Doing God's work, one step at a time

I initially wrote this sermon for Homiletics class, but I have revamped it for Old Stonington Baptist Church. Preached on March 14, 2010. December 31, 1999. December 21, 2012. Horoscopes. Self-help books. Nostradamus. Buddhism. Fortune Tellers. Psychics. What do all of these things have in common? Well, let’s see, two of them are dates that the world will possibly end. Horoscopes, Fortune Tellers and Psychics are all mechanisms for attempting to see into the future. Buddhism is a religion. Self-help books are numerous, pushed by media, and tell us how to fix our problems. Finally, Nostradamus is probably one of the most famous people in History for his “world event predictions”. The one thread through them all is that they are manufactured by man, and therefore faulty. A friend of mine, who was raised in the Catholic Church, and a very spiritual person, went to this area psychic to have her future read. I thought this was a little corny, but thought, hey whatever floats your boat. She

My dad worked for the State of Illinois for thirty-two years before retiring a few years ago. His title was Highway Maintainer. He is the one who is mowing grass in the summer and plowing snow in the winter and picking up garbage when there is nothing else to do. Oooooh the prizes he would bring home on the days he picked up trash. Nothing ceased to amaze me on what he would find. One time he brought home a basketball. Another time he even brought home a video tape of a recently released movie. Car seats, tools, even a bike one time. I remember a story one time where dad had said that they had to call the pound because someone dumped a stray out on the side of the road. The things people throw out or lose while driving is staggering. It seemed to pile up in a big state truck rather quickly he said. Something else that piles up in a hurry is the plastic Wal-Mart bags. Holy cow do those things pile up quicker than I can use them. I try to be resourceful and use them in my small trashcan

How do we know whether we are bearing fruit as Christians? Have you ever pondered this question? Many times as Christians, we wander aimlessly without direction or consideration to the fruit we bear. Imbedded in the story of the clearing of the temple is another story. It is a story of a fig tree that becomes center stage of an issue that we struggle with every day of our lives; authority. Who has authority over us? Do we? Does God? If He does, then how are we showing it? Today we are going to discuss these issues. Our text for today is going to be Mark 11:20-24. I will also be giving some background information in verses 12-14 as well. If you would, please read along with me starting at verse 12 12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat frui

Have you ever been reflecting on events in the past and said, “Man I wish I would have handled that situation differently!” Growing up my parents would always say shoulda, coulda, woulda! Naturally at the time I had no idea what that meant. Since then, in my life, I have heard so many people lament on their past wishing that they had done things so much differently than they did. If we were to follow their line of thinking, we could waste our entire lives regretting the choices of our past while never realizing the full truth: God is with us and He intervenes on our behalf for the betterment of His kingdom. I chose Psalm 46 because it is one of my favorite Psalms because I believe it to speak the words of Truth that God will never forsake us. If you would, follow along with me please. Psalm 46 For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth A song. 1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the

Offering Devotion At this time each week, we reach the portion of our service where we pass the plates and bring our tithes before God. As we come together and the plate passes before you, I urge you to think and reflect on a few things. As I go on, please keep this one thought in mind… We, as humans, are creatures of habit. We go through the motions sometimes and don’t think outside of the box. Before I go too far, I want to define a couple words…words that to me seemed elementary and didn’t need defining, but yet I felt the Spirit guide me to look them up anyway. This is what I found. The word Sacrifice means –something given up or lost OR the destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else. Offering means – a contribution to the support of a church OR a SACRIFICE ceremonially offered as a part of worship. (Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary) 1 Peter 2:5 says- 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, of

I had a thought for a sermon and thought I'd share part of it on my blog. Today’s Sermon is Titled “Renovating our ‘house’”. Our house, referring to our bodies as the Temple of the Holy Spirit as stated in our text for today, 1 Corinthians 3: 5-17. The sermon hit me as I was working at the Huddle House, thinking of what I had to do that evening in preparation to the renovation of my mother-in-law’s house. It hit me that so many times we, as Christians, focus our energy on the physical things of the world without one thought to the spiritual side of our being. These days we don’t live in our houses for 50 plus years like we did in the last century. My grandfather still lives in the house he and my grandma bought and paid for in 1955, even after her passing. These days instead of staying put, we’re more often inclined to move around. With that being said, we still renovate our houses today. We make changes every 5 years, maybe more often, maybe less, but still yet, we make changes, n

