I heard this story on the radio this morning. Here is the overview, but if you want to read it all, here is the link from the Chicagobama Sun Times.

Apparently a security guard at the University of Chicago Hospital named Donquila Butler had his eye on a 19 year old female co-worker. She wouldn’t really have anything to do with him but he was definitely after her. So he derived a planned.

He put on a ski mask and grabbed her by the throat threatening her life. Then he ran off, and responded to the security call that followed, as if to save the day. It would have a been a good plan if it wasn’t such a bad plan… Unfortunately for Donny boy she recognized him as the guy in the ski mask and he was arrested. I’m guessing he didn’t even bother to change his clothes. Maybe that would have worked. Needless to say there was nothing he could do to earn her love.

Makes me think of God. No, not the ski mask thing, the whole “you can’t earn God’s love” thing. He is love. He has loved you from the beginning of time. He has loved you from before you were even dreamed of by your parents. He has loved you from birth, and He will love you till death. He will love you after you die and enter eternity. He will rejoice if that eternity is in Heaven with Him and mourn if it is eternity in Hell.

The point is, God is madly in love with you, regardless of your actions, your good deeds or your lousy sins. The coolest part is His love is in no way a response to the things you do! He loves you unconditionally. In fact, His love for you runs so deep He came in human form (Jesus) and died for you just so you could be in relationship with Him.

So nothing you try to pull will make God love you more or less. He is however seeking a personal relationship with you! All that takes is realizing that the death Jesus died to forgive your sins is all you will ever need to connect you with God and ensure you of eternal life. Pray for forgiveness, trust in Jesus, and follow Him, worshiping and pursuing Him alone! Then go live your NEW LIFE as God intended, experiencing His love in FULL!!! (Leave the ski mask at home…)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” ~John 3:16-21

“Jesus said to him (Thomas) ‘I Am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’ ” ~John 14:6

One of my favorite passages of Scripture is Jeremiah 1. For the sake of length (or lack thereof…) I’m only going to throw part of it up here. I encourage you to read it all on your own.

“Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.’ Then I said, Alas, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, because I am a youth. But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, ‘I am a youth.’ Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,’ declares the Lord.” ~Jeremiah 1:4-8

” ‘Now, gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them. Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,’ declares the Lord.” ~vs. 17-19

This passage has so much to it, but my favorite part is how God is trying to convince Jeremiah that He’s got his back. He has charged him with a crazy job, and is giving him His word that whatever happens, he has God on his side. Jeremiah’s call was to go into the land of God’s people as one man, telling them how evil and dysfunctional they are, and how God is sending a new nation to wipe them out. Plus, he had to do it as a pretty young guy, which I’m sure lost him a lot of credibility. He was sent to stand up in the middle of a religious, yet completely lost, screwed up bunch of people who thought they were cool with God, and tell them what God really thought about them.

Not so different from our call. We are here in America, a nation called “Christian” but anything but it. Let’s face it, we are a jacked up culture that has no clue who Jesus is, largely because of a religious system that has added to and taken away from His Gospel. Our mission is to stand up in the middle of a religious and anti-religious nation and tell them the truth about Jesus, through action and word.

This is a huge order, but remembering God’s message to Jeremiah: He is with YOU in your call. He’s got all the strength and endurance YOU will need. No matter what happens, stand firm, because HE is behind YOU.

(first things first-if you didn’t read the first part, you MUST click HERE and read it!!!)

Hopefully nobody will read the prior post and think I’m trying to puff us up for giving money. That is not the case at all. I don’t seek after people’s approval via good works, and I don’t think giving to a family in Africa makes me better than you (that’s something religious people think). Believe me, I wish it DID make me a better person like liberals buying carbon offsets to make themselves feel better for flying around in private jets instead of going with Delta (again, another topic altogether…).

I wanted to share this with you to show what a profound impact a little money can have on other people. I know this is getting long, but stick with me. Most people think they can’t do anything to solve poverty in the world (some people think it can be solved with Socialism, but that’s another story…).

What if the millions and millions of people in this world who claim to follow Christ would sponsor a child and/or send a little cash to a needy family abroad or in our own communities? We give $35 dollars a month to Helena. That’s it! $35 covers her basic needs and gives us a chance to communicate with her how much we love her, how much God loves her, and how special she really is!

