The importance of living out your relationship with Christ!

Today I had the honor and privilege of praying with a man to receive Christ as his Savior. Now as a Pastor I have had this honor and privilege too many times to count, but this one was different.

He is in 70's and has never confessed Jesus as Lord, he has always been a hard working man, that never went to church, but never stopped his family from going either. Today my wife and I took their family a Chocolate drizzle cake and after spending some time with him at his home I ministered to him and shared with them the Love that God has for him.

I communicated to him that he doesn't have to clean himself up or even understand what's going on, but all he had to do was put his trust and life in the hands of a God that desires to have a relationship with him. After a few minutes of prayer for his physical needs, I asked him if he was ready to receive Christ as his Savior and to my surprise he said yes.

I joined hands with him and his sofa became an altar and I prayed a prayer of repentance with him and gave him assurance that his relationship with God was now in the best possible position. Tears were filling his eyes as I took a few minutes to encourage him on what just happened.

I shared with him that according to 2 Cor. 5:17 that he was now a new creation, old things had passed away and all things become new and because of the prayer he prayed he was now a new creation. He may be 70 in the physical sense but he was just re born in the spirit.

A smile came over his face and said these words that were the most powerful words I have ever heard uttered in my 18 years of ministry. I told him that now that is life was in God's hands, no matter what happens with this physical body he wins, and his response to me was, "I've been watching my family and I've seen how God has worked in their lives and I know that God is going to work in mine."

WOW! What a testimony! On the outside it looked like a man who didn't have a need for Jesus, but on the inside God had been working on him for years and He didn't use a preacher, a TV, or a radio, but He was using this mans own family to show him the love and power of a Savior who loved him.

This family has been praying for this day for years and even though this day was orchestrated by God's hands, the motion was set forth years ago, by a consistent standard of living for Christ through his wife and 2 daughters.

You never know who is watching you live out your relationship with Christ. If you have lost loved ones, continue to pray for them, but the greatest thing you can do is to live for Christ in front of them.

The wife and his 2 daughters aren't pastors or even preachers, but they personified the quote from St. Francis of Assisi who said, "Preach the gospel at all times and if you have to use words!"

Today was a turning point in my ministry and life, I thank God for allowing me to be used and to see this powerful life changing testimony lived out in God's people!

Grace for Living

Romans 5:3-4 We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulations produces perserverance; and perseverance, character and character, hope!

These profound words, attributed to English novelist Charles Reade, serve as an important remind of the the power of little things. "Sow an act, and you reap a habit Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny." It's easy to lose the connection between actions and destiny. In between are habits and character, the stuff of which lifetimes are made and destinies realized.

Today you and I will act a hundred times. We would do well to remember the Bible's words that "the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord, Psalm 37:23. Don't lose sight of the connection between today's acts and tomorrow's destiny.

God has a wonderful plan for you, Embrace every minute of it by acting thoughtfully and diligently.

Grace for Living

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

If there is one thing most people don't like about the modern political process, it would have to be the abundance of promises candidates make, but often can't keep. After they are elected, the political process gets so complicated it becomes impossible for politicians to keep all their campaign promises.

But promises are important and not just in politics. We depend on the ability to trust one another's words in order to have meaningful relationships in life. The Bible tells us that God's words are wholly trustworthy the they last forever. Whatever God says, whatever promises he makes, we know His words will never fail

He is an absolute perfect promise keeper, that's the kind of God He is.

Grace For Living

Romans 8:37 Yet in all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

In his wonderful hymn "Amazing Grace, " John Newton wrote these famous words: "Through many dangers, toils and snares we have already come." And John Newton know where of he wrote! He was a man who had escaped death a dozen times or more before his life was changed forever by God's amazing Grace.

Each of us, if we stop and examine our lives in detail, can identify times when we went through our own dangers, toils and snares. And that's the point, we went through! Too often we are rescued or saved from calamity without looking back and giving God credit for his amazing grace that carried us through.

Take a moment today to think about all God has brought you through. Reflecting on His grace in the past will give you new confidence for the present and future.

Grace for Living

Matthew 6:28-30 Consider the Lilies of the field, how they grow: They neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is , and tomorrow is thrown into the oven will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith.

Consider these three parts of our culture: garage sales, mini-storage facilities, and landfills. They're all signs that we've go more "stuff" than we know what to do with. Everyone struggles with saying "Enough!" when it come to material things.

