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Healthy Comsumption

10/17/2022

When feeding a child one may find themselves in a conundrum of sorts. Parents will agree, children are picky eaters. In many cases when challenging a child to eat something they have never had before the first response is usually a resounding, “No!” Then the parent’s second challenge is, “Have you tasted this before?” The child again will respond with a, “No!” Now the parent does not know if this “No” is a response that the child hasn’t tried the food before or that they merely don’t want to try the food. Let’s face the fact, a child’s pallet isn’t as developed and mature as an adult, however, I know some adult who still do not like Brussels sprouts and I know some adults who don’t like egg nog. How strange is that? Well what is obvious is a child cannot merely live off of chicken nuggets and tatter tots for the rest of their life. That is the reason a mature adult, preferably the parent, should direct a child on how to eat properly.

As is the case with food so is the challenge the same with the word of God. The majority of the homes in America own at least one Bible. A great number of individuals who own a Bible claim to read a chapter or two a week from the Bible. As if mere reading is enough. Many atheist and non-faith individuals claim to have read the entire Bible some time in their life, which I find difficult to believe. A great many professed Christians cannot make such a claim. I personally have read through the entire Bible several times and each time I discover something profound and interesting each time I read it.

In addition, reading the Bible does not constitute an understanding of the Bible. For many in the church they are motivated and led by their traditions over what the Bible teaches. Their claim of faith is based on being raised under those traditions. “Grandma believed it therefore I believe it” type of faith. For those of the non-faith community their reading is lined to their world view. Which is also the common problem among members of the church. People judge God’s word by how they understand social justice issues; women’s rights, slavery, sexuality, and laws for example.

Why is this the common approach to the Scriptures by those in and outside the church? Biblical illiteracy is the main problem. First off, no one would allow a child go a day without eating. Why then go a day or several days without reading God’s word? How long does a person usually take to eat a meal? Well depending on the meal and how long they have to eat before returning to something they are scheduled to accomplish will determine how fast they eat. However, eating fast isn’t go for a person’s health, especially when the habit is done over an extended period of time. This is true with reading the Bible.

I am reminded of narrative of Jesus was at Gethsemane with his disciples, the night he was to be arrested. Jesus instructs his disciples to wait where they were while he goes off to pray. He took three of his disciples with him; Peter, James and John. He asked them to “watch with me.” A good example that the Christian faith isn’t to be lived alone. Jesus goes off a short distance to pray. He then returns to his disciples and finds them asleep. He then asked Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

The Christian faith is not a fast food type of faith. Just as we should invest in many areas of our life (family, finances, career, and health) so should we invest in our spiritual life. Developing disciplines is important. Anyone who considers themselves to be a Christian yet fails or refuses to read the Bible is a contradiction of terms. Merely reading the Bible is not enough. We should also study the Bible. We may read a daily devotional like Daily Bread or something from our Bible app on our phones but this isn’t Bible study.

To learn and understand the Bible there are many things we should do on top of investing some serious time in reading. Scheduling a set time is good. Knowing your purpose and direction is important as well. Spending 15 minutes to grow closer to the Lord by involving a time of meditation helps us get close to Him. This is spiritual development.

Another important direction we should go is learning and understanding the people and culture of the time when the authors of the Bible wrote their material. In order to do that we should gain accesses to other resources and material about the subject we are looking into. Spending time to know and understand the language as well and learn hermeneutics. Another very important step we should do is remove ourselves from our comfort zones and allow the complex and difficult parts of the Scriptures influence us.

We can become the greatest obstacle to our learning of the Scriptures and of God’s will for mankind. Allow God through His Spirit to guide and shape you. Anything worth doing is difficult and uncomfortable. It may not taste good at the start but over time we will develop a taste for learning.

the big winner

6/24/2022

What would you do if you had won the Power Ball jackpot? The big lottery winning? Currently the winning amount is over $300 million. At one time the winning amount was in the billions. I have often wondered what I would do if I had won the lottery, even if I won just a million. I have seen documentaries and read articles about people who had won the lottery and what they had done with their winnings. The majority of those winner ended up right where they were before they earned their winnings. Some end up in worse situations.

Well of course the government and other organizations will take their share of the winnings but when you get your cut there will be an extraordinary amount of money remaining. Let’s face the truth, it will be more money you will have ever have in your entire life and the amount of emotions you will experience will be overwhelming.

I have ask many people what they would do if they had won and I receive a wide array of answers from paying off their debts, quite their job, buy a new home or car, buy a boat, go on extravagant vacations, and purchase various items they wished to possess. For some the answers were quite surprising; start a business, increase their education, read more, lose weight, help their community or people in need, or invest some of it.

I’m reminded of a parable the Lord told about a rich fool. “Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12: 13-21)

Now, I am not in any way condemning the idea of playing the lottery. What I would like to do is bring to question what would you do if you had and why. For those who wish to gain material possession to feel like you have some purpose to life, I feel sorry for you. If you have not thought about nor considered the necessity of purchasing a house or a new car prior to winning the lottery you’re doing nothing more than seeking selfish worth that has no value. Attempting to make a status of yourself by material possessions is empty and worthless. Your character should outweigh your wealth and possessions. Scripture says, “Better to be a no body and have a servant than to pretend to be someone and have no food.” (Proverbs 12:9) I have often found that those who believe they have value to their community because of how much they have are shallow, conceded, pretentious people. What is even worse is people think very little of them. Worse than that, people will be two faced around those who are wealthy.

