Tag Archives: Life

Loved to Love Others

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God is in the business of making all things right. God is in the business of bringing restoration and hope and peace to lives, their lives, and lives.

God is the business of making all things right.

Listen to what Paul writes today in 2 Corinthians 5: 18:21:

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

love-God-love-others-titlePaul says that God, through Christ, has reconciled us to Himself. In other words through what Jesus has done for us on the cross and in the empty grave, God has, and is making all things right for us with Him.

There is grace. There is mercy. There is forgiveness for us in Christ. Today, there is the chance to start over, begin again, wake up to a fresh and new start.

Today, this is a new day.

But, then, look what he says – God has reconciled us, so that we can be God’s ambassadors. Today, it isn’t just that God want you to know mercy and freedom and grace and power.

It’s that God wants to use you to so that others can know His mercy and grace and power.

He loves us so that we can know love, and love others.

He forgives us so that we can know forgiveness, and forgive others.

He gives us life, so that we can help others know life.

Today, He is calling you into Himself, into love and life. And He calls us to live in church a way, full of grace and mercy, that others will want to know the God that we know!

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.

How to Live

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Jesus is asked what is the way to life. What must one do to inherit eternal life?

That’s a big question, huh? That’s probably one that you want to get right. So, Jesus returns the question and says, what is written.

Listen to how this plays out in Luke 10:25-28:

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

8562bf13209e799f6798813cdcb87bf4I love Jesus’ response. He says do this – love God, love neighbor, love yourself, and you shall live.

And I think that He is teaching us something bigger than just “living” for eternity. I think that Jesus is teaching us how to live today. You don’t have to wait until heaven to have to live. You can live today.

See, when we live for something bigger than us, when we live to love God, to love our neighbor, and yes, to properly love ourselves, then we are really living.

But, if we are living to chase stuff, or status, or fame, or our reputation, or whatever, than we really aren’t living. Now, we may be breathing, eating, and doing the stuff of life, but we won’t be living. We will be existing.

But when we live for that, to love God, others, and self, then we are living. We have a purpose. We have a plan. We have something really worth having.

Then, we are truly living.

Today, Jesus shows us to live. How? To love. God. Others. And yes, even love ourselves. Today, let’s truly live for something worth living for. Let’s love God with all that we are. Let’s do our very best to love our neighbor. And let’s forgive ourselves and see ourselves as the child of God that we are.

Let’s not just wait to heaven to live. Let’s live 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.

Live in Peace

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I have a joke I make sometimes about how I want folks to see me. I never want someone to see me walking down the aisle at Walmart and think to themselves, oh no, there he is! And turn and walk the other way!

I never want to be that guy! I always want to, in my life, build community, make folks feel better, help folks experience grace.

I want to live in peace with others. And that can be hard. That can be a challenge. It’s not always easy to live in peace with each other. Sometimes it’s not even easy to be a peace with yourself.

But, as Christians, that’s part of our calling. To live in peace. To make things better. To be salt and light. To make a difference.

Listen to what Paul says today in Romans 12:17-19:

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

communityRepay no one with evil. Don’t respond to evil with evil. Our first response will be to respond back. Hit back. Hurt back. That’s what we want to do. That’s what comes natural. That’s what we feel like we should do.

Don’t do it. Respond with grace. Respond with love. Respond with peace.

Why? Because that’s where life is found. In not responding back with evil.

Well, Andy, what if I extend peace, and they bite my hand off? That’s why Paul says, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all.

You can’t control them. The only person you have any response over is yourself. You can’t control what they do, what they say, what they do.

You can only control the grace you give. So, give grace.

Even when it’s hard. Even when it may hurt. Give grace. Live in peace. Be different. Be salt and light.

We can’t do this through ourselves. Only through Him.

Today, do it, through Him. Live in peace. Through Him. And in that, you’ll find more life than you think possible.

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.

No Check List

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imagesOne of the things that I talk about with groups here at Asbury is the struggle of what it means to be a Christian. How exactly should we live? What exactly should we do? What are the things that we should be doing?

What are the things that we shouldn’t be doing?

Man, wouldn’t it be a lot easier if God just gave us a check list. Now, He has given us things like the greatest commandment (love the Lord our God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself) and He has given us the 10 Commandments.

So there are some basics.

But, there is no check list. There’s something better.

Listen to what Paul tells us today in Galatians 2:19-20:

For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Paul tells us this. We’d died to the law. We don’t live by the law any more. Ours is not a checklist faith any more. Well, what kind of faith is it?

It’s the faith where Christ lives in us and through us. It’s the kind of faith where we die not just to the law, but to ourselves.

It’s the kind of faith where just focus on Jesus. If we focus on Him, He takes care of the rest.

