Why do they come?

I had the chance a few months back to attend a rather large youth group in Birmingham, Alabama and there were literally thousands of kids. Everything was amazing and I noticed a whole lot of interaction. I thought to myself, why do they come? After forming the same ole’ answers as usual, I thought it through a little more and I believe I came up with a slightly different perspective on the question. There are many awesome ministries in the world and I have been to some that are full and some that are not. I must admit, some of the non-full ministries we’re just as good to attend as the full ones. Which lead me to this certain view on the subject…

There are fewer people coming to church for the simple reason of meeting God. Most are truthfully coming because of their friends, social interaction or to possibly “meet someone”. A recent poll states that 53% of people go to church because of the simple fact, “People care for each other”, to the 37% who go to church for the “Sensation God was there”. This statistic is startling to most tenured church folk and would be considered to be a reasonable candidate for a stern revival and John the baptist outpouring to the world around them.

But before you form an opinion, I have my own thought…

As a minister, I would urge you to categorize this stat as a mere oversight & not give it too much attention. I mean, if you are in fact operating in your point of passion, the reason one comes to church is moot. Whether a person is coming to church to meet God or to have the best coffee in town should not concern you too much. Its like selling your home at top dollar at your open house, but being overly upset the buyer didn’t eat any of your hors d’oeuvres. Just let them buy the house & don’t ruin it by freaking out over a systematic feature of the process. The reason for all the why’s and extra’s are for the sole purpose of the “sale”.

When a person comes to church, not for God, but for their uncontrollable need to fit in or to make a great impression on other people or for any other reason for that matter, they will in fact, sit and listen to the speaker out of pure tradition. Some even looking forward to the two words “In closing…” just so they can talk, flirt, mingle and impress once again after the message. BUT if the speaker is truly speaking the correct message, that is the message of Christ, the message that connects them to Jesus and meets the listener on a level they can comprehend and understand, then there is a strong possibility that the motive for their arrival may indeed be viewed in a completely different perspective than that of which they came in. If we, the speaker, speak from that of an ambassador of God and not so much as a defender of God to the unbeliever, you will find out that the reception will be much greater & I am pretty sure that they will invite their friends. Who will in turn come because of their friends. Get it? Through all of this, the goal found in Luke 19:10 is actually coming to fruition.

In closing…Once the listener discovers that the bible says “I call you friends”, they find they were right all along. They did come for their friend…they just didn’t realize they would meet a new friend that goes by the name of Jesus at the event. The reason they come is of very little importance. The condition in which they leave however, is.

- Corey

Encouraging Terrell Owens.

This morning, I was checking out some articles online and ran across one about football star, Terrell Owens. The article can be found here. I encourage you to read it before going any further.

After reading it, I felt the Lord really lay it upon my heart to encourage him. For some reason, Terrell Owens has always been someone who I have had compassion for. I just believe there are people in our lives that God has somewhat “assigned” to us and we should pray for them and encourage them every chance we get.

It’s easy to ridicule and scrutinize famous people for their decisions and we are all guilty of it (myself included), but what if, instead of the world criticizing those who live in the limelight, we prayed for them, spoke good things over them and encouraged them? That is what I believe the Lord had intented for me to do this morning, so I did it in the form of the video below.

Maybe today, you can think of someone who has been going through some rough times and could use a friend or encouraging word. Just step out, pick up the phone, or fire up the camera and speak positive words and encouragement into their life.

Be blessed everyone!

Christians, How are we treating the unsaved?

The bible says in Colossians 1:16 that by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

So it is safe to say, that all people, good or bad, were created by God. Now we have established that our creator has created us all, but as we learn from the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, not all of us are being GOOD family members and honoring our father in heaven. Not all of us have accepted Jesus and the amazing sacrifice He gave for us.

