We Need Iron Men of Faith!

We give kudos to sports athletes for their ability to play their sport under adverse conditions and injury! Bret Favre was dubbed the iron man of football because he would not be pulled out of a game injured or not, impressive!

Men how about us in our service to Christ? Where are our iron men for Jesus? For us it seems, it does not take much for us to sit the bench rather than stay in the game!  We so easily want to leave the game when the biggest hurdles come our way, or we are hurt or injured!

When will we stand up and be counted in a world that wants to challenge our faith? We need to have iron men of faith, men willing to stand no matter what the cost as we have such a cloud of witnesses as examples!

We need Joshua's, we need Caleb's, we need most of all to set an example, and let people see in us the greatest iron man of all Jesus! Ok men it's not only about the bike you ride, ministry you are in, being a veteran, or a supporter of veterans or any other thing!

It is how you stand in the gap when things go wrong, or not your way! How you stand up to the evil that is coming at you and your families! It's no more making excuse how you cannot serve, stand up and be counted, when it counts!

 It's coming along side your Pastor and praying for them, holding their hands up as Aaron and Hur did for Moses! It's asking them what you can do to serve the church better and more, not making the excuse you do enough!

If men, we did enough the church would be full of men leading the way instead of our gals doing it all!! God called us to lead the way by example and we have shrunk back from the task! It's time now to stand up more than ever before and be the men called us to be, not what we think we ought to be!

Be iron men for Jesus, let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and give God the glory!!

Joshua 24:15English Standard Version (ESV)

15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

You never Know!

You know sometimes we sit here and read all the things people are going through, and say to ourselves my life is not that bad! Our struggles are not that hard, nothing worth giving up over! I have found that I have been given you all to pray for.

It gives me strength to get through those days that seem tougher than others. Though we have all lost loved ones, we still have people who need our love. Though we may be hurting, God wants us to use that hurt to help others overcome theirs.And when we do this our hurts seem a little less.

We never know why we go through what we do, maybe because God wants us to be able to use our life's experience to help others through theirs? If we set our eyes on God the Author and finisher of our faith.

We may see that what we go through and the purpose of it, is a training to help those who may not have the strength on their own to endure! But when we don't have that strength ourselves, God puts someone there to help, that seems to be going through the same or worse, to distract us from getting stuck in our own lives!

Life is a learning experience not a punishment as some seem! Your life and mine has a purpose, we can lose that by losing focus on our situation. Or share our situation with others who need to know others are going through the same struggles or worse!

We may never see the help we can be until we get out of the funk we may be in! Our trials are important to God not just for our struggle, but for our faith building and testimony to others! It is through these trials we grow or wither!

If when we are going through the fire, we reach out and share our lives, that is when we will see victory. It may be a life that was about to end in hopelessness, won back to hope, just with you reaching out with your hope!

This hope does not disappoint as Paul wrote in Romans 5:5. We do not understand always why people go through what they do except, to help others who do not have the strength of the faith to reach out!

It also helps us to see in our own lives that we have a God who is there no matter what we are going through! He does not want us stuck in our circumstances, but focused on His purposes for our circumstances! And that is always to use them to reach others with the Hope of salvation!

There is not a person in scripture that did not struggle somehow or someway! But in all ways they saw God working in and through their lives! All they went through was used to make a difference in someone else's life!

And through their trials they would come to know Jesus! Just read the book of Acts! Hope this may be helpful to someone out there who is struggling right now. You are not alone, everyone is going through something, never hesitate to ask or share your hurts, you never know who you may be helping in doing so!

Do we weep for the lost?

As I was reading my devotion this morning in the Daily Bread. I was reading about a young teenager who wept over the fact a 20 year old homeless man refused Jesus! She wept because she knew if he died without Jesus where he was destined to go!

As I read this the conviction came over me and I asked myself, do I weep for the lost? Is my heart truly burdened for those who do not know Jesus? Has my heart become hardened over the fact that people just don't want to know? Or they are just finding more excuses not to?

I watched a movie called Saving Private Ryan. I wept throughout the movie over the lives lost in that terrible battle on D-Day! But it came to me, even though people die as heroes, do they know Jesus? Was I weeping over the fact they were lost?

We as believers weep over many things. But do we truly weep that people are lost out there and that our responsibility is to reach a lost and dying world for Jesus no matter what? Or have we become hardened in our hearts already making the determination that people have made their choice?

