bible study

His Seventy-Two Steps From Glory To Glory

Step Four: From Nazareth to Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1-12)

· The wise men arrived in Jerusalem and inquired of Herod about the recent birth of the King of the Jews.

· There are several questions we don’t know about these “wise men”

o Who were these wise men?

o How did they associate the star with Christ?

o Why did they come?

o When did they arrive in Bethlehem?

o How many wise men came?

o Was the star a regular star?

· King Herod, troubled and agitated, asks the chief priests and scribes about the magis’ request and is told Bethlehem is to be the Messiah’s birthplace (Micah5:2)

o Herod sends the wise men there and asks them to report back to him, pretending to be desirous of worshipping him also.

o In reality he was already planning to kill Him.

· Upon being led by the star to His home, they fell at His feet and offered Him their gifts.

o They gave gold (deity)

o They gave frankincense (humanity)

o They gave myrrh (sufferings)

· God warns them of Herod’s real plans for Jesus, and the magi depart another way for their land.

Next week

Step Five: To Egypt. (Matthew 2:13-18)

Step Six: Back to Nazareth. (Matthew 2:19-23) (Luke 2:40)

College football 2011 prediction blog

(Tank Carter... My favorite player from 2010)


Alright... every year I do a college football prediction blog (because I am the best college football expert I know) And everyone should listen to me since I am right about 30% of the time...

Last year I Picked Alabama to beat Oregon for the national championship... I was only off by a little, Oregon made the championship game and the National champ was from the state of Alabama!?

So here we go with the 2011 predictions...

SEC

West Champs - Arkansas
Many will call me a homer because of this pick, but I honestly think this is the piggies year. Very good defense coming back, very good skill positions... the question is how will the new O-Line gel? Bamma is a little over-rated and LSU is a lot over-rated... Mississippi State finishes tied with Bamma for 2nd

East Champs - Georgia
Mark Richt needs this one! Georgia is finally relevant again in the SEC.

SEC Title game - Arkansas 31 Georgia 24
SEC Champs - Arkansas

Big 12-2=10

Champs - Oklahoma State... Cowboys surprise all and win their first big 12 title


ACC

Atlantic Division Champ - Florida State

Coastal Champ - Virginia Tech

Champion - Florida State FSU takes the conference after an undefeated season. They aren't the best team in the nation... they just play in the All Cupcake Conference, they would be the 4th best team in the SEC

Big 10+2=12

Leaders Division Champion - Wisconsin These guys are good... real good!

Legends Divisions Champion - Nebraska The huskers make the 1st ever big 10 championship game in their 1st year in the league.

Big 10 Champ - Wisconsin

Big (L)East

Champion - West Virginia Because somebody has to win this pathetic football conference.

Pac 12

North Division - Stanford

South Division - Arizona Nick Foles is one of my favorite QB's in 'merica

Champs - Stanford Andrew Luck gets to end his career in the Rose Bowl


National Championship game - Florida State vs Wisconsin

National Champs - Wisconsin



Other predictions...

LSU goes 8-4

Houston Nutt fired from Ole' Miss at seasons end...

Alabama and Auburn have to vacate games from the 2010 season...

Tyler Wilson passes for 3000+ yards and 30+ T.D.'s

South Carolina is a big disappointment

Arkansas goes to New Orleans .. Again

Craig James says something stupid enough to get fired from ESPN

The Jets Jets Jets win the Super Bowl

and... Northwestern is America's "Surprise team" of 2011

That's my take... lets see how it all pans out

Nate

Lessons on Leadership from Jesus - #5 Jesus understood "where the buck stopped"

Man do we live in a world of excuses!? Nobody takes ownership of their mistakes or decisions. It seems like everything is somebody else fault or a result of some outside factor. As a culture, we love to relish in our accomplishments but blame and point fingers at other causes when it comes to our failures...

Jesus understood that His ministry and leadership responsibility belonged to Him and Him alone. He took total ownership for the role that the Father gave Him.

