This past weekend Milestone’s student ministry held their annual retreat “Battle of the Sexes”. Over 300 students gathered and made commitments to sexual purity, and I’m blown away by their passion for God. I’m so grateful for our student pastor, Tyron Caswell and his team of leaders. You’ve got to check out this video and get a glimpse of what God did in the lives of our young people.
Trust ain’t easy. I’m pretty sure we can all agree on that point but why is it so hard? The truth is that trust is dynamic, situational, and relational.
1. Trust is Dynamic
Where we like things to be static and controlled, trust is dynamic and changing. Trusting God with your family is great when things are going according to your plans but what happens when your daughter starts dating the kid with the motorcycle?
2. Trust is Situational
When we like to know exactly what is going on, trust varies from situation to situation. What may have been true of your level of trust in God’s provision while you were reading your Bible this morning, isn’t necessarily true right now as you’re staring at your bank account numbers.
3. Trust is Relational
Trust is dependent upon who you are interacting with and the history there. For example, if you ever saw “It” by Alfred Hitchcock you probably have an extreme distrust of clowns. But, God is trustworthy. When everything is changing, He is unchanging. When we have no idea what is going on, He is in control and working everything together for the good of those who love Him. Where others have hurt us, He is always faithful and always good. So while trust isn’t easy, it’s worth the risk when you’re trusting in God.
I recently had the chance to sit down and talk to a great friend of mine, Pastor Larry Stockstill. One of his passions is mentoring & coaching others, and I finally got the chance to ask what his secret was! This interview will give you a great starting point if you’re looking for a mentor or have a passion to develop others.
This past weekend we wrapped up our series called Unpack Your Bags, The Guilt Trip is Over. Thinking back over my final message, I thought it might be fun to give you a quick pop-quiz about the grace of God. Don’t stress! You won’t get graded on this, but when it comes to living a grace-filled life, there are 3 key questions to ask. Take a second to think about these:
1. Can you embrace the radical grace of God and the freedom that comes with it?
Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2. Can you recognize the difference between opinions and Biblical commands?
Galatians 3:1-3 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?
3. Do you value relationships more than your rules?
Galatians 5:13-15 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
These are great questions to ask yourself. What I’ve found is that people respond differently to each question, but I think God would have us say “yes” to each one! If you struggle with legalism, know that there’s hope for you. If you’ve recently fallen short, remember that God hasn’t changed the way He feels about you and you can run back to Him. If you don’t know Jesus, God hasn’t forgotten about you. He still has the free gift of grace for you in the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ.
If you didn’t get a chance to hear the message from this past weekend, here it is. I encourage you to watch it and allow God to redefine your perspective on His amazing grace.
There’s no better picture in the Bible of how we struggle with our own failure than the story of the Apostle Peter… despite his insecurity, despite his weaknesses, despite how quick he was to speak and slow to understand…Jesus loved him.
Peter’s relationship to Jesus is really a beautiful picture of how God just invades our lives and lavishes His love on us when we really don’t deserve it! Peter had one of the biggest failures of all the disciples. I’m talking epic failures! What’s really bad is that Jesus even told him it was going to happen.
Jesus tells him, “Peter, before the night is over you’re going to deny me three times.”
That’s exactly what happened. Jesus was crucified, laid in a tomb, and on the 3rd day rose again. Can you guess who he asked for when he began to reappear to His disciples?
… Mark 16, “Go tell Peter and the other disciples that Jesus has risen from the death.” He singles Peter out! Jesus appears to His disciples in John 20 and Peter comes face to face with the one he had denied.
John 21:15-19 (NASB)
15So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You ” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” 16He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” 17He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You ” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep. 18“Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.” 19Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me!”
It’s important to realize that Jesus didn’t ask these questions to Peter because He didn’t know the answer. Jesus knew what was in his heart. Jesus knew that Peter loved Him. By asking Peter the question three times Jesus was restoring Peter.
As your pastor, I want you to know God loves you more than you can imagine…even when you fail. Maybe it’s time for you to see Jesus the way Peter did – as your Savior who died for you, loves you to this day, and wants to draw close to your heart!
Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Before you read any further, let me say this:
God loves you. God is for you. God wants you to return to Him.
Right now you probably doubt this. You’re probably thinking…”Pastor Jeff, you don’t know what I’ve done. I’ve messed up big time.” And can you guess what I’d say in response to that? I’d say God is bigger than anything you’ve done.
You know, so many times in life we project onto God what we really feel about ourselves. But remember this: God hasn’t given up on you. His love for you hasn’t changed because of what you have done or haven’t done. He loves you right where you are. You’re biggest sins are not too big for God’s grace!
When you really get this in your heart, do you know what happens?
We’re runners. Not like the jogging kind of runner you see at Bear Creek Park. I’m talking about running away from God. We mess up, and instead of leaning into God’s love and grace…we run. We’re ashamed. But Paul reminds us in Romans 8 that nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from God.
I encourage you to use this scripture today and think about it. Put it on your car dashboard or bathroom mirror. Use it as a screen saver on your phone. Do whatever you have to do to remind yourself of who God is, and how much He loves you.
6-8 times a year we have baptism weekends here at Milestone. They are absolutely my favorite weekends! Why? Because it reminds of us all of what God can do and how He can transform someone’s life. These stories are why God called me into ministry years ago and why we keep going as a church. God has given us the mission to reach people and build lives, and I love being able to see Him use you, me, and the Milestone family to accomplish that mission.
This is an amazing recap of what Milestone has done over the last year to serve people with the love of God. Check this out!
Romans 8:1 – 3 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.”
I love this verse in Romans because it’s so freeing! For the last couple weeks at Milestone we’ve been talking about the guilt that so many people feel every day, but the good news is that “…there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”.
Here’s one thing from my message that I want you to remember…
Condemnation pushes you away from God, tries to get you to back up from God.
Conviction, on the other hand, presses you to God.
This weekend we’ll continue our series and I hope you’ll join us. I believe God wants to set you free from the burden of condemnation and guilt.
If you missed last week, you can catch up by watching it right here on my blog. See you this weekend!
Luke 10:27…He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Today is the final day of Milestone’s 21-Day Fast. I don’t know about you, but my heart is so excited about the future. I see incredible potential in how God can use you to impact people around you, and how God can use Milestone to impact our community. So what’s next? We’ve prayed, we pressed in to God, we’ve believed that He’ll do great things. What happens now?
This verse in Luke has a way of simplifying our next steps. They can be summed up with two simple phrases…
LOVE GOD. LOVE PEOPLE.
Be faithful in your devotional life. Seek first the kingdom of God. Let the light of Jesus shine through you. These are your next steps! Here’s the thing, God knows exactly what you need even before you ask it. God knows and has ordained every step you’ll take in the future. And God wants to use you in ways you can’t imagine. Let’s continue to set aside daily time with Him in prayer and Bible study, continue to believe for big things, continue to lift up the needs you’ve been praying. Let your passion for God extend beyond these 21 days! I’m thankful for you, and I want you to know what an honor it is for me to be your pastor. I love being able to journey with you and see you grow.
