Saturday, December 22, 2007

Christmas Shopping

Hello,

Yesterday I took the kids Christmas shopping to buy gifts for thier mother. I had a list from Lisa and off to Greenbrier Mall we went. We had never gone to Greenbrier before so it was a new experience for us. We didn't expect to see two stories of stores! All the kids were excited. They were not excited to buy gifts for Lisa, but to look at stuff for themsleves! I had to remind them that we are here to buy Christmas for thier mother, and so off we went.

We looked at different stores and different items and we all found different gifts for Lisa. I won't divulge what those are here. We also went to eat in the Food Court and I found out that my family is growing! I used to be able to get just three slices of pizza to feed everyone. Now I have to buy a whole pizza.

After all that purchasing I had a thought like preachers do. My thoughts to went all the money I spent! But all that stuff is mine now, (until I give it away) becasue I purchased it.

I thought the same with God. He purchased me with the blood of his son, Jesus. Inthat case I belong to God now. I am his. In fact the Bible says specifically that we were bought at a price, and thus we should live righteous.

But I also thought this. God not only purchased me, but he has made me to be a gift to others around me. We say it like this, I'm blessed to be a blessing. God wants to be a gift to others, and share the joy of Christ to others. Jesus put it this way, "You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world."

Becasue I am purchase by his blood I can be a gift for all!

Merry Christmas!

Kirk

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Friday, December 14, 2007

Christmas Tree Ornaments

My family has a tradition after each Chritmas. That tradition is for each of my children to go buy a Christmas ornament for next Christmas. We'll go to a Cracker Barrel or a Hallmark store and let them choose one. It's great to go after Christmas because most of the time they are at least 50% off regular price.

I thought I would share one ornament from each child. It's interesting because the ornaments they chose express their personality and even what they value.

Take Miriam, my youngest. Her favorite ornemt is a fuzzy Cracker Barrell teddy bear. She likes it becasue it is soft. It's beige in color and it's soft fur stands in contrast too all the hard porcelien and clay ornaments around it. You could describe Miriam as soft. Not soft in that she is a blowover! But soft in that she is always anxious to give a hug and kiss. She is extremely loving and caring for others, just like a teddy bear should be!

Dietrich's (My son in the middle)ornaments reflect those of a little boy. There is Spider-man and a firetruck. I think the one that best expresses Dietrich's personality is the M&M character dressed up as a Star Wars Storm Trooper. Dietrich loves to be the hero. He truly cares for others. He doesn't impose himself on others as well. On the other hand he is bit goofy like the M&M. He always has a silly comment tha makes people laugh.

Then my oldest Taylor has a unique ornament. Her ornament is a teddy bear too, but one of the arms is missing. She went to buy it at Cracker Barrel one day. She selected it and then noticed the broken arm, so Lisa put it back and got a perfect bear, with two arms. Taylor though would have nothing to do with that. She began to cry and sob. Lisa asked what was wrong and she said she was crying over the broken bear. She said no one else would buy it and would be up there all alone. So Lisa bought the broken bear.

I'm glad she did because it reminds me every Christmas that Jesus did the same for me. I was broken. I wasn't perfect. But Jesus mourned over me. He couldn't stand for me to be left alone. So he came to earth, and died for my sins, and when I placed my faith in him through baptism, he came to live within me and made me a new creation!

How cool! Merry Christmas!

Kirk

Friday, December 7, 2007

Thankful for the Struggle

Hello.

The message I preached last week God really used. People came up to me and said it really helped them keep the faith. I get really excited when God uses the messages in this manner. That's what I pray for every week. I pray just before I get up each week, "God I love these people, you love them even more, let your love be shown today!"

This particular message though stands out to me. I really struggled in developing this message. In fact I wrote this message four times! I would pray, study, work, get done, and say that isn't right! I was really fighting it and really getting frustrated with myself. I thought why can't I be happy with what I just wrote. It's good! But I still wasn't satisfied. So back to work I would go.