For the others let me ask you this, why must you be wealthy in order to do the things you desire to do? Do you need to be wealthy to invest in your community, better educate yourself, or be involved in your family? The problem really is the fact that you don’t know how to manage your time rather than not having enough money? You believe enough money will give you enough time.

Two points of thought. In our society there tends to be this drive for work rather than to live, to have a life. Rather than working to live, we live to work. We spend more time working each day and receive little to no satisfaction in what we do and the return is just enough to live on. We get up in the morning, rush to get ready, down our breakfast or purchase something on the way to work, spend eight to twelve hours a day at work, go home in a bad mood, spend four to five hours with our family, go to bed to get little sleep and get up in the morning to do it all over again. The weekends go by so fast that we don’t really get to enjoy our time off due to more rushing to go shopping, rushing through traffic, navigating around others in the same mood we are in trying to find the items we need or want at Walmart, go home to manage all the things we just purchase to realize we forgot something (hopefully it isn’t one of the kids). Then we need to find time to cut the grass, fix the toilet, run junior to his ball game, take sissy to her gymnastics class, or simply forget everything to just to sit down in front to the television to watch our favorite sporting event or movie.

The second one is, I saw this posted on Facebook and thought it was a wonderful point, if you were to pass away today how fast would your employer fill your spot? That’s right, what is your real value at your job? Consider this, what is your real value to your family? What are you really invested in? Yea, you may say, “I take the kids to their sporting events. That’s doing something with them, I’m investing in them.” Now ask yourself, do you take them to those events because you have to or you want to? Yea, you spent your hard earned money for them to participate in those activities but why did you do sign them up in the first place?

Now consider this, what habits and activities does your family see you doing? Do they witness you doing things to better yourself, to be creative, to help others? Ask yourself, do you need to be wealthy to accomplish those things? In some manner money does buy your time. If you had enough money to pay off all your debts, put money away into savings, to complete projects around your house that you have been putting off due to a lack of time and/or money, you will relax more knowing that if you were to lose your job today for some unforeseen reason you wouldn’t have to worry. You would have the time to take up a new hobby or project, you would seek education or job training that you desire to get into that will lead to new employment or become self-employed. You would find the time to read more or learn a new language. However, do you really need more money to make those things happen or do you simply need to learn to manage your time? We understand the importance of managing our money, save for the future and those rainy days but do we consider the importance of managing our time?

Money and time don’t necessarily go hand in hand. We can manage them individually as well as together. More importantly the government can't tax our time. When managing these two ask yourself what is the purpose? As Christians our fist purpose is to bring glory to the Father (John 15:8). Our second purpose is to help others. Our third purpose is to better ourselves. Always strive to be 1% better than you were the day before. Remove distractions and limit activities that have no value or purpose to your person. When looking at the three purposes to life I use the acronym JOY: Jesus, Others, Yourself. We have a great deal of time at our disposal. We don’t have to work for it or earn it. We already have it. Yet, the limitations of time is far different than the limitations of money. We never know when our time will run out but our bank account tells us how much money we have at the moment and what we are doing with that money. To manage our time we have to consider what we are doing for ourselves. There is no account to tell us exactly what we are spending our time on, whether something is pending or overdrawn. Time is time, we have an abundance of time but it is limited to how well we use our time and when our time is finished, which we do not know when that moment will arrive.

So allow me to encourage you to start taking note on what you are spending both your time and your money on and is it worth spending on those things. Take account and be a good steward of your money as well as your time. Make the most of both and find your wealth in your purpose rather than your bank account.

Fight for your marriage

4/9/2022

During the 94th Academy Awards celebration was tarnished when Will Smith slapped Christ Rock across the face for making a joke about Jada Picket Smith's lack of hair. Smith's actions was followed by a warning to Rock to keep his wife's name out of his mouth, which was laden with language many wouldn't equate with elegance and grace. Everyone has seen the video and has been keeping up with the news of Smith's consequences for his actions. Celebrities' are both both for and against Smith's actions. Smith resign from the Academy of Sciences and Arts. The new action taken against Smith is being prohibited to attend the Academy Awards Celebration for the next ten year.

In light of all this many videos have resurfaced of Jada humiliating Will on numerous occasions. Most notably during Jada's show, "The Red Table," where Jada lets everything out about her life of infidelity and how she just wanted to have fun and that the young man, a friend of her son, as she was looking to feel good because she claims that it had been so long since she felt good. Don't be misconstrued, Will isn't merely sitting there taking all of this in, he is confronting her to open up about what happen and why it happen. He is holding her accountable to some degree. During this interaction Jada is laughing and does not recognize her actions as a transgression. As she was claiming she was helping to "heal" someone what she was actually doing was seeking self gratification. Will is seen laughing too but I believe his reaction to her revelation is out of hurt.

