An Attitude of Gratitude

An Attitude of Gratitude

"Thank God in everything (no matter what the circumstances
may be, be thankful and give thanks), for this is the will of
God for you in Christ Jesus...." I Thessalonians 5:18 AMPL

The article in the Indiana newspaper was eye-catching, a husband and wife had given a large sum of money, $15 million, to help with the renovation of a building on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. It was a building I had walked by more times than I could count in my four years at Notre Dame, an inconspicuous stone structure on the quad where my dorm room was. But that plain building held one of the oldest and top rated law schools in the nation.

The write-up of Robert and Frances Biolchini's donation of $15 million was characterized by one word - gratitude. Gratitude by the Biolchini's for the education five of their children received at Notre Dame and gratitude by the university that someone would be so generous in helping to meet a need at the school.

Gratitude, the simple quality of being thankful for the many blessings in your life, is a trait that is far more important than we realize. Gratitude unlocks or releases other things in our lives. Edwin McManus wrote, for example, that "gratitude fuels optimism and hope" and that is so easy to see, a thankful person is always more hopeful and confident about their future than someone who is unthankful.

And as we see in the story of the Biolchini's, gratitude produces generosity. A thankful heart looks for ways to express that thankfulness by blessing other lives, being generous not just with finances but with love and concern and attention and forgiveness. A grateful person acknowledges God's generosity in their life, in the areas mentioned, from love to forgiveness and in so many more ways, and their attitude of gratitude becomes a defining force in their lives.

It's easy to see why the Lord admonished us to be thankful in every situation we find ourselves in. Gratitude and unforgiveness cannot co-exist, neither can gratitude and bitterness or gratitude and pessimism - they just don't go hand in hand. Being purposeful in making sure we are thankful and grateful people will change our perspective on life and allow us to fully enjoy the life we have been blessed with.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

PS - And for those wondering, yes, my parents were equally thankful for the awesome
education I received at Notre Dame!!

Love People

Love People

"And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself"

Can I be the first to admit that there are some things in the Bible I still don't understand, the four horsemen of revelation, the first creation, someone having more than one wife let alone seven hundred, the list would be pretty extensive. And so I'm thankful for those truths that are very simple such as the second commandment which tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves, or to put in an easier form, love people.

Love people
-when they don't deserve it
-when they've hurt you
-when they don't want you to
-when they're different than you
-when they've disappointed you
-when they won't say they're sorry
-when no one else will
-when you're really too busy
-when it will cost you something
-when they are hurting and lonely
-when they can't say thank you
-when they need you the most

Love people
-even if you think they'll never change
-even if everyone else tells you not to
-even if you know they'll hurt you again
-even when you have to battle memories

Love people
-despite their faults
-despite their weaknesses
-despite their rudeness
-despite everything

Love people
-as the Lord has loved you
-as the Lord would love them
-as you want others to love you
-as an offering to the Lord who has saved us and blessed our lives abundantly!

Jesus narrowed all the commandments down to two, loving the Lord and loving people. May we receive the grace to show forth the love of Christ, allowing His love to fill our hearts and overflow to a lost and hurting world, to quite simply "love people".

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Cornerstone

The Cornerstone

"See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
I Peter 2:6

We are used to gound breaking ceremonies signaling the construction of anything from a new corporate headquarters to a new highway linking important areas of the country. Dignitaries are gathered, photographers and newspapaer reporters are assembled and someone, usually an important leader or key figure, is given the honor of digging the first shovel-full of dirt for the new project.

The equivalent of these events in ancient times was the laying of the cornerstone in a new building. The cornerstone was the first stone laid in the building process and was the stone which all other stones were aligned with, its' placement being crucial to the success of the project being undertaken. Job made reference to it, both David and Isaiah prophesied about God sending "a precious cornerstone" that could be trusted in and relied upon, and Jesus quoted their words in addressing the religious leaders who were rejecting him.

The truth that Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith is both simple and profound. It is simple in the fact that we know that Christianity is (or should be) centered around, and based on, the person and work of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. All that we believe in and all that we live for are found in Christ. The profound side of looking to Jesus as our cornerstone is that we can take every measurement for our lives from him, aligning with him in literally everything.

