Seasons

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 

It’s graduation season, it’s the season when we celebrate the accomplishments of our family and friends. We have four graduations at our house this year. Our oldest daughter Meghan is graduating from Rhema Bible Training Center today so our family is in Tulsa today to celebrate her accomplishment. She’s been school for the last eighteen years, and I’m guessing that she’s ready for this next season. Annie, daughter number two graduated last week from Spring Arbor University. She’ll be home for the summer and then she too is heading down to Tulsa to attend Rhema next fall. Our son Luke finished his second year at Western Michigan University but is also graduating from his first year as a member of our Epic Commission discipleship program as well as his first year of our Epic School of Ministry. Finally, our baby Eric is graduating from High School in a few weeks. Then on top of that we are moving into a new home after ten years of living at the same address. So the Jones’s are experiencing a whirlwind of seasonal change. How about you?

 This text is a reminder to all of us that seasons are a part of life. There are seasons of sowing and seasons of reaping. Seasons for taking risks and seasons for experiencing the rewards that accompany them. There are dry seasons, and there are rainy seasons. One thing is certain though—God is working through every season we experience. So if you’re in a tough season right now, don’t give up. Maybe it’s just a time for you to hunker down, dig in, and set your sights on Jesus and the new season that’s just beyond the horizon.

For those of you graduating this year, you have been in a long season of gathering knowledge. A season of being stretched, pulled and pushed beyond what you thought was possible. But you finished, you stuck it out, you got your degree. Now you are facing a new season. A season to take those things that you’ve learned and begin to apply this new found knowledge in every day practical ways. So here’s today’s word of encouragement for you. The same God who was with you in your past season will be with you in this new season. Did you know that He’s been preparing you for this new season all along? Of course He has, He’s the God of every season, so you’ve got nothing to fear. In fact He’s ready to do a new thing in you and through you in this next season.


“Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19

So get ready because God is about to blow the doors off of your self imposed limitations. It’s time to think big. It’s time to put away the old, and embrace the possibilities of the new. You’re moving from faith to faith, from glory to glory, and your best days are ahead. Remember with God all things are possible. So rejoice in your new season. It’s time for you to shine!

Listen and Obey

"Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God.” Deuteronomy 28:1-2

 Today’s text is both inspirational and instructional in nature. On the inspirational side, who wouldn’t want to have God set them on high and have His blessings overtake them? But, did you notice that God gives us some pretty clear instructions in terms of actually qualifying to receive those blessings? The key is found in just one word—a big one, “if”. If we will listen and if we will obey, the blessings come, if we don’t, they don’t. Pretty simple, huh? Our ability to receive these promised blessings from God requires our willingness to diligently obey the voice of the Lord. There are a lot of voices in our world that are daily trying to influence us. Advertisers have a voice, our friends and family’s have voices, and even popular opinion has a voice. But those voices are always changing. The voice of what’s in and what’s not, what’s today and what is so yesterday. Aren’t you glad that God’s Word never changes?

“Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.” Psalm 119:89 

 While these voices may speak to us, we need to establish ourselves firmly on the ONE voice that will see our through our whole life—The Word of God. God’s voice should always have preeminence in our lives because His voice never changes. We can always take Him at His Word. His voice in our lives is not moved by current culture or by popular opinion. He is the Lord and He doesn’t change. Do you remember what He said in Malachi 3:6, “I am the Lord I change not…” God’s positions on life and social issues don’t evolve; they stay the same, because He stays the same. We can place our trust in Him.

"God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” Numbers 23:19 

 Finally it’s important to note, that we’re required to do more than just hear the word of God, we are to obey it. In other words, we’re not to debate it, massage it, manipulate it, nor are we to try to adjust it to fit the times. We’re to obey it, period! We don’t ask God to adjust His Word to fit us; we adjust our lives to fit His Word. We don’t have an option, either we build our lives upon the truth of God’s word or we don’t. There is no middle ground, no room to compromise, only obedience. But because we’ve chosen to listen and obey, our faith is now under attack. Because of our love for God and His Word we are called haters, bigots, intolerant, or even simply minded. So let’s make our stand upon the Word of God. Let’s stay strong in our trust in the truth we find within its pages. Let’s continue to diligently obey the voice of the Lord our God.

