Monthly Archives: July 2012

What to Do?

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Sometimes in life we are paralyzed by what to do. What is our next step? What does God want us to do? How are we supposed to proceed?

What does it mean to be faithful?

What exactly is it that God wants us to do?

Those are big questions. Huge questions. Questions that we have all wrestled with at some point in our lives.

Well Andy, you’ve defined the problem. What’s the answer.

Listen to what Jesus tells us today in Matthew 10:40-42:

“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

This is one of my favorite passages in the bible, in fact it’s the passage I preach my first sermon on when I first started preaching. I love it because of what it tells us to do.

Not something “great.” Not something “super.” Not something otherworldly.

Something simple. Something that we can all do. It says that even a cup of cold water, given for Jesus sake, it will be rewarded.

Sometimes we spend our lives looking for the “big” things instead of focusing on the small, simple, acts of faithfulness that God is calling you to.

God may or may not be calling you into the fulltime ministry. But, no matter who you are or what you do, I know this.

He is calling you to love.

To forgive.

To serve.

To care.

To share your story.

To be Christian.

These are not “great” things. These are every day, “faithful” things. But in these things, God is glorified. He is lifted up. And He draws all men to Him.

Today, what to do? Be faithful. Do the small, little things. And God will do great things with it.

Today, in all things, may we be faithful.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

Going Through the Motions

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One of the problems that the prophet Isaiah faced in his time in Israel as a prophet was religion.

Religion was a huge problem for him as a prophet.

Wait, what?

Yep, religion. How? Why?

Listen to what he says today in chapter 1: 12-18:

“When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

What was happening was this. The people were keeping the rituals of religion. They were going to the appointed holy days. They were keeping the festivals. They were offering sacrifices. They were “doing” the “right” things.

Except they weren’t. They were keeping the rules of religion. But they weren’t keeping the heart of faith.

They weren’t treating others with love and respect. They weren’t seeking God. They weren’t chasing after justice. They weren’t showing God’s love to all.

They were just going through the motions.

And that’s a dangerous thing. Because going through the motions can confuse religion with relationship.

God doesn’t want us to be religious. He wants us in a relationship with Him. And when we are in a relationship with Him, He takes care of the life of religion with Him.

Today, don’t just go through the motions. Really seek after Him with all you are. And, you will find Him.

And in finding Him, we will have all that heart and our life can desire. And we find the life that we are desperately wanting.

Today, chase after Him. Today, find life!

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

Thorn in the Flesh

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I don’t like being weak. I don’t like asking for help. I’m a pretty independent guy. I can pretty much do it for myself and I have to ask you to help me, then it’s not worth doing.

I hate asking for help. I hate not being able to do it myself.

But, here’s the thing about faith. We can’t do it by ourselves. We can and aren’t able to save ourselves. We have to ask for help; we have to ask for God’s help.

Listen to what Paul talks about today in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9:

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Paul said to keep him from boasting, he had a thorn in the flesh given to him. No one knows what it was, but whatever it was, it made him weak. It humbled him. It made him turn to God and ask for it to be removed.

He asked God to take it away. And each time, God said no. Because God’s power is made perfect in Paul’s weakness.

Why? Why does Paul have this thorn? Why do we have to deal with similar things? Why must we go through this?

Because God’s grace is sufficient. God’s grace is all we need. And we have to turn to it for strength.

For comfort.

For life.

Today, especially, if you are like me, the “not ask for help, I can do it all myself” type person, stop. Turn to God. Find His grace. Mercy. Grace. Forgiveness.

We can’t do it alone. We aren’t good enough or strong enough. We need Him and His life.

Turn to God. Find His life. His mercy. His hope. His purpose.

Today, may we find our strength in His strength. And may we find our life in His life.

May our thorns in the flesh be used for what they were made for.

To turn us to Him.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

You’ve Stayed in the Pit Long Enough

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In the Old Testament, during the Exodus, the people of God make some mistakes. They complain. The fuss. The worship idols, they rebel against God, the rebel against Moses.

They doubt God and His promises and refuse to move forward and trust in Him when He commands them to.

They do some pretty dumb stuff. And because of that, they are punished. The Lord says that instead of going straight to the promised land, they will wander for 40 years.

And so they wander. And wander. And wander. And wander. This was in the days before GPS, so there wasn’t much they could do!

Until today. Listen what happens today in Deuteronomy 1:5-8

Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law, saying, “The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’

God says through Moses – you’ve stayed here long enough. You wandered long enough. You’ve been here in your pit long enough. It’s time to move. It’s time to go. It’s over. New life awaits.

