Monthly Archives: August 2019

Elephants Swim

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

If you say that you are a Christian, that you believe in God, there are some things you must “get right” as foundations of what you say that you believe. You must believe the Gospel, you must believe that Jesus Christ came and died for your sins, rose from the dead to defeat the power of sin, and now has returned to Heaven, until he comes again to judge the world. You must also believe in Creation, not evolution or any blend of it, but that God created all the world in seven days, just as the book of Genesis tells us. The gospel of John goes much deeper, confirms the creation, but tells us how God formed the world through his son, and equal, Jesus Christ. You must believe in the Trinity, God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. These are core beliefs, that through faith, although you can’t understand, you must believe with all your heart.

In these first verses, every time you see “the Word” John is speaking about Jesus. Jesus was in the beginning, Jesus was with God, Jesus was God. Everything that was made through Jesus, and without Jesus nothing was created. Jesus is with God at the beginning of time, the creation of life as we know it, and actually existed before time. I know what you are thinking….WHAT??? How big is your God? If you say you believe God, and you believe in Creation, and you believe in the gospel of Jesus, then you must believe he created you, and your mind. God limited the power of your mind, so you truly can’t “grasp” the understanding of some of the attributes of God, or what you read in the Bible, but that is where faith is built. Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is not grasping ahold of something you didn’t understand, faith is believing in the Truth, even when you don’t understand. The Bible is the Truth upon which your life is based, judged, and sought to live by. Faith is at your core, in your heart, not your mind. Did you know that faith is a gift from God, just as understanding any truths of the Bible when you study it? Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

There are countless sermons that have been preached from these opening verses of John. There are men that have studied and expounded of them for years, dedicating their lives to understanding the depth of these scriptures. John’s gospel of Jesus Christ has been said of, “It is shallow enough for a toddler to wade, yet deep enough for an elephant to swim.” As we study it together, as you read it yourself, why don’t you pray for God to enlighten your mind, and to help you understand it too? He may open your mind to a depth of faith to let an elephant swim.

Green Flag – GO!

Luke 4:7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

“They sold their soul for Rock n Roll.” Not too many of us have not heard that line, and at some point in time looked at some of those bands and just wondered if it applied….I am an old head-banger and I even wondered at times about the music I so loved. Many of us seemingly have fallen into Satan’s traps such as these, even unknowingly many times. We begin to focus on worldly things, then they move to the sole focus, then shifting to idols at some point. We revolve everything around them, and if we become successful by worldly standards, it can easily become worshipping them. The list of these idols is endless and personal. Sports and careers would likely top the list, but you could easily focus on your appearance, place your children above anything else, place doing good deeds above anything else, or even how people view you guiding every decision you make. Anything that you place above your relationship with God is an idol, and breaking the greatest commandment. Deuteronomy 6:5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you 15 (for the Lord your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth. God takes VERY seriously the charge of worshipping any idols you place above your worshipping him.

I have found my testimony coming full circle, I am the crack-head returning to the streets preaching the freedom found in Jesus Christ. The trackside ministry doors that have opened to me is so humbling and deep within me, it brings me to tears if I begin to share of God’s mercy and grace in this testimony to him. Racers lives revolve around racing, from training to tracks, the more they excel the more they focus. I am hear to tell them they can do both, to serve Jesus as their God, to use their talents as pulpits to share their faith. The racing community at large is a field ripe for harvest; a field that brings life or death in split seconds, a field that needs the security of salvation any time a helmet goes on our heads. Matthew 9: 36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” God has placed a vision on my heart for this ministry, and Satan is doing everything he can to distract, to attack, to stop us from even playing any part in God saving one more soul. As we get closer to baptisms in only a few weeks, it will get harder I am sure.

What is the key to changing one’s life, what is the answer past salvation? The words Jesus fought Satan with above; the Bible. It is your only offensive weapon, the only way you can attack and defeat, the only way you begin to understand you can get through this life, is through your time spent in God’s Word. That is the root of my testimony, of a changed life when I began to seek God such as Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. I do not pretend to be a theologian, a lofty preacher, an edjumicated man, I am a simple man that will point you to Jesus Christ for the salvation of your soul, and then encourage you to seek him yourself in his Word to you each day. All I have to do is step back and let God enlighten the hearts just as he did mine, and let him show his child which direction to go and proclaim the freedom found in Jesus Christ. Green flag – GO!

Prayer Request

Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.

I am in the midst of an incredibly low season; for quite some time depression has set in, and waves of attacks have come in both my business and personal life. I have seen goals crumble, relationships strained, sleep deprived, attacks of the mind indescribable, physical pain, slipping mentality…..I could go on but the details matter not. Mine enemy has been relentless with the fiery darts the Bible speaks about. He seeks to prey on the weak, and with the chaos of my world this summer, I have become weaker. God laid it on my heart, showed me the door to this new ministry, and Satan knows it is a field ripe for harvest. Satan knows the level the dirt bike racers idolize their machines as gods; misguided focus without using their gifts to draw glory and others to the One true God. I have had countless conversations this year with people at the track about their faith, seeing change in small ways, that can have eternal consequences. God is at work in the Trackside Ministries, drawing the lost home.

He put it on my heart to lay the foundation for conducting baptisms, for going into a river and publicly saying how much you love Jesus, how you want a new life in Jesus, and him to be your Lord. The act of baptism is one that can change the heart to a deeper relationship, one that begins the act of sanctification in the believer, one that a believer may recommit to living with Jesus as their Lord. If you are scared to say you love Jesus in public, in front of your friends, you are denying Christ. Matthew 10:33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. If you say you are a Christian, if you say you have been saved, why would you not say it in public, why would you care what people thought of you, or why would you care what they thought more than what Jesus thought? Baptism does not save, but baptism is clearly an act commanded by Jesus, and why would you want to stand before him one day and try to explain why you didn’t? I was sprinkled as an infant, no conception of it’s meaning; only a statement of my parents faith. I came to understand baptism as an adult, (means submersion), and not long after I believed I was truly saved, my wife and I were both baptized at church.

Would you please keep me in prayer? Would you please keep these Trackside Ministries in prayer? My testimony has come full circle, God has prepared this before time began, and Satan is doing what Satan does best.

Memory

Luke 17:32 Remember Lot’s wife.

My mind is slipping away
As recent years have slid past
Age is catching up to me
I know not how long it will last.

The sharpness is getting dull
The simple words I cannot find
An inner torment of oneself
Is the slipping of ones mind.

Business stress is the fuel
The worlds measure of gain
When success brings great joy
The stress brings great pain.

When the future is filtered through faith
The Bible becomes your guide
There are countless words of wisdom
You have God on your side.

Books like Ecclesiastes stretch
Your mind to places unknown
Written by the wisest man ever
Into the depths he has sown.

The Old Testament points to Jesus
A Savior we need so bad
Satan and sin torment this world
But this world is all he has had.

The Gospels give accounts of Jesus
God came down to earth
Died and paid for our sins
That is what you are worth.

The epistles preach of Jesus
The applications of a disciples life
The highs of blessings and focus
The lows of persecution and strife.

Revelation proclaims Jesus’ return
From the heavens he will proclaim
All of creation will bow
And answer to his name.

I know of two older men
The minds have left with time
Each day they read their Bibles
I pray I will continue in mine.