The thing I see often in Christianity is the ‘good’ kids (saved) treating the ‘bad’ kids (unsaved) with disrespect, judgment and a sort of bratty, superiority complex. Now as Christians (‘good’ kids), it’s our job to set a good example for the ‘bad’ kids and show them who our father really is. Not by telling or demanding they do certain things, but by treating them with respect and not being ‘high and mighty’ and looking ‘DOWN’ on them. (By the way, by no means am I saying the unsaved are bad or bad kids, I am just displaying an illustration. Anyways…)

For example, I was peeking in on my 3-year-old daughter the other day while she was watching movies & eating popcorn in her room and my 1-year-old daughter was sitting with her. Both were calm and quite. The 3-year-old, Presley was dazed at the wonders of Dora the Explorer as the 1- year-old, Reese was dazed at the wonders of Presley eating each individual popcorn piece. Typically, Presley would yank away the popcorn and tell Reese, “NO!” and try to keep all the popcorn for herself, but this day was different. Presley had no idea I was watching, but every time Reese would want a bite, Presley would ever so gently and nicely take a piece of popcorn and feed it to Reese every time she asked and they continued this for a bit while enjoying there show.

As the father of Presley and Reese, this warmed my heart so much to see Presley treating her sister so well without my constant reminding of how to treat her younger sister. I was seriously almost to tears as to how gently and generous Presley was being to Reese that day.

You see, Presley is older. She knows the rules. She knows she is supposed to be nice and treat others with respect and share with her sister, she knows what I as her father, expect from her. In this instance, she is the “SAVED CHRISTIAN” – And Reese is just a baby, she can’t talk good, walk good, she doesn’t know my heart as her father more than Presley because of the simple fact that she is just not as old as Presley. She only cares for her needs as babies should, like bottle, binky, sleepy and poopy! She would represent the “NON/UNSAVED CHRISTIAN”

If we could just take this real life example and treat our fellow unsaved humans with a little gentleness and respect, they would be so much more trusting towards you and Christianity. They would learn quicker and respect their true father so much more. So I would like to encourage you to have patience with those who are living life without Jesus and treat them with respect and gentleness all the while slowly feeding them the message that is the gospel; the true reflection of their true father. Once you have established an EQUAL & GENUINE friendship with the lost, they would not be so quick to shun you once the topic of Jesus comes up, rather they would trust the messenger so much more and would be more open to coming to your church, small group or christian organization.

Enjoy The Adventure.

Let’s take a second and think of some our favorite fictional characters who had great adventures. Indiana Jones, Luke Skywalker, Forrest Gump, Frodo Baggins, Rudy….wait, Rudy’s real!? Even better! I am sure you can think of many more, but did any of these HEROES have rum dum lives with no trials or huge problems? Heck no! Indiana was always dodging near death experiences, Luke didn’t even know his place in the world, Forrest was just going with the flow, Frodo was on the run 24/7, and Rudy was always looked at as a nobody!…BUT each one of them stayed true to themselves. They considered all hardship as an adventure! Sure, they quit a few times, made mistakes along the way, but in the end…they we’re steadfast. They kept on going, they stayed patient & knew if they stayed the course, the ultimate goal would be reached! They changed their perspective from seeing their life as filled with problems, to a life filled with adventure!

Are you going through real hard times right now? Truth is, I am and I am sure you are too. Sometimes a change of perspective is all we need! I know it’s tough, but together we can make the change. In the bible (Genesis 37-47), a man named Joseph was betrayed, sold into slavery, betrayed again, & thrown into prison over a span of many years! All this after having a good childhood and a big dream. I imagine he was wondering a ton of stuff like, are these dreams really worth all this? Do I even matter? What is the point? Or most importantly, Where is God in all this? Eventually he was made into a ruler of a nation in the end & had a VERY happy ending with a loving family, abundant wealth, a sweet job and great friendships. Through it all, he stayed patient, true to his character & true to his God. We (myself included) are constantly wanting things NOW! We all want a happy family, wealth, security, love and to skip all the trouble it takes to create it. For me, I just simply want to come home everyday with a smile on my face. Well, those kind of things and characteristics don’t happen over night, and that is how God  intended it. He loves us so much, he grows us slowly for our own good. Imagine if we got everything we wanted overnight? Would we really value anything? Nothing GREAT in life ever came instantly, it’s all birthed through time, patience, character & love. Joseph was on an incredible adventure and at some point, he realized it. He believed in the process and enjoyed the adventure.