Jeremiah talks about having a message burning in his bomes. Well, I had a message burning in my bones but I had no clue what. Finally, after all that struggle I finally was satisfied with I had wrote. Sunday was a comin' so I thought God you just need to take this and do your part for sure. I've done all I can.

On that note I would like to say something. You would think the lesson here is I needed to do that in the first place. I just needed to get out of the way of God, so to speak. I understand that line of reasoning but it's wrong. Here is why I think it's wrong. In preaching there is the God factor and the preacher factor, and the two work in partnership. The God factor is God doing what I cannot do. The preacher factor is what God will not do without me. In other words God expects me to do my part. He expects me to study, pray, and work hard at my messages, then he takes and does with it what he can only do (which is a lot). If I don't do my part God will not do his part through me. Simple as that.

Back to my story. I preached the sermon that Sunday and we had a first time guest that told me I was speaking right at her. Well, I wasn't. God was. He did his "thang" again and amazed me! God is so cool like that.

I want you to realize that preachers everywhere work hard at their messages. It is not a casual thing to them. They honestly seek to being God's word to thier flocks each week. I had to go to the hospital a couple months back and the nurse began telling me about her preacher. She didn't think he spoke from God each week because he spoke through series. She was concerned that a person might say something and he might need to say but he would be limited by his series. I understand her concern, albeit misplaced.

She asked me where I got my messages and I said "God" and she said "good." But I wish I would have said I get my messaages from God's word. Everything I say I seek to verify from the Word. This is the authority that I speak on, not just on my relationship with God through Christ. Without the Bible I have no outside authority.


I say all this to encourage you, no matter what church you come from, to not listen to your preacher and worry about whether he speaks through series, a book in the Bible, or stands and reads a manuscript or yells and jumps. The real matter is determining what is God saying to you through this man. He's prayed and prepared many hours for God to speak through him. Are you listening to God or are you listening to your preacher?

That's enough for this week....Have Yourself Committed!

Kirk

Friday, November 30, 2007

It's called Christmas

What do you say? "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays?" Surveys show that the majority of Americans say it's okay to say "Merry Christmas."

I just have one question about the issue. Why is it okay for Christians to be offended but not okay for other religous beliefs to be offended?

I found a couple videos I thought were funny about this issue of Merry Christmas. I thought in this blog I would post them for your enjoyment!



and...

Christmas Linebacker

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Enjoy!

Have Yourself Committed!

Kkirk

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Books

As most of you know I am a person that likes to read. I believe I enjoy it becasue I like to learn. It seems I can learn something from just about anything. I'm the weird one that likes reading the boring books. I like to read books on theology and preaching. I also like novels, but I have a tendency to choose from the latter.

I usually 2-6 books at the same time. One book I'm currrently reading is on preaching. It's called Preaching with Variety. It talks about how to preach from the different kinds of literature in the Bible. I don't know if you know it but the Bible is ull of poetry.. history, legal documents, public speeches, religous ritual, and of course the beloved stories from the Bible.

One point the book makes is how many different ways God communicates to us. He wants us to get a clear picture of who He is and also for us to get the message He loves us. A good preacher will use many different techniques to communicate the Gospel just like our heavenly Father does. That's one thing I strive for. I try to be as creative as I can in communicating the timeless truth.

Another book I'm reading is a business leadership book called, It's your Ship! I'm just gettting into it. It's how a navy captain turned the worst ship in fleet into the best ship in the fleet. I've just started on it but one thing I like aboutit is the Title. it communicates the idea that if you don't participate then it doesn't get done. It's your ship!

I hope you feel that way bout Celebration. I hope you feel like a vital part of something special going on! God is working amongst us! He will use you in a mighty way!

That's all for this week.

Kirk

Friday, November 9, 2007

God Just Keeps on Blessing

Hello everyone,

This past Sunday was truly awesome. We have been having Natalie attending our church of late and she is a great lady to know. She is from Long Island in New York and works over in Hampton. She is a a Jew.


Since this past summer I have been having discussions with her about the person of Jesus Christ and his role in God's plan for Jews and all mankind. I told her how Jesus shows a different way than the law to relate to God. I told her his death on the cross provided that new way.