And Jesus did what it took to make it all happen! Need a donkey for the ride into Jerusalem? Done! Coins to pay Caesars tax? Provided! Wine for a wedding party? Problem solved!

As leaders we have to "own it" and realize that everything under our responsibility rises and falls based on our leadership.

Nathan

Lessons on Leadership from Jesus - #4 Jesus was Constantly Celebrating

He turned water to wine. He He was constantly invited to dinner parties at peoples homes. When crowds gathered, Jesus was adamant that nobody leave with an empty stomach. Many of his parables/illustrations centered around parties and celebrations. The night before He was crucified, He invited His guys to gather to sing songs and dine. When He returned after His resurrection, He threw a big fish-fry on the beach... Jesus was all about celebrating!

Jesus understood His purpose and recognized His blessings.

It is so easy as leaders to get caught up in all the negative that surrounds us, to let the pressure of our positions steal our joy. Jesus would probably tell us to lighten up.

As leaders we have to constantly celebrate our wins, always seeing the small things that deserve big celebrations!

Nathan

Lessons on Leadership from Jesus - #3 Jesus Stayed in Constant Contact with the Father

We all answer to someone! As leaders (especially spiritual leaders) we all answer to The Father for how we use our gift of leadership.

As a matter of fact, our problems begin as leaders when we fail to submit to The Father who has total authority over us.

Jesus knew who His boss was and He was quick to communicate with Him regularly. It is as if Jesus had a window straight to The Father that he could open at any time and speak directly to The Father.

As leaders there are a few things we need to do to keep in constant contact regularly...

#1 - Seek to please God first.
Don't let the temptation of people pleasing, or worse, self pleasing to come before God pleasing.

#2 - Pray.
Jesus was God! Yet time and time again he went to The Father in prayer asking for guidance. If Jesus needed prayer time with The Father... well... it goes without saying that we probably do to!

#3 - Listen.
Open up your ears, eyes and most importantly your heart and hear what God is saying to you. God has many ways of showing us what His will is for our lives and our leadership. If we are seeking Him we will have no trouble hearing Him. If you are seeking an answer but God seems to be silent... then wait! God will reveal His will to you in His Time. Stay in The Word, Pray, and listen!

Make sure your leadership is ruled by windows and not mirrors.

Nathan

Lessons on Leadership from Jesus - #2 Jesus Said "Thank You"

⁴¹ So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. ⁴² You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” -John 11:41-42

Think about the above verse... Just before Jesus commands Lazarus to rise from death, Jesus stops and thanks The Father for hearing Him. This is just one verse out of many where we see the thankful heart of Jesus, but it is important to see that Jesus was a thankful man.

Gratitude is a key element to the success of leaders. How can we truly lead without being grateful? Grateful to those who follow our leadership, grateful to those who challenge our leadership and make us sharper, grateful to God who places us in positions of leadership.

Before I ask something of someone I am privy to lead, I pray that I have first conveyed to them and to God how thankful I am that God has put them in my life.

I pray that I can follow the example of Jesus and be a grateful leader that is full of thankfulness and gratitude.

Pastor Nathan

Lessons on Leadership from Jesus - #1 Do hard things

As a leader, it is so easy to just take the easy route. Just like anything else, we want to follow the path of least resistance. This is something that I have to fight against every day.

But when I look at the example Jesus left me as a leader, I see something very different...

He did the hard things!

Jesus was focused to the point of tunnel vision on accomplishing His mission in this world. I, for one, am glad that Jesus didn't base His ministry on opinion polls and popularity contests.

Doing the hard things simply means that we don't let things like public opinion, a little sweat, or a little extra effort keep us from doing what our gut, spirit, and instinct (God's leading) is telling us to do.

I love that Jesus was willing to stand alone to accomplish His Fathers will. He "set His face towards Jerusalem" knowing His death would be the consequence.

We as leaders must have more than vision and communications skills... we must also have resolve!

Jesus did the hard things!

Are you willing to do the hard things? Even if it means standing alone?

A thought out biblical response to this whole Usama ordeal.

