Hide-and-Seek

Yesterday I was reading about Zacchaeus in the Gospel of Luke.  At the end of the story Jesus tells the little man, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (ESV Luke 19:10)  As I looked at that verse a thought ran across my mind.  Why does God need to seek anyone?  After all, doesn’t He know all?

I have to seek for my keys each morning because I don’t always remember where I put them.  They are typically in one of four or five places, but most mornings I don’t remember which one of those places hold my keys and therefore I have to seek them out.  Yesterday my family and I went to the baseball fields to watch a friends’ son play t-ball.  We knew their team wore black uniforms and that is all we knew.  There were eight fields, ready, set, go!  We had to seek them out.  It was easy to narrow them down by the color of uniforms on the field, but it was still a hunt.

But, God doesn’t need to seek us.  Seriously, where could we go that we are out of His sight, and what can we do that is outside of His knowledge?  So, the question for me yesterday as I pictured Zacchaeus climbing down out of the tree and looking up into Jesus’ eyes and hearing him say, “I have come to seek the lost,” seems odd to me.  Then it occurred to me.  God doesn’t seek us out for His benefit.  He knows where we are, both physically and spiritually.  He doesn’t need to ever “seek” us out.

He seeks us out for our benefit.  It is our reminder that no matter what you do, where you go, what you say, or what situation you find yourself in, God is seeking you.  He wants to be with you.  But, it is more than that; he is not just interested in being with you, I would say He is motivated by it.  Remember when He was in the Garden and Adam and Eve had just sinned and He was calling out to them?  Remember all those times when Israel turned from God and followed whatever new thing their heart wanted and God sent His prophets calling out to them?  As a father, He wants his family to be with Him, and when they are not… he seeks them!  But not for his benefit, for ours!

He seeks you because He wants you to remember, it’s not about your failures… it’s about His successes.  It’s not about your sin… it’s about His forgiveness.  It’s not about your inconsistencies… It’s about His faithfulness.  It’s not about your lostness… it’s about His seeking!

Maybe you needed to be reminded that if you haven’t spent time with God today, He is seeking you.  If you haven’t spent time with Him this week, He is seeking you.  If you haven’t spent time with him this year, He is seeking you.  If you can’t rememeber the last time you spent time with him, guess what… He is still SEEKING YOU!

Be blessed,

Craig

In over my head!

Father, this morning I want to just write you my prayer. Lord, too many times I have prayed for your safety and your protection in my life. It’s not that I don’t want to be safe or protected by you anymore. In fact, I want even more to be safe and protected by you. But I don’t want to pray for it anymore. Instead, I want to ask you to call me out where the water is over my head. I want you to call me out where the waves are tossed by the wind. Lord, I am not seeking adventure or an adrenaline high. I just want to be in your will. I know that there will be some days that you will keep me safe wrapped tightly in your arms. But I want to give you permission to call me out where the waves are so big I can’t see the horizon. I want to be beautifully in over my head. When I am beautifully in over my head I know that you are still in control of the waves. I know that you are guiding my life in the currents. I know that you are leading me toward your glory. I want to apologize because of all the times I missed your will for my life because I preferred the safety of the shore.
Father, I love your shores, but I will trust your plan. So, the next time I find myself in over my head. I will know that this is right where you have called me. Lord, I cannot promise you that I will not be afraid, but I also will try to trust that you have called me to the waves for a reason. And I will trust that I am beautifully in over my head.

The Lord Will Provide

In the past few weeks we have examined the life of Abraham.  As you have figured out it is difficult to talk about Abraham without talking about his faith. Several times I have reminded you of the passages that praise his faith in Hebrews 11.  If you have not read them yet, check this out.

