Good Question



This morning Teresa asked me a very good question. The question was, “What do babies think about while in the womb?” I was stunned and couldn’t think of an answer. Logic would dictate that babies do think; especially in week 22. But what would a baby think about?
I do know that God knows who we are in the womb. David talks about this in one of his Psalms. St Paul even states in Ephesians that God knew us even before He created the Earth. I may not know what babies think about in the womb but I do know they are known by God. That is awesome when I stop to think about it.
St Paul in Ephesians even says that God foreknew that I would come to know Him as Savior and Lord. He chose me before time was started and I trust that He has knows Ripley as He knows me. I pray that He draws Ripley to Himself at an early age. I also pray that He brings Ripley through the pregnancy healthy and whole. But if in His wisdom, He chooses to do otherwise I will trust in Him. She will be perfect regardless.
Going back to the original question Teresa asked about what Ripley is thinking about. Since she is my child, I’m thinking she is thinking about either food or working on her backstroke; she is in liquid after all and I love to swim. ; - )

Getting Deep



I love small groups. The small groups’ ministry gives a church of any size the opportunity for the members a place for in-depth learning. The group Teresa and I have been in for the last 10 months has been great. This group has given me the opportunity to just seat back and learn instead of lead/teach. In the past 8 years, I’ve started small groups and lead small groups but this is the first time in awhile I’ve been a member. It has been great. Last week, we completed the Focus on the Family “The Truth Project” where we studied world view; not a shallow topic. We all enjoyed the in-depth of this topic and all agreed to continue to meet studying new topics.
The subject we start studying this week is Hermeneutics (the science and art of biblical interpretation). It’s a neat story how we decided on this topic that most church attendees have never heard of. While before we started one of the “The Truth Project” sessions 6 weeks ago, we were talking about Hermeneutics and word studies. As we discussed this, one of the members expressed a desire to learn more about the subject. I volunteered lead a short how to course. This Monday is the beginning of a 4 to 5 week course of Hermeneutics and word studies. This week is just the definition of Hermeneutics and the reason why Christians should know how to interpret the Bible. I really have enjoyed rereading some of my Bible college text books and buying new ones on the subject; may God use this to glorify Himself. After all, that is my main purpose in life; to bring glory to my Heavenly Father.

Perspective



Perspective is defined as one's "point of view", the choice of a context for opinions, beliefs and experiences (Wikipedia.com)

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I read the Gospel of Mark at least once a year. I thought it was time again, to read through this handbook for Leadership. God showed something to me that I haven’t thought about. In the first chapter of Mark, John the Baptist is talking about the coming One (Jesus Christ). He mentions in verse 7, “And he was preaching, and saying, “’After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals.”’

The phrase that made me stop was “. . . and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals.” Wow; this is the great John the Baptist. John was spoken about in the Old Testament; hundreds of years before his birth. He had followers who hung on every word he said. He had Roman soldiers turning away from their pagan ways to embrace God as the only God. He knew where he stood compared to Jesus Christ. You see John the Baptist had perspective.

You see the job of a servant was to remove their master’s sandals; however, John was saying that he was lower than the sandal removing servant because he wasn’t even high enough in the servant’s hierarchy. You see there was a hierarchy when it came to the servants of a master. The lowest of the servants had the job of washing the feet of visitors and the highest level was the head servant; what we call today the butler. It seems to me that since John was foretold to be the forbearer of the Christ, he would be closest to the butler but in his own eyes he saw himself as the lowest level of servants.

I need to remember this as God opens the door for me to pastor a church. Later on in Mark, we are shown what it means to be a leader as we read how Jesus acted. I had forgotten that the first lesson on true leadership was shown by John the Baptist. We need the proper perspective on where we stand in relation to Jesus Christ. I need perspective on how I should lead God’s people. I’m so thankful God revealed this nugget of truth to me today.

We're Having A Baby!!!!

The biggest blessing a husband and wife can ever receive from our Heavenly Father
(2nd to salvation) is to be entrusted with a person to raise either through adoption or giving birth. Well, God has blessed us with a little person growing in Teresa.We just found out that this little one will be a GIRL. Teresa is in the middle of her 21st week.We've waited this long to share this praise because we wanted it all to ourselves.You parents should understand.We both are very excited and am praying for good health. The top of the list of names is Ripley Ann, but it could change but I like it too much.

As a good daddy, I must have photos so see below for some.

Our baby at 21 weeks.

Scan showing the baby's head.

Scan showing our baby's head and body.

