The Present vs. The Future

“Today your servant knows that he has found favor in your eyes.”

II Samuel 14:22

When it comes to having a right perspective on life, some things are not simply one way or the other. Newspapers almost annually carry reports of incredibly poor people, living in squalid conditions on the most meager of resources, who at their death are found to be multi-millionaires with vast resources. For those people, the balance between living responsibly with the future in mind and enjoying the present place they found themselves in could never be found. The fear of the future crippled them for the joys of the present life.

Before I sell the future short, we have to make sure that we arrive in the future ready and prepared for what God has planned. The musician practicing faithfully on a daily basis is investing in their future, taking the necessary steps to growth and mastery. The pastor studying for an upcoming message is preparing to deliver thoughts and insights that come from the heart of God and, hopefully, will have a life changing impact on his listeners. The policeman undergoing advanced firearm training, the firefighter attending a seminar on the latest firefighting tools available, the CPR refresher course for a first responder and a nurse attending a hospital in service on the latest medicines available for patient care are all right where they should be in preparing for the future. We could make the same arguments when it comes to handling our finances with the future in mind and about being cognizant of the future health implications of decisions we make today and of the diet we choose to adopt.

But researchers have clearly shown that anticipation of the future, and living only based on the expectation of tomorrow, can be the great enemy of present day happiness. We’ve been given today as a gift from God, a day to make the most of, and a time to stop and smell the roses, an opportunity to spend time with family and friends, and a day to learn and grow in some way. We hear so much about not dwelling on the past, and on our past failures and mistakes, and that is all one hundred percent correct. But, in some ways, we can make the same mistake by dwelling on the future and all that we are expecting from it. 

As the saying goes, we’ve only been promised today. Step outside and smell the fresh air. Contact a friend or loved one and get caught up. Start that project that you’ve been putting off. Do the things you resolved to do this year when New Year’s resolutions were so popular. Live in the present, not in the unknown future, and wring every last spark of life, every single bit of joy and purpose out of your today!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The School of Life

“These things happened to them as examples….”

I Corinthians 10:11

When it comes to learning the lessons of life, like many other things, there are the easy ways to learn and the hard ways to learn. Every lesson doesn’t have to be learned through suffering, heartache and failure. And contrary to the popular notion, experience is not always the best teacher. No doubt, life has many lessons to teach all of us, lessons about people and our interactions with them, lessons about the moral choices we face and the accompanying consequences, and lessons about our serving a God whose ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours that faith and trust are essential ingredients to success. But where will we learn them?

Learning in the classroom is far and away the best option; it is the educational equivalent to pain free dentistry, if such a thing really exists. Sitting in my office typing this note, I’m looking at several hundred books in front of me, the products of much research and study, of life experiences recorded in book form that we might benefit from the wisdom they contain. On my desk is my Bible, an inexhaustible source of wisdom and understanding meant to guide us throughout our lives. In it, we can read of those who’ve gone before us; we can learn about a God who is faithful to His promises and whose Word is a sure foundation to guide our lives.

But the classroom environment is not our only source of learning. We can learn from the lives of those around us, as long as we are honest in looking at the end of the matter and not viewing temporary success through rose colored glasses. Ruined lives, lives filled with sadness and disappointment, through choices that can only be classified as “they should have known better,” are invaluable opportunities for us to learn without experiencing the weight of failure in our own lives. And learning from others includes seeing those who have placed their fate in the hands of a loving God and earned the reward of their trust.

The last ways we learn has been mentioned already; we learn through our mistakes and through the pain we experience in life. No doubt about it, we learn lessons through suffering that no classroom is able to teach but those lessons should be the exception, not the norm. Our first order of business is to spend time in God’s Word, the most incredible self-contained classroom ever imagined. Read about the men and women who’ve gone before us and learn from them. And with that as a foundation, we can read books and read people’s lives and be someone who, no matter how old we are, never stops learning in the classroom of life.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

One Another

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

I John 4:11

Excuse me if I find myself battling a case of jealousy this morning but after another night of insomnia, I was hoping for a little sympathy from the Lord, maybe in the form of some reassuring scripture like, “Because you have not slept, I will bless you!” But no such luck. In fact, all God seems to care about these days is some person named One Another. To be honest, I don’t know if it’s Mr. or Mrs. One Anther, or maybe Ms or Miss One Another, not to mention whether they are young or old, Caucasian, Hispanic, African American or Asian. The only thing I know is that God is always talking about One Another and how important they are.

Again, I’m sorry for my frustration but God said that people can judge my Christianity by how I treat this One Another person, saying in John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love One Another.” After just coming back from a missions trip, going to church two days in a row including an optional Saturday morning prayer meeting, giving an offering and the litmus test of my Christianity is how I treat One Another? That I can do all that for God and He says that everyone has the right to judge me based on my love for this One Another person – this must be one pretty important person to God!