In light of all that has been revealed, I have a very serious question for all my married friends out there. At what length would you go to save your marriage? How much value to you place on your marriage, on the other person you said you are going to commit the rest of your life with regardless of what happens in the unforeseen future.

If you have the mind set that "if they want to go let them go, no skin off my back," then I have to question your commitment and love for your spouse. That is an attitude that you don’t value your marriage and you have no respect for your spouse. Maybe this is the reason your spouse is considering separation and no longer wishing to continue down the road with you. They fail to see your devotion and commitment to the marriage, then why should they continue. This is not healthy in either situation.

Marriage is about commitment, respect, trust, faithfulness, and support. All of this comes under the umbrella of love, for better or for worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health till death do you part. I have heard people say that a marriage takes 50/50 from the couple. There is absolutely no truth in that statement. Both much come into the relationship with a 100/100 attitude. Now will there be days where one or the other or both isn't able to give 100% but may give only 75%? Sure. Life goes on outside the marriage which in turn goes back into the marriage. People have to face outside stressors like work, traffic, other people we don't know but run into at Walmart, our neighbors and community, and the list can go on. Those interaction can and will affect our attitude which then runs into our marriage.

If it is easy for you to turn your back on the person who is questioning your marriage and is thinking about leaving then you’re not committed either. Your marriage has no value to you. Your excuse maybe, "They are not the person I marriage." Well guess what, you're no longer the person they marriage. We change as time go on, we grow and develop to the world around us, inside and outside our marriage. If you believe the person you said "I do" to will remain that same person for the next three, five, ten, or more years than you have set yourself up for failure. You're naïve to think that they are perfect or this awesome person you feel in love with. In addition, if you think you will remain the person you are today three, five, ten or more years from know then you are not wanting to grow yourself. Marriage is about growing together, examining yourself and seeking to be 1% better today than you were yesterday.

So I must ask, to what length are you willing to fight for your marriage? How valuable is your marriage to you? What resources are you getting ahold of that will influence and motivate you to do what you should do to save your marriage? How much time do you examine yourself to see what areas in your life do you need to work on for the betterment of your marriage? What are you willing to change about yourself? That's right, examine and change yourself because you cannot change your spouse. Examining them first before you remove the beam from your eye will only cause more problems.

So what they screw up from time to time. So what they make mistakes. So what they said something you didn’t like. Are you willing to speak to them about those things? Is communication important to you? Are you willing to examine yourself to see where you could be falling short? Are you willing to forgive yourself as well as your spouse and reconcile the relationship?

For my Christian friends, are you willing to let God work in you as much as you want Him to work in your spouse? Has God been missing in your life? Men, are you being the Spiritual Leader you are called to be? Ladies, are you honoring your husband as God commanding you to do? Are these two ideas offensive to you? Take this very important piece of advice, your marriage is not about you, it is about your spouse. Men, your marriage is not about you, what you get out of it, what she does for you. Your marriage is about her. Ladies, your marriage is not about you. Your marriage is not about what he does for you, how much he gives you, or what you get out of your marriage. Your marriage is about him. The idea here is you serve one another. You're not servants as in the since as being a slave. You serve one another for the best interest for them growing as a person in all areas of their life. We get this example from Jesus when he washed the feet of his disciples and through his death. He gave of himself so that we could have life. We should give of ourselves to our spouse for the best interest of their life. What you are doing is you are sowing seeds that you will feed from. As you bless your spouse they in turn bless you.

Don’t take your marriage for granted. If you believe you love your spouse fight for your marriage. Do not allow your emotions lead you on a path that you may end up regretting. If you give all you have and they still want to leave, do as Paul said, let them go (1 Corinthians 7:15)

is it prideful to have knowledge and share?

4/3/2022

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4: 1-5

Social media is a wonderful place to share our lives with our friends and family. It is also a place to share your views and ideas with people you don’t know. One of the wonderful aspects of sharing on social media is being able to share my faith with others. Whether that be with fellow Christians or non-believers people have some level of interest or intrigue about God, the Bible, and religion in general.

Now when we share our faith there comes a level of conflict and division. Of course non-believers will question me in circles attempting to cause me to slip up in my comments, wanting me to contradict myself and question me if I actually believe in what I believe in. What I find to be most problematic is the conflict among Christians. What is very clear is there is a great amount of tradition and presupposition that comes with what people believe. This is largely due, in my opinion, to biblical illiteracy coupled with failing to practice actual Spiritual Discipline and knowing how to do an actual Bible Study. First off, reading your Bible is not Bible Study. Second, reading your daily devotion or those curriculums called Bible Study is not an actual Bible Study. They can contribute to learning and study but a real Bible Study starts off first by removing our context, our world view, from the text and discovering the world view of the biblical authors. Next, if I approach the Bible to do a Study with my traditions and presuppositions leading the way then I should just forget going to the Bible. I’m not willing to learn, to get out of my comfort zone and to transform my way of thinking about God and His word. My theology is not the standard by which I should study the Bible.

