It's Me

On my train ride to work, I began reading a book entitled “Changing Lives through Preaching and Worship – 30 Strategies for Powerful Communication”. There is no one author for this book but many contributors. Great preachers/pastors/authors such as Gardner Taylor, Warren Wiersbe, Chuck Swindoll, Jack Hayford, Eugene Peterson, and many others.

I read part on Personality – Your Preaching is Unique written by Warren Wiersbe. As I read finished reading I had to pray and ask God to forgive me because at the end of 2010 I was extremely hard on myself in personal/private ministry. However, Warren Wiersbe’s writing has made think as well as repent for attitude and actions as it relates to my pulpit ministry. I want to post a few statements of pastor Wiersbe’s writing that has reshaped my thought process for the assignment I’ve been given.

The Difference a witness makes – page 7

A Christianity Today/Gallup Poll some years ago showed that ministers believe preaching is the number one priority of their ministries, but it’s also the one thing they feel least capable of doing well. What causes this insecure attitude toward preaching?
For one thing, we’ve forgotten what preaching really is. Phillips Brooks said it best: Preaching is the communicating of divine truth through human personality. The divine truth never changes; the human personality constantly changes—and this is what makes the message new and unique. – page 7

God prepares the person who prepares the message. Martin Luther said that prayer, meditation, and temptation made a preacher. Prayer and meditation will give you a sermon, but only temptation—the daily experience of life—can transform that sermon into a message. It’s the difference between the recipe and the meal.

The experiences we preachers go through are not accidents; they are appointments. They do not interrupt our studies; they are an essential part of our studies. Our personalities, our physical equipment, and even our handicaps are all part of the kind of ministry God wants us to have. He wants us to be witnesses as well as heralds.

The myth of “The Great Sermon” – page 9

As an itinerant Bible teacher, I know what it’s like to “hit a place and quit a place,” and I can assure you it is not easy. After thirty years of ministry, which included pastoring three churches, I’ve concluded it is much easier to preach to your own congregation week after week. You get to know them, and they get to know you. You’re not a visiting Christian celebrity, but a part of the family. It is this identification with the people that gives power and relevance to your preaching.
Accepting what we’re not – page 12

I learned very early in my ministry that I was not an evangelist. Although I’ve seen people come to Christ through my ministry, I’ve always felt I was a failure when it came to evangelism.
One of the few benefits of growing older is a better perspective. Now I’m learning that my teaching and writing ministries have enabled others to lead people to Christ, so my labors have not been in vain. But I’ve had my hours of discouragement and the feeling of failure.
God gives us the spiritual gifts he wants us to have; he puts us in the places he wants us to serve; and he gives the blessings he wants us to enjoy.

I am convinced of this, but this conviction is not an excuse for laziness or for barrenness of ministry. Knowing I am God’s man in God’s place of ministry has encouraged me to study harder and do my best work. When the harvests were lean, the assurance that God put me there helped to keep me going. When the battles raged and the storms blew, my secure refuge was “God put me here, and I will stay here until he tells me to go.”

A word from the Scottish preacher George Morrison has buoyed me up in many a storm: “Men who do their best always do more though they be haunted by the sense of failure. Be good and true; be patient; be undaunted. Leave your usefulness for God to estimate. He will see to it that you do not live in vain.”

My prayer: Father, forgive me for believing in my own accomplishments and ambitious expectations to determine Your usefulness for me. You’ve called, prepared, and predetermined my future. So Lord, help me to be disciplined personally to avoid those temptations that seek to destroy Your divine purpose for my life. Lord, help me to be disciplined in my study and prayer time to insure proper interpretation of Your Word to Your people that will foster life change. Lord, allow my worship to be filled with truth and spirit that will spring forth worship in the atmosphere of every worship service. I’m in Your hands do what You will as I remain faithful to You and my assignment. In Jesus name, Amen!

Looking Back

Looking Back

This past Thanksgiving, I shared in a combined worship service with Pastor Payne of Full Gospel Church and Pastor Severe of Cathedral of Praise Church. All three (3) pastors gave a 15 minute exhortation:

The Motivation of Thanksgiving – The Parable of The Ten Lepers – Pastor Severe

The Manner of Thanksgiving – 1 Thess 5:18 – Me

The Mandate of Thanksgiving – Psalms 100 – Pastor Payne

The service was high spirited and all three (3) exhortations were challenging as well as encouraging. However, I am stuck on what I believe to be a difficult exhortation in 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God through Christ Jesus concerning you”.

