Speaking of Heavenly Things... 

 John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life. 

Preposterous things.

 What kind of a man says, "I am the true vine."? 

Whatever You Ask... 

 I grew up watching a lot of TV evangelists. My mom was really in to them...still is actually. It wasn't uncommon for me to hear on a Sunday morning, "God's people should be blessed!" and the implication was that God's people should be wealthy. What this guy meant was that he thought God's people should be driving around in Cadillacs and wearing the nicest clothes and living in the nicest house. And it wasn't uncommon for me to hear the following verse thrown out to support that: 

Way.  Truth.  Life 

I've been reading over John 14 a lot lately and i'm amazed by the stuff that it has in it. 

The verse that I can't get enough of is John 14:6. 

Jesus told him, "I am the way , the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 


Now usually you hear this verse as a one off, but for the sake of it, lets throw in the previous verses. 

Jesus has been telling his disciples some last words before He heads to the cross. Peter in ch 13 has just told Jesus that He wants to come with Jesus wherever he goes, and that he's ready to die for Him. 

Jesus says in vs 38 of ch 13 of John - "Die for me? No, before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me. 

Don't be troubled. You trust God, now trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father's home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly. When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know where I am going and how to get there." 

vs 5 of Ch 14 of John - "No, we don't know, Lord," Thomas said. "We haven't any idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?" 

Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had known who I am, then you would have known who my Father is. From now on you know him and have seen him!" 

Jesus is telling us how to get back home. He is telling us in very plain language how to find our way to where our soul longs to get to. You can feel it. I think most people can. There is a place that we long to get to...and Jesus just told us how to get there. 


Way. 

Think about this as a stand alone word in the context of your soul and your spirit, and your life in general. 

It has pretty intense implications doesn't it? If I don't know the way that I am on spiritually, what kind of spiritual person does that make me? 

Lost. 

If I don't know the way that I am on in my soul what does that make my soul? 

Lost. 


Truth. 

Lets look at that as a stand alone word regarding our spiritual walk. There are many "truths" out there. How does a person know that they are on the TRUE way? I think it's every persons responsibility to find out what they believe and hang on to that with conviction. I truly believe there is only one way. I believe the other ways are wrong and I believe there is only one Truth. Jesus is saying, "I am the way." in very plain words. If you want to get to the Father, if you want to get to the place your soul longs to be after this life...I AM the way to get there. 

Life. 

Okay, i've heard people say, "This is the life" or "that guy lives the life" but I have never heard somebody say "I am the life." 

That's a bit preposterous isn't it? What on earth could the implications mean? And as you jump into it, you begin to realize that this guy Jesus is talking something above us. He's not just saying that if you do what He says you're going to be on the path. He does say that, but I don't think that's all of it. He's saying that He is the path to life. He's saying He IS life. 

Huh? You're either a mad man, a complete pathological liar, or i'm the one with some thinking to do. 


Have you surrendered to the one who is saying that He is the way? 

Have you surrendered to the one who says that He is the truth? 

Have you surrendered to the one who says that He is the Life? 


Think about the implications of what Jesus is saying here, and see if you are going to end up with the Father or not.

The Kernel 

 John 12:23 - Jesus replied, "The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. The truth is, a kernel of wheat must be planted in the soil. Unless it dies it will be alone - a single seed. But it's death will produce many new kernels - a plentiful harvest of new lives. Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who despise their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. All those who want to be my disciples must come and follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And if they follow me, the Father will honor them. Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, 'Father, save me from what lies ahead'? But that is the very reason why I came! Father bring glory to your name." 

So when was the last time you went to church, or went to a big stadium event where they had a gospel presentation? Did anything like the following happen? 

- Bow your head and close your eyes, and repeat after me... 

-Fill out this card if you want to receive Christ... 

-Come to the front and pray with one of our pray leaders... 


Compare those things with what Jesus is saying here in this text. 

Jesus says 

vs. Those who love their life in this world will lose it Those who despise their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 


What!? That's not very "seeker friendly" is it? That isn't very good for church growth I don't think. 

It's almost like Jesus wasn't concerned with growing a church. It seems to me that he was more concerned with (go to verse 2 Father bring glory to Your name. 

The beginning of this section of scripture starts out with, "The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory." 


What is Jesus concerned about here? 

He's concerned about His Father's glory. 
He's concerned about His glory 
He's concerned about speaking the truth about following Him. Not filling up a church. 

We're about to celebrate easter, and I think it's important to think on what it means to follow Jesus. 

Have you "died" to yourself? 

Are you willing to "die" for what you believe? 

Are you "following" Jesus? 

Do you "despise" your life? 



Leaders, I'm going to ask these simple questions to my group on Thursday night. I'm not going to coach them through "what I really mean" on it. I'm going to throw these things about there like Jesus did. I'm not going to worry about reading body language so that I can catch those that fall through the cracks. I'm going to preach this out, and I'm praying that the Holy Spirit would take care of the work that He says He will. 

Challenge your group with this passage. 

Ask those in your group if they think they are following Christ. Ask them if they understand what Jesus is saying in this section. 

My prayer is that we would see people turn to Him, regardless of the cost. 

He died for the glory of the Father.

The Veil 

 I want to talk about 2 Corinthians 3:12-18. 

Pssst...what's that smell?

 On my trip to Cambodia back in October of last year I had the privilege of following a pastor of a ghetto area around for a brief tour of the area in which he ministered. The area that he ministers is a ghetto in Cambodia's largest city and what I saw was very biblical. 

True Life by Jordan Sudberry 

 So we have been on this kick lately of simple devos that have a pretty gnarly punch line, and can make you feel a bit uncomfortable with conviction. 

The Documentary Evidence 

 I skipped the second chapter because it was similar to the first (although I recommend you read it as well because it has some great faith building points in it) and moved right to the Documentary Evidence in chapter 3. 

Eyewitness Accounts of Jesus 

Eyewitness accounts from Alf Evans on Vimeo.

We're going to start in with our series on The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. 

since I understand that not everybody is going to be reading the book with me I'm going to pull out a few nuggets from each chapter and we'll talk about them. If you have information that you want to go over as leaders in your group feel free to. 

In the first Chapter called Eyewitness Evidence Strobel is interviewing Dr. Blomberg who has written several books on the topic of the reliability of the gospels. 

Strobel asks about the acceptance that the authors of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were indeed the authors. If you think about it, if somebody came wanted to make this religion of Christianity move on into the future and it needed a little "umph" it would make sense to write about it to preserve what you want. 

Blomberg discusses how the gospels were written by unlikely authors. Mark and Luke weren't even disciples, and Matthew was a tax collector. It would make more sense that if somebody wanted to write about Jesus with an agenda that they would have chosen authors with more prominent names such as, Mary, Peter, or John. 

John actually did write one of the gospels, but for the most part the reliability of the authorship of the gospels remains accepted. 

The point to all of this is the question: Are the gospels written from eye witness accounts of Jesus himself, or have they been tainted by time and agenda from men? 


Another interesting discussion point to the concept of the gospels being "biographies" of Jesus is this: 

Why isn't more information about Jesus early life included in the gospels? Why don't we see Jesus as a teen or a young adult? 

The answer that Blomberg posed was that the biographical genre was different then. It was commonplace when a biography was written back then that the essence of the persons life was captured rather than exact details. There weren't even marks for quotes in ancient Greek and Hebrew. It is also interesting to me that God closed the gap on the information with the author of Luke. I always loved how descriptive he was, and I think that stemmed from the unique way that God made him. 

Two of my biggest take aways from this Chapter were the following: 

Some scholars say that the gospels were written so far after the events that legend developed and distorted what was finally written down, turning Jesus from merely a wise teacher into the mythological Son of God. 

Blomberg goes two different directions from here. 

1. He says the argument doesn't hold up because the "late" dates for the gospels aren't really that late. (Mark in the 70's, Matthew in the 80's and John in the 90's) When compared to what is acceptable in ancient literature. The two earliest biographies of Alexander the Great were written by Arrian and Plutarch more than four hundred years after Alexander's death in 323bc., yet historians consider them to be generally trustworthy. So whether the gospels were written sixty years or thirty years after the life of Jesus, the amount of time is negligible by comparison. 

2. Blomberg goes to the book of Acts stating that it had never been finished and that the common accepted dating of the book is no later than 62 A.D. Since Acts is the second part of a two part work, the first part being the gospel of Luke must have been written earlier than that. And since Luke incorporates parts of the gospel of Mark, that means that Mark is even earlier. Allowing maybe a year for each of these Blomberg's math puts the writing of Mark with the early 60's or even late 50's. Jesus being put to death in 33A.D makes a gap of about 30 years. That's hardly anytime at all in ancient standards. 


Another faith builder for me this the following. Blomberg discusses the earliest creeds of the early church. 

1 Corinthians 15 is potentially one of the earliest. 

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appear to James, then to all the apostles. 

"And here's the point," Blomberg said, "If the Crucifixion was as early as A.D. 30, Paul's conversion was about 32. Immediately Paul was ushered into Damascus, where he met with a Christian named Ananias and some other disciples. His first meeting with the apostles in Jerusalem would have been about A.D. 35. At some point along there, Paul was given this creed, which had already been formulated and was being used in the early church. 

