Romans 8:31
"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"
Well it is another sleepless Saturday night. Sleep doesn't often come easy for me. (especially on Saturday) Usually by the time I get to sleep it's late and then it only last for couple of hours and I'm wide awake again. I am a pastor. God has placed it in me to love people and the fact is.... I truly do love people. My pastor friends and ministry partners who have surrendered their lives to God's call feel the same way. The calling to be a pastor is affirmed by the love that God grows in us for people. People are the reason for the calling of pastoral ministry. In my time as a pastor I have witnessed first hand how pastors become overwhelmed and overworked and burned out as a result of their love for people. I have seen them agonize over the fact that someone is upset with them and worry that they may leave the church never speak to them again. I have had these same worries many times over again. Then my thoughts turn to Jesus. He was perfect and sinless. He never made one mistake yet the only time He was popular was when He was healing or feeding people. Every time He started preaching the hard truths such as taking up your cross, "your own personal instrument of death," the masses would leave Him in droves! Oh some would stay behind to try and kill Him but for the most part they didn't like the things He was asking of them. Finally the haters got what they wanted. In the same city and within the time frame of a week. They cried out "blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord," as Jesus rode into town. The very next weekend some of the same people cried out "Crucify Him!" Wow! Can this be true? Can people turn and change their minds so quickly about their leader?.... My answer.... "ABSOLUTELY!" I am not saying this to anger anyone or to guilt anyone in to taking their pastor to dinner, "although that would be a nice thing to do! After all it is pastor appreciation month, hint hint." I am certainly not trying to compare the crucifixion of our Savior to the trials I face as a pastor. I am saying that it is because of what Jesus did for me that I have the incredible call and strength to be a pastor. I know that God called me, hence He is for me! I know that since it is God who called me, it is God who loves people through me. I also know that He is perfect and I am far from it. My mistakes are many, my abilities are inadequate and my knowledge is limited. It amazes me that God uses imperfect people like me to carry out His perfect plan. I know that my hopes are high, my heart is to serve and my motives are pure. In the middle of my imperfection I am equipped by a perfect, awesome, unstoppable God! So I have a word of encouragement to all who have answered this call. Wether you are a pastor, youth pastor, deacon, sunday school teacher, children's minister or nursery volunteer. The bible tells us in Romans 11:29 that the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. He won't take them back. He has called so we have no choice but to answer! No matter what or who may not agree, God is for us! Stand in His strength! If it means facing the devil himself remember that no weapon formed against you will remain. Psalm 121 says, "I will lift my eyes to the hills. From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord who made Heaven and Earth. My prayer today is that the people of God will stand and not be moved! God bless you all and have a great day of worship this "Lord's Day."
In His service, Pastor Wade
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Love and Loyalty
Love and Loyalty
Luke 9:57- 58
Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
What is the price of loyalty? To say to our Savior that you will follow Him wherever He goes is to say that you have no ties to this world. It is to say that you are in a pilgrimage. To follow Jesus is to have a temporary view of earthly life and to realize that you have a permanent home in an eternal place called Heaven. This place is not make believe or something we just conger up in our imagination. It is the place prepared for all who follow Jesus. It is the very dwelling and presence of God. Heaven has a consistence and existence so real that it is more real than we could ever imagine. We are literally following Jesus to this place when we say that we will follow Him where ever He goes. Heaven is our ultimate destination! It is the ultimate destination not for selfish reasons like seeing loved ones, the perfection of paradise or even the streets of gold, pearly gates or crystal sea that are so vividly talked about. Although these things are all true and will be a great benefit to being in Heaven. It is the ultimate destination because of the one we follow, "JESUS!" How can we presume to love Jesus in Heaven if do not love Him here on Earth? And how can we say we love Him on earth unless we are willing to follow Him on a pilgrimage to Heaven? That is to live life as if Jesus is our ultimate goal. To become like Him, to love what He loves and to be heart broken over the same things that break His heart. To be totally selfless and love the person in front of you no matter who that person is. To be a risk taker and invest in people no matter if they hurt you. To be a God pleaser not worrying about the opinion or attitude of those around us as to weather they approve of our obedience to God or not. To be faith walker knowing that we are in the hands of a loving Heavenly Father. To be a gospel preacher so that others may know the good news of the cross. To be a prayer warrior so that you make your request known to God. To be a church goer so you may honor Him in worship and fellowship. To always place God at the top of the list so that no one or nothing is more important than Him. To be a disciple maker so that others may become the same. Our ultimate goal is Jesus. The riches of this goal are endless, their depth and width are beyond compare. His resources are endless, His love is enormous, His power is limitless and His call is without a doubt suited to all of these things. We can not follow Jesus unless we have a God sized heart for our future home. Let's do it church! Let's follow Jesus like this! Why should we keep a foot in this world while we know that this world has nothing to offer us. Let the foxes and the birds have it. We have much greater and bigger things to do than build earthly homes. We have a heavenly one!