I have really been blown away with all the controversy in the Christian world over Usama Bin Laden's (UBL) death. First of all, you can really tell it has been 10 years since 911. I promise all these social network posts saying things like "We shouldn't celebrate a soul going to hell" and "why are we taking joy in another persons death" wouldn't be there. (mostly because social networks didn't exist)

There also wouldn't be the wild parties in the streets like we saw last night in New York and D.C. Because killing Bin Laden would have been the universally expected and accepted retaliation of those horrible attacks. But as we all know 10 years and some time changes everything.

So how should we react as Christians to the news that UBL is dead?

First, nobody should be "celebrating that UBL is in hell... that is just twisted and wrong. we, as children of God, should never rejoice over hell and say "that is what he deserves." The fact is WE ALL DESERVE THE SAME HELL BIN LADEN IS IN!

But that still leaves the question of WHAT should we feel and HOW should we react to this news? The answer (as always) lies in The Word of God.

First we must look at Romans13:1-5

1 Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. 2 So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. 3 For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you. 4 The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. 5 So you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience.

According to the above passage we learn that

#1. Those leading and making decisions for our country (like them or not) have been placed there by God.

#2. Those who rebel against these establishments rebel against God. Remember Bin Laden brought this fight to us!

#3. "They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong." I believe we saw this truth carried out in Abbotabad Pakistan by some great men in our military yesterday.

But, many will bring up Proverbs 24:17-18 which says...

17 Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall;

don’t be happy when they stumble.

18 For the Lord will be displeased with you

and will turn his anger away from them.

That verse seems to teach us that we should feel somber and take no joy in the capture and killing of UBL... but what about when you contrast that verse with Psalm 21...

8 You will capture all your enemies.

Your strong right hand will seize all who hate you.

9 You will throw them in a flaming furnace

when you appear.

The Lord will consume them in his anger;

fire will devour them.

10 You will wipe their children from the face of the earth;

they will never have descendants.

11 Although they plot against you,

their evil schemes will never succeed.

12 For they will turn and run

when they see your arrows aimed at them.

13 Rise up, O Lord, in all your power.

With music and singing we celebrate your mighty acts.

Wait? It looks like this verse teaches us to celebrate the death and the "devouring with fire" ... and we are to celebrate it with "music and singing" ?

Here is what you need to know about these verses... first off Proverbs 24 was written by Solomon to his sons to help them gain Godly wisdom. That verse is talking about getting puffed up with pride, arrogance or selfishness over the demise of your enemies. God is teaching us that it is WISE not to celebrate our enemies death in a PRIDEFUL WAY.

So can we celebrate the death of Bin Laden? The answer is a YES and a NO... We can celebrate, but we are not to celebrate death, BUT RATHER WE ARE TO CELEBRATE THE JUSTICE OF GOD! WE ARE TO CELEBRATE GOD AND HIS WILL AND CHOICE FOR THIS FATE OF USAMA BIN LADEN.

WE ARE TO GIVE THE LORD ALL GLORY FOR THIS HISTORIC MOMENT!

Thank you lord for bringing justice to our nation. God you knew this would be Bin Laden's fate. Lord in your sovereignty you knew this day would come. Lord don't let my flesh or the flesh of this nation be puffed up with pride because Usama is dead, but rather let us rejoice in your just ways. You alone are God, all authority belongs to you. And I pray to you in the name above all names JESUS!

Sun Stand Still Book Review

Just finished the much publicized book "Sun Stand Still" by Steven Furtick. If you don't know Pastor Furtick is the young pastor of one of the fastest growing churches in America - Elevation Church in Charlotte NC.

Basically, if you haven't read the book, the theme is what he dubs "audacious faith." He asserts that Joshua's prayer in Joshua 10 (found in the paragraph below) can be applied to our lives and we don't see supernatural things from God because we don't pray audacious enough prayers... but if we do pray these audacious prayers, God may not always answer them and that is okay too. (?)

