Sharpen Up!
This morning, I had my regular chat with my friend, Pastor Ron Cook, of Care for Pastors. We communicate often, because we both have a strong interest in what the other one is doing. I am interested in knowing how his ministry is progressing, and he is interested in knowing how my life is progressing. Ron is one of those guys who won’t let you get away with anything. It’s not enough for Ron to ask me if I done anything shady….he also asks me if I have had any shady thoughts. Yep, he digs in deep, and I love it! I’ve never been able to lie to Ron. I tried a couple of times when he was helping me with my restoration process, but I found myself forced to admit that I was being a little less than honest. I need Ron. We all need Ron. He’s a lot older than me, so hopefully the Lord will call him home first, but until He does, I will always communicate with Ron on a regular basis.
Proverbs 27:17 tells us that we are to sharpen one another. Friendship and accountability should always go hand-in-hand. If you are trying to run this race all by yourself, you are doing yourself and all of those around you a major disservice. I’m thankful for Ron….and also thankful to be a Ron for some of my friends. Choose carefully, but prayerfully seek someone with whom you can be completely honest, and ask them to help hold you accountable for the things in your life that otherwise might hold you back.
As iron sharpens iron, so one man (or woman) sharpens another….so sharpen up! 
To Everything, There is a Season
Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3, tells us that there is a season for everything. Another summer has come and gone, and just this morning, the air automatically felt cooler when I stepped outside. This has been an interesting summer. There have been tornadoes, a hurricane, and even an earthquake! It was a hot summer —and a fast one. With fall right at our fingertips, everything is starting to pick up pace. School has started, people are coming back to church, and college football is in the air. This is also a great time to renew our minds and hearts—
This fall, I commit to growing stronger in my faith, working harder for the kingdom, and being an even better husband and father. As I reflect on the blessings of my life, I see all that God has blessed me with, and I am thankful. This fall, I challenge you to love. Love harder, stronger, and with a sense of urgency. We are not promised tomorrow. Hug your kids, kiss your wife, (or husband) call your family, and be a friend.
To everything, there is a season. What will you do with this one?
He loves us
The Power of the Cross
Ever heard a song that delivered its own sermon? This one has been on our radar screen for the past couple of weeks, and it’s simply amazing. Just like the Gospel…..
He loves us
Moving Forward in Victory
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
Matthew 16:24
I’m on a spiritual high after the weekend I just experienced. The amazing part, is that I don’t think I would have even realized just how awesome it was, if it hadn’t been for the absolutely miserable week that preceded it. My Monday morning 1 week ago, was only the beginning of 5 days of personal hell that I will call “last” week. I like that term “last.” It’s certainly not the last time that I will have a rough week, but it was certainly the last time that I will have a week bogged down by the things that held me back. It was a week of attack, second-guessing, doubt, self-pity, fear—-but the one thing that was different, is that I kept my eye on the cross. This weekend, God used my church, my family, and some great friends to encourage me and truly pump me up for His service. I saw lives changed, people coming together, and I realized that I am a member of one of the most wonderful churches that has ever existed. We are small in number, but God is moving mightily!
Don’t let your week start like mine did last Monday. There is too much to be done and too many people who are going hungry or who simply need to feel love. THAT is what God has called us to do. Our past behind us, and the cross before us, we must take it up and move forward in complete and total victory! The enemy may try to make you feel ineffective because of your past sins, or try to hold you back with new ones, but God has much bigger plans for you and you simply don’t have time to worry with past.
Move forward this week, my friend! Find a group of people who feel the same way, and get busy. If you want to be His disciple, it’s time to take up YOUR cross and make a difference. I’m running along beside you and many others are too. We are all in this thing together and one day, our reward WILL be great!
He loves us
God, I thank you for my church. I thank you for a pastor who loves me and encourages me. I thank you for my incredible wife who believes in me and for my children who adore me. I thank you for my brothers and sisters in Christ who are running this race with me and who love me in spite of myself. Most of all, I thank you for your grace, mercy, and forgiveness. You have been so faithful and I will serve you for the rest of my life…..no matter what! I love you, Lord Jesus. You are amazing.