Here you have key tenants of the faith dating back to within 5 years of Jesus death! 

That's a faith builder for me. 

Discuss this week. 

Enjoy it. 

Post up if you have questions.

The Bible 

A big struggle that a lot of the people I have talked to is whether or not we can really trust the bible to be all that it claims to be. Is it really the living word of God? Or, is it just a good story book?

Part One: Fact or Fiction?

A.      Style

As wakeboarders, we think a lot about style. Was that grab poked enough? How can I make this trick any more steezy? Is this board graphic cool? Think about how the styles of wakeboarding have changed from when wakeboarding was first invented to now. You wouldn’t even recognize the sport. It’s the same with literature. The bible was written in a very different style than other books of its time. The detail put into the scripture just wasn’t done yet; fictional books didn’t include details. Now think about the law, the temple, the plagues…The list of extremely detailed stories in the Bible goes on and on.  The bible isn’t fiction. It just isn’t stylistically possible.

B.      The Old Testament

A lot of things from the Old Testament have been proved by modern geologists. Consider the flood. Water covered the entire earth. Evidence for this is everywhere. Scientists have discovered fossils of 300 pound oysters on top of mountains as well as fossils of fish in the middle of continents. Furthermore, several other ancient cultures (ex: Babylonians, Hindus) have legends depicting a worldwide flood.

Another example of evidence of the truth of the Old Testament is found in the story of the tower of Babel. This is where God made many languages to confuse the builders of the tower. There are actually secular poems that support this. One poem I found says that there was peace and harmony until their ‘god’ changed languages and created confusion. Don’t believe me? Do some research on it! I’m serious.

From the Sumerian epic entitled "Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta" (21 BC):

Once upon a time there was no snake, there was no scorpion,
There was no hyena, there was no lion,
There was no wild dog, no wolf,
There was no fear, no terror,
Man had no rival.
In those days, the lands of Subur (and) Hamazi,
Harmony-tongued Sumer, the great land of the decrees of princeship,
Uri, the land having all that is appropriate,
The land Martu, resting in security,
The whole universe, the people in unison
To Enlil in one tongue [spoke].
…
(Then) Enki, the lord of abundance (whose) commands are trustworthy,
The lord of wisdom, who understands the land,
The leader of the gods,
Endowed with wisdom, the lord of Eridu
Changed the speech in their mouths, [brought] contention into it,
Into the speech of man that (until then) had been one.

C.      New Testament

It has been accepted that Jesus was actually a person, so I’m not going to talk about that. The kind of life he lived, however, is a touchy subject. Many people say that all of the miracles of the bible are false and made up because science can’t prove them.  However, even some scientists have admitted that this is the case because science only checks for natural causes. Supernatural occurrences can be neither proved nor disproved by science. “Science cannot address the possibility of supernatural phenomena.” That is a quote from my biology textbook.

Another common grievance with the bible is that the acts of Jesus are myths made up by the disciples to advance their social status and power. This is based on the fact that the gospels were written between 50 and 70 years after the death of Jesus. This doesn’t prove anything though, because if the acts of Jesus were made up they would have to have waited until all of the eye witnesses and family members of the eye witnesses had died. This is not the case. Many of the eye witnesses were still alive as well as their children and grandchildren. The bible specifically mentions several of the witnesses of how Jesus lived; if anything were made up, the people would have said something. The bible never could have gotten the power that it has if it were made up.

Jesus’ death is another accepted fact in history. He was really crucified. It’s what happened next that is the center of debate. Jesus rose from the dead.  A few ideas on this: The first witnesses were women. Think back to the time period; a woman’s testimony didn’t do anything but weaken a case in court. Why would the bible make up that women saw Jesus back from the dead? Secondly, even some of the disciples doubted and didn’t trust that Jesus rose until they felt the holes in his hands. The fact that the disciples, men who would have significant leadership roles in the new church, doubted their savior rising is a HUGE negative. Why would the bible include all of these details that make it seem like a weaker story to men? The bible is the living word of God; it is truth. That is why we can trust it.

There are all kinds of evidences in the historical accuracy of the bible. This week set some time aside and look into a few.

Part Two: I am not greater than God.

People often express that Christianity can’t be real because certain aspects of it just don’t seem right to them.

EXAMPLE: I like what the bible says about the god of love, but I don’t get this. How can a ‘loving god’ send someone to Hell for all eternity? That doesn’t seem right so it can’t exist!

When we say things like that about Christianity, we are basically saying that any god that does exist is confined to what we think is right. Are you perfect? No. Humanity is flawed! Why would you confine your god to your own flaws? I want a god that I don’t always understand. That is the god of the bible. He is perfect.

So, if God created this perfect truth, His word, there is no way for it to perfectly correspond with every part of our IMPERFECT HUMAN culture. That is why different cultures like different parts of the bible. That doesn’t mean that the bible isn’t true; if anything it only strengthens the case.

Part Three: The Importance of Context Clues and Interpretation.

Read any one sentence from any page off of any book from any shelf of any library. While you may understand what the sentence says, you won’t understand what the author meant by the sentence or how it is supposed to be interpreted because you don’t know any of the context. You don’t know anything about the overall paragraph, chapter, or book. How can we expect to successfully do this with the bible?

Lots of people come up with crazy and just plain FALSE ideas about what Christianity is. This is why it is important to put verses into context and interpret them correctly. Many verses can appear to say one thing when you just read the verse; however, they really mean something totally different when you put them in to context. So if you are confused on a verse, make sure you have read the surrounding paragraphs or even the whole chapter it is in.

Another important thing to consider is how the author meant for the verse in question to be interpreted. Consider Luke. He wrote Luke and Acts. He was a doctor who was obsessed with getting all of the facts and getting them all right. So, his books are meant to be read literally. However, if you look at King David’s Psalms or King Solomon’s Song of Songs you will see that they are poetry and should be read as such.

Part Four: So now what?

Trust god’s word. It’s really what it says it is.

Double check the things people tell you they believe about scripture.

Don’t get hung up on the small things. Major on the majors.

GET INTO GOD’S WORD.

Creation

  Over the weekend I had the unique (I say unique because it was only the 2nd time I've been there) opportunity to go to Bull Shoals lake in Arkansas. 

How can I paint a picture for you? 

I would show you pictures, but Rod's camera got broke while we were there so possibly no pics.  

Okay so back to painting a picture: 

Take the water surface area of Grapevine, Lewisville, Ray Hubbard, Lavon...and Worth just for giggles... 

Now, mash them all up into a play dough ball. 

Okay, now stretch them out like a rubber band...and let it go. 

There you now have the size and possible shape of Bull Shoals. 

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS380&q=bull+shoals+lake&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Bull+Shoals+Lake&gl=us&ei=bTyrTMHWMcGAlAej9tWWCQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ8gEwAA 

You get the idea. 

Okay, now lets get the clarity of the lake locked in. 

Hmmmm...Fill your kitchen sink with water. That's how clear Bull Shoals is. 

Now surround it with beautiful pines and trees. 

Set the depth of the lake at double or triple what you would expect on your normal lake. 

Now imagine a lake that you can find an innumerable amount of wind blocks on... 

Take all wake boats off the lake except the one you are on... 

Add people that are genuinely excited to see wakeboarders 

And you have Bull Shoals. 

I painted all of this to remind you of one of the basics of why we love this sport. 

Being in creation. 

Rod, Robbie and I rode until we didn't want to ride anymore. Then after the desire to get better and progress was gone, God gave us the most beautiful sunset and butter set I've ever had. 

As I rode it was like Jesus was with me on the water. I rode 4 feet from the shore, in 4 feet of crystal clear water. 
The water was so glassy that the sound of the board slicing through the water drowned out the roar of the motor of the boat. 
When I looked down into the water I saw myself, and the sky and clouds above me. 

I felt as though I was surrounded by my God and the things that He has intended for me. 

I understand that here in the DFW area and maybe in your neck of the woods too you have noise. Airplanes, boats, fishermen, other wakeboarders and the like to deal with... 

Take time this week on the water to be surrounded by Christ. 

Find yourself in a place where you worship Him while you are a rider. 

Location location location. 

Peter found himself sinking with his hand outstretched in the storm. 

I will find myself walking on the water with my hands raised high in the beauty. 

I will worship you Lord Jesus in the storm and in the calm because you are King, and worthy of praise. 

Matthew 14:33

The Book 

 So when it comes to getting lessons for wakeboarding some of us our picky, and some of us don't really care too much. 

Foundation 

If you've been around wakeboarding very long, you've probably heard somebody say something about "fundies", a "foundation" or the "basics". 

It's cool to look at "The Book" and how they describe building a foundation in Wakeboarding. 

At the bottom of the tree there are roots and as you move up the three there are harder and harder tricks. For instance: 

If I want to learn a Pete Rose...then I'm going to need to know the in's and outs of a Pete Rose. 

If you spell out a Pete Rose it's really a Toe Side Back roll, with a slob grab, with a Toe Side Front side 360. 

If I can't do a TS backroll, i'm not going to be able to go out and stomp a Pete. If I can't do a TS 3, I'm going to have a hard time with the pete. 

Lets face it...if I can't do a TS wake jump, i'm not going to be able to do any of that stuff. 

