Good Stuff!

Life here on this earth is way to short.  This is why we need to make sure that we are having some fun.  Fun is different for every person.  Some people have to plan out very specific things, while others can pretty much dig it up and get it started wherever they find themselves.  It does not matter which category you fall into, just step out of your busyness for a few moments and make the choice to have a little fun today.

You might go out and watch the sunrise or sunset.  You might go for a walk and kick some leaves around.  You could go shopping for something you don’t really need.  You could call a friend and tell “knock, knock” jokes.  You could go buy your favorite candy and eat the whole thing.  Here is the secret:  The what is not as important as the how.

Whatever you do today – do it with the intentional intention of having fun!  You are worth a little fun and the people around you are worth a little fun.  A smile on the face and joy in the heart are gifts from a loving God, Who has amazing plans for your life.

Ecclesiastes 8:15 says:  “So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.”  God created you for life and God created life to be enjoyed, so get out and have a little fun today.  Do it right and you actually give glory to God…

Time Reveals Values!

Last night, I taught the first part of a lesson on priorities.  In preparing for the lesson, I had to think a lot about the things that I value.  In thinking about the things that I value, I had to think about the way that I spend my time.  I had to be honest about what I make a priority in my life.

Some of the time, what I say I value and the way I spend my time do not match up.  For example, I may say, I value God, family, friends, calling/ministry and work, but the way I spend my time may not reveal that this is what I value and especially in this order.

While I value all of these things, there may be other things that I value that in my mind, I am not even aware of.  Does this make me a bad person?  No, it makes me a person and that is what we do.  We often say one thing and do another.  Does this mean that I have work to do?  Yes, of course it does.

It is true that there is a difference between quantity and quality when it comes to time and who and how we spend it, and I have noticed that if I am not careful, I can use this as an excuse to justify what I value and get my priorities all out of whack.  If I am honest with myself, then I realize that the priority fight is a full-time, never-ending battle.

The more I think about it and as I look back on my life, I have really messed this one up and wasted a lot of time.  I am thankful that my Creator is understanding with me and I want to honor His love, acceptance and grace by getting my values right and my priorities in order, so that my life will bring Him glory.

I’ve got a lot of work to do, and being honest with myself and others about this is a very big first step.  I want to encourage you to take a little time to think about what you value and the priorities of your life.  Also take some time to look at your life and how you spend your time.  What is the way your spend your time really telling you about what you value?

If you are honest in your evaluation, then I am almost certain that you will find some adjustments that need to be made and some changes that are worth embracing.  Go ahead and think about it, in the long run, you will be glad you did!

"Your Choice Is Your Responsibility!"

“Great people talk about ideas, while average people talk about things and small people talk about other people!”  This quote or some variation has been attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, first lady and wife of US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  She was one of the most socially active first ladies in all of history and was a major influence on society.  She received more than her fair share of negative and positive critiques.

This quote makes me think about what I talk about.  The truth is that I have been in all three conversations.  I have been a small person, talking about other people.  I don’t have any real excuse other than I was in fact a small person that thought I was big.  I have been an average person, talking about things.  Nothing really wrong with talking about things, but there is not really a whole lot of value in it.

As I look back and even think about it now – we are all great, when we talk about ideas, especially the ideas that our Creator has put in us.  I don’t want to be a small person, because I know that God created me for more, so I am working hard to not talk about people, even the people who talk about me.  I don’t want to be an average person, because I know that God created me for more, so I am working to not be distracted by things, not even the brief moments of success.

I want to be a great person, not for greatness sake or personal ego, but for God’s glory. I want to talk about ideas – His ideas and how they can and will make this world a better place.  I want to see the ideas become reality.  I’ve got a lot of work to do, but just the idea that I’ve got work to do is a start, so let’s talk about it and see where God will take us…

Friday evening after our ladies banquet, I felt a leading to ask our volunteers to pack up the leftover food into some “to go” pans.  I did a quick scan of folks that were still left standing around and determined how many and who they needed to go to.  I then sent some of the volunteers out to share these with the un-expecting guests that were getting ready to leave.

