TRUSTWORTHY SAYINGS

Happy New Year - No Fear in the New Year

2012-01-03T14:21:00.004-05:00

This past Sunday was January 1, 2012. AT NRN we held a family worship service to begin the New Year. I received several encouraging comments about my message and thought I would post some of the text of my message in this first posting of 2012.

No Fear in the New Year
Isaiah 43: 1-7; 18-19
Jeremiah 18:1-6
Ecclesiastes 11:3

A New Year is simply a change on the calendar – but today could serve as a time of change.
How do you respond to change?
Many people are resistant to change – yet every growing organism changes. That includes you and me.

A lot of times, the way we respond to change is what determines the outcome of
that change. I have also found that being prepared for change, and even embracing change is a key to living the abundant life.

Could 2012 be the year that you need to make a change?
Today’s message is unique in that all the scriptures are from the Old
Testament. The children of Israel needed change, but resisted it. In fact, a
study of Israel shows that the people were wandering. Following the Exodus from Egypt – there were times of great obedience, followed by times of total disobedience. God sent prophets to share His message because the people were in need of a change. They needed to move from dependence upon themselves to dependence upon God.

One of those prophets was Isaiah – who prophesied “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be
called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

Listen to these words from Isaiah Chapter 43: 1-7

But now, this is what the LORD says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you,
Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD your
God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to
the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

You were created for God’s glory! Your life is part of a tapestry of God’s glory.
I know, your part may be a little fuzzy – the colors may not match – but you are
a part of God’s plan to show forth His glory. You are loved by God – and you display God’s glory. God loves you with an everlasting love.

Now, hear from Isaiah 43:18-19: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on
the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive
it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

God brings change that last. That is the message of Christmas – God sent his only Son to save us and change our lives forever. This is the perfect God – molding us into Himself. God loves you – you are his son and daughter.

Is 2012 the year that you need a change? Will you grow in your…
Patience; Love for others; generosity; worry less; be more joyful; stop that bad habit; how you talk to your spouse or other people? Sometimes, change is uncomfortable.

Isaiah’s message was also:
You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the
clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing”? Isaiah 29:16

Change is hard – scary – fearful – but I say to you – Fear NOT!

Isaiah also said: Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.Isaiah 64:8

Listen to the account of Jeremiah the prophet (Jeremiah 18:1-6)

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.

Do you remember playing with clay or playdoh when you were little? You could mold it and reform to make whatever shape pleased you, until it dried out and got hard. Once it became hard trying to reshape it just caused it to crumble and fall apart. God tries to do the same for us, reshaping us into something pleasing to Him, unless we harden our hearts and make ourselves unable to take on the new shape that He desires. Are you permitting God to use you or mold you into the instrument, device or pottery that will give honor to God?

CLIP: New Year’s Transformation

A few questions:
· What do you need to leave behind?
· What change do you need to make?
· What failures do you need to forget?
· What disciplines do you need to develop?
· What grudge do you need to release?
· What burdens do you need to give back to God?
· Do you need to trust God more in the New Year?
· What does God want you to do?

And - this is my New Year prayer for all my friends:

May God grant your heart’s desires and make all your plans succeed. May we shout for joy when we hear of your victory and raise a victory banner in the name of our God. May the Lord answer all your prayers. Psalm 20:4-5

Preparing for Sunday Jan 1 2012

2011-12-31T20:00:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow is January 1, 2012. As I have prepared for the worship experience at NRN I have felt a change on my message. I will still speak about No Fear in the New Year however, God has laid several passages of Scripture upon my heart to share. One thing unique is that all the Scriptures tomorrow will be from the Old Testament.

We will begin with a great time of worship in song before the Lord. Here is the worship set for the first Sunday of 2012:

One more thing about tomorrow. I have had the message for Sunday prepared for several weeks. When God spoke to my heart about a needed change it was following a visit to Duke Medical Center to sit with Al Taylor a few hours before his precious Mary escaped this world and went to her heavenly reward. I came home that night and totally changed my message. The next day, a response came via email from the person I wanted to sing before my message on Sunday. She had no idea of the change in my message but told me the song she plans to sing. It was the confirmation from God that I has made the right decision about my message. Here is the song she plans to sing:

The worship experience for Sunday January 1, 2012 will be at 10am at NRN!

No Fear in the New Year

2011-12-29T16:19:00.005-05:00

As I prepare the first Sunday of 2012, I am praying, and working on my message entitled

No Fear in the New Year. This is the final message in the teaching series - A Fearless Christmas.

I am really looking forward to a great time of worship and then to bring my message.

The New Year's Day Family Service at NRN will begin at 10am.

Since I have received several emails about my last posting - I thought I would share one more worship song - Chipmunk style. Enjoy....

Chipmunk Style

2011-12-28T22:59:00.002-05:00

Over the past few days Sharron and I have spent time with family and having a great time. Now home - Alyse and Breeley are with us. Today we stopped at a McDonalds for short break and I purchased some chocolate milk for the girls. The friendly person behind the counter also gave us two items from the "kid's meal" featuring the Chipmunks.

I could not help but think of one of my favorite songs from Alvin and the Chipmunks. You may be surprised...

What do you think?

Daily Advent Devotional for Nov. 29 2011

2011-11-29T13:49:00.003-05:00

Each year I begin my Advent Celebration with daily devotions for a trusted source. I want to share these with you to enhance your Christmas Season. I hope you will join me often during the next 27 days as we share our daily Advent devotionals:

Your Daily Advent Devotional
November 29, 2011

The Genealogy of Jesus

Matthew 1:1-17

An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah....

My Great Aunt, Celia Belle Yoder, keeps our family history. She's ninety-five years old but sharp as a tack and shows no signs of slowing down. I went to visit her a few weeks ago. We spent an hour together as she walked me through our family genealogy. She's a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and she can trace our family history back at least four hundred years. She tells me of well-known circuit-riding preachers who started churches a hundred fifty years ago, about Civil War soldiers, and about pioneers on the Oklahoma prairie. She wants me to know who I am and where I came from.

We begin this book of reflections about the stories surrounding the birth of Jesus precisely where Matthew begins the story--with the genealogy of Jesus. Scholars agree that Matthew does not give us a complete genealogy. He gives us just the highlights that he thinks are important. I've included only a portion of the genealogy above, but I would encourage you to read all seventeen verses. Most people just skim them when reading Matthew, but there are important things to notice.

Here are a few of them: First, Matthew's genealogy is a summary of nearly the entire Old Testament, from Genesis 11 to Malachi 4, capturing the stories of the patriarchs, the Israelites' slavery in Egypt, and the exodus from Egypt to the promised land; there is David and Solomon and the divided kingdom, the destruction of Israel and the exile of Judah, and finally the return from exile. Here's the point: Jesus' birth is the climax of this entire story of God's relationship with Israel. Jesus is the end to which the entire biblical story was moving.

It is also often rightly noted that Matthew's account of Jesus' genealogy is nearly unique in that it includes five women. Putting women in a genealogy was not unheard of in the first century, but it was unusual. Who are these women, and what do they tell us about Jesus?

Tamar, the mother of Perez, played the role of a prostitute in order to have children after her husband died. Rahab, listed as the mother of Boaz, was a prostitute when she first entered the biblical story. She was also a foreigner. Then there was Ruth, who, like Tamar, was a widow and, like Rahab, was a foreigner. Bathsheba is mentioned next. She was the wife of Uriah the Hittite, which means that she may have been a foreigner, and she was an adulteress (or the victim of rape) at the hands of King David, after which David had her husband killed. She too was a widow. The last of the women mentioned in the genealogy is Mary, a peasant girl whose life we will examine in greater detail in the next reflection.

When my Aunt Celia Belle tells me our family's history, she describes pioneers, soldiers, and preachers. When Matthew tells Jesus' genealogy he lists two prostitutes and an adulteress, women who were outsiders. Matthew is, in this genealogy, pointing us toward Jesus' identity and mission. Jesus would bring hope to the widow, mercy to the sinner, and good news not just for the Jews, but for all humankind.

Lord, thank you for your love of those whom others see as second class. Thank you for showing mercy to the sinner and compassion to the brokenhearted. As I begin this season of Advent, help me to see you more clearly in the stories surrounding your birth. Amen.

Excerpted from: The Journey: Walking the Road to Bethlehem - Devotional Book
by Adam Hamilton

Trunk and Treat 2011 Revisisted

2011-11-09T14:33:00.012-05:00

On Monday October 31 we held a revised version of Trunk and Treat at our church. Due to the bad weather we were able to move the event into our Worship Center. Special appreciation to Pastor Jordan and wife Alana for making this such a great event. They enjoyed "skating" around during the time with the children.

I also enjoyed watching Jacob Hartsell display his artistic abilities as he took request from children and then carved the pumpkins to their design.

Of course he needed some assistance from three great guys to "hallow" out the pumpkins and prepare them for carving.

I thought you would like to see some of the final work:

Not all of the work was a little "spooky" Someone made a special request. Can you guess what it represents?

You got it!! Pumpkin Pie!

I was amazed by the Mickey Mouse

BOO!

YUK......

What I did not get pictures of was the bounce house and the tables filled with candy and chips. In the foyer a great team of workers came to provide food for the parents. Dave Cogan made a great display of hot dogs with condiments. Mike Stroupe was there with the popcorn machine working overtime. Rodney Rhoades arrived early and the Connection Cafe' provided coffee, cider and other snacks. This event was blessed by many people giving their time and efforts - Thanks!

A man came up to me in the foyer and noticed his young daughter smiling and having a great time. The man commented how much he appreciated the fact that when other churches in the area cancelled their Halloween alternative events, he was so glad that we held such a great and fun event. I am so thankful for those in our church who consistently display a servant spirit.

Trunk N Treat 2011

2011-10-31T00:15:00.002-04:00

Today is Halloween. I am looking forward to Trunk N Treat at NRN this evening.
Here is the info: Monday, Oct. 31, 2011 • 5pm-dark

This is an alternative family event for the Halloween evening. Your kids can get just as much candy right here at the church in a safe environment! People from North Raleigh Nazarene will make available the trunks of their cars to put gobs of wrapped candy. From 5–7:00pm, the kids will go from trunk to trunk gathering treats.

There will also be an inflatable bounce house and some carnival-type games for the children to enjoy. Refreshments and snacks will also be available for all. Free hog dogs and popcorn. Hot coffee for all!

You have seen the light shows for homes at Christmas. Enjoy this expression of Halloween 2011:

Week 2 of the New Testament Challenge

2011-10-15T18:50:00.005-04:00

Our reading and listening schedule this week for the New Testament Challenge takes us to the Gospel of Mark. To add to your time with God I thought you would like a few insights about the book of Mark:

Quick Facts about the Book of Mark:

- Mark is believed to be the earliest of the 4 Gospels. It was written within a few decades of the death of Jesus and in circulation among the early church. It is the earliest account of Jesus’ life that has survived.

- There are sections of Mark that appear almost word for word in both Matthew and Luke (written just a few years later). This leads scholars to believe that both Matthew (one of Jesus’ disciples) and Luke (a doctor who traveled with Paul on some of his missionary journeys) had the Gospel of Mark sitting in front of them and were using it as a reference as they wrote their own Gospels.

- It is believed that Mark is Peter’s account of Jesus’ life and that Mark wrote down the account from listening to Peter tell stories about Jesus (perhaps from Peter’s sermons).

- Mark was the nephew of Barnabas and traveled with Paul and Barnabas on Paul’s first missionary journey. But Mark abandoned the journey. Later when Paul and Barnabas were about to go on a 2nd missionary journey, Barnabas wanted to take Mark, but Paul didn’t. So, Barnabas and Mark went together and Paul and Silas went together. Later on Paul and Mark reconcile and Mark travels with Paul again.

- Mark is the shortest Gospel in length. In fact, there are only 24 verses in all of Mark that don’t also appear somewhere in Matthew or Luke.

- Notice that the Gospel of Mark is all about action. It has fewer of Jesus words, but tells story after story of Jesus in rapid fashion.

- Notice that in Mark the disciples seem to always lack faith and never seem to understand who Jesus is until the very end. Compare that to the blind man Jesus heals in Mark 8:22-26. Note that the blind man can’t see clearly at first…and then later the picture becomes clear. That is a picture of the disciples faith in Mark – gradual.

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Last Sunday I shared about the FREE resource for the New Testament Challenge.
Here is a tutorial on how to best use the CD. I hope it helps:

Preview of the New Testament Challenge

2011-10-12T12:11:00.008-04:00

This past Sunday at NRN we featured BFF Sunday! Barbecue - Friends - Fun !

I was greatly blessed with 9 friends that I had invited to join us. I admit I was disappointed by the number of church family that are usually at church but was not there. The ministry of so many people was outstanding. It was a GREAT day had by all in attendance.

It was also the day I launched the preview message of the new teaching series:

The New Testament Challenge consist of 3 parts:

1) Spend just 28 minutes a day ( 5 days a week) to read/ listen to the portion assigned of the New Testament.

2) Be in church each Sunday of this teaching series ~ or ~ listen to the podcast of the message found on the church website.

3) Allow the Word of God to speak to your heart and life over the next 63 days.

In order to assist you with the challenge - we are providing a FREE CD of dramatized New Testament . This CD is in MP3 format and is part of a listening program designed by Faith Comes By Hearing. You can download the MP3 version of the New Testament onto your computer, iPod, or phone. There is a Bible.is app for your phone. We even provide free iTunes reading guide on iTunes.

If you do not live in the Raleigh, NC area but would like to join us on the journey of the New Testament Challenge - simply provide a comment below and provide me with your contact information.

28 minutes a day - could change your life - forever.

God Bless You!

2011-09-30T11:38:00.004-04:00

GOD BLESS YOU!

The common practice of saying "God bless you" after someone sneezes is a part of American culture.

But it sparked a controversy at a Bay Area high school this week.

Teacher Steve Cuckovich docked his students' scores after they said "bless you" in the middle of class. He says talking of any kind is disruptive and takes time away from class.

Cuckovich teaches health at William C. Wood High School in Vacaville.

"The blessing doesn't make any sense anymore," Cuckovich told the Fox affiliate in Sacramento. "When you sneezed in the old days, they thought you were dispelling evil spirits out of your body. So they were saying, 'God bless you,' for getting rid of evil spirits. But today, what you're doing doesn't really make any sense."

Some parents were furious with the teacher, claiming his rule was anti-religious.
Cuckovich apparently listened to the parents. He says he will no longer deduct points from assignments for the disruption, but he added he will continue to control his classroom.

On Thursday, the district made it first comments on the issue. Superintendent John Niederkorn said that Cuckovich thought the students were sneezing in dramatic fashion with the intent of disrupting class.

"It was brought to the District’s attention a few days ago that students were disciplined for being disruptive in class. The teacher believed that students were dramatically sneezing and responding in repetitive fashion “Bless You”. One of the concerns is the social convention of saying “Gesundheit”, “God Bless You”, or “Bless You” after someone sneezes. Of question is whether a series of these repeated remarks by several students constitutes freedom of speech or a classroom disruption and merits student discipline. Vacaville Unified’s Administration is continuing its investigation of this reported classroom disruption.

We are reviewing the impact of this disruption and the student grading policy. Certainly a blessing by one individual to another after a sneeze is a welcomed acknowledgement of a social norm. Hopefully it is not abused as a disruption of classroom instructional activities." Dr. John Niederkorn, Superintendent.

Neiderkorn's final word on the matter is still to be determined.

By Lori Preuitt
NBCBayArea.com 9/29/2011

A moment of vacation

2011-09-14T11:56:00.003-04:00

The view from our beach house looking over the water.....

Thought you would like a moment of vacation. Just pause and view then relax!

The 2011 Hudgens' Family vacation is underway!

2011-09-10T22:56:00.007-04:00

The 2011 Hudgens' Family Vacation is now underway. We received a last minute phone call from the owner of Dolphin View to let us know the beach house would be available to us earlier than expected. This was a great way to escape and arrive at Topsail Island a day early!

It is so hard to believe that this is our 5th year of family vacations along the North Carolina Coast. The beach house we rent really feels like home. I am always amazed by the beautiful view of the ocean and the calming effect it has.

Tomorrow morning I plan to visit an area church and experience being a first time guest. There are several things on my mind about tomorrow. First is the tenth anniversary of 9/11. On the morning September 11, 2001 Sharron, Danielle and I arrived in Topeka, Ks to begin our time of service as District Superintendent of the Kansas District of the Wesleyan Church. This was a major move for our family. Tomorrow at NRN will be a time of remembrance of the impact of that historical day.

Rev. John Kelley will be preaching at North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene in the morning. I am so fortunate to have such a competent man of God to preach when I am away. John and I have a great bond of ministry. He and his wife Mary began attending our church about one year ago. John served as District Superintendent of the Pennsylvania Conference of the Free Methodist Church before relocating to NC.

Also tomorrow I plan to be in front of the TV to hopefully see the first regular season game of the Washington Redskins. My loyalty as a Redskins fan has been strong for many years.

For His Name's Sake

2011-09-05T23:24:00.003-04:00

I realize my the postings on my blog have been few recently. It is hard to believe that I missed the month of August without a single post. Now I am back and hope to do much better.

This past Sunday as I stood before the church family of NRN I continued in the teaching series through Psalm 23. I did not have it in my preaching notes - but heard myself say " If you want more examples of the importance of the phrase FOR HIS NAME SAKE be sure and check my blog this week. Well, the Lord laid that upon my heart as I preached so I am compelled to post tonight.

Here are some of the words I shared - and as promised - additional verses ...

