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Category: Messages (Page 5 of 41)

Speaking Without Thinking

September 14, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Once upon a time in a galaxy not too far from here, I would speak before I thought. My words would flow at times faster than the water over Niagara Falls. Some of those words were pretty intelligent, if I do say so myself. But others, well let’s just say not so much! And if I’m being honest, there were likely way more not so smart things than there were even half intelligent things!

But it’s not just saying dumb things that will get us in trouble. Sometimes we say hurtful things. We say unkind things. We even say untruthful things. All of these types of words can do vast harm to people we care about and ultimately can destroy a relationship.

You see words have power. Your words, once they come out of your mouth or through the inter webs on your computer or cell phone, can’t be retrieved. Once they are out there, well there’s no getting them back! You can’t apologize your way around them or talk your way past them. You just have to, in many cases, start brand new rebuilding the trust you once had. But it takes time and effort.

You see not only do words have power but the relationship from which they’re spoken carries weight as well. So what you say, how you say it and who you are to the person with whom you’re speaking all factor in to the damage done by your words (or your silence when words are most needed).

Before you hit send on that text message or facebook post. Before you reply to something someone says to you. Before you go off and spew your feelings all over someone else, hit the pause button. Ask yourself a couple of questions:

Is what I’m saying the whole truth?

Where did I get my information?

Is ruining this relationship worth getting my point across?

What do I have to gain by saying this? What could I lose?

The old adage of sticks and stones can hurt my bones but words will never hurt me couldn’t be more wrong. The damage done by our words, or lack of words, is far greater than anything inflicted by a slap on the face or punch in the gut.

The bible says in one place that our words and our tongue are like a fire burning inside us that if not handled properly can do vast damage. Words can lift up and they can tear down. Speak kindly with one another. Be silent when speaking isn’t necessary. Speak when the time is right. But when you speak, make sure what you speak is truthful, complete and said with love and respect. Be bold and courageous in your speaking when necessary. Be calm and gentle when the circumstances dictate.

Below is a message I recently gave on the power of our words. If you have a few minutes, I’d be honored for you to listen and give your thoughts.

Right Place, Wrong Reason

August 10, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Have you ever missed something right in front of you because you were looking for the wrong thing? I mean you’re standing there, looking at the shelves in the grocery store, staring right at the item you’re supposed to buy and you can’t even see it because it’s not what you had imagined in your head it was going to look like. I’ve been there more than once, sadly to say.

This week we took time to be honest with ourselves about what we’re looking for when we come to Jesus and when we go to church. Are we looking for the things that Jesus promises to give us? Or are we looking for the things that will make us feel better? Because to be honest, these are not generally the same things.

In the bible there’s a time when the people came to Jesus looking for food. Instead of feeding them in some cool and miraculous way, he told them he was going to give them something better than food. They were astounded, and stammered in disbelief. What could be better than food they thought.

Jesus told them that he was going to be more to them than mere food. He was there to be their bread of life. It seems an odd statement but when you realize what Jesus was doing it makes sense. The short version here is that Jesus was showing them that when we come to him and his church looking for him we’ll find him and we’ll have many of our others needs met or at minimum refocused. When Jesus is our focus and growing in him is our number one priority, we’ll soon realize that the things we’ve been looking for all along have left us hungry for more of the wrong thing.

It’s like eating a snickers candy bar. You eat one and you’re not hungry for carrots or a steak. You eat that sugary goodness and you’re just hungry for more sugary goodness. But if you get your fill of something good and healthy for you, you won’t be craving the things that are not going to do you any good.

Jesus is the same way. When we long for him and find our fill in him, the other things of life: physical needs, financial needs, social and relational needs, belonging needs, questions about our purpose in life – all these things get refocused when we’re in it for the right reason.

Here’s a message I gave on this idea of looking for the wrong thing in the right place.

Does Jesus Really Matter

May 18, 2021 / / 0 Comments
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Some will have an answer to this question before even reading this post and some won’t read this because they think they already know the answer. But I believe there is more to believing in Jesus than many of us really think.

As Christians we focus on one aspect of being a Jesus follower and kind of, mostly neglect the rest of what it means to follow him. We package Jesus into a nice and tidy box that only impacts the future and really leaves him void of any influence on our lives today.

Now let’s be clear. Did Jesus die and rise to secure our future? Yes he absolute did. The bible is very clear about this. But not just the bible attests to the manhood of Jesus and to the burial place of Jesus. There are also accounts of many who were not Jesus followers who attest to His resurrection appearances after he was buried. So the person and work of Jesus very much has to do with our future. But there’s so much more.

I need to be clear. A Jesus that only impacts me when I’m dead is really not of much use to me now. I mean if we as Christians or even more so as pastors only care about the future lives of the people with whom we interract then we’ve missed a huge part of the life of Jesus. He was very much about the here and now. Jesus wanted to see lives changed now not just in one future day in heaven.

