Sprouts!

My wife and I have a married couple as friends from our last job. They are great people to hangout with. Very nice, kind and generous. Their kids are pretty cool as well. We all get along fabulously. The one catch is, they are not believers. I may even go as far to say that the husband is either an atheist or agnostic. His wife I'm not sure about and the kids just fall inline with their parents. They know that we are Christian and that I am a Christian Pastor. We walk the talk, and live out our faith. They see this every time that we are around them. Let's back up ten years, when we planted our seed of faith with them when my wife and I were married. They attended our very Christian wedding. Where the vows and words said pointed to Jesus and who He is in our lives. He is the center. The ceremony meant more to us than the reception that followed. We wanted our family and friends to feel the presence of our Lord and Savior during the ceremony. Fast forward to 2011. I had been attending ISOM (Illinois School of Ministry) classes, to become a credentialed minister. In 2012 I received my license from The Assembly of God, Illinois District. My wife threw me a surprise party at our church. This couple were in attendance. They even bought me a Christian gift. So now fast forward to present day. We get together with each other a few times a year. Sometimes they come to our house, and sometimes we go to their house. Sometimes we just go out to eat someplace. When we meet at our house, we always pray for the meal and for the night that is planned. They know this and expect it. Whenever we go to their house, I go by their house rules. If they don't want to pray for the meal, then that's up to them. I am not going to push myself and my faith on somebody in their own house. That isn't a good witness for Christ. So a couple of weeks ago, we were invited to our friends house for dinner. We show up and everyone is there. Husband, wife and the kids. Were all at the table just about ready to eat when the husband says "would Keven like to say a prayer?" I said sure I would love to, if that's what they wanted. He said yes, that's what they wanted, so I did. So ten years after planting the seed, watering it and nurturing it, we are starting to see sprouts. 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 New Living Translation (NLT) 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. 9 For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building. Thank You Lord for these friends. Thank You for Your word being made alive by the way that we live our lives.

Revelation.

I work on a shipping/receiving dock. Everyday it is constant chaos around the docks. People walking around, pulling pallet jacks back and forth with finished product and raw material. I'm not talking about one or two people. No, I'm talking about several people walking about. Whenever we were unloading a truck, we always have to stop for someone walking behind us. It's crazy. It's amazing to me that anything was accomplished with all of this going on. I really struggle with all of this chaos. It really drives me crazy, day after day. One day last week, God gave me a revelation on why I struggle so mightily with this. He directed me to His word. 1 Corinthians 14:33 New Living Translation (NLT)33 "For God is not a God of disorder but of peace". If God is a God of order, and Jesus is God's son, and The Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity and lives inside of me, then I am also not of disorder, but of order and peace. That was it! I was at odds with the chaos going on around me. It was total disorder and definitely not peaceful. So I would pray that God would give me the peace and grace that I needed to get through my day. I think that He revealed this to me, so that I would learn to trust Him more in the mundane day to day stuff at work. To give me peace in the midst of chaos. I still get angry sometimes when I have to stop and wait for people to get out of the way, but God gives me grace so that I can extend His grace to others. Thank You Lord!

Doing What God Commands!

I want to compare the story of Noah and the flood, from the book of Genesis, to today's modern world. Can you imagine being Noah? God spoke to him and told him to build a boat, because He was about to destroy the world and every living thing on it with a flood. He told Noah that it's going to rain for forty days and forty nights. Noah could have said "What? What are you talking about? It has never rained a drop before." "Are you sure Lord?" He could have questioned God about the whole thing. In Genesis 6:22 he did this instead. 22 "So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him." Noah did exactly what God wanted him to do. He followed all of His rules for building the boat. The exact height, width and length. Then The Lord told him to gather every kind of animal, both female and male and load them into the boat along with all of his family. Again, he could have questioned The Lord. "Are You sure Lord?" "The smell is going to be terrible." "It's going to be very uncomfortable for my family to be in close proximity to wild animals." Once again Noah did this. Genesis 7:5 "So Noah did everything as the Lord commanded him." Two things that God wanted Noah to do that took him and his family out of their comfort zone, that didn't make any sense to him. Make a very large boat and fill it with his family and animals. He could have questioned God and voiced his opinion, but he did them without complaining or questioning. Two verses in two different chapters tell us that Noah did EXACTLY what God had commanded him. It says in Philippians 2:14 Do everything without complaining and arguing. Can you imagine what this world would be like if everyone just did exactly what God commanded? Without grumbling or complaining about what God is asking or telling us to do. I'm sure it would be a much different place. A much better place. I pray that You give us ears to hear, heart to receive and feet to respond, to do what you are calling us to do. Without griping or arguing with You. To just be obedient. I pray that we continue to have a hunger, a thirst for You. To do things that don't make sense to us. To pull us out of our comfort zone. Deuteronomy 31:8New Living Translation (NLT)8 Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” Thank You Lord!