Room For A Miracle

It was noised that Jesus was in the house in Mark 2…..

Whatchwantabet….

Somebody FaceBooked the address and a flash mob showed up…..

Mobs always show up until the real miracles start….

Real miracles are insurance against mobs, and crowd chasing folks…..

The hottest neighborhood church thins out when prayer, fasting starts up and miracles begin….

I know, cause I have been that church more than once…..

But I digress…..

The mob gathered and there was no room for a real miracle….

No room for a real move of God…..

No room for outreach and busses and prayer chains and sacrifice…..

There was room for mob mentality of great services and immediate gratification so it could be posted on personal pages that Jesus was in the house….

Problem was….

Jesus was there…..

But the mob prevented the miracle…..

However, those that truly seek him will find a way into his presence…..

In this case….

The roof got torn off…..

Imagine….

Jesus teaching….

Dust and debris of an impending miracle beginning to settle into the room…..

Imagine, the comments of the folks that begin to murmur that things are coming apart in this church…..

Imagine the reports that were tweeted…..

The roof has been breached…..

Stuff is falling…..

People are leaving because of the debris and dust…..

Never fear……

There is always those who predictify doom when all that is really happening is the roof is getting ripped off for the miraculous……

Miracle of miracles…..

As long as it was mob mentality, there was not room for a man with a real need for a real miracle….

By the time the roof was off…..

There was room for a king size bed…..

Room for a king sized miracle…..

My suggestion is this……

Mobs don’t hang around when miracle dust starts falling…..

This truth is painful for a pastor who perceives the roof as the miracle….

This sometimes is discouraging to the faithful foundational saints whom hold roofs up year after year….

Be encouraged faithful pastor and saint…..

That dust swirling in the atmosphere of your church is not what it seems….

Roofs come off to insure room for miracles…..

That empty pew is right where the king sized miracle is about to settle….

That smaller choir has room for a king size miracle to settle down in it….

Be not dismayed….

Be not overwhelmed……

The roof comes off and miraculous dust and debris settles……

Room for the miraculous is manifest…..

And…..

Jesus was there the whole time…..

He was there before, during and after the mob……

He was there before, during and after the dust…..

He was there before, during and after the king size miracle appears….

He is still there…..

And this Sunday…..

He will be there waiting….

Waiting on you…..

Waiting for foundational folk….

Foundational folk to show up and sweep up debris and dust…

Foundational folk know…..

Today might just be the day…..

Today just might be the day that king size miraculous appears through what used to be the roof…..

Foundational folk realize that without a roof….

The limits of the miraculous have been removed……

I can hardly wait til Sunday!!!

rks

 for

Valleys, Shadows & Comfort

Simple thought this morning…..

Psalm 23 talks about shepherds, rods, staffs, comfort, enemies, meals, restoration, goodness, mercy and all kinds of other stuff…..

This morning I find myself speaking at a funeral…..

The first since our sweet Annaleigh’s some six weeks ago…..

And this morning I ponder on the valley of the shadow of death……

Yea, tho I walk through the valley of the shadow of death……

Death is not pretty…..

Yet death is beautiful……

Especially for the faithful saint of God who has walked with Him for a lifetime…..

But still death has its valley….

Those left behind feel the pain of loss….

Those left must grieve…..

Hence they walk through the valley of the shadow…..

Shadows are dark…

Shadows can scare……

And death of a loved one is indeed the valley of the shadow……

Each of us walk through that valley more often than we wish……

This morning I think and understand this……

We walk through this valley…..

We do not stop in the valley…..

We do not live here…..

But we walk through it……

We walk through it with the rod and staff of comfort…….

We walk through it with the comforter……

He knew we would need comfort so he became that comforter…..

So this morning…….

My simple thought is……

We walk through this valley…..

We walk through the darkenss……

We walk though the shadows cast by the death of a loved one….

When we come out on the other side…..

Comfort awaits…..

This is but one more reason I love Him…..

rks

Integrity

Tonight I congratulate our wonderful seniors…..

The Class of 2012, Conroe Christian School……

Two Taylors, a Chris & a Zack……

I offer congrats and thanks to our staff tonight for another year well done….

As is our custom here; as pastor I share a brief challenge at this commencement ceremony…..

Tonight I offer you a single word…..

Integrity……

Def #1. Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code.

You will soon learn that not all rules are written….

Morals cannot be legislated…..

Character is non-mandated…..

And personal conduct befalls the person to define himself with conduct becoming a person of integrity…..

In those moments, none can help you…..

Your decisions will be based upon the integrity of your spirit…..

The moral fabric of who and what you have become….

You know the written and unwritten rules of life….

