Weekly Devotion/Discussion 6/29/12

Why Would You Do That Do Me God?

Have you ever had a time in your life where it just seems like everything is going wrong and you wonder what you did to God to make him mad enough to put him through all of this?  I am sure in those times that people have told you things such as: “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, or “God has a plan for it all”.  To be honest being told that just makes you want to punch those people in the face rather than making you feel better.  If this applies to you, as I’m sure it does…well because I know it applies to me, then this week’s devotional applies to you.

          With that Introduction out of the way, I want to start out by saying that for those of you that are dealing with something that is causing you pain, hurt or any discomfort in life I want to say that I am so sorry.  I hope that God’s hand is apparent in your life and that you realize that God has his hands over you and Jesus is there to provide you a shoulder to lean on. 

          Believe it or not you are not the only one that has ever had a tough time in life.  We have a whole book in the bible that shows us that even in our toughest times when we feel like we have lost it all, God is still there with us.  If you don’t know the book I am referring to, it would be the book of Job.  Now don’t worry I am not going to write a full commentary on the book of Job.  Although I am just going to reference a little of the book I do hope that you will take the time to read through this book, especially if you haven’t.  The most important thing to take from the book of Job in my opinion is that no matter what, through everything: losing his family, being struck with boils all over his body, and losing all his material things he still trusted God. 

          Believe it or not, the passage I want to use is not in Job but in fact out of the Psalms.  The Psalm that I think fits better than any other for those times in which we go through the valleys is the 23^rd Psalm. 

Psalm 23

New King James Version (NKJV)

The Lord the Shepherd of His People

A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
² He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
³ He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell^[a] in the house of the Lord
Forever.

Now I am sure that you have heard this Psalm given at funerals, and there is a very good reason for this…because it shows us that God is there to comfort us in times of hurt.  But, and please notice this, Psalm 23 isn’t just a passage to be used in times of hurt, but also in times of joy.  You see we can 100% understand from this passage that God is our Sheppard and is there to lead us and protect us, but we can also take from it that we don’t have to fear anything, we can take comfort in the Lord, and goodness and mercy will follow us through all of our days just for residing in the Lord our God. 

I really hope that you have been able to take comfort from this week’s devotion, but also that you have been able to take a sense of joy from this devotion also.

God Bless,

Will

Weekly Devotion/Discusion 6/19

You Expect Me To Be Still?

I want to start off by asking you all a question; Do you remember what it was like to be a child sitting in "big peoples church"?  It was torture wasn't it, and no matter how hard you tried you just couldn't sit still.  While that may have not been a problem as a child, because well children just don't have a long attention span, what is the excuse for us adults?  Yes some of us don't have long attention spans, but still the average adult attention span is let's say 20 minuets so what is the deal.

Even in my own blog post about being still I got off on a tangent, which can be dangerous, let's just blame it on the preacher in me.  This week I want to talk about being still and giving our lives to God.  In today's world it is so easy to get distracted with work, the kids (for those of you that have them), school, and everything else that takes up our time that we can forget what needs priority in our lives.  I mean when was the last time you prayed to God, not because you want something but just to thank him for the blessings that he has given you in life.  I know that I don't always do this, but I have been recently trying to remember to always thank God for the blessings he has given me in life, and not just by saying the word "blessings" but by thanking him for each one by name.  

Just like how I am sure that someone in your life has told you to slow down and smell the roses, we need to not just slow down but stop and get our noses out of our emails, our cell phones, and e-books and look to heaven for some guidance and thank God for what he has given.  

On the other side of that coin is the fact that we worry too much, whether it is that up coming promotion, if I will get the job, what will happen tomorrow....you know to be honest it doesn't matter.  What is in the past is in the past, what happens tomorrow is in the future but what is happening now is happening right in front of you and sometimes we are just to busy to notice the things that are happening right in front of us.  God tells us not to worry in the bible.  I actually have two passages for us this week.  

I will start with the shortest because I have used this one with many friends this week.  I have gotten several texts this week asking or me to pray for them, or asking me for a verse relating to being calm.  This is the first verse that came to mind that always makes me feel at peace.  

Psalms 46:10
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”


I love this verse because God isn't just telling us he is commanding us to be still and know that he is God.  Just like how our parents had to hold us down in church and whisper to us to be quiet God is commanding us to stop and know he is God.  I find comfort in this because it makes me want to stop everything and look to God and say "Ok dad, what do I do now?"

