On the Job

My sweet friend, Jen, helped me with wedding a few weekends back. While we were working, she shot this photo of me doing my photog thing. I love it! :) Thanks, girl!

Our Two Shepherds

These two kiddos did a fantastic job in the church play tonight. So much enthusiasm. Reminds me that apples don't fall far from trees. :) So excited to see the people they become. I love them sooooo much!!

Thanksgiving and Root Canal

Well, we didn't spend Thanksgiving as we planned. I wound up having an emergency root canal that Monday. But we did really enjoy each other's company. And took this photo before we went to Golden Corral for dinner. (never again)

Styrofoam Cup Theology

(tonight's message - inspired greatly by Jeanne Mayo)

Styrofoam Cup Theology

Part One

What is it that you are holding in your hand? These are cups, disposable cups. Can you use these again? Can they say, go in the dishwasher? Will they hold up over time? No, these are only good for temporary use, right?

Hmmm. You could kind of say that about you and me, couldn’t you? When you consider that time has stretched out for at least 4000 years already and you and I only last about 70 or 80 typically. Our bodies weren’t crafted for the long haul, were they??

Tonight we are talking about Styrofoam Cup Theology. Everybody say it.

1 Corinthians 4:5-7 tells us that we are like these cups. “We do not tell people of ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as servants for God who said, ‘Let there be light out of darkness’ made light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory. But we have this treasure inside of us like throwaway cups and like jars that can be broken.”

The treasure is God’s glory and light. We contain Christ.

“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27

We are these weak, disposable cups. The Bible refers to us as earthen vessels, jars of clay, tents, grass that withers, flowers that fade, but a vapor. We are nothing on our own. What can we do?

We can contain Jesus. That’s right, Christ in you, the hope of glory.

It’s pretty ridiculously awesome that Christ’s Spirit dwells in us. Honestly, we have it even better than the disciples. Sure, they got to walk with Jesus. They ate with Him, hung out with Him. But Jesus was human and still needed to sleep, to spend alone time or down time. In His human form He was limited to being only one place at a time.

But now, because Jesus is IN us in spirit form, He is not held back by human limitations. He’s with you from the moment you open your sleep crusty eyes in the morning to when you lay your head on the pillow at night. You literally can walk every step, every day with Him. We all can. What’s more is that the Bible tells us the Holy Spirit is a deposit, guaranteeing our future in heaven. The Holy Spirit is a constant reminder of our future destination.

Because Christ is IN US - we can pour Jesus out to the world around us. I think you will find that as Christ pours His Spirit into us we can’t possibly contain it anyway! The natural reaction to ‘too much’ is to pour out.

So this evening we are going to talk about that pouring. We’ll start in 1 Samuel, talking about David and Jonathon. You all remember David, right? Rockstar shepherd boy who took out Goliath with five smooth stones?

Well, really that was just the beginning of his awesome rise to fame in Israel. And what often happens with rockstars, a few haters come to the surface. For instance, Justin Beiber is a modern day example. How many of you like Justin? Come on, we can all admit he’s talented, right? The kid is 17, and could sing circles around me and probably every person in this room. But a few folks just can’t stand him. My daughter, Sarah, is one of those people. She can’t stand the sight of his floppy hair and pretends to punch him every time she sees a cardboard cutout of the boy.

Well, back to our story. David had a hater as well. And unfortunately, he was a hater with a lot of power and influence. King Saul couldn’t stand to see David coming, and he wanted to do a lot more damage to David than punching a cardboard cutout! King Saul was determined to kill David.

But God had David’s back and brought him a smart and powerful friend; Jonathon. Jonathon’s main source of influence was the fact that he was Saul’s son. Did you catch that? Jonathon, David’s best friend, was the son of King Saul, the man who was out to kill David. Sounds like a soap opera, right? Not the Bible.. I’m telling you, you should read this book, there’s all kinds of fantastic stories in there.

Here’s a verse that tells you what kind of friends David and Jonathon were.

1 Samuel 18:1, 3- 4

After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. ² From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. ³ And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. ⁴ Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.

God gave David a soul-knitting relationship with Jonathon. 1 Samuel 1:8 “And the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David.” God knew that David needed a Jonathon if he was to survive King Saul’s attempts to murder him.

What does soul-knitting mean? Well, let’s start with what is your soul? Your soul is your mind, will and emotions. All of these ingredients combine to make your soul. Soul knitting is a combination of God’s supernatural plan with your day to day choices. It’s when your will lines up with God’s will and you act in accordance with His word and plan for your life.

