Just received some awesome news, here a few weeks back I submitted my blog for a chance to receive a copy of Mark Batterson's new book Primal. Just got the email tonight that my blog was picked to be one of the blogs that will be receiving a free copy of the book and I will be blogging on my thoughts about the book the week of Dec 15-22!!! I am super pumped, first because I love reading and there is nothing better than a free book, and second, because I will get the chance to be part of a select few that was chosen!! I feel like I am on the baseball field again and I am one of the first guys to get picked to play on the good team!!
I will keep you updated and be sure and tune in Dec 15-22 and I'll let you know what I got out of the book!!
God Bless,
Nathan
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Help Wanted
Help Wanted: There are people all around you that just want to know that someone cares about them and what they are going through, I mean really cares!! Just met a young man last week and he just began to share with me some of the things that were going on in his life, things that were not minor difficulties, but serious life changing situations!! All he wanted was to know that someone cared for him!!!
So I let him know that I would be praying for him, gave him my card, and have already been bringing him before the Lord!! Do someone a favor today, take a couple of minutes out of your day sit down and listen to what is going on in their life and really show that you care about what's going in their lives!!! It won't always be "easy" but, as the Word of God says, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few...(Matthew 9:37)
God Bless,
Nathan
So I let him know that I would be praying for him, gave him my card, and have already been bringing him before the Lord!! Do someone a favor today, take a couple of minutes out of your day sit down and listen to what is going on in their life and really show that you care about what's going in their lives!!! It won't always be "easy" but, as the Word of God says, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few...(Matthew 9:37)
God Bless,
Nathan
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Veterans Day
If you didn't know, today is Veterans Day and we wanted to send our thanks and appreciation our to all who have served our country, to all who have sacrificed their lives so we can enjoy the freedoms that we have in this country! Thank you!
Let us not make their sacrifice in vain, keep this nation the great nation that it has been for so long!! The only way we can do that is to fall on our faces and call on God.
2 Chronicles 7:14 - If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Let us do as the Scripture calls for us to do and let us call on God, we enjoy so many freedoms in this country, but if we are not careful we will not have them for very long. Let us call on God, spend some time in prayer today and pray for our troops, our veterans, and our country!!
God Bless,
Nathan
Let us not make their sacrifice in vain, keep this nation the great nation that it has been for so long!! The only way we can do that is to fall on our faces and call on God.
2 Chronicles 7:14 - If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Let us do as the Scripture calls for us to do and let us call on God, we enjoy so many freedoms in this country, but if we are not careful we will not have them for very long. Let us call on God, spend some time in prayer today and pray for our troops, our veterans, and our country!!
God Bless,
Nathan
Monday, November 9, 2009
Apostle Paul's Job Description
Apostle Paul’s Job Description
Must show excellent communicational skills, and be willing to travel a lot (without pay). You must support yourself financially by working on the side in your spare time. One of your priorities will be to reach a demographic group that is shunned by most of the people around you and be prepared to face sharp criticism for doing so, even by your fellow laborers. Must be ready to work at all hours of the day and night, there is no set schedule.
Must be willing to endure extreme personal, physical, and emotional suffering such as but not limited to:
- Being stoned
- Being beaten to the extent of the law
- Spending an extensive amount of time in prison
- Tactfully handling situations with demon possessed people and also suicidal people
- Endure contention and possible rejection by good friends and fellow laborers
- Must be able to swim in stormy and cold conditions
- Be prepared for snakebites
- Be able to write extensively in very dimly lit and unsanitary conditions
- Be able to speak convincingly to world leaders about controversial topics
- And ultimately be put to a very painful tortuous death.
Who is ready to sign up for this? Sad to say but most are not willing to pay the price of sacrifice and commitment it takes to turn the world upside down. But the reach and influence of the Apostle Paul is still felt today because of his dedication to obeying the call of God on his life.
YOU are called for a purpose! And no one who has experienced Salvation is exempt from the ministry of telling the good news of the gospel of Christ!
