Must read quote of Abraham Lincoln

Words of Abraham Lincoln April 1863

"Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have beome too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, to proud to pray to the God who made us. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has grown, but we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand that preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us.... We have vainly imagined that all these blessings were produced by some superior virtue and wisdom of our own. It behooves us then to humble ourselves, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."

I wonder what he would say today.

Tears of Joy

I start a new job in Baytown Texas on June 1 2010. Many of you know my journey and the struggle I have had ever since the end of Living Waters. I went through a process that led me back to researching what I believe about church and questioning my motives about why I do church and why I am a pastor. I have applied at thousands of churches over the last few years and God has slammed the door shut on all of them. Churches act like I have leprosy or something. I have learned to be content in my circumstances and that has been good for me. The best thing I learned is that my walk with God is not determined by my title in a church even though I love church. I was also drawn to missions more than I have been in the past and given a desire to take the church to the lost and hurting in places where the church is not reaching people. I have been given a job starting churches in Multi Housing Communities and it is beyond a perfect fit for me. God is good and it was well worth the wait. It is interesting how amazing it is to see Gods plan when it is finally revealed and see how all the peaces fit together. Thank you Jesus for my new job.

Today was the first time in many many years that I had tears of joy come to my eyes when I thought about my job.

Thank you to all of you who have been praying for God to give me a ministry job. Please be praying for our family and friends as we move. As excited as we are it is very bitter sweet to leave friends and family behind. 

Multitasking Mayham

I was talking on the phone with my wife and playing on the intranet at the same time. I had just got on the computer when she called so I tried to do both. I did not give all of my attention to my wife. It hit me that I was not giving all of myself to my wife but being selfish. I was taking care of my self and giving her my left overs. No one wants to be treated this way and yet we often do this to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He does not want us to live our lives doing what we want and giving Him our leftovers. Spending money how we want and giving Him our left overs. Worshiping every thing under the sun and giving Him our leftovers one hour a week. He wants our first fruits. He wants us to put Him first before every thing and He will take Care of the rest.

Genesis 4:1-6

Cain and Abel



1 Adam [a] lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. [b] She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth [c] a man." 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.


Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.


6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."




8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." [d] And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

They both gave gifts to God but one gave with all of His heart. I did talk to my wife on the phone but I didn't really give her the time she desired.

It is not just about your offering. We are to worship God in every part of our life. We should give Him the best in every thing.

Share the Power

Romans 12
16I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

Do we really believe that the gospel still has power. Do we expect it to change lives when we share it with others? The apsotles preached it in the streets and to every one that they could, knowing that it had the power to make them a new creation. What is the gospel?

The gospel is the good new that Jesus Chirst really was the Son of God who chose to leave Heaven and come to earth to take our place on the cross. Why would he need to do this.

Romans 3:23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,


This means that none of us are good or can please God by being good enough

Romans 6: 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord.


Our sin deserves death and eternal punishment in the tormenting fires of Hell. Jesus loved us so much that He chose to take our place and die for us. Born of a Virgin He lived a sinless life and chose to be killed in the worst way possible because thats what it took to pay for your sin and mine. He then rose from the dead. It really di happen. The God who created the entire universe gave His only Son to die for you. The price has been paid the gift is ours to recieve.

The price was paid for you to be forgiven but you have to repent and except it.

Romans 10:9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Here is where the power comes in. You can be saved and recive a new life, a new heart, become a new creation to be used in Gods Kingdom to do His work. That is beutiful and exciting news that still changes lifes every single day. Have you experienced this power? Don't delay Cry oty to God and ask Him to save you from your sin and give you a new life. Once you have get involved in a bible believing church and get baptized and share this mighty power with others.

ONE OF THOSE MOMENTS

I took my kids to the park today and they were so excited to play. Logan had been waiting since before church to go to the park. Seven hours of waiting: after church, lunch and nap time I finally got him to the park. Some brats had totally messed up the jungle jim area. They took buckets of rocks and completely covered the entire play area so it was unsafe. The kids couldn't go up the stairs becuse it was hard to walk on all the rocks. I was so angry that these kids had violated the play area and ruined my kids ability to play. I have no idea who did this but I imediately began throwing rocks every where trying to get them off of every thing so my kids could play. As I was frustrated and relaized there was no way I could fix this I was reminded how anngry Jesus was when the people had violated the temple by turning it into a market rather than a hous of prayer.

Jesus at the Temple
Mathew 21
12Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13"It is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be called a house of prayer,'[e] but you are making it a 'den of robbers.'[f]"
14The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant.

16"Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him.
"Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read,
" 'From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise'[g]?"

17And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

I have often found it weird to see Jesus so angry because he seems so different from His character. It was not wrong though it was a righteouse anger. Trufully it was His house to reorganize. Just as I was so angry that the playground that was made to bring joy to my kids was vilated Jesus was angered that His childrent were being robbed. Jesus wants the church to be a place of worship and a house of prayer. It breaks His heart when it is being used for evil and drawing His children away from what He wants for them. I hope that when we have church that Jesus is pleased and that we are doing what He intended with His church.

Faith like a child

We were having house church Sunday and we were talking about worry and how Jesus says not to do it.

Mathew 6 25 -34
Do Not Worry


25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]?


28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.



Obviously it seems impossible not to worry and as you look at all the points from the sermon on the mount it seems like many of the things Jesus says to do are impossible. They are not impossible and we can do all things through Christ but they seem impossible because they are so opposite of the things our culture has taught us to do. A great example is worry. In America we are the most blessed nation in the world and yet we are constantly worried about every thing. We worry about money, food, clothes, jobs, the future and on an on and on.