But is gets worse! I’m not only supposed to find this One Another man or woman but I’m supposed to purposefully encourage them, as Paul wrote, “Therefore encourage One Another and build One Another up.” And I’m to do it every day! Hebrews 3:13 says “But encourage One Another daily as long as it is called today.” And later in the book, “And let us consider how we may spur One Another on toward love and good deeds …. and encourage One Another.”

I’d like to tell you that’s all there is but it goes on and on. I have to open my home to One Another after hearing God say “Be hospitable to One Another without grumbling.” (I Peter 4:9) Not to mention the fact that I have to pray for One Another (James 5:16), greet One Another with a kiss of love (now that’s going too far!) (I Peter 5:14) forgive One Another when they hurt me in any way, and according to Galatians 6:2, “Carry One Another’s burdens.”

Well, if this One Another guy or girl matters that much to God, I guess they should matter that much to me. Let’s just hope, as I go about my day, that I can find them and begin to love them as the Lord loves me, showing this One Another person the fervent love that God asks me to.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Recycling

“As they pass through the Valley of Weeping, 

they make it a well (for others to drink from).”
Psalm 84:6

 

In asking our Korean students what was their most difficult adjustment in coming to America, their response, “we didn’t know where to put the food at lunch” caught me by surprise. A little follow up yielded the fact that recycling in Korea is light years ahead of what we do here in the United States. In our lunchroom, all garbage goes in one receptacle and it taken out to the dumpster. In Korea, the average home or school will have five recycling containers: one for all food products, one for metals, another for plastic, a fourth for paper and cardboard, and, lastly, a catch all for anything that doesn’t belong in one of the others.  And recycling is not hit or miss in Korea as it is here but something fastidiously adhered to.

 

Not only did I learn something about another country and culture from those students, but it has motivated me to issue a general call for far greater recycling in each of our lives starting today. But consider this statement before you jump to conclusions: “if you will allow Him, the Lord will recycle your pain for someone else’s gain.” Now that is recycling! We take the lessons learned, the pain we have experienced and recycle it into consolation in someone else’s life. We take the victories we have earned, and the faith gained as a result, and we recycle that too. No more of this American recycling; we are going South Korean all the way!

 

Scriptures say much about the testimonies of our lives being a means of wisdom and strength in the lives of others. Some lessons are of necessity learned through experiences we go through and learn from. But not all! How often are we given the opportunity to see and hear what has happened in another person’s life in order to avoid the same pitfalls in our own? How often are we privy to the failures of another for the express purpose of saving us from needless sorrow and pain? Out of love for one another, we desperately need a fresh commitment to the recycling of our lives.

 

When I think of how God can recycle our experiences in so many spheres of life, from raising our children to succeeding on the job, from enduring heartbreak to handling victory humbly, to holding on by a thread to getting to our wits end, I see abundant opportunity for each of us to contribute, through personal recycling, to the well-being of others. It will require us being more open about what we’ve gone through, more willing to make our pain a source of gain for a friend, a coworker or fellow believer. But what great value in taking the experiences and lessons that we have paid a dear price for and using them for great profit in the lives of others.

God Bless

Pastor Joe
Gateway Church 

Connect The Dots

“Thus says the Lord, ‘If you will walk in my ways and if you will keep my charge, 

then you will rule my house, have charge of my courts, 

and I will give you places to walk in my presence.’”

Zechariah 3:7

The children’s placemats at area restaurants, like my favorite National Coney Island, are a pretty good attempt to keep the little ones busy and occupied until the food arrives. Four crayons and the kids are off, doing the word search, coloring in the picture, unscrambling the words, and, the subject of this devotion, connecting the dots. Starting at the number one and going number by number, drawing a line between the dots until the picture becomes clear. And, in an ideal world, as the last line is drawn, the large barbecue Hani, fries with cheese on the side, and no pickle is just arriving along with the kids’ hot dogs, fries and chocolate milk.

As Rachel shared in service Sunday, she mentioned connecting the dots between the faith and courage displayed by some of the great men and women in the Bible and the very difficult trials of faith that had occurred earlier in their lives to strengthen their faith and prepare them for what was ahead. And her encouragement was for each of us to realize that, in the same way, we go through trials, storms and difficulties in our lives that are going to be crucial in preparing us for what God has ahead. Paul’s exhortation that “all things work together for good” no doubt had this same thought in mind. Even the enemy’s worst attacks, as Joseph experienced, become a tool for God to use to accomplish good in the lives of those He is at work in.

But as she spoke, my mind wandered to this thought of our connecting the dots. Are we connecting the dots to something God is trying to accomplish in our lives? Are we connecting the dots between our present and our future? Are we connecting the dots between present preparations (prayer and Bible study) and future preparedness? Is something not working out in our lives and we refuse to connect the dots because we know it will lead to a lack of obedience in our lives and will point the finger right back at us? Are we connecting the dots to how God works and to where He is leading, so that we connect the dots to our future, and can then clearly see the picture ahead of us and receive direction and encouragement from it?