Every Sunday when I would see her she would ask me, "Do you think I'm going to get there?" I said, "yes." This has gone on for several months now. Well, this past Sunday she came up to me after church. I was expecting her to say, "Do you think I'm going to get there?" But this time she didn't... she simply said, "I'm ready." It was such an emotional moment! Tears welled up in my eyes and my heart leaped! Incredible!

There are other stories as well. At the staff meeting Tuesday night we all shared stories about how we have seen different people growing in the Lord. It was really exciting to see all the growth taking place in our churches.

Then Sunday night we had our first Celebrate Life Live! and it went over really well. We had a great attendance and it looked to me everyone was having a great time. it was good to get together but it was also great to see new people getting involved in groups where real life can grow. I ended Sunday just overjoyed with what God is doing!

God has great things in store for us! Don't miss God's wave! Hang 10!

Kirk

Friday, November 2, 2007

You Know What Makes Me Sick!

Back in Cincinnati Ohio on the powerful AM 700 was a comedian who would have different beefs about current topics. He always began his tripe with this line, "You know what makes me sick?!"

That's what I am going to do today. You know what makes me sick? When retailers no sooner take down thier pumpkins and skeletons at halloween than they are putting up Christmas lights, Santa Claus's, manger scenes, and pushing to buy all this stuff for the holiday season.

I heard on the news this morning that retailers are worried that the housing crunch is going to curtail Christimas sales this year so they are leaving nothing to chance. They are going to get an early start on Christmas and get everyone in the mood... to shop, long before "Black Friday."

Why does this make me sick? Whatever happened to Thanksgiving? Where's the hype to give thanks? Well, that doesn't sound to profitable doesn't it? We don't spend money to say thanks. Usually, we just say it, "Thanks!" I mean, how often do you spend money to say thanks, except for the occassional little Thank You card?

Then on top of that the Bible says we are to give thanks to God. It says over and over to give thanks to God. Why? For He is good the scripture says. In fact it says part of giving thanks to God is to proclaim all the good he has done in our life. Where do we carve out time to do that?

When in Thanksgiving in our culture do we proclaim the goodness of God and give thanks for that? Right before we eat? We would do that in our family occassionally. I'd hear my stomach over what everyone else said. It wasn't thankful until it got some food in it! Do you give thanks just before you fall asleep from the turkey eating? How about during the football game? Just before going to bed? How about the next day while your standing in line to get in Wal-MArt at 4 AM? You could proclaim it then. You might even make the news if you make a big enough scene!

Enough of that. The answer for me is church. Church is where you proclaim your thankfulness to God. It's at church you proclaim through song and through prayer how great and might is. You learn from scripture his mighty acts in time. Church is the place to proclaim the goodness of God! Thank him.

Halloween is fun. Christmas is way cool. Let's not forget to thank the one who allows us to enjoy those holidays.

Do this during this month: Thank God!

That's all I'm saying. .

Kirk

Friday, October 19, 2007

Suffolk Peanutfest a Success!

Hello everyone!

As you know this past weekend was the Peanutfest and it was a great success for our church. As you may know, we had a booth in the Commercial Tent in between a tax service and a woman's club selling something. All we did was handout water, bubbles, and information about our church and God blessed it in a mighty way. In fact, this past Sunday we had people visiting our church as a direct result of our booth.

Not only that but we had some great exposure to the Suffolk community. Congrats to Clyde Sigmon who put the sign out in front of our church evey week. Many people said they saw our sign out on the highway.

A lot of work and sacrifice went into doing the booth. Thanks to the Hoffman's for the use of their home as headquarters for the weekend. I also want to thank Jenny Gross for tying all those notes on the 300+ bubble bottles for the kids. Also, thanks to everyone who staffed the booth. You helped get the word about Celebration, and more importantly, about our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now that the event is over I would like to ask you a favor. Pray for the success of the booth. Success for us is not just having a booth. Success for this event is to see new people walking through the door of our church. Pray that this will happen!

