I can't wait to read this book that challenges us to do "one of the most hazardous things that we do." Think! And do it to bring Glory to God!

Could Be Today

Getting prepared for this weeks lesson which covers the fact that we all could die today. This video is a good reminder that Life is temporary and we need to live for the eternal.

Duty

I loved this John Piper clip about the gospel saving us from morality. Yes, saving us from morality. Watch the clip to get the full explanation of what he is talking about. I will include this quote from C.S. Lewis that he uses, in case you can't watch the video.

"A perfect man would never act from a sense of duty; he’d always want the right thing more than the wrong one. Duty is only a substitute for love (of God and of other people) like a crutch which is a substitute for a leg. Most of us need the crutch at times; but of course it is idiotic to use the crutch when our own legs (our own loves, tastes, habits etc.) can do the journey on their own." --C.S. Lewis

Do you always want the right thing more than the wrong one, or do you just choose the right thing because you feel it is your duty? I know I am guilty of this. I do things because God wants me to, which is nice. It is better than choosing the wrong thing. However I pray for a change of heart to where I will prefer what is right. I pray the Gospel will so overwhelm our lives that doing things only out of duty or obligation will exist no more. If not, are we any better than the Pharisees?

What Are You Willing To Trade?

All You Need

Do you ever find yourself praying for the same things, especially when it comes to the way you live or the sins you struggle with? I do. I wonder sometimes, why I am still dealing with something when I have been praying about it for so long?

I read a short post over at The Rabbit Room by a Ron Block. I realized when reading it that maybe the problem is that I am not embracing what I have already been given. Click Here to read the full post.

Here is the part of the post that really stuck out to me.

“As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Col 2:6).

Remember, He does not give you strength - He is your strength! He does not give you victory - He is your victory! He cannot be your life without being all you need, for “in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him” (Col 2:9).

Then count upon the fact - and stop asking for what you have!--Ron Block

Next time you feel like you are struggling or you are stuck, cling to that beautiful truth. "He does not give you strength - He is your strength! He does not give you victory - He is your victory!"

Thank You Jesus for being EVERYTHING that we need!

The Coming of Christ

Sarah Grace and I are going through an Advent Devotional Book with the family this year to prepare for Christmas and teach our children and remind ourselves about the importance of the coming of the Messiah. The Advent Devotional that we are using is called the Jesse Tree Advent Devotional by Ann Voskamp and Nancy Rodden. This is being offered free through Ann's website.

The devotion includes

Bible Text- "Readings are selected to begin in Genesis and cover significant events throughout the Old Testament — each story pointing to the coming Messiah. It’s like an overview of the whole span of His Story — leading right up to the climax of the coming Christ!"
"A devotional that (humbly attempts!) to be a read-aloud for the whole family – engaging enough for young children and yet meaty enough for teens and adults."

An Action point for the day

A color ornament to hang on your tree to remind you of the stories pointing to Christ.

Yesterday was the first day. Sorry I am not passing on this information in time for you to start on day one but if you start now you can double up today and be on track.

If you want to get a copy of this wonderful devotion, click here.

I Believe

Here is a remake of Rich Mullins' song titled Creed covered by Third Day & Brandon Heath.

Third Day and Brandon Heath perform Rich Mullins "Creed" in the studio from Garrett Viggers on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving

This video made me laugh. Since Thanksgiving is almost upon us, I thought I would share it with you.

David Crowder Band Is Awesome!

When we listen to How He Loves, Gideon will say "Is this song about Jesus?" "Yes, son, this song is about Jesus" The he says, "Yeah, its about Jesus!"

Right Now Conference Day 2

Here are some of the thoughts that came out of Day two of the Right Now conference last week.

Paul was a Christ Intoxicated Man. We need to strive to be Christ Intoxicated.—Pete Briscoe (This was actually from day one; I just wanted to make sure I added it in. Think about that statement. If you are intoxicated, it changes you, and you act differently. We should be so overwhelmed with the presence of Christ, that it changes who we are, how we act, and what we do.)

Don’t wrap yourself with an identity achieved; wrap yourself with an identity received. –J.R. Vassar

Look for the significant, not the sensational. –J.R. Vassar

Revival is when God’s people are saturated by His presence. –Joann Hummel

Your identity is not in a position it is in a person. Our identity is in Christ Alone! --J.R. Vassar

Don’t worship your work, but let your work be a form of worship. –J.R. Vassar

What if every job paid the same thing? Would you be doing the same job? --J.R. Vassar

Bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to saving souls. We need to God size our church, not super size our church. –David Kinnaman

Bigness ≠ Deepness --David Kinnaman

The Greek word for church is Ecclesia. It stands for “called out ones.” --Tony Evans

We don’t need to grow the church; we need to be the church. –Tony Evans

This was a great conference. I hope to go again next year. Between now and then I look forward to the Gospel Wakefulness Conference at Conroe Church of Christ with Jared Wilson as the Key Speaker on April 1-2, 2011 and the Sent Conference, which is at Champion Forrest Baptist Church in Houston on April 8-9, 2011.

