A cheap cup of coffee and the road to eternity: Thanks Pastor Chad!

Had a great night last night at Community Bible Church with other area youth groups and the New England Masters commission. They had some powerful human videos and great worship. But what I was really blessed with was Pastor Chad Lynn and his no holds barred preaching. He preached on Natural disasters, first those that we would typically think of. Especially the devastation we see in Japan. Then he took it to a different level. He talked about the natural disasters that happen spiritually as a result of choices we make. Drinking, drugs, gluttony and apathy.

Hard hitting and profound. I kept hearing John Adams in my head saying: "Facts are stubborn things" as P.C. rolled statistic after statistic out in support of what scripture tells us. Two things bothered me more than any other. 1)The United States amounts to 5% of the global population, while consuming 80% of it's resources! Holy POOP. That means 95% of the world lives on the 20% that's left. And we whine that we missed our latte. Not that Latte's are bad, just that we have a scewed perspective of reality. I thought, Lord forgive me! I am part of that and can do much better. Global poverty is a crime with statistics like that. I was convicted and will begin to make changes to effect what I am accountable for. As Pete Seeger once said: "Think Globally, Act Locally"

The second was the apathy of the church in America to such things. He made a statement that My friend Chris put up on Facebook for his status. It says: There is no such thing as a luke warm Christian. Luke warm and Christian is an oxymoron. Our apathy toward the eternal well being of human souls is something P.C. says we need to account for. In Matt. 28 Jesus left us with one directive: Go into all the world and preach the good news. Now we don't have to try and be the next Billy Graham. We do need to ask God who in our sphere of influence can we come beside and begin a journey with.

There it is again. P.C. talks about how we are all called to share Jesus. Pastor Roland in the 40 day focus is calling us to do the same thing. Come along side someone and journey with them as long as they will let you. Showing the love of Christ and the truth of the gospel along the way.
God calls us to journey away from ourselves and towards him. He calls us to be givers and not takers.

1 US Dollar per day is what more that one billion people live on. Half of the world lives on less than 2 US dollars per day. That's not OK. If someone dies without ever hearing the Gospel of Jesus, and I had an opportunity to share with them and I didn't, that's really not OK! The challenge I give to myself is to submit to the will and call of God, live like someones else's life depends on me (cuz it does) and remember that when I stand before the LORD, I want it to be with those to whom I have shared the gospel with. I don't want to go to Heaven and find that I have arrived alone, with money in my pocket and a prayer in my heart. I want to be completely spent for Christ, with not a nickel to my name.

Please pass the salt

I remember when my Grampa was alive and he had to be on a salt-free diet. You realize very quickly how tasty salt really is when it's gone. Salt-free spagetti sauce is a one plate-ful wonder! You choke it down and pray for a better tasting dessert. Now good seasoned spagetti sauce as my brother Jamie will tell you, "tastes like a more!" For the record, my wife makes the best sause on the whole planet! You see, it doesn't take much salt to enhance the flavor, but no salt kills a good meal.

Well, Paul tells us in his letter to the Colossian church to "let your conversation be always full of grace , seasoned with salt." [Col. 4:6] Why? Well if you don't, much like a bad meal, your conversation and "attitude" can leave a bad aftertaste. Ultimately it ends up driving people away from the cross and redemptive work of Christ. Salt makes things "taste like a more". A self-rightous, super pious attitude that is at the outset rude and mean leaves no room for the grace of God to be seen. Eugene Cho, a pastor I follow on Twitter put it this way: preach the gospel, but you don't have to be a jerk about it!

We lose more opportunitites because of our attitudes going into a conversation. We go in unseasoned and ready for a fight. Jesus did not do such things! Unless it was directed at the rulers of the religious establishment! I feel sorry for those of us who are Christians who feel the need to go in with guns blazing because the cause of Christ must be championed. Meek is what Jesus was, and that is what we should be. Meekness is power under control. There were so many things Jesus could have done because it was in his power to do so, but he didn't. Peter tells us clearly that Jesus left us the example to follow. "This is the kind of life you've been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so that you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step by step. He never did one thing wrong, not once said anything amiss. They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right." [1 Peter 2:21-23 the MSG]

When we do speak, we should be gracious and kind in the hopes of bringing out the best in others within the conversation. If that doesn't happen then just like Jesus, silence is the order of the day. My version is this: If we don't have enough salt to make good sauce: shut-up. Anything beyond that and we're just being jerks*.

*For the record, I am the biggest jerk I know and therefore feel quite qualified to speak on such things. God bless you today.