Connecting the dots in our lives can be a win-win situation. By that I mean that as each line is drawn, and as the picture becomes clearer and clearer, you have the opportunity to win. For one person, winning might be realizing an area of disobedience and getting back on track so the dots connect to a right picture. For another, winning might mean finding strength as you realize that God is in control and that, in His wisdom, He is preparing you for great things ahead!

God Bless

Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

Turning A Blind Eye

]“Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.”

Luke 11:34

 

As the story goes, in the midst of a naval battle, Admiral Horatio Nelson put a telescope up to his eye to look for orders from a commanding officer on another vessel.  The problem was that Nelson didn't put the telescope up to his good eye but to the eye that had been blinded earlier in his career. Having made up his mind on the course of action he intended to pursue, Nelson looked through his blind eye for orders that would supersede his, saw nothing, and continued the battle. And from that action has been coined the commonly used phrase, “turning a blind eye.”

The definitions for the phrase include “to ignore something and pretend that you don’t see it,” to choose to ignore behavior that you know is wrong” and “to close your eyes to something.” It may have been in that light that Jesus spoke of a people whose hearts had become so calloused that they had eyes but didn’t see and ears but couldn’t hear. In his book, The Grave Robber, Mark Batterson references a distinction made by Jewish rabbis between a good eye and a bad eye, attributing differences to a person’s attitude towards others. A bad eye turned a blind eye to the poor and to the needs of others. A good eye referred to a person’s ability to see and to seize every opportunity to be a blessing toward others.

 

Whether we are studying the teachings of scripture or learning from an 1801 naval battle, the practice of turning a blind eye is as relevant today as it was back then. We turn a blind eye to situations where seeing a need and doing something about it will cost us something, much like those religious people in the parable of the Good Samaritan. When they crossed to the other side of the road, they were turning a blind eye to the man who had been beaten and left for dead. We also turn a blind eye to sin and to wrongdoing, because we fear that taking a stand for what is right will cost us in relationships and in possible repercussions with others.

So much is said in scripture about our opening our eyes to see, and about God opening people’s eyes but it wasn't spoken to those naturally blind, like Admiral Nelson, but to those whose eyes were closed by choice.  Turning a blind eye is often the far easier of the choices we face but it leaves problems unaddressed, issues unresolved and the needs of others unmet. Let’s be purposeful in living our lives with our eyes wide open to the world around us and to the opportunities before us.

God Bless

Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Addition By Subtraction

“The unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.”

Proverbs 11:3

With a horrible record after the first 28 games of the season, the Detroit Pistons decided to release one of their best players, despite still having to pay him over $20 million in the coming years. Now, we would all expect that getting rid of a top player would make a team worse but the opposite happened; the Pistons started playing better and actually winning more after that move was made. Many reasons were given for the improvement in basketball terminology but the final commentary always seemed to include this: addition by subtraction.

The principle is not new. Someone is removed from a team at work who causes chemistry problems among the staff and the work environment improves dramatically. A person who constantly complains and finds faults drops out of your circle of friends and a heaviness is lifted and the fun of spending time with friends almost instantly returns to the group. An addictive habit or a destructive attitude is finally conquered in your life and you feel free as a bird, ready to take on life with a new excitement that has been missing for years. In every case, the breakthrough we are experiencing is the result of addition by subtraction.

Hebrews calls us to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Progress in life is not always from trying harder and doing more. We will all find ourselves in situations where the next step in our growth is getting rid of something that is hindering us. Letting go of a relationship that is pulling us back toward the world and sin, waking up to a negative attitude that is poisoning our own well and feeding discontent in our lives, or quite simply getting victory over an area of sin in our lives that has gotten control of us and stands in the way of our going on with the Lord. Far too often we come to the point where we are at a standstill, that place where we aren’t going anywhere in life until something goes.

The Detroit Pistons releasing a star player still under contract was unprecedented, a move never before made in the history of the NBA. But did that stop them? No, doing what everyone else has always done is not why you play the game; you play to win! In the same way, you may be a candidate for a spurt of growth and serious breakthrough in your life. But is may require the hard step of addition by subtraction. Figure out who you want to be as a person and as a Christian, and get rid of anything that doesn’t fit with your accomplishing those goals!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Expiration Dates

“Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.”

Joshua 23:14

One of the things that changed when the kids moved out was that we had to be more aware of expiration dates on bread, milk and other food products. Before that, we went through food fast enough that it was never an issue. In fact, I’m not sure we even knew that milk had an expiration date until John moved out. But no amount of preservatives can make food last forever, and for our information, and maybe our protection, an expiration date if printed on all perishable food products. And so if you see Nancy or I in the bread aisle at Kroger, you’ll see us reaching for the last loaf of bread in the back that has the farthest out expiration date.

