Author Archives: oneminuteministry

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.

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.

Rockcrusher

Acts 9:16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

Do you ever read about Paul, I mean not the epistles that we may study, for he wrote so much of the New Testament, but what about looking at the author’s story, his life behind the pen? At church this week it was shared how he passed most of these epistles through the small window of the jail cell, imprisoned for his faith. That one fact many times is watered down in our perusing through the New Testament, but Paul suffered much more, just as the Lord told Ananias he would, after God blinded him on the Damascus road. Paul was not only the greatest author, the last apostle, and likely the greatest conversion, but he endured one of the greatest trials for his faith. The depth of this trial, the proof of his conversion, and the relentlessness of his bold proclamation, God used on a level we cannot fathom for even those that read of it today.

A younger Saul (Paul) stood holding the coats as the religious stoned Stephen to death, and the first martyr died praying for God to not charge them with the sin (Augustine said Paul’s conversion was to the account of Stephen’s prayer.) Paul watched, Paul condoned, and Paul later in life found himself in Stephens shoes. Acts 14:19 Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. 20 However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. Paul found himself full circle, likely wondering if he would die as Stephen did, likely praying as Stephen did, and yet God did not take his life. As those he had built up in the faith came to mourn, came to pray, God stood Paul up and performed a miracle of accounts, and then Paul boldly returned to the city. Think about how much this encouraged the believers, converted the lost, and assured Paul that God had a plan beyond the scope of Paul’s dreams for his life. Paul wrote of himself as the “chief of sinners” and felt the conviction of sins past, present, and future. Paul’s pride was always being worked on by God’s sanctification hammer.

When I look at my life, the weight of my sins seems immeasurable. Mine enemy taunts the mind with accusations, convictions, and persecutions. Satan will spend a seemingly eternity beating you down, stoning your mind with guilt. God will lift you up the more you pursue him in prayer and his Word each day. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Repentance is good for the soul, cleansing unto salvation and renewing one’s intimacy with Christ. Don’t let Satan stone your faith to death. Don’t let Satan beat you down to the point you don’t be bold for your faith. Don’t let Satan convince you that you cannot be forgiven. The work Jesus did at the Cross for you will crush any rocks Satan throws at you.

Breakfast

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things.

I looked back this morning to the first OneMinuteMinstry I posted on my blog site in 2012. I love how God works, even encouraging myself from over seven years ago from the time spent with the Lord. I don’t know about you, but I have had an incredibly stressful week. The AC business has commanded lots of time in the field, and lots more hours of late nights and early mornings running the business. I see the world around me falling apart, my country split at it’s seams over politics, ungodly leaders at war amongst themselves. All of this coupled with physical back pain, has left me stressed out and taking my eyes off eternity and the peace that lies there. God has encouraged me in his Word each morning, and I don’t know how I could face each day without it. My plea through these online ministries has always been for you to pursue God daily yourself, not to rely on what he has given me, but to see what he will give you through time in prayer and his Word each day. Matthew 6:33 Seek Ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

There was none that suffered for their faith in the New Testament such as Paul. There was none that endured and continued to point others to Christ through their persecution like Paul. There was none that saw the peace that surpasses all understanding, even through incredible suffering. When Jesus approached Saul (Paul) on that Damascus road, Saul’s life would change forever, and he did not hear a promise of worldly blessings as many pastors preach from pulpits today, just the opposite. (Acts 9:11-21) 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” All throughout the Bible, throughout the New Testament is the evidence of those suffering in worldly ways, but resting on the promises of God for eternal reward. Satan rules this world, and when you live your life openly in rebellion against him, why would you not expect to suffer? Those that coast through life with worldly riches, likely are not living their lives for God, yes, even those professing Christians will answer to misguided time spent here.

Are you competitive, do you like to win? Are you putting forth your best effort in the business world to succeed financially, in sports to get the trophy, in life to hear accolades, in church to hear praises, in anything do you do it for the earthly reward? God knows our heart, the reason behind why we truly do what we do. Others may see the reason we say, but God truly knows the why. If we are pursuing everything with an eternal focus, we can draw glory to God with it. It does not matter how mundane our work seems, if we do it like God is standing there judging our every move (he is). When we focus on the noble, the integrity in everything, we gain that focus that Paul speaks of. When we look up and forward, the peace of God rewards us in a way the world cannot. The soul is nourished, strengthened, and ready to persevere onto the next. Strength is only found by eating breakfast, time spent with God to start each day.