Luke 9:57- 58
Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
What is the price of loyalty? To say to our Savior that you will follow Him wherever He goes is to say that you have no ties to this world. It is to say that you are in a pilgrimage. To follow Jesus is to have a temporary view of earthly life and to realize that you have a permanent home in an eternal place called Heaven. This place is not make believe or something we just conger up in our imagination. It is the place prepared for all who follow Jesus. It is the very dwelling and presence of God. Heaven has a consistence and existence so real that it is more real than we could ever imagine. We are literally following Jesus to this place when we say that we will follow Him where ever He goes. Heaven is our ultimate destination! It is the ultimate destination not for selfish reasons like seeing loved ones, the perfection of paradise or even the streets of gold, pearly gates or crystal sea that are so vividly talked about. Although these things are all true and will be a great benefit to being in Heaven. It is the ultimate destination because of the one we follow, "JESUS!" How can we presume to love Jesus in Heaven if do not love Him here on Earth? And how can we say we love Him on earth unless we are willing to follow Him on a pilgrimage to Heaven? That is to live life as if Jesus is our ultimate goal. To become like Him, to love what He loves and to be heart broken over the same things that break His heart. To be totally selfless and love the person in front of you no matter who that person is. To be a risk taker and invest in people no matter if they hurt you. To be a God pleaser not worrying about the opinion or attitude of those around us as to weather they approve of our obedience to God or not. To be faith walker knowing that we are in the hands of a loving Heavenly Father. To be a gospel preacher so that others may know the good news of the cross. To be a prayer warrior so that you make your request known to God. To be a church goer so you may honor Him in worship and fellowship. To always place God at the top of the list so that no one or nothing is more important than Him. To be a disciple maker so that others may become the same. Our ultimate goal is Jesus. The riches of this goal are endless, their depth and width are beyond compare. His resources are endless, His love is enormous, His power is limitless and His call is without a doubt suited to all of these things. We can not follow Jesus unless we have a God sized heart for our future home. Let's do it church! Let's follow Jesus like this! Why should we keep a foot in this world while we know that this world has nothing to offer us. Let the foxes and the birds have it. We have much greater and bigger things to do than build earthly homes. We have a heavenly one!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
"Jesus Calling"
Matthew 4:18-20
And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 Then He said to them,"Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
Is this how it's supposed to be? Jesus calls, we drop everything? How do we know it's Jesus that is calling? What exactly are we supposed to do? How do we even get started? "Jesus calls" Big questions always come behind these two words. The truth of the matter is, it's not that complicated or difficult. It is really about faith and trusting that the Holy Spirit is in the lead. God never gives us all the particulars before we follow Him. He simply puts what He would have for us to do on our hearts. We don't need all the particulars, Proverbs 3:5-7 says, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct a your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil." God will always be the initiator of His work and He is the one who will show us if we are looking. Jesus told us in scripture that The Holy Spirit would come and teach us and lead us. Jesus has led countless people to radical, faith trying, world denying work for Him. He can do it without programs, seminars or classrooms. Our knowing what God has called us to do; always has and always will come by one way. If we truly want to know what God has called us to, it is as simple as an individual intimate relationship with Him! How can we possibly know what God wants us to do without first knowing God? If we study the scripture we will see that when Jesus called Peter and Andrew this was not the first time they had heard of Him, they had already experienced Him. They had heard Him teach and they had seen Him perform miracles. (Luke5)
We have to know Him as He reveals Himself to us. We have to seek and find. Christ call to a radical life seldom comes to the "Sunday Morning" one hour a week Christian. We have to learn from Him and depend on Him. In Luke 9:23 we read, " Then He said to them all,"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." The key word here is "DAILY." following the call of Jesus has everything to do with a daily walk with Him! Psalms 119:105
says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet, And a light to my path."