Peter’s words on the day of Pentecost stand in contrast to that thought. When people saw the disciples after God had filled them with the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room, they were “amazed and perplexed” at the way they spoke and how they acted. Peter, however, stood up with an explanation, “This is what was promised by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people..’” Peter returned to a promise given over eight hundred years earlier to explain what was happening to the followers of Jesus. Or look at it this way: Peter quoted a promise given by God that had no expiration date.

In a world of expiration dates, we serve a God who honors His promises. He had promised Abraham that “all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.” The mistakes of Isaac, Jacob and Jacob’s sons didn’t cause it lapse, and the four hundred years in Egypt didn’t move the promise past its expiration date for one simple reason: the promises of God do not come with an expiration date!

My twenty-five percent off coupon to Family Bookstore had an expiration date of last
Thursday, January 8^th. I know that because I went shopping on Friday, January 9^th, and found out it was no longer of any value. But, thankfully, we never have that problem as we kneel in prayer or as we read the words of the Bible. There, we find great encouragement in knowing that the exceedingly great and precious promises given by a loving God thousands of years ago are still valid for you and I to stand on and to trust in today. Yes, there are no expiration dates when it comes to the love God has for us and the promises that flow out of that incredible love.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Stop Underestimating

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all

we could ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church.”
Ephesians 3:20-21

In a prominent location in downtown Detroit, an abandoned construction site, with the concrete pillars and floors poured but with no exterior walls built, sits as a sad display to what can happen when the costs of a project in the hundred million dollar range are grossly underestimated. The new Wayne County jail was supposed to solve the problems of the antiquated, overcrowded facilities currently being used to house prisoners but instead it had to be abandoned because of the costs far exceeding the estimates. Underestimating the proposed costs of the jail project to help ensure legislative approval turned out to be a bad strategy.

Of far less consequence was the underestimating of how much wine the guests would drink at a wedding that took place in Cana around 2,000 years ago. With the guests gathered and the festivities in full swing, the somber message, “they have no more wine” must have been a real cause for stress and concern to the embarrassed hosts. Thankfully, they had invited the only possible guest who could remedy their situation; a guest who could turn the water that was readily available into the wine desperately needed for the wedding feast to not be spoiled.

We’ve all experienced underestimating how long it will take us to get somewhere, how much time it will take to accomplish a home repair project and other areas of varying degrees of consequence. But I want to encourage you to avoid one area of underestimating that can have the most serious consequences of all: stop underestimating God! Here are a few thoughts:

• Stop underestimating what God is able to do through you!
• Stop underestimating the power of prayer to bring change and breakthrough!
• Stop underestimating the value of God’s Word to give guidance and direction! 
• Stop underestimating what the future holds for you because you only see yourself and have lost sight of the greatness of the God who created the universe.
• Stop underestimating the willingness of God to move in your life. The Jesus who reached out his hand and touched the leper, saying “I am willing,” is still the same today!

As we rightly honor God by our proper estimating of His love, His goodness, His power, and His willingness to help us, His moving in our lives is going to be clearly visible in the coming year and we will see Him at work as He completes the good work He has begun in each of our lives.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Veneer, Flattery & Righteousness

“We commend ourselves in every way ….. with weapons

of righteousness in the right hand and in the left.”
II Corinthians 6:4,7

The desk and one of the filing cabinets in my school office have the appearance of being made of well polished oak but that’s only until you take a closer look. The wood grain look is in reality the thinnest of veneers, a surface illusion of quality and beauty that cannot stand up to the slightest bit of scrutiny or inspection. You’ve heard the saying that beauty is only skin deep? Well, it’s true of my office furniture but that matters very little compared to when we start to talk about spiritual matters, when a thin veneer of righteousness is covering our hearts, and when our commitment to the Lord and to His kingdom is only skin deep.

Every study out there says that the number one reason for people, and especially young people, leaving the church and not continuing in the Christian faith is hypocrisy, not seeing what is spoken about in public and declared to be right, lived out in the personal lives of those they are closest to. Living out Christianity in a condition where “these people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13) is the most destructive situation we can find ourselves in. David warned of the danger of the person who “in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin.” (Psalm 36:2) Self flattery, being so taken with ourselves that we’re not able to see ourselves clearly and honestly, can be an insurmountable obstacle to change and growth and, in the end, to having any real and lasting positive impact on the lives of others.

The apostle Paul made an interesting statement in describing his ministry and its source of strength, saying that he was equipped with “weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left.” There is such incredible power in righteousness, in doing what God has said is right. One man said “God’s laws are parameters to live by – the truths he knows are going to provide blessings, strength, a future and hope.” Spurgeon said that “God’s law is a gift of great kindness for it tells us the wisest and happiest way of living.” Are you looking for a sure formula for success and blessing? How about trying to live out everything God has said is right and true! And add to that requiring of ourselves anything and everything we require of others. Let’s approach the New Year committed to there being no veneer in our lives, to not giving in to a self flattery that fools only us, and to immersing ourselves in a righteousness that is so incredibly powerful that we will find ourselves armed and ready for God’s very best!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Spawned

“Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder

the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.”
I Samuel 14:6

When I hear the word spawn, I immediately think of salmon swimming upstream, and of the annual salmon run in streams and rivers back in New York where the salmon return home to deposit their eggs. And while the primary definitions of the word “spawn” relate to this process of depositing eggs, the word also means “to give birth to,” or “to give rise to.” You could say, for example, that school shootings have spawned many security changes in our schools. Or that recent terrorist attacks have spawned new concerns around the world.