Also, before I go... October is Pastor Appreciation Month. Please say an encouraging comment to Penny, Rob, or Scott. They do a great job!

In Christ Alone,

Kirk

Saturday, October 6, 2007

The Home Team

This past Sunday Celebration Church announced that we are forming a Home Team. What is the Home Team? The Home Team is a group of people that are coming together to do research to find a home for Celebration Church. The leader of this team is Romy Feliciano. Currently Romy is seeking qualified people to be part of this team. He needs people experienced in construction, real estate, keeping track of details, and the like, to join his team. Our hope is to have everything up and running by January 1, 2008. We are asking everyone to be in prayer for this group. I will be posting updates on the search on this blog.


Why do we need a Home Team? Because Celebration needs a home, that's why! There are several reasons why we need to find a home.

(1) Our equipment is showing the wear and tear of putting up and tearing down week after week for over 5 years now. The eqipment isn't the only thing that is suffering too. The trailers that haul the equipment and storage space are beginning to be key critical issues. We are a growing church and with that comes more equipment and more supplies. We are at capaicity now!

(2) As our church grows the meeetings we hold will not be able to be held in homes for space reasons. For example: The home our youth group meets in is already at capacity. This limits how many people our youth ministry can effectively reach. The Children's Ministry is nearing capacity as well with the classrooms for KIDMO!, Wee Worship, and the Nursery. It will not be long that we will be squeezing children in a tight place. Right now we have no effective space for our children to practice for the Christmas musical. We have no place to hold a week long VBS.

(3) Going into a property/building program can be one of the most spiritually fullfilling times in the life of our family. In order to be succussful we will have to pray fervently, serve cheerfully, give sacrifacially, and trust in God faithfully. These are all actions our Heavenly Father is pleased with. This can be an incredible time of unity!

I'll be giving more updates as we move along! It's exciting to see God work through us at Celebration!

Have Yourself Committed,

Kirk Dice

Friday, September 28, 2007

Some exciting things going on at church...

I'm a preacher and my life revolves around church. More importantly, my life revolves around helping people grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. With that in mind the church I preach at has been real exciting. God is really blessing us in a great way!

At each staff meeting and elders meeting I ask, and it's getting to be an old question (even for me), "Where have you seen people growing in the Lord the past couple weeks?" Each time I ask that people start thinking about what they have seen at Celebration and each time they have seen people grow in the Lord. Neat stories are told about how you are growing in the Lord. The worship has become more lively. A message helped someone gain a new insight on God. A child took a leap in their faith. A teenager chose the things of God over many other choices that are out there. It really is exciting to see the growth.

I never want us to loose focus on this. Our goal is to see people grow in the Lord! We want to celebrate that! This is what God celebrates!

In the coming weeks you are going to here about the formation of the Home Team at our church. This is a research team that will begin looking for a home for Celebration. We really need one. Our equipment is beginning to show the wear and tear of lugging it around. Our volunteers, though faithful (praise God for them!) could use the break! Plus, having a central place for our activities would make us more productive.

Several of us went to Lowes this past Sunday and simoly prayed God to give us the resources and the ability to have this property. I want you to pray with us. We want God to work in all of this. We want to dream so big that if God isn't in it it will not work. We want to glorify his name!

My point is this. In all the talk about a building, land, money, I don't want us to lose focus on our real goal, seeing people grow in the Lord. That's what it is all about. The land, money, and building will fade away. People don't. We must focus on them!

Have yourself Committed!

Kirk

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Michael Vick Found Jesus

Micahael Vick, a few weeks ago, had a press conference after his plea agreement and in the midst of his comments he said, "I've found Jesus." I found his thoughts very interesting.

First of all, he didn't have to look far! It's interesting that when we get caught up in sin we think of God as being far off. We think God has left us becasue we're not worthy anymore. This is a myth. The truth is God is already there right beside you when you sin. He's just waiting for a contrite heart; an honest heart.