Rock Solid

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” Matthew 7:24-27

 I’m more and more convinced that our lives need to be built upon God’s unchanging word. Doesn’t it seem like the world around us is always moving, it’s always shifting and always changing? When our kids were very young I taught them the multiplication table. I did it because I wanted them to learn that there are very few things in this world that you can always count on. Please excuse the pun, get it—count on? You see math isn’t open to new views, opposing theories or the winds of change. It’s always the same—two times two always equals four, eight times eight always equals sixty-four, you can bank on it. Did you know that you can bank on God, and His word even more, because He never ever changes. Storms will come and go, but God will never ever change.

 In the above text Jesus describes two types of people. He calls one of them wise, and the other foolish. The wise man builds his life upon God and His word, the rock. The foolish chooses to build his life upon the circumstances of life, the sand. When the storms came only one house stood the test. One house weathered the storm, while the other was crushed by the very same conditions. You see the same storm come to both the wise and the foolish, but success or failure depends on what we build our lives upon. Chances are you may be facing a storm or two right now. Storms happen to the best of us. So I just want to remind you that you can weather every storm if you’ll keep your eyes on the One who never changes.

Remember the promise in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus IS the same yesterday, today and forever.” Listen God loves you, He’s got your back, He’s there to help. So don’t give up, don’t quit, don’t run, don’t throw in the towel. You can make it, you can stand on His promises. His word will never fail. Your house will stand in Jesus’ Name.

Your Most Valuable Possession

"Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days." Ephesians 5:6 The Message Bible

Did you know that your most valuable possession is your time? God is reminding us here in today’s text that we should, on purpose, make the most of our time by doing good. So what’s good, and what’s not so good? That’s the million-dollar question, because each of us has been given the exact amount of time each day. We are each given the same 24 hours each day to either spend it, kill it, waste it, or invest it. So what exactly are you doing with your time?

It seems like we can focus our use of time in one of two primary ways. We can spent our time in temporary things, which usually keeps our focus on ourselves—or we can invest our time in doing eternal things which helps to keep our focus on God and others. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that everything we do has an eternal significance. For instance, I’m not sure driving motorcycles has any great eternal value, but it sure gives me temporary pleasure. But again, riding motorcycles is just a small portion of my life.

This past Wednesday night we took over 100 of our church leaders out for a nice dinner to cast some vision about the future of our church. We challenged this group of high-capacity leaders to consider investing a little more of their time in fulfilling some very specific leadership positions in our ministry. We didn’t ask them to leave their jobs, but simply invest a little more time each week into things that make an eternal difference.

Why are we talking about this today? Well, it’s because I want to ask you this simple question—what are you investing your most valuable possession in? What could God do through you if you were willing to refocus and repurpose a little more of your time each week to do things of eternal value? What kind of good could come through it? Jesus was quite aware of the limited amount of time that He had on this earth, but He focused on eternal things that resulted in much good in the lives of others.

“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” Acts 10:38 NKJV

So today, how about making this issue a matter of prayer. Let’s ask the Lord to help us see ways that we can invest a little bit more of our time in doing things of eternal value that bring a little more good to the world around us.

Let's do it!

Sons & Daughters

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God. That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.” Acts 2:17

This week my wife Beth has been writing a series of devotionals titled, “Are You A Spiritual Teenager?”. She’s been drawing a great parallel between our natural and spiritual teenage years. Reading her devotionals got me thinking of our own kids. So, today I am writing them an open letter:

Dear Meghan, Annie, Luke & Eric:

You didn’t get to vote on the type of home you grew up in because I’m guessing that you would of have passed on growing up under the microscope of being a “Pastor’s Kid”. It’s really not fair for any kid to be placed under that kind of pressure, but God choose you because He knew you could handle it. He knew that you would be up for the task and He knew that you would flourish as a PK.