In 1 Corinthians 4 Paul says “We have this ministry…” Everyone who has been reconciled by the shed blood of Christ has “a ministry.”
May you never forget that unless you obey the voice of God and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life, you will never be completely fulfilled in our life! Your sphere of influence could be the only one who reaches certain people with the Gospel.
Don’t discount the ministry God is speaking into your life! And strive to be close enough to Him to hear His voice!
When John leaned on the breast of Jesus (John 13:23) because of his position he could not only hear the heartbeat of Christ, but he could also see from the Saviors perspective as well. Get close to Him! Listen for His voice! And OBEY!
Ben
Must show excellent communicational skills, and be willing to travel a lot (without pay). You must support yourself financially by working on the side in your spare time. One of your priorities will be to reach a demographic group that is shunned by most of the people around you and be prepared to face sharp criticism for doing so, even by your fellow laborers. Must be ready to work at all hours of the day and night, there is no set schedule.
Must be willing to endure extreme personal, physical, and emotional suffering such as but not limited to:
- Being stoned
- Being beaten to the extent of the law
- Spending an extensive amount of time in prison
- Tactfully handling situations with demon possessed people and also suicidal people
- Endure contention and possible rejection by good friends and fellow laborers
- Must be able to swim in stormy and cold conditions
- Be prepared for snakebites
- Be able to write extensively in very dimly lit and unsanitary conditions
- Be able to speak convincingly to world leaders about controversial topics
- And ultimately be put to a very painful tortuous death.
Who is ready to sign up for this? Sad to say but most are not willing to pay the price of sacrifice and commitment it takes to turn the world upside down. But the reach and influence of the Apostle Paul is still felt today because of his dedication to obeying the call of God on his life.
YOU are called for a purpose! And no one who has experienced Salvation is exempt from the ministry of telling the good news of the gospel of Christ!
In 1 Corinthians 4 Paul says “We have this ministry…” Everyone who has been reconciled by the shed blood of Christ has “a ministry.”
May you never forget that unless you obey the voice of God and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life, you will never be completely fulfilled in our life! Your sphere of influence could be the only one who reaches certain people with the Gospel.
Don’t discount the ministry God is speaking into your life! And strive to be close enough to Him to hear His voice!
When John leaned on the breast of Jesus (John 13:23) because of his position he could not only hear the heartbeat of Christ, but he could also see from the Saviors perspective as well. Get close to Him! Listen for His voice! And OBEY!
Ben
Steven and Kara Jaeger
Our good friends Steven and Kara Jaeger are in Vanuatu serving as medical missionaries and have been blogging about the work they are doing there. Check out their blog, without a doubt it will touch your heart and stir your burden for foriegn and domestic missions!!
http://web.mac.com/experiencingmissions/Experiencingmissions/The_Jaegers.html
God Bless,
Nathan
http://web.mac.com/experiencingmissions/Experiencingmissions/The_Jaegers.html
God Bless,
Nathan
Friday, November 6, 2009
Change is Good!!!
I think there is a quality that alot of young preachers are missing and that is the ability to be quiet and listen...there are times when I am around a few elder Pastors or Preachers and I will purposefully stay as much out of the conversation as possible, not because I don't believe that I don't have anything to add to the conversation, but because these are Men that have been where I am, alot of wisdom can come from them and I don't want to miss it by giving my opinion.
With that said, last night I was talking with two great Men of God and we were talking about the fact that the Church has a hard time changing, adapting, being effective in this culture and still remaining counter culture. One of these Men said that a business man had told him that in the business world if a business doesn't change every 6-8 months, within a couple of years their doors will be closed. So, why is it so hard for the Church to change? There are things that we haven't changed in decades, and we expect to be effective in this time?
