Memorial Day Thank you

Man what a long day! We celebrated Memorial Day with both sides of our family today and absolutely ate too much (almost to the point of sinning).

 I wanted to say a special Thank You to our Veterans that served for our freedom and also a special Thank You to all of the men and women that are presently serving for our freedom. Freedom didn't come free, it comes because of you!

Memorial Day

I want to take this opportunity and express my sincere thanks and appreciation to all the Veterans that lost their lives, to all the Veterans that are still with us today, and all the men and women that are still on the battle field and training field's or other locations that serve for my freedom and the freedom of our country! I have a cousin presently serving and have some other family members that have served as well. To you I say THANK YOU and GOD BLESS YOU!

Let's pause this Memorial Day weekend and celebrate our men and women of the armed forces that have sacrificed for us!

Nourishment & Refreshment

"The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place." Mark 6: 30-32 (niv)

As I was reading this passage of scripture this morning, I noticed that before the event of feeding the five thousand could happen, Jesus encouraged the disciples to get some much needed rest and nourishment. They had a physically demanding responsibility lying ahead of them and with all that they had already done, they were not in "shape" to press on. So, they went with Jesus, to a solitary place. They had a job at hand, but needed some quiet time, in a quiet place where they could have fellowship and be nourished and refreshed!

How are we when it comes to being nourished and refreshed? I take this passage this morning and call it to be for me, as to my needing to be refreshed in Spirit, to get alone with God and allow Him to nourish me and feed me! Webster's dictionary defines nourish as - to provide with food or other nutriment necessary for life and growth; to foster the development of; to keep alive: maintain.

It is of great importance, that I allow God to nourish me for the necessity of life and growth in this Christian walk. Life eternal and growth in the Spirit. We must allow God to foster the development of our Christian lives with some "solitary place time." We must allow ourselves and put ourselves in a position to be maintained through the power of the Holy Spirit for the nourishment of the power of God. We have a physically and Spiritually demanding responsibility before us to live our lives as vessels for the Kingdom of God and to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. Are you getting the refreshing nourishment that you need to do your part?

Middle School Graduation

My little girl is growing up! Bailey graduated top of her 8th grade class! We are so very proud of her and was very proud that she gave credit and thanks to God for her achievements in school during her address to the class of 2010. I've prayed for God to have "favor" over my children and this is just an example of God's goodness. NOW I HAVE TO PRAY HARDER - SHE WILL BE A FRESHMAN NEXT YEAR!

Mindful of Him

Have you ever been talking with someone about Salvation and they make a comment like this one, "I can't seem to forget all the things that I've done wrong" or "I feel in my heart that something has changed, but in my mind I can't seem to forgive myself." As I was reading the first chapter of Colossians this morning, I was drawn to verses 21 & 22 "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation - "

Paul says that we have the assurance, through Jesus Christ, that we are NO LONGER ALIENATED from God. When I look at the word, alienated, I automatically think of "outerspace", "the far-side", "a great distance away", etc... Once we WERE, as sinners, a long way from God and distanced from God, but through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and the resurrection of His body, we have been made "heirs" with Christ and have the presence of God IN US!

I think a lot of Christians today fight the "battle of the mind" and allow the devil to trick them into believing that they are not forgiven. The battle of Salvation has already been won through Jesus, all we have to do is believe that He was and IS and is to come! I preached Sunday morning on Jesus being the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Whatever circumstance you may be going through today, Jesus is the WAY. Don't let your "mind" tell you any different. A lot of the times we let the struggle in our minds dictate our lives, but the bible says that we are to "offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God in spiritual acts of worship and to not conform to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by renewing our minds" (Romans 12: 1,2). We can win the battle in our minds by letting God transform us from the inside - out! I have come to know that when I am "mindful" of God's ways, my struggle with temptation, bad attitude, fleshly motives, etc... decrease because I believe what Paul said to the church at Ephesus, "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" Ephesians 4: 22-24)

Let's strive to have the "mind of Christ" each day and to live a life that is pleasing to God. Remember, that Jesus paid our sin debt and all we have to do is receive and accept. Our minds may remember "the evil behavior" but God has forgotten our sins and given us a renewed life in Him! May God Bless you today!

