Category Archives: Discipleship

Blogroll, Church, Discipleship, faith, Family, Fellowship

Sunday Night Rewind – 10/10/21

The old joke is that pastors only work one day a week, but the truth is we work all week preparing for one day and that is why Sunday is such an important day for all of us, because your pastor has been praying, studying, ministering, writing, planning, organizing, scheduling and the list goes on and on and on, for this day. On this day, your pastor hopes to challenge you, encourage you, grow you, inspire you and motivate you to the higher life that you were created and gifted for.

I love everyday and all the different things that add up to make Sunday such a special day in the life of church and the ministry. Our Sundays at Eureka just seem to get sweeter and sweeter every week. I love getting to do life with the fine folks that God has given me to shepherd at Eureka and I count it an blessing, honor and privilege to be called “pastor” by each one of them.

I usually get to the church early on Sunday mornings way before anyone else. I like to spend a little time in prayer, asking for God’s blessing, direction and guidance upon all of our lives as we assemble together. I then do a last minute look over my notes and begin to greet folks and enjoy some sweet conversations.

This morning I got to spend a few moments with the kids from Kid’s Church and I always love spending time with them, probably because I am a big kid at heart. Last Sunday one of the little girls came up, tugged on my pants leg and when I looked down at her, she looked up at me and said: “I love you!” It was one of the sweetest and most pure gifts I’ve ever been given.

We had a very sweet time in worship. A young man that was in my very first youth group and his family were visiting with us this morning and it blessed my heart to ask him to open our time of worship up in prayer. So proud of the man of God that he has grown to be and blessed to see him and his family with us today.

Our morning service was built around the theme of WINNING WORSHIP and we focused on the truth that we need each other, that God created us to do life together and that when one of us is blessed, we are all blessed. We talked about how we like to think we are smart and some times get full of ourselves, but if we are honest our only real satisfaction comes in Jesus and a growing relationship with Him. We know we are on the right track when our life is a life of worship that worship God in Spirit, truth and Jesus.

We enjoyed a great time of fellowship at lunch with some friends and then I spent a little time in my Pastor’s Study just getting ready for the next week and resting a few before Sunday evening Bible Study.

At Bible Study we were challenged from the Word to “Watch Your Walk!” We talked about how our attitude is almost constantly needing an adjustment and that we desperately need the wisdom from God’s Word to help us use our time on this earth wisely and make our days count. We discovered that the best way to do this was to: 1.) Enjoy what ever time you’ve got. 2.) Learn from your mistakes. 3.) Remember there is more to this life than this life!

It was a great day and a great evening and I am home now and almost ready for bed. Thank you God for loving me so much that you bless me with the opportunity to do life with such amazing and sweet folks. I love what you let me do and consider it the greatest blessing of my life to get to serve You by serving others… I pray everyone has a great night and an extra blessed week!

Blogroll, Discipleship, Enlightenment, faith, forgiveness, Friendship, God, Growing, journey, life, love, positive, vision

The Name Of Jesus!

Before you decide to skip this one, please just take a moment, because you might find something worthy here. Even if you do not consider yourself to be a “believer”, if you will just give it a chance with an open heart and mind, I think you will be amazed at the difference the name of Jesus can and will make in your life. I mean, honestly, what do you have to lose by just opening yourself up to something different and new? I’m not talking about religion here, but I am talking about what could be the beginning of a beautiful new relationship…

This past Sunday, I finished preaching a series of messages on Jesus and as I was looking back on my notes for the past month, I could not help but be reminded at what a meaningful, sweet and powerful name the name of Jesus really is. Jesus is the name that is above every name. Jesus is a name that has to be explained by a thousand other names in order for us to truly grasp the depth and width of just how amazing our Savior really is.

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. -Philippians 2:9-11

The name “Jesus” means Savior and that is exactly what Jesus is. Jesus is our Savior. Jesus saves us from our sins, failures and mistakes. Jesus saves us from our past so that we might grow in our present and enjoy our future. Jesus saves us from living a wasted life and enables us to live a life of purpose that brings us blessing and fulfillment.

Jesus helps us to understand the great power that flows through obedience to God’s will and way. Jesus defends us and stands up for us when no one else will. Jesus has no limitations and can do whatever we need Him to do and He loves to perform miracles on our behalf and for God’s glory. Jesus is the beginning and the end and gives meaning to the in between. Jesus has chosen me and so I choose Him. Jesus is writing the story of my life and willing to take an active part in it’s success. Jesus has always watched over me and He watches over me now. Jesus is my food when I am hungry and my drink when I am thirsty. Jesus is my light in the darkness, my Captain through the rough seas, my shepherd leading me beside the still waters. Jesus is the Lord of my life, the King of all kings and the only way that really matters.

There is something about that name. I want to encourage you to think about it, speak it and believe in it, because it is the not so secret source of strength to every challenge you will ever encounter. At the very mention of His name: Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…

Blogroll, Discipleship, Enlightenment, God

Pay Attention Or You Might Miss Something!

“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit…” -Ephesians 5:18

Would you agree this is a command?

I asked this question on Social Media, because I wanted to see if the responses were what I thought they might be and they did not disappoint. We folks that like to call ourselves good Christians are quick to jump on the first part of the verse: “And be not drunk with wine”, which I agree is a command and one that I follow.

We tend to miss that second part of the verse which is also a command: “Be filled with the Spirit!” Kinda crazy how many of us tend to miss the obvious?

There are all kinds of sins, but for our conversation today, I want to challenge you to think about sin in two categories: Sins of commission and sins of omission. Sins of comission is when we do something we are not supposed to do and sins of omission is when we fail to do something we are supposed to do.

Often, church folks like to focus on a certain list of commission sins, while neglecting some commission and a lot of omission sins, all of which can be doing some real damage to the spiritual body.

If we have the strength, power and resolve to obey the first command, then what about the second command? Is one command more important than the other? Does one matter less?

I would like to suggest that if we get the second command right to be filled with the Holy Spirit, then we are empowered to find success in all kinds of commands and victory in both the sins of commission and sins of omission.

The Holy Spirit is God! What this verse is saying is: Be filled with God! To be filled with God, we have to be empty ourself of self and this is perhaps why we have such a big battle. Our ego gets in the way and encourages to Edge God Out.

What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? I don’t think it means that we are always on a spiritual high, completely perfect with no challenges or struggles. I think it means working to have my spiritual, mental and physical self yielded to my Creator, so that He might flow to and through me. God flowing to and through me empowers me to live the life of blessing I was created for.

So back to the original question: Would you agree this is a command???