Fellowship

“Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.”

Hebrews 3:12-13 NLT. (http://bible.com/116/heb.3.12-13.nlt)

My Christian Motorcyclist Associstion family has spent much of the motorcycle ride season in ministry serving other motorcycle clubs, donating to charities, working events, and praying for bikers. It's been busy. The last two months of our ride season are spent, mostly, in fellowship with each other. We have multiple events planned to just ride and be a group. Some may be critical of this part of our year. They might say,. "Jesus never took a break" ( yes he did!) 

Our ministry, in all of Christ's kingdom, is about helping each other keep our eyes on Jesus. We need to minister to some who don't even know Jesus and others who  know him but need help in keeping their hearts from hardening.  They need help to keep the sin "at bay", keeping it from taking away their joy. That's why I spend time with my CMA family as well as my other dedicated Christian friends. We need to be there to support each other. What better way to do that except through fellowship in fun.

Ministry is full time. The true Christian never takes a break. But it's ok to vary your focus. Who you focus on, can greatly change, hour to hour, day by day, or month to month. Sometime we need to look inward for spiritual growth, sometimes we need to face outward, to others for that same growth. We need to minister to our own brothers and sisters just like we minister to the lost. Ministry towards fellow Christians is ministry. 

Praise God for ALL opportunities to minister. May God use me to serve all people, the lost and the found!

Time for a rant

“When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily. But wise and knowledgeable leaders bring stability.”  Proverbs 28:2 NLT. http://bible.com/116/pro.28.2.nlt

Boy, this struck me right in the face as I was reading it last night. It doesn't get more appropriate than this. So it's time for a rant. Our nation is rotting morally. I am so dissappointed in how far we have fallen. We are afraid to tell the truth. Really, we don't even believe there is truth. This simple little verse speaks clearly about where we are heading. Leadership needs to step up and the timing is right. I'm not endorsing any one candidate yet. But I do know we need a leader not afraid to speak the truth. We need someone with a belief in right and wrong. We need someone with a moral compass to guide them in decisions based on truth. We need someone who is above politics and runs this country from the morality of Jesus. Not some fake morality guided by polls and the fickleness of the American people. We need someone not easily swayed by special interest groups and powerful money. We need someone who truly cares about the poor and knows how to help them out of their situation, freeing them from oppression. We need someone who supports law enforcement and will not tolerate placing a target on them. We need someone to lead this nation, really lead.

But, that is not enough. We can elect the best presidential candidate and our nation will still crumble. We can't continue to live in a nation hostile to Jesus. We can't continue down the path of eliminating faith from public view. We can't continue to worry about offending everyone except Christians. We can not be ignored and we can't be tossed aside. Christians need to rise up, take back this country.

Lord, we need you, now more than ever! Amen!

Becoming a student again

“We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham. Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.”

Hebrews 2:16-18 NLT. (http://bible.com/116/heb.2.16-18.nlt)

At my school I am a part of a "blended learning program" . We offer a mixture of online learning and traditional learning with the guidance of learning coaches (teachers). We offer such a wide variety of courses to students that want to accelerate their education and those that need EXTRA time to successfully complete their work. As a learnIng coach responsible for helping students with math, it can be very challenging to keep up with all the different courses we offer. My favorite method is to take the courses just like the students. So most of the summer I was "relearning" Probabilty and Statistics so I could better help my students. I've also retaken a PreCalculus and Teigonometry course. In order to better serve my students I needed to be one of them. I need to do problems on paper without the answer sheet. I need to take assessments to see how I'm doing. I need to see myself make simple mistakes even when I know the material. I need to be one of my students. Jesus did the same thing for us.

God sent Jesus to us, to be one of us, to defeat the enemy once and for all. He came down to earth to give us hope, to give us an example of how we were to live. He went through what we go through. He suffered even more than we could ever think about suffering. He came to us to better represent us before the father. Now all we have to do is listen, to follow, to heed the words of our savior Jesus Christ. 

Dear Lord, I praise you for your wonderful love. I praise you and am humbled that you would lower yourself to become one of us. You didn't need to do it, but you did anyway. I am committed to take that sacrifice you made and pursue a similar life of love and sacrifice. Help me Lord. Help me to take your life and death on this earth and apply it to my everyday walk with you. I love you and praise you for my wonderful life. It's pure joy! Amen!

Who's in your flock?

“Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds, for riches don’t last forever, and the crown might not be passed to the next generation.”

Proverbs 27:23-24 NLT. (http://bible.com/116/pro.27.23-24.nlt)

Who is a part of your flock? How far is your prayer reach? Both these questions are key to your spiritual life. It's kind of like Facebook or Twitter. How many people can you have as friends or follow on Twitter? If you have too many friends or followers on social media you can't really keep up with all of them, it's easy to miss key posts or tweets. It waters down your presence in their lives. The same thing holds true for prayer. In order to pray for someone you need to get to know them. You need to know the state of your flock. When you know what's going on in their lives you can put your heart into caring for them. Obviously you can pray for someone without knowing the details. God knows. But, to petition for someone it is best to know what they are going through. 

Your flock is your family, close friends and coworkers that you are with every day. Your flock consists of those you can pray for without them asking you. You know what to pray for because you know their struggles. These people are a part of your daily prayers and you  are sincerely concerned about them because of your relationship. I have a very specific group of people, my flock, that I pray for nearly every day, they are more important to me than praying for riches or asking for things.

Dear Lord, I pray for my flock. I love them and ask you to protect them in their daily walk. I ask that you make your or presence known in their lives. I pray that protection on my direct family, my CMA family, my coworkers, my school, my community and this nation. I love you Lord because you first loved me and sacrificed your own son for me, a member of your flock. I am humbled by that wonderful love. Amen!

Kill them with kindness

“If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink. You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads, and the LORD will reward you.”

Proverbs 25:21-22 NLT. (http://bible.com/116/pro.25.21-22.nlt)

I know you have heard the saying "kill them with kindness". This verse says the same thing. But it might be better to say, "Don't give your enemy a reason to hate you." We are put on this earth to serve others, not just our friends or loved ones. We are here to serve all. Find out what those who hate you need and help them get it. Don't judge. Don't criticize, just love on them.  It is easy to love those that return that love. It's not so easy to send love "one way". When people talk about you, spread rumors, and lies, it is easy to hate them or at the very least ignore them. 

We need to resist the urge to ignore and avoid our detractors. We need to intentionally show them the love of Jesus. That just can't be done from a distance. I'm not great at doing this so don't think I have it all figured out. But the Holy Spirit urges me to do just as this verse asks. I just need to act on that prompting more.

Dear Jesus, help me to treat my enemies with your love. Help me to serve all people not just the ones that love me. I know the only way to turn my enemies to you is through service and love. I need your strength and power in order to fulfill this verse. Give me the power as I go through my activities today. I praise you Lord. I praise you for your patience, mercy, and grace with my life. Amen!