But my thoughts are turned to Godly men and women whose acts of faith, courage, love and generosity have spawned similar actions in other believers. Some are found in the pages of the Bible and others are modern day believers willing to swim upstream if that was what it took to see a breakthrough and exact change. Phinehas was one such man who, in the face of rampant immorality among God’s people, took a stand for what was right and was honored by the Lord for his actions. Many years later, Jonathan climbed up to a Philistine garrison, with only his servant following behind, with faith in what God was able to do through one man, and brought about an incredible victory. Martin Luther was another who, in confronting the popular religious thought of his day, showed the courage of his convictions by speaking the truth regardless of the consequences. William Tyndale was so moved by the need of the common man to possess the scriptures in a language that he could understand that he risked his life and was eventually burned at the stake for his life’s work.

I can’t help but think that the courage of a Phinehas spawned similar courage in Jonathan and, thousands of years later, helped to inspire Martin Luther and so many others. In the same way, Luther’s stand for the truth spawned and emboldened not just Tyndale but many others to be true to their faith in Jesus Christ. In more recent times, Mother Theresa has spawned an army of people bent on doing good works, on ministering to the poor and relieving suffering wherever possible. Billy Graham has in like manner spawned an army of people whose vision is for evangelism and rescuing the lost from the enemies hold on their lives. And we too have an opportunity – every act of kindness, every stand for the truth, every display of faith has within it the seed to spawn similar actions in others who are waiting for someone to set the tone, to take the first step, to show that it can be done by men and women in our day!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Filled Up

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for

righteousness, for they will be filled.”
Matthew 5:6

Powdered sugar covered pizzelles, white fudge covered oreos, frosted sugar cookies in all the shapes of Christmas, and the family favorites with affectionate nicknames such as “the white cookies” and “Aunt Joanne’s cookies” only begin to tell the story of why, this time of year, I am rarely hungry when it comes to sitting down at meal time. My capacity, the room I have for food, whether junk food or that which has real nutritional value, is limited. And so enjoying one unfortunately comes at the expense of the other.

We don’t often look at it this way, but our ability to take in spiritual, mental, and emotional input into our lives is also limited. We have a capacity for the things that we can process in a given day, how much we can take in. If it was a recipe, it would include defined amounts of time used, of energy expended, of thoughts processed, and of emotions juggled. We have only so much time to divvy out, so much energy to use up before we collapse, so much mental strain to endure and so many emotions to control in a given 24 hour day. Take into consideration the absolutes, parenting and family responsibilities and the demands of our employment, and the pie gets even smaller for what’s available before there’s no room left for one more thing.

Two scriptures speak to this issue, having room for God. Psalm 10:4 speaks of the ungodly and says, “…in all his thoughts, there is no room for God.” And Jesus said this to his fellow Jews, “…..because you have no room for my word.” While their issue was motivational, we can find ourselves in the same place. And so we are faced with asking a couple questions. First, what are we filling our lives up with? Is it with junk food, with those things that have no intrinsic value but provide a temporary escape from facing life real issues? Are we putting first things first, as in eating the chicken, rice, green beans and salad of life before downing as many Christmas cookies as we have room left for? Are we finding there’s no room left for God because we’ve put watching our favorite television show, movie, sporting event or home project ahead of him. 

When our personal discipline aligns with our spiritual desires, we come to a place where we use the time and energy we’ve been given in ways that help us grow as individuals and that prepare us for all that life will bring our way. Maybe with every Christmas cookie we eat, there’ll come a reminder that spiritual junk food, time wasters and failed priorities, will cause us to lose our appetite for the true spiritual riches that are reserved for us.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

That's Not A Buick!

“We can say with confidence and a clear conscience that we

have been honest and sincere in all our dealings with you.”
II Corinthians 1:12

The television commercials should have been replaced by now, an elderly woman looking out her window at her neighbor’s shiny new car and, upon finding out that it’s a Buick, exclaiming her surprise with the catch line, “That’s not a Buick.” But the reason that Buick continues to air those commercials is that they’re resonating with viewers and with car buyers. Between favorable acceptance ratings and the resulting increased car sales, the message that the stereotype of Buicks being for older buyers no longer applies is hitting home.

