Posts worth reading

Here a few posts that I have really appreciated from my fellow bloggers recently

• Arron Chambers gave all of us some great advice regarding FACEBOOK
• Jud & Mike posted a chart regarding the popularity of Jesus - check it out
• Pastor Steve reminded me of the power of one
• Dudley's parent pledge is a must read - seriously!
• Jon Weece has guts!
• Perry's thoughts really got me thinking about the church

The Making of Ripples Begins in our Heart

"O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace!
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, harmony;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light, and
Where there is sorrow, joy.
Oh Divine Master, grant that I may not
so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand; to be loved
as to love; for it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life."

These are the words of the ultimate ripple make - St. Francis of Assisi Born in the year 1182 in the town of Assisi in Italy; His father, Bernadone was a very wealthy merchant of Assisi. Francis was merry and soft-hearted, thus he had many friends. Francis was brought up in the life of luxury and spent a considerable portion of his wealth in extravagant pleasures. One day Francis was joking and laughing with his friends. A beggar came along crying for alms. Francis, who was soft-hearted, gave whatever he had in his pocket to the beggar. His companions mocked at him for his charitable act. However, compassion found a place in his heart. The sight of the beggar set him thinking about the poverty and misery of a mundane life. He determined to give much of his money to the poor; despite his father’s objections. His father thought Francis was wasting his money and rebuked him for his foolish behavior.

Sometime later, Francis was laid up in bed for many months on account of a serious disease. Fearful he was about to die. Francis prayed to the Lord to save him. The Lord answered Francis’ prayer and as a result Francis life changed entirely. He made a decision to renounce his old way of living to tread a life of purity and to dedicate his life to the service of humanity.

As soon as Francis recovered from his illness, he informed his parents of his decision. They were disappointed with his decision and became angry with their son's choice. Soon Francis gave up his old ways and habits and set out to serve God; he distributed clothes, goods and money to the poor. His father was very much annoyed towards his son. He said, "Is this the gratitude you show to me ? I labored hard and amassed wealth. You are lavishly wasting it on these miserable wretches". His father turned him out of the house.His friends also mocked him and teased him for his new calling; pelting him with stones and mud. As a result, Francis lived like a beggar.

Francis lived in a cave in the mountains of Assisi and spent his time in prayer and meditation for two years. Following his self imposed exile; Francis went from village to village preaching the love of God. He invited people to join him in his life of service if they were willing. Bernard, a rich man of Assisi, was attracted by the saintliness of Francis. He became the first follower of Francis. Bernard placed all his wealth at the altar of God. Eleven others also joined Francis. They distributed all their wealth to the poor. Francis and his followers went all over Italy preaching, teaching, healing and blessing wherever they went. The gospel of kindness and love of Francis soon spread all over Europe and earned for him the name of St. Francis.

His prayer is the prayer of a ripple maker and is one we should all consider if we want to become ripple makers as well.

Ripples and Feathers

The movie Forrest Gump told the story of a man going through life and randomly effecting the events of the culture in the last half of the twentieth century. Purely by accident, Forrest stumbles into uncovering the Watergate Break In, He invents the "Smiley Face" logo, and personally meets a couple of U.S. Presidents just to name a few of his ripples. As the movie draws to a close a feather floats away from Forrest as a symbol of Forrest was just passing through life touching the lives of others indiscriminately. This makes for a great Hollywood movie, but it is not very practical. Making ripples in the lives of others does not just happen, we must purposefully choose to make a ripples in other peoples lives. Several years ago I was challenged by a speaker who said everyone of us need three types or kinds of people in our life...

A Paul
A Barnabas
A Timothy

• A Paul is someone who flows into our lives, someone we learn from, someone who challenges us and teaches us. Someone who is making ripples in our life.
• A Barnabas is both an encourager as well as one who will hold us accountable when we get a little sideways. Someone who helps us make ripples.
• A Timothy is someone whose life we flow into - the one we make ripples in their life

The challenge for each of is find the Paul's, the Barnabas' and the Timothy's so that we do not simply float through this life like a feather, but we truly, purposefully making ripples in this life. If we will do this it would be a story that Hollywood could not make up.

Are you looking for a Paul, a Barnabas and a Timothy today? I hope so!

