The Lord needs you

I can barely clap and sing at the same time. I told this to my church when I was in the interview process with them. I have never enjoyed my voice and think I sound awful. For this reason alone you won’t hear me every lead the musical side of worship. This is a good thing for everyone.

Music is not my gift. It’s not my strength and I love being able to worship next to my beautiful wife because she has an amazing voice. I can worship our Lord and Savior as loud as I want and be covered by her amazing voice. Singing is not my gift. Even though my singing is below par, I can serve God. Jesus can use me just as much as you.

Serving God goes way beyond preaching and leading music worship. You can be a great Christian, serve God to the best of your abilities and not have a distinct gift of preaching or singing in worship. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6…

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.”

We all have different gifts and abilities. We are all not made the exact same way. Just like we have different taste in food, we have different talent and skills. God can still use us to the best of our abilities. Serving God does not require a Bible Theology degree (That can help greatly though). Jesus used a group of people as apostles that were failures as Rabbi’s.

According to Act 2:38 when we give our lives to Jesus we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We have different talents spiritually this is different then being able to throw a baseball super fast or run at amazing speeds. Gifts can look like wisdom, knowledge, joy, love, patience and self control to name a few.

God values you. He thinks you are talented and have great potential. Even if you feel like a reject or unloved, Jesus thinks you are special. You are one of a kind. Nobody in this world is exactly like you. Jesus wants to use you to the best of your abilities. What can you do to show love to someone else? How can you show wisdom, joy, love and patience to others this week? You can make a difference in someone else’s life this week.

Have a great day.

Watching a police raid from your house

It’s fun to watch the TV show Cops, it’s even better in person. Hailee and I lived in a questionable area in Lansing, MI. While it would be classified as a bad area, there were mostly good people with just a few bad apples that ruined it. One of the bad apples lived across the street. It wasn’t even the family, it was a relative. This was when the fun began.

I arrived home to see a SWAT vehicle parked across the street. This was better than what I was doing so I stopped and watched Cops from my front porch. They got the guy arrested and a whole bunch of SWAT members were walking around with semi-automatic guns and rifles. I should have grabbed some popcorn because this show was awesome. I even got to witness the slowest get away possible.

As the situation died, another began. As the cops were talking and the front driveway was blocked by a couple of officers. A person walked right out the front door unnoticed and into a car in the driveway. Once the car was started, the officers noticed the car starting to move and one blocked the car from leaving and the other knocked on the window to get the person to stop. The car started edging away slowly and ignored the cops. Finally the cop knocked with the gun they had. The person stopped and got out, it was a 70+ year old women. Man, that was the slowest get away in the world. You can’t make this stuff up. The relative of hers was into selling drugs among other things. The family and neighbor needed help, what could I do?

Ignoring situations don’t prevent bad things from happening. Watching this was fun and interesting yet sad. They were a family in which one got into a bad situation and lived their lives selling drugs, how can I help with that? Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)…

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

We can either watch lives get ruined or do something to change lives. I look back at that situation in that neighborhood, I could have tried helping my neighbors or get to know them better instead of just watching. You can talk bad about this generation or you can do something to help.

Everyone can help even an 80 year old lady in a Mexico prison. A lady who grew up in Beverly Hills went to one of the most dangerous prisons in Mexico. She started serving and loving the inmates in a very dangerous situation. She even broke up a riot.

http://www.catalystspace.com/catablog/full/renegade_nun_a_walking_gift_of_love/

She could have thought she couldn’t help the situation, but God did. God puts people in your life for a reason, some for friendship, some for love, some for you to love. We aren’t going to get along with everyone we meet, but we can still show them love. We aren’t supposed to live life for the American dream. We are called to help others out when they are down.

God brings the best out of us. Jesus gave us the ability to show love to other people because he showed love to us. I wonder what would happen if I showed love to the people around me in Lansing? While you can’t go back, you can go forward, who can you help in your life today? Who can you serve and encourage today? God gave you his best in his son Jesus for your sins, one of the best ways to help others out is to serve them the way God served us. Who can you help today?

Have a great day.

Witnessing the Lions knocking off the Packers for Thanksgiving

The Lions will give the Packers something they won’t want to give thanks for, a loss.

I have a really good feeling about the Lions on Thanksgiving this year.

I always think they will win, but by halftime, that is usually erased.

This year we are going to witness a great event on that day.

There are some things that it would be nice to witness to in my life.

Things I would like to witness….

·         The Lions, Tigers, Red Wings, Clippers and Spartans winning championships

·         Seeing my kids get married to great spouses

·         Seeing my kids doing something amazing with their lives

·         My kids getting baptized

·         A miracle

The list could go on.

What would be something you would like to witness?

Witnessing can take a different take.

Witnessing could be something good or bad.

Witness the Lions win….good.

Witness a murder……bad.

There are certain things we witness in our lives but witnessing can mean more.

In the bible, witnessing can mean sharing Jesus with other people.

You witnessed what he has done in your life and the impact that has made so you want to share it with other people.

Jesus tells the disciples this in Acts 1:8…

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

In other words, once being filled with the Holy Spirit, they will share Jesus in these places.

Think of it this way, you will share Jesus where you are currently at, in your state or region, in your country and to the rest of the world.

For me this would be Terre Haute, Indiana/Great Lakes, United States and the end of the world.

This is how we are supposed to serve and show love.

We show love to our community then to our state then to our country and to the world.

God put you where you are at right now to do something amazing there.

You can do something great where you are currently at, you do not have to go overseas to be a witness.

We try to this this up with our ministry programs by having the ability to serve.

We just got done with Operation Christmas Child in which we make presents and ship them overseas to different countries where they will receive the gifts.

We can wait to witness great or we can help be a good witness by doing something great.

How can you be a good witness to other people today?

Have a great day.