Monthly Archives: June 2011

BaseCamp 2011 Day Four

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Today is the last day of BaseCamp 2011. It’s been a great week of service to the greater Pine Belt area.

We’ve seen yards get cut, bathrooms get fixed, children get loved on, and food given out. It’s been a real great week of being the hands and feet of Jesus. These youth have given of their time, their efforts and of all that they are to really make a difference in the lives of others.

And these last two years I’ve had the privilege of working with BaseCamp, that’s always my take away. You can make a difference. You really can.

That may be one of the most dangerous things that the world can do to us. It can make us believe that we can’t make a difference. That there is nothing that we can do. That it is hopeless. That there is no point in trying to change the world.

That there is no point in trying to change yourself.

I believe in the power of change. I believe in the power of God to change lives. To change the lives of the ones that we serve, and to change our on lives as well.

You can make a difference today. Each smile. Each warm word. Each offer to help someone. Each time you don’t respond in anger. Every little thing you do, you can make a difference.

And, today, God can make a difference in you. You can grow closer. You can be more like Him. You can feel His power and His life in you today. You can be changed.

Today, let’s go make a difference. Each of us, let’s go be the hands and feet of Jesus.

BaseCamp 2011 Day Three

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Being at a camp like BaseCamp is kind of like being in the hospital. Or, I guess prison. What I mean by that this is.  You eventually aren’t sure what day it is, and what exactly you have to do today, and what exactly did you do yesterday.

So, today is Day Three of BaseCamp 2011.

I was struck last night at I sat in the back of the building during worship that we as the church undervalue our youth.  We have 150+ young people here this year. They are working. Hard.  I mean, really working.  I’ve not seen a lot of loafing around this week.

And they paid to do this. For some, this is their “youth trip.”  How many of us would pay to come to Hattiesburg during June and work and sweat for people that we don’t even know.  And did I mention that it is June in Mississippi?

And they are doing it, to show God’s love to folks.

So today, as an adult reading this (or a youth not here) this is my challenge to you. Show God’s love to someone in your life.

Get out of comfort zone.

Do something you wouldn’t normally do.

Be His hands and feet.

You can do it. He has lov

BaseCamp 2011 Day Two

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There’s an old saying that we’ve all heard – physician heal thyself. I think for me as a pastor, it could be translated – preacher hear thy sermon!

I spent the last week in worship at Asbury talking about spiritual gifts and how none are greater than the others. All of our gifts are from God, all of our gifts are at work for the same purpose of strengthening the Body of Christ and helping that Body to represent Christ to the entire world. To love, to care, to serve, to pray for, to cry with, to, in short, be the body.

Each gift matters. Each gift is important. Each gift strengthens the whole of the church.

You have a gift. You are called. You need to be living out God’s calling on your life.

So, during BaseCamp I am part of what used to be called “Support,” which is now Critical Needs. Which, I keep calling Critical Access. And I forget what it’s called and call it support.

We make lunch for the other teams. We go get things. We fix things. We run water to people. We are busy, busy bees.

But we are behind the scenes. We aren’t that visible. Other teams are tearing down things. Or are working with kids. Or are witnessing to others about Jesus.

We went to Sam’s and bought lunch meat.

So, here’s what I’m doing. I’m listening to my sermon. We are also part of the body. Without this team, BaseCamp wouldn’t work. Without this team, people wouldn’t have lunch to eat or water to drink. Without this team, our Body would not be able to function.

Even through no one sees it.

Today, I’m going to be faithful to my task, and do what I can do to strengthen the body.

How about you? Today, serve where you are. Even if it’s not in the forefront. Even if it is in the background. Even if no one but God notices.

Because God notices. And He is proud of all service done in His name.

Today, no matter where you are, be faithful.

BaseCamp 2011 Day One

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Morning Everyone. Posting will be spotty this week. Asbury is putting on our yearly BaseCamp, where over 100 youth from Asbury and other churches come together to do mission work and service all over the Pine Belt.  There is worship and fellowship, and it is really a great time to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

So, pray for us this week. I’ll try to update each morning as I make coffee for the leaders’ meeting we have every day.

Today, I want to leave you with a quote I reference in my sermon yesterday by Teresa of Avila

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

May we each be the hands and feet of Jesus today, with all the we do. Pray for these youth as they seek to do that today.

 

 

 

Puzzle Intro Podcast

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The sermon podcast for Sunday, June 26, 2011 is up on Asbury Church’s website.  This is the first sermon in our series about Spiritual Gifts – “Puzzle.” This an introductory sermon that deals with spiritual gifts and what it means for the Body of Christ. The text is 1 Corinthians 12: 4-6, 12-27.  You can listen to it by clicking here, or you can listen to it here on this blog by clicking below. And, as always, you can subscribe to my sermon podcasts through iTunes.

 

 

 

 

Be Ye Holy

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In the Old Testament, one of the constant commands of God to the people is that they are holy. They are told over and over again to be holy, as God is holy.

That is the definitive revelation of who God is in the Old Testament. He is holy. And as a God that is holy, he expects His people to be holy.

Gulp. That’s a pretty big requirement. To be holy. That’s a tough thing for them. And, a tough thing for us.