Regardless how the Apostle Paul was treated by his countryman, most wanted him dead! He wept for their souls he never stopped sharing Jesus. He took every opportunity whether on trial, or in prison to share the Gospel. We must never forget when even on the Cross surrounded by an angry crowd, Jesus cried out for their forgiveness!

We should not be spending our time making the determination who or who is not allowed into heaven. We should be weeping for their souls, and no matter what, sharing the Gospel message whether they accept it or not. We are not to argue the cause just plant the seed!

And even if they reject it now, you can be at the very least relieved, that you took the time to give them the Gospel. The rest is up to Jesus Christ who does the saving and changing of lives! But we, if we have hardened our hearts we will miss many opportunities!

The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 9:1-5, I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen[a] according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

How about you? Would you be wiling to trade places? Would you be willing to give up what you have in Jesus for at least one soul? That is true love and sacrifice. Even as Stephan was being stoned to death for his relationship with Jesus, he asked God to forgive them Acts 7. Who are we to be any different? Are we truly weeping for the lost?

You can win if you are willing to make the right choices!

I watched the movie The Aviator with Karen my wife. The movie is about Howard Hughes, who at that time became the wealthiest man in the world, worth about 2.5 billion! The sad thing was, with all his accomplishments and money he had a tragic sad life! He had all the things money could by except health and happiness!

He was a very unsettled man and struggled with OCD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He had multiple relationships with many starlets of the day including Katherine Hepburn, Ava Gardner, just to name a few, yet never settled never happy still struggled with life and sought no help! Ultimately he became a recluse trying to hide from the fears that gripped him until he died malnutritioned and lonely!

He looked so bad the the FBI had to identify him by finger prints, sad life! My point in writing this is never feel you are alone, never feel no one cares, ask for help! Howard Hughes did not have a relationship with God so his life became hopeless even with all he had, it just proves the things of the world truly do not satisfy!

He did not know the trouble he was in because he had no one to turn to! But you do if you turn to Christ as your help, He will never leave you or forsake you, He will not let you down but will give you the courage and wisdom to press on! Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is still out there and consumes peoples lives, owns them traps them in fear and anguish keeps them alone feeling there is no way out!

If you know someone like this pray for them, touch base with them, encourage them, that seeking the right help they can defeat this terrible debilitating sickness! I personally know a young lady who struggled greatly with this sickness! She got in the fight for her life, she took a tough and long journey to defeat it and won!

She had the support of her family and youth Pastor! She learned it is not about the things life offers, it's about life itself and she wanted to live a normal life and won that victory! She started by the admission she had a dangerous problem that was not fixing itself or going away no matter all the little things she felt she had to do.

She had to change some things in her life if her life was going to change! She went to what ever length it took and won, with God's help and the support of those around her she won! The main scripture applied, Philippians 4:13 became the verse she lived by! Standing on the promises that God could and would deliver her and He did!

Victory is just an asking away and sometimes involves work and commitment on our part, trust in God, and a willingness to say I need to change some things! Just so you know the young lady whom I speak about now has a family and stays busy and attentive to how she lives her life! Living a victorious life and learning everyday!

You can win to if you focus on the right things and not the things your mind tell you you need but the reality of what you need to win!

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

Sharing what I have gained through memories!

I have found while going through my memories, taking care of my mom has taught me so much about the values of life! Never take life for granted  you do not know what a day will bring! Plan for the future don't live for the future, life changes that all too often! If you have your mom and or dad and they are aware of life around them, take time and build more memories with them!

Even if they don't, build memories anyway they are the ones who raised you they deserve it! There are those who claim bad memories, use them as life lessons of what not to do and build good memories! Don't take your freedoms lightly, sometimes to  be truly free we have to lose freedom as we know it to understand it much better!

Karen and I had plans, things changed. What changed? Our relationship with God and ourselves! We have become so much closer in both areas, not perfect just closer! We learn something new each day about gratitude! We complain less about what we cannot do because God has allowed us to do more than we ever imagined!

Put people in our lives that step up at a moments notice. Allowed us to Pastor a wonderful family for just a few. If not for having my mom we would have missed so much about genuine love and friendships. We would have missed a new learning about Philippians 4:13, we have been able to do all things because Christ is in it!

