Back 2 Basics

Last week I was given the awesome opportunity to preach at our local church. It is not the first time, hopefully won’t be the last, but it was one of the most challenging times for me personally to share a message. I could not have imagined how powerfully God would stir up things that he has been building in me, and yet as sure as brain freeze from a slushy, God had a plan. For years I have worked jobs I did not feel were relevant to my purpose, and for years my wonderful wife has patiently whispered, “Gods training you for something great!” Ok, so yes at times she has literally had to yell it at me, because I suffer from thick head syndrome. It’s like I have been looking at the whole puzzle in disappointment thinking that the pieces are completely missing, or maybe I got the wrong box; all the while holding the exact next piece in my hand. When I came to Christ, broken and ashamed of whom I was, he ignited a passion in me immediately to tell others about His forgiveness. For years I let that passion lead me to the ends of the earth, knowing that my place was out there among the lost. I never really fit in church, and honestly a lot of my closest friends aren’t Christians. I’m not the typical American, I mean I know we need money to pay our bills and “live,” but in general I feel that even that is a lie. How much faith does it take to believe that God will provide when I know I earn X dollars per year and these are my expenses? I am not saying money is “evil,” but it may at times hinder our faith in God and set other “gods” up as the object of our faith. So this opportunity to preach took me back to my beginning, or should I say the beginning of Christ in me. I came to Christ when I came to an understanding that the foundation of Christian living was not how much I knew about scripture, but instead how much I could trust in Christ and how able he is to forgive, even me. There is an old hymn my Grandmother sang and I grew up singing in church, though I did not understand it. “It only takes a spark to get a fire going And soon all those around will warm up in its glowing That’s how it is with God’s love Once you've experienced it You want to sing Its fresh like Spring You want to pass it on!” I have to ask myself some simple questions What am I doing with that spark? Have I forgotten the warmth that I was so passionately compelled to share? I cannot ignore the fact that God has a great purpose for every one of us; to display His glory to the rest of mankind. I have been a coward at times and hidden from this high calling that is placed on every person that finds themselves burdened by the name “little Christ.” We have painted this beautiful landscape with rolling hills and low hanging fruit, and we deemed this worthless portrait “The Christian Life.” And so the world now has no clue how such a loving God could allow suffering and loss, when in fact it is one of the only things we are promised when we FOLLOW after Christ. Check out: John 12:23-26, 1 Peter 2:21 So as I prepared a message on the fundamentals of a relationship with God, I looked up from the bottom of the pit of American dreams realizing I had willingly walked right off the cliff, and left the basics of who Christ has called me to be. Start Climbing, the dream is worthless and the pit is dry! Colossians 1:27 “Christ in you, the hope of Glory.” Read Pray Listen Worship