Again, I know it’s tough, but let me encourage you to stay strong, friends! Enjoy the Adventure!

You Are First Class.

Everyone in this world is different, there is no one that is exactly the same. We look different than one another, we talk different and there is no other like you.

The Bible says in Psalm 139.14 that we are fearfully & wonderfully made. 

This word FEARFULLY means “to be afraid, or stand in awe”!!!!

Wow!!! So many times I have read this scripture and just focused so much on the ‘Wonderfully’ part. This time I was thinking, what does God mean when he made us fearfully? Now that I know it means “to stand in awe”, it brings new meaning to how much God really loves us and how valuable we all are. When God made you, HE WAS IN AWE of you!…and he still is! You are HIS creation! His masterpiece!!!! He is proud of his work

And the word wonderfully in this scripture means “to distinguish or to be set apart”

When God made you, he set you apart, he made you different…Sort of like FIRST CLASS on an airplane. When you have a FIRST CLASS ticket on an airplane. You get to go on first, sit in the best seats, eat the best food and when they step on the plane…people notice you. They notice you are different. Different in a way that they wish they were. They notice your confidence, your presence and wonder about you and they want to be where you are. When we are set apart by God and we know it and act like it. We are in his first class seat.

We are all trying to fit in somewhere.

We all want to be accepted.

Some of even us cry at night because we feel so unaccepted by our peers, friends or maybe you don’t feel accepted by people in your church.

I want to tell you that most of what you are feeling is a lie. It’s your insecurity that is bubbling up inside of you constantly saying “YOUR WORTHLESS, YOUR USELESS, NOBODY LIKES YOU, YOU WILL NEVER MAKE ANYTHING OF YOURSELF, YOU CANT, YOU WONT…”

Then there is the other person who says “I don’t care what other people think about me”…and most of the time, they are the most hurt of all.

When people tell me “I don’t care what people think about me”, I know that is not true. Most of the time when people say that, they have basically given up on life because someone has severely hurt them or they have just given up fully to this lie that they are worthless.

You see, we ALL deal with this. ALL OF US. YOU, ME, EVERYONE. Nobody has it all together. The truth is, you have been hurt, tossed around, made fun of, teased or something worse.

BUT GOD is here to tell you that today, that YOU can change this. TODAY!!!! He wants you to know that you are FIRST CLASS in his book. You are fearfully and wonderfully made!!!!!

You see, I have the answer for you. I have figured out the root of this entire lie. The root of the whole problem…I have found the reason that you feel so unaccepted and worthless so many times in your life. I have found the reason…and that reason is YOU.

Great quote >>> “You want society to accept you. But you can’t even accept yourself.”

Some of us have been so unwilling to accept ourselves, that we have sacrificed who we really are to be this unreachable goal of being “normal”, we all seem to want to be “normal”!

Another great quote >>> “If you’re using half your concentration to look normal, then you’re only half paying attention to whatever else you’re doing.”

What are you doing? Sometimes we lose focus on what really matters because we are so busy focusing on fitting in with this big stupid, insecure world. Don’t you know everyone you see is doing the same thing? They put on big faces and use big words to impress at the expense of who they really are.

I want to encourage you to be YOU! When you have confidence in who you are, people will follow you and you will love who you are.

There is only one you! That is who people want to see!

Romans 8:19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.

So lets begin today to accept who God made us to be. Fearfully and wonderfully made.

 

Four Random Words.