This is an amazing phrase “For His Name’s Sake.” is used by David right in the middle of Psalm 23. This is the Banner under which everything provided and promised is the Psalm is fully realized. The Lord can’t fully be my Shepherd if my life as a sheep hasn’t been surrendered to His Namesake. His leading, providing, blessing and protecting is only things that come into play when I become completely yielded to Him. So huge is the importance of this compelling phrase that it finds itself not only in the heart of Psalm 23, but throughout the heart of the entire work and will of God.

1 Samuel 12:22 For the LORD will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you His people.

1 Kings 8:41 “Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for Your name’s sake

Psalm 23:3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.

Psalm 25:11 For Your name’s sake, O LORD,Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

Psalm 31:3 For You are my rock and my fortress; Therefore, for Your name’s sake, Lead me and guide me.

Psalm 79:9 Help us, O God of our salvation, For the glory of Your name; And deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins, For Your name’s sake!

Psalm 106:8 Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, That He might make His mighty power known.

Psalm 109:21 But You, O GOD the Lord, Deal with me for Your name’s sake; Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.

Psalm 143:11 Revive me, O LORD, for Your name’s sake! For Your righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.

Isaiah 43:25 “ I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.

Isaiah 48:9 “ For My name’s sake I will defer My anger, And for My praise I will restrain it from you, So that I do not cut you off.

Isaiah 48:11 For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; For how should My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another.

Isaiah 66:5 Hear the word of the LORD, You who tremble at His word: “ Your brethren who hated you, Who cast you out for My name’s sake, said, ‘ Let the LORD be glorified, That we may see your joy.’ But they shall be ashamed.”

Jeremiah 14:7 O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, Do it for Your name’s sake; For our backslidings are many, We have sinned against You.

Jeremiah 14:21 Do not abhor us, for Your name’s sake; Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory. Remember, do not break Your covenant with us.

Ezekiel 20:9 But I acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned before the Gentiles among whom they were, in whose sight I had made Myself known to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

Ezekiel 20:14 But I acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned before the Gentiles, in whose sight I had brought them out.

Ezekiel 20:22 Nevertheless I withdrew My hand and acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the Gentiles, in whose sight I had brought them out,

Ezekiel 20:44 Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel,” says the Lord GOD.’”

Ezekiel 36:22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went.

Matthew 10:22 And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.

Matthew 19:29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.

Matthew 24:9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.

Mark 13:13 And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

Luke 21:12 But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake.

Luke 21:17 And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.

John 15:21 But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.

Acts 9:16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

2 Corinthians 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.

2 Corinthians 4:11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

2 Corinthians 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Philippians 1:29 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

1 John 2:12 I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.
3 John 1:7 Because they went forth for His name’s sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles.

Revelation 2:3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.

We're having a heat wave

2011-07-29T15:53:00.002-04:00

We are facing a heat wave in Raleigh today. As I write this post it is already 104 degrees outside.The Triangle could tie the record for the hottest temperature ever at Raleigh-Durham International Airport if the mercury slips one degree above the predicted high of 104 degrees for Friday and Saturday.

It is also very hot in my upstairs at my house. This is when my PC is located and where I usually spend a lot of time in front of my computer. As I gaze at the thermostat it records that the temperature is 84 degrees. The repair man came today to replace the motor in our central air unit. Now the air conditioner is working hard to bring the temp down in our upstairs,

This evening I begin teaching the final weekend of the classes for the Carolina's School of Ministry. Students from North and South Carolina will meet me a a few hours to begin our evening class and classes tomorrow morning.

To deal with the heat I recommend the following:

Slow down. Reduce, eliminate or reschedule strenuous activities for the coolest time of day. At-risk individuals should stay in the coolest available place.

Dress for summer. Lightweight, light-colored clothing reflects heat and sunlight and helps your body maintain normal temperatures.

Put less fuel on your inner fires. Foods, including proteins, that increase metabolic heat production also increase water loss.

Drink plenty of water or non-alcoholic fluids, even if you don't feel thirsty. Your body needs water to keep cool. People who have epilepsy or heart, kidney or liver disease; are on fluid-restrictive diets or have a problem with fluid retention should consult a physician before increasing their consumption of fluids.

Spend more time in air-conditioned places. Air conditioning markedly reduces the danger from the heat. If you cannot afford an air conditioner, spending some time each day, particularly during the hottest weather, in an air-conditioned environment affords some protection. I strongly encourage everyone to seek an air conditioned CHURCH this coming Sunday.

At North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene our church is air conditioned with comfortable chairs, friendly people and a prayer soaked atmosphere to encounter God.

We came in peace

2011-07-20T13:51:00.005-04:00

On this date in 1969, I was a 14 years old - glued to the black and white TV set in our family room. With a pen in hand, I took notes about one of the greatest events I have ever witnessed:

American Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the Moon.

The astronaut stepped onto the Moon's surface, in the Sea of Tranquility, at 0256 GMT, nearly 20 minutes after first opening the hatch on the Eagle landing craft.
Armstrong had earlier reported the lunar module's safe landing at 2017 GMT with the words: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

As he put his left foot down first Armstrong declared: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." He described the surface as being like powdered charcoal and the landing craft left a crater about a foot deep. Armstrong spent his first few minutes on the Moon taking photographs and soil samples in case the mission had to be aborted suddenly.

He was joined by colleague Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin at 0315 GMT and the two collected data and performed various exercises - including jumping across the landscape - before planting the Stars and Stripes flag at 0341 GMT.

They also unveiled a plaque bearing President Nixon's signature and an inscription reading: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind."

After filming their experience with a portable television camera the astronauts received a message from the US President. President Nixon, in the White House, spoke of the pride of the American people and said: "This certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made."

A preview of July 17 at NRN

2011-07-16T13:37:00.004-04:00

On Sunday - July 17th - I will continue in the teaching series about God's Amazing Grace. I am anticipating a awesome day of worship and praise at NRN. Here is a sample of our worship songs:

If you were there for the first message in this series - I used this clip from one of my favorite groups - One Time Blind. Here it is as a reminder:

On Sunday July 17th - I will share about God's Healing Grace...

Mosaic - Song of the Day: Trust the Lord

2011-07-09T14:37:00.003-04:00

The current members of MOSAIC are Jonathan Taylor Martin; Devon Graves; Emily Martin; Patrick Lockwood and Molly Lockwood. They will be in concert ministry at NRN on July 10 at 10:45am.

In anticipation of their newest album release they are providing us with a new song for the album each day. Here is the song of the day - which you can hear live in church tomorrow at NRN.

TRUST IN THE LORD

Lyrics
Patrick Lockwood, Jonathan Taylor Martin
Proverbs 3

Do not forget, but let your heart keep my commandments
For length of days, years of life and peace they will add to you
Kindness and truth, write and bind them on your heart
You will find favor in the sight of God and man

Trust the Lord with all your heart
Do not lean on your understanding
In all your ways acknowledge Him
And He will make Your path straight

Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn from evil
It will be healing and refreshment to your bones
Honor the Lord from the first fruits of your wealth
You will have plenty, your cup will overflow with new wine

Do not reject the discipline of the Lord our loving Father
We are His children and in our good He delights
Blessed is the man who finds wisdom and understanding
It’s better than silver and worth more than fine gold

© 2011 Mosaic Music, LLC

To hear the story behind the song and then this great song - click here:

Trust the Lord

Mosaic Song of the Day: Seek the Lord

2011-07-08T19:44:00.002-04:00

Mosaic will be in concert ministry at NRN this Sunday
July 10 at 10:45am. I hope many people will be in attendance and our family at NRN will invite their friends for this special event!

Seek the Lord

Simply click on the title to hear the song and view the lyrics.

Mosaic at NRN on Sunday July 10

2011-07-06T14:18:00.002-04:00

MOSAIC

in concert ministry

North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene

Sunday - July 10th - 10:45am

Mosaic is a diverse group of friends and artists that love God, love each other, and love sharing music. Though they grew up all around the country, the members of Mosaic all graduated from and met at Belmont University in Nashville, TN.

Individually each member is unique in style and personality, but these friends have joined together to support each other, serve the church, glorify God, and make great music. It's Mosaic's desire to display the beauty of community and the strength in being different parts of one unified body.

Mosaic began their ministry in May 2009 by performing several small concerts along the east coast, featuring collaboration between the members of Mosaic, each performing their individual pieces written as solo singer-songwriters. In October 2009 with Christmas approaching, Mosaic made plans to record a Christmas album comprising fresh, imaginative arrangements of classic songs, chosen to raise Jesus back to the forefront of Christmas, while focusing on worship and praise. In January 2010, Mosaic made the move to start performing and ministering full time and began writing for their second album “As Long As It Is Day”.

Mosaic is currently touring the country full time. Their newest album, entitled “Teach Us”, is anticipated to release on July 15, 2011, kicking off the summer with a new tour and a new season of songs! Never more excited to share their music with the Church than they are now, Mosaic, is trusting God to use these songs to ignite a fresh and authentic application of Scripture in the lives of His people.

Here is an excerpt from the upcoming release about a song they will share this coming Sunday. I was moved by the song story - and then the great message from this song: Simply click on the title:

Don’t Lose Heart

How we spend our day

2011-07-02T00:31:00.003-04:00

My wife, Sharron, departed for her trip to Canada on Thursday June 18th. She is taking care of her dad following his surgery. I am so glad to hear the good reports that he is doing so well. Sharron returns to Raleigh on Sunday afternoon, July 3rd.

Today is the last Saturday before her return - so I have a long "honey-do" list toaccomplish.

This Sunday I will continue in the teaching series on the Amazing Grace of God.

Here is a quote I recently read that spoke to me about how I spend my time each day.

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one is what we are doing. A schedule defends us from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands, a section at a time." -- Annie Dillard

Farewell to Tom and Joyce Alsbury

2011-06-20T13:57:00.005-04:00

Yesterday we celebrated Father's Day at NRN. We also expressed appreciation to Dr. Tom and Joyce Alsbury for their distinguished service to North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene.

The letter of appreciation I presented to Tom and Joyce was the following:

This award is to express our deep appreciation to you for your distinguished acts of service and labor of love to the Lord through your ministry at North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene.

Joyce – we appreciate the hundreds of selfless hours as you served as our church treasurer. You have served behind the scenes in many capacities, as a member of our church board and even serving as a sound technician. Thank you for your service to the Lord!

Tom – Over the past few years God has used you in a mighty way as you have served as our worship leader. You have used your gifts from the Lord to serve Him and your ministry has been a blessing. Thank you for your leadership, serving on our church board in the past and directing our worship in recent significant worship experiences. Words cannot adequately express our appreciation for all you have done. You have been so faithful to provide financial sacrifice for the purchase of equipment to enhance our worship ministry. The many hours behind the scenes in the early Sunday mornings have not gone unnoticed. Thank you for your ministry.

We are so excited about the call of God upon your life to step into a unique ministry position. As you begin your service at Seattle Pacific University, we feel you will be a part of a great mission to “engage the culture and change the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Be reminded often of our love for you and our prayers on your behalf.

Tom and Joyce will depart this week and begin their move back to the sate of Washington. We will miss them very much however, celebrate the call of God upon their lives to begin their ministry at Seattle Pacific University.

The last song Tom presented to the church family at NRN was powerful:

Tom and Joyce - you have been church members of my dream. I will miss you....

I now pronounce you - husband and wife

2011-06-09T23:09:00.005-04:00

Today Sharron and I celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary. Thanks for all the kind words of encouragement on Facebook. Sharron and I feel extremely blessed as we take a moment to reflect over the years together. We are spending the evening at the Lifeway Conference Center in Ridgecrest, NC.

Over the past two Saturdays I have had the privilege to stand before a couple and pronounce them husband and wife. I pray that their marriages will be as blessed as ours. Here is the trustworthy saying I reserved for today:

"Find a good spouse, you find a good life— and even more: the favor of God!" Proverbs 18:22

I am so thankful for my wife Sharron!

Sharron just read this post and then she asked me to post this clip since we are staying tonight at a Baptist Retreat Center. This is one of our favorites: ENJOY!

A serious case of writers block

2011-06-08T11:56:00.005-04:00

You may have noticed that I have not blogged for a long - long time. There are several reasons for this. I was in the process of posting devotionals for the Lenten season preparing for Easter 2011. One morning as I went to prepare my post for the day my computer stopped working.

My computer "died" and I did not have computer access at home for several weeks. As I worked through this difficult time - my cell phone began to give me trouble and then - it "died".

Now I have a new computer at home and I am now the owner of a new Verizon Samsung Fascinate Phone.

I think my season of a writer's block is soon coming to a close. Over the new few weeks I plan to prepare a few retro postings - refreshing some of the events I failed to share - I also begin to bring new and fresh blog postings. I am battling with writers block - but this is a first step and I plan to be back soon.

Lenten Devotional: the End of Cain's History

2011-04-14T00:07:00.001-04:00

Genesis 4:1: Now Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain. Adam and Eve become the proud creators of new life, a new life which, however, is created in human beings' obsessive desire for life together and for death; Cain is the first human being born on the ground that is cursed. History begins with Cain, the history of death. Adam, preserved for death and yet consumed by a thirst for life, begets Cain, the murderer. The new element in Cain, Adam's son, is that he himself, in his being like God, violates human life. He who is not permitted to eat of the tree of life reaches all the more greedily for the fruit of death, the destruction of life. Only the Creator can destroy life. Cain usurps for himself the ultimate right of the Creator, and becomes a murderer. Why does Cain commit murder? Out of hatred toward God. This hatred is great. Cain is great. He is greater than Adam, since his hatred is greater, which means that his obsessive desire for life is greater. The history of death stands under the sign of Cain. Christ on the cross, the murdered Son of God—that is the end of Cain's history, and thus the end of all history. It is the last, desperate assault on the gates of paradise. The human race dies under the slashing sword, under the cross. But Christ lives. The trunk of the cross becomes the wood of life, and in the middle of the world life is established anew in the accursed ground. In the center of the world, from the wood of the cross, the fountain of life springs up anew, and all those thirsting for life are called to this water, and whoever has eaten of the wood of this life will never again hunger or thirst. A strange paradise, this hill of Golgotha, this cross, this blood, this broken body; a strange tree of life, this trunk on which God himself had to suffer and die—and yet here is bequeathed anew by God in grace: the kingdom of life, of resurrection, an open door of imperishable hope, of waiting, and of patience. Tree of life, cross of Christ, the center of God's fallen and preserved world, that is the end of the story of paradise for us. Today now he unlocks the door To blessed paradise. No angel bars it anymore, To God all honor, glory and praise. Excerpted from: Meditations on the Cross by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Lenten Devotional: Suffering in Solidarity

2011-04-11T20:49:00.002-04:00

It must be clear to us that most people learn only through personal experience occurring to their own bodies. First, this explains why most people are remarkably incapable of any sort of preventative action. We keep thinking that we ourselves will be spared when disaster strikes—until it is too late. Second, it explains our insensitivity toward the suffering of others; solidarity with suffering arises in proportion to our own increasing fear of imminent doom.

Much can be said to justify this attitude. Ethically, we wish to avoid meddling with fate. We draw the inner calling and strength for action only from an actual and present crisis. We are not responsible for all the injustice and suffering in the world, nor do we wish to judge the whole world. Psychologically, our lack of imagination, sensitivity, and inner readiness is balanced by a kind of unwavering calmness, an undisturbed ability to work, and a great capacity for suffering.

From a Christian perspective, though, none of these justifications can conceal that the real issue here is our hearts' lack of magnanimity. Christ avoided suffering until his hour had come; then, however, he went to it in freedom, seized it, and overcame it. Christ—so scripture tells us—experienced all the suffering of all human beings on his own body and as his own suffering (an incomprehensibly lofty notion!), and took it upon himself in freedom.

We are certainly not Christ ourselves, nor are we called to redeem the world through our own actions and our own suffering, nor should we burden ourselves with the impossible and then castigate our own inability to bear it. No, we are not lords, we are instruments in the hand of the Lord of history. Only to an extremely limited degree are we really able to join with other human beings in suffering. Although we are not Christ, if we want to be Christians we must participate in Christ's own magnanimous heart by engaging in responsible action that seizes the hour in complete freedom, facing the danger. And we should do so in genuine solidarity with suffering flowing forth, not from fear, but from the liberating and redeeming love of Christ toward all who suffer. Inactive "waiting-and-seeing" or impassive "standing-by" are not Christian attitudes.

Christians are prompted to action and suffering in solidarity not just by personal bodily experience, but by the experience incurred by their fellows for whose sake Christ himself suffered.

Excerpted from: Meditations on the Cross by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Today at NRN

2011-04-10T00:57:00.002-04:00

Saturday was a full day and travel as we visited a dear friend whose mother suffered a stroke this past week and is hospitalized in Concord, NC. Thanks to ALL those who participated in the church work day as we prepared our facility for the open house in conjunction with the Gigantic Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday April 23, 2011. Today will be special at NRN as draw near to our upcoming prayer vigil. Here are some of the worship songs we plant to present to the Lord:

Lenten Devotional: Turning Hate to Love

2011-04-08T00:57:00.003-04:00

These are the things which might conceivably and truly make men forgive their enemies. We can only turn hate to love by understanding what are the things that men have loved; nor is it necessary to ask men to hate their loves in order to love one another. And just as two grocers are most likely to be reconciled when they remember for a moment that they are two fathers, so two nationals are most likely to be reconciled when they remember (if only for a moment) that they are two patriots.

From: "The Intrinsic Value of the Nation," Illustrated London News, June 4, 1921

Eye for an Eye "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you." Matthew 5:38-42

Prayer Who am I, God, that I should consider myself superior to others—worth special treatment or consideration? Open my heart to understand my fellow men and women, especially those with whom I currently experience conflict. Open my mind to comprehend that I am connected to other human beings; that my sense of individual separateness is in reality an illusion. Teach me, Lord, first to understand my enemies and then even to love them.

