Balancing Ministry N' Work

In some ways it is hard to believe that it has been 8 years since the team at Michigan University cut into my skull, but it really has been that long. It is like looking at your now 20 year old son and wondering where the time went. In short God is Good! He has taken care of me and my family. He has allowed me to continue to work and advance my career. While not pastoring currently, I am still doing pulpit supply as often as I can. God has even allowed me to start two new adventures... I have been elected as Aldermen to serve our great city and I am almost done with my first book. As I said, God is Good! He has never left me, He has never forsaken me, and He never will. Today I still have some of the same on-going issues that mostly show when I try to do to much (which is all the time if you ask my lovely wife). Balance is still an issue now and again. I would not be able to pass a sobriety check by walking in a straight line, I still swerve some when I walk. Obviously I am still d...

John 15:4 Abide in Christ Before we start, I want to make sure and wish all you ladies, young and old, a Happy Mother’s Day. Whether you are a Mother, hope to be a Mother someday, or are a Mother figure to others… you deserve our thanks. Happy Mother’s Day! Our starting point this morning is John 15:4 “Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.” Many centuries ago in a remote village in India, word was spreading that something big was about to happen. Something that no one had witnessed in their lifetime. The prince was coming to visit their remote, all but forgotten, little village. Everyone was amazed at the news that he was coming and all were excited, but the village beggar was more excited than everyone else. The beggar spent all day every day sitting on the side of the road with his little cup hoping to collect money to buy enough rice to live one more da...

I Am – I Can – I Will! We started out with I Am by looking how the Nation of Israel was told by God to stop wandering around in the wilderness and to turn north. They had to reach a point where they were willing to say, Yes I am going to follow God. I Am going to do what God wants me to do. Every single one of us will have many times in our lives where we have to decide if we are going to respond to God’s call with an I Am or I am not. Will we turn from what God is calling us to do or will we embrace that next step and Turn North, saying I Am Ready! Once we say I Am Ready and embrace what God is calling us to, then we are faced with the next challenge. Accepting the task that God has given you is one thing, accomplishing it is another. To often our I Am is clobbered by an I Cannot when we realize that the task God has given us is more than we bargained for. A s I mentioned last week, my I Am almost hit its match when I realized that I would have to speak in front of people as a...

Last week we started by looking at how after 40 years of wandering through the wilderness God told the Israelites it was time for a change. Deuteronomy 2:1-3 2  “Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, as the Lord had told me, and we traveled around the hill country of Seir for many days. 2  The Lord then said to me, 3  ‘You’ve been traveling around this hill country long enough; turn north.” God was telling them enough of the wandering, it is time for a change. The Israelites had to decide if they were ready to follow God. That is something that each one of us needs to decide. We need to determine if we are going to say I am not or if we are going to Turn North and say I am ready. God is looking for those who are ready to follow Him. All of us have to answer this for ourselves, and we have to answer it many times in our lives. Are we ready to accept Jesus as Lord? Are we ready to respond to His calling on our lives? Are ...

In the Book of Deuteronomy we find the young nation of Israel wandering around in the wilderness. They had spent 40 years wandering around and going nowhere fast. They had seen God perform miracle after miracle in Egypt, crossed the Red Sea on dry land, seen water come from a rock, manna delivered 6 days a week, a pillar of fire or smoke leading them all day and night, but they still fought against God’s guidance. They had seen things we could only dream of and they did not follow God. We would like to pat ourselves on the back and say if it was us, we would follow God with no problem. Reality is we would most likely do the exact same things. We would revert back to the way things were, doubt that God was really behind the things we have seen, we would rebel just like they did. Think back to when you first accepted Jesus as your savior. You had the exciting moment in time that you knew Jesus was calling out to you. You knew you wanted what He has to offer. You accepted Him as you...

Hebrews 12:1-3 “12  Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2  keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3  For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.” When our oldest, Chris, was in middle school he ran cross country. Before each of his meets, I would tell him to leave it all on the field. In other words, I was encouraging him to give every ounce of effort he had so that he could be proud of his effort regardless of the results. I believe that is exactly what the author of Hebrews wants us to do. To give it all we got! Let’s dig into these verses a little deeper. Hebrews ...

John 3:22-20 “ 22  After this, Jesus and his disciples went to the Judean countryside, where he spent time with them and baptized. 23  John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People were coming and being baptized, 24  since John had not yet been thrown into prison. 25  Then a dispute arose between John’s disciples and a Jew about purification. 26  So they came to John and told him, “Rabbi, the one you testified about, and who was with you across the Jordan, is baptizing—and everyone is going to him.” 27  John responded, “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven. 28  You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I’ve been sent ahead of him.’ 29  He who has the bride is the groom. But the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the groom’s voice. So this joy of mine is complete. 30  He must increase, but I must d...