There is a follow-up question I believe to this exhortation; “Does the bible really mean give thanks in everything?” Let’s think about this for a moment:

- You go to the kitchen to find something to eat only to realize that there is nothing there. Do I walk away saying: “Lord, thank you that I have nothing to eat!”
- You go to the doctor for a checkup only to be called back in with some disappointing news that you only have 6 months to live. Do I walk away saying: “Lord, thank you that I’m about to die in six months!”
- You come into work on Monday morning only to be told that you’re services or no longer needed. Do I walk away saying: “Lord, thank you that now I’m unemployed!”
- Your marriage is headed to divorce court with no sign of reconciliation. Do I thank God that I’m about to be divorced?”

The point is simple yet difficult to understand and practice at times. Yes, the bible is clear that we should give thanks to God in everything because it’s His will for us to be thankful no matter what happens in our lives.

This year has not been the best of years for me. Bad choices, mistakes, complaining, and complacency blocked my ability to be thankful in all things. But when I look over the year, I realize I really do have much to be thankful for. In the midst of adversity, God has been good to me. In the midst of failures, God still watched over me. During a recession, God has been covering me and my family financially. With the loss of friends, God has removed some only to place new ones in my life. In the midst of ministry challenges, God still provides me the power/anointing to preach His word on weekly basis.

Yes, this has not been an ideal year for me but I am thankful. What about you!

Happy Thanksgiving

A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to 'clean up' the bird's vocabulary. Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even more rude. John, in desperation, threw up his hands, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer.

For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions.
I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior." John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird spoke-up, very softly, "May I ask what the turkey did?"

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you all!

The Joy of Ministry Partnership

In a few weeks it is my goal and desire to preach through the book of Philippians. Here is my homework of background analysis. I pray this study will be enriching for all who hears the messages.

Sermon Series Title: The Joy of Ministry Partnership

Sermon Series Thesis: The letter of Philippians shows that ministry is a joy when leader/people share the same passion in ministry.

Cross References that led to thesis conclusion:

1:5 - "I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now."

1:7 - "... All of you share in God's grace with me."

2:1 - "... if any fellowship with the Spirit...."

3:10 - "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings...."

4:14 - "Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles."

4:15 - "Not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only."

Philip. 2:1-30 (NKJV)
Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, [2] fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. [3] Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. [4] Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Author: Paul

Place of Writing: Rome

Overall of Letter: joy and fellowship

Occasion and Purposes

Paul's immediate concerns in writing this letter are:

1. To recommend to the Philippians one of their number, Epaphroditus, who had come to help him in prison, but had fallen ill and was being sent home.
2. To let the concerned Philippians know about the current state of Paul's welfare.
3. To prevent the Judaizers from persuading the Philippian Christians to submit to circumcision.
4. To encourage the Philippian believers to quiet their dissention and be united.
   

Through the letter, however, Paul does much more than this. He provides the inspiration and encouragement of a friend, mentor, and fellow believer who finds Christ's strength and peace while struggling with opponents, anxiety, physical needs, and fear for his life. To see how a man, an apostle, meets obstacles and overcomes them in Christ, makes this letter very relevant for our day, too.

5000

I'm preparing a message on one of the most passages of scripture: "The Feeding of the 5000" in John 6:1-15. When preparing a message from a famous passage such as this is sometimes difficult because I begin to remember all the sermons, lessons, and illustration I've heard in time past. However, this particular study is becoming very enriching for me and I wanted to share some of my observations on the text thus far. Most of this information may never reach the sermon this week but it will soon or later.