Lenten Action Spend ten to twenty minutes in silent prayer. As distractions crowd your mind, do not hold on to them; let them go. After you find some soul silence, ask God to bring to your mind your "enemies." Imagine, as Chesterton suggests above, ways you are alike. Ask God what you have in common with these people. Finally, ask God to show you ways you might take small steps toward reconciliation—a card or phone call, a smile or handshake.

Excerpted from: Lent and Easter Wisdom from G.K. Chesterton

BY: G.K. Chesterton

A Lenten Devotional - A nut falling from a tree

2011-04-07T00:10:00.004-04:00

Readings: Isa 49:8-15; John 5:17-30

Scripture: "Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for what he does, the Son will do also."

(John 5:19)

Reflection: Principals and counselors appreciate the old adage about the nut not falling far from the tree. To understand a student's attitudes or behaviors, to understand a client's values and vision, the principal or counselor need but reflect upon the family of origin and in so doing come to a fairly good grasp of what is going on. The intimate relationship within the Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the concern of John's gospel. To understand the nature of our triune God, we must ponder the works that God does, and those works are creating, redeeming, and sanctifying. Jesus does what the Father and the Holy Spirit do, that is, give life and love to the world. That is why Jesus came, that we might have life to the full that comes to us through faith in the Lord and love for one another. We are the children of God, God's beloved children.

Hopefully we "nuts" do not fall far from the tree, the tree of life. Made in the image and likeness of God, we are called to continue the works that Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit are doing. We are called to be agents of life, instruments of divine love, conduits of God's light. But something has gone wrong. We tend to wander from the tree that has given us life. We tend to do works of darkness, not light; we struggle with self-absorption when we should be loving; we sometimes participate in the culture of death and fail in our mission of bringing life to others.

Lent is the season to repent, to once again return to our baptismal commitment of being true disciples of Jesus. Like Jesus, we are to seek God's will and we are to participate in the marvelous works of God: creation, redemption, sanctification.

Meditation: What is God asking you to do? In what ways can you be an agent of God's creative, redeeming, and sanctifying love? Who are the people you have known who have done the works of the Lord?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, deepen our faith in you. May we hear your voice and follow in your way so that we might be agents of your Father's kingdom. May we live out our call to participate in your mission of salvation by being ambassadors of reconciliation. Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Excerpted from: Not by Bread Alone: Daily Reflections for Lent 2011

By: Bishop Robert Morneau

A Lenten Devotional: Well Being and Responsible

2011-04-06T15:36:00.003-04:00

Readings: Ezek 47:1-9, 12; John 5:1-16

Scripture: When Jesus saw him [the sick man] lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be well?" (John 5:6)

Reflection: Health is one of the most desired values in all of life. Well-being, be that of body, emotions, or our spiritual life, is a grace of supreme importance. Tremendous amounts of money, research, and energy are put into the healthcare field. As Emerson reminds us, "The first wealth is health." Jesus raises a question in today's gospel that is directed not only to the man who had been ill for thirty-eight years but also to us: "Do you want to be well?"

Do we want to be healed of whatever infirmity we have? Despite it being the Sabbath, Jesus cures the man on the spot, bidding him to pick up his mat and walk. But not only was the man cured of his physical ailment, the Lord makes reference to the man's spiritual life as well when he commands him not to sin anymore. The persecution directed at Jesus was as much at his spiritual healing as it was at his physical healing.

This wanting to be well has an interesting consequence. Once healed of whatever infirmity, we are now given new responsibilities and we cannot claim exemptions from ordinary tasks because of illness. So the thirty-eight-year-old ill man must now get a job and take on the duties of ordinary life. The person who is emotionally healed cannot continue to be excused from one's responsibility from solid relationships, hiding behind emotional distress. And the spiritually healed person, sins forgiven, must now take up those religious disciplines (prayer, fasting, almsgiving) that sustain spiritual health and help us to grow in the Spirit.

The philosopher Father William Lynch, SJ, reminds us: "With the ill, there is less relationship, less call, less response, more fear of help or response when it is there, and therefore far more trouble." It is no small wonder that some people do not want to get well, for good health imposes many demands on our life.

Meditation: What is the state of your health—physically, emotionally, spiritually? Have you ever hidden behind illness as a way of avoiding responsibility?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, you came to heal and restore us to health. May we have great faith in your power to make us whole. Through the gift of your Holy Spirit we can live full and productive lives, and even when ill, we can discern and do your will. We do want to be well and praise you for the gift of health.

Excerpted from: Not by Bread Alone: Daily Reflections for Lent 2011 By: Bishop Robert Morneau

Lenten Devotional: The Whole Household

2011-04-05T11:28:00.003-04:00

Readings: Isa 65:17-21; John 4:43-54

Scripture: The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live," and he and his whole household came to believe. (John 4:53)

Reflection: Ours is an age of individualism. Our thought patterns and our moral behavior tend to focus more on the individual, much less on the common good. Self-interest reigns; it's all about me; you've got to take care of number one! Jesus was concerned about the individual and about the "whole household."

In teaching the disciples how to pray, stress was put on "our" Father. We are all interconnected; we are all part of the same body, the body of Christ. St. Paul clarifies this by reminding us that when one person suffers, we all suffer, and, vice versa, when one person rejoices, joy comes to all.

The second sign that Jesus worked—the curing of the royal official's son—led to belief. But not only did the official come to faith, "his whole household came to believe." The same thing happened in the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) wherein salvation came not only to the tax collector but also to his whole family. The social nature of our spirituality has profound implications. One implication is, as the Quaker Douglas V. Steere asserts, we have "unlimited liability for one another." A mature spirituality does not allow us to privatize our relationship with God. Although we do have a personal relationship with the Lord, there is always a corporate component to our religious life. The notion of being a pilgrim and traveling with other pilgrims illustrates this "unlimited liability" notion.

A second implication is that, because of our social nature, community has a high priority in the Christian life. We are church, a gathering of people in the household of God. We are called to share and care; we are called to compassion and empathy; we are called to respond together to God's will by acting justly, loving tenderly, and walking humbly in faith (Mic 6:8).

The royal official in Capernaum was in a life and death situation. His son was critically ill and the official begged Jesus to heal his boy. The official believed! And so did the rest of the family.

Meditation: What role do you assign to the social component of spirituality? How has the faith of others influenced your personal growth?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, give us the gift of faith. In our illness and struggles, we need your healing power. May our personal faith enrich the lives of others; may their faith in you help us to be better disciples. Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Excerpted from: Not by Bread Alone: Daily Reflections for Lent 2011 by: Bishop Robert Morneau

Lenten Devotional - The Center

2011-04-04T09:37:00.003-04:00

One who does not seek the cross of Jesus isn't seeking the glory of Christ.

-St. John of the Cross

Every believer knows that Christ went the way of the cross for our sakes. But it is not enough just to know this. Each of us must find the cross. He suffered in vain unless we are willing to die for him as he died for us. Christ's way was a bitter way. It ended in a victory of light and life, but it began in the feeding trough of an animal in a cold stable, and passed through tremendous need: through suffering, denial, betrayal, and finally, complete devastation and death on a cross. If we call ourselves his followers, we must be willing to take the same path.

When a grain of wheat is laid in the earth, it dies. It no longer remains a grain, but through death it brings forth fruit. This is the way of true Christianity. It is the way Jesus went when he died on the cross for each of us. If we want our lives to be fruits of Christ's death on the cross, we cannot remain individual grains. We must be ready to die too. Christ died on the cross to break the curse of evil and vanquish it once and for all. If we do not believe in the power of evil, we cannot comprehend this. Until we realize that the main reason for his coming to earth was to do this on our behalf—to free us from the powers of darkness—we will never fully understand our need for the cross. We can search the whole world, but we will find forgiveness of sins and freedom from torment nowhere except at the cross.

Many people say, "God is so great, so mighty, that he could have saved humankind without the cross." But that is not true. We should remember that God is not only one hundred percent love—which might have allowed him to forgive our sins without the cross. He is also one hundred percent justice. To kill the son of God was the most evil deed ever done. But it was just through that deed that God showed his greatest love and gave everyone the possibility of finding peace with him. The image of a sweet, gentle Savior, like the thought of an all-loving God, is wonderful, but it is only a small part of the picture. It insulates us from the real power of his touch. Christ comforts and heals, saves and forgives--we know that; but we must not forget that he judges too. If we truly love him, we will love everything in him; not only his compassion and mercy, but his sharpness too. It is his sharpness that prunes and purifies. There is something in modern thinking which rebels against the Atonement.

Perhaps our idea of an all-loving God keeps us from wanting to face judgment. We think that love and forgiveness is all that is needed, yet that is not the whole Gospel---it makes God too human.... When we know Jesus in the depths of our hearts, we will begin to realize (even if only to a tiny degree) what he went through for our sake. This means surrendering ourselves to him in prayer and quiet, confessing our sins to one another, and laying them before the cross in a spirit of repentance. Then he will accept us and give us reconciliation with God, a clean conscience, and a pure heart. In rescuing us from inner death and granting us new life, his love for us will spill over into our own hearts and give us a great love for him. Naturally it cannot end here, however. The experience of personal purification at the cross is vital, yet to remain focused on that alone would be useless. Christ's love is so great, it must lift our minds above our little struggles—and any preoccupation with our own salvation—so that we can see the needs of others, and beyond that the greatness of God and his Creation.

The cross is so much greater than the personal; it has cosmic significance, for its power embraces the whole earth and more than this earth! There are secrets that only God knows, and the crucifixion at Golgotha is perhaps the greatest of them all. Paul speaks of its mystery and says only that it pleased God to let his full nature dwell in Jesus and to reconcile to himself everything on earth and in heaven "through the shedding of his blood on the cross" (Col. 1:19-20).

At the cross, then, not only earth but also heaven and all the powers and principalities of the angel world will be reconciled to God. Certainly not we, and maybe not even the angels, will ever fully understand this. But one thing we know: Christ overcame death, the last enemy, and through this, something took place that continues to have power far beyond the limits of our planet.

A devotional by J. Heinrich Arnold

Preparing for Sunday April 3rd at NRN

2011-04-02T13:51:00.005-04:00

As I prepare for Sunday at NRN I am praying over the message in the teaching series called 24 hours that changed the world! We are walking through the last 24 hours of Jesus life here on earth.

I am so excited about what God has planned for our worship experience on Sunday April 3rd at NRN!

We will begin with an awesome Call to Worship:

Followed by a great hymn of our faith:

As we prepare for a time of prayer and remembrance we share this great song:

We will conclude our time of communion with a song of adoration to God:

I have requested the worship team share this song as we present our tithes and offerings to the Lord:

A Lenten Devotional: Merchandising Truth

2011-04-01T00:33:00.002-04:00

Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there.

Matthew 21:12

We read in the Gospel how Holy Week began with Jesus entering the temple and driving out all those that bought and sold. He then rebuked the vendors of doves: "Get these things out of here!" He was so crystal clear in his command that it was if he said, "I have a right to this temple and I alone will be in it and have control of it." What does this have to say to us? The temple God wants to be master of is the human soul, which he created and fashioned just like himself. We read that God said, "Let us make man in our own image." And he did it. He made each soul so much like himself that nothing else in heaven or on earth resembles him as much. That is why God wants the temple to be pure, so pure that nothing should dwell there except he himself.

And that is the reason why he is so pleased when we really prepare our souls for him. When we do this, when he alone dwells in our hearts, he takes great comfort. But who, exactly, are the people who buy and sell? Are they not precisely the good people? See! The merchants are those who only guard against mortal sins. They strive to be good people who do their good deeds to the glory of God, such as fasting, watching, praying and the like--all of which are good--and yet do these things so that God will give them something in exchange. Their efforts are contingent upon God doing something they ardently want to have done.

They are all merchants. They want to exchange one thing for another and to trade with our Lord. But they will be cheated out of their bargain--for what they have or have attained is actually given to them by God. Lest we forget, we do what we do only by the help of God, and so God is never obligated to us. God gives us nothing and does nothing except out of his own free will. What we are we are because of God, and whatever we have we receive from God and not by our own contriving. Therefore God is not in the least obligated to us--neither for our deeds nor for our gifts. He gives to us freely. Besides, Christ himself says, "Without me, you can do nothing." People are very foolish when they want to trade with God. They know little or nothing of the truth. And God will strike them and drive them out of the temple. Light and darkness cannot exist side by side. God himself is the truth.

When he enters the temple, he drives out ignorance and darkness and reveals himself in light and truth. Then, when the truth is known, merchants must depart--for truth wants no merchandising! God does not seek his own benefit. In everything he acts only out of love. Thus, the person who is united with God lives the same way--he is innocent and free. He lives for love without asking why, and solely for the glory of God, never seeking his own advantage. God alone is at work in him.

As long as we look for some kind of pray for what we do, as long as we want to get something from God in some kind of exchange, we are like the merchants. If you want to be rid of the commercial spirit, then by all means do all you can in the way of good works, but do so solely for the praise of God. Live as if you did not exist. Expect and ask nothing in return. Then the merchant inside you will be driven out of the temple God has made. Then God alone dwells there. See! This is how the temple is cleared: when a person thinks only of God and honors him alone. Only such a person is free and genuine.... And what does Jesus say when the soul has been cleared? His word is a revelation of himself and everything the Father has said to him.

He reveals the Father's majesty with unmeasured power. If in your spirit you discover this power, you will possess a like power in whatever you do--a power that will enable you to live undividedly and pure. Neither joy nor sorrow, no, nor any created thing will be able to disrupt your soul. For Christ will remain and he will cast aside all that is insignificant and futile. When Jesus is united with your soul, the soul's tide moves back again into its own, out of itself and above all things, with grace and power back to its prime origin. Then your fallen, fleshly self will become obedient to your inner, spiritual self, and you will in turn have a lasting peace in serving God without condition or demand.

Excerpted from: Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter

Lenten Devotional - He Came and Found Them Sleeping

2011-03-31T00:39:00.003-04:00

Jesus came and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to say to him. He came a third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come." (Mark 14:37-41)

Near Gethsemane there is a cave where some believe the disciples were told to wait while Jesus went into the olive grove to pray late that night. Perhaps he did not want them to see him in his greatest distress. But before going into the garden, Jesus asked his three closest companions, Peter, James, and John, to go with him. He revealed to the three of them just how deeply grieved he was. He asked them to "stay awake with me" (Matthew 26:38) and then asked them to remain in the garden as he went just a little farther to pray by himself. Jesus fell to the ground to pray; but then, after a period of time, he went back to Peter, James, and John. He repeated this pattern—praying alone and then returning to the disciples—three times before Judas arrived with the Temple guard to arrest him. Some have suggested a parallel between these three occasions and the three temptations Jesus experienced at the beginning of his ministry.

The fact that the disciples had fallen asleep each time points to their own temptation and, more importantly, to the temptation of his followers ever since to sleep when Christ most needs us. At times as a pastor I have been "asleep on the job." On the day I was writing this devotion, a member of my church died, someone about whom I truly cared. I knew that he was ill. I had spoken with his wife earlier in the year. I pastor a very large church with a team of pastors and laypeople who provide care for our members, and he was cared for by others in that group. However, when I received notice about his death, I was stunned and grieved. I called his wife to convey my condolences. But I felt such sadness that I had missed the chance to be with him in the days leading up to his death. I had been asleep on the job. In the New Testament, "being awake" is a phrase used to describe being spiritually ready, most often for the return of Christ, but also ready to do what the Lord needs whenever he needs us. It entails a watchfulness and a way of paying attention to what is happening around us, to the needs of others, and to the direction of the Holy Spirit. We are meant to stay awake and keep watch.

Have you ever, like me, and like those first disciples, fallen asleep when Christ truly needed you? Lord, many times my spirit has been willing to do your will; but my flesh has been weak. Help me to stay awake—to listen for your voice and to be used by you to care for your people. Amen.

Excerpted from: 24 Hours That Changed the World Daily Devotions by Adam Hamilton

A Lenten Devotional - Two Gardens

2011-03-30T00:06:00.004-04:00

There was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. (John 18:1)

Not what I want, but what you want. (Mark 14:36)

John's Gospel begins with these words: "In the beginning..." John chose these particular words as a way of pointing to the meaning of the gospel. With them he intended to take us back to Genesis. The story of Adam and Eve serves as the backdrop of John's Gospel. Adam and Eve were given a garden in which to live. God planted the garden and then called them to tend it. There, before a tree, they were tested and tempted. They succumbed to the tempter, turned from God's way; and Paradise was lost. Their story is, of course, our story. Each of us has known the will of God; but at some time, at some level, we have turned away from it. We have eaten the forbidden fruit. John alone tells us that the place where Jesus prayed on the night he was arrested was a garden. Matthew and Mark do not tell us this; they only tell us it was the place of the oil press. (This is the meaning of the word Gethsemane.)

The Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus prayed on the Mount of Olives but is no more specific. John alone tells us that Jesus went to a garden to pray. In this garden Eden was being reversed. Jesus' public ministry began with the temptation to lay aside God's will and to accept all the riches of the world from the hands of the devil. And now here, at the end of his life, Jesus was in a garden, facing the temptation to save himself and flee. I wonder what the serpent whispered to him that night: "Did God really intend for you to suffer and die?" Or, "Surely you don't believe that if you die, anything will change." Or, "What good will you be when you are dead?" Or, "Do you really believe that this band of misfits you call disciples can carry on your mission? Look at them—they're sleeping! It's not too late, Jesus. Run!" Two gardens. In one, Adam and Eve were warned that death would come if they disobeyed; and they still could not resist the forbidden fruit. In the other, Jesus was told he could avoid death if he would only disobey. How different were the responses to temptation between the first Adam and Jesus (whom Paul calls the "second Adam"). In the first garden Adam prayed, "Not thy will, but mine be done"; and Paradise was lost. In the second garden, as the disciples slept and the Temple guard made their way across the Kidron Valley, Jesus prayed, "Not my will, but thine be done." His prayer was central to the restoration of what had been lost in Eden.

