Wisdom from Proverbs

Today is Good Friday. I read chapter six this morning in Proverbs. I was drawn to the example of the ant in regards to laziness. I find that when I am overwhelmed, or at least feel overwhelmed, I can get lazy. I can become a poor performer and can scarcely get anything done. For some of you its the same feeling. I can't get my homework done. I can't make time for God. I can't keep up with all the demands of my life. But as I look into the wisdom of God's word, I find hope.

Verses 9-11 say,

"How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hand to rest--
and poverty will come on you like a thief
and scarcity like an armed man."

When there's things

When there's things to be done, get things done. I find that most of the time I need motviation. Rather than just sleeping in, or letting it go, I need to make things happen. You need to take control of your life. Grab the rudder of your ship and steer it towards a destination rather than merely letting go and sailing wherever the winds may blow. Refuse poor performand! Resist poor grades! Get some things done. I will do so today.

If I get a chance before tonight's Good Friday Service, I will post how my day went. The service starts @ 7:30pm here at Northwest Chapel, 6700 Rings Road, Dublin, Ohio. Consider yourself and your family invited.

Pastor d

Invite a friend to church

Came across this funny clip from YouTube entitled "Baptism by the Water Cooler." After viewing it, consider what it would take to invite your friend(s) to church. It may not be as dramatic. But people matter to God. Take a step of courage and ask.

pastor d

Note: Use of a YouTube clip does not endorse everything on YouTube.

Wisdom from Proverbs

Today's chapter in Proverbs counteracts the challenge facing everyone in our sex-saturated culture. God's Word warns against adultery. The story in chapter five is an earnest plea from a father to a married son regarding the pressures of seeking a wayward women to commit adultery. Walt Mueller, President of CPYU (Center for Parent and Youth Understanding) shares how this present culture has shifted away from the sanctity of marriage. The culture portrays in the media that casual sex is normative, that "cheating" on someone is okay as long as you are not caught, that hooking up is normal.

I concur with Walt Mueller's comments about giving deep thought to the Christian response to this shift. He wrote on his blog concerning the prominence of casual sex as normative,

“Saddened, but not surprised.” Most of the time, people look at me like I’m nuts. I hope I’m not. Instead, I’ve tried to be informed by the truth of the Scriptures in a way that I hope has caused me to avoid the extremes of blind optimism and extreme pessimism in order to embrace a third option – biblical realism. Illness, destruction, death, violence, rebellion, idolatry, sin, the things kids do. . . . none of it should be surprising. A posture of biblical realism serves to give us perspective, and always should shape our response – emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. Read more of Walt's full comments from his archived pages here by scrolling down to his houghts dated 03.07.2007.

In his blog he links to an interview on NBC by Meredith Vieira, "Is hooking up unhealthy for teens?" She interviews Laura Sessions Stepp author of "UnHooked," and Amber Madison author of "Hooking Up." This interview highlights the new culture of casual sex and its effect on young women. After viewing this interview you may be shocked or unaffected. But I trust you would feel both some discouragement while at the same time feel tempered by biblical realism. Anchored to a biblical worldview where sin and its manifestation in our culture is not surprising because it is not God -centered.

But victoriously, sin is remedied in Jesus. What better season to reconsider the awesome truth of Christ's death and resurrection! So proclaim with me that this world needs Jesus in spite of cultural trends to the contrary.

All disturbing cultural trends will continue to emerge on the radar screens of Christian minds who foster a biblical worldview. I wonder how you will respond. Unless a person seeks to follow God's truth, then he or she may cave-in and follow the pressure of the dominant culture. How will you shape your response? Something to seriously think about.

Pastor D

Resurrection Sunday

As I prepare for Easter Sunday I got to focus on 52 minutes cylce for each service. So I will have to adjust what I prepare. I will include worship songs for reflection and insight so that students can engage. I wonder who is in town to help with the readings. I hope to discover help today and tomorrow.