Now lets talk about coaching wakeboarding. There are times when you meet somebody that can do a backroll, but they can't do a TS wake jump. You'll commonly hear this person referred to as a "heel side hero" because all they can do is jump on their heels. 

I've noticed that it can be difficult to teach this person new things (especially if they have been riding this way for a while) because they have locked the poor body positions into muscle memory. 

I'm going to throw the intern Luke under the bus on this one. He came with a ton of potential and he actually landed his first backroll out with us on Boat Norris. Then we started working on his fundies. Most of this summer has been kind of a rough summer with him and wakeboarding because of it. He hasn't had as much fun, because he hasn't been able to do the tricks that he wants to do. Instead, we're getting him to do 180's and wake jumps. It's not as glamorous as the back roll, but it's key to being a good wakeboarder. 

The last time I saw him on the wake, he was getting it. Standing tall, body position was awesome and he is rebuilding his foundation. 

Sometimes you'll have a coach that coaches a certain way. I know that I personally want to be able to coach effectively, but there is a point where I can't coach certain tricks, and there's also a point when my coaching style stops being effective for a person. 

Paul talked about how he would rather build on a foundation that is bare instead of trying to reteach somebody something that someone else has taught them. 

I would rather teach a person how to wakeboard than try to get them to leave their old habits behind and learn new ones. 

Our text this week is 1 Corinthians 3: 10-15 

Post up if you have questions. 

Ballast 

 Using more ballast in wakeboarding makes everything better. Tricks are more fun because you are able to go higher than normal. New moves are easier to learn because you have more time in the air. Ballast really enhances the wakeboarding experience. And once you ride with extra ballast, you begin to feel discontent without it. 

 Boat Driver (This Devo brought to you by Mark Heger) 

Away from me! 

So this week we'll finish up our Matthew series. Get ready for some fun stuff during the fall and winter months. We're going to go through a couple of books and it should be really good. 

I always remember seeing a picture at this church I used to go to when I was a wee lad and going to camp. It had a picture of two gates, one was red and scary, and one was filled with light and and peacefulness. The gate that was red was filled with people from shoulder to shoulder and the gate filled with light was barely traveled. 

I was always one that asked questions, and I always remember wondering why they didn't think that many people were going to heaven. I would assume that this verse is their basis. I'm not sure what the ratio is going to be...those that get to heaven and those that don't, but I know that God has me focused on other things. Like being salt and light, and telling people the gospel. 

So in verse 15 here it says to watch out for false prophets. They come to us in sheeps clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wovles. By your fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. 

Lets stop there for a second. 

What are the fruit that we are supposed to be looking for? 

Galatians 5:22,23 says - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law. 

So I apply these things to my own life. Some of these "fruit" I do good at...some others, not so much. 

How are the fruit trees in your life? 

Do you know anybody that has a position of spiritual authority over you that is bearing bad fruit? 


Vs. 21 Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doers!' 

That's crazy to me! That people can prophesy, and do miracles without actually being Christ followers. Without actually being someone that the Father knows. Is that crazy to you? Do you think you might be a person that says, 'Lord, Lord' but that God never really knows? 


Leaders, you can use the next few verses if you want and finish the chapter out, but we're actually going to be using them again in a devo in about 4 weeks...so... 

Ask questions to your riders about whether or not they feel if they are known by the Lord (like in vs 23) or if they are not. 

Love you guys. 

and we all are them. 

So I just wanted to level the playing field out there. We're all pretty junky, and we all seem to be critical of those who are junky. 

So with that said, lets move forward with knowing that we all have room to improve and we shouldn't be waiting for others to change, we see the words of scripture. It's time for us to make a change. 

I'm going to just rock through these verses as is. It's one of those nights where I don't really need to do much commentary. 

Matthew 7:1 - Do not judge lest you be judged. 

2 - For in the way you judge you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 

3 - Any why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 

4 - Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold the log is in your own eye? 

5 - "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. 



6 - "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. 


Here's a little blip I found online that helped me to understand this verse 

Of course, these words of Jesus are allegorical. I doubt that any were literally casting pearls before swine. The meaning is pretty simple to figure out; "Do not persist in offering what is sacred or of value to those who have no appreciation for it, because your gift will not only become contaminated and be despised, your generous efforts could also be rebuffed and perhaps even openly attacked." 

The "dogs" and "swine" here stand for the unappreciative and worldly; unappreciative and uncaring men and women who belittle the value of what is offered to them. "That which is holy" would be the meat offered in sacrifice to God. A dog could care less whether it came from the altar or the garbage. The swine have no appreciation for either the beauty nor the value of the pearls under their feet. 

Your life, time, energy, opportunities and abilities are God's pearls. They're His! You and I are merely His stewards overseeing His possessions (1 Corinthians 6:19,20; 4:1,2; 1 Peter 4:8-11). We must show discernment as to what use we make of God's possessions. It is possible to waste them either by using them when we should not as well as not using them when we should. 

7 - "Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. 

8 - For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. 

9 - Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone? 

10 - Or if he shall ask for a fish he will not give him a snake will he? 

11 - If you then, being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! 

12 - Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. 





We'll wrap up this discourse next week with the end of chapter 7. 

Post up if you have questions or anything like that. The text is very self explanatory to me. The verse 6 part was a bit squirly. 

Verses 7 - 11 are in relation to prayer. 

Have a great week on the water, and enjoy getting ready for school to start!

Be anxious for nothing 

 At the core of much of our problems with our walk with Christ whether that is a good walk or a poor walk in our estimation I think a lack of trust in God can be the core issue of what is going on. 

So last week we saw Paul and the other prisoners almost getting killed by the solidiers, then by the ocean. Now they land on this island called Malta. 

So the natives showed the shipwrecked crew kindness and started a fire for them. Next thing you know Paul is putting some sticks on the fire and a snake attaches itself to Paul's hand. 

Something that stands out to me here: Paul is in the thick of it...again. Paul never seemed to be someone that stayed in the background. If there was an argument, Paul was probably the reason for it. If there was a beating...Paul was probably the one being beaten. If there was somebody in jail...it was probably Paul. If there was somebody throwing sticks on a fire...you better believe Paul would be there in the mix. 

The take away for me here: Don't sit around and wonder when God is going to work in your life. He has already given you His word with standing marching orders. Follow those. Jump in! Paul was jumping in even in the little things. Jump in in the little things people! 

But I might get bit by a snake! 

Cause Paul got bit by a snake...but see what happened. 

The natives initially thought that Paul was cursed because they assumed he was a murderer or something of the sort because of the company that he was in. So they figured that Justice was going to run it's course and take Paul out. So they watched Paul... 

Time goes by and they figure Paul to be some sort of a god because nothing happened to him. 

I'm sure that in some facet this gave him some clout to where people would listen to him. If that wasn't enough, the head dude of the island welcomed them in, and Paul heard about Publius' dad. 

Paul prayed for him and the guy was healed. 

Which in turn ends up with tons of people coming to Paul to be healed. 

God had a plan. 

Romans 8:28. 

This horrible shipwreck that almost cost the crew their lives, ended up being a tool that God used to get Paul to Malta, to get Paul in with the towns folk, and get him in good with the one who leads their little island. 

Moral of the story? 

Don't assume you have how God is going to work in your life figured out. Many of us have our 1, 2, 3's of how God is going to get us where he wants us. Many times the "where he wants us" was or is an idea put there by people around us that may or may not be serving the Lord. 

That's scary stuff to me. I don't want to do what people suggest I do just because they see me good at something and want to feel good about "speaking into my life" Don't get me wrong I have had people speak words from God into my life that have carried for decades. 

What I'm saying is, don't wait around for what you think God is going to do in your life and end up missing what God already IS doing in your life. 

Jump in! 

Who knows...maybe you'll walk on water. 

It's pretty deep so I'll let you as leaders hang out on the parts that really resonate with you. 

Okay, so you'll need to go over this one verse by verse maybe. 

Here's the skinny: Jesus says, "look, you aren't following me because you saw signs but you're following me because you were fed." (This is the same crowd of 5000 that Jesus fed) 

Jesus then says, (vs 27 NASB) "Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give to you, for on Him the Father, even God, has set His seal." 

(Jesus is telling them to expend their efforts on what will last forever, not on the temporal) 

The people realize that Jesus is saying that God has a requirement for them, to which the crowd asks: 

(vs 2 "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God? 

(It would seem to me that it is a very natural thing to assume that working toward a goal is going to earn us favor with our God...an indication of our pride me thinks) 

Jesus' answer is simple. (vs 29) "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent," 

What is the work of God? 

That you believe in Him whom He has sent. 

You might want to repeat that one a few times. That is the ONLY "work" that is required of us. 

Then the crowd asks for a sign. 

Didn't they just go through this? What about the feeding of the 5000? What about the people that got healed by touching his cloak? It would seem that Israel is the same as it ever was. 

(vs. 30) "They said therefore to Him, "What then do You do for a sign, that we may see, and believe You? What work do You peform? 

(vs 31) "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ' He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.'" 

(Okay, so now Jesus is telling them that to do the "works" of God they need to believe in the one whom the Father sent...Jesus. The people then ask for a sign so that they can believe. I'm like, "What!?" Did they forget about them being fed? Were they comparing Jesus' feeding to that of the manna in heaven over 40 years, and if so were they saying that Jesus' miracle wasn't good enough? What then is "good enough"!? You should ask yourself that same thing too..."What is good enough for God to do in your life?") 

