Category: Life Happens

Honoring Our Military – “Raw Worship”

Posted in Discipleship, Life Happens, Worship2 Comments

(Written 10/23/2008)

“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”John 4:24

Can you remember the most moving worship service you ever attended? I can, because it was only two days ago, on Easter Sunday.

My wife and I entered the Chapel Service at the Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas with our son wearing his sharp “dress blues.” Around us sat 1,000 young, uniformed men and women, at all stages of military basic training–“zero weekers” to “new airmen.”

Music videos played as we entered. Toward the beginning of the service, the worship leaders and band led some upbeat worship music along with a jazzed-up version of a moving hymn.

Then IT happened–the most powerful worship moment I can remember! The Mark Schultz video, Letters from War, began to play. In amazing unison, the soldiers leaped to their feet, let out a yell, and started passing around boxes of tissues. As the song began, every soldier was singing and every soldier was crying.

The moment was raw….the moment was real! They seemed to understand that God helped them through another week of “Hell on earth” as they prepared to serve our country. That week, the God of the Bible had been their God, their helper, their strength.

The most touching moment was the point in the video when the soldier came home. As his car turned down the lane to his farm on the video, the soldiers let out an enormous cheer. Wow! Patriotism and the Spirit of God was as powerful as any moment in my life.

Later, during the offering, I watched my son count out 10% of his small, military salary and place it in the basket as it passed. Words can never adequately describe how I felt at that moment!

The truth is, our churches are starving for that level of raw worship. Assimilation rates will dramatically improve if we achieve worship that is real….worship that is raw…worship that is relevant! Even though I have been a Christian for 34 years, I personally long for that kind of worship. I fear that we may have to experience a great trial in our lives, similar to these soldiers, if we ever hope to cling desperately to God again.

Prayer: “Lord, whatever it takes. Let us see You. Let us sense You. Let us experience You. Let us worship You in a way that is raw and real. Let us serve you with a living sacrifice which is our reasonable service because You are worthy!”

Adopted

Posted in Life Happens, WorshipLeave a comment

This morning at Shelbyville First Baptist Church, Holly Prosser shared her testimony about adopting her daughter Ellie.  Ellie’s story is a heart-wrenching, fascinating drama about moving from an Ethiopian orphanage to a loving, American family where she is growing and flourishing.  Check out the picture of Ellie and “mom” this past Christmas.  Also, be sure to checkout Holly’s blog here!

God does the exact same thing for us when we place our faith in the Lord Jesus.  He moves us from a position of helplessness to a position of hope.  He adopts us as His own child and promises to provide and care for us throughout eternity.  When business guru Peter Drucker was asked why he became a Christian, he simply answered, “There’s no better deal!”  Indeed, there’s no better deal than being adopted by God Himself.

Look how the Apostle John describes this awesome deal of adoption:

     1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.  1 John 3:1-3 (NIV)

 

 

An Old Passion Returns

Posted in Church Chat, Life Happens4 Comments

I began to run regularly in my mid 20s.  I was very passionate about the sport and thought about it throughout the day.  As soon as I completed a run I was thinking about my next run.  As a result of running, I reached a fairly high level of fitness and enjoyed running in several races over the years. 

After becoming a pastor, I got sidetracked from running for a few years.  A couple of my friends from Belfry, Roger Varney and Harold Osborne, inspired me to get started again and I rediscovered my passion for running very quickly.  I think I became fairly fit again and I set several personal records (PRs) in local races.

Then “it” happened.  I had my first injury.  I tore a menicus in my knee and had to have surgery.  Although the injury was not all that serious, I never resumed running with the same intensity.  Through the years I became less active and put on some weight.  This past January I decided that I had to do something about my weight and my level of fitness.  Since January 18, I have lost 39 pounds and have rediscovered my passion for running.  One tool that has been very beneficial to me is a website call MyPlate.  This website helps you set weight goals and monitor calorie intake.

I said all this to say that I plan to blog occasionally about my running ventures.  I apologize in advance because I realize that not everyone is passionate about running.  I hope to connect my writing about running to our daily race for Christ.  Just as I long to be faithful throughout my life in my race for Christ, I long to remain faithful in my personal fitness and running.  Writing about it here will give me an outlet and a level of accountability.  Thank you in advance for your patience.

Thess passages come to mind this morning….

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”  1 Corinthians 9:24

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”  2 Timothy 4:7

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”  Hebrews 12:1

 

Fights and Quarrels in the Church

Posted in Church Chat, Discipleship, Funny, Life Happens2 Comments

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.This week I’ve been reading from the New Testament written by James, the brother of Jesus.  In the passage above, James asks the question, “What causes fights and quarrels among you?”  Then he answers his own question by saying, “Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?”  James 4:1-3, NIV

This week I have been reading the New Testament book written by James, the brother of Jesus.  I love his letter written “To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations” (James 1:1) because it is very practical and very direct.  We need more preaching and teaching like that today.

In the above passage (4:1-3), James identifies the source of most “fights and quarrels” in the church–they derive from our selfish, personal desires.  The greek word for the term “desires” is the source of the word “hedonism.”  Dictionary.com defines “hedonism” as “the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the highest good.”

We live in a day when many believe that the church exists to serve them, to entertain them, and to make them happy, but actually the opposite is true.  The Church does not exist to serve us; as Christians, we exist to serve the Church. 

May the Lord help every believer in every Christ-honoring church to set aside his or her personal desires for the church to pursue the desires that the Lord has for His church!  May it begin in me.

The “Skinny” on Spiritual Growth

Posted in Church Chat, Discipleship, Life Happens, Ministry1 Comment

The last few weeks at Shelbyville First Baptist Church, Pastor Andy McDonald and I have been teaching our second-level foundational class called Maturity 201.  The class includes some of the material written by Dr. Rick Warren as well as material I personally wrote for the class.

In Maturity 201 we discuss the important subject of spiritual maturity.  Here is a brief excerpt from the class:

FACTS ABOUT SPIRITUAL MATURITY

  • Spiritual maturity IS NOT automatic.  A Christian believer must be disciplined and work at achieving spiritual maturity.  We can’t just sit back and “hope” it happens.  We have to develop and practice the spiritual habits that lead us to spiritual maturity.  For more information on this topic, read my other entries under the “discipleship” category. 

“You have been Christians for a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others, but instead … you need someone to teach you … When a person is still living on milk, it shows he isn’t very far along in the Christian life … He’s still a baby Christian!”  Hebrews 5:12-13 (LB)

  • Spiritual maturity is a journey.  Ultimately, spiritual maturity will take a lifetime.  It is a process–a lifelong journey of becoming more and more like Christ.

“Learn to be mature.”  Proverbs 8:5 (GN)

“Continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our savior Jesus Christ.”  2 Peter 3:18 (GN)

  • Spiritual maturity takes discipline.  Spiritual maturity is not complicated, but it is not easy.  It takes discipline to be spiritually fit just like it takes discipline to be physically fit.

“Take the time and the trouble to keep yourself spiritually fit.”  1 Timothy 4:7b (Ph)

“Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.”  1 Timothy 4:7b (NASB)