Long week…

I’ve had one long week. I’ve been working in Ocala, and worked a late one tonight. I missed church, that’s a downer. But I got a little family time in, so it all worked out.

Tomorrow I head back north to Ocala to finish the job. While I’m gone, my minivan is getting a new fuel filter. They should be changed every 60,000 miles, and my van has over 130,000! Waaay overdue, and it’s affecting the van in mileage and running rougher. I got the filter last night, and attempted to change it out myself, but I don’t have the right tools. A mechanic who comes on site to fix our spray trucks is going to replace the filter for me for a mere $20. Praise God! My van will be good when I go home tomorrow night.

God bless!

Life in the City Series

Tomorrow I start a series I have titled “Life in the City”. It will be a trip through the Sermon on the Mount. So, you may ask, what does that have to do with a city? The Bible tells us that we are citizens of Heaven. We are seated in heavenly places in Christ. As such, we have certain characteristics that Jesus wants to see in us. The first message focuses on the Beatitude section of the sermon.

There are certain values (or non-values!) that the world holds to. Those values run contrary to the values and characteristics that the Lord instills in us. Need for God vs. full of self. Hunger for God’s righteousness vs. worldly pleasures. Mercy vs. harshness. You get the picture.

Next week we’ll continue through Matthew 5, focusing on anger and purity.

God bless!

Homemade Brownies!

I have a confession to make. Some may take issue with this dark secret I’m about to reveal, but I can’t hide in the dark any longer. Deep breath…ok, here goes. I am a closet baker. I love to bake brownies!

Right now, I have an 8 x 8 pan of lovely, totally homemade brownies cooling in the kitchen. That’s right, I said homemade. Not that Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines stuff. I made real brownies from scratch and baking cocoa.

I am about to cut out a couple and eat them with some Blue Bunny Neapolitan ice cream! Not good this late, but I have a hankering for it.

Nothing deep tonight. Maybe I’ll blog a devotion in the next couple days about them, though.

God bless!

Everybody Needs a Little Jump-start

I am someone that always finds himself running. I get to sleep late. I wake up early, and I start moving 100mph from the bed. And with the cares of family, the pressures of money and the stress from work, the late nights and early mornings often catch me midday. I find myself crashing, needing something to give me a boost. Usually, I reach for something leftover in my lunchbox, like some applesauce or pudding. Sometimes I’ll run into the store for a package of raisins. I need something to pick me up and give me some energy.

Today was one of those days when I felt like I needed a little boost in my body. I am tired, and I needed a little jolt to keep me running till I could hit the bed. That was a Starbucks coffee tonight! I think we need a little jolt in the spirit every now and then, too. Sometimes, we let ourselves wear thin and tire out. We get into a rut, and need something to kick ourselves in the pants and start us moving again.

God knows just how to keep us going. It may come in a church service. It may happen in the prayer closet. It may come in the form of witnessing. It may happen when you decide to take a step of faith and stir up that gift God’s given you.

For me, it usually happens when I decide to step out and bless someone, either by witnessing, or somehow meeting a need in their lives. God designed us Christians to be out-reachers, that is, to get beyond ourselves and look to the needs of others. When we do that, we are flowing in the Spirit and heart of Jesus.

Food is the fuel for the human body. So it’s interesting to read in John 4 something that the Lord said to his disciples. He had been ministering to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well when the 12 returned from town. They went to buy some food, and came back to get Jesus to eat some. He said this to them:

But He assured them, I have food (nourishment) to eat of which you know nothing and have no idea. So the disciples said one to another, Has someone brought Him something to eat? Jesus said to them, My food (nourishment) is to do the will (pleasure) of Him Who sent Me and to accomplish and completely finish His work. John 4:32-34

Jesus was of course telling them that he had just eaten spiritually. He gained strength from the ministry he had just done. Like the Lord, we find strength and joy in reaching out and blessing people. Remember, the Lord did tell us that it is more blessed to give than to receive. We’re great at getting, but it’s usually much tougher when it comes time to give. It costs us something. Maybe time, maybe money. But it will cost us something. But hallelujah, the Word of God is still true! When we give, God gives back, and like the Lord Jesus, we come away from ministry full from the spiritual meal he fed us via reaching to others.

So look for the opportunities this week to eat. Reach out and touch someone. You’ll find that it is food for your soul that will fuel your spirit and drive you deeper in your life with God.

God bless!

One Smart Boy

This morning, my wife and I were having a talk with our oldest daughter, Machaela, privately. To keep my boys, 4 1/2 and 2, from running in and out of the room, I locked the door. It is one of those doors that you can unlock from the outside with a coin. As we talked, the door suddenly opened, and in came Timmy and his little brother, running around. I asked him how he got in, and he showed me a penny!

“How did you know to do that?”, I asked. “Mommy does that with my Leapster (beginner handheld game system like a Nintendo DS). Sure enough, after we laughed that our boy was smart enough to figure that door out, my wife admitted that she uses a coin to take the battery pack out. I guess someone had been watching her.

I gotta watch what I do and say around that boy. He really picks up on things. Today, as we were leaving Wally World with our groceries, I found myself annoyed and loudly wishing the people coming out of the store would stop so I could drive away. I quickly heard Timmy repeating everything I said. Oops. And just so you stop thinking that, no, I didn’t cuss.

