This week's message in the Spiritual Sweat series focused on what I believe is the toughest of the disciplines - but also the most rewarding. CONFESSION. Think you know what confession is all about? Take a listen and see.
Spiritual Sweat Part 4 - SERVICE
SERVICE - a word that means different things to different people. The longer you've been a "church person" the more you've probably formed ideas of what this word means and what it's supposed to look like.
Well, I think you might need to reevaluate your understanding of the word service and see what Jesus really meant when He said: "Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all." (Mark 10:43-44).
Spiritual Sweat Part 3 - SOLITUDE
This week's installment in the Spiritual Sweat series is on the discipline of SOLITUDE - the habit of being alone with God. Is it possible to find true inner solitude and peace in the midst of all the noise and chaos of the world today?
Check out the video and see for yourself.
Man’s Greatest Mistake
We all make bad decisions. It happens every day. But there’s a difference between a bad decision and a life-defining and history-altering mistake. Bad decisions are “I think I’ll have another slice of cake please” or “I think my wife will love getting this aerobics video for her 40th birthday!” Those are bad decisions. But these are horrible mistakes:
- Ignoring the warnings and scraping your ship against an iceberg while carrying more than 2200 passengers (see RMS Titanic)
- Having a few drinks while driving an oil tanker and spilling 760,000 barrels of oil into the ocean (see Exxon-Valdez)
- Doing whatever Tiger Woods did back in 2009 and altering the trajectory of his life and of the sport of golf forever
It’s tough to recover from those kinds of mistakes. Those are the ones that you’ll probably spend the rest of your life trying to recover from.
How about mankind as a whole? What’s our greatest mistake? Aside from Adam and Eve and their big no-no back in the Garden of Eden, what’s the biggest mistake we’ve ever made?
Read MoreSpiritual Sweat Part 2 - SIMPLICITY
Round two of Spiritual Sweat at STSA. This week's topic, SIMPLICITY - a message that we all NEED to hear, even though we probably don't WANT to hear. Take a listen and see for yourself.
Spiritual Sweat Part 1 - MEDITATION
We kicked off a new series yesterday - one that I am super excited about, called "SPIRITUAL SWEAT: Exercise Yourself Toward Godliness".
In it we're talking about 7 spiritual disciplines that were given to us from the earliest days of Christianity and how practicing these disciplines will help us "get into shape" spiritually. If you are serious about your spiritual life in 2013, you will love this series! Here's the first week on the discipline of MEDITATION.
Staying In Bounds
Those who know me know that I am HUGE football fan and an even HUGER fan of the Washington Redskins. It’s now been three days since their painful loss to the Seahawks in the playoffs so I feel like I am finally ready to come out of hiding and talk about football once again (but not the Redskins yet – the healing process takes time).
I will however talk about another football game I saw this past weekend – one that didn’t involve my beloved Redskins. In this particular game, I saw one of the greatest catches I have seen in a long time. It was one of those “jump out of your seat” kind of plays. The quarterback dropped back, avoided the defenders and then threw a long pass to a receiver who leaped to make a beautiful catch. The play was incredibly graceful and extraordinarily athletic.
But there was a problem – it didn’t count. It didn’t count because he went out of bounds. In the process of hauling in that pass, the receiver stepped out of bounds and thereby nullified the play. In football, you often see players twisting and turning in amazing ways to stay in bounds.
Because no matter how impressive the play is – if you’re out of bounds, it just doesn’t count.
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A Nativity Sermon by St. John Chrysostom
Today, January 7, we in the Orthodox church celebrate Christmas. Because of that, I am posting one of my all-time favorite Christmas sermons ever preached. It's by St. John Chrysostom (347-407), the former archbishop of Constantinople. What I love about it is his enthusiasm and excitement over the Birth of Christ and what this magnificent event means to him personally. Merry Christmas everyone!
Read MoreFasting & Discipline - Hungering for God Part 3
I'll be taking a break from blogging for the rest of week and probably through New Year's (everyone deserves a break during the holidays right?). Till then, I'll leave you with yesterday's finale in the HUNGERING FOR GOD series - Fasting & Discipline. A good one to listen to as you prepare to make those new year resolutions.