So does Jesus really matter? Yeah for our eternity but also for several other areas of our lives. When we believe in Jesus as more than just a good guy and more than just an heavenly Pez dispenser we can see that so much of who Jesus was and what the Bible promises is about our lives today.

He listens intently to our voice.

Some days it can feel like we’re talking to people who just aren’t listening. And it can be frustrating to say the very least. One thing that we have when we believe in Jesus is an assurance that he’s listening. Now I know it’s not exactly the same as having someone sitting down drinking coffee with you but there is a comfort in knowing that the God of hte universe is listening in on your thoughts and concerns.

He acts too.

Not only does God listen in on your thoughts and concerns, but he also acts. Not just acts in some arbitrary way either. He acts in your best interest. The cool part is that God knows the things you need before you ask them. And he can see a much bigger picture than you’re able to see. We get all wrapped up in turning red lights to green and getting closer parking spots when he knows the accident that’s about to happen and the driver that won’t be watching where she’s going. So just like the assurance that he listens we can be certain that he also answers prayers in the way we most need them answered.

We are just different.

When we gather on Sundays for worship and pray and sit with other believers we realize quickly that we don’t see life the same way the world sees it. We are just not part of what the world would call normal. And that’s ok to be honest. We don’t need to be like everyone else. We are not of this world. We’re of God. It’s a powerful reality when you think about it. We have our identity wrapped up in who God is not how much money we make or how successful we are.

These are just a few of the things that we can claim as people who believe in Jesus. These are just a few of the things we can cling to as men and women walking through life together under the cross. Jesus changed our future but he also cares about our present too. That’s really important to remember.

Dandelions don’t produce apples

May 14, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Ok so that title is a little odd but if you think about it for a second and give me a few paragraphs I’ll hopefully explain.

As a pastor I believe that many people think they can become more like Jesus if they’re close to Jesus people. We can go to church or even memorize a bible verse or two. But we don’t really want to go through any major shift in our way of thinking or living.

There’s a story in the Bible where Jesus says I am the vine, you are the branches. This is pretty powerful. He doesn’t say I am the vine, all you need to do is be close. We are the branches. We need to be connected to the vine. All too often we act like a dandelion planted by an apple tree and expect to be able to produce apples. Dandelions just don’t produce apples!

And if we’re comfortable being near Jesus but not changed by Him, then we will never bear fruit for him either. Jesus says that for us to bear fruit we need to be connected to His word. That means we need to dive into, drink deeply from the message of the Bible. It’s not enough to be comfortable with a little being enough. It’s not ok to think we’ve spent enough time with Jesus or to excuse our time with Jesus because we weren’t feeling into it.

If you’re feeling like a dandelion planted by an apple tree then it’s time to start drinking deeply of the water of life. Fill yourself with the things of God. Read his word. Worship in person if at all possible. Surround yourself with people who bring you peace.

I pray this message is helpful for you as you attempt to connect with the things of God that you might produce the fruits of God to reach the people of God.

Three Directions That Matter

May 12, 2021 / / 0 Comments

I’ve been spending a lot of time considering relationships lately. There are so many key relationships that we need to tend in our lives. We need to maintain healthy relationships in so many areas of life. From family to friends to co-works to neighbors balancing all of them and figuring out how to keep all these relationships going can be challenging. But what if we can categorize things into groupings that allow us to see our relationships from a different light.

I’ve been considering my relationships as focusing on three different areas or in three different directions. These directions are up, in and out.

Up

The relationship that fits in this category is the relationship we have with God. This is a super important relationship. We need to spend intentional time focusing on and growing in our relationship with God. It’s done through time in worship, Bible study and prayer to name just a few. This relationship is critical to say the very least. It’s important because it sets up how we view the other relationships in our lives. If this relationship is not in focus, then the other two categories will not be in focus either.

In

There’s a distinction in our world between people who are in and those who are out. This generally means that one group, the in group, believes what you believe and see life how you see life. While the out group is not seeing life how you see life and does not believe what and how you believe. We’ll use this category the same way. Those who fall in our in group are those who see, think, believe and even act like we do. They generally are people who are believers as well. They have an up relationship with God. They talk about that relationship and share very similar values that you share. Growing relationships in this category is critical.

This is like building your family. You are surrounding yourself with people who are of a similar mindset. It’s the whole strength in numbers or brotherhood in suffering mentality. When you’re surrounded by men and women who see life through a similar set of lenses as you see life, you’ll find comfort in rough times and power in good times.

Out

The final category of relationships are those who don’t see life the same way. And to be totally honest this set of relationships is extremely important just like the other two. Think of it as a triangle. You need all three sides and all three angles to make a proper triangle. Well to have a balanced and healthy lifestyle, you need all three types of relationships. The people who find their way into this category are those who don’t see life the same way you see life. But just because you don’t agree on the best color of carpet or the best sports team, doesn’t mean you can’t still engage in dialogue and have a healthy relationship. These are neighbors and coworkers, teammates and classmates.

