Crazy Audio

A few weeks ago I was in my car going somewhere, when I heard a crazy interview on Focus on the Family's radio program. I highly recommend that you listen to it! Click HERE to listen to the 20 minute radio program.

So the deal is that there is a pastor who lost his voice, but his old church wanted to give him something to do since he could no longer preach. Well this morning he was teaching a Sunday School class. The irony is that he was teaching on healing in the Bible. He was making the point that you can't say God doesn't heal anymore balanced with the point that you can't say that God heals everyone today. In the midst of his talking, his voice was restored.

Check it out...let me know what you think!

The Sanctity of Human Life

This Sunday is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. This is the third year that I have preached on this subject. There is simply no way around it, this is a very difficult subject to speak on. Each year I press myself to answer the question, "Why am I preaching on this?" The answer is simple: I believe that God has convicted me to do so through His Word.

As I prayerfully prepare for this message, I am hoping to accomplish three things:

1. To show from Scripture that abortion is wrong.

2. To bring healing to those who have scars from a previous involvement--either direct or indirect--with an abortion.

3. To motivate those listening to engage themselves in this battle of protecting the unborn.

Each year that I have preached on this subject I force myself to watch a video produced by abort73.com so that I don't loose sight of what abortion really is. If you are pro-choice, I challenge you to watch this video.

Happy New Year!

There is something about funerals and the New Year's Eve that cause us to pause and reflect on life. I do think it is good for us to take inventory of our lives and make mid-course corrections.

I don't know about you, but I never really took the whole New Year Resolution thing seriously. I have found 2009 to be a pleasant year altogether. I know we are in the midst of a recession and all, but I believe it is during these times that we learn about what really matters. This morning, on the radio, I heard Mark Larson reference the old hymn "Count Your Blessings" in reflecting on his year. This hymn is really good. Check out the words:

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings. Wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

What great words of wisdom! Not sure what your goals are this year, but I have a few things I am shooting for this year:

1. To spend more time with God in prayer and in His Word. Anna and I have already started our quest to read through the Bible together.

2. To spend more time working when I am working and more time not working when I am not working! I would like to be a little more faithful taking my Sabath's and spending time with the family.

3. To exercise more faithfully! This one just has to be on the list, right? I actually found it very cliche that I purchased a two year gym membership last year on New Years Day--so funny! I have been pretty good and feel a lot better. I am hoping to keep the consistency up.

Well Happy New Year everyone! May you continue to draw closer to God and learn of the joy that comes through a relationship with Jesus!

The Thanksgiving Game!

The Psalmist writes, "It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and your faithfulness by night..." (Ps. 92:1-2, NASB).

I believe Thanksgiving is the holiday that we as Christians should thoroughly embrace. We should be marked as a people who are thankful. Unfortunately, people tend to get bogged down with the nitty-gritty of life. I am guilty, and I am sure you are too!

I few years back I discovered a great game that serves as a powerful antidote to unthankfulness and discouragement. It is the "Thankful Game!" The beauty of this game is that you can play it alone, with your family, or with friends. Here's how it is played:


I am thankful for:

A - Anna, my lovely wife.

B - Bible. The Word of the Lord has changed my life. I am so thankful that God gave us His written Word!

C - Cars. God has blessed our family with two working cars. I am thankful for them...there are many people around the world that don't have any transportation other then their feet.

D - Dogs, especially Linus and Lady Bug. After I typed this out, I realized I really should put "Dad" here. I am really thankful for my dad, I do love him a ton.

E - Elizabeth, my beautiful little girl who is a gift from God.

F - Family God has blessed me with.

G - Grace, my wonderful little girl who cracks me up and fills my heart with joy every
day!

H - Hanson family. I am thankful the the Hanson family, the tree that I fell from!

I - Inlaws, the Hilton family. The Lord has blessed me with a great extended family

J - Jury Duty. Okay, this officially marks the hard stretch. I have "J, K, M, T, and U" remaining. But jury duty is something that makes our country great. I would love to serve on one, but am never needed.

K - Kettle corn. Wait to you get to "P", this is serious. There is a great explosion of flavor, the corn is crisp and crunchy. Great experience!

L - Lake Tahoe. I am thankful for the many memories I have growing up there. I am thankful that I am going to be able to vacation there this summer. I look forward to sharing my memories with my family.