If there is anything we should learn from Christmas is that Jesus left heaven to come down to be with us. What does this tell us about Jesus' character? It tells us that we do not need to walk far to get to God, we need only to look beside us and he's right there. I think that phrase, "I found Jesus," is interesting becasue Jesus has already found you! That phrase is kind of like playing hide and seek in reverse, the hider doesn't find the seeker!

One can be skeptical of Michael Vick's confession but I'm going to choose to believe Him. I will say this though. The fruit of his life will tell us if he has found Jesus (or Jesus found him). This is how we will know if Michael is truly following Jesus. For a disciple of Jesus bears uinique marks and behaviors. Like we've talked about at church lately; a disciple of Christ will be passionate in obedience to him, connected to a church family, and seek to be influential for the cause of Christ in the world around him. I'm not close enough to Michael Vick to know if he is bearing fruit in his life, but I am rooting for him.

I wouldn't mind playing football with him in heaven. (But I have to admit, if I was on his team, I'd wish I was on Peyton Manning's team. After all, I grew up a Colts fan!)

Have Yourself Committed!

Kirk

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Connected in the Family

In the message that I gave this past Sunday we saw Paul using the metaphor of the body to describe how the church should function together.

In this blog I wanted to highlight another metaphor Paul uses to describe the church, the family.

Here are a couple scriptures to make this point:

Romans 8:15, "So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God’s very own children, adopted into his family —calling him "Father, dear Father."

Ephesians 1:5, "His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure."

The problem is in our culture the family has been attacked and split into many shards. The common statistic is 50% of all marriages end up in divorce. That doesn't include all the marriages that stick it out but are in horrible shape. You can look into the media and it seems the the people in the news are the ones who are living thier in the absence of family. In all honesty, we see thier lives with fascinating horror. Britney, Linsey, et. al. are a glimpse of what life is like without concrete family values. Life is a mess.

I don't have to tell you that. You know that from your own experience. Many of you have had hard times with your father and the conception that your heavenly father unconditionally loves you is hard to accept. The reactions we make in countering our bad family experiences often times have their own problems. For example a person might say: I was forced to do this as a child so we go to the other extreme to absolutely avoid it. This too has it's own problems.

Many of us have had tough experiences with family.

Then we come to church and we stress that we are like to be one big happy family! How? With the family break down our country has suffered, how can the church be a big happy family? What model should we use?

I don't have all the answers to that but I do know where to begin. Paul writes in Romans that we are to accept one another as Christ has accepted you. When Christ accepts you he takes you "as is." And let me tell you something, your "as is" is not accpetable to God's standards. He accepts you faults and all. He accepted you even when you were unacceptable. That's called grace!

We are to take that grace, that acceptance, and give it to others. That's one of the key components of a healthy family. You're accepted not because of what you have done, or where you came from, or from a lack of doing anything. You are accepted because you are family.

This can be hard to do, especially when someone irritates us, does something to hurt us, or just gets on our nerves. The truth is it's not about us. It's about demonstrating God's acceptance to all people, especially our church family.

Like the old song says, "We are family. I've got all my sisters and brothers with me!"

Have Yourself Committed!

Kirk

Thursday, September 6, 2007

How can I know God is in my life?

According to the Apostle John that question is easy to answer. The answer is when we obey him. Obedience is a word that has fallen out of practice today. Most people don't like to obey. For many it is a humiliating word. A belittling word. It is a word where we feel controlled by somone else. It is a word that makes us feel out of control.

The Bible though has a different view on this word obedience and the difference is night and day. In our culture obedience is about restriction. In the Bible it's about freedom. In our culture obedience is about non-expression of our personality. In the Bible it's where we find the center of our personality. In our culture obedience is for dogs. In the Bible it is for the sons and daughters of the King. There is this huge gap between our cultures understanding and the Bible's understanding of obedience.

According to the Apostle John it is through obedience that we know God. I find this revolutionary. I am a book lover and I go to the Christian book stores and they are filled wih books about 7 principles to happiness, 8 steps to peace, and the like. I'm not disowning these books becasue they do have value.