You will be given opportunity to ignore those rules….

You will be tempted to make your own…..

But you…

You and only you can decide…..

Your decision will come down two thing…..

To live with integrity….

Or without…..

Please understand…..

Everyone knows; when one hands his integrity in for a day….

He hands it in for a lifetime…..

Integrity lives with written rules…..

Integrity lives with unwritten rules……

Def # 2. The state of being unimpaired; soundness.

Integrity is never handicapped……

Integrity walks in and sits among kings…..

Integrity can face the odds of life and will be standing after the tumult settles…..

Integrity will not need buddy systems of special favors…..

Rather, integrity walks in and buddies and favors move to the back of the room…..

Integrity adds stability …..

Integrity never leaves that greasy snake oil salesman feeling…..

Integrity is the complete essence of soundness……

Def #3. The quality or condition of being whole or undivided; completeness

There is no such thing as broken integrity….

There is no such thing as integrity challenged….

For challenged and broken integrity is not integrity at all….

Integrity is found in a whole person….

Integrity is found in an undivided person…..

Integrity is found in a complete person…..

Broken persons are incapable of integrity…..

One must understand……

When one lacks integrity in a single area of life, he lacks it in every area of life…..

Proverbs 16:11 A just weight and balance are the Lord 's:  all the weights of the bag are his work.

Consider the old weight and balances of the past….

Standard size weight placed on one side and the item sold would be weighed against the standardized weight…..

Crooked merchants were known to have crooked weights, thereby appearing to be honest and selling a fair product but in all reality, they cheated just a bit and most times it appeared they got by….

But the just weight and balance are the Lord’s…..

When integrity is breached, quite obviously the Lord’s balance and weights are not used….

Regardless how much one declares the soundness of the weights….

Remember….

All the weights in the Lord’s bag are just….

Therefore….

When tempted to lie…..

When tempted to cheat……

When tempted to set aside morals…..

Place yourself on the scale….

Place the Lord on the other side……

When He is on the other side…..

Lies, cheatings, moral challenges can never be on the other side of the scale…..

This is true of the visible temptations and sins of life….

But never forget….

The integrity moments of life may well remain unseen by mortal man….

But God knows….

We may fool ourselves….

We may fool those around us….

But we can never fool God….

Seniors…..

I send you from CCS with a single word, I hope you never forget…….

Integrity……

With integrity, nothing else matters;  Without integrity, nothing else matters…..

Pentecostal Pick-A-Part Pastors

My friend and his church are in crisis right now…..

The actions of others prompts this blog…..

If you are a minister and read this, please take it to heart…..

If not, then pray for your pastor that he not cannibalize another Pastor while he is in crisis…..

Scenario…..

Church in crisis…..

Pastor in crisis…….

Hence the good saints feel the unsettled, uncertain feeling the enemy loves to send in when he attempts to divide and conquer…..

Sadly….

Some of his best employees are Pentecostal Pick-A-Part Pastors……

The more sensitive caring and Godly (tongue firmly in cheek) pastors have an uncanny knack for sensing crisis in another church or ministry…….

They then employ soothing beguiling communication to the members of the church in crisis…..

No, not to all of them…..

But to those who are more connected or effected by the current crisis…..

They FaceBook them…..

They friend them……

They make sure invites and updates of their activities conveniently appear in the stream or news feed of these folks…..

These Pentecostal Pick-A-Part Pastors know just how and when to gently and ethically cherry pick the members from the crisis church…..

And it all seems so spiritual…..

I knew one Pentecostal Pick-A-Part Pastor who cherry picked a couple of families form a church in crisis who unbeknownst to him had been involved with each other sexually just a few days before…..

When the Pentecostal Pick-A-Part Pastor posted pics of FaceBook of the two families in his praise team just a couple of weeks after everything had gone down one could only chuckle…..

I know of one family invited to a Pentecostal Pick-A-Part Pastor’s home on consecutive years for festive celebrations and then the family was picked…..

The horror stories can go on and on…..

Oh….

Don’t take the high road and say you were saving the poor underfed sheep…..

Naaaaaa……….

Please understand…..

Some pastors harvest….

Others glean….

Harvesters, plow, plant, weed, establish and then in due season reap harvest….

Gleaners don’t, plow, plant, weed, establish but in due season they gather up what the other guy harvested……

Pentecostal Pick-A-Part Pastors should be very careful……

For I think the three basic sins of the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life kick into their marketing plan for their churches…..

The lust of the flesh not so much so….

But the lust of the eye…

Absolutely……

They want the other guys harvest in their barn……

The pride of life…..

