Taken from a story Told by J. Oswald Sanders, Retold by John Piper in His Book Suffering and the Sovereignty of God!

I wanted to share this with you today! When I read this a few years ago it made a huge impact on how and why I share the gospel!

This is from John Piper’s Book Suffering and the Sovereignty of God! I take no credit for this!

Fifteen years ago, I had an opportunity to hear J. Oswald Sanders speak. His message touched deeply on suffering. He was 89 years old and still traveling and speaking around the world. He had written a book a year since he turned 70! I mention that only to exult in the utter dedication of a life poured out for the gospel without thought of coasting in self-indulgence from 65 to the grave.

He told the story of an indigenous missionary who walked barefoot from village to village preaching the gospel in India. His hardships were many. After a long day of many miles and much discouragement, he came to a certain village and tried to speak the gospel but was driven out of town and rejected. So he went to the edge of the village dejected and lay down under a tree and slept from exhaustion.

When he awoke, people were hovering over him, and the whole town was gathered around to hear him speak. The head man of the village explained that they came to look him over while he was sleeping. When they saw his blistered feet, they concluded that he must be a holy man, and that they had been evil to reject him. They were sorry and wanted to hear the message that he was willing to suffer so much to bring them.

So the evangelist filled up the afflictions of Jesus with his beautiful blistered feet.

I love this song, What are your views on love? The other day Jeff a friend of mine asked the question how do you define love?  I said 1 John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers!

So what do you say?

Amos 5:21-27
Is your worship pleasing or not?

“I hate, I despise your feasts,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,
I will not look upon them.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
24 But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 26 You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, 27 and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

As a student Ministry this past week we looked at the passage. It was a tough passage to speak on but I Believe that God wants true worship from His people!

What do you think about when you read this passage?

Let me know!

Man this song really speaks to me!

Aaron Shust – To god alone

Can You take me by the hand?
Can You use me as I am?
Break me into who You want me to be
When the time is finally right
Will You open up my eyes and show me everything You want me to see?
This life is not my own

To God alone be the Glory
To God alone be the praise
Everything I say and do
Let be all for You
The Glory is Yours alone
Yours alone

Take the offering I bring
You want more than what I sing
Can I give You every part of me?
Turn these pennies into gold
Take this life I call my own
Until I’m running after Your heart
I’m needing to let go

To God alone be the Glory
To God alone be the praise
Everything I say and do
Let be all for You
The Glory is Yours alone
Yours alone

We will rise and we will fall
But You remain after all
Your Glorious and Beautiful
Your Beautiful

To God alone be the Glory
To God alone be the praise
Everything I say and do
Let be all for You
The Glory is Yours alone
The Glory is Yours alone
Yours alone
Yours alone

Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

This past Wednesday night as a student ministry we walked through these scriptures. It was a great night looking at how we could live a life of sacrifice. The thing that I noticed as I was studying and getting ready to teach our students was the word “renew”. For us to live a life of sacrifice, we would first have to learn to renew our minds daily. That is the key to walking with Christ and living a life of worship. We have to be in God’s word daily. When we begin to read His word, we draw closer to Him. In those moments we begin to see that our life is not our own. We were bought with a price, so in turn, each day, we should sacrifice certain aspects of our life to seek after the will of God. His will for our life is good and acceptable and perfect! So start each day with one goal in mind: Dig into God’s word!
Have a great week,
Jeremy “Worm” Johnson

Moving Day
One of the things in life that I don’t like is moving!!! The worst part about moving is packing all the stuff and then saying to your friends, “HEY! Would you like to come help me move all my stuff?”This past week as we began the process of packing and moving, I sat down in the middle of my garage. Feeling overwhelmed with the mess and chaos that surrounded me, I had to take a break! I sat in my garage for what seemed like an hour and was so overwhelmed I could not move or pick up another thing. But in the midst of all the stuff, I remembered God’s words. “Peace I leave with you; my Peace I give you!”
Have you ever had those moments in life where it feels like you are surrounded by chaos? Where you feel like no matter what you do there is more and more? Most of us begin to feel like that around the Christmas season because of all the stuff we have going and all the plans that have to be made. If you begin to feel like I did that day in my garage, remember there is peace in the midst of chaos! Christ is our peace, and this Christmas season, please don’t forget to just stop, sit, and thank Christ for the peace He has given us! Life will probably never slow down, but in the midst of all the things we have to do we can find rest in peace in Christ!
Merry Christmas,
Youth Pastor,
Jeremy “Worm” Johnson

“Finish”

Running is a hard thing, especially when you have not done it in years.  I have started running again and will be running in my first 5k this Saturday. Will I be able to run the whole thing? Probably not, but I am going to try. In college I played baseball as a pitcher, so that meant you had to run all the time. I have always been a bigger guy, so running was not my favorite thing. In fact it was the worst thing about playing sports. The coaches required us to run 3-5 miles every other day. A few others guys and I made a pact that when we finished baseball we would never run again because we hated it so much, but over the years as my knees and back have begun to hurt, I decided to lace the shoes back up and start jogging. That first day back on the road was horrible! It brought back all those old feelings of running in college. But, I finished the first day and could proudly say, “I made it!”

Now I’ve been running three days a week for the past two weeks. A few nights ago, our entire family went out walking and jogging.  After a few streets, I got ahead and wanted to finish strong, so I jogged to the end of the street and sprinted back.  For some random reason, I got really brave and wanted to sprint the big hill. After about 4 steps, my mind began to take over and tell my body that “I am done! I’m so tired!” Just then my wife came up and shouted “KEEP GOING!  FINISH!” That put a fire in me, and I finished the hill. It felt so good to not quit at the hardest part of my run.

In my life I have watched many of my friends not finish what God called them to do. In life it is easy to start things but when you get tired, someone hurts your feelings, or you get mad you just give up and quit. But just as Courtney was there to encourage me to finish my uphill run, God is with you always encouraging you to keep going on your uphill journey with Him!  So if you feel like giving up this week, don’t!  God is right there with you and wants you to finish strong. He always has and always will make a way to keep going. FINISH!!

Question? When is the last time you just read your bible for yourself?

Not while listening to music,podcast or during a sermon.

We need to hunger for the word of God just like we hunger for dinner!

God is good to us and loves us He longs for us to love Him in the same way. Love Christ today!

WALK WITH HIM!

My News Article for the messenger today!
“Coffee in the Morning”

As I drove into work today, memories of my childhood swirled in my mind. At home, I had made a huge cup of coffee, and the smell took me back to every morning as a child. Everyday, my father always started his morning with coffee. I loved waking up to the comforting smell, and it was also reassuring to know that he was sipping hot coffee just down the hall. This morning, the smell of my coffee reminded me of my dad’s faithfulness to our family and to his work. He faithfully carried out the same routine every morning, but he was also faithful to take care of our family. These memories reminded me that the reason my father was faithful each day was that He modeled His life after Christ.
Even when we don’t think about God, He is always faithful. There is such peace in knowing no matter what we face or where we go God is always there and faithful to us! Just like my dad and his coffee every morning there is comfort in knowing Christ is always there! Have a great week thinking and enjoying that Christ is in charge and is always Faithful!

Youth Pastor,

Jeremy “Worm” Johnson

I am going to move over some old blogs and start writing new Blogs I hope you enjoy! God is good to us!

What do you think?