Monthly Archives: July 2011

Don’t Worry About It

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We live in a celebrity obsessed culture. With the internet, with TV, with all the different forms of media, people are famous today for simply being famous.

We live in a time when it seems that that more that people do wrong, the more fame they receive. We live in a time when seems like the surest what to get ahead is to be the baddest person. It can seem that it’s tough out there to get by when doing what is right. When seeking what is good. When trying to live a pure life.

It seems like evil gets ahead. Like wrong triumphs.  Like good losses.

And not just on the news. Or in the papers.  Or on the internet. But in our own lives. We see those that are doing things that we KNOW are wrong, we seem them get ahead. We see them “grow.” And we get frustrated. And we wonder what’s the point of trying to be good and righteous.

So did David. And to paraphrase what we wrote in Psalm 37, don’t worry about it:

Don’t worry about the wicked
or envy those who do wrong.
For like grass, they soon fade away.
Like spring flowers, they soon wither.
Trust in the Lord and do good.
Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you your heart’s desires.
Commit everything you do to the Lord.
Trust him, and he will help you.

Don’t worry about the ways of the famous. Don’t worry about the ways of the wicked. Don’t worry about the ways of others.

God’s got this.  Let Him worry about.

What are you to worry about?

Not other people. Not their actions.  Not their ways.  Not their fame.  Worry about following God. Worry about being faithful. Worry about seeking Him. Worry about knowing Him. Worry about that.

If we seek after God with all that we have, we will find all that we need.

Sometimes, we need to turn off the TV, unplug the radio, and (dare I say it) get off Facebook.

Leave the world alone.  Leave the actions of others alone. And worry not about your wo

Be Careful

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Last night in my Small Group Connection (Asbury’s Small Group) we were talking about the end of Galatians 2.  In that passage it talks about how if we can earn salvation through our works or through following any law, then Jesus Christ died for nothing.

And we talked a little bit about the fact none of us are righteous.  None of us.

Just because we come to church, or pray, or read our Bible, or serve, or give, or “do” anything, these things don’t make our righteous, these things don’t save us.

Jesus saves us.

In fact, I argued that those of us that are Christian are actually a little more unrighteous than others. Because we KNOW right from wrong. We KNOW what we should do and not do. And we choose to wrong.  We choose sin. We know right from wrong and we choose wrong.

We know better. And we don’t do better.

So, as Christians today, we need to be careful. Be careful judging others. Be careful thinking you are righteous. Be careful thinking you are better.  Be careful thinking you are holier.

Listen to what happens today in Mark 2:

Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?” When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Let us not be like the religious leaders, who saw themselves as “better” than others. Let us realize today that we are in need of a doctor. That we are in need of a savior. That our sins are as great as anyone else’s out there.

And He loves us anyway. He loves us in spite of our sin.  And let us live a life seeking after Him as a joyful response to His mercy and grace.

Let us be careful that we never think that we are “better than” others. We are simply saved by grace through faith, so none of us can boast.  Let us live a joyful life in response. And let us seek to love others as Jesus loved us.

None of us are righteous, no not one. Thank God Almighty for grace, mercy, and salvation. May we show to others that same grace that Jesus shown to us.

Let us be careful to never become like the Pharisees.

How Far Will You Go?

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How far will you go to share the love of Jesus Christ today?

How far are you willing to go in this day to share with others, through your words, your actions, your expressions, through everything, how far are you willing to go to show others Jesus today?

How much of your routine are you willing to change? How much out of your comfort zone are you willing to get?

How motivated are you to show that love of Jesus to others?

See, as Christians, I believe what we know is the hope of the world. The hope of the world is Jesus Christ. Through relationship with Him, people are find their true purpose in life, find they are loved, and experience the power of peace, joy, and life.

How far will we go today to show that love?

Listen to this story in Mark 2 today:

When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”

Ok. Let’s think about what really happened here. Forget what you’ve heard and the stories you knew from the past.

These four dudes cut a hole in someone’s roof.  WHAT?!?!?!?!

They cut a hole in someone’s roof.  Literally. They cut a hole in roof of someone’s house and lowered their friend down.

Because they wanted him to meet Jesus.

Wow.  That’s how far they would go to make sure that their friend met Jesus.

Today, how far will we go?  Will we witness about Jesus with our words?  Our actions? Will we talk in a way that reflects His grace? Will we share about our faith? Will we invite someone to church?  Will we show Jesus to others with all that we do.

These folks when a long way to show Jesus to their friend. Today, how far will we go?

Work to Do

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I love the Gospel of Mark. All the Gospels are great, but I really enjoy Mark’s Gospel.

Each Gospel has a different viewpoint or appeal. Matthew is written to Jewish audience, so there are a ton of Old Testament quotes and references.  Luke is written to a non-Jewish (Gentile) audience so there are lots of first hand accounts from witnesses to what  happened.  John is a book of theology, seeking to answer not who, what, when, and where, but why.

But I like Mark maybe the most. In Mark, probably written to a Roman audience, Jesus is always on the move. He’s always on the go. He’s always doing something.The word immediately is mentioned over and over and over again throughout this Gospel.

You can almost see Jesus getting a cup of coffee and taking off, ready to defeat the powers of evil that day.  For some reason, that appeals to me 🙂

But, listen to what Jesus did first. This is from Mark 1:

Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. Later Simon and the others went out to find him. When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.” But Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.” So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons.

Jesus knew what He was called to do. That is why He came.  He had a calling, to reconcile the word to God, to call each of us into a relationship through Him with God the Father by the power of Holy Spirit.  He knew His purpose and His calling upon the earth.