Matthew 6:25-34

New International Version (NIV)

Do Not Worry

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?
²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

This passage is nothing less than power and so much more.  I mean with in the first sentence we see the words "do not worry about your life".  Wow, the writer hits that right on the head.  Is it really that easy though?  We go on to read other things not to worry about such as "life, what to eat or drink, our body, or even what you wear."  I will say it again, wow.  Did you see all those, and that isn't even the whole list of what not to worry about.  We are blessed to live in a nation where most of us do not have to worry about shelter, food, water, or a bed so I am guessing or most if not all of you that are reading this don't keep those things at the top of your worry list.  The two that really popped out to me were our lives and our bodies.  I mean you don't have to look any further than MTV to see that the human body, as complex and amazing as it is, is of great importance as far as looks go in society.  It always has been.  Now what is considered as looking good has changed.  Although Tan and muscly is a good look for guys and girls a like, if you were to look like that in the time of ancient England you would be considered a peasant, pale and fat was the look of the rich.  

Ok so now that I am done with that tangent, I want to make sure to emphasize that We need to stop worrying so much about what is happening in our lives and give them to God.   It wasn't a coincidence that the writer said not to worry about out lives first.  But wait there is more, to sink in the point more the write goes on to say "Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? "  This is one of those points in the bible that I like to refer to as a "kick em while they are down" moment.  Not that the writer wants to hurt us, but to be honest some of the things we read in the bible are not easy to digest.  This is one of them, because we all need to worry less and it just seems like there is so much to worry about.   The writer just wants us to focus on what is most important and to be honest our lives and bodies are much more important than material things, no matter what they are.  

I think my favorite verse in this whole passage might just be verse 27 which says " ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?"  That really is a good question to ask, it's proven that stress decreases our lives, as do many other things that are available to us, but I in all honesty can worrying really add time to our already short lives?  NO, not at all so why even do it?  Well because we are humans and that is a great excuse but still doesn't answer why we even do it.  Like I said earlier, we need to take our gaze off the world and stop worrying so much and just plain look to God.  

I really like the rest o this passage because the writer dives even deeper into the topic of worrying and why it isn't important.  and I will let you read the passage and take from it things in your personal study.  What really made me think the first time I read this passage and still to this day makes me stop and ponder on is is verses 28-30.  "²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?"  The writer makes a good point, our God who created this world in 6 days and created us humans, in fact we were the only things created in his image, so there is that; Our God takes care of grass and flowers, things that weren't created after his image are still cared after by him and yet we worry and don't quite grasp that God loves us and cares for us even more.  The end of verse even says that God knows that we need food, drink and clothes so don't worry about it because the pagans are the ones that go chasing them.  


We can't address this passage and over look verses 33 and 34


³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Not only did the writer tell us not to worry he shows us exactly where to put our focus, some place more important that anything of this Earth could ever hope to attempt to be.  We need to Seek His Kingdom and Righteousness First, before we do anything else we need to seek his kingdom and his righteousness first, and after we do that we will then be given the things we need.  It's a cause and effect thing. You see the cause is us seeking his kingdom and righteousness and the effect is that we will receive the things that we need; but to be honest how could we not want God's kingdom and righteousness.  I know I am sitting here thinking about this and just jumping on the inside to achieve them.  I want to be like God so much that it tears me up on the inside to achieve that.  I do hope and pray that you do also.  

I can't think of a better verse than 34 to wrap things up and conclude with.  This verse does a better job than I ever could us summarizing the topic of this devotion, but when is that not the case with God.  His words are always better than mine, which is why I pray that it is God speaking through me with these devotions and not me.

Have you ever had a day where something didn't go wrong?  If so I would love to be in your shoes.  The answer is no, it isn't possible, it even says so in this verse that each day has enough trouble of its own.  I fully agree some days more troubles than others.  Like it or not we live in a fallen world riddled with sin, so it's not an if something goes wrong but when in our lives some trouble pokes its ugly head out how do we handle it.  Do we worry or do we turn to God;  I hope the answer to that question is that we turn to God.  Remember turn your sight's from the problems in front of you and let the day worry about itself.  I am not saying not to be responsible for your life but instead of worrying so much try looking to God.

So if you don't get anything else from this at least take this from this weeks devotions.  At least once this week when you find yourself in the midst of troubles remember to stop, pray and turn your focus toward God.  I bet you would be surprised how much this may make that trouble, problem or issue go away; and even if the problem doesn't become easier, you have God to lean on and as Jesus said in Matthew 11: 28-30

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 

So I leave you with this, sometime this week when the troubles of this world seem to abound all around you remember to look to God and lean on Jesus.

