Listening to God is a grand adventure and He gets our attention in many different ways. One of the ways is a restless spirit. There will be times when you can't seem to put your finger on what is going on in your life but you know something is just not the way it needs to be. When that time comes the best thing to do is slow down your life and thoughts and listen for God. He's trying to speak and maybe, just maybe, you have been to busy to listen.
Peace,
Pastor Steve
It's amazing to me how many Christians are satisfied with only a vertical relationship with God and feel no pull to the horizontal mission field they live in everyday. Ministry happens only in their lives by accident instead of on purpose. The problem is....God is not satisfied because He has created good works for them to be part of everyday if they would only look on the horizontal field Jesus spoke of when he said, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few"."
Peace,
Pastor Steve
My prayer today: Lord save us from Western theological thought only. Remove the theological lenses of the west and place on us global lenses. Amen.
Peace
Pastor Steve
I read this post by Chris Elrod today and it made my day and brought back great memories of my church planting days in San Francisco. If you have the time go to his blog and read it.
Anyway, I can remember having hundreds of homeless people in our church and many times at the end of each service someone would stand up and with tears in their eyes say something like..."Pastor, that was the best %$&*$#@ message I have ever heard..it changed my life." I wished I could count how many times over 13 years in San Francisco I heard those kinds of statements from the crowd and in the alter calls.
Church folk would be offended but to my ears I heard a heart break and begin to change. Oh how I look forward to more of those days in my new church plant here in Charlotte...The Salt Mine.
Peace,
Pastor Steve
Waiting is a breezing when your busy for God but when your doing nothing for Him it can seem like forever. Remember...waiting is ACTION.
Hey...here is one more! Go beyond reading the word and study the word....then go out and live it for the world to read.
Peace,
Pastor Steve
After the feeding of the 5,000 and after the feeding of the 4,000 and after all the bread of life talk found in John chapter 6 Jesus throws a warning out to his disciples as they are crossing the sea once again.
It's an interesting passage that I've been thinking about a lot. The passage is found in Mark and in Matthew. In Mark 8:13-21 you will find the story. Anyway, Jesus says to the men in verse 15, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."
He lets them ponder the statement for a little while and then is amazed that they still don't get it. He then hits them with many questions to raise the level of awareness of just how clueless they are.
Next, He reminds them of the feeding of the 5,000 and the 4,000. He ask them if they remember how many baskets where left over and of course they answer right. The lesson taught to them that day is an interesting one and I'm sure its much deeper than I can ever imagine but here is what I walked away with...
On one side you had the Pharisees. They made so many rules people could not even get to God. They were religious but had no relationship. Their teaching was elevated above God's word and so therefore people could never get to Christ. Jesus warned them so they would understand that traditions will never get you to God. You will always be left unsatisfied.
On the other side Jesus warned of the doctrine of Herod. In other words...the political side of life. He was teaching the men that political power will never heal anything in the end. Powers will come and earthly powers will fall and they will always leave you unsatisfied and wanting more.
Finally Jesus by asking them to remember the feeding of the 5,000 and 4,000 sends the message that He alone is the way, the truth and the life. He is the true and only bread that will last and that will heal forever. That is why in each feeding there was some left over. He always has more than enough and then some. He was simply says to the men...you are in the boat with the answer so stop looking to traditions and politics for the cure.
Peace,
Pastor Steve
I often have to ask myself...Do I use the same intensity to pursue Christ as I did to resist Him before I surrendered my life to Him?
I have all kinds of things I would like to say about this but just not enough time to write a book on it.
I have been taking our church through Philippians and I've come to Chapter 3 where Paul says, "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on....
"I PRESS ON"- what an interesting word/phrase! It can mean "to persecute"
It's the same language used to show how Paul (formally Saul) persecuted Christians. He did it with everything he had in him. Now "in Christ" he uses the same word to describe his pressing toward Christ.
I wonder...do I use the same intensity that Paul is describing? Do you use the same intensity?
Think about it.
Peace,
Pastor Steve
I just returned from a week of hunting in Tennessee and I feel relaxed and ready to go again. The fellowship was great. I was able to go with Scott Mann who is the man that lead me to the Lord. We were able to have many great conversations and caught up on many years.
Each morning and evening I hunted in the deep woods sitting high in a treestand. The silence of the woods spoke deep into my heart. I could hear God and I could feel God. There was nothing in the way of His access to my life. I enjoyed the hunting but I was more blessed by my time alone with Him. I haven't felt that close to God in a long time. Stillness speaks!
Peace,
Pastor Steve
Mark 7:31-37 is such a great passage. So much is going on it's hard not to be overwhelmed with joy when you read it. The people brought to Jesus a man who was deaf and had a impediment in his speech. They begged Jesus to touch him.
The first thing that jumps out at me is the care and concern of the people. They knew Jesus was the answer and they would bring people to him. In fact they would bring people and would begged Him to do something. All through the scripture we see this beautiful pattern of care, this pattern of people bringing other to Jesus but I wonder how much of it happens in our day and age? Do we rely on the "church show", to bring them in?
Do we look to bring people to Him? Do we pray for our lost friends and love ones to be touched by Him? After all, the scriptures tell us to go out and compel them to come in so that the house will be full. I wonder...is there much "compelling" going on in Western Christianity?
Next Jesus takes him aside. Now isn't that just like our amazing God! He pulls us away from the multitude in order to take care of us, to love on us...to heal us. Jesus always had compassion on the crowd but He did His greatest work on individuals.
What was healed? His ears were opened and his speech was set free. That is what happens to us when God shows up. He opens us open to hear Him and when we hear Him our heart is changed and our speech is set free to speak of Him.
Finally, the passage says, "He Sighed..."
I'm not sure where I read it or heard it but the reason He sighed was because we were never suppose to be broken or separated from Him. (See Genesis 1:26-31) We were created to live forever as the good creation He created. It was our choice to sin that broke the relationship and it was and is the curse of sin that damages us and this world. There is only one answer...that answer is Jesus.
Well, I could just go on and on but I'll save it for another time.
Peace,
Pastor Steve
Now what?
That is the question that normally pops into my head when God slows everything down and I want to keep on running.
He is seeking a pause in my life so I don't burn out or miss something and I'm trying to run ahead without Him. Neither you, nor I, will ever be able to out-build, out-think or out-do the creator of all things.
The scripture are true when it says, "Unless the LORD builds the house,They labor in vain who build it;..." (Psalm 127:1)
You know, sometimes I think the Lord stops building for awhile when we try and become the builder instead of the laborer. Oh the futility of human effort...without God.
Peace
Pastor Steve
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