So when I interact with others on social media what is evident is people want to be right… about everything all the time. I was once like this. Now what I find myself doing is encouraging people to look outside the box of their traditions, their theology, and their comfort zone. However, that is not how people take my comments. There are two reasons for this, one is obvious, people want to be right about the topic presented. Second, voice! Yes, they hear people’s comments the way they want to hear things. I connect this with daddy issues. If they had a rough, over commanding father who is always correcting and chastising them then when they hear correction they hear their father’s voice. Let’s face it no one wants to be corrected but they sure do want to correct everyone that doesn’t agree with them. That is why when teaching we must be patient.

When I am faced with dealing with non-believers I am reminded to not throw my pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6). Yet, when dealing with believers I am faced to believe I am dealing with a baby with a power tool. They know just enough Greek to be dangerous. No matter the amount of patient and compassion I present, people have a difficult time seeing comments as compassionate. They want to give correction but not receive correction and that can make growing in our knowledge more difficult. Our comfort zone can and will prohibit growth. A real bear to the bones Bible Study will make a person uncomfortable and if it does that is something important to confront and deal with. The problem isn’t God’s word, it’s our attitude. And when someone who had invested the time to study, and it is apparent they have, our attitude to not wanting to be corrected can inflate the division rather than develop unity.

Possessing the knowledge and sharing that knowledge isn’t being prideful. Not willing to receive the knowledge given is prideful. We are too proud to believe we need correction or encouragement or direction in the truth of God’s word. Scripture encourages us to seek knowledge and wisdom but we must be careful on how we present that knowledge to others. Some people are still on the milk and are not ready for deeper meatier things and they are not willing to face that truth about themselves.
I still have much to learn and I have learned so much more after the fact of my Seminary years. The journey has been wonderful discovering things about God’s word. I am careful with where I get my lessons from but I am willing to venture into areas most Christians will question why I go there. Such things I will examine is material from atheist, communist, evolutionist, and agnostics. Reading their material does not mean I agree with them but I have armed myself with their knowledge and God’s wisdom to confront those ideologies and handle them.

Where are your thoughts?

3/27/2022

I’m back. I didn’t forget. Been a very busy few weeks. The organization I work for is finally back into the incarceration facilities. We have been waiting for some time to get back into these places but due to covid we have had to wait for an unspecified time to insure everything is clear.

Courtney did her first show in a long time. We didn’t do badly but the results were not what she expected. We need to create more product and offer variety. I took a look around to see what everyone is offering so I can assess what not to offer and what we should consider offering in order to increase our revenue.

As I looked around I thought about “what are people into these days” and how people’s taste in home décor changes over time. Now generally we offer product according to upcoming season and holiday. I was thinking we should offer something people are interested in or like no matter what time of the year we are experiencing. The more I thought about the things people like I then began to thinking about what are people more focused on in their daily life, what has their attention more often than other things.

Billy Graham is credited for saying, “Look at a person’s check book and you will see where their heart is.” That is an excellent accountability tool there. Let’s go a bit further in today’s culture. Look at a person’s web search history or their cell phone and you will see where their heart is. These are great if you are wanting to keep yourself accountable to another, if you allow yourself to be transparent about your daily activity. How about pushing that a bit further. Who should we be, as Christians, accountable to at all times? Christ is always with us, seeing every little thing we do, look at, and where our thoughts are.

Scripture says, “4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; (2 Corinthians 10: 4-5). This is one of my favorite text to quote. The Christian Metal band Deliverance uses this text as the intro to their song “The Weapons of Our Warfare” from their album “Stay of Execution” spoken by Sir Sean Connery with his notorious Scottish accent. It gives me that “Highlander” feeling. This text reminds me that I am in a constant state of battle but my might and strength, my weapons are to be used in a Spiritual Battle front and not against others who are just like me, beings created in the image of God. In this battle I deal with imaginations and everything that attempts to gain my attention that is not of God and His Kingdom and that I should bring my thoughts to the obedience of Christ. That my mind should always be on Him who offers me salvation, eternal life.

I have heard this saying from church and military leaders I have had as well as in movies;