• While a lot of attention is placed on the lad with a small lunch. The focused attention is not on the lad and his lunch but on what the disciple saw Jesus do with the lunch.
• The disciples learned from the miracle that God can be trusted with every care of the world, even hunger.
• The disciples learned that God cares about every detail of our lives: sickness, pain, and need
• The bread in Jesus' day was cheap food but for the people it was a gourmet meal. Don't complain about what God provides it may short circuit an even greater blessing. There was sufficient leftovers at the end of the miracle.
• This miracles teaches that a true is not an event but continuance. Jesus fed the 5000 and then sent them home satisfied and not empty handed
• "after these things ..." - this is the 4th miracle performed by Jesus. The disciples saw Him turn water to wine, raise a dead son, and heal a man at the pool of Bethseda who laid there for 38 years. Why is this significant? If we, Christians don't believe God's ability to do the impossible, who will.
• In Matthew, Mark, and Luke in their account of the miracle they mention "a lonely place". Why is it a lonely place with so many people there?
• The miracle is in the leftovers
• When following Jesus, He never sends you away empty handed
• "200 denarii isn't enough to feed so many people" is this a statement of good stewardship, being cheap or frugal, or recognizing reality?
• Lesson to learn: the reality of a situation can cloud your faith of the situation. When reality meets faith, faith will always when.
• God demands active participation when meeting the needs of others.
• Short on money, short on food, trust God He can still make it happen for you.
• Here's a biblical account of a 3 dimensional recession: physical - sick people in the crowd, spiritual - lack of faith, resources - not enough food or money.
• Life has many lessons and the best time to learn is when you're short on everything.
• Many people follow Jesus for all the wrong reasons but still get blessed. The text says "many followed Jesus because of the signs and wonders He performed"
• Was there anything significant about the ppl in the crowd of 5000? Yes, they were hungry.
• What dies the txt mean that Jesus had compassion?
• The difference between Jesus and the disciples in this story is that Jesus cared about the needs of others while the disciples wanted to send them away hungry.
• This story is truly a miracle but what can we learn practically from the miracle?
• This text also teaches us that the needs of people a great and too great for one person to handle.
• Spiritual bean counters are necessary in the work of the Lord. We should count the cost before moving ahead. There's really nothing wrong with bean counting.
• This text is also a lesson on vision. Vision will always exceed budget. However, God will make up the difference when the vision is in line with His will.
• "there's a lad here..." - a lad oftentimes refers to the age of person or even the maturity of person. The lesson to learn is God can use an immature person to be a blessing to the God's people.
• Jesus thought a plan through before asking how much money was in the account. True leadership thinks before it acts.
• This miracle has so many lessons to be learned:
  1. There's a lesson to be learned on faith2. There's a lesson to be learned on leadership3. There's a lesson to be learned on servanthood, sacrifice, stewardship4. There's a lesson on leadership and lay people relations5. There's a lesson on vision and church work6. There's a lesson on ministry and people relations
• The lad in his young age understood the significance of being actively involved in the ministry of meeting peoples needs. Don't count out what our young people understand about the ministry. Take what they have to offer no matter how small or large their contribution maybe. It's worth it!

This study was birth out of my message from last week on "Can We Live Again" from Ezekiel 37 the story of the valley of dry bones. Our church is faced with a huge monthly bill with few people resources resulting in few financial resources and all that goes along with it.

The feeding of the 5000 helps me as I remind myself of an observation in this passage:

Jesus teaches us a good lesson on leadership do not panik in what may seem as a stressful situation. Huge need to be met with little resources. God is able to make up the difference! And I believe it!

Can We Live Again - Ezekiel 37:1-14

As it were, the devil one day decided that he was going to have a yard sale and in this yard sale he would have for sale all of the weapons in his arsenal. And he would sale them to some sinister creature that would take his place. So he made the advertisement that his weapons were for sale.

Then one day walking up his drive way he saw a dark, hideous sinister creature looking at him and saying to him,” I want to be the next enemy of the world”.

The devil takes him through his yard sale and begins to show him all that he has for sale. As they begin to walk up and down the rows of tables they see on the tables weapons like
-covetousness
-lust
-worry
-envy

and as this dark sinister creature sees all of these things he says, “my goodness what wonderful and powerful tools these would be in my hands to stop the work of God in the earth and to keep the people of God from being what God would have them to be”.

But then the devil turns to this sinister creature with a smile on his face and says to him, “yes these weapons have been used wonderfully and yes of course they have accomplished the work that I have wanted them to do, but I want you to see the weapon I have used the most to bring down nations and to cause people to give up on serving God and to stop great things from happening in the world”.

As this sinister creature awaits wringing his hands anxiously to see what weapon that the devil is talking about, the devil reaches back in a corner and pulls out a weapon and written at the top of this weapon is the word, “DISCOURAGEMENT”.

The devil presents this weapon before him and says, “by this weapon I have toppled kingdoms, I have stopped people that were excited about the things of God and excited about serving God, I have stopped them dead in their tracks, by this weapon I have stopped people that have made a good start with God, I have made them to give up and lose hope and lose heart, by this weapon I have conquered and by this weapon I have overcome more than by any other weapon in my arsenal. And by this weapon you can well continue on the work that I have begun”.

I want to tell you, that the single greatest weapon that the devil has to use against the people of God is discouragement. The discouragement we see in the valley does not stem from the dry bones from a lack of faith that these bones can live again.

Picture the scene if you will, each Sunday, Ezekiel stands at the cliff of the valley opens his bible, reads his text, gives his topic of discussion, starts to proclaim the Word to silent, lifeless, and hopeless situation. He preaches hard each week, extends the invitation, and no one comes down the aisle. How discouraging can that be? And many of us pastors/preachers, we preach each week to dying and dead generation but no life has come. What do you do when it seems as if your work is non-productive? What do you when there's no life in a church and its members? What do you when you've tried everything possible and the bones don't come together? I'll tell what Ezekiel did, he stayed at the task he was assigned by God.

Many of us are discouraged in life personally and spiritually because we’re too busy looking at the condition of valley rather than the possibilities that can come out of the valley. Life would be so much better if we just learned to stop focusing on bad conditions and start focusing on the possibilities.