It’s time to get up and walk. It’s time to get up and move.

You’ve stayed in your pit long enough.

Today, you have stayed in your pit long enough. No matter what that pit is. Today is a new day. You are forgiven. You are new. Today is a day to walk on. Today is a day to start over. Today is a day to go.

God still has big things for you. God still as new things for you. There is still life and hope and peace for you.

You just have to get up and go.

You can do it. You can get up. You can walk forward. You can leave your pit.

Through God’s grace. Today, you’ve stayed in your pit long enough. Today, get up and go.

And God will go with you!

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

We Are Not As Strong As We Think We Are

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One of my favorite songs by Rich Mullins is entitled We are Not as Strong as we Think we Are. It’s not a song that many of us have heard; I heard it for the first time when I was in college.

I was going through a rough time, that odd point in life when you aren’t sure where your place is in life; what God is calling you to; what you will do. I always enjoyed Rich Mullins’ music and I bought his CD (yes, I’m so old I remember CDs!) Songs. And I hear this song. The words still resonate with me today:

We are frail, we are fearfully and wonderfully made . . . we must be awfully small and not strong as we think we are.

That song summed up the tension of life so well to me. We are frail and weak, but we are also fearfully and wonderfully made.

But we need the humility to understand that we are not a strong as we think we are.

Listen to what Jesus says today in Matthew 23:11-12:

The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

We must humble ourselves. We must arrogance has no place in our hearts. We stand on God’s grace and mercy. And we are not as strong as we think w are.

Our strength comes not from ourselves, but from Him. Our ability to stand is not our own, but His. Our life is not our life, but His.

Today, know you are fearfully and wonderfully made. But also know that you are frail and needy.

And know that when we humble ourselves, realize our weakness, we will find His strength. Today, may we live with humility. And may we find His strength.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

What Are You Missing?

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We love kids in our culture. Really, we do. We treasure them. We take great pride in them. We love them.

In Petal, one of the greatest things we have going for our community is our public school system. As Asbury, one of the things that people love most our church and one of the “engines” driving our growth is our children’s ministry.

We love kids. We value kids. Kids are important.

That wasn’t always the case.

Look at this passage today in Matthew 19: 13-15:

Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away.

The disciples try to keep the children away from Jesus.

Not because they didn’t like kids. It was because kids didn’t matter to them. In that culture at that time, kids were of no value other than being basically property. In their mind, Jesus was far too important to spend time with children. I mean, He’s the son of God! He’s busy! He doesn’t have time for kids.

So, it was stunning when He said no, let them come to me.

He knew they did matter. They were important. They were valuable.

He welcomed.

Today, who do you need to welcome? Where do you need to see God? Who do you think may not be “important” enough for you time?

You never know. You may find God’s presence there.

Today, what are you missing? Who are you overlooking. In that person, in that place, you may very well find God’s presence.

Today, may we look for in Him in all times and in all people.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

Who Will Steer the Ship?

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Sin and temptation are powerful. They really are. Sometimes in our lives, we feel like we are totally helpless in resisting sin. We feel overwhelmed. We feel as though there is nothing that we can do against it.

Paul talks a lot about the power of sin, how it takes over, how it works against us, how we can feel as though we are overcome by it sometimes.

And he is 100% correct there (duh, he is well, you know, Paul, and all of this is inspired by the Holy Spirit!). So then, we why do we fight against? If God loves us in spite of our sin, and we are helpless against it, then why do we worry about it and strain against it?

Listen to what he says today in Romans 6: 12-14:

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Do not present yourself to sin, but instead present yourself to God. What? What does that mean?

Today, in your life, what will set the course for your actions? Will it be your sin and temptations? Or will it be God?
Something will steer the ship in your life today.

Something will guide you today. Will it be God? Or will it be sin?

If it is sin, then you will get yourself in trouble. You will trip and fall. You will make mistakes.

Me too, by the way! All of us are equally effected, and destroyed by sin. It’s called being human.

But, if God steers the ship, if God sets the course, then we will be more aware of temptation. We will be more aware of where we are being pulled away. We will be more in tune to His leading and will have more of His strength to fight.

Now, even with God steering, we will mess up. But if He is steering, and we mess up, we are aware of mistakes, aware of His calling to keep going, and aware of His forgiveness.

Sin blinds us to these things. And sin wants to keep us from knowing that we are forgiven!

So, today, in your life, who will steer the ship? Will you present yourself to God? Or to sin?

That decision right now, will affect everything else we do today!

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.