I am a proud father of two wonderful daughters, Presley & Reese. There are times when my oldest daughter (Presley, 4) runs up to me and says four amazing & completely random words, “I love you, Daddy”. When I hear her say that to me, it warms my heart to no end. It is the greatest feeling in the whole world and makes my days so much better. The fact that she got the idea to stop whatever she was doing and come make sure that I knew she loved me is an indescribable feeling.

Sometimes when its time for bed, or I am leaving for work, my wife will tell Presley, “Give Daddy a kiss tell him you love him”. Then Presley runs over and gives me a hug and kiss, tells me she loves me and heads to bed or I go to work. While this is good and wonderful to receive from her, it pales in comparison to the random choice of my daughter to run to her daddy and say, “I love you, Daddy”

We often hear our pastor, spouse, worship leader or whomever to “tell God he’s worthy, tell Him you love him, worship Him, Lift your hands to Him” etc.…which are all great things & I am sure the Lord loves to hear it…but again, it has to pale in comparison to when he hears you randomly, from your own free will, say “I love you, Daddy”

…and with that, I will not tell you or ask you to tell Him you love him, but rather leave that up to you. Have a blessed day.

Fight For Time.

I have been going through really rough time, not praying much, feeling distant from God, and really needing answers. I knew I needed to approach God in prayer, but didn’t for one reason or another. Whether it be because of fear, anger, offense, depression or laziness, I am not sure. My Wife, Pastor, friends said & always say, “just take some time & pray to get closer to God. He’ll direct you and he’ll know what to do.”  True story, I didn’t like hearing it all the time, but the truth is the truth no matter what.

•  It’s like siblings in a family. Maybe one sibling is being bad and gets themselves into trouble or is having a tough time, but doesn’t want to approach Dad about it. Other sibling says, “just talk to Dad….He’ll know what to do, he will help you.” Sound familiar? 
  Finally, the troubled sibling talks to Dad and the whole time Dad already knew what was going on & was waiting for him to come to him. You see, Dad didn’t want to be the kind of overbearing Dad and always be picking off his child’s bad deeds. He wanted to help his child when he/she wanted to be helped.

Same with God. He wants to help! He knows what we are all going through, but refuses to meddle and interfere with us until we ask for His help. What kind of life would it be if every time we mess up, he was all up on’s and ‘striking’ us down. God is so loving, He waits for you. He loves you too much to be the reason you’re unhappy. He very much hates to see you hurting so badly & so distant from Him. He could care less of what you did wrong in your life, he just wants to help you, love you & take care of you. The only way to get the help you need, is to go to Him. I know, it’s not easy and I can’t give you a magic formula of how to snap out of your funk and literally speak to God, but you just gotta find a way. He will do the rest. I will however, be praying for all who read this and I encourage others to do the same. We take prayer time for granted so much like it’s this easy to do thing, but to be honest, the time we take to pray must be fought for. Fight for your time with Him. He’s worth it. You’re worth it.

I’ll tell you this, I am participant right now of this lesson and am currently fighting off the many distractions to pray and seek my Dad’s wisdom. Let’s fight for time together. He wants to help.

God cares about your nostrils.

How’s life going for you? Please take a moment and take a   deep breath, Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid said it best…in  through the nose, out the mouth. Sometimes we just need to take a moment and take some deep breaths. Did you know that when life was created on earth that life was breathed into you? Of course you did…but do you remember the body part it came in?

Yep, your nostrils! Pretty weird, huh? Read it in the bible here:

Matthew 2:7 (NLT) Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

When I read this, I thought it was cool that the bible narrowed it down to the nostrils. I mean, why do we need to know this? To be honest, I am not sure. Im not gonna the kind of Pastor who thinks I know every secret of the bible. But I will say that I do feel better when I take a deep breath in through my nostrils and out through my mouth. So lets do that today. Stop what you are doing, set your mind on the Lord, thank Him for life and take the BEST deep breath you have ever taken. I am pretty sure you’ll feel better. Let me know how it goes in the comments below!

