Monthly Archives: June 2009

I love my day off on Monday!  For many years I have had a hard time taking days off.  I would always feel stressed, knowing I was going to be off because I felt like I had too much to do.  Then I realized how important it is to have a time of disconnect, a time of refreshing, and now I get more done because I am more rested.

Yesterday, we took a road trip.  First to Huntsville, Arkansas for lunch and to check out Withrow Springs State Park.  We found this little cafe called Granny’s and it was incredible.  They had great burgers and homemade pie.  It was heaven on earth!

We left there and drove up to Roaring River Sate Park, which has become one of my favorite places.  Roaring River is in Southern Missouri not too far from the Arkansas border.  It is a place of beauty and rest.  We enjoyed the fish hatchery again and spent some time at the park.  But the best part of the day was spent on the banks of the river.  We found a place down the bank where we could put our chairs and find solitude.

It was quiet except for the roaring of the river.  To me, there is nothing as peaceful in nature as the rolling of water.  You could sense and feel the peace of God.

Everywhere we have lived, I have always had a place of solitude.  In Jacksonville, there was a stream behind the church that I would walk down to and find solitude.  In Nederland, there was a park bench alongside the ship channel that I would frequent and watch the ships go by while I contemplated.  Now, it is this little place in Southern Missouri that I find refuge. 

In the world we live today, there is few places to disconnect.  We are always connected to the internet, or cell phones, the hustle and bustle of life.  There is a need for solitude, aloneness in the quietness of God’s presence.  Jesus found a place to pray and talk to His Father, we must do the same. 

Where is your place of solitude?  Where can you go to disconnect for a while and find refreshing?

I guess I ought to let it be known now so it will be less painful tomorrow; the youth won.  The youth challenged the adults to a softball game and they won.  We had a great time playing even though it was 98 degrees outside.  It made think of my native Texas weather.  It was hot!

We had a good game, good fellowship and good food!  It made for a wonderful day. 

I do know, that the older I get the harder it is to play sports.  I am more out of shape than I used to be, 15 years ago, and I am not nearly as sharp as I used to be.  Yes, that is my excuse for making two costly errors for my team.  (I thought about saying the sun was in my eyes, but people might think I was making excuses.)  When I get out and play with the youth, I begin to feel my age. 

All in all, it was a great time with the church family.  It is awesome that we can all get out and have a good time together.  That is how we build closer relationships and that helps make a great church.

In my years of preaching I have developed files for my different sermons.  They are labeled by topics or series and I file them accordingly.  There is, however, a special file that no one else would ever notice.  It is the sermon dud file. 

As with any public speaker, I am sure they can testify that sometimes, you can tell the crowd connects, and that you connect with the crowd.  Other times you know you are getting across to people even though their response doesn’t show it.  Then there is the dud.  The dud is when you can’t wait until the sermon is over.  If the preacher can’t wait until it is over, the congregation must be even more anxious.  This is the dud sermon.  The one that I file in the dud file.  Another name for that file is “never preach this one again”.

Through the years, the file has grown but not too rapidly.  There may be some of the congregation who would like to suggest some for the dud file:)  But as a communicator it is important to connect with the crowd.  That means preaching something that people can use and learn from.  Furthermore, there is another thing that makes the sermon able to connect.  It has to connect with the preacher first.  If the message hasn’t impacted the preacher during preparation, it won’t impact the crowd.  Sermons shouldn’t just be written, but rather birthed within the heart of the preacher.

On the same line, I read a great story today of a preacher who had a dud.  this is from Mikey’s Funnies:

“They say that a preacher’s wife is always his number one assistant.

An example of this comes one Sunday morning after the preacher had just finished his sermon. He went and sat down with his wife and she asked him how he thought the church service went.

The Preacher shrugged and said, "The worship was excellent, and I think the prayer and communion times went quite well, but," he continued, "I just don’t think the sermon ever got off the ground."

The wife looked over at him, and before she could stop herself, she said, "Well, it sure did taxi long enough!"

“A typical Goldfish is less than five inches and often three inches or less. Here is what I learned recently; A goldfish will grow to size of it’s environment. If you put it in a small bowl, it will be a small goldfish…if you put it a river it will grow and grow.

It’s the same principle in your organization…small vision and small environment equals small results. I am learning most people are content with a small everything except a small paycheck. Expand your vision and environment so that your organization can grow.

Just a few questions of examination:

1) What projects are you working on right now? How big are you planning for?
2) Does your environment allow for small goldfish or large?
3) How big is your personal aquarium?
4) What will it take to increase your personal and professional fish tank?

Don’t settle…increase your everything for growth, expansion, development, escalation and progression.”            HT: Shannon O’Dell

How are we doing as a church and in our ministries?  Are we content with the small fishbowl or are we willing to swim in the river?  We must be minded for the pursuit of a larger purpose.  Our goal is to reach more people for Christ and impact Northwest Arkansas for Jesus.  We must get outside of our fishbowl and reach those around us.