How many people could scrape together 35 dollars? Here are a few things that cost about 35 bucks:

• 1 family dinner at a restaurant (and that’s eating pretty light…)
• 5 or 6 combo meals (super-sized)
• a pair of jeans
• a shirt and tie (you know you already have enough of these)
• about 7 lattes
• a haircut for some ladies
• the phone bill
• a couple of hard-back books
• 2 cd’s (3 and a half if you use iTunes)

Let’s face it, if we all stood back and looked at our spending, we would see just how much money we waste. We would see just how easy it is to serve someone living in poverty on the other side of the globe by sacrificing a few luxuries.

Here’s my challenge: look at your money situation and consider sponsoring a child. That’s it. Your call. Here’s where to go to do it: Worldvision. I completely trust and believe in these guys. They do a lot of great things (they are also the 40 hour famine people that a lot of churches are familiar with). You can even pick your child’s gender and geographical location if you’d like. You’ll get reports and letters from the child. You;ll get the opportunity to send him/her birthday, Easter, Christmas cards, etc.

I think Jesus said something about whatever we do to those in need we do for Him…something like that…right? If you decide to sponsor a child, I’d love to hear about it. Drop me a comment!

Please, take 8 minutes and 44 seconds to watch THIS VIDEO.  It left me speechless but for one word: WOW!

Click HERE

If you have turned on a TV in the past year you have undoubtedly seen an advertisement for a snack sandwich from one of our many great cholesterol-friendly fast food joints.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe it all started with KFC and their 99 cent chicken snacker.  After that came the competition with chicken wraps at McDonalds, Burger King, and Wendy’s, and boosted dollar menus everywhere!  KFC even has like 5 or 6 different snackers now, one of which is fish.  I too found that a bit nebulous from Kentucky Fried CHICKEN, but, oh well.

What makes me laugh is watching the commercials.  Let’s break them down, shall we?

• semi-hungry person between meal
• 99 cent snack advertised
• semi-hungry person receives snack with much glee!
• semi-hungry person holds very tiny snack in such a way to make it look like a 2 lb steak burger
• semi-hungry person takes extremely over-exaggerated bites followed by chewing drenched in hyperbole
• semi-hungry person is no longer semi-hungry: he/she is very happy and satisfied

They do their advertising to make you think you get some great big snack, but if you order one it comes out looking like it was made for Oompa Loompas.  They clearly don’t advertise what they sell (but who does in life?)

If anybody better be selling what they advertise is should be Christians.  (‘Selling’ and ‘advertising’ are simply metaphors here.  Don’t start throwing Jesus clearing the Temple Scripture at me or anything…)  We are advertising the One true God, and the story of how He saved all humanity from death by becoming human and dying Himself.  2 Corinthians 5:20 says: “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, through God were making an appeal through us.”  We represent Jesus once we receive His payment of our debt. 

Jesus expects us to advertise AND sell love, genuineness, kindness, and service.  The question though is do we do a better job advertising than selling?  If we put up a lot of signs about love, and do a lot of teaching about service, and where lots of Christian t-shirts to let people know who we are, but don’t put these into action, we have reduced ourselves to master billboard designers with our sales charts in the tank.  Have we reduced ourselves to noisy gongs and clanging cymbals? (1 Cor. 13)

What Christ taught He ALWAYS lived.  We must do a better job mirroring Him. 

So, are we being the love we sing about?  Are we reaching out with our hands and feet, or do we let our Jesus fish do the talking?  Does what we are advertising match what we are selling?

“But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”  -John 3:21

• A borrowed copy of I Am Legend: 0 Dollars
• 1 foot long sub to split: 7 Dollars
• original and kettle cooked popcorn: 3 Dollars
• Date night for 10 Bucks: Priceless

For some people Red Lobster and theatres are a regular thing, but for everyone else, there are personal finance budgets.

Well, date night came with no money left, so we had a casual slash lazy date night (I think its funny to type out slash rather then use the “/” key…not sure why…). We got comfy on the couch and watched I Am Legend. I must admit, it has been a long time since I saw a really good movie; one of those movies that leaves you thinking; one of those movies you could immediately watch again.