Stereotypes are a sad thing because they impose images on people’s minds of what others are like that are passed along from one generation to another with little or no thought for their applicability, relevance or truth. Now, some stereotypes are well earned. For example, in 2006, the average age for a Buick buyer was over 66, the highest in the auto industry by far. (You’ve heard of underage drinkers; so I was an underage Buick buyer all these years. Let’s keep going!) In order to survive, Buick has had to consciously break the stereotypes of their products’ appeal with sporty new car designs and an aggressive advertising strategy, in the process lowering the average age of a buyer to 57 in 2013.

In much the same way, Christianity has some stereotypes that we have to see broken, stereotypes that have only been fed by the political workings of “the religious right” in American. Stereotypes that Christians are one thing on the outside and another on the inside, one thing in church and another at home, one thing to your face and another behind your back, can only be broken with a new and stronger commitment to sincerity and honesty in all aspects of life. Paul had to write to the Corinthians believers and tell them, “We have conducted ourselves in our relations with you in the honesty and sincerity that come from God.” The problem is not new. Spurgeon asked this, “Who wounded the fair hand of godliness? Was it not the professing Christian who used the dagger of hypocrisy?”

Maybe it’s time for a new stereotype of Christianity to be formed, a stereotype of men and women who love their neighbors with sincerity and earnestness, a stereotype of men and women who are compassionate when confronted with the shortcomings of others, and a stereotype of people with unquestioned moral integrity. The task has fallen to our generation to impress on the minds of others a stereotype that is befitting a Savior who came to live among us and who gave His life on the cross that we might have the gift of eternal life.

God Bless
Pastor Joe

Along For The Ride

“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may

be mature and complete not lacking anything.”
James 1:4

One of the bad things for my family after 30 years of driving back home to New York almost every holiday and vacation is their being victim to my love of driving. Sharing driving duties is something I do reluctantly and so my family, especially my poor wife Nancy, ends up as passengers more often than not. In some ways, you could say that they are “along for the ride”, forced to endure my many driving woes with little or no recourse. You can ask Rachel about New York City if you need more specific information to confirm that thought!

But here’s the thing about living life: no one is along for the ride, whatever the circumstances of your life are. No one is a powerless victim of their life. We always get to choose our response to life’s difficulties and, by doing that, we take control of the steering wheel of our lives. James 1:2 tells us to “count it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds.” In a thought that ends with our finding a greater maturity, and being made complete as a person, we’re encouraged to see all of life as situations we can learn from and where we can grow as individuals. And our attitude plays a key role in how well we learn from life’s experiences. We will feel pain, hurt and disappointment; all that is very real. But we have the final word on how we are affected; we choose our response and our attitude. And no matter how much we try to deny it, we each have our hands firmly at ten and two on the steering wheel of our future.

Henry Cloud said this about our part in our lives: “We play a part in where we are, and when we learn what that part is and what we are contributing to being there, new doors and new paths begin to open up.” As the Lord continues to speak about doing a new thing, we owe it to ourselves to make a thorough inspection of our lives, to see what part we are playing in where we are, no matter how small or how great, and give ourselves willingly to change. So often our personal change, with God’s help, is the key to the circumstances of our life changing. If we quit too soon, if we bail out because of the intensity of the difficulty, we never learn the lesson that is meant to catapult us into the next step in our lives. Dealing with our part opens the door for the Lord to do His part, giving strength, wisdom, sending help from above, answering prayers, and opening doors no man can shut! Along for the ride? Not a chance!!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

I Owe It To Myself To...

“The plans of the diligent lead to plenty

as surely as haste leads to poverty.”
Proverbs 21:5

Asking someone to complete a sentence like that above will often bring some rather interesting results. I’m guessing that, in this case, the majority of answers would reflect someone rewarding themselves for their hard work and constant business, along these lines:

• I owe it to myself to have a night out.
• I owe it to myself to have a little fun.
• I owe it to myself to take a day off. 
• I owe it to myself to go out shopping.

Writing this, I can’t help but wonder if David thought he owed it to himself when he sent for Bathsheba to be brought to him. Or if Judas thought he owed it to himself when he stole from the money bag that he held. And we could wonder the same about the decisions of so many others who made short term decisions that ultimately undermined their futures.

“What do I really owe myself?” Here are some examples for you to consider:

• I owe it to myself to think my decisions through before acting so that I don’t live for the moment but lose sight of the big picture.
• I owe it to myself to spend time in God’s Word, on a daily basis, so that I have the guidance that is needed in my life to make wise decisions. 
• I owe it to myself to think before I spend so that my future is not spent paying off old debts rather than being free to follow God’s leading.
• I owe it to myself to develop strong, healthy relationships so that I have others to help me in the situations where I can’t see clearly and struggle to be objective.
• I owe it to myself to pay the price now, in hard work, in diligence, in how I spend my time, and in study, so that my future is not based on a dream or wishful thinking but on the reality of the effort I have expended on growing as a person and as a Christian.
• I owe it to myself to make spiritual matters, time spent with the Lord in prayer and devotion, a priority so that I don’t find myself empty from having built a life on the values and desires of this life while minimizing the life that is to come.