I could preach right here, but let’s just leave it off with this-people are watching, and how we live is an example to someone. So live as close to Jesus as you can.

God bless!

Another Friday’s Gone

Well, last night was another Friday youth service, and it went well. I was a little disappointed, because our youth fellowship nights also double as youth choir practices (we’ve actually got a pretty kick-butt choir!), and half the choir was AWOL. We had about 18 kids last night, so quite a few were out.

I had a pretty rough day yesterday. All morning long I was fighting fear and anxiety. All I could muster was to sing a few worship choruses. God was faithful, and he got me through it. I was tired to say the least when I got to the church. Kind of like Wednesday’s service. Again, I led them in a song called “You Deserve The Glory”, and God’s presence was so…peaceable. I finally felt ready to preach.

Before leaving for the church, God began to give me a message for the kids. I had something prepared, but I felt that God was telling me to change it. So I made a mental note, and rushed out the door. I took a few to put it together at the church and it all flowed. It blessed them. It was about how the stones used to build the temple was chiseled out while at the quarry, so that no sound of hammers or other tools were heard at the temple site. So, we, as living stones (1 Pet. 2:5) are being chiseled off and shaped into Christ’s image before that day that we see him face to face.

Anyway, just keeping everyone updated. God bless!

Wednesday Nite Series…

Hey, all. Last night went really well for youth service, as I blogged about last night. I got to thinking about what to do next week. Man, I still have to prepare a short message for tomorrow night’s youth fellowship, and I’m already thinking about Wednesday. Sometimes I wonder if I have ADD, seeing that my mind seems to fly way ahead of me.

Anyway, I’ve been reading and studying the Sermon on the Mount, Matt. 5-7. Some of it naturally seeped out last night. I think it will be a good study for the teens to help bolster their foundation. Also, we’ve found with Sunday School, when we do a series and push it from the pulpit Sunday AM, parents respond and get their kids there. I think it will keep a fire lit under the parents of these teens.

Several of our young people have received the baptism in the Holy Spirit in the past couple of months, and good studies in the Word of God will give them the knowledge they need to back their zeal for service up. I’m stoked!

Any suggestions from anyone? Especially other youth pastors. Looking forward to hearing you all out.

God bless!

Running On Empty

Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. 2 Kings 4:6 NKJV

Every one of us has been there at some point. You’re driving along, and notice that the gas gauge is reading empty, and no gas stations are in sight. You pray and hope that the car makes it just a little bit further, wondering why it seems that the gas stations are further apart when you really need one now. Just when you think it might make it, the car loses power. It’s happened to me a couple of times, in an old car with a bad gas gauge that read more that what was really in the tank. And I had to hoof it over a mile to a station. I was late for work that day.

We get pushed to our limits, too. I had a rough day today. It was a day that I was pushed to the end of myself, and then some. I had no more “gas” by the time I made it to church. You see, I’m a youth pastor. I have to give of myself often, and Wednesday is our midweek youth service. I was spent. I was tired. I was in a bad mood. Everything that could go wrong seemed to today. I was very late for work. I waited at the doctor’s office forever. The kids were crazy. Working conditions were poor. Traffic was horrible. I had to drive in the blinding tropical rain that central Florida is famous for during the summer. Everything seemed set against me today. By the time I got to church, I had been drained, and I still had to preach!

I prayed, my wife prayed, and we got started. I told the Lord I didn’t have the strength, but praise Him, he gave me the grace I needed! It seems that those times when we feel so unworthy to do the work of ministry, God blesses us and shows off! He gave me the strength and the words I needed to touch these teenagers, when I had run dry.

I am reminded about Elisha and the woman whose sons were about to be taken and enslaved to pay her late husbands debts off. She would have been up the creek, as middle eastern society then was man-driven. Women couldn’t do anything then. With no husband, a lady needed a son to take care of her. Her man was dead, and her boys were about to be sold out from her. She was in dire straits. Thus, we can tell why she cried out for God’s help via His prophet.

“What do you have in the house”, asked Elisha, after that she had poured out her problem to him. All she had was a little bit of oil in a jar. So he told her to send her boys out to borrow as many pots as they could. She did, and he told her to shut themselves up in the house and pour the oil into all the pots. They were then to sell them, pay the debt and live off the rest. And that they did. God had blessed this woman indeed!

But I want to focus on that nearly empty jar of oil. It didn’t have much to give. When it should have been spent dry, God filled it. And fillled it. And kept filling it till all the available pots were full. Sometimes, like tonight, I go into times of service as empty as that oil jar. And, just when I think I can’t pour out anymore, God fills me with what I need to fill another pot. God hasn’t let this jar run dry yet!

Why is it that after these years of ministry, I still get amazed when God fills me? I should know by now that he will give me the grace and the words and the power I need when I need it. But I am still amazed, and, dare I say, surprised! Tonight, as I began preaching, I felt that power and touch of the Lord Jesus in my spirit, and I felt like I was floating tonight. God really blessed me!

Why does God do this? I think that the Bible gives us a pretty good answer. God can work with brokenness and weakness. When I feel the most empty and broken, the Lord touches me. It was the apostle Paul who wrote of his own brokenness and weakness in 2 Cor. 12:8-9:

Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

So, friends, remember that when you feel that you are at the end of yourself, get ready, because God is about to pour some oil out of you that you didn’t know was there.

God bless!