Stinky Twinkies

At the end of Ezekiel 39 (vs 11-16) we find God commanding the nation of Israel to spend 7 months cleaning up the dead and the remains of the dead of Gog. There was a war between Gog and Israel. God was not digging what how the nation of Gog was living. So he destroyed them in a war between them and Israel.

Of course Israel won. But what I found most intriguing is what God commanded the Israelites to do. He commanded all the Israelites to do this. He told them He will give Gog a burial place. Basically, you have fields peppered with dead people. In fact Ezekiel records, “Men will be regularly employed to cleanse the land.” God destroyed the people of Gog. But guess what? They were still there. Their remains were still in the land of Israel. God wanted the land cleansed.

So for the next 7 months search teams combed the land for human carcasses. It even says that if they saw a bone, they would mark it, and the bone collectors would come to pick it up. It is like the ‘Adopt-A-Highway’ people you see out in the ditches along the road picking up trash and leaving garbage bags along the road for the D.O.T. to pick them up. At the end of this bizarre clean up project God says, “And so they will cleanse the land.”

I wonder how many times we try to just ‘put to death’ or put aside temptations and struggles we have? Then we wonder why do these things keep coming back to haunt us and drag us back down? Maybe Gog is an example of what we need to do after we repent for the millionth time.

When I counsel students who are struggling with, drinking for example. I will ask, “Where are you when you are tempted to drink, who are you with, what time of day is it and what were you doing?” They may say they are with a certain group of friends in a home where parents are absent, usually at night and they may just be bored. Each time they put themselves in those same scenarios, they are reentering the battlefield.

Not an active battlefield, but one where death is spread. Until we consciously decide to bury those bones we will constantly battle with that temptation. Stop hanging out with those friends, if parents are not home, don’t go over. You need to fool proof your environment. If you struggle with over eating, get rid of the Twinkies and Mountain Dew from your cupboards. God calls us to not just repent from our sins, but bury the stink that is tempting us to sin in the first place.

Nowhere in the Bible does God tell us to resist temptation. He does tell us to flee it, though. So check your cupboards, check your friends and your surroundings, get the shovel and bury the stinky Twinkies.

God is my Light

It has officially been a full week since we have moved to Bloomington/Ellettsville. Actually we didn’t arrive in our new home until later in the day, but it has been 7 days. Anyway, this has been the first full week since I’ve ‘officially’ started. It has been a very busy week. My first day, Monday, consisted of meetings, meetings and more meetings. Tuesday was about the same. I must confess that I am getting anxious to start interacting with the students.

There a lot of ideas and dreams I have for the youth ministry program, and I truly believe, if they are God’s will, that they will come to pass. God has blessed this congregation with many resources and energetic members eager to volunteer. I think when the summer schedule is over and I can establish a real routine of during the school year will help.

Today in my scripture reading I read in Isaiah 60:19-22 where God is telling Israel that they wont need the sun during the day, because God will be their eternal light. The Message says, “I will be your eternal light, the days of grieving are over.” So many times we rely on the logical means this earth provides for our guidance. We wait for the sun to rise so we can begin our workday. It says “the days of grieving are over.”

Do you know someone who allows grieving, depression or anxiety to rule over them? Their thoughts, their relationships and their days are consumed with worry. God says, look, I am your light. I am your reliance. But it takes a step of faith to even let go of such vices as depression, because as backwards as it may seem, depression sometimes is the only safe place we think we have to live.

Isaiah continues to record God’s message with, “The least will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation…” (v 22) God will remember the least. He will remember the smallest. The last one picked for the pick-up game, is the first one on God’s A-Team. I guess if anyone reads this, I just want to encourage you to hang on. I may not understand your specific situation, but I do know that it doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t have to be confined to a life of worry and anxiety.

Maybe the simplest way to begin to step out of the light of the sun into the eternal light of God is to just say, “God, I need to start over.” Do you know that God is God of do-overs. Not that he messes up and needs to try again, but we do. That is the concept of repentance. Repentance is a daily thing, because we sin daily.

Do-overs are a daily thing, because sometimes we slip back into a darkened state of depression. If you are depressed. If you are anxious. If you are grieving. Cry out to God, “God I need to start over. Please help me to bask in your eternal light.”

Welcome to Teleos Ministries

I wanted a place I could promote our youth ministry program, 'teleos ministries', give students and parents resources for their day to day lives and let whoever cares how I am doing ministry.

Teleos is a Greek word that means, “Reaching a point of maturity that one is able to reproduce after its own kind.” One example of teleos is life. When a human being becomes mature enough they are able to reproduce another human being. When an apple tree ages a certain number of years, it is able to produce fruit after its own kind. God calls Christians to not be idle. You don’t get saved for the sole purpose of going to Heaven. God saves you by his grace so that you may grow up to a point of maturity that you are able to reproduce after your own kind –leading someone else to Christ. We want to create a youth ministry program that nourishes students to a point in their own faith that they are then able to lead another to Christ. That might be a friend, parent, brother or sister, but either way w want to teach them and lead them to a point of maturity that they are able to reproduce after their own kind –Christ followers.

As of today, I have only been at the Ellettsville Christian Church (ECC) less than a week. I am very encouraged by the resources available, the number of eager volunteers and truly faithful and spiritual leadership. ECC and the community are fertile and ready for growth. With all that said, I am taking my ministry here slowly. My tendency is to dump my bag of tricks out in the first year. After the first year, yup, I fizzle. Now the last ministry I served I was there 8 years. But one thing I feel I need to do here is establish such a firm foundation; that the youth ministry program will have serious sustain ability.

We will be meeting with parents of teenagers and students interested in working with students on June 24^th. This will be the starting point of teleos ministries. Parents will be given a folder of resources for parenting teenagers, as well as other information needed throughout the year. We will also be able to see who all is gifted and interested in volunteering with us.

I’ve been doing a bunch of reading. Currently I am reading, “The Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry” (Zondervan; Donahue, Robinson) “Purpose Driven Youth Ministry” (Zondervan; Fields) “How Teens do Church” (Mike Baker; Baker) “The Ishbane Conspiracy” ( Multnomah; Alcorn)

I am also currently reading through the Bible in a year. There are gazillion resources and plans, but the one I prefer is http://www.biblereadthrough.com. It keeps track of your reading schedule. You can go with the default plan (that’s what I did) or customize your own. It archives your reading, lets you know what percentage of the Bible you’ve read, how many days straight you’ve read, etc. When you log in you click on the reading for the day link and it directs you to http://www.biblegateway.com. It has the books, chapters and verses ready to read. It will even read the passages to you. Biblegateway has several translations and paraphrase Bibles to choose from in many different languages.

My Bible reading today included Ezekiel. I have really enjoyed reading Ezekiel. It took a little while to get into its groove, but man it is so enlightening. If you have ever wondered, “Does God enjoy sending people to Hell?” or that type of thought you need to begin with Ezekiel 18. Today I was reading in Ezekiel 36, specifically verse 23 that says, “…I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD,” says the Lord GOD, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes.”

God tells us that when I am set apart in your life… when I am flowing through you then others will that the God we serve is the One True God. How many times am I setting myself apart for no one but myself? How often do I separate from my self and align with God? When He is hallowed and sanctified in my, others will know He is the One True God.