Count the cost

In Luke 14:26-33, Jesus is talking about the cost of becoming one of His followers. Jesus says some pretty hard things, that you must hate your mother and father, wife, children, siblings, even your own life. How you must carry your own cross to be one of His followers. He continues and says that a builder makes sure he has enough money to construct a building, so should we as followers of Christ. The builder would be laughed at having an unfinished structure. In our churches today we love to sugar coat the price a Christian has to pay in serving Christ. Yes, I love when God's presence shows up in service and I am forever grateful for His mercy, grace, and unconditional love. But serving God is more than just receiving God's hand of blessings. It is picking up our cross daily and following Him.

Read about all the disciples and Stephen (martyred for his faith), Paul, Timothy, etc....you will see that following God is more than just being handed a white picket fence life. It actually takes sacrifice (I got rid of a friend of 11 years) on our part to be more like Christ. We must get rid of things that hinder us from the ultimate goal.

Jesus gave up His life so we might live. So what are you going to do with the baton that has been passed off to you? Let nothing get in the way of following Him.

Be blessed,
Steve

Engaging our culture

"Instead of engaging our culture in a meaningful way, we (Christians) have often preferred a siege mentality, retreating into the safety of our Christian subculture. We are more comfortable fighting culture than we are being constructively involved in it. Ironically, on every front we mount highly charged rhetorical battles with a worldly culture, while at the same time, within the walls of our subculture, we try to imitate the worldly culture's nuance. This retreat form the world turns into a sort of cultural catch-22. The more we remove ourselves from the world, the worse the world gets in the absence of a Christian influence and the stronger the argument becomes to stay away from the world. If we are training our children to understand and critically examine the world's popular art, literature, music, and film instead of limiting them to safe Christian versions of these things, we might have a different world waiting for us in the next generation. But it may not be too late to rethink our approach.

Thousands of Christians lobby for conservative legislation; few go into politics. Thousands of Christians protest abortion clinics; few provide for single moms or adopt babies. Thousands boycott blasphemous movies; few seed a vocation in Hollywood."

*taken from the book Fearless Faith, Living Beyond the Walls of Safe Christianity by John Fischer

Be blessed,
Steve

Resting in Central Park

Last year I had the privilege of going on a trip to New York. What a trip!!!! On my first day there (which was on a Friday) I was on a senses overload. If you have never been there, and those that have know what I am talking about, everything is at a rapid pace. There is very little time for conversation and sight seeing (tourists definitely stand out). For the people of New York it is go all the time. It doesn't matter what time of day or night there is a chaos of people.

Early evening on Friday my dad and I went to Central Park. As we walked into the park I literally felt a weight lifted off my shoulders. The calming peace that came over me was an amazing feeling. As we continued walking through the park you wouldn't even know you were in the hustle and bustle of New York City.

I believe God wants to be our Central Park. We all are constantly going and going and going and going.....family, jobs, school, friends, hobbies, church, etc...all are asking for our time. We are breaking down physically, mentally, emotionally and most importantly, spiritually.

In Matthew chapter 11, Jesus is telling the people that He, "wants to give rest to the weary and those that carry heavy burdens." Jesus is standing at the entrance of Central Park drawing us in and saying come and get some rest.

As the Psalm says, "Be still and know He is God."

So my recommendation is to STOP!!! Let God's peace fill you, and enjoy your heavenly Father.

Be blessed,
Steve

Finding God in the small things

I was reading I Kings 19:10-15, when Elijah was on a mountain with God complaining how he was the only follower of God left and how people were out to kill him next. Then a thunderstorm came, then a earthquake, then a fire, "but God was in none of those." Then Elijah heard a small still voice and he felt God's presence.

Being in the ministry for years I have been to many conferences and big events "where God always shows up." Sometimes we believe in God if we see the signs, like a healing or a parting of the Red Sea type of experience. God is in those things, but sometimes we forget God is in the small things in life; when a baby laughs, flowers blooming, a sunset/sunrise, a kiss or a hug.

Remember God cares about every detail of your life and be reminded this week that every breath, smile and friend is from God.

Be blessed,
Steve