(vs 32) Jesus says "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who give you the truth bread out of heaven. 

(vs 33) "For the bread of God is that which comes dowdn out of heaven, and gives life to the world." 

(This reads out like this to me: You want a sign? Here I am. Jesus is saying, I am the sign out of heaven...I'm the bread you're looking for, it's me") 

(vs 34) They said therefore to Him, "Lord, evermore give us this bread." 

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believe in Me shall never thirst. 
But I said to you, that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. 
All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. 
For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 
And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 
For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." 




You might want to read through that last part a few times. It's heavy. 

To me this feels like a bigger corporate version of what Jesus was kind of saying to the woman at the well in John 4. 

Intense Stuff! 

Talk amongst yourselves.

So in verse 22 and 23 Jesus is back on track with spending time with his Father. Once again, the lesson we need to take away from this is that even the Son of God wanted/needed time with His father. We too should be spending time with our Father in heaven. 

So the boys (disciples) are on the boat in the middle of the sea...and the wind was "Contrary". Have you ever had a day where the wind was, "Contrary"? I know I have. Anyway. 

So sometime in the night Jesus comes out to them on the water. 

We've heard this story enough times to let ourselves gloss over about this...but Jesus walked out on the water! On the water! 

You wonder why they thought he was a ghost? Cause there was a guy walking on the water! 

I could see them thinking why he'd be a ghost. I mean it makes sense. In my mind a ghost wouldn't have a ton of mass if any... 

I would thing that a ghost would be more likely found walking on the water than a man. 

I guess I have to rethink some things I think about Jesus again. A few weeks ago I thought that forgiving sins would be harder for Jesus than healing the sick. It appears as thought I was wrong. 

Here I have assumptions floating around in my head that Jesus has limitations. This is no big deal for Jesus. He is fully God. Fully man, and only has limitations that the Father has placed on him. 

So, Jesus comes to them on the water. 

Basically Peter says, "I'll come to you if it's you and you call me Jesus." 

Now if I was a prankster ghost then I'd call Peter out to me anyway and then be like..."Oh I thought you meant somebody else" 

I know i'm mean.  

Jesus calls to Peter and tells him to come out on to the water. 

So, Peter gets out of the boat and walks on the water! 

What?! I still let the story glaze me over. 

A man. It would be like me getting off the boat tonight and walking. 

In verse 31 it evidently has something to do with faith. I want to be clear that we're not talking about a mamby pamby "faith in our selves" faith. We're talking about a Faith in Christ. A trust in the God who is limitless to allow us to bend the laws of physics and time and space. 

It's pretty crazy when we think about it. 

The punch line to all of this: 

Worship. 

That's what all of this is all about. Worshiping a God that is worthy of it. 

Not a lame wad looking "church service" kind of "everybody stand" cause we're supposed to kind of worship, but a fall on your face, bow your knee, come with heavy heart worship because that's the kind of God we serve. 

Jesus did these things so we know that our Father is great. Not as a manipulative thing to get us convinced our God is good. But to show a mighty display of power for our God so that our natural reaction to Him would be to stand in awe of him. 

You get the idea. 

Don't forget verse 32. 

The Boat...Matthew 13 from Alf Evans on Vimeo.

 

 Lots of reading this week. 

We're going over a chapter that is almost all parable. 

Leaders: I'm going to read it out, and then hit on some of the points that jumped out at me. This is one of those chapters that I'd really encourage you to let the text speak for itself on. I kept finding myself wanting to add to it, and commentate... 

It's pretty self explanatory. And if it isn't self explanatory...then that's what this chapter was talking about in the first place.  

So Jesus is talking about what the Kingdom of heaven is like. 

He uses parable, or stories to describe and paint a picture for us. Jesus wasn't dead set on everybody understanding everything. As a matter of fact he knew that not everybody was going to get it. Remember Jesus wasn't there to seek and the safe the "found" or the "know it all". He was there to seek and to save the "lost". 

Read through these verses and ask the Holy Spirit to give you understanding. 

One of the things that's still blowing my mind is the parable of the Tares and Wheat. 

I love the imagery of the servants of the sower saying, "Hey, you got weeds in with your wheat! You want us to pull the weeds out?" To which the sower responds, "No, wait until later because we don't want to damage the wheat." 

I've got a call in to T2 right now cause I think he farmed wheat back in the day. I'm curious about the strength of the wheats root in it's early stages. If left in does the wheat develop a strong enough root so that later on the weeds could be pulled out without harming the wheat? 

I wonder. 

Based off that assumption it could look like God allows us to "share the dirt" with those that he will not eventually call home. 

Read through this. Read though it again. And then pray some more and read it again. It's one of those weeks.

(First things that strike me about this...Peter is listed first at this point, but when we first hear of the two brothers you hear Andrew's name first and Peter second because Andrew invited Peter to meet Jesus. I can't think of another time in the Bible when Andrew was listed first. Next thing that jumps out at me is that Andrew was not only a fisherman, but he was also a disciple of John the Baptist. Andrew was a multi faceted individual.) 

4:19 - And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." 

(Things to be noted: They didn't fish with hooks and lures back then...witch I think many churches fish like. Hooks and lures imply a fisherman is fishing for a certain type of fish. I don't know much about the fishing practices of the day back then, but a net to me implies that whatever is caught...is caught. I wonder what churches would look like if they fished with nets instead of hooks) 

4:20 - Then they immediately left their nets and followed Him. 

(All I can really think at this point is that I hope that if Jesus were here incarnate...that I'd follow him no matter what I was doing immediately) 

4:21 - And going on from there the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. And He called them, 

4:22 - and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him. 

(note to self: Not only should I follow Jesus and drop what I'm doing at the moment he calls me...but I should do it no matter who is watching me and no matter what they say...even if it's my earthly father) 



4:23 Now Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people 

24 Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. 
25 And great multitudes followed Him - from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. 

(I think the big take away from these added verses is that when you follow Jesus, you'll get to see the most amazing things anybody on the planet has ever seen. Honest. I've heard of some cool stuff out there, but none of it compares with the awesome working power of the Holy Spirit here on the earth. It's insane...and I want to see it and be a part of it, even if that means I only get to watch) 

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Boats in the Bible from Alf Evans on Vimeo.

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 Or something like that. I did a series a long time ago ( I guess pre this site) on the things that happened when Jesus was on a boat, near a boat or at the lake. 

I want to go through that again, but I want to add a couple of other lessons to it this time. This time we'll add Jonah's story, and Paul's shipwreck experience. 

This week we're going to look at Jonah. It's a short book in the Old Testament. Some people actually think that Jonah was allegorical, but I don't think so since Jesus actually referred to the things that happened to Jonah as factual (Matthew 12:39-41). The book also reads as a straightforward historical account. If it had not been a historical account of real things then it would appear that this book would be in the "historical fiction" genre, a genre that didn't show up on the scene until well after the time of Christ. 

So...with that said. I believe the things in the book of Jonah to be true, and actually able to happen. 

So lets get started. 

Jonah was a prophet in the Old Testament. 

In Jonah chapter 1:1 - The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me." 

vs. 3 - But Jonah arose up to flee from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. (see map) 

So the short story (leaders feel free to go verse by verse on it) is that Jonah got a boat ride the opposite direction of where God wanted him to go. 

This isn't a hard lesson to teach here. 

Lesson: If God is telling you something to do. Do it! Right then. Don't go the other direction. Don't argue. If you think that God could possibly be telling you to do something and it falls in step with what the Bible says, then what do you have to lose. Chances are it's God teaching you how to hear his voice and has you obey that, he'll speak louder and louder and about more in depth things in the future. 

So the story goes that once on the boat a great storm came up and threatened to sink the ship. Jonah was asleep in the boat while all the other guys on the ship thought they were going to die. So they all started calling out to their gods. They woke Jonah up and said, "Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish." (Jonah 1:6) 

So the sailors cast lots to see who's fault this was, and the lot fell to Jonah. So Jonah fessed up and told them that he served the Lord and that he was running from the presence of the Lord. (Jonah 1:10) So the men on the ship were afraid and asked what they should do to Jonah. So Jonah told them to throw him overboard and the storm would stop. The sailors still didn't throw him overboard yet, and they rowed desperately to try to get to land, but they could not. Then they prayed to God that He not hold them accountable for Jonah's life, which they were about to throw into the sea. 

Side note: It's interesting to me that these guys were praying to their own gods just verses before, but now they're praying to the Lord God of Israel. It's funny what a little storm in someones life can do to refocus them on what is true. 

God would you send the storms that direct us to you, in our lives? 

Onward. 

So Jonah gets thrown into the sea and in verse 17 the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the great fish for three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:17) 

Go google "Jonah swallowed by whale" and you'll find all sorts of fun stuff on people arguing whether or not this is actually possible. 

With God, all things are possible! 

So, many of you know the story. After three days the whale spits Jonah up on the beach, and Jonah makes it way to Nineveh. 

Jonah then preaches his message to them, "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown." 

The deal here is that Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh because Jonah deep down didn't think they deserved a second chance. The Ninevites were rough, and Jonah didn't like them. The reason he didn't want to go was because he knew that God was slow to anger and would stay his hand. 

