jumpingjersey

Life · Ministry · Faith

Tag: life (Page 2 of 2)

Are you successful?

May 12, 2015 /

success_2

Today’s post comes from the book Home Run by Kevin Myers and John Maxwell. Early in the book John offers this perspective on success:

I believe God desires for us to be successful. But I believe God’s definition of success is different from the world’s. To be successful, we don’t need to be rich. We don’t need to be famous. We don’t even need to be happy. Success is . . .

Knowing God and His purpose for our lives,
Growing to reach our maximum potential, and
Sowing seeds that benefit others.

That’s the kind of success anyone can achieve, God being their helper.

 

What do you think? How are you defining success?

 

Pastor Stephen

 

—

Source:

Myers, Kevin A., and John C. Maxwell. Home Run: learn God’s game plan for life and leadership. New York: FaithWords, 2014. Pg. 19.

Finding Life in The Body

February 10, 2015 /

It's the Body

Dear Friends,

Sometimes it feels like being a Christian would be a whole lot easier if it weren’t for all these people. In the book of 1 Corinthians Paul would write to a group of young Christians trying to understand how they fit into the larger scheme of faith:

“The body is a unity, though it is made up of many parts; and though all of its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink” (12:12-13, NIV).

As a North American Christian I read these words and I picture myself as an independent individual joining with other independents to work together for a common cause. The focus is on what I bring to the Body.

I believe, though, we would do well to not see ourselves as individual wholes but to see ourselves as cells in the body. The function of cells in the human body is fascinating. Cells are the basic building blocks of life. Each cell has a specific function and purpose in the body. But each cell is only able to carry out its purpose in unity with other cells. Cells are unable to live on their own outside the body. The body is unable to live without cells.

There are times when cells attempt to function as independent of the body. We call them parasites and cancers. When they do so, and are allowed to persist, they will ultimately kill the very body from which it is gaining its own life, even though it tries to live as though it does not need the body.

The applications to us as people part of the church we call The Body of Christ are many.

When I say that I can worship God on my own. I am like a cell attempting to live outside of the body. I can survive only for a moment and the body is weaker for my death. Maturing in faith includes learning that life is found in the Body and the life of the Body depends on my serving my function as a cell in the Body.

But this is not just about individual persons. We can easily expand our understanding of the Body further. When one church attacks another, we attack the Body. It is a hand trying to cut off a foot. We fail to realize the cutting off of the foot may result in the death of the hand as well.

When we in North America view our way of doing church as central and treat Christians in other countries and cultures as less important. It is as if the foot is trying to cut out the knee. We miss that our life and health needs and is dependent on the other parts of the Body.

What are your thoughts? Have there been times when you were tempted to try and live separate from the Body? How does seeing yourself as a cell in the Body change the way you participate in your local church? Share your comments below or on Facebook.

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

 

P.S. This week’s Milk Can is part of a series we are undertaking at Hope using the book, Soul Shift: The Measure of a Life Transformed by Steve DeNeff and David Drury. I highly recommend this book. We are drilling down over the next few weeks on the shift from Me to We.

 

When generations clash

February 3, 2015 /

generations

When generations clash the younger one always wins . . . eventually. It is a simple fact of life and death. Now matter how great the fight put up by the older generation, the younger will always outlive it. So those of us who come before are left with a choice. We can choose to build systems and structures for ourselves or those for the generations that follow. We get to choose whether we will build legacies that must be torn down by the generations that follow us or legacies which are a solid foundation on which they can build.

It’s our choice. What choice are we going to make?

Its All Been Done Before

September 2, 2014 /

Dear Friends,

Not too long ago a commercial for an insurance company told us in the 120 years that had passed since the company was founded they have survived, a Great Depression, 26 recessions, and 21 Presidents. Therefore, we should trust them with our money.

According to my own research, over the same time, there have been at least 250 different wars not to count all of the armed conflicts that never rose to the level of “war.”

The truth is it has all happened before. My own community has just been through a teacher’s strike. It is not the first time employees have been on strike and it will not be the last. Good or bad communities are divided and united every day.

Paul says to us ”. . . I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:11-13, NIV).Barb Wire

Being people of the Kingdom of God means finding our contentment and security in something other than our present circumstances. It means finding them in Christ alone and that means having a long-term view of life. A view of life that sees everything through the lens of the eternal Kingdom of God.

If we live our lives with only a short term view of circumstances we can become overwhelmed by the events on the world stage and in our own communities. We can allow anxiety about tomorrow to cripple us.

Being content is an active choice. We can choose to be content regardless of our circumstances. Contentment makes us available for whatever God has for us. Whether it is prosperity or sitting in a prison cell.

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

 

Dying on Field

May 27, 2014 /

Dear Friends,

Last week I opened the topic of our citizenship as people of God’s Kingdom. Today I continue these thoughts.

Missionary Graves

Wesleyan Missionary Graveyard in Sierra Leone

Missions has change a lot in the past hundred plus years. There was a time when missionaries boarded ships to head to distant lands knowing they would probably never return to the land of their birth. The symbol of this commitment was what they choose to pack their stuff in. Not a suit case or steamer trunk but a coffin. The pioneers walked away from the privilege and position of their home countries to unite with peoples across the oceans. This is the kind of commitment Paul is speaking of the profound mystery of Christ and the church (read last week’s Milk Can).