But... (Don't you love that word)... if knowing God is our complete pleasure (after all we can't wait to get to heaven, right?) and if obeying God helps us know him then it stands to reason that peace and happiness and all those things we long for comes through an obedience to God.

John has a pretty simple plan to finding happiness... obey God to know the joy and peace of God. This is the pathway to true peace and joy.

Another thought on obedience. They way you live your life has greater impact on how you obey God than some thoughts on God written in a blog. The culture you live and breathe in often dictates the behavior you engage in. For example, at a basketball game you cheer, at church you pray, yet both are large gatherings of people. What's the difference? The environment you are in dictates your behavior.

Sometimes we are in environments that we cannot change and others we can. In the environments where you can't make a difference you have to determine your sphere of inluence and then decide how your behavior can dictate the environment you are in. Of course this must be done in a Christ like manner. Think about that gap in our culture's understanding of obedience and the Bible's understanding. You stand in the gap.

That's a few words on a deep thought. I just thought of it a couple days ago and have been meditating on it. Tell me what you think about obedience and it's power to free you and not bind you.

Have yourself committed!

Kirk

Monday, August 27, 2007

Whew!

Today's blog will be a little different. I usually like to comment in some further detail about the message I just preached and I'll probably make a few comments about that, but I thought I would also share about a new transition our family is making today.

Lisa went to work at Oakland School today. We're excited about that but it's still a trnasition. Lisa worked out of the home when we were in Kentucky and that made life awful convenient. I'm prooud of Lisa and I'm sure she'll do awesome!

Oh, yeah... I get to be Mr. Mom this week until the they get in school next week. I'm enjoyting it. We 're going to have some fun and I have great kids, but it's still a change.

I like change. It keeps me fresh and on my toes. I know a lot of people that don't like change. In fact, I have been accusing of liking to change things to quickly. If something isn't working I'm all for changing it. Then, many times, I like to change things up just becasue I can. It looks different. Nothings perfect.

I'm also excited about my grad work. I'm in my final year and so far so good. I'm really looking forward to graduation this spring. Dietrich just walked in.. he says, "Hi!"

Concerning the message yesterday. I think it's really exciting to be Jesus' disciple. I think it's really exciting that he chose us, even though we in no way qualify to be his Talmid. The fact still remains that he chose you!

He chose Paul who was a murderer. He chose Moses who was a nevous scardey cat. He chose David knowing he would commit adultrey. He chose Peter even though he betrayed Jesus. He chose Esther, even though she was in no position of power.

God always seems to choose people who thnk they aren't qualified. I think he does that so his glory will be shown even more.

Sorry if I rambled today... I'm in the process of changing...

Have yourself Committed!

Kirk

Kirk

Monday, August 20, 2007

Recovering from Sexual Sin

Well, yesterday I talked about sex and how it is an incredible gift from God. The world has abandoned this idea though. Our world likes to treat sex like an activity, a football game, and not what God designed it to be, intimacy, a special gift.

Sexual sin is not the worse sin, but it is a sin with unique consequences and I don't have to tell you how sexual sin has hurt so many people, maybe even you. What do you do though to recover from the consequences of sexual sin? Can you?

Here is what I see the Bible saying about this.

First, God does forgive sexual immorality, completely. When Jesus died on the cross he took on all of your sin. Not only that he took on all of God's wrath for your sin as well. He suffered in your place. And not only that, when you accept him as your Lord and Savior he gives you his righteousness, his holiness. Your sin is blotted from all eternity. It really is quite the deal!

If God forgives me why do I still suffer the consequences? You may have asked God to erase the consequences and God could do that if he chose too, but I have found many times he doesn't. Look at the life of King David in the Bible. He committed adultrey and then to cover it up he had the lady's husband murdered in battle. David had a child with this woman, Bathsheba, and God told David this child would die as a consequence of his sexual sin. David prayed and begged God to spare the child, but God didn't and the child died at 7 days old. David had confessed to God his sin and God said he forgave him, but he still suffered the consequence, why?

