Justin's Blog

Want to know what's on our preaching minister's mind? Justin's blog is the place to see his latest thoughts and ideas. Here are a few of Justin's latest blog entries. You can see his full blog at www.justinsaimlessthoughts.blogspot.com/

Implied Promise

Whenever you see a command from God in scripture, it contains an implied promise. Why? Because God would never command you to do something he wouldn't give you the power to do. Many people think that God is sitting in Heaven thinking of ways to ruin our day and mess with us. Nothing can be father from the truth. 2 Timothy 1:7... "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self discipline." Paul boldly claims in Philippians 4:13... "I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me." We have two different ways we can live. 1) A "I think I can" life. or 2) "I know I can't, but I know God can." There is only so much I can do on my own. But with God, the possibilities are endless.

Weak Guardrails

So we started our "Guardrails" series and last sunday I talked about weak guardrails that our culture tries to set up. Sayings that we all can agree with, we might even agree that they are good things, but when it comes right down to it, they serve as poor boundaries. The examples I used in the sermon were the following... "Drink Responsibly." Well we all might agree with this, none of us would dare to say "Drink Irresponsibly." Because of the nature of alcohol, this is too vague to be a guardrail. "Wait till your ready to have sex." This is specifically for teenagers. Our culture tells them to wait till their ready. How does a teenager know when they're ready? Most teenagers can barely dress themselves. How do they know? That's not a guardrail, that's something you say when your too scared or too weak to say, "WAIT TILL YOUR MARRIED!" "Talk to your kids about drugs." Parents, this isn't a guardrail for your kids, this is just a conversation. I know a lot of parents that have talked to their kids about drugs just to have their kids on said drugs. It's not a guardrail. Here are some new ones for you... "Know when to quit before you start." This has to do with gambling.  It's it catchy? It's true. Kind of Kenny Rogersish, ala "The Gambler" (yes I just made up that word up, "Kenny Rogersish." Write it down, use it, love it!). Unfortunately it's not very helpful. It basically means, get as close to disaster as you  can without stepping into the abyss. "Practice safe sex." Awesome, another sex one. The idea of "practicing" this is ridiculous. Think about this saying, "Practice makes perfect." I learned how to play the guitar by practicing. Needless to say that in those practice sessions I made a lot of mistakes. To tell someone to "practice" safe sex,  your saying, "have sex till you figure out how have it safe." Kind of defeats the purpose. We all agree that you should have safe sex, but to say "practice safe sex" is not a guardrail. It's just a way for the condom companies to sound responsible. These are not guardrails. Guardrails are not vague! Boundaries are not faint! When we say to someone "Look before you leap" we are saying, "make sure you at least see the mess before you jump into it." Instead, the guardrail is "DON'T JUMP!"  Guardrails are not vague! Boundaries are not faint! They are definitive and clear! They don't bring you to the very edge of disaster, they keep you are a far distance from the edge.

Place for Grace and NECC

I have been praying for a few years now for the opportunity to serve the homeless in the St. Cloud area. Now I don't just believe in praying that God drops things in my lap. I believe that we pray like it depends solely on God and we work like it solely depends on us (think about that for a second, powerful combinations). I have called numerous people over and over again with no call back. I have email organization after organization with no response. I have straight up been told "no" by different groups. I even had another minister tell me that the "homeless" isn't even a relevant problem in St. Cloud. The exact words were, "look around, I don't see any homeless." Some time in November of last year, while working out a Gold's Gym I ran into my friend Ken Gilbert. I knew that he worked with FCA at Harmony High School and has done some amazing things for God in the school system. To my amazement, I learned that he also helped start a group called "A Place for Grace," a soup kitchen that helps feed the homeless and suffering in St. Cloud (go figure, there are homeless people in St. Cloud). I received something different from Ken than any other group I talked with... open arms. Hate to say it, but I almost openly cried openly in Gold's Gym (notice I said "almost." I didn't cry. Ken did, I didn't).  I am so excited to say that NECC will help start the next phase of their expansion in reaching out and feeding the homeless in St. Cloud.  February 6th, two of our Core Groups (the Prickett and Bender) will collect the needed food and serve those in need. We will be doing this every month giving everyone in our church an opportunity to serve. I can't tell you how excited I am. This has been a personal prayer circle of mine, (if you know me or have been around me the last two years then you know what I'm talking about) to see God answer it has overjoyed me. Praise God!

Nothing Is More Important

This past week we launched our first Core Group session of 2012 along with our new series "Guardrails."   Last Core Group session my wife and I took a break from Core Groups to take Financial Peace and get our finances in order. This semester I have the great privilege to teach the Financial Peace class along with Larry Stolzfus (I really hope I spelled his name right, if not, sorry Larry). I also get to start a brand new Core Group with my good friends Donald and Keli Prickett (they lead the group, Fay and I just host). While this week  has been very exhausting (two kids sick as well), it's also been very rewarding. The new Financial Peace class started Monday and I have to say that after one night I am very excited to be apart of this group. FPU helped me and my family so much. The openness that I saw on Monday tells me that God is going to do a great thing with this wonderful group of people. To be honest and open about such a tough subject like money is extremely difficult, this group didn't shy away. That says a lot, I left Monday night excited and refreshed. Last night we had our very first Core Group hosted at my house. One word... Awesome! Such a diverse group of people. Some young, some not so young. Here is why I am amazed, we are doing sermon based Core Groups right now. I write the sermons. I develop the material used in the Core Groups. I have thuroughly studied the topic we are discussing. You would probably think, "can't learn much more." Wrong. I am amazing how I can go into a Core Group and learn something new about the topic I just preached about from the open discussion with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Crazy! Once again I am reminded of the importance of relationships. I wholehearted believe that at the core of Jesus' teaching is the spiritual truth... Nothing is more important than relationships. We were created for relationships. Jesus' came to this earth, died, rose again to reconnect us to a relationship with God. Jesus' life on this earth was a living sermon to the dire need of relationships. Nothing is more important than relationships, with God and with each other. We learn more together than we do apart. We grow more together than we do apart. We become closer to God more together than we do apart. We truly are better together, we are stronger together.

Radical Together Review

Last year when I read David Platt's "Radical" one thing jumped into my mind at the end of the book... this isn't Radical, this is what a Christian is supposed to look like, that is according to what scripture has to say. However, the American Church has turned what the New Testament calls "Christian" into something that is unheard of, or radical. The book was fantastic and eye opening in many ways. I love his passion for missions and the push for global evangelism. I have listened to his sermons and have found that his love for God's word is deep and passionate. Platt's second book, "Radical Together," is a lot like the first. While it's very good, it nothing really that different from Radical. I found myself thinking, "nothing new here." The first chapter, "Tyranny of the Good" is a chapter that every church leader should read. I believe most churches struggle because of this. I'm a firm believer that you have to choose the best over the good and just because something is good doesn't mean that you have to do it. The third chapter, "God is Saying Something" is full of great insight into the importance of scripture and how God's word makes the difference, rather than our best efforts. The rest of his book seemed rushed. To his on the popularity of his last book, you need to move fast. Unfortunately, Radical Together overall is a bit of a let down. I am a huge fan of David Platt and have been challenged by his insight into scripture both personally and professionally. *I receive a free review copy of this book.

See Justin's full blog at       www.justinsaimlessthoughts.blogspot.com