Jonathon chose to daily care about David, even when it cost him dearly. I can’t imagine Jonathon had too great of relationship with his dad, King Saul, after he started hanging out with David.

You and I need to look for opportunities to develop soul-knitting relationships. There are people hurting all around us; at school, in your neighborhood, as you are walking down the street. I have started praying, “God give me eyes to see your souls.” as I drive or walk or go to the grocery store.

See, sometimes we are guilty of seeing people just as people. Sometimes worse than that, we see them as obstacles, in the way of what we want. It’s easy to do, there are so many of them. But God sees them as souls. He sees lost and hurting souls, in desperate need of a relationship with Him. And we have an opportunity to be the conduit (the link) between Jesus and people. God can use you and I to pour Jesus into people’s life through deep relationship.

But we need to be on the look out for opportunities to develop those relationships. And there are opportunities everywhere. My best friend, the one that I’ve been friends with for fifteen years now, well we met during the most boring sociology class of all time. Why? Because we took the opportunity to develop a soul-knitting relationship.

Part Two

So how do we develop a soul-knitting relationship with another? Is it magical? Does it just happen instantly? Is it like ‘imprinting’ in the Twilight books where you have no choice as to who or when?

Nope. You have to look for opportunities. Then you need to make unselfish covenant choices. Meaning, consistently choosing their best interests over yours.

We read on in 1 Samuel 18:3 “Then David and Jonathon made a covenant, because Jonathan loved David like his own soul.”

Jonathon and David made a commitment to place the other’s best interests first. They decided to love each other unselfishly. Did you hear me? Love is a decision before and after it is an emotion. Deciding to love someone daily is what builds a long term friendship, or one day a marriage. Deciding to love someone is what allows you to overcome the little irritants of the every day.

It’s a dangerous thing to pray “Brand me with unselfish covenant choices.” But that is what God wants for our lives. In fact, it’s exactly what Jesus modeled for us by coming to the earth as a baby and dying on the cross as a sinless man.

Our society says, “Love is an emotion. When you fell a certain way, than you act unselfishly.” This is a problem for sure, because as soon as that feeling starts to fade, you stop acting in the other person’s best interests. What happens next? The relationship starts to fail.

This is what happens in over 50% of all marriages. The couple starts out feeling like they adore each other, and when the feelings fade or the honeymoon wears off, they stop making unselfish covenant choices and suddenly the marriage ends.

I used marriage as an example but what about friendships? I’m sure the statistics on friendships are even higher, but that’s not something that anyone has tracked. Because unfortunately, I would guess the rate of failed friendships is even higher than the rate of failed marriages in this country. How many of you have had a friend that is no longer your friend? And how many of you have been married and no longer are married? See, point proven. Friendships die all the time, because you and I are are unwilling to make unselfish covenant choices.

Styrofoam Cup Theology tells us instead that right choices will eventually bring right emotions. See, when we are constantly pouring Jesus into our life (by reading the word, and praying, worshipping) we are compelled to do right things. Even when we don’t feel like it. When you start doing right things, eventually you will start to feel really good about those right choices.

I remember when I first rededicated my life to Jesus. I was sixteen. My dad and I had a way bad relationship. It pretty much consisted of yelling at each other. After I rededicated my heart, I knew it was wrong to yell at my dad. So I stopped. Cold turkey. It was really hard, especially since my dad didn’t stop yelling at me. In fact, he was annoyed that I didn’t fight back and so he yelled even louder. Those first few months of being yelled at were really hard, I had to fight my emotions not to yell back every day. But eventually, my heart got in the right place and I had no desire to yell back. I just felt really bad for my dad that he was hurting so much that he felt he needed to yell in order to release it.

Right choices will eventually bring right emotions. The only way to learn to consistently make right choices is by spending time with Jesus and allowing Him to teach you right ways.

Part Three

Jonathon was willing to lay down his life for David. We find this in verse 4. “Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.”

At that time, when you gave someone your robe you were saying “I give you myself.” But when you gave someone your weapons, you were saying, “You have conquered me. I will serve you.”

Styrofoam Cup Theology teaches us to be willing to genuinely lay down our life for others. To give them our robe and our weapons. In our stewardship series last month we talked about how everything we have is God’s and we need to be willing to give it away. Being generous is vital. But the higher standard is laying down your life for them. Considering their needs above your own.

Does this sound at all familiar? John 15:13 “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Jesus set this perfect example for us, didn’t he?

What if you look around and think, there’s no one here worth laying my life down for. Well, Jesus probably could have thought that about us, too, right?

