I'm Getting Married Tomorrow!!

So I am getting married tomorrow at 2:30... so what? My mind is racing in a million different directions. But since I just woke up (got in from work at around 2) I need some time to think and so therefore I blog.
Some random thoughts going through my head right now...
--Christina is amazing! "He who finds a wife finds a good thing." Solomon was right on!
--I want my marriage to break the mold. Both sets of parents have had rough if not poor marriages that have not been consistantly built on faith in Jesus Christ. I pray Christina and I build our lives on the rock of Jesus Christ. Marriage is too important to fail...
--FOLKS, Elope!
--Marriage is the blending of hearts and the merging of two lives into one (got that one from my minister's manuel).
--I've been reading a lot of books lately dealing with the Christian Theology of Sex. Yep I said it. And I must say that the Church of Jesus has done a terrible job dealing with Sex. In a few months or years I want to do a sermon or series of sermons dealing with the theology of sex within the design of marriage.
--Looking forward to the honeymoon. Enough said!
--It has been difficult for Christina and I to remain pure but I am so thankful that Saturday we become each other's without regret.
--My mother, who is a nurse and the Education Manager & employee health person at St. Joseph's Hospital where I work, gave me my first Hepatitis vacination shot the other day. She then played a cruel joke saying this would prevent me from enjoying married life in a physical sense for a month. I was about to hurt someone.
--I feel so honored to have Bishop Ron Ramsey officate at our wedding. Ron (can I call him that?) has been a huge mentor and help to me for four years now. He has never let me down and has really invested in me. For some country bumpkin from SE Ohio to get that kind of help means a lot. He's like a older father/young grandfather to me... Paul to my Timothy for all you Bible scholars.
--Christina and I are taking communion together as our first act as a married couple. If we are going to last, Christ needs to be at the core of our relationship.

Thats all for now. Some more will surely follow...
What do you think?

Reflections from Sunday (6/14/2009)

Yesterday was a good day. I had a lot to do, and as normal, I stressed myself out (why do I do that when I know Jesus can carry all my burdens?), but overall, it was a great day. I preached for the first time in two weeks since I was away last weekend. The message was called Break The Mold. The text was Romans 12:1,2. Here are some basic thoughts--

• We are all shaped by something-- Some of those things are: culture, race/ethnicity, heritage, family background, traumatic events, deaths, births, natural disaters, financial background, education, geographic location, friends, etc. We are shaped and molded by our environment.
• Do you really want to be like your environment? Nearly 60% of marriages end in divorice. In the Church, 50% of marriages end in divorice. Actually, the Southern Baptists lead in the divorice statistics, so something is terriblely wrong here. Christina and I are getting married in a month. We don't want to fit the pattern of "normal" marriage. She and I both come from families with marriages that either are not godly are all, or need some work. We want to succed and not fail!
  --75% of local churches in the U.S. are either dead or dying. The population of this country is up and growing, but in the last 50 years, church attendance (which is the biggest indicator of spiritual growth) has continued to nose-dive. Who wants to be part of a dead or dying church? JESUS DOESN'T so what should we?
• Our thinking does a lot to determine our actions. Jesus told us that both adultry or sexual sin and murder begin in the heart. Sexual sin begins as lusting and murder begins as hatred. How we percieve things affect our actions. If you think someone flips you off in traffic, you might be tempted to do the same, but maybe all the did was wave and you couldn't see very well. Our attitudes and thinking determine our plan of action.
• Jesus has told us to give up control over our thoughts and actions. We are called to be "living sacrifices." Interesting... In the Old Testament, sacrifices were made and they usually involed something dead (either and animal or picked grain). But Jesus, speaking though Paul, is telling us to give ourselves up to God, but still be living. How? By giving Him total control over evey area in our lives, because only then do we find real freedom. We are no longer ourselves, but a new creation; Christ living in us.
• When we give Jesus control and become Living Sacrifices, we break the mold. We are transformed by the renewing of our mind in Christ Jesus. When we break the mold, we show the world that God's Will is perfect.
• Are you Breaking the Mold or Simply Conforming to the Lost & Boring World Around You?

What Do You Smell Like?

Yesterday, I read a passage of Scripture, Ecclesiastes 10:1, "Dead flied putrefy the perfumer's ointment, and cause it to give off a foul odor; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor."-- NKJV
The New Living Translation puts it like this, "As dead flies cause even a bottle of perfume to stink,so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor."