Why didn't God remove the consequence of the sexual sin? I see two reasons. One, there are consequences to sin and God doesn't want us to forget that. I see many times in the Bible that God will let consequences into people's live's to remind them never to go back there again. It hurts, it's wrong, and it is not good. God doesn't want us to forget that sin, particularly sexual sin, hurts. He doesn't want us to go back there. But oh! how often we get caught up in our circumstances and forget!

Secondly, God will use that consequence to remind you of his grace. Paul asked one time for a "thorn" to be removed from him. We don't know what this "thorn" is but Paul wanted it gone and God's reply was, "My grace is sufficient for you." What? God was saying I am going to use this thorn, whatever it is, to teach you about my love for you and my grace. For without it how will you know about my grace? God desires to teach us his grace too.

Let me tell you how to experience this grace. One practice is to simply write it out. Write it out, the circumstance, how you feel, the whole deal, and then offer it up to God. Just be honest and confess to him and ask to know his grace. This just has to be between you and God. When you get done burn the paper or throw it away. And as you practice this you find a strength that wasn't there before, a light in the darkness, a way out. You might need to do this several times even. And the amazing thing with God is he takes this incredible weakness and pain in your life and somehow turns it into a source of strength (It's hard to explain) and you'll be able to say what Paul says in the Bible , "I will brag about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." 1 Corinthians 12:9.

Paul also said concerning his past, and the consequences of his sin (the pain and the shame), that he forgets what is behind him and presses on forward to the goal in his life. That's good advice too. There comes a point when you have to quit dwelling on the consequence and move forward to that which God has called you. We see King David doing this. After his baby died he got up and went back to work. When his servants asked how he could do this David replied, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, "Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live. But now that the child is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again?" David realized that it was time to move on and not dwell on the loss. Sometimes that is the the best step for us too.

The first step in overcoming sexual sin is to invite God's grace into that weakness, the powerlessness. For when we are weak, He is strong. In this way you see God's strength in you and thus you will overcome.

I hope this helps anyone that is struggling with this.

Have Yourself Committed,

Kirk

Monday, August 13, 2007

Another thought on money...

Yesterday I talked about money and I hope you understand that the Bible says a lot more about money than giving to the church. Whenever I preach about this topic I have always tried to take the attitude that the church will have the money it needs. The church belongs to God and he is the ultimate resource and He will provide for the church. After all, His Son died so the church could come forth!

In reality, and this is nothing new, money is not a giving issue, but a heart issue. Whenever Jesus spoke about money this was his concern. Whatever dominates your mind gets your attention and whatever gets your attention dominates your heart. Right? Just think about that person or child you love. They dominate your attention becasue you love them.

God knows that. He knows that whatever gets our attention dominates our heart. God knows that money and the worries that come with it can dominate your emotions and your mind. God wants to be in that place. His solution to break money's hold on us? You need to give it away. Give the first portion to God and when you do that you begin making him the priority in your life.

I've heard preachers say, "Let me look in your checkbook and I'll let you know who is first in your life." Interestingly, God doesn't look at your checkbook. He looks at your heart. He's more concerned about you.

So if you have a problem with your money maybe it's a heart issue, not a giving issue, or even a financial issue. For out of a man's heart flows his thought and actions.

I appreciate the comments. Keep them coming.

Have Yourself Committed, Kirk

Friday, August 10, 2007

Maybe God is the Point

A couple of weeks ago I saw the collapse of the bridge in Minneapolis and I immediately thought of the devestation of lives, the fear, and all the people who were hurt. I prayed for them.

Someone e-mailed some photos that were taken of the tragedy and I was taken back by a photo of three catholic priests, their jaws open, looking at the destruction. You could read the surprise, the horror, and their hearts in their faces. They were taken back by what they were looking at.

I think I struck a chord with those three priests for I'm sure my face looked the same when I saw the destruction of an F-4 tornado (winds over 200 mph) near my home in Kentucky. As I went around checking on people I saw entire homes swept off the foundation. I didn't even see any debris. The tornado literally missed my home by a few hundred feet. I thanked God that my family was safe.

