Mom

What would we do without our moms? Okay, we wouldn't have been born. They have kissed our boo-boos, wiped our tears, taught us right from wrong, protected us, and on the list goes. To me there is no more important jobs than that of a Godly mother. Think about it, the creator of the universe chose to save us by being born of a human mother

• Luke 1:26-38 (NIV)
  The Birth of Jesus Foretold 26In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
  29Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
  34"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
  35The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God. 36Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37For nothing is impossible with God."
  38"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

God thought moms were so important that one of the Ten Commandments were given for moms.

• Exodus 20:12 (NIV)
  12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

Even Paul when talking to Timothy's faith because of the Godly influence of his grandmother and mother.

• 2 Timothy 1:5 (NIV)
  5I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

God gave moms unigue gifts, super powers that only they seem to posses, like eyes in the back of their heads, knowing when were lying, and making the boo-boos better. Thank you moms for being what God blessed and ordained you to be.

God blessed your mom with you and you with her so honor her on this Mother's Day.

In His service,

Steve

Busy, Busy, Busy

I don't know about you, but it seems like I am always busy. Family, school, soccer, baseball, plays, band, two or three jobs, church, cutting grass, etc. In our family we have a hard time just sitting down to a meal together. On top of all that we have TV, cell phones, mp3 players, gaming consoles, etc. taking more of our time.



When was the last time you heard the silence? Did you even know what it was? I know sometimes while driving down the road I will turn off the radio and have some quite time with God. During that time I am reaching for the radio because it's too quite. Sound familiar?

Ironically I have been trying to do this particular blog for several weeks, but have been too busy...

Please watch this video from Tangle (previously God Tube):

http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=0edec55cb25411422efd&sp=1





The Bible says in Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God".

• Psalm 144:4 (NIV)
  4 Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow.
  

We are all guilty of being to busy or distracted, but did you think that it was Satan trying to keep us too busy for our own good? Is that TV show more important than spending time talking with someone you love? Is that text or cell phone more important than spending time with God? God, the creator of everything, wants to spend uninterrupted time with you, do you have time?

• Mark 13:33 (NIV)
  33Be on guard! Be alert[a]! You do not know when that time will come.
  

You know we are never promised tomorrow so make the most of the time you have. Sometimes it's good to be distracted, but don't let it control you. So turn off your cell phone, ipod, computer, etc. (believe it or not you will survive) and have some quite time with God on a regular basis and see what happens.



In His service,

Steve

The Moth and the Cross

One night, while on a hike, I came upon a church. As I looked around I saw a cross made of 4x4s and painted brown. Kneeling down at the front of the cross I prayed for a while then and sat down on a post that was a few feet back. Looking at the wooden cross I thought about all Christ had endured to get there. The people that he loved, all demanding “crucify him!” because of lies spread by the religious leaders.

• Luke 23:20-24 (NIV)
  20Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. 21But they kept shouting, "Crucify him! Crucify him!"
  22For the third time he spoke to them: "Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him."
  23But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. 24So Pilate decided to grant their demand.

The thought of His flesh in shreds from the whipping and the cat of nine tails (a whip with pieces of bone and metal on the ends of straps, designed to damage from impact and pull flesh away when it was pulled back). I also thought about Him being nailed to the cross and raised up to hang there for hours of more suffering. All these things that he endured for my sins…

• 1 Corinthians 15:2-4 (NIV)
  2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
  3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

Then I prayed about seeing Him, to be able to talk with Him. That’s when I heard a sound coming from some tall grass. I looked down and saw a large moth stuck in the grass flopping around. While helping him escape his prison of grass I noticed a broken wing. I placed him on an arm of the cross realizing that Jesus had revealed Himself through the moth. It’s broken wing representing Jesus’ broken heart. A broken heart for the people of this world who still reject Him when all He wants a personal relationship with each of us.

This may not seem like big deal, but it shows me that God is still with us and wants to be part of our lives. What about you? Have you looked around to see if Jesus is revealing himself to you or maybe some who needs Jesus?

Pastor Steve

What's the Big Deal with Palm Sunday?

Palm Sunday is Sunday April 5 this year and good many of us have been around church, especially at Easter, and observed Palm Sunday. But you may not really understand it's significance. Was this about people having their palms read to see the future? or maybe it was the first Arbor day and they were planting trees?