Change in Existence

It's amazing to me that when a change is made in like say, changing teachers, change of curriculum, the use of new technology to benefit in and help enhance the way we teach and learn, etc... or just make a change in general, that you find some people actually make a "CHANGE IN EXISTENCE" ... GO FIGURE!

We've got to keep up with the times as we keep the SAME MESSAGE!

Shall NOT Perish

"For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 (niv)

On Wednesday nights for the past 5 weeks we have been going through Max Lucado's book "3:16 The Numbers of Hope" and we have been looking at how our hearts and minds have been distorted from a worldly view of things and how God has given us a remedy for our "aldulterated" hearts, the giving of His one and only Son, Jesus.

One of this weeks devotions from the series is "Shall ... Perish". I want to share a little of that devotion with you today and let you know that we need to be a witness of Christ because there is a lost and dying world to be won for Christ. Max says this:

"The hero of heaven is God. Angels don't worship mansions or glittering avenues. Neither gates nor jewels prompt the hosts to sing...God does. His majesty stirs the pen of heaven's poets and the awe of her citizens. Inhabitants of heaven forever marvel at the sins God forgives, the promises He keeps, the plan He executes. He, at this very moment, issues invitations by the millions. He whispers through the kindness of a grandparent, shouts through the tempest of a tsunami. Through the funeral He cautions, "Life is fragile." Through a sickness He reminds, "Days are numbered." God may speak through nature or nurture, majesty or mishap. But through all and to all He invites, "Come, enjoy Me forever."

Revelation 22:17 says, "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!' And let him who hears say, 'Come!' Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life."

It's our job as Christians, to seek out those that are lost and tell them of this free gift, Jesus Christ! Will you be a witness today? Will you heed the call of discipleship? Life is fragile, let's show people how to live life with a life of abundance in Jesus! God bless you today.

In the way

Sunday morning the Lord allowed me to share the passage of scripture in 1 Kings about the account of Ahab, Elijah, and a man by the name of Obadiah. This is a very familar passage of scripture and I have preached from this text before, but the Holy Spirit lead me in a different direction this time. You see, this is the account of Ahab and Obadiah splitting up and going separate ways to look for a water source and grass that would nourish the herd and people because there was a great famine in the land. The land had been without rain for a period of about 3 years and God has now told Elijah to "Go present yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the land" (I Kings 17:1).

When Ahab and Obadiah split up to go their separate ways, the bible says in vs. 7 "and Obadiah was in the way..." The Lord spoke to me about people of God sometimes are "in the way" of what God has purposed, ordained, laid out, planned for man and the church. This spoke very stern to our hearts and began to show us that sometimes we may be in the way of what God has shown the "man of God" that is supposed to be leading us. Now I know this scripture is referring to Obadiah being in the path, or on the same physical location as Elijah, but let's suppose that Obadiah did actually get in the way of God's plan and that plan was that Elijah meet up with Ahab (which was serving Baal, a false god) and show him that God Almighty is real! This happened with an incident in front of 450 prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18: 16-40) Let's suppose that Obadiah refused to tell Ahab that Elijah was looking for him, Ahab and 450 prophets of Baal might have not turned their hearts to God (vs. 37).

I often wonder if I allow my own stupidity, my own fleshly thoughts, my doubt, etc... interfere with what God has planned for my life and the life of others around me. I wonder if I find myself "in the way". It's my prayer today that we seek God's face and allow him to teach us His ways and to learn how to trust in the "men of God" that He has called to do His work!

Blake catches Braves game

My 11 year old son did something yesterday that he has never done before. First, he went to Atlanta to catch a baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and the Diamondbacks. That was a first for him ( a major league baseball game). Second, he went without me or my wife! In all of his 11 years on this earth he has never even wanted to travel anywhere without, at least, his moma!