Pastor D

Easter Service for Students

For a lot of students in our church, the story of Jesus' resurrection is very familiar. A student could become jaded, or dull to its impact and importance. Students may encounter those who object to the reality of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead by offering theories to try to explain away the resurrection. I intend to renew each student's appreciation for the miraculous nature of Christ's resurrection this Sunday morning. I will need several students or adults to help me do some readings this Sunday morning. So come ready to engage and to respond to the reality of Christ's resurrection. Invite a friend.

NOTE: Middle school students gather at 9:45am this Sunday. High School students will gather at 11am.

Pastor d

Proud of the Buckeyes

Even the day after the loss, I am proud of the team. They left it "all out on the floor." One viewpoint is more matter of fact than my opinion. Check out "Florida was way, way, way, better than OSU." If Florida shoots poorly from three, then we make it closer. Whether or not we win is still up in the air. But our poor shooting from three did not help us. Regardless I am a proud fan!

Pastor D

Incubation

As I read more blogs and I engage in conversations with others, I marvel at the incredible abilities of others to make new associations and new connections for me.

Mark Cuban shared his thoughts on the music business which mind-mapped for me some thoughts about ministry to students. He offered the possibility of creating a new financial model that excites music consumers into spending more money on music, or innovating a new technological advance that creates a new experience with music. He concludes his ramblings in this manner, "Maybe the way to change music isn't by changing the music formats, but by enabling new ways for us to say new things about ourselves using music as the foundation or catalyst ?" He is thinking about new ideas and new connections.

I pondered how such thoughts could impact ministry. To recast his words as a question into the ministry realm rather than a statement of the music realm, what if the way to change ministry isn't by changing the ministry format, but by enabling students to discover new ways for them to experience new things about his or her experience with God by using ministry events as the foundation or catalyst? Maybe that's a stretch. I wonder if spending more money on ministry tools and gadgets is not the answer, but maybe innovating new advances in ministry through technology in order to create new experiences for students so that God helps him or her to grow. I wonder what things could be created to impact ministry. Just new thoughts on a journey that I am on.

Pastor D

Insight from Cuban

I was just reading Dallas Maverick's owner Mark Cuban's blog regarding "Why the NBC/Newsco Video Venture is a Great Idea." In it he ends his thoughts regarding the positioning of Newsco in juxtaposition with YouTube and Google, by saying , "But as always, concept is one thing, execution is the bottom line." I agree with his statement that concept is one thing, but execution is the bottom line.

In ministry to students I need to execute tasks, to conduct events. It's a whole lot easier thinking of the concepts rather than executing the tasks or plan. So I choose to begin to execute ministry plans rather than merely thinking about it. May God help me engage in doing His work for students.

Pastor D

Wisdom from Proverbs

Proverbs 2:1-5 helps me see things from God's perspective. I observe that the author writes from a father-like perspective, as a mentor would to a mentee. I interpret the verses as Solomon offering instruction to one of his sons. I view it as God offering insight to me.

God wants me to receive and to remember His truth. He invites me to plead for insight as I pursue His way. Then i will discover a deeper respect for God Himself--gain knowledge of Him. He empowers me to revere Him and to know Him better. The Apostle Paul say something similar to the believers at the church in Ephesus. He wrote,

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may
give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better
(Ephesians 1:17)."

God wants me to advance in my spiritual growth by getting to know him better. I can get to know Him better. I will listen for His still small voice. I will ask, "Speak Lord, for your servant is listening." Then I will wait in silence for Him to speak. May God give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better also. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Go buckeyes!

Pastor D

Communion Celebration

Wow! God visited me with a renewed focus of my need to apply daily cleansing of sin into my routine for each day. I have freely received forgiveness, I can freely grant forgiveness. In fact, I can forgive even when no one asks for forgiveness. God is a great God! He forgives, renews, and emboldens. He empowers His followers to go and sin no more. What a great cleansing feeling! Maybe you can join us next time when we celebrate three-fold communion. Thanks!

Pastor d

April Fools Day

This morning it crossed my mind to play and April fool's joke on the students, but I reflected on the day itself. Today commemorates Jesus coming into Jerusalem riding a donkey, triumphant, heralded as king. Palm Sunday exalts Jesus as King.