Today it is rare for a missionary to die “on field.” Terms and length of commitments have gotten shorter and shorter. Missionaries enjoy phone calls, e-mail, and even the ability to Skype with family. Today one can be a missionary without ever leaving and cleaving to a new people. While this has opened missionary work to many who would never have gone, it can dilute the true depth of Christ’s call onto the life of everyone who calls themselves a Christian. As the German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer says in his book The Cost of Discipleship, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

One does not have to go to foreign lands to follow Christ. For many, a generation ago, the call to leave and cleave meant joining those in the Civil Rights Movement. They marched alongside their African American neighbors and boarded Freedom Buses to lay down their lives to battle injustice.

Today many are being called to identify with and carry the burden of the immigrant in our own nation. Simultaneously giving up and using their position, power and prestige to care for their neighbor. More on the work of our own denomination can be found here: http://www.wesleyan.org/1045/faq-on-immigrants-and-immigration-questions-and-answers

Bonhoeffer would also say being a Christian is about “. . . courageously and actively doing God’s will.” Many times I have prayed those words at the end of The Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” What if God intends to answer that prayer through you and I? What is God’s will courageously and actively calling you to?

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

Does He still move stones?

April 20, 2014 /

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.
(Mark 16:1-4, NIV)

The women came to the tomb to complete the burial process on Jesus’ body. There was just one problem. A large stone stood between them and what they were to do. It was an impossible dilemma for the women. Or, at least, so they thought.

When they came to the tomb they found the stone rolled away. They also found out that the task they thought they came to complete was really something very different. They did not come to this tomb to prepare a body, they came to this tomb to witness and declare a resurrection.

This week, I was asked a question, “Does God still move stones?” I will admit the first thought that came to my mind was kidney stones . . . yes; my mind works that way some times. Once my mind came back to the actual question I was asked I started to think about what the stones in our life might be that he would move. I think the stones are impossible, immovable situations in our life. As much as we may push, scratch, claw, hammer, and chip away at it, we cannot move the stone. We are stuck in our tombs. We are unable to do what we are to do and unable to reach Jesus.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” We quickly miss that Jesus said this before he was raised from the dead. Resurrection and life are part of his very character and identity. They describe, in some way, who he is and not just what he experienced.

Jesus is our resurrection and life. Moving stones is part of his very character and being. Whatever the impossible situation in your life is, he can roll the stone away and say to you, “Come out!”

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

 

 

Listen to the Music

June 15, 2013 /

shopping

 

Hello Friends,

A few months ago I started a second job in a home improvement retail establishment. The purpose of the job is to eliminate once and for all the never-ending student loan debt and get on with life. Recently I posted the following Facebook status update regarding my experience in retail:

“The worst thing about working in retail is the incredibly depressing music played over and over and over and over and over and over and over . . .”

It doesn’t take me long at work before I really wish that idiot who sings “Cross my heart and hope to die . . .” would. Or the reason you don’t have a girl like Jessie’s girl is because it is just creepy to sing about wanting Jessie’s girl. No girl in her right mind would go near you.

Many of you, who also work in the retail world, agreed with my assessment of the audio work environment. Since my original post I have continued to reflect on the phenomenon of employee and customer torture used by retail establishments across the world and came to some revolutionary insights. Okay, maybe they aren’t that earth shattering, but it’s my post so I can call it what I want.

The first nugget of wisdom I discovered is a little equation you can use to determine the level of service you can anticipate receiving in any given retail store. It looks like this.

T+Y=S

Time (in minutes) at work plus the number of years employed equal the service level score.

Now that you know the service level score you can compare it to this chart and have a realistic expectation regarding the level of service you are going to receive the next time you go shopping.

 

S

Employee’s Response to your Question
0-14 Welcome to our store. How may I help you?
15-29 Hi. Yes, I can tell you where the item you want is located.
30-44 Do I look like I care about your problems?
45+ My name is Inigo Montonya… You killed my father. Prepare to die.

 

The obvious question is, “Why would a store do this to its employees knowing the incredibly poor service it produces?” The racket is played because, this may come as a shock to you, but retail stores exist for one reason: to sell stuff. Through years of research they have found the mix of music also has an effect on its customers. I am about to give you the secret code which will transform all future shopping experiences for you. Once you know the influence the music is having on you, you can take measures to protect yourself. Here is the equation:

(T-N)+Sq=R

Time in the store minus the number of items on your list plus the square footage of the store equals your level of resistance to buying stuff you don’t need.

 

R

Your Response When Offered Something to Buy
0-499 I am only going to buy what is on my list.
500-999 I will take three, just in case.
1000-1499 I don’t know what it is, but I have always wanted one. Do you have a pallet in the back? I want them all.
1500+ Yes, I would love to sign-up for a store credit card.

 

The truth is, our environment affects us. My mental, emotional, and spiritual state can be radically influenced by the content I allow into my life. When I allow negative influences in my life I become a negative person. When I allow positive influences I become hopeful person. Paul says to us in Romans, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (12:2, NIV). I am tempted to make excuses and say it is not really affecting me. Or, since I am a Christian, to say I have attained a level of spiritual maturity such that I am immune. What a bunch of . . .

Today, I want to challenge you to examine your life and find one area pumping negativity in your life and to cut it out for the next week and see the change in your life. It could be the evening news, a radio station, conspiracy theorist blogs, the barely dressed women of Fox News, or any number of other areas. Let’s stop pretending we are immune. We are not. And as Red Green says, “We are all in this together. I’m pulling for you.”

Blessings,
Stephen

Newer posts »

© 2024 jumpingjersey

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