M - Mountains...I am simply thankful for the great outdoors. Psalm 19 shares my feelings precisely!

N - Navy. The Navy was a major tool the Lord used in my life. I am thankful for the many experiences during my 12 years in the Navy.

O - Ocean. I am so thankful for its beauty and mystic. I feel so close to God when I am at or near the ocean.

P - Popcorn. I enjoy eating popcorn. Seriously. I have so much fun firing up some popcorn and munching on it with the family around a game of Candy Land or watching Little House on the Prairie!

Q - Quiznos. Okay, this game is hard. But I do like Quiznos.

R - Running. I am thankful that I can run--and really should start running again!

S - Spain. This is a country I knew little about, but after marrying I learned so much about this country. I traveled there with my wife and then learned of her youth. I am thankful for the experiences Spain gave to my wife.

T - Thanksgiving! This is the last one I filled out. I so thankful for being thankful...it just makes you feel better! Thank you God for blessing me so!

U - Upwords. This is a great game and I am thankful for the many hours of playing this game with my wife and inlaws.

V - Valley Baptist Church. I love worshiping with my church family.

W - Water. Nothing quenches the thirst like it and I love that our Lord describes Himself as living water!

X - Xrays. X is hard, but seriously, I am thankful for the Xray machine way more that I am for xylophones. I was thankful for the Xray machine when my daughter broke her arm. Because of the technology the doctors were able to fix her up good as new!

Y - Yankees, NOT! I am going with Yams. Nothing better than a well prepared Yam on Turkey Day! I think the secret ingredients are brown sugar and marshmallows.

Z - Zoo. We are longtime zoo pass holders. Anna and I love walking and talking there...the animals are bonus!

Okay, now it's YOUR turn!

LOST

Last week I was sick, NyQuil sick. In this condition I veg and watch "TV" (i.e. Netlix instant viewing on the computer). Last week, while in this state, I got suckered into the show "Lost." Addicting, so addicting. I hate to confess that I watched, or slept through, about a season of this show. This show is terribly addicting. Can I get a witness?

By Sunday night I was so sick of TV that I felt I needed to do something drastic like a cleansing of the mind. By the end of my little media binge I felt that I needed to connect back with God and recoup some of my brain cells that were damaged during this 48 hour window. My remedy was to put the old Netflix subscription on hold and to enact and sort of media fast. My guideline are loose--limit time on computer, no TV, with exception to the Chargers game on Sunday which is far from addicting and to simply read more Bible, theological works, and Christian biographies and to pray more.

Well so far on this "fast" God has begun to bless me with the time in His Word and my various readings. Let me share one example. Genesis 5:21-24 mentions a man, Enoch, who walked with God so closely that at the end of his life he did not die but simply disappeared into the Lord's presence. Crazy thought to imagine simply going into the presence of the Lord in the middle of your day (and not by way of death)...

How cool would it be if we could each go like Enoch? I think very cool. Then it dawned on me that it is conceivable that Christians today could in fact have this Enoch-like experience! Let me explain...

As I thought about Enoch, a passage of Scripture came to mind: 1 John 2:28-3:3. The exact verse is in 2:28 which says, "Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming." I totally believe that the Lord is coming back and we Christians meet Him in the air as described in 1 Thess. 4:13-18. I also believe the we, like the apostles, should eagerly await His return and expect that it could happen in our lifetime--whether or not He comes in our lifetime. He may not come in our lifetime because of His patience and zeal for saving the lost as described in 2 Pet. 3:9.

Christian, day dream with me for a moment. 1 John 2:28 alludes to the reality that some believers who will be caught up together with the Lord will actually shrink back in shame because they were not abiding in Christ at the time of His return. Oh how I long that I would abide in Him with such faithfulness that at His return, or my going to Him through death, that I would be leaping into His arms with joy in contrast to shrinking away from Him in shame.

It's funny, or scary, how the little things draw us away from abiding in Christ. TV, the computer, hobbies, etc, etc seem to cause great devastation slowly and incrementally. I am feeling renewed and my walk with Him feels more lively right now. It is amazing how quickly a fast from our most addictive entanglements can reignite our passion for the Lord. No surprise Hebrews 12:1 encourages us to ditch these things.

Lord I pray that you would help me to live my life abiding with You. Lord help us to free ourselves from things that trip us up as we "Walk with You." Lord help us to "Walk with You" as Enoch walked with you!