This was definitely one of those movies. Ironically enough, probably the last great movie I saw also starred Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness. Will Smith is one of my favorite actors because he is so versatile and convincing. He knocked this one way out!

In addition to great acting, great action, a great plot and a great ending, the movie really had an awesome Christian theme. Now while they may have thought about the similarity, I very seriously doubt the producers, directors and writers actually meant for this to happen. It was also rather ironic that the dvd was released on Easter weekend.

Since you are reading this ONLY because you have actually watched the movie, I don’t have to go into detail. What a profound picture of Christ his character, Robert Nevell was. The entire human race is on the verge of extinction and basically the walking dead. He sacrifices his life for the cure that will restore mankind.

Well the entire human race WAS walking around dead in sin. Jesus had the only cure, His blood, and He gave it all up so humankind could be redeemed. There was no other way. This human race, like Nevell, was also out to kill Jesus. He sacrificed Himself anyway out of love. I hope I never get to the point that I’m not blown away by Jesus’ sacrifice. He gave it ALL up, just for us.

Well if you read this and ruined the ending to the movie, go watch it anyway. It will still be awesome! Here’s the movie trailer just to recap or in case you cheated and read first…

Saturday I caught my first bass of the spring. It was the biggest of 3 I caught on a buzz bait, if that means anything to you. When I started to leave the ponds I was fishing in, I noticed a rather large dead fish in the water up on the bank.

Like any good pseudo-redneck I took a stick (not my hands) and pulled the bass out of the water. Judging by the head, size of mouth, and remaining flesh (most was eaten away) it was probably a 4-6 pounder (pre-chewage of course).

Upon further inspection, because it looked healthy (no diseased spots), I noticed the crazy part. Inside of its mouth, lodged sideways was a fully intact brim. Apparently this fish (wish I really wish I had caught, pre-chewed of course) choked to death on this little fish. A healthy fish that size doesn’t just die mid-meal. And it isn’t like there are sharks in the water to snatch him like he snatched that brim. Diagnosis: bit off more than he could chew.

(the fish on the right, also dead, is the one that choked the big fella)

Being in ministry, I immediately related this to church ministry. Way too often Full time, part time, and volunteer church leaders bite off more than they can chew in ministry, get it lodged sideways in their lives and spiritually choke to death on it. That is exactly what happens when

• pastors burn-out
• wives give up on their ministerial husbands
• children look for leadership/guidance/love from others who aren’t as busy as their mom or dad
• great volunteers step aside because ministry is taking over life
• all sorts of relationships suffer

When you are in ministry in ANY CAPACITY you have to limit how much you will take on, even if this ticks people off because they think you should be doing more. One thing I resolved to do before ever starting full-time ministry was always focus on my marriage before the church. To always make sure what would be a great ministry decision would also be great for my family. Awesome ministry CAN be a hindrance to a family that wishes you would pay as much attention to it.

My relationship to my wife and future kids is more important to me than any church or ministry I ever serve. Eventually relationships in ministry will fade due to time or leaving a position; students will graduate away form ministry; my own kids someday will marry and move away. After ALL is said and done, I have 2 things: my relationship with Jesus and my relationship with Jennifer. I am never going to be willing to sacrifice either of these for any degree of ministry.

I am not willing to bite off more than I can chew to the detriment of my family. Sadly, too many in ministry have not thought about this, ignore this, or are heading innocently in this direction. I claim to have about 1% of 1% of the answers in life, but one thing I know I did right was to make this resolve after reading this book: Choosing to Cheat, by Andy Stanley. It addresses the fact that, serving in ministry, either your family or your ministry is going to get cheated of your time (actually it is appropriate for ANYONE who has a job and family, not just those in ministry. the 2 WILL collide). There is NO even ground. Both sides will ALWAYS want and expect more of you. Therefore, you better cheat the ministry, because the most important role you will ever hold is that of husband, wife, mother or father. If you fail at those yet succeed in ministry, you are fooling yourself. To fail your family is to fail everything.

Nothing impresses me more than to see/hear someone in ministry use a church members most dreaded word: NO! for the sake of his/her family. You have won me over if you resolve to do less and quit biting off more and more so your family doesn’t suffer.

