There's No Place like Home.

I remember taking some graduated high school seniors on a short term mission trip to Jamaica. We had so much fun teaching the village kids with a VBS style agenda all week. But one of our guys got really sick to his stomach and the last night there wanted me to take him to the hospital. We could not go, he wanted his mom and it was a reminder there is no place like home.

Home is our anchor. For many of us in Texas, we endured the brunt of last week’s winter storm in our home. Some of us did without electricity, gas and water but even so, we had the comfort of being in our home with our family. There’s just no place like home.

As believers in Jesus, we must remember that our home is not here on earth. This is a place we are passing through. We have a built in desire to go back home. Each of us has a God-hole in our innermost being that will never be filled until we are reunited with our creator. Paul tells us as much in 2 Corinthians 5:8, “We are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.”

When we are finally at our real home with Jesus, we won’t have to worry about COVID or federal taxes or cancer or out-of-stock grocery stories or death or wearing a mask or anything that is defined by our fallen state. Whatever disability you have to work around, in heaven, it will not exist! Why? Because we’ll be home reunited with our Creator whose promised to make everything new (see Revelation 21:1-4)!

How can we have hope? Because of your identity. You belong to God. This idea goes all the back to the exodus account of God freeing his people from their enslavement in Egypt. And God, through his Son Jesus Christ, has freed us from our enslavement to sin as well. He has brought us from darkness to light. See, our identity is not in your job, or your bank account, or your family name, or your relationships…our identity is in Jesus Christ. The minute you reconcile that idea, your life will be transformed.

The transformation you see reveals itself in your life and how you interact with those you see everyday. The world looks at how you respond to what’s going on around you and says, “Wow! This person is so different. How are they able to respond this way?” So because this world is not your home, you respond in a way that brings Jesus glory. When you are cut off in traffic or when the wait staff gets your order wrong or when a coworker lies to you or when a family member takes advantage of you. Your response is offered in the way Jesus has changed you. You don’t answer the way the world would because your citizenship in heaven requires you answer the way Jesus would.

Your time here on earth is short. Eternity is forever. Live in such a way as to positively draw attention to our brother and king, Jesus. Remind those around you that your been changed. Let your actions speak loudly that you recognize your home is not here but in heaven. Blessings on your journey.

You Hit the Jackpot!

1 Peter 2:9–10 (ESV): "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

Understanding your identity before and after faith in Christ is paramount to proclaiming the excellencies of Him who called us.It's a true rags to riches story wrought in the mercy of God. 

The mercy of God is a wonderful thing.He doesn't give us what we deserve. We deserve judgment but God has given us an opportunity through His Son to obtain an inheritance beyond belief.He has called us out of darkness into marvelous light.You are chosen to be His children and if children then heirs (Rom 8:17), a royal priesthood called to be holy for He is holy.As we live in the identity Christ died to give us we become testimonies of His excellence. 

Live out your true identity Christian.Your Father in heaven owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps 50:17).You have been promised all that He has and far more than you even know.Don't live defeated!You have been given a heritage through Christ of honor and valor, live it out.Be fierce with your love and selfless in your service. This is who God made you to be!

So, live as though you know exactly who you are and that you’ve been chosen to be a child of the Most High God. Live with that smile on your face making those you’re around wonder what you are up to and never put your identity in anything that perishes but in the one who calls you his own. Blessings on the journey!

Hope will not be Cancelled.

Have you ever had it rough? I mean, things at the end of the day were just not going your way. I was a small guy in junior high and high school so I got bullied a lot. More days than not it was a difficult day in school. Maybe you’ve had difficult days in your marriage, on your job or just physically worn out due to sickness.

The Apostle Peter knows about difficult days. His letter in the New Testament that we call 1 Peter is a reminder that as a Christian, you will have difficult days. But different than the tough days I already described, Peter reminds us that we’ll have tough days simply because we follow Jesus. Peter is writing followers of Jesus in modern day Northern Turkey. Rome is in power and those that follow Jesus are experiencing very difficult times because of that very thing. Peter’s letter is showing us how to live out our faith despite difficult days.