Life happens to teach us not to hold us back. Draws us closer to our Lord if we truly stay focused on Him. We miss so much sometimes because we get caught up in what we see rather than what we cannot! That is what faith is all about just plain trusting whether you see God or not, because you just know He is there! He has never left us in this journey Karen and I have traveled.

Have we interfered? Certainly, like I said we have not arrived life is a daily learning process only if you want to be taught! Learn from life's lessons they are there to build us and make us better and stronger, only if you are willing to see it through spiritual eyes!

Gossip and the Gospel!

Gossip and The Gospel cannot go hand in hand. One hurts the other heals! You cannot do both, so think before you speak! If it is not exhorting or lifting up, if it's not giving God the glory then it could be gossip! You cannot do both without consequence! More people and more churches have been hurt by gossip then any other thing.

Read and claim James 3 and lets restore relationships and bring healing in the body of Christ. We may not have all the time we think we do so lets have church. While there is still time we can bring people to Jesus by our love and light. As I heard in a message on Sunday we are to think of others more highly than ourselves, gossip just does not do that! So lets think before we speak! Do our words bring glory or shame to our Lord?

Colossians 3 English Standard Version (ESV)

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity,passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice,slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts,kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Love, really?

Love means so many things to so many people. Love is not just a feeling or emotion, love is so much more then that! God's love toward us was much more than just a feeling, it was a sacrifice for a lost and dying world! A love that reaches beyond our comprehension, a love that people today try and analyze, why would God give His son for us? 

Because He truly loves us, He truly has a plan for our lives. He truly wants us free from sin that is destroying us daily. Only by giving His son the spotless, sinless, lamb of God, could He show us the amazing love he has for us. The problem with most people, they don't understand this kind of sacrificial love, because sin has blinded them to it! 

But God has provided the love deliverance to sin, Jesus Christ His only Begotten Son.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

John 3:16-19English Standard Version (ESV)
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

Just a thought!

Have you truly thought about the awesome God we serve, really? He is there for us 24/7 never making excuses, up early, up late, listening to our petitions! Even our complaining and excuse making, yet He listens and wants to carry us through. He never mentions deserting us or sleeping in, He is there, everyday, every minute!

When He faced the cross of Calvary, for 33 years or so, He never shrank back or found an excuse not to go! Even though we deserved what we should get for our actions and sin. He never stopped looking toward the cross! I think those are just a few things we need to consider in our walk with Him. We need to start thinking about why we cannot pray, get up, move ahead!

Jesus loved us so much, without excuse, up early praying for us, looking ahead to His death burial and resurrection for us! So much He did for us, and He asks so little in return except to be faithful, to be strong in Him and the power of His might! To pray, share the gospel, little to ask from our God who gave so much, to a people who appreciate so little!

Rethink your relationship with Jesus, draw close to Him and He will draw close to you! You are never alone, ever! 1 Thess. 5:17, Hebrews 13:5-6, Matthew 25, Eph. 6:10, James 4:8

James 4:8-Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

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I love being a servant leader as it brings you so much closer to those you love in the body of Christ! Though it can work you more, it also humbles you even more! It opens your eyes to the realities around you, and ignites God's word within you as the Holy Spirit moves you in the lives of those you serve!

You always learn, or should learn to follow the advice God gives you to pass on as a servant leader! We serve and lead by example, if we cannot that is where the breakdown lay's! If you are not doing these things important biblical points are being missed! If you have been called to servant lead, you need to be in daily prayer and preparation before God and getting renewed!

Yes taking time for you also is so very important, yet you cannot spend all your time on you! If you are stuck in a rut, you need to pray ask God what His teaching is here! If you cannot seem to get out, you need to be humble and ask those close to you to pray for you! If you still cannot get free, it may be, you want to be right where you are, and again you need to get deep in the word and pray!

Your thinking needs to be, all you do and say needs to bring Glory and honor to God.

(Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.)

God has not called you for no reason, He wants you, He wants your time, and He wants you before Him daily! It is when we can come to that place in our servant leadership relationship, will we experience less burn out, less excuse making, and receive a renewed and revitalized spirit! Then and only then will you be an effective servant leader!

Then and only then will people truly see Jesus in your life! Be all you can be for Jesus, and He will do all He can in you and through you! Remembering Jesus set the example for us to follow, no better teacher!

John 21:15-19

15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”

He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”

16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”

He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”

And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.