So the Ninevites actually turn from their wickedness (chapter 3:5) and turn to God. 

At the beginning of chapter 4 Jonah starts to complain. "This is what I said would happen Lord! Thisis why I didn't want to go in the first place...cause you would forgive them. Then Jonah said that he just wanted to die cause God treated him so badly. (wah wah, get over it!) 

Then Jonah find a comfortable place to watch Nineveh get waxed. 

I encourage you to read this account, or re familiarize yourself with it if you aren't. It does not require a strait read through, but if you aren't familiar with the story you need to be. 

Lessons to be learned: 

1. When God speaks. Obey. Right then! 

2. You obeying God doesn't only effect you...it's effects a boatload of other people around you. 

3. God does miracles! Believe it. 

4. God has compassion on all the people. Even the ones that you don't think deserve it. 

5. You're not "entitled" just because you serve Jesus. He gives and takes away. 


Leaders if you need more than that, just let me know. I think you'll be fine with this one though. I like this story. 

Have a great week on your boats. 

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Devo for the week of April 14th to April 20th

 

 I think I left off last week on the end of Romans 6:23 but we'll hit on that one a little bit again. 

Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. 

I think this is one of the more unique and hardest aspects of the Christian faith to grasp. 

In a way I think it's in our nature to be religious. Even people that aren't "religious" have a religious take on their atheism or agnosticism. Even Christians get bogged down with a "religious" "works based", "i'll pay you back later" version of what they believe. 

Think of all the world religions and tell me about one where God came and gave himself up for the subjects of the King. 

It's a true picture of love. Sacrifice. A mighty amazing being giving up what he does not have to give up so that others might be saved. 

All the other religions that I can think of (even some christian slanted ones) involve people paying God back out of duty, out of obligation. 

"The gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." 

The gift. It's free. It's through Christ Jesus. 


Next stop is Romans 10:9 - "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." 

Now as I look over those verses I remember looking at them in the past and seeing them as a check list. 

( ) confess Jesus as Lord 

check 

( ) believer in my heart that God raised him from the dead. 

check 


This is simple, and complex. I know I'm kinda going back and forth with that. Like back then for me, I think I'd confess because I was supposed to, and I still wrestled with the "belief" part of it. I had doubts and I still wondered if it was all real. 

But as I continued in my relationship with Christ, the confession of my mouth became more natural, and the belief in my heart became stronger and more unwaivering. 

Out of the abundance of the mouth the heart speaks. 

Speak and confess the name of the Lord Jesus in your life. Continue to believe that God raised him from the dead, and you WILL be saved! 

The final stop on the Roman road is 

Romans 5:1 - "Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Imagine being at peace with the Father. Not just any Father. The Father. God. King of all things. That's a relationship that will never cease and going through life with that knowledge is immense and peaceable. 

Somehow, nothing else seems to matter after that. 

The last verse I want to leave you with is this: 

Romans 8:38-39 says - 

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 


You might need to read that again. 

No matter what you think you have done, or whatever you think is in between you and Jesus, or you and God...I don't care how bad you think you are... 

Nothing...nothing, nothing at all can separate you from the Father's Love. 

Period. End of sentence. End of discussion. End of debate. 

End of transmission. Stop arguing. Okay, that's enough. Jesus Loves you. 

No really. 

Seriously. 























I mean it.

 

Devo for the week of April 5th to April 12th

 

Sorry about the all underline and all bold.  I don't know how to fix html code.  :)  (but I know how to make a smiley) 

 

Roman Road stop 1 & 2 from Alf Evans on Vimeo.

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 The Roman Road to salvation is a series of verses in the book of Romans that helps to show our need for a savior, and how we can be saved. This series is good for us as believers to remember for leading those around us to Christ, and is instrumental in a pre-Christians' life to crossing the bridge to salvation. 

We'll go through this series a couple of stops a week. 

The first stop this week will be: 

Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 

It's pretty strait forward, but it's easy to think that "we're all good people" deep down inside. Sure I could see how we think that we are good when we compare ourselves to the person next to us, or the person on the Jerry Springer show, but that's not who we're being compared to. We're being compared to God's holiness. We're horrible next to him. 

Romans 3: 10-18 paints a picture of sin. 

There is none righteous, not even one; There is non who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is non who does good, There is not even one. 
Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. 
There is no fear of God before their eyes. 

That's what we're like without Jesus, even when we think we're good. 

The second stop on the Road is 

Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

The punishment we have earned for our sins is death. Physical death, and eternal spiritual death. 

The next part of the Roman road to salvation is the focus on the end of Romans 6:23. 

"but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

Jesus Christ died for our sins so that we could live on to the glory of God. 

Romans 5:8 says - But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 

Praise the Lord! The Father's love abounds to us. And we see that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! 


Soak these verses in this week. These are all verses that we could potentially glaze over because we have heard them before. Read them again for the first time this week. 

Remember your own Road to Salvation. 

If you have not yet accepted Jesus' payment on the cross for your sins, would you talk to your lead or somebody this week about accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and savior.

 

Devo for the week of March 29th to April 6th

 

 

The Agony of Love from Alf Evans on Vimeo.

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 I remember one of the first times Jesus and I did business together...like Alf and Jesus. 

Not, Alf and Alf's mom's God, Jesus. Not, Alf and the God of the American Christian, Jesus. Not Alf and a concept or thought of what Jesus could be like, but Alf and Jesus. 

Anyway, you get the idea. 

One of the first times that it became genuinely personal to me was when I came to the realization of what He did on the cross for me. 

I googled "medical effects of crucifixion" today and I found some interesting results. 

One site I'm putting a link to will actually be our study this week. It's a very good explanation of what Christ went through on the cross for our sins. 

Next week we'll start a short series on the Roman road to salvation. 

I thought this would be a good lead in to this, and also a great reminder of the price for our sin. 

Mind you, this account refers to the physical duress put on Jesus. This account does not touch on the separation that Jesus endured from God the Father, not to mention the fact that He was Immanuel (God with us) which is a miracle in itself. 

Leaders, read over this one if you have a chance before your group this week. If you don't have a chance, read through it to your group. Allow the Holy Spirit to convict. 

I don't want us to walk away with a sense of guilt that "leads us to repentance", but I do want us to have a realization of the cross, and the horror of our sin next to Jesus Christ's holiness. 

Have your crew read through the verses and pray that the Holy Spirit would draw men to Himself. 

Then, invite your crew to church with you on Sunday morning. 

Here's the link. 

http://www.khouse.org/articles/1998/113/

 

 

 

Devo for the week of March 15th to 22nd

 

Untitled from Alf Evans on Vimeo.

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 Today we go over James chapter 5 

There are three sections of this chapter so leaders feel free to break this up in whatever way works best for your group. If you need to hang out on vs 1-6 more, or 7-12, or the 13-20 feel free. I'll be hitting on all three but probably hanging out more in the first section, definitely hitting the last part of the second section and the last section. 

Lets jump in. 

1. Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 

2. Your wealth has rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. 

3. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 

4. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 

5. You have lived on the earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 

6. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you. 


Questions for groups: 

Do you think you have any wealth that's corrosion will "testify against you" as in verse 3? 

What could be a picture of a modern day "hoarding of wealth" like we're seeing in vs 3? 

Do you think there are any "cries of harvesters" reaching the ears of the Lord Almighty against us? (individually? Nationally?) 

Have you lived on the earth in luxury and self indulgence? 

Do you next part of that verse may apply to you? 

How do you think verse 6 could possibly apply to us if we haven't actually murdered anybody? 




Lets move on to the second section of this chapter 

7. Be patient, then brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield it's valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. 

8. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. 

9. Don't grumble against each other, brothers or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! 

10. Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 

11. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have see what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. 

12. Above all, my brothers, do not swear - not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No", no, or you will be condemned. 


How does James connect these two passages? 

Do you think James is speaking to the same group of people or two separate groups of people in these two different passages? 

Break down vs 10-11. What do you think James could be referring to? What could the brothers he is talking about in verse 7 need to be persevering against in this time? 

What did the Lord finally bring about for Job that James is talking about in verse 11? 

How often do you say, "I swear"? Do you think those are empty words, or do you think they may mean something to someone? 

What does, "Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No", no" mean? 


We'll stop there for this week lest we turn this into a really long week. 

Post up your questions and thoughts. 

Love you guys.

 

 

 

Devo for the week of March 8th to 14th

 

 

James...round 7 from Alf Evans on Vimeo.

This week we're going over James 4:11-17 

This first verse is a doozy right out of the box. 

I do this, you do this...more often that we should. 

11. Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgement on it. 

12. There is only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you - who are you to judge your neighbor? 

(Pretty solid stuff again. It's great practical advice, and it would also keep us out of trouble if we could just learn to keep our mouths shut about others. God never told you to judge your neighbor...he told you to love them) 

13. Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 

14. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 

15. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 

16. As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 

17. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. 


(If I could show you how many business plans I've built regarding what I'm going to do. How big I'm going to build it, how it's going to look, how much revenue it's going to make you'd laugh. I know this flies in the face of common sense and what the norm is these days, but God is telling us to change the way we think regarding our futures. Instead of having a mindset of "I'm going to do this" he is challenging us to have a mind set of, "If God would allow this...". There is a huge difference and it stems from our belief and our trust in God. Do you really believe that God will take care of your future, or do you think you really are going to have to? It's a serious and tough question I want you to ask yourself. It's one thing to trust Jesus with your eternity, but it's something totally different to trust Jesus with the rest of your life, the rest of your families life...everything. Have you done that? Really? 