Then it hit me. Why does God let stuff like this happen anyway? I've heard people ask that before. I heard people asking that after Hurricane Katrina, or after the Tsunami in Asia a few years ago. You read about people of all faiths asking, "Where is God in this?"

Then it hit me. Maybe one of the many reasons this stuff happens is to get us to ask the question, "Where is God?" It gets us searching. It gets us wondering. It makes us wonder if there is a higher power.

One characteristic of God that I think we can fail to rememebr is his power and glory exists independent of our life. Whether we are born or not, God would still be glorious and powerful. Powerful events like this remind us of God. Just the fact that you wonder points you to him. Maybe that's the point.

Kirk

Monday, August 6, 2007

Serving at Church

Yesterday I preached about the importance of serving your church family. There are many Biblical arguements as to why one should get involved in this endeavor. One, the church is a family and every family member needs to do thier part to make the household run smoothly. Just about all of us had some chores to do in our family. We are in the family of God and it's part of our responsibility. The Bible says the church is Jesus' body and each part needs to do it's special work. What would happen to your body if the heart, or the lungs did not do it's part? The same is true for the church. Such are two of the arguments as to why a Christian needs to serve in a local church.

Then I asked myself why do I serve the church? What motivates me? Well, if you were cynical you might be saying "It's your job to serve the church. You are getting paid for it. It's your chosen profession." (Well, we might talk about that later, did I choose it or did God choose me? That's another topic). Even though this is my job I am confident to say that if I had another profression I would be involved in helping out my local church family. So again I ask, "Why?" What motivates me?

As corny as it may sound and after some self-examination I believe I serve God simply because He serves me. His love for me motivates me to love others. His work toward me motivates me to work towards others. And at the risk of diminishing the value of the cross (which is the highest value ever alongside the resurrection), it's Christ work in me, that continues in me that motivates me to work for him. Christ set me free from sin but he has done so much more than that, he gave me his righteousness too (The double cure!) and every day he has me growing in that righteousness. That's what motivates me to serve the church.

The one big idea I have learned in growing in righteousness is that righteousness is aout giving right as much as living right. The more I give God's love away to others and build up in His church the more righteous I become. At least, that's what I see Paul teaching in Corinthians and Ephesians.

We Americans love to collect (cards, cars, books, you name it). God loves to give. We are not to be cauldron's of God's love, but conduits of God's love.

That's why I serve God's family. Why do you serve God's family? Do you see Christ's love as one act on the cross or as Christ living in you? Or both? In the end I would say don't let guilt motivate you to serve, let God motivate you to serve. (Don't I sound like a preacher?=)

Have Yourself Committed,

Kirk

Monday, July 30, 2007

A Most Powerful Force

Yesterday during the worship service I talked about being powerless and if we want to be empowered then we need to tap into a greater power; that power being the forgiveness of Jesus Christ and the power of his resurrection. You can't gain strength by tapping into a smaller power.



Let me give you a flip thought on what I said yesterday. Sometimes I think, if we want to get a proper perspective of God, we need to feel powerless in the presence of His Almighty. I'll take it one step further. I think to give up our supposed power in order to see his power. Perhaps this is why God puts us in powerless situations, so we can see true power.



It's like those forward e-mails of that guy who paints those perspective pictures on the streets of New York (at least I think it's New York). You have to gain the right perspective in order to appeciate his work. if you don't his picture is all skewed and looks quite funny. If you don't gain the right perspective you fail to realize his mastery of his art.



Maybe that's why God looks so funny and skewed to a lot of people. They are not looking at him from the right perspective. They are looking at him from thier own position of power here on earth, and so God looks really skewed and funny and senseless. You fail to realize just how strong God is compared to this world.



But when you gain the right persepctive, let go of your power, in other words, allow yourself to become powerless, then you gain the right perspective on God's power. You recognize that his power overcomes anything this world has, and even more important, the Bible says this power is behind you. For if God is with you, who can be against you. Right? That verse doesn't make sense until you gain the proper perspective.



Well, that's my first blog...



more to come about once or twice a week....



Have Yourself Committed!



Kirk