I know that Mom and I probably don’t thank you enough for what we, and the Lord, put you through all these years, but we are very grateful for your willingness to go with the flow of a life in ministry. Most PK’s grow up with just one of their parents in ministry but you were blessed with a double-dip. But, you learned to navigate it the best you could.

So here are a few things that we’d like to thank you for:

- Thank you for the dozens of times when you had to fall asleep in a booth at Applebee’s because we were talking to our visiting ministry friends after a long service. Those times of refreshing with our ministry peers were so important for Mom and I, so thanks for not making a fuss about it.

- Thank you for being willing to attend hundreds and hundreds of more services that anyone else at the church. You been in more services than even our staff members. And again, you’ve never complained, never gripped, even though we’re pretty sure that you did play sick a few times.

- Thank you for being engaged every time your Mom or I ministered. Even though we were your parents you choose to allow us to be your pastors, and that was huge and such a great example for your friends to see. Thanks too for letting us use you as sermon illustrations. I know we usually asked you for permission before doing it, but sometimes stories just slipped out.

- Thank you for thinking that your church was cool and never fighting us about serving in God’s house. You were always willing to serve wherever we needed help. Is that just because you didn’t want to hear the message for a fourth time?

- Thank you for all the times you allowed us to focus on the care of our church family even though it seemed like maybe we took our eyes off of you. Just so you know, you never left our hearts, no matter what we were dealing with. You were always always always Number One with us and you always will be.

- Thank you for standing with us through fund raising campaigns, building projects, and through all the changes and seasons of church life. When others bailed on us, you were there. When other criticized us, you stood up and stood there with us. Through thick and thin, you always had our backs. You’ll never know how much that meant to us.

- Finally thank you for being followers of Jesus Christ. He means everything to your Mom and I and we are so grateful for the very unique and personal relationships that you have with Him. Thank you for being so passionate about following His plan for your lives. While we’ve done our best to stay out of the way, you each have learned to develop a love and passion for God and His house that humbles us. Thank you for being sold out to Jesus and for giving Him your lives.

We love you, and we’re proud of you!

Our church like many others across the country are in a shift as we navigate passing of the batons of leadership to this next generation. Here is a great article by Dr. Warren Bird from the Leadership Network that highlights what’s happening at our church. Hope you enjoy it: http://leadnet.org/resources/advance/3240

What's So Good About Good Friday?

"Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you--unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

Have you ever wondered, what’s so good about Good Friday? As you know Christians around the world use this term Good Friday to remind them of the day that Jesus was crucified. It’s a very special day because without the crucifixion there would be no resurrection, and without the resurrection there would be no Christianity. You see without this day there would be no third day.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the very foundation of our faith. To a Christian, the most significant day in history is the day that Jesus rose from the dead, having conquered death, hell and the grave. But without His death there could be no resurrection from the dead, which is why Good Friday is so important. Jesus talked quite a bit about his death and his resurrection throughout the gospels. Here are just three examples from Matthew’s Gospel:

From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised the third day. Matthew 16:21

Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful. Matthew 17:22-23

Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day HE will rise again. Matthew 20:17-19

Did you notice that each time Jesus referred to His death He also, in the same breath, referred to His resurrection from the dead? Why is that? Well it’s simple; He knew His mission was not to be a martyr, but our Messiah, the One who would lead us back into our relationship with God as our LIVING Savior!

It reminds me of an old Bill Gaither song-

God sent His son, they called him Jesus;
He came to love, heal and forgive,
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there is to prove my Savior lives!

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living, just because He lives!

That my friends is the Gospel message—Jesus died but now He is alive! But He didn’t die alone. He took our sins, our sorrows, our pains to the cross and then to the grave and they all died with Him. And because all those things died with Him we can now live with Him—forgiven and free to live the life that God always intended for us.

