Jesus Sat Down, So You Can Too

Jesus sat

Sitting down can be a good thing.

I had to move some furniture around the other day and sitting became my friend. Thankfully, my friend and experienced hard worker, Randy Toney, was there to make it possible. We moved my daughter’s old bedroom furniture to the church for our yard sale. Then we moved the furniture from my mom’s guest room to my daughter’s bedroom.

After loading up the “new” furniture, we decided it was time for a lunch break at Chick-fil-A. I have never sat and eaten so slowly. I needed that sit down. In fact, I found it difficult to get back to work after sitting for lunch.

We finally unloaded and set up the furniture. I didn’t mention that we also moved a large TV to our house. Our TV from our den went to my daughter’s bedroom, and her TV went to our bedroom. So after unloading the furniture, I set up everyone’s TV and took the best shower I have ever had.

After enjoying a delicious meal at our friends, The Griffins’ house, I went on to church for a committee meeting. I finally got back home and was able to sit down…really sit down. This time, I sat because I was finished with all I had to do for the day.

Where Jesus Sat Down

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Learn to Embrace the Seasons of Your Life

seasons of life

We have reached the midpoint of the best season of the year, Baseball season. It’s no secret how much I love the game.

But, of course, the year breaks down into other seasons too. Softball, football, basketball, hockey and a myriad of other sports have their seasons. Sportsmen can only hunt or fish for particular species during specified season.

The calendar year features four weather seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall. Well, except here in Georgia, we tend to skip winter. We have winter occasionally, but it usually only lasts a week or less.

Seasons of Life

We experience seasons in our lives as well. In his Holy Spirit inspired journal of wisdom, Solomon reminds us that God ordains the seasons of life (Ecclesiastes 3:1). He also considers these seasons occurring in God’s timing a beautiful thing. (Verse 11)

[Tweet “Change is inevitable as we move through the seasons of our lives.”]

We struggle to own up to the seasons of our lives because we resist change so tenaciously. But whether we admit it our not, change is inevitable as we move through the seasons of our lives.

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Avoiding the Spiritual Germ of Negativity

spiritual germ
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Lot’s of people are coughing and wheezing these days, and many of them are contagious. It is amazing that something so microbial that it is unseen can bring an otherwise functioning person to a grinding halt.

So far, I’ve managed to remain germ-free.  I have taken my vitamins, eaten lots of yogurt, and washed my hands so much I have shed a few layers of epidermis.  I can’t get sick; because I have too much to do. When a preacher gets sick, he sounds like a cross between James Earl Jones and Inspector Clouseau.   Not an attractive sound.

What is a Spiritual Germ

An insipid spiritual germ exists that is even more highly contagious and dangerous that the one that causes a physical URI. This germ is called NEGATIVITY.

…No human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. – James 3:8-10

Gossip, complaining, fault-finding.  These are the streptococci of the spirit. When you hear them, run!  Stay away.  Another’s negativity may infect you and make you miserable.

You test positive for negativity when you hear it from your own lips.  God prescribes repentance and prayer as the remedy.  He promises to forgive every sin we confess to Him and CLEANSE us from all unrighteousness.

[Tweet “You test positive for negativity when you hear it from your own lips.”]

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Give Pop-Up Prayer a Chance

pop-up prayer
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Pop-up ads are the scourge of the internet.  I have finally eliminated most pup-up ads, but now find myself a victim of pop-up autoplay videos.  Some of the videos are ads; some are news stories.  All of them startle me and distract me from the work I am trying to do when online.

Recently, however, I have been trying to cultivate the proactive of pop-up praying in my daily routine.  Pop-up prayers are spontaneous, short prayers triggered by something that I experience during the course of the day.  I often utter pop-up prayers when driving, talking on the phone, or working at my desk.   I find the more I have intentionally looked for pop-up possibilities, the more involuntarily they have occurred.

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Beware of Hidden Prayer Sins

hidden prayer sins
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Prayer is a good thing, right?  Well, it can be.  It should be.  However, prayer is sometimes sabotaged by hidden prayer sins that keep us from the full its benefits.

Hidden Prayer Sins

Below you will find a few hidden sins that lurk in our prayer times.  The list is certainly not exhaustive and you can probably add more.