Moving On Up
A very encouraging blog post from my own pastor, Adam Speight. From his blogsite “Random Thoughts.” I’m fortunate to sit under this man of God on a weekly basis—and call him my friend. http://adamsp8.blogspot.com/
I approach every Monday the same way, to have a better week than the one before! I often even sit down on Sunday night and think about the things I want to make better in my life, like spend more time with my kids, be a better husband to my wife, exercise more, study harder, and on and on. This past Sunday night as my wife and I were making a “healthy” supper menu for the week and encouraging each other to push hard, I thought to myself “I hope this week is great.” Monday morning rolls around and I am hit with past sin in my life, not only me but others around me as well. It was as if Satan had dug in the trash cans of our life and brought back those smelly past mistakes that had been made. I was crippled, hurt and depressed as I fumbled around for the next two days, hiding out in my office I remembered the words of Paul.
“Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Paul knew about past all too well, and reminded me that sometimes the best shepherds are ex-wolves.
Posted by Adam Speight
Struggling With Sexual Sin
I recently came across a wonderful posting by Dave Bruska of the Mars Hill Church (Pastor Mark Driscoll) dealing with sexual sin. This article is geared towards men, but can benefit anyone who has either felt, or given in, to this struggle in their lives. I’ve been there and many of you have too. This is a lengthy read, but very well worth your time. Remember, that no matter what your struggle, God loves you more than anything, and the place to turn when you mess up—physically, or just in your mind, is right to Him. He’s waiting to prevent your downward spiral, so put aside your feelings of shame and check this out…. He loves us.
–Geoffrey
The following is a conversation that Pastor Dave Bruska had with radio station 104.1 The Edge, recently.
“Sex just isn’t about genitalia, and it’s not about being physical. It’s really about the heart.”
The Edge: Something that I’ve struggled with, over the past many years is sexual sin. … One of the lies I listened to was, “You’re always gonna be alone.” And I know that’s not true because the Holy Spirit does dwell inside of you. But you listen to those lies and you believe it. … How do you address that with people, like myself, who struggle with stuff like that? Because I know every man struggles with lust, with sexual sin, with porn. How do you counsel somebody on that?
Pastor Dave: Yeah, no that seems to be the universal struggle. It’s certainly my history. I grew up in the neighborhood, youngest kid on the block, again old school days, where the internet wasn’t prevalent, wasn’t even invented yet, I guess. We had a clubhouse at the end of the block, stacked high with what would probably be considered soft core porn today. And the guys would go in there and we’d just spend the day, like trading baseball cards, like, “Check out this one,” “Look at the stats on this one.” To this day, those images are still etched in my mind, that I can recall them—whether I want to or not—at any time in vivid detail, which is funny because I can’t even remember my own phone number. …
You can’t fight sin with religion. You need Jesus.
And it’s really interesting, that what Jesus did when he was on the earth and he was teaching, was he was speaking to a religious culture that had a very technical culture of what sexual sin was. And they had created some categories that basically were loopholes so that they could be sexually immoral. And [Jesus] took it right to the mind and said, “I tell you, if anyone looks upon a woman with lustful intent” or lustfully, “he’s already committed adultery.” And so, what I help guys try to understand is that sex just isn’t about genitalia, and it’s not about being physical. It’s really about the heart. And if, in your battle against sexual sin, the passion that you have for Jesus doesn’t become greater than the passion you have to have sex, then you’ll always be fighting an uphill battle.
“This is a universal struggle, and it’s OK to be open about it. It’s OK not to be OK.”
So usually what will happen is guys will come to me, Christian guys, broken down, saying, “Slept with somebody I shouldn’t [have],” or “I downloaded porn on the internet and masturbated, and, you know, I feel guilty about that,” and then they’ll go, again, to religion: “So here’s what I’m gonna do: I’m gonna read the Bible ten times a day, and I’m gonna go to every church service I can find in town. I’m gonna put an internet filter on, and I’m gonna not ever look at another woman the rest of my life.” And, although those are helpful things, apart from Jesus, they really won’t make a difference. So when they tell me that, I’m almost like, “Let’s go set up the next appointment, because I’m gonna give you three days and then you’re gonna be right back here crying.” … Who hasn’t been [that guy]? Really, honestly? And I tell guys that, you know what, this is a universal struggle, and it’s OK to be open about it. It’s OK not to be OK. It’s not OK to stay there, but it’s OK not to be OK.
King David is our horrendous example of sexual sin.
So, I think this is what the Bible teaches about that: And I think you can look at a horrendous example in Scripture, a guy named King David, who Scripture says was a man after God’s own heart. God had given him everything his heart desired: he was leader of Israel at one of its most prosperous times. He had beautiful wives, by all accounts. And he goes out on the balcony one night, sees Bathsheba—most people know the story—bathing, takes her in, and sleeps with her, gets her pregnant, tries everything he can to cover up, including bringing her husband back from the front lines of war, trying to get him to sleep with her so it looks like he’s the father of the baby, and when that doesn’t work, he ultimately has her husband, Uriah, murdered in a battle of war in a very ugly scene.