As I was taking care of a few last-minute details, one of the ladies that I had just met a few hours earlier, came up to me and said:  ”Pastor, I need to share a blessing with you!”  I had no idea what she was going to say, but took her hand as she reached toward me, looked into her eyes and said:  ”What’s that?”

She asked:  ”How did you know that I didn’t have any food left in my house?”  I was puzzled, a little shocked and before I could respond, she spoke again:  ”I came here tonight from Greenville to eat supper with my friend.  When I left home, I did not have any food left in my house and then right before I was getting ready to leave and go back home tonight, y’all come out and gave me this pan of food.”  She was sincere.  She was not asking for anything.  She genuinely wanted to know how I knew that she did not have food and needed food?

I told her:  ”I did not know, but Jesus did and He loves you and will take care of us as we continue to love and trust him.”  She hugged me and kept saying “Thank You!”  I thanked her for coming and for sharing with me.

Now, who do you think walked away with the bigger blessing?  I don’t really know the answer to that question, but I can tell you how I felt!

I just want to say thank you to God for loving, forgiving, saving me and for allowing me to serve Him by serving others.  I want to say thank you to my spiritual family that helped to make it possible for me to get out of my comfort zone during the last couple of years to begin a ministry of building bridges of hope out of the church and into the community.  I want to say thank you to the volunteers that make all of the ministry possible and keep it going every day.

There is so much that we don’t know, but Jesus knows it all and as we continue to love and trust him, he will guide and direct us on an amazing journey of grace!

Back in the teenage days of my faith, there was a song called “People Need The Lord!” sung by Steve Green.  I have been thinking about the word of that song a lot lately.  It was such a true, humble and sweet reminder of the obvious that we tend to forget.

“Everyday they pass me by,
I can see it in their eyes.
Empty people filled with care,
Headed who knows where?”

So many of us in this world feel that we have been and are being passed by.  Our eyes are open, but our hearts are empty and our lives are filled and overflowing with challenge and frustration.  We are headed in a direction, but often it is taking us no where.

“On they go through private pain,
Living fear to fear.
Laughter hides their silent cries,
Only Jesus hears.”

We hurt and there is almost no one anywhere that has any idea why or how it really feels.  We are scared, afraid and filled with fear that is sometimes chased away by fear.  We pretend that everything is okay, we even try to convince ourselves.  We smile, laugh and play the game, but we know the truth and we think we are the only one, but Jesus hears not just the outside, but most especially the inside cry of our heart.

“People need the Lord, people need the Lord.
At the end of broken dreams, He’s the open door.
People need the Lord, people need the Lord.
When will we realize, people need the Lord?”

He is the way, the truth and the life – it really is just this simple!

“We are called to take His light
To a world where wrong seems right.
What could be too great a cost
For sharing Life with one who’s lost?”

Our job is to let Him light our lives and then carry that light and share it with everyone, everywhere and in every way that we can.  That light will illuminate the darkness and reveal the truth that the enemy has blinded us to.  The most important thing we can do after receiving the life He gives, is to share it with others.  This is the lost getting found.

“Through His love our hearts can feel
All the grief they bear.
They must hear the Words of Life
Only we can share.”

As we experience His love, we can hear, see and feel what others are going through and only then do we deserve the right to share with them the Words of Life that can change our lives and eternities.

“People need the Lord, people need the Lord
At the end of broken dreams, He’s the open door.
People need the Lord, people need the Lord.
When will we realize that we must give our lives,
For people need the Lord.”

He is the way the truth and the life – it really is just that simple!

“People need the Lord.”

Courage Is A Gift!

“Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear”  - Ambrose Redmoon

It takes courage to respond to the threatening.  Everyday of our lives, there is the potential of someone or something attacking us with threat.  Often the threat locks us up and away with fear and instead of living life, we simply endure it.

We were not created to be bound in and by fear.  Our Creator created us to live strong and courageous lives.  In Joshua 1:7 it says:  ”Be strong and courageous…”  And in Joshua 1:9 it says:  “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Tonight we are beginning a new Wednesday Evening Bible Study called “Courageous Living!” based on the movie “Courageous!”  I want to personally invite you to join us as we open our hearts and our Bibles to discover and obtain this most incredible gift that God has for us.