And He knew that accomplish that, prayer was essential.  He knew He had to pray.  He knew He must pray.  He knew that His prayer life was vital to His ministry.

And He was Jesus.  You know, the very Son of God. And prayer matter to Him.

How much should prayer matter to us?  How vital must prayer be to us?  How important should it be in our lives?

Yes, we’ve got work to do. There are things God is calling us to. There are things that God has before us today.

But, the most important work to do is prayer. Today, before we can do anything for God, we must take time to pray.  To listen. To search. To seek.

Today, may we do the work set before us. Today may we pray.

The Puzzle – Helps Podcast

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The sermon podcast for Sunday, July 10, 2011 is up on Asbury Church’s website.  This is the second sermon in our series about Spiritual Gifts – “Puzzle.” This series talks about spiritual gifts and this one deals with a gift that is prevalent at Asbury Church – Helps. The text for this sermon is Luke 10: 38-42.  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.

Greatness

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What makes you great?  What defines greatness?  What leads to a great life?

What would you say to these things?

In our lives, very few of us want to be mediocre.  Most of us want to live a life that would be “great.”

Ok, true.  What does that mean, though?

Is a great life all the material possessions you would want?  Is is power?  Is is success?  Is is great wealth?  Is it respect?

Greatness may mean different things to each of us.

And, we haven’t even hit upon faith.  Which is the key issue.  As we talk about greatness, I wish the Bible had something to say about it.

Oh wait, it does.  Listen to what Jesus says today in Matthew 18:

About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Greatness is not found in the stuff of this world.  Greatness is not found in wealth, or power, of possessions, or fame. That’s not the stuff of greatness.  Greatness, true life-giving greatness, true life changing greatness, it is found in this.

Turning from your sins and humbling coming to God.

That’s the thing with God. To become great, we must first become humble. To know, we must lay down our lives.  To be free, we must take on His yoke. To become great, we must become humble.

Like a little child.

A little child trusts.  Hopes. Believes.  Loves.  Cares.  laughs.  Lives.

Maybe, just maybe, that’s greatness. When was the last time you were at peace?  Of all things that the world’s “greatness” can offer, that’s the one thing it can never offer.  Peace.

When was the last time you felt that peace? When was the last time you felt that greatness?

Today, what type of greatness are you chasing? Today, may we chase the greatness of God.

What Are You Looking At?

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When you see someone, what do you see?

Do you see their clothing? Do you see their appearance?  What do you see?

What do you take away from an encounter with someone?  I’m a big believer in first impressions. I always try to make the best one I can, and I always value the first impressions I have other people.  I take away that first impression, almost every time.

Today in a passage from 1 Samuel, we read about Samuel going out to anoint the next king of Israel.  The Lord has told him that He has rejected Saul, and it is it raise up the one that would be next king, the one that would truly lead God’s people.

This is what we read:

When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed!” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Eliab looked the part.  He had a good appearance.  He made a good first impression. But he wasn’t the one that the Lord wanted.

If Samuel had gone with what he was looking at, at had gone with his impression, he would have missed what God was trying to do there.  Samuel was looking at the outside.

God was looking at the inside.

Today, with your dealings with others, what are you looking at? Are you looking at the outside?  Or are you looking at the inside?

Are looking for the stuff of God?  Or are you looking for the stuff of man?

Samuel almost missed what God wanted to do because he was looking at the wrong thing.  He was looking in the wrong way. He was looking at the wrong stuff.

He was looking at the outside.

God looks inward. God looks at the heart. God looks at what really matters.

Not the clothes, the appearance, the status, the anything else.

He looks at the heart.

Today, what you are looking at?

Testing

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I still have the dream sometimes where I am late for a test that I hadn’t studied for. And it always seems to be a calculus test.  I hated calculus. Anyway, in my dream I’ve always forgotten to study and I am running late and I just know that I’m going to fail this test and it’s going to be awful.

I hate that dream.

I will wake up, thankful each time that it’s just a dream.

What a terrible feeling to have forgotten that you have a test!  What a terrible feeling of impending doom. It’s a helpless feeling, one that just grips the whole of your soul.

Well, in life, we are going to have tests. And the bad thing is that they may make that calculus test look easy.  These test may be hard. They may involve sleepless night.  Tears.  Pain.  Hurt.  Doubt.  These test could be the things that try our faith and leave us shaken.

And in James, it says we should thank God for these tests.

Huh?

Yep.  James says to thank God for tests.  Listen to James 1:

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

These tests we face will grow our faith. They will grow our strength. They will grow our trust. They will grow our dependence on God.

When you face a test, a real, a tough test, you can’t face it on your own.  You’re not strong enough.  You’re not able.   You can’t do it.

But, through God, you can. Through Christ, you can do all things. Through Christ, nothing is impossible. Through Christ, you can do it.

Through Christ, you can have joy in the tests. Through Christ, you can have joy.   Through Christ, we can endure. Through Christ, we can grow.

Through Christ, we can not only take these tests. We can triumph over them.

Today, and in the future, you will have tests coming. What will you do? What will we do? Will we count it joy?  Will we use this to grow? Will we let this grow us closer to God?

We can count these tests as joy. When we turn to God in the midst of the trials, they will grow us.

May we grow closer to God today and each day.

The Puzzle – Faith Podcast

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The sermon podcast for Sunday, July 3, 2011 is up on Asbury Church’s website.  This is the second sermon in our series about Spiritual Gifts – “Puzzle.” This series talks about spiritual gifts and this one deals with the gift that is most prevalent at Asbury Church – Faith. The texts for this sermon are Genesis 32: 22-32 and Matthew 9: 19-22.  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.