By the way, if you can’t appreciate the fact that a pastor turned down your ministry idea/request because he didn’t want to be away from his family more than he already is, get over it! You are WRONG! If you get ticked off at him for that you don’t deserve a leader like that. Anyways, quit being lazy and go head up that ministry idea yourself! You must realize that while cramming more and more fish in his mouth you are choking him spiritually and choking his family as well.

If you love those who serve you in ministry, I would heavily recommend buying this book for them, even if they have a great balance between the two. It could never hurt to read this book. PLUS it is a tiny book that you could read in a day or two. I could read it in a day or two and I have the attention span of a 10 year old on the verge of a Halloween candy coma. Anyone can read this and learn from it. Just spend a few bucks, buying your leader(s) a used copy, hand it over and say “I love and appreciate you!” Just tell them a very skilled angler told you to…

Since this blog is already WAAAAAYYYYYYYYY too long, I’ll hold off on the fact that the fish the big bass tried to eat and choked on also didn’t make it….hmmmmmm…..maybe later we’ll discuss that….hmmmmmm…..

The blog hit 20,000 views today! I thought I would celebrate with my 225th post.  I feel much more special today than I did yesterday.

An enormous thanks to all of my regulars for making this day possible. My mom, my mother-in-law, my wife, Pam Jones, all the people who keep up with me in case I say something controversial, … , … well that’s pretty much everybody. There are more of course and I appreciate you all!  Thanks everybody!

Abby informed me that my blog has sucked over the past week, and I agree, so here’s to another 20,000 and an even better next week!

On a much more joyous and serious note, today is Easter, and I think I’m more in awe today of the fact Jesus came to die for me than ever before.  He died to save me from myself, dead in sin, and called me not to excellence (because too many people just strive for excellence which leads to stopping short) but to obedience.  I owe Him absolutely nothing less than pure obedience.  Happy Easter!

(I KNOW its long, but please read!)

Jennifer and I were hanging out with my grandparents a couple weeks back, and Papa, my grandfather shared one of his Army stories. I was really surprised that after all of these years I had never heard this story.

From the Army base he was stationed at, 3 companies, his included, got shipped across the globe. One was shipped to the Philippines, another to Japan, and his to…Wisconsin?

Yes, Wisconsin. I thought maybe he was confused and meant someplace crazy like Cambodia, The Congo, or Ukraine. No, he was shipped to freezing cold Wisconsin, the coldest place he’s ever been.

He went on to say that each day his company had certain clothes they had to wear. This was not optional. They would be in a serious mess if they were caught out of dress code for the day. For months they wore different layers of clothing each day. Some days they were told to wear rather light clothes in that bitter cold. He couldn’t understand why they were sent there of all places on the map, especially with the other companies going to such exotic places. BUT it was his job so he did it anyway.

Shortly after his time freezing his tail off in cheeseville, the Korean War began. All the while, the seemingly useless time he spent trying on different outfits was to prepare troops for the equally cold Korean weather. Papa’s company constantly had to report which clothes kept them the warmest and which did not; which they preferred over the others. The Army took this data and sent the perfect clothes for harsh cold with our troops.

My grandfather had no idea what purpose he was serving, but he went on serving anyway. He could have whined and complained about where he got shipped or about his boring assignment, but he only did what was expected of him. He realized it wasn’t all about what he wanted; it wasn’t about him at all! It was ALL about serving his country in whatever capacity it so chose.

Following Jesus is absolutely NO different:

• It is NOT about us (Christians)
• We CAN’T worry about the lives other Christians have, but rather what we can do for God
• We shouldn’t whine or complain about the spot we’re in
• Selfishness is not an option
• Disobeying orders is NOT acceptable and WILL be accounted for
• We are called to SERVE regardless, no matter WHAT
• It might take a long time to see God’s purpose behind the way He uses us
• We might NEVER know why we served God and others the way we did
• Just shut up and do your job, Christian!

Did you hear that archaeologists unearthed what they believe to be the original record of the book of Acts that Luke wrote for Theophilus?  This is huge news!  Thanks Matt for the info.  One of the biggest differences in translation they have found is chapter 2, verses 42-47.  Here is the translation we are used to if you would like to re-cap. 

