"I believe in Jesus!"

I wanted to write because I haven't in a while. I was sitting here wondering what I should write about and then it hit me. When we were sitting at dinner tonight, the subject of Jesus was brought up. Allie brought up the word Christian and Caedmon raised his hand and said, "I'm a Christian!" Then Allie said you believe in Jesus to be a Christian and Caedmon said, "I believe in Jesus!" Then he proceeded to ask Allie and I if we believe in Jesus too. He also said that Jesus is always with him. It is so awesome to see God working in the life of my three year old son. I know that he probably does not understand everything fully, but I think he understands more than I would have given him credit for before tonight. He truly loves to sing about God. He loved going to VBS last week and learning about God from the story of Joseph. My hope and prayer for him is that he will grow to love God and follow Him. I pray for him everyday that he will live his life for Jesus and not for the world. God has given him so much talent. The other day a guy at Guitar Center told us that Caedmon was really advanced with his drumming for a three year old. I truly pray that he will use that natural talent for the glory of God. I don't care if he makes a lot of money. I don't care if he's a famous rock star (it would be cool though). I don't care if he's not successful in the eyes of the world. I just pray that he is successful in the eyes of God. I am so proud that he is my son. It warms my heart when he wants to know more about God and hear the stories of the Bible. I pray that Allie and I will be the examples he and the new baby need us to be. At VBS we sang the song "One True God" and the chorus was "You are the one true God! There will never be another!" I want my kids to know that. There is only one true God and there will never be another. I want them to know God for who He is not for what Christians sometimes make Him out to be. I want them to love Him and rejoice in Him always. I just want to be the best father to them so that they will want to know the true Father.

We have failed

I was brought to tears today thinking about the place we are in as the Church. We are not in a good place. In my own situation, it is the same old thing every week. It is so predictable that you could set your clock to it. If anything is out of order, you can feel the tension that arises from people because they are uncomfortable with the unpredictability of it. Celebration is far from the word I would use to describe what we do on Sunday. This may sound harsh, but I'm just trying to be honest. If I was going to blame anyone for this first, it would be me. It is so easy to get caught up in the routine that it makes me lazy. It makes me forget that it is for freedom that Jesus set me free (Galatians 5:1). It's not just in my situation either. It's in churches all across our country. We are losing the little influence we do have. We have to wake up and realize that we have not had much of an influence in the past decade at least and probably longer. The place we need to start is on our knees. We need to repent of the sin of routine and complacency. We need God to send revival. We need to get out of the way and let God turn our world upside down.
Jimmy Needham sings a song called "Hurricane." He sings in the chorus, "I need you like a hurricane, thunder crash, wind and rain. Tear my walls down; I'm only yours now." We need to be torn down. We need the living God to come like a hurricane and tear us down. The generations coming up are becoming less and less familiar with anything having to do with Christianity. Christianity to them is just another flavor to choose in the long list of flavors that all taste the same.
My heart is broken for the church and for the generations coming up. If we don't wake up and get on our knees, the church in America will become less and less meaningful and may eventually die. Jesus didn't die for that. He died so that we could be free to live for him and praise him. I'm praying now for revival. I hope that others will join with me.

Hanging out

I just finished reading an interesting and challenging book by Dan Kimball called They Like Jesus, but Not the Church. It was interesting because Kimball talks with people outside the church to get their perspective on the church. It was not pretty some of the things they said about the church. They see the church as a judgmental place that is full of strict guidelines that you have to adhere to or you are out. It was challenging because Kimball suggested some things that challenge the status quo of the church as we know it. I do not like status quo. Status quo equals boring for me. It means living an uninspired and uneventful life. I want to live a life on the edge. I want to live the great adventure that is being a follower of Christ. I want Jesus to take me to places I would never have dreamed of going on my own. This book really challenged me to love like Jesus. As Christians, we spend too much time with other Christians and not enough time with non-Christians. It's almost become an us vs. them mentality for us. More often than not Christians are known for what we are against rather than what we are for. We need to get out to where the people are and not concern ourselves with sharing the gospel with them right away on the first meeting. That would be like asking a girl to marry you on the first date; too much too soon. Rather, we should get to know them. Jesus spent time getting to know people. This shows people that we genuinely care about them. We see them as a person, not as a conquest for the kingdom. This is what people in a post-Christian world are going to respond to. They want to see the love of Jesus through us. They need to see the love of Jesus through us. If the church in America is going to survive, then we need to get out of our buildings and start loving people with the love of Christ.