The Holy Spirit pointed out two points to me that we discussed at home church.

One is that we should have faith like a child. I would be offended if Logan was sad or worried that I wouldn't provide for food or clothing for him. Logan doesn't worry about that stuff. He just plays and enjoys his toys because he know I will provide. He may not get every toy he wats but he knows that daddy will take care of his needs. I think it offends God when we don't know if He will take care of us and we are worried about what we will eat or drink in the future.

Second point
Jesus didn't just tell us not to worry He lived it. Jesus and His diciples din't know they were doing for food and money and how they would make it. They didn't have a buisness plan or a 401 K They simply woke up daily and Jesus let God lead them knowing God would provide.

If you are a child of God God expects you to trust Him. Has He not been faithful t you in the past. I am not saying has He made you a millionare because He doesn't promise that. I am asking has he ever let you starve or have to walk around naked for lack of clothes. God will provide. Worrying is a lack of faith and through Chirst we can trust God like Jesus did.

God help us in our lack of faith to grow to the point that we can obery every thing you ask us without question.

Counterfit god

Romans 1:25

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

ASH WEDNESDAY

I am not catholic but I was working in a church plant in Midtown Atlanta where we did Ash Wednesday. It was my first experience with Ash Wednesday other then seeing people with ash on their foreheads and wondering what was going on. It was an amazing service and time of reflection.

On Ash Wednesday they put the ash on your forehead in the shape of the cross and say.

Remember (O man) that you are dust, and to dust you shall return", "Repent, and believe the Gospel," or "Turn away from sin, and be faithful to the Gospel."

Then they are encouraged to fast from something as they prepare for Easter. I encourage you to think about this statement. We are all sinners and in need of the Savior Jesus Christ. We cannot be good enough or do enough good works to make up for our sin against God.

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God

It only takes one lie, or one lustful thought to make us guilty in the eyes of God.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It is a fact that our sin causes us to deserve death and eternal punishment and separation from God in Hell FOREVER. That is a sad and scary thought

But the good news of this verse is that because of Jesus death on the cross and Resurrection from the death we can accept Jesus by repenting of our sins, asking Jesus to become our master and save us. That is the good news we call the gospel.

If you choose to fast from something as we prepare to Celebrate Easter it will help you to remember what Christ has done for you and remind you to pray every time you miss what ever you are fasting from.

Appearances are Deceiving

Looks like the statue made a great shot huh?

Appearances can be deceiving, sometimes we even fool ourselves.

Revelation 3 1-3
I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. 3Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent.

We have all had time in our life where our walk with God is struggling. We may have justified sins and we don't know it. there could be a million reasons why we are dying spiritually and falling away from God. The sad fact is that often when we are in that state and we don't even see it. It is pretty evident in this passage, as Jesus is talking to the church in Sardis that Jesus is not happy with them. They don't know that Jesus isn't happy with them, they think they are doing great.

My freshman year of college I was making all d's and went to see my advisor. He said "How are you doing this semester?" I smiled big and said "Great." He looked at my grades looked puzzled and then chewed me out. I was happy with d's and figured I was passing. I realized I wasn't doing as great as I thought I was. I realized I needed to raise the bar of my expectations. We all need people in our lives like that who will tell us the truth and hold us accountable. We also need to quit lying to ourselves and look at the truth. We need to quit justifying ourselves and blaming every one else.

I encourage you to evaluate Your life and see if Jesus is really happy with you or not. Remember when you evaluate yourself that you are to measure yourself by Jesus life and the standards of the bible not by what other people are doing.

Dear God, please remove the blinders from our eyes and help us to view our selves through Your eyes. May we be convicted of where we are failing You and say we are sorry and turn the other way.

FIRST LOVE

Do you remeber the feeling of when you first fell in love? I remeber when Vanessa and I first started dating. I was on cloud nine. It was an adrenaline rush of excitement and feelings that I had never felt. We wanted to be together all the time and were on the phone when we were apart. Although I love my wife more now then I did then it is not the same. I can't say that I have all those warm fuzzy feeling all the time so what does that mean? I had a preacher say that if were closer to God when you first got saved then you are now then you need to rededicate your life to God. That always bothered me because much like dating my wife when I first got saved it was an adrenaline rush and surge of new emotions at first. I don't have those feelings in the same way all the time any more so whats up with that? Does that mean I am no longer as close to God as I once was?

Revelations 2
4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

As I think about this verse for my marriage and for my relationship with God, have I forsaken my first love. Not at all because true relationship is not about how they make you feel or about whether you get warm fuzzy feelings. Love is about commitment and it is a choice one makes every day. We choose to sacrifice our life daily to love God. We choose daily die to ourself and follow God. My relationship with my wife is the best it has ever been and yet it can be really hard sometimes and sometimes I still get warm fuzzies. My relationship with God has been tested lately and yet I feel closer to God than ever before. Again it is different but it is closer.

My question to you is have you fallen from your first love with God. I am not asking have you quit having the warm fuzzies or is it easy. I am asking if there is sin in your life that has hurt your relationship. Have you quit dieing to self daily and made yourself god again. If so repent (Turn form your sin and go the other way), put God on the throne again and fall in love again.

Secondly Have you ever fell in love with God to begin with. God is not a church, a builing, a religion, or good works. God is the creator of the universe and through Him alone can we be saved from our sin. he longs to have a real, life changing,
passionate relationship with every person but our sin tainted that and so He sent Jesus to die and take away our sin. The price has been paid for your sin but you do have to accept it and choose to follow Him and make Him master of your life. Simply cry out to Jesus and ask forgivenees and ask Him to take over your life.