Ripples

I am currently in a sermon series titled RIPPLES, the idea for this series of sermons is to help people realize the tremendous influence we have as believers. In Matthew's gospel, Jesus called us to be salt and light in this world - in other words, he is calling us to be people of influence. However before we can become a person of influence we have to ask ourselves the question ~ Who is influencing us? Everyday we receive thousands of messages with only one purpose; to influence us to buy a certain item or succumb to a certain lifestyle or make a certain choice. Every message is trying to influence us in one way or the other. This week I am going to focus on what it means to have influence and how to use your influence to shape your world for Christ. Tonight I want to ask you a few questions regarding who is influencing you...

1. Who do you allow to speak in to your life?
2. Why is that person allowed to speak in to your life?
3. What filters have you put in place to keep the bad influencer out of your life?
4. When was the last time you took inventory of your personal habits i.e. your checkbook and your calendar to see if you are being influenced or are you influencing others?
5. How is your personal devotional time with God?
6. How often do you pray?
7. When you pray are you more into asking for things or are you simply enjoying spending time with God?
8. Other than the Bible, what resources are you using to keep you growing in your faith?
9. Who do you admire?
10. Why do you admire them?

Take some time thinking about these questions as you consider the ripples you are making today.

Sunday Night Reflections

A few thoughts from an amazing day...

• If your life in any way connects with other people, you are having a ripple effect on their life.
• Ripples do not happen by accident, they happen when we decide to make ripples.
• I hope I always have a Mop Bucket Attitude.
• How are you making ripples today?
• I helped celebrate a minister's 40th anniversary of service yesterday. I was thrilled with the life he has lived.
• The Audience of One worship band took to the road this weekend and did a great job ministering in Palm Bay.
• We ordained a new Elder at PBCC today - Welcome to the team Dave.
• One of other elders is taking a sabbatical this year - I am very thankful for Craig's 3 years of service.
• Ted & Company did a great job at Chip and Chew - you knew they would!
• Thanks to the generosity of PBCC, the youth have raised over $1,800 for CIY through the Change 4 Change Fundraiser - That is a lot of quarters!
• Summer is fast approaching - Jonathan is home from College, Bethany is wrapping up her classes and VBS is just around the corner.
• I am taking on a new responsibility this year for Florida Christian College; one that excites and challenges me at the same time.
• Next Sunday is Family Sunday at PBCC - I am really looking forward to it!
• My wife and daughter just brought home a puppy - and so our new adventure begins.

The Power of Prayer

Psalm 118:21, I will give you thanks, for you answered me...

Yesterday, one of our church members came home from the hospital. His name is Walt and I posted a picture of him here today. What is amazing about Walt is on February 14th, he was in a traffic accident as he was literally run over by a car while standing on the side of the road. His injuries were catastrophic to say the least. He spent a month in a trauma unit in Orlando, a few weeks in a hospital that specializes in care for trauma victims in Melbourne and a some time in a rehab center in Palm Bay. Today he is home enjoying the company of his wife and their dogs!

I was with Walt the day of the accident and to be honest I was speechless. His injuries were so bad, we were expecting the worse. Obviously the worse did not happen. Walt got better! While the doctors, nurses technicians cared for Walt physically, there was another team of specialist working for him as well. the hundreds of prayer partners who lifted him up daily and sometimes hourly before the Lord. God moved in a mighty way.

Walt is an example of the power of prayer. Oswald Chambers said, "We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties." Over the last few weeks we have focused our prayers for Walt on the one who is able to handle our difficulties. This week if you are facing some difficulties let me challenge you not to focus on the problem but focus on the one who has the solution - For God is able to overcome all the difficulties of this life - just ask Walt.

It all goes back in the box

Every Saturday I meet with a group of men for a small group study. Our current study is John Ortberg's book "When the game is over it all goes back into the box." This is a great study especially for a men's group. Ortberg truly has a way with words and concepts that men struggle with on a daily basis. So far we are two weeks into our study and both weeks have been both challenging as well as inspirational.

John has challenged us to look at our life and ask the question are we rich or are we rich toward God? That is an interesting question. For many of us struggle with the ideal contentment, in fact the apostle Paul taught said contentment is a learned activity. Our human nature is not based on contentment, rather it is based on acquiring more and more. What is needed today is a desire to be rich toward God. To seek his will and his ways in our lives.

I am not sure where this study will take us, but I am looking forward to discovering what it means to be rich toward God. I believe learning what it means to be rich toward God is the one of the greatest needs in our churches today. For if we could get a handle on this idea; we would be able to get out of the chase for riches that are temporary and put our energy on the things that are eternal.