Scan showing that our little one is a girl. Simply beautiful!

Remembering



I’ve been meaning to write my thoughts down on remembering. This morning I looked at my left hand and between my pointing figure and my thumb is a fine faint line; I really won’t call it a scar. It made me remember the last night of final exams of my first year in Bible College. We freshmen were being dumb and running around and I slipped and ran my hand into a doorframe. The memory makes me smile; weird as it is. We have many things that we have that can cause us to have total recall of a memory. There is a flat stone on the bottom of our bookshelf in the living room that makes me remember Teresa and my vacation to Ireland back in 2004. I picked up 4 stones from the Cliffs of Moher and brought them back. This is one I kept for myself. I smile every time I notice it.
God told the Children of Israel to pick up stones as they walked on the dried ground of the Jordan River and pile them together and make an altar so the generations to come will know what He did for their forefathers. Every time an Israelite walked by the pile of stones, they would remember the blessings God has done for them.
One day, we will see Jesus in heaven and see the scars of the nails in His hands and His feet. These scars will be a reminder of what He did for us on the cross. We will be reminded for all eternity of what a great and awesome God we have. He took our place on the cross and paid the sin duty He knew we could never pay. Instead of this memory bringing a smile to my face, I’m thinking it will bring tears of joy and thanksgiving.
Thank you Jesus for taking my place and making me an adopted son!

Food is Energy (or Learning to Feed Yourself)



Have you ever had your body just stop because you had nothing in your stomach it could use as fuel? I have, and it’s a weird feeling. Most of the time, I push through this feeling but man it can be tough. During my workout today, I swam 30 minutes at the YMCA and in the middle of it I heard my stomach yell, “feed me!” The food I had eaten before was all gone. I had enough energy stored to finish with no problem but last week was a different story. I had decided to forgo a small snack before heading out for a short 3 mile run. Right in the middle, my body told me that I was dumb and I could feel my energy slowly dissolving. It was as if I could see the needle on the gear of my body slowing moving to zero.

I’m slowly learning that the more I exercise, the more I need to eat. That’s hard for me because I do not want to regain the weight I’ve lost; it’s always in the back of my mind. Teresa has told me I need to treat food more like an athlete instead of a dieter. My body needs the fuel to burn as I weigh train, run, bike, and swim. Having a balanced diet with exercise will keep me healthy and moving.

If I know I can’t rely on the food I ate yesterday to fuel my activities today, why is it we think differently when thinking about Spiritual nourishment? We think that Sunday’s sermon is all we need to be a healthy Christian. We think that being spoon fed a spoon full of Bible will get us through our week. WRONG!

We need to view Bible studying the same way an athlete views eating enough protein and carbs. It’s about fueling the machine. The church as a whole has done the members a disservice in recent years by not teaching them to study the Bible on their own along with weekly insights shared by the pastor. We have way too many malnourished saints who live defeated lives because they have not a clue what the Bible says about how they should live their lives.

We have Christians who have been saved for decades who don’t know how to lead anyone to Christ because they don’t know the scriptures. They only know that they are heading to heaven and that’s good enough. Wrong! The church has traded being a place of learning to being a social club where all you’re “felt needs” are met. Instead of having 6 steps of how to be debt free, we need a series on what the Bible says about homosexuality, sex before marriage, unmarried couples living together, and so on. It’s a sad state when a church has to do a 6 week series on why the book and/or movie “The Da Vinci Code” is only a story and is not based on facts because your average Christian is clueless.

It’s time that the church trains its members to be the warriors of Christ instead of being “dumb and dumber.” It’s my passion as a man called to pastor to do what Ephesians 4:11-12 (“And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ”) has told me to do. Like the athlete in me that loves sharing the value of exercise and eating right, the pastor in me wants to walk up beside my fellow Christian and make sure they know how to feed themselves the wisdom of God’s word.

Leadership



I often think about the idea of leadership. Working in the business world for the last 12 years while working in churches, I’ve seen a lot of different styles of leadership. I have a strong desire to make sure there is good clear leadership in the life of any church I’m working with because it’s one of my Spiritual gifts.

I read the gospel of Mark at least once year because this is the book that shows us how we should lead. In the first chapter of the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, the prophet Ezekiel sees four faces. He sees the face of a loin, an ox, a man, and an eagle. Each face is a picture of Jesus Christ; He is King (the lion), Jesus is a servant (the ox), Jesus is a man (the man), and Jesus is God (the eagle). Have you ever wondered why we have fours gospels instead just one? The reason is each gospel portrays Jesus differently; four different angles or traits of the same God Man. The book of Matthew was written to show Jesus as the promised King of the Jews, Mark was written to show Jesus as the servant, Luke shows Jesus as a man, and John shows Jesus to be God in flesh.