sow a thought reap an action,
sow an action reap a behavior,
sow a behavior reap a habit,
sow a habit reap a character,
sow a character reap an identity,
sow an identity reap a legacy.
For every action there is a consequence and that consequence can either be good or bad, depending on the nature of the action. Well our thought can lead to our actions, which is where everything begins in our life, with our thoughts. Where do our thoughts tend to be more focused on in our daily life?
Recall what Jesus says here, “27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5: 27-28) This text tells me that everything begins with our thoughts. A person doesn’t even need to put their thoughts into action in order for them to be counted against them. There is no room to wiggle in order to be comfortable with our sinful nature, not like a pair of slightly uncomfortable shoes.
Then read the parable about what defiles a person, “10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” (Matthew 15: 10-20). Note verse 19, “For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” Now Jesus is not alluding to the idea that the physical heart is where our thoughts come from. The heart is an object that illustrates the seat of our emotions, the object that drives us and motivates us to do the things we desire to do. These things start at the heart, the mechanism that moves life through our bodies.
So ask yourself, what is the thing that drives life through you? Is it your job, you hobbies, video games, extracurricular activities, food, alcohol and drugs, sex and pornography, your need for speed, anything that is placed first in your life? Anything that you devote more time thinking about than you do about the Lord?
I’m not writing this to teach anyone anything. My entire purpose is to share something I have had to consider in my very own life. What does James tend to think about more than he does about God? For many who know me they can tell you I know a lot about biblical matters and history. However, believe it or not, my thoughts are not always focused on those things. I enjoy my job working with men in residential drug rehabilitation centers and facilitating classes in the jail but my thoughts are not always there. I enjoy reading and researching matters in the world of counseling and therapy, to increase my knowledge and gain more tools and resources in the field of Marriage and Family but my thoughts are not always there.
The purpose of this blog is about self-examination and to be honest about what has my full undivided attention in my life other than God. I wish to share that same sentiment with you, for you to do some self-examination in your life. You do not have to share what that thing is with anyone. I encourage you, as I have myself, take this to the Lord and work on making a change.
Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” If a person were to literally take up a cross upon their shoulders there would be no doubt that their attention would be on that cross and nothing else. The weight and burden of that object would cause a person to look for a better way, a more comfortable manner by which to carry the thing. All other distractions would be of no value to them, would cause no attempt to shift their attention from what is on their back. Is there anything that deserves our love more than the Lord? Jesus said if anyone loves their father or mother more than him isn’t worthy of him. If anyone loves their son or daughter more than him isn’t worthy of him. He isn’t saying that we shouldn’t love them but that our love for them should not come before our love for him. Shouldn’t that be the same about our thoughts and attention? What we love most will receive our thoughts and attention more than others things.

Strange Times, Nothing New

3/5/2022

Our world is going upside down… again. As I write this Russia has invaded Ukraine for more than a week. The butterfly effect is gas prices here in America are now above four dollars a gallon. In my town it’s $3.69. America has the potential to becoming energy independent if it weren’t for Joe Biden shutting down the Keystone XL Pipe Line. That isn’t the reason I’m writing this blog. I don’t want to make it political.

What bothers me is how the futurist are coming out pointing to biblical prophecy claiming the Russian invasion is a sign of the end times, Gog and Magog and that Putin is the antichrist. Not every war that happens today is a fulfillment of biblical prophecy and not every ruler we hate isn’t the antichrist. I simply don’t believe the antichrist is a political figure to begin with. (Check out my article on the antichrist for more details.) All of this fear mongering is problematic to begin with. As Christians we are encouraged to be strong and courageous. Meaning do not allow fear to influence you.

Jesus warned us that before his return there will be war and rumors of war. None of what is going on with Russia should be a surprise to any of us. Many Americans continue to live in the Cold War and believe Putin is attempting to bring in the third world war. Fear causes people to react irrationally. Motivated by fear leads to more fear.

Jesus’ next comment is, “See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place but the end is not yet.” (Matthew 24:6). So much has to happen long before the Lord returns. Prepare yourself for those times, especially spiritually. Do not allow fear to enter your life. If anything these events should encourage us more for they do lead up to Christ return but they are merely the pangs of child birth. Much has to happen long before the end. One comment that Jesus made about the end is those days will be like the days of Noah. As I meditate on those day I cannot help but to think about how many were called righteous in relation to those who did not enter into the arc.

In the end very few, I believe, will believe in Jesus. Spiritual influence will have little to no impact on our culture. Man will become more materialist and self-seeking than ever before.

The Purpose of Discipleship

3/3/2022

I visited a Church in Lancaster, PA who was looking to hire an associate pastor. I was in my last semester of college when I learned my greatest lesson about ministry from this experiance. I recall that in about a week after visiting the board and speaking with the youth minister I received a call from the Pastor. He was very cordial and told me that everyone liked me and my ideas. However, there was just one issue they had. I failed to mention anything about relationships. To me I believed developing relationships in the church and the community was a given considering the position I was applying for. The church and I both had that expectation but the problem was I failed to bring up the topic of relationships in our meeting.

Why is relationships so important in any leadership position in the church? Well relationship is the heart of discipleship. That’s right. Relationships makes ministry work. The sad truth is in many church, if not in the majority of the churches in America, treat discipleship as a 12 week program that takes place for one hour a week at the church. This approach removes the actual meaning purpose of discipleship.

In Scott McKnight’s book “The King Jesus Gospel” he writes about his first time going out to meet visitors at their church the prior Sunday service. When a church is visited by a new family or individual they are asked to fill out a visitor’s card and place the card in the offering plate as it goes by. Scoot was a new Christian in his late teens and wanted to get involved in church ministry. So what better activity could than get connected to others by visiting guest with one of the Deacon or Elder of the church.

Scott goes on to describe the first home he and a Deacon visited this particular evening. They knocked on the door and as the door opened Scott could tell that the family were having dinner. He doesn’t recall how but he was amazed how they were able to make it through the door. The Deacon sat with the man of the house and spoke about the church and becoming a Christian. While this conversation continued the family finished dinner and cleaned up. The man “finally” gave his life to Christ and the two returned to the church where they reported that they have a new brother in Christ. The group rejoiced.