Finding the balance between greed and contentment is a challenge. And there are no rule books to tell us when enough is enough not event he Bible. Like human father, God lets His children wrestle with some decisions like how much stuff to own. But he does give us principles in His Word, along with the promise of guidance from his Spirit. Talk to God about the best use of your material resources. With his help, you'll be well on your way to a healthy, balanced life.

Grace for Living

Psalm 119:144 The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting; Give me understanding, and I shall live.

Everywhere you go these days, human health is a hot topic. Organically grown foods, nutritional supplements, exercise, alternative therapies. You need to be strong just to keep in society. We need to be good stewards of physical health as well as our spiritual health.

But did you know that we also need to be "heart healthy"? By that I mean spiritually and emotionally strong. Experts are learning that human health is a rope of three strands: Body, soul and spirit. And the Bible gives us clear direction for how to keep all three strands vibrant and strong. The healthiest bodies are those with healthy hearts. So let's eat right and exercise, but make sure you don't neglect your soul by getting a good dose of God's Word in on a daily basis.

Gossip in the Church

Does being “in the know” about what may (or may not) be going on in the church make you feel important? Does it give you a sense of power to have the entire scoop? Do you feel the urge to seek out these kinds of tidbits in your life?

If you are in a leadership position, and rumor and gossip are part of your life, you probably need to think about what that’s doing to your witness as a believer in Christ and leader in the church. This tendency to enjoy hearing and spreading gossip is hurting you, and you may want to think about that.

If you love hearing gossip but seldom pass it on, you may justify this to yourself by saying, “but I never spread it.” Even so, the fact that you tolerate this behavior and allow yourself to listen to gossip from others promotes a certain culture within your department and the church

When you participate in a conversation based on gossip, you diminish your own credibility as a leader. People no longer see you as completely trustworthy.In the human mind, if someone is listening to our speculations about a brother and sister in Christ or in the church, the listener evidently agrees with us.

Moreover, he or she can’t really be trusted with sensitive information. When you get to the point that you are not completely trusted with confidential information, then you lose your effectiveness as a leader. Most of the time, when we are talking about someone who is not present to tell their side of the story, we are engaging in gossip.

When you are giving information, this is acceptable and expected. When you start speculating on “why” something is the way it is, it becomes gossip and rumor and quickly has the power to be highly hurtful and even de-rail someone’s effectiveness, like YOURS.

Idle talk comes back to haunt you. You are a leader and Christ follower, and leadership need to be one level above the fray.

When you encounter a group of the body gossiping, don’t participate. Don’t even tolerate it. Advise them to stop, by saying something like, “You know it’s not good to be spreading that kind of stuff because we don’t know all the details (reasons), and it’s not really any of our business.” Then, you can quickly change the subject to something else more positive or Christ-related.

When you do this consistently, those under your leadership will get the idea that gossip is not acceptable. They may still engage in gossip from time to time, but if you are modeling and demonstrating the Christ like way to handle information and making it clear gossip is not acceptable, the level of gossip and rumor will gradually diminish.

When that happens the Church becomes less toxic and more productive.

Where are the big ones

On the eve of one of my favorite holidays my mind is taken back to the days of being a youth pastor and working the numerous fire work stands we did! It never failed every year that someone would always ask for the "Big ens'".

One man said, "I don't want the little ones I want the big ones, the powerful ones, the ones that blow stuff up.". He didn't waste his time on the ones that were pretty or the ones that made ya feel good he went straight for the Big Ones!

That guy made me think about prayer! Nothing happens in the kingdom of God without prayer! Prayer is the greatest enabling factor we have against the enemy of our souls!

I don't want to waste my time with the small prayers or the ones that are pretty or even the ones that make you feel good I want the powerful ones, the ones that blow stuff up, that ones that damage things!

It's not what we say that moves the hand of God it what we believe that does! Our Faith in God's ultimate sovereign power is what enables our prayer to have power behind them!

A wiseman once said he would rather stand before the cannons of the wicked than the prayers of the righteous!

Let's cut to chase and make our prayers the Big Ones that blow stuff up!


- Posted via my iPhone

My 6 year old is getting ready for his first sermon in Children's church and he wrote this song for the altar call. "If there’s a storm or thunder all you can do is get beside your bed and pray And God can make that go away, and if you just keep praying God can make that go away."