Escape from Zombieland

Below is a blog post I wrote after watching an AWESOME sermon from ONE* church in Spokane, WA titled, “Escape from Zombieland”.  I have included the video message at the bottom as well. I hope it blesses you as much as it did me. I love when church gets creative!!!

Escape from Zombieland

If you ever have seen a Zombie movie or show on TV, you notice that a typical zombie is somebody that has no control over their life. They walk aimlessly forward looking for anything and everything they can eat to satisfy their hunger. A zombie does not care for anything or anybody.

Zombies are real. They exist in the world and they also exist in the church. I am not talking about the movie type zombies that I was speaking about above, because that is just make believe. But there are a lot we can learn about ourselves from the movie zombies we see on the big screen. If you have found yourself aimlessly walking towards things that are selfish and feel like you are going nowhere, you might need to Escape From Zombieland.

Before you can escape you should know a little about how a zombie is created.

• Zombies are created by an infectious disease. The real zombies of this world were hit with this infection thousands of years ago in the Garden of Eden. Sin was the infection and the moment Adam & Eve took the forbidden fruit, they were zombified. Generations and generations after them were born into the world with this zombie infection called sin (Romans 5:12).  Before we accept Christ, we are after one thing, our own selfish desires.

Now how to escape from Zombieland!

• There is a cure. Our God who created us, created us to be amazing and wonderful human beings, not zombies. Unfortunately, we were zombified. But our creator, God in heaven, loved us so much he sent a cure. That cure is his son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16). The only thing we have to do is accept this cure and inject it into our heart. Once the cure is injected, you are no longer a zombie (1 Cor 15:22)

• Have you taken the cure, but still feel like a zombie? Well, all that you need to do is snap out of it! You are saved! You are free! Don’t be consumed with the world around you and act like the Zombies you see every day. You are different! Sometimes after being cured by an infectious disease, we find that the symptoms still exist, but only in our mind. If you live with something long enough, the actions you take after you are cured are sort of like bad habits. My advice to you would be to recognize what those are and ask God to help you overcome those habits every single day. If you are serious about overcoming them, God will see you through. BUT MAKE SURE YOU KNOW THIS…YOU ARE CURED! YOU ARE NO LONGER A ZOMBIE!!!

Share the Zombie Cure

• YOU have been given an unlimited supply of this zombie cure you received & I encourage you to give to all your friends, family and co-workers! Give it away and set people free!

The source of strength.

• “Things like radical generosity and audacious faith are not produced when we focus on them, but when we focus on the gospel. Focusing on what we ought to do for God creates only frustration and exhaustion; focusing on what Jesus has done for us produces abundant fruit. Resting in what Jesus has done for us releases the revolutionary power of the gospel.”

The paragraph above was taken from an article I read last week and it was exactly what I and probably most minsters need to hear. In my world, the biggest hurdle sometimes is sheer exhaustion from doing things in the church. Sometimes as a minister, we lose complete focus on WHY we are doing what we are doing and we begin to do only to do. We begin doing the things we are doing in the ministry only because that is what we “HAVE” to do and THAT very thought will destroy the soul of a human being.

• The bible says in Galatians 6:9 – Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

So how can one become weary in well doing if they are doing good? Easy! It’s when we lose focus on our personal relationship with God and start to do “ministry” and “church” within our own abilities…..But if we FOCUS on what HE did, we begin to find that joy again and all the so called “work” becomes a mission and a complete satisfaction to our lives. THE JOY OF THE LORD IS OUR STRENGTH as the famous Psalm says. When we realize every day the wonderful thing that Jesus did for us, all the work, the ministry and the church becomes a beautiful work of the Lord and you are able to go forward with joy and happiness, not heaviness and despair.

So its all a matter of perspective. Are we tired and burdened of the Lords work or are we overjoyed with what he has done for us? Be honest with yourself and step back for a moment. If you find yourself burdened and heavy, make sure you look to him and realize the wonderful things he has done for you. Because when you finally do see it, the joy of God will come over you and give you the strength to do anything!