OUT OF THE PASTOR’S PEN

 
 
 
 

December 15th, 2019

Have you ever had to wait for something? I mean really wait for something! As Christmas gets closer and closer, there is more anticipation. Kids are so excited for what they will get, presents start to show up under the tree, and everyone plays the guessing game. Parents, start to imagine the look on their kids faces when they open their presents, hoping to get “that” smile! Gifts picked out for those we love, sit, waiting for the day they can be delivered. We look forward to that moment. And it’s not just Christmas. First dates, wedding days, graduations, new job, major award (yes, I had to get a “Christmas Story” reference in there!) or the birth of our child. With this time of the year, we often think about the Christmas story, and I often wonder what was going through the minds of Mary and Joseph. I mean, here is this young girl, pregnant, and waiting for the birth of a child, but her child will be no ordinary child. He is the Son of the Most High and He will save His people from their sins. For 9 months, she awaits the birth of this miracle, but His birth is not the end or the waiting. She waits and watches as He grows, 33 years. She knows that He is the Messiah, and her Savior, but still, she must wait. Then, on a dark Friday, He is crucified. He said that “it is finished” but what does that mean? His body is placed in a tomb, and she waits. The next morning, she and others go to the tomb, only to find that He isn’t there, and she waits. Her son, Jesus appears to her, and others, teaching and ministering for 40 days, and then tells them that He must return to the Father, but that He will return, and they wait. And so do we. The truth is that many of the things we anticipate, and wait for, don’t live up to the hype. But that is not the case with the return of Jesus. He IS coming back, and when He does, His arrival, and what follows will be like nothing we can imagine! It can’t fail to live up to the hype, because we aren’t able to build it up in our minds beyond what it will be! But, unlike Christmas, and graduations, and the other things we anticipate, the return of Jesus doesn’t have a date, not that we can know. Which, sometimes dampens our enthusiasm. Because we can’t put a date on it, we get complacent in our anticipation, but it should have the opposite effect. Knowing that any day, at any second, our Savior could return, should create a joy, an urgency, and an excitement in us that is impossible to contain, like a child going to be on Christmas eve, or a bride on the night before her wedding.

Read more...

December 1st, 2019

I Want It All”, was a song that the rock band Queen introduced in 1989. That was the title, and that was the chorus. “I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now.” But it is pretty clear that Freddie Mercury wasn’t the only one who wanted it all, and wanted it now. That is human nature, isn’t it? And aside from wanting all the stuff, and wanting it now, that attitude seeps into almost every arena of our lives. I mean, here in a about a month, millions of people will make New Year’s resolutions, most of which will never make it past the 2nd week of 2020. Why? Because we want it all, and we want it now. We want to lose weight, but we don’t want to wait for it, we want to lose it all, and we want to lose it now! We want to get in shape, but we want to look like Lou Ferrigno, and we want it now! But it’s not just New Year’s resolutions either. Think about it, we start something new, and we want to be experts, immediately. We start a new job, and we want to know everything, and do it well, now. And while there is nothing wrong with wanting to give our best, and be our best, our attitude of wanting it all, and wanting it now, creates pressure, and often results in failure. It doesn’t matter if you are talking about losing weight, getting in shape, learning a new skill, saving for retirement, working for a promotion, trying to kick a bad habit, or hoping to start a good one, the process is the same. One step at a time. Any of us who have ever had kids, know that they have to walk before they run, crawl before they walk, and that all begins with a thousand little “steps” along the way.
And it is no different with our spiritual walk. When we want to spiritually “have it all” and “have it now”, we create pressure on ourselves, and others, and increase the chances that we get frustrated, and overwhelmed. We have all heard the old Chinese proverb, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”, and we need to learn to apply it in our lives, and in our spiritual walk. And if you don’t believe me, all you have to do is look at the disciples. For 3+ years they walked with Jesus, learning every day. They weren’t perfect followers on day one, in fact, they had their fair share of mis-steps, mistakes, and failures, but they kept following. Today, we look at what they did, we read what they wrote, we marvel at their faith, and we call them examples to follow, as we seek to follow Jesus ourselves.
I know it is human nature to want it all, and to want it now, but that’s just not how it happens. So, let’s make a commitment to one another. Not looking 10 years down the road, or even 10 days, but getting up this morning, and asking the Holy Spirit for the guidance, the strength, and the wisdom to be the best Christian we can be… today. Make a commitment today, to do one thing , as it relates to your faith, better than you did yesterday. And if you aren’t a Christian yet, don’t buy into the lie that you have to have your life all together, and know everything before you can be. Jesus never asks us to be perfect, He just asks us to make the commitment to getting better, one step at a time.

