Love of God

Our computer encountered an unfriendly thing, a virus. It pretty much shut our computer down. We could do nothing with it. Thankfully, through a few friends we were able to get it fixed. My amazement is that people who have a great amount of God given abilities to create things; use this creativity to destroy the things of others. In this case a computer. I am simply amazed at the strange enjoyment that these people must get over knowing that they are destroying the properties of others. I am really not amazed though. I know that man is sinful. The sinfulness of man is where these ideas come from. Thankfully God has provided a free gift, salvation through faith in Jesus Christ death, burial, and resurrection, that we can receive by faith. This free gift makes man no longer slaves to sin but servants of God! Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." The love of God, wow! I know that without accepting this free gift that God offers I would be no different than those people who create viruses. Praise God for the free gift of salvation! Do you know for sure if you are going to heaven?

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Past Year (Part 2)

I have been asked to elaborate on my last post. I wrote about what God has done in the ministry of Sunday School at the church I attend in the past year and my life. God has taught me that there is a lot more to being a S.S. superintendent than just passing about around attendence sheets and getting teachers lined up as well as substitutes. God has taught me how to handle prickly people through my failures of not handling a couple of situations the best. God has challenged me with the idea of be the biggest encouragement, "cheerleader" , for the teachers. Let them know I am on their side and help in any way I can. God has taught me that I need to look at success in S.S. as He does and not let it depend on how I can make things happen. When I rely on myself to make S.S. a success it will then be a failure and I will always let myself down. Instead, if I simply do the things that I know God wants and serve Him and am faithful to Him, then I can leave the results to Him and trust that He will make it a success.
I was asked how I was going to be an encouragement to the teachers this coming year and how am I going to make this year better than the last. Well I am going to answer these two with the same answer. I am going to be taking a specific teacher, one each week and spend that week praying for that teacher. I am going to seek out prayer requests of all my teachers so I can know how to pray for them. Along with this I am going to send that teacher that I will be praying for that week a note of encouragement. Letting them know that I appreciate their willingness to serve, their servants heart, thank them for their investment in the lives of their students, and anything I can think of that I know will be an encouragement to them. Another way I am going to strive to be an encouragement is to find out what some of their favorite snacks, goodies, or anything that they enjoy but do not get all the time. I will periodically send them these things in the mail. Also I am going to have all the teachers over to our house for dinner so that I can get to know them more personally. I would also like to know why they are teaching, why they got started, and what motivates them to teach. I am going to once a month or so talk about what a certain class is doing in S.S. and at the same time pray for that particular class; doing all this from the pulpit on a Sunday morning. I want the church to hear about how our teachers are serving the Lord and know what they are teaching their learners. I am also putting a list together that has a people's names on it who are willing to serve as substitute teachers. I will give this to all my teachers so that if they need as sub they can simply call a person and take care of it easier. I really want to model what I want my teachers to be doing in the lives of their students. Love, care, and discipleship.
These are some of the things I am going to be striving for this year. I am praying that God helps 2010 be as great as 2009. I know that God is going to do some amazing things and I praise the Lord that I get to be apart of the S.S. ministry to watch! Praise God!

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Past Year

Over the past 12 days I have spent some time reflecting on what has happened in the past year. More specifically in the ministry of Sunday School, as I am the S.S. Superintendent at the church that I attend. I was asked to write a report about the past year. I really did not know what to write so I spent some time just reflecting on how God has worked in our Sunday School ministry. Wow!
As I stopped and thought, there were a lot of ways the God has used this ministry and the servants who teach to change lives! As I would meet with the teachers for meetings they all, at different times, would share praises of how there learners are grow toward Christ-likeness! Praise the Lord! That is what Sunday School is all about! Intense, intimate study of God's Word is what S.S. is all about! Basically S.S. is small group discipleship. A teacher or leader of a class is the one who helps focus the group on a specific area of God's Word.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve in this way! God has shown me in many ways that I am to be a huge encouragement to the teachers. I am excited to see what God has for our church in the year to come!

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COLD!

On New Years Day I went sking with my brothers-in-laws! It was a ton of fun but supper cold! We did not decide to leave for sking till about 4pm on New Years day. It took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to get there. As we pulled into the parking lot the temp gage in the vehicle said +10 degrees. Ok, not so bad. There really was not a lot of wind. We were all ready for some fun sking as well! We skied for an hour or so and then went and ate supper, then skied some more. We noticed that on our way up the ski lift that we were all shaking because of the cold. The wind had deffinitely picked up. It was so cold that when I would ski down my eyes would water really bad, my face felt almost numb, and no matter how I tried I could not keep my hands warm. We thought that we would go down about 4 more times and leave. When we got in the vehicle, it was close to ten o'clock at night and the temp gage read -8 degrees. We think that the wind chill had to put it in the -20s' because the wind had picked up as well. By the time we got back to the cabin we were staying in it was -10 degrees out! Wow! Cold! But we had such a great time! I was super glad I went! Note to self though...sking in cold weather is COLD!