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, popularized the following prayer, meant to help those who use it to follow in Jesus' steps, surrendering to the will of God:

I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what you will. Rank me with whom you will. Put me to doing; put me to suffering. Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full. Or let me be empty. Let me have all things. Or let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. Amen.

Excerpted from: 24 Hours That Changed the World Daily Devotions by Adam Hamilton

Lenten Devotional - Father, Let this cup pass from me

2011-03-29T23:58:00.003-04:00

And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, "Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me." (Mark 14:35-36)

At the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem stands the Church of All Nations, also known as the Basilica of the Agony. It was built in the early 1900s atop the ruins of two previous churches, one dating to the time of the crusaders and the earliest dating back to the fourth century. The Church of All Nations is, for many, one of the most moving places to pray in the Holy Land. In front of the altar is what remains of a limestone rock outcropping that tradition says was the place where Jesus came to pray. Stars adorn the ceiling of the dimly lit church, taking worshipers back to the night when Christ prayed in this place. Pilgrims are invited to kneel around the exposed bedrock, touching it while praying as Jesus did nearly two thousand years ago.

Somewhere near this place Jesus threw himself to the ground that night and prayed, "Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me" (Mark 14:36). In essence he was praying, "Father, please find another way to accomplish your plans--a way that does not involve the rejection of the priests, the cries of the crowd, the torture of the soldiers, the humiliation and pain of the cross, and the darkness of death." On this night Jesus resisted the path that was laid out before him. He struggled with what he believed was God's will. He was not the first to have struggled in this way.

Read Exodus 4, where you will find Moses giving God excuses as to why he could not return to Egypt to confront Pharaoh. Or consider the story of Jonah, who refused God's command and only obeyed after three days of soaking in a great fish's gastric juices. Have you ever found yourself struggling with God? Was there a path God would have you take that you wanted to avoid? Was there a risk that seemed too great or a price that seemed too high? Have you ever prayed with Moses, "Lord, send someone else"? Have you ever run with Jonah in the direction opposite where God was calling you to go? Have you ever knelt with Jesus in the garden, saying, "Remove this cup from me"? Pursuing God's will is at times costly. Jesus said, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24). Are you willing, even grudgingly, to go where God calls and do what God asks, regardless of the cost? After arguing with the Lord, Moses relented and returned to Egypt, risking death to lead the Israelites to freedom. Jonah, in the darkness of the great fish's belly, finally said, "OK, send me!" And Jesus, despite praying for the cup to pass from him, accepted it when Judas handed it to him and drank from it, laying down his life for God's mission.

Recently, I visited the Basilica of the Agony, touching the stone before the altar where Jesus may have prayed. I was reminded of times past when a cup far less difficult and deadly was passed to me, and I refused to drink. Kneeling there, I tried to feel his agony. And I thanked him for the costliness of his grace.

Prayer: Lord, you understand my weakness and fear. You know the times I refused the cup you passed to me. Forgive me, I pray. Help me to say yes when you call me to pursue your mission for my life, no matter what the cost. Amen.

Excerpted from: 24 Hours That Changed the World Daily Devotions by Adam Hamilton

Lenten Devotional - God's Love for us

2011-03-28T14:33:00.003-04:00

Sunday was a great day at NRN! We welcomed several first time guest to the church. On Sunday evening Sharron and I welcomed 23 people to our home for a 'birthday fellowship". Today I continue in my Lenten commitment to post a daily Lenten devotional. I hope this helps on your Lenten journey this year.

The peace of Jesus Christ is the cross. The cross, however, is God's sword on this earth. It creates disunion. Son against father, daughter against mother, housemates against the head of the house, and all for the sake of God's kingdom and his peace—that is Christ's work on earth. Is it surprising that the world finds him guilty of hatred toward human beings, him who brought God's love to human beings? Who, then, is apt to speak thus about the love of father or mother, about loving one's son or daughter, if not either the destroyer of all life or the creator of a new life? Who can lay such exclusive claim to the love and sacrifice of human beings other than either the misanthrope or the savior of human beings? Who will carry the sword into the houses other than the devil or Christ, the Prince of Peace?

God's love of human beings on the one hand, and human beings' love of their own kind on the other, are much too dissimilar. God's love of human beings means cross and discipleship, and yet precisely as such it means life and resurrection. "Those who lose their life for my sake will find it" (Matt. 10:39). This assurance is given by him who has power over death, the Son of God who goes to the cross and to resurrection and takes his followers with him.

Excerpted from: Meditations on the Cross By: Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Worship at NRN on Sunday March 27 2011

2011-03-27T00:03:00.005-04:00

On Sunday March 27, 2011, I plan to continue in the teaching series:

Today at NRN is going to be a great worship experience.

Here are the worship songs for our time together:

Lenten Devotional: The Path of God

2011-03-25T17:19:00.003-04:00

Luke 4:5-8: Then the devil led him up a high mountain and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"

We have again come to Passiontide, and again we must collect our thoughts that we may understand what it means. Christ on the cross—that was the proclamation with which Paul set out. That was his God. That was the God for whom the first martyrs died. It was the God whom Luther rediscovered. And it is the same God whom we today are about to understand anew; or better, the same God who seizes us today anew. Christ on the cross, Christ the hidden king of the hidden kingdom—that is the message of the Protestant Church. Christ the revealed king of a visible kingdom—that is the message of the Catholic Church. Hence it is important that we understand what Passiontide is about. The time of Christ's passion begins not just in Passion Week, but on the first day of his preaching. He renounced the kingdom as a kingdom of this world not just on Golgotha, but from the very outset. These are the ideas expressed in our story.

Jesus could have become the lord of the world. As the Messiah of Jewish dreams, he could have liberated Israel and led it to glory and honor. His entry procession could have been that of the visible king of this world. What a remarkable man this was, a man to whom dominion over this world is offered even before he begins his own work. And he is all the more remarkable in that he rejects the offer. So it is simply true, and not just biblically intended, that Jesus could have become the most splendid and powerful of all the kings of this world. He would have been honored; he would have been believed had he then dared to say he was the Son of God. After all, even the Roman emperors were believed when they said it. The world really would have become Christian. It would have had Christ as its king. It would have had the one who had been expected so long. The one whose power extends over all the earth, who establishes a reign of peace on earth.

So Jesus could have had all that. He realizes in this instant that now, high on a mountain, for a moment, he is gazing upon all the kingdoms of the world, knowing he could be their ruler. But he also knows that a price must be paid for such dominion, a price which he deems too high. Dominion would be his only at the cost of his obedience to God's will. He must bow before the devil, go down on his knees before him, worship him. And that means he would have become a slave, and would no longer be free. He would be a slave to his own ambition; a slave of those who want him so eagerly. But he remains the free Son of God, and recognizes the devil who is trying to enslave him. [...]

Jesus knows what that means. It means debasement, revilement, persecution. It means being misunderstood. It means hatred, death, the cross. And he chooses this way from the very outset. It is the way of obedience and the way of freedom, for it is the way of God. And for that reason it is also the way of love for human beings. Any other path—be it ever so pleasing to people—would be a way of hatred and of contempt toward human beings, for it would not be the way of God. And this is why here, then, Jesus rejects the devil. Because it is the way of God through the world, he chooses from the very outset the way to the cross. And we are going with him, as individuals and as the church. We are the church beneath the cross, that is, in disguise. Yet here as well, all we can do is realize that our kingdom, too, is not of this world.

Excerpted from: Meditations on the Cross by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A Lenten Devotional - Prayer is more than a duty

2011-03-24T10:12:00.002-04:00

Certain vocations, like that of raising children, offer a perfect setting for living a contemplative life. They provide a desert for reflection, a real monastery.
--Ronald Rolheiser

Certain spiritual writers like to make this comparison: taking care of young children provides a desert for reflection, a real monastery. When they are your children, and you hear this pious observation, sometimes you want to throw up your hands. How in the world can young children leave us any time for reflection? They're always bombarding us with requests. Can I have a drink of water? I want more juice! Can we go to the park? Can we watch a DVD? Let me play with blocks? Is it lunchtime yet? Can so-and-so come over to play? Besides requests, there are objections and complaints. I don't need to take a nap! No, I'm not hungry! I don't want to take a bath! It's not fair! He took my toys! She's mean! She messed up my puzzle! Are we there yet? We never get to do anything! These are just a few samples of the constant barrage from children old enough to talk, to whine, to make their wishes known.

Yet I am sure the spiritual teachers who make this comparison are right. The best training ground for the spiritual life is not on smooth but rocky ground. When we want to grow in virtue, we do better in tough situations. It is easy to seem patient when nothing much is happening to challenge us. The real test of patience comes when any sane person would fly off the handle. Taking care of children is a perfect Los Alamos-style proving ground....

Usually, we think of contemplation as taking place in solitude and silence. But many great spiritual teachers, Ignatius Loyola for one, say otherwise. They tell us to be contemplative in action. Contemplation is not entirely a function of where we are. No, contemplation is an inward disposition of the heart, intentionally quieting ourselves, turning to God whenever and wherever we can. To care for young children may prompt us to be glad for what has been given us. In the company of children we return to simplicity and discover our childlike hearts. When we care for young children, we learn attentiveness. Also, children remind us to laugh and play in ways that please God. Contemplation is about peacefulness, shalom. The monastery of childhood can encourage that peace in more ways than one.

One characteristic of children's lives is their regularity. The same is true of monasteries! Things happen in children's lives at predictable times: mealtime, nap time, bath time, story time, outdoor play. Dependable schedules give us hints of an inwardly peaceful universe, where order and harmony reign. Such pleasing regularity is also a clue to prayer. Today some of us are reviving the custom of fixed-hour prayer—the habit of prayer at certain times of day. That rhythm is consoling. Prayer is not just a duty to God but a reminder of God's abiding presence.

Jesus taught us about children and what we may learn from them. At his time in history, when children were often shunted aside, even undervalued, Jesus brought children to center stage. "Let the little children come to me," he said, "and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs." Jesus also explains, "Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it."

Imagine suggesting that we could learn from children! Jesus, as usual, challenged our preconceptions, our ways of being in charge. Jesus did not intend to give us a lecture on child care. Instead, he meant to encourage simplicity of heart.

Excerpted from: Small Surrenders: A Lenten Journey by Emilie Griffin

Our Daily Lenten Devotional - small surrender

2011-03-23T14:55:00.004-04:00

God wants our honest thoughts and feelings, as any lover does—not what we're supposed to say or feel. —Murray Bodo

Some friends of mine recently returned from a visit to Italy, where they had seen the city of Pompeii, destroyed by a volcanic eruption in the first century after Christ. People who visit Pompeii often comment on the pornographic art displayed on the walls there. My friend, who was shocked as others have been, looked up at Mount Vesuvius and told God she understood why he had decided to wipe the place out.

"Oh, I hope that isn't true," I answered. "Because if it is, that means all the comments about God sending Katrina to destroy New Orleans might also be true." I have heard many discussions about God and hurricanes, about God and 9/11, God and the tsunami of December 2004. These are disasters of biblical proportions, and it is easy therefore to blame them on God.

Actually, I don't subscribe to the view that disasters are generally sent by God to chasten us. But as I reflected on this question, I realized I had never brought the matter up directly with God. That would be too awkward, too embarrassing! I'm the sort of person who shrinks from confronting God. I prefer to bury my questions under polite inquiries. I'm devious that way.

Now really, why would I do that? How can relationships be built on subterfuge? God wants our honest feelings. Abraham sets a fine example when he questions God about the people of Sodom. Would God spare the city if there were fifty good people there? Or forty? Or thirty? Or ten?

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, an authority on death and dying, assures us that we can put our toughest questions to God. We can be angry with God. We can complain. The truth is, God can take it.

Even more important, God is seeking a genuine relationship. God wants more than a polite, diplomatic sort of conversation in which the cards are held close to the vest. He is looking for a frank and open dialogue. If we don't put our honest thoughts and feelings before God, we will never have a chance at a real exchange. In the spiritual life, such honesty is a fundamental, necessary surrender.

God says, "I don't want your sacrifices, your burnt offerings. What I want is you." Only our frankness will make such intimacy possible.

The truth is that we are often afraid to be open with God. We are not so fearful of unanswered prayers, though that is a serious issue. But what worries us more is what may happen is we make a real connection. Possibly God will ask something of us, expecting more than we are willing to give.

The Bible gives several examples of this kind of encounter...

In the Psalms we read this:

Sacrifice and offering you do not desire,
but your have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering
you have not required.
Then I said, "Here I am;
in the scroll of the book it is
written of me."

God welcomes our honesty. God is saying, "Show me the real person that you are."

Sometimes we are ashamed to be ourselves, before others and before God. Sometimes what we need most is to accept ourselves as we really are. Possibly we may need to change. In either case, as we see in Psalm 51, honesty is the place to begin: "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

This, too, is a small surrender, when we drop our masks and disguises and present ourselves authentically to God. It is another kind of repentance, a way to return.

Excerpted from: Small Surrenders: A Lenten Journey by Emilie Griffin

The Second Week of Lent Begins

2011-03-22T01:23:00.002-04:00

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. It is His megaphone to arouse a deaf world. —C.S. Lewis

Part of the ancient language of the spiritual life is purgation, or the purgative way. Our sorrows and our pains are supposedly good for us. They provide a kind of brushing up, a cleansing, a burnishing. In Scripture we hear a lot about the way we can be improved by adversity. Frankly, this concept may hang together theologically, but it is hard to accept when you are the one in adverse circumstances.

C.S. Lewis wrote books to answer his own most baffling questions. In The Problem of Pain he tries to decipher the meaning of pain, to reconcile the idea of a good God with the seemingly merciless character of pain. Pain, he suggests, is God's megaphone to arouse a deaf world.

Lewis represents himself, and each one of us, as being continually in conversation with God. God whispers in our pleasures. The things we most enjoy—food, drink, sex, music, celebration—are intimations of his love. The troubles arises when we separate those pleasures from God's scheme and try to own and dominate them ourselves.

Another way God speaks to us is in our consciences. When we have violated God's rules, our consciences (if they are well formed) will torment us. We feel guilty, ashamed of our own wrongdoing. We want to be made clean and whole again. Some apologists say that conscience, the moral law written in our hearts, is one of our principal clues to the nature and presence of God. God leads us in the way of salvation if we are willing to listen for the instructions God gives.

And then there is the way God speaks in our pain. Maybe this is the trickiest communication of all. But scientists confirm that pain mostly functions to protect us. Pain alerts us that something is wrong and must be attended to. This notion that pain may work for our good is hard to accept. But often it is the best explanation we can find.

Recently a friend of mine was told by his doctor that he needed to check himself into the hospital for a heart catheterization. "The doctor may decide to do a balloon angioplasty or stents," our friend explained, "in which case I'll have to stay over." Within forty-eight hours we heard that he had undergone triple bypass surgery, a major intervention.

He was weak, worn out, and exhausted by his ordeal, but beginning to see the brighter side. "The good news is there's no damage to my heart," he explained. But what I kept noticing was how hard he had tried to postpone the treatment ("Couldn't it wait a few weeks?"). Maybe God was shouting, but my friend was ill disposed to hear.

I myself have behaved in this exact way, deaf to the smaller signals of trouble and able to listen only when the alarms were percussive and loud. Toughing it out, ignoring the worst—maybe sometimes these are good character traits. But sometimes they are only a kind of disobedience and pride. Several years ago I found myself on a gurney in the emergency room in Santa Fe, struggling with a severe rheumatoid arthritis attack. How had I ignored the warning signs? How had I gotten into such a mess? The rheumatologist, when he finally arrived, spent much of his time scolding me. "Are you aware what a serious illness you have?" "Have you been underreporting your symptoms to your doctor at home?" Apparently he thought I had not been listening to that persistent megaphone.

So in the school of adversity we are brought up short; we repent; we are changed. In spite of our rebellious hearts, we become submissive, obedient, grateful. The God who whispers, speaks, and shouts is always at our side and on our side. But faith is needed to admit our need for God. Faith is needed to listen and hear God's counsel. Faith is needed to believe that God wants the best for us, even when trouble strikes. As the psalm says, "A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you."

Excerpted from : Small Surrenders: A Lenten Journey by Emilie Griffin

Plugged in -a preview

2011-03-19T22:14:00.003-04:00

Wish you could make a difference in this world - but you are are afraid of failure? Think again:

We invite you to bring your favorite breakfast dish to share as we enjoy a time of fellowship. The Connection Café will provide coffee, tea and juice.
There will be no adult or youth Sunday School Plan to join us at 9:30am for a delicious meal and then prepare for a meaningful worship experience beginning at 10:30am.

Before I close - One more clip you MUST watch.... featuring one of my favorite artist - Keith Green = The Sheep and the Goats dedicated to Pastor Jordan for a great sermon a few weeks ago!)

A Lenten Devotional - Beyond Forgiveness

2011-03-19T10:38:00.003-04:00

An Extension of Credit
Beyond Mere Forgiveness

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! Romans 5:9 NIV

With forgiveness alone, all Christians would simply be forgiven sinners who still did not possess the absolute righteousness (moral perfection) to enter God's kingdom. Righteousness is something entirely different, it must be given to us via justification.

Forgiveness merely removes something (sin and its penalty), while justification imparts something (a righteous standing before God). This is why forgiveness has often been termed the "negative" side of atonement, while justification is its "positive" side. Of course, the most important aspect of both forgiveness and justification is that we obtain them by grace through faith alone.