Thinking of just a few examples, we can align ourselves with the heart Jesus had for the lost and hurting, with his attitude toward sinners who were outside the kingdom and living contrary to God's ways, and with the desire he had to please the Father.

He can be our cornerstone in a devotional life where we set time aside for prayer and seeking God's will, as an example of a life that hit the mark and refused to be either distracted or deflected, and in laying down our lives for others as he did.

Allowing Jesus to be your "precious cornerstone, a sure foundation" (Isaiah 28:16) in your life, will assure you of a Christian life that grows straight, that can endure the winds and storms, and that, above all else, will glorify the Father in heaven.


God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The 166

The 166

"Look carefully how you walk! Live purposefully and
worthily and accurately....making the very most of
the time (buying up each opportunity).
Ephesians 5:15-16 (Amplified)

My favorite radio station, K-Love, is unfortunately in another state. Their signal comes in for the first forty-five minutes of the ride home, fading out halfway between Buffalo and Rochester. Coming home from New York this week was no different. But just before the signal was lost, the host commented "my pastor has been preaching on the 166". As his voice was being lost in the crackle of the radio, I caught just enough to be challenged by the thought.

Most Christians spend an average of two hours a week in church leaving 166 hours spent outside of the church. The two hours of church, while a very small amount of time, are important for equipping us to serve, for stirring up our faith, as a time to experience the manifest presence of the Lord and to fellowship with others of like faith. But the majority of our time, "the 166", is spent outside the church and it is how we spend those hours that will determine our success in life and the measure of fruitfulness we achieve.

When Paul wrote in Ephesians about "making the very most of the time" we have been given, he was no doubt referring to those hours lived outside the church. It was a given that the believers would be in the house of the Lord whenever possible-soaking in as much of God as they could, strengthening their relationship with the Lord and gleaning from God's Word and God's people direction and inspiration.

But our challenge today is to take control of "the 166", choosing to "live purposefully" as the Amplified Bible words it. We have to make sure we are alloting time for the things that are most important to us, whether that be time spent with family and friends, time set aside for devotions and Bible study, or hours spent in a special area of interest that we enjoy. The hours we have been blessed with are a gift from the Lord and an opportunity that we have to be careful how we live. Using our 166 in a way that is productive, purposeful, and fruitful will require planning, discipline, self-control and more. But the end result will be a life that we can look back on with satisfaction and thankfulness.

This week's 166 may be almost gone but next week's opportunity to use our time for the glory of the Lord will be upon us before we know it. Let's determine to live our lives "purposefully, worthily and accurately".

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

In God's Hands

In God's Hands

"The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my
eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and
washed and then I could see." John 9:11

On the days when we feel very ordinary and unqualified for the tasks set before us, this story of Jesus healing a blind man is one of many that encourages us about what the Lord can do in each of our lives.

In performing this miracle of healing, Jesus took something that has no evident value or purpose, common mud, dirt mixed with water, and placed it on the man's eyes as a point of contact in his healing. It teaches us a lesson we need to learn and remember- that in God's hands, the ordinary is changed into the extraordinary, nothing becomes something, and nobodies become somebodies,

We have another example in Moses' life. God told him to take up the staff in his hand, a branch of a tree that had been dried out and carved into a walking stick. That staff, which Exodus 4:20 calls "the staff of God", became a symbol of God's power when it was thrown down and became a snake and, again later, when it was used to strike the waters of the Nile and turn them into blood. Outside of God's hand, it was powerless but in the hands of God, it was transformed into a tool to be used for His glory. And that really is the case for each of us. Outside and separated from God, we are powerless to bring about the changes and breakthroughs we long to see in those around us. But that is not the end of the matter.