As David wrote, “the plans of the diligent lead only to plenty.” Let’s look down the road of life and do those things today that, deep down in our hearts, we know that we owe to ourselves.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe

Let Nothing Be Wasted

“Let Nothing Be Wasted”

The words were uttered by Jesus after the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” From a solution to a need that started with giving thanks for five small barley loaves and two small fish, came enough pieces to fill twelve baskets with the leftovers after everyone had enough to eat. Five thousand men had been fed from such a meager provision but the focus of Jesus was not on the depth of the miracle but on the aftermath, on nothing being wasted that the Father had provided.

It’s a principal that has many applications in our lives; that no experience we have gone through, that no lesson we have learned (and some have been expensive), and that no truth we have gained would be wasted. How do we waste them? We do that by not sharing those insights into life with others who are going through similar circumstances. The experiences of our lives are precious treasures, regardless of the pain they’ve brought us, that can help another person navigate the potholes of life and make it on their journey.

This past summer, returning from vacation, heading north on I-77 in West Virginia, we heard the news that there was a three hour construction delay at one of the tunnels through the mountains. Word of the experience of others served as our warning to get off the main road and try another route to avoid the backup. And with a sixteen hour drive home, we were happy to avoid three more hours tacked on because of construction. And here’s how it really relates: there is someone, or maybe more than one someone, traveling the same road that you’ve been on. They’re going to face the same discouragements, encounter the same difficulties, and need the same determination to not give up that you needed on your journey. Don’t let one ounce of your experiences be wasted by keeping it to yourself.

Some lessons in life can’t be learned from the pages of a book; we have go through the experience, through the valleys and the storms, over the hurdles and mountains, to gain an understanding of both the depth of human sorrow and the heights of the grace of God. But having another person who has experienced similar circumstances come alongside us? That is strengthening, that is invaluable, and that is what it means to let nothing be wasted.

Each of us has far more arrows in our quivers than we’ve realized. A door God opened, a season you made it through, a victory won – someone out there needs to hear about it and receive the strength that comes from someone else’s experiences. I’m guessing that, like Jesus’ disciples, you might gather up far more than you’d ever have expected. Now it’s time to share them!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

I Run

“I run in the path of your commands,
for you have set my heart free.”
Psalm 119:32

In one sense, I always envied the pet owners whose dogs were so well trained that they would stay in their yard or by their side without a leash or any other restraint. Some would respond so obediently to the sound of their owner’s voice that even another dog passing by would not entice them enough to get them to exercise their freedom. Others would bark incessantly but their training paid off time and again as they remained where they were told no matter what the temptation, be it a wandering cat passing by or a playful squirrel just out of reach.

But not Diefenbaker, not once, not ever, in fact, he never gave it a second thought. Our beloved Siberian Husky took his freedom very seriously. That’s why I laughed when I read the above scripture last week. David said that because God had set his heart free, he was running after God in his life. When Dief’s chain wasn’t secured right, he ran. When the screen door was left open for even a second, he ran. Lost your grip on his collar? You guessed it; he ran! We did take him to obedience school but you get the idea of how well that worked out. With a world of adventures awaiting him, Dief had a very simple philosophy on life – I run!

Unfortunately, people can end up in one of those two situations themselves. We can become so conditioned by life’s events, and have the routines of our lives so ingrained in us, that even when God sets us free, when God releases grace for something new and fresh in our lives, we stay in that same spiritual place, unmoved and unchanged. I’ve been trying to imagine what David’s “I run in the path of your commands” looked like on a daily basis. Was it going after something seen in scripture that he had never experienced? Was it seeking the Lord for more of His presence, more of his wisdom, or some previously unseen answer to prayer? Did David go beyond the borders of his faith in his running after God, stepping out of the boat he found himself in, or stepping out of the battle line, set free to run after the Goliaths in his life.

While the trained dogs were experiencing their backyards, Diefenbaker had woods and fields to explore, new neighborhoods to discover, and friends to make in the canine world. And if you think he slowed down, nope! Twelve years old, eighty four in people years, and he maintained the same philosophy – I run! And I’m hoping each of us will adopt that same outlook. Every opportunity that God gives, every new freedom that we experience in him, with every breakthrough that comes and every stirring of His Spirit, a purposeful and determined “I run!”

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Chasing Your Tail

“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to

me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.’”
Exodus 14:15

The picture that comes to mind when you hear the phrase ‘chasing your tail’ is of your pet dog spinning in circles, sometimes at breakneck speed, trying to catch his tail, no doubt hoping to deal with a bothersome flea that has taken up residence there. And every time, at some point in the exercise, the dog always gives up and ambles away, moving on to something else that’s caught their attention.

But ‘chasing your tail’ isn’t a saying used only in the world of dogs and cats; so often it is applied to us humans also. The idiom is defined like this: to be busy doing a lot of things but achieving little or nothing. And I would think we could all relate to times when we find ourselves spinning our wheels and going nowhere, or going in circles only to end up right back where we started, having accomplished little or nothing.