The kicker here is the last verse. This is kind of like the go to verse if you're asking if you can get away with anything. I remember when I was in youth group our big question was how far is too far when it comes to dating? The problem is the very question we were asking is the wrong one. It proves that we had a heart issue from the get go. Answer: Anyone who knows the good they are supposed to do and doesn't do it...sins.) 

It's a shorter week, but there's tons to talk about in there.
_________________

 

Devo for the week of March 1st to March 7th 

 

 

James...round 6 from Alf Evans on Vimeo.

going to quote Jordan again on this one: 

"Everytime I read James God punches me in the face." 

So true with the very first verse of chapter 4. 

What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? 

Isn't it the source of your pleasures that wage war in your members? 

(Alf translation) 

You lust and don't get what you want...so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. 

You do not have what you want because you do not ask. 

You ask and you don't get what you want because you ask with wrong motives so that you may do what you want. 



I'm amazed at the Living Word of God. Isn't it incredible. Text written nearly 2000 years ago speaking deeply to the core of who I am. Speaking deeply to the core of many of the world's issues. 

Lets jump back in. vs. 4 

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? 

(did you know that?) 

Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 

(pretty strait forward there isn't it?) 

Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose; "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us:? 

(Okay, hit the brakes for a second. First of all, lets dwell on the question, "Do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose?" 

Well do you? It's an honest question and a question that will reveal a ton about your charachter and what you really think about God. 

Now lets look at the reason why we want to be a friend of God and an enemy of the world: 

Because the Spirit of God jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us. 

No, not cause we're supposed to be good little boys and girls. Not so we have a pleasant society. Because as believers, God has put his Spirit inside of us! That's intense, insane, and I could list a ton of other adjectives.... 

It's once again all about God! He jealously desires... 

wait for it... 

... 

Himself! 

How does that make you feel? 

Is that unfair? 

Is that weird? 

If you have issues with this, shoot me a pm or a message. I'd love to talk with you about it. 

But!!!! 

He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." 

I don't understand a ton of stuff...but I do understand this. 

God opposes the proud 
Give grace to the humble. 

Easy enough. 

On ward to verse 7. 

Submit therefore to God. (notice the period there) 
Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. 
Cleanse your hands you sinners; and purify your hearts you doubleminded. 

Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom. 

Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. 


I think there is so much practical stuff here. 

Leaders, I'm not asking you to get very fancy with this one. Read it. Have your group read it. And maybe read it again. 

Then discuss, and see what God is doing. 

James chapter 4 vs 1-10 in case you didn't catch all of that.

 

 

Devo for the week of Feb 22nd - 28th

 

 

James round 5 from Alf Evans on Vimeo.

I laugh at myself. Especially when reading James. I wonder each week what kind of "wisdom" I can bring to the table by "unpacking" the scripture. The funny thing to me is the scripture itself tears me apart. It speaks for itself and doesn't need a ton of explaining. 

Once again, James delivers some tough stuff right out of the box. 

James 3:1 - Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall inherit stricter judgement. 

That's not a very good move considering I'm trying to get more chapter leaders to lead people to Jesus is it? Not very good marketing.  The truth of the matter is, God is going to hold teachers responsible for the things that they say. It's not easy, but it's true. So as leaders we need to handle the scripture carefullly. 

I'm not going to trek through the next 10 verses one by one, but in your groups I want you to read them to yourselves, and then out loud to one another if needed. 

A few weeks ago my pastor delivered a message on words that bring life, or words that bring death. It was a convicting look into the way that I use words and why I use them. Let the verses in James tear through you, convicting you of the reason you use the words that you do, and why you do it. We should all relate to vs 4.  

In James 3 vs 13-18... 

Man I just keep going back to this passage. 

13 - Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. 

Gentleness of Wisdom! That's heavy stuff man. So James is saying that you'll see wise people by the things that they are doing. 

14. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. 

15. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. 

Wow! So there is an earthly wisdom...and a heavenly wisdom. Have you ever listened to a person that was trying to sound wise? Yeah, that's what comes to mind there. 

16. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. 

17. But wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. 

Want to know what heavenly wisdom is like? Vs. 17 is it. 

18. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. 

Do you notice a correlation between those with wisdom and those that act in peace? 

I do. 

I would venture to say that if you think you are wise, you can look at your Peace-o-meter and see how well you are doing there. If you are lacking peace or gentleness....theeeeeen, you're probably lacking heavenly wisdom too. 

Wow, so practical! Thanks God. Thanks James.

 

Devo for the week of Feb 15th - 22

 

 

James...round 4 from Alf Evans on Vimeo.

2 vs 14-26 

I'm going to use the Message paraphrase version of the text this week. It's awesome, and it allows us to employ a bit of what we learned from Living by the Book. 

I'll pretty much just write it out, and let it speak for itself. 

Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup - where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department." Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove. Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works intwo and not end up with a corpse in your hands? Wasn't our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are, "works of faith"? The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God ans was set right with God, " includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by barren faith but by faith fruitful in works? The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape - that seamless unity of believing and doing - what counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse. 


Some of my take aways... 

Well I guess what isn't right? What has been blowing my mind away is the "seamless unity of believing and doing" part. 

Seriously? Seamless. 

At the core of it, it means this: 

If I believe that the Bible is true, then I believe that it is applicable to my life. If it's applicable to my life then it has the guidelines for my life in it. If it has the guidelines for my life in it then I need to do what it says. 

That means really living out what the Bible says. Ultimately if I'm not then I don't really believe what it says is for me...and I don't really believe that God is good enough to trust with my decisions. 

It might seem like a pretty extreme jump, but that's pretty much what we're saying by not putting the word into action in our lives. Truth. 

Leaders: Go through this is section and be sensitive to those in your group and their own personal wrestlings with this material. It's intense stuff. Have riders do self assessments on how they are actually living out their faith. Do you believe more than you do? Do you do more than you believe? 

Open dialogue is where I'm hoping we land on with this, and with that I believe God will use that to strengthen the balance between belief and doing.

 

Devo for the week of Feb 9th - 16th

 

James round 3 from Alf Evans on Vimeo.

 

 James chapter 2 vs. 1-13 

1 - My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 

2 - For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in find clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, 

3 - and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, "you sit here in a good place," and you say to the poor man, "You stand over there, or sit down by my foot-stool." 

4 - have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? 

5 - Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 

6 - But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? 

7 - Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called? 

8 - If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law, according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. 

9 - But if you show partiality you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 

10 - For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. 

11 - For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 

12 - So speak and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. 

13 - For judgement will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgement. 


There are a couple of different concepts that he's discussing through these verses. 

1. The concept of showing partiality to others, and showing disdain for others. 

2. The concept of the consequences of our sinful actions. 


In your groups this week I'd like you to identify the ways that we might show partiality to those who might come or do come to wakeboard church. Please discuss both sides of partiality, the disdain, and the favoritism. 

Also, talk about the sins that you know that you struggle with consistent transgression and then those sins that you feel like you have nailed down, and get a free pass from God since you don't struggle with them. 

Do you feel these two concepts work together? 

Can you sense a steady stream of thought coming from James on this issue? 

Discuss in your groups and feel free to post up what your thoughts are.

 

 

Devo for the week of Feb 1st - Feb 8th

 

James round 2 from Alf Evans on Vimeo.

 

 

 

Just keep hitting play. That's what Tony Horton of p90x says. 

However, it doesn't work if you don't actually do it. The last couple of days i've had a head cold, or a sinus infection, or something and my body hasn't wanted to do the workouts... 

nevertheless I haven't hit play. 

Are there days where you don't "feel" like doing what Christ has laid out in front of you? I had a couple of those moments even in the last few days. My brain begins to work overtime and rationalize all the things and reasons why my way is better than God's. 

Lets jump into more of the practical application that the book of James has to offer. 

vs 13 to start us out... 

13. Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being temped by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 
Alf's commentary - Once you read this once it's a tid bit of info that sticks with you. It's pretty basic, and easy to assume that it's common knowledge from that point forward. I think we'd be surprised about how many aren't clear on this bit of doctrine. Remember it so that you can spread the word. God doesn't tempt. Period. 

14. But each one is temped when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 

A - where does that tempting come from instead?...When we are carried away (like a fish in a net) and enticed by our own lust. 

15. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. 

A- What an amazing picture here of sin leading to death right?! It's almost like we give birth to sin. Gross. It makes me think of Aliens. 

16. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 

A - Strait forward stuff right there right? It's like he's saying...in case you doubt this stuff, or want to talk yourself out of it..."Do no be deceived". 

17. Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no vairation, or shifting shadow. 

A - More strait forward info for us to stow away here: All good things comes from where? Above. From the Father of Lights. (which is a cool thing to think about...imagine the Father of light....whoa) Oh and by the way, that Father of lights that we were just talking about...there is no variation or shifting shadow in Him. A light that doesn't flicker... shadows that don't move around him. That's intense stuff right there. 