Justification is the act whereby God once and for all declares someone "righteous":

However, to the man who does not work but trusts God
who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness....
"Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose
sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will
never count against him." (Romans 4:5-8 NIV)

This happens as a direct result of God's grace, or unmerited favor, toward anyone who accepts by faith the saving power of Jesus' work on the cross. Christ's righteousness is credited to us as if we ourselves were righteous. We can actually claim his righteousness as our own. Justification is not only the pinnacle of what Christ did for us, but also the unavoidable prerequisite for entering heaven.

Simply put, without justification we would not be able to stand in God's presence—even though forgiven of our sins.

Excerpted from: He Is Risen: Reflections on Easter and the Forty Days of Lent
by Richard Abanes

REDEMPTION - A Lenten Devotional

2011-03-18T11:20:00.002-04:00

You Were a Slave
A Ransom Paid for Us

You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
1 Corinthians 7:23 NIV

Redemption, another belief wrapped up in the atonement, comes from the Hebrew words padah (to redeem) and ga'al (to ransom).

Padah, according to the Expository Dictionary of Bible Words, "was originally used commercially to indicate a transfer of ownership." It appears in several Old Testament verses that speak of God's ownership of the people whom he rescued out of Egypt. "Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day" (Deuteronomy 5:15 NIV).

The Expository Dictionary of Bible Words further explains that ga'al has a similar meaning to padah, but points more precisely to someone who plays "the part of a kinsman, that is, to act on behalf of a relative in trouble or danger."

Both ga'al and padah refer to persons or objects, which although owned by an individual, are under the power/control of another person. The words also indicate that the true owner is unable to secure the release of his or her possessions until a third party intervenes.

These terms provide great insight into how Christ redeemed sinners through a payment of debt; especially when considered in light of the three Greek words found in the New Testament that are most often applied to what Jesus did on the cross.

First, we have the word agorazo, translated as "bought," that was used in Greek culture to describe the purchase of slaves. "You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body" (1 Corinthians 6:20 NIV). The Moody Handbook of Theology tells us that in the Bible this word connotes, "the believer being purchased out of the slave market of sin and set free from sin's bondage through the death of Jesus Christ."

Revelation 14:4 reads: "These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as first fruits to God and the Lamb" (NIV).

Next, there is exagorazo, a strengthened form of agorazo. It also means "to buy out," and like agorazo, is commonly linked to the purchasing of slaves, but with a view to their freedom and focuses more on the actual price paid, explains Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words.

The apostle Paul uses it in reference to Christ's deliverance of the Jews from the law and its curse. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree'" (Galatians 3:13 NIV).

Finally, lutroo means "to obtain release by the payment of a price," as defined in Fritz Rienecker's A Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament. It conveys the notion of being set free through a ransom. "But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel" (Luke 24:21 NIV).

Christians have been literally purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ (his death), said the apostle Peter. "It was not with perishable things...that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect" (1 Peter 1:18-19 NIV). Unlike both of the other Greek words, according to Vine, lutroo emphasizes the exact event of deliverance itself or the act of setting someone free.

Excerpted from: He Is Risen: Reflections on Easter and the Forty Days of Lent
by Richard Abanes

Forgiveness: A Lenten Devotional

2011-03-17T16:37:00.002-04:00

Forgiveness

To forgive another person from the heart is an act of liberation. We set that person free from the negative bonds that exist between us. We say, "I no longer hold your offense against you."...We also free ourselves from the burden of being the "offended one." As long as we do not forgive those who have wounded us, we carry them with us or, worse, pull them as a heavy load. The great temptation is to cling in anger to our enemies and then define ourselves as being offended and wounded by them. Forgiveness, therefore, liberates not only the other but also ourselves.
--Henri J.M. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith

Reciprocity

Jesus said: If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High....

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you." Luke 6:33-37

Prayer

God, my divine advocate, grant me the spirit of authentic forgiveness. Elevate my thoughts from the pit of retribution and negativity to the liberated place where I am free from the bonds of wounded anger. Let you who forgave your executioners inspire me to forego my obsessive victimhood and free my heart to follow your will. Amen.

Lenten Action

Choose one bit of emotional garbage that you are clinging to, get rid of it, and get on with your life. In honor of this act, give a gift to someone else who needs a helping hand.

Excerpted from Lent and Easter Wisdom from Henri J.M. Nouwen

John 3:16 Day

2011-03-16T15:27:00.003-04:00

A devotional thought came to mind today. Today is 3.16.2011.

This has been declared as John 3:16 Day!

Check out positive, encouraging K LOVE

Lenten Devotional: Abandonment to God's Will

2011-03-16T15:13:00.003-04:00

This morning during my hour of prayer, I tried to come to some level of abandonment to my heavenly Father. It was a hard struggle since so much in me wants to do my will, realize my plans, organize my future, and make my decisions. Still, I know that true joy comes from letting God love me the way God wants, whether it is through illness or health, failure or success, poverty or wealth, rejection or praise. It is hard for me to say, "I shall gratefully accept everything, Lord, that pleases you. Let your will be done." But I know that when I truly believe my Father is pure love, it will become increasingly possible to say these words from the heart.
--Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Road to Daybreak: A Spiritual Journey

Abide in God's Will

Beloved,...Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever. 1 John 2:7, 15-17

Prayer : Henri Nouwen often said this prayer written by Charles de Foucauld:

I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you;
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me
and in all your creatures.
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord,
and so need to give myself into your hands,
without reserve and with boundless confidence.
For you are my Father. Amen.

Excerpted from: Lent and Easter Wisdom from Henri J.M. Nouwen

Make you want to slap your mama

2011-03-15T21:02:00.002-04:00

Really for a good laugh? Enjoy: Tim Hawkins speaks about Cracker Barrel

Heart of Courage - A Lenten Devotional

2011-03-14T23:06:00.003-04:00

Heart of Courage

The word courage comes from coeur, which means "heart." To have courage is to listen to our heart, to speak from our heart, to act from our heart....Often we debate current issues and express our opinions about them. But courage is taking a stance, even an unpopular stance, not because we think differently from others but because from the center of our being we realize how to respond to the situation we are in. Courage does not require spectacular gestures. Courage often starts in small corners: it is courageous not to participate in gossip, not to talk behind someone's back, not to ridicule another. It is courageous to think well of other people and be grateful to them....It is courageous to reach out to a poor person, to spend time with a troubled child, to participate in action to prevent war and violence.

--Henri J.M. Nouwen, Sabbatical Journey: The Diary of His Final Year

Courage of Conviction

[Jesus'] disciples said, "Yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech! Now we know that you know all things, and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God." Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe? The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have said this to you, so that you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!" John 16:29-33

Prayer:

Cherished God, give me true and heartfelt courage that brings strength, resilience, and determination to do what is right rather than what is expedient and convenient. Let my courage be seen in small ways that reflect the essence of your commandments: let me forego gossip and sarcasm, exercise caution with placing blame, refuse to duck away from responsibility, speak wisely at the appropriate moment, and cultivate compassion and understanding. Let me be among those who have the courage of his or her convictions. Amen.

Lenten Action: Choose a new tradition to observe this Lent; for example, decorate your home with reminders of the season (purple, incense, thorny branches), make a cross to adorn a home altar, or, imitating a Greek custom, place six feathers in a potato and remove one during each of the weeks of Lent.

Excerpt taken from:

Lent and Easter Wisdom from Henri J.M. Nouwen
by: Henri Nouwen

What Love Really Means

2011-03-14T15:32:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was an awesome day at church at NRN. Here is a simple "taste": The offertory presented by Melissa, Dustin, Moses and Tom.

Enjoy:

Don't miss next Sunday at NRN. Join us at 9:30am for breakfast - followed by the worship experience beginning at 10:30am featuring

In that great gettin up morning....

2011-03-14T00:35:00.002-04:00

The Gaither Vocal Band - this is how to get great vocalization:

Lenten Devotional Only the Father

2011-03-12T00:51:00.003-05:00

Only the Father

The passion will inevitably remain extraneous to us until
we go into it through the very narrow door of the "for our sake"
because only he who acknowledges that the passion is his fault
truly knows the passion. Everything else is a digression.
--Raniero Cantalamessa

Reflect

As you quiet your heart and subdue your thoughts, gently thank God for being with you today. Take a couple of minutes to affirm Christ's presence here.

Read the following passage aloud, making it a personal prayer:

O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;
my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in
a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus
I have seen You in the sanctuary, to see Your power
and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is
better than life, my lips will praise You. So I will
bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in
Your name. --Psalm 63:1-4 NASB

Ask the Holy Spirit to be your Teacher and comforter through this time with Christ. Consider the prophetic descriptions of Jesus from Isaiah 53, listed below. Slowly speak each of the phrases, contemplating what it may mean.

-- a tender shoot
-- a root out of parched ground
-- no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him
-- nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him
-- despised
-- forsaken of men
-- man of sorrows
-- acquainted with grief
-- one from whom men hide their face
-- we did not esteem Him

What do you see in Christ that perhaps you haven't really comprehended before?

Read

Remain here and keep watch with Me. --Matthew 26:38 NASB

...Such a simple request. Has He ever asked these men to do anything for Him before? From the moment He called them from their businesses and boats, did He depend on them at all to meet His needs?

He fed the five thousand—first the disciples and then the multitude. Did anyone make sure His stomach was filled with the broken bread and dried fish? He calmed the wind when the night wore thin and the disciples' terror grew, but did any of them think to offer Him a warm blanket or bowl of broth? A few hours ago He washed their feet—did anyone wash His?...

In the end, there is only the Father. He hovers near His child, though the agonizing dialogue between them is the start of a severing that will tear the Godhead apart. Visions of that moment torment the Son until He wonders if He can continue. He pleads with His friends, "Remain here and keep watch with Me," but only the Father hears.

Respond

Sit quietly, contemplating the darkness that surrounded the disciples that night. See Jesus a short distance from you, His heart beginning to break, His cries growing louder and louder. Imagine yourself falling asleep, oblivious to His pain. Hear Him gently calling you by name: "Could you not watch for one hour?"

Why do you think the disciples did not watch with Jesus? Why do you fail Him at times? Why were the disciples so out of touch with how terrible this time was for Christ? Are you at times out of touch with the true suffering of Christ? Why?

Ask God to give you spiritual insight into what Jesus was about to experience as He asked the disciples to watch with Him. Spend a few moments in prayer over this.

Write a prayer using some of the phrases from Isaiah (e.g., Lord, You were a tender shoot, like new life coming forth, fragile...and I crushed You).

Be quiet for a period of time, allowing this experience to settle within your heart.

Prayer: Oh, my Lord, I long to understand the extent of Your isolation, the impact of Your lonely pain. Did You ever feel at home during Your stay on earth, or did You experience abandonment from the moment You burst upon this dark planet? I, too, have let You down a thousand times, and I cannot for one moment judge the disciples who slept while You grieved. I long to join You now, though. My heart beats as Yours breaks, and in my spirit I offer You a shoulder upon which to weep. Let me remain and keep watch with You this day.

This devotional is an excerpt from:

Contemplating the Cross
by Tricia McCary Rhodes

Lenten Devotional MAN OF SORROWS

2011-03-12T00:47:00.003-05:00

Man of Sorrows

In the cross God is not revealed as One reigning in calm disdain
above all the squalors of earth, but as One Who suffers more
keenly than the keenest sufferer--"a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief." --Oswald Chambers

Reflect

Begin your time with words of gratitude to God. Thank Him specifically for the life and love you have gained through salvation.

Ask God to speak to your heart today. Affirm His presence during this time of meditation and prayer.

Ponder the following verse:

The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
--1 Corinthians 1:18 NASB

What does this mean to you? Ask the Holy Spirit to impart the meaning to you in a personal way. Write a prayer of thanksgiving based on what you've seen in your prayer journal.

Read

He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death." --Mark 14:34 NASB

The hour is late. Stillness settles like an eerie cloud over Jerusalem. As He enters the gate in the wall around Gethsemane, Jesus motions to Peter, James, and John to come with Him. The other sit down quietly to wait—for what, they do not know—as the three follow into the recesses of the Garden.

Jesus moves slowly, perhaps stopping to lean against a gnarled tree trunk. White knuckles protrude from tightened fists and His head hangs in weariness. The men glance at one another, wondering what to do. Their Teacher has never been like this before. They saw Him cry when His friend Lazarus died; and only a week ago, as He entered Jerusalem, He sobbed out loud over the neediness there. Yet that was a strong cry—laced with sadness perhaps, but not despair....

"Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Strange words to describe a Deity. But He had given it all up—didn't consider equality with God something to cling to. Now what must the Messiah think? Does He long for a taste of the days when angels sang and all of creation cried out to His exalted presence? Is the love that once sent Him spinning into a woman's womb faltering, even a little?

A resounding no echoes through the halls of eternity. The wretchedness written on the face of Christ will play itself out to the bitter end. Anything less would leave God's children hanging in the balance, bound in the slave market of sin's great camp. This He cannot allow. In some strange way, God the Father is pleased to crush His only Son.

And so, as travelers below settle down for another night's sleep, God's eternal plan marches forward. Earth's countless inhabitants are oblivious to the waves of emotions crashing into Jesus, the Christ, threatening to drown Him with their force. My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. He mourns, but life goes on.

Respond

Wait in the stillness of God's presence for several minutes. Have you ever lost someone or something dear to you? Lifelong plans and dreams? Friendship? Mother? Father? Child? Think back to that time, or try to imagine the kind of grief that can be described only as agony—both physical and mental.

Consider the words Jesus spoke: "My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death." Hear His voice speaking them. What might Jesus have been mourning in that moment? Ask God to give you a sense of the kind of sorrow Jesus was experiencing as He spoke those words. Wait and listen.

Read (or sing) the words to the following old hymn. Consider the face of Christ in the Garden as you do.

Hallelujah, What a Savior!
Phillip P. Bliss

"Man of Sorrows!" what a name
For the Son of God, who came,
Ruined sinners to reclaim!
Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Spend some time in worship. Speak words of adoration, thanksgiving, awe, and wonder. Sing, lift your hands, and kneel in praise for One who would grieve as Jesus did and yet go on. Write a prayer of response in your prayer journal.

Prayer: Man of sorrows...You have looked sorrow in the face and wept in its wasteland. And though You grieved to the point of death, You did not die. Not then. Oh, God, in the soil of Your sadness, seeds of hope are planted for a dying world. Let me search deeply this moment of Yours. Open wide my eyes that I might glimpse Your eternal sacrifice. Take me into Your dark night, and together we will acquaint ourselves with the paradox of grief's glory.

This devotional is an excerpt from:

Contemplating the Cross
by Tricia McCary Rhodes

Ash Wednesday, March 9, 2011 The Beginning of the End

2011-03-10T10:34:00.004-05:00

He who knows not the Christ of Calvary knows not God,
and he who does not thus know, knows not anything
that is worth knowing. --R.E. March

Reflect:
Quiet your heart before God. Seek to release the worries, cares, distractions, and decisions of your day into the Holy Spirit's hands.

Read the following verses out loud as a prayer and invitation to the Lord:

Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths;
guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are
God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
--Psalm 25:4-5 NIV

Invite Jesus to open your spiritual eyes in a new way. Welcome Him as your companion and guide on this spiritual journey. Think about the Cross for a few minutes. What images come to your mind? Does the thought of the Cross touch you deeply, or has familiarity with Christ's death produced complacency? What would you like God to do within you through this journey? Write this out as a prayer.

Read
He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. --Luke 22:39 NASB

As was His custom...These are telling words about where Jesus will spend His final hours of freedom. The Mount of Olives is a familiar place. He has been here often, only a week ago descending from it on a donkey, the crowds crying hosannas and laying palm branches at His feet.

On the night following the triumphal entry, while His followers rest in homes preparing for Passover, Jesus most likely slept here. He didn't have to travel far, just a few hundred feet up a stone path off the Jericho road.

...Stopping near a gate, Jesus gazes at the starry host above. Then, lifting his hands to His Father, He says a long, poignant prayer for these faithful few. When He is done, He searches their faces for a sign of comprehension. Seeing only questions in their eyes He cannot answer, the Son of God turns toward the entrance to the Garden of Gethsemane.

It is a beautiful place, the night air in the foothills warm, the breeze from the brook Kidron blowing gently. The Garden's huge twisted-trunk olives trees are laden with fruit. At harvest, the olives will be pressed until precious oil fills the vats. This "place of crushing" is a fitting finale for the One whose life's breath will soon be pressed from Him.

...It is the beginning of the end. As night takes hold, the blackest days of Christ's short stint with humanity close in. Within hours, all of history will be catapulted toward that event for which there is no turning back. The beginning of the end.

Respond
The journey to the cross is one of introspection. It is a time for mourning over the sins we have committed that nailed Jesus there. In Scripture, ashes were often a sign of repentance. Many people begin their journey to the cross on Ash Wednesday (first day of the Lenten season) by having a cross of ashes put on their foreheads to symbolize their repentance of sin and need for a Savior (Job 24:6; Jeremiah 6:26; Matthew 11:21).

Today, reflect on your own need. Consider your personal sin and disobedience. Ask God to give you the gift of mourning before Him as you begin this journey. Know that even as you may grieve, you will receive afresh the love of Christ, who died for you.

When God has spoken or moved you in some way, write a prayer of response. This might include words of praise, confession, petition, worship, or even questions you have. Be authentic as you open your heart.

Prayer:

Lord, let me walk with You through these final hours. Let me hold Your hurt, live in Your loneliness, and experience what it cost You to go the distance. In embracing Your pain, may I comprehend the depths of Your love. In grappling with Your grief, may I grasp the wonder of Your grace. And in dying Your despicable death, may I gain my own soul. I do not ask for these things lightly. I know I cannot come to the cross without being changed. Let me walk with You, Jesus--make me ready for the journey.

This devotional is an excerpt from:

Contemplating the Cross
by Tricia McCary Rhodes

A must see - THE GRACE CARD

2011-02-25T08:34:00.006-05:00

Today is the release of the new film: The Grace Card. The opening weekend is always important for any film. This film is truly worthy of your attention. I highly recommend this film and encourage all my friends to see the film - and then take someone with you to the movie this weekend.

