Deposit of Audio Sermons

The following is a link to some of my audio sermons that are posted online from the last year, or so:

SERIES: Stop Doing and Start Growing - https://www.box.com/s/a52a1155d6ccc996c5a0

SERIES: Students of Prayer - https://www.box.com/s/y1jw2rubduju14bv4ie6

What Does God Look For In A Worship Service - https://www.box.com/s/tud7y48lt6gz48rfj8aj

Excuses: I'm Too Young

Jeremiah 1:4–6 (KJV 1900)

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, ⁵ Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. ⁶ Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.

Many people offer to God every day the same excuse that Jeremiah did, I’m just a child. It is said that Jeremiah, at this time, was somewhere under the age of 25.  While he may have felt himself too young to do anything for the Lord, God already had a plan and purpose for His life. This reminds me of Paul’s advice to young Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth, but be an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, impurity. There are many Christians who feel just like Jeremiah. They think they are too young to serve the Lord. Church is for the “old” people, and they say, when I get older, then I’ll start coming faithfully and serving God. You are never too young, or old, to serve God.

But many Christians give this same excuse, even though by human standards, they are not considered old. They may not physically be a child, but they feel as if they are one, spiritually. Many Christians use their lack of Christian experience as an excuse to not get involved. But here’s the catch – you never gain the experience you feel you need until you get involved. Many Christians have not taught a Sunday School class because they did not feel as if they knew enough of their Bible. Yet, a great way to learn your Bible is to study a Sunday School lesson all week before you teach it. This was how my church started my training after I received Jesus Christ as my Savior and surrendered my life to His will. I became the helper in the 4-5th grade boys Sunday School class. Every week, I studied their lessons and helped in the class when Sunday came around. Soon after, i was teaching about once a month. I learned more then because I had to study every week to be prepared for that class.

The strange thing is - many who use their lack of Bible knowledge as an excuse never actually do anything about it. They won’t read their Bible more, they won’t listen more attentively in the service, and they won’t even volunteer as a helper in a class to get the experience. 

If God has placed an opportunity in front of you, realize this – God wouldn’t put you into that position unless He was going to equip you with the tools needed to succeed. God will not set you up to fail.

When you site your lack of Christian knowledge and experience as a reason why you cannot serve God, you are really telling God that He can’t get it done. It is one thing for us to know our weaknesses, but it is quit something else for us to say that our weaknesses prevent God from getting anything done.

Instead of being humble, we are being very prideful.

God has heard the excuse of time.

eBook Review: Who Do You Think You Are

BOOK DESCRIPTION 

You are a saint ...You are blessed...You are saved ...You are afflicted ...You are heard.

Pastor Mark Driscoll answers the one question you need to ask: Who am I in Christ?

Being a Christian can be like driving in a foreign city. You try living on the straight and narrow but instead take a wrong turn onto the wide avenue of sin and temptation. In the process, you become discouraged and condemned, limping along in your faith—or giving up altogether.

But this isn’t the real Christian life. You can make a U-turn.

Pastor Mark Driscoll knows that underlying our struggles in life is the issue of our identity. “The fundamental problem we have in this world,” he says, “is that we don’t understand who we truly are—children of God made in his image—and define ourselves by any number of things other than Jesus. Only by knowing our false identity apart from Christ in comparison to our true identity in him can we finally deal with and overcome the issues in our lives.”

Who are you in Christ? Among other things:

You aren’t what’s been done to you but what Jesus has done for you. You aren’t what you do but what Jesus has done. What you do doesn’t determine who you are. Rather, who you are in Christ determines what you do. These are fundamental truths that Pastor Mark explores in depth throughout Who Do You Think You Are? Finding Your True Identity in Christ.

MY THOUGHTS: I found this to be a helpful book, based on Ephesians, on a subject that there doesn't seem a lot written about. This issue of who we identify with and in is important and should be understood more by the average Christian. Like any book outside of the Bible, you won't necessarily agree with every point the author makes, but the positive definitely outweighs the negative. The author is unapologetically Reformed, which I am not, but that did not take away from the over-arching truth this book proclaims.

