Over the Fall semester in the Pinecrest Baptist Youth group, we will be doing a book study on the book of 1 John.  I know what your thinking, there is no way a bunch of teenagers will have the patience and attention to listen to 11 lessons just on one book of the Bible, let alone a book of the Bible without a story containing someone’s head being chopped off.  There is no way these teenagers will have the ability to study a book exhaustively and exegetically.  Well I beg to differ.  I have high expectations that these teenagers will not only be able to comprehend the message bound within the text, but enjoy it and take interest in John’s letter.  Also, I believe exegetical (teaching straight through the book verse by verse) teaching and preaching serves great benefits.  I believe everything teaches.  Everything communicates.  Even the way we teach communicates about the priorities and beliefs of the teacher.  Here is what I hope and exegetical study will provide for these youth.

1. It teaches how to read the Bible. As you go through a book of the Bible exegetically, the listeners learn how to interpret the Bible properly.   They learn to read the book as a whole and not proof text, or taking a verse out of context.  The learn the importance of following the authors idea, learning the main theme the author is trying to communicate.  It shows them how to find the different pieces found in a book of the Bible, and better yet how to connect them.
2. It shows Respect of the Bible. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard sermons, even in the Charleston area churches (non-SBC of course) teach topically.  They show no value for what the Bible has to say or preaching what the original authors meant to communicate, rather they decide to preach a sermon on money, come up with their own opinion on the issue, then find a whole bunch of Bible verses that support their own presupposition.  Not only is it extremely dangerous theologically to teach in such a manner, but also it communicates to the listeners that the Bible should not be study, but merely a book used to advance your own personal agenda.  This is why there are so many who use the Bible to argue for homosexuality, Feminism, and other Biblically incorrect positions because they’ve been taught to do it form the Pulpit.   Teaching the Bible exegetically teaches respect for proper Biblical interpretation.
3. It raises Expectations. In the age of the seeker friendly church, the expectation of their members is low.  Everything is done for them, including the interpretation of the Bible.  All they want is an easy application.  Yes every message of scripture can and should be applied to our lives, but that doesn’t mean that is all our messages should consists.  If our people just need a feel good message and easy application, they can turn on Dr. Phil.  Rather what they need is Jesus, and they need to learn that truth and where it is found and it is found in the Bible.  In addition to application, Pastors need to realize their role as teachers and teach how to discover and interpret scripture.

Although there are more benefits to exegetical teaching, these three reasons will suffice for now.   I am excited to see what God will do as we study His word.  It is my desire and my hope to see these students fall in love with the Bible, and even more in love with the inspirer of the text, even though we are studying a book without a story of someone being decapitated.

Needless to say the summer has been a great one at the church.  God has shown up and put a spark in the hearts of the youth.  God’s spirit is moving and maturity is taking place within their lives.  We have done plenty of different activities.  We have gone to Philadelphia, Carowinds, and much more this summer.  It has been an amazing ride and amazing journey.

Today was my last official day working full time at the church for the summer.  It was a bitter sweet moment as the last semester of my senior year in college will be starting up.  I look forward to continuing my journey with these kids into the fall semester.  I have been blessed by God by the incredible opportunity to learn along side these incredible teenagers. God has taught me a lot about ministry, people, and myself.  Thanks to all those at Pinecrest for their love encouragement and prayers!

Philippians 2:5-11 is one of the most beautiful passage of Christ found in the New Testament, but it is also one of the most debated.  Paul’s ultimate purpose in presenting this hymn is not to provide a clear, systematized theology of Christ, but to encourage to church at Philippi by providing an example of true service and humility.  However this passage does provide a wealth of information about who Jesus is. 

Within these few verses several key doctrines about Christ are contained.  The first is that Jesus was God.  He was in “very nature God” or “in the form of God” (2:6).  However although Jesus was 100%, all the way God, he was 100%, all the way man.  Paul writes that Jesus “took on the very nature of a servant” that he humbled and was “made in human likeness.”  When Jesus took on the form of a man, he did not become any less divine.  He did not drain the divinity out of himself, he simply took on the appearance of a man.  This idea may certainly seem hard to understand, and that’s because it is!  But some things about God are a mystery to us and we can’t understand them fully.  God’s purposes are unique and mysterious.  Paul admits this in Ephesians 1:9 that God’s will is a “mystery”.

In all honesty, this is good news.  Who would want to follow a God in which you could completely figure out and understand?  That God certainly would not be a very big God, if my feeble, fragile, and incompetent mind could figure him out.  Our God is a God who’s purposes and ways are not our own.  Although we can’t fully understand what He has already done through redemptive history, or what He continues to do in our individual lives, we must always come to the conclusion that he is working all things together for his glory.  Even though His ways don’t always make sense, or are even sometimes painful to us, we must rest in the sovereignty of God, and rejoice in the glory he revealed through the mystery of his beautiful son Jesus Christ.

One of my favorite John Maxwell quote is that “everything rises our falls on Leadership”.  If you look at the successful organizations and companies, you will see outstanding leaders.  Leaders can make or break an organization.  They can lead it to great success and prosperity, or than can drown it in the mud.  One of the characteristics I want to focus on today is the issue of self-leadership.