It made me think of the story of Jesus and His disciples as they were teaching by the sea one day and it said in Mark 4 that Jesus was teaching the people but there were so many people that he couldn't teach them from the land. No doubt Jesus realized that what He was teaching was the very Word of God and he could have easily taken the approach that many of us have taken and said well we are preaching the Word of God, if they can't hear it it's not my fault. He could have easily said, this is the way we have always done it, no one has ever taught from a boat, what is everyone going to think of me doing it that way? No he realized that yes the Word was the same, that it didn't matter what others thought and he was going to change the way He was doing things in order to effectively communicate the Word of His Father.
Why then should it be hard for us, the Church to change the way we do things to more effectively communicate the Word of our Father? Change is GOOD, Change is GOD! The Message never changes, but the Method MUST!!
God Bless,
Nathan
With that said, last night I was talking with two great Men of God and we were talking about the fact that the Church has a hard time changing, adapting, being effective in this culture and still remaining counter culture. One of these Men said that a business man had told him that in the business world if a business doesn't change every 6-8 months, within a couple of years their doors will be closed. So, why is it so hard for the Church to change? There are things that we haven't changed in decades, and we expect to be effective in this time?
It made me think of the story of Jesus and His disciples as they were teaching by the sea one day and it said in Mark 4 that Jesus was teaching the people but there were so many people that he couldn't teach them from the land. No doubt Jesus realized that what He was teaching was the very Word of God and he could have easily taken the approach that many of us have taken and said well we are preaching the Word of God, if they can't hear it it's not my fault. He could have easily said, this is the way we have always done it, no one has ever taught from a boat, what is everyone going to think of me doing it that way? No he realized that yes the Word was the same, that it didn't matter what others thought and he was going to change the way He was doing things in order to effectively communicate the Word of His Father.
Why then should it be hard for us, the Church to change the way we do things to more effectively communicate the Word of our Father? Change is GOOD, Change is GOD! The Message never changes, but the Method MUST!!
God Bless,
Nathan
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
I will NOT be defeated!!!
I have grown up in church my entire life and I can't imagine any other kind of life, trying to think about life from another perspective is very hard to do, but I have begun to try and look at the church from an outside perspective and see what does the World see? I have noticed something about the church as a whole here lately, this may offend some but I want you to really think about this because I believe it is the reason the Church and Christians in general are in the position we are today.
We have a DEFEATED mentality, what do I mean by that? Let me tell you, have you ever been in a service where the crowd was very low and someone got up and started talking about the fact that people were out and the crowd was low, but the Bible says where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in the midst of them? Don't get me wrong, God is with us no matter the numbers, understand where I am going here. Or have you been in a conversation where someone said, well were just doing what we can to survive, just trying to keep the people we have?
Why are we this way, does not the Word of God say in Romans 8:37-39 - Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Such a powerful portion of scripture but what I want you to notice is that it said that we are more than conquerors through Christ!! It's as if we haven't even read the back of the book that we live our lives by!! Why don't we start living a victorious life, because that is why Jesus came and gave his life on Calvary...John 10:10 - The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Christ came not so we could live a defeated life, not so that we could act like we are handicapped in some way, but so we can live victoriously, so start doing just that break away from the defeated mind set and live a victorious life through Christ!!
God Bless,
Nathan
We have a DEFEATED mentality, what do I mean by that? Let me tell you, have you ever been in a service where the crowd was very low and someone got up and started talking about the fact that people were out and the crowd was low, but the Bible says where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in the midst of them? Don't get me wrong, God is with us no matter the numbers, understand where I am going here. Or have you been in a conversation where someone said, well were just doing what we can to survive, just trying to keep the people we have?
Why are we this way, does not the Word of God say in Romans 8:37-39 - Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Such a powerful portion of scripture but what I want you to notice is that it said that we are more than conquerors through Christ!! It's as if we haven't even read the back of the book that we live our lives by!! Why don't we start living a victorious life, because that is why Jesus came and gave his life on Calvary...John 10:10 - The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Christ came not so we could live a defeated life, not so that we could act like we are handicapped in some way, but so we can live victoriously, so start doing just that break away from the defeated mind set and live a victorious life through Christ!!
God Bless,
Nathan
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