Category Archives: Daily Word
What Happened On Sunday
I struggle to find the words to describe Sunday. From a ministry standpoint, it was deep, emotional, spiritual, life-changing. From a practical standpoint, there were so many things going wrong. From a volunteer standpoint, I was amazed at how people served like never before. From a congregation standpoint, I’ve never seen them more attentive or hungry for God. It seems like all these standpoints are intricately related and build off each other.
I could tell from early in the week that the sermon was going to be strong. When I say that type of thing, I mean that it will flow easily, there will be a lot of inspiration, and the general expectation is that God is going to really use that time to work on us. That type of feeling does NOT happen every week. Sometimes, the message is more practical. At other times, the message comes from a teaching perspective. With that frame of mind, I get excited about Sunday and what is actually going to happen when we all gather. If you missed the message, I encourage you to watch it online.
We got the word on Thursday, that a large part of our parking lot would not be available for Sunday. This means that traffic and parking would be a nightmare. We made the decision on Friday to use Travis Elementary (about 2miles) from our location as an alternate parking location and use our new bus as a shuttle. We immediately Read the rest of this entry
Seeing God as Isaiah Saw God
Would love your assistance in my sermon prep:
Thought process: This week is “True Fan” part 3.
General Thought: Being exposed to God will change your perspective of yourself. It puts you in your right place. It gives us a respect for what He has done and what that means for our future.
We are talking about the respect fans have for their team/player. How does that compare with our respect and our honor for God? To me it seems fans are born from 3 places: exposure to greatness (I see greatness and become a fan), buying in (my school’s team), born in (my city’s team).
Isaiah 6 is a perfect example of a man being exposed to God.
Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the traint of his robe filled the temple.2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (ESV)
When he sees God, immediately he has a new perspective of himself (a low image). Another great example of this in scripture is Luke 5:1-11.
Sports/Fan Analogy: This seems to mirror our respect for pro athletes. People stand in line for an autograph because of the players ability and status. We recognize and understand the athlete’s ‘power’ because we compare ourselves to them. We are far weaker, less known, less able, and less financially sound. Therefore, we honor them and put them on a pedestal. It is an easy comparison because many of us have played the same sport and know first hand how difficult it is to play.
If we see God, as Isaiah saw God, then we understand who He is and who we are. Becoming a True Fan of God is automatic.
Your thoughts on this??
Your thoughts on how new believers and existing Christians ‘see God’??
39 years. 54 million…
“Pro-life” and “Pro-choice” both seem to have such a negative connotation. I immediately think of extremists. Why do I think of that? Because when ever pro-lifers are shown on television, they only show the strange, extreme, and often illegal protestors of abortion. I have a negative vibe with pro-choice people, because I completely disagree with them. This has left me and many others in my generation sitting on the sidelines doing…nothing. Saying…nothing.
‘There is nothing we can do.’
‘I don’t want to be associated with those people.’
‘We can’t change the laws.’
Thoughts like these resonate within our minds. I see pastors and leaders around me (that believe abortion is wrong), doing nothing on the topic. It is almost like it is a ‘late 80s/early 90s’ topic. We don’t see it fitting in our glossy sermon series. We don’t want to be controversial. We don’t know how to talk about it in a practical way. We might not even care.
You Obey God?
It is amazing to me that the things we see as insignificant are glaring to the eye that sees everything in the entire past, present, and future of the whole world.
God gave King Saul a very specific directive in
1 Samuel 15:3 ” Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”
Saul gets to Amalek and makes an executive change decision. In essence, Saul says, “Let’s destroy all the worthless things/people and save all the good animals and people (like the king, “Agag”) He uses human thinking and reasoning and actually thinks his idea is better than God’s.
When Samuel catches up to the army, Saul says, “Hey, what’s up Samuel…I did what you said and destroyed everything.” Then, Samuel says something that gives me chills every time I read it.
The Last Two Weeks As A Pastor
The last two weeks are difficult.
What are we going to do next? What are we going to do with all the things we just did? What went well? What do we need to improve on? Where is God leading me next?
The last two weeks of the year make me feel (from a business/pastor point of view) a lot of pressure. It feels like from now until Jan 1, I have to figure everything out, solve all the problems and start the next year perfectly on Jan 1. All the leadership teams need to be neat and pretty. New leaders in place. Old leaders retired (and honored properly). The budget has to be scrutinized and 2012 needs to be financially planned out. Did we celebrate enough? Are we ready for the next big thing? Are we praying enough? What sermons are the congregations needing to hear from the Bible?
Robin Steele 