He was asked to go see the Braves by a buddy of his that plays on his baseball team, so Blake, Brhett, Brhett's dad and pop went to Atlanta for an all day trip. They arrived back home this morning around 1:15am. Needless to say, his mom was up until the phone call to go pick him up (so was I). I think my little boy is trying to grow up.

(Blake's on the left)

Worship

Sorry about the lack of posts this week it just seems like I have so much to do that I have neglected the blog ministry and that's what I feel this is. If I can lighten the load of someone that's had a bad day and they decide to log on and read some of my thoughts (how wierd is that) and it lifts their spirit for just a moment then it's been worth the time. That's why I want to be lead by the Holy Spirit in anything that I do because He knows the thoughts and the plans for all and He knows the words and the times they need to be spoken.

I'm excited about what I feel in the air in these days to come. I sense a moving of the Holy Ghost across this land and I want to be a ready and willing vessel that can be used to reach someone for the Gospel of Christ! I was reading for my devotion this morning the passage of David's writtings in Psalm 145. David said, "I will exalt you, my God the King. I will praise your name for ever and ever. Everyday I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom." (vss. 1- 3 niv) The NKJV says that "His greatness is unsearchable" (vs 3) that means that God's greatness is beyond our understanding! We aint got it all together yet! I know that isn't proper english but it's whats in my spirit, we aint got it all together and we need to do what David did and learn how to praise the Lord daily - for ever and ever and then we will learn how to "humble ourselves" and seek God's face and He will teach us new and great things!!!!

I had a meeting with a couple of people yesterday that I feel has a ministry for the Lord through the talents the Lord has given them and I'm excited about working alongside them and putting them in a position to let the Lord not only work in their lives but also be a blessing to others through what they have to offer for the Kingdom of God. Paul said that "we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing." (2 Corinthians 2:15) Whether people accept God's salvation and live or they refuse it and perish, we have to be a fragrance of Christ to God and to all that we come in contact with. We as children of God, need to learn how to get wrapped up in worship! We need to learn how to put things aside - bills, jobs, relationships, sickness, family, etc... and allow God's Holy Spirit to transform us into the people of God that He has intended for us to be! We need to WORSHIP GOD with our daily living and in the sanctuary!

When we stop looking on the outside appearance of man and begin to see the heart of God in them, then WE can be transformed ourselves. So what if someone leading worship has a few tatoos on their skin and their hair is long and maybe they have a few piercings! Who are we to judge? We are not God!!!! We are to worship the God that created all of us to be unique in our own ways and for the glory of God to be shown in our lives!

National Day of Prayer

Today we are called to spend some time in prayer for our Nation.

Whether a judge somewhere has called this to be "unconstitutional" or not, the Bible has called us to do this no matter what!

As Christians, we are to fall on our knees, not just because this is a day set aside for prayer, but because it's OUR calling from an Almighty God. He hears the prayers of His children and we are to call upon His name, today, for our Nation and it's leadership!

"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." 2 Chronicles 7:14

I encourage you to participate in prayer for our Nation. Pray in your car, home, at work, at an organized prayer meeting or wherever you need to go to pray. Just pray!

Choice - it's yours

"Many jokes are made about the devil, but the devil is no joke. He is called a deceiver. In order to accomplish his purpose, the devil BLINDS people to their need for CHRIST. Two forces are at work in our world - the forces of Christ and the forces of the devil - and you are asked to choose."
- Billy Graham

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you."
Matthew 6:33 Holman CSB

Let's face the facts: your life is a series of choices. From the instant you wake up in the morning until the moment you nod off to sleep at night, you make countless decisions - decisions about the things you do, decisions about the words you speak, and decisions about the way that you choose to direct your thoughts. As a believer who has been transformed by the love of Jesus, you have every reason to make wise choices. But sometimes, when the daily grind threatens to grind you up and spit you out, you may make choices that are displeasing to God. When you do, you'll pay a price because you'll forfeit the happiness and the peace that might otherwise have been yours.

Consider the kind of Christian you are - and the kind of Christian you want to become - and ask yourself whether you're sitting on the fence or standing in the light. The choice is yours ... and so are the consequences.

Thanks to all that braved the water Sunday evening and came to take care of the water.