Have a blessed Christmas and New Year's and God willing, I'll see you all in 2013!
Have You Had Your Vision Checked Recently?
When I was younger, I had a problem with my vision and had to wear glasses. Thankfully I don’t have to anymore – thanks to a rare situation in 1999 when my medical insurance actually allowed me to have Lasik eye surgery at no cost. But I still sympathize with those who struggle with their eyesight. I actually remember when my eyesight began deteriorating. I resisted the idea of getting glasses. I didn’t want to be labeled a “four-eyes” so I did what any normal 14 year old, image-conscious young man would do…I pretended everything was fine.
I would squint when no one was looking. I would sort of guess what the teacher was writing on the board based on context. I would sit closer and closer to the TV in order to try to see clearly. But after a while, the fighting just became too much. I broke down and faced reality – I NEED GLASSES. So begrudgingly I went to the eye doctor and got a prescription.
MAN WHAT A DIFFERENCE! I could see! It was like a whole new world opened up to me – all those fuzzy little details now became clear. I could see what the teacher was writing on the board. I didn’t have to sit two feet from the TV in order to watch. I could read a book without burying my face inside it. It was an amazing transformation that I could have never predicted would take place.
How about your spiritual vision? Have you had that checked recently?
Read MoreFasting & Repentance - Hungering for God Part 2
Below is Part 2 in the new series Hungering for God. This message focuses on the connection between fasting and repentance and why we should want to fast, even if we don't have to fast. Enjoy!
What Gift Will You Give?
We’re now a full week into December and that means several things. It’s time to find those winter hats/gloves. It’s time to put up those Christmas lights. And it’s time to start doing SOME CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!!!
But this year, instead of spending all our time thinking about gifts for our loved ones, let me encourage you to take some time to think about what you will be offering to your Most Loved One – the One who loves you dearly and has given us everything that we need in life.
The other day, I spoke about how Jesus gave up all He had in order to come down and save us. But I thought of an even greater gift that was given at Christmas – one that is unparalleled in terms of the sacrifice made. It was the gift that God the Father was willing to let go of.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
Letting go of your Son – your only Son – for the sake of another? That is unfathomable! No words can describe that kind of sacrifice made for us. The thought of sacrificing your own son is something that makes every parent cringe. We'd gladly sacrifice ourselves 100 times before letting anyone touch our children.
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Why Does Jesus Ask for So Much?
“Why would Jesus say that to the man? It seems a bit unreasonable doesn’t it? Why is Jesus making it so tough on the guy?”
That’s what I honestly find myself thinking every time I read the story of the Rich Young Ruler – found in Mark 10:17-22.
The guy came to Jesus and asked a very reasonable and well intentioned question – “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
His request wasn’t bad. I’d love for more young people to be asking the same question. He wasn’t asking how to get rich or how to be famous or how to marry a supermodel. He wasn’t asking for anything material or earthly at all. He asking how to inherit eternal life – which seems like a question that would make Jesus really happy.
So why then did Jesus eventually answer the man this way?
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Hungering for God - Fasting Part 1
"Usually I start a new series by telling you guys that I am really excited about what we're going to talk about. But today I have to say that I am NOT AT ALL excited about what we're going to talk about. Why? Because our topic is FASTING."
That's how I started my message yesterday - the first message in a new series about fasting. Fasting may not be what we want to hear about, but I believe it is what we NEED to hear about. God has a lot to say about fasting in the Bible and I invite you to delve deeper by listening to Part 1 in this series on Fasting, titled HUNGERING FOR GOD.
The Gift That Every Heart Longs For
What do you NEED for Christmas? That’s the question I’m asking this year. Forget about "what do you WANT for Christmas – what you want isn’t as important as what you need (ie, chocolate fudge brownies vs spinach & broccoli for dinner). I want to know what you think is your #1 NEED this year for Christmas.
