Obey

S- 1 Samuel 15:22 "What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams."

O- Samuel is telling Saul that his actions aren't pleasing to the Lord, but only his obedience.

A- In ministry and in life, we do a lot of things for God. Whether it's have a big event, preach a sermon, give a homeless man food, or pray for a non-Christian friend.We all have the things we know we should do, but do we do what God tells us to do? Have you ever had a time where you knew God was telling you to do something, and you didn't? I know for me when that happens it doesn't matter what I've done in the past, I know God is sad for me. God wants our obedience, not just our attempts to look good.

P- God help me to be obedient to you. I want to be able to listen to you and do what you ask, no matter what that is.

The Burden of the Church

S- 2 Corinthians 11:28 Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches.

O- Paul's burden in the midst of all of the other trials he has endured is the burden of the church.


A- I feel jaded at times about the church. I'm a church kid, I've grown up in the church, I've been so encapsulated in the church sub-culture, that it scares me to think if my being a pastor is just the next step for me in the Christian bubble. When I read Paul, he humbles me so much, because I feel so inferior because I don't know if I have the "burden of the church" as much as I'd like. Do I want to see people come to follow Christ? Yes! Do I want people's lives to be transformed? Of course! Do I feel like I have the burden of the church? I don't know.

I don't know, this post is me processing. I know God has put me here for a reason, maybe this is just part of my maturing process.

P- God, I know you want me to have the burden of the church. I don't know what that looks like. Help me to be open to hear from you and experience what you have planned for me and the church.

A Battle To Fight

S- 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 We are human, but we don't wage war as humans do. "We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy ever proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God."

O- Paul is talking about how as followers of Christ, we are in a battle with Satan, but our battle is not a human battle, but a spiritual battle that needs weapons from God, not humans. As followers of Christ we should use those weapons to break down all the obstacles standing in the way of others knowing Christ.

A- Praying for the lost is something that I don't do enough of. Sure, I pray that people will get to know God and be open to hearing about Him, but doing spiritual warfare and praying for specific obstacles is something that I don't do. I don't know why, even though I know it's something I should be doing.

P- God, I want to pray for the lost and do battle for them. Bring people and obstacles to mind that I can be praying for and battling for.

Do Something

S- Judges 6:13-14 "Sir" Gideon replied, "if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about: Didn't they say, 'The Lord brought us up out of Egypt'? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites." Then the Lord tuned to him and said, "Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!"

O- Gideon was sitting and complaining to God about how He wasn't there with Israel and that God had lied to them. He complained about how in trouble Israel was and God was nowhere to be found. Then God simply responds that Gideon was the one to save Israel, that He was sending Gideon.

A- If there is one thing that as a culture we're good at, it's complaining about how bad we have it. We complain about not having enough money, about how our relationships are terrible, the president, the economy, the church, etc. . . We get angry at God because we don't have everything we want, when we want it, so it must be God's fault, because He isn't here. There are times that in the midst of our complaints, God speaks to us and says, "go, do something about it." Then we're floored, because the whole reason for complaining was so we didn't have to do anything about it. I believe that we forget that God has placed us in this place and time in life, to do something about the injustice and problems that we see in life. When we have the blessing of God, we can do anything.

Currently, I'm with a group of people, who have seen a need in the church to reach out to emerging generations (a younger generation that doesn't seem to be connecting with the church). The conclusion is that there's something that the church needs to be doing that it's not doing right now. We've been complaining about it for years, but recently, God has moved in the hearts of a few people to actually go do something about it. Instead of complaining, God said do. So we're starting an emerging church plant within our church. It's weird, it's crazy, exciting and scary, but it's what God has told us to go do.


P- God, I don't just want to sit and complain about how things should be, I want to be a part of them. Use me to change what's going on around me, not just complain about it.

Youth Ministry 3.0

Hey, if you're in youth ministry on any level, you have check out this concept for a new book by Mark Oestreicher (the president of Youth Specialties) call Youth Ministry 3.0.

He talks about the idea that youth ministry is at a crucial place in history, at a turning point where if we don't turn with it, we will easily become irrelevant and not as effective as we can be. Mark talks about how we need to change.

I have to agree with Mark. In a lot of ways I've been feeling like the way we've been doing youth ministry, is starting to ineffective. Something needs to change! I have by no means figured it out yet, but I believe Mark is on his way to helping.

The post has 9 parts right now and he's adding to it each day, check it out part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, and part 9. Check out his blog daily for additions to this series.

A Kingdom Perspective

S- "Then Jesus wept." John 11:35

O- Jesus was near the tomb of His friend Lazarus after he died and this is where He wept. Throughout the whole story Jesus talked about how God would be glorified during this time. What if Jesus wasn't weeping because He was sad, but because no one believed that God would be glorified?

A- How many times do we look at situations at face value. A loved one dies, someone gets cancer, a terrible car accident or a student falls into drug or alcohol addiction. Now don't get me wrong, those are all terrible things, but what we forget about is that there is a bigger picture to what is going on. When Jesus went to the tomb of Lazarus, when He went to meet with Mary and Martha, He knew that Lazarus was going to be alive at the end of the day, but no one else had caught on to Jesus' perspective. Maybe it was because they didn't know Him well enough yet, or maybe it was because they were so caught up in the human perspective of how things happen, that they missed the kingdom perspective of why things happen.

What if the next time when something happens that seems so cut and dry, we step back from our human perspective, and look at it from a kingdom perspective. I would bet that our whole view of that situation would change drastically.

P- God, help me to have a kingdom perspective. Help me to focus on the why not just the how. I want to be able see the world more from your perspective.

SOAP: Taking Jesus For Granted.

S- Luke 2:28-32
Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, "Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people. He is a light of reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!"

O - When Simeon met Jesus for the first time, it was amazing for him. It was what he had been waiting for all of his life, to the point that once he met Jesus, he was ready to die.

A- Do I take Jesus for granted? When Simeon met Jesus, he was so overjoyed over who Jesus was and what he represented. He praised God immediately for Him. When I read that I think about how my reaction to opening up my Bible, or reading a book that pertains to Jesus doesn't give me a flood of excitement. Don't get me wrong, there are times that I get excited about something that I read or when I see God moving in the world, but sometime I feel like I've gotten so used to the normal everyday act of following Christ, that I forget about what an exciting, wonderful amazing thing it is to have Jesus here with us. To know that because of Jesus Christ we have a life full of hope and salvation from death. That's something to not take for granted.

P- God, I don't want to take you for granted. Sometimes I get so caught up in what's normal that I forget how wonderful you are. Thank you for all you've done. Amen.