Sometimes we need to be a friend rather than to have a friend.

Pastor Rob knew this kid in high school. His name was Nate Hanlon. He was a little slow. You know, kind of talked funny.

“I don’t know what you be talking about. I talk just fine.”

He tried to be a tough guy, wearing his leather jacket and all. He was kind of mean. But Rob noticed that Nate got picked on a lot. In fact, one day some bigger high schoolers were picking on Nate and Rob happened to be nearby. And because Rob was walking with Jesus, he had a swell of confidence and stepped in – asking the guys to leave Nate alone. Nate started hanging out with Rob. Rob invited him to the bible study he led on campus. Then Rob invited him to youth group. Nate gave his heart to Christ not long after that. And Rob and Nate made many great memories together in those years.

Often times our friendship can be a help up to a person around us. Just the fact that you have Jesus and are extending that to the people around you – you have something awesome to offer. You can be a good listener. You can genuinely care. You can be an encourager. You can just be there consistently. You can be honest. All of those things are qualities that people look for in a friend.

In fact, best selling author, Carol Ladd composed a list of seven qualities that people look for in a friend. They are as follows.

1) Genuine interest in others.

2) A giver, not a taker.

3) Loyalty.

4) Positivity.

5) Ability to appreciate differences.

6) Common interests.

7) Honesty and openness.

Wow, six of those seven qualities are built into the Christian life. And the one that’s not, ‘common interests’ can easily be resolved by making the other person your common interest. People are always interested in talking about themselves, it’s the subject they know the most about!

If you want to be like Jesus.. as we practice this Styrofoam Cup Theology.. we need to pour our lives out into others. Your friend will be the one whose need you can meet.. Not the one who meets your needs.

Altar/Prayer

God, tonight, place people in our hearts and minds. Help us to see the people around us as souls that are precious to you. Give us a deep appreciation for each one, as well as a burden for their salvation. God help us to see the individuals around us as Your masterpieces, objects of your affection. God we know that you loved each of us enough to die on a cross to restore relationship with them. God give us that love for the people around us. Allow us to be your hands and feet. Let us pour out our lives for the people in our world. God, give us opportunities for soul-knitting friendships. Help us to make covenant choices for the people in our lives. Keep us from abandoning relationships, but allow us to serve the needs of the people around us. Help us to be willing to lay down our lives for our friends as Your Word says. Help us to be good friends that continually point others to You.

Stewardship Series: Financial Responsibility

Turn the Key.

Tonight we are starting a new series on Stewardship. Stewardship is kind of one of those ‘church’ words that we don’t use outside this building too much. Anyone know what it means?

I like definitions. Webster’s says stewardship is “the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care”

God’s Word challenges us to be good stewards. Everything we have is ours at the blessing of God. That may be a new thought for you, but God literally has placed every good thing in your life. Your home, your family, your finances, your friends, your school, even your body are all gifts on loan from God. You need to treat them as such.

Considering that all you have is at the grace of God keeps perspective in your life, lends you towards thanksgiving, and stewardship. You realize that you need to be responsible with these gifts that God has given you.

Tonight we’ll be unpacking a great set of scriptures, taken from Psalm 37:21-26

²¹ The wicked borrow and do not repay,
but the righteous give generously;
²² those the LORD blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be destroyed.

²³ The LORD makes firm the steps
of the one who delights in him;
²⁴ though he may stumble, he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds him with his hand.

²⁵ I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.
²⁶ They are always generous and lend freely;
their children will be a blessing.

So what can we learn about stewardship from these verses?

First off, the wicked borrow and do not repay. Borrowing and not repaying is not a trait of the godly. It’s important to repay whatever you owe. Really, it’s best if you just never borrow to begin with, you’ll save yourself a lot of heart ache and stress. Pastor Rob and I have tried to live by this because we didn’t early in our marriage and it was PAINFUL! Since we started living by the principle of not borrowing, it has been a very big blessing to us. It’s also an awesome opportunity for God to show Himself faithful in our lives when we refuse to use credit to solve our own financial responsibilities.

A cool example of that was last summer. I was having some tooth pain and went to the dentist and found out I needed two crowns, like immediately. Crowns are extremely expensive; about $1400 a piece by the time they are seated an all. We did not have that kind of extra money. I told the appointment lady that I needed to go home, talk to Rob about it and pray with him about it. She handed me a credit application and encouraged me to fill it out. I stood my ground, said I’d call back with an answer in a week.