Jesus is the ultimate example on how we (His children) should live our lives. Mark is the handbook on how His people should lead. I feel it’s a most read for any man who wishes to pastor a church or lead a ministry.

A few weeks ago, I rented the movie “Outlander.” It was a pretty good fantasy film about an alien [that looks human; played by James Caviezel (actor who played Jesus Christ in “The Passion of the Christ”)] that crash lands on Earth in the 1400’s Norway. He comes across Vikings and battles an alien monster he had on his ship. The reason I bring this movie up while discussing leadership is there’s a scene in the deleted section of the DVD where the king of the Viking tribe the alien is helping is talking with his nephew about how to be king. He tells the young man that serving and protecting his people is a king’s true duty; not being a tyrant.

In the book of Mark, the true definition of being a leader is shown in Christ Jesus. He came serving others, and at the end He protected us from an eternity separated from Him by paying the sin debt we all owe. Any man who leaders a church as pastor should never “rule” the members like he is king over them. In the eyes of God, we are a family and all equal so the pastor of a church should lead like a loving brother leads younger siblings.

The church is a Christocracy where Christ is King of all and is the leader. A pastor is a steward or servant who God puts in place to help His children grow in their walks. Seeing the Biblical idea of leadership has helped me in my secular workplace and continues to help keep me in the right frame of mind while leading God’s people.

God Was Glorified



The service at Pine Chapel Baptist Church went very well. The main idea of the sermon was that we (the church) need to stay focused on the goal Paul talks about in Philippians 3:12-16. I talked about if the church or we Christians are distracted from fulfilling our goal or purpose we fail. The main goal or purpose of the church and as Christians is to bring glory to God period. I spoke on one thing that can and will distract us from fulfill this goal; it is self-centeredness.
The people were receptive to the sermon. There were a lot of positive comments as people left. My only goal today was to make sure the church body was encouraged, and to make sure they left fed; of course, this we secondary to the main goal which was to make sure to glorify God the Father.
I guess the topic could have been ill received if the approached was different. I approach of the sermon was as a talk among family. I look forward to seeing how God uses this to spark talks of the families during Sunday dinner and with the church body talking among themselves. All in all, I feel God was glorified.

Me, Myself, and I



It has always amazed me how self-centered we (humanity) truly are. I’m thinking about the topic of this week’s sermon (titled “Staying Focus”) and the idea is to not be self-centered but Christ-centered. The main idea is that Christians and the church can start to just think about themselves and get off focused on the true purpose of our lives and the church. It’s about bringing glory to God. To take ourselves out of the equation so God can be glorified.

Self-centeredness is nothing new in this world or even to the church. Jesus told his disciples several times in the gospels to put others before themselves, to consider others higher than themselves, and that the first will be last and the last first.

On our way home in May 2008 from a conference in Washington, DC, Teresa and I were going slow on I95 south on a Saturday (go figure). I kept seeing people just change lanes with no signal (my pet peeve) and generally acting like they were the only people on the road. That day, I coined a phrase, “It’s your world, and we just live in it.” The people of this world have an excuse (not a good one, but they do have it) because they are in darkness where what feels good do it is the general principle.

The church and Christians have no excuse. Jesus’ teachings should be our foundation of living. Yes we are human and by nature putting oneself first is easier than “dying to oneself.” Jesus told us that we need to pick up our cross daily as we walk with Him. This means that we should die to our own interests and follow the interests He has put in us. He said “daily” or for me multiple times daily. It is difficult but not impossible because after all we have the Holy Spirit in us which will help us.

God makes things that are impossible possible for His children because after all He is the One who does and we are called to follow His lead. Where are you in this issue? I wrestle with it myself but I trust God is working on me. The more we read the Bible, pray, and do God’s work, the stronger the spirit is and the weaker the flesh is. The stronger the spirit is, the easier it is to follow God’s direction; in this case, putting others before you.

Preaching Opportunities



It seems that I'm needed to preach the Bible at other churches this summer. I'm excited to do so because I love to proclaim God's word and I enjoy meeting new people. I'm gearing up to start sermon prep for this Sunday's sermon. Pray that God uses me to encourage the below churches.