Peter reminds us that Jesus is the source of our hope. People will let us down. Careers have an ending point. Friends will betray us. But Jesus will walk with us no matter what is going on around us. We may place our hope in athletics, family, friends, the bank, retirement or our intellect but our living hope is found in Jesus Christ.

Peter also reminds us that we have true joy in Jesus Christ. It’s more than tolerating the temporary problems to get to the eternal life promised. It’s about how we live in the face of true adversity and chaos with a smile on our face. Hope isn’t just about the future. It’s about the present as well. As tough as our current culture is, this is a movement for faith to shine brightly and hope to float. Peter reminds us to keep our current situation in perspective against the backdrop of the glory of our risen Savior.

And Peter reminds us that our faith is actually strengthened through adversity and suffering. While we experience difficult moments in our life, remember that Peter is writing to Christians who could be arrested, unemployed, offered no housing or even killed because of their belief in Jesus Christ. While our difficulties exist every day, I doubt any of us are having to experience what those first century Christians experienced for their faith in Jesus.

Just remember, the tough days of this life will not even compare to the brilliant and wonderful years we’ll experience when Jesus comes back for us. When Satan turns up the heat on your life, know that it is building character and a refining faith in you. Smile with joy in knowing that nothing can ever remove you from the hand of God. We are only passing through this life. Our goal is to live eternally with the Living Hope whose name is Jesus. Blessings on your journey.

Forgiveness unlocks the door.

You’ve had those moments. When you did something that really hurt someone you love. Maybe as a kid, you disappointed your parents by taking something that didn’t belong to you. Or maybe you said hurtful words to your parents. Or Maybe you betrayed a trust that a spouse had in you. There are so many different ways we need forgiveness in our life.

Wrong-doing or sin in the spiritual sense is when we miss the mark of how God has called us to live. It’s when we fall short to the expectations Jesus gives us to live a life as his disciple or follower. When we act out in ways that are un-godly or unlike Jesus, we call that sin. And relationally we know there are two realities we cannot deny.

Sin separates us from God so we need forgiveness. There are things we can do that we know we should not and there are things we know to do that we don’t. Either way, when we miss the mark of how God has called us to live, it’s sin. We need forgiveness for our mistakes from our Almighty God.

Forgive means to wipe the slate clean, to pardon and to cancel a debt. And Jesus offers to clean up our mess is we surrender to his Lordship and rule in our life. So when we say “yes” to following Jesus, we are saying “yes” to a repentant life and confess to God, and others, where we have gone wrong.

Now it’s easy to give a generic “I have messed up” but at the heart of forgiveness is acknowledging how it is you have sinned. So naming your sin out loud in your prayer life is so cleansing and a release. You will feel the burden lift from you as you talk to God about the type of person you want to be. We all need Jesus. No one is “good enough” to get to heaven on their own. So we need God’s forgiveness but there is also a second reality.

Sin separates us from others so we need to forgive them for how they have hurt us along the way. Forgiving someone is the act of setting someone free. We all want forgiveness for our poor choices but when it comes to others, we become very particular. We set qualifiers in place: “If they really repent…”, “If they ask me…”, “If enough time passes…", “If they make good on what they owe me…”. There are a number of ways we make excuses of why we can’t forgive someone

In the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6, Jesus says something interesting. He says, “If you forgive others, God will forgive you. If you don’t forgive others, God will not forgive you.” To the extent you will forgive is the amount you’ll be forgiven. Wow! That is tough.

But forgiveness is a process. Some of you have endured very difficult moments where offering forgiveness is needed from the drunk driver who took away a loved one to slurs about your ethnicity to hurtful words spoken by your parents. Some things definitely take longer to work through than others. What I’m saying though, as a Kingdom person, would you be willing to begin the process? Who will you begin to free today? Who will you release?