The week passed. Rob and I prayed and believed and asked you guys to pray to. By the time came that I needed to make the appointment, God had provided all the money we needed, without borrowing a penny. We paid cash for the crowns, and got a discount because of it. See, God is faithful! We depended on Him to provide, rather than rushing to solve it on our own. And He did, and now I have this cool sermon illustration and two shiny, paid-for crowns!

The opposite of borrowing and not paying back is what the righteous do, giving generously! God has really been challenging Pastor Rob and I in this area of our life. So much so that I have found myself looking for opportunities to bless others. It’s fun!

One time, when we were first married, we had some friends that were really struggling financially. They were in Bible college, had three kids, and had just hit a hard time. We decided to buy them some groceries. So we went to the store and picked out kid friendly foods and then snuck down the back alley behind their house, quick unloaded the groceries on the back porch, rang the bell and drove off as fast as we could. To this day they have no idea where those groceries came from. It was such a fun thing to do! Way better than tp-ing or forking someone’s yard! Although, that is fun too!

The scripture goes on to say that the Lord makes firm the steps of those who delight in Him. This has been our experience as well. As we grow in our walk with God, the firmer our steps are. The closer we live to His biblical principles for our life and especially finances, the less frightening our finances have been. We still depend on Him completely, but there’s no fear. We have a legacy of His provision in our lives, meaning we can look back over the past almost 14 years and see all the ways He has taken care of us. Trust is firmly planted because He has been faithful all those years.

The next portion of that verse says “though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him in His right hand.” This is so true. Rob and I have tripped up in our finances. Lots of times. We’ve messed up, we’ve stumbled. But God is faithful, and He is our restorer. He has allowed us to learn from our mistakes and to learn to trust Him more and more. And He’s even gone so far as to allow us to teach others from our experiences, which is so much how the Lord works. He’ll allow you to go through things to grow your character, and to enable you for the ministry of others.

The last part of this verse describes how the writer is a very old man, but has never seen the righteous forsaken, or their children begging for bread. Instead the righteous give freely, and their children are a blessing.

God provides. Miraculously and faithfully. And we can give to others out of the trust that God is going to continue to provide. Remember how I said PR and I were really working on this area of giving more freely? Since we’ve been doing that, God has blessed us both so incredibly. I seriously could write a list of all the ways He has rained down physical blessing in our life in the past few years, but what would be harder to articulate is all the ways that He has emotionally, relationally and spiritually blessed us. Meaning, He’s healed hurts, given us vision and favor, allowed us relationship with people, provided understanding and wisdom.. All of these things that we aren’t capable of on our own, He has poured out on our lives. We are truly blessed in ways I don’t even know how to express, but I know it’s a direct result of being generous.

I know Pastor Rob says it all the time on Sunday mornings when he receives the offering, but you cannot outgive God. It is the one thing in scripture that God tells us to ‘test Him’ in. Malachi 3:11

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

When we are faithful to God to give our tithe (ten percent of our income) He will bless you. Not just financial blessing, but every kind of blessing you can imagine. Giving unlocks God’s blessing in your life. This verse talks about floodgates. If you aren’t familiar with floodgates, they are giant door-type walls that control water in a river, specifically to maintain a specific flow or water stage. When you ‘open the floodgate’ all the pent up water comes rushing out. I see giving, specifically tithing, as the key that turns the lock on the floodgate, allowing it to rush God’s blessing all over your life. So much that you ‘won’t have room enough to store it’.

What do you do when you run out of room to store things?

It’s an opportunity to start giving things away. So picture this with me. God has all this blessing, literally just ready to pour out all over your life, so much so that you won’t be able to help and give it away to others. He’s just waiting for you to tithe, to give, so that He can respond by opening the flood gates. It’s a pretty awesome image, isn’t it?

The other aspect of giving is that giving allows the church to move forward in it’s mission. We all understand that we are part of the Great Commission; going and telling all the world about Jesus. And hopefully, each of you are doing your part in the going and telling in your school and home, with your family and friends. But Jesus called us to tell all the world. Now how can you and I in San Antonio obey that call? If you can’t physically go, you can SEND. Giving is one of the ways we send. By giving, we empower the church to do the work. By giving to missionaries, they can tell the world. And our church, ct|church, supports 33 international missionaries, as well as about 15 home (or United States) missionaries or missionary organizations. See, you may not be able to go to Africa or Cambodia or Thailand to tell someone that Jesus died for them, but your dollar can go to fund the missionary who will.