Our sense of smell is one of the strongest senses. Think about it... We taste with our nose more than we deo with our toungue (Don't believe me? Pinch your nose during dinner tonight and see if the food tastes as good as usual.). Another example of how strong smell is to us: My great uncle Philip died in 1989. I was four years old and can't remember his voice at all. But I have several precious things that belonged to him and they still have a faint hint of his cologne. My Grandmother Will died in 2000. I also can't remember what her voice sounded like, but when I go to what was her house, I can still smell the perfume she used.

Smell is such an important part of life. But smells can be bad as well.It used to be that whenever I'd drive into Parkersburg, WV, I could smell the city water treatment plant as soon as I crossed the bridge. If I didn't turn the AC on recirculate, the stench would be stuck in my car for several miles. Let me tell you, that smell is AWEFUL! Just one whiff and it ruined my trip.

It's the same with us, you know. We can work really hard and say all the right things and go through all the right motions. But if we mess up one time, our perfect record is broken. All it takes is one screw up, one mishap, to wreck our attempt at perfection. Just one bit of stench stinks up your life.

Part of the problem with this is that we are used to bad smells if we're near them enough. Spend time around a person with bad hygiene. They are going to smell bad. But they have probably gotten used to it. We get used to our sins and our stinky life. To us, it's not a big deal. But to God, it is a big deal.

God sent Jesus to cleanse us, literally. When we accept Jesus and are cleansed by His blood and obeying His Word, we smell different. The Bible talks of us being living sacrifices, a sweet smelling aroma to God.So what about you? Does your life smell like the city dump? Or has Jesus made you to smell like a bed of roses? If you smell bad, call on Jesus and He'll clean you up.

It's Hard To Admit Mistakes

Hi! My name is Adam and I have a problem. Sometimes I have this compulsive desire or need for people to like me. Lately this has gotten me into trouble.

I realize that not everyone likes me. I realize that I might even make people angry. But still, I can't stand it to know that people are upset with me. Sometimes this desire to please others pushes me towards spiritually unhealthy behaviors.

Lately I let someone down and I felt really bad about it. Its not that I did anything intentional, but rather, I forgot to take care of something for them. Whats worse is that when push came to shove, I was tempted and did lie about it. Yeah, that's right, I sinned and I feel like crap about it. I thought that telling the truth would cause problems so I figured if I stretched the truth a bit, it would be okay. After all, I got the job taken care of before any deadline, so no harm, no foul, right?

WRONG! What I did was wrong. I am supposed to be an example of a Christ follower, but here I showed my self to be just another example of fallen humanity. Yeah, I know we aren't perfect, but this really bothers me. Yes, I have confessed my sin to God and He is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us, but I also think God is teaching me a lesson with all of this.

I understand that you cannot trust a liar. But truthfully, (ha... no pun intended) I can say that I am a pretty honest person. It just seems that when push comes to shove I feel this need to stretch the truth to keep on people's A-list. But when I do that, all that happens is that I get myself into trouble with others and I disappoint my God and Savior.

So to the person I wronged, I am sorry. I know that doesn't make it okay, but please forgive me.

The carnal nature in me just wants to cry out, "It's no big deal. It wasn't life or death. Why do people notice when I tell one little white lie and others lie all the time?" Actually that last part does sometimes get me. But we need to realize that when we sin, it's not against the other person. Our sin is always vertical against a holy God rather than horizontal against fellow sinful people.

So to everyone out there, I am sorry. Even if this instance doesn't include you, I am sorry if I have destroyed any trust. This has all been very humbling to me. Yeah, I know we all mess up and some more than others, but I need to constantly remember that I am only clean because of Jesus and not because of my position, heritage, or works I do.

Here I stand, opened up about something most bloggers and pastors would never admit to, but I need to. It's hard to admit mistakes, but I can't face Jesus or others unless I do. Again, it might have only been one white lie, but that was one too many.

A Confession

As most of you probably know, I am a pastor, and perhaps my biggest job is communication in various ways. Today I was reading some random thoughts about communication and it hit me... If something is important enough to communicate, you need tospend time preparing for it and not get stuck in a rut.