So, today, don’t worry about a checklist. Don’t worry about what you have to do. This, this is what you have to do. Focus on Him. With all that you are. With all that you have. Focus on Him.

That’s your check list. Focus on Him.

And if you do that. If we do that, He will take care of the rest.

Today, may we focus on Him, may we follow Him, with all that we are. And His spirit within us will take care of what we are supposed to do!

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.

April 16 – Evil Doesn’t Win

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If you have been following me for any length of time, you know that April 16 is not my favorite day of the year.  This is the day that I remember the power of evil and sin to destroy lives.

And it’s the day that reminds me that in the journey of my life (and our lives) that evil doesn’t win.

And each of us, we know the power of evil. We see it in the world. We saw it on 9/11. We witnessed it yesterday in Boston, and many, many lives were forever changed and disrupted. We have seen the force and power of evil.

Evil has it’s moment. But evil doesn’t win.

That said, I don’t like April 16.

mama-saraOn April 16, 1978, my mother was murdered.  I have always called her “Mama Sarah.”  She was killed as she was walking out of our house, with me in her arms. She was walking out of the house because she did not want me raised in an abusive situation, in a situation full of drugs and destruction. She was walking out of the house because she wanted me to have a better life.

She was walking out of the house because she loved me.

And in that, she laid down her life for me.  Literally.  I sometimes tell folks I have the burden and blessing in my life of having had two people lay down their life for me, Jesus and Mama Sarah.

And, every day I wake up and know that I am here, I give thanks for no greater love.  I give thanks that I, literally, should not be here.

And if you’ve ever wondered why I’m a little on the ADD side, this is why. I’m not going to waste a second that God has given me.

And every time I look at my daughter Sarah and mourn over the fact that she will never know the grandmother she was named for, I give thanks for no greater love.

I have experienced in my life the power of evil to bring destruction.

But I’ve also seen this.  I’ve seen that evil doesn’t win.  See, when Mama Sarah died, I was adopted by her mother and step father. I call them mama and daddy, because that’s who they are.

By the way, if you want to know the power of evil, consider this. Mama Sarah was murdered on her mother’s birthday, April 16. And she was buried on my birthday, April 18.

Evil has it’s moment. But it doesn’t win.

I was adopted and raised by my mama and daddy.  And if I had not been raised by them, I wouldn’t have been raised in the church I was raised in.  Which means that I may not be a Christian. Which means that I may not be a preacher. Which means that I may not be here, doing what I’m doing.

I may not be affecting your lives and your faith.

If I hadn’t been raised by my adopted parents, I wouldn’t have went to Bouge Chitto, which means I wouldn’t have went to Co-Lin which means I wouldn’t have met Holly, which means I wouldn’t have my family.

God brought good out of this terrible tragedy.

Was my mother’s murder a good thing?  No.  Or course not.  My heart aches for it.  But, the power of God is not that He stops bad things from happening.

But that He can bring good our of anything.

Even the worst evil.

Evil doesn’t win. My life is a testament to that.

Romans 828 says this:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

All things will work for our good. And His glory.  I am thankful.

It may look bad.  But know this.  Evil doens’t win.  Let us have that hope. And let us rejoice, even in our tears.

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.

Follow Me

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Today I was blessed enough to be able to share with the First Priority at Petal Middle School. I want to share with you some of the words I shared with them.

I read from Matthew 4:18-22:

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

follow-meJesus sees Peter and Andrew and James and John, and this is His command to them. Follow me.  He doesn’t tell them where they are going.  He doesn’t go into great detail about what they will do and how they will do it.

He doesn’t answer any questions.

In fact, He doesn’t take any questions.  He simply says, Follow Me.

And they did. They followed Him. And they went all over the world, telling folks about Jesus.

That’s our call today. To follow Him.  Now following Him will look different for each of us. For some of us, that may me for the the first time placing our full faith in Him.

For others, it may mean entering into ministry.

For others, it may mean reading your bible more. Praying more.

For others, it may mean standing up for the little guy.

I don’t know what it means for you today.  But I do know this. Each of us, today, no matter where we are, that’s our command.  Follow Him.

Today, may we follow, wherever it is that He is leading!

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.

See How They Love Each Other

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Yesterday we talked about what our most important task was, to stay connected to God. He is the vine, we are the branches. And, within that, if we stay connected to the vine, stay deeply rooted in God, we will bear fruit.

The branches that come from the vine, they bear much fruit.

But, what is that fruit? What are we called to bear? What is it called to look like? What happens in our lives?

Look what Jesus tells us today in the next passage in John 15: 12-14:

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.

LoveOneAnother-e1299879079356This is His command for us, this is the fruit that He wants us to bear today. Love. Love each other. Be there for each other. Care for each other.