“Sexual sin is really saying, ‘You’re not true, God. I can’t trust you to be good.’”
When David finally comes to conviction over his sin through the prophet Nathan, he compiles Psalm 51. I tell every guy who’s struggling with sexual sin to look at Psalm 51. When the Lord rebukes David for his sin, it’s really interesting what he says. He says, “Why have you despised me? I would have given you anything.” And I think that’s a clear hint into the essence of sexual sin.
Sexual sin is a heart that doesn’t trust God.
Sexual sin basically says, “I can’t trust God to meet these needs. I can’t trust God to provide these needs in the way that he chooses, therefore, I need to go outside of his provision” —whether that’s through the internet and looking at women in ways you should never look at them, masturbation, sleeping around—it’s really saying, “You’re not true, God. I can’t trust you to be good. I have these desires and urges in the moment, and I need to go take care of them because I can’t trust you to.” So I think that’s really the heart of sexual sin. It’s a heart that doesn’t trust God. It’s a heart that, instead of worshipping the God who is trustworthy, who knows our every need, and who’s good to provide what we really need, we commit idolatry and say, “I need to worship sex instead of you, God.”
“The good news is Jesus changes hearts.”
And so if I can help a man begin to see that these issues are really heart issues, and then help him understand that the only way to change your heart is exactly … through the in-working of the Holy Spirit through the truth of the gospel, then we have somehwere to go.
Sin grows in the dark.
Most guys get behavioral modification or psychobabble in these areas, and it doesn’t help ‘em. And they just go over and over and over back to the same places. What’s difficult about sexual sin is it has a unique shame factor to it. It’s just a downward spiral. And what happens when you commit sexual sin is you typically withdraw from the things you need the most, whether that’s first and foremost Jesus, and his people, and so, it’s just a downward spiral, it’s a really downward spiral. But it’s an issue of the heart. And the good news is Jesus changes hearts.
[…]
Sin grows in the dark. It really does. That these suicidal, self-destructive tendencies we have to rebel against God and not worship him, but worship things that he’s made instead of him, have a habit, like fungus, of just growing in the dark. So just bringing them to light, and by that I mean sharing them with the people, transparently, who are committed to you is really important.
Pastors, you lead your church in repentance.
And I would say this, too, if there are pastors listening to this: Pastors, your job is [to] set the tone in this regard in the church. I meet so many people who go to a church where their pastor has never openly said he’s done anything wrong. And that’s kind of an old school concept that we have in church that, “He’s our leader and therefore he’s infallible.” And the Bible just doesn’t teach that. It does teach that we [pastors] have to live up to certain standards (1 Timothy 3, Titus 1), but we are to lead and be the lead repenter and be transparent. Your church is either a safe place to be clean or it’s not. And I would put that burden upon whoever’s leading it. You lead the way. And if you find that your people aren’t coming to you regularly and they’re not interacting with each other and really being transparent about where they’re falling, then there’s a real problem there that probably starts with you.
“We set the tone as pastors when we don’t openly confess our sin and repent of it.”
I think a lot of times we dismiss too quickly the criticisms that non-Christians have of Christians. I think we should really listen more. Because oftentimes, even though they tend to be generalistic and stereotypical, they’re spot on. And I think if you went outside the studio today and talked to as many non-Christians as you could and said, “What do you think about Christians?” they would all probably throw out the word “hypocrite,” and there’s some truth in that. And I think that we set the tone as pastors when we don’t openly confess our sin and repent of it.
Biblical manhood: to become progressively like Jesus through repentance and faith
The Apostle Paul, who was responsible for writing most of the New Testament, refers to himself as the chief of sinners. If you go to Romans 7, he dedicates almost an entire chapter to saying, “All the things I want to do, I don’t do; and the things I don’t want to do, I do.” And he just paints a perfect picture of what it means to be a biblical man—a man who’s not perfect, but one who’s progressively becoming like Jesus through repentance and faith.
What Would You Do If Your Child Died in Your Arms?
One of the most moving documentaries I have ever seen. A must see for all parents and for anyone who has ever looked to God and asked, “why?” Simply, amazing. God is so incredibly awesome.