Doing something different

This week is Easter and it is one of the toughest weeks for a pastor. The reason it is tough is because preparing a sermon for Easter Sunday that is different from the previous year is an almost an impossible task. Easter is the one Sunday of the year where churches all over are filled with people who normally do not go to church. I always feel pressure to come up with a sermon that will prompt these people to come to surrender their lives to Christ and start coming to church every week. This year I'm done with that. I have been trained through seminary classes and books that in order to deliver a good sermon, one must spend hours throughout the week researching it and reworking it till it is perfect. But, is this what is going to compel people to come to Christ? Isn't this a little prideful on our part as pastors, thinking that our words will bring people to Jesus? This year I want to do something different. I want to talk to people. I want to tell people my story of how Jesus changed my life and the resurrection makes all of that possible. I will use Scrpture because it would still be prideful on my part to think my story will bring people to Jesus. But, I do think that people want to hear how Jesus has changed people's lives. I'm not saying this will be any different from any other year. It is still up to God to save people. But, I hope and pray that God will use me to communicate a story, my story, that people can relate to. I want people to see the reality of Jesus. I want people to understand that the resurrection happened and it promises freedom and redemption. It promises freedom from a life that leads only to death and destruction. It means freedom period!

What this world needs

One thing that frustrates me lately is surface level relationships within the church. We are supposed to be the body of Christ and I cannot understand why we do not go out of our way to love one another like Jesus commanded us in John 13. I think that we love one another to a certain point, but we are too afraid to get too close. But, this is not what the Church nor the kingdom of God is supposed to be like.
In my own church experience growing up, you could easily get lost in the crowd. I felt like a lot of times that I was just a number within the congregation. This is not what Jesus intended for his followers. This was not what he intended for his Body.
Why can't we get past our own insecurities and open up to people and get involved in other people's lives? What is hindering us?
I long to see churches all over the country become more close knit. We like to advertise we are friendly, but we need to be more than that. We all have plenty of friends, just look at our friends list on facebook. What people are longing for is to belong. They want to belong somewhere that cares about them on a more deeper level. People want to be cared for. People need to feel the love of Christ. Christ did not love us superficially. He loved us deeply and intimately. The way the church is going to make an impact on people's lives and an impact on this country as a whole is to love each other and people on the outside more deeply. People don't want just a warm greeting when they come into a place. They want to enter a place they feel like they can belong to. They want to belong to a place where the people will love them on a deeper level.
Jesus loved the Church by dying for the church. How often do we love each other sacrificially? This is a challenge to myself and anyone who reads this. I want to love with the love that is beyond my capabilities as a human. I want to love with the love of Christ because that is the kind of love that this world needs.

The Price He Paid

The title of this blog entry is the title of the sermon series I'm going through at church over the next few weeks leading up to Easter. Something I've been thinking about lately is the price Jesus paid for us. I don't know if I ever stop to really think about the price he paid for us. Isaiah 53 is such a powerful chapter about this topic. Last week at church I talked about how he was familiar with suffering and there was nothing about him that attracted us to him. This is the same Jesus who was worshiped and adored in heaven before he came to earth. Suffering was not a part of his existence, but he willingly chose to live his riches above to become poor and become familiar with suffering for our sakes.
It is so humbling to think about what Christ did for me. He didn't just die on the cross. He lived in poverty. He did not have anything about him that would indicate he was a king, much less the King of Kings. He was denied three times by one of his closest friends and betrayed by another one. His own people, the Jews, rejected him as their Messiah. His own created wanted to have nothing to do with him. His closest friends were nowhere to be found when he was dying on the cross. Even his own Father looked away from him when took the sin of the world on his shoulders. He went even farther than that and became sin on our behalf (II Corinthians 5:21). This is what Jesus went through for us. He was completely innocent, but became guilty to take our place.
If we don't understand and fully embrace this aspect of the Gospel, then we can never fully appreciate the resurrection for the great victory that it was. The resurrection was the conquering of death and a declaration that the wage of sin had been paid on our behalf. This is a powerful truth that we should all think about as we approach Resurrection Sunday.

Greetings

Hello blogging world! Ever since my wife got into blogging, I really felt like I should start as well in order to be in touch with the 21st century world. I tried this before with another blogging site, but no one ever read it and I kept forgetting about it. So, I'm reattempting to blog. Hopefully people will read this one.
I see this as my chance to ramble on about things that are going on in my life and things I think about. Many times the subject will be about what God is trying to teach me as I journey through this life. My goal is to use this to minister to others who will read it and maybe provide some insight into what I have learned about God over the last 14 years that I have seriously spent with Him. I only know a small percentage about Him, but what I do know, I love passing on to others so that they may grow to love Him as I have.
I guess for this initial blog post I want to ramble on about my wife. I am so proud of her always, but especially lately. She is working so hard on the CCA River Run (which you can check out here: www.ccariverrun.org). She is so organized with everything to do with the fundraiser for the school and she also finds time to keep the school running smoothly as the main secretary. She had more than one person compliment her today on her work and it just makes me proud that I am married to such a wonderful woman. She is also the greatest mom in the world. My son, Caedmon, lights up when she walks into the room. He loves her so much and rightly so because she is the best mommy to him. She is my love and my best friend and I would not be able to do life without her. Thank you, Lord, for blessing me so abundantly with Allie.