Category Archives: Encourage

This Life Matters

Some things I want to share tonight. Yes, it is late, but I feel like this is worth sharing with you.

* Life isn’t a game. It can be enjoyed with lots of laughter, joy, and passion…but this thing called life isn’t a game, it isn’t a joke. The Author of Life gives us all a certain number of days to live. At the end, we give an account for what we’ve done in our time here. I have made a lot of really bad decisions in my life, but I want to make less as time goes on. Jesus is the only one who can save me on the day of judgment, but I want to live a life that God would say is full of love, selflessness, pure and blameless. Not so I can be forgiven, but because I appreciate the forgiveness and more importantly, because I love the Lord. If you feel like your life and choices don’t matter, then fast forward a few years to your funeral and ask yourself what kind of legacy do you want to pass on. I hope my legacy is love, faith, courage, authentic, and passionate. Jesus is worth it. So are the people He’a connected me to.

* You have an enemy. You may not feel like you love yourself, but Satan hates you and wants to destroy you, your family, and all those you love. Satan is stronger than you and I, but Jesus who is greater and lives inside the Christian is stronger than Satan. Don’t talk trash to or bout the Devil. Read the book of Jude.Submit to God, and let Him fight the battle for you against Satan. Your enemy, the Devil, wants to kill, steal, and destroy but Jesus has come that you and I have life to the full.

* God loves you relentlessly. For His glory. For your redemption. For the world. Jesus wants all of every single one of us.

* Ever person who asks Jesus to heal or save them gets healed of saved in the gospels. Call out to your Savior.

* God created you beautiful. Powerful. On purpose. With love. Because He likes you. With joy. Complex and simple. For Himself.

* This life matters. The cross is real. The tomb is empty. There is hope all every one of us.

Tonight’s Recap: Why I LOVE 20 Park

Tonight, we started the new series, ENTOURAGE at The Well. I am so excited right now I can’t sleep. So I’m going to write about how blessed I am. I want to look back and remember this in the days to come. I want to let people know that being real is possible, and that God really is faithful.

So here we go. Tonight, I preached on Friendship. (That’s what your entourage is.) Who you roll with. “Who is in? Who is out? You only go as far as they’ll go with you.”

Jesus tells us in John 15:9, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Now, remain in my love.”

Why is it so important to remain? The biggest reason I could find is that I will not bear the fruit of love in my life while I am living only from my own amount of love. When I live in God’s love, His love overflows into my life, and I am loving people from a deeper well, from a truer place, from a love that is not conditioned based. I need to remain in the love of Christ, because if I don’t, then I will live out of what I have or don’t have, instead of claiming and giving out of what Jesus has given me.

“Where there is no vision the people cast off restraint.” Proverbs 29:18

How important is the vision of your life? What is restraint? Is it the ability to choose wisely with friends? Is it the ability to say no to other’s? I would say, “Where there is no vision, the people settle for mediocre friendships. They expect so little from themselves, and believe they deserve very little from a friend.

That’s not the life I want. I want a great life. That means I need courage. “Be strong and courageous and do not be afraid.” Joshua 1 (the whole chapter has that phrase on repeat). It takes true courage to go to the place of vulnerability, where you reveal who you are to another and invite them into your life. It takes a lot of courage to be vulnerable. However, for the friendship to go further, someone has to risk. Otherwise, there is little hope of change.

Well, I gave some strong challenges to all in the room on going to the next level in friendships. Here is the amazing thing. People started going there with each other after the message: They sat down and shared their hearts. It feels so special to be a part of a group that takes the Word of God seriously enough to do what it says.

So let me praise 20 Park (the college ministry of Park Plaza).

*They are teachable. They come hungry for the Word of God.

*They are real. Quite possibly the most real group be ever known.

*They love to serve others.

They love to be challenged, and they respond to the challenges.

*They are creative. They are fun. They laugh. ALOT.

I’m blessed! Thank you God for an amazing night

You don’t have something to give/You do have something to give

In college, I got in trouble with my finances a few times. Overdrawn checking accounts=fear and trembling, financial frustration, and no eating out (except for Taco Bell burritos which you can pay for with quarters you find under your friend’s sofa cushions.) This was a big deal. You can’t buy anything with your debit card without another $35 fee placed on your account. Basically, you can’t spend beyond your balance.

This thought carries over into my life in other ways. When I’m tired in a workout, I start to slow down. Sometimes, I’ve even quit. My mind said I shouldn’t spend more than I had to give. Seems to make sense. I want to give you something to think about today.

Do not let the attitude on giving drift into your mindset on encouragement. The interactions you have with people count. Even when your absolutely worn out and feel like you don’t have much energy to give, I believe you do have something to give. Romans 8:11 says, “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.”

You don’t have something to give…and so, You do have something to give. Because the Spirit is at work within you helping you come alive while you’re alive. You don’t think you have anything positive to say to someone? You do. You have encouragement residing within you because the Spirit is in you. You think that your encouragement account is empty? The Spirit is in you, and has already filled you with more to give. Trust the LORD to give you more than you can give even when you feel like you have nothing to give.