Living for Jesus?

They were the best of times and the worst of times, not to rip anyone off or anything. These past several months have been a journey of a life time, and it feels like a journey that lasts a lifetime. full of many great blessings from God and also full of many hard times from the enemy or perhaps even self inflicted. This is a period in my life that I would not exchange for an easier road or a simpler path because what I have learned through it is without price.

I think that there is a point in life that we all need to come to and that point is in discovering that what we need more than anything else in this whole wide world is Jesus. I am not talking about a casual kind of distant relationship with an ethereal being, I am talking about a give me Jesus or give me death kind of a need to be in a close and vibrant relationship with Him.

I cannot, and you cannot have a relationship with God that is meaningful, vibrant, and real unless we are spending time with Him regularly and reading His Word the Bible regularly. So many Christians have weak and anemic relationships with Christ, because they do not spend time with Him, and read His word. This is not how it is supposed to be people, we are promised so much more than that. The only thing is we need to get involved in a love affair with God and His word!

Are you content to live life the way you have been or is there a cry deep within you saying "there must be more"?

If so then why not take time to really cry out to God and spend time with Him. It will change your life, God promised.

But the grace that God gives is even stronger. As the scripture says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." So then, submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners! Purify your hearts, you hypocrites! Be sorrowful, cry, and weep; change your laughter into crying, your joy into gloom! Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Jam 4:6-10 GNB

Faithful?

I was in town yesterday coming out of the bank and I saw a lady that I knew from the Potter's House, so I stopped to say hey. She was sitting on a bench with another lady, who I introduced myself to also. She proceeded to ask me what I did for living and I told her I was a pastor. She responded with Holy **** you are a Pastor? I want to be a pastor to! I went on to ask why she wanted to do that and where she went to church.

Here is the thing. She had no church affiliation, and she could swear like a sailor but she thought that she would like to be a pastor. This encounter made me think a lot about God's call on my life and why I do what I do. The truth is there is sometimes a kind of romantic idea of what it would be like to lead, whether as a boss in a company, a parent in a home or a leader in a church. Many times what people romanticize about is not a clear picture of what the responsibility of the role actually looks like.

The one thing I have learned about leading is that before you lead you need to prove yourself faithful, When you start leading and learning the ropes you have to be faithful, and if you want to continue leading into the future you have to remain faithful. You have to be the person who really cares about all aspects of what you are called to do and you have to keep doing your best whether you feel like it or not , whether you are thanked or not, and whether you are noticed or not.

Are you faithful?

The Power of Love

Wow! What a day,tonight I saw over a hundred people walk down to the alter to Give their heart to Jesus. That will never get old and it is my dream to see that at Jubilee in the future. there is a lot of info to digest here so I guess for tonight I will give you this one thought and then I will hit the hay.

God has given us His love to share with the world around us. the same love that compelled Him to die for us is now living in us and should compel us to love others into God's Kingdom.

1Corinthians 13:1-8 What if I could speak all languages of humans and of angels? If I did not love others, I would be nothing more than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. What if I could prophesy and understand all secrets and all knowledge? And what if I had faith that moved mountains? I would be nothing, unless I loved others. What if I gave away all that I owned and let myself be burned alive? I would gain nothing, unless I loved others. Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, rude. Love isn't selfish or quick tempered. It doesn't keep a record of wrongs that others do. Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil. Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting. Love never fails! 

We could do all the things that we think are important in our church context, but if it is not birthed in love it will fail. Everything else will fail, BUT Love, the God kind of love, never fails. I believe that if we could see people the way Jesus sees them, and love them the way Jesus loves them, we could see our region come to Christ.

California dreamin

Well we arrived in LA after a very short night sleep and a long flight. What a great church they have here, and what a beautiful setting. This afternoon we toured the campus, HUUUGGGEEE they seat 3,500 in the sanctuary and run nine services. Thirty five hundred kids show up every weekend, and a thousand teenagers. they feed almost a million needy people a year. these are mind blowing numbers.

They are providing the whole conference for free including all of our meals, and the meals seem awesome Fillet Mignon tonight, and they say it will be better tomorrow. the teaching was also amazing and I will fill you in on some of the highlights tomorrow. Have a great night Jubilee!

Because you're mine I walk the line.

Psalm 15:1-5 (Message) A David psalm. GOD, who gets invited to dinner at your place? How do we get on your guest list?  "Walk straight, act right, tell the truth. "Don't hurt your friend, don't blame your neighbor; despise the despicable. "Keep your word even when it costs you, make an honest living, never take a bribe. "You'll never get blacklisted if you live like this."

Don't you think it would be cool to sit at dinner with God? wouldn't it be awesome to be that near to Him? Here is the deal, you can be! Pete talked about this bit of scripture at youth last week and it won't leave me alone.

So many times we struggle in how we walk out life with God but it is really quite simple when we read Psalm 15. There is amazing power in the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross, He paid the price for your sins and mine, the work is complete for salvation. If though we want to lead a life that is pleasing to God we need to participate, we need to walk the line with Jesus. Take a while to read this scripture and ask God to speak to you through it and make plans to have an intimate meal with your Father

Mother's Day!

I have to say when I think about the whole Mother's Day thing, I am a very blessed man! I was raised by a great mother who loves Jesus and helped all of her kids to love Jesus too. I have a great mother in law who never interferes and whom we would like to have visit more, who raised Kristine to love Jesus. The mothers in my life are cool, low maintenance moms.