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6 Prayers You Can Pray for Your Pastor

pray for your pastor

One of the perks of being a pastor is having people pray for you. Sometimes you even get to hear them pray for you. What a humbling experience. In every place where I have served as pastor I have enjoyed the blessing of prayer support. And I greatly appreciate it. I need the prayers, really, I do. If any pastor will be honest he will have to admit that the responsibilities far outweigh the man, and prayer brings the power of God to the tasks at hand.

Whoever is your pastor – and I know that there are as many who read this who are not members of my church as who are, maybe even more so – I hope that you pray for your pastor on a regular basis.

How to Pray for Your Pastor

From time to time people ask me, “How can I pray for my pastor?” Let me use the letters in the word PASTOR to give you some ideas.

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4 Habits to Help You Pray without Ceasing

pray without ceasing
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“Are you the man who prays?”  The question humbled me.

I had just finished leading a voluntary staff prayer meeting at nearby organization when she posed the question.  I’ve had the blessing of leading prayer times with the team there several times over the last two years.  I never realized the impact those prayer times were making beyond the special needs for which we prayed.  I answered her question in the affirmative, now I need to make sure I was telling the truth.

As disciples of Jesus, we are supposed to pray; we are commanded to pray; we are instructed how to pray.  However, if we are honest with ourselves we often talk more about praying than we actually pray.

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Thoughts on Life and Death

life and death
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The news of the death of Marlin’s pitcher Jose Fernandez shocked the sports world Sunday morning.  Fernandez, only 24 years old, was an incredibly talented pitcher with a larger than life personality.  His exuberance inspired his teammates and often infuriated his opponents.  His shocking death in the prime of his life gives reason for us all to reflect on our lives.  What are your thoughts on life and death?

Life is fragile, and one inescapable statistic is that 1 out of every 1 people die.  For some, like Fernandez, that death seems to come much to early. For others, death comes as a welcomed release from a long struggle for survival.  Regardless of it’s timing, however, death eventually visits everyone, and we must prepare while we can.

[Tweet “One inescapable statistic is that 1 out of every 1 people die.”]

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Change All Around Us, But God Does Not Change

change

Facebook has a new feature that I kind of enjoy.  When I sign on for the first time most days, Facebook displays a past post for me to remember. Most often on my feed, it is a picture of my daughter from her younger years.  Those pictures provide warm memories but also a chilling reminder of how much things have changed over the years. Change is inevitable.

Indeed many things have changed over the course of my life.  In fact, things have changed more in the last 10 years than the first 42 years of my life combined.    The cost of living has risen while cultural morality has declined. We now call entertainment things that used to shame us. And we pay big bucks for that entertainment.  My daughter will come to adulthood in a totally different world from the one which greeted my adulthood.

[Tweet “Things have changed more in the last 10 years than the first 42 years of my life combined. “]

Many are unsettled by both the abundance and uncertainty of the change that is taking place around us.  Many have exchanged hope, peace, and confidence for fear, stress, and disillusionment.  The good news is that while the world may change around us, our God has not changed, nor will He.

In Malachi 3:6, God declares, “I, the Lord, do not change.”  When things are changing uncontrollably around us, we can turn to the ONE who never changes.  Theologically, we call this attribute of God His Immutability.  God’s unchanging nature is not just an intellectual reality, but a relevant truth on which we can hang our faith.  Consider these ways our God does not change.

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4 Reasons Young Families Need Church


Besides my family, one of God’s greatest blessings of my formative years, was attending a Bible-believing and teaching church.  God used Pine Forest Baptist Church to shape me into the man I am today.  I’ve learned much since my younger days in church, but the lessons I learn today build on their foundation. Because of my experience, I am convinced families need church.

families need churchChurch taught me much about God’s Word, and how to live in community with other believers.  Thankfully, I sat under the preaching of some gifted pastors, and loving staff members modeled ministry skills for me.  Lay leaders and teachers provided learning opportunities that helped me prepared for God’s calling on my life.

Recently, both the church I currently pastor and my home church have experienced the grief of losing long-standing members.  I have reflected much over the last couple of weeks on the blessings so many people have been in my life. Yet today, my generation of parents and those just younger than me seem to miss the importance of family involvement in church.

[Tweet “Because of my experience, I am convinced families need church.”]

The church today faces increased competition of the time, attention, and resources of young families.  School, sports, and a multitude of other options provide distractions from the important role church plays in child development.  With that in mind, I offer a plea to young families to get involved in a Bible-teaching church.

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