Father’s Day is one of those holidays that has its good side and bad side.  It is a day that we honor fathers and their role in the life of the family.  The father’s role cannot be overestimated.  It is important!

There is however, a downside to Father’s day.  Memories.  This is one of those holidays that pulls up the emotions of the past.  Many people miss their dads, who have passed away.  They wish they could be here to celebrate another Father’s day.  Others have memories of a harsh childhood, mingled with abuse or a lack of fatherly love.  While there are others who did not know their father or remembering that he had little part of their lives.  Like I said, Father’s day is not always an easy day!

To be honest, Father’s day is the hardest sermon for me to decide what I preach.  Should I talk about the role of dads?  What should I say?  There are many times that I almost decide not to even discuss this topic on Father’s day because of the hard memories others have.  We talk about how to be a good dad, but there are so many in the pew that have some pain associated with Father’s day.  I am mindful of the men, who sit on the pew of the church who have tried to be dads only to find their kids turn their back on them or to have little to do with them.  Many have children but have had little chance to rear them because of circumstances.  There are dads who desire to build a relationship with their kids only to be pushed away. 

My prayer today is that these men will find the strength of God and His abundant peace.  I also pray that God will soften the heart of the children and that relationships will be restored.  May God help everyone who has a difficult time on Father’s day to find peace, restoration and love.

“If we begin to get a glimpse of the vast glory of God, we will realize that many of our conflicts are like two ants arguing about which is taller while standing in front of Mount Everest.

“We quibble over some infinitesimal difference of opinion while the vastness of Almighty God soars into the heavens.

“We need to stop looking at one another relative to ourselves, or, better yet, stop looking in the mirror. And we need to turn our eyes to the loveliness of Christ in his Word.”     -Chris Brauns-

HT: Trevin Wax

There is alot of talk these days about absent fathers, homes wrecked by divorce and dads who do not care.  Certainly those are issues that are problems today, however, I believe there are alot of us dads who are doing our best to be “good” dads. 

The good thing is there is a great deal of resources to help us become successful fathers.  There are an endless amount of books, cd’s, podcasts, radio shows and internet helps to get us to become better dads.  But even with all of that, dads often feel helpless when it comes to “successful” parenting.

We are told to be patient, but we still blow it from time to time.  We are taught to be firm, but often we are too soft. (Which I am the failing more at this now that I have a beautiful little girl)  We are instructed to spend more time with our kids, but our work demands more and more from us.  We know we are to be loving, but for some reason we feel like we fall short in that area.

Within the heart of man is the desire to achieve, the desire to be the best we can be.  At home, at work, at church and everywhere else we go.  Our desire is to be the best, BUT at the end of the day we often feel like we don’t cut it.  I know how often a dad feels a sense of guilt when he believes he has let his kids down. 

As I have been preparing for a Father’s day message, I have wondered how many dads wish they could attain all the things they are taught.  I wonder how many dads feel like failures even though they would never admit it.  Fatherhood is challenging to say the least.  Dad, do your best!  When you make mistakes, move on.  Try your hardest, but always remember you are only human.  Love your family, spend time with them, provide for them but don’t be too hard on yourself.  Kids are often very forgiving, even when we blow it.

It is Father’s Day week so I decided to post an interesting assessment of the different types of dads.  I have been thinking more lately about how I can be more effective as a father as well as more intentional in shaping the lives of Josh and Hannah.  Dads must play a major part in the spiritual development of their kids.

“Three Types of Dads by Robert Lewis:

ABSENT dads are invisible and are only shadows in a boy’s life.

INVOLVED dads participate in their son’s lives but without a plan. This kind of dad is often vision-less or shapeless. He has overlooked investing a core of clear, masculine directives into his son’s life which are vital to his success.

STRATEGIC dads have a well thought out plan and vision. They understand the true sense of masculinity and know how to deposit it in their son’s life.

Which one are you?”     HT: Braxton Brady (Strategic Dad blog)

Here John Wesley gives a word to a young preacher:

"No, Aleck, no! The danger of ruin to Methodism does not lie here. It springs from quite a different quarter. Our preachers, many of them, are fallen. They are not spiritual. They are not alive to God. They are soft, enervated, fearful of shame, toil, hardship. . . . Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven upon earth." 
HT: Ray Ortlund

Having read this today it makes me evaluate myself in light of such a great man as John Wesley.  The American church and the world could use a group of pastors that Wesley is looking for.  I ask myself, as should every pastor, “Am I Spiritual?  Am I alive to God?  Do I desire God wholly?  Do I fear only sin?

As men and women of God we must consecrate ourselves wholly to God.  Give Him all of us.  Sell out to all that He is, and be all that He desires us to be.

