0-16, at least we are tied for the worst team ever, but which one is the absolute worst

Over the weekend something not so amazing happened. The Cleveland Browns lost their 16^th straight game tying them with the Detroit Lions as the worst record in NFL history (For a 16 game season). While I feel bad for the Browns and their fan base. I rejoice for the fact we are no longer the only 0-16 team.

Just like we like to do as humans, we start to compare. Which team would win between the 2008 Lions and the 2017 Browns? This peaked my interest as I read articles about the teams. Who had the better people at each position? This was discussed in great detail over a couple of articles. After spending about 20 minutes of my life deeply entrenched in this debate, I came to my conclusion. We will never know and this was a waste of 20 minutes of my life.

I sat back in awe. I just wasted 20 minutes of my life on a fake debate. How much better could I have spent my time? Not exactly what I thought I would do with my time, studying about a fake game that could never take place. I turned off my phone and moved on. We tend to waste some of our lives on pointless chatter.

This happens in the church. Paul address this talk when sharing with Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:3-4, “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work – which is by faith.”

False teachers can overtake the church and Paul wanted Timothy to stay there to stop this from happening. False teachings can ruin the church. On top of this, people devoted themselves to myths and endless genealogies. The results of this didn’t have any ability to accomplish what God intended us to accomplish. I thought the words controversial speculations was powerful. The Greek meaning of these words means without limits and idle dispute. Idle dispute can destroy churches and pointless chatter can stop all movements in God’s work and/or our lives.

Idle disputes and pointless chatter can still impact the church today. Just this week someone told me a story about a church (We will call this person Sam). Sam said they were sitting in a dentist chair getting their teeth cleaned. The person cleaning their teeth talked about how they knew some of the same people as Sam. Sam asked how they knew them and the person said church. Then this person told Sam but they didn’t see much of these people because their church had a big split over worship. For the next 40 minutes Sam (getting his teeth cleaned with no place to go) endured this person’s story about how there was this worship minister that was loved by the congregation and he was replaced by some young kid who wore flip flops on stage. The person went on to tell how this split the church and couldn’t believe the church leadership would do this. Sam mind you has attended church but never more then that. Did this person telling Sam about a church split accomplish God’s work? Did Sam learn more about the love of Jesus through this story of a church split?

We need to limit controversial speculations in our lives. Something’s in our lives are within our control, some are not. We as Christians need to focus on God’s work. We need to share love and hope with a sincere faith. We need to limit pointless chatter like the 20 minutes focusing on a game that won’t ever happen and focus on more important things. What do you need to focus more on and what pointless chatter do you need to turn away from?

Have a great day.

Bring together or tear away

We all have the ability to bring people closer together with our actions or pull people away. There was a college basketball team a couple of years ago in which the team just missed the NCAA tournament after going 20-9. The next season they were supposed to be a major team that was going to go far in the tournament. Instead the team went 9-23. The team’s best player that was up for a national player of the year honor couldn’t hit a shot. He would still score 25 a game but it would take 30 shots to make it happen. They stopped working together and fell apart. The same thing can happen in our lives and in the church when we don’t fight for unity.

Unity is important in our lives and in church. Paul tried to bring to church in Thessalonica back together in the end of his book. Paul shares this in 2 Thessalonians 3:16-18, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.”

There was a lot of division in the church and Paul’s goal was to bring the people together. The truth is what Paul hoped the individuals and the church would find. This truth was God’s will. If the people focused on this truth, the problems would go away. Paul often wrote to a scribe like figure and the fact Paul wrote the end of this book stands out. Paul wanted to unite the people.

We can bring peace. This section of scripture focuses on the matters inside the church, but can apply to our overall lives.

In our lives ask yourself…

Am I promoting unity or not?

At home?

At work or school?

With our friends?

With people we don’t care for?

We have the chance to bring peace in our lives.

That basketball team didn’t have unity, but the coach and team worked at it and the following year, they made the NCAA tournament and had the biggest win total change in college basketball. When we live in peace, good things happen.

How can you make peace happen in your life?

Have a great day.

Rarely is there an easy button in life, sometimes you have to work for it

Tough love. There are times in scripture you can read it and feel inspired. You can feel stronger or get a better understanding of this life God intends us to live. Other times, it’s straight tough love. 1 Thessalonians 3:6-15 is tough love.

This is how this section starts out in verse 6 in The Message version, “Our orders – backed up by the Master, Jesus – are to refuse to have anything to do with those among you who are lazy and refuse to work the way we taught you. Don’t permit them to freeload on the rest.”

Not exactly the touchy feel good scripture in this section. Paul rightfully so calls out three types of people through this entire scripture, the lazy, gossipers and the disobedient. Paul brings this up because the church was full of these type of people. He told people and I think this applies to us today, we are called to work hard, not gossip and not be disobedient. This is meant for people in the Church. I will say this again that way it doesn’t get misconstrued. This is meant for people in the Church.

The church had issues and still does. No church is perfect. Paul tells us everyone in the church needs to be working hard to make his or her keep. Nobody should be mooching off others in the church. Along with this people focused on talking about other people behind their backs instead of handling things face to face. Last, when people are being blatantly disobedient, back off from them.

Not only with these commands, he gives us the way to handle these situations. We identify the problem, warn them of the problem and if necessary they need to be removed from certain situations for a period of time, but this needs to be done in a loving way. This is a struggle in the church as nobody wants to be labeled as someone judging other people, but in healthy churches this needs to be done. Situations can’t be swept under the rug, they need to be handled accordingly.

This is not necessarily a loving feeling but it is important.

