I had the opportunity to create a video for this past weekend’s worship services built around Casting Crowns song, “Jesus, Friend of Sinners”
You can find that video here:
God bless you all.
John
Category: Church and Christian Life
Why We Should Give Thanks
Today is Thanksgiving. It’s a day set aside for us to give thanks to God for his many blessings. When I think of this holiday, I am reminded of a Bible story from Luke 17.
Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem when He heard ten lepers calling out to him from a distance. In that day, people with leprosy were basically cast out of regular society because they were very contagious. Because of this, when these men saw Jesus, they didn’t approach Him but instead called out to Him from a distance, “Jesus! Master! Have mercy on us!”
The Bible says that Jesus simply looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” The lepers obeyed Jesus and as they made their way to find the priests, they were completely healed of their leprosy. One of the men, when he realized that he was healed, ran back to Jesus, shouting praises to God, and fell at Jesus’ feet, thanking Him for his healing. As the man was still kneeling, Jesus asked him, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?”
Here’s one lesson we can learn from this story: When the ten lepers cried out to Jesus, they had to do so from a distance because they weren’t allowed to approach anyone because of their leprosy. However, when they were all healed, only this one man ran back to thank Jesus. In doing so, he was the only one of the ten who was able to come close enough to throw himself at Jesus’ feet. So basically, the one who gave thanks was the only one who was able to touch Jesus. You see, there can be extreme benefits in expressing our gratitude to the Lord.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Remember to give thanks.
The Truth Is, Truth or Dare is the Place To Be
Congratulations to the teenagers of the Des1re Youth Ministry of Celebration Church for their first night of their Truth or Dare outreach event. The drum-line, games, flying basketball dunkers, dancers, actors, speakers, and video were all amazingly put together for an incredible life-changing night. The lines of teens waiting to pray with people at the end was undeniable evidence that God was seriously at work through the efforts of these young people.
I had lots of opportunities to be in productions when I was in Jr. High and High School. I also had the chance to help with lots of Christian Outreach events as a teenager. However, it wasn’t until much later that I was able to participate in anything close to the same magnitude as what these young people accomplished tonight with their first production of Truth or Dare. I’m so proud of them all.
If you are connected to a teenager in the New Orleans area, do them a favor and take them to Truth or Dare on Saturday evening.
Truth or Dare is being held at the Crescent City Christian School Gymnasium at 7 PM Saturday Evening. Tickets are $5.00. For more information, see http://www.desireyouth.com
Everything You Need
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. 2 Corinthians 12:9
Paul couldn’t understand what was happening to him. Three times, he had asked the Lord to alleviate a negative situation in his life. God answered Paul’s prayers, but in an unexpected way. The Lord chose to not dissolve Paul’s problem. Instead, He assured Paul that His grace was sufficient for him, even during difficult times.
God’s grace enables us to continue no matter what circumstance we may encounter. If everyone turns against us, it will still be there to strengthen us. His grace is never inadequate. It will never run dry. It never spoils. It has no expiration date. It is never depleted. It never fails. His grace, without any merit of our own that would cause Him to act so incredibly favorably toward us is certainly adequate for our own needs. It is more than we deserve. It is more than enough to accomplish more than we could ever imagine.
Lord, thank You for Your grace! It is more than sufficient for me.
Building a Testimony
What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Romans 6:1-2
I had a friend in college named Billy. He was a friendly guy who was studying to be a pastor. He was the type of guy that everyone wanted to be around. Even as a young man, I could see the hand of God on him, guiding him toward an awesome future. However, Billy had some sinful habits that were keeping him from having a stronger relationship with the Lord.
Late one night, I heard a loud noise in the dorm hallway and ran out to see what had happened. There was Billy, intoxicated, lying on the floor next to the large trashcan he had just knocked over. I reached down to help, but he waved me off. After a moment, he finally managed to get to his feet. Glancing my way, he said, “Don’t judge me, man! God will always forgive all my sins. I’m just building a testimony.”
Lord, help us to never take Your grace for granted. Help us to always strive to live holy lives, totally dedicated to You.
Why You Deserve More Than What You’re Getting
For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. John 3:16-17 HCSB
Every so often, I look at my life and think, “You know, I deserve a lot better than this!” Then, in my state of arrogance, I pray, “Hey, God. It’s me. Been working hard here, serving diligently, doing what You wanted. Isn’t it about time I saw some benefits coming my way?”
But then I do a reality check and remember who I am and what I have done and who He is and what He has done. Honestly, I really don’t want Him to give me what I deserve.
In Romans 6:23, Paul writes, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Fortunately, God doesn’t want to condemn us. He doesn’t want to give us what we deserve. Instead, He’s offered us grace.
Lord, thank You for Your grace. It’s so much better than what we deserve.
