Bible

What a wonderful story that is told from Genesis to Revelations. A love story … a story of God’s love for His children. The story of Hope through God’s son, Jesus Christ.

I think where we get bogged down and even sidetracked is when we isolate verses in a particular book of the bible, and we miss the over-all story of the Bible… a loving God reaching out to restore a broken relationship with humanity. And no matter what we do He is always reaching out to us.

Just know that God loves you today!

God Loves Strippers

I just listened to a podcast that told a very touching story of a girl named Kandi, who was molested as a child (when she told her parents they actually shammed her for it and said it must have been her fault) which led her to being sexually active by age 10 then getting pregnant at 13 and her parents kicking her out of the home (bad parents if you ask me!) then the only way she could see to support herself and her new baby was to take a job as a stripper, making anywhere from $1,000 - $2,000 a week.

She talks about her pain, emotional and physical… and that she prays herself to sleep every night, asking God to help her have a new life somehow someway. She even reads her Bible every night. She talked about a church that she visited with her daughter and when some church people (there is a word for these people, but I can not use it here) found out what she did for a living the shunned her, shammed her, judged her, condemned her and rejected her… she was asked to leave by the elders (someone should punch these elders in the throat) Can I just say that I hate, yes I used the word, I hate when so called Christians do that kind of anti-Christ stuff. Kandi needed love and acceptance… and especially her daughter needed it!

Of course God doesn’t want her to be a stripper, but neither does He want us doing the things we're doing!

The main reason her story touches me is that God Loves Kandi, even while she is a stripper and I so want all those who have been rejected by the church to know that! God loves you… and He hasn’t rejected you!

“...God so Loved the World…For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16 -17 (NIV)

Anxiety

Matthew 6:25 “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?”

Have you ever felt worry, anxiety, bugaboo, burden, complication, consternation, discomfiture, disquietude, fantod, harassment, nightmare, vexation, anguish, badger, bedevil, bothered, brood, burdened, care, concern, despair, disconcert, distress, disturb, disturbance, dread, faze, fear, fidget, fret, fuss, gnaw, harass, harry, hector, importune, millstone, needle, perturb, pester, plague, pother, stew, struggle, suffer, tantalize, tormented, tortured, troubled, uneasiness, unsettle, upset, woe.

God bless the Thesaurus! Though I can’t imagine telling a friend that I road the Mamba at worlds of fun and it “harried” me a little… also I always felt that “tantalize” was a good feeling… I want to feel tantalized from time to time. Anyway, I digress!

I am sure we have all felt “worried” at one time or another, it’s a normal emotion; though if worry is a word that your friends would use to describe you… that’s not good. And what I mean about “not good” is that FEAR and/or WORRY are really disabilities in the pursuit of a full life.

They say that 93% of the things we worry about never end up happening anyway… it’s just wasted time.

Personal Story: A year ago I worried (pothered) that Olathe Life Fellowship wouldn’t grow any bigger than it was at that time. And that it may not ever accomplish all that I felt God wanted it to accomplish. And those negative feelings became my driving force. I was moved by them, motivated by them, and ultimately controlled by them… until one day God spoke to me (not audibly… just I sensed in my heart) that worry wasn’t going to help the church grow and reach more people, actually it would hinder growth, secondly I realized that all I can do is all I can do… the rest is up to God, and I should just rest in that, and finally I wasn’t happy being unhappy all the time (nor where the members of my family)… so now, I don’t worry, I work hard, have fun, put it in God’s hands, I’m happy, my family is happy and guess what?… the church is growing!

Wow, I should learn to take God’s advice more often!

Inadequate

Have you ever felt YOU weren’t enough? Inadequate on some level? Not smart enough, not rich enough, not good-looking enough, not enough……… (You fill in the blank). And you hear in your head, “if I could only do ………… better I would be happy”.

If we are honest we all feel inadequate on some level. I personally don’t feel qualified all the time to be a pastor, a leader, a teacher, a father, and a husband. It sucks to feel that way.

And sometimes Christians really struggle with this because they heard somewhere that when you become a Christ follower, or become Christ Centered you won’t have that struggle anymore… or at least they’ve heard you “shouldn’t”… which is hog wash! Absolutely hog wash!

Though, I will say that you can get better at handling those internal struggles by asking yourself the following questions:

1) What activities make me feel good about myself? DO THEM REGULARLY!



2) What activities make me feel bad about myself? STOP DOING THEM!


I know, it’s so simple! But, again, if we are honest… this makes up a huge part of the fuel that feeds our struggle!

Think about it! Love you much!

The Victim

I was reflecting on a recent interaction I had with one of the neighborhood kids who always plays the victim. He is an only child, a good kid, with good parents, though he is always innocent of others accusations.

There have been numerous occasions I have actually seen him in the act of doing something inappropriate (without his knowledge) … he denies it, blames others, makes excuses, and will even put on some tears of being “picked on”.

