“Inside the Mind” of Pastor Keith

Nothing Else Matters

Ξ July 16th, 2008 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Uncategorized |

Have you ever been at a place in life where you wished you were somewhere else?  What about wishing you WERE someone else, living someone else’s life?  I have, many times.  Today, as I was preparing for my sermon Sunday entitled “Nothing Else Matters”, I began thinking about that very thing.  It’s amazing to me how I can wish for one minute I was someone else living someone else’s life and the very next minute thinking with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat that I wouldn’t give anything for my life right now.  Ever been there?

I think about my incredible wife who is just flat out having a hard time right now with her health.  This woman in my life has always supported me and been there for me and struggled with me and has never once “demanded” that I change my way of life (as in being in ministry, because whether you believe me or not, ministry can be a pretty brutal place to be for a wife of a pastor).  Then I think about my daughter.  Ohhh, how I love that little girl.  When I think about her, I wonder how I could think about myself.  Because ultimately, when I entertain thoughts of living another person’s life, I am being selfish….we all are when we think like that.  If I didn’t have those two ladies in my life, I would go mad.

I know I’m ranting a little, but I was just curious to know if everyone has thoughts of that nature.  And yes, that is a rhetorical question, because I already know the answer…..YES!  We all have those types of thoughts.  Why?  Because of our selfish nature.  Our nature says me, me, me all the time, but we also have a different type of nature:  That of the spirit.  There is a constant battle going on within each of us that consists of two sides of our being fighting it out on a day to day basis for control of our life.  I think about the apostle Paul.  Paul, in my mind was a spiritual giant who was as close to perfect as you could get in his walk with Christ.  He was a man of prayer, a man who evangelized no matter the cost and a man of great character and integrity.  BUT…look what he says in Romans 7:14-25…”We know that the law is spiritual;  but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.  I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.l  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.  For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For what I do is not the good I want to do;  no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.  So I find this law at work:  When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;  but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.  What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

The words of Paul brings me some comfort.  Paul lived in submission to Jesus no matter what.  He was beaten, stoned, starved, shipwrecked, imprisoned, called a devil one day and the next a god, and ultimately killed for his faithfulness to the gospel.  Yet, in all this, he still considered himself wretched and seemed to deal with the same issues we deal with.  In verse 18, which sticks out to me the most, Paul says, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh;  for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.”  Isn’t that true for each of us?  I can want to do good, but then I can’t pull it off.  I can want to say the right things, but at the end of the day I kick myself for sticking my foot in my mouth.  Ever been there?  Sure you have, we all have.

This all boils down to one thing:  Self-Control.  We all have a lapse in self-control at one time or another.  The Greek word Enkrateia is translated “self-control.”  The stem is the term Kratos, which means strength or might.  Kratos is often translated “dominion.”  So Enkrateia is the ability to have dominion over one’s impulses or desires.  For example, if someone sets you off, if you take three seconds before responding, you are able to do a quick assessment of what the consequences may be.  You can ask yourself “would this action embarrass me?”  or “Will this ruin a relationship or friendship?”  Or better yet, “Will this get me punched in the mouth?” 

There is no greater example of self control than Jesus himself.  Have you ever noticed the number of times Jesus refused to use His power?  He refused to dazzle the people by jumping off the pinnacle of the temple in Matthew 4:5.  He rejected the temptation to make more “wonder bread” to validate his ministry in John 6:26.  He refused to do many wonderful works in his own hometown because of the unbelief of the people in Luke 4:16-27.  He said no to the Pharisees when they demanded He give a sign to prove He was the Messiah in Matthew 12:38.  At his arrest, Jesus said He could have summoned a whole army of angels but he did not in Matthew 26:53. 

I guess my underlying question is:  Do you and I really want to be like Christ?  If we do, we must, like Paul, refuse to surrender to the flesh, and surrender to the Spirit of God instead and let him have his way with you.  Why?  Because NOTHING ELSE MATTERS but your relationship with God.  Thanks for listening.  Feel free to respond with any thoughts you may have.

“Go To The Ant…”

Ξ July 8th, 2008 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Uncategorized |

I know the title of this blog post is kinda strange.  But today, I’ve been thinking about my place in the Kingdom of God.  I believe everyone goes through periods of wondering whether or not you really can make a difference in the world.  I personally don’t think God expects one person to win the entire world, but I do believe he expects you to attempt to win it.  Or, for better thought, attempt to win YOUR world.   Your world is that which is around you.  I believe it is a Christians duty everyday to make an impact on the world that revolves around you.  I don’t mean that phrase “the world that revolves around you” as an egotistical phrase, I mean it in terms of that which you are involved in and around.  ie..Your family, friends, co-workers and anyone else you may come in contact with on a day to day basis….That is YOUR world.

