Don't Doubt

   As a soccer coach I have the experience of not only dealing with my emotions but also the emotions of my players. After a game I may be feeling happy, sad, or angry. But, I have to push aside my feelings and help the girls with their feelings.
   One time my team had just lost a tough game 6-0. All of my girls were down but there was one who just wasn't acting like herself, let's call her Kathy. Kathy came over to get one of the coolers to put on the bus. I asked her, "are you okay?"  She said she was "fine."
   Now, my players know that when I ask that question I expect an honest answer and I will help them if I can. I knew this girl wasn't telling me the whole truth. I pulled her aside and I said, "you know what fine means right? Freaked out, insecure, neurotic, and emotional." She laughed. 

   Then I asked her again, "what's wrong?" She started to cry as she told me about how she felt she didn't play that well and that the team started to yell at each other. I encouraged her and said, "yes we have a lot to work on but give it some time." Then I encouraged her and told her not to doubt her abilities.
   We went back to school and she came over to me. She hugged me and said "thanks for being a great coach." I gave her a look and she said, "what?" I said, "I'm not sure I'm such a great coach." She said "don't doubt yourself."
   I have had a lot of experiences like this. I like to encourage others and make them laugh. But, I have insecurities as well. I doubt my abilities because I listen to the voices in my head that tell me, "you are not good at this. You should have done it this way. You are a failure." I'm sure you've had this happen to you at some point as well.
   That's when I need to look at God's word. He tells me I am beautiful, worthy, and loved. If he knows this and tells me it, why can't I believe it? I think the issue isn't that I don't believe it. It's that I remember at times and forget at times. During the God high times, I am able to help others more and feel confident. Then I begin to slack in my time with God or go through a hard time and I forget who I am to him.
   If God loves us enough to die so he can have a personal relationship with us, why do we doubt the abilities and talents he's given us? It's because the devil reminds us of our shortcomings. It's because we are still sinners and imperfect. But if we stand on the promises of God, then we will remember who we are in God.
   So, do you doubt your abilities? Do you believe God loves you? Will you choose to believe in yourself in God?

   James 1:6 and Matthew 21:21

   Image from here.

I Want That Kind of Joy

   Imagine you are walking down the street. You are minding your own business, enjoying the sunshine. You see people pass you by. Two in particular catch your attention. One person is walking down the street wearing bright colors. She is singing a song and bopping up and down to the song. She smiles at you as you walk by. She makes you feel warm inside and you wave back.

   The other person who caught your attention had headphones in. He was looking at the ground and was frowning. You wave to him but he either ignores you or did not see you.

   Which person do you think had more joy? Well, if we were talking about the way the world thinks of joy it would be the first person. However, when the world says “that person is joyful” they are thinking more about happiness. Joy actually encompasses a lot more.

   Joy is more than a feeling. Joy is something that is inside you. Christians have joy because of a person. That person is Jesus. Jesus had joy. He didn’t walk around with a smile on all the time (I mean he cried when Lazarus died and he was in pain on the cross). However, Jesus had joy in the Lord. He had peace, trusted in God’s plan, had a good attitude, and reflected God’s glory.

   We are to emulate Jesus, which means we are to have joy too. How can we have joy all the time? Check out the sermon I preached at Maytown Church of God to find out.

   Proverbs 17:22, James 1:2-3, and Philippians 4:8

   Scroll down to sermons and click on “I Want That Kind of Joy.” Make sure the volume is not muted. Link to sermon here.

   Image from here.

Lost Connection

   It was one of those times where I was in a rush to get somewhere and I was focused on the road I was driving on. That means I was susceptible to being scared because I was so focused. Of course, that meant that my phone thought it was a good idea to prank me. All of the sudden I heard "I'm sorry, I cannot complete that action because your phone doesn't have service." Once I figured out that my phone thought I said "OK Google" to wake it up I was okay and continued my journey.
   After I arrived at my destination I started thinking about how if I actually needed help at that point I would have been in big trouble. Technology has come a long way. We now have watches that can attach to our phones instead of big bulky cell phones people used to keep in their cars. But, as far as technology has come, it is still limited.
   Imagine if God worked the way our cell phones worked. If I would have called on God at that point I wouldn't have been able to reach him. That would've been really scary. Yet, many times we take communication with God for granted. We think "God already knows my thoughts and what I'm going through. I've got this, so I don't think I'll go to God to ask for help." Yes, God is a good father and he wants us to learn how to do things on our own. But, he also wants to walk with us. He is right beside us through everything in life. He wants to have open communication with us.
   That means spending time with him. Just sit still, be, and abide with him. Spend time in his word. Pray to him. Tell him your hopes and dreams. Tell him the good and the bad. Learn more about him because that's how relationships work: you get to know about the other person and he/she gets to know about you.
   So, how is your communication with God? Do you take God for granted at times? How can you improve in your relationship with God?