That’s what makes Good Friday so good.

In Him-

Jeff

A Balanced Life

"Beloved, I pray that you may prosper and be in health, just as your soul prospers." 3 John 2 How are you doing? Does your life ever feel a little out of balance? Have things been out of sorts for you lately? Chances are you’d see some real positive change if you were able to introduce a little balance in your life. That’s one of the reasons that today’s text has always been one of my favorites, because it speaks of balance. Of all the things the Apostle John could be praying about for his friends, he prayed that they would have a healthy balance. He desired that they prospered in every area of their lives—spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally. So, what does it mean to prosper in these areas? Well, the word “prosper” just means, “to have a successful journey.” I like to define a successful journey as one that gets you to where you want to go. It’s as simple as that. So let’s look at these areas and see how we’re doing: #1 Spiritually A balanced life, spiritually, is one where you are comfortable in your spiritual skin. You know who you are in Christ. Your faith isn’t a great theory but it actually changes how you approach life’s challenges and opportunities. You are growing in your relationship with the Lord. You are spending time reading the Bible, time in prayer and you are active in your local church. Faith in Jesus Christ isn’t expressed once a week on a Sunday morning for an hour or two; it’s expressed throughout your life in lots of different ways. That’s balance. #2 Physically It seems like a lot of us need to look no further than this one to get ourselves back into balance. Many of us push too hard for too long and wonder why we’re exhausted or burned out. Eating right, exercising, getting a proper amount of rest are not an option, or a ‘someday’ thing. They are important disciplines that we need to incorporate into our everyday lives. But don’t go crazy and declare a fast, trying to lose a ton of weight in 21 days, when really all you need to do is cut out desserts and snacks and slowly watch your weight get to where you want it. Don’t try to go run a marathon when you really should just go for a walk after dinner every night. Ever tried to start an exercise program and way overdo it to the point you can hardly get out of bed the next day? I have. Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt and the BENGAY. Do you get the picture? Just eat a little less, exercise a little more, and get to bed earlier. That’s balan ce. #3 Mentally We live in an age where learning about anything is just a click or two away. There is just so much to learn and so many ways to stimulate our thinking. If we’re ever going to be balanced then we have got to always be growing mentally. What have you been reading lately? What have you been studying and learning about? Have things gotten a little stale in the part of you that sits between your ears—your brain? I know that science teaches us that we are losing brain cells everyday but the Bible says that we have the mind of Christ. And no matter how many cells we lose, we’ll have plenty to use for a lifetime – that is, if we’ll use them. Do you know that you can exercise your brain? Sure, it’s called thinking. Just like weights can build and strengthen your biceps; thinking will build and strengthen your brain. So study, think and work your brain. Come on baby, there’s more to life than the History Channel. Maybe it’s time to go back and finish your degree, learn a new language, take up a new hobby? Whatever you choose, work yourself and exercise your brain. You’re never too old to learn something new. That’s balance. #4 Emotionally This is probably one of the biggest things that get us out of balance. In Proverbs 23:7 it says, “…as he thinks in his heart so is he.” Man is it ever important to think right, because what we think about will control our emotions. I don’t know about you but I would rather be happy than sad. I’d rather be up than down, stress free than stressed out. I love what the Apostle Paul told King Agrippa in Acts 26:2, “I think myself happy….” Here’s a guy in a heap of trouble and he controls his emotions by thinking himself happy. That’s some pretty good advice. So, what are you doing to fill up your joy tank? Are you setting aside some time to hang out with good friends and to laugh a little? Are you tapping into the peace of God that passes all understanding? If you aren’t, then why aren’t you? Find stuff to do that brings you emotional satisfaction. For me it’s riding motorcycles…must be why I have to always clean the bugs off my teeth. Now that’s balance. I pray today that you find the balance you need to have a successful journey spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally. That’s a balanced life.