Now Scott started to wonder who won in that encounter, the Deacon because he led someone to the Lord or the gentleman for getting them out of his house. He never saw the family return to their church after that night but he did see them on various occasions in town. Scott said he felt like he needed to walk to the man and apologize for what had happened but never did.

I have to agree with Scott. We, as Christians, are not commanded to force our faith on anyone. The example set by Jesus in the gospel narratives gives us a clear example on how discipleship should be conducted. Even in The Great Commission we get instructed on how to lead people to Christ. Jesus states that we are to make disciples first. (Matthew 28: 19-20). In the gospel accounts Jesus developed relationships with his twelve disciples. He called them to follow him during his years of ministry as they heard and witnessed many marvelous things happen. Not till late in his ministry did Jesus inquire of them on what was said about him and what they thought about him. (Matthew 16: 13-20). This is where many believe this is Peter’s conversion, his statement of faith. Now the disciples did not receive the Holy Spirit till after Jesus’ resurrection (John 20:22) but much had happened between these two events and more was about to happen later.

The point is, discipleship is about getting involved in others’ lives and get them involved in what the church is doing. Discipleship is more about being involved rather than a mere classroom experience every Sunday morning. All of us are gifted with various abilities and talents and helping people to use those gifts and abilities for the purpose of God’s Kingdom will open them up to a new world and a new life.

Let’s face the truth. Many in the world are always questioning who does the church do for the world? How does the church help people in crisis and trauma? How does the church help others who are in need? Through discipleship people will learn to use the skills and ability to promote the Kingdom and show the Love of Christ. Discipleship allows people to put their words into motion as an answer to the world’s questions of doubt.

That weekend visit to Lancaster is very memorable to me. I learned so much in that short period of time. A young pastor may have wonderful ideas about ministry programs and events but if they are not tuned to developing relationships as the forefront of ministry they will miss the entire point of ministry all together.

Where to start

2/20/2022

Two common items I notice that are missing in the church today are biblical literacy and discipleship, in that order. For many in the church there is this common assumption that mere Bible reading is equal to Bible study. That notion is far from the truth. In addition when people merely read their Bible they tend to read their world view into the text. This behavior leads to a great deal of problems.

When churches conduct discipleship their general take is to have young Christians or new members attend a series of classes, usually about 12, that cover the things Christians do and how to grow as a Christian. This approach is unbiblical and not as connective as people hope it would be. A careful look at the gospels will give us a clear understanding of what discipleship should be.

The way Christians should approach the Bible can be done in two manners. I encourage people to simply read their Bible as if they are reading their favorite naval such as Harry Potter, The Hobbit, or Tale of Two Cities or any book they enjoy reading. The Bible is full of stories and this is the manner by which children gain the basic understanding of the Bible, which is done in Sunday school. However, Bible Study is far more detailed and complicated.

I view Bible reading as if you are on a speed boat on a large mountain lake on a clear sunny day moving across the water at full speed. You’re enjoying the moment, no care in the world. You are enjoying the scenery and the beauty of all nature displays but you’re not really taking in the details. The rush and exhilaration of the boat moving at a great speed across choppy waters and the wind blowing through your hair, if you have hair. You’re experiencing the fun in the moment.

Bible Study is very different. Bible Study is like going across the same lake on the same day yet you’re doing so in a glass bottom boat. You take your time. You examine the details both under the water and above. You identify the various fish and plant life and the structures under the water where the plants grow and the fish hide. You scan the wood line, the edge of the water and the sky to notice the various trees, animals that may appear, the way the mountains are formed and where the tree line ends. The details allows you to learn more about what is going on around you that you had no involvement in forming. You merely learn from this information and grow as a person. You identify your small self in this bigger world.

I often tell people if they wish to learn about the Bible more they need to get away from the Bible. The biblical authors never intended to provide a great deal of detail in their narratives. They simply wrote according to their perspective and we are witnessing that perspective as we read their stories. However, these writers lived in a culture and time in history that is very different from our culture and time in history. Even today the culture in the Middle East is greatly different from our culture in Western Civilization, yet, the time of the biblical authors experienced things we don’t today regardless of what culture you live in. Their knowledge of the greater world was very limited compared to our knowledge of the world today. As we read the Bible we musts be aware of that difference. So, find sources that will help you learn more about first century Rome and the surrounding cultures and people. How did they live? How did they link? What was their daily life like? What were the political tensions taking place at the time? What were the livelihoods of the various social economic atmospheres? How did people conduct business daily?

Then, I encourage people that if they wish to gain a deeper connection with God and His plan for salvation they should get deep into God’s Word. I usually guide them to read a chapter of Proverbs a day. Not to merely read them but to meditate on what is being said, read them several times a day. When asked where they should start I suggest starting with John and then the other gospels. In the Old Testament I suggest Genesis and then Exodus. Skip the other three; Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These contain so much of the law that for a beginner they can be confusing. Skipping on to the historical books Joshua to 2 Kings and then on to Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. Reading these will help them get a good picture of Israel becoming and operating as a nation. I encourage people to take Romans slow, using a “study guide” can be useful. Maybe using several study guides will be more beneficial. Remember, Bible Study is not something you rush through. Time is of the essence. Bible Study is very much like developing a relationship with someone. You will not learn everything about that person in 15 minutes or an hour. The Word of God won’t change as you get deeper into it, you will.