Read more...

November 24th, 2019

So, yesterday morning, I get up to take Jackson and drop him off for school event… @ 5:20am. And right after we pull out of the driveway, I realize that I have no headlights. Everything else works, but no headlights, so, I turn on my foglamps, and we keep going. Now, where there are street lights, there was plenty of light, but there are a couple of places along our route, that have no streetlights, and it got a little dark. So, as we are driving along, I have to choose between trusting the fact that I know this road, or trusting what I can see from the foglamps. I mean, I drive this stretch of road, numerous times a day, so I know it very well, but what if there is something lying in the road, what if a car is stalled on the side of the road, what if Bigfoot is crossing the road? So, I slowed down, and trusted in what the foglamps illuminated ahead of me. But, I also must admit, I really wanted to go faster. I had places to go, I had things to do. In fact, I kept playing with the headlight switch, juuuust in case it started working suddenly. (I know, I’m impatient). I tried flipping on my brights (btw, bad idea because it turns off the foglamps!) but nothing worked, and I had to make the decision to slow down. But, that got me to thinking, about how we are in life. We are sure we know what is ahead, we are sure we “know the road” we are on, and we are in a hurry to “get where we are going”, so instead of trusting in what is illuminated in front of us, we barrel into the dark. Now, you may be wondering what in the world this has to do with anything; but here it is. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world”, and while He is muuuch brighter than my headlights, but they make a great illustration. Sometimes, He gives us the highbeams, we can see way down the road we are travelling, we pick up speed, because it is clear where we are going. Sometimes, He is more like low beams, clearly showing us the road ahead, but just not as far. And other times, it is more like foglamps. Just showing what is right in front of us. The trick on our part, is learning to trust what He is allowing us to see. In those “highbeam” times, we are clipping along, life is rolling and we are making good time, but in those “foglamp” times, we need to slow down, and trust where He is leading us. I have said it time and time again, God only wants for you, what you would want for yourself, if you knew everything He knows, and it is from that perspective that we need to look at live, and follow His leading. When we are going through dark, and murky times, the best choice is to trust where God is leading, and focus on what is right in front of us, what He illuminates. The Bible tells us that His Word is a light to our path, a lamp to our feet, and He will guide us, if we will follow.

Read more...

November 17th, 2019 BTCS

It is called the open hand attitude, and it is simple. If you tightly clench your fist around what you have, it is difficult for what is in your hand, to be lost, or taken. But, at the same time, there is no way for anything to be added either. On the other hand (pun intended) when you hold loosely with an open hand, it is true that what is in your hand can be taken, or lost. But in the same way, more can be placed in that hand as well.  That’s how it is with God. God has blessed us all, so that we can be a blessing to others. Whether we are talking about finances, or possessions, time, or talents, gifts and abilities, the truth is that God wants us to live life with an open hand attitude. To give of our finances, to bless others, to use our  possessions to further His Kingdom, to offer our time to serve others, to use our talents, gifts and abilities to make the world a better place, and to bring glory to His name. Granted, when you give it away, you don’t have as much as you did before, but, we must never forget, it was never ours to begin with. God is the giver of all gifts, and He blesses us, so that through us, others will be blessed as well. But, the mystery of all this is that when we learn to give away our stuff, our time, our talents to be used by Him, we always seem to have more than enough. It’s like the farmer who was known for being generous, yet remained prosperous. His friends couldn’t understand how it worked, until one day, a friend finally asked him. “We can’t understand you. You give far more than any of the rest of us, and yet you always seem to have more to give.” The generous farmer replied, “Oh, that’s easy to explain. I keep shoveling into God’s bin, and God keeps shoveling back into mine. But God has a much bigger shovel.”
Our God is a generous God, and we as believers are called to reflect His nature. Never forget, God loved us (you & me) so much that He was willing to GIVE His One and Only Son, to redeem us!
So, I want to invite you to join us at Antioch Christian Church this morning as we take our time, and give back to His Kingdom. Today is Be The ChURch Sunday. An opportunity for us as believers to not just GO to Church, but to BE the ChURch. (For those of you who think that I don’t understand that you only capitalize the first letter in words, that is intentional. ChURch is spelled that way, because YOU ARE, the ChURch!) So, come a little earlier; we will start at 9:30am, and join us as we package meals to go to our local food pantry, and to Haiti. It’s always a great morning of fellowship and service, and you will definitely leave feeling blessed! Hope to see you all there!

