- Read the entire Bible in a year (or less) – this is something I have done before, but I would like to do it again. Something achievable and familiar

- Bike 25 miles (or more) a week – I love to ride my bike, its good exercise and it allows me to clear my mind

- Spend less time on my iPhone – I love technology, but that thing can be a time killer

- Spend more time with my family – more dates with my wife, more happy meals with the kids, Dynamo games, Astros games. My family is my legacy, I should make and take opportunities to pour into them.

- Plan a family vacation – We have never taken a family vacation.  We need to pack up the van, pack up the kids, and drive!

- Go camping! – I want to take my family camping so bad.  Tents, sleeping bags, camp fire, and fishing!

- I want to start a scholarship fund – this has always been a dream of Ester and I, I began to think that I have to start somewhere, maybe start out with a books scholarship?

- Experience deer hunting. – I have several friends that love hunting, I have been thinking that this is something I would love to experience, who knows I may start my own trophy collection.

- Watch less TV – like the iPhone it is a time killer

I think that is it….for now

SP

Faith makes you do crazy things.  Faith allows you to believe the impossible.  Faith makes the unseen visible. This lady had spent everything she had in order to get well.  I am sure that many of her doctors meant well and wanted her to recover from her sickness but to no avail.  But one day she heard about Jesus.  I love that.  She went from being completely hopeless and lacking faith just to live to acting out in crazy faith.”For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” Faith was so great in her that day that she didnt have to have a face to face encounter with Jesus, she didnt have to talk to him, she just wanted to touch him, just touch his robe – that is crazy faith.

I want to have faith like that.  Faith that is crazy.  Maybe crazy faith is just normal faith.  Maybe we are too scared to have faith like that.  But that is the faith that we need to have.  This kind of faith puts us face to face with the “author and perfecter of our faith”.   I love what Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” It wasn’t her persistence, or determination to get healed.  It was her faith.

I want faith like that.

I am completely amazed by God’s awesome favor and blessing over His church.  When we moved into our space at the end of February we immediately began praying for the space next door. At the time the Keno was operating at full speed and doing very well. There was no reason why it should become available. But we kept praying and in April the Keno was raided by the police and shut down. After that there was a mad dash from many business owners to rent the space but God gave us favor with the landlord and he gave us first dibs on the space! Of course, we had to take this step of faith and obedience and accept the space we prayed for! God is taking Ethos Church on a journey of faith and we are seeing things that cannot be explained any other way except for GOD! We know the only reason we are expanding is so that more souls can be won and more disciples can be made! That is our one desire!

I think that I have never had faith like the one I have now.  Faith that believes the impossible.  Faith that can move mountains.  Crazy, out of this world, biblical faith.  Hebrews tells us that “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV)  I have come realize that road to fruitful ministry is paved with faith.  I have seen that it is not a matter of cash or finances (God has that part covered), but in order to obtain something I have never had I need to do something I have never done….step out in crazy faith.  I am excited about what is about to happen in that little church on Hwy 146.  I am excited about the new faces and families that will call that place home. I am excited about our kids having a great quality of ministry.

God is on the move and I am so glad to be a part of what He is about to do in Kemah!

Nasty Nasty Nasty

There is just something therapeutic about doing chores.  As many of you know, my one big chore at home is doing the dishes.  I loathe doing the dishes.  Just the thought of leftover food on a wet plate just grosses me out! If I were a super hero, dirty dishes would be my arch nemesis. The other day, after a day full of chores I said to my beautiful wife that I have found that doing the dishes and other chores brings balance in my life.  For me I need them because it makes me feel normal…I dont have to be Pastor Sam at home….I can be Sam – the defender of the kitchen sink!

It allows me to slow down and just focus on doing the dishes, or cleaning the bathroom (which I need to do today!).  It becomes therapy for me and it allows for God to bring me rest….yes I said rest!  I have come to understand that doing dishes or putting away clothes is just as spiritual as preaching a sermon or counseling with someone. There is rest in doing work. Just like I get joy in preaching a sermon or doing some other Many people find pride in there work, which is great, but God also brings us rest and joy. Work brings stability, normalcy, and security, but when we begin to dedicate that same work to the Lord we will find rest and joy.

Paul writes in his letter to the Colossians, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” (Col 3:23)

I am convinced that we separate our work – we have things we do at work, we have things we do for the Lord, and we have those dirty dishes that stare at us as if they are daring us to do the impossible.  There are people who just like me hate to do the dishes, the laundry, the cleaning, the cooking, the cleaning up after the cooking, you get the picture (i’m not sure if I have met anyone who likes doing chores). There are also people who hate their job, cant stand waking up in the morning to go to work, hate their boss, their co-workers, and their customers….we get this way when we feel stuck.  There are also those folks that refuse to do only so much for the Lord and his church.  No more, no less.  Like God and the pastor should just be grateful that they showed up on Sunday.

Now imagine with me if everything we did was for the Lord. I mean every chore, every time I have to change a diaper, or wipe my kids, every project at work, every dish, every toilet….I’m preaching to myself here…..I am not perfect, I dont have this all down.  But I see a pattern in my life and in the lives of people around me that we seem to choose in our own mind what pleases God and we try really hard at those things, when in fact God is pleased with a life that dedicates all to Him. I believe that it is there that we find rest.

The Journey

I think it is always a bit scary when you embark on a journey into the unknown. You have a basic idea of what the destination looks like, but as to how you will get there and what difficulties are along the way you are just not sure.  I believe that life and ministry are for the most part a journeys into the unknown.

No two journeys are alike, nor are the destinations.  This alone is very difficult for me since I am a big picture kind of person.  I get an idea, I have an image as to what that should look like and specific results….I dont care about the detail of it all. God on the other hand is all about the details. He places a dream, a vision, or a goal and he begins to unvail just a portion at a time, just enough so that we are not overwhelmed by it all.