“The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel.” (Joshua 10:13b-14)

The idea of bold and audacious prayer is a Biblical concept and I believe Furtick is genuine is his belief that God has worked amazingly in Elevation Church as a result of this type of prayer.

Some of my takeaway from the book...

- "Seizing his big purpose for your life is not just about figuring out what God wants from you and getting down to business. It’s about becoming intimately acquainted with who Jesus is. It’s about mining the depths of who you are in him.”

- “How will God accomplish the impossible vision he has planted in your heart? By his grace—and through your willingness to sacrifice your life for the sake of Jesus.”

- "Time can talk you out of your dreams. Routine can weaken your propensity toward audacity."

- "I despair at the thought that my life might slip by without seeing God show himself mightily on our behalf" (This quote is one Furtick used that is from "Fresh Wind Fresh Fire" -Jim Cymbala)

- "I am not raising my kids to survive the world. I'm raising them to change it"

- "Rules without revelation result in rebellion"

*Side note: if you get sick of hearing "catch phrase" type words used over and over again, you will be sick of the word "audacious" before the 3rd chapter.

Final anaylasis: The book was good but not great. I have heard Furtick preach this subject, and honestly I think I gained more take-away from the spoken messages. I know it must be a rule that all mega-church pastors have to write a book, but that doesn't mean all should.

On a 1-10 scale I give it a respectable 6 ;)

Book Review: "Communicating for a Change" -Andy Stanley

I finally finished reading "Communicating for a Change" by Andy Stanley.

Really good read. Although much of the stuff centered around things that I have already applied to my own communication style, I still got much takeaway from the book. If you are a Pastor/Spiritual Communicator, you should probably go ahead and go get you a copy and read this book.

I love a very honest and practical read, and this is both. Andy does a great job of just sharing his convictions about preaching in a very easy to understand way.

The main theme of the book is really focused around "one point preaching." I have been a one point preacher for several years, but it was good to read this book and refine my process a little.

Here are a few great quotes I highlighted...

"We shouldn't be so focused on teaching the Bible that we forget our real goal is to teach people the bible."

"First, we connect with people; then we move to the Bible"

"Today you have to show people how the truth impacts their lives"

"we have to remind people that they want to change"

"Just because it is simple doesn't mean that it is not effective. The best tools are."

"What concerns you more, how you did on Sunday or what your people are doing on Monday?"

"a lack of genuineness makes it difficult to trust a speaker."

"make (your text) fascinating enough that people will want to go home and read it on their own"

"People loved or hated Jesus, but when he spoke nobody fell asleep"

"boring is not a (preaching) style. Boring is boring"

All-in-all it was a good Read

Nathan

2010 In Review

This is my 2010 in review blog (*Note- most people do this way before now)

As I look back on my life and all God has done in and through me in 2010, I guess the defining moment was the big move to Texas. Everything else seems to filter through that process.
But here goes a look at my 2010...

Spiritual

I guess it all starts with God and God has done much through me in 2010. This biggie being - again - the move.

The process really started back in June of 2009. Tony Harp (associate pastor here at LMBC) invited me to come and speak at their 2010 D-Now youth event in February. I made the trip down along with our worship band from Cave City and the process began. I got a call one week after the event from the pulpit committee chairman and (as the saying goes) the rest is history.

At first I was real hesitant about whether or not God was calling me out of Cave City and into pastoral ministry. As the process went along, God kept moving me and my heart in the direction he wanted me to go, and in Mid-April, Ericka and I announced to First Baptist Cave City we would be headed to Texas.

It was VERY hard to say good-by to FBC Cave City (probably the most difficult thing I have ever done in my ministerial life), but God was moving me and I had to submit to His will. I will be forever grateful for the love, support and respect I received in Cave City. Ericka and I still see it as out 2nd hometown.

I became the Sr. Pastor of Longview Missionary Baptist Church in June of 2010...

