Inferior stuff

Inferior stuff

Ya wanna know the definition of inferior?!  Here it is:

Inferior: lower in rank, status, or quality. 

Philippians 3:10 MSG:

I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself.

Life is not about stuff. We have all seen the people that may have all the stuff but in reality, they have all the junk.  Ouch…that hurt. Seriously though!  You remember just 5 years ago when the first generation iPhone came out!?  It revolutionized the planet!  Now if you are caught with a first generation iPhone, you are the laughing stock of people!  Its almost as bad as having a flip phone!

This is the standard of all our stuff day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year.  Stuff cannot, and will not satisfy your life.  Its nice one day and in no time, its junk.

Paul was saying all His credentials, money, educations, and so on is simply lower in rank, status and quality when compared to knowing Christ personally.  We are making a poor investment when we choose stuff over Christ.  When this is the order of our lives, get ready to walk in circles your whole life. 

Remember the rich young ruler in Mark 10:17? He had quite the titles! Rich…CHECK! Young…CHECK! Ruler…CHECK!!  He had it all but was still not satisfied with life.  Jesus gave him direction.  But when you make decisions based on stuff instead of Jesus’ direction, you make the wrong decisions. 

So now what? Mathew 6:33!  Seek 1st the kingdom of God and His righteousness and ALL these things will be added unto you!  God created a grand plan that includes you being blessed.  Simply make it a point to seek Him before you seek the stuff.  It always pays more than it costs to follow God! 

What Did You Just Step On?

What Did You Just Step On?

During a Summer Mix a while ago, our Youth Pastor, Ben Piersak, said something that really stuck out to me. Referencing the passage where Jesus and Peter were walking on the water, he stated that, “Peter actually didn’t step out onto the water, he stepped out onto the words of Jesus.” Let’s take a look at the passage in Matthew 14.

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

Peter couldn’t just decide at any time that he was going to walk on water. Humans don’t walk on water. Water isn’t something you step onto, it’s something you step right through. The word of God is what created the solid footing under Peter’s feet for him to have the gall to step out of the boat.

If there are steps that you need to take and decisions that you need to make, then be sure and get God’s word on it first. This is the only way to guarantee that your next step will find solid footing. God is offering His instruction and direction to us everyday. If we’re not hearing clearly or as often as we would like, then God’s word needs to find more room in our lives. It’s much easier to recognize His voice when you know the language He speaks…His word.

Step out onto something solid today!

Thats mine

Thats mine

Do you have kids or have you ever watched them?  If so, there is a 100% chance that you have heard them say this statement…THATS MINE!  Usually it happens when they pour out all their toys into your nice clean and manicured living room.  2 Kids start playing and its not long before you hear them fussing over what the other one has. 

If you asked me if I have ever been that way as an adult, I would have to say most definitely NO!  Ha ha just kidding!  More like YES times a thousand!!  Its funny how we tell our kids to share, share, share but then as adults we grasp, grasp, grasp.  Did you know that the word give is mentioned over 800 times in the bible?!  Seems like this God we have is more fixed on giving then He is on getting.  In Psalms 24:1, David says this:

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.

The fact of the matter is this…Everything your eyes can see, is His.  Everything your hands can touch, is His.  It really changes my perspective when I don’t look at “my stuff” as mine but His.  I am simply a steward of what I have in my hand right now.  Whether its a lot or a little, it doesn’t matter.  If its in your life, its not yours anyways…Its His. I don’t think we really realize how much the stuff we call ours has us instead of us having our stuff. 

I remember when the Lord asked us to give a car…it was not a piece of junk either! Only had 75000 miles on it! We felt like we were supposed to give a car that year in January.  4 or 5 months went by and we kept thanking the Lord that He would show us who we were supposed to give it to and when!  All of a sudden, I got a phone call one day from a guy that was broken down in Tulsa.  He said that they were driving a car over the weekend that they were going to be buying on Monday but then it broke down!  They had plans to travel up to Branson after Tulsa and needed a car.  In that moment, the Lord said “its time!”  I told the guy that he could use our car for the week.  Hung up the phone and look at my wife and said “I think its time to give the car!!” We prayed for like 30 seconds and Gods presence hit us! We began jumping up and down as high as we could because we were really doing this!! I will never forget God saying “green pastures” like Psalms 23!  Immediately I went outside, vacuumed and dusted the car out.  Filled it up with fuel and told them that we would be by in a couple hours to get it to them.  We showed up and we talked to him and his wife for a little bit and I said “we know that things have been kind of tight for y'all so we just wanted to let you know that the car is full of fuel and you don’t have to bring it back filled up.”  "Just enjoy your time on the trip!“  I said "in fact, just don’t even bring the car back to us because its yours now!”  Both of them began weeping and telling us how just the night before they were crying out to God asking Him for a vehicle!  

God wants to use us to give!  Life is so much more fulfilling when we look outward at what we can do to help someone else. 

To many times, we think we are losing something when God says to give it.  That is not how this works!  If God asks you to give it, then He is preparing you for better!  Live life open handed.  An open hand can receive and give at the same time.  A grasped fist will allow nothing in and nothing out.  Which hand do you have?