Share your testimony, how you were called into ministry, and tell us about your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. How is God working in your life today?
Christ is my life. Everything good, beautiful and wonderful is a gift from his scar stained hands. Without him I would be lost, alive but dead and my life would be meaningless. In His infinite love and mercy he saved me, a lost and sinful person. He has given me a new life in this world and in the world to come (Romans 6). His presence brings me strength and hope (2 Corinthians 12:10). It is my joy to follow him as his disciple, learning to obey what he has commanded (Matthew 28:18-20). I have come to know him as Lord, Savior, Master and Friend. He is my Beloved Lord and I am His.
I am in ministry because of Jesus’ call on my life. I first sensed this call through regular Bible study and prayer. I went to seminary based on this sense of call and the affirmation of my friends and family. The Lord has confirmed my call to ordained ministry call and I am so blessed to serve Christ and minister to God’s people. I delight in watching people grow in their love for Christ.
Today the Lord is teaching me about his steadfast love, the sufficiency of his grace and the joy of being his disciple. He is helping me grow as a father, husband and pastor. I am profoundly thankful for his providential action in my life.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
True Self
There is always a temptation to be someone we are not. Throughout the course of our lives we try on different "masks" or identities. We wear the clothes of the group, talk like the group or think like the group. Sometimes even in Christian circles we tend to want to be like other people and not be truly authentic, to be who we truly are. Jesus frees us to be ourselves. He frees us from Sin which is the ultimate force twisting and distorting our lives. He opens to us the kingdom of God where reality can be seen for what it is.
This encounter with Christ is the force that rights the ship that is our lives and puts us on a true course, heading in the right direction with the right instruments to navigate by. Following Christ doesn't make us someone we are not, instead it is the path of becoming who we truly are. God knows who we truly are and he has given a path by which we can grow in freedom from what is false.
We gain the freedom to no longer wear a mask but to be authentic and true to God and to ourselves. This is a great gift and one of the most significant fruits of the Spirit.
We are created in the image of God and therefore love is at the heart of who we are. Sin alienates us from that love and the source of love. Being in Christ puts us into the heart of love and allows us to be ourselves, people made by love, filled with love and destined for love; all while being held in love.
Let us grow into our true selves and out away the false for this is what were made for.
This encounter with Christ is the force that rights the ship that is our lives and puts us on a true course, heading in the right direction with the right instruments to navigate by. Following Christ doesn't make us someone we are not, instead it is the path of becoming who we truly are. God knows who we truly are and he has given a path by which we can grow in freedom from what is false.
We gain the freedom to no longer wear a mask but to be authentic and true to God and to ourselves. This is a great gift and one of the most significant fruits of the Spirit.
We are created in the image of God and therefore love is at the heart of who we are. Sin alienates us from that love and the source of love. Being in Christ puts us into the heart of love and allows us to be ourselves, people made by love, filled with love and destined for love; all while being held in love.
Let us grow into our true selves and out away the false for this is what were made for.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Love and Worship
Psalm 48:9
“We pondered your love-in-action, God, waiting in your temple” The Message
“We ponder your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple” NRSV
This is a beautiful description of worship, pondering the steadfast love of God. I like how The Message describes steadfast love as “love-in-action”. It is tempting to think of God’s love as something abstract or removed from daily life. The simple fact is that God’s love is a constant force and action in life.
The cross is a historical event that echoes from the past through the present and it into eternity. The cross is just as current as our breath and just as relevant. The cross is God’s ultimate sign of love-in-action because it is at the cross that our brokenness meets our belovedness. If we take a long and honest look at our lives in light of the Ten Commandments we will quickly realize that we are sinful people or that we are broken people. We all are aware of how we have wounded our lives and the lives of others and so we are broken people who are as one author says “ a mass of contradictions”.
The fact of our brokenness can be cause for shame, despair and depression or they can be cause for thanksgiving and joy. It may sound odd that our sins can be a cause for joy but when our sins and brokenness take us to the foot of the cross we run right smack into the truth of our belovedness. St. Paul says that we are clothed with Christ through baptism (Galatians 3:27). Therefore our lives are now hidden with God in Christ, which means that we are God’s beloved people, the redemption of our lives is a sign of God’s steadfast love. The cross has transformed our shame into God’s glory and we are new people, driven by and destined for love. In the end God’s love in Christ is all we need for any and all things. It is the greatest power in the universe. God’s love is grace, mercy, forgiveness, strength, hope, peace and joy to name a few.
Notice that God is the subject, not us. It is God’s steadfast love and therefore our brokenness or failures or sins or whatever cannot stop this love in action. It is God’s will to be love-in-action and to show us steadfast love through Christ. Our very life flows from this love in action.
We come into the temple to ponder this love. We don’t come to worship to “get anything out of it” because we have already been given everything through Christ. We come to celebrate this love, to proclaim this love, to share this love. We sing of love, we love one another; we grow in our ability to integrate this love into our lives. In the end worship is about God and God’s love for us in Christ. The great joy and privilege of life is to know God’s love and to celebrate that love with others.
“We pondered your love-in-action, God, waiting in your temple” The Message
“We ponder your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple” NRSV
This is a beautiful description of worship, pondering the steadfast love of God. I like how The Message describes steadfast love as “love-in-action”. It is tempting to think of God’s love as something abstract or removed from daily life. The simple fact is that God’s love is a constant force and action in life.
The cross is a historical event that echoes from the past through the present and it into eternity. The cross is just as current as our breath and just as relevant. The cross is God’s ultimate sign of love-in-action because it is at the cross that our brokenness meets our belovedness. If we take a long and honest look at our lives in light of the Ten Commandments we will quickly realize that we are sinful people or that we are broken people. We all are aware of how we have wounded our lives and the lives of others and so we are broken people who are as one author says “ a mass of contradictions”.
The fact of our brokenness can be cause for shame, despair and depression or they can be cause for thanksgiving and joy. It may sound odd that our sins can be a cause for joy but when our sins and brokenness take us to the foot of the cross we run right smack into the truth of our belovedness. St. Paul says that we are clothed with Christ through baptism (Galatians 3:27). Therefore our lives are now hidden with God in Christ, which means that we are God’s beloved people, the redemption of our lives is a sign of God’s steadfast love. The cross has transformed our shame into God’s glory and we are new people, driven by and destined for love. In the end God’s love in Christ is all we need for any and all things. It is the greatest power in the universe. God’s love is grace, mercy, forgiveness, strength, hope, peace and joy to name a few.
Notice that God is the subject, not us. It is God’s steadfast love and therefore our brokenness or failures or sins or whatever cannot stop this love in action. It is God’s will to be love-in-action and to show us steadfast love through Christ. Our very life flows from this love in action.
We come into the temple to ponder this love. We don’t come to worship to “get anything out of it” because we have already been given everything through Christ. We come to celebrate this love, to proclaim this love, to share this love. We sing of love, we love one another; we grow in our ability to integrate this love into our lives. In the end worship is about God and God’s love for us in Christ. The great joy and privilege of life is to know God’s love and to celebrate that love with others.
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