My one critique of leaders (including myself) is that often times I am to outwardly focused and not inwardly focused.  Leadership starts with you.  If you are not building yourself up investing in yourself, you are doomed to eventually drain dry or break down.  Tim Elmore in his book Habitudes #1 mentions the image of a starving baker. This story involves a baker who has the best bread, pastries, and rolls and everyone in town wants his bread.  The shop is constantly busy and he is constantly baking.  In fact, he is so busy, that  he slowly begins to forget to feed himself.  He loses weight, and eventually starves to death, despite the fact that there is food all around him.  This is a great image of what happens to alot of good leaders.  They burn out.  Leaders need to make it priority that they have people pouring into them and that they take the time they need to pour into themselves.  Here are a few practical ways I have learned (often times the hard way) about self-leadership.

1) For the Christian Leader, it starts with God.  Daily times with God is a must. The Christian Leader must rely on God as his strength and live and breathe in the word of God.  Unfortunately for many Christian Leaders, when we get busy, this time with God is the first thing to go.  Our time with God needs to be our top priority in our schedule every day.  No excuses.

2) Personal Growth is a must.  Leaders need to constantly be reading, learning, and developing there skills.  Leaders should be constantly progressing who they are and expanding their talents.  This might mean writing out a personal growth plan, reading a book a week, or listening to different speakers.  The possibilities are endless, but the fact remains that Personal Growth also must be a priority.

3) Having a mentor is a must.  It is foolish to think that you can make it on your own.  Leaders need help, encouragement, and most importantly accountability.  A mentor can provide all of these things.  Don’t be so prideful that you don’t ask for help.  Having someone pour themselves and there wisdom into you is a priceless commodity for making you into a better leader.

When I was a young Christian in High school, I remember attending a Christian Youth Conference/Rally in which I will keep nameless.   The first time I went, it was like nothing I have ever experienced.  You see I was a small town, Baptist boy who only ever grew up to organ/piano duos, and a tone deaf choir.  Being thrown into the relative, loud, youth friendly environment, was a pleasant shock to me, but this overly emotional form of the Christian faith ended up hurting me more than it helped me..  Now please take note, I am not commenting on loud youth rallies, rocking worship music, or a relative, contemporary, post-modern worship time, because I actually help lead and organize a service that could be put under some of these categories.  This change was such a shock to me, and I being a young believer, not mature enough yet in my faith to realize what was happening, became a ruler of my emotions. This emotionalism created in me a weak and fluctuating faith, based on how I was feeling that day.

I think we, as Christians, should be very careful with emotionalism, not just in worship, but in all aspects of faith in our lives.  You see the human heart is corrupt and deceitful.  This is not just my pessimistic opinion, it’s what the bible teaches.

The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?

Jeremiah 17:9

You see despite the thought of optimists in this modern age, the human heart is inherently evil.  It can’t be trusted.  When we allow our emotions to rule and control our lives, we create a relationship with God that has more highs and lows than a mountain range.  This is a characteristic of immaturity in the Christian faith.  When we rely on the truth of God to control us, then we can enter in to a sturdy, steady relationship with God.  Although there are still high points and low points, the difference between the two is that they are not as nearly drastic.  I have seen a walk with Christ based on emotionalism hinder my own faith, and many other friends. I want to take a few moments to discuss just one specific caution out of the many, about the dangers of emotionalism that concerns me.

Tell me if you have heard this one before, “God told me I need to date this person”  or “God told me to do this or that”.  The thing that amazes me about most Christians who say this is how quickly God changes his mind.  The more I listen to these people, I begin to believe that God must be schizophrenic.  I have actually heard a believer tell me that God wanted him to date this person, whom He knew nothing about, and she also lived thousands of mile away.  Needless to say after a week, God changed his mind.  I’ve heard the same thing from people concerning missions, giving, serving, and many more.  I believe that God can lead you and reveal things to you through your human emotions, but remember the human heart is in its nature evil.  As a result, the wisest thing to do is to “test and approve” what God’s will is. (Romans 12:2)  You can do this by first and foremost, by making sure it does not contradict God’s word.  If it ever violates a clear command in scripture than it’s a no brainer; DON’T DO IT.  It’s not what God is telling you.  The second way you can approve what God’s will is through the validation of the Christian leaders and mentors in your life.  If the people closest to you think it’s a bad idea, you might want to think twice before doing it.  In conclusion, discovering the will of God can be tricky sometimes, but never ever let your emotions be the only deciding factor. I have found it is better to err on the side of caution when it comes to emotionalism.

 

This past Sunday night I did a lecture at church concerning the issue of evil, pain, and suffering in the world.  The fact that these things exist in our world, is one of the main arguments against the existence of God, especially a good loving God that we as Christians claim to follow.    During my study on this topic, primarily on what the Christian is supposed to do when suffering occurs in the life of the individual, 2 Corinthians 4 came to my attention.  Particularly the last few verses of the chapter. 

“Therefore we do not lost heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but on what is unseen is eternal.”