I have some friends who are professors in Biblical Studies and Theology. I have often heard them say that people don’t need to learn the biblical languages and using them in our sermons is pointless. I have to disagree. Language is key to understanding how people think. The use of words exposes the world a person lives in. The same is true of the people in first century Roman Empire. I don’t have the time or the space to go into greater detail about the Greek language but their use of words is more precise than our lazy English language. I encourage people to use various translation of Bibles to help them gain a deeper understanding of what the author may be saying. Now there are people who strongly disagree with that notion on the grounds they believe that there is only one true translations to read from and all other translations are heresies. Such argument is comparing apples to apples. No English translation is perfect. Every English translation of the Bible has mistakes, and due to their practice of exegetical study and handling of hermeneutics they are led to imperfections in the translations. Therefore, I do not believe the Bible is infallible but we can learn from its pages. The Spirit of the Word of God is infallible and that is important to remember.

I will deal with discipleship in my next blog. Discipleship is far more than a class room instruction. Discipleship should go beyond the class room in a church on a Sunday morning or midweek service.

Doesn't Seem Fair

2/14/2022

Our society in America today possesses a strange dynamic these days. On one had there is this call for equality. Everyone needs to be treated the same, earn the same income, and be afforded the same rights. Then on the other hand if there is anything that may offend anyone that thing, whether it be someone’s comment, a book, a movie, a statue, or whatever, needs to be removed, or as it is best known today as “cancelled.” The Cancel Culture was a rampage during President Trump’s administration and continues on to this day. However, many are lashing back.

Not that long ago Dave Cappelle was attacked by the transgender community for his comments about transgender ideology in one of his shows. This past month Joe Rogan was being attacked for his views on his pod cast, The Joe Rogan Experience on Spotify. Neil Young went so far as to make an ultimatum with Spotify that either they remove Joe’s show or Neil will remove his catalog. Well Neil’s attempt to intimidate and threaten Spotify didn’t work. The result was a few more artist, of which I cannot name because I don’t know them and frankly don’t care, removed their catalogs as well. Joe was offered $100 million to move his show over to another venue, of which Joe declined due to Spotify staying committed to Joe’s show.

The world attempts to judge the church calling out our hypocrisy because we are not demanding equality. Here is the problem with that, equality and unity are not the same thing. We are to be unified in the love of Christ as one mind and one body by one Scripture. The Word of God is our standard of living. Yet, nowhere in Scripture is there any instruction that we are to be equal. On the contrary, Scripture gives us a picture that people are not equal.

For example in the parable of the Master and the three servants (Matthew 25: 14-30). In the story a man was going on a trip, a journey and he called three of his servants and entrusted them with his property. To one servant he gave five “talents,” talents was a form of money not skill or ability, to another two talents were given, and the last was given one talent. The Scripture states that each were given according to his ability. I’m not going to go into the rest of the story, I want to focus on this point, given according to his ability. We all do not possess the same ability and we are all not called to do the same thing in life. There are people who are called to do great things in life. As I think back on history I can point out individuals who stood out among the rest to do things that none other could do or wanted to do. Cultures and Societies needed leaders who get the people united for a common purpose.

Then think about this, among the ranks not everyone was the leader. Some may have possessed qualities that stood out from the common people, yet, they were not the leader. They were generally followers but may have lead a smaller group of people. Or some played a role that wasn’t as significant as others but they had their part.

Then there are those behind the scenes. They do the common work, they provide the support needed for others to get the job done. This doesn’t mean that their role is not important or insignificant. They are doing according to their ability.

When we watch a sporting event there are usually one or two players that carries the team. Commentators speak about these individuals more than any of the others. After the game they are the one’s people want to speak to.

Let’s take NASCAR for example, it is my favorite sport, all of the attention is on the driver, however, the driver does not do everything. There is the pit crew who change tires, fuel the care and do minor adjustments to make the car perform better while on the track. This includes the crew chief who sits on top of the box communicating with the driver on the performance of the car and if there are any changes needed to make the car run better. Then there is the spotter. This individual sits up high above the track watching out for the driver of any cars around them and if it is safe to move in front of someone or if there is a wreck on the track. The spotter also may look at the condition of the car to give news to the crew on problems no one else can see. Then there are those who build the car. Now they don’t build all the cars the same way. There are cars manufactured to run short tracks, tracks that are less than one mile. They build cars for Supper Speedways, tracks that are over two miles but do not have any unusual turns that require the driver to slow down into the turns. They build cars for road courses and cars for all other tracks. They build the car specifically for any given track. Finally, there are those who work behind the scenes. They work in the office making deals with sponsors, making appointments for the driver to do commercials, human resources, legal, people who order parts, logistics, and so on. There are so many hands in the operation of a race team but not everyone is the driver or the crew chief.