⁸ By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹ By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. ¹¹ By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. ¹² Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

This Sunday we are going to examine the passage of scripture that inspired the author of Hebrews 11 to write this passage about Abraham’s faith:

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, ¹⁸ of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ¹⁹ He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

Abraham was tested by God.  He was commanded to take his only son and offer him to God as a sacrifice on the top of Mount Moriah (This was the same mountain that God would appear to David in 2 Sam 24:16 and the temple of Solomon was built, 2 Chron. 3:1).   Abraham, “the father of a multitude,” was now asked to give up his greatest treasure and only hope to fulfill God’s promise. But remember, this was a test.  After God saved Isaac we are told that Abraham took the ram caught in the bushes and placed him on the altar he had built for his son (Imagine that!  Abraham built another altar.)  Upon sacrificing the ram on the altar we are told that Abraham named the place, hwhy hary or Yahweh Yireh.  Today we know it best by Jehovah Jireh and it means, The Lord will provide.  This was the setting that God revealed Himself to Abraham as The Great Provider.  This is the foundational setting that we as believers base our faith that God will provide for all of our needs.  God provides!

Abraham completely trusted in God to provide even though he had no idea how God was going to do it.  He simply trusted God.  If that would have been me, I don’t think I could have taken my son to the top of that mountain knowing God demanded a sacrifice.  Even if I found enough faith; I probably would have taken a sheep or some other animal in case God changed His mind at the last minute.  That is what we do to God.  We say we trust Him but we take our backup plan in case things get to difficult.  Abraham’s faith had no backup plan.  His plan was, God will provide.  That is what he said to Isaac when his son asked him where the offering was.  He said, “God will provide.”  God has a unique and special plan for your life.  Your Father wants you to trust Him.  Trust Him enough to leave room in your life for Him to work.  Give God the room He needs to provide for you.

Be blessed,

Bro. Craig

How do we respond?

Since the events of Sunday Night, May 1, there have been many discussions about the appropriate response as a believer in the death of a man like Osama Bin Laden.  I have read the twitter feeds, the Facebook posts and several blogs indicating everything from the The New York Daily News’ headlines to the Facebook postings criticizing anyone for finding any joy in this act.

My sermon yesterday was over the call of Abram from Genesis 12.  In verse 3 God says to Abram, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.”  This promise to Abram became a covenant promise to all believers.  God’s covenant to us as believers is the same (2 Thess. 1:5-11).  Osama Bin Laden was an evil man.  He was evil because of his actions and decisions but also because he chose not to accept Jesus Christ as his savior.  He chose at some point in his life to make enemies of everyone who opposed him and his views.  Bin Laden was evil and his death is justified.  But this is not about justifying his death.  It is about celebrating his death?  Do we have to feel sad because he will spend eternity in hell?  I read a blog today that drew this conclusion, “If heaven celebrates when one soul is saved from eternal separation from God, doesn’t it also weep at one soul is lost to hell?”  The purpose for this blog today is to let you know what the Bible teaches.

For many of us we want God to judge evildoers quickly and righteously.  Until we remember that all of us fall into that category and then we rejoice over the promises of Exodus 34:6-7 that the Lord is “slow to anger” and “abounding in love and faithfulness.”  We know that in Ezekiel 18 God declares that He has no joy in the death of the wicked but would prefer they turn from their sin and live.  At the same time we know James 5:1-6 tells us that as believers we can find comfort in hell, knowing that God’s righteous wrath will be poured out on those who oppose God.  I believe we forget that Bin Laden sinned against mankind and he has paid for those sins with his life.  It is not wrong to rejoice in this type of punishment.  The punishment of the wicked is the theme of the Psalmist in Psalm 58.  However, that is all Bin Laden can offer us.  From this point on he can only repay God for the sins he has committed against Him.  It is this righteous judgment that will send Bin Laden to hell.  It is God’s righteous wrath that will prove God’s ultimate victory over evil.  In this we can rejoice!  We can rejoice that God has won the day and evil will be thrown down.  We can rejoice that God’s justice will prevail for all mankind.  Does this mean we can rejoice because someone will spend in eternity in hell?  NO!  We don’t rejoice because Osama Bin Laden is in hell, we rejoice because of God’s justice.  His justice is righteous and holy and on those grounds we can rejoice.  Let us be careful to not make a martyr out of Bin Laden by guilting believers into thinking it is wrong to rejoice in justice or it is wrong to rejoice in the promises of God.