July 12: Pine Chapel Baptist Church in Hampton, VA
August 9: Bayview Baptist Church in Norfolk, VA
August 16 and 23: Salem Baptist Church

Again Jesus



On Monday night, our “The Truth Project” group talked about the State. After watching the video clip, we discussed the health of the U.S. and the concerns we have on how the country is changing. I’ve been thinking about this and I must admit, I have not been praying for our country or the leadership. I have confessed this sin to God (He calls us to pray for our leadership). I’m praying that God leads our leadership (Proverbs 21:1 “The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.”) the way He wants them to go. If you allow yourself to think about what’s on the news everyday, it can make you depressed.

Evil in the U.S. is increasing on a daily basis. Murder, rape and child abuse are flooding America. Children are destroying schools and killing their fellow students. Terrorism has finally entered The United States of America. We watch the news; the anchors will gladly interview the Democrats and Republicans to find out the answer on how to solve these issues. The Liberals and Conservatives, and the racial and gender activists talk as though they know how to fix these problems. According to them, we need more sex education or less sex education, more sex or less sex, bigger government or smaller government, more restrictive laws or more lenient laws, and on and on. They tell us that if we just raise or lower the taxes, and build more prisons or release more prisoners, that America will just fine. We need more freedom, or we need to sacrifice some of our liberties. They all think that they know the answer, but they obviously can't all be right. The fact is that none of them are correct.

Unless, the Christ-followers do what we are told to do and pray for our country, we have nothing to complain about. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 (“if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”), we are called to humble ourselves and lay aside politics (I heard it said best by Billy Graham that God isn’t for the left wing or the right wing; He’s for the whole bird.) and ask God to heal our country. We haven’t had a revival in our country in a very long time. After September 11, 2001, people went to church in large numbers but with in a few months everything was back to the norm. We need a revival in our country.

I heard it best said that the word “Revival” means “Again Jesus.” Our churches need Jesus again. We don’t need programs or campaigns to get people to come to our church. Church attendance means nothing if the people coming aren’t saved. We need our hearts broken for the lost around us; until we (as Christ-followers) have revival in our own hearts, how can we expect revival to happen in America. We need to get on our faces before God, and confess our sins and ask for God to break our hearts for our lost family members, neighbors, co-workers, and our communities.

Until we Christ-followers have broken and changed hearts, our country is doomed to go the way of the Greek Empire, Roman Empire, Great Britain, and other countries that God has put to the side by either destroying them completely or removing their power. Until we have Jesus Again in our churches, we can not do anything of good for our country. Pray that God breaks your heart.

Not My Eyes



I had a strange encounter on Friday in the gym’s locker room. A co-worker who goes to the gym at lunch like me made a comment about the lady who was working out in the free weight area with us on Thursday. He said that he was hoping she was back. I made a comment that I was doing stationary bike and would not be in the free weight area. He told me that I should change it up if she’s in there. I told him that the woman actually got on my nerves because before every set her trainer had her do, she would complain. Yes, she was easy on the eyes but I tried to not look (or stare) at her like this co-worker. My co-worker looked kind of perplexed because of my attitude. I told him that when I got married, I made a vow to respect my wife so I try not to look at other women even though I am not prefect I try not to stare at the women who work out with us. I could tell that this was an alien idea to him.

Jesus made it clear that if a man looks at a woman and lusts after her, he has sinned. In the eyes of God, if you daydream about having sex with a hot young thing you see in the gym; in the eyes of God you committed sexual sin. If I had stared at this woman yesterday and daydreamed about doing things with her, in the eyes of God I would be guilty of adultery. As a child of God (because of the blood of Christ) my eyes are not my own. My eyes belong to Him who owns me lock, stock, and barrel. Jesus paid for my sin debt and now I belong to Him. Just as I told my co-worker, I’m not prefect but I try to avoid staring and when temptation is there I ask God for help. Paul told Timothy to run away from youthful lusts and so I do. As in the movie “Monty Python Holy Grail” I yell in my mind, “Run Away! Run Away!”

I learned a song as a child that seems it up: “Oh be careful little eyes what you see. Oh be careful little eyes what you see. For the Father up above is looking down in love, oh be careful little eyes what you see.” God is everywhere and all knowing. He knows what can trap us and He always makes a way to escape temptation. If I couldn’t control myself yesterday and not look at the woman working out, I would have left the gym without lifting a single weight. I would rather go a day with out exercise than sin in the eyes of my Father.