Here is the trailer:

Looking forward to seeing your comments about this movie....

Only one thing is necessary

2011-02-22T15:53:00.002-05:00

This video greatly encouraged me today. I strongly encourage my friends who are pastors - or in ministry - to take the time to watch and draw from these truths. If you are too busy to stop for nine minutes - trust me - you NEED TO HEAR THIS!

Justin Blaney sits down with Wayne Cordeiro from New Hope Christian Fellowship to discover what lessons Wayne learned while pulling through a 3 1/2 year recovery from major burn out.

Happy President's Day 2011

2011-02-21T14:52:00.005-05:00

Today was a quiet day at the office with the YMCA off for President's Day. I took a short break and went to the web site of the Huffington Post. I enjoyed the President's Day postings on their site:

The first one I enjoyed was the newly revised Hall of Presidents at Disney World

Then I really enjoyed this article:

Happy Presidents Day! If you're like us, you'd rather spend today remembering our former commanders-in-chief for the ridiculous things they did rather than the groundbreaking things they did. Take FDR for example: sure, he made some phenomenal changes to our nation, but did you know he also had a movie credit? Or take Abraham Lincoln and JFK: should we remember them for ending slavery or inspiring a generation? Or should we honor them for winning a wrestling match and getting into Harvard despite a shoddy application, respectively?

With all those fascinating tidbits out there, we just had to update our slide show from last year to tell you everything you didn't know about U.S. presidents' quirks, pets, hobbies, vices and more. Click to enjoy the show!

Presidents Day 2011: 22 Ridiculous Things You Didn't Know About U.S. Presidents

Vote for the most ridiculous fact!

A preview of this coming Sunday at NRN 2.20.2011

2011-02-18T10:21:00.003-05:00

Here is a preview of this coming Sunday at NRN:

We will worship the Lord in song and praise:

We will worship the Lord in prayer and petitions:

We will worship the Lord with the preaching of God's Word. This Sunday at NRN we welcome Doug Whitley as he brings a powerful portrayal of Rev. E. M. Bounds.

Here is the introduction to his message:

Call on God .... God will hear .... God will answer.

How a birthday is like a banana

2011-02-14T17:50:00.012-05:00

Yesterday - February 13, 2011 - was a special day for me as I celebrated the anniversary of my birth. I was so special to have my grand daughters Alyse and Breeley visiting us. I was overjoyed by the amazing number of comments on my Facebook page with well wishes for my birthday. Thanks to Dr. Parker for bringing our announcement time at church to a halt to announce my birthday and hear everyone sing to me. WOW it was so moving. I was speechless for a few moments. Here are some of my reflections from the last few days:

I loved spending time with Breeley. Each night I sat in a rocking chair as I fed her a bottle and held her in my arms until she fell asleep. These are times we hold dear. She brings a big smile to my face.

It was such a double blessing to have Alyse and Breeley visiting us.

We surprised the girls on Saturday morning by taking them to the circus at the RBC Center in Raleigh.

Pictures usually tells a thousand words but no pictures could catch the excitement and fun we experienced with the girls.

At one point I caught this picture of "grammy" and Breeley watching the show very intentionally:

And Alyse said her favorite part was the elephants and the beautiful ladies.

When I arrived at my office at the church on Sunday morning, there was an envelope with a card inside. I think it summarizes how I feel about this birthday:

So I leave you with this closing question:

Life comes at you fast

2011-02-08T10:19:00.003-05:00

A "buzz" around the media today is the commercials from last Sunday evening during the Super Bowl game.

I love the "Life Comes At You Fast" and "Wanna Get Away" commercials. They are so funny, yet so true. We laugh at the calamities of the unsuspecting victims along with the screw-ups of the not-so-bright.

But life does come at you fast and sometimes you do want to get away, but not always because you messed something up or stuck your foot in your mouth.

James 4:14 reminds us that this life is just a "mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." So what will we do with that 'little while' that we do have here.

I don't know about you, but I want to get away, not to a better life, but to a life that finishes well, this 'little while' that I am here on earth. Recently in a time alone with God I made a decision that it was time to purge my life of all the unneeded items that clutter my inward self.

As I have been typing this out, I have been listening to Francesca Battistelli's song, Beautiful, Beautiful. Our dear friend Melissa sang this song at church and I went out to purchase the CD to hear it over and over.

The lyrics speak so deeply to my heart, that God would take me and make me something more than I could ever be on my own. I want my life to be something beautiful for His Glory.

Don’t know how it is You looked at me
And saw the person that I could be
Awakening my heart
Breaking through the dark
Suddenly Your grace
Like sunlight burning at midnight
Making my life something so
Beautiful, beautiful
Mercy reaching to save me
All that I need
You are so
Beautiful, beautiful
I have come undone
But I have just begun
Changing by Your grace

I want Him to continue to change me by His grace, purging all the impurities and unnecessary junk out of my life.

Because 'life does come at us fast' and we should 'wanna get away' from whatever is holding us back from serving Him with this 'little while' that we are here.

Still laughing

2011-02-03T14:41:00.002-05:00

If you are ready to laugh some more - I think you will love this. Pastor Jordan emailed this to me and when I watched it - we laughed together.

A time to laugh

2011-02-03T00:01:00.004-05:00

Thought it was time for a little laughter:

Psalm 126:1-3 "When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion, We were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, 'The LORD has done great things for them.' The LORD has done great things for us, And we are glad."

Proverb 17:22 "A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones."

Ecclesiastes 3:4 "(To everything there is a season) . . . a time to laugh . . ."

Job 8:21, 22 "He will yet fill your mouth with laughing, And your lips with rejoicing. Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, And the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing."

Luke 6:21 "Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh."

Insight: The Bible promotes laughter and says it does good. It can be a reward and a blessing from God. Enjoy times of laughter because it's a gift from God.

Prayer: "Dear Lord, thank you for laughter. Thank you for giving us opportunities to see things in a funny way. Help us to have a light heart. Remind us that You are faithful. Increase our faith in You and our love for You and for others. Help us to laugh and to make others laugh, so we can be blessed. In Jesus' name, Amen."

The Prognosticator of Prognosticators, Punxsutawney Phil has made his Prediction 2011

2011-02-02T15:13:00.002-05:00

Today is Ground Hog Day 2011. The Prognosticator of Prognosticators, Punxsutawney Phil, once again appeared at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob in the Pennsylvania Wilds to make his annual prediction.

Phil surveyed his surroundings and found no shadow, so an early spring it will be!

What does a sleepy, furry marmot have to do with seasonal change? According to fans of Punxsutawney Phil, everything! But why?

The story of Groundhog Day begins with Candlemas, an early Christian holiday where candles were blessed and distributed. Celebrators of the holiday eventually declared clear skies on Candlemas meant a longer winter. The Roman legions, during the conquest of the northern country, brought this tradition to the Germans, who concluded that if the sun made an appearance on Candlemas Day, a hedgehog would cast a shadow, thus predicting six more weeks of bad weather or "Second Winter." German immigrants brought the tradition to Pennsylvania, but how did Punxsutawney Phil emerge?

In 1887, a spirited group of groundhog hunters from Punxsutawney dubbed themselves "The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club." One member was an editor of Punxsutawney's newspaper. Using his ink, he proclaimed Punxsutawney Phil, the local groundhog, to be the one and only weather prognosticating groundhog. He issued this proclamation on Candlemas, and yes, Groundhog Day. Phil's fame spread, and newspapers from around the globe began to report his Gobbler's Knob prediction. Today you will find 20,000+ in attendance and millions watching on television or via the web.

Everything to me...

2011-01-29T22:43:00.003-05:00

As I sit at my desk, praying and preparing for my teaching message tomorrow at church, I went to YouTube to view a clip I am considering to show tomorrow. I made my decision and came across a song from my past that always seems to minister to me. It contains a powerful testimony. May it bless you as you take a few moments to view:

I am praying for a number of people who have seemed to walk away from church to return tomorrow. I am praying for a pouring out of God's Spirit during our worship experience. I am praying for the anointing of God to fall upon the words He has placed in my heart and mouth for tomorrow. I am praying for God to move upon hearts granting great faith as we accept the closing Faith Promises for our partnership with Joshua and Paige Stine. I am praying for you....

God is too good

2011-01-26T09:44:00.002-05:00

One of my joys of living in North Carolina is to follow my beloved UNC men's basketball team. I have been a tarheel fan since I was a small boy growing up in NC.

I saw this in the news today and felt it worth to pass along:

The University of North Carolina men's basketball team landed safely in Miami on Tuesday night, but not without a tremendous scare.

The flight was so frightening that many of the Tar Heels players posted thoughts on Twitter about fearing death and praising God for the eventual safe landing.

At 10:07 p.m., sophomore guard Dexter Strickland posted: "WOW!! I really just had flashes of death on this plane! This plane ride just scared me for life!! God is too Good!!"

The UNC team left Raleigh-Durham International Airport on a chartered flight about 8 p.m. for Miami, where the Tar Heels will play the Hurricanes on Wednesday night in an Atlantic Coast Conference game. But, according to Matt Bowers, assistant director of media relations, storms in the area forced the plane to be rerouted over the ocean much more than usual when approaching Miami.

"We descended through a thunderstorm to land," Bowers wrote in an e-mail late Tuesday night. "It was a very bumpy ride for a bit, but thankfully the worst of it only lasted a few minutes. It was scary, but we're fine."

According to Andy Tingler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami, "Tornado watches were in order at the time, but no tornadoes were reported, although one funnel cloud was.

"A line of severe thunderstorms and heavy clouds were in the vicinity as the plane would have made its trek toward the airport. At that time, winds up to 66 mph were reported on the ground in the airport's vicinity. The plane likely graced the threshold of the storm line causing it to twist."

Here are more tweets from UNC players:

Strickland: "I can't believe there was really a moment on this plane ride when I thought it was over."
Strickland again: "I still have my barf bag in my pocket."

Sophomore wing Leslie McDonald: "Just experienced the scariest plane ride ever… really didn't think we was going to make it! #ThankGod."

McDonald again: "I'm going to ask a question.. is it normal for a plane to legit keep you out of your seat for 3 seconds and nearly do a three sixty?"

Junior forward Justin Watts: "Thank him!!!... That flight was the worst ever. Thought we were going down for a sec."

Junior guard Larry Drew II: "Thank the LORD we jus landed in Miami."

Drew again: "Those are the type of flights that make you wanna do good, change ya life around. Lol"

Freshman guard Kendall Marshall: "Thank God for landing this plane safely."

Bowers wrote that some of the players' reports were exaggerated a bit, but not by much. "We were all over the place, but thankfully the pilots must’ve been good because it was quick.”

Tingler said that with the kind of weather conditions that were reported, "a regular thunderstorm can produce a high level of turbulence, and with the winds cause more adversity. It was very unstable all evening across the area."

The plane landed at 10:05 p.m., according to flightaware.com.

Anything you are thanking the Lord for today?

The Love of God from a mathematical viewpoint

2011-01-19T09:36:00.002-05:00

From a strictly mathematical viewpoint:

What Equals 100%?

What does it mean to give MORE than 100%?

Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%?

We have all been in situations where someone wants you to give over 100%.

How about achieving 101%? What equals 100% in life?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these

Questions:

If: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Is represented as: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then: H-A-R-D-W-O-R- K 8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

And K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E 11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

But, A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E 1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

AND, look how far the love of God will take you

L- O- V- E-O-F-G-O-D 12+15+22+5+15+6+7+15+4 = 101%

Therefore, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that:

While Hardwork and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, it's the Love of God that will put you over the top!

Faith Promise for our new partnership

2011-01-17T20:56:00.006-05:00

Yesterday at NRN was another awesome day. We welcomed Joshua and Paige Stines to NRN as they shared about their upcoming volunteer mission service in Poland. Here is some of the information from their Mission Corps page on line:

We are very excited to share with you what God is doing in our lives! We have been approved to serve in Poland beginning in February for one year (or more). Here, we will be joining the Church of the Nazarene in being deliberate in building relationships to evangelize to the Polish people.

The Church of the Nazarene had to be intentional in building trust with the natives that had been lost for nearly a century due to the effects of communism and war. The church responded by adopting a coffee shop paradigm in which space is provided for community classes, weekday bible studies, and a worship service every Saturday night while serving warm food and coffee. This atmosphere is one that creates trust between the Polish people and the missionaries. Currently, there are coffee shops located in Gdansk, Poznan, and a third that just opened in Krakow.

We are now in the process of raising funds to be volunteer missionaries. This is where we need your help!! We cannot answer the calling God has placed on our hearts without support from our family, friends, and church community. With your prayer and financial support we will be able to go and minister to people in Poland! Please consider giving on a monthly basis or even a one-time gift. The ministry in Poland will be furthered through your prayer and financial support.

I shared about the concept of Faith Promise Giving as we join in partnership with this couple. Here are the notes I shared:

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

2 Corinthians 9:7-8

What is the Faith Promise?
All our hearts should be stirred and challenged as we realize that through our participation in Faith Promise Missions many in the world who have never once heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ will have this opportunity. God help us to reach out to the lost world.

Faith Promise is NOT:
1. It is not a pledge! You sign NOTHING! No one but God knows what you promised.

2. It is not something that someone will call on you to collect.

3. It is not ever to be taken away from your tithes & offerings.

Faith Promise is …

1 It is strictly between you & God. If you decide you cannot give as you promised then you tell God alone. Only He and you will know.

2. It is waiting before the Lord for His instructions as to what He wants you to give in reaching the world with the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.

3. It must be carried on by faith that God will supply for other things which arise as you proceed in giving what you promised Him.

I have asked that the people of NRN to please pray and fast about what God could do through us over the next 6 months to partner with the Stines financially. If you have not make your Faith Promise to encourage you to continue to pray and seek God's direction. We will receive your faith promise commitments through the month of January and plan to share our commitment with Joshua and Paige before they depart on Tuesday February 1, 2011 to begin their service in Poland.

Do you believe in moral absolutes?

2011-01-11T16:41:00.009-05:00

A gunman intended to assassinate a U.S. representative when he opened fire outside a Tucson, Arizona, supermarket on Saturday January 08, 2011, killing six and wounding 12 including the congresswoman, the local sheriff said hours after the shooting.

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords remains in critical condition after surgery for a single gunshot wound to the head.

My good friend and President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University - Dr. Everett Piper has written an excellent article to respond to a critical question.

Evil and Moral Absolutes
Do you believe that morality is relative and just a matter of personal choice?

After this past week's shootings in Arizona, after the death of nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green, after the heart wrenching details other deaths and 20 some wounded, do you believe in morality? Do you believe in the laws of Nature and Natures God or do you believe "we are the one's we've been waiting for and we are the change that we seek?"

After this week, what do you think?

As you looked deep into the eyes of Loughner what does your heart tell you?

Do we have it right?

Can man achieve utopia on his own?

Do we have the goodness within ourselves to develop our own systems of morality without the boundaries or restrictions of any absolute standards?

Do we have any real liberty without the limits of law?

Can there be any true freedom without moral fences? Can license be granted without selflessness and servitude?

Do you believe all is well in the world and that progress is marching boldly in a positive direction?

Or, in the shadow of the bodies at the Safeway in Arizona do you see something that your instinct told you was there all along?

Is the difference between good and bad real? Do right and wrong exist?

Do justice and injustice, life and death, morality and immorality, vice and virtue have definitions beyond the matters of personal opinion and political power?

Does the human heart have the propensity to choose poorly and to do despicable things?

Is the most proven empirical fact of all of human history the very existence of sin?

Do you believe Jared Loughner was objectively wrong in shooting Congresswoman Giffords and killing Christina Taylor Green?

Oh No! Not Evangelism

2011-01-10T12:42:00.004-05:00

Sorry for the delay in my posting in this new year. I needed a short break to prepare for the future teaching series at NRN.

WOW - This past Sunday at NRN was truly awesome. Thanks to Pastor Jordan for directing our worship and to all the members of the worship team. I promised before the worship experience that I was going to do something I had never done before during a worship service.

All I can say about that is .... the german chocolate cupcake was delicious (at least the one bite I was able to take before it was taken off my table....) I spoke about evangelism.

The special music by Melissa was fantastic. I was amazed how it spoke to my heart and what a God thing it was to relate with my message. If you missed it - here is the song with the lyrics:

If you want see the sermon outline click HERE - and yes - if you want to listen to the message - simply click HERE. Enjoy!

"I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." (Philemon 1:6)

Five things I am praying for

2011-01-03T22:32:00.003-05:00

Here are 5 things I am praying for family of North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene we start 2011:

:: More people reached with the love and good news of Jesus.

:: Greater impact through selfless, sacrificial service.

:: More authentic relationships seen in love, unity and accountability.

:: Increasingly deeper intimacy with God.

:: Increased Prayer...truly be a people of prayer.

- "...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place." 2 Chronicles 7:14-15

Family Christmas 2010

2010-12-29T21:55:00.014-05:00

SOME OF MY FAVORITE MEMORIES ABOUT CHRISTMAS 2010

While Sharron and I were in Raleigh at the Christmas Eve Service at NRN
- Alyse had prepared the cookies and milk for Santa's visit later in the evening.

Soon after Sharron and I arrived - in the early morning hours of Christmas Day - we heard a noise from the family room and Santa was actually caught in front of the the family tree and the at the fireplace where the stockings were hung with care.

A little after 7:00am Alyse made sure everyone was awake and ready for the family events of Christmas Day. We began by gathering in the main bedroom and listening as Josh read the account of Jesus' birth from Luke Chapter 2. Then we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.

Now it was time to make our way tot he family room. Sharron and I led the way as Stephanie helped Josh with the girls - then she joined us with camera in hand.