When it comes to people, the disciples who were used to heal the sick, raise the dead, and perform many miraculous signs and wonders are referred to, in Acts 4:31 as unschooled, ordinary men." I find that verse to be one of the most encouraging verses in the entire Bible. It shows that our confidence need not be in ourselves, that we don't have to be insecure in our own lack of ability, talent, wisdom or strength. Our lives just need to be placed in the hands of God.
So many struggle trying to be "enough", good enough, strong enough, smart enough, and cool enough to be accepted by others. And the unfortunate result is increasing insecurity in lives that can never measure up. But maybe we don't need to measure up, maybe we don't need to be enough. We just need to realize that our sufficiency is from the Lord and then turn our lives over afresh to the Lord, allowing Him to make us the men and women He created us to be. We may not be as capable as we wish, but God is able! And that's where our hope lies.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Battery Power

Battery Power

"I am going to send you what my Father has promised but stay in
the city until you have been clothed with power from on high"
Luke 24:49

Batteries for clocks and watches, cell phones, I-pods and laptops, the remotes and the flashlights and let's not forget the smoke alarm that beeps at 3:00 am when the battery dies at a suspiciously ridiculous hour. We are battery dependent and battery power, no matter how good of an "energizer' we purchase, is always temporary.

In the last two weeks, I've been reminded of that several times. In Washington, D.C., I was at the top of the Washington Monument when the low battery indicator on my camera began to flash red, giving me a few more pictures before the camera shut down. And the "off-brand" replacements available at the souvenir stand lasted until we stood in front of the White House for our group photo and, you guessed it, ran out.

Then, last week, on the trip to Camp Michindoh with 43 7th graders whose parents were given my cell phone number to ease their fears, I forgot my charger. One last call from a dad who was worried about his son being away from home for the first time and my cell died at about 12:30 in the morning. It's at those moments that the importance of power, temporary or not, can be seen and appreciated.

Our strength in the natural is very similar to batteries in that, no matter how far we stretch it, it will eventually run out. And we were created by the Lord that way, needing sleep and rest to recharge our internal batteries, both being essential to our bodies functioning the way our Creator designed them to. Studies have shown the effects of sleep deficiency to be far greater than we realize, ranging from weakening the sharpness of our thinking to hindering our ability to handle stress and everyday problems.

Spiritual strength is no different. The strength to cope with the pressures and challenges of life needs to be renewed or we will face similar difficulties, finding ourselves making mistakes we never intended. It might be a word misspoken or a decision unadvised that is the result of our not keeping our spiritual batteries fully charged. Isaiah 40:30 tells us that "even youths grow tired and weary" but offers the promise in :31 that "they that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength".

Just like Dave Auten tests our 9-volts every Sunday morning (with his tongue), we need to check our batteries on a regular basis, make sure we're staying recharged, and living with the strength and power, the wisdom and understanding that the Lord intended. The time invested in both rest and in the presence of the Lord will be well rewarded!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Souvenir Row

Souvenir Row

"The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life."
Romans 6:23

The one-block area where we got off the tour bus contains Ford Theatre where President Lincoln was assassinated, the Peterson House where he was brought immediately after, and a host of shops packed with every possible souvenir to commemorate a visit to Washington, D.C.

For me it was off to the nearest McDonalds a block away for a soft drink. When I stepped up to the counter, my response to the customary "What can I get for you?" was a "can I have a large pop please?". The look on the waitresses face was a combination of "what is this guy talking about" and "I wonder how long he's been in the country". I quickly changed it to "can I have a large soda", a language she understood, damage done, communication accomplished and I received my plastic cup.

We have the phrase "to call a spade a spade" meaning to speak honestly and clearly about a subject or situation, to describe something as it really is. The English have a more blunt and forceful version saying "to call a spade a bloody shovel". But the point is the same, we need to call things as they are and not sugar coat them for the benefit of how we might appear to others or even to ourselves.

Billy Sunday, the baseball player turned evangelist in the early 20th century in America, termed it this way, "one reason sin flourishes is that it is treated like a cream puff instead of a rattlesnake". I was in a conversation recently and was trying to graciously refer to something the person had done when they corrected me, saying "pastor that was nothing more than sin". Like the waitress in DC, I was taken back by their honesty and by their choice of words heard less and less lately. But it is only in being honest with ourselves and in calling things as they really are that we have any hope of change.

Our choice of words is not always as trivial as soda or pop. And while speaking positively certainly applies in many situations as our words declare our faith in God, calling things as they really are, calling sin sin, has tremendous advantages too. It brings us face to face with what separates us from the Lord and from His favor on our lives. That honesty with ourselves clears the way for change, for cleansing and for restoration to His presence.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church