This morning I chose to engage students by bringing them to stand at the foot of the cross. God prompted me to use a great session from Worship Session for Youth Groups by Jim Marian, a Youth Specialties resource. I discovered it while browsing at Half-Priced Books on Bethel Road in Columbus, Ohio. I've found a few items there. This one was so helpful.

This session directed students to reflect on Good Friday and the crucifixion. My hope was to get students to worship Christ because he died for us. I intended to bring students to the foot of the Cross so they can come away having seen and understood Christ's unparalled, sacrifice and unconditional love from them. The session called for use of video, music, mediatation, confession, and the physical act of affixing your sins to a cross.

I wanted students to revisit this great place--at the foot of the cross. I prayed for God to have students open their minds to the personal impact of the Cross. Students prayed that each one of them would have open minds stirred afresh to open minds and hearts to focus on Christ asking that God would give a fresh, real, and personal understanding of Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross.

Symbols used were hard cut masonry nails. The nail is a powerful symbol that helps to keep students focused on the Cross. We pondered the painful details to help direct students to make this event real to them. The truth is that you deserve death for your sins. We should have been up there, not Christ (Romans 3:23; 6:23). Christ loves you so much that he chose to take the punishment for our sins so we could have life forever, not eternal death in hell (Romans 5:8).

A personal reflection time ensued where students wrote down a sin or sins that they are currently struggling with. You could write down as much as you wanted: the paper had "SIN" on one side, the other side was space for you to list your sins as God prompted. No names were printed--you had total anonymity. It was between you and God. Students sought honest and serious reflection directing students that it was your sins that took Christ to the Cross.

Jesus' death also provides cleansing for sin. God's Holy Spirit prompts us to respond with thanks and gratitude. He prompts us to worship God for His provision.

So students entered into a time of praise and worship where personal reflection by affixing your sins to the cross engaged you in realizing what Jesus had done. He took your sins. He died for you. You sang an i-mix of tunes from the following artists: Michael W Smith; Jeremy Camp; Petra; the Katinas. Students sang three choruses: The Wonderful Cross, Here I am to worship, Lord I lift your name on high. As students sang, room was created at the foot of the cross to affix your sin to the cross. Students got up individually as each one felt led anytime during the singing. You could affix your sin to the cross imagining Jesus paying the price for your sins. You could have left celebrating Christ's sacrifice for you.

I trust you thank God for Christ's sacrifice this week and celebrate God's love and forgiveness. May He speak to you and may you hear,

Pastor D

Communion (parts two and three)

I celebrate communion in two more ways: the Love Feast and the Eucharist (Bread and Cup). The Love Feast is a meal which pictures what will happen when all believers in Jesus get to heaven and celebrate in a big feast. Read Luke 22:14-18 to discover where Jesus sits with his disciples to enjoy the Love Feast. Revelation 19:7-9 describes how some day in the future the Church will be united with Jesus and there will be a celebration party for this event. The Love Feast during our celebration of communion is a reminder of what will happen someday in heaven. This future picture reminds us that Jesus will return one day to call home his believers so each of his believer needs to live for Him.

The third part of Communion is the Eucharist, or Bread and the Cup. The Bread symbolizes Jesus' body which was sacrificed for you and i on the cross. I Corinthians 12:23-24 says,

"The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given
thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you; do this in
remembrance of me.'"

The Cup symbolizes Jesus' blood which was shed on the cross to pay the price for our sins. I Corinthians 11:25-26 says,

"In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying,'this cup is the new
covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.'

For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." The Bread and the Cup reminds you of Christ's death on the cross and challenges you to live a life which would please Him (Luke 22:19).

My challenge to you is this: if you are a believer in Jesus, then you need to take part in communion. Talk to your parents to allow you to come join in this celebration. It starts at 5:30pm tonight. Come engage or just come and observe. You'll learn something new and may just experience God in a new way. Pastor D