The beautiful thing about forgiveness is when you free that someone who hurt you, you become free yourself in the process! You discover that the entire time you held the key to your own prison door.

But too many times, we think revenge instead of forgiveness. But the Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 12:17-21 that we leave the score-keeping to God. As followers of Jesus, we look at his example for us and mirror how he lived life. While Jesus hung on the cross, he asked God to forgive those who killed him. Kingdom people have a willingness to forgive.

So, may you find the courage to forgive. May you discover there’s a better way. May you unlock the door to your prison and run free. May the hurt that you’ve endured melt away in the shadow of the cross of Jesus. As Charles Spurgeon once said: “Go to Calvary to learn how you may be forgiven and then linger there to learn how to forgive others.” Blessings on your journey.

Could I have mine now?

I remember going to the store as a kid and often asking if I could have a toy or at least some candy. I asked every. single. time. I was certain those were things that I needed. But in fact, they were things that I wanted. There is a difference in the two but as Americans, I’m not sure we understand that concept.

Jesus is teaching us how to pray in Matthew 6. As Christians, we know prayer is an essential part of our daily life. Since God is our father and we are his children, we have this close, personal relationship with him. He wants to know what’s going on in your life whether good or bad. He wants to hear our requests made to him. So, one of the lines of provision in prayer is found half-way through where Jesus prays, “Give us today what we need today.”

As I think about that line, there are so many things that come to mind. I think about close-to-home moments that we are effected by each day. When we have bills we can’t pay, we need enough of an income to cover those debts. During this economic downturn, we need food for the table and to be able to make it stretch. For that newly divorced parent wondering how they will provide for their children. For the home owner whose repair bills are piling up. For the recent retiree hoping they have enough to last. For those with health concerns and those whose marriage is hanging on by a thread. There seems to be so many different things we need today from our Heavenly Father. It calls us to two types of living as followers of Jesus Christ.

As believers, we must have a commitment to dependence on God. Truly, God owns it all anyway. We are simply managers of the blessings he gives us. We must trust him to provide and have faith that he will not leave us alone to figure it out.

Take the Jews during the Exodus story. They have left Egypt but are not in the Promised Land yet. They are wandering. They began to complain that they had nothing to eat. So God sends bread from heaven. They called it “manna”. They woke up each morning and there is was all over the ground. God told them to pick up just enough to feed their family for one day. If they picked up more, there would be worms in the bread the next morning. It was God reminding them to depend on him for what they needed on a daily basis.

Jesus even goes on in Matthew 6:25-34 challenging us not to worry about tomorrow. It doesn’t add one hour of peace to your life when we worry. Jesus says to focus on today. God has your back. He won’t let you down. We can trust him to give us today what we need.

But we are also called to be committed to be content with our life and what God gives us. The Apostle Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 6 that we should be content with what God gives and that in itself is a great wealth. When we trust God to provide, it moves us to be satisfied. We end up worrying less and grateful for what we do have in our life.

See, instead of focusing on the Bread of Life, that’s Jesus, we get distracted by the toppings. We want wealth, Instagram popularity, a big title on our office door. We get consumed with our kids and what sporting team we can get them on. We get sidetracked by physical relationships rather than a relationship with our Heavenly Father.

But Jesus reminds us in John 6 that he is the Bread of Life. He will sustain us. He will make sure we are taken care of every day. We are called to put our trust in him for our needs. I’m called to let go of control, to give up my life, and know we serve an incredible God who knows me by name and my story.

The challenge today is to live one day at a time knowing you can fully trust in God to provide for you. He’s got your back. He won’t let you down. Blessings on the journey.

How do we know God's will in our life?

How do we know God’s will in our life? It’s the question that haunts each of us who claim to be a believer in Jesus. We all want to follow God’s will but sometimes it’s foggy or distant or blurry. If you’re like me, you want clear boundaries and parameters in direction. You want to know where you are headed so that you can correctly make wise decisions.