*Self reflection time* (For those inside the church)

Do you classify yourself or has their been times you have been lazy, gossiped or disobedient to those in the church or in church relationships?

If so, it’s time to fix those situations, identify the issues, deal with them and do this in a loving way.

Sometimes tough love leads to great things, don’t be afraid to live this out.

Have a great day.

Under attack

We can feel attacked at times. Sometimes this is a job, someone we go to school with or even a family member.

Paul shares about being attacked in 2 Thessalonians 3:3: But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.”

Sometimes this is an internal struggle with the evil one inside our own my and sometimes it deals with people that we might have been struggling with for a while.

It’s nice to be about to know that the Lord is faithful and he will protect us. Sometimes we are attacked and we wonder where God is and other times we get to know even when we face rough times in our life, we have God on our side.

God is with us, even when we don’t feel it sometimes.

Have a great day.

Should have passed on French Class

One of my regrets in school was taking French over Spanish. In order to look good for college I knew I had to take a foreign language. I wanted to take Spanish but my sister was in French. I knew she did a good job kissing up to the teacher (Thanks Onna! Made my grade great for a while) and it would make it easier for me. I did enjoy what I learned and the teacher was good, but it was pointless. I never had a desire to go to France and I have used French maybe five times in my life. One time I can barely count because it was in Haiti. I was told they speak French/Creole. So I tried speaking some French, they spoke Creole and it was an extremely awkward five minute conversation.  Some things we learn are extremely practical if we remember them. Paul reminded the Thessalonians in the second book.

Education from the apostles was important. Paul shared this line with the people in 2 Thessalonians 2:15, “So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.” Stand firm to the knowledge the apostles gave. False prophets and teachers that spoke well but deceived people filled into the church. Paul wanted the people to stand firm on what he taught, be filled with the knowledge of Jesus and what he did, this way they would know the true truth.

We need to apply Jesus’s teachings to our own lives. French class wasn’t as beneficial for me, it was still a good class, just not practical. What Jesus taught was practical, beneficial and worth applying the teachings to our lives. With what Jesus taught, what do you need to apply to your lives?

Have a great day.

Christians don’t always live happily ever after

I am excited for this weekend. Looking forward to a long weekend with the kids. Thankful for veterans that served this country that gave us freedom, seeing MSU play football and relaxing. Even more than that, I am looking forward to teaching at my church and then baptizing my son Ty.

Ty has wanted to make this commitment to Christ for at least two years, but we felt he wasn’t quite grasping what it meant until now. This Sunday he is making that commitment to follow Christ. Hailee and I are excited about that. Along with the excitement means over the past years every time Ty asked about baptism, we had talks about faith. One of the points we made, just because you give your life to Christ doesn’t mean life is going to get easier.

There is nothing stating after you accept Christ, you will live happily ever after and have an easy life. If anything it can get tougher. Satan will challenge you, life will get tough at times and sometimes you will hit rock bottom. What we face as Christians in the USA is nothing compared to the persecution Christians face all over the world. People will make fun of you for your faith and treat you like crap because you claim to be a Christian. Just because people treat you like crap doesn’t mean you are supposed to treat them like crap too. You are called to be loving and caring even when it’s tough. In the end it’s not our jobs as Christians to payback wrong for wrong, everyone will have to answer to God one day.

Paul shares this about facing tough times as Christians 2 Thessalonians 1:6-7: “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.”

We all will face God for our actions in this life when we pass away. For some people, that is going to be a huge struggle. Knowing what they did to people, what they thought of Jesus and how they lived this life. It’s hard to be a Christian at times and it’s not easy. Paul reminds us that when we have times of trouble as a Christian, God is there to comfort us. Maybe it will happen in this lifetime, maybe it will happen after we pass away when we continue with our eternal life.

I love the fact I get to witness my son making that decision to follow Christ. I always pray that when the tough times happen in his life, he will always know that he can always seek comfort in God, even during the tough times. As an eight year old, Ty will face some struggles in life, I hope I can be there to help him stay strong in faith through those moments.

If you are going through those tough times in faith, know that God loves you. God is always there to comfort you through the good and the bad. Always trust in him, even when you feel like the world is against you.

Have a great day.

Patience is easy, until it is tested

There were some great lines in the movie Bruce Almighty and a great piece about prayer. It went something along the lines of, “When you pray for patience, does God give you patience or an opportunity to be patient?” This wasn’t the exact quote but this was the point of it. Prayer can just be words but sometimes it requires action. Paul spends the last chunk of scripture in 1 Thessalonians talking about how the church should be living with each other.

1 Thessalonians 5:14-15…

“And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.”

While this does focus for the church itself, it is practical for anyone in or outside the church. Now inside the church, I have been apart of some churches that do a great job with this and I have been apart of some church that have not. I love going to Maryland Community Church and feel like this is one of the best churches I have been apart of when it comes to living in community with one another. It’s something all Christians are called to do and not just as leaders. As attenders of a church ask yourself…

·      Are you warning those not accomplishing what they are supposed to do?

·      Who have you encouraged lately? When?

·      Who have you helped? When?

·      How and when have you shown patience in the church or with church attenders?

·      How have you kept peace in the church?

I mentioned “when” because we might have done this once, but it could have happened a while ago. If we are living in the church this needs to be a frequent occasion. Paul really hits the church hard with this because as believers in Jesus, we are called to live for him in our life. If you are outside the church, this is what the church is supposed to be about. If you have had a bad experience with a church, I am sorry, please give church a try again. Churches are full of sinners and are far from perfect. I hope you can find a church that is a good fit for you.

We are called to care for one another, how can you do that today?

Have a great day.