(As a side note:  I found myself somewhat embarrassed by those in the streets last night that chose to make this into a party for the celebration of death.  Life, all life, is sacred

True Leadership

I have been reading almost everything I could find about what makes a good leader. I have read books, blogs, subscribed to tweets, and am continuing to question people in leadership on their style, approach, model, and success. I want to be a good leader. I don’t want to be a good leader for me, I want to be a good leader because as a pastor, I want to lead people well. Right now my biggest fear is that I will mislead or just miss altogether. I don’t want to be that guy.

God has placed some great men in my life who exhibited leadership to me. They are men who are tremendous at what they do and how they do it. They are men who understand their gifts and talents and don’t try to be something other than what God has called them to be. I have been blessed by these men.

One of these men, Wayman Swopes, was born in New Mexico on a dairy farm in 1947. Wayman pastored churches in Michigan, Kentucky, New Mexico and Texas. I met Wayman in 2000 when he was pastor at Greenwood Baptist Church. He was their pastor for 23 years and retired in April 2010. I had the privilege of serving with Wayman for six years. In those six years he became a pastor, friend and mentor. He taught me how to be a pastor to people. How to love people unconditionally but most of all he showed me how to lead.

Many times you don’t know the impact of something or someone until you are able to step back and analyze things. Wayman went home eternally on a Friday night, October 19th. I miss my friend and there have been several occasions I would have loved to pick up the phone and ask him his advice on an issue or to tell him about something amazing God had done.

Another of these men was Jeff Robinson. I met Jeff when he was youth minister at First Baptist Diboll. I was a part-time youth minister at Lakeview in Diboll. Jeff left Diboll to go be the pastor of Southside Baptist Church; where he still is today! I had the privilege and pain of working with Jeff for almost 3 years as his part-time youth minister. Jeff taught me how to compose a ministry and how to do ministry with a bigger picture view ministry. I have never been an administrator but the lessons Jeff taught me have been crucial in understanding, formulating and carrying out a successful ministry. He was hard on me and continued to demand a lot from me. He never demanded more than I could give, but he never accepted less. He is a great friend a another man that I consider to be a mentor. He has an incredible gift for speaking truth. He rarely tells me what I want to hear, but God has used him on so many occasions to tell me what I need to hear.

Another is Keith Nash. Keith was my youth pastor…correction… is my youth pastor! You don’t invest 6 years in someone’s life and then go away. I have always joked about this next part and usually said something like, “and don’t tell anyone…” or “try to keep this a secret…” But the truth is I have always been proud to say that he is also my uncle. Yeah, we are family. He’s my mom’s brother. He taught me a lot of great life lessons like, you can survive on a street corner for an hour in downtown Dallas in the middle of the night without getting raped, mugged or beaten. I also learned that you can’t put more than 14 people in the Double Tree Hotel elevator in Dallas, but if you do it takes about 90 minutes to get them out. I will never forget the time he taught me that if you put people in a small closet in Pineywood Encampment with a propane heater for more than 30 minutes, someone is going to vomit! The thing I remember the most about Keith is, church is fun! With Keith, I had as much learning about God as I did doing anything else. He has that rare gift of taking people and showing them how to surrender their life and allow God to mold them. It was Keith who told me, “Craig, if God is calling you to serve Him, you won’t be happy doing anything else.” He was the one who discipled me when I came back from camp in 1986. He was the one that I talked to when God called me to ministry in 1988. He was the one that looked at me in 1990 and said, “Craig, God called you to ministry, what are you doing about it?” He has continued to be an encourager and leader for me. Even if he is my uncle!

And then there is my dad! I hope you don’t expect me to tell you everything my dad taught me in this blog. My dad has always been my biggest cheerleader and supporter. He was the one who always stood over my shoulder telling me I could do it, and many times it is his voice I still hear today. My dad has not always been perfect, but he has been an incredible example of what a man humbled by God and humbled to God should be. He is tough, but compassionate. He was my father first, before he was ever my friend. Because a young boy needs a father more than he needs a friend. A father teaches him about life and how to be a man. I hope to be as good a man as he is one day.