                                                                                                                         -2 Corinthians 4:16-18

This passage of scripture blew me away.  In order to understand how bizarre and unbelievable what the apostle Paul is saying here, you have to understand the situation and culture in which he was writing too.  In the early church, persecution was a normal thing.  To pronounce you were a Christian meant physical abuse, and potentially death.  Paul knew the church of Corinth was going under persecution, because he was under it himself, but Paul who saw things from such a Kingdom perspective, realizes that whatever troubles he faces in his ministry, or suffering he incurs, they are “light and momentary”.  Paul states that even if your life is at risk, even if you lose it, it is insignificant compared to eternity.

So many times we limit ourselves to our own momentary perspective.  We fail to see the big picture.  Everyone has their cross to bear, everyone will encounter suffering.  In fact Jesus promises this in John 16:33 when he said “In this world you will have trouble.”   Suffering is an inevitable part of being a follower of Christ.  In fact if you have never suffered, then there might be a problem.  However when we look at things from God’s perspective, then we realize how trivial these present pains are, because we are gaining an “eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”  So if you are suffering for the cause of Christ, please do not lose heart.  Fix your eyes on the unseen, the eternal, and as Jesus said even though we face trouble in this world we should be encouraged for He has  ”overcome the world.”(John 16:33)

I was just looking at facebook, being a stalker (come on you know you do it too), checking out some pictures of what my old high school classmates were up too, and what I found was painful.  Here is a one word synopsis… Pathetic.  I found the same clique of friends still hanging out together despite all attending different schools miles apart, drinking, partying, and ‘living it up’ as you could say.  It’s sad that they can’t get any more satisfaction than wild parties and drinking binges.  They are blind to the reality that there is so much more in Jesus Christ.  It must be such a miserable feeling living in the moment completely unaware or rather apathetic to the reality of the spiritual eternity.  It hurts even more to know that this group of people were raised in church and have heard the gospel.  I wish they could see that there is more to life. 

For some reason this pains me to the core.  My gut wrenches at the thought of my old friends, and my heart goes out to them.  But the thing that feels the worst is a sense of remorse and regret.  I wish I could have made a bigger impact in their lives.  I feel like I missed a huge opportunity to see the love of God change their lives, because I was to hesitant and afraid to ask them the tough questions.  Sure I lived my life as an example, and kept myself separate from their sinful culture, but if only I reached out to them more.  I’ve lost touch and our relationship is pretty much non-existent, and I am limited to just prayer.  Prayer is still powerful, but I long to have a chance to influence them once more.  Instead I live with the pain of not seizing the day when I had the chance.

If anyone is reading this, do not put off reaching out to those you care about.  You will never know when the sun on the relationship sets, and you no longer have the opportunity to share the Gospel.  Seize the moment; seize the day.  May we live in a since of urgency.  The end is coming; The end is near.

When you are thirsty, there is nothing like the feeling of a cold drink swishing its way down your throat.  The best way I have found to artificially create this is through cookies and milk.  I love cookies, I just had several myself, but I can only eat so many at a time before I am dying for something to drink, but not just any drink, one drink, and that is milk.  The satisfaction that comes from drinking milk after a cookie massacre is truly one of God’s greatest gifts.  Your thirst is quenched, you are satisfied, and you are full. 

Today I was able to find time.  It had been a while since I’ve had some to spare, but today was the first day in a long time in which I had no obligations or responsibility.  As a result I was able to read, think, be creative, and most importantly, relax.   It was good to clear my head. I thrive in isolation.  I grow.  I’m equipped.  I am strong. I am rested.  I am filled.  I’ve come to find that this time to myself is necessary for not only my own personal development as a leader, but for my own sanity and my walk with Christ.  I’m so busy pouring out, I forget that I must be pouring in.  There is also a relationship between my ‘level of fulness’ and the effectiveness of my ministry.  When I am full, then ministry blossoms and I am used powerfully.  When I am empty, ministry diminishes and I am complacent.  I think emptiness in spirit is a result of self-dependence.  Dependence on self results in ineffective ministry and a fruitless life. 

Constantly pouring yourself into ministry is much like inhalening cookies without ever stopping to take a sip of milk.  The first few cookies are great, but pretty soon your mouth gets dry, the sweetness starts hurting your teeth, and you need a second to clear everything out and be refreshed.  I’ve had one to many cookies without taking a swig of refreshment.  Today I had my milk.  Today I am refreshed.  And all though there is an empty glass of milk before me, I havn’t been this full in a while.

It’s been a crazy past couple of weeks.  I’m seem to just keep struggling to keep my head above water.  I’m in my place, doing what I’ve been called to, but change is never fun, and goodbyes never get any easier.  It is a struggle to let go of friendships, relationships, and circumstances we have in all honesty become dependent on.  But in change there is a peace because you know that everything that was once wrong has a chance to be made right once again.  Like chalk washed off on a sidewalk, there is a fresh new start.  A new story is beginning to be told.  I don’t know if anyone is truly ever ready to dive into the pools of fate, but one thing I do know is that the water will be cold.  I hope I brought my swimming trunks.

Here is the first official blog. Who know what this could turn into?  Maybe just a few more wasted bytes on somebody’s server, or a record of a poetic/philosophical journey.  We will see.