So, back to my thought.  Am I really making a difference in MY world?  Do I really have any significant place in the Kingdom of God, or is that significance withheld for people like Billy Graham and David Wilkerson?  Can I really make as much an impact as those two examples have?  Well, maybe and maybe not.  Those two men of God have a gigantic calling on their lives….but so do you.  Your calling may not be as commercialized (in a good way) as theirs, but you still have an important place in God’s work.

Proverbs 6:6 says, “Go to the ant, you sluggard;  consider its ways and be wise!  It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions (needs) in summer and gathers its food at harvest.”   What does this mean exactly and why does God ask us to become like an ant?  When you go outside, try to find an anthill.  Kick that anthill or throw something on it.  When you do, you will see thousands of ants scurrying along to fix the catastrophe that you have just created within their home.  Not one ant, not one, will be sitting still (Unless its dead of course).  Those ants work constantly, they never sit down, never complain, and never get lazy (or become as a sluggard). 

The lesson I’ve learned from this “ant Scripture” is that in the Kingdom of God, there is no room for laziness.  Don’t get me wrong, rest is needed at times, but for the most part, our number one job, like the ant, is preparation.  “For what?” you may ask.  To prepare the world for the return of Christ!  There is a dying world out there and a dying church right behind it.  The church has seemed to, in a lot of ways, lost its zeal for getting the word out about Jesus.  Too many churches today have become complacent and lazy.  They have abandoned the true gospel for that of a “feel good” religion. 

I personally wonder no more if I have a place in the Kingdom.  I wonder no more if I have a job to do for the Kingdom….my conclusion is that of course I do.  We all do, and I fear that if we do not catch that fire and zeal to keep moving forward for the sake of the call, we will lose many more to sin.  My challenge is simple:  GO TO THE ANT!  Keep moving, never give up, and never slow down.  Continue to pursue the prize at the end of the race.  The prize that God so anxiously awaits to give us!  We are the Kingdom, we are the Church, we are the bridge between the lost and Jesus.  Let’s win OUR world!  

Thanks for letting me express my heart and I pray that God will speak to your’s as well.  God bless!

In The Beginning…

Ξ June 26th, 2008 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Uncategorized |

This post is not about the beginning of Creation that is found in the book of Genesis.  This post concerns the inception of the church.  The beginning of the first church. 

All of the foundation stones of the church were firmly planted upon the first Pentecost following the resurrection of our Christ. Afterward, the church was spoken of as being in existence-  Peter spoke of this particular day as being “the beginning” (Acts 11:15). Jesus, himself, spoke of that day as the beginning date for the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ (Luke 24:47-49). Thus, the laws governing His church became functional on the very day it was started, and all men from then until now enter it the same way.

I tell you all this to follow up with another question:  Where did the first church meet?   

There is no mention of any church-owned property or permanent meeting place. Meetings were held in various homes and in public places, including the Temple (Acts 2:46; 5:12, 42), or out in the open as on the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:6) or on the seashore (Acts 21:5), or in “an upper room” (Acts 1:13-14; 2:1-2; 20:1). Specific homes mentioned are Cornelius’s house (Acts 10:27), Simon’s (Acts 10:6), Mary’s (Acts 12:5, 12), Lydia’s (Acts 16:40), Jason’s (Acts 17:5), Justus’ (Acts 18:7), Philip’s (Acts 21:7), as well as the apostle Paul’s abode (Acts 28:23-30).  Look at what Paul says in Acts 20:20…

^20”You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.”  (Acts 20:20)

In the Epistles, the only buildings specifically mentioned as used for church meetings are private houses. These include Priscilla and Aquila’s house (Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:19); Nympha’s house (Col. 4:15) and Philemon’s house (Philem. 2). It is generally supposed the groups were relatively small, numbering anywhere from the immediate members of one household up to perhaps approximately 40 in more affluent homes.

I write about all this because it is something that is on my heart.  Churches today seem to be prospering due to small group meetings.  And, as you have read above, “small groups” or “life groups” or “cell groups” or whatever else you want to call them is what prospered the first century church.  I want to encourage anyone who reads this to get involved in small group ministry, even if that means you have to begin one yourself. 

Here at Calvary Temple, we have recently began small groups simply because we desire to see disciples made.  My wife and I host a small group every other Tuesday night at our home and everyone, young, old or middle aged are welcome.  We get into the Word of God, have great discussions and really have alot of fun getting to know each other.

Those are my “insights” for today.  More will come later!  God bless and we hope to see you on Sunday @ 9:30 for my adult discipleship class or 10:30 for our regular church service.  And of course, we want you to come to both if at all possible!  God bless.