There are many other men. It was John Crow who taught me how to be passionate about my faith. It was Terry Clutter who taught me that friendship is worth more than mere words. It was Hails Taylor that taught me doing the right thing for the right reasons is more valuable than just the results of your actions. Jim Taylor taught me the value of living for Christ. Troy Nash taught me how to praise God in every situation.

But my greatest teacher has always been Jesus. He taught these men mentioned in this post how to love Him. He taught them how to be mentors and how to lead others. He taught them because He lead them. And He leads me as well. My prayer is now not just to be a good leader, but to be an even better follower of Jesus Christ. Because, someone might just want to follow me one day. And well, I have a legacy of leadership to uphold. I would not want to let these men down, nor Him!

Thank you Jesus, for leading me when I was not even looking. Thank you for using these men to bring about Your glory!

Be Blessed,

Craig

More lessons from Palm Sunday

In Luke 19 as Jesus reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing.

Today, as you do life, how is your life shouting and singing the praises of Jesus.  I read in the paper today of a church that is protesting a fallen soldiers grave because they disagree with the war.  Stories like this paint a picture of the church and of Christianity that is 1.) not true and 2.) damaging to true believers.  However, the world has slowly began to associate groups like this with Christianity.  Why?  Because they have not seen enough truth to convince them otherwise.

The followers of Jesus shouted and sang His praises.  As we approach Palm Sunday and Easter, we should be singing and shouting the praises of our King.  We should rejoice that our lives are defined by the power of the cross not by our own actions.  Because of Jesus we are called righteous, holy, and child.  We are not called those things because of our actions or as a reward for good behavior.  We are called these things because Jesus gave himself as a sacrifice for us.

Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom – Psalm 145:3

Be blessed,

Craig

Check This New Software Out

New Web-Based Church Presentation Software

New church presentation software is coming out soon called Proclaim and it’s located here . Unlike all other church presentation software systems, this one will allow pastors, worship leaders, and worship team members to all access and add to the same presentation before it’s presented, and then use the same application to run the presentation during the service.
Look Here
To add to the excitement of the release of Proclaim, they are giving away $25,000 in worship resources in The Great Worship Resource Giveaway. They are going to have 100’s of winners of some of the best worship resources on the market. The giveaway is located on the Proclaim home page where you will see how to enter. You can also see all the prize partners there, listing out some great resources from companies like Planning Center Online, Graceway Media, Worship Leader Magazine, Centerline Media, Musicademy, Clover Sites, Christian Musician Summit, Luna Guitars, National Worship Leader Conference, and prizes from many more.
I’m excited about this new product Proclaim. You can see a video of the software on their site which gives a quick detail of how it will help worship leaders and ministry teams. Visit Proclaim online to see the video, and enter ‘The $25,000 Great Worship Resource Giveaway’.

Grafted into the True Vine

This past week was the first part in a two-part series about where I believe God is bringing us as a church.  In the past I have used phrases like, “we are called to be Christ’s Witness” and “make disciples.”  I believe those to be the two greatest priorities of the church today.  And while if I stand and say that in front of a group of people I may get a lot of people who shout, “Amen” and agree with me, few “regular Christians” understand how to do those things.

Sunday was a call to be a “witness” for Christ.  A long time ago I heard Tony Evans say that we are to be the “preview to Heaven.”  He was referring to a preview of a movie.  Like Tony, one of my favorite parts of going to the movie is to get there in time to see the previews for the upcoming movies.  They are typically the best parts of the movie they represent.  A good movie trailer can entice a crowd to want to see what the whole movie is about.  It can even cause an excitement for the upcoming movie.  What Tony Evans was saying is that we should live our lives in such a way that we represent the best parts of Heaven.  When people see us, they should want to see the rest of the movie.  They should want to learn more about our life and more about the hope that we have.  That is what Christ means by “be My witness.”

The Apostle Peter challenged us to be prepared to share that hope at a moments notice.  I love 1 Peter 3:15, “Set apart Christ as Lord in your heart that you may always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus our Lord, but do it with gentleness and reverence.”