We know prayer is an essential part of a Kingdom-person’s life. We pray to our Heavenly Father to speak to us and guide us. We want to hear his voice. We know, based on Jesus’ own life on earth, that Kingdom-people love, serve, and live humbly. Jesus’ Kingdom is upside down compared to earthly kingdoms of fame, wealth, and power. In Jesus’ Kingdom, the greatest will be servant and slave of all. The first will be last and the last will be first.

So, in the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus prays, “You will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Most of us pray that but then add, “I’ll weigh out your will and if I like it, then I’ll do it.” But how do I know God’s will? What do I need to do to find God’s will in my life?

Well, for God’s will to be done, I have to obey his instruction. Any of us that have children know this to be true. There have been moments when we taught them to change a tire, load the dishwasher or mow the grass. In those initial moments, we walked with them and interacted with them. They learned from us by being with us. They obeyed our instruction and example in order to accomplish the task.

So, to obey God’s instruction, you have to hear his voice. How in the world do we hear the voice of God? It comes in many ways. On Sunday mornings when you are gathered to celebrate Jesus as one big family of God, you hear the voice of God through the singing of praise, through the comments offered by the person presiding over communion, through the reading of God’s Word, and through the pastor offering his or her observations over a text from God’s Word. In those moments, God is speaking to you. Equally, as you interact with other people in your small group or a ministry group or even your own family, people offer insight from God into your life as you journey together. Sometimes, in the stillness of your day, you feel the Spirit of God laying some direction on your heart and soul.

But to truly hear His voice, you have to be listening. Years ago, my youngest son played high school football. The stands on Friday night were always fun, full, and loud. It was south Kansas City and the school was 6A so it was big deal. But out of all the noise that happens during a game, my son said he always heard two voices: his coach on the sidelines and his dad from way up in the stands. It’s because he had trained his ear to hear the encouragement that my voice offered during the heat of the battle.

To be able to hear God’s voice then, you must spend time with him. Compare the time you spent with God last week reading His Word and in prayer to the time you spent on the phone or on social media or binging Netflix. If you really want to hear God, you must dedicate time with him every single day. God’s voice is like radio waves…they are always in the air. You and I must “tune in” his voice to discover his will for us.

Ultimately, in order for God’s will to be accomplished, I have to be willing to let go of mine. God must become priority in life. His voice is the one you follow over everything else. His will is that you would live with him forever. He’s pursued you through all of history, eventually sending his Son to die for you. His upside down Kingdom is calling you. Your best life will take place when you answer God’s voice. So, create margin in life and in your calendar. Listen closely to those around you. Lean in and hear his whisper. Blessings on your journey.

Moat-less Kingdom.

I remember growing up in my particular church tribe. As a young boy, many men would ask me about football or band or my newest girlfriend. It was normal discussion. But then those same men would get on stage to say a prayer and suddenly, their voices would become deep and profound and speaking in King James Version. It was like they thought you had to sound a certain way to really pray to God.

But God doesn’t want that. He just wants a conversation. He just wants you to talk to him like a child talks to their earthly father. He wants you to tell him all about your victories and celebrations as well as you fears and anxieties.

Jesus teaches us how to pray in Matthew 6:9-13. In his prayer, he says, “Your Kingdom Come.” We hear that and we think “spiritual” right away. But the people in Jesus’ day thought political. It’s because to them, Kingdom of God means…well, them! They, Israel, are the Kingdom of God in their minds.

Many different sects of Jews wanted to usher in a new kingdom. One without the Romans and a liberated, restored Israel. Several of them wanted Jesus as part of their group. In John 6, it says after Jesus miraculously feds the 5000, the crowd planned on forcing Jesus to be their king. Can you imagine forcing Jesus to do anything?

Instead, Jesus’ kingdom looked very different than what Israel was expecting. In Jesus’ kingdom, he came to be servant of all. In his kingdom, the first will be last and the last will be first. It’s where the greatest will be servant and slave of all.

Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount well. In Matthew 5:3 he says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for their’s is the Kingdom of Heaven.” See, God’s Kingdom has a foundation built on love and humility. If we are kingdom people that means we are to love, to serve and to live humbly with those around us.

And Jesus’ kingdom comes no matter the chaos around us. No matter if there’s a pandemic, a lull in the economy or political unrest. Jesus is the one who brings kingdom, not anything in this world. When everyone else says “power”, Jesus says, “love and serve others.”

So when you pray “kingdom”, know that means you start loving your enemies. You pray for people who bully you. You bless those who make your life difficult. You aren’t motivated selfishly but rather selflessly. So pray it up but know Jesus’ kingdom looks very different than this world’s expectations. Blessings on the journey.

Learning to Talk.

As a Jesus-follower, one knows prayer is an essential part of our journey. But there are critical moments when we know prayer is an absolute must. There are significant decisions to prayer over like who to marry/date, what career path to choose, and where to live. Sometimes we live with an uncertain future where you need to be laser-focused on what to do next. Moments when your job is eliminated or you’re unsure of the economy. And there are difficult circumstances like a devastating diagnosis, or a spouse leaves you, or you’re battling a sense of depression and loneliness.

When these moments come, and they will, we should not be looking left or right but up to our incredible Heavenly Father for direction and peace.

Jesus shows us how to do that in the Sermon on the Mount and specifically in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6. But first, he shows us how NOT to pray. Jesus addresses it in verses 5-8 where he describes the religious leaders of his day who loved to be very showy with their prayers. The word “hypocrisy” that Jesus uses is a theater word which envisions being an actor with an audience. Don’t be an actor.

Instead, Jesus says pray in private. Just have a conversation with God the Father. There is no “right way” to pray so don’t worry about the wording or your body position. Simply have a conversation with the God who loves you.

Jesus reminds us as he opens the prayer in Matthew 6:9 that we are praying to “our Father”. And this indicates it’s a very personal relationship we have with our God. So many times we pray as if there is a contract in place and God is somehow obliged to us. We come to him and say, “God, I’ve tithed, gone to church on Sunday, been a part of a ministry 2-3 times this year…why aren’t you granted my prayer request?”

But Jesus in opening his prayer with the word “father” reminds us that we have a father/child relationship with God. He knows you by name and your story well. So come to him unconditionally as you would your own father knowing God wants what’s best for you.

“Our Father” also indicates immediate access to God. You can go to God anytime, any place. He’s available. Although the opening indicates his home is in heaven, He’s never far away but awaits to have a conversation with you about you life and Kingdom work.

God lives outside the time and space we are confined to live which means he knows more about our story than we do. He’s already in tomorrow so trust him like you would your own father and follow his design for life. In Isaiah 55:8-9 God says, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” Trust in God and follow how He’s called us to live in his Son, Jesus. He knows what is best for you.

Finally, Jesus says, “Keep His Name holy.” Holy means set apart, separate, make sacred.” It’s a reminder that God is in a category all his own. We are saying that God has no equal. There is nothing in all creation like God. So, when we pray, we are putting all things under Him and in His will. In prayer, we remove our focus from the mountains in our life and focus on the mountain mover.

Our personal relationship with God the Father comes through Jesus Christ. Start this year by recommitting to Jesus and a regular prayer life. Speak up. God wants to hear your voice. Embrace Jesus and gain access to the Heavenly Father. Blessings on your journey.

It's a Wild Wilderness!

I remember the summer of 1986. It was the summer before I went to college and my dad wanted to go on a family vacation. So he took us to see Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. He wanted to make it adventurous so he took us in the back way through the Badlands of S.D. We ended up breaking down on this gravel road and my brother and I walked seven miles to the nearest town to get help. Walking through those badlands was hot, sweaty, and long. It was not hospitable.

