By Anthony
What a great weekend!
I had an amazing time at Generation Unleashed with my church’s youth group! It was a spiritually refreshing and empowering time with God to say the least!
I am very tired though.
Today I preached part one of my message on Salvation and Christian Living. I used a lot of illustrations so that everyone in attendance could walk out of church this morning sure of what it means to be saved by Jesus. I was so tired that I wasn’t sure how it would go, but WOW- God revealed Himself in a mighty way to me and the people in attendance. It was incredible.
All day long people were telling me how wonderful of a preacher I was and how they wished the message was on video and not just audio. What a high!
Then this afternoon and this evening our church hosted a Free Community Superbowl Tailgate Party with food, drinks, game on the big screen, and prizes.
We had no clue how many people would show up, but we were very pleased with about 150 people from the community in attendance for us to make known that we were a real presence in the neighborhood and we could be trusted to teach them about Jesus when the Holy Spirit began to work on them. It was a success! It was amazing!
I didn’t get home until after 8:00pm and I was exhausted. And I hadn’t done my ‘run’ yet. I made myself get up and do it though. So after a very long weekend, and at 9:00pm at night…I was running.
And I actually felt great as I began to run! I listened to worship music and was lifting my hands in the air praising God as I ran down the dark street.
I was thanking God for how great the weekend was and for blessing and using me. I was feeling good about God…and feeling good about…me.
That’s when it hit. Out of nowhere, a long 2″x4″ strung across two 4″x4″s at a heighth of about 5′ 6″! A place that I run every other day and have never noticed this barrier before. I was right at the entrance to the sidewalk.
The road I run on does not have a sidewalk on either side for half of its distance, and what there is is very unkept and sporadic in its placing. And there is only one primitive bike lane on one side of the road. So in order to run safely I havee to run in the bike lane facing traffic.
Because the sidewalk is so dangerous and at places the bike lane is so wide, I almost always run in the bike Iane. It’s just safer.
For some reason tonight, though, I felt the strongest urge deep down within my spirit that I was supposed to get on the sidewalk. With all seriousness my feet kept going to the left when my mind was saying to stay to the right in the bike lane.
I felt as though I had to- that it was my destiny to move onto the sidewalk. And as I did, right where the sidewalk began I came face to face (literally) with the 2″x4″ suspended horizontally at a heighth of 5′ 6″- a 2″x4″ I had never really noticed before on a path that I run four times a week. A 2″x4″ that I might run eight times every single week and have apparently never noticed.
Was it something new?
Had it always been there?
Was a lifted to a higher elevation!
What on earth was its purpose?
Either way, I think it’s possible that it was devinely orchestrated for me to be ‘knocked down’ to the ground. I think God may have been letting me know not to get too big of a head. I think, after such a great weekend, God wanted to humble me and remind that there’s nothing special about me, it’s all about Him!
Or God could have been protecting me from a car hitting me instead. Who knows??
All I know is that I was knocked senseless in the face and I am hurting.
Lesson learned?
I hope so.
By Anthony
Delegation is the key to leading God’s people to advance His Kingdom.
Moses learned early on, thanks to his father-in-law, that he could not do all the work of managing people on his own. He had to give-up responsibillity and rely on the gifts of others to care for the people and to empower young leaders.
Sadly, in today’s modern Western Church, there is an expectation on pastors to carry the heavy burden of the ministry. People have the false idea that pastors have nothing to do and get paid so they should do all of the work.
And because of these foolish expectations, pastors have assumed that carrying the majority of the load IS what they’re supposed to do. This leads to pastors with big heads and fast burnout. They will either fail morally or burn out with such loads.
We need to realize that we as a Church are a Body- the Body of Christ. Each of us fulfills a different role. Each of us have different work to do to accomplish the same goal: glorifying God and advancing His Kingdom.
Some of us have what seem to be lighter loads, but we’re given what we can handle when the gifts we have been given. And someone with a smaller load, has equal responsibillity of carrying THE load. Without them, the burden would be too heavy on everyone else.
Because pastors, especially at smaller churches, are so busy carrying the load (answering the phone, making photocopies, visiting people, coordinating kid’s ministries, leading worship, running sound, etc…), they neglect their primary job- studying the Word, laying out vision, and preparing messages for their people and the lost.
What if the Church Body saw that it wasn’t the pastor’s job to clean the toilets, design a website, and paint the walls; but that it was theirs? What if they let their pastor focus the majority of His time in the Word and in prayer?
If that were the case, God would be glorified and the Kingdom would be advanced! The Church would be a much healthier organism!
I saw this lived out this weekend at City Bible Church in Portland. For their Generation Unleashed conference they had hundreds of volunteers sacrificing countless hours to make pulling it off possible. They have created a culture of extreme leadership respect and member volunteerism.
I get it. I’m in. I’m ready to implimate the same!
My only problem now is that I can’t find even a few people to tetach kid’s church twice a month or drive a van once a month.