How can we do these things if we are not grafted into the “true vine” of Jesus?  Where would we find the strength to persevere, take bold stands, rejoice in trials, worship Him in sadness, and to just put up with some people?  Let’s be honest, apart from His strength we are not equipped with that kind of power.  But when we choose to live attached to the “true vine” our nature is changed.  Our displeasure turns to joy, our resentfulness turns to hope, and our nature is changed.  That is the greatness we are called into!  We don’t have the strength on our own to “be Christ’s witness.”  However, when we allow our lives to be grafted into the “true vine” our lives are transformed.  We see things and people from a different perspective.  Our vision is no longer on this world, but it is centered on a Kingdom that is not of this world.  Do you want to be “Christ’s witness?”  You must start by grafting yourself into the “true vine.”  Wake up each day and make a commitment to tune your heart to the Heart of Christ.  When your kids are in a bad mood, or your co-workers become your trials, remember you were called for greatness.  Live for that greatness and allow the “true vine” to supply your strength, patience, wisdom, and perseverance.

Bold Prayer!

I spent yesterday afternoon with Matt and Lorraine.  For those of you that do not know, Matt and Lorraine they have accepted a call on their lives that many look on with a raised eyebrow.  Matt and Lorraine have three wonderful kids.  In addition to their birth children, they have adopted three kids.  While adoption is not confusing, the adoption of Chrissy caused some, even their own family to question their direction.  Matt and Lorraine felt that God was instructing them to adopt a young child that would medically not survive without some special intervention.  They adopted Chrissy from Serbia.  Chrissy is a beautiful little princess that after only 6 months has already developed a Texan drawl.

Chrissy’s medical condition:  “Chrissie is a miracle child, as she should have died within the first 2 days of life since she was born without a pulmonary artery or valves in her heart, amongst other defects, such as a large hole between the lower right and left ventricles of her heart. As we reported before, Chrissie is being kept alive by 3 God-made vessels (which none of the rest of the world has) which are working independently of her heart. Our hearts pump blood to our lungs to be oxygenated through the pulmonary artery and valves; since Chrissie lacks these, there is NO blood flow to her lungs from her heart. However, God created those 3 God-made vessels to work independently of the heart to pump blood to Chrissie’s lungs to be oxygenated. There’s also a large hole between the lower right and left chambers of Chrissie’s heart, which must be closed. I know there were some other issues with Chrissie’s pulmonary system, but I can’t recall all of the details. I just know that it’s a HUGE miracle to be able to repair all that is wrong, and I thank God for His healing hands in Chrissie’s life and for sending Dr. Mary Porisch (pediatric cardiologist) into our lives.”  (From Lorraine’s Blog)

They researched surgeons who would be willing to perform the surgery and met a lot of resistance.  When all hope was just about gone, they got a phone call from a doctor in San Antonio.  Dr. Mary Porisch and her team travel the world performing surgeries that most people would never attempt in the hope of giving children a chance at life.  Dr. Porisch considers her work as her contributions to missions on behalf of the Father.

Yesterday was  a tough day for Chrissy.  Her heart stopped for 45 minutes.  She is connected to an ECMO machine that is doing the job of her lungs and heart while her heart heals from the surgery and compressions.  Chrissy is fighting for her life.  But not just her life, she is fighting for the life of other orphans around the world who have been abandoned by their parents in countries where the medical field has not advanced to the point to keep them alive.  There are people in the United States who would love to adopt these babies, but the countries in which they live will not allow them to be adopted because they fell they are not worth the effort and will die anyway.  The world is watching as Chrissy fights on a bed in San Antonio, Texas.  Many are praying, many are weeping.  Me, I have been inspired by a 4 year-old Serbian born Texan.  I want to share the rest of her story with you.  If you want to read about it, go to Lorraine’s blog at http://www.allarepreciousinhissight.blogspot.com/ and join us in prayer for Chrissy.

Are you bold enough to pray for Perfect Healing?