18. In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures. 

A - I'm sure theres stuff I'm missing here cause I'm not that sharp, but this is some awesome stuff. What i'm getting here is that God brought us forward as his kids (in a manner of speaking) because he wanted to, by his word (which is truth). 

19. This you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. 

A - Uh, is this something we really know? Well you do now.  Lets review: Be quick to hear. Slow to speak. AND slow to anger. Easy to type and say, not so easy to apply to everyday life. 

20. for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. 

A - There...in case you didn't know. 

21. Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. 

A - So lately have you put aside all filthiness? I'll be honest, I haven't so much lately. Often times in the guise of humor. To be funny it's not worth it. In humility do you receive the word? Lets start with are you receiving the word? Okay yes/no? Okay next, do you receive it in humility? 

22. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 

A - I don't even need to expand on this one. Put your money where your mouth is. Where the rubber meets the road. Let your game do the talking for you. You get the idea. 

23. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror. 

A - wait for it... 

24. for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 

A - to me this paints a picture of a shallow type of faith, a hollow religion. 

25. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does. 

A - I love the word "effectual doer". It's like beyond going through the motions...you know when you work out and you just go through the motions, but sometimes you're really feeling it, and you push through those workouts, and compress as much as you can? To me it's like that. Actually acting out your faith, and God bringing the results. 

26. If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. 

A - This is a big ouch...especially for those of us who pride ourselves on being "strait forward" speakers, or "direct". How often do I actually "bridle" my tongue? I'm working on it, but fail more than I win I think. 

27. This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. 

A - Practical application here. When was the last time you visited orphans or widows? When was the last time you were stained by the world? 


Leaders: Talk it out, chew on it. Use the thoughts I put in there to spur on conversation if needed. If not needed, just roll with it. 

Have a great week.

 

Devotion for the week of Jan 25th - Feb 5th

James round 1 from Alf Evans on Vimeo.

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 I've been praying lately about where we need to go as a crew. You probably can tell that I have been vacillating between Living by the Book and other things. Information is a great thing, but it doesn't do us or anybody else any good if we aren't fleshing it out. 

One of the most practical books of the Bible is the book of James. So I started thinking that direction the other day. Then I started reading through it and what I was thinking was confirmed. Then it was confirmed again when one of the passages in there nailed me right to the wall on where I am right now. I think all of us will benefit from a few weeks in the book of James. 

So, hang on and enjoy the ride. 

James 1:1 - 1:12 

So I recently came into possession of P90X. I was watching this "How to Bring it" video that comes with it. Kelly and I put posts up on fb about it and everybody was posting about how hard this is going to be and wondering if we're going to make it through it. In this video that comes with the videos, the main dude says, "All you have to do is do what you're told, and keep hitting play." 

Sure! "All I have to do" 

He says that if I just keep doing that I'll get the results that I want. Really?! Thats it?! 

Well it's obviously easier said than done. I'll let you know how hard it really is to just do what he says later today. It's my first day to "Bring it". 

Well in some ways the book of James is similar to what P90X is doing. 

I see so many practical things that James is telling us to do, that sometimes we just need to quit thinking so hard about the "why's" of what we're doing and just do them. 

So, here we go: 

vs. 1 James, a bond servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad, greetings. 
(This book was written by James the brother of Jesus according to most scholars) 
2 - Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. 

Lets employ the "just hit play" mentality here. What is James telling us to do? Consider it a joy when you go through tough times. (Alf translation) 

3 - knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance 

Action item - know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. (pretty simple stuff huh?)  

4 - And let endurance have it's perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nother 

I think the gist of this is owning up to the charachter building that is coming. We say that we want God to change us, but in reality, it's very difficult to let that work be done in us. I think this verse is talking about letting the change really happen in us through the long haul, rather than bugging out on it after it gets hard after a short while. Key words here: Endurance. Complete. Produces. 

5 - But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 

Do you lack wisdom? Then ask God for wisdom and it will be given to you. 

6 - But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 

BTW: When you ask for that wisdom...ask without doubting that God will give it to you. The rest of that is just a visual for us to latch on to.  

7 - For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 

Pretty self explanatory here...if you doubt that God will give you the wisdom that you are asking for....don't! 

8 - being, a double minded man, unstable in all his ways. 

This statement is pretty deep and to me has some implications. To me, it's implying that if you are asking God for wisdom then you understand that God is the one who can truly give the wisdom that you need. However, if you are actually doubting that he can give it, then you are doubting that God can do what you say that He says he can do and are conflicted in your mind. Either you believe that God is who He says He is...or you don't. You can't have it both ways. What do you believe? 

9 - But let the brother of humble circumstances glory in his high position; 

Whoa! Gears just shifted on us didn't they? Or did they? Talk amongst yourselves.  

10 - and let the rich man glory in his humiliation, because like flowing grass he will pass away. 

You guys are smart, I'd like you to discuss these verses with your groups, and talk about whether or not they pertain to the previous verses. 

11 - For the sun rises with a scorching wind, and withers the grass, and it's flower falls off, and the beauty of it's appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away. 

Kind of a recapping of the previous two verses IMO 

12 - Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 

If you just keep hitting play, then you'll get the body you've been looking for. If you just keep hitting play, you'll get the prize you were looking for. 

 

Talk amongst yourselves. Especially with your groups. 

Love you guys.

 

 

 

 

Devotion for the week of Jan 20th-27th

 

 There is something phenomenal going on. It’s become so common place that I might actually seem crazy for saying something about it. I probably have mentioned it before, but I thought we’d spend an evening on it. Control. 

I was flipping through channels the other day and I was watching one of these insurance ads where it shows the actually car wreck happening. I always wonder how much they paid for those car to wreck them. I think it’s cool to wreck cars for commercials. Anyway, these insurance companies word what they sell sometimes almost like they can keep the bad from happening. They are selling such a cushion of safety that sometimes I actually think we buy into the illusion that we can control what is going to happen to us. Sure, this argument can get a little slippery slopish, but I thought I’d say something to get our brains turning the other way. 
Lets talk about the health care debacle. The entire country has it’s eye on this thing, and I understand why. I guess I should back up. My kids have some form of state health insurance, and Kelly and I have some HSA deal where we have a deductable that is completely insane. It’s basically for if something really bad happens. Even the concept of health insurance makes me think a little bit. I understand that it’s there in case something happens, and it’s a very wise thing to have in place, but sometimes I wonder if we begin to think that everything is okay because that’s in place. How much do all of these man made buffer zones make us think that we have it all covered? I think each one of these things is a rift in the surface of the life we are walking out toward our creator at times. 

Where do you get your pay check? Work 
Where do you get your health? Doctor 
Where do you get your peace of mind? From a good family 
Where do you get your self esteem? From someone close to me 
Where do you get your security and safety? From the Government, or from systems (I’m thinking about safety mechanisms designed to keep us safe) 

I understand that this is all very common place and we exist in this fashion day after day, but what happens when we have an earthquake like the one that hit Haiti hit us? Do we doubt God at that point, or do we go to him for the help that we need? 

Matthew 6:19 – Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body, if your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lillies of the field grow. They do not labor and spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry saying, ‘what shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it’s own. 

Soak this stuff in this week. Are you focused on your own efforts to get what you want, or are you relying on your Heavenly Father…who knows what you need to supply it to you?

 

Relinquish... from Alf Evans on Vimeo.

 

 

Devotion for the week of Jan 11th-Jan 18th

 

 

Devo for Jan 11th from Alf Evans on Vimeo.

Leaders...what is your fav Jesus story? 

Talk about that. 

Sometimes I feel like I get so wrapped up in lessons and devos that I miss the reason. I miss the most instrumental figure. 

Jesus. 

Leaders you have freedom to go where you want, but I want you to talk about Jesus. I want you to talk about why He is so important to you, and share the most important truth with your group...That a relationship with Jesus is the most important thing...ever. 

One of my favorite Jesus stories is the story of the Syrophoenician woman, and how it seemed that Jesus called her a dog, but her faith healed her daughter. I love it because it goes beyond our conceptions of race, and social class, and lands us smack in the middle of the truth. The truth that Jesus loves everybody. Even the unlovable. Even your enemy. 

He died for all of us on the cross so that we could have eternal life. 

Are you in relationship with him today? He is really all you need. Trust me, I know. 

Mark chapter 7 vs 24 starts her story. You're welcome to use one of my favs if you want, or use yours. 

God bless you this week.

 

 

Devotion for the week of Jan 5th-12th 2010 

 

 

Deuteronomy chapter 8 from Alf Evans on Vimeo.

 

I was struck this week when our pastor used a couple of verses from Deuteronomy chapter 8. 

It was so appropriate I wanted to talk about it this week. 

So, Duet chapter 8: The jist of this chapter is "Don't forget what God has done." 

I'll type it out, and then throw out a couple of verses that really rock me. I'm sure there will be plenty to talk about with this chapter. 

1. Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers. 

2. Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert those forty years to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 

3. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 

4. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 

5. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. 

6. Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and revering him. 

7. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land - a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; 

8. a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 

9. a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. 

10. When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. 

11. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 

12. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build find houses and settle down, 

13. and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all that you have is multiplied, 

14. then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 

15. He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 

16. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go will with you. 

17. You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." 

18. But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. 

19. If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 

20. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God. 