Here is what they believe to be a more correct translation.  It just so happens to be more fitting with today’s church too! Even better.

“All the believers were divided; they didn’t have much of anything in common, and they didn’t really want more out of their pastor than a warm body. Hoarding their possessions and goods they kept as much as they could for themselves. Every now and then, if it wasn’t football season and they weren’t tired, they would come to church for an hour (and leave early to beat the traffic). They loved Jesus when it was convenient for them. Yet they were despised by people for their hypocrisy and very few people got saved.”

***(If you failed to pick up on the sarcasm in this post, please do not call or email me insisting I am a heretic.  Simply re-read the above with said sarcastic humor in mind.  Also, please read the actual text as well, for added effect.  Thank you.  )

Sunday night is one of two final meetings with my students.  We’re doing a 2 part series called i resolve.  Not iResolve, as if I was clever to mimic iPod along with about 5,800 other Christian leaders…

It is January-the start of a new year.  Everyone is making resolutions and breaking resolutions (minus myself of course).  What if we quit making dumb, unattainable, irrelevant resolutions, and began resolving to honor God more thoroughly with our lives?  What if we resolved to make serious changes in our lives this year that brought us closer to our King? 

Some people make lists of resolutions that are so unimportant and never make it past a couple of months.  What if we resolved to make one change in our lives to become more like Christ each month?  That’s 12 in a year, and 12 positive steps you haven’t taken yet.  So Sunday night we’re going to get serious about resolving to seek God’s help to change our lives into lives that honor and work for Him. 

Join us @ 6:00 this Sunday

I have decided there is a new disorder plaguing many people called “Sleepy-Tail Syndrome.”  It primarily affects Christians and occurs when we sit around on our hands waiting for God to give us a big word about what to do with our lives.  Symptoms include comments from the individual like “I’m just waiting to hear God’s will,” or “I don’t feel a peace about that.”  Side effects are typically tiredness, swelling of stress and confusion, lack of prayer, and a rear end that has fallen asleep from being sat upon too long.

Ever had sleepy-tail syndrome?  I have been studying through the Book of Acts for a while now and I have found a man who never had this disorder: the Apostle Paul.  I am always blown away with him the more and more I read his teaching and about his journeys.  If you go and look at the 3 missionary journeys, Paul never sat around and waited for God to tell him what to do.  He devised a logical plan to share the Gospel of Jesus with people, and then he went and did it.  For example, as the first missionary journey began, Acts 13:4 tells us the Holy Spirit SENT them out.  That word sent means “to set free; release.”  Luke doesn’t record that God, with a booming voice, shouted “Paul! Go down to Seleucia and sail to Cyprus.  Begin your mission there!”  Paul just decided to take action and made a logical decision.  Everyone throughout the world at that point needed Jesus! (and they still do…)

Another example: as the 2nd journey began in Acts 15, verse 36 says “After some days Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the Word of the Lord, and see how they are.”  They just decided one day to return to the stops they made on the first journey, and continue to minister to those new Christians.  It didn’t take a sign from God to go do ministry.  They knew their purpose was to spread the Gospel, and they were all about doing that very thing!

On that very same journey (ch. 16), they tried to go to a couple of spots to share the Gospel and God directly stopped them.  We don’t have details of how, but we know He didn’t permit them to go certain places.  What did they do then?  They didn’t stop and wait for a new direction from God, they went about their journey.  They obviously trusted God would honor their desire to share truth with people, and that if God desired a detour, He would let them know about it (as He did).

Still in that chapter, with the Macedonian vision, I feel God was confirming their plan from the start to go to Macedonia.  If you study the geography of the area and the roadways and routes, they were obviously already heading that way.  They were taking a popular route to hit all of the important cities, sharing the same Gospel with whoever they encountered. 

I heard Louie Giglio say in a video the other day, concerning people desperate to find God’s will for their life, “What if you changed the question from ‘What is God’s will for my life?’ to ‘What is God’s will?’”

 It is clear to me which one of those Paul was asking.  He asked “What is your will God?”  God and His Word responded “That every man and woman would know Me.”  So Paul went and tackled that task at full speed. 