It Is Almost Here!

Thursday November 25, 2010. A day for Joy! A day to create memories! A day to… SHOP! Oh, did you think I was talking about Thanksgiving? No, I was talking about the Toys-R-Us sale of the year, which has been moved from Black Friday to Thursday. Yes, Thanksgiving Day. A day that could be used for family, joy, memories, or helping those in need, but now instead we can go shopping one day earlier, to fuel our materialism and in most cases waste money on gifts that people don’t need. In a year they probably won’t be using them, and in 10 years they probably won’t remember them.

I know, I sound like Scrooge! It is not that I don’t love Christmas. I truly do love Christmas time. I watch Elf year round and proudly blast “Santa Clause is coming to town” (The Live Bruce Springsteen 1970’s version) from my radio and sing as loud as I can. I have just started to have some concerns for how we celebrate Christmas. Here is my main concern. For a day that is supposed to be celebrating the birth of Christ, we spend an awful lot of time, and money, making it about people other than Christ.

I have recently read a couple of blogs about Christmas time and the giving of gifts. I liked what both had to say. One was from Jared Wilson titled The Goodness of Gift Giving: the Real Christmas Conspiracy. The second was from Ann Voskamp titled: Christmas: Thinking About Whose Birthday It Is. They take two different approaches to answering the Christmas question. I suggest you read both of them.

For those of you who have stuck with me to the end of this post, let me say, I am not telling you that you are wrong for buying gifts for your family. I am not telling you that my family is not buying Christmas gifts any more. Our boys will have stuff under the tree. But it is just that; it is stuff. It is stuff that will rust or rot, stuff that will get lost, forgotten, or destroyed. It is not eternal. So what I am is asking is that we as believers spend some time in prayer this year before we do go out and do some binge shopping. Pray about and consider what your plans are for celebrating this holiday. And however we are going to celebrate, let us be certain to spend more time this this year sharing the truth of Christ and the truth of why we are celebrating.

Thoughts From The Right Now Conference

Choose Daily, Hate Injustice, Work as Worship, & Act Swiftly.

Last week I was blessed with the opportunity to go to the Right Now Conference in Dallas with three of my brothers in Christ. The conference was great. It was a breath of fresh air and it challenged me to make changes in my own life and to encourage changes in the life of my church. I am posting some great statements that I heard from this conference. They are only punch lines & thoughts of lessons and do not explain the full context of what they were addressing, but I feel like these thoughts were beautiful and can encourage and challenge you with out the full context. These statements came from sessions on day 1 of the conference. I will include more stuff from day 2 later. Share your thoughts about any of these statements. I pray they encourage you.

We must never allow the authority of books, institutions, or leaders to replace the authority of *knowing* Jesus Christ personally and directly. When the religious views of others interpose between us and the primary experience of Jesus as the Christ, we become unconvinced and unpersuasive travel agents handing out brochures to places we have never visited. --Brennan Manning in the Ragamuffin Gospel (shared by Pete Briscoe)

Walk with Jesus, don’t work for Him. –Pete Briscoe

Be traffickers of God’s Grace. –Pete Briscoe

The Church is God’s chosen vehicle to take the gospel into the world. –Pete Briscoe

Don’t judge what God is doing by what we do or don’t like. –Larry Osborne

We like to be a Servant Leader until someone wants us to be a servant. –Larry Osborne

We exist [individually & as a church] to live out the Great Commandment and to carry out the Great Commission. –Dave Auda

God Loves You, He created you uniquely, He gifted you specifically, & He placed you strategically. Remember this and be used by God right where He has placed you.—Dave Auda

How are we going to get people into a relationship with Christ while we are squeezing them through the tiny hole of religion? --Tim Ross

God places boundaries in our lives for His purposes and there is true joy in submitting to those boundaries. –Todd Phillips

Seek wise council, especially when you are most certain. –Todd Phillips

God’s solution for a hungry & hurting world is a compassionate church. –Max Lucado

Compassion is our finest Apologetic. –Max Lucado

The book of Acts is in the Bible, not to show us what the church did, but to show us what the church can do. –Max Lucado

Don’t neglect compassion. 2000 verses in the bible tell us to care for the poor. –Max Lucado

My Tongue

Last week I received a text message from one of my coworkers asking what I would do with a billion dollars. My response was that I would use it to bring glory to God. I later explained that this is where my heart is and I hope it doesn't change no matter how much money I have.