Actually, it should be called donkey colt-branch-coat parade or something more catchy than that. What do I mean. Well about a week before Jesus' crucifixion, He rode Jerusalem on a baby donkey on a road lined with peoples coats and branches. This wasn't because the town was dirty and the street sweepers haven't been out yet. It was out of honor and respect for the one the prophecies were about. Check out these verses to get the story:

• Matthew 21: 1-11


• Mark 11: 1-11


• Luke 19: 28-44

Why a baby donkey? Donkey's were associated with leaders and by riding a young donkey would have shown humility and gentleness. This also fulfilled what Zechariah had seen. Putting coats and branches on the road was customary way of welcoming a triumphant king returning from a victory. So they were treating Jesus like a king who has one a major battle...

• Zechariah 9:9-10 (NIV)
  The Coming of Zion's King 9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king [a] comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
  (This was written around 900 years before it happened)

The problem is that the people saw Christ as a political leader that had come to deliver them from Roman rule. Christ did come as the King of Kings and to deliver us from the enemy, but that enemy is the sin in our lives. Within one week this admiration and respect will change drastically.

Check back next week for the rest of the story.

Where's God

Have you ever had one of those days (weeks, months, years) where every thing falls apart, your friends bail on you, you feel like boy/girlfriend/spouse don't care, school/work is horrible, and your dog won't even come to you. I think we all have. At church this past Sunday we discussed this topic and two people in the bible who were ultimate examples of this.





In the book of Job, Job had it all. He was blessed. Then within minutes, he loses his workers, animals, and children. Can you imagine what he must have felt? I would have probably lost it. But Job didn't curse God, even when his friends and wife abandoned him, he kept on trusting in God. I'm sure he was wondering where God was in all of this.

• Job 1:20-22 (NIV)
  20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. [a] The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."
  22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

WOW!!!!

Then there is Jesus. He came and lived a perfect life, a life without sin. I don't think I can make it a day without some kind of sin. Can you? Jesus was loved by most, except religious leaders (ironic huh?). Just one week before dying, they welcomed him with palm branches (Palm Sunday). By the end of that week most had turned on Him and with mob mentality, demanded He be crucified. Even his closets followers ran in fear. But even Christ, from His human perspective, felt abandoned by God at His last moments on the cross

• Acts 2:22-24 (NIV)
  22"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men,[a] put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

Maybe you feel like that way Job or Jesus did. Maybe it appears that everyone has turned their back on you or ditched you. No matter what has happened or will happen to you in this world, as a follower of Christ, God will always be there.

• Joshua 1:5 (NIV)
  5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Checkout this this song from 10th Avenue North: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J95rAr0gOFU

May God bless you this week and always. Steve

Pure as the Driven Snow?

Finally, we get a decent snow. It started while at church and snowed almost blizzard like. It was beautiful... Have you ever noticed how the snow makes everything pretty? Even the when my wife and I cleaned up our new bunny's corner of the room. We swept the mess up and threw it out in the snow. Within a few minutes it was covered over.

Kind of like our lives. We cleanup, bathe, put on nice clothes, fix our hair, some where makeup. All fixing up the outside while on the inside we are ugly from: hurts, abuse, bad decisions, lies, abandonment, revenge, hate, etc.

The good news is Christ works on us from the inside out:

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
  17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

So, are you covered in snow on the outside, but on the inside your a mess? Jesus came to wash you whit as snow if you will invite him in:

• Luke 11:10 (New International Version)
  10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

So open the door and ask Him in.

I pray that you regular time with God so that you can get to know Him better.

Steve

What's Your Story?

Ever been to a party or some social event and had to speak with people you didn't know? You try to find common group and talk about things familiar. Usually one of you will come up with a story about something interesting in your life, like who you've met, somewhere you've been, or maybe what you've done. What about what God has done for you?

• 1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)
  15But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

Peter probably wrote this from prison because of his stance for Christ. This would have been a time when Christians were started being persecuted. So he telling people to risk imprisonment to tell what Christ has done for them...






What about you? What's you stroy? It doesn't have to be a story like: I was a drug dealer/murderer/devil worshiper, shot 99 times, crawled accross the desert, bitten by a rattlesnake, and 5 scorpians, and God spoke to me through a palm tree... Just tell people what God has done for you. You know, God does things in our lives every day, we just have to look....



Don't worry about what to say, God will help you with that and don't worry about what people think. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus puts it this way:

• Luke 9:26 (New International Version)
  26If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Maybe you don't have a story yet. It's not to late to start with Jesus. He is waiting for you to have have a personal relationship with you. He has plans for your story to help someone that may be going through something similar, that only you would understand.

So what are you waiting for go out and tell your story.

Have a great week,

Steve

• Luke 9:26
  26If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.