   
Here is your discussion for the week:

If you have ever tried to help with an event at a church you have seen how busy they can get.  Well imagine what it is like to work as a minister, youth or adult; not only do you have events to plan but people to Shepard and your own personal life to focus on.  On top of all that you have to make sure that your job doesn't allow you to turn your relationship with God into a job.  My discussion question is this:  What one piece of advice would you tell a minister on how he can keep his focus on God and less on the stress of the job. 

God Bless,

Will 

 

Weekly devotion/ discussion

I am back, after a year of not posting here, I have decided to revive this old dead thing.  I want to attempt to resurrect this blog by starting a weekly post, which as the title say will include a short devotion for the week and a discussion that I have either experienced through my ministry, or just something that has been on my mind. 

So without any delay here we go:

This past Sunday I was blessed to get to preach; the topic that I chose was forgiveness.  Big topic, I know, right?  Well God blessed me with all kinds of insight on this topic and to be honest I feel as though I personally have a better understanding of what forgiveness is, what it means to be truly forgiven, what I need to do once I am forgiven and well that God offers us forgiveness no matter what the sin, and that continues throughout being saved.  So that is what I want to talk about for this weeks devotions. 

This week I want to look at what do I do once I am forgiven, you know that thing called discipleship...

The passage I am going to use is Matthew 28:19-20, the Great Commission. 

Matthew 28:19-20

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 

There is a lot to get from this passage, including but not limited to:  Jesus is always with us, we need to go and make disciples of all nations, we also need to baptize through immersion into the Holy Spirit in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  You can read the verse, I am not doing this to teach you how to read, nor am I trying to give you a weekly memory verse, what I am trying to do is give you something to think about that maybe you haven't before.  

Have you ever thought about what it means to go out and make disciples? I mean really, I know I hadn't really before this sermon, which is bad because our theme for this past year at Johnson was this exact passage.  So I should know all about it right?  Wrong.  If you didn't know the Greek word for disciple literally translates into "servant"  Now is Jesus telling us to go and make servants to do our bidding in all the nations...no, sorry to smash your hopes and dreams there.  Jesus is talking about making Christians.  you know we don't see Jesus use the word Christian at all in the bible?  Why is that, well because Christian literally means "Christ Follower".  So in that sense Jesus is saying go and make "Christians" of all nations.  Train all the nations to follow what I have commanded. Train them to follow me.  


We do this to keep the ball rolling, because by training disciples that can teach, you have enabled that disciple to train more disciples to do the same.  


So this week think about two things:  That Jesus is always with us, till the end of the age, Amen to that; and how can you be a disciple and light to the world, and who can you disciple to have a better understanding of Jesus.  


So the discussion of the week is this:  


2 weeks ago I asked the kids in my youth group to write me questions they have about God, Christianity and the Church.  In general I expected questions like why do we have communion, why do we sing and questions like this.  I even got some questions like this, but I also got questions like how are preachers picked, and why do we dress up for church, why do we have an 8:30 service...typical kid questions.  I did one question, that to be honest I didn't expect to get, but I know that God is using this question to help me grow in my faith and allow me to gain a better understand of how to approach kids for my future ministry.So here is the question:

"How do I know that God exists?"

Big question right, I mean I know people my age and older that aren't mature enough to ask this question, or may have not even questioned this.  I mean have you ever asked this?  I grew up in church so I have been blessed to have a wonderful Christian household along with wonderful Godly parents to raise me, but still I have sort of always accepted my beliefs and never questioned, so this question coming from someone so much younger than me shocked me, but in a good way.  


So here it is:  how would you approach this child with an answer, this child is around 7 years old.  


I hope that God blesses the rest of your week, and that he uses you to bless someone in your life.


God bless,

Will

updates for all

ok so here are some updates as to what is going on, i found out that i had 4 classes, yes not many but i didnt expect to get that many out of what i had but depending on how many hours each class is at JBC that equals out to about 12 credit hrs. so i have a full semester i dont have to take, so come Christmas i will offically be a sophmore. Also i just sent in the rest of my papers for school so now just to wait for some return mail, and to find out who my room mate is.

The rest of the news has to do more with the summer but still sorta with JBC. I do have a possible job this summer, and i go in for an interview on tues at 7:45 pm. im excited not only because it is a a job, but because i will be a counsler at a summer church camp, meaning i get to work with kids. which as you probably have guessed will be experience for me later on in my life, i also will be a counsler at the RCW camp at NCSU this summer. you might be asking how this relates to JBC, well let me tell ya. it might as well be labled RA for that week, cause thats pretty much what il be doing. So that will factor in for exp, when i go to apply to be an RA. I also found out i might be helping with a program at church, but i will deff let you know more when i find out. have a wonderful day and thanks for reading.


for prayer request
-pray that i keep the focus on God
-Brad Jones Aunt is have complications with her recent heart transplant
-safe travel and that if it is Gods will that i get this summer job.




btw, if you have a microwave that you are not using, i could use one for my dorm room at JBC.