   John 1:10-13 and John 15:5

   Image from here. 

Who's Our Neighbor? A Modern Day Good Samaritan

   Imagine you are going for a jog one day and you decide to take a new trail. You jog for a little bit then suddenly you trip. You look and see that there’s a rock that you hadn’t seen before turned up because you tripped over it. You try to stand up and realize that your ankle is at a strange angle. You cry out in pain because you cannot stand. Calling out for help will do you no good. You have not seen anyone around for miles.

   You lay there for 2 hours and realize that you are beginning to feel a new pain: the pain of hunger. You hear a noise behind you. A man is walking by. He is wearing a nice suit and carrying a book in his hand. You call out as loudly as you can. The man comes over and you begin to hope that he will help you. The man comes over and he asks what happened. You tell him. He says: “do you know Jesus as your personal savior?” You cannot believe this. You say: “right now my concern is my ankle. Can you help me?” The man nods, “I can help you. Jesus can save you. I will pray for you.” Then the man starts to walk away. Your shock stops you from calling out for a little then you yell at him to help you, but he’s gone.

   A little bit later someone else comes along. She is wearing a Doctor’s coat. You think that she will definitely help you and call for help. She looks over and says, “Hello.” Then she starts to look at your body. You say “can you fix my ankle? You are a doctor, right?” She says, “no, I’m sorry. I am an injury monitor. I only tell people when they are injured…...You are injured. It looks like a broken ankle and some hunger pains. You should get that fixed immediately.” Then she starts to walk away. You call out asking her to at least help you up. Then yell at her to tell someone you are there.

   Some more time passes and you are about to give up hope. A younger person comes along. She is on her phone and wearing some workout clothes. You are not sure if she will help you but you call out anyhow. She comes right over, “are you okay? What happened?” You tell her and she says “well, I don’t know first aid but I can try to help you.” Then she helps you up, lets you lean on her, and she takes you to get help.

   Sometimes we have a busy schedule and we don’t do what God calls us to do. We are to love others. That means helping them when they need it. If a homeless person asks for food and you give that person a Bible do you think they are going to want to read it? Probably not, because all that person can think about is eating food. The person will not be ready to learn until some basic needs are met. And, if you don’t care about those needs why would that person care about what you have to say?

   Other times we help people get saved then we forget about them. It is important that we help young believers grow in Christ. That way they can help others then too. We cannot be like an injury monitor and just tell people they need saved then leave them. That doesn’t exactly help spread the gospel in the right way. We need to make sure those people have someone who can help them grow.

We should be like the last person who came along and helped. She dropped what she was doing. It didn’t matter if she had a meeting or another event to get to. She stopped to help. She was being a good neighbor.

   So, are you evangelizing in the right way? Do you help others when they need it? What can you do to help your neighbors today?

   John 13:34 and Luke 10:25-37

   Image from here.
   This is a snip from a message I preached at Maytown Church of God. Here is the link to the sermon titled Do Something (scroll down the messages to find the title).

Look At Me

   I enjoy reading signs of churches because many of them can be funny or profound. One night I was driving home and I saw this quote on a sign: "Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention they just shine." I began thinking about that quote, at first because my mom loves lighthouses. Lighthouses are not in your face aggressively saying "look at me." They just have a light that works like it is supposed to.
   Lighthouses don't have a problem with pride. My dog and some of the students I teach have a problem with pride. When my dog wants attention he will lay on what I'm working on, lay on my lap, or (If I'm really not paying attention) he will bite me. My students will call my name over and over and over. If they don't get attention then they will disobey a rule or hurt another student to get my attention. Do you see a common thread? Both my dog and the students use aggression eventually to get attention. Why? Because they are of the mind that their needs are more important.

