Are You Thirsty?

Yesterday, I attended the Elders' and Church Leaders' Conference at Lincoln Christian College in Lincoln, Illinois. Dave Butts, founder of Harvest Prayer Ministries in Terre Haute, Indiana, was the main speaker. The theme was Leading Your Church to Become a Praying Church.

One of the things that personally opened my "spiritual eyes" was when Dave read Psalm 27:4 NIV:

"One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple."

When we pray, do we seek to be intimate with God? Do we desire to be in His presence daily? The Psalmist is saying that he was to have a personal relationship with God, gazing at His beauty, and be in His presence wherever He may dwell. Do we have that kind of passion in our prayer life?

Then if that wasn't challenging enough, Dave proceeds to read Psalm 63:1 NIV:

"O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water."

Is our desire, passion, and longing for God like a man in a desert who craves water to satisfy his thirst? Our we spiritually thirsty, and seek out God to satisfy our thirst with His presence?

I know my prayer life is going to be different from now on. How about you? Are you thirsty?

What I Have!

As we prepare for the 40 days of purpose series, I wanted to post this devotional to encourage us to maybe see the potential that God has given each of us to fulfill His purpose in our life. Below is a passage in the book of Acts. This is such a typical situation that many of us face in life.

"1One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" 5So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." 7Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. 8He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him." (Acts 3:1-10 NIV)

Many of us would look at this crippled man and say, "I don't have anything to give you, sorry." Then we would walk away. But notice what Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you." So often, we don't think that we have anything to offer in service to God. We make excuses of not being able to sing, preach, pray, teach, or encourage. However, instead of looking at what we don't have, we need to examine what we do have. After realizing what we do possess, we need to offer it to God. "Lord, use what I have to bring You pleasure and fulfill Your purpose in my life."

Think about how you can use whatever talent you have, whatever resources you have, whatever personality you have to make a difference on behalf of Christ.

Why Am I Here?

Have you ever wondered what your purpose in life is? I believe that a lot of us struggle with finding significance and meaning in life. Several years ago Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church wrote a wonderful book dealing with this issue of finding purpose in life. He entitled the book The Purpose Driven Life.

Being confused about your purpose in life is not necessarily a bad thing. That confusion can actually create a desire to seek the answers to the questions: "Who am I?" and "Why am I here?" Some of the greatest men in history were confused about their purpose in life, just as you are experiencing now. However, once they discovered their purpose for living, they became great and accomplished great things.

On Sunday, February 15, we are starting a new sermon series based on The Purpose Driven Life. We are embarking on a 40-day spiritual journey through weekly sermons and Bible studies to discovering our purpose in life. This series will take us up to Palm Sunday and Easter. This is a great way to prepare for the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ by discovering our purpose and then realize how we fit into Jesus' purpose for coming to Earth.

If you are unable to visit us in person, you can visit our website and watch the weekly sermon videos.

Importance of Daily Studying God's Word

"Why is it so important for me to be in God's Word on a daily basis?"
Well, besides the obvious benefit of being able to grow in one's knowledge of the things of God along with growing in our faith relationship with Christ; it keeps us from being deceived or misled by a Bible teacher or preacher.

One of the greatest preachers of all times was the Apostle Paul. In the book of Acts chapter 17, during his second missionary journey, Paul visits Berea. Paul's audience is the kind that all pastors look forward to ministering to today.

"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Acts 17:11 NIV)

We, as pastors or preachers, need to encourage our listeners to examine the Scriptures every day to verify that what we are teaching and preaching is consistent with the Word of God. How much would our messages improve if our congregation would be in God's Word daily and be eager to receive God's message.

We also need to encourage our members to bring their Bibles with them to worship services. Many churches have experienced a tremendous decline in Sunday school or Bible study attendance. Services such as these maybe the only times when some of our members open the Bible during the week. We live in times where many things compete for our time and attention, but isn't God worth the time we spend in His Word? Have fun studying God's Word today!

Fireproofing Your Relationships

In the Fall of 2008, Sherwood Pictures released the movie, "Fireproof" to theaters across America. This is a story of a husband and wife, Caleb and Catherine, who have been married for seven years and are heading down the road toward divorce. Caleb, played by Kirk Cameron, is a heroic fire captain who values dedication and service to others above all else. But the most important partnership in his life, his marriage, is about to go up in smoke. We follow this man's desire to transform his life and marriage through the healing power of faith and fully embrace the fireman's code: Never Leave Your Partner Behind.

Starting on January 6 of this year, I preached a six-week sermon series entitled, "Fireproof Your Relationships," where we explored what God has to say about love, differences between men and women, breaking free from temptations and addictions that threaten marriages, and forgiveness. We showed video clips from the movie to help illustrate biblical principles in the sermons. We also utilized the small group Bible study curriculum on Sunday night. We had about 13 people in attendance over the six weeks.

If you are a member of Hindsboro Christian Church, please post some comments about what you thought or learned about this sermon series and Bible study. I would also like to know if this is something we should continue to do in the future (using movies to help illustrate the message).

If you haven't seen or heard these sermons, they are available at our website on video. Go to http://www.hindsborochristian.com/ and click on the sermons link and then the 2009 link.

First Blog

This is my first blog entry, so I will let you know what my blogs will be about.

Mark's Ministry Memos will be mostly daily or weekly Bible Devotions, sermon comments, topics on religion or things for our church members to discuss. I may even post some pictures and funny emails. I will even post some of my reviews from books that I have read or movies I have seen.