One of the early Christian writers Tertullian once wrote this, “See how these Christians love each other.” That’s a powerful statement to me. When others, when the world, we every one sees us as Christians, they shouldn’t say,

Man, those Christians love to fuss and fight.

Man, those Christians just can’t get along.

Man, those Christians, they just are tough to deal with.

That’s not what God wants for us. What is this new commandment that Jesus has left for us? To love.

And if we stay connected to the vine, live out of Him, we will bear much fruit. We will love.

Today, may we focus on our walk with Him. And may that walk produce His love in our lives. May we bear that fruit!

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.

Our Most Important Task

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Our most important task in life, and in faith, is not do anything. We can think there are things we are supposed to do.

Not just in our jobs or with our families or with our communities.

But in our faith. There are things we are supposed to “do” to make God love us, to change ourselves, to change the world.

There’s all the stuff that we are supposed to accomplish. But, what does Jesus tell us? What does He tell us that our most important task is?

Listen to what He told us in John 15:4-5:

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

vine and branchesAbide in me. A branch cannot bear fruit, unless it is in the vine.

Your most important task today is not to “do” anything. But, it’s to be in relationships with God. Focus on Him. Chase after Him. Live in the fullness of His life and His grace.

Focus on Him. Our main goal is not about what we “do.” It’s about who we “are.” Live as His child today. Focus on your walk with Him. Pray. Read His word. Be in connection with Him and others that love Him.

That’s our job. That’s our task. Focus on God. Make Him the center of our lives. If we do that, then all else that we need to do will fall into place.

May Jesus Christ be the center of our lives and of all that we are. That’s our most importnat task.

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.

Tuesday of Holy Week 2013

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Today on this Tuesday of Holy Week, we draw a day closer to the cross. We also draw a day closer to the joy of Easter. And that, perhaps, is the thing that we can learn in Holy Week. We see that the pain (the cross) is followed by the hope (Easter and resurrection).

As Christians, we are not promised a pain-free experience. There is pain and hurt and suffering. There will be tears and loss. But, we are promised that these tears are not without a purpose and this hurt is not in vain.

And that God will use, even that, for something amazing.

Listen to what Jesus teaches on Tuesday of Holy Week, in John 12:23-26:

And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

urlJesus tells them that the time for Him to be glorified has come. The moment when He would receive His greatest glory and honor was here. And, for us, to think of glory and honor, we think of a great award or some time of prize.

For Jesus, His greatest glory was the cross. And that doesn’t seem right. But, as He tells us, in the cross, many lives are changed, and freedom is gained for those that believe.

A grain of wheel falls, and it bear much fruit.

He goes to the to cross, and many lives are freed.

To love our lives means in this world we hate it, to gain eternal life. By the way “hate” doesn’t mean “hate” like we think of. It means to not see it as the primary thing. To know that there is something greater. And that is the truth. As great as our lives are, there is something greater.

God. To hate our live doesn’t mean that we “hate” it. It means that we choose Him first.

And, like the cross, at first that doesn’t seem right or like something we’d want to do. But, we find, that in laying down our lives, and placing His life first, we find what we are really looking for in our lives.

In laying it down, we find something greater. Today, may we know true greatness. May we find the great life that God has for us. May we lay down our lives, and take us His.

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.

A Glimpse of Heaven

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urlWhat does eternal life look like? Before you answer that question, stop and think about what I just asked, and what I didn’t ask.

I asked what does eternal life look like. I didn’t ask what does heaven look like.

Now, Andy, aren’t they the same thing? Sort of.

What do you mean by that?

Let me share one of my favorite passages of scripture with you today, John 17:1-3:

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Jesus is praying to His Father and he says – this is eternal life – they know the only true God, and Jesus Christ who you have sent.

That’s eternal life. Knowing God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son. That’s eternal life. And that starts now. That starts today. That starts the moment we know God through Jesus Christ.

Now, heaven in a place, an eternal place where will know God and be with Him forever. Heaven is a place of resurrection and spiritual bodies. Heaven is a place, if you reading this, we haven’t gotten to yet.

Eternal life is. Being found in God. Knowing God living in God. Breathing in God. Living with God every day of our lives.

That’s eternal life.

And we know that NOW. Today. In this moment.

Every time in our lives that experience God and His grace, every time we experience the moving of the Holy Spirit, every time we know God; through worship, prayer, scripture, service, through the ways that we experience Him, that’s a foretaste of heaven.

That’s a glimpse of heaven. That’s eternal life. And we can know that now.

Today, look for those glimpses of heaven. Look for eternal life in your life today. Look for those moments when you can experience God. That’s eternal life. Knowing the Father through the Son.

No matter where we are today, may we know eternal 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.