Do you ever struggle with getting the specifics of your future from God?  Maybe it is right in front of you, and you could see it if you just asked what is God’s will in general.   If you pick the wrong path, but you’re truly seeking Him, I believe God is big enough to stop you.  I also think we can’t out-dream God.  But what do you think He is most honored by?  A person trying to decide what direction God wants Him to take, or a person who has decided to go outside of the box and be a servant to people in need of Jesus?

If your back-side is asleep, as I’m sure everyone’s has been at some time, you could start by standing up, and then maybe look to Paul and God’s Word for some direction on GOING, and not just Waiting until you know WHERE to go.  Some people may be waiting a long time while the naked, hungry, thirsty and poor come to their front door looking for help, and are turned away. 

I went to this amazing pastor’s conference yesterday in Burlington, NC called Wired 2 Grow.  It was sponsored by the NC Baptist state convention and hosted by Integrity Church.  Rick McKinley, founding and lead pastor at Imago Dei church in Portland, OR was the keynote speaker.  This guy was awesome-I took about 8 pages of notes. 

He taught a ton about what things the Church must shift in order to stay relevant to culture, missional in reaching people, theologically sound, and spiritually healthy.  All of these things are necessities in the Church and NONE can be sacrificed for the sake of another.  They call for a beautiful marriage that you know is possible just by looking at the very first church. 

One thing (among many) that stuck out to me is just how critical it is for the Body of Christ, that is all Christians, to be reaching out to the people God has naturally put in our lives: co-workers, friends, neighbors, customers, clients, family members, etc.  And we can’t just be trying to get these people to come to church like a used-car salesman.  We must be investing in their lives and developing a genuine relationship, even if years pass before they ever step into a church.  God wants to change our nation, person by person, through Christians who are committed to showing these very people Jesus’ love. 

How can we define “church?”  If I desire to know how to learn a new technology, I need only ask the man who created it.  If I desire to understand a certain type of sports scheme, I need only ask the coach who devised it.  If I want to know what the Church should look like, I need only go to the first Christian church found in the Book of Acts.  There is no better way to answer this question than to look at the church in it’s beginning state and at it’s purest. 

Here is the account of the very first church in the inspired Word of God, which today’s Church should be modelled after:

“So then, those who had received his word (the Gospel) were baptized; and that day there were added about 3,000 souls.  They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.  And all those who believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.  Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.  And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”  ~Acts 2:41-47

That is what the Church, Christ’s Body, should look like.  Joyous, Selfless, Faithful, Loving, Committed to Jesus, and Him alone. 

I asked myself a tough question this morning, relating to what I taught in last night’s AMPED meeting.  I taught through Matthew 24 where Jesus Himself is teaching about His return (the Rapture) for the Church.  He compares it to a servant working for his master.  The servant will either be caught doing his job or slacking off miserably.  Either way, he will be caught, because the master will return at an hour unexpected.  Our life is the same: we have a job and our Master could return at anytime.  How are we responding to His imminent return?

That was the tough question I asked the students last night, but not myself this morning (they responded well by the way, with a call to action!).  We talked about getting serious about our faith and getting in the game now, because there is no time to waste.  Jesus is coming back and we have a lot of work to do as Christians!  The tough question I asked myself as I thought through all of this this morning: “If I died today, would the Kingdom of God miss me?  Would the Cause of Christ take a hit in production?”  I had to answer that question with a resounding NO! 

I’m not doing nearly enough (not that any of us can ever reach a point that is enough.  we can proceed a lot further than “not enough” though…).  When I’m gone from this earth, I want to be a huge loss for the Kingdom of God, not out of arrogance, but due to the fact that Christ deserves nothing less!  He deserves the life of every Christian to be EXCELLENT and full of good works in response to His Sacrifice.  Are we responding to that Sacrifice with everything we have? or are we displaying His blood was shed for us in vain? 

The time is now to get moving for the Cause of Christ!  I resolve to do whatever it takes to be a better husband, leader, pastor, example, witness, and Christian.  It takes action; it takes a lot of sacrifice!  However, I’m trying to always remind myself of this, my life doesn’t belong to me.  Jesus bought me and at a very heavy price.  I have no business not giving Him my all!  I’m ready to get in the game!  Who’s with me?

“You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.” -1 Cor. 7:23