Read more...

November 17th, 2019

It called the open hand attitude, and it is simple. If you tightly clench your fist around what you have, it is difficult for what is in your hand, to be lost, or taken. But, at the same time, there is no way for anything to be added either. On the other hand (pun intended) when you hold loosely with an open hand, it is true that what is in your hand can be taken, or lost. But in the same way, more can be placed in that hand as well. That’s how it is with God. God has blessed us all, so that we can be a blessing to others. Whether we are talking about finances, or possessions, time, or talents, gifts and abilities, the truth is that God wants us to live life with an open hand attitude. To give of our finances, to bless others, to use our possessions to further His Kingdom, to offer our time to serve others, to use our talents, gifts and abilities to make the world a better place, and to bring glory to His name. Granted, when you give it away, you don’t have as much as you did before, but, we must never forget, it was never ours to begin with. God is the giver of all gifts, and He blesses us, so that through us, others will be blessed as well. But, the mystery of all this is that when we learn to give away our stuff, our time, our talents to be used by Him, we always seem to have more than enough. It’s like the farmer who was known for being generous, yet remained prosperous. His friends couldn’t understand how it worked, until one day, a friend finally asked him. “We can’t understand you. You give far more than any of the rest of us, and yet you always seem to have more to give.” The generous farmer replied, “Oh, that’s easy to explain. I keep shoveling into God’s bin, and God keeps shoveling back into mine. But God has a much bigger shovel.”
Our God is a generous God, and we as believers are called to reflect His nature. Never forget, God loved us (you & me) so much that He was willing to GIVE His One and Only Son, to redeem us!
So, I want to invite you to join us at Antioch Christian Church this morning as we take our time, and give back to His Kingdom. Today is Be The ChURch Sunday. An opportunity for us as believers to not just GO to Church, but to BE the ChURch. (For those of you who think that I don’t understand that you only capitalize the first letter in words, that is intentional. ChURch is spelled that way, because YOU ARE, the ChURch!) So, come a little earlier; we will start at 9:30am, and join us as we package meals to go to our local food pantry, and to Haiti. It’s always a great morning of fellowship and service, and you will definitely leave feeling blessed! Hope to see you all there!

Read more...

November 3rd, 2019

In 1519, Hernán Cortés, arrived in the New World, and upon arrival with his 600 men, he issued an order we hear today. “Burn the ships.” The message was clear to his men, ‘there’s no going back.’ Today, we have For King And Country singing the same song, and the message is clear. Quit going back. We have a hard time with hedging our bets, leaving escape routes, and making sure our path of retreat is clear. And while that may be wise in some arenas of life, by and large, it isn’t. Because the message that it sends, not just to others, but especially to ourselves, is ‘if this doesn’t work out, I can always go back.’ As a result, we spend much of out time looking back at where we used to be, thinking about how much easier, better, whatever it was. All you have to do is look at the Israelites in the wilderness. They had just escaped from slavery. Forced to labor for Egypt, a nation that was intent on keeping them down by any means possible, and within a few days of leaving, they wanted to go back, because they ‘had it better’ in Egypt. And many times, we as Christians are no better. The fact is that the Christian walk is not easy, it is not simple to leave behind an old way of life, to leave behind coping mechanisms, to leave behind security blankets, ‘safe’ places, and things that we know. But, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, them, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”- Galatians 5:1. Paul’s message? Burn the ships! Don’t look back at where you came from, don’t lament how good those days were. Focus solely on where Jesus is taking you! It may not be easy, there WILL be battles, there will be rough days, and there will be times when you want to give up, and feel like you can’t go on. But, if there is nowhere to go but forward, urged on by the knowledge that “I can do all things through him who gives me strength.” – Philippians 4:13, then we will push through, and fight on. When there is nowhere to go but forward, we will go over, go under, go around, go through, but never give up, knowing that Jesus is with us every step of the way! For most of us, the idea of burning the ships is scary, but in the end, it is probably the most liberating action we can take, because in that moment, we tell ourselves, and those around us, “I am not going back to where I came from!” “Through the Power of God, I am going nowhere but ahead!” That act, removes indecision, and gives us direction. So, what ship(s) do you need to burn today?

Read more...