Amazing
For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift. Ephesians 2:8 HCSB
In 1736, eleven-year-old John Newton went to sea on a merchant ship, which sailed the Mediterranean. Eight years later, he joined the crew of a warship, the H.M.S. Harwich. Horrified by the conditions of the ship, Newton deserted his post. He was soon recaptured, demoted in rank, and publicly flogged for his indiscretion. In time, he was traded to the owner of a slave ship, which frequented the coast of Sierra Leone. In time, he was rescued and later became the captain of his own slave ship.
While steering his ship through a violent storm, Newton cried out, “Lord, have mercy upon us!” He later declared that his cry was more than just for his safety, but that it was his “great deliverance,” when the grace of God became real to him.
Newton eventually became a pastor in Olney, Buckinghamshire. While in service at Olney, Newton collaborated to produce Olney Hymns, a new hymnal for that day. Included in the collection was the newly written song Amazing Grace, penned by Newton himself, as a tribute to the grace of God.
Thank You, Lord, for Your amazing grace. It has the power to transform lives.
Be A Pepper
We all, with unveiled faces, are reflecting the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 HCSB
Do you remember the 1970’s Be A Pepper ads? A man took a drink of Dr. Pepper while the dancing crowd around him sang, “The taste is gonna knock you out! The more you drink the more you shout!” Instantly convinced, the man sang out, “I’m a Pepper!”
As a child, I thought, “I want to be a Pepper too!” I took my allowance money, ran to the corner store, and bought a Dr. Pepper. I took a drink and waited for the music and transformation to begin, but nothing happened. I never did become a Pepper. It was just a lot of hype.
However, when we become a follower of Jesus Christ, the transforming power of God’s grace in our lives is not hype. It is real. The Father begins to grow us into the likeness of His Son. Being a gracious God, He has provided us with His Holy Spirit, who guides us through our lives, helping us to become more like Jesus.
Lord, thank You for Your grace. Help us to daily submit ourselves to You.
We Need Each Other
As a young worship leader in college, I started dating a girl who later became my wife. As she and I grew in our relationship, we discovered that we loved serving the Lord together. She helped me with church productions and I served on the drama team that she led. When our relationship became very serious, I grew frightened at the idea of a lifelong commitment, so I broke up with her. After a few months, I realized that my life was empty without her. I knew that we had to spend the rest of our lives together. God meant for us to be together. We needed each other.
Two years after we were married, we went to serve as missionaries in Central Asia. We soon found that our personalities clashed with many of the other Americans there. We felt like we had made a terrible mistake in moving around the world to serve with these people. However, we were still learning the language and we needed their help to survive. They needed teachers for their school and they needed help in planting a church. As difficult as it was for us all, we forced ourselves to get along. For whatever reason, God had us together for that season. We needed each other.
A couple of years later, back in the U.S., I found myself working in a small church with an older pastor. As a young man with lots of energy, I worked hard and tried to implement lots of positive changes to the church’s ministry. I soon discovered, after falling into bed one night in total exhaustion, that my efforts were pointless. The pastor and I were not working together. After some time, we managed to improve our communication and started to involve each other in worship planning, special projects, and ongoing ministry. It took a long time for me to understand that God had placed both of us in the same church and therefore we could accomplish much more if we worked together. Even though we were from different generations, we needed each other.
In all of my formal ministry training, no one ever taught me that I needed other people. My professors taught me about systematic theology, music history, and pragmatic choral procedures, but I never learned that most ministry does not take place on the stage in front of people. Hence, I never realized, until I was serving in ministry, that it’s mostly about people. I thought I had to do all the ministry myself. I thought I had to be a Christian Ministry Superman. But it’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s about the Lord. It’s about pleasing Him. And I’ve come to understand that I can’t do it alone. Even if I worked twice as long and twice as hard, I would still need help. There will always be one more service to plan, one more soul to win, one more drummer to be find, one more set to build, one more message to plan, etc… I will never get it all done by myself. You will never get it all done by yourself.
We need each other.
Why Pastors Shouldn’t Do Ministry
That’s no typo. Pastors shouldn’t do the work of the ministry. Check out my reasoning below:
Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-12 NLT
The role of a pastor is to equip THE PEOPLE of the church to do the work of the ministry. Most of us who participate in this type of work call it MINISTRY, but I’ve heard that a better term for it might be ADMINISTRY. This would be defined as the necessary administration, coordination, and education that must be completed in order for the people of God to complete the work of the ministry.
By the way, even though it’s not their main function, it’s good for pastors to engage in ministry themselves on a regular basis. It frees their minds, helping them experience what it’s like for those that they are equipping. It also affords them an outlet to utilize gifts and talents, which sometimes seems buried under administration.
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