   Now, lest you think I'm excluding adults from this pride and attention problem, I'm not. Some adults boast about all their things and accomplishments which is outright pride. Other adults may not look for attention with outright aggression like children and dogs, but we do it more subtly. I'm guilty of wanting people to acknowledge my accomplishments without me hinting at it. I try to be humble and not want people to do that; but each time I receive a compliment it makes me feel good. Who doesn't like compliments? In order to get compliments I will work hard. I will go above and beyond. Unfortunately that means sometimes I don't work for the right reasons.
   Colossians 3:23 says: "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men." That's one of the reasons why I work hard. I know I'm working for God. But, after a long period of hard work I get tired. I don't work as hard. That's when I could use a pick me up. I try to hint at some things I've done. Guess what? That's pride. We all have pride. We just show it in different ways. Some show it outright, others put themselves down looking for someone to pull them back up. Both of those are pride.
   To get out of that we need to be like a lighthouse. We need to forget about ourselves (yet not become a starving baker, there is a line there). We need to follow Philippians 2:3: "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves." The Greatest Commandments tell us to love God and love others. When we follow that and Philippians 2:3 we will be like the lighthouse. We will be reflecting God's glory and shining our lights for him, not for us. Because, in the end when we die it doesn't matter what we had compliment wise here. It doesn't matter that we had a lot of stuff. What matters is what we did for God's kingdom. That means what we did for God and for others.
   So, is your lighthouse firing cannons or shining? Do you have too much pride? What can you do to reflect God's glory today?

   Image from here.

How Salty Are You?

   How salty are you? That may seem like a strange question. Some of you are probably thinking "I'm not food, why do I need salt on me?" Others may be thinking, "I didn't just work out, I'm not sweaty. And, I wasn't just in the ocean." Still others may be thinking, "You're crazy, where are you going with this?" For those of you in the latter category: thanks, I know I'm crazy but, as always, I have a point.

   I will tell you that I hope I'm salty. As well as I know I'm salty because my dog licks me :D Before I get to the reason why I want to be salty let me tell you a story. One time I was at a Jr. High soccer game. One of my High School players volunteered to be ball girl (If the ball goes out of bounds she gives the player a new one and gets the old one to make the game go faster).

   We were standing on the sideline talking about how things were going. I was semi-upset with her because she wasn't playing on my sister's team that season and I joked with her about it. She said, "are you salty?" She meant "are you jealous?" I said, "no, well maybe a little, but if I am that's actually a good thing according to the Bible." She laughed and one of the other coaches came over and was confused. I explained Matthew 5:13, which says: "But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."

   Jesus was speaking in a riddle, which is typical of him because he wants to find the seekers. He wants people to dig deeper into his words and find meaning. What Jesus is talking about in this verse is that if we are not doing our jobs then what good are we? Salt has a job. Salt's job is to flavor things. But what's the point of putting salt on food if it isn't going to add flavor?

   In the same way, what's the point of us going into the world to do our jobs, or make disciples, if we are not actually going to do our job. If we are lukewarm in our faith how are we going to spread the saltiness? How do we flavor others with the good news of the gospel? We don't if we are not doing our job of spreading the good news.

   In the end, in my story, the player and the coach had a good laugh. Even though, originally, I used the verse out of context. I corrected myself and had a good conversation with the player (who is a believer) and the coach. In that little episode I was spreading my saltiness (the good kind, not the jealous kind), which is exactly what we are called to do.

   So, are you salty? Are you spreading your saltiness? How can you spread the Gospel today?

   Matthew 28:16-20 and Luke 14:34-35

   Image from here. 

Fighting with Our Swords: Independence Day

   In 1776 when men made the courageous decision to declare independence from Great Britain we began a war. It was a physical struggle. Many men lost their lives fighting for freedom.

We are also in a battle. It's not a physical battle like the Civil war was. It is a spiritual one. The Devil attacks every day. Some days it may feel like we've had great victories. Other days it feels like we fail and fall in battle.
   The Devil uses many tricks to attack us. I have found that many times he attacks by using words. He tells us what we want to hear. He says we should take that candy. He says we should lie to get what we want. He tells us many more things. Then, if we listen to him, he tells us we are not good. He says God could never forgive us.
   Whoever said "sticks and stones many break my bones but words can never hurt me" must not have been thinking about the words our brains say to us. Many times our minds tell us what we want to do then we battle back and forth. "Yes I should do it because...." "No I shouldn't do it because..." Eventually one side wins.
   How do we combat this battle with words if it is in our head? I'm glad you asked. We combat them by fighting back with words. The Devil fights with words. We need to defend and attack with The Word. We need to know the word of God so that when the devil says, "you are really hungry why don't you take your sibling's (parent's, child's, spouse's) piece of candy?" We can say: "the Lord commanded us not to steal. Plus, man does not live by bread alone."
   Fighting this fight isn't easy. Memorizing the word isn't easy. But, if we want to defeat the devil we must know what God says. God fights for us. He loves us and wants a relationship with us. In order for that to happen we need to abide with him. We need to get into the Word and pray to God so that when the devil does attack we have the armor of God to defend us.
   So, what spiritual battles are you facing today? How can you defeat the devil? Are you spending enough time with God? What can you do to encourage someone who may be fighting a battle today?

   Hebrews 4:12, Matthew 4:4, 2 Timothy 3:16-17
   Image from here.