Why God, Why?

Valley Baptist Church will be studying the book of Habakkuk over the next two weeks. I can already hear you say, "Habakkuk what?" Let me say first that this is obviously a little known book, but it is in the Bible. You can find it in the latter half of the Old Testament in the "Minor Prophets." If you don't believe me, check out the Table of Contents in your Bible!

I love this little book. It is different from the other prophetical books. The others are a message from God to the people of Israel through the mouth of the given prophet. Their messages are usually something along the lines of "Repent and get back on track!" The book of Habakkuk is different in that is a prophet questioning God's plan...and he doesn't hold back.

Check out the first few verses:

"How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, 'Violence!' but you do not save? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and the justice is perverted." Habakkuk 1:2-4, NIV

This brother was frustrated of watching the righteous take a beating while the wicked advanced. He was at his whit’s end and felt as though God wasn't hearing his prayers. How much longer would he have to sit by and watch evil while God did nothing?

Habakkuk's problem is twofold: 1) He doesn't think God is listening to him...boy does he get a whammy from God in response, and 2) he is sick and tire of watching evil win.

It's easy to get discouraged--especially when you feel like you are the "victim." I have noticed over the years that I hear two basic questions about my life:

1. How did you go from being a SEAL to being a pastor? You can read the answer here: My Story

2. The second is harder to phrase into a question concisely, but is related to my experiences as an abused kid. Something along the lines of, "How do you maintain a positive outlook on life going through that?"

This second question is a bit tougher to answer. Life is a journey. We constantly learn about ourselves along our journey. Our life today is truly the culmination of all our "yesterdays." How do we handle the good and bad that comes our way? I believe our perspective on our experiences shapes our lives dramatically.

There are not words to express the fear I felt as a kid preparing to face my mother in a rage. I didn't understand why this was happening to me. We were a religious family, or at least we were forced to attend Catholic Mass on a regular basis. She claimed to hold a deep faith in the Lord--which turned me off to religion for many years. It's hard to say what I truly felt about God during those times. I remember eclectic thoughts from crying out for safety, salvation, and questioning His role in all this, to questioning His existence at all. I seriously wondered, "How could this be happening to me if there is a good God out there?"

Looking back, my perspective is all the more clearer at this point in my life. To this day, I am thankful for my past. I would not change them for the world. I feel like God has used each hard event in my life to shape me into the man I am today. I often point people to Acts 17:26-27 which says this:

"From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us."

This passage tells us that God sets people in a specific time in history and location on the earth so that they might "reach out for him." The word "reach" could actually be translated "grope for him." In light of this passage, I take the perspective that God placed me into this life, with my family, during this time of history, and in this location because this is the sweetest, most ripe place in history for me to fall in love with Jesus! I did and I am thankful.

Life will throw many difficulties and hard things our way. I have learned from my lovely wife that during these times we shouldn't focus on what we don't know about God's plan, but to focus on what we do know about God. She taught me this through the painful process of losing our first child through miscarriage. What are things that we can dwell on concerning God? Good question, I am glad you asked! God is loving, forgiving, just, holy, patient, merciful, all knowing, and sovereign are a few thoughts that come to mind!

I am encouraged in reading the last few verses of Habakkuk. I pray that our attitudes will match his in the midst of our trials and tribulations!

Habakkuk 3:17-19, NIV -

Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.

Back to the Basics

Every now and again life gets busy and I lose perspective of the big picture. During these times I find that discouragement sets in. Well, the last two weeks have been a little stressful due to a series of unusual events.

During these times I love to peruse the Psalms...they are so encouraging. I stumbled across one that I have read in a long time. Boy was it good. I hope it blesses you!

Psalm 34, NIV

Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left.

¹ I will extol the LORD at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.

² My soul will boast in the LORD;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

³ Glorify the LORD with me;
let us exalt his name together.

⁴ I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.

⁵ Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.

⁶ This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.

⁷ The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.

⁸ Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

⁹ Fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him lack nothing.

¹⁰ The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

¹¹ Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

¹² Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,

¹³ keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking lies.

¹⁴ Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

¹⁵ The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their cry;

¹⁶ the face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

¹⁷ The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.

¹⁸ The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

¹⁹ A righteous man may have many troubles,
but the LORD delivers him from them all;

²⁰ he protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.

²¹ Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.

²² The LORD redeems his servants;
no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.