Monthly Archives: September 2019

Like a Mouse?

Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.

Very few of you truly know me, know what goes on behind the blue eyes, the struggles, the desires, the fronts I put up just like all of you. Some of you know the longing I have for the peace of the secluded country life like I grew up with, this present city life breeds anxiety and anger in me. Some of you know the introvert I am, yet an extrovert when it comes to talking about my faith. What I see in my nation, in people, in a society headed to Hell, makes me want to pull off social media, turn off TV, and take my family into the middle of nowhere to hide from it all. Life could be more enjoyable if I ignored so much of what is going on, yet I can’t, because God wired me to speak up, to be a voice, and with that comes suffering for my faith from my enemy. If you knew the level of sin I struggle with, you would never listen to me, but if I knew yours, I might not speak to you. God extends us all a level of mercy we cannot comprehend, he withholds the punishment we deserve for a time, until Judgement Day. He has given us grace on a level of love we cannot comprehend, coming and dying for our sins to enable a reunion of his creation, to grant us eternal paradise to those whom he calls with tugs on their hearts.

Do you get mad at what you see too? Do you want to hide like me, yet just can’t be quiet? Are you brave enough to speak up, or does something in your heart hurt when you keep silent? You might be grieving the Holy Spirit by keeping quiet in your circle of influence. Don’t lash out, like that mean little voice inside of you wants you to. Say a little prayer for the words to speak, and speak them in love. Colossians 4:5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. It is beyond hard to do, both to not raise cain at what angers you, but to speak softly in love to those lost in sin, or just struggling in any evident way before you. Remember you were lost too before God used someone to reach out to you.

The more time you spend with God in prayer and his Word, the more you cannot keep silent in your faith. The less the time, the more like a mouse you become. Be bold, don’t try to contain what God places on your heart. Matthew 10:27 “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. All your life revolves around your faith, whether you realize it or not. You are what you believe at the core, and your actions reveal what you say you believe. What do they say about you?

Ignore the Reasons….

Matthew 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

My parents did everything right, I grew up in church, was saved as a child along the way, but grew up in religion. You went to church on Sunday because that was what Christians do. I thought my ticket to Heaven was found in church attendance and how good a person I was. I ran from God for 15 years and then he drew me back to a Baptist church were I discovered grace, and a true understanding of John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. The time at that church was special, I truly enjoyed going to church, and eternal friendships were made. The division that destroyed that church was horrible, and many including myself still harbor pain from those years. Anyone that was there during the good days is still seeking what they found originally; I have had that exact conversation countless times. Sadly as I take my faith everywhere, (I am bold to a fault), I hear too many stories of why people leave their church. It breaks my heart to see the destruction of the American church from the inside, yet I can see how it has happened personally.

Church is where you go to worship together, to hear messages from God through preachers and teachers, where you go for one on one encouragement with other believers, where you get help to do this thing called life together. What did Jesus say to Peter above, “Satan can’t defeat my church!” God had opened Peters understanding to who Jesus was, even telling Peter he was going to lead the church. But, you must look at the following passages and see how Satan even wormed his was into Peter’s thoughts and Jesus had to scold Peter in the harshest way. 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Satan has been dividing the church since the beginning of time. Satan has planted all kinds of thoughts in peoples heads to keep them from going to church, to divide the church, for divided armies he thinks will fail; but Jesus said he won’t win!

I don’t have the answer for the falling away of the American church, all I can do is pray and proclaim the truth. I don’t know what it will take for you to be happy in church, but I know you will never know until you spend more time seeking God that just on Sunday. I do know the American church needs revival, an inner working of God on a biblical scale, and a revival begins in the hearts of each believer. Jeremiah 29:13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Ignore the reasons to not go to church today….you will be glad you did.