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"Happily Un-Married"

I recently watched a movie with my wife that we thought "might" be good. It was not a good movie on many levels. Before the movie got going to far the couple in the movie stated that they were "happily unmarried". This couple thought that life would be "no fun", "hard", have "more responsibilities", and that "children were not even a topic to be discussed, ever". This movie made me think about why marry. I was reminded of Ephesians 5:22-33. I have an example of how I am to love my wife, Christ's love for the Church. My love for my wife needs to one of self-sacrificing love. I need to nourish and cherish her. I need to follow the example that Christ left in loving my wife. This "happily unmarried" bit is ridiculous! This is not the way that God intended it to be. Through my marriage I have an opportunity to love, nourish, cherish, and help her to grow spiritually. Marriage is not about what "I" can get from it. It is what can I give of myself to my wife. Wow! What a challenge; to love my wife as Christ loves the church! I need God's help, strength, and wisdom.

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How Foolish.

I am the Sunday School Superintendent for this year, 2009, at our church. I have enjoyed the opportunity to serve God in this way! I am the one who is either to direct a Christmas program for the Sunday school classes or find someone to direct it. I thought that this is not so hard. I can do this. Wow! I may have underestimated the task I was taking on. We are doing the "Peanut Butter Christmas" put together by Ron Hamilton.
I thought that I would be able to get everything together and put this play on and that it would be a great success. I could not have been any more prideful. This was a task that, yes, I could lead but not put it on all by myself. I tried. The very first rehearsal proved that I was not going to be able to do this all by myself. There was only one lady who was there helping me and she was playing the piano. It was a horrible practice. I proved that I was not able to lead a group of children in singing nor keep them focused for a certain amount of time. Thankfully I was approached by a couple who suggested that I ask another lady to help with the singing. Wow! I am so glad that I did! She is and has done great! So much better than I would have ever been able to!
There are so many other times during this play, whether planning or practice, that I have desired things to go the way that I had planed, in my mind. But they did not. I would get frustrated and then be upset till God would remind me that this play is not about me but is really about Christ's birth, which we are celebrating. It is funny that I was so focused on how "I" was going to accomplish this play. Wow! How dumb!
Last night and this morning I have spent some time thinking and praying about the whole situation and realized that I should be thankful to God allowing my to serve as the director. Also that I should not think of my responsibility as a chance to prove something but rather to serve. God brought to my mind all the people who are really going to make this whole thing possible and I began to pray for them. Here are some of the people who I am very, very thankful for their help and participation: Maggie (God's greatest helper that He has given me), Jesse (props) and Katie (piano player), Dave (lights) and Darla (song leader), Juan and Sonja (parents in the play), Zach (sound), Isaiah (Davey), Kenzie (Ruthie), David (Joshua), Pastor Thompson, Rich, and Kent (the great bumbling robbers), and all the children who are singing in the choir.
In reallity I have such a small part in this whole play. Thank you to all who are involved! I am continually praying for you! Thank you!

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Take It Seriously.

Last night I went to hear a good friend of mine preach at the church that he and his wife are attending. He gave a wonderful challenge to take the return of Christ seriously. He essentially wanted us to see that we do not really live as though Christ could seriously return before you are done reading this or before you take your next breath! Through God's Word he showed us three actions that a person who takes the return of Christ seriously will evident in their life.
First, he took us to Philippians 2:16-18; 2 Peter 3:11-12. He stated that a person who is serious about the return of Christ will rejoice in anticipation. Paul and Peter both were rejoicing in anticipation of Christ's return. Paul rejoiced in the return of Christ because he had opportunity to serve God and be doing that when He came. Peter asked what kind of people we should be based on know what is going to happen to this world and then said he was looking forward and desiring to hasten the coming of the Lord. I was posed with a question of my own life. "When was the last time I felt so excited and filled with joy when I thought of the return of Christ?" I know that I can become excited and joyful about a lot of things, but the return of Christ...I do not think about it as I should. Many times the reason why I am not thinking about it is because I have a strong grip on this worlds things and activities. I need to release that grip and rejoice in anticipations.
Second, he took us to Romans 13:11-12; Mark 13:32. He stated that a person who is serious about the return of Christ will renew our sense of urgency. Paul wrote to the Romans basically that the time of the return could be any minute and they needed to "wake up and get to work!" Paul challenged them to get rid of the works of darkness and get to work because Christ may return at any time. Mark says a similar thing in that he wants them to be alert. I was posed with a couple of questions that are similar here as I was thinking about this. "How do I use my time?" He asked us, "Would I be more likely to be reading God's Word or watching tv when Christ returns? Would I be more likely to be praying or eating/preparing food when Christ returns? Would I be more likely to be sharing the gospel or committing a sinful act when Christ returns?" These were all hard questions for me to answer because I am not doing or being what God wants me to do when I should, now. I was convicted about my lack of urgency about the things of God. I need to renew my sense of urgency.
Third, he took us to 1 Thessalonians 5:1-9; 1 Peter 1:13. He stated that a person who is serious about the return of Christ will replace apathy with sobriety. Paul is urging these people, and us, to be sober. Peter is also challenging us to be sober in our minds. They are not wanting us to let anything hinder our thinking so that we may be completely focused. We cannot just go through life not focused on the return of Christ. It needs to be our goal, what we are aiming for. We need to be working towards that goal. I was posed with this question "Where is my focus?" Is my life showing, evidenting that I am focused on the return of Christ? My life is focused on a lot of temporal things more often than it is focused on the eternal. I am needing to put my attention and focus on eternal things, which will last for eternity. Colossians 3:2 say "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth." I need to replace my apathy with sobriety.
What about you? Are you one who takes the return of Christ seriously?

Press ON!

(Thanks Tim)