Sometimes in life, you find yourself in a wilderness. It’s tough. It’s painful. You feel abandoned and alone. Sometimes it’s a season of spiritual dryness. But our deepest need becomes a gift when it drives you to depend on God.

That’s what happens to the prophet Elijah after he defeats the 850 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel in 1 Kings 18-19. He literally has this epic mountain top experience with God but one person says something that sends him running. It’s like he forgot all of the experiences in his life that showed him God was with him. That God was real. That God would protect him. That God had a relationship with him.

And some of you are there right now. You’ve had enough. You can’t take anymore. You’re exhausted and overwhelmed. The truth is a nap will not cure how tired you are. The truth is you’re spiritually depleted. You need a real, intimate encounter with God. You need a revelation of hope and loving kindness from a living God. You’re asking God, like the Psalmist in Psalms 23, to restore your soul.

In Elijah’s story, he runs away from the threat on his life but God is with him. And in his wilderness, God asks him a question, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

God may be asking you the same question. “What are you doing here? You know better! You have full access to me. You’re a child of the King. You’re part of my family. Why are you running away?”

In Elijah’s story, God asks him to come to the edge of the mountain so that God can pass by in front of him. There is a multitude of things that happen: rock-busting strong wind, earthquake, fire…but God was not in any of those radical moments. God ultimately is in a quiet whisper. And why does God whisper?

Because he’s very close…he’s near to you. He’s right there with you in your wilderness. You can reach out and hold his hand. He’s that close to you. And what is he whispering to you? “I will never leave you or forsake you. I will hold you up with my strong right hand. I will stand by you. I won’t let you fall. I will be a light for you. I love you more than you can imagine.”

So know as we say goodbye to 2020, we embrace a new story and a new year. It’s a story where God is with you no matter what you are experiencing in life. He loves you and will never leave you. Blessings on your journey.

Jesus is Immanuel!

2020 has been a rough year. For some, they lost a job. For others, they lost someone dear to them. For many, they lost freedoms we had all taken for granted. And I dare say there have been times this year you felt like you were all alone. You were walking through the valley of tears by yourself. Yet, here we stand in the week of Christmas, a joyous time of year for many who remember that God never forgot about us, his prized creation, and sent his Son, Jesus, to walk with us. Indeed, he became the ultimate Christmas gift. In his birth, we find hope for a better tomorrow.

This time of year, we hear a word. It’s incarnation. But what does incarnation mean? One description I found was this:

“In Christian theology, the doctrine of the incarnation is that Jesus the preexistent divine logos, God the Son (the Son of the Father) taking on a human body and human nature who, made flesh, conceived in the womb of Mary. This doctrine states that Jesus is fully God and fully human, joined in hypostatic union.”

Well, that doesn’t seem too helpful of a description! I’ve got an advanced degree in theology but I was lost on some of those words. Ultimately, it means God became flesh in the person of his son, Jesus.

The whole world remembers that God remembered us this time of year. God's Son, Jesus, came to earth to live among us (John 1:1, 14). But if He came, what was his mission? Jesus says it is to seek and save that which was lost. Namely, us! So, he’s a rescuer and he came to bring us life and life to the full. His birth brings us hope and his death brings us life.

So when you read of his birth in Matthew 1:23, it says “His name is Immanuel, which means God is with us.”

So when you are afraid, Jesus is your peace. When you are alone, Jesus is your companion. When you are are lost, Jesus is your guide. When you are sick, Jesus is your healer. When you are tired, Jesus will carry you. When you are weak, Jesus will be your strength. And when you feel the weight of your sin on your shoulders, Jesus will be your Savior.

Jesus birth and life is the greatest story ever told. It’s what Christmas is all about. He is the ultimate gift. So, are you going to open him this holiday? He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He’s the promised Messiah. He’s the Son of God, the Lamb of God. Jesus is the light of the world. He’s Immanuel. Jesus is God with us. Blessings on your holiday season.