We don’t share everything with these people but we do share some overlap in our interests and hobbies and extracurriculars. These people are everywhere and we need to invest some healthy time in these kinds of friendships and relationships.

The key for all of this is to balance the three. If we are too heavy on any one side of this triangle the whole thing gets wonky. We’ll spend some time over the next few weeks looking at lopsided relational triangles. But for now, here’s a little more explanation of the three sides and how we live them out.

What’s love got to do with it?

May 4, 2021 / / 0 Comments

I’ve said numerous times that the word love is one of my least favorite words. It’s so challenging because in our culture we love everything and yet love nothing at the same time. We can love our spouse and pizza and cars and workouts and all the things but do we really love those things? Which of those are real love and which are some glorified version of like a whole lot?

As we journey through some of these challenging questions we have to pause and think about the reality of our words. The biggest problem with our idea of love is that so often we think love has to do with us but really love has to do with the recipient not the giver.

Our world is simply full of selfish lovers. What’s in it for me seems to be the question asked before what can I do for you. Real love is focused on the neds of the other person not on our own needs. Now that doesn’t mean we let people walk all over us but we also don’t push our agenda on other people in the name of love. Because that just isn’t love.

This past week we focused on this very idea in a message at church. If you’re interested in how this plays out, check it out.

Do you really know what love means?

April 21, 2021 / / 0 Comments

One of my least favorite words in teh human language is the word love. I can’t stand it. People throw it around like it’s just another word. We say we love our spouse then we love pizza and then we love our truck or sports team or friend. But do we really love those things? Is it love or like?

The cool thing about other languages is that they have multiple words that can be used in place of love that help you better understand what someone is talking about. This week I talked about the different words for love. We discussed family or relational love, intimate love, friend love, and a love we all want to have but honestly can’t and that’s unconditional or limitless love.

Now before I send you off to check out the talk on the different kinds of love it’s important to understand why this was our focus. You see there are some who will make you question love. In our relationships people tend to say one thing and do a different thing which makes love go out of focus to put it mildly.

But there are some churches and chruch traditions that will call into question God’s love for you based on what’s happening in the world, how good or not good of a person you are, or how you practice your Jesus life by going to church and stuff like that. So let me be very clear –

If you are part of a church tradition that causes you to question God’s love for you, then you are not in a Biblical church.

There’s no more simple way to put it. God is the one who loves you unconditionally. God is the one who cares for you without boundaries. His love is not based on your love for him or your practicing your faith life. God doesn’t need you to be a good person for him to love you. He just does. You can believe it or not but that doesn’t change his love either. This is so very important and foundational to our understanding of who God is and how we live our lives. Check out the video below.

Or here’s just the audio.

Sorry That Relationship Is Here To Stay

April 12, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Whether you like it or not you can’t undo a relationship. I mean seriously, your parents will always be your parents. Your children will always be your children. You don’t generally get to choose your family members and those strong relationships while sometimes strained, don’t break.

That’s the same with our relationship with God. Whether you believe it or not, God is the source of your life. Believing it won’t make it true. Not believing it won’t make it untrue. Relationships don’t rely on proximity or belief. They are about position. Your relationship is an outcome of your position to someone else.

The bible talks about two things with great depth. One is relationships and we pretty much get how that works. But the other we get a little confused about. It’s called fellowship. The long and short of fellowship is about our proximity to someone not our position before them.

Fellowship is what happens when we share life with someone else. The bible uses the idea of fellowship to refer to a shared life in Christ. The proximity we share with one another isn’t based on agreeing on everything. Rather it’s based on the closeness we experience when we each draw near to Christ.

You see I am my parents’ son. And nothing including distance can change that fact at all. But what can change is how I share life with them. If I live close, I can be there on weekends and we can enjoy time together in a variety of ways. But if I were to move farther away and live hours away or across the country, I would still be their son without question. What does change though is how we communicate and how we share life. We can’t share life face to face but we do through phone and email and text and FaceTime and all those cool technological marvels.

The same is true with one another and with Christ. We are to draw near to Christ and inso doing we will draw near to one another. The focal point of our relationship isn’t our wants or theirs it’s who is Christ and who am I in light of his grace. When we see ourselves and one another through the focal point of the cross, then we can draw near to those and fellowship with those far away from us regardless of space and time.

Check out the talk I gave on the difference between relationship and fellowship below.

Why was Palm Sunday so important?

March 30, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Ok so some of you won’t really care about this nearly as much as I do but I’ve been a pastor for 19 years and have read, preached on or at least heard the Palm Sunday story every year that I’ve been alive. But this year the whole thing took on new meaning. It’s like 19 years of ministry finally paid off with a little knowledge.