August Quickly Approaches

ok so here is an update, to let ya know and all that good stuff. So basically everything is going awesome, infact im moving things quite along :). I did finally get my FAFSA done, and i got my packet from JBC containing all the info on financial aid for JBC and now i get to venture into all that fun stuff. I also got all the forms from JBC for after being accepted into there. So yes that is all that is going on as of now, and im getting more and more excited about Johnson in the fall :), it fastly approaches. I also recieved a letter from the president of the college, and i love when they do things like this becuase it reminds me that they do actually care about me :). I am all the time seeing God move, and things happen and its AWESOME with a capital A.

Time for prayer request

-pray that i keep focused on God, and remember that this is all for him.

not that i am not doing this, i just know how easy it would be to focus on me instead of him. till later have a great night :)

one more thing i will be having a cookout at my house to celebrate me and garrett getting in our universities of choices. i shall put up on here when that is. have a great night.

i got some news for ya

I GOT INTO JBC FOR THE FALL !!!!!!

here is the email

and i know its a short one, but I am so stoked to see what God is doing!

Will,

It was good to get to know you through our visit last week, your essay, and the great references that I have received from the people close to you. I am excited about the incoming Freshman class and what they are going to do for His kingdom. I wanted you to know that I received your final item, your commitment essay and I was able to submit your file for review to the Admissions Director.

It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been accepted for enrollment at Johnson Bible College. We know that you have been working hard in school and with your church, and we are excited about you furthering your ministry here with us. I would like to take this time, however, to point out the concern the Admissions Director had for your other grades from your previous schooling. He has placed you on Academic Watch for the first semester to ensure that you will stay focused and can do the work set before you. We also would like to point out the Academic Support Center that is available on campus.

Go tell your friends, parents and grandparents! You will be receiving the official letter and other documents in the mail shortly! Talk to you soon!

Looking forward to having you here with us in the Fall! Hope to talk to you shortly!

Guys thank you so much for the prayer, and concern.

for today the prayer request would for you to pray for me to succeed at JBC

My Trip to JBC......this one took alot longer ot get out than i expected....sorry :)

Ok so on wednesday night i headed to Johnson for my first visit by myself. I am so happy that i went, i got to see a beautiful campus, and got a wonderful chance to sit in on Dr. Reece's class. Lets just say that after the visit i want that acceptance letter to come all the faster, and then for august to get here even faster. Johnson has such a beautiful campus, and i cant wait to get to live and study on the campus. They even have tennis courts, so i will finally be able to get to play some tennis :).

Well let me break down what all went into the trip, I started off by heading by church to get my references from Shawn and Jon and they also included the proof read of the essay, which was awesome thank you both very much. After that i headed to Johnson, of course i wasn't able to head to there by I-40, cause if you haven't heard they have 40 closed near the state line because of the rock slides. so i had to take 40 to 52N to 74 to 81. so when i got there i meet up with Wes, who was the student i was staying with for the night, and got to meet the students on his hall and chill with them for the night. They were awesome people and i cant wait to make friends like them at JBC. The next morning i woke up at 8 am for breakfast and met with Josh in the activities center so that we could go to chapel.

Ok so chapel needs its own paragraph, it was that special. The best way to describe it is like a mini service for sunday...but that doesn't really describe it. It was awesome to get to worship with everyone at JBC and get to see what that was like. After Chapel i headed to Prophets with class, This class just so happened to be taught to by the awesome Dr. Reece, and let me say i hope i get as many classes with this man as i can. He actually sent me a personal letter the other day and i just got it. That letter just reinforced that JBC is the school that i need to be at.

After the class we went on a campus tour, for pictures visit my facebook page and you can check those out, we went everywhere, but my favorite thing of the tour, was well everywhere. I learned a lot like how for the very first students were able to go free, now wouldnt that be nice, but they also had to work on the far which is what a majority of the campus was.

The buildings where amazingly beautiful, and i cant wait to take classes in those. all in all it was an awesome trip and it all reinforced the fact that God wants me here. i cant wait to be here, and now that i have my essay in i am just waiting on a response, which im hoping will be a yes.


Prayer request

i have one major one now
-please pray that if it is Gods will that i would get into JBC, and that it be a swift response from JBC.

God bless you guys for all of your support and prayer guys!!! it means more than you know.