Stop!

Life as we know it, is ridiculously high-speed. It goes by so quickly, if you’re not careful you will miss a great deal and fall “behind the times”. The phrase “in a New York minute” is a perfect statement to describe the lifestyles of the majority of Americans. People want things to be done “now”, “as soon as possible” and my favorite “yesterday”. America is a country dependant on time. Everything in society needs to be quick, efficient and fast paced.

A good example of “America’s fast paced society” can be found by looking at advertisements. Advertisements are in every direction that we look. Signs and flashing lights are so abundant that we have almost accepted them as part of the natural scenery. A billboard today is much like that of a tree along side of a road. Occasionally you might take notice but for the most part you just let it pass right on by. One of my instructors pointed out that while shopping, people tend to walk with their heads at a downward slant to avoid all the ads. Marketers have noticed this as well and have began using the floor tiles as one giant commercial space. They probably figure that we have to watch where we walk anyway, why not look at ads in the process.

We are blocking out so much of the world from our senses that we are missing some of the things that God has blessed us with. Important aspects of our lives that we are supposed to spend time enjoying are but a flash. We spend so little time with our families, the people who should influence us the most and we hardly even know them. Our environment is crumbling because we do not care what the flowers smell like anymore we only care to see if there is oil buried underneath. And worst of all, we do not know who God is, because we do not have the time to open up our Bibles to read about our own Father.

We have been fastened to the seats of a bullet train. The tracks are becoming more efficient and we are moving at an ever-increasing rate of speed. What can we do when our life experiences become the passing scenery that is starting to blur together? What can we do when God has slipped past us in a blur because we did not recognize him from a simple tree along the way?

The solution to slowing down life should be the easiest thing to discover, but because life is going so fast it is almost impossible to figure out and apply it. “Real quick” I will tell you that in the middle of a Bible at Psalm 46:10 is the solution. The New King James Version reads, “Be still and know that I am God”. Pretty simple right?

One of the leading forms of transportation in the United States is aviation. How did we figure out that tons of metal could fly through the air? By people, being “still” and observing a bird move it’s wings and soaring high above the ground. Slow life down and get to know your family. Look at what God has blessed us with. Look at the trees sometime and take in their beauty. Watch a bird fly or a river flow. Know about the small blades of grass whose roots go deep into the ground keeping the topsoil from blowing away in the wind. Look at the steep mountains, the endless oceans, and the state of Kansas. God gave us our senses for a reason. He gave them to us so we might have the ability to take in his creation, and so that we may know he is God.

Right smack in the middle of the Bible it says “HEY! Your train has breaks!” God model brake pads complete with cross-drilled rotors capable of slowing and stopping the greatest of top speed trains. Simply “Be still” and take in what God has blessed you with. Experience life to the fullest and honor the Father as the Creator of all things. And “know”, that he is God.

Praise be to God and Jesus

In the book of Acts chapter two verse forty seven it starts off the first two words by saying “praising God…”. As God's creation, human beings should begin and end their days with praising God and going all throughout the days praising God. Thanking him for the creation he has given to be seen, felt, and heard. The earth is a wonderful product of the mighty power of God. Though Christians should not only be thankful for his creation and his awesome power, but also like those in verse forty-seven, thankful for the saving power of Jesus Christ. Praising God daily for the blessing of his mercy, his grace and his wonder.

Ten verses before Acts 2:47 when those gathered together, were listening to Peter in 2:37, heard that Christ Jesus was crucified for their sins, they were cut in their hearts. Realizing it was for them that Jesus died made his sacrifice so very real and personal. And, when reality set in as to why Jesus died that terrible death they did not sit and whine, “Woe is me, I am responsible for the death of my savior”, but they praised God all the more because, he went to the cross for them.

Christ died for those in the church today as well, and it should be as personal and as real now as it was in those days. We should all be praising God for him giving his son as a sacrifice for us and, giving praise to Jesus for surrendering his life for us now and for those who were. Praise be to God and Jesus.

Giving Glory to Christ and to God

Peter and John go to the temple to pray at about the ninth hour (3p.m.). While they are there in Acts chapter three they find a man lame from birth sitting at the gate Beautiful asking for alms and money. Verse six reads that Peter said to the man “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk”. The man immediately gets up and his ankles and knees are strengthened. He begins to run and jump around praising God who had healed him. Notice the man did not praise Peter and John who had been the vessel through which he was healed but the man knew he was healed through God, so he went to the source as we should and praised God.

