Idols and slavery

I know I stink at this blog stuff. I post then I take like 3 months to write a new one. So I am sitting here on my couch at 11:50pm and I think now would be a good time to post. To get you caught up on the goings on around here. Earlier this month I partially tore my hamstring and have nursed that back to health. Bella is sick right now and Becky and I are praying we dont get it. I am getting ready for my first week of Harvey Cedars Bible Camp with the sr. high group from SVEFC in about a week and half. While preparing a message for Sunday the 17th and finishing my messages for the week I will be the main speaker at Harvey Cedars for a Jr. High camp. As well as preparing for a soccer camp at the church. It is going to be a crazy month. But I am excited for what God is going to do this month.

So as I sit here tonight I have been thinking about some stuff God has been doing in my heart and soul. I want to share some of those thoughts. We have to go back a few years to begin this story. Back when I got married I stopped playing basketball as much as I did in college. Has nothing to do with marriage and more to do with the fact that I wasn't on a team anymore. But since college i have packed on about 60 extra pounds. Becky has been on me to lose weight and eat healthier. She is right I need to but it has been hard. Recently while preparing for a meesage God began revealing things to me in my life that needed work. One of those areas was food. it had become an idol to me. Looking back I think I replaced one idol for another. I replaced the idol of basketball with the idol of food. I have been spending a great deal of time this past month or so talking and seeking out God and His wisdom in dealing with this. So through His strength I have made some changes to my life. I joined weight watchers and in the past 2 weeks I have lost 8.4 pounds. But most importantly I can sense God is breaking down walls in my life to remove that idol and replace it with Him. Recently I have been reading a book with a friend called Slave by John MacArthur. In this book he is talking about the way we look at God and who has control over our lives. We are to be slaves to Christ. But that word leaves a bad taste in the mouths of Americans because of our recent history with that term. But if you look into scripture that is exactly what we are supposed to be. Not the way America has it set up a few hundred years ago. But as it is laid out in scripture. God purchased us from the slavery of sin through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Making us now His slaves. Since then we are His by His purchasing power we are then to act and respond in a manner worthy of that role. Through the small part of this book I have read God has convicted me that I am still a slave to my sin in some areas of my life the biggest one is food. But it is time to turn over that slavery and pick up a new one lead by a loving and gracious master. It is Him I want to serve and Him I want to follow. Where are you? Are you a Slave to sin or a slave to God?

What you lookin' at?

This is more then the title of my post, it is the title of my last message during the SVEFC Worship Service.  I have spent this week thinking back over my message and what God taught me in the preparation of the message. I have come to some conclusions about it and about me. When I look at my life and I look at Jesus and His life, do I see any similarities? Today it all came to the point where I look at the course of my life and see some failures, but I also see some success. In both of these experiences in my life, I see one constant truth. God and His love for me!

It is that Love that has been on my heart and mind this week. God is Love, He is the purest form of Love. He is the author of Love and the greatest Love story of all time. A love for a people He created, a people who ran away from Him, and a people who while still lost, compelled Him to give up His life for those same people. (Rom. 5:8) So I look at my life and see where God has continued to Love me and I asked myself, do I return that love to Him? To the people in the church God has placed me in? To people I come into contact with everyday? (1 John 4:8).

As we saw on Sunday from Isaiah, Ezekiel, and John, God is beautiful, glorious, Holy, and powerful and that alone should compel us to want to serve our creator everyday. But that is not all. God's love for us, His desire to have a relationship with us, His sacrifice for us ,  also compels us to reach out and serve Him. As I am sitting here writing this I realize it challenges you to think about how God has displayed His love for you in your life. As you look back on those moments and I am sure there are many, I hope the Love of God flows over you like rushing waters.

 Regarding my original question God has placed on my heart this week, "Do I see any similarities between Jesus' life and my life? "   My answer, "Not as many as I would like to see." My desire is to grow more and more in my understanding of God, His love, and His desires for my life. To express this understanding every moment of every day to the people God places in my path. With the end goal being that I am a stronger follower of Christ, a better husband, father, pastor, brother, and friend. To get there each day is a challenge, a chance, an opening to trust and believe that God will work in and through me to make me those things.

As I close I leave you with one last passage from Paul as he writes in Philippians 1:5-6:

because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

New Blog

My Name is Dave I am a Pastor in PA. I want to use this blog as a place to post my sermons and random other thoughts. These thoughts can and will cover anything from Christianity, sports, life, and everything in between. Last night I spent most of the night trying to link this blog to a video podcast. I believe I will have it up and running by the end of the week and you will be able to go to itunes and see my last sermon. Leave comments here on messages and future blog posts. Thanks for coming and checking it out.