Personal thoughts from Pastor Jeff on a(n almost) daily basis.
Unless anyone desires to protest or prove otherwise, I am assuming we all agree that the Church is divided. The embarrassing walls between us are many: racial classifications, generational preferences, denominational traditions, liturgies, creeds, pet-doctrines, music preferences, music preferences, music preferences and, not to mention, music preferences. Frankly, if I cared to squander the time, I believe I could mention …
For several weeks leading up to Sunday, August 13, 2017, I had planned to begin a new sermon series on unity in the Church. My first message was to be a strong call for the tearing down of racial division in the church and community. God had moved me to heavily promote this message on social media and I began …
My first year in the pastorate was filled with lots of twists and turns. Most of them were enjoyable and a few, well, not so much. One fond memory involves a room full of five grown men and about 500 helium filled-balloons, Someone on the leadership team had the bright idea of setting some balloons free in our city which …
Father, help us to joyfully embrace and seek after new things from You. Give us enlightenment to what You have placed in Your word about how You love to give us what is new. Nearly 150 times You word connects You with something new happening. Beyond that, there are scores of other times where my bible mentions Your commitment to bringing …
A few years back, I shared a message of comfort from the book of Lamentations with the people of Meadow Baptist Church. I called that message “A Strange Place For Praise” because it features some of the most beautiful statements on the character of God that you will find anywhere in your Old Testament – that’s the praise part. The …
Will you say these words with me? These are bible words, inspired words, human words…words reserved only for the redeemed. You need to say them as often as necessary and as confidently as you can. Read them carefully. Read them out loud, and then read them out loud again as you recognize that they convey what is, perhaps, the most …
Occasionally we just need something poured into us. Life can often feel like a high powered-vacuum cleaner that is sucking everything out of you down to the very last grain of competency that you have within. It seems that many of us find ourselves lacking time, lacking energy, lacking money or lacking motivation. I have personally spent moredays in seasons …
The happiest words for you today are here given through Isaiah: “You are My servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”; fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Behold, all who are …
It’s official: I’m not really a young guy anymore. It doesn’t bother me at all, but this reality is accompanied with an awareness that I am living on the back-nine of my life on earth. In the last two years there has been a growing desire and commitment in my heart to set the table for those who will be …
I’m keeping it somewhat short and potentially sweet today. I want to submit some scriptural taffy for us to chew on this morning from the life of that unlikely Old Testament hero, Gideon, and his life lessons. A hundred years ago, Christians understood the concept of God’s method of employing the takeaway. My great grandfather’s generation had a firm grasp …
God is always moving us toward something. We rarely pause long to consider this but the core of God’s desire for us has a trajectory, a forward moving direction. We usually think in terms of God’s plan being stationary, anchored in time and location and present circumstances, but God does not think in those terms on our behalf. God is …
“Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great, for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.” – Proverbs 25:6-7 If there is a skill to be mastered by us all, it is that we should endeavor to know …
I remember when I began to learn that many, if not most, Christians that I met could not confidently say that they discerned God speaking to them. My own conversion was so very radical, and my subsequent call to ministry was equally defined in clarity to me. In both of these events, I heard God speak to me. To this day …
Yesterday we allowed ourselves to be taken into The Hole in order to acknowledge that life can be (and often is) messy, dark, painful and frightening. Today I want us to travel in the opposite direction and ascend The Hill. What joy comes to us when we retain the assurance that, no matter the haunting depths we may experience in …
There exists a place that Christians don’t often speak of. This place is unpleasant and, in the history of the Church, nobody has ever requested to go there. But most of us have done so at one time or another. This place is cold and dark, hollow and quite lonely. It is not fixed in one location because believers in …
Just make sure you remain balanced. Be careful – do not run too far with that. Avoid extremes. You go too far out on that limb and you will regret it. Calm down. Hush up. Process within. Do not wade too far out. Mild salsa. Room temperature coffee. Finger food. Monochrome, one size fits all, keep an eye on the …
“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” – 1 Peter 5:10-11 Father, today we take great comfort in the reminder that anything and all that is …
Ever-patient Amy has an unofficial title in our home which greatly benefits Alicia, Landon and me. Amy is the Semiomnisicent One. When we reverently approach her we chant, “Have you seen the…Do you know where the…Mom, I can’t find the…Amy, where are my…” You get the picture. For me it is usually a quest for my keys, my phone or …
Nobody ruins my day. Nobody makes me angry. Nobody gets me in a bad mood. As a matter of fact I am fully capable of doing that on my own and would like to step up and say that when my day is ruined, when I am a grump or when my mood is foul…you nor anyone else get the credit …
Jesus Christ made an amazing statement in one of the most profound recording of His words in Scripture. He was praying to the Father in the most intimate of ways, revealing a communion and oneness with Him that is difficult for us to soak in. Amazingly, Jesus begins to speak in this prayer of those who would carry on the …
You may not have noticed, but we are subtly walking through a blog mini-series over the last four posts (including today’s). God honors the intentional communication of what His word says, and we are always helped to think about how we apply what He has written to our present-day realities. Thus far in this little series we have covered: The …
Every Christian has an opinion about what the priority needs to be in their home church. The beauty of the local assembly is that it is comprised of many different people, all of them uniquely fashioned by the Father for an express purpose in His Kingdom. None of us are wired exactly the same as another. God intends to take …
It’s Father’s Day, and I won’t get to see my dad today, but I woke up grateful for him today and wanted to share a few words to honor him. He’s a good man, that Doug Lyle, and he continues to have an impact on me, even in my late forties. Dad will tell you that he is flawed, and …
In my last post, I shared from the Apostle Paul’s words to the young pastor, timothy, concerning Timothy’s need to rise above some of the stereotypical pitfalls of young people, specifically, young men, even more specifically, young male zealots. As we move farther into looking at what else Paul wrote to Timothy, the field of applying his words to everyday …
Over the last two years, an awareness that I am no longer the young kid has found me. I began full-time vocational ministry twenty years ago at age twenty-seven. Our church was an older group of people back then, and I regularly found myself as the youngest person in leadership meetings, conferences and fellowships. I actually enjoyed the privilege of …
