All around us

I have been thinking about all the people around us every day who do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Our neighbors, the people that walk up and down our street, the postal worker, the guy at the gas station, the cashier at Shoprite or Walmart. Family and friends that we have known all our lives. Each of them have something in common. They all don't know Jesus and according to Revelation 20:15 their eternal destiny will be in the lake of fire. So how is God going to reach all these people that we come in contact with? All these people have something else in common. Each of us come in contact with them each and every day. Jesus told the disciples to be witnesses about him. The woman at the well in John 4 brought an entire town to Jesus by sharing about what he had said to her. She had no Biblical training, she had no degree. She just told others about the good things God had done for her. She cared enough about those back in town, a town that may have ostracized her, to share the good news. What is it going to take for you to share the good news with the people you come in contact with? What is stopping you from talking about what Jesus has done for you recently with a family member or someone you run into at Target? Jesus called his disciples to come follow him and he would make us fishers of men. If we never cast the net we can never actually catch a fish. I encourage you to think about those people you run into often and pray that God would open the opportunity for you to share what God has been doing in your life.

Walking Across the Room

I am currently reading a book by Bill Hybels called Just Walk Across the Room. It gives some simple things that anyone can do to point people to Jesus. As I have been reading through it, I have been thinking about how intentional I need to be in meeting new people and building relationships with those outside of the Edge Church. All it takes sometimes is walking across the room to meet someone new to build a brigde that helps one day bring that person to a relationship with Jesus. It could be walking across the street to meet a neighbor. I realize that I have not been intentional with doing these things. I have sat on the sidelines for too long and now I need to do this and not because I am the pastor. I believe that all of us have people in our lives, people that we run into that need the hear the message of God's love through us. Through our story of how God has worked in our lives. We need to get involved in other people's lives. We need to build a bridge to them so that at some point we can point them to Jesus. So how intentional are you?

Goal Setting

This past week I set a goal for myself. We moved to this house in February. Since then I have said hi to a couple of neighbors, but I hadn’t really met them or had the opportunity to talk to them. The goal I set was modest. It was to meet at least 2 neighbors and have a brief conversation with them. We had a yard sale on Saturday which enabled me to meet this goal. I met several people from the neighborhood and spoke with a few closer neighbors. Hopefully this will lead to more. I have been praying about how I can reach out to these people. I will keep you posted as things progress. I also have 3 houses for sale within a few feet of ours. I am praying for the new neighbors that will be moving in. I have found that if I don't set a concrete, achievable goal I may never attempt to do anything new. It also helps to have someone hold you accountable to the goals that you set. What goals can you set and who can help you stay on track?

Studying the Bible

I know that sometimes it is hard to study the Bible. There seems to be so much in the Bible and it can be overwhelming. Never fear, I have some tips and some links to help you in your time of study. One of the things I suggest is to set aside time to study something in God's word often. Put it on your calendar and stick to it. For some people you need to find a quiet place to do this. I like to go to a lake once in a while and sit in a chair as I read and pray. As you open the Bible, begin to pray and ask that God would open you eyes and your mind to see and understand what his word is speaking to you. Then as you come across words that are unfamilar, look them up in the dictionary. There are online dictionaries if you don't have one at home. Really try to understand each word and how they all fit together. Ask questions about the passage. Re-read it several times. Think about how you can apply something from it to your life. As you put your Bible away, ask that God would use that passage in your life, that he would make it real to you.

Some websites that help.
Six-Step Method of Bible Study
Biblegateway - good for comparing versions of the Bible
NextBible

Do you want to get well?

In John 5:1-15 we see the story of Jesus healing a man who was an invalid for 38 years. Jesus asks him a question in verse 6 that has echoed in my head. Jesus asked him, "do you want to get well?" This is an interesting question. Our first assumption is that why wouldn't he want to get well. He has been sitting there for 38 years, of course that is what he wants. But maybe that isn't what he really wanted. Maybe the sickness that caused him to become an invalid was how he identified himself. Maybe that was his excuse to not try. If Jesus heals him, then he has to go out and get a job. He has to take responsibility for himself. He no longer can use his sickness as an excuse to not do something. This led me to wonder why we don't always have our prayers answered. Maybe because Jesus is asking us this question. Do you want to get well? He asks because we may not understand all that will take place once we have been healed and I am not just talking about physical healing. Do we want to be made well in all areas of our lives? Have we thought about what that would really mean? All our crutches would be removed. We could never blame our actions on something wrong with us. We can't use the excuse that I am broken in this area to prevent us from following after God.


If you look at the invalid's response to Jesus, he says "sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in , someone else goes down ahead of me." Think about this for a moment. For may 38 years this man has sat by this pool and attemped to get into the pool while it was stirred up by an angel so that he could be healed. And for 38 years, someone always got ahead of him. He hadn't given up. He still was looking for a miracle. Makes me wonder about how soon I give up when seeking God for something. How about you, how quickly do you give up and say it must not be God's will and all He is doing is asking you if you really want it. Or he could be using the experience to bring your or someone else closer to him.

Personal Devotional Time

Recently I began to be coached by one of the leaders of our district. As part of the intake process he encouraged me to change how I had been doing my devotional time. What I had been doing was reading through the Bible chronologically and the time I spent in prayer was mainly about other's needs. His challenge to me was to change my focus. If the time spent is my personal time with God, why am I not paying attention to my relationship with God? He suggested that my personal time be about me and God. What I should do is to read scripture and when I feel like something jumps out at me to stop and think and pray about what God is saying to me. I need to take time to allow God to change me and show me where I am missing his plans for my life. So I asked him, when do I then pray for others? His response was that he asks God to interrupt his day by bringing people and their needs to his mind throughout the day so that he can pray for them. My question today for you is, how do you spend your time with God? Is it about others or about you and him? We need God to change and mold us so that we can be used effectively in his service.



Here is a link with some suggestions on how to change up your time spent with God.