Intentional Encouragement

     Fear is a powerful foe. It comes in varying forms and different degrees. Fear often takes what could be and treats it as though it is what will be.      Some people are more fearful by nature than others. Some struggle with genuine disorders related to fear like panic attacks. Others have had a difficult experience in their past that affects them deeply whenever a similar situation arises in the future. Fears vary between men and women. Here are some common fears that people experience: Public speaking Spiders Terrorism Snakes Failure Flying      For you it may be several of these. Or it may be a whole new list. The topic of fear is so large that a simple post such as this can never hope to address all aspects of it.      I would like to suggest a verse of Scripture and a few thoughts that can help us as we face some of the more "daily" sorts of fears. I'm speaking about things like the fear of the future or anxiety about our current circumstances o

     "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" (Psalm 46:10)      As a whole, our country is in high stress mode, don't you think? We've had uprisings and protests. We've watched division grow and the economy shrink. We've seen 2 hurricanes come through in a short span of time and bring billions of dollars worth of destruction. If we weren't personally impacted by those storms, most of us personally know someone who was.      On a more local level, many around us are facing storms in their lives. I've talked with personal friends in the last 2 days who have family members battling cancer. Our church family has faced the funeral of a 5 year old girl who died from the awful disease just a week ago.      Personally, our immediate family has had 2 ER visits in the last month and a half, 2 surgeries in the last 4 months and other assorted stresses and pressures besides. You are probably in a

     I've started a new ministry position. While I served as a lead pastor for lots of years, I now (after 5 years out of vocational ministry) serve in a role that is not at the front of the pack. There are certainly some benefits to that and the work really does play to my strengths. This fact, along with some thoughts I recently put together on our church's blog , have reminded me that it's really not about being the lead dog in the pack but about being a trustworthy servant of the master that is important.      There is an encouragement in 1 Corinthians 4:2 for all of us who influence others for the kingdom. The requirement is not “success” in terms of our specific role or how many people like us or follow us or listen to us. Our requirement is to be trustworthy. Obviously Paul wasn’t suggesting that we shouldn’t rejoice when people follow our leadership. He was simply reminding us (as the following verses explain) that we cannot trust human judgment regarding who is c

     Last time I talked about being poor in spirit. John MacArthur has said "if 'poor in spirit' is a recognition of the condition intellectually, then 'mourning' is the emotional result of this recognition." There are at least 6 words used in Scripture that are translated "mourn." Of them all, the one used in Matthew 5:4 is the most intense. It represents "an expression of intense sense of loss, helplessness and despair." Once again, Jesus turns culture upside down by letting us know that in order for us to experience the blessing of God (in this case, comfort), we must first experience an intense sense of loss that expresses itself in mourning. Wow. Let that sink in for a minute.      I think that we sometimes believe that God brings into our life just to discipline us. While that may occasionally be true for very intentional reasons, the over-arching message of this beatitude is one of comfort. The reality is that we all face times of i

     I'll be doing a series of talks on the Beatitudes at our Gloucester Chapel in the coming months, so rather than duplicate what I write at our church blog, I thought I'd share my thoughts with you on those talks. If you'd like to check out our Approaching Sunday blog, you can do that here . There are a number of very capable writers that contribute to that ministry along with me, so enjoy.      "Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." These beatitudes sure are counter-cultural." Jesus starts at the bottom as He begins His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. His plan to enjoy the blessing of God begins with the lowest rung on the ladder...poor in spirit.      There are several aspects to the kind of "poor" that Jesus talks about here. Obviously it includes a lack of resources and a dependency that focuses on our need of someone else to help. But the idea goes further to describe someone who is "begging poor,&

My church has a blog called “Approaching Sunday” that is designed to help people prepare for the coming message for the week.   I’ve been asked to do some writing there and since it’s been so long since I wrote on my own blog, I thought I’d re-post them here to get this thing back up and running.   Hope you find them helpful. This post is written for 2 groups of people.   In both cases, I want to remind you that you are not worthy to get into Heaven and that there is nothing you can do (or have done) that will get you there.   Far from being a discouragement, I hope this will spur you to action.   Hang with me just a little bit and I think you’ll see where I’m going. According to Acts 23:6, Saul was born to a Pharisee, among the most religious of people in all of Israel. He himself became a Pharisee, having studied under one of the most celebrated teachers of his day, Gamaliel (Acts 22:3).   In this position, Saul would have taught people the Holy Scriptures (the Old Testamen