Another great spiritual high of 2010 was the small role I got to play in the life of Thamail Morgan. God gave me a great opportunity to be a spiritual voice in the life of this young man with an amazing story. He was featured in a short documentary during the 2010 Super Bowl Here is the video... Thamail Morgan

There are so many other great spiritual highs from 2010, from D-Now, CityReach, 7.Twelve, and all the great things that God has already done here at LMBC, that I could ramble on for pages... It truly was an amazing year!

Family

Needless to say, the big Texas move also dominated our family life in 2010. The kids have settled in to Texas life well and are doing great! Ericka and I can truly say we are home here and happy. Our family is amazingly blessed by God and we can see his hand in every aspect of our family life.

Ericka is settling in great in our new home and seems to be enjoying decorating our new house and doing the things to transform it into our home. She works hard volunteering weekly at Hallsville School District. (where our kids attend) From having a great fitness center to workout at, to her capitalizing on the many area shopping opportunities, I think Ericka is liking living in a little larger city (Longview is about 80,000 compared to Cave City's 1,900)

Bethany is doing well in school. (she always has) She has adjusted to the new place real well and real fast. She is my more adventurous child and rarely has trouble making friends or feeling out of place. She has gotten involved in the arts and loves acting in the theater. She has already had acting roles at the school theater, community theater and the church.

Sadly she didn't get to participate in her first play back in July after she fell off the stage. (she gets her clumsiness from me) She cracked her skull and was placed on bed rest right before the play was scheduled.

Micah was a little different than his sister in that he had trouble adjusting after the move. At 5 years old I think he had trouble understanding that this was our new and permanent home. It made for some challenging conversations with him and we had to pour out a little more love toward him in the beginning. He is doing great here now and seems to love it.

Turbo (As he has become so affectionately known here by our church people) got involved in flag football this year and loved it. His team went undefeated during their regular season and Micah got to play and learn about the game of football. He seems to really love football and baseball and we are excited about playing a little baseball this spring.

Travel

Anyone that knows me knows that I love to go! 2010 gave me some great chances to spend some time in some awesome places.

My first trip of the year was to Jacksonville Florida for the FBC JAX pastors conference. Jax is an amazingly beautiful city. The highlight of the trip was seeing St Augustine beach and climbing the St. Augustine lighthouse.

In April Ericka and I spent a little time in Washington D.C and NYC after I spoke at the momentum youth conference in Inwood WV. It was Ericka's first time to see both D.C. and New York and I am glad I got to take her there and spend that time in those awesome places with her.

I also got to spend a little time in Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, Niagara Falls and Toronto Canada through my service to the CityReach board. I always enjoy visiting the northeast.

Ericka, myself and the kiddos closed out 2010 in Summit County Colorado (Dillon) with Ericka's family. It was my kids first time to see the Rocky Mountains and we really loved watching them learn to snow ski.

Everyone has a passion that they love to spend their $cratch on... I love to travel, see the different culture that is found all over this great country and around the world, and gaze at the amazing wonders of God's creation.

Health


If my greatest accomplishment of 2010 was the move to pastoral ministry, then my marathons were 1b.

I was able to finish not just one but TWO marathons in 2010. The Berryman Trail Marathon in Missouri back in May and the Freedoms Run Marathon that trekked through West Virginia and Maryland last October. Although I was pretty dog-gone slow, it is still a great accomplishment to finish the grueling 26.2 mile run. It is said that only about 1% of people ever accomplish this. It was good to enter the 1% club.

Probably the greatest highlight was sharing this accomplishment with my great friend Eric Richardson. He was my motivator through the entire process and I know I couldn't have done it without his encouragement.

Also if you notice in the above pic, the 2nd marathon was ran with an entire team of guys that God has connected me with through ministry. I am so thankful for all of the amazing people God has put in my life that I would have never known otherwise if it wasn't for answering his call to ministry.

Although my goal in running wasn't really to lose weight (I never did diet during my marathon training) It is nice to say that I was able to shed about 35lbs total in 2010.

-

God thank you for an amazing, life changing year in 2010... I can't wait to see what you have in store for 2011. To you I give all glory for all the joys in my life

Amen

Nathan