While it is in no way written to be a practice commentary of Ephesians, it would be immensely helpful and useful to any Bible preacher or teacher doing a work through this book of the Bible. Even if you are not a teacher or preacher, this book will help you realize your true Identity in Christ.

DISCLAIMER:
This book was given to me free in exchange for a review. This did not change nor effect my thoughts, comments, or review.

Love and Free Will

I wanted to share a quote that I read from William Barclay's commentary on the letters of John and Jude  in relation to 1 John 4:16, in which we learn that God is love:

Unless love is a free response it is not love. There can be no love which is not spontaneous love. Had God been only law He could have created a world in which men moved like automata, constantly obedient to the laws of the universe and of God because they had no more choice than a machine has. But, if God had made men like that, there would have been no possibility of a personal relationship between God and man. Love is of necessity the free choice and the free response of the heart; and, therefore, before men could love God in any real sense of the term, their will had to be free; and, therefore, God by a deliberate act of self limitation, had to endow men with free will that the very purpose of creation might be fulfilled.

The fact that God is love and wants us to love Him reveals to us the nature of free will. Man exercises that free will in choosing to love God will all their heart, mind and soul.

eBook Review: Grace

Book Excerpt:
Grace.

We talk as though we understand the term. The bank gives us a grace period. The seedy politician falls from grace. Musicians speak of a grace note. We describe an actress as gracious, a dancer as graceful. We use the word for hospitals, baby girls, kings, and premeal prayers. We talk as though we know what grace means.

But do we really understand it? Have we settled for wimpy grace? It politely occupies a phrase in a hymn, fits nicely on a church sign. Never causes trouble or demands a response. When asked, “Do you believe in grace?” who could say no?

Max Lucado asks a deeper question: Have you been changed by grace? Shaped by grace? Strengthened by grace? Emboldened by grace? Softened by grace? Snatched by the nape of your neck and shaken to your senses by grace?

God’s grace has a drenching about it. A wildness about it. A white-water, riptide, turn-you-upside-downness about it. Grace comes after you. It rewires you. From insecure to God secure. From regret riddled to better-because-of-it. From afraid to die to ready to fly.

Grace is the voice that calls us to change and then gives us the power to pull it off.

My Thoughts:
While I have read excerpts and quotes from author Max Lucado many times, tis was my first full book of his to read. I was impressed with how easily the book flowed, even thorough the pattern of each chapter was somewhat predictable: illustration, bible truth, illustration. But, as the old saying goes, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Many times as I was reading I was struck with how compelling of a story teller he really was. It encouraged me as a pastor to be more effective in using illustrations.

As far as the book itself, it was not a badd book. While it would in no way be considered a theological read, it was very effective in covering the subject of grace in a devotional manner. This would be a great book to encourage a young or struggling Christian with.

The end of the eBook had a study guide. While I could see this as being helpful to some people, small groups, etc., I would not recommend the eBook if you are looking to do the study. It would probably work better in an actual printed copy.

My Recommendation:
If you are looking for a deeper, theological study on grace, you will want to look into something else. But, if you are looking to encourage some in God's grace, or be encouraged yourself, this would be a great read and worthy of a purchase.

DISCLAIMER:
This book was given to me free in exchange for a review. This did not change nor effect my thoughts, comments, or review.

Faithfulness To YOUR Church - Part Two

Here is a link to PART ONE if you have not already read it first.

Hebrews 10:25

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."

Now we come to the important question of the subject of church: are you faithful? Specifically, are you faithful to the church God has called you to? As a pastor, I never begrudge anyone a vacation. We all need them from time to time. This often means that you will miss a Sunday. Again, I have no issues when members miss our church because they are out of town on a vacation. But, as I am apt to say from time to time, "You can take a vacation from work, but not from God. Find a church to attend when you are away from here." So, when I speak of faithfulness, I am not talking about those who miss for a occasional vacation, yet are still faithful to God's House.

