Breathe, pray, breathe

October 16, 2014April 7, 2015 / youthguysteve / 2 Comments

Often as we read through twitter, or look on facebook we see a lot of anger, hate, sin, and frustration. We see people with stress, letting it out. We see broken relationships being hashed out online. Have you ever read the comments under most articles published on the web. People are angry, broken, and afraid. I am angry, broken and afraid many times. So my question for today is how can we respond to all the anger, the hurt and pain?

To start I am reminded what my pastor said to me recently. He said “I am never surprised when people act like the sinners they are, I am shocked when they act like Christians.” Too often I think we believe that everyone should be nice and happy all the time. The reality is we are all sinners. We are all broken, angry and stressed, however we are also loved, redeemed, and saved by the one who came down from heaven. So what do we do? How do we make it through the day with so much stress, anger and hurt filling our world? I have a suggestion, remember to breath, pray, and breath again.

I have seen lots of ways to help us but none has been more effective for me than just breathing, and praying. Breathing is essential for life and so is prayer. Pray can help us see God at work, Prayer can help us focus on Jesus. Lots of people take a walk, or look at something pretty. Recently I have see people post pictures of flowers to remember God’s great creation. These can all be good things. I would add breathe, pray and breathe again. To breathe is to have life and to pray is have life. Jesus is there with you, you can pray his words, “Neither do I condemn you; go and from now on sin no more”John 8:11b

I know we will continue to sin, we will continue to see others sin. I often try to remind myself Jesus has forgiven me, now go back out and follow him again. Be reminded of His kingdom of forgiveness and grace. So as you are hurting, broken or angry today remember to breath, and pray, and breath again.

Change makes everyone angry…Jesus brought change.

April 21, 2014April 7, 2015 / youthguysteve / Leave a comment

Change is hard. People don’t like change. People don’t want to change their lives. People don’t want to change their actions. People don’t want to change really anything about themselves. We like to be comfortable and safe. We like things to run just the way they have because we know what to expect. The only time people like change is they are the one making the changes. I had a friend who used to say “I like change as long as I am the one making the changes.”

Change is something we don’t like but is a part of life as a disciple. Thank God it is. I am struck by how when change happens to me I really don’t like it. Change is hard and painful but often necessary. I struggle with change because I am messy. My relationship with Jesus is messy. You see I don’t always like to look in the mirror and see the changes that need to be made. I struggle with the changed life in Jesus. It isn’t a strait line with a definite end point. It has a beginning in baptism, it has and end in Death but the middle is messy. I think it is why we get so angry with our faith because we want everything to be better and easy. Our sinful nature in all of us is a twisty road, and just when we think we get the hang of it we take another turn, we are reminded of more change needed in our lives and the need for Christ’s grace.

This weekend as I sat and participated in Easter services I thought about change. I thought about the changes in my life. I think about people who come in and out of it. I thought about my faith life and how the resurrection of Jesus really impacted me. How Jesus came to change the equation, how He came to change me. You see when I see the cross and empty tomb I think about how Jesus came to forgive me and to change me. To take me from my original place and move me to another place. A place of change. A place where I have to look in a mirror and know I am a broken man, yet I have a risen savior who is changing my life. Not just saving me, but changing my life.

The cross brings change. The resurrection brings change. Many people get angry at Church, Church workers, faithful people, and family because they remind us of our need for Jesus. They point us to a Jesus who didn’t come to keep the status quo in our lives, but to bring change. The cross and resurrection brought about the greatest change. It brought you who were dead into a new life, but the change didn’t stop there. The spirit continues to work on you and me.

Change is a struggle but it is part of being a Disciple of Christ. So when you are feeling that frustration with the change look to the cross and empty tomb, and the change it brought for you. That change from being away from God to being with God in Christ Jesus.

Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ²¹So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²²For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Romans 7:16-25a ESV

The begining of the journey…Hosanna

April 14, 2014April 7, 2015 / youthguysteve / Leave a comment

The beginning of a journey is sometimes the most interesting part. Last Sunday morning we saw a pretty amazing storm run through Big Rapids Michigan. Trees were all over and the power was out for many people. When I made it to church early Sunday morning we had no power and no heat. It was going to be an interesting beginning to our journey of holy week. Yet 56 people came to celebrate Palm Sunday. I was amazed by the willingness of people who had no power and probably more important for many no coffee, make it to worship. As a staff we gathered at Church and wondered what we should do. We felt that when people came we should worship. So we got up there and did it. The light was shining in for the beginning of the service but mid way through clouds came rolling back in and you could hardly see. Pastor mid sermon had to get a light just to read from the scripture for the message. It has to be the first time I have ever seen anything like it. It was amazing and probably one of the most profound worship services I have every been to. (By the way at late service we had power which made doing the songs and screens we had planned for that service much easier.)

