Economy

I sense in the hearts of people these days much fear as it relates to the present economy, and I want to just encourage you in the Lord with this scripture:

Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, He it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”

May God bless you richly and keep you as you follow Him!

Busy

The one nugget of truth that gives me comfort is that life flows in seasons. Sometimes life is busy, sometimes it’s not-so-busy. We just have to roll with it and maintain control.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

I believe we “maintain control” by controlling our schedule rather than letting it control us. If our schedule is taking us away from the things that are most important then it’s time to reevaluate what we are doing and make the necessary adjustments. Again, remembering that sometimes we just have to endure the busy season for a time… “this too shall pass”.

Bottom line: We should never be too busy for God!

Last Day on Earth

James 4:14 “You don't know what will happen tomorrow. What is life? You are a mist that is seen for a moment and then disappears.”

So, what if today is your last day on earth? Stay with me for just a second here.

For approximately 155,000 people today is their last day. And one day, maybe today, we will die too. Would you live your life any different if you knew today was it? Are there any people you’d call, places you’d go? Are there things you’ve left unsaid that you would now say? What would you do? Who or what would you want to see?

I think we would all have a few things we’d rush to say or do before we breathed our last breath … so why not now? Easier said then done I know, but why not? Maybe you can't fly to Paris today, but maybe you could go to Barnes and Noble and pick up a Tour Guide to Paris, or google "Paris" and see the sights via the internet.

I’ve always said that I do not want to live a life of regrets, “I wish I would have…” is not a phrase I want in my vocabulary.

So, wherever you are, at work, at home, sitting on the toilet reading this on your little Blackberry or iPhone … pause… and make a list of things you would do if today was your last day and make plans to do them.

Have a great day!

Superman

I just watched Superman Returns with my kids last night. I was struck by some of the storyline that I felt related to the Bible story; God sending His only son to save earth, and sacrificing Himself for all mankind.

Interesting how Louis Lane won the Pulitzer for her story “why the world doesn’t need Superman”, which is the view that too many people take in regards to a relationship with Christ. When in fact the world desperately needs Christ, just like in the movie the world did need Superman, and Louis in the end realized that truth.

I hope and pray that people will no longer just have a loose vague belief in God, but a true heartfelt understanding that a relationship with Chrsit is absolutely key to a fulfilled meaningful life here on earth.

There is a difference I am learning between people who simply have a “loose vague belief in God” and those who have a “healthy growing relationship with Christ”.

I hope my life reflects that I have a healthy relationship with Christ. What about you?

Confessions of a Pastor – 10 of 10

My Confession: That’s just it … you’ve got to confess!

The reality is that no matter how good of a Christian you are, or think you are, you sin (miss the mark, mess up, do the wrong thing, say the wrong thing or think the wrong thing).

Can I just vent here for a second? There is nothing more irritating than a holier-than-thou Christian who “thinks” they are so spiritual that they don’t even recognize their own sin because of their high minded religious spirit. We’ve all seen so called “mature Christians” who backstab, backbite and gossip all in the name of Jesus… what a shame and a disgrace to Christian community … this my friends is why un-churched people stay clear of church AND why so many people leave the church today … we Christians are so un-Christian! God help us all!

Okay, back to my little thought on; what to do when you sin:

1) REPENT of your wrong doing.
2) RECEIVE God’s forgiveness.
3) CONFESS to someone.
4) TURN from the bad behavior.

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

It’s so important to repent of our sin, not just to God, but to those who were affected by our sin. I feel it is so important, if possible and if you can, to ask the person who you sinned against to forgive you (whether they do or not is between them and God, you just do your part). Then, if you have a sin you struggle with it’s always important to have someone you can confess to … what many people call an accountability partner. Of course we are only accountable as far as we are honest. Accountability partners often times are a joke, because we don’t tell them the truth, therefore it’s pointless. Also a true accountability partner is not just someone you can tell what you did bad so you can feel better for telling someone… they hopefully hold you accountable to turn from your bad behavior.

The best form of accountability is self- accountability! Then having 2 or 3 trusted friends who love God and love you to help you live the way you really want to live.

Much love!

Confessions of a Pastor – 9 of 10

My Confession: I want to do bad things!

I have had many pastors and parishioners, tell me that they so appreciate my candor and my courage to be so honest and open about my humanity. Can I just be honest here and say I do appreciate it, but I don’t look at it as courageous actually; it’s just me being honest with myself; which is where I think it starts. Maybe I should be more proud of it, but it’s just who I am … if I was any other way, then it wouldn’t be me.

People often ask me; “Timmy if you struggle like me, and want to do bad things, how do you keep from doing them?” Great question! I am not always 100% successful with this, but this is what keeps me from ruining my life.