The truth is giving is how church works. Realistically, it’s a reflection of how God works. He loved us so much that He ‘GAVE’ His one and only son to us. When you love, you give. You and I are called to love and called to give.

You know in your heart if you are being faithful to give to God, and to others. You know what you are supposed to do. Lately God has been pressing on my heart, asking me, is there anything I have that I’m not willing to give? God has given me everything that I have. There should be nothing that you are unwilling to part with for His glory. Because the truth is, it’s just stuff. It’s just money. You can’t take it with you. We talked about death last week. None of this temporal stuff goes with you to the next phase. We need to remember that as we deal with money and things. We worship God, not money or things. Let’s remember that our relationship with God and others are the only things worth hanging on to in this life. Loosen your grip on the other things and let God bless you for your trust and faithfulness in him. Start giving generously, start tithing. Turn the key to open that floodgate in your life, and then stand back and enjoy the outpouring.

(lay the keys on the altar, have students come up and take a key and pray as a symbol of being willing to give whatever they have to God)

Stewardship Series: Social Responsibility

The Planet, the People and Papa.

The Planet

God gave us this planet. We reach back to Genesis and can see that He built the planet from scratch. In fact, put a lot of effort and creativity in it. Don’t believe me? Look around at all that has come from His imagination! Let’s think about crickets for a moment. Can you name a few types of crickets? There are lots of varieties of crickets house crickets, field crickets, cave crickets, ground crickets, camel crickets, mole crickets, snowy tree cricket and the northern mole crickets. Honestly, I didn’t know all those names of crickets, but google is a handy tool and it turns out there are over 900 varieties of crickets! Just knowing that God designed 900 different types of crickets is enough to make you stop and go, whoa! God used his best efforts when He created this planet!

Anyone know what God told us to do with His earth? Are we supposed to use it up? Abuse it? Trash it? Ignore it?

Well, let’s see what scripture has to say about it.

Genesis 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.”

So God told us to fill it, right? Be fruitful and multiply. Make babies, fill up the earth. And man, we are doing a great job. We just hit the population point of 7 billion people on the planet about 2 weeks ago.

The next part of the verse tells us to subdue the earth. Subdue means to bring under control or overcome. Another translation, the Message says be responsible for the earth. God wants us to care for His planet. He’s put it on loan to us and you and I are to be caretakers, or stewards of.

Pastor Rob used to be a caretaker of a church camp while he was in Bible college. (we always joked that the job title caretaker sounded like a horror movie title) His job consisted of yard maintenance, pool care, keeping the plumbing working, and just overall upkeep. The camp belonged to our church, so he was very diligent because he knew that really, the camp belonged to God.

Our planet is the same way. God has allowed us to live here. We need to properly care for this treasure that He has created. Taking care of the earth is wonderful way to say ‘thank you’. What are some simple things that you can do to care for His planet?

Not littering is a big one. Shutting off the water while you brush your teeth. Some of you might think ‘take less showers’ but let me promise you, everyone around you needs you to take a shower every day, so don’t cut any corners there. But say with food - you can take what you need and eat what you take. Or even with napkins and ketchup packets at your favorite fast food restaurant. Shut off the lights when you leave a room. Shut the door when you walk out of the house. You don’t want to air condition the state, right?

An easy way to tell God ‘I love you’ is by taking care of this planet. Another one is to thank Him for it regularly. Take a walk and just enjoy the sights and sounds of all that He created and say ‘thanks’.

The People

We also have a social responsibility to people. What do I mean by that? Well, you can’t just do whatever you want whenever you want wherever you want. Hopefully you guys have already begun to figure that out on your own.

See, God placed us in homes and families and schools and communities according to His time and purposes. Scripture tells us so.

From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. Acts 17:26

And in living according to His purpose for our lives, we have certain responsibilities or duties to the people around us. Can anyone tell me what God says about how we are supposed to treat our neighbor?

Luke 10:27 says ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

We need to love the people around us. We have a responsibility to get our heads out of the sand in our lives and start paying attention to the people in our world.

How do we love the people around us? Let’s start with your family. When we first start talking about this you may think ‘well, I don’t even know if I like my siblings, or my parents’ but let’s pretend for a moment that your cell phone just rang. It’s the police chaplain and he’s calling to tell you that your whole family had taken the car down to HEB to get a few things before church. But as they rounded the corner in the grocery store parking lot an explosion took place at the gas pumps and your entire family was proclaimed dead at the scene. I bet if you had the phone in your hand and heard that in the receiver you’d change your mind real quick about how much you love your family.