Married dudes; you made a commitment to your wives. Be careful where you allow your eyes to wonder and where your figures to click on the internet. You lust after other women and fantasize enough and you may just fall to sexual sin. A thought can turn into action. Don’t even give Satan a toe hold or he will push his whole foot in. Just close your eyes.

The Wisdom Book



I make it a practice to read through the book of Proverbs once a year (sometimes twice). When I was 14 years old, I was encouraged to read the Bible by my pastor. When I got to Kings and read about Solomon and his God given wisdom, I asked God for wisdom. You see, I grew up with a reading disability. I was placed in a special school from grades 3 through 6. When I was put back into “regular school,” I was placed in the special needs (used to be called Special Ed) classes. Through God’s working, I was removed and place into the regular classes and made good grades. I even was given an award for a 4.0 average in Earth Science. Since I went through all that, I know whatever ability I have to learn is God given. I hold fast to this fact, and give God the glory for all my successes.

Proverbs has taught me a lot from my first readings of it. Reading Proverbs 16:32 (He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty) has shown me how to relate to people. If a person is upset, they lash out at the nearest person. If you do not reply back, they are stopped in their place. Answering kindness for rudeness or cruelty will be much more a punishment for the attacker because they feel foolish.

I’ve shared this with people when I can. One of our members shared with me that God brought this to his mind when a former high school classmate put a stupid comment about church on his FaceBook wall. He wanted to reply back quickly but remembered what I shared about the lessons learned from Proverbs in my last sermon. He waited and replied after asking God how he should respond.

James 1:5 is my life verse; “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” I am a witness of this verse being true. God is so faithful to His children. He will give us what we ask for. If you need wisdom and/or help with getting knowledge, ask and He will give it to you.

Memories



The last few days, the past have come to my mind. Through Facebook, I've reconnected with people I've thought of but not talked with in 10 years. Today, a young couple who were in our youth group in the late 1990's got married. Today was the first time in 6 months I've been back to the old church. I saw people I haven't seen in awhile. I talked with several old friends. It was a good time.

I have a lot of memories at the church where the wedding was held. I took a few minutes to myself and walked around. There were some changes but the memories are still there. I pray that God will give me more years to create more memories I can give back to Him. For His glory.

Calloused People



For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Matthew 13:15 (NIV)

Johanna Spyri grew up in Christian home and was tutored by the village pastor. Sadly, as she approached adulthood, she pulled away from the faith of her family. She moved to Zurich and gradually grew more calloused about the faith she learned as a child. In the grip of depression, she returned to the Lord and recovered her mental and spiritual health. Johanna soon began to write about her native Alps, stories that express Christian truth. Her most famous book, Heidi, describes a calloused old man who hadn’t been to church in decades. Eventually the tender witness of his granddaughter, Heidi, softened his heart, and he returned to the Lord with childlike wonder.

It’s easy to become calloused toward God and His church and to pull away from the faith. This is sometimes because of painful events, sometimes because of neglect, sometimes because of a willful choice. This type of spiritual callousness keeps out Gods love. If you’ve grown calloused, ask God to soften your heart so you can feel His love and rediscover the wonder of His grace. Maybe you are burdened for someone who has become calloused toward God. Hang in there and continue, as Heidi did, to love this person and pray for them to return to God.

You Never Know



You never really know how impactful a sermon will be in people’s lives. If you look at the stats most of what is said people forget. Today I was reminded what an impact I can have for Christ when the Holy Spirit is at work. A gentleman, who attends the men’s small group I lead, told me that he was glad I’m married. I looked at him and said so am I. He missed last week’s sermon because he stayed home with a sick child so his wife could come to church. All week she was quoting what I said in my sermon. If I wasn’t married he would have been jealous that his wife talked so much about another man (he was joking). I do remember she told me last week that she is looking forward to doing “The Truth Project” when our church does it during the summer. My sermon of Truth last week really made an impact in her life. I was blown away; not at what God did but that He chose me to use to do it. It is awesome.
Another gentleman over heard us talking and told me that his daughters really enjoyed the sermon as well. I was taken back. Sam has 5 daughters (yes, 5) and I only met 2 of them and his wife once. They really liked how I used the “Last Battle (last book of the chronicles of Narnia series)” to explain Isaiah 40:22. According to Sam, his daughters took that the other points and they had a good discuss over lunch. That’s what Sunday morning sermons should do; cause the people of God to think.
It was so humbling to hear these testimonies on how God used me last week. You never know how God will use you. It’s not that He needs us; it’s that He wants to use us. I pray that God will have more opportunities to use me to bring Him glory.