Most of my people are consumers- there to take what they can get.
I am working and fighting this uphill battle to change the culture at this church so we can glorify God and advance His Kingdom by the Power of the Holy Spirit.
Pray for us so that we can truly be a COMMUNITY of grace, love, and hope. Not just a pastor of grace, love, and hope.
By Anthony
It’s Christmas morning and you have just recieved the hottest electronic toy of the season. You thank your mom and dad and begin to tear open the toy’s packaging. Only there’s one big problem once you get the toy in your hands- your parents forgot to get you batteries!
Batteries: the one thing this device has to have in order to work. The toy is beautiful and shiny in and of itself, but without the batteries, it’s useless.
Your mom and dad love you and would go to get you a nice big box of batteries to power your toy, but it’s Christmas and all of the stores are closed.
I’m currently at the Generation Unleashed Youth and Young Adult Conference in Portland now, and God revealed this picture to me last night:
I consider myself someone who hears from God regularly and recieves direction from Him. I consider myself to posses spiritual gifts for the purpose of advancing God’s Kingdom. But I often feel like I am completely unable to make any progress in the advancement of His Kingdom. Often times I feel like a failure when it comes to leading a church.
I’ve opened my present, I’ve unpackaged it, I’ve checked out how amazing it is, but have not been able to use it to it’s potential because I have no batteries.
Except for the store the batteries are sold at is always open. All I have to do is go there and grab whatever battery I need.
God showed me that I have what I need to accomplish His work, but have no power.
It’s not like I have to go and find the power, it’s already there. I just have to walk in it, rest in it, and trust in it.
I need to start trusting in the power of the Spirit and not worrying about my own inabillity. Because I have no abillity, everything I have comes from God through Jesus by the power of the Spirit.
God showed me that I need to use my gifts while trusting in Him (to release His power), to use them without fear or intimidation of what others will think or how they will act, and realize that the ultimate results of my using my gifts are not up to me.
God has called all of us to ’scatter seed’ indiscriminately regardless of the soil type because it is He who waters and it is He who knows what the outcome of the planted seed will be.
So it’s about Jesus’ power and not my own. He has called me and is leading me. I just have to follow and trust.
By Anthony
There are certain points in all of our lives that are crucially pivotal.
We come accross places in time or space divinely orchestrated for us where we must decide which way we will turn.
Sometimes the choice to the right or the left is not a choice for bad. Sometimes both choices are good.
When we are faced with a choice between two good things, the decision is much more difficult than when we are faced with something good and something bad.
But during these pivotal moments, God is there by the Holy Spirit and can often be more tangible than other less important moments.
Allow Him to empower you and guide you during these moments which He created for you.
Seek Him to show you His perfect will which will bring glory to Him and advance His Kingdom, over simply ‘just getting by’.
Even though these times are often trying and difficult, I crave them.
I want God to bring me and His Church to these moments often and pivot us in the direction of His glorious path.
I am desparate to walk with Him closer!
By Anthony
I see the Promise Land on the horizons of my soul.
You have called me and set me apart to lead these captive people out of bondage and in to new found freedom.
There is a clear path before me to enter into the city gates.
But these captive people are actually standing in the way so we cannot pass through.
It seems as if the road has gotten steeper.
This Promise Land now seems so unobtainable.
Your purpose for me has not changed.
You have not moved.
It is this people’s destiny to enter into this unchartered territory before us.
I sent forth spies- ones I trusted.
Most of them have come back and discouraged the captives.
They want to go back to Egypt now.
I feel like a failure.
I don’t want to enter alone.
I want to do so with this people.
Though they grumble and complain, I will not strike the rock.
I will remain faithful.
But I will not wonder for forty years because if their sins.
I will see the Promise Land.
I will not give up.
If this people will not go with me, I know that You will.
Let these people come.
But if they will not, let me know when to pass them up and move ahead.
By Anthony
Some Christians forget that the Bible is…well…the Bible. Christians specifically tend to do this with the writings of the Apostle Paul- dismissing his contribution to the Bible as mere opinion or recomendation. But that’s not what we as Christians believe at all-unless it’s convenient to our life’s circumstances.
As Christians we believe that the Bible is holy, true, and authoritive. It is the most authorative means by which we hear from God- His very Word spoken to us by Godly authors through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Nearly half of the New Testament was written by Paul. He was the greatest missionary and example of grace the world has ever seen. His words are not merely advice or suggestion, they came by the Holy Spirit of God and we are responsible as followers of Jesus to heed them. There is only one time where Paul says that his writing is only his Godly opinion, and that’s when he wrote that it’s better for a man not to marry. But everything else is foundational for Christian living.
One such passage that Christians love to ignore whenever their life situation changes is Paul’s command in 2 Corinthians 6:14 to not be linked together with unbelievers.
Usually a Christian will “fall in love” with someone only to realize that the person they’ve fallen in love with is not a Christian like them. The big problem is that it (them not being a Christian) was not a factor when they were seeking someone out, or at least they let that issue slip their mind.