Why do people wait until it’s too late to love the people God placed in their lives? Decide right now that you genuinely love your family. Start treating them with love; honoring them, speaking kind words, avoiding arguments or tantrums.

Romans 12:18 tells us “In as much depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”

God wants you to get along with your family. And a lot depends on you. The truth of the matter is that it takes two people to argue. You are in control of your end of that relationship.

But that verse doesn’t just apply to family. It says ‘all men’. God means everyone you come in contact with, everywhere you go; at school, at practice, at church. Get along with people, don’t pick fights, don’t stir up drama. Obey your teachers, listen to them, you might actually learn something! Respect the authority that God has put over you. Remember, He set you exactly in the life you have to form you into the person He wants you to be.

And as special as you are, He uniquely and lovingly designed the people around you too. Treat them like they are the God creations that they are, because you have a responsibility to them as well.

The Papa

You have a social responsibility to the Papa. Papa is another word for daddy, or father. And I’m not talking about your earthly dad, we covered him in the last section when we talked about loving people. I’m talking about your spiritual father, your creator. You have a responsibility to God.

God created us as objects of His affection. Meaning, He loves us. He longs for us to return His love. Deuteronomy 6:5 tells us “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

In fact, Jesus tells us 1200+ years later that this commandment is the greatest commandment God has given us. God told us to do or not do a lot of things, but Jesus (His son) told us that this is the most important, this loving the Lord with all your heart, soul and strength. Probably because Jesus knew that if we got our relationship with God in proper perspective, all the other things would come into place.

If you love God with everything you have, it’s hard to sin. God probably knew that, since He knows all things. His goal isn’t only to keep you from sinning, but to help you become everything He’s created for you to be.

We don’t love God out of compulsion, it’s not because we have to. You and I have a choice. Each person on the planet has that choice. But the best for your life and mine comes when we choose to love God with everything we have to offer.

God loved us so much that He did what?

John 3:16, God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son.

Right? Can you imagine with me for a moment that you have liver cancer. It’s killing you, slowly but for sure, unless you receive a new liver, you are going to die, a long, drawn out painful death. And my son, Eli, is a perfect match (actually,the only match) for your liver. Of course, keep in mind that he is currently using his liver and needs it to live. But I decide, because I love you so much, that Eli will give you his liver. Even though, if Eli give you his liver, he will die.

That is exactly what God did for you, to cover your salvation. You were dying of a disease called sin. And Jesus was the only cure, because He was the only one without sin. So God offered up his only son to cure your disease. Wow. He loves us.

So there’s that, and also a couple hundred other verses in the Bible tell us that God loves us. God knows we need to hear it often, I guess. So how should we react to His love?

We respond with love in return, and gratitude. Take a moment and think of three reasons to be grateful for God…

That’s easy, right? Especially this time of year, we are all thinking about what we are thankful for anyway. For me, it’s actually hard to just stop at three. The first three that pop into my brain are my savior, my Rob and my kids. But then I start thinking about how I have good health, and a job I love and hair on my head and a happy life and chocolate and it just starts blowing up from there. Wow, God, You are so good!! To me!!

You can see how just having an attitude of gratitude grows your love for God, right?

So as we wrap up this evening we have a couple things to consider. First off, are you showing God your love by the way you treat His planet? Are you being respectful? Are you showing Him gratitude or thanks by being a good caretaker?

The next question is how are you treating His people? Are you loving and kind, slow to anger? Or are you quick-tempered and mean spirited? Do you need to get a better grasp of how God views the people around you?

The last but probably the most important question of the evening; are you being responsible to the Papa? Because honestly, you can be the biggest tree-hugger on the planet, so green that your hybrid car runs on sunshine and lollipops, but if you don’t know God, what good is it? Or maybe you love people really well, you’re a huge people person and you have an infectious personality and tons and tons of friends but you don’t give God the time of day. Hell is going to be a really lonely place if you are people person who didn’t know God.

We need to love God with all our heart, our soul and our strength. We need to love Him when we wake up in the morning and when we lay our heads down at night. We need to realize that every tiny detail in our life from the sun streaming across your desk in study hall to the best friend that shares your exact sense of humor is a gift from Him. When you start to wrap your mind around that, you will find all kinds of reasons to thank Him, and love Him.

If that sounds a little far fetched to you right now, just begin to ask Him to show Himself in your life. Take a few moments in your chair and ask Him to help you love Him more. Remember that He is faithful and He longs to be in right relationship with you if you will open your eyes and see His fingerprints all around you.

(altar - Fingerprints of God)