The “Courageous Living!” Bible Study will be every Wednesday evening during the month of February at 6:30 PM in the Fellowship Center at Northwood Baptist Church located at 888 Ansel School Road, Greer SC 29651

Join us this evening and learn to live a COURAGEOUS life!

Drop Your Rock!

Who do you think you are?  This is a question that I have to stop and ask myself every now and then.  I have discovered that I can very easily slip into the role of “other’s evaluation”.  In fact, it is a love/hate relationship.  I love when I get to and can evaluate others, but hate when I need to and have to evaluate myself, especially when the evaluation is not going to fall on the positive side of things.

We like evaluation as long as we are the ones getting to do the evaluating on someone or something else.  But when it comes to evaluating ourselves, our sins and our very own shortcomings, then it is a very different ballgame.

Self evaluation is hard and painful work, but it is necessary work, if we are to be all that our Creator has called and created us to be.  I have been doing some self-evaluation in my own life and was challenged by a very familiar passage of scripture.

In John 8:1-11, the religious crowd brought a woman who was caught in the act of adultery to Jesus.  There question was simple:  ”We know what the law says, but what do you say?”  The answer Jesus gave in verse seven is a classic:  “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”

There it is – as plain as the nose on my face.  There is a very big problem with my evaluating others.  In fact, there are three very serious problems.  Besides the obvious,  that I don’t know or see everything, could have mistaken or slanted information and have enough of my own problems and challenges to deal with, there is also a set of problems that we rarely consider or think about.

When we busy ourselves with evaluating others, it causes us to not evaluate self.  In fact, this is one of the reasons that we like to evaluate others, so that we don’t have to evaluate self.  If I evaluate myself, then I am going to find that I have some major work to do.

Another big problem with evaluating others, is that it causes others to not evaluate self.  Almost always, when we busy ourselves with evaluating someone else, then we have to share our evaluation with at least one other person and sometimes we have to share with several other persons.  When we occupy the time and thoughts of others with our evaluation of others, then they don’t have to take the time to think about and evaluate their own lives.

The other really big problem with evaluating others is that it causes distraction and disunity and gets in the way of redemption and restoration.  Someone said:  ”The person that talks about someone to you will talk about you to someone!”  This causes us to focus on the wrong things and  keeps us from being together the way our Creator desires for us to be together.  It gets in the way of our seeing our own need for redemption and keeps us from experiencing the restoration of real and right relationship with God and with others.

The standard of Jesus is high:  :”He that is without sin, let him sling a rock!”  With this statement, Jesus reminded the religious crowd that their responsibility was to evaluate themselves.  The Scripture teaches us that they began to practice honest self-evaluation, they were convicted and went out one by one, until there was only Jesus and the woman left.

The final words of Jesus to this woman give us hope, comfort and challenge.  He said:  ”Neither do I condemn you: go, and sin no more.”

What's Your Attitude Painting?

Attitude has been called an outward behavior of an inward feeling.  We tend to project on the outside what we feel on the inside.  Sometimes we try to hide or disguise it, but the deception cannot last for long.  Attitude – positive or negative, always makes its way to the surface.

Attitude impacts every aspect of our living.  You decide if the impact is going to be positive or negative.  Everyone has to make their own decision.  Attitude can be your best friend or your worst enemy.  Every part of your living is affected by your attitude and you can bank on the reality that your tomorrow is influenced by your attitude today.

So, let me ask you a simple question:  What kind of picture is your attitude painting?

I am very blessed to get to do ministry with some very amazing people.  Almost everyday of my life I have men, women, boys and girls who I get to work and walk with to reach outside of self and into the world for God’s glory.

I often get distracted by the challenges and frustrations of every day living.  Today, I was taking a little time to just step away from all of the activity to listen for the voice of my Creator and He helped me to realize how fortunate and blessed I am to have so many around and beside me that I get to do life and ministry with.

I just wanted to take a moment to say to each of you – I love you and am so thankful that I get to do what I do with you.  May God continue to bless and use you for His glory!