That Christian, now in love with this new nonchristian, will convince themselves that they have the power to save their new significant other. They forget that the only One who can save someone is the One Jesus Christ. We call this missionary dating.
Sadly, time and time again, with these relationships it is usually the “Christian” who falls away from their “faith” than the nonchristian finding a new faith.
This happened over and over again in the Old Testament as Israelite men would marry gentile women who would lead them to worship idols, thus the practice was strictly prohibited. This is why it was carried over into New Testament Christianity. Paul, as well as the Holy Spirit (obviously), knew that the results of a Christian and nonchristian being in a romantic relationship would be disasterous.
From a practical side though: If you were a Christian and had eternity with Jesus to look forward to, how could you marry someone who was not knowing that they were going to suffer for eternity in he’ll? That reality would haunt and horrifying me everyday.
And if as a married couple you share the most intimate details of your life with each other, why would you want to spend your life with someone who you can’t share the most joyous thing in your life with. Talk about having nothing in common.
This list could go on and on but I will close with one more thought: If Jesus is the most important thing in your life, then why wouldn’t you choose someone whom Jesus was just as important to? A Christian spouse can encourage you, pray for you, and hold you accountable.
So don’t let a man (or woman) distract you from what God has in store for you. You can change nobody. Never settle. Go after the best! Because that’s what God MADE for Adam.
By Anthony
I get so tired of Christians, particularly leaders who should know better, who spew out advice and judgement based off of their….opinions and not the Word of God.
The Word of God is almost never easy to swallow. But the ideas that come out of the mouth of ignorant decievers is usually smooth like chocolate, and tends to sound more like humanistic-Oprahism than it does Christianity.
Ideas like ‘don’t judge other Christians’, ‘God won’t give you anything you can’t handle’, and ‘God helps those who help themselves’ are not in the Bible and are not Biblical at all.
Christians need to realize that their idols Oprah and Dr. Laura are not Christians at all and need to start in the Bible when seeking advice.
By Anthony
If you have been given a wife;
If you have found a good thing;
If you have entered into covenant with your best friend;
If you have someone every night to keep you warm;
If you have someone to share your deepest secrets with;
If you have someone to make real passionate love with as often as you’d like;
If you have someone who will or has borne your children;
If you have discovered your lifetime helper;
If you have someone who be with you until death;
Then why look lustfully at a naked woman who will never have a relationship with you?
Then why fantasize about a woman that you will never even come close to touching?
Then why satisfy your curiosity by sleeping with some codependent needy insecure woman who is not committed to you?
Then why make passionate unhindered love with your own hand?
And why deny the woman made for you the love, intimacy, and respect that she was created for?
You sick pathetic immature little boy , step up to the plate and love the wife of your youth.
By Anthony
It is a sunny warm day in this quaint village in Spain. The smell of fresh cooked meat hangs in the air. Children are running from home to home playing in the streets. Their parents are poking their heads in and out of their neighbor’s homes to borrow a little flour, some tomatoes, maybe some milk.
One of the women’s husbands is out of town so she goes over to her neighbor’s to eat with them tonight. She was not invited and that’s just fine with everyone.
Several men are relaxing in a courtyard smoking cigars and drinking the local brew. Some neighborhood kids run in betwen their legs as they chase a dog. The men laugh and continue their recap of the day.
A local flower peddlar rolls his cart down the street, stopping jouseto house to see if the men would
like to buy some freshly cut flowers for the woman in their life. Everyone knows the vendor by name. The men even offer him a drink as another one buys are large bouquet for his wife.
This seems like a very good place!
What has happened though?!
Today I went to hand out invitations for a community party our church is throwing. We didn’t approach people, didn’t knock on doors, just put the invitations on the people’s doors.
The interesting thing is the lengths people go to to keep people from…well….interacting with them.
Their are fences and gates that prohibit anyone from approaching the front door. Their are large metal screen doors that protect the primary door. There are guard dogs, ‘beware signs’, and even a few “Go Away!” banners. and every couple of houses have a no soliciting sign.
People come home from work in the cars through their garages, shut the door behind them, and never have to interact with a soul- afterall, they’ve got TV to watch!
I wonder if the over-zealous Christians, Jehova’s Wittness’, and Mormons ruined the open community way of life for everyone. Maybe it was Amway and Carpet Cleaners.
Hey, even I don’t like to be approached in my home without inviting someone.
But how can we get this picturesque lifestyle of days gone by back?
I’m not sure. it sounds nice, but sometimes it sounds like a lot of work. And because we’re all so lazy, maybe it’s just not something we want.
By Anthony
…knowing when you’ve reached your limit and making the time to take a vacation.
You may not have much time or money available, but in today’s fast paced, high demand 24/7 world, you’ve got to take a break for a few days to catch your breath and recharge your soul.
Do something you love, do something in the sun, do something in the fresh air, and do it with someone you love. Rest and take some time to have an adventure. You need this!