day no. 12,949: guest pastor pt. 2

I received an invitation to preach this morning at Oak Grove in Shellsburg again.  I preached for the first time there on 3/16/14 when Pastor Tom was out of town.  Well, he's apparently out of town again and they sent me an email asking me to fill in.  Super excited for another opportunity to plan a teaching and practice preaching. This is a fun season of life.

day no 12,947: the helmet of salvation is not allowed at the dinner table during prayer‏

I have been asking Atticus and Penelope to pray before dinner.

 

I usually give them a suggestion.

 

The other night we sat down to dinner and as we began to hold hands to pray before our meal Atticus suddenly stopped and said,

 

“I’m going to take my helmet off because the Bible says men shouldn't pray with helmets on their heads."

 

He had been wearing his yellow construction worker’s helmet when he sat down to eat.

 

He made this comment based off a conversation we had a day or two earlier regarding:

 

1 Corinthians 11:4

 

Every man who prays or prophesies with something on his head dishonors his head.

 

Spot on little man.

 

A helmet, I suppose, would qualify as “something.”

day no. 12,946 continued... late night @ SALT

I am teaching tonight on "Decision Making and the Will of God" at Late Night at Salt.  Basically, Salt goes on as per usual and then people stay afterward to hear an additional quick teaching (10-15 minutes) during which the audience texts in questions they have related to the topic.  When the teaching is over, a few other Salt leaders join tthe teacher on stage and field the questions that were texted in previously.  Good stuff.  So grateful for the opportunity to serve and lead and teach and grow and be humbled and be excited, etc...

For those who won't be there, here is the best advice I can give on making non-moral decisions:

1. Read your Bible (know what it says about everything)
2. Pray (spend time getting to know the God you serve and seeking His counsel)
3. Seek wise counsel (find people who you respect and will listen to)
4. Make a decision (do something)

When it comes to moral decisions, make the moral choice. 
Easy enough.

day no. 12,946 continued... the text came at 6:44 this morning

This morning at 6:44 am, I got a text from Paul Sabino asking me to call him when I had a minute.  I was meeting with Jake Hering, our new Worship Director at Candeo.  We were having coffee at Cup of Joe.  After we parted ways and I was driving to work in Waverly, I gave Paul a call. It was 8:19 am.  Paul had wanted to touch base to confirm that he, Joel and Stan had affirmed me as an Elder after the seven month process of training and vetting. 

There are moments in your life that you sometimes realize how amazing they are in the moment.  Most of our major moments we look back on knowing now what we didn't know then - that is the impact of that particular event.  This is one of those events that makes itself evident in the moment that it is happening.

This is a big deal. 

I'm excited.  I'm humbled.  I'm optimistic.  I'm prayerful.

Thank You God for this opportunity. 
Equip Your servant for Your work.

day no. 12,946: God wants you to walk by faith with wisdom in freedom

(on a side note: I will be teaching this tonight at Late Night after Salt Co.  Very excited!!!)

Deuteronomy 29:29

The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.

 

We can only know about us, God and everything else what God reveals.

 

He reveals here that some things will not be revealed.

 

It’s not our job to uncover what He has hidden (incidentally how foolish an errand to attend to as though you could illuminate what He has left darkened)

 

Let’s break it down.

 

Walk: do something

 

By faith: trusting in the sufficiency, sovereignty and sweetness of Jesus to see it through

 

With wisdom: studying the things revealed in order to understand, apply and obey them

 

In freedom: knowing that the uncertain future is certain in Him and that the fate of your salvation and His Kingdom does not depend on your ability to save yourself or build His Kingdom.

day no. 12,945: prophet, priest and king‏

I was recently directed to THIS tool for evaluating my leadership/ministry style/strength/weaknesses.

 

I am strongest in the Priestly and Prophetic styles and weakest in Kingly style.

 

Most ministry positions are filled by Prophets.

 

They tend to be go-gettin’, type A, trailblazin’ leader types and they aggressively get after the good work to be done.

 

Since I am more of a Priest than a Prophet, I tend to focus more on the individual than the group and  more on the assistance to the goal than the initial persuasion to the goal.

 

It’s not that I am void of Prophetic desire to defend the truth and call people to repent, but rather to say my sweet spot is helping those on the way to the Celestial City reach their goal.

 

It is hard to find room for a Priest in a post-Sacrificial world. There once was a more obvious place to plug people with my strengths in as one who helped another make their sacrifices that they had already determined to bring.

 

I am praying for the opportunity to someday soon be employed for the purpose of flexing my Priestly muscles in assisting people across the finish line.

day no. 12,944: the quest for glory must be extinguished!

"The quest for glory cannot be satisfied. It must be extinguished." - Martin Luther

I came across this quote when reading THIS article from Liberate.

It's the embrace of His glory for us that frees us to perform in peace and joy.

The quest kills.

May God extinguish our vain glory so that we can receive endless glory.

I'm not April foolin' around here.

This is for reals.