As the man is running and jumping around a crowd gathers together to see what had been done for the man. Peter, seeing all the people, says in verse twelve “Why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?” Peter does not take the glory for himself and neither does John. Both men give the glory and the praise to its rightful owner and that is God. Peter saw his opportunity to give God the praise and he saw the opportunity to teach the people about Jesus the Christ. Peter saw his Jesus window, the window into the minds of the people by which the words of God can enter, and he used it to praise God.

There are times that we really do great things for other people. And, it is so very easy for us to take all the glory. If you're anything like me, it is really nice for someone to congradulate you on an achievement or something good you have done. When things like that happen we need to thank God and thank him for allowing those things to come to being. If you preach a good lesson during a church service, those really aren't your words in the first place, they're all Gods. If you do fine work at the office, you put in the time but, God gave it to you. God gives us our skill and determination to accomplish the tasks we are presented with. Let us remember the God who gives us everything and give everything to him.

Now, what will you give for Jesus?

One Sunday morning I saw a man stand up in front of the church to pray for the Lord’s Supper and he began to speak to the congregation. He said something to the effect of how he might have views on certain things that may or may not be correct and, how he might not think of the same conclusion as some do on a particular subject. The people in the congregation were smiling as they knew this man. I assumed maybe some in the group had even gotten into disputes with him on certain issues. But, the man was silent as he thought for a moment and it was fairly quiet in the rest of the church as well. The man collected his thoughts, then he said something that made me forget everything else that was on my mind. The man said “I do not think that Jesus Christ spilled his blood for us.” He paused for a moment to let our minds mull on what he had just said.

With everyone’s attention he began to explain why he felt the way he did. He explained that if he had a cup of water next to him and he accidentally bumped it with his arm and knocked it over, that would be him spilling his water. It would be something that happened accidentally and or against the speakers will. He then said “But, Jesus didn’t spill his blood for us. Jesus gave his life’s blood for us on the cross”. He went on and explained how Jesus dying on the cross was no accident. How Jesus lived his life as a perfect sacrifice with full intent on giving his blood for us.

So the next time you think you have it bad. The next time you think that people or even God is asking you to give too much. Just remember that Jesus died for us and he died for us willingly. He willingly gave his life, willingly gave his body and he willingly gave his blood for us who are not even worthy to receive it. Jesus was willing to give his blood for us, what will you give to him? We all sin, and our sins caused the drops of blood to fall from Jesus' body. Let us live a life that is as worthy of Christ's blood. In closing I will leave you with the same words the man left the congregation with that one Sunday morning: “Let us remember what he gave for us on that tree”.

A new spin on old records

When is the last time you’ve heard the story of David and Goliath? Was it back when you were a child in Bible school? Do you remember what happened to Joseph after he got that well-known coat of many colors? How many times did Joshua walk around Jericho? Are you sure of your answers? Think of all those old Bible stories you think that you have memorized, think about the details that might have been forgotten. When Abraham was about to slay Isaac was there a lamb or a ram caught in the thicket? What was the name of the gate by which the lame man was laid in Acts 3? Did David’s smooth stone actually kill Goliath or, did it just knock him down?

Some of these accounts are told again and again and again and, some you haven’t heard since you were just a child. My hope in writing this is to get you to take out your Bible and reread these passages. Look for new things that you missed the first time, figure things out that you never knew before, things like: How high, wide and long in feet was the Ark that Noah built? How many men and women were on the rooftop when Samson pushed down the pillars? The next time you hear stories like these don’t just shrug them off and assume you know everything already, actually listen. Listen for things you never understood before. Go back and reread them carefully, they have a purpose and they have a meaning, figure out what they are.

Are you ready to share your heart?

I was looking at a cereal box one day. It was a Kellogg’s Smart Start Healthy Heart Original. The advertisement was from the American Heart Association and their slogan was “Are you ready to share your heart?” And, even though it was a healthy heart slogan, all I could think about was Matthew 22:37 “And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’” As I was thinking about loving God with everything I had, I started to think of things that I myself and others like me might love and love to think about. I started to think of things that would prevent us from giving our hearts and minds completely over to God.

I began to notice a pattern, in that everything I could think of fit into the category of Divine Distraction. Be it a house, a car or clothes, anything could be something that pulls your heart away from God. There are so many things in our hearts and on our minds, how can we possibly forget them all and only focus on God? But, that’s not the problem. The problem is that so many times we do just the opposite of that. We worry about the things that are happening all around us and we completely forget about God the one who made us.