The Palm Sunday account, known as the triumphal entry has tons of meaning packed into it. I’ve included the video of the message at the bottom but here’s a list of the things Jesus really did when he came riding into Jerusalem on that day we call Palm Sunday.

Mount of Olives

Did you know that over 600 years earlier, recorded in Ezekiel 10 and again in 43, the prophet is given a vision of God’s glory leaving and then returning to the temple? In 586 BC the glory of God filled the temple then exited through the east gate. It proceeded up the Mount of Olives and rested there until…

Yep that’s right, until Palm Sunday when Jesus came back down the Mount of Olives as the Son of God bringing the Glory of God with him.

Colt the foal of a donkey

So Jesus asks his followers to go, get him a donkey so he could ride into town. Now before we get all freaked out that he stole a donkey, that’s just not true. You see they had a practice in this time that a king could claim eminent domain on a beast of burden if needed. Well, Jesus is king, granted a totally different kind of king but king nonetheless, so the donkey was rightfully his to use for this moment.

And it had to be a donkey and not a full grown horse because tradition also demonstrated (and is echoed in Genesis 49 and the accounts of David and Solomon in 1 Kings 1) that a king would come into town on a donkey if he came bringing peace. Jesus then is the Prince of Peace according to Isaiah 9, so rightfully he brings that peace into Jerusalem once again. This riding in on a donkey was also prophesied in Zechariah 9, so Jesus doing it this way was fulfilling what was promised about him.

Additionally the donkey is said to be an unridden donkey. This too was significant because a king to be considered the greatest would ride a donkey that was unridden. The king was the only one who was to ride his animal. It generally was unbroken by someone else showing that no one could be as great or powerful as this king.

Hosanna!

The people lined the streets, threw their coats on the ground, waved palm branches and shouted hosanna! This may seem to be nothing major but even the words of the people fulfilled some of the Old Testament. The words that the people spoke were and echo of Psalm 118 in a psalm of praise.

Triumphal Entry

A triumphal entry was a Roman tradition actually. One would get a triumphal entry parade if you were a king or mighty warrior who was headed into battle against a worthy adversary or had conquered a group of 5000 or more. Oddly enough Jesus would actually do both of these!

A few days after he was welcomed into town in this triumphal entry, he would go to a cross where he would die on the cross. Now for most people dying was a sign of weakness or being beaten, but not for Jesus. To fulfill the Old Testament rules, someone had to die to pay for sin. Since Jesus didn’t have sin, his death would be a perfect death. That meant that in his death he was victorious. Therefore he deserved a triumphal entry!

But if you go ahead in the story to Acts 3-4, you see the disciples healing a man. Then everyone wanted to know how they did it and who they were. They taught about Jesus and this very week in history. People were so overcome by the event that they surrendered their previous way of life and gave themselves to Jesus. And there were 5000 of them total!

The temple

Jesus lets the fanfare run its course then ends up in the temple. But in a very anticlimactic way looks around and leaves. This is a sign to show that while the glory of God has returned it’s not going to be staying in the temple. Now the glory of God is on the loose. This would be made even more evident in the events of Good Friday when the temple curtain was torn from top to bottom symbolizing God tearing.

The temple curtain was said to be the divider between God and man. But when Jesus died the glory of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God was released for all to see. Now instead of standing in judgment afraid of eternal punishment, we stand before God made holy and righteous because Jesus is our righteousness and God’s glory at the same time.

These are just a handful of the Old Testament passages that are fulfilled in the event we call Palm Sunday or the triumphal entry.

Welcome to the Kingdom

March 25, 2021 / / 0 Comments

It can be seen all around us. The little everyday moments of kindness and love. Going out of our way to show care for someone in hurting. Being generous with our time or our possessions toward someone in need. Being an ear to listen or hands to help. It’s all around us but rarely do we see it.

The bible is full of references to the Kingdom of God but what does it even mean? It’s kind of an abstract idea. Is it a building? Is it a person? Is it a place? Is it just sometime in the future?

All of these can be where the Kingdom of God is found but they don’t fully represent the kingdom. All of these ideas are great but the kingdom is found in all of them. At the same time.

The kingdom of God is found wherever God is found. It’s found when two people sit down to read the Bible. It’s found in the waters of baptism. It can be found in a church gathering for communion or leaving on a mission trip. It can be found on Easter Sunday or the second Sunday in July. The kingdom of God is present in the phone call to a hurting friend or the prayer offered for a hurting loved one.

The kingdom may seem abstract but when we realize that we carry the kingdom in our thoughts, words and actions it becomes much more visible. Much more concrete.

The video below will explain what the kingdom of God is and where it can be found. It’s intended to help you see the kingdom all around you and even inside you.

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