There were sounds of glee by Alyse. She was almost overwhelmed by the gifts left by Santa and gifts from family that awaited her.

Since it was Breeley's very first Christmas morning - we were so glad when she paused to "pose" for this picture in front of her gifts.

Later in the day Danielle and her family joined us for breakfast and to share some gifts. I love this picture of Danielle holding her son Jordan and his niece Breeley.

And here is Jordan with his first family photo of Christmas 2010.

Jesus: The Prince of Peace

2010-12-26T21:22:00.003-05:00

Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!
Luke 2:14 (NKJV)

Today the snow fell in North Carolina. The first big snow on Christmas Day and the day after in NC since 1947. My teaching message today was to bring a series to a close by sharing about the peace of God. Here are some thoughts:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

Over the past 4 weeks we’ve learned about the first 3 titles in Isaiah 9:6 – “Wonderful Counselor,” “Mighty God” and “Everlasting Father.” You can check out my sermon outlines and podcast on our web site if you want to review what those titles mean as they are applied to Jesus. With that said, on Sunday following Christmas Day and this last Sunday of 2010 - we will focus on the meaning of the fourth title in Isaiah 9:6 – “Prince of Peace.”

Peace with God (spiritual) - "Now that we have been put right with God through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1 TEV).

Peace of God (emotional) - "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7 NLT).

Peace with each other (relational) - "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" (Matthew 5:9 KJV).

This reminds me of some of the words from the famous hymn “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” which we sang last Friday evening at the Christmas Eve Service.. Listen to some of the words from this hymn: “Hark! The Herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn king; peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.’”

With those words in your heart and mind, let God’s favor rest upon you and your homes, and make the Prince of Peace the center of your marriages and families – and then you will experience the peace of God that passes all human understanding.

"It makes no difference who you are or where you're from - if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open" (Acts 10:35 MSG).

A Prayer of Thanksgiving to God

"Because of Jesus, I now can live a life of joy, purpose, peace, and love."

God, I have so much joy right now, knowing that you decided to send Jesus to earth so I could be saved from a life of hopelessness and sin and be a peacemaker for you. I recognize in this moment that you saved my life when you sent Jesus, and that because of Jesus, I now can live a life of joy, purpose, peace, and love. I hold onto that hope today. When I look at the world around me, I see so many people who are struggling with stressful, meaningless, chaotic lives without loving, caring relationships. That was my life before you saved me. To say I am grateful doesn't begin to express what I am feeling. I just know I have a sense of meaning and peace I have never had before and could never get on my own strength - and I am full of amazing happiness.

I feel like celebrating right now, knowing that I am now on your side, instead of being at war with you. I know that with you I will never again be lost and alone. I am a new person today, and I recognize what I have just been given. I pray that, as I continue to grow spiritually every day, I will come to understand everything you have just accomplished in my life. By faith, I know I can trust you to be in my life today - and every day. I know I can count on you when things get tough, and knowing I will spend eternity in your presence gives me such hope!

Thank you, Jesus, for the peace you have given me. I pray you will use me as an instrument of that peace so I can help my family, friends, and the world in which I live. I feel so different right now, knowing that you and I are now OK, knowing I am on the road to a deeper understanding of what it means to live for an audience of one. I ask you to help me pray when I become upset so that I will have your peace in any situation I face - good or bad. Help me to get ready to help other people as others have already helped me. I want to make a difference in this world, and I want to help everyone I meet have the same hope I now have. I can't do this alone, so I ask you to make me a peacemaker.

Thank you for loving me. Thank you for saving me. And thank you for giving me a peace I have never known before. May everything I do, from this day on, reflect these same qualities as I tell others what you just did for me. I am full of anticipation at the kind of life I can now live.

I love you, Jesus!

Thanks to my friend Rick W. for some insights shared

The spirit of Christmas

2010-12-24T12:44:00.003-05:00

On this Christmas Eve 2010 - I am making my final preparations for the Christmas Eve Worship Experience at NRN at 5:00pm. The service with feature a lessons and carols format with communion and candle lighting. I will bring a short devotional from Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23 "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us"). These words are truly trustworthy sayings.

Here is another thought to consider:

In 1977, Guideposts magazine reported a true story about a man hiking in the mountains. He was caught in a sudden snowstorm and quickly lost his way. Since he was not dressed for the cold weather, he knew that he needed to find shelter fast, or he would freeze to death. Despite all his efforts, time slipped by, and his hands and feet became numb. He knew his time was short now.

Suddenly, he literally tripped over another man who was almost frozen to death. The hiker had a hard decision to make. What should he do? Forget about the man and continue on, trying to save himself? Or should he try to help the stranger in the snow? He started to walk on, but he couldn't do it. He came back and threw off his wet gloves. He knelt beside the man. He began to talk to him while massaging the stranger's arms and legs.

Soon, the man in the snow began to respond, and together they were able to find help. The hiker was later told by the doctors that helping the man in the snow had saved his own life. For you see, the numbness in his hands had vanished while he was massaging the stranger's arms and legs. This man’ sacrificial love ignites somebody’s life. That is the spirit of Christmas. Jesus came to us to ignite our life eternal.

An Advent Devotional Thought

2010-12-23T21:20:00.003-05:00

The Presence of Jesus in This World

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.
- Luke 1: 76-79

John the Baptist's father, Zechariah, saw the Advent of the coming Christ as a clarion call to peace: Jesus as our guide; the tender mercies of God breaking open like the dawn; real light made evident where things had once been grim and dark. Forgiveness of sins would counter the shadow of ongoing defeat. What a vision, and what an inspiration!

...A lot has been said about peace during this most turbulent past hundred years. There have been speeches, poetry, and folktales; countless hopes; beautiful dreams; and innumerable songs. But reality reveals a tragic contradiction. The more we talk about peace, the less tranquility and harmony we seem to actually witness.

The Home Front

My grandparents would tell stories about 1918, when millions of people stood in throngs on Armistice Day, both in London and around the world. It was a stirring sight, they said, and they cried passionately with all their hearts, "Never again!"

And they believed it. My grandmother Kemp's brother lied about his age, joining the British army at sixteen. He marched down to the docks with hundreds of other young men who also lied about their age, and he took the boat to Europe. Arthur Watts died in Belgium on Flanders Field, in the kind of wanton slaughter no one could bring themselves to believe the world would ever allow to happen again.

In my hometown of Folkestone, in the south of England, the hill the boys marched down on their way to the ships was later named the Road of Remembrance. But what did we all remember?

We remembered so poorly that, even though President Wilson won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to establish the League of Nations in 1919, the U.S. government neither ratified the charter nor joined the organization. We remembered so poorly that the world went at it again, just two decades later. We killed one another off by the tens of millions. As Europe hurtled toward war in 1938, Britain's prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, signed the Munich Agreement. He desperately wanted things to be different, and he declared "peace in our time." But it was more like whistling in the dark, a move that virtually guaranteed a more devastating confrontation. He did not understand that real peace has nothing to do with fear....

Be the Presence of Jesus

What are we really talking about, then, when we throw the word peace around so easily yet so earnestly? The dictionary defines peace most notably in the negative. It's a treaty to cease hostilities; it's the absence of mental stress or anxiety. Peace is harmonious relations; it's freedom from disputes; it's the prevailing state during the absence of war; it's the absence of armed conflict; or it's a kind of public quiet.

Most of us buy into this "absence of" model on a regular basis. Have you ever walked into your kitchen and announced, at the top of your lungs, "ALL I WANT AROUND HERE IS A LITTLE PEACE AND QUIET!!!"

Jesus is the Prince of Peace; we can find the antidote to our most common misconceptions in the person, the actions, and the message of Christ. His beautiful way challenges us to see peace not as a negative or neutral condition but as dynamic, purposeful, and vigorous.

The peace of God is not so much the absence of anything as it is the presence of so much. We can begin our weeklong emphasis on peace by inviting the tender mercies of our God to bring light into whatever darkness we find around us. We can be the presence of Jesus in this world. We can renew our commitment to God's way. We can make a difference.

Prayer: Gracious God, author of our lives, thank you for your active and purposeful love. Wash us with the refreshing waters of your peace. Use us to bring peace to our world. Challenge us to serve you faithfully. Amen

- A devotional thought from
In My Heart I Carry a Star: Stories for Advent by Derek Maul

An Awesome Day at NRN

2010-12-13T20:57:00.010-05:00

Sunday - December 12, 2010 was an awesome day at NRN!

It was so wonderful to see the pre-school children from our Tot Town join us in the worship center to sing a few songs. Nothing quite says "Christmas" like hearing young children singing "Jingle Bells."

Later in the worship experience I was pleased to welcome a number of people into membership of NRN. Several of the new members were unable to attend last Sunday but we rejoice in the new 12 members.

A significant event of the day was the children's musical program presented by the elementary aged children. It was evident that many hours of preparation had gone into the presentation. The speaking parts were presented so well. The music was great!

The energy in the worship center grew as the children sang and then lifted their hands in praise and adoration of our great God!

You could not help but want to clap along with the children as they sang.

I thank God that I have the opportunity to pastor a church that is ethnically diverse. I have read several statistics that reveal the truth that the most segregated time in America is during the 11:00am hour on Sunday morning. That is not true at NRN. It is so refreshing to realize that children are "color blind" when it comes to friendship and Christian love. I feel that God is shaping our church to be a church that follows after the early church where all are welcomed to come an experience the love of God.

I wish to express my appreciation to Polly Barwick, Brad Pope, Sandy Floyd and all the workers and leaders in our ministry to children. It is exciting to see what is happening in our Children's Church each week as we provide graded programing and well staffed and well planned ministry each Sunday morning.

I continued in the current teaching series at the close of the worship experience. If you would like to hear that message - simply click HERE.

- Be patient - It takes a few moments to download and play.

Thank you

2010-12-12T21:25:00.010-05:00

Thank you. It’s simple, right? These two words seem so common place that they may have lost their impact. The real truth is that these two words can have serious impact.

I want to say thank you for the generosity shown last Sunday evening as we enjoyed the present ion from the improv group "The Unintenitials" and the delicious soup and salad bar prepared by Rodney Rhoades and this team of volunteers. The Toy Drive brought forth over 50 toys to be given to elementary aged children of families in need in our community.

It was a great sight to see the presents placed under the Christmas tree in the foyer of the church.

I want to say THANK YOU to all the people who prayed for our grand son - Jordan Bolder. Jordan underwent three surgical procedures on Saturday December 11th .
His recovery was remarkable. The reports of his progress is amazing.

He was in good spirits just a few hours after surgery.

Sharron and I brought our grand daughter Alyse home with us to Raleigh on Saturday. On Sunday morning we was asked if we wanted to sing with her friends from church. She jumped right in and had a great time. Thank you to our great volunteers in Tot Town for loving and caring for our children.

I am very thankful this evening. Today after church I had the chance to roll on the floor and play with Alyse. It brings joy to my heart to hear her laugh. It is simply wonderful to have her hug me and tell me she loves me. Being a Papa is a great gift from God.

I also feel loved by Alyse's sister Breeley. Do you think we love being together?

A cup of tea

2010-12-10T10:43:00.002-05:00

Here is a picture of my grand daughter Alyse. I recently received an email with a little story that made me think this could possibly be a note from Alyse in the future.

One day, my mother and dad were out and my Papa was in charge of me.

I was maybe 2 1/2 years old. Someone had given me a little 'tea set' as a gift and it was one of my favorite toys. Papa was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought him a little cup of 'tea', which was just water.

After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my mom and dad came home. My Papa made them wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of tea, because it was 'just the cutest thing!'

Mom waited and, sure enough, here I came down the hall with a cup of tea for Papa and she watched him drink it up.

Then she said (as only a mother would know), "'Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach to get water is the toilet?"

Did this make you smile?
Thanks D.J.

An Advent Devotional for Monday Nov. 29 2010

2010-11-29T13:13:00.003-05:00

November 28th was the first Sunday of Advent 2010. The word "Advent" means "coming". It is season of expectation for the coming of the Lord. Here is a simple

ADVENT DEVOTIONAL

The Advent Season Is a Season of Waiting

Jesus stands at the door knocking (Rev. 3:20).

In total reality, he comes in the form of the beggar, of the dissolute human child in ragged clothes, asking for help. He confronts you in every person that you meet. As long as there are people, Christ will walk the earth as your neighbor, as the one through whom God calls you, speaks to you, makes demands on you. That is the great seriousness and great blessedness of the Advent message. Christ is standing at the door; he lives in the form of a human being among us. Do you want to close the door or open it?

It may strike us as strange to see Christ in such a near face, but he said it, and those who withdraw from the serious reality of the Advent message cannot talk of the coming of Christ in their heart, either....

Christ is knocking. It's still not Christmas, but it's also still not the great last Advent, the last coming of Christ. Through all the Advents of our life that we celebrate runs the longing for the last Advent, when the word will be: "See, I am making all things new" (Rev. 21:5).

The Advent season is a season of waiting, but our whole life is an Advent season, that is, a season of waiting for the last Advent, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth.

"We can, and should also, celebrate Christmas despite the ruins around us.... I think of you as you now sit together with the children and with all the Advent decorations—as in earlier years you did with us. We must do all this, even more intensively because we do not know how much longer we have."

These words were written in a letter to the parents of Dietrich Bonhoeffer November 29, 1943, written from Tegel prison camp.

Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. Revelation 3:20

This devotional for taken from:

God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas

Thanksgiving Memories 2010

2010-11-26T11:27:00.013-05:00

Thanksgiving Day 2010 is now a memory. This day was very special for Sharron and I as Danielle and her family and Stephanie and her family arrived on Wednesday evening. Here are a few of my memories already tucked away in my mind:

Danielle's baby son Jordan is a hand full. It was so special to me to hold my grand son in my arms. He was a little tired after the trip from Concord, NC.

Soon after Danielle arrived Stephanie and her family arrived. It was so much fun to watch Jordan and Breeley sitting beside each other. They did not sit for long - waiting arms were there to hold them.

A delicious meal took place on Wednesday evening followed by a good night's sleep.
In the morning the Thanksgiving Day celebration began. With the sounds of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade coming from the TV -- Sharron and Stephanie prepared breakfast for the kids. Of course the featured item was the "turkey" shaped pancakes.

Jordan sat in the high chair ready for breakfast....

Following breakfast - the Thanksgiving Day Games began. Stephanie and Sharron had planned and prepared for some fun activities to help pass the morning with the children. We began by making a turkey from a potato. They were truly a sight to behold. Jayden was happy about her project:

Alyse was not quite sure about hers:

Then came a game of Thanksgiving Day "Bingo". Jayden was the first to fill in the six blocks on her page and cry out "TURKEY!"

We said good bye to Danielle's family in the early afternoon as they travelled back to Concord to enjoy a Thanksgiving Day meal with Jessie's family. It was awesome to have them visit. Josh and I settled into a day of watching football as Stephanie and Sharron were preparing for a great meal in the kitchen.

Soon it was time to get ready to receive guest and sit down for the family Thanksgiving meal. I was able to sneak a picture as Stephanie was taking her family pictures of Alyse and Breeley. It brought back other memories of our girls from many years ago. Breeley is wearing a dress that Stephanie once wore - hand made by Sharron's mom.

We then sat around the table for a delicious Thanksgiving meal. We are thankful for family and friends.

God is blessing us with abundance.

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T16:44:00.001-05:00

Wishing everyone a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

This coming Sunday - November 28th - is the first Sunday of Advent 2010. We will light the first candle of the Advent wreath at NRN at the very beginning of our worship experience. The songs of Christmas will fill the air.

Preparing for worship on Nov. 14 2010

2010-11-13T19:31:00.009-05:00

As I prepare for worship tomorrow at NRN I am listening to some of the songs for the worship experience. Here is a sample of what is speaking to my heart - may it speak to your:

And a new song we introduced last week at NRN:

I will continue in the teaching series on the Prayer of Jesus.

Have you prayed this prayer to prepare for worship on Sunday?

Here is the version we are using:

I've got a good feeling about this

2010-11-09T16:11:00.003-05:00

I must admit - I am not a great fan of the T.V. game show Wheel of Fortune,
however I am really amazed by what happened last Friday evening on the show.
Here is how it was described on a local news service:

November 08, 2010 — Friday night saw one contestant achieve an unlikely win on "Wheel of Fortune." With nothing more than a single consonant on the board, Caitlin Burke solved a seven-word, 27-letter puzzle. After asking for and receiving one "L," the New Jersey resident asked, "Can I solve?" Veteran host Pat Sajak seemed taken aback by the early request but didn't deny it. Burke then announced the answer, "I've Got a Good Feeling About This," which couldn't have been more appropriate.

Enjoy this clip as you see it for yourself:

A favorite play

2010-11-08T16:47:00.005-05:00

Happy Monday!

Here is a short clip featuring one of my favorite football plays.

Enjoy!

Note - this clip has been "disabled" by you tube. You can view an extended version of this great play by clicking HERE Please excuse the pre clip "commercial" Remember - keep your eyes on the ball......

Cast your vote for your favorite trunk - no Trick

2010-11-01T00:01:00.019-04:00

Today at NRN was an awesome day. In the early morning people gathered in the Fireside Room for a "taste from the mountains." We enjoyed a breakfast featuring buckwheat pancakes, fresh eggs and sausage. The first two people in line were the official 'taste testers." After comparing notes - they agreed - the breakfast was delicious! The event was also well attended as several people decided to join some of our adult Connection Classes.

At 10:45 our morning worship experience began. It featured a great time of worship. At the time of the offering an offertory was presented by Tanya and Sarah.

Later in the day people from the community began to arrive for this year's Trunk N Treat.

It was a great time had by all......

Filled with good fellowship and great snacks...