Children are told that when they grow up they can be anything they want. Let’s face the truth, that simply is not true. We all do not possess the same skills and abilities. There are people who are good at math, others are good at science, and some possess strong critical thinking skills. There are people who work will with their hands building and creating amazing things from metal work to baking a cake. There are others who are good at managing money and running a business. And, unfortunately, there are those who are blessed to make the day work for them. Not everyone can be the President of the United States. That is impossible. What can be done is everyone can give their best at what they do.

When the man returns from his trip he takes account of what his servants have done with his property. The outcome was good for the first two. They invested what they were given and returns more than what they were given. The man responded to their efforts, “Well done my good and faithful servants.” Then he rewarded them with more.

Notice something else here, the man didn’t say to the servants, “Well done my good and successful servant” or anything that boosted their ego. We are not called to be successful or wealthy or popular. The man gave them according to their abilities and then blessed them when they invested what they were given. We need to do the same, find our ability, our skills and talents and invest in them. When we do, we will be given more. Luke says, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand more.” (Luke 12: 48b) We need to be ready for the return of the Master to give an account of what we have been given.

Our society works against this idea. With they advancement of technology teens and young adults are more focus on becoming popular through social media now days rather than being productive. If they don't receive a level of acknowledgement by receiving "likes" on their videos they feel no value in life. Being famous and popular is more important than being productive and self sufficient.

The existential question means, "What is the meaning or purpose of life?" Rather than search within themselves to find their skills and abilities people are allowing society dictate what they should be. We are all not equal, we do not have the same calling on our life, we do not possess the same abilities and even if we do we vary in those abilities. I enjoy art and playing my guitar yet I know there are people are far better skilled than I am but I do not measure my value on level of abilities. I am to more focused on being faithful with what I have.

A culture of Offense

2/7/2022

Here for the past few years we have been seeing an up rise to attack various areas of our culture from the removal of monuments and statues remembering Confederate leaders from public and government grounds, the renaming of public schools and the attempt to rename Army instillations. We are also witnessing the removal of certain books and movies due to their content that illustrate the mind set of the culture of that time and any that makes light of stereotypes. The idea, in my opinion, is if these things are removed the problems in our culture will be fixed. If monuments and history books are removed or rewritten then the supposed hate of that time will not flow into our culture today. Avoiding something will only cause a repeat of that time. A common saying goes if we do not learn from our past we will be doomed to repeat it.

Just last week the co-host of the television show "The View" Woopy Goldberg made a statement, an ill informed statement, about the holocaust had nothing to do with race. Due to her comment there was a huge backlash and she was placed on suspension for two weeks. In part I believe this was a double standard against ABC, who is owned by Disney, who fired Gina Carano's comments about the current political climate being equal to the Nazi Germany. That is her view and her constitutional right, the freedom of speech. She wasn't making any threat against anyone in our political atmosphere. Hey, the Democrats have said the same thing about those on the other side of the political spectrum yet we don't see any repercussions against their freedom of speech. If anyone knows their history they will see that such claims are usually made out of ignorance and are uneducated on so many levels.

What is very interesting about the Cancel Culture is how they attempt to use Jesus to justify their attempt to end division and offending others. What is clear is their rhetoric exposes their lack of knowing anything about Jesus. Something I believe the reason for Cancel Culture is we are witnessing the stepping stones being placed to end religious liberties and to silence the church in our culture. Using Jesus is merely a smoke screen. Why do I say that? Well if anyone who has done any serious Bible reading will know that Jesus said he did not come to bring peace to the earth but he came with a sword (Matthew 10:34). What is the purpose of a sword? To cut things, to divide, to kill. Jesus offended the religious leaders all the time with the things he said that exposed them, when he did miracles on the Sabbath, which he did often, and especially when he equated himself equal with God.

When the topic of the gospel comes up people are offended to hear that they have sin in their life and with sin comes consequences. People don't like to view themselves as bad people and sin does that. Sin makes us look bad, nasty and ugly. To remove that ugliness, to look good in their eyes, they feel they need to remove that which makes them look ugly, the identity of sin. People are well aware that sin separates us from God and separation from God means no eternal life in heaven.

I'm offended by the world and by many things taught in the church. However, I don't believe silencing those things should anyone's purpose in life. If you believe it is your purpose and mission to silence those things that offend you in our culture, you have a very large task to deal with because you will find something around every corner that will offend you. To all my Christian brothers and sisters, our purpose in life is not to change the world. That is impossible. We are never called to do such a task. Our purpose in life is to be faithful with what the Lord has given us and to produce spiritual fruit that brings glory to the father. We are called to spread the seed of the gospel no matter where that seed may fall, what type of soil that seed may land upon. Some are called to plant and some are called to water but it is God who does the growth. We cannot change people's hearts, only the Spirit can, we cannot change lives, only the Spirit can. We can be an influence but I promise you, we will offend people, there is nothing we can do to avoid that, to prevent it no matter how nice you say something, people don't want to hear that they are not good people and sin separates us from God. We will face suffering and tribulation for our efforts.

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