Holy week for a church worker is always busy and hectic, however it is one of my favorite times of year. I love the way our worship service really lasts all week. It is a continuation of the story. Palm Sunday is the beginning with our king coming to fulfill what he was meant to do. He was meant to be the Messiah who has come to save us. While sitting in the dark I was struck by how amazing it is that we have a God who loved us enough to come in our dark place and be our Messiah. As we shout hosanna, God save us, I am reminded of our need for that savior Jesus. For six weeks we have waited. We have gone through lent and examined the destruction of sin. We have seen the “storms” come upon us. Sunday we examined the real reason Jesus came. He came to save us. He came as a servant who will give himself freely on our behalf. The one who calmed the storm, cast our demons and raised the dead has come to bring us hope in our storm.

This week as you enjoy the journey. As you spent time with Jesus on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday may you be reminded of the reason the king came to Jerusalem. Not to be crowned the great king but to be the great servant king. May we remember that even in our dark places Jesus has come to save us. And to that we shout hosanna!! God save us! Enjoy the journey my friends.

Come and listen! Come and listen to what Jesus has done!

April 7, 2014April 7, 2015 / youthguysteve / Leave a comment

One of my favorite songs by David Crowder Band is “Come and listen.” The song reminders me of the importance of sharing with people what Jesus has done for them. Sometimes in ministry we forget how essential that is. As I was sitting with a bunch of high school students for youth group I was stuck by something. I was struck by my calling to bring people to come and listen to Jesus.

I find in ministry I can fail at the sharing with people what Jesus has done for them. I can struggle to hear for myself what Jesus has done for me. Every three weeks at youth group I have asked our students to take 30 minutes in prayer. We spend time praying for friends requests on our prayer wall. We also spend some of that time in the scripture. This week during that time I opened up to Ezekiel 37. It is one of my favorite texts in all of scripture. I love the story it tells about dry bones. I love what is says about our life of faith and our walk with Jesus. It talks about God’s promise to bring us from death to life. It points us to Jesus and what he does for us.

I have found in my life that often when we are struggling with their faith, when our faith is dyeing, it is because we haven’t come and listened. We forgot the importance of being in God’s word and listening to what he has done. .

So the question today I am struggling with, am I coming and listening? Am I helping students come and listen to what Jesus has done? Am I listening to what Jesus has done for me on the cross and in my life each day? How about you? If not I would ask you to come with me and listen to what Jesus has done for you and me.

Why do we suffer?

March 25, 2014March 26, 2014 / youthguysteve / Leave a comment

I have been asked many times by many different people in ministry why we have to suffer in this world. They normally say it like this. “If God is truly in charge then why do bad things happen?” Why is all this stuff happening to good people? Why am I suffering?

It is something I think every Christian has heard from their non-believing, and believing friends. We all want to have great lines to say to them because we want to help them through their sorrow. Often we say things like God doesn’t give us more than we can handle… PLEASE STOP SAYING THIS TO PEOPLE! When you are going through the death of a loved one, lose of a job, betrayal of a friend, this doesn’t help, it just turns people against the one thing that can bring them hope. Sometimes life really does give us more than we can handle on our own. We sometimes do need others to walk beside us. We need Christ in our life to help us through this time of suffering.

So I go back to why do we have to suffer? Paul in Romans 5:1-5 helps us see this suffering for what it is.

5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ²Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. ESV

suffering is a result of sin, not just our sin or others sin, but sin that is in the world. Sin causes all forms of pain in this life. Sin a three letter word that causes so much damage. Romans 5 1-8 talks about the suffering we have but that we also have peace with God. We have suffering because of the sin in our lives. When you wake up in the morning with pain, this is a result of sin. When you have a broken relationship in your life it is a result of sin. Mostly in that case it is your sin and someone else’s sin. When a loved one dies to early of something like cancer it is a result of sin in the world. Sin has wrecked everything. Yet we have hope that in this life and the world to come Jesus is bringing his whole creation back to perfection. We can have hope that one day we will not have pain, we will not have broken relationships, we will not have death anymore. We know that we suffer now for a little while so that all people might be saved.

Next time a friend, or family member asks why do we have to suffer? You can remind them it is sin. Its the simple answer that may not be the most comforting but it is the truth. Also remind them we can give thanks to Christ who came to overcome sin, death and the power of the devil. That one day their will be no more sorrow and no more pain in this world. This suffering is only for a little while here on earth. I am reminded lastly that as follower of Jesus who has gone through suffering I pray my response to this is like the prophet Habakkuk.

Habakkuk 3:17-19 ESV

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
    nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
    and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
    and there be no herd in the stalls,
¹⁸yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the deer’s;
    he makes me tread on my high places.