People dressed in their favorite attire for the event:

AND - THE CARS OF TRUNK N TREAT:

There was the Chevy ...

And the "pumpkin man"

The Peanuts Gang

The Jaws of Death

The Harvest Home

Clark Kent and the Super Family

Candy Land

And finally...

A day at the Beach

Now - as the last day of October is known by many as a day of trick or treat - I promise you there is no trick here. Here's a simple contest. I have a special "treat" for the winner of our favorite trunk featured in this blog. Simply comment on this post on or before November 5th and you may be selected to win a treat as well as the winner designated by your "votes" as the favorite trunk this year at Trunk N Treat.

A day at the NC State Fair

2010-10-25T15:15:00.008-04:00

On Saturday - October 23rd - Josh, Stephanie, Alyse and Breeley came to Raleigh and we went to the NC State Fair. It was a great day and I was amazed by the big crowd. On that day the attendance count was 110,567! There were times when I paused and looked at the "sea of humanity" that stood before us.

This was truly another memory making day. Here are some of my reflections:

Alyse spent much of the day in her dad's arms.

We paused for a quick picture as the day at the fair was beginning.

Josh and Alyse enjoyed playing games and then jumped on the rides in the midway.

As you can see - Alyse was having a great time!

And by 10:00pm we were on the shuttle bus on our way home. A wonderful time was had by all!

Top Ten list for Pastor Appreciation

2010-10-21T14:40:00.004-04:00

According to parsonage.org : Pastor Appreciation Month is a special time that congregations set aside each year to honor their pastors and pastoral families for the hard work, sacrificial dedication and multiple blessings provided by these special people.

As I sit in my office day I am so thankful for the privilege to serve the Lord through pastoral ministry. I took a piece of paper and begin to gather my thoughts to make a a "Top Ten" list of what I would really like for pastor appreciation. Here is my list for your consideration:

Actually listen to your pastor's sermons.

Better yet, apply the truth of your pastor's preaching to specific areas of your life and then say "Thank You Pastor, for helping me spiritually".

Take notes of your pastor's preaching, hopefully of the sermon.

Say "amen" when the pastor proclaims spiritual truth, because "amen" means "so be it!" and "right on!”

Say "amen" real loud but be careful because it will shock the pastor and some will think a spiritual revival is beginning.

If you hear someone say "Praise the Lord", stand up and actually do so! People will be convinced spiritual revival is taking place.

Give a good report about your pastor, bragging about your pastor in such a way that your relatives and friends just might want to attend church just to meet such a wonderful person.

Show up at church early on Sunday mornings for Sunday school and then spend a time in prayer before the worship experience. Enter the worship center before the countdown reaches 2 minutes.

Sit near the front of the worship center during the worship experience. The advantage is that you don't have to arrive as early as usual in order to get a back seat.

Invite friends and relatives to attend your church worship experience, introducing them to your pastor and better yet, introducing them to Jesus (they will be eternally grateful).

Here is a video of appreciation to pastors from the Church of the Nazarene:

We are so blessed!

2010-10-19T13:55:00.005-04:00

This past Saturday was a special family event as we attend the dedication service for Breeley May. It was a fun experience as the worship center at Elevation Church in Charlotte was decorated with tables covered with child friendly items and the platform decorated with transportation devices from a car seat to a motorcycle and things between. They represented the stages of growth and development as a baby grows to adult hood.

An excellent presentation was made about role and responsibilities of parenthood. It was a moving time when Josh took Breeley into his arms and began to pray for her and then as Stephanie and Josh prayed to dedicate Breeley to the Lord.

We were so glad that Danielle could join us for this family event. It brought joy to my heart to see her smile and enjoy the moment as she held Breeley in her arms.

The Saturday morning event was very special to us. Sharron and I are proud parents and grand parents. God has so richly blessed us! We are thankful.

For more insights about this special day - check out Stephanie's blog.

Whenever you serve others

2010-10-14T11:10:00.008-04:00

This past Wednesday evening I gathered with a small group of people for our weekly corporate prayer time at the church. It was a heart moving experience as we prayed for many needs and petitions for others. I shared from my heart how I was encouraged and moved by the number of volunteers that worked this past Sunday for 10.10.10. It was amazing to see so many people serving the Lord. I mentioned a few in my last posting - but I wanted to just reflect with thanksgiving for those who serve the Lord. Here is a snap shot of what I mean:

Here is the devotional I shared on that Wednesday evening for our prayer time:

All of you together are Christ's body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it. 1 Corinthians 12:27 (NLT)

One reason why you need to be connected to a church family is to fulfill your calling to serve other believers in practical ways. The Bible says, "All of you together are Christ's body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it."
(1 Corinthians 12:27 NLT)

Your service is essential to the Body of Christ—just ask any local church. Each of us has a role to play, and every role is important. There is no small service to God; it all matters.

Likewise, there are no insignificant ministries in the church. Some are visible and some are behind the scenes, but all are valuable. Small or hidden ministries often make the biggest difference. In my home, the most important light is not the large chandelier in our dining room but the little night light that keeps me from stubbing my toe when I get up at night. There is no correlation between size and significance.

Every ministry matters because we are all dependent on each other to function.
What happens when one part of your body fails to function? You get sick. The rest of your body suffers. Imagine if your liver decided to start living for itself: "I'm tired! I don't want to serve the body anymore! I want a year off just to be fed. I've got to do what's best for me! Let some other part take over."

What would happen? Your body would die. Today thousands of local churches are dying because of Christians who are unwilling to serve. They sit on the sidelines as spectators, and the Body suffers.

As I said when we began this study, God calls you to a service far beyond anything you could ever imagine. He created YOU for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for you to do. (see Ephesians 2:10)

Whenever you serve others in any way, you are actually serving God.

Oh what a day at NRN on 10.10.10

2010-10-11T20:45:00.012-04:00

Oh what a day at NRN last Sunday!

It was time for our annual "pig-pickin'" event at NRN. This year we chose the theme - 10.10.10 - since the event took place on the 10th day of the 10th month of the year 2010. We moved our worship time to 10:00am and encouraged everyone to invite at least 10 people.

The preparation work began early in the week with many people working behind the scenes to make Sunday at great day. Elvin Barwick and Phil Richards were the first on the scene at the church early Sunday morning - hours before sunrise - as they cooked prepared the pork barbecue.

Then came the job to slice and dice the pork:

Meanwhile - in the kitchen - many were working. Special appreciation goes to Rodney and Pam Rhoads for their leadership and hours of labor for the Lord. This year's event went so well largely because of the work effort and servant spirit of Rodney and all those who worked behind the scenes in the kitchen - setting up tables - and preparing for the day.

The worship experience was awesome! The worship team led us in several hymns of our faith and an great time of worship. We paused to express our appreciation to Marty and Paula Lewis. As they made the final preparations to relocated to Nebraska, we sent them out with a prayer and our support for the days ahead.

At the time of invitation during the message many people responded and made life changing spiritual decisions.

The it was time to move to the parking lot for a great meal and time of fellowship.

The weather was awesome as the temperature reached into the high 80's. The meal was enjoyed as well as the inflatable bounce house for the children and the snow cone machine was enjoyed on such a hot day.

A favorite tradition has been continued at NRN. I believe this year will be remembered for years to come.

Tickets for Dave Ramsey Live Event

2010-10-07T10:10:00.001-04:00

Discount tickets are available this Sunday at NRN. There are limited tickets available. This is the last Sunday for the tickets to be sold through the church.

In the near future we plan to launch the Financial Peace University classes at NRN!

A preview of 10.10.10

2010-10-06T20:12:00.004-04:00

This coming Sunday will be very exciting at North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene. Our annual outreach event will take place featuring our annual southern style pig-pickin’. This year we are calling the event 10.10.10. This is to remind of the 10th day of the 10th month of the year 2010. The worship experience begins at 10:00am

Elvin Barwick, Phil Richards and others will begin the cooking process in the early morning hours in preparation for the delicious pork barbecue. Rodney Rhoads and a team of volunteers have worked throughout this week in preparation for the meal to be served. Pastor Jordan and a team are prepared to set the tables and chairs outside for the meal and great fellowship following the morning worship experience. Many others are demonstrating a servant spirit and generosity as we prepare for an event to bring honor to our Lord Jesus Christ!

Here is a short preview of some of the worship planned for this event:

The worship experience will also feature our children singing songs from children's church and a special song from the worship team of our sister church IECON (a French-Africian church).

Remember - the worship experience begins at 10:00am. The Connection Cafe' opens at 9:00am with a limited offering of coffee, teas, water and delicious home made food.

A Brand New Day

2010-10-04T11:49:00.001-04:00

Today is a brand new day – a delightful opportunity to begin again.

I will not be held hostage by yesterday’s pain. If my heart remains open, and my spirit is right, yesterday’s pain becomes today’s gain. I will grow into a better person through the sufferings.

Today is a brand new day – and it needs to stand on it’s own.

I will not allow myself to be seduced by yesterday’s success, nor frustrated by yesterday’s failures. I shall fulfill my duty this day, and never look backwards for an excuse.

Today is a brand new day – and it’s the only one I have.

I refuse to let tomorrow’s concerns steal today’s joy. If tomorrow is going to be bad – why should it destroy the day I have? That would mean two bad days instead of just one. I want to make the best of what has been given to me.

Today is a brand new day – God’s gift for life investment. It is not to be squandered by worry or regret.

Consider the moments. Moments are the stuff life is made of. They march by us briskly in an unceasing parade. We can join in the march – or slump sullenly on the sidewalk, wondering why nobody throws candy anymore.

Today is a brand new day. Sunrise reminds us to practice resurrection.

No problem is greater than the God who holds this day in his hands. Each day breathes new life to broken dreams, shattered hopes, and rending disappointments. Somehow, situations always look better in the morning.

Today is a brand new day – so I’m going to go out and live it.

“This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24

Thanks to my friend - Mark Wilson for this post.

The Prayer of Jesus - Part 2

2010-10-03T14:47:00.003-04:00

Today I continued in the teaching series about the Prayer of Jesus. As the worship experience was coming to a close I was moved by the many tears from people throughout the worship center. It was every evident to me that God was moving and lives were being changed. Amazing things happen when we choose to worship the Lord with others and are sensitive to His presence. I began my sermon with this simple introduction:

Jesus Christ is the progeny of the Creator, God of the Universe. He is the Son of God and the Son of Man. Jesus we completely Divine – God in the Flesh – who humbled himself obedient unto death – even death on a cross. Today as we participated in the sacrament of communion we acknowledged the time when the created killed the Creator. As we explore the Prayer of Jesus together let us remember that prayer is the privilege of communication between a child and THE FATHER. It’s not a human right. Not a non-negotiable demand. It is a privilege – a privilege made possible only by the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.

It is amazing that God allows us to address Him as Father. In the Bible we are told we can even call Him - Father or Papa! An powerful illustration I shared today states the following:

A few years ago, a German scholar, Joachim Jeremias, was doing research in New Testament literature and discovered that in the entire history of Judaism—in all existing books of the Old Testament and all existing books of extra biblical Jewish writings dating from the beginning of Judaism until the tenth century A.D. in Italy—there is not a single reference of a Jewish person addressing God directly in the first person as Father. There were appropriate forms of address that were used by Jewish people in the Old Testament, and the children were trained to address God in proper phrases of respect. All these titles were memorized, and the term Father was not among them.

With the help of my assistants, I have examined the prayer literature of ancient Judaism…The result of this examination was, that in no place in this immense literature is this invocation of God as “Abba, Father” to be found…No Jew would have dared to address God in this manner. - Joachim Jeremias

The first Jewish rabbi to call God “Father” directly was Jesus of Nazareth. It was a radical departure from tradition, and in fact, in every recorded prayer we have from the lips of Jesus save one, he calls God “Father.” It was for that reason that many of Jesus’ enemies sought to destroy him; he assumed to have this intimate, personal relationship with the sovereign God of heaven and the creator of all things, and he dared to speak in such intimate terms with God. What’s even more radical is that Jesus says to his people, “When you pray, you say, ‘Our Father.’” He has given to us the right and privilege to come into the presence of the majesty of God and address him as Father because indeed he is our Father. He has adopted us into his family and made us coheirs with his only begotten Son/

And it is awesome to think that our God also makes available to us the resources of heaven itself. How great is God? Consider these words:

"Let the whole earth sing to the Lord! Each day proclaim the good news that he saves. Publish his glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does. Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! He is to be feared above all gods. The gods of other nations are mere idols, but the Lord made the heavens! Honor and majesty surround him; strength and joy fill his dwelling. O nations of the world, recognize the Lord, recognize that the Lord is glorious and strong. Give to the Lord the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come to worship him. Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor."
1 Chronicles 16:23-29 NLT

My friends, every day this past week I prayed the Prayer of Jesus. I discovered afresh and new this week that my job in praying is NOT to inform God; but to ENJOY God.

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down . . . you did awesome things that we did not expect, . . . Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. Isaiah 64:1-4

How long has it been since God “did awesome things that we did not expect?”

If you would like to hear this message, it is posted on the church web site. Simply click HERE for a direct link.

Pastors Retreat: Ministry that counts when the count is down

2010-09-30T15:18:00.004-04:00

For the past several days Sharron and I have been attending a Pastor and Spouse Retreat in beautiful mountains of North Carolina. I was asked to speak on Tuesday mornng to share with the pastors. The topic given me was "Ministry that counts when the count is down." Here are some notes from my presentation including the clip I used in this teaching.

Ministry That Counts When the Count is Down

I have a confession: I am a churchaholic! I was not raised in a Christian home – and through the invitation of a good friend began to attend church my senior year in high school. I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior that year and have become a churchaholic! I am at church all the time. I love the church. God gave the church to be his vehicle to bring people who are far away for God to himself. I love church – but must also admit I have problems with some people in the church – but that’s another topic of discussion possibly at another time.

I am a product of the church growth movement of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. The principle is simple. Churches that are healthy should demonstrate growth in attendance. Numbers are important –because every number represents a person and every person has a soul. People are important to God and numbers are important to us.

In the book of Acts – people counted the attendance: When Peter preached on Pentecost how many people were added to the church> 3,000 (Acts 2:41)
As the disciples meet together in the Temple courts and broke bread in their homes – the Lord added to their number – Daily – who were being saved (Acts 2:46-47)

I have a group of friends that describe how to increase your Sunday Morning attendance numbers in an easy way:

We all understand the numbers in attendance are important – but I submit that numbers in attendance is NOT where we find our self- worth or the value of our ministry. In fact, the size of a church, the success it experiences and comparative data relating to the pastors ministry betray an externally-based self esteem. Instead of focusing on their own values, preferences and accomplishments, externally-based pastors are almost exclusively other-directed.

This sin is most obvious is those pastors who don't have a life or identity apart from their church or ministry. Externally-based self esteem not only causes havoc in the parsonage, but reinforces a sense of loneliness and isolation which requires more and more "church" to fill the void.

Externally-based pastors are especially sensitive to criticism and conflict since they base their self-esteem on the validation of others. When this validation is removed, the pastor experiences a "Hollow Man" phenomenon. Like the person described in a famous poem by T. S. Eliot titled "Hollow Men," the pastor has no feelings, no emotions, no spirituality, and no sense of value to himself or God.

What is a balance of self esteem when the numbers are down?

God got very angry with David for taking a census in 2 Samuel 24. David knew this was wrong – and there was a consequence for his wrong doing. In fact, this single act of disobedience resulted in a plague that destroyed 70,000 people. The level of punishment doesn’t seem to fit the crime. All David was doing was taking inventory of his kingdom. But God is about to send a reminder: it wasn’t his kingdom. These people belonged to God, and David had no business claiming the increase of Israel as his own. David’s motives had gotten dramatically misaligned.

As leaders, we’ll always be tempted toward an unhealthy preoccupation with quantifying our own success. Today, if I’m not careful, I can wrap my identity and security up in this week’s attendance, the total offering, or my number of hits on my blog. That’s pretty sad.

If you could sit in one of our weekly staff meetings you would know that we are interested in the numbers. We debrief the worship experience each week and look at the attendance and offering numbers. So, we are interested in numbers. Here’s the distinction: it’s good to be concerned with numbers. But we’ve got to be concerned about the right numbers…for the right reasons. We’ve got to make sure we’re measuring ministry numbers to measure our effectiveness and enlarge the Kingdom of God…not simply to placate our ego.

I want to count what counts. It matters to me how many people show up for a worship experience. But it also matters to me how many of those same people are plugged into community and embracing Christ centered generosity. It matters to me how much money we take in. But it also matters to me how many dollars we are giving back to our community to serve the underserved. I want my church to grow. But the day I can’t rejoice at the growth of another Bible preaching church 2 miles down the street with a similar enthusiasm, we have a problem. Count the right things; for the right reasons.

Closing ILL: After his ordination in 1969, author and Pastor Phillip Johnson received a call to serve one large church and ten smaller churches on the northern coast of Newfoundland, Canada. On the first day of his new circuit ministry, Johnson learned that in order to get to the smallest of the churches, he would have to travel 40 miles by snowmobile to a tiny village. When Johnson arrived, only one person had shown up for worship—a fisherman who had traveled about 20 miles to get there.
Johnson initially thought about just saying a prayer and calling it a day. But then he realized that together, he and the fisherman had already logged 60 miles of travel and had 60 more miles to return home. With that in mind, Johnson decided to conduct the whole service as if there were a few hundred worshipers. They did it all: the hymns, the readings, the prayers, the sermon, the Lord's Supper, and the benediction.

It was during the sermon that Johnson wondered why he had bothered. The fisherman never looked up. But when Johnson greeted the fisherman at the door and thanked him for coming, Johnson received a pleasant surprise. The fisherman said, "Reverend, I've been thinking about becoming a Christian for about 30-odd years. And today's the day!"

Ministry counts – even when the count is down.