We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts…We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.

1 Thes 2:4, 6

Basically, I don’t give a flying flip about pleasing you. This serving God thing isn’t a popularity contest. It’s all about God.
It’s all about God.
It’s all about God.

God is really reminding me of this fact this week. May I never forget it!

Have you spent time considering what it would be like to be a Christian which persecution like this? Please keep our Christian brothers and sisters in India in your prayers and thoughts.

MY WIFE WAS ABLE TO CALL ME THAT THE HINDUS DESTROY A POLICE STATION AT RAIKIA 20 KM FROM G.UDAYAGIRI AND 4000 HINDU MILITANTS ARE ATTACKING THE G.UDAYAGIRI REFUGEE CAMP.THEY HAVE CUT THE POWER AND TELEPHONE CELL PHONE AND HAVE SENT THE LETTERS TO THE CHRISTIAN LEADERS TO KILL WITHIN 5 DAYS OF TIME. NEED MUCH PRAYERS FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHRISTIANS AND THE CHURCHES. THEY HAVE BLOCKED THE [Removed for Confidentiality's sake].THINGS ARE NOT AT ALL GOOD. IAM CONCERN OF OUR STAF,CHILDREN AND BELIEVERS WHO ARE AT [Confidential] RIHGT NOW.

How would you fare if you were thrust into such a life?
How would the church fare?
How would your faith fare?
How would Jesus fare?

Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!

If someone isn’t angry at you then pray for God to set you on fire and lead you to preach a message that will hit the majority of your church between the eyes…and then HANG ON!

(Read the whole post in context here.)

What do you think? Is this wise advice to church planters?
Do you want to be ‘hit between the eyes’ by your pastor more often?

If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

YIKES!
Lord, May I never have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels resulting in envy, strife, malicious talk and constant friction. May I continually be one with truth.

For it to make sense, you have to understand my route. I walk 1 1/2 blocks on my road, then turn onto a road without any sidewalks for about 1/4 mile or so. This road is wide, with about a 3′ paved shoulder.

Note–people don’t normally walk on roads without sidewalks, right?

Well, today when I turned, there was a guy ahead of me by about 100 meters, and he was walking slower than I, so I knew I might catch him. I thought ‘What is he going to think when I pass him?’

I decided it was best to not pass, so I tried to stay back at least 20 meters. But as we approached my turn into work, this guy really slowed down–I think perhaps he was fiddling with an ipod or something. But I came up on him really quickly, and wasn’t really paying attention. As I prepared to turn and he was about two meters ahead of me, my shadow was in front of him. I wondered if he’d notice.
Sure enough, he did notice, and he turned around really, really quickly and had a look of horror on his face. I turned my corner, and smiled really big, and it made me laugh.

I think you had to be there to see this guy’s face when he realized someone was right behind him. It was so unexpected for him to encounter anyone on the road, he was so startled.

In our lives, it is in the times when we’re not paying attention to what’s going on around us that we seem to ‘forget’ about Jesus. Through my walk today, God was speaking to me–am I watching for God all the time? He’s right behind me, even when I’m not thinking about it…
And he’s right behind you, too.

I thought both would heal quickly. But as I recover, I’m finding it isn’t so quick.

My finger, although better, is tender to the touch at a specific angle. The problem here, is I forget about it until I hurt it. I don’t hurt it as long as I’m thinking about it–but it doesn’t hurt enough to think about it…

My knee is also much better than it was last week. But the past few days, my knee just feels swollen. It aches. It’s a constant reminder of my injury.

This nagging injuries got me thinking about how much this is like those nagging sin issues in our lives. The thing we think we’re over, we forget about, and then when we forget about it, it pops up. As long as we’re thinking about protecting ourselves from it, we’re good, but then after a while, we slowly forget about it and stop thinking about protecting ourselves anymore…
The knee reminded me of sometimes our problems in life stay with us for a while–sometimes a choice we make when we’re young stays with us for the rest of our lives.

When browsing the different pastors, I thought I clicked on one certain pastor (who will remain nameless), and started reading, and the guy was completely not his normal self–he talked about Jesus. After I checked, it wasn’t wasn’t who I thought it was–it was instead Perry Noble (who talks about Jesus all the time).

I understand different bloggers have different personalities, but what happened was the pastor I thought I was reading has NEVER talked about Jesus, so when I thought he did, it was a shocker.

I never processed this before…some people just never talk about Jesus–they never talk about their faith, even. What a travesty to have a reputation as a pastor who doesn’t talk about Jesus on their so-called ministry blog.

FYI–the pastor in question is NOT in my links in my sidebar, and it’s no one I’ve ever met, so If you’re a friend of mine, I am NOT talking about you! You are good… And don’t bother to ask who it was, because I refuse to talk bad about fellow Christians.

May I never become complacent in my walk with Jesus. May people always know I am a Jesus-follower first, and a man in ministry second. And may I never forget that.

Todd and I are looking forward to this conference, and would like to invite you to join us, too! The more the merrier! We have invited Todd F. and Jeremiah O., but haven’t heard final confirmations from them yet. [EDIT]Todd and Jeremiah are BOTH going to join us![/EDIT] Perhaps you would be in for a good intense lecture on apologetics from one of the world’s greatest, we’d love to have you join us as well. There are also some group sessions, too!

The cost is $20. You will need to register yourself, via snail mail. For your convenience, I have included a PDF version of the brochure here: Reason for Hope Brochure.

Needless to say, Emily uses much more gasoline in her car than I do in mine. I try to do most of her gasoline fill-ups, but sometimes she gets gas in Fort Wayne without letting me know she needs gas.

This morning on the way to work, Emily needed gas, so we stopped at our local S & S Express, and I pumped gas for her. I went in to pay as Emily drove off. The young lady behind the counter said, ‘You always pump gas for her, don’t you?’
I said, ‘Not always, but I do try to.’
‘I think that’s so cute,’ she said.
‘Sometimes she gets it without asking me, but when it’s cold outside, I especially like getting it for her.’
‘I think it’s so cute you two get along so well.’
…

As I left, those words stuck with me…’you two get along so well.’

I think that is key to making any marriage work. You have to do what the other person wants, even when you don’t want to. I don’t particularly enjoy standing out in 20-degree weather pumping gasoline, but when I do it instead of my wife, I am making a sacrifice for her, and she knows it. I gladly make that sacrifice for my wife.
She doesn’t like pumping gas ever, and when she can get a replacement to do it for her, she is indebted to her replacement, and she serves me well.

The thing is, this is just like what Jesus did for us–he was the replacement sacrifice for all we deserve for our screw ups and mess ups. Jesus made a sacrifice for us, do we serve him well?