So often we pray for years for something and never see results.  We become tempted to believe that God isn’t listening or doesn’t care or that He is not going to answer.  Sometimes we have to wait.  His timing and ways are not always ours.

Sonya and I have been praying for her brother for over 18 years.  We have prayed for his salvation and deliverance from alcohol.  He was hard-core for all these years.  There were times we thought he would never change.  We continued to believe that,  until about a month ago, when Sonya got a call from him.  He gave his heart to Christ.  Circumstances in his life caused him to turn to Christ.  He is now serving the Lord and is completely delivered from alcohol.  In fact, Friday, he told me  that he has been dry for exactly 30 days. 

Yesterday, Brock was baptized at New Vision Church of the Nazarene in San Antonio.  You can see the video here.  Watch the one from June 14th “Godly Living”.  His baptism is about 4 to 5 minutes in.  What an awesome God we serve!

There is hope for your lost loved ones.  They can come home.  Do not quit praying!  The answer may be just around the corner.

I always look forward to Sunday so we can see what God does.  It was a busy morning nonetheless.  I taught Youth Sunday School this morning.  Their teacher wasn’t able to make it so I pulled something together to talk about.  I enjoyed our conversation and getting to know our young people a little better.

We continued our Hostage series.  We talked about being held captive by worry and how to overcome worry.  We identified four major causes of anxiety in our society today.

1.  Rush Sickness – trying to cram 30 hours of activities in 24 hours.
2.  Straining – trying to make it ahead in this world and straining to find acceptance and success in life.
3.  Change – changing jobs, homes and other things that are tough changes.
4.  World Instability – all the issues of living in a sin-filled world.

To overcome worry we find the remedy in Philippians 4:6-7.
1. Prayer and Supplication – supplication literally means taking our burdens to God and leaving them there.
2.  Thanksgiving – Focusing on what He has already done, rather than on what He hasn’t done yet.
3.  Let your requests be made known to God – Be specific with your needs.

These are good remedies for worry.  They are sure to work because the Bible tells us to take this road.  Paul said to be anxious for nothing and then gives us these steps to be without anxiety.

After service we had our first newcomers luncheon to get to know some of our newest people.  We were joined by several new families and singles as well as a couple of our long-time members.  It was a great time of connecting with some  of our newest attenders.

I have been working the last couple of days on changing our church website.  I was able to upload the new version this afternoon.  Now, there are still a few things to be done like adding sermon audio and pictures of our leadership.  But for the most part, it is complete.  Check it out and let me know what you think.  www.rogersag.com 

Also, be sure to check back over the next several weeks as we continue to enhance the website.

I have been re-adjusting my Scripture reading time and I am taking a new approach to maximize my daily intake of the Word of God.  It takes me a little longer but it enables me to glean from more sections of the Bible daily.

I have broken down the sections of the Bible and now read one chapter a day from each section.

1 chapter from the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy – The Law)

1 chapter from the History Books (Joshua through Esther)

1 chapter from the Poetic Books (Job through Song of Solomon)

1 chapter from the Prophets (Isaiah through Malachi)

1 chapter from the Gospels and Acts (Matthew through Acts)

1 chapter from the Epistles (Romans through Revelation)

Doing this has helped me digest more Scripture daily and read through the Bible a little quicker.

You can download a copy of the reading plan here.  Just check of the box of the chapters you read when you get done.  This chart helps you keep up with your progress.

If ye keep watch over your hearts, and listen for the Voice of God and learn of Him, in one short hour ye can learn more from Him than ye could learn from Man in a thousand years.

-Johannes Tauler-

Every night, I have a ritual.  I iron my clothes for the next day.  This allows me to get ready in a hurry and not have to worry about it in the morning. 

There is something I have found interesting in the clothing world.  Wrinkle Free Clothes.  Seems to me like that is false advertising.  Every evening, I iron my wrinkle free khakis and my wrinkle free shirt.  If it is wrinkle-free, why am I having to iron it?  Does anyone else have this problem?  Wrinkle-free is a slight oversight in advertising.  Wrinkle-less, maybe.  But not wrinkle free.  In defense of Dockers and Hagar, I did buy some khakis that weren’t advertised as wrinkle free and I couldn’t even iron out the wrinkles. 

My point to all of this is, we don’t always get exactly what is advertised.  Wrinkle-free means wrinkle-less.  Lower calorie diet food actually means smaller portions.  Diet Coke is truly a diet because it tastes so bad, who wants to drink it?  In our world, advertisement often triumphs over the total truth of the advertisement.

With the Word of God, however, it is not so.  Whatever is written in the pages of Scripture is the truth.  We can rely on it.  There is no false advertising.  It has all the answers we need and we can rely on God’s promises.  II Corinthians 1:20, “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”