There also comes a time when people miss church due to illness. Sometimes, that illness is short-lived and they are soon back to their fellowship of believers. But other times, these illness' turn long term and some believers and church members even become bedridden and a shut-in. It is my belief that God gives grace to those who are in this predicament, and it is the responsibility of the church to minister to them in their homes (James 1:27, James 5:14, Romans 16:1-2, Psalm 68:5,  Acts 6, 1 Tim 5, etc.). So, when I speak of faithfulness to YOUR church, I realize there are those who want to attend and assemble, but are hindered by health.

Now, what about the rest of the time? There seems to be a lessening of the importance of attending church in our day. I see many believers who choose hobbies, activities, and work, to name a few, over attending worship on Sunday mornings with their fellow believers in Christ. It seems the norm for many today is to work all week and play all weekend. But is this what God has saved us for? And for many church's, Sunday morning is the "big service" of the week in which the lost and those looking for a church are invited to. What are they to think when the one who invites them does not think it important enough to be there? What are they to think when they show up to an empty church? You may come back that night, or next week - but will they? Did we miss our God-given opportunity?

We often use the phrase "my church" when we discuss it with others, but yet so many of those same people neglect the assembly when something else comes along. There was a time and a day when believers would do all their personal activities and hobbies on a Saturday in order to make it to church on Sunday morning. But today, the Lord's Day often is taken up with activities that have nothing to do with our Lord, and bring no glory to our savior Jesus Christ. 

As I discussed it with our church this past Sunday, I reminded those who were there that we can show up to church on Sunday mornings and still not be faithful (faithfulness is MUCH MORE than mere attendance in a pew/seat), but you CANNOT be faithful and willfully chose to consistently miss church. I wonder sometimes if people do not take our invitations to church very seriously because they watch us and observed that we don't take our attendance very seriously? If God has led you to a church (and it is His will for every believer to be a part of a local assembly), then be faithful to where God called you! Your church needs you, and you need your church!

Remember, a week without church makes a Christian weak. 

Faithfulness To YOUR Church - Part One

Before I begin discussing in Part Two what I really want to cover - faithfulness to YOUR Church, let me first cover a few issues in regards to the church:

1. When I say YOUR church in the title, I realize that it is God's church, which began to physically take shape on earth when Jesus called the Twelve during His earthly ministry. When Jesus said, "I will begin MY church…" we take that very literally. He called the twelve leaders/apostles/pastors during His earthly ministry, commissioned them (Matthew 28:18-20, etc.) and the church was empowered post-ascension on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. (On a side note: One of the reasons we know that the church began before the Day of Pentecost was that in Acts 1 they were deciding who would replace the bishopric of Judas. To have a bishopric, there must have already been an organization of the church.)
• This is why Paul, in his first preserved letter to Timothy, tells Him in the third chapter that the church is the, "the house of God…the church of the living God…" We labour together with God, building upon the foundation that He has laid, with Jesus as the chief cornerstone and the apostles being the foundation (1 Corinthians 3:9-10, Ephesians 2:20).
2. Sometimes, people are "between" churches. This is either because they move to a new place and need to find a new church, or because certain things have transpired and led them to seek a new place of membership. Let me encourage you if you are reading this and looking for a church: k
   
   now what you believe before you look, then look quickly. Don't drag your search out for years. I have seen some that become "professional church shoppers." While deciding which church to join is an important decision that should not be taken lightly or hastily, it also should not "drag out." 
• If you moved to a new city and there is no church that holds to the core doctrines/beliefs that you know to be true, it may be an God-given opportunity to plant a new church. I would suggest you contact your previous church (because you left on good terms, didn't you?!) and ask them to pray with you about starting a new work. Your previous pastor may know of a church nearby that would be good for your to visit/consider, as well.

Now, with all that being said, I am going to being dealing with the issue of faithfulness to the church that God has  called you to in the next post. My question to you now is this: DO YOU KNOW WHICH CHURCH GOD HAS CALLED YOU TO?