OA Win! (overall racing term)

Romans 8:38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The past six months have been incredibly tough on me; I have battled anxiety and depression in the peaks of the anxiety, and the valleys of the depression. They have not left me for months now, many work related, sin related, life related, and exponentially spiritual related. I have experienced incredible spiritual highs in the new ministry we are involved in, and in direct correlation are the attacks of the mind before and after the highs of seeing God work through the dirt bike ministries. Every, single, time. He had laid offering baptisms on my heart through a friend, so how would Satan dare to let something like this happen in his arena of idol worship such as an off-road race without putting up a fight? I only know of my inner war, but I am sure the battles were not just mine, but for everyone involved. It even seemed “odd” the number of injuries we had all around those racers who were baptized or supported the service; guess it was just a coincidence right? Two racers with very scary incidents. When we proclaim our faith in Jesus privately or publicly, we declare we are soldiers of Jesus involved in a heavenly war. The more bold we are, the more we threaten our enemy, and the harder life gets.

It breaks my heart to see those that are lost, those that pursue only the pleasures of a temporal world and care nothing of the eternal next one. It scares me to see how we as a nation are turning our backs upon God, and we are not mentioned in the Bible when Jesus Christ returns. Which one of the seven churches are we? I fear we are the church of Laodecia, the complacent church who does not feel their need for Christ. Revelation 3:15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’–and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Could there be a more terrifying scenario? Could there be anything worse than Jesus saying, “Depart from me. I never knew you.” Both scenarios seem possible with the state of our nation.

We had about forty-five people in attendance to support the four that were baptized. We had believers and some that may not have been, all that stopped at the swimming hole and witnessed incredible acts of faith. Each so personal, special, and brave in their own way. We have given out if I were to guess thirty to fifty Bibles and devotionals this year at two different race series. I have had countless personal conversations with people searching, struggling, needing hope, wanting prayer, God opening doors for this ministry, been encouraged, been prayed for myself, seen God at work in mighty ways in what was my god for over 20 years. Why would I expect Satan to not attack me and my family? All I can do is to remain faithful to the ministry God has placed us in. All I can do is to know Satan has to ask permission for anything that comes my way. All I can do is let Satan know I get the OA win, through Christ Jesus!

Just let em’ go in traffic

Acts 2:40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.”

Our entire world is in a bad state; a self-absorbed society bent on pleasure at all costs, evil at the core, and turing it’s back upon the truths found in the Bible. My nation is in the midst of generational failures, of parents not parenting, reaping the effects of being our children’s friends, not a measure of authority and order. Many have failed them because they knew no better. You can trace it back easily to the changes in society away from church, away from God, to warping the laws of the nation to fit everyone to the point no seemingly truths or laws are there to base upon. We live in a spineless, fluid society that consistently changes as either not to offend, or to enable some hidden or now even open agenda. What was wrong is now right, and we are living in biblical times, closer to the return of Jesus Christ to judge the world. Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! One cannot wonder if God is not sitting there shaking his head at us, wondering how much more he can take of our rebellion, before saying “ENOUGH!”

Does the world around you turn your stomach too? Does the political system raise your blood pressure to the boiling point? Do you wonder when you will snap one day under the pressure of just life in this aggressive selfish society? I have said many times I am gonna snap one day just because of traffic, how aggressive and poorly people drive, thinking they own the road. (If I do, I apologize, and remember Jesus still loves us.) Our society is a perverse generation, I could write a list a mile long of what open sin we have before God, and one 100 miles long of the hidden ones only you and I know about. We need Jesus on a large scale to wake us up, to rattle our cages, to put the FEAR OF GOD upon us, before he returns to judge sin and it is too late!

It can be healthy if these things bother you, but don’t let them direct you. The conviction of sin in your own life is the beginning of the salvation into eternal life. The realization you are lost in sin is a gift from God, him drawing you to himself, awaiting your response to that tug that determines your eternal destiny. Repentance is simply a change, a turning from sin and asking God to forgive you and help you along the new way. Mark 1:15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” If you know something needs to change deep inside of you, that is God pursuing you. Let him give you the “peace that surpasses all understanding” and he will guard your hearts through these tough days in which we find ourselves. You might find it easier to just let them go in traffic.