I am a big believer in that God has awesome things in store for his Bride, but as long as we are gripped with fear about not understanding or not knowing we can never see these plans unfold. In Numbers 13 we read of the nation of Israel on the edge of their long awaited promise. God has brought them to their destination, but they just can’t let go of their fear in order to cross over.

Numbers 13:25-32

“25 After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned 26 to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land.27 This was their report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces.28 But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak!29 The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Seas and along the Jordan Valley.”
30 But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”
31 But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!”32 So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge.33 We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”"

We can release our fear because God is with you and me.  We can set out and conquer those places that God desires to give us regardless of who or what dwells there.  We just need to trust Him….we need to trust that He leads and guides…..that He is the Good Shepherd….that He is our Provider…..that He is our Healer….that He is our Savior….I find rest and security that He is all those things to me.

The Psalmist writes,”The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1

Lets look at our excerpt for today:

“Do you think your marriage would be any different if Jesus lived at your house, joined you for dinner, helped you plan your finances, and intervened when you argued? It‘s hard to imagine things not improving if Jesus was there all the time. That‘s just what He wants, to be there all the time. Praying together is one of the most powerful tools you have for welcoming God into your daily lives.”

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. (Matthew 6:5-8)

In this passage Jesus taught that prayer:

 Is not a show, so we shouldn‘t be worrying about how we sound or what anyone else is thinking.

 Is talking to God and we can expect Him to hear and answer prayer.

 Shouldn‘t involve the repetition of empty words, so we can pray in plain English (or whatever language you are most comfortable speaking) about the daily issues that are on our minds.

When I think about “for better” I think why would someone want to leave during the good times of marriage. Promotion, raises, birth of a child, are all blessings…but they are also reasons why people choose to abandon their marriage.

“Sometimes success in life destroys a marriage. There are women who have worked to get their husband through medical school, only to be dumped for another woman after her husband became established in his career. There are men who encouraged their wives to pursue education or career, and were left when their wives began to gain newfound confidence.

The key to avoiding this pitfall is seeing yourself and your spouse as God sees you. God has taught us not to put ourselves or anyone else in classes or leagues. He has taught us not to think of ourselves as better than anyone else. He has taught us that we are all gifted and we are all loved. If you see yourself as gifted and loved by God now, encountering success later won‘t make your head inflate. You will recognize that your gifts came from God and the doors you walked through were opened by Him.

When Paul writes about using our gifts to serve others, he first warns us not to have an inflated view of ourselves.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. (Romans 12:3)

Later in the same chapter he shows us that we need to ignore the barriers that often separate people, and treat everyone with respect.”

“In Malachi the Lord tells us that He hates divorce. He says,

Another thing you do: You flood the LORD’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because He no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are His. And why one? Because He was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. “I hate divorce,” says the LORD God of Israel, “and I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,” says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith. (Malachi 2:13-16)

God is speaking to us married folks when He says twice, ―guard yourself in your spirit.‖ There are many wrong attitudes to guard ourselves against, and thinking we have become too good for our spouse is one of them.

In verse 14 He says, ―she is your partner

The Hebrew word for partner ―chabereth‖ is from a root word ―chabar‖, which means to unite. If we are partners, then whatever success, failure, hardship, and joy we face in life belongs to both of us. If things come along that are ―better‖ than we were expecting, we should enjoy them together.”

Talk About It – Since you married, what has been better than you expected? What effect did it have on your marriage?

- As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12)

- My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin. (Job 14:17) 24

- You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19)

- In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back. (Isaiah 38:17)

Does it sound like God has any further interest in your sin after He forgives you? Does He want to remind you of them? He has truly put them in the past.

Talk About It – Since you married, have you reinforced the commitment you made to each other? Or, have you questioned your commitment and talked about divorce? Discuss what you can do to strengthen the confidence you each have in the commitment of the other.

Mr. Right

Have you ever wondered if you married the wrong person? I wonder if we are honest with ourselves what that answer would be.  The easy thing for anyone to do when things get hard in marriage is to bail from the marriage and or blame the other person for the difficulties.  I believe that is when the wrong person perception come in.

When we ask ourselves this question we are setting our marriage up for failure because we begin to see our spouse as the “wrong” one and begin to look at others as being the “right” ones.

Here is today’s excerpt:

“If you‘ve ever wondered if you married the wrong person, we want to try to help you stop asking that question. If you are married, God wants you to honor your vows. Frequently, we talk to couples whose marriages have gotten tough. Once you are married, though, it isn‘t useful to ask if you married the wrong person. Once a ship has sailed, if you are on it, you need to stay on it.

Which of the following most accurately describes you?

 When you married, you were following God‘s guidance. You were sure then and you are sure now that you married the person God wanted you to.

 When you married, you weren‘t paying attention to God. You married the person you wanted, but you can see now that this really was God‘s plan.

 You used to think you married the right person, but as marriage has gotten difficult, you began to think you may have married the wrong person.

 You weren‘t following God when you got married and you don‘t believe He would have told you to marry who you did if you had asked Him.

In any of these cases, we urge you to honor your vows. In this chapter and the next, there are three things we‘d like you to see about God.

 He is a Redeemer who fixes things that are broken. If your marriage is a mess, God can fix it.

 He leads forward, finding the right path from wherever we may have gotten off track to where He wants to lead us.

 He expects us to keep our vows, even if they weren‘t His will in the first place.

If you can see these three truths, our hope is that you will quit asking whether you married the right person and will give your whole heart to making your marriage all it can be.”

Talk About It – How do you each view your marriage right now? Is it what you expected when you married? Do you think your marriage is like God‘s plan for marriage? In what areas would you like to see your marriage improve?