It was at this point that I realized I was sending all of these second round of text messages to my brother-in-law and not to my coworker. I sent a message saying "oh sorry those were meant for someone else." I thought "At least these messages were about God & not about something embarrassing or inappropriate."

In this I was just reminded how I need to control my tongue (James 3:2-8) and use it to build people up (Ephesians 4:29).

What if before I text, email, or speak, I think twice and consider who I wouldn't want to see or hear it? Maybe if I wouldn't send or say it to someone in particular I shouldn't send or say it to anyone.

Take A Risk For The Gospel

Taking Care Of Our Bothers And Sisters

This is talking about financial needs but is not limited to them. May we always take care of our bothers and sisters financially, emotionally, and physically whenever there is a need.

Overcome

I loved these words from Jonathan Parnell on why we need to hear the Gospel over and over again. May we all be "overcome by the Gospel."

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of those who trust him is old news. It is really old, really good news. So what are we aiming for in hearing again and again that which we've heard before?

The hope in hearing the old, good news is that it would perpetually break new ground in our lives. Our hearts are like a jungle. There is untamed wilderness and darkness that has not yet been brought, as it were, under the rule of the One who has laid claim to it all.

We need to hear the gospel again and again so that the old, good news of Jesus Christ would reach into these unchartered territoties of our lives and fly the flag of its dominion. This is how we are "being saved." This is what it means to be overcome by the gospel. --Jonathan Parnell (post on www.desiringgod.org)

New

"Forgiven, Beloved, Hidden in Christ, Made in the image of the giver of life. Righteous & Holy, Reborn & Remain, Accepted & Worthy, This is our new name!" --Jason Gray from song I Am New

Find Joy and Praise God for the truth in the words of this song!

Thought

I read this yesterday and I was thinking about all of the people encouraging us not to work too hard and to not take on too much. I feel like people mean well, but I also feel like God has opened our eyes to work that he wants us to do and I feel like making excuses to not do it would be sinful.

One of the most frustrating things about moving into this new consciousness of Christ in a particular area is that the people around us, especially the people we love most, sometimes seem committed to keeping us in the old consciousness. That is what they are used to. So by unbelief they try to keep us nailed to that Cross when everything in us is screaming “RESURRECTION!” By faith we’ve got to continue loving them even though they seem against us; they are part of the cocoon from which we’re trying to break free. That’s what gives our wings the strength to fly once we’re out. If any man is in Christ, he is (not “will be”) a new creation.
--Ron Block Commenting in the Rabbit Room

Time For War

I have been thinking about spiritual warfare lately. As we read through the New Testament we read several passages that remind us of the battle that is going on. Verses like:

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. --1 Peter 5:8

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. --Ephesians 6:11-13

I don’t think like this on a daily basis, but I think I need to start. I need to recognize the battle I have to face as I face the temptation of sin that tries to separate me from God. I need to realize that Satan has waged war on believers to work against the good work of God that is going on in our lives and through our lives. There is a battle going on for the souls of the lost and I need to take a stand. It is time to take a fighting stance against the evil of this world and against the work of Satan.

Does that scare you? Do you feel inadequate to think of yourself as a warrior for God? I do sometimes. I question my abilities. I question if I will have the right words. I question if I am strong enough. But the truth is I don’t have to be. I just have to be willing and trust that God is big enough.

This summer I read a book titled Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin Jr. It is a fiction book that is a story of the battle between good and evil. I loved the book even though all of the characters are animals. One of the main characters of the story was Chauntecleer, a rooster. The night before a battle between good and evil was about to take place he made this speech to the rest of those who stood for good. He used these words to encourage them to stand and fight the evil of their world. I remember being encouraged when I read these words. I remember feeling moved to take a stand no matter how inadequate I feel, because God has prepared us for the fight.

I pray these words will encourage you to make a stand for God today!

“Now that time is come which one day had to come. God breathed faith into us so that today we might be faithful. For generations God won trust from us so that today we might trust him. Years and years of providence had this purpose: that for one day we might not faint, but believe in him--and fight--stouthearted, fight--and win--and live!”

You Surpass Them All

I was going to tell my wife this personally but I remember recently hearing a discussion on the importance of publicly honoring and praising your spouse, and that I agree with wholeheartedly and I realize I should do this much more than I do.

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life...She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks...She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy...She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue...She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness...Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all." Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate. --Selections from Proverbs 31

Sarah Grace, these verses describe you. No matter how much you will want to disagree with me, they do! I am proud of you. I am proud to call you my wife. I am proud that people in our community recognize you as a Godly woman who chooses to serve God through loving others and helping those in need. And yes, “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”

I Love You