This is a common kid situation (if you have kids you understand) but don’t we as adults play the victim from time to time… it just feels better to play innocent, blame others and make excuses. That way we do not have to take ownership of our crap… we can continue to ignore issues.

We get pulled over and get a ticket… the cop was mean we say - forgetting to add we were doing 50 over and nearly ran over an elderly women crossing the street to pick up her new dentures, the boss is just a jerk – but we forget to add we were way under on sales goals and notoriously run 30 minutes late, our spouse is not sexually responsive – yet all we do is sit and watch sports when we get home from a 12 hour workday.

I’ve always appreciated when people have a true or at least honest self concept… they are able to say, “I deserve to be jumped on by my boss… I have been slacking and not working very hard… I needed a good kick in the pants”. “People treat me bad because I am a jerk most the time…”, “I deserved the ticket, I was speeding and could have really caused a bad accident”, “My wife is nagging on me for good reason, and I’m an idiot”.

So, try being brutally honest with yourself…

“You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” - Jesus

What Church Would Jesus Attend (W.C.W.J.A)

So, the question of the hour; what church would Jesus attend if He lived in the Kansas City area?

Would it be Olathe Life Fellowship? Honestly, to answer that in a way that would exclude any other church would reflect spiritual and biblical ignorance on the part of the person saying it!

Though, I can say with confidence that since Jesus (God) unlike us, is omni-present, meaning He can be everywhere at once, is attending many churches here in Kansas City!

To say that “my church is better than your church” is childish. But we can say that “my church is different then your church” and be correct.

I would say the real question is; is Jesus attending your church? A follow up question then would be; how do I know if He is or not?

1) Is the Bible taught?
2) Is Jesus talked about?
3) Are people encouraged to follow Christ? (now I will say that many of us come to the table with pre-conceived ideas of what this means… i.e. we must have an altar call each week… or we must invite people to repeat the sinners prayer… or we must do the sign of the cross on our chest, or whatever you or I have been taught…)
4) Are people encouraged to love people as Christ has commanded?
5) Are people loved and accepted, right where they are in life?

And really the ultimate question; is Jesus present in your life?

Matthew 18:20 "Where two or three have come together in my name, I am there among them."

Final thought: I do know this; Jesus would spend 99% of His time OUTSIDE the church ministering to people... which is just what He did when He was physically here on earth.

Inner-city

Matthew 25:40 Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me."

Yesterday me, Brandon and Michele met with Luther who is an inner-city pastor at Bridge of Hope Community Church in Kansas City, Kansas. His church is right in the “hood” (his words). He drove us around and I was moved by what I saw. Much poverty, corruption, and decay… and right here in our backyard.

I felt like I was in a third-world country at times… while we were on our tour I saw a couple people getting arrested, a possible drug deal, some prostitutes (teenagers) roaming, and he didn’t even take us to the real bad areas because he said, “it’s unsafe…”.

I think sometimes we have our heads in the sand (those living in rich suburbia) regarding the brokenness all around us…the average income where we visited is $16,000 a year, average education level was 7th grade…

We’re looking to partner with Bride of Hope Community Church to help them change their community!

Real life… right here in Kansas City!

Much

When you are tempted to complain, remember you have much to be thankful for!

Luke 12:48b “…From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded. And from the one trusted with much, much more will be expected.” NCV

Hangin

Remember this summer to spend quality time with your family… it’s what makes life so sweet.

I was thinking about my kids the other day and that someday they may hit that stage in life (teenage years) when they don’t want to hang with me as much… I hope this doesn’t happen, but from everything I know (working with teens for 15 years) tells me it is a real possibility. So, since now they do want to hang with me… I hang!

So all you parents out there, start hangin with your kiddos as much as possible, they are a treasure to cherish!

Shalom!

Hell - pt 2

Hell isn't funny, but I am sorry, I just loved this little picture... so if it offends you... I apologize!

Here are the HELL scriptures in the New Testament (at least the search I did gave these): I will be honest here and say I do not understand them all, nor do I claim to have all the answers. There are a few things I do know forsure... and that is that:

1) God doesn't want anyone to go to Hell!
2) God is more merciful and gracious then we think!
3) God's love is greater then the powers of Hell.

Here is a scripture I so appreciate - Romans 8:38 "And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love."

Matthew 5:22But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Matthew 5:29And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. Matthew 5:30And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Matthew 10:28And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 11:23And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
Matthew 16:18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 18:9And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
Matthew 23:15Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Matthew 23:33Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Mark 9:43And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
Mark 9:45And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
Mark 9:47And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
Luke 10:15And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.
Luke 12:5But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Luke 16:23And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
Acts 2:27Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Acts 2:31He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
James 3:6And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
2 Peter 2:4For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
Revelation 1:18I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Revelation 6:8And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
Revelation 20:13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Revelation 20:14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.