Let me put it this way: In the last 4 years, Eden UB Church has made some pretty drastic changes. I came in there at the age of 19 and did'nt realize I wasn't "supposed" to change anything for a year or two. We have changed the time of our worship service (flipped it with sunday school), gone from very tradtional unrehersed music to more of a blended/contemporary style with lots of practice. We've ceased having Sunday night preaching and now we have a Bible study. We've changed a lot.

But I am really starting to feel like we're dropping the ball. We didn't change for change's sake. We made these changes to be more effective in our mission to make disciples for Jesus. In the early times of change, I spent hours working and planning transitions, but now, I am relying more and more on taking the easy way out of it. It's not just me- its a trap we all fall into.

Think about it. Eden used to only have one or two congregational songs per service. Now we have three or four. But at first we used to do a different order of service every week to keep it interesting. Now we do the same order, we just switch out songs. It has been so easy to do this because instead of FOCUSING ON JESUS, WE'VE FOCUSED ON SOMETHING ELSE.

Why do we as Christians or church leaders sometimes settle for mediocraty when Jesus deserves our very best? It does't make sense to me. When I get together with the others on our worship team and plan the services together and pray and search the Bible, you can tell the difference in the Sunday worship time.

Why do we get stuck in a rut? SO, JUNE 14 WILL BE TOTALLY DIFFERENT at Eden UB Church! I will be gone this weekend at National Conference (I'll be blogging about that on here each day), but the first Sunday I'm back, we're gonig to do things in a fresh way.

What I've Been Up To... Part 1

I admit it. I am guilty of one of the most important principles of blogging-- if you want to keep people reading, keep posting regularly. But I guess I just haven't had the time or the discipline to put my thoughts onto screen. I can't possibly go into all the stuff that's been going on lately, or to give you detailed observations of Sundays at Eden since Easter, but here is the abridged version of my life over the last 6 weeks:

• Like I mentioned in my last post, Easter was a blast, not only at Eden but in general.
• On Saturday, April 25, Eden had its first Family Meal & Movie Night. We had a great spaghetti dinner and then we watched the movie Fly Wheel. Honestly, we didn't have nearly the number of people we were hoping for, but then again we didn't market the event much either. Nevertheless, it was a great time spent with the Eden Church Family as well as we had a non-churched couple come for the meal and the movie. Here's the awesome part: That couple have been coming every Sunday since then and bring their grand kids. They're asking questions about God and He is definitely working in their lives.
• After Easter, we did a series of messages at Eden called Where's My Bailout? I hate to talk about money, but Jesus tells us to teach what He and His Father taught. There are 500 verses in the Bible about Heaven and Hell, less than 500 on faith, and there are nearly 2,300 verses in the Bible dealing with what God says about money, possessions, and being good stewards! People are really concerned with their money and stuff and as the body of Christ, we need to be teaching them God's plan. It was really hard boiling down all God says into three messages when we could spend years on the subject, but it came down to three main issues:
  --Am I Putting God First in My Finances? When we put God first by tithing (giving God 10% of my money before anything else) He promises to bless us and provide for our needs. This is one of the few places where God actually dares us to test Him. I have never met someone who went broke who also put God first in their finances. By the way, tithing should always go to a local church, not some televangelist with wild hair, or some other ministry. We should be generous, but God calls us to bring our tithes to the local church. If we give to other ministries, that comes after the tithe. Also, if you are unemployed, I realize that 10% of 0 is 0.
  --Am I Working Hard? God does not reward laziness. Even if you are retired (which is not a Biblical concept) or even well off, you need to be active. Volunteer, plant a garden, do something with your life. If you have a family, provide for them! I understand that you might not have a job or can't find one right now. I am there myself. But you need to get off your rump and try! Paul tells us that a man who does not provide for his family is much worse than an unbeliever! Ouch!
  --Am I Trusting God and Investing in Him? Jesus said that we need to lay up treasure in heaven where it cannot disappear. But instead, we are so worried about the economy. Lets be honest... We do not have a terrible economy. It's just not as good as it has been. I've been to third world countries, and we still are rich beyond compare. The reason so many people are worried about money is because when the stock market died, so did their god. Our Lord has all the riches imaginable and He WILL SUPPLY OUR NEED! But are we trusting in Him?
• In Summary: Here is God's Bailout Plan-- 1. Put God First in Every Area including FINANCES. 2. Work Hard. 3. Trust God and Seek Him First.
• Christina and I now have a house to rent. It needs a lot of work because no one has lived in it for almost 10 years, so no maintenance was done. But the landlord is a great guy and giving us a great rate, so we're happy to do a lot of the cosmetic work ourselves.
• Anyone know where I can get a good slightly used refrigerator?