Then there is my sweet wife Kristine. She is such an awesome mother in every way. She cares for and loves my boys and teaches them the ways of Jesus, she is constantly growing (Mentally and Spiritually) in order to serve her family better. I know that my sons and I love her and appreciate her more than words can say!

Thanks to all the great women in my life, it is better because you are a part of it!

Live the new life!

2 Corinthians 5:17 Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new.


I think it is amazing that Jesus died on the cross to set me free! Here is the thing Jesus gave us a new life, and He wants us to live it. It is time to let go of your guilt and shame and walk boldly into the new life that God has promised to you. I love this verse in Galatians because it reminds me that I passed away, died, ceased to exist as the person I was and now I exist totally because of and for the work of the cross!
 
Gal 6:14 But I will never brag about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his cross, the world is dead as far as I am concerned, and I am dead as far as the world is concerned.


Don't forget it is Mother's Day on Sunday and It is going to be awesome, Kristine and I are going to tag team for the message and we are going to spoil our moms. Don't forget to take some time this week to be bold and share the love of Christ with someone!

What's love got to do with it?

I was doing my daily reading yesterday in the New Century Version and i came across this verse.

Colossians2:2 I want them to be strengthened and joined together with love so that they may be rich in their understanding. This leads to their knowing fully God's secret, that is, Christ himself.

This verse is really telling us that if we want to fully know Christ then we need to be strengthened and joined together in love. That in loving each other we would be rich in understanding that would lead us to know Christ. I don't know about you but I want to know Christ more and in order for me to do that I will have to lay aside some of my attitudes and just love people the way Jesus did.

I'm up for it, how about you?

Give thanks lately?

What a great worship service we had yesterday, a big thank you to our worship team they are awesome! During the worship time we were encouraged to stop for a few moments and give thanks to God, and we did. As I was giving thanks so many things flooded my heart. so I thought it would be cool if on this blog we would take some time to say thanks. I will begin with my thanks and you can comment with your thanks and this could be a great testimony time!

I am so thankful to the Lord because He has blessed me in so many ways! He has given me Salvation through His death and resurrection, He has given me the most amazing and Godly wife and to amazing sons.
He has given me great parents who loved God with their lives and not just their mouths. He has given me two brothers and a sister who along with their families give their lives to make the name of Jesus famous. He has given me really cool nephews and nieces who love and serve God. He has given me amazing in laws who also love Jesus and my wife and kids, and even me most of the time;) I am thankful for Nic who is about to join our family on July 3rd when he marries my mom.

I am thankful that God has allowed me to serve Him in this house for thirty two years, and still love this house today! I am thankful that I get to build His kingdom, and do life with my friends, the people of Jubilee. I love that I get to do life with the people I love! I am thankful that God has placed us in Dunnville and that we get to serve the people of this region. And I will leave some space for you so just click on the comments button and give thanks.

We Love Dunnville!

Hey all! I would really appreciate your prayers and participation in the upcoming event that we are doing in Dunnville. We are joining with other churches in Dunnville to show the people in our town that Jesus loves them in practical ways. We will be doing a free store, a carnival, free haircuts, renovations, barbecues and a free feast at the end of the day, and we are going to pray that God will bless what we do for His Kingdom. I am so pleased to call Pastor Peter (First Baptist) Pastor Dan (Maple Creek) Pastor Jon (Calvary Pentecostal) and Pastor John (Grace Christian Reformed) my friends and I am also pleased that we can work together at this project.

Please put this date on your calendar and start praying and fasting for that day!

Need a Refresh?

If you read this list and honestly evaluate your life, and you feel you are out of sync on any of them, then you need a refresh.

1. If you are focusing on your habits instead of focusing on your heart for God. (Going through the routine)
2. If you are focusing on your goodness instead of your Godliness.
3. If you are focusing on your knowledge of God's word instead of your obedience to it.
4. If you are focusing on your spiritual age instead of your spiritual hunger.

Then................
Acts 3:19 "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,

Simple eh?

Refreshed?

I am so excited about what God is doing in all of our lives this week! I t has been fun watching different people respond at different times to what God is saying to them, and it is also great to see a resurrection of the passion that many of you once carried! God is definitely good!

A few Quotes that I have collected.

These are a few of my favorite quotes and verses. I hope they challenge you as much as they challenge me.

Hope is not dreaming. It is not spinning an illusion or fantasy to protect us from our boredom or our pain....It is imagination put into the harness of faith. CS Lewis


If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care-- then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. Philippians 2:1-4
(The Message Bible)

Never fear death, only fear a wasted life.

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.


When I stand before God at the end of my life,I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say "I used everything you gave me".
Unkown

Disturb us Lord When when we are to well pleased with ourselves.When our dreams come true Because we have dreamed to little When we arrived safely Because we sailed to closely to shore.
Sir Francis Drake in 1577


But I will never brag about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his cross, the world is dead as far as I am concerned, and I am dead as far as the world is concerned. Galatians 6:14
Contemporary English Version


"We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and lust and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to keep on making mud-pie in the slums because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a vacation at the beach." If I really wanted to be happy, I would seek God. Oh, but God is abstract! It takes effort to reach God. So I settle. I settle for weak amusements that require no effort. What a lazy fool I am!!" - CS Lewis


"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me--watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.
Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
Matthew 11:28-30 Message Bible