There are a few things I have learned over my 30 plus years as a Christian:
1) I can feed the good in me or…
2) I can feed the bad in me…

...by what I look at, read, listen to, watch, and hear, what I do, where I go and who I go with will either feed and encourage good behavior or feed and encourage bad behavior.

A third thing I have learned is that you can not have secrets! I heard a message from Ted Haggard about this very subject, but apparently he did not practice what he preached. Very unfortunate! Seriously, I can see how this can be difficult, but it can be done if you surround yourself with the right people! This is key!

There have been times in my life I have had secrets, and it’s easy to convince yourself to keep them secret and they slowly eat away at you until one day they will eat you up. At this point in my life, and I hope its forever, I have no secrets. My wife along with three close friends know everything there is to know about me, my weaknesses, my strengths, my struggles, my victories, my fears, my inner desires, and my temptations.

I can not stress this enough … do not have dark places in your life, they will one day destroy you.

Confessions of a Pastor – 8 of 10

My Confession: I do not feel successful a lot of times!

Earl Nightingale said that “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal” (or worth while goal). I like that. If you are doing the things that are moving you toward the attainment of your goal today, then you are “successful” even if you are not where you’d like to be yet.

I guess the reason I love that definition is because I am moving in the right direction, but definitely have not reached the desired goal, yet.

I’ve also had a good friend tell me years ago just after graduating Bible College, “Timmy enjoy the journey, and then each day on your way is a success”. I need to remind myself of that every day as of late.

So, no matter where or what you are … have a plan and head in that general direction and each day you will be closer to your goal.

Confess Your Sins Here – 7 of 10

My sermon on Sunday, September 21st was entitled, I Want to do Bad Things.

We talked about the fact that there are many people who carry with them a heavy burden of guilt over some sin they’ve committed, maybe recently or maybe years and years ago and no one knows. Is that you? Do you carry with you guilt from a sin committed that not even those closest to you know about? Well I say, CONFESS IT and be healed!

The Bible says; CONFESS YOUR SINS one to another and you can do it anonymously right here, and we can pray for one another. The bible says in James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed…”

So that is just what I want you to do … click at the bottom of this blog entry on COMMENT and confess your sin. No matter what it is … just post it and I will personally read each one and pray for you!

God bless you!

Confessions of a Pastor – 6 of 10

My Confession: I enjoy hanging out with people who don’t go to church.

One of the joys of my life is getting to hangout with people who don’t go to church. That doesn’t mean they do not love or believe in God, but they are not the typical church-type.

Some “Christians” only want to be around and hangout with other Christians. To that I just say; to each his own. I have trouble with understanding how you can be a light in a dark world when you are never around the world, but whatever.

Just the other night I got to be the Ring Announcer at an MMA Blue Corner Battle. The place was packed (over a 1,000 people there easy), and the drinks were flowing like honey, and the people were happy and having a great time. And in that environment I get to talk to a lot of people, and when they find out I am a pastor they usually have something to confess to me, or repent for the colorful words that just came out of their mouth. But what is so interesting is that they are typically surprised to find me in an environment like that. Like a pastor (a Christ Follower) can’t do fun things, or be in wild environments and have fun. Jana and I were both there together having a blast, and we didn’t have to drink a thing to have a great time (nothing wrong with drinking a little, I am just reporting).

To all my Christian friends, I encourage you to live a little, get to know people, all people, those who believe, those who don’t believe, those who refuse to believe and those who don’t know what to believe. The honest truth for me and Jana is that we truly love people … all people; we just don’t have partiality when it comes down to it. We love our Christian friends, we love our atheist friends, we love our Hindu friends, we love our Gay friends, we try a just love our neighbors as ourselves the best we can … I hope you do too!

John 4:8-9 says, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him."

Confessions of a Pastor – 5 of 10

My confession is: I wanted to knock this pastor over the head and take the keys to his new church building! But then I thought, “What would Jesus do?” and I couldn’t imagine Jesus doing that … so I refrained!

Yesterday I spent a couple hours with Patrick Norris who is the founding Pastor at Life Pointe Church that just had their grand opening of their new building located at 151st and Mur Len (they bought the old Ace Hardware). And can I just say its MTV Cribs cool! Wow, what a great looking space!

The neat thing about our conversation yesterday was it was like two old college roommates catching up after years of life lived. And I was very impressed with his heart and passion for God and people. Not to mention he has a great sense of humor and helped us put together a little video for Sunday service.

It's always enjoyable for me to get to hang with other pastors in the area and hear their vision to touch and change people's lives for the better!

Enjoy your day!