Sitting here at the computer, I’m guessing that that was the first tree that Zacchaeus climbed in all his years as a tax collector. And how often do you think Peter and John took fishing instructions on where to cast their net from a carpenter? And I wonder if Mary always left the dishes to her sister Martha or if just this one time, she saw an opportunity and went for it? Consider this quote about change: “The truth is that walking with God requires an ongoing, ever-changing experience. One of the sure signs that God is doing something in your life is that change is involved.”

Chasing your tail can be the pursuit of something that will never pan out, routines in our lives that consume our time but never yield any fruit, or going through the motions on the wrong assumption that there’s nothing you can do to change your life. How ironic that God, who calls us to prayer, told Moses to tell the people, “Stop praying and get moving.”

Stop chasing your tail might mean doing something you’ve never done before, or going somewhere that makes you uncomfortable just thinking about it. It might mean picking up the phone and dialing that number, or sitting at the computer and typing that email. Or maybe it’s picking up the Bible after years of frustration over God not speaking to you. But whatever the case, Moses got it right; it’s the call to stop chasing your tail and go forward in life.”

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Tethered

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

II Corinthians 3:17

Growing up in the 1960’s, every playground in Irondequoit, New York, had a tetherball pole: an eight foot steel pole with a seven foot chain or rope attached at the top with a ball attached to the end of that. The goal was to get the ball wrapped around the pole in your direction before your opponent did so in the other direction. And no matter how hard you hit the ball, it stayed attached, or more accurately tethered, to the end of the chain.

We too can find ourselves tethered to a life that is without joy, peace or fulfillment. Here are some areas that we can all too easily find ourselves tethered by:

• By the fear of failure or of not being good enough
• By fear of the future, and by the fear of man
• By wrong expectations put on us by ourselves and by others
• By guilt over things we’ve done in the past or by past failures
• By wrong assumptions about our own ability and potential
• By a wrong understanding of God and his working in our lives
• By sinful habits that have gotten control of us
• By attitudes that are negative and destructive

Far too often, I’ve seen good, sincere people try their best to go forward in their walk with the Lord only to hit the end of the tether rope, to get to that place where they need to experience the freedom that is promised in Jesus, “For whom the Son sets free is free indeed” and as we live in the Spirit, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” God wants to break the limitations of a life lived where these, and other areas, leave us tethered and bound. David wrote that “entrance of thy words bring light.” Reading God’s Word can make such a difference! Paul prayed that “the eyes of our understanding would be opened” to see not only the things holding us back and leaving us tethered, but the hope and power that are ours in Christ. And that too is my prayer for you this morning, that the Lord would allow you to see that He has more for your life, and that you’ll be untethered, set free to serve the Lord with a new joy, a new peace, and a renewed sense of his grace and mercy in each of our lives.

(And thanks to Cindy M. for encouraging me to start up sending out these devotions again!)

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

A Watershed Moment

“From this day on I will bless you, says the Lord”
Haggai 2:19

The term watershed is used to describe the geographical area from which rain and precipitation of all kinds flow into a particular body of water. Watersheds are marked by a unique dividing line from which water flows in one direction or another, such as the Rocky Mountains here in the United States with rain falling on one side of the Rockies heading to the Pacific Watershed and rain falling on the other side making its way to the Mississippi Watershed.

But enough for our geography lesson because from the term watershed, a phrase has come to be used to describe moments in time that mark a dividing line in the history of nations and in the lives of individuals. That phrase, a watershed moment, describes “an experience or event that has profound effects on a nation or individual’s destiny going forward.” The signing of the Declaration of Independence here in America would certainly be considered a watershed moment in American History as would the tearing down of the Berlin Wall in European History.

We would probably imagine most watershed moments to be acts of great courage and determination, which would fit in most cases, but we want to look at a watershed moment in the life of David that was nothing more than a simple decision to do what’s right. David had been running for his life from Saul who was determined to kill David and keep him from becoming the future king. After many years of evading Saul’s pursuit, David found himself, with a spear in his hand, standing over a sleeping Saul. The opportunity to end the years of living in caves and hiding in the mountains was there for David; one blow and this incredibly difficult time, this confusing part of his life considering all that God had spoken to him, would be over.

But David’s watershed moment was the opposite of what we’d expect. He decided that he wouldn’t touch the Lord’s anointed, that he wouldn’t take matters into his own hands, and kill King Saul. David’s watershed moment was a firm decision to leave the matter in God’s hands, to not take vengeance where we would all agree it was well deserved, and to establish going forward that he would trust the Lord to fight his battles. And David’s life was never the same.

You may be facing situations that are very difficult, situations where you’re tempted to take matters into your own hands either through words or actions. But rather than establish a pattern that you’ll late regret, take a page from David’s life, leave the matter squarely in God’s hands, and experience a watershed moment from which God can bless your life going forward!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church