His word gives us step by step instruction to live and walk by, a lamp to our feet. Jesus said to take no thought for tomorrow but today is enough to worry about. We spend too much time over analyzing, over emphasizing and over amplifying the call of Jesus when He is just saying, "Drop what your doing that is earthly and start working toward things that are Heavenly. What is God calling us to do that is a radical move of Kingdom building proportions? It starts with a radical move of earth shattering denial of self! There is not a program, seminar or a class we can take that will make us do that. It is as simple as obedience. Jesus told the pharisees and the law makers that He desires obedience and not sacrifice. (Matthew 9:13) Our mindless, heartless routine traditions do not impress God but He blesses our obedience to Him! My challenge to every believer today is nothing less than absolute surrender to Him. Be willing, He will not forsake your willing obedience to follow Him. He will guide you in every step of your journey! John 16:13-14 says " When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you." What greater confirmation can we possibly need than this?
And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 Then He said to them,"Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
Is this how it's supposed to be? Jesus calls, we drop everything? How do we know it's Jesus that is calling? What exactly are we supposed to do? How do we even get started? "Jesus calls" Big questions always come behind these two words. The truth of the matter is, it's not that complicated or difficult. It is really about faith and trusting that the Holy Spirit is in the lead. God never gives us all the particulars before we follow Him. He simply puts what He would have for us to do on our hearts. We don't need all the particulars, Proverbs 3:5-7 says, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct a your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil." God will always be the initiator of His work and He is the one who will show us if we are looking. Jesus told us in scripture that The Holy Spirit would come and teach us and lead us. Jesus has led countless people to radical, faith trying, world denying work for Him. He can do it without programs, seminars or classrooms. Our knowing what God has called us to do; always has and always will come by one way. If we truly want to know what God has called us to, it is as simple as an individual intimate relationship with Him! How can we possibly know what God wants us to do without first knowing God? If we study the scripture we will see that when Jesus called Peter and Andrew this was not the first time they had heard of Him, they had already experienced Him. They had heard Him teach and they had seen Him perform miracles. (Luke5)
We have to know Him as He reveals Himself to us. We have to seek and find. Christ call to a radical life seldom comes to the "Sunday Morning" one hour a week Christian. We have to learn from Him and depend on Him. In Luke 9:23 we read, " Then He said to them all,"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." The key word here is "DAILY." following the call of Jesus has everything to do with a daily walk with Him! Psalms 119:105
says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet, And a light to my path."
His word gives us step by step instruction to live and walk by, a lamp to our feet. Jesus said to take no thought for tomorrow but today is enough to worry about. We spend too much time over analyzing, over emphasizing and over amplifying the call of Jesus when He is just saying, "Drop what your doing that is earthly and start working toward things that are Heavenly. What is God calling us to do that is a radical move of Kingdom building proportions? It starts with a radical move of earth shattering denial of self! There is not a program, seminar or a class we can take that will make us do that. It is as simple as obedience. Jesus told the pharisees and the law makers that He desires obedience and not sacrifice. (Matthew 9:13) Our mindless, heartless routine traditions do not impress God but He blesses our obedience to Him! My challenge to every believer today is nothing less than absolute surrender to Him. Be willing, He will not forsake your willing obedience to follow Him. He will guide you in every step of your journey! John 16:13-14 says " When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you." What greater confirmation can we possibly need than this?
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