Absolutely……

They look at you with innocence and big eyes and say things like…..

God is sending us seasoned saints…..

God is sending us established people……

Don’t fool yourself my good friend……

Those seasoned folks were in a place that was in crisis…..

When they were cherry picked away by a Pentecostal Pick-A-Part Pastor……

Picked away from a man in crisis….

Picked away from a church in crisis….

Effectively weakening him…..

But in all reality….

Strengthening him…….

Pastor….

Has your church ever been in crisis?

What if your few had been picked by a gold digging Pentecostal Pick-A-Part Pastor…..

I observed this weekend a fair gathering of saints and ministers…..

There were two or three harvesters……

There were three or four gleaners, working the edges and trolling for potential pickable Pentecostal prospects…..

Shame on them…..

Shame on any man who delights in the demise or crisis of his brother……

I see what is happening to my friend……

Righteous indignation rises up in me…….

But I know…..

Those picked will be picked again……

Gleaning only keeps those lesser folks from starvation…..

That harvester knows that in due season, his barn will fill again……

So he continues with joy…….

However the gleaner must continue to keep an eye out for just the right moment to glean his next meager mill……

Pentecostal Pick-A-Part Pastors fly high for a while…..

Gamalial said to leave such things alone for they come to naught on their own……

Dear saint…..

Do yourself and your family a favor…..

When you church finds itself in crisis……

When you pastor finds himself in crisis……

Lock in…..

Be faithful……

Be loyal…….

Be loyal to the man who was loyal to you…..

Be faithful and support that pastor and church who were good enough to pray you through and get your life cleaned up…..

If you allow yourself to be picked off…..

You will soon find…..

Pentecostal Pick-A-Part Pastors have more flaws than that pastor you used to have but was in crisis mode when the feed bucket got hung over the fence and the gate unlatched so you would just kinda wander over and hook up with other Picked Pentecostal People……

Beware……

The man and church who prayed you through are way more qualified to save you than the people picking pastor that looks so good on the surface…..

On this one you can indeed trust me….

I will pray for you……

rks

My Church

I Love My Church….

If you have visited out church website you saw a slide on the homepage with the previous statement…..

We began a capital campaign a while back and called it…..

I Love My Church…..

Oh and I do……

I say My Church, please understand I own nothing there…..

Tis not my building, not my saints, not me young people, not my music program…..

All that belongs to God……

When I say My Church I reference the fact that along with the great family there….

I too choose to worship there…..

Therefore it becomes My Church because it is My Church……

Oh, CUPC is no different from most other churches……

We got our saints…..

We got our aint’s…….

We got our faithful……

We got the other kind too……

We even got a few very Christlike members……

They may come today and then again they may not…….

But, I Love My Church……

We have seen miraculous unfolding over the years……

We have prayed hundreds through, maybe thousands…..

We have seen folks come….

We have seen far too many folks go…….

Those choosing to leave us had their reasons that I fault not…..

I have learned this simple truth…..

Some folks couldn’t stay if they wanted too….

Others….

Couldn’t leave……

And those are the ones I blog about this evening…..

The people who absolutely could not leave……

The CUPC family was incredible during our recent loss of Annaleigh……

Many gathered at the Conroe hospital…..

Many gathered at the church…..

Bunches made the trek to the Houston hospital……

These people were incredible…..

The called the a/c guy, the lawn guy, the paint guy, they aerobic guy to my house……

They fixed leaky faucets, changed light bulbs, swapped out toilet seats, did laundry….

Had a professional cleaning crew of 6 at my house at 5 a.m……..

They fed us….

They wept with us……

They treated us way better than we ever deserve…….

They have been faithful……

The kind of people that couldn’t leave if they wanted too are the kind you find at CUPC today…….

I am one of those kind…..

I couldn’t leave if I wanted too……

These people have loved me…..

They have loved my family……

They have cared for us in indescribable fashion……

My Church is the best…..

My Church serves and loves the community…..

Oh, we have not built a country club atmosphere……

We insist on outreach…..

I expect the lost every week…..

I drive a bus every Sunday morning…..

I figure the best way to keep folks in the harvest it to be there myself…..

We don’t have a country club, user friendly, felt needs atmosphere……

But we do have Holy Ghost every week…..

My Church knows how to love…..

My Church knows how to sacrifice……..

My Church knows how to worship……..

My Church knows how to love their pastor and family……

But My Church loves little scraggly bus kids the same way…….

My Church has spent hours, weeks, months & years in prayer with me seeking the face of the Lord…….

Today I salute the incredible family of believers that worship with me at My Church…..

They are not mine……

I am theirs……

For they hold my heart in their hands…….

rks