Month: March 2014

Joy is strength: How can I Increase it?

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The joy of The Lord is my strength. Neh. 8:10. What is joy?   Webster’s Dictionary defines joy as “a feelings of great happiness” but there is something much richer and deeper from God’s word about the word. This is because joy is more of an “elevated and spiritual kind.” Joy is of God  “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Romans 14:17 God is our source of joy.  He doesn’t only possess joy, he spreads it abroad. When he releases his joy in us, it moves like the working of his mighty power. A lot of people think that God is this angry, grumpy, always in a bad mood father. Quite frankly, it wouldn’t be a stretch to equate God to a “Happy God.” A few bible interpretors see the word “blessed” in 1 Timothy 1:11 as speaking of a cheerful and delightful God. Joy is God’s will  But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in …

The Culture of Pastoral Notoriety

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Part 2 in the series – “The Pulpit and The Pew” The number one thing rocking the pulpit with scandal after scandal in America, is the rock star status of celebrity pastors. From heresy to immorality, worldliness to apostasy, consumerism to greed, the culture of celebrity pastors is bringing the western church to its knees. It doesn’t matter if you pastor a mega church or a small church in your neck of the woods. Nor does it matter if you’ve written a book, air a television program of your own or have a just a few followers and fans. You can fall into the trap of desiring the status of “the next big thing” no matter where and who you are. Who is a celebrity pastor? The common mistake is to select big names, men or women whom God has apparently raised up as voices to this generation and brand them with a negative connotation. Another mistake is to pick on easy targets like those incredibly gifted to speak and lead, or those with a million …

The Pulpit and the Pew Mini Series

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Allow me to introduce a six part mini series entitled, “The Pulpit and the Pew: 6 Cultures bringing the American Church to its knees.” Here is an outline of the 6 parts. I am going to devote three parts to the pulpit and three parts to the pew. Here is and idea: The Pulpit: 1. The Culture of Swagger without Substance 2. The Culture of Pastoral Notoriety 3. The Culture of pastoral Isolation The Pew: 1. The Culture of Hooking up 2. The Culture of Shacking up 3. The Culture of Cozying up Part 1: The Culture of Swagger without Substance Today, all around America, there is a lot of swag going on in pulpits of every denomination and every church. We even have what some call – “hipsters and celebrity pastors.”  There is a culture of swagger in the pulpit but there is not enough substance to back it up. Every preacher has a style and it’s okay to have style. Unfortunately, style doesn’t change lives, never has never will. Seth Godin, the one …

When Prayer Invokes Mercy

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What if prayer had another dimension to it than what we have experienced? What if prayer is way out of the box we’ve placed it in? Sometimes, in our particular corner of Christendom we think that our particular tradition and prayer style is the only one God accepts. In fact , for us, other traditions just don’t measure up. I can say beyond the shadow of doubt that our particular way of praying isn’t the only one that has something worthwhile to say about prayer. If we could just step out of our comfort zones, lean on the Holy Spirit for guidance, we would discover a lot of valuable lessons about prayer in other Christian traditions. Today I want to challenge you to venture out of your comfort zones and try a different approach to prayer. I challenge you to try something fresh and out of the box, out of the norm. Something that will deepen and enrich your prayer life. I have been a Christian for many years now, but have only recently attempted to do a 40 day of prayer and consecration leading up …

Rolling Up your sleeves

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1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The idea “of preparing for action” is much like the phrase “rolling up your sleeves.” God is calling us to roll up our sleeves and get to work on the most important thing in life – our faith, our relationship with him. Two thoughts from 1 Peter 1:13 1. Prepare you mind for action. Be Sober. This means to take a serious look at life. There must come a time in the life of every person when he or she must ask the hard or most important questions. What am I doing with my life? Where will I go if I were to die today? What is the meaning of all of this, God, Jesus, this world, church, suffering, my faith and christian life etc…? Am I on the right track? Am I sober? Am I right with God – am I growing as I should – is …

My Ongoing 2015 Leadership Makeover

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It’s not about me What if we were less consumed with building our own platform, kingdom, status, image? what if we were more driven to serve God for his glory? What if we saw it like JTB did – “I’m Just a Voice?” So many times I overemphasize my ministry. It’s almost as if I’m seeking to build for myself a kingdom. Unfortunately, this kind of attitude holds us back from doing exceptionally great things for God. We get distracted by status, name recognition and earthly successes We fail to see the big picture and finish strong. But I’m learning that it’s not about “my ministry” “my call” “my platform.” I’m just a voice. A great leader understands that it is not about him. I don’t have it all together  What would it feel like to step off the pedestal and break down walls of invulnerability? As a pastor, I sometimes feel tempted to project a certain image of myself. . The need to sound powerful and act like an anointed charismatic preacher is real. A stroke of …

20 Admonishments Millennials Need to Embrace

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The Pew Research Center defines millennials as having personality. They are American teens and twenty-somethings who are making the passage into adulthood. And they have begun to forge their own identity. They are confident, connected, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and receptive to new ideas and ways of living. Generally, millennials are less religious than older Americans. Fewer young adults belong to any particular faith than older people do today. But for those millennials who are Christ’s followers, their religious affiliation is as strong today as among earlier generations. Unfortunately, many are beginning to see a spiritual drought creep in the camp of Christ following millennials. The culture of hooking-up and shacking up is on the rise. The culture of laziness and unemployment is on the rise. Drug abuse and alcoholism is on the rise. The life-style of fun-loving party junkies is an epidemic. Apathy is on the rise and droves of millennials who once followed Christ are leaving the church. Huston We Have a Problem! The spiritual vitality in many churches in America today is not strong enough to stop this bleeding. In many …

Be thou removed: Prayer of a man they called “Consecrated Cobbler

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When William Carey went to India, many a wise man would have said to him, “You may lust as well walk up to the Himalaya mountains, and order them to be removed and cast into the sea.” I would have said, “That is perfectly true; this Hinduism is as vast and as solid as those mountains; but we have faith-not much, yet we have faith as a grain of mustard seed”; and William Carey said, “I will go up to the mountain.” Lonely and weak he walked up towards the mountain, which in the eye of man seemed verily one of the summits of human things, far above all power to touch or shako it; and with his own feeble voice he began saying, “Be thou removed! be thou removed!” And the world looked on and laughed, a celebrated clergyman, looking down from his high place in the Edinburgh Review, was much amused with the spectacle of that poor man down in Bengal, thinking in his simple heart that he was going to disturb Hinduism; …