Reflections from Sunday --Easter Sunday (4/12/2009)

Sunday was Easter, and it was a great day! I get excited every time I get to be with my Christian bothers and sisters and spend time with Jesus. I'm sure you can guess that Easter is just about the busiest time of the year for a church (except Christmas). It is hard for to believe that it has come and gone, but here are some thoughts I have as I've pondered over the day and the message I preached.

The message was called Remembering Jesus. The Bible reading for the message was John 6:47-58. Here are some of the basic points of the message:

• Jesus said that we need to eat His body and drink His blood to have eternal life. This is not an easy passage. And no, it is not talking about becoming Hannibal Lector. Let me unpack this a little more for you:
• God Created the Entire World-- In Genesis 1, we see that God made the universe and everything in it. Just like a building proves there was builder and a painting proves the existence of the artist, so creation and the clear design we see all around us points us to the fact that something created the world. We know Him to be the LORD God.
• Everything Was Perfect in the Beginning-- God created mankind to know us and to have a personal relationship with us. We were created to show the glory of God and to be on intimate terms with Him. And that worked out great... for a while... and then Adam and Eve fell into sin. Because of sin, there is a curse on all humanity.
• People Have Tried to Get Back to God for Centuries-- The problem is that sin is not based solely on outside actions, but on the inside of the heart (mind, will, emotions, etc.). God destroyed the earth once by water (remember Noah and the Ark?), but right after that, people still sinned (Noah became drunk and one of his sons walked in on him naked). The reason the couldn't? Sin is a heart condition and not merely a matter to be overcome by will power.
• God Gave His People the 10 Commandments-- These laws didn't make people right with God. Rather, they showed people the way they really were. You can't be very self-righteous when you look through the 10 Commandments. When I look at them, I realize how far I am from God's standard. He is way, WAY out of my league.
• You CANNOT Get to God by Doing Good Things-- Think about it... If I killed someone today, and then for the next 20 years I gave millions to charity and I spent time working in homeless shelters, that would not take away the fact that I had committed murder. Or look at it this way. Say you sin only 1 time a day. In 1 year, that's 365 sins. In 3 years, that's more than 1,000 sins. In 30 years, that's more than 10,000 sins. And how many of us can only sin once a day? How many sins does it take to keep you out of heaven and away from God forever? God personally said that just 1 will! That's a high standard that none of us can possibly achieve.
• Jesus Came to Bridge the Gap-- That's why we remember Jesus. That's why His followers take what is called Communion, the Lord's Supper, or the Eucharist: Jesus came and did what we could never do. See, God loves us so much that even though we're the ones who broke the relationship with Him, He is the One who mends it! By the way, many people do not believe Jesus ever existed. To that, I'll say this: I'm a history geek. I love it. And I can show you that there is more historical proof that Jesus existed-- from secular and even anti-Christian sources-- than there is for the existence of Christopher Columbus.
• Here's Why Jesus Told us to "Eat His Flesh" and "Drink His Blood"-- A close look at the context of John 6 reveals Jesus is speaking figuratively. He said He was the bread of life. That means that Jesus needs to be the building block, the source of focus, direction, and sustenance in our lives. Jesus is telling us that while it is His death and His resurrection that removes our sin and places us in heaven, rather than hell, we MUST participate. We need to die to self and thereby discover who we are truly made to be. If we don't identify with Jesus, then He will not identify and save us. This Easter, we need to remember Jesus and celebrate who He is!

Here are a few other thoughts besides the message--

-- We had 43 people at Eden on Sunday! Great! A lot of guests! I am very proud for Eden UB stepping up and bringing people!
-- 12 of the above mentioned 43 were under the age of 14! AWESOME!! Our Children's ministry was pushed to the limits, but they did a great job with all those kids! Man, I get so stoked to see kids loving Jesus!
-- We had several people recommit their lives to Christ! That never gets old!! It's so awesome to see God changing people's lives! It's better than anything I've ever experienced!
-- We had a few people express interest in learning more about Accepting Jesus Christ as Forgiver and Leader.
-- A kid at Eden wants to get Baptised!

All in all, it was the best Easter I've yet to experience as a pastor, and I am looking forward to see what God is going to do next Sunday!