When is it that we find out what we're really made of? Is it during the good times? Perhaps it's during the times when we don't know where to turn. Usually during the trials in our life is when we find our inner strength. During these past few months, the trials have come as thick as the "Ole' 96'er". But during these trials, unlike in the past, this time I have stood my ground, with my Lord Jesus by my side giving me His strength. Too many times in my life I have run from trouble. Finally for the first time in my life I am sticking my ground. I am not letting the powers of evil deter me from my task given by God. I made a vow to God that I would follow where He leads me, so in order to keep that vow, I must be strong and stand my ground. How are you at standing your ground? Do you have a tendency to run away from trouble? Do you not deal with the things in life that need to be dealt with? When we stand our ground, we need to be sure that we don't let

As my education furthers and I feel the tugging of God at my heart telling me that I am ready for a ministry and I should be ready to accept a position, I am wondering what everyone's opinions are on this subject. Many of the people at my school and in my classes working to achieve their Bachelor's degrees are in or have been in the ministry even without the proper education. I was at my family's house around a month ago and received heavy resistance from them when I told them I am applying for paid positions in churches. They believe it's not right because I do not have the proper education. Keep in mind that these are the people who are also criticizing me for going into ministry in the first place as well. In my opinion, if we refuse to accept it when someone says that God is calling them to be a preacher, even without an education, who are we to doubt that? If we do doubt it, aren't we putting a box around God and saying that He couldn't possibly prepare som

It's been a while!! Here's the topic: Life Plan and Personal Mission. Do you have a Life Plan and Personal Mission? I just completed my Personal Planning and Management Bible class. Only 3% of America today says that they actually plan. I mean make goals, write out strategies, the whole works. What about a Personal Mission statement? Do you have a Mission in Life?? Here is mine: To serve God in the way He calls me, anywhere He calls me, anytime, To recapture areas where the enemy has taken hold, and Raise my children and love my family like Christ loved the church. Tell me more about whether you do or not and why?!

I have been watching the media ever since my last post and they've been going on about "the end of Christianity in America". For real??? I really hadn't noticed! I will agree that there are problems with some Christians, but hey, we're all sinners, right?? We will never perfect, but there are standards. For example, on AC360 the other day, Anderson had 2 people, one was a reverend, the other was some kinda Theological professor at a university I think, I can't remember. Anyway, Anderson (whom I like very much) was pitting these two against each other and against Rick Warren (author of "The Purpose Driven Life"). The discussion was about proposition 8 in California. These two are arguing the end of Christian America because they've allowed gays to marry. Let's clear something up. There are two issues in the paragraph, gay and abortion. I don't believe gays should marry, it says in Genesis that God created man to procreate. Why would G

The following is an excerpt out of a paper I just wrote reflecting on chapters in a book called "A Mind for God" by James Emery White. Feel free to comment on what you've read in this excerpt out of my reflection paper. I really felt strongly about what was going on so I had to share. I look forward to hearing what you have to say! What you are about to read is a highly Christian view on world issues. Please take that into consideration while reading. Out of all things discussed in the four chapters read, the second chapter hit me the hardest. When White talks about how Darwinism influenced Hitler and the Germans in the Third Reich, it really stirred my thinking. How far are we willing to let our culture slide before we as Christians make a stand for what we believe? There are Christians who do stand up for what they believe, but there are far more people who profess to be Christian who do not line their thinking up with Christian views. How can we even profess our religi

Have you ever heard the song, “I’m in the Lord’s Army”? (Sing, “I may never march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery, I may never zoom on the enemy, but I’m in the Lord’s Army.”) I got an email the other day and that song just struck a cord. The saying was this: Prayer: Don’t give God instructions, just report for duty. Have you ever felt that you wouldn’t be accepted because of your past? Have you always lived in fear of the things you have done, that they might come back to bite you someday? You aren’t alone. I know that I have in the past. Moses in fact did just this as well. In Exodus 2:11-25 Moses fled to Midian in fear of his life because of Pharaoh. Later on when God calls to Moses in the burning bush in Chapter 3, Moses continually questions God and comes up with excuses why not to go back and be God’s servant. Have you ever resisted God, ran away refusing to serve Him, either out of fear or shame, or maybe because you wanted to deny that God could possib

This is my personal testimony. I wrote this as an assignment for a class, but this has quickly become my "flagship" to explain to people why I am where I am in my life right now. Here it is, feel free to comment as you like. My Personal Testimony When I sat down to write my "why I want to attend Lincoln Christian College and Seminary" paragraph, I felt I could sit down and write a book. This spiritual journey essay is the perfect opportunity to write that book. My life has been filled with God, hardship, and has been a big roller coaster of emotions, such as life. My spiritual journey began as soon as I was born. I was born into a strong Catholic family on my mother’s side, and a strong Christian/Methodist family on my father’s side. My dad, being who he is, followed my mother’s wishes and raised my brother and I Catholic. I was baptized as an infant and took my first communion at second grade. As a child I felt pushed into church, as most children do, because I did