But, before we talk about how it’s something that we can’t do, let’s first think. What is it? What does it mean? To be holy, what does that mean?

In short, to be holy is to be set apart. To be different. The people of God are supposed to be different. Different from the world. Different from culture. Different.

Not perfect, mind you. None of us are perfect. The church is not perfect. No one, except Jesus is perfect in action. That doesn’t mean, though, that we are not supposed to be holy. We are supposed to be different.

Listen, though, to what the people of God say in 1 Samuel this morning:

But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said. “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”

The people wanted a king. Why? To be like the other nations. God’s plan was for them to be holy. To be different. To be set apart.

What did they want? What did they desire?

A king.

Why?

To be like other nations. To be like everyone else.

And in that, they were no longer different. They were no longer set apart. They wanted to be like everyone else.

Today, what about us? Are we holy? And I’m not asking are we perfect. I’m asking are we different? Are we different from culture? Is there something about us is that is different? Set apart? Dedicated to God?

God told His people in the Old Testament to be holy as He is holy. He desires the same for us today.

Today, may we be different. May we be different from the world we live in. Today, may we be holy.

The Psalms are Weird

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Man, I love the Psalms. There is so much good stuff there, everyday in the Psalms. And the thing I like about the Psalms is that sometimes they are just weird.

They will say things and you think – wait, what?  Did I just read that? What did that just say?

Did that Psalm just say that he hated someone? Wait, didn’t Jesus say to love everyone? And that Psalm said he hated that guy?

What?

Listen to what I read in Psalm 101 this morning:

I will be careful to live a blameless life—
when will you come to help me?
I will lead a life of integrity
in my own home.
I will refuse to look at
anything vile and vulgar.
I hate all who deal crookedly;
I will have nothing to do with them.

The Psalmist, we think David, said that he will hate those that deal crookedly.  He will have nothing to do with them.

Well, that’s a little strong, huh?

Why would David say that? Why would that be in the Bible? What is it talking about?

David is talking about this. He wants to live a life of integrity. He wants to live a life dedicated to God.  He wants to live a life where he follows God with all that he is. He chooses to do that.

And he will allow nothing to get in his way.  He chooses to follow God. And anything that will distract him from that choice, he wants nothing to do with. He wants a singular dedication to God above all else. And anything that pulls him away from God, he wants no part of.

Anything.

He chooses God above all else.

Nothing in life compares to God. Nothing.

And so to “hate” those things and even people that pull him away is this – he is saying that he chooses God above all else in his life.

Today, what about us? Do we choose God above everything? Do we make Him first in our lives?  Is He our primary love? Does He come first?

That’s where life is found.  David says he will set no worthless thing before.  He will choose to chase after God.

Today, how about each of us. What will we choose to do?

Unchanging

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We live in a world with a lot of change. We live in a world where nothing seems to stay the same over night.

We wake up daily to change.

We read the newspaper in the morning, and what we read is already old news. The rate of change, the pace of information, all these things are growing exponentially.

And we can fill overwhelmed by it all. We can feel like things are just going too fast sometimes.

Thankfully, not everything changes. Not everything is uncertain. Not everything is unstable. Listen to what the author of Hebrews says today:

So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Jesus Christ is the same. He is constant.  He is unchanging.  No matter what.

No matter what changes in life, Jesus is the same.

No matter what changes in your life, Jesus is the same.

No matter how uncertain your future, Jesus is the same.

No matter what may change today, Jesus is the same.

He is unchanging.  He is constant.  He is true. And you can trust Him.

Today, and each day. Things change, yes. Things are different,  yes.  Jesus it the same, day after day after day.

And you can trust Him. Today, and each day.

Your Title

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What is the title that you go by?

What do you like to be called?

When I was a kid, all adults were Mr. and Mrs/Ms. and ma’am and sir. I still call lots of folks, Mr. and Mrs. I get fussed at sometimes, but I always tell them folks, blame my parents, that’s how I was raised!

As a pastor, I’ve been called Rev. or Pastor or Bro. I just prefer Andy. It suits me a lot better.

We’ve each got titles in our lives. We’ve each got “names” in our lives. But, do you know what your greatest title is? Listen to what 1 John says this morning:

See what great 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.

The greatest name, the great thing you could ever be called is that – a child of God.

That trumps everything else, and everything else is based up on that.

You foundation shouldn’t be your job.

Or your position.

Or your status.

Or your, well, anything.

Your greatest status, your great title, your greatest worth should come from this – you are a child of God.

And if that is primary, if that is foundational, if that is at the heart of it all, it will all work it out. It will all make sense. It will all be worth it. When He is at the center. And when you walk with Him is at the center.

Today, what is the your title? Today, may it be that you are a child of God.

Father’s Day 2011 Podcast

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The sermon podcast for Father’s Day, Sunday, June 19, 2011 is up on Asbury Church’s website. This Father’s Day sermon deals with our relationships and with living in the lives and relationships God has called us to. It also deals with power of God to redeem anything.   The text is Genesis 18: 1-14.   You can listen to it by clicking here, or you can listen to it here on this blog by clicking below. And, as always, you can subscribe to my sermon podcasts through iTunes.