Worrying about where money will come from to pay the bills on the house, car or gas. Thinking about how we are going to keep food on the table or what clothes we are going to wear. To some these problems are more relevant than others and all of these are seemingly big problems. Though, if we just keep God as the main focus in our life, it will be easy to realize that everything that is worldly is such a small problem. We all know Matthew 6:25-34 how God provides for the sparrows food and how the lilies are clothed more brilliantly than even Solomon with his robes. We all know how the passage reads that we are more important to God than the lilies or the birds and how it says how much more God will provide for us. We all know that passage and we’ve heard it dozens of times, but it’s time we start to believe it. Stop sharing your heart with things that are not important and start giving your heart to God who is the only one that deserves our heart, mind and soul. After all, he made everything that is in this world; he can make it all work out right for us.

Rack, Shack and Benny

We all know the story of King Nebuchadnezzar, who commanded all the people to bow down to this great statue of gold. How the King signaled to the people when to bow down by having musicians play music. We know the punishment for not worshiping this idol was to be burned until death in a furnace of fire. As the scripture reads three men Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego refused to worship the King’s new idol. Instead they stayed loyal to the one true God. To just read the words of Daniel chapter 3, resisting bowing down in worship to a golden idol doesn’t seem like it would be that difficult to do. Just stay upright and keep walking. But in verse 10 (NASB95Update) it reads that everyone was commanded to worship this idol as the music was played. Not just two or three people here and there, everyone was told to worship. Think how fiercely Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego would’ve stood out as everyone is bowing down they are still standing. It’s not easy to refrain from fitting molds, to withstand doing what everyone else does. To have confidence that what you are doing is right and that God is with you. After all not just any man put up this huge statue. It was the King! The ruler of the people and the land, you don’t just say no to a King. When the King finds out about the three men’s disobedience to his new law he is furious. He confronts them and gives them a chance to cure themselves of their stubbornness. But, with all confidence in God they tell the King they will never serve his gods and with that, they are thrown into an overly heated blaze of fire. As King Nebuchadnezzar is looking into the fire he sees not only the three men he had thrown in but also a fourth man as well. This fourth man appears to the King as the Son of God. Those in the furnace are not all lying at the bottom screaming in pain from the fire. In fact they are not being burned at all, not even their garments, they are standing and moving about. The same fire that slew the guards, who took Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego to the furnace, has not even touched a single hair on these men’s heads. God had delivered them from even the hottest fires of a King. This passage’s application might be as easily over looked as the depth of confidence these three men showed withstanding a King and his rule. Since today statues of gold are not put up in the United States that we are forced as a nation to worship. But the horn, the flute, the harp, lyre, and psaltery are still being played today in symphony with all kinds of music. Our idols may not be 90x9 images of solid gold but they are there nonetheless. Something as simple as going to a movie on a Wednesday night and skipping church, has made two and a half hours of entertainment the idol, more important even than an eternal life with God. Spending too much money at the store and not having anything to give on Sunday mornings, has made getting that extra pair of shoes more important than giving back to God. And, those red high heels are forged of gold, and though physically they may only be inches high, they stand ninety feet in the air, and nine feet from left to right. Our Nebuchadnezzar is the world; his fire is anything that pulls our hearts and minds away from God. If we get too involved in our activities and with what we do, if we get too close to that fire, we will be burned the second that door of the furnace is opened. However, with confidence in Jesus' saving power, we can withstand the fire, we can say no to the King. With confidence in Jesus we can knock down our idols of gold and when they crash down then, we can see the true God we are to worship. That is the God who is in Heaven.

Keep your focus on Jesus Christ

And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” With his focus on Jesus, the Apostle Peter was able to step out of a comfort zone and into a realm of constant uncertainty. Keeping his eyes on Jesus, staying focused on righteousness, kept his sight off of the waves that were looming in all directions. While Peter’s focus was Jesus Christ, he remained safe from peril and he over came the waves of fear and doubt. But, Peter broke that focus if only for a moment. Peter’s eyes went from the Lord Jesus to the water crashing so fiercely about him. With that simple glance away from Jesus, Satan was given all the time he needed and filled Peter’s mind with doubt in himself and in Jesus' saving power. In today’s time, the constant decrease of moral value gives Satan more chances to cause us to glance away from Christ. TV and movies are constantly pushing the envelope farther to have something new for us to focus on. Clothing commercials increase the amount of clothing they decrease from their models in hopes that our eyes will be drawn through lust and envy to the clothing being sold. Bright lights in bar windows and loud music from clubs draw us in from miles away. To take this at face value, it may seem like the waves of distraction are everywhere you look. It may seem like we have no hope but to sink. But, Jesus is there with his hand out ready to save us. Jesus is waiting for us to cry out to him and ask him to save us. The glory of God will always out shine the darkness of this world. The salvation offered through Christ will always bring hope to the lowest of hearts. Focus on God, keep your eyes on him, and over come the fear and doubt that Satan distracts us with every day.