Doing God's work, one step at a time

Food. There's just something about it that comforts the soul. It can take you back to your childhood when mom and grandma made those fabulous meals. However, it can also be a trigger to painful memories depending on taste, texture or flavor. As Christian's, we understand that food is talked about a lot in the Bible, everything from sharing meals to the sin of gluttony. The purpose of food is multifaceted. We need it to fuel our bodies. It can be used as a fellowship tool. It is one of the items behind festivals, holiday's, and feast days. It is a ministry...with it we can help those who are hungry by giving what we have in excess, facilitate fundraisers, or even help others learn how to use food wisely. Recently, I've been confronted with a bout of anxiety. Within this bout are deep seeded issues within myself that I must work through. One of the things I've been convicted of is this very idea of food. Sometimes, I just eat to eat. Boredom, self-comfort, and even

For those that know me well, know that I am not a Clinton supporter and have been skeptical about Trump from the beginning. I've always thought that he was playing the field because of his history with the Clintons as well as being a New York Democrat. I thought his purpose was to bring the Republican party closer to that of the Democratic party. And in ways, he has. However, he has done what seemed like the impossible. I honestly expected to wake up this morning to a Hillary Clinton Presidency. I had myself fully prepared for her. Instead, I almost find myself in a state of shock because its surreal that Donald Trump will be the 45th President of the United States of America. I ran through scenarios on electoral maps trying to piece together which states he could possibly win. I figured Ohio, North Carolina and Florida...but it wasn't enough. He needed more and I wasn't too sure he could muster the electoral votes. I thought maybe he could swing Pennsylvania or Michigan a

Is God dealing with America because we are a Christian nation who's fallen away? This is the question some are asking these days, and there are two sides to the argument. The first answer is yes, we are a Christian nation who has fallen away from God. The second answer is no, we are not technically a Christian nation and therefore God isn't judging us. Today, I'd like to offer a third option. I was reading in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah when I came across chapters 27-29. This is an excerpt from Jeremiah 27:4-17: 4 Command them to go to their masters, saying: This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: This is what you must say to your masters: 5 By My great strength and outstretched arm, I made the earth, and the people, and animals on the face of the earth. I give it to anyone I please. 6 So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. I have even given him the wild animals to serve him. 7 All na

I usually don't post political stuff. However, what I am about to write is political in nature, but only because I firmly believe there is a deception at work and Christians need to be aware. If I am wrong, I am wrong. However, as time passes, I am more and more convinced that I am unfortunately right. Back in '07-'08, when Barak Obama was running for President, I really liked him. He was a great speaker and sounded like he was about to shake up the system like Americans wanted. However, something changed. I can't tell you exactly what, but I know as I looked and listened even more, I felt like there was something that was just not right about him. I couldn't place my finger on it, but I just knew. I had to stop listening to his speeches because of their seductive nature. Low and behold when he took office and I found out even more about him, I started learning of his background. Filtering the present through his past lens, I began to see that the change he was ta

As I was studying for a sermon, I came across a passage that cannot be avoided. Highly debated and definitely a hot button topic in culture these days, in good faith, when Scripture speaks, I must address said Scripture. Ephesians 5:3,5 was the verse I ran across. In itself, it doesn't really define the words "sexually immoral"; it's kind of a broad based definition. So, I decided to see what else Scripture might define as "sexually immoral". This study led me to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. Here, it is defined a bit better. Here it is defined as a broad based term and specifically in three manners, adultery, effeminate and sodomites. In the best interest of eliminating presuppositions, I decided to dig a bit deeper into it to see exactly what these words meant. I wanted to see if homosexuality is really condemned in Scripture. Many these days are coming with all kinds of accusations against the Scriptures that speak on homosexuality...so digging deeper into this

Social media. It has a way of working it's way into our lives. It dominates our time. We look more at our phones than we do those closest to us. And then, people who on the outside appear put together, well mannered, and socially well versed, click their social media apps and turn into argumentative trolls who enjoy creating drama. When people see this, it usually sends a shock through them; "I had no idea they ______." The shock waves tend to flip us upside down and truly change the way we look at them. The relationship changes and sometimes gets way worse... Social media connects us with people like never before, yet can stir more drama and make relationships so disconnected and impersonal. We've never been more connected with people than we are in our current world. Yet, we have never been more disconnected in our relationships than we are now. However, social media also has a way of showing our true nature. Want to know how real a person is? Check social media a

The other day I saw a picture that said "Jesus died in public, so don't just live for Him in private". This reminded me of those posts on Facebook (and before that the chain letter emails) saying "if you don't forward this, you don't really love Jesus" or that "by not sharing it you're denying Jesus" in some way. I don't share the those type of things because our faith is based on more than just a copy and paste status or chain letter. If you don't know that I love my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ by how I live my everyday life, then I am not doing my job as a His follower. A status update or resending a chain letter won't change that much. However, allow me to say a few words because there is a point in all of this that we often overlook, especially in western civilization. All too often, I hear, "I don't talk about religion because it's a private matter." Umm...no my friend, it's not a private matter.

Time and time again I see people complaining about this years candidates for President. The Republicans are offering Trump and the Democrats are offering Clinton. No matter which side you reside on, the sentiment usually is something like this, "Well, I don't want _________ becoming President, so I guess I'll vote for _______ even though I don't like them either." I've also heard (in past elections too); "Neither one really stand as great examples...it's just about picking the lesser of 2 evils." If you'd indulge me, I submit that we do not have to live with the 'lesser of 2 evils' simply because there is no other choice. I submit that there is a choice...this is America. We've grown accustom (and dare I say brainwashed) to the 2 political parties in power showing us 2 candidates. Every once in a while you have a Ross Perot or Ralph Nader come in and run as a 3rd party candidate, but no one realistically gives them any chance of

I saw a post earlier today that talked about a conference at an unnamed church that was geared towards smaller churches (under 500 in attendance) and how they could "get healthy". Now I really do understand this conference would be a great thing and that smaller churches carry a connotation that they are unhealthy. However, that isn't always the case. Believe me when I say that I have seen my share of unhealthy small congregations. However, I have also seen my fair share of healthy ones too. I have seen my share of unhealthy large congregations and my share of good, vibrant healthy large churches. However, it is time that we stop associating healthiness to size. Is there a correlation? Depends. Actually, it depends on a lot of factors. Demographics play a role for sure, but so does financial issues, history, etc. There are some churches in demographical areas that would do well to get to 150, let alone 500-1000. However, if we are basing success on numbers, we might not

As I sit and contemplate things for the sermon this week, which is out of the Old Testament, I am reminded again and again of the situation we face in our country today. Christians everywhere in the USA are feeling the fall away from the things of the Lord in our culture to the godlessness of self. We watch as our fellow countrymen stomp on everything our brethren who came before us fought, bled, and gave their lives to build and protect. We continue to hand over our freedoms to corrupt politicians, all while saying it's in the name of progress. The Old Testament Hebrew nation continually waxed and waned when it came to following the Lord. Whoever the leader of the nation followed as god, the people did too. Unfortunately, there were more bad than good. Up to this point in the history of the U.S., we've been lucky to have more good than bad. But as God worked to bring His people, Israel, back to Himself, Israel failed to see God working. God brought His people back to Himself