For me, the answer is simple. It’s the same topic I spoke about the other day and that I will continue to speak about till the end of my days. Any time someone asks me what I want, I give the same answer. It’s the one thing that you can never get enough of and if I could find a way to sell it in a bottle, I’d be a ba-zillionaire.
What is it? The one thing that every single person on this planet desires and needs more than anything else is REST. R-E-S-T.
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Happiness is not a feeling, it’s a choice
What would make you happy right now? If you could have anything in the world, what would you ask for right now to make you happy? New car? New house? New job? New kids? New wife? What would it take to make you happy?
Once there were two twin boys celebrating their 8th birthday. One boy was always very chipper, upbeat and positive; he always had a “half-full” view of life. The other was the opposite – pessimistic, melancholy, depressed, lived with a “half-empty” view of life. The parents of these twins became worried about the extreme discrepancy between their children. They wanted to balance them out a little so they came up with a plan.
For their 8th birthday, the parents were going to fill the room of the second child – the “sad” one – with toys. Floor to ceiling, wall to wall toys! All the toys a kid could ever wish for. And for the other child – the “happy” one – they were going to fill his room with horse manure. Once again, floor to ceiling, wall to wall manure.
They filled each room with the appropriate “surprise” and then sent the kids up after school. They waited 15 minutes and then went up.
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The Power of a Plastic Straw
One day an investigator was walking through the storm ravaged streets of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Amidst the rubble and destruction, he found a plastic straw – a flimsy plastic drinking straw. But this flimsy plastic drinking straw caught his attention. It was unique in a way that he had never seen before. This straw had done something that probably very few straws in the world have ever accomplished.
It was embedded in a thick wooden telephone pole – probably about 2-3 inches deep – and was sticking straight like an arrow shot from a bow.
Can you imagine how much effort it would take you to do that?
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Do I Really Need to Go to Church?
How important is it to go to church on Sundays? Give it a number, from 1 to 10 – with 10 being “vital, most important part of my week, can’t live without it” and 1 being “optional activity, not really a big deal, I’ll survive without it.” Where would you rank church attendance? How important is it to you?
Recently I read an article about the current state of Christianity and the Church in America. Granted the study was published back in 2007, but the results are still valid as they speak about a trend which has continued in our country. The main finding of the study was this:
Read MoreThe percentage of people that attend a Christian church each weekend is far below what pollsters report. On surveys, 40% of those polled say they go to church every Sunday; but in actuality, less than 20% actually make it to church on Sundays.
Change of Mind = Change of Behavior
What would you do today if you believed you won the lottery? Would that change anything in your day? I’m not talking about if you played the lottery and thought you had a chance to win. I am saying imagine you just got a certified letter, hand-delivered to you by Regis himself, saying that you’ve just won $100 million and the check is in the mail.
Would that change your behavior?
YOU BET IT WOULD! Are you kidding me? I’d be dancing in the street! I’d be screaming so loud that the neighbors would hear! I’d drive straight to my workplace – with resignation letter in hand – but before I submitted the letter, I’d go around and tell everyone how I REALLY felt about them!
(Note to all who work with me now: please don’t be offended by the last sentence. Of course I was just exaggerating to make a point. I’d never want to work with anyone other than you guys and as long as I don’t win the lottery any time soon, I’m sticking with that as my story :) )
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What You Might Be Missing Out On
Have you ever been scared by a Bible verse? It doesn’t happen often but every now and then, I’ll come across a verse that makes me cringe. Verses like that might not be common, but when they come, they have the ability to scare the pants off you (or robe depending on what you wear :) ).
Luke 7:30 is one of those verses. It says: “But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him (John the Baptist).”
Does that verse scare you? If it doesn’t, then you may need to read it again. Let me break it down for you and add my own emphasis on the verse.
"But the Pharisees and lawyers..."
aka THE GOOD GUYS, not the robbers and thieves and adulterers. These are the guys who were supposed to be the religious leaders and those who knew God best.
"…rejected the will of God for themselves..."
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