We must always keep in mind that, God specializes in breathing life into dead situations.

This may well be the devil’s weapon of choice, when we look at the lifeless valley but I declare what seems lifeless, dead, hopeless, and a waist of time is nothing more than an opportunity to see God work a miracle in our lives and church.

This text offers three (3) facts about the restoration life (Let me says also that these principles are universal. It applies to us individually but also to the church collectively):

I. The Power of God Restores Life – v. 1-3

The Prophet Ezekiel is taken to the valley of dry bones and God asks him the question: “Can these bones live?” God starts Ezekiel mission with the start of question just like Jesus did in John chapter 6 in the story of the feeding of 5000. In John chapter 6 Jesus asks His disciples; “Where shall we buy bread for these to eat?” However, the question was asked not because Jesus did not know what He was going to do. But He asks the disciples to test their in the midst of an impossible situation.

Understand church that before life can be restored, we must have the faith life can be restored. The hardest work in restoration is not the situation in and of itself but getting Christians to see the possibilities of life. I think there is another way of question the same question in a different way: “Do you believe there’s life in the valley?” Or, “Do you believe God can do anything?”

If you can’t get past this question, then that which is dead will remain dead no matter what you do.

(Footnote: Too many people in the church are working in the church but don’t believe that the church can live again.)

I like Ezekiel’s response the God’s question in v. 4: “O Lord God, You know.”

The Living Translation says: “Lord, you alone know the answer to that.”

Illustration: John 11: “The Raising of Lazarus from the Dead”

Point: God has the power to raise dead stuff.
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II. The Proclamation of God’s Word Restores Life – v. 4-7

Ezekiel preached a message of hope in a hopeless situation.

And that’s what preaching is all about, preaching a message of hope; “All is not lost.” Just because the valley looks dead doesn’t mean it has to stay that way.

If we’re going to see life being restored to the people of God and the church we must PREACH THE WORD. This text says that restoration starts with the preaching of God’s Word.

Point: The Word of God can change things.

Secondly, we must TRUST THE WORD OF GOD. It’s one thing to preach the Word of God but it’s a totally different thing to believe and trust that which is being preached.

Point: You can depend on God’s Word.
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III. The Promises of God Restores Life – v. 8-14

What does God promise when life is restored? God promises complete restoration.

God promises unity – v. 7-8

God promises strength – v. 10

God promises freedom – v. 11-13

Point: It’s not over until God says its over.

My Lil Blk Book

In 1995, I purchased a little black book (and no it's the little black that people think of for men). This was (and still is) a very important book to me. It's not a book filled with phone numbers. Instead, it is a book filled sermon, bible study, and conference notes over the years. I remember sitting in a preaching class with Pastor H B Charles and he challenged us to never go to the pulpit without pen and paper, especially when you're not preaching. It was his belief that preachers should never stop learning of which I agree. So later that day I went to Word of Life Bookstore here Los Angeles and purchased my first lil black book.

This past Sunday as I was preparing for church, I pulled it out of my desk and began to flip the pages. Man, this is some valuable information. I have notes of sermons, bible study lessons, and conferences from some of the greatest pulpit speakers of our day, pastors/preachers such as: my pastor Richard D Sanders, H.B Charles Jr, Kevin Willis, Maurice Watson, Ronald Saunders, Dr James Borror, Henry Brown, Kelly Taylor, Darnell Dyson, Anthony Thompson, Barry Severe, R.A Williams, Lance Mann, Reginald Payne, Bishop Noel Jones, and so many others. Man, what preaching. teaching, and conversations.

Many of these guys voices will cease when they leave from earth and into glory. Many of them will not be heard of on a national stage of media, television, internet, radio, newspaper, book writing, commentary work, or anything. But they are some good pulpiteers for all to hear.

I value this book because its been a source of invaluable information. Whenever I studied a difficult text this book was used as a commentary. When needing to provide advice to someone, this book has been a source of information. When stuck in a preaching drought, this book has helped me through (in other words, yes, I preached some of these sermons before). When discouraged, this book has been my encouragement. This book has also taught me not to judge another preacher's message. People may deliver a message like I do but that doesn't mean that it wasn't for me at that time. I've taken some of these notes and validated what was said in the pulpit is accurate in biblical intepretation . Not for judging purposes but for learning purposes.

The point is that as Christians, we should never stop learning. And I find that as a preacher, I'm still learning about God, His church, His people, myself, etc. I will soon purchase another lil black book as the pages of this book has been consumed.

I encourage you who's reading this blog to purchase yourself a lil black book and take good notes when in worship, bible study, or wherever/whenever you feel it necessary to learn.