Read over the entire chapter, but if you only have time for a few verses, hang out on 11-14, and 18. 

Do these verses make you think of anything? How does this apply to you as an individual? How does this apply to us spiritually? Physically? 

Should be a good discussion. I know I'm looking forward to it.

Devotion for the week of Dec 14th-21st 2009 

 

 This week read Luke chapters 1 and 2.

Some of my favorite parts of this story are "Emmanuel". Just the concept of "God with us" blows my mind up. God with US. Think about that for a second. Think about other religions and their gods. Are humanly unattainable and unreachable. Instead we are confronted with a God invading humanity by becoming a part of it. Understanding us. Understanding me. King of kings being born in the manger. Another one of the most amazing parts of this story to me is the prophecies concerning the birth of the Christ. Messiah to be the seed of the woman Gen 3:15 - Prophecy Gal 4:4 - Fulfillment Messiah to be born of a virgin Isaiah 7:14 - prophecy Luke 1:26-35 - Fulfillment Bethlehem to be the place of the Messiah's birth Micah 5:2 - Prophecy Luke 2:4-6 - Fulfillment Homage and tribute paid to Messiah by great kings Psalm 72:10-11 - Prophecy Matthew 2:1-11 - Fulfillment The miracle of just these few prophecies happening is intense. I didn't even list non Christmas related messianic prophecies. Let those soak in. Take in to consideration the time each of the books was written and in what manner they were written. That will speak to you as it did me I think. Finally (if you have time) I want to quote the last part of one of my favorite fiction books. It's the last few pages of Cosmic Christmas by Max Lucado. A fictional possible look at the Christ child's birth from the angel's perspective: [i]So this is He. Immanuel. So this is God's gift. A Savior. He shall save His people from their sins.[/i] "Worthy is the Lamb," I whispered, as I knelt before my God. My heart was full. I turned to Mary as she cradled her child and I spoke. It didn't matter that should couldn't hear me. The stars could. All of nature could. And most of all, my King could. "Do you know who you hold, Mary? You secure the Author of grace. He who is ageless is now moments old. He who is limitless is now suckling your milk. He who strides upon the stars, now has legs too weak to walk; the hands which held the oceans are now an infant's fist. To Him who has never asked a question, you will teach the name of the wind. The Source of language will learn words from you. He who has never stumbled, you will carry. He who has never hungered, you will feed. The King of creation is in your arms." "What manner of love is this?" Michael whispered, and again we were covered with silence. A blanket of awe. Finally, Michael again opened his mouth, this time to sing. He began quietly, pausing between the words. "Glory, glory, glory to God in the highest." One by one we joined. "Glory, glory, glory to God in the higest." Gradually the chorus grew louder and faster: "Glory, glory to God in the highest. Glory, glory to God in the highest. Glory, glory to God in the highest." Our praise rose into the realms of the universe. In the most distant galaxy the dust on the oldest star danced with out praise. In the depths of the ocean, the water rippled with adoration. The tiniest microbe turned, the mightiest constellation spun, all of nature joined with us as we worshiped Immanuel, the God who had become flesh. Remember why this year. Amen.

 

 

 

Devotion for the week of Dec 7th-13th 2009 

 

 

 This week we're going to wrap up the different ways we read and head into our Christmas season where we take a couple of weeks off of our study and focus on the Christmas story and each other.

Today we talk about Reading Telescopically. What does that mean? Reading the Bible telescopically means you can read the parts and understand how it makes the whole. For instance, at my house last week we talked about how people like to take Phil 4:13 out of context quite often using it to say that they can do "anything through Christ who strengthens them". Well yes, the words actually say that, but so often people take that to mean that they can do anything they want, and God will give them the power to do it. The contextual truth of the statement is Paul is in chains when he was writing this and he's just coming off telling the Philippian church that he has learned how to be content with whatever circumstance God brings his way. So, yes he can do anything through CHRIST who strengthens him. There is a contextual difference, and it's important to read the Bible telescopically to see the entire story rather than just a few words that sound nice. Ways to do this: Look for the connectives: We read about connectives when we learned about reading the Bible purposefully. Connectives are "ands" and "buts" and bring concepts together frequently. Next time you're journeying through your Bible pay attention to the ands and the buts and see what they are telling you. Pay attention to context: Telescopic reading always asks, "What's the big picture?" So as you read have this question at the back of your mind. There are so many examples of verses being taken out of context, quoted incorrectly and just plain used wrong. Without jumping into too many of them, here's an exercise for you that might be fun, or it might tick you off. Go turn on your local "tv preacher" and follow him as he quotes scripture. Listen to the way that he's quoting the verse and then you read it for yourself. Read the context of the verse and see if what the verse says and what the preacher on tv are the same thing. You might be surprised at what you learn. Evaluate the passage in light of the book as a whole: I know that usually this requires actually reading the book as a whole, but it's valuable to an extent that words cannot express. It will take you a little time, but it's worth it. Read the entire book of a Bible the next time you're wrestling with a verse. It might seem like a lot of work, but you'll end up learning a ton of information on the verse that you have been looking at. It will feel like "behind the scenes" of your verse. Look at the historical context of the book: Hendricks talks about some of the present day activities of Christs day, and that sheds light on the story of Christ. Lately for some reason I've been reading Genesis 22 lately. It's the story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Well even typing that is rough. In our society you just don't kill somebody. Especially your own son. Now i'm assuming that Abraham was deeply sorrowful that God provided another sacrifice, but one of the things that we learn about the history of the time period is that pagan religions of the day required human sacrifice. So it wasn't a far leap to think that Abraham would at least be able to imagine God asking that of him. (I'm hoping my wording came off right there) Enjoy this week together, whether that be at coffee shops, or houses or wherever. We are blessed immensely. Ride On everybody.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Devo for Cat and Dog Theology

 

 

 

This is a tough week for sure.

I found myself struggling through it. I many of the cases I know the correct answer, but I still found myself "wanting" a certain answer because of my comfort level. 

Lets get started. 

So the "Cat" theology isn't necessarily incorrect, it's just incomplete. 

We've mentioned the "Cat" prayers that we end up praying many times. How often do our prayers sound like, "God, would you heal aunt Bessie?" Or "God would you secure my job?", or "help me get the better grades so that I can get into the school that I want to get into." 

When was the last time we prayed a prayer that sounded like, "God, would you do whatever it takes to make your glory shine in my life?" I actually did that the other day...and Boy is it scary. 

I'm gonna get honest with you for a second. I love where God has me in life right now. I get to lead a ministry that God has birthed in my heart as a vocation. That's quite a blessing! And when I prayed "God would you do whatever it takes to make me On Fire for you God?" I had thoughts of not getting to do wbc fulltime. 

WBC for a fulltime job, or God? 

What would you choose? 

I want you to hear the truth. God is more satisfying that wakeboarding. God is more satisfying than this ministry. God is more satisfying than anything you can imagine. 

To live is Christ, to die is gain! Do you believe that? 

Lets look at some of Cat's top priorities. 

Good health and a long life. 
I came from a home that was very focused on "faith healing". The belief behind that is basically, "If you have enough faith, then God HAS to heal you." It's a very comfort, human focused mindset. Rest assured that God is completely sovereign and doesn't HAVE to do anything. When was the last time you prayed, "God if you can get more glory in my death than with the rest of my life, then take me home." (I actually had a friend pray that prayer once...he's still here bringing glory to God!) 

To be safe and secure. 
Where do you get your paycheck? From your work? From your boss? Who signs the checks? 
Actually, you get your paycheck from God. He allows you to have the money that you do. I've enjoyed watching the economy tank and watching the "reliance factor" shift. For us to trust the government is a joke. For us to trust our jobs is a joke. For us to trust our paychecks is a joke. For us to trust social security is a joke. For us to trust "insurance" is a joke. God alone is our real security. God alone is our real "insurance". God alone is our everything. 
He alone is your safety and security. Do you believe it? 

To be blessed 
Cats want to be blessed with comfort and a plush lifestyle. I actually had myself convinced earlier this year that I could "minister better with a better boat" because it was bigger and newer and better. What a load of crap! God in his infinite wisdom provided Boat Norris through Dan and this boat is everything we need for so many reasons. How arrogant, and self centered I am to think anything different. In what ways that you convinced yourself you "need" better things to carry out the plan that God has given you? I'm willing to bet if you just start acting out what he has told you to do, you'll be more fulfilled, and have more resources than you know what to do with. 

Their local church to be blessed 
In many Christian circles you'll get this. 

"So what church do you go to?" 

"So and so first church of something." 

"Oh yeah? How many you running there on Sunday morning?" 

"350. How about you guys?" 

"750, and 3 services." 

"Oh wow." 

"Yeah." 


I remember going to Youth pastor conventions and left and right I ran into that. It's like going to a wakeboard tournament and seeing who is going to win. "What tricks you got?" "What tricks YOU got?" 

What about THE Church? The body of Christ? What about our brothers and sisters in China, and Cambodia (which I'll be going to later this year)? When was the last time we prayed for God's glory to be displayed in HIS church rather than OUR church? 


The chapter goes on, but you get the idea. 

What is really the most important thing? After you answer that question I'd like you to assess what you really believe in reference to that. 

Heavy stuff this week. Live like a dog everybody! 

Ride On!